Carmina

Catullus

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

  1. ---
  1. To thee I trust my loves and me,
  2. (Aurelius!) craving modesty.
  3. That (if in mind didst ever long
  4. To win aught chaste unknowing wrong)
  5. Then guard my boy in purest way.
  6. From folk I say not: naught affray
  7. The crowds wont here and there to run
  8. Through street-squares, busied every one;
  9. But thee I dread nor less thy penis
  10. Fair or foul, younglings' foe I ween is!
  11. Wag it as wish thou, at its will,
  12. When out of doors its hope fulfil;
  13. Him bar I, modestly, methinks.
  14. But should ill-mind or lust's high jinks
  15. Thee (Sinner!), drive to sin so dread,
  16. That durst ensnare our dearling's head,
  17. Ah! woe's thee (wretch!) and evil fate,
  18. Mullet and radish shall pierce and grate,
  19. When feet-bound, haled through yawning gate.