Unit V reading

Lectio: catullus

Instructions: 

Read aloud the passage below, paying attention to how much you can understand as you read in Latin. Then, read through the passage more carefully, working to understand the sense of the passage; don’t write out a translation! As you do so, label all conjunctions, subjects and predicate nominatives, verbs (including subjunctives) and infinitives, direct objects, adjectives (including participles), and prepositions in the passage, and put all (prepositional and participial phrases) in parentheses and bracket all [dependent clauses]. Finally, answer the questions below. 

Tot Bāsia Catullī

(slightly adapted from Catullus’s Carmen 5)

Vīvāmus, mea Lesbia, atque amēmus; omnēsque rūmōrēs senum graviōrum aestimēmus ūnīus assis! Sōlēs occidere et redīre possunt; ubi semel haec brevissima lūx occidit, ūna nox perpetua nōbīs est dormienda.

Dā mihi bāsia mīlle, deinde centum; deinde mīlle altera, deinde secunda centum; deinde, ubi plūrima bāsia fēcerimus, conturbēmus illa, nē sciāmus numerum bāsiōrum, aut nē quis malus numerum invenīre possit atque invidēre.

Glossary:

All vocabulary not found in capita 1-29 are glossed below. Words in bold on DCC Latin Core Vocabulary List.

• tot (adv.) - so many

• Catullus, Catullī, m. - Catullus (proper name; a Roman poet)

• Lesbia, Lesbiae, f. - Lesbia (a proper name; a literary nickname given to Catullus’s girlfriend, meant as a reference to Sappho, a Greek poet from Lesbos)

• rūmor, rūmōris, m. - rumor

• aestimō, aestimāre, aestimāvī, aestimātum - to estimate, value

• as, assis, m. - penny (ūnīus assis = genitive of value = ‘at one penny’)

• occidō, occidere, occidī, occāsum - to fall down, set

• redeō, redīre, rediī, reditum - to go back, return, rise

• semel (adv.) - once

• dormiō, dormīre, dormīvī, dormītum - to sleep

• conturbō, conturbāre, conturbāvī, conturbātum - to throw into confusion, put into disorder

• quis (after nē) = aliquis 

• invideō, invidēre, invīdī, invīsum - to envy, be jealous

Comprehension Questions:

• Quid Catullus dē Lesbiā cupit? (cupiō, cupere - to want)

• Catullusne iūdicia senum aestimat? Cūr aut cūr nōn?

• Quot bāsia Lesbiae Catullus cupit? (cupiō, cupere - to want) 

• Cūr Catullus tot bāsia cupit? (cupiō, cupere - to want) 

Quot bāsia sint satis?

(adapted from Catullus’s Carmen 7)

Quaeris quot bāsia tua sint mihi satis, Lesbia. Tam multa bāsia sunt quam magnus numerus Libyssae harēnae Cyrẽnīs iacet …aut quam sīdera multa, cum tacet nox, fūrtīvōs amōrēs hominum vident -- tam bāsia multa, quae nec cūriōsī pernumerāre nec mala lingua fascināre possunt, sunt satis Catullō!

Glossary:

All vocabulary not found in capita 1-31 are glossed below. Words in bold on DCC Latin Core Vocabulary List.

• Catullus, Catullī, m. - Catullus (proper name; a Roman poet)

• Lesbia, Lesbiae, f. - Lesbia (a proper name; a literary nickname given to Catullus’s girlfriend, meant as a reference to Sappho, a Greek poet from Lesbos)

• Libyssus, Libyssa, Libyssum - Libyan, African

• harēna, harēnae, f. - sand, grain of sand

• Cȳrēnae, Cȳrēnārum, f. (pl) - Cyrene, a city in Libya

• fūrtīvus, fūrtīva, fūrtīvum - secret, stolen

• cūriōsus, cūriōsus, cūriōsus - curious

• pernumerō, pernumerāre, pernumerāvī, pernumerātum - to count

• fascinō, fascināre, fascināvī, fascinātum - to bewitch, curse

Comprehension Questions:

• Quid Lesbia dē Catullō quaerit?

• Quot bāsia Lesbiae sunt Catullō satis?

BYOB 

(Catullus, Carmen 13: The first 8 lines are completely unadapted and are represented here in their original poetic meter! The paragraph below adapts the content of the last six lines of the poem, although not metrically.)

Cēnābis bene, mī Fabulle, apud mē

paucīs (sī tibi dī favent) diēbus,

sī tēcum attuleris bonam atque magnam

cēnam, nōn sine candidā puellā

et vīnō et sale et omnibus cachinnīs;

haec sī, inquam, attuleris, venuste noster,

cēnābis bene; nam tuī Catullī

plēnus sacculus est arāneārum.

Sed contrā accipiēs merōs amōrēs et aliquid suāvius: nam unguentum tibi dabō…et, cum tū id olfaciēs, deōs rogābis, ut tē tōtum, Fabulle, nāsum faciant.

Glossary:

All vocabulary not found in capita 1-33 are glossed below. Words in bold on DCC Latin Core Vocabulary List.

• lēctiō, lēctiōnis, m. - reading, passage

• Fabullus, Fabullī, m. - Fabullus, a friend of Catullus’s

• faveō, favēre, fāvī, fautum - to favor, give favor to (takes a dative object)

• cachinnus, cachinnī, m. - a laugh, laughter 

• venustus, venusta, venustum (adj.) - charming, elegant

• sacculus, sacculī, m. - little sack, coin-purse, wallet

• arānea, arāneae, f. - spiderweb, cobweb

• contrā (here, used as an adverb) - in return

• unguentum, unguentī, n. - perfume, ointment

• olfaciō, olfacere, olfēcī, olfactum - to smell, scent

Comprehension Questions:

• Quid Fabullus apud Catullum adferre dēbet?

• Quod beneficium Fabullus dē deīs rogābit, postquam unguentum olfacit? (postquam = after)