Catullus # 25
Thallus, you faggot: softer than the fur on a rabbit,
or down of pillow, or flap of ear, or phallus
dangling from your old man crotch, festooned with cobwebs,
are you, and still as greedy a thief as a gonif gale [?]
[line missing here]
Give me back the things you stole from me: my coat,
the handkerchief from Spain, my etchings from Bythinia,
things you claim your parents passed down to you.
Get your sticky hands off my stuff, and send them back
or else I swear I’ll take my rod and kick your ass
and leave my marks on your pathetic body
and make you twist like a toy battleship
in the bathtub of the sea when a hurricane hits.
-- translated by Molly Arden
