GAIUS VALERIUS CATULLUS 84 54 B C Catullus

GAIUS VALERIUS CATULLUS (84 -54 B. C. )

Catullus 84 annō ante Chrīstum nātum Verōnae, urbe in Italiā septentriōnāli sitā, nātus est

Catullus was born in 84 B. C. in the city of Verona in northern Italy.

Hic est aspectus hodiernus Verōnae urbis

This is a present-day view of the city of Verona

Fīnēs imperiī Rōmānī 84 annō ante Chrīstum nātum

The frontiers of the Roman Empire in 84 B. C. (shown approximately!)

Rōmānī per vītam Catullī nōn tantum terrās novās subigēbant sed etiam bella inter sē gerēbant • 88 • 83 -82 • 82 -72 • 73 -71 • • • 67 65 63 58 -50 Sulla Rōmam exercitū suō occupāvit Sulla populārēs in prīmō bellō civīlī superāvit. Sertorius, dux populāris, Hispāniam tenēbat et contrā exercitūs ā Rōmā missōs pugnāre pergēbat Spartacus servōs in bellō contrā dominōs Rōmānōs dūxit Pompeius pirātās in Marī Nostrō dēbellāvit Pompeius Mithridātem rēgem Pontī vīcit. Cicerō coniurātiōnem Catilīnae suppressit Iūlius Caesar Galliam subēgit

Throughout Catullus’s life, the Romans were not only conquering new lands but also fighting among themselves. • 88 • 83 -82 • 82 -72 • 73 -71 • 67 • 65 • 63 • 58 -50 Sulla occupied Rome with his army Sulla defeated the `people’s party’ in the first civil war Sertorius, a `people’s party’ leader, controlled Spain and continued to fight against armies sent from Rome Spartacus led the slaves in war against their Roman masters Pompey overcame the pirates in the Mediterranean Pompey defeated Mithridates, king of Pontus Cicero put down Catiline’s conspiracy Julius Caesar conquered Gaul

Sulla 88 annō exercitum suum in Rōmam dūxit

In 88 B. C. Sulla led his army into Rome

Spartacus, dux rebelliōnis servīlis

Spartacus, leader of the slave rebellion (still from the 1960 film starring Kirk Douglas)

Pompeius 67 annō potestātem pirātārum dēlēvit

In 67 B. C. , Pompey destroyed the power of the pirates

Mithridātēs, rēx Pontī, multōs per annōs contrā Rōmānōs pugnābat

Mithridates, King of Pontus, fought for many years against the Romans

Cicerō in senātū oratiōnem contrā Catilīnam habuit

In 63 B. C. , Cicero denounced Catiline in the senate (fresco by Cesare Maccari, c. 1888)

Vercingetorix, dux Gallus, annō 52 ante Chrīstum nātum sē Caesarī dēdidit

Vercingetorix, the Gallic leader, surrendered to Caesar in 52 B. C. (Plutarch tells the story of his riding up on a white horse, but this is not mentioned in Caesar’s own memoirs and unfortunately is probably unhistorical! The painting (1899) is by French artist Lionel-Noël Royer

Iūlius Caesar, qui post Catullum mortuum dictātor Rōmae factus est, erat amīcus patris Catullī

Julius Caesar, who after Catullus’s death became dictator of Rome, was a friend of Catullus’s father

Imperium Rōmānum annō 54 ante Chrīstum. nātum, quō Catullus mortem obīit

The Roman empire in 54 B. C. , when Catullus died (The frontiers are approximations but note the addition of Gaul (modern France), and of Syria and Palestine)

Catullus multa carmina de amīca suā `Lesbia’ scrīpsit. Carmen quod hīc vidētis apud tutūbulum (http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=tm. Nxgi. Ftbj 4&feature=related) audīre potestis • Vīvāmus, mea Lesbia, atque amēmus, rūmōrēsque senum sevēriōrum omnēs ūnius aestimēmus assis! sōlēs occidere et redīre possunt: nōbis cum semel occidit brevis lūx, nox est perpetua ūna dormienda. dā mī bāsia mīlle, deinde centum, dein mille altera, dein secunda centum, deinde usque altera mīlle, deinde centum. dein, cum mīlia multa fēcerīmus, conturbābimus illa, nē sciāmus, aut nē quis malus inuidēre possit, cum tantum sciat esse bāsiōrum.

Translated by Gilbert Highet (Poets in a Landscape, p. 31) Life, my Lesbia, life and love for ever! All that gossip of grave and reverend eldersclose your ears to it! It’s not worth a penny Suns can sink and return again next morning: our brief day, when it once has been extinguished must pass into a sleep that has no waking. Give me kisses – a thousand, then a hundred, one more thousand then another hundred, then one thousand again and still , and still a hundred, After that, when we’ve run up many thousands, let’s destroy the accounting and forget it, so no envious character can hurt us When he hears we have had so many kisses

Sed mox amor inimīcitia fierī incēpit Ōdī et amō. Quārē id faciam, fortasse requīris. Nesciō, sed fierī sentiō et excrucior. I hate and I love. Perhaps you ask why I do that. I don’t know, but I feel it happening and I’m in agony.

Quis erat `Lesbia’?

? ? • Eratne puella quam Catullus tantum animō suō fīnxit? • Eratne, ut plērīque scholārēs crēdunt, Clōdia, soror politicī populāris P. Clōdiī et uxor Q. Caeciliī Metellī Celeris?

• Was she a girl who Catullus simply imagined? • Was she, as most scholars believe, Clodia, sister of `popular party’ politician P. Clodius Pulcher and wife of Q. Caecilius Metellus Celer? The illustration was taken from: http: //www. users. globalnet. co. uk/~loxias/catullus. htm (which has examples of other poems by Catullus, Propertius and Sulpicia, the only female poet from this period whose work has not been lost)

In hāc picturā, pictor Batāvus-Britannus Catullum apud `Lesbiam’ imagināvit.

In this 1865 picture a Dutch-British painter, Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, imagined Catullus at Lesbia’s house

Catullum rēs politicae minimē tenēbant sed per complūrēs mēnsēs annō 57/56 ante Chrīstum nātum adiūtor erat prōpraetōris quī Bīthy niam prōvinciam administrābat

Catullus had little interest in politics but for a few months in 57/56 B. C. he was on the staff of the governor of the province of Bithynia

Ad sepulcrum frātris suī in illā regiōne iter facere poterat

He was able to make a journey to the tomb of his brother in that area (the tomb shown is not his brother’s but illustrates a typical design)

In memoriam frātris hōs versūs tristēs et praeclārōs scrīpsit: Multās per gentēs et multa per aequora vectus advenio hās miserās, frāter, ad inferiās, ut tē postrēmō dōnārem mūnere mortis et mūtam nēquīquam alloquerer cinerem. Quandoquidem fortūna mihī tēte abstulit ipsum, heu miser indignē frāter adēmpte mihī, nunc tamen intereā haec, priscō quae mōre parentum trādita sunt tristī mūnere ad inferiās, accipe frāternō multum mānantia flētū, atque in perpetuum, frāter, avē atque valē.

He wrote these sad and famous verses in memory of his brother. Here is Gilbert Highet’s translation (Poets in a Landscape, p. 21 -22) Through many nations, over many seas, I travelled to pay this service, brother, with my tears: to lay these final offerings upon your grave, and, to your voiceless ashes, speak in vain. Since fate has taken you from me, brother, for ever, poor brother, carried off before your time, now let me satisfy the ancient sad tradition and do this sacrifice upon your tomb. Receive it, and receive my tears of love and mourning: and so for ever, brother, hail and farewell

Ecce Lacus Bēnācus, quī nunc `Lago di Garda’ vocātur, et Sirmiō prōmonturium. Catullus fundum hīc habēbat.

Here is Lake Benacus, now called Lake Garda (Italian `Lago di Garda’) and the promontory of Sermione, where Catullus had a farm

Trādunt hanc vīllam Catullī fuisse sed rēvērā ruīnae sunt palātiī post poētae mortem aedificātae

The traditional story is that this was Catulus’s villa but in fact the ruins are of a palace built after the poet’s death

Catullus, ex Āsiā ad Sirmiōnem reversus, hōs versūs scrīpsit Paene insulārum, Sirmio, īnsulārumque ocelle, quāscumque in liquentibus stagnīs marīque vastō fert uterque Neptūnus, quam tē libenter quamque laetus invīsō, vix mī ipse crēdēns Thy niam atque Bithy nos līquisse campōs et vidēre tē in tūtō! O quid solūtīs est beātius cūrīs, cum mēns onus repōnit ac peregrīnō labōre fessī vēnimus larem ad nostrum, dēsīderātōque acquiēscimus lectō? hoc est quod ūnum est prō labōribus tantīs. salvē, ō venusta Sirmiō, atque erō gaudē; gaudēte vōsque, Ly diae lacūs undae: rīdēte, quicquid est domī cachinnōrum!

Catullus wrote these lines after returning from Asia Minor to Sirmio (translated by Gilbert Highet, Poets in a Landscape, p. 41) Of all the islands and of all the almost-isles Which Neptune, god of water, set among clear lakes And in vast seas, you, Sirmio, are sole bright gem, With what relief and gladness now I see your face, Scarcely believing I have left the far-off lands Of Asia, and can gaze upon you safe and sound! Ah, what is nearer heaven than relief long-sought, When the mind drops its burdens, when we, still worn out With travel and exhaustion, reach at least our home And lay our bodies down to rest in the longed-for bed? For all our labours this is surely rich reward. Now greetings, lovely Sirmio, and share my bliss! Enjoy it too, you waters of the Lydian lake: And all the jollity of home, come on, laugh!

Tennyson’s poem after visiting Sirmio (Poetical Works, p. 533) Row us out from Desenzano, to your Sirmione row! So they row’d, and there we landed - `O venusta Sirmio!’ There to me thro’ all the groves of olives in the summer glow, There beneath the Roman ruin where the purple flowers grow, Came that `Ave atque Vale’ of the Poet’s hopeless woe, Tenderest of Roman poets nineteen-hundred years ago, `Frater Ave atque Vale’ – as we wander’d to and fro Gazing at the Lydian laughter of the Garda lake below Sweet Catullus’s all-but-island, olive-silvery Sirmio!

Yeats on Catullus (`The Scholars’, Collected Poems, p. 158) Bald heads forgetful of their sins, Old, learned, respectable bald heads Edit and annotate the lines That young men, tossing on their beds, Rhymed out in lover’s despair To flatter beauty’s ignorant ear. All shuffle there; all cough in ink; All wear the carpet with their shoes; All think what other people think; All know the man their neighbour knows. Lord, what would they say Did their Catullus walk their way?

References • Translations of Catullus’s poems, and the texts of Tennyson and Yeats, are taken from Gilbert Highet, Poets in a Landscape, London: Hamish Hamilton, 1957 (Paperback reprint, NYRB Classics, 2010). • Recent books on Catullus: – William Fitzgerald. Catullan Provocations: Lyric Poetry and the Drama of Position (Classics and Contemporary Thought, 1), University of California Press, 2000. – Julia Haig Gaisser. Catullus (Blackwell Introductions to the Classical World), Wiley-Blackwell, 2009. – John Godwin. Reading Catullus (Greece and Rome Live), Bristol Phoenix Press, University of Exeter, 2008 – Charles Martin. Catullus. Yale University Press, 2009. [full translation including `obscene’ passages] – T. P. . Wiseman. Catullus and his World: a Reappraisal. Cambridge University Press, 2008 [arguing for the essential difference of the period and its values from ours and including an appendix of references to Catullus in Roman sources]] – David Wray Catullus and the Poetics of Roman Manhood. Cambridge University Press, 2001 • Internet resources on Catullus include: – – http: //www. negenborn. net/catullus/ (translations into many languages including Chinese) http: //www. vroma. org/~abarker/catulluslinks. html (a collection of links to other sites) http: //polyaplatinlit 07 -08. wikispaces. com/Catullus (text of poems with interlinear translation) http: //www. guardian. co. uk/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2009/nov/24/catullus-mark-lowe (on a particularly explicit line from the poet which figured in a British court case)