TRANSLATIONS
from the Carm: Quad. [1]
I
"Vespere sub verno &c" [2]
See the fair, vernal Eve begins to smile!
At length the showers are past; yet drops awhile
The sweet relenting face of Heaven distils,
And the fresh breeze with balmy fragrance fills.
Now shines the bow with interrupted gleam5
While the fields brighten in th'uncertain beam.
O'er the moist plains the frequent fungus swells,
A deeper ordure on the valley dwells.
Shook from the aged branch the vigorous snail
Dares in the path his shining course to trail,10
While mid the thicket that o'erhangs the way
The glow-worm trembling shoots his emerald ray;
Ah! not for us could Eve such charms diffuse,
Or shed o'er all those brightly lovelier hues,
Had not our morning's lustre been o'erpowered15
And black deforming clouds o'er day's sad bosom lowered!
Notes
[1] EDITOR'S NOTE: Charles Este and Antonius Parsons co-edited the Carmina quadragesimalia ab aedis Christi alumnis
composita et ab ejusdem aedis Baccalaureis determinantibus in schola naturalis philosophiae publice recitata for Christ Church,
University of Oxford, in 1723. BACK
[2] EDITOR'S NOTE: "See the fair, vernal Eve begins to smile!" does not appear in Psyche, with Other Poems or
Mary (or Collected Poems and Journals) and is undated in Verses. It
presents a verse translation of the 14-line Carmina quadragesimalia poem “Vespere sub verno” (“The spring evening”) under
the heading "An Privatio fit Principium? Affirmatur":
Vespere sub verno, tandem actis imbribus, aether
Guttatim
sparsis rorat apertus aquis.
Aureus abrupto curvamine desuper arcus
Fulget, et ancipiti lumine tingit
agros.
Continuo fensus pertentat frigoris aura5
Vivida, et insinuans mulcet amoenus odor.
Pallentes
sparsim accrescunt per pascua sungi,
Laetius et torti graminis herba viret.
Plurimus annosa decussus ab
arbore limax
In putri lentum tramite sulcat iter.10
Splendidus accendit per dumos lampada vermis.
Roscida dum tremulâ femita luce micat.
Non haec praestiterat laetus spectacula vesper,
Nubila texissent nî prius atra diem.
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