by Catullus
XCIX.
Dear one, a kiss I stole, while you did wanton a-playing,
Sweet ambrosia, love, never as honily sweet.
Dearly the deed I paid for; an hour’s long misery waning
Ended, as I agoniz’d hung to the point of a cross,
Hoping vain purgation; alas! no potion of any 5
Tears could abate that fair angriness, youthful as you.
Hardly the sin was in act, your lips did many a falling
Drop dilute, which anon every finger away
Cleansed apace, lest still my mouth’s infection abiding
Stain, like slaver abhorr’d breath’d from a foul fricatrice. 10
Add, that a booty to love in misery me to deliver
You did spare not, a fell worker of all agonies,
So that, again transmuted, a kiss ambrosia seeming
Sugary, turn’d to the strange harshness of harsh hellebore.
Then such dolorous end since your poor lover awaiteth, 15
Never a kiss will I venture, a theft any more.
C.
Quintius, Aufilena; to Caelius, Aufilenus;
Lovers each, fair flower either of youths Veronese.
One to the brother bends, and one to the sister. A noble
Friendship, if e’er was true friendship, a rare brotherhood.
Ask me to which I lean? You, Caelius: yours a devotion 5
Single, a faith of tried quality, steady to me;
Into my inmost veins when love sank fiercely to burn them.
Mighty be your bright love, Caelius, happy be you!
CI.
Borne o’er many a land, o’er many a level of ocean,
Here to the grave I come, brother, of holy repose,
Sadly the last poor gifts, death’s simple duty, to bring thee;
Unto the silent dust vainly to murmur a cry.
Since thy form deep-shrouded an evil destiny taketh 5
From me, O hapless ghost, brother, O heavily ta’en,
Yet this bounty the while, these gifts ancestral of usance
Homely, the sad slight store piety grants to the tomb;
Drench’d in a brother’s tears, and weeping freshly, receive them;
Yea, take, brother, a long Ave, a timeless adieu. 10
CII.
If to a friend sincere, Cornelius, e’er was a secret
Trusted, a friend whose soul steady to honour abides;
Me to the same brotherhood doubt not to be inly devoted,
Sworn upon oath, to the last secret, an Harpocrates.
CIII.
Briefly, the sesterces all, give back, full quantity, Silo,
Then be a bully beyond exorability, you:
Else, if money be all, O cease so lewdly to practise
Bawd, yet bully beyond exorability, you.
CIV.
What? should a lover adore, yet cruelly slander adoring?
I my lady, than eyes goodlier easily she?
Nay, I rail not at all. How rail, so blindly desiring?
Tappo alone dare brave all that is heinous, or you.
CV.
Mentula toils, Pimplea, the Muses’ mountain, ascending:
They with pitchforks hurl Mentula dizzily down.
CVI.
Walks with a salesman a beauty, your eyes that beauty discerning?
Doubt not your eyes speak true; Sir, ’tis a beauty to sell.
CVII.
If to delight man’s wish, joy e’er unlook’d for, unhop’d for,
Falleth, a joy were such proper, a bliss to the soul.
Then ’tis a joy to the soul, like gold of Lydia precious,
Lesbia mine, that thou com’st to delight me again.
Com’st yet again long-hop’d, long-look’d for vainly, returnest 5
Freely to me. O day white with a luckier hue!
Lives there happier any than I, I only? a fairer
Destiny? Life so sweet know ye, or aught parallel?
CVIII.
Loathly Cominius, if e’er this people’s voice should arraign thee,
Hoary with all unclean infamy, worthy to die;
First should a tongue, I doubt not, of old so deadly to goodness,
Fall extruded, of each vulture a hungry regale;
Gouged be the carrion eyes some crow’s black maw to replenish, 5
Stomach a dog’s fierce teeth harry, a wolf the remains.
CIX.
Think you truly, belov’d, this bond of duty between us,
Lasteth, an ever-new jollity, ne’er to decease?
Grant it, Gods immortal, assure her promise in earnest;
Yea, be the lips sincere; yea, be the words from her heart.
So still rightly remain our lovers’ charter, a life-long 5
Friendship in us, whose faith fades not away to the last.
CX.
Aufilena, the fair, if kind, is a favourite ever;
Asks she a price, then yields frankly? the price is her own.
You, that agreed to be kind, now vilely the treaty dishonour,
Give not at all, nor again take;— ’tis a wrong to a wrong.
Not to deceive were noble, a chastity ne’er had assented, 5
Aufilena; but you — blindly to grasp at a gain,
Yet to withhold the effects,— ’tis a greed more loathly than harlot’s
Vileness, a wretch whose limbs ply to the lusts of a town.
CXI.
One lord only to love, one, Aufilena, to live for,
Praise can a bride nowhere goodlier any betide;
Yet, when a niece with an uncle is even mother or even
Cousin — of all paramours this were as heinous as all.
CXII.
Naso, if you show much, your company shows but a very
Little; a man you show, Naso, a woman in one.
CXIII.
Pompey the first time consul, as yet Maecilia counted
Two paramours; reappears Pompey a consul again,
Two still, Cinna, remain; but grown, each unit an even
Thousand. Truly the stock’s fruitful: adultery breeds.
CXIV.
Rightly a lordly demesne makes Firman Mentula count for
Wealthy! the rich fine things, then the variety there!
Game in plenty to choose, fish, field, and meadow with hunting;
Only the waste exceeds strangely the quantity still.
Wealthy? perhaps I grant it; if all, wealth asks for, is absent. 5
Praise the demesne? no doubt; only be needy the man.
CXV.
Acres thirty in all, good grass, own Mentula master;
Forty to plough; bare seas, arid or empty, the rest.
Poorly methinks might Croesus a man so sumptuous equal,
Counted in one rich park owner of all he can ask.
Grass or plough, big woods, much mountain, mighty morasses; 5
On to the farthest North, on to the boundary main.
Vastness is all that is here; yet Mentula reaches a vaster —
Man? not so; ’tis a vast mountainous ominous He.
CXVI.
Oft with a studious heart, which hunted closely, requiring
Skill great Battiades’ poesies haply to send,
Laying thus thy rage in rest, lest everlasting
Darts should reach me, to wound still an assailable head:
Barren now I see that labour of any requital, 5
Gellius; here all prayers fall to the ground, nor avail.
No; but a robe I carry, the barbs, thy folly, to muffle;
Mine strike sure; thy deep injury they shall atone.
FRAGMENTS.
II.
Here I give to be thine a fair grove, an holy, Priapus,
Where thy Lampsacus holds thee in chamber seemly, Priapus;
God, in every city, thou, most ador’d on a sea-shore
Hellespontian, eminent most of oystery sea-shores.
IV.
Rapidly the spirit in an agony fled away.
V.
Where yon lucent mast-top, a cup of silver, arises.
The Latin Text
Grotte di Catullo, Sirmio, a promontory at the southern end of Lake Garda — the large ruins of the Roman villa are believed to be from the poet’s country house.
Further ruins at Sirmio — the social prominence of Catullus’ family allowed the poet’s father to entertain Julius Caesar when he was the Proconsul of both Gallic provinces.
CONTENTS OF THE LATIN TEXT
In this section of the eBook, readers can view the original Latin text of Catullus’ poems. You may wish to Bookmark this page for future reference.
CONTENTS
I. ad Cornelium
II. fletus passeris Lesbiae
IIb.
III. fletus passeris Lesbiae
IV. de phasello
V. ad Lesbiam
VI. ad Flavium
VII. ad Lesbiam
VIII. ad se ipsum
IX. ad Veranium
X. ad Varum
XI. ad Furium et Aurelium
XII. ad Matrucinum Asinium
XIII. ad Fabullum
XIV. ad Calvum poetam
XIVb.
XV. ad Aurelium
XVI. ad Aurelium et Furium
XVII.
XXI. ad Aurelium
XXII. ad Varum
XXIII. ad Furium
XXIV. ad Iuventium
XXV. ad Thallum
XXVI. ad Furium
XXVII. ad pincernam suum
XXVIII. ad Verannium et Fabullum
XXIX. in Romulum cathamitum
XXX. ad Alphenum
XXXI. ad Sirmium insulam
XXXII. ad Ipsicillam
XXXIII. ad Vibennios
XXXIV. carmen Dianae
XXXV. ad Caecilium iubet libello loqui
XXXVI. ad Lusi cacatam
XXXVII. ad contubernales et Egnatium
XXXVIII. ad Cornificium
XXXIX. ad Egnatium
XL. ad Ravidum
XLI. ad Ameanam
XLII. ad hendecasyllabos
XLIII. ad Ameanam
XLIV. ad Fundum
XLV. ad Septimium
XLVI.
XLVII. ad Porcium et Socrationem
XLVIII. ad Iuventium
XLIX. ad Marcum Tullium Ciceronem
L. ad Lucinium
LIa. ad Lesbiam
LIb.
LII. in Novium
LIII. ad Gaium Licinium Calvum
LIV. de Octonis capite
LV. ad Camerium
LVI. ad Catonem
LVII. ad Gaium Iulium Caesarem
LVIII. ad Marcum Caelium Rufum
LVIIIb. ad Camerium
LIX. in Rufum
LX.
LXI. epythalamius Iunie et Mallii
LXII. exametrum carmen nuptiale
LXIII. de Berecinthia et Athi
LXIV. Argonautia et epythalamium Thetidis et Pelei
LXV. ad Ortalum
LXVI.
LXVII. de ianua moechae cuiusdam
LXVIII. ad Mallium
LXIX. ad Rufum
LXX.
LXXI.
LXXII. ad Lesbiam
LXXIII.
LXXIV. ad Gellium
LXXV. ad Lesbiam
LXXVI. ad deos
LXXVII. ad Rufum
LXXVIII. ad Gallum
LXXVIIIb.
LXXIX. ad Lesbium
LXXX. ad Gellium
LXXXI. ad Iuventium
LXXXII. ad Qvintium
LXXXIII. ad Lesbiam
LXXXIV. ad Arrium
LXXXV.
LXXXVI. ad Lesbiam
LXXXVII. ad Lesbiam
LXXXVIII. ad Gellium
LXXXIX. ad Gellium
XC. ad Gellium
XCI. ad Gellium
XCII. ad Lesbia
XCIII. ad Gaium Iulium Caesarem
XCIV. ad Mentulam
XCV. ad Gaium Helvium Cinnam
XCVb.
XCVI. ad Gaium Licinium Calvum
XCVII. ad Aemilium
XCVIII. ad Victium
XCIX. ad Iuventium
C. ad Marcum Caelium furum
CI. ad inferias
CII. ad Cornelium Nepotem
CIII. ad Silonem
CIV.
CV. ad Mentulam
CVI.
CVII. ad Lesbiam
CVIII. ad Cominium
CIX. ad Lesbiam
CX. ad Aufilenam
CXI. ad Aufilenam
CXII. ad Nasonem
CXIII. ad Gaium Helvium Cinnam
CXIV. ad Mentulam
CXV. ad Mentulam
CXVI. ad Gellium
Fragmenta I.
Fragmenta II.
Fragmenta III.
I. ad Cornelium
Cui dono lepidum novum libellum
arida modo pumice expolitum?
Corneli, tibi: namque tu solebas
meas esse aliquid putare nugas.
Iam tum, cum ausus es unus Italorum
omne aevum tribus explicare cartis . . .
Doctis, Iuppiter, et laboriosis!
Quare habe tibi quidquid hoc libelli —
qualecumque, quod, o patrona virgo,
plus uno maneat perenne saeclo!
II. fletus passeris Lesbiae
Passer, deliciae meae puellae,
quicum ludere, quem in sinu tenere,
cui primum digitum dare appetenti
et acris solet incitare morsus,
cum desiderio meo nitenti
carum nescio quid lubet iocari
et solaciolum sui doloris,
credo ut tum gravis acquiescat ardor:
tecum ludere sicut ipsa possem
et tristis animi levare curas!
IIb.
Tam gratum est mihi quam ferunt puellae
pernici aureolum fuisse malum,
quod zonam soluit diu ligatam.
III. fletus passeris Lesbiae
Lugete, o Veneres Cupidinesque,
et quantum est hominum venustiorum:
passer mortuus est meae puellae,
passer, deliciae meae puellae,
quem plus illa oculis suis amabat.
nam mellitus erat suamque norat
ipsam tam bene quam puella matrem,
nec sese a gremio illius movebat,
sed circumsiliens modo huc modo illuc
ad solam dominam usque pipiabat.
qui nunc it per iter tenebricosum
illuc, unde negant redire quemquam.
at vobis male sit, malae tenebrae
Orci, quae omnia bella devoratis:
tam bellum mihi passerem abstulistis
o factum male! o miselle passer!
tua nunc opera meae puellae
flendo turgiduli rubent ocelli.
IV. de phasello
Phaselus ille, quem videtis, hospites,
ait fuisse navium celerrimus,
neque ullius natantis impetum trabis
nequisse praeterire, sive palmulis
opus foret volare sive linteo.
et hoc negat minacis Hadriatici
negare litus insulasve Cycladas
Rhodumque nobilem horridamque Thraciam
Propontida trucemve Ponticum sinum,
ubi iste post phaselus antea fuit
comata silva; nam Cytorio in iugo
loquente saepe sibilum edidit coma.
Amastri Pontica et Cytore buxifer,
tibi haec fuisse et esse cognitissima
ait phaselus: ultima ex origine
tuo stetisse dicit in cacumine,
tuo imbuisse palmulas in aequore,
et inde tot per impotentia freta
erum tulisse, laeva sive dextera
vocaret aura, sive utrumque Iuppiter
simul secundus incidisset in pedem;
neque ulla vota litoralibus deis
sibi esse facta, cum
veniret a mari
novissimo hunc ad usque limpidum lacum.
sed haec prius fuere: nunc recondita
senet quiete seque dedicat tibi,
gemelle Castor et gemelle Castoris.
V. ad Lesbiam
Vivamus mea Lesbia, atque amemus,
rumoresque senum severiorum
omnes unius aestimemus assis!
soles occidere et redire possunt:
nobis cum semel occidit brevis lux,
nox est perpetua una dormienda.
da mi basia mille, deinde centum,
dein mille altera, dein secunda centum,
deinde usque altera mille, deinde centum.
dein, cum milia multa fecerimus,
conturbabimus illa, ne sciamus,
aut ne quis malus invidere possit,
cum tantum sciat esse basiorum.
VI. ad Flavium
Flavi, delicias tuas Catullo,
ni sint illepidae atque inelegantes,
velles dicere nec tacere posses.
verum nescio quid febriculosi
scorti diligis: hoc pudet fateri.
nam te non viduas iacere noctes
nequiquam tacitum cubile clamat
sertis ac Syrio fragrans olivo,
pulvinusque peraeque et hic et ille
attritus, tremulique quassa lecti
argutatio inambulatioque.
nam inista prevalet nihil tacere.
cur? non tam latera ecfututa pandas,
ni tu quid facias ineptiarum.
quare, quidquid habes boni malique,
dic nobis. volo te ac tuos amores
ad caelum lepido vocare versu.
VII. ad Lesbiam
Quaeris, quot mihi basiationes
tuae, Lesbia, sint satis superque.
quam magnus numerus Libyssae harenae
lasarpiciferis iacet Cyrenis
oraclum Iovis inter aestuosi
et Batti veteris sacrum sepulcrum;
aut quam sidera multa, cum tacet nox,
furtivos hominum vident amores:
tam te basia multa basiare
vesano satis et super Catullo est,
