Sir Edward John Poynter lesbia and her sparrow

Lesbia was the literary pseudonym used by the Roman

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

Gaius Valerius Catullus Gaius Valerius Catullus (; 84 - 54 BCE), often referred to simply as Catullus (, ), was a Latin poet of the late Roman Republic who wrote chiefly in the neoteric style of poetry, focusing on personal life rather than classical heroes. His s ...

( 82–52 BC) to refer to his lover. Lesbia is traditionally identified with

Clodia Clodius is an alternate form of the Roman '' nomen'' Claudius, a patrician '' gens'' that was traditionally regarded as Sabine in origin. The alternation of ''o'' and ''au'' is characteristic of the Sabine dialect. The feminine form is Clodia. R ...

, the wife of

Quintus Caecilius Metellus Celer Quintus Caecilius Metellus Celer (before 103 BC or c. 100 BC – 59 BC), a member of the powerful Caecilius Metellus family (plebeian nobility, not patrician) who were at their zenith during Celer's lifetime. A son of Quintus Caecilius Metell ...

and sister of

Publius Clodius Pulcher Publius Clodius Pulcher (93–52 BC) was a populist Roman politician and street agitator during the time of the First Triumvirate. One of the most colourful personalities of his era, Clodius was descended from the aristocratic Claudia gens, one ...

; her conduct and motives are maligned in

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the estab ...

's extant speech ''

Pro Caelio ''Pro Caelio'' is a speech given on 4 April 56 BC, by the famed Roman orator Marcus Tullius Cicero in defence of Marcus Caelius Rufus, who had once been Cicero's student but more recently was a political rival. Cicero's reasons for defending Cael ...

,'' delivered in 56 BC.

Overview

Lesbia is the subject of 25 of Catullus' 116 surviving poems, and these display a wide range of emotions (see

Catullus 85 Catullus 85 is a poem by the Roman poet Catullus for his lover Lesbia. Ōdī et amō. Quārē id faciam fortasse requīris. Nesciŏ, sed fierī sentiō et excrucior. I hate and I love. Why I do this, perhaps you ask. I know not, but I feel it hap ...

), ranging from tender love (e. g.

Catullus 5 Catullus 5 is a passionate ode to Lesbia and one of the most famous poems by Catullus. The poem encourages lovers to scorn the snide comments of others, and to live only for each other, since life is brief and death brings a night of perpetual slee ...

, Catullus 7), to sadness and disappointment (e.g. Catullus 72), and to bitter sarcasm (e.g. Catullus 8), following the often unsteady course of Catullus' relationship. The name evokes the poet

Sappho Sappho (; el, Σαπφώ ''Sapphō'' ; Aeolic Greek ''Psápphō''; c. 630 – c. 570 BC) was an Archaic Greek poet from Eresos or Mytilene on the island of Lesbos. Sappho is known for her Greek lyric, lyric poetry, written to be sung while ...

, who was from the isle of

Lesbos Lesbos or Lesvos ( el, Λέσβος, Lésvos ) is a Greek island located in the northeastern Aegean Sea. It has an area of with approximately of coastline, making it the third largest island in Greece. It is separated from Anatolia, Asia Minor ...

. Catullus's poem 35 celebrating his poet friend Caecilius of Novum Comum also mentions the devotion of Caecilius' girlfriend, who is herself accorded a remarkable tribute as "girl more learned than Sappho's Muse" (lines 16–17: ''Sapphica puella / musa doctior''). This could well be Catullus' Lesbia before she became his own lover. It may be significant that a poem which looks like an ''envoi'' to Lesbia (Catullus 11) is written in the Sapphic metre; the only other poem in the collection composed in this metre is poem 51, which looks like it could be the first poem written to her. What makes this more likely is that the poem is an elegant translation of a poem by

herself, which is still extant. She may have been a poet in her own right, included with Catullus in a list of famous poets whose lovers "often" helped them write their verses. The name Lesbia was chosen for several reasons, including its metrical match with her real name. The 2nd century AD orator Apuleius of Madaura gave a list of four such identities in court, to defend himself against the charge of hiding names under an alias: *

Catullus Gaius Valerius Catullus (; 84 - 54 BCE), often referred to simply as Catullus (, ), was a Latin poet of the late Roman Republic who wrote chiefly in the neoteric style of poetry, focusing on personal life rather than classical heroes. His s ...

's Lesbia: Clodia * Ticida's Perilla: Metella *

Propertius Sextus Propertius was a Latin elegiac poet of the Augustan age. He was born around 50–45 BC in Assisium and died shortly after 15 BC. Propertius' surviving work comprises four books of ''Elegies'' ('). He was a friend of the poets Gallus a ...

' Cynthia: Hostia *

Tibullus Albius Tibullus ( BC19 BC) was a Latin poet and writer of elegies. His first and second books of poetry are extant; many other texts attributed to him are of questionable origins. Little is known about the life of Tibullus. There are only a fe ...

' Delia: Plania Apuleius' information is thought to have come from

Suetonius Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (), commonly referred to as Suetonius ( ; c. AD 69 – after AD 122), was a Roman historian who wrote during the early Imperial era of the Roman Empire. His most important surviving work is a set of biographies ...

' ''de poetis'', or Suetonius' most important source, a work on late Republican and Augustan period poets by

Gaius Julius Hyginus Gaius Julius Hyginus (; 64 BC – AD 17) was a Latin author, a pupil of the scholar Alexander Polyhistor, and a freedman of Caesar Augustus. He was elected superintendent of the Palatine library by Augustus according to Suetonius' ''De Grammatic ...

.Wiseman 1974: 104

Gallery

File:John Reinhard Weguelin Lesbia.jpg, ''Lesbia'' by

John Reinhard Weguelin John Reinhard Weguelin (23 June 1849 – 28 April 1927) was an English painter and illustrator, active from 1877 to after 1910. He specialized in figurative paintings with lush backgrounds, typically landscapes or garden scenes. Weguelin em ...

, 1878 File:Godward-Lesbia with her Sparrow-1916.jpg, ''Lesbia with the Sparrow'' by

John William Godward John William Godward (9 August 1861 – 13 December 1922) was an English painter from the end of the Neo-Classicist era. He was a protégé of Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, but his style of painting fell out of favour with the rise of modern ...

, 1916 File:Catullus-at-Lesbia's-large.jpg, ''Catullus at Lesbia's'' by

Lawrence Alma-Tadema Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, (; born Lourens Alma Tadema ; 8 January 1836 – 25 June 1912) was a Dutch painter who later settled in the United Kingdom becoming the last officially recognised denizen in 1873. Born in Dronryp, the Netherlands, ...

, 1865 File:Favourite Poet.jpg, ''Favourite Poet'' by Lawrence Alma-Tadema, 1888 File:Bakalovich little luxery.jpg, ''A Little Gem'' by Stefan Bakałowicz File:Lawrence Alma-Tadema lesbia and sparrow.jpg, ''Lesbia and Sparrow'' by Lawrence Alma-Tadema, 1886 File:Sant-Lesbia.jpg, ''Lesbia'' by

James Sant James Sant (1820–1916) was a British painter specialising in portraits and known particularly for images of women and children and artistic exploration of the symbolism of childhood. He was a member of the Royal Academy. George Sant and Sara ...

, 1884

References

Citations

Ancient sources

*The Catullan ''libellus'' of 116 poems *Oxford Classical Texts, ''C. Valerii Catulli Carmina'' (ed.) R A B Mynors (Oxford University Press, 1958) *Penguin Classics, English translation, ''The Poems of Catullus'' by Peter Whigham (Penguin Books, 1966)

Modern works

*Wiseman, T Peter:''Catullan Questions'' (Leicester University Press, 1969), especially chapter 5: "Lesbia - When?" (42–49), and chapter 6: "Lesbia - Who?" (50–60) *Wiseman, T. Peter. ''Cinna the Poet and other Roman Essays'' (Leicester University Press, 1974), especially chapter 5: "Lesbia and her Children" (104–118) *Oxford Latin Reader, Maurice Balme and James Morewood (1997) *Hallett, Judith P: "Catullus and Horace on Roman Women Poets", ''Antichthon'' 40 (Thematic issue: ''Catullus in Contemporary Perspective'', 2006), 65–88 {{Authority control Latin poetry 1st-century BC Roman women 1st-century BC Romans Clodii