Carmen XXX: To Alfenus the Perjuror
Alfenus! short of memory, false to comrades dearest-dear,Now hast no pity (hardened Soul!) for friend and loving fere?
Now to betray me, now to guile thou (traitor!) ne'er dost pause?Yet impious feats of fraudful men ne'er force the Gods' applause:
When heed'st thou not deserting me (Sad me!) in sorest scathe,Ah say whate'er shall humans do? in whom shall man show faith?
For sure thou bad'st me safely yield my spirit (wretch!) to thee,Lulling my love as though my life were all security.
The same now dost withdraw thyself and every word and deedThou suffer'st winds and airy clouds to sweep from out thy head.
But an forget thou, mindful be the Gods, and Faith in mindBears thee, and soon shall gar thee rue the deeds by thee design'd.
Words in this poem
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- fere n.
- A mate or companion; -- often used of a wife. [OE. fere companion, AS. gefera, from feran to go, travel, faran to travel. sq. root78. See Fare.]
- fraudful a.
- Full of fraud, deceit, or treachery; trickish; treacherous; fraudulent; -- applied to persons or things. I. Taylor.
- scathe v. t.
- To do harm to; to injure; to damage; to waste; to destroy. [Icel. skatha; akin to AS. sceathan, sceth\'eban, Dan. skade, Sw. skada, D. & G. schaden, OHG. scadon, Goth. skaÞjan.]
- 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,]
- mindful a.
- Bearing in mind; regardful; attentive; heedful; observant.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Carmen XXX: To Alfenus the Perjuror 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 XXX: To Alfenus the Perjuror, in The Carmina (1894), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #20732, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/catullus-carmina/carmen-xxx-to-alfenus-the-perjuror.html, id L13813.
Form and metre
Carmen XXX: To Alfenus the Perjuror is 12 lines in 6 stanzas of 2 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 67% of the lines. The metre is fourteeners, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 13.9 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 17% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in fourteeners.
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 AA dearA · fereA
- 2 AA pauseA · applauseA
- 3 AA scatheA · faithA
- 6 AA mindA · design'dA
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 fourteeners. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Alfenus! short of memory, false to comrades dearest-dear, | 14 | ·····/˘··/·/˘· |
| Now hast no pity (hardened Soul!) for friend and loving fere? | 14 | ···/˘/˘····/˘· |
| Now to betray me, now to guile thou (traitor!) ne'er dost pause? | 14 | ··˘/·····/˘··· |
| Yet impious feats of fraudful men ne'er force the Gods' applause: | 15 | ·˘/˘··/˘·····˘/ |
| When heed'st thou not deserting me (Sad me!) in sorest scathe, | 13 | ····/˘······· |
| Ah say whate'er shall humans do? in whom shall man show faith? | 15 | ··˘˘/·/˘······· |
| For sure thou bad'st me safely yield my spirit (wretch!) to thee, | 13 | ·····/˘··/··· |
| Lulling my love as though my life were all security. | 13 | /˘········˘/˘ |
| The same now dost withdraw thyself and every word and deed | 14 | ····˘/˘/·/˘··· |
| Thou suffer'st winds and airy clouds to sweep from out thy head. | 14 | ·····/˘······· |
| But an forget thou, mindful be the Gods, and Faith in mind | 14 | ··˘/·/˘······· |
| Bears thee, and soon shall gar thee rue the deeds by thee design'd. | 14 | ············˘/ |
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.