Catullus 101
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Catullus 101 is an elegy poem written by the Roman poet Gaius Valerius Catullus. It is addressed to Catullus' dead brother or, strictly speaking, to the "mute ashes" that are all that remain of his brother's body.
The tone is grief-stricken and tender, with Catullus trying to give to his brother, taken from him untimely, the best gift that Catullus had to bestow: a poem. The last words, "Hail and Farewell" (in Latin, ave atque vale), are among Catullus' most famous; an alternative modern translation might be "hello...and goodbye".
The meter is elegiac couplet. This was a meter usually adopted for love poetry, such as Catullus's addresses to Lesbia. However, the elegy was originally used by ancient Greek poets to express grief and lamentation, which is why Catullus uses it here.
Contents |
[edit] Latin text and translation
| Line | Latin text | English translation |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Multās per gentēs et multa per aequora vectus | Having traveled through many nations and many seas, |
| 2 | adveniō hās miserās, frāter, ad īnferiās, | I arrive, Brother, for these poor funeral rites, |
| 3 | ut tē postrēmō dōnārem mūnere mortis | That I might render you the last dues of the dead |
| 4 | et mūtam nēquīquam alloquerer cinerem. | And might speak in vain to the silent ash. |
| 5 | quandoquidem fortūna mihī tētē abstulit ipsum. | Since Fortune has stolen you yourself from me, |
| 6 | heu miser indignē frāter adēmpte mihi, | Alas, wretched brother stolen undeservedly from me, |
| 7 | nunc tamen intereā haec, prīscō quae mōre parentum | Meanwhile, however, receive these which in the ancient custom of our parents |
| 8 | trādita sunt trīstī mūnere ad īnferiās, | were handed down as a sad gift for funeral rites, |
| 9 | accipe frāternō multum mānantia flētū, | Brotherly weeping, receive now these flowing with much |
| 10 | atque in perpetuum, frāter, avē atque valē. | And forever, Brother, hail and farewell. |
[edit] Another elegy
This is one of two poems in which Catullus tries to cope with the loss of his brother. The other poem is Catullus 68B. The cause of Catullus' brother's death is unknown, but he seems to have died before 57 BC in Bithynia, a north-west region of modern-day Turkey, near the ancient city of Troy.
[edit] Bibliography
- Cederstrom, E (1981). "Catullus' Last Gift to his Brother (c. 101)". Classical World 75: 117–118.
- Bright, DF (1976). "Non Bona Dicta: Catullus' Poetry of Separation". Quaderni Urbinati di Culture Classica 21: 106–119.
- Howe, NP (1974). "The 'Terce Muse' of Catullus 101". Classical Philology 69: 274&bdash;276. doi:.
- Robinson, CE (1965). "Multas per gentes". Greece and Rome 12: 62–63.
[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. | |
