I’ve been reading the poetry of Catullus, for
the first time reading the whole collection, and it’s been an amazing trip.
Catullus was a younger contemporary of Julius Caesar – whom
he lacerated in some of the most brutal political satire I’ve seen. He died young, probably a few years
before Caesar, though probably not from the same disease.
His poetry has extraordinary range: from obscene abuse to
gentle lyrics, social satire, translations, literary polemic, broad humour, laments
for the dead, poems agonizing over his intermittent lover Lesbia, and marriage
hymns mixed with seriously weird re-tellings of mythological stories about gods
and heroes.
Conservative in many attitudes; privileged though not in the
political elite; sexist it goes without saying; possessive in the extreme:
Catullus doesn’t cut a pretty figure.
But he’s his own most savage critic.
His most famous poem is an affectionate joke, where he sings
his jealousy of Lesbia’s pet sparrow, which is allowed to nestle between her
breasts.
 |
| Sparrow? |
His most famous phrase, in a very short poem presumably
also addressed to Lesbia, is Odi et amo –
I love and hate [at the same time] - and feel crucified. Catullus discovered ambivalence two thousand
years before Freud did.
It’s a miracle that these poems survived, given their
eroticism, political anger, and general subversiveness. It seems that just one manuscript survived into the European
middle ages, from which all modern versions have descended.
My half-forgotten high-school Latin isn’t up to the task of
construing this, so I’ve been reading in a bilingual edition with copious
scholarly notes. Trying to follow
the all-important rhythm of the Latin text – Catullus apparently was a virtuoso
technically. Not exactly skipping
through it!
Given the fog of language and interpretation, I’m astonished
at the power this poetry has - to speak to someone on the other side of the
world and twenty centuries later, and still make the words ring.
But then - there's another side of the story. What did Lesbia think about Catullus? I've tried to imagine what an aristocratic, educated and highly independent woman of her generation would have made of this upwardly mobile boy from the provinces.
FROM LESBIA'S POINT OF VIEW
Give me a break, Catullus! Show some spine!
Yes, we had one good screw, I admit it;
Thank me with flattery in verse, that's fine,
But this moaning on and on: just quit it!
You get on my nerves, young man. Go off,
Fight the barbarians with your little bow and arrow,
Do what men do - steal, quarrel, act the toff -
By all the gods, I care more for this sparrow!
But then - there's another side of the story. What did Lesbia think about Catullus? I've tried to imagine what an aristocratic, educated and highly independent woman of her generation would have made of this upwardly mobile boy from the provinces.
FROM LESBIA'S POINT OF VIEW
Give me a break, Catullus! Show some spine!
Yes, we had one good screw, I admit it;
Thank me with flattery in verse, that's fine,
But this moaning on and on: just quit it!
You get on my nerves, young man. Go off,
Fight the barbarians with your little bow and arrow,
Do what men do - steal, quarrel, act the toff -
By all the gods, I care more for this sparrow!