*SEU te sæva, levitas sive improba fecit,
Musca, meæ comitem, participemque dapis,
Pone metum, rostrum fidens immitte culullo,
Nam licet, et toto prolue læta mero.
Tu, quamcunque tibi velox indulserit annus,
Carpe diem, fugit, heu non revocanda dies!
Quæ nos blanda comes, quæ nos perducat codem,
Volvitur hora mihi, volvitur hora tibi!
Una quidem, sic fata volunt, tibi vivitur æstas,
Eheu, quid decies plus mihi sexta dedit!
Olim præteritæ numeranti tempora vitæ,
Sexaginta annis non minor unus erit.
↑ HABEO, dedi quod alteri ; Habuique, quod dedi mihi; Sed quod reliqui, perdidi.
*The above is a version of the song, Busy, curious, thirsty fly."
These lines are a version of three sentences that are said in the manuscript to be "On the monument of John of Doncaster;" and which are as follow:
What I gave that I have;
What I spent that I had;
What I left that I lost.
*E WALTONI PISCATORE PERFECTO
EXCERPTUM.
NUNC, per gramina fusi,
Densâ fronde salicti,
Dum defenditur imber,
Molles ducimus horas.
Hic, dum debita morti
Paulum vita moratur.
→ These Lines are a Translation of part of a Song in the Complete Angler of Isaac Walton, written by John Chalkhill, a friend of Spenser, and a good poet in his time. They are but part of the last stanza, which, that the reader may have it entire, is here given at length.
If the sun's excessive heat
Make our bodies swelter,
To an osier hedge we get
For a friendly shelter!
Where in a dike,
Pearch or pike,
Roach or dace,
We do chase,
Bleak or gudgeon,
Without grudging,
We are still contented.
Or we sometimes pass an hour
Under a green willow,
That defends us from a shower,
Making earth our pillow;
Where we may
Think and pray,
Before death
Stops our breath:
Other joys
Are but toys,
Nunc rescire priora,
Nunc instare futuris,
Nunc summi prece sanctâ
Patris numen adire est.
Quicquid quæritur ultra,
Cæco ducit amore,
Vel spe ludit inani,
Luctus mox pariturum.
* QUISQUIS iter tendis, vitreas qua lucidus undas
Speluncæ latè Thamesis prætendit opacæ;
Marmoreâ trepidant quæ lentæ in fornice guttæ,
Crystallisque latex fractus scintillat acutis;
Gemmaque, luxuriæ nondum famulata nitenti
Splendit, et incoquitur tectum sine fraude metallum ;
Ingredere O! rerum purâ cole mente parentem;
Auriferasque auri metuens scrutare cavernas.
Ingredere! Egeriæ sacrum en tibi panditur antrut..!
Hic, in se totum, longe per opaca futuri
Temporis, Henricum rapuit vis vivida mentis:
Hic pia Vindamius traxit suspiria, in ipsâ
Morte memor patriæ; hic, Marmontî pectore prima
Cœlestis fido caluerunt semina flammæ.
Temnere opes, pretium sceleris, patriamque tueri
Fortis, ades; tibi sponte patet venerabile limen.
*The above Lines are a version of Pope's verses on his own grotto, which begin,
“Thou who shalt stop where Thames' translucent wave.”
GRÆCORUM EPIGRAMMATUM VERSIONES METRICE.
Pag. 2. Brodæi edit. Bas. Ann. 1549.
NON Argos pugilem, non me Messana creavit;
Patria Sparta mihi esti, patria clara virûm.
Arte valent isti, mihi robo revivere solo est,
Convenit ut natis, inclyta Sparta, tuis.
QUANDOQUIDEM passim nulla ratione ferentur,
Cuncta cinis, cuncta et ludicra, cuncta nihil.
PECTORE qui duro, crudos de vite racemos
Venturi exsecuit, vascula prima meri,
Labraque constrictus, semesos, jamque terendos
Sub pedibus, populo prætereunte, jacit.
Supplicium huic, quoniam crescentia gaudia læsit,
Det Bacchus, dederat quale, Lycurge, tibi.
Hæ poterant uvæ læto convivia cantu,
Mulcere, aut pectus triste levare malis.
FERT humeris claudum validis per compita cæcus, Hic oculos socio commodat, ille pedes.
QUI, mutare vias ausus terræque marisque,
Trajecit montes nauta, fretumque pedes,
Xerxi, tercentum Spartæ Mars obstitit acris
Militibus; terris sit pelagoque pudor!
SIT tibi, Calliope, Parnassum, cura, tenenti,
Alter ut adsit Homerus, adest etenim alter Achilles.
AD Musas Venus hæc; Veneri parete puellæ,
In vos ne missus spicula tendat amor.
Hæc Musæ ad Venerem; sic Marti, diva, mineris,
Huc nunquam volitat debilis iste puer.
PROSPERA sors nec te strepitoso turbine tollat,
Nec menti injiciat sordida cura jugum ;
Nam vita incertis incerta impellitur auris,
Omnesque in partes tracta, retracta fluit;
Firma manet virtus; virtuti innitere, tutus
Per fluctus vitæ sic tibi cursus erit.
HORA bonis quasi nunc instet suprema fruaris,
Plura ut victurus secula, parce bonis :
Divitiis, utrinque cavens, qui tempore parcit,
Tempore divitiis utitur, ille sapit.
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