TRANSLATIONS FROM CATULLUS.

Carm. 70.

Dicebas quondam, &c.

TO LESBIA.

THOU told'st me, in our days of love,
That I had all that heart of thine;

That, ev'n to share the couch of Jove,
Thou would'st not, Lesbia, part from mine.

How purely wert thou worshipp'd then!
Not with the vague and vulgar fires
Which Beauty wakes in soulless men,—
But lov'd, as children by their sires.

That flattering dream, alas, is o'er ;

I know thee now-and though these eyes Doat on thee wildly as before,

Yet, even in doating, I despise.

Yes, sorceress-mad as it may seem ——
With all thy craft, such spells adorn thee,
That passion even outlives esteem,

And I, at once, adore—and scorn thee.

Carm. 11.

Pauca nunciate meæ puellæ.

Comrades and friends! with whom, where'er

The fates have will'd through life I've rov'd,

Now speed ye home, and with you bear
These bitter words to her I've lov'd.

Tell her from fool to fool to run,

Where'er her vain caprice may call;

Of all her dupes not loving one,
But ruining and maddening all.

Bid her forget-what now is past

Our once dear love, whose ruin lies

Like a fair flower, the meadow's last,

Which feels the ploughshare's edge, and dies!

Carm. 29.

Peninsularum Sirmio, insularumque

Ocelle.

SWEET Sirmio! thou, the very eye

Of all peninsulas and isles, That in our lakes of silver lie,

Or sleep, enwreath'd by Neptune's smiles

How gladly back to thee I fly!

Still doubting, asking-can it be That I have left Bithynia's sky,

And gaze in safety upon thee?

Oh! what is happier than to find

Our hearts at ease, our perils past; When, anxious long, the lighten'd mind Lays down its load of care at last:

When, tired with toil o'er land and deep, Again we tread the welcome floor

Of our own home, and sink to sleep
On the long-wish'd-for bed once more.

This, this it is, that pays alone

The ills of all life's former track.

Shine out, my beautiful, my own
Sweet Sirmio, greet thy master back.

And thou, fair Lake, whose water quaffs The light of heav'n like Lydia's sea, Rejoice, rejoice-let all that laughs Abroad, at home, laugh out for me!

O quid solutis est beatius curis,
Cum mens onus reponit, ac peregrino
Labore fessi venimus larem ad nostrum,
Desideratoque acquiescimus lecto.

TIBULLUS TO SULPICIA.

Nulla tuum nobis subducet femina lectum, &c. &c.
Lib. iv. Carm. 13.

"NEVER shall woman's smile have power
"To win me from those gentle charms!”
Thus swore I, in that happy hour,

When Love first gave thee to my arms.

And still alone thou charm'st my sight-
Still, though our city proudly shine
With forms and faces, fair and bright,
I see none fair or bright but thine.

Would thou wert fair for only me,

And could'st no heart but mine allure!

To all men else unpleasing be,

So shall I feel my prize secure.*

* Displiceas aliis, sic ego tutus ero.