Lucius Seneca - Yale Required Reading - Collected Works (Vol. 2)

A would-be consul lies in hope, Vatinius;

Enough, Catullus! how can you delay to die?

Table of Contents

How I laughed at a wag amid the circle!

He, when Calvus in high denunciation

Of Vatinius had declaim'd divinely,

Hands uplifted as in supreme amazement,

Cried 'God bless us! a wordy cockalorum!'

Table of Contents

Otho's head is a very dwarf; a rustic's

Shanks has Herius, only semi-cleanly;

Libo's airs to a fume of art refine them.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Yet thou flee'st not above my keen iambics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .[ So may destiny doom me quite to silence ] As I care not if every line offend thee And Sufficius, age in youth's revival. . . . . . . . .Thou shalt kindle at innocent iambics, Mighty general, once again returning.

Table of Contents

1.

List, I beg, provided you're in humour,

Speak your privacy, show what alley veils you.

You I sought on Campus, I, the lesser,

You on Circus, in all the bills but you, sir.

You with father Jove in holy temple.

Then, where flocks the parade to Magnus' arches,

Friend, I hail'd each lady promenader,

Each, I found, did face me quite sedately.

2.

What? they steal, I loudly cried protesting,

My Camerius? out upon the wenches!

Answer'd one and lightly bared a bosom,

'See! what bowery roses; here he hides him.'

Yea 'twould task e'en Hercules to bear you,

You so scornful, friend, in your refusing.

3.

Not tho' I were warder of the Cretans,

Not tho' Pegasus on his airy pinion,

Perseus feathery-footed, I a Ladas,

Rhesus' chariot yok'd to snowy coursers,

Add each feathery sandal, every flying

Power, ask fleetness of all the winds of heaven,

Mine, Camerius, and to me devoted;

Yet with drudgery sorely spent should I, yet

Worn, outworn with languor unto languor

Faint, O friend, in an empty quest to find you.

4.

Say, where think you anon to be; declare it,

Fair and free, submit, commit to daylight.

What? still thrall to the lovely lily ladies?

Keep close mouth, lock fast the tongue within it,

Love's felicity falls without fruition;

Venus still is free to talk, a babbler.

Yet close palate, an if ye will it; only

In my love some part to bear refuse not.

Table of Contents

O rare sympathies! happy rakes united!

There Mamurra the woman, here a Caesar.

Who can wonder? An ugly brand on either,

His, true Formian, his, politely Roman,

Rests indelible, in the bone residing.

Either infamous, each a twin dishonour,

Bookish brethren, a dainty pair pedantic;

One adultrous, as hungry he; with equal

Parts in women, a lusty corporation.

O rare sympathies! happy rakes united!

Table of Contents

That bright Lesbia, Caelius, the self-same

Peerless Lesbia, she than whom Catullus

Self nor family more devoutly cherish'd,

By foul roads, or in every shameful alley,

Strains the vigorous issue of the people.

Table of Contents

Poor Rufa from Bononia Rufulus gallants,

Menenius' errant lady, she that in grave-yards

(You've seen her often) snaps from every pile her meal,

When hotly chasing dusty loaves the fire rolls down,

She felt some half-shorn corpseman and his hand's big blow.

Table of Contents

Hadst thou a Libyan lioness on heights all stone,

A Scylla, barking wolvish at the loins' last verge,

To bear thee, O black-hearted, O to shame forsworn,

That unto supplication in my last sad need

Thou mightst not harken, deaf to ruth, a beast, no man?

Table of Contents

God, on verdurous Helicon

Dweller, child of Urania,

Thou that draw'st to the man the fair

Maiden, O Hymenaeus, O

Hymen, O Hymenaeus:

Wreathe thy brows in amaracus'

Fragrant blossom; an aureat

Veil be round thee; approach, in all

Joy, approach with a luminous

Foot, a sandal of amber.

Come, for jolly the time, awake.

Chant in melody musical

Hymns of bridal; on earth a foot

Beating, hands to the winds above

Torches oozily swinging.

Such, as she that on Idaly

Venus dwelleth, appear'd before

Him, the Phrygian arbiter,

So with Mallius happily

Happy Junia weddeth.

Like some myrtle of Asia

Bright in airily blossoming

Boughs, the wood Hamadryades

Nurse with showery dew, to be

Theirs, a tender plaything.

So come to us in haste; away,

Leave thy Thespian hollow-arch'd

Rock, muse-haunted, Aonian,

Drench'd in spray from aloft, the cold

Drift of Nymph Aganippe.

Homeward summon a sovereign

Wife most passionate, holden in

Love fast prisoner: ivy not

Closer closes an elm around,

Interchangeably trailing.

You too with him, O you for whom

Comes as joyous a time, your own.

Virgins stainless of heart, arise.

Chant in unison, Hymen, O

Hymen, O Hymenaeus.

That, more readily listening,

Whiles your song to familiar

Duty calls him, he hie apace,

Lord of fair paramours, of youth's

Fair affection uniter.

Who more worthy than he to list

Lovers wearily languishing?

Bends from heaven a sovereign

God adorabler? Hymen, O

Hymen, O Hymenaeus.

You the father in years for his

Child beseecheth; a virginal

Zone falls slackly to earth for you,

You half-fear in his hankering

Lists the groomsman approaching.

You from motherly lap the bright

Girl can sever; your hand divine

Gives dominion, ushering

Warm the lover. O Hymen, O

Hymen, O Hymenaeus.

Nought delightful, if you be far,

Nought unharmed of envious

Tongues, Love wins him: if you be near

Much he wins him. O excellent

God, that hath not a rival.

Houses cannot, if you be far,

Yield their children, a babe renew

Sire or mother: if you be near,

Comes renewal. O excellent

God, that hath not a rival.

If your great ceremonial

Fail, no champion yeomanry

Guards the border. If you be near

Arms the border. O excellent

God, that hath not a rival.

Fling the portal apart. The bride

Waits. O see ye the luminous

Torch-flakes ruddily flickering?

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Nought she hears us: her innocent Eyes do weep to be going.

Weep not, lady; for envious

Tongue no lovelier owneth, Au-

Runculeia; nor any more

Fair saw rosily bright the dawn

Leave his chamber in Ocean.

Such in many a flowering

Garden, trimm'd for a lord's delight,

Stands some delicate hyacinth.

Yet you tarry. The day declines.

Forth, fair bride, to the people.

Forth, fair bride, to the people, if

So it likes you, a-listening

Words that please us. O eye ye yon

Torches ruddily flickering?

Forth, fair bride, to the people.

Husband never of yours shall haunt

Stained wanton, a mutinous

Fancy shamefully following,

Tire not ever, or e'er from your

Dainty bosom unyoke him.

He more lithe than a vine amid

Trees, that, mazily folded, it