Catullus 42

Last updated
Catullus 42 in Latin and English

Catullus 42 is a Latin poem of twenty-four lines in Phalaecean metre by the Roman poet Catullus. [1]

Contents

Text

Literal English TranslationOriginal LatinLine

Come, hendecasyllables, as many as you all are
from all sides, however many you all are.
A foul whore thinks that I am a joke,
and denies that she may return to me our
tablets, if you are able to endure that.
Let us follow her and demand back.
Who is she, do you ask? That one, whom you see
with an ugly march, laughing as an annoying mimic,
and with the mouth of a Gallic dog.
Stand around her, and demand back,
"rotten whore, give back my tablets,
give the tablets back, you dirty whore!"
Do you not make an As? O filth, brothel,
or whatever more depraved thing you are able to be.
But nevertheless we must not think this enough.
Because if no other is able let us force a blush
from the wild fast of the dog.
Shout out again with a greater voice,
"rotten whore, give back my tablets,
give the tablets back, you dirty whore!"
But we benefit nothing, she is not moved.
Your reason and method must be changed,
if your are able to benefit more:
"Chaste and approved one, give us back the tablets."

Adeste, hendecasyllabi, quot estis
Omnes undique, quotquot estis omnes.
Iocum me putat esse moecha turpis
Et negat mihi uestra reddituram
Pugillaria, si pati potestis.
Persequamur eam, et reflagitemus.
Quae sit quaeritis? Illa quam uidetis
Turpe incedere, mimice ac moleste
Ridentem catuli ore Gallicani.
Circumsistite eam, et reflagitate:
'Moecha putida, redde codicillos,
Redde, putida moecha, codicillos.'
Non assis facis? o lutum, lupanar,
Aut si perditius potes quid esse.
Sed non est tamen hoc satis putandum.
Quod si non aliud potest, ruborem
Ferreo canis exprimamus ore.
Conclamate iterum altiore uoce
'Moecha putida, redde codicillos,
Redde, putida moecha, codicillos.'
Sed nil proficimus, nihil mouetur.
Mutanda est ratio modusque nobis,
Si quid proficere amplius potestis,
'Pudica et proba, redde codicillos.'

42.1
42.2
42.3
42.4
42.5
42.6
42.7
42.8
42.9
42.10
42.11
42.12
42.13
42.14
42.15
42.16
42.17
42.18
42.19
42.20
42.21
42.22
42.23
42.24

Analysis

E. T. Merrill describes the female figure of the poem as "an unknown woman, apparently a courtezan with whom Catullus has quarrelled, [who] refuses to return to him his tablets, and hence these verses are marshalled to enforce the demand." [1] He believes the woman was "certainly not Lesbia, for on no occasion does Catullus speak of her or to her in a tone of careless brutality, without any trace of former regard." [1] Some critics, especially comparing verse 5 with Catullus 43.3 and Catullus 43.6, have thought her to be Ameana, but the position of Catullus 42 between two others concerning her is perhaps an indication that such was not the opinion of the original editor of the liber Catulli. [1] [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catullus</span> Latin poet of the late Roman Republic (c.84–c.54 BCE)

Gaius Valerius Catullus, often referred to simply as Catullus, was a Latin poet of the late Roman Republic who wrote chiefly in the neoteric style of poetry, focusing on personal life rather than classical heroes. His surviving works are still read widely and continue to influence poetry and other forms of art.

<i>Argo</i> Ship in Greek mythology

In Greek mythology the Argo was a ship built with the help of the gods that Jason and the Argonauts sailed from Iolcos to Colchis to retrieve the Golden Fleece. The ship has gone on to be used as a motif in a variety of sources beyond the original legend from books, films and more.

<i>Catulli Carmina</i> 1940 cantata by Carl Orff

Catulli Carmina is a cantata by Carl Orff dating from 1940–1943. He described it as ludi scaenici. The work mostly sets poems of the Latin poet Catullus to music, with some text by the composer. Catulli Carmina is part of Trionfi, the musical trilogy that also includes the Carmina Burana and Trionfo di Afrodite. It is scored for a full mixed choir, soprano and tenor soloists, and an entirely percussive orchestra – possibly inspired by Stravinsky's Les noces – consisting of four pianos, timpani, bass drum, 3 tambourines, triangle, castanets, maracas, suspended and crash cymbals, antique cymbal, tam-tam, lithophone, metallophone, 2 glockenspiels, wood block, xylophone, and tenor xylophone.

Sulpicia was the author, in the first century BCE, of six short poems written in Latin which were published as part of the corpus of Albius Tibullus's poetry. She is one of the few female poets of ancient Rome whose work survives.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sapphic stanza</span> Four-line stanza form

The Sapphic stanza, named after Sappho, is an Aeolic verse form of four lines. Originally composed in quantitative verse and unrhymed, since the Middle Ages imitations of the form typically feature rhyme and accentual prosody. It is "the longest lived of the Classical lyric strophes in the West".

<i>Priapeia</i> Collection of Latin poems

The Priapeia is a collection of eighty anonymous short Latin poems in various meters on subjects pertaining to the phallic god Priapus. They are believed to date from the 1st century AD or the beginning of the 2nd century. A traditional theory about their origin is that they are an anthology of poems written by various authors on the same subject. However, it has recently been argued that the 80 poems are in fact the work of a single author, presenting a kind of biography of Priapus from his vigorous youth to his impotence in old age.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lesbia</span> Lover of Catullus

Lesbia was the literary pseudonym used by the Roman poet Gaius Valerius Catullus to refer to his lover. Lesbia is traditionally identified with Clodia, the wife of Quintus Caecilius Metellus Celer and sister of Publius Clodius Pulcher; her conduct and motives are maligned in Cicero's extant speech Pro Caelio, delivered in 56 BC.

Catullus 51 is a poem by Roman love poet Gaius Valerius Catullus (c. 84 – c. 54 BC). It is an adaptation of one of Sappho's fragmentary lyric poems, Sappho 31. Catullus replaces Sappho's beloved with his own beloved Lesbia. Unlike the majority of Catullus' poems, the meter of this poem is the sapphic meter. This meter is more musical, seeing as Sappho mainly sang her poetry.

Catullus 85 is a poem by the Roman poet Catullus for his lover Lesbia.

Catullus 7 is a poem by Catullus addressed to his mistress Lesbia. Similar to Catullus 5, this poem revels in counting kisses, with a touch of stellar voyeurism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catullus 8</span> Latin poem by Catullus

Catullus 8 is a Latin poem of nineteen lines in choliambic metre by the Roman poet Catullus, known by its incipit, Miser Catulle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Poetry of Catullus</span> Poetry of Gaius Valerius Catullus was written towards the end of the Roman Republic

The poetry of Gaius Valerius Catullus was written towards the end of the Roman Republic. It describes the lifestyle of the poet and his friends, as well as, most famously, his love for the woman he calls Lesbia.

Catullus 16 or Carmen 16 is a poem by Gaius Valerius Catullus. The poem, written in a hendecasyllabic (11-syllable) meter, was considered to be so sexually explicit following its rediscovery in the following centuries that a full English translation was not published until the 20th century. The first line, Pēdīcābo ego vōs et irrumābō, sometimes used as a title, has been called "one of the filthiest expressions ever written in Latin—or in any other language".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catullus 36</span> Poem by Catullus

Catullus 36 is a Latin poem of twenty lines in Phalaecean metre by the Roman poet Catullus.

Catullus 58b is a poem written by the Roman poet Catullus. In this poem he tells that even if he had the power of mythological figures, such as Perseus and Pegagus, still he would he grow weary of searching for his friend, the Camerius of Catullus 55. The meter is hendecasyllabic, the same as Catullus 55. There is debate as to the provenance of the poem. Some scholars have tried to tie it to Catullus 55, though the only connection may be that the writer chose to cut it out of 55. Others believe that it was an earlier draft of the poem. Still others feel it was a separate poem entirely and that it stands well as such. A discarded view is that Catullus did not write 58B.

The name Britain originates from the Common Brittonic term *Pritanī and is one of the oldest known names for Great Britain, an island off the north-western coast of continental Europe. The terms Briton and British, similarly derived, refer to its inhabitants and, to varying extents, the smaller islands in the vicinity. "British Isles" is the only ancient name for these islands to survive in general usage.

Leonard Charles Smithers was a London bookseller and publisher associated with the Decadent movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Juventia gens</span> Ancient Roman family

The gens Juventia, occasionally written Jubentia, was an ancient plebeian family at Rome. After centuries of obscurity, the gens emerges into history with the appearance of Titus Juventius, a military tribune, in the beginning of the second century BC. The first of the Juventii to obtain the consulship was Marcus Juventius Thalna in 163 BC. But the family is renowned less for its statesmen than for its jurists, who flourished during the second century AD.

<i>CIL</i> 4.5296 Poem found graffitied in Pompeii

CIL 4.5296 is a poem found graffitied on the wall of a hallway in Pompeii. Discovered in 1888, it is one of the longest and most elaborate surviving graffiti texts from the town, and may be the only known love poem from one woman to another from the Latin world. The poem is nine verses long, breaking off in the middle of the ninth verse; a single line in a different hand is written underneath. It is in the collection of the National Archaeological Museum, Naples.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Merrill, ed. 1893, p. 73.
  2. Burton; Smithers, eds. 1894, p. 77.

Sources