Catullus 99 Translation
Introduction
In Catullus 99, the poet writes about his male lover, Juventius, and he did not like it. The kiss was stolen, according to Catullus. He stole the kiss while Juventius was playing, and Juventius did not like it.
Juventius disliked the kiss so much that he washed his lips clean and wiped them with all of his fingers, in lines seven and eight. Catullus uses a disturbing metaphor to describe his saliva as being “as dirty as she-wolf urine” in line 10.
Catullus** felt the kiss was sweeter than ambrosia**; but by the end of the poem, he calls the kiss hellebore. Today, hellebore is a beautiful plant with white flowers. But, in ancient Rome, black hellebore was a potent poison that was used in a concoction called abortion wine. Catullus also mentions how Juventius’s attitude about the kiss made Catullus more than an unhappy lover. Now, he is an angry lover who will no longer attempt to ever steal a kiss again.
This poem has a playful quality to it, despite it being about the anger that Catullus feels about being rejected by Juventius. The original Latin poem was written in an elegiac style, which is usually reserved for poems about love. Even though it has a sing-song quality to it, Catullus shows his frustration. Stealing a kiss is a romantic act, and in many of his poems, Catullus shows himself to be a lover of romantic acts.
Despite the disappointment and frustration that Catullus experiences at the hand of Juventius, the poem is still lovely. You see how Catullus tries to be a good lover, but is turned away and tortured, metaphorically. Even though he was not literally “hung impaled on the top of the cross,” he felt as though Juventius’s act was the ultimate in shame. Stealing a kiss is an innocent act, yet Catullus felt he was being punished like a revolting slave.
Carmen 99
| Line | Latin text | English translation |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | SVRRIPVI tibi, dum ludis, mellite Iuuenti, | I STOLE a kiss from you, honey-sweet Juventius, while you were playing, |
| 2 | suauiolum dulci dulcius ambrosia. | a kiss sweeter than sweet ambrosia. |
| 3 | uerum id non impune tuli: namque amplius horam | But not unpunished; for I remember how for more than an hour |
| 4 | suffixum in summa me memini esse cruce, | I hung impaled on the top of the cross, |
| 5 | dum tibi me purgo nec possum fletibus ullis | while I was excusing myself to you, yet could not with all my tears |
| 6 | tantillum uestrae demere saeuitiae. | take away ever so little from your anger; |
| 7 | nam simul id factum est, multis diluta labella | for no sooner was it done, than you washed your lips clean |
| 8 | guttis abstersisti omnibus articulis, | with plenty of water, and wiped them with all your fingers, |
| 9 | ne quicquam nostro contractum ex ore maneret, | that no contagion from my mouth might remain, |
| 10 | tamquam commictae spurca saliua lupae. | as if my salive was as dirty as a she-wolf’s urine. |
| 11 | praeterea infesto miserum me tradere amori | Besides that, you made haste to deliver your unhappy lover to angry Love, |
| 12 | non cessasti omnique excruciare modo, | and to torture him in every manner, |
| 13 | ut mi ex ambrosia mutatum iam foret illud | so that that kiss, changed from ambrosia, |
| 14 | suauiolum tristi tristius elleboro. | was now more bitter than bitter hellebore. |
| 15 | quam quoniam poenam misero proponis amori, | Since then you impose this penalty on my unlucky love, |
| 16 | numquam iam posthac basia surripiam. | henceforth I will never steal any kisses. |
