Sir Edward John Poynter lesbia and her sparrow

Lesbia was the literary pseudonym used by the Roman poet

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, the wife of Quintus Caecilius Metellus Celer and sister of Publius Clodius Pulcher; her conduct and motives are maligned in Cicero's extant speech '' Pro Caelio,'' 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), ranging from tender love (e. g. Catullus 5, 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. 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 Apuleius (; also called Lucius Apuleius Madaurensis; c. 124 – after 170) was a Numidian Latin-language prose writer, Platonist philosopher and rhetorician. He lived in the Roman province of Numidia, in the Berber city of Madauros, modern-day ...

gave a list of four such identities in court, to defend himself against the charge of hiding names under an alias: * Catullus'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' 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, 1878 File:Godward-Lesbia with her Sparrow-1916.jpg, ''Lesbia with the Sparrow'' by John William Godward, 1916 File:Catullus-at-Lesbia's-large.jpg, ''Catullus at Lesbia's'' by Lawrence Alma-Tadema, 1865 File:Favourite Poet.jpg, ''Favourite Poet'' by Lawrence Alma-Tadema, 1888 File:Bakalovich little luxery.jpg, ''A Little Gem'' by

Stefan Bakałowicz Stefan Bakałowicz (russian: Степан Бакалович) (17 October 1857 – 1947) was a Polish painter from Warsaw, famous in the Russian Empire. He was noted for his paintings on the subjects of Ancient Rome. From 1936 he was a memb ...

File:Lawrence Alma-Tadema lesbia and sparrow.jpg, ''Lesbia and Sparrow'' by Lawrence Alma-Tadema, 1886 File:Sant-Lesbia.jpg, ''Lesbia'' by James Sant, 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 Peter George Whigham (March 6, 1925 –August 6, 1987) was an English poet and translator, widely known for his translation of the poems of Catullus published by Penguin Books in 1966. He helped popularize the writings of authors like Ezra Po ...

(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