Carmina

Catullus

Catullus, Gaius Valerius. The Carmina of Caius Valerius Catullus. Burton, Sir Richard Francis, translator. London, Printed for the Translators, 1894.

  1. Dare not denay her, insular Cyclades,
  2. And noble Rhodos and ferocious Thrace,
  3. Propontis too and blustering Pontic bight.
  4. Where she (my Pinnace now) in times before,
  5. Was leafy woodling on Cytórean Chine
  6. For ever loquent lisping with her leaves.
  7. Pontic Amastris! Box-tree-clad Cytórus!
  8. Cognisant were ye, and you weet full well
  9. (So saith my Pinnace) how from earliest age
  10. Upon your highmost-spiring peak she stood,
  11. How in your waters first her sculls were dipt,
  12. And thence thro' many and many an important strait
  13. She bore her owner whether left or right,
  14. Where breezes bade her fare, or Jupiter deigned
  15. At once propitious strike the sail full square;
  16. Nor to the sea-shore gods was aught of vow
  17. By her deemed needful, when from Ocean's bourne