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Ignoscenda Quidem … Catullus 64 and the Fourth Georgic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

Anna M. Crabbe
Affiliation:
Oxford

Extract

That Catullus’ sixty-fourth poem influenced Virgil's work has long been accepted. We approach a little nearer a resolution of the enigma of the Fourth Eclogue when we recognize epithalamian elements within it that echo not only the song of the Parcae, but also the themes of the Golden Age, of the Voyage of the Argo, and of the relations between gods and men from Catullus’ poem. Similarly, Ariadne's part in the creation of Aeneid 4, both in the ‘marriage’ scene and in Dido's reproaches to Aeneas, has been noted.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 1977

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References

page 342 note 1 I would like to thank Professor R. G. M. Nisbet and Miss M. E. Hubbard, who read and gave their comments on a first draft of this article, also Mr. C. G. Hardie and Mr. J. Griffin, who did the same at a later stage. All remaining mistakes are my own.

page 342 note 2 Cf. Herrman, L., ‘Le poème 64 de Catulle et Virgile’, REL 8 (1930), 220–1Google Scholar; Rose, H. J., The Eclogues of Virgil (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1942), pp.201–3Google Scholar; most recently Williams, G., Tradition and Originality in Roman Poetry (Oxford, 1968), pp.281 ff.Google Scholar, and ‘A Version of Pastoral’, in Quality and Pleasure in Latin Poetry, ed. Woodman, and West, , (Cambridge, 1974), pp.45 ff.Google Scholar For the best recent discussion of Catullus 64 itself, see Bramble, J., ‘Structure and Ambiguity in Catullus 64’, PCPS 16 (1970), 22 ff.Google Scholar

page 342 note 3 For the ‘marriage’, cf. Austin, R. G. on Aen. 4.316.Google ScholarIn general cf. Jackson, C. N., ‘The Latin Epyllion’, HSCP 24 (1913), 4550Google Scholar (although I do not share many of his opinions on the ‘epyllion’); also Pease, A. S., Aeneid 4, (Harvard, 1935), Introduction, p.14 with n.100Google Scholar, where he provides further bibliography. Guillemin, A. M., L'Originalité de Virgile (Paris, 1913), lists parallels on pp.77–9.Google Scholar

page 342 note 4 Cf. Crump, M. M., The Epyllion from Theocritus to Ovid (London, 1931), pp.178, 187Google Scholar; Jackson, , op. cit., pp.39, 42. But I would not agree that the second half of Georgic 4 is an ‘epyllion’ and have doubts about the propriety of the title at all.Google Scholar

page 342 note 5 G.4.325; cf. Cat. 64.140. W. Richter on G.4.324 ff. notes that the tone of the speech as a whole resembles that of Ariadne; cf. F. Della Corte and H. H. Huxley ad loc. Jahn, P., Aus Vergils Dichterwerkstätte (Wiss. Beil. z. Jahresber. d. Köln. Gymn. z. Berlin, 1905), p.7Google Scholar, would compare G.4.317, ‘Peneia Tempe’ with Cat. 64.285, ‘confestim Penios adest, viridantia Tempe’. Paratore, E., Introduzione alle Georgiche di Virgilio (Palermo, 1938), p.25 n.35, stressed that the frames of the two poems are comparable, for both Peleus and Aristaeus are Thessalian heroes and connected with water deities, the first with Thetis, the second with Cyrene and Proteus, although he does not notice Thetis’ own connections with metamorphosis (see below, p.349 and n.4). He also pointed out that both digressions conclude with Dionysiac ‘orgia’.Google Scholar

page 342 note 6 Cat. 64.140.

page 342 note 7 I use the term purely for convenience and without qualitative implications.

page 342 note 8 Cf. Otis, B., Virgil, A Study in Civilized Poetry (Oxford, 1964), pp.193 ff., although I do not find the composite epithet ‘sympathetic-empathetic’ helpful in distinguishing the special quality of the Orpheus narrative.Google Scholar

page 343 note 1 Although Proteus’ story concerns the past it should still be regarded as prophecy. Proteus is a prophet in the Homeric and Hesiodic sense, as Virgil is at pains to emphasize in line 393. For Hellenistic poets and prophecy see Hensel, L., Weissagungen in der alexandrischen Poesie (Diss. Giessen, 1908).Google Scholar

page 343 note 2 For examples of laments beside water outside Catullus see below, p.344 n.3.

page 343 note 3 G.4.317 ff. My concern here is solely with the general situation. For Aristaeus’ particular predicament, especially the affront to ‘honos’ or Iliad 1.347 ff., Achilles’ complaint to Thetis, is, of course, the primary source.

page 343 note 4 G. 4.508, but see p.348 below for further details.

page 343 note 5 G. 4.325.

page 343 note 6 G. 4.465.

page 343 note 7 Cat. 64.132–3.Google Scholar

page 343 note 8 G. 4.508.

page 343 note 9 Cat. 64.124.

page 344 note 1 G. 4.515.

page 344 note 2 Cat. 64.130. I am grateful to Professor Nisbet for drawing my attention to the last two parallels.

page 344 note 3 Achilles’ complaints to his mother, Il. 1.347 ff. and 18.35 ff., and Odysseus’ solitary brooding on Calypso's isle, Od. 5.151 ff., provide the prototypes for the theme. It was popular with Hellenistic poets too. At Theoc. 11.13–14 the Cyclops sings of Galatea alone on the shore, and Mr. Griffin reminds me of the Cyclops in Hermesianax (fr. 1 P.) and of Orpheus himself in the same poet (fr. 7.8 P). For weeping heroines in general, cf. Polymele in Philetas’ Hermes (fr. 5 P.) and the Medea of Apollonius.

page 344 note 4 Ecl. 6.64. Virgil has this poem in mind elsewhere in the Aristaeus Episode. His own picture of the mysterious Silenus contributes to his presentation of the chaining of Proteus. For details, cf. my doctoral dissertation, ‘The Aristaeus “Epyllion”’ (Oxford, 1976), pp.107 ff.Google Scholar

page 344 note 5 Tradition and Originality, pp.246–7.Google Scholar

page 344 note 6 Phanocles had represented Orpheus in a similar light to the lover of Roman elegy when he set him beneath a tree singing of his longing for the boy Calais (fr. 1.1–6 P.). For the waterside lament in elegy, cf. Prop. 1.15.9–14, where Calypso's longing for Ulysses is compared to that of the poet for Cynthia; Prop. 1.17, the poet in a storm at sea, and its companion piece, 18, the poet in wild and lonely scenery, where springs are also mentioned. My thanks are due to Miss Hubbard for drawing my attention to the Propertian passages.

page 344 note 7 G. 4.500.

page 345 note 1 Cat, . 64.132–8.Google Scholar

page 345 note 2 Cat, . 64.241–8.Google Scholar On the theme of ‘forgetfulness’ that runs throughout the Catullan poem, cf. Klingner, F., Catulls Peleus-Epos (Sitzb. bay. Ak. d.Wiss., phil.-hist. Kl., München 1956), 6, p.50.Google Scholar

page 345 note 3 G. 4.496.

page 345 note 4 G. 4.469–70.

page 345 note 5 G. 4.489.

page 345 note 6 G. 4.492.

page 346 note 1 Cat, . 64.94–5.Google Scholar

page 346 note 2 Cat. 64.86 ff.

page 346 note 3 Cat. 64.54.

page 346 note 4 Cat. 64.197.

page 346 note 5 Compare Catullus’ own practice in his 68th poem, where Protesilaus is both Catullus’ brother and Lesbia; cf. Macleod, C. W., ‘A Use of Myth in Ancient Poetry’, CQ 24 (1974), 84–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

page 346 note 6 Cat. 64.112–15.

page 346 note 7 Cat. 64.112.

page 346 note 8 G. 4.485.

page 346 note 9 Both Miss Hubbard and Mr. Hardie offered me helpful suggestions on this association of ideas.

page 347 note 1 Cat. 64.58.

page 347 note 2 p.344.

page 347 note 3 Ariadne's delusions on the subject of marriage serve as the model for Dido, in Aen. 4; cf. p.342 above.Google Scholar

page 347 note 4 Cat, . 64.182–3.Google Scholar

page 347 note 5 G. 4.499–500.

page 347 note 6 G. 4.501–2.

page 347 note 7 Cat, . 64.164–7.Google Scholar

page 347 note 8 Cat, . 64.177–9, 182–3.Google Scholar

page 347 note 9 G. 4.504–5.

page 347 note 10 G. 4.506. The image of the ship on the horizon bearing away the beloved is familiar from Pompeian wall paintings of the story of Theseus and Ariadne. The iconography of that legend is discussed by Klingner, , op. cit. pp.32–8.Google Scholar

page 348 note 1 I owe this suggestion to Miss Hubbard.

page 348 note 2 Cat, . 65.1214; cf. p.351 n.1 below.Google Scholar

page 348 note 3 For earlier versions cf. Aesch, . fr. 23–5 N., from the BassaridsGoogle Scholar; Eratosthenes, , Cat. 24 (p.140 Robert) and the rather idiosyncratic romancing of Phanocles (fr. 1 P.).Google Scholar

page 348 note 4 Cf. Paratore, loc. cit.

page 348 note 5 Cat, . 64.251–65.Google Scholar

page 348 note 6 Cat. 64.257.

page 348 note 7 G. 4.516. Jahn, op. cit. p.18, suggests that the interesting phrase ‘animum flexere hymenaei’ owes something to the epithalamium of Catullus’ Parcae, where we find ‘… adveniet fausto cum sidere coniunx, quae tibi flexanimo mentem perfundat amore’ (329–30), and the context of marriage would confirm his suggestion.

page 348 note 8 Cat. 64.257. This may have affected Virgil's idea of linking the sparagmos with the loss of Eurydice in the first place.

page 349 note 1 G. 4.520–2.

page 349 note 2 G. 4.527.

page 349 note 3 Jahn, , op. cit., p.9, connects the nymphs who sit spinning and listening to Clymene's song with Catullus’ Parcae, who work as they sing.Google Scholar

page 349 note 4 Cf. p.342 n.5 above. For the more usual version, Pind. N. 4.62, with the Scholia ad loc. and on N. 3.35; Apld. 3.13.4–5; Ovid, , Met. 11.235 ff.Google Scholar

page 350 note 1 Cat, . 64.1118.Google Scholar

page 350 note 2 G. 4.387–95. On this passage it should be noted that the connection between shepherding and sea-cortège is not new. Homer used the simile briefly for Proteus and his seals at Od. 4.414; at Od. 12.96–7 we find:

But here Virgil surely has in mind the Apollonian simile that follows Orpheus’ cos mogony (one of the models for the Song of Silenus), the song sung to guide the Argo on its first voyage. As in Catullus, the ship provokes a startled reaction from the sea's inhabitants:

(Ap. Rhod. 1.57213–579).

page 350 note 3 Compare the similarity to Catullus’ ‘vulttis’.

page 351 note 1 Cat, . 64.178–83.Google Scholar Catullus reverses the order ‘gurgite plus noun‘, ‘gurgite plus adjective’ from the first passage here, creating a formal chiasmus. Virgil avoids the slightly anticlimactic use of ‘gurgite‘ with a following epithet, preferring a disyllabic noun in both cases. Catullus’ reference to ‘fraterna caede’ is interesting, since in 65 he uses imagery for his brother's rather different death that reflects that used in 64 of Ariadne's state of mind:

‘nee potis est dulcis Musarum exponere fetus mens animi, tantis fluctuat ipsa malisnamque mei nuper Lethaeo gurgite fratris pallidulum manans alluit unda pedem.’ ‘Gurgite’ appears yet again in the fifth foot. Virgil may well have noted the connection, since this poem's nightingale simile is one of several contributors to Virgil's own for the mourning Orpheus at G. 4.511 ff.