Catullus 109-116

Original Latin

CIX. ad Lesbiam

Iucundum, mea vita, mihi proponis amorem

hunc nostrum inter nos perpetuumque fore.

di magni, facite ut vere promittere possit,

atque id sincere dicat et ex animo,

ut liceat nobis tota perducere vita

aeternum hoc sanctae foedus amicitiae.

CX. ad Aufilenam

Aufilena, bonae semper laudantur amicae:

accipiunt pretium, quae facere instituunt.

tu, quod promisti, mihi quod mentita inimica es,

quod nec das et fers saepe, facis facinus.

aut facere ingenuae est, aut non promisse pudicae,

Aufillena, fuit: sed data corripere

fraudando officiis, plus quam meretricis avarae

quae sese toto corpore prostituit.

CXI. ad Aufilenam

Aufilena, viro contentam vivere solo,

nuptarum laus ex laudibus eximiis:

sed cuivis quamvis potius succumbere par est,

quam matrem fratres efficere ex patruo…

CXII. ad Nasonem

Multus homo es, Naso, neque tecum multus homo

te scindat: Naso, multus es et pathicus.

CXIV. ad Mentulam

Firmanus saltu non falso Mentula diues

fertur, qui tot res in se habet egregias,

aucupium omne genus, piscis, prata, arva ferasque.

nequiquam: fructus sumptibus exsuperat.

quare concedo sit diues, dum omnia desint.

saltum laudemus, dum modo ipse egeat.

CXV. ad Mentulam

Mentula habet instar triginta iugera prati,

quadraginta arui: cetera sunt maria.

cur non divitiis Croesum superare potis sit,

uno qui in saltu tot bona possideat,

prata arva ingentes silvas saltusque paludesque

usque ad Hyperboreos et mare ad Oceanum?

omnia magna haec sunt, tamen ipsest maximus ultro,

non homo, sed vero mentula magna minax.

CXVI. ad Gellium

Saepe tibi studioso animo venante requirens

carmina uti possem mittere Battiadae,

qui te lenirem nobis, neu conarere

tela infesta mittere in usque caput,

hunc video mihi nunc frustra sumptum esse laborem,

Gelli, nec nostras hic valuisse preces.

contra nos tela ista tua evitabimus amitha

at fixus nostris tu dabis supplicium.

My Translation

Catullus 109: My World,

you promise me that the love

between us will be

everlasting, perpetual.

Great gods, please let her be able

to promise this truthfully–

to speak it, sincerely,

from the bottom of her heart,

so that we may keep,

through our entire lives,

this eternal pact of sacred love.

Catullus 110: Cheater!

Aufilena, good mistresses are always praised–

they accept their reward and do what they agreed to.

But you? Your promises to me were lies–

you give nothing and still keep taking–

that is a crime!

To follow through is a worthy deed for a free woman,

and to not promise at all is fine and chaste.

But to take what’s been given, and then cheat the bargain?

That is worse than a greedy prostitute

selling all of herself.

Catullus 111: Some Advice

Aufilena,

living content with one man

is one of the highest glories for a wife.

But better– far better–

is sleeping with whoever she likes,

rather than be the mother,

by her uncle, of her cousins.

Catullus 112: A Man of Excess

You’re a large man, Naso–

not even a crowd of men could

tear you apart.

Naso, you’re a large man,

and a catamite.

Catullus 113: Sleeping Around

Cinna, when Pompey was first consul,

there were two men who slept with Maecilia.

Now, with him as consul again,

those two remain–

but each one’s multiplied into a thousand!

Adultery– what a fertile seed.

Catullus 114: A “Rich” Man

Mentula is said

(and not falsely)

to be rich, with a fine home in Firmum:

it has everything–

every kind of

game, fish, meadow, field, and wild beast,

but all of it is in vain, for the home’s

cost far exceeds his income.

So I’ll concede it:

let him be “rich,”

provided he lacks everything.

Let us praise his estate,

so long the man himself goes hungry.

Catullus 115: The Menace

Mentula owns some thirty acres of meadow,

and forty of plowland–

the rest? Marsh.

Why should he not surpass Croesus in wealth?

After all he possesses so many great things

in one single estate:

meadows, fields, vast forests, pastures, marshes

all stretching to the Hyperboreans and Ocean’s sea.

All of this is wonderful,

but he himself is the greatest wonder of all,

for he is not a man,

but a great, monstrous penis.

Catullus 116: The Last Word

With an eager mind, I often

hunt through books,

searching for poems of Callimachus

to send you so that you might soften toward me,

and not keep trying to hurl hostilities at my head.

But now I see all this labor was in vain, Gellius.

My pleas had no strength.

I will avoid your weapons,

but you, struck by mine,

will pay the price!