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Poem 31: Sirmio
- Written in limping iambics (choliambics)
- Structure conforms to three parts: statement, rhetorical question, conclusion
- Not linear progression: the three parts go present/past/present
Critics
- “consciously complex formulation” – Quinn
- “one of [Catullus’] most attractive and accessible poems” – Godwin
Points
 Line 1
o “paene insularum […] insularumque” → polyptoton and pairing
 Lines 2-3
o “ocelle” → diminutive, also sense of what is most precious and most often used for people
o “liquentibus stagnis/marique vasto → chiastic structure and further pairing
o “marique vasto fert uterque Neptunus” → chiastic structure, also conforms to ‘golden line’
arrangement (i
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2 adjectives, verb, 2 nouns)
 Line 4
o “quam […] quamque” → anaphora
o “quam […] libenter quamque laetus” → pattern of alliteration heightens effect of anaphora
o “inviso” → word generally used to mean visiting a person, suggests strong connection to Sirmio
 Line 5
o “Thyniam atque Bithynos” → further pairing, also use of doctrina (learned allusion) and
subversion of expectations, where Catullus swaps the adjective “Thynicos” for “Bithynos”, and
delays the noun it describes
 Line 6
o “liquisse campos” → contrasts the liquid waves of Sirmio with the dry lands of Bithynia, echoes
“liquentibus”
 Line 7
o “o quid solutis est beautius curis” → central line? Indicates change of focus
 Line 8
o “mens onus reponit” → mind personified, and tautology “solutis/reponit”
 Line 9
o “larem” → reference to the Lares, gods of the home
 Line 10
o “dēsīděrā/tō(que) ācquĭēs/cĭmūs lēctō?” → ‘longed-for bed’ literally surrounds him, and
‘desideratoque’ suggests the pain of being separated from something/one loved
o also rhetorical question and spondaic metre suggesting sleep
 Lines 12-14
“venusta” → personifies Sirmio as a feminine creature, also adjective is formed from ‘Venus’
o “gaude/gaudente; vos ” → polyptoton, and more personification (‘vos’)
o “Lydiae lacus undae” → another instance of doctrina (Virgil alludes to the history of Etruscan
settlers in the Po basin supposedly descended from Lydians)
o “salve […] gaude” → builds tricolon crescendo of imperatives, culminating in “ridete” (final
line), further personification
o “ridete […] cachinnorum” → final line framed by laughter

Poem 39: Egnatius
- Written in choliambics
Critics
- “harsh attack on private habits” – Godwin
- Indulgent, genially contemptuous tone – Quinn
Points
 Lines 1-7
o “renidet […] renidet ille […] renidet ille […] renidet” → constant repetition suggests how boring
Egnatius’ behaviour has become
 Lines 1-2
o “quod […] usquequaque” → repetition of irritating sounds mirrors annoying behaviour
 Lines 2-4
o “si ad rei […] si ad pii” → repeated structures further suggest tedium
 Lines 5-6
o “pii rogum fili […] flet unicum mater” → son is ‘dutiful’ and ‘only child’ (rogum/unicum),
maximised pathos highlights impropriety of Egnatius’ behaviour
 Lines 6-7
o “quidquid est, ubicum(que) est,/quodcum(que) agit” → echoes earlier ‘q’ sounds, and use of
tricolon building to another “renidet” is amusing; elision suggests Egnatius’ continued action
 Lines 7-8
o “morbum/urbanum” → rhymed at end of lines, creating direct juxtaposition
o “ut arbitror” → Catullus’ opinion placed centrally in the line, suggests he promotes its
importance
 Line 9
o “quare monendum est te mihi, bone Egnati” → deeply condescending, and ‘bone’ (“good”) is
heavily sarcastic
 Lines 10-13
o “si urbanus esses aut Sabinus aut Tiburs” → Egnatius excluded from being sophisticated by
birth
o “aut parcus Umber aut obesus Etruscus/aut Lanuvinus ater atque dentatus/aut Transpadanus” →
pigeonholes an endless list of nationalities, setting us up for an attack on Egnatius’ race
 Line 15
o “tamen renidere usquequaque te nollem” → repeated vocab from earlier, ironic polite subj
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its physicality
 Lines 25-26
o “quis ullos […] Venerem auspicatorem?” → Challenge to the gods? Certainly a sense of
tempting fate here

Poem 46: Spring and Homecoming
- Written in hendecasyllables
- Follows Book X of Greek Anthology, which opens with epigrams celebrating the return of
spring
Critics
- “the poem is one of his liveliest” – Williamson
- “an unmatched expression of pure joy at the prospect of homecoming” – Merrill
Points
 Line 1
o “ver […] tepores” → this hyperbaton mirrors the spreading warmth
o “refert” → personifies spring, indicative of its life-brining quality
 Line 2
o “caeli […] aequinoctialis” → hyperbaton mirrors strength of winds
o “furor” → usually used of people, further personification
 Lines 1-2
o “iam […] iam” → anaphora and emphatic placement, forceful and insistent
 Line 3
o “iucundis […] aureis” → hyperbaton placing ‘iucundis’ in emphatic position
o “silescit” → personification
 Line 4
o “Phrygii, Catullue, campi” → hyperbaton, oppressive plains surrounding Catullus; apostrophe
personalising the poem
o “linquantur” → emphatic placement highlights action and Catullus’ eagerness to return home
 Lines 4-5
o “Catullue, campi/Nicaeque” → cacophony conveying brisk action
 Line 5
o “Nicaeaeque ager uber aestuosae” → chiastic, also spondaic assonance mirrors heat
 Line 6
o “ad claras […] urbes” → hyperbaton, cities surround him
o “Asiae” → continued assonance
o “volemus” → sense of flying – inspired by winds?
 Line 7
o “praetrepidans” → Catullus’ neologism, ‘prae’ (‘before’) strengthens sense of ‘trepidans’, from
‘trepidare’, to tremble
 Lines 7-8
o “iam […] iam” → mirrors opening two lines
o “mens/pedes” → both body and soul are desperate to move
o “avet vagari […] vigescunt” → alliteration creates sound of winds
 Line 9
o “o dulces” → exclamatio, overcome with emotion
o “valete” → turns away from apostrophising himself to say goodbye to his comrades
 Line 11
o “diversae varie viae” → more ‘v’ alliteration for movement
o “reportant” → personification of the roads

Poem 50: Licinius
- Written in hendecasyllables
Critics
- “self-consciously ironic text” – Godwin
- “a glimpse of the novi poetae at play” – Fordyce
Points
 Line 1
o “die otiosi” → elision reflects time slipping away
 Line 2
o “multum lusimus […] meis” → fun echoes through the ‘m’ sounds
o “lusimus” → ‘fooling about’, sexual connotations
 Line 3
o “delicatos” → ‘experimental’, more sexual connotations
 Line 4
o “versiculos” → diminutive, playful
o “uterque nostrum” → mutual enjoyment
 Line 5
o “ludebat” → repeated idea of a playful time
o “numero modo hoc modo illoc” → assonance, suggests slowing of time around them
 Line 8
o “incensus, Licini, facetiisque” → Licinius framed as object of Catullus’ affections in same
construction as the opening line, “incensus” is a trope of troubled love
 Lines 9-10
o “nec me miserum cibus iuvaret/nec somnus tegeret quiete ocellos” → troubled love, chiastic
o “me miserum” → emphatic ‘m’ sounds
 Line 11
o “toto […] lecto” → hyperbaton, bed frames his distress
o “indomitus furore” → troubled love tropes
 Line 12
o “cupiens” → troubled love
 Line 13
o “ut tecum loquerer simulque ut essem” → hysteron proton, wants to speak to Licinius before
seeing him
 Line 14
o “defessa labore membra” → exhaustion separates his limbs in hyperbaton
 Lines 14-15
o “defessa/semimortua” → almost post-coital, hyperbolic desperation
 Line 16
o “iucunde” → a favourite word of Catullus’ used here as a term of endearment
 Line 17
o “perspiceres” → ‘per’ emphasises the depth of understanding Catullus needs from Licinius
 Lines 18-21
o “cave […] cave […] cavetto” → triadic repetition: repeated as in prayers/curses
 Line 19
o “despuas, ocelle” → onomatopoeic ‘despuas’ coupled with repetition of ‘ocelle’ from earlier
 Lines 20-21
o “Nemesis […] vehemens” → forceful contrast to general soft language (e
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ocelle)

Poem 51: Sappho and Otium
- Written in Sapphic metre
- Based on Sappho 31
Points
 Line 1
o “deo” → if the one who watches Lesbia is a god, surely she too must be a goddess?
 Line 2
o “superare divos” → addition to the Sapphic original, extending mastery of ‘ille’
 Line 3
o “adversus” → suggestion of competition
o “identidem” → shows Catullus’ obsessive watching and awe at the couple
o “te” → placed at end of line, echoed again in lines 6, 9 and 11
 Lines 1-3
o “ille […] ille […] qui” → triadic, anaphoric opening with asyndeton
 Line 4
o “spectat et audit” → Catullus again adding to the original – Sappho only talked of ‘audit’
 Line 5
o “ridentem misero” → oxymoronic juxtaposition, shows her laughter at the ‘other’s’ jokes filters
directly into Catullus’ pain
 Lines 5-6
o “dulce/eripit” → placement at start of line juxtaposes the pleasure and pain
 Lines 6-7
o “mihi/nihil” → placed directly opposite across the line, evidences desolation
 Line 8
o “lingua sed torpet” → irony as Catullus then continues to speak about his feelings
 Line 9
o “flamma demanat” → fire as liquid = synaesthetic confusion
o “sonitu suopte” → plosive sibilance mimics sound
 Line 10
o “tintinant aures” → onomatopoeic
o “gemina” → transferred to “nocte” (‘twofold night’) instead of “lumina” (‘two eyes’)
 Lines 8-11
o “lingua […] nocte” → total asyndeton
 Lines 12-15
o “otium […] otio […] otium” → threefold end matches threefold start, also note anaphora and
asyndeton
o “molestum est […] nimiumque […] perdidit urbes” → negative connotations of leisure, Roman
masculine outlook capping the Grecian, feminine tone of poem

Poem 65: Hortalus, dead brother, and the apple/lover simile
- Written in elegiac couplets
- Chiastic structure to first 4 lines (pain → poetry; poetry → pain)
- 5 sections: 1st theme, Catullus can’t create; 2nd theme, Catullus mourns his brother; 3rd theme,
apostrophe to brother; 4th theme, apology for seeming careless; 5th theme, simile about
carelessness
Critics
- “expression of the fragility of human life” in line 6 vs
...
‘animi’, seat of emotion
o “fluctuat” → liquid imagery anticipating “Lethaeo”
 Lines 3-4
o “Musarum expromere fetus […] fluctuat” → assonance for sombre tone
 Line 5
o “mei [
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Catullus, father/sons simile, and passion vs
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rare/highlights difficulty
 Lines 15-16
o “haec est, hoc est/hoc facias” → all thought devoted to the effort of ending his relationship
 Line 16
o “non pote sive pote” → impossibility before possibility, more emphasis on difficulty
 Line 17
o “si vestrum […] si quibus” → acknowledging the gods’ power after apostrophising them,
prayer form

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Line 18-19
o “extremam iam ipsa […] morte […] opem/me miserum” → murmurance
Line 19
o “aspicite” → imperative addressed to gods, prayer form
o “puriter” → archaic (slightly ironic? Not really Catullus at all…)
Line 20
o “eripite […] pestem perniciemque” → physicality of removal coupled with bitter
alliteration
Line 24
o “quod non potis est” → even gods can’t make Lesbia chaste, insult to her
Line 25
o “taetrum […] morbum” → hyperbaton reflects how the disease has spread
o “ipse […] morbum” → line features request to gods, prayer form
Line 26
o “pietate” → ring composition, link to ‘pium’ in line 2

Poem 77: Rufus, the burning insides, and the poison
- Written in elegiacs
- Split into first 4 lines of rhetorical question; last 2 answering rhetorical question
- Addressed to orator/politician/friend Marcus Caelius Rufus, who had an affair with Clodia
- Uses only 3 main verbs (subrepsti/eripuisti) for tight, precise painting of feeling
Points
 Line 1
o “Rufe” → emphatic apostrophe, strong attack
o “frustra ac nequiquam” → tautology highlights betrayal he feels
o “ac nequiquam credite amice” → cacophony for bitterness
 Line 3
o “sicine subrepsti mi atque intestina perurens” → assonance and sibilance to intensify the
visceral quality of the imagery here
 Line 4
o “ei […] bona?” → rhetorical question
 Lines 4-5
o “eripuisti […] eripuisti” → anaphora, emphasises pain
 Lines 5-6
o “heu heu […] heu heu” → anaphoric emphasis on sadness
o “venenum/vitae” → alliteration underlines contrast between life/poison
o “nostrae crudele venenum/vitae” → chiastic structure

Poem 84: Arrius and his ‘aspirations’
- Written in elegiacs
Critics
- “[he is] a kind of Roman cockney” – Quinn
Points
 Lines 1-2
o “chommoda/hinsidias” → the lines are framed by his pretentious aspirates, also use of
rhetorical vocab reflecting Arrius’ profession as an orator
o “dicebat/dicere” → repeated emphasis on his constant chatter
 Line 3
o “tum” → suggestion of incessant chatter
o “mirifice” → Ciceronian staple, rhetorical suggestion
 Lines 3-4
o “locutum/dixerat” → further emphasis on Arrius’ constant talking
o “sperabat/quantum poterat” → hints that Arrius is making a conscious effort to sound
important
o “hinsidias” → frames this opening quatrain in pretention
 Line 5
o “credo” → sets us up for a sarcastic tone
o “liber avunculus” → snobbish jibe
 Lines 5-6
o “sic […] sic/sic” → tricolon, repeated structure
o “mater/maternus” → sense of tedium in this repetition
o “avunculus/avus […] avia” → assonance, further feel of tedium
 Line 6
o “dixerat” → yet another speaking word, constant talking
 Line 7
o “omnibus aures” → excludes Arrius, invites reader to mock him with Catullus
 Lines 8-9
o “leniter et leviter/postilla […] talia”→ lulling, peaceful ‘l’ sounds
 Line 12
o “Hionios” → final condemnatory joke, poem totally framed by Arrius’ pretention
Poem 85: Love and hate
- Written in elegiacs
Critics
- “its fame is in inverse proportion to its size” – Godwin
Points
 Lines 1 and 2
o “fortasse requiris?/sed fieri sentio” → head’s response given in opening line, contrast with
heart’s response in second
o “odi, amo, faciam, requiris/nescio, fieri, sentio, excrucior” → active verbs in first line,
passive in second, chiastic structure
o “faciam […] requiris” → contrast of person
o “nescio […] sentio” → contrasts of feeling and knowing
o “faciam […] fieri” → contrast of doing vs

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