A Note on Catullus 47

Author(s): Helena Dettmer

Source: The Classical World , Jul. - Aug., 1985, Vol. 78, No. 6 (Jul. - Aug., 1985), pp.
577-579
Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press on behalf of the Classical Association
of the Atlantic States

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/4349761

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 SCHOLIA Timothy E. Gregory

Material and correspondence for Scholia should be sent to Timothy E.

Gregory, Department of History, The Ohio State University, Columbus,
Ohio 43210. For guidelines and requirements see CW68 (1974-75) 259.

A NOTE ON CATULLUS 47

Porci et Socration, duae sinistrae

Pisonis, scabies famesque mundi,
uos Veraniolo meo et Fabullo
uerpus praeposuit Priapus ille?
uos conuiuia lauta sumptuose
de die facitis, mei sodales
quaerunt in triuio uocationes?

The element of "wit" often is described as characteristic of Catullus' poetry.

Although this quality has been observed in C. 47, the poem's jeu d'esprit has not
been fully explored. In fact, little critical attention has been paid to this slight
poem.' Students of Catullus have been content either to examine C. 47 briefly in
relation to the other Veranius-Fabullus poems (9, 12, 13, 28) or to exercise their
ingenuity on matters of prosopography. For the record, Porcius and Socration
cannot be identified, nor for that matter can Catullus' friends Fabullus and
Veranius. Nevertheless, "Socration" almost certainly is a pseudonym. Accord-
ing to C. L. Neudling, it is highly probable that the name conceals the identity of
the Epicurean philosopher Philodemus who served on Piso's staff.2 And if "So-
cration" is a pseudonym, it seems reasonable to suppose that the same applies to
"Porcius", the less flattering implications of whose name suggest, among other
things, gluttony.3 It is interesting that to compare Epicureans to swine was a
common form of abuse,4 because if Socration is the Epicurean Philodemus, Por-
cius would be a fitting companion to him in this poem of invective. Using the
idea of noms de guerre as a point of departure, I would like to advance the idea
that a large part of the wit of C. 47 hinges on Catullus' playing on the names of
the poem's principals.
Catullus may have decided on the names Socration and Porcius for Piso's
henchmen so that either etymologically or associatively they would be correlative
to Veranius and Fabullus. The connection between the nomen Porcius and the
cognomen Fabullus is gastronomical. The derivation of Porcius from the Latin
for "pig" is obvious and requires no explanation. Neudling suggests that Fabul-
lus' nomen may have been Fabius, "since in Latin usage the cognomen is often a
diminutive of the nomen".5 Whether it was or not, the FAB- base clearly con-

I M. B. Skinner ("A Study in Catullus' Political Imagery," Ramus 8 [1979] 140-41) is

the exception. But there is no single study devoted exclusively to C. 47.
2 A Prosopography to Catullus (Oxford 1955) 140.
3 Cf. Horace, Epistle 1.4.16.
4 H. Schutz, Q. HoratiusFlaccus: Epistein Vol. 3 (Berlin 1883) adEpist. 1.4.16.
Since Piso, too, is under attack here, Cicero's gibe at Pis. 16.37 is especially rele-
vant: Epicure noster ( = Piso) ex hara producte, non ex schola.
5 A Prosopography 65.
6 On the connection between faba and Fabius, see A. Walde and J. B. Hofmann,
LateinischesEtymologisches Worterbuch, Vol. 1 (Heidelberg 1938) 436.

577

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 578 CLASSICAL WORLD

nects the name with the Latin for "bean", faba. 6 Isidore of Seville relates the
Latin faba to the Greek phagein, meaning "to eat".7 If the association was fa-
miliar to Catullus, his joining of the idea of "glutton" to "little eater" seems
especially witty in a poem dealing with the theme of hunger and its opposite
gourmandism. In addition, the names Porcius and Fabullus are suggestive of the
sorts of fare that grace the tables of both men of wealth and men of humble
means, meat and vegetables respectively. The relation between Socration and
Veranius is associative. "Little Socrates" elicits his namesake, that fifth-century
Athenian philosopher renowned as a seeker of truth. Connotatively, the appella-
tion corresponds well with Veranius, the stem of whose name Catullus may be
connected with the Latin for "truth" (cf. verus and verax).8 The notion that the
poet is creating a conscious bond between "the seeker of truth" and "the man of
truth" is strengthened by his conspicuous use of diminutives in both instances,
Socrat-ion and Verani-olum.
Fictitious names in Catullus often carry sexual overtones.9 Such, I believe,
may be the case with the cryptonyms Porcius and Socration, especially in view of
Catullus' fondness for uniting the themes of food and sex in his poems of politi-
cal invective.'0 According to Varro, porcus is slang for virginis pudendum; II
used of a male pathic, the word would signify anus. 12 Along the same lines, So-
cration's namesake, in addition to his reputation for wisdom, was well-known in
antiquity for buggery. If Catullus had these emotive relations in mind, Socration
and Porcius would indeed be a perfectly matched pair.'3 The notion that the sex-
ual implications of "Porcius" and "Socration" contributed to Catullus' choice
of the pseudonyms is particularly attractive from a structural point of view be-
cause the homosexual theme ties in quite nicely with the image of Piso as a ver-
pus Priapus in the verses that follow. 14
Catullus' purpose in identifying Veranius and Fabullus with Socration and
Porcius is to poke fun at his friends. Eager for patronage, they betray themselves
as comic figures. But the characterization is hardly flattering; in fact, it verges
closely on criticism. Through the connotative similarities in their names, the two
pairs of men become virtually interchangeable. C. 47 thus deftly combines cen-

7 faba Graeca etymologia a vescendo vocabulum sumpsit, quasi faga; phagein enim
comedere graece dicitur (Orig. 17.4.3).
8 Cf. the cognomen Verus which Walde-Hofmann derive from the Latin for "truth"
(Etymologisches Worterbuch, Vol. 2, 768).
9 E.g., cf. Aufil-LENA (on whose name, see P. Y. Forsyth, "Quintius and Aufillena in
Catullus", CW74 [1981] 221); MENTULA = Mamurra; LESBIA, the less flattering impli-
cations of whose name = FELLATRIX (on which, see E. Wirshbo, " 'Lesbia': A Mock
Hypocorism?", CP 75 [1980] 70); and recently R. 0. Fink ("Catullus, Carmen 32", CW
76 [1983] 292-94) suggests that the name of the lady to whom C. 32 is addressed is Iphathyl-
la, which through metathesis of the second and third syllables = ITHYPHALLA.
10 A. Richlin, The Garden of Priapus: Sexuality and Aggression in Roman Humor
(New Haven and London 1983) 148-49 and references in n. 14 on pp. 248-49.
1 l nam et nostrae mulieres, maxime nutrices, naturam qua feminae sunt, in virginibus
appellant porcum, et Graecae choeron, significantes esse dignum insigne nuptiarum (Re
Rustica 2.4. 10).
12 On this point, see J. N. Adams' discussion of cunnus (The Latin Sexual Vocabulary
[London 1982] 80-81, 116, 121).
13 The observation is worth making that sinistrae, the final word in v. 1, too has sexual
associations. In "popular sexual humor in Latin", the left hand can refer to the act of
masturbation (Adams, LSV209).
14 I am indebted to L. Pearcy for this point.

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 SCHOLIA 579

sure with wry humor. ' 5

University of Iowa HELENA DETTMER

CW78.6 (1985)

15 Skinner (note 1, above) draws similar conclusions in her analysis of C. 47.

I wish to thank F. 0. Copley, K. Nielson, M. Lindgren, and J. Finamore for reading the
final draft of this study.

STRAWBERRIES AND SERPENTS

-A Response to J. K. Anderson's Query

In a recent issue of the CW I Professor J. K. Anderson, who had been warned

by an inhabitant of Devon to beware of adders which shared with humans a lik-
ing for strawberries and thus was reminded of Virgil (Ecl. 3.92-93):

qui legitis flores et humi nascentia fraga,

frigidus, o pueri, fugite hinc, latet anguis in herba,

requested information on two points: the consumption of strawberries by

snakes, and the neglect, which he found surprising, of the strawberry by the
ancients. I hope that my remarks will go some way toward providing the advice
he seeks.
One who seeks information on the strawberry in antiquity could begin by con-
sulting the ThLL s.v. fragum,2 which provides, inter alia, a citation of Juvenal
(13.56-57), licet ipse uideret/plura domi fraga et maiores glandis aceruos, a ref-
erence to the pastoral age which seems to owe something to Ovid (Met. 1.104-
106):

arbuteos fetus montanaquefraga legebant

cornaque et in duris haerentia mora rubetis
et quae deciderant patula louis arbore glandis,

which Professor Anderson has cited. The Romans seem to have regarded the
strawberry as a wild fruit unfit for consumption by civilized man. Professor An-
derson observes that the excavations at Pompeii have produced no evidence for
the cultivation of the terrestrial strawberry, and indeed a similar remark was
made almost a century ago in the Dictionnaire of Daremberg and Saglio: "La
fraise, fraga [of course the singularfragum is meant], a et connue des anciens,
mais comme un fruit sauvage, et l'on peut assurer qu'ils n'ont pas cultive le
fraisier." 3 Indeed, the earliest evidence for the cultivation of the terrestrial
strawberry comes from fourteenth century France.4
Ancient beliefs about snakes are well summarised in the extensive article
"Schlange" in the RE; 5 the only place where I have been able to supplement its

I J. K. Anderson, "Virgil, Eclogue 3.92-93-An Enquiry", CW77 (1984) 303.

2 ThLL 6.1 (1926) col. 1239.26-54, s.v. fragu/m.
3 C. Daremberg and E. Saglio, Dictionnaire des antiquites grecques et roinaines 1.2
(Paris 1887) 1154, s.v. cibaria.
4 See G. M. Darrow, The Str-awberry; History, Breeding and Physiology (New York
1966) 16; and S. Wilhelm and J. E. Sagen, A History of the Strawberry (Berkeley 1974) 12-
13 and references cited therein.
s RE 2A (1923) cols. 494-547, especially 497-500.

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