Eliana Dunford and Meg Bradley
Wellington Girls’ College
Translation (Catallus Poem 12) from Latin into English of 12 by Catallus
Translation (Catallus Poem 12) from Latin into English of 12 by Catallus
Poem 12
O Asinius Marrucinus, you do not put your left hand to good use: in jest and drunkenness, out of rashness you steal my napkin. Do you reckon this is a joke? Get out, tasteless fool: These actions are ever so vulgar and unsavoury. Don’t you believe me? Trust your brother Pollio, for instance, who would like to trade your thefts for wealth: for the boy is full of charm and wit. Either return my napkin to me, or expect three hundred hendecasyllables! In value the napkin doesn’t sway me, but it is nevertheless a memento of my dear friends, for Fabullus and Veranius brought back a set of napkins for me from napkin central, Saetaba, in Spain as a gift: it is important that I cherish the napkins, just as I cherish my Veranius and Fabullus. |
12
– Catallus
Marrucine Asini, manu sinistra non belle uteris, in ioco atque uino, tollis lintea neglegentiorum. hoc salsum esse putas? fugit te, inepte: quamuis sordida res et inuenusta est. non credis mihi? crede Pollioni fratri, qui tua furta uel talento mutari uelit – est enim leporum differtus puer ac facetiarum. quare aut hendecasyllabos trecentos exspecta, aut mihi linteum remitte, quod me non mouet aestimatione, uerum est mnemosynum mei sodalis. nam sudaria Saetaba ex Hiberis miserunt mihi muneri Fabullus et Veranius; haec amem necesse est ut Veraniolum meum et Fabullum. |