Part 12 (1/2)

LVIII.

ON LESBIA WHO ENDED BADLY.

Caelius! That Lesbia of ours, that Lesbia, That only Lesbia by Catullus loved, Than self, far fondlier, than all his friends, She now where four roads fork, and wind the wynds Husks the high-minded scions Remus-sprung. 5

O Caelius, our Lesbia, that Lesbia, the self-same Lesbia whom Catullus more than himself and all his own did wors.h.i.+p, now at cross-roads and in alleys husks off the mettlesome descendants of Remus.

LVIIII.

Bononiensis Rufa Rufulum fellat, Vxor Meneni, saepe quam in sepulcretis Vidistis ipso rapere de rogo cenam, c.u.m devolutum ex igne prosequens panem Ab semiraso tunderetur ustore. 5

LVIIII.

ON RUFA.

Rufa the Bolognese drains Rufule dry, (Wife to Menenius) she 'mid tombs you'll spy, The same a-s.n.a.t.c.hing supper from the pyre Following the bread-loaves rolling forth the fire Till frapped by half-shaved body-burner's ire. 5

Rufa of Bononia lends her lips to Rufulus, she the wife of Menenius, whom oft among the sepulchres ye have seen clutching her meal from the funeral pile, when pursuing the bread which has rolled from the fire, whilst she was being buffeted by a semi-shorn corpse-burner.

LX.

Num te leaena montibus Libystinis Aut Scylla latrans infima inguinum parte Tam mente dura procreavit ac taetra, Vt supplicis vocem in novissimo casu Contemptam haberes a! nimis fero corde? 5

LX.

TO A CRUEL CHARMER.

Bare thee some lioness wild in Lybian wold?

Or Scylla barking from low'st inguinal fold?

With so black spirit, of so dure a mould, E'en voice of suppliant must thou disregard In latest circ.u.mstance ah, heart o'er hard? 5

Did a lioness of the Libyan Hills, or Scylla yelping from her lowmost groin, thee procreate, with mind so hard and horrid, that thou hast contempt upon a suppliant's voice in calamity's newest stress? O heart o'ergreatly cruel.

LXI.

Collis o Heliconii Cultor, Vraniae genus, Qui rapis teneram ad virum Virginem, o Hymenaee Hymen, O Hymen Hymenaee, 5

Cinge tempora floribus Suave olentis amaraci, Flammeum cape, laetus huc Huc veni niveo gerens Luteum pede socc.u.m, 10

Excitusque hilari die Nuptialia concinens Voce carmina tinnula Pelle humum pedibus, manu Pineam quate taedam. 15

Namque Vinia Manlio, Qualis Idalium colens Venit ad Phrygium Venus Iudicem, bona c.u.m bona Nubet alite virgo, 20

Floridis velut enitens Myrtus Asia ramulis, Quos Hamadryades deae Ludicrum sibi rosido Nutriunt umore. 25

Quare age huc aditum ferens Perge linquere Thespiae Rupis Aonios specus, Nympha quos super inrigat Frigerans Aganippe, 30

Ac domum dominam voca Coniugis cupidam novi, Mentem amore revinciens, Vt tenax hedera huc et huc Arborem inplicat errans. 35