The Poetry of Gaius Valerius Catullus/106

Text & Translation

Line	Latin Text	English Translation
1	Cum puero bello praeconem qui videt esse,	What should one who sees an auctioneer with a fair boy,
2	quid credat, nisi se vendere discupere?	believe, but that he is intending to sell himself?

Connotations of The Text

Line 1

praeconem - auctioneer

The joke here is that Juventius is selling himself to an auctioneer. i.e. at the best price he can get for his services.

Line 2

vendere - to sell [himself]

Catullus suspects that his friend Juventius has been eloping with other men, as is mentioned in Poem 24 and Poem 81. Young boys were permitted to satisfy older men but a boy who sold himself was nothing more than a whore.

External Links

• Catullus 106 A Translation of Catullus 106
• Catullus 106 Another Translation of Catullus 106