Welcome
Who is Catullus?  Links
Catullus Forum   Search Translations
 

  Available Bulgarian translations:  
 
1 2 2b 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 14b 15 16 17 21
22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41
42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51
52 53 54 55 56 57 58 58b 59 60
61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70
71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 78b 79
80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89
90 91 92 93 94 95 95b 96 97 98
99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108
109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116
 

  Available languages:  
 
Latin
Afrikaans   Albanian   Arabic
Brazilian Port.   Bulgarian   Castellano
Catalan   Chinese   Croatian
Czech   Danish   Dutch
English   Esperanto   Estonian
Finnish   French   Frisian
German   Greek   Gronings
Hebrew   Hindi   Hungarian
Interlingua   Irish   Italian
Japanese   Korean   Limburgs
Norwegian   Persian   Polish
Portuguese   Rioplatense   Romanian
Russian   Scanned   Serbian
Spanish   Swedish   Telugu
Turkish   Ukrainian   Vercellese
Welsh  
 

  Gaius Valerius Catullus     
About Me
Send a Reaction
Read Reactions
 

 
Catullus Forum

Main  ::  Translations - all  ::  Problem with carmina 70 and 76 (Uncategorized)

<<  •  >>

AuthorMessage
Max
Posted on Sun May 07, 2006 20:54:33  
I'm studying these two poems for GCSE. It's been a great experience, but I can't work out a few bits.

Firstly in 70, it seems unclear who the subject of oportet is. My class went with mulier, as it is nominative, but of course oportet takes an accusative, but I can't see what it could be. AJ Robinson's translation on this site says "he ought to write", perhaps as a proof to her. If it is "she ought to write", it could be her making a promise. Also, what do the wind and water mean. As they are fluid, is it said ironically, suggesting that such a promise would be worthless. Or maybe Catullus is implying the eternal quality of these two Greek elements.

Now on to the complicated stuff. Lines 17-18, (aut...opem). This whole bit is unclear. How should extremam be translated, where does iam fit, and should in be translated "on the bink of".
Lines 21-22, "quae...laetitias". Is the mihi a possessive for imos, or is it an indirect object of subrepens? "in artus", this means "into limbs". Are the joys (laetitias) going from the heart (ex pectore) into the limbs, or is it the creeping (subrepens) into the limbs.
Line 12, quod non potis est. quod could be either which or because, and non potis est could be either she cannot or it is not possible.

My thanks in advance to anyone who can help me.
Guest
Posted at Fri May 12, 2006 12:49:31  Quote
Hello, I believe I can help with the Carmen 70 question:

Oportet can also be an impersonal verb, so it can be translated as "it is proper to write in wind and rapid water". I believe Catullus is saying that a woman's words to her lover are not trustworthy.
Max
Posted at Wed May 17, 2006 23:18:04  Quote
Thanks "guest". Exam's coming up so if anyone else wants to help me with the rest of the problems......
 


  � copyright 1995-2010 by Rudy Negenborn
   Nedstat