minister, -ri m.
attendant, servant;
in apposition to puer (= slave).
vetulus, -a, -um
good old, ageing.
The diminutive form is affectionate, age being a benefit for wine. Note the
central placement of the opposites vetuli and puer and the
interlocking word order.
Falernus, -a, -um
Falernian.
Understand vini. Since Falernian wine (northern Campania) was considered
the leading
Italian wine, it is a mark of the host's wealth. Scan the
line, noting the assonance (repetition of syllables), ictus and rhyme in
minister, puer, and Falerni, continued by inger in
the next line.
ingero, ingerere, ingessi, ingestum
pour
out (generously), carry in. Inger is an unusual form of the
imperative, patterned after fer (but perhaps the slurring speech of one
already drunk).
calix, -icis m.
wine cup, drinking
cup.
amarior, -ius (comparative of
amarus)
more bitter, more pungent, drier, more tart. In regard
to wine, amarior can mean either a drier vintage or, probably here, that
the wine was less diluted. The usual proportion of water to wine is debated,
but in antiquity a mixture containing more water than wine was
customary.
lex, legis f.
law, statute, rule,
regulation, decree.
Postumia, -ae f.
Postumia, a
daughter of the gens Postumia. Catullus' audience would not have missed
the sly allusion to the brutal imperia Postumiana, the legendary orders
of A. Postumius Tubertus (dictator 431 BCE) by which his son was executed for
engaging the enemy successfully in battle in anticipation of the command (see
Livy Ab Urbe Condita 4.29.5).
magistra, -ae f.
mistress. Supply
the word bibendi for the complete title of the person (almost
exclusively male in our sources) elected (by vote or lot) to direct the
drinking at ancient parties (Greek symposiarchos). The magister
bibendi prescribed the type and strength of wine to be consumed as well as
the number and content of the toasts. Catullus's Postumia is a most
unconventional matrona.
ebriosus, -a, -um
drunken, addicted to
drink.
acinum, -i n.
grape, berry;
acino is ablative of comparison after ebriosioris.
ebriosior, -ius (comparative of ebrius)
drunker; ebriosioris agrees with magistrae. A
poetically clever line, it contains two difficult elisions (perhaps in
imitation of drunken slurred speech), sound painting (o's), and chiastic
word order (magistrae / ebrioso acino ebriosioris).
quo, adverb
where, to which
(place).
lubet = libet (impersonal)
it
pleases, it is pleasing.
hinc, adverb
from here, hence.
abeo, abire, abii, abitum
go away,
depart.
lympha, -ae
water. The plural
lymphae, in apposition with vos, means water of all kinds. Rhyme
and word placement link lines 5 and line 3: obeying the lex Postumiae,
Catullus banishes the personified water from the party.
pernicies, -ei f.
destruction,
ruin.
severus, -a, -um
strict, stern, severe,
austere. Here a substantive; these are the sober people who mix water with
their wine. Note the interwoven sounds in vini pernicies, et ad severos
(repetition of -i, -er, -es), which echo lines 1 and
2.
migro (1)
change residence,
move.
hic, adverb
here, herein. The sound
of hic imitates the hiccup of the intoxicated.
merus, -a, -um
pure,
undiluted.
Thyonianus, -i m.
Dionysus; his name
here is an arcane adjective formed from an alternate name for his mother Semele
(Thyone). The god of wine stands for the pressed grape, vinum.
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