CARMEN, IN NVPTIAS ILLV- STRISS. PRINCIPIS, D. D. IO- ANNIS GVILIELMI, Ducis Saxoniæ, &c. & SVSANNAE DOROTHEAE, illuſtriß. P. FRIDERICI Elect. Palatini ad Rhenum, Boiariæ Ducis, &c. filiæ :

You Muses, who sing to me of the marriages of kings,

To whom the long succession of time, to whom deep antiquity,

And the faithful guardianship of perpetual fame is entrusted,

While of the outstanding Duke, after wars and heavy labors,

I celebrate the happy bridal chamber, do you with your divine will

Breathe favorably upon me: and you, O renowned offspring of Jupiter,

Nurturing Venus, if the mortal songs of poets touch you,

If you care for the laws and covenants of the shared bed

And tender plays and mutual joys:

Be present here, and stroll with me through the cultivated gardens,

And gather spring roses, Goddess, and for the new bride

Weave a crown, such as shines brightly in the gleaming sky

Among the shining fires of the starry aether.

But you, Prince of young men, who by brave arms

And mighty deeds equal your celebrated ancestors,

Johann Wilhelm, do not disdain your praises:

You will read of arms and men, and your ancestors' illustrious

Names: now it is pleasing only to go along the highest peaks

Of things. The coming day reserves greater things.

Scarcely had the most beautiful Morning Star brought forth his rays

In his early rising, bringing the marriage with an auspicious

Star, when the mountains and the lofty halls resounded

With joy, where the rushing Neckar boils with swift waves

And beholds vast structures rise to the heavens.

By chance, just then under the light of the newly risen sun,

Sitting upon the green edge of a grassy bank,

I was practicing the ancient loves of Acis on a rustic reed,

And consoling my cares with idle study:

And a charming nightingale with me under the nearby shade

Was soothing the clear breezes with her melodious songs:

When suddenly (behold!) accompanied by nine sisters,

Calliope gladly advanced to meet me of her own accord.

From the shoulders of all hung lyres, the beauty of all was the same,

All were veiled in garments suffused with gold.

Green rue bound their hair, and the unwedded laurel.

They walked, and the Goddesses, with hands mutually joined,

Were singing: Hymen, o Hymenaeus, Hymen, Hymenaeus.

Soon, when the whole chorus had settled down nearby on the green grass,

And the river grew silent, and the birds grew silent,

Calliope addressed me with gentle words thus:

"Lay down your light reeds, the mountains and sacred springs

Have known enough of the hissings of the oat, the rustic flute

Has played enough of the cares of shepherds: now you shall sing

Of a glorious marriage, and a race of heroes, and the descendants of kings.

I myself, tracing the lineage of the groom from its origin,

Will lead you through the race, and the ancestors, and the mighty deeds

Of this ancient stock, which no age shall have equaled

in praises, wherever the golden Sun beholds the immense world.

Let this be the labor, this the pursuit for noble poets:

either to sing the praises of the gods above, or the heraldings of kings,

and to add mindful fame to illustrious deeds.

She spoke, and a volume adorned with gems and gold,

and shining with dark blue hyacinth, and grayish-blue jasper,

she unrolled upon her lap, the venerable gift of her mother

Mnemosyne, to whom long ages and names are a care.

There the nurturing parent had inscribed whatever from the beginnings

of time was done that was memorable, in peace or in arms,

which parents might bid their sons to remember in times to come.

Bringing this forth, and recalling the monuments of deep antiquity,

Calliope, in the shade of an overhanging beech,

sang such things by the gliding waves of the Neckar.

A vast land lies exposed to the blasts of the North Wind,

rich in fields, rich in livestock, which from on high

is watched by the Bear—which never dares to dip itself

in the waves of the hoary Ocean—with its ever-thirsty stars.

The Rhine toward the setting, and the resting places of the descending Sun,

bounds it; the Weser toward the Dawn and the Nabataean realms

looks, the Chauci, a fierce race, toward the wintry Plow-oxen,

but the side from which the dripping South Wind announces rainstorms,

is enclosed by the Obnobian mountains, from which issues the lofty

Ems, which stirs up the ebbing sands of the Ocean.

That land is the parent of kings, to whose hearts harsh

battles always were dear; they worshipped statues and groves

sacred with ancient religion. Often a bristling snake,

often an old oak terrified their conscious breasts.

Especially they sang of heroes and battles fought

amidst solemn feasts, and the great buried

They greeted kings with their voices, and invoked their souls.

First, powerful through his grandfathers and great-grandfathers, and a rich kingdom,

the great-grandson of SIGARDUS, when now everywhere the golden race

of Christians was washing away its sin with purifying waters,

VITIKINDUS, flourishing in the first bloom of spirit and age,

defended the ancient rites and the custom of sacred things,

accustomed to swear by his head, and his holy crown,

and the stars, and the groves worshipped with ancestral awe,

and the altars to endure, which she herself had dedicated to the gods.

On his shield a prancing steed, free with shaken-off reins,

flashes forth, and scatters the swift breezes with its neighing,

rearing high, seeking the heights: and next to the paternal emblem,

the bright horns of a half moon are curved.

At last, stripped so many times of his camp and arms,

now an older man, granted his life, he departed, and voluntarily

he washed away at last the contagion of ancient fault,

dipping his bared body in the ancestral stream.

Caesar Charles himself, triumphant, having long forgotten vengeance and anger,

received him, bathed by the water of the health-bringing river,

and embraced him in a friendly bosom,

and ordered him to unlearn the empty worship of the gods.

The cities roared with joy, and the North.

So very beautiful and noble it is to spare the conquered,

more beautiful than to subdue untamed nations in war.

Thence powerful far and wide, where the Lippe, where father

Elbe wanders with its waters, the Elbe renowned for its leaders, the Elbe renowned in war,

and where the greedy Weser cuts the plains with its swelling river,

he gave laws, until, sick with failing strength,

forgetful of his years and oblivious to his old age,

while he rushed against the enemy, he ended his human labors with death.

From here the son, noble heir of his father's name,

Received the ancient Mysians, and the lands to be ruled,

Which the Pleisse irrigates with its stream, which the Elster irrigates,

Useful to the fields and beautiful with its pleasant banks,

And the Saale, echoing over the rocks with its foaming waters.

From there comes the ancient lineage for the groom, and his native origin,

And the house of heroes divides itself from a single bloodline,

Of heroes, who, outstanding in virtue, beneath the North

First shaped the inflexible peoples with justice, and with equitable laws

For the practice of a better life.

From here also (if you consider the lineage from the blood of the brothers)

Is Otho the Great; give incense, leaders, give an altar to his shades.

This is the man, this is he, whose care was your honor, whose care was your glory,

And the ornament of the Empire, and Germany.

The next ruled the peoples in blameless peace,

Whose greatest care was to abolish the profane worship of the gods,

And therefore Tiagrinus established endowments and temples,

And added gold of great weight

For those who, calling the unteachable race to better things,

Might propagate the sacred rites, and be a light to the wandering.

His son Tetmarus, fond of the woods from his earliest years,

Was accustomed to endure hunger and winter's cold through hunting,

Driving the horned stags into the nets.

Energetic, he slung a quiver and bow from his shoulders:

And skilfully surrounding the high mountains with a ring of hunters

He campaigns in the woods, and vents his wrath upon the fierce bears,

And affixes their gaping jaws and bristling hides to the doors.

Surely so that better (if ever wars should call),

Hardened by showers and Hercynian frost and heat,

He might be able to endure the harsh labors of warfare.

Then THEODRICVS, his son, took up the reins of power,

Powerful in war, who added fields rich in their soil's fertility

To the borders of his homeland, where with its beautiful stream

The foreign Unstrut glides through the fruitful lands:

From which even his late descendants bore their title.

Nor was DEDO less skilled with the sword, less useful with the spear,

Nor did any commander grasp the arts of war more fittingly:

Whether there was need to measure out a camp across the widespread fields,

Or to draw up the line of battle, or to dig deep

Trenches for support when the camp was pitched,

And ramparts to defend the hollowed trenches.

While he waged wars on behalf of his kinsman the Emperor,

The Huns marveled in amazement at him, and they marveled who drink

The snowy Tanais, and the waters of the icy Borysthenes:

When he laid all things low with the sword near the streams of the swollen Saale,

And the banks could scarcely contain the sorrowful corpses.

No less did the SON advance into the bright honor of fame,

Bearing the NAME of his grandfather, who beneath his father himself

Had spent his first training and his early years:

Marveling at his father's valor from an early age.

He crushed the Apennine-born Arno, breaking its horns,

A warrior exulting in the open plain:

Just as when a torrent, swollen by winter rains,

Foaming, and boiling in a mad whirlpool, uproots

The forests, and lays waste far and wide to the harvests and fields.

Nor shall I leave you unmentioned, great THIMO, and your son

CONRADVS, distinguished in fame and outstanding in arms,

Who, the first Margrave of the Meissen region with you,

Victorious in the plain of the Eridanus and the Insubrian fields,

Filled the Ausonian Tiber with much blood.

Next Otho, his temples wreathed with the civic oak,

teeming with rich veins of silver and bronze,

founded Freiberg, and the lofty city of Phylire.

Among the Hamadryad sisters, beautiful Phylire,

a huntress, once upon a time in those mountains

used to hunt timid wild beasts with snares and on foot,

and she carried a quiver heavy with javelins, and a trembling

spear, which had grown by the clear waters of the Elster.

But when the spoil and all the glory of her virgin modesty,

while she lay, and securely plucked sweet rest,

an impious shepherd had taken in a lonely valley,

she could no longer endure such great sorrow,

and her indignant soul left her wasting limbs;

But the nourishing earth, pitying the misfortune of the innocent girl,

received her in its lap, and a green linden tree

from the bones of Phylire, it sent forth into the clear air.

Even now along the banks there, through the soft

meadows, through the cultivated gardens beneath the walls, lindens grow:

and quite often they provide pleasing shade to hunters.

From this the early natives gave the city its name.

Hence the renowned Theodoric, having acquired the name of his ancestor,

unlucky, drank black poison through the deceit of a physician.

His son, when he was scarcely reaching puberty in his early youth,

Henry, who later, most distinguished in his deeds, left all

his ancestors behind him in outstanding virtue—

to him, when his uncle had left the upper air,

Ludwig, having been buried on the furthest shore of Iapygia,

in return for his merits, the Emperor Frederick handed over the fierce

peoples of the Thuringians, and enriched him with illustrious titles.

This warrior a famous contest with equestrian arms

produced an image of war: with the blare of trumpets

the caves resounded far and wide, and the mountains roared,

with the applause of the victors alike, and the crash of the falling.

There was a plain, green woods enclosed it on all sides,

and in the middle a golden tree with spreading branches

stood. Its branches were gold, the leaves on the branches were golden:

the bark too was golden, but only the root was silver:

Around this were shining swords, the prize for the victors,

and helmets distinguished by crests, and green garlands,

and no less did the daughters of heroes, through the soft grass,

shaking their white bodies in maidenly motion,

lead the dances. Among them the daughter of the great

Emperor, is led as a wife into the bridal chambers of ALBERT,

Margaris. Born from them were FREDERICK, and fierce in arms

TIZMANNUS, slain by the sword at the solemn altars.

But the grief of the exiled mother, and the horrid wars,

while the father provokes his sons to justified anger,

(ah, driven too much by the goads of tender love)

my mind resolves to pass over in silence: the Spree flowed with blood, and the huge

Elbe, and whatever arose from the Hercynian mountains.

Rivers moisten the fertile fields of the Thuringians.

OF THE SAME NAME, lest the dire license of the sword

should go unpunished, the SON the citadels of the robbers

destroyed. Next the SON, his father having been taken away, avenging

his ancestors, filled the rebellious city with much slaughter,

where the horned Hieras forms a pool with its billowing stream:

and affixed captured arms to the iron-clad doorposts.

THE FOURTH against the opposing Bohemians his avenging standards,

for the honor of the empire, as the avenger of the noble Emperor,

moved, and FREDERICK, having obtained distinguished praise,

bore the distinguished honor of the Saxon Elector:

He, also caring for the advantages of tranquil peace,

founded a retreat for us by the river of the Elster,

and kindled minds to outstanding arts with rewards.

Next, laden with the spoils of the North,

FREDERICK imposed laws on the conquered Havel.

You too, fortunate in marriage, and in the lineage of descendants,

ERNST, the Kashubians, and the arrow-bearing Poles,

you restrain, where the Oder glides with its fish-filled stream.

The SON freed his homeland from the fear of arms,

and seeking fortunate Jerusalem, and the noble tomb,

he conquered the harsh journey of the sea, and the land of the Curetes,

Gortyna, and Knossos, and the Cyclades in the deep sea,

and saw Phoebus' Rhodes, and the blessed peoples

of the Phoenicians, and the gardens of Syria, where the Tigris, and the immense

Euphrates glides, a river most pleasing to heaven.

He also, in uncertain times for the great Caesar,

turned away the Thracian enemy from the Austrian walls,

the ruler of Asia, dragging along Thracians and Getae,

and the great wealth of the East, when the Norican rocks

and the nymphs of the Ister trembled far and wide, the waves of the Ister.

Aponus saw him, and the high citadels of Antenor,

rush into battle, and lay low the walls of Padua.

Next the Sword-bearer, neither lesser than his brother in piety, nor in arms,

fierce JOHN quelled the rustic uprisings:

just as Boreas, sent forth from northern caves,

drives away black clouds from a cleared sky.

Then, vigorous, rushing through rocks, through weapons, through fires,

he first leaped upon the walls of Alba Regalis,

and stood famous as a victor on the stormed rampart,

Raising the eagles on high: and, having mastered his bold enterprises,

He earned a mural crown of oak leaves.

Under these Dukes, golden Religion raised her head to heaven,

Who now traverses the whole world uncorrupted,

Whom honesty and holy faith accompany on her way,

And harmonious piety alone administers justice to all.

But with what voice, or with what song, John Frederick of the double name,

Could I equal your name or your renowned deeds?

What praises, what honors are not owed to you?

No ages have produced anyone like you in greatness of heart,

Nor will any ever produce. You were ready to pour out your sweet life

And your brave blood for the sake of beloved religion,

And to accept death for the glory of God:

Never moved by the prospect of imminent death;

For indeed, no force of iron, nor fires of lightning,

Can subdue a breast inflamed with divine love:

Just as the very father of life, the Sun, the source of light,

The Sun, the eye of the world, sometimes labors

In blind night, but soon emerges golden once the clouds are vanquished.

Glory to your German courage, and glory to your mighty deeds,

Thus also beloved by God, because, proven

And tested in a thousand ways, your most faithful wife

Saw you return, and hung upon the dear neck of her lord

Before his death: his sons saw their sweet parent:

And now his ashes rest in his native soil.

But among his ancient forefathers, and the assembly of the pious,

His spirit exults in freedom, and enjoys perennial

Joy, and balances his trials with eternal blessings.

Hail, great father of your country, your glory will live,

As long as they roll to the sunset from the rosy dawn

... stars, as long as the waters of Aganippe's spring shall exist.

Sprung from thence, the groom joins the wedding torches in a fortunate pact,

and enters the illustrious bedchamber of the now marriageable

Dorothea, and prepares to unite their first slumbers:

and the Gods attend the harmonious vows of both.

And now the trumpets and songs sound, the spacious house echoes,

and the cliffs resound with joy: "Let us rise, O Aonides,

and let us climb the high citadel of the Prince, the father-in-law:

so that when Hesperus brings forth the night with his dew-bearing rise,

we may sing wedding songs at the bride's bedchamber,

good signs of a happy marriage bed, and an omen for the bridal couple."

She had spoken, and they were filling baskets woven of pliant withy

with varied flowers, all equal in age

and in face and dress, and they sought the city.

Now you for me, O Neckar, who water the cultivated fields with foaming waves

(for it must be thought that you are ignorant neither of the deeds of ancient forefathers,

nor of the noble glory of the fatherland),

since indeed you have washed these hills since the first origin of the world,

recount yourself the lineage of the bride, the deeds of her fathers,

and her ducal ancestors, and forbid the silence of fame.

For you are able, and it is a welcome delight to sing and to remember.

So may the Rems and the Jagst, so may the Kocher increase your river,

and may willows and alders always grow for you,

where you mingle with the Rhine among the green shadows.

Thus I spoke: when the cerulean Neckar raised his wet head

from his broad cave, and shaking his temples green with soft moss,

said: "Sprung from these mountains

(I shall speak indeed, nor shall I delay you with a long speech),

great-souled heroes once, in better years,

founded cities for the peoples, and the long-haired nation

They taught them to follow justice, and not to despise the gods:

But antiquity has wrapped their splendid deeds in darkness,

Since, although powerful in peoples and resources,

They lacked the sweet gift of sacred bards:

A gift which makes those who have completed the duty of fragile life

Equal to the gods above, and feeds them with joyous nectar.

But as for the bride (if the first origin of her house is sought),

The illustrious line flows from the blood of the Franks,

Both her race, and the numerous offspring of her ancient race,

But her ancestors did not then cultivate those hills,

Nor these fields: but where the Danube presses the fields

With its sounding river, and where, rising from the Hercynian mountains,

The Naab flows into the Danube from above, and the Regen from below,

And where you, gliding Pegnitz, see the setting sun.

From here arose the greatest LUTHOLDUS; against the fierce Hungarians

He led both wedges of infantry and squadrons of cavalry,

And, surpassing the famous deeds of his ancestors,

He calmed the troubled Ister by subduing the enemies,

And filled the river Enns with Pannonian blood.

Golden on his shield, the bearing of his ancient ancestors,

A lion gleamed, and opened wide its vast jaws.

Nor was ARNULFUS lesser in war, nor his SON of the same

Name, souls like the gods: I saw, I saw horrid

Battles, when they sought a beautiful death through wounds.

He believed peaceful deaths in peacetime an ignoble

Fate, and he led the Huns from their native shores,

VERNERUS, a fugitive burning with hope for his ancestral realm.

He was the first to go against the enemy, and to stir up the battle,

He knew in what place and order the soldiers were best led,

And an innate force was present in his great words.

What battles did the Lech see on its bank, what deaths,

Choked by thick slaughters? Where it divides the fierce

Vindelici and the Rhaetians, how many unburied bodies of men

Did it bring into the foaming waves of the Danube?

Just as if by chance he has left flames in a tree trunk,

That shepherd returning home late already at evening,

If a storm has arisen in the night, with the East winds rising:

Fires fly over everything, a torrent of flames

Goes pouring out with a vast whirlwind into the deep woods.

In order, you THREE OTHOS succeeded them,

All outstanding in courage and illustrious deeds.

Among whom the third, excelling in fierce arms,

Through various tracts of the sea, through shores far inhospitable,

Shores very distant from ours,

Making use of the stars, and oars, and carrying breezes,

A hero, with many from great Europe accompanying him,

Sought ancient Jerusalem, and, green with cedar,

The hills of palm-bearing Lebanon: then again famous

Jerusalem was brought under his power: then Ascalon, and itself

Which is so often celebrated by the song of prophets, Bethlehem:

And Gaza, and Joppa which is pounded by the sea waves,

Joppa, a station most pleasing to Adriatic sailors.

Happy souls, for whom it befell to be born at that time,

And equally to set sail through the great sea,

And to decorate the blessed sepulcher with spoils.

I could believe that the hills themselves, and the mountain of Zion,

Rejoicing, threw their voices to the high stars,

When now the victorious, triumphing army, having laid down its arms,

Falling prone, gave kisses to the holy earth:

And the venerable sign of the Cross shone everywhere.

Afterward OTHO, a lover of peace, and the GREATEST, second from him,

SON, a distinguished warrior, is borne

Through Latium, towering on his Iapygian horse, where the Adda

Is murky with gold, where with sluggish course the fertile plains

The Oglio cuts, and the ruler of the Hesperian waters

The Eridanus, where, its hair bound with tender reeds,

The Mincio, and the Adige rolls down with rapid waves,

And the river that separates the Italian world from the Gauls.

First into these, LUDWIG, father of Otho the sixth,

Migrated to the hills, the ELECTOR, and left ample lands

Both to his SON, and to late descendants to be ruled.

Both distinguished in virtues, both in the arts

Of peace, and in the studies of arms. The father rejoices

In the character of his excellent offspring, nor is the rival virtue displeasing.

Then first this rock became habitable for the renowned dukes,

Which overhangs the edge of the city from above.

Here I saw your beginnings, LUDWIG, whose trustworthiness

In deeds and words is greatest. Here I saw the cradle

Of RUDOLF, here the SON spent his first years.

Often I wiped the sweat from the weary ones with my pure stream,

And refreshed them with my waters and gentle breezes.

Whether they were bringing home ample spoils gained in war.

Or, joyful with the spoils of the groves and the booty of wild beasts,

They were returning weary from the hunt late at night.

I always saw gifts hung along the banks,

Either the bristly head of a boar, or the horns of a stag.

From here the pious duke built halls for the Aonian Muses,

RUPERT, struck by the sweet love of praise,

O glory, O never to be passed over in silence through any years,

Fortunate old man. To you confesses that it owes

... Posterity. You adorn the fatherland with learned arts,

and you command noble customs to reign throughout the towns.

Previously, I used to flow, known only to wandering shepherds,

through woods and valleys, a sluggish and obscure river.

Now the Rhine, now the Viadrus, now the Ister, and the Albis,

rise up in respect to me, and, crowned with ivy,

the Aonides lead dances around my streams, and sing songs:

and not one Tityrus alone blows the tuneful reeds.

Fortunate old man, to the heavens your name is raised by

Glory, who flies around the world on broad wings.

But had you not generously given these gifts to the Muses,

alas, in what darkness, under how great a night would you lie

lamentable, and entirely covered in black gloom?

For him also, on the plains of the Nemetes, by the gift of the gods,

a victory was gained twice in a single day, with great applause.

Twice defeated, the enemies fell, and turned their backs.

After this, the power of the Empire was granted to the son,

who enriched the city with temples and immense gifts,

and, fostering the gardens and pleasant green spaces of the Muses,

RUPERT gave sweet peace to his paternal lands.

Returning at last from Latium and the Tuscan Arno,

he stripped his long-lived years of mortal cares.

But surpassing his ancestors, to the ancestral scepters

Stephen joined peoples as a dowry and fierce nations,

who drink the Lutra and the Sara, and through whose fields

its downward courses with a surging flood

the foaming Rhine extends, and having arisen from the crags of the Vogesi,

the Mosella now seeks the master Rhine with its descending stream.

Next you succeed your father, FREDERICK, and you leave a son,

JOHN: from whose blood, called by the same

name, the SON, suited to the tranquil arts of peace,

filled the great world with his virtues,

a cultivator of justice, and a minister of law and equity.

Rich Nature herself had revealed all her

wealth to him, and sublime in mind he approached the heavens,

and he knew the settings of the stars, the risings of the stars,

and the health-bringing herbs with their proper powers,

what the barren asplenium, what the joyful sisymbria could do,

and green mints, and fragrant calamints,

and bugloss, and thyme, and the twining plant of hops.

And now counting ten six-year periods of his lived life,

with twice three years added, robust and intact,

he sought the heavenly seats, which the Maker of things

fills with perpetual light, with eternal splendors.

He rescued the obscure monuments of the dukes from thick

darkness, and commanded the whole lineage, and the praises of the parents,

to pass through the ages, and through the mouths of the descendants.

Now the renowned FREDERICK, beloved by all

the people, having obtained the honors and titles of his great-grandfather

(thus God the just arbiter dispenses all

times, and often restores the offspring of dukes to their pristine

state), governs the green tracts of the Rhine with great praise.

Whose standards, when his years were scarcely yet reaching puberty,

the Danube saw against the Mahometan forces of the arrow-bearing

Crescent, a specimen of exceptional virtue, and the first fruits

of a lofty character, bearing the martial eagle

through the squadrons: the strong cohorts were astounded.

Blessed in your early trials, Prince, the gods protecting

our defenses have preserved you for the realms of your ancient

parents, and to govern the lands in placid peace,

And a more blessed fortune fulfills the delays of years.

What vigor of intellect? How great a love of heavenly

learning burns within his breast? How faithful is the duke's

care for his people? What rewards does he bestow upon the learned Muses?

But if ever he rushes as a hunter against grim boars,

And stirs up the images of war, and wearies the woods,

Towering, the swift steed, branded with the chariot of Phaëthon,

Which the grassy Mincius raised in the forest of Andes,

He spurs on; flying, it pricks up its sharp ears

With neck held high, and at the same time swifter than the East Wind

It gathers its curving legs over the sunny plains.

But as for his sons, observing the deeds of their famous parent,

The splendid image of magnificent virtue spurs them on,

And the world rejoices with new hope for such great blood.

This is the lineage, this is the ancient origin of the bride to be married.

But now the higher Sun pours down its devouring heat from above,

While I speak, and the air has grown hot, touched by its rays,

And now the trumpets and clarions resound: the groom proceeds to the altars,

To confirm the marriage with the Gods as his sponsors.

The Nicer had finished speaking, then immediately his overturned urn

Resounded, and sent forth new flows of waters,

And he hid his bull-like horns beneath the glassy waves:

His horns always green with river moss.

Fortunate both, and born under favoring stars,

Both the happy maiden, and the prince happy with the maiden,

Behold, the Titan bathes the green mountains with a better light,

And clears the sky, having scattered the clouds,

And the gentle breezes congratulate the twin lovers,

The artful earth herself puts forth new flowers,

Pliant ivies, and eryngion useful for brides:

By whose flower, and the known use of its sprout,

Phaon earned the sweet kisses of Permessian Sappho,

the secret sea holly, which bristles with sharp thorns.

Whether the new bride carries this in her bosom or hides it in her mouth,

her spouse never contemplates illicit loves.

Just as the nuptial marjoram in a cultivated garden,

which a shining Hamadryad nourishes with spring waters,

rises, and diffuses its ambrosial fragrance far and wide:

So blooming with the pleasant flower of tender youth,

the bride shines, and surpasses soft roses and lilies.

A bright fire of a Garamantian gem radiates from her neck,

and her golden garment descends to her very feet,

a golden band covers her golden hair,

and golden necklaces hang from her snow-white breast.

But modesty, and probity, and royal honor surpass

her attire, and the reverence for chaste fame excel:

For gold is worthless unless joined with virtues.

With the sight of her the groom feeds his blazing eyes,

whom the swift Meuse in the summer dust,

and the Somme saw among many thousands of heroes,

while relying on the gods, lofty on his horse and with his spear,

he strikes like lightning, and the leader triumphs with a great shout,

and looks around at the joyful ranks with a tranquil face:

Just as the brightest Lucifer, going before Aurora

with his beautiful star, unfolds his blazing fires.

And now the joyful day flows by, as the nobles

recline in a long line for the feast, and lay to rest the lingering light

either with soft dances, or with varied contest.

And now having traversed the sky the Sun sets, and now

raises larger shadows from the lofty mountains,

And the Moon obscures the lesser fires of the stars.

Behold, nimble flames crackling with black sulfur

flit upwards, and glowing red seek the lofty heights of heaven,

and fill the empty air with rapid hissing.

May it be happy and auspicious, I pray: the bird of Jupiter from on high

claps with swift wings, and the queen of birds favors

the omen, while the great father leads his daughter as she goes

into the bedchamber, trembling at her lot,

before the gods, and having first proclaimed the sacred honor of the marriage bed,

he entrusts her to his son-in-law, and leaves them in one bed

joined, and comforts them both with friendly words.

Meanwhile the Muses, wreathed with Parnassian laurel,

before the doors, begin to pour forth sweet songs in a ring,

and the leader of the choir, and of her companions,

Calliope, leads her learned sisters with her voice.

Bright Hesperus has left behind the natal waves of the Ocean,

bearing torches, and the nuptial night:

Now beautiful Dorothea rests in the dear arms of her Lord,

joining her first slumbers with her husband.

But you, unwed maidens, to whom the undefiled bed

of lovers, and the inner care of the bedchamber is entrusted,

having attended them with omens, and good wishes, and song,

so that sweet harmony may reign in an eternal pact.

"Hymen, O Hymenaeus, Hymen," repeat, O girls.

We say, O Hymenaeus, Hymen, be present, O Hymenaeus:

Just as if an elm, struck by the fire of Jupiter, has withered,

bare, lacking leaves, now a disgrace to the cultivated garden,

it nurtures tender vines no more, no more grapes

does it yield: but had it not been for the wrath of the swift thunderbolt,

It would bend its branches, heavy with Autumn's bounty.

Thus an unwed maiden, as she grows old in a celibate life,

sees the rosy flower of her age wither away.

But betrothed to a dear husband, a mother gazes

upon her children, and rejoices in the longed-for name of mother,

and finds solace for all her labors in the honor of the marriage bed.

"Hymen, O Hymenaeus, Hymen," repeat, maidens.

We say, "O Hymenaeus, Hymen, be present, O Hymenaeus."

Are we deceived? Or has the voice of a turtledove reached our ears?

The loving turtledove groans and sighs in the lonely shade.

Come hither: O my life, for you beneath these mountains

I preserve kisses and embraces, and secret joys:

And the flower of Parthenius already grows for you in the damp cave.

"Hymen, O Hymenaeus, Hymen," repeat, maidens.

We say, "O Hymenaeus, Hymen, be present, O Hymenaeus."

You breezes, whose home is the surrounding air,

companions of the sun and shadows, while Sirius burns

fervently, and proclaims certain wrath to the peoples,

soothe the heavy heat with cool breaths,

and turn away the taint of the sky, and savage diseases:

and make it so that these joys are lasting for our lands.

"Hymen, O Hymenaeus, Hymen," repeat, maidens.

We say, "O Hymenaeus, Hymen, be present, O Hymenaeus."

You too, holy old man, whose light now in its rising

we see, and your bow distinguished by gleaming stars,

since rumor has it that you know the wholesome juices,

and the mother Phillyris showed you the use of herbs:

Seek new flowers, by which the glorious mother of the bride

may recover her lost vigor, with her weariness dispelled.

Hymen, O Hymenaeus, Hymen, repeat, O maidens.

We say: O Hymenaeus, Hymen, be present, O Hymenaeus.

Be together, and together prolong a sweet life,

while it is permitted, and hand down little sons to their grandmother.

For all the gliding stars in the great heaven

bid the future descendants hope for better things.

Hymen, O Hymenaeus, Hymen, repeat, O maidens.

We say: O Hymenaeus, Hymen, be present, O Hymenaeus.

Fortunate father-in-law, a new line of high blood

is born, from which a late lineage will number

its maternal descent from the very origin of the kings of the Franks.

And you too, brothers, fortunate in your father-in-law, lofty

souls, whom harmony joins in a steadfast bond:

thus (I suppose) the one whom he redeemed from Orcus by an alternating death,

his brother Castor, Pollux the son of Tyndareus loved.

You we revere, O Dukes, and your aid, while all else fails,

we implore: nor will it displease you to have aided

the arts which your ancestors fostered, which your parents fostered,

arts especially worthy of great heroes.

But first of all let a fierce zeal for piety, and of nurturing

justice, and of good peace reign within your breast:

since when a Prince neglects the care of equity,

the laws are mute, like dead corpses.

Hymen, O Hymenaeus, Hymen, repeat, O maidens.

We say: O Hymenaeus, Hymen, be present, O Hymenaeus.

Night rushes down, and the stars now advise peaceful sleep,

Now untroubled rest, shaking Lethean poppies,

holds the expanses of the boundless air, and the realms

closest to the Moon, and the bays of the sea, and the outspread lands,

and every kind of bird is silent, every kind of wild beast,

and empty dreams soothe human cares.

The new bride imagines herself in tended gardens,

or soft meadows, or in a green valley,

plucking narcissus, and savory, and roses, and soft privet,

and ripe grapes, and sweetly blushing apples,

a pleasing gift for her beloved lover,

and weaving white lilies with the golden marigold.

Hymen, O Hymenaeus, Hymen, repeat, maidens.

We say, O Hymenaeus, Hymen, be present, O Hymenaeus.

O how often at night will a flitting image bring to you

in your sleep, and bring back, your husband, whether waging grim

wars, or pursuing wild beasts through desolate lairs.

But he, in the camp, or spending the night under the bare sky,

bears rough hunting spears on his sturdy neck.

Hymen, O Hymenaeus, Hymen, repeat, maidens.

We say, O Hymenaeus, Hymen, be present, O Hymenaeus:

Sweet Hymen, we grant you deserved honors,

and rejoicing we celebrate your name and your praises.

Hail, great Neckar, let the peoples and the cities rejoice,

and the cool valleys, and the cool rivers in the valleys,

which the ruler of the gods on high deems worthy of such great offspring.

Now the sky will exude liquid dew mixed with sacred nectar,

the woods will exude balsams,

the rich fields will turn golden with unsown harvests:

And the earth will marvel at barley grown of its own accord.

Hymen, O Hymenaeus, Hymen, repeat, maidens.

We say, O Hymenaeus, Hymen, be present, O Hymenaeus.

They had finished: the citadels resounded with fresh applause:

The very rocks, the wandering rivers cry out "Dorothea,"

"Dorothea," the neighboring ridges echo "Dorothea."

Then almighty father Jupiter three times from the high ether

Thundered, and gave favorable signs from a clear sky:

And deep silences fell across the lofty mountains.