LXXVI. A DEAD DESIRE

I suppose it must be true that man takes pleasure
Remembering good deeds that he has done,
Considering his conduct as a treasure -
No promise broken - not a single one -
No god's commandment to him ever broken.
No fellow-man deceived in any fashion;
For you, Catullus, yet is many a token
Of pleasure from your ill-requited passion.
For all the kindness man can show to any
In word or deed, that you have done, I find:
Your kindly words and deeds have been so many -
Yet vainly lavished on a thankless mind,
Why not desist from further bitter scourging
Yourself? Resolve to banish all delusion;
Cease to be sad, defying heaven's urging;
Withdraw yourself completely from illusion.
Ah yes! it's hard, I know, the sudden parting
From one whose voice like bells of heaven sings,
But you must do so. Come now, let's be starting -
Work out how you may best accomplish things.
For your own safety's sake you have to do it -
Impossible or not, it must be done:
O gods above! Have pity! Help me through it
From bitter start to when the goal is won!
Preserve me from this plague, this desolation
(If you consider that my life's been pure
Enough). Oh, save me from a situation
That rots me from within, and now, for sure,
Drives from my heart all trace of former gladness.
No longer do I seek her love. Indeed
Her chastity or otherwise no sadness
Brings to me now. No longer do I heed!
Heal me, O gods above, from this abhorrent
Distemper. Let my virtues be rewarded
Let healing grace flow o'er me in a torrent,
And peace of mind at long last be afforded!

LXXXIII. CONSOLATION

Lesbia, when her husband's present,
Utters comments most unpleasant,
And this to him, poor fool, is sheer delight.
You senseless idiot! lf she
Had totally forgotten me,
Then you could say for sure that she's alright:
But now, because she snarls and curses,
I'm on her mind, but what's much worse is
Her attitude! it's one of ceaseless ire -
And so the more that Lesbia natters
At me, the less to me it matters -
For where there's talk there's thought, which breeds desire.

LXXXVII. MY TRUE LOVE HAS MY HEART

There's none can say that she was ever loved.
(At least, with truth) as you've been loved by me.
I tell you, Lesbia, there never was
In any bond so great a loyalty
As that which I'd the fortune to discover
When first I had the luck to be your lover!

XCII. TIT FOR TAT

Lesbia's always sounding off -
She never can keep quiet!
I suppose it means she loves me:
To prove the point, I'll try it!
For her I'll have no word that's kind,
Though I love her just as much I'll find!

CIX. THE PROMISE

Sweetheart, you promise that our love shall be
A thing of beauty and a joy for ever.
Oh, may the gods grant this was honestly
Your purpose - that the bond be broken never,
And that we two be bound for ever Though I love her just as much I'll find! fast
In bonds of love so long as life shall last.

The 'Ara Pacis Augustae'

The ‘Ara Pacis Augustae’ (Peace Altar of August), built to commemorate Augustus’ victorious return from Spain and Gaul, stood in antiquity on the Via Flaminia (now the Via del Corso) under what is now the Palazzo Fiano on the corner of the Via in Lucina. Since 2006 the Ara is housed in an airy glass-and-concrete building beside the Tiber; the Museo dell'Ara Pacis, Lungotevere Augusta, Rome.

The lavish sculptural decoration of the Ara Pacis is among the finest examples of Roman art; reliefs representing the ceremonial procession at the altar's dedication are the first in Western art that can strictly be called documentary. The faces are no mere conventional masks, idealized beyond recognition. These are portraits from life and they still retain their freshness showing identifiable individuals in a contemporary event.

Augustus, in his ‘Res Gestae’ (My Deeds), written during the last years of his life says:
“On my return from Spain and Gaul in the consulship of Tiberius Nero and Publius Quintilius [13 BC] after successfully arranging affairs in those provinces, the senate resolved that an altar of the Augustan Peace should be consecrated next to the Campus Martius in honour of my return, and ordered that the magistrates and priests and Vestal virgins should perform an annual sacrifice there.”

The decree of the Senate authorizing the foundation of the Ara Pacis Augustae was passed on July 4, 13 B.C., and it was consecrated on the 30th of January 9 B.C.

(Ovid's Fasti, Book I, 709�722)

Gather the roses in the morning

Ah, what sorts of roses have I seen bloom in the morning!
They were still being born and the age was not equal for all.
The first covering was leading clusters of berries shaped like buds,
the next lifted crimson peaks from a projecting stone,
the third had now revealed a whole circle of flower baskets,
the fourth likewise shined with the bud of a new flower.
While one lifts its head and the other unties a knot,
thus, while virgin modesty is unwrapped with clothing,
gather the roses in the morning lest they die:
quickly does a maiden grow old.

Annaeus Florus, XI