Æmula Thessalicis en hie Jonstonia Tempe,
Hospes! hyperboreo fusa sub axe vides.
Mille per ambages nitidis argenteus undis,
Hie trepidat Isetos Urius inter agros.
Expb'cat hie seras ingens Bennachius umbras,
Nox ubi libratur lance diesque pari.
Gemmifer est amnis, radiat mons ipse lapillis,
Queis nihil Ecus purius orbis habet.
Hie pandit natura sinum, nativaque surgens
Purpura felicem sub pede ditat humum.
Aera per liquidum volucres, in flumine pisces,
Adspicis in pratis luxuriare pecus.
Hie seges est, hie poma rubent, onerantur aristis
Arva, suas segre sustinet arbor opes.
Propter aquas arx est, ipsi contermina ccelo,
Auctoris menti non tamen sequa sui.
Imperat hsec arvis et vectigalibus undis.
Et famula stadiis distat ab urbe tribus.
Hsec mihi terra parens: gens has Jonstonia lymphas,
Arvaque per centum missa tuetur avos.
Clara Maronaeis evasit Mantua cunis;
Me mea natalis nobililabit humus.
TRANSLATION.
Here, traveller, a vale behold
As fair as Tempe, famed of old.
Beneath the northern sky !
Here Urie, with her silver waves,
Her banks, in verdure smiling, laves,
And winding wimples by.
Here, towering high, Bennachie spreads
Around on all his evening shades,
When twilight grey comes on :
With sparkling gems the river glows ,
As precious stones the mountain shows
As in the East are known.
Here nature spreads a bosom sweet,
And native dyes beneath the feet
Bedeck the joyous ground :
Sport in the liquid air the birds,
And fishes in the stream ; the herds
In meadows wanton round.
Here ample barn-yards still are stored
With relics of last "autumn's hoard
And firstlings of this year ;
There waving fields of yellow corn,
And ruddy apples, that adorn
The bending boughs, appear.
Beside the stream, a castle proud
Rises amid the passing cloud,
And rules a wide domain,
( Unequal to its lord's desert :)
A village near, with lowlier art,
Is built upon the plain.
Here was I born; o'er all the land
Around, the Johnstons bear command,
Of high and ancient line:
Mantua acquired a noted name
As Virgil's birthplace; I my fame
Inherit shall from mine.
