Love
Bissula II. — To the Reader of this Little Book
Translated by Hugh G. Evelyn-White (1919–21) · From Book IX. — Bissula
You who propose to read this booklet of unpolished verse, smooth out your frown. Weigh sober poems with a knitted brow: I follow Thymele. Bissula shall be sung in this rough sketch, not Erasinus. I warn you fairly: drink before you read. This is no reading for a fasting saint; whoso shall read this book after a cup or two, he will be wise. But he will be wiser still to sleep and think this is a dream sent to him.
This translation is printed as prose in its source edition.
Cite this poem
MLA
Ausonius, Decimus Magnus. “Bissula II. — To the Reader of this Little Book.” Translated by Hugh G. Evelyn-White. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/ausonius/129/.
Chicago
Ausonius, Decimus Magnus. “Bissula II. — To the Reader of this Little Book.” Translated by Hugh G. Evelyn-White. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/ausonius/129/.
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