Some Queer Versions of Catullus
Cw. homophobia, homophobic language, sexual threat
On Friday 26 February, the Classics Society was proud to welcome Prof. Jennifer Ingleheart, head of the Durham University Classics and Ancient History Department, to speak for LGBTQ+ History Month. Prof. Ingleheart began by talking about her experience of teaching the module ‘Language, Translation and Interpretation’ at Durham and how it had made her more aware of the relationship between classical translation and the history of sexuality, as translation of classical texts has been a way to engage with queer sexuality throughout history.
Catullus is most well-known for his poems about Lesbia and these are the poems which Prof. Ingleheart first encountered of Catullus’ work. Indeed, they had a significant influence upon her decision to become a Classicist. However, there are other objects of desire in Catullus’ work, including the figure of the boy Juventius. Catullus frequently blurs the boundaries between Lesbia and Juventius, often drawing comparisons between them, although scholars have often been reluctant to address this. In addition, while much scholarship has been dedicated to determining who the real Lesbia was and whether or not she was the infamous Clodia Metelli, little effort has been made to discover the identity of Juventius, whom many scholars have preferred to treat as literary fiction.
There is a lot of homoeroticism in Catullus, as well as intense relationships with other men. Catullus 63, in which Attis becomes a follower of Cybele, is particularly noteworthy for its exploration of gender identity. For the purpose of this talk, however, Prof. Ingleheart decided to focus on the first-person poetry, to argue that Catullus has appealed to queer translators throughout history. Most translators mentioned in this paper seem to have been queer.
Lord Byron, 1806
The first example was a poem published under the title ‘To Anna’ in the first edition and ‘To Ellen’ in the second edition of Lord Byron’s 1806 Fugitive Pieces. It is a version of Catullus 48, which was addressed to Juventius and consequently, many scholars have seen as Byron heterosexualising Catullus, a common technique of translators who dislike the homoerotic content. However, Prof. Ingleheart does not think this is the case, as the change in addressees from the first edition to the second encourages the reader to see the similarities between Lesbia and Juventius in Catullus’ work. In addition, line 10 refers to ‘The yellow harvest’s countless seed’, which is a common way of referring to semen, although there is no reference to this word in Catullus, as he refers to the Latin word for corn, aristis. Byron was rumoured to have had homosexual relationships himself, which would further support the hypothsis that he is acknowledging and even amplifying the homosexual aspects of Catullus.
Burton and Smithers, 1890
Prof. Ingleheart’s second example was Burton and Smithers’ 1890 translation and commentary of Catullus. The edition features the Latin text, followed by two translations, one each from Burton and Smithers, as well as comments, which are occasionally attributed one of them but often left anonymous.
Sir Richard Burton was an explorer, diplomat, and translator. He had become famous through his translation of Arabian Nights, with an introduction about pederasty, which became notorious and controversial because it provided one of the first discussions widely published in the UK about same-sex relations. It became a bestseller, proving to Burton that sex was popular in Victorian Britain. Burton was also rumoured to have had same-sex relations as a young man. Leonard Smithers began his career as a solicitor in Sheffield but also had an interest in rare books. He later entered the rare book trade, dealing mostly with pornographic publications. Oscar Wilde once described him as ‘the most learned erotomaniac in Europe’.
In part of the introduction to the edition, which Smithers wrote after Burton’s death, Smithers discusses how Burton ‘laid great stress on the necessity of thoroughly annotating each translation from an erotic (and especially a pederastic) point of view, but subsequent circumstances caused me to abandon that intention.’ (Smithers’ Introduction to Burton/ Smithers (1894), xv-xvi). Prof. Ingleheart published an article last year on his translation and commentary, which focuses on the erotic and pederastic in many of its notes.
In Catullus 61, the poet informs a young man that he can no longer enjoy the services of a concubinus once he is married. The masculine ending -us signifies clearly that this is a male slave and Burton emphasises this fact by translating the word as ‘He-concubine’, while Smithers’ translation, printed below it, uses ‘ingle’. The note on concubinus in line 61.123 in the commentary remarks, ‘By the shamelessness of this passage, it would seem to be quite a usual thing amongst the youthful Roman aristocracy to possess a bedfellow of their own sex.’ (Smithers’ note ad loc: 308). The openness of this passage about same-sex relations would have been extraordinary for the period, despite its ostensibly disapproving tone.
Burton’s translation of Catullus 48, addressed to Juventius, replicates the sibilance of the original Latin. His translation of basiare as ‘buss’ is striking as the words are probably etymologically linked, although the Oxford English Dictionary claims that the origins of ‘buss’ are unknown. In 1648, R. Herrick employed the word in his Hesperides: ‘Kissing and bussing differ both in this; We busse our Wantons, but our Wives we kisse.’ This example demonstrates the meaning and particular connotations of the word.
In Catullus 99, also addressed to Juventius, which Prof. Ingleheart also discusses in her article published last year, Burton and Smithers note that ‘This poem shews beyond contradiction that Catullus himself was not free from the vice of paederasty, so universal among the Roman youth’ (Burton/ Smithers on 99: 1894, 313). This explicit discussion of Catullus’ relationship with Juventius, although it may seem to be condemnatory, was unusual as many scholars have claimed that Catullus only includes the figure of Juventius in his poems to imitate pederastic relationships in Greek poetry.
In Burton’s translation of Catullus 56, there is a gap in the text where a translation of trusantem should have been. Smithers claimed that he was not given Burton’s full translation after his death, as his wife censored the text by removing words which she felt were inappropriate. This censorship was, of course, ineffectual, as Smithers’ translation, which uses ‘a-thrusting’ for trusantem, is printed directly below, so that the reader would have been able to read the obscene content, despite Lady Burton’s efforts. Prof. Ingleheart argues that Smithers was trying to stir up a controversy around censorship in order to sell more copies of the book, as their translation of Catullus was less obscene than their translation of the Priapea, which had not sold well. Therefore, Smithers may have been attempting to replicate the controversy which surrounded Burton’s Arabian Nights to increase sales.
Edward Carpenter, 1902
The next example was from an early gay rights activist, Edward Carpenter, who compiled what was probably the first anthology of homosexual literature in the English language, entitled Ioläus: An Anthology of Friendship. It has been referred to as the ‘buggers’ Bible’, which is extremely prejudiced and inaccurate, as it was not an anthology of erotica, but aimed to represent examples of ‘noble love’. Carpenter attributes some of the translations included in the anthology to a translator but his translation of Catullus 50 is anonymous, which may suggest that it was his own work. This poem is about two adult and equal lovers and the original Catullus is fairly physical in describing to how the poet cannot eat or sleep for longing to see his friend again. Carpenter suppresses the physical side of the poem and focuses instead on the depth of Catullus’ feelings, in order to be consistent with the high-minded tone of the volume.
Allen Ginsberg, 1995
The next example was Allen Ginsberg’s ‘Malest Cornifici Tuo Catullo’, which alludes to Catullus 38. The poem is addressed to Jack Kerouac, announcing that he has found a new lover. Ginsberg demonstrates an intimate familiarity with complexities of the Catullan corpus in his work. Elsewhere, he deals with the theme of lovesickness, as well as other Catullus poems where he presents himself as mad, including Catullus 7, and Catullus 51, which itself is an interpretation of Sappho, fragment 31.
Harold Norse, 1955
Harold Norse’s ‘on translations of Catullus’, from his 1955 collection Rome, describes Catullus as being ‘fixed […] like a horny cat’ by translators and scholars. He also inventively plays with the words ‘pedagogue’ and ‘pederast’. In his translation of Catullus 16 in San Francisco, Summer 1976, entitled ‘pedicabo ego vos et irrumabo’, he does not translate the original Latin in its entirety but applies it to his own life in 1976. Norse does not retain the original threats of penetrative sexual actions but transforms it into a poem about pleasure. In his ‘Aureli, pater esuritionem’, a reference to Catullus 21, he prints fuck in italics, drawing attention to the word and showing that he is unafraid of using obscenity.
James Methven, 2009
James Methven produced a collection of translations of Catullus entitled Precious Asses. Methven was a Classics and English undergraduate at Brasenose College, Oxford. He seems to use only the most erotic of Catullus’ poems and sets them in his contemporary Oxford. He also changes the names of Lesbia and Juventius into Nel and Kyle.
In his translation of Catullus 48, which begins with the word mellitos, ‘sweet with honey’, he constantly makes reference to honey and honey-related words. This encourages the reader to count the number of times this diction is used and replicates the counting of kisses, which is the subject of the poem. The poem begins with a sweet tone and ends with a focus on the sexual and physical aspect of kisses. In his translation of Catullus 15, entitled ‘For your eyes only’, he changes the name Aurelius to Alan and makes references to features of contemporary Oxford, such as quads and specific roads, ‘the High, the Broad, Carfax, and the Turl’.
He addresses the translation of Catullus 7, entitled ‘Kiss-o-gram kiss-a-thon’, which was originally addressed to Lesbia, to Andy. This, again, opposes the attitude of scholars who are reluctant to connect the Lesbia kiss poems with those addressed to men. Whereas the name Juventius clearly indicates that he is younger than Catullus, the name Andrew is derived from the Greek aner, which suggests that this figure is older and perhaps of a similar age to the poet. The poem is extremely sexual and Methven mentions kissing Andy’s penis and anus allusively but transparently, in the lines, ‘I’d tongue you all the way round from where / Your — Birthday Boy — “shrine” stands tall as God’s to where / Your — Batty Boy — “sacred sepulchre” darkly sweats’. He ingeniously takes Catullus’ claim that the curiosi would not be able to count the kisses and translates it into the ‘bi-curious’.
Conclusion
Prof. Ingleheart led us through various ways in which queer translators from the nineteenth century to the present have brought out the queer aspects of Catullus into their own times and their own lives. Many of them take an opposing view to traditional scholarship which fails to connect Catullus’ depiction of his love affairs with men and women, as well as taking differing approaches to translating the obscene material which is prevalent in much of Catullus’ poetry.
Prof. Ingleheart’s article on Burton & Smithers:
Ingleheart, J. 2020. ‘Translation, Identity, and the History of Sexuality: Explorations in Burton and Smithers’ Catullus’, 395–423 in J. Henderson, R. Thomas (edd.), The Loeb Classical Library and Its Progeny (Cambridge, Mass.).
By Eleanor Cliffe, with suggested amendments by Prof. Jennifer Ingleheart.
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