Carmen LXXXVIII: To Gellius
What may he (Gellius!) do that ever for mother and sisterItches and wakes thro' the nights, working wi' tunic bedoffed?What may he do who nills his uncle ever be husband?Wottest thou how much he ventures of sacrilege-sin?Ventures he (O Gellius!) what ne'er can ultimate TethysWash from his soul, nor yet Ocean, watery sire.For that of sin there's naught wherewith this sin can exceed he---- his head on himself.
Words in this poem
- wottest
- 2d pers. sing. pres. of Wit, to know.
- tethys n.
- A genus of a large naked mollusks having a very large, broad, fringed cephalic disk, and branched dorsal gills. Some of the species become a foot long and are brilliantly colored.
- sire n.
- A lord, master, or other person in authority. See Sir. [F. sire, originally, an older person. See Sir.]
- wherewith adv.
- With which; -- used relatively.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Carmen LXXXVIII: To 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 LXXXVIII: To Gellius, in The Carmina (1894), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #20732, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/catullus-carmina/carmen-lxxxviii-to-gellius.html, id L13868.
Form and metre
Carmen LXXXVIII: To Gellius is 8 lines in a single verse paragraph. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The metre is dactylic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 74%). 71% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 11.9 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 38% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in dactylic pentameter.
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. Read against dactylic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| What may he (Gellius!) do that ever for mother and sister | 14 | ·······/·/˘·/˘ |
| Itches and wakes thro' the nights, working wi' tunic bedoffed? | 14 | /˘·····/˘·/˘·· |
| What may he do who nills his uncle ever be husband? | 13 | ·······/˘/·/˘ |
| Wottest thou how much he ventures of sacrilege-sin? | 12 | ······/˘·/˘· |
| Ventures he (O Gellius!) what ne'er can ultimate Tethys | 13 | /˘·······/˘/˘ |
| Wash from his soul, nor yet Ocean, watery sire. | 10 | ······//˘/ |
| For that of sin there's naught wherewith this sin can exceed he | 14 | ······˘/···˘/· |
| ---- his head on himself. | 5 | ···˘/ |
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.