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”
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
What is the meter of carmina 31?
limping iambics (scazons)
What is carmina 34?
a hymn to Diana, to be performed by boys and girls
What is the meter of carmina 34?
first three lines are glyconics, the last line is pherectetean (it’s separated into six quatrains)
What is the subject of carmina 35?
he tells Caecilius to move from Como and visit Catullus in Verona
What is the meter of carmina 35?
hendecasyllabic
What is the subject of carmina 36?
Lesbia says Catullus was a bad poet, but he assumes she’s referring to Volusius
What is the meter of carmina 36?
hendecasyllabic
What is the subject of carmina 43?
Catullus tries to compare Lesbia to the girlfriend of a man from Formio, Mamurra
What is the meter of carmina 43?
hendecasyllabic
What is the subject of carmina 44?
Sestius invites him to dinner, but he reads a speech of Sestius that is so chilling he contracts a cold
What is the meter of carmina 44?
limping iambic (scazons)
What is the subject of carmina 45?
a dialogue between a Greek woman, Acme, and her Roman lover Septimius
What is the subject of carmina 46?
a celebration of Catullus going from Bithynia to home
What is the meter of carmina 46?
hendecasyllabic
Who does Catullus address in carmina 49?
Cicero (either sarcastic or flattering)
What is the meter of carmina 49?
hendecasyllabic
What is the subject of carmina 50?
Catullus and Licinius Calvus tease each other
What is the meter of carmina 50?
hendecasyllabic
On what earlier work is carmina 51 based?
a poem by Sappho
What is the subject of carmina 51?
his awe of Lesbia’s beauty
What is the meter of carmina 51?
Sapphic
What is the subject of carmina 53?
he compliments Licinius Calvus, noted for his persecution of Vatinius
What is the meter of carmina 53?
hendecasyllabic
What is the subject of carmina 61?
the marriage of Lucius Manlius Torquatus and Vinia (or Junia) Aurunculeia
What is carmina 61 written as?
a nuptial song delivered during the deductio, the procession that accompanies the bride
What are carminae 61 and 62 referred to as?
epithalamia (nuptial songs)
What is the meter of carmina 61?
glyconics
What is carmina 62?
it was a song about marriage and virginity made to be sung by boys and girls
What is the meter of carmina 62?
dactylic hexameter
What is the subject of carmina 63?
Attis castrated himself to join the cult of Cybele
What is carmina 63?
epyllion
What is the meter of carmina 63?
galliambic (galli, priests of Cybele)
What is the subject of carmina 64?
the wedding of Peleus and Thetis (with ecphrasis (the depiction of a static work of art in literature as if it is in motion) on the story of Ariadne and Thetis)
What other work takes text from carmina 64?
the Aeneid (Dido says almost the exact same thing to Aeneas that Ariadne says to Theseus)
Whose sentiments are similar to those expressed in carmina 70?
Callimachus
What are the subjects of carmina 70, 72, and 73?
Catullus’s frustration over Lesbia
What is the subject of carmina 75?
Catullus says that he can’t help loving Lesbia whether she is good or bad
Who does Catullus address in carmina 77?
Caelius Rufus (Lesbia’s new lover)
What is the subject of carmina 83?
Metellus (Lesbia’s husband) finding Catullus and Lesbia together
What is the subject of carmina 84?
Catullus teases Arrius for pronouncing his h’s
What is the topic of carmina 66?
translation of Callimachus’s Coma Berenice (her hair is a token of her love)
What is the subject of carmina 65?
Catullus says it is hard to write after his brother’s death
What is the subject of carmina 67?
paraclausythmon (singer addressing a closed door wanting love)
What is the subject of carmina 86?
Catullus states that Lesbia’s beauty is incomparable, even in the light of another attractive woman, Quintia
What is the subject of carmina 95?
Catullus criticizes Zmyrna, a poem by Cinna
What is the subject of carmina 96?
Catullus attempts to console his friend Calvus over the unexpected death of his wife Quintilia
What is the subject of carmina 101?
Catullus’s deceased brother, whose grave he visits on the way to Bithynia
What is the subject of carmina 107?
expresses joy over potential reconciliation with Lesbia
What is the subject of carmina 109?
Catullus reflects on the brevity of his relationship with Lesbia
To whom did Catullus dedicate his first carmen?
Cornelius Nepos
Which carmina contains the line “Lugete, O Veneres Cupidinesque, et quantum est hominum venustiorum passer mortuus est meae puellae Passer, deliciae meae puella”
carmina 3
(Ye cupids, droop each little head, nor let your wings with joy be spread: my Lesbia’s favorite bird is dead, whom dearer than her eyes she loved)
Which carmina contains the line “Sed mulier cupido quod dicit amanti, in vento et rapida scribere orportet aqua”?
carmina 70 (What a woman says to a passionate lover should be written in the wind and running water)
Which carmina contains the line “Vivamus, mea Lesbia, atque amemus”?
carmina 5 (Let us live, my Lesbia, and let us love)
Which carmina contains the line “Quis ullos homines beatiores vidit, quis Veneram auspicatiorem?”
carmina 45 (Has anybody ever seen a more auspicious love?)
Which carmina contains the line “Difficile est longum subito deponere amorem”?
carmina 76 (It is difficult to suddenly give up a long love)
Which carmina contains the line “Quaeris, quot mihi basiationes tuae, Lesbia, sint satis superque?”
carmina 7 (You ask me, Lesbia, how many kisses it will take to make me fully satisfied?)
Which carmina contains the life “Ille mi par esse deo videntur ille, si fas est, superare divos, qui sedens adversus identidem te spectat et audit”?
carmina 51 (He seems to me to be like a god, even superior to the Gods, if it is permitted, who sitting opposite watches and listens to you again and again)
Which carmina contains the line “Desine de quoquam quincquam bene velle mereri aut aliquem fieri posse putare pium”?
carmina 73 (Give up wanting to deserve any thanks from anyone, or thinking that anybody can be grateful)
Which carmina contains the line “Da mihi basia mille, deinde centum”?
carmina 5 (Give me a thousand kisses, and then a hundred)
Which carmina contains the line “Nec disistere amare, omnia si facias”?
carmina 75 (nor cease to love you though you do the worst that can be done)
Which carmina contains the line “Si quicquam cupido optantique optigit umquam isperanti, hoc est gratum animo proprie”?
carmina 107 (If anything has happened to one who yearned and wished but never hoped, that is a rare pleasure of the soul)
Which carmina contains the line “Odi et amo, quare id faciam, fortasse requiris? Nescio, sed fieri sentio et exrucior”?
carmina 85 (I hate and I love. Perhaps you ask why I do it? I don’t know, but I feel it happening and the pain is dreadful)
Which carmina contains the line “Frater, ave atque vale”?
carmina 101 (Goodbye brother, and farewell)