Catullus: Poem 64

This major new edition of a pivotal Roman poem is an essential resource for advanced students and scholars of Latin literature. It provides a newly edited text accompanied by a line-by-line commentary exploring all aspects of Catullus 64, together with a comprehensive introduction and a ground-breaking interpretative epilogue.

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Catullus' longest poem, a miniature epic or 'epyllion' that tells two apparently unrelated mythological stories, is a central text in the Roman literary tradition. Allusive, exquisite, and sometimes shocking, it offers a profound exploration of human connection and aesthetic response against a backdrop of universal history. This major new edition addresses the interpretative challenges of the poem on every level of detail. The corrupt text is newly edited, while a line-by-line commentary of unparalleled depth and range integrates discussion of textual and linguistic matters with sophisticated literary criticism and a thoroughgoing awareness both of the poem's cultural and intertextual background and of its subsequent influence and reception. The introduction sets Catullus 64 in context, and an innovative epilogue draws together the threads of an overall interpretation. This book is an essential resource for the study of Latin poetry, and will transform its readers' understanding and appreciation of Catullus 64.