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ATTIS ON OGYGIA: CATULLUS’ CARMEN 63 AND THE ODYSSEY

Abstract Scholars have long noticed a similarity of motifs between Catullus’ Carmen 63 and the fifth book of the Odyssey, where the story of Odysseus’ captivity on Ogygia is narrated. A detailed analysis of the poems shows that Catullus wanted the reader to see in this Homeric episode a kind of matrix for the interpretation of Attis’ sojourn at Cybele. The discovery of this dependence casts a light on some of the hitherto proposed interpretations of Carmen 63.

animo aestuante rusum reditum ad uada tetulit. ibi maria uasta uisens lacrimantibus oculis patriam allocuta maestast ita uoce miseriter.  … at ubi umida albicantis loca litoris adiit, teneramque uidit Attin prope marmora pelagi facit impetum. (63.87-9) With surging mind again he sped back to the waves. There, looking out upon the waste seas with streaming eyes, thus did she piteously address her country with tearful voice. … But when he [sc. Cybele's lion] came to the watery stretches of the white-gleaming shore, and saw tender Attis by the smooth spaces of the sea, he rushes at him.
Scholars have juxtaposed the following: the two protagonists' stay at the seashore (Harder, Clay, Syndikus); the desire they both shared to get out of the place of their captivity (Harder); their longing for their homeland (Clay, Syndikus); their gazing at the sea with their eyes full of tears (Clay, Syndikus); the important role played by a goddess in the context of the whole scene (Fedeli). 4 Moreover, Rubino noticed a psychological analogy of the situation in which the two protagonists found themselves. 5 The evident parallels between Carmen 63 and the Odyssey have, however, hitherto not been the subject of any deeper analysis: to my knowledge neither a monograph nor a chapter in a book nor even a paragraph in an article has been devoted to this 3 I use the edition of the Odyssey by P. von der Mühll, Homerus Odyssea (Stuttgart, 1984 3 ) and the translation (with occasional changes) by R. Lattimore, The Odyssey of Homer (Chicago, 1996) issue. I have also found no mention of these parallels neither in the scholarly commentaries on Catullus' poems 6 nor in articles discussing the issue of Catullus' references to Homeric poems. 7 In the present article I will, first, try to show that Carmen 63 presents Attis' story through the prism of Odysseus' stay at Ogygia. 8 Subsequently, I will try to show that, owing to the discovery of the reference to the Odyssey, some previous interpretations of Carmen 63, in particular those of Clay 9 and Nauta, 10 who saw in Attis' journey to Cybele an escape from human marriage, and of Näsström,11 according to whom Attis' emasculation was done to attain divine immortality, find new support. Moreover, in the light of Näsström's interpretation, Attis' drastic deed can be seen as an act of hubris and, hence, his metamorphosis into an androgynous being can be seen as its dramatic consequence.

THE DEPENDENCE OF CARMEN 63 ON THE ODYSSEY
Since some of the parallels between Carmen 63 and the Odyssey have so far not been noticed by scholars, it is appropriate to provide a comprehensive comparison of the situations experienced by Attis and by Odysseus on Ogygia. The parallels are as follows: 2. Their longing is described in a similar way. Both of them are gazing at the sea, looking desperately for a trace of their homelands on the horizon: αὐτὰρ Ὀδυσσεύς, | ἱέμενος καὶ καπνὸν ἀποθρῴσκοντα νοῆσαι | ἧς γαίης, θανέειν ἱμείρεται ('and yet Odysseus, straining to get sight of the very smoke uprising from his own country, longs to die', Od. goddess. About Odysseus we read that ἦ τοι νύκτας μὲν ἰαύεσκεν καὶ ἀνάγκῃ | ἐν σπέεσι γλαφυροῖσι παρ' οὐκ ἐθέλων ἐθελούσῃ ('by nights he would lie beside her, of necessity, in the hollow caverns, against his will, by one who was willing', Od. 5.154-5) and that τερπέσθην φιλότητι, παρ' ἀλλήλοισι μένοντες ('they took their joy of love, abiding each by the other's side', Od. 5.227). As for the relationship between Cybele and Attis, some versions of the myth suggest its erotic nature. 12 Besides, the castration itself, in the context of the relationship between a man and a goddess, suggests its erotic, though perverse, character. 13 6. Both of them were initially fascinated by the goddess. In the Odyssey (a point easy to overlook) it is explicitly stated that to Odysseus οὐκέτι ἥνδανε νύμφη ('the nymph was no longer pleasing to him', Od. 5.153).
For Catullus, therefore, the journey from Italy to Troy appears to be an inversion of Odysseus' journey from Troy to Ithaca-'a backward Odyssey, an anti-nostos'. 17  Then all the others, as many as fled sheer destruction, were at home now, having escaped the sea and the fighting. This one alone, longing for his wife and his homecoming, was detained by the queenly nymph Calypso, bright among goddesses, in her hollowed caverns, desiring that he should be her husband.
There is an explicit opposition between Penelope and the goddess Calypso. Odysseus is longing for his human wife while Calypso keeps him captive on her isle, desiring that he be her husband (πόσις; cf. Od. 9.30, 23.334). This opposition is fundamental to the whole concept of Odysseus' story-as we can see, it already appears in the first words in the poem, which refer directly to Odysseus' present situation (they immediately follow the invocation τῶν ἁμόθεν γε, θεά, θύγατερ Διός, εἰπὲ καὶ ἡμῖν, 'from some point here, goddess, daughter of Zeus, speak, and begin our story', Od. Odysseus), it is reasonable to assume that the way in which Odysseus' situation was presented by the author of the Odyssey sheds light on the content of Carmen 63.
First, it can serve as an argument against the opinion that in Carmen 63 we are not dealing at all with any conjugal motif but only with an 'erotic' one. Second, the conjugal content of Carmen 63, in light of the reference to Odysseus' story, appears to be, in the first place, Attis' escape from human marriage (as if it were analogous to Odysseus' escape from Penelope). His new condition, consisting primarily of the fact that he deprived himself of the material and spiritual power of uir ('man'; see 63.6 sine uiro ['without manhood'], 63.17 euirastis ['you unmanned'], 63.69 uir sterilis ['a barren man']), should be interpreted as a forever-lost capacity for marriage and procreation.

NÄSSTRÖM'S INTERPRETATION OF CARMEN 63
In her 1989 monograph, 23 Britt-Mari Näsström proposed that Attis' emasculation is an attempt to approach divinity and to attain immortality. Näsström seeks to demonstrate that in the history of religion sexuality is what particularly attaches man to 'this world', being thus the very core of human mortality. Religious castration, via a violent rejection of what constitutes the root of mortality, would be, in its essence, an act aimed at achieving a position beyond death. 24 According to Näsström, the castration of Galli (of which Attis' emasculation constitutes a prototype) 25 initially has such a feature. 26 For her, this is how Attis' deed should be interpreted. 27 Näsström's approach has barely been discussed by Catullan scholars. 28 Now, a reference by Catullus to the Odyssey may serve as an argument in favour of interpreting Attis' emasculation as aimed at raising him above human mortality. The stay at Ogygia is the most difficult test of all tests Odysseus has been put to. Calypso promises to make him immortal and eternally young. The nymph tells Odysseus: ἐνθάδε κ' αὖθι μένων σὺν ἐμοὶ τόδε δῶμα φυλάσσοις | ἀθάνατός τ' εἴης ('you would stay here with me and be the lord of this household and be an immortal', Od. 5.208); then, she says to Hermes: τὸν μὲν ἐγὼ φίλεόν τε καὶ ἔτρεφον ἠδὲ ἔφασκον | θήσειν ἀθάνατον καὶ ἀγήραον ἤματα πάντα ('and I gave him my love and cherished him, and I had hopes also that I could make him immortal and ageless all his days ',. Later, Odysseus returned, as we can feel not without pride, to Calypso's promise. To Arete, the queen of the Phaeacians, he says that Calypso ἔφασκε | θήσειν ἀθάνατον καὶ ἀγήραον ἤματα πάντα (Od. 7.256-7), and he repeats the same utterance to . Ogygia itself is reminiscent of Elysium, which has convincingly been argued by Anderson. 29 What is important is that Calypso's divine immortality is explicitly opposed to Penelope's human mortality. Odysseus turns to Calypso with the words: ἡ μὲν γὰρ βροτός ἐστι, σὺ δ' ἀθάνατος καὶ ἀγήρως ('she is mortal after all, and you are immortal and ageless', Od. 5.218). 23 Näsström (n. 11). 24 Näsström (n. 11), 84. 25 Näsström (n. 11), 75. 26 Näsström (n. 11), 81. 27 Näsström (n. 11),82. 28 See, however, the review of Näsström (n. 11)  The fact that Catullus referred to the episode of Odysseus' stay at Ogygia can therefore support Näsström's suggestion that Attis' journey to Cybele and his emasculation were aimed at his being liberated from the chains of transience of this mortal life.

ATTIS' DEED AS AN ACT OF HUBRIS?
Transgressing human mortality and ipso facto approaching immortal divinity was a constant postulate of ancient thought. Greek mythology is full of characters who wanted to overcome their human limitations and come closer to the divine. At the same time, paradoxically, in their attempts of this transgression one saw the greatest sin-hubris. The wisdom of the ancient Greeks constantly warns us against attempts to transgress human limits. The famous aphorism γνῶθι σαυτόν, inscribed, according to Pausanias (10.24.1), in the Pronaos of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, originally meant precisely this: 'Do not try to be like a god.' The gods look askance at human efforts of being 'like a god': οὐ γὰρ ἐᾷ φρονέειν μέγα ὁ θεὸς ἄλλον ἢ ἑωυτόν ('for the god suffers pride in none but himself ',Hdt. 7.10.55;. The attempt to transgress ontological limitations most often ends in disaster in Greek mythology: Arachne, Actaeon, Bellerophon, Endymion, Lycaon, Niobe, Orion, Salmoneus, Tantalus, Thamyris and Tithonus are the most well-known examples of these failed attempts. Often, however, the consequence of hubris is not death but a metamorphosis, a degradation into some lower, degenerate state. The usurper not only does not become a god (or like a god) but also loses his/her human nature: Arachne, who challenged Athena in a weaving contest, was transformed into a spider; Actaeon, who saw Artemis naked, was transformed into a deer; Lycaon, testing Zeus to see whether he was truly omniscient, was transformed into a wolf; Niobe, who boasted to Leto of her progenitive superiority, was transformed into a stone; and, finally, Tithonus, the lover of Eos, granted with immortality but not with eternal youth, became a senile old man unable to die and was then transformed into a cicada.
If, as Näsström argues, the aim of Attis' journey and his emasculation was to achieve immortality, then it is justified to see in Carmen 63 also a story about hubris and its tragic consequences. Attis' words describing the dramatic consequences of his deed (63.69 ego pars mei, ego uir sterilis; 63.27 notha mulier) can be read as a description of his metamorphosis into an androgynous, odious 30 being. Arguments for such an interpretation of Attis' metamorphosis are not only of a conceptual nature.
In the fifth book of the Odyssey there are two references to a relationship between a goddess and a mortal man and to the tragic consequences of these relationships. Calypso, having heard from Hermes of Zeus's order that she must let Odysseus leave her, utters words full of reproach : σχέτλιοί ἐστε, θεοί, ζηλήμονες ἔξοχον ἄλλων, οἵ τε θεαῖσ' ἀγάασθε παρ' ἀνδράσιν εὐνάζεσθαι ἀμφαδίην, ἤν τίς τε φίλον ποιήσετ' ἀκοίτην. ὣς μὲν ὅτ' Ὠρίων' ἕλετο ῥοδοδάκτυλος Ἠώς, 30 For the Romans, the castration of the Galli appeared as something particularly disgusting and completely contradictory to Roman ethos. This issue was discussed in detail by Nauta (n. 10). It is also interesting that Lucretius treats the castration of Cybele's priests as punishment for their lack of pietas (2.614-17).
You are hard-hearted, you gods, and jealous beyond all creatures beside, when you are resentful toward the goddesses for sleeping openly with such men as each has made her true husband. So when Dawn of the rosy fingers chose out Orion, all you gods who live at your ease were full of resentment, until chaste Artemis of the golden throne in Ortygia came with a visitation of painless arrows and killed him; and so it was when Demeter of the lovely hair, yielding to her desire, lay down with Iasion and loved him in a thrice-turned field, it was not long before this was made known to Zeus, who struck him down with a cast of the shining thunderbolt. So now, you gods, you resent it in me that I keep beside me a man.
In both of the cases referred to by Calypso, those of Orion and Iasion, the gods' envy killed mortals who had entered into an erotic relationship with a goddess. The whole episode at Ogygia carries an implicit threat of the catastrophic consequences which would befall Odysseus if he decided to stay with Calypso. There is, however, more. The fifth book of the Odyssey starts with the words: Ἠὼς δ' ἐκ λεχέων παρ' ἀγαυοῦ Τιθωνοῖο | ὤρνυθ', ἵν' ἀθανάτοισι φόως φέροι ἠδὲ βροτοῖσιν ('Now Dawn rose from her bed, where she lay by haughty Tithonus, carrying light to the immortal gods and to mortals', Od. 5.1-2). It is difficult not to see here an analogy to Calypso's lamentations. 31 By mentioning, at the very beginning of the book, the person of Tithonus, who was granted immortality but not eternal youth, the poet indirectly informs the reader what precisely endangers Odysseus if he were to decide to stay with Calypso.
The close association between Attis' and Odysseus' stories may suggest that Catullus wanted the reader to see what happened to Attis as a consequence of his hubris, which is analogous to what had happened to Tithonus and what could have happened to Odysseus. In this light, referring to Attis as ibi semper omne uitae spatium famula fuit ('there always for all his lifetime was he a handmaid', Catull. 63.90) may have an ironic meaning.
Another argument in favour of the interpretation that Attis' story also has a dimension of hubris is that Carmen 63 begins with the words super alta uectus Attis celeri rate maria. Now, sailing, at least from the time of Hesiod, has unequivocal connotations with hubris, for those who do not yield to it, οὐδ' ἐπὶ νηῶν | νίσονται ('and they do not travel on ships', Op. 236-7). 32 In this context it is significant that Catullus' Carmen 64, which recounts the story of the ways in which gods and men separated (see especially Catull. 64.384-408), opens with a twin motif: Peliaco quondam prognatae uertice pinus | dicuntur liquidas Neptuni nasse per undas ('Pinetrees of old, born on the top of Pelion, are said to have swum through the liquid waters of Neptune', 64.1-2). That the ratis from the first verse of Carmen 63 may carry connotations of hubris may also be indicated by the fact that the vector of Odysseus' resignation from being a goddess' lover and of his return to the mortal world is precisely the raft (σχεδίη). 33 As Odysseus departs on the raft from the island of Calypso, who tempted him with her promises of immortality and eternal youth, so Attis succumbs to the temptation to conquer immortality on Cybele's mountain after having sailed on the raft through 'deep seas'. 34 Looking at these images through the perspective proposed by Näsström, we can see in Attis' castration an act of hubris, the consequence of which is a degradation into a state which is neither divine nor fully human (69 ego pars mei, ego uir sterilis ero? ['I part of myself, a barren man shall I be?']; 27 notha mulier ['a counterfeit woman']). Here Attis appears as an Odysseus who, having fled from Ithaca from Penelope and having remained in Ogygia, cut off all possibility of returning to human reality-the only reality where his human ego (51,58,62,63,64,68,69,70,71) could be fulfilled 35 -and experienced a fate similar to that of Tithonus. 36 CONCLUSION By juxtaposing analogous motifs in Carmen 63 and in the fifth book of the Odyssey we noticed that Catullus not only referred to the episode of Odysseus' sojourn at Ogygia but also made out of it a kind of matrix into which he fitted Attis' story. This observation provides, first of all, an argument in favour of the hypothesis that Carmen 63, as one of the carmina maiora, contains implicit conjugal content. Subsequently, it provides an argument in favour of the interpretation that the theme of marriage in the poem is, first of all, Attis' escape from human marriage and only secondly is it a quasi-conjugal relationship with Cybele. Finally, seeing Attis through the prism of a 'reversed Odysseus' strengthens the case for seeing Attis' emasculation as an act aiming at liberation from the chains of transience of mortal life. By taking this interpretative path, I have proposed to see in Attis' emasculation an act of hubris, with his metamorphosis into an androgynous being as its disastrous consequence.