[cras]1 erit quo primus Aether copulavit nuptias,
[ut]2 pater totum [crearet]3 vernis annum nubibus :
in sinum maritus imber fluxit almae coniugis,
unde fetus mixtus omnes aleret magno corpore.
ipsa venas atque mentem permeanti spiritu
intus occultis gubernat procreatrix viribus ;
perque caelum perque terras perque pontum subditum
pervium sui tenorem [seminali]4 tramite
imbuit iussitque mundum nosse nascendi vias.

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 354-356.

¹ Lloyd: "et recentibus virentes ducit umbras floribus./ cras"
² Lloyd: "et"
³ Lloyd: "creavit"
⁴ Lloyd: "seminale"

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. 5 [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: 9
Word count: 61

[Tomorrow]1 is the day when primal Aether will have been joined in marriage,
[that]2 as a father he [might create]3 the whole year from the vernal mists:
into the nurturing spouse's lap flows the fertilizing rain,
whence mingled with the great body he might nourish all the fruits.
The procreator herself with her pervading breath
inwardly governs blood and mind with hidden powers;
and through sky and through earth and through sea beneath 
she has strewn her pervasive course with a path of seeds
and bidden the world to know the ways of propagation.