Catullus 16

Blanket warning: This poem contains really filthy Roman words that would be right at home on a
youtube comment thread written by a 12 year old. Thats part of the point. We arent reading this to
giggle at the dirty words, though; instead, think about the following:
What, if anything, does Catullus mean literally?
What assumptions about gender difference and deviant men underlie this poem?
Whats Catullus point?
Does that point help you make sense of the rest of the poem?
Is Catullus making fun of someone? Of whom?
Pedicabo ego vos et irrumabo,
Aureli pathice et cinaede Furi,
qui me ex versiculis meis putastis,
1

quod sunt molliculi, parum pudicum.
nam castum esse decet pium poetam
ipsum, versiculos nihil necesse est,
qui tum denique habent salem ac leporem,
si sunt molliculi ac parum pudici
et quod pruriat incitare possunt,
non dico pueris, sed his pilosis,
qui duros nequeunt movere lumbos.
vos quod milia multa basiorum
legistis, male me marem putatis?
pedicabo ego vos et irrumabo.

Pedico are = to perform anal sex on someone (often non-
consensually)
2

Irrumo are = to do the same thing, only into someones
mouth.
Pathicus = bottom or a man who enjoys receiving anal sex.
Cinaedus = gender deviant man with feminine mannerisms
and dress.
3


Versiculus = short poems
Molliculi = loose in the anus (really)
Salis, salem = acc. Wit, literally salt
Lepus, leporis = charm
Prurio = to incite lust, to turn X on

Incite are = to set off, start up
Pilosus = hairy (old) dude
Nequeo = to be unable to
Duri lumbi = rigid/hard/throbbing loins
Lego = read

Maris = male
Male = insufficiently, wrongly, deviantly




1
Syncopated putastis = putavistis
2
These were Latin dirty slang and very common terms, though not really the sort youd use around your nice Roman grandmother.
As with American slang, the meaning is seldom literal.
3
FYI, androgyny seems to have been quite popular with women of the first century, and cinaedi were so-labeled for doing such
demeaning things as performing oral sex on women. Swishy might capture some, but not all, of the flavor.