A Reception Case of the Ancient Literature in Machado de Assis

The Poem “Clódia”

Abstract

In this paper, I inquire into the use of Ancient literature by Machado de Assis in his poem “Clódia” and, secondarily, in an excerpt of this poem that the author published in A Semana Illustrada (1870), but preferred not to include in the final edition of his Poesias completas in 1901. I also explore the way Machado identifies Clodia with the Lesbia of Catullus and how he demonstrates to know the image of that female character the way she was drawn in the Ciceronian speech Pro Caelio. As a whole, the poem by Machado shows considerable knowledge of the texts of Latin Antiquity, and of several aspects of the Roman civilization as well. In short, we recognize in “Clódia” hypotexts of Catullus, Cicero, Suetonius and Juvenal, whether they have been read by Machado in their original language, or in a translation. By analyzing in detail this compositional aspect (that is, the use of Ancient literature), we can notice how Machado de Assis takes as a model for part of his poem (namely, the consultation with a haruspex) an excerpt from the Satire 6 by Juvenal. It creates an interesting intertextual relationship: the Clodia (a woman of the highest Roman aristocracy in the first century B.C.) in the Machado’s poem is presented as a model for a character portrayed by the first/second centuries A.D. satirist (the matron Lamia). However, in that scene by Machado it is the satire that provides the literary model to the poet. I also present in the annexe the poem “Clódia”, together with the 1890 fragment, indicating, in this case, the several (and some serious) transcriptional lapses we found out in the Ministry of Education (MEC) second edition of Poesias completas.