Carmen LXXIV: Of Gellius
Wont was Gellius hear his uncle rich in reproaches,When any ventured aught wanton in word or in deed.Lest to him chance such befall, his uncle's consort seduced he,And of his uncle himself fashioned an Harpocrates.Whatso he willed did he; and nowdays albe his uncle---- he, no word ever that uncle shall speak.
Words in this poem
- aught n.
- Property; possession. [AS. , fr. agan to own, p. p. ahte.]
- whatso pron.
- Whatsoever; whosoever; whatever; anything that.
- albe conj.
- Although; albeit. [See Albeit.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Carmen LXXIV: Of Gellius 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 LXXIV: Of Gellius, in The Carmina (1894), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #20732, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/catullus-carmina/carmen-lxxiv-of-gellius.html, id L13855.
Form and metre
Carmen LXXIV: Of Gellius is 6 lines in a single verse paragraph. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The lines average 12.8 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Wont was Gellius hear his uncle rich in reproaches, | 13 | ······/˘··˘/˘ |
| When any ventured aught wanton in word or in deed. | 13 | ·/˘/˘·/˘····· |
| Lest to him chance such befall, his uncle's consort seduced he, | 15 | ·····˘/·/˘˘/˘/· |
| And of his uncle himself fashioned an Harpocrates. | 13 | ···/˘˘//˘···· |
| Whatso he willed did he; and nowdays albe his uncle | 13 | /˘·········/˘ |
| ---- he, no word ever that uncle shall speak. | 10 | ···/˘·/˘·· |
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.