Catullus Beliefs

Catullus is renowned for his incredibly emotional poetry, specifically his love poetry. Though not mentioned by name in many, most of his poems are devoted to Lesbia, his girlfriend/ ex-girlfriend (depending on which poem you’re reading). His impassioned poetry is much different from the epic poetry that was so common in his day. Instead of spinning long, winding tales of the gods and heroes and whatnot (though he does dabble in epic poetry on occasion), Catullus prefers to discuss his own life and his own feelings. His work is heavily inspired by another famous lyric poet, Sappho. Sappho also wrote much on the topic of her love life, and it is easy to see how the hopeless romantic Catullus preferred her work over his fellow Roman poets. Whilst

The poems aren’t in chronological order, but one can try to peace the relationship together based solely off of what Catullus is feeling. When he first begins to see Lesbia, Catullus is incredibly smug. Lesbia, as we’re told, is married and, at first, Catullus seems to get a thrill out of being the other man. In poem eighty three, entitled “The Husband,” he even boasts about the occasions where Lesbia mocks him in front of her husband saying, “If she forgot and was silent about me, that would be right: now since she moans and abuses, she not only remembers, but something more serious, she’s angry. That is, she’s inflamed, so she speaks.” Catullus isn’t shy about his feelings for Lesbia, having written so many poems about her, and he craves any sort of reciprocation of feelings from her. In the poems that seem to be from the earliest point in their relationship, Lesbia seems to be much more involved in the relationship. Catullus claims that “...She’d rather marry no one but me…” (despite the fact that she’s already married) in poem seventy, “Women’s Faithfulness.” This is one of the few instances where Lesbia seems to be as smitten with Catullus as he is with her. As the poems (should they be placed in chronological order) go on, Catullus and Lesbia’s affair shifts from mutual love to Catullus pining after

While there’s no clear way of telling which poems come last, every single poem referring to the end of their relationship is filled with hateful words and a general negative energy. In poem eleven, Catullus has received the closure he so desperately sought, however he lost the love he fought for. He seems to be somewhat content with his own life, and sarcastically wishes all the best for Lesbia, saying, “Let her live and be happy with her adulterers, hold all three-hundred in her embrace, truly love-less, wearing them all down again and again: let her not look for my love as before, she whose crime destroyed it, like the last flower of the field, touched once by the passing plough.” Catullus is vengeful, which suggests that he’s finally done with Lesbia, but there is still something pitiful about him. The reader can’t help but feel compassion for Catullus, who seems to have been broken by Lesbia, while he meant almost nothing to her at all. It is a tragic way to end off a love story, but one that feels very true to