Latin 303
Catullus, 14b-60
1998.

Carmen 14b: There is much discussion about this poem as the introduction to a new cycle of poems characterised by invective, satirical tone, more obscene language, and homosexual content.
C. 15: Foul poem to Aurelius asking that he take care of a young boy (Juventius?) who is obviously important to Catullus. Obscene final lines involve a threat to Aurelius leading to the invective of C. 16.
C. 16: Threats to Aurelias and Furius for their criticism of Catullus' poetry. Catullus defends himself on charges of 1) too little restraint in his poems and 2) writing tender and therefore unmanly expressions of love.
C. 17: Poem written ostensibly to Colonia (Verona?) about 1) an old bridge that needs to be replaced, 2) an old man who is deserving of being thrown from the bridge into the murky swamp below, and possibly 3) need to replace old outmoded forms of verse with a more lively (neoteric?) style. N. Rudd's interpretation of the poem suggests that Colonia is the personification of the young bride and the bridge personifies the old husband (TAPA 90). Zarker argues that the old man is Metellus and the young girl (?) is Clodia. Highlights: Priapean meter; personification; interweaving of images between the two themes (old bridge and energetic town vs old man and youthful energetic wife).
18-20: Not written by Catullus
C. 21: Poem vs Aurelius who is bankrupt and starving the young boy in his charge.
C. 22: Poem about Suffenus, who is a charming man until he turns to poetry (which, of course, is his great passion). Invites comparisons with C. 1. Highlights: epigrammatic-like ending; reference to Aesop's fables; information on the neoteric, or at least Catullan, credo.
C. 23: Poem vs Furius for his poverty, parentage, and fixations.
C. 24: Poem to Juventius pleading that he not love Furius.
C. 25- C. 26: Continue the invectives; 25 is vs a thief (cf. C. 12); 26 vs Furius.
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C. 27: Wiseman believes that 27 introduces another more harsh cycle of invectives in verses 1 and 2:
Minister uetuli puer Falerni
inger mi calices amariores
.............
C. 28: Written vs Piso (governor under whom Veranius and Fabullus, Catullus' great friends) served and Memmius (governor under whom Catullus himself served).
C. 29: Bitter and obscene invective vs Mamurra, Pompey, and Julius Caesar. Charges have to do with squandering the wealth of the fatherland.
C. 30: Poem vs Alfenus for his betrayal of Catullus' trust.
C. 31: Poem in praise of Sirmio to which Catullus has returned after service at Bithynia. Highlights: beautiful poetry, diction, and images.
C. 32: Poem to Ipsitilla to make herself and her "affairs " ready for Catullus' visit at the noon hour.
C. 33: vs father (who is allegedly a thief) and son (who is allegedly a sexual pervert).
C. 34: Poem probably written to be sung by boys and girls in alternating verse. The content stands in striking contrast to the "enthusiastic bawdry of the surrounding poems" (Skinner). The poem was perhaps written to be chanted at the temple of Diana on the Aventine. Stanzas of three glyconics followed by a pherecratic. Note the grandeur of the diction in stanza 2; the assonance of 3; the alliteration and anaphora of 4; the elision and synchysis of 5; the elisions of 6.
C. 35: Poem to Caecilius who is writing a poem (like Catullus' epyllion?) to Cybele. Caecilius is not known but was clearly a neoteric poet of some worth. Note he has a girl with literary tastes, not unlike Lesbia. This poem also has epigrammatic-like twist at the end.
C. 36: Poem making fun of the annals of Volusius. Catullus burns the annals to fulfill a vow of Lesbia to burn the poems of the worst poet. Was her promise directed at Catullus and hence the joke?
C. 37 and C. 39: Obscene poems vs. Egnatius, the man from Spain.
C. 38: Copely interprets the poem as a request for words of consolation over the loss of a loved one rather than consolation over a dread illness of Catullus. Is it the loss of Catullus' brother? His Lesbia? Someone else?
C. 40: A warning to Ravidus, a rival in love (lines 7-8) to watch out or Catullus will attack him with his poetry. Good poem which displays the dual nature of Catullus' world of otium where love and poetry share common ground (language) and the equation of lover =poet is playfully presented.
C. 41, C. 42, C. 43: A part of the cycle of three Ameana poems. Ameana is named in 41. The exact parallels of decoctoris amica Fomiana in 41 and 43 in reference to the person addressed and turpiculo puella naso of 41 vs nec minime puella naso of 43 make it certain that Catullus has Ameana in mind for both poems. Forsyth ( CW, 70) attempts to establish thematic and verbal correspondences among the three poems and suggests that poem 42 is also addressed to Ameana.
Poem 42 is noteworthy for its anaphora, parallelism, clever word order, use of elision, alliteration, epigrammatic-like ending with the pun "pudica" in the last line. C. 43 is noteworthy for its extended use of litotes. Note the progression of the attack from physical to mental deficiences.
C. 44: Limping iambics. Personification of Catullus' Tiburtine (modern Tivoli) or Sabine estate. The poem contains three jokes or perhaps three quips: 1) the issue of the location of the estate--whether Tiburtine or less fashionable, Sabine; 2) Catullus' overeating; 3) the play on frigus which refers both to Catullus' cold and the chilling style of Sestius. The speech delivered to Catullus along with his invitation to dinner was so chilling (frigus=bombast, affected, overly refined rhetoric) that Catullus caught a cold. His final wish is that while he would gladly receive the dinner invitation--Sestius is a good host--he hopes the frigus will attach itself to Sestius and not to himself. The historical person, P. Sestius, was a friend of Cicero, who defended Sestius in 56 B.C. Some say that he was a rather dull public speaker. There is a possibility that Antius is C. Antius, whose Lex Antia restricted magistrates' expenditures on dining out (sumptuosas cenas?).
C. 45: Very interesting poem which is variously interpreted to include themes on the following: 1) love's mutuality; 2) the intensity of love; 3) beatitudes on love; 4) the transient, changeable nature of love; 5) the fact that love always seems greater than it really is. Structure resembles pastoral poetry with exchange of songs in contest and refrain.
1-7: oath of Septimius
8-9: 2 lines on Amor's reaction
10-16: oath of Acme
17-18: Same as 8-9
19-26: four 2 line segments giving the poet's
thoughts on the relationship
19-20 mutual love
21-22 antithetical statement of
Septimius' love
23-24 statement of Acme's love
25-26 antithetical question (?)
concerning the happiness of their love
Some perceive that there is unevenness in the relationship of Septimius and Acme. Does the male, adventurous spirit of Septimius reveal a fickle nature? overbearing character (alliteration of p's)? Or does Acme want to possess Septimius heart and soul and this passion represents a more feminine aggression (softer alliteration of m's)? Acme and related words always surround the name of Septimius, but never vice versa. Does Catullus identify with Acme and her fear of desertion? Is this Catullus' recurrent nightmare? His psychological hangup?
Poems 45-49 appear at first glance to be another random collection of poems, but on second and closer inspection, themes of Catullus' poems are recapitulated. C. 45 is an erotic vignette placing Septimius' "exotic dream of adventure" (Forsythe) vs Acme's demands for emotional commitment, and thereby creating an internal conflict within the poem. C. 46 is a travel poem with the characteristic presentation of excitement, frustration, and joy of return. Poem 47 combines the theme of friendship for his Veranius and Fabullus with the condemnation of the self-seeking negotium of men like (in this poem) Piso, who was governor of Macedonia when V. and F. served there (just as Catullus served in Bithynia under Memmius). C. 48 is written as a love poem to Juventius using the "basia language from poems 5 and & 7 (both to Lesbia?). C. 49 is written to Cicero as a note of thanks for a favor? Critics differ as to whether the work is serious and written in appreciation for some act such as effecting the reconciliation with Caesar, or whether it is sarcastic and written in a style which parodies the hyperbolic speeches of Cicero.
C. 46: A poem of travel, here rejoicing in an adventurous return from Bithynia. The central image is the rebirth of life at Spring time suggesting Catullus' rebirth upon departure from the unhappy time at Bithynia. Hendecasyllabic meter. See above on 45.
C. 47: The last poem written to Veranius and Fabullus. It returns to the invective vs Piso (and his favorites) because of his lack of favor for Catullus' best friends during their foreign service.
C. 49: A poem full of hyperbole (five superlatives in 7 lines) written to Cicero. Is it praise or condemnation? Is the former possiblity meant to be the overt meaning and the latter the covert? (See above C. 45.) The meter is hendecasyllabic. Some believe that the poem is serious and is written in appreciation for services rendered by Cicero; perhaps the reconciliation with Caesar, or Cicero's favor of not mentioning Catullus in his Pro Caelio? Gruen argues that the relationship between Calvus and Cicero, who were rivals in the courtroom, was probably not a hostile one. Although they opposed one another 3 times, Cicero's legal commitments were often in fulfillment of obligation, especially after his exile; there is no reason to believe that the courtroom rivalry resulted in any animosity and therefore a case cannot really be made for assuming that Catullus would have opposed Cicero because of his (Catullus') friendship with Calvus. On a literary level, Cicero was generally hostile to neotric poets, and this opposition to Catullus' circle of poets perhaps suggests an ambiguous or even singularly pejorative meaning to Catullus' use of optimus omnium patronus. The excessive presence of superlatives and the contrasting use of pessimus and optimus add weight to the interpretation of this poem as a statement of praise delivered with heavy sarcasm.
C. 50: A poem written in the form of a spontaneous response to Licinius Calvus' company, poetry, and conversation on an evening just passed; however, the poem is actually a carefully written, organized statement of Catullus' delight in poetry with a good bit of information about neoterics. Note especially the presence of neoteric vocabulary (otiosi, urbani, lusimus. ludebat, delicatos, versiculos, per iocum et uinum) in which sensual pleasures mingle and blend with intellectual pleasures and erotic language becomes a metaphor for Catullus' artistic passion. The blending of the passions of love with artistic passion is a key element of the so-called neoteric school. Notice also the need for mutuality in this poetic venue. Is passion for poetic exchanges a part of the creative endeavor? Do we have yet another expression of Catullus' own psychological need for companionship in work as well as play? (Is there any difference in his work and play?) What poem did he write on the eve of the meeting? [None, but in the poetic fiction, what does Catullus intend for us to accept as the poem written in response to the evening?] Poem 50 itself? Poem 51? This poem is a defining piece for the poetry of Catullus and his credo of otium.
C. 51: Poem 51 is a paraphrase of a famous poem by Sappho from Lesbos. (The name Lesbia is derived from the Clodia-Sappho connection and further suggests Catullus' use of erotic love as metaphor for poetic inspiration.) In poem 51 it has been suggested that Catullus assumes the persona of Sappho for what is sometimes thought to be the final poem of the libellum ("Passer"?) of Catullus. Or is the equation Sappho=Lesbia=Clodia=puella docta, about whom Catullus has his romantic phantasies, the focus of the poem? There are some interesting articles which consider the last stanza and whether or not it is a legitimate part of the poem. Fredricksmeyer says the abrupt change in the final stanza reflects the psychological state of Catullus. The passions expressed in the first several stanzas are a psychological burden which Catullus must relinguish. Note the gradual onset of the lover's swoon which occurs in the first stanzas resulting in a black-out recalling the night and death images of Catullus' earlier poems on love. Frank gives a review of attitudes toward amor among prominent Romans including Cicero, Lucretius, Virgil, and Cato. The general conclusion(which Frank says is also Catullus' conclusion) is that love (also reflected in otium) is demeaning, self centered, and causes misery. Lucretius does promote lust (which is sana) but not amor. Is it the misery of amor that 51 finally rejects? Does amor equate in any way to otium? The meter is Lesser Sapphic and is the same as c. 11. What is the significance attached to Catullus' use of this meter? It is also possible (I think likely) as Skinner suggests that this poem is more than its apparent meaning and that the real subject is poetry.
Poems 52-60 are said by some critics to be random left over pieces which a later unknown editor attached to the libellum of Catullus.
C. 52: Can any case be made for connection between 51 and 52? 51 rejects otium, what does 52 reject? Why? Who is Vatinius? Cf C. 50? The meter is iambic trimeter.
C. 53: Continues the treatment of Calvus and Vatinius; however, this poem does not add much and is viewed by some as an inorganic intrusion into the overall collection. How is it less organically related than other poems in the collection? (Remember the principle of variatio, which can mean unrelatedness.)
C. 54, C. 55, C, 56: 54 is another bawdy poem vs Caesar and his friends with the full array of sexual slams. The text here is so currupt that much of our interpretation of the poem must be speculative, and C. 54 might in fact be several fragments which have been mistakenly joined togwether. 55 is a poem which describes Catullus' search for his friend Camerius whose name allows for a continuing interplay with kamerion or a breast band which women wore. The mention of Pompey's portico dates it at no earlier than 55 B.C. Carmen 56 is a bawdy poem in which Catullus writes to a certain Cato about his discovery of a sexual encounter between a pupulum=little squirt of a boy and his puella. (Oddly said by some to be Lesbia and Clodius--because Catullus defends with his weapon?)
C. 57: Mammura and Caesar are attacked in this poem as lovers who share their love in several ways. Note the elisions and balanced wording emphasizinfg the mutual perverion of this intimate partnership. Hendecasyllabics.
C. 58A: To Caelius: Caelius Rufus of the Pro Caelio, a friend of Catullus' who was defended by Cicero vs Clodia. Thus Caelius is a friend and for a while a rival of Catullus. Here they can both look on Lesbia with disdain. Hendecasyllabic.
C. 58B: The chase of Camerius--perhaps a fragment from 55. The poem's mythological content is rich and of interest; however the purpose of the poem (and the myths) is not completely clear as it unfolds in the last three lines.
C. 59: Very bawdy poem vs an unsavory woman by the name of Rufa.
C. 60: Reads like a fragment; the poem is reminiscent of language describing scenes found in Homer, Euripides, Virgil, and Ovid. Written in the high style.