Carmina
Catullus
Catullus, Gaius Valerius. The Carmina of Caius Valerius Catullus. Burton, Sir Richard Francis, translator. London, Printed for the Translators, 1894.
- Nowise gladdens me so this state as absence torments me,
- Absence doomëd for aye ta'en fro' my mistress's head,
- Where I was wont (though she such cares unknew in her girlhood)
- Many a thousand scents, Syrian unguents, to sip.
- Now do you pair conjoined by the longed-for light of the torches,
- Earlier yield not selves unto unanimous wills
- Nor wi' the dresses doft your barèd nipples encounter,
- Ere shall yon onyx-vase pour me libations glad,
- Onyx yours, ye that seek only rights of virtuous bed-rite.
- But who yieldeth herself unto advowtry impure,
- Ah! may her loathed gifts in light dust uselessly soak,
- For of unworthy sprite never a gift I desire.
- Rather, 0 new-mated brides, be concord aye your companion,
- Ever let constant love dwell in the dwellings of you.
- Yet when thou sightest, 0 Queen, the Constellations, I pray thee,
- Every festal day Venus the Goddess appease;
- Nor of thy unguent-gifts allow myself to be lacking,
- Nay, do thou rather add largeliest increase to boons.
- Would but the stars down fall! Could I of my Queen be the hair-lock,
- Neighbour to Hydrochois e'en let Oarion shine.