CATULLUS. SIRMIO. SIRMIO, fair eye of all the laughing isles My own, my chosen Home! Oh, what more blest By cares abroad and foreign toil, we find Our native home again, and rest our head 5 10 Once more upon our own, long-lost, long-wished-for bed! Hoc est, quod unum est pro laboribus tantis; Salve, o venusta Sirmio, atque hero gaude: Gaudete vosque, Lariæ lacus undæ : Ridete quidquid est domi cachinnorum. This, this alone, o'erpays my ev'ry pain! Of Laria's lake, in sparkling welcome shine! Put all your beauties forth! laugh out! be glad! In universal smiles this day must all be clad! 15 EPITAPH ON A YOUNG LADY. [I am ashamed to say that I have forgotten who was the author of these touching Lines. They have always struck me as among the tersest and most classical specimens I know of a Christian Epitaph.] CARA, vale! ingenio præstans, pietate, pudore, Et plusquam natæ nomine cara, vale! Cara, vale! donec veniat felicius ævum, Quando iterum tecum, sim modo dignus, ero. Cara, redi, lætâ tum dicam voce, paternos 5 EPITAPH ON A YOUNG LADY. DEAR Child, farewell! that didst in worth, Wit, piety, so far excel ! By closer ties than those of birth Knit to my heart, dear Child, farewell! Dear Child, farewell! till Time bring round Those blessed ages, yet in store, When I, if haply worthy found, Shall meet thee face to face once more! Dear Child, oh come, no more to part, Shall I exclaim in rapture then; To bless a Father's arms and heart, My Child, my Mary, come again! 5 10 |