Catullus 85


Catullus 85 is a poem by the Roman poet Catullus for his lover Lesbia.
Ōdī et amō. Quārē id faciam fortasse requīris.
Nesciō, sed fierī sentiō et excrucior.
I hate and I love. Why I do this, perhaps you ask.
I know not, but I feel it happening and I am tortured.
Its declaration of conflicting feelings "I hate and I love" is renowned for its force and brevity.
The meter of the poem is the elegiac couplet.
– u u / – – / – u u / – – / – u u / – u
Ōd'et a / mō. Quā / r'id faci / am for / tasse re / quīris.

– u u / – u u / – / – u u / – u u / –
Nesciō, / sed fie / rī / sen ti' et / ex cru ci / or.

Musical settings