Catullus Poems-1-60

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Poem 1

Put an introductory note here.

Cui dono lepidum novum libellum

lepidus -a -um: fine, elegant

arida modo pumice expolitum?

jksjdf s djf asjdf a sd

[1] [2]

Media:Test.mp3

meas esse aliquid putare nugas.

commentary

first line \ blah

blah

Poem 2

et acris solet incitare morsus,

Is passer the subject of solet? I've got the sense, but I'm not sure how exactly to put it all together. Can we possibly go over how pronouns work?

Actually puella is the subject, translate 'she is accustomed . . .'

What case are acris and morsus? (I am thinking they must be genitive plural, but can't see how that makes sense...)

both are accusative plural, objects of incitare. acris would be acres in prose; this is a poetic accusative plural form in the third declension. He does this again just below . . . tristis [=tristes]. . . curas. That final i is long.

Poem 5

rumoresque senum severiorum

senum: is this senex genative plural? if so shouldn't it be senium or is this a poetic spelling?

Poem 16

quod sunt molliculi, parum pudicum.

Is pudicum just a syncopated pudicorum (gen, masculine, pl)?

no, just accusative singular, agreeing with me in the previous line

Poem 42

Introduction to Catullus 42

Catullus 42 expresses the poet’s anger at a woman who refuses to return his writing tablets to him. In order to get the tablets back, Catullus blends his own habit of writing invective poems with the Roman custom of flagitatio, in which a crowd is paid to publicly harass a person, embarrassing them with scandalous vulgarities and insults until they give in to whatever the demands may be. Historically, the critical approaches to 42 have reflected contemporary social norms, with some critics reading the vulgarity of the abuse as “a wry critique of flagitatio as a judicial institution” (Selden qtd in Wray), while more recent critics find it less difficult to believe that Catullus simply meant what he said. Failing to embarrass her into returning the tablets, Catullus tries a different tactic: flattering her. Deveneyt 18:13, 28 April 2008 (EDT)

Translation

Come to me, poems, as many as you are

all of you, from all directions, all of you, as many as you are.

The disgusting slut thinks I’m a joke,

and says that she will not return your tablets to me,

how do you like that?

Let us harass her and shout our demands.

Who is she, you ask? She, whom you see now,

strutting indecently, like a vulgar actress,

laughing annoyingly like an ugly dog showing its teeth.

Surround her, and shout our demands:

“Foul slut, give back the tablets!

Give them back, you foul slut!”

You don’t care? Oh, you mud, you whorehouse,

or if there’s anything that could be more depraved, that’s what you are.

But we must not, however, let it go at this.

So if nothing else is possible,

let us wring a blush from her brazen dog’s face.

Shout out again in a louder voice:

“Foul slut, give back the tablets!

Give them back, you foul slut!”

But we’re getting nowhere, she is not moved at all.

Your method and your mode must be changed,

if you’re going to make any further progress:

“Fine and chaste girl, pretty please, return the tablets!”

Deveneyt 18:13, 28 April 2008 (EDT)