64: The Beginning

This is a free translation of the first thirty lines of Catullus's Poem LXIV, an epyllion (compressed epic) based on the wedding of Peleus and Thetis.

The Trojan War began at the wedding of Peleus and Thetis.                                                                                         Mary Beard

So long ago:
                        pines raised on Pelion’s peak
Cascade down Neptune’s pathways to the creek
Of Phasidos, then Aeetes’ border, where
A youthful crew wait, tough as oaks, hard, spare,
Itching to plunder – longing to release
From its protectors the famed Golden Fleece;
Men who’d fight oceans with a fir-wood blade -
It was for such as these great Pallas made
Those pines grow ship-shape; for their sake she curved
The wood into a hull so svelte it served
To give the craft the skill to fly with ease
When helped by no more than the subtlest breeze.
This was the first ship fashioned to explore
Far off beyond the safety of the shore
The first to plough the till then virginal sea;
This was a launch men spoke of wonderingly,
And all who saw its glory were amazed.
Among the many who came out and gazed
Were a group of shy and naked Nereids.
(That day eyes goggled through wide-open lids
To see just breaking through the white-foamed ripple,
The pink perfection of a Nereid’s nipple!)

So -
            Argonaut Peleus, as legends say
Was on fire with love for Thetis from that day,

So -
             Thetis, though immortal, did not scorn
The thought of marriage to one mortal-born.

So -
             her father Nereus consented: she
And he should conjoin matrimonially.

Hymn:

You heroes born in those sublimest days All meriting the highest kinds of praise, You heaven-born sons of mortals, let me long And often celebrate in joyful song Each hero, Peleus especially, The champion son and pride of Thessaly, By this auspicious match so elevated, When Jove himself approves his darling mated. Did Thetis, lovely Nereid, embrace? Did Tethys show a kind approving face Oceanus too, who hugs our world with water Gives blessing to this match for his grand-daughter.

By the time it comes, that longed-for wedding day,
The whole of Thessaly has made its way
By invitation here to gladly share
The couple’s joy, with gifts to bless the pair,
And faces shining with immense delight.
From Skiros and from Tempe they made flight;
Both Crannon’s houses and Larisa’s walls
Are quite deserted, for this wedding calls.
To Pharsalus they flock; more than a few
Climb roofs to gain an even clearer view.
Their fields are untended now; their oxen’s necks,
Are left unburdened, free to stretch and flex.
No vine is being weeded with a rake;
No pruner’s hook thins leaves for the harvest’s sake;
No bullock drags a ploughshare through the soil;
The ploughs are left alone to rust and spoil.

In each rich recess of this palace, see
Gold glisten, silver beam...

Gaius Valerius Catullus
translated by George Simmers


If you have any thoughts about this poem, or its translation, George Simmers  would like to hear them.

The next instalment of the poem beginning the story told by the embroidered bedspread, was published in an earlier Snakeskin.


George Simmers's translations of some of Catullus's other poems have been published in a booklet: from Catullus. For details, click here.