MY GIRLFRIEND AND I ARE ALIVE AND WE ARE IN LOVE AND EVERYONE WHO HAS A PROBLEM WITH THAT IS *OLD* OLD MEN WHO ARE JEALOUS AND HAVE ZERO GIRLFRIENDS UNLIKE ME, WHO HAS A WHOLE GIRLFRIEND AND YES DEATH IS COMING OR WHATEVER BUT WE HAVE TIME FOR A THOUSAND THEN HUNDRED MAKEOUTS BEFORE THEN, MAYBE TEN HUNDRED, MAYBE MORE THAN ANYONE CAN COUNT AND WE WILL MAKE OUT FOREVER AND BE HAPPY AND IF YOU DON’T LIKE IT THEN UNSUBSCRIBE
This is my new favorite translation of Catullus 5
(Thank you @beesimile for sharing one of these omg.)
Then let amorous kisses dwell
On our lips, begin and tell
A Thousand, and a Hundred, score
An Hundred, and a Thousand more,
Catullus - From Catullus 5
Translated: Richard Crashaw
Artemis: If you’re interested see link for entire poem (Latin and English) with notes and history of use in popular culture. I couldn't just leave it alone. :)
Via: Wiki
Catullus 5 is a passionate ode to Lesbia and one of the most famous poems by Catullus. The poem encourages lovers to scorn the snide comments of others, and to live only for each other, since life is too brief and death brings on a night of perpetual sleep. Over the centuries, this poem has been translated and imitated many times; its sentiments seem timeless.
The meter of this poem is hendecasyllabic, a common form in Catullus' poetry.
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.
Let us live, my Lesbia, and love,
and the rumors of the stern old men
let us value all at just one penny!
Suns may set and rise again;
by us, when once the brief light has set,
an eternal night must be slept.
Give me a thousand kisses, then a hundred,
then another thousand, then a second hundred,
then yet another thousand, then a hundred;
then, when we have counted up many thousands,
let us shake it [the abacus], lest we know,
\or lest some evil man be able to envy
\when he knows how many kisses there were.
17th Century translations
In 1601, the English composer, poet and physician Thomas Campion wrote this rhyming free translation of the first half (to which he added two verses of his own, and music, to create a lute song):
My sweetest Lesbia, let us live and love;
And though the sager sort our deeds reprove,
Let us not weigh them. Heaven's great lamps do dive
Into their west, and straight again revive,
But soon as once is set our little light,
Then must we sleep one ever-during night.
Soon thereafter, Sir Walter Raleigh included the following verse, apparently based on Campion's translation, in his The Historie of the World, which he wrote while imprisoned in the Tower of London
The Sunne may set and rise
But we contrariwise
Sleepe after our short light
One everlasting night.
Lines 2-3
This is a reference to the gossip going around the Roman Senate, as it was believed that Catullus was having an affair with a senator's wife, known as Clodia Pulchra Tercia.This is also thought to be the woman Lesbia in his poetry. Catullus is urging Clodia to disregard what people are saying about them, so she can spend more time with him. There is also a chiasmus in these lines:
Line 5-6
The position of lux - light, and nox - night right next to each other serve to emphasise his two comparisons. Symbolically, the "perpetual night" represents death and the "brief light" represents life. Furthermore, there is also a second chiasmus in these lines:
A modern version of this poem is sung in the 1998 French film Jeanne et le garçon formidable {Jeanne and the extraordinary Guy} starring Virginie Ledoyen and Mathieu Demy.
This poem is referenced in Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita, according to annotator Alfred Appel, Jr.'s annotation. Nabokov quotes the poem twice in Bend Sinister.
The line nox est perpetua una dormienda is translated, "night without end" in Joseph Conrad's short story The End of the Tether.
The line nox est una dormienda is a recurring theme in Anthony Burgess's novel The Kingdom of the Wicked.
Nox Dormienda is the name of a novel by Kelli Stanley.
The line nox est perpetua una dormienda is quoted in the 'Present Day' chapter of Virginia Woolf's The Years.
Mike Engleby translates this poem as part of his entrance exam to Chatfield in Sebastian Faulks' novel Engleby.
This poem and its translation by Richard Crashaw is referenced in the 1991 Diana Gabaldon novel Outlander.
A portion of this poem from "soles occidere..." to "Da mi basia mille" is used in Aldous Huxley's novel Island.
This poem was set to music by Carl Orff as part of his Catulli Carmina (1943).
A character remembering the line "nox est perpetua una dormienda" forms a key plot development in John Crowley's Daemonomania.
"Nox Perpetua Dormienda" is the title of a poem by New Zealand poet R.A.K. Mason (1905-1971).
This poem is paraphrased in The Elder Scrolls Online, with a title reminiscent of Catullus 2, "An Ode to the Red Bird".
