Complete Works of Catullus

by Catullus

  XXI. ad Aurelium

  Aureli, pater esuritionum,

  non harum modo, sed quot aut fuerunt

  aut sunt aut aliis erunt in annis,

  pedicare cupis meos amores.

  nec clam: nam simul es, iocaris una,

  haerens ad latus omnia experiris.

  frustra: nam insidias mihi instruentem

  tangam te prior irrumatione.

  XXI

  AURELIUS, father of all starvations, not these only but all that have been or are or shall be in future years, you wish to sport with my favourite. And not on the quiet: you keep with him, jest in his company, you stick close to his side and leave nothing untried. All in vain: as you plot against me, I’ll have at you first.

  atque id si faceres satur, tacerem:

  nunc ipsum id doleo, quod esurire

  me me puer et sitire discet.

  quare desine, dum licet pudico,

  ne finem facias, sed irrumatus.

  If you had your belly full I should say nothing; as it is, what annoys me is that my lad will learn how to be hungry and thirsty. Stop, then, while you can do so unharmed, or you will have to make an end in very different plight.

  XXII. ad Varum

  Suffenus iste, Vare, quem probe nosti,

  homo est venustus et dicax et urbanus,

  idemque longe plurimos facit versus.

  puto esse ego illi milia aut decem aut plura

  perscripta, nec sic ut fit in palimpsesto

  relata: cartae regiae, novi libri,

  novi umbilici, lora rubra membranae,

  derecta plumbo et pumice omnia aequata.

  haec cum legas tu, bellus ille et urbanus

  Suffenus unus caprimulgus aut fossor

  rursus videtur: tantum abhorret ac mutat.

  XXII

  THAT Suffenus, Varus, whom you know very well, is a charming fellow, and has wit and good manners. He also makes many more verses than any one else. I suppose he has got some ten thousand or even more written out in full, and not, as is often done, put down on old scraps; imperial paper, new rolls, new bosses, red ties, parchment wrappers; all ruled with lead and smoothed with pumice. When you come to read these, the fashionable well-bred Suffenus I spoke of seems to be nothing but any goatherd or ditcher, to look at him again; so absurd and changed he is.

  hoc quid putemus esse? qui modo scurra

  aut si quid hac re scitius videbatur,

  idem infaceto est infacetior rure,

  simul poemata attigit, neque idem umquam

  aeque est beatus ac poema cum scribit:

  tam gaudet in se tamque se ipse miratur.

  nimirum idem omnes fallimur, neque est quisquam

  quem non in aliqua re videre Suffenum

  possis. suus cuique attributus est error;

  sed non videmus manticae quod in tergo est.

  How are we to account for this? The same man who was just now a dinner-table wit or something (if such there be) even more practised, is more clumsy than the clumsy country, whenever he touches poetry; and at the same time he is never so happy as when he is writing a poem, he delights in himself and admires himself so much. True enough, we all are under the same delusion, and there is no one whom you may not see to be a Suffenus in one thing or another. Everybody has his own delusion assigned to him: but we do not see that part of the bag; which hangs on our back.

  XXIII. ad Furium

  Furi cui neque servus est neque arca

  nec cimex neque araneus neque ignis,

  verum est et pater et noverca, quorum

  dentes vel silicem comesse possunt,

  est pulcre tibi cum tuo parente

  et cum coniuge lignea parentis.

  nec mirum: bene nam valetis omnes,

  pulcre concoquitis, nihil timetis,

  non incendia, non graves rvinas,

  non facta impia, non dolos veneni,

  non casus alios periculorum.

  XXIII

  FURIUS, you who have neither a slave, nor a moneybox, nor a bug, nor a spider, nor a fire, but who have a father and a stepmother too, whose teeth can chew even a flintstone, you lead a merry life with your father and that dry stick, your father’s wife. No wonder: you all enjoy the best health, your digestions are excellent, you have nothing to be afraid of; fires, dilapidations, cruel pilferings, plots to poison you, other chances of danger.

  atque corpora sicciora cornu

  aut siquid magis aridum est habetis

  sole et frigore et esuritione.

  quare non tibi sit bene ac beate?

  a te sudor abest, abest saliva,

  mucusque et mala pituita nasi.

  And besides this, your bodies are as dry as horn, or drier still if drier thing there be, what with sun and cold and fasting. How can you, Furius, be otherwise than well and prosperous? You are free from sweat, free from spittle and rheum and troublesome running of the nose.

  hanc ad munditiem adde mundiorem,

  quod culus tibi purior salillo est,

  nec toto decies cacas in anno;

  atque id durius est faba et lapillis.

  quod tu si manibus teras fricesque,

  non umquam digitum inquinare posses

  haec tu commoda tam beata, Furi,

  noli spernere nec putare parvi,

  et sestertia quae soles precari

  centum desine: nam sat es beatus.

  Since you have such blessings as these, Furius, do not despise them nor think lightly of them; and cease to pray, as you do, for the hundred sestertia; for you are quite well off enough as it is.

  XXIV. ad Iuventium

  O qui flosculus es Iuventiorum,

  non horum modo, sed quot aut fuerunt

  aut posthac aliis erunt in annis,

  mallem divitias Midae dedisses

  isti, cui neque servus est neque arca,

  quam sic te sineres ab illo amari.

  ‘qui? non est homo bellus?’ inquies. est:

  sed bello huic neque servus est neque arca.

  hoc tu quam lubet abice elevaque:

  nec servum tamen ille habet neque arcam.

  XXIV

  You who are the flower of the Juventii, not only of those we know, but of all who either have been or shall be hereafter in other years, — I had rather you had given the riches of Midas to that fellow who has neither servant nor money-box, than so allow yourself to be courted by him. “What? is he not a fine gentleman?” you will say. Oh, yes; but this fine gentleman has neither a servant nor a money-box. You may put this aside and make as little of it as you like: for all that, he has neither a servant nor a money-box.

  XXV. ad Thallum

  Cinaede Thalle, mollior cuniculi capillo

  vel anseris medullula vel imula oricilla

  vel pene languido senis situque araneoso,

  idemque, Thalle, turbida rapacior procella,

  cum diva mulier aries ostendit oscitantes,

  remitte pallium mihi meum, quod involasti,

  sudariumque Saetabum catagraphosque Thynos,

  inepte, quae palam soles habere tamquam avita.

  quae nunc tuis ab unguibus reglutina et remitte,

  ne laneum latusculum manusque mollicellas

  inusta turpiter tibi flagella conscribillent,

  et insolenter aestues, velut minuta magno

  deprensa navis in mari, vesaniente vento.

  XXV

  EFFEMINATE Thallus, softer than rabbit’s fur or down of goose or lap of ear, or dusty cobweb; and also, Thallus, more ravenous than a sweeping storm when ??? send me back my cloak which you have pounced upon, and my Saetaban napkin and Bithynian tablets, you silly fellow, which you keep by you and make a show of them, as if they were heirlooms. Unglue and let drop these at once from your claws, lest your soft downy flanks and pretty tender hands should have ugly figures branded and scrawled on them by the whip, and lest you should toss about as you are little used to do, like a tiny boat caught in the vast sea, when the wind is madly raging.

 
; XXVI. ad Furium

  Furi villula vestra non ad Austri

  flatus opposita est neque ad Favoni

  nec saevi Boreae aut Apheliotae,

  verum ad milia quindecim et ducentos.

  o ventum horribilem atque pestilentem!

  XXVI

  FURIUS, my little farm stands exposed not to the blasts of Auster nor Favonius nor fierce Boreas or Apheliotes, but to a call of fifteen thousand two hundred sesterces. A wind that brings horror and pestilence!

  XXVII. ad pincernam suum

  Minister vetuli puer Falerni

  inger mi calices amariores,

  ut lex Postumiae iubet magistrae

  ebrioso acino ebriosioris.

  at vos quo lubet hinc abite, lymphae

  vini pernicies, et ad severos

  migrate. hic merus est Thyonianus.

  XXVII

  COME, boy, you who serve out the old Falernian, fill up stronger cups for me, as the law of Postumia, mistress of the revels, ordains, Postumia more tipsy than the tipsy grape. But water, begone, away with you, water, destruction of wine, and take up your abode with scrupulous folk. This is the pure Thyonian god.

  XXVIII. ad Verannium et Fabullum

  Pisonis comites, cohors inanis,

  aptis sarcinulis et expeditis,

  Verani optime tuque mi Fabulle,

  quid rerum geritis? satisne cum isto

  vappa frigoraque et famem tulistis?

  ecquidnam in tabulis patet lucelli

  expensum, ut mihi, qui meum secutus

  praetorem refero datum lucello?

  XXVIII

  You subalterns of Piso, a needy train, with baggage handy and easily carried, my excellent Veranius and you, my Fabullus, how are you? have you borne cold and hunger with that wind-bag long enough? do your account books show any gain, however small, entered on the wrong side, as mine do?

  o Memmi, bene me ac diu supinum

  tota ista trabe lentus irrumasti.

  sed, quantum video, pari fuistis

  casu: nam nihilo minore verpa

  farti estis. pete nobiles amicos!

  at vobis mala multa di deaeque

  dent, opprobria Romuli Remique.

  Why, after following in my praetor’s train I put down on the credit side... So much for running after powerful friends! But may the gods and goddesses bring many curses upon you, you blots on the names of Romulus and Remus.

  XXIX. in Romulum cathamitum

  Quis hoc potest videre, quis potest pati,

  nisi impudicus et vorax et aleo,

  Mamurram habere quod Comata Gallia

  habebat uncti et ultima Britannia?

  cinaede Romule haec videbis et feres?

  et ille nunc superbus et superfluens

  perambulabit omnium cubilia,

  ut albulus columbus aut Adoneus?

  cinaede Romule, haec videbis et feres?

  es impudicus et vorax et aleo.

  eone nomine, imperator unice,

  fuisti in ultima occidentis insula,

  ut ista vestra diffututa mentula

  ducenties comesset aut trecenties?

  XXIX

  WHO can look upon this, who can suffer this, except he be lost to all shame and voracious and a gambler, that Mamurra should have what Gallia Comata and furthest Britain had once? Debauched Romulus, will you see and endure this? [You are shameless and voracious and a gambler.] And shall he now, proud and full to overflowing, make a progress through the beds of all, like a white cock-pigeon or an Adonis? Debauched Romulus, will you see and endure this? You are shameless and voracious and a gambler. Was it this then, you one and only general, that took you to the furthest island of the West? was it that that worn-out profligate of yours, Mentula, should devour twenty or thirty millions?

  quid est alid sinistra liberalitas?

  parum expatravit an parum elluatus est?

  paterna prima lancinata sunt bona,

  secunda praeda Pontica, inde tertia

  Hibera, quam scit amnis aurifer Tagus:

  nunc Galliae timetur et Britanniae.

  quid hunc malum fovetis? aut quid hic potest

  nisi uncta devorare patrimonia?

  eone nomine urbis opulentissime

  socer generque, perdidistis omnia?

  What else, then, is perverted liberality, if this be not? Has he not spent enough on lust and gluttony? His ancestral property was first torn to shreds; then came his prize-money from Pontus, then in the third place that from the Hiberus, of which the gold-bearing river Tagus can tell. And him do the Gauls and Britains fear? Why do you both support this scoundrel? or what can he do but devour rich patrimonies? Was it for this that you, father-in-law and son-in-law, have ruined everything?

  XXX. ad Alphenum

  Alfene immemor atque unanimis false sodalibus,

  iam te nil miseret, dure, tui dulcis amiculi?

  iam me prodere, iam non dubitas fallere, perfide?

  nec facta impia fallacum hominum caelicolis placent.

  quae tu neglegis ac me miserum deseris in malis.

  eheu quid faciant, dic, homines cuive habeant fidem?

  certe tute iubebas animam tradere, inique, me

  inducens in amorem, quasi tuta omnia mi forent.

  idem nunc retrahis te ac tua dicta omnia factaque

  ventos irrita ferre ac nebulas aereas sinis.

  si tu oblitus es, at di meminerunt, meminit Fides,

  quae te ut paeniteat postmodo facti faciet tui.

  XXX

  ALFENUS, ungrateful and false to your faithful comrades, do you now cease (ah, cruel!) to pity your beloved friend? What? do you not shrink from betraying me, deceiving me, faithless one? Do the deeds of deceivers please the gods above? — All this you disregard, and desert me in my sorrow and trouble; ah, tell me, what are men to do, whom are they to trust? For truly you used to bid me trust my soul to you (ah, unjust!), leading me into love as if all were safe for me; you, who now draw back from me, and let the winds and vapours of the air bear away all your words and deeds unratified. If you have forgotten this, yet the gods remember it, remembers Faith, who will soon make you repent of your deed.

  XXXI. ad Sirmium insulam

  Paene insularum, Sirmio, insularumque

  ocelle, quascumque in liquentibus stagnis

  marique vasto fert uterque Neptunus,

  quam te libenter quamque laetus inviso,

  vix mi ipse credens Thuniam atque Bithunos

  liquisse campos et videre te in tuto.

  o quid solutis est beatius curis,

  cum mens onus reponit, ac peregrino

  labore fessi venimus larem ad nostrum,

  desideratoque acquiescimus lecto?

  XXXI

  SIRMIO, bright eye or peninsulas and islands, all that in liquid lakes or vast ocean either Neptune bears: how willingly and with what joy I revisit you, scarcely trusting myself that I have left Thynia and the Bithynian plains, and that I see you in safety. Ah, what is more blessed than to put cares away, when the mind lays by its burden, and tired with labour of far travel we have come to our own home and rest on the couch we longed for?

  hoc est quod unum est pro laboribus tantis.

  salve, o venusta Sirmio, atque ero gaude

  gaudente, vosque, o Lydiae lacus undae,

  ridete quidquid est domi cachinnorum.

  This it is which alone is worth all these toils. Welcome, lovely Sirmio, and rejoice in your master, and rejoice ye too, waters, of the Lydian lake, and laugh out aloud all the laughter you have in your home.

  XXXII. ad Ipsicillam

  Amabo, mea dulcis Ipsitilla,

  meae deliciae, mei lepores,

  iube ad te veniam meridiatum.

  et si iusseris, illud adiuvato,

  ne quis liminis obseret tabellam,

  neu tibi lubeat foras abire,

  sed domi maneas paresque nobis

  novem continuas fututiones.

  verum si quid ages, statim iubeto:

  na
m pransus iaceo et satur supinus

  pertundo tunicamque palliumque.

  XXXII

  I ENTREAT you, my sweet Ipsithilla, my darling, my charmer, bid me to come and rest at noonday with you. And if you do bid me, grant me this kindness too, that no one may bar the panel of your threshold, nor you yourself have a fancy to go away, but stay at home.... But if you will at all, then bid me come at once....

  XXXIII. ad Vibennios

  O Furum optime balneariorum

  Vibenni pater et cinaede fili

  (nam dextra pater inquinatiore,

  culo filius est voraciore),

  cur non exilium malasque in oras

  itis? quandoquidem patris rapinae

  notae sunt populo, et natis pilosas,

  fili, non potes asse venditare.

  XXXIII

  CLEVEREST of all clothes-stealers at the baths, father Vibennius and you his profligate son,... off with you into banishment and the dismal regions, since the father’s plunderings are known to all the world....

  XXXIV. carmen Dianae

  Dianae sumus in fide

  puellae et pueri integri:

  Dianam pueri integri

  puellaeque canamus.

  o Latonia, maximi

  magna progenies Iovis,

  quam mater prope Deliam

  deposiuit olivam,

  montium domina ut fores

  silvarumque virentium

  saltuumque reconditorum

  amniumque sonantum:

  XXXIV

  WE girls and chaste boys are lieges of Diana. Diana let us sing, chaste boys and girls. O child of Latona, great offspring of greatest Jove, whom thy mother bore by the Delian olive-tree, that thou mightest be the lady of mountains and green woods, and sequestered glens and sounding rivers;

  tu Lucina dolentibus

  Iuno dicta puerperis,

  tu potens Trivia et notho es