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Catullus 51

A man sitting across from Lesbia, perhaps at a dinner party, is a subject of envy for Catullus.

Click on the words in the poem below to get vocabulary information.

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Ille mi par esse deo videtur,
ille, si fas est, superare divos,
qui sedens adversus identidem te
.....spectat et audit
dulce ridentem, misero quod omnis....................5
eripit sensus mihi: nam simul te,
Lesbia, aspexi, nihil est super mi...
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lingua sed torpet, tenuis sub artus
flamma demanat, sonitu suopte.........................10
tintinant aures, gemina teguntur
.....lumina nocte.
otium, Catulle, tibi molestum est:
otio exsultas nimiumque gestis:
otium et reges prius et beatas...........................15
.....perdidit urbes.

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Meter: sapphics.
1. mi: mihi.
2. sc. videtur
5. omnis: the last syllable is long, making this omnês, Accusative plural modifying sensus (line 6).
7. est super: "is left over", hence, "remains";
nihil: subject.
10. suopte: Ablative; emphatic form of suo; modifies sonitu.
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last updated October 17, 2003
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