I. (V)

VIVÁMUS, mea Lésbia, atque amémus
rumorésque senum severiórum
omnes únius æstimémus assis!
Soles occídere et redíre possunt;
nobis cum semel óccidit brevis lux,
nox est perpétua una dormiénda.
Da mi básia mille, deinde centum;
dein mille áltera, dein secúnda centum;
deinde usque áltera mille, deinde centum.
Dein, cum mília multa fecerímus,
conturbábimus illa, ne sciámus,
aut ne quis malus invidére possit,
cum tantum scíat esse basiórum.

I. (V)

LET us live, my Lesbia, and love,
while the gossip of prim old folk
we’ll value all together at one farthing!
Suns will set and rise again;
With us, too, the brief light descends,
and night is a perpetual sleep.
Give me a thousand kisses, then a hundred;
then another thousand, then a second hundred;
then again another thousand, then a hundred.
And when we’ve made many thousands,
we shall confound them, knowingly,
lest the malicious ones be jealous,
knowing just how many kisses there were.

II. (II)

PASSER, delíciæ méæ puéllæ,
quicum lúdere, quem in sinu tenére,
cui primum dígitum dare appeténti
et acris solet incitáre morsus,
cum desidério meo niténti
carum néscio quid lubet iocári,
et solaciólum súi dolóris,
credo, ut tum gravis acquiéscat ardor:
tecum lúdere sicut ipsa possem
et tristis ánimi leváre curas!
...
Tam gratum est mihi quam ferunt puéllæ
perníci aureólum fuísse malum,
quod zonam sóluit díu ligátam.

II. (II)

O SPARROW, my sweetheart’s little darling,
with which she plays, holding you to her breast,
offering her fingertip for you to nibble
and inciting you to peck harder,
making of my burning passion
a sweet, unknowing, whimsical joke.
As strong desire abates, I believe,
small consolation will follow this sorrow.
O that I could play with her as you are able,
and relieve this sad soul of its cares!
...
This pleases me, just as the swift maiden
was pleased with the golden apple
that finally loosed her long-tied girdle.

III. (XXVII)

MINÍSTER vétuli puer Falérni,
inger mi cálices amarióres,
ut lex Postúmiæ iúbet magístræ
ebrióso ácino ebriosióris.
At vos quo lubet hinc abíte, lymphæ,
vini pernícies, et ad sevéros
migráte. Hic merus est Thyoniánus.

III. (XXVII)

COME, boy, bringer of old Falernian,
pour me more bitter cups,
as our hostess Postumia commands,
she, the tipsiest of all.
But ye water-nymphs, ruiners of wine,
begone to the land of the sober.
Here is an unadulterated Bacchanalian.

IV. (LXXXV)

ODI et amo. Quare id fáciam, fortásse requíris.
Néscio, sed fíeri séntio et excrúcior.

IV. (LXXXV)

I HATE and I love. Why do I, perhaps you ask.
I know not, but I feel it happening and I am tormented.

 

V. (XLVI)

IÁM ver egélidos refert tepóres,
iám cæli furor æquinoctiális,
iucúndis Zéphyri siléscit auris.
Linquántur Phrýgii, Catúlle, campi
Nicæáe que ager uber æstuósæ:
ad claras Ásiæ volémus urbes.
Iám mens prætrépidans avet vagári,
iám læti stúdio pedes vegéscunt.
O dulces cómitum valéte cœtus,
longe quos simul a domo proféctos
divérsæ várie viæ repórtant.

 

V. (XLVI)

NOW balmy spring brings back the warmth,
now the furious sky of the equinox
is quieted by the Zephyrs’ soft breezes.
Relinquish the fields of Phrygia, Catullus,
and the rich, sweltering plain of Nicæa:
let us fly to the great cities of Asia.
Now your mind longs to wander,
now your glad feet want to roam.
Farewell, sweet bands of travelling companions,
who, having together left our faraway homeland,
now return, each by a different road.

Gaius Valerius Catullus (84-54 B.C.)

(translations, WPH. Numerals in parentheses represent Catullus’s original numbering.)