Florent Chrestien lecteur et traducteur de Catulle dans la France du XVIe siècle

According to J. Haig Gaisser, Chrestien Florent wrote a scurrilous parody of the Catullus’ carmen 4 against M. A. Muret and in defense of his friend J. Scaliger in the late seventies of XVIth century. The poem circulated in manuscript form and was excluded from the volume Phaselus Catulli, edited by Victor Giselin and Jean Lernout in 1579, probably because of his oscenity. It was printed only by Pierre de L’Estoile in his Mémoires-journaux in the XIXth century. Florent published the Greek translation of Catullus’ carmen 62 in a twelve pages-booklet in 4° (Paris, Fédéric Morel, 1587). Finally, Florent dedicated a poem in elegiac couplets (56 verses) to Joseph Scaliger, In Catullum, Tibullum et Propertium a Io. Scaligero diuini ingenii uiro castigatos et illustratos: here the Scaliger is celebrated as the best connoisseur of the poet Catullus. The poem was published in the book Catulli, Tibulli, Propertii nova editio by Joseph Scaliger, on pp. [VII-VIII], that appeared in 1600.