Catullus actually gives us two short stories in this 400-line poem. It begins with the marriage of Peleus and Thetis, the parents of Achilles, who meet while he is sailing on the Argo. After their wedding the royal marriage bed is adorned with a dazzling tapestry that depicts the story of Theseus and Ariadne. In Catullus’ epyllion, Ariadne is given her own voice and tells her own side of the Minotaur story. After she falls in love with Theseus and helps him escape the labyrinth and the Minotaur, she sails away with him but is quickly abandoned by him on the island of Naxos. She immediately realizes her mistake in trusting this man who was supposed to be a hero; Ariadne speaks to a now absent Theseus and gives full vent to her anger, her heartache and her grief:

“From now on may no woman ever put her trust in any man who makes promises; from now on may no women believe that the words of any man can be trusted. While a man’s mind is set on getting something and his mind eagerly longs to gain that thing, then he will swear to anything, he will promise anything. But as soon as the desire of his greedy mind is sated, he remembers none of his previous words, he cares nothing about his false promises.”

Originally published in the middle of the first century B.C.E. Catullus has been widely translated into English and it can be read online here