Carmina

Catullus

Catullus, Gaius Valerius. The Carmina of Caius Valerius Catullus. Burton, Sir Richard Francis, translator. London, Printed for the Translators, 1894.

  1. These sad funeral-rites (Brother!) to deal thee I come,
  2. So wi' the latest boons to the dead bestowed I may gift thee,
  3. And I may vainly address ashes that answer have none,
  4. Sithence of thee, very thee, to deprive me Fortune behested,
  5. Woe for thee, Brother forlore! Cruelly severed fro' me.
  6. ---
  7. Yet in the meanwhile now what olden usage of forbears
  8. Brings as the boons that befit mournfullest funeral rites,
  9. Thine be these gifts which flow with tear-flood shed by thy brother,
  10. And, for ever and aye (Brother!) all hail and farewell.
  1. If by confiding friend aught e'er be trusted in silence,
  2. Unto a man whose mind known is for worthiest trust,
  3. Me shalt thou find no less than such to secrecy oath-bound,
  4. (Cornelius!) and now hold me an Harpocrates.
  1. Or, d'ye hear, refund those ten sestertia (Silo!)
  2. Then be thou e'en at thy will surly and savage o' mood:
  3. Or, an thou love o'er-well those moneys, prithee no longer
  4. Prove thee a pimp and withal surly and savage o' mood.
  1. Canst thou credit that I could avail to revile my life-love,
  2. She who be dearer to me even than either my eyes?