Excerpt from The Carmina of Caius Valerius Catullus A 'cute French publisher lately remarked to me that, as a rule, versions in verse are as enjoyable to the writer as they are unenjoyed by the reader, who vehemently doubts their truth and trustworthiness. These pages hold in View one object sole and simple, namely, to prove that a translation, metrical and literal, may be true and may be trustworthy. As I told the public (camoens: Life and Lusiads 11. 185 it has ever been my ambition to reverse the late Mr. Matthew Arnold's peremptory dictum: - In a verse translation no original work is any longer recognisable. And here I may be allowed to borrow from my Supplemental Arabian Nights (vol. Vi., Appendix pp. 411-412, a book known to few and never to be reprinted) my vision of the ideal translation which should not be relegated to the Limbus of Intentions. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.