Catullus 72 Flashcards
Dicebas quondam solum te nosse Catullum,
Lesbia, nec prae me velle tenere Iouem.
You once said that you knew only Catullus,
Lesbia, and that you would not want to embrace Jupiter before me.
dilexi tum te non tantum ut vulgus amicam,
sed pater ut gnatos diligit et generos.
At that time I loved you, not so much as the mob loves a girlfriend,
But as a father loves his sons and daughters’ husbands.
nunc te cognovi: quare etsi impensius uror,
multo mi tamen es vilior et levior.
Now I have got to know you; and so though I burn all the more passionately,
You are nonetheless much more cheap and fickle in my eyes.
qui potis est, inquis? quod amantem iniuria talis
cogit amare magis, sed bene velle minus.
How is that possible, you say? Because hurt like that
Forces the lover to love more but to like less.