Through pain I've learned to comfort suffering men
What each man feared would happen to himself, did not trouble him when he saw that it would ruin another.
May the countryside and the gliding valley streams content me. Lost to fame, let me love river and woodland.
We may be masters of our every lot By bearing it.
The noblest motive is the public good.
Mantua gave me birth, Calabri snatched me away, now Parthenope holds me; I sang of shepherds, pastures, and heroes. -Mantua me genuit, Calabri rapuere, tenet nunc Parthenope, cecini pascua, rura, duces