From time to time we will be posting commentary from Molly Arden, a onetime BAP-blog regular, who has translated Catullus and written a memorable essay, "Horace and Catullus," which won the coveted Richard Hertz Award from "Contemporary Literature in Translation."
To welcome her back, we thought we'd reprint an earlier post as well as a photographic image selected by the camera-shy Ms. Arden.
Catullus #25
translated by Molly Arden
Thallus, you letch: softer than rabbit fur
is your phallus and sack of nuts
that dangle from your old man crotch,
festooned with cobwebs, and still
you’re as greedy as a gonif
[line missing here]
Give back the things you stole from her --
her cape, handkerchief from Spain,
etchings from Carthage, bracelet of Salome --
things you claim you inherited from your folks.
Spare me your obnoxious jokes.
Get your sticky hands off her stuff, and send it
to her, or I swear I’ll kick your ass
and make you twist like a toy battleship
in the bathtub when a hurricane hits the sea.
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