Catullus V
Catullus if first up in Latin Elegy, Lyric, and Epigram this year.
Vivamus, mea Lesbia, atque amemus,
rumoresque senum severiorum1
omnes unius aestimemus assis2.
soles occidere et redire possunt:
nobis, cum semel3 occidit brevis lux,
nox est perpetua una dormienda.
da mi basia mille, deinde centum,
dein4 mille altera, dein secunda centum,
deinde usque altera mille, deinde centum,
dein, cum milia multa fecerimus,
conturbabimus illa, ne sciamus,
aut ne quis malus invidere5 possit,
cum tantum sciat esse basiorum.
Let us live, my Lesbia, and let us love,
And the rumors of the grumpy old men
Let us value it all as of one penny.
Suns can set and return:
For us, once the brief light falls,
One night must be slept forever.
Give to me a thousand kisses, and then a hundred,
Then a thousand others, then a second hundred,
And then until a thousand others, and then a hundred.
Then, when we have made many thousands,
We will mix them up, lest we know,
Rather lest any villain is able to cast askew their eyes,
when they know how many kisses there are.
2. assis - the as was the smallest unit of monetary measurement in the Roman standard.
3. cum semel - it sounds better in English merely as “once”.
4. deinde…dein… - to show the difference in English, I did dein as “then” and deinde as “and then”, though the alternation in the words in Latin is for metrical reasons.
5. invidere - literally “to cast an evil eye”.