Carmina

Catullus

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

  1. Folk all swear, and the house hapless with incest bewray;
  2. Or that his impious mind was blunt with fiery passion
  3. Or that his impotent son sprang from incapable seed.
  4. And to be sought was one with nerve more nervous endowèd,
  5. Who could better avail zone of the virgin to loose.
Quintus.
  1. 'Sooth, of egregious sire for piety wondrous, thou tellest,
  2. Who in the heart of his son lief was . . . !
  3. Yet professed herself not only this to be knowing,
  4. Brixia-town that lies under the Cycnean cliff,
  5. Traversed by Mella-stream's soft-flowing yellow-hued current,