Catullus and Sappho

Catullus:
86
Many find Quintia stunning. I find her attractive:
Tall, “regal,” fair in complexion—these points are granted.
But stunning? No, I deny it: the woman is scarcely venerious,
There’s no spice at all in the length of her body!
Now Lesbia is stunning, for Lesbia’s beauty is total:
And by that sum all other women are diminished.

39
Egnatius, because he has bright white teeth,always smiles: If someone comes to the defendant'sbench, when the speaker arouses weeping,he grins; If there is weeping at the funeral pyre ofa dutiful son, when the bereaved mother laments her only son,he grins. Whatever it is, wherever he is,whatever he is doing, he grins: he has this disease,neither elegant, as I think, nor refined.Therefore I must warn you, my good Egnatius.If you were a city man or a Sabine or a Tiburnanor a thrifty Umbrian or a fat Etruscanor a swarthy or toothy Lanuvian ora Transpadane, to touch on my own people as well,or anyone you like who cleans his teeth with clean water,I still should not want you to smile on all occasions:for nothing is more silly than a silly smile.Now you are a Celtiberian: in the land of Celtiberia,whatever each man has urinated, with this he is accustomedin the morning to rub his teeth and gums until they are red,so that the more polished those teeth of yours are,the more urine they proclaim you to have drunk.

70
My woman says there is no one whom she’d rather marry
Than me, not even Jupiter, if he came courting.
That’s what she says—but what a woman says to a passionate lover
Ought to be scribbled on wind, on running water.

94
Mentula is an adulterer. Why certainly he is. How could he be anythingelse with a name such as his. It is as natural as for a pot to gather vegetables.

Excerpts from Sappho
‘Some say horsemen, some say warriors’

Some say horsemen, some say warriors,
Some say a fleet of ships is the loveliest
Vision in this dark world, but I say it’s
What you love.

It’s easy to make this clear to everyone,
Since Helen, she who outshone
All others in beauty, left
A fine husband,

And headed for Troy
Without a thought for
Her daughter, her dear parents…
Led astray….

And I recall Anaktoria, whose sweet step
Or that flicker of light on her face,
I’d rather see than Lydian chariots
Or the armed ranks of the hoplites.

‘Stand up and look at me, face to face’

Stand up and look at me, face to face
My friend,
Unloose the beauty of your eyes.....

‘Love shook my heart’

Love shook my heart,
Like the wind on the mountain
Troubling the oak-trees.

‘He’s equal with the Gods, that man’

He’s equal with the Gods, that man
Who sits across from you,
Face to face, close enough, to sip
Your voice’s sweetness,

And what excites my mind,
Your laughter, glittering. So,
When I see you, for a moment,
My voice goes,

My tongue freezes. Fire,
Delicate fire, in the flesh.
Blind, stunned, the sound
Of thunder, in my ears.

Shivering with sweat, cold
Tremors over the skin,
I turn the colour of dead grass,
And I’m an inch from dying.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

1. Based on what I have read, Catullus mathematically compares the two women to each other. He gets into a “rational” definition of beauty which involved curves and the search for perfection. He is saying that even though many men see Quintia as stunning, he doesn’t share their opinion. He sees her as attractive: “tall and regal”. There is nothing exciting in the shape of her body. The description of Lesbia’s beauty is total; she has everything that Catullus wants to see in a woman. He says “ the sum of all other women are diminished”. She is the only one so beautiful and stunning and that there is no one who can surpass Lesbia’s beauty. According to his points of view, love is dependent on beauty.
2.

In poem 51, Catullus opens with the theme of his love to Lesbia. He sees his rival as a god because he can be next to Lesbia “That man, if it is right to say, seems to surpass the gods, who sitting opposite to you repeatedly looks at you and hears your sweet laughter…” In the lines of the poem, we can see jealousy toward that man who is with Lesbia. He describes himself as full of love for her even finding it difficult to talk to her. He clearly understands that all of that idleness will lead to nothing. I would say that this kind of love is social commentary which is valuable in modern time. Unrequited love continues to be very popular theme in literature.

Poem 76 shows the love Catullus has for Lesbia and how he tries to forget. He loves that woman but no longer wants her to love him back. He understands that she chooses not to be with him. He refers to his love as a disease and asks the gods to help him “I wish that I myself be healthy and put aside this horrible disease.” His voice is full of desperation and it is obvious that he is in a lot of pain because of unrequited love. In our time, the theme of unrequited love often appears in poems and songs which are actually quite popular because they capture people’s emotions which leads to a natural connection.

In poem 91, Catullus tells about Gellius being involved with the woman he loves. He is saying that he actually expected that behavior from him because Gellius loved games with any sins them. He takes pleasure in doing “the wrong thing” and as such he did it in spite of knowing of the love of his friend for that woman. The theme of morality in that poem shows what people are ready to do for their satisfaction. That topic is widely supported in our time by literature. Unfortunately people’s behavior remains the same: friends still betray each other.

My personal definition of romantic love is the emotional and physical feelings that exist between people. That is a beautiful feeling that makes you desire them and causes their mere presence to influence great joy. You can’t measure it but rather you need to feel it in order to comprehend its profound nature and grasp.

“There is only one happiness in life: to love and be loved.”
~ by George Sand ~