Poem 83

This poem is very inportant to the string of poems concerning Lesbia because in it we learn that the speaker (or writter/Catullus) actually knows Lesbia and has made contact with her. In the poem she is talking bad about him to her husband which up until this point we did not know she had. The interesting thing is that Catullus does not seem to be angry with the fact that she is trash talking him but rather is happy that she is even talking about him. To him the important thing is that she remembers him and his main concern is that she thinks enough about him to be mad at him. He would rather have her be mad at him than not mention him or talk about him. In this poem he is passionate about the fact that she speaks of him and states that the husband is a 'mule' for not realizing that by his wife speaking of another man, that means she thinks of the other man.