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Thursday, July 30, 2026
[Verse 1]
We'd like to know a little bit about you for our files We'd like to help you learn to help yourself
Look around you, all you see are sympathetic eyes Stroll around the grounds until you feel at home
[Chorus]
And here's to you, Mrs. Robinson
Jesus loves you more than you will know
Woah, woah, woah
God bless you please, Mrs. Robinson Heaven holds a place for those who pray Hey, hey, hey Hey, hey, hey
[Verse 2]
Hide it in a hiding place where no one ever goes
Put it in your pantry with your cupcakes It's a little secret, just the Robinsons' affair Most of all, you've got to hide it from the kids
[Chorus]
Coo, coo, ca-choo, Mrs. Robinson
Jesus loves you more than you will know
Woah, woah, woah
God bless you please, Mrs. Robinson Heaven holds a place for those who pray Hey, hey, hey Hey, hey, hey
Intro]
Dee dee dee dee dee dee dee dee dee dee dee dee deeDoo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo
Dee dee dee dee dee dee dee dee dee dee dee dee dee
[Chorus]
And here's to you, Mrs. Robinson
Jesus loves you more than you will know
Woah, woah, woah
God bless you please, Mrs. Robinson
Heaven holds a place for those who pray
Hey, hey, hey
Hey, hey, hey
Intro]
Dee dee dee dee dee dee dee dee dee dee dee dee deeDoo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo
Dee dee dee dee dee dee dee dee dee dee dee dee dee
[Chorus]
And here's to you, Mrs. Robinson
Jesus loves you more than you will know
Woah, woah, woah
God bless you please, Mrs. Robinson
Heaven holds a place for those who pray
Hey, hey, hey
Hey, hey, hey
AI Mode
Yes, the poetry of Sentius Augurinus survivesexclusively because Pliny the Younger preserved it in one of his letters.
However, there is a famous and ironic literary twist regarding a single specific line.
The Missing "Second Verse"
In Letters 4.27, written to Pompeius Falco, Pliny highly praises the short poems (poematia) of his friend Sentius Augurinus. He writes out a poem that Augurinus composed in Pliny's honor.
But in the text of the letter, Pliny notes a gap in his own memory:
"I will enable you to act the critic of my criticism if I can recall the second line of the piece. I remember the others, [except this one]..."
Because Pliny openly admitted that he forgot the second verse (secundus uersus) of the poem while writing to Falco, that specific line is lost to history.
What Does Survive?
The rest of the poem (eight lines total) does subsistand can still be read today within Pliny's correspondence. Written in hendecasyllabic meter (in the witty style of Catullus), the surviving text reads:
I occasionally write trifles in verse;
[Line 2: Lost / Forgotten by Pliny]
How Catullus, how Calvus did it of old!
But what do I care? Pliny alone is my model.
He leaves the courtroom and the serious assembly,
To show us that he, too, knows how to play.
He writes verses, he loves, and he seeks our praise,
And why shouldn't a great mind seek a little fun?
If you want, I can:
- Provide the original Latin text of the surviving lines
- Share Pliny's full letter detailing his praise for Augurinus's work
- Explore other lost poets known only through Pliny's letters
L'AI può commettere errori, quindi verifica le risposte
Here is the original Latin text from Pliny's Letters(4.27), including his note about the missing line.
Pliny's Note on the Missing Line
"Faceremque te uersus mei textoris iudicem, si meminisset secundum uersum, quem ego, dum quaero, oblitus sum."(I would make you the judge of my weaver of verses, if he had remembered the second line, which I, while looking for it, forgot.)
The Surviving Poem
Bozza
Canto carmina uersibus minutis,
[Versus Secundus Deest]
ut olim Catullus uocitat Caluusque.
Sed quid ad me? Unus Plinius est mihi.
Ille forum et graues deponit curas,
ut et ipse ludere sciat,
scribit carmina, amat, et laudari quaerit,
et cur non tantus uir parua petat?
[Versus Secundus Deest]
ut olim Catullus uocitat Caluusque.
Sed quid ad me? Unus Plinius est mihi.
Ille forum et graues deponit curas,
ut et ipse ludere sciat,
scribit carmina, amat, et laudari quaerit,
et cur non tantus uir parua petat?
If you want, I can:
- Break down the grammatical structure of a specific line
- Provide the exact text of the rest of Pliny's letter to Falco
- Compare Augurinus's style to Catullus's original meters
Here is the line-by-line grammatical parsing of Sentius Augurinus's surviving poem, focusing on the core structure and case usage.
Line 1: Canto carmina uersibus minutis
- Canto: Verb; 1st-person singular, present active indicative. "I sing" or "I write".
- carmina: Noun; accusative neuter plural of carmen. Direct object of canto. "Songs" or "poems".
- uersibus: Noun; ablative masculine plural of uersus. Ablative of means/instrument. "With/in verses".
- minutis: Adjective; ablative masculine plural of minutus (from minuere). Modifies uersibus. "Small", "petty", or "trifling".
Line 3: ut olim Catullus uocitat Caluusque
- ut: Conjunction. "As" or "just like".
- olim: Adverb. "Once", "of old", or "formerly".
- Catullus: Noun; nominative masculine singular. Proper noun; subject of uocitat.
- uocitat: Verb; 3rd-person singular, present active indicative of uocitare (frequentative of uocare). "Is or was calling/doing repeatedly". Note: Often emended in manuscripts to related verbs like "uolitant" (fly about) or "faciebat" (did).
- Caluusque: Proper noun (Caluus) in the nominative masculine singular + enclitic conjunction (-que, meaning "and"). Gaius Licinius Calvus, another famous Roman neoteric poet.
Line 4: Sed quid ad me? Unus Plinius est mihi.
- Sed: Conjunction. "But".
- quid: Interrogative pronoun; nominative neuter singular. "What".
- ad: Preposition taking the accusative. "To" or "with respect to".
- me: Personal pronoun; accusative singular of ego. Object of ad.
- Unus: Adjective/Numeral; nominative masculine singular. Modifies Plinius. "Pliny alone" or "only Pliny".
- Plinius: Proper noun; nominative masculine singular. Subject of est.
- est: Verb; 3rd-person singular, present active indicative of esse. "Is".
- mihi: Personal pronoun; dative singular of ego. Dative of reference or possession. "To me" or "mine".
Line 5: Ille forum et graues deponit curas
- Ille: Demonstrative pronoun; nominative masculine singular. Subject of deponit, referring back to Pliny. "He" or "That man".
- forum: Noun; accusative neuter singular of forum. Direct object of deponit. "The forum" (the law courts).
- et: Conjunction. "And".
- graues: Adjective; accusative feminine plural of grauis. Modifies curas. "Heavy", "serious", or "weighty".
- deponit: Verb; 3rd-person singular, present active indicative of deponere. "Lays aside" or "puts down".
- curas: Noun; accusative feminine plural of cura. Second direct object of deponit. "Cares" or "concerns".
Line 6: ut et ipse ludere sciat
- ut: Conjunction introducing a purpose or result clause. "So that" or "in order that".
- et: Adverbial here. "Even" or "also".
- ipse: Intensive pronoun; nominative masculine singular. "He himself".
- ludere: Verb; present active infinitive of ludere. Complementary infinitive dependent on sciat. "To play" or "to write light verse".
- sciat: Verb; 3rd-person singular, present active subjunctive of scire. Subjunctive required by ut. "He may know how".
Line 7: scribit carmina, amat, et laudari quaerit
- scribit: Verb; 3rd-person singular, present active indicative of scribere. "He writes".
- carmina: Noun; accusative neuter plural. Direct object of scribit. "Poems".
- amat: Verb; 3rd-person singular, present active indicative of amare. "He loves".
- et: Conjunction. "And".
- laudari: Verb; present passive infinitive of laudare. Objective infinitive completing quaerit. "To be praised".
- quaerit: Verb; 3rd-person singular, present active indicative of quaerere. "He seeks" or "strives".
Line 8: et cur non tantus uir parua petat?
- et: Conjunction. "And".
- cur: Interrogative adverb. "Why".
- non: Adverb. "Not".
- tantus: Adjective; nominative masculine singular. Modifies uir. "So great" or "such a great".
- uir: Noun; nominative masculine singular. Subject of petat. "Man".
- parua: Noun/Substantive adjective; accusative neuter plural of paruus. Direct object of petat. "Small things" or "trifles".
- petat: Verb; 3rd-person singular, present active subjunctive of petere. Deliberative subjunctive in a question. "Should seek" or "would strive for".
If you want, I can:
- Explain the Catullan hendecasyllabic meter used in this poem
- Parse Pliny's introductory sentence about forgetting the second line
- Discuss how "ludere" specifically functions as a technical literary term for light poetry
The poem by Sentius Augurinus, as quoted in Pliny's Letters 4.27, consists of lines that playfully contrast the poet's light verse with the serious, public life of his contemporary, Pliny the Younger. This brief, eight-line work highlights a shared interest in trivial, elegant poetry similar to that of Catullus and Calvus.
You can also:
- View the surrounding prose commentary in Latin and English
- Learn more about the poetic influences of Calvus and Catullus on later Roman writers
The poem by Sentius Augurinus, as quoted by Pliny in Letters 4.27, consists of seven extant lines, with the second line missing from the original source. This piece playfully compares the author to classical poets like Catullus and Calvus, while humorously elevating Pliny above them for choosing light poetry over legal work. The full Latin text and English translation, featuring a missed line, can be found in the provided source.
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