Catullus 5

Catullus 5 is a passionate ode to Lesbia and one of the most famous poems by Catullus. The poem encourages lovers to scorn the snide comments of others, and to live only for each other, since life is too brief and death brings on a night of perpetual sleep. Over the centuries, this poem has been translated and imitated many times; its sentiments seem timeless.

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

17th Century translations

A rhyming translation was written in 1601 by the 17th century English composer, poet and physician Thomas Campion, which adds the word "sweetest"

My sweetest Lesbia, let us live and love;

And though the sager sort our deeds reprove,

Let us not weigh them. Heaven's great lamps do dive

Into their west, and straight again revive,

But soon as once is set our little light,

Then must we sleep one ever-during night.

Soon thereafter, Sir Walter Raleigh included the following verses in his The Historie of the World, which he wrote while imprisoned in the Tower of London^[1][2]

The Sunne may set and rise

But we contrariwise

Sleepe after our short light

One everlasting night.

A free-verse translation of the following Latin text:

Let us live, my Lesbia, and love.

As for all the rumors of those stern old men,

Let us value them at a mere penny.

Suns may set and yet rise again, but

Us, with our brief light, can set but once.

One never-ending night must be slept.

Give me a thousand kisses, then a hundred.

Then, another thousand, and a second hundred.

Then, yet another thousand, and a hundred.

Then, when we have counted up many thousands,

Let us shake the abacus,^[3] so that no one may know the number,

And become jealous when they see

How many kisses we have shared.

Latin text

Connotations

• Lines 2-3

This is a reference to the gossip going around the Roman Senate, as it was believed that Catullus was having an affair with a senator's wife, known as Clodia Pulchra Tercia.^[4] This is also thought to be the woman Lesbia in his poetry. Catullus is urging Clodia to disregard what people are saying about them, so she can spend more time with him. There is also a chiasmus in these lines:

Poetic effects

• Line 5-6

The position of lux - light, and nox - night right next to each other serve to emphasise his two comparisons. Symbolically, the "perpetual night" represents death and the "brief light" represents life. Furthermore, there is also a second chiasmus in these lines:

Allusions in modern culture

A modern version of this poem is sung in the 1998 French film Jeanne et le garçon formidable {Jeanne and the Perfect Guy} starring Virginie Ledoyen and Mathieu Demy.

This poem is referenced in Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita, according to annotator Alfred Appel, Jr.'s annotation.

The line nox est una dormienda is a recurring theme in Anthony Burgess's novel The Kingdom of the Wicked.

Nox Dormienda is the name of a novel by Kelli Stanley.

The line nox est perpetua una dormienda is quoted in the 'Present Day' chapter of Virginia Woolf's The Years.

Mike Engleby translates this poem as part of his entrance exam to Chatfield in Sebastian Faulks' novel Engleby.

This poem and its translation by Richard Cranshaw is referenced in the Diana Gabaldon novel Outlander.

A portion of this poem from "soles occidere..." to "Da mi basia mille" is used in Aldous Huxley's Island (novel).

This poem was set to music by Carl Orff as part of his Catulli Carmina (1943).

A character remembering the line "nox est perpetua una dormienda" forms a key plot development in John Crowley's Daemonomania.

References

1. ↑ McPeek JAS (1939). Catullus in Strange and Distant Britain. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press. ASIN B0006CPVJM. 
2. ↑ Lucas DW (1940). "Catullus in English literature". The Classical Review 54: p. 93. doi:10.1093/cr/54.1.93. JSTOR 703619. 
3. ↑ CATULLUS, 5, 7‑11 AND THE ABACUS, American Journal of Philology Vol. 62, No. 2 (1941), pp222‑224
4. ↑ Suzanne Dixon, Reading Roman Women (London: Duckworth, 2001), 133-156 (chapter 9, "The Allure of 'La Dolce Vita' in Ancient Rome").

Bibliography

Latin Wikisource has original text related to this article: Catullus 5

English Wikisource has original text related to this article: Catullus 5

• Fredricksmeyer, EA (1970). "Observations on Catullus 5". American Journal of Philology 91 (4): 431–445. doi:10.2307/293083. JSTOR 293083. 
• Segal, C (1968). "Catullus 5 and 7: A Study in Complementaries". American Journal of Philology 89 (3): 284–301. doi:10.2307/293446. JSTOR 293446. 
• Commager, S (1964). "The Structure of Catullus 5". Classical Journal 59: 361–364. 
• Grimm, RE (1963). "Catullus 5 Again". Classical Journal 59: 16–21. 
• Pratt, NT (1956). "The Numerical Catullus 5". Classical Philology 51 (2): 99–100. doi:10.1086/364015. 
• Grummel, WC (1954). "Vivamus, mea Lesbia". Classical Bulletin 31: 19–21.