Saepe tibi studiose, animo venante, requirens

carmina uti possem mittere Battiadae

qui te lenirem nobis, neu conarere

tela infesta <meum> mittere in usque caput,

hunc video mihi nunc frustra sumptum esse laborem

Gelli, nec nostras hinc valuisse preces.

contra nos tela ista tua evitabimus acta,

at fixus nostris tu dabis supplicium.

Often, eagerly seeking with a hunting mind poems of Callimachus

that I might have been able to send to you

by which I might placate you to us/me and that

you might not send dangerous spears continuously against my head,

I see now that this labor taken on is to no purpose, Gellius

nor on these grounds did our/my prayers prevail.

We/I will avoid these your spears thrown against us/me,

and you, transfixed, will pay the penalty by ours/mine.

• Note the language of hunting here -- who is the hunted, and who is the hunter?
• Note line 3 -- it is completely spondaic -- what image is created?
• What is significant about the gift that Catullus was hoping to offer?