Carmina

Catullus

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

A wee Torquaitus fain I'd see

Encradled on his mother's breast

Put forth his tender puds while he

Smiles to his sire with sweetest gest

And liplets half apart.

Let son like father's semblance show

(Manlius!) so with easy guess

All know him where his sire they know,

And still his face and form express

His mother's honest love.

Approve shall fair approof his birth

From mother's seed-stock generous,

As rarest fame of mother's worth

Unique exalts Telemachus

Penelope's own son.

Fast close the door-leaves, virgin band:

Enow we've played. But ye the fair

New-wedded twain live happy, and

Functions of lusty married pair

Exercise sans surcease.