Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-qsmjn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T22:57:46.377Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Carmen 65 and the Arrangement of Catullus' Poetry

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 July 2014

Elizabeth Block
Elizabeth Block*
Affiliation:
University of Pennsylvania
Get access

Extract

While the metrical arrangement of the Catullan corpus has seemed to many scholars too artificial and inartistic to have been the poet's own choice, this opinion is now being challenged, in part because recent studies have shown that the collections could have been included in one roll, or Liber, and thus may be read as a single structure. Critics increasingly have sought the principles of organization in thematic correspondences or in the formation of ‘cycles’ within the three metrical groupings. Current studies have focused on the resonances in and among the groups, and on the function (and identification) of the first and last poems of each section and of the corpus as a whole.

Several scholars have suggested (although without unanimity in specifics, and for different reasons) that the three sections consist of poems 1-51, 61-64, and 65-116. Others (see Most, n. 3 below) argue that the long poems are arranged as a group, so that the corpus consists of the polymetrics, the long poems (61-68), and the short elegiacs (69-116). Any attempt to explain the arrangement of Catullus' poetry must address this controversy. One way to approach the problem is to examine c. 65, the first poem in elegiac meter. While some studies note that c. 65 hints at a ‘new poetic consciousness in Catullus’ this richly textured piece is still dismissed as ‘merely a covering letter.’ The following discussion seeks to discover whether c. 65 does simply accompany c. 66, or whether, reflecting the themes and motifs of the preceding poetry, it implies an alteration in the poet's sensibility.

Type
Research Article
Information
Ramus , Volume 13 , Issue 1 , January 1984 , pp. 48 - 59
Copyright
Copyright © Aureal Publications 1984

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Notes

1. See, for example, Ellis, R., A Commentary on Catullus 2 (Oxford 1889) xlv–1, 1–5Google Scholar; Schmidt, B., ‘Die Lebenszeit Catulls und die Herausgabe seiner Gedichte,’ RhMus 69 (1914) 267–83Google Scholar; Fordyce, C. J., Catullus (Oxford 1961) 409f.Google Scholar; Clausen, W., ‘Catulli Veronensis Liber,’ CP 71 (1976) 37–43Google Scholar. For bibliography in general see now Harrauer, H., A Bibliography to Catullus (Hildesheim 1979Google Scholar), and for a recent useful commentary, Quinn, K., Catullus: The Poems (London 1970Google Scholar).

2. Schmidt, E. A., ‘Das Problem des Catullbuches,’ Philol. 123 (1979) 216–231CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Sickle, J. Van, ‘Poetics of Opening and Closure in Meleager, Catullus, and Gallus,” CW 75 (1981) 65–75, esp. 67Google Scholar. Skutsch's, O. discovery of the metrical-chronological arrangement of the polymetric poems (‘Metrical Variations and Some Textual Problems in Catullus,’ BICS 16 [1969] 38–43Google Scholar) reinspired an effort to justify the arrangement as the poet's own plan, and Wilamowitz' famous and magisterial pronouncement in Sappho und Simonides (Berlin 1913), 292Google Scholar, has increasingly been shown to be correct. See further Quinn, K., ‘Trends in Catullan Criticism,’ Aufstieg und Niedergang der Römischen Welt, ed. Temporini, H. (Berlin 1973) I. 3, 368–89Google Scholar; Williams, G., Tradition and Originality in Roman Poetry (Oxford 1968) 232, 469 f.Google Scholar; Wiseman, T. P., Catullan Questions (Leicester 1969) 1–31Google ScholarPubMed; Quinn, K., Catullus, An Interpretation (London 1972) 1–20Google Scholar. Ross, D. O., Style and Tradition in Catullus (Cambridge, Mass. 1969CrossRefGoogle Scholar) presents a moderated view: ‘It is not entirely necessary to assume that Catullus himself arranged his poems in three groups for the purpose of an edition; but that he considered his polymetric poems or the longer poems to be of a very different nature from his epigrams seems unquestionable’ (8, and see his n. 8).

3. See for example, Most, G. W., ‘On the Arrangement of Catullus' Carmina Maiora,’ Philol. 125(1981) 109–25CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Skinner, M. B., Catullus' Passer (New York 1981Google Scholar); Segal, C. P., ‘The Order of Catullus, Poems 2-11,’ Latomus 27 (1968) 305–21Google Scholar; Williams (n. 2 above): for example, the cycle 1-11 reveals a deliberate but not necessarily historical sequence; the poet ‘gave them a meaning and significance which depended on their being collected together’ (470).

4. Quinn, (n. 2 above), Interpretation 15Google Scholar; Clausen (n. 1 above), 41; Van Sickle (n. 2 above), 69 f. See also Ellis (n. 1 above), who discusses the four-in-three structure presented by the division of carmina 61-69 as opposed to carmina 61-64 and 65-116.

5. Sickle, J. Van, ‘About Form and Feeling in Catullus 65,’ TAPA 99 (1968) 487–508, esp. 507Google Scholar; see also Witke, C., Enarratio Catulliana, Mnem Suppl. 10 (1968Google Scholar); for the introductory function of c. 65, Wiseman (n. 2 above), 17 f. While Wiseman notes (esp. 30) interconnections among the metrical groupings, no one of these critics addresses the relation of c. 65 to the other metrical groups.

6. Most (n. 3 above), 115 (and Quinn, [n. 2 above], Interpretation 256Google Scholar). Most therefore argues for the centrality of c. 64 to a book of carmina maiora. But if we accept that the three parts could have been included in one roll (n. 2 above), the metrical schism again demands attention as a fact which does divide rather than unite the long poems.

7. Wiseman (n. 2 above), esp. 37, 60, reminds us that the chronology of events in Catullus' life is still obscure. It is of course possible that all the poems were written in a fairly short period of time, possibly after both the death of the brother and the end of the affair with Lesbia.

8. See Witke (n. 5 above), esp. 20 and note: to him, dulcis Musarum fetus means neoteric poetry. Clausen (n. 1 above), 41, suggests that this mention of the Muses in c. 65 seemed to an editor invocational and therefore introductory. The tone of the lament, however, appears to me to make this kind of easy assumption on the part of an organizer unlikely.

9. Witke (n. 5 above), 22 f. and 26, suggests further that Catullus sees the poem as a means of giving his brother a new form of life through art.

10. Putnam, M. C. J., ‘The Art of Catullus 64,’ HSCP 65 (1961) 165–205Google Scholar (= Approaches to Catullus, ed. Quinn, K. [New York and Cambridge, England 1972] 225–65Google Scholar).

11. On the Roman poets' assumptions about the tone of elegy see Luck, G., The Latin Love Elegy (London 1969) esp. 26Google Scholar; and on Catullus' likely sense of the meter's predominant mood, Wiseman (n. 2 above), 15 and note 1.

12. Wiseman (n. 2 above), 4 f.; Segal (n. 3 above), 317 and note 2.

13. Clausen, W., ‘Catullus and Callimachus,’ HSCP 74 (1970) 85–94, esp. 92Google Scholar.

14. Segal (n. 3 above), 307, notes Catullus' focus on journeys, and geographical separations, in the cycle 2-11; Putnam (n. 10 above), 184, emphasizes the same concerns in c. 64. Witke (n. 5 above), 16, notes that the brother's foot evokes the same theme.

15. 61. 33, 66, 149; 63. 20, 35, 58, 66, 92; 64. 32, 36, 46, 135, 246, 284, 334, 384; 67. 24, 40; 68. 22, 34, 68, 74, 94, 144, 156. ‘For Catullus the most grievous act is the violation of the home’: Witke (n. 5 above), 18; see also Putnam (n. 10 above), esp. 183.

16. 61. 160; 63. 65; 64. 271; 66. 17, 59; 67. 38; 68. 4, 71.

17. 61. 58, 210; 65. 20; 66. 56; 67. 30; 68. 132, 146. Van Sickle (n. 5 above), 501 f., note 33, and Clausen, n. 13 above, esp. 93 f., point out the echo of c. 65. 20 in c. 66. 56.

18. Putnam (n. 10 above), 169: the shore becomes ‘not a symbol for arrival . . but of separation from true love.’ See also Clausen (n. 13 above), 92.

19. Putnam (n. 10 above), 198 f.; c. 64 ‘contains within it somewhere reflections of almost every major subject which interested’ Catullus; and the marriage theme is emphasized by most scholars. In addition to those generally cited above, see Sandy, G. N., ‘Catullus 63 and the Theme of Marriage,’ AJP 92 (1971) 185–95Google Scholar; Forsyth, P. Y., ‘The Marriage Theme in Catullus 63,’ CJ 66 (1970) 66–69Google Scholar.

20. On the various sexual innuendoes in the language of carmina 2-3, see Genovese, E. N., ‘Symbolism in the Passer Poems,’ Maia 26 (1974) 121–25Google Scholar; and in radical disagreement Jocelyn, H. D., ‘On Some Unnecessarily Indecent Interpretations of Catullus 2 and 3,’ AJP 101 (1980) 421–41Google Scholar. His debunking of the more convoluted theories is refreshing, but that the sparrow was not a mere budgie seems clear (pace Quinn, [n. 2 above], Interpretation 85Google Scholar).

21. In ‘Bacchylides' Ode 5’, HSCP 73 (1969) 45–96Google Scholar, M. R. Lefkowitz suggests that Bacchylides used a bird simile to show that ‘the poet is like the eagle in his power to comfort a troubled and fearful king.’ And further: Tor Bacchylides the eagle thus seems to be not only an expression of professional skill but in a related sense an ideal representative of his victor's achievement’ (56). For other bird-poets, see Horace c. 2. 20 with the notes of Nisbet, R. G. M. and Hubbard, M., Horace: Odes Book II (Oxford 1978Google Scholar). A bird simile describes Laodamia and by analogy the complicated nature of Catullus' and Lesbia's emotional involvement, at 68. 125-127: nec tan turn niveo gavisa est ulla columbo / compar, quae multo dicitur improbius / oscula mordenti semper decerpere rostro (‘nor has his mate ever so rejoiced in the white dove — and she is said to snatch kisses more greedily with her pecking beak’). This simultaneous love and pain should be compared to the playful nips of the sparrow described in c. 2.

22. After c. 2 Catullus seldom speaks again of curas. The poet rejoices in release from curas at his retreat (31.7), or uses the term sarcastically (41.5), but not until c. 64 does the word evoke the pain of love lost and betrayed: Ariadne magnis curarum fluctuat undis (‘falters in a great swell of trouble,’ 62, and compare 65. 4: tantis fluctuat ipsa malis ‘[my mind] falters in such trials’); she feels the thorny curas of Eros (72); Cupid delights in this union of emotions sweet and bitter (95), upon which Ariadne meditates as she watches Theseus sail away (250). It is this combination of love and fear of loss that Berenice feels (66. 23), and that Catullus recalls from his affair with Lesbia (68. 18 and 51). The tristis curae of c. 2 are, if not meaningless in comparison, at least untouched by real mortality.

23. On the nightingale as symbol of poetry see Van Sickle (n. 5 above), 501 and note; Wiseman (n. 2 above), 19 f., 24, suggests that perhaps the reference to Daulias perpetuates the marriage theme that runs throughout the long poems. Putnam (n. 10 above), 183, remarks the similarity between Aegeus' lament in c. 64 and Catullus' in c. 65, and suggests (186) that Theseus in c. 64 embodies both the loss of a son (the brother) and a lover (Lesbia). Catullus here continues his preference for familial comparisons to describe his love — as in c. 3 and c. 72.

24. On the position of fr. 2b see B. Nemeth, , ‘Further Notes on Catullan Poetry,’ ACD 9 (1973) 41–56Google Scholar, arguing for separation, along with Eisenhut, W., ‘Zu Catull c. 2a und der Trennung der Gedichte in den Handschriften,’ Philol. 109 (1965) 301–05CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Segal (n. 3 above), 310 and Quinn, (n. 2 above), Interpretation 82Google Scholar, read fr. 2b with c. 2. Bishop, J. D., ‘Catullus c. 2 and Its Hellenistic Antecedents,’ CP 61 (1966) 158–67Google Scholar, reads fr. 2b as part of a ‘Sparrow Cycle,’ perhaps a thank-you note from the girl (esp. 167). Skinner (n. 3 above), 42 f., outlining the controversy, prefers to take fr. 2b with c. 2.

25. Ross, D. O., Backgrounds to Augustan Poetry (Cambridge 1975Google Scholar) connects the reference to the story of Atalanta and Milanion in Gallus, Vergil, Propertius, and Ovid to a programmatic intent (and further Ross posits that Gallus related the story of Cydippe and Acontius at some point [89] and then implied that as a lover/love poet he was neither Acontius nor Milanion [91] ). It seems possible that the mythological reference to love's successes and failures had a similar function in Catullus.

26. See Daly, L., ‘Callimachus and Catullus,’ CP 47 (1952) 97–99Google Scholar; so Van Sickle (n. 5 above), 501 f.; Clausen (n. 13 above), 93. Jocelyn (n. 20 above), 434, remarks that the plural mala (‘apples’) would be expected in fr. 2b. The singular in fr. 2b and at c. 65.19 supports the parallel.

27. On the apple see Littlewood, A. R., ‘The Symbolism of the Apple in Greek and Roman Literature,’ HSCP 72 (1967) 147–81Google Scholar; Witke (n. 5 above), esp. 26: Witke stresses the idea of rebirth and renewal in the poem.

28. The adjective tristis relates the girl also to Ariadne (esp. 64. 126). For other echoes cf. Putnam (n. 10 above); Van Sickle (n. 5 above), note 45. Quinn (n. 1 above), wonders if the girl, like Catullus, has been crying. Perhaps she, too, has been betrayed in love.

29. The poems that frame c. 65 deal with (stellar) metamorphoses, implied in Ariadne's case, explicit in that of Berenice's lock.

30. Three further aspects of the Liber Catulli suggest that the content and position of c. 65 were chosen with care to form a pattern with the rest of the corpus. First, both c. 1 and c. 65 are letters, and as such perform a programmatically introductory function. Carmina 50 and 68a, both also letters, both make a poem of this letter for a friend, and both signal the end of a unit; c. 68a of the long poems, c. 50 of the passer libellus; similarly the letter/translation link between carmina 65 and 66 signals a change. Carmen 50 introduces c. 51 much as c. 65 introduces c. 66, so that the translation itself marks the unit (and c. 68a introduces the Alexandrian themes of c. 68b). On c. 68a as a separate poem see now Most (n. 3 above), 120 ff. Second, the melding of the abstract idea of change into actuality through the translation of c. 66 corresponds to c. 51, the translation that, in the view of several critics, closed the polymetrics. Clausen (n. 1 above), contends that c. 50 ends the passer libellus, but those who argue for inclusion of c. 51 have made a more convincing case (see Skinner [n. 3 above], esp. 82 ff., 91 and notes). Third, the repetition of the phrase carmina Battiadae (65. 16) in the last poem of the corpus (116. 2) suggests a finished structure. See Forsyth, P. Y., ‘Comments on Catullus 116,” CQ 27 (1977) 352 f.CrossRefGoogle Scholar; MacLeod, C. W., ‘Catullus 116,’ CQ 23 (1973) 304–09CrossRefGoogle Scholar.