Gāius Valerius Catullus was born to a leadingequestrian family ofVerona, inCisalpine Gaul. The social prominence of his family allowed his father to entertainJulius Caesar when he was thePromagistrate (proconsul) of bothGallicprovinces.[3] In a poem, Catullus describes his happy homecoming to the family villa atSirmio, onLake Garda, near Verona; he also owned a villa near the resort ofTibur (modern Tivoli).[3]
Catullus appears to have spent most of his young adult years in Rome. His friends there included the poetsLicinius Calvus andHelvius Cinna, Quintus Hortensius (son ofthe orator and rival ofCicero), and the biographerCornelius Nepos, to whom Catullus dedicated alibellus of poems,[3] the relation of which to the extant collection remains a matter of debate.[4] He appears to have been acquainted with the poetMarcus Furius Bibaculus. A number of prominent contemporaries appear in his poetry, including Cicero, Caesar andPompey. According to an anecdote preserved bySuetonius, Caesar did not deny that Catullus's lampoons left an indelible stain on his reputation, but when Catullus apologized, he invited the poet for dinner the very same day.[5]
The "Lesbia" of his poems is usually identified withClodia Metelli, a sophisticated woman from the aristocratic house of patrician family Claudii Pulchri, sister of the infamousPublius Clodius Pulcher, and wife toQuintus Caecilius Metellus Celer (consul of 60 BC). In his poems Catullus describes several stages of their relationship: initial euphoria, doubts, separation, and his wrenching feelings of loss. Clodia had several other partners; "From the poems one can adduce no fewer than five lovers in addition to Catullus: Egnatius (poem 37), Gellius (poem 91), Quintius (poem 82), Rufus (poem 77), and Lesbius (poem 79)." There is also some question surrounding her husband's mysterious death in 59 BC: in his speechPro Caelio Cicero hints that he may have been poisoned. However, 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. In his poems, Catullus wavers between devout, sweltering love and bitter, scornful insults that he directs at her blatant infidelity (as demonstrated in poems 11 and 58). His passion for her is unrelenting—yet it is unclear when exactly the couple split up for good. Catullus's poems about the relationship display striking depth and psychological insight.[6]
He spent the year from summer 57 to summer 56 BC inBithynia on the staff of the commanderGaius Memmius. While in the East, he traveled to theTroad to perform rites at his brother's tomb, an event recorded in a moving poem (101).[3]
No ancient biography of Catullus has survived. His life has to be pieced together from scattered references to him in other ancient authors and from his poems. Thus it is uncertain when he was born and when he died.Jerome stated that he was born in 87 BC and died in Rome in his 30th year.[7] However, Catullus's poems include references to events of 55 BC. Since the Romanconsular fasti make it somewhat easy to confuse 87–57 BC with 84–54 BC, many scholars accept the dates 84–54 BC,[3] supposing that his latest poems and the publication of hislibellus coincided with the year of his death. Other authors suggest 52 or 51 BC as the year of the poet's death.[8] Though upon his elder brother's death Catullus lamented that their "whole house was buried along" with the deceased, the existence (and prominence) ofValerii Catulli is attested in the following centuries.T. P. Wiseman argues that after the brother's death Catullus could have married, and that, in this case, the laterValerii Catulli may have been his descendants.[9]
Catullus's poems have been preserved in ananthology of 116carmina (the actual number of poems may slightly vary in various editions), which can be divided into three parts according to their form: approximately sixty short poems in varying meters, calledpolymetra, nine longer poems, and forty-eightepigrams in elegiac couplets. Each of these three parts – approximately 860 (or more), 1136, and 330 lines respectively – would fit onto a single scroll.[10]
There is no scholarly consensus on whether Catullus himself arranged the order of the poems. The longer poems differ from thepolymetra and the epigrams not only in length but also in their subjects: several of them are based on the theme of marriage. The longest (64) of 408 lines, contains two myths (the abandonment ofAriadne and the marriage ofPeleus andThetis), one story included inside the other.
Thepolymetra and the epigrams can be divided into four majorthematic groups (ignoring a rather large number of poems that elude such categorization):
poems to and about his friends (e.g., an invitation like poem 13).
erotic poems: some of them about his attraction for a boy named Juventius, but others about women, especially about one he calls "Lesbia" (which likely served as a false name for the married womanClodia. "Lesbia" served as a source of inspiration for many of his poems).
invectives: often rude and sometimes downrightobscene poems targeted at friends-turned-traitors (e.g., poem16), other lovers of Lesbia, well-known poets, and politicians (e.g.,Julius Caesar andCicero).
condolences: some poems of Catullus are solemn in nature.96 comforts a friend in the death of a loved one; several others, most famously101, lament the death of his brother.
Above all other qualities, Catullus seems to have valuedvenustas, or charm, in his acquaintances, a theme which he explores in a number of his poems.
Catullus's poetry was influenced by the innovative poetry of theHellenistic Age, and especially byCallimachus and theAlexandrian school, which had propagated a new style of poetry that deliberately turned away from the classicalepic poetry in the tradition ofHomer. Cicero called these local innovatorsneoteroi (νεώτεροι) or "moderns" (in Latinpoetae novi or 'new poets'), in that they cast off the heroic model handed down fromEnnius in order to strike new ground and ring a contemporary note. Catullus and Callimachus did not describe the feats of ancientheroes and gods (except perhaps in re-evaluating and predominantly artistic circumstances, e.g. poem 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 asexpolitum, or polished, to show that the language he used was very carefully and artistically composed.
Catullus was also an admirer ofSappho, a female poet of the seventh century BC.Catullus 51 partly translates, partly imitates, and transformsSappho 31. Some hypothesize that 61 and 62 were perhaps inspired bylost works of Sappho but this is purely speculative. Both of the latter areepithalamia, a form oflaudatory or erotic wedding-poetry that Sappho was famous for. Catullus twice used a meter that Sappho was known for, called theSapphic stanza, in poems11 and 51, perhaps prompting his successor Horace's interest in the form.
Catullus, as was common to his era, was greatly influenced by stories from Greek and Roman myth. His longer poems—such as63,64,65,66, and68—allude to mythology in various ways. Some stories he refers to are the wedding ofPeleus andThetis, the departure of theArgonauts,Theseus and the Minotaur,Ariadne's abandonment,Tereus andProcne, as well asProtesilaus and Laodamia.
Catullus wrote in many different meters including hendecasyllabic verse and elegiac couplets (common in love poetry). A great part of his poetry shows strong and occasionally wild emotions, especially in regard toLesbia (e.g., poems5 and 7). His love poems are very emotional and ardent, and are relatable to this day. Catullus describes his Lesbia as having multiple suitors and often showing little affection towards him. He also demonstrates a great sense of humour such as inCatullus 13.
The Hungarian-born British composer Mátyás Seiber set Catullus 31 (Sirmio) for unaccompanied mixed chorus (1956).[11][12] The American composer Ned Rorem’s song “Catullus: On the Burial of His Brother” sets poem 101 for voice and piano.[13]
Pulitzer winning American composerDominick 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. TheDale Warland Singers, who commissioned the work, recorded it, as didRobert Shaw with his Festival Chorus.
Catullus Dreams (2011) is a song cycle by David Glaser set to texts of Catullus, scored for soprano and eight instruments; it premiered at Symphony Space in New York by soprano Linda Larson and Sequitur Ensemble.[14]Carmina Catulli is a song cycle arranged from 17 of Catullus's poems by American composer Michael Linton. The cycle was recorded in December 2013 and premiered atCarnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall in March 2014 by French baritone Edwin Crossley-Mercer and pianist Jason Paul Peterson.[15][16][17]
The 1888 playLesbia byRichard Davey depicts the relationship between Catullus and Lesbia, based on incidents from Catullus's poems.[26][27]
Catullus was the main protagonist of the historical novelFarewell, Catullus (1953) byPierson Dixon. The novel shows the corruption ofRoman society.[28][29]
W. G. Hardy's novelThe City of Libertines (1957) tells the fictionalized story of Catullus and a love affair during the time of Julius Caesar. TheFinancial Post described the book as "an authentic story of an absorbing era".[31]
A poem by Catullus is being recited toCleopatra in the eponymous1963 film whenJulius Caesar comes to visit her; they talk about him (Cleopatra: "Catullus doesn't approve of you. Why haven't you had him killed?" Caesar: "Because I approve of him.") and Caesar then recites other poems by him.
The American poetLouis Zukofsky in 1969 wrote a set ofhomophonic translations of Catullus that attempted in English to replicate the sound as primary emphasis, rather than the more common emphasis on sense of the originals (although the relationship between sound and sense there is often misrepresented and has been clarified bycareful study); his Catullus versions have had extensive influence on contemporary innovative poetry and homophonic translation, including the work of poetsRobert Duncan,Robert Kelly, andCharles Bernstein.
Robert de Maria wrote a fictional account of Catullus's life in his 1965 novelClodia.
Catullus is the protagonist ofTom Holland's 1995 novelAttis.
Catullus appears inSteven Saylor's 1995 novelThe Venus Throw as the embittered ex-lover of Clodia, sister of Publius Clodius Pulcher, whom he calls Lesbia.
Both Catullus and Clodia appear as major characters inThornton Wilder's 1948 epistolary novelThe Ides of March. Several excerpts from Catullus's poems are included.
^The bust was commissioned in 1935 by Sirmione's mayor, Luigi Trojani, and produced by the Milanese foundry Clodoveo Barzaghi with the assistance of the sculptor Villarubbia Norri (N. Criniti & M. Arduino (eds.),Catullo e Sirmione. Società e cultura della Cisalpina alle soglie dell'impero (Brescia: Grafo, 1994), p. 4).
^Reine Rimón and her Hot Papas jazz band; Gregg Stafford; Tuomo Pekkanen; Gaius Valerius Catullus,Variationes iazzicae Catullianae (in Latin), retrieved7 October 2013
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Balmer, J. (2004).Catullus: Poems of Love and Hate. Hexham: Bloodaxe.
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Harrington, Karl Pomeroy (1963).Catullus and His Influence. New York: Cooper Square Publishers.
Havelock, E.A. (1939).The Lyric Genius of Catullus. Oxford: B. Blackwell.
Hild, Christian (2013).Liebesgedichte als Wagnis. Emotionen und generationelle Prozesse in Catulls Lesbiagedichten. St. Ingbert: Röhrig.ISBN978-3-86110-517-6.
Kaggelaris, N. (2015), "Wedding Cry: Sappho (Fr. 109 LP, Fr. 104(a) LP)- Catullus (c. 62. 20-5)- modern greek folk songs" [in Greek] in Avdikos, E.- Koziou-Kolofotia, B. (ed.) Modern Greek folk songs and history, Karditsa, pp. 260–70[1]
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Radici Colace, P.,Tra ripetizione, struttura e ri-uso: il C. 30 di Catullo, in Atti 175° anniversario Liceo Ginnasio Statale "T. Campanella", Reggio Calabria 1989, 137–142.
Radici Colace, P.,Mittente-messaggio-destinatario in Catullo tra autobiografia e problematica dell'interpretazione, in AA.VV.,Atti del Convegno—La componente autobiografica nella poesia greca e latina fra realtà e artificio letterario - Pisa 16-17 maggio 1991, Pisa 1992, 1–13.
Radici Colace, P.,La "parola" e il "segno". Il rapporto mittente-destinatario e il problema dell'interpretazione in Catullo, Messana n.s.15, 1993, 23–44.
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