Come, come | Come, come, follow me

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by Giacomo Cassetti (1682 - 1757)

Translation © by Grant Hicks

Veni, veni

Language: Latin

Our translations: ENG

Veni, veni, me sequere
fida Abra amata, sponso orbata.
Turtur gemo et spiro in te.

Dirae sortis tu socia confida
debellata sorte ingrata,
sociam laetae habebis me.

Note for line 3: Vivaldi sets et twice, and twice replaces it with ac. Both words mean "and."

Text Authorship:

by Giacomo Cassetti (1682 - 1757) [author's text not yet checked 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):

by Antonio Vivaldi (1678 - 1741), "Veni, veni", RV. 644 (1716), first performed 1716, from oratorio Juditha triumphans devicta Holofernis barbarie [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Grant Hicks) , "Come, come", copyright © 2026, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this page: Grant Hicks [Guest Editor] , Sergio Leone

This text was added to the website: 2004-08-19
Line count: 6
Word count: 27

Come, come

Language: English after the Latin

Come, come, follow me,
faithful, beloved Abra, deprived of your husband. 
Like the turtledove I moan and sigh for you.

Loyal sharer of my dire fate,
once this thankless fate has been fulfilled,
you will share with me a joyous one.

Note for line 2, "Abra": The story of Judith first appears in the Septuagint, a Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible from the third century BC. (Although the Book of Judith is thought to come from a Hebrew original, no such source has been found.) In the Greek text, Judith's companion is referred to only as ἅβρα, which means "favorite female slave" and generally appears in English translations as "maid." Cassetti borrowed the Greek word into his Latin text, but there it is treated as a personal name, being capitalized each time it appears.

Text Authorship:

Translation from Latin to English copyright © 2026 by Grant Hicks, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
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Based on:

a text in Latin by Giacomo Cassetti (1682 - 1757)
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2026-05-14
Line count: 6
Word count: 41