Catullus 110 - 114

Catullus 110


AVFILENA, bonae semper laudantur amicae:
     accipiunt pretium, quae facere instituunt.
tu, quod promisti, mihi quod mentita inimica es,
     quod nec das et fers saepe, facis facinus.
aut facere ingenuae est, aut non promisse pudicae,
     Aufillena, fuit: sed data corripere
fraudando officiis, plus quam meretricis auarae
     quae sese toto corpore prostituit.

Aufilena, good girl friends are always praised:
 They accept their price for that which they set out to do.
You, because you promised, you are enemy to me because you lied,
  Because you do not give and often carry off, you make an outrage.
Either it was right for a freeborn to do it,
 or it was not right for a chaste woman to promise.
Aufilena: but to steal the things given for services
by cheating, that is more given to  a greedy whore
 who sells herself with her whole body.

Catullus 111

AVFILENA, uiro contentam uiuere solo,
     nuptarum laus ex laudibus eximiis:
sed cuiuis quamuis potius succumbere par est,
     quam matrem fratres efficere ex patruo…

Aufilena, to live content with a single man
is the greatest glory out of all the extreme glories of married women.
But it is equal to succumb to the power of whomever,
than for a mother to produce brothers from an uncle...

Catullus 112

MVLTVS homo es, Naso, neque tecum multus homo
     te scindat: Naso, multus es et pathicus.

 You are a lot of man, Naso, and many a man does not
tear you: and Naso, you are quite a bottom.


Catullus 113

CONSVLE Pompeio primum duo, Cinna, solebant
     Maeciliam: facto consule nunc iterum
manserunt duo, sed creuerunt milia in unum
     singula. fecundum semen adulterio.

Cinna, in the first consulship of Pompey, two men were accustomed
to Maeclia: now again with haim made consul
the two men remain, but a thousand in one sprang up from each.
His seed breeds adultery.

Catullus 114

FIRMANVS saltu non falso Mentula diues
     fertur, qui tot res in se habet egregias,
aucupium omne genus, piscis, prata, arua ferasque.
     nequiquam: fructus sumptibus exsuperat.
quare concedo sit diues, dum omnia desint.
     saltum laudemus, dum modo ipse egeat.

They report, truthfully,  that wealthy Mentula
is rich because of his land, who holds for himself so many outstanding things,
every kind of poultry, fish, fields, and wild growing lands.
In vain: in costs he surpasses his income.
Therefore I permit that he is rich, while he lacks everything.
Let us praise the pasture, while he alone is in need.