What is it about?
This paper reveals a SuAVIS acrostic at Catullus 14.19–23 by which Catullus, at the end of poem 14, might provide a variation on his initial address to Calvus (iucundissime Calve, 14.2), suggesting that his invective did not change the initially announced “sweetness” of the addressee. The acrostic – which seems to be involved in a sophisticated web of allusions – may reinforce what every reader of poem 14 feels: this invective is rather a friendly joke.
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Why is it important?
That's a discovery of a Catullan acrostic, SuAVIS, which radically changes the tone of poem 14.
Perspectives
I was thrilled to find this intext in one of my favourite ancient poems, and also to find the - partly intratextual, partly intertextual - ways of its interpretation.
Dr Ábel Tamás
Eotvos Lorand Tudomanyegyetem
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This page is a summary of: Sweet Friendship, Mnemosyne, May 2022, Brill,
DOI: 10.1163/1568525x-12347327.
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