Carmina

Catullus

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

  1. But when ended the term, and wisht-for light of the day-tide
  2. Uprose, flocks to the house in concourse mighty, convened,
  3. Thessaly all, with glad assembly the Palace fulfilling:
  4. Presents afore they bring, and joy in faces declare they.
  5. Cieros abides a desert: they quit Phthiotican Tempe,
  6. Homesteads of Crannon-town, eke bulwarkt walls Larissa;
  7. Meeting at Pharsalus, and roof Pharsalian seeking.
  8. None will the fields now till; soft wax all necks the oxen,
  9. Never the humble vine is purged by curve of the rake-tooth,
  10. Never a pruner's hook thins out the shade of the tree-tufts,
  11. Never a bull up-plows broad glebe with bend of the coulter,
  12. Over whose point unuse displays the squalor of rust-stain.
  13. But in the homestead's heart, where'er that opulent palace
  14. Hides a retreat, all shines with splendour of gold and of silver.
  15. Ivory blanches the seats, bright gleam the flagons a-table,
  16. All of the mansion joys in royal riches and grandeur.