Carmen 58 – Stoephoer
Wanneer hij hoort wat Lesbia uitspookt, richt Catullus zich verbitterd tot zijn vriend Caelius Rufus, die ook ooit een relatie met haar had.
Caeli, Lesbia nostra, Lesbia illa,
illa Lesbia, quam Catullus unam
plus quam se atque suos amavit omnes,
nunc in quadriviis et angiportis
glubit magnanimi Remi nepotes.
| 1 | Caeli | vocativus | |
| 4 | quadrivium | viersprong, hoek | |
| angiportum | steegje, slop | ||
| 5 | glubo, ere | lett.: schillen, pellen; bedoeld wordt: aftrekken | |
| magnanimus | fier, edel, nobel | ||
| Remus | mythische stichter van Rome, samen met Romulus | ||
| Remi nepotes | nakomelingen van Remus; omschrijving voor de Romeinen |
Werkvertaling
Caeli, Lesbia nostra, Lesbia illa,
illa Lesbia, quam Catullus unam
plus quam se atque suos amavit omnes,
nunc in quadriviis et angiportis
glubit magnanimi Remi nepotes.
Caelius, onze Lesbia, die Lesbia,
die Lesbia, van wie alleen Catullus
meer dan van zichzelf em al de zijnen heeft gehouden,
nu trekt ze op viersprongen en in steegjes
de nakomelingen van de nobele Remus af.
Whether the accusation is literally true or not is impossible to determine; certainly
it is not impossible, and history offers comparable cases. This, among the bitterest
of Catullus's reflections on his former lover, must be dated to a period after his
return from Bithynia, and also (if we grant that Lesbia is Clodia Metelli) after her
break-up with her other lover, M. Caelius Rufus, that is, to 56 or 55. This would
postdate the famous prosecution of Caelius (April 56) and his defense by Cicero,
itself in large part a calculated attack on Clodia. Caelius (Quintil. Inst. Orat. 8.6.)3,
picking up Cic. Pro Cael. 23) referred to her at this time as a "two-bit ['luadrantaria}
Clytemnestra," and her apparent disappearance from the social scene after
that prosecution failed is consonant with the kind of public low-life behavior that
Catullus etches so dramatically. His invocation of Caelius, indeed, is all too apposite:
You'ye had her too, the implication goes, you know what I'm talking about.
Perhaps (as a friend once suggested to me) only scholars from a habitually circumcised
society could getglubitwrong (for some nice waffling examples see Quinn
1970,260). The word is used of skinning or stripping, and thus here of ClodiaMrs.
Palm personified-giving her well-connected (and of course uncircumcised)
boyfriends quick hand-jobs in back alleys: nostalgie de la boue indeed (Arkins 1994,
216). For the act, see Juv. 6.238 (praeputia ducit).