Homophobia and the Zombie Menace, plus other essays - 1. Translations Matter

.

Translations Matter

— Martial’s Epigrams, a Case in Point —

 

 

Difficilis, facilis, jucundus,

acerbus es idem;

Nec tecum possum vivere,

nec sine te.

—Martial ^[1]

 

 

It cannot be repeated often enough, so bear this maxim in mind: A translation is ever an approximation. For frankly, differing minds approach the same source-language text in differing ways. This is natural; this is entirely understandable. Translators carry with them sets of exposures and experiences that inform how they bring a piece of writing forward to their contemporary audiences.

Such interpreters, knowingly or not, usher in certain prejudices with them as well. People are people, so unsurprisingly, a translator will inevitably transfer biases to their versions that can be readily perceived as either for or against certain elements in our society that we take for granted. These assumptions – read foregone conclusions – are so ingrained, so prevalent, usually, it takes an act of will to set them fully aside. Oftentimes, we casually fail to properly scrutinize the contextual environment in which we were raised, and consequently, do not realize the extent to which the mindset of our times, and their mores, are constructs of contemporary societal “standards” which have no business being forced upon historical places, cultures, languages and ways of living. Even scholarly experts convey entrenched precepts – say, for example, our training that marriage and children constitute the very parameters of “family” – into the manner in which they frame life in past civilizations.

Therefore, if even experts are not immune to concepts overriding their personal knowledge of remote place and time settings, what chance do lay people have?

Recently I ran across a very illustrative example that provides an excellent case in point. By looking at the Martial translations included in two separate LGBTI2S+ poetry anthologies, we can hone our own thinking into a greater awareness of how various translations of the same Latin text can be rendered. And even small amounts of bias can give the completely wrong impression of Martial’s original intent.

 

 

I.

Knowingly or Unknowingly?

 

My goal in comparing the texts we are about to study does not include pronouncing any one translation more accurate than the others. Such critiques must come from individuals perceiving if a rendering of Martial into a foreign language – English, in this case – is successful at capturing the vocabulary and spirit in which the Latin is written. Ultimately, I’d have to try my hand at these epigrams to feel all the elements of the original are carried over to our mongrel tongue. If I do, it would be for others to judge my success.

My aim is to illustrate to what extent an interpreter’s prejudices can be projected onto a work. So, knowing I’m repeating myself from the opening of this essay, I will hazard to go into more detail and add that the type of preconceived notions a translator – any translator – carries around in their head can be as varied and softly shaded as a painter’s fan deck. It’s also important for us examining them to remember some concepts were conditioned into us through schooling, family and friends, reading other people’s opinions, and being submersed in the general haze of a society’s current disapproval of particular minority groups. Overall, women have arguably fared the worst and have had to withstand the buffets of constant dismissal in modern, religious-infused cultures. But shades of misogyny spill over relentlessly onto those resisting gender conventions, namely, the Transgendered, the Intersexed, and particularly, Gay men and women.

With such baseline predispositions unexamined in the translator, they more or less willingly drag into their work “accepted norms,” as if people always felt and thought with these discriminatory behaviors in place.

However, in addition to these latent preconceptions, more overt attempts arise to win approval from an audience assumed to be made up of people like the translator, which they do through the use of blatantly negative language.

Unfortunately, the assumption that a writer can exclude others from a collective sense of “we” more often than not gets aimed at same-sex loving individuals. In such cases, inappropriate language is continually chosen to show modern society’s expectations of hatred towards Gay people. And by inappropriate, I mean words and concepts invented by 19th century sex doctors interested in segregating and sex-shaming Gay individuals as “rare cases,” and mentally diseased.

This manner of thinking about human beings has nothing to do with Martial, as we shall see.

The vast majority of mankind’s history, culture and art – in virtually every society around the globe – has regarded same-sex love as noble, virtuous, selfless and heroic (not to mention thinking of it as the very definition of “manly.”) This is the tradition in which Martial, as a poet and a social commentator, found himself; and this is the very reason why his epigrams touching upon themes of same-sex love, including his own, run to satire. If Gay love had not been held in high regard, then it would not have been subject to being kidded about. This point, although hardly subtle, seems to be lost entirely on most translators of Martial from the second half of the 19th century onwards. Earlier artists, like John Dryden, for example, completely understood the nobility of context in which Martial created his parodies of high-minded Roman life. ^[2]

And so, if most renderers of Martial in the last two hundred years have missed the basic context, what have they focused on?

The answer seems clear enough.

For upper-class English men educated in the “public school” system of private, elite boarding schools, set in bucolic remoteness – like Eton – Catullus, Martial and Juvenal were regarded as the bad lads of Roman literature. These three Classical poets were talked about amongst the young ‘scholars’ studying Latin as dirty, obscene, crude, and most alluringly of all, forbidden.

So when some of these men – and let’s face it, they were all men – later turned their attentions to doing translations, they attempted to recapture their personal, gut-wrenched schoolboy reactions to the text, adding any number of things Martial did not say to convey to the reader how ‘shameful’ the whole business was. ^[3]

This goes a long way to explain why Catullus, Martial and Juvenal got painted with the broad brush of parodies in English. Their poems became thought of as jokes in and of themselves.

It’s a pity. For in the case of Martial, he wrote some subtle, moving verse, which to us will seem remarkably un-Martial-like because of our unfamiliarity with him as a serious poet. But when careful translators, the ones who self-edit out learned behaviors and prejudices, render Martial in English, results like the following appear:

 

A tender girl’s sweet breath after biting an apple,

The sweet scent of saffron that comes from Corycia,

The smell of vine white with the first spring blossoms,

The odor of grass that is freshly grazed by sheep;

The perfume of myrtle and Arabic spices and amber,

Of a fire whitened by frankincense from the East,

Of the earth just sprinkled with a light summer shower,

Of a crown just worn by a head redolent with nard –

With all these, cruel little Diadumenus, your kisses are fragrant.

Why don’t you give them to me completely without holding back?

—Martial ^[4]

[James J. Wilhelm, Translator]

 

In this poem of seduction, the young man the poet nicknames Diadumenus has his qualities compared to the richest and finest things on Earth. Who wouldn’t be proud to receive such a beautiful tribute?

 

 

II.

The Heart of the Matter

— A Comparison of Poems —

 

The translations we’re about to consider all come from two anthologies, and two anthologies alone.

Both anthologists were fully out when their collections appeared in print; both compiled important collections for LGBTI2S+ people to read and disseminate knowledge about the depth and scope of same-sex love in history, art and culture because the repressive straight society all around us will always actively deny access by Queer people to our Queer past, no matter how convoluted their ‘explaining away’ Gay History has to be.

So in these regards, the two anthologies I will pull examples from are alike. How they differ is also important. Published twelve years apart, Stephen Coote’s influence on the study of same-sex love verse cannot be overstated. Although numerous anthologies like it had been printed before 1983 – most notably by Edward Carpenter ^[5] – Coote’s collection provided a clear, post-Stonewall embracing of Gay culture as entirely relevant to modern Gay life.

By the time of James Wilhelm’s publishing in 1995, tremendous progress had been made, and the bookshelves positively groaned with the studies of LGBTI2S+ belle lettres printed after Coote’s book. But Wilhelm’s collection of verse pursued a narrower timeline, limiting itself to being “An Anthology from Sappho to Michelangelo.” It was also much less concerned with being a representation of poetry in the English language. By which I mean, Coote evidentially chose a variety of poets in translation to illustrate varying tastes in English-language poetics. Thus, he elected to print poets from the entire swath of the tongue, from the 14th century on. The evidence of his intent to create a fitting anthology of quality verse to represent Gay love in English is borne out by the fact he selects no less than 30 translators to bring his moderately small selection from The Greek Anthology to his readers. For his much smaller offering of Martial epigrams, he still manages to select 13 different translators (if you count each “Anonymous” as an individual poet).

In comparison, most anthologists – Wilhelm and myself included – are more interested in accuracy over a display of varied style, and tend to stick to one translator per featured work of art. For example, I personally respond best to William Roger Paton’s (mostly) non-biased language in his renderings of The Greek Anthology. ^[6]

In a similar light, all the poems we will compare sourced from the Wilhelm collection come from a single translator: James J. Wilhelm himself. He based his Latin texts on those prepared for the Loeb Classical Library in 1993. The Coote examples will come from multiple interpreters, and shall be noted case by case.

Let us start with Martial’s Book III, No. 73 epigram.

 

[‘To Phoebus’]

 

Lying with unstable pego ‘twixt a brace of

vigorous boys,

Phoebus what’s the little game that all your

leisure time employs?

I should guess, but contradicting rumors from

your friends, odd rot ‘em,

Check the surmise that you open to these

vigorous youth your bottom;

Rumored with its hundred tongues, that tells us

you’re not up to fucking,

Tells us that you are not buggered; what’s then

left for you but sucking?

[Anonymous] ^[7]

 

Compared with:

 

You’re always sleeping with well-hung

boys, my Phoebus,

But what stands up for them doesn’t

stand for you.

Phoebus, I ask you: what am I to make

of all this?

I wanted to think that you were too

soft to fuck,

But gossips say you’re quite capable

of taking it.

[James J. Wilhelm] ^[8]

 

The contrast in approaches aptly demonstrates how the same source poem can be bent for purposes of presenting a biased reading as “natural.” While it’s far from certain James Wilhelm’s rendering is entirely free of background biases against same-sex love, he presents a poem wildly different and far less homophobic than the one Coote chose to print.

In a similar light of high contrast, let’s look at the two anthology versions of Martial’s Book II, No. 62 epigram.

 

[‘To Labienus’]

 

Labienus, each hair on your bosom that

grows,

On your arms, on your legs, with much

trouble

You shave, and your belly’s appurtenance

shows

Like a newly mown field with its

stubble.

Thus blooming and sweet as the breath

of the morn,

Your mistress entwines you, fond boy,

But you’ve something behind, neatly

shaven and shorn,

That’s scarcely a mistress’ toy.

[Anonymous] ^[9]

 

This, compared to Wilhelm’s:

 

The fact you’re shaving your chest and your thighs

And your arms and are thinning your pubic hair,

Labienus –

All this shows everyone you’re getting ready for your

girl-friend,

But for whom are you shaving your butt?

[James J. Wilhelm] ^[10]

 

In this particular case, Wilhelm’s translation not only comes across as more neutral of moral tone, but winds up being funnier as well. I would like to believe he comes closer to the spirit in which Martial wrote the original.

Moving from what one may say is a more or less win-win compression of the two printed versions of Book II, 62, let us proceed to look at a few cruder, more sexually explicit examples. First we will start with Book XI, No. 43’s well-known poem of a wife being dressed down by her husband. It runs:

 

My better half, why turn a peevish scold,

When round some tender boy my arms I fold,

And point me out that nature has designed

In you as well a little hole behind?

Has Juno ne’er said this to lustful Jove?

Yet graceful Ganymede absorbs his love.

The stout Tirynthian left his bow the while, as

The lusty hero drove his shaft in Hylas.

Yet think you Megara had not her bulls-eye?

And startling Daphne turning round to fly,

Her bottom lit a lust for virile joys

Phoebus needs quench in the Oebalian boy’s:

However much Briseiris towards Achilles

Turned her white buttocks, fairer than twin lilies,

He found below the smooth Patroclus’ waist

Enjoyment more congenial to his taste.

Then give no manly names to back or front,

A woman everywhere is only c*nt.

[Anonymous] ^[11]

 

While Wilhelm’s version goes:

 

You, my wife, assail me with angry words,

having caught me

With a boy, noting that you also have an ass.

Well, Juno said the very same things to over-

sexed Jupiter,

But he nevertheless went on sleeping with the

grown Ganymede.

Laying down his bow, Hercules also made Hylas

bend over,

And don’t you think his wife Megara didn’t have

a buttocks too?

Daphne, always fleeing, tormented Apollo; but

the boy Oebalius

Soon found a way of putting out those flames.

Briseis slept with Achilles, though against his will,

But he found a more amenable bedmate in

buddy Patroclus.

So stop applying masculine names to your body,

And be glad, woman, that you are blessed

with two holes.

[James J. Wilhelm] ^[12]

 

What I would like to point out first and foremost is how Coote’s published poem is unapologetically misogynistic; I’d dare say it’s presenting an ‘old boy’ sense of entitlement (that is, of superiority). Tragically, in the 20th-century taste for bigotries – long may they be buried – anti-gay and anti-woman sentiments often occupy the same headspace, actively suggesting “weakness” is to be associated with both.

Continuing with this anti-woman thread, and moving on to the consideration of the next translation, both Coote and Wilhelm elected to include a poem that may be considered inappropriate for works espousing to be collections “by and about Gay people.” ^[13] Martial was not a woman-loving-woman, so any epigram he penned about Lesbians should be considered as coming from an outsider’s point of view. Neither translation intimates that what Martial has to say is considerate, and should therefore be regarded as both anti-woman and anti-lesbian.

Nevertheless, the exposing of conscious or unconscious prejudices is part of the overall program for this essay, so we will consider them here for illustrative purposes.

Coote’s published version of Book VII, No. 67 reads:

 

[‘To Philaenis’]

 

Abhorrent to all natural joys

Philaenis sodomizes boys

And like a spouse whose wife’s away

She drains of spend of twelve c*nts a day.

With dress tucked up above her knees

She hurls the heavy ball with ease,

And, smeared all o’er with oil and sand,

She wields a dumb bell in each hand,

And when she quits the dirty floor,

Still rank with grease, the jaded whore

Submits to the schoolmaster’s whip

For each small fault, each trifling slip:

Nor will she sit her down to dine

Till she has spewed two quarts of wine:

And when she’s eaten pounds of steak

A gallon more her thirst will slake.

After all this, when fired by lust,

For pricks alone she feels disgust,

These cannot e’en her lips entice

Forsooth it is a woman’s vice!

But girls she’ll gamahuche for hours,

Their juicy quims she quite devours.

Oh, you that think your sex to cloak

By kissing what you cannot poke,

May God grant that you, Philaenis,

Will yet learn to suck a penis.

[Anonymous] ^[14]

 

And Wilhelm’s published rendering of the same:

 

[‘On a Tough Lesbian’]

 

The lesbian Philaenis buggers around with boys,

And, more savage in her lechery than any husband,

In one day penetrates eleven young girls.

And, trussed up, she even competes in handball

And turns gold on wrestlers’ sand, and flings around

Effortlessly weights heavy even for muscle-queens;

And, all besmirched from the stinking floor of the gym,

She takes a flogging from the oiled-up masseur.

She doesn’t dine or recline for dinner

Until she has vomited up seven unmixed glasses of wine,

To which she thinks that she can return

After wolfing down sixteen entrées.

After all this, when she starts to feel sexy,

She doesn’t blow any man (no, that’s too manly!),

But she completely devours the privates of girls.

May the gods keep you in your current state of mind,

Philaenis: always consider it manly to lick a c*nt.

[James J. Wilhelm] ^[15]

 

These two poems, as discrete English-language entities, contain a lot for us to unpack. However, first some inaccuracies, which can be considered betrayals of the Latin original, need exposing. Wilhelm provides Martial’s Book VII, No. 67 epigram with a title, one which the original does not have. ^[16] Wilhelm uses the term “lesbian” both in the name of the poem he provides, and in the first line. This term is nowhere used by Martial in VII, 67 and, although appropriate, may be judged anachronistic. The anonymous translator of Coote’s version avoids this trap, but produces a far-more damning poem.

Just as out of place as Wilhelm’s use of Lesbian, the first translator foists a slew of both misogynistic and homophobic slurs – slurs which again have no counterparts in Martial’s original.

‘Abhorrent to all natural joys’ is pro-Christian slander against same-sex love, which attempts to label it “unnatural,” even though it’s something that’s omnipresent in the animal kingdom. ^[17] The presenting of the woman in the poem as one who ‘sodomizes boys’ is entirely un-Roman, who – like we today – consider “fucking” undetermined by the anatomy or gender of those involved. The so-called Christian notion of the ‘sin of the cities of the plains’ has zero relevance in a poem written by Martial.

In addition, Coote’s translated version is teeming with anti-woman and sex-shaming sentiment, like ‘jaded whore’; ‘fired by lust’; ‘feels disgust’; ‘a woman’s vice’; and others.

To see these points of view paired with homophobia is sadly no surprise. James Wilhelm's version is not free of anti-gay excesses, and indulges in terms like ‘bugger’ instead of fuck, or some neutral, Roman-like idiom (such as the frequently used “screw”). He also uses ‘muscle-queen’ and ‘that’s too manly!’ ^[18]

As I said at the opening of our analysis of this poem, I questioned Martial’s validity as a writer on the subject of women-loving women; as Gay as his epigrams clearly paint him, he was not a woman, nor a Lesbian, so how valid is any person’s opinion on another minority group if penned from an outsider’s perspective?

Now I realize all the discomfort I felt concerning the social satirist’s “view” of women-loving woman springs from how Book VII, No. 67 has been distorted – manipulated with other’s misogynistic and anti-gay projections – via translation into English.

That’s why I feel it’s important we look at the original for this epigram, and analyze it closely.

 

Pedicat pueros tribas Philaenis

Et tentigine saevior mariti

Undenas dolat in die puellas.

Harpasto quoque subligata ludit,

Et flavescit haphe, gravesque draucis

Halteras facili rotat lacerto,

Et putri lutulenta de palaestra

Uncti verbere vapulat magistri:

Nec cenat prius aut recumbit ante,

Quam septem vomuit meros deunces;

Ad quos fas sibi tunc putat redire,

Cum coloephia sedecim comedit.

Post haec omnia cum libidinatur,

Non fellat – putat hoc parum virile –

Sed plane medias vorat puellas.

Di mentem tibi dent tuam, Philaeni,

Cunnum lingere quae putas virile.

—Martial, ^[19]

Book VII, No. 67

 

And in my rendering of the same:

 

Pegging her way through the tribe of true boy-

friends [by night],

And a tad more passionate than her own mate,

She smashes her girlfriends all through the day.

Not only devoted to playing handball,

She’ll wrestle in the ring donned like the pros,

And twirl hand weights like nothing about her biceps,

Then all pooped, filthy from the floor of the gym,

Takes a rough beat down, oiled up, from her trainer:

Nor will she bother to sit before she eats,

Having belched forth seven glasses of strong wine;

Which she thinks she has a right to return to

Once she’s packed away sixteen athlete’s meatballs.

After this, when she gives in to her passions,

There’s no sucking – it’s insufficiently butch! –

Yet loves to dive into her girlfriends’ middles.

May God bless and keep your mindset, lil Philae

To slurp on perfectly studly lady-parts!

—Martial, ^[20]

Book VII, No. 67

[AC Benus]

 

Working through the poem for myself, I first have to state my surprise at encountering how gentle Martial is with his gym-bunny subject. Reading the standard translations, I never could have envisioned the poet actually invokes God (Di – singular in Latin) to bless Philae’s mentem, which is her frame of mind, her outlook and free will; but also indicates her personal fortitude, like good intentions, bravery, courage, and the like.

Sure, Martial ends on a snappy jibe – as all true epigrams should strive to do – but the humor is more along the lines of ribbing than anything more heated. And it’s assuredly a world away from Coote’s anonymous translator’s tilted allusions to Sodom and Gomorrah.

Secondly, my efforts with the original text brought me to a deeper appreciation of Martial as an artist. He seems to craft lines that can have simultaneous readings. High-minded ones, making references to “educated” Classical knowledge, and pedestrian ones where the man on the street could snicker at what he hears as “dirty” suggestions.

Before we study the opening line of this poem in the light of it having a double meaning, I’d first like to mention the poet’s use of nicknames. We can never ignore the names Martial chooses to moniker his subjects, and should expect his contemporary readers would instantly get the mythological or historical allusions the name summoned. For example, in Book III, No. 80, a young man praised for his skills in oral sex is termed “Apicius.” But why? It’s because of the fabled ability of the namesake to savor wonderful flavors. The word/name Apicius in ancient Latin culture was basically equivalent to the way the word/name Epicurean is used today. ^[21]

With that in mind, we can look at the masculine name Martial places in the opening line of Book VII, No. 67. As “Philaenis” is indeed rendered as a boy’s name, it cancels out tribas from being read as lady-lover. This point is made by the poet himself when he circles back to christen his protagonist with a female name in line sixteen – the penultimate one. Then and only then does he provide something to call her, Philaeni, which is both a diminutive form and ends with the proper vowel needed for Greek-origin girl names. That this nickname also ties into the tribe of committed boyfriends from line one (fratres, in Latin, meaning brothers, but also the term designating male partners in a permanent relationship), makes perfect sense. It takes the form of some poetic justice, hinting that the lady-lover is just as committed to her style of relationships as the famous Carthaginian ‘brothers,’ the Philian couple, sacrificing their lives to establish ancient borders in North Africa. Again, Martial’s high-brow readers would have understood the allusion right away, while his under-educated audience could simply assume tribas Philaenis means the lady-lover Philaenis, even though this is grammatically impossible because the two nouns disagree in gender – and a female noun cannot modify a male one. It’s akin in English to someone writing “Robert the Lesbian” – it doesn’t work. (See the detailed Endnotes Nos. 19 and 20 below for further information.)

So, it turns out both Coote’s and Wilhelm’s examples underserve the diction and intent of Martial’s original. And now we can see exactly how and why fresh interpretations are always worth the effort to pursue.

However, moving on to lighter fare, and back onto the firm ground of Martial himself being well-qualified to discourse on the nature of men-loving men – as he was clearly of their numbers – let’s look at a poem which belongs to the general category of A Lover’s Complaint. In it, the poet confesses confusion at the sudden withholding of sexual favors from one particular young man.

Here is Coote’s chosen version of the Book IV, No. 7 epigram:

 

[‘A Riddle’]

 

Young Hyllus, why refuse today

What yesterday you freely granted,

Suddenly harsh and obdurate,

Who once agreed to all I wanted.

 

You plead your beard, your weight of years,

Your hairy chest in mitigation?

To turn a boy into a man

How long then was the night’s duration?

 

Why, Hyllus, do you mock at me,

Turning affection into scorning?

If last night you were still a boy,

How can you be a man this morning?

[Brian Hill] ^[22]

 

And here is Wilhelm’s translation:

 

Tell me, young Hyllus, why you’re denying me today

what you gave yesterday,

Why are you so harsh, who was once so compliant?

Now you whine about your beard and your years

and your body hair.

Can one night be long enough to turn you into

an old man?

Why are you making fun of me? You who were

a boy yesterday, Hyllus,

Tell me: how can you overnight become a man?

[James J. Wilhelm] ^[23]

 

Likewise, Martial’s Book IV, No. 48 epigram makes for an interesting comparison. In Coote it reads:

 

[‘To Papilus’]

 

What! want to be buggered, and cry when it’s done!

Here clear contradictions seem blended!

Do you grieve that the sodding was ever begun,

Or lament that the pleasure is ended?

[Anonymous] ^[24]

 

And Wilhelm’s rendering of the same:

 

You adored being impaled, Papylus, and yet

afterwards you cry.

Why, since you like the act, do you later whine so?

Are you ashamed of off-color sex? Or do you

cry instead,

Papylus, because the impaling is over?

[James J. Wilhelm] ^[25]

 

Here we see Wilhelm choosing the more accurate verb “impale” to match the slang Latin term to fuck – namely “slay,” or to run through with a sword – while the anonymous translator of Coote’s printed choice uses anti-gay slurs, sadly.

The final epigram we’ll compare in the main body of this essay concerns Martial telling us he’s unwilling to give up the boys he knows, and whom he lists by name, with attributes, for a substantial amount of money if it means he’ll have to marry a woman.

In Coote, Book XII, No. 75 reads:

 

Me Polytimus vexes and provokes,

He always leaves me for insipid pokes;

Hypnus is so retiring, shy and coy,

He swears he’ll not be called my darling boy:

Secundus fills his well gorged arse with cream,

And to the dregs he drains each amorous stream;

The pathic Dindymus affects disgust

For Sodom and Gomorrah’s manly lust:

Modest Amphion blushes when I toy –

Nature was mad to make so shy a boy.

For all their faults and annoying ways

With darling Ganymedes I’d pass my days,

Rather than lead a sumptuous tinseled life

With twenty million dollars and a wife.

[Anonymous] ^[26]

 

And in Wilhelm:

 

Polytimus is always running after girls;

Hymnus only unwillingly admits he’s a boy;

Secundus has buttocks a yard wide;

Dindymus tries very hard not to act like a queen;

Amphion could easily have been born a girl.

Avtius, I prefer all of their whims and tantrums

And bitchy complaints to anyone who’d give me

A marriage dowry of several million.

[James J. Wilhelm] ^[27]

 

Once again, we see Coote’s chosen translator indulging in disrespectful language concerning Gay people. The way “Ganymedes” is used here harkens to a time when the name of Zeus’ frater was synonymous with the worst of name-calling against Gay men. ^[28] In addition, the interpreter’s inclusion of a “Sodom and Gomorrah” reference is inappropriate for reasons we’ve already explored; as is the crude pair of lines taking Secundus as their subject; while calling Didymus a “pathic” is an out-and-out homophobic slur.

Wilhelm by comparison stays far more neutral with his language and tone, perhaps leaving the reader with a better impression of Martial’s intent with the poem.

 

 

III.

Cannot Live Without Him

— An Open but Critical Eye —

 

To return to the Martial epigram heading this essay, Book XII, 46 (47) reads:

 

Difficilis, facilis, jucundus, aecerbus es idem;

Nec tecum possum vivere, nec sine te.

—Martial ^[29]

 

Now, I would translate this simply as:

 

Difficult, facile, jocular, acerbic, is he;

Impossible to live with, he’s impossible to live without.

—Martial

[AC Benus]

 

But Joseph Addison created rather a different poem, no doubt feeling his magazine readership in the early years of the 18th century would find a too literal translation unsatisfying. Addison rendered Book XII, No. 46 (47) as:

 

In all thy humors, whether great or mellow,

Thou’rt such a touchy, testy, pleasant fellow;

Hast so much wit, and mirth, and spleen about thee,

There is no living with thee, nor without thee.

—Martial ^[30]

[Joseph Addison]

 

This is a pleasant and appropriate way to leave off our studying of Martial in English translation.

Readers as well as writers must approach any translation with an open but critical mind. Just as much as we should assist in removing the splinter from the translator’s eye, we must be prepared to remove the plank from our own. ^[31]

It doesn’t matter if the culture is living or ancient, biases have to be examined and eliminated if there’s a chance for an accurate rendering.

 

 

~

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________________________

Notes:

[1] “Epigraph” Marcus Valerius Martialis, Book 12, No. 46 (47) as reprinted in The Book of Friendship Verse [Joseph Morris / St. Clair Adams, Editors] (New York 1924), p. 240

https://archive.org/details/bookoffriendship0000morr/page/240/mode/2up

[2] John Dryden is a bit of a random choice, for a dozen or more other English poets could stand as evidence for the fair treatment same-sex loving people received in writings at the time. In 1697 Dryden published his own translation of a true landmark of Gay art, Virgil’s Corydon and Alexis. The Ancient Roman poet’s story of two country lads in love has inspired artists for centuries, and continues to do so even today. Here is how Dryden opens his rendering of the classic:

 

Young Corydon, the unhappy Shepherd Swain,

The fair Alexis loved, but loved in vain:

And underneath the Beechen Shade, alone,

Thus to the Woods and Mountains made his moan.

(Coote 1983, p. 83)

https://archive.org/details/penguinbookofhom0000unse/page/82/mode/2up

[3] Catullus has borne the worst of this in English. There seem to be nearly inexhaustible renderings of his ‘Lesbia’ poems in print, which arguably are mostly of a puerile nature. Adrienne K. H. Rose addresses this issue head on in her February 23, 2018, paper How to Choose the “Right” Translation to Teach, posted on classicalstudies.org, stating explicitly how she “addresses the challenges of picking the ‘right’ Catullus translation[s].” And bravely calls a spade a spade by singling out Louis Zukofsky’s 1969 volume as openly homophobic. We need more voices like Rose’s in academics.

https://classicalstudies.org/scs-blog/akho1/blog-how-choose-%E2%80%9Cright%E2%80%9D-translation-teach

[4] “A tender girl’s breath” Marcus Valerius Martialis, Biik III, epigram No. 56 [James Wilhelm, Translator] Gay and Lesbian Poetry: An Anthology from Sappho to Michelangelo [James J. Wilhelm, Editor] (New York 1995), p. 121

https://archive.org/details/gaylesbianpoetry0000unse/page/120/mode/2up

 

– Saffron was associated in an ancient Roman’s mind with its use as a flavoring for expensive cake and pastry. One may read a satire of this flavoring being overused for baked goods in the “Trimalchio’s Dinner” section of Petronius’ Satyricon. The reference to “nard” is Nardus jatamansi, the essential oil of a Himalayan plant valued for millennia as the world’s finest perfume. In the New Testament, it is this substance a devotee of Jesus wants to anoint him with while his followers object and say they should sell it for the money. It was also among the first things looted from King Tutankhamun’s tomb in ancient times (along with glassware and gold objects). The empty alabaster vessels containing the jatamansi were found opened and abandoned by Howard Carter’s team in 1922.

[5] See Iölaus: An Anthology of Friendship, [Edward Carpenter, Editor and partial translator] (London 1902), 2nd Edition, 1906

https://archive.org/details/iolusanantholog00carpgoog/page/n8/mode/2up

[6] See The Greek Anthology [W. R. Paton, Editor and Translator] Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1916)

https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.13475/page/n3/mode/2up

[7] “To Phoebus” Marcus Valerius Martialis, Book III, epigram No. 73 [unknown translator] reprinted in The Penguin Book of [Gay] Verse [Stephen Coote, Editor] (London 1983), p. 98

https://archive.org/details/penguinbookofhom0000unse/page/98/mode/2up

[8] “You’re always sleeping with well-hung boys” Marcus Valerius Martialis, Book III, epigram No. 73 [James Wilhelm, Translator] Gay and Lesbian Poetry: An Anthology from Sappho to Michelangelo [James J. Wilhelm, Editor] (New York 1995), ps. 121-22

https://archive.org/details/gaylesbianpoetry0000unse/page/120/mode/2up

 

[9] “To Labienus” Marcus Valerius Martialis, Book II, epigram No. 62 [unknown translator] reprinted in The Penguin Book of [Gay] Verse [Stephen Coote, Editor] (London 1983), p. 98

https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.13475/page/n3/mode/2up

[10] “The fact that you’re shaving your chest” Marcus Valerius Martialis, Book II, epigram No. 62 [James Wilhelm, Translator] Gay and Lesbian Poetry: An Anthology from Sappho to Michelangelo [James J. Wilhelm, Editor] (New York 1995), p. 121

https://archive.org/details/gaylesbianpoetry0000unse/page/120/mode/2up

[11] “My better half, why turn a peevish scold” Marcus Valerius Martialis, Book XI, epigram No. 43 [James Wilhelm,translator] reprinted in The Penguin Book of [Gay] Verse [Stephen Coote, Editor] (London 1983), ps. 102-103

https://archive.org/details/penguinbookofhom0000unse/page/102/mode/2up

[12] “The fact that you’re shaving your chest” Marcus Valerius Martialis, Book XI, epigram No. 43 [James Wilhelm, Translator] Gay and Lesbian Poetry: An Anthology from Sappho to Michelangelo [James J. Wilhelm, Editor] (New York 1995), p. 121

https://archive.org/details/gaylesbianpoetry0000unse/page/128/mode/2up

[13] “By and about Gay people” Stephen Coote The Penguin Book of [Gay] Verse [Stephen Coote, Editor] (London 1983), “Introduction” p. 29

https://archive.org/details/penguinbookofhom0000unse/page/28/mode/2up

[14] “To Philaenis” Marcus Valerius Martialis, Book VII, epigram No. 67 [unknown translator] reprinted in The Penguin Book of [Gay] Verse [Stephen Coote, Editor] (London 1983), p. 100

https://archive.org/details/penguinbookofhom0000unse/page/100/mode/2up

[15] “On a Tough Lesbian” Marcus Valerius Martialis, Book VII, epigram No. 67 [James Wilhelm,Translator] Gay and Lesbian Poetry: An Anthology from Sappho to Michelangelo [James J. Wilhelm, Editor] (New York 1995), p. 125

https://archive.org/details/gaylesbianpoetry0000unse/page/124/mode/2up

[16] Most of Coote’s poems are titled, but as many of these appear in single-quotes, it’s safe to assume the editor’s punctuation tells us these titles were provided by Stephen Coote himself, expressly for his anthology.

[17] The topic of same-sex partnership and love in the animal kingdom deserves its own proper examination. With the limited space I have here, I’ll state that I am aware of statistical data supporting the following 40% claim in more than one study I currently have sitting on my bookshelves. These, however, are tomes written by psychiatrists – treating Gay as a “disease” – and published in the 1960s. Two more immediate, post-Stonewall sources are easier to access. Both are film documentaries. The Truth About Gay Animals was released in 2002, and features the revelation that 40% of all nature film and video footage recorded in the wild has been suppressed because it shows partnering of animals of the same gender. The narrator is taken aback by this wide-spread deception on the part of those who make and promote nature documentaries. For more information, see:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1045236/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

– The second is a 2015 BBC series titled Animals in Love. Episode two addresses same-sex love in nature head-on and states that every field study done on nesting bird populations around the world has found that 40% of ALL nesting couples are of the same gender. These are not just creatures “fooling around,” as Gay-deniers would want you to believe, but settled, lifelong mates. And that these partnerships form, amongst both male and female couples, in environments where plenty of opposite-sex individuals are available. This refutes another of the Gay-erasers’ favorite smoke-screens: the myth that there is such a thing as “institutionalized h*m*s*x**l*ty” where people ‘go gay’ just because there is no access to persons of other genders. What a load of hooey, and the bird couples prove it! For more information, see:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4420128/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2

[18] It’s entirely possible Wilhelm’s inclusion of “She doesn’t blow any man (no, that’s too manly!)” is intended to be ironic, as if Martial’s suggesting ‘sucking dick’ is about the most manly thing a person can do.

[19] “Pedicat pueros tribas Philaenis” Marcus Valerius Martialis, Book VI, epigram No. 67 [D. R. Shackleton Bailey, Editor] Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1993), Volume 95, ps. 126-127

https://www.loebclassics.com/view/martial-epigrams/1993/pb_LCL095.127.xml

[20] “Pegging her way through the tribe of true boyfriends” Marcus Valerius Martialis, Book VI, epigram No. 67 [AC Benus, Translator, 2023]. As critics may (and will, if they are Gay-erasers or Gay-deniers) find my translation markedly different from the average ‘public schoolboy’ norm, I will provide my detailed basis/justification for the translation below.

 

 

Pedicat pueros tribas Philaenis

 

– pedicat = (present active verb) to fuck; screw; peg; have

anal intercourse

 

– pueros = (male noun) plural for boy; male slave; youth

available (to men) for sexual favors. [In Latin, this is a loaded word and very erotic.]

 

– tribas = (female noun) singular for female lover of wo-

men; woman-loving woman

 

– tribas = (male noun) plural for tribe; tribe of. Also,

one-third of the general population

 

– Philaenis = (Greek given male name) As nouns in Latin

must agree with one another in gender to function as modifiers, tribas Philaenis means “belonging to the tribes of the Philae”; “of the tribes of Philaen”; “one-third of the Philaentype men.” Philaen (Philaenis in Greek) refers to two hero partners (frater) who selflessly gave their lives to bring peace and establish Punic territorial borders in North Africa.

 

As a whole, this line could mean, the subject of the poem seduces and fucks freely amongst the tribe of established boyfriends – who already have access to superior cock – through her amazing strapon skills.

 

The crude reading of this line could be: “Lady-lover Philaenis pegs the boys,” but as Philaenis is a masculine name, this interpretation would be invalid to Martial’s contemporary Latin readers.

 

That being said, it’s entirely possible Martial crafted his epigrams to have simultaneous highbrow and lowbrow readings; thus, he knew, grammar be damned, some would read the line as if it said Philaenia tribas, come hell or high water.

 

For the naming conventions Princeton University utilizes in cataloging ancient Greek artifacts and writings, confirming Philaenis to be a masculine-gendered name, see here:

 

https://library.princeton.edu/departments/tsd/katmandu/greek/Personalnames.htm

 

 

Et tentigine saevior mariti

 

– tentigine = (female noun) sexual fire; passion

 

– saevior = (adjective) more severe; harder

 

– mariti = (male noun) one’s spouse; one’s husband

 

 

Undenas dolat in die puellas.

 

– undenas = (female noun) plural for unda, meaning wave;

billow; surf; stream; water

 

– undo = (present active verb) cycle through; move in

waves

 

– undeni = (number/ordinal) 11; 11/12 of smth.; 11th; 11

each of smth.

 

– dolat = (present active verb) drub; smash [Literally and

figuratively.]

 

– puellas = (female noun) plural for girl [More affectionate

than puero, puella can designate girlfriend; sweetheart; lover; young woman; maiden; young wife. It also means slave girl, but this indication is far-less immediate than puero’s sensual sense of a man’s thrall.]

 

 

Harpasto quoque subligata ludit,

 

– harpasto = (neutral noun) from harpastum, a form of ball-

game done for the exercise; handball

 

– quoque = (adverb) not only; likewise; even [The word following quoque is the one to be accented. So here it means “She’s even attached to playing hand-ball.”]

 

– subligata = (past participle) from ligta, meaning attached;

bound to; connected. And from sub meaning there to; there upon. Together it can form the verb subligo = attach; fasten. [Figuratively it means devoted to; committed to; consumed by; mad about; etc.]

 

– ludit = (present active verb) to play with; mock; tease;

trick; toy with

 

 

Et flavescit haphe, gravesque draucis

 

– flavescit = (present active verb) to become or turn yellow or golden. [Figuratively it means to don these colors.]

 

– haphe = (female noun) special sports powder, of a golden

color, applied to an already oiled wrestler’s body before going into the ring. The idea is to make the wrestlers more grippable by their opponents.

 

– gravesque = (adjective) heavy; weighty; serious; pregnant; loaded down; heavy-hitting (as in profes-sional)

 

– draucis = (male noun) plural for athlete

 

 

Halteras facili rotat lacerto,

 

– halteras = (male noun) plural for halter, a dumbbell; a hand

weight for exercising

 

– facili = (adjective) amiably; with ease; without difficulty;

pleasantly

 

– rotat = (present active verb) to whirl; spin; rotate; revolve

 

– lacerto = (neutral noun) upper arm; bicep; muscle. [Figuratively it means muscle-power; strength; force.]

 

 

Et putri lutulenta de palaestra

 

– putri = (adjective) putrid; crumbling; decayed.

[Figuratively it means worn out; dead tired.]

 

– lutulenta = (adjective) turbid; muddy; filthy

 

– palaestra = (female noun) sports training ground or

facility; gymnasium

 

 

Uncti verbere vapulat magistri:

 

– uncti = (adjective) oiled down; greased; rubbed with oil/ liniment/ointment; smeared with oil/liniment/ointment. [Figuratively it means glowing with health; polished; refined; luxe.]

 

– verbere = (neutral noun) a thrashing; a beating; a flogging

[The idea is a rough rubdown or massage.]

 

– vapulat = (present active verb) to be thrashed; beaten;

flogged. [In combination with verbere, the idea is of a rough rubdown or massage.]

 

– magistri = (male noun) coach; trainer; masseur

 

 

Nec cenat prius aut recumbit ante,

 

– nec = (conjunction/adverb) nor; not even; never

 

– cenat = (present active verb) eat; dine; have main meal. Have or

make a meal of something.

 

– prius = (adjective/adverb) before; prior to; first; basically

 

– aut = (conjunction) rather; or; or else. [Also in the sense

of “without.”]

 

– recumbit = (present active verb) settle down; sink/lie; recline at

table. [Basically sitting down for us.]

 

– ante = (preposition/adverb) first; beforehand [Sense is

“at all.”]

 

 

Quam septem vomuit meros deunces;

 

– quam = (conjunction/adverb/pronoun) who/what/which;

to some degree; how/how many; as/than

 

– septem = (number) seven

 

– vomuit = (present active verb) to expel from the mouth; to

be sick; spew; to belch forth; to release

 

– meros = (adjective) undiluted; wine uncut with water

(which was the standard ancient way to drink wine: usually 8/10 wine to 2/10 spring or rainwater); pure; straight (as with liquor); unsullied

 

– deunces = (male noun) 11/12 of something; eleven parts/

portions of something; eleven percent interest. [Perhaps this modifies “meros,” and means the wine in question was only 1/12 cut with water.]

 

 

Ad quos fas sibi tunc putat redire,

 

– fas = (neutral noun) undeclined; a right to something;

justification

 

– sibi = (pronoun/preposition) apart; without

 

– tunc = (adjective) then; there upon; at that time

 

– putat = (present active verb) to think; believe; reckon

 

– redire = (present active verb) return; go back to; revert

back to

 

 

Cum coloephia sedecim comedit.

 

– cum = (preposition/adverb) when; in that situation; as

soon as

 

– coloephia = (neutral noun) as-yet unidentified nutritious

meat preparation for athletes. [Think of this like an ancient’s powerbar.]

 

– sedecim = (ordinal) sixteenth in sequence; sixteenth item

 

– comedit = (present active verb) to eat up; gobble up;

finish eating; pack away

 

 

Post haec omnia cum libidinatur,

 

– post = (preposition/adverb) afterwards; after that; later

in time

 

– haec = (pronoun) this; these. [In reference to “coloephia.”]

 

– omnia = (adverb) in all respects; everything; the whole of

something

 

– cum = (preposition/adverb) when; in that situation; as

soon as

 

– libidinatur = (dependent verb) to indulge in libidinous

feelings; gratify/give into desires

 

 

Non fellat – putat hoc parum virile –

 

– non = (adverb) by no means; no; not

 

– fellat = (present active verb) to suckle/suck; to fellate

 

– putat = (present active verb) to think; believe; reckon

 

– hoc = (pronoun) it; this; these

 

– parum = (neutral noun/adjective) pair; partners; on par;

a match; insufficient; less than. As a superlative, “not at all.”

 

– virile = (adjective) fertile; mature; potent. [Figuratively,

powerful; butch; sexy.]

 

 

Sed plane medias vorat puellas.

 

– sed = (conjunction) yet; however; but. For emphasis, “and also.”

 

– plane = (adjective/adverb) distinctly; plainly; obviously; entirely

 

– medias = (adjective) middle; amidst; shared; amongst. The

verb form means to halve; divide equally. To be in the middle.]

 

– vorat = (present active verb) swallow; devour; eat up. Also,

to vow; dedicate oneself to; concentrate upon. [This form is voverat, about which Words by William Whitaker says “[the] syncopated perfect [tense] often drops the ‘v’ and contracts [the] vowel.” Thus vo’rat, but spelled “vorat” in common Latin usage.]

 

– puellas = (female noun) plural for girl; girlfriend; lover;

sweetheart

 

Martial’s use of vorat here presents another potentially excellent example of how he wrote for simultaneous readings. His double meanings in this line are: in a high-brow understanding, “she dotes upon her girlfriends”; while the low-brow interpretation can be stated as “she performs cunnilingus on her girlfriends.”

 

 

Di mentem tibi dent tuam, Philaeni,

 

– Di = (male noun) singular for god; God

 

– mentem = (female noun) outlook; will; frame of mind;

judgment; thinking. Also, one’s intentions; courage; bravery.

 

– tibi = (pronoun) thou; thine; thy. Yourself/thyself.

[Although gendered masculine, it seems to be matched to “mentem,” which is female.]

 

– dent = (present active verb) sacrifice oneself; devote;

give over to; dedicate oneself to; surrender to

 

– tuam = (pronoun) your. [Gendered neutral.]

 

– Philaeni = Finally circling back to Philaenis, we now have

the word presented in a nickname version. This time, it is not only in the diminutive, but converted from masculine to proper feminine form.

 

 

Cunnum lingere quae putas virile.

 

– cunnum = (male noun) woman’s pudenda; external

genitalia. Also, women in general, and pejorative for a sensual/liberated woman.

 

– lingere = (verb with present active, future passive and

present passive senses) to lap, lick; sup; tap lightly with the tongue

 

– quae = (pronoun) whomever you choose; whoever you

fancy. Also, what kind of; that which.

 

– putas = (adjective) strong; unalloyed; pure. As well as,

perfect; beautiful; exquisite. As a verb it means to believe; suppose; reckon. Also, to treasure; value highly; hold dear.

 

– virile = (adjective) fertile; mature; potent. [Figuratively,

powerful; butch; sexy.]

 

 

 

 

My sources for the Latin have been Words by William Whitaker:

https://latin-words.com/

 

The Online Latin Dictionary:

https://www.online-latin-dictionary.com/

 

And, for readings in the proper syntax, Google Translate, Latin:

https://translate.google.com/?hl=en

The first two sites, relying on mid-20th century lexicons, are still dismayingly comfortable in their misogyny, homophobia and sex-shaming. But I’m pleased to report Google’s Latin has been brought up to date – and let’s face it, we’re already a quarter of the way through the 21st century, so it should be.

[21] There are many and conflicting reports concerning a real-life gourmet named Apicius, but they all disagree on points of origin and lifespan, which many place near the time of Christ. And the commonly accepted myths of a true-life Apicius – the one you'd read on wiki, for example – all ignore the obvious fact that Cato in the second century B.C. already relayed that one of the grape varieties he had planted at his estate was named Apicium (de agricultura, chapter 6). See the original Latin in Andrew Dalby’s scholarly edition Cato on Farming: de agricultura A Modern Translation with Commentary (Devon 1998), p. 74

[22] “Young Hyllus, why refuse today” Marcus Valerius Martialis, Book IV, epigram No. 7 [Brian Hill, Translator] reprinted in The Penguin Book of [Gay] Verse [Stephen Coote, Editor] (London 1983), p. 99

https://archive.org/details/penguinbookofhom0000unse/page/98/mode/2up

[23] “Tell me, young Hyllus, why” Marcus Valerius Martialis, Book IV, epigram No. 7 [James Wilhelm, Translator] Gay and Lesbian Poetry: An Anthology from Sappho to Michelangelo [James J. Wilhelm, Editor] (New York 1995), p. 122

https://archive.org/details/gaylesbianpoetry0000unse/page/122/mode/2up

[24] “What! want to be . . . ” Marcus Valerius Martialis, Book IV, epigram No. 48 [anonymous translator] reprinted in The Penguin Book of [Gay] Verse [Stephen Coote, Editor] (London 1983), p. 99

https://archive.org/details/penguinbookofhom0000unse/page/98/mode/2up

[25] “You adored being impaled, Papylus” Marcus Valerius Martialis, Book IV, epigram No. 48 [James Wilhelm, Translator] Gay and Lesbian Poetry: An Anthology from Sappho to Michelangelo [James J. Wilhelm, Editor] (New York 1995), p. 123

https://archive.org/details/gaylesbianpoetry0000unse/page/122/mode/2up

[26] “My Polytimus vexes” Marcus Valerius Martialis, Book XII, epigram No. 75 [anonymous translator] reprinted in The Penguin Book of [Gay] Verse [Stephen Coote, Editor] (London 1983), ps. 103-104

https://archive.org/details/penguinbookofhom0000unse/page/102/mode/2up

[27] “Polytimus is always running with girls” Marcus Valerius Martialis, Book XII, epigrm No. 75 [James Wilhelm, Translator] Gay and Lesbian Poetry: An Anthology from Sappho to Michelangelo [James J. Wilhelm, Editor] (New York 1995), ps. 128-129

https://archive.org/details/gaylesbianpoetry0000unse/page/128/mode/2up

[28] The Oxford English Dictionary still has this Victorian slur in it for LGBTI2S+ folks – and questioning youth – to insult them: “Ganymede (Also Ganymedes) […] 2. A catamite.” (OED, 2nd Edition, Volume IV, p. 48. The second edition is still this publication’s “current” one, as estimates on the completion of the 3rd edition stand at 2034.

[29] “Difficilis, facilis, jucundus, acerbus” Marcus Valerius Martialis, Book XII, epigram No. 46 (47) [D. R. Shackleton Bailey, Editor] Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1993), Volume 95, p. 127

https://www.loebclassics.com/view/martial-epigrams/1993/pb_LCL480.127.xml?readMode=reader

[30] “In all thy humors, whether great or mellow” Marcus Valerius Martialis, Book XII, epigram No. 46 (47) [Joseph Addison, Translator], first appearing in the May 18th edition of Spector Magazine (London 1711)

[31] “Splinter/Plank” is a lesson from Jesus to his followers. See The Book of Matthew, Chapter 7, verses 3-5

 

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