Or Scylla barking from low'st
inguinal
fold?
Catullus - Carmina
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 worship, 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,
Cum 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-snatching 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 circumstance 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 soccum, 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 cum 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
Vosque item simul, integrae
Virgines, quibus advenit
Par dies, agite in modum
Dicite 'o Hymenaee Hymen,
O Hymen Hymenaee,' 40
Vt lubentius, audiens
Se citarier ad suom
Munus, huc aditum ferat
Dux bonae Veneris, boni
Coniugator amoris. 45
Quis deus magis anxiis
Est petendus amantibus?
Quem colent homines magis
Caelitum? o Hymenaee Hymen,
O Hymen Hymenaee. 50
Te suis tremulus parens
Invocat, tibi virgines
Zonula soluunt sinus,
Te timens cupida novos
Captat aure maritus. 55
Tu fero iuveni in manus
Floridam ipse puellulam
Dedis a gremio suae
Matris, o Hymenaee Hymen,
O Hymen Hymenaee. 60
Nil potest sine te Venus,
Fama quod bona conprobet,
Commodi capere: at potest
Te volente. quis huic deo
Conpararier ausit?
