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THE VIGIL OF VENUS.

WRITTEN IN THE TIME OF JULIUS CÆSAR, AND BY SOME

ASCRIBED TO CATULLUS.

Let those love now, who never lov'd before ;
Let those who always lov'd, now love the more.
The spring, the new, the warbling spring appears,
The youthful season of reviving years;

In spring the loves enkindle mutual heats,
The feather'd nation choose their tuneful mates,
The trees grow fruitful with descending rain
And drest in differing greens adorn the plain.
She comes; to-morrow Beauty's empress roves
Through walks that winding run within the groves;
She twines the shooting myrtle into bowers,
And ties their meeting tops with wreaths of flowers,

PERVIGILIUM VENERIS.

Cras amet, qui numquam amavit; quique amavit,

cras amet.

Ver novum, ver jam canorum: vere natus orbis est,
Vere concordant amores, vere nubent alites,
Et nemus comam resolvit de maritis imbribus.
Cras amorum copulatrix inter umbras arborum
Implicat gazas virentes de flagello myrteo.

I

Then rais'd sublimely on her easy throne,
From Nature's powerful dictates draws her own.
Let those love now, who never lov'd before;
Let those who always lov'd, now love the more.

'Twas on that day which saw the teeming flood
Swell round, impregnate with celestial blood;
Wandering in circles stood the finny crew,
The midst was left a void expanse of blue;
There parent Ocean work'd with heaving throes,
And dropping wet the fair Dione rose

Let those love now, who never lov'd before; Let those who always lov'd, now love the more.

She paints the purple year with varied show,
Tips the green gem, and makes the blossom glow;

Cras Dione dicit, jura fulta sublimi throno. Cras amet, qui numquam amavit; quique amavit, cras amet.

Tunc liquore de superno, spumeo ponti e globo,
Cærulas inter catervas, inter et bipedes equos,
Fecit undantem Dionen de maritis imbribus.
Cras amet, qui numquam amavit; quique
amavit, cras amet.

Ipsa gemmis purpurantem pingit annum floribus, Ipsa surgentes papillas de Favoni spiritu

She makes the turgid buds receive the breeze,
Expand to leaves, and shade the naked trees:
When gathering damps the misty nights diffuse,
She sprinkles all the morn with balmy dews;
Bright trembling pearls depend at every spray,
And kept from falling, seem to fall away.
A glossy freshness hence the rose receives,
And blushes sweet through all her silken leaves;
(The drops descending through the silent night,
While stars serenely roll their golden light,)
Close till the morn, her humid veil she holds ;
Then deck'd with virgin pomp the flower unfolds.
Soon will the morning blush: ye maids! prepare,
In rosy garlands bind your flowing hair :
'Tis Venus' plant: the blood fair Venus shed,
O'er the gay beauty pour'd immortal red;
From Love's soft kiss a sweet ambrosial smell
Was taught for ever on the leaves to dwell;

Urguet in toros tepentes, ipsa roris lucidi,
Noctis aura quem relinquit, spargit humentes aquas,
Et micant lacrymæ trementes decidivo pondere ;
Gutta præceps orbe parvo sustinet casus suos ;
In pudorem florulentæ prodiderunt purpuræ.
Humor ille, quem serenis astra rorant noctibus,
Mane virgines papillas solvit humenti peplo.
Ipsa jussit mane ut udæ virgines nubant rosæ,
Fusæ prius de cruore deque Amoris osculis,
Deque gemmis, deque flammis, deque solis purpuris.

From gems, from flames, from orient rays of light,
The richest lustre makes her purple bright;
And she to-morrow weds; the sporting gale
Unties her zone, she bursts the verdant veil ;
Through all her sweets the rifling lover flies,
And as he breathes, her glowing fires arise.

Let those love now, who never lov'd before; Let those who always lov'd, now love the more.

Now fair Dione to the myrtle grove

Sends the gay Nymphs, and sends her tender Love.
And shall they venture? Is it safe to go,
While Nymphs have hearts, and Cupid wears a bow?
Yes, safely venture, 'tis his mother's will;
He walks unarm'd and undesigning ill,
His torch extinct, his quiver useless hung,
His arrows idle, and his bow unstrung.

Cras ruborem qui latebat veste tectus ignea,
Unico marita nodo non pudebit solvere.

Cras amet, qui numquam amavit: quique
amavit, cras amet.

Ipsa nimfas diva luco jussit ire myrteo : Et puer comes puellis. Nec tamen credi potest Esse Amorem feriatum, si sagittas vexerit Ite Nimfæ posuit arma, feriatus est amor: Jussus est inermis ire, nudus ire jussus est : Neu quid arcu, neu sagitta, neu quid igne læderet.

And yet, ye Nymphs, beware, his eyes have charms, And Love that's naked, still is Love in arms.

Let those love now, who never lov'd before; Let those who always lov'd, now love the more.

From Venus' bower to Delia's lodge repairs
A virgin train complete with modest airs:
"Chaste Delia, grant our suit! or shun the wood,
Nor stain this sacred lawn with savage blood.
Venus, O Delia! if she could persuade,
Would ask thy presence, might she ask a maid.”
Here cheerful quires for three auspicious nights
With songs prolong the pleasurable rites:
Here crowds in measures lightly-decent rove,
Or seek by pairs the covert of the grove,
Where meeting greens for arbours arch above,
And mingling flowerets strew the scenes of love.

Sed tamen nimfæ cavete, quod Cupido pulcher est : Totus est inermis idem, quando nudus est Amor. Cras amet, qui numquam amavit; quique amavit, cras amet.

Compari Venus pudore mittit ad te virgines:
Una res est quam rogamus: cede virgo Delia;
Ut nemus sit incruentum de ferinis stragibus.
Ipsa vellet ut venires, si deceret virginem :
Jam tribus choros videres feriatos noctibus,
Congreges inter catervas, ire per saltus tuos,

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