ONCE MORE UNTO THE BREACH: MESOSTIC AND EPITAPH IN CATULLUS POEM 60

Abstract In addition to the acrostic–telestic combination natu ceu aes ‘from birth like bronze’, Catullus poem 60 contains the earliest attested Latin mesostic ( mi pia ‘dutiful to me’), which runs down its caesuras. The use of pius anticipates the language of aristocratic obligation that is used of Lesbia in the epigrams and is perhaps also a wordplay on the praenomen of Clodia’s father, Appius . The complex acrostics and the syntax of mi pia , along with the setting of poem 59 ( in sepulcretis ), suggest that poem 60 can be read as a literary epitaph. Additional closural elements in the poem include an allusion to Callimachus and a sphragis in the form of a play on the author’s name.