Catullus 29 Translation
Introduction
This poem is another that focuses on Mamurra, who Catullus regularly refers to as Mr. Penis. In the first four lines, Catullus asks who can look upon what Mamurra has done as he brought shame as a voracious man and a gambler. He brought his shame all the way to Britain. Catullus them calls upon Romulus, one of the founders of Rome, to look up on what Mamurra has done. While calling upon Romulus, he calls him a sodomite or a molester of men. Mamurra is also a sodomite in the eyes of Catullus, so this reference to Romulus is to further weaken Mamurra.
Catullus then says that Mamurra is on a tear through the beds of as many men as possible, from the lowest man on the street to the loveliest men who look like Adonis. Then Catullus wonders why Mamurra was called up to lead the Romans into Britain. He wonders if Mamurra was called upon because he would be the one Roman to “devour” all of the men he encounters. This word choice was to showcase Mamurra’s insatiable appetite for sex with men. Catullus insults further by suggesting that he would have sex with 20 or 30 million!
Catullus continues to insult Mamurra by asking if he could be perverted anymore than he already is. And, he asks if he has already wasted himself and his money on lust and gluttony. Mamurra’s property was destroyed, but was replaced by Pontus, then by Hiberus, and then by Tagus. Catullus then asks a legitimate question as he wonders why Mamurra would be chosen to the be the Roman that Gauls and Britons fear. There has to be someone else.
The only thing to fear about Mamurra is how he is capable of destroying marriages and relationships. Nothing else. Otherwise, he could be there to direct attention from the leader of Rome.
Carmen 29
| Line | Latin text | English translation |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | QVIS hoc potest uidere, quis potest pati, | Who can look upon this, who can suffer this, |
| 2 | nisi impudicus et uorax et aleo, | except he be lost to all shame and voracious and a gambler, |
| 3 | Mamurram habere quod Comata Gallia | that Mamurra should have what Gallia Comata |
| 4 | habebat uncti et ultima Britannia? | and farthest Britain had once? |
| 5 | cinaede Romule haec uidebis et feres? | Sodomite Romulus, will you see and endure this? |
| 6 | es impudicus et uorax et aleo. | You are shameless and voracious and a gambler. |
| 7 | et ille nunc superbus et superfluens | And shall he now, and full to overflowing, |
| 8 | perambulabit omnium cubilia, | make a progress through the beds of all, |
| 9 | ut albulus columbus aut Adoneus? | like a white cock-pigeon or an Adonis? |
| 10 | cinaede Romule, haec uidebis et feres? | Sodomite Romulus, will you see and endure this? |
| 11 | es impudicus et uorax et aleo. | You are shameless and voracious and a gambler. |
| 12 | eone nomine, imperator unice, | Was it this then, you one and only general, |
| 13 | fuisti in ultima occidentis insula, | that took you to the farthest island of the West? |
| 14 | ut ista uestra diffututa mentula | was it that that worn-out profligate of yours, Mentula, |
| 15 | ducenties comesset aut trecenties? | should devour twenty or thirty millions? |
| 16 | quid est alid sinistra liberalitas? | What else, then, is perverted liberality, if this be not? |
| 17 | parum expatrauit an parum elluatus est? | Has he not spent enough on lust and gluttony? |
| 18 | paterna prima lancinata sunt bona, | His ancestral property was first torn to shreds; |
| 19 | secunda praeda Pontica, inde tertia | then came his prize-money from Pontus, then in the third place |
| 20 | Hibera, quam scit amnis aurifer Tagus: | that from the Hiberus, of wbich the gold-bearing Tagus can tell. |
| 21 | nunc Galliae timetur et Britanniae. | And him do the Gauls and Britons fear? |
| 22 | quid hunc malum fouetis? aut quid hic potest | Why do you both support this scoundrel? or what can he do |
| 23 | nisi uncta deuorare patrimonia? | but devour rich patrimonies. |
| 24 | eone nomine urbis opulentissime | Was it for this that you, o most dutiful father-in-law |
| 25 | socer generque, perdidistis omnia? | and son-in-law, have ruined everything? |
