Catullus 80 Translation

Introduction

Catullus’s poems show the world that Rome, during ancient times, was open to relationships of all kinds. In poem 80, Catulluswrote about Gellius, who he found to be a pervert and disgusting man. Gellius had sexual relationships with several men that confounded Catullus, who also had homosexual relationships. It wasn’t that the relationships were homosexual that bothered Catullus, it was the nature of the relationships that perplexed him. 

In this poem, Catullus talks about Gellius and how he performs fellatio on men, namedly at man named Victor. In the first four lines, Catullus wonders what is the reason why Gellius wakes up with white lips after a long nap. He then asks if the gossip is true that he “swallow[s] the big erections of a man?” In lines seven and eight, Catullus says that Victor’s ruptured thighs proclaim it because Gellius’s lips show the liquid he has “milked.” 

It does not seem like Catullus is shaming Gellius. He simply wonders why Gellius looks the way he does after waking. Catullus references the color white several times. This could be a reference to the “albus and ater” which was a homosexual term used to describe male homosexual relationships. The albus was the feminine, the receiver in the relationship while the ater as the male in the relationship. Most likely, the references to Gellius having white lips was also a reference to him being the feminine roleplayer in the relationships he had with men. 

Often, when Catullus wrote poems that were not kind, he used a mocking tone. In this poem, that mocking tone does not exist. He mentioned gossip, which shows that people are speaking ill of Gellius. There is nothing redeeming about Gellius in Catullus’s poem about this man. The only person who might have been happy with Gellius was Victor, who certainly experienced pleasure through Gellius’s actions.

Carmen 80

Resources

VRoma Project