[Carl Copeland]

Hi, Glenn. I haven’t read a lot of Catullus, but I’ve always found his passion, directness and even vulgarity refreshing. Despite my qualms about imposing rhyme on the ancients, I really like what you’ve done here.

I was trying to figure out why the translation is two lines longer than the original, and it wasn’t easy to locate the filler in L4 and L8, so I guess that’s a good sign.

L1 needs a comma at the end.

the lawyer’s smooth rapport — I first thought you meant “report,” but I guess you mean “rapport [with his audience].”

Whatever the time or place require, — Should be “time and place” for the plural verb.

nor elegant — I won’t claim that “nor” is wrong, but “or” would be more normal.

a suave Sabine — This is apparently a compression of “a city-dweller or a Sabine.” Were the Sabines known for their sophistication?

Now you’re a Spaniard — For some reason, I kept wanting to stress “Now,” which is misleading. “But” would prevent me from doing that, but you may not welcome the opposition. Would a comma after “Now” help? Or is this just another of my typically perverse misreadings? Not sure.

the more you tell that you’ve drunk your own piss. — “Tell” sounds off without an object, and my grammar-checker suggests “say,” but I really want to take the opportunity to regularize the meter of this final line. How about: “The more it tells us you’ve been drinking piss.”

That’s all for now. I’m into it!