{"id":17678,"date":"2022-01-11T12:16:01","date_gmt":"2022-01-11T12:16:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ancient-literature.com\/?page_id=17678"},"modified":"2022-01-11T12:16:01","modified_gmt":"2022-01-11T12:16:01","slug":"catullus-97-translation","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/ancient-literature.com\/catullus-97-translation\/","title":{"rendered":"Catullus 97 Translation"},"content":{"rendered":"

| Catullus Biography<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Introduction
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This is another poem that many readers find offensive. In it, Catullus writes about a disgusting person named Aemilius.<\/strong> The first two lines make the reader wonder where Catullus is going with this because he says it doesn\u2019t matter if he sniffed the man\u2019s head or ass. But, he isn\u2019t really going to do it as we find out in the next few lines. Catullus says that Aemilius\u2019s ass might smell better and is smarter than his head.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In lines five and six, Catullus mentions how Aemilius\u2019s anus is better than his mouth because it has no teeth, and his teeth are \u201chalf a yard long\u201d with gums like an old cart frame. This man is thoroughly repulsive. The gums have gapes in them that are like a \u201cmule\u2019s vagina as she urinates.\u201d Catullus\u2019s insults are on-par with Shakespeare\u2019s, and Catullus\u2019s came first.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Surprisingly, this repulsive man has sex with \u201cmany a woman\u201d as well<\/strong> learn in line nine. He is charming, but Catullus wonders how women have not passed him over and selected the donkey at the grinding mill instead. Catullus then insults the women who chose him<\/strong>, saying that they would be capable of \u201clicking the anus of a sick hangman\u201d in line 12.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There is no subtlety to this poem. Aemilius is as disgusting as a dead man who is hanging and the tone of this poem is truthful, not mocking or sarcastic. There is nothing lighthearted or funny in it. Catullus does not like the gap in Aemilius\u2019s mouth, and he must smell awful. There are other poems where Catullus insults the way that some men smell. Culturally, it had to be important for men to bathe and it seems as though Aemilius does not know how to care for his body or his teeth. The fact that women have sex with him is amazing to Catullus, and it should be amazing to readers, too.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Carmen 97<\/b><\/h2>\n<\/td>\n

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Line<\/th>\nLatin text<\/th>\nEnglish translation<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
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1<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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NON (ita me di ament) quicquam referre putaui,<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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I SWEAR by the gods I didn’t think it mattered one straw<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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2<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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utrumne os an culum olfacerem Aemilio.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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whether I sniffed Aemilius’s head or his anus:<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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3<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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nilo mundius hoc, nihiloque immundius illud,<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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neither was better or worse than the other;<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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4<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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uerum etiam culus mundior et melior:<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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or rather his anus was the better and smarter of the two,<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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5<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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nam sine dentibus est. hic dentis sesquipedalis,<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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for it has no teeth. His mouth has teeth half a yard long,<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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6<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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gingiuas uero ploxeni habet ueteris,<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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gums, moreover, like an old cart-frame,<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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7<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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praeterea rictum qualem diffissus in aestu<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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with the kind of gape you’d find in summer<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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8<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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meientis mulae cunnus habere solet.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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on a mule’s vagina as she urinates.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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9<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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hic futuit multas et se facit esse uenustum,<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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He has sex with many a woman and makes himself out a charmer,<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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10<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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et non pistrino traditur atque asino?<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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and yet he is not passed over to the grinding-mill and its ass.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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11<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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quem siqua attingit, non illam posse putemus<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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If any woman touches him, don’t we think that she is capable<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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12<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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aegroti culum lingere carnificis?<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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of licking the anus of a sick hangman?<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Previous Carmen<\/a> | Available Translations <\/a>| Next Carmen<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n

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Resources
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VRoma Project: http:\/\/www.vroma.org\/~hwalker\/VRomaCatullus\/097x.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

| Catullus Biography\u00a0|\u00a0 Introduction \u00a0 This is another poem that many readers find offensive. In it, Catullus writes about a disgusting person named Aemilius. The first two lines make the reader wonder where Catullus is going with this because he says it doesn\u2019t matter if he sniffed the man\u2019s head or ass. But, he isn\u2019t…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ancient-literature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/17678"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ancient-literature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ancient-literature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ancient-literature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ancient-literature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17678"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/ancient-literature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/17678\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18659,"href":"https:\/\/ancient-literature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/17678\/revisions\/18659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ancient-literature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}