2018.11.23
I propose in Catulle ou l’anti-César (Paris, 1998) to identify with Calvus the mysterious "brother" so loved by Catullus. Here is a new clue to this effect. At verse 30 of Poem 68, devoted to the death of this "brother", we read Id, Malli, non est turpe, sed magis miserum est ("It's not a shame, Mallius, but rather a misfortune"). Clear and poignant echo to these words of Calvus, that Seneca the Elder has transmitted to us (Controv. 7,4-8): Credite mihi, iudices, non est turpe misereri. Strangely enough, no commentator, to my knowledge, had mentioned it.