Catullus 16

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A Priapus figure from Pompeii.
A Priapus figure from Pompeii.

Catullus 16 is famous among Catullus's Carmina because it is so sexually explicit that a full English translation was not openly published until the late twentieth century[1]. Several editions of Catullus omit the more explicit parts of the poem. An interesting example is the 1924 Loeb Catullus: this omits lines 1 and 2 from the English translation, but includes them in the Latin; lines 7-14 are omitted from both Latin and English; a later Loeb edition[2] gives the complete text in both languages. Other editions have been published with the explicit words blanked out[3]. The poem is famous among classicists as a benchmark of classical obscenity and invective.

Catullus addresses the poem to two unknown men, Furius and Aurelius, who are perhaps competing poets, perhaps mere constructs, since invective poetry was popular at the time. Modern Catullus scholarship speculates that they are likely the same people referred to in Catullus 11 and other poems.[4][5][6] Apparently, Furius and Aurelius find Catullus's verses to be mollici (soft, perhaps "wussy" in modern slang). Catullus responds with intense abuse and invective.

Contents

[edit] Rough translation

The following rough translation attempts to convey the attitude of this poem:

I'll fuck you up your ass and down your throat,
you cock-sucker Aurelius and fudge-packed Furius!
Just because my verses are tender doesn't mean
that I've gone all soft. Sure, a poet should focus
on writing poetry and not on sex; but does that
mean they can't write about sex? If a poem is
in good taste, well-written and sexy,
it can tingle and stiffen even hairy old men,
not just horny teenagers. You think I'm a sissy
because I write about thousands of kisses?
I'll fuck you up your ass and down your throat!

[edit] Latin text and translation

A fresco of a threesome, from the Suburban Baths of Pompei.
A fresco of a threesome, from the Suburban Baths of Pompei.
Line Latin text English translation[7][8][9][10]
1 Pedicabo ego vos et irrumabo, I will fuck your ass and fuck your mouth,
2 Aureli pathice et cinaede Furi, Cock-sucker Aurelius and penetrated Furius,
3 qui me ex versiculis meis putastis, You who think, because my verses
4 quod sunt molliculi, parum pudicum. Are delicate, that I am a sissy.
5 Nam castum esse decet pium poetam For it's right for the devoted poet to be chaste
6 ipsum, versiculos nihil necessest(necesse est); Himself, but it's not necessary for his verses to be so.
7 qui tum denique habent salem ac leporem, Verses which then have taste and charm,
8 si sunt molliculi ac parum pudici If they are delicate and sexy,
9 et quod pruriat incitare possunt, And can incite an itch,
10 non dico pueris, sed his pilosis And I don't mean in boys, but in those hairy old men
11 qui duros nequeunt movere lumbos. Who can't get their flaccid dicks up.
12 Vos, quod milia multa basiorum You, because you have read of my thousand kisses,
13 legistis, male me marem putatis? You think I'm a sissy?
14 Pedicabo ego vos et irrumabo. I will fuck your ass and fuck your mouth.

[edit] Notes and technical terms

Latin is an exact language for obscene acts, such as pedicabo and irrumabo, which appear in the first and last lines of the poem. The term pedicare is a transitive verb, meaning to "insert one's penis into another person's anus",[11] and derives from an analogous Greek word, παιδικω, itself derived ultimately from the Greek word παις, παιδος (child). The term cinaede in line 2 refers to the "bottom" person in that act, i.e., the one being penetrated.[12] The term irrumare is likewise a transitive verb, meaning to "insert one's penis into another person's mouth for suckling",[13] and derives from the Latin word, ruma meaning "teat". A male who suckles a penis is denoted as a fellator or, equivalently, a pathicus (line 2).[14] Thus, there is an elegant poetic chiasm (an "criss-cross" rhetorical structure) in the first two lines. Each line has two obscenities; the first of the first line, pedicabo, matches the second of the second line, cinaede, whereas the second of the first line, irrumabo, matches the first of the second line, pathice.

The central pun of the poem occurs in line 4 with quod sunt molliculi, parum pudicum. The word molliculi refers to Catullus' verses and means "soft and tender little verses", as in love poetry. However, mollis can also mean "effeminate fellator", as well as "soft" in the sense of "flaccid penis". Likewise, parum pudicum refers to Catullus, and can mean "wanton" or "fellator". Thus, in explicit modern English, the pun suggests that "just because my verses are little and soft, doesn't mean that I'm the same, that I'm some hussy cock-sucker who can't get it up". This may be translated more delicately with the analogous English pun, "that I've gone all soft".

The rest of the poem plays upon that pun. On the contrary, says Catullus, although my verses are soft (molliculi ac parum pudici in line 8, reversing the play on words), they can arouse even limp old men. Should Furius and Aurelius have any remaining doubts about Catullus' virility, he offers to fuck them anally and orally to prove otherwise.

[edit] References

Wikisource
Latin Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Wikisource
English Wikisource has original text related to this article:
  1. ^ Catullus Purified: A Brief History of Carmen 16. Retrieved on 2006-08-18.
  2. ^ Publisher references censorship for consideration of decency in former edition. Retrieved on 2006-08-18.
  3. ^ translation of poem that leaves out obscene words. Retrieved on 2006-08-18.
  4. ^ Arnold, Bruce; Aronson, Andrew; Lawall, Gilbert. (2000). Love and Betrayal: A Catullus Reader. 
  5. ^ list of poems that Furius is in. Retrieved on 2006-08-18.
  6. ^ list of poems that Aurelius is in. Retrieved on 2006-08-18.
  7. ^ Dictionary. Retrieved on 2006-08-18.
  8. ^ Translation #1. Retrieved on 2006-08-18.
  9. ^ Translation #2. Retrieved on 2006-08-18.
  10. ^ John C. Traupman (1994,1966). The New College Latin & English Dictionary. 
  11. ^ Forberg, pp. 80–189.
  12. ^ Forberg, p.80.
  13. ^ Forberg, pp. 190–261.
  14. ^ Forberg, pp. 190–191.

[edit] Bibliography

  • Adams JN (1990). The Latin Sexual Vocabulary. The Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-0801841064. 
  • Hallett JP, Skinner MB (1997). Roman Sexualities. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-01178-8. 

[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.