Carmina

Catullus

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

  1. So might the gateway of Heaven be trodden by more of the godheads,
  2. Nor might Hébé abide longer to maidenhood doomed.
  3. Yet was the depth of thy love far deeper than deepest of marish
  4. Which the hard mistress's yoke taught him so tamely to bear;
  5. Never was head so dear to a grandsire wasted by life-tide
  6. Whenas one daughter alone a grandson so tardy had reared,
  7. Who being found against hope to inherit riches of forbears
  8. In the well-witnessed Will haply by name did appear,
  9. And 'spite impious hopes of baffled claimant to kinship
  10. Startles the Vulturine grip clutching the frost-bitten poll.
  11. Nor with such rapture e'er joyed his mate of snowy-hued plumage