Catullus and Sappho: Jonathan Yeung reaction to Catullus and Sappho

Catullus and Sappho

Catullus:
86
Many find Quintia stunning. I find her attractive:
Tall, “regal,” fair in complexion—these points are granted.
But stunning? No, I deny it: the woman is scarcely venerious,
There’s no spice at all in the length of her body!
Now Lesbia is stunning, for Lesbia’s beauty is total:
And by that sum all other women are diminished.

39
Egnatius, because he has bright white teeth,always smiles: If someone comes to the defendant'sbench, when the speaker arouses weeping,he grins; If there is weeping at the funeral pyre ofa dutiful son, when the bereaved mother laments her only son,he grins. Whatever it is, wherever he is,whatever he is doing, he grins: he has this disease,neither elegant, as I think, nor refined.Therefore I must warn you, my good Egnatius.If you were a city man or a Sabine or a Tiburnanor a thrifty Umbrian or a fat Etruscanor a swarthy or toothy Lanuvian ora Transpadane, to touch on my own people as well,or anyone you like who cleans his teeth with clean water,I still should not want you to smile on all occasions:for nothing is more silly than a silly smile.Now you are a Celtiberian: in the land of Celtiberia,whatever each man has urinated, with this he is accustomedin the morning to rub his teeth and gums until they are red,so that the more polished those teeth of yours are,the more urine they proclaim you to have drunk.

70
My woman says there is no one whom she’d rather marry
Than me, not even Jupiter, if he came courting.
That’s what she says—but what a woman says to a passionate lover
Ought to be scribbled on wind, on running water.

94
Mentula is an adulterer. Why certainly he is. How could he be anythingelse with a name such as his. It is as natural as for a pot to gather vegetables.

Excerpts from Sappho
‘Some say horsemen, some say warriors’

Some say horsemen, some say warriors,
Some say a fleet of ships is the loveliest
Vision in this dark world, but I say it’s
What you love.

It’s easy to make this clear to everyone,
Since Helen, she who outshone
All others in beauty, left
A fine husband,

And headed for Troy
Without a thought for
Her daughter, her dear parents…
Led astray….

And I recall Anaktoria, whose sweet step
Or that flicker of light on her face,
I’d rather see than Lydian chariots
Or the armed ranks of the hoplites.

‘Stand up and look at me, face to face’

Stand up and look at me, face to face
My friend,
Unloose the beauty of your eyes.....

‘Love shook my heart’

Love shook my heart,
Like the wind on the mountain
Troubling the oak-trees.

‘He’s equal with the Gods, that man’

He’s equal with the Gods, that man
Who sits across from you,
Face to face, close enough, to sip
Your voice’s sweetness,

And what excites my mind,
Your laughter, glittering. So,
When I see you, for a moment,
My voice goes,

My tongue freezes. Fire,
Delicate fire, in the flesh.
Blind, stunned, the sound
Of thunder, in my ears.

Shivering with sweat, cold
Tremors over the skin,
I turn the colour of dead grass,
And I’m an inch from dying.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Jonathan Yeung reaction to Catullus and Sappho

In poem 86, Catullus uses a number of mathematical terms to express his ideals of the female form. This to me tells me that he is a huge nerd, and he would never be able to smooth talk a woman into his bedroom, because most of them won't be able to understand him. Describing Quintia he says “There’s no spice at all in the length of her body!” He is trying to say even though Quintia is a tall and attractive lady; she is missing that special spark that would make her truly remarkable. And because she lacks this sparkle she does not compare to Lesbia, whom does poses this sparkle. He also uses mathematics to describe the womanly body because to him it's all a numbers game.

The major theme Catullus discusses in detail in Carmen 32, 33, and 37 is human sexuality.

I think Catullus commentary on human sexuality in Carmen 32 is not very valuable for our modern era. In Carmen 32 Catullus espouses unto us the virtues of consecutive midday sex with prostitutes.

In Carmen 33, Catullus describes a thief in the bathhouse as catamites, as a man who likes to have sex with his dad. The thief and his dad are told to go to hell because the thief’s son isn’t worth enough to even be a male prostitute. I love Catullus.

In Carmen 37, Catullus is in love with a prostitute. He seems very much distraught over the idea of hundreds of men not wanting to have sex with the girl he loves; they are not enjoying the best of life has to offer like he is, and are instead too busy making love to a hairy celtiberian man with shady pubic hair.

My personal definition of love is just as cold hearted and calculated as Catullus. But Instead of using mathematics to formulate the equation of love, I like to use science. Love is nature’s way of keeping the couple who've have had sex to stay together and raise their helpless newborns. Love is a beautiful, compelling, and exhilarating experience! So I have been told. I have yet to experience this physiological and chemical process called love, hmm I wonder why that is.

1 comment:

Anthony Farrar said...: LOL... I think that he is a big geek, but I feel that he is fully justified in his mathematical beliefs because beauty is a subjective science that is able to be manipulated by anyones belief structure. His use of mathematical jargon demonstrates his taste in women. I also feel that he is a cold hearted with his definition of love, but I feel that this is what we need. How is someone to know your true feelings if you are covert and PC about everything. Cattulus is very boisterous in his attempts to rid his society of homosexaul behavior, but he also wants heterosexuality to be more amplified!!; September 28, 2009 at 12:37 AM