O, chiefest of pilferers, baths frequenting, Vibennius the father and his
pathic son (for with the right hand is the sire more in guilt, and with his
backside is the son the greedier), why go ye not to exile and ill hours,
seeing that the father's plunderings are known to all folk, and that, son,
thou can'st not sell thine hairy buttocks for a doit?
pathic son (for with the right hand is the sire more in guilt, and with his
backside is the son the greedier), why go ye not to exile and ill hours,
seeing that the father's plunderings are known to all folk, and that, son,
thou can'st not sell thine hairy buttocks for a doit?
Catullus - Carmina
Verum, siquid ages, statim iubeto:
Nam pransus iaceo et satur supinus 10
Pertundo tunicamque palliumque.
XXXII.
CRAVING IPSITHILLA'S LAST FAVOURS.
I'll love my Ipsithilla sweetest,
My desires and my wit the meetest,
So bid me join thy nap o' noon!
Then (after bidding) add the boon
Undraw thy threshold-bolt none dare, 5
Lest thou be led afar to fare;
Nay bide at home, for us prepare
Nine-fold continuous love-delights.
But aught do thou to hurry things,
For dinner-full I lie aback, 10
And gown and tunic through I crack.
I'll love thee, my sweet Ipsithilla, my delight, my pleasure: an thou bid
me come to thee at noontide. And an thou thus biddest, I adjure thee that
none makes fast the outer door [against me], nor be thou minded to gad
forth, but do thou stay at home and prepare for us nine continuous
conjoinings. In truth if thou art minded, give instant summons: for
breakfast o'er, I lie supine and ripe, thrusting through both tunic and
cloak.
XXXIII.
O furum optime balneariorum
Vibenni pater, et cinaede fili,
(Nam dextra pater inquinatiore,
Culo filius est voraciore)
Cur non exilium malasque in oras 5
Itis, quandoquidem patris rapinae
Notae sunt populo, et natis pilosas,
Fili, non potes asse venditare.
XXXIII.
ON THE VIBENII--BATH-THIEVES.
Oh, best of robbers who in Baths delight,
Vibennius, sire and son, the Ingle hight,
(For that the father's hand be fouler one
And with his anus greedier is the Son)
Why not to banishment and evil hours 5
Haste ye, when all the parent's plundering powers
Are public knowledge, nor canst gain a Cent
Son! by the vending of thy piled vent.
O, chiefest of pilferers, baths frequenting, Vibennius the father and his
pathic son (for with the right hand is the sire more in guilt, and with his
backside is the son the greedier), why go ye not to exile and ill hours,
seeing that the father's plunderings are known to all folk, and that, son,
thou can'st not sell thine hairy buttocks for a doit?
XXXIIII.
Dianae sumus in fide
Puellae et pueri integri:
_Dianam pueri integri_
Puellaeque canamus.
O Latonia, maximi 5
Magna progenies Iovis,
Quam mater prope Deliam
Deposivit olivam,
Montium domina ut fores
Silvarumque virentium 10
Saltuumque reconditorum
Amniumque sonantum.
Tu Lucina dolentibus
Iuno dicta puerperis,
Tu potens Trivia et notho's 15
Dicta lumine Luna.
Tu cursu, dea, menstruo
Metiens iter annuom
Rustica agricolae bonis
Tecta frugibus exples. 20
Sis quocumque tibi placet
Sancta nomine, Romulique,
Antique ut solita's, bona
Sospites ope gentem.
XXXIIII.
HYMN TO DIANA.
Diana's faith inbred we bear
Youths whole of heart and maidens fair,
Let boys no blemishes impair,
And girls of Dian sing!
O great Latonian progeny, 5
Of greatest Jove descendancy,
Whom mother bare 'neath olive-tree,
Deep in the Delian dell;
That of the mountains reign thou Queen
And forest ranges ever green, 10
And coppices by man unseen,
And rivers resonant.
Thou art Lucina, Juno hight
By mothers lien in painful plight,
Thou puissant Trivia and the Light 15
Bastard, yclept the Lune.
Thou goddess with thy monthly stage,
The yearly march doth mete and guage
And rustic peasant's messuage,
Dost brim with best o' crops, 20
Be hailed by whatso name of grace,
Please thee and olden Romulus' race,
Thy wonted favour deign embrace,
And save with choicest aid.
We, maids and upright youths, are in Diana's care: upright youths and
maids, we sing Diana.
O Latonia, progeny great of greatest Jove, whom thy mother bare 'neath
Delian olive,
That thou mightst be Queen of lofty mounts, of foliaged groves, of remote
glens, and of winding streams.
Thou art called Juno Lucina by the mother in her travail-pangs, thou art
named potent Trivia and Luna with an ill-got light.
