Catullus 3 is a lament for the death of Lesbia’s sparrow, a lament that seems to focus more on the change in Lesbia’s physical appearance due to her grief than any genuine grief for the sparrow’s death on Catullus’ part. I wonder how Lesbia might have interpreted poems with this subtext about her lack beauty while she is grieving. I certainly would have been angry.
I found myself oddly drawn to the comparison of the sparrow being as familiar with Lesbia as a girl would to her own mother. What an odd statement for Catullus to make in a poem about grief. Has Lesbia lost a child? Or given birth to a sparrow? Although I certainly joke today about being a mom to two cats—and have felt the heart-rending grief of losing a beloved pet—I still struggle with this comparison. Perhaps it’s because I see a sparrow as a wild animal, not a pet. Or maybe it’s the concept of a girl knowing a parent. What do we ever really know as children about the lives of our parents?
In my opinion, Catullus seems to have handed some kind of backhanded compliment over, which led me to wonder more particularly about how to weave that into the adaptation I wanted to write. Enter Lesbia’s mother as a conduit and frame for narrating some of the story. Her presence and explanation of what has happened also helps to further develop Catullus’ ambiguous feelings about the sparrow, his envy for the lovable little creature.
The sudden transition to cursing death could seem to be a way to turn Lesbia’s attention back to him as the hero of her story. At is a strong word of contrast, of attention-seeking, akin in my reading to a sudden declaration of “Ecce! You suck!” in the middle of the forum. (This is why I have him suddenly bursting into Lesbia’s private grief in my story).
Instead of grappling with Lesbia’s grief, Catullus berates the tenebrae for taking the sparrow he envies from him. Why? The sparrow ad solam dominam chirps, not to Catullus. The loss Catullus experiences is the loss of Lesbia’s fine eyes, eyes made red and blotchy and swollen because of her grief. And who does Catullus blame? By emphasizing the tuā at the beginning of the line, he calls out a single subject, not the plural tenebrae, but the dead sparrow’s operā.
Yes, if I were Lesbia, I’d be pretty pissed.
If you want to return to Catullus 2B, visit this link. Otherwise, continue on to read the prose adaptation of Catullus 3.
Catullus 3: An Easier Prose Story
Catullus in viā apud domum Lesbiae est. Lesbiam flentem[1] et exclāmantem in domō suā audit. Quid est hoc?! Cūr Lesbia flet?[2]
Catullus domum suam statim intrat, et mātrem Lesbiae in ātriō videt. Māter Lesbiae trīstis nōn vidētur. Māter Lesbiae nōn flet.
“In viā, Lesbiam flentem intrā domum ego audīvī. Quid est?” Catullus rogat.
“Catulle, gaudeō tē vēnisse,” māter Lesbiae respondet.
“Bene, sed cūr? Cūr Lesbia flet?” Catullus iterum rogat.
Māter Lesbiae respondet, “Lesbia lūget,[3] Catulle.”
Catullus statim dē patre Lesbiae cōgitat. Eum in ātriō nōn videt, sed māter Lesbiae nōn luget. Catullus timēns rogat, “Cūr Lesbia lūget? Quis mortuus est?”
Māter cōnfūsa respondet, “Em, nēmō mortuus est. Rogātum melius est: Quid.”
Et Catullus statim scit respōnsum. Cōgitat: Ille passer meae puellae—dēliciae meae puellae—ille passer mortuus est quem ego eī dedī. Catullus nōn respondet. Gaudet… sed ipse quoque lūget.
Māter Lesbiae dīcit, “Lūgē, Catulle, cum fīliā meā. Lesbia illum passerem amābat plūs[4] oculīs suīs.
Catullus dīcit, “Oculī Lesbiae pulcherrimī sunt. Eōs amō.”
Māter respondet, “Sed ocellī[5] iam nōn pulchrī sunt. Turgidulī[6] sunt et rubent[7] quia flet et lūget.”
Catullus cōgitat (sed nōn dīcit): suntne oculī Lesbiae minōrēs pulchrī?! Catullus ad Lesbiam īre incipit, sed māter dīcit, “Ō, plūs ocellīs suīs amābat. Nam[8] pulcher et mellītus[9] erat ille passer. Scīsne, Catulle, passerem usque pīpiāvisse[10] ad sōlam[11] Lesbiam?”
Catullus, paulō vexātior, respondet, “Bene, Lesbia erat domina[12] passeris. Passer ad sōlam dominam certē et usque pīpiābat.”[13]
Māter Lesbiae respondet, “Ō, quam mellītus[14] et optimus erat ille passer! Ad sōlam Lesbiam usque pīpiābat, nec ā gremiō[15] Lesbiae sēsē movēbat.[16] Passer eam amābat! In gremiō[17] illīus modo hūc, modo illūc circumsiliēns[18] semper pīpiābat… Ō quam horribile est! Quam trīstis Lesbia est!”
Catullus, adhūc vexātior respondet, “Sīc, ille passer nōrat[19] Lesbiam ipsam tam bene quam[20] puella mātrem nōscit.[21] Et ille passer per iter tenebricōsum[22] nunc it illūc unde[23] omnēs hominēs negant quemquam[24] posse redīre.”[25]
Māter Lesbiae attonita est, et respondēre bene nescit. Quid Catullus significat?! Māter cōnfūsa est et nescit.
Catullus ex ātriō discēdit quia Lesbiam vidēre vult. Cum mātre Lesbiae loquī nōn vult. Ad cubiculum Lesbiae sōlus it. Catullus Lesbiam flentem iterum audit. Catullus cōgitat, et cōnsilium capit.
Catullus subitō intrat cubiculum Lesbiae et Lesbiam lūgentem et flentem videt. Ocellī[26] Lesbiae turgidulī[27] sunt, et rubent flendō.[28]
Catullus exclāmat, “Ō Venerēs Cupidīnēsque,[29] et quantum est hominum venustiōrum,[30] sīc, vōs omnēs hominēs venustiōrī, lūgēte! Omnēs, lūgēte! Passer Lesbiae mortuus est! Ō misellē[31] sed amāte passer…”
Lesbia attonita Catullum spectat (quia Catullus ipse subitō intrāvit cubiculum suum). Lesbia nihil dīcit, sed flēns Catullum spectat.
Catullus iterum exclāmat, “At,[32] vōs malae tenebrae Orcī![33] Male sit vōbīs![34] Vōs omnēs dēvorātis[35] omnia pulchra—omnia bona et bella,[36] et vōs ipsae abstulistis[37] bellum et mellītum passerem mihi—et ā Lesbiā. Factum male![38] Ō miselle passer, Lesbia operā tuā,[39] lūget!”
Catullus nōn dīcit an[40] hominēs dēbeant lūgēre quia oculī turgidulī Lesbiae rubeant an dēbeant lugēre quia passer Lesbiae mortuus sit. Sed… cuius operā[41] Lesbia lūget?
Lesbia spectāns Catullum īrāta est.
[1] Weeping
[2] Is weeping, weeps
[3] Is grieving, grieves
[4] More than
[5] Ocellī = oculī
[6] Swollen
[7] They are red
[8] For
[9] Sweet; literally, honey-sweet
[10] Had constantly chirped
[11] Only, alone
[12] Mistress
[13] Constantly was chirping
[14] Sweet; literally, honey-sweet
[15] Nor from her lap
[16] Was it moving itself; sēsē = sē
[17] Lap
[18] Jumping around now here now there
[19] Nōverat; had known
[20] As well as
[21] Knows
[22] Through a shadowy journey
[23] To that place where
[24] They deny that anyone
[25] To return
[26] Ocellī = oculī.
[27] Swollen
[28] They are red from weeping
[29] O Venuses and Cupids!
[30] Of rather charming people
[31] Poor, unfortunate, wretched
[32] But
[33] Shades of Hell/Death
[34] Curse you! Literally, may it be badly for y’all.
[35] Y’all devour
[36] Bella = pulchra.
[37] Y’all took away
[38] Badly done!
[39] Your work
[40] Whether…or
[41] Work
Catullus 3: English Word Order
Ō Venerēs -que Cupīdinēs, et quantum hominum venstiōrum est: passer meae puellae est mortuus,
passer, dēliciae meae puellae, quem illa amābat plus oculīs suīs. Nam mellītus erat -que nōrat ipsam tam bene quam puella suam mātrem, nec mōvēbat sēsē ā gremiō illīus, sed circumsiliēns modo huc modo illūc ūsque pīpiābat ad sōlam dominam quī nunc per iter tenebricōsum it illūc, unde negant quemquam redīre. At male sit vōbīs, malae tenebrae Orcī, quae dēvorātis omnia bella: abstulistis tam bellum passerem mihi! Ō male factum! Ō miselle passer! Tuā operā turgidulī ocellī meae puellae rubent flendō!
Catullus 3: Original Poem
Lūgēte, Ō Venerēs Cupīdinēsque, et quantum est hominum venustiōrum: passer mortuus est meae puellae, passer, dēliciae meae puellae, quem plūs illa oculīs suīs amābat. Nam mellītus erat suamque nōrat ipsam tam bene quam puella mātrem. Nec sēsē ā gremiō illīus movēbat, sed circumsiliēns, modo hūc modo illūc, ad sōlam dominam ūsque pīpiābat qui nunc it per iter tenebricōsum illūc, unde negant redīre quemquam. At vōbīs male sit, malae tenebrae Orcī, quae omnia bella dēvorātis. Tam bellum mihi passerem abstulistis. Ō factum male! Ō miselle passer! Tuā nunc operā meae puellae flendō turgidulī rubent ocellī.
The image for this title page comes from the British Library’s catalogue of illuminated manuscripts. I am grateful that the image is dedicated to the public domain. I have done minor photoshop editing to clarify the image, crop it, and add a heading for the poem.
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