Catullus 22

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Catullus 22 is a poem by the Roman poet Catullus. It describes a witty and urbane fellow, Suffenus, who loves to write poetry but fails miserably, because his conversational wit does not carry over. Nevertheless Suffenus imagines himself to be an excellent poet, and has his work written up on fine and expensive materials. Catullus notes wryly that all of us practice such self-deception, each in our own way.

The meter of this poem is choliambic, which is relatively uncommon in Catullus' poetry.

[edit] Latin text and translation

Line	Latin Text	English Translation
1	Suffenus iste, Vare, quem probe nosti,	That Suffenus of yours, Varus, whom you know well,
2	homo est venustus et dicax et urbanus,	is a charming and well spoken and sophisticated man,
3	idemque longe plurimos facit versus.	and that man makes too many verses by far.
4	Puto esse ego illi milia aut decem aut plura	I think that those ten thousand or more writings
5	perscripta, nec sic, ut fit, in palimpsesto	by him, nor have they, as it usually happens, been transferred
6	relata: cartae regiae, novi libri,	in a palimpsest: royal papers, new books,
7	novi umbilici, lora rubra, membranae,	new knobs on the cylinder, the red straps of skin,
8	derecta plumbo et pumice omnia aequata.	all things straightened with a lead ruler and smoothed with pumice.
9	Haec cum legas tu, bellus ille urbanus	When you read these things, that handsome and sophisticated
10	Suffenus unus caprimulgus aut fossor	Suffenus seems to be a goat milker or a ditch digger
11	rursus videtur: tantum abhorret ac mutat.	again: he shrinks back and changes so much.
12	Hoc quid putemus esse? Qui modo scurra	What do we make of this? He who just now
13	aut si quid hac re scitius videbatur,	was seeming to be a jester or somebody rather knowing in this matter,
14	idem infaceto est infacetior rure,	the same person is duller than the dull countryside, and
15	simul poemata attigit, neque idem umquam	as soon as he touches poetry, nor is he ever as
16	aeque est beatus ac poema cum scribit:	equally happy as when he writes poetry:
17	tam gaudet in se tamque se ipse miratur.	he rejoices in himself and admires himself so much.
18	Nimirum idem omnes fallimur, neque est quisquam	Surely we are all deceived in the same way, nor is there anyone
19	quem non in aliqua re videre Suffenum	whom you are not able to see Suffenus in some way.
20	possis. Suus cuique attributus est error;	And to each his own flaw has been assigned;
21	sed non videmus manticae quod tergo est.	but we do not see the part of the pack on our back.

[edit] Bibliography

Watson, L (1990). "Rustic Suffenus (Catullus 22) and Literary Rusticity", in F. Cairns and M. Heath (eds.): Papers of the Leeds International Latin Seminar: Volume 6. Leeds: Leeds University Press, 13–33. 

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.