CATULLUS 68 - Scuola Normale Superiore

cum L. Torquatus, subagresti homo ingenio et infestiuo, grauius acerbiusque apud consilium
iudicum, cum de causa Sullae quaereretur, non iam histrionem eum esse diceret, sed gesticulariam
Dionysiamque eum notissimae saltatriculae nomine appellaret, tum uoce molli atque demissa
Hortensius ‘Dionysia,’ inquit ‘Dionysia malo equidem esse quam quod te, Torquate, μου!ο!,
ναφρ〉διτο!, προ!δι〉νυ!ο!. 87
Torquatus appears to have behaved rudely and tactlessly during the trial, treating his adversaries with
aristocratical arrogance. A very different picture emerges from the first books of the De Finibus, in which
Cicero let Torquatus act as the principal advocate of Epicureanism. 88 He characterized him as polite, mild,
benign and a bit bland, with a truly unshakable faith in Epicurean doctrine and highly deferential to the two
figures of authority central to his life, Epicurus and his father. 89 Cicero lets him come over as a highly
respectable young man who tries to do the impossible and to reconcile Epicureanism with his venerable
family traditions as well as his patriotism, his ambitions and his standards of decency. In the dialogue Cicero
comments repeatedly on Torquatus’ learning and on his accomplishments as a poet, and his unusual
erudition also comes to the fore in Cicero’s epitaph of him in the Brutus. 90
In much that we know about him, L. Manlius Torquatus resembles other members of Catullus’ circle: he was
an orator like C. Licinius Calvus, involved in politics like Calvus as well as C. Helvius Cinna and C.
Memmius, an Epicurean like Egnatius and C. Memmius, and learned and rich, like many members of the
circle including Catullus. Last but not least, he appeared to have been a poet himself.
The addressee of Catullus 68a has asked the poet for munera et Musarum et Veneris, while Hortensius calls
Torquatus μου!ο!, ναφρ〉διτο!, προ!δι〉νυ!ο!. The resemblance between the two phrases could be
attributed to the fact that Torquatus was somehow sexually and intellectually challenged in his private life –
or simply to the fact that love and literature were important preoccupations of the Roman elite in this period.
Moreover, poem 61 describes a Torquatus who can hardly be called ναφρ〉διτο!. Another aspect of poem
87
Gell. 1.5.3.
88
The Lucius noster mentioned by Cicero at Att. 7.2.4 (written ca. 25 Nov. 50 B.C.) on account of his philosophical
views has also been identified with L. Manlius Torquatus (Neudling 1955: 119f.), but Shackleton Bailey 1968 ad loc.
argues that he must be L. Saufeius.
89
Unshakeable faith: Fin. 1.14f. Epicurus: 1.38. Father: 1.39.
90
Cic. Fin. 1.25 quid tibi, Torquate, quid huic Triario litterae, quid historiae cognitioque rerum, quid poetarum
euolutio, quid tanta tot uersuum memoria uoluptatis adfert?, 2.107 poema, orationem cum aut scribis aut legis, cum
omnium factorum, cum regionum conquiris historiam and Brut. 265 erant in eo plurimae litterae, nec eae uulgares, sed
interiores quaedam et reconditae. Pliny Epist. 5.3.5 lists not one but several Torquati among famous Romans who
have written light verse.
42