Greetings
I’ve been reviewing Catullus recently and come across a number of stubborn problems. If any one has any solutions to any of these I would be very grateful to hear them.
[number before the bracket is the poem number]
- What are cum and tum doing in the last two lines? None of the translations I have consulted seem to render them directly. I’d like it to mean something like. “Lesbia is beautiful: this girl is both totally beautiful and has stolen all the charms from all of them?
- What’s the exact sense of “quassa? in line 10?
- I am meant to be following Mynor’s text, but I only have Quinn’s edition. Quinn lists differences with the Mynors text but is unclear on what exactly Mynors has written. What is in the Mynor’s edition and what does it mean?
lines 3-4: “si quicquam animo tuo cupisti, quod expeteres et integellum?: translation and meaning of subjunctive? Purpose?
line 17: “a tum te miserum malique fati? – quinn calls malique fati a genitive of description or possibly of price. I can make sense of neither of these. ? “Ah, alas for you of evil fate? ? But then why is there a –que there?
16)
line 5: does a “pious? poet make sense? Can we perhaps translate a “good? poet or similar?
line 9: “et quod pruriat incitare possunt?: am I right that this is a relative: “and they are able to rouse that which itches??
83) Both Fordyce and Quinn insist that “quod? is to be translated as “as for? in this poem. Why? Why can’t we just translate: “because she snarls??
Many Thanks
