minister, -ri m.
attendant, servant;
in apposition to puer (=young slave).
vetulus, -a, -um
good old, ageing.
The diminutive form is affectionate, age being a benefit for wine. Note the
central placement of the opposites vetuli and puer and the
interlocking word order.
Falernus, -a, -um
Falernian.
Understand vini. Falernian was one of the best of the Italian wines,
from northern Campania.
ingero, ingerere, ingessi, ingestum
pour
out (generously), carry in. Inger is an unusual form of the
imperative, patterned after fer (but perhaps the slurring speech of one
already drunk). Note the rhyming repetition of sounds in inger,
minister, puer, Falerni.
calix, -icis m.
wine cup, drinking
cup.
amarior, -ius (comparative of
amarus)
more bitter, more pungent, drier, more tart. In regard
to wine, amarior can mean either a drier vintage or, probably here, that
the wine was less diluted. The usual proportion of water to wine is debated,
but in antiquity a mixture of more water than wine was customary.
lex, legis f.
law, statute, rule,
regulation, decree.
Postumia, -ae f.
Postumia, whose
name indicates a daughter of the gens Postumia. Catullus' audience would
not have missed the sly reference to the brutal imperia Postumiana, the
legendary orders of A. Postumius Tubertus (dictator 431 BCE) by which his son
was executed, for attacking the enemy in battle (successfully) without orders
(see Livy Ab Urbe Condita 4.29.5) .
magistra, -ae f.
mistress. Supply
the word bibendi for the complete title of the person (almost
exclusively male in our sources) elected (by vote or lot) to direct the
drinking at ancient parties (Greek symposiarchos). The magister
bibendi prescribed the type and strength of wine to be consumed as well as
the number and content of the toasts. Catullus's Postumia is a most
unconventional matrona.
ebriosus, -a, -um
drunken, addicted to
drink.
acinum, -i n.
grape, berry;
acino is ablative of comparison after ebriosioris.
ebriosior, -ius (comparative of ebrius)
drunker; ebriosioris agrees with magistrae. A
clever line, it contains two difficult elisions (perhaps in imitation of
drunken slurred speech), sound painting (o's), and chiastic word order
(magistrae / ebrioso acino ebriosioris).
quo, adverb
where, to which
(place).
lubet= libet (impersonal)
it
pleases, it is pleasing.
hinc, adverb
from here, hence.
abeo, abire, abii, abitum
go away,
depart.
lympha, -ae
water. The plural
lymphae, in apposition with vos, means water of all kinds.
Obeying the lex Postumiae, Catullus banishes water from the party. The
word order and sound pattern of at…lymphae echoes that of
line 3 (ut…magistrae).
pernicies, -ei f.
destruction,
ruin.
severus, -a, -um
strict, stern, severe,
austere. Here a substantive; they are the sober people who mix water with
their wine. Note the interwoven sounds in vini pernicies, et ad severos
(repetition of -i, -er, and -es) which echo lines 1 and
2.
migro (1)
change residence,
move.
hic, adverb
here, herein. The sound
of hic imitates the hiccup of the intoxicated.
merus, -a, -um
pure,
undiluted.
Thyonianus, -i m.
Dionysus; his name
here is an arcane adjective formed from an alternate name for his mother Semele
(Thyone). The god of wine stands for the pressed grape, vinum.
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