The Loss of Innocence: Catullan Intertexts in Vergil’s Eclogue 8 and the Camilla Episode of the Aeneid
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14232/suc.2020.1.121-139Keywords:
Vergil, Catullus, marriage, death, gender roles, intertextualityAbstract
In ancient Rome, some elements of the wedding ritual (e.g. the raptio or the defloration) could be associated with aggression and death. In Catullus 62 and 66 – two poems dealing with the topic of marriage –, these connotations get a special emphasis, in part due to the motif of cutting symbolizing violence and changing. In this paper, I examine the way the above mentioned poems constitute the background for the allusion to Medea in Vergil’s Eclogue 8 and the depiction of Camilla in Book 11 of the Aeneid. It will be of fundamental importance to observe the way aggressiveness – being a traditional characteristic of men – gets transferred to women, by means of intertextual connections.