Catius

Sources

In a letter dated January 45 BC, Cicero speaks of Catius as having died recently. The letter is addressed to Cassius Longinus, one of the future assassins of Julius Caesar and a recent convert to Epicureanism. Cicero prods Cassius about his new philosophy, and jokes about spectra Catiana ("Catian apparitions"), that is, the εἴδωλα or material images which were supposed by the Epicureans to present themselves to the mind and to call up the idea of absent objects:

Although Cicero's purpose is ridicule, the passage is an important source for understanding the Epicurean theory of vision. Catius's spectrum is equivalent to simulacrum in Lucretius, but the term spectrum does not appear again in Latin until the 17th century and must represent Catius's attempt to create a specialized vocabulary.

Quintilian characterizes Catius briefly:

Early commentators on Horace assert that the philosopher should be identified with the Catius addressed in the fourth satire of the poet's second book. This Catius is introduced as delivering a grave and sententious lecture on various topics connected with the pleasures of the table. It appears from the words of Cicero, however, that the satire in question could not have been written until several years after the death of Catius. Horace may have intended to designate some gourmand of the court under a recognizably Epicurean nickname; given the poet's own Epicurean leanings, the passage should probably be read as a parody of the kind of false Epicureanism that disguised mere hedonism.

Notes

References

1. [[Elizabeth Rawson]], ''Intellectual Life in the Late Roman Republic'' (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1985), p. 284.
2. Gian Biagio Conte, ''Latin Literature: A History'', translated by Joseph B. Solodow (The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999), p. 157 [https://books.google.com/books?id=NJGp_dkXnuUC&dq=Catius+intitle:Latin+intitle:Literature+inauthor:Conte&pg=PA157 online.]
3. Cicero, ''ad Fam''. xv.16 = 215 in [[D.R. Shackleton Bailey]], ''Epistulae ad familiares'' (Cambridge University Press, 1977), p. 60.
4. See [[Gaius Cassius Longinus#Epicureanism. article on Cassius]] for more on his Epicureanism; also [[Arnaldo Momigliano]], review of ''Science and Politics in the Ancient World'' by Benjamin Farrington (London 1939), in ''Journal of Roman Studies'' 31 (1941) 149–157; Miriam Griffin, “Philosophy, Politics, and Politicians at Rome,” in ''Philosophia togata: Essays on Philosophy and Roman Society'' (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989); [[David Sedley]], “The [[Ethics]] of [[Marcus Junius Brutus. Brutus]] and Cassius,” ‘’Journal of Roman Studies’’ 87 (1997) 41–53.
5. Cicero refers to Epicurus, who belonged to the [[Deme
6. Translation by Evelyn Shuckburgh, ''Cicero: The Whole Extant Correspondence in Chronological Order'' (London 1900), full text [https://books.google.com/books?id=l49fAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22what+the+famous+Gargettius,+and+before+him+Democritus%22&pg=PA174 online.]
7. Miriam T. Griffin, "Philosophical Badinage in Cicero's Letters to His Friends," in ''Cicero the Philosopher'', edited by J.G.F. Powell (Oxford University Press, 1999), p. 343 [https://books.google.com/books?id=WSOwWVUyUL4C&dq=Catius+epicurean+OR+epicureanism+OR+epicureans&pg=PA343 online.]
8. Miriam T. Griffin, "Philosophical Badinage," in ''Cicero the Philosopher'', p. 295.
9. David Sedley, ''Lucretius and the Transformation of Greek Wisdom'' (Cambridge University Press, 2003), p. 39 [https://books.google.com/books?id=SKFWdwJPsHAC&dq=Catius+epicurean+OR+epicureanism+OR+epicureans&pg=PA39 online]; Robert D. Brown, ''Lucretius on Love and Sex'' (Brill, 1987), p. 175 [https://books.google.com/books?id=z70fAAAAIAAJ&dq=Catius+epicurean+OR+epicureanism+OR+epicureans&pg=PA175 online.]
10. Quintilian, ''Institutio Oratoria'', x.1.§ 124, {{langx. la. in Epicureis levis quidem sed non iniucundus auctor est Catius.
11. [[Emily Gowers]], ''The Loaded Table: Representations of Food in Roman Literature'' (Oxford University Press, 1996), p. 141 [https://books.google.com/books?id=yPwSuAA4BvEC&dq=Catius+epicurean+OR+epicureanism+OR+epicureans&pg=PA141 online.]