Carmen XXXIII: On the Vibenii—Bath-Thieves
Oh, best of robbers who in Baths delight,Vibennius, sire and son, the Ingle hight,(For that the father's hand be fouler oneAnd with his anus greedier is the Son)Why not to banishment and evil hoursHaste ye, when all the parent's plundering powersAre public knowledge, nor canst gain a CentSon! by the vending of thy piled vent.
Words in this poem
- sire n.
- A lord, master, or other person in authority. See Sir. [F. sire, originally, an older person. See Sir.]
- ingle n.
- Flame; blaze; a fire; a fireplace. Burns. Ingle nock, the chimney corner. [Gael. & Ir. aingeali fire; cf. L. igniculusi spark, dim. of ignis fire. Cf. Ignite.]
- hight v. t.
- To be called or named. [OE. heiten, highten, haten, hoten; also hight, hatte, hette, is called, was called, AS. hatan to call, name, be called, to command, promise; also hatte is calle]
- piled a.
- Having a pile or point; pointed. [From 2d Pile.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Carmen XXXIII: On the Vibenii—Bath-Thieves 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 XXXIII: On the Vibenii—Bath-Thieves, in The Carmina (1894), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #20732, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/catullus-carmina/carmen-xxxiii-on-the-vibenii-bath-thieves.html, id L13816.
Form and metre
Carmen XXXIII: On the Vibenii—Bath-Thieves is 8 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 82%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 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 AABBCCDD delightA · hightA · oneB · sonB · hoursC · powersC · centD · ventD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Oh, best of robbers who in Baths delight, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Vibennius, sire and son, the Ingle hight, | 10 | ···/···/˘· |
| (For that the father's hand be fouler one | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And with his anus greedier is the Son) | 10 | ···/˘·˘··· |
| Why not to banishment and evil hours | 11 | ···/˘˘·/˘/˘ |
| Haste ye, when all the parent's plundering powers | 10 | ·····/˘/˘/ |
| Are public knowledge, nor canst gain a Cent | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Son! by the vending of thy piled vent. | 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.