Poem on Antony Holborne's Cittharn Schoole: IN SCHOLAM MUSICAM ANTONI HOLBORNI

75. IN SCHOLAM MUSICAM ANTONI HOLBORNI

Quin petis cytharae scholam, iuvenus,

Cui nomen Cytherea vestra fecit,

Quam vobis aperit catus docendi

Holbornus, melicae magister artis?

5   Et qui impubes adhic genasque leves 

Imberbesque puer refers ephebos,

Et cui fortior altioris aevi

Currus attigit orbitas virilis,

Quin petis cytharae scholam, iuventus?

10  Tuque o dulcacidus puellularum

Quae pupas Veneri modo dicarunt

Caetus, virgineus chorus, venusta

Quin petis cytharae scholam, iuventus?

Quid pedes removetis hinc timenteis,

15  Puellique puelluluaeque dulces?

Non hic Orbilius sedet magister

Hirsutus tetrico tremendus ore,

Sed multo ferula magis timendus,

Dum dextra quatit imminente virgam,

20  Diram, Iupiter, improbamque virgam,

Quae plaga teneram potente pellem

Saevum lancinat extrahitque sanguen;

Quin petis cytharae scholam, iuventus?

Hic nullos ferula aurea repellit,

25  Sed cunctos melica allicit saliva.

En hic virgula nulla, praeter illam

Quae mulcet cytharae fides sonorae.

En hic verbera nulla praeter illa

Quae pulsant cytharae fides canorae.

30  En hic murmura nulla, praeter illa

Quae reddic Cytharae sonus decorae.

Quin petis cytharae scholam, iuventus?

Tu cui vapulat aestuante luctu

Pectus, anxifero dolore squallens,

35  Si curae est iecoris tibi gravantem

Edomare reciprocantis aestum,

Quin petis Cytharae scholam iuventus.

At tu qui Charites Dicas et Horas,

Holborne, allicis attrahace plectro,

40  Argutae fidicen lyrae virentis

Reportabis adoream coronae.

Si rictu tibi forsitan trifauci

Ausit Cerberus oblatrare surdus,

Tu vel harmoniae tuae potenti

45  Dentifrangibulo canis ferocis

Contundes miseros in ore dentes.

At tu musica cui saliva grata est

Quin petis cytharae scholam, iuventus?

75. ON ANTHONY HOLBORNE’S MUSIC SCHOOL

Why not seek out the Cittern School, O youth

for whom your Cytherea has made a name,

the school which Holborne, adroit at teaching, a master of the lyric art,

has opened for you?

5   And you, boy, who still wears the look

of the youthful, smooth-cheeked, beardless lads,

and you whose swifter, loftier chariot

has attained the roads of manhood,

why not seek out the Cittern School, O youth?

10  And you too, O bittersweet bevy

who have just now dedicated your dolls to Venus,

you maidenly chorus,

why not seek out Cittern School, O youth?

Why draw back your timid feet,

15  you sweet little boys and girls?

Here no hairy Master Orbilius sits,

fearful for his gloomy expression,

but much more fearful for his rod,

as he wields the stick with a menacing hand,

20  O Jupiter, a dire and evil stick,

which with its mighty blow

savagely rends tender skin and draws blood;

why not seek out the Cittern School, O youth?

Here no golden rod repels you,

25  but the liquid honey attracts you.

For here there is no stick, save that

which caresses the sonorous cittern’s strings.

And here there are no blows,

save those which strike the harmonious cittern’s strings.

30  And here there are no murmurs, save those

which the sounds which the noble cittern emits.

Why not seek out the Cittern School, O youth?

You whose heart is scourged with seething grief,

wasting away with anxious sorrow,

35  if your care is to tame the oppressive passion

of a heart that ebbs and flows,

why not seek out the Cittern School, O youth?

But you, Holborne, who attracts the Graces, the Dicae,

and the Horae with your seductive quill,

40  of a musician of the melodious lute,

you will win the prize of a blooming garland.

If perchance deaf Cerberus should bark at you

with his triple-jawed grin,

with the power of your harmony

45  you will break the fierce dog’s wretched teeth

in his tooth-breaking mouth.

But you to whom the musical juice is delightsome,

why not seek out the Cittern School, O youth?