Catullus 63
Catullus 63 is a Latin poem of 93 lines in galliambic metre by the Roman poet Catullus.
Context
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The poem is about the
According to
Synopsis
Catullus departs from this form of the Attis myth, and makes Attis a beautiful Greek youth who in a moment of religious frenzy sails across seas at the head of a band of companions to devote himself to the already long-established service of the goddess.
Date
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The date of composition is uncertain, but Catullus may have found his immediate inspiration in his contact with the Cybelian worship in its original home during his residence in Bithynia in 57-56 BC.[3] Or it may have been found in his studies in the Alexandrian poets; for Callimachus certainly used the galliambic meter, though no distinct title of a poem by him on this theme is extant.[3] Caecilius of Comum was also engaged on a poem based on the worship of Cybele,[n] and Varro and Maecenas both exercised their talents in the same direction.[o][3]
The poem abounds in rhetorical devices to add to its effect; such are the frequent employment of alliteration,[p] of strange and harsh compounds,[q] and the repetition of words of agitated movement and feeling (e.g. rapidus three times, citatus four times, citus twice, rabidus three times, rabies once).[4]
Notes
- ^ vv. 12, 34.
- ^ cf. Ov. Fast. 4.361ff.
- ^ cf. Lucr. 2.598ff.; Varr. Sat. Men. 131 Büch. ff.; Ov. Fast. 4.179ff.
- ^ Livy 29.10, 14; cf. also Ov. Fast. 4.247ff.
- ^ Arnobius Adu. Gent. 7.46.
- ^ Aen. 7.188.
- ^ cf. Ov. Fast. l. c.
- ^ vv. 1-3.
- ^ vv. 4-5.
- ^ vv. 6-38.
- ^ vv. 39-47.
- ^ vv. 48-73.
- ^ vv. 74ff.
- Catul. 35.13ff.
- ^ cf. Varr. Sat. Men. l. c.; Maec. in Baehr. Fragm. Poet. Rom. p. 339.
- ^ vv. 2, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 13, etc.
- ^ vv. 23 hederigerae, 34 properipedem, 45 sonipedibus, 51 erifugae, 72 nemorivagus.
References
Sources
- Burton, Richard F.; Smithers, Leonard C., eds. (1894). The Carmina of Caius Valerius Catullus. London: Printed for the Translators: for Private Subscribers. pp. 138–148.
- Merrill, Elmer Truesdell, ed. (1893). Catullus (College Series of Latin Authors). Boston, MA: Ginn and Company. pp. 119–130.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
Further reading
- Hardy, Anne (May 2022). "The Ecstasy and the Agony: Mania, Manhood and Misery in Catullus 63". Antigone. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
- Harrison, S. J. (2004). "Catullus 63: Text and Translation". Mnemosyne, 57(5). pp. 514–519.
- Nauta, Ruurd R. (2004). "Catullus 63 in a Roman Context". Mnemosyne, 57(5). pp. 596–628.
External links
- C. Valerius Catullus. "Catul. 63". Carmina. Leonard C. Smithers, ed. Perseus Digital Library. Retrieved 3 March 2023.
Works related to Catullus 63 at Wikisource