Carmina

Catullus

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

  1. For as an oak that shakes on topmost summit of Taurus
  2. Its boughs, or cone-growing pine from bole bark resin exuding,
  3. Whirlwind of passing might that twists the stems with its storm-blasts,
  4. Uproots, deracinates, forthright its trunk to the farthest,
  5. Prone falls, shattering wide what lies in line of its downfall,—
  6. Thus was that wildling flung by Theseus and vanquisht of body,
  7. Vainly tossing its horns and goring the wind to no purpose.
  8. Thence with abounding praise returned he, guiding his footsteps,
  9. While a fine drawn thread checked steps in wander abounding,
  10. Lest when issuing forth of the winding maze labyrinthine
  11. Baffled become his track by inobservable error.