CHAPTERIII
A CONCATENARY READING OF CATULLUS
In the first section of this chapter, I read the Carmina in their traditional linear order, stressing and elucidating thematic and formal links between successive poems. Simultaneously, many new interpretations of single poems are offered. The second seetion summarizes the thematic similarities and contrasts occurring in the collection. In the third seetion, I discuss the different principles underlying the arrangement. In the fourth section, the devices of concatenation are used to detect instances of concentric compo• sition. The fifth seetion describes the effects of a concatenary reading on the text of Catullus. Some condusions are drawn in the final seetion.
SIGLA AND DEFINITIONS
TC: thematic concatenation, Le. repetition of similar themes and motifs in poems dose to each other LC: lexical concatenation, Le. repetition of identical or similar words or phrases in poems dose to each other
Simple concatenation: concatenation in consecutive poems Disjunctive concatenation: concatenation in poems separated by one or more other poems
Literal LC: LC based on literal repetition of words and phrases (with or without some morphological variation) Homonymous LC: LC based on repetition of homonymous words and phrases Phonie LC: LC based on repetition of sounds Synonymous LC: LC based on repetition of synonymous words and phrases Antonymous LC: LC based on repetition of antonymous words and phrases Thematic LC: LC stressing thematic links Formal LC: LC with a purely connective function 58
1. 1'HEMATIC AND LExIcAL CONCATENATION IN THE CARMINA
F'IRsTBooK
The ftrst poem describes the contents of Book 1 as nugae 'light verse'. Pliny the Younger (Ep. 4.14) uses the tenn for a volume of hendeca• syllabies: cogitare me has meas nugas ita inscribere Hendecasyllabos 'I intend to call these trifles of mine Hendecasyllabics'. There are actually 41 hendecasyllabics among the 58 poems of Catullus' ftrst book.
1 This proem is a dedicatory poem (anathematikon) of the ftrst book, and of the whole collection. Catullus' fellow countryman Comelius Nepos was an apt dedicatee since he wrote similar light poetry (Pliny Ep. 5.3.6). Caims (1969) stresses the programmatic function of the proem. The word nouus is topical at the beginning of a book (e.g. Ovid Met. 1.1 in noua; Pont. 1.1.1 non nouus; Martial13.1 nouos). There is a verbal link between the ftrst and the ftnal poem of book I, viz. c. 1.1 nouum/ c. 60.4 nouissimo. The word doctis pointing to Alexandrian sophistication is linked with doctis (uirginibus) at c. 65.2 (in the ftrst poem ofbook III). According to Martin (1992:122), the opening-phrase cui dono is pro• grammatic for 'the theme of gift-giving' in book 1 (e.g. poems 2 dare, 4 dedicat, 5 da, 10 commoda, 12 miserunt, 13 accipies, donarunt, 14 misit, misti, 15 commendo, 17 da, 24 dedisses). The phrase is cleverly reversed at the end of the collection where Gellius must pay the penalty for his refusal of Catullus' poetical gift Le. dedication: c. 116.8 tu dabis. Caims (1995) has shown that Roman poets loved putting bilingual puns in their incipits: e.g. Horace Od. 3.1 Odi (punning on Greek ode), Epod. 1.1. Ibis (punning on Greek ibis). Possibly, Catullus' cui dono or quoi dono alludes to Greek Kudonion (Latin malum Cydonium, late Latin quidonia) 'Cydonian apple, quince'. If so, the ftrst words of the collection hint at a typicallove-gift (compare, in the ftrst poem of book III, c. 65.19 missum ... munere malum 'an apple sent as a gift'). For the etymologizing word play Cydonia < donare compare Propertius 3.13.27-28 illis munus erant ... Cydonia... dare 'they used to give Cydonian apples as a "donation"'. Catullus' pun announces the quince of poem 2 (for the identi• ftcation of malum aureolum with Cydonium malum see Chapter 1.2.1 and Felgentreu 1993).
2 This request of a love-gift in the shape of a passer 'sparrow' contrasts with poem 1 describing the gift of a volume that was probably called Passer after the ftrst word of poem 2 (see Gratwick 1991, referring to Martial