For more than forty years, we have seen the emergence of a substantial bibliography about the Hellenistic poetry-book (e. g., Lawall 1967; van Sickle 1980, 1989) and its influence on arrangements of their own poems made by Vergil, Tibullus, Propertius, and Horace.1 It is now clear that the Augustan poets were preceded in Latin by Catullus, with publications by Marilyn Skinner (1981, 2003) and Helena Dettmer (1997) arguing that the poems of Catullus were arranged by the poet and were meant to be read in relation to each other (see Skinner, this volume, pp. 35-53). The order in which these poems were transmitted is therefore not only canonical but arguably purposeful, in contrast to the thematic rearrangements preferred by school editions such as the Oxford Latin Reader. Collections specifically prepared for AP classes may reasonably be allowed more latitude in the presentation of Catullan lyrics; college classes, even when there is no time to read the entire libellus, should have all the poems in order. While it is important to consider each lyric as a freestanding artifact, each gains meaning by its intertextuality within the collection as well as with works by earlier authors. At this level of study the importance of a commentary, discussed earlier, should be self-evident. The selection of poems for class preparation and study will be affected by this relation between poems, and it should be emphasized that the book as a whole is as much a literary artifact as each poem within it.
Like The Sopranos and similarly multi-threaded dramas, the libellus mingles the threads of Lesbia, politics, literature, the demi-monde, Juventius, and other topics. We are not meant to construct a time line, and those who have tried have labored in vain.
World History
