Vivamus, mea Lesbia, atque amemus
Language: Latin
Our translations: ENG SPA
Vivamus, mea Lesbia, atque amemus,
rumoresque senum severiorum
omnes unius aestimemus assis!
Soles occidere et redire possunt;
nobis cum semel occidit brevis lux,
nox est perpetua una dormienda.
Da mi basia mille, deinde centum,
[dein mille altera, dein secunda centum,]1
deinde usque altera mille, deinde centum.
Dein, cum milia multa fecerimus,
conturbabimus illa, ne sciamus,
aut ne quis malus invidere possit,
cum tantum sciat esse basiorum.
Available sung texts: (what is this?)
• C. Orff About the headline (FAQ)
View text without footnotes
1 omitted by Orff.
Text Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Michael Linton , "Vivamus, mea Lesbia", first performed 2014 [ baritone and piano ], from Carmina Catulli, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Carl Orff (1895 - 1982), "[II]. Vivamus mea Lesbia", 1940-43, published 1943 [ vocal duet with orchestra ], from cantata Catulli Carmina, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in English, a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist [an adaptation] ; composed by Henry Purcell.
- Also set in English, a translation by Dominick Argento (1927 - 2019) , copyright © [an adaptation] ; composed by Dominick Argento.
- Also set in French (Français), a translation by Georges Lafaye (1854 - 1927) ; composed by Darius Milhaud.
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Max Brod (1884 - 1968) ; composed by Adolf Schreiber.
- Also set in Middle French, a translation by Jean-Antoine de Baïf (1532 - 1589) , no title [an adaptation] ; composed by Reynaldo Hahn.
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- SPA Spanish (Español) (Saúl Botero Restrepo) , copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [
Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2003-10-19
Line count: 13
Word count: 67
Let us live, my Lesbia, and let us love
Language: English after the Latin
Let us live, my Lesbia, and let us love,
and as for the he gossip of old prudes,
let us value it all at a penny.
Suns can set and rise again;
when once our brief light has set
our single night of sleep is eternal.
Give me a thousand kisses, then a hundred,
[then another thousand, and a second hundred,]1
then a full thousand more, then a hundred.
Then, when we have had many thousands,
We will mix them up, lest we know,
or lest any ill-disposed person may envy us,
when he finds out how many kisses there are.
Available sung text translations: ← What is this?
• C. Orff About the headline (FAQ)
View text without footnotes
Translations of titles:
"[II]. Vivamus mea Lesbia" = "[II]. Let us live, my Lesbia"
1 omitted by Orff.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from Latin to English copyright © 2026 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.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
This text was added to the website: 2026-08-06
Line count: 13
Word count: 102
