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Ad C: Favonium Aristium


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Ad C: Favonium Aristium


1 Barbaras aedes aditure mecum,
2 Quas Eris semper fovet inquieta,
3 Lis ubi late sonat, et togatum
4                     AEstuat agmen!

5 Dulcius quanto, patulis sub ulmi
6 Hospitae ramis temere jacentem
7 Sic libris horas, tenuique inertes
8                     Fallere Musa?

9 Saepe enim curis vagor expedita
10 Mente; dum, blandam meditans Camoenam,
11 Vix malo rori, meminive serae
12                     Cedere nocti;

13 Et, pedes quo me rapiunt, in omni
14 Colle Parnassum videor videre
15 Fertilem sylvae, gelidamque in omni
16                     Fonte Aganippen.

17 Risit et Ver me, facilesque Nymphae
18 Nare captantem, nec ineleganti,
19 Mane quicquid de violis eundo
20                     Surripit aura:

21 Me reclinatum teneram per herbam;
22 Qua leves cursus aqua cunque ducit,
23 Et moras dulci strepitu lapillo
24                     Nectit in omni.

25 Hae novo nostrum fere pectus anno
26 Simplices curae tenuere, caelum
27 Quamdiu sudum explicuit Favoni
28                     Purior hora:

29 Otia et campos nec adhuc relinquo,
30 Nec magis Phoebo Clytie fidelis;
31 (Ingruant venti licet, et senescat
32                     Mollior aestas).

33 Namque, seu, laetos hominum labores
34 Prataque et montes recreante curru,
35 Purpura tractus oriens Eoos
36                     Vestit, et auro;

37 Sedulus servo, veneratus orbem
38 Prodigum splendoris: amoeniori
39 Sive dilectam meditatur igne
40                     Pingere Calpen;

41 Usque dum, fulgore magis, magis jam
42 Languido circum, variata nubes
43 Labitur furtim, viridisque in umbras
44                     Scena recessit.

45 O ego felix, vice si (nec unquam
46 Surgerem rursus) simili cadentem
47 Parca me lenis sineret quieto
48                     Fallere letho!

49 Multa flagranti, radiisque cincto
50 Integris ah! quam nihil inviderem,
51 Cum Dei ardentes medius quadrigas
52                     Sentit Olympus?

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0 Ad C: Favonium Aristium 1 Explanatory

Title/Paratext] "[Prose translation by J. R. [...]" H.W. Starr/J.R. Hendrickson, 1966.

"[Prose translation by J. R. Hendrickson:]
"To Gaius Favonius Aristius"

    O thou about to go with me to the barbaric temple which restless Eris always haunts, where legal strife resounds on every side and the toga-clad army swarms!
    How much sweeter it would be to forget business and stretch at ease beneath the spreading branches of a sheltering elm and while away the idle hours with books and the humble Muse?
    For now I often wander with care-free mind, while, as I meditate the soft Italian Muse, I scarce remember to heed the sickly dew or the lateness of the night; and, wherever my feet take me, I seem to see in every hill a forest-clad Parnassus and in every spring a cool Aganippe.
    Spring smiles on me, and gracious nymphs; my fastidious nose makes mine whatever the passing breeze of morning has stolen from the violets, as I lie at ease on the tender grass, wheresoever a brook traces its light course and hesitates with sweet clashings at every pebble.
    About the time of the year's renewal these simple cares engrossed my heart, as long as the brighter season of Favonius afforded cloudless skies: nor yet have I abandoned leisure and the fields, nor is Clytie more faithful to Phoebus (though the winds are rising and the softer summer is fading).
    For I am his diligent and faithful slave, a worshipper of the orb that sheds splendour so lavishly, whether, as his car brings new life to the joyful labours of men, to meadow and mountain, he is rising and clothing the lands of the East in purple and gold, or whether he is about to paint his beloved Calpe with a more tempered fire: aye, to the very moment when, as the splendour grows dimmer and dimmer, the many-coloured cloud slips away like a thief and the scene fades into green shadows.
    Oh, how blessed would I think myself (though I could never rise again), if kindly fate would permit me, sinking low in like fashion, to hide myself in peaceful death!
    Ah, how little would I envy the god, blazing with many fires and crowned with unclouded rays, when the middle of heaven feels his flaming chariot!"

The Complete Poems of Thomas Gray: English, Latin and Greek. Edited by Herbert W. Starr and J. R. Hendrickson. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1966, 139-140.

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1 Barbaras aedes aditure mecum,
2 Quas Eris semper fovet inquieta,
3 Lis ubi late sonat, et togatum
4                     AEstuat agmen!

5 Dulcius quanto, patulis sub ulmi
6 Hospitae ramis temere jacentem
7 Sic libris horas, tenuique inertes
8                     Fallere Musa?

9 Saepe enim curis vagor expedita
10 Mente; dum, blandam meditans Camoenam,
11 Vix malo rori, meminive serae
12                     Cedere nocti;

13 Et, pedes quo me rapiunt, in omni
14 Colle Parnassum videor videre
15 Fertilem sylvae, gelidamque in omni
16                     Fonte Aganippen.

17 Risit et Ver me, facilesque Nymphae
18 Nare captantem, nec ineleganti,
19 Mane quicquid de violis eundo
20                     Surripit aura:

21 Me reclinatum teneram per herbam;
22 Qua leves cursus aqua cunque ducit,
23 Et moras dulci strepitu lapillo
24                     Nectit in omni.

25 Hae novo nostrum fere pectus anno
26 Simplices curae tenuere, caelum
27 Quamdiu sudum explicuit Favoni
28                     Purior hora:

29 Otia et campos nec adhuc relinquo,
30 Nec magis Phoebo Clytie fidelis;
31 (Ingruant venti licet, et senescat
32                     Mollior aestas).

33 Namque, seu, laetos hominum labores
34 Prataque et montes recreante curru,
35 Purpura tractus oriens Eoos
36                     Vestit, et auro;

37 Sedulus servo, veneratus orbem
38 Prodigum splendoris: amoeniori
39 Sive dilectam meditatur igne
40                     Pingere Calpen;

41 Usque dum, fulgore magis, magis jam
42 Languido circum, variata nubes
43 Labitur furtim, viridisque in umbras
44                     Scena recessit.

45 O ego felix, vice si (nec unquam
46 Surgerem rursus) simili cadentem
47 Parca me lenis sineret quieto
48                     Fallere letho!

49 Multa flagranti, radiisque cincto
50 Integris ah! quam nihil inviderem,
51 Cum Dei ardentes medius quadrigas
52                     Sentit Olympus?

Works cited

  • The Complete Poems of Thomas Gray: English, Latin and Greek. Edited by Herbert W. Starr and J. R. Hendrickson. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1966.

Contractions, italics and initial capitalization have been largely eliminated, except where of real import. Initial letters of sentences have been capitalized, all accents have been removed. The editor would like to express his gratitude to library staff at Pembroke College, Cambridge, at the British Library, and at the Bodleian Library, Oxford, for their invaluable assistance.

About this text

  • Composition: 1738
  • Publication: 1775
  • Base text: Commonplace Book
  • Metre: Aeolic
  • Stanza: Sapphic
  • Genre: Sapphic ode
  • Finding Aid: MS witnesses
  • Notes/Queries: 1
  • Source: TEI/XML

Editions in the Digital Library

  • 1775: The Poems of Mr. Gray. To which are prefixed Memoirs of his Life and Writings by W[illiam]. Mason. York, 1775.
  • 1775: The Latin Odes of Mr. Gray, in English verse, with An Ode on the Death of a favorite Spaniel [by E. B. G.] London, 1775.
  • 1800: The Poetical Works of Thomas Gray. London, 1800.
  • 1800: The Poems of Gray. A new edition. London, 1800.
  • 1814: The Works of Thomas Gray, Vol. I. Ed. Thomas James Mathias. London, 1814.
  • 1816: The Works of Thomas Gray, Vol. I. Ed. John Mitford. London, 1816.
  • 1826: The Poetical Works of Thomas Gray. London, 1826.
  • 1836: The Works of Thomas Gray, Volume I. Ed. John Mitford. London, 1836.