What does in pedem mean? I want it to mean that the wind was behind him, on the stern. If so he was, as we say, running before the wind with which Jupiter favoured him, probably the fastest point of sail for a Roman boat.
I also think of him travelling to Italy tagging along with a convoy of troop ships, not alone, which is certainly doable but challenging unless he was expert.
pes is also the Latin for 'sheet' - as in rope. But no doubt it is a clever pun because some of the time Catullus would have been on foot. We find the word in 46.8 referring to his feet as he makes his return from Bithynia!
I am coming round to the view it was a model boat, and could beef up the case a little.
I still think Catullus made the voyage by sea and experienced the sailing and the places he mentions. When I counsult my expertise as an armchair muleteer, I see objections to the idea that Catullus and his baggage carriers and body guard of soldiers progressed through the mountains of Macedonia at 15 mph, day in day out, in mule carts.
Maybe we should have a race to see who can get from Bythinia to Sirmione fastest--you take your mule cart I take my replica Roman sailing boat! On second thoughts, that is perhaps an exercise for your undergraduates, who have Catullus's youth on their side.
Your arguments are initially compelling, Armand. Such a jeu d’esprit would be very alexandrian. The hyperbolic boasting of the phasellus would thus be funny and geographically fairly accurate. However, like John, I am not totally convinced.
Even if Catullus showed off his boat on the lake to his guests, why would he write a poem describing himself doing so? And put the description into the mouth of the object? Clearly a jeu d'esprit from start to finish.
I visited Catullus’ place in Sirmione and it was breathtaking. I remember there being swans very nearby. A largish pond or small lake right there. I wonder if that could be relevant. I still remember the swans. (The gelato too admittedly).
None of the arguments you advance for Catullus' boat being a model are persuasive for me. In a couple of hours I am expected to assist in my annual duty of craning a little sailing boat weighing as much as a car, made of material far denser than boxwood, into a sometimes limpid lake, and sailing or rowing it (or propelling with small electric outboard) onto its mooring. Albeit a shorter journey, I am not entirely unfamiliar with the practicalities.
An asthmatic poet, not a sailor. Probably returned from Bithynia overland - mule cart much faster than boat. And anyway who needs a real boat when you can write a clever poem about a probably imaginary cowpea boat?
Mule cart is probably easier. More bandits. How many miles per day could it travel? In a small boat in summer with a crew member, to sail 24 hours, I think you are looking at averging 100 nautical miles in 24 hours, unless you are lucky with the wind. Stop offs in Greece.
An outboard motor would certainly have helped navigate the choppy waters Catullus describes facing in his ‘cowpea boat’. But was he a seasoned sailor like you? And how and why would he store it on the ‘motionless’ lake (usque limpidum - not ‘sometimes’ limpid) so as to show it to guests? Dedications to tutelary deities tended to be symbolic, not literal - and in shrines, not on lakes.
No idea whether Catullus was a sailor. He was bit of a lad! A fast little boat might have excited him more than toy (how is a toy boat fast?).
Unlikely to have tried navigating up a river. Overland is certainly thinkable for a rich man, and some well-to-do hobby sailors would still move a 24 foot sailing boat on a trailer.
In a poem I would write about the "glassy" sea, because that resonates in the memory, even when though it is sometimes stormy.
You don't try to row (or use a little electric outboard) on a small boat in a choppy sea. Or even if it is windy on Lake Garda. You likely don't have enough force to overcome the wind, even with the sails down. There is no way of managing a small boat in wind and waves other than with the sails.
Now, the argument about storing the boat on Lake Garda is a practical issue one has to face if arguing it is not a model, because being a big lake, at times it is rough and currents run. Could it have been moved on a slipway? In a boatshed? or small artificial harbour off Sirmione? I think a boatshed would do it.
What a wonderful article - thanks so much for sharing it with your subscribers. I greatly appreciate this.
What does in pedem mean? I want it to mean that the wind was behind him, on the stern. If so he was, as we say, running before the wind with which Jupiter favoured him, probably the fastest point of sail for a Roman boat.
I also think of him travelling to Italy tagging along with a convoy of troop ships, not alone, which is certainly doable but challenging unless he was expert.
pes is also the Latin for 'sheet' - as in rope. But no doubt it is a clever pun because some of the time Catullus would have been on foot. We find the word in 46.8 referring to his feet as he makes his return from Bithynia!
Possibly. But the poem is more fun - and has more poetic point - if it is about a model boat that he has dedicated in memory of the journey.
I am coming round to the view it was a model boat, and could beef up the case a little.
I still think Catullus made the voyage by sea and experienced the sailing and the places he mentions. When I counsult my expertise as an armchair muleteer, I see objections to the idea that Catullus and his baggage carriers and body guard of soldiers progressed through the mountains of Macedonia at 15 mph, day in day out, in mule carts.
Maybe we should have a race to see who can get from Bythinia to Sirmione fastest--you take your mule cart I take my replica Roman sailing boat! On second thoughts, that is perhaps an exercise for your undergraduates, who have Catullus's youth on their side.
Your arguments are initially compelling, Armand. Such a jeu d’esprit would be very alexandrian. The hyperbolic boasting of the phasellus would thus be funny and geographically fairly accurate. However, like John, I am not totally convinced.
Even if Catullus showed off his boat on the lake to his guests, why would he write a poem describing himself doing so? And put the description into the mouth of the object? Clearly a jeu d'esprit from start to finish.
I enjoyed the poem very much - written and audio versions. There's something there...
I visited Catullus’ place in Sirmione and it was breathtaking. I remember there being swans very nearby. A largish pond or small lake right there. I wonder if that could be relevant. I still remember the swans. (The gelato too admittedly).
None of the arguments you advance for Catullus' boat being a model are persuasive for me. In a couple of hours I am expected to assist in my annual duty of craning a little sailing boat weighing as much as a car, made of material far denser than boxwood, into a sometimes limpid lake, and sailing or rowing it (or propelling with small electric outboard) onto its mooring. Albeit a shorter journey, I am not entirely unfamiliar with the practicalities.
An asthmatic poet, not a sailor. Probably returned from Bithynia overland - mule cart much faster than boat. And anyway who needs a real boat when you can write a clever poem about a probably imaginary cowpea boat?
Mule cart is probably easier. More bandits. How many miles per day could it travel? In a small boat in summer with a crew member, to sail 24 hours, I think you are looking at averging 100 nautical miles in 24 hours, unless you are lucky with the wind. Stop offs in Greece.
Mule cart going 10-15 mph, boat fastest 3 mph.
An outboard motor would certainly have helped navigate the choppy waters Catullus describes facing in his ‘cowpea boat’. But was he a seasoned sailor like you? And how and why would he store it on the ‘motionless’ lake (usque limpidum - not ‘sometimes’ limpid) so as to show it to guests? Dedications to tutelary deities tended to be symbolic, not literal - and in shrines, not on lakes.
No idea whether Catullus was a sailor. He was bit of a lad! A fast little boat might have excited him more than toy (how is a toy boat fast?).
Unlikely to have tried navigating up a river. Overland is certainly thinkable for a rich man, and some well-to-do hobby sailors would still move a 24 foot sailing boat on a trailer.
In a poem I would write about the "glassy" sea, because that resonates in the memory, even when though it is sometimes stormy.
You don't try to row (or use a little electric outboard) on a small boat in a choppy sea. Or even if it is windy on Lake Garda. You likely don't have enough force to overcome the wind, even with the sails down. There is no way of managing a small boat in wind and waves other than with the sails.
Now, the argument about storing the boat on Lake Garda is a practical issue one has to face if arguing it is not a model, because being a big lake, at times it is rough and currents run. Could it have been moved on a slipway? In a boatshed? or small artificial harbour off Sirmione? I think a boatshed would do it.