242 Catullus 243 Commentary on Poem 13

13 9 contra, 'in return'; cf. 76.23,Ter. Eun. 355, V. Aen. 7.267..

amores: in C. this word may be used either, like 'my lovte,' in a personal sense
Structure: 8 + 6. (see refs. at 6.16 n. and also poem 40, intr. n.) or in an ¡impersonal sense, as
As in poem 11, two themes are united in a single composition: the paradoxical here (observe seu quid in l. 10) and possibly at 38.6 (but see n. there); for the
dinner invitation to Fabullus (paradoxical because the invited guest must transference of the impersonal sense to a thing, cf. Mart:. 14.206 eolio necte,
bring the dinner and find the company), and the praise of Lesbia for her gift puer, meros amores, / ceston de Veneris sinu calentem (i1mitated from C.). For
of ointment to Catullus - the only thing that he, the host, expects to be able meros cf. 17.21 n.
to furnish. The occasion of the feast has given rise to much speculation; had 10 The meaning is this: 'If you can't think of a more laudato•ry way of referring to
Fabullus invited himself? From Cicero, De or. 2.246, it would appear to have meros amores, that will fit as well.'
a perfume than by calling it
been perfectly acceptable conduct to invite oneself to dinner at the house of a seu quid= aut si quid at 22.13, 82.2.
familiar friend, using the formula cenaba apud te. C.'s joking reply certainly 11-12 Cf. Servius ad Aen. 3.279: <Phaon> .. . cum esset navticularius . . . Venerem
appears to temporize - perhaps until Lesbia can be induced to part with mutatam in anuis formam gratis travexit; quapropter ah• ea donatus unguenti
the ointment she has promised (paucis diebus may conceivably be intended · alabastro, cum se ... ungueret, feminas in sui amorem trahebat. (l owe this
to allow for this delay). As Q. says, the opening lines 'read more like a reference to Professor R.S. Kilpatrick).
procrastination than an invitation.' F. allows himself to imagine that it was 11 dabo, 'will provide (as host)'; it is only with the pointed ¡tu of 13 that we turn
written 'to welcome Fabullus home from Spain, as poem 9 was written to back to Fabullus. (Kr., wrongly I think, describes tu as 'writhout emphasis' and
welcome Veranius, and that Catullus makes play with his own impécuniosity colloquial, comparing 6.14.)
in contrast to the fortune which he supposes Fabullus has brought back with nam: elision in the first accented syllable of a hendecasy !Habic, or decasyllabic,
him,' but adds: 'it is as good a guess that it was written to please Lesbia.' line occurs elsewhere in C. only at 55.4-5 (Kr.).
As an example of the genre (a poet's invitation or mock-invitation) editors o/facies, a kind of continuous future: 'when you are sme!Hing it.'
cite Philodemus, AP 11.44 (to Piso), Horace Od. 1.20, 3.29, 4.12 (the last a 14 totu:n: probably to be taken with te, rather than with naisum; cf. Cícero, Pro
parody and inversion of C.'s poem: Virgil is to bring the ointment, while Cluentio 72 totus ex fraude et mendacio factus. But e.ith�r way the meaning is
Horace will supply the feast), and Martial 11.52.1 (where the dinner is a the same.
poor one, but the host will make up for this by refraining from reading his
own verses). As often, C. treats a traditional topos with marked originality. Wilhelm, F. 19o6. 'Zu augusteischen Dichtern,' RhM 61: 92-_-3.
See Horace, Ep. 1.5, for a more serious invitation. Schuster, M. 1925. 'Zur Auffassung von C.s 13. Gedicht,' W§ 44: 227-34.
Bongi, V. 1943. 'Note critiche su! c. XIII di C.,' Aevum 17: 22:8-36.
1 cenabis implies an invitation; cenaba, a self-invitation (Cícero, De or. 2.246); see Hiltbrunner, O. 1972. 'Einladung zum epicureischen Freundeismal,' Kraus: 175-7.
intr. n. Arkins, B. 1979. 'Poem 13 of C.,' SOsl 54: 71-80.
mi Fabulle: this form of address suggests close friendship (cf. Cicero's mi Attice). Gamberale, L. 1979. 'Venuste Noster. Caratterizzazione e irornia in C. 13,' Traglia 1:
4 non sine: cf. 64.290, 66.34, for this emphatic, as well as metrically convenient, 127-48.
way of saying 'and also.' Witke, C. 1980. 'C. 13: A Reexamination,' CP 75: 325-31.
candida, 'bright, dazzling' (not solely of fair skin). Helm, J.J. 1980-1. 'Poetic Structure and Humor: C. 13,' CW ¡74: 213-17.
5 omnibus, 'every kind of.' See Cícero, Orat. 96, quoted above (12.9 n.). Fitts, R.L. 1982. 'Reflections on C. 13,' CW 76: 41-2.
cachinnis, used of distinctly audible, even loud, laughter (as at 31.14, after Bernstein, W.H. 1984. 'A Sense ofTaste: C. 13,' C} So: 127-3¡0.
ridete). Dettmer, H. 1986. 'Meros amores. A Note on C. 13.9,' QUCC::: 23: 87-91.
8 In the latter part of the second century BC, Afranius (fr. 410 R) formed this image Urso, A.M. 1991. 'Fabullo, l'unguentum, la venustas: osservtazioni su C. 13,' Atti
in almost the words used by C. here: tanne arcula tua plena est aranearum? Cf. Acc. Pelorit. 6T 331-42.
also Plaut. Aul. 83-4 hic apud nos nihil est aliud quaesti furibus, / ita inaniis Nielsen, R. M., and Blodgett, E.O. 1991. 'C.'s Cena: "1'11Tell ·You of More, and Lie,
sunt oppletae atque araneis. So You Will Come,"' RBPh 69: 87-100.