An ass with a lyre | If anyone under the name of poet is "an ass with a lyre,"

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by Marcus Terentius Varro (116 BCE - 27/8 BCE)

Translation © by Grant Hicks

Onos lyras

Language: Latin

Our translations: ENG

 Si quis melodi nomine est "onos lyras",
 praesepibus se retineat forensibus,
 quibus suam delectet ipse amusiam,
 et aviditatem speribus lactet suis.

Inglorius
 Vosque in theatro, qui voluptatem auribus
 huc aucupatum concucurristis domo,
 adeste et a me quae feram cognoscite,
 domum ut feratis a theatro litteras.

Text Authorship:

by Marcus Terentius Varro (116 BCE - 27/8 BCE), appears in Saturae Menippeae [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 Jan Novák (1921 - 1984), "Onos lyras", from Cantica latina, no. 2 [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Grant Hicks) , "An ass with a lyre", copyright © 2025, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 9
Word count: 46

An ass with a lyre

Language: English after the Latin

If anyone under the name of poet is "an ass with a lyre,"
let him remain in his public haunts,
where he may amuse his own boorishness,
and flatter avarice with his hopes.

ONE WITHOUT FAME
And you in the theater, who seeking pleasure
for the ears have gathered here from home,
attend and learn from me what I bring,
so that you may bring home learning from the theater.

Translator's note: "An ass with a lyre" translates onos lyras, which is a Latin transliteration of a proverbial Greek phrase. In the proverb, onos lyras akouon ("an ass listening to a lyre"), the donkey lacks the capacity to understand or appreciate the lyre's music. On the other hand, the Roman fabulist Phaedrus, writing several generations after Varro, depicts an onos lyras who appreciates the beauty of the lyre but lacks the dexterity to play it himself.

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:

a text in Latin by Marcus Terentius Varro (116 BCE - 27/8 BCE), appears in Saturae Menippeae
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2025-08-19
Line count: 9
Word count: 70