CATULLUS How can we translate Propertius and Catullus poems into clear, idiomatic English?

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Tyler Harrison
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1 R - 3 / R - 4 / R - 6 / R - 8 IB Latin Yr 1 C.65 CATULLUS.65 PAPER 9 The essential questions for our study of Latin lyric poetry are: 1. How can we translate Propertius and Catullus poems into clear, idiomatic English? 2. In what ways and to what effect do Catullus and Propertius embody the ideals and style of the Neoteric poets? 3. In what ways to what effect do Catullus and Propertius poems reflect the language and conventions of Latin lyric poetry? CONTEXT We are reading poem 65 in the collected works of Gaius Valerius Catullus. Catullus, an equestrian who lived during the waning years of the Roman republic, shied away from politics and devoted himself to lyric poetry. His poetry and that of his friends and competitors took the loves and distresses of daily life as topics, and valued the wit and sophistication of educated urbanites. In poem 65, Catullus writes to his friend Quintus Hortensius Ortalus about the struggles he s faced over the loss of his brother. Unable to write his own poetry and consumed by thoughts of his brother s corpse and final resting place, he sends Ortalus translations of Callimachus so that his friend not think he forgot to reply to the poem he sent to him. Catullus ends the poem with an odd simile in which he compares Ortalus words to a gift exchanged between two young lovers that is embarrassingly discovered by one s mother. Rife with mythological and personal references, this poem, though distinct in its content from his romantic love poetry, includes many of the features traditional for Catullus lyric oeuvre. page 1 of 9

2 SUMMARY SENTENCES DIRECTIONS: Annotate and translate the sentences below, which summarize Catullus ego assiduō dolōre confectus sum et mea cūra mē ā Musīs sevocat. 2. mea mēns nōn scribere potest quia tantīs malīs fluctuat. 3. frātre ē nostrīs oculīs ablatō, unda Lethaea* in pallidulō pede alluit dum corpus eius subter litore Rhoeteō in Troiā est. 4. quamquam posthac tē, frater, numquam aspiciam, semper tē amābō. 5. in tantīs maeroribus, carmina Battiadae* tibi, Ortale*, mittō ut nōn putēs tua verba ē meō animō effluxisse. 6. sīcut malum, furtivum munus, missum ā suō sponsō, ē gremiō virginis prōcurrit et excutitur ubi illa adventū matris prōsilit. 7. postquam ē mollī veste litterae praecipitēs aguntur, conscius rubor ōre tristis puellae manat. *Lethaeus, -a, -um of the river Lethe (river of forgetfulness in the Underworld) *Battides, -ae m. a person from Cyrene (= Callimachus, a Greek poet) *Ortalus, -ī m. Quintus Hortentsius Ortalus (the addressee of the poem) page 2 of 9

3 SECTION A Lines 1-8 etsi mē assiduō confectum cūra dolōre sēvocat ā doctīs, Hortale, virginibus 1, nec potis est dulcis Musārum exprōmēre fētus mēns animī, tantīs fluctuat ipsa malīs namque meī nūper Lethaeō* in gurgite frātris pallidulum manāns alluit unda pedem, Trōia Rhoeteō quem subter litore tellus ēreptum nostrīs obterit ex oculīs Reference to the Muses page 3 of 9

4 SECTION B Lines 9-17 numquam egō tē, vitā frater amābilior, aspiciam posthac? at certē semper amābō, semper maesta tuā carmina morte canam, qualia sub densīs ramōrum concinit umbrīs Daulias 2, absūmptī fata gemēns Itylī 3 -- sed tamen in tantīs maerōribus, Ortale*, mittō haec expressa tibī carmina Battiadae*, ne tua dicta vagīs nequiquam crēdita ventīs effluxisse meō fortē putēs animō, Daulias, -adis f. of the city of Daulis (in Phocis); Daulian A reference to Philomela, a daughter of king Pandion of Athens who is raped by her brother-in-law and has her tongue cut out so that she will not reveal the crime. She instead weaves a tapestry depicting her assault and sends it to her sister, Procne, who kills her son and feeds him to her husband, Tereus. Tereus chases the sisters with an axe upon discovering the nature of his meal and the two sisters flee and pray to the gods to change their form; Procne is transformed into a swallow and Philomela into a nightingale) 3 Itylus, -ī m. Itylus (son of Procne and Tereus) page 4 of 9

5 SECTION C Lines ut missum sponsī furtīvō mūnere mālum prōcurrit castō virginis ē gremiō, quod miserae oblītae mollī sub veste locātum, dum adventū mātris prōsilit, excutitur, atque illud prōnō praeceps agitur dēcursū, huic manat tristī conscius ōre rubor page 5 of 9

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vellet sperabat: quantum poterat Catallus Caius Valerius Catullus was perhaps Rome's greatest lyric poet. He was born in Verona, in the north of Italy, around 84 BC but seems to have spent most of his short life in Rome. The period 84