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Sparrow, darling of my girl, with which she plays, which she presses to her bosom, to whom she gives her fingertip, arousing sharp bites as he seeks after it,

when gleaming with desire of me she jests a light joke of it, so that, I think, it is a solace for her pain when the heavy burning is at rest. Could I but play with you just as she does

and lighten the sad cares of mind. 2a_0 ¹ This was as pleasing to me as the golden apple was to the fleet footed girl, which unloosed her girdle long-time fastened.

Carmina. C. Valerius Catullus. Leonard C. Smithers (Translator), Sir Richard Francis Burton (Translator). London. 1894.

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Funding provided by The National Endowment for the Humanities.

Current edition Perseus

Carmina (English) (Catullus, Gaius Valerius. The Carmina of Caius Valerius Catullus. Smithers, Leonard Charles, prose translator. London, Printed for the Translators, 1894. (Modernized by Perseus.))

Translations (1)

Carmina Perseus (Catullus, Gaius Valerius. The Carmina of Caius Valerius Catullus. Burton, Sir Richard Francis, translator. London, Printed for the Translators, 1894.) — 2 focus

LESBIA’S SPARROW

Sparrow! my pet’s delicious joy,

Wherewith in bosom nurst to toy

She loves, and gives her finger-tip

For sharp-nib’d greedingneb to nip,

Were she who my desire withstood

To seek some pet of merry mood,

As crumb o’ comfort for her grief,

Methinks her burning lowe’s relief:

Could I, as plays she, play with thee,

That mind might win from misery free!

To me t’were grateful (as they say),

Gold codling was to fleet-foot May,

Whose long-bound zone it loosed for aye.

Notes on the current edition

Carmina

1. Lines 10a ff are numbered as poem 2a in some editions.

C. Valerius Catullus Carmina 2

Leonard C. Smithers (Translator), Sir Richard Francis Burton (Translator)

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Current edition Perseus

LESBIA’S SPARROW

Notes on the current edition

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