Il phaselus di Catullo e la nave Argo di Apollonio

The most debated and enigmatic c. 4 by Catull is approached and displained by comparison with Apollonius' long poem, in that the phaselus seems allusive to Argo ship in various ways, both generally as leading actor of the short poem, and for many features and deeds, such as the mean mention of Amastris and Citorus mount. It follows that Catullus 4 intends to parody Apollonius' epic poem, not with the aim of disparaging it, but because it looks old-fashioned to neoteric taste. This would be confirmed by the merely evocative presence of Argo at the beginning of c. 64 epyllion, which afterwords goes on according to the must different taste of the neoteric poets