The Carmina of Caius Valerius Catullus | Page 9

though I had paid for them. But thou, in ill manner with foolish teasing dost not allow me to be heedless."
XI.
Furi et Aureli, comites Catulli,?Sive in extremos penetrabit Indos,?Litus ut longe resonante Eoa
Tunditur unda,
Sive in Hyrcanos Arabesve molles, 5
Seu Sacas sagittiferosve Parthos,?Sive qua septemgeminus colorat
Aequora Nilus,?Sive trans altas gradietur Alpes,?Caesaris visens monimenta magni, 10 Gallicum Rhenum, horribile aequor ultimosque
Britannos,?Omnia haec, quaecumque feret voluntas?Caelitum, temptare simul parati,
Pauca nuntiate meae puellae 15
Non bona dicta.
Cum suis vivat valeatque moechis,?Quos simul conplexa tenet trecentos,?Nullum amans vere, sed identidem omnium
Ilia rumpens: 20 Nec meum respectet, ut ante, amorem,?Qui illius culpa cecidit velut prati?Vltimi flos, praeter eunte postquam
Tactus aratrost.
XI.
A PARTING INSULT TO LESBIA.
Furius and Aurelius, Catullus' friends,?Whether extremest Indian shore he brave,?Strands where far-resounding billow rends
The shattered wave,
Or 'mid Hyrcanians dwell he, Arabs soft and wild, 5
Sac? and Parthians of the arrow fain,?Or where the Seven-mouth'd Nilus mud-defiled
Tinges the Main,?Or climb he lofty Alpine Crest and note?Works monumental, C?sar's grandeur telling, 10 Rhine Gallic, horrid Ocean and remote
Britons low-dwelling;?All these (whatever shall the will design?Of Heaven-homed Gods) Oh ye prepared to tempt;
Announce your briefest to that damsel mine 15
In words unkempt:--
Live she and love she wenchers several,?Embrace three hundred wi' the like requitals,?None truly loving and withal of all
Bursting the vitals: 20 My love regard she not, my love of yore,?Which fell through fault of her, as falls the fair?Last meadow-floret whenas passed it o'er
Touch of the share.
Furius and Aurelius, comrades of Catullus, whether he penetrate to furthest Ind where the strand is lashed by the far-echoing Eoan surge, or whether 'midst the Hyrcans or soft Arabs, or whether the Sacians or quiver-bearing Parthians, or where the seven-mouthed Nile encolours the sea, or whether he traverse the lofty Alps, gazing at the monuments of mighty Caesar, the gallic Rhine, the dismal and remotest Britons, all these, whatever the Heavens' Will may bear, prepared at once to attempt,--bear ye to my girl this brief message of no fair speech. May she live and flourish with her swivers, of whom may she hold at once embraced the full three hundred, loving not one in real truth, but bursting again and again the flanks of all: nor may she look upon my love as before, she whose own guile slew it, e'en as a flower on the greensward's verge, after the touch of the passing plough.
XII.
Marrucine Asini, manu sinistra?Non belle uteris in ioco atque vino:?Tollis lintea neglegentiorum.?Hoc salsum esse putas? fugit te, inepte:?Quamvis sordida res et invenustast. 5 Non credis mihi? crede Polioni?Fratri, qui tua furta vel talento?Mutari velit: est enim leporum?Disertus puer ac facetiarum.?Quare aut hendecasyllabos trecentos 10 Expecta aut mihi linteum remitte,?Quod me non movet aestimatione,?Verumst mnemosynum mei sodalis.?Nam sudaria Saetaba ex Hibereis?Miserunt mihi muneri Fabullus 15 Et Veranius: haec amem necessest?Vt Veraniolum meum et Fabullum.
XII.
TO M. ASINIUS WHO STOLE NAPERY.
Marr��cinus Asinius! ill thou usest?That hand sinistral in thy wit and wine?Filching the napkins of more heedless hosts.?Dost find this funny? Fool it passeth thee?How 'tis a sordid deed, a sorry jest. 5 Dost misbelieve me? Trust to Pollio,?Thy brother, ready to compound such thefts?E'en at a talent's cost; for he's a youth?In speech past master and in fair pleasantries.?Of hendecasyllabics hundreds three 10 Therefore expect thou, or return forthright?Linens whose loss affects me not for worth?But as mementoes of a comrade mine.?For napkins S?taban from Ebro-land?Fab��llus sent me a free-giftie given 15 Also Ver��nius: these perforce I love?E'en as my Verani��lus and Fab��llus.
Marrucinius Asinius, thou dost use thy left hand in no fair fashion 'midst the jests and wine: thou dost filch away the napkins of the heedless. Dost thou think this a joke? it flies thee, stupid fool, how coarse a thing and unbecoming 'tis! Dost not credit me? credit thy brother Pollio who would willingly