Magni Viri: Caesar, Alexander, and Pompey in Cat. 11

Abstract

Abstract In the first half of Cat. 11 readers are indeed, as has been suggested, invited to recall Alexander the Great and his campaigns in the Far East upon reading monimenta magni, but also Rome′s official 'Magnus′ and Caesar′s rival: Pompey. For it is Pompey (and not Crassus, as is commonly believed) to whom the second stanza alludes, as all the people therein listed can be shown to point to his famous campaigns in the East during the third Mithridatic war, which, though almost a decade past by the time Catullus wrote, was brought back to the Romans′ attention when Pompey had his theatrum built from its revenues. The imaginary itinerary of the first three stanzas comprises the glorious sites of Alexander, Pompey, and Caesar – the latter now also a 'Magnus′.