Nox erat, et placidum carpebant fessa soporem corpora per terras, silvaeque et saeva quierant aequora, cum medio volvuntur sidera lapsu, cum tacet omnis ager, pecudes pictaeque volucres, quaeque lacus late liquidos, quaeque aspera dumis rura tenent, somno positae sub nocte silenti.
It was night, and over the earth weary creatures were tasting the peace of slumber; the woods and wild seas had sunk to rest'the hour when stars roll midway in their gliding course, when all the land is still, and beasts and coloured birds, both those that far and near haunt the limpid lakes, and those that dwell in the thorny thickets of the countryside, are couched in sleep beneath the silent night.