Carmen XXIV: To Juventius Concerning the Choice of a Friend
O of Juventian youths the flowret fairNot of these only, but of all that wereOr shall be, coming in the coming years,Better waste Midas' wealth (to me appears)On him that owns nor slave nor money-chestThan thou shouldst suffer by his love possest."What! is he vile or not fair?" "Yes!" I attest,"Yet owns this man so comely neither slaves nor chestMy words disdain thou or accept at bestYet neither slave he owns nor money-chest."
Words in this poem
- 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,]
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
- attest v. t.
- To bear witness to; to certify; to affirm to be true or genuine; as, to attest the truth of a writing, a copy of record. [L. attestari; ad + testari to bear witness: cf. F. attester.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Carmen XXIV: To Juventius Concerning the Choice of a Friend 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 XXIV: To Juventius Concerning the Choice of a Friend, in The Carmina (1894), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #20732, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/catullus-carmina/carmen-xxiv-to-juventius-concerning-the-choice-of-a-friend.html, id L13807.
Form and metre
Carmen XXIV: To Juventius Concerning the Choice of a Friend is 10 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 80% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.3 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 50% 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 --AABBBBBB fair · were · yearsA · appearsA · chestB · possestB · attestB · chestB · bestB · chestB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| O of Juventian youths the flowret fair | 10 | ·········· |
| Not of these only, but of all that were | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Or shall be, coming in the coming years, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Better waste Midas' wealth (to me appears) | 10 | /˘·/˘···˘/ |
| On him that owns nor slave nor money-chest | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Than thou shouldst suffer by his love possest. | 10 | ···/˘···/˘ |
| "What! is he vile or not fair?" "Yes!" I attest, | 11 | ·········˘/ |
| "Yet owns this man so comely neither slaves nor chest | 12 | ·····/˘/˘··· |
| My words disdain thou or accept at best | 10 | ··˘/··˘/·· |
| Yet neither slave he owns nor money-chest." | 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.