1, 2a, 2b, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

10, 11, 12, 13, 14a, 14b, 15, 16, 17

Poem 9:  Who's happier or richer than me!

Verani, omnibus e meis amicis

antistans mihi milibus trecentis,

uenistine domum ad tuos penates

fratresque unanimos anumque matrem?

uenisti. o mihi nuntii beati!

uisam te incolumem audiamque Hiberum

narrantem loca, facta, nationes,

ut mos est tuus, applicansque collum

iucundum os oculosque suauiabor.

o quantum est hominum beatiorum,

quid me laetius est beatiusue?

Veranius, of all my friends

worth more than three hundred thousand,

have you come home to your household gods,

like-minded brothers and aged mother?

You’ve come! What wonderful news for me!                  5

I’ll see you safe and hear you tell

of Iberian places, deeds, and tribes

(as is your way), and hugging your neck

I’ll kiss your eyes and laughing face.

However many luckier men,                                           10

who’s happier or richer than me!

Notes
Veranius is unknown. He is mentioned in three other poems – as an attendant of Piso (perhaps serving in Macedonia) and being in Spain (Iberia). This is Catullus’ greeting on his Iberian return.

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