Epistle IX. — Ausonius to Paulus

Ausonius, consul of the Romans, to Paulus, poet and declaimer: haste to see thy friends.

For thee I left the flood of the Garonne, for thee I dwell amid the plains of Saintes; our meeting, therefore, be thy aim! If thou art eager as I, full soon wilt thou enjoy the sight of me. But make such haste as thy strength and years permit; so that I see thee safe, I see thee soon enough. If after that unlucky drive thy powers are restored, and if thy limbs have now regained their wonted pliancy, if to the Muses' joy thou dost again frequent well-watered Pimpla, a bard once more and no scorching Automedon, banish the clouds of eld which haunt a drowsy greybeard, briskly devour the intervening road. But be heedful, mounting some chaise or slow post-horse: let no dog-cart tempt thee, no highmettled steed. I counsel thee avoid four-wheeled cars with their notorious geldings, drive no swift mules thyself to play Metiscus. So be the Muses gracious to thee, thy conception ready, thy memory sound, and free thy flow of melting honey: so may Crebennus, so long for sale without a purchaser, be thine for a reward.

-I But that thou mayest come more quickly, travelling the lighter, leave histories, mimes, and lyrics all at home. Muses make heavy baggage: those books stored with so many' centuries, which scarce endure their own ages, are crushed by ours. With me thou wilt find a motley throng of epics, grammarians' subtilties and niceties of speech, the heroic dactyl and the lyrist's choriambus, Thaleia's comedy' beside Terpsichore's tragic train, Sotades' wanton verse, the Ionic of both kinds,' the ordered sweetness of Pindaric rhythms, the shambling scazon and the unlimping trimeter, eight books of Thucydides, nine of Herodotus, a goodly show of orators, and the philosophers in glorious tribes — all that thou wouldst, and still more shouldst thou wish.

This word of greeting I send thee from my books. Farewell; if thou wouldst have me fare well, fare hither now.