The Catullan narrative of the wedding of Peleus and Thetis is characterised by
two particularly evident traits. On the one hand, Apollo’s exclusion as the agent
of the wedding paean, as he is substituted by the Parcae; on the other, the dissonance
of the song – which announces violence and grief – with its joyous context.
Catullus 64 positions itself within a group of texts that consider problematic
Apollo’s presence at the wedding, and offers its own solution. Partly belonging
to this group is Paean VI Maehler (= D6 Rutherford), a poem that shares some
traits with another paean in Pindar’s book (see fr. 64Maehler = F9 Rutherford),
in which the gift and the first rendition of the Lydian harmony – in a sad tone –
at Niobe’s wedding are also mentioned. As we know, this wedding introduced
mournful events, in which Apollo appeared as a vengeful god. Catullus sees this
whole tradition through the lens of Callimachus’ Hymn to Apollo, in a passage
of which we read, by way of subtle and ironic allusions, that even the pain of
Thetis and Niobe stops when the παιάν-cry is heard. Catullus derived the idea
of the paradoxical epitalamy sung by the Parcae from this tradition, in which,
from his point of view, the two Pindaric paeans had dealt with the theme of the
god’s vengeance upon Thetis’ and Niobe’s descendants in a particularly original
and incisive manner.
