| O Colonia, quae cupis
ponte ludere longo, |
1 |
O Colonia, you who wish
to have a long bridge for your games, |
| et salire paratum habes,
sed uereris inepta |
2 |
and are quite ready to
dance, but fear the ill-jointed |
| crura ponticuli axulis
stantis in rediuiuis, |
3 |
legs of your little bridge,
standing as it does on old posts done up again, |
| ne supinus eat cauaque
in palude recumbat: |
4 |
lest it should fall sprawling
and sink down in the depths of the mire; |
| sic tibi bonus ex tua
pons libidine fiat, |
5 |
may you have a good bridge
made for you according to your desire, |
| in quo uel Salisubsali
sacra suscipiantur, |
6 |
one in which the rites
of Salisubsilus himself may be undertaken, |
| munus hoc mihi maximi
da, Colonia, risus. |
7 |
on condition that you
grant me this gift, Colonia, to make me laugh my loudest. |
| quendam municipem meum
de tuo uolo ponte |
8 |
There is a townsman of
mine whom I wish to go headlong from your bridge |
| ire praecipitem in lutum
per caputque pedesque, |
9 |
over head and heels into
the mud, |
| uerum totius ut lacus
putidaeque paludis |
10 |
only let it be where is
the blackest and deepest pit |
| liuidissima maximeque
est profunda uorago. |
11 |
of the whole bog with
its stinking morass. |
| insulsissimus est homo,
nec sapit pueri instar |
12 |
The fellow is a perfect
blockhead, and has not as much sense as a little baby |
| bimuli tremula patris
dormientis in ulna. |
13 |
two years old sleeping
in the rocking arms of his father. |
| cui cum sit uiridissimo
nupta flore puella |
14 |
He has for a wife a girl
in the freshest flower of youth, |
| et puella tenellulo delicatior
haedo, |
15 |
a girl too, more exquisite
than a tender kidling, |
| adseruanda nigerrimis
diligentius uuis, |
16 |
one who ought to be guarded
more diligently than ripest grapes, |
| ludere hanc sinit ut lubet,
nec pili facit uni, |
17 |
and he lets her play as
she will, and does not care one straw, |
| nec se subleuat ex sua
parte, sed uelut alnus |
18 |
and for his part does
not stir himself, but lies like an alder |
| in fossa Liguri iacet
suppernata securi, |
19 |
in a ditch hamstrung by
a Ligurian axe, |
| tantundem omnia sentiens
quam si nulla sit usquam; |
20 |
with just as much perception
of everything as if it did not exist anywhere. |
| talis iste meus stupor
nil uidet, nihil audit, |
21 |
Like this, my booby sees
nothing, hears nothing; |
| ipse qui sit, utrum sit
an non sit, id quoque nescit. |
22 |
what he himself is, whether
he is or is not, he does not know so much as this. |
| nunc eum uolo de tuo ponte
mittere pronum, |
23 |
He it is whom I want now
to send head foremost from your bridge, |
| si pote stolidum repente
excitare ueternum, |
24 |
whether he can all in
a moment wake up his lethargy, |
| et supinum animum in graui
derelinquere caeno, |
25 |
and leave his sluggish
mind there in the nasty sludge, |
| ferream ut soleam tenaci
in uoragine mula. |
26 |
as a mule leaves her iron
shoe in the sticky mire. |