Carmina

Catullus

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

  • Yet bridegroom (So may Godhead deign
  • Help me!) nowise in humbler way
  • Art fair, nor Venus shall disdain
  • Thy charms, but look! how wanes the day:
  • Forward, nor loiter more!
  • No longer loitering makest thou,
  • Now comest thou. May Venus good
  • Aid thee when frankly takest thou
  • Thy wishes won, nor true Love woo'd
  • Thou carest to conceal.
  • Of Afric's wolds and wilds each grain,
  • Or constellations glistening,
  • First reckon he that of the twain
  • To count alone were fain to bring
  • The many thousand joys.
  • Play as ye please: soon prove ye deft
  • At babying babes,—'twere ill design'd
  • A name thus ancient should be left
  • Heirless, but issue like of kind
  • Engendered aye should be.