# Catullus 45

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Catullus_45
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Catullus_45.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catullus_45
> Source revision: 1270621950
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

{{Short description|Poem by Catullus}}
{{Redirect|Acme and Septimius|the painting by Frederic Leighton|Acme and Septimius (Leighton)}}
[[File:Leighton, Frederic - Acme and Septimius - c. 1868.jpg|thumb|''Acme and Septimius'', painting by [Frederic Leighton](/source/Frederic_Leighton)]]

'''Catullus 45''' is a poem by the [Roman](/source/Ancient_Rome) poet [Catullus](/source/Catullus), describing the love between a fictional couple called Acme and Septimius. It is an over-the-top love poem that is ever so slightly tongue-in-cheek.

The [meter](/source/meter_(poetry)) of this poem is [hendecasyllabic](/source/hendecasyllabic_verse), a common form in Catullus' poetry.

==Latin text and translation==
thumb|Catullus 45 in Latin and English
{| border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" align="center"
! Literal English Translation !! Original Latin !! Line</noinclude>
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
|<poem>
Septimius, holding his lover Acme
in his bosom, said, "my Acme, 
if I do not love you desperately and I am not further 
prepared to love you continually through all the years, 
as much as he who is prepared to die many deaths, 
alone in Libya and scorched India 
may I come to meet the blue-eyed lion."
As he said this, Love sneezed approval on
the left as before on the right.
But Acme, bending back her head lightly,
and having kissed the drunken eyes
of the sweet boy with a purple mouth,
"So", she said, "my love, dear Septimius, 
let us serve this one master continually, 
that a flame much greater and sharper 
burn for me in the gentle marrow."
As she said this, Love sneezed approval on 
the left as before on the right.  
Now, having set out from the good omen 
their souls mutually love and are loved.
Poor little Septimius prefers Acme alone
to Syria and Britain:  
the faithful Acme finds pleasure 
and desire in Septimius alone.  
Who has seen anybody more blessed, 
who a luckier love?  
</poem>
| <poem>
Acmen Septimius suos amores
tenens in gremio "mea", inquit, "Acme,
ni te perdite amo atque amare porro
omnes sum assidue paratus annos,
quantum qui pote plurimum perire,
solus in Libya Indiaque tosta
caesio veniam obvius leoni."
Hoc ut dixit, Amor sinistra ut ante
dextra sternuit approbationem.
At Acme leviter caput reflectens
et dulcis pueri ebrios ocellos
illo purpureo ore suaviata,
"sic", inquit, "mea vita Septimille,
huic uni domino usque serviamus,
ut multo mihi maior acriorque
ignis mollibus ardet in medullis."
Hoc ut dixit, Amor sinistra ut ante
dextra sternuit approbationem.
Nunc ab auspicio bono profecti
mutuis animis amant amantur.
Unam Septimius misellus Acmen
mavult quam Syrias Britanniasque:
uno in Septimio fidelis Acme
facit delicias libidinisque.
Quis ullos homines beatiores
vidit, quis Venerem auspicatiorem?
</poem>
| <poem>45.1
45.2
45.3
45.4
45.5
45.6
45.7
45.8
45.9
45.10
45.11
45.12
45.13
45.14
45.15
45.16
45.17
45.18
45.19
45.20
45.21
45.22
45.23
45.24
45.25
45.26</poem><noinclude>
|-
|}

==Bibliography==
{{Wikisourcelang|en|Catullus 45|Catullus 45}}
{{Wikisourcelang|la|Catullus 45|Catullus 45}}

* {{cite journal | last = Newton | first = R | year = 1996 | title = Acme and Septimius Recounted: Catullus 45 | journal = Syllecta Classica | volume = 7 | pages = 99&ndash;105| doi = 10.1353/syl.1996.0017 | s2cid = 191454377 }}
* {{cite journal | last = Gratwick | first = AS | year = 1992 | title = Those Sneezes: Catullus 45.8-9, 17-18 | journal = Classical Philology | volume = 87 | issue = 3 | pages = 234&ndash;240 | doi = 10.1086/367311| s2cid = 161869748 }}
* {{cite journal | last = Kitzinger | first = R | year = 1991–1992 | title = Reading Catullus 45 | journal = Classical Journal | volume = 87 | pages = 209&ndash;217}}
* {{cite journal | last = Frueh | first = E | year = 1990–1991 | title = Sinistra ut ante dextra: Reading catullus 45 | journal = Classical World | volume = 84 | pages = 16&ndash;21}}
* {{cite journal | last = Williams | first = MF | year = 1988 | title = Amor's Head-Cold (frigus in Catullus 45) | journal = Classical Journal | volume = 83 | pages = 128&ndash;132}}
* {{cite journal | last = Nielsen | first = R | year = 1977 | title = Catullus 45 and Horace Odes 3.9: The Glass House | journal = Ramus | volume = 6 | issue = 2 | pages = 132&ndash;138| doi = 10.1017/S0048671X00004185 | s2cid = 192923439 }}
* {{cite journal | last = Singleton | first = D | year = 1971 | title = Form and irony in Catullus 45 | journal = Greece and Rome | volume = 18 | issue = 2 | pages = 181&ndash;187| doi = 10.1017/S0017383500018076 | s2cid = 161824128 }}
* {{cite journal | last = Akbar Khan | first = H | year = 1968 | title = Catullus 45: What Sort of irony? | journal = Latomus | volume = 27 | pages = 3&ndash;12}}
* {{cite journal | last = Ross | first = DO | year = 1965 | title = Style and Content in Catullus 45 | journal = Classical Philology | volume = 60 | issue = 4 | pages = 256&ndash;259 | doi = 10.1086/365048| s2cid = 161458851 }}

{{Catullus}}
{{Authority control}}

C045
Category:Love poems
Category:Articles containing video clips

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Catullus 45](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catullus_45) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catullus_45?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.
