A Log Cabin Out of Stone: - Dartmouth College

Cenabis bene, mi Fabulle, apud me
Paucis, si tibi di favent, diebus,
Si tecum attuleris bonam atque magnam
Cenam, non sine candida puella
Et vino et sale et omnibus cachinnis.
Haec, si, inquam, attuleris, venuste noster,
Cenabis bene; nam tui Catulli
Plenus sacculus est aranearum.
Sed contra accipies meros amores
Seu quid suavius elegantiusve est
Nam unguentum dabo, quod meae puellae
Donarunt Veneres Cupidinesque
Quod tu cum olfacies, deos rogabis
Totum ut te faciant, Fabulle, nasum.
This is a very witty, snappy, informal poem to a friend at a dinner party. For the
purpose of comparison, we can look at Bariss Mills translation from 1965.
You’ll dine well at my house
one of these days, my dear Fabullus,
the gods willing, if you’ll bring
a good dinner with you,
and plenty of it – not forgetting
a pretty girl, and wine and wit
and laughter of all sorts.
If, as I say, you’ll bring
all this, my charming friend,
you’ll dine well. For your Catullus’
purse is full –of cobwebs.
Nevertheless, you’ll receive
the essence of true love
or something sweeter and finer
if that’s possible. For I’ll give you
a perfume the Venuses and Cupids
presented to my girl. And when
you smell it, Fabullus,
you’ll beg the gods to make you
all nose! 3
Mills translates the Latin very closely. For instance he translates “cenabis bene apud me”
as “You will dine well at my house.” He finds an English lexical equivalent for the Latin.
3 Mills, Barris The Carmina of Catullus: A verse translation by Barriss Mills (Purdue University Studies,
1965).
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