Lesbia

In poems 7, 51, and 58A Catullus paints a picture of his love for Lesbia, giving the reader more insight into their relationship.

Poem 7, for instance, describes in detail his insatiability for her kisses. He compares the amount of kisses he desires to the grains of Libyan sand or the stars in the sky that look down on mortals. This is innumerous. This poem, simply explains his endless love for Lesbia. Furthermore, he calls himself ‘mad Catullus’, for he is driven mad by his love for her.

Poem 51 is an imitation of Sappho’s fragment 31, (#6 in the text) in which a third party man is compared to the gods in his indifference towards her laugh, which renders Catullus dumb. Catullus describes in detail how powerful Lesbia’s actions are, in which “my tongue goes torpid, and through my body thin fire lances down, my ears are ringing with their own thunder, while night curtains both my eyes into darkness.” (Lines 9-12)

In Poem 58A, Catullus mourns for Lesbia, his “dear Lesbia” who “jacks off Remus’s generous descendants”. This seems to be a sexual reference to her pleasing other affluent men, which hurts Catullus because of his love for her. He describes his love as a sort of worship for her—he worshipped her “more than himself, far more than all his kinfolk.” Once again Catullus goes above and beyond, using hyperbolic statements to explain his love for Lesbia.

Through all of these poems, we get an in depth understanding of Catullus’ love for Lesbia. It is insatiable (poem 7), it destroys his senses, rendering him voiceless and blind to all other things (51), and lastly, it leaves him grievous in his realization that she is not his own.