Catullus Flashcards
What is Catullus’s only work?
Carminae
How many poems in total are in Catullus’s Carminae?
116
Who later added three poems to Catullus’s Carminae?
Muretus
To whom did Catullus dedicate his “libellus”?
Cornelius Nepos
What are poems 1-60 referred to as?
nugae (sometimes polymetrics)
What meters are present in poems 1-60?
mainly phalaecean hendecasyllabics, also iambic trimeters, scazons, sapphics (no elegiac couplets)
Where were poems 18-20 found?
in the Priapea of the Appendix Vergiliana (added by Muretus)
What are poems 61-68 referred to as?
carmina docta (also the wedding poems, nuptials)
What are “epyllia”, typically associated with poems 61-68?
little epics
What meters are present in poems 61-68?
gallianbics, glyconics, hexameters, pentameters, pherecteteans
What is significant about poems 69-116?
epigrams in elegiac couplet
What is the first line of Carminae?
“Qui dono lepidum novum libellum”
To whom did Catullus dedicate his first carmen?
Cornelius Nepos
What is the subject of carmina 2?
Lesbia’s sparrow
What is the subject of carmina 3?
the death of Lesbia’s sparrow
What is the the meter of carmina 1?
hendecasyllabic
What is the meter of carmina 2?
hendecasyllabic
What is the meter of carmina 3?
hendecasyllabic
What is the subject of carmina 4?
a boat
What is the meter of carmina 4?
iambic senarius
What is the subject of carmina 5?
his love for Lesbia
What is the meter of carmina 5?
hendecasyllabic
What is referenced to in carmina 7?
exotic places (has links to Alexandrian poetry)
What is the meter of carmina 7?
hendecasyllabic
What is the subject of carmina 8?
a breakup between Catullus and Lesbia
What is the meter of carmina 8?
limping iambic (scazons)
Who is addressed in carmina 9?
Veranius
What is the meter of carmina 9?
hendecasyllabic
What is the subject of carmina 10?
Varus takes Catullus to meet a woman. Catullus goes on to brag about his litter (that actually belongs to Gaius Memmius) in an attempt to impress her
What is the meter of carmina 10?
hendecasyllabic
Who does Catullus address in carmina 11?
Furius and Aurelius (he asks them to speak to Lesbia on his behalf)
What is the meter of carmina 11?
Sapphic
Who does Catullus address in carmina 12?
Marrucinus Asinius (brother of Gaius Asinius Pollio)
What is the subject of carmina 12?
napkin thief
What is the meter of carmina 12?
hendecasyllabic
Who is the subject of carmina 22?
Suffenus (Catullus calls him a bad poet because he cares more about the exterior of a work than the contents)
What is the meter of carmina 22?
limping iambics (scazons)
What is carmina 27?
a drinking song
What is the meter of carmina 27?
hendecasyllabic
What is the subject of carmina 31?
Catullus’s joy in returning to Sirmio