92

When first read what Catullus says is a contradiction: with the first lines the reader automatically gets confused because of the paradox introduced. He says Lesbia always talks bad about him but he knows she loves him. When further read things are clarified a little bit more, it's the same for him. There is still room for further explanation.
As said in class there are numerous reasons this could be happening. They could have to speak badly about eachother in public because it is a secret affair, or maybe it's a love-hate type of relationship. Both are reasonable but my theory of it is different. At this point in the storyline any of those things are good suggestions..although we aren't sure of the situation yet I feel I am able to strongly estimate what is going on. This one we discussed most in class, that they simply are in love and just pick at eachother. Even friends do it to other friends. Once you've been in a person's life for so long you pick at them. That's probably exactly what's going on.
This really reminded me of my favorite show, The OC. There's a married couple, Sandy and Kirsten, who do pick at eachother. Countless instances in the show support that they are madly in love with eachother, but that doesn't change the fact that they don't get annoyed with little things. Once, Sandy was staying home in his robe and black socks and Kirsten just started ambushing him with snarky comments that led him to finally go to work. I just got an image of them in my mind when Catullus started saying Lesbia talks badly about him.
So it is completely reasonable that they are just picking at eachother, but sadly, there's only room for theories.