Catullus 16: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia
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{{Short description|Poem by Gaius Valerius Catullus}}
{{Italic title}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2020}}
'''''Catullus 16''''' or '''''Carmen'' 16''''' is a poem in the collected poems ofby [[Gaius Valerius Catullus]] ({{c. |84 BC}} – {{c. |54 BC}}). The poem, written in a [[Hendecasyllable|hendecasyllabic]] (11-syllable) [[Meter (poetry)|meter]], was considered to be so sexually explicit following its rediscovery in the following centuries that a full English translation was not published until the twentieth[[20th century in literature|20th century]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1001&context=classicsfacpub#search=%22Furius%20and%20Aurelius%22|title=Catullus Purified: A Brief History of Carmen 16|access-date=2006-08-18|archive-date=14 March 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070314044007/http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1001&context=classicsfacpub#search=%22Furius%20and%20Aurelius%22|url-status=live}}</ref> The first line, '''''{{lang|la|Pēdīcābo ego vōs et irrumābō''}}''' ("'I will sodomize and [[deepface-throating|deep-throat]]fuck you"'), sometimes [[Incipit|used as a title]], has been called "one of the filthiest expressions ever written in [[Latin]]—or in any other language, for that matter"."<ref>Harry Mount, "Mark Lowe is right: The Romans said it better," ''Telegraph'' 25 Nov 2009, [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/6649756/Mark-Lowe-is-right-The-Romans-said-it-better.html online.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180414211207/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/6649756/Mark-Lowe-is-right-The-Romans-said-it-better.html |date=14 April 2018 }}</ref>
''Carmen 16'' 16 is significant in [[literary history]] as an artistic work [[censorshipCensorship|censored]] for its obscenity, but also because the poem raises questions about the proper relation of the poet, or his life, to the work.<ref name="Mary Beard"/> Later
Subsequent Latin poets referenced the poem not for its [[invective]], but as a justificationwork forexemplary of [[freedom of speech]] and obscene subject matter that challenged the prevailingculturally prevalent decorum or [[mosMos maiorum|moral orthodoxy]] of the period. [[Ovid]],<ref>Ovid, ''[[Tristia]]'' 2.353–354.</ref> [[Pliny the Younger]],<ref>Pliny the Younger, ''Epistulæ'' 4.14.</ref> [[Martial]],<ref>Martial, ''Epigrams'' 1.36.10–11.</ref> and [[Apuleius]]<ref>Apuleius, ''Apologia'' 11.3.</ref> all invoked the authority of Catullus in asserting that while the poet himself should be a respectable person, his workpoetry should not be constrained or restricted.<ref name="Thomas Nelson Winter, 6-1-1973">{{cite journal |first1=Thomas Nelson |last1=Winter |author-link=Thomas Nelson Winter|year=1973 |title=Catullus Purified: A Brief History of Carmen 16 |url=http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1001&context=classicsfacpub |journal=Arethusa |volume=6 |pages=257–265 |access-date=12 October 2006 |archive-date=14 March 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070314044007/http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1001&context=classicsfacpub |url-status=live }}</ref>
==Censored editions==
Several editions of Catullus' works omit the more explicit parts of the poem. A noteworthy example is the 1924 [[Loeb Classical Library|Loeb]] edition: this omits lines 1 and 2 from the English translation, but includes them in the Latin; lines 7–14 are omitted from both Latin and English; a later Loeb edition<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hup.harvard.edu/loeb/author.html#C|title=Publisher references censorship for consideration of decency in former edition|access-date=2006-08-18|archive-date=10 October 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061010173911/http://www.hup.harvard.edu/loeb/author.html#C|url-status=live}}</ref> gives the complete text in both languages. Other editions have been published with the explicit words blanked out.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/20732/20732-h/20732-h.htm#page31|title=The Carmina of Caius Valerius Catullus by Gaius Valerius Catullus, published in 1894|websitevia=[[Project Gutenberg]]|access-date=2016-10-03|archive-date=4 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161104112204/http://www.gutenberg.org/files/20732/20732-h/20732-h.htm#page31|url-status=live}}</ref>
[[NPR]] [[bleep censor]]ed the first line of Catullus 16, both in Latin and English translation in the radiophonic exchange between [[Guy Raz]] and [[Mary Beard (classicist)|Mary Beard]] in 2009.<ref name="Ted Scheinman">{{cite web |url=http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/artsdesk/books/2009/12/14/npr-on-naughty-catullus-poem-alea-redacta-est/ |title=NPR on Naughty Catullus Poem: Alea Redacta Est |publisher=[[Washington City Paper]] |date=14 December 2009 |access-date=25 July 2012 |author=Ted Scheinman |archive-date=6 October 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006143127/http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/artsdesk/books/2009/12/14/npr-on-naughty-catullus-poem-alea-redacta-est/ |url-status=live }}</ref> [[C. H. Sisson]] writes "the obscenity of Catullus has long been a stumbling block". He follows Loeb, omitting poem lines as [[Non sequitur (literary device)|''non-sequitur'']]:
{{quote|text=because it seems to me that the poem is better without them (the last eight lines). In the shorter version, Catullus is making a point (as always): the additional lines are probably spurious. It is unlike Catullus to exalt the pornographic quality of what he wrote; his mind was too much on his subject.<ref name="Thomas Nelson Winter, 6-1-1973"/>}}
[[Thomas Nelson Winter]] notes: "In the sense that this is the normal language of those to whom he directs the poem, it is not obscene. Obscenity, like beauty, is in the eyes of the beholder".<ref name="Thomas Nelson Winter, 6-1-1973"/>
==Social and literary context==
[[File:Catullus-at-Lesbia's-large.jpg|thumb|right|[[Catullus]] (left-center) by [[Lawrence Alma-Tadema|Alma-Tadema]]]]
The poem raises questions about the proper relation of the poet, or his life, to the work.<ref name="Mary Beard"/><ref name="HexterSelden1992"/> Catullus addresses the poem to two men, Furius and Aurelius. Furius refers to [[Marcus Furius Bibaculus]], a first-century BC poet who had an affair with Juventius, for whom Catullus' loverhad an unrequited passion. Aurelius refers to [[Marcus Aurelius Cotta Maximus Messalinus]], a first-century BC consul, or senator, during the [[Julio-Claudian dynasty]].<ref>{{cite book|author1=Arnold, Bruce |author2=Aronson, Andrew |author3=Lawall, Gilbert, Teri. |year=2000|title=Love and Betrayal: A Catullus Reader|postscript =. Edited to clarify Furius and Aurelius 11-29-2009 by Teri.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.vroma.org/~hwalker/VRomaCatullus/Furius.html|title=list of poems that Furius is in|access-date=2006-08-18|archive-date=1 September 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060901043421/http://www.vroma.org/~hwalker/VRomaCatullus/Furius.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.vroma.org/~hwalker/VRomaCatullus/Aurelius.html|title=list of poems that Aurelius is in|access-date=2006-08-18|archive-date=16 July 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060716011857/http://www.vroma.org/~hwalker/VRomaCatullus/Aurelius.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
Those two men either together or singly also appear in so called ''Catullus' Furius and Aurelius "cycle"'', in poems [[Catullus 11|11]], [[Catullus 15|15]], [[Catullus 21|21]], [[Catullus 23|23]], [[Catullus 24|24]] and [[Catullus 26|26]]. The cycle considers sexual themes and with the exception of Catullus 11 uses an abusive language toward the two.<ref name="ForsythStates1986">{{cite book|author1=Phyllis Young Forsyth|author2=Classical Association of the Atlantic States|title=The Poems of Catullus: A Teaching Text|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bJnv7VmIo2oC&pg=PA143|year=1986|publisher=University Press of America|isbn=978-0-8191-5151-3|pages=144, 162}}</ref> The two are described elsewhere as [[comites|fellow members]] of Catullus' [[cohors amicorum|cohort of friends]]: ''comites Catulli''.<ref name="HexterSelden1992">{{cite book|author1=Ralph J. Hexter|author2=Daniel L. Selden|title=Innovations of Antiquity|url=http://plaza.ufl.edu/ranchild/lnw2630/selden.pdf|access-date=22 June 2012|date=10 November 1992|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-415-90129-1|page=478|archive-date=6 March 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120306070021/http://plaza.ufl.edu/ranchild/lnw2630/selden.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> According to Catullus 16, Furius and Aurelius find Catullus's verses to be ''molliculi'' ("tender" or "delicate"), implicating that the author is an effeminate poet.<ref name="ForsythStates1986"/> According to [[T. P. Wiseman]], Catullus speaks about himself in feminine terms even in his love poetry. Catullus's gentle attitude left him vulnerable in the cynical and cruel environment of Roman high society.<ref name="Wiseman1986">{{cite book|author=T. P. Wiseman|title=Catullus and his World: A Reappraisal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-d3hFC_nAEAC&pg=PA122|access-date=3 November 2012|date=26 September 1986|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-31968-3|pages=122–123}}</ref> The criticism of Furius and Aurelius was directed at [[Catullus 5]], apparently from "many thousands of kisses" at line 1213. Kenneth Quinn observes:
{{quote|text=16.12 comes closest to the words of Poem 5, especially at 5.10. Comparing these two lines makes it extremely tempting to ascribe the reference to Poem 5 and to Poem 5 alone, especially since this assumption explains neatly the accusation, defense, and counter-accusation of Poem 16.<ref name="Thomas Nelson Winter, 6-1-1973"/>}}
Catullus maligns the two and threatens them with [[rape]].<ref name="HexterSelden1992" /> According to [[T. P. Wiseman]], Catullus used the obscenity to get his message that "soft" poetry could be more arousing than explicit description to "''sensibilities so much cruder than his own''".<ref name="Wiseman1986" /> According to Thomas Nelson Winter, Catullus could still claim that he has a pure life (79.16), despite the self evidence of [[pederasty]] (poems 14, 109) with and his love of a married woman (poem 83 mentions [[Lesbia]]'s husband).
{{quote|text=Apparently Catullus and his contemporaries believed a man could do almost anything sexually and remain respectable, so long as he stayed within the masculine role. Thus Catullus' insistence on his own propriety and on his potent manhood is all one. Catullus is a proper man.<ref name="Thomas Nelson Winter, 6-1-1973" />}}
Craig Arthur Williams says Catullus 16 demonstrates that in Roman ideology of masculine [[virtue|''vir'']], a man is not compromised by his penetration of other males, in fact his manhood status is bolstered.<ref name="Williams2010">{{cite book|author=Craig Arthur Williams|title=Roman Homosexuality|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JoS4ffPU1-0C&pg=PA181|access-date=16 July 2012|date=1 February 2010|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-538874-9|page=181}}</ref> [[Mary Beard (classicist)|Mary Beard]] finds the poem's message to be ironic:<ref name="Mary Beard">{{cite web
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{|class="wikitable"
! Line !! Latin text !! English translation<ref>{{cite web|url=http://lysy2.archives.nd.edu/cgi-bin/words.exe|title=Dictionary|access-date=2006-08-18|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060618211448/http://lysy2.archives.nd.edu/cgi-bin/words.exe|archive-date=18 June 2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.vroma.org/~hwalker/VRomaCatullus/016x.html|title=Translation #1|access-date=2006-08-18|archive-date=17 July 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060717230310/http://www.vroma.org/%7Ehwalker/VRomaCatullus/016x.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://rudy.negenborn.net/catullus/text2/e16.htm|title=Translation #2|access-date=2006-08-18|archive-date=13 August 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060813232627/http://rudy.negenborn.net/catullus/text2/e16.htm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=John C. Traupman|year=1994|title=The New College Latin & English Dictionary|publisher=Bantam Books |isbn=9780553573015|url=https://archive.org/details/bantamnewcollege00john_0|url-access=registration}}</ref>
|-
! 1
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! 2
| ''{{lang|la|Aurēlī pathice et cinaede Fūrī,}}''
| [[Bottom (sex)#Bottom|bottom]] [[Marcus Aurelius Cotta Maximus Messalinus|Aurelius]] and [[catamite]] [[Marcus Furius Bibaculus|Furius]],
|-
! 3
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==Sexual terminology==
{{see|Latin profanity|Sexuality in ancient Rome}}
Latin is an exact language for obscene acts, such as pedicabo and ''[[Sexuality in ancient Rome#Irrumatio|irrumabo]]'', which appear in the first and last lines of the poem. The term ''pedicare'' is a transitive verb, meaning to "insert one's [[penis]] into another person's [[anus]]".<ref>{{harvnb|Forberg|1824|pp=80–189}}</ref> The term ''pathicus'' in line 2 refers to the "[[bottom (sex)|bottom]]" person in that act, i.e., the one being penetrated.<ref>{{harvnb|Forberg|1824|p=80}}</ref> The term ''irrumare'' is likewise a transitive verb, meaning to "insert one's penis into another person's mouth for suckling",<ref>{{harvnb|Forberg|1824|pp=190–261}}</ref> and derives from the Latin word, ''[[:wikt:ruma#Latin|rūma]]'', meaning "udder" (as in: "to give something to suck on"). A male who suckles a penis is denoted as a ''[[fellatio|fellator]]'' or, equivalently, a ''pathicus'' (line 2).<ref>{{harvnb|Forberg|1824|pp=190–191}}</ref>
Catullus neither confirms nor denies the claim of Aurelius and Furius that he is "''not a man''", since, sexualwhile the slangterms "''irrumare''" and "''pedicare''" whilehave havingthe literal meanings of sexual slangacts meaning(that ofis, to receive [[fellatio]] and to homosexuality[[buggery|bugger]]), they could also meanbe employed as simple vulgarities meaning as little as "''go to hell''".<ref name="Janan1994"/>
==Pedagogy==
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# the omnipresence and play of both power and resistance
# the admonitory and [[optative mood|optative]] function of poetic art<ref name="Ancona2007">{{cite book|author=Ronnie Ancona|title=A Concise Guide to Teaching Latin Literature|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pcx_B_iOFw8C&pg=PA17|year=2007|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|isbn=978-0-8061-3797-1|page=17|access-date=27 September 2016|archive-date=24 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161224202624/https://books.google.com/books?id=pcx_B_iOFw8C&pg=PA17|url-status=live}}</ref>
==Musical settings==
The poem is included as the sixteenth movement of Michael Linton's seventeen movement "Carmina Catulli", a song-cycle for bass-baritone and piano.<ref>Bury, Laurent (2013) "Carmina Catulli; Praise, Lesbie, Diane et caetera" (forumopera, 11 September 2014)</ref>{{verify inline|date=March 2024|reason=Don't know how to verify this -- is it a journal or book or ... ?}}
==Notes==
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==References==
* {{cite book |last=Forberg |first=Friedrich Karl |author-link=Friedrich Karl Forberg|year=1824 |title=De figuris Veneris |edition=translated into English as ''Manual of Classical Erotology'' by Viscount Julian Smithson, MA and printed privately in 1884 in [[Manchester]], [[England]]. Reprinted in 1966 |publisher=Grove Press |location=New York |lccn=66024913 |title-link=De figuris Veneris }}
* {{cite journal |author=MacLeod CM |date=November 1973 |title=Parody and Personalities in Catullus |journal=The Classical Quarterly |series=New Series |volume=23 |pages=294–303 |doi=10.1017/S000983880003679X |jstor=638185 |issue=2 |s2cid=170297767 }}
* {{cite journal |author=Richlin A |date=1981 |title=The Meaning of Irrumare in Catullus and Martial |journal=Classical Philology |volume=76 |issue=1 |pages=40–46 |doi=10.1086/366597 |jstor=269544|s2cid=162094918 }}
* {{cite book |last=Adams |first=JN |year=1990 |title=The Latin Sexual Vocabulary |publisher=The Johns Hopkins University Press |isbn=978-0-8018-4106-4 }}
* {{cite book |vauthors=Hallett JP, Skinner MB |date=1997 |title=Roman Sexualities |publisher=Princeton University Press |location=Princeton, NJ |isbn=978-0-691-01178-3 }}
* Selden, D. L. (2007), "Ceveat lector: Catullus and the Rhetoric of Performance" in ''Catullus'' (Oxford Readings in Classical Studies), ed. J. Gaisser. Oxford: Oxford University Press: 490-559. ISBN 0199280355
==External links==
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* [http://www.cisi.unito.it/arachne/num4/jocelyn.html Translation and commentary on lines 5-6]
* [http://rudy.negenborn.net/catullus/text2/sc16.htm Scanned version of c.16]
* [https://www.forumopera.com/cd-dvd-livre/carmina-catulli-priape-lesbie-diane-et-caetera/]
{{Catullus}}
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[[Category:Obscenity controversies in literature]]
[[Category:Poetry by Catullus|C016]]
[[Category:Articles containing video clips]]
[[Category:LGBTQ-related controversies in literature]]