Translation

Catullus: Lyric, Rude and Erotic
Mosaic Press, 2004

Of all the great Latin poets, Catullus is perhaps the most accessible, as Ewan Whyte shows us with his brilliant new translation. Once reserved for ‘dirty-minded’ scholars and students, the earthy poetry of Catullus—sometimes bawdy and base, sometimes elegant, and never boring—gets the star treatment in this bilingual Latin/English edition. The increasing global popularity of Latin and Latin Studies mean that the time has come for a new generation to be introduced to this most fascinating and fun of great Latin writers.

Reviews:

Asa Boxer, ‘Catullus and Lesbia Get Laid,’  Books in Canada.

“Of all the ancient poets, Catullus is, perhaps, the one who can speak most directly to modern readers. But like other Latin poets, he requires a mediator, someone who can re-present his work to those who can no longer understand the language that he used.

Ewan Whyte performs this role admirably. His translations capture the contrasting aspects of Catullus’ work that make it so appealing: its simplicity and its studied elegance, its coarseness and its urbanity, its objective artistry and its frank emotions.

This a fine translation, one that will make Catullus come alive to all those who had assumed he was long dead.”

–Professor James B. Rives, Oxford University Press