CATULLUS 68 - Scuola Normale Superiore

CATULLUS 68A: THE POEM
The very first distich of poem 68a shows that it is a response to a letter from a friend of the poet’s, who was
probably called Manlius, as we have just seen; so the poem turns out to be a letter in verse. In his letter
Manlius told Catullus that a grave misfortune had befallen him (lines 1-4) and he asked the poet for help
(3f.). Catullus explains that while he finds it very flattering that Manlius puts such trust in him (9f.), he is
unable to do as asked (11-40, esp. 11-14). Manlius has asked him for romantic help (munera Veneris, see
line 10) as well as for books to read (munera Musarum, ibid.), but he is unable to provide either of these, the
former because his brother’s death put an end to his love-life (15-32), and the latter because he is in Verona,
while his library is in Rome (33-36). He apologizes and asks Manlius will not attribute his non-compliance
to ill-will or a lack of generosity (36-40).
This short piece of text has been studied intensively since the middle of the 19 th century, but there is still no
consensus about a surprisingly high number of questions that it raises. What kind of misfortune has Manlius
been though? What help has he asked from Catullus? In particular, has he made one request, or two? What
do lines 27-30 mean, and do they contain a direct quotation from Manlius’ letter? And does Catullus reject
Manlius’ request(s) in full (as has been assumed above), or only in part?
The problematic passage at lines 27-30 can be treated more or less in isolation, as it constitutes a selfenclosed
digression that only has limited relevance to the rest of the poem. It is discussed in the
Commentary. 91 The rest of the problems form an interconnected network. As in a complicated mathematical
equation, everything depends on everything else: any ideas that we might have about Manlius’ misfortune,
about the help he asked for or about Catullus’ reply will inevitably influence our views about the other two
problems. It follows that if we come to hold a mistaken view of one aspect of this poem, it is likely to upset
our understanding of the entire text. If it is possible to clear these difficulties at all, they can only be cleared
by painstaking and careful detective-work.
Manlius’ difficulties, his request to Catullus and Catullus’ reply are not simply the most important themes of
poem 68a, but they constitute its very raison d’être. It is striking how few clues there are in the text that
could help us make sense of these matters. It is not stated explicitly at any point what Manlius’ difficulties
were; the help that he has asked from Catullus is described only through the filters of metaphor (‘help to a
shipwrecked man’, lines 3f.), generalization (dona beata, line 14) and allegory (munera et Musarum et
Veneris, line 10); and Catullus’ reply to his request(s) remains highly oblique – we look in vain for a
91 Even this step of isolating lines 27-30 may be seen as controversial, as Coppel 1973 and Morgan 2008 see these lines
as the key to understanding the rest of the poem – but see the note on lines 27-30, and pp. 35f. above.
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