A Log Cabin Out of Stone: - Dartmouth College

than they are with the attitude and the subject matter. By using interpretation, she
manages to convey the most essential aspects of the poetry.
One of Carson’s more interesting choices is to include a translation of Catullus 17.
Non (ita me di ament) quicquam referre putavi,
utrumne os an culum olfacerem Æmilio.
nilo mundius hoc, nihiloque immundius illud,
verum etiam culus mundior et melior:
nam sine dentibus est. hic dentis sesquipedalis,
gingivas uero ploxeni habet veteris,
præterea rictum qualem diffissus in æstu
meientis mulæ cunnus habere solet.
hic futuit multas et se facit esse venustum
et non pistrino traditur atque asino?
quem siqua attingit, non illam posse putemus
ægroti culum lingere carnificis?
To compare Carson’s translation to a more complete translation, we can examine Charles
Martin’s work from 1979. He chooses a colloquial tone and opts for a casual mood.
Really, I shouldn’t have thought that it made any difference
whether Aemilius opened his mouth or his asshole:
one wouldn’t expect to find elegance wafting from either.
However, his asshole does show greater refinement,
since it has no teeth. The teeth in his mouth are enormous,
set maladroitly in gums of saddlebag leather,
and when (as he’s wont to) he grins, one things of the gaping
cunt of a she-mule in heat, pissing profusely.
He fucks a great many women & thinks himself charming,
but hasn’t brains enough to walk a miller’s donkey.
Surely the woman who went with him ought to take pleasure
in licking clean a sickly old hangman’s asshole. 14
Martin’s translation incorporates a lot of the original. He is careful to include an
equivalent for every Latin phrase, he doesn’t leave any of the narrative out, and he
provides a very thorough translation. He also attempts to be witty and to capture the
humor and light tone of the poem. In so far as these requirements are concerned,
Martin’s translation is very useful. However, while he manages to phrase the poem in
14 Martin, Charles The Poems of Catullus, (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1990).
43