Catullus Urbanus: Urbanity and the Choliambic in Catullus 22 and 39

Jameson C. Farmer (Samford University)

In poems 22 and 39, Catullus employs a series of vindictive witticisms against two social rivals, one an arrogant poet who veils his artless and unsophisticated poetry with stylish papyrus rolls, and the other a regular at a local tavern who whitens his teeth with his own urine. Writing both poems in the choliambic, he brings these invectives to full force, while, at the same time, reinforcing his own urbane style. I will show how, in poems 22 and 39, the choliambic meter strengthens Catullus’ urbanity.

Four out of the five instances of the word urbanus that we find in Catullus reside in 22 and 39, and in none of these cases does Catullus use the word to describe himself. Quinn argues, however, that Catullus “prided himself on possessing urbanitas” (K. Quinn Catullus: An Interpretation 1973). Following Quintilian’s understanding of urbanitas (Instit. 6.3) as provoking laughter by pointing out the deformities and ugliness in others while using a language that imitates urban conversation, we can easily label poems 22 and 39 as “urbane”. The word urbanus itself attracts special attention in these poems, as three out of their four appearances fall on the final trochee of the choliambic line (22.2, 22.9, 39.8). Moreover, urbanus is accompanied by its usual entourage of adjectives: venustus and dicax in 22.2, bellus in 22.9, and elegans in 39.8. Such adjectives formed the self-proclaimed image of the band of novi poetae, of which Catullus was a part (Quinn), and urbanus was at the top of the list.

Poems 22 and 39 produce a conversational effect in their meter, as the choliambic marries the Latin prose accent with the metrical emphasis on the final word (D. H. Garrison The Student’s Catullus 1995). Thus Catullus could easily mimic urban conversation with the choliambic. For example, at the beginning of poem 22 (Suffenus iste, Vare,…), Catullus seems to be resuming a conversation (Garrison) and creating the kind of gossip we might find in an urban context. Also, because of its conversational effect, the choliamb traditionally appears in personal invectives, satirical in nature and often vindictive, a tradition traced back to the choliamb inventor, Hipponax. As the urbanus poet prided himself on his satirical achievement, the choliamb proves to be a powerful tool in maintaining one’s urbanity.