Pagina-afbeeldingen
PDF
ePub

Quae videt in te volgus egent nullius, eisque
Fingere mens nihilum pulchrius ulla potest.
Haec tibi per cunctas concessa est gloria linguas,
Dictaque verum intra, laudat ut hostis homo.
Externam speciem sic laus externa coronat;
Haec tamen ora ipsis dissona multa crepant;
Quodque dabant laudis conturbant omne, videndo
Vlterius quam se fert oculata fides.

Sitne tibi inquirunt animi par candor, et illud
Noscitur ex actis coniciturve tuis;
Blandaque dum facies illis, mens invida secum
Foetorem lolii flos,' ait, ‘iste refert.'

At lolium si flos oleat, causam esse putarim
Hanc ego: communi creverat ille loco.

LXX

Non quia culparis meruisse videbere, livor
Egregium telo destinat omne suo.

Gloria pulchrorum est suspectos esse malignis,
In liquido cornix aethere multa volat.
Sis bonus, eniteat tua quoque in crimine virtus
Clarior, ex ipso tempore nacta fidem.
Primitiae florum mordaci a peste petuntur,
At tua dedecoris pura iuventa nitet.
Insidias iuveni structas aut effugis omnis
Integer, aut victor, si peterere malo.
Laus datur, at linguas frenat non illa malignas,
Haec tibi in aeternum libera pestis aget.
Si speciem obtegeret nullam tibi livida fama,
Tu regeres unus pectora cuncta virûm.

No longer mourn for me when I am dead
Than you shall hear the surly sullen bell
Give warning to the world that I am fled
From this vile world, with vilest worms to dwell:
Nay, if you read this line, remember not
The hand that writ it; for I love you so

That I in your sweet thoughts would be forgot,
If thinking on me then should make you woe.
O, if, I say, you look upon this verse
When I perhaps compounded am with clay,
Do not so much as my poor name rehearse,
But let your love even with my life decay;
Lest the wise world should look into your moan
And mock you with me after I am gone.

LXXII

O, lest the world should task you to recite
What merit lived in me that you should love,
After my death, dear love, forget me quite,
For you in me can nothing worthy prove;
Unless you would devise some virtuous lie,
To do more for me than mine own desert,
And hang more praise upon deceased I
Than niggard truth would willingly impart:
O, lest your true love may seem false in this,
That you for love speak well of me untrue,
My name be buried where my body is,
And live no more to shame nor me nor you.

For I am shamed by that which I bring forth,
And so should you, to love things nothing worth.

Flere mihi nolis quando, dilecte, supremum
Raucus campanae planxerit ille sonus,
Nuntius ille sonus fugisse haec tristia vitae
Me semel, ac vermes inter habere locum.
Quin etiam releges si forte haec verba, recuses
Quaenam ea panxisset vel meminisse manus;
Tantus amor meus est ut labi malit ab isto

Pectore, quam memorem te doluisse mei.
O, inquam, versum hunc si tum fortasse videbis
Quando ego communi pulvere mixtus ero,
Nomen rite meum labris committere noli;
Fac potius mecum sit tumulatus amor.
Ne sapiens possit causam scrutatus habere
Ludibrio lacrimas ob mea fata tuas.

LXXII

O grave ne quondam ducas recitasse petenti
Quid meritum in me sit post mea fata coli;
Post mea fata meum, care, obliviscere nomen,
Nil habeas in me namque docere boni.
Ni pietas ausit mendacia fingere quaedam
Plus mihi pro meritis auxiliata meis,
Possit ut id laudis cumulari in morte peremptum
Quod nequeat vivo reddere vera fides.

O tua ne pietas fallax habeatur in isto,

Optima quod de me, ficta sed illa, canas,

Fac tumulatum una mihi sit cum corpore nomen, Neve superfuerit tantus utrique rubor.

Nam rubor est mihimet nihilo dignanda creanti, Ac pariter tibi sit, si leviora colas.

That time of year thou mayst in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruin'd choirs where late the sweet birds sang.
In me thou see'st the twilight of such day
As after sunset fadeth in the west;

Which by and by black night doth take away,
Death's second self, that seals up all in rest.
In me thou see'st the glowing of such fire
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
As the death-bed whereon it must expire,
Consumed with that which it was nourish'd by.
This thou perceiv'st, which makes thy love more strong,
To love that well which thou must leave ere long.

LXXIV

But be contented: when that fell arrest
Without all bail shall carry me away,

My life hath in this line some interest,
Which for memorial still with thee shall stay.
When thou reviewest this, thou dost review
The very part was consecrate to thee:

The earth can have but earth, which is his due;
My spirit is thine, the better part of me:
So then thou hast but lost the dregs of life,
The prey of worms, my body, being dead,
The coward conquest of a wretch's knife,
Too base of thee to be remembered.

The worth of that is that which it contains,
And that is this, and this with thee remains.

In me, care, potes velut anni noscere tempus
Lutea cum pendens arbore rara coma est,
Vel potius cum nulla, at frigore nuda tremiscunt
Bracchia, nuper avis templa canora sono.
Tale meae videas lumen pallere diei

Pallet ad occiduas vespere quale plagas;
Quod nox furva brevi totum, mors altera, tollit
Omniaque obsignans inde secuta quies.
Dispicias in me tantum vitale caloris

In cinere est quantum relliquiisque foci,
Qua rubet exiguo languescens igne favilla
Ab nutrimentis interitura suis.

Illa vides, et amas auctis affectibus omne
Vnde recedendum post breve tempus erit.

LXXIV

At sis contentus, cum vis horrenda, vadari
Nescia, me saeva prenderit illa manu,
Nonnihil in versu hoc linquam vitale, quod una
Cum numeris habeas usque, meique memor.
Tuque recensebis simul his unum illud, amice,
Quod tibi devovi seposuique sacrum;
Fas cinis ad cinerem redeat, set spiritus ipse
Est tuus, interior pars meliorque mei.
Inde puta ereptum vitae modo vile putamen,
Cum mihi mortale hoc, vermibus esca, cadit;
Id cadit ignavus potuit quod vincere culter,
Tam miserae nolis tu meminisse rei.
Eius enim valuit modo quod vitale latebat
Intus, in his autem versibus illud habes.

« VorigeDoorgaan »