So, Juventius, there’s no one in the whole world
No handsome guy
Whom you’d begin to have feelings for
Except THAT guy from Pisaurum (a dying town for sure),
a guy paler than a gilded statue…
That’s the man in your heart?
You dare to prefer him over ME?
Don’t you know what a terrible mistake you’re making?
Nemone in tanto potuit populo esse,
Iuventi,
bellus
homo, quem tu diligere inciperes.
praeterquam
iste tuus moribunda ab sede Pisauri
hospes
inaurata pallidior statua,
qui tibi
nunc cordi est, quem tu praeponere nobis
audes,
et nescis quod facinus facias?
---Catullus LXXXI
Catullus was a Roman statesman born in Verona (Cisalpine Gaul, located in northern Italy) who lived during the tumultuous last days of the Roman Republic. His poetry offers rare insight into the mores of the time period. Like Propertius and Tibullus, Catullus used a pseudonym for the objects of his attention; many of his love poems were addressed to either “Lesbia” or “Juventius.”
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