Catullus 42 Translation
Introduction
In this poem, Catullus refers to a woman who is not Lesbia. He calls the woman an “ugly drab” and talks about how she will not return his tablets. These tablets have his poems, his hendecasyllables, on them. Catullus wants to follow her, with a friend, so he can get his tablets back.
In line seven, he asks the reader who she is. Then, he answers the question. He calls her the one with the ugly gait who grins like a “vulgar mountebank.” A mounteback is a charlatan, rogue, or imposter. In line 9, he says she has the mouth of a hound.
He wants to stand around her with his friends and chastise her so she will return the tablets. He wants to call her a dirty drab or a rotten whore. He refers to her as filth and a beast, as well as all other worse names he can think of. Considering that he is Catullus, he can think of plenty!
Then, he says that he must not think about it enough. He needs to force the woman to blush. He uses alliteration with the words blush, brazen, beast. He then wants to yell at her with a louder voice, saying the same things to her to give back the tablets. Unfortunately, yelling at her won’t do what Catullus wants. He got nothing for yelling at her because she doesn’t know it.
Catullus then realizes that he needs to change his method and deal with her in a better way. Instead, he realizes that a woman would act in his favor if he compliments her. In the last line, he says he should call her a maiden who is modest and chaste.
The final three lines of the poem do not seem to be from Catullus’s voice. Instead, he writes them as if his friend is giving him advice on how to get what he wants from a woman.
Carmen 42
| Line | Latin text | English translation |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | ADESTE, hendecasyllabi, quot estis | Hither from all sides, hendecasyllables, as many as |
| 2 | omnes undique, quotquot estis omnes. | there are of you, all of you as many as there are. |
| 3 | iocum me putat esse moecha turpis, | An ugly drab thinks she may make fun of me, |
| 4 | et negat mihi nostra reddituram | and says she will not give me back your tablets, |
| 5 | pugillaria, si pati potestis. | if you can submit to that. |
| 6 | persequamur eam et reflagitemus. | Let us follow her, and demand them back again. |
| 7 | quae sit, quaeritis? illa, quam uidetis | You ask who she is? That one whom you see |
| 8 | turpe incedere, mimice ac moleste | strutting with an ugly gait, grinning like a vulgar mountebank |
| 9 | ridentem catuli ore Gallicani. | with the gape of a Cisalpine hound. |
| 10 | circumsistite eam, et reflagitate, | Stand round her and call for them back |
| 11 | ’moecha putida, redde codicillos, | “Dirty drab, give back the tablets, |
| 12 | redde putida moecha, codicillos!‘ | give back the tablets, dirty drab!“ |
| 13 | non assis facis? o lutum, lupanar, | Don’t you care a penny for that? O filth! O beastliness! |
| 14 | aut si perditius potes quid esse. | or anything else that I can call you worse still! |
| 15 | sed non est tamen hoc satis putandum. | But we must not think this enough. |
| 16 | quod si non aliud potest ruborem | Well, if nothing else can do it, let us force |
| 17 | ferreo canis exprimamus ore. | a blush from the brazen face of the beast: |
| 18 | conclamate iterum altiore uoce. | call out again with louder voice, |
| 19 | ’moecha putide, redde codicillos, | “Dirty drab, give back the tablets, |
| 20 | redde, putida moecha, codicillos!‘ | give back the tablets, dirty drab!“ |
| 21 | sed nil proficimus, nihil mouetur. | We get noing by that: she does not mind. |
| 22 | mutanda est ratio modusque uobis, | You must change your plan and method, |
| 23 | siquid proficere amplius potestis: | if you can do better so: |
| 24 | ’pudica et proba, redde codicillos.’ | ”Maiden modest and chaste, give back the tablets.” |
