From: Top Cities Parade - by Ausonius (Lastly) no.20: Bordeaux
Decimus Magnus Ausonius (4th century AD)
From: Top Cities Parade - by Ausonius
(Lastly) no.20: Bordeaux
Impia iamdudum condemno silentia, quod te,
o patria, insignem Baccho fluviisque virisque,
moribus ingeniisque hominum procerumque senatu,
non inter primas memorem, quasi conscius urbis
exiguae inmeritas dubitem contingere laudes.
non pudor hinc nobis; nec enim mihi barbara Rheni
ora nec arctoo domus est glacialis in Haemo:
BURDIGALA est natale solum; dementia caeli
mitis ubi et riguae larga indulgentia terrae,
ver longum brumaeque novo cum sole tepentes
aestifluique amnes, quorum iuga vitea subter
fervent aequoreos imitata fluenta meatus, …Burdigala – from Ordo Urbium Nobilium
You, my homeland, left till last?
That unseemliness is past!
Souls, wines, rivers, famous all,
Wit and wisdom, City Hall...
Well aware that you are small,
Did I fear to overpraise?
Being small is no disgrace!
Not the cold barbarian Rhine,
Not the arctic peaks of Thrace,
No such glacial home is mine:
Bordeaux is my native place.
Temperate the skies and mild,
Fertile lands that early smiled,
Winters warmed in newborn sun,
Springs full-blown, where rivers run
Like the seas with foaming tides,
Vineyards clinging to their sides...The 4th century Latin poet Ausonius, born at Bordeaux (Burdigala), began as a teacher of rhetoric. He taught the future Emperor Gratian and rose to be a praetor in Gaul, a commander in Germany and a consul in Rome. He retired to a country estate near his native city. A vineyard nearby is called Château Ausone and another, La Gaffelière, has a Roman mosaic floor.
Translation: Copyright © Timothy Adès