Search & Tell Catullus

I am proud to announce that from this Thursday (Feb 23rd) until Wednesday March 1st, my new, topical translation of Catullus 47 will be on display on the Badlands Unlimited website as part of their project Search & Tell.

Here is a description of the project:

Badlands Unlimited is pleased to announce Search & Tell, a new writing series exclusively on the Badlands website. Located inside the search bar at the top of the homepage, Search & Tell “types” out a story, poem, or other texts if the search bar is not being used. S&T also mimics typing (and correcting) mistakes, made sometimes when one texts or chats online, giving S&T a more unpredictable and human feel.

In preparation for this work’s display on Thursday, I wanted to offer you a more literal translation of Catullus 47, followed tomorrow by a few musings on name-calling in Catullus as an extension of my last few posts on names and naming. So, first, for today, here is Catullus’ Latin and Peter Green’s translation of Catullus 47:

Porci et Socration, duae sinistrae
Pisonis, scabies famesque mundi,
vos Veraniolo meo et Fabullo
verpus praeposuit Priapus ille?
vos convivia lauta sumptuose
de die facitis, mei sodales
quaerunt in trivio vocationes?

Socration and Porcius, Piso’s pair of
left-hand men, the world’s prize itch and gut-ache,
has that stripped prick, that damn Priapus chosen
you over dear Veranius and Fabullus?
Are you setting up smart expensive dinners –
in broad daylight too – while my companions
tramp the streets in their search for invitations?

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