Catullus 58 and 16

Catullus 58 (hendecasyllables)

(a poem to his friend Marcus Caelius Rufus)

Caelī, Lesbia nostra, Lesbia illa,

illa Lesbia, quam Catullus unam

plūs quam sē atque suōs amāvit omnēs,

nunc in quadriviīs et angiportīs

glūbit magnanimī Remī nepōtēs.

Vocabulary

quadrivium, -ī, n. “crossroads”

angiportum, -ī, “lane, alley”

glūbō, glūbere “peel”

magnanimus, -a, -um “great-souled”

nepōs, nepōtis, m. “grandson, descendant”

Catullus 16 (hendecasyllables)

(a reply to his critics)

pēdīcābō ego vōs et irrumābō

Aurēlī pathice et cinaede Fūrī,

quī mē ex versiculīs meīs putastis,

quod sunt molliculī, parum pudīcum.

nam castum esse decet pium poētam

ipsum, versiculōs nihil necesse est;

quī tum dēnique habent salem ac leporem,

sī sunt molliculī ac parum pudīcī,

et quod prūriat incitāre possunt,

nōn dīcō puerīs, sed hīs pilōsīs

quī dūrōs nequeunt movēre lumbōs.

vōs, quod mīlia multa bāsiōrum

lēgistis, male mē marem putātis?

pēdīcābō ego vōs et irrumābō.

Vocabulary

pēdīcō, -āre “sodomize, bugger”

irrumō, -āre “cause someone to perform fellatio”

putō, -āre “think”

mollis, -e “soft”

parum “too little”

pudīcus, -a, -um “chaste, decent”

castus, -a, -um “pure, chaste”

decet, decēre, decuit, impersonal “it is suitable, it is fitting”

sāl, salis, m. “salt”

lepos, lepōris, m. “charm, grace, wit”

prūriō, prūrīre “itch”

incitō, -āre “incite, provoke, stir”

pilōsus, -a, -um “hairy”

nequeō, -īre, īvī / iī “be unable”

lumbus, -ī, m. “groin”

mille, pl. mīlia “thousand”

bāsium, -ī “kiss”

mās, maris, m. “male”