Catullus 13

A Latin recitation of Catullus 13

Cenabis bene, mi Fabulle, apud me is the first line, sometimes used as a title, of Carmen 13 from the collected poems of the 1st-century BC Latin poet Catullus. The poem belongs to the literary genre of mock-invitation.[1] Fabullus is invited to dine at the poet's home, but he will need to bring all the elements of a dinner party (cena) himself: the host pleads poverty. Catullus will provide only meros amores, "the essence of love",[2] and a perfume given to him by his girlfriend, granted to her by multiple Venuses and Cupids, guaranteed to make Fabullus wish he were totum nasum ("all nose").

## Latin text and translation[edit]

Line | Latin text | English translation

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1  | Cenabis bene, mi Fabulle, apud me  | You will dine well, my Fabullus, at my house
2  | paucis, si tibi di favent, diebus  | in a few days, if the gods favor you,
3  | si tecum attuleris bonam atque magnam  | if with you you bring a good and great
4  | cenam, non sine candida puella  | meal, not without a fair-skinned girl
5  | et vino et sale et omnibus cachinnis  | both wine and wit and all the banter.
6  | Haec si, inquam, attuleris, venuste noster,  | If you bring these, I say, our charming friend,
7  | cenabis bene; nam tui Catulli  | you will dine well, for the wallet of your Catullus
8  | plenus sacculus est aranearum.  | is full of cobwebs.
9  | Sed contra accipies meros amores  | But in exchange you will receive the most pure friendship
10  | seu quid suavius elegantiusve est:  | or whatever is more sweet or more elegant:
11  | nam unguentum dabo, quod meae puellae  | for I will give perfume, which to my girl
12  | donarunt Veneres Cupidinesque,  | Venuses and Cupids have given,
13  | quod tu cum olfacies, deos rogabis,  | which when you will smell it, you will ask the gods,
14  | totum ut te faciant, Fabulle, nasum.  | to make you, Fabullus, all nose.

## References[edit]

1. ^ D.F.S. Thomson, Catullus (University of Toronto Press, 1997, 2003), p. 242.
2. ^ Emily Gowers, The Loaded Table: Representation of Food in Roman Literature (Oxford University Press, 1993, 2003), p. 234.

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The poems (Carmina) of Catullus

Lesbia poems|

* 2
* 2b
* 3
* 5
* 7
* 8
* 11
* 36
* 37
* 51
* 58
* 68
* 70
* 72
* 75
* 76
* 79
* 83
* 85
* 86
* 87
* 91
* 92
* 104
* 107
* 109

Invective poems|

* 10
* 12
* 14
* 15
* 16
* 17
* 21
* 22
* 23
* 24
* 25
* 28
* 29
* 30
* 33
* 39
* 40
* 41
* 42
* 43
* 44
* 47
* 49
* 52
* 53
* 54
* 57
* 59
* 60
* 69
* 71
* 73
* 74
* 77
* 78
* 80
* 84
* 88
* 89
* 90
* 93
* 95
* 97
* 98
* 103
* 108
* 110
* 111
* 112
* 113
* 116

Unusual poetic meters|

* 4
* 8
* 11
* 17
* 22
* 25
* 29
* 30
* 31
* 34
* 37
* 39
* 44
* 51
* 52
* 59
* 60
* 61
* 62
* 63
* 64

Hendecasyllabic verse|

* 1
* 2
* 2b
* 3
* 5
* 6
* 7
* 9
* 10
* 12
* 13
* 14
* 14b
* 15
* 16
* 21
* 23
* 24
* 26
* 27
* 28
* 32
* 33
* 35
* 36
* 38
* 40
* 41
* 42
* 43
* 45
* 46
* 47
* 48
* 49
* 50
* 53
* 54
* 55
* 56
* 57
* 58
* 58b

Elegiac couplets|

* 65
* 66
* 67
* 68
* 69
* 70
* 71
* 72
* 73
* 74
* 75
* 76
* 77
* 78
* 79
* 80
* 81
* 82
* 83
* 84
* 85
* 86
* 87
* 88
* 89
* 90
* 91
* 92
* 93
* 94
* 95
* 96
* 97
* 98
* 99
* 100
* 101
* 102
* 103
* 104
* 105
* 106
* 107
* 108
* 109
* 110
* 111
* 112
* 113
* 114
* 115
* 116

Related links|

* List of poems by Catullus
* Codex Vaticanus Ottobonianus Latinus 1829
* List of bibliographies of works on Catullus
* List of English translations of Catullus

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