We will discuss Catullus's translation of a poem of Sappho next week.  Here are some English of the Sappho poem:

Fragment 31 of Sappho (English Translation)

He seems an equal of the gods,
That man who sits across from you
And your sweet speaking, being near,
Can overhear

And that seductive laugh, which sets
the heart to flutter in my chest
For when I glance your way, my words
Dissolve unheard.

Silence breaks my tongue and subtle
fire streams beneath my skin,
I can't see with my eyes, or hear
through buzzing ears.

Sweat runs down, a shiver shakes
Me deep -- I feel as pale as grass:
As close to death as that, and green,
Is how I seem.

Translation copyright © 2008 Richard Welland Crowell

‘He’s equal with the Gods, that man’

He’s equal with the Gods, that man

Who sits across from you,

Face to face, close enough, to sip

Your voice’s sweetness,

And what excites my mind,

Your laughter, glittering. So,

When I see you, for a moment,

My voice goes,

My tongue freezes. Fire,

Delicate fire, in the flesh.

Blind, stunned, the sound

Of thunder, in my ears.

Shivering with sweat, cold

Tremors over the skin,

I turn the colour of dead grass,

And I’m an inch from dying.

Translated by A.S. Kline