Catullus 92 Translation
Introduction |
In Catullus 92, the poet shares his struggles his love for with Lesbia. He wrote several poems about her and many of them involved his struggles with whether or not she loves him. In the first line of the poem, Catullus writes about how Lesbia is always talking about him, but saying things that are not nice. He then asks in line two if he will die if she doesn’t love him. He wonders by what mark would he die? He then says the same is with him, suggesting that he speaks ill of her, too. In line three, he said he is always crying out upon her, but in line four said he would die if he didn’t love her.
So, for Catullus, what matters is that he loves her. He can’t do anything about how she feels, but he can control his own emotions. In his mind, life isn’t worth living if he doesn’t love her. When he cries out about her, he is insulting her.
Since she is always talking about him, she must have some feelings for him. But, the things she says aren’t nice. This isn’t enough for Catullus to want to die. He says things about her that aren’t nice, including this poem.
Catullus needs to love. When he says he would perish if he doesn’t love her, he means that his life is incomplete without loving her. He would be lost without her. This explains why he feels the way he does in Catullus 85, the famous poem where he talks about how he loves and hates. He loves her, but he willingly speaks poorly about her – criticizing her. She does the same to him. It is easy to understand why he is tormented so much by their unique relationship. Since she is married to someone else, she cannot say nice things about him, or people might wonder.
Carmen 92 |
| Line | Latin text | English translation |
|---|---|---|
1 | LESBIA mi dicit semper male nec tacet umquam | LESBIA always speaks ill of me, and is always talking about me. |
2 | de me: Lesbia me dispeream nisi amat. | May I perish if Lesbia does not love me. |
3 | quo signo? quia sunt totidem mea: deprecor illam | By what token? because it is just the same with me. I am perpetually crying out upon her, |
4 | assidue, uerum dispeream nisi amo | but may I perish if I do not love her. |
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Resources |
VRoma Project: http://www.vroma.org/~hwalker/VRomaCatullus/092.html
