The Carmina of Caius Valerius Catullus Part 22

"Wherefore haste ye to conjoin in the longed-for delights of your love.

Bridegroom thy G.o.ddess receive in felicitous compact; let the bride be given to her eager husband. Haste ye, a-weaving the woof, O hasten, ye spindles.

"Nor shall the nurse at orient light returning, with yester-e'en's thread succeed in circling her neck. [Haste ye, a-weaving the woof, O hasten, ye spindles.] Not need her solicitous mother fear sad discord shall cause a parted bed for her daughter, nor need she cease to hope for dear grandchildren. Haste ye, a-weaving the woof, O hasten, ye spindles."

With such soothsaying songs of yore did the Parcae chant from divine breast the felicitous fate of Peleus. For of aforetime the heaven-dwellers were wont to visit the chaste homes of heroes and to shew themselves in mortal a.s.sembly ere yet their wors.h.i.+p was scorned. Often the father of the G.o.ds, a-resting in his glorious temple, when on the festal days his annual rites appeared, gazed on an hundred bulls strewn p.r.o.ne on the earth. Often wandering Liber on topmost summit of Parna.s.sus led his yelling Thyiads with loosely tossed locks. * * * * When the Delphians tumultuously trooping from the whole of their city joyously acclaimed the G.o.d with smoking altars.

Often in lethal strife of war Mavors, or swift Triton's queen, or the Rhamnusian virgin, in person did exhort armed bodies of men. But after the earth was infected with heinous crime, and each one banished justice from their grasping mind, and brothers steeped their hands in fraternal blood, the son ceased grieving o'er departed parents, the sire craved for the funeral rites of his first-born that freely he might take of the flower of unwedded step-dame, the unholy mother, lying under her unknowing son, did not fear to sully her household G.o.ds with dishonour: everything licit and lawless commingled with mad infamy turned away from us the just-seeing mind of the G.o.ds. Wherefore nor do they deign to appear at such-like a.s.semblies, nor will they permit themselves to be met in the day-light.

LXV.

Esti me adsiduo confectum cura dolore Sevocat a doctis, Ortale, virginibus, Nec potisest dulces Musarum expromere fetus Mens animi, (tantis fluctuat ipsa malis: Namque mei nuper Lethaeo gurgite fratris 5 Pallidulum manans adluit unda pedem, Troia Rhoeteo quem subter littore tellus Ereptum nostris obterit ex oculis.

Adloquar, audiero numquam tua _facta_ loquentem, Numquam ego te, vita frater amabilior, 10 Aspiciam posthac. at certe semper amabo, Semper maesta tua carmina morte canam, Qualia sub densis ramorum concinit umbris Daulias absumpti fata gemens Itylei)-- Sed tamen in tantis maeroribus, Ortale, mitto 15 Haec expressa tibi carmina Battiadae, Ne tua dicta vagis nequiquam credita ventis Effluxisse meo forte putes animo, Vt missum sponsi furtivo munere malum Procurrit casto virginis e gremio, 20 Quod miserae oblitae molli sub veste locatum, Dum adventu matris prosilit, excut.i.tur: Atque illud p.r.o.no praeceps agitur decursu, Huic manat tristi conscius ore rubor.

LXV.

TO HORTALUS LAMENTING A LOST BROTHER.

Albeit care that consumes, with dule a.s.siduous grieving, Me from the Learned Maids (Hortalus!) ever seclude, Nor can avail sweet births of the Muses thou to deliver Thought o' my mind; (so much floats it on flooding of ills: For that the Lethe-wave upsurging of late from abysses, 5 Laved my brother's foot, paling with pallor of death, He whom the Trojan soil, Rhoetean sh.o.r.e underlying, Buries for ever and aye, forcibly s.n.a.t.c.hed from our sight.

I can address; no more shall I hear thee tell of thy doings, Say, shall I never again, brother all liefer than life, 10 Sight thee henceforth? But I will surely love thee for ever Ever what songs I sing saddened shall be by thy death; Such as the Daulian bird 'neath gloom of shadowy frondage Warbles, of Itys lost ever bemoaning the lot.) Yet amid grief so great to thee, my Hortalus, send I 15 These strains sung to a mode borrowed from Battiades; Lest shouldest weet of me thy words, to wandering wind-gusts Vainly committed, perchance forth of my memory flowed-- As did that apple sent for a furtive giftie by wooer, In the chaste breast of the Maid hidden a-sudden out-sprang; 20 For did the hapless forget when in loose-girt garment it lurked, Forth would it leap as she rose, scared by her mother's approach, And while coursing headlong, it rolls far out of her keeping, O'er the triste virgin's brow flushes the conscious blush.

Though outspent with care and unceasing grief, I am withdrawn, Ortalus, from the learned Virgins, nor is my soul's mind able to bring forth sweet babes of the Muses (so much does it waver 'midst ills: for but lately the wave of the Lethean stream doth lave with its flow the pallid foot of my brother, whom 'neath the Rhoetean seaboard the Trojan soil doth crush, thrust from our eyesight. * * * Never again may I salute thee, nor hear thy converse; never again, O brother, more loved than life, may I see thee in aftertime. But for all time in truth will I love thee, always will I sing elegies made gloomy by thy death, such as the Daulian bird pipes 'neath densest shades of foliage, lamenting the lot of slain Itys.) Yet 'midst sorrows so deep, O Ortalus, I send thee these verses re-cast from Battiades, lest thou shouldst credit thy words by chance have slipt from my mind, given o'er to the wandering winds, as 'twas with that apple, sent as furtive love-token by the wooer, which outleapt from the virgin's chaste bosom; for, placed by the hapless girl 'neath her soft vestment, and forgotten,--when she starts at her mother's approach, out 'tis shaken: and down it rolls headlong to the ground, whilst a tell-tale flush mantles the face of the distressed girl.

LXVI.

Omnia qui magni dispexit lumina mundi, Qui stellarum ortus comperit atque obitus, Flammeus ut rapidi solis nitor obscuretur, Vt cedant certis sidera temporibus, Vt Triviam furtim sub Latmia saxa relegans 5 Dulcis amor gyro devocet aerio, Idem me ille Conon caelesti in lumine vidit E Beroniceo vertice caesariem Fulgentem clare, quam cunctis illa deorum Levia protendens brachia pollicitast, 10 Qua rex tempestate novo auctus hymenaeo Vastatum finis iverat a.s.syrios, Dulcia nocturnae portans vestigia rixae, Quam de virgineis gesserat exuviis.

Estne novis nuptis odio venus? anne parentum 15 Frustrantur falsis gaudia lacrimulis, Vbertim thalami quas intra lumina fundunt?

Non, ita me divi, vera gemunt, iuerint.

Id mea me multis docuit regina querellis Invisente novo praelia torva viro. 20 An tu non orb.u.m luxti deserta cubile, Sed fratris cari flebile discidium?

Quam penitus maestas excedit cura medullas!

Vt tibi tum toto pectore sollicitae Sensibus ereptis mens excidit! at te ego certe 25 Cognoram a parva virgine magnanimam.

Anne bonum oblita's facinus, quo regium adepta's Coniugium, quo non fortius ausit alis?

Sed tum maesta virum mittens quae verba locuta's!

Iuppiter, ut tristi lumina saepe manu! 30 Quis te mutavit tantus deus? an quod amantes Non longe a caro corpore abesse volunt?

Atque ibi me cunctis pro dulci coniuge divis Non sine taurino sanguine pollicita's Sei reditum tetullisset. is haut in tempore longo 35 Captam Asiam Aegypti finibus addiderat.

Quis ego pro factis caelesti reddita coetu Pristina vota novo munere dissoluo.

Invita, o regina, tuo de vertice cessi, Invita: adiuro teque tuomque caput, 40 Digna ferat quod siquis inaniter adiurarit: Sed qui se ferro postulet esse parem?

Ille quoque eversus mons est, quem maximum in orbi Progenies Thiae clara supervehitur, c.u.m Medi peperere novom mare, c.u.mque inventus 45 Per medium cla.s.si barbara navit Athon.

Quid facient crines, c.u.m ferro talia cedant?

Iuppiter, ut Chalybon omne genus pereat, Et qui principio sub terra quaerere venas Inst.i.tit ac ferri frangere duritiem! 50 Abiunctae paulo ante comae mea fata sorores Lugebant, c.u.m se Memnonis Aethiopis Vnigena inpellens nictantibus aera pennis Obtulit Arsinoes Locridos ales equos, Isque per aetherias me tollens avolat umbras 55 Et Veneris casto collocat in gremio.

Ipsa suum Zephyritis eo famulum legarat, Graia Canopieis incola litoribus.

+ Hi dii ven ibi vario ne solum in lumine caeli Ex Ariadneis aurea temporibus 60 Fixa corona foret, sed nos quoque fulgeremus Devotae flavi verticis exuviae, Vvidulam a fletu cedentem ad templa deum me Sidus in antiquis diva novom posuit: Virginis et saevi contingens namque Leonis 65 Lumina, Callisto iuncta Lycaoniae, Vertor in occasum, tardum dux ante Booten, Qui vix sero alto mergitur Oceano.

Sed quamquam me nocte premunt vestigia divom, Lux autem canae Tethyi rest.i.tuit, 70 (Pace tua fari hic liceat, Rhamnusia virgo, Namque ego non ullo vera timore tegam, Nec si me infestis discerpent sidera dictis, Condita quin verei pectoris evoluam): Non his tam laetor rebus, quam me afore semper, 75 Afore me a dominae vertice discrucior, Quic.u.m ego, dum virgo curis fuit omnibus expers, Vnguenti Suriei milia multa bibi.

Nunc vos, optato quom iunxit lumine taeda, Non prius unanimis corpora coniugibus 80 Tradite nudantes reiecta veste papillas, Quam iocunda mihi munera libet onyx, Voster onyx, casto pet.i.tis quae iura cubili.

Sed quae se inpuro dedit adulterio, Illius a mala dona levis bibat irrita pulvis: 85 Namque ego ab indignis praemia nulla peto.

Sed magis, o nuptae, semper concordia vostras Semper amor sedes incolat adsiduos.

Tu vero, regina, tuens c.u.m sidera divam Placabis festis luminibus Venerem, 90 Vnguinis expertem non siris esse tuam me, Sed potius largis adfice muneribus.

Sidera corruerent utinam! coma regia fiam: Proximus Hydrochoi fulgeret Oarion!

LXVI.

(LOQUITUR) BERENICE'S LOCK.

He who every light of the sky world's vastness inspected, He who mastered in mind risings and settings of stars, How of the fast rising sun obscured be the fiery splendours, How at the seasons a.s.sured vanish the planets from view, How Diana to lurk thief-like 'neath Latmian stonefields, 5 Summoned by sweetness of Love, comes from her aery gyre; That same Conon espied among lights Celestial s.h.i.+ning Me, Berenice's Hair, which, from her glorious head, Fulgent in brightness afar, to many a host of the G.o.dheads Stretching her soft smooth arms she vowed to devoutly bestow, 10 What time strengthened by joy of new-made wedlock the monarch Bounds of a.s.syrian land hurried to plunder and pill; Bearing of nightly strife new signs and traces delicious, Won in the war he waged virginal trophies to win.

Loathsome is Venus to all new-paired? Else why be the parents' 15 Pleasure frustrated aye by the false flow of tears Poured in profusion amid illuminate genial chamber?

Nay not real the groans; ever so help me the G.o.ds!

This truth taught me my Queen by force of manifold 'plainings After her new groom hied facing the fierceness of fight. 20 Yet so thou mournedst not for a bed deserted of husband, As for a brother beloved wending on woefullest way?

How was the marrow of thee consumedly wasted by sorrow!

So clean forth of thy breast, rackt with solicitous care, Mind fled, sense being reft! But I have known thee for certain 25 E'en from young virginal years lofty of spirit to be.

Hast thou forgotten the feat whose greatness won thee a royal Marriage--a deed so prow, never a prower was dared?

Yet how sad was the speech thou spakest, thy husband farewelling!

(Jupiter!) Often thine eyes wiping with sorrowful hand! 30 What manner G.o.d so great thus changed thee? Is it that lovers Never will tarry afar parted from person beloved?

Then unto every G.o.d on behalf of thy helpmate, thy sweeting, Me thou gavest in vow, not without bloodshed of bulls, If he be granted return, and long while nowise delaying, 35 Captive Asia he add unto Egyptian bounds.

Now for such causes I, enrolled in host of the Heavens, By a new present, discharge promise thou madest of old: Maugre my will, O Queen, my place on thy head I relinquished, Maugre my will, I attest, swearing by thee and thy head; 40 Penalty due shall befall whoso makes oath to no purpose.

Yet who a.s.sumes the vaunt forceful as iron to be?

E'en was that mount o'erthrown, though greatest in universe, where through Thia's ill.u.s.trious race speeded its voyage to end, Whenas the Medes brought forth new sea, and barbarous youth-hood 45 Urged an Armada to swim traversing middle-Athos.

What can be done by Hair when such things yield them to Iron?

Jupiter! Grant Chalybon perish the whole of the race, Eke who in primal times ore seeking under the surface Showed th' example, and spalled iron however so hard. 50 Shortly before I was shorn my sister tresses bewailed Lot of me, e'en as the sole brother to Memnon the Black, Winnowing upper air wi' feathers flas.h.i.+ng and quiv'ring, Chloris' wing-borne steed, came before Arsinoe, Whence upraising myself he flies through aery shadows, 55 And in chaste Venus' breast drops he the present he bears.

Eke Zephyritis had sent, for the purpose trusted, her bondsman, Settler of Grecian strain on the Canopian strand.

So willed various G.o.ds, lest sole 'mid lights of the Heavens Should Ariadne's crown taken from temples of her 60 Glitter in gold, but we not less s.h.i.+ne fulgent in splendour, We the consecrate spoils shed by a blond-hued head, Even as weeping-wet sought I the fanes of Celestials, Placed me the G.o.ddess a new light amid starlights of old: For with Virgo in touch and joining the furious Lion's 65 Radiance with Callisto, maid of Lycaon beloved, Wind I still to the west, conducting tardy Bootes, Who unwilling and slow must into Ocean merge.

Yet though press me o'night the pacing footprints of G.o.dheads, Tethys, h.o.a.ry of hair, ever regains me by day. 70 (Lend me thy leave to speak such words, Rhamnusian Virgin, Verities like unto these never in fear will I veil; Albeit every star asperse me with enemy's censure, Secrets in soothfast heart h.o.a.rded perforce I reveal.) Nowise gladdens me so this state as absence torments me, 75 Absence doomed for aye ta'en fro' my mistress's head, Where I was wont (though she such cares unknew in her girlhood) Many a thousand scents, Syrian unguents, to sip.

Now do you pair conjoined by the longed-for light of the torches, Earlier yield not selves unto unanimous wills 80 Nor wi' the dresses doft your bared nipples encounter, Ere shall yon onyx-vase pour me libations glad, Onyx yours, ye that seek only rights of virtuous bed-rite.

But who yieldeth herself unto advowtry impure, Ah! may her loathed gifts in light dust uselessly soak, 85 For of unworthy sprite never a gift I desire.

Rather, O new-mated brides, be concord aye your companion, Ever let constant love dwell in the dwellings of you.

Yet when thou sightest, O Queen, the Constellations, I pray thee, Every festal day Venus the G.o.ddess appease; 90 Nor of thy unguent-gifts allow myself to be lacking, Nay, do thou rather add largeliest increase to boons.

Would but the stars down fall! Could I of my Queen be the hair-lock, Neighbour to Hydrochois e'en let Oarion s.h.i.+ne.

He who scanned all the lights of the great firmament, who ascertained the rising and the setting of the stars, how the flaming splendour of the swift sun was endarkened, how the planets disappear at certain seasons, how sweet love with stealth detaining Trivia beneath the Latmian crags, draws her away from her airy circuit, that same Conon saw me amongst celestial light, the hair from Berenice's head, gleaming with brightness, which she outstretching graceful arms did devote to the whole of the G.o.ds, when the king flushed with the season of new wedlock had gone to lay waste the a.s.syrian borders, bearing the sweet traces of nightly contests, in which he had borne away her virginal spoils. Is Venus abhorred by new-made brides?

Why be the parents' joys turned aside by feigned tears, which they shed copiously amid the lights of the nuptial chamber? Untrue are their groans, by the G.o.ds I swear! This did my queen teach me by her many lamentings, when her bridegroom set out for stern warfare. Yet thou didst not mourn the widowhood of desolate couch, but the tearful separation from a dear brother? How care made sad inroads in thy very marrow! In so much that thine whole bosom being agitated, and thy senses being s.n.a.t.c.hed from thee, thy mind wandered! But in truth I have known thee great of heart ever since thou wast a little maiden. Hast thou forgotten that n.o.ble deed, by which thou didst gain a regal wedlock, than which none dared other deeds bolder?

Yet what grieving words didst thou speak when bidding thy bridegroom farewell! Jupiter! as with sad hand often thine eyes thou didst dry! What mighty G.o.d changed thee? Was it that lovers are unwilling to be long absent from their dear one's body? Then didst thou devote me to the whole of the G.o.ds on thy sweet consort's behalf, not without blood of bullocks, should he be granted safe return. In no long time he added captive Asia to the Egyptian boundaries. Wherefore for these reasons I, bestowed 'midst the celestial host, by a new gift fulfil thine ancient promise. With grief, O queen, did I quit thy brow, with grief: I swear to thee and to thine head; fit ill befall whosoever shall swear lightly: but who may bear himself peer with steel? Even that mountain was swept away, the greatest on earth, over which Thia's ill.u.s.trious progeny pa.s.sed, when the Medes created a new sea, and the barbarian youth sailed its fleet through the middle of Athos. What can locks of hair do, when such things yield to iron? Jupiter! may the whole race of the Chalybes perish, and whoever first questing the veins 'neath the earth hara.s.sed its hardness, breaking it through with iron. Just before severance my sister locks were mourning my fate, when Ethiop Memnon's brother, the winged steed, beating the air with fluttering pennons, appeared before Locrian Arsinoe, and this one bearing me up, flies through aethereal shadows and lays me in the chaste bosom of Venus. Him Zephyritis herself had dispatched as her servant, a Grecian settler on the Canopian sh.o.r.es. For 'twas the wish of many G.o.ds that not alone in heaven's light should the golden coronet from Ariadne's temples stay fixed, but that we also should gleam, the spoils devote from thy golden-yellow head; when humid with weeping I entered the temples of the G.o.ds, the G.o.ddess placed me, a new star, amongst the ancient ones. For a-touching the Virgin's and the fierce Lion's gleams, hard by Callisto of Lycaon, I turn westwards fore-guiding the slow-moving Bootes who sinks unwillingly and late into the vasty ocean. But although the footsteps of the G.o.ds o'erpress me in the night-tide, and the daytime restoreth me to the white-haired Tethys, (grant me thy grace to speak thus, O Rhamnusian virgin, for I will not hide the truth through any fear, even if the stars revile me with ill words yet I will unfold the pent-up feelings from truthful breast) I am not so much rejoiced at these things as I am tortured by being for ever parted, parted from my lady's head, with whom I (though whilst a virgin she was free from all such cares) drank many a thousand of Syrian scents.

Now do you, whom the gladsome light of the wedding torches hath joined, yield not your bodies to your desiring husbands nor throw aside your vestments and bare your bosom's nipples, before your onyx cup brings me jocund gifts, your onyx, ye who seek the dues of chaste marriage-bed. But she who giveth herself to foul adultery, may the light-lying dust responselessly drink her vile gifts, for I seek no offerings from folk that do ill. But rather, O brides, may concord always be yours, and constant love ever dwell in your homes. But when thou, O queen, whilst gazing at the stars, shalt propitiate the G.o.ddess Venus with festal torch-lights, let not me, thine own, be left lacking of unguent, but rather gladden me with large gifts. Stars fall in confusion! So that I become a royal tress, Orion might gleam in Aquarius' company.

LXVII.

O dulci iocunda viro, iocunda parenti, Salve, teque bona Iuppiter auctet ope, Ianua, quam Balbo dic.u.n.t servisse benigne Olim, c.u.m sedes ipse senex tenuit, Quamque ferunt rursus voto servisse maligno, 5 Postquam es porrecto facta marita sene.

Dic agedum n.o.bis, quare mutata feraris In dominum veterem deseruisse fidem.

'Non (ita Caecilio placeam, cui tradita nunc sum) Culpa meast, quamquam dicitur esse mea, 10 Nec peccatum a me quisquam pote dicere quicquam: Verum istud populi fabula, Quinte, facit, Qui, quac.u.mque aliquid reperitur non bene factum, Ad me omnes clamant: ianua, culpa tuast.'

Non istuc satis est uno te dicere verbo, 15 Sed facere ut quivis sentiat et videat.

'Qui possum? nemo quaerit nec scire laborat.'

Nos volumus: n.o.bis dicere ne dubita.

'Primum igitur, virgo quod fertur tradita n.o.bis, Falsumst. non illam vir prior attigerit, 20 Languidior tenera cui pendens sicula beta Numquam se mediam sustulit ad tunicam: Sed pater illius gnati viola.s.se cubile Dicitur et miseram conscelera.s.se domum, Sive quod inpia mens caeco flagrabat amore, 25 Seu quod iners sterili semine natus erat, Et quaerendus is unde foret nervosius illud, Quod posset zonam solvere virgineam.'

Egregium narras mira pietate parentem, Qui ipse sui gnati minxerit in gremium. 30 Atqui non solum hoc se dicit cognitum habere Brixia Cycneae supposita speculae, Flavos quam molli percurrit flumine Mella, Brixia Veronae mater amata meae.

'Et de Postumio et Corneli narrat amore, 35 c.u.m quibus illa malum fecit adulterium.'

Dixerit hic aliquis: qui tu isthaec, ianua, nosti?

Cui numquam domini limine abesse licet, Nec populum auscultare, sed heic suffixa tigillo Tantum operire soles aut aperire domum? 40 'Saepe illam audivi furtiva voce loquentem Solam c.u.m ancillis haec sua flagitia, Nomine dicentem quos diximus, ut pote quae mi Speraret nec linguam esse nec auriculam.

Praeterea addebat quendam, quem dicere nolo 45 Nomine, ne tollat rubra supercilia.

Longus h.o.m.ost, magnas quoi lites intulit olim Falsum mendaci ventre puerperium.'