XXV. Ad Galactorium comitem
To Count Galactorius
I have often wished to make myself a sailor with an oar, so that a boat might go on wave-breaking courses through the waters; or to be carried by rapid gusts over the back of the Garonne [the great river of southwestern Gaul, reaching the sea near Bordeaux], hurrying toward Bordeaux — carried swiftly by sails, with the north wind behind me on the wandering flood, and then the breeze returning me to that harbor-shore where holy Bishop Gundegisilus most devotedly serves God, who shines as an altar of God for the summit of his people.
You too, Count Galactorius, in the merits that mark where you reside — I know your goodness reaches me even from so far away.
For Bordeaux holds within its walls two of the finest men in Gaul: a bishop who governs his church as the apostles governed theirs, and a count who administers his province as the old Roman prefects did. Between them, the city of Ausonius [Ausonius, the great 4th-century Latin poet, was from Bordeaux] remains what it always was.
If I could reach you — I would come. Since I cannot, I send these verses as a vessel that carries me in spirit across the Garonne to your door.
XXV
Ad Galactorium comitem
Saepius optaram fieri me remige nauta,
cursibus undifragis ut ratis iret aquis
flatibus aut rapidis per dorsa Garonnica ferrer,
Burdigalense petens ut celer actus iter,
velaque fluctivagum traherent Aquilone secundo.
me quoque litoreo redderet aura sinu
qua plus antistes sacra Gundegisilus offert,
culmine pro populi qui micat ara dei:
tu quoque quo resides meritis, comes, ample serenis,
care Galactori, sedula cura mihi,
cui rite excellens rex Gunthechramnus honores
maius adhuc debet, qui tibi magna dedit.
cum tamen hoc vellem, timor obstitit aestibus ille
qui cumulo rapidae mons fremit albus aquae.
dulcedo invitat civilis et unda repugnat:
sic vocat atque vetat hinc amor, inde pavor.
plane hoc quod superest solvat vel epistula currens:
littera, quod facerem, reddat amore vicem.
maxime nunc igitur te, dulcis amice, saluto,
sperans a domino te superesse diu.
cumque domo sociis antistite coniuge natis
vive comes, cui sint iura regenda ducis.
pontifici summo commender, opime, precatu,
sic tua pars meritis sit data dextra polis.
si superest aliquid quod forte tributa redundent:
qui modo mitto apices, te rogo mitte pices.
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XXV. Ad Galactorium comitem To Count Galactorius
I have often wished to make myself a sailor with an oar, so that a boat might go on wave-breaking courses through the waters; or to be carried by rapid gusts over the back of the Garonne [the great river of southwestern Gaul, reaching the sea near Bordeaux], hurrying toward Bordeaux — carried swiftly by sails, with the north wind behind me on the wandering flood, and then the breeze returning me to that harbor-shore where holy Bishop Gundegisilus most devotedly serves God, who shines as an altar of God for the summit of his people.
You too, Count Galactorius, in the merits that mark where you reside — I know your goodness reaches me even from so far away.
For Bordeaux holds within its walls two of the finest men in Gaul: a bishop who governs his church as the apostles governed theirs, and a count who administers his province as the old Roman prefects did. Between them, the city of Ausonius [Ausonius, the great 4th-century Latin poet, was from Bordeaux] remains what it always was.
If I could reach you — I would come. Since I cannot, I send these verses as a vessel that carries me in spirit across the Garonne to your door.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.