Catullus 72

Question 1

Dicebas quondam solum te nosse Catullum,

Lesbia, nec prae me velle tenere Iouem.

Answer 1

You once said that you knew only Catullus,

Lesbia, and that you would not want to embrace Jupiter before me.

Question 2

dilexi tum te non tantum ut vulgus amicam,

sed pater ut gnatos diligit et generos.

Answer 2

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.

Question 3

nunc te cognovi: quare etsi impensius uror,

multo mi tamen es vilior et levior.

Answer 3

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.

Question 4

qui potis est, inquis? quod amantem iniuria talis

cogit amare magis, sed bene velle minus.

Answer 4

How is that possible, you say? Because hurt like that

Forces the lover to love more but to like less.