Aye Swe's response

1. Catullus is measuring a woman’s worth using physical beauty. He says if you don’t have the whole package, like Lesbia, then you might as well disappear. That is pretty shallow of Catullus. It’s ironic how he uses a subject like mathematics to praise Lesbia when there isn’t any mention of Lesbia’s intellect. I wonder if beauty is the only attribute that makes an ordinary woman extraordinary in the Roman Empire. And furthermore, if being beautiful is the only way for a woman to receive love and admiration from a man.

2. In Catullus 32, he’s filled with blatant sexual desires about a woman named Ipsithilla. I don’t think he lives with her because he says “If you do so, grant me a favor, don't let anyone set the bolt on the door,” so she’s probably not his wife. I don’t think he’s talking about a prostitute either because he isn’t demanding that Ipsithilla make time for him. He’s simply asking: “my delights and charms, I ask you, tell me to come to you this afternoon.” Ipsithilla, therefore, is probably a secret lover.

In Catullus 33, he sounds pretty angry towards a father and son. He describes them as being very low class and cunning: “Cleverest of all clothes-stealers at the baths.” But he’s targeting the son more than the father, calling him a “profligate.” After the sarcasms, he gets to the point, saying “off with you into banishment and the dismal regions.” He’s very tough on these guys so it makes you wonder what they did to get him riled up like that.

Catullus 37 actually made me laugh out loud. This guy is pretty funny for an ancient dude. He’s throwing any toilet related insult out there to degrade these men he’s angry with. They probably hurt his male ego and he’s fighting back. I also think he’s very angry with his ex lover he calls “my girl.” He says she: “has taken up her abode there. She is dear to all you men of rank and fortune, indeed to her shame all the petty lechers that haunt the byways.” And again, he targets one particular person, Egnatius, more than others.

Some of the ancient philosophers, authors, and poets I’ve read seem distant, unfeeling, and lacking any personal touches in their work. But Catullus is just the opposite. And more than anything, he sounds like someone who could have existed in our lifetime, not two thousand years ago. He talks about love and sex, so already, he’s more personal and daring than others back in his time. In that way, his social commentary is valuable for modern times because he gives insight into the personal minds of people back them. He makes them seem normal, not any different from people in this age. They no longer sound like boring, uptight people with old complex ideas that the modern generation could never identify with. He also seems like a very sensitive person; ranting and raving in his poems depending on his feelings about others.

3. Love is an ardent emotion you feel for someone, after you have gotten to know them for a certain period (trust and understanding develops immediately once you love someone). That’s the key. I don’t believe in love at first sight. You can’t call it love when you’re establishing your emotions based on physical features of the other person. There might be attraction and infatuation because of it, but not love. You need to get to know that person, both their good and bad sides, in order for real love to develop. And if you still feel genuine affection for that person after all the good times and the misery, then we can call it love.