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A festival hymn to Diana, written, as usual, as if to be sung by a chorus of girls and boys, but whether responsively or not it is impossible to determine. If so, however, vv. 1-4 and 21-24 were doubtless sung by the united chorus, vv. 1-8 and 13-16 by the girls alone, and vv. 9-12 and 17-20 by the boys alone. The composition was perhaps suggested by the annual festival to the Diana of the famous temple on the Aventine, held at the time of full moon (i.e. the Ides) in the month of August. To be compared with this are three odes of Horace: Hor. Carm. 1.21, Hor. Carm. 4.6, and the Carmen SaeculareHor. CS 1ff., in all of which, however, Apollo is celebrated with Diana. On the meter see Intr. 82b.

in fide: cf. Hor. Carm. 4.6.33 “Deliae tutela deae.”

[2] integri: modifying both nouns; so also in v. 3. cf. Catul. 61.36 “integrae virgines” ; Catul. 62.45 “virgo intacta” ; Hor. CS 6 “virgines lectas puerosque castos.”

[5] Latonia: Latona is often honored in hymns to her children; cf. Hor. Carm. 1.21.3ff. “[dicite] Latonam supremo dilectam penitus Iovi” ; Hor. 4.6.37 “rite Latonae puerum canentes.”

[7] Deliam: etc. for the story see Ov. Met. 6.333ff. (also Ov. Met. 13.634ff.).

[8] deposivit: one of the few archaic forms in Catullus; cf. Catul. 36.16 “face” ; Catul. 61.42n. citarier; Catul. 63.47, Catul. 63.52; Catul. 66.35 “tetuli” ; Catul. 44.19 “recepso” ; Catul. 66.28 “alis” ; Catul. 29.15 “alid” ; Catul. 66.37 “coetu” ; Catul. 17.17 “uni” ; Catul. 51.10 “suopte” .

[9-12] montium domina: etc. cf. Hor. Carm. 1.21.5ff. (which verses, however, these of Catullus far excel); Hor. Carm. 3.22.1 “montium custos nemorumque virgo” ; Hor. Carm. 4.6.33f.; Hor. CS 1 “silvarumque potens Diana” ; Hor. CS 69 “quaeque Aventinum tenet Algidumque.”

[13] Lucina: etc. cf. Hor. CS 13ff. “rite maturos aperire partus lenis, Ilithyia, tuere matres, sive tu Lucina probas vocari seu Genitalis” ; Hor. Carm. 3.22.2ff.

[14] Iuno: as the feminine counterpart of the Diespiter (Iuppiter Lucetius), who was worshipped in the mid-months, Juno was regarded as the deity who brought back the moonlight after its monthly eclipse, and so was worshipped on the Kalends as Lucina, the light-bringing. From this office she came to be regarded as a goddess of birth. The etymological connection of Juno and Diana suggests how naturally the latter, herself the moon-goddess, became identified with the former in other aspects also.

[15] potens Trivia: cf. Verg. A. 6.247 “Hecaten caeloque Ereboque potentem” ; Val. Flac. 3.321 “Triviae potentis occidit arcana genetrix absumpta sagitta.” —It is not strange to find Diana, as the moon-goddess, identified with Ἑκάτη Τριοδῖτις, the night-goddess (Lat. Trivia), as was also Proserpina, the goddess of the dark underworld.

[15] notho es dicta lumine Luna: i.e. she is called Luna from lumen, even though the light is not her own; cf. Hor. Carm. 4.6.38 “crescentem face Noctilucam” ; Hor. CS 35 “siderum regina bicornis, audi, Luna, puellas; ” Lucr. 5.575 “luna notho fertur loca lumine lustrans.” So Diana as the huntress and birth-helper, as Luna, and as Trivia (= Proserpina), is the threefold goddess; cf. Hor. Carm. 3.22.4 “diva triformis” ; Verg. A. 4.511 “tergeminam Hecaten, tria virginis ora Dianae.”

[17] cursu menstruo: etc. cf. Hor. Carm. 4.6.39ff. “prosperam frugum celeremque pronos volvere menses.”

[21] quocumque … nomine: cf. Hor. CS 15ff. (quoted on v. 13).

[22] Romuli: etc. cf. Hor. CS 47ff. “Romulae genti date remque prolemque et decus omne.” With the hypermeter cf. Catul. 64.298; Catul. 115.5; and Hor. l.c.


Catullus. Catullus. E. T. Merrill. Cambridge. Harvard University Press. 1893.

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hide References (17 total)
  • Commentary references from this page (17):
    • Catullus, Poems, 115
    • Catullus, Poems, 17
    • Catullus, Poems, 29
    • Catullus, Poems, 36
    • Catullus, Poems, 44
    • Catullus, Poems, 51
    • Catullus, Poems, 61
    • Catullus, Poems, 62
    • Catullus, Poems, 63
    • Catullus, Poems, 64
    • Catullus, Poems, 66
    • Ovid, Metamorphoses, 13.634
    • Ovid, Metamorphoses, 6.333
    • Vergil, Aeneid, 4.511
    • Vergil, Aeneid, 6.247
    • Lucretius, De Rerum Natura, 5.575
    • C. Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica, 3.321
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