Catullus 13 Translation

Introduction

Usually, when you invite a friend over for dinner, you provide the dinner. But, not when Catullus invites Fabullus over for dinner. In Catullus 13, Catullus has an empty wallet. Since he has no money, he asks his friend to bring dinner over, and Catullus does it with his unique, ancient wit. 

Not only does Catullus request that Fabullus bring the food, but he also wants his friend to bring a girl, wine, and jokes, too. In exchange, Catullus will provide love, which is sweeter than any perfume that Venus or Cupid have given to his lady (Lesbia). 

The poem begins innocently enough, with the invitation to “have a good dinner at my house, Fabullus.” But, the condition of the dinner quickly arrives in lines three and five. In three, Catullus requests that Fabullus “bring with you good dinner and plenty of it” and in line five, “wine and wit, and all kinds of laughter.” You can practically hear Catullus laughing as he tells Fabullus, “If...you bring all this...you will have a good dinner.” The line is humorous despite being blindingly obvious.  

Of course, Catullus reminds Fabullus to bring a pretty girl. What dinner party would be complete without a beautiful girl? 

This light-hearted poem shows how comfortable Catullus is with his friends. He kindly invites his friend over, but asks him to supply everything. He informs his friend that he is penniless. But, then, he tells his friend in the final line of the poem that he will be nothing but nose. There are several ways this final line could be taken. 

The nose will become massive because it is taking in all of the perfume that Catullus will give him. Catullus then tells Fabullus that when he sniffs it, he will tell the gods that all he wants is to be a nose. This is to take in all of the fragrance. This could be an attempt at humorous imagery, of the man-size nose smelling perfume. Or, it could a sexual reference as the perfume penetrates the man, especially as the perfume comes from Venus and “Loves,” a reference to the gods of love, like Cupid. Catullus refers to Venuses and Cupids in other poems, too. 

Continuing the sexual references, Catullus could be offering Fabullus the opportunity to smell Lesbia’s labia. Catullus could be using the symbol of the god-given perfume which is his “love’s very essence” (line nine). Catullus tells Fabullus that he can smell the “perfume” then his nose will become big. The growing nose could be Fabullus’s penis, which grows erect after smelling Lesbia in the parts that were given to her by the love gods.  

Even though the English translation does not have the same rhythm, rhyme, and meter of the original Latin version, it does read somewhat like a Shakespearean sonnet. Consider the first 12 lines the three quatrains and the final two lines, the concluding couplet. Like Shakespeare, Catullus sets up the story in the quatrains, but offers an unexpected twist or lesson in the final couplet. 

Interestingly, while Catullus makes the focus of the poem his friend Fabullus, he still manages to compliment Lesbia. Catullus makes fun of his friend in several ways. But, he compliments Lesbia as she smells like fragrance given to her by the gods. Catullus might be getting a free meal out of his friend, but Catullus really seems to want to show off his woman to Fabullus. Catullus gets two wins out of this event. 

Like many of Catullus’s brilliant poems, he is able to capture humor and unexpected, raunchy sexual innuendos. You may never look at noses the same way again.

Carmen 13

Resources

VRoma Project