Carmina

Catullus

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

  1. Thou that canst never avail threshold of owner to quit,
  2. Neither canst listen to folk since here fast fixt to the side-posts
  3. Only one office thou hast, shutting or opening the house."
Door.
  1. Oft have I heard our dame in furtive murmurs o'er telling,
  2. When with her handmaids alone, these her flagitious deeds,
  3. Citing fore-cited names for that she never could fancy
  4. Ever a Door was endow'd either with earlet or tongue.
  5. Further she noted a wight whose name in public to mention
  6. Nill I, lest he upraise eyebrows of carroty hue;
  7. Long is the loon and large the law-suit brought they against him
  8. Touching a child-bed false, claim of a belly that lied.
  1. When to me sore opprest by bitter chance of misfortune
  2. This thy letter thou send'st written wi' blotting of tears,
  3. So might I save thee flung by spuming billows of ocean,
  4. Shipwreckt, rescuing life snatcht from the threshold of death;
  5. Eke neither Venus the Holy to rest in slumber's refreshment
  6. Grants thee her grace on couch lying deserted and lone,
  7. Nor can the Muses avail with dulcet song of old writers
  8. Ever delight thy mind sleepless in anxious care;