I never used to see you in company with men, Bassa; the gossip never gave you a lover. Instead you were always surrounded by women, a mob of them. They did everything for you; no man got close. And so, I admit, I took you for a Lucretia: but — shock, horror — Bassa, you’re a fucker. You dare set cunt to cunt, and your mega-clit fakes manliness. You've invented a crime against nature worthy of a Theban riddle: ‘There’s no man here — and yet, adultery.’(Lucretia is famous from the exemplary early Roman history of Livy as preferring death to sexual dishonour; Thebes was terrorised by the Sphinx till Oedipus answered its riddle.)
Translations from and thoughts about ancient epigram and its reception. I translated 'Martial: Epigrams' (2015) and 'Epigrams from the Greek Anthology' (2020) for the World's Classics, and am the author of 'Greek Epigram in Reception' (2013). I'm @GideonNisbet on Twitter and post more translations there.
Monday, 9 December 2019
Another oldie: Martial 1.90 (NSFW)
A translation I first posted in 2015.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment