| MULTAS PER GENTES ... | ON THE BURIAL OF HIS BROTHER |
| Catullus (Gaius Valerius Catullus) | trans. Aubrey Beardsley |
Multas per gentes et multa per aequora uectus aduenio has miseras, frater, ad inferias, ut te postremo donarem munere mortis et mutam nequiquam alloquerer cinerem. quandoquidem fortuna mihi tete abstulit ipsum. heu miser indigne frater adempte mihi, nunc tamen interea haec, prisco quae more parentum tradita sunt tristi munere ad inferias, accipe fraterno multum manantia fletu, atque in perpetuum, frater, aue atque uale. | By ways remote and distant waters sped, Brother, to thy sad graveside am I come, That I may give the last gifts to the dead, And vainly parley with thine ashes dumb; Since She who now bestows and denies Hath ta'en thee, hapless brother from mine eyes. But lo! these gifts, the heirlooms of past years, Are made sad things to grace thy coffin-shell; Take them, all drenchèd with a brother's tears, And, brother, for all time, hail and farewell. |