No More Learning

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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? CATULLUS. 97
XCVI.
IF to the silent dead aught sweet or tender ariseth,
Calvus, of our dim grief's common humanity born ;
When to a love long cold some pensive pity recals us,
When for a friend long lost wakes some unhappy regret ;
Not so deeply, be sure, Quintilia's early departing 5
Grieves her, as in thy love dureth a plenary joy.
XCVIII.
ASKS some booby rebuke, some prolix prattler a judgment ?
Vettius, all were said verily truer of you.
Tongue so noisome as yours, come chance, might surely
on order
Bend to the mire, or lick dirt from a beggarly shoe.
Would you on all of us, all, bring, Vettius, utterly ruin ? 5
Speak ; not a doubt, 'twill come utterly, ruin on all.
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 frica-
trice. 10
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? 98 CATULLUS.
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, 1 5
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 brother-
hood.
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,
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? CATULLUS. 99
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.
cm.
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, ascend-
ing:
They with pitchforks hurl Mentula dizzily down.
H2
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? ioo CATULLUS.
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, re-
turnest 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, $
Stomach a dog's fierce teeth harry, a wolf the remains.
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? CATULLUS. roi
CIX.
THINK you truly, beloved, 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 lifelong 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 dis-
honour,
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.
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? 102 CATULLUS.
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.
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? CATULLUS. 103
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.
CXVL
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.
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? 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.
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? NOTES.
VIII. 2.
Lost is the lost, thou knovfst it, and the past is past.
I am indebted for this expression to a translation of this poem
by Dr. J. A. Symonds, the whole of which I should have
quoted here, had it not been unfortunately mislaid.
XIV. 20.
Plague-prodigy,
Proves a plague-prodigy to God and man.
BROWNING, Ring and Book, v. 664.