Catullus 5

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Catullus 5 is a passionate and perhaps the most famous poem by Catullus. The poem encourages lovers to scorn the snide comments of others, and to live only for each other, since life is all too brief and death brings on a night of perpetual sleep. Over the centuries, this poem has been translated and imitated many times; its sentiments seem timeless.

The meter of this poem is hendecasyllabic, a common form in Catullus' poetry.

Contents 1 Rough Translation 2 17th Century translations 3 Latin text and line-by-line English translation 4 Connotations 5 Poetic effects 6 Allusions in modern culture 7 References 8 Bibliography

[edit] Rough Translation

The following rough translation attempts to capture the mood of the poem in modern language:

[edit] 17th Century translations

A rhyming translation was written in 1601 by the 17th century English composer, poet and physician Thomas Campion, which adds the word "sweetest"

Soon thereafter, Sir Walter Raleigh included the following verses in his The Historie of the World, which he wrote while imprisoned in the Tower of London^[1][2]

[edit] Latin text and line-by-line English translation

Line	Latin Text	English Translation
1	Vivamus, mea Lesbia, atque amemus,	Let us live, my Lesbia, and let us love,
2	rumoresque senum severiorum	and the rumors of strict old men
3	omnes unius aestimemus assis!	let us all value at one penny!
4	soles occidere et redire possunt;	Suns may rise and set;
5	nobis cum semel occidit brevis lux,	For us, once our brief light sets,
6	nox est perpetua una dormienda.	We must sleep one eternal night.
7	da mi basia mille, deinde centum,	Give me a thousand kisses, then a hundred,
8	dein mille altera, dein secunda centum,	then a thousand others, then a second hundred,
9	deinde usque altera mille, deinde centum;	then continuously a thousand others, then a hundred.
10	dein, cum milia multa fecerimus,	Then, once we've counted up many thousands,
11	conturbabimus, illa ne sciamus,	we will mix them up, lest we know their number,
12	aut ne quis malus invidere possit	or that any evil person can envy us
13	cum tantum sciat esse basiorum.	when he knows the number of our kisses.

[edit] Connotations

• Lines 2-3

This is a reference to the gossip going around the Roman Senate, as it was believed that Catullus was having an affair with a senator's wife, known as Clodia. This is also thought to be the woman Lesbia in his poetry. Catullus is urging Clodia to disregard what people are saying about them, so she can spend more time with him.

• Line 5

brevis lux - "brief light"

A pessimstic view of life, and the belief of no afterlife. This was a belief at odds with most Romans, who believed in the afterlife.

He also uses this view as an argument as to why Lesbia should spend lots of time with him.

• Line 11

conturbabimus illa - throw those accounts into confusion

This hopes that the evil ones will not know the specific numbers of kisses, therefore reducing the effectiveness of any potential spell. [See Below].

• Line 12

malus invidere possit - [a person] casts the evil eye upon

This is linked to the belief of witchcraft. In the practice of witchcraft it was believed that if the evil one knew of certain numbers relevant to the victims (in this case the number of kisses) then the spell would be much more effective.

[edit] Poetic effects

• Line 5-6

The position of lux - light, and nox - night right next to each other serve to emphasise his two comparisons. Symbolically, the "perpetual night" represents death and the "brief light" represents life.

• Line 7-11

The repetition of numerous kisses and the seeming loss of comprehension builds tension within the poem and provides the narrative with an anticipatory, natural flow ("then..."). This symbolically builds the poem towards a sexual climax.

[edit] Allusions in modern culture

A modern version of this poem is sung in the 1998 French film Jeanne et le garçon formidable {Jeanne and the Perfect Guy} starring Virginie Ledoyen and Mathieu Demy.

This poem is referenced in Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita, according to annotator Alfred Appel Jr.'s annotation.

The line nox est una dormienda is a recurring theme in Anthony Burgess's novel The Kingdom of the Wicked.

Nox Dormienda is the name of a novel by Kelli Stanley.

[edit] References

1. ^ McPeek JAS (1939). Catullus in Strange and Distant Britain. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press. ASIN B0006CPVJM. 
2. ^ Lucas DW (1940). "Catullus in English literature". The Classical Review 54: p. 93. 

[edit] Bibliography

• Fredricksmeyer, EA (1970). "Observations on Catullus 5". American Journal of Philology 91: 431–445. doi:10.2307/293083. 

• Segal, C (1968). "Catullus 5 and 7: A Study in Complementaries". American Journal of Philology 89: 284–301. doi:10.2307/293446. 

• Commager, S (1964). "The Structure of Catullus 5". Classical Journal 59. 

• Grimm, RE (1963). "Catullus 5 Again". Classical Journal 59: 16–21. 

• Pratt, NT (1956). "The Numerical Catullus 5". Classical Philology 51: 99–100. doi:10.1086/364015. 

• Grummel, WC (1954). "Vivamus, mea Lesbia". Classical Bulletin 31: 19–21. 

Poems (Carmina) of The Roman poet Catullus
Lesbia poems	2, 2b, 3, 5, 7, 8, 11, 36, 37, 51, 58, 68, 70, 72, 75, 76, 79, 83, 85, 86, 87, 91, 92, 104, 107, 109
Invective poems	10, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 28, 29, 30, 33, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 47, 49, 52, 53, 54, 57, 59, 60, 69, 71, 73, 74, 77, 78, 80, 84, 88, 89, 90, 93, 95, 97, 98, 103, 108, 110, 111, 112, 113, 116
Unusual poetic meters	4, 8, 11, 17, 22, 25, 29, 30, 31, 34, 37, 39, 44, 51, 52, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64
Hendecasyllabic verse	1, 2, 2b, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 14b, 15, 16, 21, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 32, 33, 35, 36, 38, 40, 41, 42, 43, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 58b
Elegiac couplets	65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116
See also the list of poems by Catullus.