Saturday, September 25, 2010

Catullus 5

Vivamus, mea Lesbia, atque amemus,
rumoresque senum severiorum
omnes unius aestimemus assis.
soles occidere et redire possunt:
nobis, cum semel occidit brevis lux,
nox est perpetua una dormienda.
da mi basia mille, deinde centum,
dein mille altera, dein secunda centum,
deinde usque altera mille, deinde centum.
dein, cum milia multa fecerimus,
conturbabimus illa, ne sciamus,
aut nequis malus invidere possit,
cum tantum sciat esse basiorum.


Let us live, my Lesbia, let us love,
and let us value all the rumors of the
old men and the severe men at a single penny.
Suns are able to rise and to set:
but for us, when our short light has set,
night is one perpetual sleep.
Give me a thousand kisses, then a hundred,
then another thousand, then a second hundred,
then, when we have made many thousands,
we will mix them up, so that we will not know the number,
so that nobody can cast an evil eye,
when they know the great number of kisses.

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