Catullus

Cacchione_podcast_Latin112_2013

Catullus 46 expresses the poet’s eagerness to set off for home, following his travels in the famous cities of Asia Minor, in the spring of 56 BC. Victoria Cacchione argues that Catullus’ use of sonorous and unusual Latin words, and his naming of the foreign cities he visited, lend the poem a certain sophistication, but do not diminish the sense of eager restlessness that comes through so powerfully.  Catullus 46, discussed, translated, and read aloud by Victoria Cacchione.

Iam ver egelidos refert tepores,

iam caeli furor aequinoctialis

iucundis Zephyri silescit auris.

Linquantur Phrygii, Catulle, campi

Nicaeaeque ager uber aestuosae:

ad claras Asiae volemus urbes.

Iam mens praetrepidans avet vagari,

iam laeti studio pedes vigescunt.

O dulces comitum valete coetus,

longe quos simul a domo profectos

diversae varie viae reportant.