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cras amet qui numquam amavit, quique amavit cras amet ! rura fecundat voluptas, rura Venerem sentiunt, ipse Amor, puer Dionae, rure natus dicitur. hunc, ager cum parturiret, ipsa suscepit sinu, ipsa florum delicatis educavit osculis. ecce, iam [subter]1 genestas explicant tauri latus, quisque tutus, quo tenetur, coniugali foedere ! subter umbras cum maritis, ecce, balantum greges ! et canoras non tacere diva iussit alites : iam loquaces ore rauco stagna cygni perstrepunt ; adsonat Terei puella subter umbram populi, ut putes motus amoris ore dici musico, et neges queri sororem de marito barbaro. illa cantat, nos tacemus. quando ver venit meum ? quando fiam uti chelidon, ut tacere desinam ? perdidi Musam tacendo, nec me [Phoebus]2 respicit : sic Amyclas, cum tacerent, perdidit silentium. cras amet qui numquam amavit, quique amavit cras amet !
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)Confirmed with Catullus, Tibullus, Pervigilium Veneris, Loeb Classical Library 6, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2000, Pages 356-358.
1 Lloyd: "super"2 Lloyd: "Apollo"
Text Authorship:
- by Anonymous / Unidentified Author, no title [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):
- by George Lloyd (1913 - 1998), no title, 1978-80 [ soprano, tenor, chorus and orchestra ], from Pervigilium Veneris, no. 9 [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Grant Hicks) , copyright © 2026, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: Grant Hicks [Guest Editor] , Ferdinando Albeggiani
This text was added to the website: 2005-08-14
Line count: 18
Word count: 127
Tomorrow let him love who has never loved, and who has loved, let him love tomorrow! Delight makes the country fertile, the country feels Venus's influence, They say Love himself, Dione's son, was born in the country. When the field gave birth, she took him to her bosom. She reared him on the delicate kisses of flowers. Tomorrow let him love who has never loved, and who has loved, let him love tomorrow! Behold, now the bulls stretch their flanks [beneath]1 the broom, each secure in the marital compact that binds him! In the shadows with their spouses, behold the flocks of sheep! And the goddess bids the songbirds not to be silent: now the raucous voices of the chattering swans echo in their pools; the bride of Tereus responds from the shade of a poplar, so that you might think it the loving utterance of a musical mouth, and not the complaint of a sister against a barbarous husband. She sings, we remain silent. When does my Spring come? When may I become like the swallow, and break my silence? I have lost my Muse by my silence, nor does [Phoebus]2 have regard for me: Thus did silence ruin Amyclae when it failed to speak. Tomorrow let him love who has never loved, and who has loved, let him love tomorrow!
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)Note for stanza 4, line 6, "the bride of Tereus": Procne, wife of a legendary Thracian king. Tereus raped her sister Philomela, and then cut out Philomela's tongue to prevent her from revealing his crime. The gods subsequently transformed all three into birds, with Procne becoming a swallow (cf. line 8).
Note for stanza 4, line 11, "Phoebus": literally "Bright", an epithet of Apollo, the god of poetry and song.
Note for stanza 4, line 12, "Amyclae": a city in the Peloponnesus that was conquered by Sparta in the eighth century BC. Legend had it that unfounded reports of approaching troops had become so regular that the city passed a law banning mention of the topic, so that no alarm was raised when an actual attack materialized.
1 Lloyd: "on"
2 Lloyd: "Apollo"
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.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in Latin by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist , no title
This text was added to the website: 2026-01-26
Line count: 19
Word count: 225