Gaius Valerius Catullus

“ Thou askest, how many kisses of thine, Lesbia, may be enough and to spare for me. As the countless Libyan sands which strew the spicy strand of Cyrene 'twixt the oracle of swelt'ring Jove and the sacred sepulchre of ancient Battus, or as the thronging stars which in the hush of darkness witness the furtive loves of mortals, to kiss thee with kisses of so great a number is enough and to spare for passion-driven Catullus: so many that prying eyes may not avail to number, nor ill tongues to ensorcel. ”

“ So with a ship fast-fleeted, a gale blown gently behind him,
85 Push'd he his onward journey to Minos' haughty dominion.
Him for very delight when a virgin fondly desiring
Gazed on, a royal virgin, in odours silkily nestled,
Pure from a maiden's couch, from a mother's pillowy bosom,
Like some myrtle, anear Eurotas' water arising,
90 Like earth's myriad hues, spring's progeny, rais'd to the breezes;
Droop'd not her eyes their gaze unquenchable, ever-burning
Save when in each charm'd limb to the depths enfolded, a sudden
Flame blazed hotly within her, in all her marrow abiding. ”

“ What god is worthier of solicitation by anxious amourists? Whom of the celestials do men worship more greatly? O Hymenaeus Hymen, O Hymen Hymenaeus!
Thee for his young the trembling father beseeches, for thee virgins unclasp the zone from their breasts, for thee the fear-full bridegroom harkeneth with eager ear. [121]
Thou bearest to the youngster's arms that flower-like damsel, taken from her mother's bosom, O Hymenaeus Hymen, O Hymen Hymenaeus!
Nor lacking thee may Venus take her will with fair Fame's approbation; but she may, with thy sanction. With such a God who dares compare? ”

“ Then as o'er the waste of ocean with a rainy eye he gazed
To the land of home he murmur'd miserable a soliloquy.
50 "Mother-home of all affection, dear home, my nativity,
Whom in anguish I deserting, as in hatred a runaway
From a master, hither have hurried to the lonely woods of Ide,
To be with the snows, the wild beasts, in a wintery domicile,
To be near each savage houser that a surly fury provokes,
55 What horizon, O beloved, may attain to thee anywhere?
Yet an eyeless orb is yearning ineffectually to thee. ”

“ What lioness bare thee 'neath lonely crag? What sea conceived and spued thee from its foamy crest? What Syrtis, what grasping Scylla, what vast Charybdis? O thou repayer with such guerdon for thy sweet life! If 'twas not thy heart's wish to yoke with me, through holding in horror the dread decrees of my stern sire, yet thou couldst have led me to thy home, where as thine handmaid I might have served thee with cheerful service, laving thy snowy feet with clear water, or spreading the purple coverlet o'er thy couch. ”

“ Yieldeth her any to bear loathed adultery's yoke,
85 Vile her gifts, and lightly the dust shall drink them unheeding.
Not of vile I seek gifts, nor of infamous, I.
Rather, O unstain'd brides, may concord tarry for ever
With ye at home, may love with ye for ever abide.
Thou, fair queen, to the stars if looking haply, to Venus
90 Lights thou kindle on eves festal of high sacrifice,
Leave me the lock, thine own, nor blood nor bounty requiring.
Rather a largesse fair pay to me, envy me not.
Stars dash blindly in one! ”

“ That when, opprest by fortune and in grievous case, thou didst send me this epistle o'erwrit with tears, that I might bear up shipwrecked thee tossed by the foaming waves of the sea, and restore thee from the threshold of death; thou whom neither sacred Venus suffers to repose in soft slumber, desolate on a a lonely couch, nor do the Muses divert with the sweet song of ancient poets, whilst thy anxious mind keeps vigil:—this is grateful to me, since thou dost call me thy friend, and dost seek hither the gifts of the Muses and of Venus. ”

“ O poor soul, brother, O heavily ta'en,
You all happier hours, you, dying brother, effaced;
All our house lies low mournfully buried in you;
Quench'd untimely with you joy waits not ever a morrow,
Joy which alive your love's bounty fed hour upon hour;
25 Now, since thou liest dead, heart-banish'd wholly desert me
Vanities all, each gay freak of a riotous heart.
How then obey? You write 'Let not Verona, Catullus,
Stay thee, if here each proud quality, Rome's eminence,
Freely the light limbs warms thou leavest coldly to languish,'
30 Infamy lies not there, Mallius, only regret. ”

“ Where lives a happier man than myself or—this being won me—
Who shall e'er boast that his life brought him more coveted lot?
If what one desires and covets is ever obtained unhoped for, this is specially grateful to the soul. Wherefore is it grateful to us and far dearer than gold, that thou com'st again, Lesbia, to longing me; com'st yet again, long-looked for and unhoped, thou restorest thyself. O day of whiter note for us! who lives more happily than I, sole I, or who can say what greater thing than this could be hoped for in life? ”

“ Thou shalt surely atone thine injury: centuries harken,
10 Know thee afar; grow old, fame, to declare him anew.
LXXXVIII.
Gellius, how if a man in lust with a mother, a sister
Rioteth, one uncheck'd night, to iniquity bare?
How if a man's dark passion an aunt's own chastity spare not?
Canst thou tell what vast infamy lieth on him?
5 Infamy lieth on him, no farthest Tethys, or ancient
Ocean, of hundred streams father, abolisheth yet.
Infamy none o'ersteps, nor ventures any beyond it.
Not tho' a scorpion heat melt him, his own paramour.
LXXXIX.
Gellius—he's full meagre. ”

“ Glitter in gold, but we not less shine fulgent in splendour,
We the consecrate spoils shed by a blond-hued head,
Even as weeping-wet sought I the fanes of Celestials,
Placed me the Goddess a new light amid starlights of old:
65
For with Virgo in touch and joining the furious Lion's
Radiance with Callisto, maid of Lycáon beloved,
Wind I still to the west, conducting tardy Boötes,
Who unwilling and slow must into Ocean merge.
Yet though press me o'night the pacing footprints of Godheads,
70 Tethys, hoary of hair, ever regains me by day. ”

“ Whenas my flowery years flowed in fruition of spring,
Much I disported enow, nor 'bode I a stranger to Goddess
Who with our cares is lief sweetness of bitter to mix:
Yet did a brother's death pursuits like these to my sorrow
20 Bid for me cease: Oh, snatcht brother! from wretchedest me.
Then, yea, thou by thy dying hast broke my comfort, O brother;
Buried together wi' thee lieth the whole of our house;
Perisht along wi' thyself all gauds and joys of our life-tide,
Douce love fostered by thee during the term of our days. ”

“ Hadst thou a Libyan lioness on heights all stone,
A Scylla, barking wolvish at the loins' last verge,
To bear thee, O black-hearted, O to shame forsworn,
That unto supplication in my last sad need
5 Thou mightst not harken, deaf to ruth, a beast, no man?
LXI.
God, on verdurous Helicon
Dweller, child of Urania,
Thou that draw'st to the man the fair
Maiden, O Hymenaeus, O
5 Hymen, O Hymenaeus:
Wreathe thy brows in amaracus'
Fragrant blossom; an aureat
Veil be round thee; approach, in all
Joy, approach with a luminous
10 Foot, a sandal of amber. ”

“ Perforce shall slumber through one lasting night!
Kiss me a thousand times, then hundred more,
Then thousand others, then a new five-score,
Still other thousand other hundred store.
10
Last when the sums to many thousands grow,
The tale let's trouble till no more we know,
Nor envious wight despiteful shall misween us
Knowing how many kisses have been kissed between us.
Let us live, my Lesbia, and let us love, and count all the mumblings of sour age at a penny's fee. Suns set can rise again: we when once our brief light has set must sleep through a perpetual night. ”

“ Spirit had I erewhile known thee, a fiery child.
Pass'd that deed forgotten, a royal wooer had earn'd thee?
Deed that braver none ventureth ever again?
Yet what sorrow to lose thy lord, what murmur of anguish!
30 Jove, how rain'd those tears brush'd from a passionate eye!
Who is this could wean thee, a God so mighty, to falter?
May not a lover live from the beloved afar?
Then for a spouse so goodly, before each spirit of heaven,
Me thou vowd'st, with slain oxen, a vast hecatomb,
35 Home if again he alighted. Awhile and Asia crouching
Humbly to Egypt's realm added a boundary new ”

“ In so much that thine whole bosom being agitated, and thy senses being snatched from thee, thy mind wandered! But in truth I have known thee great of heart ever since thou wast a little maiden. Hast thou forgotten that noble deed, by which thou didst gain a regal wedlock, than which none dared other deeds bolder? Yet what grieving words didst thou speak when bidding thy bridegroom farewell! Jupiter! as with sad hand often thine eyes thou didst dry! What mighty god changed thee? Was it that lovers are unwilling to be long absent from [217] their dear one's body? ”

“ Deal not a joy myself know not, a beggar in all.
Books—if they're but scanty, a store full meagre, around me,
Rome is alone my life's centre, a mansion of home,
35 Rome my abode, house, hearth; there wanes and waxes a life's span;
Hither of all those choice cases attends me but one.
Therefore deem not thou aught spiteful bids me deny thee;
[Pg 82] Say not 'his heart is false, haply, to jealousy leans,'
If nor books I send nor flatter sorrow to silence.
40 Trust me, were either mine, either unask'd should appear. ”

“ But after the earth was infected with heinous crime, and each one banished justice from their grasping mind, and brothers steeped their hands in fraternal blood, the son ceased grieving o'er departed parents, the sire craved for the funeral rites of his first-born that freely he might take of the flower of unwedded step-dame, the unholy mother, lying under her unknowing son, did not fear to sully her household gods with dishonour: everything licit and lawless commingled with mad infamy turned away from us the just-seeing mind of the gods. ”

“ Make thee as iron a soul, thyself draw back from affliction.
Yea, tho' a God say nay, be not unhappy for aye.
What? it is hard long love so lightly to leave in a moment?
Hard; yet abides this one duty, to do it: obey.
15 Here lies safety alone, one victory must not fail thee.
One last stake to be lost haply, perhaps to be won.
O great Gods immortal, if you can pity or ever
Lighted above dark death's shadow, a help to the lost;
Ah! look, a wretch, on me; if white and blameless in all I
20 Liv'd, then take this long canker of anguish away. ”

“ Damsel, adieu! Catullus obdurate grown
Nor seeks thee, neither asks of thine unwill;
Yet shalt thou sorrow when none woos thee more;
15
Reprobate! Woe to thee! What life remains?
Who now shall love thee? Who'll think thee fair?
Whom now shalt ever love? Whose wilt be called?
To whom shalt kisses give? whose liplets nip?
But thou (Catullus!) destiny-doomed obdure.
Unhappy Catullus, cease thy trifling and what thou seest lost know to be lost. Once bright days used to shine on thee when thou wert wont to haste whither thy girl didst lead thee, loved by us as never girl will e'er be loved. ”