Why be the parents' joys turned aside by feigned tears, which they shed
copiously amid the lights of the nuptial chamber?
copiously amid the lights of the nuptial chamber?
Catullus - Carmina
50
Shortly before I was shorn my sister tresses bewailed
Lot of me, e'en as the sole brother to Memnon the Black,
Winnowing upper air wi' feathers flashing and quiv'ring,
Chloris' wing-borne steed, came before Arsinoe,
Whence upraising myself he flies through aery shadows, 55
And in chaste Venus' breast drops he the present he bears.
Eke Zephyritis had sent, for the purpose trusted, her bondsman,
Settler of Grecian strain on the Canopian strand.
So willed various Gods, lest sole 'mid lights of the Heavens
Should Ariadne's crown taken from temples of her 60
Glitter in gold, but we not less shine fulgent in splendour,
We the consecrate spoils shed by a blond-hued head,
Even as weeping-wet sought I the fanes of Celestials,
Placed me the Goddess a new light amid starlights of old:
For with Virgo in touch and joining the furious Lion's 65
Radiance with Callisto, maid of Lycaon beloved,
Wind I still to the west, conducting tardy Bootes,
Who unwilling and slow must into Ocean merge.
Yet though press me o'night the pacing footprints of Godheads,
Tethys, hoary of hair, ever regains me by day. 70
(Lend me thy leave to speak such words, Rhamnusian Virgin,
Verities like unto these never in fear will I veil;
Albeit every star asperse me with enemy's censure,
Secrets in soothfast heart hoarded perforce I reveal. )
Nowise gladdens me so this state as absence torments me, 75
Absence doomed for aye ta'en fro' my mistress's head,
Where I was wont (though she such cares unknew in her girlhood)
Many a thousand scents, Syrian unguents, to sip.
Now do you pair conjoined by the longed-for light of the torches,
Earlier yield not selves unto unanimous wills 80
Nor wi' the dresses doft your bared nipples encounter,
Ere shall yon onyx-vase pour me libations glad,
Onyx yours, ye that seek only rights of virtuous bed-rite.
But who yieldeth herself unto advowtry impure,
Ah! may her loathed gifts in light dust uselessly soak, 85
For of unworthy sprite never a gift I desire.
Rather, O new-mated brides, be concord aye your companion,
Ever let constant love dwell in the dwellings of you.
Yet when thou sightest, O Queen, the Constellations, I pray thee,
Every festal day Venus the Goddess appease; 90
Nor of thy unguent-gifts allow myself to be lacking,
Nay, do thou rather add largeliest increase to boons.
Would but the stars down fall! Could I of my Queen be the hair-lock,
Neighbour to Hydrochois e'en let Oarion shine.
He who scanned all the lights of the great firmament, who ascertained the
rising and the setting of the stars, how the flaming splendour of the swift
sun was endarkened, how the planets disappear at certain seasons, how sweet
love with stealth detaining Trivia beneath the Latmian crags, draws her
away from her airy circuit, that same Conon saw me amongst celestial light,
the hair from Berenice's head, gleaming with brightness, which she
outstretching graceful arms did devote to the whole of the gods, when the
king flushed with the season of new wedlock had gone to lay waste the
Assyrian borders, bearing the sweet traces of nightly contests, in which he
had borne away her virginal spoils. Is Venus abhorred by new-made brides?
Why be the parents' joys turned aside by feigned tears, which they shed
copiously amid the lights of the nuptial chamber? Untrue are their groans,
by the gods I swear! This did my queen teach me by her many lamentings,
when her bridegroom set out for stern warfare. Yet thou didst not mourn the
widowhood of desolate couch, but the tearful separation from a dear
brother? How care made sad inroads in thy very marrow! In so much that
thine whole bosom being agitated, and thy senses being snatched from thee,
thy mind wandered! But in truth I have known thee great of heart ever since
thou wast a little maiden. Hast thou forgotten that noble deed, by which
thou didst gain a regal wedlock, than which none dared other deeds bolder?
Yet what grieving words didst thou speak when bidding thy bridegroom
farewell! Jupiter! as with sad hand often thine eyes thou didst dry! What
mighty god changed thee? Was it that lovers are unwilling to be long absent
from their dear one's body? Then didst thou devote me to the whole of the
gods on thy sweet consort's behalf, not without blood of bullocks, should
he be granted safe return. In no long time he added captive Asia to the
Egyptian boundaries. Wherefore for these reasons I, bestowed 'midst the
celestial host, by a new gift fulfil thine ancient promise.
Shortly before I was shorn my sister tresses bewailed
Lot of me, e'en as the sole brother to Memnon the Black,
Winnowing upper air wi' feathers flashing and quiv'ring,
Chloris' wing-borne steed, came before Arsinoe,
Whence upraising myself he flies through aery shadows, 55
And in chaste Venus' breast drops he the present he bears.
Eke Zephyritis had sent, for the purpose trusted, her bondsman,
Settler of Grecian strain on the Canopian strand.
So willed various Gods, lest sole 'mid lights of the Heavens
Should Ariadne's crown taken from temples of her 60
Glitter in gold, but we not less shine fulgent in splendour,
We the consecrate spoils shed by a blond-hued head,
Even as weeping-wet sought I the fanes of Celestials,
Placed me the Goddess a new light amid starlights of old:
For with Virgo in touch and joining the furious Lion's 65
Radiance with Callisto, maid of Lycaon beloved,
Wind I still to the west, conducting tardy Bootes,
Who unwilling and slow must into Ocean merge.
Yet though press me o'night the pacing footprints of Godheads,
Tethys, hoary of hair, ever regains me by day. 70
(Lend me thy leave to speak such words, Rhamnusian Virgin,
Verities like unto these never in fear will I veil;
Albeit every star asperse me with enemy's censure,
Secrets in soothfast heart hoarded perforce I reveal. )
Nowise gladdens me so this state as absence torments me, 75
Absence doomed for aye ta'en fro' my mistress's head,
Where I was wont (though she such cares unknew in her girlhood)
Many a thousand scents, Syrian unguents, to sip.
Now do you pair conjoined by the longed-for light of the torches,
Earlier yield not selves unto unanimous wills 80
Nor wi' the dresses doft your bared nipples encounter,
Ere shall yon onyx-vase pour me libations glad,
Onyx yours, ye that seek only rights of virtuous bed-rite.
But who yieldeth herself unto advowtry impure,
Ah! may her loathed gifts in light dust uselessly soak, 85
For of unworthy sprite never a gift I desire.
Rather, O new-mated brides, be concord aye your companion,
Ever let constant love dwell in the dwellings of you.
Yet when thou sightest, O Queen, the Constellations, I pray thee,
Every festal day Venus the Goddess appease; 90
Nor of thy unguent-gifts allow myself to be lacking,
Nay, do thou rather add largeliest increase to boons.
Would but the stars down fall! Could I of my Queen be the hair-lock,
Neighbour to Hydrochois e'en let Oarion shine.
He who scanned all the lights of the great firmament, who ascertained the
rising and the setting of the stars, how the flaming splendour of the swift
sun was endarkened, how the planets disappear at certain seasons, how sweet
love with stealth detaining Trivia beneath the Latmian crags, draws her
away from her airy circuit, that same Conon saw me amongst celestial light,
the hair from Berenice's head, gleaming with brightness, which she
outstretching graceful arms did devote to the whole of the gods, when the
king flushed with the season of new wedlock had gone to lay waste the
Assyrian borders, bearing the sweet traces of nightly contests, in which he
had borne away her virginal spoils. Is Venus abhorred by new-made brides?
Why be the parents' joys turned aside by feigned tears, which they shed
copiously amid the lights of the nuptial chamber? Untrue are their groans,
by the gods I swear! This did my queen teach me by her many lamentings,
when her bridegroom set out for stern warfare. Yet thou didst not mourn the
widowhood of desolate couch, but the tearful separation from a dear
brother? How care made sad inroads in thy very marrow! In so much that
thine whole bosom being agitated, and thy senses being snatched from thee,
thy mind wandered! But in truth I have known thee great of heart ever since
thou wast a little maiden. Hast thou forgotten that noble deed, by which
thou didst gain a regal wedlock, than which none dared other deeds bolder?
Yet what grieving words didst thou speak when bidding thy bridegroom
farewell! Jupiter! as with sad hand often thine eyes thou didst dry! What
mighty god changed thee? Was it that lovers are unwilling to be long absent
from their dear one's body? Then didst thou devote me to the whole of the
gods on thy sweet consort's behalf, not without blood of bullocks, should
he be granted safe return. In no long time he added captive Asia to the
Egyptian boundaries. Wherefore for these reasons I, bestowed 'midst the
celestial host, by a new gift fulfil thine ancient promise.
