Catullus

Catullus’ poem mocking the Roman orator Arrius for the pretentious aspirations in his speech (chommoda instead of commoda) shows that changing small details of one’s speech to seem higher class is an enduring phenomenon, says Eli Goings. He makes an apt comparison with the tendency in English to add an extra h before words like “what” and “why,” and argues that its wit and linguistic playfulness is what sets Catullus 84 apart from most other Latin poems.

Chommoda dīcēbat, sī quandō commoda vellet

dīcere, et īnsidiās Arrius hīnsidiās,

et tum mīrificē spērābat sē esse locūtum,

cum quantum poterat dīxerat hīnsidiās.

Crēdō, sīc māter, sīc līber avunculus eius, 5

sīc māternus avus dīxerat atque avia.

Hōc missō in Syriam requiērant omnibus aurēs:

audībant eadem haec lēniter et leviter,

nec sibi postillā metuēbant tālia verba,

cum subitō affertur nūntius horribilis, 10

Īoniōs flūctūs, postquam illūc Arrius īsset,

iam nōn Īoniōs esse sed Hīoniōs.

Image source: Barbara McManus at vroma.org

[For mature audiences only.] There is more to Catullus 16 than hair-raising obscenity, argues Sam Eaton. While many scholars think the tone of this poem is good-natured and jocular, Sam points out that the use of the verb pedicare very rare, and combined with the fierce alliteration of p sounds throughout the poem, likely indicates that Catullus means business. In the context of Roman sexual mores and seen against the background of his other poems, Catullus’ discussion of his own potential homosexual acts is not emasculating, but the opposite: an assertion of masculinity, and a declaration that he will write about his own emotions frankly.

Pedicābo ego vōs et irrumābo,
Aurēlī pathice et cinaede Fūrī,
quī mē ex versiculis meīs putāstis,
quod sunt molliculī, parum pudicum.
Nam castum esse decet pium poētam 5
ipsum, versiculōs nihil necesse est;
quī tum denique habent salem ac lepōrem,
sī sunt molliculī ac parum pudicī,
et quod prūriat incitāre possunt,
non dīcō puerīs, sed hīs pilōsīs 10
quī durōs nequeunt movēre lumbōs.
Vōs, quod mīlia multa basiōrum
lēgistis, male mē marem putātis?
Pedicābo egō vōs et irrumābo.

Image: Bust of Emperor Caracalla, Bartolomeo Cavaceppi, Italian, Rome, about 1750–70. Marble, 28 in. high Source: http://goo.gl/Ghj0jy

The cleverest thing about Catullus 39, argues Zacharia Benalayat, is the way the poem is structured to build up to the insult. Catullus’ roasting of the toothy Spaniard Egnatius for his excessive smiling and dubious dental hygiene comes off as backhanded politeness, an expression of concern, and friendly advice.

Egnatius, quod candidōs habet dentēs,
renīdet usquequāque. Sī ad reī ventum est
subsellium, cum ōrātor excitat flētum,
renīdet ille; sī ad piī rogum filī
lūgētur, orba cum flet ūnicum māter, 5
renīdet ille. quidquid est, ubicumque est,
quodcumque agit, renīdet: hunc habet morbum,
neque ēlegantem, ut arbitror, neque urbānum.
Quārē monendum est tē mihi, bone Egnati.
Si urbānus essēs aut Sabīnus aut Tiburs 10
aut parcus Umber aut obēsus Etruscus
aut Lanuvinus ater atque dentatus
aut Transpādanus, ut meōs quoque attingam,
aut quīlubet, quī puriter lavit dentēs,
tamen renīdere usquequāque tē nollem: 15
nam risū ineptō res ineptior nulla est.
Nunc Celtiber es: Celtiberiā in terrā,
quod quisque minxit, hōc sibi solet mānē
dentem atque russam dēfricāre gingīvam,
ut, quō iste vester expolītior dēns est, 20
hōc tē amplius bibisse praedicet lōti.

Image: A fountain in front of the Pantheon in Rome. Source: http://goo.gl/n4GiCd

Like the recently dead, mourners also come to reside in a transitional state between life and death, argues Ali Becker. Her careful reading of Catullus’ poem on the death of his brother connects the text with Roman funeral customs and beliefs about the afterlife. Drawing especially on the work of Andrew Feldherr (“Non inter nota sepulcra: Catullus 101 and Roman Funerary Ritual,” Classical Antiquity 19.2 [2000], pp. 209-231)
she notes how by Catullus’ vivid but carefully restrained language takes us with him into that state of grief-stricken isolation.

A Roman mosaic showing offerings at a grave. Source: http://goo.gl/TMGsWU

Multās per gentēs et multa per aequora vectus

adveniō hās miserās, frāter, ad īnferiās,

ut tē postrēmō dōnārem mūnere mortis

et mūtam nēquīquam alloquerer cinerem,

quandoquidem fortūna mihī tētē abstulit ipsum,

heu miser indignē frāter adēmpte mihi.

Nunc tamen intereā haec, prīscō quae mōre parentum

trādita sunt trīstī mūnere ad īnferiās,

accipe frāternō multum mānantia flētū,

atque in perpetuum, frāter, avē atque valē.