carmen 63 y matrimonio

Catullus 63 and the Theme of MarriageAuthor(s): Gerald N. SandySource: The American Journal of Philology, Vol. 92, No. 2 (Apr., 1971), pp. 185-195Published by: The Johns Hopkins University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/293329 .

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CATULLUS 63 AND THE THEME OF MARRIAGE.

Recent Catullan scholarship has stressed that Catullus is not to be thought of as two poets, the doctus poeta and the writer of nugae, and that certain ideas are expressed throughout the liber Catulli.1 At the same time it is becoming increasingly evident that the polymetrics, carmina maiora, and epigrams differ stylistically from one another.2 In other words, the three clusters of poems, while displaying the spirit of one poet, stand detached from one another and show evidence of more than merely formal demarcation. The arguments presented in this paper show that there is a greater degree of thematic uniform- ity than hitherto demonstrated among the carmina maiora and that the Attis, at first glance unique in the corpus, logically occupies a place among the fairly long poems about marriage.

Nowhere among the carmina maiora that are not epithalamia is the pervasiveness of the theme of marriage seen better than in 68. Sheridan Baker has studied this feature of the poem; I should like to summarize and supplement his arguments (with- out, I hope, detracting from them), as the incorporation of the alien theme of marriage in 68 is indicative of features of 63.3

Baker shows that the squeak of Lesbia's sandal and the sound of her foot on the threshold initiate a complex sequence of thoughts that center on the contrast between duly performed marriage rites and the circumstances of Catullus' and Lesbia's

1 See, for instance, J. P. Elder, "Notes on Some Conscious and Sub- conscious Elements in Catullus' Poetry," H. S. . P., LX (1951), pp. 101-36.

21 believe that J. Svennung, "Catulls Bildersprache," Uppsala Uni- versitets Arsskrift (1945): No. 3, pp. 1-147, was the first to establish reliable principles for maintaining the stylistic distinctions among the three groups of poems. See now David O. Ross, Jr., Style and Tradition in Catullus (Cambridge, Mass., 1969). Important studies, with full bibliographies, of the groupings within the corpus are I. K. Horvath, "Catulli Veronensis Liber," Acta Antiqua Academiae Scientiarum Hun- garicae, XIV (1966), pp. 141-73; B. Heck, "Die Anordnung der Ge- dichte des C. Valerius Catullus" (unpublished dissertation, Tiibingen, 1951), and T. P. Wiseman, Catullan Questions (Leicester, 1969), pp. 1-31.

8"Lesbia's Foot," C.P., LV (1960), pp. 171-3.

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tryst. Her gleaming foot on the threshold (70-2) reminds the poet of the customary Roman bridal procession to the groom's house. He juxtaposes his furtiva munuscula dempta viri gremio (145-6) with the proper deductio in domum of Laodamia.4 That Catullus' and Lesbia's liaison resembles lawful deductio in only the most superficial details is emphasized by the descrip- tion of Laodamia, who is duly though hastily married, as flagrans (73). This is reminiscent of Lesbia's fulgentem plantam (71). The inevitably disastrous consequences of their ill-omened relationship are stressed further when Lesbia, unlike a bride, places her foot on the threshold instead of stepping over it (72).6

The unfavorable comparison between Lesbia and Laodamia continues. The clause advenit ... Laudamia domum (73-4) is echoed in Catullus' realization (143-4) that

nec tamen illa [Lesbia] mihi dextra deducta paterna fragrantem Assyrio venit odore domum.6

The poet here acknowledges that to expect fidelity from Lesbia under such circumstances is foolhardy.

Mention of the threshold in verse 71 leads Catullus to think of still additional analogues. The illicit affair of Helen and Paris, with its attendant havoc, comes to his mind (101-4), as does the felicitous marriage of Hercules and Hebe (116). Catullus' thoughts then advance a stage beyond matrimony to

' Lesbia is nec . . . deducta (143). On the deductio see W. Kroll, Catull (4th ed., Stuttgart, 1960), ad loc. With verses 145-6 cf. 61, 56-9: Tu [Hymen] fero iuveni in manus/fioridam ipse puellulam/dedis a gremio suae/matris. The phrasing here, we learn from Festus

(Lindsay, 364), is proper to Roman marriage rites (rapi simulatur virgo ex gremio matris aut, si ea non est, ex proxaima necessitudine, cum ad virum traditur). Thus verses 145-6 are also intended to contrast legitimate marriage with Catullus' and Lesbia's unsanctioned liaison (cf. 62, 21-2 and 61). Note also the irony of ex ipso . . . viri gremio and ex gremio matris. I quote Catullus from the critical edition of R. A. B. Mynors (Oxford, 1958).

6The analogue of Paris and Helen also underscores the idea that illicit love engenders misfortune; Greece lays waste Troy because Helen is an abducta moecha, that is, not a virgo deducta. Terence makes the distinction neatly a number of times in the Adelphoe, e.g. abductast domum (628), illam . . . iri deductum domum (694).

6Cf. 61, 77; 62, 4; 64, 329; 67, 19. Also Ciris, 512 (cited by Kroll), non thalamus Tyrio fragrans accepit amomo.

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CATULLUS 63 AND THE THEME OF MARRIAGE.

families and legal offspring (119-24). He then thinks of doves, traditional symbols of conjugal fidelity (125-8).7 The final element in this stream of associations is Cupid dressed as Hymen and officiating at the "wedding" of Catullus and Lesbia (133- 4), before the poet pulls himself up short and recognizes the absurdity of such daydreams (143-8).8

What I wish to emphasize before leaving 68 is that Catullus' preoccupation with marriage is evident in a context where such concerns do not seem entirely natural and that an idea once expressed (fulgentem in limine plantam) can, in J. P. Elder's words, " lead the poet about by the nose." 8

Now it has frequently been noted that the central theme of most of Catullus' carmina maiora is marriage.l0 Ellis long ago remarked that "in the Attis Catullus presents an idea which, by contrast, works into the series of poems connected with marriage." 1 There is evidence that I think tends to support Ellis'

See Kroll, ad loc. 8 For Cupid's resemblance to Hymen cf. 68, 133-4 with 61, 8-10. Cf.,

too, T. E. Kinsey, Latomus, XXVI (1967), p. 49. 9 Op. cit. (above, n. 1), p. 116. 10 Especially important are G. Lieberg, " L'ordinamento ed i reciproci

rapporti dei carmi maggiori di Catullo," R. P. I. C., n. s. XXXVI (1958), pp. 23-47; and E. Schafer, "Das Verhailtnis von Erlebnis und Kunst- gestalt bei Catull," Hermes, Einzelschriften XVIII (1966), who observes (p. 75) that the coniunctio of bride and groom is a focal point of carmina 61, 62, 64, 66, and 68 and (p. 74) that 67 is a sort of contrast to the "Peleus-Epos," that is, a comic deductio, and notes (ibid.): virgo adest (61, 77), veniet virgo (62, 4), adveniet coniunx (64, 329), and advenit Laudamia (68, 73-4), to which list I should add rex novo auctus hymenaeo (66, 11; cf. 64, 25) and virgo fertur tradita nobis (67, 19; cf. 62, 60 and Festus' remarks quoted in n. 4). See also P. McGushin, " Catullus' Sanctae Foedus Amioitiae," C.P., LXII (1967), pp. 85-93; Gordon Williams, Tradition and Originality in Roman Poetry (Oxford, 1968), pp. 404-12; Wiseman (above, n. 2), pp. 20-5.

"1R. Ellis, A Commentary on Catullus (Oxford, 1876), in his intro- duction to 63. Cf. J. Granarolo, L'oeuvre de Catulle (Paris, 1967), who labels 63, following as it does 61 and 62, which are composed "k l'exaltation de la felicit6 conjugale," " [une] sorte d'anti-Apithalame" (p. 140) and elsewhere notes the juxtaposition of 63 with 61 and 62, the latter two of which he characterizes as "l'union conjugale" and "festin nuptial" (p. 141). Wiseman (above, n. 2), pp. 20 and 25, remarks that the Attis is exceptional among the carmina maiora in not exhibiting features of the theme of marriage.

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assertion. I set forth first the weakest evidence, namely, some of the many verbal parallels, especially in the epithalamium 61 and carmen 63. The bride-to-be is a tenera virgo (3-4). Attis has teneri digiti (10) and is described as tenera (88). Hymen, dressed like a bride, wears rose-colored shoes on his niveus pes (9-10). Attis takes up the tympanum in his niveae manus (8).12 In the epithalamia, brides are regularly described in terms of flowers (61, 6; 21-2 [cf. 64, 89-90]; 57; 93; 193; 194-5. 62, 39-46. Cf., too, 17, 14, where in a different context the idea of a bride seems automatically to elicit the same language). Attis

speaks from rosea labella (74). Apart from these purely descriptive phrases there are addi-

tional verbal and structural similarities between the marriage poems and 63. Lieberg has called attention to the large number of imperatives in carmina 61-64.13 There is a marked emphasis on movement from one place to another in carmina 61, 63, and 64 and on the expectation of the bride's arrival in 62.14 The references in 61 to the bride and groom as domina, dominus, and erus and the terms domina and era applied to Lesbia as bride in 68 are reminiscent of Cybele's appellations in 63.15

The Attis and 64, the latter in parts hymeneal, have several structural resemblances. Both open with a sea voyage: Super alta vectus Attis celeri rate maria (63, 1); Ausi sunt vada salsa cita decurrere puppi (64, 6). Both close on a note of divine hos-

tility. Attis reaches land, Phrygium ut nemus . . . tetigit (63, 2), as does Theseus, Attigit . . . templa (64, 75; cf. 172).

The laments of Attis and Ariadne, a would-be bride, have much in common.16 Before their soliloquies each awakes from

12 A. L. Wheeler, "Tradition in the Epithalamium," A. J. P., LI (1930), p. 210, n. 15, in commenting on Hymen's female attributes, compares Attis, "who is at first masculine, then feminine . . . Attis is given the hands of a woman: niveis . . . manibus." In 64, Achilles' chosen bride Polyxena has nivei artus (364).

" Op. cit. (above, n. 10), p. 29. "4Schiifer (above, n. 10), pp. 101-2. 16Cf. Baker (above, n. 3), p. 172. 16Cf. Schafer (above, n. 10), pp. 102-3; Lieberg (above, n. 10),

pp. 32-3; Granarolo (above, n. 11), pp. 143-4; M. J. Putnam, "The Art of Catullus 64," H.S.C.P., LXV (1961), pp. 165-205, especially 169-70 and 174; A. Salvatore, "Rapporti tra nugae e carmina docta nel canzoniere catulliano," Latomus, XII (1953), p. 426.

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CATULLUS 63 AND THE THEME OF MARRIAGE. 189

sleep (63, 42-4; 64, 56), and each now sees his condition in a new light (63, 45-6; 64, 55 and 57). Both stand at the seashore and look out over the vast expanse of the sea as the one expresses his regrets for being the agent of abandonment and the other her regrets for being the victim of abandonment (63, 47 if.; 64, 127ff.). The one is miser (63, 51), the other misera (64, 140). Each recalls his own disloyalty, Ariadne's to her pater (180), Attis' to his patria (50-2).1 In despair both question what will become of them (63, 58-60 and 68-72; 64, 177-87). They expect, among other things, to be at the mercy of beasts (63, 72; 64, 152). Their thoughts turn to what was and what might have been (63, 62-7; 64, 139-41 and 149-51). Attis then laments, Ego nunc deum ministra et Cybeles famula ferar? (68). Ariadne says, Tibi . . . famularer serva (161). Each ends his lament with an outburst of regret (63, 73; 64, 188-201). In each case an interested deity responds to what has been said (63, 75 if.; 64, 202-6). Attis is then punished for neglecting his obligations (78-80), and Ariadne is avenged when Theseus by way of punishment is made to forget his instructions (207 ff.).

But reasons more compelling than repeated phrases and ideas are needed to establish that the Attis, even by contrast, logically occupies a place among the other carmina maiora and shares with them their varying degrees of emphasis on epithalamial themes.

7 Ellis, at 63, 49, makes an interesting observation on the patria- pater idea implicit in Attis' soliloquy. He quotes a fragment of the Lex Maenia (siqui patriam, maiorem parentem, extinguit, in eo est culpa, quod facit pro sua parte is qui se eunuchat aut alioqui liberos non producit [the version given is a composite of Ellis' and frag. 235 of Varro's Menippean satires in Buecheler's critical edition of Petron- ius]) and adds that "he who castrated himself could not be a father, and so contirue the succession of stocks which form the collective patria; to be a eunuch was therefore to play the parricide to one's own country." It seems likely that Catullus responds to some such idea when he has Attis say, patria o mei creatrix, patria o mea genetrix (50). Note in particular the procreative denotations creatrix and genetrix. Moreover, Wheeler (above, n. 12), pp. 211-12, shows that this patria--pater concept is recommended by rhetoricians for inclusion in epithalamia. Thus we have here important formal evidence for supposing that the Attis belongs by contrast, as it were, among the marriage poems. See, too, Putnam (above, n. 16), p. 174, for what he calls Ariadne's and Attis' violations of the pietas of the home.



GERALD N. SANDY.

The frequent appearance in 63 of furor and its cognates provides, I believe, the first of such reasons. As Harkins has observed, Catullus regularly uses forms of furor in erotic con- texts.18 Variants of this word appear seven times in 63 (4, 31, 38, 54, 78, 79, 92), and with one exception (54) each instance can be construed as erotic frenzy equally as well as religious fanaticism. Of the remaining occurrences of forms of furor in the liber Catulli, over half (six out of ten) appear in the next poem, hymeneal in parts, and in three instances are erotic (94, 124, 197); one of the remaining four instances of a form of furor occurs in the context of Laodamia's marriage and is erotic (68, 129).

The bride's and groom's anticipation of the sexual pleasures awaiting them is not a frequent element in the epithalamia, but it is at least mentioned in each of them and in matrimonial con- texts of other carmina maiora as a form of cupido or in a comparable expression (61, 32; 54; 170-1. 62, 23; 29. 64, 19; 374. 68, 73). When Attis says that he and Cybele's other devotees have emasculated themselves out of Veneris nimio odio (17), he means that excessive devotion to Cybele has driven them to do this. And when his arrival in Phrygia is described in these terms, Phrygium ut nemus citato cupide pede tetigit (2), his cupido is, I think, as much erotic as religious. To be more precise, his cupido is like that of the maritus and sponsa of the epithalamia (61, 32; 54. 64, 374).

At this point we must go outside the poem to the mythological accounts of Attis and Cybele, to establish why it might be sup- posed in the first place that their relationship in 63 should have

any suggestion of marital sex about it. Passion (furor) is a regular element in the relationship of

the pair. In Diodorus (III, 58) Cybele is made pregnant by Attis. In Pausanias (VII, 17) Attis castrates himself because of grief that his marriage to her is abruptly broken off.l9 As Pausanias' account suggests, their marriage, too, is a regular part of the myths.20

"8 Paul W. Harkins, " Autoallegory in Catullus 63 and 64," T. A. P. A., XC (1959), p. 108, n. 17. See, too, Lieberg (above, n. 10), pp. 32-3.

19 Cf., too, Arnobius, Adversus nationes, IV, 35 and V, 6; Sallustius (philosophus), De diis et mundo, chap. 4.

0 Ovid, Fasti, IV, 221-46; Arnobius, Adversus nationes, IV, 29 and

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CATULLUS 63 AND THE THEMB OF MARRIAGE.

It is because of his furor, because he fails to adhere to his vows of conjugal fidelity (commits adultery), that Attis incurs Cybele's wrath. This is clearest in Lactantius' account, Deum Mater et amavit formosum adulescentem et eundem cum paelice deprehensum exsectis virilibus semivirum reddidit.21 While it is true that in 63 Catullus writes not of the Attis but of an Attis, it is nonetheless clear from the details given in the poem that Catullus knows the story of the Attis, including his marriage to Cybele. It is, in fact, to the mythological accounts of their marriage and its violation by Attis that this verse refers, Mea libere nimis qui fugere imperia cupit (80). Nimis here takes us back to the earlier phrase Veneris nimio odio (17). It is the perverse, constrictive love demanded of Attis by Cybele that he is eager to escape. In details not set forth in the poem but embedded in the myths and firmly lodged in Catullus' mind, Attis has violated conjugal faith (quia fidem non praestiterat [n. 21]), and it is for this breach that he must suffer eternal, frenzied devotion to his divine consort Cybele.22

The element of marriage that is inextricably tied up in the legend of Attis and Cybele is probably responsible for the phrase

V, 5-17; Paulinus of Nola, carmen 32, 87. In Herodotus (I, 36), Croesus' son Atys (= Attis?) is ve6yaAcos. M. J. Vermaseren, The Legend of Attis in Greek and Roman Art (Leiden, 1966), p. 22, n. 2, mentions an inscription from Asia Minor that reads: BaacnXebs 'AT[T]Is ve6yca ( os).

21 Divinae institutiones, I, 17, 7. Cf. idem, Epitomae, 8, 6, Mater ipsa . . . vidua et anus formosum adulescentem in deliciis habuit et quia fidem non praestiterat, ademptis genitalibus effeminavit.

22Lucretius, who normally tends to expatiate, also alludes obliquely to Attis' violation of conjugal faith; at least this is what I take the following verses to mean:

Gallos attribuunt, quia, numen qui violarint matris et ingrati genitoribus inventi sint, significare volunt indignos esse putandos, vivam progeniem qui in oras luminis edant (II, 614-17).

H. Graillot, Le culte de Cybele Mere des Dieuxo a Rome et dans l'empire romain (Paris, 1912), p. 106, n. 3, interprets the passage to be an "allusion aux amours d'Attis et de la nymphe et au chAtiment d'Attis, puni de son ingratitude envers Cybele." I know of nothing in the cult of Cybele to suggest that self-castration is a punishment for ingratitude to one's parents (genitoribus; matris must refer to the Magna Mater). Perhaps Lucretius is referring to the pater-patria concept described in n. 17, that to be a eunuch is to be a parricide to one's own country.

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GERALD N. SANDY.

ad domum Cybebes (20). The expression is suggested, I think, by the epithalamial formula deductio in domum. The irony of the situation is that Attis is not the maritus, who anxiously awaits his bride, but the sponsa, complete with the physical features of the Roman brides pictured in the epithalamia, who is led to the erus (era [17]; cf. 51-2 and above, p. 188 and Baker [above, n. 3], p. 172).

In 61, the god of marriage Hymen is addressed as boni coniugator amoris (44-5). In 62, a vine is "wed," [Vitis] est ulmo coniuncta marito (54). In 64, Thetis' father realizes that she and Peleus are going to be wed, Tunm Thetidi pater ipse iugandum Pelea sensit (21; cf. 302, 331, 335, and 372). The impetus behind Laodamia's decision to marry is described in these terms, Sed tuus altus amor . . ./qui tamen [te] indomitam ferre iugum docuit (68, 117-18). In all these expressions a form or cognate of iungere or iugare is used to denote marriage. This is not unusual, of course (cf. coniunx), for it is difficult in Latin to express matrimony in any other way. But the metaphor developed in the verses just quoted (68, 117-18) shows that Catullus was fully conscious of the basic meaning of iungere and that he exploits this meaning with the linguistic adroitness that we expect of a first-rate poet. The latent metaphor in iungere is made explicit in iugum. Indomitam expands on the conceit: Laodamia, though "unbroken," has learned to bear the yoke (of marriage). We shall return to this image and especially its counterpart in 63; for now it is enough to say that Catullus thinks of marriage as a yoke, a binding commitment, and this agrees with what he thinks the bond between himself and Lesbia ought to be, namely, a foedus (76, 3 and 109, 6), a word that has, in Copley's phrasing, a "hint of contractual obligations." The same noun appears twice in a hymeneal part of 64 (335 and 373):

nullus amor tali coniunxit foedere amantes, and:

accipiat coniunx felici foedere divam.

In short, Catullus sees marriage as a binding union, dependent to a large extent, as we can infer from 76, 3, upon mutual trust (cf. 61, 101-3).

Now Attis, as we have seen in the mythological accounts,

192




breaks his pledge of faith with Cybele. The simile of verse 33, veluti iuvenca vitans onus indomita iugi, foreshadows this rupture in their relationship. Indomita here does not have the concessive force that indomitam has in the verse about Lao- damia's deep love. Though unbroken, she is willing to sacrifice her life to remain beside her husband. Attis is indomita, un- reconciled to accepting the consequences (conjugal fidelity) of his pact with his consort Cybele. She then reasserts her authority and renews the bond in the form of a yoke.23 She removes the yoke from her lions (76 and 81) only to place it upon the shoulders of Attis, who, like a heifer, has attempted to get out from under it. All this is not spelled out explicitly in the poem but left to be inferred from the synonyms vitans (33) and fugere (80), applied in turn to a heifer and to Attis. Like the heifer that avoids (vitans) the yoke, Attis is too eager to avoid (fugere) Cybele's yoke, that is, an all-inclusive commitment to her.

The obvious conclusion to be drawn from the comparable images of 68 and 63 and the analogous application of iungere and iugare in the epithalamia and 63 is that Catullus in some way equates an amorous or, better, conjugal pledge with a religious commitment. In the opening verses of 76 the two types of bond are fused and interlocked. It is partly because of this type of identification of conjugal pledge with religious commitment and in part because of the legend of Attis' and Cybele's marriage that he includes the Attis among the epithalamia.

The final evidence for supposing this fusion of matrimonial and religious pledges centers on Catullus' use of domus in the marriage poems and in 63.24 J. P. Elder has shown that in 68 domus is a symbol of love and affection and that as such it is a link between Lesbia and Laodamia.25 Schafer observes that, like the arrival of the bride, the groom's domus takes on great

8 Cf. O. Weinreich, "Catulls Attisgedicht," in Mdlanges Franz Cumont (Brussels, 1936), p. 480. For a detailed study of the imagery of the poem see Gerald N. Sandy, "The Imagery of Catullus 63," T.A.P.A., XCIX (1968), pp. 389-99.

24In this part of my discussion I am indebted to Schafer's observa- tions (above, n. 10), p. 75. Cf., too, Putnam's remarks about domus in 65 (above, n. 16), p. 192, and Granarolo (above, n. 11), p. 58.

0 Op. cit. (above, n. 1), pp. 129-31.



GERALD N. SANDY.

importance in those parts of the carmina maiora that are con- cerned with marriage (61, 31; 149-51. 64, 284; 334. 67, 24. 68, 74; 144).26 Isidore defines domus this way: est autem domus genus, familia, sive coniunctio viri et uxoris (IX, 4, 3).27 In Catullus' mind domus suggests marriage. This is especially clear in the verses in which he faces up to the drawbacks inherent in an illicit love aaffir. They are worth quoting again (68, 143-4; cf. 64, 284):

nec tamen illa [Lesbia] mihi dextra deducta paterna fragrantem Assyrio venit odore domum.

Thus for Catullus domus equals coniunctio. Associated with coniunctio there is regularly the expectation of children (61, 66-8; cf. 61, 209 ff.; 64, 338 fl. and 376 ff.; 68, 119-24):

nulla quit sine te [Hymene] domus liberos dare, nec parens stirpe nitier

Influenced perhaps by the mythological accounts of Attis and Cybele as consorts, Catullus envisages the arrival of Attis, the notha mulier, ad domum Cybeles (20 and cf. 35) as the deductio sponsae in domum mariti. Cybele, when addressed as era and domina, may in Catullus' mind have been thought of as the erus and dominus of 61. When Catullus has Attis lament, egone a mea remota haec ferar in nemora domo? (58), he may be responding to Attis' impotency; for domus, by a series of suggestions, conveys thoughts of stirps to Catullus, and Attis has forever cut himself off from offspring. Moreover, the domus in which Attis lived as a virile youth is described in terms sug- gestive of a newly wedded couple's domus (66):

mihi floridis corollis redimita domus erat.

In 68, a wedded pair's domus is fragrant (144), as, in 64, is that of Peleus and Thetis (284), a fragrance that derives from corollis.28 The tunc-nunc contrast seems designed to emphasize what Attis has sacrificed for his perverse marriage to Cybele.

26Op. cit. (above, n. 10), p. 75. 27 T.L.L., V, 1981, 17 ff., s. v. domus under the rubric uxor (coniunx),

liberi contains many examples, from as early as Terence. 28 See above, n. 6.

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The same chain of suggestion-Attis and Cybele = coniunctio = stirps-is probably responsible for the way Attis apostrophizes

his patria (50):

patria o mei creatrix, patria o mea genetrix. The procreative denotations of creatrix and genetrix suggested themselves to Catullus, apart from the conventionality of the patria-pater motif in epithalamia, because in his view Attis has forsaken not only patria but fatherhood, the chance to be a pater.

To conclude, it would be totally misleading to claim that the Attis is principally a celebration of marriage, however perverse, or even a kind of epithalamium. This would be to argue fatu- ously that the poem expresses what it does not appear to express. I have tried elsewhere to develop an over-all interpretation of the poem (see n. 23). My purpose in this paper is to show rather that the mythological accounts of Cybele and her consort Attis and Catullus' preoccupation in the other carmina maiora with the theme of marriage, even where it does not seem completely natural as in 68, may at most underlie a word or phrase here and there in the poem's ninety-three verses. Moreover, the arguments advanced in this paper suggest that the Attis appears among the cluster of matrimonial poems in the liber Catulli for logical reasons and add to the growing evidence (see n. 2) that the Catullan corpus is not the haphazard collection it appears at first glance to be but a systematically arranged grouping of at least three blocks of poems, each unit displaying certain thematic and stylistic features, and the whole assembled, in my opinion, by the poet himself.

GERALD N. SANDY. THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.



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