Catullus 2 - Manuscript Tradition

Manuscript Tradition

A key question concerns the unity of this poem. In the copies derived from the original V manuscript, poems 2 (lines 1-10 below), 2b (lines 11-13 below), and Catullus 3 appear as one poem under the title "Fletus passeris Lesbie" (Lament for Lesbia's Sparrow). Shortly before 1500, Catullus 3 (the lament) was separated from Catullus 2/2b by Marcantonio Sabellico, which has been supported by scholars ever since.

Scholars have argued over whether the last three lines (2b) belong to a different poem, and whether words are missing between poems 2 and 2b. Scholars have suggested that missing words (a lacuna), or a variant reading/rearrangement of the received text, would smooth the presently abrupt transition between lines 10 and 11. As noted above, there is some manuscript evidence for missing words after line 10. However, scholar S.J. Harrison, who believes the 13 lines are unified, has argued that "there seems to be no vital gap in content which short lacuna would supply" and if the missing words are many, then it is impossible to guess what they were and the poem must be accepted as simply broken into fragments.

Catullus 2 and 2b differ significantly in their tone and subject. Catullus 2 is addressed directly to the bird ("with you") and describes its loving, playful relationship with the poet's girlfriend. By contrast, Catullus 2b mentions neither bird nor girlfriend, introducing a simile to the story of Atalanta, and seems to be written in the third person ("it is as welcome to me"), although some scholars have suggested that the text was corrupted from the second person ("you are as welcome to me"). The disjunction between Catullus 2 and 2b was first noted by Aquiles Estaço (Achilles Statius) in 1566; however, the first printed edition to show a lacuna between poems 2 and 2b (by the editor Karl Lachmann) appeared quite late, in 1829. Lachmann's separation of 2 and 2b has been followed by many subsequent editors.

Although it is possible that Catullus 2 and 2b belong to separate poems, the prevailing hypothesis is that they represent the beginning and end, respectively, of a larger poem, and that some intervening lines smoothing the transition have gone lost. In support of this hypothesis, Alessandro Guardino wrote in 1521 that he had found in an old book that words were missing just after line 10. The O manuscript — which presents 2, 2b and 3 as one whole poem — has a critical sign (not datable) after line 10, indicating a reader noted the break between poems 2 and 2b; a similar sign separates 2b from the next poem, Catullus 3. Yet a similar sign occurs after line 7 in Catullus 2, a spot that is a "distinctly improbable point of poem-division."

Unity advocates have also suggested word changes in the first part of the poem that would make the shift in tone less abrupt. For example, it has been suggested to change possem ("Would that I were able") to posse ("to be able") in line 9, resulting in the variant translation "To be able to play with you as she does and to relieve the sad cares of my mind is as pleasant to me as ...". Heyworth calls that construction convoluted and undermining the theme that the speaker wishes he were in the position of the woman in lessening his own longings by playing with the bird.

Harrison suggests adopting a reading found in the second printed edition of Catullus (by Francesco Puteolano, Parma, 1473) in which the third-person phrase Tam gratum est mihi ("It is as welcome to me") is replaced by Tam gratum es mihi ("You are as welcome to me"). The change alleviates the abrupt transition from second person ("with you", addressing the bird) to third person ("It is"). Although "es" refers to a masculine subject (passer, the bird) and therefore should read Tam gratus es, Harrison asserts that gratum can be "perfectly acceptable" Latin grammar.