Carmina

Catullus

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

  1. No doit thou car'st? O Mire! O Stuff O' stews!
  2. Or if aught fouler filthier dirt there be.
  3. Yet must we never think these words suffice.
  4. But if naught else avail, at least a blush
  5. Forth of that bitch-like brazen brow we'll squeeze.
  6. Cry all together in a higher key
  7. "Restore (O rotten whore!) our noting books,
  8. Our noting books (O rotten whore!) restore !"
  9. Still naught avails us, nothing is she moved.
  10. Now must our measures and our modes be changed
  11. An we would anywise our cause advance.
  12. "Restore (chaste, honest Maid!) our noting books!"
  1. Hail, girl who neither nose of minim size
  2. Owns, nor a pretty foot, nor jetty eyes,
  3. Nor thin long fingers, nor mouth dry of slaver
  4. Nor yet too graceful tongue of pleasant flavour,
  5. Leman to Formian that rake-a-hell.
  6. What, can the Province boast of thee as belle?
  7. Thee with my Lesbia durst it make compare?
  8. O Age insipid, of all humour bare!