Catullus 11 and Horace VIII
In these two poems, Horace and
Catullus each show dislike for a woman. Catullus has just had Lesbia
break up with him, so he is mad with her and says he is so far
removed from her that he needs his friends to go look for her to be
able to contact her. He has no problem with writing about
controversial things like a woman sleeping with three hundred men.
This is an exaggeration, but he does not mind addressing the fact
that he thinks she does not care about love and only cares about sex
in a relationship. Catullus is very personal in this poem and if you
do not know who the two friends he gets to go on the journey are or
who Lesbia is, you might be lost and not understand some of the
meaning of the poem with regards to Catullus.
Horace also has no problem
writing a controversial poem, since he calls a woman an old, ugly
slut and a whore. This is brought on when the woman asks what makes
him important, implying that he is not actually important. This
enrages him, so he goes all out with insulting her in a way that is
outrageous, especially for the time. He wants her to become wealthy
through her profession, prostitution, since she is so good at being a
whore. You do not need to know about Horace and the woman he is
describing is unknown, so there is no prior knowledge needed to
understand this poem.
Catullus publicly flames Lesbia,
saying she sleeps around with all the men, breaking hearts without
caring for anything but the sex. Horace does not give reasons for
his dislike for the woman he describes besides the fact that she did
not know who he was. He goes crazy with the vulgar and sometimes
distasteful insults. It seems like his poem would be mean to just be
given to that woman. Catullus' poem would be for the public to see
because he felt he was wronged and wanted everyone to know.
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