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Catullus 70
Words written on water
Catullus, Carmina: selections. Latin text with a sentence-by-sentence English translation, notes and vocabulary.
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Read in LectitōCat. 70.1Nūllī sē dīcit mulier mea nūbere mālle
quam mihi, nōn sī sē Iuppiter ipse petat.
My woman says there is no one she would rather marry than me, not even if Jupiter himself were to ask for her.
Note. In elegiac couplets (a hexameter followed by a shorter line), the metre of the remaining poems. Nūllī sē dīcit … nūbere mālle quam mihi: 'she says she would rather marry no one than me'; nūbō takes a dative. nōn sī: 'not even if'.
Cat. 70.3Dīcit: sed mulier cupidō quod dīcit amantī
in ventō et rapidā scrībere oportet aquā.
She says so: but what a woman says to an eager lover should be written on the wind and on running water.
Note. cupidō … amantī: dative, 'to an eager lover'. in ventō et rapidā scrībere oportet aquā: proverbial, words written on wind and water.
Vocabulary
| nūllus, -a, -um | not any, none, no |
| suī, sibi, sē or sēsē, reflexive pron. | himself, herself, itself, themselves |
| dīcō, dīcere, dīxī, dictus | say, speak; diem dīcere, to appoint or set a day |
| mulier, mulieris, f. | woman |
| meus, -a, -um | my, mine |
| nūbō, -ere, nūpsī, nūptum (+ dat.) | marry (said of a woman) |
| mālō, mālle, māluī | wish rather, prefer |
| quam, adv. | how? as; than; with superl., as ... as possible |
| ego, meī, pers. pron. | I |
| nōn, adv. | not |
| sī, conj. | if |
| ipse, ipsa, ipsum, intensive pron. | self, himself, herself, itself, themselves; often to be rendered by very |
| petō, -ere, -īvī or -iī, -ītus | seek, ask; attack |
| sed, conj. | but |
| cupidus, -a, -um | desirous, eager |
| quī, quae, quod, rel. pron. | who, which |
| amō, -āre, -āvī, -ātus | love |
| in, prep. with acc. and abl. | with acc.: into, onto, against; with abl.: in, on |
| ventus, -ī, m. | wind |
| et, conj. | and; et ... et, both ... and |
| rapidus, -a, -um | swift; consuming, fierce |
| scrībō, scrībere, scrīpsī, scrīptus | write |
| oportet, -ēre, oportuit (impersonal) | it is right, it is necessary |
| aqua, -ae, f. | water |