The Poems of Catullus

'The bawdy poet Catullus wrote in the late Roman Republic, in Latin, but he will always belong to the world at large and to the present tense - rowdy, randy, excoriating, funny, acrobatic and endlessly vernacular. He is our shameless poet of the locker-room boast and the licentious man-about-town. He sings in the gossipy, fierce voices of Eros and Id without apology, and we love him for this particular exhibition of the glory of the human spirit. Catullus is so much of the present tense that his poetry requires the fresh transfusion of re-translation on a regular basis, needs a booster shot of the vernacular to restore the rose to his cheeks. In these fine new translations, Jeffrey Thomson and Jeannine Uzzi perfectly catch the lively Catullan blend of eloquence and vulgarity. Thus, Catullus, and his poems, get to party one more time.' Tony Hoagland, poet and writer

'Uzzi and Thomson's American English voice erupts from Catullus' Latin and speaks directly to us, as Catullus did to his contemporaries. A literary translation (as opposed to a literal trot) of poetry of any age should be able to take its place in the contemporary poetic scene. This is what Uzzi and Thomson's translation is poised to do.' Stanley Lombardo, University of Kansas

'... A wonderful translation ... the introduction gives an excellent handle on this poetry for a contemporary audience. I'm glad that it is there, for it makes [my work teaching Catullus] so much easier. The Eminem comparison will especially help. The role of vituperation [is laid out] quite gracefully.' Dana Burgess, Charles E. and Margery B. Professor of Humanities, Whitman College, Washington

'The volume will interest classicists but is directed to a general audience. ... a translation that will have wide appeal to contemporary readers for its concision, frankness, and fine ear for good colloquial idioms ...' translated from GNOMON

Jeannine Diddle Uzzi is Associate Professor of Classics at the University of Southern Maine. She is the author of Children in the Visual Arts of Imperial Rome (Cambridge University Press, 2005). Other publications include 'The power of parenthood: women and children in official Roman art' in Constructions of Childhood in Ancient Greece and Italy (2007) and 'The age of consent: children and sexuality in ancient Greece and Rome' in The Archaeology of Children: Interdisciplinary Approaches (2013).

Introduction; The poems; Notes.