LV

I beg you, if it’s not too inconvenient,

To show me where your shady hiding places are.

I have searched for you on the smaller Campus,

I have searched for you in the Circus Maximus,

Among all the bookstalls, I have searched for you

In the holy temple of Greatest Jupiter.

I grabbed all the young girls, my friend,

Gathering in the colonnade of Pompey the Great,

But I saw that their faces were blank.

So I began to entreat them,

‘You worst of girls, give me Camerius!’

One of them said, unveiling her naked flesh …

‘Look, here he is, hiding between my rosy breasts.’

It has become a labour of Hercules to fetch you.

You deny us your company by such arrogance, my friend.

Tell us where you’ll be in future, announce it

Boldly, be one with us, trust the light.

Are the milk-white girls holding you now in their embrace?

If you hold your tongue, keep your mouth shut,

You will dispose of all the rewards of love.

Venus revels in words, lots of words.

Alternatively, if you wish, shut your mouth,

But only if I can be privy to your affair.