View source for (Boylove Documentary Sourcebook) - An Address to Juventius, a Scornful Young Male Beloved, in a Poem by Catullus

[[File:Catull Sirmione.jpg|thumb|center|Gaius Valerius Catullus (c. 84–54 BCE). Modern bronze bust on the Piazza Giosuè Carducci in Sirmione, Italy.]]


From <i>[[Homosexuality]] in [[Ancient Greece|Greece]] and [[Ancient Rome|Rome]]: A Sourcebook of Basic Documents</i>, edited by Thomas K. Hubbard (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003).

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<i>Catullus was born in 84 B.C.E. and died at the age of thirty. A series of his polymetric poems concern the boy Juventius and Catullus’ rivals (possibly competing poets) Furius and Aurelius.</i>
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[...]

<center><b>7.50</b> Catullus 99</center>

Juventius, honey-pot, I snatched from you while you were playing<br>
A tiny kiss, sweeter than ambrosia’s sweet.<br>
But no way did I get it for free: an hour or longer,<br>
As I recall, you had me nailed on the cross<br>
While I made abject apologies, yet all my weeping<br>
Didn’t abate your cruelty one jot.<br>
Oh, the instant I’d done it you dabbed your lips with water,<br>
Raised a soft hand and knuckled them clean<br>
So that no trace of my mouth should remain, as though expunging<br>
The filthy saliva of some pissed-on whore. <small>10</small><br> 
Since then, what’s more, you’ve never quit making my love-life<br>
A living hell, tormenting me every which way,<br>
So that soon my poor kisslet turned from sweet to bitter,<br>
Ambrosia no longer, but hellebore.<br>
Well, since such is the penalty for your abject lover,<br>
Henceforth I will <i>never</i> snatch another kiss!
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[[File:Bronze statue of an aristocratic boy (detail).png|thumb|center|Bronze statue of an aristocratic boy (detail). Roman, Augustan, ca. 27 B.C.–14 A.D. Rhodes, Greece. New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art.]]

==See also==
*[[Adult friend (dictionary)]]
*[[Age of attraction (dictionary)]]
*[[Boylove]]
*[[Catamite]]
*[[Ephebophilia]]
*[[Historical boylove relationships in ancient Rome]]
*[[Loved boy (dictionary)]]
*[[Minor-attracted person (dictionary)]]
*[[Pederasty]]
*[[Pedophilia]]
*[[Young friend (dictionary)]]

[[Category:Boylove Sourcebook]]
[[Category:Reference material on ancient Rome]]
[[Category:Classical Latin literature]]
[[Category:Boylove in literature]]
[[Category:Poetry]]