Catullus 13 (idea)

You will dine well, my Fabullus, at my house,
In a few days, if the gods will it.
But only if you bring good food -- and plenty of it.
And don't come without a fair-skinned woman,
And wine and wit and all kinds of loud laughter.
If these you bring, I say,
You will eat well, my handsome;
For the purse of your Catullus is full of cobwebs.
But in return, you will receive pure love,
Or, if you prefer, whatever is sweeter and more elegant:
For I will give you the perfume which Venuses
And Cupids gave my girl;
And when you smell it, you will ask the gods
To make you, Fabullus, all nose.

Notes:

• The poem is in hendecasyllabic meter
• Fair skin (line 4) was considered, in Roman times a mark of beauty
• The word "wit" in line 5 is actually, in the Latin, "sale", which can mean both salt and wit -- Fabullus will have to bring not just the food, but all the condiments as well, including laughter