do you know any roman poems?

Answer 1

My favorite is Catullus:

Salax taberna uosque contubernales,
a pilleatis nona fratribus pila,
solis putatis esse mentulas uobis,
solis licere, quidquid est puellarum,
confutuere et putare ceteros hircos?
an, continenter quod sedetis insulsi
centum an ducenti, non putatis ausurum
me una ducentos irrumare sessores?
atqui putate: namque totius uobis
frontem tabernae sopionibus scribam.
puella nam mi, quae meo sinu fugit,
amata tantum quantum amabitur nulla,
pro qua mihi sunt magna bella pugnata,
consedit istic. hanc boni beatique
omnes amatis, et quidem, quod indignum est,
omnes pusilli et semitarii moechi;
tu praeter omnes une de capillatis,
cuniculosae Celtiberiae fili,
Egnati. opaca quem bonum facit barba
et dens Hibera defricatus urina.

The poem, if you are having trouble reading it, is a guy yelling at all the men in a tavern for hanging around with his girlfriend, and calling them all gay. It's like something you'd hear in modern-day rap music!

Answer 2

This is an ancient Byzantine (Eastern Roman Empire) poem that was found on a water well in Constantinople (Istanbul).

Byzantine Fountain inscription
Ne saray isterium
Ne basuma taç
Gönlüm sevray degül
Bir avuç suya muhtaç

I wish neither for a palace
Nor a crown on my head
My heart yearns not for love
Only for a handful of water

Answer 3

this one from Pompeii, exists in several versions and seems from its inexact meter to have been composed by a less educated person. Its content, of course, makes it clear how popular such poems were:

Admiror, O paries, te non cecidisse ruinis
qui tot scriptorum taedia sustineas.

I'm astonished, wall, that you haven't collapsed into ruins,
since you're holding up the weary verse of so many poets.

this one is by Catullus
Odi et amo. Quare id faciam fortasse requiris.
Nescio, sed fieri sentio, et excrucior.
I hate and I love. Perhaps you're asking how I do this?
I don't know, but I feel it happening, and it's torture.

http://www.crystalinks.com/romeliterature.html
http://www.poetry-archive.com/h/horace.html


enjoy