Catullus 1

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Catullus 1 is traditionally arranged first among the poems of the Roman poet Catullus, though it was not necessarily the first poem that he wrote. It is dedicated to Cornelius Nepos, a historian and minor poet, though some consider Catullus' praise of Cornelius' history of the Italians to have been sarcastic.

The poem alternates between humility and a self-confident manner; Catullus calls his poetry "little" and "trifles", but asks that it remain for more than one age. This understatement is likely deliberate; Catullus knows very well the quality of his poetry, and also the provocative form it has. He also calls his work "new"; the poems are recently made and therefore new, but they are also new as some of the first examples of Neoteric poetry in the Latin language.

The meter of this poem is hendecasyllabic, a common form in Catullus' poetry.

Contents

[edit] Text and translation

Line Latin text English translation
1 cui dono lepidum novum libellum To whom do I give this charming new little book,
2 arida modo pumice expolitum Recently smoothed with dry pumice?
3 Corneli tibi namque tu solebas To you, Cornelius: For you were accustomed
4 meas esse aliquid putare nugas To consider my trifles something
5 iam tum cum ausus es unus Italorum At a time when you alone of the Italians dared
6 omne aevum tribus explicare cartis To explain every age in three papyrus rolls,[1]
7 doctis Iuppiter et laboriosis learned (by Jupiter!) and filled with labor.
8 quare habe tibi quidquid hoc libelli For this reason have for yourself whatever this is of a little book,
9 qualecumque quod o[2] patrona virgo Such as it is; which, O patron maiden,[3]
10 plus uno maneat perenne saeclo Let it endure for more than one age.[4]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^  A "papyrus roll" (liber, diminutive libellus) was the standard ancient format for a body of writings, and is thus equivalent to a modern "book". Likewise, "papyrus sheets" (cartae) can refer to a "volume" of papyrus rolls.
  2. ^  "To unroll every age in three papyrus rolls" can be less literally rendered as "To give an account of all recorded history in three volumes", and refers to Cornelius Nepos' Chronica ("Annals"), an exhaustive three-volume history of the Greco-Roman world.
  3. ^  O does not appear in any extant manuscripts, but is supplied by modern editors on the assumption that it was in the original, based on context and metrical concerns.
  4. ^  The "patron maiden" may be either Minerva or one of the Muses.
  5. ^  Saeclo ("age", syncopated from saeculum) can more specifically mean "lifetime", "generation", or "century", so it does not necessarily refer to anywhere near the length of time Catullus' poetry has survived for (over 2,000 years).

[edit] Bibliography

Wikisource
Latin Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Wikisource
English Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Wikibooks
  • Batstone, William (1998). "Dry Pumice and the Programmatic Language of Catullus 1". Classical Philology: 126–135. 
  • Rauk, John (1997). "Time and History in Catullus 1". Classical World 90: 319–332. 

[edit] External links

Poems (Carmina) of The Roman poet Catullus
Lesbia poems 2, 2b, 3, 5, 7, 8, 11, 36, 37, 51, 58, 68, 70, 72, 75, 76, 79, 83, 85, 86, 87, 91, 92, 104, 107, 109
Invective poems 10, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 28, 29, 30, 33, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 47, 49, 52, 53, 54, 57, 59, 60, 69, 71, 73, 74, 77, 78, 80, 84, 88, 89, 90, 93, 95, 97, 98, 103, 108, 110, 111, 112, 113, 116
Unusual poetic meters
 4, 8, 11, 17, 22, 25, 29, 30, 31, 34, 37, 39, 44, 51, 52, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64
Hendecasyllabic verse 1, 2, 2b, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 14b, 15, 16, 21, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 32, 33, 35, 36, 38, 40, 41, 42, 43, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 58b
Elegiac couplets 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116
See also the list of poems by Catullus.