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.'" [1]
I hate and I love. Why I do this, perhaps you ask?
I do not know, but I feel it happening and I am being torn apart.

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

References

  1. "C. Valerius Catullus, Carmina, Poem 85". Perseus Digital Library. Retrieved 8 September 2016.
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