NOCTES IN SICILIA (Elegiac Couplets)
Iam ioca coeperunt Scopae lasciva gradatim:
   iucunde multo sceniciora vicem.
Sic celebremus amicitiam nos deinde fruamur
   perpetuae noctis simpliciore sale.
Fustes et gladii sicut per corda sagittae
   in mensam nobis auraque vasa volent.
Parcite militibus dominisque a casibus Hercle!
   Effugiant equites et patiantur eri!

NIGHTS IN SICILY
Already the playful games of Scopa have begun little by little:
   all too pleasantly, theatrical, in turns.
So let us celebrate our friendship, and then let us enjoy
   the simpler wit of the endless night.
Let the clubs and swords, like arrows through the heart,
   let the gold pieces and the pots fly onto our table.
By Hercules! Spare the soldiers and dames from their fates!
   Let the cavalrymen flee, and let the kings suffer!