Introduction

Summary

This chapter considers why Roman comedy was important generally for Catullus and what about this genre caught his attention in the first place. The chapter suggests that three qualities of the genre are especially pertinent to this question: (1) a nugatory sensibility; (2) a domestic, urban, and local perspective; (3) an interest in Greco-Roman hybridity and translation. Throughout this book, the author returns to these overarching themes, which can be seen to undergird Catullus’ engagement with Roman comedy, but here he sketches their essential features by using a few concrete examples in the Catullan corpus that highlight the poet’s theatrical outlook but whose comic substructure has gone overlooked or underappreciated.