Catullus 14

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Catullus 14 is a poem by the Roman poet Catullus. In it, the poet jokingly complains that his friend is trying to kill him by giving him a book of bad poetry; the poet ditches the book at a bookseller's shop and complains about the pompous poetry of his contemporaries.

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

[edit] Latin text and translation

Line	Latin Text	English Translation
1	Ni te plus oculis meis amarem,	If I may not love you more than my own eyes,
2	iucundissime Calve, munere isto	most pleasant Calvus, because of that gift then
3	odissem te odio Vatiniano:	I would hate you as much as Vatinianus:
4	nam quid feci ego quidve sum locutus,	for what that I did or what that I said,
5	cur me tot male perderes poetis?	why do so many poets evilly destroy me?
6	Isti di mala multa dent clienti,	May the gods give many evils to that client of yours,
7	qui tantum tibi misit impiorum.	who sent to you (poetry) of such impiety.
8	Quod si, ut suspicor, hoc novum ac repertum	Because if, as I suspect, this new and discovered
9	munus dat tibi Sulla litterator,	gift was given to you by Sulla the schoolmaster,
10	non est mi male, sed bene ac beate,	it is not badly to me, but well and blessed,
11	quod non dispereunt tui labores.	because your labors are not wasted.
12	Di magni, horribilem et sacrum libellum!	Great gods, what a horrible and cursed little book!
13	Quem tu scilicet ad tuum Catullum	Which one may be sure that to your Catullus
14	misti, continuo ut die periret,	you sent, so that he might die the next day,
15	Saturnalibus, optimo dierum!	on Saturnalia, the best of days!
16	Non non hoc tibi, salse, sic abibit.	No no, this will not escape you, witty one.
17	Nam si luxerit ad librariorum	For if it is light tomorrow, to the shelves of books
18	curram scrinia, Caesios, Aquinos,	I will run, and Caesius, Aquinus,
19	Suffenum, omnia colligam venena,	Suffenus, I will collect all poisons,
20	ac te his suppliciis remunerabor.	and I will reward you these punishments.
21	Vos hinc interea valete abite	Meanwhile, you, goodbye and go away,
22	illuc, unde malum pedem attulistis,	from where you brought the bad foot [verse],
23	saecli incommoda, pessimi poetae.	troubles of our time, the worst poets.

[edit] Bibliography

Bower, EW (1961). "Some Technical terms in Roman Education". Hermes 89: 462–477. 

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.