Carmina

Catullus

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

  1. Nor wi' thine ashes stored near to thy kith and thy kin,
  2. But in that Troy obscene, that Troy of ill-omen, entombèd
  3. Holds thee, an alien earth-buried in uttermost bourne.
  4. Thither in haste so hot ('tis said) from allwhere the Youth-hood
  5. Grecian, farèd in hosts forth of their hearths and their homes,
  6. Lest with a stolen punk with fullest of pleasure should Paris
  7. Fairly at leisure and ease sleep in the pacific bed.
  8. Such was the hapless chance, most beautiful Laodamia,
  9. Tare fro' thee dearer than life, dearer than spirit itself,
  10. Him, that husband, whose love in so mighty a whirlpool of passion