The Poetry of Gaius Valerius Catullus/13

Text and Translation Meter - Hendecasyllabic LineLatin TextEnglish Translation1Cenabis bene, mi Fabulle, apud meYou will dine well, my Fabullus, at my house2paucis, si tibi di favent, diebus,in a few days (if the gods favor you),3si tecum attuleris bonam atque magnamand if you bring with you a nice big4cenam, non sine candida puelladinner, not without a pretty girl5et vino et sale et omnibus cachinnis.and wine and wit and laughs for everyone.6Haec si, inquam, attuleris, venuste noster,I say: if you bring these, my charming one,7cenabis bene; nam tui Catulliyou will dine well—for the little purse8plenus sacculus est aranearum.of your Catullus is full of cobwebs.9Sed contra accipies meros amores,But in return you will receive pure friendship10seu quid suavius elegantiusve est:(or something more elegant and more delightful):11nam unguentum dabo, quod meae puellaefor I will give you an oil, which onto my girl12donarunt Veneres Cupidinesque;Venuses and Cupids have bestowed;13quod tu cum olfacies, deos rogabisand when you smell it, you will ask the gods14totum ut te faciant, Fabulle, nasum.to make you, Fabullus, nothing but nose. Connotations of The Text This poem is an dinner invitation to Catullus's friend, Fabullus. Line 3 si - if... This is the catch for Fabullus - he will dine well if he does all the things about to be listed. It is put at the beginning of the line for emphasis. Line 4 candida - white; fair Can mean white, but here means beautiful/of pale skin - pale skin was a sign of beauty in Roman times. Line 5 sale - salt This word means salt normally, but came to mean wit. This was because salt was used to add flavour the meat, and so in a literary terms the 'flavour' to words is wit. cachinnis - laughs This word is probably derived from Greek since the letter ch was not a Latin sound. The harsh sound that comes from saying this word may reflect the sounds of the laughter described. Line 8 plenus sacculus est aranearum - lit. - full the purse is of cobwebs' The poem makes use of hyperbaton. This is the re-arranging of the word order to create emphasis and effect. Hyperbaton is particularly common in inflected languages, such as Latin and Ancient Greek where the word order does not matter. The joke here is still used today - cobwebs sprung up where nothing has been touched for a while - and Catullus is broke. Line 11 unguentum - perfume; oil The reference to the "oil" or perfume, may be a subtle compliment to Catullus's girl. Both Roman men and women would wear perfume to make themselves smell more attractive. Vocabulary Sources Oxford Latin Reader by Maurice Balme and James Morewood (1997) External Links Catullus 13 A Translation of Catullus 13