Sherry Chandler

Catullus 85

Catullus explored the complexity of human consciousness. Romans believed the seat of the soul and reason was the heart. Celts, among whom Catullus grew up, thought the head was where it was all happening. Head/heart tension may be one of the classic themes which set his poetry apart from other Latin writers.

Odi et amo. quare id faciam, fortasse requiris.
nescio, sed fieri sentio et excrucior.

I hate and I love,
How, how’n hell
May I make it so–
Perhaps you ax.
Hell-if I know
But I feel I am made so
Cross-purposed.

A religion professor at Georgetown College once explained to me how crucifixion worked. The subject had a choice between supporting his weight on his legs or hanging from his arms, so he was in a state of constant conflict between excruciating pain from the nails in his wrists and his weakening ability to support his weight with his leg muscles. He eventualy slumped from fatigue and asphixiated from the pressure on his lungs. That usually took hours and the stronger he was the longer he hung.

I chose to use the collquial ax, currently popularized by D. Letterman, because there is ancient tension between ask and acks forms stretching back to Old English and through Middle E.

1. Catullus 2 & 2b–Cat’s Sparrow
2. Catullus 32–Caterwauling on the Cathouse fence.
3. Catullus 43-a Pretty Picture
4. Catullus 41–C*nni indelicias
5. Catullus 101 — “I had not thought death had undone so many.”

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.