Carmina

Catullus

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

Dispose the virginette a-bed.

O Hymen Hymenaeus io,

0 Hymen Hymenaeus.

Groom, now 'tis meet thou hither pace,

With bride in genial bed to blend,

For sheenly shines her flowery face

Where the white chamomiles contend

With poppies blushing red.

Yet bridegroom (So may Godhead deign

Help me!) nowise in humbler way

Art fair, nor Venus shall disdain

Thy charms, but look! how wanes the day:

Forward, nor loiter more!

No longer loitering makest thou,

Now comest thou. May Venus good

Aid thee when frankly takest thou

Thy wishes won, nor true Love woo'd

Thou carest to conceal.

Of Afric's wolds and wilds each grain,

Or constellations glistening,

First reckon he that of the twain

To count alone were fain to bring

The many thousand joys.

Play as ye please: soon prove ye deft

At babying babes,—'twere ill design'd

A name thus ancient should be left

Heirless, but issue like of kind

Engendered aye should be.

A wee Torquaitus fain I'd see

Encradled on his mother's breast

Put forth his tender puds while he

Smiles to his sire with sweetest gest

And liplets half apart.

Let son like father's semblance show

(Manlius!) so with easy guess

All know him where his sire they know,

And still his face and form express

His mother's honest love.

Approve shall fair approof his birth