Catullus 72

Catullus 72 is a poem by the Roman poet Catullus.

The meter of this poem is elegiac couplets, a common form in Catullus' poetry.

[edit] Latin text and translation

Line	Latin text	English translation
1	Dicebas quondam solum te nosse Catullum,	You once used to say that you knew Catullus alone,
2	Lesbia, nec prae me velle tenere Iovem.	Lesbia, and did not wish to hold Jupiter before me.
3	Dilexi tum te non tantum ut vulgus amicam,	I loved you then not merely as the common crowd loves a mistress,
4	sed pater ut gnatos diligit et generos.	but as a father loves his children and children-in-law.
5	nunc te cognovi; quare, etsi impensius uror,	Now I have come to know you; wherefore, even if I should burn more passionately,
6	multo mi tamen es vilior et levior.	you are nevertheless much more vile and slight to me.
7	qui potis est, inquis? quod amantem iniuria talis	How can this be, you ask? Because such injustice drives a lover
8	cogit amare magis, sed bene velle minus.	to love more, but to respect less.

Latin Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Catullus 72

English Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Catullus 72

Kubiak, DP (1986). "Time and Traditional Diction in Catullus 72", in C. Deroux: Collection Latomus: Studies in Latin Literature and Roman History 4. Brussels: Latomus, 259–264.

Davis, JT (1971). "Poetic Counterpoint: Catullus 72". American Journal of Philology 92: 196–201. doi:10.2307/293330.

Akbar Khan, H (1967). "A Note on the Expression solum...nosse in Catullus". Classical Philology 62: 34–37. doi:10.1086/365186.

Poems (Carmina) of The Roman poet Catullus
Lesbia poems	2, 2b, 3, 5, 7, 8, 11, 36, 37, 51, 58, 68, 70, 72, 75, 76, 79, 83, 85, 86, 87, 91, 92, 104, 107, 109
Invective poems	10, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 28, 29, 30, 33, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 47, 49, 52, 53, 54, 57, 59, 60, 69, 71, 73, 74, 77, 78, 80, 84, 88, 89, 90, 93, 95, 97, 98, 103, 108, 110, 111, 112, 113, 116
Unusual poetic meters	4, 8, 11, 17, 22, 25, 29, 30, 31, 34, 37, 39, 44, 51, 52, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64
Hendecasyllabic verse	1, 2, 2b, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 14b, 15, 16, 21, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 32, 33, 35, 36, 38, 40, 41, 42, 43, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 58b
Elegiac couplets	65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116
See also the list of poems by Catullus.