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Catullus 12

Marrucinus has stolen Catullus’ dinner napkins. If he doesn’t get them, he’ll use his most powerful weapon against Marrucinus - his poetry.

Click on the words in the poem below to get vocabulary information.

Please, if you see errors, let me know about them so I can fix them!

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Marrucine Asini, manu sinistra
non belle uteris, in ioco atque vino,
tollis lintea neglegentiorum.
hoc salsum esse putas? fugit te, inepte:
quamvis sordida res et invenusta est...................5
non credis mihi? crede Pollioni
fratri, qui tua furta vel talento
mutari velit: est enim leporum
differtus puer ac facetiarum.
quare aut hendecasyllabos trecentos.................10
exspecta, aut mihi linteum remitte,
quod me non movet aestimatione,
verum est mnemosynum mei sodalis.
nam sudaria Saetaba ex Hiberis
miserunt mihi muneri Fabullus...........................15
et Veranius: haec amem necesse est
ut Veraniolum meum et Fabullum.

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Meter: hendecasyllabics.
1. Marrucine Asini: vocative and backwards; his name was Asinius Marrucinus.
6. Pollioni: Dative.
7. qui...velit: "who would like your thefts to be exchanged even for a talent".
12. quod: Accusative; antecedent is linteum (line 11).
15. muneri: Dative of Purpose, "for a gift"
17. Veraniolum: diminutive.
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last updated October 17, 2003
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