Gaius Valerius Catullus

A Roman poet from the late Republic. Born in Verona. He went to Rome and joined the group of poets who believed in the Alexandrian literary theory that was popular at the time. The 116 poems in his "Poems" are mostly witty short pieces that sing of love, friendship, travel, nature, the death of his brother, literature, politics, and small everyday events, and while they appear to express emotions honestly, they are actually backed by effective calculation and technique. In particular, a series of poems that sing of his love and unrequited love for a passionate noblewoman he named Lesbia stand out, and this transformed him from an elegant social poet into a solitary lyric poet, making him a pioneer of the next generation of love elegiac poets. He also wrote several relatively long poems that dealt with mythology using the Alexandrian method, such as the short epics "The Marriage of Peleus and Thetis" and "Attis," and these were considered his masterpieces at the time. Today, it is interpreted as an allegorical work that attempts to confirm the meaning and value of his own romantic experiences through an objective genre.

[Tsuneo Nakayama]

"Kawaran (Flower Crown)" (1973, Kinokuniya Shoten), a collection of poems translated by Go Shigeichi

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

古代ローマ、共和政末期の詩人。ベローナに生まれる。ローマに出て、当時流行のアレクサンドリア派文学理論を信奉する詩人たちの仲間に入る。116編からなる『詩集』は、その大半が、愛、友情、旅、自然、兄の死、文学、政治、日常のささやかなできごとなどをおりに触れて歌った機知に富む珠玉の小品からなり、感情の素直な表現にみせて、実は効果的な計算と技巧に裏打ちされている。とくに彼がレスビアと名づけた多情な貴婦人に対する愛と失恋を歌った一連の詩が光り、これにより優雅な社交詩人から孤独な叙情詩人に変貌(へんぼう)し、次の世代の恋愛エレゲイア詩人たちの先駆をなした。ほかに小叙事詩『ペレウスとテティスの結婚』『アッティス』など、アレクサンドリア派の手法により神話を扱った、比較的長い詩が数編あり、当時はこれらが代表作とされた。今日では彼自身の恋愛体験の意味と価値を客観的ジャンルによって確かめるための寓意(ぐうい)的作品と解釈されている。

［中山恒夫］

『呉茂一訳詩集『花冠』（1973・紀伊國屋書店）』

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