Catullus 51

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Catullus 51 is a poem of the Roman poet Catullus that is largely a translation of a famous poem by Sappho from Greek into Latin, although Catullus adds his own coda. The poem describes the poet's envy of a man who may speak freely with the poet's beloved, and the poet's own feelings on seeing his/her beloved.

Both this poem and Catullus 11 are written in the unusual Sapphic meter.

Latin text and translation

Line	Latin text	English translation
1	Ille mi par esse deo videtur,	That man seems to me to be equal to a god,
2	ille, si fas est, superare divos,	That man, if it is proper, seems to surpass the gods,
3	qui sedens adversus identidem te	Who sitting across from you, again and again
4	spectat et audit	Sees you and hears you
5	dulce ridentem, misero quod omnis	Laughing sweetly, it steals all the senses
6	eripit sensus mihi: nam simul te,	from wretched me: for now,
7	Lesbia, aspexi, nihil est super mi	Lesbia, I've seen you . nothing survives
8
9	lingua sed torpet, tenuis sub artus	My tongue grows numb, A thin flame
10	flamma demanat, sonitu suopte	Seeps beneath my limbs, my ears ring
11	tintinant aures, gemina teguntur	With their own sound, my lights are covered
12	lumina nocte.	By a twin night.
13	Otium, Catulle, tibi molestum est:	Leisure, Catullus, is bothersome to you:
14	otio exsultas nimiumque gestis:	You exalt in leisure and carry on too much:
15	otium et reges prius et beatas	Leisure has in past ruined both kings
16	perdidit urbes.	And blessed cities.

Discussion

-the chiasmus in lines 8-11 (lingua sed torpet...titinant aures) confuses the lines, just as he his confused phychologically

-"identidem te spectat" parallel with "simul te aspexi"

-anaphora at beginning and end of poetry ("ille mi par...ille si fas est") and (otium Catulle...otium exsultas...otium et reges") unifies the poem

-Pleaonasm in line 14 with exsultas and gestis

-Polysyndeton in line 15

-Metonomy in line 12, with lumina representing eyes

-In line 9, tenuis can be long or short due to the meter. It can thus modify either flamma or artus.

Strophe 4

There is considerable debate among scholars as to if the last strophe belongs in this poem, or if is a fragment of another poem. The poem already is not intact, as shown through the lacuna in line 8.

The subject matter is also a point of interest. While the beginning of the poem deals with Catullus, Clodia,and another man, the last strophe brings in kings and cities, possibly an allusion to Troy and Paris. However, there is a progression of the subject matter: Catullus, Clodia, and the unknown other man, to just Catullus and Lesbia, to Catullus'inner turmoil.

Furthermore, the ille, ille, qui are all different forms of representing Clodia's husband, "he," and "he who." This parallels with the different forms of otium in the 4th strophe.

Bibliography

• Greene, E (1996). "Re-Figuring the Feminine Voice: Catullus Translating Sappho". Arethusa 32
• Thom, S (1995). "Confrontation with Reality in Catullus 51". Akroterion 40 80–86.
• Miller, PA (1993). "Sappho 31 and Catullus 51: The Dialogism of Lyric". Arethusa 21 183–199.
• Vine, B (1992). "On the 'Missing' Fourth Stanza of Catullus 51". Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 94 251–261.
• O'Higgins, D (1990). "Sappho's Splintered Tongue: Silence in Sappho 31 and Catullus 51". American Journal of Philology 111 156–167.
• Finamore, JF (1984). "Catullus 50 and 51: Friendship, Love and Otium". Classical World 78 11–19.
• Newman, JK (1983). "Comic Elements in Catullus 51". Illinois Classical Studies 8 33–36.
• Rankin, HD (1976). "Catullus and the Beauty of Lesbia (Poems 43, 86, and 51)". Latomus 35 3–11.
• Kinsey, TE (1974). "Catullus 51". Latomus 33 372–378.
• Frank, RI (1968). "Catullus 51: Otium versus Virtus". Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association 99 233–239.
• Wills, G (1967). "Sappho 31 and Catullus 51". Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies 8 167–197.
• Fredricksmeyer, E (1965). "On the Unity of Catullus 51". Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association 96 153–163.
• Kidd, DA (1963). "The Unity of Catullus 51". Journal of the Australasian Universities Language and Literature Association 20 298–308.

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