Catullus 8: A Poetic Analysis

Losing love is the second worst feeling one can experience. Giving up love, and the regret that follows, is the first. Some of us are unlucky enough to turn away from a potential blossoming relationship, or even worse, one that was fully formed and thriving. Why we do so is a topic to be explored in a different post, by a different blog run by someone with at least a morsel of psychology knowledge. All I can offer here is one comfort: you are not the first to toss aside someone who could have, or did, love you with their entire being. Indeed, this mistake has an unfortunate tendency to span millennia and leave catastrophic emotional turmoil in its wake.

So join me, as we commiserate with everyone's favorite Ancient Rome poet (or at least he liked to believe). Catullus, a wealthy man in ancient Rome, suffered the age-old problem of dissatisfaction with the women he was lucky enough to court. But, never the emotionally stunted stereotype, he was bold enough to publish his regret alongside his other wildly popular poems. Somehow, the poem itself remains, and so too does his struggle.

The Poem Itself

Latin Text

Miser Catulle, dēsinās ineptīre,

et quod vidēs perīsse perditum dūcās.

Fulsēre quondam candidī tibī sōlēs,

cum ventitābās quō puella dūcēbat

amāta nōbīs quantum amābitur nūlla.

Ibi illa multa cum iocōsa fīēbant,

quae tū volēbās nec puella nōlēbat,

fulsēre vērē candidī tibī sōlēs.

Nunc iam illa nōn vult: tū quoque impotēns nōlī,

nec quae fugit sectāre, nec miser vīve,

sed obstinātā mente perfer, obdūrā.

Valē puella. Iam Catullus obdūrat,

nec tē requīret nec rogābit invītam.

At tū dolēbis, cum rogāberis nūllā.

Scelesta, vae tē! quae tibī manet vīta?

Quis nunc tē adībit? Cui vidēberis bella?

Quem nunc amābis? Cuius esse dīcēris?

Quem bāsiābis? Cui labella mordēbis?

At tū, Catulle, dēstinātus obdūrā.

English Translation

*English Translation by A. S. Kline, chief translator for "Poetry in Translation"

Sad Catullus, stop playing the fool,

and let what you know leads you to ruin, end.

Once, bright days shone for you,

when you came often drawn to the girl

loved as no other will be loved by you.

Then there were many pleasures with her,

that you wished, and the girl not unwilling,

truly the bright days shone for you.

And now she no longer wants you: and you

weak man, be unwilling to chase what flees,

or live in misery: be strong-minded, stand firm.

Goodbye girl, now Catullus is firm,

he doesn’t search for you, won’t ask unwillingly.

But you’ll grieve, when nobody asks.

Woe to you, wicked girl, what life’s left for you?

Who’ll submit to you now? Who’ll see your beauty?

Who now will you love? Whose will they say you’ll be?

Who will you kiss? Whose lips will you bite?

But you, Catullus, be resolved to be firm.

Part I: Theme & Voice

Catullus 8 reads much the same as many of our notes app confessions or journal entries: it's an emotional mess. Occupying the liminal space between self-pity and self-hatred, Catullus is one moment wallowing in his pain, and the next chastising himself for precipitating this romantic devastation. He is both the grieving lover and the moralist, and the poem's theme reflects this internal division. He is both urging his audience not to ever take their love for granted and simultaneously offering solace to those who do. After all, mistakes once made cannot be taken back. But mistakes yet to be made? Catullus hopes those can be avoided if his tortured example serves its purpose correctly.

Tonally, Catullus 8 invokes an "amor vs ratio" ("love" vs "reason") framework. In one line, Catullus is irrationally pursuing a love he knows he has let go, desperate to deny the knowledge of its death. The next line, however, he will revert to an impatient therapist, trying in vain to convince himself that this love is over and must be accepted as lost. He frames the vocabulary of heartbreak in hyperbolic terms, invoking the imagery of tragedy; therefore, Catullus allows his internal turmoil to color the poem's diction. In short, with a voice oscillating between devastation and disappointment, Catullus 8 is one thing: intensely human.

Part II: Meter

Catullus 8's metrical composition is unique, having departed from his typical elegiac couplets. Instead, he employs the choliambic meter, also known as the limping iambic. This meter is composed of a typical iambic trimeter, yet its final foot is a deliberately irregular (invoking a trochee instead of an iamb). The effect of this choice is a poem that comes to an abrupt halt and uneven cadence, a combination that perfectly reflects Catullus's own emotional instability. Indeed, each line begins with the quotidien iambic energy —the return to normalcy his rational self is so desperate to return to —and ends with a sense of faltering control: his irrational, lovesick self unable to carry on. Thus, the limping iambic serves as a reflection of Catullus's grief. Although he tries to march forward unscathed, his mistakes hobble him.

Part III: Rhetoric

Dividing the Identity: Apostrophe

The first line of Catullus 8 begins with an apostrophe that instantly signals that there will be two Catulluses vying for chief perspective throughout the course of the poem. Indeed, in the line "Miser Catulle, dēsinās ineptīre," translated as "Sad Catullus, stop playing the fool," Catullus addresses himself and his pain from the viewpoint of a disappointed onlooker exhausted by Catullus's insistent self-pity. It is from this line that the conversation between the rational and the irrational begins, as the audience is introduced to both Catullus's emotional state and his rational self. And it also reveals which side is winning. By commanding himself in the vocative, he betrays the very fact that he is incapable of quelling his emotions. Indeed, the very need to tell yourself to take control of your emotions proves just how incapable you are of doing so.

Emotional Relapse: Anaphora

Catullus 8 is neatly sectioned off with the repetition of “fulsere quondam candidi tibi soles," translated as "Once, bright days shone for you." First appearing in the third line of the poem, this line introduces the audience to Catullus's principal regret, namely that he let a woman who loved him go. We are sympathetic to his plight and realize just how grave his mistake was. Yet when the line recurs in line 8, it interrupts his rational self's advice, functioning as an emotional reversion that illuminates just how unhelpful his moralist perspective is in alleviating his emotional pain. This relapse into bitterness and pity mirrors the circularity of Catullus's grief, conveying an important message to the audience: recovery is not linear.

Emotional Climax: Rhetorical Questions

Lines 15-18 reflect the height of Catullus's turmoil in Catullus 8. When asking "Quis nunc tē adībit? Cui vidēberis bella?/Quem nunc amābis? Cuius esse dīcēris?/ Quem bāsiābis? Cui labella mordēbis?," translated as "Who’ll submit to you now? Who’ll see your beauty?/ Who now will you love? Whose will they say you’ll be?/ Who will you kiss? Whose lips will you bite?," Catullus is in no way seeking an answer. Rather, these questions are raw exclamations of his anguish, indiscreetly disguised as rational questioning. It is clear, however, that Catullus is not just curious as to whom his lover will move on to. Instead, he is intensely jealous, cursing her, and by extension, himself, for ever letting her go.

Part IV: Audience Reception

While Catullus 8 was a typical expression of Catullus's innermost emotions, it was also subversively anti-Roman. Indeed, Roman society valorized, especially during Catullus's lifetime, stoicism and dignity: allowing one's emotions to overtake them was heavily frowned upon. Passion was depicted as a moral trial one should strive to conquer or, at the very least, contain. Catullus 8 does nothing of the sort. Yet, it is difficult to argue that Catullus's dramatic inner dialogue would not have entertained a Roman listener. An onlooker would view his pain as typical of the expressive poet and enjoy its intermixing of personal collapse and desperate reasoning. They would stop to appreciate Catullus's artistry and perhaps question the structures that said artistry interrogates.

In Conclusion....

Catullus 8 is a poem that has, and will continue to, stand the test of time. Not directly a function of the poem's artistry and rhetorical genius, although those two factors absolutely help, the poem's lasting impact is a direct result of the immortality of its subject matter. As long as we humans continue to roam the planet in search of another to love, we will continue throwing said love away for no good reason whatsoever. It is encoded into our DNA (don't quote me on that) to make mistakes, especially when the most personal and raw aspects of ourselves are revealed. We will always be trying for, failing at, and grieving after love. And we will keep that cycle going ad infinitum.

We hope you enjoyed this poetic analysis of Catullus 8. Please leave any comments, questions, or concerns below, and be sure to recommend future poems for us to dive into!