Social Commentaries
Carmen XCVII (Burton)
Translated by Sir Richard F. Burton (1894) · From The Carmina of Caius Valerius Catullus (1894)
Never (so love me the Gods!) deemed I 'twas preference matter
Or Æmilius' mouth choose I to smell or his ----
Nothing is this more clean, uncleaner nothing that other,
Yet I ajudge ---- cleaner and nicer to be;
For while this one lacks teeth, that one has cubit-long tushes,
Set in their battered gums favouring a muddy old box,
Not to say aught of gape like wide-cleft gap of a she-mule
Whenas in summer-heat wont peradventure to stale.
Yet has he many a motte and holds himself to be handsome--
Why wi' the baker's ass is he not bound to the mill?
Him if a damsel kiss we fain must think she be ready
With her fair lips ----
Cite this poem
MLA
Catullus, Gaius Valerius. “Carmen XCVII (Burton).” Translated by Sir Richard F. Burton. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/catullus/316/.
Chicago
Catullus, Gaius Valerius. “Carmen XCVII (Burton).” Translated by Sir Richard F. Burton. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/catullus/316/.
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