Catullus 51 is a poem by Roman love poet Gaius Valerius Catullus (c. 84 – c. 54 BC). It is an adaptation of one of Sappho's fragmentary lyric poems, Sappho 31. Catullus replaces Sappho's beloved with his own beloved Lesbia. Unlike the majority of Catullus' poems, the meter of this poem is the sapphic meter. This meter is more musical, seeing as Sappho mainly sang her poetry.
Catullus is not the only poet who translated Sappho’s poem to use for himself: Pierre de Ronsard and Salvatore Quasimodo are also known to have translated a version of it.
The poem
The following Latin text of Catullus 51 is taken from D.F.S. Thomson; the translation is literal, not literary.
151015Ille mi par esse deo videtur,ille, si fas est, superare divos,qui sedens adversus identidem te spectat et auditdulce ridentem, misero quod omneseripit sensus mihi: nam simul te,Lesbia, aspexi, nihil est super mi <vocis in ore;>lingua sed torpet, tenuis sub artusflamma demanat, sonitu suoptetintinant aures, gemina teguntur lumina nocte.otium, Catulle, tibi molestum est:otio exsultas nimiumque gestis:otium et reges prius et beatas perdidit urbes. He seems to me to be equal to a god, he, if it is permissible, seems to surpass the gods, who sitting opposite again and again watches and hears you sweetly laughing, which rips out all senses from miserable me: for at the same moment I look upon you, Lesbia, nothing is left for me <of my voice in my mouth;> But my tongue grows thick, a thin flame runs down beneath my limbs, with their own sound my ears ring, my lights (eyes) are covered by twin night. Idleness is a troublesome thing for you, Catullus: In idleness you revel and delight too much: Idleness has destroyed both kings and blessed cities before.
Catullus here builds upon a common interpretation of the lost original verse from Sappho. For a reconstruction of the original Greek first verse, see Sappho 31. Line 8 is missing from the original manuscript. Oxford Classical Texts (ed. R.A.B. Mynors) provides no substitution. It is possible in fact that it was deliberately left unfinished.Tamás, Á. (2021). "Catullus’ Sapphic Lacuna. Unspoken Rome: Absence in Latin Literature and Its Reception", p. 19.
Modern musical setting This poem was set to music by Carl Orff as part of his Catulli Carmina (1943).
See also Otium Catullus 11
References