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Salient. An Organ of Student Opinion at Victoria University College, Wellington N.Z. Vol. 21, No. 2. March 27, 1958

It's all been done Before

It's all been done Before

(a) The Tongues of Men. 20th century:
  • Darling je vous aime beaucoup,
  • Je ne sais pas what to do. . . .
15th century carol:
  • Make we joy now in this fest
  • In quo Christus natus est.
  • A patre unigenitus.
Through a maiden has come to us:
  • Sing we of him and say, "Welcome,
  • Veni redemptor geniium."
(b) Repetition. 20th century:
  • Down by the shores of sunny Italy
  • In our little rendezvous,
  • We kissed, and then
  • We kissed and kissed again,
  • Exactly like the Romans used to do . . .
Which is historically correct, as we see from a poem by Catullus, first century B.C.:

"Let us live and love, and not care two pence for all the talk of our straightlaced elders. Suns, having set, may rise again, we, when once our brief light's set, must sleep one eternal night. Give me a thousand kisses, then yet another thousands, then a second hundred, then yet another thousand, then a hundred. Then, when we have had many thousands, we shall lose count of them, so as not to know their number—or some evil may frown upon us, knowing the number of our kisses."

Translation of Catullus by D.L.