Canticum Canticorum 3
1 In lectulo meo per noctes quæsivi quem diligit anima mea: quæsivi illum, et non inveni.
By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth; I sought him, but I found him not.
2 Surgam, et circuibo civitatem: per vicos et plateas quæram quem diligit anima mea: quæsivi illum, et non inveni.
'I will rise now, and go about the city, in the streets and in the broad ways, I will seek him whom my soul loveth.' I sought him, but I found him not.
3 Invenerunt me vigiles, qui custodiunt civitatem: Num quem diligit anima mea, vidistis?
The watchmen that go about the city found me: 'Saw ye him whom my soul loveth?'
4 Paululum cum pertransissem eos, inveni quem diligit anima mea: tenui eum, nec dimittam donec introducam illum in domum matris meæ, et in cubiculum genetricis meæ.
Scarce had I passed from them, when I found him whom my soul loveth: I held him, and would not let him go, until I had brought him into my mother's house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me.
5 Adiuro vos filiæ Ierusalem per capreas, cervosque camporum, ne suscitetis, neque evigilare faciatis dilectam donec ipsa velit.
'I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles, and by the hinds of the field, that ye awaken not, nor stir up love, until it please.'
6 Quæ est ista, quæ ascendit per desertum sicut virgula fumi ex aromatibus myrrhæ, et thuris, et universi pulveris pigmentarii?
Who is this that cometh up out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the merchant?
7 En lectulum Salomonis sexaginta fortes ambiunt ex fortissimis Israel:
Behold, it is the litter of Solomon; threescore mighty men are about it, of the mighty men of Israel.
8 omnes tenentes gladios, et ad bella doctissimi: uniuscuiusque ensis super femur suum propter timores nocturnos.
They all handle the sword, and are expert in war; every man hath his sword upon his thigh, because of dread in the night.
9 Ferculum fecit sibi rex Salomon de lignis Libani:
King Solomon made himself a palanquin of the wood of Lebanon.
10 columnas eius fecit argenteas, reclinatorium aureum, ascensum purpureum: media charitate constravit propter filias Ierusalem:
He made the pillars thereof of silver, the top thereof of gold, the seat of it of purple, the inside thereof being inlaid with love, from the daughters of Jerusalem.
11 Egredimini et videte filiæ Sion regem Salomonem in diademate, quo coronavit illum mater sua in die desponsationis illius, et in die lætitiæ cordis eius.
Go forth, O ye daughters of Zion, and gaze upon king Solomon, even upon the crown wherewith his mother hath crowned him in the day of his espousals, and in the day of the gladness of his heart.
