Catullus 4


Catullus 4 is a poem by the ancient Roman writer Catullus. The poem concerns the retirement of a well-traveled ship. Catullus draws a strong analogy with human aging, rendering the boat as a person that flies and speaks, with palms and purpose.
The poem is complex, with numerous geographic references and elaborate litotic double negatives in a list-like manner. It borrows heavily from Ancient Greek vocabulary, and also uses Greek grammar in several sections. The meter of the poem is unusual — iambic trimeter, which was perhaps chosen to convey a sense of speed over the waves.
Scholars remain uncertain whether the story of the construction and voyages of this phasellus, as described or implied in the poem, can be taken literally. Professor A. D. Hope in his posthumous book of translations from Catullus is one translator who takes it so. His introduction calls the phasellus “his yacht, in which he must have made the return voyage ” and the translation ends
Until she made landfall in this limpid lake. /
But that was aforetime and she is laid up now...
However Hope also left, in his final collection of poetry Aubade, a much freer translation, adaptation, or erotic parody, in which the phasellus seems to be, in effect, a phallus. This version says that the phasellus
claims that in his hey-day with mainsail and spanker / He outsailed all vessels;
and the ending becomes:
At his last landfall now, beyond all resurgence, /
View him careened upon a final lee-shore; /
... Sing for the captain who will put to sea no more!
Among a number of other interpretations, Catullus 4 has also been interpreted as a parody of epic poetry, or the boat as a metaphor for the Ship of state.

Latin text and translation

LineLatin textEnglish Translation
1phaselus ille, quem videtis, hospitesThat light ship, which you see, guests,
2ait fuisse navium celerrimussays that she was the most swift of vessels
3neque ullius natantis impetum trabisand the speed any floating timber
4nequisse praeterire, sive palmulisshe was not unable to surpass, whether oars
5opus foret volare sive linteo.she needed or a sail in order to fly.
6et hoc negat minacis HadriaticiAnd she denies that of the threatening Adriatic, this fact,
7negare litus insulasve Cycladasthe shore denies, or the islands, Cyclades
8Rhodumque nobilem horridamque Thraciamand noble Rhodus and the rugged Thracian
9Propontida trucemve Ponticum sinum,Propontis, or the Pontic gulf
10ubi iste post phaselus antea fuitwhere she was a light ship after, before
11comata silva; nam Cytorio in iugoa leafy forest; for when on the ridge of mount Cytorus
12loquente saepe sibilum edidit coma.she speaks, often the foliage begets a hissing sound.
13Amastri Pontica et Cytore buxiferPontic Amastris and box-tree-bearing Cytorus,
14tibi haec fuisse et esse cognitissimathat to you these things were and are most known
15ait phaselus: ultima ex originesays the light ship: that out of your earliest birth,
16tuo stetisse dicit in cacumineshe says, the master stood at your peak,
17tuo imbuisse palmulas in aequorewetted your palms in the flat sea,
18et inde tot per impotentia fretaand then across so many impotent straits
19erum tulisse, laeva sive dexterabore , whether the left or right
20vocaret aura, sive utrumque Iuppiterbreeze summoned , or each favorable one of Jupiter
21simul secundus incidisset in pedem;fell on the foot at once;
22neque ulla vota litoralibus deis that neither were any prayers to the shore gods
23sibi esse facta, cum veniret a marimade by her, when she came by sea
24novissime hunc ad usque limpidum lacum.very recently to this continuously clear lake.
25sed haec prius fuere: nunc reconditaBut these things were previously: now that secluded one
26senet quiete seque dedicat tibiis old, and in repose she dedicates herself to you,
27gemelle Castor et gemelle CastorisO twin Castor and twin of Castor.