Catullus
Gaius Valerius Catullus was born to a leading equestrian family of Verona in Cisalpine Gaul. His father entertained Julius Caesar when the future dictator served as Promagistrate of both Gallic provinces. The poet described his happy homecoming to the family villa at Sirmio on Lake Garda near Verona. He also owned a second villa near the resort of Tibur which is modern Tivoli. Catullus spent most of his young adult years in Rome where he made friends with other poets. Licinius Calvus and Helvius Cinna were among these companions. Quintus Hortensius son of the orator Cicero appeared in his circle. Cornelius Nepos received a libellus of poems from the poet though scholars debate its relation to the surviving collection. Marcus Furius Bibaculus appears to have been another acquaintance. Prominent contemporaries like Cicero Caesar and Pompey appear frequently within his poetry. An anecdote preserved by Suetonius states that Caesar did not deny Catullus's lampoons left an indelible stain on his reputation. When Catullus apologized for the insults Caesar invited him for dinner the very same day.
The Lesbia of his poems is usually identified with Clodia Metelli a sophisticated woman from the aristocratic house of patrician family Claudii Pulchri. She was the sister of the infamous Publius Clodius Pulcher and wife to Quintus Caecilius Metellus Celer who served as consul of 60 BC. In his poems Catullus describes several stages of their relationship including initial euphoria doubts separation and wrenching feelings of loss. Clodia had several other partners beyond Catullus himself. From the poems one can adduce no fewer than five lovers in addition to Catullus: Egnatius Gellius Quintius Rufus and Lesbius. There is also some question surrounding her husband's mysterious death in 59 BC. In his speech Pro Caelio Cicero hints that he may have been poisoned. A sensitive and passionate Catullus could not relinquish his flame for Clodia regardless of her obvious indifference to his desire for a deep and permanent relationship. His passion for her remains unrelenting yet it is unclear when exactly the couple split up for good. The poet wavers between devout sweltering love and bitter scornful insults directed at her blatant infidelity. Poems 11 and 58 demonstrate this shift toward insults regarding her betrayal.
Catullus's poems have been preserved in an anthology of 116 carmina though the actual number varies slightly in various editions. These works divide into three parts according to their form. Approximately sixty short poems exist in varying meters called polymetra. Nine longer poems make up the second section while forty-eight epigrams appear in elegiac couplets as the third part. Each of these three sections would fit onto a single scroll containing between 800 and 1100 verses. The longest poem numbered 64 contains 408 lines and includes two myths about Ariadne and Peleus. There is no scholarly consensus on whether Catullus himself arranged the order of the poems. The longer poems differ from the polymetra and epigrams not only in length but also in their subjects. Several of them are based on the theme of marriage. The polymetra and epigrams can be divided into four major thematic groups ignoring a rather large number of poems that elude such categorization. One group features poems to and about his friends like invitation poem 13. Another group consists of erotic poems including some about attraction for a boy named Juventius and others about women especially Lesbia. A third category contains invectives often rude or obscene poems targeted at friends turned traitors well-known poets and politicians. The final group offers condolences with poem 96 comforting a friend in death and poem 101 lamenting the death of his brother.
Catullus's poetry was influenced by the innovative poetry of the Hellenistic Age especially by Callimachus and the Alexandrian school. This new style deliberately turned away from classical epic poetry in the tradition of Homer. Cicero called these local innovators neoteroi or moderns in Latin poetae novi meaning new poets. They cast off the heroic model handed down from Ennius to strike new ground and ring a contemporary note. Catullus and Callimachus did not describe the feats of ancient heroes and gods except perhaps in re-evaluating and predominantly artistic circumstances as seen in poem 64. Instead they focused on small-scale personal themes. Although these poems sometimes seem quite superficial their subjects are mere everyday concerns yet they remain 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. He was also an admirer of Sappho a female poet of the seventh century BC. Poem 51 partly translates partly imitates and transforms Sappho 31. Some hypothesize that poems 61 and 62 were perhaps inspired by lost works of Sappho but this is purely speculative. Both of the latter are epithalamia a form of laudatory or erotic wedding-poetry that Sappho was famous for. Catullus twice used a meter that Sappho was known for called the Sapphic stanza in poems 11 and 51.
The Hungarian-born British composer Mátyás Seiber set Catullus 31 titled Sirmio for unaccompanied mixed chorus in 1956. The American composer Ned Rorem's song Catullus On the Burial of His Brother sets poem 101 for voice and piano. Pulitzer winning American composer Dominick Argento set verses of Catullus for mixed chorus and percussion in 1981. I Hate and I Love presents about 50 lines of text over eight movements using the composer's own translation into English. The Dale Warland Singers commissioned the work and recorded it alongside Robert Shaw with his Festival Chorus. Catullus Dreams from 2011 is a song cycle by David Glaser scored for soprano and eight instruments. It premiered at Symphony Space in New York by soprano Linda Larson and Sequitur Ensemble. Michael Linton arranged a song cycle from 17 of Catullus's poems which was recorded in December 2013 and premiered at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall in March 2014. Thomas Campion wrote a lute-song entitled My Sweetest Lesbia dating from 1601 using his own translation of the first six lines of Catullus 5. Dutch composer Bertha Tideman-Wijers used Catullus's text for her composition Variations on Valerius's Where that one already turns or turns in 1929. Carl Orff created a cantata called Catulli Carmina dating from 1943 that sets texts from Catullus to music.
The 1888 play Lesbia by Richard Davey depicts the relationship between Catullus and Lesbia based on incidents from Catullus's poems. Catullus served as the main protagonist of the historical novel Farewell Catullus published in 1953 by Pierson Dixon. The novel shows the corruption of Roman society during that era. Vladimir Nabokov's 1955 novel Lolita makes multiple explicit and implicit allusions to Catullus's work. W. G. Hardy's novel The City of Libertines from 1957 tells the fictionalized story of Catullus and a love affair during the time of Julius Caesar. A poem by Catullus is being recited to Cleopatra in the eponymous 1963 film when Julius Caesar comes to visit her. The American poet Louis Zukofsky wrote a set of homophonic translations of Catullus in 1969 attempting to replicate the sound as primary emphasis rather than sense. Robert de Maria wrote a fictional account of Catullus's life in his 1965 novel Clodia. Catullus appears in Steven Saylor's 1995 novel The Venus Throw as the embittered ex-lover of Clodia sister of Publius Clodius Pulcher. Both Catullus and Clodia appear as major characters in Thornton Wilder's 1948 epistolary novel The Ides of March with several excerpts from Catullus's poems included.
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Common questions
When was Gaius Valerius Catullus born and when did he die?
Gaius Valerius Catullus lived from approximately 84 BC to approximately 54 BC. He was a Latin poet of the late Roman Republic who spent his young adult years in Rome.
Who is the Lesbia character in Catullus poems identified as?
The Lesbia of his poems is usually identified with Clodia Metelli, a woman from the aristocratic house of patrician family Claudii Pulchri. She was the sister of Publius Clodius Pulcher and wife to Quintus Caecilius Metellus Celer who served as consul of 60 BC.
How many carmina or poems are preserved in the Catullus anthology?
Catullus's poems have been preserved in an anthology of 116 carmina though the actual number varies slightly in various editions. These works divide into three parts including polymetra, longer poems, and epigrams.
Which Hellenistic poets influenced the style of Catullus poetry?
Catullus's poetry was influenced by the innovative poetry of the Hellenistic Age especially by Callimachus and the Alexandrian school. He also admired Sappho a female poet of the seventh century BC whose work he translated and imitated in poem 51.
What musical compositions set texts from Catullus poems to music?
Mátyás Seiber set Catullus 31 titled Sirmio for unaccompanied mixed chorus in 1956 while Carl Orff created a cantata called Catulli Carmina dating from 1943 that sets texts from Catullus to music. Other composers like Ned Rorem Dominick Argento and David Glaser have also set his verses to music.