Cuneta manus avidas fugient hæredis, amico

Quæ dederis animo.

Cum semel occideris, et de te splendida Minos
Fecerit arbitria;

Non, Torquate, genus, non te facundia, non te
Restituet pietas.

Infernis neque enim tenebris Diana pudicum
Liberat Hippolytum ;

Nec Lethæa valet Theseus abrumpere caro
Vincula Pirithoo.

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Whate'er with lib'ral hand thy gen'rous bounty shares,

Shall 'scape thy greedy heirs;

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When thou shalt once have died, and Minos shall on thee
Have pass'd his stern decree,

Torquatus, not thy blood, thine eloquence, thy worth,
Can bring thee back to earth.

To win Hippolytus from out that dark domain

Chaste Dian strove in vain ;

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Nor Theseus could from bonds of Lethe's slumb'rous wave His lov'd Pirithöus save.

CATULLUS.

Car. xxxi.

AD SIRMIONEM PENINSULAM.

PENINSULARUM, SIRMIO, insularumque
Ocelle, quascunque in liquentibus stagnis,
Marique vasto fert uterque Neptunus :
Quam te libenter, quamque lætus inviso!

Vix mî ipse credens Thyniam, atque Bithynos

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Liquisse campos, et videre te in tuto.

O quid solutis est beatius curis?

Cum mens onus reponit, ac peregrino

Labore fessi venimus larem ad nostrum,

Desideratoque acquiescimus lecto.

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CATULLUS.

SIRMIO.

SIRMIO, fair eye of all the laughing isles
And jutting capes that rise from either main,
Or crown our inland waters, with glad smiles
Of heartfelt joy I greet thee once again,
Scarce daring to believe mine eyes, that see
No more Bithynia's plains, but fondly rest on thee,

My own, my chosen Home! Oh, what more blest
Than that sweet pause of troubles, when the mind
Flings off its burthen, and when, long oppress'd

By cares abroad and foreign toil, we find

Our native home again, and rest our head

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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.