Epithalamion protreptikon

"Which considers the tenacious insults of no one:
"And prevails with unconquered goodness.
"And enduring itself, it commits vengeance to Olympus Heaven:
"And performs its Duty with an unbroken heart.
"And placing the outcome in the lap of the nourishing Divinity,
"It asks for heavenly help with a supplicant breast.
"God does not abandon this Avenger in any crisis:
"But like the green rue, He commands it to flourish.
"He commands it to rise like the palm tree suppressed by weight:
"And snatches it away, entangled in sad troubles.
"For in the darkness, the brightest lamp always
"Arises for the Just man who acts patiently.
"Which God ignites, full of heavenly light:
"From whose light the solid light departs.
"The rest are shadows, which the black World dreams of:
"When it is badly blind, will it provide light?

"Gray-haired father, Coccius: since the Bride is close to you:
"Because of the famous pedigree of your Wife:
"Grant that you are now easy: it is fitting that you be easy:
"Reason, you see, commands this in honest time:
"The law of kinship and the nuptial pact requires it:
"Take what the autumn has given, the nectar, and the birds.
"Nature indeed fashioned you easy and good:
"And charming with wit: and learned in jokes.
"What wonder, if you now draw joyful delights in a joyful
"Time: with your books set aside for their own?
"Just as there is a time for rejoicing: so there is an hour for studying:
"He who holds to both methods, that man is wise."