CATULLUS 68 - Scuola Normale Superiore

should be attached to the orthography of the manuscripts (see the Introduction, pp. 80f.); and I believe that a
medieval scribe could also have changed graia into gratia.
penetralis … focos Vestae … uis … ad aras et focos pertinet … nec longe absunt ab hac ui di Penates, siue
a penu ducto nomine … siue ab eo quod penitus insident; ex quo etiam penetrales a poetis uocantur (Cic.
N.D. 2.67f.). penetralis refers to the inmost part of a Roman home, containing the hearth and the gods of the
house; it is a far more religious term than ‘intimate’. It is not attested before this period, but Cicero’s
statement implies that he had found it more than once in high poetry (Lucretius uses it 3x eccentrically to
mean ‘penetrating’). foci penetrales seems to have been a pathetic set phrase, witness Cic. Har. Resp. 57
deorum ignis, solia, mensas, abditos ac penetralis focos and Verg. Aen. 5.660 rapuitque focis penetralibus
ignem.
103f. Finally Catullus describes the Trojan War not in terms of casualties but in terms of its cause, which he
pragmatically identifies with Helen’s adulterous relationship with Paris. His language expresses outrage and
contempt (note moecha): dropping the elevated tone of the previous distichs, his language becomes plain and
he chides Paris and Helen as if they were real-life adulterers.
103 ne The archetype appears to have read nec, as this is found in OR; ne is first found in G. Baehrens
proposed to write nei, but this spelling was obsolete by Catullus’ time: see on line 43.
abducta This neutral word becomes strongly negative when it is applied to carrying off a woman: thus Pl.
Asin. 70 quam amabam abduxit ab lenone mulierem, Afran. com. 301 gnatam ab illo abducere (and he had
written a play entitled Abducta: see com. 1-3), Cic. Flacc. 72 uxorem abduxit ab Amynta praegnantem, Verg.
Aen. 7.362 perfidus alta petens abducta uirgine praedo, Ov. Am. 1.9.33 ardet in abducta Briseide magnus
Achilles and see TLL 1.61.5-16.
gauisus I.e. ‘rejoicing’: the perfect participles of certain deponents indicating a mental or physical
condition can be used with a present meaning: see Hofmann-Szantyr 391; according to Kühner-Stegmann
1.759, this usage describes a condition that has already arisen; cfr. Gildersleeve-Lodge 181 “the action of the
participle is conceived of as continuing up to, and sometimes into, that of the leading verb”.
libera For libera otia ‘unimpeded leisure’ compare Hor. Epist. 1.7.35f. nec / otia diuitiis Arabum liberrima
muto, Ov. A.A. 2.729f. cum libera dantur / otia, furtiuum nec timor urget opus (an occasion for unhurried
love-making) and Fronto, Epist. p. 224.3f. Naber = 227.7f. Van den Hout 2 ludo et ioco et otio libero per
quattriduum uniuersum operam dares; see TLL 7.2.1286.71-73.
moecha This strong and almost obscene word stands in stark contrast with the tone of the preceding lines
and highlights the outrageous nature of Helen’s unfaithfulness.
In Greek thought and law a μοιξ〉! was a man who pursued a secret sexual relationship with a freeborn
woman without the consent of her husband or legal guardian (see Latte in RE 15.2.2446-2449 s.v.
μοιξε⇔α). In Latin literature moechus normally just means ‘adulterer’: thus Pl. Ba. 917f. miles
Mnesilochum cum uxore opprimeret sua / atque obtruncaret moechum manufestarium (cfr. Poen. 862
211