The Love Story Behind

Lesbia mi praesente viro mala plurima dicit: haec illi fatuo maxima laetitia est. Mule, nihil sentis. Si nostri oblita taceret, sana esset: nunc quod gannit et obloquitur, non solum meminit, sed quae multo acrior est res, irata est. Hoc est, uritur et loquitur. In her husband’s presence Lesbia abuses me roundly; it brings that fool much joy. Idiot, don’t you understand anything? If, having forgotted me, she were silent, she’d be indifferent; now, because she mutters and reviles me, she not only remembers but – more to the point – she’s angry. That’s it: she’s aflame and seethes. Col marito Lesbia mi travolge d’ingiurie e quello sciocco ne trae una gioia profonda. Stronzo, non capisci? Tacesse, m’avrebbe dimenticato, sarebbe guarita, invece sbraita e m’insulta: non solo ricorda, ma cosa ben più grave è furente. Brucia d’amore, per questo parla.

Catullus, Carmina, LXXXIII
English translation by Marilyn B. Skinner
Italian translation by Mario Ramous

Lullaby

Risi nescio quem modo e corona, qui, cum mirifice Vatiniana meus crimina Calvus explicasset, admirans ait haec manusque tollens: ‘Di magni, salaputium disertum!’ I laughed at someone in court lately Who, when my Calvus gave a splendid Account of all Vatinius’ crimes, With hands raised in surprise announced ‘Great Gods, the squirt’s articulate!’ Vuoi ridere? Poco fa, accusandolo in tribunale, il mio Calvo inchioda Vatinio ai suoi delitti: entusiasta uno del pubblico si sbraccia e grida: ‘Gran Dio, che oratore quel cazzetto!’

Gaius Valerius Catullus, LIII
English translation by Guy Lee
Italian translation by Mario Ramous

Catulli Carmina

V Vivamus, mea Lesbia, atque amemus, rumoresque 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 milia multa fecerimus, conturbabimus illa, ne sciamus, aut ne quis malus invidere possit, cum tantum sciat esse biasiorum. 5 Let us live, my Lesbia, and love, And value all the talk of stricter Old men at a single penny. Suns can set and rise again; For us, once our brief light has set, There’s one unending night for sleeping. Give me a thousand kisses, then a hundred, Then another thousand, then a second hundred, Then still another thousand, then a hundred; Then, when we’ve made many thousands, We’ll muddle them, so as not to know, Or lest some villain overlook us Knowing the total of our kisses. Catullus, Catullus 5

Auguste Rodin, Eternal Springtime, c. 1884. Courtesy of WikiArt.