Catullus 101
by Catullus, translated from Latin by Wikisource
191753Catullus 101Catullus
Literal English Translation Original Latin Line

Carried through many nations and many seas,
I arrive, brother, at these miserable funeral rites,
So that I might bestow you with the final gift of death
And might speak in vain to the silent ash.
Since Fortune has stolen you yourself from me,
Alas, wretched brother, unfairly stolen from me,
Meanwhile, however, receive these which in the ancient custom of [our] parents
were handed down as a sad gift for funeral rites,
dripping much with fraternal weeping,
And forever, brother, hail and farewell.

Multās per gentēs et multa per aequora vectus
     adveniō hās miserās, frāter, ad īnferiās,
ut tē postrēmō dōnārem mūnere mortis
     et mūtam nēquīquam alloquerer cinerem.
quandoquidem fortūna mihī tētē abstulit ipsum.
     heu miser indignē frāter adēmpte mihi,
nunc tamen intereā haec, prīscō quae mōre parentum
     trādita sunt trīstī mūnere ad īnferiās,
accipe frāternō multum mānantia flētū,
     atque in perpetuum, frāter, avē atque valē.

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