Catullus 64: Initiation and Apocalypse

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Catullus 64 Initiation and Apocalypse
Jean Alvares NJCA March 15, 2008
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What is an archetype?
It is a recurring image or narrative pattern, one
which appears again and again because it has
proven to be a very effective expression of some
important thought, idea, feeling and so forth.
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It can be argued that we actually reflexively
THINK and CREATE in archetypal patterns -- often
unawares!
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Archetypes
Tradition/Genre
TYCHE
Individual poetic life/labor/genius
A poem is the result of an interplay between the
archetypes, the literary/artistic tradition, the
poets own personal history, temperament, genius,
with pure chance always a factor.
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Critics have argued much about the unity of
Catullus 64. Here Catullus is writing in the mode
of Hellenistic poets like Callimachus, Apollonius
and Theocritus, who reappropriated and
refashioned prior Greek literary genres in
complex, often ironic and puzzling, ways.
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The complex organization of stories within
stories, obscure mythological references,
revisions of traditional myths, recollections of
other literary works, the dramatic, pathetic,
romantic, utopian passages, all are items
characteristic of Hellenistic poetry.
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It can be argued, on the level of conscious
literary art, Catullus wants to keep the reader
guessing, alternating between multiple and
conflicting interpretations, always admiring, of
course, the literary magic.
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I argue that, if we interpret this poem through
its use of archetypes, a considerable unity can
be discovered.
To do this, let us begin at the poems end, with
apocalypse.
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For when righteousness was not yet spurned,
heaven's inhabitants used to go to see the
heroes' houses, free from wrong, and reveal
themselves in the guise of a mortal throng. The
father of the gods, paying his regular visit to
the gleaming temple, caught sight of one hundred
bulls falling forward onto the ground, since the
yearly rites had come on the festal days. More
about the former idyllic communion of gods and
men
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But after the earth was given its first
experience of unspeakable crime, and everyone
expelled justice from his greedy mind, brothers
drenched their hands in brotherly blood, the son
ceased to mourn his deceased parents, the father
wished for the funeral of his youthful son that
he might freely enjoy the youthful beauty of his
unwed stepmother, and the mother, blasphemously
offering her son her sex, did not fear defiling
the household gods with sinful acts. All things,
lawful or not, blended thoroughly with malicious
passion, diverted from us the just mind of the
gods. The gods therefore will neither visit our
weddings nor be illuminated by the bright light
of day.
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This recalls a passage of the Works and Days of
Hesiod
(ll. 170-201) Thereafter, would that I were not
among the men of the fifth generation, but either
had died before or been born afterwards. For now
truly is a race of iron, and men never rest from
labour and sorrow by day, and from perishing by
night and the gods shall lay sore trouble upon
them. ...................... The father will not
agree with his children, nor the children with
their father, nor guest with his host, nor
comrade with comrade nor will brother be dear to
brother as aforetime. Men will dishonour their
parents as they grow quickly old, and will carp
at them, chiding them with bitter words,
hard-hearted they, not knowing the fear of the
gods. They will not repay their aged parents the
cost their nurture, for might shall be their
right and one man will sack another's city.
There will be no favour for the man who keeps his
oath or for the just or for the good but rather
men will praise the evil-doer and his violent
dealing. Strength will be right and reverence
will cease to be and the wicked will hurt the
worthy man, speaking false words against him, and
will swear an oath upon them. Envy, foul-mouthed,
delighting in evil, with scowling face, will go
along with wretched men one and all. And then
Aidos and Nemesis (7), with their sweet forms
wrapped in white robes, will go from the
wide-pathed earth and forsake mankind to join the
company of the deathless gods and bitter sorrows
will be left for mortal men, and there will be no
help against evil.
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As does Hesiod, Catullus pictures ours as the
ultimate age of final degradation, where soon
human evil, which has caused the Gods to shun us,
will consume all. This apocalyptic age is our
first archetype.
What led to this apocalypse?
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In religious myth, oracles often make prophecies
linked to the coming end of the age.
The prophecy of the Moirai about the future of
Achilles fills this function.
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Another archetype is that of the marvelous
child who has special parents, often enjoys a
unique childhood, whose actions (often involving
some Quest) bring some great benefit or change.
Achilles, son a great hero and a goddess, who is
raised by a Centaur, and who is one of the two
central human warriors of the end-of-the-age
battle at Troy, certainly fits this case.
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The prophecy of the Moirai moves from mention of
the idyllic union of two lovers, to Achilles
athletic abilities, to a longer, increasingly
gruesome description of Achilles the killer who
brings horror on the families of his enemies,
including aged parents, culminating in the
sacrifice of the innocent Polyxena at his tomb.
Clearly something went VERY wrong.
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Another archetype is the coming of
age/initiation pattern. The young (usually male)
person must go out into the world, often engages
upon a Quest (another archetype) and, having
succeeded, comes home with benefit to his
society, as well as with a new role in his
society, and often with a wife -- see all this in
the myth of Perseus.
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Achilles initiation/quest is in the end a failed
one. He dies at Troy, and, in this version, the
closest thing he gets to a wife is poor,
murdered Polyxena. His father, of course, is made
desolate by his death. And the whole Age of
Heroes soon ends with the Trojan war, just as the
vast battle on the field of Kuru ends the age of
heroes in the Mahabharata.
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The epic/Apocalyptic battle of Troy
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I suggest that Achilles, the son of an exemplary
hero and a goddess, Thetis, who joins with Peleus
in true love, was the gods last, best hope
for the human race.
Note the idyllic wedding imagery, which is also
another utopian / apocalyptic archetype. Note,
for example, how in the Judeo-Christian tradition
the kingdom of God is likened to a wedding. This
makes sense, for each marriage is the formation
of a new community in miniature.
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Indeed the first miracle of Jesus is at a
wedding.
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The idle farmlands of Thessaly reflect the myth
of a primal, pre-agricultural paradise, while
Peleuss vast palace, fit to accept the gods, is
another sort of utopian image, such as seen in
the palace of Menelaus in the Odyssey --
encountered, of course, by Telemachus when a
wedding was in progress.
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At the beginning of 64, Thetis encounters Peleus
on HIS Quest to help Jason get the golden fleece.
Peleus immediately falls in love with Thetis,
and she reciprocates, and even Jupiter realizes
that they must be joined together.
This ideal, mutual love is in stark contrast to
the one-sided love of Ariadne for Theseus, or the
(implied) love of Jason and Medea -- for as
critics note, in many ways Ariadne is meant to
recall Medea.
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Similarities the way Ariadne falls instantly
in love with Theseus how she betrays her father
and helps murder her brother, how Theseus
abandons Ariadne (as Jason would have if he
could have, and eventually did), how Ariadne
gets revenge for her abandonment.
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Another archetypal pattern here is the Young man
gets/marries the (fertility) goddess pattern.
Heroes gain glory by conquering monsters or
succeeding in death journeys. But there is real
(and dangerous) power in fertility, and that
women have it, and men do not.
A hero, who abducts/ marries a goddess, puts this
divine power under human (and male) control, for
human (and male benefit).
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In myth Theseus makes a career of abducting women
-- Ariadne, Antiope, Helen, not to mention help
Heracles and Perithoos with their abductions.
Ariadne herself is probably originally a Cretan
goddess, and thus Theseus story is how the
Greeks broke Cretan power by destroying the
Minotaur AND abducting their goddess.
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While the failed initiation of Jason is only
hinted at, the initiation/Quest of Theseus is
described. It seems to start nobly (note now
Theseus wants to prevent the sacrifice of the
Athenians), but ends in the betrayal of Ariadne
and the death of his father. The horror of the
old Aegeus destruction will be mirrored in the
grieving of aged fathers for sons whom Achilles
has killed. And while Theseus tried to stop human
sacrifice, Achilles will demand it.
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Theseus story is told through an ecphrasis of a
marvelous coverlet which will adorn the bridal
bed of the couple.
Catullus, compared to the tradition, seems to
emphasize Theseus responsibility for Ariadnes
betrayal and thus the death of Aegeus as a
consequence. And of course, the killing of a
father by a son, even indirectly, is a great
archetypal image of evil.
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As an aside, several scholars who practice a
more autobiographical method of criticism think
the horror of the betrayed and abandoned Ariadne
reflects Catullus own feeling of betrayal and
loss in his own personal life.
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This tale of betrayed love and quasi-parricide
seems a terribly ill-omened item for a wedding
bed. Why here?
Here all times and events are interwoven, like
pictures in a tapestry. I suggest that the
Theseus/ Ariadne cycle was exactly the sort of
evil that the Peleus/ Thetis/(and later) Achilles
complex was to undo -- and fail to undo.
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Consider how the coverlet is marvelously woven,
and how the Moirai are weaving Achilles fate, a
similarity linking the two items. Note too that
the author does not explain where the coverlet
comes from, but all Thessaly gathers to see it.
This suggests that this item is divine, a type of
oracle, which shows the potentials for evil (as
seen in Theseus story) this marriage must
overcome.
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Why is Bacchus here? His appearance could refer
to the tale of how he rescued Ariadne and,
perhaps, was even responsible for making Theseus
forget her in the first place.
But Bacchus also symbolizes the power to escape
death -- Bacchus and Ariadne scenes were not
uncommon on Roman sarcophagi. I suggest that
Bacchus represents the possibility of a world
reformed, the pain of the past undone, if the
potential of the Peleus/Thetis union is achieved.
It is not, alas.
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Thus Catullus 64 narrates now the gods have left
us, after their last, best hope of setting humans
to right failed. Prior attempts to create a more
noble hero are seen in Theseus, and (by
implication) Jason, but these went awry.
That last hope was to be the marvelous child of
Thetis and Peleus. Nearly all the gods came to
support the marriage. Why do Apollo and Diana/
Artemis stay away? Apollos status as traditional
enemy of Achilles and his family may explain it.
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I suggest that, Apollo as prophet god knows the
true outcome of the marriage. I also think,
Artemis (and even Apollo, to some extent) as
protectors of young life, shun Achilles precisely
because they will hate the slaughter which
Achilles must produce as his great achievement in
the Trojan war.
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My way of organizing Catullus 64.
The prologue to the attempt Peleus and Thetis
meet, fall in love The first phase of the
wedding. The Humans arrive The coverlet (The
backstory to the wedding) Ariadne finds
herself abandoned Flashback to Theseus story
started right, went wrong The Lament and Curse
of Ariadne Flashback to Aegeus/Theseus
last moment Forgetfulness of Theseus, Death of
Aegeus Bacchus and the hope of rescue The
second phase of the wedding. The Gods The gods
arrive, the Moirai weave Achilles fate Their
prophecy - Achilles story goes bad (the future
story) The epilogue to the attempt the gods
have left us to our own hell.
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Any questions?
Thanks!