See ye, maidens, the youths? Rise up to meet them.

# 62

See ye, maidens, the youths? Rise up to meet them.
For sure the night-star shows his Oetaean fires.
So it is indeed; see you how nimbly they have sprung up?
it is not for nothing that they have sprung up: they will sing something which it is worth while to look at.
Hymen, O Hymenaeus, Hymen, hither, O Hymenaeus!

No easy palm is set out for us, comrades;
look how the maidens are conning what they have learnt.
Not in vain do they learn, they have there something worthy of memory;
no wonder, since they labour deeply with their whole mind.
We have diverted elsewhere our thoughts, elsewhere our ears;
fairly then shall we be beaten; victory loveth care.
Wherefore now at least match your minds with theirs.
Anon they will begin to speak, anon it will be fitting for us to answer.
Hymen, O Hymenaeus, Hymen, hither, O Hymenaeus!

Hesperus, what more cruel fire than thine moves in the sky?
for thou canst endure to tear the daughter from her mother's embrace,
from her mother's embrace to tear the close-clinging daughter,
and give the chaste maiden to the burning youth.
What more cruel than this do enemies when a city falls?
Hymen, O Hymenaeus, Hymen, hither, O Hymenaeus!

Hesperus, what more welcome fire than thine shines in the sky?
for thou with thy flame confirmest the contracted espousals,
which husbands and parents have promised beforehand,
but unite not till thy flame has arisen.
What is given by the gods more desirable than the fortunate hour?
Hymen, O Hymenaeus, Hymen, hither, O Hymenaeus!

Hesperus, friends, has taken away one of us.

For at thy coming the guard is always awake.
By night thieves hide themselves, whom thou, Hesperus, often overtakest as thou returnest,
Hesperus the same but with changed name Eous.
But girls love to chide thee with feigned complaint.
What then, if they chide him whom they desire in their secret heart?
Hymen, O Hymenaeus, Hymen, hither, O Hymenaeus!

As a flower springs up secretly in a fenced garden,
unknown to the cattle, torn up by no plough,
which the winds caress, the sun strengthens, the shower draws forth,
many boys, many girls, desire it;
when the same flower fades, nipped by a sharp nail,
no boys, no girls desire it:
so a maiden, whilst she remains untouched, so long is she dear to her own;
when she has lost her chaste flower with sullied body,
she remains neither lovely to boys nor dear to girls.
Hymen, O Hymenaeus, Hymen, hither, O Hymenaeus!

As an unwedded vine which grows up in a bare field
never raises itself aloft, never brings forth a mellow grape,
but bending its tender form with downward weight,
even now touches the root with topmost shoot;
no farmers, no oxen tend it:
but if it chance to be joined in marriage to the elm,
many farmers, many oxen tend it:
so a maiden, whilst she remains untouched, so long is she aging untended;
but when in ripe season she is matched in equal wedlock,
she is more dear to her husband and less distasteful to her father.
And you, maiden, strive not with such a husband;
it is not right to strive with him to whom your father himself gave you,
your father himself with your mother, whom you must obey.
Your maidenhead is not all your own; partly it belongs to your parents,
a third part is given to your father, a third part to your mother,
only a third is yours; do not contend with two,
who have given their rights to their son-in-law together with the dowry.
Hymen, O Hymenaeus, Hymen, hither, O Hymenaeus!

Poem by Gaius Valerius Catullus