CATULLUS 68 - Scuola Normale Superiore

closer to turpe. This would be an extremely confusing construction; Fordyce speaks of “a very awkward
brachylogy”, but that is an understatement.
One solution would be to follow Fröhlich (1849: 263) and to write turpe Catullo est (and in this case we
could treat these words either as a quotation or as a paraphrase). This is quite easy from a palaeographical
point of view: Catullo est could have been abbreviated as catullo ē, which is close to the transmitted catulle.
However, it still leaves us with esse perched awkwardly in enjambment.
By chance I came upon another solution. We can take turpe with esse and the quod-clause as the
complement of turpe. The construction is unusual, and apparently unknown to the standard grammars
(compare the discussion of subordinate clauses introduced by quod in Kühner-Stegmann 2.269-279 and in
Hofmann-Szantyr 572-584), but note the following parallels:
• Cic. Verr. 2.4.147 ait indignum facinus esse quod ego in senatu Graeco uerba fecissem; quod quidem
apud Graecos Graece locutus essem, id ferri nullo modo posse.
• Cic. Fam. 1.7.1 legi tuas litteras, quibus ad me scribis gratum tibi esse quod crebro certior per me fias
de omnibus rebus et meam erga te beneuolentiam facile perspicias ...
• Cic. Fam. 7.3.6 sunt enim qui, cum meus interitus nihil fuerit rei publicae profuturus, criminis loco
putent esse quod uiuam ...
• Caes. B.G. 1.44.6 (from a speech reported in oratio obliqua) eius rei testimonium esse quod nisi
rogatus non uenerit et quod bellum non intulerit, sed defenderit.
• Liv. 30.42.10 (from a speech reported in oratio obliqua) gratumque id senatui esse quod socios populi
Romani, quando iure foederis non possit, armis tueatur.
An accusatiuus cum infinitiuo construction in which the infinitive is esse normally takes two accusatives, as
in censeo Karthaginem delendam esse. But in the present passage, and in the parallels listed above, one
accusative is replaced by a clause introduced by quod and containing a subjunctive. One might have
expected another accusatiuus cum infinitiuo dependent on the main infinitive; but the accumulation of
infinitives would be unseemly and potentially confusing.
In this case these lines mean ‘… as to you writing that it is shameful for Catullus in Verona that everyone of
a better sort …’ etc. Since esse is closely linked to quod, it is no longer awkwardly exposed at the start of the
line. As far as I can see, this is the only way in which these lines can be interpreted satisfactorily.
It remains to consider the meaning of quisquis de meliore nota / frigida deserto tepefactet membra cubili.
This has been taken to mean two things. Most scholars assume that the people in question have to sleep in
abandoned, empty beds, and they warm their limbs as best as they can. In the view of Ellis, Quinn and
Coppel (1973: 26-33), on the other hand, the young men warm their limbs in a bed that has been deserted by
someone – that is, in the bed of Lesbia, which has been abandoned (desertus) by Catullus when he left for
Verona after the death of his brother. In that case hic has to refer to Rome, where Manlius is writing from.
That makes sense in the interpretation of Quinn and Coppel, who see a direct quotation in these verses; less
135