From the Latin of Catullus
Let us live, let us love, precious Lesbia,
Though those old severe men will make us a coin
That’s rumored to be worth a copper penny!
The suns may pass away and rise up again;
For us, once the light of fugitive day fades
We will sleep through a night that will never end.
Kiss me a hundred times, kiss me a thousand,
Then another hundred, another thousand,
Then, after many hundreds, many thousands,
When there are a million kisses we’ve contrived,
Then let us scatter them, and not understand,
Else the wicked may arrest us with their eyes,
And none will know how many kisses we tried.
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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 basiorum.
