Construing the author as a Catullan reader in the pure iambic Catalepton (6, 10, 12)

It has long been recognized that the poems of the Catalepton betray their author’s intimate familiarity with the works of Catullus. This chapter revisits the holoiambic poems of the Catalepton (6, 10, and 12), the parts of the pseudo-Vergilian libellus that seem to engage most explicitly with the works of Catullus, his contemporaries, and his predecessors. After considering the unique relationship between Catalepton 10 and Catullus 4, this chapter turns to Catalepton 6 and 12. These two poems are integral to the architecture of the libellus , which, it is argued, was originally constituted of Catalepton 1–13 and arranged by its author. This chapter explores how the poet of the Catalepton engages not only Catullus’ works, but also those of his neoteric contemporaries; it demonstrates how the poet’s closely allusive treatment of literary forebears (in this case, Sappho) allows him to toy with, and to subvert, neoteric modes of engagement with their precursors’ works.

Art · Iambic pentameter · Intertextuality · Literature · Poetry · Classical Antiquity Studies · Organic Chemistry Synthesis Methods · Philosophy