Carmina

Catullus

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

  1. Say do these milk-white girls thy Steps detain?
  2. If aye in tight-sealed lips thy tongue remain,
  3. All Amor's fruitage thou shalt cast away:
  4. Verbose is Venus, loving verbal play!
  5. But, an it please thee, padlockt palate bear,
  6. So in your friendship I have partner-share.
  1. O risible matter (Cato!) and jocose,
  2. Digne of thy hearing, of thy sneering digne.
  3. Laugh (Cato!) an thou love Catullus thine;
  4. The thing is risible, nay, too jocose.
  5. Erstwhile I came upon a lad who a lass
  6. Was . . . and (so please it Dion!) I
  7. Pierced him with stiffest staff and did him die.
  1. Right well are paired these Cinaedes sans shame
  2. Mamurra and Caesar, both of pathic fame.
  3. No wonder! Both are fouled with foulest blight,
  4. One urban being, Formian t'other wight,
  5. And deeply printed with indelible stain:
  6. Morbose is either, and the twin-like twain
  7. Share single Couchlet; peers in shallow lore,
  8. Nor this nor that for lechery hungers more,