Poems of Catullus

Poem 3: Lesbia's sparrow is dead

Lugete, o Veneres Cupidinesque,

et quantum est hominum uenustiorum:

passer mortuus est meae puellae

passer, deliciae meae puellae,

quem plus illa oculis suis amabat.

nam mellitus erat suamque norat

ipsam tam bene quam puella matrem,

nec sese a gremio illius mouebat,

sed circumsiliens modo huc modo illuc

ad solam dominam usque pipiabat.

qui nunc it per iter tenebricosum

illuc, unde negant redire quemquam.

at uobis male sit, malae tenebrae

Orci, quae omnia bella deuoratis:

tam bellum mihi passerem abstulistis

o factum male! o miselle passer!

tua nunc opera meae puellae

flendo turgiduli rubent ocelli.

Venuses, Cupids, and all there are

of those of greater feeling, grieve!

The sparrow of my girl is dead –

sparrow, beloved of my girl,

he whom she loved more than her eyes. 5

For he was honey-sweet and knew

his mistress as well as a girl her mother;

nor did he move from her bosom,

but hopping about this way and that

constantly cheeped to his mistress alone. 10

And now he goes on that gloomy journey

from where, they say, none ever return.

A curse on you, Malicious Shades

of Orcus, who guzzle all fine things:

you’ve snatched from me such a fine sparrow! 15

Oh bad deed! Oh poor little sparrow!

Now thanks to you, the swollen little

eyes of my girl are red from weeping.

Notes
An epitaph on a dead favourite animal was not uncommon amongst Hellenistic poets and features in the Greek Anthology, where, as regards birds, there are epitaphs on a cock, partridge, swallow, jay and warbler. However, Catullus has gone beyond mere epigram here. Considering his scarcely disguised jealously of the bird in Poem 2a, the pathos of the poem should not be taken too seriously. The ‘Malicious Shades of Orcus’ are evil spirits of the Underworld.

The Latin metre is hendecasyllables; the English metre is iambic tetrameters.