The Carmina of Caius Valerius Catullus | Page 8

she no longer wishes: thou too, powerless to avail, must be
unwilling, nor pursue the retreating one, nor live unhappy, but with
firm-set mind endure, steel thyself. Farewell, girl, now Catullus steels

himself, seeks thee not, nor entreats thy acquiescence. But thou wilt
pine, when thou hast no entreaty proffered. Faithless, go thy way! what
manner of life remaineth to thee? who now will visit thee? who find
thee beautiful? whom wilt thou love now? whose girl wilt thou be
called? whom wilt thou kiss? whose lips wilt thou bite? But thou,
Catullus, remain hardened as steel.
VIIII.
Verani, omnibus e meis amicis
Antistans mihi milibus trecentis,

Venistine domum ad tuos Penates
Fratresque unanimos anumque
matrem?
Venisti. o mihi nuntii beati! 5 Visam te incolumem
audiamque 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 Prætors or the
Cohort made 10 Thence to return with oilier head;
The more when
ruled by ----
Prætor, as pile the Cohort rating."
Quoth they, "But

certès 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