Mosella by Ausonius
Contents
The Journey ;
The Hymn ;
Looking into the depths ;
The Fishes ;
The Vineyards ;
The gods ;
Reflections in the River ;
Boatmen at Play ;
The Anglers ;
Riverside Villas ;
Some of the Villas Described ;
Tributaries of the Moselle ;
A Salutation ;
One day Ausonius will write of eminent Belgians ;
The Moselle flows into the Rhine ;
Ausonius on himself ;
There is so much more to sing ;
All other rivers will bow to the Moselle
6. The gods
These scenes delight, not humans only.
Rustic Satyrs, I fancy,
Grey-eyed Naiads too,
Come here, run to the water’s edge.
Wanton joy spurs on goat-footed Pans.
They leap into the shallows,
Splash wildly with their fists,
And terrify their under-water sisters.
Often, too, while stealing grapes in the hills,
Among the friendly Oreiads,
Panope, the river nymph,
Flees country deities, the lustful Fauns.
They say that when the fiery sun is highest
Satyrs and glass-green Nymphs
Dance by the riverside,
When heat has banished mortals out of sight.
Then leaping through their stream the Nymphs
Duck the Satyrs in play
And dodge their grasp,
Since they are clumsy and unskilled in swimming.
The Satyrs, cheated, chase those slippery limbs,
They stretch out arms
And clasp in vain
The river water instead of those Nymph-bodies.
No one has watched these things; no one has seen.
May I be allowed to speak
As far as I know. May the river
Keep its secrets and hide what has been done.
7. Reflections in the river
Reflections in the Moselle
But here’s a sight to revel in, not hide:
Dark mountains, echoed in the sparkling streams,
As river water sprouts fresh leaves, it seems,
And young vine shoots are planted in the tide.
What colours stain the ford, as Vesper’s star
Brings on the shades of evening! Each green hill
Swims in Moselle, and mountain ridges fill
All places where the rippling waters are.
The absent tendril trembles, and grapes swell
In glassy water. As his craft floats by,
The boatman counts green vines. Hill, shadow, sky
And river meet - but where, he cannot tell.
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