Latin Text and Translation
| External audio | |
|---|---|
| Catullus 16 (English), read by Louis Zukofsky, PennSound | |
| Line | Latin text | English translation |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pedicabo ego vos et irrumabo, | I will sodomize you and face-fuck you, |
| 2 | Aureli pathice et cinaede Furi, | pussy Aurelius and catamite Furius, |
| 3 | qui me ex versiculis meis putastis, | you who think, because my poems |
| 4 | quod sunt molliculi, parum pudicum. | are sensitive, that I have no shame. |
| 5 | Nam castum esse decet pium poetam | For it's proper for a devoted poet to be moral |
| 6 | ipsum, versiculos nihil necessest; | himself, in no way is it necessary for his poems. |
| 7 | qui tum denique habent salem ac leporem, | In point of fact, these have wit and charm |
| 8 | si sunt molliculi ac parum pudici | if they are sensitive and a little shameless, |
| 9 | et quod pruriat incitare possunt, | and can arouse an itch, |
| 10 | non dico pueris, sed his pilosis | and I don't mean in boys, but in those hairy old men |
| 11 | qui duros nequeunt movere lumbos. | who can't get it up. |
| 12 | Vos, quod milia multa basiorum | Because you've read my countless kisses, |
| 13 | legistis, male me marem putatis? | you think less of me as a man? |
| 14 | Pedicabo ego vos et irrumabo. | I will sodomize you and face-fuck you. |
Micaela Wakil Janan offers the following modern English prose translation of the poem:
Fuck you, boys, up the butt and in the mouth, you queer Aurelius and you fag Furius! You size me up, on the basis of my poems, because they're a little sexy, as not really decent. A poet has to live clean – but not his poems. They only have spice and charm, if somewhat sexy and really not for children – if, in fact, they cause body talk (I'm not talking in teenagers, but in hairy old man who can barely move their stiff bums). But you, because you happen to read about "many thousands of kisses," you think I'm not a man? Fuck you, boys, up the butt and in the mouth!
Read more about this topic: Catullus 16
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