Suck It (Catullus 16)
The obscenity of Catullus’ 16th poem is playful and satirical, argues Chloe Miller. Rather than literally threatening to sodomize Furius and Aurelius, he is exaggerating the performance of a Roman male. Catullus 16 discussed, translated, and read aloud by Chloe Miller.
Roman portrait bust, 1st century BC.
Pedicabo ego vos et irrumabo,
Aureli pathice et cinaede Furi,
qui me ex versiculis meis putastis,
quod sunt molliculi, parum pudicum.
Nam castum esse decet pium poetam
ipsum, versiculos nihil necesse est;
qui tum denique habent salem ac leporem,
si sunt molliculi ac parum pudici,
et quod pruriat incitare possunt,
non dico pueris, sed his pilosis
qui duros nequeunt movere lumbos.
Vos, quod milia multa basiorum
legistis, male me marem putatis?
Pedicabo ego vos et irrumabo.
Image: Marble Portrait bust of a man, 1st century BC, New York, Metropolitan Museum. Photo: Jorge Elias, flickr.