Catullus 94 Translation
Introduction |
Catullus hates Mamurra. He hates him so much that he wrote seven poems to this man he refers to as Mentulla, or Mr. Penis. Mamurra was an equestrian who served under Pompey and Julius Caesar in Spain and in Gaul. He also had a beautiful mansion, but he did not know how to take good care of it. Catullus disliked Pompey and Caesar, so he often disliked the men who served him.
In this little poem, Catullus makes a statement about Mr. Penis having sex. Then, he questions if a penis can have sex. In line two, Catullus compares this strange event to a pot finding its own herbs. The play on words is thinking about a sexual organ managing to have sex on its own. The idea could also be that Mr. Penis is committing adultery by having sex, which is even odder to think of. Then, Catullus throws the proverb into the mix, too.
The proverb is about as backward to Catullus as the idea of Mamurra having two people who want to have sex with him. One is surprising, but two is shocking to Catullus. The proverb about the pot finding its own herbs involves the idea that most people grow herbs in a pot. The herbs do not band together and move into a pot.
Mr. Penis could be whatever he wants, which is odd to think of because he is so awful in Catullus’s mind. The poems that Catullus wrote about Mamurra all have this odd tone to them, where Mamurra is awful, but he manages to make his way through life. His mansion is beautiful, but it Mamurra has trouble making the land profitable. Mamurra is a penis, and he manages to cheat on someone. It’s easy to picture Catullus giving Mamurra a side-eye glance or an eye-roll when he starts talking about his life.
Carmen 94 |
| Line | Latin text | English translation |
|---|---|---|
1 | MENTVLA moechatur. Moechatur mentula? Certe. | Mr. Penis has sex. A penis has sex? Sure enough |
2 | Hoc est quod dicunt: ipsa olera olla legit. | this is the proverb, the pot finds its own herbs. |
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Resources |
VRoma Project: http://www.vroma.org/~hwalker/VRomaCatullus/094x.html
