COLERIDGE
        AD LYRAM
        (Casimir, Book II. Ode 3)

The solemn-breathing air is ended--
    Cease, O Lyre! thy kindred lay!
From the poplar-branch suspended
    Glitter to the eye of Day!

On thy wires hov'ring, dying,
    Softly sighs the summer wind:
I will slumber, careless lying,
    By yon waterfall reclin'd.

In the forest hollow-roaring
    Hark! I hear a deep'ning sound--
Clouds rise thick with heavy low'ring!
    See! th' horizon blackens round!

Parent of the soothing measure,
    Let me seize thy wetted string!
Swiftly flies the flatterer, Pleasure,
    Headlong, ever on the wing.

"If we except Lucretius and Statius, I know not of any Latin poet,
ancient or modern, who has equalled Casimir in boldness of conception,
opulence of fancy, or beauty of versification. The Odes of this illustrious
Jesuit were translated into English about 150 years ago, by a Thomas
Hill, I think. [--by G.H. [G. Hils.] London, 1646. 12mo. Ed. L.R.
1836.] I never saw the translation. A few of the Odes have been
translated in a very animated manner by Watts. I have subjoined the
third ode of the second book, which with the exception of the first line,
is an effusion of exquisite elegance. In the imitation attempted, I am
sensible that I have destroyed the effect of suddenness, by translating into
two stanzas what is one in the original."
['Advertisement' to Ad Lyram, in Watchman, II, March 9, 1796]

      CASIMIR
        AD LYRAM

Sonora buxi Filia sutilis,
Pendebis alta, Barbite, populo,
  Dum ridet aer, et supinas
    Sollicitat levis aura frondes:

Te sibilantis lenior halitus
Perflabit Euri: me iuvet interim
  Collum reclinasse, et virenti
    Sic temere iacuisse ripa.

Eheu! serenum quae nebulae tegunt
Repente caelum! quis sonus imbrium!
  Surgamus--heu semper fugaci
    Gaudia praeteritura passu!