The Poetic Treatment of atque from Catullus to Juvenal

Abstract

Th e remarkable avoidance of unelided, i.e. preconsonantal, atque in Latin poetry has long been observed, although scholars have either offered no reason for it or but a single, and thereby necessarily inadequate, explanation. My purpose in this paper is twofold: (i) to establish accurate figures, based upon close textual scrutiny and emendation, for the poetic treatment of atque from Catullus to Juvenal; (ii) to draw together multiple interconnected reasons for why the handling of atque was so distinct. Afte…