Catulli Carmina- "Praelusio:Eis Aiona!"
PRAELUSIO : EIS AIONA!
Together: Eis aiona! Forever!
tui sum! I am yours!
eis aiona! Forever!
Together: Tui sum I am yours
o mea vita you are my life
eis aiona forever
tui sum! I am yours!
eis aiona! forever!
Young fellows: Tu mihi cara, You are dear to me
mi cara amicula, you are my dear beloved
corculum es! you're my heart's delight!
Girls: corculum es
Girls: dic mi te me amare! (?) tell me you love me!
Fellows: O tue oculi, Oh, your eyes
ocelli lucidi, (?) your shinning orbs
fulgurant, they are sparkling
efferunt me velut specula. they reflect me like a mirror
Girls: specula, specula, mirror, mirror,
tu mihi specula? are you my mirror?
Fellows: O tua blandula, blanda oh, charming, alluring
blandicula, tua labella. and kindly speaking your lips
Girls: cave, cavete! beware, beware everybody!
Fellows: ad ludum polectant.
Girls: cave, cavete! cavete! beware, beware everybody!
Fellows: O tua lingula usque perniciter your tounge ever swiftly it darts
vibrans ut vipera. like a serpent
Girls: cavete, cave meam viperam, beware everybody,beware of my serpent
nisi te mordet. lest it bite you
Fellows: morde me! bite me!
Girls: basia me! kiss me!
Together: ah! ah!
Fellows: O tuae mammulae. ah, your little breasts
Girls: mammulae. little breasts
Fellows: dulciter turgidae, gemina poma! sweetly swollen, twin apples
Together: ah! ah!
Fellows: mea manus est cupida, my hands are longing
Fellow: O vos papillae horridulae! oh, your savage, pointedd nipples!
Fellows: mea manus est cupida, my hands are longing
illas prensare. to grasp them
Girls: suave, suave lenire. it's delightful, delightful to soothe them
Fellows: illas prensare, vehementer prensare. to grasp them, to grasp them firmly
Together: ha! ha!
Girls: O tua mentula. Oh, your penis
Fellows: mentula. penis
Girls: cupide saliens. longing eagerly
Fellows: penipeniculus. little penis
Girls: velus pisciculus. like a little fish
Fellows: is qui desiderat tuam fonticulam. it longs for your little fountain
Together: ah! ah!
Girls: mea manus est cupida. my hands are longing
Girl: coda, codicula, avida! penis, your little penis is eager
Girls: mea manus est cupida illam captare. my hand is longing to capture it
Fellows: petulanti manicula! naughty little hands!
Girls: illam captare. to capture it
Fellows: tu es Venus, Venus es! you are Venus, Venus you are!
Girls: O me felicem! oh, how happy I am
Fellows: in te habitant omnia gaudia, in you dwells all joy,
omnes dulcedeines, all bliss
omnes voluptas. all passion
Fellows: in te, in tuo ingente amplexu in you, in your embrance
tota est mihi vita. lies the whole of mylife
Girls: O me felicem! oh, how happy I am!
Together: eis aiona! forever!
Old men: eis aiona! forever!
O res ridicula! how absurd!
immensa stultitia. that is utterly stupid
nihil durare potest nothing can endure
tempore perpetuo. throughout time everlastingly
cum bene Sol nituit, once the Sun shone brightly
redditur Oceano. it sets in the Ocean
decrescit Phoebe, the Moon wanes
quam modo plena fuit, how full it was a short while ago
venerum feritas saepe fit aura levia. love's tempest often becomes a gentle breeze
tempus amoris cubiculum non est the time for love is not in the bedroom
sublata lucerna because the lamp has been taken away
nulla est fides, there is no trust
perfida omnia sunt. everything is treacherous
O vos brutos, oh, you are dolts
vos studidos, you are stupid
vos stolidos! you are so dull!
One old man: Lanternari, tene scalam! latern-bearer, hold the ladder!
Old men: audite ac videte! listen and see!
Catulli carmina. Catullus' poems
Together: audiamus! we listen!