Laudator Temporis Acti

Meanwhile let Peace attend the fields. White Peace in the beginning
led ploughing oxen under the curved yoke.
Peace fed the vines and stored the juices of the grape
for sons to draw wine from their fathers' casks.
In peacetime hoe & ploughshare shine while rust in the dark attacks
the soldier's cruel weapons.
                   ............................
Home from the sacred grove the farmer far from sober
drives wife and children in the wagon.

interea pax arva colat. pax candida primum        45
    duxit araturos sub iuga curva boves;
pax aluit vites et sucos condidit uvae,
    funderet ut nato testa paterna merum;
pace bidens vomerque nitent, at tristia duri
    militis in tenebris occupat arma situs,        50
rusticus e lucoque vehit, male sobrius ipse,
    uxorem plaustro progeniemque domum.

51 ante hunc versum lacunam statuit Moritz Haupt (Opuscula, vol. III, pp. 40-41)