Tunc peram invertit; fraudemque exorsus ab ovo
Gallinam profert aligerumque gregem.
Cartula (proh! monstrum!) summi ad laquearia tecti
Subvolat, et formam jussa capessit avis.
Spectator lætus videt hæc miracula rerum,
Et stupet occulti captus amore doli.
Multum habet ingenii, multum delusor et artis ;
Qui, simul ac aperit se, nihil artis habet.
COLLIGIT et frangit radios in mille colores
Vitrum, quod docti nomine prisma vocant;
Coccina cæruleis, croceis hyacinthina distant,
Singula per varios attenuata gradus.
Dissimiles umbris sunt umbræ, et linea quævis
Languidior sensim contiguaque minor.
Per sic dispositæ discrimina lucis, in omni
Depictam facie prismatis Irin habet.
LEVIUS FIT PATIENTIA,
QUICQUID COrrigere est NEFAS.
CLAUDITUR in cavea, laqueo quam prenderit auceps,
Et silet, et fatum lugubre plorat avis.
Nec placet angustus carcer, quam limite nullo
Aërias nuper juverat ire vias.
Nascitur, et longo patientia crescit ab usu;
Nec jam, quæ dederat tædia, carcer habet.
Jam se solatur cantu captiva; nec ulla
Suavius in campis libera cantat avis.
EST homo, mercator ruri, cui lux tremit intus;
In cultu gravitas est, et in ore fides :
Qui longis odit verborum ambagibus uti,
Nec cum vicinis dissimulanter agit.
Nec pretium ingeminat venalibus amplius æquo,
Ut mox diminuat, dimidietve, lucrum.
Nec nimis extollit merces, et laudibus auget;
Commendet melius quas suus ipse valor.
Nil vanum aut falsum; sed næ solenniter aut non
Profert particulas, et sine fraude, duas.
Quodcunque affirmatu opus est, quodcunque negatu,
Affirmat nude, simpliciterque negat.
O probitas primæva! an et hæc laudatur et alget ;
Nonne hæc emptores conciliare potest?
Næ! venit, ah! sane! multus venit emptor amicus, Multaque cum sancto fratre profana soror.
PARVULA res, et acu minor est, et ineptior usu:
Quotque dies annus, tot tibi drachma dabit.
Sed licet exigui pretii minimique valoris,
Ecce, quot artificum postulat illa manus!
Unius in primis cura est conflare metallum ;
In longa alterius ducere fila labor.
Tertius in partes resecat, quartusque resectum
Perpolit ad modulos attenuatque datos.
Est quinti tornare caput, quod sextus adaptet;
Septimus in punctum cudit et exacuit.
His tandem auxiliis ita res procedit, ut omnes
Ad numeros ingens perficiatur opus.
Quæ tanti ingenii, quæ tanti est summa laboris ?
Si mihi respondes, Edipe, tota tua est.
TRANSLATED BY W. COWPER, ESQ.
A NEEDLE small, as small can be,
In bulk and use, surpasses me,
Nor is my purchase dear;
For little and almost for nought,
As many of my kind are bought
As days are in the year.
Yet though but little use we boast,
And are procured at little cost,
The labour is not light;
Nor few artificers it asks,
All skilful in their several tasks,
To fashion us aright.
One fuses metal o'er the fire,
A second draws it into wire,
The shears another plies;
Who clips in lengths the brazen thread For him, who, chafing every shred,
Gives all an equal size.
A fifth prepares, exact and round,
The knob, with which it must be crown'd;
His follower makes it fast:
And with his mallet and his file
To shape the point, employs awhile
The seventh and the last.
Now therefore! Edipus! declare
What creature, wonderful, and rare,
A process, that obtains
Its purpose with so much ado,
At last produces !—tell me true,
And take me for your pains!
Ur genera et species dignoscat papilionum,
Sitque quibus maculis quisque, quibusque notis ;
Quotquot agris volitant, studiose hinc colligit illinc,
Musæi ut servet Fulvius inter opes.
Thesaurum egregium! si quis foret usus habendi:
At cuinam hæc servit cura laborque bono!
Papilio, centum quamvis servetur in annos,
Nil nisi reliquiæ papilionis erit.
|