Poema dactylicum brevissimum, auctore ignoto

[t400ec]

Dīcquida gis,fōrm ōsaVen ussi nescisa mantī
ferrevic em?perit omnede cus,dum dēperit aetās.
marcent postror emvio lae,rosa perdito dōrem,
līlia postvern umposi tōcand ōreli quēscunt.
haecmetu āsexem plaprecor, et sempera mantī
reddevi cem,quia sempera mat,quī sempera mātur.

[t400ec]

Addendo duas vocaes productas res fit perfectior:

Dīcquida gis,fōrm ōsaVen ussī nescisa mantī

ferrevic em?perit omnede cus,dum dēperit aetās.

marcent postrōr emvio lae,rosa perdito dōrem,

līlia postvern umposi tōcand ōreli quēscunt.
haecmetu āsexem plaprecor, et sempera mantī
reddevi cem,quia sempera mat,quī sempera mātur.

[Ed Cryer]

Dic quid agis, formosa Venus, si nescis amanti
ferre vicem? perit omne decus, dum deperit aetas.
marcent post rorem violae, rosa perdit odorem,
lilia post vernum posito candore liquescunt.
haec metuas exempla precor, et semper amanti
redde vicem, quia semper amat, qui semper amatur.

Whoever wrote these lines was fond of a feminine caesura.
I love the "semper amat, qui semper amatur". Worthy of Ovid from one of
his many laments written in exile.

Ed

[t400ec]

Licet nobis Aeneidem eodem modo tractare:

Armavir umqueca nō,Trō jaequī prīmusab ōrīs
Ītali am,fā tōprofu gus,Lā vīnjaque vēnit
lītora, mult[um]ille et ter rīsiac tātuset altō
vīsuper ūmsae vaememo remjū nōnisob īram;
multaquoque etbellō passus,dum conderet urbem, 5
īnfer retquede ōsLati ō,genus undeLa tīnum,
Albān īquepa trēs,atque altae moenia Rōmae.

Mūsa,mi hicau sāsmemo rā,quō nūmine laesō,
quidvedo lēns,rē gīnade ūmtot volvere cāsūs
īnsig nempie tātevi rum,tota dīrela bōrēs 10
impule rit.Tan taeneani mīscae lestibus īrae?

Urbsan tīquafu it,Tyri ītenu ēreco lōnī,
Karthāgŏ,Ītaliam contrā Tiberīnaque longē
ōstia, dīvēs opum studiīsque asperrima bellī;

e.q.s. ... even though Vergil is asking for poetic license to drawl out
the first syllable of 'Italiam'. I just recently became aware of the
fact that wherever you see a comma in the editions of the Aeneid made
during the last millenium, nine times out of ten is exactly where a
caesura occurs.

b.t.

[Ed Cryer]

quam miserum est, porta vitam muroque tueri,
vixque sui tutum viribus esse loci!
aspera militiae iuvenis certamina fugi,
nec nisi lusura movimus arma manu;
nunc senior gladioque latus scutoque sinistram,
canitiem galeae subicioque meam.

My favourite lament of Ovid living in exile on the edge of Empire.
It sounds like a 1960s' draft-dodger who skedaddled to Canada, but now
lives in today's post-Trump USA!
BTW, how do you interpret line 2? Here's my best;
How wretched it is ............... that there is scarce safety in the
strengths of ones own place.

Ed