Category: 2011 Poets

Summer under a tree (dactylic hexameter) arbor cum sonitu fremit hic tettigoniarum.sol excrescit dum celerant ita carmina rauca.sussurans subito pomosus ventulus urget.ridentem Cererem iam grylli more salire. TranslationThe tree hums with the sound of cicadas.The sun increases while their raucous songs speed up.Whispering suddenly a fruity breeze urges.a laughing Ceres to dance in the manner…

De Impetu Erucarum Tentoria Construentum Ulmus in altum stans aestivo tempore frigusAvibus lanugerisque bidentibus ut dea dabat.Erucarum autem struit aedes impia turbaBestiolarum acies mordaces ordinat audax.Vae misera arbor, tu quae tum mihi opaca dedisti,Mox insecta tuas frondes comedent viridantesEt dein exanimis stirps sole ardente jacebis. TranslationAll summer long, this tall elm stoodBestowing, like a goddess,…

Ad Lauram Publiumque de Morphei fuga. Dum torquet tussis per noctem, Morpheus haud est:multo cum strepitu quassantem me cito linquet.flavet sputum, proluvies mucosa redundat.“cur me vitas? huc accede o pulcher ephebe,extemplo faveas nostrisque screatibus adsis.da nunc amplexus mihi, me fove dulcibus ulnis,inter bracchia nunc aveo robusta jacerereclinareque, dum licet, amplo in pectore noctu.non ita amicitiâ…

Dactylic hexameter: Hīc sedeo solus, tristis sine Nāide fusca.Ecce torus noster vacuus. Tenuissima vestisQuam rapui manibus, remanet. Violentia desit!Eheu dic mihi nunc pastor quo protinus ivit. TranslationI sit here alone, sad without dark Nais.Here’s our bed—empty; the sheer slip,Which I tore off with my hands, still remains.Damn the violence! Oh, tell me now, shepherd,Where did…

De pulveri nitrato arcula Ecce resplendet lepidum usque cornuSaeviter rapto nitido iuvencoPulveri atrocis ducis ut nitrato    Arcula fiat.Martis extusum modo tunc triumphisRite peractis, micat eleganter.Sic erat quondam; modo triste pendet    Tempore capto. On the PowderhornBehold an elegant horn continually gleams, a lovely bull having been savagely despoiled so that it may become a ferocious general’s gunpowder horn.…

Ad Pisces Dixi piscibus: “Aspere negatisamico mihimet viro favorem.Cur hoc? Commodior lacu domus miest et in tepidissima culinaquo loco usque focus calet salutans.Sic gaudebitis hospites apud me.”Ex undis modo bullulas videbam;infelix abii domum precator,piscator sed ineptior videbar.Nunc cervum solitum petam vel aprum;illis hospitium dabo benignumet utcumque potest sedes honoris. TranslationI said to the fish: “You…

Sōcrates “Nosce ipsum tē,” sīc est umquam sors proba Delphīs,“Ignōrō omnēs,” ac mens bona Sōcratis est. Translation“Know yourself,” so is ever the excellent oracle at Delphi,“I am ignorant of all things,” and so wise is the mind of Socrates. [The references are to the famous Delphic oracle in Greek “gnothi seauton,” which eventually led Socrates…