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Catullus XLII, with necessary liberties
You all know and love them, o denizens of the silicate world, those Latin lines which require a little tweaking in order to sound decent in English. And I have tweaked. Hence, as footnotes would be too numerous here to be profitable, please excuse their absence. Excuse also the rendering of the lines themselves. I am trying to learn how to be a good translator, but in the process there is the inevitable struggle with material beyond my current capabilities.
Adeste, hendecasyllabi, quot estis
omnes undique, quotquot estis omnes.
Iocum me putat esse moecha turpis,
et negat mihi nostra reddituram
pugillaria, si pati potestis.
Persequamur eam et reflagitemus.
Quae sit, quaeritis? Illa, quam videtis
turpe incedere, mimice ac moleste
ridentem catuli ore Gallicani.
Circumsistite eam, et reflagitate,
"moecha putida, redde codicillos,
redde putida moecha, codicillos!"
Non assis facis? O lutum, lupanar,
aut si perditius potes quid esse.
Sed non est tamen hoc satis putandum.
Quod si non aliud potest ruborem
ferreo canis exprimamus ore.
Conclamate iterum altiore uoce.
"Moecha putide, redde codicillos,
redde, putida moecha, codicillos!"
Sed nil proficimus, nihil mouetur.
Mutanda est ratio modusque vobis,
siquid proficere amplius potestis:
"pudica et proba, redde codicillos."
Come near, hendecasyllables, many you are,
All and from everywhere, many many you are all.
A sleazy tart thinks me a joke
And refuses to return our tablets,
If you’ll bear to suffer that.
Let’s after her and demand them.
Which is she, you ask? That one, whom you see
Strutting sleazy with her unctuous shammer’s grin,
The face of a Gallic dog.
Surround her and demand them,
‘Dirty tart, give back the notebooks,
Give back, dirty tart, the notebooks’
She doesn’t give a damn? O the scum,
The whore, or whatever’s nastier than that.
But let’s not think that this is yet enough,
Because, even if nothing else is doable,
We should extract a blush
From that brazen dogface.
Now screech again in shriller voice:
‘Dirty tart, give back the notebooks,
Give back, dirty tart, the notebooks’
But we’ve made no headway, she is not moved.
You’ll have to change your scheme and tone
If you are to get anywhere:
‘Virtuous and virginal, give back the notebooks.’
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| | Posted 7/5/2005 8:11 PM - 85 Views - 0 eProps - 0 comments
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