NPM: Catullus, Carmina 101

[starlady]

One of Catullus' most famous poems, and one of my personal favorites. This translation is my own.

Multas per gentes et multa per aequora vectus
   advenio has miseras, frater, ad inferias,
ut te postremo donarem munere mortis
   et mutam nequiquam alloquerer cinerem,
quandoquidem fortuna mihi tete abstulit ipsum,
   heu miser indigne frater adempte mihi.
Nunc tamen interea haec, prisco quae more parentum
   tradita sunt tristi munere ad inferias,
accipe fraterno multum manantia fletu,
   atque in perpetuum, frater, ave atque vale.


Transported through many peoples and many seas,
   I have come, O my brother, for these wretched offerings,
So that I might honor the dead with final gifts
   and speak pointlessly to your silent ashes,
Because Fate stole you yourself away from me,
   Oh, my wretched brother, taken from me undeservedly.
Yet now in these circumstances, these offerings
   handed down from our ancestors, ancient custom and sad duty--
Accept them dripping with tears from your brother,
   and for eternity, O my brother: "hail and farewell."

(for A, and for her brother)

Comments

[starlady]

Thank you.

And yes, Catullus. I'm actually tempted to translate one of the really filthy ones and post it, because I feel like those poems are not as well known as the lyric/elegy side of him. For, you know, obvious reasons.

[marshtide]

O please do. I've read about them a good bit but I'm not sure I've actually read any of them, only quotes from them.

[starlady]

All right, I'll do it!

…Oh man, the real question is, which one(s)?

[epershand]

I'm particularly partial to the *angry* ones, where Lesbia's spread thighs have all the legions of Rome marching through them or Catullus is going to fuck his enemies' mouths so hard his cock rams all the way through their digestive system and out the other side, but you could do one of the nice ones too...

Oh man, what *Ovid* am I going to do? *plots*

[meloukhia]

I...clearly grew up in a weird household because every time I encounter the name 'Catullus' I'm like 'ooooh someone's gonna post a dirty...hey what is this?!'

But this is a particularly lovely not-dirty poem and I love your translation. I needed to read this today.

[holyschist]

HAHA, me too.

[starlady]

LOL. Oh man. No, particularly in high school, there's not even any indication that the non-elegiac/lyrical side exists--well, my teacher Ralph told us that some of the poems were dirty, and then said we weren't going to read them. Even in college we didn't do many of the filthy ones, though we did do some of them.

Thank you!

[recessional]

Oh HIGHSCHOOL. Where they also manage to make it sound like a homoerotic interpretation of the Bard's sonnets is WACKY AND OUT THERE AND CRAZY.

Oh highschool.

[starlady]

What are you talking about, just because they are addressed to a youth does not make Shakespeare homoerotic! & Catullus going on about facefucking men doesn't mean anything!

I really am going to post that Catullus Carmina/Shakespeare Sonnets essay for 3W4DW this year.

[recessional]

Catullus going on about facefucking men doesn't mean anything!

That one endlessly cracks me the hell up. ♥ it.

*ahem* I mean, yes, whatever was I thinking. *deadpan* Clearly the queer agenda Got to me.

[holyschist]

Ironically, perhaps, my introduction to Catullus was via the filthy ones--I wasn't aware of the non-filthy ones!

Oh, internets.

[starlady]

I deduce from this statement that you did not meet Catullus in third-year Latin class in high school, then. ;)

[holyschist]

Nope! Alas, I never studied Latin. (My high school did not offer it, either--French, Spanish, and German only.)

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

That's where I met him! And I translated this poem, too, though I'm too lazy to dig out the relevant binder and find out how clunky my translation was. (In high school, of course, you're graded more on literal accuracy than aesthetic quality.)

[starlady]

Oh, we were still being graded on accuracy in my Latin Lyric class in college, where I read Catullus again. Thankfully.