Si, Comini, populi arbitrio tua cana senectus
Spurcata inpuris moribus intereat,
Non equidem dubito quin primum inimica bonorum
Lingua execta avido sit data volturio,
Effossos oculos voret atro gutture corvos, 5
Intestina canes, cetera membra lupi.
If by the verdict o’ folk thy hoary old age (O Cominius!)
Filthy with fulsomest lust ever be doomed to the death,
Make I no manner of doubt but first thy tongue to the worthy
Ever a foe, cut out, ravening Vulture shall feed;
Gulp shall the Crow’s black gorge those eye-balls dug from their sockets, 5
Guts of thee go to the dogs, all that remains to the wolves.
If, O Cominius, by the people’s vote thy hoary age made filthy by unclean practices shall perish, forsure I doubt not but that first thy tongue, hostile to goodness, cut out, shall be given to the greedy vulture-brood, thine eyes, gouged out, shall the crows gorge down with sable maw, thine entrails [shall be flung] to the dogs, the members still remaining to the wolf.
http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/c/catullus/carmina/poem108.html
Last updated Monday, November 5, 2012 at 16:32