Social Commentaries

LXXXIV: _Stipends_ Arrius ever on opportunity _shtipends_

by Gaius Valerius Catullus c. 84 – c. 54 BC

Translated by Robinson Ellis (1871) · From The Poems and Fragments of Catullus (1871)

Social Commentaries

Stipends Arrius ever on opportunity shtipends,
Ambush as hambush still Arrius used to declaim.
Then, hoped fondly the words were a marvel of articulation,
While with an h immense 'hambush' arose from his heart.
So his mother of old, so e'en spoke Liber his uncle,
Credibly; so grandsire, grandam alike did agree.

Syria took him away; all ears had rest for a moment;
Lightly the lips those words, slightly could utter again.
None was afraid any more of a sound so clumsy returning;
Sudden a solemn fright seized us, a message arrives.
'News from Ionia country; the sea, since Arrius enter'd,
Changed; 'twas Ionian once, now 'twas Hionian all.'

MLA

Catullus, Gaius Valerius. “LXXXIV: _Stipends_ Arrius ever on opportunity _shtipends_.” Translated by Robinson Ellis. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/catullus/75/.

Chicago

Catullus, Gaius Valerius. “LXXXIV: _Stipends_ Arrius ever on opportunity _shtipends_.” Translated by Robinson Ellis. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/catullus/75/.

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