Catullus 16


Pēdīcābō ego vōs et irrumābō is the first line, sometimes used as a title, of Carmen 16 in the collected poems of Gaius Valerius Catullus. The poem, written in a hendecasyllabic meter, was considered so explicit that a full English translation was not published until the late twentieth century. The first line has been called "one of the filthiest expressions ever written in Latin—or in any other language, for that matter."
Carmen 16 is significant in literary history as an artistic work censored for its obscenity, but also because the poem raises questions about the proper relation of the poet, or his life, to the work. Later Latin poets referenced the poem not for its invective, but as a justification for subject matter that challenged the prevailing decorum or moral orthodoxy. Ovid, Pliny the Younger, Martial, and Apuleius all invoked the authority of Catullus in asserting that while the poet should be a respectable person, his work should not be constrained or restricted.

Censored editions

Several editions of Catullus' works omit the more explicit parts of the poem. A noteworthy example is the 1924 Loeb edition: this omits lines 1 and 2 from the English translation, but includes them in the Latin; lines 7–14 are omitted from both Latin and English; a later Loeb edition gives the complete text in both languages. Other editions have been published with the explicit words blanked out.
NPR bleep censored the first line of Catullus 16, both in Latin and English translation in the radiophonic exchange between Guy Raz and Mary Beard in 2009. C. H. Sisson writes "the obscenity of Catullus has long been a stumbling block". He follows Loeb, omitting poem lines as non-sequitur:
Thomas Nelson Winter notes:

Social and literary context

The poem raises questions about the proper relation of the poet, or his life, to the work. Catullus addresses the poem to two men, Furius and Aurelius. Furius refers to Marcus Furius Bibaculus, a first-century BC poet who had an affair with Juventius, Catullus' lover. Aurelius refers to Marcus Aurelius Cotta Maximus Messalinus, a first-century BC consul, or senator, during the Julio-Claudian dynasty.
Those two men either together or singly also appear in so called Catullus' Furius and Aurelius "cycle", in poems 11, 15, 21, 23, 24 and 26. The cycle considers sexual themes and with the exception of Catullus 11 uses an abusive language toward the two. The two are described elsewhere as fellow members of Catullus' cohort of friends: comites Catulli. According to Catullus 16, Furius and Aurelius find Catullus's verses to be molliculi, implicating that the author is an effeminate poet. According to T. P. Wiseman, Catullus speaks about himself in feminine terms even in his love poetry. Catullus's gentle attitude left him vulnerable in the cynical and cruel environment of Roman high society. The criticism of Furius and Aurelius was directed at Catullus 5, apparently from "many thousands of kisses" at line 12. Kenneth Quinn observes:
Catullus maligns the two and threatens them with rape. According to T. P. Wiseman, Catullus used the obscenity to get his message that "soft" poetry could be more arousing than explicit description to "sensibilities so much cruder than his own". According to Thomas Nelson Winter, Catullus could still claim that he has a pure life, despite the self evidence of pederasty with and his love of a married woman.
Craig Arthur Williams says Catullus 16 demonstrates that in Roman ideology of masculine vir, a man is not compromised by his penetration of other males, in fact his manhood status is bolstered. Mary Beard finds the poem's message to be ironic:

Latin text and translation

LineLatin textEnglish translation
1Pēdīcābō ego vōs et irrumābō,I will sodomize you and face-fuck you,
2Aurēlī pathice et cinaede Fūrī,bottom Aurelius and catamite Furius,
3quī mē ex versiculīs meīs putāstis,you who think, because my poems
4quod sunt molliculī, parum pudīcum.are sensitive, that I have no shame.
5Nam castum esse decet pium poētamFor it's proper for a devoted poet to be moral
6ipsum, versiculōs nihil necesse est;himself, in no way is it necessary for his poems.
7quī tum dēnique habent salem ac lepōrem,In point of fact, these have wit and charm,
8sī sint molliculī ac parum pudīcīif they are sensitive and a little shameless,
9et quod prūriat incitāre possunt,and can arouse an itch,
10nōn dīcō puerīs, sed hīs pilōsīsand I don't mean in boys, but in those hairy old men
11quī dūrōs nequeunt movēre lumbōs.who can't get it up.
12Vōs, quod mīlia multa bāsiōrumBecause you've read my countless kisses,
13lēgistis male mē marem putātis?you think less of me as a man?
14Pēdīcābō ego vōs et irrumābō.I will sodomize you and face-fuck you.

Micaela Wakil Janan offers the following modern English prose translation of the poem:

Sexual terminology

Latin is an exact language for obscene acts, such as pedicabo and irrumabo, which appear in the first and last lines of the poem. The term pedicare is a transitive verb, meaning to "insert one's penis into another person's anus". The term cinaedus in line 2 refers to the "bottom" person in that act, i.e., the one being penetrated. The term irrumare is likewise a transitive verb, meaning to "insert one's penis into another person's mouth for suckling", and derives from the Latin word, :wikt:ruma#Latin|rūma meaning "udder". A male who suckles a penis is denoted as a fellator or, equivalently, a pathicus.
Catullus neither confirms nor denies the claim of Aurelius and Furius that he is "not a man", since sexual slang "irrumare" and "pedicare" while having sexual slang meaning of homosexuality, could also mean as little as "go to hell".

Pedagogy

Paul Allen Miller suggests Catullus 16 contains information regarding:
  1. the historical mutability of socially accepted behavior
  2. the constructed nature of sexual identity
  3. the nature and function of gender
  4. the omnipresence and play of both power and resistance
  5. the admonitory and optative function of poetic art