The Irish Catullus

THE IRISH CATULLUS
OR
ONE GENTLEMAN FROM VERONA

Translating the Latin poet into Irish and English, in the tradition of The Irish Aeneid.

This project derives from a resolution of the Board of Poetry Ireland 2002 to protest at the decision of the Senate of Queen’s University, Belfast, to close the Department of Classics in that University. In 2005, the project proceeded under the direction of Ronan Sheehan as general editor and recently became the concern of The European Centre for Latin in Dublin.

Gaius Valerius Catullus was born at Verona c84bc and died about 54bc in Rome. The slim volume which survives him comprises 116 carmina on various subjects, of varying length, in various styles, and explores different genres of poetry. Some are brief, savage satires. Some are meditations. Some are elegies, like the famous heart-rending farewell to his brother, but Catullus is most celebrated for his love poems to Lesbia, the elusive object of his ardour.

How many kisses, Lesbia, may be enough
And more than enough for me?

The purpose of the project is to affirm Ireland’s tradition in the classics in the face of the closing of the Classics Department in Belfast. The Irish Aeneid is a brilliant example of tradition.

In his introduction to an Irish Schools text “Selections from Virgil/The Educational Company of Ireland Limited, Dublin and Belfast 1920” editor Robert F.T. Crook MA (First Classical Master, Wesley College, Dublin and lecturer in Greek and Latin at Alexandra College) emphasises the importance of the medieval work:

“I have added as an appendix a specimen passage from the famous Irish Aeneid or Imeachta Aeneisa which happens to contain peculiarly spirited Old Irish translations of all the Aeneid selections in this volume. This ought specially to interest Irish students. It is the earliest translation of Virgil’s Aeneid into any language other than Latin, and shows what an advanced state of scholarship our remote Irish ancestors had reached more than half a millennium of years ago (i.e. before 1400 ad), long before any English version of Virgil has been attempted or the art of printing introduced”.

R.F. Crook 16, Trinity College, Dublin, Jun 29^th 1920.

Solamh O’Droma, the poet from Breffni who made the work, represented a confident, independent culture which regarded itself as the equal of the Latin and Greek cultures of ancient times. Where appropriate, he adapted the structure and texture of the Roman Epic to suit the taste of his own audience. Later scholars were often puzzled by what they considered to be an heretical approach to a sacred text.

Translators in Irish and English for this project were invited to approach Catullus in the spirit of Solamh O’Droma.

This shall be a specialist publication offering Catullus in Latin, Irish English, Ulster-Scots and Scots-Gaelic. It is not a commercial proposition and shall require subsidy.

Some seventy-five writers are involved:

Hugh McFadden, Michael Hartnett, Philip McDonagh, John McDonnell, Matthew Geden, Sarah Rees Brennan, Flann O’Brian, John Stephenson, Anne Fitzgerald, Toyin Odelade, Ronan Sheehan, Thomas McCarthy, Eilean Ni Chuilleanain, Karl O’Neill, Richard Clarke, Sarah Tully, Simon Ashe-Browne, Brian Mackey, Frank McGuinness, Padraig J. Daly, Rita Kelly, Grania Mackey, Michael Longley, Hedley McConnell, Katie Donovan, Martina Evans, Luke Sheehan, Max McGuinness, Kevin Kiely, John Dillon, Conor Bowman, Lydia Sasse, Dave Lordan, Derek Mahon, Michael Carroll, John F. Deane, Jack Harte, Tom Conaty, John Banville, Richard Kearney, Philip Casey, Tom Matthews, Jonathan Swift, Gerald Dawe, Kevin Byrne,, Gerard Smyth, Gerard Fanning, Frank O’Carroll, Gerard Lyne, Dermot Healy, Mia Gallagher, Bernadette Lowry, Michael Rafferty, Peter Sirr, Oscar Wilde, Thomas Moore, Robert Fitzgerald, Brid Daibhis, R. O’Maincu, Gabriel Rosentock, Colette Nic Aodha, Rody Gorman, Sean Hutton, Clare Dagger, Colm Breatnach, Celia De Freine, Tomas MacSiomoin, Paddy Bushe, Padraig O’Snodaigh, Padraig Mac Fheargusa, Michael O’Ruairc, Aogan O’Muircheartaigh, M. Nic Mhaolan, PB O’Laighin, Maire Begley.

The Irish Catullus participated in Certamen Catullianum, a Catullus celebration, at Lasize, near Verona in May 2006, with readings from Philip McDonagh, Eilean Ni Chuilleanain, Michael Carroll and Ronan Sheehan.

Saint Isidore’s, the ancient Irish Franciscan house in Rome, with it’s traditions of Irish, Latin and English, hosted a reading of much of the work by some ten translators in Irish and English in September 2006. To this event Seamus Heaney sent a poem- about making books in medieval Ireland- which was read by Fr. Louis Brennan, the leader of the Community there. 

Ronan Sheehan was invited to speak about this project and Ireland’s tradition in the classics to conferences in Aquileia in 2007 and 2008 and at Merano in 2008.

Individual pieces have appeared in poetry collections by Dave Lordan, Philip McDonagh, Frank McGuiness and Gerald Dawe. 

The text is used in translation study in the Department of Classics UCD.

Invitations have been received to participate in The Edinburgh Arts Festival and The Ranelagh Arts Festival (both 2009).

The book is due to appear in late 2009. It is intended to hold a launch in City Hall, Dublin which shall feature an address by Dr. Rainer Weissengruber to mark the opening of Centrum Latinitatis Europae in Dublin, Punto Robert Emmet, an address by Minister John Gormley and a musical performance by the Viennese group Ars Vocalis.

Ronan Sheehan
General Editor

Show latest news stories.