138 The Scholar in his Garden 15 Concurrunt clipeīs; ingens fragor aethera complet. mem. Fāma est, praecipitem, cum prīma in proelia iunctōs Conscendebat equōs, patriō mucrōne relictō, 25 Dum trepidat, ferrum aurīgae rapuisse Metiscī; Idque diu, dum terga dabant pālantia Teucrī, Suffecit; postquam arma dei ad Vulcania ventum est, Mortālis mucrō, glaciēs ceu fūtilis, ictū Dissiluit; fulvā resplendent fragmina harēnā. VIRGIL, Aeneid xii 710-724; 728–741. 139. The Scholar in his Garden Pliny asks a friend to see that Tranquillus shall get at a moderate price a farm which he wishes to buy. Tranquillus is better known under his other name of Suetonius. He wrote much; his chief extant work is his Lives of the Roman emperors. C. PLINIUS BAEBIO HISPANO S. Tranquillus, contubernālis meus, vult emere agellum, quem venditāre amīcus tuus dicitur. 'O Ruddier than the Cherry' 139 Rogō cūrēs, quanti aequum est, emat; ita enim dēlectābit ēmisse. Nam mala emptio semper ingrāta, eō maxime, quod exprobrare stultitiam 5 domino videtur. In hoc autem agellō, si modo adrīserit pretium, Tranquillī mei stomachum multa sollicitant, vicinitas urbis, opportunitās viae, mediocritās villae, modus rūris, qui avocet magis quam distringat. Scholasticis porrò dominīs, ut 10 hic est, sufficit abunde tantum soli, ut relevare caput, reficere oculos, ūnam semitam terere, omnesque viticulās suās nosse et numerāre arbusculas possint. Haec tibi exposui, quo magis scīrēs, quantum esset ille mihi, ego tibi, dēbitūrus, sī 15 praediolum istud, quod commendātur hīs dōtibus, tam salubriter emerit, ut paenitentiae locum non relinquat. Valē. PLINY, Letters i 24. 140. O Ruddier than the Cherry' The Cyclops, the one-eyed giant who fed his flocks in Sicily, fell in love with the sea-nymph, Galatea. He played on his pipes and sang to mollify her hard heart; and this was his song. Candidior folio niveī, Galatea, ligustrī, 5 Lūcidior glaciē, mātūrā dulcior ūvā, 140 An Ancient Cockney Mollior et cycni plūmīs et lacte coactō, Et, si non fugiās, riguō formōsior hortō; Saevior indomitis eadem, Galatea, iuvencīs, 10 Dūrior annōsā quercū, fallācior undīs, Lentior et salicis virgīs et vitibus albis, His immobilior scopulīs, violentior amne, Laudātō pāvōne superbior, acrior ignī, Asperior tribulis, fētā truculentior ursă, 15 Surdior aequoribus, calcātō immitior hydrō, Et, quod praecipue vellem tibi demere possem, Nōn tantum cervō, clārīs lātrātibus actō, Vērum etiam ventis volucrique fugacior aurā! At, bene si nōris, pigeat fugisse, morasque 20 Ipsa tuas damnēs, et mē retinēre labōrēs. OVID, Metamorphoses xiii 789-809. IO 141. An Ancient Cockney Catullus laughs at some contemporary, who was in the habit of inserting an aspirate where it was not wanted. Chommoda dicebat, si quando commoda vellet Dicere, et insidias Arrius hinsidiās, Et tum mirificē spērābat sẽ esse locutum, Cum, quantum poterat, dixerat hinsidiās. 5 Crēdō, sīc māter, sic Liber avunculus eius, Sīc māternus avus dixerat atque avia. Hōc missō in Syriam, requiêrant omnibus aurēs; Audibant eadem haec leniter et leviter, Nec sibi postillā metuēbant tālia verba, Cum subito affertur nuntius horribilis The Character of Cato Ioniōs fluctus, postquam illuc Arrius isset, and vices. CATULLUS lxxxiv. 142. The Character of Cato 141 Marcius Porcius Cato was the most typical of Romans, the incarnation of the national character in its virtues Born at Tusculum B. c. 234, he died at the age of 85. He fought against Hannibal, and later in Spain and Greece; he held all the high offices at Rome and gained especial fame as censor. His writings are lost except a treatise upon agriculture. He had greenish-gray eyes and sandy hair, an iron frame, and a stentorian voice. In hoc virō tanta vīs animī ingeniique fuit, ut, quocunque loco natus esset, fortunam sibi ipse facturus fuisse vidērētur. Nulla ars neque privātae neque publicae rei gerendae ei defuit; urbānās rusticasque res pariter callebat. Ad 5 summōs honōrēs aliōs scientia iūris, aliōs ēloquentia, aliōs glōria militāris prōvexit; huic versatile ingenium sic pariter ad omnia fuit, ut nātum ad id unum diceres, quodcumque ageret. In bellō manu fortissimus multisque insignibus clarus 10 pugnis; idem, postquam ad magnōs honōrēs pervēnit, summus imperator; īdem in pace, si iūs consulerēs, perītissimus, sī causa ōranda esset, ēļoquentissimus; nec is tantum, cuius lingua vīvō eō viguerit, monumentum eloquentiae nullum extet; 15 vivit immo vigetque eloquentia eius, sacrāta scriptis 170 142 Country Pursuits omnis generis. Ōrātiōnēs et prō sẽ multae et prō aliīs et in aliōs; nam nōn sōlum accusandō sed etiam causam dicendo fatīgāvit inimicos. Asperi 20 procul dubiō animi et linguae acerbae et immodicē liberae fuit, sed invicti a cupiditātibus animī, rigidae innocentiae, contemptor gratiae, dīvitiārum. In parsimōniā, in patientia labōris et periculi, ferrei prope corporis animīque, quem në 25 senectus quidem, quae solvit omnia, frēgerit. LIVY XXXIX 40, 4. 143. Country Pursuits The lover is advised to try the farmer's life as a remedy for love-sickness. Rūra quoque oblectant animōs studiumque co- Quaelibet huic curae cedere cura potest. Quae tibi cum multo faenore reddet ager. |