Catullus 5768 225853858 2008-07-15T18:31:54Z 82.7.192.155 /* Catullus in popular culture */ [[Image:Herculaneum Fresco 001.jpg|thumb|300px|Fresco from Herculaneum, presumably showing a couple.]] :''For persons with a [[cognomen]] "Catulus", see [[Lutatius]]'' '''Gaius Valerius Catullus''' (ca. [[84 BC]] &ndash; ca. [[54 BC]]) was a Roman [[poet]] of the [[1st century BC]]. His work remains widely studied, and continues to influence poetry and other forms of art. ==Biography== Little is known about Catullus' life. Most ancient sources, including [[Lives of the Twelve Caesars|Suetonius]] and [[Ovid]] (Amores III.XV), claim [[Verona, Italy|Verona]] as his birthplace. He came from a leading [[Equestrian (Roman)|equestrian]] family of Verona, but lived in [[Rome]] for most of his life. Catullus' family owned a villa at [[Sirmio]] on [[Lake Garda]]. His father entertained [[Julius Caesar|Caesar]], then governor of Gaul.<ref name=bio>[http://www.bookrags.com/biography/gaius-valerius-catullus/]Catullus Web page at ''Encyclopedia of World Biography'' Web site, accessed [[February 13]], [[2007]]</ref> At some point, the poet parodied Caesar and an associate ([[Mamurra]]), but later apologized and was forgiven.<ref>[http://www.negenborn.net/catullus/about_cat.htm?l=l]Hope, Ken, "Introduction on Catullus" at the ''Catullus Translations'' Web site, accessed [[February 13]], [[2007]]</ref> Catullus' friends included the poets [[C. Licinius Macer Calvus]], [[Marcus Furius Bibaculus]], and [[C. Helvius Cinna]], the orator [[Q. Hortensius]] (a rival of [[Cicero]] in the law courts) and the biographer [[Cornelius Nepos]], to whom Catullus' book of poems is dedicated.<ref name=bio/> In [[61 BC]] Catullus went to Rome and fell in love with the "[[Lesbia]]" of his poems, generally believed to be [[Clodia Metelli]], sister of the infamous [[Publius Clodius Pulcher]]. This sophisticated woman, 10 years older than Catullus, was a member of the aristocratic Claudian family. Their brief affair ended when Clodia spurned him for [[Caelius Rufus]], a member of Catullus' social circle and an associate of Cicero.<ref name=bio/> [[Image:REmpire-29 Bithynia.png|150px|left|thumb|Bithynia]] In [[57 BC]] he accompanied his friend [[Gaius Memmius (Poet)|Memmius]] to [[Bithynia]], where Memmius served as [[propraetor]]. Catullus served on the staff of the governor of [[Bithynia]], his only political office. While in the East, Catullus traveled to the Troad to perform rites at his brother's tomb, an event recorded in a moving poem.<ref name=bio/> After his year in Bithynia, Catullus returned to Italy, probably settling in Rome and spending the last few years of his life there. Although his poems contain complaints about poverty, he owned a villa near Tibur (modern Tivoli).<ref name=bio/> It is uncertain when Catullus died. Some ancient sources claim he died from exhaustion at the age of thirty. [[St. Jerome]] gives his birth year as 87 BC and wrote that the poet lived 30 years, but some of the poems refer to events in 55 BC Since no poem can be dated later than 54BC, scholars traditionally accept the dates [[84 BC]] &ndash; [[54 BC]].<ref name=bio/> His poems were widely appreciated by other poets, but [[Cicero]] despised them for their supposed amorality. Catullus was never considered one of the canonical school authors. Nevertheless, he greatly influenced poets such as [[Ovid]], [[Horace]], and [[Virgil]]. After his rediscovery in the late [[Middle Ages]], Catullus again found admirers. His explicit writing style has shocked many readers, both ancient and modern. ==Poetry== {{main|Poetry of Catullus}} {{wikibooks|The Poetry of Gaius Valerius Catullus}} ===Sources and organization=== Catullus' poems have been preserved in an [[anthology]] of 116 ''carmina'' (three of which are now considered spurious &mdash; 18, 19 and 20 &mdash; although the numbering has been retained), which can be divided into three formal parts: sixty short poems in varying metres, called ''[[polymetra]]'', eight longer poems, and forty-eight [[epigram]]s. There is no scholarly consensus on whether or not Catullus himself arranged the order of the poems. The longer poems differ from the ''polymetra'' and the epigrams not only in length but also in their subjects: There are seven [[hymn]]s and one mini-[[epic poetry|epic]], or epillion, the most highly-prized form for the "new poets". The ''polymetra'' and the epigrams can be divided into four major [[Theme (literature)|thematic]] groups (ignoring a rather large number of poems eluding such categorization): * poems to and about his friends (e.g., an invitation like poem 13). * [[erotic]] poems: some of them indicate [[homosexuality|homosexual]] penchants ([[Catullus 50|50]] and [[Catullus 99|99]]), but most are about women, especially about one he calls "[[Lesbia]]" (in honour of the poetess [[Sappho]] of [[Lesbos Island|Lesbos]], source and inspiration of many of his poems). * [[invective]]s: often rude and sometimes downright [[obscene]] poems targeted at friends-turned-traitors (e.g., poem [[Catullus 30|30]]), other lovers of [[Lesbia]], well known poets, [[politician]]s (e.g., [[Julius Caesar]]) and [[rhetor]]s, including [[Cicero]]. * [[condolence]]s: some poems of Catullus are solemn in nature. [[Catullus 96|96]] comforts a friend in the death of a loved one; several others, most famously [[Catullus 101|101]], lament the death of his brother. All these poems describe the [[Epicurean]] lifestyle of Catullus and his friends, who, despite Catullus' temporary political post in Bithynia, lived their lives withdrawn from [[politics]]. They were interested mainly in [[poetry]] and [[love]]. Above all other qualities, Catullus seems to have sought ''venustas'', or charm, in his acquaintances, a theme which he explores in a number of his poems. The ancient Roman concept of ''virtus'' (i.e. of [[virtue]] that had to be proved by a political or military career), which [[Cicero]] suggested as the solution to the societal problems of the late [[Roman Republic|Republic]], meant little to them. But it is not the traditional notions Catullus rejects, merely their monopolized application to the ''[[vita activa]]'' of politics and [[war]]. Indeed, he tries to reinvent these notions from a personal point of view and to introduce them into human relationships. For example, he applies the word ''fides'', which traditionally meant faithfulness towards one's political allies, to his relationship with Lesbia and reinterprets it as unconditional faithfulness in love. So, despite seeming frivolity of his lifestyle, Catullus measured himself and his friends by quite ambitious standards. ===Intellectual influences=== Catullus' [[poetry]] was greatly influenced by the [[ancient Greece|Greek]] ''[[neoteroi]]'', Latin ''poetae novi'' or "new poets". [[Callimachus]] influenced Catullus especially, having propagated a new style of poetry which deliberately turned away from the classical [[epic poetry]] in the tradition of [[Homer]]. Catullus and [[Callimachus]] did not describe the feats of ancient [[hero]]es and [[god]]s (except perhaps in re-evaluating and predominantly artistic circumstances, e.g. poems 63 and 64), focusing instead on small-scale personal themes. Although these poems sometimes seem quite superficial and their subjects often are mere everyday concerns, they are accomplished works of art. Catullus described his work as ''expolitum'', or polished, to show that the language he used was very carefully and artistically composed. Catullus was also an admirer of [[Sappho]], a female poet of the [[7th century BC]], and is the source for much of what we know or infer about her. [[Catullus 51]] follows [[Sappho 31]] so closely, that some believe the later poem to be, in part, a direct translation of the earlier poem, and [[Catullus 61|61]] and [[Catullus 62|62]] are certainly inspired by and perhaps translated directly from lost works of Sappho. Both of the latter are ''[[Epithalamium|epithalamia]]'', a form of [[laudatory]] or erotic wedding-poetry that Sappho had been famous for but that had gone out of fashion in the intervening centuries. Catullus sometimes used a meter that Sappho developed, called the [[Sapphic strophe]]. In fact, Catullus may have brought about a substantial revival of that form in Rome. ===Style=== Catullus wrote in many different meters including [[hendecasyllabic verse|hendecasyllabic]] and [[elegiac couplet]]s (common in love poetry). All of his poetry shows strong and occasionally wild emotions especially in regard to [[Lesbia]]. He also demonstrates a great sense of humour such as in [[Catullus 13]]. Many of the literary techniques he used are still common today, including [[hyperbaton]]: ‘’plenus saculus est aranearum’’ (Catullus 13), which translates as ‘[my] purse is all full – of cobwebs.’ He also uses [[anaphora]] e.g. ‘’Salve, nec minimo puella naso nec bello pede nec…’’([[Catullus 43]]) (‘hello, girl with a not so small nose and a not so pretty foot and...’) as well as [[tricolon]] and [[alliteration]]. He is also very fond of diminutives such as in [[Catullus 50]]: ‘’Hestero, Licini, die otiose/multum lusimus in meis tabellis’’ – ‘Yesterday, Licinius, was a day of leisure/ playing many games in my little notebooks’. ==Catullus in popular culture== The [[epistolary novel]] ''[[Ides of March (novel)|Ides of March]]'' by [[Thornton Wilder]] centers on [[Julius Caesar]], but prominently features Catullus, his poetry, his relationship (and correspondence) with [[Clodia]], correspondence from his family and a description of his death. Catullus' poems and the closing section by Suetonius are the only documents in the novel which are not imagined. ''[[Catulli Carmina]]'' is a cantata by Carl Orff to the texts of Catullus. Icelandic musician and composer [[Jóhann Jóhannsson]]'s 2002 album Englabörn ([http://www.last.fm/music/J%C3%B3hann+J%C3%B3hannsson/Englab%C3%B6rn track listing]) includes the track "Odi Et Amo", setting Catullus's Poem 85 to music. The new musical ''TULLY (In No Particular Order)'', which appeared in the 2007 [[New York Musical Theatre Festival]], loosely adapts the poems of Catullus while retaining the non-linear structure of the published edition, exploring his relationships with both Clodia and Juventius, renamed Julie, and the timeless nature of memory and love. Catullus was mentioned in an early [[Achewood]] [http://www.achewood.com/index.php?date=03082002 strip]. Archiblad MacLeish wrote a poem entitled "You Also, Gaius Valerius Catullus," where he addresses the poet. Catullus is discussed in John Fowles novel 'The French Lieutenant's Woman' (1969) as being one of the fore-most poets on love, sexuality and desire. ==See also== *[[Poetry of Catullus]] {{Poems of Catullus}} ==Notes== {{reflist}} ==Further reading== *Harrington, Karl Pomeroy. ''Catullus and his influence''. New York, Cooper Square Publishers, 1963. *Ferguson, J. ''Catullus''.(G&R New Surveys in The Classics No.20). Oxford, 1988. *Gaisser, Julia Haig. ''Catullus And His Renaissance Readers''. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1993. *Balme, M and Morewood, J. ''Oxford Latin Reader'' Oxford, University Press, 1997. ==External links== {{wikisource author}} {{wikibooks|The Poetry of Gaius Valerius Catullus}} {{wikiquote}} * [http://www.negenborn.net/catullus/ Catullus translations]: Catullus' work in Latin and multiple modern languages * [http://www.vroma.org/~hwalker/VRomaCatullus/ Catullus] in Latin and English * [http://www.intratext.com/Catalogo/Autori/AUT61.HTM Catullus]: Latin text, concordances and frequency list * [http://latinum.mypodcast.com Latinum podcast]: includes Catullus' poems read in Latin * [http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/classicsfacpub/2/ Catullus purified: a brief history of Carmen 16] by Thomas Nelson Winter * [http://www.rhapsodes.fll.vt.edu/catullus1.htm SORGLL: Catullus 5, read by Robert Sonkowsky] {{Catullus}} [[Category:Catullus]] [[Category:84 BC births]] [[Category:54 BC deaths]] [[bg:Катул]] [[cs:Gaius Valerius Catullus]] [[da:Gaius Valerius Catullus]] [[de:Catull]] [[es:Cayo Valerio Catulo]] [[eo:Katulo]] [[eu:Catullus]] [[fr:Catulle]] [[gl:Catulo]] [[hr:Katul]] [[id:Catullus]] [[is:Catullus]] [[it:Gaio Valerio Catullo]] [[la:Gaius Valerius Catullus]] [[hu:Catullus]] [[ms:Catullus]] [[nl:Gaius Valerius Catullus]] [[ja:ガイウス・ウァレリウス・カトゥルス]] [[no:Catullus]] [[nn:Catullus]] [[pl:Katullus]] [[pt:Catulo]] [[ro:Gaius Valerius Catullus]] [[ru:Гай Валерий Катулл]] [[sk:Gaius Valerius Catullus]] [[sh:Katul]] [[fi:Catullus]] [[sv:Catullus]] [[vi:Catullus]] [[tr:Catullus]] [[vec:Catullo]]