Letter 1009: For some time now the silent Lucrine waters have been longing for you, and the smooth bay of Baiae, and Puteoli...
For a long time now the silent Lucrine waters and the clear bay of Baiae long for you, and Puteoli still thronged with crowds, and Bauli with its great silence. You meanwhile idle away your time at rustic Cora or at barren Formiae. At last, if it is worth your while, press on your journey and take note of the better parts of the world: where, removed from the crowds, there is repose; where there is no limit to the holidays to be enjoyed,
where horn-bearing Lyaeus [Bacchus]
covers the heights of Gaurus,
while Vulcan in his seething
caverns roasts the middle slopes.
Thetis holds the depths with abundant
fish, and the sisters of Baiae.
The wave is warm, the air is cool;
at the same time, swimming amid the dances,
shining radiantly, comes the goddess of Amathus,
mistress of the brine and of the warm vapor,
the flower of the stars, Dione [Venus].
Do I seem to you to be raving like a man drunk on excessive luxury of mind, and therefore to have enrolled my name among the poets? I do not dwell on this literary display: I have exercised a gift of the place rather than of my own talent. But if what I say is inviting, take to the road, so that both you may be glad of present pleasures, and good fortune may attend us in obtaining what we wish. Farewell.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.
Latin / Greek Original
lamdudum vestri cupiunt Lucrina tacita et liquida Baiana et Puteoli adhuc cele- 30
bres et Bauli magnum silentes. vos apud Coram rusticam vel apud steriles Formias
nam om. F 12 in laude F 14 deos] F, deum V 15 Oatiense] F, offense V 16 datur F
scribes V 24 poUuant] VF, pellant M 26 dilationis] VT^, dUacione M Itineri demitur]
Seioppius, itineris redemitur VF^, itineris d^linquitur M 27 repensatur] Vr^, recompensabitur M
silentes] FM, flentes V
desidetis. tandem, si operae pretium est, contendite viam atqne animadvertite meliora VMF
terramm; nbi alte tnrbis qniescitnr, nbi fmendis feriis modns nnllus est,
nbi coraiger Lyaeus
operit snpema Ganri,
5 Volcanus aestuosis
medium coqnit cavemis.
tenet ima pisce mnlto
Thetis et Baiae sorores.
calet nnda, friget aethra;
10 simul innatat choreis
Amathnsium renidens,
salis arbitra et vaporis,
flos sidemm, Dione.
nnm vobis videor quasi multae luxuriae ebrius mentis insipere atque ideo in poetas
15 Domen dedisse? nihil moror hanc litteraturam : loci potius quam ingenii mei munus
exercui. sed si invitantia loquor, gradum tollite, ut et vos sitis laeti praesentium, et
Dobis potiundi, quae volnmus, fortuna succedat. vale.
VIUI ante a. 376.
Revision history
- 2026-05-27v2.2.34-import
Initial corpus import from modern symmachus retranslated v1.
Fields: letter text, metadata, source links. Source: https://archive.org/details/qaureliisymmach00seecgoog
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