CATULLUS 68 - Scuola Normale Superiore

(S 5) In lines 1-40 Catullus says he has renounced all love-affairs (lines 15-26), while in lines 41-160 he
is involved in a relationship with Lesbia (see esp. lines 135f., 147f. and 159f.).
In lines 15-26, Catullus states that he had an eventful amorous life only before his brother’s death (lines 15-
20), that his brother’s death completely ended this way of life for him (totum hoc studium fraterna mihi mors
/ abstulit, lines 19f.), and that it ended all his joys (tu mea tu moriens fregisti commoda, line 21; omnia tecum
una perierunt gaudia nostra, line 23). But in lines 135f. Catullus refers to his relationship with Lesbia in the
present and the future tenses (quae tamen etsi uno non est contenta Catullo, / rara uerecundae furta feremus
erae), in lines 147f. again in the present tense (quare illud satis est, si nobis is datur unis / quem lapide illa
diem candidiore notat), and he ends the poem on the closing note of a valediction to his beloved (lines 155
and 159-160: sitis felices et tu simul et tua uita … … et longe ante omnes mihi quae me carior ipso est, / lux
mea, qua uiua uiuere dulce mihi est: note also that he claims to be happy here, unlike in lines 15-26): his
affair with Lesbia is very much alive, he is happy with it and hopes that it will continue in the future as well.
In lines 1-40 Catullus has no love-life to speak of, while in lines 41-160 he has Lesbia. This is hardly
possible within the same poem. If it is accepted that both lines 1-40 and 41-160 give a correct picture of the
poet’s life at the time of composing them, then we must be dealing with two distinct poems written at
different stages of the poet’s life.
(S 6) What is told or implied about the friend in lines 1-40 cannot be reconciled with what is told or
implied about the friend in lines 41-160.
The friend in lines 41-160 is someone Catullus has been deeply indebted to since the start of his relationship
with Lesbia, a person whose praises he sings in extravagant terms (lines 41-66) and who has found him an
address for his amorous rendez-vous with the love of his life. The friend in lines 1-40, on the other hand, is
someone Catullus acknowledges as his hospes (line 12) but is pleasantly surprised that this man calls him an
amicus (line 9). Also, it seems that the friend in lines 1-40 needs to be told of the fact that Catullus lives in
Rome (lines 34-36). In short, Catullus seems to be less close to the friend in lines 1-40 than to the friend in
lines 41-160.
Conclusion: at line 41 there begins a new poem
Several of the arguments in favour of separating carmen 68 after line 40 would already be very strong on
their own: the problem of the names (S 1); the fact that the addressee of the first forty lines is single, while
that of lines 149-160 has a partner (S 4); and also the fact that in lines 1-40 Catullus says that he has no lovelife
to speak of, while in lines 41-160 he is fully involved in his relationship with Lesbia (S 5). Also, he
seems to be much less close to the addressee of lines 1-40 than to the friend in lines 41-160 (S 6). On the
other hand, none of the arguments that have been proposed in favour of the poem’s unity stand up to
scrutiny. Therefore the conclusion is inevitable that carmen 68 should be separated after line 40 to form two
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