Carmen XIII: Fabullus Is Invited to a Poet's Supper
Thou'lt sup right well with me, Fabullus mine,In days few-numbered an the Gods design,An great and goodly meal thou bring wi' theeNowise forgetting damsel bright o' blee,With wine, and salty wit and laughs all-gay.An these my bonny man, thou bring, I sayThou'lt sup right well, for thy Catullus' purseSave web of spider nothing does imburse.But thou in countergift mere loves shalt takeOr aught of sweeter taste or fairer make:I'll give thee unguent lent my girl to scentBy every Venus and all Cupids sent,Which, as thou savour, pray Gods interposeAnd thee, Fabullus, make a Naught-but-nose.
Words in this poem
- goodly a.
- Pleasant; agreeable; desirable. [OE. godlich, AS. g. See Good, and Like.]
- nowise adv.
- Not in any manner or degree; in no way; noways. [For in no wise. See Wise, n.]
- damsel n.
- A young person, either male or female, of noble or gentle extraction; as, Damsel Pepin; Damsel Richard, Prince of Wales. [OE. damosel, damesel, damisel, damsel, fr. OF. damoisele, damisele, gentlewoman, F. demoiselle young lady; cf. OF. damoisel young nobleman, F. damoiseau; fr. LL]
- blee n.
- Complexion; color; hue; likeness; form. [AS. bleó, bleóh.]
- salty a.
- Somewhat salt; saltish.
- bonny a.
- Handsome; beautiful; pretty; attractively lively and graceful. [OE. boni, prob. fr. F. bon, fem. bonne, good, fr. L. bonus good. See Bounty, and cf. Bonus, Boon.]
- imburse v. t.
- To supply or stock with money. [Pref. im- in + burse: cf. F. embourser to put into one's purse. See Burse, and Purse.]
- shalt
- 2d per. sing. of Shall.
- aught n.
- Property; possession. [AS. , fr. agan to own, p. p. ahte.]
- savour v. t.
- To perceive by the smell or the taste; hence, to perceive; to note. B. Jonson.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Carmen XIII: Fabullus Is Invited to a Poet's Supper 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 XIII: Fabullus Is Invited to a Poet's Supper, in The Carmina (1894), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #20732, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/catullus-carmina/carmen-xiii-fabullus-is-invited-to-a-poet-s-supper.html, id L13796.
Form and metre
Carmen XIII: Fabullus Is Invited to a Poet's Supper is 14 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 43% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in heroic couplets, other poems in iambic 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.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 AABBCCDDEEFFGG mineA · designA · theeB · bleeB · gayC · sayC · purseD · imburseD · takeE · makeE · scentF · sentF · interposeG · noseG
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 iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Thou'lt sup right well with me, Fabullus mine, | 10 | ·········· |
| In days few-numbered an the Gods design, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| An great and goodly meal thou bring wi' thee | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Nowise forgetting damsel bright o' blee, | 10 | /˘˘/˘/˘··· |
| With wine, and salty wit and laughs all-gay. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| An these my bonny man, thou bring, I say | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Thou'lt sup right well, for thy Catullus' purse | 10 | ·········· |
| Save web of spider nothing does imburse. | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| But thou in countergift mere loves shalt take | 10 | ·········· |
| Or aught of sweeter taste or fairer make: | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| I'll give thee unguent lent my girl to scent | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| By every Venus and all Cupids sent, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Which, as thou savour, pray Gods interpose | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| And thee, Fabullus, make a Naught-but-nose. | 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.