Catullus 5

Cat. 5.1Vīvāmus, mea Lesbia, atque amēmus,
rūmōrēsque senum sevēriōrum
omnēs ūnīus aestimēmus assis.

Let us live, my Lesbia, and let us love, and let us value all the gossip of stern old men at a single penny.

Note. Vīvāmus, amēmus, aestimēmus: three hortatory subjunctives, 'let us …'. ūnīus assis: genitive of value, 'at one penny'; the as was a small copper coin.

Cat. 5.4Sōlēs occidere et redīre possunt:
5nōbīs, cum semel occidit brevis lūx,
nox est perpetua ūna dormienda.

Suns can set and rise again: for us, once our brief light has set, there is one never-ending night to be slept.

Note. Sōlēs: plural, 'suns', i.e. days. nōbīs: dative of agent with the gerundive dormienda, 'a night must be slept by us'. occidit is perfect here (ŏccĭdit, from occidō, 'fall, set'); compare occīdō, 'kill'.

Cat. 5.7Dā mī bāsia mīlle, deinde centum,
dein mīlle altera, dein secunda centum,
deinde usque altera mīlle, deinde centum,
10dein, cum mīlia multa fēcerimus,
conturbābimus illa, nē sciāmus,
aut nē quis malus invidēre possit,
cum tantum sciat esse bāsiōrum.

Give me a thousand kisses, then a hundred, then another thousand, then a second hundred, then yet another thousand, then a hundred; then, when we have made many thousands, we shall jumble them up, so that we do not know the count, or so that no evil person can cast the evil eye on us, when he knows that there have been so many kisses.

Note. mī: short form of mihi. bāsia: 'kisses', a word Catullus made at home in Latin poetry. The counting, thousand, hundred, thousand, mimics the abacus. conturbābimus: 'we shall mix up the accounts' (a business term: to go bankrupt), so that no one can know the total. invidēre: here 'to cast the evil eye'; knowing a number gave the envious power over it.