in turn to Catullus. Catullus as a joke says he will get his revenge by buying
badbooksatabookseller,whichhewillgiveinreturn(remunerabor)toCalvus.
The poems written in the book are unfortunately offered as a gift with it.
This is just how Catullus thanks his friend Allius for his services
(officiis) in a poem written in a book (munus carmine confectum) that
celebrates thoseofficia(Cat. 68). But the value of this gift is not separable
from the book that contains it.Haec carta loquatur anus(68.46): this
poem is a gift because it is a written papyrus (carta), and it will live as long
time as it has a support. It will ward off forgetfulness from Allius, whose
friendly generosity will bring him glory as long as Catullus’s book finds
a place in libraries, a form of social recognition that will earn being copied
and recopied (Cat. 68.41–46, 149–52):
Non possum reticere, deae, qua me Allius in re
iuuerit aut quantis iuuerit officiis,
ne fugiens saeclis obliuiscentibus aetas
illius hoc caeca nocte tegat studium:
sed dicam uobis, uos porro dicite multis
milibus et facite haec carta loquatur anus.
...
hoc tibi, quod potui, confectum carmine munus
pro multis, Alli, redditur officiis,
ne uestrum scabra tangat rubigine nomen
haec atque illa dies atque alia atque alia.(I cannot keep silent, goddesses, about how Allius
helped me and all the services with which he helped me,
so that fleeting time in its forgetful cycles will not
cover his service in blind night.
But I shall tell you Muses, and you in turn tell it to many
thousands and see to it that this page speaks when it is an old woman.
...
This gift for you, made from song, as much as I could,
is given back to you for your many services,
so that no corroding rust will touch your name
today and the next and the next.)Sent as a gift, it is also the occasion for the book to proclaim itself as a
xenion. One can see this in an epigram of Catullus that accompanies the gift
of a book of epigrams to an influential friend, Cornelius Nepos (Cat. 1):
Cui dono lepidum nouum libellum
arida modo pumice expolitum?
Corneli, tibi.(To whom should I send this charming new little book
freshly polished with dry pumice?
To you, Cornelius!)The Corrupted Boy and the Crowned Poet 151