Everyone is a stranger

“We die to each other daily. What we know of other people is only our memory of the moments during which we knew them. And they have changed since then. To pretend that they and we are the same is a useful and convenient social convention which must sometimes be broken. We must also remember that at every meeting we are meeting a stranger.”

— The Cocktail Party, T.S. Eliot

"Dirge without Music" by Edna St. Vincent Millay

I am not resigned to the shutting away of loving hearts in the hard ground.
So it is, and so it will be, for so it has been, time out of mind:
Into the darkness they go, the wise and the lovely. Crowned
With lilies and with laurel they go; but I am not resigned.

Lovers and thinkers, into the earth with you.
Be one with the dull, the indiscriminate dust.
A fragment of what you felt, of what you knew,
A formula, a phrase remains, --- but the best is lost.

The answers quick & keen, the honest look, the laughter, the love,
They are gone. They have gone to feed the roses. Elegant and curled
Is the blossom. Fragrant is the blossom. I know. But I do not approve.
More precious was the light in your eyes than all the roses in the world.

Down, down, down into the darkness of the grave
Gently they go, the beautiful, the tender, the kind;
Quietly they go, the intelligent, the witty, the brave.
I know. But I do not approve. And I am not resigned.

Athens: Ancient City of Stories

As an avid student of Rome, for me Athens is inescapable. The poetry, the drama, the teachers, the art, and the philosophy shaped the culture, history, and self-perception of the Romans. Much like the art historians who base much of their knowledge of Greek art on the surviving Roman copies, my knowledge of Athens is largely filtered through the writings and perceptions of the Eternal City. However focused my classics education may have been on the Italian peninsula, I still stumbled across many mentions of Athens and Greece during the course of it, more than I initially remembered.

Strategies for Gifted Children

I was bored to death in elementary and high school. I got better grades in college than I had in my life. I'm in a pedagogy class right now, and we are learning strategies for teaching kids who have a harder time.

I found this article on strategies for teaching gifted kids: http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/Articles_id_10075.aspx

THIS is what would have helped me not be bored for 12 years straight as a kid.

Assignment for Feb 2

1. Read the little Classics book.
2. Read Mary Beard's essay.
3. Consider the major premise: Classics is not merely the study of old, but the study of the gap between that world and ourselves.
4. Read the Oxford Classical Dictionary entries on Catullus and Horace and Claudius.
5. Look at same entries in Oxford Companion to English Literature.
6. Write three questions that I would pose to each of the individuals on three occasions (27 questions total):
  1) In 41 CE, Claudius became Emporer. At the press conference for that occasion.
  2) 1776: Philadelphia: Interview a group of classicaly educated white British men who are redefining the government structures as a new nation whose political system draws heavily on Greek and Roman republican models.
  3) 2012: American undergraduates and graduate students begin a branch of Occupy called Occupy Academia which demands that classics gets more, rather than less, attention at colleges and universities.
7. Prepare to perform as one of the three people in class. We will role play the different press conferences. Use the impersonation principles - you don't know anything more than Catullus (e.g.) would have. Also, write the questions as a peer of the time.

What is classical reception?  It is not THE classical tradition. The Classical Tradition has all the social baggage that comes with study Greece and Rome. The phrase has been faulted for deemphasizing the peoplehood of those who use it.

Horace's father was born a slave and was later freed. He was about 20 years younger than Catullus.

Latin Composition Begins

My formal study of Latin as a language has come to a middle. I have two classes left before I graduate, but neither of them will involve Latin translation. That is why this blog has been so neglected as of late. There are still many interesteing things to study, but creating a useful and coherent blog post out of them sounds like a whole lot of work that I will neither money nor credit for.

However.

I have a collection of Latin textbooks that I recieved as a trust/gift from a former professor who moved to Rome to study canon law. Most of them I haven't touched, although some have been decidedly useful and saved me the trouble of buying a couple textbooks. I was cleaning this morning and noticed a slim volume entitled "Latin Composition." It was published in 1904, and it is filled with exercises of translating English into Latin, based on Caesar Gallic war writings. I think I'm going to work through the exercises on this blog for a bit. No promises of great Latin, but I don't want to lose it and this seems a good way to keep it up. I have also noticed that the rigor of Latin studies has dropped a great deal - what I can do with an advanced degree used to be expected of Latin students entering Harvard undergrad. Very humiliating. So, I am going to get better.

Lesson I

First, the English. Then, my translation. Then, when I'm done, I'll look up Caesar's original and put it in parentheses.

1. Gaul as a whole is divided into three parts. Gallia tota tres partes dividitur.(Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres) My translation has the present passive - Caesar's the perfect passive.
2. The Belgae, Aquitani, and Celts inhabit Gaul. Belgae et Aquitani Celtique Galliam incolunt. (quarum unam incolunt Belgae, aliam Aquitani, tertiam qui ipsorum lingua Celtae) Celts are feminine - I had them as masculine.
3. The Romans call the Celts Gauls. Romani Celtos Gallios appelant.(Nostra Galli appellantur.) The Gauls are the subject and the sentence is passive.
4. These all differ from each other. Illi inter se differunt.
5. The Marne and the Seine are rivers. Marna Sequanaque flumena sunt.
6. The Belgae are the farthest away from the province. Belgae maximae procul provincia sunt. (provinciae longissime absunt)
7. The Belgae and the Germans wage war continually. Belgae et Germani semper bellant. (continenter bellum gerunt) Caesar's is better - I didn't know the best verb or the adverb to use. Mine is technically correct.
8. Merchants very seldom visit the Germans. Mercatora minime saepe Germanos visitant.
9. Merchants import articles which tend to weaken courage. Mercatora ea ad effeminandos animos inferunt.

"somewhere I have never traveled" by E. E. Cummings

somewhere i have never travelled,gladly beyond
any experience,your eyes have their silence:
in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,
or which i cannot touch because they are too near


your slightest look easily will unclose me
though i have closed myself as fingers,
you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens
(touching skilfully,mysteriously)her first rose


or if your wish be to close me, i and
my life will shut very beautifully ,suddenly,
as when the heart of this flower imagines
the snow carefully everywhere descending;


nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals
the power of your intense fragility:whose texture
compels me with the color of its countries,
rendering death and forever with each breathing


(i do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens;only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody,not even the rain,has such small hands

E. E. Cummings

"America for Me" by Henry Van Dyke

'TIS fine to see the Old World, and travel up and down
    Among the famous palaces and cities of renown,
    To admire the crumbly castles and the statues of the kings,—
    But now I think I've had enough of antiquated things. 

           So it's home again, and home again, America for me!
           My heart is turning home again, and there I long to be,
           In the land of youth and freedom beyond the ocean bars,
           Where the air is full of sunlight and the flag is full of stars! 

 

    Oh, London is a man's town, there's power in the air;
    And Paris is a woman's town, with flowers in her hair;
    And it's sweet to dream in Venice, and it's great to study Rome;
    But when it comes to living there is no place like home. 

    I like the German fir-woods, in green battalions drilled;
    I like the gardens of Versailles with flashing fountains filled;
    But, oh, to take your hand, my dear, and ramble for a day
    In the friendly western woodland where Nature has her way! 

    I know that Europe's wonderful, yet something seems to lack:
    The Past is too much with her, and the people looking back.
    But the glory of the Present is to make the Future free,—
    We love our land for what she is and what she is to be. 

           Oh, it's home again, and home again, America for me!
           I want a ship that's westward bound to plough the rolling sea,
           To the bléssed Land of Room Enough beyond the ocean bars,
           Where the air is full of sunlight and the flag is full of star.

--Henry Van Dyke, 1909

The Hortatory Subjunctive (More Prufrock by T.S.Eliot)

The hortatory subjunctive is what makes a sentence a suggestion and an exhortation, but not a command. In English, we use "Let [subject] [verb]." That is a bizarre construction, but it works for us. One of my favorite poems in the universe starts out with this:

Let us go then, you and I,

When the evening is spread out against the sky

Like a patient etherized upon a table;

Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets,

The muttering retreats

Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels

And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells:

Streets that follow like a tedious argument

Of insidious intent

To lead you to an overwhelming question ...

Oh, do not ask, “What is it?”

Let us go and make our visit.

In the room the women come and go

Talking of Michelangelo. 

 

--T.S. Eliot

Assignment for Next Week

1.     Next week, dinner at Dr. Hallett’s house instead of class. At five o'clock.

a.     There, eating and introductions

b.    Performances – update the group, including 201 people, on how we are proceeding and progressing on research on Sulpicia as a reader of Catullus.

c.     Explain more, be more accessible.

d.    Bring the Latin and English translations of the performing poem

e.     Bring props and costumes

g.    In groups, make a scene. Provide written materials and explanations for Latin 201.

h.     Ovid Amores 1.4 - ~10 lines

i.      Finish the commentary

2.     Tonight:

a.     Look at Barsby and how he has presented the following poems :

                                          i.    1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.9, 1.11, 1.12

                                         ii.    1.15 and Horace Odes 3.30

b.    Why was 1.15 never on the AP exam?

c.     Look at the Loeb’s version of Amores 1.15

d.    What is missing in Barsby?       

                                          i.    sound effects and word placement

                                         ii.    meter

                                        iii.    sexual innuendos

Amores 1.9 by Ovid

Militat omnis amans, et habet sua castra Cupido; Attice, crede mihi, militat omnis amans. quae bello est habilis, Veneri quoque convenit aetas. turpe senex miles, turpe senilis amor.	Every lover serves as a soldier, and Cupid has his camp; Atticus, believe me, every lover is a soldier. That which is suitable for war, that is also suited for Venus. The old soldier is shameful, the aged lover is shameful.
quos petiere duces animos in milite forti, 5 hos petit in socio bella puella viro. pervigilant ambo; terra requiescit uterque— ille fores dominae servat, at ille ducis.	The spirits which generals demand in a brave soldier, the same a pretty girl seeks in a male companion. They keep watch together; both rest on the ground--the one serves at the gate of his mistress, the other at that of his general.
militis officium longa est via; mitte puellam, strenuus exempto fine sequetur amans. 10 ibit in adversos montes duplicataque nimbo flumina, congestas exteret ille nives,	Long roads are the duty of a soldier; send the girl, the vigorous lover will follow her to the very end. He will journey in adverse mountains and a river doubled by the storm, he will step forth in thickened snow,
nec freta pressurus tumidos causabitur Euros aptaque verrendis sidera quaeret aquis. quis nisi vel miles vel amans et frigora noctis 15 et denso mixtas perferet imbre nives?	and, about to press on the swellon seas, he will not make an excuse of Euros and seek stars suitable for sweeping clean the waters. Who excepte either a soldier or a lover endures the frigidity of night and snow mixed with pouring sleet?
mittitur infestos alter speculator in hostes; in rivale oculos alter, ut hoste, tenet. ille graves urbes, hic durae limen amicae obsidet; hic portas frangit, at ille fores. 20	One is sent into enemy houses as a spy; the other holds his eyes on his rival, as an enemy. That man occupies weighty cities, this one the threshhold of a cruel girlfriend; this man breaks down gates, but that man, doors.
Saepe soporatos invadere profuit hostes caedere et armata vulgus inerme manu. sic fera Threicii ceciderunt agmina Rhesi, et dominum capti deseruistis equi.	Often it is profitable to invade a sleeping enemy and to slaughter an unarmed crowd with an armed hand. Thus the savage armies of Threician Rhesa fell, and you, captured horses, deserted the master.
nempe maritorum somnis utuntur amantes, 25 et sua sopitis hostibus arma movent. custodum transire manus vigilumque catervas militis et miseri semper amantis opus.	Certainly lovers use the sleep of husbands, and move their arms with the enemies sleeping. It is always the work of a soldier and a poor lover to bands of gaurds and swarms of watchmen.
Mars dubius nec certa Venus; victique resurgunt, quosque neges umquam posse iacere, cadunt. 30 Ergo desidiam quicumque vocabat amorem, desinat. ingenii est experientis amor.	Mars is doubtful and Venus is not certain; and the conquered rise again, and those whom you might deny were ever able to lie down, they fall. Therefore whoever was calling love idleness, let him stop. Love is of an experimental nature.
ardet in abducta Briseide magnus Achilles— dum licet, Argeas frangite, Troes, opes! Hector ab Andromaches conplexibus ibat ad arma, 35 et, galeam capiti quae daret, uxor erat.	Great Achilles burns over the abducted Briseas - while it is permitted, Trojans, break the Argean strength! Hector was leaving to arms from the arms of Andromache, and, she who gave the helmet for his head, was his wife.
summa ducum, Atrides, visa Priameide fertur Maenadis effusis obstipuisse comis. Mars quoque deprensus fabrilia vincula sensit; notior in caelo fabula nulla fuit. 40	The best of generals, Atridea, with Priam's having been seen, is said to have been amazed by her flowing Maedadian locks. And Mars, having been caught, felt the chains of a metal-worker; no story was more well known in heaven.
ipse ego segnis eram discinctaque in otia natus; mollierant animos lectus et umbra meos. inpulit ignavum formosae cura puellae iussit et in castris aera merere suis.	I myself was sluggish and born into easygoing leisure; and my shady bed softened my spirits. Care for a pretty girl impelled sluggish me and ordered me to serve for a penny in her camps.
inde vides agilem nocturnaque bella gerentem. 45 qui nolet fieri desidiosus, amet!	From that time, you will see me nimble and waging war at night. He who does not wish to become idle, let him love!

Amores 1.11 and 1.12 by Ovid

XI Colligere incertos et in ordine ponere crines docta neque ancillas inter habenda Nape, inque ministeriis furtivae cognita noctis utilis et dandis ingeniosa notis	11 Learned in collecting and placing in rows the uncertains locks of hair and not to be held among the serving girls, Nape, and proven in the useful ministerings of the furtive night and ingenious at giving notices
saepe venire ad me dubitantem hortata Corinnam, 5 saepe laboranti fida reperta mihi— accipe et ad dominam peraratas mane tabellas perfer et obstantes sedula pelle moras!	Often exhorting the doubting Corinna to come to me, often having been found faithful to me, laboring--accept and carry to your mistress these inscribed tablets this morning and carefully banish any delays in the way !
nec silicum venae nec durum in pectore ferrum, nec tibi simplicitas ordine maior adest. 10 credibile est et te sensisse Cupidinis arcus— in me militiae signa tuere tuae!	There is not harsh iron nor veins of stone in your heart, nor is there for you simplicity greater than your place. It is believable that you also have felt the bow of Cupid -- protect the banners of your fight in me!
si quaeret quid agam, spe noctis vivere dices; cetera fert blanda cera notata manu. Dum loquor, hora fugit. vacuae bene redde tabellas, 15 verum continuo fac tamen illa legat.	If she seeks what I am doing, you will say that I live by hope for the night; the notated wax carries the rest in my pretty hand. While I speak, the hour flies. Hand over the tablets well to an unocuppied girl; nevertheless  make it that she immediately reads them.
adspicias oculos mando frontemque legentis; et tacito vultu scire futura licet. nec mora, perlectis rescribat multa, iubeto; odi, cum late splendida cera vacat. 20	I command that you inspect her eyes, reading her brow; and it is permitted to know the future from a silent face. Without delay, with it all having been read, command her that she write back many things; I hate it when the broad, shining wax is empty.
conprimat ordinibus versus, oculosque moretur margine in extremo littera rasa meos. Quid digitos opus est graphio lassare tenendo? hoc habeat scriptum tota tabella 'veni!'	The verse squeezes together in rows, and scratched letters are demand attendtion from my eyes in the extreme edge. Is it necessary to tire out her fingers by holding the stylus? Let the writing on the whole tablet be this: "Come!"
non ego victrices lauro redimire tabellas 25 nec Veneris media ponere in aede morer. subscribam: 'VENERI FIDAS SIBI NASO MINISTRAS DEDICAT, AT NUPER VILE FUISTIS ACER.'	I would not delay to encircle the conquering tablets with laurel nor to place them in the middle of the temple of Venus. I will have written: "To Venus Naso dedicates those attendants faithful to him, but lately you were ordinary maplewood."
XII Flete meos casus—tristes rediere tabellae infelix hodie littera posse negat. omina sunt aliquid; modo cum discedere vellet, ad limen digitos restitit icta Nape.	12 Cry for my cause - the sad tablets returned the unlucky letters deny that she can [meet] today. Omens are really something; just when she wished to leave, Nape paused her toes, having been struck on the threshhold.
missa foras iterum limen transire memento 5 cautius atque alte sobria ferre pedem! Ite hinc, difficiles, funebria ligna, tabellae, tuque, negaturis cera referta notis!—	Having been sent out of doors again, remember to cautiously cross the threshhold and to carry your foot to a sober height! Go from here, pesky tablets, funereal firewood, and you, wax crammed with negatory notes!-
quam, puto, de longae collectam flore cicutae melle sub infami Corsica misit apis. 10 at tamquam minio penitus medicata rubebas— ille color vere sanguinolentus erat.	Which wax, I think, was collected from the flower of the long poison hemlock and a Corsican bee sent here beneath its infamous honey. But just as you were red, as if dyed vermillion on the inside--that color was truly bloody.
proiectae triviis iaceatis, inutile lignum, vosque rotae frangat praetereuntis onus! illum etiam, qui vos ex arbore vertit in usum, 15 convincam puras non habuisse manus.	Let you lie down at the point of three roads, useless firewood, and let the weight of a passing wheel break you! Even that man who changed you from a tree into something useful, I will prove that he did not have pure hands.
praebuit illa arbor misero suspendia collo, carnifici diras praebuit illa cruces; illa dedit turpes raucis bubonibus umbras, vulturis in ramis et strigis ova tulit. 20	That tree provided for a miserable neck a gallows; it provided dark crosses for the hangman. That tree gave shameful shadow to hoarse owls, and it carried in its branches the eggs of a vulture and a screech owl.
his ego commisi nostros insanus amores molliaque ad dominam verba ferenda dedi? aptius hae capiant vadimonia garrula cerae, quas aliquis duro cognitor ore legat;	To these did I insanely entrust my loves and give them sweet words to be carried to my mistress? More apt that these waxes sieze the wordy bail promises, which any attorney reads in a harsh voice;
inter ephemeridas melius tabulasque iacerent, 25 in quibus absumptas fleret avarus opes. Ergo ego vos rebus duplices pro nomine sensi. auspicii numerus non erat ipse boni.	better that they lie among the daily newspapers, in which a greedy man might have weeped for his exhausted riches. Therefore I have felt you two-faced in businesses for your name. The number itself was not of a good omen.
quid precer iratus, nisi vos cariosa senectus rodat, et inmundo cera sit alba situ? 30	I am angry, and what should I pray, except that dayed age might gnaw at you, and the white wax might be in a filthy situation?
sdf	sdfs

Amores 1.3 by Ovid

Iusta precor: quae me nuper praedata puella est, aut amet aut faciat, cur ego semper amem! a, nimium volui—tantum patiatur amari; audierit nostras tot Cytherea preces!	I pray for Justice: the girl who has lately conquered me, either let her love me or say why I will always love her! But, I wish for too much -- only let her suffer herself to be loved; Venus will have heard my many prayers!
Accipe, per longos tibi qui deserviat annos; 5 accipe, qui pura norit amare fide! si me non veterum commendant magna parentum nomina, si nostri sanguinis auctor eques,	Accept this man, who will be a slave to you through the long years; accept this man, who knows to love with a pure faithfulness! If great names do not recommend me to your parent, if the author of my blood was an equestrian,
nec meus innumeris renovatur campus aratris, temperat et sumptus parcus uterque parens— 10 at Phoebus comitesque novem vitisque repertor hac faciunt, et me qui tibi donat, Amor,	My field is not renewed with numerous ploughs, and both parents are temperate and consume little-- but Pheobus and his comrades and the inventor of wine made me new, and Love, who gave me to you,
et nulli cessura fides, sine crimine mores nudaque simplicitas purpureusque pudor. non mihi mille placent, non sum desultor amoris: 15 tu mihi, siqua fides, cura perennis eris.	and faithfulness pausing for none, a character without stain and bare simplicity and blushing modesty. A thousand girls are not pleasing, I am not quick-change rider of love: you, for me, if you trust this, will be my for forever.
tecum, quos dederint annos mihi fila sororum, vivere contingat teque dolente mori! te mihi materiem felicem in carmina praebe— provenient causa carmina digna sua. 20	Through which years the thread of the sisters will have given, may it happen that I live with you and to die with you crying! Supply happy material for me in my poem-- the songs will prosper as worthy of their inspiration.
carmine nomen habent exterrita cornibus Io et quam fluminea lusit adulter ave, quaeque super pontum simulato vecta iuvenco virginea tenuit cornua vara manu.	In song Io, terrified by her horns has a name, and the swan which the adulterer frolicked with by the stream, and she who above the sea was carried by a faux-bull, the virgin held the bendy horn with her hand.
nos quoque per totum pariter cantabimur orbem, 25 iunctaque semper erunt nomina nostra tuis.	We will be sung of together through the whole world, and always my name with be joined with yours.

"Amores 1.1" by Ovid

Arma gravi numero violentaque bella parabam edere, materia conveniente modis. par erat inferior versus—risisse Cupido dicitur atque unum surripuisse pedem.	I was preparing to speak of many violent wars with heavy weaponry, with wordstuff appropriate to the size. It was equal to lesser verse - Cupid was said to have laughed and stolen one foot.
'Quis tibi, saeve puer, dedit hoc in carmina iuris? 5 Pieridum vates, non tua turba sumus. quid, si praeripiat flavae Venus arma Minervae, ventilet accensas flava Minerva faces?	"Who gave to you, savage boy, this things in song by oath? We poets of the Muses, we are not your crowd. What, ifVenus snatched the arms of golden-haired Minerva, and golden-haired Minerva fanned the burning torches?
quis probet in silvis Cererem regnare iugosis, lege pharetratae Virginis arva coli? 10 crinibus insignem quis acuta cuspide Phoebum instruat, Aoniam Marte movente lyram?	Who would approve of Ceres ruling in the mountainous woods, of fields being cultivated by the rule of the bequivered Virgin? Who will equip Phoebus of long hair with a sharp spear, the Aonian lyre with a moving Mars.
sunt tibi magna, puer, nimiumque potentia regna; cur opus adfectas, ambitiose, novum? an, quod ubique, tuum est? tua sunt Heliconia tempe? 15 vix etiam Phoebo iam lyra tuta sua est?	Boy, there are to you great kingdoms and too much power; why do you create a new work, ambitious one? Or, anything everywhere, is it yours? Is the Heliconia weather yours? Is even the lyre of Pheobus safe now?
cum bene surrexit versu nova pagina primo, attenuat nervos proximus ille meos; nec mihi materia est numeris levioribus apta, aut puer aut longas compta puella comas.' 20	When a new page rises well with a new line, the next one diminishes my strengths; my material is not suitable for lighter meters, not composed for a boy or a girl with long hair."
Questus eram, pharetra cum protinus ille soluta legit in exitium spicula facta meum, lunavitque genu sinuosum fortiter arcum, 'quod' que 'canas, vates, accipe' dixit 'opus!'	I had been complaining, when suddenly he chose from his unbound quiver an arrow made into my destruction, and he curved on his knee an arched bow strongly. He said, "What you sing, poet, accept this work!"
Me miserum! certas habuit puer ille sagittas. 25 uror, et in vacuo pectore regnat Amor. Sex mihi surgat opus numeris, in quinque residat: ferrea cum vestris bella valete modis!	Poor me! That boy had sure-firing arrows. I am burning, and in my empty heart Amor is king. My work rises in six feet, and subsides in five: Farewell, iron bars with your meters!
cingere litorea flaventia tempora myrto, Musa, per undenos emodulanda pedes! 30	Circle with myrtle from the golden shore, Muse, and measure out the meter by 11s.

"It's all I have" by Emily Dickenson

It's all I have to bring to-day
This, and my heart beside
THis, and my heart, and all the fields,
And all the meadows wide.
Be sure you count, should I forget, -
Someone the sum could tell, -
This, and my heart, and all the bees
Which in the clover dwell.

-Emily Dickinson

"In my own shire" by A.E. Housman

IN my own shire, if I was sad,
Homely comforters I had:
The earth, because my heart was sore,
Sorrowed for the son she bore;
And standing hills, long to remain,	5
Shared their short-lived comrade’s pain
And bound for the same bourn as I,
On every road I wandered by,
Trod beside me, close and dear,
The beautiful and death-struck year:	10
Whether in the woodland brown
I heard the beechnut rustle down,
And saw the purple crocus pale
Flower about the autumn dale;
Or littering far the fields of May	15
Lady-smocks a-bleaching lay,
And like a skylit water stood
The bluebells in the azured wood.
Yonder, lightening other loads,
The seasons range the country roads,	20
But here in London streets I ken
No such helpmates, only men;
And these are not in plight to bear,
If they would, another’s care.
They have enough as ’tis: I see	25
In many an eye that measures me
The mortal sickness of a mind
Too unhappy to be kind.
Undone with misery, all they can
Is to hate their fellow man;	30
And till they drop they needs must still
Look at you and wish you ill.  --A.E. Housman

Tibullus 3.5

Vos tenet, Etruscis manat quae fontibus unda, unda sub aestiuum non adeunda Canem, nunc autem sacris Baiarum proxima lymphis, cum se purpureo uere remittit humus. At mihi Persephone nigram denuntiat horam: 5 immerito iuueni parce nocere, dea. Non ego temptauit nulli temeranda uirorum audax laudandae sacra docere deae, nec mea mortiferis infecit pocula sucis dextera nec cuiquam trita uenena dedit, 10 nec nos sacrilegos templis admouimus ignes, nec cor sollicitant facta nefanda meum, nec nos insanae meditantes iurgia mentis impia in aduersos soluimus ora deos. Et nondum cani nigros laesere capillos, 15 nec uenit tardo curua senecta pede: natalem primo nostrum uidere parentes, cum cecidit fato consul uterque pari. Quid fraudare iuuat uitem crescentibus uuis et modo nata mala uellere poma manu? 20 Parcite, pallentes undas quicumque tenetis duraque sortiti tertia regna dei. Elysios olim liceat cognoscere campos Lethaeamque ratem Cimmeriosque lacus, cum mea rugosa pallebunt ora senecta 25 et referam pueris tempora prisca senex. Atque utinam uano nequiquam terrear aestu! Languent ter quinos sed mea membra dies. At uobis Tuscae celebrantur numina lymphae et facilis lenta pellitur unda manu. 30 Viuite felices, memores et uiuite nostri, siue erimus seu nos fata fuisse uelint. Interea nigras pecudes promittite Diti et niuei lactis pocula mixta mero.

Which wave holds you in the Etruscan baths, you hold the wave under the age of Sirius is not to be reached, now, moreover, next to the sacred waters of Baia, when the soil returned itself in rosy spring. But for me Persephone was announcing the black hour: goddess, refrain from harming me, a youth undeserving. I did not try to teach the sacred things of the praiseworthy goddess to be desecrated, I, the most audacious of men, my left hand does not make evil the cups with poison syrup nor to which things gave pulverized drugs, nor do we set sacriligious fires to the temples, nor do immoral deeds lurk in my heart, nor do we, contemplating strifes in an insane mind, loosen our mouth against the opposing gods. And not yet do dogs harm black hairs, nor does crooked age come with a limping step: first my parents saw my birth, when each consul met the same end. what pleases to steal life from spring grapes and to pluck the new fruit with an evil hand? Spare me, pale waves and whatsoever of the day you hold and what harsh third kingdom has been alloted. Once it was permitted to know the Elysian fields and the Lethan boat and the Cimmerian pit, when faces sprinkled with age turn pale and I, an old man, might refer the ancient times to the boy. And oh that  I might be afraid of nothing in this imaginary fever! Three of my limbs tire for five days. But the gods of a Tuscan spring are celebrated by you and the wave is easily parted by a sluggish hand. Live on happily, and remember of and live, whether we will exist or whether the fates decree that we did exist. Meanwhile send forth to Pluto the black sheep and the cup mixed with white wine and milks.

Tibullus 3.20

Rumor ait crebro nostram peccare puellam
    nunc ego me surdis auribus esse uelim.
Crimina non haec sunt nostro sine facta dolore:
    quid miserum torques, rumor acerbe? Tace.
Rumor says that our girl frequently sins
Now I wish to be of deaf ears.
There charges are not made without my sorrow:
why do you torture me, miserable, bitter rumor? Be silent.

Tibullus 3.19

Nulla tuum nobis subducet femina lectum:
    hoc primum iuncta est foedere nostra uenus.
Tu mihi sola places, nec iam te praeter in urbe
    formosa est oculis ulla puella meis.
Atque utinam posses uni mihi bella uideri!               5
    Displiceas aliis: sic ego tutus ero.
Nil opus inuidia est, procul absit gloria uulgi:
    qui sapit, in tacito gaudeat ille sinu.
Sic ego secretis possum bene uiuere siluis,
    qua nulla humano sit uia trita pede.               10
Tu mihi curarum requies, tu nocte uel atra
    lumen, et in solis tu mihi turba locis.
Nunc licet e caelo mittatur amica Tibullo,
    mittetur frustra deficietque Venus;
hoc tibi sancta tuae Iunonis numina iuro,               15
    quae sola ante alios est mihi magna deos.
Quid facio demens? Heu! heu! mea pignora cedo;
    iuraui stulte: proderat iste timor.
Nunc tu fortis eris, nunc tu me audacius ures:
    hoc peperit misero garrula lingua malum.               20
Iam faciam quodcumque uoles, tuus usque manebo,
    nec fugiam notae seruitium dominae,
sed Veneris sanctae considam uinctus ad aras:
    haec notat iniustos supplicibusque fauet.

No woman will steal your love from me:
This first my love was joined with a bond.
You are pleasing for me alone, now beside you in the city
no woman is beautiful in my eyes.
And how you are able to seem beautiful to me alone!
You are displeasing to other: thus I will be safe.
There is no need of envy, the glory of the rabble is absent far away:
He who understands, in a silent space let that man rejoice.
Thus I am able to live well in my secret forest,
that no well-trodden path may be for a human foot.
You for me are a respite from cares, you at night are actually a black light,
and in the alone places you are for the crowd.
Now it is permitted from the heavens that a girlfriend is sent to Tibullus,
she is sent in vain and Love will fail;
this for you I swear on the sacred gods of your Juno,
who alone before other gods is the greatest of yours.
What do I make demented? Hey! Hey! I concede  my assurances;
I swore stupidly: that fear had been useful.
Now you will be mighty, now you, brave, will burn for me:
this a talkative tongue bore evil with sadness.
Now I will do whatever you wish, I will remain yours all the way,
I will not flee the servitude of a noted mistress,
but conquered I will sit down at the sacred altars of Venus:
this brands offenders and favors supplicants.

Sulpicia 6 (Tibullus 3.18)

Ne tibi sim, mea lux, aeque iam feruida cura
    ac uideor paucos ante fuisse dies,
si quicquam tota commisi stulta iuuenta
    cuius me fatear paenituisse magis,
hesterna quam te solum quod nocte reliqui,               5
    ardorem cupiens dissimulare meum.

My light, let me not be for you now a feverish care,
as I seem to have been a few days before,
if I have committed anything in my whole stupid youth
of which I might confess to have repented of more,
than yesterday I left you, alone, at night,
wishing to conceal my adoration.