Gaius Valerius Catullus
84-54 BCE (over 2,000 years ago)
Trans RMBullard
Latin (Golden Age/Republican Era)
QVIS hoc potest uidere,
[Who can see this?]
quis potest pati,
[who can endure it,]
nisi impudicus et uorax et aleo,
[except a shameless glutton and gambler,]
Mamurram habere quod Comata Gallia
habebat uncti et ultima Britannia?
[the fact that he can let Mamurra make himself filthy rich from long-haired Gaul and the farthest region of Britain?]
cinaede Romule haec uidebis et feres?
[you fucked-up version of Romulus, will you bear witness to these things, and can you stand them?]
et ille nunc superbus et superfluens
perambulabit omnium cubilia,
[and will he---whom we all know-- now walk into and through the bedrooms of every single person, haughtily and with all hubris]
ut albulus columbus aut Adoneus?
[like a white little dove, or Adonis?]
cinaede Romule, haec uidebis et feres?
[You fucked-up excuse of a Romulus, will you bear witness to these things, and can you stand them?]
es impudicus et uorax et aleo.
[you are a shameless glutton, and a gambler.]
eone nomine, imperator unice,
[with that title of honor, sole commander of the military,]
fuisti in ultima occidentis insula,
[did you find yourself in the most remote island in the West,]
ut ista uestra diffututa mentula
ducenties comesset aut trecenties?
[such that you little dick of yours, all fucked out, could then devour people, 200 and 300 at a time?]
quid est alid <?> sinistra liberalitas?
[What is more sinister than his 'generosity'?]
parum expatrauit an parum elluatus est?
[hasn't he ruined enough, or better, hasn't he fucked enough?]
paterna prima lancinata sunt bona,
[First his own family's assets were shredded to pieces,]
secunda praeda Pontica,
[second, the resources of the Black Sea,]
inde tertia
Hibera,
[thirdly from then, Hibera]
quam scit amnis aurifer Tagus:
[which the gold-loaded Tagus River knows well:]
nunc Galliae timetur et Britanniae.
[now the territories of Gaul and Britain tremble in fear.]
quid hunc malum fouetis?
[Why do you do this base fellow any favors?]
aut quid hic potest
nisi uncta deuorare patrimonia?
[Or rather, what can this man do other than swallow down whole estates he's greased over?]
eone nomine urbis opulentissime
socer generque, perdidistis omnia?
[And in this name of the city, o most excellent brother - and father - in - law, have you caused everything to go to ruin? ]
