Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

T. R. Smith, comp. Poetica Erotica: Rare and Curious Amatory Verse. 1921–22.

To Mamurra’s Mistress

By Gaius Valerius Catullus (c. 84–c. 54 B.C.)

(Translated by George Lamb, 1821)

THOUGH splaw thy feet, and snub thy nose,
Thy fingers short, and unlike sloes
Thine eyes in hue may be;
Thy lip with driv’lling moisture dew’d,
Thy language vulgar, manners rude,	5
Yet wanton, hail to thee!
And does the province praise thy grace;
And e’en presume thy form and face
With Lesbia to compare?
Then why should I thy charms dispraise?	10
’Mid vulgar fools, in tasteless days,
’Tis useless to be fair.