Pagina:Ad Alpes.djvu/55

CAPUT V

Lūcius autem iam patrem aspexerat, manūsque statim ad eum tendēbat. Tum: “Quam bellus est ille parvulus,” inquit mercātor. “Quem cum videō, admoneor dē versibus illīs lepidīs poētae Catullī:

“‘Torquātus volŏ^[1] parvulus

Mātris ē gremiō suae

Porrigēns tenerās manūs

Dulce^[2] rīdeat^[3] ad patrem

Sēmihiante^[4] labellō.’”^[5]

“Scīsne,” inquit Sextus, “Pūblium quoque nostrum esse poētam? Versūs lepidōs paene cotīdiē facit.”

Quō audītō, Pūblius ērubuit, et: “Tacē, sīs, Sexte,” inquit. “Nōnne tē pudet^[6] tam stultē^[7] loquī?”

“Quīn^[8] herī,” inquit Sextus, “tē in umbrā vēlī sedentem vīdī, cum aliquid summā cūrā cōnficerēs.”^[9]

“Age, fīlī mī,” inquit Cornēlius rīdēns; “verēcundārī^[10] nōn tē decet.^[11] Audiāmus quae scrīpserīs.”

Tālī cohortātiōne inductus, Pūblius chartam haud invītus prōtulit, et: “Abhinc paucōs diēs,” inquit, “Annam audīvī, cum vesperī lēniter caneret, quō^[12] facilius Lūcius obdormīret.

1. volo: final o here short in verse.
2. dulce, adv., sweetly.
3. rīdeat: dept. on volo, l. 5.
4. sēmihiāns, -antis, adj., half-opening.
5. labellum, -ī, n., lip.
6. pudet: impers.
7. stultē, adv., foolishly.
8. Quīn, Why.
9. cum … cōnficerēs: cf. I, 61.
10. verēcundor, -ārī, intr., be bashful.
11. decet: impers.
12. quō: cf. III, 2.