Blog Post 6

The relationship between Catullus and Lesbia is very chaotic and has many ups and downs. He is madly in love with her, even though she has been with many other men and is currently married. During the relationship, they don't care what other people think about their relationship, all that matters is their intense passion for each other, but he takes the breakup pretty hard and it takes a while for him to let go.


In poem 5, Catullus says all he wants to do is live life and have a good time with Lesbia. He doesn't care about the people that are critical of their scandalous relationship, since he compares the value of their opinions to that of a farthing. Time can go on, but all he needs is her. He then goes into detail on how many kisses he wants from her. He is obviously madly in love with her to write such a silly poem that includes 4 lines about her giving him a hundred kisses, then a thousand more, then a hundred more and on for a few more lines. That is not very common, but again, he does not care about the critics because he has Lesbia.


Poem 11 is after their relationship is over, so he is deeply saddened by the loss of Lesbia. He spends the first few stanzas to show that he does not know where Lesbia is currently because she left him. He says that she is a slut when he writes that she embraces three hundred men at once, “loving none truly, yet cracking each one's loins over and over.” Then he says she should not expect for him to have passion for her anymore, since she left him and then trampled over him, “like some flower at the field's edge, after the passing ploughshare's cut a path through it.”



In poem 8, Catullus includes himself in the third person. He does this to distance himself from the topic of his lost love, Lesbia. He is talking about being led on by her. She didn't love him as much as he lover her and he tried to keep the relationship, but no amount of effort would keep her around. He is rebuking himself for trying to chase after her and tells himself to get his act together and just move on. In the end, he becomes bitter and says that nobody will want her and she will never be able to find someone good enough to replace him. She will be sorry that she let him go.