Catullus 25 in Latin & English:  Cinaede Thalle, mollior cuniculi capillo
Channel: David Amster
Date: 2021-01-07

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Catulli Carmen XXV ad Thallum 

Cinaede Thalle, mollior cuniculi capillo
vel anseris medullula vel imula oricilla
vel pene languido senis situque araneoso,
idemque, Thalle, turbida rapacior procella,
cum diva mulier alios ostendit oscitantes,
remitte pallium mihi meum, quod involasti,
sudariumque Saetabum catagraphosque Thynos,
inepte, quae palam soles habere tamquam avita.
quae nunc tuis ab unguibus reglutina et remitte,
ne laneum latusculum manusque mollicellas
inusta turpiter tibi flagella conscribillent,
et insolenter aestues, velut minuta magno
deprensa navis in mari, vesaniente vento.

Thallus, you catamite, softer than the fur of a Spanish rabbit, 
or the innermost down of a goose, or the tip of an earlobe, 
or the languid phallus of an old man, 
or a neglected place full of spiderwebs,
at the same time, Thallus, more rapacious than a violent storm,
when the divine mistress shows the others yawning,
return my cloak to me, which you snatched,
and the Saetaban napkin and Bithynian embroideries,
you fool, which you’re used to using openly 
as if inherited from your grandmother.
Unfasten them now from your talons and send them back,
lest my lashes, shamefully branding you, 
scrawl all over your wooly little flanks and delicate hands,
and you writhe, as never before, like a tiny ship 
caught unaware on the great sea by a raging wind. 


Notes:

This is the second poem where Catullus is having difficulties with guests stealing napkins (see Carmen 12).

Thallus: I think Catullus was deliberately making fun of the similarity between his name and the Greek word for the membrum virile. 

Divine mistress: not sure which goddess he means, but perhaps Luna, whose light made clear to Thallus which guests were nodding off. 

Saetaban: from a town in Spain, famous for its superb linens. 

Bithynian embroideries: souvenirs from Catullus’ military duty in Asia Minor. 

Lashes: Catullus’ poetic revenge. 

Note many diminutives, suggesting softness: medullula, imula, oricilla, latusculum, mollicellas, 

Note brilliant use of repeated sound:
Cinaede CuniCuli Capillo
OSTeNdiT OSciTaNTes
REgluTina eT REmiTTe
Laneum LatUScuLum ManUSque MoLLiceLLas
Minuta Magno Mari
VEsaNiENTe VENTo

Meter: iambic tetrameter catalectic, used only in this poem
| x – u – | x – u – | x – u – | u – – |

Images: 
Roman mosaic from Tunisia; “The Shipwreck, by J. Turner, 1805; 
Catullus manuscript G, Verona, 1375

Translation DWA
Fes, 1/7/21