Catullus 51

ILLE mi par esse deo uidetur,
ille, si fas est, superare diuos,
qui sedens aduersus identidem te
    spectat et audit

dulce ridentem, misero quod omnis    5
eripit sensus mihi: nam simul te,
Lesbia, aspexi, nihil est super mi
   ***          

lingua sed torpet, tenuis sub artus
flamma demanat, sonitu supote         10
tintinant aures, gemina teguntur
    lumina nocte.

otium, Catulle, tibi molestum est:
otio exsultas nimiumque gestis:
otium et reges prius et beatas            15
    perdidit urbes.

Click here to read the Greek text of Sappho's poem, and a translation.

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Bibliography

Fordyce, C.J. (1961). Catullus. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Garrison, D.H. (2008). The Student’s Catullus (3rd ed.). Norman, USA: University of Oklahoma Press.

Godwin, J. (1999). Catullus: The Shorter Poems. Warminster, England: Aris & Phillips Ltd.

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