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Catullus, Carmina I & XXXI

0) PREFACE Two carmina of Catullus, a Roman poet of the late Republic, are presented here with explanation and commentary. They were chosen to show the more lyric side of Catullus, who is usually more known for his often rude, even violent and insulting invective against contemporaries. These two poems will serve in particular to illustrate Catullus’ approach within the circle of the “New Poets” in Rome. The commentary is a synthesis from several other studies as quoted, including some of my own observations, and should enable students to translate the text with greater ease (providing vocabulary and syntactical aides), to discover structural and rhetorical devices, and to draw from the text the observations needed for a meaningful interpretation.

1) INTRODUCTION a. The author and his literary background Gaius Valerius Catullus (82-52 BC1) was born in the thriving Roman colonial city of Verona into an apparently prosperous family – his father regularly hosted none other than Julius Caesar. Already in his teens Catullus began writing poetry. At some point he moved to Rome and became part of the circles of high society there. Either still in Verona or in Rome he had a love affair with a woman whom he called “Lesbia” in his poems but who has been identified with quite some certainty with Clodia, the sister of Publius Clodius Pulcher (a political antagonist of Cicero) and the wife of Quintus Metellus Celer (who became governor of Cisalpine Gaul in 62

1

Life dates according to Thomson (1996: 3ff); Jerome, in his supplement to Eusebius’ Chronica, gives 87-57 (must be wrong because of references in Catullus’ work to events in 55 and 54 BC), with a life span of 30 years (which is generally accepted).

Catullus, Carmina I & XXXI (Andreas Kramarz)

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and consul in 60). We know little else about Catullus’ life, except that he served in Bithynia (a Roman province in northwestern Asia Minor) during the year 57-56 under the propraetor Memmius (cf. XXVIII.7-9)2 who had been praetor in 58. We have no information about the cause for his early death at the age of 30. While in Rome, Catullus came under the influence of a group of poets whom Cicero called “oi) new¿teroi” (poetae novi/neoterics),3 among them Gaius Licinius Macer Calvus (82-47 BC, who would become perhaps Catullus’ closest friend), Publius Valerius Cato (born ca. 90 BC, a grammarian and critic who wrote brief epic works which scholars now call epyllia), and Gaius Helvius Cinna (born ca. 90 BC, known for his epic poem Zmyrna, which Catullus praises in XCV). These poets had come under the influence of Alexandrianism, i.e. the Hellenistic, scholarly, and literary reception and further development of the traditional Greek literature, based in the Egyptian cultural center of Alexandria at the court of the Ptolemaic rulers. Its most outstanding representative had been Callimachus4 (floruit ca. 285-245), and it had been introduced to Rome by Parthenius of Nicaea, brought as a prisoner to Rome after 72 BC, probably by Cinna. Characteristics of Alexandrianism are the frequent use of rare vocabulary from old poems, rococo ornamentation in narratives, a certain preference for the more remote sections of mythology, the quest for stylistic and metrical variety, attention to wit and perfect artistry, the use of shorter forms, and the introduction of the epyllion (Thomson 1996: 18). Catullus and the poetae novi found themselves inspired by this Greek way of “revamping” the traditional literary patrimony, combining it with their own Latin tradition. Their new way of writing poetry was characterized by a youthful independence and daringness, a “controlled lyricism,” while “the lyrical impulse is tightened by an intellectual awareness of significance and proportion which controls and organizes what is said.” Further characteristics

2

In this paper a Roman number indicates a carmen, an Arabic number a verse line. Ad Atticus 7.2.1 4 For a full treatment of the relationship between Catullus and Callimachus cf. Knox (2007).

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are the “exploitation of the possibilities of metrical variety” and the inclusion of rather colloquial language, mixed with regional and archaic overtones, including Graecisms. The poetae novi did not write for a general public but “for the lettered élite who have the culture needed to appreciate its subtleties and the enthusiasm for tracking them down,” and they followed the principle of art for art’s sake, as it was promoted by Philodemus (Quinn: 1969:48-69). Within this literary movement, Catullus “adapts his material to his own artistic needs and to a Roman cast of mind, but at the same time he draws deeply from Greek models and emerges as a supreme imitator of Greek literary technique.” (Thomson 1996: 19) We find direct adaptations from Callimachus (LXVI) and Sappho (LI) and frequent other more implicit references. “Catullus is a Callimachean through and through” because of his “careful technique and conscious refinement of language, (…) the possession of rare and valuable insights, acquired by toil and even research” –Martial endows him even with the epithet doctus (e.g. VIII,73) –and because of his variety (especially in meter), his “quest for the unusual, including the paradoxical theme, and the equally urgent quest for lightness and conciseness in treatment” (Thomson 1996: 21). Catullus is further influenced by the long established tradition of the Roman elegiac epigram and the comic theater of Plautus and Terence, but (not mentioned by Thomson) in his invectives he also reaches back to the old Greek iambic tradition of Archilochus (7th century BC) and Hipponax (6th century BC). b. The Genre of the Carmina Within the corpus of 116 surviving carmina5 (containing close to 2,300 lines), Catullus explores very different kinds of poetry: from romantic (e.g. II, V) to bitterly disappointed love (e.g. VIII, LXXXVIII), from literary dispute (e.g. XIV, XXXVI) to political satire (e.g. XXVIII, XXIX), from rude, obscene invective (e.g. XVI, XVII) to deep sentimentality (e.g. XXXI), from jokes about particular characters character joke (e.g. XXXIX, LXIX) to mythological plot (e.g. LXIV). A

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Out of which numbers XVIII-XX are generally considered spurious.

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good number of his poems deal with his for the most part unhappy love for Lesbia (and possibly other women and a young man called “Juventius”) and his rivals in these affairs. To this variety of themes corresponds a variety in form, regarding length, style, and meter. In this way, Catullus exemplifies well the approach of the neoterics as outlined above. The most accepted theory6 regarding the division of the opus Catulli is that carmina I-LX, also called “polymetrics”, formed a first collection, probably issued by Catullus himself, followed by two or more collections (LXI-LXVIII [“longer poems”, mostly hexameters or elegiacs] and LXXIX-CXVI [all in elegiac couplets]), published probably by some later editor. c. Carmina I and XXXI i. Context within the Opus Catulli Carmen I is the dedicatory poem for the (first) collection and thus takes a prominent place. Whether it was written early or late is hard to say. Most scholars consider that it was composed last, just for the collection.7 Carmen I is frequently quoted by later authors (which is also important for textual criticism).8 “In its language, its style, and its sentiment, it is an accurate representation of the book of poems itself, and thus performs the function of any good introduction: to prepare and forewarn the reader of what is to come.” (Copley 1951: 34) Carmen XXXI stands right in the middle of the polymetrics. Despite sophisticated attempts to discover an organizing principle within the collection9, little certain can be said other than that most poems seem to be arranged for the effect of variety, in contrast to each other. In this way, carmen XXXI is preceded by poems of harsh political invective (XXIX) and about ungrateful friendship (XXX); it is followed by a love poem (XXXII) and another invective (XXXIII). 6

A recent overview of the theories regarding the division into possible collections can be found in Skinner (2007: 35-53). 7 Thomson (1996: 196) however holds that “the poet’s obvious delight in the outward aspect of his new book suggests a first publication; and the tone of the initial ‘movement’ of the poem is, as Zicàri remarks, ‘juvenile’ rather than mature” – It is, however, not too clear how much of a maturing process one may expect during hardly more than fifteen years of Catullus’ poetic activity. 8 For further information on this, besides the Thomson edition, see Gaisser (1993). 9 For an overview of the most important theories see Skinner 2007: 35-54.

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It appears then almost as a moment to catch your breath within a series of antagonistic topics. Its place within a number of poems sometimes called the “Bithynian cycle” is discussed later (p. 18).10 ii. Meter Catullus is known for breaking with the traditional association of certain meters with particular themes. For carmen I, he uses Phalaecian hendecasyllables11: _∪ _∪∪ _∪ _∪ _x.12 Before Catullus, this originally Greek meter was used by Laevius and Varro and was associated with light verse and drinking (cf. Ferguson 1985: 6.). It seems fitting that the meter used for 43 pieces of his first collection be the one for the dedicatory carmen as well. For carmen XXXI he uses choliambic or limping iambics: ∪_ ∪_ ∪_ ∪_ ∪_ _ x.13 Ferguson (1995: 95) describes it as a meter “which because of this jerkiness was counted appropriate for lampoons or satirical poems.” Used thus in XXII, XXXIX, XLIV, LIX, LX, and more seriously in VIII with an underlying bitterness (“Catullus is dragging his heels on his way out from Lesbia”), Ferguson asks: “Is not this the point that Catullus is limping home? His period in Bithynia (X, XXVIII, XLVI) has been financially exhausting; it has set him in the company of a thoroughly unpleasant praetor, to whom he has had to kowtow”, he has suffered emotional drain caused by his brother’s death (LXVIII; LXXXIX-CI) – “the joy is the greater because there is bitterness with it.” (id.: 96) But perhaps he chooses this meter simply, as Garrison sees it, “in an expression of joy” (ibid.)

10

For a good analysis of “Bithynia and Afterwards” see Small 1983: 71-82. After the fourth-century BC Greek poet Phalaecus with eleven syllables; most of the Catullus’ first 60 poems are in this meter. “Its insistent iambic second half gives it a colloquial, vernacular quality that evokes the comic state and the rhythms of street language.” (Garrison 2004: 174) 11

12

The first foot can also go: ∪_ The first or third foot may be a spondee: _ _. “Invented by the Greek poet Hipponax (sixth century BC), it is associated with satirical themes.” (Garrison 2004: 175) 13

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2) TEXT14 ,TRANSLATION15, COMMENTARY a. Carmen I

1

Cui dono lepidum novum libellum To whom do I dedicate the charming new little book,

cui: introducing a rhetorical question, answered in 3. This conversational tone in itself is a novelty characteristic for the style adopted by Catullus from the admired Greek examples (cf. Thomson 1996: 195). dono: This word marks the dedicatory poem. Thus we have the certainty that Catullus published at least one book of poems (cf. Wheeler 1934: 21); the dedication of a poem collection is a well established Greek custom by Hellenistic times and even existed earlier.16 lepidum: lepidus, -a, -um: charming, agreeable, delightful, nice; meaning here not just the physical appearance of the libellum (cf. Copley 1951: 29 against Kroll 196017: 1), but also its content.18 The term is also used in LXXVIII.1f and there for persons.

14 The Latin text is taken from: Thomson, Douglas Ferguson Scott. (1996, revised 2nd edition). Catullus. Edited with a Textual and Interpretative Commentary. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. 15 The translation is arranged in an interlinear way so as to point out better the correspondence between the Latin and the English; it is as literal as possible while still legible in English. For the commentary, place and proper names for the most part were referenced from both Thomson (1996) and Garrison (2004). 16 Cf. Wheeler 1934: 222. Wheeler draws a detailed comparison with Meleager of Gadara’s dedication of his anthology: Anth. Pal. 4.1.1-4). Thomson (1996: 196) interprets this, based on 2, even as a physical “presenting” – although the physical interpretation is disputed, cf. the next comments. 17 I am using the fourth edition by Kroll which postdates Copley’s article but still contains the same argument that Copley contests, i.e. the mere physical interpretation of the term. 18 Skinner (1981: 51), with reference to XXV (puella illepida), points out that Catullus, lepido versu, transfigures and redeems critical situations. “Lepor“is intimately associated with art—so intimately, in fact, that art itself may become the ultimate criterion for sophistication. This exciting new idea [is] tentatively advanced in the programmatic poem 1.” Newman (1990: 7), however, different from Knox (2007: 157) does not see in lepidus “a calque of the Alexandrian leptos” [meaning “fine, delicate, ingenious”, AK] which he finds translated rather by tenuis (e.g. in LI.9). “Perhaps we should stop over-Alexandrianizing (the thesis of this book), and allow the Roman term lepidius to mean what it means.” (ibid., footnote 16) Newman then undertakes a systematic analysis of lepidus (id.: 8-18, also on nugae); his reference to the previous Roman tradition as what Catullus’ readers would expect seems to me to neglect that the innovation of the poetae novi precisely did not intend to be in complete harmony with Latin tradition. Catullus breaks with this tradition, as Copley points out (1951: 29), precisely in that lepidus was not much used by previous writers for being “a word from the popular vocabulary, used to describe the compound of good humor and human warmth that is to be seen in those whose capacity for giving affection is matched by their readiness to receive it.” The introduction of popular vocabulary is another trait of the course taken by the poetae novi: “to adapt the racy directness of speech” already existing in the comicsatiric stream of Roman literature “so that it could be used for serious poetry”, in this case in contrast to the literary archaism used by the Alexandrians. (Quinn 1969: 59)

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novum: again not just meaning that the book is physically new (cf. Copley 1951: 28 against Kroll 1960: 1), but newness as the ambition of a young author who sets out to write something different than those before him, as a common feature henceforth (e.g. Ovid, Met. I,1). libellum: diminutive form, typical for Catullus’ new style, but here already a slight hint to the tone of “selfdeprecation” (Garrison 2004: 93; cf. later the word nugae (4)). This term excludes that Catullus at this point handed over all of the 116 poems which would have required three scrolls, hardly to be called a libellum; an ironic usage is not probable because then the contrast with Cornelius’ work would not work.

2

arida modo pumice expolitum? just now polished by a dry pumice stone?

arida: aridus, -a, -um: dry.19 modo: just now, lately, presently; underscoring further the brand-newness of his work. pumice: pumex, -icis f:20 pumice stone (of volcanic origin); ablativus instrumentalis; cf. Propertius 3.1.8 for the same image.21 Catullus uses this word also in XXII.8 along with a very detailed description of papyrus roll production. expolitum: expolio, expolire, expolivi, expolitus: to polish, refine.22

Ferguson (1985: 5) notes:

“Labourious attention to detail is precisely what Catullus claims for himself and his associates (1,2; 95), and is he not precisely doctus poeta?” Notice the frequent end rhyme of the words lepidum, novum, libellum, expolitum, and later (in 5) Italorum

3

Corneli, tibi: namque tu solebas Cornelius, to you: for you were accustomed

Corneli: referring to Cornelius Nepos (109- after 27 BC)23, from Cisalpine Gaul, who had written the Chronica, probably a comparative chronology of Greek and Roman history in three volumes (cf. Thomson 1996: 1997) of which nothing survives. We do have fragments of his 16 book work De viris illustribus. Thomson (1996: 195f) notes that Catullus “claims for himself a high degree of metrical freedom” since he varies during the first lines their “basis” (the first two syllables) in contrast to other writers who “adhere rigorously to the spondaic basis in hendecasyllables.” tibi: again colloquial in the direct address, a change from 1-2 where Catullus spoke as if to himself. solebas: The imperfect tense indicates a longer relationship (friendship) between the two authors.

19

For a discussion of the textual dispute whether to read “arida” or “arido” see Thomson (1996: 197). Usually m, but Catullus seems to consider the word f (see arida); the change of gender is interpreted as drawing attention to Greek models, cf. Knox 2007: 157 with reference to Wiseman. 21 Kroll (1960: 1) explains: “Mit Bismsstein glättete man die Rolle am oberen und unteren Ende, um das herzustellen, was bei unseren Büchern der Schnitt heißt.“ Cf. Ovid Tr. 1.1.11. 22 Bastone (1998) suggests the meaning “refined” as part of Catullus’s programmatic language. 23 According to Kroll (1960: 2), this identification was already made in ancient times, cf. Ausonius, Ecl. 1,2 20

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8

meas esse aliquid putare nugas to consider that my jests were something

meas esse aliquid…nugas: accusativus cum infinitivo, depending on putare nugas: nugae, -arum f: trifles (in Sg.: nonsense, trash, frivolities, bagatelle); notice again the end rhyme between solebas and nugas. It is an innovation to speak of a poem as nuga.24 It is the introduction of short poems of the iambic, epigrammatic, and lyric tradition into Roman poetry and drama, which so far has been dominated by the epos25. The concept of nugae is, however, not restricted to shortness (see discussion in part 3 below) and stands in certain contrast to the hard work described in 2.

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iam tum, cum ausus es unus Italorum now then, when you have dared as the only one of the Italians

iam tum, cum: Notice the unusual series of monosyllabics; this is possibly a mock-imitation of Nepos since in the fragments we have his style does not appear very outstanding. ausus es: universal history unus Italorum: the (only) one (of the poets) of Italy. The Chronica of Cornelius was the first of its kind in Latin language (so Kroll 1960: 2). The reference to Italy opens the horizon, away from the previously dominating mentality centered on the city of Rome (not accidentally as our author is not native from Rome but from Verona in the north)26. Wiseman (1985: 109) interprets the reference to Italy in the context of Catullus’ pride of being with Cornelius transpadani, i.e. “progenitors of that vigorous and self-confident provincial society.” In Italorum the “i” is lengthened for the rhythm against its natural value (already in Callimachus, later also in Virgil: Aen. 6.61; cf. Thomson 1996: 198).

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omne aevum tribus explicare cartis to unfold all the time on three papyrus rolls,

aevum: aevum, -i: time, age. Ferguson (1985: 6) observes how omne aevum summarizes (rhythmically) the whole history in only three syllables, “followed by 19 syllables describing what Cornelius does with it. This is Catullus’s precise point. Brevity costs pains.”

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