Intermediate Latin I – Professor Matone
Humberto B. Capasso
Endecasílabo : x x – u u – u – u – x
Catullus 1 – Dedication to Cornelius
To whom do I give this charming little book,
Having been just polished by the arid pumice stone?
To you, Cornelius; for indeed you used to
Think that these trifles of mine were something,
Already at the time when you dared, one among the Italians,
To unfold the whole of the age in three books,
[books] learned, O Jupiter, and laborious!
Therefore take for you this booklet,
Whatever of a sort it is; a book that, o patron virgin,
May it remain lasting for more than a generation.
Catullus 2 – To her sparrow
[I’m talking to] the sparrow, the darling of my girl,
[The bird] with which she plays, that she has on her lap,
To whom she [likes to] stretch a forefinger that he grasps
And usually incites a sharp bite [in return],
[With whom], when she is glittering with desire of me
It is pleasing to play some kind of a dear joke,
[And thus becomes] a small consolation for her pain,
I believe, so that then the heavy ardor rests;
If only I was able to play with you like that,
And to relieve [like that] the sadness from the spirit!
…
Is as pleasing to me as they say that to the girl,
[The girl] that was long-legged, the golden apple was,
[The girl] who in those days used to keep her belt well tied.
Passer, deliciae meae puellae,
quicum ludere, quem in sinu tenere,
Catullus 3 – Lament for a sparrow
Intermediate Latin I – Professor Matone
Humberto B. Capasso
Do mourn, o Venuses and Cupids,
And as many as there are beauties among men;
[For I tell you] the sparrow of my little girl is dead,
That [very same] sparrow, the darling of my girl,
The sparrow who she loved more than her own eyes –
For he was honeyed, and she [used to] know it
As well as a girl [tends to] know her own mother,
Nor did it remove itself from her lap,
But [perpetually] springing around this way and that
Used to...