7

Similar in sentiment to Poem 5, Catullus expresses his desire for endless kisses from Lesbia. Instead of attempting to quantify them, Catullus uses comparisons from the natural world: he wants kisses equal to the grains of sand on an endless beach and to the countless stars on a clear night. The unquantifiable nature of the kisses, Catullus argues, will prevent spying eyes from growing jealous at his good fortune.

Meter: Hendecasyllabics. 

1-2: bāsiātiōnēs tuae: “kissings of yours”; the phrase (nominative plural) is translated with quot; Fordyce and Thomson suggest an objective translation of tuae (“kissings of you”); Arnold, et al encourage us to consider the phrase ambiguously.

1: Quaeris: “you ask”; introduces an indirect question (AG §573). quot: “how many.”

2: sint satis superque: “are enough and more”; sint is present subjunctive in indirect question (AG §574).

3: Quam magnus numerus: “as great a number”; the phrase answers the question Catullus poses in lines 1-2. Libyssae harēnae: “of the sands of Libya”; the adjective Libyssa also refers to the entire region of North Africa.

4: lāsarpīciferīs … Cyrēnīs: “on silphium-bearing Cyrenaica”; lāsarpīcium (“silphium”) was a popular export of the region; the locative plural Cyrēnīs indicates that Catullus is referring not to the city itself but the region that surrounds it.

5: Iovis … aestuōsī: ‘“of sweltering Jove”; genitive singular; as Garrison notes, this is an oracle to the Egyptian god Ammon often equated to Jupiter.

6: Battī veteris: “of old Battus”; genitive singular; Battus was the founder and first king of Cyrene; this tomb is rather far from Ammon’s oracle (Garrison).

7: aut quam sīdera multa: “or as many stars”; the phrase provides a second answer to the question Catullus poses in lines 1-2;  sīdera multa is subject (nominative plural) of vident.

9: tam tē bāsia multa bāsiāre: “that you kiss so many kisses”; the entire phrase (subject accusative and infinitive) acts as the subject of est (line 10).

10: satis et super: see satis superque (line 2). vēsānō…Catullō: “for crazed Catullus” (dative singular).

11: quae: “which”; relative pronoun, referring to bāsia (line 9) and introducing a relative clause of purpose with a subjunctive verb possint (AG §531.2); direct object (accusative plural) of pernumerāre. cūriōsī: “meddlesome people”; adjective used substantively (AG §288); first subject (nominative plural) of possint (mala…lingua is the second one).

12: fascināre: “to cast a spell on.”