"O what greater blessing than cares released, when the mind casts down its burden, and when wearied with the toil of travel we reach our hearth, and rest in the long-for bed."
— Gaius Valerius Catullus (c. 84 - c. 54 B.C.)
Work Title
Date
54 B.C.
Metaphor
"O what greater blessing than cares released, when the mind casts down its burden, and when wearied with the toil of travel we reach our hearth, and rest in the long-for bed."
Metaphor in Context
Paene insularum, Sirmio, insularumque
ocelle, quascumque in liquentibus stagnis
marique vasto fert uterque Neptunus,
quam te libenter quamque laetus inviso,
vix mi ipse credens Thyniam atque Bithynos
liquisse campos et videre te in tuto!
o quid solutis est beatius curis,
cum mens onus reponit, ac peregrino
labore fessi venimus larem ad nostrum
desideratoque adquiescimus lecto?
hoc est quod unum est pro laboribus tantis.
salve, o venusta Sirmio, atque ero gaude;
gaudete vosque, o Lydiae lacus undae;
ridete, quidquid est domi cachinnorum.
[Sirmio! Eyelet of islands and peninsulas, which each Neptune holds whether in limpid lakes or on the wide sea, how gladly and how happily do I see you again, scarcely believing that I've left behind Thynia and the Bithynian plains, and that I gaze on you safe and sound. O what greater blessing than cares released, when the mind casts down its burden, and when wearied with the toil of travel we reach our hearth, and rest in the long-for bed. This and only this repays our numerous labors. Hail, lovely Sirmio, and rejoice in your master; and rejoice, you waves of the Lybian lake; laugh, you laughters echoing from my home.]
ocelle, quascumque in liquentibus stagnis
marique vasto fert uterque Neptunus,
quam te libenter quamque laetus inviso,
vix mi ipse credens Thyniam atque Bithynos
liquisse campos et videre te in tuto!
o quid solutis est beatius curis,
cum mens onus reponit, ac peregrino
labore fessi venimus larem ad nostrum
desideratoque adquiescimus lecto?
hoc est quod unum est pro laboribus tantis.
salve, o venusta Sirmio, atque ero gaude;
gaudete vosque, o Lydiae lacus undae;
ridete, quidquid est domi cachinnorum.
[Sirmio! Eyelet of islands and peninsulas, which each Neptune holds whether in limpid lakes or on the wide sea, how gladly and how happily do I see you again, scarcely believing that I've left behind Thynia and the Bithynian plains, and that I gaze on you safe and sound. O what greater blessing than cares released, when the mind casts down its burden, and when wearied with the toil of travel we reach our hearth, and rest in the long-for bed. This and only this repays our numerous labors. Hail, lovely Sirmio, and rejoice in your master; and rejoice, you waves of the Lybian lake; laugh, you laughters echoing from my home.]
Categories
Provenance
Searching "mind" in Perseus Digital Library
Citation
Text from Perseus Digital Library, which draws from E.T Merrill's 1893 edition of Catullus <Link>. Catullus. The Carmina of Gaius Valerius Catullus trans. Leonard C. Smithers (London: Smithers, 1894).
Date of Entry
05/18/2011
