a
rascally
crea-
ture,
Verily !
ture,
Verily !
Catullus - Ellis - Poems and Fragments
85
Not of vile I seek gifts, nor of infamous, I.
Rather, O unstain'd brides, may concord tarry for ever
With ye at home, may love with ye for ever abide.
Thou, fair queen, to the stars if looking haply, to Venus
Lights thou kindle on eves festal of high sacrifice, 90
Leave me the lock, thine own, nor blood nor bounty
requiring.
Rather a largesse fair pay to me, envy me not.
Stars dash blindly in one ! so might I glitter a royal
Tress, let Orion glow next to Aquarius' urn.
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? ;3 CATULLUS.
LXVII.
CATULLUS.
O TO the goodman fair, O welcome alike to the father,
Hail, and Jove's kind grace shower his help upon
you !
Door, that of old, men say, wrought Balbus ready
obeisance,
Once, when his home, time was, lodged him, a master
in years ;
Door, that again, men say, grudg'd aught but a spiteful
obeisance, 5
Soon as a corpse outstretch'd starkly declar'd you a
bride.
Come, speak truly to me ; what shameful rumour avouches
Duty of years forsworn, honour in injury lost ?
DOOR.
So be the tenant new, Caecilius, happy to own me,
I'm not guilty, for all jealousy says it is I. ro
Never a fault was mine, nor man shall whisper it ever;
Only, my friend, your mob's noisy " The door is a
rogue. "
Comes to the light some mischief, a deed uncivil arising,
Loudly to me shout all, " Door, you are wholly to blame. "
CATULLUS.
'Tis not enough so merely to say, so think to decide it. 1 5
Better, who wills should feel, see it, who wills, to be
true.
DOOR.
How then ? if here none asks, nor labours any to know it.
CATULLUS.
Nay, / ask it ; away scruple ; your hearer is I.
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? CATULLUS. 79
First, what rumour avers, they gave her to us a virgin
They lie on her. A light lady ! be sure, not alone 20
Clipp'd her an husband first ; weak stalk from a garden,
a pointless
Falchion, a heart did ne'er fully to courage awake.
No ; to the son's own bed, 'tis said, that father ascended,
Vilely ; with act impure stain'd the facinorous house.
Whether a blind fierce lust in his heart burnt sinfully
flaming, 25
Or that inert that son's vigour, amort to delight,
Needed a sturdier arm, that franker quality somewhere,
Looser of youth's fast-bound girdle, a virgin as yet.
CATULLUS.
Truly a noble father, a glorious act of affection !
Thus in a son's kind sheets lewdly to puddle, his
own. 30
DOOR.
Yet not alone of this, her crag Chinaean abiding
Under, a watch-tower set warily, Brixia tells,
Brixia, trails whereby his waters Mella the golden,
Mother of her, mine own city, Verona the fair.
Add Postumius yet, Cornelius also, a twice-told 35
Folly, with whom our light mistress adultery knew.
Asks some questioner here " What? a door, yet privy to
lewdness ? U
You, from your owner's gate never a minute away ?
Strange to the talk o' the town ? since here, stout timber
above you,
Hung to the beam, you shut mutely or open again. " 40
Many a shameful time I heard her stealthy profession,
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? 8o CATULLUS.
While to the maids her guilt softly she hinted alone.
Spoke unabash'd her amours and named them singly,
opining
Haply an ear to record fail'd me, a voice to reveal.
There was another; enough; his name I gladly dis-
semble ; . 45
Lest his lifted brows blush a disorderly rage.
Sir, 'twas a long lean suitor ; a process huge had assail'd
him ;
'Twas for a pregnant womb falsely declar'd to be true.
LXVIII.
IF, when fortune's wrong with bitter misery whelms thee,
Thou thy sad tear-scrawl'd letter, a mark to the
storm,
Send'st, and bid'st me to succour a stranded seaman
of Ocean,
Toss'd in foam, from death's door to return thee
again ;
Whom nor softly to rest love's tender sanctity
suffers, 5
Lost on a couch of lone slumber, unhappily lain ;
Nor with melody sweet of poets hoary the Muses
Cheer, while worn with grief nightly the soul is
awake :
Well-contented am I, that thou thy friendship avowest,
Ask'st the delights of love from me, the pleasure of
1 hymns; 10
Yet lest all unnoted a kindred story bely thee,
Deeming, Mallius, I calls of humanity shun ;
Hear what a grief is mine, what storm of destiny
whelms me.
Cease to demand of a soul's misery joy's sacrifice.
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? CATULLUS. 8r
Once, what time white robes of manhood first did array
me, 15
Whiles in jollity life sported a spring holiday,
Youth ran riot enow ; right well she knows me, the God-
dess,
She whose honey delights blend with a bitter annoy.
Henceforth dies sweet pleasure, in anguish lost of a
brother's
Funeral. O poor soul, brother, O heavily ta'en, 20
You all happier hours, you, dying brother, effaced ;
All our house lies low mournfully buried in you ;
Quench'd untimely with you joy waits not ever a morrow,
Joy which alive your love's bounty fed hour upon
hour;
Now, since thou liest dead, heart-banish'd wholly desert
me 25
Vanities all, each gay freak of a riotous heart.
How then obey? You write 'Let not Verona, Catullus,
Stay thee, if here each proud quality, Rome's emi-
nence,
Freely the light limbs warms thou leavest coldly to
languish,'
Infamy lies not there, Mallius, only regret. 30
So forgive me, if I, whom grief so rudely bereaveth,
Deal not a joy myself know not, a beggar in all.
Books if they're but scanty, a store full meagre, around
me,
Rome is alone my life's centre, a mansion of home,
Rome my abode, house, hearth; there wanes and
waxes a life's span ; 35
Hither of all those choice cases attends me but one.
Therefore deem not thou aught spiteful bids me deny
thee ;
a
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? 82 CATULLUS.
Say not ' his heart is false, haply, to jealousy leans,'
If nor books I send nor flatter sorrow to silence.
Trust me, were either mine, either unask'd should
appear. 40
GODDESSES, hide I may not in how great trial upheld
me
Allius, how no faint charities held me to life.
Nor shall time borne fleetly nor years' oblivion ever
Make such zeal to the night fade, to the darkness,
away.
As from me you learn it, of you shall many a thou-
sand 45
Learn it again. Grow old, scroll, to declare it anew.
So to the dead increase honour in year upon year. 50
Nor to the spider, aloft her silk-slight flimsiness hang-
ing,
Allius aye unswept moulder, a memory dim. (50)
Well you wot, how sore the deceit Amathusia wrought me,
Well what a thing in love's treachery made me to fall ;
Ready to burst in flame, as burn Trinacrian embers, 55
Burn near Thermopylae's Oeta the fiery springs.
Sad, these piteous eyes did waste all wearily weeping, (55)
Sad, these cheeks did rain ceaseless a showery woe.
Wakeful, as hill-born brook, which, afar off silvery
gleaming,
O'er his moss-grown crags leaps with a tumble a-
down ; 60
Brook which awhile headlong o'er steep and valley de-
scending,
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? CATULLUS. 83
Crosses anon wide ways populous, hastes to the
street ; (60)
Cheerer in heats o' the sun to the wanderer heavily
fuming,
Under a drought, when fields swelter agape to the
sky.
Then as tossing shipmen amid black surges of Ocean, 65
See some prosperous air gently to calm them arise,
Safe thro' Pollux' aid or Castor, alike entreated ; (65)
Mallius e'en such help brought me, a warder of harm.
He in a closed field gave scope of liberal entry;
Gave me an house of love, gave me the lady
within, 70
Busily there to renew love's even duty together ;
Thither afoot mine own mistress, a deity bright, (70)
Came, and planted firm her sole most sunny ; beneath
her
Lightly the' polish'd floor creak'd to the sandal again.
So with passion aflame came wistful Laodamia 75
Into her husband's home, Protesilaus, of yore ;
Home o'er-lightly begun, ere slaughtered victim aton-
ing (75)
Waited of heaven's high-thron'd company grace to
agree.
Nought be to me so dear, O Maid Ramnusian, ever,
I should against that law match me with opposite,
I. 80
Bloodless of high sacrifice, how thirsts each desolate
altar !
This, when her husband fell, Laodamia did heed, (80)
Rapt from a bridegroom new, from his arms forced
early to part her.
Early ; for hardly the first winter, another again,
G2
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? 84 CATULLUS.
Yet in many a night's long dream had sated her yearn-
ing, 85
So that love might wear cheerly, the master away ;
Which not long should abide, so presag'd surely the
Parcae, (85)
If to the wars her lord hurry, for Ilion arm.
Now to revengefair Helen, had Argos' chiefs, her puissance,
Set them afield ; for Troy rous'd them, a cry not of
home, 90
Troy, dark death universal, of Asia grave and Europe,
Altar of heroes Troy, Troy of heroical acts, (90)
Now to my own dear brother abhorred worker of
ancient
Death. Ah woeful soul, brother, unhappily lost,
Ah fair light unblest, in darkness sadly receding, 95
All our house lies low, brother, inearthed in you,
Quench'd untimely with you, joy waits not ever a mor-
row, (95)
Joy which alive your love's bounty fed hour upon
hour.
Now on a distant shore, no kind mortality near him,
Far all household love, every familiar urn, 100
Tomb'd in Troy the malign, in Troy the unholy reposing,
Strangely the land's last verge holds him, a dungeon
of earth. ( IO )
Thither in haste all Greece, one armed people assembling,
Flock'd on an ancient day, left the recesses of home,
Lest in a safe content, unreach'd, his stolen adultress 105
Paris inarm, in soft luxury quietly lain.
E'en such chance, fair queen, such misery, Laodamia, (105)
Brought thee a loss as life precious, as heavenly
breath,
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? CATULLUS. 85
Loss of a bridegroom dear ; such whirling passion in
eddies
Suck'd thee adown, so drew sheer to a sudden
abyss, no
Deep as Graian abyss near Pheneos o'er Cyllene,
Strainer of ooze impure milk'dfrom a watery fen; (i 10)
Hewn, so stories avouch, in a mountain's kernel ; an hero
Hew'd it, falsely declar'd Amphytrionian, he,
When those monster birds near grim Stymphalus his
arrow 115
Smote to the death ; such task bade him a dastardly
lord.
So that another God might tread that portal of
heaven (US)
Freely, nor Hebe fair wither a chaste eremite.
Yet than abyss more deep thy love, thy depth of
emotion ;
Love which school'd thy lord, made of a master a
thrall. 1 20
Not to a grandsire old so priz'd, so lovely the grandson
One dear daughter alone rears i' the soft of his
years ; (120)
He, long-wish'd for, an heir of wealth ancestral
arriving,
Scarcely the tablets' marge holds him, a name to the
will,
Straight all hopes laugh'd down, each baffled kinsman
usurping 125
Leaves to repose white hairs, stretches, a vulture,
away ;
Not in her own fond mate so turtle snowy de-
lighteth, (125)
Tho' unabash'd, 'tis said, she the voluptuous hours
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? 86 CATULLUS.
Snatches a thousand kisses, in amorous extasy biting.
Yet, more lightly than all ranges a womanly will. 1 30
Great their love, their frenzy ; but all their frenzy before
thee '
Fail'd, once clasp'd thy lord splendid in aureat
hair.
Worthy in all or part thee, Laodamia, to rival,
Sought me my own sweet love, journey'd awhile to
my arms.
Round her playing oft ran Cupid thither or hither, 135
Lustrous, arra^d in bright broidery, saffron of hue.
What, to Catullus alone if a wayward fancy resort not ?
Must I pale for a stray frailty, the shame of an
hour? (136)
Nay ; lest all too much such jealous folly provoke her.
Juno's self, a supreme glory celestial, oft 140
Crushes her eager rage, in wedlock-injury flaring,
Knowing yet right well Jove, what a losel is he. (140)
Yet, for a man with Gods shall never lawfully match
him
150
'55
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? CATULLUS. 87
160
Lift thy father, a weak burden, unholpen, abhorr'd.
Not that a father's hand my love led to me, nor odours
Wafted her home on rich airs, of Assyria born ;
Stealthy the gifts she gave me, a night unspeakable
o'er us, 165 (145)
Gifts from her husband's dreams verily stolen, his
own.
Then 'tis enough for me, if mine, mine only remaineth
That one day, whose stone shines with an happier
hue.
So, it is all I can, take, Allius, answer, a little
Verse to requite thy much friendship, a contrary
boon. 170 (150)
So your household names no rust nor seamy defacing
Soil this day, that new morrow, the next to the last.
Gifts full many to these heaven send as largely
requiting,
Gifts Themis ever wont deal to the pious of yore.
Joys come plenty to thee, to thy own fair lady
together, 175 (155)
Come to that house of mirth, come to the lady within ;
Joy to the forward friend, our love's first fashioner,
Anser,
Author of all this fair history, founder of all.
Lastly beyond them, above them, on her more lovely
than even
Life, my lady, for whose life it is happy to be. 180 (160)
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? 88 CATULLUS.
LXIX.
RUFUS, it is no wonder if yet no woman assenting
Softly to thine embrace tender a delicate arm.
Not tho' a gift should seek, some robe most filmy, to
move her ;
Not for a cherish'd gem's clarity, lucid of hue.
Deep in a valley, thy arms, such evil story maligns
thee, 5
Rufus, a villain goat houses, a grim denizen.
All are afraid of it, all ; what wonder ?
a rascally crea-
ture,
Verily ! not with such company dally the fair.
Slay, nor pity the brute, our nostril's rueful aversion.
Else admire not if each ravish er angrily fly. 10
LXX.
SAITH my lady to me, no man shall wed me, but
only
Thou ; no other if e'en Jove should approach me
to woo ;
Yea ; but a woman's words, when a lover fondly
desireth,
Limn them on ebbing floods, write on a wintery
gale.
LXXII.
LESBIA, thou didst swear thou knewest only Catullus,
Cared'st not, if him thine arms chained, a Jove to
retain.
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? CATULLUS. 89
Then not alone I loved thee, as each light lover a
mistress,
Lov'd as a father his own sons, or an heir to the
name.
Now I know thee aright ; so, if more hotly desiring, 5
Yet must count thee a soul cheaper, a frailty to scorn.
' Friend,' thou say'st, ' you cannot. ' Alas ! such injury
leaveth
Blindly to doat poor love's folly, malignly to will.
LXXIII.
NEVER again think any to work aught kindly soever,
Dream that in any abides honour, of injury free.
Love is a debt in arrear; time's parted service avails
not ;
Rather is only the more sorrow, a heavier ill :
Chiefly to me, whom none so fierce, so deadly deceiv-
ing 5
Troubleth, as he whose friend only but inly was I.
LXXIV.
GELLIUS heard that his uncle in ire exploded, if any
Dared, some wanton, a fault practise, a levity speak.
Not to be slain himself, see Gellius handle his uncle's
Lady ; no Harpocrates muter, his uncle is hush'd.
So what he aim'd at, arriv'd at, anon let Gellius e'en
this 5
Uncle abuse ; not a word yet will his uncle assay.
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? 90 CATULLUS.
LXXVIII.
BROTHERS twain has Gallus, of whom one owns a
delightful
Son ; his brother a fair lady, delightfuller yet.
Gallant sure is Gallus, a pair so dainty uniting ;
Lovely the lady, the lad lovely, a company sweet.
Foolish sure is Gallus, an o'er-incurious husband ; 5
Uncle, a wife once taught luxury, stops not at one.
LXXIX.
LESBIUS, handsome is he. Why not ? if Lesbia loves him
Far above all your tribe, angry Catullus, or you.
Only let all your tribe sell off, and follow, Catullus,
Kiss but his handsome lips children, a plenary three.
LXXXI.
WHAT ? not in all this city, Juventius, ever a gallant
Poorly to win love's fresh favour of amorous you,
Only the lack-love signor, a wretch from sickly Pisaurum,
Guest of your hearth, no gilt statue as ashy as he ?
Now your very delight, whose faithless fancy Catullus 5
Banisheth. Ah light-reck'd lightness, apostasy vile !
LXXXI I.
WOULDST thou, Quintius, have me a debtor ready to owe
thee
Eyes, or if earth have joy goodlier any than eyes ?
One thing take not from me, to me more goodly than even
Eyes, or if earth have joy goodlier any than eyes.
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? CATULLUS. 91
LXXXIII.
LESBIA while her lord stands near, rails ever upon me.
This to the fond weak fool seemeth a mighty delight.
Dolt, you see not at all. Could she forget me, to rail not,
Nought were amiss ; if now scold she, or if she revile,
'Tis not alone to remember ; a shrewder stimulus arms
her, 5
Anger ; her heart doth burn verily, thus to revile.
LXXXIV.
Stipends Arrius ever on opportunity shtipends,
Ambush as hambush still Arrius used to declaim.
Then, hoped fondly the words were a marvel of articula-
tion,
While with an h immense l hambttsh' arose from his
heart.
So his mother of old, so e'en spoke Liber his uncle, 5
Credibly ; so grarMsire, grandam alike did agree.
Syria took him away ; all ears had rest for a moment ;
Lightly the lips those words, slightly could utter again.
None was afraid any more of a sound so clumsy
returning ;
Sudden a solemn fright seized us, a message arrives. 10
' News from Ionia country ; the sea, since Arrius enter'd,
Changed ; 'twas Ionian once, now 'twas Hionian all. '
LXXXV.
HALF I hate, half love. How so? one haply requireth.
Nay, I know not ; alas feel it, in agony groan.
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? 93 CATULLUS.
LXXXVI.
LOVELY to many a man is Quintia ; shapely, majestic,
Stately, to me ; each point singly 'tis easy to grant.
' Lovely ' the whole, I grant not ; in all that bodily
largeness,
Lives not a grain of salt, breathes not a charm any-
where.
Lesbia she is lovely, an even temper of utmost 5
Beauty, that every charm stealeth of every fair.
LXXXVI I & LXXV.
NE'ER shall woman avouch herself so rightly beloved,
Friend, as rightly thou art, Lesbia, lovely to me.
Ne'er was a bond so firm, no troth so faithfully
plighted,
Such as against our love's venture in honour am I.
I
Now so sadly my heart, dear Lesbia, draws me asunder, 5
So in her own misspent worship uneasily lost,
Wert thou blameless in all, I may not longer approve
thee,
Do anything thou wilt, cannot an enemy be.
LXXVI.
IF to a man bring joy past service dearly remember'd,
When to the soul her thought speaks, to be blameless
of ill ;
Faith not rudely profan'd, nor in oath or charter abused
Heaven, a God's mis-sworn sanctity, deadly to men.
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? CATULLUS. 93
Then doth a life-long pleasure await thee surely,
Catullus, 5
Pleasure of all this love's traitorous injury born.
Whatso a man may speak, whom charity leads to another,
Whatso enact, by me spoken or acted is all.
Waste on a traitorous heart, nor finding kindly requital.
Therefore cease, nor still bleed agoniz'd any more. 10
Make thee as iron a soul, thyself draw back from affliction.
Yea, tho' a God say nay, be not unhappy for aye.
What? it is hard long love so lightly to leave in a
moment ?
Hard ; yet abides this one duty, to do it : obey.
Here lies safety alone, one victory must not fail
thee. 1 5
One last stake to be lost haply,"perhaps to be won.
O great Gods immortal, if you can pity or ever
Lighted above dark death's shadow, a help to the
lost ;
Ah ! look, a wretch, on me ; if white and blameless in
all I
Liv'd, then take this long canker of anguish away. 20
If to my inmost veins, like dull death drowsily
creeping,
Every delight, all heart's pleasure it wholly benumbs.
Not anymore I pray for a love so faulty returning,
Not that a wanton abide chastely, she may not again.
Only for health I ask, a disease so deadly to banish. 25
Gods vouchsafe it, as I ask, that am harmless of ill.
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? 94 CATULLUS.
LXXVII.
RUFUS, a friend so vainly believ'd, so wrongly relied in,
(Vainly ? alas the reward fail'd not, a heavier ill ;)
Could'st thou thus steal on me, a lurking viper, an
aching
Fire to the bones, nor leave aught to delight any
more?
Nought to delight any more ! ah cruel poison of equal 5
Lives ! ah breasts that grew each to the other awhile !
Yet far most this grieves me, to think thy slaver
abhorred
Foully my own love's lips soileth, a purity rare.
Thou shalt surely atone thine injury : centuries harken,
Know thee afar ; grow old, fame, to declare him
anew. 10
LXXXVIII.
GELLIUS, how if a man in lust with a mother, a sister
Rioteth, one uncheck'd night, to iniquity bare ?
How if a man's dark passion an aunt's own chastity
spare not ?
Canst thou tell what vast infamy lieth on him ?
Infamy lieth on him, no farthest Tethys, or ancient 5
Ocean, of hundred streams father, abolisheth yet.
Infamy none o'ersteps, nor ventures any beyond it.
Not tho' a scorpion heat melt him, his own para-
mour.
LXXXIX.
GELLIUS he's full meagre. It is no wonder, a friendly
Mother, a sister is his loveable, healthy withal.
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? CATULLUS. 95
Then so friendly an uncle, a world of pretty relations.
Must not a man so blest meagre abide to the last ?
Yea, let his hand touch only what hands touch only to
trespass ; 5
Reason enough to become meagre, enough to remain.
XC
RISE from a mother's shame with Gellius hatefully
wedded,
One to be taught gross rites Persic, a Magian he.
Weds with a mother a son, so needs should a Magian
issue,
Save in her evil creed Persia determineth ill.
Then shall a son, so born, chant down high favour of
heaven, 5
Melting lapt in flame fatly the slippery caul.
XCI.
THINK not a hope so false rose, Gellius, in me to find thee
Faithful in all this love's anguish ineffable yet,
For that in heart I knew thee, had in thee honour
imagin'd,
Held thee a soul to abhor vileness or any reproach.
Only in her, I knew, thou found'st not a mother, a sister, 5
Her that awhile for love wearily made me to pine.
Yea tho' mutual use did bind us straitly together,
Scarcely methought could lie cause to desert me
therein.
Thou found'st reason enow ; so joys thy spirit in every
Shame, wherever is aught heinous, of infamy born. 10
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? 96 CATULLUS.
XCII.
LESBIA doth but rail, rail ever upon me, nor endeth
Ever. A life I stake, Lesbia loves me at heart.
Ask me a sign ? Our score runs parallel. I that abuse
her
Ever, a life to the stake, Lesbia, love thee at heart.
XCIII.
LIGHTLY methinks I reck if Cassar smile not upon me :
Care not, whether a white, whether a swarth-skin, is he.
XCIV.
MENTULA wanton is he ; his calling sure is a wanton's.
Herbs to the pot, 'tis said wisely, the name to the man.
XCV.
NINE times winter had end, nine times flush'd summer in
harvest,
Ere to the world gave forth Cinna, the labour of years,
Zmyrna ; but in one month Hortensius hundred on
hundred
Verses, an unripe birth feeble, of hurry begot.
Zmyrna to far Satrachus, to the stream of Cyprus,
ascendeth ; 5
Zmyrna with eyes unborn study the centuries hoar.
Padus her own ill child shall bury, Volusius' annals ;
In them a mackerel oft house him, a wrapper of ease.
Dear to my heart be a friend's unbulky memorial ever ;
Cherish an Antimachus, weighty as empty, the mob. 10
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Not of vile I seek gifts, nor of infamous, I.
Rather, O unstain'd brides, may concord tarry for ever
With ye at home, may love with ye for ever abide.
Thou, fair queen, to the stars if looking haply, to Venus
Lights thou kindle on eves festal of high sacrifice, 90
Leave me the lock, thine own, nor blood nor bounty
requiring.
Rather a largesse fair pay to me, envy me not.
Stars dash blindly in one ! so might I glitter a royal
Tress, let Orion glow next to Aquarius' urn.
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? ;3 CATULLUS.
LXVII.
CATULLUS.
O TO the goodman fair, O welcome alike to the father,
Hail, and Jove's kind grace shower his help upon
you !
Door, that of old, men say, wrought Balbus ready
obeisance,
Once, when his home, time was, lodged him, a master
in years ;
Door, that again, men say, grudg'd aught but a spiteful
obeisance, 5
Soon as a corpse outstretch'd starkly declar'd you a
bride.
Come, speak truly to me ; what shameful rumour avouches
Duty of years forsworn, honour in injury lost ?
DOOR.
So be the tenant new, Caecilius, happy to own me,
I'm not guilty, for all jealousy says it is I. ro
Never a fault was mine, nor man shall whisper it ever;
Only, my friend, your mob's noisy " The door is a
rogue. "
Comes to the light some mischief, a deed uncivil arising,
Loudly to me shout all, " Door, you are wholly to blame. "
CATULLUS.
'Tis not enough so merely to say, so think to decide it. 1 5
Better, who wills should feel, see it, who wills, to be
true.
DOOR.
How then ? if here none asks, nor labours any to know it.
CATULLUS.
Nay, / ask it ; away scruple ; your hearer is I.
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? CATULLUS. 79
First, what rumour avers, they gave her to us a virgin
They lie on her. A light lady ! be sure, not alone 20
Clipp'd her an husband first ; weak stalk from a garden,
a pointless
Falchion, a heart did ne'er fully to courage awake.
No ; to the son's own bed, 'tis said, that father ascended,
Vilely ; with act impure stain'd the facinorous house.
Whether a blind fierce lust in his heart burnt sinfully
flaming, 25
Or that inert that son's vigour, amort to delight,
Needed a sturdier arm, that franker quality somewhere,
Looser of youth's fast-bound girdle, a virgin as yet.
CATULLUS.
Truly a noble father, a glorious act of affection !
Thus in a son's kind sheets lewdly to puddle, his
own. 30
DOOR.
Yet not alone of this, her crag Chinaean abiding
Under, a watch-tower set warily, Brixia tells,
Brixia, trails whereby his waters Mella the golden,
Mother of her, mine own city, Verona the fair.
Add Postumius yet, Cornelius also, a twice-told 35
Folly, with whom our light mistress adultery knew.
Asks some questioner here " What? a door, yet privy to
lewdness ? U
You, from your owner's gate never a minute away ?
Strange to the talk o' the town ? since here, stout timber
above you,
Hung to the beam, you shut mutely or open again. " 40
Many a shameful time I heard her stealthy profession,
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? 8o CATULLUS.
While to the maids her guilt softly she hinted alone.
Spoke unabash'd her amours and named them singly,
opining
Haply an ear to record fail'd me, a voice to reveal.
There was another; enough; his name I gladly dis-
semble ; . 45
Lest his lifted brows blush a disorderly rage.
Sir, 'twas a long lean suitor ; a process huge had assail'd
him ;
'Twas for a pregnant womb falsely declar'd to be true.
LXVIII.
IF, when fortune's wrong with bitter misery whelms thee,
Thou thy sad tear-scrawl'd letter, a mark to the
storm,
Send'st, and bid'st me to succour a stranded seaman
of Ocean,
Toss'd in foam, from death's door to return thee
again ;
Whom nor softly to rest love's tender sanctity
suffers, 5
Lost on a couch of lone slumber, unhappily lain ;
Nor with melody sweet of poets hoary the Muses
Cheer, while worn with grief nightly the soul is
awake :
Well-contented am I, that thou thy friendship avowest,
Ask'st the delights of love from me, the pleasure of
1 hymns; 10
Yet lest all unnoted a kindred story bely thee,
Deeming, Mallius, I calls of humanity shun ;
Hear what a grief is mine, what storm of destiny
whelms me.
Cease to demand of a soul's misery joy's sacrifice.
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? CATULLUS. 8r
Once, what time white robes of manhood first did array
me, 15
Whiles in jollity life sported a spring holiday,
Youth ran riot enow ; right well she knows me, the God-
dess,
She whose honey delights blend with a bitter annoy.
Henceforth dies sweet pleasure, in anguish lost of a
brother's
Funeral. O poor soul, brother, O heavily ta'en, 20
You all happier hours, you, dying brother, effaced ;
All our house lies low mournfully buried in you ;
Quench'd untimely with you joy waits not ever a morrow,
Joy which alive your love's bounty fed hour upon
hour;
Now, since thou liest dead, heart-banish'd wholly desert
me 25
Vanities all, each gay freak of a riotous heart.
How then obey? You write 'Let not Verona, Catullus,
Stay thee, if here each proud quality, Rome's emi-
nence,
Freely the light limbs warms thou leavest coldly to
languish,'
Infamy lies not there, Mallius, only regret. 30
So forgive me, if I, whom grief so rudely bereaveth,
Deal not a joy myself know not, a beggar in all.
Books if they're but scanty, a store full meagre, around
me,
Rome is alone my life's centre, a mansion of home,
Rome my abode, house, hearth; there wanes and
waxes a life's span ; 35
Hither of all those choice cases attends me but one.
Therefore deem not thou aught spiteful bids me deny
thee ;
a
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? 82 CATULLUS.
Say not ' his heart is false, haply, to jealousy leans,'
If nor books I send nor flatter sorrow to silence.
Trust me, were either mine, either unask'd should
appear. 40
GODDESSES, hide I may not in how great trial upheld
me
Allius, how no faint charities held me to life.
Nor shall time borne fleetly nor years' oblivion ever
Make such zeal to the night fade, to the darkness,
away.
As from me you learn it, of you shall many a thou-
sand 45
Learn it again. Grow old, scroll, to declare it anew.
So to the dead increase honour in year upon year. 50
Nor to the spider, aloft her silk-slight flimsiness hang-
ing,
Allius aye unswept moulder, a memory dim. (50)
Well you wot, how sore the deceit Amathusia wrought me,
Well what a thing in love's treachery made me to fall ;
Ready to burst in flame, as burn Trinacrian embers, 55
Burn near Thermopylae's Oeta the fiery springs.
Sad, these piteous eyes did waste all wearily weeping, (55)
Sad, these cheeks did rain ceaseless a showery woe.
Wakeful, as hill-born brook, which, afar off silvery
gleaming,
O'er his moss-grown crags leaps with a tumble a-
down ; 60
Brook which awhile headlong o'er steep and valley de-
scending,
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? CATULLUS. 83
Crosses anon wide ways populous, hastes to the
street ; (60)
Cheerer in heats o' the sun to the wanderer heavily
fuming,
Under a drought, when fields swelter agape to the
sky.
Then as tossing shipmen amid black surges of Ocean, 65
See some prosperous air gently to calm them arise,
Safe thro' Pollux' aid or Castor, alike entreated ; (65)
Mallius e'en such help brought me, a warder of harm.
He in a closed field gave scope of liberal entry;
Gave me an house of love, gave me the lady
within, 70
Busily there to renew love's even duty together ;
Thither afoot mine own mistress, a deity bright, (70)
Came, and planted firm her sole most sunny ; beneath
her
Lightly the' polish'd floor creak'd to the sandal again.
So with passion aflame came wistful Laodamia 75
Into her husband's home, Protesilaus, of yore ;
Home o'er-lightly begun, ere slaughtered victim aton-
ing (75)
Waited of heaven's high-thron'd company grace to
agree.
Nought be to me so dear, O Maid Ramnusian, ever,
I should against that law match me with opposite,
I. 80
Bloodless of high sacrifice, how thirsts each desolate
altar !
This, when her husband fell, Laodamia did heed, (80)
Rapt from a bridegroom new, from his arms forced
early to part her.
Early ; for hardly the first winter, another again,
G2
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? 84 CATULLUS.
Yet in many a night's long dream had sated her yearn-
ing, 85
So that love might wear cheerly, the master away ;
Which not long should abide, so presag'd surely the
Parcae, (85)
If to the wars her lord hurry, for Ilion arm.
Now to revengefair Helen, had Argos' chiefs, her puissance,
Set them afield ; for Troy rous'd them, a cry not of
home, 90
Troy, dark death universal, of Asia grave and Europe,
Altar of heroes Troy, Troy of heroical acts, (90)
Now to my own dear brother abhorred worker of
ancient
Death. Ah woeful soul, brother, unhappily lost,
Ah fair light unblest, in darkness sadly receding, 95
All our house lies low, brother, inearthed in you,
Quench'd untimely with you, joy waits not ever a mor-
row, (95)
Joy which alive your love's bounty fed hour upon
hour.
Now on a distant shore, no kind mortality near him,
Far all household love, every familiar urn, 100
Tomb'd in Troy the malign, in Troy the unholy reposing,
Strangely the land's last verge holds him, a dungeon
of earth. ( IO )
Thither in haste all Greece, one armed people assembling,
Flock'd on an ancient day, left the recesses of home,
Lest in a safe content, unreach'd, his stolen adultress 105
Paris inarm, in soft luxury quietly lain.
E'en such chance, fair queen, such misery, Laodamia, (105)
Brought thee a loss as life precious, as heavenly
breath,
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? CATULLUS. 85
Loss of a bridegroom dear ; such whirling passion in
eddies
Suck'd thee adown, so drew sheer to a sudden
abyss, no
Deep as Graian abyss near Pheneos o'er Cyllene,
Strainer of ooze impure milk'dfrom a watery fen; (i 10)
Hewn, so stories avouch, in a mountain's kernel ; an hero
Hew'd it, falsely declar'd Amphytrionian, he,
When those monster birds near grim Stymphalus his
arrow 115
Smote to the death ; such task bade him a dastardly
lord.
So that another God might tread that portal of
heaven (US)
Freely, nor Hebe fair wither a chaste eremite.
Yet than abyss more deep thy love, thy depth of
emotion ;
Love which school'd thy lord, made of a master a
thrall. 1 20
Not to a grandsire old so priz'd, so lovely the grandson
One dear daughter alone rears i' the soft of his
years ; (120)
He, long-wish'd for, an heir of wealth ancestral
arriving,
Scarcely the tablets' marge holds him, a name to the
will,
Straight all hopes laugh'd down, each baffled kinsman
usurping 125
Leaves to repose white hairs, stretches, a vulture,
away ;
Not in her own fond mate so turtle snowy de-
lighteth, (125)
Tho' unabash'd, 'tis said, she the voluptuous hours
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? 86 CATULLUS.
Snatches a thousand kisses, in amorous extasy biting.
Yet, more lightly than all ranges a womanly will. 1 30
Great their love, their frenzy ; but all their frenzy before
thee '
Fail'd, once clasp'd thy lord splendid in aureat
hair.
Worthy in all or part thee, Laodamia, to rival,
Sought me my own sweet love, journey'd awhile to
my arms.
Round her playing oft ran Cupid thither or hither, 135
Lustrous, arra^d in bright broidery, saffron of hue.
What, to Catullus alone if a wayward fancy resort not ?
Must I pale for a stray frailty, the shame of an
hour? (136)
Nay ; lest all too much such jealous folly provoke her.
Juno's self, a supreme glory celestial, oft 140
Crushes her eager rage, in wedlock-injury flaring,
Knowing yet right well Jove, what a losel is he. (140)
Yet, for a man with Gods shall never lawfully match
him
150
'55
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? CATULLUS. 87
160
Lift thy father, a weak burden, unholpen, abhorr'd.
Not that a father's hand my love led to me, nor odours
Wafted her home on rich airs, of Assyria born ;
Stealthy the gifts she gave me, a night unspeakable
o'er us, 165 (145)
Gifts from her husband's dreams verily stolen, his
own.
Then 'tis enough for me, if mine, mine only remaineth
That one day, whose stone shines with an happier
hue.
So, it is all I can, take, Allius, answer, a little
Verse to requite thy much friendship, a contrary
boon. 170 (150)
So your household names no rust nor seamy defacing
Soil this day, that new morrow, the next to the last.
Gifts full many to these heaven send as largely
requiting,
Gifts Themis ever wont deal to the pious of yore.
Joys come plenty to thee, to thy own fair lady
together, 175 (155)
Come to that house of mirth, come to the lady within ;
Joy to the forward friend, our love's first fashioner,
Anser,
Author of all this fair history, founder of all.
Lastly beyond them, above them, on her more lovely
than even
Life, my lady, for whose life it is happy to be. 180 (160)
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? 88 CATULLUS.
LXIX.
RUFUS, it is no wonder if yet no woman assenting
Softly to thine embrace tender a delicate arm.
Not tho' a gift should seek, some robe most filmy, to
move her ;
Not for a cherish'd gem's clarity, lucid of hue.
Deep in a valley, thy arms, such evil story maligns
thee, 5
Rufus, a villain goat houses, a grim denizen.
All are afraid of it, all ; what wonder ?
a rascally crea-
ture,
Verily ! not with such company dally the fair.
Slay, nor pity the brute, our nostril's rueful aversion.
Else admire not if each ravish er angrily fly. 10
LXX.
SAITH my lady to me, no man shall wed me, but
only
Thou ; no other if e'en Jove should approach me
to woo ;
Yea ; but a woman's words, when a lover fondly
desireth,
Limn them on ebbing floods, write on a wintery
gale.
LXXII.
LESBIA, thou didst swear thou knewest only Catullus,
Cared'st not, if him thine arms chained, a Jove to
retain.
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? CATULLUS. 89
Then not alone I loved thee, as each light lover a
mistress,
Lov'd as a father his own sons, or an heir to the
name.
Now I know thee aright ; so, if more hotly desiring, 5
Yet must count thee a soul cheaper, a frailty to scorn.
' Friend,' thou say'st, ' you cannot. ' Alas ! such injury
leaveth
Blindly to doat poor love's folly, malignly to will.
LXXIII.
NEVER again think any to work aught kindly soever,
Dream that in any abides honour, of injury free.
Love is a debt in arrear; time's parted service avails
not ;
Rather is only the more sorrow, a heavier ill :
Chiefly to me, whom none so fierce, so deadly deceiv-
ing 5
Troubleth, as he whose friend only but inly was I.
LXXIV.
GELLIUS heard that his uncle in ire exploded, if any
Dared, some wanton, a fault practise, a levity speak.
Not to be slain himself, see Gellius handle his uncle's
Lady ; no Harpocrates muter, his uncle is hush'd.
So what he aim'd at, arriv'd at, anon let Gellius e'en
this 5
Uncle abuse ; not a word yet will his uncle assay.
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? 90 CATULLUS.
LXXVIII.
BROTHERS twain has Gallus, of whom one owns a
delightful
Son ; his brother a fair lady, delightfuller yet.
Gallant sure is Gallus, a pair so dainty uniting ;
Lovely the lady, the lad lovely, a company sweet.
Foolish sure is Gallus, an o'er-incurious husband ; 5
Uncle, a wife once taught luxury, stops not at one.
LXXIX.
LESBIUS, handsome is he. Why not ? if Lesbia loves him
Far above all your tribe, angry Catullus, or you.
Only let all your tribe sell off, and follow, Catullus,
Kiss but his handsome lips children, a plenary three.
LXXXI.
WHAT ? not in all this city, Juventius, ever a gallant
Poorly to win love's fresh favour of amorous you,
Only the lack-love signor, a wretch from sickly Pisaurum,
Guest of your hearth, no gilt statue as ashy as he ?
Now your very delight, whose faithless fancy Catullus 5
Banisheth. Ah light-reck'd lightness, apostasy vile !
LXXXI I.
WOULDST thou, Quintius, have me a debtor ready to owe
thee
Eyes, or if earth have joy goodlier any than eyes ?
One thing take not from me, to me more goodly than even
Eyes, or if earth have joy goodlier any than eyes.
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? CATULLUS. 91
LXXXIII.
LESBIA while her lord stands near, rails ever upon me.
This to the fond weak fool seemeth a mighty delight.
Dolt, you see not at all. Could she forget me, to rail not,
Nought were amiss ; if now scold she, or if she revile,
'Tis not alone to remember ; a shrewder stimulus arms
her, 5
Anger ; her heart doth burn verily, thus to revile.
LXXXIV.
Stipends Arrius ever on opportunity shtipends,
Ambush as hambush still Arrius used to declaim.
Then, hoped fondly the words were a marvel of articula-
tion,
While with an h immense l hambttsh' arose from his
heart.
So his mother of old, so e'en spoke Liber his uncle, 5
Credibly ; so grarMsire, grandam alike did agree.
Syria took him away ; all ears had rest for a moment ;
Lightly the lips those words, slightly could utter again.
None was afraid any more of a sound so clumsy
returning ;
Sudden a solemn fright seized us, a message arrives. 10
' News from Ionia country ; the sea, since Arrius enter'd,
Changed ; 'twas Ionian once, now 'twas Hionian all. '
LXXXV.
HALF I hate, half love. How so? one haply requireth.
Nay, I know not ; alas feel it, in agony groan.
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? 93 CATULLUS.
LXXXVI.
LOVELY to many a man is Quintia ; shapely, majestic,
Stately, to me ; each point singly 'tis easy to grant.
' Lovely ' the whole, I grant not ; in all that bodily
largeness,
Lives not a grain of salt, breathes not a charm any-
where.
Lesbia she is lovely, an even temper of utmost 5
Beauty, that every charm stealeth of every fair.
LXXXVI I & LXXV.
NE'ER shall woman avouch herself so rightly beloved,
Friend, as rightly thou art, Lesbia, lovely to me.
Ne'er was a bond so firm, no troth so faithfully
plighted,
Such as against our love's venture in honour am I.
I
Now so sadly my heart, dear Lesbia, draws me asunder, 5
So in her own misspent worship uneasily lost,
Wert thou blameless in all, I may not longer approve
thee,
Do anything thou wilt, cannot an enemy be.
LXXVI.
IF to a man bring joy past service dearly remember'd,
When to the soul her thought speaks, to be blameless
of ill ;
Faith not rudely profan'd, nor in oath or charter abused
Heaven, a God's mis-sworn sanctity, deadly to men.
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? CATULLUS. 93
Then doth a life-long pleasure await thee surely,
Catullus, 5
Pleasure of all this love's traitorous injury born.
Whatso a man may speak, whom charity leads to another,
Whatso enact, by me spoken or acted is all.
Waste on a traitorous heart, nor finding kindly requital.
Therefore cease, nor still bleed agoniz'd any more. 10
Make thee as iron a soul, thyself draw back from affliction.
Yea, tho' a God say nay, be not unhappy for aye.
What? it is hard long love so lightly to leave in a
moment ?
Hard ; yet abides this one duty, to do it : obey.
Here lies safety alone, one victory must not fail
thee. 1 5
One last stake to be lost haply,"perhaps to be won.
O great Gods immortal, if you can pity or ever
Lighted above dark death's shadow, a help to the
lost ;
Ah ! look, a wretch, on me ; if white and blameless in
all I
Liv'd, then take this long canker of anguish away. 20
If to my inmost veins, like dull death drowsily
creeping,
Every delight, all heart's pleasure it wholly benumbs.
Not anymore I pray for a love so faulty returning,
Not that a wanton abide chastely, she may not again.
Only for health I ask, a disease so deadly to banish. 25
Gods vouchsafe it, as I ask, that am harmless of ill.
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? 94 CATULLUS.
LXXVII.
RUFUS, a friend so vainly believ'd, so wrongly relied in,
(Vainly ? alas the reward fail'd not, a heavier ill ;)
Could'st thou thus steal on me, a lurking viper, an
aching
Fire to the bones, nor leave aught to delight any
more?
Nought to delight any more ! ah cruel poison of equal 5
Lives ! ah breasts that grew each to the other awhile !
Yet far most this grieves me, to think thy slaver
abhorred
Foully my own love's lips soileth, a purity rare.
Thou shalt surely atone thine injury : centuries harken,
Know thee afar ; grow old, fame, to declare him
anew. 10
LXXXVIII.
GELLIUS, how if a man in lust with a mother, a sister
Rioteth, one uncheck'd night, to iniquity bare ?
How if a man's dark passion an aunt's own chastity
spare not ?
Canst thou tell what vast infamy lieth on him ?
Infamy lieth on him, no farthest Tethys, or ancient 5
Ocean, of hundred streams father, abolisheth yet.
Infamy none o'ersteps, nor ventures any beyond it.
Not tho' a scorpion heat melt him, his own para-
mour.
LXXXIX.
GELLIUS he's full meagre. It is no wonder, a friendly
Mother, a sister is his loveable, healthy withal.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2015-01-02 09:07 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uc2. ark:/13960/t2t43m85r Public Domain / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd
? CATULLUS. 95
Then so friendly an uncle, a world of pretty relations.
Must not a man so blest meagre abide to the last ?
Yea, let his hand touch only what hands touch only to
trespass ; 5
Reason enough to become meagre, enough to remain.
XC
RISE from a mother's shame with Gellius hatefully
wedded,
One to be taught gross rites Persic, a Magian he.
Weds with a mother a son, so needs should a Magian
issue,
Save in her evil creed Persia determineth ill.
Then shall a son, so born, chant down high favour of
heaven, 5
Melting lapt in flame fatly the slippery caul.
XCI.
THINK not a hope so false rose, Gellius, in me to find thee
Faithful in all this love's anguish ineffable yet,
For that in heart I knew thee, had in thee honour
imagin'd,
Held thee a soul to abhor vileness or any reproach.
Only in her, I knew, thou found'st not a mother, a sister, 5
Her that awhile for love wearily made me to pine.
Yea tho' mutual use did bind us straitly together,
Scarcely methought could lie cause to desert me
therein.
Thou found'st reason enow ; so joys thy spirit in every
Shame, wherever is aught heinous, of infamy born. 10
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2015-01-02 09:07 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uc2. ark:/13960/t2t43m85r Public Domain / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd
? 96 CATULLUS.
XCII.
LESBIA doth but rail, rail ever upon me, nor endeth
Ever. A life I stake, Lesbia loves me at heart.
Ask me a sign ? Our score runs parallel. I that abuse
her
Ever, a life to the stake, Lesbia, love thee at heart.
XCIII.
LIGHTLY methinks I reck if Cassar smile not upon me :
Care not, whether a white, whether a swarth-skin, is he.
XCIV.
MENTULA wanton is he ; his calling sure is a wanton's.
Herbs to the pot, 'tis said wisely, the name to the man.
XCV.
NINE times winter had end, nine times flush'd summer in
harvest,
Ere to the world gave forth Cinna, the labour of years,
Zmyrna ; but in one month Hortensius hundred on
hundred
Verses, an unripe birth feeble, of hurry begot.
Zmyrna to far Satrachus, to the stream of Cyprus,
ascendeth ; 5
Zmyrna with eyes unborn study the centuries hoar.
Padus her own ill child shall bury, Volusius' annals ;
In them a mackerel oft house him, a wrapper of ease.
Dear to my heart be a friend's unbulky memorial ever ;
Cherish an Antimachus, weighty as empty, the mob. 10
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2015-01-02 09:07 GMT / http://hdl.
