TO LESBIA (V.) LIVING, Lesbia, we should e'en be loving. Suns set only to rise again to-morrow. We, when sets in a little hour the brief light, Thousand kisses, anon to these an hundred, Then once heedfully counted all the thousands, ROBINSON ELLIS. 5 10 TO THE SAME (VII.) DOST thou, Lesbia, ask that I Say how many of thy kisses Would my craving satisfy, Yes, would surfeit me with blisses? 1 Information as to the exact number of blessings of any kind was supposed to enable an enemy to exert an evil influence. Count the grains of sand besprent O'er Cyrene's1 spicy plain, 'Twixt old Battus' 2 monument And the sweltering Hammon's fane. 3 5 Count the silent stars of night, That be ever watching, when Lovers tasting stol'n delight Dream not of their silent ken. When these numbers thou hast told, But, my love, there's no amount 10 15 20 SIR THEODORE MARTIN. TO HIMSELF ON LESBIA'S INCONSTANCY (VIII.) Ан, poor Catullus, learn to put away The lost is lost, be sure; the task essay 1 A city in Libya. 2 The founder of Cyrene. 3 A name under which Jupiter was worshipped in Africa. Fair shone the skies on thee when thou to fare Where the girl beckon'd, lov'd as girl shall ne'er Be lov'd again. Yes, fain thou wast for merry mirth; and she- Ah, gayly then the morning smil❜d on thee Now, she saith nay; but thou be strong to bear, Nor nurse thy grief, nor cling to her so fair, So fixt to part. Farewell! I've learn'd my lesson: I'll endure, Words that might wake thy ruth, or even cure Yet will the time come when thy heart shall bleed, When thou shalt come to eld with none to heed, 5 10 15 20 Who then will seek thee? Who will call thee fair? Call thee his own? Whose kisses and whose dalliance wilt thou share? Be stone, my heart, be stone. R. Y. TYRRELL. 26 VARUS' MISTRESS (X.) VARUS, whom I chanced to meet As, how much might Bithynia bring? I answer'd, as it was the fact, The province had been stript and sack'd ; 5 10 That there was nothing for the praetors, "At least," says she, "you bought some fellows The difference was n't quite so great She, like a strumpet, pert and knowing, Do lend me, pray, those slaves of thine!" The slight neglects of conversation." TO FABULLUS (XIII.) J. HOOKHAM FRERE. You dine with me, Fabullus mine, As well as man need wish to do; If you bring with you, when you come, And lots of wine and mirth, and some But bring all these you must, I vow, If you're to find yourself in clover, 35 40 45 5 10 1 An Egyptian divinity, whose cult was fashionable in Catullus' time. |