Sparrow, my maiden's delight

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by Gaius Valerius Catullus (c84 BCE - 54 BCE)

Translation © by Grant Hicks

Atalanta picks up the apples

(Sung text for setting by R. Beckett)

See original

Language: Latin

Our translations: ENG

 ... 
...
Tam gratum est mihi quam ferunt puellae
pernici aureolum fuisse malum,
quod zonam soluit diu ligatam.

Note: the text above is taken from lines 11-14 of the original text.

Note: some text has been lost from the original as indicated by "[...]".

Note for the final line: Beckett's setting seems to use the spelling "ligitam" but this may be a typo.

Composition:

Ronald A. Beckett

Three Latin Poems by Catullus

Songs and Arias

Text Authorship:

by Gaius Valerius Catullus (c84 BCE - 54 BCE), no title, appears in Carmina, no. 2

See other settings of this text.

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

ENG English (Grant Hicks) , copyright © 2025, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ITA Italian (Italiano) (Mario Rapisardi) , no title, first published 1889

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Grant Hicks [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 66

Atalanta picks up the apples

(Sung text translation for setting by R. Beckett)

See original

Language: English after the Latin

 ... 
...
I find it as pleasing as, they say,
the fleet-footed maiden found the golden apple,
which loosed her long-bound girdle.

Note: the text above is taken from lines 11-14 of the original text.

Note for line 13: the "fleet-footed maiden" is Atalanta, who according to myth ran so swiftly that no man could outrun her. She vowed that she would marry only a suitor who could best her in a footrace, and Hippomenes did just that by distracting her during their race using golden apples that the goddess Aphrodite had given him.

Text Authorship:

Translation from Latin to English copyright © 2025 by Grant Hicks, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
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Based on:

a text in Latin by Gaius Valerius Catullus (c84 BCE - 54 BCE), no title, appears in Carmina, no. 2
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This text was added to the website: 2025-09-02
Line count: 14
Word count: 98