Carmina

Catullus

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

  1. Nor could by swiftness of aught plank that swims,
  2. Be she outstripped, whether paddle plied,
  3. Or fared she scudding under canvas-sail.
  4. Eke she defieth threat'ning Adrian shore,
  5. Dare not denay her, insular Cyclades,
  6. And noble Rhodos and ferocious Thrace,
  7. Propontis too and blustering Pontic bight.
  8. Where she (my Pinnace now) in times before,
  9. Was leafy woodling on Cytórean Chine
  10. For ever loquent lisping with her leaves.
  11. Pontic Amastris! Box-tree-clad Cytórus!
  12. Cognisant were ye, and you weet full well
  13. (So saith my Pinnace) how from earliest age
  14. Upon your highmost-spiring peak she stood,
  15. How in your waters first her sculls were dipt,
  16. And thence thro' many and many an important strait
  17. She bore her owner whether left or right,
  18. Where breezes bade her fare, or Jupiter deigned
  19. At once propitious strike the sail full square;
  20. Nor to the sea-shore gods was aught of vow
  21. By her deemed needful, when from Ocean's bourne
  22. Extreme she voyaged for this limpid lake.
  23. Yet were such things whilome: now she retired
  24. In quiet age devotes herself to thee
  25. (0 twin-born Castor) twain with Castor's twin.