Augustus Imperator Caesar Augustus

Meng Jiao 孟郊

796 · Tang China · On passing the examination at forty-six

My cramped old days are not worth mentioning. This morning I am let loose, my thoughts without a shore. In the spring wind, triumphant, my horse's hooves are swift: in one day I shall see every flower in Chang'an.

昔日齷齪不足誇，今朝放蕩思無涯。 春風得意馬蹄疾，一日看盡長安花。

"After Passing the Examination," in the Complete Tang Poems

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Pliny the Younger Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus

c. AD 100 · Roman Empire · He adds that he sat by the nets with a writing tablet in place of a spear

You will laugh, and you may. I, the man you know, have caught three boars, and very fine ones too.

Ridebis, et licet rideas. Ego, ille quem nosti, apros tres et quidem pulcherrimos cepi.

Letters 1.6, to Tacitus

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Yi I 李珥

1543 · Joseon Korea · His collected works record that he wrote it at the age of eight

At the pavilion in the woods autumn is already late, and the poet's thoughts have no end. The far water runs blue into the sky. The frosted maples redden in the sun.

林亭秋已晚 騷客意無窮 遠水連天碧 霜楓向日紅

Yulgok jeonseo, "Hwaseok Pavilion," written at eight

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Wang Anshi 王安石

1050 · Song China · At thirty, on his way home after a term as a provincial official

I am not afraid of drifting clouds that hide the view, for I am standing on the very highest level.

不畏浮雲遮望眼，自緣身在最高層。

"Climbing Feilai Peak," in the Complete Song Poems

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Zhuge Liang 諸葛亮

AD 227 · Shu Han China

I was once a commoner in plain cloth, ploughing my own fields in Nanyang, trying only to keep myself alive in an age of disorder, and seeking no name among the lords.

臣本布衣，躬耕於南陽，苟全性命於亂世，不求聞達於諸侯。

"Memorial on Sending Out the Army" (Chu shi biao)

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Kim Jongseo 金宗瑞

1430s · Joseon Korea

The north wind blows in the treetops and the bright moon is cold on the snow. On a frontier wall ten thousand li away I stand leaning on my long sword. One long whistle, one great shout, and nothing stands in my way.

朔風은 나모 긋ᄐᆡ 불고 明月은 눈 속에 ᄎᆞᆫ듸 萬里 邊城에 一長劍 집고 셔셔 긴 ᄑᆞ람 큰 ᄒᆞᆫ 소릐에 거칠 거시 업세라

A sijo, in Cheonggu yeongeon

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Ameni Ameni Amenemhāt

20th century BC · Beni Hasan, ancient Egypt

No peasant's daughter did I harm, no widow did I wrong, no field labourer did I oppress, no herdsman did I repulse. I did not seize the men of any master of five field labourers for the forced labour (corvée). There was no man in abject want during the period of my rule, and there was no man hungry in my time.

The autobiography carved on the wall of his tomb at Beni Hasan · in place of the original: the English translation by E. A. Wallis Budge (1914)

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