Welcome
Who is Catullus?  Links
Catullus Forum   Search Translations
 

  Available Esperanto 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 - per Carmen  ::  Carmen 36  ::  Poem 36 translated as exactly into English as humanely possible

<<  •  >>

AuthorMessage
Selina Ravenav
Posted on Mon Nov 01, 2004 23:28:43  
Annals of Velusius, shitty sheets,
absolve a vow on behalf of my girl
For she vowed to holy Venus and Cupids
If I would be restored to her
and cease to fling savage iambs,
she would give the most select writings of the worst poet to the
limping god (Hephestus=tardipedi deo)
to be burned with (or in) unlucky wood.
and the worst girl saw that she
vowed this to the gods jokingly, charmingly
now o [you] created from blue sea,
you who cherish holy Idalium and Urium
and Ancon and reedy Cnidus
and Amathus and Golgi
and Durrachium the tavern of the Adriatic
make it so that the vow is received and paid
if it is not inelegant or uncharming
and/but you meanwhile go into the fire
full of the country and coarse jokes
Annals of Velusius, shitty sheets
...
K.C.
Posted at Fri Dec 10, 2004 22:22:33  Quote
Nice, I like it. You could always take the view that it doesn't matter how much you modernise the allusions (to limping gods, etc), 90% of people wont get it anyway, and maybe 10% would be bothered to read Catullus in the first place, and thereby have some knowledge what it means. In my humble opinion, limping god is more meaningful than Haephaestos if you dont know all the mythology.
Here's my translation.

Chronicles of Volusius, paper crap,
Redeem this vow for my girl.
For she swore by the sacred Venus’
And Cupids, if I was restored to her
And ceased to hurl thrumming savage iambs,
I would sacrifice the choicest writings of
The worst poet to the lame god,
Torched like funereal timbers.
And by this the worst girl intended the
Goddess’ oath as an amusing joke.
Now, O she borne of the bluest sea,
Who resides in sacred Idalium and exposed Urios
And Ancon and Cnidus, full of reeds
And stems, and Amathus and Golgi
And Durrachium, the Adriatic tavern,
Enter this vow as received and payed back
If it is not uncharming nor ungraceful.
And you in the meantime feed the flames,
You, chock full of farms and crudities,
Chronicles of Volusius, paper crap.
Non cogito ergo non sumus.
Guest
Posted at Wed Dec 15, 2004 22:56:52  Quote
Quote:
  shitty sheets

I think that a more proper translation would be "sheets having been shat."
Guest
Posted at Fri Jan 25, 2008 02:24:39  Quote
I believe the limping god was Vulcan by the way.
Guest
Posted at Wed Jan 30, 2008 06:26:52  Quote
Quote:
  I believe the limping god was Vulcan by the way.
Vulcan=Haephaestos
 


  � copyright 1995-2010 by Rudy Negenborn
   Nedstat