Mane iam clarum reserat fenestras
Language: Latin
Mane iam clarum reserat fenestras,
iam strepit nidis vigilax hirundo:
tu velut primam mediamque noctem,
Parmeno, dormis.
dormiunt glires hiemem perennem,
sed cibo parcunt: tibi causa somni,
multa quod potas nimiaque tendis
mole saginam.
inde nec flexas sonus intrat aures
et locum mentis sopor altus urget
nec coruscantis oculos lacessunt
fulgura lucis.
annuam quondam iuveni quietem,
noctis et lucis vicibus manentem,
fabulae fingunt, cui Luna somnos
continuarit.
surge, nugator, lacerande virgis:
surge, ne longus tibi somnus, unde
non times, detur: rape membra molli,
Parmeno, lecto.
fors et haec somnum tibi cantilena
Sapphico suadet modulata versu?
Lesbiae depelle modum quietis,
acer iambe.
Available sung texts: (what is this?)
• J. Novák
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Confirmed with Ausonius, Volume I: Books 1-17. Translated by Hugh G. Evelyn-White. Loeb Classical Library 96. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1919, Pages 12 & 14.
Text Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Grant Hicks) , copyright © 2025, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust
[Administrator] , Grant Hicks
[Guest Editor] This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 24
Word count: 102
Already bright morning is opening its...
Language: English  after the Latin
Already bright morning is opening its windows;
already the watchful swallow is chattering in its nest;
you, as if still in the first or second night watch,
Parmeno, are asleep.
Dormice sleep through the whole winter,
but they abstain from food: you sleep because
you drink freely and distend your belly
with too much food,
so that no sound enters your coiled ears,
and deep sleep oppresses the seat of your mind,
and no flashes of brilliant light
assail your eyes.
Once a youth slept the whole year through,
continuously through the cycle of night and day,
stories claim — Luna having prolonged
his sleep.
Get up, you fool who should be beaten with rods:
get up, lest a long sleep come to you from where
you least fear it: drag yourself away from
your soft bed, Parmeno.
Could it be that this ditty, set forth
in Sapphic verse, urges sleep upon you?
Banish the restful measure of Lesbos,
O vigorous iamb.
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Translations of titles:
"Matutinum canticum" = "Morning Song"
Note to stanza 4: the reference is to Endymion, with whom the moon goddess Selene (Luna to the Romans) had fallen in love. At her request, Zeus (Jupiter) maintained him in a state of perpetual sleep so that she could admire him forever.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from Latin to English copyright © 2025 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:
This text was added to the website: 2025-08-01
Line count: 24
Word count: 163