That little ship which you notice, friends,
Claims that she once was the fastest of ships
And that the bold charge of no hostile vessel
Has ever been able to overtake her
Whether it be by sail or palms upon oars.
And she says that no one can deny her claim,
Not the menacing Adriatic nor the Cycledean isles
And not noble Rhodes or even horrible Thrace
Or the harsh Marmora and Pontic gulf
Where before she was a ship she resided
In a leafy forest; for upon the Cytorian ridge
She had once often whispered from her speaking leaves.
Pontic Amastris and box-treed Cytorus!
To you, all these things were and are memorable,
The little ship says. At the beginning of time,
She claims to have stood upon your peak.
And also that she has splashed her oars in your sea,
And from Cytorus through so many raging straits,
She has mastered both the right and left winds
Even if Jove himself tore at her sails from all directions.
Not one vow to the sea gods did she make
For herself when she went from the last sea
All the way to this clear lake, Garda.
But this is the past: now all alone
She grows quietly old and dedicates herself
To you, twin Castor, and you, twin Pollux.

Translation Choices
Throughout Carmen IV, Catullus weaves a theme of aging through his personification of a story-telling old ship. In my translation of this poem, I aim to accomplish three objectives: to emphasize Catullus’ theme of aging, to simplify lines with complex grammar or synechdoche while maintaining poetic devices, and to clarify the geographical references.

In old age people tend to decline or appear less impressive than they were in their prime. Thus, from the outset, I emphasize the theme of aging by trivializing the ship through my addition of the word “little” (perhaps implied by the ‘l’ in phaselus) and word choice “claims” for ait. And, in demeaning and discrediting the ship, I provide a justification for her later story-telling habit.

Carmen IV contains many figurative language and grammar constructions that do not present well in English. For instance, lines 4-5 of the carmen can be translated literally as: whether the work to sail would be with palms or linen (sive palmulis / opus foret volare sive linteo). Although Catullus’ metonymy is poetic, for clarity it makes more sense in English to say oars or sail. In my translation, I tried to strike a balance between the two: “palms upon oars.” I still used Catullus’ language while clarifying the reference to rowing, otherwise confusing to modern readers.

In addition, Catullus beautifully personifies the ship with his apostrophic sense of dialogue and his transferred epithets in a way that makes the ship seem alive and strengthens the theme of aging. Since it would be a shame to lose this in translation, I stayed true to the personification and dialogue of the ship. For example, in line 10, I use the language: “where before she was a ship she resided.” The word “resides” serves to personify her since it suggests that she can live somewhere like a person. Furthermore, I make sure to literally translate verbs such as ait with feminine pronouns, so that the ship seems less like an object. I also retain Catullus’ poetic devices in line 12: “She had once often whispered from her speaking leaves” (loquente saepe sibilum edidit coma). Here, he uses a transferred epithet since the ship should be speaking not the leaves, but it poetically adds to the theme of personification. Although I could have had the participle modify the ship, I chose to remain to true to the Latin. He also uses sibilation in this line through saepe and sibilum, which I also introduce in the English through the words “once,” “whispered,” “speaking,” and “leaves.”

Lastly, where Catullus implied locations with words such as inde (18) and limpidum lacum (24), I added proper nouns, Cytorus and Garda, in my translation; in line 18: “And from Cytorus through so many raging straits;” and in line 24: “All the way to this clear lake, Garda.” I also generated the map below to accompany the poem and show the journey of the ship’s life.

Thus, through the preservation and clarification of poetic devices and the addition of emphatic words and proper nouns, I strengthened Catullus’ theme of aging, maintained the original beauty, and supplied further context.