Sherry Chandler » Catullus 32–Caterwauling on the Cathouse fence.
Catullus 32–Caterwauling on the Cathouse fence.
The text of this one is particularly corrupt.
Amabo, mea dulcis ipsimilla,
meae deliciae, mei lepores,
iube ad te veniam meridiatum.
et si iusseris, illud adiuvato,
ne quis liminis obseret tabellam,
neu tibi lubeat foras abire,
sed domi maneas paresque nobis
novem continuas fututiones.
verum si quid ages, statim iubeto:
nam pransus iaceo et satur supinus
pertundo tunicam palliumque.
Please, please, please my sweet little
mistress of the house
delights of mine, my downy cony,
let me come to you about midday.
And if you should so order, start at once to help,
don’t set the bar on your outer portal
but stay home and prepare for us
to enjoy an epyllion of love
in nine contiguous fitts.
A seminal work.
’streuth if you’d do’t, set to stat
here I lie, prandial and supine,
[harder than chinese trig]
piercing both tunic and kilt.
DFS Thompson, an extraordinary Catullus editor, theorizes that this poem was addressed directly to the mistress of a bawdy house, which theory he buttresses with a parallel reference to a similar character in the SATYRICON. Whatever the case, Catullus never proposed doing anything by halves even if novem continuas fututiones seems a bit optimistic.
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