Catullus: Poem 5

vivamus

Let us live,

mea Lesbia,

my [dear] Lesbia,

atque amemus,

and let us love,

rumoresque ... omnes ... aestimemus

and let us value all the stories

senum severiorum

of [those] rather strict old men

unius ... assis!

at one single as!

soles occidere et redire possunt:

Suns can set and rise again:

nobis cum semel occidit brevis lux,

when once the brief light has set for us,

nox est perpetua una dormienda.

there is [just] one everlasting night for us to sleep through.

da mi

Give me

basia mille,

a thousand kisses,

deinde centum,

then a hundred,

dein mille altera,

then another thousand,

dein secunda centum,

then a second hundred,

deinde usque altera mille,

then yet another thousand,

deinde centum.

then a hundred,

dein, cum milia multa fecerimus,

then, since we will have made many thousands,

conturbabimus illa,

we shall mix them [all] up

ne sciamus,

so that we do not know

aut ne quis malus invidere possit,

nor can some evil [person] cast a spell upon us,

cum tantum sciat esse basiorum.

when he knows the total [number] of kisses there are.