Catullus VIII. 149 



Tliis epigram, attributed to Callimachus, may indeed have been 

 the model for CatuUus ; he has omitted the reference to Megara 

 and has substituted the tigure of wind and running water for ovar 

 fs (lO^ari'cTov, but has kept the framework oj/ioaf: — vjfiooi: in the 

 words (licit — (licit. At any rate, the type is the same and the poem 

 is ahnost complete in itself Not much is added to its effectiveness 

 by the identihcation of tiiulier mca with Clodia, especially if 

 nubere be taken, with F'riedrich, in its less precise sense. It is 

 only when iiubcrc is taken to be a reference to a legal marriage, 

 that is, only when the poem contains some reference to a specific 

 act, that personal identification adds much to the point of such 

 typical poems. In fact, the identification of the persons alluded 

 to in a poem is much like the fixing of the date of composition ; 

 it is of value not for itself, but for the light which it may shed 

 upon the poem, and for the light which the poem may then reflect 

 upon the life of the writer. If a poem is so general in tone and 

 contains so few definite references that its date cannot be fixed, 

 either absolutely or relatively, then, conversely, it is almost always 

 a poem which would gain little by being dated. The vagueness 

 which makes the dating impossible, makes it also valueless. The 

 same thing is true of personal identification ; poems which al^ound 

 in specific allusion contain the material for identification and become 

 clearer l^y such identification ; but reflective poems or those which 

 conform closely to a type and are but slightly charged with person- 

 ality are less easily connected with an individual and gain little 

 by such connection. It is possible that the Alfenus of xxx is 

 P. Alfenus Varus, hwX. the possibility or the certainty adds little to 

 the poem ; that stands by itself as an expression of poetic emotion, 

 highly artificial in structure and meter and undoubtedly interesting 

 .to the writer on the artistic rather than on the personal side. So 

 it is that viii should l)e understood and appreciated. It is a 

 beautiful little work of art, worthy to hang by the side of Horace's 

 Epode XV, less mellow, but not less humorous, superior in fire and 

 greatly superior in the vivid presentation of the lover's quickly 

 changing moods. 



But, though this is the point of view from which the poem is 

 to be understood and appreciated, it is not necessary to stop here. 

 Catullus has, in all probability, used the typical poetic form to 

 express something of his feeling toward a particular person, 



