Ad Cornelium Structual Analysis

Plot: Catullus is trying to make a point that the material that lasts through the ages is stuff that people care about such as things that they can relate to; whereas Cornelius' writings didn't get past the medieval ages.

Hermeneutics: Catullus compares his work to Cornelius and he also uses praise in a sarcastic manner to emphasize that his work is actually stuff that the common class along with the high class.

Semic: One connotation that Catullus is trying to make is that people only care about things that they can relate to. In Cornelius case he wrote about the history of the first ages of Italy and it was lost, but the biographies were kept. His crowning achievement was not kept because the masses, who later took over Rome during the Invasion, did not find it appealing to them.

Symbolic: He uses the God Jupiter, who was the leader of all the other god's to show sarcastically that Cornelius was above everyone especially the common class. Catullus calls his writing a little book in comparison to Cornelius because he wants to make his writings seem as small as possible in comparison to Cornelius work. Once again he is being sarcastic.

Reference: He uses Cornelius book Chronica as the source of his satire. Chronica was a book of history written by Cornelius and was a three volume Universal History of Italy, which was a part of the 16 part book De viris illustribu. These books themselves were actually very concentrated on the famous men's lives and effect of morale on the men rather than their actual achievements. From a historical standpoint Cornelius was very inaccurate and omits important information, such as Epaminondas crowning achievement of the Battle of Luectra which was talked about little to none.

Diagetic: Catullus sets up Cornelius for his Satire in the first two lines and finishes him off with the last two lines of the poem. The rest of the lines in the middle he uses to praise Cornelius and give information to the reader on how the satire relates to the subject he is writing about.