Catullus 29

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Catullus 29 is a poem written by the Roman poet Gaius Valerius Catullus. It is one of Catullus' most infamous attacks on Julius Caesar and his chief engineer and sometimes lover Mamurra. Here Mamurra is criticised as a social upstart who, through the agency of Caesar and Pompey, has risen up the social tree and is spending too much money. Caesar is criticised for allowing this to happen. This view is corroborated by Cicero's description of Mamurra. Catullus would have been especially affected by this since one of the provinces plundered for Mamurra's personal wealth was the one he originated from (Transalpine Gaul). Catullus's father, as a banker in Verona, would have felt the full force of raised taxes. In addition, Catullus' frustration at not being able to feather his own nest in his provincial posting may be conferred upon Mamurra as thinly disguised jealousy. Catullus's choice of meter suggests that as pure invective the poem is more formal than plain hendecasyllables.

[edit] Scansion

Iambic trimeter composed of three sets of a pair of iambs, s L s L | s L s l|s L s l, where the ictus falls on the second syllable of each foot, lending it a sound comparable to that of a train passing a join in the tracks, or a rock'n'roll beat.

[edit] Text and transaltion

Line	Latin text	English translation
1	Quis hoc potest videre, quis potest pati,	Who can witness this, who can tolerate it,
2	nisi impudicus et vorax et aleo,	except a shameless and insatiable gambler,
3	Mamurram habere quod comata Gallia	that Mamurra should have what Gaul,
4	habebat ante et ultima Britannia?	and Britain farthest once had?
5	Cinaede Romule, hoc videbis et feres?	Romulus, you sodomite, will you see and allow this?
6	es impudicus et uorax et aleo.	You are a shameless insatiable gambler.
7	Et ille nunc superbus et superfluens	And shall he now, already overflowing,
8	perambulabit omnium cubilia,	make rounds of everyone's bed,
9	ut albulus columbus aut Adoneus?	like a white cock-pigeon or an Adonis?
10	Cinaede Romule, hoc videbis et feres?	Romulus, you sodomite, will you see and allow this?
11	Es impudicus et vorax et aleo.	You are a shameless insatiable gambler.
12	Eone nomine, imperator unice,	Was it not this, "one and only general",
13	fuisti in ultima occidentis insula,	that took you to the farthest island of the West?
14	ut ista nostra diffututa mentula	so that fucked dick (i.e. imbicile) of yours,
15	ducenties comesset aut trecenties?	should consume two or three hundred (thousand dinarii)?
16	Quid est? Alit sinistra liberalitas.	What, then, is a perverted gift, if not this?
17	Parum expatravit an parum elluatus est?	has he not achieved enough gluttony?
18	Paterna prima lancinata sunt bona,	First his ancestral estate was torn into pieces,
19	secunda praeda Pontica, inde tertia	next came his spoils from Pontius, and then
20	Hibera, quam scit amnis aurifer Tagus;	from the Iberus, which the gold-bearing Tagus knows well:
21	nunc Galliae timetur et Britanniae.	do the Gauls and Britons fear him?
22	Quid hunc, malum, fovetis? aut quid hic potest	Why cherish this scoundrel? What can he do,
23	nisi uncta devorare patrimonia?	but smear and devour inheritances?
24	Eone nomine, urbis o potissimi	Was it for this that you, o opulent father in law
25	socer generque, perdidistis omnia?	and son in law, have laid all to waste?

[edit] Sources

• Catullus website Last modified June 2006. Written by Rudy Negenborn.
• Catullus translation and text.
• Whitakers Words: An online dictionary.
• Fordyce, C. J. Catullus, a commentary. Oxford University Press, Great Britain, 1961
• Lee, Guy. Catullus, a new translation. Oxford University Press, Great Britain, 1990
• Lewis, C.T. Elementary Latin Dictionary. Oxford University Press, Oxford, Great Britain, 1894
• Loeb Classical Library. Catullus translations by F. W. Cornish. Revised by G.P. Goold. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1913 (this edition 1995)
• Wiseman, T. P. Catullus and his World, a reappraisal. Cambridge University Press, Great Britain, 1985