Before I return to Plato

I spent the last half a year with Latin poetry. I enjoyed every minute of it, but almost every day there came moments of unhappiness – I left my discussion of Rowe’s article on Plato’s Phaedrus unfinished. Returning to Plato, I must resume and finish the discussion. But before doing so, I want to express my thanks to Gavin Betts and Daniel Franklin for their brilliantly annotated Beginning Latin Poetry Reader (70 Selections from the Great Periods of Roman Verse and Drama), while giving vent to my unhappiness with their exhortations ‘trans.’, i.e. ‘translate’, which they repeat again and again, with instructions how this or that Latin phrase should be translated.

I’ve chosen one of the shorter poems, which I shall present with the authors’ translation (provided in the ‘key section’), with their elucidations of meter and grammar, including their explanations in the corresponding paragraphs of the GRAMMAR section.

CATULLUS

A lament for the death of Lesbia’s sparrow.

Meter: hendecasyllable (§M3). In the metrical section the authors explain: [§M3: A hendecasyllable (from Greek hendeka eleven) is a line of eleven syllables. (Since I cannot find the way of expressing the meter by symbols, I must explain it as follows.) The first two syllables: iamb or spondee, next three syllables: dactyl, next four syllables: two trochees, the last two syllables: trochee or spondee.]

Luget(e) o Veneres Cupidinesque,                              1

et quant(um) est hominum venustiorum.

passer mortuus est meae puellae,

passer deliciae meae puellae,

quem plus ill(a) oculis suis amabat.                           5

nam mellitus erat suamque norat

ipsam tam bene quam puella matrem,

nec ses(e) a grem(i) illius movebat,

sed circumsilliens mod(o) huc mod(o) illuc

ad solam domin(am) usque pipiabat;                         10

qui nunc it per iter tenebricosum

illuc, unde negant redire quemquam.

at vobis male sit, malae tenebrae

Orci, qu(ae) omnia bella devoratis:

tam bellum mihi passer(em) abstulistis.                     15

o factum male, o miselle passer!

tua nunc opera meae puellae

flendo turgiduli rubent ocelli.

1 lūgēte 2 pl. imp. lūgeō -ēre lament; Venerēs Cupīdinēsque voc. Loves (Venus Veneris F.) and Cupids (Cupīdō Cupīdinis M.) – an odd expression (there was only one Venus) that Catullus probably thought matched the mock-serious tone of the poem.

2 Take quantum (rel. pron. of quantity) with hominum venustiorum (partitive gen. [§G24: The partitive genitive occurs in phrases where a noun in the genitive expresses a whole and the noun or noun substitute that it qualifies expresses a part. The noun substitute may be a pronoun, adjective, or adverb. Fortissima Tyndaridarum. The bravest of the daughters of Tyndareus. *HORACE Sermōnēs 1.1.100]), lit. how much more refined (compar. of venustus) people there are, trans. all those of finer feelings. [[ The exhortation “translate”, and the  instruction how to do it lead the learner astray. If he/she wants to properly enjoy Latin poetry, they must understand it as it goes in Latin: et quant(um) est hominum venustiorum.]]

3f passer nom. of passer passeris M. sparrow or a similar small bird; mortuus est 3 sing. perf. ind. morior morī has died; dēliciae -ārum F. PL. darling (pl. used with a sg. meaning {§G53: A common feature of Latin verse is the use of the plural form of a noun instead of the singular, with no difference of meaning.] meae puellae gen. sing. my girl’s.

5 oculīs suīs abl. Of comparison [G42: The ablative of comparison is used after a comparative adjective; plus more.] than her own eyes.

6f. mellītus honey-sweet; … suam … ipsam its (i.e., sparrow’s) mistress – in the language of slaves, a master and his wife were euphemistically called ipse [he] himself and ipsa [she] herslf; nōrat = nōverat [§G95: The shorter ending is a poetic form that occurs in poetry and in some prose writers, such as Livy and Tacitus; it appears to have been used in popular speech.] knew – the perfect and pluperfect of noscō can be used in a present and imperfect sense, respectively; tam bene quam as well as.

8 sēsē = sē; gremium -iī N. lap.

9 circumsiliō -īre hop around; modo … modo … at one time … at another time …, trans. now … now ….

10 usque adv. always; pīpiō -āre chirp.

11 The rel. pron. quī (antecedent passer) connects the following sentence with the previous one, trans. it; it 3 sg. pres. ind. act. eō īre; per iter tenebricōsum along the gloomy way, i.e., the road to the Underworld – the fact that the sparrow was still on its way to the nether regions seems to indicate that it had only recently died.

12 illūc, unde trans. to the place from where; negant … quemquam they say that no one; redeō -īre return.

13 vōbīs male sit lit., may it be (subj. to express a wish [§G67: The optative subjunctive (negated by nē) expresses a wish. In the present tense, an optative subjunctive expresses a wish for the future.]) badly for you, trans. a curse on you; tenebrae -ārum F.PL. darkness, shades.

14 Orcus -ī M. another name for the Underworld; bellus beautiful (also in l. 15); dēvorō -āre swallow up.

15 mihi dat. of disadvantage [§G31: The dative of advantage/disadvantage is used for a person who is affected by the action expressed by a verb, whether advantageously or the opposite. This can sometimes be translated by for, but often the translation must be adapted to the context.], lit., to my disadvantage, trans. from me; abstulistis 2 pl. perf. ind. act. auferō -ferre take away.

16 factum male lit., wickedly done, i.e., wicked deed; misellus diminutive of miser, trans. poor little – diminutives were commonly used in colloquial Latin for emotional effects, as here and in l. 18.

17 tuā … operā instrumental abl. [§G47: The instrumental ablative is used for the tool with which something is done and is usually translated by by or with; it is occasionally used of something living.] lit., through your work, i.e. because of you; take meae puellae with ocellī (l. 18).

18 flendō (gerund [§G78: The gerund is a verbal noun and is active in meaning. Its English equivalent is the verbal noun in -ing.] abl. of cause [§G48: The ablative of cause gives the reason for something and is close in meaning to the instrumental ablative.] from weeping; the force of the diminutives turgidulus (turgidus swollen) and ocellus (oculus eye) cannot be expressed in English; rubeō -ēre be red.

TRANSLATION:

‘Lament, O Loves and Cupids and all those of finer feelings (lit., how much more refined people there are), my girl’s sparrow has died, the sparrow [that was] my girl’s darling, whom she loved more than her own eyes. For it was honey sweet and knew its mistress as well as a girl [knows her own] mother, and it did not stir (lit., move itself) from her lap, but hopping around now here, now there, it always chirped to its mistress alone.

Now it goes along the gloomy way to the place from where they say that no one returns. But a curse on you (lit., may it be badly for you), wicked Shades of Orcus that swallow up everything beautiful; so beautiful a sparrow have you taken from me. O wicked deed! O poor little sparrow! Because of you, my girl’s swollen eyes are red from weeping.’