Catullus 85

Catullus 85 is a poem by the Roman poet Catullus for his mistress Lesbia.

"Odi et amo. quare id faciam, fortasse requiris?
nescio, sed fieri sentio et excrucior."
I hate and I love. Why do I do this, perhaps you ask?
I do not know, but I feel it happen and it is excruciating.

Its declaration of conflicting feelings "I hate and I love" (in Latin, Odi et amo) is renowned for its force and brevity.

The meter of the poem is the elegiac couplet.

Musical settings

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