Potatores exquisiti

Licet sitis sine siti,

Et bibatis expediti

Et scyphorum inobliti.

Scyphi crebro repetiti,

Non dormiant,

Et sermones inauditi

Prosiliant.

 

 

Exquisite drinkers

Drinking without thirst,

Drinking as fast as you can,

Forgetting  flasks drunk before.

Drink one flask after another,

They never cease;

But lectures not heard bring  peace. 

 

Carmina Burana

 

Munich, Staatsbibliothek Clm 4660

Monastery of Benedictbeuren

Carl Orff, Carmina Burana

Translated versions of this poem can be found in Helen Waddell, Mediæval Latin Lyrics (London-New York: Constable-Barnes & Noble, 1966) 184-185 and George F. Whicher, The Goliard Poets: Medieval Latin Songs and Satires (New York: New Directions, 1965) 234-235