The Carmina of Caius Valerius Catullus | Page 8

Hiberum?Narrantem loca, facta, nationes,?Vt mos est tuus, adplicansque collum?Iocundum os oculosque suaviabor.?O quantumst hominum beatiorum, 10 Quid me laetius est beatiusve?
VIIII.
TO VERANIUS RETURNED FROM TRAVEL.
Veranius! over every friend of me?Forestanding, owned I hundred thousands three,?Home to Penates and to single-soul'd?Brethren, returned art thou and mother old??Yes, thou art come. Oh, winsome news come well! 5 Now shall I see thee, safely hear thee tell?Of sites Iberian, deeds and nations 'spied,?(As be thy wont) and neck-a-neck applied?I'll greet with kisses thy glad lips and eyne.?Oh! Of all mortal men beatified 10 Whose joy and gladness greater be than mine?
Veranius, of all my friends standing in the front, owned I three hundred thousands of them, hast thou come home to thy Penates, thy longing brothers and thine aged mother? Thou hast come back. O joyful news to me! I may see thee safe and sound, and may hear thee speak of regions, deeds, and peoples Iberian, as is thy manner; and reclining o'er thy neck shall kiss thy jocund mouth and eyes. O all ye blissfullest of men, who more gladsome or more blissful is than I am?
X.
Varus me meus ad suos amores?Visum duxerat e foro otiosum,?Scortillum, ut mihi tum repente visumst,?Non sane inlepidum neque invenustum.?Huc ut venimus, incidere nobis 5 Sermones varii, in quibus, quid esset?Iam Bithynia, quo modo se haberet,?Ecquonam mihi profuisset aere.?Respondi id quod erat, nihil neque ipsis?Nec praetoribus esse nec cohorti, 10 Cur quisquam caput unctius referret,?Praesertim quibus esset inrumator?Praetor, non faciens pili cohortem.?'At certe tamen, inquiunt, quod illic?Natum dicitur esse, conparasti 15 Ad lecticam homines.' ego, ut puellae?Vnum me facerem beatiorem,?'Non' inquam 'mihi tam fuit maligne,?Vt, provincia quod mala incidisset,?Non possem octo homines parare rectos.' 20 At mi nullus erat nec hic neque illic,?Fractum qui veteris pedem grabati?In collo sibi collocare posset.?Hic illa, ut decuit cinaediorem,?'Quaeso' inquit 'mihi, mi Catulle, paulum 25 Istos. commode enim volo ad Sarapim?Deferri.' 'minime' inquii puellae;

'Istud quod modo dixeram me habere,
Fugit me ratio: meus sodalis
Cinnast Gaius, is sibi paravit. 30 Verum, utrum illius an mei, quid ad me?
Vtor tam bene quam mihi pararim.
Sed tu insulsa male ac molesta vivis,
Per quam non licet esse negligentem.'
X.
HE MEETS VARUS AND MISTRESS.
Led me my Varus to his flame,?As I from Forum idling came.?Forthright some whorelet judged I it?Nor lacking looks nor wanting wit,?When hied we thither, mid us three 5 Fell various talk, as how might be?Bithynia now, and how it fared,?And if some coin I made or spared.?"There was no cause" (I soothly said)?"The Pr?tors or the Cohort made 10 Thence to return with oilier head;?The more when ruled by ----?Pr?tor, as pile the Cohort rating."?Quoth they, "But cert��s as 'twas there?The custom rose, some men to bear 15 Litter thou boughtest?" I to her?To seem but richer, wealthier,?Cry, "Nay, with me 'twas not so ill?That, given the Province suffered, still?Eight stiff-backed loons I could not buy.' 20 (Withal none here nor there owned I?Who broken leg of Couch outworn?On nape of neck had ever borne!)?Then she, as pathic piece became,?"Prithee Catullus mine, those same 25 Lend me, Serapis-wards I'd hie."

"Easy, on no-wise, no," quoth I,
"Whate'er was mine, I lately said
Is some mistake, my camarade
One Cinna--Gaius--bought the lot, 30 But his or mine, it matters what?
I use it freely as though bought,
Yet thou, pert troubler, most absurd,
None suffer'st speak an idle word."
Varus drew me off to see his mistress as I was strolling from the Forum: a little whore, as it seemed to me at the first glance, neither inelegant nor lacking good looks. When we came in, we fell to discussing various subjects, amongst which, how was Bithynia now, how things had gone there, and whether I had made any money there. I replied, what was true, that neither ourselves nor the praetors nor their suite had brought away anything whereby to flaunt a better-scented poll, especially as our praetor, the irrumating beast, cared not a single hair for his suite. "But surely," she said, "you got some men to bear your litter, for they are said to grow there?" I, to make myself appear to the girl as one of the fortunate, "Nay," I say, "it did not go that badly with me, ill as the province turned out, that I could not procure eight strapping knaves to bear me." (But not a single one was mine either here or there who the fractured foot of my old bedstead could hoist on his neck.) And she, like a pathic girl, "I pray thee," says she, "lend me, my Catullus, those bearers for a short time, for I wish to be borne to the shrine of Serapis." "Stay," quoth I to the girl, "when I said I had this, my tongue slipped; my friend, Cinna Gaius, he provided himself with these. In truth, whether his or mine--what do I trouble? I use them as