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More Catullus! It's a semi-parodic dedication to a little ship.
Catullus 4
That Beanpod* which you’ve seen, guests,
says that it was the swiftest of ships,
and that it was never unable to overtake the onward rushing
of any other sailing ship; relying on either oars
or canvas sail, it would have flown.
And it says that these places did not deny it speed:**
the shore of the menacing Adriatic or the Cycladic islands,
noble Rhode and bristling Thracia Propontis,
or the harsh and winding Pontic shore
(Where that Beanpod-to-be was previously
a leafy forest--for on the Cytorian ridge
a hissing of speaking leaves often emerged).
Pontic Amastris and boxwood-producing Cytorus,
these things were and are clearly known to you,
the Beanpod says; from the ultimate origin,
it says that it stood up on your peak,
that it drenched its oars the first time in your waters;
and from there so many times it bore its master
through the impotent waves, left or right
as the wind might call it, or a following wind***
might fall at the same time on both sides of the sail;
and no other vows were made to the gods of the shores^
on its account, when it came from the latest sea
all the way to this clear lake.
But these things were before; now it grows old
by secluded sleep and dedicates itself to you,
little twin Castor and little twin of Castor.^^
---
* The name of this type of ship is “phaselus,” but that’s taken from the Greek for “beanpod”, so I figured it was more fun to translate accordingly.
** This is far more elegant in Latin, as the subject is left unexpressed, the object (speed) is simply a “this”, and it actually has the ship denying that those places denied it speed, but with the places coming afterwards in lines... Anyway, I went for a rather blandly comprehensible statement, as I couldn’t come up with an elegant construction that was both sensible and accurate.
*** Literally, a “following Jupiter”, as Jupiter was used as metonymy for the weather.
^ That is, of the “Oh gods please don’t let me die” kind.
^^ The reference to Castor and Pollux is because twin stars were the patrons of mariners.
Catullus 4
That Beanpod* which you’ve seen, guests,
says that it was the swiftest of ships,
and that it was never unable to overtake the onward rushing
of any other sailing ship; relying on either oars
or canvas sail, it would have flown.
And it says that these places did not deny it speed:**
the shore of the menacing Adriatic or the Cycladic islands,
noble Rhode and bristling Thracia Propontis,
or the harsh and winding Pontic shore
(Where that Beanpod-to-be was previously
a leafy forest--for on the Cytorian ridge
a hissing of speaking leaves often emerged).
Pontic Amastris and boxwood-producing Cytorus,
these things were and are clearly known to you,
the Beanpod says; from the ultimate origin,
it says that it stood up on your peak,
that it drenched its oars the first time in your waters;
and from there so many times it bore its master
through the impotent waves, left or right
as the wind might call it, or a following wind***
might fall at the same time on both sides of the sail;
and no other vows were made to the gods of the shores^
on its account, when it came from the latest sea
all the way to this clear lake.
But these things were before; now it grows old
by secluded sleep and dedicates itself to you,
little twin Castor and little twin of Castor.^^
---
* The name of this type of ship is “phaselus,” but that’s taken from the Greek for “beanpod”, so I figured it was more fun to translate accordingly.
** This is far more elegant in Latin, as the subject is left unexpressed, the object (speed) is simply a “this”, and it actually has the ship denying that those places denied it speed, but with the places coming afterwards in lines... Anyway, I went for a rather blandly comprehensible statement, as I couldn’t come up with an elegant construction that was both sensible and accurate.
*** Literally, a “following Jupiter”, as Jupiter was used as metonymy for the weather.
^ That is, of the “Oh gods please don’t let me die” kind.
^^ The reference to Castor and Pollux is because twin stars were the patrons of mariners.