TRANSLATIONES / TRANSLATIONS.
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SANAZARI HEXASTICON.
Viderat Adriacis quondam Neptunus in undis
Stare urbem et toto ponere Jura mari:
Nunc mihi Tarpeias<96.1> quantumvis, Jupiter, Arces
Objice et illa mihi moenia Martis, ait,
Seu pelago Tibrim praefers, urbem aspice utramque,
Illam homines dices, hanc posuisse deos.
SANAZAR'S HEXASTICK.
In Adriatick waves when Neptune saw,
The city stand, and give the seas a law:
Now i' th' Tarpeian tow'rs Jove rival me,
And Mars his walls impregnable, said he;
Let seas to Tyber yield; view both their ods!<96.2>
You'l grant that built by men, but this by gods.
<96.1> Rome.
<96.2> Points of difference or contrast. For LET SEAS, &c., we ought to read SHALL SEAS, &c.
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IN VIRGILIUM. PENTADII.
Pastor, arator, eques; pavi, colui, superavi;
Capras, rus, hostes; fronde, ligone, manu.
IN ENGLISH.
A swain, hind, knight: I fed, till'd, did command:
Goats, fields, my foes: with leaves, a spade, my hand.
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DE SCAEVOLA.
Lictorem pro rege necans nunc mutius ultro
Sacrifico propriam concremat igne manum:
Miratur Porsenna virum, paenamque relaxans
Maxima cum obscessis faedera a victor init,
Plus flammis patriae confert quam fortibus armis,
Una domans bellum funere dextra sua.
ENGLISHED.
The hand, by which no king but serjeant<97.1> dies,
Mutius in fire doth freely sacrifice;
The prince admires the Hero, quits his pains,
And Victor from the seige peace entertains;
Rome's more oblig'd to flames than arms or pow'r,
When one burnt hand shall the whole war devour.<97.2>
<97.1> A somewhat imperfect rendering of LICTOR.
<97.2> The reader will easily judge for himself of the valueless character of these translations; but it is only just to Lovelace to suggest that they were probably academic exercises only, and at the same time to submit that they are not much worse than Marlowe's translation of Ovid, and many other versions of the Classics then current.
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DE CATONE.
Invictus victis in partibus omnia Caesar
Vincere qui potuit, te, Cato, non potuit.
OF CATO.
The world orecome, victorious Caesar, he
That conquer'd all, great Cato, could not thee.
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ITEM.
Ictu non potuit primo Cato solvere vitam;
Defecit tanto vulnere victa manus:
Altius inseruit digitos, qua spiritus ingens
Exiret, magnum dextera fecit iter.
Opposuit fortuna moram, involvitque, Catonis
Scires ut ferro plus valuisse manum.