TO HIMSELF RECOUNTING LESBIA'S INCONSTANCYWoe-full Catullus! cease to play the foolAnd what thou seest dead as dead regard!Whilòme the sheeniest suns for thee did shineWhen oft-a-tripping whither led the girlBy us beloved, as shall none be loved.There all so merry doings then were doneAfter thy liking, nor the girl was loath.Then certès sheeniest suns for thee did shine.Now she's unwilling: thou too (hapless!) willHer flight to follow, and sad life to live:Endure with stubborn soul and still obdure.Damsel, adieu! Catullus obdurate grownNor seeks thee, neither asks of thine unwill;Yet shalt thou sorrow when none woos thee more;Reprobate! Woe to thee! What life remains?Who now shall love thee? Who'll think thee fair?Whom now shalt ever love? Whose wilt be called?To whom shalt kisses give? whose liplets nip?But thou (Catullus!) destiny-doomed obdure.

TO VERANIUS RETURNED FROM TRAVELVeranius! over every friend of meForestanding, owned I hundred thousands three,Home to Penates and to single-soul'dBrethren, returned art thou and mother old?Yes, thou art come. Oh, winsome news come well!Now shall I see thee, safely hear thee tellOf sites Iberian, deeds and nations 'spied,(As be thy wont) and neck-a-neck appliedI'll greet with kisses thy glad lips and eyne.Oh! Of all mortal men beatifiedWhose joy and gladness greater be than mine?

HE MEETS VARUS AND MISTRESSLed me my Varus to his flame,As I from Forum idling came.Forthright some whorelet judged I itNor lacking looks nor wanting wit,When hied we thither, mid us threeFell various talk, as how might beBithynia now, and how it fared,And if some coin I made or spared."There was no cause (I soothly said)"The Praetors or the Cohort madeThence to return with oilier head;The more when ruled byPraetor, as pile the Cohort rating."Quoth they, "But certes as 'twas thereThe custom rose, some men to bearLitter thou boughtest ?" I to herTo seem but richer, wealthier,Cry, "Nay, with me 'twas not so illThat, given the Province suffered, stillEight stiff-backed loons I could not buy.'(Withal none here nor there owned IWho broken leg of Couch outwornOn nape of neck had ever borne!)Then she, as pathic piece became,"Prithee Catullus mine, those sameLend me, Serapis-wards I'd hie." "Easy, on no-wise, no," quoth I, "Whate'er was mine, I lately said Is some mistake, my camaradeOne Cinna-Gaius-bought the lot, But his or mine, it matters what?I use it freely as though bought, Yet thou, pert troubler, most absurd, None suffer'st speak an idle word."

A PARTING INSULT TO LESBIAFurius and Aurelius, Catullus' friends, Whether extremest Indian shore he brave,Strands where far-resounding billow rendsThe shattered wave,Or 'mid Hyrcanians dwell he, Arabs soft and wild,Sacis and Parthians of the arrow fain,Or where the Seven-mouth'd Nilus mud-defiled