Catullus talks about how he has devoted so much of his love to Lesbia, his lover, that even though she has emotionally scared him and he wants to stop loving her, he cannot, “My mind has been dragged down so far…thanks to you,” and “squandered itself so much in its devotion, that it could no longer love you… or stop wanting you.” Similarly, in the song 7 Things Miley Cyrus expresses her feelings of not being able to completely hate her lover since she simultaneously loves him. Both authors express an inner turmoil of strongly hating but also loving a single person. Cyrus lists the 7 things that her lover does that she hates, but also the 7 things she loves about him. The last 7th thing that Cyrus says she hates is “the 7th thing I hate the most that you do You make me love you” while also saying “the 7th thing I like the most that you do You make me love you,” indicating a similar inner turmoil of strongly hating and loving the same person.
Catullus is also similar to Cyrus in that he claims that “even if you were perfect”, if things changed, he would not love her. In Cyrus’s song she sings “Oh I’m not coming back, You’re taking 7 steps here.” Both author expresses how even if things were to change for the better, they would choose not to reenter into the relationship, even though they have both expressed their unchanging love.
There is some inconsistency in Cyrus’s song, especially when she sings “But nothing’s ever gonna change until you hear, my dear…” before she lists her 7 complaints. This text can be interpreted as a way for Cyrus to gain her lover back by telling him what she didn’t like and what went wrong, with the hope that things will change and they can re-form a relationship. Catullus is different in that he expresses a desire to never love Lesbia again, and is only attached to Lesbia because his mind has been squandered so much in its devotion.
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My mind has been dragged down so far, Lesbia, thanks to you,
and squandered itself so much in its devotion,
that it could no longer love you, even if you were perfect,
or stop wanting you, no matter what you did.