Catullus 85

Catullus 85 is a poem by the Roman poet Catullus for his mistress Lesbia.

"Odi et (od et) amo. quare id (quar id) faciam, fortasse requiris?
nescio, sed fieri sentio et (senti et) excrucior."
I hate and I love. Why I do this, perhaps you ask?
I do not know, but I feel it happening and I am tortured.

Its declaration of conflicting feelings "I hate and I love" (in Latin, Odi et amo) is renowned for its force and brevity.

The meter of the poem is the elegiac couplet.

Musical settings

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