Translation from Catullus
Ad Lesbiam
Translation from Catullus - meaning Summary
Love's Paralysing Power
Byron’s translation presents a speaker both enthralled by and physically undone by his love for Lesbia. He admires the fortunate man who can gaze upon her without jealousy, then catalogues his own intense bodily reactions—dry mouth, rapid pulse, pallor, faintness—likening them to a temporary death. The poem juxtaposes idealized affection with destructive passion, showing desire as an overwhelming force that paralyses reason and the body alike.
Read Complete AnalysesEqual to Jove that youth must be– Greater than Jove he seems to me– Who, free from Jealousy’s alarms, Securely views thy matchless charms. That cheek, which ever dimpling glows, That mouth, from whence such music flows, To him, alike, are always known, Reserved for him, and him alone. Ah! Lesbia! though ’tis death to me, I cannot choose but look on thee; Whilst trembling with a thousand fears, Parch’d to the throat my tongue adheres, My pulse beats quick, my breath heaves short, My limbs deny their slight support, Cold dews my pallid face o’erspread, With deadly langour droops my head, My ears with tingling echoes ring, And life itself is on the wing; My eyes refuse the cheering light, Their orbs are veil’d in starless night: Such pangs my nature sinks beneath, And feels a temporary death.
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