Words and Verse
Catullus XXXI (Translation-Latin)
The gem and jewel of isles and almost islands
Sirmio, whichever, by sweetwater lakes
Or wide salt oceans swirling Neptune holds,
But, it's so good to see you once again!
Hardly believing that I'm back at last,
Now safe and sound from Asia's burning plains.
No greater joy on earth than, done with duties,
All pressure off a mind that's still exhausted
With loads of lunacies and aggravations,
To come back home, rest on the home's sweet bed!
And that alone is worth the work and sweat.
Hello! Enchanting place! Be glad I'm back.
Jump and rejoice; oh chuckle Etruscan waters;
If the old home can laugh, let's hear it now!
Original
Paene insularum, Sirmio, Insularumque
ocelle, quascumque in liquentibus stagnis
marique vasto fert uterque neptunus,
quam te libenter quamque laetus inviso,
vix mi ipse credens Thyniam atque Bithynos
liquisse campos et videre te in tuto.
O quid solutis est beatius curis,
cùm mens onus reponit, ac peregrino
labore fessi venimus larem ad nostrum,
desideratoque acquiescimus lecto?
Hoc est quod unum est pro laboribus tantis.
Salve, o venusta Sirmio, atque ero gaude
gaudente; vosque, o Lydiae lacus undae,
ridete quidquid est dome cachinnorum.
Sirmio, whichever, by sweetwater lakes
Or wide salt oceans swirling Neptune holds,
But, it's so good to see you once again!
Hardly believing that I'm back at last,
Now safe and sound from Asia's burning plains.
No greater joy on earth than, done with duties,
All pressure off a mind that's still exhausted
With loads of lunacies and aggravations,
To come back home, rest on the home's sweet bed!
And that alone is worth the work and sweat.
Hello! Enchanting place! Be glad I'm back.
Jump and rejoice; oh chuckle Etruscan waters;
If the old home can laugh, let's hear it now!
Original
Paene insularum, Sirmio, Insularumque
ocelle, quascumque in liquentibus stagnis
marique vasto fert uterque neptunus,
quam te libenter quamque laetus inviso,
vix mi ipse credens Thyniam atque Bithynos
liquisse campos et videre te in tuto.
O quid solutis est beatius curis,
cùm mens onus reponit, ac peregrino
labore fessi venimus larem ad nostrum,
desideratoque acquiescimus lecto?
Hoc est quod unum est pro laboribus tantis.
Salve, o venusta Sirmio, atque ero gaude
gaudente; vosque, o Lydiae lacus undae,
ridete quidquid est dome cachinnorum.
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Catullus XXXI (Translation-Latin)
Catullus XXXI (Translation-Latin)