Catullus - Poem 80

Latin Learning Latin
1

Hi all,

I’ve two questions about Poem 80.

  1. What use of the ablative is “longo…die” in line 4? Have I translated it correctly?
  2. How do I translate, “Nescio quid certe est…”? Is it supposed to be an indirect question? (with the indicative??) So far, I’ve come up with, “I certainly do not know anything…” What do you make of it?

Here’s my translation thus far:

Catullus 80
Quid dicam, Gelli, quare rosea ista labella
hiberna fiant candidiora nive,
mane domo cum exis et cum te octava quiete
e molli longo suscitat hora die?
nescio quid certe est: an vere fama susurrat
grandia te medii tenta vorare viri?
sic certe est: clamant Victoris rupta miselli
ilia, et emulso labra notata sero.

What am I to say, Gellius, why those rosey lips
of yours become whiter than the winter snow,
when you leave from your house in the morning
and when the eighth hour awakens you from your gentle rest from the long day?
I do not know what certainly is: whether the rumor whispers truly
that you devour the full-grown erections from the middle of a man?
Certainly is thus: they cry out that wretched Victor’s testicles have been destroyed,
and that your lips have been branded with sucked-out cum.

Thanks for your help!

2

I usually don’t consider myself a prude, but I was a bit startled on reading the candidness of the translation! Evidently I’m not up to speed on my Latin sexual vocabulary…

  1. What use of the ablative is “longo…die” in line 4? Have I translated it correctly?

Probably just the ablative of time when: “the eighth hour of a long day” (lit. “in a long day.”)

  1. How do I translate, “Nescio quid certe est…”? Is it supposed to be an indirect question? (with the indicative??) So far, I’ve come up with, “I certainly do not know anything…” What do you make of it?

Nescio + quis/quid is often a set expression meaning “something or other.” So “heri nescio quis hic uenit” - “Yesterday someone or other came here.” Maybe you could translate this as “something is certain.” (In such constructions, of course, nescio loses its verbal force and blends with the interrogative to produce the indefinite. Compare quilibet, quiuis)

3

Here ya go:

http://www.obscure.org/obscene-latin/

4

I’ve been to the site before. On my first visit, I was highly disappointed by the “concordance” they provide of Catullus poems. All it does (slightly useful, I suppose, but not very much so) is provide a comprehensive list of every time a single form appears in the Catullan corpus. Not that it is form only – NOT word! In an inflected language like Latin, that’s really useless.

The vocabulary was nice, but unfortunately it didn’t contain the terms used in the poem that Deccius was asking about.

-David