Catullus Poem 22
 
 
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Perseus text of Catullus 22
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SVFFENVS iste, Vare, quem probe nosti,  1 That Suffenus, Varus, whom you know very well, 
homo est uenustus et dicax et urbanus,  2 is a charming fellow, and has wit and good manners.
idemque longe plurimos facit uersus.  3 He aIso makes many more verses than any one else. 
puto esse ego illi milia aut decem aut plura  4 I suppose he has got some ten thousand or even more
perscripta, nec sic ut fit in palimpsesto  5 written out in full, and not, as is often done, 
relata: cartae regiae, noui libri,  6 down on old scraps; imperial paper, new rolls, 
noui umbilici, lora rubra membranae,  7 new bosses, red ties, parchment wrappers;
derecta plumbo et pumice omnia aequata.  8 all ruled with lead and smoothed with pumice.
haec cum legas tu, bellus ille et urbanus  9 When you come to read these, the fashionable well-bred 
Suffenus unus caprimulgus aut fossor  10 Suffenus I spoke of seems to be nothing but any goatherd or ditcher 
rursus uidetur: tantum abhorret ac mutat.  11 to look at him again; so absurd and chamged he is. 
hoc quid putemus esse? qui modo scurra  12 How are we to account for this? The same man who was just now 
aut si quid hac re scitius uidebatur,  13 a dinner-table wit or something (if such there be) even more practised,
idem infaceto est infacetior rure,  14 is more re clumsy than the clumsy country, 
simul poemata attigit, neque idem umquam  15 whenever he touches poetry; and at the same time he is never 
aeque est beatus ac poema cum scribit:  16 so happy as when he is writing a poem:
tam gaudet in se tamque se ipse miratur.  17 he delights in himself and admires himself so much. 
nimirum idem omnes fallimur, neque est quisquam  18 True enough, we all are under the same delusion, and there is no one
quem non in aliqua re uidere Suffenum  19 whom you may not see to be a Sufferms in one thing
possis. suus cuique attributus est error;  20 or another. Everybody has his own delusion assigned to him:
sed non uidemus manticae quod in tergo est. 21 but we do not see that part of the bag which hangs on our back.