In this poem, Catullus makes the reader think back to an ealier poem, a poem in which he is hearing Lesbia talk badly about him to her husband. In that poem, Catullus really believes that even though Lesbia was talking badly about him, the fact that she was even bringing him up to her husband meant she had feelings for him. Fast forward however many weeks or months or years, even, to this poem: Catullus and Lesbia are in some sort of relationship. She never seems to stop talking about him, which is really teasing him. However, Catullus takes this as a good thing, considering he teases her all the time too. No matter what they're saying, Catullus knows that without Lesbia's love, he would die.
You can relate this poem to people today, as I try to do with many of Catullus's poems. I think through this poem, Catullus is proving how codependent we are on each other. If Lesbia doesn't love Catullus the way Catullus loves Lesbia, he wishes death upon himself; and if Catullus doesn't love Lesbia and as truly as he says he does, he again wishes death upon himself. Why is it that we think once we've fallen in love, we can't live without the other person? It's human nature - to not be able to remember our lives or how we lived before that person came in and changed our life for the better. Why is it that we think we've found our other half and if they were to disappear than our life would be empty without them? They're huge questions that this poem poses for me as a reader. They're also questions that are unfortunately seemingly impossible to answer. It's just a feeling that you can't get rid of; a feeling that once you let that person into your life, for you to imagine each day without them is an unbarable thought. The way Catullus cares for Lesbia is probably something along the lines of that, that he'd rather die than live every day without her love.
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