2. Student Study Book - Cambridge School Classics Project

37. Read lines 10-13 (aloud if possible) or listen to the audio on the CSCP website.38. Study the vocabulary for these lines.39. Read lines 10-13 (or listen to the audio) again.40. Catullus continues to pretend that he and Lesbia are keeping count. What does he say they will have done bythe end of line 10? There are several ways of translating fecerimus: for example, “reached…”, “achieved…”,“made up a total of…”.41. When they have reached the total mentioned in line 10, what does Catullus say he and Lesbia will do with them(line 11)?Check42* What does Catullus mean by “mixing up the numbers”?(a) he and Lesbia will stop counting(b) they will deliberately lose count(c) they will stop kissing(d) they will become even more unrestrainedMight he mean more than one of these alternatives?43. One purpose of “mixing up the numbers” is that two people in particular will be left in ignorance of something.Who are the two people? (If stuck, look again at the ending of sciamus.) What will they not know? (Your answerto question 41 may help.)44. Line 11 may be linked to a superstition that it is unwise to calculate exactly how lucky or successful you havebeen, especially if you mention it aloud. If someone says “I’ve scored a goal in every match we’ve played”, or“I’ve made exactly £32,527 on this deal” s/he might be regarded as “asking for trouble” or “tempting providence”.Another possible explanation of line 11 is that if even Catullus and Lesbia themselves do not know theseintimate details, neither can anyone else; this leads naturally to what is said in lines 12-13.45. Find and translate the word in line 12 which refers to the person feared by Catullus. What does he want toprevent this person from being able to do? The glossary gives two translations of the verb whose infinitiveappears in line 12; both are possible, for a reason which will appear in question 50.46. If you are comfortable with indirect statements, proceed to question 47. If you need some help, look at thefollowing examples:(a) (i) direct statement: “est leo in silva.” (“There is a lion in the wood.”)(ii) indirect statement: puella scit esse leonem in silva. (The girl knows a lion to be in the wood or,more naturally, The girl knows that there is alion in the wood.)In the indirect statement, est turns into the infinitive esse and leo turns into the accusative leonem.Translate these examples:(b) (i) “sunt multae statuae in hoc templo.”(ii) puella scit multas statuas esse in hoc templo.(c) (i) “est tantum vini in culina!”(ii) malus (= vir malus) scit tantum esse vini in culina.(d) (i) “sunt tantum basiorum!”(ii) malus scit tantum esse basiorum.47. According to line 13, when would any wicked person be able to envy Catullus and Lesbia, or cast a curse onthem, if they fail to prevent him? How does Catullus intend they should prevent him getting this knowledge?(Hint: look back at line 11.)48. In line 13, does Catullus say “know how many there are” or “know how many there were”? Is this because theaffair is still in progress, or does he mean that after the kisses have been counted, the total is known? (There isno official “right answer” to the second part of this question.)49. Translate lines10-13.The remaining questions have no official “right answers”.50. invidere (line 12) can mean “to look jealously at somebody” or “to look at somebody with hatred, in order to wisha curse on him or her”. Why does Catullus say that some malicious person would be able to do this (inviderepossit) if the number of kisses was not kept secret?(a) He means that the more an enemy knew about the details of Catullus’ affair, the more envious anddangerous he would be.(b) He means that if an enemy knew the exact number of kisses, this knowledge might help him to put aWJEC Level 2 Latin Literature Unit 9541 Love and Marriage 33