Page:The poems of Gaius Valerius Catullus - Francis Warre Cornish.djvu/69



faintings, my friend, while searching for you. Do 2 you deny yourself so haughtily, my friend? Tell us where you are likely to be, out with it boldly, trust me with it, give it to the light. Do the milkwhite maids detain you? If you keep your tongue shut up within your mouth, you will waste all the gains of love; Venus loves an utterance full of words. However, if you will, you may lock up your lips, so long as you let me be a sharer in your love.

O, Cato, what an absurdly funny thing, worthy for you to hear and laugh at. Laugh, as much as you love Catullus, Cato. The thing is too absurd and funny....

I

Well agreed are the abominable profligates, Mamurra the effeminate, and Caesar — no wonder either. Like blots on each, one from the city and one from Formiae, are deeply impressed, and will never be washed out. Diseased alike, very twins, both on one sofa, dilettante writers, rivals and partners in love. Well agreed are the abominable profligates. '°

LVI 1

O, Caelius, my Lesbia, that Lesbia, Lesbia whom alone Catullus loved more than himself and all his own, now in the crossroads and alleys serves the filthy lusts of the descendants of lordly-minded Remus.