Catullus: Naughty Poet
or Playful Character?

Amy Griffin (University of Georgia)

In his poetry, Catullus shares with the reader his views on life in ancient Rome: politics, friendship, duty, and most of all, love. Poem 16, a tirade against Furius and Aurelius, shows that he was judged by his poetry and that the judgment was not always kind to his reputation. Catullus lashes out at Furius and Aurelius because they have accused him of being the sort of man who is speaking in his love poems. He tells them that it is ridiculous for them to think he is his poetry; quite the opposite is true, as he tells us. He is a chaste man; it is only his writing that is not. The many different personas that Catullus uses in his poetry are often the cause of confusion about whether or not he actually means what he says in his poems, whether he is talking about homosexual love or chastising Caesar and his governors. Reading Catullus in a literal way will often give a false sense of meaning to his poetry. Instead of reading literally, I believe it is best to follow the idea put forth by Martin (C. Martin, Catullus, Yale University Press, 1992), namely that Catullus is playful and witty. While Catullus does have a serious comment to make about Roman society as well as life and love, he makes his point with humor and exaggeration, and in doing so he gets away with much that would have been otherwise an excuse for exile.

How successful was Catullus in his endeavor? Was it possible for him to separate his fictional poetry from his real life? In this paper, I suggest that Catullus was in fact successful in making this distinction, looking at a broad range of his poetry to include his love poems, both for male and female, and his political invective. He came from a wealthy family, his father was a friend of Julius Caesar, and he was a successful poet. He would be risking all of this if he were serious about the charges he makes in his poems. Poem 16 is a reminder, not just to Furius and Aurelius but to all Roman citizens, that Catullus is simply playing a role in each of his poems. Moreover, the different roles he takes on are reflections of society, not his personal life.

By stating so strongly that his poetry had nothing to do with his own life, and that it was simply words put together to entertain and shock his readers, Catullus was able to separate himself from his often vulgar and vicious attacks. Using the idea that his poems were just for fun, Catullus was able to comment on society, politics, friendship, and love, and yet not suffer the consequences that later poets, such as Ovid a bit later under Augustus, came to face. I propose that by presenting himself as a simple poet creating entertainment for the people, Catullus was able to take what would have otherwise been an unbridgeable leap into social commentary.