Living through the debauchery, decadence and political machinations of the crumbling Great Republic, Gaius Valerius Catullus’s fervent poetry was filled with emotion, wit and lurid insight into some of the republic’s most enduring figures. In his own scandalous love affairs brimmed all the decadence, debauchery and spectacle of his time.Born in Verona in c. 82BC, Catullus’ name remains famous after two thousand years for the sharp, immediate poetry with which he skewered society in the great Republic. From mocking political Rome’s sparring titans – Pompey, Crassus and his father’s friend, Julius Caesar – to his wry observations of cavorting youths, money-grabbing brothel-keepers or slaves who knew too much, Catullus was a reckless forefather of social satire. But it was by his erotic, scandalous but tender love elegies that he became known, remaining a monumental figure of reference for poets from Ovid and Virgil onwards.Tracing his journey across youth and experience, from Verona to Rome, Bithynia to Lake Garda, Daisy Dunn rediscovers the world of Catullus’ passions. She explores the adventures at sea described by his breathless syllables, the private dinners, lovers’ trysts and power games all amid the trembling death of the Roman republic, written with a wit and energy that Catullus would surely have enjoyed.
Оглавление
Daisy Dunn. Catullus’ Bedspread: The Life of Rome’s Most Erotic Poet
Copyright
Praise for Catullus’ Bedspread:
Dedication
Epigraph
MAPS
AUTHOR’S NOTE
The Political System in Rome
TIMELINE
PROLOGUE
IN SEARCH OF CATULLUS
THE HOUSE ON THE PALATINE HILL
AN ELEGANT NEW LITTLE BOOK
SPARROW
THE RUMOURS OF OUR ELDERS
THE POWER OF THREE
I HATE AND I LOVE
FAREWELL
A SEA OF MACKEREL
CANVAS
THE BOXWOOD ARGO
GODLY RUMBLING
THE ROMAN STAGE
A FLOWER ON THE EDGE OF THE MEADOW
EPILOGUE
PICTURE SECTION
APPENDIX
Poem 64. Catullus’ Bedspread Poem
NOTE ON CURRENCY AND MEASURES
NOTES
Abbreviations used in Notes
Prologue
I: In search of Catullus
II: The house on the Palatine Hill
III: An elegant new little book
IV: Sparrow
V: The rumours of our elders
VI: The power of three
VII: I hate and I love
VIII: Farewell
IX: A sea of mackerel
X: Canvas
XI: The boxwood Argo
XII: Godly rumbling
XIII: The Roman stage
XIV: A flower on the edge of the meadow
Epilogue
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
INTEGRATED IMAGES
PLATE SECTION
INDEX
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
About the Author
About the Publisher
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‘A lively, finely crafted biography. Weaving well-researched social history with a compelling account of political machinations in Rome, the picture here is not just of a libertine prone to writing of his obscene desires, but a soulful man at the heart of a remarkable age’
Observer
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His kingdom, Pontus, fell to Rome. Catullus subsequently evoked it in his poetry. Pompey conquered a good number of Mithridates’ territories, and reduced his former ally, Armenia, to a state of dependency on Rome. Syria was among the places which slipped into Roman control.14 It happened that in the midst of the wars, the king of Bithynia, Nicomedes IV, had bequeathed by agreement his land to Rome, too. Pompey’s eyes sparkled at the possibilities. Intent now on lining the south coast of the Black Sea with Roman provinces, he decided to join Pontus and Bithynia together to form one enormous new province.15
In his mid-twenties, Catullus boarded a ship with a cohort of other young men in order to escape Rome for this very place. One needed to be a Roman citizen to join the prestigious cohort he did, which is a strong indication that Catullus’ father was a local governor or magistrate in Verona.16 For while the Veronese remained eager to acquire Roman citizenship, for as long as Catullus lived, their magistrates could secure the honour for themselves and their families. Bithynia lay south of the Black Sea, which Jason and his Argonauts were said to have sailed over on their Heroic Age mission to steal the Golden Fleece. The map of Rome’s new provinces, I discovered, overlapped with that which inspired the imagery of Catullus’ verse.
