Unit 1 · poem · elegiac_couplet · 6 lines
Latin
Source text
ALvus ab igne levi Lentis ſiccata tumeſcit :
Hordea ſi reddant, dic Medice, innocuam?
Illa melancholicos, nervis inimica & ocellis,
Nec ſatis est, morbos, ſomnia dira, movet.
Scilicet extollat Peluſia munera Nilus!
Dulcia ſi addideris toxica dira facis.
English text
The belly, dried by the slight heat of the lentil, swells:
Tell me, Physician, does barley render it harmless?
It provokes the melancholic, being hostile to the nerves and eyes,
Nor is that enough, it stirs up diseases and dire dreams.
Let the Nile indeed extol its Pelusian gifts!
If you add sweet things, you make dreadful poisons.