Catullus’ Lament for Lesbia's Passer in the Context of Pet-Keeping

Abstract

Abstract In the last three lines of Catullus’ ‘dead sparrow’ poem (. . . o miselle passer! / tua nunc opera meae puellae / flendo turgiduli rubent ocelli, Catull. 3.16–18), the poet turns his attention from the fate of the passer to the effect that its death has on Lesbia. What is remarkable here is the accumulation of diminutives (miselle, puellae, turgiduli, ocelli), a feature which most translators fail to take sufficiently into account. In particular, the employment of two (comparatively rare) diminutive adjectives is especially striking. The effect of such overkill is mock pathos, but why does Catullus end his poem on a parodic note? I would like to suggest that we view this in the light of the Romans’ tendency to criticise excessive emotional display regarding pets and especially to their deaths, the implication being that Lesbia's reaction is overdone. Catullus’ mocking of his girl's unbounded grief for her pet is also to be linked to poem 2 where, it could be argued, the poet displays jealousy of Lesbia's emotional commitment to the passer.