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Catullus, Hip-hop, and Masculinity

2017; Boston University; Volume: 25; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/arn.2017.0002

2327-6436

Colin Cromwell Pang,

Classical Antiquity Studies

Catullus, Hip-hop, and Masculinity COLIN CROMWELL PANG for Devin, cariori mihi quam oculis meis Catullus cc. 50–51: Hesterno, Licini, die otiosi multum lusimus in meis tabellis, ut conuenerat esse delicatos: scribens uersiculos uterque nostrum ludebat numero modo hoc modo illoc, 5 reddens mutua per iocum atque uinum. atque illinc abii tuo lepore incensus, Licini, facetiisque, ut nec me miserum cibus iuuaret nec somnus tegeret quiete ocellos, 10 sed toto indomitus furore lecto uersarer, cupiens uidere lucem, ut tecum loquerer simulque ut essem. at defessa labore membra postquam semimortua lectulo iacebant, 15 hoc, iucunde, tibi poema feci, ex quo perspiceres meum dolorem. nunc audax caue sis, precesque nostras, oramus, caue despuas, ocelle, ne poenas Nemesis reposcat a te. 20 est uemens dea: laedere hanc caueto. Ille mi par esse deo uidetur, ille, si fas est, superare diuos, qui sedens aduersus identidem te spectat et audit dulce ridentem, misero quod omnis 5 eripit sensus mihi: nam simul te, Lesbia, aspexi, nihil est super mi . . . lingua sed torpet, tenuis sub artus flamma demanat, sonitu suopte 10 arion 25.1 spring/summer 2017 tintinant aures, gemina teguntur lumina nocte. otium, Catulle, tibi molestum est: otio exsultas nimiumque gestis: otium et reges prius et beatas 15 perdidit urbes.1 Yesterday, Licinius, at our leisure we messed around a lot in my notebooks, agreeing, as we had, to fool about: each of us scribbling scraps of verses played around in this meter, then that one, 5 exchanging mutual verse over wit and wine. And then I left from there, so fired by your charm, Licinius, and your sense of humor, food could not soothe me in my misery, sleep could not tuck in my little eyes, 10 but wilding in rage about the bed I tossed and turned, waiting to see morning, so I could talk with you, and be with you. Well, after my limbs, exhausted from the labor, were lying there, half-dead, on my lounge, 15 I wrote this poem down for you, my dear, so that, through it, you might perceive my pain. Now please, don’t be brash, I’m begging you, please don’t spit my prayers back in my face, doll, or Nemesis will seek you out for payment— 20 she is a vicious goddess—please don’t mess with her! He seems to me a peer among the gods, he seems to—dare I say—surpass the gods, who, sitting time and again across from you, watches and listens to your sweet laughter—how it rips away 5 all my wretched senses, for the moment, Lesbia, I see you, nothing’s left in me . . . but I’m all tongue-tied, soft beneath my limbs fire flows in droplets, dulling my eardrums roars 10 a deafening hum, the lights of my eyes grow dark in double night. catullus, hip-hop, and masculinity 62 Leisure, Catullus, that’s what bothers you: leisure keeps you up and overanxious: leisure it was that ruined kings and plundered 15 prosperous cities. Catullus’s character in c. 50 describes his feelings for Calvus in words imbued with homoeroticism: he is set on fire by him (incensus, 8); food loses its taste (nec me . . . cibus iuuaret, 9); sleep cannot allay his feverish frenzy (nec somnus tegeret quiete ocellos, 10): all time-tested tropes of amatory poetry. In his emotional reminiscence, Catullus applies tender diminutives to his own wakeful eyes (ocellos, 10) and tortured bed (lectulo , 15), using the former image as a pet-name for his addressee (ocelle, 19) to go along with his other endearing epithet , “my dear” (iucunde, 16). At the end of the poem Catullus adopts the stance of an abandoned lover, begging Calvus not to invalidate his prayers to Nemesis, lest he provoke the goddess of Retribution (18–21). Reviewing the very opening of the poem, we cannot help but notice that it too is fraught with suggestive language. Note the prepositional phrase in line two, suspended playfully after the risqué verb: “we messed around a lot . . . in my notebooks” (multum lusimus in meis tabellis). The two poets make a conscious agreement (ut conuenerat) to be delicati (3), a term conjuring up images of pueri delicati, effeminate youths well...