LiederNet logo
Reprint Basket
×
  • Home | Introduction
  • Search the Site
  • Composers (21,207)
  • Text Authors (21,370)
  • Go to a Random Text
  • What’s New
  • A Small Tour
  • FAQ & Links
  • Donors
  • DONATE

CREDITS

  • Emily Ezust
  • Contributors (1,137)
  • Contact Information
  • Bibliography

  • Copyright Statement
  • Privacy Policy

Follow us on Facebook

possibly by Gaius Cornelius Gallus (70 BCE - 26 BCE)

Ad Lydiam
Language: Latin 
Lydia, bella puella, candida, 
  Quæ bene superas lac et lilium,
  Albamque simul rosam rubidam, 
  Aut expolitum ebur Indicum! 

Pande, puella, pande capillulos, 
  Flavos, lucentes ut aurum nitidum.
  Pande, puella, collum candidum,
  Productum bene candidis humeris.

Pande, puella, stellatos oculos,
  Flexaque super nigra cilia.
  Pande, puella, genas roseas,
  Perfusas rubro purpuræ Tyriæ.

Porrige labra, labra corallina;
  Da columbatim mitia basia. 
  Sugis amentis partem animi:
  Cor mihi penetrant hæc tua basia.

Quid mihi sugis vivum sanguinem? 
  Conde papillas, conde gemipomas, 
  Compresse lacte quæ modo pullulant.

Sinus expansa profert cinnama:
  Undique surgunt ex te deliciæ.
  Conde papillas, quæ me sauciant 
  Candore et luxu nivei pectoris.
  Sæva non cernis quantum ego langueo?
  Sic me destituis jam semimortuum?

Confirmed with Poésies de Cornelius Gallus. Traduction nouvelle par M. Jules Genouille, Paris, C. L. F. Panckoucke, 1836, pages 40, 42.


Text Authorship:

  • possibly by Gaius Cornelius Gallus (70 BCE - 26 BCE), "Ad Lydiam" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

    [ None yet in the database ]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

  • Also set in English, a translation possibly by John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester (1647 - 1680); composed by George Monro.
    • Go to the text.
  • Also set in English, [adaptation] ; composed by George Monro.
    • Go to the text.
  • Also set in Middle French, a translation by Joachim du Bellay (1525 - c1560) , "Traduit de Cornelius Gallus" [an adaptation] ; composed by Raoul Laparra.
    • Go to the text.

Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

  • ENG English (Charles Isaac Elton, QC) , "To Lydia" [an adaptation]


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2019-08-10
Line count: 25
Word count: 113

Gentle Reminder

This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

Donate

We use cookies for internal analytics and to earn much-needed advertising revenue. (Did you know you can help support us by turning off ad-blockers?) To learn more, see our Privacy Policy. To learn how to opt out of cookies, please visit this site.

I acknowledge the use of cookies

Contact
Copyright
Privacy

Copyright © 2026 The LiederNet Archive

Site redesign by Shawn Thuris