O nuntii beati!

[AntistesImaginificus]

Hi to all.

Verani, omnibus e meis amicis
antistans mihi milibus trecentis,
venistīne domum ad tuos penates
fratresque unanimos anumque matrem?
venisti. o mihi nuntii beati!
visam te incolumem audiamque Hibērum
narrantem loca, facta, nationes,
ut mos est tuus, applicansque collum
iocundum os oculosque suaviabor.
o quantumst hominum beatiorum,
quid me laetius est beatiusve?

In this piece of poetry by Catullus, I have two books who have different opinions regarding “O nuntii beati”. A book says that it is a Greek “Genitive of exclamation”, the other books says that “unlike some believe, this is not a genitive of exclamation, but rathar a plural”. Is it a plural or a genitive of exclamation?

[Aetos]

For those looking up the poem, this is carmen 9, where Catullus is welcoming the return of his friend Veranius. In Fordyce’s commentary (Oxford, 1961), he acknowledges that the “genitive of exclamation” is possible, but very rare, citing some few examples from Plautus and Propertius. He thinks the exclamatory nominative more likely, as Catullus almost always uses nunti, not nuntii, for the genitive.

[AntistesImaginificus]

Thank you for this piece of info! It’s likely nominative then.

[Ghermanius]

For those looking up the poem, this is carmen 9, where Catullus is welcoming the return of his friend Veranius. In Fordyce’s commentary (Oxford, 1961), he acknowledges that the “genitive of exclamation” is possible, but very rare, citing some few examples from Plautus and Propertius. He thinks the exclamatory nominative more likely, as Catullus almost always uses nunti, not nuntii, for the genitive.

The currently authoritative English-language commentary / edition, D.F. S. Thomson (U of Toronto Press) says nominative, too, with the same argument about the morphology of the genitive in Catullus’ era.