Greetings,
I am a lover of science and art and am rather notorious for my array of random information. I have a lot of jumbled thought and reflection throughout my days and so decided it would be a fun adventure to try out blogging. Mostly I will probably be posting little fact snippets or cool art or music that I find. But for my first act, however, I would like to shed light on the blog's name. For years and years I took latin language classes and I became quite enamored with a few select writers in latin literature. When I took latin poetry, my class largely focused on Gaius Valerius Catullus (Catullus), who lived somewhere between 84 and 54BC. He was often very lewd, but always very passionate with his writings - whether they be insult, letter of remorse, or longings for a lover present or lost. In any event, one of his most famous - Catullus 5 - has stuck with me ever since I first read it almost five years ago. Here it is, along with my clumsy translation.
Vivamus mea Lesbia, atque amemus, ...............Let us live, my Lesbia, and let us love,
rumoresque senum severiorum..........................and value at one farthing
omnes unius aestimemus assis!..........................all the rumors of crabbed old men!
soles occidere et redire possunt:........................Suns may fall and rise again:
nobis cum semel occidit brevis lux,...................but for us, when the brief light has once set
nox est perpetua una dormienda........................One perpetual night must be slept.
da mi basia mille, deinde centum,.....................So give me a thousand kisses, then a hundred,
dein mille altera, dein secunda centum,.............then another thousand, then a second hundred.
deinde usque altera mille, deinde centum..........Then yet another thousand, then a hundred
dein, cum milia multa fecerimus,.......................Then, when many thousands of kisses have been made
conturbabimus illa, ne sciamus,.........................we shall mix them up, that we may not know the amount
aut ne quis malus inuidere possit,.......................in order that no malicious person is able to blight the evil eye
cum tantum sciat esse basiorum..........................when he knows our kisses to be so many.
Catullus is a hopeless romantic for his secret lover, Clodia, whom he calls Lesbia to conceal her identity, and he writes about her several times after this. This poem is written during the height of their romance. The whole point of this poem is to stop worrying so much and to live in the moment, live in rapture, live in passion.
VIVAMUS ATQUE AMEMUS - he declares - LET US LIVE AND LET US LOVE
