| VIVAMVS, MEA LESBIA, ATQUE AMEMUS ... |
LET’S LIVE AND LOVE: TO LESBIA |
| Catullus (Gaius Valerius Catullus) | tr. Ben Jonson |
|
Vivamvs, mea Lesbia, atque amemus, rumores - que 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 multa milia fecerimus, conturbabimus illa, ne sciamus, aut ne quis malus invidere possit, cum tantum sciat esse basiorum. |
Let us live, my Lesbia and let us judge all the rumors of the old men to be worth just one penny! The suns are able to fall and rise: When that brief light has fallen for us we must sleep a never ending night. Give me a thousand kisses, then another hundred, then another thousand, then a second hundred, then yet another thousand more, then another hundred. Then, when we have made many thousands, we will mix them all up so that we don't know and so that no one can be jealous of us when he finds out how many kisses we have shared. |
Click here 3 for another translation of this poem.