I haven't read the whole poem, just the part that is quoted in Ad Alpes, Caput V:
Torquātus volo parvulus
Mātris ē gremiō suae
Porrigēns tenerās manūs
Dulce rīdeat ad patrem
Sēmihiante labello
which I (partially) translated as
A baby boy with a necklace
from his mother's lap
stretching out his tender hands
sweetly smiles at his father
with half-opened lips.
Questions:
1. I didn't dare translate volo (I wish/want, I fly, a volunteer) because Torquātus parvulus in the nominative case has to be the subject, but how could "I" (Catullus, a grown man) be a Torquātus parvulus? I did find a translation which renders this line as "A little Torquatus I wish", and I understand that Titus Manlius Torquatus took the neck-chain of a Gaul he had slain. But anyway, what's going on here?
2. Why is rideo in the subjunctive mood, in the fourth line?
3. What is the meter of this poem? I know next to nothing of Latin meters.
Torquātus volo parvulus
Mātris ē gremiō suae
Porrigēns tenerās manūs
Dulce rīdeat ad patrem
Sēmihiante labello
which I (partially) translated as
A baby boy with a necklace
from his mother's lap
stretching out his tender hands
sweetly smiles at his father
with half-opened lips.
Questions:
1. I didn't dare translate volo (I wish/want, I fly, a volunteer) because Torquātus parvulus in the nominative case has to be the subject, but how could "I" (Catullus, a grown man) be a Torquātus parvulus? I did find a translation which renders this line as "A little Torquatus I wish", and I understand that Titus Manlius Torquatus took the neck-chain of a Gaul he had slain. But anyway, what's going on here?
2. Why is rideo in the subjunctive mood, in the fourth line?
3. What is the meter of this poem? I know next to nothing of Latin meters.