The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations Preface

Sirmio, bright eye of peninsulas and islands...Ah, what is more blessed than to put cares away,
when the mind lays by its burden, and tired with labour of far travel we have come to our own
home and rest on the couch we have longed for? This it is which alone is worth all these toils.
Hail, sweet Sirmio, and make cheer for your master. Rejoice ye too, waters of the Lydian lake,
and laugh out aloud all the laughter you have at your command.
‘Carmina’ no. 31
Nam risu inepto res ineptior nulla est.
For there is nothing sillier than a silly laugh.
‘Carmina’ no. 39.
Iam ver egelidos refert tepores.
Now Spring restores balmy warmth.
‘Carmina’ no. 46
Gratias tibi maximas Catullus
Agit pessimus omnium poeta,
Tanto pessimus omnium poeta,
Quanto tu optimus omnium’s patronum.
Catullus gives you warmest thanks,
And he the worst of poets ranks;
As much the worst of bards confessed,
As you of advocates the best.
‘Carmina’ no. 49 (translated by Sir William Marris)
Ille mi par esse deo videtur,
Ille, si fas est, superare divos,
Qui sedens adversus identidem te
Spectat et audit
Dulce ridentem, misero quod omnis
Eripit sensus mihi.
Like to a god he seems to me,
Above the gods, if so may be,
Who sitting often close to thee
May see and hear
Thy lovely laugh: ah, luckless man!
‘Carmina’ no. 51 (translated by Sir William Marris, being itself a translation of Sappho).
Caeli, Lesbia nostra, Lesbia illa,
Illa Lesbia, quam Catullus unam
Plus quam se atque suos amavit omnes,
Nunc in quadriviis et angiportis
Glubit magnanimos Remi nepotes.
O Caelius, our Lesbia, that Lesbia whom Catullus once loved uniquely, more than himself and