Talk:Catullus 101

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Catullus' brother

Nothing is known for sure about who Catullus' brother was, or why, where, or when he died. Everything that is assumed to be 'fact' is in fact a best guess based on evidence in Catullus' poetry. I have edited the article accordingly, but given as much information as can be deduced from the poems as possible. El barty 18:21, 25 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Better translation

There is a more elegant translation:

By strangers' coasts and waters, many days at sea,
I came here for the rites of your unworlding,
Bringing for you, the dead, these last gifts of the living
And my words -- vain sounds for the man of dust.
Alas, my brother,
You have been taken from me. You have been taken from me
And by cold hands turned to shadow, and my pain.
Here are the foods of the old ceremony appointed
Long ago for the starvelings under the earth.
Take them. Your brother's tears have made them wet. And take
Into eternity my hail and my farewell.

Taken from a speech given by Chris Hedges. I am not sure how to include, could someone add it if appropriate. If it is also in Chris Hedges book "War is a force that gives us meaning", he might reference it.196.208.7.43 20:26, 30 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

This may be a nice translation, but it departs in very original ways from Catullus's text; there are most certainly no "cold hands turned to shadow" in the Latin, for instance. So while as an independent creation, it has artistic integrity, it doesn't represent the content of Catullus's poem in the way that an encyclopedia article needs to. Thanks for sharing it, though, as it's always interesting to see how an ancient poem continues to be responded to. Cynwolfe (talk) 13:48, 14 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I don't really like it. The translation in the article made me cry; this one just makes me irritated at how flowery and phony it sounds. Softlavender (talk)