Marina Grochocki, University of Wisconsin
This paper re-examines the use of choral imagery in Catullus 63 considering the political meaning of the word chorus in the Republican period. I will develop a theory of “Republican Choral Poetics,” in which Greek choral imagery is a way of criticizing the behavior of leaders. Though scholars have proposed a metapoetical interpretation of the chorus in Catullus 63 (Curtis), however, the political valences of choral imagery in Catullus’ poem and in Republican literature have not been considered. Both Cicero and Catullus use Greek choral imagery to raise social anxieties regarding Roman imperialism and to question the public and private effects of political rulers and their followers. Besides the parallel between the roles of choral and military leader (both dux) stressing the similarities in both roles (Curtis), Cicero’s consistent use of the word chorus to criticize political leaders attests to the political connotation of the word in Republican Latin. I will demonstrate that this interpretation of Catullus 63 helps us to understand the author’s corpus, giving a politically charged meaning to Catullus’ other poem that mentions a chorus (Catullus 64) and even illuminating how the longer mythological poems are connected to the shorter socio-political ones.
In Republican literature, the chorus is consistently subversive. Cicero uses the word chorus in speeches (Pro Murena 24; Philippica 5.6) and letters (Ad Atticum XIV.8.1) to signal men that threaten the Republic and are surrounded by debased followers. Catiline, Mark Anthony, and Caesar are among the men referred to as chorus leaders, in part dangerous because of the group surrounding them. Catullus, however, poetically describes Attis’ chorus in Poem 63, creating a narrative about a chorus and the hymn that this chorus performs (Curtis). Yet, instead of following the Greek tradition of harmony between the chorus’ leader, members, and community (Bierl), Catullus depicts the impact of the experience on the protagonist as disruptive and dehumanizing (ll. 44-73). Catullus 63 focuses on Attis’ seclusion (ll. 50-73) and Cybele’s command to the lion to scare Attis (ll. 74-90), departing from the Greek chorus’ emphasis on the honored god’s contributions to their community. While in Hellenistic literature, heroes’ choruses indicate the process of Greek colonization of foreign lands (Curtis; e.g., Apollonius’ Argonautica 1.1104-1152), Attis’ doubts about gender identity and social roles break expectations and question the Roman identity in an ever-expanding empire.
My interpretation will expand Krostenko’s identification of culturally charged words beyond a vocabulary restricted to style in Catullus’ polymetric poems, highlighting the cohesion in Catullus’ opus, and further contribute to Skinner’s identification of a political idiom in Catullus 63 and to Nauta’s interpretation of the galli as meaningful to Roman national identity. While the chorus remained a Greek – and not Roman – practice, its occurrence in Republican literature reveals a subtle yet trenchant reflection on the political dynamics between ruler and a growing public body. The implications of a “Republican Choral Poetics” extend to other authors that draw on their Republican past to portray ambivalent leaders, like Vergil’s depiction of Augustus.