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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.
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View text without footnotes1 omitted by Orff.
Text Authorship:
- by Gaius Valerius Catullus (c84 BCE - 54 BCE), no title, appears in Carmina, no. 5 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
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.
- Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
- Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
- 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):
- ENG English (Grant Hicks) , copyright © 2026, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- 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, 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.
About the headline (FAQ)
View text without footnotesTranslations of titles:
"[II]. Vivamus mea Lesbia" = "[II]. Let us live, my Lesbia"
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:
- a text in Latin by Gaius Valerius Catullus (c84 BCE - 54 BCE), no title, appears in Carmina, no. 5
This text was added to the website: 2026-08-06
Line count: 13
Word count: 102