Catullus in modern garb

Press, 27 January 1979, Page 17

Catullus in modern garb

The Poems of Catullus. Translated from the Latin by Frederic Raphael and Kenneth McLeish. Jonathan Cape. 120 pp. $B.lO. (Reviewed by Ngaire Orlowski)

Gaius Valerius Catullus, recognised as one of the most passionate and direct of the Roman lyric poets, is beloved of students of Latin, who usually read some of his love poems to. the fascinating Lesbia, and the moving Ave atque Vale, his farewell to. a dead brother at an early stage. School text books, however, do not even hint at the full range of his genius. The 113 poems translated in this collection (his total known output) reveal his diverse talents. His subjects include his love for Lesbia, his own and others’ sexual habits, the petty thefts of a couple of unattractive characters, and the speech impediment of another. In contrast are two Bridal Songs and a miniature epic dealing with the marriage of Peleus and Thetis. His tone is by turns bitter, playful, satirical, ironic, crude, tender, nostalgic, erotic, obscene, and witty. Catullus lived from about 84 B.C. until 54 B.C. during one of the most

turbulent periods of Roman history and was writing when Julius Caesar was beginning to rise to power. The future ruler is lampooned in a couple of pieces.

The translators, Kenneth McLeish, who has published a great deal on the life and literature of the Classical World and Frederic Raphael, better known as the author of “The Glittering Prizes,’’ have captured the vigour, energy humour and obscenity of Catullus. As the poet used colloquial and course language where he considered it necessary and coined words to suit his purpose, so have his translators, and the spontaneity of the original (achieved by careful artistry) has been left intact, although some of the tenderness of certain poems has been lost.

This collection, rendered in a decidely modern idiom, will appeal to those who realise that the emotions expressed by Catullus and the foibles he satirises "are common to every age, but the frankness of the language may shock those readers acquainted only with the more seemly texts and translations.