Ahhh, Catullus

[greenstorm]

Anyone who isn't familiar with Catullus should be. His stuff is super accessible, and he's been described as 'earthy,' and he's a whole lot of fun, which we don't usually think of the classics as being. For instance:

Wonder not, Rufus, why none of the opposite sex
wishes to place her dainty thighs beneath you,
not even if you undermine her virtue with gifts of choice
silk or the enticement of a pellucid gem.
You are being hurt by an ugly rumour which asserts
that beneath your armpits dwells a ferocious goat.
This they fear, and no wonder; for it's a right rank
beast that no pretty girl will go to bed with.
So either get rid of this painful affront to the nostrils
or cease to wonder why the ladies flee.

or

I will bugger you and face-fuck you,
Cock-sucker Aurelius and catamite Furius,
You who think, because my verses
Are delicate, that I am a sissy.
For it's right for the devoted poet to be chaste
Himself, but it's not necessary for his verses to be so.
Verses which then have taste and charm,
If they are delicate and sexy,
And can incite an itch,
And I don't mean in boys, but in those hairy old men
Who can't get their flaccid dicks up.
You, because you have read of my thousand kisses,
You think I'm a sissy?
I will bugger you and face-fuck you.


or

I stole from you, while you were playing, honey-sweet Juventius,
a kiss more sweet than sweet ambrosia.
But I did not get away with it: for such a long hour
I remember being crucified on the greatest cross,
and then I apologized to you, but I was not able to remove
with any tears even a little of your ferocity.
For at the same time it was done, you wiped clean
your lips, bathed by many tears, with all your fingers,
nor did anything remained received from my face,
just as if it were the filthy spit of a filthy prostitute.
Besides this, you did not hold back from making me miserable,
troubled by love, and tormented in every way,
so that to me that kiss changed from ambrosia
to a bitterer thing than a bitter herb.
Because you put forth such a punishment for miserable love,
never will I after this steal a kiss.

Comments

[firebirdsfather.livejournal.com]

Wow, and here I was, thinking "face-fuck" was a modern term. Interesting reads.

[donnaidh-sidhe.livejournal.com]

It's possible that the translation wasn't done word-for-word, but rather in a slightly looser way that is making use of the impact of today's colloquialisms. Either way, go Catullus!

[greenstorm.livejournal.com]

http://community.livejournal.com/greatpoets/2798190.html

[greenstorm.livejournal.com]

No, they had their own word for it, not just our silly stuck-together makeshift thing. And seriously, how could a concept like that have gone so many centuries undiscovered? There's no way.

[greenstorm.livejournal.com]

I was so wishing I had my poetry collection there Saturday night.

[darthparadox.livejournal.com]

The second poem makes me curious - what sort of connotations did "sissy" (or rather, the Latin word that has been rendered as "sissy" here) have at the time?