Common Sense in Catullus 64

Author(s): Roger Rees

Source: The American Journal of Philology , Spring, 1994, Vol. 115, No. 1 (Spring,
1994), pp. 75-88
Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/295349

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 COMMON SENSE IN CATULLUS 64

In his wide-ranging and illuminating essay "Catullus and

of a Masterpiece" Richard Jenkyns used of poem 64 the m
phrase "Catullus' eager immersion in the sensuous" (Thr
Poets 109). One of his observations within this theme is the s
of line 284, quo permulsa domus iucundo risit odore, "Touch
pleasant smell the house laughed." Synaesthesia is the sensa
sense other than the one being stimulated. The novelty of m
scent so gorgeous that it is like a caressing touch" is descr
Jenkyns as dazzling. Another detail from the poem that can
synaesthetic concerns Ariadne's bed:

quam suavis exspirans castus odores

lectulus in molli complexu matris alebat
quales Eurotae progignunt flumina myrtus
aurave distinctos educit verna colores (87-90)

[Ariadne] whom the untouched little bed used to stre

arms of her mother, as it breathed out sweet aromas lik
which the streams of Eurotas produce or the varied co
of spring brings forth.

The "sweet aromas" of the maiden's bed are compare

colours: a scent, which stimulates the sense of smel
which stimulates the sense of sight.
The purpose of the present essay is to consider
of sense evocation throughout the poem. The enquir
sual responses narrated within the text and, on a d
sensual responses demanded by the text. For, as a p
as its "set pieces" an ekphrasis and a song, Catullus
interest in its own modes of communication with the reader.

Catullus may be playing on the Epicurean notion of smell as the physical sensa-
tion of particles touching the nostrils. Another poetic text which treats of this is Lucretius
4.673-74, nunc age, quo pacto naris adiectus odoris I tangat agam.
American Journal of Philology 115 (1994) 75-88 ? 1994 by The Johns Hopkins University Press

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76 ROGER REES

NEFANDA

The visual qualities of the poem's opening scene have been a

noted.2 After the marriage of Peleus and Thetis is decided and
day arrives, Catullus stresses the number of guests at Peleus'
domum conventu tota frequentat I Thessalia (32-33). They are
rally) pleased to be there (laetanti . . . coetu), but what they ind
is not the regular activities for wedding celebrations.3 We might re
ably expect these guests to sing, dance, eat, and drink, but instead,
enjoy the view of the house. The splendour of the inside of P
house has also attracted attention. Lines 44-45, for example, wit
light, colour, and sheen, make clear demands on the audience's
imagination: fulgenti splendent auro atque argento. / candet ebu
collucent pocula mensae.
The wedding guests next look at the marriage bed of Pele
Thetis, described in the famous ekphrasis. Classical literature in
ular communicated through the ear-that is to say, classical lit
was proclaimed and heard.4 At the most basic level of perceptio
cient literature was not for the deaf. Within this convention, ek
holds a unique position: by means of the proclaimed/heard wo
deliberately and formally engages the visual imagination of th
ence. In Catullus 64, the coverlet is important in terms of the
well as the dialectic. For, once the guests' viewing (and our ekph
complete, they depart (268).5 Like all wedding guests, those at P
house are there to bless and celebrate the marriage, but in terms
poem's framework, they are vital in that they respond to the s
visually. By means of this heightened visual awareness, the gue
gage the visual reaction of the poem's audience.
After these guests make way for the immortals, the wedding c
brations continue along far more conventional lines. The gods si
to feast, according to regular practice (304).6 Then the entertai

20'Connell, "Pictorialism and Meaning" 748; Ferguson, Catullus 196.

3See, for example, singing in poems 61 and 62, and feasting, 62.3.
4 For the original setting for poem 64 see Wiseman, Catullus and His World
5Harmon, "Nostalgia for the Age of Heroes" 323: "There is no suggestion t
Thessalians feel slighted because they must leave after viewing the coverlet to ma
for the gods."
6In line 45 pocula are mentioned, but the mortal guests do not appear to
drink at Peleus' house, only to look.

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 COMMON SENSE IN CATULLUS 64 77

for the gods (and the audience) engages the ear. The Parcae
ward:

haec tum clarisona vellentes vellera voce

talia divino fuderunt carmine fata. (320-21)

The song of the Parcae foretells the life of Achilles an

of the gods' celebration in the poem. With the anap
and 383) framing their words, the Parcae engage th
view, the gods listen. Ostensibly, therefore, the po
appeal, from sight to sound, is in accord with the
the narrative from mortal to immortal celebration. Th
mortals (268) accentuates this change in sense app
The interest in distinct sense appeal seems to be
the ekphrasis. Ariadne had been hoping for a happ
seus (141), but the sight of his ship departing from
leaves her sad:

quae tum prospectans cedentem maesta carinam

multiplices animo volvebat saucia curas. (249-50)

Her correct view of the circumstances sends her from h

despair, although at first she cannot believe what she se
etiam sese quae visit visere credit (55). Ariadne despairs to
leave Naxos, but Aegeus desperately wants to see his arriv
in Athens (236-37). Ironically, Ariadne cannot believe th
is true, but when Theseus forgets to replace the dark sail
Aegeus trusts in a deceitful vision and commits suicide (
Both Ariadne and Aegeus despair about Theseus, b
highlights this feeling in his narration of their response t
the ship. Aegeus strains to see from the citadel, at pater
prospectum ex arce petebat (241). Ariadne's action is very
249 (quoted above). Both characters view Theseus and rea

7When Jenkyns refers to "Catullus' tactics of ingenious deception"

cal Poets 92), he details the poet's tendency to defeat audience expecta
is an important theme in the plot too. Furthermore, this "seeing is beli
important in the plot, fulfils a vital function in the poem's dialectic to
Ariadne and Theseus are deceived, then what confidence can the Thess
the poem's audience have in their visual response?

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78 ROGER REES

view emotionally.8 Views, both true and false, are the starting poi
the private grief of Ariadne and the suicide of Aegeus. Therefore,
inclusion of an ekphrasis and in the playing out of the plot wi
ekphrasis, vision and impaired vision are fundamental.
The eye is, of course, an organ of sensory experience, suc
line 127, unde aciem in pelagi vastos protenderet aestus. But t
used metaphorically too. Aegeus is inclined to refer to happy
ence in terms of the eye. His own eyes are mentioned when he
explain his love for Theseus, cui languida nondum / lumina su
cara saturatafigura (219-20). He then imagines Theseus' safe r
Athens, a joyful scene, with reference to eyes: ut simul ac nost
sent lumina collis (233). But the eye is also used extensively as
of emotional despair. Soon after we are introduced to Aria
watches Theseus depart,

quem procul ex alga maestis Minois ocellis

saxea ut effigies Bacchantis, prospicit, eheu. (60-61)

Catullus echoes this later, translating the adjective to Ariadne

(249).
Ariadne's "sad eyes" (60) are balanced early in the first flashback,
which describes her initial meeting with Theseus: cupido conspexit lu-
mine, "she caught sight [of him] with a longing look" (86).9 By the easy
transfer of epithets, Catullus sharpens our visual awareness. The "long-
ing look" becomes more passionate as Ariadne's desire grows:

non prius ex illo flagrantia declinavit

lumina quam cuncto concepit corpore flammam
funditus atque imis exarsit tota medullis. (91-93)

In these lines, the "fire" of Ariadne's love can be seen in stag

originates in the eyes (flagrantia lumina) before moving to t
(cuncto concepit corpore flammam) and finally raging in her
(exarsit).

8For this similarity see Putnam, "The Art of Catullus 64" 185.
9Cf. cupide spectando (267). The Thessalians, like Ariadne, are impressed
appearances. Ariadne is deluded. Is the guests' favourable reaction to the cov
ilarly ill-judged? See Bramble, "Structure and Ambiguity."

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 COMMON SENSE IN CATULLUS 64 79

As Ariadne's pessimism reaches its climax and she men

own death, even then the eye is used in a periphrastic euph

non tamen ante mihi languescent lumina morte

nec prius a fesso secedent corpore sensus. (188-89)

Thus the eye is used within the ekphrasis as an index of emo

a marker of life itself. This, of course, serves to enhance
pessimistic tone: we have already noticed that Ariadne, for w
and other senses are markers of life, is confused (55) and sa
61) by what she sees. This figurative use of sight immediate
that Catullus will conceive of blindness in a potentially equiv
phorical manner.
The metaphors of sight as confusion and blindness as p
wisdom had been used extensively before Catullus. 1 Catull
this idea in the ekphrasis. Ariadne indulges in pathetic self-
in her address to the Eumenides: inops, ardens, amenti cae
(197). Only ten lines later, the poet describes Theseus in strik
lar terms: ipse autem caeca mentem caligine Theseus I consit
Having established sight as a key motif, the poet makes exp
of blindness. But unlike sight and blindness, Catullus' figur
do not function as corollaries. Vision is a sense easily decei
ness is a metaphor for confusion.
It has, I hope, been shown that in a variety of ways, Cat
the eye, sight, and the consequences of vision extensively in
his ekphrasis. " However, the "visual pictures" are by no me
to the coverlet (see Ferguson, Catullus 197). The mortals' d
likened to the motion of the waves in the early morning (2
formal ekphrasis is over, but our visual imagination is still e
pureaque procul nantes ab luce refulgent (275).
J. P. Elder argued ("Conscious and Subconscious Elements" n.
61) that much of Catullus' use of colour in poem 64 is "forced." He came
to this conclusion after a statistical survey of Catullus' diction of colour.
Of the words denoting colour in the Catullan corpus, 35 percent occur
in poem 64. Noteworthy too is that Catullus does not restrict his use of

1?See, for example, Buxton on Sophocles, "Blindness and Limits."

" A summary list of verbs of seeing is telling: 52, 53, 55, 57, 61, 62, 86, 127, 211, 233,
236, 241, 249.

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80 ROGER REES

colour to the most obvious place, the ekphrasis. The pictori

lines 269-77, for example, is carefully wrought (see O'Conn
rialism and Meaning" 752).
The introduction of the Parcae is very graphically ren
Their appearance and work are described in fine detail. Th
of their dresses and hair ornamentation is carefully narrat
chiastic arrangement:

hic corpus tremulum complectens undique vestis

candida purpurea talos incinxerat ora,
at roseae niveo residebant vertice vittae. (307-9)

Jenkyns has shown that the juxtaposition of red/pink a

common feature of poetic accounts of a girl's appearanc
cal Poets 141 and n. 58). The frequency of this type of
might seem to weaken its force as a pictorial description
description of a vase suggests otherwise:

Here a stately woman stands on her own, holding a distaff

hand. The upper part of the distaff has been wound with
wool which appear as a solid red ball. The thumb and index
right hand hold the thread, while the spindle whirls below

This is a modern description of the scene on a white-gr

Athens, dated to 490-480 B.C., now in the British Museu
Vases D13). It is by no means the only vase painting of h
nor the only one which depicts this particular exercise.1
mind these words and look back to Catullus, we see rema
ilarities:

laeva colum molli lana retinebat amictum;

dextera tum leviter deducens fila supinis
formabat digitis, tum prono in pollice torquens
libratum tereti versabat turbine fusum. (311-14)

'20'Connell, "Pictorialism and Meaning" 753, says of lines 305

fully pictorial tableaux in the poem." Jenkyns, Three Classical Poe
the description . . . compel our eyes towards the Fates' appearanc
13Dyfri Williams, "Women on Athenian Vases" 94.
'4Williams, "Women on Athenian Vases" 94; Keuls, "Attic Vas
Home Textile Industry" 214.

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 COMMON SENSE IN CATULLUS 64 81

Of course, I am not suggesting that Catullus saw the British M

vase, or that the modern description is based on Catullus. Wha
notable is how close Catullus' poetry is to prosaic description of
art.15 If Catullus is not describing a picture or painting he had seen
graphic detail of these lines is all the more remarkable.
Even as the poem moves on to the song of the Parcae, Catu
maintains his interest in visual response. The short scenes from
les' future are decidedly pictorial. Visual recognition will be a th
his life (339).16 His footprints will be flame-coloured (341). In th
ond scene from Achilles' life, the golden line 344 is shocking i
detail. In the third, the Parcae sing of colours:

cum incultum cano solvent a vertice crinem

putriaque infirmis variabunt pectora palmis. (350-51)

The Trojan mothers have white hair like the Parcae themselve
and Aegeus (224). Contrasted with this is the beating "black an
suggested by variabunt.
From the next scene, Quinn describes line 354 as "vivid
Poems 344). The visual qualities are accentuated by the juxtaposi
the participle and the adjective: sole sub ardentiflaventia demet
The golden sheen of this line, which lends it a sense of health
vigour, is in bleak contrast to the bloody wash of line 344, a lin
also describes the Trojan plain.
The fifth and sixth scenes from Achilles' future are linked by
(357 and 362). The waves of Scamander and the "booty" of Poly
will "bear witness" to Achilles.17 The use of testis continues the
of spectating. This sixth scene from Achilles' future is the mos
rate in the song of the Parcae, and, once again, it is markedly v
Again we think of vase painting, where the convention was to us

15One wonders whether Catullus actually witnessed textile production. F

early life see Wiseman, Catullus and His World.
16Ironically, the Trojans incorrectly identify Patroklus as Achilles, II. 16
'70'Connell, "Pictorialism and Meaning" 754: "the image of the flood tinge
slaughter goes beyond the merely pictorial or conventional as we learn that th
grow warm." Here, therefore, the sense of touch is evoked in the midst of a visu
picture.
18Quinn, The Poems, describes 368-70 as "gruesomely realistic." Harmon, "Nos-
talgia for the Age of Heroes" 324, links the white/red effect of niveos (364) and Poly-
xenia . . . caede (368) to the white/red of the bridal couch (48-49).

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82 ROGER REES

paint for women's flesh, niveos . . . artus (364). (See Boardm

Figure Vases 197.) The slaughter of Polyxena does not seem to
a common subject in vase painting, but one famous example su
Greek soldiers hold the Trojan maiden over the heaped tomb
tolemus cuts her throat. Catullus' scene is similar in many det
confirming the visual qualities of his lines.
The moralising end to the poem is far less visual. Howeve
his parting phrase, lumine claro (408), Catullus concludes his p
what, I have argued, is a fundamental feature of the narrativ
dialectic (cf. Ferguson, Catullus 204; Fordyce, Catullus 325).
no longer touch the "clear light" of day. The poem ends with
rejection of "clear light," for lumen clarum is disfigured through
whole poem: lumen, "light," "the eye," end up as something n
trusted and to be avoided.

FANDA

It is appropriate that in a description of a visual work of art the

is constantly engaged and reengaged. However, Catullus also regu
checks this aspect of the ekphrasis by appealing to the ear. The
instance of this is the third line of the ekphrasis: namque fluent
prospectans litore Diae (52). This important line contains the neat
position which introduces the tension between sight and sound.
spectans here is picked up in lines 241 and 249 to give the poem
narrative structure based on vision. However, the preceding wo
line 52 is also significant: fluentisono is the first in a series of three
and similar compound adjectives in the poem.20 The three adjec
fluentisonus, clarisonus, and raucisonus deliberately engage the
imagination of the audience, and therefore complicate the status o
ekphrasis.
The repetition of clarisonus is interesting. It is first used as Ari-
adne watches the ship depart, clarisonas imo fudisse e pectore voces
(125). It appears for the second time as part of the introduction to the
song of the Parcae,

'9Tyrrhenian amphora, Timiades Painter, Athens, 570-60 B.C.; see Dyfri Williams,
Greek Vases plate 32.
20Fluentisonus (hap. leg.); raucisonus appears once elsewhere, Lucr. 5.1084; clari-
sonus also occurs once elsewhere, Cic. Arat. 280.

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 COMMON SENSE IN CATULLUS 64 83

haec tum clarisona vellentes vellera voce

talia divino fuderunt carmine fata. (320-21)

Here clarisona . . . voce recalls clarisonas . . . voces, and the common

metaphor of "pouring out" creates a further echo. As we listen to the
song of the Parcae, so too we think we have heard Ariadne.
Perhaps the clearest example of sound in the ekphrasis is in the
final scene on the coverlet:

pars obscura cavis celebrabant orgia cistis,

orgia quae frustra cupiunt audire profani.
plangebant aliae proceris tympana palmis
aut tereti tenuis tinnitus aere ciebant.
multis raucisonos efflabant cornua bombos
barbaraque horribili stridebat tibia cantu. (259-64)

The plethora of words denoting sound and hearing should

orgia quae . . . cupiunt audire; plangebant; tympana; tinnitu
sonos; efflabant; bombos; stridebant; tibia; cantu.21 The visu
of Bacchus and his train is suppressed. The graphic descrip
so inspired our visual imagination in, say, lines 60-67 is not
Here, it is the sound far more than the sight of the arriva
evoked.
The ekphrasis is subdivided into many sections:22 the scenes on
the coverlet, flashbacks, bridge passages, and set speeches. That set
speeches appear at all can cause us surprise. In the shield ekphrasis in
Iliad 18 a legal quarrel is taking place in one of the cities crafted on the
armour for Achilles by Hephaestus (497-500). The poet goes on to
relate the full legal proceedings, giving details of judges and supporters,
but he does not include any direct speech.23 On the other hand, direct
speech forms a major part of Catullus' ekphrasis in 132-201, where
Ariadne addresses Theseus, Jupiter, and the Eumenides, and in 215-37,

21O'Connell, "Pictorialism and Meaning" 752: "the scene is hardly pictorial at all."
Jenkyns, Three Classical Poets 122: "The first of these lines (261-64) is as much visual as
auditory in its effect ... but eventually sound comes to dominate over sight entirely."
22Quinn, The Poems 298-99; Gordon Williams, Tradition and Originality 224-25.
23There are sonic elements in the Homeric ekphrasis: a wedding song (493), flutes
and lyres (495), pipes (526), lyre and Linos song (570-71), cattle mooing (575), and an ox
bellowing (583). Catullus' use of direct speech and mannered adjectives of sound suggests
greater self-consciousness.

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84 ROGER REES

where Aegeus addresses Theseus.24 These speeches take the d

representation of ekphrasis to the very confines of its appl
pictures do not speak.
The emotional impact of these speeches is intense, as th
ence gains insight into the minds of Ariadne and Aegeus resp
However, in the course of the speeches we tend to forget that th
are inset within an ekphrasis. The poet digresses from his app
visual imagination to include direct speech, a far more dram
proach. Catullus acknowledges the digressive nature of the s
when he introduces them in indirect speech. For example, A
lament:

saepe illam perhibent ardenti corde furentem

clarisonas imo fudisse e pectore voces . . .
. . . atque haec extremis maestam dixisse querellis. (124-25, 130)

The indirect speech adds to the poem an element of hearsay.25 Hearsay

introduces the lament and thus distances it from the visual representa-
tion of Ariadne on the coverlet.26 Her long address to Theseus, which
evidences her pathetic and desperate love for him; to Jupiter, which
shows her wistful and pessimistic state of mind; and to the Eumenides,
which heralds her more violent lust for vengeance, leads the audience
through a range of emotions as Ariadne experiences the odi et amo of
the rejected lover. The speech is long, passionate, and consuming. Such
is its compelling power that we tend to forget that it is reported speech.
So, it seems, does the poet: has postquam maesto profudit pectore
voces (202).27 The words profudit pectore voces (202) clearly recall
fudisse e pectore voces (125), but this similarity highlights an important
transition. At the outset, the speech is reported, distanced, and sepa-

240'Connell, "Pictorialism and Meaning" 751: "One might legitimately say that
these dramatically conceived speeches stand at the opposite narrative pole from the
pictorialism of the tableau which portrays suspended and silent Ariadne's moment of
horrified recognition."
25Jenkyns, Three Classical Poets 99, claims that this and other instances give the
story of Ariadne a "distant and perhaps fictional character."
26From this naturally arises the question of focalisation. Who sees Ariadne? Ca-
tullus (who was not there), or the wedding guests? Who hears her? She herself complains
(in 164-66) that her complaints are futile because they reach only the unhearing wind, yet
(in 204) Jupiter clearly hears her. On focalisation in ekphrasis see Fowler, "Narrate and
Describe."
27Jenkyns, Three Classical Poets 115.

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 COMMON SENSE IN CATULLUS 64 85

rate from the coverlet; but such is the force of its emotion
course of the lament, the two distinct elements relating to A
described image and her reported words) unite.
This same process, by which indirect statement is integr
the main narrative by means of transition from oratio obliqu
recta, can be seen with Aegeus' speech: ferunt ... dedisse (2
perseded by liquere (240). Catullus does the same outside of t
sis, for instance at lines 2 and 19. However, as Fordyce point
note to the poem's opening, "'dicuntur' (2) emphasizes ... th
tional source of the story."28 This reliance on tradition is an Ale
characteristic. Yet when the process occurs within an ekphra
compelled to react not only to a synthesis of stimuli but ev
aesthesia.

PERMIXTA

It has been argued that in his broad framework, that is, in

move from ekphrasis to wedding song, Catullus directs our sen
response. By departing when they do, the mortal guests, who
acted as spectators (cupide spectando), focus our attention on thi
sion between sight and sound. But, as Jenkyns has said, this is "a
of paradox" (Three Classical Poets 92). Catullus overtly demands
sensory response, usually sight or hearing, but contradicts and c
ments this by demanding the other at the same time. Thus, for exam
when we know we are being invited to see Ariadne, for much of the
we actually hear her. By regularly confirming, shifting, alternating
undermining its sensory appeal, the poem becomes more elu
Synaesthesia in the poem is fundamental to Catullus' pleasure in
tion.30 Ferguson identifies "a touch of humour in the way Catullu
his description of a mute picture with an account of decidedly a
sound" (Catullus 202). I have argued that Catullus' ingenuity in p
with established modes of communication is acute and pervasiv
I have deliberately left the Parcae until the end. I argue that
presence-like the mortals' departure-is linked to the poem's

28Fordyce, Catullus 276; see also Kubiak, "Catullus 64.1-2."

29Boucher, "A propos du carmen 64 de Catulle" 196: "C'est une etude de la
bilite de Catulle, de ses themes et de ses moyens d'expression qui constitue l
carmen."
30See note 7.

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86 ROGER REES

aesthetic framework. Their presence requires qualification b

earlier versions of the marriage of Peleus and Thetis.31 Kinsey
that the substitution of the Parcae for the Muses was to give
greater opportunity to revel in the grotesque, which he doe
305-22; Fordyce and Gordon Williams saw that the Parcae en
Catullus to discuss the future doings of Achilles, thereby bala
heroic past of the poem's earlier lines; Ferguson said that th
were used rather than the Muses or Apollo because they are "
ominous and truthful"; and Bramble said that the inclusion of
cae adds a "darker tone to the wedding."32 None of these sugg
entirely satisfactory: Apollo with all his prophetic powers co
fulfilled the role described by Fordyce, Williams, and Fergu
Catullus had plenty of opportunity for the grotesque with ch
such as Chiron and Prometheus.33
There is, I believe, a more important difference between Apollo/
Muses and the Parcae. The Parcae spin. This fact gives the poem
greater unity than it has normally been accredited.34 From the help
given to Theseus by Ariadne in order to escape from the labyrinth (113),
to the coverlet adorning the bridal bed (50), to the actions which accom-
pany the Parcae's introduction and song (307-81), textiles provide a
theme and structure for the poem. Lachesis, Clotho, and Atropos can
be grotesque and gloomy, and they can sing of the future; but they can
also spin the future, just as the coverlet weaves the past.
Further, it is surely ironic that the ekphrasis is textile in nature,
whereas the refrain, which is taken from the textile industry, punctuates
the "vocal" half of the poem. We might reasonably have expected some
details of the textures and patterns used to create the coverlet, but from
fluentisono (52) onwards the coverlet appeals to more than our visual
imagination (see Jenkyns, Three Classical Poets 125). The poem's de-

31Eur. IA 1031-79; Horn. Il. 24.56-63; Pind. Nem. 5.

32Kinsey, "Irony and Structure" 924; Fordyce, Catullus 317; Gordon Williams,
Tradition and Originality 227; Bramble, "Structure and Originality" 28; Ferguson, Ca-
tullus 203.
33In Catullus' version of the wedding alone, Apollo is not even present (299).
Quinn, The Poems 337, accounts for this novelty by looking to the future: his absence is
"no doubt an allusion to (his) responsibility for the death of Achilles."
34Ellis, Commentary 280, claimed that the poem's main weakness is "the loose
connexion of its parts." Jenkyns, Three Classical Poets 85, quotes some similar criticisms
from other scholars. His whole essay is concerned with unity, or lack of it; see, in particu-
lar 86-98.

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 COMMON SENSE IN CATULLUS 64 87

scription of textile production is also separate from the ekph

lines 311-17. In addition, because the Parcae are spinning as th
and their song follows the description of a textile picture, it may
they are encouraging us to visualise further textile pictures.35
shown above, the six scenes from Achilles' future are visually r
so perhaps, in their song, the Parcae are describing the textile
they are in the process of creating. This adds to a synaesthetic
of the poem: both the ekphrasis and the song can be read "visu
series of pictures; yet, at the same time, they can both be read "au
too. "And does not a supreme poet blend light and sound into
calling darkness mute, and light eloquent?"36 Synaesthesia is,
tially, a paradox, and in poem 64 Catullus revels in it.37

ROGER REES
HARROW SCHOOL, LONDON

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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35My thanks to James Morwood for this suggestion.

36George Eliot, The Mill on the Floss (1860), book 6, chapter 10.
37The ideas which form the basis of this paper were initially presented in an A leve
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1992. I am grateful to those Sixth Formers and colleagues for their patience and sugg
tions. My thanks to John Henderson of King's College, Cambridge, and Andrew Laird
Magdelen College, Oxford, who game me copies of their (as yet) unpublished papers
the poem, and to James Morwood of Harrow School and Gareth Williams then of Chu
chill College, Cambridge, who commented in detail on various drafts.

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