Carmina
Catullus
Catullus, Gaius Valerius. The Carmina of Caius Valerius Catullus. Burton, Sir Richard Francis, translator. London, Printed for the Translators, 1894.
- Known by his forceful breast and ne'er by back to the foeman,
- Who shall at times full oft in doubtful contest of race-course
- Conquer the fleet-foot doe with slot-tracks smoking and burning.
- Speed ye, the well-spun woof out-drawing, speed ye, 0 Spindles.
- None shall with him compare, howe'er war-doughty a hero,
- Whenas the Phrygian rills flow deep with bloodshed of Teucer,
- And beleaguering the walls of Troy with longest of warfare
- He shall the works lay low, third heir of Pelops the perjured.
- Speed ye, the well-spun woof out-drawing, speed ye, 0 Spindles.
- His be the derring-do and deeds of valour egregious,
- Often mothers shall own at funeral-rites of their children,
- What time their hoary hairs from head in ashes are loosened,
- And wi' their hands infirm thay smite their bosoms loose duggèd.
- Speed ye, the well-spun woof out-drawing, speed ye, 0 Spindles.
- For as the toiling hind bestrewing denseness of corn-stalks
- Under the broiling sun mows grain-fields yellow to harvest,
- So shall his baneful brand strew earth with corpses of Troy-born.
- Speed ye, the well-spun woof out-drawing, speed ye, 0 Spindles.
- Aye to his valorous worth attest shall wave of Scamander
- Which unto Hellè-Sea fast flowing ever dischargeth,