• Source: Catullus 5

5.180.24.3/info/catullus" target="_blank">Catullus 5 is a passionate ode to Lesbia and one of the most famous poems by 5.180.24.3/info/catullus" target="_blank">Catullus. The poem encourages lovers to scorn the snide comments of others, and to live only for each other, since life is brief and death brings a night of perpetual sleep. This poem has been translated and imitated many times.
This poem is written in the Phalaecian hendecasyllabic meter (Latin: hendecasyllabus phalaecius) which has verses of 11 syllables, a common form in 5.180.24.3/info/catullus" target="_blank">Catullus' poetry.




Text






Poetic effects



Line 5–6
The position of lux (light) and nox (night) right next to each other serve to emphasise his two comparisons. Symbolically, the "perpetual night" represents death and the "brief light" represents life.
Furthermore, there is also a second chiasmus in these lines:




Translations and songs


In 1601, the English composer, poet and physician Thomas Campion wrote this rhyming free translation of the first half (to which he added two verses of his own, and music, to create a lute song):

Ben Jonson drew on the poem in poems 5, "Song. To Celia", and 6, "Song. To the Same" in his collection The Forrest.
Soon thereafter, Sir Walter Raleigh included the following verse, apparently based on Campion's translation, in his The Historie of the World, which he wrote while imprisoned in the Tower of London:

In 16th century French translation by Jean-Antoine de Baïf was used by Reynaldo Hahn in song "Vivons, mignarde, vivons". Also set in French, a translation by Georges Lafaye was composed by Darius Milhaud as song "Ma chérie, aimons‑nous".
Henry Purcell used anonymous translation in his song "Let us, kind Lesbia, give away" (1684).
Dominick Argento used his English translation in his song "Let us live, my Clodia, and let us love".




References






Bibliography



Commager, S (1964). "The Structure of 5.180.24.3/info/catullus" target="_blank">Catullus 5". The Classical Journal. 59: 361–364.
Fredricksmeyer, EA (1970). "Observations on 5.180.24.3/info/catullus" target="_blank">Catullus 5". American Journal of Philology. 91 (4): 431–445. doi:10.2307/293083. JSTOR 293083.
Grimm, RE (1963). "5.180.24.3/info/catullus" target="_blank">Catullus 5 Again". The Classical Journal. 59: 16–21.
Grummel, WC (1954). "Vivamus, mea Lesbia". Classical Bulletin. 31: 19–21.
Pratt, NT (1956). "The Numerical 5.180.24.3/info/catullus" target="_blank">Catullus 5". Classical Philology. 51 (2): 99–100. doi:10.1086/364015. S2CID 161200606.
Segal, C (1968). "5.180.24.3/info/catullus" target="_blank">Catullus 5 and 7: A Study in Complementaries". American Journal of Philology. 89 (3): 284–301. doi:10.2307/293446. JSTOR 293446.

Kata Kunci Pencarian:

• Angka Romawi
• Attis
• Romawi Kuno
• Sirmione
• Sejarah Roma
• Imathia
• Aigeus
• Yulius Kaisar
• Hukum Romawi
• Quintus Caecilius Metellus Celer
• Catullus 5
• Catullus
• Poetry of Catullus
• Catullus 16
• Catullus 7
• Catullus 8
• Catullus 6
• Catullus 10
• Catullus 3
• Catullus 1