Him rival to the gods I place,
 Him loftier yet, if loftier be,
Who, Lesbia, sits before thy face,
 Who listens and who looks on thee;

Thee smiling soft. Yet this delight
 Doth all my sense consign to death;
For when thou dawnest on my sight,
 Ah, wretched! flits my labouring breath.

My tongue is palsied. Subtly hid
 Fire creeps me through from limb to limb:
My loud ears tingle all unbid:
 Twin clouds of night mine eyes bedim.

Ease is my plague: ease makes thee void,
 Catullus, with these vacant hours,
And wanton: ease that hath destroyed
 Great kings, and states with all their powers.