Credis me potuisse meae
maledicere
vitae,
Ambobus mihi quae carior est oculis?
Ambobus mihi quae carior est oculis?
Catullus - Carmina
CII.
Si quicquam tacito conmissumst fido ab amico,
Cuius sit penitus nota fides animi,
Meque esse invenies illorum iure sacratum,
Corneli, et factum me esse puta Harpocratem.
CII.
TO CORNELIUS.
If by confiding friend aught e'er be trusted in silence,
Unto a man whose mind known is for worthiest trust,
Me shalt thou find no less than such to secrecy oathbound,
(Cornelius! ) and now hold me an Harpocrates.
If aught be committed to secret faith from a friend to one whose inner
faith of soul is known, thou wilt find me to be of that sacred faith, O
Cornelius, and may'st deem me become an Harpocrates.
CIII.
Aut, sodes, mihi redde decem sestertia, Silo,
Deinde esto quamvis saevus et indomitus:
Aut, si te nummi delectant, desine quaeso
Leno esse atque idem saevus et indomitus.
CIII.
TO SILO.
Or, d'ye hear, refund those ten sestertia (Silo! )
Then be thou e'en at thy will surly and savage o' mood:
Or, an thou love o'er-well those moneys, prithee no longer
Prove thee a pimp and withal surly and savage o' mood.
Prithee, either return me my ten thousand sesterces, Silo; then be to thy
content surly and boorish: or, if the money allure thee, desist I pray thee
from being a pander and likewise surly and boorish.
CIIII.
Credis me potuisse meae maledicere vitae,
Ambobus mihi quae carior est oculis?
Non potui, nec si possem tam perdite amarem:
Sed tu cum Tappone omnia monstra facis.
CIIII.
CONCERNING LESBIA.
Canst thou credit that I could avail to revile my life-love,
She who be dearer to me even than either my eyes?
Ne'er could I, nor an I could, should I so losingly love her:
But with Tappo thou dost design every monstrous deed.
Dost deem me capable of speaking ill of my life, she who is dearer to me
than are both mine eyes? I could not, nor if I could, would my love be so
desperate: but thou with Tappo dost frame everything heinous.
CV.
Mentula conatur Pipleum scandere montem:
Musae furcillis praecipitem eiciunt.
CV.
ON MAMURRA.
Mentula fain would ascend Piplean mountain up-mounting:
Pitch him the Muses down headlong wi' forklets a-hurled.
Mentula presumes the Pimplean mount to scale: the Muses with their
pitchforks chuck him headlong down.
CVI.
Cum puero bello praeconem qui videt esse,
Quid credat, nisi se vendere discupere?
