Igual a un dios me parece

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by Gaius Valerius Catullus (c84 BCE - 54 BCE)

Translation © by Saúl Botero Restrepo

Ille mi par esse deo videtur

Language: Latin

Our translations: ENG SPA

Ille mi par esse deo videtur,
ille, si fas est, superare divos,
qui sedens adversus identidem te
  spectat et audit

dulce ridentem, misero quod omnis
eripit sensus mihi, nam simul te,
Lesbia, aspexi, nihil est super mi
  [vocis in ore,]¹

lingua sed torpet, tenuis sub artus
flamma demanat, sonitu suopte
tintinant aures, gemina teguntur
  lumina nocte.

Otium, Catulle, tibi molestum est:
otio exsultas nimiumque gestis:
otium et reges prius et beatas
  perdidit urbes.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• J. Novák • C. Orff

J. Novák sets stanzas 1-3

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View original text (without footnotes)
¹ omitted by Orff.

Text Authorship:

by Gaius Valerius Catullus (c84 BCE - 54 BCE), no title, appears in Carmina, no. 51 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

by Jan Novák (1921 - 1984), "Ode Sapphus", stanzas 1-3, from Cantica latina, no. 6 [sung text checked 1 time]
by Carl Orff (1895 - 1982), "[III]. Ille mi par esse deo videtur ", 1940-43, published 1943 [ soli, chorus, and orchestra ], from cantata Catulli Carmina, no. 4 [sung text checked 1 time]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

ENG English (Grant Hicks) , copyright © 2025, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
SPA Spanish (Español) (Saúl Botero Restrepo) , copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 74

Igual a un dios me parece

Language: Spanish (Español) after the Latin

Igual a un dios me parece,
y si es posible superar a los dioses,
el que sentado frente a ti 
te contempla y te oye

reír dulcemente, pero a mí, desdichado,
me quita el sentido. Y si hacia ti, 
Lesbia, mis ojos dirijo, estoy acabado, 


mi lengua es torpe, tenue por mis miembros
una llama se agita, con extraño sonido
tintinean mis oídos y cubre 
mis ojos una doble noche.

El ocio, Catulo, te hace mal:
con el ocio de exaltas demasiado,
el ocio perdió a reyes
y a ciudades felices.

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Text Authorship:

Translation from Latin to Spanish (Español) copyright © 2015 by Saúl Botero Restrepo, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
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Based on:

a text in Latin by Gaius Valerius Catullus (c84 BCE - 54 BCE), no title, appears in Carmina, no. 51
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2015-10-08
Line count: 15
Word count: 91