Unit 1 · poem · elegiac_couplet · 12 lines
Latin
Source lines 1-7
COrpora jam in motus properant: puriſſimus Aër
Quæritur: hìc venti nec malus erret odor.
Lucidus exortum ad ſolem gratiſſimus: abſint
Stagna, putreſq́; lacus, & malè quicquid olet.
Si Jove, vel tardo gelidus ſit forſitan orbe,
Gratior eſt: noſtra hinc membra calorq́; valent.
Si Venere aut Marte incaleant, lacera inde peribunt
English
No translation for source lines 1-7.
Source lines 8-12
Aſsiduè humanis pabula corporibus.
Undiq́; diripimur. ſi ſpirant corda ſubintrat:
Hoc ſine nil miſeri corporis ora vorant.
Quas dabimus grates Aër tibi peſſime? per te
Vivimus, & morimur: gratia nulla tibi.
English · verified range
Verified range
Bodies now hasten into motions: the purest Air
is sought: let no foul odor of the wind wander here.
Bright toward the risen sun it is most pleasing: let stagnant pools
be absent, and putrid lakes, and whatever smells badly.
If perhaps it is cold by Jupiter, or by the slow orb,
it is more pleasing: hence our limbs and heat are strong.
If they grow warm by Venus or Mars, torn nourishments will thence
continually perish for human bodies.
We are torn apart from all sides. If they blow, it enters the hearts:
without this, the mouths of the wretched body devour nothing.
What thanks shall we give to you, worst Air? Through you
we live, and we die: no thanks to you.