The evening is come, rise up, ye: Vesper from Olympus
now at last is just raising his long-looked-for light.
Now is it time to rise, now to leave the rich tables;
now will come the bride, now will the Hymen-song be sung.
Hymen, O Hymenaeus, Hymen, hither, O Hymenaeus!
See ye, maidens, the youths? Rise up to meet them.
For sure the night-star shows his Oetaean fires.
So it is indeed; see you how nimbly they have sprung up?
not for nothing have they sprung up: they'll sing something worthwhile.
Hymen, O Hymenaeus, Hymen, hither, O Hymenaeus!
No easy palm is set out for us, comrades;
look how the maidens are conning what they have learnt.
Not in vain do they learn, they have there something worthy of memory;
no wonder, since they labour deeply with their whole mind.
We have diverted elsewhere our thoughts, elsewhere our ears;
fairly then shall we be beaten; victory loveth care.
Wherefore now at least match your minds with theirs.
Anon they will begin to speak, anon it will be fitting for us to answer.
Hymen, O Hymenaeus, Hymen, hither, O Hymenaeus!
Hesperus, what more cruel fire than thine moves in the sky?
for thou canst endure to tear the daughter from her mother's embrace,
from her mother's embrace to tear the close-clinging daughter,
and give the chaste maiden to the burning youth.
What more cruel than this do enemies when a city falls?
Hymen, O Hymenaeus, Hymen, hither, O Hymenaeus!
Hesperus, what more welcome fire than thine shines in the sky?
for thou with thy flame confirmest the contracted espousals,
which husbands and parents have promised beforehand,
but unite not till thy flame has arisen.
What is given by the gods more desirable than the fortunate hour?
Hymen, O Hymenaeus, Hymen, hither, O Hymenaeus!
Hesperus, friends, has taken away one of us.
For at thy coming the guard is always awake.
By night thieves hide, whom thou, Hesperus, often overtakest back,
Hesperus the same but with changed name Eous,
But maidens love to chide thee with feigned complaint.
What then, if they chide him whom they desire in their secret heart?
Hymen, O Hymenaeus, Hymen, hither, O Hymenaeus!
As a flower springs up secretly in a fenced garden,
unknown to the cattle, torn up by no plough,
which the winds caress, the sun strengthens, the shower draws forth,
many boys, many girls, desire it;
when the same flower fades, nipped by a sharp nail,
no boys, no girls desire it:
so a maiden, whilst she remains untouched, so long is she dear to her own;
when she has lost her chaste flower with sullied body,
she remains neither lovely to boys nor dear to girls.
Hymen, O Hymenaeus, Hymen, hither, O Hymenaeus!
As an unwedded vine which grows up in a bare field
never raises itself aloft, never brings forth a mellow grape,
but bending its tender form with downward weight,
even now touches the root with topmost shoot;
no farmers, no oxen tend it:
but if it chance to be joined in marriage to the elm,
many farmers, many oxen tend it:
so a maiden, whilst she remains untouched, so long is she aging untended;
but when in ripe season she is matched in equal wedlock,
she is more dear to her husband and less distasteful to her father.
And you, maiden, strive not with such a husband;
it is not right to strive with him to whom your father himself gave you,
your father himself with your mother, whom you must obey.
Your maidenhead is not all your own; partly it belongs to your parents,
a third part is given to your father, a third part to your mother,
only a third is yours; do not contend with two,
who have given their rights to their son-in-law together with the dowry.
Hymen, O Hymenaeus, Hymen, hither, O Hymenaeus!
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Vesper adest, iuvenēs, cōnsurgite: Vesper Olympō
exspectāta diū vix tandem lūmina tollit.
Surgere iam tempus, iam pinguīs linquere mēnsās,
iam veniet virgō, iam dīcētūr hymenaeus.
Hȳmēn ō Hymenaee, Hȳmēn ades ō Hymenaee! 5
Cernitis, innūptae, iuvenēs? cōnsurgite contrā;
nīmīrum Oetaeōs ostendit Noctifer ignēs.
Sīc certē est; viden ut pernīciter exsiluēre?
Nōn temere exsiluēre, canent quod vincere pār est.
Hȳmēn ō Hymenaee, Hȳmēn ades ō Hymenaee! 10
Nōn facilis nōbīs, aequālēs, palma parāta est:
aspicite, innūptae sēcum ut meditāta requīrunt.
Non frūstrā meditantur: habent memorābile quod sit;
nec mīrum, penitus quae tōtā mente labōrant.
Nōs aliō mentēs, aliō dīvīsimus aurēs; 15
iūre igitur vincēmur: amat victōria cūram.
Quārē nunc animōs saltem convertite vestrōs;
dīcere iam incipient, iam respondēre decēbit.
Hȳmēn ō Hymenaee, Hȳmēn ades ō Hymenaee!
Hespere, quis caelō fertur crūdēlior ignis? 20
Quī nātam possīs complexū āvellere mātris,
complexū mātris retinentem āvellere nātam,
et iuvenī ardentī castam dōnāre puellam.
Quid faciunt hostēs captā crūdēlius urbe?
Hȳmēn ō Hymenaee, Hȳmēn ades ō Hymenaee! 25
Hespere, quis caelō lūcet iūcundior ignis?
quī dēspōnsa tuā firmēs cōnūbia flammā,
quae pepigēre virī, pepigērunt ante parentēs,
nec iunxēre prius quam sē tuus extulit ārdor.
Quid datur ā dīvīs fēlīcī optātius hōrā? 30
Hȳmēn ō Hymenaee, Hȳmēn ades ō Hymenaee!
Hesperus ē nōbīs, aequālēs, abstulit ūnam.
Namque tuō adventū vigilat cū̆stōdia semper;
nocte latent fūrēs, quōs īdem saepe revertēns,
Hespere, mūtātō comprēndis nōmine Eōus, 35
at lubet innūptīs fīctō tē carpere questū.
Quid tum, sī carpunt, tacitā quem mente requīrunt?
Hȳmēn ō Hymenaee, Hȳmēn ades ō Hymenaee!
Ut flōs in saeptīs sēcrētus nāscitur hortīs,
ignōtus pecorī, nūllō convolsus arātrō, 40
quem mulcent aurae, firmat sōl, ēducat imber;
multī illum puerī, multae optāvēre puellae:
īdem cum tenuī carptus dēflōruit unguī,
nūllī illum puerī, nullae optāvēre puellae:
sīc virgō, dum intācta manet, dum cāra suīs est; 45
cum castum āmīsit pollūtō corpore flōrem,
nec puerīs iūcunda manet, nec cāra puellīs.
Hȳmēn ō Hymenaee, Hȳmēn ades ō Hymenaee!
Ut vidua in nūdō vītis quae nāscitur arvō,
numquam sē extollit, numquam mītem ēducat ūvam, 50
sed tenerum prōnō dēflectēns pondere corpus
iam iam contingit summum rādīce flagellum;
hanc nūllī agricolae, nūllī coluēre iuvencī:
at sī forte eadem est ulmō coniūncta marītō,
multī illam agricolae, multī coluēre iuvencī: 55
sīc virgō dum intācta manet, dum inculta senēscit;
cum pār cōnŭbium mātūrō tempore adepta est,
cāra virō magis et minus est invīsa parentī.
Et tū nē pugnā cum tālī coniuge virgō.
nōn aequom est pugnāre, pater cui trādidit ipse, 60
ipse pater cum mātre, quibus pārēre necesse est.
Virginitās nōn tōta tua est, ex parte parentum est,
tertia pars patre est, pars est data tertia mātrī,
tertia sōla tua est: nōlī pugnāre duōbus,
quī generō suŏ iūra simul cum dōte dedērunt. 65
Hȳmēn ō Hymenaee, Hȳmēn ades ō Hymenaee!
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