Thursday, February 07, 2013

 

A Quiet Life

De quieta vita (Poetae Latini Minores vol. 4, p. 57 Baehrens = Anthologia Latina 804 Riese; my translation):
Phoebus, be well disposed toward my undertakings, which aim at nothing lofty,
    Nothing that the envious crowd would wish to be given to them by you.
Turn away riches; let the office of praetor fall to the share of others
    Who want it, let great fame delight others.
Let this one, a commander, lead troops and happily        5
    Manage distant military camps with anxious zeal,
Let the province fear that one's bundle of twelve rods;
    Let him hear hand-clapping thrice repeated.
Let my care be for the fields of my meager estate and for tranquil poems,
    And let not a single day go by for me without my brother;        10
Let the honorable leisure of an inactive life be my lot,
    And may my mind neither fear nor desire anything;
May old age, without suffering, release me after long obscurity,
    And may my two brothers gather the bones from my funeral pyre.

Phoebe, fave coeptis nil grande petentibus aut quod
    A te transferri turba maligna velit.
Divitias averte; alios praetura sequatur
    Optantes, alios gloria magna iuvet.
Hic praefectus agat classes alienaque castra        5
    Laetus sollicita sedulitate regat,
Bis senos huius metuat provincia fasces;
    Audiat hic plausus ter geminante manu.
Pauperis arva soli secura<que> carmina curem,
    Nec sine fratre mihi transeat una dies.        10
Otia contingant pigrae non sordida vitae,
    Nec timeat quidquam mens mea nec cupiat;
Ignotumque diu solvat non aegra senectus
    Ossaque combusti frater uterque legat.

3 aveste cod.: averte Baehrens
4 gratia cod.: gloria Baehrens
5 profectus cod.: praefectus Baehrens
6 sollicitate roget cod.: sedulitate regat Baehrens
9 que add. Baehrens
10 me cod.: sine Baehrens
14 compositi cod.: combusti Baehrens



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