Catullus slanders Gellius in his seven epigrams (74, 80, 88, 89, 90, 91, 116). The purpose of this paper is to discuss three problems concerning these Gellius poems. First, I examine the common opinion about Gellius’ identity. Many scholars conjecture that he is L. Gellius Publicola, a consul of 36 BC, but I demonstrate that this identification is not reliable by referring to the arguments of T. P. Wiseman and R. A. Kaster. Secondly, I analyze the structure of seven poems and Catullus’ strategy for attacking Gellius. From Poem 74 to 91, the poet arranges three themes—fellatio, incest and infidelity—in a sequence and impresses on his readers that incest is more evil than fellatio and infidelity is more evil than incest. In Poem 116, which explains why he composes the invective epigrams against Gellius, he suggests his own Hellenistic sophistication by mentioning that he tried to send ‘songs of Callimachus’ to Gellius. Furthermore, in Poem 80 and 88 Catullus seems to perform Hellenistic poetics and (according to the interpretation of D. F. S. Thomson) in Poem 90 to scorn unsophisticated poetry of Gellius. The strategy of the poet is to insult by not only aggressive expressions but also boasting his superiority in Hellenistic sophistication. Thirdly, I argue the incest theme in Gellius poems. H. D. Rankin regards incest as ‘an aristocratic vice’ in his essay ‘Catullus and Incest’. However, we cannot identify Gellius as a consul of 36 BC and therefore Gellius’ incest is not necessarily a vice of Roman high society to which the Veronese poet is hostile. Instead, incest is both a custom of Hellenistic world and a popular motif of Hellenistic literature of which the ‘new poet’ is fond. Catullus nevertheless regards incest as a Persian custom in Poem 90 and draws a line between the Hellenistic world and the barbarian world arbitrarily. In this way, he can attack Gellius’ incest as a poet who acquires Hellenistic sophistication.
雑誌名
東京大学西洋古典学研究室紀要
巻
10
ページ
1 - 34
発行年
2017-12
書誌レコードID
AA1281090X
著者版フラグ
publisher
出版者
東京大学大学院人文社会系研究科西洋古典学研究室
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カトゥッルスのゲッリウス誹謗詩について Catullus 74, 80, 88, 89, 90, 91, 116
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