Gallus, the Cybele and Roman Eunuchs
A recent posting in the Britarch mailing list referred to a Poem of Catullus which mentions, it was said, a Eunoch of the Goddess the Cybele. I often use a poem by Ovid which mentions the 'Votaries of the Cybele ululating in high pitched chorus with their Phyrgian Fashions' and so looked up the Poem - Poem 78 http://rudy.negenborn.net/catullus/text2/e78.htm
This left me in some doubt as to whether the poem is about a Eunuch Although the context of Poem 78 is following poems about the Cybele, and one meaning of a gallus is a eunuch of
the Cybele. but as you will see, in this translation, Gallus is
married.
Wikipedia also tells me that Gallus can mean many things, including:- People
- several ancient Romans; see Gallus (cognomen)
- ...
- Gallus, the Latin word for an inhabitant of Gaul
- Gallus, the singular form of Galli, the eunuch priests of Cybele
- Animal-related
- Gallus, the Latin word for rooster or cockerel
- Gallus (genus), a bird genus in the pheasant family
- Gallus (constellation), The Cockerel, an obsolete constellation
So,
I wonder whether that the name is chosen because he is a bit of a cock?
or did the Gauls have a reputation, even then, as lovers and aren't
these more likely than that he is a Eunuch? But I am not a Latin
scholar.
another translation
Gallus has brothers, of whom one has the loveliest wife
the other the loveliest son.
Gallus is a cute man: since he joins them as lovers,
so that beautiful boy beds with beautiful girl.
Gallus is a stupid man, not seeing himself as a husband,
who instructs a nephew in an uncle’s wife’s adultery.
Here is a report about an excavation of a skeleton of a eunuch.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/1999734.stm
This was originally written up in this publication.
On Britarch it was pointed out that another poem did refer to a Gallus. Here is part of the poem in which the Gallus is bemoaning his castration.
Wretched ah wretched, it's forever to be deplored, Soul.
Truely, what do I look like, aren't I therefore damned ?
Am I a woman, a youth, a husband-to-be, a boy ?
I was in top form, the attraction of the wrestling school:
many people frequently visited Me, Many kept Their houses cool for Me,
My house was adorned with garlands for Me,
people stood up for Me, where a seat faced the Sun rise.
Am I now driven(2) to be a servant of gods(5) and Cybele's slave ?
Am I to be(6) a Maenad, am I to play that part, to be a sterile man ?
Am I to live in the cold, snow-coated place of green Ida ?
Am I to spend My life under the high mountain tops of Phrygia,
where the hind is a forest dweller, where the boar is a wood rover ?
What I've done, distresses Me now, now I'm sorry."
When She made a quick loud noise with Her rose lips, She left,
Gallus has brothers, of whom one has the loveliest wife
the other the loveliest son.
Gallus is a cute man: since he joins them as lovers,
so that beautiful boy beds with beautiful girl.
Gallus is a stupid man, not seeing himself as a husband,
who instructs a nephew in an uncle’s wife’s adultery.
Here is a report about an excavation of a skeleton of a eunuch.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/1999734.stm
This was originally written up in this publication.
On Britarch it was pointed out that another poem did refer to a Gallus. Here is part of the poem in which the Gallus is bemoaning his castration.
Wretched ah wretched, it's forever to be deplored, Soul.
Truely, what do I look like, aren't I therefore damned ?
Am I a woman, a youth, a husband-to-be, a boy ?
I was in top form, the attraction of the wrestling school:
many people frequently visited Me, Many kept Their houses cool for Me,
My house was adorned with garlands for Me,
people stood up for Me, where a seat faced the Sun rise.
Am I now driven(2) to be a servant of gods(5) and Cybele's slave ?
Am I to be(6) a Maenad, am I to play that part, to be a sterile man ?
Am I to live in the cold, snow-coated place of green Ida ?
Am I to spend My life under the high mountain tops of Phrygia,
where the hind is a forest dweller, where the boar is a wood rover ?
What I've done, distresses Me now, now I'm sorry."
When She made a quick loud noise with Her rose lips, She left,
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