Carmen CXIV: On Mamurra's Squandering
For yon Firmian domain not falsely Mentula hight isRichard, owning for self so many excellent things--Fish, fur, feather, all kinds, with prairie, corn-land, and ferals.All no good: for th' outgoing, income immensely exceeds.Therefore his grounds be rich own I, while he's but a pauper.Laud we thy land while thou lackest joyance thereof.
Words in this poem
- hight v. t.
- To be called or named. [OE. heiten, highten, haten, hoten; also hight, hatte, hette, is called, was called, AS. hatan to call, name, be called, to command, promise; also hatte is calle]
- outgoing n.
- The act or the state of going out.
- income n.
- A coming in; entrance; admittance; ingress; infusion.
- immensely adv.
- In immense manner or degree.
- pauper n.
- A poor person; especially, one development on private or public charity. Also used adjectively; as, pouper immigrants, pouper labor. [L. See Poor.]
- joyance n.
- Enjoyment; gayety; festivity; joyfulness. [OF. joiance.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Carmen CXIV: On Mamurra's Squandering is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Carmina, Project Gutenberg ebook #20732, the Richard Burton translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Catullus, Carmen CXIV: On Mamurra's Squandering, in The Carmina (1894), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #20732, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/catullus-carmina/carmen-cxiv-on-mamurra-s-squandering.html, id L13894.
Form and metre
Carmen CXIV: On Mamurra's Squandering is 6 lines in a single verse paragraph. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The lines average 13.2 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| For yon Firmian domain not falsely Mentula hight is | 14 | ····˘/·/˘····· |
| Richard, owning for self so many excellent things-- | 11 | /˘/˘···//˘· |
| Fish, fur, feather, all kinds, with prairie, corn-land, and ferals. | 14 | ··/˘···/˘···/˘ |
| All no good: for th' outgoing, income immensely exceeds. | 14 | ····/·˘/·˘/˘˘/ |
| Therefore his grounds be rich own I, while he's but a pauper. | 14 | ············/˘ |
| Laud we thy land while thou lackest joyance thereof. | 12 | ······/˘/˘·· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.