CATULLUS 68 - Scuola Normale Superiore

68B: IN PRAISE OF ALLIUS
41-50 ‘Goddesses, I cannot keep quiet about how Allius has helped me; I tell it to you, and you tell many
others and make him famous in ages to come.’ It is not unusual for an ancient poem to start with an
invocation of the Muses and an outline of the contents, but Catullus has used these standard ingredients in a
highly original fashion.
The invocation of the Muses “is a mark of an elevated style” (“ist ein Kennzeichen hohen Stils”, Syndikus
1990: 262), in particular of epic. In Hellenistic poetry they are invoked at the beginning of Books 1 and 4 of
Apollonius Rhodius’ Argonautica and of Rhianus’ epic Heliaca (cfr. CA p. 12, frg. 19) and also in passages
with an epic colouring within hexameter hymns (Callim. Hymn. 3.186 and Theocr. 22.116f., quoted below),
at the start of of Matro of Pitane’s comic epic Attikon deipnon (frg. 534.1 SH) and in a Sotadean line
modelled on the first verse of the Iliad (CA p. 244, frg.18). All invocations of the Muses attested in Latin
poetry before Catullus stand in such a context: at the start of Livius Andronicus’ Odusia (frg. 1 FPL 3 ), of
Naevius’ epic on the Punic war (frg. 1 FPL 3 ) and of Books 1 and 10 of Ennius’ Annales (1 and 322 Skutsch).
However, in Hellenistic poetry the Muses are also invoked at the start of encomia: of Theocritus 16 (in praise
of Hieron II of Syracuse) and 17 (in praise of Ptolemy II Philadelphus) and later of a iambic poem that seems
to have glorified Mark Antony (frg. 1131B SH Αντϖν⇔ϖι τι, Μο⎝!α, προ!λ λη!ον – the exact
reconstruction of the line is uncertain), and also in Callimachus’ Twelfth Iambus at frg. 202.19f. Pfeiffer
α⎯ε⇔!ομαι, / Μο⎝!α, τ°ι μικκ°ι τι, where the poet sets out to praise a newborn baby.
It had been conventional wisdom since Homer that the Muse inspired the poet or even told him the ipsissima
verba that he was to sing: this view is still found at Callimachus Hymn. 3.186 ε⇒πϒ, ψε→, !⎜ μ′ν μμιν,
⁄γ∅ δ ∞τϒροι!ιν ε⇔!ϖ and Theocritus 22.116f. ε⇒πϒ, ψε , !⎜ γ ρ ο!ψα: ⁄γ∅ δ ∞τϒρϖν ⎢ποφ→τη!
/ φψϒγϕομαι. A different conception of their role emerges in Callimachus’ Twelfth Iambus, quoted a little
earlier, where the poet simply tells the Muses that he will sing something. A similar conception may underlie
Ap. Rhod. 1.20-22 ν⎝ν δ ν ⁄γ∅ γενε→ν τε κα⇐ ο⎣νομα μυψη!α⇔μην / ″ρ⊕ϖν ... Μο⎝!αι δ
⎢ποφ→τορε! εεν οιδ°!, if there ⎢ποφ→τορε! means ‘interpreters’ (thus e.g. LSJ) and not ‘inspirers’ (thus
Fordyce on Cat. 68.41-46; on the passage see further Green 1997: 202f., with references). The Twelfth
Iambus has a domestic theme – Callimachus sets out to praise the newborn daughter of a kinsman – and it
would perhaps be inappropriate for the poet to ask the august goddesses to inspire him to such a song. The
present poem is even more personal, to the degree that it would hardly make sense for Catullus to turn to the
Muses for inspiration: after all, he has a strong personal interest at stake and knows the facts of the story
better than anybody else. Thus he asks the goddesses not to tell him what to sing or to inspire him, but only
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