Catullan Echoes in the Second Century A.D.: CEL 1512Author(s): K. R. WaltersReviewed work(s):Source: The Classical World, Vol. 69, No. 6 (Mar., 1976), pp. 353-359Published by: Classical Association of the Atlantic StatesStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4348465 .Accessed: 31/10/2012 18:10

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MARCH 1976 THE CLASSICAL WORLD 353

Catullan Echoes in the Second Century A.D.: CEL 1512

Quam dulcis fuit ista quam benigna quae cum viveret in sinu iacebat somni conscia semper et cubilis. o factum male Myia quod peristi. latrares modo si quis adcubaret rivalis dominae licentiosa. o factum male Myia quod peristi. altum iam tenet insciam sepulcrum nec sevire potes nec insilire nec blandis mihi morsibus renides.

Mock dirges on the death of a favorite pet formed a popular genre of poetry in antiquity. The Greek Anthology (6.189-216) contains many exam- ples. In Latin there are, among others, Ovid, A mores 2.6, Martial, 1.109, and Statius, Silvae 2.4. Of course, Catullus' Lugete o veneres cupidinesque (car- men 3) is unquestionably not only the most famous instance but also the best poetry. With a mockery implicit in the very choice of subject, Catullus' poem refers with delicate irony to the passer deliciae meae puellae of carmen 2, an irony that balances deftly between sentimentality and parody.2

It has long been known that an epitaph inscribed on a marble plaque from Auch, France, datable to the second century A. D.,3 is based on Catullus' car- men 3. Indeed, its lines 4 and 7

o factum male Myia quod peristi

are used to restore the corrupt sixteenth line that stood in the now lost Veronensis MS of Catullus' poem

bonum factum male bonus ille passer.4

But the Auch poem itself has been given little independent poetic con- sideration or credit. Quinn calls the epitaph "A charming parody," while Fordyce, who also terms the lines "charming," observes that the writer ". . .

CIL 13.488 = Bucheler 1512 (Carmina Lat. Epigr. conl. F. Bucheler = Anth. Lat., edd. Bucheler et Riese, II 1 [Leipzig 1895], II 2 (1897), II 3, suppl., Lommatzsch [1927]). Good short notes and cross references provided with a text by G. Herrlinger, Totentklage um Tiere in der antiken Dichtung, Tiibinger Beitr6ge zur Altertumswissenschaft. Heft 8 (Stuttgart 1930) 46-47.

2K. Quinn, Catullus. The Poems (New York 1970) 96.

First reported in a classical journal by T. Mommsen, Hermes 1 (1866) 68 and published there. It is dated to the second century A. D. by the style of the letter-cutting and the spelling mis- take sevire for saevire in its ninth line.

4See G. P. Goold, "Catullus 3.16," Phoenix 23 (1969) 186-203, esp. 202-203. The connection of CEL 1512 (hereafter called the Auch poem) with Catullus was noticed immediately after its discovery: cf. Mommsen (above, n. 3), R. Ellis, Catullus ed. maior (Oxford 1889) 306, and Biicheler CEL 1512, ad loc.

354 THE CLASSICAL WORLD MARCH 1976

remembered his Catullus better than his grammar."5 The poem is charming indeed, but it deserves more than a light dismissal as parody or simple Catullan imitation.

The echoes of Catullus are based not only on the two passer poems but also on other Catullan verses considerably different in subject and tone.

a) Quam dulcis fiuit (line 1) is a reminiscence of Cat. 3.6, where the passer is described, nam mellitus erat.

b) The in sinu iacebat of line 2 is a direct echo of Catullus 2.2 (in sinu) and of the variation nec a gremio movebat in Catullus 3.8.

c) Lines 4 and 7, of course, as already pointed out, are ex hypothesi based on Catullus 3.16.

d) Rivalis dominae of line 6 recalls rivales socii puellularum of Catullus' savage lampoon (57.9) on Caesar and Mammura.

e)Insilire in line 9 alludes to, but does not directly imitate, the cir- cumsiliens of Catullus 3.9.

f) Finally, the last word of the poem, renides, is a startling echo of Catullus' merciless iambics against Engatius' ever present grin and unhappy choice of oral dentifrice (carmen 39, passim).

As must be clear, these echoes are hardly outright imitation. Rather, they are part of an overall irony that pervades the Auch poem. In most cases, the word or expression chosen is just enough different in form or grammatical use to suit the traditional language of the genre and produce the pleasing aesthetic of literary reminiscence without being heavy-handed. The initial allusions to Catullus 2 and 3 help the reader identify the genre and orient himself towards the poem. This orientation, in fact, is at first quite difficult, since the author's style is elliptical and his technique involves suspense and surprise. Further, the echoes of Catullan poems that are quite different in tone from the epicedium (i.e. rivalis dominae and renides) create new connotations, arrest the reader, and lead him to an alternative understanding of the poem at a second, ironic, level.

In any case, the use of such literary allusions or echoes is an accepted tradition in the epicedium, seemingly almost de rigeur. Catullus himself frequently cross-references his own poems with key words and phrases from the rest of his poetry.6 In general, he also borrows often from Greek

IQuinn (above, n. 2) 96; C. J. Fordyce, Catullus, A Commentary (Oxford 1961) 92.

6As anyone well acquainted with Catullus' poetry will realize. As a single example I might point out Catullus, carmen 76, si qua recordanti benefacta priora voluptas. There Catullus alludes to several of his own verses elsewhere: lines 19-22 to c. 51, 1.23 to c. 72, 11.20-21 to c. 77, 1.10 to c. 85, among others. See Quinn (above, n. 2) 406-10.

MARCH 1976 THE CLASSICAL WORLD 355

predecessors.7 And particularly in carmen 3 it is clear that Catullus has alluded to some Greek animal epitaphs with almost literal translations.8 The erudition and subtlety that Catullus displays in these cases are employed by the author of the Auch poem with equal effectiveness.9 Yet more than this, the Auch poem has independent poetic merit. Its principle techniques, suspense, irony, and surprise, can best be elucidated with a careful examination of structure and language. At first glance, the beginning three lines of the poem are rather mysterious; it is difficult for the reader to get his bearings.

Quam dulcis fuit ista quam benigna quae cum viveret in sinu iacebat somni conscia semper et cubilis.

Just who is the subject of iacebat? What is the setting of the poem in general? And what exactly does the line somni conscia semper et cubilis mean? Specifically, how is conscia to be construed and understood? But the fourth line immediately orients us and sets us on the path towards solving these problems: the o factum male is borrowed from Catullus 3. The Auch poem then, like Catullus 3, is probably a mock dirge on the death of a pet. Once this is recognized, a glance at in sinu in line 2 now recalls Catullus 2.2,

quicum [sc. passere] ludere, quem in sinu tenere. . . solet,

and we know that Myia, the addressee, is a pet that used to lie in the lap of her master or mistress. At this point, traditional language such as dulcis and benigna recalls other epigrams on dead pets, many on lapdogs. Thus, as we can see, the language of the Auch poem is very elliptical, and key information for understanding it is released only bit by bit, line by line. Not until we reach latrares in line 5 are we sure the addressee is a dog, nor until line 6 (dominae) do we know that the dog has a mistress and not a master. Of course, for the literate reader this obscurity is relieved by a knowledge of the traditional language in animal epitaphs and by the Catullan echoes.

By this time any problem with construing line 3, somni conscia semper et cubilis, is resolved. Myia would bark jealously if any rival slept with her mistress. Adcubaret (line 5) picks up the cubilis of line 3 and makes it clear

'E.g. Fordyce (above, n. 5) 407-408.

8On Catullus 3 cf. Fordyce, ad loc.

'The Auch poem uses language traditional for the epicedium found in other literary and in- scriptional epigrams. For example, quam dulcis in line 1 recalls the opening line of Lom- matzch suppl. 2155; for dulcis cf. also CIL 10.659.9 (Herrlinger 49). Benigna reminds one of the Greek eunous in IG 14.1647.2 (Herrlinger 40). Cf. also IG 12.459.4 for eunous. In sinu iacebat, besides recalling Catullus, is reminiscent of Martial 1.109.8 (itself based on Catullus) and of CIL 6.29896.7 (Herrlinger 47), molli namque sinu domini dominaeque iacebam. In sinu parallels the Greek enkolpois, AP 7.207.3; 6.102; 12.47.1; 16.134.7. Blandis has antece- dents in Martial 1.109.3, 10 and in CIL 10.659.10.

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that Myia guarded her mistress' sleep and bed.10 Finally, a parallel con- struction in Martial (14.39) disperses any doubts about conscia... cubilis:

Dulcis conscia lecticuli lucerna quid vis facias licet tacebo. II

Line 7, o factum male Myia quod peristi, repeating the lament of line 4, neatly introduces a structural parallelism of the last three lines with the first three of the poem. In 1-3 Myia's behavior when alive was described. In 8-10 she is dead, yet still the little dog's antics are remembered, though now negatived with the emphatic anaphora of nec... nec. . . nec. It is also worth pointing out that 1-3 describe the dog as "charming" while 8-10 state Myia's more annoying characteristics (barking and being a nuisance), a progression in the author's attitude which we will see is intrinsic to understanding the two levels of meaning in the poem. The insciam of line 8, moreover, obviously picks up the conscia of 3 and helps explain just what that conscia meant about Myia's behavior.

somni conscia semper et cubilis... altum iam tenet insciam sepulcrum.

The negative in- of insciam precludes the negatives, nec. . . nec. . . nec:

nec sevire potes nec insilire nec blandis mihi morsibus renides.

Now that she is dead, Myia is inscia, i.e. she does not bark, pounce, or snarl. Accordingly, we may reason backwards that, when Myia was alive and con- scia, she was indeed "savage" (sevire), did pounce (insilire), and did snarl "charmingly" (blandis... morsibus renides). Of course, insciam has another meaning too, that is, "unconscious," "dead to the world." This ambiguity between the particular reference of insciam back to conscia and its more general and philosophic meaning is echoed by the grammar: conscia governs two genitives, insciam stands absolute. It is part of the poet's artistry. 12

And there are some other fine touches of style. The two central lines of the poem,

latrares modo si quis adcubaret rivalis dominae licentiosa,

framed by the lament, o factum male. . ., comprise a contrary to fact con- ditional sentence. The subjunctive, mediating between the past indicative of 1-3 and the present indicative of 8-10, describes how Myia would act, if she

'0Cf. line 7 of CIL 6.29896 (quoted in n. 13), on a lapdog. Dogs were often represented in antiquity as sleeping with their masters or mistresses: cf. 0. Keller, Die Antike Tierwelt, vol. 1 (Leipzig 1909) 128ff.

"I The parallel was first noted by Bucheler, CEL 1512, ad loc.

12 See R. Jacobson, "Poetry of Grammar and Grammar of Poetry," Lingua 21 (1968) 597-609.

MARCH 1976 THE CLASSICAL WORLD 357

could, and emphasizes that present impossibility. There are other little finesses such as the alliteration in line 3:

somni conscia semper et cubilis,

the mournful repetition of m's in lines 3, 7, 8, and 10, or the pun on cubilis (person's bed or animal's lair). The blandis in the last line picks up the dulcis and benigna in the first, but with an important inversion in tone, as we shall see.

Finally, there are the Catullan echoes. In the Auch poem these serve two distinct functions. The first is to orient the reader to the tradition of the genre. We have already noted how certain language, i.e. specific words and phrases, recurs in many of the laments on dead pets in both Greek and Latin poems. Catullus himself obviously followed the tradition as well. Of course, to notice such allusions and echoes provides the reader with a certain aesthetic satisfaction. In other inscriptional epigrams of the Auch type such references are quite straightforward, almost naive. Thus, a lament on the lapdog Margarita (CIL 6.4.29896), from the second century A. D., begins with a humorous reference to Vergil's epitaph,

Gallia me genuit, nomen mihi divitis undae concha dedit, formae nominis aptus honos.'3

The same inscription in its seventh line openly recalls Catullus' passer poem:

molli namque sinu domini dominaeque iacebam.

So, too, line 4 of Biicheler 1176, on the lapdog Patrice, reminds us of Catullus, carmen 5:

ergo mihi Patrice iam non dabis oscula mille.

An even more bald sort of citation occurs in Martial. For instance,

Issa est passere nequior Catulli (1.109),

da nunc basia, sed Catulliana. quae si tot fuerint quot ille dixit donabo tibi passerem Catulli (11.6.14-16),

non quales teneri ploravit amica Catulli Lesbia nequitiis passeris orba sui. (7.14.3-4)

Such allusion and citation are clever but quite simple and direct.

The Auch poem, on the other hand, goes beyond such directness and con- tains some allusions quite outside the traditional language of the epicedium. These are the references to Catullus, carmina 39 and 57 (renides and rivales

3 Such parody of the Vergil epitaph is common in sepulchral inscriptions. Cf. Bucheler 479.3; 523.6; 728.1; 1245.1; 1312.3; 1320.2; or Martial 13.33.1.

358 THE CLASSICAL WORLD MARCH 1976

dominae). Both are examples of Catullus' spleenic wit, and their function is deliberately dissonant: they are foreign to the tradition, and the connotation they awaken surprises the reader and gives him pause. Reflection on the vituperative poetry that these echoes come from alerts us to the second, and ironic, level of meaning in the Auch poem. The rivalis dominae of line 6 spurs some suspicion (with its reference to the distasteful rivales... puellularum of Catullus 57) of the poet's less generous attitude toward Myia. 14 But the final word of the poem, renides, immediately recalls Egnatius' flashing - and disgusting - smile. It is an excellent example of the Auch poet's technique of suspense and surprise that he caps at the very last moment the hints he has given us of his irony with this striking allusion. A re-reading of the poem from the beginning now makes that irony clear.

The pejorative ista in line 1 alerts us to the author's uncharitable attitude toward the little dog. That attitude is made explicit in the two central lines of the poem, with the contrary to fact conditional. The poet displays a certain satisfaction that it is now impossible for Myia to harrass any of her mistress' lovers. The sarcasm is here brought out by the pun on licentiosa in line 6. This word not only refers to the dog's spoiled procacity, its irrepressible barking and pouncing on "rivals" (insilire line 9), but also to the dog's "sexual" jealousy. It is an ironic conceit, of course. Support for this inter- pretation is found in line 8,

altum iam tenet insciam sepulcrum

"Now the deep tomb 'embraces' insensible Myia." Tenet is often used in Latin love poetry to denote a lover's embrace.15 We may hear an echo of Catullus, carmen 2,

quem in sinu tenere... solet,

where Lesbia holds her pet sparrow in her lap. But there is an important in- version: Lesbia holds her living sparrow; the grave holds dead Myia.

Thus, lines 5 and 6 are the pivot of the Auch poem's meaning. The first four lines appear as a quite straightforward lament on a dead pet. The two central lines, with the contrary to fact conditional, its reference to Catullus 57 in rivalis dominae and the pun in licentiosa prepare us for the tenet of

14The author cleverly uses grammatical ambiguity at just this point deliberately to make the reader consider the words more closely. Such a pause and scrutiny, of course, gives the reader a chance to recognize the literary allusion in rivalis dominae. (This allusion was pointed out, by the way, by Ellis in his editio maior of Catullus, p. 306): . . . si quis adcubaret rivalis do- minae. . . Dominae is shared grammatically both by adcubaret, as a dative after compound verb, and by rivalis, as an objective genitive.

'sCf. Quinn (above, n. 2) on Catullus 72.1 and F. 0. Copley, "Emotional Conflict and its Significance in the Lesbia poems of Catullus," AJP 70 (1949) esp. 27-31. Cf. Catullus 64.28-29, Vergil, Ecl. 1.31 and Tibullus 1.5.39;

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line 8 and the gloating sarcasm of renides: "you won't be flashing your teeth so charmingly anymore." And suddenly the indefinite and anonymous quis of line 5

latrares modo si quis adcubaret ... dominae

gains an identity: it is the poet himself. Far from lamenting Myia's passing away, he is undoubtedly pleased to be rid of this pest who had interrupted his love-making.

This little inscription is not unworthy of Catullus himself. Like carmen 1, the dedication to Cornelius, or carmen 49, thanks to Cicero, upon re-reading the poem is hardly so dutiful as seemed at first. And stylistically the Auch poem is quite accomplished: carefully worked out linquistically and struc- turally, while the incongruity and dissonance of certain Catullan echoes are used to arrest and awaken the reader to the underlying irony.

University of California, Irvine K. R. Walters

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