The Poetry of Gaius Valerius Catullus/22

Text and Translation Meter - Limping Iambics LineLatin TextEnglish Translation1Suffenus iste, Vare, quem probe nosti,That Suffenus, Varus, who is well known,2homo est venustus et dicax et urbanus,is a charming and well-spoken and sophisticated man,3idemque longe plurimos facit versus.and this same man writes rather many verses by far.4Puto esse ego illi milia aut decem aut pluraI think that there are a thousand or ten thousand or more authored by him5perscripta, nec sic ut fit in palimpsestoand not related on palimpsest, as it is usually done,6relata: cartae regiae, novi libri,regal sheets, new books,7novi umbilici, lora rubra, membranae,new scroll knobs, red straps, cover skins,8derecta plumbo et pumice omnia aequata.lined with lead and all polished with pumice.9Haec cum legas tu, bellus ille et urbanusWhen you read these, that attractive and sophisticated10Suffenus unus caprimulgus aut fossorSuffenus seems instead a goat-herder or a ditch-digger:11rursus videtur: tantum abhorret ac mutat.he is so inconsistent and changes so much.12Hoc quid putemus esse? Qui modo scurraWhat can we think this is? He who just recently seemed a wit13aut si quid hac re scitius videbatur,or whatever is more wittier than this title,14idem infaceto est infacetior rure,this same man is duller than the dull countryside,15simul poemata attigit, neque idem umquamas soon as he has touched his poems, and he is never16aeque est beautus ac poema cum scribit,as happy as when he writes his poems,17tam gaudet in se tamque se ipse miraturhe himself so rejoices in himself so marvels at himself18Nimirum idem omnes fallimur, neque est quisquamEvidently we all falter in the same way, and there is no one19quem non in aliqua re videre Suffenumwhom you cannot see Suffenus in some fashion20possis. Suus cuique attributus est error;To each man is attributed his own error;21sed non videmus manticae quod in tergo est.but we do not see the kind of knapsack which is on our back.