Catullus Poems-69-116

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Poem 83

irata est. hoc est, uritur et loquitur.

why is uritur passive?

because uro means to burn something (it is transitive). Lesbia urit would mean 'Lesbia is burning' a letter or a pile of leaves. As it is, Lebia is being burned, i.e., by love.

Poem 84

Introduction

Poem 84, like so many other Catullan poems, shows the intense aggression and invectiveness that Catullus uses in his writing style. Catullus uses satire, different from his occasional ballistic rampage, to get his point across (Garrison). Catullus attacks a certain Arrius about his incorrect dialect. However, there is a very interesting side to this poem that has remained unanswered. Oddly enough, Catullus was not born in Rome; it is claimed that Catullus was born and raised in Verona, a town in northern Italy. Catullus' first language was a dialect of Latin but it was not the identical prestigious dialect of Rome (Wray). Catullus pokes fun at Arrius' misplaced aspirates; but the question remains: Why would Catullus leave himself open for a similar attack on account of his Veronese dialect (Wray), which differed from the accepted Roman speech? There is no definitive answer to this question, yet we do know that Catullus had mastered the standard Roman Latin when he was involved in his poetic production (Wray). This idea of social acceptance or embracing the customs of Rome, or the latin urbanus, is discussed by Catullus in much of his work.

In any case, Garrison labels Arrius as "the social climber who mimics the accents of the intelligentsia". Arrius is the typical fool who, in his attempts to produce educated or noble speech, is uncertain on where to place his aspirates. This idea of aspirates, borrowed from a Greek tradition, is where increased use of the letter "h" makes the speaker seem to reflect the fashion of the day (as in pulcher for pulcer & sepulchrum for sepulcrum) (Garrison). In Arrius' attempt to make himself seem popular, he continuously messes up, and he is the only person who does not see himself as a fool.

Another interesting note for Poem 84 is this idea of the letter "s".

Translation

Arrius said "hadvantages", if at anytime he wished to say

advantages, and said "hambushes" if he wished to say ambushes,

and then he had flattered himself that he had spoken wonderfully well,

when he had said "hambushes" as loud as he could.

I believe, thus (his) mother, thus his free maternal uncle,

thus (his) maternal grandfather and (maternal) grandmother had spoken.

This man having been sent into Syria, the ears for everybody found relief:

they were hearing these same words gently and lightly,

afterwards they were not fearing such words for themselves,

when suddenly the horrible message is brought,

the Ionian waves, after Arrius had gone there,

were now not Ionian but "Hionian".

Observe: the constant use of the past tense and the frequentatives (si quando...vellet & cum...dixerat) shows how Arrius, once a "familiar feature of the Roman scene", is no longer (Quinn).

Chommoda dicebat, si quando commoda vellet

vellet: subjunctive instead of indicative for the frequentative clause, which creates a sense of repetitiveness and annoyance.

dicere, et insidias Arrius hinsidias,

There is no verb that explicitly goes with both "insidias" and "hinsidias". You must take "si quando vellet dicere" from the line above; we know Arrius is the subject again, so it is acceptable to say "he" or use his name. Catullus may have liked to say Arrius yet again for another "s" in the poem.

et tum mirifice sperabat se esse locutum,

sperabat: commonly means "hope", "hope for" or "anticipate"; however the poem's meaning is better in tact when translating as "flattered himself" (Thomson); going with the theme of Arrius' ignorance, the fact that he is incredibly full of himself and how he considers himself to be of the current times and dialect of Rome.

cum quantum poterat dixerat hinsidias.

quantum poterat: in most cases, "quantum" is generally associated with an idea of "how much" or "whatever amount". Poem 84 focuses on Arrius' speech, so take this to mean "as loud as he could/was able" (Thomson). Another interpretation, although straying a lot from the literal Latin meaning, is "with all the force of his lungs" (Fordyce). Not only does he get his speech wrong, but he always seems to make the most of it.

dixerat: pluperfect with "cum" provides frequentative clause, see "vellet" in line 1

Credo, sic mater, sic liber avunculus eius,

Credo: there is no question that this should be taken sarcastically. The joke Catullus continues with deals with members of Arrius' mother's side where "women notoriously preserve purity of speech" (Fordyce). It is a mockery of his family, showing that even his mother could not keep her speech correct with the current times.

mater: although not explicitly stated, mater is refers to Arrius' mother.

sic maternus avus dixerat atque avia.

Just as in the line above, both the grandfather and mother refer to those of Arrius.

maternus avus...atque avia: maternus certainly modifies avus, and even though it does not agree in gender ending with avia, it does modify avia as well.

Hoc misso in Syriam requierant omnibus aures:

hoc misso: it would appear that Arrius' hard work to climb the social ladder as it were has payed off (Garrison).

omnibus aures: aures is nominative plural, and omnibus is dative plural. Literally translated as "the ears for everybody".

audibant eadem haec leniter et leviter,

Notice that this is the only line in the entire poem where the letter "s" is lacking. This is the result from Arrius' "hoc misso" (Thomson).

audibant eadem haec [verba]: audibant = audiebant; haec is the neuter plural D.O. and "verba" should be supplied (Garrison).

leniter: although literally "gently" or "smoothly", in the context of the poem it would be fair to say "without jarring the ear" (Fordyce).

leviter: similiar to above, literally "lightly"; playing with mood of the poem "softly in a low tone" or "trippingly, without undue emphasis" are also acceptable (Fordyce).

nec sibi postilla metuebant talia verba,

metuebant talia verba: Gross overstatement that adds to the satire of the poem (Garrison).

cum subito affertur nuntius horribilis:

cum: take as temporal - "when"

Ionios fluctus, postquam illuc Arrius isset,

illuc: "there" or "to that place"

iam non Ionios esse sed Hionios.

esse: "were"

Note that the mispronunciations provide the first (chommoda) and last (Hionios) words of the poem (Quinn).