Let others stockpile flashy gold in stacks
and miles of richly cultivated tracts,
and struggle always fearing hostile raids
in sleeplessness the brazen horn upbraids;
but let me lounge in sluggishness and dearth,
with constant fire playing on my hearth.
When time is ripe, I’ll plant the soft vine-shoots,
and pluck, at a country amble, the plump fruits—
allied with Hope, I’ll hope to have robust
stockpiles of grain, and vats abrim with must.…..…..………….. 10
I bow wherever flowers deck a lone
log in the fields, or ancient roadside stone,
and any fruits the new year tenders me
I set before the rural deity,
praying the wheaten crown I offer to
your temple doors, blonde Ceres, pleases you,
and that Priapus’ sickle and red nose
from heavy-loaded orchards rout the crows.
Keepers of paltry farms once prosperous,
o wayside gods, bestow your gifts on us!…..…..…………..…….. 20
Where herds could breed a sacrificial cow,
thin grazing only yields a small lamb now.
The lamb will die, as country kids flock round
and shout Heigh-ho, may crops and wine abound!
Now I could live with little, well content,
not always on some long march I resent,
shirking the summer Dogstar rising hotter
beneath a shade-tree next to gliding water.
I would not be ashamed to wield a hoe,
or goad the balky herds to make them go,…..…..…..……….….. 30
or find some lamb or kid left out to roam,
forgotten by its dam, and bring it home.
But you, you wolves and bandits, spare my meager
stables, and prey on others that are bigger.
I always bless my shepherd and endear
Pales with a splash of milk each year.
Be with me, gods; don’t scorn my gifts, the fare
of a poor table and pure earthenware—
ware like the rustic of an older day
created when he shaped the yielding clay.…..…..…..………….. 40
Yet I do not request those richer yields
which my old fathers garnered from their fields;
little will do. Enough, to lay my head
and burden down someday on my own bed.
How sweet to hear the wild winds at alarms
supine with a soft mistress in my arms!
Or, while the frozen rain of winter pours,
to dream, with the hearth helping, safe indoors!
This is the life for me; he earns his stash
who braves the rains and whitecaps which they lash.…....….. 50
Let all the world’s gold, all its jewels, explode,
before a girl weeps that I’m on the road!
Let land and sea yield to your warlike toils,
Messalla, and your foyer flaunt the spoils;
but as for me, a beauty keeps me bound
to sit, by her shut door, on the hard ground.
My Delia, it’s not praise I’m after! Jeer
that I’m a sluggish deadbeat—just be near.
May I see you as my demise draws nigh,
my failing hand in your hand as I die.…..…..…..…..……….….. 60
You’ll weep for me, laid on the pyre to burn,
and give me kisses and hot tears in turn.
You’ll weep—your heart’s not sheathed in a hard case;
there is no flinty rock in that soft place.
No boy will head home with an unwet eye
from the sad scene; no maiden’s will be dry.
But Delia, don’t hurt my ghost; forebear
to tear your cheeks and tear your loosened hair.
Now let us love as long as Fates allow—
soon Death will come with darkness on his brow;…..…..….. 70
soon sluggish Age will catch us, which forbids
love’s pleasures and persuasions to white heads.
Now is the time to revel unabashed
in passion’s play and fighting and doors smashed.
Here I’m both general and infantry;
standards and trumpets, clear out, far from me—
go gash the corslets of cupidity!
Get rich. With my own stockpile and my health
I shall look down on hunger and on wealth.
Tibullus 1.1
Divitias alius fulvo sibi congerat auro
…..Et teneat culti iugera multa soli,
Quem labor adsiduus vicino terreat hoste,
…..Martia cui somnos classica pulsa fugent:
Me mea paupertas vita traducat inerti,…..………………..…….5
…..Dum meus adsiduo luceat igne focus.
Ipse seram teneras maturo tempore vites
…..Rusticus et facili grandia poma manu;
Nec spes destituat, sed frugum semper acervos
…..Praebeat et pleno pinguia musta lacu.…..………………….10
Nam veneror, seu stipes habet desertus in agris
…..Seu vetus in trivio florida serta lapis,
Et quodcumque mihi pomum novus educat annus,
…..Libatum agricolae ponitur ante deo.
Flava Ceres, tibi sit nostro de rure corona…..…………..…….15
…..Spicea, quae templi pendeat ante fores,
Pomosisque ruber custos ponatur in hortis,
…..Terreat ut saeva falce Priapus aves.
Vos quoque, felicis quondam, nunc pauperis agri
…..Custodes, fertis munera vestra, Lares.…..…..……………..20
Tunc vitula innumeros lustrabat caesa iuvencos,
…..Nunc agna exigui est hostia parva soli.
Agna cadet vobis, quam circum rustica pubes
…..Clamet ‘io messes et bona vina date’.
Iam modo iam possim contentus vivere parvo…..………….25
…..Nec semper longae deditus esse viae,
Sed Canis aestivos ortus vitare sub umbra
…..Arboris ad rivos praetereuntis aquae.
Nec tamen interdum pudeat tenuisse bidentem
…..Aut stimulo tardos increpuisse boves,…..…..…………….30
Non agnamve sinu pigeat fetumve capellae
…..Desertum oblita matre referre domum.
At vos exiguo pecori, furesque lupique,
…..Parcite: de magno est praeda petenda grege.
Hic ego pastoremque meum lustrare quotannis…..…….….35
…..Et placidam soleo spargere lacte Palem.
Adsitis, divi, neu vos e paupere mensa
…..Dona nec e puris spernite fictilibus.
Fictilia antiquus primum sibi fecit agrestis
…..Pocula, de facili conposuitque luto.…..…..………………..40
Non ego divitias patrum fructusque requiro,
…..Quos tulit antiquo condita messis avo:
Parva seges satis est, satis requiescere lecto
…..Si licet et solito membra levare toro.
Quam iuvat inmites ventos audire cubantem…..…..………45
…..Et dominam tenero continuisse sinu
Aut, gelidas hibernus aquas cum fuderit Auster,
…..Securum somnos igne iuvante sequi.
Hoc mihi contingat. Sit dives iure, furorem
…..Qui maris et tristes ferre potest pluvias.…..…..………..50
O quantum est auri pereat potiusque smaragdi,
…..Quam fleat ob nostras ulla puella vias.
Te bellare decet terra, Messalla, marique,
…..Ut domus hostiles praeferat exuvias;
Me retinent vinctum formosae vincla puellae,…..………..55
…..Et sedeo duras ianitor ante fores.
Non ego laudari curo, mea Delia; tecum
…..Dum modo sim, quaeso segnis inersque vocer.
Te spectem, suprema mihi cum venerit hora,
…..Te teneam moriens deficiente manu.…..………………..60
Flebis et arsuro positum me, Delia, lecto,
…..Tristibus et lacrimis oscula mixta dabis.
Flebis: non tua sunt duro praecordia ferro
…..Vincta, neque in tenero stat tibi corde silex.
Illo non iuvenis poterit de funere quisquam…..……..…..65
…..Lumina, non virgo, sicca referre domum.
Tu manes ne laede meos, sed parce solutis
…..Crinibus et teneris, Delia, parce genis.
Interea, dum fata sinunt, iungamus amores:
…..Iam veniet tenebris Mors adoperta caput,…..…….….70
Iam subrepet iners aetas, nec amare decebit,
…..Dicere nec cano blanditias capite.
Nunc levis est tractanda Venus, dum frangere postes
…..Non pudet et rixas inseruisse iuvat.
Hic ego dux milesque bonus: vos, signa tubaeque,.…….75
…..Ite procul, cupidis volnera ferte viris,
Ferte et opes: ego conposito securus acervo
…..Despiciam dites despiciamque famem.