Product Description

Catullus, who lived during some of the most interesting and tumultuous years of the late Roman Republic, spent his short but intense life (?84-54 B.C.E.) in high Roman society, rubbing shoulders with various cultural and political luminaries, including Caesar, Cicero, and Pompey. Catullus's poetry is by turns ribald, lyric, romantic, satirical; sometimes obscene and always intelligent, it offers us vivid pictures of the poet's friends, enemies, and lovers. The verses to his friends are bitchy, funny, and affectionate; those to his enemies are often wonderfully nasty. Many poems brilliantly evoke his passionate affair with Lesbia, often identified as Clodia Metelli, a femme fatale ten years his senior and the smart, adulterous wife of an arrogant aristocrat. Cicero later claimed she poisoned her husband.
This new bilingual translation of Catullus's surviving poems by Peter Green is fresh, bawdy, and utterly engaging. Unlike its predecessors, it adheres to the principle that the rhythm of a poem, whether familiar or not, is among the most crucial elements for its full appreciation. Green provides an essay on the poet's life and literary background, a historical sketch of the politically fraught late Roman Republic in which Catullus lived, copious notes on the poems, a wide-ranging bibliography for further reading, and a full glossary.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #120288 in Books
• Published on: 2007-08-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 359 pages

From the Inside Flap
"Peter Green is an outstanding translator. The reader's excited anticipation of pleasure and instruction on receiving a new translation of a Latin poet by Green is not disappointed. This is a labor of love which makes Catullus accessible to the Latinless reader and more familiar to those who can read Latin."--Susan Treggiari, Stanford University

"For almost half a century Peter Green has been one of the finest of all modern translators of classical verse. His Catullus is well up to his usual form--recapturing for a contemporary audience the wit, malice, erudition and erotic charm of the Latin original."--Mary Beard, author of The Parthenon

About the Author
Peter Green is Dougherty Centennial Professor Emeritus of Classics at the University of Texas at Austin and Adjunct Professor of Classics at the University of Iowa. He is the author of many books, including Alexander of Macedon, 356-323 B.C.: A Historical Biography (California, 1991) and Alexander to Actium: The Historical Evolution of the Hellenistic Age (California, 1990). His translations include Ovid's The Poems of Exile: Tristia and the Black Sea Letters (California, 2005), Juvenal's The Sixteen Satires (third edition, 1998), and Apollonios Rhodios's The Argonautika: The Story of Jason and the Quest for the Golden Fleece (California, 1997).

Customer Reviews

centuries later, still the king of filth and wisdom
I am not a Latin scholar, so I can't judge the translation itself. (This collection has a parallel layout, so you can see the Latin original alongside the English translation.) Peter Green's introduction clearly explains the route he took (rhtyhm/meter, not meaning) to guide his translation, and I was startled that his remarks were not at all stuffy or full of academic exclusivity. The historical and poetic background included makes it much easier to approach Catullus, and I am disappointed that there are not more texts that strive to be so accessible. I took a college class where Catullus was discussed briefly, but without knowing about his complicated personal life and the details of his era, he really just came across as a disgusting jerk tormenting others. This is far from the full story, as Green's introduction informs us. Catullus is humanized and allows you to see the motivations and even sense behind his vulgarity.

Green's commentary and annotations also make it easier to feel even close to Catullus. Names of people mentioned are referenced and notes on each poem elucidate obscure references. I particularly enjoyed the glossary of "dramatis personae" because it gave a sense of immediacy to Catullus' long-gone world. He was writing about real people, and if you know a bit about these characters, you can see why Catullus had to say what he had to say.

I'm very happy with this presentation of his work, as I wondered whether anyone would be so honest AND lyrical today, and why poetry isn't fun anymore. A lot of Catullus is a good time, and when he's miserable, it's real, raw and disgusting human misery. This is poetry for all the experiences that maybe others felt too naked to write about.

indispensable
i am currently translating the extant works of Catullus, in aid of which i have 6 different translations. Peter Green's is the one that is indispensable, as well as the most pleasurable to read for its own sake.

for example, on the page facing his translation is the Latin text, a sine qua non for appreciating Catullus's brilliance.

there is also a glossary that explains the significance of each proper name to the poem in which it appears. and, most helpfully, there are notes to each poem that summarize not only Green's wise interpretation, but various views by other Catullus scholars.

the translation itself strikes a perfect balance, to my taste, of the literal Latin, Catullus's meaning and intent, and elegance (without stuffiness or pretension).

if you are going to buy only one book of Catullus's poems, or are thinking about adding to your collection of them, this is the one to get.

Lovely Edition
Facing pages of Latin and English text and my favorite translation of Catullus. It's less portable than the Loeb, but completely worth it! Buy this book.