Attic Nights of Aulus Gellius, Book 19.9.9-11

The beginning of a semester of love poetry

I translated the following and must compare it to the Loeb translation, which was provided.

• The Loeb translation seemed very close, much closer than the Loeb translations of other authors.
• The translations of the comparative adjectives in paragraph 10 seemed to be related to the definitions I found, but not exactly.
• The translation of Aedituus' verses does not contain the charm and wordplay of the original. Neither does my own translation.

9 Sed ne nos, id est nomen Latinum, tamquam profecto vastos quosdam et insubidos anaphrodisias condemnetis, permittite mihi, quaeso, operire pallio caput, quod in quadam parum pudica oratione Socraten fecisse aiunt, et audite ac discite nostros quoque antiquiores ante eos, quos nominastis, poetas amasios ac venerios fuisse."	But lest you condemn us, who are of the Latin name, as if we were surely empty of certain aphrodisiacs and foolish, permit me, I beg, to cover my head, which they say equally in certain that Socates did during an embrrassing oration, and listen and learn from us that our forefathers, before those whom you named, were lovers and devotees of Venus."
10 Tum resupinus capite convelato voce admodum quam suavi versus cecinit Valerii Aeditui, veteris poetae, item Porcii Licini et Q. Catuli, quibus mundius, venustius, limatius, tersius Graecum Latinumve nihil quicquam reperiri puto.	Then, reclining with a covered head, he chanted in a somewhat sweet voice verses of Valerius Aedituus, an ancient poet, and likewise of Licinius Porcius and Quintus Catulus, to which I consider nothing to found more elegant, more charming, more luminous and more terse.
11 Aeditui versus: dicere cum conor curam tibi, Pamphila, cordis, quid mi abs te quaeram, verba labris abeunt, per pectus manat subito subido mihi sudor: sic tacitus, subidus, dum pudeo, pereo.	The verses of Aedituus: When I try, Pamphilius, to speak the emotion in my heart, what shall I seek for me from you? Words fail my lips, Through my breast a sudden sweat creeps: Thus silent, I am infused; while I blush, I perish.