CATULLUS'S RETURN HOME TO THE
O BEST of all the scatter'd spots that lie In sea or lake-apple of landscape's eye- How gladly do I drop within thy nest, With what a sigh of full, contented rest, Scarce able to believe my journey o'er,
And that these eyes behold thee safe once more! Oh where's the luxury like a loosen'd heart, When the mind, breathing, lays its load apart- When we come home again, tir'd out, and spread The greedy limbs o'er all the wish'd-for bed!
PENINSULARUM, Sirmio, insularumque Ocelle, quascunque in liquentibus stagnis Marique vasto fert uterque Neptunus, Quam te libenter, quamque lætus inviso, Vix mipse credens Thyniam atque Bithynos Liquisse campos, et videre te in tuto! O quid solutis est beatius curis,
Cum mens onus reponit, ac peregrino Labore fessi venimus larem ad nostrum, Desideratoque acquiescimus lecto!
This, this alone, is worth an age of toil. Hail, lovely Sirmio! Hail, paternal soil!
Joy, my bright waters, joy; your master's come! Laugh, every dimple on the cheek of home!
Hoc est quod unum est pro laboribus tantis. Salve, o venusta Sirmio, atque hero gaude! Gaudete, vosque Lydie lacus undæ ! Ridete, quidquid est domi cachinnorum!
SICK, Cornificius, is thy friend, Sick to the heart; and sees no end Of wretched thoughts, that, gath'ring fast, Threaten to wear him out at last.
And yet you never come and bring- Though 'twere the least and easiest thing- A comfort in that talk of thine ;- You vex me:-this, to love like mine? Prithee, a little talk, for ease, for ease, Full as the tears of poor Simonides.
MALE est, Cornifici, tuo Catullo, Male est mehercule, et laboriose, Et magis magis in dies et horas: Quem tu---quod minimum facillimumque est→ Qua solatus es adlocutione ?
Irascor tibi:sic meos amores? Paulum quid lubet adlocutionis Moestius lacrimis Simonideis.
ACME AND SEPTIMIUS, OR THE
ENTIRE AFFECTION.
FROM CATULLUS.-CARMEN XLV.
"O, Acme love!" Septimius cried,
As on his lap he held his bride
"If all my heart is not for thee, And doats on thee desperately, And if it doat not more and more,
As desperate heart ne'er did before, desert May I be doom'd, on desart ground,
To meet the lion in his round!"*
He said; and Love, on tiptoe near him, Kind at last, and come to cheer him,† Clapp'd his little hands to hear him.
ACMEN Septimius suos amores, Tenens in gremio. "Mea," inquit," Acme Ni te perdite amo, atque amare porro Omnes sum assidue paratus annos, Quantum qui pote plurimum perire,
Solus in Libya, Indiave tosta,
Casio veniam obvius leoni."
Hoc ut dixit, Amor, sinistram ut ante, Dextram sternuit, approbationem.
The ancients believed, that perjured persons were particularly liable to encounter wild beasts.
† It has been supposed, that the passage here, which is rather
But Acme to the bending youth Just dropping back that rosy mouth, Kiss'd his reeling, hovering eyes, And "O my life, my love!" replies, "So may our constant service be To this one only Deity,
As with a transport doubly true
He thrills your Acme's being through!"
She said; and Love, on tiptoe near her, Kind at last, and come to cheer her, Clapp'd his little hands to hear her.
Favour'd thus by heav'n above, Their lives are one return of love;
At Acme, leviter caput reflectens, Et dulcis pueri ebrios ocellos Illo purpureo ore suaviata,
"Sic," inquit, 66 mea vita, Septimille, Huic uno domino usque serviamus, Ut multo mihi major acriorque Ignis mollibus ardet in medullis.
Hoc ut dixit, Amor sinistram ut ante, Dextram sternuit approbationem.
Nunc ab auspicio bone profecti,
Mutuis animis amant, amanter.
Unam Septimius misellus Acmen
obscurely expressed in the original, at least to modern appre hensions, alludes to some difficulties with which the lovers bad met, and which had hitherto prevented their union.
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