CATULLUS 68 - Scuola Normale Superiore

least, non utriusque in line 39 could be taken to mean ‘not both, that is, only one of the two’ as well as ‘not
both, that is, neither’. In fact there are parallels for both usages (see ad loc.), but in view of the apologetic
tone of all the relevant parts of lines 1-40 (namely lines 11-14 and 27-40) and especially of line 14 ne
amplius a misero dona beata petas the latter interpretation seems to be correct, that is, Catullus appears to
have complied with neither of his friend’s requests. This constitutes an argument in favour of division,
though not a compelling one – Catullus could well have rejected his friend’s request for reading-matter but
sent him a relatively short eulogy.
(U 4) Lines 20 and 22-24 are repeated with minor variations at lines 92 and 94-96; this is only possible
within the same poem.
The exact opposite of this argument is used more often, that this repetition can only be conceived in the case
of two distinct poems. In fact, this is the longest and most conspicuous example of repetition within Catullus’
poetry, but there are more. Shorter passages are repeated with or without minor changes both within the same
poem (8.3 ~ 8.8; 16.1 = 16.14; 24.5 ~ 24.10; 36.1 = 36.20; 45.8f. = 45.17f.; 52.1 = 52.4; 57.1 = 57.10;
42.11f. = 42.19f.; the refrains in 61, 62 and 64.327-381 are less relevant) and outside it (21.2f ~ 24.2f. ~
49.2f.; 23.1 ~ 24.5; 41.4 = 43.5). Repetition in Catullus can be said to indicate neither unity nor disunity.
(U 5) The hospitis officium mentioned in the first part of the poem (line 12) is the service the friend in
the second and the third part of the poem has paid to Catullus by providing him with a house in Rome
to make love with his mistress (lines 68f.).
In this way one could conveniently explain a difficult phrase in the text and clarify the general relationship
between the protagonists. In the past, the friend would have provided Catullus with a house for his amorous
rendez-vous; in his present difficulties he would call on the poet to return the favour and help him. Since the
friend would have provided Catullus with a house at a place where he was not resident (and the scene of
Catullus’ first encounter is often assumed to be Rome, if they met at a time when the poet was not yet
permanently established there, as lines 34f. already show him to be), this service would be spoken of as an
act of hospitium or guest-friendship.
For the purpose of this line of thought it does not matter whether hospitis officium in line 12 means ‘a duty
done by a guest-friend’, that is, by Catullus’ friend in the past, or, as seems to suit better the preceding verb
odisse (see ad loc.), ‘the duty of a guest-friend’, i.e., Catullus’ duty to help out his friend in the present.
However, a bond of hospitium implies mutual hospitality, while the friend in lines 41-160 did not host
Catullus, but merely provided him with an address where the poet could meet his mistress, and this address
does not even appear to have been his own, but rather that of the domina mentioned in lines 68 and 156 (see
ad loc.). In lines 41-160 Catullus never refers to his friend’s services as hospitium, but only as officia: note
line 42 quantis officiis and line 150 pro multis officiis (note the plural officia ‘dutiful deeds’, in contrast with
the abstract singular officium ‘the duty’). We can be practically sure that the bond of guest-friendship
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