Dr. Johnson's Works: Life, Poems, and Tales, Volume 1 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 532 pages of information about Dr. Johnson's Works.

Dr. Johnson's Works: Life, Poems, and Tales, Volume 1 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 532 pages of information about Dr. Johnson's Works.

[a]Seu te saeva fames, levitas sive improba fecit,
  Musca, meae comitem, participemque dapis,
Pone metum, rostrum fidens immitte culullo,
  Nam licet, et toto prolue laeta mero. 
Tu, quamcunque tibi velox indulserit annus,
  Carpe diem; fugit, heu, non revocanda dies! 
Quae nos blanda comes, quae nos perducat eodem,
  Volvitur hora mihi, volvitur hora tibi! 
Una quidem, sic fata volunt, tibi vivitur aestas,
  Eheu, quid decies plus mihi sexta dedit! 
Olim praeteritae numeranti tempora vitae,
  Sexaginta annis non minor unus erit.

[a] The above is a version of the song, “Busy, curious, thirsty fly.”

[b]Habeo, dedi quod alteri;
Habuique, quod dedi mihi;
Sed quod reliqui, perdidi.

[b] These lines are a version of three sentences that are said, in the
    manuscript, to be “On the monument of John of Doncaster;” and which
    are as follow: 

    What I gave, that I have;
    What I spent, that I had;
    What I left, that I lost.

[a]E WALTONI PISCATORE PERFECTO EXCERPTUM.

Nunc, per gramina fusi,
Densa fronde salicti,
Dum defenditur imber,
Molles ducimus horas. 
Hic, dum debita morti
Paulum vita moratur,
Nunc rescire priora,
Nunc instare futuris,
Nunc summi prece sancta
Patris numen adire est. 
Quicquid quraeitur ultra,
Caeco ducit amore,
Vel spe ludit inani,
Luctus mox pariturum.

[a] These lines are a translation of part of a song in the Complete
    Angler of Isaac Walton, written by John Chalkhill, a friend of
    Spenser, and a good poet in his time.  They are but part of the last
    stanza, which, that the reader may have it entire, is here given at
    length: 

If the sun’s excessive heat
  Make our bodies swelter,
To an osier hedge we get
  For a friendly shelter! 
    Where in a dike,
    Perch or pike,
    Roach or dace,
    We do chase,
Bleak or gudgeon,
    Without grudging,
      We are still contented. 
Or we sometimes pass an hour
  Under a green willow,
That defends us from a shower,
  Making earth our pillow;
    Where we may
    Think and pray,
    Before death
    Stops our breath: 
    Other joys
    Are but toys,
      And to be lamented.

[a]Quisquis iter tendis, vitreas qua lucidus undas
Speluncae late Thamesis praetendit opacae;
Marmorea trepidant qua lentae in fornice guttae,
Crystallisque latex fractus scintillat acutis;
Gemmaque, luxuriae nondum famulata nitenti
Splendit, et incoquitur tectum sine fraude metallum;
Ingredere O! rerum pura cole mente parentem;
Auriferasque auri metuens scrutare cavernas. 
Ingredere!  Egeriae sacrum en tibi panditur antrum! 
Hic, in se totum, longe per opaca futuri
Temporis, Henricum rapuit vis vivida mentis: 
Hic pia Vindamius traxit suspiria, in ipsa
Morte memor patriae; hic Marmonti pectore prima
Coelestis fido caluerunt semina flammae. 
Temnere opes, pretium sceleris, patriamque tueri
Fortis, ades; tibi, sponte, patet venerabile limen.

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Dr. Johnson's Works: Life, Poems, and Tales, Volume 1 from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.