Non equidem hoc studeo, bullatis ut mihi nugis
Pagina turgescat, dare pondus idonea fumo.
Secreti loquimur: tibi nunc hortante Camena
Excutienda damus præcordia: quantaque nostræ
Pars tua sit Cornute animæ, tibi dulcis amice
Ostendisse juvat: pulsa, dignoscere cautus
Quid solidum crepet, & pictæ tectoria linguæ.
His ego centenas ausim deposcere voces:
Ut quantum mihi te sinuoso in pectore fixi,
Voce traham pura: totumque hoc verba resignent,
Quod latet arcana non enarrabile fibra.

Cum primum pavido custos mihi purpura cessit,
Bullaque succinctis laribus donata pependit:
Cum blandi comites, totaque impune Suburra
Permisit sparsisse oculos jam candidus umbo:
Cumque iter ambiguum est, et vitæ nescius error
Diducit trepidas ramosa in compita mentes,

Skill'd in smooth words keen satire to convey,
And faults to censure whilst thou seem'st in play;
Hence know thy task, let Atreus feast prepare,
Rest thou contented with plebeian fare.

P. 'Tis true, on lofty themes I seldom dwell,
Nor love with empty sounds my verse to swell.
But now, my gentle friend, while thus the hours,
While even the inspiring Muse herself is ours,
Let me my heart unfold, and there disclose
The generous love which for Cornutus glows.
An hundred voices now I dare to ask,

For praising thee becomes thy poet's task:
Nor think these words a flattering Muse has sung;
They fall not varnish'd from a faithless tongue :
They leave my bosom to thy view reveal'd,
And own the secret which it long conceal'd.
When first, a timid youth, I knew the town,
Exchanged the purple for the virile gown,
The golden bulla from my neck unstrung,
The sacred bauble by the Lares hung,
From harsh restraint the first enlargement knew,
And crowds of parasites around me drew;

When the white shield, by youthful warriors worn,
Through all the streets of Rome by me was borne ;
When too the martial dress forbade reproof,
And kept each friendly monitor aloof:

At that green age, when error most beguiles,
And Vice puts on her most seductive smiles,
Allures from virtue unsuspecting youth,
And teaches folly to abandon truth;

Me tibi supposui: teneros tu suscipis annos
Socratico Cornute sinu: tunc fallere sollers
Apposita intortos extendit regula mores:
Et premitur ratione animus, vincique laborat,
Artificemque tuo ducit sub pollice vultum.
Tecum etenim longos memini consumere soles,
Et tecum primas epulis decerpere noctes.
Unum opus, et requiem pariter disponimus ambo,
Atque verecunda laxamus seria mensa.

Non equidem hoc dubites, amborum fœdere certo
Consentire dies, et ab uno sidere duci.
Nostra vel æquali suspendit tempora Libra
Parca tenax veri, seu nata fidelibus hora
Dividit in Geminos concordia fata duorum:
Saturnumque gravem nostro Jove frangimus una.
Nescio quod, certe est quod me tibi temperat, astrum.
Mille hominum species, et rerum discolor usus:
Velle suum cuique est, nec voto vivitur uno.
Mercibus hic Italis mutat sub sole recenti

Rugosum piper, et pallentis grana cumini :

To thee, Cornutus, I myself resign'd,
To thee entrusted my uncultured mind.
Thy gentle bosom, O Socratic sage,
Proved the best refuge to my tender age:
My young and pliant spirit clung to thine,
As to its guardian oak the shooting vine.
Train'd by thy hand, and moulded by thy will,
I was thy scholar and companion still;
With thee I saw the summer sun arise,
With thee beheld him gild the evening skies:
Well pleased from feasts the twilight hours to steal,
And share with thee a philosophic meal.

On us, my friend, like fortune still awaits,

And stars consenting have conjoin'd our fates.
Whether by chance our lives were both begun,
When equal Libra had received the sun;

Whether our lots the Twins between them share,
And those, who love like them, have made their care;
Whether malignant Saturn's clouded hour

Was cross'd for us, by Jove's prevailing power;
The stars I know not, which do thus combine
To regulate my destiny by thine.

Of men and manners there are various kinds,
And life seems still to alter with our minds;
By turns the picture renovates and fades,
Its colours shifting to a thousand shades:
No single passion rules mankind alone,
But each has one peculiarly his own.

His Tuscan wares, on India's burning shores,
The merchant barters for her spicy stores.

Hic satur, irriguo mavult turgescere somno:
Hic campo indulget: hunc alea decoquit: ille
In Venerem putret: sed cum lapidosa chiragra
Fregerit articulos veteris ramalia fagi,
Tunc crassos transisse dies, lucemque palustrem,
Et sibi jam seri vitam ingemuere relictam.
At te nocturnis juvat impallescere chartis.
Cultor enim es juvenum: purgatas inseris aures
Fruge Cleanthea: petite hinc juvenesque senesque
Finem animo certum, miserisque viatica canis.
Cras hoc fiet. Idem cras fiet, quid? quasi magnum
Nempe diem donas, sed cum lux altera venit,
Jam cras hesternum consumsimus: ecce aliud cras
Egerit hos annos, et semper paulum erit ultra.
Nam quamvis prope te, quamvis temone sub uno