Behold, agreeable | Behold, agreeable

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by Anonymous / Unidentified Author

Translation © by Grant Hicks

Ecce gratum

Language: Latin

Our translations: ENG ITA SPA

Choose for Diff

Ecce gratum
et optatum
ver reducit gaudia,
purpuratum
floret pratum,
sol serenat omnia.
Iam iam cedant tristia!
Estas redit,
nunc recedit
hyemis sevitia. Ah !

Iam liquescit
et decrescit
grando, nix et cetera,
bruma fugit,
et iam sugit
ver estatis ubera:
illi mens est misera,
qui nec vivit,
nec lascivit
sub Estatis dextera.Ah !

Gloriantur
et letantur
in melle dulcedinis,
qui conantur,
ut utantur
premio Cupidinis;
simus iussu Cypridis
gloriantes
et letantes
pares esse Paridis. Ah !

Text Authorship:

by Anonymous / Unidentified Author, appears in Carmina Burana: Cantiones profanae, first published c1300 [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 Carl Orff (1895 - 1982), "Ecce gratum", 1935-6 [ chorus ], from Carmina Burana, no. 5 [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Ecco gradita (Coro)", copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
SPA Spanish (Español) (Saúl Botero Restrepo) , "He aquí la grata", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Ferdinando Albeggiani

This text was added to the website: 2011-04-24
Line count: 30
Word count: 74

Behold, agreeable

Language: English after the Latin

Choose for Diff

Behold, agreeable 
and welcome 
Spring brings back joy;
clad in purple,
the meadow blooms,
the sun makes everything pleasant.
Now, now let sadness retreat!
Summer returns,
now recedes
Winter's cruelty. Ah!

Now melt
away
hail, snow and the rest,
cold weather flees,
and now Spring
sucks at the teats of Summer:
his mind is pitiable 
who neither lives
not frolics
under the right hand of Summer. Ah!

They glory
and rejoice 
in the honey of sweetness, 
who endeavor 
to enjoy 
Cupid's prize;
let us be at the command of the Cyprian
glorying 
and rejoicing 
in being equals of Paris. Ah!

Note for stanza 3, line 7, "the Cyprian": the goddess Venus, who in some accounts was born on the island of Cyprus.

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 , appears in Carmina Burana: Cantiones profanae, first published c1300
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2026-09-18
Line count: 30
Word count: 100