Catullus 86

Quintia and Lesbia

Catullus, Carmina: selections. Latin text with a sentence-by-sentence English translation, notes and vocabulary.

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Cat. 86.1Quīntia fōrmōsa est multīs, mihi candida, longa,
rēcta est.

Quintia is beautiful to many; to me she is fair, tall, upright.

Note. Quīntia: a woman others praise. multīs: 'to many'. candida, longa, rēcta: 'fair, tall, straight-backed': good points, but only points.

Cat. 86.2Haec ego sīc singula cōnfiteor,
tōtum illud fōrmōsa negō: nam nūlla venustās,
nūlla in tam magnō est corpore mīca salis.

I grant these points one by one, but I deny the whole of 'beautiful': for there is no charm, not a grain of salt in so large a body.

Note. singula: 'one by one'. tōtum illud formōsa: 'that whole word formōsa'. mīca salis: 'a grain of salt', i.e. wit or charm (sal).

Cat. 86.5Lesbia fōrmōsa est, quae cum pulcherrima tōta est,
tum omnibus ūna omnīs subripuit Venerēs.

Lesbia is beautiful: she is utterly lovely as a whole, and she alone has stolen every charm from all other women.

Note. cum … tum: 'not only … but also'. omnibus … omnīs surripuit Venerēs: 'she has stolen all the charms from all women'; Venerēs, plural, here means charms, graces.

Vocabulary

fōrmōsus, -a, -um	beautiful
sum, esse, fuī, futūrus	be
multus, -a, -um	much, great; plur., many
ego, meī, pers. pron.	I
candidus, -a, -um	shining white, bright
longus, -a, -um	long; tedious
rēctus, -a, -um	direct, straight
hic, haec, hoc, dem. pron.	this; ille ... hīc, that ... this, the former ... the latter
sīc, adv.	so, thus
singulī, -ae, -a	one at a time, single
cōnfiteor, -ērī, -fessus sum	admit, confess
tōtus, -a, -um	all the, the whole or entire
ille, illa, illud, dem. pron.	that; he, she, it, they; ille ... hīc, see hīc
negō, -āre, -āvī, -ātus	say no or not, deny, refuse
nam, conj.	for
nūllus, -a, -um	not any, none, no
venustās, -ātis f.	charm, grace, beauty
in, prep. with acc. and abl.	with acc.: into, onto, against; with abl.: in, on
tam, adv.	so
magnus, -a, -um	large, big, great, mighty; loud
corpus, corporis, n.	body
mīca, -ae f.	crumb, morsel
sāl, salis, m.	salt
quī, quae, quod, rel. pron.	who, which
cum, conj.	when, while, after; since; although
pulcher, pulchra, pulchrum	beautiful
tum, adv.	then, at that time
omnis, -e	all, every
ūnus, -a, -um	one; only, alone
surripiō, -ripere, -ripuī, -reptus	steal, filch

Catullus, Carmina: selections. Latin text: E. T. Merrill (Boston, 1893), public domain; digital text from the Perseus Digital Library, CC BY-SA. Word analysis: LatinCy, then every word checked and corrected by hand. Vocabulary: F. Ritchie (1903, public domain) and entries written for this app. English translation, notes and grammar hints: written for this app.