Catullus 43

Meter: Hendecasyllabic

Salve[HWC1], nec[HWC2] minimo puella[FHS3] naso

nec bello pede nec nigris ocellis

nec longis digitis[HWC4]nec ore[FHS5] sicco

nec sane nimis elegante lingua[FHS6].

decoctoris[FHS7] amica Formiani[FHS8],5

ten[FHS9]provincia[FHS10] narrat esse bellam?

tecum Lesbia nostra[HWC11]comparatur?

o saeclum insapiens et infacetum[FHS12]!

Discussion Questions:

  1. Identify examples of litotes in lines 1-4 and explain why this device is effective.
  1. Discuss how Catullus in such a brief span draws a devastating portrait of the puella and her lover.
  1. Why does the poet mention Lesbia in such an unpleasant context?
  1. Discuss the qualities Catullus considers essential for a beautiful woman and how this poem defines them.
  1. How might this poem give readers a glimpse of what Catullus finds most attractive about Lesbia?
  1. With īnficētum (43.8), compare Catullus’ use of other words to describe and evaluate the qualities of people and life around in him poems earlier in the collection:

facētus12.9īnficētus 22.14; 36.19

salsus12.4īnsulsus10.33

venustus3.2, 13.6, 22.2, 31.12, invenustus 10.4, 12.5, 36.17

35.17

ēlegāns 13.10inēlegans 6.2

urbānus22.2rūsticus34.19

  1. Compare this poem by Ezra Pound. How well does this translation convey the tone of the original? Where has Pound taken liberties?

To Formianus’ Young Lady Friend

After Valerius Catullus

All Hail; a young lady with a nose by no means too small,

With a foot unbeautiful, and with eyes that are not black,

With fingers that are not long, and with a mouth undry,

And with a tongue by no means too elegant,

You are the friend of Formianus, the vendor of cosmetics,

And they call you beautiful in the province,

And you are even compared to Lesbia.

O most unfortunate age!

  1. Compare also Sonnet 130 from William Shakespeare. Are the poet’s objectives the same as those of Catullus in Poem 43?

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun,
Coral is far more red, than her lips red,
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun:
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head:
I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks,
And in some perfumes is there more delight,
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know,
That music hath a far more pleasing sound:
I grant I never saw a goddess go,
My mistress when she walks treads on the ground.
And yet by heaven I think my love as rare,
As any she belied with false compare.

[HWC1]Salve: here, a sarcastic greeting

[HWC2]nec: introducing a litotes describing her nose, a structure continued for all seven of her features discussed here

[FHS3]puella: assumed to be Ameana, girlfriend of Mamurra; cf. Poem 41, a prostitute who apparently charges an outrageous sum for her favors

[HWC4]longis digitis: ancient Greek vase paintings exaggerated the length of women’s fingers as a mark of beauty

[FHS5]ore: “lips”; cf. Poem 80

[FHS6]lingua: Catullus may possibly be vague on purpose as to what he means by lingua; this has been variously interpreted to mean the way she shows her tongue, her disfigured speech, or the things she says

[FHS7]decoctoris: m., “a bankrupt”

[FHS8]Formiani: “from Formiae”, referring to Mamurra, an officer of engineers under Caesar; decoctoris…Formiani is a repetition of line 41.4, and allows Catullus to dispense of naming either Mamurra or Ameana

[FHS9]ten: = tene

[FHS10]provincia: probably referring to Cisalpine Gaul

[HWC11]Lesiba nostra: for the use of Lesbia as the standard of comparison, cf. Poem 86

[FHS12]infacetum: cf. 22.14 (Suffenus as writer); contrast 12.9 (Asinius Pollio)