Carmina

He seems to me to be equal to a god, he, if such were lawful, to surpass the gods, who sitting across from you again and again gazes on you, and listens to you sweetly laughing, which snatches away from sombre me my every sense: for the instant I glance on you, Lesbia, nothing is left to me [of voice], but my tongue is numbed, a keen-edged flame spreads through my limbs, with sound self-caused my twin ears sing, and my eyes are enwrapped with night. Leisure, Catullus, to you is hurtful: in leisure beyond measure do you exult and pass your life. Leisure first ruined rulers and prosperous cities.