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 Commentary on Catullus 
 
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 A COMMENTARY ON CATULLUS 
 
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 COMMENTARY ON CATULLUS 
 
 BY 
 
 ROBINSON gLLIS, M.A. 
 
 FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE, OXFORD 
 LATE PROFESSOR OF LATIN IN UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON 
 
 AT THE CLARENDON PRESS 
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PREFACE. 
 
 It will not be denied that the present work is called for. 
 In 1859 I designed a commentary on Catullus, and only in- 
 terrupted it to reconstitute the text -as a preliminary. But the 
 earlier design, for which from the first I had accumulated a 
 considerable store of materials, had never been abandoned, and 
 after the publication of the text in 1867 became the principal 
 object to which my studies were directed. 
 
 As compared with Virgil and Horace, or even with Tibullus 
 and Propertius, Catullus may almost be said to have been during 
 the last century a neglected book. While each of those poets 
 has been edited by scholars of first-rate ability, nothing has 
 been done for Catullus since the publication of Doering's edition 
 in 1788. How imperfect that edition is is known to every one. 
 Doering's chief merit was his brevity. He carefully avoided all 
 discussion where discussion was more than usually interesting, 
 and when the student was asking for information on the 
 numerous points where the poems touch on the personal or 
 public history of the time^ was contented to illustrate his author 
 by quotations from Lotichius. 
 
 This neglect was certainly not justified by the history of the 
 poems in the preceding centuries. From Parthenius and Pal- 
 ladius at the end of the fifteenth century, to Vulpius and 
 Conradinus de Allio in the former half of the eighteenth, 
 Catullus was edited and reedited by a series of scholars in- 
 cluding some of the greatest names in philology. The sixteenth 
 century alone produced no less than four commentaries of 
 primary importance, those of Alexander Guarinus in 1531, of 
 
vi PREFACE. 
 
 Muretus in 1554, of Achilles Statius in 1566, of Scaliger in i577- 
 Of these the three former were published at Venice, with which 
 city Catullus may in modern times claim an almost special 
 connexion. Guarinus' edition has become so rare as to be 
 almost unknown ; but it is for all that a most valuable book. 
 No doubt modern taste is offended by the plainness, not to say 
 grossness of his explanations ; which indeed perpetually suggest 
 that he was illustrating the corruptions of Catullus' time by 
 observations drawn from his own. But in fulness, in general cor- 
 rectness, in the absence of irrelevant matter, in the accident of its 
 authorship!, j^gtiy j^ jtg very rarity, the book has a permanent 
 interest literary no less than philological. The commentary of 
 Muretus is slighter, and less minute in the explanation of par- 
 ticular words ; but Muretus possessed what Guarinus did not, a 
 considerable knowledge of Greek ; in spite of which his work is, 
 if weighed by his reputation, disappointing. He did very little 
 for the elucidation of passages where the MSS fail us, r)r wiere 
 the allusion is really recondite. Far more important is the 
 commentary of the Portuguese Estago (Statius), still perhaps 
 the best extant. In the accumulation of really illustrative 
 passages, drawn from the stores of a most extensive reading, 
 he anticipates the learning of a later period ; his notes too 
 contain frequent references to inscriptions, a branch of classical 
 archaeology then in its infancy and only now beginning to take 
 its proper place in philological investigation. The value of 
 Estago's labours may be estimated by the use which subsequent 
 editors have made of them ; even Scaliger seems sometimes to 
 be merely repeating him, perhaps unconsciously. Scaliger's own 
 Castigationes are rather a series of notes on disputed or cor- 
 rupt passages than a commentary : he disdained to linger over 
 what he thought easy or trivial, and contented himself with the 
 discussion of difficulties. Sometimes his critical sagacity has 
 cleared up what had been dark to all before him, as notably 
 in LXI. 189; often his wide knowledge of the whole range of 
 
 ' Alexander Guarinus was the grandson of Guarinus of Verona, one of the most 
 prominent scholars of the Renaissance, and the son of Baptista Guarinus, whose MS 
 of Catullus, as well as his corrections and inteipretations, are several times quoted 
 in his son's commentary. According to the Biographie Universelle Alexander was 
 himself the father of the well-known author of the Pastor Fido. 
 
PREFACE. vii 
 
 classical antiquity has traced allusions which had escaped even 
 Statins. But his archaeological learning was out of proportion 
 to his critical delicacy ; and his castigations, valuable as they 
 are, are at times defaced by outbursts of childish self-conceit or 
 reckless infelicities of correction. Partly perhaps this is attri- 
 butable to the exaggerated estimate which he formed of Cujas' 
 MS, which since Mr. Arthur Palmer's ^ discovery can no longer be 
 thought a lost treasure. Only as compared with other late MSS 
 of the fifteenth century can the famous Cujacianus be considered 
 a MS of first-rate importance for the criticism of Catullus : its 
 readings where they differ from the MSS of the fourteenth 
 century differ for the worse ; a signal instance is in VIII. 15 
 Scelesta rere, an obvious correction of the genuine reading ne te, 
 and as obviously wrong. Even Scaliger's so-called restitution of 
 LXXXVII to its supposed proper place before LXXV, based as 
 it was on the Cujacianus which had Nmw in LXXV. i for Hue 
 of most MSS, plausible though it undoubtedly seems, and ac- 
 cepted though it is by Lachmann, can hardly be considered more 
 than an ingenious guess in the enlarged knowledge which we now 
 possess not only of the MSS of Catullus, but of the omissions and 
 lacunae of MSS generally. Scaliger's edition was supplemented 
 before the close of the century by the Praecidanea of the elder 
 Dusa, and the Coniectanea of the younger. 
 
 The Commentaries of Passerat (1608) and Voss (1684) have 
 experienced a singularly different fortune. Passerat's work is 
 little known : Voss is quoted more than any other editor. 
 For this there are many reasons. Passerat's Praelectiones were 
 not a set commentary on the whole of Catullus ; most of the 
 shorter poems are omitted altogether, on others he has left only 
 a few scanty notes : even the longer poems are treated un- 
 equally ; the Attis and the Coma Beronices have each barely a 
 column ; the Epistle to Mallius is omitted ; only LXI, LXII, 
 LXIV, LXV are treated at length. The work was published after 
 his death, and we may conjecture that he never finished it. But 
 where his notes are full they are valuable, especially on the two 
 
 ' I agree with Mr. Palmer in thinking it beyond doubt that the MS of Catullus, 
 TibuUus, Propertius, and the Priapia, now in possession of Mr. Henry Allen of Dublin, 
 is identical with Scaliger's Cujacianus. See our combined article in Hermathena, iii. 
 124-158. 
 
viii PREFACE. 
 
 Epithalamia, which require more illustration. He is particularly 
 great in accumulating passages which illustrate the meanmg of 
 special words ; but he rarely throws much new light on corrupt 
 or hitherto unexplained passages. This was the merit of Voss. 
 His notes abound with recondite learning. Of all Commentaries 
 on Catullus his is the most erudite. Hence his diatribes ha.ve a 
 substantial value independent of their goodness as explaining 
 the difficulties of Catullus' text ; hence too they were and are 
 quoted and read by learned men. Not that Voss is an ideal ex- 
 pounder ; his learning^ is often wrong-headed, as for instance on 
 LXIV. 178, where he has a long note on the Thracian Idomene, 
 or again on LXVIH. ^\, duplex Amathunsia : sometimes he does 
 defiance to metre, as in LXHI. 85, where he rejects Ferus ipse 
 sese adhortans for the impossible Ferus ipse ardore talis. But 
 Voss, besides his abstruse learning, was a great collector of 
 manuscripts, and supplemented his knowledge in one depart- 
 ment of philology by his experience in another. To him there- 
 fore we are indebted for some of the happiest emendations ; e. g. 
 XXIV. 4 Midae dedisses, LXIV. ^S quae uisit uisere credit, the 
 first since confirmed by the Canonici MS, the second a wonderful 
 example of happy divination. To the beginning of the same 
 century belong the Asterisms of Marcilius (1604), a scholar whose 
 figure has become familiar to Englishmen in Mr. Pattison's 
 graphic life of Casaubon. The work, like the man, was not 
 contemptible ; but it is slight, and can hardly be said to bring 
 into the field much that is new. 
 
 The seemingly exhaustive commentary of Vulpius (1710) 
 added really very little to our knowledge. It is true he rarely 
 omits anything of consequence in the notes of his predecessors, 
 and that he is always decorous and sober in his interpretations. 
 Anything like ingenious fancy or recondite learning is foreign 
 to his dull, pedantic, over-clerical temperament ; even his anti- 
 quarianism has failed to clear up any of those points which are 
 peculiarly the province of the antiquarian. His notes are made 
 up of piles of citations, generally of the most commonplace kind, 
 and in unnecessary profusion. The defects of Vulpius seem to 
 have prompted the edition of Conradinus de Allio (Venice, 1738), 
 a book now become scarce. Conr. de Allio had a supreme con- 
 tempt for almost all his predecessors, and a most unbounded 
 
PREFACE. ix 
 
 confidence in his own discernment. In coarseness he almost 
 equals Alexander Guarinus, in gross prurience of suggestion 
 actually surpasses him. He is over-fond of quotations from 
 Italian, poetry, and he is never tired of giving advice to the 
 undoubtedly insufficient lexicographers of his time. Yet he has 
 the merit of seeing that Catullus is his own best expositor ; in- 
 stead of heaping quotations from Cicero on quotations from 
 Virgil, he compares Catullus with himself. This naturally led 
 him to the attempt, so common in modern times, of reconstruct- 
 ing the personal history of the poet, a task in which, as might 
 be expected, he has failed. Still it was something to be as 
 much in advance of the mode of his contemporaries as he was ; 
 whence, in spite of numerous absurdities, his commentary is still 
 interesting. In one passage (XXXIX. 17) modern criticism has 
 universally adopted his suggestion. 
 
 The specimen of an intended edition of Catullus which Santen 
 published in 1788, a monograph of 64 pages on c. LXVIII, is 
 sufficiently copious to make us regret that he did not leave 
 more. Probably the publication of Doering's edition prevented 
 the completion of his design. Of Doering something has been 
 said already: his commentary is so meagre as to make us 
 marvel how it can so long have retained exclusive possession 
 of the field. In the Peleus and Thetis he availed himself of 
 an excellent monograph by Mitscherlich (1786); Valckenaer's 
 disappointing edition of the Coma Beronices did not appear till 
 1799. 
 
 Little was done for Catullus at the beginning of the present 
 century. In 1803 Ugo Foscolo published an edition of the 
 Coma Beronices, with a lengthy commentary ; Hand discussed 
 some of the disputed passages in his Observationes Criticae 
 (1809) ; and Sillig gave a collation of the Dresden MS in 1823. 
 With Lachmann's edition of the text in 1829 began a new 
 era. Haupt, in his Quaestiones Catullianae 1837, Observationes 
 Criticae 1841, emended, sometimes with success, the corrupt 
 tradition of the archetype, as displayed with lucid clearness by 
 Lachmann. The simplicity of Lachmann's apparatus criticus 
 and the admirable style of Haupt's two disquisitions awoke 
 once more the long dormant interest of philologists. The 
 programmes and disquisitions of every kind, all based on 
 
X PREFACE. 
 
 Lachmann's text, which now began to multiply, show how many 
 scholars tried their skill on the corrupt passages of Catullus, 
 and how very few achieved anything. 
 
 In 1855 appeared the admirable translation of Theodor 
 Heyse'; in 1857 lungclaussen's Zz^r Chronologic der Gedichte 
 des Q. Valerius Catullus; in 186a the Quaestiones Catullianae of 
 L. Schwabe. The latter work contains the results of the most 
 minute investigation which has yet been bestowed on the life 
 and chronology of Catullus. Schwabe attempts to fix the period 
 of every important event in the poet's history with a con- 
 scientious care worthy of all praise. If in many cases the 
 reasoning is flimsy and the result inconclusive, — if the attempt 
 to determine with precision the time of all or nearly all the 
 poems seems at starting a mistake, — it is not the less true that 
 the controversy which so bold a -design could not fail to arouse 
 has already made probable much that had been mere conjecture, 
 and grouped round the central figure of the poet a variety of 
 interesting associations. The parallel but little known treatise 
 of Bruner is a useful contribution to the same subject : West- 
 phal's CatulVs Gedichte where it differs from Schwabe tends to 
 extravagance, if not to romance : Couat's Etude sur Catulle dis- 
 cusses the life and times of the poet, and his relation to the 
 Alexandrian school, as well as to his contemporaries, with 
 excellent judgment and in a most readable style. 
 
 It remains to speak of my own work. When in 1859 I first 
 formed the idea of writing a commentary on Catullus, Mr. Thomas 
 Clayton, of Trinity College in this University, was preparing a 
 school edition of the poems. Soon after abandoning his design 
 he made over his notes, extending to LXIV. no, to me. But the 
 scope of his work was to suit the requirements of a boy ; mine 
 aimed at satisfying the larger wants of mature students. 
 Hence I have been able to make very little use of his notes, 
 which indeed never professed to be more than elementary. 
 Wherever they are quoted I have added their author's name. 
 With Mr. Munro I have been in more or less close connexion 
 since 1 863 ; all that he has written on Catullus will, I hope, 
 
 ' I take this opportunity of mentioning my own similar work — Catullus translated 
 in the Metres of the Original ; Murray, 1871. 
 
PREFACE. xl 
 
 be found in the present volume or in the forthcoming re-issue of 
 the text. Prof. Jowett has contributed an ingenious view of 
 LXVIII. 29 ; Prof Edwin Palmer a note on LXVI. 50 ; Mr. Tozer 
 and Mr. Bywater various valuable suggestions ; Mr. Nettleship 
 and Mr. Raper their views of XXXVI. 9, JO; the Rev. S. W. 
 Wayte, the Rev. H. G. Woods, and the Rev. J. W. Nutt have at 
 various times examined at my request works which happened to 
 be out of my reach. To Prof H. J. S. Smith my book should have 
 owed a more complete obligation, for to his revision the sheets 
 were to have been subjected ; but an unfortunate mistake, partly 
 occasioned by my enforced residence in London, partly by the 
 immense multiplicity of his occupations, has robbed the public 
 and myself of criticisms which must have been valuable. 
 
 As my labours on Catullus began so far back as 1859, it may 
 be surmised that the materials accumulated in the interim are 
 considerable. It has been in fact no small part of my task to 
 select from the large number of references which I had collected 
 in the course of seventeen years' reading. My Commentary, I 
 may say honestly, owes to myself much Hie larger portion of 
 what is new ; not indeed concerning the life of the poet or the 
 history of his time, for which I am of course mainly indebted to 
 Schwabe and Mommsen ; but of parallel citations or illustrations. 
 I have drawn these, where possible, from the predecessors or 
 contemporaries, rather than from the followers of Catullus ; from 
 the less hackneyed writers, such as Plautus, Lucilius^ Varro, 
 rather than from such as have become insipid by familiarity ; 
 from Greek preferably to Latin. In writing my notes it has 
 been my constant aim to realize, so far as I could, the peculiar 
 feeling of an epoch so remarkable morally and socially as that 
 of Catullus ; and I believe I may say that the reader of this 
 Commentary will at least not be shocked by the intrusion of 
 views or sentiments incongruous with that extraordinary era. 
 
 Oxford, August 1876. 
 
PROLEGOMENA. 
 
 Catullus as Poet. 
 
 It is not often that so great a poet as Catullus has risked extinction, 
 and been preserved almost by miracle. All our MSS are derived from 
 a single imperfect copy discovered, we do not know where, at the begin- 
 ing of the xivth century : no complete poem, with the exception of LXII 
 which is included in the Thuanaean Anthology of the Paris Library, 
 and the quatrain to Priapus cited by Terentianus Maurus 2755-2758 
 Lachm., has come down to us in any other collection. Yet only the 
 loss of Alcaeus and Sappho in Greek literature could compare with the 
 loss of the lyrics of Catullus ; and we may estimate the barbarism which 
 followed the decline of the Roman empire by nothing more signally 
 than the absence of even one copy of the two Greek poets, and the 
 almost casual preservation of the Veronese in a single mutilated MS, the 
 parent of all our extant MSS. During the long period which elapsed 
 between Isidorus of Hispalis in the seventh century and the re-discovery 
 of the poems at the beginning of the fourteenth, only one writer is known 
 to have read Catullus, Rather, bishop of Verona circ. 930-970 : though 
 LXII may have been copied into the Thuanaean Anthology from a 
 complete MS of the poems, and traces of possible imitation, as well as 
 glossarial extracts, are not absent, as I have shown in my former volume, 
 Prolegomena pp. viii, ix. These may be, and in the existing ardour for 
 mediaeval study, are perhaps likely to be supplemented by new discoveries : 
 still it remains true that Catullus was for a long time an almost unknown 
 book : a singular fate if we think of the popularity which greeted him 
 almost from the first amongst his countrymen. He himself tells us that 
 his early attempts had been countenanced by Cornelius Nepos ; Cicero, 
 who nowhere mentions him by name, seems to have borrowed two of his 
 expressions (adQ. Fr. ii. 15.4, Att. xvi. 6. 2); the parallelisms between 
 him and Lucretius cannot be shown to spring from his imitation of the 
 latter, and may with equal probability be ascribed to Lucretius' know- 
 ledge of Catullus : he is classed with Lucretius by Corn. Nepos as repre- 
 senting the literary epoch which preceded the rise of Virgil (Att. xii) ; J. 
 
xiv PROLEGOMENA. 
 
 Caesar considered his attacks (either XXIX or LVII) upon himself to 
 have branded him for ever ; and his general popularity is attested not 
 only by the undisguised imitations of the greatest poets who followed 
 him, Virgil, Horace, TibuUus \ Propertius, Statins, above all Martial, or 
 the various parodies of him found in the Catalecta ^ Priapia, or else- 
 where, but even more in the sneer of Horace that he and his friend 
 Calvus were sung to the exclusion of every other poet by the fashionable 
 singer of the day (S. i. lo. 19). Horace's sneer no doubt expresses the 
 position of the Augustan poets to Catullus ; they belonged to an epoch 
 which, greatly as it was influenced by the era which preceded it, was 
 in the main antagonistic to its chief representatives, and this for literary 
 no less than political reasons. On the one hand the son and successor 
 of J. Caesar could not forget that Catullus had aimed his bitterest 
 shafts at his predecessor and adoptive father ; on the other the Augustan 
 poets, aiming as they did at the suppression of the older and ruder litera- 
 ture of Rome, either consciously ignored the great poets of the imme- 
 diately preceding era, as in the well-known assertion of Horace that he 
 was the first who had shown the iambi of Paros to Latium, or silently 
 disparaged them as having their own aim, but not attaining it adequately. 
 But Horace whose satires drove Lucilius out of the field, did not supplant 
 the lyrics of Catullus by his odes and epodes; the allusions scattered 
 through the writings of the post-Augustan and subsequent periods, 
 though they cannot be called numerous, are enough to show that Catullus 
 remained a familiar book to the Romans, that he was read and read 
 through ^ Thus references to the poems on the Sparrow are found 
 in Seneca, Juvenal, and Martial * ; the elder Pliny quotes some words 
 from the dedicatory hendecasyllables to Cornelius Nepos in the first 
 sentence of his Natural History, and takes pride in calling the poet 
 his countryman (conterraneuni) ; the elder Seneca corrects our MSS of 1 
 LIII. 5, which he cites as in hendecasyllahis, Controu. vii. 7 ; Quintilian, ! 
 who only once cites TibuUus, once Propertius, has seven references to f 
 Catullus ^ ; the younger Pliny was a diligent student (iv. 14, 5, 27. 4), as 
 
 ' Tib. iii. 6. 27, 28 ; 39-42 ; 50; quoted by Halipt Ind. Lect. 1855 p. 6 ; add 4. 
 85-96 which is a direct imitation of Cat. LXIV. 153-156, LXVIII. 159, XXX. 10. 
 The real author of this book is supposed to have been Lygdamus. 
 
 " Cat. iii. S,6 Vt ille uersus usquequaque pertinet, Gener socerque, perdidislis omnia, viii 
 Sabinus ille, quern mdelis, hospites, a parody of the Phasellus ille. xiii. 1 1 Quare illud < 
 satis est si te permittis amari, cf. CatuU. LXVIII. 147. Priap. 52. 12, 61. 13, 64. i, 6g. 4. 
 The imitations in the Ciris are numerous and direct. 
 
 = ' Sic scribit Catullus, sic Marsus, sic Pedo, sic Gaetulicus, sic quicunque perlegitur ' 3 
 Mart. Praef, lib. i. 1 r 6 ^ 
 
 * Sen. Apoc. ii, luuen. vi. 8, Mart. i. 8. 3, no. i, iv. 14. 13, vii. 13. 4, xi. 6. 16, 
 xiv. 77. 
 
 " i. 5. 8, and 20j,vi. 3, 18; ix. 3. l6, ix. 4. 141 ; x. 4. 4; xi. i. 38. 
 
PROLEGOMENA. xv 
 
 well as an accurate critic, at least of the hendecasyllabics (i. i6, 5); A. 
 Gellius discusses at length two passages of Catullus (VII. 16, VI. 20) 
 and indirectly proves how much he was read by the variety of readings 
 found in the MSS then in circulation ; Hyginus P. A. ii. 24 explains, 
 perhaps wrongly, the word magnammam in the Coma Berenices; and 
 extracts from Catullus are found in Macrobius *, Ausonius, Apuleius, and 
 the Grammarians. Whether commentaries were written upon him, as 
 upon Cinna's Zmyrna, we do not know ; Haupt ' argued from a passage 
 of Charisius i. p. 97 Keil that Asinius Polio wrote on the diction of 
 Catullus ; but the interpretation is doubtful. 
 
 It is rather remarkable that the two poets who respectively represent 
 the highest point of Roman imagination in the Ciceronian and Augustan 
 ages, Catullus and Virgil, were both natives of Cisalpine Gaul, and both 
 born within a few miles of each other. Mantua Vergilio gattdel, Verona 
 Catullo says Ovid Am. iii. 15. 7; Martial xiv. 195 declares that great 
 Verona owed as deep a debt to her Catullus as little Mantua to her 
 Virgil; and this contrast or parallel must have been as common in 
 antiquity as it is with every modern traveller. Cisalpine Gaul was in fact 
 at this time one of the chief literary centres of Italy; it produced besides 
 Catullus, the epigrammatist Furius Bibaculus, and the annalist or bio- 
 grapher Corn. Nepos : Suetonius mentions Octavius Teucer, Sescennius 
 lacchus and Oppius Chares as teaching grammar there with distinction 
 (Gramm. 3). The profession of a grammarian implied, according to the 
 definition of Nepos (Gramm. 4), primarily, if not invariably, the interpre- 
 tation of poetry, nor can we doubt that Catullus, who began to write 
 early, was, as a boy, trained to read and study the great works of Greek 
 as well as Latin literature. The increased demand for Greek teachers 
 was in fact one of the signs of the time ; Lutatius Daphnis, Theophanes 
 of Lesbos, Alexander Polyhistor, the elder and younger Tyrannic, Lenaeus, 
 Asclepiades of Myrlea, Parthenius, Hyginus, Theopompus, most of them 
 attached to the household of some great noble, settled in Rome, and 
 partly as librarians or teachers, partly as authors, soon exercised a strong 
 influence over the new generation. (Merkel ad Ibin p. 357). This was 
 the era of Scytobrachion ' and Dionysius Thrax, the author of the earliest 
 extant grammatical compendium; as well as of Valerius Cato summi 
 
 ' Saturn, ii. i. 8, vi. i. 41 and 42 ; perhaps S. ii. 7. d refers to Cat. LI. 13. Apul. 
 Apolog. vi, X, xi. Possibly the words atractis pedibus in a Pompeian inscription, 1261 
 Zangemeister, are from Cat, XV. 18. 
 
 ' Index Lectionum for 1855, pp. 1-3. 
 
 = Suet, Gramm. 1 1 ' Cato Grammaticus, Latina Siren, Qui solus facit et legit 
 poetas.' 
 
xvi PROLEGOMENA. 
 
 grammatici, optimi poetae (Sueton. Gramm. ii) the poet-grammarian, the 
 maker and reader of the poets of his time >. 
 
 The century 654-754 v.c, the golden age of Roman literature, was 
 distinguished from the period which preceded it not so much by the 
 mere imitation of Greek models as by the minute care with which the 
 rules and niceties of Greek diction grammar and metre were studied and 
 applied. The process was in all probability much slower than we are 
 apt to suppose. Between the comedies of Terence and the poems of 
 Lucretius and Catullus nothing is left us in anything but a fragmentary 
 state except the Aratea of Cicero. We pass at one bound from this 
 prosiest translation of a prosaic original to the delightful grace of the 
 CatuUian hendecasyllable and the sublime exaltation of the Lucretian 
 hexameter. But in the interval much had been written and many ex- 
 periments tried. Laevius, perhaps a contemporary of the later years of 
 Lucilius, adopted in his Eroiopaegnia the lyrical metres of the Greeks with 
 more precision and greater variety than had yet been attempted; Cn. 
 Matius, besides introducing the mimiambus, seemingly scazons, trans- 
 lated the Iliad in hexameters of some skill ; and the same metre under- 
 went new modifications in the Annales of L. Accius, the Bellum Histricum 
 of Hostius, and the Annales of A. Furius of Antium. 
 
 All these seem to belong to the age immediately preceding the birth 
 of Catullus : M. Varro and M. Furius Bibaculus of Cremona were born 
 some time before him and survived his death into the Augustan age. 
 The literary developments of the time are exhibited in each of these 
 writers, though M. Varro alone has left enough to form an idea of his 
 powers and influence. In his Menippean satires Varro introduced every 
 kind of Greek rhythm, with no great success and very imperfect manipu- 
 lation ; still with a sense of metre much in advance of the older generation. 
 M. Furius Bibaculus born 651 | 103 is mentioned by Quintilian as a 
 writer of xiefamatory iambi, by Tacitus as attacking the Caesars, by 
 Suetonius as a composer of hendecasyllables : in each capacity he must 
 have been the rival, perhaps the model of his compatriot Catullus. But 
 no one shows the change of styles, the decline of the old school and the 
 rise of the new, more signally than the Transalpine poet, P. Varro 
 Atacinus. Jerome on 01. 174. 3 tells us he began studying Greek as- 
 siduously when thirty-five years old in 707 | 47 ; and it seems a natural 
 inference that up to that time he had followed Roman models exclusively, 
 
 ' Suidas s. v. Aiojiiffios 'AXe^avSpciis and Aioviaios WiTv\<]mio!. In a similar manner 
 Antiochus of Ascalon was attached as a sort of literary companion to Lucullus, Philo- 
 demus to L. Calpurnius Piso, Staseas to M. Piso, Philagrus to Metellus Nepos, Diodotus, 
 Lyson, and ApoUonius to Cicero, Strato, Posidonius, and Empylus to M. Brutus 
 (Teuffel Rom. Lit. i. p. 227, Eng. Traasl.). 
 
PROLEGOMENA. xvii 
 
 probably in his Bellum Sequanicum, as opposed to his paraphrase of 
 ApoUonius' Argonautica, his Chorographia, Ephemeris, and elegies 
 (Merkel ad Ibin p. 360 sqq., TeufFel Rom. Lit. § 208). 
 
 Miserable as is the accident of literature which has preserved to us 
 next to nothing of these poets, and more than 600 lines of Cicero's 
 Aratea, we cannot fail to trace in the few fragments still surviving of 
 their works the growing perception of the predominant importance of 
 form in art. The anapaests and hexameters of Accius are an advance 
 upon those of Ennius, the rhythms of the Erotopaegnia and the hexameters 
 of Matius are even more distinctly an advance upon Accius. The few 
 specimens of Furius quoted by Macrobius would not discredit Virgil ; 
 those of Varro Atacinus, whatever their date, imply a mastery of the 
 hexameter which must have been the growth of long and careful study ; 
 so far are they beyond Lucretius in iinish, Catullus in variety. To what 
 extent this common feeling of art was produced by recognized colleges 
 or associations of poets we cannot tell ; Valerius Maximus speaks of a 
 collegium poetarum as far back as the time of Accius (ii. 7. n); the last 
 century of the republic was emphatically a century of sodalicia ; and the 
 poems of Catullus are quite sufficient to prove the close connexion of all 
 the leading representatives of his school. But the general tendency of 
 an era is independent of anything like actual contact or personal inter- 
 course between its chief exponents : the wide diffusion of Greek books 
 and teachers, the increased facilities of communication between Rome 
 and every part of Italy, as well as every part of the empire, the rapiidity 
 with which new works were transcribed and circulated, all contributed to 
 the same result, the development of a feeling for literary perfection un- 
 known before. If we may trust Cicero, Italy was never more alive to 
 Greek influences or more ready to greet them than in the years which 
 immediately preceded the social war, the period of the Greek poet 
 Archias' arrival, in the consulship of Marius and Q. Lutatius Catulus 
 652 I 102 (Arch. iii. 5). 
 
 Catullus was born when this tendency had already set in, was moulded 
 ' by it, and was himself the highest exemplar of its aims and achieve- 
 ments in its pre-Augustan, perhaps its highest period. lungclaussen 
 has rightly called attention to the finish of all the finest of his poems ; 
 and we may feel sure that he never wrote hurriedly, and was constantly 
 improving himself. Whether any part of our extant collection was 
 included in the juvenile nugae which already attracted the favourable 
 notice of Cornelius Nepos, is uncertain ; but the finest of the hendeca- 
 syllables, such as those on Lesbia's sparrow, Viuamus mea Lesbia alque 
 amemus, Quaeris quot mihi basiationes, Acmen SepHmios suos amoves, 
 lam uer egelidos refert iepores, exhibit the metre in a perfection which 
 
 b 
 
xviii PROLEGOMENA. 
 
 must have been the growth of time : and we may fairly conclude that this, 
 as it seems to have been his favorite rhythm, was also that which occupied 
 him earliest. How perfect the hendecasyllables of Catullus are we can 
 judge by comparing them not only with less finished specimens either of 
 his own or of his contemporaries, but with the more severe hendecasyllables 
 of Petronius, Statins, and Martial. Unlike these Catullus allows himself a 
 trochee or iambus in the first foot ; is freer in his elisions and occa- 
 sionally negligent in his caesura. Yet who will venture to say that the total 
 effect of any hendecasyllabic poem by Statius or Martial is comparable 
 with the effect produced by the finest hendecasyllables of Catullus ? 
 There is an abandon in these, a sense of freedom working by rule but not 
 dominated by it, such as Martial and Statius never, Petronius only 
 rarely, attains to. The younger Phny living in the later and more 
 artificial period of Roman literature seems to have felt the superior 
 charm of Catullus when he says, speaking of his contemporary Pompeius 
 Saturninus, He writes verses like Catullus or Calvtis. What a fund of wit, 
 sweetness, bitterness, love! Trtte he introduces side by side with verses of a 
 tender and light character some of a harsher quality, but he does so con- 
 sciously : here again following Calvus and Catullus (Epist. i. i6, 5). It 
 is the insertion of these duriusculi that distinguishes the hendecasyllables 
 of Catullus and his contemporaries from those of the empire ; and it is 
 from this point of view that Sentius Augurinus calls them both ueteres 
 (Plin. Epist. iv. 27. 4). Of the other lyrical metres used by Catullus 
 three alone seem to have been elaborated by him to the same perfec- 
 tion, I mean his pure iambics, scazons, and glyconics : but here we 
 cannot so well compare him with his successors ; for Horace never 
 uses the pure iambic except in combination with the hexameter (Epod. 
 16) : the glyconics of Seneca are not divided by the regular recurrence 
 of a pherecratean into strophes : the scazon alone is used frequently 
 by later writers, in the Catalecta and Priapia, by Persius Petronius 
 and Martial; under rules somewhat stricter, and of course with a much 
 more recondite diction, yet hardly with more felicity, and throughout 
 demonstrably based on the earher, greater, less artificial and more artistic 
 poet in whose hands the metre had first become a success. Two other 
 metres used by Catullus, the Sapphic and the Choriambic metre of XXX 
 Alfene immemor atque unanimis false sodalibus, were afterwards perfected 
 by Horace : in Catullus they can hardly be thought more than an experi- 
 ment; but the experiment is throughout closely modelled on Greek 
 precedents, e. g. in the admission of a trochee into the second foot of 
 the sapphic and the frequent hypermeter ulti-mosque Britannos, identidem 
 omnium Ilia rumpens, uelut prati Vltimi ; as well as the lax caesuras 
 admitted in either metre, Ille mi par esse, Gallicum Rhenum horribilem. 
 
PROLEGOMENA. xix 
 
 Vltimi flos praeter in the Sapphics, tute iubebas animam, di meminerunt, 
 meminii Fides in the Choriambics. Whether in the Atth Catullus 
 followed any famous writer of Galliambics we do not know ; we retain 
 only a few fragmentary lines by Varro and Maecenas in this measure ; 
 the splendour of Catullus' poem produced no imitators, or no rivals; 
 it remains unique as a wonderful expression of abnormal feeling in a 
 quasi-abnormal metre. Quasi-abnormal however only: for no poem of 
 Catullus follows stricter laws, or succeeds in conveying the idea of a 
 wild freedom under a more carefully masked regularity. 
 
 In his Epyllion, the Nuptials of Peleus and Thetis, Catullus has not 
 reached the same metrical perfection. Short as the poem is, the re- 
 currence, line after line, of one monotonous cadence, gives an air of 
 sameness which might almost be called inartistic. Prognatae uertice 
 pinus, Neptuni nasse per undas, Argiuae robora pubis, abiegnis aequora 
 palmis, — such is the predominant type from first to last, only occa- 
 sionally relieved by the spondaic endings which he and other poets 
 of his school for a time made popular, sometimes by verses of a freer 
 more luxuriant rhythm, like Indomitos in corde gerens Ariadna furores, 
 Spinosas Erycina serens in pec tore cur as, Tecti frustrareiur inobseruabilis 
 error, Hue hue aduenlate meets audite querellas. Whether' Catullus had, 
 like Lucretius, studied Cicero's Aratea is uncertain : but the coincidence 
 in both poems of the same recurring rhythm is at least remarkable, 
 though we may feel sure that Catullus would have held Cicero a very 
 sorry versifier. It seems more probable that both Cicero and Catullus 
 in their determination to avoid the irregularities of the older poets, with 
 whom accent and ictus had been allowed to agree or conflict in the 
 last three feet of the hexameter indiflFerently, had recourse to the ex- 
 pedient of making the accent as a rule agree with the ictus in those 
 feet ; and that they succeeded in thus giving their verses greater uni- 
 formity, but did not avoid the monotonous effect which was its natural 
 consequence. Catullus has followed the same principle in the two 
 iambic poems Phasellus ilk, and Quis hoc potest uidere, which as Munro 
 has shown owe much of their effectiveness to this coincidence of ictus 
 with accent, and are not long enough to be monotonous. It would be 
 interesting to compare Catullus with his contemporaries Calvus and 
 Cinna in this respect; but their epics lo and Zmyrna have perished, 
 except a few short fragments : these however, so far as they go, seem 
 freer in rhythm than the hexameters of the Peleus and Thetis ; and even 
 Cicero in the twenty-nine verses translated from the Iliad in the De 
 Diuinatione (ii. 30) written ten years after the death of Catullus throws 
 off much of his former sameness and attains to something like variety. 
 Lucretius stands by himself, and is in no respect an adherent of the new 
 
 b 2 
 
XX PROLEGOMENA. 
 
 school. I am inclined to believe that Catullus wrote his Epyllion before 
 his only other extant hexameter poem, Vesper adest, iuuenes, consurgite : 
 Vesper Olympo, in which the rhythm is rnore broken up, and a nearer 
 approach made to Theocritus and the Alexandrian writers. 
 
 The simplicity and almost rudeness of most of Catullus' elegiacs, is in 
 strong contrast with the perfection of his lyrics. When indeed he is 
 merely translating, as in the Coma Berenices, we cannot expect him to 
 move with complete grace : and we can see from Callimachus' extant elegy 
 the AoKT-pa naXX.a8or how far removed from the Latin version the original 
 of the Coma must have been. Callimachus was indeed the consummation 
 of Greek elegy ; elaborate and even symmetrical in his art, but charming 
 in his ingenuity, and with a delicate, if not tender, vein of sentiment. 
 We shall look in vain for this perfection in Catullus, except perhaps in 
 the lines to Hortalug (LXV), those written at his brother's tomb (CI), 
 and the fine self-apostrophe in which he determines to renounce Lesbia 
 (LXXVI). The first of the two longer elegies (LXVII) is disgusting in 
 subject and obscure in its allusions ; the long epistle to Allius, though 
 constructed on technical rules of the greatest intricacy, and obviously 
 written with unusual care, fails to please, either before we are conscious 
 of its mechanism or after it has been detected ; the studious art with which 
 after the forty Hues which form the Prooemium, Catullus has worked out 
 his subject, the laudation of Allius, in a series of tableaux which beginning 
 with Allius pass on to Catullus' love for Lesbia, to Laodamia, to Troy, 
 to the death of his brother, the central panel of the picture, then in reverse 
 order from Troy to Laodamia, to Lesbia, to Catullus, so back again to 
 Allius, reminds us of a Chinese ball, constructed by the clumsy hands of 
 an European ; the device is Greek, and "might have been beautiful, the 
 workmanship is Roman and ends a failure. It has always seemed to me 
 that Horace had in view this elegy, with its twice repeated lament for the 
 death of Catullus' brother (20-24, 92-96), when he wrote the words 
 Fratrem maerentis, rapto de fratre dolentis Insolabiliter : just as in the 
 well-known Nil praeter Caluum et doctus cantare Catullum, the choice of 
 the word docius was perhaps determined by its constant application to 
 Catullus. 
 
 If we examine the metrical peculiarities of these elegies, we shall find 
 their defects to lie mainly in the too exclusive imitation of Greek models. 
 Greek elegy, whether written by Tyrtaeus, Theognis, Mimnermus, Her- 
 mesianax, or Callimachus allowed the thought to run on uninterruptedly 
 and with every variety of pause ; it did not break oflf the sentence at the 
 end of the pentameter, and often began a new sentence in the middle or 
 end of a line. Again it admitted words of any length, from a mono- 
 syllable to a heptasyllable, at the end of the pentameter, with a preference 
 
PROLEGOMENA. xxi 
 
 perhaps for trisyllabic or quadrisyllabic words. In these respects the Catul- 
 lian elegy is completely Greek ; in the short elegy to Hortalus the penta- 
 meter ends four times with a disyllable, four times with a trisyllable, three 
 times with a quadrisyllable, once with a pentesyllable {amabtlior). In the 
 Coma quadrisyllables are the rule, disyllables are preferred after these, 
 but are much less frequent : in the epistle to Allius, of 80 pentameters, 
 I ends in a heptasyllable, 2 in a pentesyllable, 13 in a quadrisyllable, 26 
 in a trisyllable, 38 in a disyllable. The poem Si qua recordanli shows 
 a similar preference for the disyllable ; of 13 pentameters 8 terminate 
 thus, pium tibi miser pole opem mihi uelit mea ; 3 end in a quadri- 
 syllable, I in a trisyllable, i in a monosyllable (sunt) : the finished 
 verses Surripui tibi dum ludis (XCIX), have 5 quadrisyllables, 3 disyl- 
 lables. Catullus has not allowed himself equal licence in the pauses 
 of his periods ; though he often introduces long sentences running on 
 through six eight or ten verses, the close of each distich as a rule 
 coincides with the end of a clause; instances of a clause continued 
 from the pentameter to the following hexameter though not unex- 
 ampled are rare : thus LXVIII has only the following 28, 29 quis- 
 quis de meliore nota Frigida deserto tepefacsit membra cubili, 34, 35 ilia 
 domus, Ilia mihi sedes, 64, 65 aura secunda uenit lam prece Pollucis, iam 
 Castoris implorata, 68, 69 isque dedit dominam. Ad quam communes exer- 
 ceremus amores, 74, 75 Laodamia domum Inceptam frustra, 106, 107 uila 
 dulcitis atque anima Coniugium, 126, 127 quae multo dicitur improbius 
 Oscula mordenti semper decerpere rostro ; and of these all except three 
 have a quasi-pause at the end of the pentameter. In the epigrams 
 Catullus is stricter : each distich generally contains a single thought, and 
 the sentence closes with the pentameter : yet here also the pentameter 
 ends with words of any length indifferently. These epigrams, widely as 
 they differ from those of Martial, will not be denied to be in their way as 
 effective : they will bear comparison with the best epigrams of the Greek 
 Anthology, and seem to me to prove that the subsequent development of 
 the Elegiac measure in the hands of Tibullus, Propertius, Ovid, and Martial 
 triumphed over the more Greek type not so much from any inherent 
 superiority, nor even from the tendency of Roman genius to work better 
 in trammels, but rather from the accidental circumstance that no poet of 
 transcendent genius rose after Catullus to mould the elegiac in Catullus' 
 way ; unless indeed the elegies of Gallus stood to Catullus in the relation 
 of Ovid to Propertius, as seems possible from Quintilian's remark x. 
 I. 93 Ouidius utroque (Tibullus and Propertius) lasciuior, sicut durior 
 Gallus. Roman elegy, it is true, became in the Amores of Ovid 
 an almost new and certainly most exquisite vehicle of poetry ; but it 
 seems rash to pronounce that this was its necessary development ; had 
 
xxii PROLEGOMENA. 
 
 Virgil for instance chosen this field instead of the hexameter, it might 
 have assumed a form as purely his own as the Virgilian epos ; and yet as 
 far more Greek in type than Ovid made it as Virgil is more completely 
 an imitative artist than Ovid. What the CatuUian elegy might have 
 become in skilful hands we may perhaps conjecture from such poems as 
 the Copa or the lines Si mihi smceplum fuerit decurrere munus, Catal. vi. 
 The latter especially, even if not the work of Virgil, as Niebuhr seems to 
 have thought it, is very graceful and completely Greek in form^ 
 
 I pass to the diction of Catullus, a most integral part of his greatness as 
 a poet. Niebuhr says truly of this that it is as natural an expression as 
 our common mode of expressing our thoughts is with us. It seems 
 indeed, if we confine ourselves to the lyrics, to be an exact illustration of 
 Wordsworth's paradox, that the language of poetry does not essentially 
 differ from the languageof prose. There is an utter absence in it of anything 
 strained, far-fetched, or artificial : the thought clothes itself without effort 
 in the required words, and is passionate, jocose, or homely, as it were 
 spontaneously. Hence these lyrics stand alone in Latin poetry as equal- 
 ling the great lyric poets of Greece ; not indeed the later school, Pindar 
 and his contemporaries, but the founders of lyric art, Sappho, Alcaeus, 
 Anacreon, and, if we may include him among these, Archilochus. In 
 nothing does Catullus stand in such marked contrast with the succeeding 
 generation as in this inimitable spontaneity : it was a quality which neither 
 Virgil nor Horace could attain to; Lucretius alone has it in some 
 measure, but only in his inspired moments, that is, in much the smaller 
 part of his poem. Though it would be impossible to reduce to rules what 
 is one of the highest qualities of genius, there are certain peculiarities in 
 the language of Catullus which may be briefly classified. 
 
 (i) He is fond of taking an expression of every-day life and slightly 
 changing it, e. g. si placet DionaelNl. 6, a variation on si dis placet, LVI. 
 3 quicquid amas Caiulhim on si me amas, XXI. 7 insidias mihi insiru-' 
 entem on the common insidias struentem, XIV. 22 pedem attulistis for 
 pedem tulisiis. 
 
 (2) Most of the poems preserve some expression which might be used 
 in prose — Vt conuenerat esse delicatos. Quantum qui pote plurimum, quibus 
 non est Cordi CatuUum laedere, at quibus cordi est which is raised into 
 
 * From xiv. 77 ^^ ^^^^ ^^^^^ ^'^ quaUm dilecta Catullo Lesbia plorabat, hie kabitare potest, 
 Martial seems to have considered it a peculiarity of the CatuUian pentameter to allow 
 the third half-foot to be a short syllable. This occurs once in a doubtful passage, C. 6 
 Per/ecia exigilur una amicitia, where, as in Martial's plorabat, the syllable is lengthened, 
 no doubt on Greek analogies ; in the same foot m is unelided three times, Chalybum 
 omne, linguam esse, culum olfacerem, if the MSS reading is right. Propertius, like 
 Catullus, allows the third half-foot of the pentameter to be a short syllable in ii. 8. 8, 
 iv. 5. 64. 
 
PROLEGOMENA. xxiii 
 
 poetry by the substitution of Caiullum for me, XXXVIII. 4 quod minimum 
 facillimumque est, XXXV. 1 1 si mihi uera nuniiantur, XXXI. 6 uidere ie 
 in iuto, XXVIII. II sed quantum uideo parifuistis Casu, XV. 12 ubi erit 
 /oris paraium, VII. 2 sini satis superque : similarly ni petitum aliunde eat 
 LXI. 146, hodie aique kerilXl. 130, and the recurring boni malique VI. 
 1 5, bonis malisque XV. i o, bona cum bona alite LXI. 1 9. Sometimes a whole 
 line only differs from prose by being metrical, e. g. XLIV. 1 1 Orationem 
 in Anlium petitorem, XXXIX. 8 Neque elegantem, ui arbitror, neque urba- 
 num, XXXVII. 13 Pro qua mihi sunt magna bella pugnaia, XXXII, 6 
 Neu iibi lubeatforas abire, XXVI. 4 Verum ad milia quindecim ei ducentos, 
 XXIV. 7 'Qui ? non est homo bellus? ' inquies. Est, XIII. 3 Si tecum attuleris 
 bonam atque magnam Cenam, LV. 1 5 Die nobis ubi sisfuturus. 
 
 (3) Catullus passes rapidly from speaking in one person to speaking 
 in another. One of the best examples of this is VIII, in the first eleven 
 lines of which the poet addresses himself and speaks of Lesbia in the third 
 person : in 12-18 he makes a sudden turn to Lesbia, and speaks of him- 
 self in the third person, Vale puella : iam Catullus obdurat : in 1 9 he 
 returns to his self-addreSs. Similarly in XL VI after congratulating 
 himself in the vocative on the return of spring which allows him to leave 
 Bithynia, he rhakes a sudden apostrophe to his companions (9-12). So 
 XXVIII in the compass of fifteen lines changes the vocative five times : 
 Pisonis comiies — O Memmi — pari fuistis Casu — pete nobiles amicos — At 
 uobis : from Veranius and Fabullus to Memmius, then to Veranius and 
 FabuUus again, then to an unnamed individual representing the world at 
 large — finally, to Piso and Memmius together. The same rapid change 
 forms part of the effectiveness of XXIX : the alternating third and second 
 person, Quis hoc potest uidere — Cinaede Romule, haec uidebis et feres ? — 
 Et ilk nunc superbus — Cinaede Romule — Eone nomine, imperator unice — 
 Parum expatrauii — Quid hunc malumfouetis ? expresses from the point of 
 language the same lively indignation which the coincidence of accent and 
 ictus conveys metrically. No reader of Catullus can fail to notice his 
 tendency to speak of himself ; yet this is not felt to be egotistical ; doubt- 
 less because the direct / is so constantly replaced by iuus Catullus XIII. 
 7, XIV. 13, XXXVIII. I, or Catullus alone XLIV. 3, XLIX. 4, LVI. 3, 
 LVIIL 2, LXVIII. 27, 134, LXXII. I, LXXIX. 3, LXXXIL i: some- 
 times by the vocative Catulle VIII. i, 19, XLVI. 4, LI. 13, LII. i, 4, 
 LXXVI. 5, LXXIX. 2. 
 
 (4) Another feature of Catullus' style is his fondness for diminutives : 
 hardly any of the poems, if we except the shorter epigrams, is without 
 them ; in some they abound to excess : XXV. 2 has three, medullula 
 imula oricilla : XVII five, ponticuli acsuleis bimuli tremula tenellulo, the 
 last a double diminutive; uillula pupula sacculus flosculus lectulus pupulus 
 
xxiv PROLEGOMENA. 
 
 hortulus uersiculus amiculus lalusculum sarcinulae puellula sauiolum brachio- 
 lum solaciolum. corolla papillae ocellus gemellus labellum lucellum salillum 
 scoriillum. lapillus codicilli homullus besides the proper names Veraniolus 
 Septumillus : the adjectives aureolus iurgidulus molliculus bimulus imulus 
 uetulus albulus iurpiculus lacteolus frigidulus lassulus eruditulus perlucidulus 
 uuidulus pallidulus iniegellus mollicellus misellus tantillus febriculosus ienel- 
 lulus ; he seems even to parade the idea, as in LVI. 3 Calo Catullum, 
 5 pupulum puellae, and the sound LXXVIII. 4 Cum puero ut bello bella 
 puella cubei. 
 
 (5) Equally noticeable is the recurrence of the same phrase or even of 
 whole lines ; thus plus oculis amabai III. 5, plus oculis amarem XIV. i, 
 si quid carius est oculis LXXVII. 2, 4, ambobus carior est oculis CIV. 2 : 
 again Non harum modo sed quot autfuerunt Aut sunt ant aliis erunt in 
 annis XXI. 2, 3 occurs with a slight variation in XXIV. 2, 3, XLIX. 2, 3 : 
 so milia multa V. 10, XVI. 12, LXI. 203, milihus trecentis IX. 2, milia 
 trecenta XL VIII. 3 ; amata nobis quantum amabitur nulla VIII. 5, cf. 
 XXXVII. 12 : pessimus poeta XLIX. 5, pessimi poetae genitive XXXVT. 6, 
 pessimi poetae plural XIV. 23; misellae- Ignes interior em edunt medullam 
 XXXV. ig, Ignis mollibus ardet in medullis XLV. 16, imis exarsit tola 
 medullis LXIV. 93, Cum uesana meas torreret flamma medullas C. 7- 
 
 The Latin of Catullus will bear comparison with that of Lucretius in 
 its purity : Lucilius, whom Catullus sometimes copies, had spoilt his 
 satires by a barbaric admixture of Greek; M. Varro was repeating 
 Lucilius' error in his own time : with these two warnings before him 
 Catullus wisely introduced Greek sparingly, and preferably such words as 
 had become or were becoming naturalized, phasellus mnemosynum gra- 
 batum cinaedus hendecasyllabi platea pathicus Apheliotes zona pedicure thala- 
 mus hymenaei nothus papyrus thiasus chorus leaena typanum cymbalum 
 palaestra stadium gymnasimn ephebus strophium mitra thyrsus calathiscus 
 carpatina ; less common are raphanus palimpsesitts catagraphus amaractts 
 parthenice onyx epistolium. 
 
 In Greek proper names he preserves the original inflexion where the 
 word is less common, Propontida Cycladas Amathunta Thyadas Amphitri- 
 len Attin Athon Booten Callisto Phasidos Idomeneos (genitive) Penios 
 (nominative) Hydrochoi ; sometimes without this reason Cybeles Minoa, 
 perhaps because he is following a Greek original, but Cretam Idae Idam 
 Helenae even Ariadna ; Cnidum Rhodum Dyrrachium Idalium Erechthi 
 and even Pheneum ; Arabes accusative Sarapim Arpocratem. It seems 
 remarkable that he should write Cybelles yet Dindymenae ; the principle 
 seems to be that the cast of the Attis being Greek, the Greek form of the 
 name of the goddess is preserved throughout Cybelle Cybeles Cybelles 
 Cybelles Cybeles Cybele Cybelle Cybelle, whereas Dindymenae is an adjec- 
 
PROLEGOMENA. xxv 
 
 live Dindymenae dominae (i 3) and as such follows the inflexion of Latin 
 adjectives. Sometimes metrical. reasons seem to determine the form, e.g. 
 Ancona accus. XXXVI. 13 perhaps Pasithed LXIII. 43. 
 
 Catullus does not affect archaisms : the chief instances are uni genitive 
 XVII. 17, deposiuit sospiies both in the Hymn to Diana ; ciiarier LXI. 42, 
 nilier LXI. 68, compararier thrice LXI. 65, 70, 75; componier LXVIII. 
 141, penile for penitus LXI. 171 : ni seems used for ne LXI. 146 : teiulii 
 Uluh'LXlll. 47, 52, tetulisset LXVI. 35; recepso XLIV. 19. To what 
 extent the spelling was archaic, our MSS are too modern to let us judge : 
 nor are their indications consistent. The voc. Furi occurs five times, 
 twice in the same poem XXIII. i, 24, yet it is only once written, as it 
 probably was always written by Catullus Furei XXIII. i : our MSS have 
 also bonei coniuges vocative LXI. 225, the genitives i?iJOT«fe' XXVIII. 15, 
 Africei LXI. 199, Dindymei LXIII. 91, Pelei LXIV. 278, Itylei LXV. 
 14 : the dative mei LXXII. 6, LXXVII. 3 ; the nominative plural /«^r« 
 LXII. 42. The nominative in os is preserved XXIII. i seruos, XLV. i 
 Seplimios, LIII. 3 Meos Caluos, LXI. 54 nouos marilus, LXVI. 54 equos : 
 but in a disproportionately large number of cases uus uum has driven out 
 uos uom. So again beatus of the MSS in XXIII. 27 seems to represent 
 beatu's ; in LXVI, 27 adeptus is a corruption oi adepia's, in XXXIV. 23 
 soli/as es of L seems to point to a dittography solita's solita es : but in 
 XXXIV. 15 miko es, LXVI. -^^pollicita es, LXXXVII. 12 amata mea es, 
 where Lachmann would write notho's pollicita's mea's the MSS give no 
 indication of this spelling. There can be no doubt that Catullus some- 
 times treated es est after a participle as metrically a distinct syllable, 
 e. g. I. 5 ausus es, LXI. 194 remoratus es and this, the growing tendency 
 of poetry, would naturally drive out the contracted form : even the first 
 volume of Mommsen's Latin Inscriptions, all of them belonging to the 
 Republican period, only rarely preserve 's 'si : it is very seldom found even 
 in the oldest MSS : hence I have not ventured to follow L. MuUer in 
 introducing it uniformly into the text of Catullus against the MSS, though 
 it may have been written so. That it was so written, at any rate uniformly, 
 by the Augustan poets, is hardly an inference justified by the MSS of 
 Virgil, and is in my judgment improbable on metrical grounds. 
 
 As might be expected in a poet who deals so largely with the habits 
 and emotions of every-day life, Catullus often uses popular^ words. 
 Basium basiare basiatio he has made classical : ploxenum, says Quintilian 
 i. 5. 8, circa Padum inuenii : similar words are carpatinae sicula pupulus 
 caprimulgus salapuiium scortillum stupor, ' a dullard,' luium, ' a filthy 
 creature,' lupanar=.lupa, uenena, 'poisonous wretches,' sacer, 'accursed,' 
 
 ' See Couat Etude sur CatuUe, p. 290. 
 
xxvi PROLEGOMENA. 
 
 mar lihellus, hircus, Mum=urina, contubernalis XXXVII. i, with which 
 compare Petronius' uesticontuhernium, and Caelius' praeclarae contuher- 
 nales ap. Quintil. iv. 2. 123 ; the verbs suppernare cacare (with its par- 
 ticiple cacatus) comcribillare expatrare confutuere in gremium mingere 
 (=stupro pollueri): to this class also belong the contracted imperative 
 inger, and probably the obscure multus homo. 
 
 Sometimes, particularly in the Attis, Catullus uses the licence of a great 
 poet to coin new words : most of these are adjectives ederiger siluicultrix 
 nemoriuagus properipes pinnipes plumipes flumtisonus clarisonus buxifer 
 coniger lasarpicifer inobseruabilisfalsiparens {■^(vSmraTap) ; the substantives 
 herifuga and unigena, are I believe not found elsewhere. Here however 
 he was far outstript in audacity by at least one of his contemporaries, 
 Laevius : see Gell. N. A. xix. 7. 
 
 The Roman poets who followed Catullus habitually call him dodus : 
 see Tib. iii. 6. 41, Ouid. Am. iii. 9. 62, Mart. -vii. 99. 7, viii. 73. 8, xiv. 100. 
 I, 152. i: Propertius applies the same epithet to the friend of the poet, 
 Licinius Calvus. To us, familiar with the far more learned poets Of the 
 Augustan and post- Augustan era, the term seems surprising; but this is not 
 the point of view from which the great poets of the Ciceronian age were or 
 ought to be estimated. To their contemporaries Catullus Calvus Cinna 
 represented a completely new poetical creed, the foremost article of which 
 was to ignore Ennius and the early versifiers, and to write in rigid subor- 
 dination to the strictest canons of Greek criticism as expounded by the 
 grammarians and teachers of the race. In this connexion the word 
 dodus now acquired a special meaning ; it implied not only that poetry 
 was written on new rules, but that these rules were in distinct opposition 
 to the old. Hence Lucretius, though Statins calls him dodus, would 
 hardly have been included in the dodi by the exquisites of his own time; 
 and on the other hand the Lydia of Valerius Cato ranked with the really 
 excellent Zmyrna of Cinna as the favorite study of the learned and the 
 despair of the unlearned (Suet. Gram, ir, 18). Everything shows that 
 the rules of this school were very strict. Probably from a very early 
 period they gave up eliding final short s, which when Cicero wrote his 
 Orator had become subrustic (xlviii. 161) and was avoided by the new 
 poets {poetae nout) ; it is only found once in Catullus, and that in an 
 epigram (CXVI. 8), never in the lyrics, Epyllion, or elegies. Cicero's 
 remark that this elision of final j was considered an elegance {poliiius) by 
 the old poets, on the one hand accounts for its retention in the Aratea and 
 Lucretius, on the other shows how decidedly Catullus and his followers 
 were in antagonism to literary tradition ; and thus helps to explain the 
 attribution to them of an epithet which might be used indifferently from a 
 hostile or friendly point of view. Two other well-known passages of Cicero 
 
PROLEGOMENA. xxvii 
 
 (Tusc. Disp. iii. 19. 45 O poelam egregium, quamguam ah his cantoribus 
 Euphorionis contemnitur, Att. vii. z.xlia belle nobis flauil ab Epiro lenissimus 
 Onchesmiks. Hunc airovhtia^fiVTa si cut uoles tSiv vearepav pro tuo tienditd) 
 criticize the prevailing tendency of the new school {ydn-fpoi) to follow 
 late Greek, particularly Alexandrian, models, and their taste for hexa- 
 meters in which the fifth foot was a spondee. 
 
 Of late years it has become the fashion to talk of Catullus Calvus Cinna 
 and the other docd as ' snigers of Euphorion,' and thus to depreciate the 
 revolution which they effected in Roman literature, and exalt the great- 
 ness of the only contemporary whom they did not greatly influence, 
 Lucretius. But the Tusculan Disputations did not appear till 710 | 44, 
 probably nine or ten years after the death of Catullus : Catullus therefore 
 can hardly be included in Cicero's expression his cantoribus Euphorionis. 
 He seems indeed to refer to some actual translation or adaptation then 
 recently made, possibly, as Merkel thinks, to the elegies of Cornelius 
 Gallus, who is known to have either translated or imitated Euphorion ^ 
 or to Cinna's Zmyrna which rivalled in obscurity (Suet. Gramm. 18, 
 Philargyr. on Eel. ix. 35) the works of the Chalcidian (De Diuin. ii. 
 64. 132). Nor is it impossible that Cicero refers, as Casaubon and 
 Salmasius thought, to musical recitations of the actual Greek poems 
 of Euphorion ; a fashion which might easily form part of the affectations 
 of the time. In any case the expression can have very little meaning in 
 reference to Catullus and, so far as it represents a literary fashion, applies 
 rather to the period after his death and before the rise of Virgil. 
 
 It remains to consider how far Catullus is rightly described as an 
 imitator of the Alexandrian poets. The title is a vague one, including as 
 it does, writers of such widely different powers and achievement as Theo- 
 critus on the one hand and Lycophron on the other : the first one of the 
 greatest poets not only of Greek but of all literature, the other a gram- 
 matical pedant of the true Indian type. It is sometimes said that the 
 Alexandrians were the great masters of form in poetry : as if form were 
 not the natural gift of the Greek race from the first ; as if Sappho and 
 AlcaeuSj Archilochus and Simonides, Sophocles and Euripides were not 
 as absolute in this as in every other quality of the highest art. Compare 
 the stilted hymns of Callimachus with Pindar or the surviving hymns of 
 the tragic writers : can any one doubt which shows the higher conception 
 of form ? The hymns of the Alexandrian remind us of the elaborate 
 
 ' Donatus Vit. Vergil. Transtulit Euphorionem in lalinum el libris quatluor amores 
 suos de Cytheride scripsil. Probus in Eel. x. 50 Euphorion elegiarum scriplor Chalcidensis 
 full, cuius in scribendo colorem secutus videlur Cornelius Gallus. Similarly Diomedes Art. 
 Gram, iii, p. 484 Keil, mentions Euphorion with Callimachus as the Roman model of 
 tlegy. 
 
xxviii PROLEGOMENA. 
 
 artifices of the later Greek ritual, its altars lighted up by ingenious 
 mechanism, its doors opening to the sound of imitation-trumpets : the 
 earlier poets preserve a freedom and ideality even virhere most artificial. 
 It would be much truer to say that the Alexandrian writers aimed not at 
 form, but at precision of form ; they were not content to be graceful, they 
 insisted on an absolute, and defined symmetry. Often this symmetry is 
 attained with little efl!'ort, and leaves a pleasing impression : sometimes it 
 becomes palpable and strained. Nothing can be more beautiful than the 
 Idylls of Theocritus ; yet easy and natural as they seem, they follow the 
 most careful and even arithmetical principles of symmetry : few representa- 
 tions of passion are finer than Apollonius' description of Medea, yet every 
 line is constructed with a restless care only equalled by Virgil. Perhaps a 
 better illustration may be found in two hymns of Callimachus, the Hymn 
 to Apollo and the Aovrpa ndWdSos : both are obviously framed with the idea 
 of expressing by the pauses or divisions into which the verses fall the 
 momenta of a religious ceremonial r but the first, though solemn and im- 
 pressive, is too formal to be pleasing : the latter is sufficiently graceful in 
 its movement to make us see why Callimachus was held the perfection of 
 Greek elegy. In this confined sense, the rigorous assertion of a symmetry 
 which would bear a minute analysis, the Alexandrian poets may be con- 
 sidered the supreme masters of form ; and they exercised a supreme 
 influence on their Roman pupils mainly for this reason. The early 
 poets, Ennius and his followers, had shown how badly it was possible 
 to imitate : they had copied great models, but with a rudeness propor- 
 tioned to the colossal scale of those models. It was not to be expected 
 that the first writers of Roman tragedy should equal Aeschylus, Sophocles, 
 or Euripides, or the first writers of Roman hexameters. Homer. Hence 
 these works, though very popular, must soon have become shocking to 
 cultivated ears ; and it became necessary to imitate in a new way. It was 
 natural to turn to the latest development of Greek literature, where the 
 models were on a smaller scale, and the rules of construction more 
 precise. Hence in the last century of the Republic literature busied 
 itself with the criticism, the grammar, the poetry, and the science of 
 Alexandria. And the result was, if we look at it as a whole, a success : 
 whatever the short-comings of Roman poetry, in this its happiest period, 
 it attained to a very rare perfection of form. 
 
 Metrically this Alexandrian love of precision shows itself mainly in two 
 ways : first, in the tendency of these writers to eliminate the loose and 
 undefined metres of the earher lyric poetry, secondly, in the clear-cutting 
 and defined manipulation of such rhythms as their artistic sense taught 
 them to retain. Theocritus in his Idylls employs, besides the hexameter 
 and elegiac couplet, two metres only, the Sapphic fourteen-syllable 
 
PROLEGOMENA. xxix 
 
 (XXIX) and the Choriambic sixteen-syllable (XXVIII) : in his epigrams 
 he combines various metres, but all of them precise and with no resolu- 
 tion of long into short syllables. Callimachus in his Epigrams uses the 
 Anacreontic dimeter iambic (38, 39), the Phalaecian hendecasy liable, 
 and the Archilochius maior, a favorite metre with the school generally 
 (Heph. 1 5) : elsewhere the scazon, the choriambic sixteen-syllable 
 (Heph. 9), the Euripidean ' fourteen-syllable, an iambic dimeter followed 
 by three trochees (Heph. 15), the pherecratean ^ (ib.), all well-articu- 
 lated and defined metres ". A similar aim was steadily pursued 
 in the treatment of the hexameter. Theocritus gave this rhythm new 
 vitality ; the Bucolic caesura, in which the fourth foot was a dactyl and 
 ended a word, so that the fifth and sixth feet were separable from the 
 rest of the line, gave a character of its own to pastoral poetry : the 
 spondee in the fifth foot, preceded by a dactyl, which is only found 
 occasionally in the earlier writers, now became in the poems of Euphorion, 
 Callimachus, Theocritus, and Apollonius a regular and recurring artifice, 
 often continued in two, sometimes in three * lines, consecutively : strophe 
 and antistrophe found a representative in sectional divisions sometimes 
 marked by a refrain, sometimes by a change of speaker, sometimes 
 by a transitional pause, but always observing a nicely-adjusted propor- 
 tion. Apollonius, rather later, stamped epic poetry with a new character ; 
 mainly by the elaborate crescendo and diminuendo, the variation in pause 
 and caesura, the rareness of elision in his hexameters. It seems 
 probable that the master and the pupil, Callimachus and Apollonius, 
 rivals and even antagonists as they were, had at least one literary point 
 in common: Antimachus represented to both the fault they were to 
 avoid, and the virtue they were to pursue : prolixity and indeterminateness 
 on the one hand, brevity and a defined scope on the other. 
 
 The other characteristics of the Alexandrian literati, were closely con- 
 nected with this love of symmetry. They delighted in short works : /xf'ya 
 j3ij3\ioi/ fuya KoKov was a Callimachean dictum (Athen. 72), echoed by 
 Catullus in his laudation of Cinna Parua met mihi sunt cordi monumenta 
 sodalis {}litxke\ adibin p. 366) : hence they wrote short descriptive poems 
 like the Idylls and Epyllia of Theocritus Bion andMoschus, Elegies, not 
 
 ■* "Ei'eo'T* *Ktt6XKo)v tqj x^PV' "^V^ \vprjs dKoi/at, 
 Kcu Toiv 'Ep6jTajy i^a06iJi7}v' can Ka^poSiTTj* 
 * 'H ircus ^ KaTaKKitOTOs 
 rilv oi fpaffl t€k6vt€s 
 eityalovs oapifffioiis 
 Ix^f'v taov d\i9pqi. 
 ' This is probably the reason why Callimachus is so often quoted by Hephaestion. 
 * As in Euphorion fr. 27 Meineke, Theocr. xiii. 42-44; two consecutive spondaic 
 endings occur in Callim. H. Dian. 96-7, 170-1, 251-3, and constantly in Apollonius ; 
 Catullus has three consecutive airovded^ovTfs LXIV. 78-80. 
 
XXX PROLEGOMENA. 
 
 of immeasurable length like the Lyde of Antimachus, but of moderate 
 compass, Hymns, Epigrams, and occasional poems of every kind. When 
 they attempted epic poetry, they aimed at condensation; ApoUomus 
 gives the whole voyage of the Argonauts in four books. Their didactic 
 poems had the same merit: Aratus describes the heavenly bodies in the 
 compass of 732 hexameters, the prognostics of the weather in 422. They 
 affected unusual subjects and unusual diction : o-«xaiVo) iravra th. 8r,ii6ma, 
 says Callimachus in an epigram (29. 4) which expresses his disgust for 
 the hackneyed in poetry and the common in love: and how true he 
 was to his profession is attested by the large number of rare words 
 quoted from him. This peculiarity of the school reaches its climax in 
 Lycophron's Alexandra : which in the darkness of its language and the 
 recondite character of its allusions is unsurpassed in antiquity. Alex- 
 andrinism was indeed the triumph of erudite poetry, and paraded its 
 learning in every possible form ; it selected by choice the least-known 
 myths, the most uncommon words, the least familiar genders and in- 
 flexions, the most untried combinations of metre. The 'I0»s and AlVia 
 of Callimachus, the former imitated by Ovid in his difficult 26is, the 
 latter quite a text-book of recondite allusion, as we can see from Pro- 
 pertius (ii. 34) and Martial (x. 4. 12), collected the obscurer Greek fables 
 and presented them in a shape which, called out all the resources of 
 grammatical and exegetical ingenuity (Clem. Alex. Strom, v. p. 571). 
 Similar were the Mopsopia and Chiliades of Euphorion ', which, like his 
 other works, must have been extensively read at Rome in the last years 
 of Cicero. 
 
 If now we turn to the sentiment of this poetry, we shall find it no less 
 marked and individual. It pursued the receding ; it flew violently past 
 the common and ordinary. At this late epoch of Greek literature, when 
 the founts of tragedy had run dry and the heroic myths were no longer 
 available for grand exhibitions of passion, poetry turned for relief as to 
 the more obscure legends, so to the less obvious veins of emotion. Love, 
 which always played a great part in Greek poetry, but had hitherto been 
 exhibited with more or less simplicity in the early lyrics and in the drama, 
 now became an object of minute study, especially in its less robust and 
 sensual but more emotional and imaginative phases. The Simaetha of 
 Theocritus, and Apollonius' exquisite study of the feminine passion in 
 
 ' Helladius ap. Photium Bibl. p. 532, ed. Bekk. quoted by Meineke An. Al. p. 136, 
 speaks of Euphorion's affectations in language (Kojco^TjTda), and instances vavayis^vaw 
 ayoiv, KTjirovpds for the dragon that guarded the apples of the Hesperides. Similar was his 
 use of ivoaixBi'v and ■yXavKcams for a plough and an olive, (fr. 140 Meineke), arpfvs as an 
 a.ii. = d.TpeaT6s, x^^P iiriroSii/i£ta = xelp ^Vi6xov (fr. 95). Euphorion seems also to have 
 introduced e/ymoZo^ies in his poetry, e. g. he derived Achilles from x'^-^s^X'^oS aira(!Tos 
 (fr. 56). I believe Catullus alludes to an etymology in XI. 9, LXIV. 46, 
 
PROLEGOMENA. xxxi 
 
 Medea's love for Jason, must both have been drawn from close observa- 
 tion: so actual and minute is each. Even more characteristic of the 
 period is the predominance of the paiderastic sentiment. Popular as 
 this had always been in Greek lyric poetry from Alcaeus onwards, it 
 received a new development in the hands of the Alexandrian poets. None 
 of Theocritus' Idylls breathes so tender an idealism as that which he has 
 consecrated to Ageanax, as the 'Aitijs, as the nmStKd : none of his dia- 
 logues is happier in its combination of rustic simplicity with a thoroughly 
 Greek love of enjoyment than the elegiacs in which Daphnis describes all 
 nature as rejoicing in the presence of the beautiful Milon ; no legend has 
 ever been told more perfectly than the Hylas. The elegiac poet Phanocles 
 treated this subject exclusively in his "Epans or KaXoi. The epigrams of 
 Callimachus are full of the names of his favorites ; ApoUonius has nothing 
 more finished than his description of Eros and Ganymede ; Aratus' pas- 
 sion for Philinus is associated by Theocritus with his own for Ageanax ; 
 six epigrams of Rhianus on this topic are preserved in the Anthology ; 
 and it probably figured in the poems, as it certainly did in the life, of 
 the Chalcidian Euphorion ^. The same feeling takes another shape in 
 the apotheosis of the young and divinely beautiful Adonis, as exhibited 
 in the Adoniazusae of Theocritus and the dirge of Bion : the former 
 especially interesting as showing the connexion of the cultus with women. 
 Widely as these writers differed in genius, they must together have done 
 much to idealize a passion which was hardly considered reputable by the 
 Romans even in the last days of the Republic ; and we may feel pretty 
 sure that those who accepted their grace and imaginativeness did not 
 altogether escape their immorality. 
 
 The characteristics of the Alexandrian school then may be thus 
 summarized; precision in form and metre, refinement in diction, a 
 learning often degenerating into pedantry and obscurity, a resolute 
 avoidance of everything common-place in subject, sentiment, or allusion. 
 That Catullus was much influenced by these writers we know from his allu- 
 sions to Callimachus, as well as from his translation, the Coma Berenices. 
 He seems indeed, if we may so interpret his words CXVI. 1-4, to have 
 translated other poems by the same author : and the long and laboured 
 elegy to Allius may well be an imitation of the same model. The 
 expression of Pliny H. N. xxviii. 19 Hinc Theocriti apud Graecos, Caiulli 
 apud nos proximeque Vergili incantameniorum amaioria imitatio seems 
 to refer to some poem now lost in which Catullus translated or para- 
 phrased the Simaetha of Theocritus. There are traces, particularly in 
 the Peleus and Thetis, of a close study of Alexandrian grammar both in 
 
 ' See Meineke Analecta Alexandrina pp. 7-8. According to Hesychius xaXKiZi^uv 
 was synonymous with iraiSf/jaffTefl'. 
 
xxxii PROLEGOMENA. 
 
 syntax and declension, see my note on LXIV. 240,. LXVIII. 90 : the 
 comparative rarity of elisions in "this Epyllion is doubtless Alexandrian ; 
 and Catullus' general preference for short poems seems attributable to the 
 ■same influence. The charge of mollUies, which by his own confession was 
 brought against Catullus, was also brought against Callimachus and the 
 Alexandrians ' (Merkel on Ibis p. 356) generally, and was perhaps in- 
 cluded in Cicero's sneer at the singers of Euphorion. It seems probable 
 too that the hendecasyllable, the metre in which Catullus obtained his 
 greatest success, was perfected by the same writers, as it is found in the 
 epigrams of Theocritus, and in the epigrams and fragments^ of Cal' 
 limachus. Callimachus used also the scazon in his book of x'^Xla/ifiot, 
 though he does not seem to recognize the law subsequently found in 
 Babrius, which confines the last foot to paroxytone words ; a rule which 
 the nature of the Latin accent makes almost invariable to Catullus. 
 
 Yet how little that is truly CatuUian can be ascribed to Alexandria, or 
 indeed to any mere imitation ! For that Catullus did not confine himself to 
 this school is shown not only by his translation of Sappho's ode ^atveral 
 fiot K^vos co-OS Seo7m, and his adoption of her metres and subjects else- 
 where, especially in his two Epithalamia ; but no less by his imitations 
 of other poets. Homer, Pindar, Anacreon, and even more distinctly than 
 these, of Archilochus. He was evidently a wide reader, and his transla- 
 tions prove that he was not a careless one ; though the fragments 
 preserved of the original- of the Coma do not correspond very closely 
 with the extant version. But even if he could not have been what he 
 was without assiduous study of the Greeks, it would be ridiculous to 
 suppose that they did more than supply him with an outline ; his genius is 
 essentially Roman no less in its simple and unaffected speech than in its 
 Republican spirit of freedom. What is more he is the only Roman in whom 
 nature and art blend so happily that we lose sight of either in the perfec- 
 tion of the whole result : unlike Lucretius he never ceases to be a poet, 
 even where he speaks in the language of prose : unlike Horace or Virgil 
 he is always an artist, yet with little of the consciousness of art. If indeed 
 we compare Catullus with Horace, his only lyrical rival, we shall not be 
 inclined to deny him the advantage in, the comparison. Horace in his 
 happiest efforts always leaves an impression of labour ; nothing is so 
 charming in Catullus as his perfect spontaneity. Horace seems to write 
 with a fixed plan : in Catullus ideas succeed each other as we can fancy 
 them rising in the poet's mind. When Horace is copying Alcaeus or 
 Pindar, the theft is palpable, sometimes from the very care which he 
 
 I'Ouid Trist. ii. 367, i. 2. 79, A. A. iii. 329, Rem. 381, 7>;g 
 ■' Callim. fr. 73 Blomfield. 
 
PROLEGOMENA. xxxiii 
 
 takes to make the idea his own : Catullus even when he translates most 
 literally transfuses his own nature into the words and remains as Italian 
 as before. 
 
 In what then, we may ask, is Catullus a follower of the Alexandrian 
 poets ? Not in their pedantry, for he is without a trace of it : nor in their 
 obscurity, for he is rarely obscure : nor in their scrupulous choice of the 
 least obvious expression, for all he says is simple and straightforward ; nor 
 in their Orientalism, for, as Mommsen has said, though his poems some- 
 times lead us to the valleys of the Nile, he is incomparably more at home 
 by his native Padus; nor in their cosmopolitan Hellenism which has 
 ceased to think of individual autonomy and cares only to influence the 
 world, for he can never forget that he is an Italian, a Veronese, above 
 all a Roman citizen ; nor in their flattery of the great, for he is never 
 happier than when he is scofiing at worthless nobles or reviling Caesar : 
 nor even in the tone of their love poetry, for, with some unimportant 
 exceptions, he expresses not a Theocritean sentimentalism, which feeds on 
 the thought of a beloved object and half contents itself with the shadow, 
 when the reality is away ; but rather a full feeling of the enjoyment of 
 life, the sensuous even coarse delights of a love present and palpable, the 
 melancholy which attends the thought of death as ending these, and the 
 various episodes of a lover's life, its quarrels, reproaches, reconciliation, 
 or despair. So far as these love-poems are Greek at all, they are like 
 the early Greek lyrics, not the later compositions of Alexandria : and we 
 are left to the conclusion that Catullus is, except in the elegies, and to 
 some extent in the Peleus and Thetis, less indebted to Alexandrian models 
 than is generally supposed : amongst his personal friends Cinna, in the 
 succeeding generation Virgil and Propertius, show far clearer proofs of 
 direct and conscious imitation. 
 
 The Metres Used by Catullus. 
 
 Some of the chief peculiarities of Catullus' hexameters and elegiacs 
 are mentioned above p. xix. See L. Miiller Preface to his edition of 
 Catullus pp. Ixiv-lxviii, Munro in Public School Grammar § 259 sqq. 
 Besides these he uses : 
 
 I. The Phalaecian hendecasyllable. Forty-two poems, including XlVb, 
 are in this metre. The date of Phalaecus is uncertain, but the metre 
 must have been known to Sappho ' (Terentianus Mauru^ 2547) and 
 Anacreon (Atil. Fortun. 2676 P., Anacreon fr. 39 Bergk). In the scolia 
 or drinking-songs quoted by Athenaeus 694, which include the famous 
 
 * ' Tradunt Sapphicon esse nominandum Namque et iugiter usa saepe Sappho Djs- 
 persosque dedit subinde plures Inter carmina disparis figurae.' Atilius Fortunatianus 
 says Sappho used the hendecasyllable in the fifth book of her poems p. 243 Gaisford. 
 
 C 
 
xxxiv PROLEGOMENA. 
 
 'Ev fivprov icKahX ri ^i^or <^opr)a'a "Sto-nep 'ApiioSios Koi 'ApiaroyeiTav, ascnbed 
 to Callistratus, the two first verses of each strophe are hendecasyllables : 
 the two verses quoted by Hephaestion lo p. 57 Gaisford seem to be by 
 Cratinus; Gaisford quotes from the Tragedians the following Philoct. 
 136, 682, 1140, 1145, Hec. 465 Kirchhoflf, Orest. 833, Rhes. 361, Heracl. 
 758. Of Phalaecus himself one eight-line epigram in this metre (Anth. 
 P. xiii. 6) is preserved in the Greek Anthology ; and it was used in con- 
 junction with other metres by Callimachus and Theocritus. 
 
 The Phalaecian is not found in Roman literature till the last century of 
 the Republic. Two hendecasyllables ap. Macrob. S. i. 18. 16 have been 
 referred to the Erotopaegnia of Laevius ; it is found in several fragments 
 of M, Varro, and in two poems of Furius Bibaculus ap. Suet. Gram. ii. 
 Catullus and Calvus made it fashionable ; hence it occurs in the frag- 
 ments of Cinna and Gornificius, in the Catalecta and Priapia, in 
 fragments of Maecenas, in Petronius Martial and Statius. Meineke 
 (Anal. Alex. p. 378) attributes the use of hendecasyllables in long poems 
 like Statius' Via Domiiiana and Genethliacon Lucani to Greek models, 
 perhaps to the Aeo-xa' of Heraclides Ponticus, a poem in three books 
 written p.erpa SaTr^ocm frot 0a\atKeta, in the reign of Claudius or Nero. 
 
 The scheme of the metre as written by Catullus is as follows — 
 
 The first foot is ordinarily a spondee, sometimes a trochee or iambus. 
 In LV a spondee in the second foot is allowed to alternate, more or less 
 regularly, with the usual dactyl. In the same poem the first foot is once 
 resolved, Camerium. 
 
 2. Pure iambic trimeter IV XXIX. 
 
 No other foot is admitted in these. 
 
 3. Iambic trimeter, only once, LII. 
 
 4. Choliambus or Scazon, VIII XXII XXXI XXXVII XXXIX XLIV 
 LIX LX. 
 
 Ascribed to Hipponax, of whom many fragments remain. See Bergk 
 Poetae Lyr. Graec. pp. 751-785- In him the fifth foot is not invariably 
 an iambus as in Catullus, but often a spondee, as in the Menippean satires 
 of Varro. Besides Hipponax, the choliambus was used by Ananius 
 Diphilus Herodas (in his mp.iap.^i) Cercidas Aeschrion (Bergk 785-804) 
 as well as by Callimachus, and by Theocritus in his Epigrams. Among 
 the Romans Cn. Matius in his Mimiambi, Laevius, and M. Varro are 
 known to have employed this metre ; Catullus, Calvus (Fam. vii. 24. i), 
 and Cinna popularized it : hence it became a favorite metre with the 
 Roman poets : specimens are found in the Catalecta and Priapia, in 
 
PROLEGOMENA. xxxv 
 
 Petronius, the Prologue of Persius' satires, and Martial. It seems to 
 have gone out of fashion in the second century of the Empire. (L. MuUer 
 Catullus p. Ixx.) 
 
 Catullus is very dainty in his management of the scazon, as Cn. Matius 
 seems to have been before him. A comparison of his scazons with 
 Varro's shows why Catullus and his school were held pre-eminently docH : 
 they rejected, no doubt unanimously, any of the varieties allowed by 
 Hipponax and retained by Varro ; hence the metre preserved the form 
 fixed by them in all subsequent writers. Catullus has three resolutions 
 of a long syllable, all t'n arsi, XXII. 19 in aliqua, XXXVII. 5 Con/utuere, 
 LIX. 3 ipso rapere. The scheme is as follows, as drawn from the actual 
 poems : 
 
 ^J. ^J. ^J. ^J. ^-L ^J. 
 
 \j \j \j 
 
 / / 
 
 — WW — WW 
 
 but it is perhaps a mere accident that the tribrach in the 4th foot so 
 much affected by Martial, and that in the 3rd, do not occur : the 
 anapaest in the 4th foot which is found in Martial would probably 
 have been rejected by Catullus. 
 
 5. Iambic tetrameter catalectic, XXV. 
 
 ^j. ^j. ^J. ^^11^^ ^J. w^ ^ 
 
 -^ 11-^ 
 
 The iambus is preserved pure throughout in i, 2, 6, 8, 11, 12 : a 
 spondee is admitted in the first and fifth feet only, i. e. in the first foot of 
 each half of the verse ; seven times in the former, twice in the latter. It 
 is very doubtful whether Catullus admitted any resolved syllable : hence 
 Haupt's conjecture muUerarios in 5 is open to objection. 
 
 6. Glyconei, XXXIV LXI. 
 
 XXXIV has three glyconics followed by a pherecratean. 
 
 ^w -^ww -^w- 
 
 Glyconei — — 
 
 w — 
 
 Pherecrateus — w — ww — — 
 
 Z,- 
 The Glyconics never admit a dactyl in the last foot : the concluding 
 syllable of which is always long either by nature or position (- u - not 
 
 -o u). 
 
 LXI is composed of two systems {a) of 3 glyconics, (3) of i glyconic 
 and I pherecratean ; {a) is separated from {h) by the occasional interrup- 
 tion of the synapheia, in 116 13& 146 151 156 161 166 171 176 i8i 
 216, as shown by the fact that the third glyconic is allowed to end 
 
xxxvi PROLEGOMENA, 
 
 sometimes in an unelided vowel, sometimes in a short consonant, before 
 
 an initial vowel in the next verse. 
 
 In both poems the glyconic is sometimes hypermetrical XXXV. ii 
 reconditorum, 22 Romulique, LXI. 115 uenire, 135 marile, 140 marito, 227 
 ualeniem; a natural consequence of the synapheia. In LXI. 25 the 
 second foot of the pherecratean is a spondee. 
 
 Scheme of LXI : 
 
 Four Glyconei — v-i — ww — w — 
 _/_ 
 
 One Pherecrateus — w — w w — — 
 j_ _/ 
 
 7. Glyconeus + Pherecrateus. It is called Priapeus by Hephaestion 
 10 who quotes three lines in this metre by Anacreon (Bergk Poet. Lyr. 
 Graec. fr. 17). Catullus uses it in two poems, XVII and fr. I, cf. fr. III. 
 It occurs also in the poem Hunc ego iuuenes locum uillulamque palustrem 
 Priap. 85 ed. L. MuUer. 
 
 Scheme of the Priapeus : 
 
 In fr. Ill, ligurrire an iambus instead of a trochee or spondee is found 
 in the fourth foot. A syllable may be elided at the end of the first half of 
 the verse, as in catiaque in, maximeque est, repente exciiare, tenaci in. 
 
 8. Sapphic hendecasyllable XI LI. 
 
 Catullus follows Sappho in (a) admitting trochees in the second foot, 
 (3) eliding the last syllable before the beginning of the following verse 
 omnium Ilia, prati Vltimi, (c) breaking up a word at the end of the third 
 verse so as to extend into the Adonic ulti-mosque Britannos, (d) allowing 
 the second foot to end a word Vltimi flos, Gallicum Rhenum horribilem, 
 Ille mi par esse, («) admitting monosyllables at the end of the verse simul 
 te, identidem te — when Horace does this a monosyllable always precedes, 
 except in iv. 6. 17 heu ne/as heu, or where a word is elided before et, 
 (/) making the caesura after the fifth or sixth syllable indifferently. 
 
 9. Sapphic sixteen-syllable, or Asclepiadeus maior. The hole of 
 Sappho's third book was written in this metre, apparently in distichs : 
 see Introduction to XXX in vol. I. It was also used by Alcaeus. 
 
 J.- J-^^J. -L^^J. J-^^J.^^ 
 
 Catullus follows Sappho in neglecting the law afterwards observed by 
 Horace of making the two first choriambi end with the last syllable of a 
 word, vv. 5, 6, 9, 10, II : in II meminerunt, meminit Fides this is almost 
 incredibly harsh, and was very early corrected into meminere at meminit 
 Fides. 
 
PROLEGOMENA. xxxvii 
 
 lo. Galliambic. According to Hephaestion 12 the basis of the metre 
 
 is ionic a minore, tS>v 8e iv tm jiirpa neyedav TO fiip imarjiMTaTSv e'ori to 
 TeTpafierpov KaraKrjKriKdv, oi6v ian to tov ^pwl^ov toC rpayiKov tovti, 
 
 TO ye fifju ^elvia 8ov(Tms \6yos, aoTrep Xiyerat, 
 
 oKf<Tai KaTTorefielv o^ei p^aXxm Ke(jidKdv. 
 KoL napa 4>pi)vi\^ t^ xapiKw' 
 
 & 8' avdyKa 'aff Upevcnv <a6apev(iv (jipaaoiiev 
 TovTO pevTOi Kal TaWiaiiPiKov (cai Mr]Tpa)aK6v xal di>aK\a>iievov KoKelrai' varepov 
 8e dvaKKwpivov iKKrjSrj 8ia t5 TroXXa tqvs pearepovs fls ttjp prjripa t&p 6eS>p ypai^at 
 TOVTW TM p,cTpa. ip ois Kal ra tovs Tpirovs Traiufac e;^oj'ra (u u — u) Kal rbv ndKip.- 
 
 PaK-)(iiop ( o) Kixl ras Tpo)(aiKas d8ia(^6pas irapaKap^apovin nphs ra xadapd, i)C 
 
 Kal TCI TtoXvdpvXKrjTa TavTa TrapaSeiy/iara 8rj\oX 
 
 FaXXai ptfTphs opujjs <^aK66vp(TOi 8poiia.8es, 
 ats epTta naTayclrai Kal ^(aKKea Kp&rdKa. 
 
 On this hypothesis the original outline of the metre was four ionici a 
 minore, the last catalectic. But it is clear from the second of the last 
 two galliambi quoted by Hephaestion that this outline was completely 
 obscured ; for this verse looks at first sight like an alternation of ionici a 
 maiore with ionici a minore : an ionic a maiore basis is stated as a 
 theory by Terentianus Maurus 2888 compared with 2868, and is perhaps 
 traceable in Varro's Eumenides. On Hephaestion's hypothesis we must 
 suppose that the ionici a minore are resolved in the Galliambics of 
 Catullus by anaclasis ' as follows : 
 
 In the first half uw-^— ww — — =w<_i — w — w — — 
 
 In the second <-/w ww— ^ww — wwwww 
 
 with such farther modifications as the substitution of w ^^ for -, or - for 
 o o produces. Hence the scheme of the verse as written by Catullus is as 
 follows : 
 
 kKJ — \J — VJ — — WW — W =^ W — 
 W W W W W W W [ 
 
 Super dlta u^ctus Attfs | celeri rate mdria 
 lam fam dol^t quod ^gf | iam idmque podnitet 
 Ego miilier ^go adul^sc^ns | ^go ephdbus ^go puer 
 Vbi cdpita Ma^nad^s uf | iaciiint ederigerae 
 Virid^m citus adit fdim | properdnte pdde chorus. 
 
 ' The idea seems to be that the ionici a minore are broken up into each other in 
 such a manner that the second as it were bends back into the first : for so I under- 
 stand the schol. on Hephaest. 1 2 apaic\iiiifPop KoXeiTcu to lUTpov Sid T^y ttoiAv toB 
 nhpov av/nrdeetar j) ydp TcXiVTala tSip irpoTepup iroSSiv dpaKharai Tp dpx^ tuiv StvTepanf 
 8id t6 ep ipxifd dvaK\aaiidp iifKaip ylpeffSat. 
 
xxxviii PROLEGOMENA. 
 
 The original ionicus a minore remains in 54 
 
 fit earum omnia adirem furibunda latibula, 
 perhaps in i8 
 
 Hilarate acre citatis erroribus animum 
 though erae is at least equally probable. 
 
 The Order of the Poems. 
 
 The poems of Catullus fall at once into three main divisions, the 
 shorter lyrical poems I-LX,the long poems LXI-LXVIII, the Epigrams : 
 or if we again divide the longer poems into Elegiac and non-Elegiac into 
 four, I-LX, LXI-LXIV, LXV-LXVIII, LXIX-CXVI. As this arrange- 
 ment is obviously metrical, it is a priori improbable that the poems as a 
 ■whole follow a chronological order. That they do not is indeed clear : 
 IV Phasellus ilk was written some little time after the return of Catulhis 
 to Sirmio from Bithynia ; XXXI Paene insularum Sirmio at the moment of 
 return ; XLVI just before he left Bithynia ; LXV LXVIII shortly after the 
 news of his brother's death in the Troad, an event which preceded and 
 probably determined the Bithynian journey ; CI Multas per genies et multa 
 per aequora uecius on reaching Rhoeteum where his brother was buried, 
 probably the first thing he did on landing in the Troad before pro- 
 ceeding to Bithynia. Again in XI XXXVII Lesbia is already the par- 
 amour of many moechi ; LI, a translation from Sappho, describes the 
 raptures of the poet's love for her in its first beginning ; LVIII speaks 
 of her as reduced to the last infamy. Nunc in quadruuiis et angiportis 
 Glubil magnanimos Remi nepoies. Yet in LXVIII. 135 the same Lesbia, 
 though not faithful to Catullus, is described as observing some decorum 
 and transgressing rarely; and all the poems which follow LXVIII 
 whether expostulatory, renunciatory, reconciliatory, or expressive of the 
 mingled love and hatred which her conduct caused, must have pre- 
 ceded LVIII, probably also XI and XXXVII. Again XI mentions 
 Caesar's invasion of Britain b.c. SS-S4j in XXVIII Veranius and FabuUus 
 are either still with Piso or have only just left him, Catullus is still with 
 Memmius in Bithynia, or has only a short time parted from him, events 
 which cannot be later than 56-55, and may be much earlier : CVIII in 
 which Cominius is attacked probably belongs to 65 b.c, CXIII certainly 
 to the beginning of ^^/acto {Pompeio) consule nunc iterum. 
 
 Hence it is certain that no consistent chronological sequence of events 
 can be proved for the poems as a whole. It is equally certain that no 
 such sequence can be made out for any one of the three or four divisions 
 into which, as we saw, they fall. 
 
PROLEGOMENA. xxxix 
 
 In I-LX this is already proved. 
 
 In LXI-LXIV the principle of arrangement is obviously metrical, the 
 lyrical poems precede the short epos. There is nothing to mark the 
 period of composition, unless indeed the resemblances of the Peleus and 
 Thetis to Lucretius' poem may be thought to show that one of the two 
 poets had read the work of the other ^ 
 
 In LXV-LXVIII an order is traceable. Omitting LXVII which is 
 without note of time, the three remaining poems seem to have been 
 written as follows ^ : LXVIII. 1-40, at Verona when Catullus was at the 
 height of his grief for the death of his brother ; LXV, with the accompany- 
 ing translation from Callimachus LXVI, when the first transports of 
 sorrow were subsiding. On the other hand LXVIII. 41-160 was com- 
 posed when the reviving love for Lesbia led the poet to new thoughts, 
 and perhaps suggested a return to Rome, if indeed it was not written 
 there. 
 
 In LXIX-CXVI, if XCVIII refers to the informer Vettius it probably 
 belongs to the years 62-59 ^-c. : CVIII if it refers to one of the brothers 
 Cominii would seem to fall in 66-65 b.c. : CXIII belongs to the begin- 
 ning of 55. 
 
 We may therefore assume that if chronology at all affected the arrange- 
 ment of the poems, it can only have done so in the most general sense : 
 a conclusion confirmed by farther examination of the sections. 
 
 Two principles are traceable in the first and fourth of these — the lyrics 
 and the epigrams : (i) that of grouping together pwems on the same 
 subject (Vorlaender) ; (2) of interrupting such groups by poems on a 
 different subject (Westphal). 
 
 (i) The following groups are observable : — 
 
 (a) Furius and Aurelius XI XV XVI XXI XXIII XXIV XXVI. 
 
 (3) Veranius and Fabullus IX XII XIII : they recur later in XXVIII 
 XLVII. 
 
 {c) Egnatius XXXVII XXXIX. 
 
 \d) Ammiana XLI XLII XLIII. 
 
 \e) VatiniusLIILIIL 
 
 (/) Gellius LXXXVIII-XCI, and separately LXXIV LXXX CXVI. 
 
 (g) Mentula CXIV CXV, and separately XCIV CV. 
 
 (Ji) Aufilena CX CXI, and and separately CI. 
 
 The same principle may be traced in the Lesbia series : 
 
 (a) Lesbia's sparrow II III. 
 
 \b) Basiationes V VII. 
 
 (c) Lesbia's literary character compared with that of Caecilius' mistress 
 XXXV XXXVI. 
 
 > See Munro on Lucret. iii. 57. ' Bahrens, Analecta Catulliana pp. 10, 11. 
 
xl PROLEGOMENA. 
 
 {dj Lesbia's protestations of love LXX Non si se luppiter ipse petal, 
 LXXII nee prae me uelle tenere louem. 
 
 (e) Lesbia's return and promise of perpetual reconciliation CVII CIX. 
 And elsewhere, e. g. : 
 
 LXIX Crudelem nasorum pestem, LXXI Illam affligit odore. 
 It is however constantly obscured, and can scarcely be traced in 
 many parts of the two divisions, e. g. XXX-XXXIV, XLIV-L, or again 
 in XCII-CVL Even when traceable it is modified by the continual in- 
 terposition of a single poem, sometimes two poems, on a different subject. 
 Westphal has conclusively shown this, and it will be apparent from the 
 appended table : 
 
 I Qui dono. 
 
 II Passer deliciae. 
 
 Ill Lugete O Veneres. 
 
 IV Phasellus ille. 
 
 V Viuamus, mea Lesbia. 
 
 VI Flaui, delicias. 
 
 VII Quaeris quot mihi. 
 
 VIII Miser CatuUe. 
 
 IX Verani, omnibus. 
 
 X Varus me mens. 
 
 XI Furi at Aureli. 
 
 XII Marrucine Asini. 
 
 XIII Cenabis bene. 
 
 Up to XIII there is thus a tolerably regular alternation of the Lesbia 
 poems II III V VII VIII XI with poems on a different subject. It 
 seems probable that XIV and the fragment XIVT> Si qui forte mearum 
 ineptiarum stood together as another alternating couplet : then in XV a 
 return is made to one of the subjects of XI, Aurelius : 
 
 XV Commendo tibi me. 
 
 XVI Pedicabo ego uos. 
 
 XVII O colonia. 
 
 XXI Aureli, pater. 
 
 XXII Suffenus iste. 
 
 XXIII Furei, cui neque seruos. 
 
 XXIV O qui flosculus es. 
 XXV Cinaede Thalle. 
 
 XXVI Furi, uillula nostra. 
 
 This forms as it were a second cycle, the central point of which is 
 Juventius. 
 
 A third cycle in which amatory poems alternate with poems of a 
 
} 
 
 PROLEGOMENA. xU 
 
 different character seems to be formed by XXXVII-XLIII, but the 
 principle is less systematic. 
 
 XXXVII Salax taberna. 
 
 XXXVIII Malest Cornifici. 
 
 XXXIX Egnatius, quod. 
 
 XL Quaenam te mala mens. 
 
 XLI Ameana, puella. 
 
 XLII Adeste hendecasyllabi. 
 
 XLIII Salue nee minimo. 
 
 A similar alternation is more perceptible in LXIX-LXXII : 
 LXIX Noli admirari. 
 
 LXX NuUi se dicit mulier mea. 
 
 LXXI Si quoi, Virro, bono. 
 
 LXXII Dicebas quondam, 
 
 and perhaps in CVII-CXVI : 
 
 CVII Si quoi quid cupido. 
 
 CVIII Si Comini. 
 
 CIX lucundum, mea uita. 
 
 CX Aufilena, bonae. 
 
 CXI Aufilena, uiro. 
 
 CXII Multus homo es Naso. 
 
 CXIII Consule Pompeio. 
 
 CXIV Firmanus saltu. i 
 
 CXV Mentula habet. J 
 
 CXVI Saepe tibi. 
 
 It is not to be denied that a system so often interrupted, obscured, or 
 imperceptible, — a system too which is combined with a completely 
 different principle of arrangement, I mean the great general division of 
 the poems into sections determined by the metrical or at least poetical 
 form, I-LX, LXI-LXIV, LXV-LXVIII, LXIX-CXVI, is too accom- 
 modating to.be much of a guide. Our MSS too are imperfect, and 
 supply us with only faint indications of the actual number of verses or 
 poems lost. Yet it seems worth while not to let any clue, however faint, 
 escape us, especially where we have an additional reason for such care in 
 the important bearings which any recognizable plan of arrangement has 
 on the question of chronology. For if, as seems established, poems on 
 the same subject are grouped together, it would seem to follow that the 
 actual place of any poem in the collective series is little if any indication 
 of the time to which it belongs, the principle on which they are grouped 
 together being necessarily in conflict with anything like a sequence of 
 time, at least as regards other groups or other poems ; thus the series 
 .addressed to Furius and Aurelius XV XVI XXI XXIII XXIV XXVI, all 
 
xlii PROLEGOMENA. 
 
 of which are linked by a common subject, Juventius, and were all written 
 perhaps much about the same time, cannot be thought to belong to an 
 early period of the poet's life from their mere position in the collective 
 series : nor can we conclude that XXXVII XXXIX on Egnatius pre- 
 ceded XLI XLIII on Ammiana, or that either of these groups was 
 subsequent to XI because they follow it in the MSS. Nay, the very 
 poems included in the same group cannot be assumed to follow each other 
 in the order of time ; nor where such groups exist in combination with 
 poems on the same subject separated from them by wide intervals, as in 
 the case of Gellius, LXXIV LXXX LXXXVIII-XCI CXVI would it be 
 safe to conclude that they follow in chronological order, though this may 
 have been so, and it is probable in this case at least that the last in the 
 MSS was also the last written. Little weight therefore can be laid on 
 arguments drawn from the position of any given poem ; e. g. we are not 
 justified in concluding that in the actual order of events IX preceded 
 XII, nor that XI, in which Furlus and Aurelius are instructed to carry a 
 message to Lesbia and which cannot have been written earlier than 55, 
 preceded XV and the subsequent poems in which the same Furius and 
 Aurelius are addressed, in a series probably spread over a considerable 
 time. 
 
 Subject to these limitations — which are indeed almost destructive — we 
 may admit the possibility of an attempt to keep the order of time. The 
 poems to Lesbia are scattered over the whole collection ; and, with 
 two exceptions, are not inconsistent with such an assumption '. The 
 Sparrow-poems (II, III) and the Viuamus, mea Lesbia, atque amemus, 
 and Quaeris, guot mihi basiaiiones (V VII) were no doubt placed first 
 because they were written first; VIII Miser Catulle, desinas impiire, 
 may have followed a first, or at least an early, quarrel : m XIII. ir, 12 
 Lesbia is still on good terms with flatullus : XXXVI. 4, 5 implies a 
 quarrel, but a wish to return; in XXXVII. 11-14 Lesbia is already 
 arnica omnium, but still dear : in XLIII. 6-8 she is jcontrasted with 
 Ammiana, in language which implies that Catullus "could still think of 
 her with pleasure : in LVIII she has reached the last stage of infamy. 
 Only XI and LI can be said to be definitely inconsistent with the order of 
 time ; but we must not underrate the importance of the exceptions, or 
 frame hypotheses to explain them away. They are sufficiently serious 
 to throw doubt upon the whole theory ; we cannot feel sure of more than 
 this ; theipoems to Lesbia which stand first in our MSS must on internal 
 grounds Iselong to a very early period of the amour ; the poem (LVIII) 
 which in our MSS stands last but two in the lyrical series which precedes 
 
 ' I speak here of the lyrics and epigrams alone, excluding LXVIII. 
 
PROLEGOMENA. xliii 
 
 the longer poems, must refer to the very latest period of Lesbia's career. 
 The same may be said of the epigrams which refer to Lesbia : LXX 
 LXXII may have been prior to the others, CVIl CIX later : that the 
 intermediate poems follow the order of time is not inconceivable, but 
 it is quite as little demonstrable. It would be so if we were certain of 
 the order in which the poems succeed each other : as it is, no one since 
 Scaliger's ingenious combination of the two fragments LXXXVII and 
 LXXV can feel anything like certainty as to the real order of the poems 
 in the archetype. 
 
 Actual Dates in Catullus. 
 IV. Dedication of the Phasellus after the return from Bithynia. 
 X. 6, 7 Quid esset lam Bithynia, quomodo se haberet. 
 After Catullus had returned to Rome from Bithynia. If Memmius 
 was governor of Bithynia after his praetorship in 58 b. c, Catullus 
 was probably in Bithynia in 57, and returned in 56, to which year X 
 will therefore belong. But see on the journey to Bithynia infra p. xlviii. 
 XI. 9 Sine trans altas gradietur Alpes 
 
 Caesaris uisens monimenta magni, 
 Gallicum Rhenum horribilem insulam ulti- 
 Mosque Britannos. 
 
 (55-54 Caesar's invasion of Britain.) 
 
 XXIX. 12 Fuisti in ultima Occidentis insula. 
 (After 55,) 
 XXXI. 5, 6 Vix mi ipse credens Thuniam atque Bithunos 
 Liquisse campos et uidere te in tuto. 
 Written immediately after the return from Bithynia, perhaps in 56. 
 XXXV. 3 Veronam ueniat, Noui relinquens 
 Comi moenia. 
 (After 59-) 
 XLV. 22 Mauult quam Syrias Britanniasque. 
 
 (Probably in 55.) 
 XL VI. I lam uer egelidos refert tepores. 
 4, 5 Linquantur Phrygii, Catulle, campi, 
 Nicaeaeque ager uber aestuosae. 
 In the spring of the year following Catullus' stay in Bithynia, perhaps 
 
 56. 
 
 LII. 3 Sella in curuli Struma Nonius sedet. 
 Per consulatum perierat Vatinius. 
 If Per consulatum refers to Vatinius' actual consulship, the poem cannot 
 
xliv PROLEGOMENA. 
 
 be earlier than 47. It is more likely that it refers to a period when 
 Vatinius could already count on the consulship, perhaps his praetor- 
 ship in 55, or the meeting of the triumvirs at Luca in 56. 
 LIII. 2 Cum mirifice Vatiniana 
 
 Meos crimina Caluos explicasset. 
 (Probably, but not certainly, in 54.) 
 LXV. 5 Namque mei nuper Lethaeo in gurgite fratris 
 
 Pallidulum manans alluit unda pedem, 
 Troia Rhoeteo quern subter litore tellus 
 Ereptum nostris obterit ex oculis. 
 Just after Catullus had learnt that his brother had perished in the 
 Troad. To the same period belong LXVIII. 20-26, 91-100. 
 LV. 6 In Magni simul ambulatione. 
 
 (Cannot be earlier than 55 — perhaps as late as 52.) 
 XCVIII, if the informer Vettius is meant, probably belongs to 
 62-59 B.C. 
 
 CI on arriving at his brother's grave at Rhoeteum, perhaps in 57. 
 
 CVIII probably to 66-65 B.C. 
 
 CXIII was written in the second consulship of Pompeius 55 b.c. 
 
 Birth and Death of Catullus. 
 
 Jerome, according to Sch5ne's edition of the Eusebian Chronicle, has 
 these entries relating to Catullus: 01. 173. 2=87 b.c Gains Catullus 
 scribtor lyricus Veronae nascUur : 01. 180. 3 = 58 B.C. Catullus xxx 
 aetatis anno Romae moritur. If the former of thgse»two dates is right, the 
 latter must be wrong, as Catullus would have died in 57 b.c But it is 
 certain from the poems that Catullus died neither in 58 nor 57 ; for in 
 CXIII he speaks of the second consulship of Pompeius in 55 ; in XI 
 XXIX of Caesar's invasion of Britain 55-54 ;. in LIII of the oration of 
 Calvus against Vatinius, probably in 54. If indeed the words of LII Per 
 consulatum perierat Vatinius referred to the actual consulship of Vatinius 
 for a short time at the end of 47, as Gibbon ^, Clinton, Lachmann, Haupt, 
 
 ' Gibbon's Miscellaneous Works i. pp. 357-3636(1.1796. The first eighteen chapters 
 of Nepos' life of Atticus were written and published before Atticus' death on the last 
 day of March Cn. Domitio C. Sosio consulibtis. (Att. 19.) In the twelfth of these chapters 
 Nepos speaks of Catullus as dead, and as belonging to a literary era precedii^g that of 
 L. Julius Calidius. Hence Gibbon considers the medium point between the consulship 
 of Vatinius and the consulship of Domitius and Sosius as the probable date of the 
 death of Catullus, 714 ] 40. His other arguments are identical with those of the pre- 
 sent century. This discussion was written before Gibbon had reached the age of 
 twenty, but it seems to deserve mention from the complacency with which the author 
 dwells upon it in his autobiography, and the resentment with which he records 
 Matthew Gesner's not discourteous, but somewhat slighting, reply. 
 
PROLEGOMENA. • xlv 
 
 id others believed, Catullus survived the battle of Pharsalia : and if he was 
 o years of age at his death, must have been born in 77-76. Lachmann 
 ccordingly supposed that Jerome confounded Cn. Octavius consul in 
 6 with Cil. Octavius consul in 87 ; and maintained that Catullus was 
 orn in 76, and died in 46. That this chronology is wrong, and that 
 le explanation, though accepted by Haupt and Prof. Sellar, is not worth 
 lore than other ingenious hypotheses in reference to the Eusebian 
 Ihronicle, is probable from the following considerations : — 
 
 Catullus certainly died young, even in comparison with others who 
 id not attain middle age. TKus Lucretius died at the age of 44 (Jerome), 
 Cornelius Gallus at 43 (Jerome) ; but neither is said to have died young, 
 iven Calvus, whose life was certainly not more than 36 years, though 
 tated by Quintilian to have died prematurely (x. i. 11,15), and by Cicero 
 ombined with C. Curio as adulescens at the time of his death (Brut. Ixxxi. 
 180) is not definitely marked out zs, youthful. Ouid says, Am.iii, 9. 61, 
 
 Obuius huic uenias hedera luuenalia cinctus 
 Tempora cum Caluo, docte CatuUe, tuo. 
 
 vhence it seems probable that Jerome's statement that he died at the 
 ige of thirty is substantially true. Now if he died aged 30 in 47-46, 
 ind was therefore born in 77-76, the chronology of his life, if not 
 ibsolutely inconsistent, is at least less in harmony with that of the other 
 iterary men of the last century of the Republic as tabulated by Jerome 
 lungclaussen). This will be seen from the accompanying table. 
 
 Literary Dates from Jerome's Chronicle. (Schone.) 
 
 B.C. 
 
 Dl. 169. 2 Birth of Furius Bibaculus at Cremona . . .103 
 31.171.3 Birth of Lucretius. Suicide 44 years later . . 94-50 
 
 (Donatus [99]-55) 
 
 31.173.2 Birth of Catullus at Verona 87 
 
 Sallust at Amiternum 87 
 
 Dl. 174. 3 Birth of Varro Atacinus 82 
 
 Dl. 177. 4 Birth of Virgil at Andes : Pomp, et Crass, coss. I . 69 
 
 (must be 70) 
 M. Cato Stoicus Philosophus agnoscitur 
 
 Dl. 178.4 Birth of Horace at Venusia . 
 Dl. 180. 2 Birth of Messala Corvinus and Livy 
 Dl. 180. 3 Death of Catullus at Rome, aged 30 
 Virgil educating at Cremona 
 
 69 
 65 
 59 
 58 
 58 
 
 Dl. 181. 4 Virgil takes the toga virilis, goes to Milan, then to Rome 53 
 
xlvi PROLEGOMENA. 
 
 Ol. 184. 3 Death of Cicero 42 
 
 Birth of Ovid 42 
 
 01.184.4 Death of Cornificius 4i 
 
 01. 185. I Floruit of Cornelius Nepos 4°. 
 
 01. 186. I Deathof Sallust 3^ 
 
 01. 188. 2 Death of Varro, nearly 90 27 
 
 ■ Suicide of Cornelius Gallus of Forum Julii aged 43 . 27 
 
 01. 189. 2 Death of Quintilius of Cremona, friend of Virgil . 23 
 
 01, 190. 3 Death of Virgil, Sentio Saturnino Lucretio Cinnacoss. 18 
 
 01. 190. 4 Floruit of Varius and Tucca 17 
 
 OL 191. I Aemilius Macer of Verona dies . . . .16 
 
 01. 192. 4 Death of Horace, aged 57 9 
 
 A.D. 
 
 01.195.4 Deathof Asinius Polio, aged 80 .... 4 
 
 01. 199. I Death of Livy ....... 17 
 
 Death of Ovid 17 
 
 Now if Catullus was born in 87, he was seven years younger than 
 Lucretius, according to Jerome ; twelve, according to Donatus, who 
 places Lucretius' death in 55. This would agree with the words of 
 Cornelius Nepos Att. 12 Calidium quern post Lucreti Calulliqm mortem, 
 multo elegantismmum poelam nostram iulisse aetatem uere uideor posse con- 
 tendere, which places the era of the two poets together. But if Catullus 
 was born in 77, he would have been seventeen years younger at the very 
 least than Lucretius : and if we take Donatus' account, Lucretiuff would 
 have been twenty-two when Catullus first saw the light. Again 9,5 Virgil 
 was born in 70, Catullus, bora in 87, would then have been seventeen 
 years old; a disparity quite in accordance with the fact that th^y repre- 
 sent two literary eras : whereas if Catullus only preceded Virgil's birth 
 seven years, the floruif of the for mer w ould almost^ynchroijize with 
 the publication of the Eclogues which determined the reputation of the 
 latter. Again, Asinius Polio died according to the statement of Jerome 
 01. 195. 4, A.D. 4, at the age of 80, hence was born b.c. 76. Now sup- 
 posing Catullus to have been born in 77, he would have been almost 
 exactly coeval with Polio ; whereas he speaks of Polio as a boy {puer), 
 at a time when he himself was already well known as a viriter of hendeca- 
 syllables, and when his friends Veranius and FabuUus had already been 
 some time in Spain (XII. 7-9). But if Catullus was born in 87, or even 
 three years later, in 84, Polio would have been in 64, when Catullus was 
 in his twenty-third or twentieth year, only twelve years old — and even if 
 the poem was written some time later, would still be in the strictest 
 sense of the term, a boy. 
 
 Catullus then cannot have lived from 77-47 b.c It remains to accept 
 
PROLEGOMENA. xlvii 
 
 Jerome's statement, with the modification necessitated by the internal 
 data of the poems. Either then he was bom in 87 B.C. and died in 54, 
 Jerome's statement as to his living thirty years being inexact (so 
 Mommsen) : or if he was thirty at the time of his death, seemingly in 
 64, was born in 84, Jerome having perhaps confused Cinna's first 
 consulship with his fourth, as Munro thinks (Journal of Philology, vol. 
 ii. p. 5). As to LII. 3 see there. 
 
 Birthplace. 
 Verona— Oaid. Am. iii. 15. 7 Maniua Vergilio gaudet, Verona Catullo. 
 Plin. xxxvi. 48 Catulli Veroniemis, hence Catullus was Pliny's co«/'«rra«if«f 
 Praef i. Mart. i. 61. i Verona docti syllahas amat uatts, x. 103. 5 Nee 
 sua plus debet tenui Verona Catullo, xiv. rgs Tantum magna suo debet Verona 
 Catullo Quantum parua suo Mantua Vergilio. Auson. Praef. ad Pacatum 
 I, 2 Cui dono lepidum nouum libellum i' Veronensis ait poeta quondam. 
 Macrob. S. ii. i. 8 Veronensis poeta. Catullus speaks of Verona XXXV. 
 3, LXVII. 34 Brixia Veronae mater amata meae, where the door seems 
 to express Catullus' own relation to Verona, LXVIII. 27, C. 2. When 
 there he probably lived at his father's house. 
 
 Residences. 
 
 1. Rome. In TJKYllI. 24-6 Homaeuiuimus, ilia domus, Ilia mi/ii sedes, 
 illic mea carpitur aetas, Hue una ex multis eapsula me sequitur. Rome was 
 his ordinary home, and there he kept all his books : hence he was no 
 doubt an eye-witness of many of the events alluded to in his poems. LV 
 shows that he was familiar with all the haunts frequented by loose 
 women. 
 
 2. A villa on the confines of the Tiburtine and Sabine territory XLIV. 
 1-4 : it seems not to have been worth much, and in XXVI is spoken of as 
 mortgaged for 15,200 sesterces. 
 
 3. A villa at Sirmio, a projection in the centre of the southern coast of 
 Benacus (Garda), XXXI. Sirmio is at no great distance from Verona, 
 where the poet's father was probably living at the time when he enter- 
 tained J. Caesar, as he did often, and continued to do even after Catullus' 
 attacks on Mamurra (Suet. Jul. 73). 
 
 His Brother. 
 
 . Catullus mentions none of his relatives except a brother, who seems 
 to have been the only other child, and to have died without leaving 
 heirs LXVIII. 22. This death probably took place in the Troad, where 
 he was certainly buried LXVIII. 97-100. The event completely over- 
 powered Catullus for the time LXVIII. 19-26, and drove him from 
 
xlviii PROLEGOMENA. 
 
 Rome with only a few books ib. 36 to Verona : to his retirement there 
 we owe LXVIII. 1-40, the Coma Berenices translated from Callimachus, 
 the poem accompanying it sent to Hortalus (LXV) and later the con- 
 clusion of LXVIII, vv. 41-160, an elaborate encomion addressed to 
 Allius. Catullus has expressed his deep grief for this brother in three 
 distinct poems, (a) LXVIII. 19-26, 91-100 where five verses are re- 
 peated twice 20-24, 92-96; (3) LXV. 5-14; (f) CI written on visiting 
 the tomb at Rhoeteum. 
 
 His Circumstances. 
 
 He often alludes jestingly to his poverty. XIII. 9 lui Caiulli Plenus 
 sacculus est aranearum. In XLIV he complains that his villa is not too 
 wealthy, in XXVI it is mortgaged ; his Bithynian journey brought him in 
 nothing X. 9-14, and even the eight slaves which in a weak moment he 
 ventures to say he bought there, turn out to be his friend Helvius Cinna's 
 (X. 20 sqq.), cf XXVIII. 6-9. Similarly he expostulates with Aufilena 
 for taking money from him improperly (CX), with Amiana and Silo for 
 the sums they claim, in each case 10,000 sesterces ; both Ammiana (XLI 
 XLII XLIII) and Aufilena (CXI) seem to have provoked his bitter attack 
 by their demands upon his purse ; and the joke which is put in the 
 mouth of Lesbius that he may sell, if he pleases, Catullus and all his gens, 
 no doubt alludes to his general impecuniosity. 
 
 Journey to Bithynia. 
 
 After his brother's death, perhaps determined by it, Catullus joined the 
 cohors of Memmius, pro-praetor of Bithynia, X, XXVIII. 6-9. Among 
 his companions on this journey was G. Helvius Cinna, X. 30, the poet 
 and author of Zmyrna (XCV). The time of this event is very doubtful. 
 If Memmius was propraetor of Bithynia in the year after his praetorship, 
 he must have left Rome early in 57 b.c. : and supposing him to have 
 remained not more than a year, returned in 56. 
 
 This is the ordinarily accepted date; see Schwabe Quaestt. pp. 158 
 sqq. But it is open to objections. For from XXVIII XL VII it would 
 seem that Veranius and FabuUus were with Piso as members of his 
 staff at about the same time that Catullus was with Memmius in 
 Bithynia. Now if they were with Piso in Spain, as seems a natural 
 inference from the fact that in XII. 15 they are mentioned as travel- 
 ling together in Spain (for otherwise they must have accompanied each 
 other on two separate journeys), the only Piso with whom they can. 
 well have been is Gn. Piso, one of the leaders in the first conspiracy 
 of Catiline, who was sent out to Hispania Citerior as quaestor pro praetore- 
 689 I 65, and was killed there in the following year. (See introduc- 
 
PROLEGOMENA. xlix 
 
 tion to IX.) It follows that Memmius was in Bithynia in 65. This 
 is not inconsistent with history: for (r) though Memmius must have 
 been in Rome in 66 when as tribune of the plebs he opposed the 
 triumph of L. LucuUus, just then recalled from the conduct of the Mith- 
 ridatic war, and may have been there in 63, when after a delay of three 
 years (Cic. Acad. Pr. ii. i. 3) LucuUus at last obtained his triumph (Plut. 
 Cato 29), nothing proves that he was there during the whole of the 
 interval, and if not he may have gone with praetorian power to Bithynia ; 
 (2) Bithynia was bequeathed to the Romans by the will of its last king 
 Nicomedes III in 680 | 74, and then became a Roman province (Liu. 
 Epit. 93). M. Aurelius Cotta (DionC. xxxvi. 23), L. LucuUus, M.' Acilius 
 Glabrio (Dion C. xxxvi. 26), are mentioned as administering it between 
 the years 74-67 (Zumpt Studia Romana p. 48). In 66 by the provisions 
 of the Manilian law Cn. Pompeius succeeded Glabrio ; but the prosecu- 
 tion of the war with Mithridates seems to have called him away from 
 Bithynia till the end of 65, when by the addition of the western portion 
 of the Pontic kingdom, i. e. the coast-line from Heraclea in Paphlagonia 
 to the Halys, a new province was formed called Bithynia et Pontus or 
 Bithynia Pontus (Strab. 541, Liu. Epit. 102, Mommsen and Marquardt 
 R6m. Alterth. iv. pp. 192, 3'). This new province is stated by Appian 
 to have been administered by a praetor yearly sent by the senate (B. 
 Mith. 121) ; and it is to this enlarged, reorganized, and in 57 pacificated, 
 province that Memmius is generally thought to have been despatched, 
 as C. Papirius Carbo certainly was (Zumpt Studia Romana p. 49), pro 
 praetore. It is not to be denied that nothing in the poems of Catullus 
 which refer to Bithynia indicates that war was then raging on the fron- 
 • tiers : on the contrary they seem to imply peace, especially IV, which 
 traces the long and in 65 dangerous voyage from Amastris through the 
 Propontis and Hellespont down the coast of Asia Minor to the Cyclades ; 
 and the mere fact that Catullus had his yacht built at Amastris, and 
 seems himself to have been there, perhaps points to the town being at 
 the time included in the province of Bithynia ^ Yet, on the other hand, 
 there would have been at the beginning of 65 a sufficient reason for the 
 appointment of a subordinate governor with praetorian power, as on my 
 view Memmius was : for Pompeius was then occupied with the reduction 
 
 ' If Sallust speaks correctly in the fragment quoted below, the province waa already 
 called Bithynia et Pontus in 67 when the Gabinian law was enacted. 
 
 " It is perhaps fanciful to trace in the unusual construction of w. 13, 14 where Tibi 
 refers to two vocatives, an allusion to the grammatically singular, though actually 
 double province Bithynia et Pontus. Priscian xviii. 41 Keil quotes from Sallust's 
 Histories the remarkable sentence legiones Valerianae comperlo lege Gabinia Bilhyniam 
 et Ponlum consult dalam esse, 
 
 d 
 
1 PROLEGOMENA. 
 
 of the Eastern tribes of Iberia and Albania, and only returned to Amisus 
 for reorganizing the new province of Bithynia and Pontus towards the 
 end of the year. Memmius may have been sent out by the senate, 
 possibly on the recommendation of Pompeius, with whom he seems to 
 have been on terms of intimacy (Suet. Gramm. 14), as quaestor pro praetore, 
 as Gn. Piso was sent to Hispania Citerior at this very time, and as Cato 
 went to Cyprus in 58, with a subordinate quaestor of his own (Veil. 
 Paterc. ii. 45). Or again he may have been appointed directly by 
 Pompeius, as Marius left his quaestor Sulla pro praetore (Jug. 103), as 
 Trebonius, proconsul of Asia 43, was succeeded on his death by his 
 quaestor with the title proguaestor pro praetore (Fam. xii. 15, Wad- 
 dington Pastes n. 38, 40), Crassus in Syria by his quaestor Cassius on 
 his death in 53 (Mommsen and Marquardt iv. i. p. 390). It is true 
 that Memmius is called /ra^/or / but this term was certainly extended to 
 propraetors (Fam. xiii. 55), to proconsuls ex praetura (Ad Q. fr. i. i. 7), 
 and even as a general term to provincial governors irrespective of their 
 actual title, e. g. Cicero speaking of himself, an actual consul and after- 
 wards proconsul of Cilicia says Att. v. 21. 11 Homines dicere — quod 
 praetori dare consuessent, se a me quodammodo dare, and again of Bibulus 
 proconsul of Syria Fam. ii. 17. 2 Quod ego officio quaesiorio te adductum 
 reticere de praetore tuo (Bibuld) non molesie ferelam (Marquardt iv. i. p. 
 381 note). As quaestor pro praetore Memmius would have had the fasces 
 of a propraetor ; it is no great extension of his privileges to suppose that 
 he had a praetorian cohors : or, reversely, if Memmius had a cohors about 
 him, the regular title of which was cohors praetoria, it would be an easy 
 step to transfer the title of praetor to him, whatever his strict title might 
 have been (Marquardt u. s.). That Memmius was in Bithynia under 
 circumstances which made spoliation impossible (Cat. X. 1 9) is in com- 
 plete accordance with Pompeius' strictness on this matter, as expressly 
 stated by Cicero de lege Manil. v. 13 where the ordinary arrival of 
 Roman governors in their provinces is compared with the sacking of 
 a city by a hostile force, and contrasted with the temperance and mildness 
 of Pompeius. 
 
 Before reaching Bithynia Catullus probably visited his brother's tomb 
 at Rhoeteum, and wrote CI Multas per gentes et multa per aequora uectus 
 Aduenio has miser as, /rater, ad infer ias. Bithynia was a bad province 
 (X. 19) and did not enrich Catullus, which he ascribes mainly to Mem- 
 mius X. 9-13, XXVIII. 6-9. Hence he was glad to leave it in the 
 spring for a visit to the cities of Asia Minor XLVI. 1, 4-6. This 
 return journey he made in a phasellus, constructed from a tree on 
 Cytorus, the height overhanging the Pontic town Amastris; whence 
 (IV. 18) he passed through the Propontis and Hellespont down the 
 
PROLEGOMENA. li 
 
 coast of Asia Minor to Rhodes, thence across the Aegean to the 
 Cyclades, where he probably visited Delos, then, probably over the Isthmus 
 of Corinth into the Adriatic and so to the mouth of the Po, and finally to 
 Sirmio (IV, XXXI). Shortly afterwards he was at Rome (X. 2, 26) where 
 the scene with Varus' mistress described in X occurred. 
 
 His relations with Caesar. 
 
 He expresses his indifference to Caesar's good opinion XCIII. Attacks 
 
 him as the patron of Mamurra XXIX Quis hoc potest uidere, quis potest 
 
 pati, and LVII Pulcre conuenit improbis cinaedis. To one of these poems 
 
 or perhaps both Suetonius alludes Jul. 73 Valerium Catullum, a quo sibi 
 
 uersiculis de Mamurra perpetua stigmata imposita non dissimulauerat, satis- 
 
 facientem tadem die adkibuit cenae, hospitioque patris eius sicut consuerat uli 
 
 perseuerauit ; perhaps Cicero Att. xiii. 52. i\ The only other poem in 
 
 which Caesar is personally addressed is the fragment LIV, in which his 
 
 friends Otho Libo Fufficius are ridiculed and he himself threatened with 
 
 a renewed attack in vv. 6, 7 Irascere iterum meis iambis Inmerentibus, 
 
 unice imperator. But it is probable that the Mentula satirized in XCIV 
 
 CV CXIV CXV, as an adulterer, a poetaster, and a man of enormous 
 
 reputed wealth, is Caesar's friend and favorite Mamurra. 
 
 With Pompeius. 
 
 Pompeius is not attacked in any of the poems directly ; but he is 
 
 mentioned with Caesar as combining to ruin everything merely to enrich 
 
 Mamurra XXIX. 13 Ista uestra diffututa mentula, 21 Quid hunc malum 
 
 fouetis /' 24 Getter socerque, perdidistis omnia. CXIII alludes to his first 
 
 • two consulships, and probably to his wife Mucia ; LV. 6 speaks of the 
 
 Porticus Pompeia as Magni ambulatio. 
 
 With Literary Men of the Time. 
 
 1. Cornelius Nepos, I. cf. Auson. Praef. ad Pacatum 1-3. Catullus 
 dedicated his poems to him, as the first man of literary eminence who 
 had acknowledged his genius in a work of his own, I. 3-7, no doubt the 
 Chronica mentioned by Ausonius Epist. 16. The date of this work is un- 
 certain, but it was published when Catullus was quite young I. 5, and 
 long before his reputation was established, hence between 70-60 b. c, 
 probably before 65. 
 
 2. Cicero, XLIX, an Eucharisticon for some service unknown. 
 
 3. G. Licinius Calvus, poet and orator (born 28 May 672 | 82, on the 
 same day as M. Caelius Rufus, Plin. vii. 165, died prematurely certainly 
 before 708 | 46, when Cicero wrote his Brutus, cf. Brut. Ixxxi. 279, 
 Quintil. X. i. 115) is constantly mentioned as the poet- friend of Catullus, 
 
 ' But see Munro, Cambridge Journal of Philology, vol. ii. p. 14. 
 d 2 
 
lii PROLEGOMENA. 
 
 Hor. S. i. lo. 19, Prop. ii. 25. 4, 34. 87, Ouid Am. iii. 9. 62 cum Caluo, 
 docte Catulle, tuo, Trist. ii. 431, Plin. Epist. i. 16. 5, iv. 27. 4 (Teufifel § 
 zoo). 
 
 Catullus addressed to him XIV, a remonstrance for Calvus' sending him 
 as a Saturnalician present a quantity of bad poetry ; L, which describes 
 a wit-combat between the two poets ; XCVI a hexastich condoling with 
 him on the loss of his Quintilia. He speaks of his labours as a pleader 
 XIV. 6, 1 1, and, eulogizes his attack on Vatinius LIII, from v. 5 of which 
 we learn that Calvus was of small stature, salapuiium disertum. 
 
 4. G. Helvius Cinna, author of Zmyrna, a poem which he elaborated 
 for nine years XCV. i, 2, to which Catullus promises immortality (5, 6). 
 Cinna was with Catullus, as a member of the cohors of Memmius in 
 Bithynia X. 30 ; thence he took with him as a present to a friend in a 
 skiff built at Prusias (Cios) a copy of Aratus, written on malva-bark (Isid. 
 Origg. vi. 12)^: from X. 29,30 he seems to have been richer than 
 Catullus. 
 
 5. Cornificius (died 713 | 41), if the friend addressed in XXXVIII is 
 the poet. In LXVIII. 157 Anser (aufert MSS) may be the poet alluded 
 to disparagingly in contrast with Varus and Cinna by Virgil E. ix. 36, cf 
 Prop. ii. 34. 84, and in conjunction with Cinna, Cornificius, and Valerius 
 Cato '^ as a writer of light amatory verse, by Ouid Trist. ii. 435, 6. Valerius 
 Cato has been identified with the Cato of LVI, but see my Introduction 
 to that poem. Memmius was himself the author of light verses, and is 
 mentioned with Ticida by Ouid Trist. ii. 433, 4, after Catullus and Calvus. 
 Donatus in his life of Virgil says Anser and Cornificius were the only 
 poets who did not court Virgil, the former as a partisan of Antonius, , 
 the latter from his cross-grained temper {ob peruersam naiuram). 
 This would quite agree with the friendship of these two poets for 
 
 ' Haec tibi Arateis multum uigilata lucemis 
 Carmina, quis ignes nouimus aerios, 
 Leuis in aridulo maluae descripta libello 
 Prusiaca uexi munera nauicula. 
 
 ' Sic sua lasciuo cantata est saepe CatuUo 
 
 Femina, cui falsum Lesbia nomen erat. 
 Nee contentus ea, multos uulgavit amores. 
 
 In quibus ipse suum fassus adulterium est. 
 Par fiiit exigui similisque licentia Calvi, 
 
 Detexit uariis qui sua furta modis. 
 Quid referam Ticidae, quid Memmi carmen, apud quos 
 
 Rebus abest omnis nominibusque pudor? 
 Cinna quoque his comes est, Cinnaque procacior Anser, 
 
 Et leue Cornifici, parque Catonis opus ; 
 Et quorum libris modo dissimulata Perillae 
 
 Nomine, nunc legitur dicta, Metelle, tuo. 
 
PROLEGOMENA. liii 
 
 Catullus: from Hor. S. i. lo. 19 it is clear that Calvus and Catullus 
 were not popular in the court of Augustus, and the friends of either might 
 naturally be slow to recognize the representatives of the new literature. 
 Virgil, it is true, praises Cinna ; but Cinna perhaps changed sides : 
 unless indeed we may accept Virgil's eulogy as a not disinterested com- 
 pliment to the most famous Roman poet then living. 
 
 6. Caecilius, otherwise unknown, but mentioned as the author of an 
 uncompleted poem on the Dindymi domina XXXV. 13-18. 
 
 7. Hortensius, perhaps the orator of that name. Catullus satirizes him 
 as a poetaster XCV. 3 ; he may be the Hortensius of OuidTrist. ii. 441, 
 Cell. xix. 9. It is doubtful whether the Hortalus to whom Catullus sent his 
 Coma Beronices LXV. 2, 1 6 is this Hortensius. See Introduction to LXV. 
 
 8. Asinius Polio, who is called puer XII. 9. 
 
 9. Volusius, mentioned as the writer of Annates in XXXVI, and with 
 Hortensius XCV. 7. He is perhaps the Tanusius of Seneca Ep. 93. 9. 
 See Introduction to XXXVI. 
 
 10. Suffenus XIV. 19, XXII, Aquinus XIV. 18, probably the Aquinius 
 of Cic. Tusc. Disp. v. 22. 63, Caesius XIV. 18, three bad poets. 
 
 Besides these Catullus mentions the litUrator Sulla, probably Cornelius 
 Epicadus, freedman of the dictator Sulla, XIV. 9 : Sestius the orator 
 XLIV. 10. Whether the Rufus of LXIX LXXVII is Caelius Rufus the 
 orator and lover of Clodia quadrantaria (Pro Cael. viii, xxx) is doubt- 
 ful : the Caelius of C, and probably of LVIII, was a Veronese, and 
 cannot have been the orator. The bearded Egnatius of XXXVII XXXIX 
 is identified by Bahrens with a philosophical poet who wrote De Rerum 
 Natura (Macrob. S. vi. 5. 2, vi. 5. 12). 
 
 Name. 
 
 Jerome on 01. 173. 2 calls him Gains (Gallus is noted by Schone as 
 a variant) Valerius Catullus : Apuleius Apolog. 10 C. Catullus. But 
 some MSS of Plin. H. N. xxxvii. 81 Filius strumae Noni eius quem 
 Catullus poeta in sella curuli uisum indigne tulit read Q. Catullus, and 
 Quintus is also found as his praenomen in four of the best MSS of 
 Catullus' poems, the Datanus and its cognate Riccardianus, the Cujacianus 
 probably identical with Mr. Allen's codex, and the Colbertinus. More- 
 over in LXVII. 1 2 Verum istius populi ianua qui tefacit the MS reading 
 seems to point to Scaliger's conjecture Quinte. 
 
 The authority of the passage in Pliny is not great, as the insertion of 
 the Q. mars the run of the sentence,, is not found in some of the best 
 MSS, and may be attributable to a palaeographical confusion with quem, 
 which immediately precedes it, or to a historical error which transferred 
 to Catullus the praenomen of Q. Catulus. The case is very different with 
 
liv PROLEGOMENA. 
 
 the MSS of Catullus. Munro (Journal of Philology ii. p. 3) *'nks the 
 Q. was introduced into these from Pliny, a very popular author at the 
 time they were written. But these MSS are singularly distinct from 
 each other, and one of them, the Datanus, is uniformly independent of 
 nearly all other MSS, and bears throughout marks of the highest antiquity. 
 See Prolegomena to Vol. I. pp. iii and xvii. Nay the very title in question, 
 as there written, belongs to an early and unsophisticated period, Q. Catuli 
 Veronensis liber incipit ad Cornelium I. For if the scribe of the Datanus 
 was sufficiently educated to take the praenomen from Pliny, it is not likely 
 that be would have made the mistake of writing Catuli for Catulli : 
 the knowledge implied by the added Q. is inconsistent with the ignorance 
 implied by the retained Catuli. It is in every way more consistent 
 with the facts of the Datanus as well as with general probabilities that 
 this MS represents throughout, as Frbhner shows in the Philologus xiv. 
 578, a substantially incorrupt tradition ; and if so, the Q. Catuli is as old, to 
 say the least, as the Catulli oi the Sangermanensis and Canonici. Besides, 
 if the Q. was taken from Pliny, we might expect to find in some one of the 
 MSS of Catullus, a G or C taken from Jerome, of which there is no trace. 
 From another point of view, it does not seem that Jerome's testimony is 
 unimpeachable. He is certainly wrong as to the date of Catullus' death : 
 he may have blundered about his name, as he has in some other names. 
 Thus on 01. 184. 3 he calls Falcidius, the author of the law de legatis, 
 Caius ; his real name was Publius (Dion C. xlviii. 33), and Jerome 
 has confused him with the C. Falcidius of Cic. de leg. Manil. xix. 58. 
 Similarly the comic poet Atta, whonn Diomedes iii. p. 488 P. calls G. 
 Quinctius appears in Jerome on 01. 175. 4 as T. Quinticius ' Atta: a 
 discrepancy very similar to the divergence in Catullus' praenomen. 
 Sometimes again the MSS of the Chronicle vary, e.g. on 01. 213. 4 
 where for Q. Asconius Pedianus of most MSS the Bern MS has C. 
 Pasconius. It is true, as Munro has remarked, that in the notice of 
 Catullus' birth as given in the Chronicle, the praenomen is written at 
 length, Gaius, whence no doubt the variant Gallus : but this in no way 
 proves that Jerome did not make a mistake in the first instance as to 
 Gaius being the name at all ^. As to Apuleius, in one sentence he has 
 
 ' Sir Thomas Phillipps' MS of the Chronicle alone has T. Quintius (Schiine, vol. i. 
 Praef. p. xiv). 
 
 ^ It is rather singular that in the life of Terence ascribed to Suetonius, which 
 probably formed the basis of Jerome's statement about this poet's life, C. Memmius 
 has this his right praenomen only in A, a Paris MS of the Xlth century ; all the 
 others (XVth century) collated in Reyfferscheid's edition have Q. Memmius, no doubt 
 because they are derived from a common archetype, not that from which A was drawn. 
 Yet if we had not A, the praenomen Caius would be a mere conjecture. Is it not pos- 
 sible that the wrong name may have got into Jerome's Chronicle by a similar accident ? 
 
PROLEGOMENA. Iv 
 
 congregated a whole series of mistakes as to names ; for T. Albucius 
 he has written A. Albucius, for C. Norbanus Cn. Norbanus, for L. Fufius 
 C. Furius, for M.' Aquilius M. Aquilius (Apolog. 66, ed. Kriiger). 
 
 I cannot therefore hold, on these two authorities, the praenomen 
 Gains to be established ; the Q. of Plin. xxxvii. 8 1 is at \t'i.%\. possibly right : 
 nothing proves the Q. of the Datanus to be taken from Pliny; it is 
 found in three other MSS of Catullus ; Quinie for Qui ie is undeniably 
 the most natural and plausible emendation in LXVII. 12. Last, but not 
 least, Quintus is accepted by Scaliger, Lachmann, Haupt, and Mommsen. 
 
 Lesbia. 
 
 Ouid Trist, ii. 427 Sic sua lasciuo cantata est saepe Caiullo Femina cut 
 falsum Leslia nomen erat expressly states that Lesbia was an assumed 
 name and Apuleius Apol. 10 Eadem opera accusent C. Catullum quod 
 Lesbiam pro Clodia nominarit, et Ticidam similiter quod quae Metella erat 
 Perillam scripserit, et Propertium qui Cynthiam dicat Hostiam dissimulet, et 
 Tibullum quod ei sit Plania in animo, Delia in uersu, gives her real name 
 as Clodia. » Hence Victorius, Muretus, and Achilles Statins maintained 
 that Catullus' mistress was the famous Clodia of Cicero's oration pro 
 Caelio, the sister of P. Clodius Pulcer and wife of Q. Metellus Celer, 
 consul 694 I 60. This view was revived by Haupt, who promised, but 
 never wrote, a treatise to prove it ; and since him by a variety of writers 
 whose arguments have been reviewed and supplemented at considerable 
 length by Schwabe Quaestt. Catull. p. 56 sqq. On the other hand it is 
 rejected by Paldamus Hertzberg Leutsch and Riese. The facts of 
 Lesbia's life as stated by Catullus are : 
 
 (i ) She was, at the time when Catullus first knew her, a married woman, 
 LXVIIL 145, 6 Sed furtiua dedit mira munuscula node, Ipsius ex ipso 
 dempta uiri gremio, words too definite to be explained of any other con- 
 nexion : cf. LXVIII. (>*i Is clausum lato patefecit limite campum. 
 
 (2) Her first meeting with Catullus was secret {furtiua munuscula 
 LXVIIL 145) in the house of Allius (LXVIII. 68-72). 
 
 (3) She was unfaithful to Catullus, at first within bounds {Rara uere- 
 cundae furta feremus herae LXVIII. 136), afterwards with an increasing 
 number of paramours, Cum suis uiuat ualeatque moechis Quos simul com- 
 plexa tenet trecentos XL 17, 18, Ham boni beatique Omnes amatis, ei 
 quidem quod indignum est, Omnes pusilli et semitarii moechi XXXVII. 
 14-16, finally with the rabble of Rome LVIII. 
 
 (4) Amongst these paramours were Egnatius XXXVII. 17, Gellius 
 XCI. 9, 10, Quintius LXXXII. 3, 4 compared with CIV. 2, perhaps 
 Rufus LXXVII. 7, 8, if these verses belong to that poem, finally a person 
 who from his connexion with her is named Lesbius LXXIX. 
 
Ivi PROLEGOMENA. 
 
 (5) The poems of Catullus made her famous in the lifetime of the 
 poet, XLIII. 7, LVIII. I : the same inference may be drawn from XVI. 
 12, which seems to refer to V, VII. 
 
 (6) She was not only beautiful (II. 5, XLIII. 7, LXVIII. 70, 133, 
 LXXXVI. 5, 6) but witty and accompiished, XXXVI. 17. 
 
 (7) She was already unfaithful to Catullus at the time LXVIIP (4 i-i 60) 
 was written, not long after the death of his brother. This must have been 
 before his journey to Bithynia, which seems to fall either in 57 b. c. or 
 65-64 B. c. On the former hypothesis, allowing three or four years for 
 the rise and progress of the amour, its commencement may be placed in 
 the years 62-60 (lungclaussen Schwabe Westphal Bahrens) ; on the 
 Jnmi^ view in 69-67. Whether we assume as the birth-year of Catullus 
 Jerome's date 87 b. c. or suppose him to have been born three years 
 later in 84, his age would well suit either of the two hypotheses above 
 mentioned ; on the former he would have been from 25 to 21 years old; 
 on the latter from 16 to 20. 
 
 (8) Lesbia, though still called mea puella, was virtually estranged from 
 Catullus when he wrote XI, which from the allusions to Caesar's conquest 
 of Britain was probably composed in 54 b. 0. 
 
 With this outline compare the facts of Clodia's hfe as stated by Cicero 
 in his oration pro Caelio and elsewhere. 
 
 (i) Clodia was married to Q. Metellus Celer at least as early as 691 | 
 63 1 (Fam. v. 2. 6, quoted by Schwabe Quaestt. p. 60). He died in 
 695 I 59i S'S was suspected poisoned by his wife, Pro Gael. xxiv. 59. 
 60, whence Caelius ap. Quintil. viii. 6. 53 called Clodia quadrantaria 
 Clytaemnesira. 
 
 (2-4), (7-8). Q. Metellus Celer, who was one of the praetors in 63 the 
 year of Cicero's consulship, was sent in the latter part of that year into 
 Cisalpine Gaul with proconsular power, and the army which had been 
 decreed to Cicera During his absence Cicero visited his wife Clodia, to 
 prevent, if possible, the steps which Celer's brother, Q. Metellus Nepos, 
 was taking against him : in spite of which Nepos interfered as tribune to 
 prevent Cicero's addressing the people on the events of his consulship 
 on the last day of the year. (Fam. v. 2. 6.) Celer seems to have been 
 absent from Rome some time '^ though he was in Rome at the end of 61, 
 
 * Fam. V. ■£. 6 Egi cum Claudia uxors iua et cum uesira sorore Mucia — vt eum ah ilia 
 iniuria deterrerent (Metellus Nepos, who was actively opposing Cicero as tribunus plebis). 
 Atqui illct quod te audisse certo scio pridie Kal. lanuarias, qua iniuria nemo umquam in 
 minima magislratu improbissimus ciuis adfectus est, ea me consulem ad/ecil cum rem 
 publicam conseruassem, atque abeuntem magistralu conlionis habendae poleslate priuauit. 
 Hence the interview between Cicero and Clodia must have been at the end of 63. 
 
 ' To give time for the incident mentioned by Plin. H.N. ii. 1 70 Idem Nepos de 
 septentrionali circuitu tradit Q. Metello Celeri, L. Afranii in Consulatu collegae, sed turn 
 
PROLEGOMENA. Ivii 
 
 and was then consul elect (Att.i. 17.9) : during his absence in 62 his 
 •wife must have been in frequent correspondence with Cicero, if the story 
 mentioned by Plutarch Cic. 29 is true— that Clodia wished to marry the 
 orator and attempted to negotiate the matter by means of a certain 
 Tullus, whose constant visits to Clodia's house aroused the jealous 
 suspicions of Terentia, and obliged Cicero in self-defence to turn against 
 Clodius at the time of his trial early in 61. Hence Clodia must have 
 already (63-61) been suspected of infidelity to her husband, for which 
 indeed she had many precedents in her family, as her sister Clodia, the 
 wife of L. Lucullus, and Mucia, the half-sister of the two Metelli and wife 
 of Pompeius, were both notorious as adultresses ^ long before they were 
 divorced by their husbands after returning to Rome from the East, the 
 former in 66, the latter in 61. (Plut. Lucull. 38, Pomp. 42)^ Thus in 
 60 when Q. Metellus Celer was consul Cicero says Clodia was at war 
 with him (Att. ii. 1.5); and the scandalous story of her incestuous con- 
 nexion with her brother Publius so often alluded to by Cicero and others 
 was then matter of public notoriety (Att. ii. i. 5, Plut. Cic. 29), It is 
 in allusion to this that Cicero calls her'Hpa j3omTrK(Att. ii. 9. 1, 12. 2, 14. i 
 22. 5, 23. 3, Schwabe Quaestt. p. 6'o). In 645 | 59 M. Caelius Rufus who 
 had just returned from Africa and was beginning his career as an orator by 
 a successful accusation of C. Antonius (Cael. xxxi. 74) took a house on the 
 Palatine and became one of the paramours of the now widowed Clodia 
 (Cael. viii. 18) : the intimacy had ceased when Caelius was accused by 
 L. Sempronius Atratinus in 56 of taking money from Clodia to secure 
 the death of the Alexandrian envoy Dio, and attempting to poison 
 Clodia herself. But at the time when this trial took place, Cicero, who 
 defended Caelius in the still extant oration pro Caelio ", describes Clodia as 
 
 Galliae proconsuU, Indos a rege Suevoruvi dono datos qui ex India commercii causa naui- 
 gantes tempestaiibus essent in Germaniam abrepti. The same story in Mel. iii. 5. It 
 seems incredible that this should refer, as A. W. Zumpt thinks (Studia Romana, p. 64), 
 to a supposed subsequent command in Gallia Narbonensis ; for Dion C. expressly 
 States that Metellus did not leave Rome at the end of his consular year, and the 
 gifts mentioned by Pliny and Mela must surely have been sent to the proconsul in 
 Gaul. 
 ' The mother of Metellus Nepos was also accused of adultery, Plut. Cic. 26. 
 " Sest. xvii. 39, Pis. xii. 28, Cael. xiii. 32, xv. 36, xxxii. 78 mulier cum suo coniuge el 
 fratre, ad Q. Fr. ii. 3. i. 
 
 ' Cael. xiii. 32 Quam omnes semper amicam omnium potius quam cuiusquam 
 inimicam putauerunt. 
 
 XV. 36 Habes hortos ad Tiberim ac diligenter eo loco parasti quo omnis iuuentus 
 natandi causa uenit : hinc licet condiciones quotidie legas. 
 
 xvi. 38 Nihil iam in istam mulierem dico, sed si esset aliqua dissimilis istius quae se 
 omnibus peruulgaret, quae haberet palam decretum semper aliquem cuius in hortos 
 domum Baias iure suo lihidines omnium commearent, quae etiam aleret adulescentes 
 et parsim oniam patrum suis sumptibus sustentaret, si uidua libere, proterua petulanter 
 
Iviii PROLEGOMENA. 
 
 a shameless and perfectly abandoned woman, admitting lovers indis- 
 criminately to her house, supporting them with her wealth, surrounding 
 herself with all the externals of a prostitute, and proclaiming her infamy 
 not only by her presence at Baiae and other places notoriously scandalous 
 but by her attendants, conversation, dress, walk, and even by the licen- 
 tiousness of her look, and the unblushing freedom with which she kissed 
 and embraced men. From her notorious profligacy she was commonly 
 known as Quadranlaria, a nick-name alluded to by Caelius and Cicero ' ; 
 that she was besides very powerful is evident not only from the whole 
 tenor of the pro Caelio'^ but from the repeated references to her in Cicero's 
 letters. It is not known how long she lived after this. 
 
 (6) The Bobbian Scholia on Pro Sest. liv, p. 304 Orelli, mention 
 Clodia's skill in dancing Clodiam generis patricii feminam sororem huius, 
 cum qua et ipse in/amis erat, ueteres literae iradunt studiosam fuisse saltatidi 
 profusius et immoderatius quam matronam deceret, cf. Att. ii. 1.5 ^ic^^ etiam 
 alteruni {pedem) tollas, perhaps an allusion to this, though the passage is 
 obscure. Cicero alludes to her glowing eyes {flagr antes oculos Har. 
 Respons. xviii. '^%,flagrantia oculorum Cael. xx. 49) and calls her^omn-ts ; 
 terms not complimentary in themselves, but consistent with a command- 
 ing self-asserting beauty. 
 
 diues effuse, libidinosa meretricio more uiueret, adulterum ego putarem, si quis hanc 
 palilo liberius salutasset ? 
 
 XX. 49 Si qua non nupta mulier domum suam patefecerit omnium cupiditati 
 palamque sese in meretricia uita coUocarit, uirorum alienissimorum conuiuiis uti 
 instituerit : si hoc in urbe, si in hortis, si in Baiarum ilia celebritate facial, si denique 
 ita sese gerat non incessu solum, sed ornatu atque comitatu, non flagrantia oculorum, 
 non libertate sermonis, sed etiam complexu osculatione aquis nauigatione conuiuiis, ut 
 non solum meretrix, sed etiam proterua meretrix procaxque uideatur. 
 
 xxii. 5 Crimen profertur ex inimica ex infami ex crudeli ex facinorosa ex libidinosa 
 domo. xxiii. 57 in eiusmodi domo in qua mater familias meretricio more uiuat, in qua 
 nihil agatur quod foras proferundum sit. 
 
 ^ Plut. Cic. 29 KA.(u5iai/ 51 MereWos 6 K^Xfp e?x*v %v KovaSpavrapiav iic6\ovv oTt 
 Toiv tpaffTwv Tis avTTJ x"^«oi/s ifi^aXixiv (is ^aXdvriov dts dpyiipiov elffeirefuf/e' t6 Se 
 Xi-nrSraTov tov xa\«o£ voiiiff/MiTos KovaSp&yrtjv eK&kovv. Itti ravry pAXiffTa rm> dSeA^Si/ 
 Kaxws fiKovaiv i KXdiSios, Quintil. viii. 6. 53 Haec allegoria quae est obscurior aenigma 
 dicitur, uitium meo quidem iudicio ; quo tamen et poetae utuntur et oratores non- 
 nunquam, ut Caelius quadrantariam Clytaemnestram et in triclinio Coam in cubiculo 
 nolam. Cael. xxvi. 62 Nisi forte mulier potens quadranlaria ilia permutalione 
 familiaris facta erat balneatori. Cf. xxix. 69 Omnia quae cum turpitudine aliqua 
 dicerentur, in istam quadrare viderentur. The meaniiig of the word is explained 
 by Plutarch, though the story he mentions was perhaps invented ; Clodia admitted 
 her lovers for the least possible gratuity, a quadrans, the sum paid for a public bath, 
 Hor. S. i. 3. 137, Juuen. vi. 447, Sen. Epist. 86. 9. Cf. diobolare proslibulum in Plautus. 
 
 ' Cael. xxxii. 78 In hac ciuitate ne patiamini ilium absolutum muliebri gratia, 
 M. Caelium libidini muliebri condonatum, ne eadem mulier cum suo coniuge et fratre 
 (her brother Publius)etturpissimum latronem eripuisse et, honestissimum adulescentem 
 oppressisse uideatur. 
 
PROLEGOMENA. lix 
 
 Schwabe is perhaps right in supposing the words of Cicero Gael, xxvii. 
 64 uelut haec Ma fabella ueleris et plurimarum fabularum poeiriae quam 
 est sine argumento, quam nullum inuemre exitum potest, to be a veiled 
 allusion to Clodia's literary tastes. 
 
 There is thus a general agreement between the facts of Glodia's life 
 as stated by Gicero and of Lesbia's as stated by Catullus. Both were 
 married, unfaithful to their husbands, and at last infamous for their pro- 
 fligacy; both were impetuous in their feelings, unskilful in concealing 
 the strength of their passion, and when once they had thrown aside 
 decorum found with profligate company and in scandalous resorts. 
 
 Besides this general agreement, there are also particular points which 
 tend to identify them. 
 
 1. Glodia bad amongst her lovers M. Caelius Rufus : Catullus in 
 LXXVII upbraids a certain Rufus * with betraying his friendship, de- 
 priving him of all he had (omnia nostra bona, cf. LXVIII. 158 ^ quo sunt 
 prima omnia nata bona, which means Lesbia), and if the verses Sed nunc 
 id doleo quod pur ae pur a puellae — carta loquetur anus, belong to the same 
 poem, of criminal intimacy with Lesbia. 
 
 2. Lesbia is repeatedly associated by Catullus with Venus and Cupid 
 IIL i,Xm. II, 12, XXXVL 3,4, 11-17, LXVIIL 135, LXXXVL 6. 
 Clodia, according to Gael, xxi, possessed a statue of Venus which she 
 decked with the spoils of her lovers, 52 Tune (ausa es) Venerem illam tuam 
 spoliare ornamentis spoliatricem ceferorum f ib. tua hospitalis ilia Venus. 
 
 3. Catullus often mentions Jupiter and Juno in connexion with Lesbia 
 LXX. 2 Non si se luppiter ipse petal, LXXIL 2 Nee prae me uelle tenere 
 louem : cf. LXVIII. 137-140, where the infidelities of Lesbia to Catullus 
 are compared with those of Jupiter to Juno. It is obvious that Cicero's 
 joke on Glodia as "Hpa ^ommt would have much more point if it alluded 
 to something habitual in her conversation or associations. 
 
 4. Catullus amongst other attacks on Lesbia accuses her (LXXIX) of 
 preferring to himself a man whom he calls Lesbius; this Lesbius was 
 vain of his personal beauty (pulcer) and a man scouted for disgusting 
 vices. 
 
 Lesbius est pulcer. Quidni ? quern Lesbia malit 
 
 Quam te cum tota gente, CatuUe, tua. 
 Sed tamen hie pulcer uendat cum gente CatuUum, 
 
 Si tria natorum (al. notorum) sauia reppererit. 
 
 If Lesbia is Clodia, Lesbius will be Glodius. Then the whole epigram 
 
 1 LXIX, also to Rufus, says nothing about Lesbia : LVIII is probably addressed to 
 the same Caelius who is mentioned in C as a Veronese and faithful to Catullus at the 
 height of his passion ; hence cannot be Caelius Rufus, as Riese has shown. 
 
Ix PROLEGOMENA. 
 
 stands out with a lucid clearness of reference, which gives every word a 
 meaning. The allusion is to the incestuous intercourse of P. Clodius 
 Pulcer with his sister', which was not only one of the scandals of the day, 
 but the subject of libellous epigrams, as Cicero informs us ad Q. Fr. 
 ii. 3. 2. Tola gente'xn 2 will be an allusion to the gens Clodia, in its double 
 sense (Q. Fr. ii. 13. 2, Sest. xxxviii. 81): in 3 uendit would well apply 
 to Clodius, who put up to sale the effects of Ptolemy, king of Cyprus, 
 and of whom Cicero says Har. Resp. xxvii. 58 reges qui erant, ucndidit : 
 qui non erant, appellauit : 4 whatever its particular meaning (see 
 ad loc.) would sufficiently agree with the description of P. Clodius 
 left us by Cicero in his letters and orations. See especially the 
 fragments of the speech in Clodium et Curionem, pp. 947-950 vol. iv 
 Orelli. 
 
 5. Clodia was noMlis, as well as nota. Lesbia was certainly nota, 
 perhaps nobilis : Catullus says he fought great battles to obtain her, was 
 in despair of doing so (LXVIII. 53), and only succeeded by help of his 
 friend AUius (possibly himself a man of rank 151), who threw open to him 
 a field otherwise closed, and provided a house where Lesbia could meet 
 him secretly. All this might: well apply to a woman whose position 
 made an amour with her dangerous, and if Catullus calls Lesbia Candida 
 diua (70), and determines to content himself with being the most 
 favoured of her lovers (148), it seems at least possible that some superiority 
 of rank made the former expression no mere hyperbole. No great weight 
 as invalidating this theory can be given to the character of Lesbia as 
 drawn in the earher poems, especially those on the sparrow '. In these, 
 it is true, she is shown in a playful mood little in accordance with all we 
 know of Clodia ; such as we may believe the Delia of TibuUus, or Ovid's 
 Corinna to have been. But in the first of these very poems there is an 
 undertone of passion hardly in accordance with the general softness of the 
 music ; the gram's acquiescii ardor belongs not to the light emotions of a 
 Delia, but to the as yet undeveloped intensity of a nature potentially un- 
 
 1 The particular charge to which LXXIX. 4 would most naturally allude (LXXX) 
 is not expressly brought against Pub. Clodius (Schwabe p. 90 sqq.) : Cicero ascribes 
 it to Sex. Clodius, one of Publius' worst supporters, and this in connexion with Clodia 
 (de Domo x. 25, xviii. 47, xxxi. 83, de Harusp. Responsis vi. 11, Cael. xxxii. 78): 
 hence Lipsius considered the epigram Lesbius est pulcer to allude to Sextus Clodius, 
 and so Biihrens, who considers him to be ironically included as a gentilis of the Claudii. 
 But this spoils the epigram ; both pulcer and uendat thus lose their meaning. Schwabe 
 seems right in suggesting that the descriptions of Pub. Clodius in Cicero's orations 
 might include this, see especially Sest. vii. 16 Omni inaudila libidine in/amis. I think 
 Cicero intends to allude to it in Q. Fr. ii. 3. 2. 
 
 2 See the arguments of Riese in Fleckeisen and Masius' Neue lahrbiicher fiir 
 Philologie for 1872, pp. 747-756. 
 
PROLEGOMENA. Ixi 
 
 governable, though still restrained ; on the other hand the description 
 of Clodia left us by Cicero, belongs to her later period and cannot be 
 taken as an indication of what she had been ; even if we believe all he 
 tells us, which assuredly we need not. If again it is argued that the tone 
 of some of the love-poems is suited to an ordinary passion for a libertina 
 married or living in a quasi-connubial connexion with a uir (Riese), not 
 to an amour with a woman of high rank, e. g. LXXXIII. i LesMa mi 
 praesente uiro compared with Am. i. 4 Vir tuus est epulas nobis aditurus 
 easdem, Tib. i. 2. 21, 41. i. 6. 8, 15, 33, and even more VIII, especially 
 14 sqq. At iu dolebis cum rogaberis nulla. Scelesta f ne te. Quae tibi manet 
 uita P Quis nunc ie adibit i' cui uideberis bella ? Quern nunc amabis ? cuius 
 esse diceris ? Quern basiabis ? cui labella mordebis ? words which seem 
 to contain threats of destitution and actual poverty little suited to the 
 wealthy supporter of a troop of lovers, the fashionable and admired 
 Clodia ; we may reply that if these poems belong, as seems clear, to an 
 early period of the connexion, there would be a reason for writing in 
 terms which would veil its real character ; if Lesbia was already known 
 as Lesbia Calulli, which may perhaps be inferred from the words cuius 
 esse diceris i' that is all which the public at large as yet knew, though the 
 secret would doubtless soon be known to the intimate friends of the poet, 
 and eventually to all or at least to most of those to whom his works were 
 familiar. Or again, we might compare VIII with XXXVII Salax taberna, 
 LVIII Caeli, Lesbia nostra, Lesbia ilia, not to conclude as Riese has 
 concluded, that Catullus' mistress went through the life of an ordinary 
 meretrix, beginning perhaps as the concubina of a single man, and end- 
 ing as a prostibulum, but to show that the vicious tendencies which in 
 XXXVII betray themselves in the low haunts where Lesbia is found sitting 
 with her paramours, and which in LVIII have reached the last degra- 
 dation of the streets, had already so far revealed themselves before the 
 quarrel which preceded VIII as to justify what is perhaps only the 
 language of amatory reproach in its most earnest and indignant form. 
 At any rate the wording of VIII is suflSciently general not to be inconsis- 
 tent m\h the hypothesis that it is addressed to a woman of rank; no single 
 word hints that Lesbia was inferior in position to her lover. And if this 
 is so, it seems only fair to judge this poem by the light of the others on 
 the same subject. These, as we have seen, taken as a whole, exhibit a 
 character closely resembling that of Clodia as drawn by Cicero, and with 
 one particular agreement of the strongest kind — the allusion in the 
 Epigram Lesbius est pulcer. How strong this is we can judge by com- 
 paring it with Riese's explanation. According to him the Clodia men- 
 tioned by Apuleius as the real Lesbia of Catullus was a libertina of the 
 Claudia gens ; she had contracted an amour with some Claudius, ^^^a/f 
 
Ixii PROLEGOMENA. 
 
 the well-known Publius Claudius ^ Pulcer. This would account for the 
 double Lesbius and Lesbia, and if Lesbius is P. Clodius, for the allu- 
 sions to him ; but the real point, that which gives the epigram its sting, 
 explains its form and makes each line significant— the allusion to the 
 incestuous intercourse of the brother Clodius and the sister Clodia — 
 is lost, and with it the Roman definiteness of purpose which characterizes 
 all the best epigrams of Catullus. Nor is it possible to give much 
 weight to another remark of Riese's, that the identification of Lesbia 
 with Clodia, the wife of Metellus Celer, raises a literary difficulty which 
 we should be glad to avoid, — the consecration in poetry of an adul- 
 terous passion. It may be true that the Romans shrunk from the 
 exhibition of such passions in an undisguised and declared form, and it 
 is certain that no great work has preserved the actual names connected 
 with such an amour. Yet who could venture to deiine with exactness 
 the relations of Delia to TibuUus, or of Corinna to Ovid f Granting, what 
 is not clear, that they were not forrnally married to the men who stand to 
 them in the relation of uir, sometimes coniunx, is it certain that their 
 connexion with an extraneous lover would not have been considered 
 adulterous ? In the case of Ovid at least such an inference would be very 
 unsafe. In an elegy not less remarkable for the finish of its language than 
 the insolence of its profligacy (Am. iii. 4), Ovid advises Corlnna's husband 
 {uir I, 44,marifus 27) not to keep his wife {uxor 45) under lock and key, 
 with the view of securing her chastity {casta 3) ; even if her body remains 
 untouched, her mind will play the adultress {aduliera mms est 5), and when 
 the door is barred against all comers, there will still be an adulterer within 
 (Omnibus occlusis intus adulter erit 8). Penelope was pure because 
 Ulysses left her free : Corinna is in danger because her husband is 
 jealous (29). Those who five at Rome must comply with the fashion 
 of the town and put up with their wives' infidelities {Rusticus est nimium, 
 quem laedit aduliera coniunx 37) : let him make the best of his bargain 
 and pay his court to the numerous friends his wife will find him (45). 
 Ovid indeed tells us himself that one reason of his banishment was 
 that he taught adultery {doctor adulterii Tvist. ii. 2r2), a charge hardly 
 justified by his Ars alone (Trist. ii. 240-256) and doubtless assignable 
 to the confusion of that work with his Amores. And whatever the 
 
 ' Riese considers the form of the name Clodia (rfot Claudia) to indicate that it did 
 not belong to a person of high rank ; but Dion C. expressly states that Clodius was 
 the habitual, Claudius the less common, name of the famous Publius, xxxvii. 16 
 IIoiiTrAiiJs Tis KAiSios tv 'KXaiiMv Tives iic&\(aav, and Publius' sister is spelt Clodia 
 in the MSS of the pro Caelio, xxv. 6i, and four times in xiii in contradistinction 
 to Quinta Claudia, Vestalis Claudia xiv ; so Clodium et Clodiam of the brother and 
 sister, Q. Fr. ii. 3. 2 ; on the other hand in Fam. <,. i.d the MSS give Claudia, and so 
 Cicero perhaps wrote, as he is there addressing her husband. 
 
PROLEGOMENA. Ixiii 
 
 nature of the connexion of TibuUus and Delia, it is certainly reprobated 
 in the Tristia as teaching married women (nuptae) to sin, Trist. ii. 
 447-464. Yet Augustus had taken public morals under his especial 
 supervision, and if literature dealt with sentimental exhibitions of vicious 
 or at least not legalized love, it was under the direct protest of govern- 
 ment. This could not be said of the age of Catullus, an age of lawless 
 and unchecked licence in every way; when a man as correct in life 
 as Cicero could bandy indecent jokes with Clodius in the Senate, and 
 draw highly coloured pictures of the worst vices of his time in one 
 speech after another. If then Catullus idealized an adulterous passion, 
 the utmost that could be expected from him would be to show some 
 reserve in concealing the name of his mistress ; and this he has done. 
 If we think of the freedom which he has shown in other cases, e. g. 
 Ammiana, Aufilena, Juventius, we shall see that there must have been a 
 motive for his silence in this ; delicacy and the natural tenderness of a 
 lover for his mistress would no doubt do something ; literary consistency 
 would retain the disguised name when it had once become known ; but 
 it seems no improbable guess that the name was in the first instance 
 disguised because the amour was dangerous, as we know from the poet's 
 own words ; and if it was dangerous, it is more than probable that the 
 object of it was a woman of high rank. 
 
 Lastly, the identification of Lesbia with Clodia would be in accord- 
 ance with the rule laid down by Acron on Hor. S. i. 2. 6^Eodem numero 
 syllabarum, commutationem nominum facit, where he gives as instances 
 Licymnia Malchinus Villius for Terenlia Maecenas Annius. 
 
ERRATA. 
 
 Page 119, line 1,for "hollowing" r^oif " holloing." 
 Page 133, line d, for "from morn onwards" read "from noon 
 onwards." 
 
A COMMENTARY ON CATULLUS. 
 
 I. 
 
 In this poem Catullus dedicates his work to Cornelius Nepos (Auson. 
 Praef. ad Pacatum, 1-3), a countryman of his own {Padi accola, Plin. H. 
 N. iii. 127, cf. Plin. Epist. iv. 28, Municipum iuorum, Cornelii Nepolis et T. 
 Catti), and a man of some eminence in Uterature. Cornelius Nepos had 
 fostered the young poet at the outset of his career, probably had praised 
 his poems in a work of his own (vv. 3-8), seemingly the Chronica men- 
 tioned by Ausonius, Epist. xvi. Apologos Tiliani et Nepolis Chronica, quasi 
 alios apologos, nam et ipsa instar sunt fabularum . . . misi (TeufFel, History 
 of Roman Literature, 185. 3). Perhaps, as Teuffel suggests, 185. 2, 
 Catullus had been recommended toTiis compatriot on his first arrival in 
 Rome. 
 
 It is uncertain whether the poem is intended as a dedication of all that 
 Catullus wrote, or only of his shorter and lighter lyrics. The latter view 
 has been maintained by Biiiner (Acta Societatis Fennicae, vii. 601-656). 
 (i) Catullus calls his work libellus, a word hardly applicable to so many 
 poems in such various metres, and actually used of short single pieces, 
 as by Statius of each of his siluae, Praef. to Bk. I. (2) This would 
 be more likely to hold good at a time when papyrus was still the 
 ordinary material for writing-purposes, and parchment, which seems to 
 have come into general use only towards the close of the first century. 
 A. D., was rare. Ritschl has estimated the smallest number of lines in 
 each column or page (Plin. xiii. 80) of a papyrus roll at about 25, the largest 
 at about 50^ The number of lines in our MSS. of Catullus is somewhat 
 under 2300; estimating 30 lines for each page, the liber or libellus would 
 have contained 76 or 77 pages in alF; yet of the Herculanean papyri only 
 
 ' The papyrus of Philodemus ircpl ipytis as exhibited in Gompertz' transcript con- 
 tains as a rule 40 lines in each column, sometimes 38 or 42, rarely less or more. 
 ' There are 809 lines in the shorter poems, 
 
 811 „ in the Epithalamia, Attis, and Peleus and Thetis, 
 
 326 „ in the Elegies, 
 
 330 „ in the Epigrams. 
 
 2276 
 But this takes no account of the intervals between each poem, or of lost verses or 
 poems. In the first section the intervals alone would add 60 lines at least, in the 
 second 4, in the third 4, in the last 48. This would raise each section respectively to 
 869, 815, 330, 378 ; and in a moderate computation of the lines lost, the first section 
 must have contained at least 900 lines, the second about 830, the third about 360, the 
 last about 400. 
 
 ,'- i. B 
 
2 A COMMENTARY 
 
 two have as many as 70 pages, and these are prose-treatises, for which, 
 according to Isidorus, a larger size of roll was used than for poems or 
 letters (Origg. vi. 12. i). (3) The poems as we have them, fall natm-ally 
 into three sections ; the shorter lyrical poems I-LX, the longer poems 
 LXI-LXVIII, the Epigrams ; or, if we again divide the longer poems 
 into Elegiac and non-Elegiac or Lyrico-Epic, into four. Each one of 
 these would have made a libellus as large as one of the five libelli which 
 originally formed Ovid's Amores, larger than any of Statius' Siluae, or than 
 any except the first three of the eight libri ascribed to Virgil by Servius 
 (Prolegom. Aeneid), the Ciris, Aetna, Culex, Priapia, Catalecta, Epigram- 
 mata, Copa, or Dirae. (4) c. I. is not the only poem in which Catullus 
 commends his works to the favourable judgment of posterity. The frag- 
 ment xiv b. Si qui forte mearum ineptiarum Lee tores eriiis manusque uestras 
 Nan horreUtis admouere nobis may belong, as Bruner suggests, to a lost 
 epilogue : they may also have been part of another prologue ; as Ovid 
 ends the third book of the Tristia with the same words of apology with 
 which he begins the fourth; iii. 14. 51, 2, Qualemcunque igitur uenia 
 dignare libellum, Sortis ei excusa conditione meae ; iv. i. 1, Si qua meis 
 fuerint, ut erunt, uitiosa libellis, Excusata suo tempore lector habe. On 
 either hypothesis it is improbable that the libellus extended to the longer 
 poems, which could not have been called nugae or ineptiae. (5) The 
 poem to Ortalus, c. LXV, may have been intended as a sort of dedica- 
 tion ; and at least would form a very appropriate commencement to the 
 volume of Elegies. It was a common practice of the time to dedicate 
 different parts of the same work to different persons : Varro dedicated 
 three books of his De Lingua Latina to Septimius, books v-xxv to Cicero 
 (Teuffel, 155. 2). (6) This view is not at variance with the language of 
 ancient authors when they speak of Catullus. Thus Seneca i(Controu. 
 vii. 19) and Charisius, 97 K, quote two of the hendecasyllabic poems 
 with the words Catullus in hendecasyllabis, perhaps = ' his volume of hen- 
 decasyllables;' Quintilian, ix. 3. 16, cites LXII. 45 as in Epithalamio ; 
 Terentianus Maurus 2899, quoting the first line of the Attis, says, 
 Seruare quae Catullum probat ipse tibi liber Super alta — maria, where liber 
 seems to mean the work itself, i.e. the Attis, not the total collection of Cat- 
 ullus' poems; and Martial's line, iv, 14. 14, Magna mittere passer em Maroni, 
 if not xi. 6. 16, Donabo tibi passerem Catulli, are perhaps rightly explained 
 by Bruner of a separate issue of the Passer poems either alone or with 
 other lyrics. (7) Ausonius twice quotes the first line of Catullus' dedication, 
 Praef. ad Pacatum, 1-3, Cui done lepidum nouum libellum J' Veronensis ait 
 poeta quondam, Inuentoque dedit statim Nepoti, and Eid. xi. (iv. ed. Vinetus) 
 Latebat inter nugas meas libellus ignobilis . . . Hunc ego cum uelut gallic 
 naceus Euclionis situ cartel pulueris eruissem, excussum relegi, atque ut 
 auidus faemrator improbum. numum malui occupare quam condere. Dein 
 cogitans mecum, non illud Catullianum Cui dono lepidum nouum libellum 
 sed dfiova-onpov et uerius Cui dono illepidum rudem libellum non diu quae- 
 siui . . . Igitur iste nugator libellus, iam diu secreta quidem sed uolgi lectione 
 laceratus, perueniet tandem in manus tuas. . . . Ac ne me nescias gloriosum, 
 caeptos inter prandendum uersiculos ante cenae tempus absolui. Then fol- 
 lows the poem on the number three in 9 1 hexameters, i. e. the libellus itself. 
 What the libellus was in the former passage is not clear, but if, as seems 
 probable, it was the poem Quod uitae sectabor iter? which follows it in 
 
ON CATULLUS. L 3 
 
 the anUquus Lugdunensis codex (Vinetus, ad loc), this libelltis also was 
 a composition of 50 Rnes. It seems unlikely that Ausonius should chal- 
 lenge comparison between his own libelli and Catullus' libellus, if the 
 latter instead of containing less than 100 verses contained more than 
 2000. 
 
 On these grounds I consider it improbable that the poem to Cornelius 
 was written by Catullus as a dedicatory preface to his whole works, 
 although this is the received opinion and has the sanction of Bentley 
 (Pref. to Horace). It may have been meant as a preface to the shorter 
 poems collectively, or, as these would have made a large liber, to some 
 of them. It may be objected that the last three lines, especially the 
 solemn iprayer quod, pairona Virgo, Plus uno maneai perenne saeclo, 
 are less suitable to a few short lyrics than as a proem to the greater 
 works of Catullus, the Epithalamia, Attis, and Nuptials of Peleus. But 
 we must remember that it is the Lesbia-poems and the iambics upon 
 Mamurra that gave Catullus his chief reputation; and if he looks for 
 immortality from these alone, he only does what Horace did after him, 
 when at the end of the second book of his Odes he prophesies the 
 world-wide renown his winged songs will bring him, and again in the 
 last ode of bk. iii. declares that he will survive the waste of time, as the 
 first who naturalized Aeolian lyrics in Italy. So too Ovid predicts his 
 immortality as the poet of the Amores at the end of the first of our three 
 books, and again in the list elegy of the third. 
 
 1 SQLq. The poet imagines a copy of his work just brought in fresh 
 from the bookseller's, and considers to whom he shall dedicate it. So 
 Martial iii. 2. i, Cuius uis fieri, libelle, munus i' . . . Fausiini fugis in sinum : 
 
 sapisti. Cf. Meleager's MoCtra <^iXa, tIvi ravSc (jjepiis TrdyKapnov doi.Sdv ; 
 
 1. Qm. Munro (Camb. Journal of Philol. iv. 247) would preserve 
 here, II. 3, XXIV. 5, Lucr. iv. 44, the MS. reading Qui, an old form of the 
 dative. So Verg. E. iv. 62, qui nan risere parenies. Nee deus hunc, but 
 cf. Quintil. ix. 3. 8. dono, ' am I to give?' So Eun. iii. r. 44, Sed heus 
 tu purgon' ego me de istac Thaidi? luuen. iii. 296, in qua ie quaero pro- 
 seucha? iv. 130, Quidnam igitur censes? conciditur ? and the frequent 
 quid ago? Aen. iv. 535, x. 675. lepidTim nouum libellum, not 
 nouom. Observe the triple -um, an assonance quite in the manner of 
 Catullus; XL VI. 11, Diuersae uariae uiae ; XLVIII. i, Mellitos oculos 
 tuos. 
 
 2. arido p. Mart. viii. 72. 1-3, Nondum murice cultus asperoque Morsu 
 pumicis aridi politus. Pumice was proverbially dry. Cf. Aul. ii. 4. 
 18, where see Wagner. Expolitum, see on XXII. 8. 
 
 3. Cornell, tibi. Direct answer to a direct question, as in C. 5. Cui 
 faueam poHus? Caeli, tibi. Leutsch, Philologus, xxvi. 91, thinks the 
 
 Cornelius alluded to may be the bookseller mentioned by Fronto, p. 20, 
 Naber. Similarly QuintiUan addresses his publisher Tryphon in the 
 Preface of his work ; but this is with a special object, viz. ut in nmnus 
 hominum quam emendatissimi ueniant (libri). 
 
 4. Meas and Qualecunque in v. 9 show that Catullus did not avoid 
 either iambi or trochees in the first foot of his best hendecasyllabic 
 poems; see my Excursus in vol. i. against Mommsen. aliquid, 
 'something worth.' Att. iv. 2. 2, si unquam in dicendo fuimus aliquid. 
 
4 A COMMENTARY 
 
 nugas, particularly applied to short poems of an epigrammatic character 
 Mart. ix. l. 5, Ilk ego sum nulli nugarum laude secundus ; ii. 86. 9, 10 
 Turpe est difficiles habere nugas ei stultus labor est ineptiarum ; vii. 26 
 7, 8, Quanto mearum sets amore nugarum Flagret. 
 
 5. lam tiim, a considerable time before this dedication was written ; 
 how long there is nothing to determine. unus Italorum, 'as no 
 other Italian had done.' Both Varro, in his Annalium Ubri tres (Teuffel, 
 154. 4), and Atticus, in his Annalis (Brut. iii. 13, iv. 15, v. 19; Att. xii. 
 23. 2), seem to have written historical compendiums (Teuffel, 159. i), 
 Either Corn. Nepos' Chronica was pubUshed before these, or they were 
 resumes of Roman, not universal history. Italorum. There were 
 several epitomes of history in Greek, e.g. by Apollodorus. 
 
 6. omne aeuum, ' all time,' i. e. the history of all time. Cicero 
 speaks very similarly of Atticus' Annalis, Brut. iii. 13, Ubri quo iste omnem 
 rerum memoriam breuiter et . . . perdiligenter complexus est; Orat. xxxiv. 
 120, conseruatis notattsque temporibus . . . annorum septingentorum memo- 
 riam una libro colligauit. explicare, ' to set forth in order,' ut ex- 
 plicatis ordinibus temporum uno in conspectu omnia uiderem, as Cicero 
 says of- Atticus' Annalis, Brut. iv. 15. cartis seems here = 'books;' 
 so in Trist. iii. i. i, 4, liber and carta seem used indifferently. " 
 
 7. laboriosis. Gellius notices this passive use of the word as peculiar. 
 N. A. ix. 12, C. Caluus in poematis labor iosus dicit non ut uolgo dicitur qui 
 laborat sed in quo lahoratur. Durum, inquit, rusjugis et laboriosum. The 
 more common expression would have been operosis. B. G. viii. Praef. 4. 
 
 8. quicqiiid hoc lltaelli, as in Aen. i. 78, quodcunque hoc regni ; 
 ix. 287, huius quodcunque pericli. 
 
 9. Qualecimque, like quicquid libelli, self-depreciatory; 'this slight 
 book such as it is.' patrona uirgo, 'the Muse:' quia scriptores ac 
 poetae sub clientela sunt Musarum, Suet. Gramm. 6. So in the satire 
 ascribed to Sulpicia, Musa . . . precibus descende clientis et audi. 
 Catullus can hardly mean Minerva, whose staid and laborious character, 
 as Hand remarks, would be ill-suited to such lepidae nugae as these 
 poems. Cf. Timocreon, i. 4, Bergk, MoOo-a t-oOSe tou /ie'Xous xXeos av 
 
 "EXXavas n6ei, 
 
 10. Plus uno saeclo, a modest in multa saecula. So Callim. Dian. 
 
 33. °^X f"" ■nvpyav, lup. 89, ra 8" ovx ivL; Hom. H. Merc. 284, ohx ha \MWOv 
 
 (j)a>Ta; Aesch. Sept. 104 jrarayos ovx ivos Sopos (O. Schneider). maneat. 
 Callim. fr. 121 Blomf n-ouXi iUvumtiv tros. Cinna ap. Sueton. Gramm. 11. 
 Saecula permaneat nosiri Dictynna Catonis. 
 
 II. 
 
 This and III are concerned with a pet sparrow of Catullus' mistress 
 Lesbia. They seem to have been very popular, if we may judge from 
 the numerous allusions to tl^em, luuen. vi. 8; Mart. i. 8, 3; no. i ; iv. 
 14. 13; vii. 14. 3; xi. 6. 16; xiv. 77. Sen. Apocol. ii. ' ' 
 
 There seems to be no ground for De Quincey's doubt as to the 
 identity oi passer with our sparrow (Selections, vol. 8, p. 82, quoted by 
 
ON CATULLUS. IL g 
 
 Mr. Clayton), In the time of Realinus' it was the fashion with Italian 
 ladies of rank to keep pet sparrows; and Mr. Browning informs me they 
 are favorites with the Italians of the present day. 
 
 Muretus, and before him Politian, detected a double entendre in these 
 poems : in which he was, I think, anticipated by the ancients, at least 
 such is a natural interpretation of Martial xi. 6. 15, 16 ; cf. Pers. ii. 2. 10. 
 
 1. meae puellae, Lesbia, and so always. 
 
 3. primum digitum, ' the tip of the finger,' as prima lingua, ' the 
 front of the tongue,' Plin. H. N. xi. 172; digiiulis primoribus, Bacch. iv. 
 4. 24. atpetenti, a word peculiarly applied to seizing a person's 
 hand for the purpose of kissing it, Plin. H. N. xi. 250, Dextera 
 osculisaiiersaadpetiiur,infideporrigitur. This sense is here combined 
 with that oi pecking, rostro adp. Liu. vii. 26. 
 
 4. morsus, de Sen. xv. 51. auium minorum morsus : LXVIII. 127. 
 5-8. 'When my bright love is in the humour for some charming 
 
 frolic, either I ween as a little solace of her pain, or when the fever of 
 her passion is asleep,' i. e. she toys with the sparrow either to relieve her 
 thoughts from the pain of love or for light-heartedness when she is not 
 thinkiiig of love at all. M . . el, ' either ' — ' or,' as in Suet. Aug. 78, 
 saepe indigens somni el dum per uicos deportaretur et deposita ledica inter 
 aliquas moras condormiebat. 
 
 5. desiderio, Fam. xiv. 2. 2. Hem mea lux, meum desiderium . . . 
 te nunc mea Terentia sic tiexari! nitenti, LXI. 186, ore floridulo 
 nitens, of bright features ; here the bright look of the eyes is probably 
 included. 
 
 6. Karum, ' precious,' as proceeding from a loved object. iocari, 
 of toying or trifling, not as usual of Wi?r 3a/ jesting: so Horace, C. i. 10. 7, 
 iocosofurto. Val. Max. ii. 10. 8, popmlus ut mimae nudarentur postulare 
 erubuit . . . populus priscum morem iocorum in scenam reuocauit. Stat. S. 
 iv. 9. I, Est sane iocus isle quod libellum Misisti miki, Gryphe, pro 
 libello. 
 
 7. solaciolum in a,pposition with the clause libel nescio quid iocari. 
 There is, hdwever, sortie harshness in this, and Lachmann may have been 
 right in making solaciolum a second nominative to libel, cf. XXXVIII. .7. 
 doloris, 'the pain of love:' Prop. i. 13. 9, Haec erit illarum conlempti 
 poena doloris, and so often in Ovid's Amores and Ars. 
 
 8. Credo is no doubt genuine : cf LXXXIV. 5. It seems to qualify the 
 boastfulness implied by solac. sui doloris, in which Catullus of course alludes 
 to Lesbia's passion for himself: for its position, half-way between two 
 alternative clauses, cf Epid. ii. 2. 74. Nam ille quidem aut iam hie 
 aderit, credo hercle, aut iam adest (Holtze, Syntaxis, ii. p. 227). grauis 
 acquiescit ardor, all words of physical suffering here transferred to an 
 emotion. Grauis, so febris grauior, Cels. iii. 4 ; morbus grauior, 
 ib. acquiescit, Cels. ii. %, febris quieuit, whence metaphorically, Plin. 
 Epist. iv. 21. 92, magno tamen fomenlo dolor meus adquiescet. The prepo- 
 sition seems to give the idea of an end reached and relief ensuing. 
 Orat. lix. 199, cum aures extremum semper expectent in eoque acquiescant. 
 
 ' In the sixteenth century Bernardinus Realinus (Comm. in Nupt. Pel. et Thetid, 
 p. 55, combated Politian's view, on the strength of Mart. i. 7. 3 ; i. 109. i ; luuen. vi. 8 : 
 he might have added one stronger than any of these, Mart. vii. 14. 3, 4. 
 
6 A COMMENTARY 
 
 Ardor, 'the fever of love,' Lucr. iv. 1086, 1098. In Lucr. iii. 251, 
 Sine uoluptas est, sitie est contrarius ardor, the idea of pain lies in contra- 
 rius (Munro). 
 
 9. possem, not so much a wish, as a hypothesis regarded as barely 
 possible, ' let me only have the hope of playing.' So perhaps Aen. xi. 
 161; Aen. vi. 31, sineret dolor. Tib. i. 6. 37, At mihi seruandam credas, 
 non saeua recuso Verbera ; i. 10. 11, Tunc mihi uita foret ; uolgi nee 
 iristia nossem Arma, nee audissem corde micante lubam. 
 
 10. CTiras, 'the sorrows of love,' as in LXIV. 72, LXVIII. 18; Aen. 
 iv. I. Martial imitates this verse, xii. 34. 8, 9, Si uitare uoles acerba 
 quaedam Et Irish's animi cauere morsus. 
 
 11. ' To play with Lesbia's sparrow is a pleasure as dear to me as the 
 golden apples of Hippomenes were to Atalanta ; she gave up her virginity 
 for them, and I would sacrifice everything for this.' A hyperbolical con- 
 ceit, conveying to Lesbia a flattering idea of the value she might be 
 expected to set upon her own favours, as well as of her lover's deference, 
 in attributing so much happiness to a petty act of familiarity. Others 
 explain, ' As dear as was the apple to Atalanta which first made her feel' 
 love for Hippomenes, so dear to me is the privilege of playing with 
 Lesbia's sparrow, as an earnest of her feeling love for me.' On this view 
 Catullus would follow Theocritus, who seems to identify Atalanta's first 
 sight of the apple with her first feeling of love for Hippomenes, Theocr. 
 
 iii. 40. 'iTTTrofie!/?/! OKa Sr) rav wapBevov rjdiXe ya.jj.ai MaV iv x^P"''-" ix'"" ^poM"" 
 awev' a 5* 'Arakavra 'Sls tSei;, as iimvrj, cos is ^aOvv oKar epayra. Ovid 
 
 goes beyond this and represents Atalanta as lingering to pick up the 
 apples dropped by Hippomenes, because she was enamoured and wished to 
 be conquered, M. x. 635 sqq., 659-661 ; but it may be doubted whether 
 Catullus means this. 
 
 11. Tarn gratiim. Antigonus of Carystus, ap. Athen. 82, 'apaimv 
 
 TToXit <j)l\r€pos rj \a.a-iprjKav Ilop(j)vpsaiv, 'E^j^vpTi to. t de^erai T)vep.oi(T(rri. 
 
 gratum est, ' it would be as welcome,' may be like satius est, melius est, 
 longum est, inscitia est (Poen. iv. 2. 99) ; stultum est in Varro ap. Augustin. 
 de Dialectica vi., si quis dicat homines piscibus similes natando fieri et inde 
 piscinae nomen esse natum, stultum est repugnare ; Mart. ii. 63. 3, luxuriae.it, 
 si tanti diues amares, ' it would be luxury, if you were a rich man and made 
 love so expensively:' or, as in non saetia recuso Verbera,Tib. i. 6. 37, the indie, 
 expresses with more positiveness the result of the barely possible protasis 
 tecutn ludere possem. But we should rather have expected /mjz'ot, as in the 
 instances collected by Holtze, Synt. ii. pp. loi, 108, 9. Henee it seems 
 probable that some verse like Tecum ludere sic ut ipsa ludit has fallen 
 . out, as Alex. Guarinus states that a very old MS. marked a great lacuna 
 here. 
 
 12. Perniei. Atalanta, who had baffled many suitors (hence zonam 
 diu ligatam) by refusing to marry any one who did not conquer her in 
 running, was at last won by Hippomenes, who dropped a golden apple 
 in her path,— ApoUod. iii. 9. 2 ; Theocr. iii. 40 ; Ovid. M. x. 560. 
 Hesiod, fr. xxvi, MarkschefFel, calls her iTobmKT]s SI' 'AToKdvrt]. aure- 
 olum, a favorite word, LXI. 160. In Verg. E. iii. 71, viii. 52, aurea 
 mala refers to the bright colour of the apples : here the apples are of 
 actual gold, taken, according to the Schol. on Theoc. iii. 40, from the 
 garden of the Hesperides, according to the Schol. on Theoc. ii. 120, 
 
ON CATULLUS. IIL 7 
 
 from the brows of Dionysos, and given to Hippomenes by Aphrodite. 
 Ovid, Met. X. 644 sqq., makes Venus take three apples of gold from 
 a tree in her consecrated precinct at Tamasus in Cyprus, and give them 
 to Hippomenes, with directions how to use them. 
 13. See on LXL 53. soluit = effecit ut solueretur. 
 
 III. 
 
 On the death of the same sparrow. Similar poems on pet animals 
 are found Anth. P. vii. 189, 190, 197, 204: cf Ovid, Am. ii. 6; Stat. 
 S. ii. 4, both on the death of a parrot: Martial, i. 7, says that Stella 
 had written a poem on a pet dove which was superior to Catullus' 
 passer ; he himself wrote such epigrams, see i. no, on a dog Issa, and 
 contrasts the prevailing fondness for pet animals of all kinds with his 
 own for a slave, vii. 87. 
 
 The famous words Veneres Cupidinesgue, cf XXXVL 3, Sanctae Veneri 
 Cupidinique ; LXXXVL 6, Omnibus una omnes surripuil Veneres have a 
 special meaning if Lesbia was Clodia. Cicero, Cael. xxi, says Clodia 
 possessed a statue of Venus which she decked with the spoils of her 
 lovers : it seems probable that she considered herself under the particular 
 protection of that deity. 
 
 1. Veneres Cupidinesque. Cicero, De N. D. iii. 23, mentions four 
 Venuses, three Cupids, and Catullus would thus be speaking with strict 
 accuracy, cf XIIL 12 ; Mart. ix. 12. 9, xi. 13. 6. But in XXXVL 3, Lesbia 
 makes a vow, Sanctae Veneri Cupidinique, cf Asin. iv. i. 59, and probably 
 Catullus, in calling on the Veneres Cupidinesque to mourn fgr the death 
 of her sparrow, merely pluralizes this, without any special reference to 
 the various forms of the goddess or her son. ' Mourn, goddess of 
 love, and you her attendant Cupid, wherever ye may be,' i.e. not only 
 with Lesbia, your constant worshipper, but wherever there is any one 
 to feel the loss of what is beautiful. On the other hand, as the "EpmT-er 
 are often mentioned with Venus, e.g. Apoll. R. iii. 937, Callim. fr. 116 
 Blomf, Theocr. vii. 117; cf Hor. C. i. 19. i, iv. i. 5; Ovid F. iv. i, 
 the first outline of the expression may have been Venus Cupidinesque ; 
 the change to Veneres would make the expression symmetrical, and at the 
 
 ^ame time suggest the meaning of graces (LXXXVL 6), thus combining 
 
 in one Kinpis and the Xdpires: cf Anth. P. vii. 25. 3, Xapiroiv xai 'Eparcov. 
 
 2. CLuantum est hominum. Pseud, i. 3. 117, quantum terra degit 
 hominum. Fronto, De Nepote Amisso, p. 234 Naber, uiro suo omnium 
 quantum est hominum optima adquiescit. uenustiorum in reference to 
 Veneres. Quintil. vi. 3. 18, distinguishing various kinds of wit, says, 
 iienustum esse quod cum gratia quadam ei uerure dicatur apparet. 
 
 5. plus oculis, so XIV. I, CIV. 2, 4. Adelph. iv. 5. 67, dime, pater, 
 Omnes oderint, ni magis te quam oculos nunc amo meos ; Plautus has 
 oculitus amare (Non. 147), oculissimus Cure. i. 2. 28, cf oculissimum caris- 
 
 simum Fest. p. 179, Miiller. Mosch. iv. 9, t6v jiiv iya> tUokov laov (f>ae- 
 ea-a-iv ifiol<nv, Callim. H. Dian. 211, 'AjirlKKemv taov (paeea-cri. (piXijaai. 
 
 6. meUitus, XL VIII. i, XCIX. i, both of the young Juventius, and 
 so Cicero, Att. i. 18. i, calls his young son mellitus Cicero, 'darling.' 
 
8 A COMMENTARY 
 
 suamque, here a virtual substantive, ' his lady ' : so Cic. Scaur, ii. 9, cum 
 audissei Arinem cum ilia sua (his mistress amatorie) meius etfugae simu- 
 lalione Romam se contulisse; Tib, i. 4. 75, Pareai ilk suae, (his lady, i.e. 
 wife, V. 74) uos m£ celebrate mq.gistrum ; ii. 5. lO'^j/erus ilk suae plorahit. 
 Catullus speaks of the sparrow in terms which might suit a lover, in sinu 
 ienere, plus ilia oculis suis amabat, nee sese a gremio illius mouebat, ad solam 
 dominam. So tua = your love, Prop. i. 9. 22. 
 
 7. Ipsam with matrem, ' her very mother.' Generally Ipsam is sup- 
 posed to mean 'mistress' as ipse and ipsa often = master and mis- 
 tress. Cas. iv. 2. 20, Ego eo quo me ipsa misit. Andr. ii. 2. 23, ipsus 
 tristis. Virg. Eel. iii. 3, Ipse Neaeram Dum fouet. So ipsima, and see 
 Bticheler on Petron. S. 63. But would Catullus have combined suam 
 Ipsam=suam Eram ? and even if he did, would he have allowed Ipsam to 
 stand so barely by itself at the beginning of the line ? 
 
 8. So Meleager of a pet hare, Anth. P. vii. 207. 3, iv kSKttois orepyova-A 
 
 dUrpetpev & y\vKep6xp(^s ^aviov. 
 
 9. So metaphorically Cic. Att. xiii. 25. 3, O Academiam uolaticam et 
 sui similem, modo hue, modo illuc I 
 
 11. iter tenebricosum, the path of darkness that leads to Hades. 
 So Simmias of a partridge, Anth. P. vii. 203. 4, "Qx^o yap irvpArav ds 
 'AxepovTos 6S6v. Tenebricosum, a word used several times by Cicero, but 
 otherwise rare. 
 
 12. TheOCr. Xvii. 120, "AiSi Trdwa KcKpvirrai, o6ev iroKiv ovKeri pdoros ; xii. 
 •19, dvc^oSou els 'Ax€povTa. Philetas fr. 4 Schneidewin, "Arparrov els atSea 
 
 Hvuffa rrjv ovttoj tis evavriov rjkdev obtTrjs. 
 
 13. At, of imprecation, as in XXVIII. 14; Aen. ii. 535. Hale sit, 
 malae, 'my curse upon you, ye accursed shadows.' Cf. kokos RaK&s, 
 
 KOKlfTTa. 
 
 14. Bion, i. 54, Aap^ave nepa-eipova tov ipiiv ttoo-iV iatri yap aira IIoXXoj' c'/if 
 Kpeaatov, to fie nav KoKbv es <t€ Karappei. 
 
 15. Tarn bellum, as XXII. 17, Tam gaudet in se, tamque se ipse 
 miraiur ; so talis, XVII. 21, tanto LV. 14, tantis LXV. 4. Similarly 
 Toios TotovTos, espccially in Callimachus, H. Dian. 146, Del. 27, 140. 
 
 16. For the double vae, cf. Mart. iv. 28. 7, Vae glabraria, uae tihi 
 
 misella: and so Anth. P. xiii. 23. 5, ^ev t6v Texovra, <pev Se Koi ire Borpvos 
 ipiKos Tral. factum male, Att. xv. i. i, O factum male de Alexione 1 incredi- 
 bile est quanta me molestia affecerit : Alexio had just died. 
 
 17. Tua opera, ' it is your doing that.' So mea opera, Capt. iii. 5. 21 ; 
 Hecyr. ii. i. 31. 
 
 18. turgiduli ocelli, Vike^ pallidulum pedem, LXV. (i,frigidulos singultus, 
 LXIV. 131. The diminutive seems to increase the notion of tenderness 
 or pity. See also XXIX. 8. 
 
 IV. 
 
 ' In these verses Catullus represents himself as pointing out and praising 
 to some guests, who were with him at his villa in Sirmio, the phasellus, 
 now laid up at the Benacus, or Lago di Garda, which had carried him 
 from Bithynia to Italy.' H. A. J. Munro in the Cambridge Journal of 
 Philology, iv. p. 232, where a detailed analysis of the poem is given. The 
 journey is retrospective; it is traced backwards from the Adriatic to 
 
ON CATULLUS. IV. 9 
 
 Amastris, the Paphlagonian town in which the yacht was built (6-13). 
 That it started from Amastris with Catullus on board is, I think, indi- 
 cated by V. jS, JUi inde iot per impotentia freta Her urn tulisse. Munro 
 indeed thinks it unlikely that Catullus, whom he conceives to have been 
 at this time at Nicaea, would make a long and difficult hill-journey 
 from that town to Amastris, and concludes that he ordered the yacht to 
 be brought round by sea to Cios or Myrlea : and he accordingly translates 
 Et inde ' and next,' the ultima ex origine of iS,.Et inde of 18, and cum 
 nouissime of 23, 24, thus answering to each other as primum — deinde — 
 nouissime, Cic. Fam. x. 42. 2, Sen. de Ira. iii. 5. 2 ; and ^^ primum — post 
 haec — nouissime, prius — turn. — nouissime, maxime—tum — nouissime, in 
 Quintilian. I prefer to follow the ordinary, certainly the natural, view, 
 which makes inde local. Starting from Amastris the yacht coasted along 
 the Euxine and the Propontis into the Hellespont; thence it descended 
 the east coast of Asia Minor to Rhodes, ' which would seem to be 
 specially designated not only on account of its celebrity, but also 
 because it was the farthest point in the voyage homewards.' Munro, 
 p. 236. Thence it struck across the Aegean to the Cyclades, the 
 midway point between Rhodes and the Isthmus of Corinth, ' over which 
 Catullus no doubt had his yacht transported,' ib. The last part of the 
 journey is only indicated by the words minacis Adriaiici liius : Munro 
 is no doubt right in believing that he sailed through the Corinthian 
 Gulf into the Adriatic, crossed this, and then ran along the Italian shore 
 to the mouth of the Po. He also thinks that Catullus did not accompany 
 his yacht up the Po into the Mincio, and so to the Lago di Garda, a 
 tedious journey generally against a powerful stream (p. 238); but pro- 
 ceeded by land to Sirmio. On this point Catullus says nothing; but, 
 if Nouissimo in v. 24 is right, the poet might perhaps more plausibly be 
 supposed to indicate that he had been with his yacht from first to last, 
 from the starting-point at Amastris to the final resting-place at Sirmio. 
 At any rate it -seems unsafe to lay much stress upon the fact that Ovid, 
 in an elegy (Trist. i. 10) describing a similar yacht-journey from Cen- 
 chreae to 'Tomoe— an elegy, it is true, which bears points of resemblance 
 to Catullus' Phasellus — tells us that his yacht and he parted company at 
 Samothrace. 
 
 ' Threiciam tetigit fessa carina Samon. 
 
 Saltus ab hac terra breuis est Tempyra petenti : 
 Hoc dominum ienus est ilia secuta suum. 
 
 Nam mihi Bistonios placuit pede carpere campos, 
 Hellespontiacas ilia relegit aquas.' 
 Munro argues from the words italicized that Ovid interpreted Catullus' 
 Herum tulisse to mean that during the/rj/part of its voyage the Phasellus 
 had not been carrying its master : an inference, I think, scarcely justified 
 by the other resemblances in Ovid's poem, resemblances which have 
 more of reminiscence than of direct imitation : for even the introduction 
 of Castor and Pollux (46-50), though first suggested by Catullus' last 
 three lines, is applied to a diiferent purpose: in Catullus the yacht 
 dedicates its single future to the two gods, in Ovid they are invoked to 
 preserve the two ships (dupliciuiae), that in which the poet proceeds to Tem- 
 pyra, and the yacht which is to convey his effects to Tomoe, respectively. 
 That there is nothing improbable in Catullus' sailing all the way from 
 
10 A COMMENTARY 
 
 Amastris is shown by such passages as Prop. iii. 22. ir, Tuque tuo 
 Colchum propellas remige Phasin Peliacaeque irabis tolum iter ipse legas : to 
 trace the legendary course of the Argo, if only for a part of its voyage, 
 would be almost a sufficient motive for this in itself unnecessary journey. 
 In the Catalecta is a pure iambic poem of twenty-five lines, viii in 
 Ribbeck's Appendix Vergiliana, in which the Phasellus is parodied. 
 Though no great weight can be laid upon this ingenious and certainly 
 early composition (see Ribbeck, Proleg. p. 10), it is in favour of the 
 ordinary interpretation of Et inde. 
 
 1. Phasellus (so the MSS. and Munro), a long narrow craft, so called 
 from its resemblance to a kidney-bean <j>dcrri\os : see Rich's engraving. 
 Nonius, 534, defines it as nauigium campanum, and quotes from Varro's 
 Desultorius a passage which shows that it corresponded nearly to our 
 pleasure-yachts : like them it was sometimes small, sometimes of con- 
 siderable size {cohors una grandi faselo uecta, Sallust, Hist, iii.) ; cf. Att. i. 
 13. I, xiv. 16. I. Munro, p. 233, thinks Catullus' phasellus was of a 
 burden somewhere between twenty and fifty tons. 
 
 2. Ait fuisse celerrimus, a not very common attraction. Hor. 
 Epist. I. 7. 22 Vir bonus et sapiens dignis ait esse paratus, C. iii. 27. 73. 
 According to'Ritter, on Epist. i. 7. 22, Catullus was the first who ven- 
 tured on this construction. The Greek complexion of the words is 
 traceable also in the gender of the superlative: cf. Madvig, L. G. 310, 
 obs. I. 
 
 3. natantis impetum, Ennian. LaUiur uncta carina; uolat super 
 impetus undas, Ann. 379, Vahlen. trabis, as we say ' timber,' Enn. 
 Ann. 598. Verg. Aen. iv. 566 : so Sdpu and ^<jkov. 
 
 4. 5. Apollon. R. iii. 345, laov 8' t^ dvefww 6Ui koI or' dvepis aiirol 
 NmAe^Eois ;i(eipf(70-K' em(T7Tepx<'>criv iperfwh. So Ovid of his ship, Trist. I. lo. 
 3, Siue opus est ueh's, minimam bene currit ad auram. Sine opus est 
 remo, remige carpit iter. 
 
 5. uolare, after natantis, like sibilum a,fter loquente in 12, is cen- 
 sured by Muretus as a confusion of metaphors : a fault of which Catullus 
 is elsewhere guilty, e. g. LXIV. 97. But here natantis trabis convey a 
 single impression to the mind, that of a ship ; and ships, as well as the 
 oars that move them, are called wings from Homer onwards, Od. vii. 
 36, xi. 125. 
 
 6. negat negare, as neque nequisse. Each of the two negatives 
 retains its force. minaois, rough as are the swelling Adriatic seas. 
 Taming of the Shrew, i. 2. Hor. C. i. 33. 1^, fretis acrior Hadriae ; 
 iii- 3- 5, Dux inquieii turbidus Hadriae; iii. 9. 22, improbo Iracundior 
 Hadria. 
 
 8. nobilem, 'famous.' Hor. C. i. 7. i, daram Rhodon, and so Mart. 
 iv. 55> 6, quoted there by Ritter. horridam refers to the wild and 
 bleak character of Thrace. Homer, II. xiv. 227, speaks of Qp^Kav Spea 
 vKpoevra, and makes Thrace the home of the winds, II. xxiii. 229. 
 Thraoiam, according to Munro, is here an adj. agreeing with Propontida. 
 Lachmann, on Lucr. v. 30, denies that Thracia for Thraca or Thrace is 
 found in any poet except Luc. ii. 162, perhaps on the analogy of Virgil's 
 Samoihracia, Aen. vii. 208. Few, however, will believe that in Met. vi. 
 435. Gratata est scilicet illis Thracia, disque ipsi grates egere, Ovid wrote 
 
ON CATULLUS. IV. 11 
 
 Thrace; and in Cic. Rep. ii. 4 the palimpsest reads Thraciam, though 
 Servius on Aen. xii. 335 expressly states that Cicero wrote Thraca, not 
 Thracia. Munro considers the different stages of the journey to be 
 marked by ue in 7, insulasm Cycladas in 8, irucemue Poniicum sinum 
 in 9 ; hence connects horridamque Thraciam Propontida, which, as he 
 observes, is symmetrical with trucemue Ponticum sinum. But though 
 the Cyclades might represent a new stage in the journey, I see no special 
 reason why the Euxine should ; if Catullus had any such division in his 
 mind, the third would begin where the Aegean ends, i. e. at Thraciam 
 or Propontida. The objection that the yacht would have hugged the 
 Asiatic coast and quite avoided Thrace, is answered by explaining 
 Thraciam of the Chersonesus Thracica, the shore north of the Helles- 
 pont. Ovid combines Thracen et laeua Propontidos, F. v. 257. 
 
 9. The unelided diiambus Propontida is better unconnected with the 
 preceding line, as Duceniies in XXIX. 14, is rhythmically in close con- 
 nexion with the following word comesset. The Propontis and the Pontus 
 are united here as in Aesch. Pers. 877. 
 
 10. post . . . antea, as in Callim. Ep. v. i, Blomf , jraKalrfpov . . . vOv. 
 
 11. From 16 we may perhaps infer that the yacht was made of a 
 single tree: if so, siiua will be 'a forester:' and so perhaps Verg. G. 
 ii. 26, Siluarumque aliae. Munro, who translates 'a leafy wood,' seems 
 to think of the phasellus as made of several trees. 
 
 12. Cornelius Severus, ap. Schol. Pers. i. 95, Pinea frondosi coma 
 murmurat Apennini. Verg. E. viii. 22, Maenalus arguiumque nemus 
 pinosque loquentes semper habet. Iioquente and sibilum. are, as 
 Muretus observed, not strictly consistent : and the inconsistency is 
 heightened by the use of coma for ' leaves.' ' The yacht gave a rustling 
 with the voice of her tresses,' is a combination which would probably 
 have been avoided by Virgil : it is on faults of this kind that the indif- 
 ference of Horace for Catullus, Calvus, and their school (S. i. 10. 19) 
 was probably grounded. 
 
 13. The sudden apostrophe to Amastris and Cytorus, like the em- 
 phatic Tibi at the beginning of 14, is more like Greek than Latin. It 
 occurs several times in Callimachus and generally in the Alexandrian 
 
 poets. Callim. H. Del. 27, A^Xe f^'^V, toIo'j o-f ^or]6oos dfi<f>iPePriKev ; 106 
 "H/jt/, (Toi 5' €Ti TTJfios dvTjKeis TiTop €K€iTo. H. Dlan. 204, OvTTt ava(T(T evSmt 
 (l>ac<T(j)6pe, Kat ae 8e Kflurjs KprjTaees KoKeovtriv i'iTaiWfur)v (iTrA mp(f>ris. Am- 
 
 astri . . . Cytore buxifer. Strabo, 544, Mera 8^ t6v Uapdhiou TroTap,6v 
 
 iiTTiv "hp.arrrpis 6p.a>mpos rrjs crvviOKiKvias ir6\is' iSpvrai 8" ijri Xeppoirrjcrov AfjueVat 
 e)(ov(Ta Tov i<T6p,ov eKarepioSeu' rjv 8' fj "AfiaaTpis yvvfj p.ev Aiowcrtov tov HpaKKeias 
 Tvpavvov, dvyarfip Se'O^vddpov, tov Aapetov d8(\(pov tov KaTa.'A\e^ai/8poV eKeunj 
 fiev o?v fK TeTTaptov KoroiKiav crvvcoKiac ttjv jroXtv, €k re 2i/o-a;iiou, Kai KvTwpov xai 
 Yipaip.vrjS (S>f Km 'Ofirjpos iiip,vrjTai iv T& HacpXayoviKa SwKoapa) Tfrapnjr Sc Trjs 
 Tiov' d\X' avTTi /i€V Taxy airearrj Trjt KOivavias, al fie aXXai. <rvvep.eivav' tov fj 
 Sijo-a^os dxpoTroXif t^s 'Afido-xpews Xeyerai. To 8e KvTapov epnopwv r]v ttotc 
 'ZivameaV i>v6pa<TTai S dno KvTapov, ToO ipl^ov TraiSif, as E(f>op6s (pria-i. 
 nXfioTij 8e Koi dpiarr) jru^os fpieTat Kara TTjv'ApatTTpiamjv, Koi paKuTTa nrpi to 
 KvToipov. Sesamos is mentioned, II. ii. 853, dl pa Kvrapov tx"" '<''' ^'I'^apov 
 dii(i)(vipovTo. Plin. H. N. xvi. 71, Buxus Pyrenaeis ac Cytoriis monlibus 
 pluruma. Verg. G. ii. 437. Pontiea. Horace, C. i. 14- n, seems 
 to consider a Pontiea pinus the best material for ships. 
 
12 A COMMENTARY 
 
 14. Tibi with two vocatives, as in Rose. Com. viii. 22, Nam tiU M. 
 Perpenna, C. Pt'so, certe tanti nonfuissent, ut socium fraudaretis. eog- 
 nitissima, a very rare superlative, perhaps an-. \(y. Ovid has cognitior, 
 Trist. iv. 6. 28. 
 
 15. Klotz connects iiltima ex origine with the preceding words, 
 observing that it is the tree or trees of which the ship was built, not the 
 ship itself, that stood on Cytorus ultima ex origine. This is to judge 
 poetry by the standard of prose. His other argument, that Tuo as 
 emphatic marks the beginning of the sentence, is inconclusive ; it may 
 be, and is, emphatic in virtue of its position at the beginning of the 
 verse, but the sentence need not for that reason begin there ; two em- 
 phases, a primary and a secondary, are possible together. Ultima ex 
 origine, ' from her earliest birthtime ' (Munro), a sense which seems to me 
 short of what the words convey, viz. ' from the farthest point to which 
 she can trace her origin,' i. e. not descending from the moment of birth, 
 but ascending by gradations of memory from the present to the first 
 germ of tree-existence. In Corn. Nepos, Att. i. Pomponius Atticus ab 
 origine ultima stirpis Romanae generatus, the words seem to mean 
 rather ' from the earliest stock ' than ' the earliest birthtime.' 
 
 18. impotentia, ' with no command over themselves,' ' violent,' ' rag- 
 ing.' XXXV. 12, impotente amore. 
 
 19-21. ' As the breeze summoned her left or right, or a favouring 
 gale fell on both her sheets at once.' The yacht bore her master in 
 safety through all weathers, as well when the wind blew only on one 
 side, requiring the sail to Ije shifted accordingly, as when it fell from 
 behind evenly on both extremities of the sail, and was therefore strictly 
 speaking secundus. 
 
 19. The first siu'e is omitted as in Hor. C. i. 3. 16 ; cf. Enn. Ann. 
 457) Vahlen, tibi uiia Seu mors in mundo est. 
 
 20. Vocaret as applied to a shifting wind is objected to by Lachmann 
 on Lucret. iii. 628, as well as by Munro. It is true that in Aen. iii. 356, 
 lamque dies altergue dies processit et aurae Vela uocant tumidoque inflalur 
 carbasus Austro.; ib. 69, placataque uenti Dant maria et lenis crepitans uocat 
 Auster in altum ; Stat. S. iii. 2. 50, Audimur, uocat ipse ratem (Zephyrus) 
 nautasque morantes Increpat, it is a particular wind which rises suddenly 
 and summons the sailors or the ship to begin their journey. But it is in 
 the suddenness of the rising, not in the fixed character of the wind, that 
 the force of uocare Hes. And from this point of view if a wind springs up 
 on the right of a ship's course, and is succeeded by one on the left as 
 suddenly, each is properly said to hail or summon the ship. At any 
 rate Lachmann's Vagaret is an archaism out of keeping with the language 
 of the poem. luppiter. Varro, L. L. v. 65, Idem hi dei, Caelum et 
 Terra, luppiter et luno, quod ut ait Ennius, Istic est is luppiter, quern dice, 
 quern Graeci uocant, Aerem, qui uentus est et nubes, imber postea, Atque ex 
 imbre frigus, uentus post fit, aer denuo. Cf. Verg. G. ii. 419; Hor. C. 
 iii. 10. 8. It seepis possible that Catullus may allude in the words lup- 
 piter secundus to the Zeis OSpms who had a temple at Chalcedon, and who 
 was invoked by travellers sailing along the Bithynian coast. Cf. an in- 
 scription found there by Wheler, Journey into Greece, p. 209, ed. i68z, 
 
 in Bbckh, 3797- Ovpiov « irpiixvrjs ns 6SrjyriTrjpa (toXfiVm Zrjva, Kara irpo- 
 Toixav 'uTTiov ixivfrairas, Eir iiii Kiiaveas 8ivas bpofws, tv6a IIo(TfiSS>v Kafi- 
 
ON CATULLUS. IV. 13 
 
 TTuKov eiXia-aei Kvfm napa ■\jfafiddoi.s, EiTf Kar Alyalrjv ttovtov TrXoxa voarov 
 fpfvv^, Neio-flffl t^Se /SaXoiv ■\jraurTa wapa ^odvm. 'OSe tov evdvTrfTov ael deov 
 kvTmarpov ■nais 'STriata (jiiXtau dyaBfjs trifi^oKov eimKottjs^. 
 
 21. incidisset. ApoU. R. i. 566, iv 8e Xtyiir triaev oSpos. pedem, 
 7r6Sa ; the sAeeis or ropes at each lower corner of the square sail habitu- 
 ally used in ancient ships. When a ship was sailing before the wind 
 these would both be braced to the same length (ae^ui, Ovid. F. iii. 565), 
 and this is what Catullus expresses by the gale falling on them both at 
 once. The sail would thus be at right angles to the length of the 
 vessel. 
 
 22. litoralibus. Catullus seems to have in view those gods who, as 
 specially connected with the sea, had temples or images on the shore. 
 Such were Phorcus, Panopea, Portunus, Glaucus, Melicerta (Aen. v. 240, 
 G. i. 437), Proteus, Triton, Leucothea, Palaemon (Stat. S. iii. 2). Euri- 
 pides, I. T. 271 sqq., seems to indicate not only Palaemon and Nereus, but 
 the Dioscuri (fir' eV dxi-als ddarcreTov Aioo-(c(i/)<B, 2^2; cf. Servius on Aen. iii. 
 1 2), as shore-gods ; to whom may be added Pan, {t6v Sktiov Theocr. v. 
 14) and Priapus, alyioKivqi, Anth. P. vi. 33. i. 
 
 23. sibi, by the Phasellus, which from the beginning of the journey 
 to the end had escaped all danger. 
 
 24. Nouissimo, 'the remotest.' Ovid. Trist. iii. 13. 27, Dum me 
 terrarum pars pene nouissivia Pontus Euxinus /also nomirie dicius habet, 
 V. 2. 31. The MSS. give Nouissime, which Munro keeps, 'and not a 
 vow had been offered for her to the guardian gods of the shore, when 
 last of all she came from the sea as far as this limpid lake,' p. 236, and 
 explains of the third and last stage of the journey, at which the pinnace, 
 now leaving the sea and entering the Padus, looks back on its sea- 
 journey and remembers with pride that its sailing quahties were such as 
 to keep off all danger till it was quite clear of the sea. This seems to 
 give an unnaturally pluperf sense to esse facta, while it forces sibi and 
 leaves usque with litde meaning : whereas after a marei nouissimo, this 
 word well expresses the length of the journey and the uniform good 
 fortune of the Phasellus throughout it. If, however, nouissime is retained, 
 I should prefer to explain the three stages as (i) the time the tree was 
 growing on Cy torus, (2) when it was voyaging through a succession of 
 dangerous waters, (3) last of all, its final rest at Sirmio. Et inde would 
 thus retain its natural sense ' and thence,' without ceasing to mark a 
 distinct stage in the series, now localized throughout, cf. Sen. de Ira, ii. 
 5. 5, Videbis istud et circa Trasimenum et circa Cannas et nouissime circa 
 Carthaginem tuam. limpidum. I can attest the exactness of this 
 epithet; the transparent and exquisite blue of the Lago di Garda must 
 have struck every one who has visited Sirmio on a bright day. 
 
 25. recondita, a favorite word, XXXIV. 11. fuere, perfect of the 
 emphasized past. Turnebus compares Tib. iii. 5. 32, Siue erimus, seu 
 nosfata fuisse uolent. 
 
 26. Senet, an archaic word found in the fragments of Pacuvius, 275, 
 
 ■ So Bockh. Wheler omits tW before ivX in 3, has ilra kot' Alyaiav and ipevvwv in 
 5. Possibly the true reading is o5 t' inl Kvavias Sf ivcis : eTra and IpiwSiv may be right, 
 'after this, let him trace his journey back along the Aegean;' in 8, (piKwi' seems 
 better than <f>'tKwv. 
 
1^ A COMMENTARY 
 
 304, Ribbeck; Attius, 612. Propertius has hand ulla carina Consenuit, 
 "i- 7. 35 ; and our seamen talk of ships as so many years old. 
 
 27. G-emelle . . . gemelle expresses allusively the fact mentioned by 
 Servius on G. iii. 8g, ambo licenter et Castores et Polluces uocaniur, i. e. 
 Castor and PoUux were so inseparably associated as Twin-Brethren that 
 each was called a double Castor or a double Pollux, as Stat, calls Pollux 
 alter Castor, S. iv. 6. 15. Hence the temple of the two brothers was 
 called the temple of Castor, Dion C. xxxvii. 8. The Phasellus is dedi- 
 cated to them as the protectors of travellers by sea: LXVIII. 63 sqq., 
 Eur. Hel. 1664 sqq., Hor. C. iv. 8. 31 : partly perhaps also from their 
 connexion with the Une of sea traversed by Catullus, Appian. B. Mithr. 
 
 V. 
 
 One of the earliest poems to Lesbia, perhaps the first : lungclaussen 
 assigns it to the years 62-60 B.C., Schwabe to 61-60. Martial alludes 
 to this vi. 34. 7, 8 ; xii. 59. 3. 
 
 1. Viuamus atque amemus might = dum uiuimus, amemus : but 
 the emphatic position of Viuamus makes it more probable that uiuere 
 here = ' to enjoy life,' as in a fragment of Varro's Deuicti, ap. Non. 
 156, proper ate uiuere puerae, quas sinit aetatula ludere esse amare 
 et Veneris tenere bigas. Mart. i. 16. 11, 12, Non est, crede mihi, sapientis 
 dicere Viuam. Sera nimis uita est crastina, uiue hodie. Petron. S. 44, 
 Jllud erat uiuere. C. I. Hisp. 391, VIVITE • VICTVRI • MONEO • 
 MORS • OMNIBVS • IN • STAT : so ff5i, Anth. P. x. 43. 2. 
 
 2. Rumores, 'scandal.' Liu. xxii. 39, adtiersus famam rumoresque 
 hominum si satis firmus steieris. seueriorum, 'censorious.' 
 
 3. The antithesis omnes unius emphasizes the otherwise common- 
 place assis aestimare ; cf. XLII. 13. 
 
 4:— 6. Mosch. iii. 106 sqq. Aiat rat ^Xdxat fiev eirav Kara kottov S\(oi/rai 
 HSe ra ^Xupa aektva t6 t evdoKes ov\ov avT)Bov "Yorepov av ^aovri Kal els €Tos 
 aK\o <l>vovTt. ''Afx^es S' oi fieyaXot koI Kaprepoi, oi aotpol avSpeSj "OTTTTore 
 •npara ddvapes, dvaKoot ev ^doj/i KoiKa EuSojuey fv pidKa paKpbv dreppova inj- 
 
 yperov xmvov. Horace C. iv. 7. 13 speaks of the changes of the moon 
 in the same connexion : cf. celeres lunae there with Catullus' soles. 
 
 5. breuis lux, 'our short day of life:' lux is primarily opposed to 
 nox, as in Altera lux, crastina lux, but would of course suggest the 
 other sense of life, Ter. Hec. v. 4. 12 ; Lucr. iv. 35 ; Verg. G. iv. 472. 
 
 6. The rhythm of the line, and the continued a sound, well represents 
 the eternity of the sleep that knows no breaking. dormienda. 
 
 Callim. Ep. xvii. 3, 4, ij 8" dnofipi^n "EvddSe rbv irda-ais imvov ocpeiXopevov. 
 Anth. p. xii. 50. 7) 8 perd toI xP"""" ovKen novKvv, ^xerKie, rqv paxpav 
 v'uKT dvairavfjop^Qa, 
 
 7. Ovid uses dare oscula of being kissed. Heroid. xiii. 120, Multa 
 iamen rapies oscula, multa dabis, and VII. i sqq., XL VIII. 2, XCIX. i, 
 might give a colour to this interpretation. But Martial, xii. 59. 1-3, 
 Tantum dat tibi Roma basiorum Post dnnos modo quindecim reuerso 
 Quantum Lesbia non dedit Catullo (cf. vi. 34. 7, a less distinct passage), 
 
ON CATULLUS. V. 15 
 
 clearly took da mi basia a,s = dasia me (cf. viii. i8, Quern basiabts?), and 
 this is the ordinary meaning of dare oscula, Tib. i. i. 62, 8. 37; Prop. i. 
 16. 42 ; iv. 12. 77. 
 
 8. mille altera 'a second set of a thousand.' Tusc. Disp. v. 41, 
 quoted by Key, L. G. 11 48, Ad Bruium nostrum hos libros alteros quinque 
 miitemus; Verg. E. iii. 71, Aurea mala decern mist: eras altera miitam. 
 
 9. usque altera, 'go on to give a second thousand after that:' in 
 reference to the first altera. 
 
 10. milia multa, LXL 203, LXVL 78. Ovid has the same expression 
 Am. i. 8. 58, amatoris milia multa leges. fecerimus, ' made up the 
 number.' luuen. xiv. 326, /ar tertia quadringenta. 
 
 11. Conturbabimus, 'we will throw the account into confusion:' in 
 full c. rationem, which is found in the Digest, and seems = yfftjcpovs (pvpav, 
 Att. vi. 4. 3. Cicero uses coniurbare alone of 'becoming bankrupt,' 
 Plane, xxviii. 68, Att. iv. 7. 2 ; cf. luuen. vii. 129, where Mayor has col- 
 lected instances from Petronius, Martial, and Quintilian. 
 
 12, 13. It was thought dangerous to count things too accurately, the 
 evil eye having less power so long as the number was unascertained. 
 Theodore Martin quotes a French proverb, Brebis compie'es le hup les 
 mange, and Muretus says the Italian rustics in his time had superstitious 
 scruples about counting the fruit on their young trees. 
 
 13. Biicheler would read sciet here as in Priap. Iii. 12, Quare qui sapiet 
 malum cauebii, Cum tantum sciet esse meniularum. But there the two 
 futures sapiet, cauebit are naturally followed by a third : here the subj. 
 predominates; conturbabimus, but ne sciamus, ne quis inuidere possit, cum 
 sciat. 
 
 VI. 
 
 Of the Flavius here mentioned nothing is known : nor is the poem 
 interesting except as suggesting to Ovid some expressions in the 14th 
 Elegy of the third book of his Amores ; see on 9-1 1. 
 
 The precept which Catullus here and in LV enforces, that love should 
 be undisguised, is, as Scaliger noticed, Platonic. Symp. 182, Xe'yerat 
 
 KoKKiov rh tpavepSis tpav tov \d6pq, Koi noKitrra ray yewaioTarav Kcii dpiaTiov 
 
 1. deUeias might be explained like XXXII. 2 of Flavius' mistress, 
 ' your darling,' a sense common in Plautus, and found in Cicero, 
 e. g. Diuin. i. 36. 79, amores ac deliciae tuae Roscius. But then it may 
 be doubted whether Catullus would have continued the plural nei sint 
 illepidae atque inel. ; at least in the other places where he uses deliciae of a 
 loved object, II. i. III. 4, XXXII. 2, ft is simply in apposition with 
 another substantive. Hence it seems better to explain it as = aviores, 
 as we might say ' your pleasures ;' cf. Cael. xix. 44, amores et hae deliciae 
 quae uocantur. 
 
 2. Wei sint, ' if they were not as gross and unrefined as they cer- 
 tainly are.' So Munro explains on Lucr. v. 276, Qui nisi retribuat 
 recreetque Omnia iam resoluta forent, the only instance in Lucr. of this 
 combination of pres. and imperf. He adds G. iv. 116, Tib. i. 4. 63, 8. 
 22, in all which cases the conditional clause has a negative, and the cer- 
 tainty of the affirmative is implied. 
 
16 A COMMENTARY 
 
 4, febrieulosi, 'inclining to the feverish,' 'unhealthy.' Lif6r. iv. 
 1155 sqq., Multimodis igitur prauas iurpisque uidemus Esse in deliciis 
 summoque in honore uigere . . . Ischnon eromenton turn fit, cum uiuere non 
 quit Prae made ; rhadine uerost iam mortua tussi. 
 
 6. iiiduas, ' alone.' 
 
 7. Nequicquam taciturn, 'in spite of its natural silence' : it would fain 
 be silent, but the garlands upon it betray the secret. Martial expresses 
 the exactly opposite idea, xiv. 39, Dulcis conscia lectuli lucerna, Quicquid 
 uis facial licet, tacebo : perhaps suggested by Philodemus, Anth. P. v. 4. 
 I, Tov <nyS>vra a-vviaropa rmv aKaXriTcov Aixvov. Claiuat. Cic. Catil, i. 8. 
 21, Cum tacent, clamant. 
 
 8. Syrio. Bion. i. 77, paXve St piv SvpioLtriv a\ci<j>aa-i., paive fivpoitTi. Theocr. 
 XV. 114, Supi'm 8e pvpa xputrEi' aKa^aarpa. Pliny mentions stjirax, xii. 124; 
 galbanum, 126; malobathrun, 129; cinnamum comacum, 132; Philodemus, 
 Anth. P. xi. 34. 2, contrasts a-foipva Svpir) as precious with the cheaper 
 crocinum. 'If ointments and perfumes in the Greek and Latin poets 
 are called sometimes Syrian, sometimes Assyrian, either expression is 
 right, since such perfumes were derived from Syria, especially from 
 Palestine (cf. 0pp. Cyneg. i. 340), and Assyria indifferently.' Noldeke 
 Hermes, v. p. 466. oliuo, ace. to Forcell. s. v. = oko : cf. Pliny of 
 the Syrian malobathrum, xii. 129, ex quo premitur oleum ad unguenta. 
 Fore, compares Prop. iii. 17. 31, Leuis odorato ceruix manabit oliuo. But 
 both there and in Catullus oliuo seems to have its proper sense of olive oil, 
 which was mixed with the Syrian shrubs, as Virgil speaks of spoiling 
 {corrumpitur) olive-oil by the admixture of casia, G. ii. 466. 
 
 9. et hie et ille, on either side of the sleeping-couch. So Ovid, Am. 
 iii. 14. 32, Cur pressus prior est interiorque torus. 
 
 10. tremulique. Ovid, Am. iii. 14. 26. quassa nearly = facta 
 quatiendo, cf. incutere tremorem, Lucr. vi. 593, of the wind which acts like 
 a shivering-fit. The Datanus has cassa, ' ineffectual,' perhaps rightly. 
 
 11. argutatio seems cm. Xty. inambulatio, orig. of walking up 
 and down, e.g. in one's house, Att. vi. 2. 5, or on the rostra as an ora- 
 torical artifice. Brut, xliii. 153 : hence of restless motion. 
 
 12. The disyllabic nihil intensifies the emphasis of the first nil. 
 ' Nothing, no, I say nothing whatever can keep your misdemeanours 
 quiet.' So xvii. 21, nil uidet, nihil audit. Verg. E. viii. 104, nihil ille 
 deos, nil carmina curat. 
 
 13. Cur ? as in Ennius' Epitaph on himself, 3, 4, Nemo me lacrumis 
 decoret nee funera fletu Faxit. Cur ? uolito uiuus per or a uirum ? So 
 XXIV. 7, Qui? non est homo bellus inquies ? est. latera. Hor. Epist. 
 i. 7. 25; luuen. vi. 37. ' ecfututa, exhausted with debauchery, Priap. 
 xxvi. 7. pandas refers to the loose and unstrung appearance of the 
 body of a man dissoluti deliciis (Sen. de Ira. ii. 25. 1). 81a ti 01 a<\,po- 
 Stina^ovTcs iiCKvovTaL (cai ao-flewoTfpoi ylvovrm its iirl to ttoXv; Arist. Prob. 
 iv. 21. 
 
 14. ' If it were not certain that you were enacting some folly.' Tu 
 is not pleonastic, but brings the accusation home to Flavius, nearly = tu 
 idem. Somewhat similar is the emphasized use of tu in the second clause, 
 Hor. C. i. 9. 16, and of ille in Adelph. iii. 2. 8. ineptiarum, ' of 
 amours,' cf. ineptire, VIII. r. 
 
 15. tooni malique, pleasant or unpleasant, agreeable or disagreeable. 
 
ON CATULLUS. VIL 17 
 
 habes, ' have to speak of,' like fx«r. Cic. Att. xii. 13.2, Quare sine habes 
 quid, sine nihil habes, scribe tamen aliquid. 
 
 16. Die nobis. Catullus makes the same request to Camerius, LV. 25, 
 Die nobis ubi sis futurus, ede Audacter, committe, crede lucei. tuos 
 amores, your mistress, like suos amores, X. i, XLV. i, LXIV. 27. meos 
 amoves , XV, i, XL. 7. 
 
 17. Ad caelum uocare, ' to raise you to the height of honour.' Cic. 
 fr. Hortens. 37, eloquentiam quam tu in caelum, Hortensi, credo ut ipse cum 
 ea simul ascender es, sustulisses. Att. vi. 9. 9, Salaminii nos in caelum 
 decretis suis sustulerunt. Petron. S. 37, Nunc in caelum abiit et Trivial- 
 chionis topanta (the factotum) est. This seems preferable to the other 
 sense of raising to the height of happiness. Att. ii. 9. i, Si uero quae de 
 me pacta sunt, ea nan seruantur, in caelo sum. Petron. S. 132, Hoc de te 
 merui ut me in caelo positum ad inferos traheres ? which seems to be the 
 meaning of Theocr. v. 144, « oipavbv ximuv aXevpai. 
 
 VII. 
 
 A LOVE-POEM of the same kind as V, and probably belonging to the 
 same period. The difference lies in the fact that in V the basia are 
 given by Lesbia, in VII to her : a subjective and objective statement of 
 the same circumstance, which has not been observed : though a similar 
 tendency may be traced in other poems, e.g. XIII, XIV, in which 
 Catullus makes and receives a present. 
 
 1. basiationes Tuae, ' kissings of you,' not ' from you.' Cf. 9. Servius 
 on Aen. i. 260, Sciendum osculum religionis esse, sauium uoluptatis : quamuis 
 quidam osculuvi filiis dari, uxori basium, scorto sauium dicant. 
 
 2. satis superque, ' enough and more than enough to content me.' 
 A common expression. Lael. xiii. 45, satis superque esse sibi suarum 
 cuique rerum. Sallust Jug. 75. Hor. Epod. i. 39. 
 
 3—8. Sand and stars are among the commonest illustrations of great 
 
 number. Horn. II. ix. 385, oo-a ■^a\ia6os re kovk re; ii. 800, ^iXKouTiv 
 coiKores rj -ij/n/jLadoiaiv. Pind. 01. ii. fin. yjrafiiMS api.6ji.ov nfpmeipfvyev. P. ix. 
 84, OTToVai ^dfiaBoi KKovtovrai iv QaKcuraa. Callim. H. Dian. 253, «ri 8e 
 (TTparbv l7nnjfio'\yiou''iiyays Ki^fieptav ^jfQfidda laov. H. Del. I75j ^ lo'dptBp.ot 
 Teipea-iv, rjviKa TrXfio-TO Kar rjepa ^ovKoKeovrm. PlatO Combines both, Euthyd. 
 
 294, and so Catullus again, LXI. 199, 200. 
 
 3. numerus harenae, like numerus uini (Phil. ii. 27. 66), frumenti 
 olei fici, Sec, in which cases, however, the genitives are natural products, 
 and numerus expresses the stock to which in each case they amount. 
 (Mayor on Phil. ii. 27. 66.) Harena, however, is not only a noun of 
 multitude (A. Cell. xix. 8. 12, cum harena singulari in numero dicta 
 multitudinem tamen et copiam significet minimarum ex quibus constat 
 partium), but could not properly be used in the plural, as expressly laid 
 down by J. Caesar in his de Analogic (A. Gell. xix. 8. 3), cf. Hor. C. i. 
 28. I, numeroque carentis harenae. Catullus seems rather to have gone 
 beyond the ordinary licence in this use, cf. LXI. 203, Multa milia ludei, 
 and note. Cicero, N. D. ii. 47. 121, uses even pluma and squama as 
 nouns of multitude: Plautus, membri, Asin. iv. i. 41. Libyssaej> 
 Callim. H. Apoll. 85. 
 
 c 
 
18 A COMMENTARY 
 
 4. Iiasarpiciferis. Pliny, H. N. xix. 38, Laserpicium quod Graeci 
 silphion uocant, in Cyrenaica prouincia repertum, cuius sucum laser uocant 
 magnificum in usu medicamentisque. Pliny goes on to say that it had in 
 his time long ceased to grow in Cyrene : yet in the consulship of C. 
 Valerius Flaccus and M. Herennius, b.c. 93, thirty pounds weight of 
 laserpicium had been shipped from Cyrene to Rome, and at the beginning 
 of the civil war Caesar is said to have brought out of the aerarium 1500 
 pounds of it, ib. 40. In lasarpiciferis Catullus seems to translate a-iK(t>i.o- 
 (j)6pvs. Strabo, 133, speaks of fj Siafifios kqI (n'K<j)tocj>6pos rai ^rjpi, words 
 which show that Catullus is strictly right in describing the laserpicium as 
 growing in sandy tracts. The plant was so much connected with Cyrene 
 as to be found on its coins ; see Diet. Geog. s. v. Cyrene : cf. a passage 
 from an inedited lexicon quoted by Osann on Apuleius de Orthographia, 
 
 p. 60, 01 Kvprjvatoi to {tlK<J)ioj/ /ieya rt kol e^alperov e^ovres cdldotrav Barrf^' Koi ovk 
 e^ijv uXXtt) KeKTTJ<T6at. 'ExapaTTov Se Kal iwi jxcv to c'tos fiepr] tov voiilaparos tov 
 "Ap.p.aiva, eVi de tov €Tepov to (rtKrfiiov as p.eya : cf. Leutsch's Paroemiographi 
 Graeci, ii. p. 326. A vase, circ. 458 B.C., is still extant in which Ar- 
 cesilaus, one of the kings of Cyrene, is figured presiding over the weigh- 
 ing of silphium. In front of him are scales ; one attendant adjusts the 
 balance, another carries on his shoulder a bag of silphium, another 
 watches the weighing, a fourth raises a bag of the same drug, exhibiting 
 it to the king. See Academy, iv. p. 426. Silphium, which has generally 
 been identified with asafetida, is now believed to be the Thaspia Silphion 
 of Viviani, which Delia Cella found to be the only umbelliferous plant 
 from Zardes to Grennah in Barca, and to correspond with the figure of 
 the aiX^iov on the Cyrenean and Barcaean coins. (G. Birdwood in Acad, 
 v. part 2. p. 62.) Cyrenis, as often in Callimachus, H. ApoU. 72, 
 93, Epig. xxi. 5, Blomf. More generally the first syllable is long. 
 Catullus here speaks of the district. 
 
 5. Between the Oasis called Ammonium from the temple of Jupiter 
 Ammon, and the tomb of Battus in Cyrene. Catullus seems here inexact, 
 as the sandy district on which the silphium grew was not close to the 
 city itself, but bordered on the Cyrenean territory, according to Strabo 
 
 837, op.opel Trj Kvprjvala fj to alkt^wv (jiepovca Kal tov 07r6v tov KvpTjvaioVj av 
 
 cKcjiepei TO a-iKt^Lov 6mo6ev. Oraclum. Strabo 50 speaks of the oracle 
 
 as famous in his own time. aestuosi ' sultry,' as on the verge of the 
 Libyan desert. 
 
 6. Batti, the founder of Cyrene, Herod, iv. 150-155. Bottov a-tXcpiov 
 was a proverb. ueteris, ' the mythical.' Mr. Clayton quotes Am. ii. 
 4. 33, ueleres Heroidas aequas. sacrum. Battus was worshipped after 
 his death as a hero. sepulcrum. The tomb stood by itself at the 
 point where the paved road, {aKvperrh. 686?) which Battus made leading 
 to the temple of Apollo, joined the agora. Pind. P. v. 125, aKupwrav athv, 
 
 ev6a Trpvp.vots ayopds em Sixa KfiTat 6ava>v MaKap piv avSpav peTa 1 'Evaiev, 
 rjpcos 8' eTTfiTO Xao(re/3ijr. 
 
 7. eum taeet nox, a rare rhythm, like occidil hreuis lux, V. 5. 
 
 8. uident, cf. Plato's Epigram, 'Ao-Tf'pas ela-adpeU oon^p ip4s; tWe 
 
 yevoip.r)V Oupav6s, it jroXXoir ip.pMa-iv eh ere jSXEira). So MacrobiuS, i. 1 9. 12, 
 
 identifies Argus Panoptes- with the many-eyed heaven, and the Aryan 
 Indra, the sky, is the thousand-eyed (sahasraksha). 
 
 9. Te, objective accusative : the frantic lover ( Vesano Calullo) the sub- 
 
ON CATULLUS. VIIL 19 
 
 ject, cf. XLVIII. 2. Basiare will then be constructed, with two accusa- 
 tives like ^CKfj<Tai in Mosch. iii. 69, 70, ^iXe'« 8e ttoXv nXeov rj TO (pIXriiia To 
 TTpaav Tou "AScowi' anoBinia-KovTa KJylXrjaev. 
 
 10. Vesano, C. ^. Hor. C. i 13. 11, Sine puer fur ens. 
 
 11. curiosi, 'prying,' 'inquisitive,' a not very common sense in the 
 writers of the golden age. Flacc. xxix. 70, Primum patere me esse curio- 
 sum. Att. iv. It. 2, ovhh yXiKUTepov rj vdvr elhivai. Quare ul hoviini 
 curioso ita perscribe ad me. Petron. S. 127, Sume ergo amplexum si 
 placet neque est quod curiosum aliquem extimescas. 
 
 12. mala Ungua. Verg. E. vii. 28, ne uati noceat mala lingua futuro. 
 faseinare. A. Gell. xvi. 12, Item fascinum appellat (Cloatius Verus), 
 quasi bascanum, et faseinare esse quasi bascinare. This connexion of 
 
 faseinare with ^aaKaiveiv (accepted by Corssen ii. p. 257) would seem to 
 show that the notion of witchcraft was originally that of the evil tongue 
 {mala lingua) rather than the evil eye. Cf. ^aCtiv, ^iaKuv. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 This poem must have been written after a quarrel. It is in the form 
 of a soliloquy, like LXXVI, which is on the same subject. Self-address 
 is much affected by Catullus, cf. XL VI. 4, Linquantur Phrygii, Catulle, 
 campi; LI. 13, Otium, Catulle, tibi moleslum est ; LII.i, 4, Quid est, Catulle? 
 quid moraris emori ? LXXIX. 2, Quam te cum tola gente, Catulle, tua ; and 
 the soliloquizing reflexions of Attis, LXIII. 58-72. It is perhaps the same 
 egoistic tendency which leads him to speak of himself so often in the 
 third person, and by name: VI. i, Catullo Velles dicere ; VII. 10, Vesano 
 satis et super Catullo est; VIII. 12, iam Catullus obdurat ; XL i, Comites 
 Catulli ; "KWi. 'j,nam tui Catulli Plenus Sacculus est aranearum ; XIV. 13, 
 Quem tu scilicet ad tuum Catullum Misti ; XXX VIIL i, Males t Cornifici 
 tuo Catullo ; XLIV. Nam te esse Tiburtem autumant quibus nan est Cordi 
 Catullum laedere ; XLIX. 4, Gratias ti,bi maximas Catullus Agit ; LVI. 3, 
 Ride quicquid amas, Cato, Catullum ; LVIII. 2, Ilia Lesbia quam Catullus 
 unam ; LXVIII. 27, Quare quod scribis Veronae turpe Catullo Esse ; ib. 134 
 Quae tamen etsi uno non est contenta Catullo ; LXXII. i, Dicebas quondam 
 solum te nosse Catullum ; LXXIX. 3, Sed tamen hie pulcer uendat cum gente 
 Catullum; LXXXII. i, Quinti, si tibi uis oculos debere Catullum. 
 
 ■ 
 
 1. desinas . . dueas. Hortatory, rather than Strictly imperative. ' You 
 are to cease.' So in LXXVI. 14, Difficile est, uerum hoc qua lubet efficias; 
 16, Hoc facias, siue id non pote, siue pote, when, as here, Catullus is 
 addressing himself. He seems to be laying down a rule by which his 
 conduct is to be guided. The instances quoted by Drager (Hist. Synt. 
 i. 285) and Holtze (Synt. ii. p. 145) show that this imperative use of the 
 subjunctive is particularly used in general rules, and when the person is 
 indefinite ; but it is also not unfrequent in special injunctions addressed to 
 definite persons, e.g. Most. v. 2. 8, cenes ; And. iii. 4. 19, Quiescas ; Eun. 
 ii. 3. 97, Si cer turns t facer e, facias. Att. x. 15. 4, litteras des, and more 
 frequently in later authors, e.g. Liu. vi. 12, Tu T. Quinti equitem . . 
 teneas, turn terrorem .... infer, xxii. 53, afficias, xxvi. 50, sis . . . scias. 
 
 c 2 
 
20 A COMMENTARY 
 
 2. perisse, perditum. Asin. iii. 3. 47, Ilk qui illos perdit saluos est, 
 ego qui non perdo, pereo. Ad. i. 2. 54, Profundat perdat pereat. Liu. 
 Praef., libidinem pereundi perdendiqm omnia. Passerat compares Trin. iv. 
 
 3. 19, Quin tu quod periit perisse ducis ? 
 
 3. candldi soles. Aesch. Pers. 301, \cvk.ov rjfiap, ' a cloudless day,' as 
 again literally in Ag. 668. Sophocles used Xeukiji' fmepav = dyafiiji/ in his 
 Athamas, fr. 5, Nauck, Horace expresses the opposite, S. i. 9, 72, 
 Huncine solem Tarn nigrum, surrexe mihi. 
 
 4. uentitabas. ' Ex frequenti profectione ad amicam felicitatem suam 
 arguit poeta.' — Alex. Guarinus. ducebat, 'led the way,' not Implying 
 any deceit in Lesbia, but the entire submission of Catullus to her will. 
 
 5. Repeated XXXVII. 1 2, with iantun for nobis. notois, change from 
 2nd to ist person, as LXIII. 61, 62; Merc, iv. 3. 1-5; Aen. iv. 540, i. 
 Compare the rhetorical alternation of 2nd and 3rd person in Cicero, 
 Phil. ii. 17, 41, 56- 
 
 6. Ibi turn, in And. i. i. 79, 104; i. 3. 18; Caecin. x. 27, means 
 ' thereupon ; ' in And. iv. i. 10 it seems to be an emphatic ' then,' ti5tc hr\, 
 a sense in which it is probably used here. ilia recalls the memory 
 of the scene. iocosa, II. 6: so ludere,\XS\]l. 17. 
 
 7. Stat, compares Am. iii. 7. 5, cupiens pariter cupiente puella. 
 
 9. Nunc iam, ' now at last,' generally implying a number of prelimi- 
 naries. And. i. I. 144, sat est. Curabo. eamus nunciam intro. Fam. xii, 
 
 4. 12, Nunc iam sum expeditus. impoteus, ' headstrong as you are,' a . 
 violent lover, unaccustomed to control your feelings or submit to any 
 check in your passion. Similarly Terence, Heaut. ii. 3. 130, Ego te autem 
 noui quam esse soleas impoteus. Inuersa uerba, euersas ceruicis tuas, Gemitus, 
 screatus, tussis, risus abstine. And. v. 3. 8, Adeo impotenii esse animo, ut 
 praeter ciuium Morem atque legem et sui uoluntaiem patris Tamen hanc 
 habere siudeat cum summo probro. 
 
 10. Sappho, i. 21. Bergk, xai yap oX ^^vya, Tax^ias biii^ei. Theocr. xi. 
 75, Ti 7-01' (peiyovra fitm/tf is ; Callim. Epig. xxxii. 5 Blomf., x°''l^' ^/""* 
 
 ToiO(rSe" TO iJ,ev (j)evyovTa SiiiKfCV O'fif, ra 8" ev iie<T<T<o Keipevn TrapireraTai, and 
 Horace's imitation, S, i. 2. 105-108. 
 
 11. Perfer, 'be patient,' Am. iii. 11. 7, Perfer et obdura, Hor. S. ii. 
 
 5. 39, Persia atque obdura. This intransitive use of perferre is rare 
 except in the imperative. The form of these words is like Theogn. 
 
 1 03 1, 2, M>jSe (TU y dirprjKTOiinv iir cpypaaiv oXyos de^o>v,"0)(6ei,, p^S' axSov, 
 p.r]de <j)lXovs dvla. 
 
 13. rogabit, ' solicit.' Am. i. 8. 43, casta est quam nemo rogauit. 
 
 14. cum rogaberis nulla. This use of nullus, ' not at all,' as in 
 nullus dixeris, nullus moneas, nullus uenit (Att. xi. ?4. 4, Asin. ii. 4. 2; 
 Rud. i. 2. 55) is defended by Haupt (Obs, Crit. p. 4) as belonging to 
 common life, and therefore harmonizing with the simple style of Catullus. 
 Cf. Cir. 176, Nulla colum nouit, carum non respicit aurum, and the similar, 
 though not identical, Vtque tibi excidimus, nullam puio Phyllida nosti, 
 Heroid. ii. 105. But Holtze (Synt. i. p. 409) quotes no instance of 
 nullus in this sense with passive verbs ; and though Statius' long-accepted 
 emendation in 15, node (cf. Hor. Epod. xv. 13), is not confirmed by 
 any reliable MS, it is at least natural and not far removed from the MSS 
 reading ne te, whilst all other conjectures are weak or improbable. 
 
 15. It is hard to determine whether Scelesta is (i) vile, mainly in. 
 
ON CATULLUS. IX. 21 
 
 reference to Lesbia's desertion of Catullus, see LXXVI, and Eun. i. 
 I. 26, and degrading profligacy, of. Sen. de Ben. vi. 32, luliam ultra 
 impudiciliae maledidum impudicam ; or (2) 'unfortunate,' as often in Plau- 
 tus. Ramsay, on Most. i. 3. 14, proves this meaning from Most. iii. i. 
 36, nae ego sum miser, Scekstus, natus dis inimicis omnibus; Capt. iii. 5. 
 104; Asin. V. 2. d, At scelesta ego praeter alios meum uirum fui rata 
 Siccum frugi continentem amaniem uxoris maxume, Rud. iii. 5. 22; 
 Men. iii. i. 2; Cas. iii. 5. 34; Cist. iv. 2. 17, infelicem et scelestam. The 
 general drift of the passage is in favour of the second view ; possibly 
 scelesta united both, as both are to some extent combined in our ' miser- 
 able,' 'a wretch.' tibi manet, 'is reserved for you.' Phil. ii. 5. 11, 
 Cuius quidem tibi/atum, sicut C. Curioni, mamt. 
 
 17. cuius esse dicerisP She would no longer be called Lesbia 
 Catulli. Am. iii. 12. 5, Quae modo dicta mea est, quam coepi solus amare, 
 Cum multis uereor ne sit habenda mihi. Prop. ii. 8. 6, Nee mea dicetur, 
 quae modo dicta viea est. 
 
 18. mordebis. Hor. C. i. 13. 12 ; Tib. i. 6. 14; Am. iii. 14. 34. 
 
 19. destiuatus, here, ' fixed to a purpose,' 'resolved :' Livy xlii. 48 has 
 consilia destinata ad bellum : cf. obstinatus 1 1, praestinare, to fix the price 
 to be paid for anything beforehand. Corssen supposes a participial 
 stem -stano connected with stare (ii. 416). There is no reason to doubt 
 the genuineness of the line, as Turnebus xx. 2 1 did, though destinatus in 
 this sense is rare. 
 
 IX. 
 
 Veranius is mentioned again XIL 15, as the companion of FabuUus in 
 Spain: in XXVIIL i, Pisonis comites cohors inanis, XLVIL i, Porci et So- 
 cration duae sinistrae Pisonis, they are again combined as members of the 
 praetorian staff of Piso. It is a natural inference that they were in Spain 
 with Piso ; for, if they were not, they must have accompanied each other 
 twice, and probably in two different parts of the world. Such indeed is 
 the hypothesis of Schwabe (Quaestt. pp. 244-246). He thinks IX, XII, 
 XIII, refer to a journey in Spain distinct from the subsequent journey 
 which the two friends made with Piso ; and he identifies this Piso with 
 L. Calpurnius Piso, Proconsul of Macedonia from the end of 696 | 58 
 till some time after the beginning of 699 | 55. 
 
 This is not impossible, and there are many points of agreement 
 between XXVIII, XLVII,andthe description Cicero gives of Piso's govern- 
 ment of Macedonia. (See Introduction to XXVIII.) But these are equally 
 explicable on the hypothesis of a single journey ; and this was the view 
 of the older commentators. 
 
 The only Piso known to have held a provincial government in Spain 
 within the time to which the poems of CatuUus belong is Cn. Piso, a 
 member of the first Catilinarian conspiracy, who was sent into Hispania 
 Citerior as Quaestor pro Praetore 689 | 65. Sallust Cat. 18 calls him 
 adulescens nobilis suvimae audaciae, egens, factiosus, quern ad pertur- 
 bandam rempublicam inopia atque mali mores stiviulabant, and says 
 that he was sent out through the influence of M. Crassus, as an 
 
22 A COMMENTARY 
 
 enemy of Pompeius, but that the senate was glad to give him a pro- 
 vincial command, quippe foedum hominem a re publica procul esse uolebat. 
 Cn. Piso was killed whilst travelling in his province by some Spanish 
 horsemen who accompanied his army, whether urged by friendship to 
 Pompeius, or to revenge the cruelties and oppressions of his govern- 
 ment, Sallust leaves uncertain. Cicero, in the fragment of his Oratio in 
 Toga Candida, delivered when canvassing for the Consulship, 690 | 64, 
 calls him contemptuously a Spanish stiletto (illo conaii erant Hispaniensi 
 pugiunculo neruos incidere ciuium Romanorum, Ascon. p. 94 Orelli); if Asco- 
 nius may be trusted he was then dead. 
 
 It must have been then in 65-64 that Veranius 'and Fabullus were in 
 Spain, if they were there with Gn. Piso. This is not inconsistent with the 
 fact which seems to follow from XXVIII, XLVII, that they were with Piso 
 when Catullus was with Memmius in Bithynia. Nor is it inconsistent 
 with the age of Catullus, who in 65-64 wou'ld have been twenty-tvl'o or 
 twenty-three years old, an age well suited to the youthful warmth of 
 
 2. Autistans, ' surpassing,' i. e. valued above ; a word used by 
 Cicero, Rep. iii. 18. 28, and Lucretius, v. 22. milibus trecentis, 
 i. e. any number of other friends. Att. ii. 5. i, Cato ille nosier qm miki 
 unus est pro centum milibus, xvi. 11. i, E^ t/aoi fxipioi. Anth. P. vii. 128. 
 3, Eff ijioX avBpairos rpuriivpioi. Plin. Epist. iv. 27. 4, Vnus Plinius est 
 mihi priores. So in XL VIII. 3, Vsque ad milia basiem trecenta, where 
 basiorum is supplied as amicorum here. Horace similarly uses tercentum 
 milibus as an expression of indefinite number, S. ii. 3. 116. 
 
 4. iinanimos, 'loving,' XXX. 1; LXVI. 80; Aen. vii. 335, unanimos 
 armare in proeliafraires. anum matrem, as in Gell. iii. 15. 4 : anus 
 conveys a homely, not a disparaging, idea. Tib. i. 6. 57, tua mater Me 
 mouel atque iras aurea uincit anus, ib. 63, dulcis anus. 
 
 5. niintii, plural, not genitive sing, as held by Ramshorn Gramm. 
 p. 339, Public School Grammar, § 136. See Hand, Tursellinus, iv. 
 352, .3- 
 
 6. Visam, LXIII. 48. inooliunem, after all the perils of your 
 journey, luuen. xii. 15, 16. 
 
 7. Narrantein. One MS. has naranlem, perhaps rightly, according 
 to the spelling of Varro, Wilmans de M. Ter. Varronis libris gram- 
 maticis, p. 179. loca, 'the sites,' i.e. the country considered 
 topographically. facta, ' the exploits or feats ; ' the pugnas, rather 
 than the mores, of Cic. Q. Fr. ii. 16. 4. nationes, ' the tribes' of which 
 the Hiberian race was composed. So Cicero, writing to his brother 
 Quintus, then with Caesar in Britain, ii. 16. 4, Quos tu situs rerum et 
 locorum, quos mores, quas gentes, quas pugnas, quern uero ipsum imperatorem 
 habes. 
 
 8. appUcaJis, not, I think, 'bringing my neck close to yours,' like 
 app. oscula, Ovid, F. iv. 851 ; but like in osculum applicare. Patron. S. 24 
 
 = ' to draw a person near to kiss him,' Eleg. de Morte Drusi, 34, Collaque 
 et OS oculosque illius ore premam. Fronto, p. 50, N. illefrudus in tuo collo 
 atque osculo situs est. Alciphron. i. 28. i, rjnv dpa/ievr) to wpos Tfjv Tixvrjv- av 
 8c i^anivris fVio-raf ineipS) rfiv 8f piv duaxXdcras Kva-m. Aristaen. i. l6. itcfiaKxiv- 
 Se'icra tw epmri dvcKXair'e jrpbs imTfjV tov avxiva koX Kanifi'iXrjtre. Lucian Dial. 
 
ON CATULLUS. X. 23 
 
 Meretr. in. 2, toC cItos UKpov (^ai^ap,evos avaK\d(Tas t6v avxeva Trjs BaiSos 
 
 ci)t\ri(Tev. In all these passages it is the person kissed whose neck is 
 grasped. Servius on Aen. i. 620, says applicare was the more ancient, 
 adplicare the more modern spelling : our MSS. may thus represent here 
 what Catullus wrote. 
 
 9. sauiabor, so Q. Cicero to Tiro Fam. xvi. 27. 2, Ego uos a d. in. 
 Cal. uidebo tuosque osculos etiam si ie ueniens in medio foro uidero dis- 
 sauiabor. Turnebus thinks Catullus was here imitating Homer, Od. xvi. 
 
 I5j Kiio-o-6 8c yiiv Kf<l)d\rjv tc Koi aii(f)a (f>dea KaXd, 
 
 10. O quantum est h. beatiortLm has been explained as an appeal 
 to happy men to declare whether they know any one happier than 
 Catullus; cf. Eun. v. 8. i, O popular es, ecquis me hodie uiuit foriunatior ? 
 Supra in. 2. But the repetition bcaiiorum bealius is cumulative, the 
 first containing the second, ' O, among all men that are happy, what is 
 happier than I,' just as in Capt. iv. 2. 56, Quantumst hominum opiume 
 optumorum. Phorm. v. 6. 13, O omnium quantum est qui uiuent hominum 
 homo ornatissume, and Heaut. iv. 8. r, Multo omnium nunc me fortuna- 
 tissimum Factum puto es^. Inf. CVII. 7, Quis me uno uiuit felicior? 
 
 \ 
 
 X. 
 
 This poem must have been written after the return of Catullus from 
 Bithynia, which he visited as one of the cohors or staff of the Praetor 
 Memmius (X. 10-12, XXVIIL 9, 10). 
 
 G. Memmius Gemellus was tribune of the plebs, 688 | 66, and had 
 made himself prominent by using his influence to prevent the triumph 
 of L. LucuUus, who had just returned from the Mithridatic war (Plut. Lu- 
 cullus, 37). Lucullus obtained his triumph in 691 | 63, mainly through 
 the exertions of Cato (Plut. Cato 29, Cic. Acad. Pr. ii. i. 3). Memmius 
 was probably then at Rome, and must have been there in 694 | 60, when 
 he seduced the wife of M. Lucullus (Att. i. 18. 3). In 696 | 58 he was 
 praetor (Ad Q. Fr. i. 2. 16), and lungclaussen, Schwabe, Bruner, and 
 Westphal agree in concluding that he was propraetor of Bithynia in the 
 following year. As he probably remained a year in Bithynia, the date of 
 the present poem would on this hypothesis fall in the year 698 ( 56. 
 
 A different view is perhaps also tenable. We saw (on Introd. to IX) that 
 when XXVIII was written, Veranius and FabuUus were with Piso, and 
 that if they were with Piso in Spain, it was probably in 65-64 b. c. Now 
 in XXVIII Catullus speaks of his stay with Memmius as either past or 
 still continuing (v. 8). It must therefore, on the hypothesis that Veranius 
 and FabuUus made only one journey together, have been either during 
 the same years or a little before that Catullus and Memmius were in 
 Bithynia. Could Memmius have been in Bithynia during those years? 
 He was in Rome in 66 (Plut. Lucullus, 37); but I am not aware that 
 there is anything to prove that he was there during the two following 
 years. If not, he may have been sent to Bithynia, not indeed as actual prae- 
 tor, but with praetorian power (pro praetore), possibly to relieve Pompeius, 
 who, having succeeded M'. Acilius Glabrio in the government of Bithynia, 
 according to the provisions of the Manilian law, in 688 | 66, was in 65 
 
24 A COMMENTARY 
 
 occupied with the subjugation of the Iberians and Albanians, and might 
 well leave the administration of the province in the hands of another. 
 At any rate the mere absence of historical notification proves nothing : for 
 except from Catullus himself we should not know that Memmius had 
 been in Bithynia at all. See Prolegomena. 
 
 Supposing then that Catullus went with Memmius into Bithynia early 
 in 65 and remained there till 64, we may explain all the five poems 
 without resorting to the hypothesis of a journey twice undertaken by 
 Veranius and FabuUus together. XXVIII, XL VII, will then be prior 
 in date to IX, XII, XIII. Catullus probably wrote XXVIII first, cf. 4 
 Quidrerum geritis? which looks like a first greeting: XL VII was sent 
 later, when news had reached the poet that his friends were vilipended 
 by Piso. Then comes XII, written after the return of Catullus to Italy, 
 where he seems to have been when the Saetaban napkins sent by 
 Veranius and Fabullus reached him; next is IX, written on Veranius' 
 return to his home ; XIII was probably composed later, as it contains an 
 allusion to Lesbia, 11. 
 
 The last king of Bithynia, Nicomedes III, died in 74 b.c, leaving his 
 dominions by his will to the Romans (Appian Civ. i. in). The kingdom 
 was then reduced into the form of a province (Liu. Epit. 93), hence Cicero 
 Leg. Manil. ii. 5, a speech delivered b.c 66, says Bithyniae quae nunc 
 uestra prouincia est, and in the second speech on the agrarian law of 
 RuUus, 63 B.C., speaks of agros Bithyniae regios quibus nunc publicani 
 fruuniur, xix. 50; cf xv. 40, quoniam hereditalem (the kingdom left by 
 Nicomedes' will) iam creuimus, regnuni Bithyniae, quod certe publicum est 
 populi Romani factum. *> 
 
 Catullus says Bithynia was a bad province for making money. This 
 was probably attributable to the exhaustion of its resources by the 
 Mithridatic war (Mommsen, iv. p. 50), partly also to the long continuance 
 of piratical depredations (ib. p. 41). But it is remarkable that M. 
 Aurelius Cotta and C. Papirius Carbo, successively governors of Bithynia, 
 both amassed large sums, and were both tried and condemned for 
 spoliation (Dion C. xxxvi. 23). Memmius was a careless, but perhaps 
 not an unscrupulous, man. 
 
 Varus is probably the person to whom XXII is written. Schwabe, follow- 
 ing a suggestion of Muretus, identifies him with Quintilius Varus, whose 
 death is commemorated by Horace, C. i. 24, and who is probably the critic 
 of A. P. 438 sqq. If the statement of Hieronymus in the Eusebian chronicle 
 01. 189.2, B.C. 23, Quintilius CremonensisVergilii et Horatii amicus moritur, 
 is correct, there would at least be nothing in the age of Quintilius to make 
 this theory impossible. 
 
 2. Visere ad is commonly ' to visit some one who is ill.' Hec. i. 2. 114, 
 ii. I. 40, iii. 2. s, 7 ; Lucret. vi. 1236 ; Am. ii. 2. 21. This is probably the 
 sense here ; the visit to Serapis' temple would be to implore a cure, 
 otiosum, 'with nothing to do,' as in Ad. ii. 4. 15. 
 
 3. ScortiUum seems to be &!t. Xsy. repente, 'on the instant,' like 
 extemplOf Stat. Ach. ii. 89. 
 
 4. sane, concessively, ' I grant,' XLIII. 4. non iUepidum neque 
 inuenustum recur XXXVI. 17 of Lesbia's vow. Varus' mistress seemed 
 a lady of some wit and liveliness. The op^site is insulsa ac moUsta 33. 
 
CN CATULLUS. X. 25 
 
 5. inoidere. Liu. i. 57, Poianiibus his apud Sex. Tarquinium incidii de 
 uxoribus men/to. So ifiTrlnrnv, Soph. O. T. 115, Protag. 314 C. More 
 usually incidere in is said of the person who chances on some topic, e. g. 
 Lael. i. 2. 
 
 6. quid esset lam Bithynia, not ' what sort of place Bithynia had 
 become,' as Scis Lebedus quid sit, Hor. Epist. i. 11. 7, but either (i) ' What 
 of Bithynia, what news of Bithynia?' a conversational expression, as Att. 
 X'V- 5' 3) "S></ uelim scire quid aduentus Octauii, numqui concur sus ad eum, 
 numquae i/ewTepio-^oO suspicio ; iv. 11. 2, per scribe ad me quid primus dies, 
 quid secundus, quid censores, quid Appius, quid ilia populi Appuleia. Cf. ti 
 ra irpayiiaff v/juv eVri rai/ \aKe8alfiovi. ; Lysist. 994, Or (2) ' what had become 
 
 of Bithynia,' probably in reference to its recent reduction into the form of 
 a province. 
 
 7. 86 haberet, ' what was its condition.' Fam. iii. 1. 1, Si ipsa respuhlica 
 tibi narrare posset, quomodo sese haberet. 
 
 8. Ecquonam, the reading of Statius, is so constantly written Ei 
 quonam, that it may well be right here ; cf. XXVIII. 6. But Et quonam 
 is equally defensible, and avoids an asyndeton not much in Catullus' style. 
 quonam = quanta. profuisset aere, ablative of value or measure, ' by 
 what amount of money it had stood me in profit.' On the gains made in 
 the provinces by praetors, quaestors, and their subordinates, cf. the words 
 of C. Gracchus in Gell. xv. 12, Ita uersatus sum in prouincia, ut nemo possit 
 uere dicere, assent aut eo plus in muneribus me accepisse, aut mea opera quem- 
 quam sumptumfecisse . . . Itaque, Quirites, cum Romam prof ectus sum, zonas 
 quas plenas argenti extuli, eas ex prouincia inanes retuli. 
 
 9-13. ' I replied, as was in fact the case, that neither natives, praetors, 
 nor staff, had any reason to make a man expect to return with his locks 
 in better trim ; the more so, that they had a praetor who was a profligate, 
 as well as that he cared for his staff not an atom.' The Bithynians were 
 too poor to relieve the necessities of a praetor and a staff themselves 
 poor ; and if the cohors attempted to wring money out of the Bithynians, 
 they were not seconded by Memmius, a man too much engrossed in his 
 own pleasures to care for the interests of his followers. 
 
 9. id quod erat, 'as was the fact.' B. G. iv. 32, Caesar, id quod er at 
 suspicatus, aliquid noui a barbaris initum consilii. Liu. xxxix. 13, Mulier 
 haud dubie, id quod erat, Aebutium indicem arcani rata esse. nihil esse 
 Cur, as in the adage quoted by Cic. Fam. vii. 3. 4, uetus est, ubi non sis 
 quifueris,nonesse cur uelis uiuere. Cluent. Hi. 147, Quid est, Q. Naso, cur 
 tu in isio loco sedeas f ipsis, ' the natives,' as in Liu. vi. 30, Eodem anno 
 Setiam, ipsis querentibus penuriam hominum, noui coloni adscrtpti. Yet there 
 is something illogical in this combination of the Bithynians with Memmius 
 and his staff, as quisquam can refer to the two last only : and it is con- 
 ceivable, especially in a poem where the language is of a less formal kind 
 than usual, that ipsis refers to and is explained hy praetoribus : the second 
 nee being added to give more prominence to the opposition oi praetoribus 
 and cohorti. Somewhat similar is the well-known 'Qi ovn x'^airat rai /iij-yfa 
 
 TToXX' iv\ o'Uco, OvT airm fmKaKas ovre ^elvouriv ivciSfivOd. iii. 349' 35° ■ ^'^d 
 
 of. Varro R. R. iii. 2. 16, Spero non tibi decoquet non ornithon : quotus 
 quisque enim est annus quo non uideas epulum aut triumphum aut collegia non 
 epulari. Cf. the repetition of ut, e. g. in Varro R. R. i. i. 2, et non solum ut 
 ipse quoad uiuam quid fieri oporteat ut te moneam, sed etiam post mortem. 
 
26 A COMMENTARY 
 
 The harshness of ihe second Nee before praeioribus would be some- 
 what relieved by its position at the beginning of the verse : quibus ' 
 in 12 will then refer to eohorti, cf. populi . . . Qui . . . omnes elamant 
 LXVII. 14. . 
 
 10. praetoribus. Either a general plural with a particular reference : 
 so regum, Hor. C. iv. 12. 8, of Tereus, duces iii. 16. 15, of Sextus Pompeius, 
 ducibus nosiris of Caesar Luc. x. 691, TO«rz' of Latinus Aen. x. >]g,generi 
 of Turnus xii. 658, uagamur egenles cum coniugibus et liberis of Cicero 
 and his wife, Att. viii. 2. 31 (Drager, Hist. Syntax p. 8), or indefinitely, the 
 praetor for the time. Catullus goes on to speak in 13 of the single 
 praetor to whose services he was attached, cf. XXVIII. 8 ; and there is 
 no reason for supposing that he was acquainted with any other. eo- 
 horti, regularly for the /Staff in attendance on a provincial governor. 
 Hor. Epist. i. 3. 6. 
 
 11. unctius, to have the hair well oiled, as for a banquet or a holiday, 
 was an expression of prosperity or good fortune : and so Plautus allu- 
 sively, Pseud, i. 2. 84, Numgui quispiamst tuortim tua opera hodie 
 conseruorum Niiidiusculumcaput? Verr. ii. 22. 54, ita palaestritas de/endebal 
 ul ab illis unciier aUret. referret, ' carry home,' as in the words of C. 
 Gracchus quoted above. 
 
 12. irrumator, XXVIII. 10; not more literally perhaps than XVI. i. 
 14, and Lucilius' Praetor noster adhuc guam spurcust ore quod omnis Extra 
 casira ut stercu/oras eiecit ad unum. Non. 394. 
 
 13. Praetor, G. Memmius Gemellus. non faeeret, i e. praesertim 
 quibus praetor esset irrumator {et) non faeeret pili cohortem. The asyndeton 
 is conversational, or perhaps comic, as in a line of Caecilius,Titthe ap. Non. 
 483, Ribb. 220, Praesertim quae non peperit, laete non habet. There is, 
 however, much to recommend non/acerent, the nominative being supplied 
 from quibus, as in Rud. ii. i. z, praesertim quibus nee quaes tus est nee artem 
 didicere ullam. Sallust, Jug. loi, peditibus quos Volux filius eius adduxerat 
 neque in prior e pugna in itinere morati adfuerant. Holtze, i. p. 389. The 
 Bithynians might naturally be indifferent to the members of the prae- 
 torian staff, if the praetor himself was a person whom they despised. 
 piU, XVII. 17. 
 
 14. inquiunt, 'somebody said.' iUie. Voss quotes Verr. v. 11. 27, 
 nam ut mosfuit Bithynorum regibus leetica octophoro ferebatur : a passage 
 which, though it does not prove that the leetica was a Bithynian invention, 
 is suflBcient to show that it was specially connected with that country. 
 In the speech of C. Gracchus (A. Gell. x. 3), where the travelling leetica 
 is first mentioned, the young legatus who occupies it is on his way back 
 ex Asia, i. e. Asia Minor. 
 
 15. Natum. Haupt, Hermes vii. 180, seems to interpret this as mean- 
 ing that the leetica was a Bithynian invention ; and he quotes Valla on 
 Juv. i. 121 ; vi. 351, as asserting this on the authority of Probus. Even 
 if it were not, the connexion of the octophoros with Bithynia might justify 
 Varus' mistress in the inaccuracy. But it seems unnecessary to press 
 Catullus' words so far: as (i) he does not say the leetica was Bithynian, 
 but ad lecticam hominis, (2) uatum d. esse need mean no more than that 
 palanquin-bearers were a natural product of the country, as we might say, 
 grew there, from the abundant supply of tall strong men for the purpose. 
 Plin. Paneg. xxix, diuersas gentes ita commercio miscuit ut quod genitum esset 
 
ON CATULLUS. X. 27 
 
 unqttam id apud omnes naium. esse uideretur. This view is rather confirmed 
 by the position of esse, which almost makes natum an adjective. 
 
 16. Ad lecticam homims = lecticarios, Yikeseruosad manum, cyathos. 
 hominis, like our ' men ' for ' servants.' Pro Quint, xix. 6, hominem. P. 
 Quintii deprehendis in publico. (Muretus). 
 
 17. Vnumbeatiorem, 'a particularly lucky fellow:' m«mj in this sense 
 is common with superlatives, less frequent with comparatives; Hon Epod. 
 xii. 4, namque sagacius unus odoror. . . . Quam canis acer ubi lateal sus. 
 Cf. XXXVII. 17 ; LVIII. 3. facerem, ' might make out,' 'represent.' 
 Adelph. iv. i. 19, facio te apud ilium deum. Virtuies narro. Sen. Epist. 
 44. I, tu mihi te pusillum facis et diets malignius tecum egisse naturam prius, 
 deinde fortunam, 
 
 18. tain fuit maligne, 'I was not so desperately poor.' Liu. viii. 22, 
 ager maligne plebi diuisus : cf. melius mihi fuit, Mart. iii. 2. i. Hence 
 maligne praebere (lust. v. 2), ' to stint,' opposed to benigne praebere, 
 Hec. v. 2. 2. 
 
 19. mala, ' unremunerative.' Bithynia, like Cappadocia, Hor. Epist. i. 
 6. 39, wanted money, but had plenty of slaves. incidisset, 'had, 
 as I said, fallen to my lot.' incidisset here for the more ordinary 
 obtigisset. 
 
 20. octo, for the octophoros or octaphoros, which was now a fashionable 
 conveyance, Ad Qu. Fr. ii. 10. rectos, ' straight and tall/ UKXXYL 2, 
 sermiia reciiora SueL lul. 47. Catullus' words might recall Plautus' 
 ho7nines octo ualidi, hxa^Yi. i. i. 7 ; octo uiros, ualentes uirgatores, Asin. iii. 2. 
 18, the eight officials employed at Rome to lash malefactors ; and in so 
 doing would add to the depreciatoiy effect of the reply. 
 
 21-23. ' But the fact was, that neither here (at Rome) nor in Bithynia 
 had I a single man to shoulder my well-worn pallet with its battered 
 feet.' A parenthetical remark by the poet (Heyse, Hertzberg, and 
 G. A. Simcox in Academy, ii. p. 169), rather than a continuation of 
 Catullus' speech; though this latter view is adopted in my metrical 
 translation. 
 
 21. At, ' but you must know,' as in Hor. S. i. 5. 60, at illifoeda cicatrix 
 Setosam laeui frontem turpauerat oris, neque hie neque illie, ' neither at 
 Rome nor in Bithynia,' Att. ix. 7. 2, Uro in Formiano ne aut ad urbem 
 aitavT7j(ns mea animaduertatur aut si nee hie nee illic (neither at Formiae 
 nor at Rome) eum uidero, deuitatum se a me putet. Ovid, Pont. i. 7. 58, 
 Hie illic uestro sub lare semper eram, ' in your house or your brother's.' 
 That neque hie neque illic, ' neither here nor there,' is a conversational 
 'nowhere,' cf. Most. iii. i. *j6,/aenus illic, /aenus hie, 'everywhere' hos 
 illos, 'all sorts,' Mart. ix. 29. 10, is less probable. 
 
 22. grabati, a small low couch of the commonest description, such as 
 was used by poor people. Rich. s. v. Lucilius, ap. Non. 181 ; vi. 9, ed. 
 L. MuUer, Tres a Deucalione grabati restibu tenti ; Cic. de Diuin. ii. 
 62. 129, non modo lectos, uerum etiam gr abates ; Moretum 5, Membra leuat 
 uili sensim demissa grabato. Petron. S. 97 ; Mart. vi. 39. 4. According 
 to Suetonius de Regibus, p. 319 ed. Reyfferscheid, Numa Pompilius prior 
 adinuenit grdbatos mensas sellas candelabra. 
 
 23. coUo . . . collocare, Plautine. Asin. iii. 3. 67, hie istam colloca 
 cruminam in collo plane. The technical word for adjusting a lectica by a 
 pole to the shoulders was succollare. coUocara posset, not much 
 
28 A COMMENTARY 
 
 more than collocaret ; by posset Catullus seems to mean, ' might serve on 
 occasion,' ' might if required.' 
 
 24. cinaediorem, ' a delicate creature.' Plin. Epist. ix. 17. 2, si quid 
 molle a cinaedo, petulans a scurra, stultum a morione profertur. Athen. xiii. 
 565 Kivaitovs KoKovai roiis ^ jivpov 7rpo(r^dXKovTas ij fUKpm fiaXaKarepav 
 
 Tjp,(f)ifiTij,evovs icrB^ra. She wished to ride to Serapis' temple like a delicate 
 creature as she was. Others explain, of the impudence of cinaedi, as in 
 LVII. I. This 'imtidecuit, but to Catullus the main idea of «>z«^(fej seems 
 to be mollitia, XXV. 
 
 26. Istos, unless commoda is imperative, must depend on a verb under- 
 stood, da or something similar : see on XXXVIII. 6. commoda, if 
 imperative oi commodare, is the single instance of a trisyllabic imperative of 
 the first conjugation shortening its final syllable : Plautus seems to shorten 
 it similarly in Cist. iv. 2. 76, see Lambinus there, and cf. amd. Cure. i. i. 
 38, roga, Cure. v. 3. 30, Poen. v. 2. 48, Men. v. 9. 47, Pseud, i. 1.112, Most. 
 iii. I. 150, Hec. iv. i. 43 (Wagner, Aulul. p. xxvi) ; puta seems to be 
 beyond question in Priap. xxxvii. 6, if not Pers. iv. 9 (Corssen II. p. 461), 
 though it has ceased to retain its imperatival force. But these are 
 disyllables, and though in the verse immediately following the MSS. give 
 mane me ; the alteration mane is so simple as to make this argument of 
 little value. Not improbably the words are corrupt, but no plausible 
 emendation has been proposed. Hand's commodum enim ' just in time,' 
 Stich. ii. 2. 41, Eun. ii. 3. 53, is perhaps the least objectionable. ad 
 Sarapim., 'to the temple of Serapis,' as Am. ii. 2. 25, JVec lu linigeram 
 fieri quid possit ad Isin Quaesieris. luuen. xiv. 260. The accus. in m is 
 found also in Cic. de N. D. iii. 19. 47; Varro ap. Non. 480; Macrob. 
 i. 7. 14; a genitive Serapi in an inscript. professedly of 649 | 105, CIL. 
 I, no. 577, but beUeved by Mommsen to be restored under the Empire; 
 perhaps also in Varro ap. Non. 480, medicina Serapi. Serapis was 
 resorted to for cures, which were believed to be prescribed in dreams. 
 Cic. de Diuin. ii. 59. 123. Varro, Eum. fr. xxvi, xxviii, xxix, Riese. 
 Cf. Artemidor. Oneirocr. ii. 44 (quoted by RBper de Varronis Eumeni- 
 
 dibus ii. p. 23) a-vprayas kol BepaTreias otto SapdmSos iodelaas. Hence 
 Serapis was sometimes identified with Aesculapius, quod medeatur aegris 
 corporibus, Tac. Hist. iv. 84. Wherever the temple alluded to was, it was 
 probably outside the pomerium : at least this was the restriction after the 
 cult had been publicly recognized, Dion C. liii. 2 ; liv. 6 ; as well as at 
 Alexandria, Macrob. i. 7. 15. 
 
 27. Deferri. Later Domitian forbade women of bad character to use 
 the lectica. Suet. Domit. 8. ' Mane,' inquii, hiatus of the long final 
 of a dactylic foot, as in LVII. 7. The MSS. have mane me, which Lachm. 
 retains, (i) It may be as Bergk suggests, a corruption of mi anime, ' my 
 dear; ' Bacch. i. i. 48. (2) 'The short e of mane, to say nothing of the 
 Plautine lene, iace, doce, uide, iube (Wagner Aulul. p. xxvii), is not without 
 support in Augustan and later poets ; Ovid has uale before dicere once, 
 Trist. i. 8. 2 1 ; Phaedrus uide iii. 6. 3 ; Persius uidesis i. 108 ; Martial salue 
 xi. 108. 4. (Ramsay, Prosody p. 47.) Like these mane is a disyllabic, and 
 a word in common use. Catullus has caue twice L. 18, 19, but this is 
 probably from a verb of the 3rd conj. cauere. (3) The sense would be, 
 ironically, ' You may as well wait till I come,' i. e. there's plenty of time 
 for that. Philodemus Anth. P. v. 308. i, 'H Kop.fri, pif'ivov p.^ ri <roi koKov 
 
ON CATULLUS, X. 29 
 
 otvofia ; rrov trf 'Etrrii' iSf iv ; b 6e\fis Sacrofici/, Oiie XoXeis ; suggests that 
 
 Catullus may here be addressing the scortillum in language familiar to 
 her class ; ' Wait till I come up with you ; stay for me to join you ; not 
 so fast.' 
 
 28. Istud, accus. as in Epid. iii. 4. 12, sed istum quern quaeris Peri- 
 phanem Platenium, Ego sum si quid uis. Cure. iii. i. 49. Pseud, i. 5. 
 114, Tibicinam illam tuus quam gnatus deperii, Ea circumducam lepide 
 lenonem. quod is explained by me habere, ' as for what I happened to 
 say just now, I mean that I had the men.' dixeram, as in Capt. i. 2. 
 9 1 , Ad fr air em quo ire dixeram mox iuero : of. Caesar's use of dixeramus, 
 ' I said above,' referring to a former part of his commentaries, B, 
 G. ii. I. 
 
 29. Fugit me ratio, 'I made a mistake about it.' Amphit. i. i. 227, 
 ed. Fleckeisen, Mer. Amphiiruonis ie esse aiebas Sosiam. So. Pecca- 
 ueram. Nam illut 'Amphiiruonis socium ' me esse uolui dicere. Mer. Scibam 
 equidem nullum esse nobis nisi me seruom Sosiatn. Fugit ratio te. Cic. ad 
 Herenn. ii. 16. 24, cited by Scaliger, Qui se propter uinum aut amorem aut 
 iracundiam fugisse rationem dicet, is animi uitio uidebitur nescisse, non im- 
 prudentia. Lambinus on Amphit. i. i. 277, explains it either as taken from 
 accounts ' the reckoning escaped me, I was out in my calculation,' the 
 opposite of rationem tenere ; or, more probably, \^^ fugit me memoria 
 ' my senses forsook me, I forgot what I was saying.' In Cic. de Rep. ii. 
 34. 59, aliqua ratio medendi quae neque Solonem . . .fugerat neque post 
 aliquanto nostrum senatum, the words have a different sense, but point to 
 the first explanation. 
 
 30. G. Helvius Cinna is meant, the author of Zmyrna. See on XCV. 
 Cinna Gains, like Cornelius Publius, Trebellius Lucius in Lucilius, 
 Cascellius Aulus in Horace. See L. Miiller on Lucil. xi. 13. 
 
 31. illius an mei (nom. plur.), Ovid, A. A. iii. 334, Siue aliquid 
 Gain, siue Tibulle tuum. quid ad me ? ' What does it matter to me ? ' 
 Att. xii. 17, Appelles procuratores, si tibi uidetur. Quamquam quid ad 
 me? Verumtamen. So quid ad te P in an Inscript. in Mommsen's 
 L L. R. N. 1910. 
 
 32. quam. pararim = quam si pararim. Pseud, ii. 2. 46 magis erit 
 solutum quam ipsi dederis, though the Ambrosianus has quam si. But cf. the 
 omission of si after uelut, tamquam, &c., and the Greek idiom, Theoc. xi. 
 81, phov he Stay fj xp^o-ov ISaicev. So in English, Romaunt of the Rose, 
 p. 147 Bell, The which alle oute the more is deere, For the solace that I 
 have lorn, Thanne I hadde it never aforn. 
 
 33. instdsa, d7r«/)(i(ca\of, ' tasteless,' in especial reference to her taking 
 in earnest what was said lightly. male, ' very,' as in Hor.^ S. i. 3. 45, 
 pullum male paruos Si cui filius est. molesta, ' disagreeable,' something 
 like LXVIIL 136. Afranius ap. Non. 306, w«//a a/?«« »zc/"/a «. uiuis, 
 an expression of common life. Mil. Glor. iv. 8. 10, Si non mecum aetatem 
 egisset hodie stulta uiueret ; Men. i. 3. 19, una uiuis meis morigera moribus ; 
 Trin. ii. 2. 109, lepidvs uiuis. Bacch. iv. 3. 3, inamabilis illepidus uiuo. 
 Att. iii. 5, Ego uiuo miserrimus et maximo dolore conficior. 'You're as 
 downright ill-bred and disagreeable a woman as lives.' 
 
 34. negligentem, here of unguarded expressions : XIL 3 in reference 
 to thefts. Munro compares Att. i. 1 7. 6, Quo in genere mihi negligenti esse 
 non licet. Martial similarly, addressing a friend who had taken him too 
 
30 A COMMENTARY 
 
 literally at his word, i. 28. 7, /iio-S fimiiova (rviinorav, Procille: The con- 
 verse in De Orat. ii. 67. 2^2, Non amo nimium diligentes. 
 
 It is doubtful when the worship of Serapis was introduced at Rome. 
 Marquardt, on the authority of Val. Max. i. 3. 3, L. Aemtlius Paulus 
 consul, cum senaius Isidis et Serapis /ana diruenda censuisset, eaque nemo 
 opificum attingere auderet, posiia praetexta securim arripuit, templique eius 
 foribus inflixit, which he explains of the consulships 182 and 168 B.C. 
 of L. Aemilius Paulus, the conqueror of Perseus, supposes it to have 
 been widely known in Rome soon after the end of the second Punic war. 
 But this passage has with equal probability been explained of L. Aemilius 
 Paulus, consul b.c. 50 (Reichel de Isidis apud Romanos cultu, p. 27, 
 Ian on Macrob. i. 7. 16), and this agrees better with the statements of 
 Macrobius, i. 7. 16 nullum itaque Aegypli oppidum intra muros suos aut 
 Saturni aut Sarapis fanum recepit. Horum alterum uix aegreque a uobis 
 admissum audio; and Servius on Aen. viii. 698, sub Augusta necdum 
 Romani Aegyptiaca sacra susceperunt, as well as the resentment of Varro 
 at what would seem to have been still new in his time (Serv. on 
 Aen. viii. 698, Varro dedignatur Alexandrines deos Romae coli). Be- 
 sides Serapis was not known in Alexandria till the Ptolemies (Tac. 
 Hist. iv. 83, 84), and was brought there from Sinope in Pontus, as 
 a new deity. Yet if we may trust an inscription in Mommsen's 
 CIL. I. no. 577, a temple of Serapis was erected at Puteoli in the 
 consulship of P. Rutilius and Cn. Mallius 649 | 105, and it is im- 
 probable that the cult should have been recognised in a Roman colony 
 if, it was not well known at Rome. It seems probable that individuals 
 were allowed to erect shrines or chapels to Serapis at Rome long before 
 anything like a public or state recognition was attempted ; and that it was 
 this latter attempt which Varro resented, and which called forth the various 
 prohibitory enactments mentioned by Dion Cassius and other writers. 
 Thus an attempt was made to introduce Serapis, Isis, Harpocrates, and 
 Anubis into the Capitol 695 | 59, which was violently stopped by the 
 consuls Gabinius and Piso. TertuUian. Apol. 6, Sarapidem et Isidem et 
 Harpocratem cum sua Cynocephalo Capitolio prohibitos inferri, id est curia 
 deorum pulsos, Piso et Gabinius consules euirsis etiam aris abdicauerunt. 
 Ad Nation, i. 10, Ceterum Serapem et Isidem et Harpocratem et Anubem 
 prohibitos Capitolio Varro commemorat eorumque \aras^ a senatu deiectas 
 nonnisi per uim popularium restructas. Sed tamen et Gabinius consul 
 Calendis lanuariis cum uix hostias probaret prae popmlarium coetu, quia 
 nihil de Serape et Iside constituisset, potiorem habuit senatus censuram quam 
 impetum uulgi et aras inslitui prohibuit. Arnob. Adu. Nat. ii. 73, Quid 
 uos? Aegyptiaca numina, quibm Serapis et Isis est nomen, nonpost Pisonem 
 et Gabinium consules in num^rum uestrorum retulistis deorum? (Roper 
 de Varron. Eumenidibus, ii. p. 19.) Again in 702 | 52 a decree of the 
 senate enacted the demolition of private chapels of Serapis and Isis. 
 Dion C. xl. 47 (Marquardt, iv. p. 86 note), fioxei hi t^oiyc km exelvo to tS 
 
 jrpoTcpo) ETCt «V E^oS^ avTov Ttepl TC Tov Sapamv Ka\ nepl nji/ 'lo-ii' ^tjcfiurdev 
 Tepas ovbivos iJttov yevicrdai. Toiis yap vaovs airav, ots IBia rives iTvertoirjvro 
 Ka6e\eiv rfj /SouXJ eSo^ev' oil yap Srj Toiit deoiis tovtovs em ttoXv h>6fuaav, Koi ore 
 ye Ka\ e^evUrjirev amre Ka\ hripoaiq avroiis a^e^eaSat, e^a tov irap.rjpiov a-<pas iSpi- 
 a-avTO. Again in 706 | 48, aXKa re a-vvedrj Kai iieKia-(Tai ev ra KamrmXla 
 napa TOV 'HpoKXea ibpv6r}iTav' (cai iriyxi've yap if pa "I(ri8i T&re yiyvofieva, eSo^f 
 
ON CATULLUS. XL 31 
 
 yva>iifj tS>v fiuvTfwv iravra avBis rd re e«ii/()s Km ra tov ^apuTTiSos Teufvia-fiaTa 
 KaraiTKa^m, Dioii C. xlii. z6 quoted by Ian. u. s. It was not till the year 
 
 711 I 43 that the triumvirs vemv ra re SoptiTriSi Koi TJj "lo-iSi e-^ri(j>ia-nvTO, 
 
 Dion C. xlvii. 15, which may be regarded as the date of the formal 
 introduction of the cult (Marquardt, u. s.). 
 
 XI. 
 
 This is one of Catullus' latest poems, as from vv. 10-12 it must have 
 been written after Caesar's invasion of Britain, b.c. 55, probably, indeed, 
 after the second invasion in 54, as Catullus would hardly have spoken of 
 Britain as one of the monuments of Caesar's triumphs till a real success 
 had been gained, and this was not till 54, when the Thames was crossed, 
 the Trinobantes submitted, and Cassivellaunus engaged to pay tribute 
 and furnish hostages. 
 
 The exact meaning of the poem is doubtful, partly owing to the 
 dubious relations of Catullus to his two friends, Furius and Aurelius. 
 They are mentioned together again in XVI, as remonstrating with the 
 poet on the looseness of his verses, and separately in XV, XXI, XXIII, 
 XXVI, to which we may add XXIV, which certainly alludes to Furius. 
 Catullus seems to have taken offence at their intimacy with Juventius, 
 but XV, XXI, which refer to Aurelius are only half serious ; on the other 
 hand XXIII, XXIV, which taunt Furius on his poverty, express a real 
 anger, in strange contrast with XXVI, where, if nos/ra is right in v. i, 
 Furius is treated confidentially and as a friend. 
 
 Niike, arguing from the hostile or at least contemptuous tone of these 
 poems, concluded that the disproportionately long preface of XL 1-14, 
 was meant to express the grandiloquence of Furius' and Aurelius' pro- 
 testations of friendship and Catullus' conviction of their insincerity. The 
 contemptuous message which they are to convey to Lesbia is a proof of 
 the contempt in which they were held themselves. This view has been 
 accepted by Haupt and Schwabe, and certainly gives a point to Pauca 
 nuntiate. — ' You profess your readiness to follow me to the world's end ; 
 I ask for nothing so extravagant : be good enough, my kind friends, to 
 content yourselves and me by conveying a simple message to Lesbia. 
 Catullus wishes her and her paramours good-bye.' 
 
 But this opposition may be intended and yet not imply anything like 
 the contempt or hostility which Nake's view supposes. At least we can- 
 not feel sure that XI was written after the quarrel with Furius and 
 Aurelius ; nor ought we to exaggerate the quarrel itself. It is Catullus' 
 manner to attack his greatest friends in the most direct manner : and 
 of the four poems against Furius and Aurelius only one, XXIII, is pro- 
 nouncedly hostile. And would Horace have imitated these very lines as he 
 has done, C. ii. 6. i sqq., if he had believed them to be contemptuous or 
 ironical ? 
 
 On the whole, therefore, I follow most of the commentators in 
 considering the exordium not as jocose, but serious, and express- 
 ing a real feeling of friendship : but still as intended to convey by its 
 antithesis to the brevity of the message conveyed, a slight suspicion of 
 
32 A COMMENTARY 
 
 insincerity. From this point of view it was probably written before 
 XXIII, XXIV, perhaps before XV ; in XVI there is nothing to imply a 
 real quarrel. 
 
 I. comites, i. e.futuri, ' ready to share my travels.' For this expression 
 of devoted friendship, cf. Theoc. xxix. 37, k^jtI to xp'^o'f" z*"^' «"«*" "(Beu 
 Bair]v, KOI (jyvKaKovvcKicop TriSa Kep^epov. Terence, Phorm. iii. 3. 18, Quoquo 
 hinc asportabitur terrarum, certumst persequi Aut perire. Hor. C. ii. 6. 
 I, sqq., expresses in four lines what Catullus says in three stanzas, 
 Cf. Prop. i. 6. I. 
 
 3. ut, here certainly 'where,' as perhaps' in XVII. 10, longe with 
 resonante, ' echoing afar.' 
 
 4. uuda. Virgil describes India similarly, G. ii. 122, as Oceano 
 propior, Extremi sinus orbis. 
 
 5. Arabes, not Arabas, as Petron. S. 102, imitemur Ardbes. • 
 
 6. Sacas, the Scythians on the Persian border, whence the Persians 
 called all Scythians Sacae. Diet. Geog. ii. p. 939. 
 
 7. septemgeminus, ' seven-fold.' Verg. Aen. vi. 800, where see 
 Conington. colorat. So Herodotus, ii. 12, rrpi l^Lyvnrov . , . p.fXdyyat6v 
 
 re Koi KQTapprjyvvp^vrjv iocrre eovaav tXvif re «al 7rp6xv<nv e^ AldLOTrlrjs KaTcvrjveiy' 
 
 jJvrjv inrh tov ■norapoi. The Nile itself was originally called Melas, ac- 
 cording to Plut. de Fluu. xvi. 
 
 8. Aequora, the plains, not the sea. Verg. G. iv. 292, Et uiridem 
 Aegypium nigra fecundat harena. Propertius speaks similarly of the 
 Pactolus dyeing the plough-lands of Lydia {araia), i. 6. 32. 
 
 9. altas Alpes, According to Servius on Aen. x. 13, and the Schol. 
 on Lucan. i. \%j,/ Alpes is Celtic for high mountains. Catullus may 
 thus be using an epithet which translates the word, cf. regali gaza, LXIV. 
 46. gradietur, ' make his way on foot.' 
 
 10. monimenta, 'the records of Caesar's triumphs.' Prop. iv. 6. 17, 
 Actia luleae pelagus monimenta carinae. Symmachus, Laudes in Grati- 
 anum, p. 35 Mai, addressing the newly-bridged Rhine, says, caue aequahm 
 te arbitreriC Tiberino quod ambo principum monumenta gesieiis; ille redimitus 
 est, tu subactus. 
 
 II. Rheniim. Caesar was the first Roman who crossed the Rhine 
 into Germany, Suet. Jul. 25, Dion C. xxxix. 50. Appian de rebus 
 
 Gallicis, i. 5, tTripaa-e Se koi tov 'Prjvov 7rpa>Tos 'Pmpaiav 6 Kalirap Koi is t^k 
 BpfTTavvtda vrjaov rjirelpov re pel^ova ovfrav peylfTTTjs koi tols TjjBe avBpamois 
 
 ' Syvacrrop €tc. insulam, Britain, as defined by Britannos. So Caesar, 
 B. G. iv. 20, in Britanniam proficisci contendit, followed by si modo 
 insulam adisset, ib. 26, insulam caper e non potuerani. In tiorribilem 
 the reference seems to be to the barbarous and semi-savage character 
 of the natives, as shewn in their cruelty to strangers (Hor. C. iii. 4. 
 33), human sacrifices (Tac. Ann. xiv. 30), and barbaric tattooing 
 (Caesar, B. G. v. 14). -ultmiosque. Verg. E. i. 66; Hor. C. i. 35. 29. 
 Infr. XXIX. 4. 
 
 13. Omnia haec, if quaecunque is right, gathers up all the dangers 
 implied in the previous twelve vv. Catullus perhaps hints in quaecunque 
 feret uoluntas Caelitum that the unkindness of the gods had already done- 
 its worst in the degradation of Lesbia, and that no imaginary danger from 
 savage or barbarous tribes could henceforward have much to frighten him. 
 
ON CATULLUS. XIL 33 
 
 Cf. LXXVI. 1 2. But omnia haec would more naturally mean ' all these 
 lands,' and with this temptare would well agree, as in Hor. C. iii. 4. 30, 
 Insanieniem nauita Bosporum Tentabo eturentes arenas Li tor is Assyriiuialor. 
 We might then read quocungue, cf. Hor. C. i. 7. 25, Quo nos cunque feret 
 melior fortuna parente ; Manil. v. 495, qtia/ert cunque mluntas. 
 
 16. Non. bona dicta, ' of no happy greeting,' KaKov enos dyyeXcovra, II. 
 xvii. 701 (Vulp.), seems in its form to convey the further notion of male 
 dicta, words not of compliment, but reproach. Gael. xiii. 30, Maledicta 
 lurgii petulantis, adulter , impudicus ; vii. 15, maledictis pudicitiae, 
 
 17. suis adds to the bitterness, ' her dear.' uiuat ualeatque, a 
 formula of renunciation, not necessarily ironical. Ter. And. v. 3. 17, 
 An ut pro huius peccalis ego supplicium sufferam ? Immo habeat, ualeat, 
 uiuat cum ilia. Ad. iv. 4. 14, ualeas, habeas illam quae placet. 
 
 18. trecentos, of any indefinitely large number. Hor. S. i. 5. 12, 
 trecentos inseris. Ohe lam satis est I 
 
 20. ilia rumpeus, rupturing. So rumpere latus, Priap. LXXXII. 
 45, Mart. xii. 97. 4. 
 
 21. respectet, not ^ exspectet (Vulp.), as in Lucr. v. 975, vi. 1234, 
 but ' care for,' with the notion of looking back to it with fondness. 
 Sest. V. 13, haec ita praetereamus, ut tamen intuentes et respectantes relin- 
 quamus. 
 
 23. Vltimi, 'the edge of the meadow.' praetereunte. The 
 
 rhythm seems to show that the preposition was not considered an in- 
 separable part of the verb with which it is compounded ; an inference 
 supported by such cases as quanta molimine circum Spectemus, Hor. Epist. 
 ii. 2. 93. The preposition was metrically separable from the verb, as it is 
 metrically separable from its case. See LXXVI. 18. The simile is 
 perhaps suggested by Sappho, fr. 94, Bergk, Olav rhv vaKivdov iv oiipea-i 
 iroiiieffs avSpes ndo-ert KaTacrrci^oiin, xdiiai 8e re w6p(f>vpov avdos. 
 
 XII. 
 
 Catulltjs here reproaches Asinius Polio, an elder brother of the 
 friend of Horace and Virgil, for stealing a napkin which he valued as 
 one of a set which his friends Veranius and Fabullus had sent him from 
 Spain. Asinius, it would seem, was in the habit of committing such 
 thefts, and prided himself on his dexterity in doing so. The offence was 
 probably a common one : Catullus has another poem on the same sub- 
 ject, XXV. Compare Mart. viii. 59, xii. 29. 
 
 The Asinii came from Teate, the chief town of the Marrucini, a terri- 
 tory on the river Aternus, between the Vestini on the North, and the 
 Frentani on the South (Diet. Geog.). Livy (Epit. 73) mentions a 
 Herius Asinius as Praetor Marrucinorum, and as slain in the Marsic 
 war, B.C. 90. Cicero (Cluent. Ixix. 197) commends them, Adsunt Fren- 
 tani homines nobilissimi, Marrucini item pari dignitate ; and it is probably 
 in reference to the high character which they bore that Catullus intro- 
 duces the name in i, as if to remind Asinius how little his pilfering 
 habits accorded with the reputation of his countrymen. 
 
 For the date of the poem see on IX. 
 
 D 
 
34 A COMMENTARY 
 
 1. sinistra. The left hand is often alluded to as the hand for 
 thieving. Plant. Pers. ii. 2. 44, illafurlifica laeua ; Ovid, Met. xiii. iii, 
 naiaeque ad furta sinistrae ; Plin. xxxiii. 13, quisquis primus imiituit (to 
 wear gold rings) cundanter id fecit, laeuis manibus lateniibusque induil. 
 Mr. Clayton observes that the movements of the left hand would be 
 more easily concealed at meals than those of the right, as the Romans 
 usually reclined on the left side. Similarly Martial, xii. 29. 3, speaks 
 of merely watching the right hand, whereas the left was to be actually 
 held. 
 
 2. Non belle, 'you've an ugly way of using.' Pomp. Inscript 1951, 
 Sarra non belle facts \ Solum me relinquis \ Debilis (Wordsworth, p. 24). 
 It was an ungentlemanly trick. in ioco atque uino, 'while the 
 wine and jest are going round.' Thuc. vi. 28, jixrh. TraiSias koI dlvov. 
 Senec. Epig. 5. ig, Sed tu perque iocum dicis uinumque. 
 
 3. lintea. Napkins were taken to entertainments by the guests 
 (Mart. xii. 29. 11, 21), and could thus be stolen with little fear of detec- 
 tion. 
 
 4. salsnm. Mart. ii. 4. 6, Lusum creditis hoc iocumque? non est. 
 fugit te, 'you don't understand.' Att. xii. 42. 2, Illud alterum quam sit 
 difficile, te non fugit. 
 
 5. Quamuis = quantumuis, ' as mean and vulgar a practice as can be.' 
 
 6. Ifon eredis mihiP Mart. Lib. Spect. 24. 5, Non credisi' specta. 
 Polioni. According to Lachmann on Lucr. i. 313, words which contain 
 a double / preceded by a long vowel drop one / before the letter i, except 
 where i is a mere case sign. Thus he writes mille, milli, milleni, uilla, 
 uillaticus, uillis, stilla, stillis, Paullus, Polla ; but miliens, milia, uilicus, 
 stilicidium, Polio, Paulina, paulisper. But Ritschl on the -Vita Terentii 
 ascribed to Suetonius (Reyfferscheid, p. 512) shows that the double / is 
 found in Inscriptions; and in the CIL. i Pollio occurs six times. Polio 
 only once. If the Polio here mentioned is G. Asinius Polio the friend 
 and patron of Horace and Virgil, he was born in 678 | 76 (Jerome in 
 Euseb. Chron.), and in 6g-6o b.c. would have been from 11 to 16 years 
 old, hence /««r. 
 
 7. uel, 'quite,' 'as much as.' True. ii. 4. 22, Ph. Da sauium. Di. 
 Immo uel decern. 
 
 8. Mutari, 'would be glad to have your pilferings bartered at not 
 less than a talent,' would give that sum in exchange for them and think 
 he had bought you off cheaply. True. ii. 6. 62, uiginti minis Venire 
 illaec posse credo dona quae ei dono dedi. Hor. S. i. 4. 29, mufat merces, 
 of buying and selling. 
 
 9. Disertus, 'with a fine gift for pleasantry and witty words.' Le- 
 porum facetiamna are not genitives of quality, but depend upon 
 Disertus, which retains its strict sense of 'fluent,' 'overflowing with 
 words.' In Eun. v. 6. 10, callidum et disertum credidi hominem, it seems 
 to mean ' shrewd,' and if this sense could be established as a general one, 
 Catullus might mean this here, ' he is a discerning child in matters of wit 
 and fun,' cf. Plin. Epist. vi. 17. i, Mart. xi. 19. i. This suits the passage 
 very well, as the younger brother is thus appealed to as a good judge in 
 a matter of taste ; and it is because such thefts are offences against 
 good breeding that the elder Asinius has been blamed in 5. But W. 
 Wagner, on Eun. v. 6. 10, denies this meaning elsewhere; hence it seems 
 
ON CATULLUS. XI L 35 
 
 better to explain disertus I. et /ac. oi the ^ords /urta uel ialenio Mutari 
 ueli't, perhaps the actual expression used by the young Polio. 
 
 10. Aut hendecasyllabos Exspecta aut 1. remitte = nisi h. ex- 
 spectas, I. remitte. Plin, Epist. v. lo. 2, Aut rumpe iam moras aut caue ne 
 eosdem istos libellos quos tibi hendecasyllabi nostri blanditiis elicere non possunt, 
 conuicio scazontes exiorqwant. See also LXIX. 9, 10, ClII. i, 3. Similarly 
 Catullus invokes hendecasyllabi quot estis, XLII. i, to help him in a con- 
 templated attack on Ammiana, who had purloined his tablets. The 
 number of hendecasyllables is perhaps borrowed from Plautus, Pers. iii. 
 3. 6, Procax rapax trahax : trecentis uersibus Tuas inpuritias traloqui nemo 
 potest. 
 
 12. mouet, ' rouses my concern,' as in Petron. S. 30, Non tarn iactura 
 me mouet quam negligentia nequissimi serui. uestimenta mea cubitoria per- 
 didit, quae mihi natali meo cliens quidam donauerat. aestimatioue, its 
 actual value. Dig. xlv. 1. 54, offerre aestimationem operae. 
 
 13. mnemosiniini, a souvenir or memento. The genuine Latin 
 would be monirmntum, as in Aen. v. 538. Meleager, Anth. P. v. 136. 4, 
 
 has livafiScrvvov Keivas aiJ,(j)i,Ti6fi aritpavov. mei SOdalis, X. 29. DoeS 
 
 he mean Veranius, or Fabullus ? Perhaps he did not know ; it was a 
 present from one or other. 
 
 14. Budaria, XXV. 7. Probably i. q. lintea, napkins. Martial xi. 
 39. 3, uses it of shaving-napkins. Saetaba, from Saetabis, in Pliny's 
 time Saetabis Augustanorum (Plin. iii. 25), a Roman municipium in the 
 territory of the Contestani in Hispania Tarraconensis. It was famous 
 for its flax. Plin. xix. 9; Sil. iii. 374; Grat. Cyn. 41. ex Hibere, 
 ' from the Ebro country,' is the MS. reading, which I have retained on 
 the analogy of the Greek "I/3i;p 'Wripos ; but it has very little actual evidence 
 to support it, for in the Liber de Accentibus ascribed to Priscian, 
 p. 523, Keil, the MSS. give mulier, and the last letters of Hibereis 
 (Lachm.) may easily have fallen out at the end of a line. But if ex 
 Hibere is genuine, Catullus must use the river as a designation of the 
 territory in which Saetabis was included. The territory thus designated 
 may be either Celtiberia, which abutted at the S. E. on Saetabis and 
 
 the SucrO (Strab. 163, /nfxa 8c Toir KeKri^ripas irpoi voTOV elariv oi to opos 
 oIkovvtcs Tr)U ^Opoairedav Koi ttju nepl "SiOvKpava xaipav SiSTjTacol p-^XP^t Kapx^' 
 86ms), or more generally Hispania Citerior, ^ evros tov "I/Sr/pot, the two 
 terms being used synonymously and each extending at this time beyond 
 its original boundary the Ebro, as far south as the Baetis and Nova 
 Carthago, thus including Saetabis (Artemidorus ap. Steph. B. 'l^riplm). 
 
 15. Miserunt munerl. Val. Max. iv. 8. Extern. Hiero trecenta 
 milia modium tritici urbi nostrae muneri misit. 
 
 16. haec . . . Et Veraniolum, ' I must needs love them and their 
 donors with them,' i. e. both equally, if the gifts, then the givers, not one 
 without the other. So Catal. xiv. 5, te Raptum et.Romanam flebimus 
 historiam, ' we shall lament in losing you that we lose Roman history :' and 
 this I think is the explanation of the difficult words in Phorm. ii. 3. 21, 
 Vtdeas te atque ilium, ut narras, ' when you see him you see yourself,' i. e. 
 
 you're facsimiles of each other. The use of et ac atque with similis, &c., 
 is of the same kind. But Vt is an easy and not improbable emen- 
 dation. 
 
 17. Veraniolum, the greater favorite of the two : so XLVIL 3, and 
 
36 A COMMENTARY 
 
 IX. For the sentiment of i6, 17, which is of course a common one, 
 of. Symmachus Epist. ix. 107, Paruum qutdem munusculum est si aesH- 
 meiur pretio sui ; religiosum si amore pendatur. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 The poet invites his friend Fabullus to dine with him, warning him 
 however that he must bring his own repast, and not expect much from 
 so poor a host as himself. All he can promise of his own is a very 
 choice unguent supplied by Lesbia. So far the poem presents no difficulty ; 
 but a doubt is raised by the words uenuste nosier in v. 6, as to the exact 
 tone which Catullus means to assume to his friend. Huschke, An^lecta 
 Literaria, p. 311, supposes that Fabullus had invited the poet to a dinner 
 at which he gave him nothing to eat, and contented himself with 
 providing unguents, like the Fabullus of Mart. iii. 12. 
 
 Vnguentum fateor bonum dedisti 
 Conuiuis here, sed nihil scidisti. 
 Res salsa est bene olere et esurire. 
 Qui non cenat et ungitur, Fabulle, 
 Hie uere mihi mortuus uidetur. 
 
 In retaliation Catullus wrote this poem, which, as Huschke says, is only 
 half serious, cf. the vague paucis diebus, the half-ironical si tibi di/auent, 
 the conditions of the dinner, 3-5. This view certainly explains uenuste 
 noster, as Catullus would thus seem to allude to the practical joke which 
 Fabullus had played him, and would appeal to his character for humour 
 as an excuse for inviting him to a similar entertainment in return. Yet 
 if vv. 1-7 are half-ironical, the end of the poem is meant seriously, and 
 the invitation was, I think, bona fide, as indeed such %pavoi were common 
 in antiquity, see Hor. C. iii. 19. 5-8, iv. 12. 14-6. It seems more 
 probable that Fabullus had expressed a wish to dine with the poet, and 
 that Catullus here sends him the only invitation his circumstances 
 allowed, intimating at the same time that he is quite aware the offer is a 
 shabby one, and that his friend must take it for what it is worth. The 
 general scope of the poem might be paraphrased thus : You shall dine 
 with me Fabullus, before many days are over, on one condition, which a 
 man of your fine discernment will easily assent to : you must bring 
 besides your witty self and a fair female friend, the dinner and the wine. 
 Then I will treat you to something exquisite in return ; an unguent of 
 Lesbia' s, choice enough to be a present from the Graces themselves and 
 fragrant enough to make you wish yourself all nose to enjoy it. 
 
 1. Cenabis apud me, as in Mart. xi. 52. i, Cenabis belle. Mi Cerealis, 
 apud me. The future is often used in invitations ; but here, as in Hor. 
 C. iv. 12. 14-16, Ducere Liberum Si gestis, iuuenum nobilium cliens, 
 Nardo uina merebere, it introduces the apodosis of a sentence which 
 begins with Si. 
 
 2. Paucis diebus, ' within a few days,' so often in Caesar, B. G. iii. 
 23 : so hoc biennio, Somn. Scip. 2, ' within two years from this time.' See 
 
ON CATULLUS. XIII. 37 
 
 Drager Histor. Synt. p. 492, who shows that this abl. is common in 
 reference to the future, more rare of the past. si tibi di fauent, 
 ' with heaven's kind favour,' a slight variation on the more usual si di 
 mlent Poen. iv. 2. 88, si dis placet Capt. ii. 3. 94, and probably with a 
 tinge of irony, implying that the entertainment was somewhat pro- 
 blematical. 
 
 3. bonam atque magnam. Terentian. Eun. i. 2. 43, bonam magnam- 
 que partem ad te attulit. 
 
 4. non sine, emphatic meiosis, as in Hor. C. iii. 4. 20, Non sine dis 
 animosus infans. Candida, ' fair,' XXXV. 8, LXVIII. 70, Hor. Epod. 
 xi. 27, ardor aut puellae candidae. 
 
 5. sale, 'wit,' XVI. 7, Eun. iii. 1. 10. omnibus cachinnis, 'every 
 kind of laughter,' ' everything that can rouse our free laughter,' quicquid est 
 domi cachinnorum, XXXL 14. So Hor. S. i. 2. 9, omnia obsonia. ca- 
 chinnis. Lucr. v. 1397, Turn ioca, turn sermo, turn dulces esse cachinni, 
 i40'^,risusdulcesquecachinni. Aristoph. Nub. 1073, Syjfav Trdrav Kaxaa-nav. 
 
 6. inquam, resumptive, ' I repeat.' CaXal.xi. ^g, I^on nostrum est tantas 
 non inquam attingere laudes. uenuste. See Introd. But 1 1 suggests 
 as a possibility that the word may mean ' my favoured friend,' in reference 
 to his good fortune in coming in for a share of the unguent of the Veneres 
 Cupidinesque, see on IIL i, 2. There seems to be no reason why uenustus 
 should not mean ' under the favour of Venus,' as inuenustus means 
 'under the displeasure of Venus,' ava<f>p6biT0i, And. i. 5. 10; cf. Hec. v. 
 4. 8, Poen. i. 2. 44. noster, like si tibi difatient, is slightly ironical. 
 Pis. viii. 17,0 noster misericors quidfacis ? 
 
 7. sacculus, ' a purse.' luuen. xi. 26, xiv. 38, hence saccularii, a nick- 
 name given to the equites who had supported Cinna against Sulla, from 
 their rapacity. Ascon. in Orat. in Tog. Cand. p. 90, Orelli. aranearum. 
 
 Od. Xvi. 35, of Odysseus' couch, XTJTCt evewaiiov KciK apaxvia Kelrai, c;(ouo-a. 
 
 Cratin. ap. Meineke Com. Fragm. ii. 129, apaxviav ix«tttjv ?x^i. rrjv yaarepa. 
 Aul. i. 2. 156, Nam hie apud nos nihil est aliud quaestifuribus. Ita inaniis 
 sunt oppletae atque araneis. Afran. 412 Ribb. tanne arcula Tua plena est 
 aranearum ? 
 
 8. contra, 'in return.' Eun. ii. 3. 64, quod donum huic dono contra 
 comparet. meros amores, the pure spirit or quintessence of love. 
 Mart. xiv. 206. i, Collo necte puer meros amores Ceston de Veneris sinu 
 calentem; so Plautus calls a highly-furbished house clarorem merum, 
 Most. iii. I. 108. The unguenlum is of course meant : cf. Prop. ii. 29. 15. 
 Meos amores, the reading of some good MSS, ' my fond delight,' ' a thing 
 I love dearly,' i. e. the same unguent, hardly agrees so well with seu quid 
 suauius elegantiusue est, which implies a strong, if not exaggerated, ex- 
 pression of admiration. Hand's view that meos amores refers to a favorite 
 slave of the poet's, which, with anything choicer, viz. the unguent of 
 Lesbia, Fabullus is to have in return for what he brings, is far-fetched, 
 and against the ordinary usage of seu quid. See on 9. 
 
 10. seu quid, i. e. uel si quid suauius est meris amoribus. This is the 
 proper use of seu or siue quid, cf LXXXIL 2. 4, and note. There the 
 eyes are the highest expression of dearness, as here meri amores of 
 delightfulness. 
 
 11. tmguentum. See Xenophon's Symposium ii. 3. Callias the host 
 asks Socrates, after the tables have been cleared .and the musicians and 
 
38 A COMMENTARY 
 
 dancers introduced, n' olu ; el koI [xipov ns fjiiiv iveynai, Xva Ka\ fiahia fVri(a- 
 
 /iffla ; as making the entertainment perfect. 
 
 12. See on III. i. Martial, xi. 13. 6, applies the words to the consum- 
 mate actor Paris, ix. 11. 9, to Domitian's delicalus Earinus. Voss thinks 
 Catullus had in his mind Od. xviii. 192, KaXXei ^eV 01 npara Trpofrimara Ka\a 
 KaSripev 'Ap.Ppotria, ola irip ivirTe(f>avos K.v64peia Xpierai, evr &v 'iji XapLTav 
 
 xopov ipepotvTa, perhaps also the interpretation which seems to have been 
 early put upon the passage, that the ointment was itself called kclWos. 
 Hesych. koKXos to t^s ' h^pobWrjs pvpov, with the quotation from Od. xviii. 
 
 192, and again S. v. Bpev6(.vd' oJ 8e (pvKos irapefi^epes KaWei 'A(j>poS LTrjs. 
 
 13. As Plautus, Aul. i. 38, speaks of a gibbeted body making one 
 long letter I, and as Caligula wished that the Romans might become one 
 single neck for greater convenience of strangling. Ben Jonson has 
 imitated Catullus here. Cynthia's Revels, v. 2, Tas/e, smell ; I assure you, 
 sir, pure benjamin, the only spirited scent that ever waked a Neapolitan 
 nostril. You would wish yourself all nose for the love on't. Totum 
 with te, as in Plin. H. N. ii. 14, a passage which Mr. Bywater has in- 
 dicated to me, Quisquis est deus — totus est sensus, totus uisus, totus audiius, 
 totus amimae, totus animi, totus sui. To make totum nasum = ' a totality 
 of nose,' like oKat <^\nyh, ' all flame,' Anth. P. v. 11 1, is an attraction 
 more Greek than Latin. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 G. LiciNius Calvus, the orator and poet, had sent Catullus, as a present 
 on the Saturnalia, a collection of bad verses, written, as Catullus declares, 
 by all the worst poets of the time. In return Catullus sent him this poem, 
 which expresses with humorous exaggeration the dreadful effects of his 
 gift, and threatens him with a retaliation in kind. He takes the oppor- 
 tunity of complimenting Calvus on his skill as an advocate, to which he 
 jocosely ascribes the peculiar character of the present ; the grammarian 
 Sulla had been defended by Calvus and must have rewarded his services 
 xsy this mass of bad poetry, the only fee perhaps he was rich enough 
 to pay. 
 
 When did Calvus' present reach Catullus ? This depends on the inter- 
 pretation of vv. 14, 15, especially of ««/z«aff(/2i;. If these words mean the 
 next day, the present must have been sent either the night before the 
 Saturnalia, Dec. 17, or at least before day-break of that day. Then «' 
 luxerit might mean that Catullus, having already ascertained the character 
 of the gift, resolved to lose no time in retaliating, and proposed to send 
 a similar present of his own to reach Calvus before the day was over. 
 It is no objection to this view that Catullus must then have written this 
 poem very hurriedly; the return gift of bad poetry could hardly be meant 
 seriously ; the poem itself, or at least the first form of it, need not have 
 taken much time to compose, if Catullus sent it to Calvus as a bona fide 
 present before the Saturnalia ended. From Mart. x. 17, Stat. S. iv. 9, it 
 is clear that poets used to send their books to friends at the Saturnalia, as 
 on birth-days and other festivals (Anth. P. ix. 239, Stat. S. ii. 3. 62) : 
 Catullus would be acting like Statius who (S. iv. 9) having sent a book to 
 his friend Griphus on the Saturnalia had received a book from him in 
 
ON CATULLUS. XIV. 39 
 
 return, and disgusted at the paltriness of the gift, then wrote him a hen- 
 decasyllabic poem of fifty-five lines, over which the two friends laughed 
 heartily while the festival was still going on (Praef. lib. iv). If, on the 
 other hand, continuo means 'thereupon,' the gift must have reached 
 Catullus on the morning of the Saturnalia, and si luxerit will refer 
 to the day after (Dec. i8). The poem itself, however, might still have 
 been written and sent to Calvus on the 17th; although, if not written 
 or sent then, it might yet have come in time to be a Saturnalian 
 gift ; for Cicero speaks of the second and third days of the festival (Att. 
 xiii. 52. I, V. 20. 5, and cf Liu. xxx. 36, Saturnalibus primis), and we 
 need not infer from Catullus' words die Saturnalibus optima dierum more 
 than that a particular day, no doubt xiv. ante kal. Ian. was called par 
 excellence the Saturnalia. 
 
 If we may suppose Lucian to represent an actual tradition of the 
 Saturnalia, the receiver of a book at that time was bound tp read it, and 
 herein, as Mr. Clayton observes, would lie the point of Calvus' joke and 
 Catullus' threatened revenge. In the Cronosolon Saturn lays down laws 
 for the observance of the Saturnalia ; amongst others what gifts poor men 
 are to send, and how rich men are to receive them,— xvi, ' kvTmtimiTai hi 
 6 Trevrjs t6) irXovarico, 6 licv mTraiSevfievos /3i/3Xioj' tS>v naXmav, ft ti eij(f>r]iiov Ka\ 
 av^TTOTLKdVy rj avTov avyypaiifia oiroiov &v bvinjTat' Kai tovto }iaii^aveTU) 6 ttKoiktcos 
 ndvv (I>at8p(^ Ta irpoaamco koI Xa^oiv avayiyvanTKiroi fvBuSj rjv de aTrw^Jjrat rj 
 drropplyj/ji, "ujtos rfi Tr)i apTTr/s direiX^ evoj^os av, K&v iTip,^rj oaa ^XP^"- 
 
 1. Imitated by Maecenas in the lines quoted in the life of Horace 
 attributed to Suetonius (Reyfferscheid, p. 45), Ni te uisceribus meis Horati 
 Plus iam diligo, lu tuum solalem Ninnio uideas strigosiorem. 
 
 2. locundisslme, 'my merry friend,' cf. iocunde also of Calvus L. 16. 
 munere isto. Dobree Adversar. p. 621, compares the use of the datives 
 in Aristoph. Eq. 97, W iroff x\pMs epydtrsi tS aa ttoto) ; Dem. Meid. 549, 
 
 vofii^co avTOXftpa /wv yeyev^adat tovtois toIs fpyoK, and in each case would 
 
 translate ' with ; ' munere isto, being thus very nearly cum m. isto. Cic. 
 Lael. XV, miror ilia superbia et importunitate si quenquam amicum habere 
 potuit. See Zumpt, Lat. Gr. 472. The abl. hoc jnunere occurs in Eun. ii. 2. 
 38, hisce hoc munere arbitrantur Suam Thaidem esse, where W. Wagner 
 translates, ' on account of this gift,' the usual and perhaps more probable 
 explanation here. Cf the use of dolere with an abl. isto is slightly con- 
 temptuous ; it is not till later, especially in Martial, that it has the sense 
 merely of ' this.' 
 
 3. odio Vatiniano, ' a hatred that might suit Vatinius,' i. e. either such 
 as Vatinius deserves, or such as Vatinius might feel against you. Vulp. 
 and Hertzberg, Transl. p. no, prefer the latter, cf Liu. ii. 58 of App. 
 Claudius, odisse plebem plus quam paterno odio, ' with a hatred beyond his 
 father's : ' to me the former seems preferable, partly as not altering the 
 subject of the sentence (odissem), partly as forming a more exact balance 
 to Nei te plus oculis meis amarem ; lastly, as agreeing better with the 
 historical fact of Vatinius' unpopularity. Macrob. ii. 6. i, lapidatus a 
 poptilo ; Cic. in Vatin. i. i, odio tui ab omnibus paene uincor ; xvi. 39, si te 
 uicini, si affines, si tributes ita oderunt ut repulsam tuam iriumphum suum 
 duxerint . . . si es odium publicum populi, senatus, uniuersorum hominum 
 rusticanorum. Seneca de Constant. Sap. xvii, says Vatinius had more 
 
40 A COMMENTARY 
 
 enemies than diseases, alluding to his scrofulous neck and swollen feet, 
 Meyer, Fragm. Oratorum, p. 480, finds in the words odio Vatiniano an 
 allusion to the violence with which Calvus attacked Vatinius in three 
 successive speeches. 
 
 4. Hor. Epist. i. 20. 6, Quid miser egi ? Quiduolui? 
 
 5. male perderes, ' do me to death ; ' like KacSs oKitrm, male mul- 
 iare, &;c. 
 
 6. Dii . . . dent, a common formula of execration. Phorm. v. 8. 83, 
 malum quod isti di deaeque omnes duint. Most. iii. i. 123. Infr. XXVIII. 
 14. 15. Prop. ii. 18. 27, Illi sub terris fiant mala multa puellae. clienti, 
 \iB.xt.=consultori, as in Hor. Epist. ii. i. 104, clienti promere iura. Calvus 
 had a great reputation as an advocate : amongst those defended by him 
 were P. Sestius, C. Porcius Cato, Messius. See Meyer, Fragm. Orator. 
 Roman, pp. 478, 9. 
 
 7. tantum impiorum, ' such a mass of scoundrelism : ' impiorum 
 (masc), ' miscreants,' in a general sense, perhaps with an allusion to the 
 distinction between pii poetae, uates (XVI. 5 ; Aen. vi. 662 ; Am. iii. 9. 
 66; ib. 17, 18, sacri uates et diuom curd) and impii, poets religiously 
 following a divine inspiration, and poetasters who profaned their sacred 
 mission. Hertzberg on Prop. iii. i. i, shows that poets are in this sense 
 spoken of as priests (Prop. iii. i. 3; cf. Hor. C. iii. i. 3) who perform 
 sacred rites (Prop. iii. i. i; ii. 10. 23; iv. 6. i ; Trist. iv. 10. 19; Pont, 
 ii. 10. 17) and pour in libation the water of song. Prop. iv. 6. 4. 
 
 8. repertum discovered for the occasion, ' recherchd : ' so quaesitus, 
 ' studied,' ' elaborate.' 
 
 9. Sulla, perhaps Cornelius Epicadus (Suet. Gramm. 12), the freed- 
 man of the dictator Sulla and his son Faustus (Muretus). He would take 
 the name of his patron as Saevius Nicanor (Suet. Gramm. 5); Scribonius 
 Aphrodisius (19); C. Julius Hyginus and his freedman, himself a teacher 
 of grammar; Julius Modestus (20). Meyer, Fragm. Orat. Rom. p. 480, 
 follows Vulp. in concluding from this verse that Sulla was actually de- 
 fended by Calvus ; but the words of Catullus need not imply so much, 
 litterator, like its less disparaging synonym /z'//^ra/a.y, was the earlier word 
 for grammaticus, which had supplanted it in the time of Suetonius, 
 (Gramm. 4). That litterator was used contemptuously is proved (i) by the 
 words there quoted from Messala Corvinus, non esse sibi rem cum Furio 
 Bilaculo nee cum Ticida quidem aut litteratore Catone, (2) by the distinction 
 of litterator as grammatista and mediocriter doctus, from litteratus as gram- 
 maticus and absolute doctus, (3) by the words quoted ibid, from Orbilius, 
 apud maiores cum familia alicuius uenalis produceretur, non temere quem 
 litteratum in titulo, sed litteratorem inscribi solitum esse, quasi non per- 
 
 functum litteris sed imbutum. They were the school-masters of Rome, 
 gave lessons in grammar and lectured on celebrated authors^. Teuffel, 
 Hist. Rom. Literature, 146, gives a list of the most eminent litter ati. 
 They were very badly paid, Suet. Gramm. 9, [Orbilius) docuit maiore 
 fama quam emolumento; 18, L. Crassitius in pergula docuit; 11, ( Valerius 
 Cato) uixit Okd extremam senectam sed in summa pauperie et paene inopia 
 abditus modico gurgustio : hence Catullus' not unjustifiable suspicion. 
 
 ' Litieralura was the Roman word for grammar (Quintil. ii. i. 4 ; Sen. Epist. 88. 
 20), but soon fell out of use. 
 
ON CATULLUS. XIV. 41 
 
 10, 11. ' I am not discontented, rather I am well-contented and happy, 
 that your efforts are not quite lost,' i. e. in securing so valuable a fee. 
 
 10. True. iv. 2. 31, inuidere alii bene esse, tibi male esse, miseriast. Most. 
 i. I. 49, mihi bene est et tibi male est, ' I enjoy myself and you mope.' Ad. 
 i. I. 9; Martial x. 13. 10, of a rich man, Vis dicam male sit cur tibi, 
 Cotta ? bene est. Your fortune is your misfortune, you are unhappy be- 
 cause you have all the appliances of happiness. bene ae baate, as in 
 the Ciceronian bene et beate uiuere, Parad. i. fin. 
 
 11. ' Ironice loquitur quasi dicat o dignum praemium,' Alex. Guarinus. 
 disperetmt. Varro, R. R. ii. 11. i. Minora cum sunt tecta quam postulat 
 
 fundus, Solent disperire. 
 
 12. Dii magni. LIIL 5. Am. ii. 19. 18. Sacrum, 'accursed,' 
 'vile.' Ramsay on Most. iv. 3. 44 shows that in this sense sacer is 
 not used of things before Catullus. Cf. LXXL r, and Virgil's auri sacra 
 
 fames (Aen. iii. 57). In the remains of old laws as well as in Plautus 
 it is uniformly used of persons. 
 
 14. Misti for misisti, as tristi for triuisti LXVI. 30. eontinuo has 
 been taken as = ' forthwith,' hke Martial ix. 48. 4-7, Spem muneribus 
 
 fouimus usque datis, Intar quae rari Laurentem ponderis aprum Misimus : 
 Aeiola de Calydone putes. At iu eontinuo populuvique patresque uocasti. If 
 adjective, it would seem to mean ' on the next day,' as in Ovid's continua 
 die, F. V. 734, continua node, F. vi. 720. 
 
 15. Saturnalibus, optimo dierum, like die bono Aphrodisiis, Poen. ii. 
 49. Mommsen, CIL. I. p. 408, shows that even during the Empire the 
 Saturnalia proper was a single day, quoting Festus, s. v. Quinquatrus, 
 errant tarn hercule quam qui triduo Saturnalia et totidem Competalia. Nam 
 omnibus his singulis diebus fiunt sacra, and the hemerologia (calendars) 
 which uniformly confine the festival to one day. This day was, before 
 Caesar's alteration of the Calendar in 46 b. c, xiv K. Ian., afterwards 
 xvi Kal. Ian. optimo. People greeted each other with the words 
 Bona Saturnalia, Epictet. Diatrib. xxix. 31, quoted by Scaliger, toTs yap 
 
 naiSlois orrav iipoaekOovTa Kporfi kcu ^eyn, Srnicpov 2aTopvd\ia dyadd' Xtyo/xev, ovK 
 tanv dyada ravrn; OvSafims' liXXa Kal aiiTol e7rtKpoTovp.ei>. Cf. Mart. xiv. 70. 
 
 I ; sometimes with lo Saturnalia, Dion C. xxxvii. 4, Mart. xi. 2. 5, 
 Petron. S. 58, Pomp. Inscript. 2005 a. It was the great holiday of the 
 Roman year. Plut. Q. R. xxxiv, /ifyiVnjr airoXs ioprrjs Toiv Kpoviav K.a6e- 
 iTTOiiTT]! Kai tTVPOvaias re nXelaras Kai airoKavaeis fX"" 8<"«"5<''';r. See Mayor 
 on Juv. vii. 97 and M.2irtiz\ passim. 
 
 16. Non non, as we might say, 'Never, never.' Phorm. ii. i. 73, non 
 non sicfuturum est, non potest. sic abibit, ' pass off so easily.' And. 
 ii. I. 4, Mirabar hoc si sic abiret. Att. xiv. i. i, non posse istaec sic abire. 
 Fin. v. 3. 7, etsi hoc fortasse non poterit sic abire. Cicero uses abire of an 
 attack of illness passing off, Att. xiv. lo. 2. 
 
 17. Si luxerit, ' come dawn,' not implying any doubt, though 
 originally perhaps the expression was connected with some super- 
 stitious fear of speaking too confidently. So Aen. v. 64, Si nana 
 diem mortalibus almum Aurora extulerit. Hor. Epist. i. 7. 10, Quod si 
 bruma niues Albanis illinet agris. See Holtze, Synt. ii. p. 370. libra- 
 riorum is generally explained of booksellers, in which sense it is found 
 Sen. Benef vii. 7, Gell. v. 4. i. But in Cicero librarius is a tran- 
 scriber or copyist. Phil. ii. 4. 8, Qui possis? sunt enim librarii manu. Ad 
 
42 A COMMENTARY 
 
 Q. Fr. ii. i6. i, cum a me litteras librarii manu acceperis. Att. viii. 13. 
 I, lippitudinis meae signum tibi sit librarii manus (Mayor on Phil. ii. 4. 8). 
 Legg. iii. 20. 48, leges a librariis peti, the transcribers. Att. xii. 40. i, 
 Misi librum ad Muscam, ut iuis librariis daret. Volo enim eum diuolgari 
 quod quo facilius fiat imperaUs tuis. Nepos Att. 13, in ea (familia 
 Attici) erant pueri litter aiissimi anagnostae optimi et plurimi librarii, ut 
 ne pedisecus quidem quisquatn esset, qui non utrumque horum pulcre facer e 
 posset, both read and copy. Such men would of course be likely to have 
 on hand several copies of the books they transcribed, and in this sense 
 would unite the functions of copyist and bookseller : and this may be the 
 meaning of Suetonius' remark, Reliq. p. 134, Reyfferscheid, libraries 
 {constat) ante bibliopolas dictos, librum enim Graeci fiipxiov uocant. 
 
 18. scrinia, cylindrical boxes for holding books, often made of 
 beech. Plin. H. N. xvi. 229. From Her. S. i. i. 120, ne me Crispini 
 scrinia lippi Compilasse putes; Ovid, Pont. i. i. 23, 24, Antoni scripia legun- 
 tur, Docttis et in promptu scrinia Brutus habet ; Mart. i. 2. 4, Scrinia da 
 magnis, me manus una capit, it might seem that each author had a sepa- 
 rate scrinium assigned him by the librarii : so if Catullus asked to be 
 supplied with copies of Caesius' or Suffenus' poems, the librarius would 
 go to the scrinium Caesii or Suffeni. In the case of voluminous authors 
 this would be an arrangement of convenience : smaller works would be 
 grouped together in one scrinium according to the fancy of the seller, 
 poems and prose separately, poems of the same kind together, &c. 
 Caesios, Aquinos, ' the whole tribe of Caesii and Aquini.' Martial 
 affects this use of the plural, v. 28. 3, Pietate fr aires Curtios licet uincas, 
 Quiete Neruas, comitate Rusones, Probitate Macros, aequitate Mauricos, 
 Oratione Regulos, iocis Paulos ; ix. 47. i, Democritos Zenanas inexplici- 
 tosque Platonas. Plaut. Bacch. iv. 4. 10, Non mihi isti placent Parme- 
 nones Syri. Of Caesius nothing is known. Cicero, Tusc. Disp. v. 22. 
 63, Adhuc ruminem cognoui poetam, et mihi fuit cum Aquinio amicitia, qui 
 sibi non optimus uideretur, mentions as a specimen of bad poets an Aqui- 
 nius, probably the Aquinius of Catullus. Aquinius, Aquinus, are two 
 forms of the same name : Aquinus occurs in Mart. i. 93. i, where it can- 
 not be used slightingly ; but Catullus may notwithstanding have used the 
 shorter form contemptuously, as he has used the plural: or perhaps 
 Aquinius liked to distinguish himself from the mass of Aquini by the 
 longer termination, and Catullus merges him again in the shorter name. 
 
 19. Suflfenum, accusative. omnia gathers up and concentrates 
 the three accusatives, Caesios, Aquinos, Suffenum. uenena, ' the whole 
 crop of poisons,' i. e. of vile poets, whose works produce the effect of 
 poison on the reader, Infr. XLIV. 11, 12. 
 
 20. ' And requite your present with this penal offering.' Catullus pro- 
 bably uses suppUciis as a strict plural, as Caesar, B. G. vii. 5, implying 
 that for each bad poet Calvus had sent him he would send him a bad 
 poet in return, each forming severally a distinct punishment. Je te rends 
 supplice pour supplice, Develay. remmierabor. Fam. ix. 8. i, Vt 
 possem te remunerari qtiam simillimo munere. Cicero also uses remunerare. 
 Fronto, p. 41. N. quid!' si lacessitus fuero, non eum similidicto remunerabo? 
 Here the word is obviously chosen in reference to the munus in 9. 
 
 21. ualete is not to be isolated from abite (Rossbach and Lachm.) : 
 the two words form one compound expression on which hinc depends, 
 
ON CATULLUS. XlV.b 43 
 
 as in xo'pe xal tbndi, Alciph. i. 27. 2 ; Ad. v. 7. 19, /« t'/Ias ait et traduce. 
 Aul. ii. 3. 3, Vascula inlus pure proper a el elue ; quoted by Mr. Richards 
 in the Cambridge Journal of Philology, v. 135. Cf. Anth. P. vii. 664. 
 
 I ; by Theocritus, 'Ap)(l\o)(ov /cm crraBi Koi cttriSe TOW nd\ai TroirjTav. AbltS. 
 
 Lucian, Catapl. 12, ds t6v t&v dcre^av x^p"" amdt. Callim. H. Apol. 113, 
 6 8e iMoifjios Iv 6 (t>66pos cv6a veoiro. The common expression adt in malam 
 rem, and the proverbial fvBiv riXBev, euff efir) is here slightly varied. 
 
 22. malum pedem, ' AUudit quia uersus pedibus constant. Sed 
 mali sunt poetae ideo malum dixit pedem.' Alex. Guarinus. Ovid plays 
 similarly upon the word, Trist. i. i. 16, Contingam certe quo licet ilia 
 pede. attulistis for tulistis (And. iv. 5. 13) is rare, as Scaliger saw. 
 
 PlauLus, Amph. iii. 4. 6, eius iussu nunc hue me affero, and Virgil, Aen. iii. 
 345, use se afferre of coming up to a particular place, and this notion is 
 perhaps conveyed here, the age in which bad poets appear being regarded 
 as the point to which they come : ' have brought your miserable feet 
 to plague us.' But such expressions as afferre consulatum in familiam 
 Phil. ix. 2. 4, seem to show \!c&X ferre, afferre, -vi&re sometimes indis- 
 tinguishable, like leuare, alleuare, in discriinen ducere or adducere. Here 
 in any case, as Marcilius observes, attulistis is likely to be right as sug- 
 gesting the double allusion in pedem better than the simple verb. 
 
 XlV.b 
 
 In this fragment Catullus seems to deprecate the unfavourable criti- 
 cism of his readers. It is difiScult to determine whether it belongs, as 
 Bruner thinks, to an epilogue, originally perhaps intended to form the 
 finale of the lyrical poems, or to a prologue which ought to have stood 
 at the commencement of these poems, but gave place to the prefatory 
 verses, Cui dono lepidum nouum libellum ? which now forms c. I. in our 
 MSS. 
 
 That it was a poem of excuse is I think likely from the form of the three 
 verses which remain. Similarly Ovid, Trist. iii. 14. 25-30, Hoc quoque 
 nescio quid nostris appone libellis, Diuerso missum quod tibi ab orbe uenit. 
 Quod quicunque leget, si quis legei, aestimet ante, Compositum quo sit tem- 
 pore, quoque loco. These lines form a sort of epilogue to bk. iii. ; but the 
 very first lines of bk. iv. repeat the same petition to the reader, in the 
 form of a prologue, Si qua meis fuerint, ut erunt, uitiosa libellis, Excusata 
 suo tempore, lector, habe. Plancus, ap. Cic. Fam. x. 8. i. Si cui forte 
 uideor diutius et hominum exspectationem et spem rei publicae de mea uolun- 
 tate tenuisse suspensam, huic prius excusandum me esse arbitror quam de 
 insequenti officio quidquam ulli pollicendum. Frontin. Praef. Strateg., Si qui 
 erunt quibus uolumina haec cordi sint, meminerint (perhaps by an inter- 
 polator, Teuffel, Hist. Lit. ii. 322. 5). 
 
 1. meptiarum, trifles in verse, light subjects treated lightly. Pliny, 
 Epist. iv. 4, describes such a work of his own. His iocamur ludimus 
 amavius dolemus querimur irascimur describimus aliquid modo pressius modo 
 elatius atque ipsa uarietate temptamus efficere ut alia aliis quaedam fortasse 
 omnibus placeant. . . . Sed quid ego plura .^ nam longa praef atione uel 
 
44 A COMMENTARY 
 
 excusare uel commendare ineptias ineptissimum est. C. Melissus of Spoletum, 
 a slave and afterwards a freedman of Maecenas, then appointed by 
 Augustus to superintend the libraries in the Porticus Octauia, wrote 150 
 books of Ineptiae or, as they were afterwards called, loci. (Suet. Gramm. 
 21). 
 2. manus, as if by way of solicitation. 
 
 XV. 
 
 In this poem Catullus recommends the young Juventius to the protection 
 of his friend Aurelius, warning him not to betray the confidence thus 
 placed in him by any undue familiarity. From XXI it would seem that 
 this warning was slighted; and in XXIV Juventius is upbraided for 
 favouring Aurelius' friend Furius. 
 
 There are three other poems referring to Juventius, XLVIII, LXXXI, 
 XCIX. Of the series XLVIII, XCIX, XXIV were perhaps written 
 before the rest ; but all seem to belong to the last years of the poet's life. 
 It is not improbable that XL also refers to Juventius : see Introduction 
 there. 
 
 It was customary to recommend youths or children of tender years to 
 the protection of friends or relations ; so Cicero commends his son and 
 daughter to his brother Quintus (Q. Fr. i. 3. 10), and the father of the 
 handsome Caelius Rufus recommended and introduced his son to Cicero 
 (Cael. xvii. 39, puerum commendauii et tradidit) : to whom also the ardent 
 C. Curio, at the time contemplating exile, lacrimans commendabat his 
 friend M. Antonius (Phil. ii. 18. 45). Curio was perhaps serious; but 
 it may be doubted whether Catullus is not speaking ironically. 
 
 1. me ac meos amores, a combination, like B. G. viii. 50, se el 
 honorem suum sequentis anni commendaret. Phorm. i. 4. 40, VoMs com- 
 mendo Phanium et uitam meam. meos amores always in Catullus of 
 Juventius, except in XXXVIII. 6, perhaps XL. 7. 
 
 2. pudentem, ' modest,' here, of the favour asked, more usually of 
 the person asking. Fam. ii. 6. i, Graue est homini pudenti petere aliquid 
 magnum ab eo de quo se bene m^ritum putet. 
 
 3. Vt, definitive. ' I mean, that if you ever set your heart on desiring 
 anything, to long to keep it chaste and innocent.' A pleonasm ; it is not 
 the thing itself, but the preservation of its chastity, which is the object 
 of desire {cupisti quod expeieres). animo tuo, i.e. earnestly. 
 
 4. Quod expeteres, i. e. ut id exp. Epexegetic. integellum, 
 XXXIV. 2, pueri integri. 
 
 5. pudice, as in Hon S. i. 6. 82, pudicum, Qui primus uirtutis honos, 
 seruauit. In both passages it is the opposite of inpudicitia in its strict 
 sense of passive unchastity. 
 
 6. Won dice . . . Verum. Cf the Ciceronian Nan dico . . . sed. Phil, 
 ii. § 9, 19, 66;. Mil. § 34, 35 (Mayor on Phil. ii. 4. 9). a popiilo 
 depends on pudice as in Cure. i. i. 51, lam a me pudicast quasi soror 
 mea sit. 
 
 7. platea, ■n-'Karua, not in Plautus seemingly ; Terence has it several 
 
ON CATULLUS. XV. 45 
 
 times, Eun. ii. 3. 53 ; Ad. iv, 2. 35 ; Phorm. i. 4. 37. modo hue 
 modo illuc with praetereunt. 
 
 8. In re . . . occupati, a rare construction, found twice in Cornelius 
 Nepos, Ale. 8, Hann. 7. See Lupus, Satzbau des Corn. Nepos, § 39. 
 
 9. a te, the direction of the danger : Capt. iii. 4. 75, Si quid meluis a 
 me ; ii. i. 13, Quid a nobis metuii? And. i. i. 79, metui a Chryside. 
 
 10. Infesto, here active ; passively Cael. iv. 10, illud tempus aetatis 
 quod aliorum libidine infesium est, of the young Caelius. bonis 
 maliscLue is explained by nearly all the commentators 'handsome 
 or plain.' But though from Bacch. v. 2. 42, haud mala est mulier. 
 Ni. Pol uero ista mala et tu nihili ? malus seems to have been used for 
 turpis or deformis (contrast however Merc. ii. 3. 'jg,non vialam forma 
 mala); it is doubtful whether bonus ever is i. q. formosus, for in 
 bona forma, Ter. And. ii. 5. 17 \ Prop. ii. 18. 32, bona crura. Am. iii. 2. 
 27, quoted by Vulp., Hor. S. i. 2. 102, the notion of ' handsome ' seems 
 to come from the substantive, and is not inherent in the word itself. 
 Nor would Aurelius have been hkely to pursue handsome or plain in- 
 differently : what Catullus implies is that he was sufficiently profligate to 
 make him dangerous, whether the character of the person he was pur- 
 suing was virtuous or vicious. In fact bonis malisque nearly = ingenuis 
 (whom it was illegal to corrupt, and who were therefore more likely to 
 be virtuous) meritoriisque (Phil. ii. 41. 105). 
 
 12. Quantum uis with moueto, not with paratum (Ovid, F. i. 437). 
 utai erit foris paratum, impersonal in the same sense as Horace's 
 praestoest, S. i. 2. 117. 
 
 13. Shakespere Sonnets, xix to Time : 
 
 But I forbid thee one most heinous crime ; 
 
 O carve not with thine hours my love's fair brow, 
 
 Nor draw no lines there with thine antique pen; 
 
 Him in thy course untainted do allow. 
 
 For beauty's pattern to succeeding men. 
 
 14. Quod si introduces the conclusion, as in Mart. viii. 64. 16, Quod 
 si Itidis adhuc : mala mens, ' infatuation,' as in XL. i. It is the opposite 
 of mens bona. Prop. iii. 24. 190. uecors, XL. 4, uecordem rixam. 
 
 16. ' To attack me with a deadly snare,' viz. by plotting to win the 
 affection of Juventius, and so plotting to injure me. nostrum caput, 
 like hoc caput (Epid. i. i. 86 ; Pseud, ii. 4. 33; Stich. v. 5. 10) for me, 
 suum caput for se ipsum (Epid. iii. 2. 33) is an emphatic ' me,' with the 
 farther notion of something virtually affecting my life and fortunes : here 
 the treachery which Catullus apprehends from Aurelius in the trust which 
 he has committed to him, XXI. 7, insidias mihi instruentem. See Ramsay's 
 Mostellaria, pp. 128, 146, insidiis, in reference to chastity, as in 
 Cure. i. I. 25, Num tu pudicae quoipiam insidias locas f 
 
 18, 19. You shall suffer the penalty of the detected adulterer ; have 
 your feet tied and then be tortured by pa<^avihaifns, or a worse form of the 
 same punishment. The idea is perhaps suggested by Eun. v. 4. 31-36, 
 quoted by Vulp., earn iste uitiauit miser. Ille ubi id resciuit factum frater 
 uiolentissimus, Pa. Quid nam fecit ? Py. Conligauit primum eum miseris 
 
 ^ This however was a received interpretation of bonus; Gloss. Harl. 6514, Bonus 
 pulcher est. Terenliu s forma fortasse bona. 
 
46 A COMMENTARY 
 
 modis. Pa. Conligauit ? Py. Atque quidem oranie, ul ne id facer et Thaide. 
 Pa. Quid ais ? Py. Nunc minatur porro sese id quod moechis solet. Quod 
 ego nunquam uidi fieri neque uelim. 
 
 18. attraetis pedibus occurs in a Pompeian Inscription, 1261. The 
 preposition seems to express the act of drawing the feet of the patient 
 towards the slave employed to bind the criminal for punishment. Rem. 
 Am. 397, aiirahe lor a Fortius, draw the reins more vigorously towards 
 you to tighten them. porta, i. e. ano. Priap. lii. 5. Catullus can 
 hardly mean that Aurelius would be punished before the eyes of the 
 public (Alex. Guarinus) : though Cicero seems to allude to both senses. 
 
 Plut. Cic. vii, 'Hi/ Se Tm Bf/jpi; avrmais vlos ovk i^evBepas SokS>v wpoiaraaBm 
 TTji apas. Aoi.Bopr]$e\s &v 6 KiKepait Bia fiaXaKiav imd Tov Beppou, ToTff viols eiirev 
 evros dvpaiv fiei Xotdopeltrdat, 
 
 19. percurrent, ' shall make free way through.' raphanique, 
 
 Aristoph. Nub. 1080, jioi^os yap fjv tvx^s ciXovs xafi" avTepels vpos aifoV AI. tI 
 S^ 7)1/ pa(pavL8a)67J TTtBofievos oroi TeKJypa re rikdfj ; e^et Hva yvajirjv XeyeiV, to jLtij 
 
 eipimpaKTos elvai ; Lucian de Morte Peregrini viii, jioix^iaiv dXous Sutpvye 
 
 paipavlSi TrjV jrvyfiii ^e^vapiivos. Anth. P. ix. 520, cited by VOSS, 'AKKaiov 
 rd^os otros, ov eKTavev r) irKaTv^vKKos Tifiapos /xotp^wy yrjs OuyaTr)p patpavos. 
 
 Hot. S. i. 2. 133, 2Ve numi pereant aut puga. The Schol. on Plut. 168 
 says pcujimiSuKTis was only inflicted on poor men ; rich men paid a 
 compensation. Miller, Melanges Grecques, p. 357, Aij/ios de ea-ri, t^s 
 
 Attik^s oi UXaKLadat' kukei pacjiavldes peyaXal yivovrai' ravrais Se ;^pQii'Tat Kara 
 Twi/ \r](pdevTa)V jLtoi;^iSv €(pv^pL^0VTes, el Sc prj Trapeiev trreXaia T(5. ck ttjs BtKeWrjS. 
 
 The proverb there explained nXaxiaSat koi areXaiov shows that the punish- 
 ment was in actual use. mugiles, luuen. x. 317, quosdam moechos et 
 mugilis intrat ; of. Schol. there Mugilis piscis grandi capite postremus 
 exilis qui in podicem moechorum deprehensorum solebat immitti. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 Aurelius and Furius had remonstrated with Catullus on the effeminate 
 tone of his poetry, and had drawn the inference that the poet himself was 
 personally open to the same charge. If we press the language of Catullus' 
 indignant reply, we might be led to think that the charge against him 
 was of actual bodily effeminacy (inpudiciiia, mollitid), a very common 
 accusation at the time, cf XXIX, LVII and XXV, CXII ; this almost seems 
 required by the words male marem, and the peculiar form in which he 
 asserts his virility (vv. i, 2, 14). 
 
 It is more probable that we have here as in other poems of Catullus 
 an instance of the same exaggeration of language which is still distinctly 
 traceable in the extant fragments of Lucilius, and which belongs partly 
 to the coarse and realistic character of the Italian people as a whole, partly 
 reflects the grossness of Roman comedy, not so much the comedy of 
 Plautus, as of other writers like Caecilius, Turpilius, Novius, and the 
 writers of Atellanae. The fragments of these writers are much more 
 Aristophanic than most of the comedies of Plautus ; and it is to the old 
 Comedy, not the New, that CatuUus, like Lucilius before him, in this 
 mood most nearly approximates. Already in X. 12, we have seen him 
 speaking in the same way of Memmius, probably in imitation of Lucilius, 
 
ON CATULLUS. XVI. 47 
 
 and we shall find him repeating the same charge XXVIIL lo. In 
 XXI. 8, 12, he threatens Aurelius exactly as he threatens Furius and 
 Aurelius in XVI : in each case the threat is only half serious, but in each 
 case it seems chosen in reference to something said or done by the 
 persons threatened. We need not suppose that the accusation itself was 
 more serious than the reply. The mollitia of many of Catullus' erotic 
 poems would no doubt seem a graver offence to a Roman than to a 
 Greek, and if Furius and Aurelius really believed the poet to be viollis on 
 the strength of his lyrics to Lesbia^ their belief would be quite in harmony 
 with the old national point of view. Even Seneca, living in an age when 
 every kind of eflfeminacy was the rule, speaks of Maecenas, the type of 
 luxury in its more virtuous mood, as less of a man than the two eunuchs 
 who accompanied him {spadones dtio, magis tamen uiri quam ipse Epist. 
 114. 6) ; and we may well believe that something like a determination to 
 confuse words with acts, softness of language with effeminacy in conduct, 
 effeminacy in gait and dress with unnatural effeminacy of body, for a long 
 time formed part of the traditional Roman antagonism to foreigners. 
 
 The defence which Catullus makes here, that his life is pure, though 
 his verse is not, has often been made. Ovid, Trist. ii. 353, sqq. Crede 
 mihi, mores distant a carmine nostra. Vita uerecunda est, Musa iocosa mihi. 
 Magnaque pars operum mendax et ficta meorum Plus sibi permisit com- 
 positor e sua. Mart. i. 35. '^-^, sed hi libelli Tanquam coniugibus suis mariti 
 Non possunt sine mentula placer e ; 10, 11, Lex haec carminibus data est 
 iocosis Ne possint nisi pruriant iuuare ; xi. 15. 3, 4 Hie iotus uolo rideat 
 libellus ; 13, Mores non habet hie meos libellus. Plin. Epist. iv. 14. 4, Si 
 nonnulla tibi paulo petulantiora uidebuntur, erit eruditionis tuae cogitare 
 summos illos et grauissimos uiros qui talia scripserunt non modo lasciuia 
 rerum sed ne uerbis quidem nudis absiinuisse : quae nos refugimus, non quia 
 setieriores [unde enim /) sed quia timidiores sumus. Scimus alioqui huius 
 opntsculi illam esse uerissimam legem quam Catullus expressit. Nam castum 
 esse decet . . . parum pudici. Ibid. v. 3, written when blamed for the loose- 
 ness of his volume. Facia nonnumquam uersiculos seueros parum, facia ; 
 etiam comoedias audio et specto mimos et lyricos lego et Sotadicos intellego . . . 
 An ego uerear ne me non satis deceat quod decuit M. Tullium, C. Caluum, 
 Asinium Palionem, M. Messallam, Q. Hortensium, M. Bruium, L. Sullam, 
 Q. Caiulum, Q. Scaeualam, Seruium Sulpicium, Varranevi, Torquatum, 
 immo Torquatos, C. Memmium, Leniulum, Gaetulicum, Annaeum, Senecam, 
 Lucanum, et proxime Verginium Rufum? 
 
 Seneca states the counter view. Epist. ii. 4. 3, Non potest esse alius 
 ingenio, alius animo color ; 4, Quid ergo/' non or alio eius (Maecenatis) 
 aeque soluta est quam ipse discinctus ? 
 
 1, 2 of course retort the charge of mollitia. 
 
 4. parum pudicmn, XXIX. 2. 5. 
 
 5. pium, XIV. 7, ' the godly poet.' 
 
 6. But Aristophanes, Ran. 1057, says, anoKpimrav xpfj t6 Trovrjpbv t6v ye 
 
 ' Bruner and Westphal consider v. 1 2 to be an allusion to XLVIII. 3, and explain 
 pueris in v. 10 of Juventius. But XLVIII is too slight in itself to be thus alluded to ; 
 whereas V and VII would recur at once to the memory of every reader of Catullus in 
 connexion with the words milia multa basiorum. 
 
48 A COMMENTARY 
 
 itouiTrjV, Kai fUj irapayetv firjSe diSacTKeiV Tois fifv yap naidaploiiriv "Eori Staa(r- 
 KoXos ooTis (ppa^ei, toIs r]j3aatv 6e Trotrjrai. 
 
 I. turn denique— si, 'then only, if.' Cic. Fam. v. 12. 5, qui turn 
 denique sibi auelli iubet spiculum,posteaqtiam ei perconianti dictum est clipeum 
 esse saluum. 
 
 8. Si sint . . . et possunt, so the best MSS. of Catullus ; si sunt . . . 
 etpossunt, the MSS. of Plin. Epist. iv. 14. 4. If sint is right Catullus 
 passes from the condition stated hypothetically to the condition as 
 realized (possunt). Such combinations of indie, and subjunc. with the 
 same conjunction are undeniable in verse; Madvig on Fin. ii. 19. 61, 
 hardly proves that all the prose instances of such combination are solecisms, 
 requiring alteration. But the indie, is the more regular construction 
 after turn denique, as in Capt. i. 2. 39, turn denique inlellegimus cum 
 amisimus. De Legg. ii. 4. 10, non turn denique incipit lex esse cum scripta est. 
 sed turn cum orta est. Tusc. Disp. iii. 31- 77, t^^i^ denique non appellatur 
 recens cum uetustate exaruit (see Hand's Tursellinus, ii. p. 276). 
 
 9. quod pruriat expresses the difficulty of finding an itching or 
 susceptible point. According to Hesych. i/rapos was a name for TraiSe- 
 
 pafjTT]i. 
 
 10. non dico . . . sed = pilosis, non modo pueris. pueris, as easily 
 roused. The dative is used in re ueneria, as shown by the Pompeian 
 Inscriptt. his. See on XLV. 14. It recalls the pilosi as famihar 
 objects. So De Orat. ii. 60. 246, huic lusco familiari meo C. Sextio. 
 Pers. v. 86, Stoicus hie. pilosis, ' covered with hair,' a sign of rough- 
 ness, as to remove the hair by depilatories was a mark of effeminacy. 
 Mart. ii. 36. 5, Nunc sunt crura pilis, et sunt tibi pectora setis Horrida: 
 sed mens est, Pannice, uolsa tibi. ix. 28. i, sqq. Cum depilates, Chreste, 
 coleos partes, Nee uiuat ullus in tuo pilus crure, Purgentque saeuae cana 
 labra uolsellae ; Curios, Camillas, Quintios, Numas, Ancos, Et quidquid 
 unquam legimus pilosorum Loqueris. luuen. ii. ii,Hispida membra quidem 
 et durae per brachia setae Promitiunt atrocem animum. Quint, v. 9. 14. 
 
 II. duros, perhaps 'shaggy,' as in Arnob. v. 25, in speciem leuigari 
 nondum duri atque siriculi pusianis, which Orelli explains to mean ' still 
 without hair and with nothing of the porcupine about him,' comparing 
 Juvenal ii. 11, Sidon. i. 2. But it seems possible that both Arnobius 
 and Catullus express in durus the natural accompaniment of the increasing 
 growth of hair upon the body, viz. its diminished tenderness or suppleness, 
 and increased rigidity. In this sense ' rigid ' or ' torpid,' cf. Anth. L. 
 698, Riese, ames cum milk puellas. Solus io solus, dure (torpid one), 
 iacere pates ? 
 
 12. milia multa basiorum, v. 10. 
 
 13. male marem = mollem. Ovid has male uir A. A. i. 524, Quin- 
 tilian v. 9. n, parum uir, in the same sense (Vulp.). 
 
 XVII. 
 
 A FELLOW-TOWNSMAN of CatuUus had irritated the poet by the coldness 
 with which he treated his young wife. In these verses Catullus expresses 
 a humorous wish that he may suffer the punishment of the sexagenarii 
 depantati (cf. Festus s. v.) and be precipitated for his senility from the 
 
ON CATULLUS. XX.'^ 49 
 
 summit of a rotten bridge into the deepest part of a quagmire, near a 
 place which is designated as Colonia. 
 
 It is uncertain what place is meant by Colonia. Cluverius, Italia An- 
 tiqua p. 117, thought it was Manlua, and supposed that the bridge 
 alluded to in the poem connected that town with the territory of Verona. 
 But Mantua was not a Roman colony, though otherwise the description 
 of Catullus would agree with the marshy situation of this town on an 
 island near the confluence of the Mincio and the Po. Scaliger thought 
 it was Comum, which in 59 b.c. was augmented by a body of 5000 new 
 colonists under Julius Caesar, and assumed the title of Novum Comum. 
 But, as Schwabe observes Quaestt. p. 345, neither the description of the 
 lake 4, 10, II, 25, nor the mention of bridges suit the lake of Como 
 {Lari maxime Virg. G. ii. 159). It had occurred to me that Cremona 
 may be meant : it was a colony, and is described in words very like 
 those of Catullus in one of the Catalecta, viii. 14 Ribbeck, Cremona 
 frigida et lutosa Gallia. . . . ultima ex origine Tua stelisse dicit in uoragine, 
 Tua in palude deposisse sarcinas. The prevailing view is perhaps that of 
 Muretus, which identifies it with the modern Cologna, a small town a few 
 miles east of Verona. This was held before Muretus by Alex. Guarinus, 
 who describes the town as it appeared in his own time, the beginning of 
 the 1 6th century : ' Mihi autevi Colonia nomen proprium cuiusdam oppiduli 
 non longe ab agro Veronensi distantis uidetur, quod hodie corrupto tamen 
 uocabulo uulgo Cologna appellatur. Et praesertim quia Verona illuc iter 
 habentibus paludes latissimae occurrunt, quae in loco quodam coarctantur ubi 
 ponte ligneo satis longo transitus patet, qui nunc pons Zerbanus uocatur,' cf. 
 Persico Descrizione di Verona ii. 266. This view is accepted by Schwabe, 
 but must remain doubtful until some evidence is brought of the town 
 existing in Catullus' time. 
 
 Westphal, p. 174, thinks the young wife of this poem is the Aufilena 
 of C, CX, CXI. But Aufilena is described in C as beloved by Quintius, 
 who, with Caelius, is called flos Veronensum iuuenum : and we may 
 perhaps infer that she lived in Verona ; whereas the hero of XVII, though 
 a municeps of Catullus and therefore a native of Verona, would seem to 
 have lived at the Colonia : at least there would be little point in placing 
 the scene there if it were not the habitual residence of the husband and 
 wife. It is true C may refer to Aufilena before her marriage ; she may 
 have left Verona with her husband and settled elscAjhere. But this, 
 though possible, is mere guess-work ; and at any rate when CX, CXI 
 (both subsequent to Aufilena's marriage) were written, it is more 
 probable than not that she was at Verona, where she would be likely 
 to encounter Catullus. 
 
 The metre is Priapean, and is found again in the fragment addressed to 
 Priapus (II). It consists of a Glyconic verse followed by a Pherecratean : 
 it occurs in a popular distich in Bergk's Poetae Lyrici Graeci, No. 42, p. 
 
 1312, Aefai rav dyaSav Tvxav, Se^ai rav vyUiav. The last foOt of the GlyCOnic 
 
 is always a cretic, never a dactyl, as Voss observed. 
 
 1. ludere, of celebrating games, probably as part of the worship of 
 some god, cf. 6. Sacred rites are specially mentioned in connexion with 
 the pons sublicius, from whih small figures of men, made of rushes, and 
 called Argei, were annually thrown into the Tiber by the Pontifiices and 
 
50 A COMMENTARY 
 
 Vestal Virgins on the Ides of May. Varro, L. L. v. 83, vii. 44 ; Ouid. 
 F. V. 62 1 ; Festus Argei and Sexagenarii; Plut. Q. R. 32. loiigo, instead 
 of the ponticulus. 
 
 2. paratum habes, like cogmium perspectum experium statutum 
 habere in Cicero. inepta, ' crazy/ ' unsteady : ' Fore, gives no other 
 example. 
 
 3. acsulels, i. e. axuleis from axula, diminutive of axis, is ■ explained 
 by Hand 2&=-assulis, 'laths' or 'planks;' axis and assis, \]k& /raxinus 
 
 frassinus, toxicum tossicum, coxim cossim, seem to have been two forms 
 of the same word. Paulas D. s. u. Axis. Tabula sedilis axis uocaiur. 
 Hand quotes Caesar B. C. ii. 9 and Luc. iii. 455, in support of axis thus 
 used. But in both places the meaning is uncertain ; and here, if axuleis 
 is the right word, it may mean ' wooden cyhnders,' forming part of the 
 under frame-work of the bridge. Assuleis, the ordinary reading, is found 
 in the sense of 'thin wooden planks' in Suet. Gramm. 2. rediuiiiis, 
 taken from old buildings and used again. Verr. i. 56. 147, utrum existi- 
 maiis minus operis esse unam columnam. efficere ab integro nouam nulla 
 lapide rediuiuo an quatluor illas reponere? 148, Rediuiua sibi habeto. Quasi 
 quidquam rediuiui ex opere illo tolleretur, ac non Mum opus ex rediuiuis 
 constitueretur. 
 
 4. supinus, ' on its back,' the supporters at each end giving way, and 
 the centre being thus unable to maintain itself against pressure, and 
 falling in. caua, ' engulfing.' Dbring compares Met. vi. 369, iota 
 caua submergere membra palude. See on LXIV. 259. 
 
 5. Sic flat . . . da, as in Hor. C. i. 3. i, Sic te diua regal . . . Reddas ; 
 Virg. Eel. ix. 30-32, Sic fugiant . . . Incipe. In all these passages sic 
 anticipates the condition mentioned afterwards, da, reddas, incipe. Martial 
 similarly Ep. vii. 93. 8, Perpeiuo liceat sic tibi ponte frui, alluding to the 
 famous bridge over the Nar, built by Augustus at Narnia. 
 
 6. Salisubsali, a word not known to exist elsewhere ; the line which 
 Alex. Guarinus quotes from Pacuvius' Armorum Indicium, Pro imperio 
 Salisubsulus si nostra excubet, though its want of metre gives it a look of 
 genuineness, or at least of being copied by some one who thought it so, 
 is not discoverable in any ancient author and seems rightly rejected by 
 Ribbeck. According to Guarinus it was an ancient name of Mars, to 
 whom alone Salios dicauit antiquitas, Macrob. S. iii. 12. i; and who 
 might therefore be called preeminently ' the leaping god ;' cf. Mercurius 
 Negotiator, Nundinator, Jupiter Redux, etc. : though Virgil, Aen. viii. 
 285 and Macrobius, iii. 12 assign Salii to Hercules; and one Collegium 
 of Salii, the Agonales or CoUini, was assigned to Quirinus specially. 
 Hand reads Salisubsulis, and explains of the troop of men-dancers 
 who chanted the axamenta in procession, in contradistinction to their 
 leader, praesul or praesultor. Whether the god or his priests are meant, 
 their existence in this Cisalpine Colonia has many parallels; Inscrip- 
 tions mention Sahi at Tibur, Alba, Lavinium, Verona (Marquardt, 
 Handb. iv. p. 369). They were selected from young men, hence tiel, 
 as their motions would be more vigorous. suscipiantur, technical 
 of entering upon the performance of sacred rites. Vatin. vi. 14 
 Cum incandita ac nefaria sacra susceperis, cum inferarum animas elicere 
 soleas. 
 
 7. Munus da, perhaps in allusion to the other sense of giving a 
 
ON CATULLUS. XX. 51 
 
 public show, as in Sest. Iviii. 124, erat munus Scipionis dignum el eo ipso 
 et illo Q. Meiello, cuidabatur (Statius). maxiini risus, gen. of quality, 
 ' most mirth-moving.' Mr. Clayton, 
 
 8. mumcipem meum, 'a native of my municipal town,' Verona; so 
 Cicero of Marius, Cum Populo Gratias egit viii. 19, municeps nosier of 
 M. Pontidius of Arpinum, Brut. Ixx. 246. 
 
 9. per caputque pedesque, KarioKapa, Aristoph. Pax, 153, 'head 
 over heels.' 
 
 10. Verum, ' only,' corrects and defines the wish which is expressed 
 generally in 8. Haut. iii. 3. 37, Bicam, uerum ut aliud ex alio incidit. 
 ut is generally taken s.s=u6i, 'where,' like XL 3: perhaps rightly, 
 though this sense is very rare. The only other explanation would be to 
 take it in close* connexion with the superlatives Liuidissima maximeque 
 profunda, ' according as the abyss is blackest and most deep,' like as 
 with superlatives, e.g. Theogn. 477, Bergk, ij^u 8' my olvos xap'fVTaTos 
 avipX 7ren6a-6aj.. Vt in this sense is more often followed by quisque, or quis, 
 sometimes hy forte, as in Aen. v. 329. 
 
 U. Liuidissima, 'blackest.' Aen. vi. 320, uada liuida. 
 
 12. Insulsissimus est homo, ' the creature is a mere idiot,' from his 
 dulness in regard to his young wife. So Eun. v. 8. 49, Fatuus est, insul- 
 sus, tardus : stertit noctesque et dies. Neque istum metuas ne amet mulier ; 
 
 facile pellas, uhi uelis. pueri. Aesch. P. V. 987, ni yap a-ii irals tc kSti 
 T0C8* avoiiTTepos ; instar, the amount of sense, CXV. i . 
 
 13. Bimuli tremula, double diminutive, as in 3 ponticuli acsuleis, 15 
 puella tenellulo. Bimuli, ' two years old.' Suet. Calig. 8. Tremula, ' rock- 
 ing or dandling.' Vulp. quotes Plato, Legg. 790, ^vUa yap Sv irov fiovKridaa-i 
 KaraKocfii^civ ra Svavirvovvra rHv iraiSiav ai fir/Tepfs, ovx r)(TV)(lav avTois 7rpo(T(f>£- 
 povKTiv, aXKa TOvvavTiov KLVrjatv iv Tois ayKoKais aei trntyvtrai, 
 
 14. uiridissimo flore, ' freshest bloom.' Strictly it is the plant, not 
 the flower, which is green : but Jlos had lost some part of its precision, 
 from its constant use='youthful bloom:' Cic. Phil. ii. 2. 3. 
 
 15. Et=f/ quidem, as in Mil. xxiii. 61, Magna uis est conscientiae et 
 magna in utramque partem ; Catil. ii. 8. i*], de uno hoste loquimur, et de eo 
 hoste qui iam fatetur se esse hostem (Hand); Pomp. Inscriptt. 1819, 
 Suauis uinaria sitit rogo uos et ualde sitit. In all these instances the et 
 connects two clauses in which the same word is twice repeated, puella Et 
 puella, magna uis et magna, hoste et eo hoste, sitit et ualde sitit. delica- 
 tior, 'tenderer.' Mart. v. 37. 3, of a girl five years old. Concha Lucrini 
 delicatior stagni. haedo. Theocr. xi. 20, 21, uiraKaTepa dpv6t, Moarxf 
 yavparepa, <f>Mpa>Tepa ofKpaKos copas. 
 
 16. nigerrimis, grapes which are fully ripened and ready to be 
 plucked, therefore requiring greater care to preserve them. Ben Jonson 
 seems to imitate Catullus here, The Fox, i. fin. all her looks are sweet 
 Like the first grapes or cherries and are watch' d As near as they are. 
 
 17. Ludere, LXVIIL 17. pUi facit, X. 13. uni, archaic for 
 unius. So ullus, nullus, totus, alius, neuter, uter, alter. (Neue Formen- 
 lehre, ii. 183 sqq.) According to Priscian 677, Cicero wrote, Pro 
 TuUio 36 unae rei; Ad Herenn. iv. 48. 61 totae rei: cf Rose. Com. xvi. 
 48 nulli consili, perhaps Mur. xii. 26 nulla usui ; N. D. ii. 26. 66 
 altero fratri. Corn. Nepos has, Eum. i alterae alae ; Tim. 3 totae 
 insulae ; Caesar, B. G. v. 27 alterae legioni ; vi. 13 nulla cansilio ; B. C. 
 
 E 2 
 
52 A COMMENTARY 
 
 ii. 7 nulla usui. In the comic writers these forms are of course com- 
 mon. 
 
 18. se sutoleuat, sens. obscen.=f7raipei Uvr&v, Lysist. 937. ex sua 
 parte, so. lecti, with perhaps an allusion to the other sense, ' for his part,' 
 LXXXVII. 4. alnus. The marshy character of the country near 
 the Po is favourable to the growth of alders (G. ii. no, 451 ; Plin. xvi. 
 77), hence its connexion with the myth of the Hehades who were there 
 changed into alders, Eel. vi. 63. The simile is. taken from II. iv. 482 
 
 sqq. 6 8' h Komr/in x°/*o'' vea-ev, alyeipos as, "H pa t eV elapev!} IXcot peyaKoio 
 TiffjiiKd Aci'i;, ardp re oi 6'foi eV aKpoTarrj iretjiiaa-i- Tfjv p,iv ff appaToirriyos 
 diifip aWwvi cnSfipa 'E^eVa/x' o<ppa 'Ltvv Kap^n nepiKoKXii Sicjipco' H p,€v t a^ofiivrj 
 Kelrai TroTanoio irap o)^das. 
 
 19. Liguri with securi. The Ligurians from the abundance of 
 timber in their country were skilful in felling trees ; Strabo 202 cp^ouo-i 8" 
 vkrjv eiiravda irapTroWriv vavwryyrjaipjiv Kol p^yoKoSevSpov. Hence a Ligurian 
 axe may be i. q. the axe of a sturdy wood-cutter. It is perhaps better to 
 suppose that Catullus meant simply to express the country of the alder, 
 and joined the epithet with the axe, in the same way as XXXI. 13, 
 Lydiae lacus undae-=-Lydii lacus undae ; Lucretius' Alexandri Phrygio 
 sub pectore gliscens, i. 474, where see Munro: and still closer Horace, C. 
 i. 31. 9, Premant Calena fake quibus dedit Foriuna uitem ; iii. 6. 38, 
 Proles Sabellis docta ligonibus Versare glebas. suppernata, ' ham- 
 strung,' the reading of Festus is no doubt right : the word is obviously 
 chosen in reference to the supin^ess of the husband. Separata, the 
 wording of some MSS, is explained by Alex. Guarinus, ' diuisa a radi- 
 cibus,' ' severed,' a meaning which, if found at all, is rare, but which 
 deference to his father Baptista led him to retain, in spite of his con- 
 victions in favour of suppernata. Filial piety was perhaps a better motive 
 than the personal hostility which could induce as excellent a scholar as 
 MaruUus to taunt Politian, by whom suppernata was introduced from 
 Festus, with a supposed false quantity : the spondee in the first foot of 
 the Pherecratean is found in this very poem, 20 quam. si ; if MaruUus 
 believed the first syllable of supernata to be short, which is incredible, 
 he ought to have known that Catullus allows an iambus here as well 
 
 . as a spondee and trochee. See fragm. III. 
 
 20. ' Just as alive to everything, as if she had no existence; anywhere.' 
 nulla, De Sen. xxii. 79, nolite arbitrari me cum a nobis discessero nusquam 
 aut nullum fore. 
 
 21. Talis ... nil uidet, double predicate. ' Such a creature is this 
 booby friend of mine, who sees and hears nothing.' meus, con- 
 temptuously. Phaedr. V. 7. 32, Ao»zo wz^aj. stupor. Mart. xiv. 210. 
 I. Cf. odium, 'a bore;' scelus, 'a 'kna.vt;' pestis propudium etc. Passerat's 
 merus stupor, 'essence of dulness,' though not supported by MSS. is 
 clever, cf. XIII. 9. The word, which is properly applied to paralysis of the 
 senses, stuporis in corpore Tusc. Disp. iii. 6. 12, sensus stupore Phil, 
 ii. 45. 115, oculos stupor urget G. iii. 523, is doubtless chosen in refer- 
 ence to the dull perceptions of the man, nil uidet nihil audit, with which 
 cf. Antiphanes ap. Mein. Com. Fragm. iii. p. 112, Ka.6^Tm . . . o hr\pjos 
 
 ovhkv OVT aKovtav ovd 6pSjv. 
 
 22. Asin. ii. 4. 59, Sit, non sit, non aedepol scio ; Capt. iii. 4. 28, Quin 
 suum ipse interdum igfwrat nomen neque scit qui siet. id quoque 
 
ON CATULLUS. XXL 53 
 
 nescit. Lucr. iv. 469, Denique nil sciri siquis putat, id quoque nescit An 
 sciri possit, quoniam nil scire faletur, and the passage of Cicero's Acad. 
 pr. ii. 23. 73 quoted by Munro. 
 
 24. Si pote, ' in the hope that he may possibly wake up his lethargic 
 fatuity.' The subject to pole is the man himself, as is shown by derelin- 
 quere and mula. With exciiare ueiernum as i\tzx\y=.excitare se a ueterno, 
 cf. erumpere gaudium, 'let joy have a vent,' Eun. iii. 5. 2; concitare libi- 
 dinem, 'feel their passions roused,' Petron. S. 126; and so Lucr. vi. 645, 
 pauida complebantpedora cura, ' they felt their breasts filled with care; ' Tac. 
 Ann. vi. 36, sustulerant animum, 'had felt their spirits rise.' Such ex- 
 pressions are common in Greek, so alava, ^Lov, Soph. El. 8ig; x«P? Sf 
 
 7rt'/x7i Xt;^' evdvs ofifia daKfivaiv, 906. 
 
 25. supmum, an early instance of the derived meaning, 'listless,' 
 'sluggish.' Quintil. xi. 3. 3 supini securique. graui, ' clogging,' as 
 in Tac. Ann. i. 63, cetera limosa, tenacia graui caeno. derelinquere, 
 ' leave behind him.' Gargilius Martialis de Persicis x. (Mai Auct. Class. 
 i. 401), hodieque nonnulli iumenlorum solias in itinere derelicias prae medio 
 truncis ramisue suspendunt. caeno. Lethargies {tieterni) were cured 
 by strong smells or sprinkling with cold water, Cels. iii. 20. Hence, as 
 Voss remarks, the propriety of the punishment which the lethargic hus- 
 band is to undergo ; he is to fall into the blackest and deepest part of 
 the foul marsh-waters. 
 
 26. soleam, according to Rich s. u., not a piece of iron nailed on to 
 the hoof, as usual now, but a sock of leather or some similar material 
 (cf. the solea spartea used for cattle), the underneath part of which was 
 strengthened by a plate of iron, or sometimes silver (Suet. Ner. 30) 
 and even gold (Plin. xxxiii. 140). It is this iron plate which is here 
 supposed to become detached from the rest of the sock and left in the 
 mud. 
 
 XXI. 
 
 On the same subject as XV, to which it is the sequel. Aurelius seems 
 to have disregarded the poet's warnings and roused suspicion by his 
 familiarities with luventius. He is again threatened half jocosely (cf. 
 XV. 17-19), and at the same time is taunted with poverty, in which he 
 is sarcastically described as giving lessons to his protege'. 
 
 Martial has epigrams on the same subject, i. 92, xi. 94, both obviously 
 suggested by this poem. 
 
 1. pater esuritionum has been explained as a sort of napa npoahoKiav 
 for cenae pater, which in Horace S. ii. 8. 7 is interpreted by Acron o-umi-oo-i- 
 apxqs, and seems to be a comic expression for the host, ' master of the 
 banquet— of starvation.' It seems better to follow Vulp. in considering 
 pater esuritionum to be a comic expression of the same kind as Plant. 
 Stich. i. 3. I sqq. Famem egofuisse suspicor matrem mihi : Nam postquam 
 natus sum, satur nunquam/ui, where the parasite Gelasimus describes him- 
 self as the son of Famine, who bore him in her womb ten months, and 
 with whom he in turn was in labour ten years, her child and mother 
 
54 A COMMENTARY 
 
 alternately. That this passage was actually in Catullus' mind seems pro- 
 bable from Gelasimus proceeding to dwell upon his poverty, and the 
 lessons which it taught him in order to procure a dinner, i. 3. 20 sqq., 
 cf. 10, II of this poem, esurire Mellitiis puer et sitire discet. But though 
 the outline of the expression seems derived from Plautus, Catullus has 
 altered it by substituting the plural esurittonum for the single Famis ; 
 Aurelius is the father not of Famine, but of Starvations, or rather of 
 famished starvelings : for that esuritionum is used for the concrete esuri- 
 torum seems to follow from a comparison of XXIV. 1-3, XLIX. 1-3 : 
 cf. Xi/xoi Poseidippus ap. Mein. Fragm. Com. Graec. iv. p. 521, Ku/iivo- 
 irpioTTas ndvras ^ Xiftous KoKmv. Ben Jonson imitates Catullus : Alchemist, i. 
 I, Like the father of hunger you did walk Piteously costive. 
 
 2, 3 recur XXIV. 2, 3 of luventius, XLIX. 2, 3 of Cicero. 
 
 2. harum, 'those of our own day,' De Off. iii. 16, 66 ; Varro R. R. i. 
 13. 6, Si potius ad antiguorum diligentiam quam ad horum luxuriam dirigas 
 aedificationem. quot . . . fuerunt . . . sunt . . . erunt. Plautine. 
 Bacch. i. I. I, sqq. Quiquomque ubi ubique sunt qui fuerunt quique futuri 
 sunt posthac Stulti stolidi fatui fungi bardi blenni buccones. Pers. v. 2. i. 
 Qui sunt qui erunt quique fuerunt quique futuri sunt posthac. Cic. Fam. xi. 
 21. I, homini nequissimo omnium qui sunt qui fuerunt qui futuri sunt. Cum 
 Populo Grat. egit vii. 16, Cn. Pompeius uir omnium qui sunt fuerunt 
 erunt uirtute sapientia gloria p'inceps. Lucr. v. 11 35, Nee magis id nunc 
 est neque erit mox quamfuit ante. It is found in Greek also, Xenoph. 
 Symp. ii. 10, of Xanthippe, ywaiiu. rmv oia-Siv, oifjuu §£ Koi t5>v yfyevrjiiivav 
 
 rai rav ia-ojiivtav xaXe'^aTaTn, quoted by the younger Dousa. Plat. Tim. 38 A, 
 
 olide yevecrdai ttots ovie yeyoveum viu oi8' fliravBts etreaSm ; 38 C, yfyoj/Mr Tt 
 Koi Siv Kal e(r6fievos. 
 
 5. simul es, ' you are in his company,' L. 13. ovSafiov airyu arr airov, 
 of a lover, Xenoph. Symp. iv. 24. 
 
 6. Haeres, the conj. of Voss for the reading of all good MSS. 
 Haerens is very probable, as omnia seems to gather up the three former 
 expressions, cf XIV. 19; and the asyndeton would be in character. 
 Eun. ii. 3. 82, Cibum una capias adsis tangas ludas propter dormias. ad 
 latus. De Amic. i. i, a senis latere nunquum discederem. Mart. v. 61. i, 2, 
 Crispulus istequis est, uxori semper adhaeret Qui Mariane tuae ? iii. 91. 3, 
 Huic comes haerebat. Plin. H. N. x. 51. Xen. Symp. iv. 27, ty^v KerjtaXrjv irpos 
 rfi Ke(j)a\fi xaX t6i/ 3>ixov yu^i/oi/ vpos yvjiva t^ KpirofiovKov &p.a i'xovra. Xenophon 
 
 of a similar lover. omnia experiris, ' leave nothing untried.' Andr. ii. 
 I. II, omnia experiri certumst prius quam pereo. Att. i. 3. 3, Quod ad me 
 saepe scripsisti de nostro amicoplacando,feciet expertus sum omnia, a passage 
 quoted by Stat. 
 
 7. lYustra. Hor. C. iii. 7. 21, 13. 6; Mart. x. 35. 19. Cf. Lucretius' 
 Nequiquam. insiclias mihl instruentem. See on XV. 16. Rib- 
 beck's struentem is the more ordinary, but for that reason less probable, 
 expression. See on XIV. 22. 
 
 8. Tangam is generally explained sens, obscen. Hor. S. i. 2. 54. 
 It seems at least as natural to take it like ferire in the sense of ' out- 
 witting.' Nonius, 408, quotes amongst other instances a line from the 
 Aleones of Pomponius, at ego rusticatim tangam, urbanalim nescio. Cf. 
 Plant. Pseud, i. i. 120, Si neminem alium polero, tuum tangam patrem. 
 prior. ' I will anticipate and outwit you by a trick as dirty as your own.' 
 
ON CATULLUS. XXIL 55 
 
 The masc. brings into prominence the counter-plotting of the two rivals, 
 Aurelius and Catullus (see LXVIL 20). 
 
 9. satur, Mart. i. 93. 14. Catullus dwells similarly on the poverty of 
 Furius as an aggravation of the same offence in XXIV. 
 
 10. Nunc, ' as it is,' LXXXIIL 3, 4. Patron. S. 98, merito excan- 
 desceres, si posses per di turn ostendere. Nunc inter turham puer fugit nee 
 quo abierit suspicari possum, Mart. ix. 54. 7. ipsum id, the mere fact 
 that you will be teaching L how to starve, irrespective of any love proposals. 
 
 H. discet, from this magister esuriendi, not cenandi. Fam. ix. 16. 7. 
 (Vulp.) Menander described the stoics as giving lessons in the philo- 
 sophy of hunger, new^iv 8i8da-K€i Kal iiadrjras XaiJ^avn. Mein. Com. Fragm. 
 v. p. 29. 
 
 12. Quare deslne. So Horace in a similar conclusion, S. i. 2. 77, 
 quare, ne paeniteat te, Desine matronas sectarier. Mart. i. 41. 1 4. 
 
 13. Ne finem facias, sedi.=«« ita finem. facias ut prius irrumatus 
 sis, a use of sed more common in later Latin. Mart. i. 107. 3, Otia da 
 nobis, sed qualia fecer at olim Maecenas Flacco Vergilioque suo; xii. 36. 8, 
 Pisones Senecasque Memmiosque Et Crispos mihi redde, sed prior es ; viii. 
 49. I, Formosam sane, sed caecus diligit Asper ; ii. 48. 3, paucos, sedut 
 eligam, libellos ; Stat. S. ii. 6. 8, 11,/amulum—Sed famulum gemis, Vrse, 
 pium. The punishment here threatened, like that with which Aurelius is 
 before (XV. 18) menaced for the same offence, would remind a Roman 
 of the penalties of adultery, one of which was the right of violating the 
 pudicitia of the offender. Val. Max. vi. i. 13. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 Of the Suffenus here ridiculed nothing is known. In XIV. 19 he is 
 classed with Caesius and Aquinus as one of the bad poets of the day. It 
 seems possible that, as in the case of Aquinius, the real name is slightly 
 altered. A M. Nonius Sufenas was tribunus plebis in 57-56 B.C., and 
 seems to have been brought to trial with two of his colleagues, C. Cato 
 and Procilius (Att. iv. 15) in 54 ; but there is nothing to identify him with 
 Catullus' poetaster. 
 
 Hand reads Fuffenus, and though the MSS. both in XIV and XXII 
 agree in reading Suffenus, they cannot be considered to decide the 
 question. There is the same doubt about Sufficius, Fufficius, LIV. 5 : and 
 between Fuffanus, Fur/anus, or Su/anus, Att. vii. 15. 2. 
 
 The Varus of i is probably the person introduced in X. 
 
 1. probe nosti, so probe scire Fam. ii. 12. 2 ; probe commeminisse De 
 Orat. i. 53. 227 ; probe intellegere Ter. Eun. iv. 6. 30. Plautus has adprobe 
 nosse Trin. iv. 2. 115. It may be translated 'perfectly,' or 'perfectly 
 well.' See Ramsay, M7J/^//<2rza, p. 231. 
 
 2. Veniistus et dicax et urbanus, ' a man of taste and wit and 
 breeding.' Mr. Clayton, who quotes as before him Alex. Guarinus, 
 Quintil. vi. 3. 17, nam et urbanitas dicitur, qua quidem significari uideo 
 sermonem prae/erentem in uerbis et sono et usu proprium quendam gustum 
 urbis et sumptam ex conuersatione doctorum tacitam eruditionem, denique cui 
 
56 A COMMENTARY 
 
 conlraria sit rusticiias. uenuslum esse quod cum gratia quadam et uenere 
 dicatur, apparet. . . . Dicacitas sine dubio a dicendo, quod est omni generi 
 commune, ducta est, proprie tamen significat sermonem cum risu aliquos 
 lacessentem. 
 
 3. longe plurimos, an unparallelled number. 
 
 4. miii g. aut decem aut plxira, ' ten thousand if not more.' decern, 
 for an indefinitely large number, as in Hor. Epist. i. i8. 25, Saepe decem 
 uitiis instructor: so decies centena, S. i. 3. 15- 
 
 5. Perseripta, 'written out.' Tac. Ann. i. 11, Quae cuncta sua manu 
 per serif ser at Augustus, of the Breviarium totius imperii drawn up by 
 Augustus. ut fit, 'as is usual.' And. i. i. 53; Hec. i. 2. 83. in 
 palimpsesto, abl. after relata ; as Cicero, quoted by Hand, seems 
 to use both in codice and in codicem referre Rose. Com. i-ui, where 
 the accus. occurs four times, the abl. once, § 5 non habere se hoc nomen 
 in codice accepti et expensi relatum confitetur. Similarly De N. D. i. 12. 29, 
 in deorum numero referre, but i. 13. 34, refert in deos. Palimpsestus, 
 7ra\iiJ.^ria-ros, was parchment from which the previous writing had been 
 erased to be used again for the same purpose. Fam. vii. 18. 2, nam quod 
 in palimpsesto, laudo equidem parsimoniam, sed miror quid in ilia car tula 
 
 fuerit quod delere malueris quam haec scribere, nisi forte tuas formulas. Non 
 enim puto te meas epistulas delere ut reponas tuas. 
 
 8. regiae. Heron Autom. 269, quoted by Voss, fiei x"?^'/" ^<'0ovTa 
 XeiTTOTaTov tS}v fiatriXiKSiv Xeyofievav. Pliny, H. N. xiii. 74, hieratica appel- 
 labatur antiquitus religiosis tautum uoluminibus dicata, quae adulatione 
 Augusti nomen accepit, sicut secunda Liuiae a coniuge eius, shows that the 
 best kind was in his time called Augusta, a name which perhaps supplanted 
 the earlier regia, as the laurus regia became laurus Augusta Plin. xv. 129. 
 So Suetonius, Reliqq. p. 131 ReyfiTerscheid (Cartarurri) prima et praecipua 
 A ugustea regia maiorisformae in honor em Octauiani A ugusti appellata. Thus 
 the hieratica and regia would be identical, as Rich supposes, although both 
 Pliny and Suetonius agree that the hieratica descended to the third rank. 
 nouei libri, from its parallelism with noui umbilici, may be one part of the 
 book, as umbilici is another. If so, liber may be, as Stat, and Voss think, 
 the outer parchment wrapper in which the papyrus-roll was enclosed for 
 ornament and protection. But this seems to be membrana in 7 ; nor is 
 any instance of liber in this sense quoted. It seems better to explain it 
 of the separate volumes or rolls of papyrus, each of which was made up of 
 leaves or as we should say sheets, new and unused before. Sueton. 
 Reliqq. ReyfiTerscheid p. 134, codex multorum librorum est, liber unius 
 uoluminis, uolumen liber est, a uoluendo dictus. 
 
 7. umbilici, according to Rich, the ends of the cylinder or stick round 
 which the volume was rolled, probably from their resemblance, when 
 forming the centre of the sheets thus rolled round this stick, to a navel. 
 But from Stat. S. iv. 9. 8, binis decoratus umbilicis ; Mart. i. 66. 1 1, umbilicis 
 cultus atque membrana; iii. 2. <),pictis luxurieris umbilicis, it seems certain 
 that they were more conspicuous than the flat circular pieces figured in Rich 
 could be. TibuUus iii. i. 13 and Ovid Trist. i. i. 8, speak of painted 
 cornua at each end of the roll {frons) ; these seem to have been horn-like 
 projections; the umbilici may have been either identical with these or 
 more in the shape of a tapering boss. lora, straps or strings for tying 
 up the roll or its parchment case ; less probably for attaching the aiKKv^oi, 
 
ON CATULLUS. XXIL 57 
 
 or small strips of parchment containing the title of the work. Att. iv. 4. 
 Rich gives an illustration of such strings and the label attached to them, 
 s. u. Index. membrana, the parchment wrapper or envelope of the 
 
 roll, often coloured to give a finer appearance. Tib. iii. i. 9, Lutea sed 
 niiieum inuolual membrana libellum ; Mart. i. 66. 20; iii. 2. 10; di. pur- 
 purea toga, X. 93. 4. 
 
 8. Derecta plumbo, ' ruled with lead.' Lines were drawn in ancient 
 MSS. with a small circular plate of lead Ku/<XoTfpr,r /inXi/ior (Anth. P, vi. 
 62. i), yvpot ^dXi/3os (Anth. P. vi. 64. i), Tpoxius ii6\ifitos (Anth. P. vi. 65. 
 
 1, 68. 2), TpoxaKbs ftdXi/3Sos (Anth. P. vi. 66. 3), sometimes muXo/ioXi/SSor 
 (Anth. P. vi. 63. i). To keep the lines straight they used a ruler or Kavav, 
 which is mentioned in all the above- quoted epigrams as a regular accom- 
 paniment of the pencil, Kavova ■ypn/i/HTJf Wmi^pov Tnpirjv (Anth. P. vi. 64. 4), 
 rjyffiova ypafififis owXaft'os Kavova (65. 4), Kavova rpoxaXoio KvfifpvrjTrjpa fioXlffSov 
 
 (66. 3), poXiffov Kavuva 'SvvSpo/iDv rivto\rja (67. 2). Thus derecta plunibo is a 
 condensed expression for plumbo notata lineis duetts ad regulam. pumice, 
 the inequalities of surface produced by the fibres of the papyrus were 
 removed by pumice stone. Tib. iii. 1. 10, Pumicel et cartas tondeat ante 
 comas ; Trist. i. i. 11, Nee fragili geminae poliantur pumice frontes Hirsulus 
 passis ut uideare comis ; Mart. viii. 72. i, Nondum murice cultus aridoque 
 Morsu pumicis aridi politus. Anth. P. vi. 295. 5, "Keavr^ipdv tc Kla-rjpiv. 
 The best pumice came from Melos Nisyros and the Aeolian islands (Plin. 
 xxxvi. 154). 
 
 9. cum legas tu, ' each time one reads ; ' for this use of cu?n with 
 pres. subj. to signify a repeated action, see Munro on Lucr. ii. 41, where 
 a number of instances are given. 
 
 10. unus caprimulgus, 'an absolute bumpkin.' Att. ix. lo. 2, me 
 una haec res torquet, quod non omnibus in rebus labentem uel potius ruentem 
 Pompeium tamquam unus manipularis secutus sim ; De Orat. i. 29. 132, 
 minime est facile praecipere., non mihi mode qui sicut unus paterfamilias his de 
 rebus loquor, sed etiam ipsi illi Roscio. In these cases unus is nearly i. q. 
 quiuis or quilibetunus, any specimen you like to single out ; an emphasized 
 any ; the laudatory or disparaging notion is determined by the general 
 meaning of the sentence; 'any mere,' 'any average,' 'oriy absolute.' 
 fossor, 'a clown.' Pers. v. 122, nee cum sis cetera fossor Tres tantum ad 
 numeros satyrum moueare Bathylli. Lucian xiv. 7, ri 8' av ns aira xpn^airo 
 
 pvnSivri Koi ovTa> KaKobai^ovas dtaKeipeva ; 7r\r}v el p.rj aKOTravea ye Ka\ vdpticjiopov 
 avTOV anoSeiKTeov. Strab. '57' "' ^' owtojs aypru'iciaf ehi^avro Tfjv iinx^iprjo'LV ttjv 
 TOiavTTjv uj(TT€ ov povov Tov jToiTjTTjv o'KaTTaveoJs jj BfpiaTov btKTjv €K nafTrjs Trjg 
 ToiavTTjs eTnarrjpTis e^e^aKov. 
 
 11. Rursus, as in LXV. 5, Quamque ferunt rursus uoto seruisse maligna, 
 changed and lent itself to a bad vow. tantum abhorret ae mutat, 
 ' so unlike himself, so altered is he.' mutat, intransitive, so not only in 
 Plautus, Rud. iii. 6. 27; demutare, Mil. Glor. iv. 3. 39; Ps. i. 5. 142, 153; 
 Stich. V. 4. 43 (see Lorenz on Mil. Glor. iv. 3. 39), and the older writers, 
 but Varro, L. L. v. loi, G in C mutauit ; idem ap. Gell. xviii. 12. 8, 
 in prior e uerbo graues prosodiae quae fuerunt, manent ; reliquae mutant; 
 R. R. ii. 2, Lucr. i. 786 ; Liu. ix. 1 2 adeo animi mutauerant, xxxix. 51. So 
 augere sedare, both quoted by Gellius xviii. 12; retinere Varro R. R. ii. 
 
 2. 9, viinuere Caesar B. G. iii. 12. 
 
 12. Scurra, 'a professed wit,' nearly =«r^a««.r, as in Phaedr. v. 5. 8, 
 
58 A COMMENTARY 
 
 scurra nolus urbano sale, where it is opposed to rusticus. Hor. Epist. i. 15. 
 29, urbanus coepit haberi, Scurra uagus, non qui cerium praesepe ienerei. 
 Ritter there cites Trin. i. 2. 165, Vrbani adsidui dues quos scurras uocant ; 
 and Quintil. vi. 3. 105, Vrbanus homo erii—qui in sermonibus circuits 
 conuiuiis item in coniionibus omni denique loco ridicule commodeque dicet. 
 Seneca de Const. Sap. 17, scurram et uenustum ac dicacem. 
 
 13. Aut si quid hac re tritius, of. XXIII. 13, Mart. xiv. 83. 2, Pulice 
 uel siquid pulice sordidius. tritius, either ' finer,' ' more polished ' 
 (Heyse), in which sense however Fore, quotes no instance of the word 
 used metaphorically, or ' more practised in- joking ; ' as Cicero speaks of 
 the iritae aures of a practised critic, Fam. ix. 16. 4. As there the critic is 
 trained to distinguish a genuine verse of Plautus from a spurious one, 
 rejecting and accepting alternately, so the scurra by long practice would 
 know whether a joke was likely to please or not, and would be a sort of 
 test of good or bad conversation. 
 
 14. infaceto inf. ' outdulls the dulness of the country,' XXXVI. 19. 20. 
 Hor. Epist. ii. i. 157. Infaceius, without humour; inficetus generally 
 means ' foolish,' 'absurd.' Holden on De Off. iii. 14. 58, 
 
 15. idem, ' for all that,' ' yet all the time.' CIU. 4. 
 
 16. beatus. Hor. Epist. ii. 2. 106, Jlidentur mala qui componunt 
 carmina ; uerum Gaudeni scribeniesei se uenerantur et ultra Si taceas laudant 
 quicquid scripsere beati. 
 
 17. gaudet in se, Prop. ii. 4. 18. This abl. with in is frequently used 
 of the object or person in whom a feeling whether of fondness or aversion 
 is centred. Cf. uri ardere deperire aesiuare in aliqua, and such adjectival 
 expressions as lenis saeuus in hoste (Ovid Trist. v. 2. 36, Am. i. 7. 34), 
 in Meliepallidus, Am. iii. 6. 25, etc. Drager Historische Syntax pp. 606, 7. 
 Translate ' wrapt in self-conceit.' 
 
 18-21. Eurip. fr. 1029, Nauck, "AnavTes ia/J-ev els to vbvdtTeiv <ro(j)ot, 
 
 AvTol 8' Aiiaprdvovres ov yiyvmaKofuv. Sosicrates Com. ap. Mein. 4, p. 592, 
 
 quoted by Nauck, ayaBoX ht t6 kukov cV/iev e0* erepav idelv, AitToi 8* orav 
 
 TToimiiev ov ycvaxTKoiiev. Longinus de Subl. 4 said of the historian Timaeus, 
 
 dWoTpicov fiev ekeyriKtuTmos dp^prtjuaraVj dveTraifrOrjros 8e i8ia>v. 
 
 18. idem is not an objective accus. like the accus. with angi (Fin. i. 
 19. 62), ' to be pained at something,' nor like the accus. with cogi, adduci 
 (Drager, p. 347), ' to be forced to do anything,' but a strictly cognate 
 accus. z= eundem errorem erramus, like idem peccare Hor. A. P. 354. 
 neque est quisquam. Sen. de Clem, i. Ex dementia omnes idem sperant, 
 nee est quisquam cui tarn ualde innocentia sua placeatut non stare in conspectu 
 dementiam paratam humanis erroribus gaudeat. 
 
 19. in aliqua, a tribrach in the second foot, as Martial has the same 
 word in the fourth foot of a scazon vii. 26. 3, Hoc qualecunque, cuius aliqua 
 pars ipse est. Cf. XXXVII. 5, Confutuere ; XLIV. 20, Non mihi ; LIX. 
 3, Vidistis ipso rapere, all in scazons. But Catullus has no line as harsh 
 as Martial's Illic et oculis et animis sumus, Caesar, vii. 7. 7, in which two 
 trisyllabic feet follow each other. Suffenum, a Sufifenus, as Q. Fratr. 
 i. 2. 15, Cato adulescens nullius consilii, sed tamen ciuis Romanus et Cato, 
 ' and a Cato ; ' Mart. i. 34. 7, A Chione saltem uel ab Alide disce pudorem, a 
 Chione or an Alis, typical lupae ; viii. 56. 6, Vergiliumque tibi uel tua rura 
 dabunt ; ib. 24, Vergilius non ero, Marsus era. Veil. Paterc. ii. 18, odio 
 in Romanos Hannibal. 
 
ON CATULLUS. XXIIL 59 
 
 21. manticae quod in tergo est, ' that part of the wallet behind us,' 
 which contains our own vices, as the part in front contains our neighbours'. 
 The maniica was a double wallet consisting of two bags joined together 
 and slung over the shoulder, so that one bag hung in front, the other 
 behind. Rich. s. u. The allusion is to the well-known fable of Aesop, 
 which is given at length in Babrius 66 Bergk and Phaedrus iv. lo, who 
 both call the wallets /^ra« (jnipai). Cf. Hor. S. ii. 3. 299, Respicere ignoio 
 discet pendenlia lergo; in Pers. iv. 24, Sedpraecedenti spectatur maniica tergo, 
 by a slight variation, each man is represented as carrying one wallet 
 on his back, which is perceptible to his neighbour, not to himself. Cf. 
 Sen. de Ira ii. 28, aliena uiiia in oculis habemus, a tergo nostra sunt 
 (Vulp). 
 
 XXIIL 
 
 This and XXIV are both directed against Furius, doubtless the friend 
 of Aurelius, with whom he is associated in XI and XVI. Like his friend, 
 Furius seems to have offended the poet by associating too freely with the 
 young luventius (XXIV), and it was this probably which occasioned the 
 present attack. The attack is unusually fierce, even from Catullus, and 
 we may doubt whether the object of its unsparing sarcasm ever forgave 
 the injury. Hence it was either written after XI, which would place the 
 date in 54 b.c, or if, as Schwabe thinks, XI was written subsequently, 
 XXIII was not allowed to reach the knowledge of Furius. Even to one 
 familiar with Catullus' habit of assaulting his most intimate friends most 
 violently, and who had himself experienced something of this scurrility in 
 XVI, the personalities of XXIII must have seemed to go beyond the 
 licence naturally conceded to poets ; they could not be treated as merely 
 jocose. The case of Caesar is different; for Caesar was a public 
 character, and Catullus only repeats in XXIX, LVII the common scandals 
 of the day. Although therefore the alternation of love and hate, the odi 
 et amo of LXXXV is a fact in the character of Catullus, and a fact which 
 makes it certain that the Furius of XI is the Furius of XXIII, XXIV, it 
 is difficult to believe that the fierce abuse of XXIII can have been so 
 completely forgotten by Catullus or ignored by Furius as to make the 
 friendly tone of XI a subsequent possibility. If this is a right inference, 
 XXIII, XXIV must be among the latest poems of Catullus. The 
 language shows traces of the Greek comic poets. Victorius pointed this 
 out on 16, which recalls a passage of Antiphanes, Mein. Com. Fragm. iii. 
 p. 133, describing a life of cheapness, vegetable diet, and the good health 
 produced by such a regimen : 
 
 TA SewrvoV fCTTi juafa KcxapaKa/iivrj 
 axipois, Trpos fireXctav i^anKiap-^vq, 
 Kol j3o^^o^ «f ns Koi 7Tapo\jfides rivis, 
 (Toyxns Tis rj pvKris ns rj Toimiff a ti) 
 dlSa}(Tiv fiiiiv 6 ToVos a6\i adXiois. 
 TotovTOs 6 )3ioi, anvpcTOs, (pXijfi ovk fx<ov. 
 
60 A COMMENTARY 
 
 Martial imitates this poem xi, 32 : 
 
 Nee toga nee focus est nee irilus cimice leetus 
 
 Nee tibi de bibula sarla palude teges. 
 Nee puer aut senior, nulla est aneilla neque in/ans. 
 
 Nee sera nee elauis nee eanis atque ealix. 
 Tu tamen affeetas, Nestor, diet atque uideri 
 
 Pauper, et in populo quaeris habere locum. 
 Mentiris uanoque tibi blandiris honore, 
 Non est paupertas, Nestor, habere nihil. 
 Cf. XI. 56. 
 
 For an equally humorous, but quite different, enumeration of the 
 advantages of poverty as compared with wealth, see Xenophon Symp. iv. 
 
 1. Fiirei. This is the only instance of the old termination -ei in a 
 vocative singular which our MSS. present ; they give also the vocative 
 p\ma\ bonei eoniugeslXl. (225), the genitives Jiomulei XXVlll. 15, Africei 
 LXI (299;, Dindymei LXllI. 91, Itylei LXV. 14; the datives Herculei 
 LV. 13, mei LXXVII. 3 (Lachmann on Lucr. iv. 602). seruos. 
 To have no slaves was a mark of extreme poverty, as conversely to 
 have many was a sign of wealth. Menand. ap. Mein. Fragm. Com. 
 
 iv. 234, e^^at Tt jSouXet, navra (TOi y€vr}(r€Tai''Aypos otKtat depaTrovTe^ dpyvpa- 
 ixma, Lucilius vi, Cui luque iumentumst nee seruos nee eomes ullus. luuen. 
 iii. 141, Quot paseit seruos f quot possidet agri lugera? quam multa 
 magnaque parapside eenati' Sen. de Constantia 3, Cum pauperem 
 negatis esse sapientem, non negatis solere illi et seruum et tectum et 
 cibum deesse. area, 'money-chest.' Titinius ap. Fest. p. 302 (1^8 
 
 Ribbeck), Quid habes nisi unamarcam sine claui ? eo eondis sueerdas ; Cic. 
 Paradox, vi. 44, animus hominis diues, non area appellari solet ; luuen. i. 
 90, posita sed luditur area. 
 
 2. cimex, no mattress to house bugs. Aristoph. Plut. 540, am\ Se 
 KKlvT]i iTTifldBa irx'iivaiv Kopecov pdrrriv. Mart. xi. 32. I, 56. 5- araneus. 
 Lucr. iii. 383 : no house with walls for spiders to hang cobwebs 
 upon. In Aristophanes' Plutus 537-539 lice, gnats, and fleas, which 
 will not let the poor man sleep, are described as part of the pos- 
 sessions he gets from Xitvla. Possibly Catullus may simply be carrying 
 this idea a step farther: Furius was so poor that he had not even 
 the usual accompaniments of poverty ; the very bugs and spiders 
 would not house with him, for fear of starvation. ignis. Martial 
 says fire-place {focus) xi. 32. i, i. 92. 5. So Alexis ap. Mein. Fragm. 
 
 Com. iii. 4^5j ^^ e^ov be rvy^^ava Ov ^oK^ov, ov iri'p, oil kv^lvov, ou^ 
 
 3. Verum est, but who have what makes and keeps you poor. et 
 pater et nouerea, Virg. Eel. iii. 33 : the poverty of a man's relations is 
 almost a common-place of satirical poetry. Crates fr. 6 Bergk, Kal /iriv 
 MiKvXov fio"fi5oz/ . . . Ta>v epitov ^atvovra yvviuKa tc frvy^aLvova-av Thv Xt/xof <j)ei- 
 
 yovTas fv ulvfj Srj'iorriTt. Alexis ap. Mein. Com. Fragm. iii. 456, "Eanv dvrip 
 
 HOI Trrwp^of, Kaya Tpavs, Kal Bxyydrqp, ndi jrait vios, X^S' fj ^prjo-Tfj, mvff 01 ndvres. 
 Martial describes such a family xii. 32. 
 
 4. uel sUicem, as hardly coarser than the food they eat : e. g. mouldy 
 bread, solidae iam mucida frusta farinae Quae genuinum agitent non admit- 
 tentia morsum, luuen. v. 68, where Mayor qtiotes Sen. Epist. 18. ^jpanis 
 
ON CATULLUS. XXIIL Gl 
 
 dtirus ac sordidus, the black bread (panis ater Eun. v. 4. 1 7 , panis niger Mart. 
 xi. 56. 8) of Terence and Martial: cf. panis lapidosus Sen. de B. ii. 7. i, 
 siccus Epist. 83. 6. comesse, Flac. xxxvi. 91, de N. D. ii. 25, 64. 
 So comesset, XXIX. 14, Sest. Ii. no, comesses Mart. v. 39. 10: in the 
 earlier writers these forms are of frequent occurrence. See Neue Formenl. 
 ii. p. 469. 
 
 5. Est pulchre tibi, ' you're a fortunate fellow.' De N. D. i. 41. 114, 
 Propone ante ocidos deum nihil aliud in omni aeterniiate nisi mihi pulchr e 
 est et ego beatus sum cogilantcm. Hor. S. ii. 8. 18. 
 
 6. lignea, 'scraggy' or 'wizened;' Lucr. iv. 1161, neruosa et lignea 
 dorcas. The opposite is corpus solidum ac suci plenum, Eun. ii. 3. 27. 
 
 7. Nee mirum, LVII. 3, LXIL 14, LXIX. 7. Varro R. R. iii. 17. 3, 
 Non mirum: una tempore enim memini hunc Caesar i sex milia muraenarum 
 mutua dedisse in pondus. 
 
 8. pulchre concoq.mtis, 'you have excellent digestions because you 
 have so little to eat.' Sen. Epist. 86. 11, expectabat ut in balneo concoqueret ; 
 De Benef. iv. 39, Surgam quamuis non concoxerim. nihil timetis, 
 ' you have nothing to fear because you have nothing to lose.' 
 
 9. Won incendia, non graues ruinas, ' you have no city house to 
 be burnt or fall with a heavy crash.' Propertius' imitation ii. 27. 9, 10, 
 Praeterea doviibus flammas domibusque ruinas Neu subeant labris pocula 
 nigra tuis seems to show that both incendia and ruinas are meant of 
 a house catching fire or falling with a crash. Sen. de Vit. Beat. 26. 2, 
 uos domus formosa, tamquam nee ardere nee ruere possit [obstupe/acif], 
 De Benef. iv. 6. 2, ingens tibi domicilium sine ullo incendii aui ruinae metu 
 struxit, both passages quoted by Mayor on luuen. iii. 6, 197. 
 
 10. facta impia, a general expression of which dolos ueneni is a par- 
 ticular illustration. Impius in Catullus expresses the violation of some 
 natural law or feeling. XXX. ■^j facta impia, the ingratitude of a friend; 
 LXIV. 404, mater impia, an incestuous mother; LXVII. 25, impia mem, 
 of a father who violated his son's marriage bed; LXVIIL 123, impia 
 gentilis gaudia, unnatural joy at the prospect of a kinsman's death ; XC. 
 4, Persaruvi impia religio. So here facta impia seems to mean outrages 
 committed by some relative or friend to get money which would only 
 fall to them by the death of the possessor. Ovid F. ii. 623, Procul im- 
 pius esto Frater el in partus mater iniqua suos. Poisoning being the most 
 ready means for effecting such an object, it is added in dolos ueneni. Cf. 
 Lucr. iii. 73, Et consanguineum mensas odere timentque. 
 
 11. casus aUos, as theft, slaves running away or dying. Hor. Epist. 
 ii. I. 121, Detrimenta fugas seruorum incendia ridet. S. i. i. 76, noctesque 
 diesque Formidare malos fures incendia seruos Ne te compilent fugientes. 
 Mart. vi. 33. 3, Furta fugae mortes seruorum incendia luctus. pericu- 
 lorum. Dbring quotes from Fam. vi. 4. 3, Ad omnes casus subitorum 
 periculorum magis obiecti sumus. 
 
 12. Atqui, 'Nay, what is more.' This is one of the cases where 
 ' additur per atqui confirmatio rei ex altera parte. Et potest or alio ita ad 
 grauiora et ad ca quae magis in re probanda ualeant adscendere,' Hand. 
 Tursell. i. p. 517. Doring explains atqui in reference to incendia; 'and 
 yet, though you are not afraid of fire, you might be ; for your bodies are 
 so thoroughly dried by spare diet and exposure to the sun, as to be in- 
 flammable.' This is flat. Statins' Vtqui, ' inasmuch as," is prosaic, and 
 
62 A COMMENTARY 
 
 after bene nam ualetis omnes, Pukhre concoquitis, a mere tautology. 
 sicciora. Like ^rfpii, siccus is applied to bodies free from phlegm and 
 other unwholesome humours. Varro ap. Non. Persae propter exercita- 
 tiones puerilis modicas earn sunt consecuti corporis siccitatem ut neque spuerent 
 neque emungerentur sufflaioue corpore- esseni. Mart. xii. 32. 7, frigore et 
 fame siccus. cornu. Plin. xxxi. 102, Cornea uidemus corpora pisca- 
 iorum. Petron. S. 43, Corneolus fuit, aetatem bene ferebat. De N. D. ii. 
 57. 144, duros et quasi corneolos introitus. 
 
 13. Aut siquid magis aridum, viz. cornu. See on XXII. 13. 
 aridum. So Aquilius, or, as Varro thought, Plautus, in the play 
 Boeotia, quoted by Gellius, iii. 3. 5, Maior pars populi [iam] aridi replant 
 
 fame. 
 
 14. Sole, exposure to the sun. esuritione. Tusc. Disp. v. 34. 
 99, Adde siccitatem quae consequitur hanc coniinentiam in uictu, adde integ- 
 ritatem ualetudinis ; confer sudantis, ruclantis, refcrtos epulis tamquam 
 opimos boues (Vulp.). 
 
 15. Quare non, ironical. LXXXIX. 4, quare is desinai esse macer ? 
 bene ao taeate. XIV. 10. 
 
 16. Victorius compares Antiphanes ap. Meinek. Fragm. Com. iii. 133, 
 ToiovTos 6 fiios ampeTos, (pXcyi^' ovk exiov. Petron. S. 44, nee sudauit unquam 
 nee expuit, puto eum nescio quid asiadis habuisse. saliua. Priap. xxxii. 
 I. 7, Vuis aridior puella passis — Quae suco caret ut puire atque pumex 
 Nemo uiderit hanc ui exspuentem. 
 
 17. Mucus is supposed by Voss and Scheller on Cels. iv. 18, to be 
 the thicker, pittdta the more liquid, discharge from the nose. But 
 Anke in Philologus for 1873, pp. 394-396, shows that in Celsus, where 
 mucus occurs three times, iv. 18 (25), v. 28. 3, viii. 9. i fin., it cannot 
 mean anything coagulated or solid (snot), and the same thing seems in- 
 dicated by Plautus' use of muccidus, Mil. G. iii. i. 52, Epid. iii. 4. 58, 
 =' with a running at the nose.' Hence it seems safer to explain Mucus 
 as the special word (snivel), pituita the general, here defined by nasi, 
 ' tiresome running in the nose.' Thus Celsus speaks of the gum secreted 
 by the eyes as pituita oculorum, and speaks of its thickness (crassa), as 
 well as its whiteness and softness, or on the other hand its dryness 
 (arida), yet this same discharge runs {cursus piiuitae). Again in ii. 23 
 he speaks of a thicker or thinner phlegm (piluita) ; in iv. 5 he describes 
 the pituita nasi. Destillal umor de capite interdum in nares . . . Si in nares 
 destillat, tenuis per has pituita profluit, and speaks of its thickness or 
 tenuity. Both mucus and pituita thus seem to express a secretion of 
 variable consistency ; but mucus is more strictly confined to the nose, 
 pituita is mucus in the most general sense of the term, whether as dis- 
 charged from the nose or eyes, or as phlegm. 
 
 18. munditiem, ' cleanliness,' a rather rare meaning. Cf. XCVII. 3. 
 mundiiiem mundiorem, Plautine. 
 
 19. ptirior salillo. The Romans made it a point of honour to keep 
 the salt-cellar, which was generally of silver and transmitted as an heir- 
 loom from sire to son, clean and bright. Hor. C. ii. 16. i/[,paternum 
 Splendet in mensa ienui salinum. Pers. iii. 25, rure paterno Est tibi far 
 modicum, purum et sine labe salinum. Catullus perhaps introduces the 
 word here in reference to the proverbial SKlav rpinrav, ApoUon. Tyan. 
 Ep. 7; salinum terebrare, Pers. v. 138, 'to scrape and scrape till you 
 
ON CATULLUS. XXIIL 63 
 
 drill a hole in your salt-cellar' (Conington on Pers. v. 138), as a suggestion 
 of poverty. Cf. Callim. Epig. 1. Blomf. Tijv Sikir]v EvSrj/jos a^' §s aXa \it6v 
 eitiadwv xfi/iSivas /icydXour i^ic^vyiv Saveiov. salillo. Trin. ii. 4. 91, where 
 
 however the reading is not quite certain. 
 
 20. decies, here of a small number proportionally; in Mart. xii. 54. 
 I, Aegroias uno deciens aut saephis anno, of a large. Possibly at a time 
 when July and August were still Quintilis and Sextilis, the reminiscence 
 of the old Roman year of 10 months was sufficiently familiar to make 
 decies in anno = once a month, a specialization by which the coarseness of 
 the joke becomes more humorous. We might then compare Aristoph. 
 
 Acharn, 857 > 'Pi^ySiv re /col ireivav df\ IlXfiv fj rpiaxovff r]fiipas ToC lirjuiis exa- 
 
 oTov. cacas, x^X^'f- Mart. i. 92. 11 Non culum, neque enim est cuius, 
 
 qui non cacat olim. Novius ap. Non. 507 (9 Ribbeck). in anno. With 
 numeral adverbs or a distributive numeral, the ablative of the time within 
 which anything happens regularly takes in. Drager, p. 489, cites Bacch. 
 v. 2. 9, ter in anno ; Rose. Am. xlvi. 132, ter in anno ; Liu. xxxix. 13, 
 tres in anno ; Tusc. Disp. v. 35. 100, bis in die ; Fin. v. 30. 92, semel in 
 uita risisse ; Fam. xv. i6. i, ternas in hora ; Hor. S. i. 4. 9, in hora 
 saepe ducentos. But the prep, is often omitted, as Mart. xii. 54. i ; x. 
 70. I. 
 
 21. id, so. 'quod cacas' (Alex. Guarinus). On this view cf. Acharn. 
 
 1 168, 8e Xiflov (Japillis) Xa^clv BouXd/ifi'os iv cncdra Xd(3oi T^ X*'p"' ireXeBov 
 
 apnas Kf^^ea-ficvov. Otherwise id is euphem. for meniula, like tA hfiva, 
 Acharn. 1149; ^f- Mart. ix. 41. 10. The fact mentioned by Lucian xiv. 
 
 6, rp/ dTro8v(rTjS Kvafiov ert )(\<j)p6v iovTa, o'^eat, Toitriv dvdprjiOLo-t popi'iKri efi^ep^a 
 
 Tpji/ 0UIJI/, is perhaps in favour of this view. durius. Mart. iii. 89. 2 has 
 durum cacare. faba. Pliny mentions as a peculiarity of beans that 
 aqua marina aliaue salsa non percoquitur, xviii. 119; and the writers on 
 agriculture recommend that beans should be steeped in order to boil 
 more easily. (Conington on G. i. 196). lapillis. Gulielmius 
 
 ingeniously conjectures lupillis. Lupines and beans are constantly men- 
 tioned together. Stich. v. 4. 8, nucibus fabulis ficulis Oleae trublio lupillo 
 conminuto crustulo. Plin. xviii. 57, xvii. 55, a quotation, Caio ; Stercus 
 unde facias siramenta lupinum paleas fabalia ac frondis ilig- 
 neam querneam. Cf. Alexis ap. Mein. Com. Fragm. iii. 456, xiapos, 
 
 Bepfios. 
 
 22. si teras . . . non posses. See on VL 3. Tibullus iv. i. 197, 
 Nosiri si paruula cura Sii iibi quanta libet, si sit modo, non mihi regna 
 Lydia, non magni potior sit fama Gylippi, Posse Meleteas nee mallem 
 uincere cartas. 
 
 24. tarn beata, ' of so wealthy a fortune,' cf. satis beatu's, 27. 
 
 25. Noli . . . nee. Poen. v. 3. 10, Mirari noli neque me contem- 
 plarier. Att. ix. 7. 5. So after nequire, Eun. iii. 4. 9; negare, Poen. iii. 
 5. 32 (Holtze Synt. ii. 325). 
 
 26. sestertia Centum, loo sestertia = 100,000 sestertii, somewhat 
 under £840. In Sail. Cat. 31 centum sestertia is the suni offered with 
 freedom to any slave who gave information of the conspiracy ; it con- 
 stituted the qualification for voting in the first class, and subjected its 
 possessor to the penalties of the Voconian law, which forbade the owner 
 of this sum to make any woman his heir (see Sauppe on lex Voconia in 
 Orelli's Cic. viii. 297, 8) : hence it seems to represent the income of a 
 
64 A COMMENTARY 
 
 man risen to respectability, no longer poor (Mommsen iv. p. 580, Eng. 
 Trans.), but yet not rich ; whence Martial contrasts the possessor of it 
 with real wealth (iii. 63. 3). Such a man was called Cenienarius, the 
 name of one of Laberius' mimes ; at a later period the same sum sub- 
 jected a liberius to the penalties of the lex Papia, and obliged him, if he 
 had fewer than three children, to leave a proportionate share of his pro- 
 perty to his patron (Justin. Inst. iii. 7. 2); cf. Phaedr. iv. 5, 12, Suet. 
 Vesp. 19. 
 
 27. satis loeatu's. Hor. C. ii. 18. 14, satis beatus unkis Sabinis. 
 Furius was sufficiently prosperous in the possession of his poverty and 
 his relations, as Plautus says True. iv. 3. 34, /a»- quidem beaiusl, matres 
 duas hahet, aulas duas. I have followed Bergk in writing beaius, of which 
 there is no other example in Catullus, as perhaps justified by the comic 
 character of the poem. In LXVI. 27 adeptus of MSS. represents adepfa's, 
 in XXXIV. 23 solitas es oiL is conceivably a rehc of the older orthography 
 solita's surviving side by side with the new; but in XXXIV. 15 notho es, 
 LXVI. 34 poUicita es, LXXXVII. 2 Lesbia amata mea es, where Lachm. 
 would write notho's, pollicitds, mea's (Lucr. p. 66), the MSS. give no 
 indication of this spelling. If these are doubtful, the case of -us before 
 est, es is of course much more ; Lachm. himself denies uisust in an epi- 
 gram of Q. Catulus ap. Cic. de N. D. xxviii. 79 ; sanusi in a fragm. of 
 Varro ap. Non. 392 and 264; a fortiori in Catullus. See Ribbeck, 
 Prolegomena to Virgil, p. 154. 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 A PROTEST addressed to luventius on the subject of his intimacy with 
 Furius. That Furius is meant is I think the natural inference from the 
 repetition of the words, 5, 8, neque seruos est neque area ; 10, Nee seruum 
 tamen ilk habet neque arcam, compared with XXIII. i. Whether this is 
 the Pisaurian mentioned in LXXXI, as Victorius, xxi. 11, thought, is 
 doubtful : both are described as poor, perhaps as belli homines : for 
 Victorius is wrong in arguing from the two poems, that luventius, like the 
 epm/ifj-oi in Ar. Eq. 734, attached himself by preference to his inferiors 
 and not to the koKoI myaQoi. 
 
 Which of the two poems was written first ? It seems probable that 
 the anger to which Catullus gives expression in XXIII was occasioned 
 by jealousy of Furius. We might suppose then that XXIII was written 
 in an explosion of rage, and was read or recited to luventius at the 
 time; then XXIV. 5, 8, 10 will be a sarcastic allusion to the earlier 
 poem. On the other hand, it is hardly probable that Furius would have 
 been called homo bellus after the vehement attack in XXIII : whilst the 
 first line of XXIII, Furei, qui neque seruos est neque area, might as easily 
 be an allusion to XXIV. 5, 8, 10 as uice uersa. 
 
 This is the first poem in which luventius is named. The gens lu- 
 ventia came originally from Tusculum, and in the time of Cicero was 
 distinguished. Plane, viii. 19, Tu (M. luventius Laterensis, the prosecutor 
 of Cn. Plancius, who was defended by Cicero) es e municipio antiquissimo 
 Tusculano, ex quo sunt plurimae familiae consulares in quibus est etiam 
 luuentia. In c. xxiv. 58 of the same speech Cicero mentions the asser- 
 
ON CATULLUS. XXV. 65 
 
 tion of L. Cassius that a luventius was the first plebeian aedile, though he 
 throws some doubt upon it himself. 
 
 From I flosculus it may be gathered that luventius was at this time 
 quite young ; it seems to belong to the same period as XL VIII. See 
 above, Introduction to XV. 
 
 1. flosctilus, ' tender flower.' 
 
 2, 3. See on XXI. 2, 3. 
 
 4. diuitias Midae. The wealth of Midas was proverbial. Tyrtaeus 
 12. 6 Bergk ■nKovTolr\v 8e Mi'Seo) kiu Kivvpea fioKiov, a line to which Plato 
 alludes Legg. 660, of. Rep. 408 ol&k depairevriov avTovs ouS" el Mi'Sou nXov- 
 aiiiTepoi u€v. Aristoph. Plut. 286 ovT<os yap 'dan ■nkovfrlois arracnv fjiiXv elvai ; 
 K. j/ij Toi/s Beois, Mi'fiaj p.h oSv, fjv Ztr ovov Xo^ijrf. Ouid M. xi. IOO-145; 
 
 Mart. vi. 86. 4; Aristaen. i. 10. 
 
 5. Isti, contemptuous, as in LXXXI. 3. qxii, archaic for cm. 
 See on I. i. 
 
 6. sineres amaxi, not amares. Vulp. compares Heroid. xv. 96, Non 
 ul ames oro, uerum ut amare sinas. For the construction Mallem dedisses 
 quam sineres see Holtze ii. 167. 
 
 7. Qm? 'how so?' Pseud, i. 2. 22, Qui nunc? doleine? homo 
 belluB, ' a well-bred man,' ' a fine gentleman.' Varro in his Satura called 
 Nescis quid uesper serus trahat, ap. Gell. xiii. 11. 1, Ipsum deinde con- 
 uiuium constat ex rebus quattuor et turn denique omnibus suis numeris absolu- 
 iuni est si belli homunculi conlecii sunt, si electus locus, si tempus tectum, 
 si apparatus non neglectus. Att. i. i . 4, Durius accipere hoc mihi uisus est 
 quam uellem et quam homines belli solent. Fam. vii. 16. 2, Mehercules 
 extra iocum homo bellus est. Fin. ii. 31. 102, hominis quamuis et belli et 
 urbani. luventius as a puer bellus seems to have prided himself on his 
 friends being belli homines, LXXXI. 2 ; just as Stratophanes complains 
 that the bella puella Phronesium favours a lover who is rough and un- 
 couth, not a bellus homo, True. v. 30-40. Xenophon Symp. viii. 11 speaks 
 of the KoKos Kdya86s fpatrrris. 
 
 8. Whereas varpa cx"" ^" '■"" to^Sf eiSalp^va Menand. ap. Mein. 
 Com. Fragm. iv 250. 
 
 9. Hoc, ' what I say,' yiz. that he is a needy man. quamlubet= 
 quantumlubet, though common with adjectives is rare with verbs. Phaedr. 
 i. 23. 6, quamlibei lambe otio. abice, 'make little of,' 'extenuate,' the 
 opposite oi auger e in Orat. xxxvi. 127, Augendis rebus et contra abiciendis 
 nihil est quod non perficere possit pratio ; De Orat. iii. 26. 104, non solum 
 ad augendum aliquid et tollendum altius dicendo sed etiam ad extenuandum 
 atque abiciendum. eleua, ' slight.' Pers. i. 6. 
 
 XXV. 
 
 ScHWABE, Quaestt. p. 149, identifies the Thallus of this poem with 
 luventius. He finds in the name an allusion partly to the youth of the 
 flosculus luuentiofum, partly to the cognomen of the gens Talna. 
 
 This is very doubtful, (i) Thallus is a real name; a C. lulius Thallus 
 is mentioned as superpositus numulariorum Orelli Inscript. 4266, and the 
 
66 A COMMENTARY 
 
 name is found in two Spanish Inscriptt. 3333, 3905, as well as in Apuleius 
 de Magia, xliii, xliv, where see Hildebrand. 
 
 (2) Even if Thallus is a fictitious name, the circumstances of the poem 
 are not such as to make the identification with luventius probable, 
 luventius indeed, like Asinius in XII, may have carried oflF Catullus' 
 pallium and other eflfects ; but would Catullus have threatened him with 
 the servile punishment mentioned in 10, 11? 
 
 It seems more probable that Thallus is a real name, as indeed the 
 description of him is reahstic throughout. He was probably one of those 
 professional dancers who attended at entertainments (Lucil. S. i. ap. Non. 
 5, stulte saltalum te inter uenisse cinaedos), especially in houses of bad 
 repute, and who combined with their professions as dancers the trade of a 
 prostibulum, which was its natural accompaniment. SeePetron. S. 23, 24. 
 
 Biicheler (Index Scholarum Greifswald r868, pp. 15-17) thinks that 
 this poem, which is imitated in the Priapia Ixiv. i, Ixxxii. 30, is alluded 
 to by Cicero in a letter to his brother Quintus, ii. 15. 4, iu quemadmodum 
 me censes oportere esse et in re publica et in nostris inimicitiis ita et esse et 
 fore auricula infuma scito molliorem. Quintus, he thinks, had inserted it 
 in the letter which he wrote to his brother from Gaul in the June of 
 700 I 54, and Marcus, who had been pleased with the expression, repeated 
 it in his reply written shortly after. Biicheler concludes that Catullus' 
 poems were published before the summer of 54 b.c. Munro, Journal of 
 Philology, 1869, p. 5, denies both the premise and the conclusion. The 
 expression auricula molliorem was, he thinks, proverbial ; Cicero, who 
 often alludes to older poets, Latin and Greek, never mentions Catullus, 
 and speaks of Calvus only as an orator. And even if here Cicero does 
 allude to Catullus' poem, this proves nothing as to the date of the 
 collective poems ; for from I. i, the dedication to Corn. Nepos, and 
 such poems as LIV, which alludes to XXIX, it is plain that Catullus 
 must have given publicity to many of his occasional pieces at the time 
 they were written. 
 
 The metre is Iambic Tetrameter Catalectic, a metre frequenfly used 
 by Aristophanes. In the best specimens, e. g. Plutus, 253 sqq. Ari- 
 stophanes generally, but not always, observes the rule which Catullus has 
 followed throughout, of making the fourth foot terminate a word. Catullus 
 has also preferred pure iambic in eveiy foot, even the first and fifth : 
 Aristophanes admits spondees and even trisyllabic feet. The careful 
 rhythm somewhat obscures the multiplicity of diminutives, which detracts 
 from the generally artistic character of the poem. 
 
 1. capillo, of a rabbit's /«r. Gell. N. A. xii. i. 15, si ouium lade 
 haedi aut caprarum agnialantur constat ferme in his lanam duriorem, in illis 
 capillum teneriorem. So Bpi^is, used ofwool, Anth. P. v. 205. 5, iropcj>vp€iis 
 
 dfivQV imkaXTJ rpt^l. 
 
 2. anseris medullula seems to mean, as Voss suggests, the inner 
 feathers of the goose, which are the softest. Plin. H. N. x. 53 ; cf Mart, 
 xiv. 161. I, 2, Lassus Amyclaea poteris requiescere pluma Interior cycni 
 quam tibi lana dedit. Alex. Guarinus quotes lanae medulla from Pliny 
 as used similarly. In the case of geese the whiteness of the down would 
 be an extra reason for the use of the word, cumque albis ossa medullis, 
 Quid. M. xiv. 208. It can scarcely be the pith or soft substance inside 
 
ON CATULLUS. XXV. 67 
 
 the feather, taken as a fit expression of softness, as being the centre 
 from which the feather springs ; cf. medulla caulis, uiiis, etc. The 
 passage is imitated Priap. Ixiv. i, Quidam mollior anseris medulla. 
 oricilla, ' ear-lobe,' for auricilla as oricula for auricula in the Balliol 
 MS. of Cicero ad Q. Fr. ii. 15. 4. Biicheler quotes a second passage, 
 Amm. Marcellinus xix. 12. 5, ima quod aiunt auricula mollior, suspicax et 
 minulus, probably taken from Cicero. 
 
 3. situque araneoso, ' mouldy cobwebs,' perhaps epexegetic oi pene I. 
 senis, as Voss suggested. Cf. Priap. Ixxxii. 30 (ascribed to TibuUus) 
 Araneosus obsidet forem situs, Ixxvii. 19 At uos, ne peream situ senili. Yet 
 Pliny H. N. xi. 52, calls the specus or den of the spider uillosior. 
 
 5. This line is too corrupt to make any interpretation certain. See my 
 Excursus on it in vol. I. The general use of oscitantes perhaps indicates 
 the outline of the sense. 'And yet at the same time, Thallus, more 
 greedy than a sweeping tornado, when some chance shows you your 
 victims off their guard.' Following Bergk's conjecture cum diua muttiens 
 aues, I suggested cum diua muta gauias, ' when the silent goddess (either 
 the goddess of thieves, Lauerna or Larunda, or perhaps Angerona, 17 deds 
 Trjs ffovKrjs Koi Kmpav) shows you the gulls (the simpletons that indicate your 
 presence, as sea-gulls indicate a storm) agape, and ready to be fooled and 
 pilfered.' 
 
 6. pallium, probably the outer dress worn over the tunic, which would 
 be changed for a different dining-robe during the repast, and might then 
 be stolen. Petron. S. 21 ; Mart. x. 87. 12; unless we suppose the 
 theft to have been committed during a bath. ' mihi meum, a 
 designed juxtaposition to emphasize the fact that Catullus was re- 
 demanding his own property. inuolasti, 'have pilfered,' as in 
 Petron. S. 58, nisi si me iudicas anulos buxeos curare quos amicae 
 time inuolasti; ib. 43, and so De Oral. iii. 31. 122, nostra est ista 
 possessio in quam homines inuolauerunt ; cf. 123, a quibus expilati sumus. 
 If so the derivation of the word is rather from uolare, ' to pounce upon,' 
 than uola, ' to take into the palm of the hand,' as explained by Servius on 
 G. ii. 88 ; Aen. iii. 233 ; Nonius s. u. Inuolare. 
 
 7. Sud. Saetabum, XIL 14. catagraphos is variously ex- 
 plained as (r) figured towels or napkins, like the inscripta lintea of 
 Juvenal viii. 168; (2) tablets of stained or coloured parchment, the 
 materials for which might all be found in Bithynia — box-wood, parchment, 
 minium and ochre for dyeing — (Voss, who, however, reads catagraphon- 
 que Thynon) ; (3) signet-rings, such as are mentioned in the verses by 
 Maecenas ap. Isid. Origg. xix. 32 De Anulis, Thynnius purus est primum 
 in Bithynia fabricatus, quam olim Thynnam uocabant. Flaccus. Lucentes 
 mea uita nee smaragdos, Berillos mihi, Flacce, nee nitentes. Nee percandida 
 Margarita quaeso, Nee quos Thynnica lima perpoliuit Anellos, neque iaspios 
 lapillos; (Salmasius, who, however, reads chirographos or cerographos) : (4) 
 embossed knives, Varro Gerontodidascalus fr. vi. Riese, Non. 195, Noclu^ 
 cultro coquinari se traiecit nondum enim inibi inueeti erant cultelli empaesiati 
 e Bithynia; (5) Statins' view that catagraphos is adj. ' embroidered figures 
 of Bithynians,' which would of course imply cloths or tapestries on which 
 they were embroidered; cf. G. iii. 25, Purpurea intexti tollant aulaea 
 Britanni. The neuter plural catagrapha Plin. H. N. xxxv. 56, is used of 
 figures painted obliquely, ox foreshortenings, the invention of Cimon of 
 
68 A COMMENTARY 
 
 Cleonae: the adj. Kariypacjios in Athen. 387 and Lucian Alex. 12, seems 
 to mean variegated or painted. 
 
 8. Inepte, ' vain fool,' refers to palam soles habere. palam habere, 
 ' to display,' Hor. S. i. 2. 84, nee siquid honesti est laclal habetque palam, 
 quaerit quo turpia celet. soles, Verr. i. 22. 60, sokt haec quae rapuit et 
 
 furaius est nonnunquam dicere se emisse. auita, as if they were bequests 
 from your ancestors of which you might be proud ; not stolen goods which 
 you ought to conceal. Hor. S. i. 6. 78, uestem seruosque sequentes In 
 magno ut populo siquis uidisset, auita Ex repraeberi sumptus mihi crederet 
 illos. 
 
 9. reglutina. The thief's hand is regarded as having an adhesive 
 property, as if covered with glue, XXXIII. 3. Lucilius xxviii, ap. Non. 
 396, Omnia uiscatis manibus leget, omnia sumet, where L. Miiller cites Rutil. 
 Numatianus i. 6og, Harpyias quarum discerpitur unguibus orbis, Quae pede 
 glutineo quod ietigere irahiint. 
 
 10. laneiun, ' soft as wool.' Mart. v. 37. 2, Agna Galaesi mollior 
 Phalantini. latusculum, ' delicate side,' a word also used by 
 Lucretius iv. 312. mollicellas seems to be an. Xty. 
 
 11. Tn-axeTe fis,z^Wsi,=^inurere notas Jlagellorum ; the word suggests the 
 branding which was the punishment of the detected thief: hence turpiter. 
 Aristoph. Vesp. 1246 o-Tifofiei/or fiaKrripla. conscritaillent, ' scrawl.' 
 Pseud, i. 5. 131, 2, Quasi quom in libro scribuntur ealamo litterae, 
 Slilis me totum usque ulnieis conscribito. There is no reason to doubt the 
 word which is found in a fragm. of Varro ap. Non. 82. For the change 
 of quantity cf. Lachm. in Lucr. i. 346, glomere, but gldmus Hor. Epist. 
 i. 13. 14, gl6merare gl6meram£n, off a 6fella, mamma mamilla, muto moetinus 
 but miUoniaius, pumili but pumilones pumilio, rwta but eriXta rutrum 
 rutellum, etc. 
 
 12. insolenter, ' in a way you are not accustomed to.' De Inuent. i. 
 28. 43, deinde naiura eius euenire uolgo soleat an insolenter et raro. 
 aestues, ' chafe ' or ' fume,' less with mental agitation, Hor. Epist. 
 i. I. 99, than with the bodily wincing and uneasy motions occasioned 
 by the cudgelling. But cf. Verr. ii. 30. 74, aestuabat dubitatione, 
 uersabat se in utramque partem non solum mente, uerum etiam corpore, 
 where agitation of mind expresses itself in restless motions of the 
 body. minuta, for MSS. inimica, is due to the Italian scholars of 
 the 15th century; it is perhaps the finest emendation which has been 
 made in Catullus. The smallness of the boat is of course in anti- 
 thesis to the vastness of the sea. Prop. i. 11. 9, 10, Atque utinam mage 
 te remis confisa mintitis, Paruula Lucrina cymba moretur aqua. Cicero 
 
 . has minuta nauigia, Att. xvi. i. 3. magno is explained by the elder 
 Dousa as ' stormy,' as we might say ' big.' Sail. lug. 78, ubimare magnum 
 esse et saetiire uentis coepit. Lucr. ii. i, Suaue mari magno turbantibus 
 aequora uentis. The younger Dousa adds Ennius Sota 3 Vahlen, Alius in 
 mari uult magno tenere tonsam; Aen. v. 628, dumper mare magnum Italiam 
 sequimur fugientem et uoluimur undis, where Servius says magnum procel- 
 losum ; Aen. iii. 196, uenti uoluunt mare, magnaque surgunt Aequora. 
 This is not impossible, though in most of the passages magno is 
 generally explained differently: yet the antithesis of minuta magno 
 loses much of its force if magno simply repeats the idea of storms con- 
 veyed by deprensa as well as uesaniente uento. 
 
ON CATULLUS. XXVL 69 
 
 13. Deprensa, 'overtaken by a storm,' as in Aen. v. 52, Argolkoue 
 mart deprensus et urb~e Mycenae. Lucr. vi. 429, deprensa iumultu Nauigia. 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 It is doubtful whether Catullus here alludes to the embarassments of 
 Furius or his own. One MS. has nostra in i, and this would be strictly 
 correct in allusion to the needy family of Furius, as described in XXIIL 
 On the other hand, the pun which constitutes the point of the poem would 
 seem more natural if Catullus is speaking of himself; he talks jokingly 
 of his necessities in other poems, XIIL 7, XXVIIL 7-10, X, or implies 
 that he is not too well off, XLI. 2, CIII, CX ; such jokes too were part 
 of the fashion of the time. Cicero, in a letter written to his brother 
 Quintus early in 700 | 54, says of Caesar, iocum illius de sua egesiaie ne sis 
 aspernalus. Ad quem ego rescripsi nihil esse quod posihac arcae nostrae 
 fiducia conturharet, lusique in eo genere et familiariter et cum dignitate, ad 
 Q. Fr. ii. 12. 5. 
 
 2. opposita, in the double sense of facing towards, and being mort- 
 gaged. In this last sense the full phrase was opponere pignori, to stake as 
 a counter-pledge. Cure. ii. 3. ^1 ,pono pallium, Ille suum anulum opposiuit. 
 Phorm. viii. 3. 56, ager oppositust pignori, Ob decern minus. Pseud, i. i. 
 85, CA. Actum hodie de mest. Set potes nunc mutuam Drachumam mihi 
 unam dare, quam eras reddam tibi P PS. Vix hercle opino, etsi me opponam 
 pignori. 
 
 3. Apheliotae, ' the East wind.' Plin. H. N. ii. 122, Fauonio contrarius 
 est quem subsolanum appellauimus ; 119, sunt ergo bini in quattuor caeli 
 partibus ab oriente aequinoctiali subsolanus, ab oriente brumali uoliurnus. 
 Ilium apeliotem /tunc Graeci Eurum uocant. In the circular chart of the 
 winds given in Reyfferscheid's Suetonii Reliquiae, it is placed between 
 Vulturnus the more N., and Eurus the more S. Lachm. writes here 
 Apeliotae; but the MSS. give Apheliotae, which, as Klotz observes, may 
 be right, as the word was probably introduced into Latin by the Greek 
 seamen on the Adriatic, not by men to whom the Attic form was familiar. 
 Lobeck on Aj. 803 shows that cmriKiioTt\s is the correct Attic form. 
 
 4. Cicero, Gael. vii. 16, seems to show that 30,000 sesterces was 
 thought high, 10,000 low, as the rent of a house in a good part of Rome. 
 The 15,200 for which Catullus' villa was mortgaged is not in itself a very 
 considerable sum ; and we may estimate his embarassments accordingly. 
 They were probably occasioned by his profligate life ; cf. Tib. ii. 4. 54, 
 Quin etiam sedes iubeat si uendere auitas, lie sub imperium sub titulumque 
 Lares. Ouid. Rem. Am. 301-302, lllud et illud habet, neque ea contenta 
 rapina Sub titulum nostros niisit auara lares, where the house is put up for 
 sale to pay for the extravagances of a mistress. 
 
 5. pestilentem perhaps alludes to the healthiness which the buyer of 
 a house would naturally look for, and might think himself aggrieved by 
 not finding. Cic. de Off. iii. 13. 54, shows that it was a question of 
 casuistry whether the seller of a house quae pestilentes sint et habeantur 
 salubres was bound to state its unhealthiness ; as nothing could be more 
 absurd than to expect the auctioneer to state domum pestilentem uendo. 
 
70 A COMMENTARY 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 As the younger Dousa observes, these lines are little more than an 
 expansion of some verses of Diphilus, Meinek. Com. Frag. iv. 402 "Eyxfoi/ 
 
 ail 817 TTtelv. 'Ei^mpoTfpov ye vt] Ai", & nai, Sds' to yap "XSapes awav tout' to-Ti tj 
 
 yj'vxfi KOKov: cf. Antiphanes, Mein. Com. Fragm. iii. 77 6 Bch' 'lam^, 
 
 Kepaaov cu^apetTTepov. 
 
 They have been imitated by Martial ix. 93, xi. 36, arid commented upon 
 by Gellius vi. (vii.) 20. 
 
 1. uetuli Falerni, as in Mart. xi. 26. 3 ; i. 18. i ; Macrob. S. vii. 12. 
 9, Cur ita niel et uinum diuersis aeiaitbus habeniur oplima, mel quod recen- 
 tissimum, uinum quod ueiustissimum ? Vnde est et illud prouerbium quo 
 uiuniur gulones : muhum quod probe iemperes miscendum esse nouo Hymettio 
 et uetulo Falerno. Pliny, H. N. xxiii. 34, says Falernian was most whole- 
 some when neither too new nor too old ; its media aeias began with its 
 15th year. The diminutival termination in uetuiushns quite lost its force : 
 Varro has catuli et uetuli, R. R. ii. 9. 3. 
 
 2. Inger, for ingere, like biber for bibere, Charis. 124 Keil, eager 01 
 conger for congere, Mart. viii. 44. 9. Such abbreviations seem natural to 
 drinkers: Meineke Analect. Alexand. p. 131 mentions mv for iriveiv, va 
 for TTmBi. Ingerere was specially used of pouring in liquids, generally 
 in a considerable quantity. Pseud, i. 2. 24, calices, Eubulus ap. 
 
 Mein. Com. Fragm. iii. 268 wivtiv te itoWas KiXmai ei^apforepas. 
 amariores, of harsher and stronger flavour, either as otder, or as no 
 longer mixed with water. Mart. ix. 93. 1, 2, Addere quid cessas, puer, 
 immortale Falernum? Quadrantem duplica de seniore cado ; xi. 36. 5, 6, 
 immortale Falernum Funde, senem poscunt talia uota cadum, is in favour of 
 the former view ; cf. Sen. Ep. 63. 5, quoted by Alex. Guarinus, in uino 
 nimis ueteri ipsa nos amaritudo delectat: Dioscor. v. 16, ■ndkaiovoXvov mi 
 aixTTTipov. But Catullus was probably thinking of the Homeric C<"p6Tipov 
 
 8e Kepaif II. ix. 203, with the comic equivalents ev^apov or ev^aporepov nipaa-ov 
 (see the Index to Meineke's Fragm. Com. s. v. eij^mpos), and if so ama- 
 riores will probably be i. q. meraciores, since, in spite of the different 
 explanations given in antiquity of (aporepov (Plut. Symp. Prob. v. 4), the 
 common and most accepted view seems to have made i\.=&KpaTov, as we 
 may infer from Aristot. Poet. 2g, 16; cf. Theoc. xiv. 18 "hSi? Se wpoiSvros 
 
 e'So^' imxeiirBac aKparov ^Qrivm rjBeV e/caorof, and Tib. iii. 6. 62, Tu puer i 
 liquidum fortius adde merum. 
 
 3. ' According to the enactment of the law passed under the presidency 
 of Postumia.' Postumia is obviously the symposiarch or mistress of the 
 revels, as Plautus Pers v. i. 18 speaks of a dictatrix to arrange the 
 details of the feast. Cicero speaks of such magisteria De Sen. xiv. 46. 
 It is diflficult to see how there can be any allusion to the lex Postumia of 
 King Numa, which, according to Plin. H. N. xiv. 88, forbade wine to be 
 sprinkled on the funeral-pyre or to make a libation of wine from an un- 
 pruned vine. lex, as Horace speaks of the leges insanae by which the 
 guests at banquets were often bound, S. ii. 6. 68. 
 
 4. Ebriosa, 'full of liquor.' Anth. P. ix. 130 naXXdSor ((>( (^vt6v. 
 
ON CATULLUS. XXVIIL 71 
 
 Bpo/iiov Ti fif ffKl^ere KKStves ; "Apart Toif fiorpvas' irapBivos oil fiedia, like yOU 
 
 vine-branches, acina, which is generally interpreted ' grape-stone,' seems 
 more correctly explained by Prof. Key, of the derry of the grape. Plin. 
 H. N. XV. 96, ah'a acinis (grapes) caro, alia maris, alia unedonibus. The 
 fern, acina is not found elsewhere, and is not certain here, as the MSS. 
 give acino, acini, acine, and the discussion in Cell, vi (vii), 20, leaves the 
 reading doubtful. 
 
 5. quo lubet abite, as in Mil. Glor. iv. 1.27, Quin tu illam iuhe ahs ie 
 abire quo lubet. The MSS. have quod iubel, as in Mart. ii. 55. 2, quod 
 iubes, colere. abite, XIV. 21. Fetron. S. 52, Aquam /oras, uinum 
 intra exclamauit. lymphae, Tib. iii. 6. 58. 
 
 6. Vini pernieies, as Martial speaks of murdering Falernian {iugulare 
 Falernum) by mixing it with inferior wine, i. 18. 5. (Alex. Guarinus.) 
 Beueros, 'the austere,' nearly =' the sober.' Hor. Epist. i. 19. 10,/orum 
 putealque Libanis Mandabo siccis, adimam cantare seueris. 
 
 1. Migrate, 'find a new home.' luuen. vii. 6. 7, Cum desertis 
 Aganippes Vallibus esuriens migraret in atria Clio. hie merus est 
 Thyomanus, ' this is the unmixed liquor of the wine-god.' Hie seems 
 to imply that he is holding a cup in his hand. The masc. Thyonianm is 
 on the analogy of Tmolius, Phanaeus, Georg. ii. 93, 98 ; cf. Lucilius' Xioy 
 TE bvvaaTrjs, sc. otvos. Thyonianus, with which cf. Formianum 
 
 Fundanum Nomentanum, presupposes a form Thyonius-=Thyoneus, as 
 MeXaj/ftos=MeXai'5cir, Od. XX. 255 ; cf. Agrionius a name of Bacchus 
 mentioned by Plutarch Q. R. 112. Bacchus is called Thyoneus from 
 Thyone, a name of Semele according to the Homeric Hymn xxxiv. 2 r, 
 Schol. ApoU. R. I. 636, of his nurse, according to a line of Panyasis, 
 quoted by the scholiast on Pind. Pyth. iii. 77, Km p o ftcV Ik ko^ttom 
 Tpncjiov 66pe TToo-o-i &vavr)s. Ausonius, Idyl. xiii. (quoted by Stat, and 
 Turnebus), ne aut Thyonianum mireris aut Virbium, ilium de Dionyso, 
 hu7ic de Hippolyto re/ormatum, makes Thyonianus a proper name= 
 Bacchus, which it can hardly be. 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 This poem and XLVII both refer to the same event, the association of 
 the two friends Veranius and Fabullus as members of the cohors or staff 
 of Piso. I have stated my belief above (Introd. to XII) that the Piso 
 whom they attended was Cn. Piso, who was sent out to Spain as quaestor 
 pro praetore 689 | 65, and that their sojourn there with him was contem- 
 poraneous with the journey of Catullus to Bithynia. The allusions in 
 XXVIII, XLVII are at least compatible with this view, and it is more 
 probable that Veranius and Fabullus made one journey, not two, 
 together. 
 
 In modern times however, since Martyni-Laguna, it has been held, and 
 recently by Schwabe and Westphal, that the Piso of XXVIII, XLVII 
 is L. Piso Caesoninus, the hero of Cicero's oration in Pisonem. Piso 
 was consul with A. Gabinius in 696 [ 58, and the next year went into 
 Macedonia as proconsul. He remained there somewhat more than 
 two )-ears (Pis. xl. 97 trinis aestiuis, xxxv. 86 per triennium) plundering 
 
72 A COMMENTARY 
 
 the provincials and abusing to the full extent the privilege of a 
 Roman governor to enrich himself (Pis. xxxv)^ Cicero's oration 
 represents him besides as (i) maltreating his officers, Quid? legatorum 
 tuorum optimiis abs ie quisque uiolatus ? tribuni miliiar-es non recepti ? xxxvi. 
 88 ; {2) a gross sensualist, nihil scitote esse luxuriosius nihil libidinosius 
 nihil posterius nihil nequius xxvii. 66, audis in praesepibus, audis in siupris, 
 audis in cibo ei uino xviii. 42, cf. De Prouinc. Cons, iii ; (3) as not 
 devoid of culture, an Epicurean (Pis. xxviii, xxix, Sest. x) and fond of 
 having literary Greeks about him; Pis. xxvii. 67, Graeci siipati, quini in 
 leciulis saepe plures, ipse solus iacebat in suo Graecorum foetore aique uino. 
 These points agree very well with the description of Catullus (i) cohors 
 inanis, Ecquidnam in tabulis paiet lucelli ? XL VII. 3, Vos Veraniolo meo et 
 Fabullo praeposuit ? (2) nihilo minore uerpa Farti esiis, XLVII. 4, Verpus 
 Priaptcs ; (3) Socration (XLVII. i) may have been one of the Greek 
 underlings described by Cicero. Besides this general agreement, Schwabe 
 has noticed two special points in which Cicero's words illustrate Catullus ; 
 (4) XXVIII. ^, f rigor aque ei famem iulistis is not only particularly applic- 
 able to a cold country like Macedonia, but closely resembles Cicero's 
 description of the distress of Piso's army there, exercHus nosiri interitus 
 ferro fame frigore pesiileniia Pis. xvii. 40, Miliies incuriafame morbo uas- 
 iitate consumpti De Prouinc. Cons. iii. 5; (5) XXVIII. 5 Vappa, as Vulpius 
 long ago observed, seems to have been used by Catullus in designed 
 allusion to the agnomen of one branch of the Pisos, Frugi. Now this 
 is one of the taunts brought against L. Piso more than once by Cicero, 
 Sest. ix. 2 1, Quod erai eo nomirie ui ingeneraiafamiliaefrugalitas uidereiur, 
 Pis. fr. 2. Font. xvii. 39. 
 
 It is not to be denied that the description of L. Piso given by 
 Cicero corresponds with the outline sketched by Catullus, especially in 
 XLVII, which, compared with XXVIII, is the more particular of the two 
 poems ; cf. XLVII. 4 with Cicero's admissarius isle Pis. xxviii. 69, 
 XL VIII. 5-7 with Cicero's denial Pis. xxvii. 67, Luxuriam autem nolitein 
 isio hanc cogitare . . . nihil apud hunc lautum, nihil elegans, nihil exquisiium 
 • — laudabo inimicum — quin ne magno opere quidem quidquam praeter libidines 
 sumpiuosum, and on the other hand with an epigram ascribed to the 
 Epicurean Philodemus, and probably addressed to L. Piso, Anth. P. xi. 
 44. But the two points singled out by Schwabe, (4) and (5), have very 
 little force, for the v/orAsfrigoraque etfamem, XXVIII. 5, apply to the 
 cold and barren sierras of Spain no less accurately than to Mace- 
 donia, and the allusion in Vappa XXVIII. 4, if any is meant, would be 
 directed with as much force against Cn. Piso as L. Piso Caesoninus, 
 who, in spite of the assertion of Asconius irt Pison. p. 3, Orelli, hunc 
 Pisonem ex eafamilia esse quae Frugi appellaia sit, does not appear with 
 this agnomen on any c6in or inscription (Drumann, Geschichte Roms, ii. 
 p. 62). Besides, L. Piso, was proconsul of Macedonia; whereas 
 Catullus seems rather to imply that Veranius and Fabullus were in atten- 
 dance on a propraetor, with whom he contrasts his own praetor Memmius, 
 XXVIII. 7. 8. 
 
 1. inanis, 'empty-handed,' opposed to cum mere, Amph. i. i. 174; 
 here it is explained by the next line, Aptis sarcinulis et expeditis. 
 
 2. Aptis, 'easily adjusted,' 'handy.' Heroid. iv. 24; Sarcinaque haec 
 
ON CATULLUS. XXVIIL 73 
 
 am?}io non sedet apta meo. sarcinulis, 'baggage.' Plin. Epist. iv. i. 
 2, lam sarcinulas alligamus fesUnaiuri quantum itineris ratio permiserit. 
 Petron. S. 99, Itaque, quod bene eueniat, expedite sarcinulas et sequimini me. 
 expeditis, here of light luggage, which is easily got in hand ; more often 
 of the person who travels expeditus, without incumbrances, in which sense 
 it seems to be used in Sen. Epist. 17. 3, Pauper tas expedita est, secura 
 est. 
 
 4. Quid rerum geritis? a common form of greeting. Aul. i. 2. 39, 
 Rogitant me ut icaleam, quid agam, quid rerum geram. It is frequent in 
 Plautus (W. Wagner on Aul. i. i. 15). 
 
 5. Vappa originally wine which has lost its flavour and become 
 insipid. Plin. H. N. xiv. 125, Est natura uitiumque musto quibusdam in 
 locis iterum sponte feruere, qua calamitate deperit sapor, uappaeque accipit 
 nomen probrosum etiam hominum cum degenerauit animus. In this latter 
 sense of ' a good-for-nothing man,' cf. Hor. S. i. i. 103, Non ego auarum 
 Cum ueto te fieri, uappam iubeo ac nebulonem. fW.goraq.ue et famem. 
 Liu. xxvii. 44, maiorem partem militumjame ac f rigor e quae miserrima 
 mortis genera sunt amisisset. 
 
 6-8. ' Do your accounts show any profits on the wrong side ? 
 as mine do, when in attending my praetor I enter my expenses as re- 
 ceipts.' Expensum. is trap inovoiav for acceptum, paid out by you, 
 instead of paid in to you. ' Are the only entries you have made of 
 moneys received by you entries of moneys paid away by you?' Cf. the 
 joke in Plautus' True. i. i. 54, Accepta dice, expensa ne qui censeat. 
 
 6. patet, ' stands entered.' Q. Rose. ii. 5, Non habere se hoc nomen 
 in codice accepti et expensi relatum confitetur, sed in aduersariis patere 
 contendit. lueeUL, similarly applied by Cicero to the gains made by 
 Q. Apronius, the subordinate of Verres in Sicily. Verr. iii. 30. 71, Im- 
 perat Agyrinensibus ut decumas ipsi publice, accipiant, Apronio lucrum dent 
 . . . Apronio, deliciis praetoris, lucelli aliquid iussi sunt dare. Putatote 
 Apronio datum, si Apronianum lucellum ac non praetoria praeda uobis uide- 
 bitur. lb. 44. 106, docuerunt uos quid lucelli fee er it homo non malus, fami- 
 liar is praetoris, Apronius. 
 
 7. mihi, sc. patet in tabulis. 
 
 8. Praetorem, G. Memmius Gemellus. refero is generally ex- 
 plained as a historic present, ' entered.' In the uncertainty which hangs 
 over the chronology of Catullus' life, it is safer to suppose the poem 
 written at the close of his connexion with Memmius, and whilst it was 
 still scarcely a thing of the past. datum is explained by Voss as= 
 expensum ; it seems to be the opposite of acceptum. ' I enter as gain, 
 not what I received, but what I paid away,' cf. De Amic. xvi. 58, Ad cal- 
 culos reuocare amicitiam, ut par sit ratio acceptorum et datorum ; Sen. de 
 Ira, iii. 31, Falsas rationes conficis, data magno aestimas, accepta paruo. A 
 different interpretation is suggested by the use of datum referre with a 
 dat. = ' to enter as advanced on the account of a person,' in Flacc. xix. 4 4, 
 Dicunt se Flacco . . . drachmarum xv milia dedisse . . . Cum illam pecu- 
 niam nominatim Flacco datam referant. The object of refero will then be 
 the following clause, O Memmi . . . irrumasti, i. e. as explained by Scaliger, 
 ' I set down as advanced to the account of gain this entry. Completely 
 fooled by Memmius ; money promised and never forthcoming.' But the 
 form in which the sentence is couched, O Memmi (see on 9), is rather 
 
74 A COMMENTARY 
 
 against this. refero lucello, as Cicero says, operi publico referuni, 
 Flacc. xix. 44. 
 
 9, 10. See on X. 11, 12, and Introd. to XVI. Catullus means that 
 Memmius has abused his patience grossly and with the greatest unc6n- 
 cern {lentus). So Lucilius, 1. xiv. ap. Macrob. vi. 4. 2, St mihi non prae- 
 tor siet additus atque agiiet 7ne. Nam male sic ilk ut dice me extenderat 
 unus. 
 
 9. O Memml introduces a protest, as in Verr. iii. 68. 159, O Timar- 
 chide, Metelli est filius in prouincia non puer, adulescens pudens ac bonus, 
 dignus ilia loco ac nomine. 
 
 10. trabe, ra alSola, so probably Sulpic. 36 of Domitian, 2Von irabe sed 
 tergo prolapsus. lentus, 'unconcernedly,' 'coolly.' Statius compares 
 a line of Afranius' Emancipatus, 87 Ribbeck, Quam lente tractat me atque 
 inludit : and so Laberius, 29 Ribbeck, Nunc lu lentu's, nunc tu susque 
 deque fers ; i. e. dSiacfiopels as explained by Gell. xvi. 9. 4; Mart. ii. 46. 7, 
 Tu spectas hiemem succincti lentus amici. Cf. Schwabe, Quaestt. CatuU. 
 p. 171. 
 
 11-15. ' But for all I can see, you, my friends, have been as badly off 
 as I was. Piso is as worthless as Memmius. This is what comes of 
 courting the great. My curse upon them all 1' 
 
 11. pari Casu, ' the same predicament.' 
 
 12. uerpa, a rather rare word=\/'<BXi7, as iierpus=i\raK6s. It occurs 
 three times in the Pompeian Inscriptt., cf Mart. xi. 46. 2, Priap. xxxiv. 5. 
 Piso is called uerpus Priapus XLVII. 4. 
 
 13. Pete. Ironical apostrophe to the world at large, here repre- 
 sented by non-individualized imperative singular. So Desine, LXXIII. i. 
 Generally T is prefixed, as in Prop. iii. 18. 17, / nunc tolle animos ; 
 luuen. X. 310, / nunc et iuuenis specie laetare tui ; xii. 57, I nunc et uentis 
 animam committe. nobiles. Cicero often alludes to the high rank of 
 the Pisos. Pis. i. comm'endaiione fumosarum imaginum ; Sest. viii. nobilitate 
 ipsa, llanda conciliatricula, commendatus; Tac. H. iv. 11, nomen insigne; 
 Ann. iii. 17, nobilitatem domus. The family was plebeian, but had been 
 distinguished since the Second Punic War : they traced their origin to 
 Calpus, a son of Numa, Paul. Diac. s. u. Calpurni, Plut. Numa xxi, 
 whence Horace addresses the Pisos as Pompilius sanguis, A. P. 292. The 
 Memmii were also plebeian, and the C. Memmius of the Jugurthine war, 
 trib. pleb. 643 | in is called by Sallust infestus potentiae nobilitatis lug. 
 27 ; cf. odio potentiae nobilitatis lug. 30 : in the last century of the re- 
 public they seem to have been ranked among the nobiles, and so Virgil 
 speaks of Mnestheus genus a quo sanguine Memmi, v. 117; cf Tac. Ann. 
 xiv. 47, notia generis claritudine, of Memmius Regulus, the husband of 
 LoUia Paulina. 
 
 14. At introduces an imprecation, as in Hor. S. ii. 2. 40, At uos, 
 Praesentes Austri, coquite horum obsonia, cf. XXVII. 5. mala umlta 
 di deaeque. See on XIV. 6. Di deaeque, as in Sen. Epist. 95. 21, di 
 illas deaeque male perdant ; g6. 4, Neque Di neque Deae faciant ut te for- 
 tuna in deliciis habeat. Petron. S. 79, cf. loi, iurat per deos deasque. 
 
 15. opprobria, scandals to the Roman name. Tac. Ann. iii. 66. 
 Cicero calls L. Piso familiae non dicam Calpurniae sed Caluentiae, neqv£ 
 huius urbis sed Placentini municipii, neque paterni generis sed bracatae 
 cognationis, dedecus Pis. xxiii. 53. Romulei Remique perhaps ex- 
 
ON CATULLUS. XXIX. 76 
 
 presses nobles and commons alike ; cf. LVIIL 5 magnaninis Remi nepoks, 
 and note; luuen. x. 73, Sed quid Turba Remi? an interpretation not 
 disproved by the fact that regna Remi Prop. ii. i. 23, Remuli alumni 
 Sulpic. 19, domus alta Remi Mart. xii. 3. 6, are used without any 
 disparaging connotation. It is possible, but less likely, that the two 
 words simply express the whole Roman name, and are conjoined here 
 merely to give greater emphasis to Piso's and Memmius' infamy, as di 
 deaeque give greater emphasis to the imprecation. But it seems nearly 
 certain that Catullus would not have called Cicero disertissimus Remi 
 nepoium, nor spoken of Lesbia's low paramours as Romuli nepoles. 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 No poem of Catullus is more famous than this. Like LVII Pukhre 
 conuenit improbis cinaedis, it is an attack on Mamurra, and through him 
 on his patrons Caesar and Pompeius. Caesar himself considered the 
 poem, perhaps with LVII, to have set an imperishable brand upon him 
 (Suet. lul. 73), and Catullus' words, LIV. 6, 7, Irascere iterum meis 
 iambis Inmerenlibus, unice imperator, show that it had made him really 
 angry. It may be doubted whether he ever quite forgave an attack at 
 once so unsparing and so polished, in spite of the story recorded by 
 Suetonius of his inviting the poet to dinner as a token of reconciliation 
 (lul. 73). The incisive character of the metre stamps these iambics on 
 the memory ; and Caesar's Kterary feeling would assure him that the 
 indignation of Republican Rome had here found a voice which would 
 be heard everywhere and leave an echo (Momrasen, iv. p. 320, Eng. 
 Transl.). 
 
 The date is determined by 4, 20 : it must be later than the first in- 
 vasion of Britain 699 | 55. Haupt and Mommsen agree in concluding, 
 from socer generque 24, that it was written while Juha, the wife of Pom- 
 peius, was still living, i. e. before the second expedition in the summer of 
 700 I 54 ; and Munro, though doubting the legitimacy of this argument, 
 fixes the period of composition to the winter of 55-54, when Caesar was 
 in Cisalpine Gaul, and might have been entertained by Catullus' father at 
 Verona, and effected his reconciliation with the poet (Cambridge Journal 
 of Philology, ii. 12). 
 
 Mamurra is probably again alluded to in XLI. 4, XLIII. 5, as the 
 bankrupt of Formiae, where he was born (Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 48), and 
 which is called urhs Mamurrarum by Horace S. i. 5. 37 ; he is generally 
 identified with the Mentula of the Epigrams, XCIV, CV, CXIV, CXV. 
 Pliny, xxxvi. 48, tells us he was an eques and praefectus fabrum to C. 
 Caesar in Gaul, and that he was the first Roman who coated the walls of 
 his house with marble, and used Carystian marble in the construction of 
 his columns. It was this wealth which made him obnoxious: Cicero 
 speaks of Labieni diuiiiae el Mamurrae as one of the scandals of the Tri- 
 umvirate (Att. vii. 7.6); from Catullus we see that he got his riches 
 not only from Caesar, but Pompeius {uostra, 13; Quid hunc malum 
 fouetis? 21 ; Eone nomine . . . Socer generque, perdidistis omnia? 24); that 
 he was successful with women (6-8) ; and that he had literary tastes which 
 brought him into close personal connexion with Caesar (LVII. 7). On 
 
76 A COMMENTARY 
 
 the peculiar charge alleged against him in LVII. i, 2, as against Caesar 
 ib. and XXIX. 2, 9-10, see Munro's discussion, pp. 16-20. 
 
 1-10. 'Who but a man lost to all decency can help feeling indignant to 
 see Mamurra enjoying the treasures of Gaul and Britain, and playing the 
 wanton with the wives of Rome ? What name dan be too strong for the 
 mighty patron who winks at this ? He is a catamite Romulus, a glutton, a 
 gambler.' 
 
 11-20. ' Was it only to enrich this rake, Caesar, that you penetrated to 
 Britain, and the farthest west ? If ever generosity was misplaced, it was 
 there. Mamurra has squandered everything, his patrimony, the spoils of 
 Pontus and Iberia, the wealth of Gaul and Britain : all alike fear him.' 
 
 21-24. ' Pompeius, and you his father-in-law, Caesar, what possessed 
 you both to fondle a rogue whose only ability is in wasting money ? O 
 shame to Rome ! Just to gorge this rogue, all is lost.' 
 
 1. pati, Caesar B. G. i. 43, quis pati posset ? Att. x. 8. 3, Pati poieruni 
 oculi vie cum Gabinio sententiam dicere ? Tragicus ap. Cic. pro Scauro, ii. 
 3, Victor insolens se uictum nan point t paii. 
 
 2. impudicus— awaerfaj'. See on XXI. 12; Catal. v. 9, Quid im- 
 pudice et improbande Caesari, where the meaning is fixed by the rest of 
 the poem. Catullus probably alludes to the stories connected with 
 Nicomedes king of Bithynia. Suet. lul. 49, Pudicitiae eius famam nihil 
 quidem praeter Nicomedis contubernium laesit graui tameit et perenni opprobrio 
 et ad omnium conuicia exposito. Omitto Calui Licinii notissimos uersus 
 Bithynia quicquid et pedicator Caesaris unquam habuit. Praetereo 
 actiones Dolabellae el Curionis patris in quibus eum Dolabella pellicem 
 reginae, spondam inleriorem regiae lecticae, ac Curio stabulum 
 Nicomedis et Bithynicumfornicem dicunl . . . Gallico denique triumpho 
 milites eius inter caetera carmina qualia currum persequentes ioculariter 
 canunt, eliam uulgalissimum illud pronuntiauerunt Gallias Caesar 
 suhegit, Nicomedes Caesarem. Ecce Caesar nunc triumphal, qui 
 subegit Gallias. Nicomedes non triumphal, qui subegit Caesarem. 
 The charge, as stated by G, Memmius, was that Caesar ad cyalhum el 
 uinum, Nicomedi sletisse cum reliquis exoletis plena conuiuio, accubantibus 
 nonnullis urbicis negotiatoribus quorum referl nomina. ■ Suet. lul. 49. 
 uorax. Suet. lul. 53, says Caesar was indifferent about his food ; and as 
 Munro shows, Journal of Philology iii. p. 22, nothing as to his gluttony is 
 proved by his practice of taking emetics, Deiot. viii. 21, Att. xiii. 52. i. 
 aleo, an old word for aleator. Gambling was illegal at Rome and con- 
 sidered disreputable, Catil. ii. 10. 23. It was perhaps in gambling that 
 Caesar incurred some part of his enormous debts ; the celebrated ttSe 
 dv€pfii(j)dci> Kv^os, iacla esto alea, was probably in character; yet it is re- 
 markable that Suetonius, who mentions* Augustus, Caligula, Claudius, 
 Domitian, as fond of play, is silent when speaking of Caesar. The 
 three charges here brought against Caesar are similarly combined' by 
 
 Aeschines in Timarch. 42 ewpa^e ravra (i. e. fiTatpei) SovXeimv Tois ala-xi-trrai,! 
 fjSovais, oyj/o^aylms Kal iroXvTeXelats ^elirvav KaX avki]Tpi(n Kol eTaipms KoX 
 
 3. Matnurram here, but Mamurrarum Hor. S. i. 5. 37, and so Mart, 
 ix. 60. I, X. 4. II. Cf the similar variation of quantity in Luceres, 
 
ON CATULLUS. XXIX. 77 
 
 Mamurius, Catillus, PorsSna (Lachm. Lucret. p. 36). Comata Gallia, 
 all that part of Transalpine Gaul not included in the Provincia or Gallia 
 Bracata. Plin. H. N. iv. 105. It was separated by the Cevennes from 
 Provincia. See Mommsen, Hist. Rom. iv. 2 1 5, English Translation. 
 
 4. uncti, ' all that was fat/ i. e. rich : somewhat similarly uncta patri- 
 moni'a 22. Pliny's omission of unclei, or any corresponding word in his 
 quotation xxxvi. 48, makes it possible that Catullus wrote ante, as Lach- 
 mann and Munro prefer. ultima, XI. 12. For the long a before two 
 consonants, see IV. 9, 18. 
 
 5. Cinaede Romule. It would doubtless give an extra point to this 
 expression if it was written after the title oi pater patriae had been con- 
 ferred on Caesar, b.c. 45. Liu. i. 16, Deum deo natum, regem paren- 
 temque urbis Romanae uniuersi saluere Romulum iubent; v. 49, Inter 
 tocos militares quos inconditos iaciunt Romulus ac parens patriae 
 conditorque alter urbis haud uanis laudibus appellabatur {Camillus), This 
 at least seems to be partly the meaning oi Romule Arpinas, the taunting 
 name given to Cicero in the Declamatio against him ascribed to Sallust 
 (iv. 7), and quoted by Quintil. ix. 3. 89. It is not improbable that Caesar 
 himself liked to be compared with Romulus ; and that it was in accordance 
 with his known wish that the title oi parens patriae, and the distinction of 
 having his statue placed in front of the temple of Quirinus were conferred 
 upon him in the last year of his life. It is not however necessary to 
 suppose that this is the allusion in Catullus. Caesar might be called 
 Romulus partly as a would-be king, partly in irony, to hint that he was 
 a very poor imitation of the great founder of Rome. So Sulla is called 
 scaeuos iste Romulus in a fragm. of Sallust's Histories, i. 4. 45, i. e. as 
 explained by Kritz, a Romulus in the wrong way, not the new founder 
 of Rome, as he considered himself by his legislative measures to have 
 become, but the destroyer of its liberties. Caesar's aims at sovereignty 
 were very early discernible (Suet. lul. 9). Even in his first consulship, after 
 the enforced retirement of Bibulus, unus omnia in republica et ad arbitrium 
 adminisirauit (ib. 20). 
 
 6. superbus et superfluens are epexegetic of each other, ' running 
 high in the wantonness of wealth.' Superbus of the pride of a man risen 
 to wealth. Hor. Epod. iv. 5, Licel superbus ambules pecunia : and for 
 superfluens cf. Sen. de Benef. i. 11, Pecunia non superfluens, sed ad sanum 
 modum habendi parata. The elder Dousa explained superfluens in reference 
 to the word following, 'brimming over with wantonness,' Shakspere's 
 superfluous and lust-dieted man. 
 
 7. Perambulabit, 'stroll along,' as in Most. iii. 2. 122; Hor. C. 
 iv. 5. 17 ; Epod. xvii. 41. The word very aptly describes the sedate and 
 self-assured strutting of the dove. eutailia, peculiarly used of the 
 marriage-bed, and therefore strictly correct in reference to the adulterer 
 Mamurra. Mart. ix. 7. 7, Qui nee cubilifuerat ante te quondam Pudor esse 
 per te coepit et lupanari. 
 
 8. albulus eolumbus, ' a dainty white dove.' Alexis ap. Mein. Com. 
 Fragm. iii. p. 48 1 Aeuxos ' AippoSirris Ei/ii yap nepiarepos. Pherecrates, ib. 
 
 ii. p. 322 "AXV & irepicrrepiov op.OLOv KXeicrdevii Uerov, koiiutov he fi is KvBrjpa Koi 
 
 Kun-poi/. Doves were sacred to Venus, Athen. 394, Apollon. R. iii. 550, 
 where the schol. quotes ApoUodorus, 17 iKpiarepa Upa 'A^/joSi'ti/s fiia to 
 Uy^ou, cf. infr. LXVIII. (i25)-(i28), and kept in the precincts of her 
 
78 A COMMENTARY 
 
 temples. A large dove stands on each of the wings of the temple of 
 Venus at Paphos, and another within the balustraded enclosure in front of 
 the temple, as figured in Donaldson's Architectura Numismalica No; xxxi. 
 Catullus, in comparing Mamurra with a white dove, alludes less perhaps 
 to the salacity of the bird than to its dainty appearance, hence adds aui 
 Adomus: Pers. iii. 16 ieneroquepalumbo £t similis regum puerts,M3xt.xm. 
 66. I teneras columbas, Prop. ii. 13. 53 niueum Adonim. Adoneus, a rare 
 form oi Adonis found also Menaechm. i. 2. 35, and in Ausonius, Ep. xxx. 
 6. Heussner quotes 6 'hbavios from Bekker Anecd. 346. Like the dove, 
 Adonis was specially connected with Venus, hence the story mentioned by 
 Diogenianus Praef. p. 180 of Leutsch's Paroemiographi Graeci, t^ 
 
 'AfimviSt iv KvTTpa nixqBevTi xmo T^f 'A(j)poBiTr)s p^ra rrjv TeKevrfjii " oi Kvwptot 
 ^aaas evUtrav rrfpiCTTepas, at d' dnoTTTatJai. Kol diacjivyovtraL av6is aboKrjr^s els 
 aWrjv iptreaova-ai mipav &i,€(^6aprja-av. Munro objects to reading Adoneus 
 here, on the ground that the ancient conception of him is a beautiful but 
 chaste youth, not an effeminate pursuer of women ; but cf. such passages 
 as Luc. Dial. Meretr. 7 KaBdSeis pera toO 'ASmmSos Xaipiov, where Musarion 
 calls her lover smooth (Xeios), Aristaen. i. 8 %<jriv airbs TrcpiwdfiijT-os "ASmi/is 
 Tois iralpais. The most general conception of Adonis in antiquity seems 
 to have been that which Theocritus expresses in the Adoniazusae ; he is 
 the favorite of Venus and therefore the favorite of women. 
 
 9. haec uidetois et feres, ' will you see this and^^/ endure ?' a slightly 
 different sense from uidere in i, which expresses in itself seeing and 
 enduring. Sen. de Vit. Beat. 21, Quare opes contemnendas dicit et habet ? 
 
 11. Eg nomine, ' on this account,' so alio nomine, meo nomine in 
 Cicero. imperator unice, repeated LIV. 7. Liu. vi. 6 Proinde quam 
 opinionem de unico imperatore, earn spem de hello haberent. Cicero, with 
 equal irony, addresses Piso &%praeclare imperator Pis. xxxvii. 91. 
 
 12. ultima Occidentis insula, Britain, as Hor. C. i. 35. 29, ullimos 
 Orbis Britannos. 
 
 13. uostra, of you and your son-in-law, Pompeius, the socer generque 
 of 24. Pis. xxvii. 65, Da te populo, committe ludis. Sibilum meiuis ? ubi 
 sunt uestrae scolae P i.e. the philosophical discussions held by you and 
 your friends; ib. xi. 24, Seplasia mehercule ut did audiebam te ut primum 
 aspexit Campanum consulem repudiauit . . . Gabinium denique si uidissent 
 uestri illi ungueniarii, citius agnouissent, yours and your colleague's; ib. 
 xii. 26, An uero reliquo tempore consulem te quisquam duxit, quisquam tibi 
 paruit, quisquam in curiam uenienti assurrexit, quisquam consulenti respon- 
 dendum putauit i' numerandus est ilk annus denique in republica cum 
 obmutuisset senatus, indicia conticuissent, maererent boni, uis latrocinii uestri 
 tola urbe uolitaret, neque ciuis unus ex ciuitate sed ipsa ciuitas tuo et Gabinii 
 sceleri furorique cessisset? Vester never in Catullus =/««.?. See on LXIV. 
 160, LXVIIL (151), XCIX. 6. diffututa, but defututa XLL i. 
 Diffututa perhaps expresses the multiplicity of Mamurra's amours, omnium 
 cubilia. The two forms may have coexisted, like deflere difflerem Apuleius. 
 See Koziol, Styl des Apuleius p. 315. mentula, i. e. ' debauchee,' viz. 
 Mamurra. 
 
 14. comesset, a very common metaphor for squandering. Sest. li. 
 no, bona solus comesset ; Mart. v. 70. 5, O quanta est gula centies comesse 
 (quoted by Vulp.). So deuorare in 22, Pis. xxxvii. 90; abligurire Enn. 
 Sat. 29, Vahlen. 
 
ON CATULLUS. XXIX. 79 
 
 15. Quid est alit, ' what is perverted generosity if it is not this ? ' 
 ' What is this but — ?' Halm on Phil. ii. 4. 7, who quotes Phil i. 9. 2 2, Quid 
 esialiud horlari qdulescenies, ut turbulenti . . . dues uelini esse ? v. 2. 5, Quid 
 est aliud omnia ad bellum ciuile hosti arma largiri ? x. 2. 5, Quid est alitcd 
 librarium Bruti laudare, non Brutum ? alit = aliut, as in Lucr. i. 
 
 1114, V. 1305. Catullus has alis for alius LXVI. 28. sinistra, 
 'perverted,' as in Plin. Epist. vii. 28. 3 sinistra diligentia, of censorious 
 busy-bodies. Sallust expressed the meaning Cat. Z2,Bona aliena largiri, 
 liber alitas uocaiur. litaeralitas. Cic. Fam. vii. 17, speaks of Caesar's 
 incredibilis liberalitas and calls him liber alis simus : of. Phil. ii. 45. 116, 
 muneribus mohinientis congiariis epulis multitudinem inperitam deknierat; 
 suos praemiis, aduersarios clementiae specie deuinxerat ; ib. 20, 50, Ad 
 Caesarem cucurristi . . . ibi te cum illius largitionibus et tuis rapinis 
 expleuisses, etc. 
 
 16. expatrauit, 'wasted in debauchery '=e^«/«zj/2' Suet. lul. 51. 
 helluatus, 'wasted on gluttony.' Sest. lii. in, Quidtu meopericulo gurges 
 ac uorago patrimonii helluabare ? De Prou. Cons. vi. 14. 
 
 17. Paterna bona, Novius 6 Ribbeck. Lucian (Dial. Meretric. 
 vii. i) makes the poor lover promise large presents to his mistress, 
 lav d irarrip — Kal Kvpios yevwjiai rmv irarpawv. lancinata, as in Senec. 
 Epist. 32. 2, diducimus illam (uitam) in particulas ac lancinamus, 'we 
 fritter away our life.' The original idea seems to be cutting a piece 
 of meat into platefuls (lances). Symm. i. 64, Quod auri, quod argenti 
 direptione hostium lancinatum. 
 
 18. praeda Pontica, according to Voss and Mommsen, Hist. Rom. 
 iv. p. 321, Eng. Transl., the spoil of Mitylene, of which Caesar had a share 
 as one of the officers serving under M. Thermus, praetor of Pontus and 
 Bithynia, 674-5 | 80-79. But this occasion was hardly memorable 
 enough to be alluded to as one of the richest of Caesar's military successes. 
 It seems better with Haupt and Munro to refer it to the spoil taken by 
 Pompeius in the Mithridatic war; in the triumph for this war, 693 | 61, 
 Pompeius brought into the treasury in money, as well as in gold and silver 
 vessels, 20,000 talents : the conquered peoples, as enumerated by Plutarch 
 Pomp. 45, amounted to fourteen, Ponius, Armenia, Cappadocia, Paph- 
 lagonia, Media, Colchis, Iberia, Albania, Syria, Cilicia, Mesopotamia, 
 Phoenicia and Palestine, Judaea, Arabia. 
 
 18-19. With this charge, which is really aimed at Caesar, cf. the words 
 of Sallust, Hist. fr. i. i, Cimbricam praedam uenum aut dono datam, spoken 
 of Sulla. 
 
 19. Hibera cannot refer to the Spanish war carried on between Caesar 
 and the legati of Pompeius, L. Afranius and M. Petreius, 705 | 49, or that 
 between Caesar and Pompeius' sons, 709 | 45, both of which are far 
 removed from the Tagus. It remains to explain it of the Lusitanian war, 
 693 I 61, conducted by Caesar as propraetor. Plutarch says of this war, 
 
 Caes. xii. airriK'Kayr] ttjs fwapx^as avros Tc irKovaios yeyova>s Km Ttyiis (TTpaTuirns 
 dxpe\r]Ki>s arro tS>v (TTpareiav KaX wpoa-ayopfvoiievos airoKpaTap in airav. (Haupt. 
 
 Quaestt. CatuU. p. 18; cf. Mommsen Hist. Rom. iv. p. 321, Munro 
 Journal of Philol. ii. p. 16). seit, 'is witness,' Aen. xi. 259, Scittriste 
 Mineruae Sidus et Euboicae cautes ultorque Caphareus. aurifer. Ouid. 
 Am. i. 15. 34, Cedat et auriferi ripa beata Tagi. Did Catullus know 
 what Cicero had heard about Britain, when he wrote, Fam. vii. 7. i, In 
 
80 A COMMENTARY 
 
 Britannia nihil esse audio neque auri neque ar genii ? This would give 
 rather more point to the contrasted aurifer Tagus. 
 
 20. ' It is not Gaul only nor the British isles that fear him,' i. e. they 
 are the latest, not the only, suflferers by Mamurra's rapacity. This is my 
 conjecture for the MSS. reading Hunc Galliae limet et Britanniae; cf. 
 Heroid. vii. 8i, Omnia mentiris, nee enim luafallere lingua Incipii a nobis 
 primaqueplectorego. Munro's co\i\tc\Mxt,Ei huicne Gallia etmetet Britannia f 
 ' And is this the man for whom Gaul and Britain shall reap ? ' (cf. Merc. Prol. 
 71, Epid. ii. 2. 80, and very closely Sen. Epist. 114. 26, adspice quot locis 
 uertatur terra, 'quot milia colonorum arent, fodiant : unum uideri putas u^n- 
 treni, cui et in Sicilia et in Africa seriiur ?) though near to the MSS. and 
 approved by W. Wagner, has always seemed to me unlike Catullus, not 
 only in the position of ne, but in the place of metet, and the only half- 
 obscured assonance Gallia Britannia. Srltauniae, plural, as in Plin. 
 xvii. 42. 43, Tac. A. xiii. 32; see note XLV. 22. 
 
 21. malum was explained by most of the older commentators and lately 
 by Munro as an interjection, ' Why, the mischief, do you pamper him, both 
 of you ? ' a Plautine and Terentian use, e. g. Phorm. v. 8. 55, Eun. iv. 7. 10, 
 Heaut. iv. 3. 38, ii. 3. 78; and not uncommon in Cicero, Phil. x. 9. 18, 
 Quae malum est ista ratio ? Rose. Com. xviii. 56, qua malum stultitia fuit 
 Roscius f De Off. ii. 15. 53, Quae ie malum inquit ratio in islam spem 
 induxit uteos tibi fideles putares fore quos pecunia corrupisses f where Cicero 
 is speaking ol largitio, as Catullus here of Caesar's j-zrazj/ra liber alitas. To 
 me this seems beneath the dignity and the indignation of the poem. 
 fouetis includes Pompeius, like uestra in 13. qmd hie potest Nisi, 
 ' Is not his whole ability in — .?' a comic formula. 
 
 22. uucta and deuorare are in relation to each other, \he patrimonia 
 being regarded as so many dainty morsels successively swallowed. Phil, 
 ii. 27. 67, non modo unius patrimonium quamuis amplum, ut illudfuit, sed 
 urbes et regna celeriter tanta nequitia deuorare potuissei ; a passage which 
 shows that patrimouia is strictly plural. 
 
 23. urtois meae, i. e. Romae. Catullus is ashamed that his name of 
 Roman is disgraced by his country's submission to men like Mamurra 
 and his patrons. This is my conjecture for the MSS. jeading urbis opu- 
 lentissime. Lachmann's piissimei, though ironically effective as ap- 
 plied to the father and son-in-law who were ready to support each 
 other in the worst schemes to secure their domination, is not likely 
 (i) as isolating urbis and making it depend on omnia, (2) as a word of 
 very doubtful Latinity. Cicero, Phil. xiii. 19. 43, says, tu porro ne pios 
 quidem, sed piissimos quaeris ; et quod uerbum omnino nullum in lingua 
 Latina est, id propter tuam diuinam pietatem nouum inducis. It is true the 
 grammarian Pompeius, Comm. Donat. Keil v. p. 1 54, asserts that Caper, 
 the master of Augustus, collected instances frpm Cicero's letters where he 
 had himself used /KMZOTz^j; and A. Gellius (x. 21) accuses Cicero of fas- 
 tidiousness in avoiding words which were in common use, like nouissimus, 
 nouissime: Butpiissimus is not found in the extant letters of Cicero, and the 
 passage in Phil. ii. is almost decisive against the employment of the word 
 by Catullus, always careful in his choice of words and more inclined to 
 archaic forms than modernisms. 
 
 24. soeer generque, J. Caesar, and Pompeius who had married 
 Caesar's daughter Julia, 695 | 59. The connexion is often alluded to. 
 
ON CATULLUS. XXX. 81 
 
 Catal. iii. 6 Gener socerque perdidisiis omnia ; Aen. vi. 830 Aggeribus 
 socer Alpinis el ab arce Monaeci Descendem, gener aduersis imtructus Eois; 
 Lucan i. 114 Quod si tibi fata dedissent Maiores in luce moras, tu sola 
 furentem Inde uirum poteras, atque hinc retinere parentem ; Mart. ix. 70. 3 
 Cum gener atque socer paribus concur reret armis. perdidistis omnia, 
 ' have ruined everything.' ' We can see from the letters to Atticus that this 
 was a favourite phrase of the " boni " during the three-headed tyranny ; 
 thus, ii. 21. I, iracundiam atque intemperantiam illorum sumus experti, qui 
 Catoni irati omnia perdiderunt ; i. i. 65 uel perire maluerint quam perdere 
 omnia; xiv. x.\ quid quaeris? perisse omnia aiebat ; 1^, •^nonne meministi 
 clamare te omnia perire, siillefunere elatus esset.' Munro. Cf. Liu. Praef 
 desiderium pereundi perdendique omnia ; Corn. Nep. Eum. 8 sua intemper- 
 antia nimiaque licentia ut omnia perdant. These passages are enough to 
 show \haX. perdidisiis omnia cannot be connected with urbis in the sense 
 of ' wasted everything Rome possessed.' 
 
 XXX. 
 
 Lipsius, Var. Lectt. iii. 5, maintained that this poem is allegorical. In 
 the person of Catullus, Cicero, just then exiled, upbraids his friend Pom- 
 peius, under the name of Alfenus, for not coming to his rescue : a theory 
 as ingenious as some of the allegorical interpretations of Shakspere's 
 sonnets, and as probable. 
 
 But is the passion of which the poem speaks for Alfenus, or for some 
 one else whom Alfenus had urged Catullus to love, and who betrayed the 
 poet's aifection ? The latter view is suggested by 5 me miserum deseris in 
 malis, and 8 Inducens in amorem, quasi tula omnia miforenl, which might 
 well refer to Catullus' amour with Lesbia, dangerous at the outset, see 
 LXVIII. 52, and miserable in its termination. That Catullus was ill- 
 treated by his friends in this very matter is clear from LXXVII, XCI, 
 though there is no hint in the present poem of such a breach of confidence 
 as is there mentioned. Alfenus had certainly not betrayed the poet by 
 making love to his mistress. But if he had concealed the dangers in which 
 an amour with such a woman might well result and refused to do anything 
 when Catullus found himself in them, e. g. in removing the suspicions of 
 Lesbia's husband or others concerned to prevent a scandal, the language 
 of the poem would find an adequate explanation. 
 
 On the other hand, it is not to be denied that the ordinary view, accord- 
 ing to which Alfenus is himself the object of the friendship here described, 
 is, on the whole, more consistent with the general scope of the poem. 
 Cf. dure with Hor. C. iv. i. 40; the emphatic animam trader e, and 
 especially the tone of vv. 9, 10 which recall the passionate complaint of 
 Ariadne, LXIV. 141. The plaintive character of the remonstrance is 
 Theognidean. 
 
 Voss thought it certain that Alfenus is the Alfenus Varus who, according 
 to the scholia on Hor. S. i. 3. 1 30, was originally a barber or shoemaker at 
 Cremona, came to Rome, studied law under the celebrated jurist Servius 
 Sulpicius, and finally became consul. Schwabe observes that the only 
 Alfenus Varus, who is known to have been consul is L. or P. Alfenius 
 Varus consul 755 I 2; a date which is inconsistent with Voss's 
 
 G 
 
82 A COMMENTARY 
 
 suggestion ; but a P. Alfenus is mentioned as consul suflfectus for 7 1 5 | 39, 
 and this may be the Alfenus in question. If so he must have been 
 sufficiently eminent during the latter years of Catullus' life to make his 
 friendship a possibility (cf. Teuffel, Hist. Rom. Lit. 20s. 3) in spite_ of 
 the story of his low origin ; in any case Muretus may be right in thinking 
 that LXXIII is written on the perfidy of the Alfenus addressed in .the 
 present poem. 
 
 The metre, which is choriambic, and is called by Hephaestion d/cara- 
 XriKTov SajTiJbtKoi/ eKKaiSeKutrvWa^ov, is frequently found in Greek poetry. 
 The whole of Sappho's third book and many odes of Alcaeus were 
 composed in it ; it was used by Phrynichus in his Pleuroniae (fr. 6 Nauck), 
 by Theocritus, Eid. 28, and Callimachus, fr. 114; and it was a favorite 
 metre for o-KoXm, e. g. the distich assigned to Praxilla in Aristoph. Vesp. 
 1239, and those quoted by Athen. xv. 695, Bergk Poet. Lyr. Graec. p. 
 1293. One of these may have suggested the form of the poem ; 
 
 ofjris avhpa (f>iXov fxi) TrpoSiSaunv, fieyaXriv ex^t. 
 TLp.av iv T€ ^poToXs ev re Beoiaiv kut ep.6v voov. 
 
 It is expressly stated by Hephaestion that the third book of Sappho was 
 written in distichs, and this is also true of the a-Kokia : I therefore follow 
 Lachmann in supposing Catullus to have written this poem Kara 860. 
 The unintelligible Nee in 4 makes it probable that something is lost 
 before it ; I have indicated a lacuna of two verses. 
 
 1. im.nienior, 'false to your word,' as in LXIV. 58. unanimis, IX. 4. 
 
 2. lam nil miseret, ' Do you cease to pity ? ' lam non duhitas, ' Do 
 you cease to have any scruples ? ' In each case iam expresses the point 
 from which a new line of conduct begins, and an old one ends. diilcis, 
 'loved,' XLV. II. amiouli, imoKopia-TKms, Verr. v. 34. 79. 
 
 3. prodere, particularly used of treachery to a friend, like rrpoSMmi. 
 
 Theogn. 529 OvBeva ttm TTpoijbaKa ^l\ov koI ttuttov Iraipov '.- cf. 813. That 
 
 something is lost after 3 is probable partly from the unintelligible Nee, 
 partly from Qiiae, which seems to refer to several considerations, perhaps 
 the sense of shame, as well as the vengeance of the celestials. 
 
 4. Almost a translation of Od. xiv. 83, 4, as Muretus observed, Ou /lew 
 
 a-Xj^rKia epya Beoi fioKapes (jjiKeovai, 'AXXa BiKrjv tlovul kcu alo'ipa epy dvdpdnrav. 
 
 5. Quae, if no verses are lost, must mean, ' your perfidy and heaven's 
 vengeance;' a very harsh alternative. uegUgis, 'make no account 
 of,' Theocr. xi. 29 nv S' oi fteXfi, oi pa a" ovSh. iu malis is a medical 
 phrase. Cels. iii. 15 z'n malis aeger est. But cf. Eun. ii. 3. I'j me in his 
 deseruisti malis. 
 
 6. dice, a solemn appeal. Hor. C. i. 8. i.; Aen. vi. 343 Die age; 
 Mart. i. 20. I Die mihi, quis furor est ? sometimes rogo, as in Mart. x. 
 41. 3 Die, rogo, quid factum est? ouiue habeaut fidem P Andr. ii. 
 5. 14 Nullane in re esse homini quoiquam fidem ? 
 
 7. Certe, ' at any rate, whatever your conduct now, you led me on at 
 first,' LXIV. 149. an imam, tradere, 'to make over my life,' i. e. to 
 place myself wholly in another's disposal. Rose. Amer. 1. 146 si tibi 
 omnia praeter animam tradidit. inique, ' cruel one,' i. q. the Crudelis 
 of Aen. iv. 311. 
 
 8. InduciBns, ' leading on,' as it were into a country which he knew to 
 be safe. The word is a military one, and is very common in Livy, xliv. 
 
ON CATULLUS. XXXL 83 
 
 40 Maiore periculo quam emolumento exercitum per inuios saltus in Mace- 
 doniam inductum. tuta omnia, ' as if there were no dangers,' such as 
 are to be apprehended in a strange country. Virgil perhaps borrows the 
 expression Aen. iv. 298 Omnia tuta timens. 
 
 9. refcrahiste, ' withdraw.' Hor. Epist. i. 18. 58 Ac ne te relrahas et 
 inexcusabilis abstes. Seneca illustrates the idea, Epist. 16. 9 Reirahe te 
 a uanis, et cum uoks scire quod petes utrum naturalem habeat an caecam 
 cupiditatem, consider a num. possit alicubi consistere ; si longe progresso semper 
 aliquid longius restat, scito id natural/ non esse. dicta factaque, Most, 
 iii. 3. 20, dicto aut facto f alter e. Sen. de dementia 3 etiam inter illos 
 quorum omnia dicta factaque ad utilitatem suam spectant ; Petron. S. i. 
 omnia dicta factaque quasi papauere et sesamo sparsa ; Tac. A. ii. 28 cuncta 
 eius dicta factaque ; Suet. Vesp. 19 imitans facta ac dicta uiui. The 
 combination is of course a common one, like the Greek epyov re oror rt 
 Od. ii. 304, \6rjm (cai eoyo). CatuUus has dictaque factaque sunt ■&% participles, 
 LXXVL 8. 
 
 10. Ventos, LXIV. 59, 142; LXV. 17. irrita ferre, 'bear away 
 
 mlO nullity:' TheOC, xxix. ^^ravra cfiipeiv aveiioiaiveirtrpeveis. neblllas, 
 
 they are dispersed in vapour. 
 
 11. at, 'yet be sure,' solemnly. Aen. i. 542 Si genus humanum et 
 mortalia temnitis arma At sperate decs memoresfandi atque nefandi ; vi. 405, 
 si te nulla mouet . . . At ramum hunc . . . Agnoscas. memiuerunt, 
 meminit. The rhythm of this line would doubtless be improved by 
 reading with Muretus and my MS. c (not a very good one) vieminere et 
 meminit ; as a rule the second choriambus in this metre ends with the last 
 syllable of a word, even in the <r/cdXia, and Horace only once violates it, 
 C. i. 18. 16 prodiga per\lucidior ; yet, as Catullus repeats the licence 
 in 1 2 postmodo fac\ti, and with the first choriambus in 7 . and 8, I have 
 thought it safer to leave the reading of all good MSS. unchanged. It is 
 noticeable that the second choriambus similarly ends after the first syllable 
 of a word in the two Greek verses quoted in the introduction. 
 
 12. postmodo. Hor. C. i. 28. 31 ; Tib. ii. 5. 102; Prop. ii. 10. 18. 
 facti faciet confirms the similar juxtaposition meminerunt, meminit ; in 
 each case ^e repetition of the word conveys extra solemnity. 
 
 XXXL 
 
 Catullus tells us in 5 that he had just returned from Bithynia 
 when he wrote these lines. This, on the ordinary hypothesis that 
 Memmius was propraetor of Bithynia in 57 b. c, the year which fol- 
 lowed his praetorship at Rome, and held his province for not more than 
 a year, wDuld fix the date of the poem at 56 b. c. : if, as I have sug- 
 gested, Catullus was with Memmius in 65-64 b. c, in this latter year. 
 C. IV, the dedication of the Phasellus, was no doubt written at the same 
 time. 
 
 Sirmio, now Sermione, is at the present day planted with olives ; but 
 at the northern extremity the remains of a villa are still to be seen, which 
 have been identified with the house of Catullus. Orti, however, under 
 whose superintendence they were excavated some years ago, has shown 
 
84 A COMMENTARY 
 
 that they belong to a much later period, probably the reign of Constan- 
 tine. 
 
 The lacus Benacus {Garda) was in Veronensi agro Plin. H. N. ix. 75: 
 but Cluverius Ital. Antiq. p. 239, Maffei Verona lUustrata iii. 27, and 
 Schwabe Quaestt. Catull. p. 29, rightly combat the view of Bahr and 
 others that Catullus was born in Sirmio, of which there is no evidence in 
 this poem or elsewhere : for this is more than can be fairly inferred from 
 the mention of the lar in 9, in spite of such passages as Liu. i. 29, 
 quoted by Conr. de AUio, Larem ac Penates tedaque in quibus natus quis- 
 que educatusque fuissei. 
 
 1. Paene insularum insularumque. This description is still true. 
 Sirmio is connected with the mainland by a narrow strip of land which 
 is at times submerged, and then gives the peninsula the appearance of 
 an island. See Cluverius Ital. Antiq. p. 259. Sirmio, a projection 
 from the South shore of Garda, which it divides into two nearly equal 
 halves, the easternmost of which terminates at Peschiera, the western at 
 Desenzano. 
 
 2. Ocelle, of anything particularly precious or beautiful, as we might say 
 'jewel.' Att. xvi. 6. 2 Cur ocellos Italiae uillulas meas non uideo ? So 3fijna, 
 Eur. Phoen. 802, quoted by Mr. Johnson in Bristed's Catullus, 'ApreiicSos 
 Xi-ovoTp6<j)ov onfm Kidatpav. stagnis, according to Voss, not only lakes 
 but mediterranean seas, as opposed to the great circumambient Ocean, 
 mari uasio. He quotes a fragment of Varro's Chorographia, ap. Priscian. 
 p. 100 Ergo inter solis staiionem et sidera septem Exporrecta iacet tellus ; 
 huic extima fluctu Oceani, interior Neptuno cingitur ora, and Colum. 
 X. 200, where pater Oceanus is opposed to regnator aquarum, Neptune. 
 It seems more natural to explain stagnis of lakes or inland sheets 
 of water, mari of any sea, mediterranean or other. Hquentitous de- 
 fines stagnis, which in itself might be applied to any piece of water 
 not river or sea, as sheets of flowing, and therefore more or less clear, 
 water. The two ideas seem to pass into each other, 'liquid' and 
 'clear;' Catullus has liquidas undas LXIV. 2, 'flowing waves;' Virgil, 
 liquentia flumina, campi liquentes, ' clear flowing rivers,' ' plains of clear 
 flowing water:' it seems to me certain that neither liqmns nor liquidus 
 ever mean simply ' clear,' but always convey the idea of fluidity in some 
 form. 
 
 3. uterque Neptunus, either Neptune, i. e. the water-god in either 
 capacity, as ruler of lakes or sea, the sense of uterque being in fact de- 
 termined by stagnis and mari. According to Servius on G. i. 13, Nep- 
 tunus was the god of water generally, presiding over rivers and springs 
 as well as the sea. So Mart. vii. 40. 2 Pectore non humili passtis utrum- 
 que deum, where utrumque is under both aspects, mild or st-ern. Lib. 
 Spectac. xiii. 5, Experta est numen moriens utriusque Dianae, of a sow 
 killed by a spear while giving birth to a pig, and thus the victim of 
 Diana, (i) as goddess of childbirth, and (2) as huntress and slayer of wild 
 beasts. Anth. P. ix. 268. 2, dutponprjv "ApTepiv, similarly. Aristoph. 
 Plut. 396, quoted in Tozer's Geog. of Greece, p. loi. XP. N^ top UoneiSS). 
 
 BA. Toj» BoKdrnov Xeyti? ; XP. Ei 8' fVriv erspos Tis Hoo-eiSmp, tov hfpov. This 
 is the view of Turnebus Advers. xxiv. 44 ; others make uterque Neptunus, 
 'either sea,' the mare superum or inferum ; as Lucan ii. 399 speaks of 
 
ON CATULLUS. XXXL 85 
 
 the Apennines dividing the gemmae undae of the lower and upper sea; 
 biTt this is inconsistent with Uqmntibus siagnis, Marique uasio. 
 
 5. Thuniam atque Bithunos. Domitius Callistratus, a writer 
 seemingly contemporary with Catullus, and Arrian, agree in making the 
 river Psilion the boundary between the Thynian and Bithynian territory. 
 
 Steph. B. ■^iKiov iroTafios fiera^v Bwias Ka'i Bidvvias, where Domitius IS 
 
 quoted. Eustath. ad Dionys. Perieg. 793, cited by Miiller, Fragm. Hist. 
 
 Graec. iii. 594 Aeyfrai 8e Koi OTt Trjv awb Boa-TTOpov y^c ems eVl 'Prj^uvra Bi- 
 dvvoi TTore Karfor^^nv. rrjv 8e avTov imKdva eVl XlovTov opetvrjv oi Guvol taxov axpi' 
 TTora/iioD KdXijTof, my elvai o/idpovs rois re Ovvoiis Koi Tovs BiBvvois, ovtoi koKov- 
 fievovs dno tivchv dSf\(j>av Qvvov Kal Bidvvov, Kadi (jirjcriv 'AppiavSs, hs Koi yvr](riov 
 waiSa ^ivecos laropel Iia<p\ay6va, e^ oJ X'"/"' HacfAayovia, Km yrjv \iyei Pt;- 
 ^avTiav rrjv irpos ra ^iXXt'o) noTa/i^ . . . Ae'yet 8e d airos 'Appiavos Kal oTt aXXoi 
 OSpvaov TraiSas (pa<n top Qvvov Kal tov Bi6vv6v^ hv fj x^P^ opMvvfios* 
 
 6. campos, XLVI. 4, 5. From, these two passages we may perhaps 
 infer that, for at least part of his sojourn in Bithynia, Catullus was sta- 
 tiqned in the level district west of the Sangarius, the only part of this 
 generally mountainous region to which the word campi could properly be 
 applied. in tuto, cV atr^aKfi, Merc. iii. 2. 48 ; Fam. xii. 2, 3 ; Varro, 
 R. R. ii. 9.15: the expression belongs to the same class as in prompiu 
 in dubio in mundo in medio, Holtze Synt. i. p. 82. 
 
 7. solutis curis, ' than putting off the burden of care.' The ordinary 
 prose use, soluere curis animuvi is here varied by the more poetical soluere 
 curas animi, as in Aen. i. 562 Soluite corde meium. Martial, x. 30. 3 
 inquietas fessus exuit curas, gives the idea more definitely : cares are 
 stript off like so many encumbering trappings. Part of the felicity of this 
 well-known line lies in its suggesting, by the form of the expression, that 
 the cares now past are as past an actual pleasure; cf. Soph. Fragm. 344 
 
 Nauck, TT&vov iJ,fTaXhax6(VTOs ol ttovoi yXvKiis. 
 
 8. peregrine Labore, 'toil abroad,' including the actual toil of 
 travelling. 
 
 9. larem. The first thing a Roman would do on returning from a 
 lengthened absence would be ■ to salute the houshold God, as the 
 paterfamilias is enjoined to do on entering a new farm. Cato, R. R. ii. 
 
 I, Colum. i. 8. 20. nostrum, by its position is emphasized, 'our own.' 
 
 10. acquiescimus, Cic. de Orat. ii. 71. 290 deuersorio libenter ac- 
 quieturum. 
 
 11. 'This, this is the one compensation for all that load of toil;' i.e. 
 thus to find oneself at home is payment in full for all the fatigues of the 
 journey. Catullus does not, I think, mean any allusion to the unre- 
 munerative character of his employment with Memmius ; which is alien 
 to the tone of perfect happiness throughout the poem. 
 
 12. uenusta, rarely of places. Phaedr. iv. 5. 34 uenustis hortulis=- 
 delicatis horiulis, 26. The epithet, hardly as much as our 'lovely,' falls 
 short, at least to a modern eye, of the actual beauty of Sirmio, with its 
 high cliffs descending into the transparently blue water, and the exquisite 
 colour of the surrounding land and sky. hero gaude, ' rejoice in thy 
 master ' = ' welcome thy master with rejoicing;' Catullus has already ex- 
 pressed in Salue his own joy at returning : in hero gaude he expresses the 
 joy of his house and houshold to see their master again. Hero is abl., 
 the invariable construction with gaudere in Catullus ; cf. LV. 20, LXVIIL 
 
86 A COMMENTARY 
 
 103, 125, XCV. 10, XCVI. 6. It is very doubtful whether hero gaude 
 can mean, as Statius suggested, ' take thy master's welcome,' hero thus 
 being dat. as in salue aeternum mihi Aen. xi. 97 ; uale mihi Prop. iii. 
 21. 16 : d. vw irao-i x"'/"" O. T. 596, although Horace's use oi gaudere 
 as a form of greeting, Epist. i. 8. i, might seem to give a colour to that 
 interpretation. 
 
 13. uosque, 'ye also,' as in Prop. iii. 21.16 Qualiscunque mihi tuque puella 
 uale. In both passages, the que, out of its proper place, repeats the-verb of 
 the former line, gaude, Gaudete uosque ; ualeatis amici, Qualiscunque tuque 
 uale. Lydiae is explained as referring to the Tuscan settlement in 
 the plains of the Po, mentioned by Liu. v. 33 Tiiscorum ante Romanum 
 imperium late terra marique opes paiuere. Mari supero inferoque quibus 
 Italia insulae modo cingitur quantum potuerint nomina sunt argumenio : 
 quod alterum Tuscum communi uocdbulo gentis, alterum Hadriaticum mare 
 ab Hadria Tuscorum colonia uocauere lialicae gentes. Graeci eadem 
 Graecum atque Hadriaticum uocant. Hi in utrumque mare uergenies 
 incoluere urbibus duodenis terras ; prius cis Apenninum ad Inferum mare, 
 postea trans Apenninum totidem quot capita originis erant coloniis missis ; 
 quae trans Padum omnia loca, excepto Venetorum angulo, qui sinum circum- 
 colunt maris, usque ad Alpes tenuere. Tac. A. iv. 55 Tyrrhenum 
 Lydumque Atye rege genitos ob muliitudinem diuisisse gentem, Lydum palriis 
 in terris resedisse, Tyrrheno datum nouas ut conderet sedes et ducum e nomi- 
 nibus indita uocabula illis per Asiam, his in Italia. Appian. Pun. 66 
 AuSouff axnov^ KaXoCcrt, ort oi\j.ai Tvpprivoi Avbav arroiKoi. The Original SOUrce 
 
 of this statement is Herod, i. 94. Pliny mentions Bononia, formerly 
 called Felsina, cum princeps Etruriae esset (H. N. iii. 115), Atna (iii. 120), 
 and Mantua (iii. 130), as of Tuscan origin (cf. Virg. Aen. x. 199-203, 
 with the comments of Servius and the Veronese Scholia), and speaks of 
 a trench, of which they were the first constructors, connecting the river 
 Sagis with the marshes of Atria (iii. 120). All these places are in the 
 vicinity of Lake Benacus, which indeed at its Northern extremity abuts 
 on the Raetian Alps, according to some ethnologists the cradle of the 
 Etruscan race. Hence there would be no greater violence in Catullus 
 calling the Benacus Lydian, than in Cicero's speaking of a Lydius haru- 
 spex of Tyrrhenian race, Carm. de Consul. Suo 34 in De Diuin. i. 12. 
 19; Virgil's Lydius Tibris Aen. ii. 782, cf. Stat. S. i. 2. 190; Horace's 
 Lydorum quicquid Etruscos Incoluit fines S. i. 6. i ; Statius' Lydia ripa 
 S. iv. 4. 6, of the Etruscan side of the Tiber. undae attracts the 
 adj. Lydiae into its own gender, the natural construction would be Lydii 
 lacus undae. See on XVII.- 19, and'cf. Aesch. Eum. 292 x'"?'^^ '" '■"'"■ot 
 Ai/3u(TriKois : Prop. i. 20. 9 Gigantea litoris ora. 
 
 14. 'Laugh out all hearty laughter at my home,' as in III. i, 2 
 Lugete . . . quantum est hominum. Each of the three verses, 12-14, 
 begins with an imperative, and each has a distinct vocative ; hence the 
 interpretation of Statius, ' laugh out, ye waves, with all of ringing laughter 
 that is at home,' is less probable. cachinni is used of the plashing 
 of waves, LXIV. 273; but here domi defines the word in its literal 
 sense : cf. XIII. 5. 
 
ON CATULLUS. XXXIL 87 
 
 XXXII. 
 
 If Ipsiihilla {Ipsililld) is rightly elicited from the various spellings of 
 the MSS. of this poem, it is doubtful whether the name is an actual one, 
 or coined, on the analogy of actual names from a word indicative of 
 the woman's profession. BUcheler on Petron. S. 63, comparing Ipsa = 
 domina, ipsimus ipsima=.dominus domina, Issa issulus, names of endear- 
 ment in Inscriptt., Issa name of a pet-dog in Mart. i. 109, considers 
 Ipsiiilla a diminutive of Ipsa, expressive of fondness, ' my darling 
 mistress.' Names in ilia are common in Inscriptt. and several occur 
 in Martial, Maronilla i. 10. r, Vetustilla iii. 93. i, Chrestilla viii. 43. i, 
 Telesilla xi. 47. 2, AUicilla xii. 79. 4. This seems a more probable view 
 than that which makes it the diminutive of an actual name, e. g. Hypsaea 
 Hor. S. 1. 2. 91, or as Scaliger thought Hypsithea. 
 
 1. Amabo, ' pray' or ' please,' a constantly recurring form of entreaty 
 in Plautus and Terence. Lindemann on Mil. G. iii. 3. 26, quoted by 
 Holtze Synt. ii. 160, explains it as originally used with some clause such 
 as ' if you do what I wish,' which was afterwards dropped, and amabo used 
 simply z.%=obs.ecro, oro etc. The correlative si me amas is also not 
 unfrequent. Merc. iii. i. 42 Amabo te, an Tnariiusl? Eun. i. 2. 50 
 Hoc agite amabo. Att. ii. 2. i Cur a, amabo te, Ciceronem nostrum; 
 xvi. 2. 2 Sed amabo te, mi Attice, (uidesne quam blande ?) which shows 
 it was used coaxingly. Mart, viii. 76. i Die uerum mihi, Marce, die 
 amabo. 
 
 2. lepores, 'charmer.' Plautus similarly, Cas. i. i. 47 Mea uita, 
 mea mellilla, meq. festiuitas ; ii. 3. 18 Respiee mi lepos. 
 
 3. lube. . . ueniam, a less frequent construction than the infin. Eun. 
 iv. 4. 24, Ouid. Am. i. 11. 19 perlectis rescribat multa iubeto. meridi- 
 atum, supine of meridio or meridior, iicarniPpi^iiv or iKo^ix^pm^eiv, ' to 
 take a siesta or noon-day nap.' Suet. Calig. 38 Gloriatusque est experge- 
 
 factae Caesoniae quantum egisset dum ea meridiaret. In what sense Catullus 
 here uses the word is explained by LXI. iii, Am. i. 5. ueniam, 
 Prop. iii. 25. 15 Aut dixit ' uenies, hodie cessabimus una.' 
 
 4. illud adiuuato, cognate accus. 'help me so far.' Eun. i. 2. 70 Id 
 amabo adiutes me quo id fiat facilius. The illud refers to what follows; 
 to connect it, as Lachmann, with iusseris, emphasizes an unemphatic 
 word and spoils the rhythm of the line. 
 
 5. tabellam. The house-door (ianua) contained two leaves or valves 
 (fores), which, as made of wooden boards or planks (aav'Aei), might 
 naturally be called tabulae. So Voss, and Rich Companion p. 638. One 
 tabula is mentioned here as Horace mentions one /oris S. i. 2. 67. 
 When no admittance could be given to any but the favoured lover, it was 
 usual to write on the door notice that the lady was engaged, Asin. iv. i. 15, 
 or send a message that somebody else was within, "EvSov eVcpos Lucian 
 Dial. Meretr. 12. 
 
 9. Si quid ages, euphemistic, like /aiT jz'/am Mart. i. 46. I. statim 
 iubeto, give instant orders to that effect : we are not to understand ueniam 
 after iubeto, but the general meaning is to be elicited from si quid ages, 
 
88 A COMMENTARY 
 
 The future imperative iubeto like adiuuato seems intended to emphasize 
 the message, ' be sure you order.' 
 
 10. pransus, and so paraius. Varro called one of his Menippean 
 Satires Pransus paratus, cf. a fragm. of his Flaxtabula, ap. Non. 458 
 Quare, O Marce, pransum acparatum esse hominem. oportet. iaceo ; the 
 Romans seem often to have slept after their prandium, of. Most. iii. 2. 4-9, 
 Pseud, ii. 2. 69 uU prandero, dabo operam somno : hence it is clear that the 
 prandium was not an English breakfast, but a continental ddjeHner. 
 
 11. Eur. Cycl. 328 ■niitKov Kpoiai 6.10s ^povralmv eis epiv KTVirav. Mart. 
 
 xi. 16. 5. pallium, the outer garment, tunica the inner: Conr. de AUio 
 aptly quotes the proverb tunica pallio propior. 
 
 XXXIII. 
 
 Nothing is more constantly mentioned in antiquity than the thefts 
 practised in baths. Aristotle discusses the subject in his Problems, 
 xxix. 14, and a ruhrica in the Digest xlvii. 17, de furibus balneariis, 
 mentions the penalties of this kind of robbery. Plautus assigns a reason 
 for its frequency, Rud. ii. 3. 51 : 
 
 Qui it lauatum in 
 Balineas ibi cum sedulo sua ttestimenta seruat, 
 Tamen surripiuntur ; quippe qui, quern illorum seruei, /alsmt. 
 Fur facile quern, obseruel, uidet : custos, qui fur sit, nescit. 
 Epictetus Encheir. 9 lav Xovtrojievos dmris irpo^aKe <T€avTa to. yiyvojieva iv 
 ^dKaveic^, tovs atroppaivovras, tovs eKKpovopevovs, tovs \oi8opovvras, tovs 
 
 fiaXavevTas (Vulp.), and Seneca Epist. 56. 1-3 describing the incidents 
 of a bath, Adice nunc scordalum, et furem deprehensum, et ilium cui uox 
 sua in balneo placet, both mention the thief as a phenomenon sure to 
 recur. Cf. Hesych. \anvoimaC KKiirrai, ano^vovTfs, iv "koVTpdis KkeirTovres. 
 Petron. S. 30 Seruus nobis despoliatus procubuit ad pedes ac rogare coepit 
 ut se poenae eriperemus ; nee magnum esse peccatum suum, propter quod 
 pericliiaretur ; subducta enim sibi uestimenta dispensatoris in balneo, quae 
 uix fuissent decern sestertiorum. A special class of slaves, capsarii, took 
 charge of the clothes of the bathers, Dig. i. 15. 3, and were often them- 
 selves guilty of purloining them : Aduersus capsarios quoque qui mercede 
 seruanda in balineis uestimenta suscipiunt, index est constitutus, ut siquid in 
 seruandis tiestimentis fratidulenter admiserint, ipse cognoscat. Cf A. A. iii. 
 639. Marcilius quotes Acron's remark on Hor. Ep. i. 16. 60 fures 
 lauaiores dicuntur, which Acron connects with Lauerna. 
 
 1. optime, ' most skilful,' as we might say ' prince.' So apujTos is used 
 in malam partem Thuc. iii. 38 ; Virgil has Boni calamos inflare Eel. v. 
 I, pedibus, lingua melior Aen. ix. 556, xi. 338, Plautus probus 
 parasitus, praestigiator (Pers. i. 3. 43, Poen. v. 3. 6), proba Una (True, 
 ii. I. 14). 
 
 3. dextra, the hand less distinctly associated with thieving : possibly 
 Catullus implies that Vibennius took no trouble to conceal his thefts. 
 iuquinatiore, as we talk of dirty hands : see however on XXV. 9. 
 
 4. uoraciore. Mart. ii. 51. 5, 6. The MSS. have a strange variant, 
 
ON CATULLUS. XXXIV. 89 
 
 uolantiore, which may be a real adj. = ' more thievish ;' cf. inuolare and note 
 on XXV. 6. This would give a more exact balance to the two lines, 
 the epithet in each case being transferred from its proper noun to that 
 which it only suits metaphorically; strictly we should expect dextra 
 uolantiore, culo inquinaliore, as Carrion and Hand each independently 
 suggested in proposing to write Nam dextra pater est uoraciore, Culo 
 filius inquinatiore. 
 
 5- Cur non Itis ? = ite actutum. Poen. v. 4. 55 Cur non agimus f 
 Eun. iii. 2. 13 Quid stamus ? Cur non imus hinc f exilium depends 
 on in referred backwards from in eras, as Pers. i. 131 Nee qui abaca 
 numeros et secto in puluere metas Scit risisse uafer ; Hor. C. iii. 25. 2. 
 malas in eras, ' shores of perdition ; ' cf. i in malam crucem, malum 
 cruciatum, malam rem. Very similarly, Phorm. v. 7. 85 Non hoc publicitus 
 scelus hinc deportarier In solas terras? The MSS. read horas, a spelling 
 frequently found in good MSS. 
 
 6. quandoctTiidem, a distinct quadrisyllable as in XL. 7. rapinae, 
 Mart. viii. 64. 15. 
 
 7. populo, ' to everybody,' so proferre in populum Petron. S. 1 7. 
 pilosas, Pers. iv. 39-41, luuen. ix. 15. 
 
 8. uenditare, frequentative, ' make trade of 
 
 XXXIV. 
 
 That this poem was not composed for any performance of ludi 
 saeculares, as Scaliger and Voss thought, is clear, (i) from the absence 
 of any such title in the MSS, where it is called Carmen Dianae, (2) from 
 the fact that Censorinus, who gives the supposed dates of the secular 
 games (De Die Natali xvii), mentions none between the fourth celebration, 
 variously dated in 605, 608, or 628 a.v.c, and those solemnized by 
 Augustus in 737 | 17, for which Horace wrote his Carmen Saeculare, (3) 
 from the express statement of Suetonius Claud. 2 1 that they had Ijeen 
 long dropped when Augustus restored them, (4) from the hymn being 
 addressed to Diana, not to Dis and Proserpina, the deities specially 
 worshipped in the celebration of the Republican ludi, (5) from the poem 
 itself, which contains no hint of such a purpose. 
 
 It was however, I think, written for a public occasion, as otherwise 
 there is little force in 22-24. Catullus may have been commissioned to 
 write it as Liuius Andronicus (Liu. xxvii. 37), P. Licinius Tegula (xxxi. 
 12), and at a later time Horace were (Schwabe Quaestt. p. 356), perhaps 
 when the Sibylline books were consulted (Marcilius Asterism. in loc.) 
 or on the Ides of August, a day sacred to^ Diana (Bentley, Preface to 
 Horace), or on the last day of March, which was consecrated to her as 
 the goddess Luna of the Aventine (Quid. F. iii. 883, Preller Rom. Mythol. 
 p. 289). 
 
 The poem may be compared with Horace's Ode to Apollo and Diana 
 (i. 21), the occasion of which is equally unknown. Both poems were 
 sung by a mixed chorus of boys and girls. Strophes 2, 4 were perhaps 
 sung by girls ; 3 and 5 by boys ; i and 6 by both together. 
 
 The metre, three Glyconics followed by a Pherecratean, is found in 
 Anacreon fr. 4, 6, 8, 14; cf. Aristoph. Eq. 969-992. The actual hymn 
 
90 A COMMENTARY 
 
 of Anacreon to Artemis fr. i Bergk seems to have consisted of two 
 systems of 3 and 5 verses respectively ; the first, two Glyconics and a 
 Pherecratean ; the second, four Glyconics and a Pherecratean. 
 
 1. in fide, i. e. Diana is pledged to guard us : ' clients of Diana are 
 we.' Rose. Am. xxxiii. 93 quaere in cuius fide sint et clientela, xxxvii. 106 
 cum multos ueteres a maioribus Roscii patronos hospitesque haberenl, omnes eos 
 colere alque obseruare destiterunt ac se in Chrysogoni fidem et clientelam con- 
 tulerunt, Plauc. xli. 97 cum omnia ilia municipia quae sunt a Vibone 
 Brundisium in fide mea essent, Fam. xiii. 65 ea societas uniuersa in mea 
 fide est. 
 
 2. integri, ' chaste,' XV. 4, as becomes the singers of a hymn to the 
 goddess of chastity, Aen. xi. 583. integri, as 3, 4 prove, does not ejctend 
 to puellae ; cf. Horace's Virgines lectas puerosque castas C. S. 6. 
 
 5-8. This strophe shows that Catullus is not confining himself to the 
 purely Roman conception of Diana, which otherwise he might seem to 
 have done. Horace is more definitely Greek ; he speaks of Diana in 
 connexion not only with Algidus, but Erymanthus and Cragus, i. 21. 
 
 7-9- 
 
 5. Iiatouia, child of Latona by Jupiter. Od. vi. 106, H. Horn, xxvii. 
 19, 21, Hes. Theog. 918. maximi Magna. Sallust. de R. P. ii. 4 
 maxumum ex magna fieri. Quid. Pont. iv. 2. i uates magnorum maxime 
 
 7. According to the Homeric Hymn to the Delian Apollo 16, Artemis 
 was not born with Apollo in Delos, but in Ortygia, and Theognis 5-10, 
 as well as Callimachus Del. fin. seem to speak of Delos as the birthplace 
 of Apollo only. But Pindar in a ■npoaiiuiv to Delos, fr. 64, 65 Bergk 
 
 cited by Strabo 4^5 ^iv^euerat evravda ^ Atjtco tus oybivas airtiBidBai tov tc 
 
 'AttoXXwi/os KOI T^s'ApTE^iSos, aud Arrlan ap. Eustath. ad Dionys. Perieg. 
 
 525 A^Xoff fj TrdXat ttXwt^ ovtra eaTT] ore t] ArjTco eire^rj aurijff didviiovs €\ovtra 
 
 jrdtSas, (cf. Ennius ap. Varr. L. L. vii. 16,) show that the other version 
 which represented Leto as giving birth to twins in Delos was equally 
 accredited, though perhaps of later origin. Catullus may have visited 
 Delos during his Bithynian journey, perhaps in returning from it. 
 
 8. Deposiuit, an archaic form. The word seems to translate Calli- 
 machus' <j)l\<av dneSriKaTo KoXnav H. Dian. 25. Phaedrus uses it of a dog 
 dropping her young i. 19. 4, of a woman giving birth to a child i. 18. 5. 
 oliuam. The legend was that Leto lightened the pangs of parturition 
 by grasping either a palm tree (Hom. H. ApoU. 117, Theogn. 5-10, 
 Callim. Del. 209) or an olive (Hyg. 53, 140, Tac. Ann. iii. 61) or a bay. 
 Euripides Hec. 451-461, Ion 919-920 mentions the palm and bay, I. "T. 
 1099-1 102 the palm, bay, and olive, together. Aelian V. H. v. 4 following 
 a Xoyor A^Xios asserts that an olive and palm sprang up to assist Leto in 
 her travail; and so Quid. M. vi. 335, xiii. 635. Catullus leaves it doubtful 
 what part he assigns to the tree. Callimachus H. Dian. 24, 25 makes the 
 birth of Artemis anoyrfri, and this would quite accord with the use of 
 deposiuit; but, as noticed above, Callimachus does not seem to have con- 
 nected the birth of Artemis with Delos, consequently with the attendant 
 tree, at all. 
 
 9. Montium domina, a Greek more than Roman attribute. Od. vi. 
 
 102 017 &"'ApTefiis fi(Ti KOT oSpeos loj(eaipa''ii Kara TrjiyeToi/ ireptpfiKCTov ^ 'Epi- 
 
ON CATULLUS. XXXIV. 91 
 
 fuivBov, Horn. H. xxvii. 4 Kar Sprj a-KwevTa Kai aKpws rp/ffiOitraas "Ayp.i; 
 Ttfrnoixivrj. Callim. Dian. 18 Aor 8e fjLOi ovpea navra, 20 Ovpttriv olKrjcra. 
 
 10. Siluaminque, laxe'i 8' tm Bda-Kios v\ri Horn. H. xxvii. 7. The 
 Roman Diana was particularly associated with woods, Aen. iii. 679; 
 Servius on G. iii. 332 omm's quercus lout est consecrata, et omnis lucus 
 Dianae : hence her name Nemorensis at Aricia, and her connexion with 
 Virbius, the demon-god of the forest. Virgil calls her nemorum cultrix 
 Aen. xi. 557, Horace siluarum potens C. S. i. 
 
 11. Saltuumque reconditonun, ' retired pasture grounds,' here com- 
 bined with rivers as in Virg. G. iii. 143. Nemesianus Cyn. 48, describing 
 the huntsman's haunts, Nos saltus uiridesque plagas camposque palenies 
 Scrutamur, 53 nos flumineas errare per umhras Malumus; again 86 
 he invokes the huntress-goddess Diana as quae saltus placidos siluasque 
 pererras, Latonae, Phoebe, magnum decus, and summons to attend her the 
 Naiads, Dryads, and Nymphs unde amnibus umor. 
 
 12. Amniumque sonantum. Hor. C. i. 21. 5. The epithet ex- 
 presses the loud roar of a full and rushing stream Trora/iot KtKabovTts 
 
 Theocr. xvii. 92, Apoll. R. i. 501, iroTapm KcXaSevm peovTcs ApoU. R. 
 iii. 532. 
 
 13. Diana was identified with luno Lucina as the goddess of childbirth. 
 Varro L. L. v. 69 Quae [Diana) t'deo quoqueuidetur ab Latinis luno Lucina 
 dicta uel quod et ea terra, ut Physici dicunt, et lucet ; uel quod ab luce eius 
 qua quis concepius est usque ad eam qua partus quis in lucem luna (codd. 
 und) iuuat, donee mensibus actis produxit in lucem, ficta a iuuando et luce 
 luno Lucina : a quo parientes eam inuocant, luna enim nascentium dux quod 
 menses huius. Cic. N. D. ii. 67 Luna a lucendo nominaia sit, eadem est 
 enim Lucina. Itaque ut apud Graecos Dianam eamque Luciferam, sic 
 apud nos lunonem Lucinam in pariendo inuocant, quae eadem Diana 
 omniuaga dicitur. Adhibetur autem ad partus, quod iimxiturescunt. . . . nouem 
 lunae cursibus. Plut. Q. R. 7 7 AovKH'aw''Hpai' KoKovaiv olov (jjaewfjv rj (jxari^ovrrav 
 Kal vopX^ovtrav ev rdls Xo^eiais Koi OiBiO'L ^OT/delv &(nrep Koi Trjif a-eXrjvrji/ dia 
 Kvdveov 7r6\vv acrrpav 8id t' oikvtSkoio <Te\dvas, a quotation from the 
 Artemis of the lyric poet Timotheus fr. 2 Bergk. The moon's moisture, 
 according to Macrob. S. ix. 16. 26-28, was supposed to distend the pores 
 and passages of the body, and thus accelerate parturition. The identi- 
 tication of Diana with Lucina has its counterpart in Greek mythology : 
 Artemis is also goddess of childbirth, Theoc. xxvii. 29, 30, Plut. p. 658. 
 In this capacity, as relieving the pangs of maternity, she is iioyoardKos 
 Aoxf ia or 'UKvKoxfia : Callimachus connects this with her own easy birth 
 from Leto, H. Dian. 21-25. 
 
 15. potens, probably in reference to magic rites with which as Hecate 
 she was invoked at the triuia, or places where three roads meet. 
 Aen. iv. 609, Tib. i. 5. 16. Quid. Her. xii. 167 Ipsi me cantus herbaeque 
 artesque relincunt. Nil dea, nil Hecates sacra potentis agunt. Aen. vi. 
 247 Voce uocans Hecaten coeloque Ereboque potentem. So Hecate, from her 
 power in the under- world, is called haaiMfris Theoc. ii. 14. Triuia, 
 TpioSirif Chariclides Comic, in Main. Com. Fragm. iv. p. 556, Varro L. L. vii. 
 16 Titanis Triuia Diana est, ab eo dicta Triuia, quod in triuio ponitur fere 
 in oppidis Graecis, uel quod luna dicitur esse, qime in caelo tribus uiis mouetur 
 in altitudinem et latitudinem et longitudinem. Macrob. S. i. 9. 6 Dianae 
 ut Triuiae uiarum omnium tribuunt poteslalem. notho, ' counterjeit,' 
 
92 A COMMENTARY 
 
 i. e. borrowed from the sun. Lucr. v. S75 Lunaque sine notho fertur 
 loca lumine lus trans Sine suam propria iadat de corpore lucem ; Philo i. 628 
 uses voBov <j)eyyos of the moon's light in opposition to yvrjo-iov the genuine 
 Jight of the sun (Liddell and Scott s. u.). Plut. Q. R. 76 Trpoo-e'x""' f^Aet 
 
 T(5 KpeiTTOvi KOI SevTepeviiv, afi TraiTTaLvovaa irpbs aiyas rjeXioio, Kara tov 
 liapiieviSriv. Muretus quotes Festus s. u. Mulus. Mulus uehiculo lunae 
 adhibetur, quod ut mulus nan suo genere sed equis orius, sic ea solis nan suo 
 fulgore luceat. 
 
 17-20. ' Thou, goddess, as thy monthly progress metes out thy circuit 
 year by year, fiUest the farmer's grange with goodly fruits abundantly.' 
 For the moon makes the months, and the months make up the year. 
 
 17. dea. The moon seems to have been sometimes called lana by 
 country people (Varro R. R. i. 37. 3), perhaps merely another form of 
 Diana as explained by Macrob. i. 9. 8. menstruo. Varro R, R. i. 5. 
 4 quoted by Vulp. contrasts the monthly circuit of the vioon with the 
 yearly circuit of the sun, quae ad solis circuHum annuum sint referenda et 
 quae ad Lunae menstruum cursum. Catullus regards the year as de- 
 termined by the moon only. 
 
 18. Metiens. Both \i-T]vr], moon, and \>.r\v, mensis, month, are from the root 
 ma, to measure. iter annuum, iio\.=-iter anninox even iter anni reuer- 
 tentis, though annuus is sometimes ' of a year's duration' simply as in Fam. 
 viii. 14. 2 pacem annuam, Ouid. M. xiv. 308 Annua nos illic tenuit mora, 
 sometimes with the farther notion of a returning cycle as in Fast. ii. 851 
 capit annua consul lura, ib. i. 38, and perhaps Aen. v. 46 ; but ' thy yearly 
 circuit,' i. e. the circuit which the moon makes every year. 
 
 19. bonis frugibus, a thoroughly Roman combination, as shown by 
 honaefrugi. 
 
 20. exples, ' fillest to the brim.' 
 
 21-24. It was customary to allude to the different names of the god 
 
 invoked. Aesch. Ag. 160 Zeis oo-t-u ttot-' iariv, el t68' av- | to! (\>iKov kckKt]- 
 p-eva, where Klausen quotes Plat. Crat. 400 Seirepos S' aS rponos o/jfidnjror, 
 wcTTrep iv TOis evx^ts vopos iariv 7)pXv 6if;(e(r5at oiTLves re Ka\ oTroOev ^aipovtrtv 
 
 ovopaCoiMivoc. Callimachus assigns to Artemis nokvaivvjiij) Dian. 7, 
 where Spanheim cites Aristoph. Thesmoph. 320 ■nokvamps, eripo(f)6vri vai, 
 AoToCs p^puo-ffiTTiSos fpKOf. So Horacc C. S. 16. 
 
 22. Sancta, ' hallowed,' participial : unless indeed Catullus here takes 
 one of Diana's titles (cf. Orelli Inscript. 1444 Dianae Sanctae), and gives 
 it a general meaning. nomine, e. g. Genitalis (Hor. C. S. 16 Siue tu 
 Lucina probas uocari Seu Genitalis) Lucifera Segetia (Spanheim 1. q.)^ 
 Triformis Triplex Montana Siluestris Nemorensis Patrona. 
 
 23. Antique, Hor. Ep. ii. i. 66, ' in the old way,' in close connexion with 
 solila es. Scaliger proposed to read Ancique (a reading actually found in my 
 MS. h), interpreting Romuli Ancique gentem 2ii,-=.populum Romanum. Ancus 
 is called bonus by Ennius (Ann. 150 Vahlen) and is mentioned with Numa 
 and Tullus as a type of the early Roman kings by Horace C. iv. 7.15, 
 Ep. i. 6. 27, by Virgil Aen. vi. 816, as traditionally ingratiating himself 
 with the people. Niebuhr supposed that Ancus in transporting to Rome the 
 Latins whom he had conquered in his wars, and giving them settlements on 
 the Aventine, laid the foundation of the plebs : on this view Romuli Ancique 
 gentem -^oxHiA^populum plebemque (Lectures on Rom. Hist. i. p. 81, Eng. 
 Transl.) This ' brilliant discovery,' not of Scaliger, but the Italians of 
 
ON CATULLUS. XXXV. 93 
 
 the 1 6th_ century, is, I think, improbable, (i) as pedantic on Niebuhr's 
 explanation, weak on Scaliger's ; the simple RoviuUque is more impressive, 
 and better suited to the character of the hymn. (2) Antique has a special 
 force in reference to the mores antiqui (Ennius ap. Cic. de Rep. v. i. i) 
 of which Diana as goddess of chastity and childbirth was in a particular 
 sense the conservatress. bona ope, LXVIL 2. 
 
 24. Sospites, an old word peculiar to prayers. Liu. i. 16 pacem 
 precibus exposcuni uH uolens propitius suam semper sosptiet progeniem. It 
 occurs in the fragments of Ennius and Pacuvius. 
 
 XXXV. 
 
 Catullus here invites his friend Caecilius to leave Comum and visit him 
 at Verona, where he will hear something he will be interested to know. 
 These ' thoughts of a friend of Caecilius and Catullus ' are supposed by 
 Schwabe to mean a poem or poems by Catullus himself; a view quite in 
 accordance with the poetical attempts ascribed to Caecilius in 13, 18; 
 though cogitationes is too indefinite to make it more than probable. 
 
 The poem is interesting, as showing, what we know from the Attis, 
 from Lucretius, and from Varro's Eumenides, the growing interest which 
 the peculiar worship of the Great Mother was exciting; and also as 
 exhibiting the diffusion of common literary ideas which marks the epoch, 
 and the increasing cultivation of women. 
 
 The date is fixed as not earlier than 695 | 59, in which year Caesar, 
 in accordance with a clause of the Vatinian law, took out 5000 new 
 colonists to Comum, which was thenceforward called Nouum Comum, 
 
 NfcJ/cffl/ioi/ Strabo, 213; cf. Appian, B. C. ii. 26 nSkiv hi NeoKW/jLOV ini rav 
 AXweav oiKiKei, &v ocrut (car eras ^px°v fytycoiT-o 'Pcofiaimv TroXirat' roheykp la)(iei 
 ri Adnof. 
 
 1. Poetae. The first line takes the form of an epistolary address, as 
 in Hor. Epist. i. 8. i. This is carried out in other details ; cf. Amici sui 
 meique with Cicero's Quintus tuus vuusque (Q. Fr. ii. 6. i). tenero. 
 Ovid applies the word to those who, like himself, had written on love 
 P.em. Am. 757 ieneros ne iange poetas. Summoueo dotes impius ipse meas, 
 where he mentions Callimachus Philetas Sappho Anacreon Tibullus 
 Propertius : A. A. iii. 329-340 Propertius is called in a similar enu- 
 meration tener 333 ; in A. A. ii. 273 teneri uersus are verses speaking of 
 love; Am. ii. i. 8, teneri modi, elegiac verses, the metre specially 
 devoted to love. Catullus is himself called by Martial vii. 14. 3, xii. 44. 5, 
 tener Catullus ; and Ovid by Sidonius Apollinaris xxiii. 1 8 Naso tener. 
 Hence Vulp. seems right in supposing that Caecilius had written on 
 amatory subjects, perhaps in the very poem spoken of in 13, where he 
 might describe the love of Cybele for the beautiful youth Attis, as Ovid 
 has done F. iv. 223. If this limitation of tener was later than Catullus, 
 we may perhaps translate it ' tender-hearted,' still in reference to Caecilius 
 as a poet, but in a somewhat wider sense. 
 
 2. Velim dicas, a common construction in Cicero's letters : uelim 
 iuues, and scribas ad me uelim, both in one short letter, Att. xii. 52. i. 
 
 3. ueniat . . . relinquens, a rare use of the pres. part. Holtze Synt. 
 
94 A COMMENTARY 
 
 ii. 233, quotes Phorm. v. i. 31, offendi adumiens, which Sanctius (Minerva 
 p. 131.) seems rightly to explain ' I found on (i. e. after) my arrival,' where 
 a Greek would have used an aor. part., as here relinquens seems = 
 XiTriv. Virgil similarly, Aen. iii. 300 Progredior portu classes et liiora 
 linquens. 
 
 4. Comvun, at the S. E. extremity of the western branch of the lacus 
 Larii, was included in the territory of the Insubrian Gauls till 558 | 196, 
 when it was taken by the Roman general Marcellus (Liu. xxxiii. 36); its 
 subsequent history is summarized by Strabo 213 mTj) b' r/v jih RarmKia nerpia, 
 
 no/iirijioj hk STpd^iOV 6 Mayvov Trarrjp RaKjoBela-av iiiro t&v vnepxeifievav 'Pairmv 
 trvvcdKKTev' elra Vaios ^KCirlav Tpi(T\CKiovs TrpoaedqKev' eira 6 6e6s Kaiaap TrevTOKt- 
 0";(iXiovy i77LavvcoKt.(r€v S)V oi TTfvraKocnoi raiv 'EXX^ytov imrip^av oi siri^avitTTaToi,' 
 TOVTOis be Kal TToXtreiay ebcoice koX eveypayjrev avTOVs els tovs avvoiKovs' ov pevroi 
 coKijaav avTodiy aXha Kal rovvopAye t^ Kriapari cKeivoi KarcKmov' ^eoKtapiTaiyap 
 €K\ri6r}<rav SLiravreSy tovto fie p.e$€ppTjvevdev ^o^ovpKapovp Xeyerai. 
 
 Iiarium litus, i. q. Larii lUus : so Trasimena litora Quid. F. vi. 765 ; 
 Metaurum flumen Hor. C. iv. 4. 38; Stertinium acumen Epist. i. 12. 20; 
 Baiae aquae Prop. i. 11. 30. 
 
 5. cogitationes, if Schwabe's conj. is right, are Catullus' own poems, 
 either as ' ideas,' in which sense it seems to be used Phaedr. Prol. iv. 7 
 Sua cuique cum sit animi cogitatio Colorque proprius (of the ideas and style 
 of rival authors), or as the products of his mature thought. Cicero uses 
 the verb, Quintilian the noun, of the mental study which precedes speaking 
 or writing (Brut. Jxxxviii. 301, Quint, x. 6), and Horace applies the verb to 
 the definite aim which a good poet always keeps in view, A. P. 144. If- 
 we may suppose these studies to be the Attis, or some of the more 
 elaborate poems of Catullus, we should have a new reason for his inviting 
 Caecilius, himself the author of a poem on the Magna Mater. But Cicero, 
 in a passage curiously like this (Att. iv. 2. 5 Tu modo ad nos ueni, quod 
 tiereor ne tardius interuentu Varronis tui nostriqtie facias. Quoniam acta 
 quae sint habes, de reliqua nostra cogitatione cognosce), rather confirms the 
 common interpretation, according to which Catullus wishes to communi- 
 cate to Caecilius the views of some common friend, whose name is not 
 mentioned, perhaps from a motive of secrecy, which may also have 
 determined the choice of so vague a word as cogitationes. Possibly 
 something political is meant, as often in Cicero's letters, e. g. Att. 
 X. 6. I. 
 
 6. If Amici sul meiq,ue is Catullus himself, cf. the use of noster=ego, 
 Bentley on Hor. S. ii. 6. 48. 
 
 7. si sapiet uoratait. The fut. sapiet is determined by uorahit. Si 
 ffl/w is common : Eun. iv. 453 ; Mart. ii. 41. i, 23. uoratoit, ' will 
 hurry over.' ' Metaphora ab his sumpta quae deglutiuntur et non dentibus 
 conteruntur,' Alex. Guarinus. Mr. Clayton quotes Shakspere, Henry IV. 
 Part ii. i. i He seerridin running to devour the way. 
 
 8. milies, Att. ii. 19. 3. 
 
 11. si mihi uera uuntiautur. Stat, compares Fam. x. 33. i Nam 
 et robur et suboles militum interiit, si quidem quae nuntiantur ulla ex parte 
 uera sunt. 
 
 12. deperit, ' loves to desperation : ' deperire, with an accus. of the 
 person loved, is frequent in Plautus and Terence. So perire, demori, 
 ardere. Holtzei. 244. impotente, ' violent,' ' ungovernable.' Plin. 
 
ON CATULLUS. XXXVL 95 
 
 Epist. ii. I Set's quam sit amor iniquus interdum, impotens saepe, lUKpalriot 
 semper. 
 
 13. Nam quo tempore, imitated by Mart. xi. i8. 26. For the em- 
 phatic inversion of the relative and antecedent quo tempore . . .ex eo,' from 
 the first moment she read,' see Holtze Synt. i. p. 385. incohatam, 
 a poem on Cybele which Caecilius had begun, but left in an unfinished 
 state. Arch. xi. 28 Quas res nos gessimui . . .atligit his uersibus et mco- 
 hauit, quibus auditis hunc ad proficiendum hortatus sum. The use of the 
 ■word in religious and solemn occasions (Virg. G. iii. 42, Aen. vi. 252) 
 suggests that a formal prelude may be meant : and so my Metrical Trans- 
 lation ' his high-preluding Queen of Dindymus.' 
 
 14. Dindymi dominam, see Introduction to LXIIL misellae, 
 'love-sick,' XLV. 21. 
 
 15. interiorem m.ediillam., a particularizing singular; in XLV. 16, 
 LXIV. 93, LXVL 23, Catullus prefers the plural. The elision interiorem 
 edunt is unusually harsh ; but cf. XL. 8 uoluisti amare. 
 
 16. Sapphica Musa. Sappho was called the tenth Muse. Anth. P. 
 
 vii. 14. I SaTT^u Tot KcvBfis, )(6tt>v AioXi, Tov jiiTa MoitTMS 'ABavdrais Svarait 
 Mova-av lieibofievav ; ix. 506, ascribed to Plato, 'Evvea ras Movaas (j>a(riv nvis' 
 as oXiyapas. 'Hvibe (cai Sa7r<f>a) Afcr^odev fj SeKarrj, An epigram in the 
 Greek Anthology ix. 26, after mentioning the nine Greek poetesses, 
 
 calls them the nine earthly Muses, 'Ewea p-ev Moia-as iteyas ovpavis, iwia S 
 
 avTas Taia TtKcv : this suggests a slightly different interpretation, the nine 
 poetesses formed a cycle, in which each represented a Muse ; the 
 Muse of Sappho, Erinna, etc., Moia-a SnTr^txij, etc. puella, vocative, not 
 ablative, as the similarly interrupted order of the words Noui relinquens 
 Comi moenia, manusque collo Ambas iniciens seems to indicate. 
 
 16. doctior, not as Parthenius and Conr. de AlUo thought, in choosing 
 a poet as her lover, whereas Sappho loved a man engaged in trade, Phaon; 
 but ' a poetess beyond Sappho herself,' whether as merely trained to 
 understand poetry, or to write poems of her own, like Sempronia (Catil. 
 25) and Cynthia (Prop. ii. 3. 21). This is the regular and recurring 
 meaning of doclus in the Roman poets. Thus Propertius calls Cynthia 
 doda puella (i. 7. 11, cf. i. 2. 27, ii. 11. 6, ii. 13. 11), as able to write and 
 understand poetry ; the Muses are dodae sorores Tib. iii. 4. 45 ; infr. 
 LXV. 2. Horace speaks oi dodae frontes, ' the brows of poets,' C. i. i. 
 29 ; Theocritus is Trinacriae dodus iuuenis Catal. xi. 20. Statius speaks of 
 dodi furor arduus Lucreti S. ii. 7. 76; dodo oestro, 'poetic frenzy,' ib. 3, 
 dodi amnes, the springs of which poets drank, ib. 12, and i. 2. 259. 
 Martial calls Naples doda, from its connexion with poets, v. 78. 14, and 
 praises the poetess Sulpicia, Hac condisdpula uel hac magistra esses dodior 
 et pudica Sappho x. 35. 15, 16. 
 
 XXXVL 
 
 Lesbia, perhaps parodying the vow of Pandarus to burn his useless 
 bow if he returned to see with his own eyes his wife and country (II. v. 
 212-216), had made a vow that if Catullus was reconciled to her, and 
 in pledge of his sincerity ceased to attack her in scurrilous verses, she 
 would burn the choicest specimens of Volusius' poetry. Catullus here 
 
96 A COMMENTARY 
 
 implores Venus to fulfil this vow, so amusing and so worthy of her votaress, 
 and takes occasion to heap contempt upon Volusius. 
 
 The truces iambi were no doubt occasioned by some infidelity of 
 Lesbia's ; they may be VIII Miser Catulle or XXXVII Salax taberna; but 
 no hendecasyllabic poem except LVIII, which obviously refers to Lesbia's 
 last stage, could be described by the words, even if we concede, what 
 is doubtful, that Catullus includes in the term iambi hendecasyllabic poems 
 (see on XL. 2). Mommsen's view, Hist. Rom. iv. p. 583, Eng. Transl. 
 that Lesbia had tried to induce Catullus to cease his satirical attacks upon 
 Caesar and Pompeius and devote himself to her society, is hardly 
 disproved by chronological considerations, for we cannot really fix 
 the time when Catullus either attacked Caesar or attached himself to 
 Lesbia : but it seems improbable that the object of the fierce iambics 
 should be left undetermined, as we must then assume ; and the connexion 
 of 4, 5 is simpler on the ordinary hypothesis of a quarrel, an attack, 
 and a reconciliation ; cf. Hor. C. i. 16. 2, 3. 
 
 The Annals of Volusius are mentioned again XCV. 7-10 : from 
 which passage we may infer that they were a lengthy work in verse, and 
 that the author was a native of the country near the mouth of the Po. 
 Muretus suggested that this Volusius was the person mentioned by 
 Seneca Epist. 93. 9 Non tarn multis uixit (Metronax philosophus) annis 
 quam potuit. Paucorum uersuum liber est et quidem laudandus atque 
 utilis. Annates Tanusii scis quam ponderosi sint et quid uocentur. 
 Hoc est uita quorundam longa quod Tanusii sequitur annates. The 
 allusion in quid uocentur and quod Tanusii sequitur annates is probably 
 to the words of Catullus i, 20 cacata carta. Haupt (Quaestt. Catull. 
 pp. 98-100) shows that Tanusius Geminus, who is mentioned by 
 Sueton. lul. 9 as the author of a Historia, cf. Plut. Caesar 22, was, 
 like the other writers quoted in that biography, probably a contemporary 
 of Catullus. He may have written Annates in verse before he wrote his 
 Historia ; the name is just sufficiently disguised to be intelligible ; it is 
 not difllicult to imagine reasons which might induce Catullus to alter it, 
 whether, as Schwabe suggests, he wished to spare a countryman of his 
 own, or perhaps despised him too much to allow him the chance of 
 immortality. 
 
 1-10. 'Annals of Volusius, discharge a vow of Lesbia's. She promised 
 Venus, that if I returned to her and gave up writing ribald verses, she would 
 burn the choicest passages of that vile scribbler's poetry. She can only 
 have meant his Annals.' 
 
 11-20. ' Venus, acknowledge my love's witty vow, and reconcile us to 
 each other. Meanwhile, we burn Volusius' Annals.' 
 
 1. Annales, a metrical chronicle, probably suggested by the Annales 
 of Ennius, in Catullus' time still the most popular poem in the Latin 
 language : A. Furius had also written Annates in hexameters, Macrob. vi. 
 I. 31 sqq. cacata, in conjunction with carta would s&txa-=concacata, 
 KaraKexea-fjievri. Volusius' Annals were so vile that the paper on which they 
 were written was consigned to the privy. Cf. conmictilis in Pomponius 
 138 Ribbeck. This seems less violent than to make cacata=non minus 
 uitis quam si ipsius stercus esses, ' foul enough to be the droppings of 
 his own dung : ' an exaggeration which would have little humour. If 
 
ON CATULLUS. XXXVL 97 
 
 Martial took the idea of xii. 61. 9, 10 from this passage, he has used it 
 quite differently. 
 
 2. soluite, by being burnt : he perhaps intended to convey to Lesbia 
 the assurance that they were actually burnt when the poem reached her. 
 
 3. This vow to Venus would be more in character if Lesbia is Clodia, 
 who possessed a statue of Venus, which she decked with the spoils of 
 her lovers (Gael. xxi. 52), and probably considered herself under the 
 special protection of the goddess, sanetae, perhaps merely ' divine,' as 
 sande puer LXIV. 95, and as Lucretius addressing Venus says, Dtua tuo 
 corpore sancto i. 38. But LXVIIL 5, 6, in connexion with this verse, 
 suggests that Catullus may here allude to Venus as the goddess of 
 faithful, as opposed to shifting or promiscuous love. He himself tells 
 us, LXVIIL 48, that Lesbia marked his day with a whiter stone ; and 
 she may have considered her connexion with him of a purer kind than 
 most of her amours. So Tib. iv. 13. 23. 
 
 4. restitutus, of reconciliation. CVII. 4 Quod te restituis, Lesbia, mi 
 cupido (Schwabe). Vows for the return of lovers were of course common. 
 So Mart. ix. 41. 
 
 5. truces, Quintil. xi. i. uibrare aptly expresses the sharpness and 
 speed of the iambus which made it so useful a weapon for launching 
 (idTTTfti/) upon an enemy. Quintilian x. i. 60, of Archilochus, Summa 
 ni hoc uis elocuHonis, cum. ualidcte turn breues uibrantesque sententiae. Cic. 
 Orat. Ixx. 234 Cuius {Demoslhenis) non tarn, uibrarent fulmina ilia, nisi 
 numeris coniorta ferreniur. Brut. xcv. 326 Or alio incitata et uibrans. 
 Proclus Chrestom. 7, quoted in Reyfferscheid's Sueton. Reliq. p. 19 
 
 AXXa yap kui tov 'iajj-fiov TaTretrBai fiiv eVi Xoidopias to ndKawV Kat yap Koi 
 7-A lafipi^fiv Kara Tiva yXaxrirau XoiSopelv eXtyov. Quintil X. I. 96 Speaks 
 
 of the acerbity of the iambus in Catullus Bibaculus Horace. 
 
 6. Electissima, 'choicest.' Ironical. pessimi poetae, XIV. 23, 
 XLIX. 5. Volusius is meant. My friend Mr. Raper, with Muretus, explains 
 the words generally ' the worst poet,' which no doubt increases the point 
 of 9, 10, as particularizing what was left undetermined by Lesbia, but 
 seems to me against the natural suggestion of the line. 
 
 7. tardipedi deo, ' the halting god of fire,' in allusion to the halting 
 rhythm of Volusius' verse. There is another reason for personifying 
 fire here; Vulcan is the husband of Venus. So Horace C. i. 16. 2, 3 
 Quern criminosis cunque uoles modum Pones iambis, sine flamma Sine mart 
 libel Hadriano, Tib. i. 9. 49 Ilia uelim rapida Vulcanus carmina flamma 
 Torreat, luuen. vii. 25 quae Conponis dona Veneris Telesine marito. 
 daturam with se omitted after Vouit, as in a vow quoted by Macrob. 
 Sat. iii. 9. 8 Si ita feceritis uoUeo uobis templa ludosque facturum, Pomp- 
 onius 51 Ribbeck Mars tibi uoueo facturum, si unquam redierit, Bidenti 
 uerre. 
 
 8. lufelicibus lignis adds to the solemnity of the vow. The verses 
 are to be not only burnt, but, like something monstrous, with logs from 
 an arbor infelix. Macrob. S. iii. 20 Ait Veranius de uerbis pontificalibus: 
 Felices arbores putantur esse quercus aesculus ilex suberies fagus corylus 
 sorbus, ficus alba, pirus malus uitis prunus cornus lotus. Tarquitius autem 
 Priscus in Ostentario arbor ario sic ait: Arbores quae inferum deorum 
 auertentiumque in tutela sunt, eas infelices nominant ; alternum sanguinem 
 filicem ficum atram quaeque bacam nigram nigrosque fructus ferunt, itemque 
 
98 A COMMENTARY 
 
 acri/olium, pirum siluaticam, pruscum rubum senlesqite quibus portenta 
 prodigiaque mala comburi iubere oportet. So Turnebus Advers. xviii. ii, 
 who compares Theocr. xxiv. 86. That the words are technical seems 
 proved by Cicero's infelicissimis lignis semustulaium of Clodius' corpse, 
 Mil. xiii. 32. 
 
 9. pessima puella, playful, 'the naughty creature;' 'quella ribaldella,' 
 Alex. Guarinus. So LV. 10. hoc, emphatic, 'this,' viz. the Annales 
 Volusi. Mr. Raper prefers haec as agreeing better with pessima, ' this was 
 what my love saw herself devoting as vilest to the gods.' Other views 
 are ( i ) to m ake locose lepide the emphatic words of the sentence, as Hertz- 
 berg Heyse and Mr. Nettleship, who translates 'And this the wretch 
 knew (or perhaps as a strict perfect=o'Sf, knows) to be a merry dainty 
 vow,' (2) to suppose the two lines a slightly emphasized repetition of 
 Vouit in 3 'And this was the vow the shameful maid saw herself offer- 
 ing ( perhaps = had the assurance to offer) with a charming humour to 
 the Gods.' 
 
 10. loeose lepide, asyndeton in words of the same meaning, as in 
 XLVI. 1 1 Diuersae uariae, where see note. ' Wittily and charmingly ' = 
 ' with a charming wit.' dims, generally, though Venus is meant. 
 
 11. creata ponto. Hes. Theog. 193, t^w fi' 'A(^poSiTj;v KtRXijo-usi^o-t flfoi 
 T€ liai dvepes, ovvck ev d(j>pa Qpe^Br) ; the foam formed round the genitals of 
 Uranos, which his son Kronos had cut off and thrown into the sea, and 
 from this the goddess sprang. 
 
 12-15. This long enumeration of places connected with the worship of 
 Venus was probably suggested by Sappho or Alcman. Menander ap. 
 Walzii Rhet. ix. 135 (quoted in Bergk's Poet. Lyr. Graeci on Alcman fr. 
 
 23) Merpov fievroc rav KkrjTiK&v vp,vatv ev p£v •jroirjaei €7rtp.rjKe(TTepov' apa pev 
 yap eK TToKKav rimoiv e^eariv Toiis deovs enucaKeiv ats irapa ^a7r(pol Koi ra 'AXupdvi 
 TToWa^ov evpltTKopev, Trjv pev yap "Kprepiv e/c pvpitov opeaVj fwpicau de Trokeav, 
 €Ti Se TTOTapmv ai/aKaXet" rrjv 5e * Acj^podirrjv Kurrpov Kvidov ^vpias 7ro}iXa\66eu 
 
 •dvaKaXet. The list begins with Idalium, because Cyprus was the first 
 land to which Venus swam after birth, Callim. Del. 22, and hence her 
 
 name KuTrpiy, SaKapXvos evKTipevrjs peSeova-a Kal ircunfs Kinpov Hom. H. X. 
 
 4. IdaUum, a grove in Cyprus consecrated to Aphrodite, with a town 
 of the same name. Hence Catullus calls it/rondosum LXIV. 96, Virgil 
 Aen. i. 692 speaks of alios Iddliae lucos, cf. 681, Theoc. xv. 100. Steph. 
 B. s. u. Vriosque apertos seems to describe 'the round knolls of 
 Oria, a centrical point between Taranto and Brindisi, where there are few 
 risings high enough to prevent the eye from commanding a view as far as 
 the sea in each direction.' Swinbum's Travels i. p. 211. This is Strabo's 
 TToXis Ovpia /xern|ti lapavros Koi Bprvrea-lov 2B3 : and the same name is found 
 in the smus Urias of Mela ii. 4. That the district was in some way as'- 
 sociated with Venus may perhaps be inferred from the Portus Veneris 
 which Dionysius Antiqq. i. 51 states to have been close to the Templum or 
 Arx Minervae on the I^pygian promontory, where, traditionally, Aeneas 
 made his first landing in Italy. The name Vrios, which appears in the double 
 form oCpioi and "Yptoi, is perhaps a dialectical variety of fipees ; apertos 
 would then be a definition, see on XI. 9. Of the conjectures perhaps 
 the most plausible is Erios, the Herian or Heraean mountains in the N. of 
 Sicily, which Diodorus iv. 84 mentions immediately after his description 
 of Eryx, one of the most famous seats of the worship of Venus. Catullus 
 
ON CA'TULLUS. XXXVI. 99 
 
 would then follow the example of Sappho (fr. 6 ^ « Kinpos ^ nJ^os fj 
 
 nupoptios)^ and Theocritus (xv. lOO Aiiriroiv & ToKyas tc Kai 'iSdXtoc it^iKriaas 
 Alnfivdv T "EpvKo) in combining Cyprus with Sicily, in connexion with the 
 worship of Venus. Suros (Voss) could hardly have been corrupted into 
 l7/rios or Urtos; Bergk's Chyiros, one of the fifteen Cyprian towns 
 mentioned by Plin. xvi. 130, cf. Steph. B. ^irpoi Kinpov ■noKis, if written 
 Chulros wovlXA. be near the MSS. reading; its name Kvdepaa seems to 
 connect it with Venus ; and Meineke may be right in concluding from 
 Steph. B. that it was near Golgi. Ancona. Ancona or Ancon (cf. 
 Cremona or Cremon in Strabo) a city of Picenum on the Adriatic. 
 It was situated on a promontory which forms a remarkable curve or 
 elbow so as to protect and almost enclose its port, from which circum- 
 stance it derived its Greek name of dyKa>v, ' the elbow,' Diet. Geog. Mel. ii. 
 4 £xm ilia in angusto illorum duorum promuntoriorum ex diuerso coeuni- 
 ium inflexi cubiti imagine sedens, et ideo a Grais dicta Ancon, inter 
 Gallicas Italicasque gentes quasi terminus interest. Haec enim praegressos 
 Piceni litora excipiunt. It was founded by Syracusan exiles (Strab. 
 241 TToXts o AyKa)j» piv '^XKrpils, SvpaKoalmv KTicrpa twv ^ifj/dn-tBi' ToO Atovu- 
 eriou rupavvlSa), hence Juvenal's Ante domum Veneris guam Dorica sustinet 
 Ancon iv. 40. Venus was the tutelary deity of the place, and her head 
 appears on its coins. Cnidum, a city on the S. W. coast of Caria, 
 built partly on the mainland, partly on the peninsula whose western point 
 was called the Triopian promontory. Pausanias mentions three temples 
 of Aphrodite at Cnidos, i. i. 3; Praxiteles' celebrated statue of the 
 goddess here drew visitors from every part of the world, Luc. "Epmrts 
 II ; Plin. xxxv. 20. It was said to have been modelled on the sculptor's 
 mistress Cratina, and to have inspired an actual passion in a youth ; so 
 Poseidippus quoted by Clem. Alex. Protr. p. 1 6 sqq. Sylb. harun- 
 dinosam. Auson. Epist. vii. 50. The reeds of Cnidos were the best for 
 making paper (Plin. xvi. 157). As the material of which pipes (fistulae), 
 and flutes {tibiae) were made, they suggest another reason for being 
 mentioned in the service of Venus, etiam deliciis gratae (Plin. xvi. 156, cf. 
 Strab. 378). 
 
 14. Colis. The pause after the disyllabic first foot is Greek. It recurs 
 frequently in the Odes of Horace. Amathunta, Strab. 683 eh (after 
 Citium) 'A.padovs ir6\i!. Tac. Ann. iii. 62 £xin Cyprii tribus delubris, 
 quorum uetusiissimum Paphiae Veneri auctor Aerias, post filius eius Ama- 
 thus Veneri Amathusiae, et loui Salaminio Teucer . . . posuissent. Paus. 
 IX. 41. 2 'EoTi be\pji6ow iv Kvirpia ttoXis" 'ASmviSos iv avrfj Kai 'Ac^poSiVijr Upov 
 ecrnv apxdiov. Steph. B. s. u. Verg. Aen. x. 51, Ouid. M. x. 220, 531. 
 There was a famous statue of Venus as a Hermaphrodite here, see on 
 
 LXVIII. 61. GtolgOS. Paus. viii. 5. 2 'iXi'ou 8c dXouoi/r 6 rois ''EXXi2o-t Kara 
 
 rhv ttKovv t6v oiKaSe imycvopfvos ^eipav'Ayamivopa Koi to 'ApKaSav vavriKov kottj- 
 VfyKiv is TUvirpov, koI Hdtpov re ' Ayanf)va>p iyevero oi/cior^s kuX t^s ' AfjipoSirris kutc- 
 trKfvdiraTO ev IIaXai7rd0a) to iep6v Teas Si if Seos napa Kwrpiav Ttpas el)^ev iv 
 ToXyois KakovpJva \<opl<p. Steph. B. To^yoi TroXti Kinrpov, dwo TdKyov tov 
 ffyriaapevav ttjs SikvwvIiov aTroiKias' XeyfTot Kai rAytov ovSeTepas' d<f) ov ToKyia r) 
 'AcppoSiTr). TheOC. XV. 100 AfVn-oif' & ToXycof re Kai 'IfidXiOK iipiKaa-as. 
 
 Lycophron Al. 588 yalav i^ovrai 6eas rdXyui/ dvdtrtrrjs. Pliny speaks of it as 
 still existing in his time v. 1 30. 
 
 15. Durrachium. Strab. 316 'ETriSapvos KepKvpaiav KTia-pa (Thuc. i, 24), 
 
100 A COMMENTARY 
 
 7] vvv Avppa)(iov oiMcovjifxats tjj XfppovTja-a Xeyofievrj, €(^' rj i^pvTai. It^ waS in the 
 
 territory of the Taulantii, Thuc. i. 24, Euphorion ap. Staph. Byz. s. u. 
 The name seems to express the high and craggy ridge on which the 
 town was built (Cramer Ancient Greece i. p. 50). Plautus still knew it 
 as Epidamnus, and describes it as a famous haunt of vicious cha- 
 racters : Men. ii. i. 34 Voluptarii atque potatores maxumi. Turn syco- 
 phantae et palpalores plurimi In urbe hac habitant ; turn meretrices mulieres 
 Nusquam perhiientur blandiores 'gentium. tabernam. The inn or 
 
 hostel, as the common receiver of passengers from Greece to Italy, 
 or vice versa. Such a name well describes a place in the highway 
 of trade. So Strabo 283 calls Egnatia koivx) Karayayrj irXfOvri T€ Kai 
 m^evovTi fis Bdpiov (Voss), and 5^7 Apamea twv nnb t^s 'IraXlas Koi rrjs 
 *EXXnfioff KOivov VTTohn^eiov, 
 
 16. ' Acknowledge the receipt of the vow and pay it back.' Lesbia's 
 vow is here regarded as a debt incurred by Venus, which she is to dis- 
 charge by fulfilling the condition on which it was made, the reconciliation 
 of Catullus and Lesbia. The language is taken from accounts. Another 
 interpretation is suggested by Dig. xlvi. 4. 7, where one of the formulae 
 of acceptilatio, a fictitious payment by which two parties to a verbal contract 
 agreed to cancel their agreement, is ' Accepta facts decern ? ' ilk (the creditor 
 who consents to be released) respondit : 'facio.' Venus will then be asked 
 to acknowledge the receipt and payment (i. e. the payment and receipt) of 
 Lesbia's vow, i. e. to cancel it as virtually discharged. 
 
 17. Si, 'as truly as it is a witty and charming one,' Aen. vi. 121 sqq. 
 non with illepidum X. 4.- neque inuenustum (a.K.v6r]pav), as becomes 
 a vow to Venus. Xen. Symp. viii. 15 a-aipms dTroTiXelrai fj tvxht f'' fl 
 aiTovp-fBa rr]V 6ibv i'iva<^pobiTa Kai €7rr] Kai epya 8i^'6vat. 
 
 18. interea seems to invert the order of events, to make the burning 
 precede the reconciliation. But in effect the words acceptum face reddi- 
 iumque uotum express Catullus' determination to be reconciled ; interea 
 marks the antithesis between the acknowledgment of the vow on the part 
 of the goddess, and the fulfilment of it on the part of Catullus and Lesbia. 
 The order of ideas then is as follows : ' Paper on which Volusius' Annals 
 are written, burn, and so fulfil a vow of Lesbia's. She promised, if I 
 were reconciled to her and in token of sincerity consented to write no 
 more against her, to burn the choicest of this wretched scribbler's com- 
 positions. So now, Venus, accept the witty vow ; and reconcile us to 
 each other. Meanwhile, on our parts, we burn Volusius' Annals.' 
 
 19. Pleni rtiris, ' full of rusticity.' Sillig quotes Hesych. Sypov n\em- 
 dypoLKias TrXrjprjs. iuflcetiarum, XXIL 14. 
 
 20. The poem ends with the same hne with which it began, just as the 
 poet begins and ends with declaring his determination to burn Volusius' 
 Annals : Votum soluite, uenite in ignem. 
 
 XXXVII. 
 
 This is the first of a series of poems in which Catullus ridicules the 
 personal peculiarities of rivals or others who had incurred his hostility : 
 XXXIX describes Egnatius' eternal smile and unsavoury teeth ; XLI 
 XLIII and probably XLII the affected gait and airs of a woman called 
 Amiana ; XL, though not directed against anything in the personal 
 
ON CATULLUS. XXXVIL 101 
 
 appearance of Ravidus, attacks him as a rival. The present poem is 
 also prompted by jealousy ; it is aimed at Lesbia's lovers en masse, and 
 the scene is laid, not very inappropriately, in a brothel. That this is so 
 IS clear from the whole language of the poem; i Salax taberna, 3 Solis 
 licere quicquid est puellarum Confutuere, 6 continenter quod sedetis insulsi 
 Centum an ducentt, 14 Consedit istic which we may compare with the hie 
 fuit oi the Pompeian Inscriptions, as Hanc Omnes amatis 15, recalls the 
 Mulii te amant of the same inscriptions, and the arnica omnium of Cicero. 
 It is not necessary to suppose that Lesbia had already descended to the 
 last stage described in LVIII ; but the poem must be much later than 
 LXVIII. 136 Rara wrecundae furtaferemus herae. 
 
 It is an ingenious theory of Bruner's that the taberna of i, 10 is 
 Clodia's house, which from Cicero's oration pro Cadio (vii, viii, xx) we 
 know to have been not only a resort of bad characters (Cael. xx. 48 si 
 quae non nupta mulier domum suam patefecerit omnium cupidilati, palamque 
 sese in meretricia uita collocarit), but on the Palatine, and therefore 
 sufficiently near the temple of Castor and Pollux on the south side of 
 the Forum to be described as in 2. Pila he explains of the pro- 
 jecting columns, or perhaps of the door-posts, of Clodia's house. 
 But from 14 it is clear that Lesbia's presence in the taberna was an 
 occasional, perhaps a single act : there could be no point in the words 
 Consedit istic if Catullus were speaking of her habitual residence. 
 
 1. taberna seems rightly explained by Westphal of a wine- or eating- 
 shop used for immoral purposes, like the ganeae of Liu. xxvi. 2, Adelph. 
 iii. 3. 5, Suet. Calig. 2. in which Clodius (Pro Scxt. ix. 20) and Gabinius 
 (Pison. vi. 13) were fond of spending their time. Cf. iht/amosa taberna 
 of Copa 3, and Prop. iv. 8. 19, 63 where two such tabernae are mentioned 
 as the resorts of the meretrices, Phyllis and Tela. Similarly Kawrj\flo«, as 
 
 shown by Athen. xiii. 567 Sy 5c, S "^ot^urTa, iv rols KaTrrjXeLois (Tvvava<j)vprj oif 
 fiera fraipav aWa [xera eraipaVj fj-aarrpoirevovcras irepl cravTou ovK oXiyas ej^coi'. 
 
 contubernales, ' brothers in the service,' with an allusion to the military 
 sense o( contubernium. Caelius ap. Quintil. iv. 2. 12^ praeclaras contuber- 
 nales ab omnibus spondis transuersas incubare. 
 
 2. A pilleatis, i. e. where stands the pillar ninth in order from the 
 temple of Castor and Pollux, here called fratres pilleati, from the round 
 caps in the shape of a half egg with which they were usually represented, 
 and which, sometimes surmounted by a star, is often found on coins, 
 Paul. Diac. Pillea Caslori et Polluci dederunt antiqui quia Lacones fue- 
 runt, quibus pilleatis pugnare mos est. The aedes Castoris (Liu. ii. 42) was 
 on the south side of the Forum near the fountain of Juturna, and there- 
 fore in the most crowded quarter of Rome. Verr. Act. ii. i. 49, 129 In 
 aede Castoris, celeberrimo clarissimoque monumento, quod templum in oculis 
 quotidianoque aspectu populi Romani est positum, quo saepenumero senatus 
 conuocatur, quo maximarum rerum frequentissimae quotidie aduocationes 
 fiunt. Ouid. F. i. 705-8 At quae uenturas praecedet sexta Calendas, Hoc 
 sunt Ledaeis tenipla dicata Deis. Fratribus ilia Deis fratres de gente 
 Deorum Circa luturnae composuere lacus. Seneca de Constant. Sap. 13 
 mentions it as a neighbourhood frequented by slave -dealers (nequam 
 mancipia emenles tundentesque, quorum tabernae pessimorum seruorum turba 
 refer tae sunt) ; but though good-for-nothing slaves were sold in th.e pilleus, 
 this can hardly be the allusion in pilleatis fratribus. pila, the pillar or 
 
102 A COMMENTARY 
 
 column in front of the taberna, used to indicate the occupation of the 
 possessor, in Hor. S. i. 4. 7 1 Nulla taberna meos habeai neque pila libellos, 
 a book-seller, here, as in Mart. vii. 61. 5 Nulla caienatis pila est praecincla 
 lagonis, probably a caupo. 
 
 4. quicquid est puellanun. Mart. ix. 27. 7 quicquid unquam legi- 
 mus pilosorum. 
 
 5. Confutuere, i. q. constuprare, a much commoner word. et=' et 
 tamen,' as in XCVII. lo. See Hand Tursellinus ii. 496. liireos= 
 salaces, as in Merc. ii. 2. r, 4. Others explain the word as meaning 
 offensive to women. Cf. Most; i. 4. 39, and Merc. iii. 3. 13 leiunitaiis 
 plenus, anima foetida, Senex hirquosus, tu ausculare mulierem? Plin. xxxvii. 
 60 foedissimum animaliuni. But Catullus, after upbraiding the taberna and 
 its frequenters for lewdness, would scarcely contrast them with an animal 
 which is a type of this very quality. 
 
 6. An . . quod . . . non putatis ? The form of the sentence is Plautine 
 Mil. ii. 6. 19, 20 An quia lairocinamini, arhilramini Quiduis licere facere 
 nobis, uerbero. coutinenter, ' in an unbroken line : ' elsewhere of 
 time. 
 
 7. Centum an duoenti, ' one hundred, or it may be, two.' This 
 elliptical use of an is found, according to Hand Turs. i. p. 300, in Cicero's 
 letters, but not in the orations. Fam. vii. 9. 3 Cn. Octauius, an Cornelius 
 quidam est ; is me crebro adcenam inuiiat, contemptuously ; xiii. 29. 4 neque 
 possum negare adfuisse, sed non plus duobus an tribus mensibus, Plin. Epist. 
 vi. 13. 5 Acilius tantum Rufus et cum eo septem an octo, septem immo in 
 priore sententia perseiierarunt. It is particularly used where there is a 
 doubt as to the exact number. 
 
 8. sessores and sedetis perhaps allude to the custom of courtesans 
 sitting in front of their cellae. Poen. i. 2. 54 Prosedas pistorum arnicas, 
 relliquias alicarias. . . . Quae tibi dant stabulum siatumque, sellam et sessi- 
 bulum merum ? Aeschin. in Timarch. 40 quoted by Vulp. oJros yap 
 irpaTov fiev Trdvrcov eireiSt] dirrjWdyTj eK Traldayv, eKaBrfTO iv IleipacT iirX tov Eu^u- 
 hiKov larpciov, npotjida-ei fiev rrjs Te^vris p,a6qTrjs, tjj 6e dX?;^cta TrajXeii/ tavTov 
 
 irpoTjprjfievos. The meaning will then be, ' I will treat you Uke so many 
 unchaste women, seated as you are like a number of prostitutes one 
 after another, in empty self-complacency {insulst).' 
 
 9-10. ' And yet you may think so, if you will ; for I will scrawl the 
 whole of your tavern-front with scorpions ' to show what you may expect 
 for meddling with Lesbia. 
 
 10. Ib:ontem, to be seen by the passer-by. Possibly, as Stat, suggests, 
 there is an allusion to branding the foreheads of slaves convicted of 
 thieving, running away, etc. Petron. 103, 105, Quintil. vii. 4. 14, Sen. 
 de Benef. iv. 37. The taberna thus branded would be a wilness against 
 itself: HasX figures were sometimes tattooed on the forehead seems clear 
 from Lucian 'AXwus 46 where sham philosophers are to be branded with 
 a fox or ape : on the other hand iabernae were often painted with familiar 
 subjects, e. g. the battle of the weasels and the mice (Phaedr. iv. 6. 2). 
 scorpionibus, rude figures of scorpions, such as that figured among the 
 signs of the Zodiac, Fiorelli Giornale degli Scavi di Pompeii 1862, p. 80, 
 sprawling on the ground and with the tail erect, as described by Lucilius 
 ap. Non. 385 Hie ut rrmscipulae teniae alque ut scorpiu cauda Sublatu and 
 Demosth. 786 ^pKores t6 Kcvrpov in attitude to strike. It seems pro- 
 
ON CATULLUS. XXXVIL 103 
 
 bable from a line of the comic poet Plato (Meinek. Fragm. Com. ii. 673), 
 from Athen. vi. 246 compared with xiv. 614, and Apul. Met. ix. 17 where 
 a jealous and vindictive husband is nicknamed Scorpio, that this animal 
 was specially associated with the punishment of adultery. This would of 
 course have a significance here in reference to these moechi Lesbiae. But 
 short of this, the scorpion would seem to have been a natural symbol of 
 sudden and unexpected danger. Cf. the anoKiov quoted Athen. 695 'Ytto 
 
 navTi \i6m frKopirios, S> Vaip', vTrobifrai. ^pd^ev fir) ere ^aXi]' to 8' atjiavct nac 
 eWcrai SdXor. Leutsch, Paroem. Graec. ii. p. 309, explains scorpionibus of 
 angry verses which Catullus here threatens to scribble over the iaberna ; 
 but this would liave been stated more explicitly. scribam. Writing on 
 walls was a very common practice in antiquity, as numerous inscriptions 
 show; the walls of Pompeii are covered with such inscriptions, many 
 very obscene. De Orat. ii. 59. 240, Merc. ii. 3. 73, Strab. 674 01 8e 
 
 KaTeroixoypa<ji^(rav airov Toiavra. ""Epya vetov, /3ot;Xai de fiiirav, iropSaX 8e 
 
 yepovTav. It was common to write on walls the names of lovers. 
 
 Lucian Dial. Meretr. iv. fym fi' efieiivrifiiju on xara TOixov nvos tXeye Kara- 
 yeypnKJidai Tovvofia iv Kepa/ifiK^' enffi^a ovv'AKiBa KaratTKeyjrop.emjr, fj 8 SX\o p,iv 
 oiSev evpe, tovto 8e fji6i>ov imyeypapiiiipov imovrav fVi ra Se^ta irpbs ra AivruXo). 
 Mf'XiTTQ (j>i\('i 'Ep/xdrt/iov, Koi fUKphv aZBis xmoKaTia 'O vavKXrjpos Ep^d- 
 
 Tifios (fitXei MeXtTTav. Similar practices are not unknown in modern 
 times. ' A member of the Saraceni family at Vicenza, finding that a 
 beautiful widow did not favour him, scribbled filthy pictures over the door. 
 The affair was brought before the Council of Ten at Venice.' TroUope's 
 Paul the Pope p. 158. 
 
 11. meo sinu fugit. The omission of the preposition is not common. 
 Caesar B. C. iii. 29 Otacilius sibi timens oppido fugit. Att. iv. 6. 3 inci- 
 piendo refugi. The expression is the opposite of in nostra sinu est, Am. 
 ii. 12. 2. 
 
 12. Repeated from VIII. 5, which no doubt preceded it. 
 
 13. Lesbia was Trcpip.dxn'ros and therefore imtfidovos, precious in propor- 
 tion to the trouble taken in winning her (Xen. Symp. iii. 9). So Elissus 
 is described Anth. P. xii. 22. i as fi^yas TrdXe^os, a grande certamen Hor. 
 C. iii. 20. 7. Propertius speaks in the same way of Cynthia iii. 8. 33 
 Aut tecum aut pro te mihi cum riualibus arma Semper erunt, Ovid of 
 Corinna ii. 12. 
 
 14. consedit, as a mefretrix. boni beatique, ' the well-born and the 
 wealthy,' ' men of rank and fortune.' Cicero constantly uses the word 
 boni of the aristocratical party who ranged themselves under Pompeius. 
 Att. viii. I. 3 Eundum; ut quemcumque fors tulerit casum, subeam polius 
 cum eis qui dicuntur esse boni, quam uidear a bonis dissentire. Etsi pro- 
 pediem uideo bonorum, id est, lautorum et locupletium, urbem refertamfore, 
 a passage in which the various acceptations of the word are reviewed. 
 He combines bonis et beatis Sest. xlv. 98 where beatis='Ca^ bene de domes- 
 ticis rebus constituti of the same passage. 
 
 15. et quidem, quod indignum est, 'and what is more, to her 
 shame.' Very common in Cicero's letters. Att. xii. 47. i mhil nocuerit, 
 si aliquid cum Balbo eris locutus ; et quidem, ut res est, emere noe uelle. 
 Senec. de Providentia 6 crmta est et quidem tenuis. 
 
 16. pusilli, ' petty,' ' insignificant.' luuen. x. 121. semitarii, of 
 the bye streets. Mart. vii. 60. 3, 4 lussisti tenues Germanice crescere 
 
104 A COMMENTARY 
 
 uicos Et modo quae fmrat semita, facia uia est. Phaedr. Prol. iii. 38/^0 
 semitafeci uiam. Petron. S. 9 Quasi per caliginem uidi Giiona in crepi- 
 dine semitae stantem et in eundem locum, me conieci. This seems better than 
 to explain it as simply 'of the streets;' though Cicero contrasts the 
 anguslissimae semitae of Rome with the optimae uiae of Capua, Rull. 
 ii. 96 : either view agrees with LVIII. 4, 5. Turnebus' interp. ' in 
 agrorum semitis sub dio scortilla subigentes' is certainly wrong. It is 
 obvious that the boni bealique are here opposed to profligates of humbler 
 pretensions and a lower grade, the demi-monde of Rome. 
 
 17. une de capillatis, 'paragon of long-haired men.' Parad. ii. 16 
 C Marium uidimus qui mihi secundis rebus unus ex foriunatis hominibus, 
 aduersis unus ex summis uiris uidebatur. The Iberi wore their hair and 
 beard thick and long ; hence rpayoTroyyaves Cratinus ap. Mein. Com. 
 Fragm. ii. p. 7 8 ; so the Celtiberian Martial contrasts himself with the 
 curled dandies of Rome, x. 65. 6, 7 Tu flexa nitidus coma uagaris, His- 
 panis ego coniumax capillis. une, a very rare vocative. Caper, doc- 
 tissimus antiquitatis persecutator, quoted by Priscian torn. i. p. 188 Keil, 
 quotes a line of Plautus' Frivolaria in support of it : no other instance is 
 adduced by Neue Formenlehre ii. p. 103 except Varro L. L. viii. 63, 
 who mentions it as one of the six cases of unus. Similarly sole was used 
 by Ticida in his Epithalamium (Prise. 189). Both une and sole may be 
 regarded as tentative innovations of the scriptores Euphorionis : and 
 neither prevailed. capillatis. De Leg. Agrar. ii. 22. 59 Voliiat ante 
 oculos istorum lubae regis filius, adulescens non minus bene numatus quam 
 bene capillatus, ' with a fine head of hair.' 
 
 18. Cunieulosae is significant (i) tiscuniculus is perhaps a Celtiberian 
 word, (2) from the thick capilli of the rabbit XXV. i, (3) the rabbit 
 was an insigne of Spain on coins and medals. Varro R. R. iii. 12. 4 
 describes three kinds ; the first, Italian with short fore feet, white belly, 
 long ears, upper part of the body black, growing to great size in Gaul 
 and Macedonia, smaller in Spain and Italy ; the second Alpine, entirely 
 white ; lastly the Spanish, like the Italian, but not so high. This was 
 the cuniculus proper. Plin. H. N. viii. 217 Leporum generis sunt et quos 
 Hispania cuniculos appellat, fecunditaiis innumerae. Strabo 144 gives 
 an account of these yiapvxoi, Xa-yiStir <As mm XffiripiSas npocrayopiiov(Ti. 
 
 Celtiberiae, perhaps with the notion of uncivilized savagery which long 
 
 attached to them. Strab. 151 of KfXrifirjpes of irdnTaiv vopKrOevrfs wore SripiO)- 
 SetTTepoi. 
 
 19. Egnati. Behrens Analecta Catulliana p. 4^ identifies this Egnatius 
 with the philosophical writer of a poem De Rerum Natura quoted twice 
 by Macrob. S. vi. 5. 2 and 12. The long hair and beard, ridiculed 
 by Catullus, might suit a philosopher. opaca, ' bushy.' The fashion 
 at Rome at this time seems to have been against full beards. Cicero 
 Cael. xiv. 33 contrasts the full beards of the old Romans with the small 
 and nicely trimmed beards which Clodia's lovers affected non hac barbula 
 qua ista delectatur, sed ilia horrida quam in statuis antiquis et imaginibus 
 uidemus : the young profligates described in Catiline ii. 10. 2 as bene barbati 
 must have worn a beard of some length carefully trimmed. quern 
 bonum facit, ' whose gentility consists in.' 
 
 20. dens. Clean white teeth were thought necessary to a pleasing 
 appearance. Theophrastus makes them a characteristic of the "Apto-Kos. 
 
ON CATULLUS. XXXVIII. 105 
 
 Tusc. Disp. V. 1 6. 46 Haec quae sunt minima iamen bona dica?ilur necesse 
 est, candiduli denies, uenusti oculi. Eibera, his native urine ; i. e. 
 
 according to the fashion of his country. urina. See XXXIX. 
 
 XXXVIII. 
 
 A SHORT expostulation with Cornificius, probably the poet of that name, 
 for withholding sympathy which Catullus had expected, apparently in 
 return for some communication on the subject of his passion, perhaps for 
 Lesbia ; the words sic meos amores can hardly refer to Catullus' brother 
 (Vulp.) or to Cornificius himself (Bruner). The poem, which is probably 
 imperfect, was obviously written at a time not less of bodily than mental 
 depression; Heyse Teuffel and Schwabe agree in tracing in it the 
 anticipation of approaching death. This would give a meaning to the 
 last line ; the lacrimae Simonideae may well refer, as Bruner supposes, to 
 the 6py\voi. of Simonides, poems commemorating the dead, and filled with 
 reflexions on the uncertain lot of mortality, often, it would seem, in 
 connexion with the untimely deaths of the young 
 
 Catullus, in complaining that his friend has done little to console him 
 in his suffering state, follows the example of Lucilius, who remonstrates 
 with a friend for not visiting him when ill, Gell. xviii. 8. 
 
 Bergk, in a programme on Cornificius (Index Lectionum Marburg 
 1843), makes it probable that Cornificius was the poet of that name, (i) 
 Ouid. Trist. ii. 428-438 mentions Cornificius with Catullus Calvus Ticida 
 Memmius Cinna Anser and Valerius Cato as a writer of light erotic verse, 
 (2) Macrobius vi. 4. 12 quotes from Cornificius a hendecasyllabic verse 
 Deducta mihi uoce garrienti, vi. 5, 13 a fragment from his hexameter 
 poem Glaucus, which show that he followed the same school of poetry 
 as Catullus, (3) Catullus asks his friend for & poem, (4) the chronology of 
 Cornificius' life would agree with this view, as he died in 713 | 41 accord- 
 ing to Jerome in the Eusebian chronicle : Cornificius poeta a militibus de- 
 serius inter at, quos saepe fiigientes galeatos lepores adpellarat. Huius soror 
 Cornificia, cuius insignia extant epigrammata. 
 
 1. male est, of sickness. Att. iv. 6. 2 meliuscule Lentulo esse. Fam. 
 xvi. 5. I Quom meliuscule tibi esset. 
 
 2. mehercule et laboriose. I retain the ordinary reading, against the 
 conjectures of Froehlich m. et est lab. and Lachmann m. ei et lab. from a 
 conviction that the instances of hiatus in a short syllable in the extant 
 poems of Catullus are not so clearly wrong as to justify any departure 
 from the MSS. There are four cases of dactylic hiatus in our MSS. 
 of Catullus :— this one ; LV. 4 Te in circo, te in ovinibus libellis ; 
 LVI. 8 Uno in lectulo erudituli ambo ; CXIV. 6 Saltum laudemus dum modo 
 ipse egeat. Of these Lachmann alters the first as above, and in the last reads 
 domo. On Lucret. vi. 743 he lays down a rule to the effect that such hiatus 
 only takes place in a cretic like lectulo, which from its position in the verse 
 does not admit of elision, e. g. LVI. 8, or in monosyllables which form 
 the second foot of a dactyl, LV. 4. This rule will be found to hold good 
 in most cases. But such instances as Hor. C. iii. 14. 11 male ominatis, 
 
106 A COMMENTARY 
 
 the reading of the best MSS, and Virg. Eel. ii. 53 Addam cereapruna: 
 honoserit huic quoquf porno, though the pause here makes a difference, are 
 perhaps enough to justify the retention of even a short syllable in hiatu 
 here and at CXIV. 6. laboriose, according to Cicero Phil. xi. 4, a 
 
 word peculiarly applied to bodily suffering. Dolores Trebonius periulit 
 magnos (he was put to the torture) ; muUi ex morbi grauUate maiores, quos 
 tamen non miser os, sed laboriosos solemus dicere. 
 
 5. allocutione, specially used of words of comfort. Varro L. L. 
 vi. 57 Hinc adlocutum mulieres ire aiuni quom eunt ad aliquem locum con- 
 •solandi causa. Sen. ad Marc, de Consol. i Teneas licet et amplexeris 
 dolor em iuum quem iibi in filii locum super stitemfecisti. Quis enim erit finis ? 
 omnia in superuacuum temptata sunt ; fatigaiae allocutiones amicorum. Id. 
 ad Helv. Matrem i Quid quod nouis uerbis nee ex uolgari et cotidiana 
 sumptis allocutione opus erat homini ad consolandos suos ex ipso rogo caput 
 adleuanti. 
 
 6. ' I am angry with you. Is it thus you treat my tale of love ? ' Catul- 
 lus, it would seem, had taken Cornificius into his confidence about his 
 passion, probably for Lesbia, as that which had given him most suffering. 
 Meos amores, where it is not 'my beloved' as in XV. i, XXI. 4, XL. 7, 
 all spoken, I think, of Javentius, can only mean ' my passion and all that 
 concerns it, my tale of passion ' as in VI. 1 6 Volo te ac tuos amores Ad 
 caelum lepido uocare uersu. The omission of the verb belongs to the 
 rapid and summary language of emotion, and gives a tinge of every- 
 day feeling. Att. i. 2 Abs te tarn diu nihil litterarum ? Fin. ii. 6.17 Finem, 
 inquit, interrogandi, si uidetur, ' a truce to questions, if you please.' 
 
 7. Lachmann on II. 7 seems to take lubet here by itself, making paulum 
 quid allocutionis the nom. to it, and this construction, though rare and 
 belonging to the older Latin, is found in Suet. Caes. 20 quae cuique 
 libuissent ; Cic. pro Quint, xxx. 94 Sin et poterit Naeuius id quod libet et 
 ei libebit id quod non licet, quid agendum est? It is perhaps more natural 
 to take paulum quid lubet as one expression, and supply da or an equiva- 
 lent, ' Just one little word of consolation.' As the next line shows, he 
 expected a poem of sympathy. 
 
 8. Maestius, not 'though sadder' (Theod. Martin and Cranstoun) 
 but ' something more moving, with more of sympathy ; ' the tone of a 
 poem meant to console a man suffering partly from love, partly from ill- 
 health, would naturally be not too cheerful, and if it drew tears would be 
 more successful than if it drew laughter. Heyse makes Maestius the 
 predicate of the sentence, ' is more moving,' but this is impossible. 
 
 8. Simonideis. Referring to the Bprjvoi and elegies of Simonides of 
 
 Ceos. Aristid. i. 127 ttoios ravra Si/uaviSi;; Bprjin/aei ; ris Hii/Sapos ; The 
 
 fragments of Simonides are suflBcient to show the XenroVvr irepl to irvfmaJSis 
 which traditionally won him the victory over Aeschylus in composing the 
 elegy over those who fell at Marathon. Quint, x. i. 64 Praecipua tarmn 
 eius in commouenda miser atione uirtus, utquidam in haceum parte omnibus eius 
 operis auctoribus praeferant. 
 
ON CATULLUS. XXXIX. 107 
 
 XXXIX. 
 
 On Egnatius and his eternal smile. Martial has epigrams on the 
 same subject, ii. 41 on a woman with bad teeth whom he advises to 
 avoid anything that can make her open her mouth, iii. 20 on Canius 
 who was always smiling. Cf. True. ii. i. 14 Bonis esse oporiet dentibus 
 lenam probam, adridere Quisquis ueniat. 
 
 2. Benidet, 'beams with smiles.' The word is used of z. false smile, 
 Tac. Ann. iv. 60 Tiberius toruus aut falsum renidens uultu ; Stat. Theb. 
 xii. 688 fictum ac iriste renidens. usque quaque, wherever he goes : 
 the word fluctuates between the meanings 'everywhere' and 'continually,' 
 with an increasing tendency to the latter; Most. iii. 2. 79 cum usque 
 quaque umbra est, ' everywhere ;' Bacch. iv. 4. 83 usque quaque ioquitur, ' is 
 continually talking;' Att. iv. 9. i Multa mecum de republica, sane sibi dis- 
 plicens, ut loquebaiur (sic est enim in hoc homine dicendum) Syriam spernens, 
 Hispaniam iactans : hie quoque ut loquebatur ; et opinor usque quaque de 
 hoc cum dicemus, sit hoc quasi rai toSe <baKvKiSov, i. e. a recurring formula, 
 which you must always supply. Mart. xi. 98. 3 Et hinc et illinc usque 
 quaque quacumque. 
 
 3. Subsellium, here the bench where the defendant sat, as in a letter 
 of Caelius, Fam. viii. 8. i at ego inuocatus ad subsellia rei occurro ; cf. 
 Ad Q. Fr. ii. 4. i : often of the plaintiff, Rose. Amer. vi. 17, or of the 
 judges, Vatin, xiv, 34. 
 
 5. IiUgetur, 'mourning is going on,' technical, like ^«/ar And.,i. i. 
 102. orba, 'bereaved,' in reference to unicum: see Mayor on luuen. 
 iii. 129. unicum. Asin. i. i. i Sicut tuum uis unicum natum tuae 
 
 Superesse uitae sospitem et superstitem. 
 
 7. mortaum, 'complaint.' Cato ap. Cell. i. 15. 9 has morbus loquendi, 
 Varro Eumen. fr. xx Riese (Non. 392) morbo stimulatus eodem of a miser; 
 Seneca, perhaps with Catullus in view, de Clem. ii. 6 Scias morbum esse, 
 non hilaritatem, semper adridere ridentibus et ad omnium oscitationem ipsum 
 quaque os diducere. So voVor, voarwia. Soph. Antig. 1052. Philodemus 
 ■nipX KaKmv Col. Xvi (Is fiaptau iviore to voarjfxa ■nfpd(TTrjuiv ij jiavuiv. habet, 
 
 'has upon him,' with morbum, as habere febrem Fam. vii. 26. i : so too 
 voiTov exetv=<f)av\ov rjBos ex^iv in Euripides Antiope fr. 227 Nauck. 
 
 9. monendum te est mibi, ' I must give you a warning,' a gerundial 
 construction found in seven passages of Lucretius, Munro on i. in. It 
 occurs, but not very often, in Cicero, De Sen. ii. 6 Viam quam nobis quo- 
 que ingrediendum est, De N. D. iii. i. i Suo cuique iudicio utendum. Pro 
 Scauro ii. 13, Obliuiscendum uobis putatis matrum in liber os, uirorum in 
 uxores scelera : several times in Varro R. R. ii. 9. 10, 12 dandum hor- 
 deaceos panes, 
 
 10-14. ' If there were any special reason for your showing your teeth, 
 or no special reason for your not showing them ; if you were a man of 
 Rome that likes to look neat, a cleanly Sabine, a Tiburtine whose teeth 
 are bleached by the pure atmosphere he lives in, an Umbrian whose 
 poverty excuses his homeliness or justifies an economical tooth-wash, 
 a Tuscan whose gormandizing combines with his care for personal 
 
108 A COMMENTARY 
 
 appearance to make him particular about his teeth, a man of Lanuvium 
 whose fine set of teeth makes his displaying them natural, — if again you 
 were a countryman of my own, whose personal peculiarities I might 
 overlook, or if in a word you were anybody whose teeth are not offensive, 
 I should still prefer to see you rid of your eternal grin.' 
 
 10. urtoanus, not merely ' a man that lives in towns,' which would 
 form no sufficient contrast to the other adjectives Sabintis, Tiburs, etc.,> 
 but 'a man of the Town' (De Pet. Consul, viii. 29), i. e. a citizen of 
 Rome, cf urbanae tribus, u. praetores, with whatever culture or good- 
 breeding is implied by living in the Capital. Sabinus aut Tiburs. 
 Catullus combines the two names probably because he had an estate on 
 the borders of each, XLIV. 1-3. Tiburs. The air of Tibur was 
 supposed to have the property of bleaching. Prop. iv. 7. 8i, 2 Pomosis 
 Anio qua spumifer incubat amis Et nunquam. Herculeo numine pallet ebur. 
 Mart. iv. 62 Tibur in Herculeum migrauit nigra Lycoris Omnia dum fieri 
 Candida credit ibi, vii. 13 Dum Tibur tints albescere solibus audit Antiqui 
 dentis fusca Lycoris ebur Venit in Herculeos colles. Quid Tiburis alti 
 Aura ualet? farm tempore nigra redit, viii. 28. 1 1 Lilia tu uincis nee adhuc 
 delapsa ligustra Et Tiburtino monte quod albet ebur, Sil. Ital. xii. 229 Quale 
 micat semperque nouum est, quod Tiburis aura Pascit ebur. 
 
 11. parous Vmber, ' a thrifty Umbrian,' whose homeliness thinks it a 
 virtue not to be too nice in person {Rusticitas . . . se commendat tonsa cute 
 dentibus airis Hon Epist. i. 18. 5-8), or whose poverty excuses his re- 
 sorting to cheap personal appliances. Umbrian poverty is often alluded 
 to. Mart. xii. 82 Brumae diebus feriisque Saturni Mittebat Umber aliculam 
 mihi pauper, Nunc misit alicam : f actus est enim diues, Sil. Ital. viii. 449 
 sqq. Sed nan ruricolae firmarunt robore castra Deteriore cauis uenientes 
 montibus Vmbri . . . His populi fortes Amerinus et armis Vel rastris laud- 
 ande Camers, his Sarsina diues Lactis et haud parci Martem coluisse 
 Tudertes, which almost looks as - if parcus were an habitual epithet of the 
 race. Their poverty induced them to hire themselves out in large bodies 
 to the Sabines. Suet. Vesp. i . This penuriousness was probably asso- 
 ciated with the idea of homeliness and rusticity. Ovid speaks of the 
 blowsed face and straddling gait of an Umbrian wife, A. A. iii. 303, and 
 both formed part of their antique character. Plin. H. N. iii. 112, Prop, 
 iv. I. 121, Hor. Epist. i. 18. 5-8. The sense of 'spare' which has been 
 assigned to parcus is not established, and is disproved by the recorded 
 (Pers. iii. 74) and monumental (Muller Etrusker i. 275) stoutness of 
 the Umbrian race. Porcus, the conjecture of Scaliger, and actually 
 found in one MS, is too coarse to be likely; pastus would suit the 
 idea of an Umbrian boar (Stat. S. iv. 6. 10) and might suggest the idea 
 of tusks. The Vatican gloss in Mai Class. Auct. vii. 574 Aut pinguis 
 ubera aut obesus et prossus, though expressly quoted as a line of Catullus, 
 must represent a different recension from ours ; so far as it goes, it con- 
 firms the first impression the line conveys, that the epithet preceding 
 Vmber expressed some bodily quality like obesus ater dentatus. obesus 
 Etruseus. ' Instead of the slender and symmetrical proportions of the 
 Greeks and Italians the sculptures of the Etruscans exhibit only short 
 sturdy figures with large heads and thick arms.' Mommsen Hist. Rom. 
 i. 9. Their fatness was connected with their luxurious living. Aen. xi. 
 737-740- Diod. Sic. V. 40 Uapariefi/Tia yap SU rqs ij/if'p.ij rpaniCas noKv- 
 
ON CATULLUS. XXXIX. 109 
 
 TtXfit Koi TiiWa TO Trpos T7)i/ VTrep0dX\ov(Tav rpo^riv uiKe'ia. They introduced 
 
 the luxurious and quiet colonnade. Cf. Athen. xii. 517, 518. 
 
 12. ater, ' dark,' of complexion. XCIIL 2. dentatus, ' with a 
 fine set of teeth,' as in Mart. i. 72. 3 Sic dentata sibi uidetur Aegle EmpHs 
 ossibus Indicoque cornu ; in Pseud, iv. 4. 3 dentaium uirum Macedoni- 
 ensem it seems to mean offensively prominent teeth. The dark colour of 
 the Lanuvine's skin would bring his teeth into greater prominence, as 
 Shakspere talks of ' an Elhiop's tooth,' Winter's Tale iv. 3. 
 
 13. Transpadanus. The broad plain between the northern bank of 
 the Po and the Alps was not divided into two regions till the time of 
 Augustus. Of these two the tenth or easternmost, Venetia, 'included 
 the land of the Carni with the addition of Istria and a part of Gallia Cis- 
 alpina, previously occupied by the Cenomani (consequently Verona), 
 extending as far west as the Addua. The eleventh comprised the re- ^ 
 mainder of Gallia Transpadana, or the whole tract between the Alps 
 and the Padus from the sources of the latter river to its confluence with 
 the Addua.' E. H. Bunbury, in Diet. Geog. ii. 92. Even, therefore, if 
 Catullus alludes to Verona alone in meos (LXVIL 34), he speaks for the 
 time at which he wrote with strict correctness, though subsequently 
 Verona belonged to the Veneta regio, not the Transpadana. attingam, 
 
 ' not to leave untouched,' a medical word, tanquam uulnera attingo Liu. 
 xxviii. 27. Catullus seems to imply that he was aware his own country- 
 men had their failings. 
 
 14. puriter, LXXVL 19, a word of Cato's, R. R. 76. i, 112. 2, used 
 also by Ennius Pomponius and Novius. Catullus affects these archaic 
 adverbs, miseriier LXIIL 49, properiier fr. IV. lauit not lauat, as 
 Horace S. i. 5. 24 has or a manusque lauimus. But generally the usage 
 not only of the Augustan poets, but of Lucretius, confines lauare to actual 
 washing, lauere to laving or wetting, often metaphorically. See Neue 
 Formenlehre ii. p. 322. dentes. If we may judge from the number 
 of denlifricia mentioned in Pliny's Natural History, the Romans must 
 have paid particular attention to their teeth. Most of these consist of the 
 ashes of various animal substances ; e. g. bones, especially the pastern- 
 bones {tali) of farm animals, dogs' teeth, stags' horns, oyster-shells, egg- 
 shells, murex, all burnt and reduced to powder (xxviii. 178, 179, 182, 
 xxix. 46, XXX. 22, xxxii. 65, xxxii. 82). Mouse ashes mixed with honey 
 or fennel-root were employed to make the breath pleasant (xxx. 27). 
 Pounded pumice was also used as a tooth-powder (xxxvi. 156). 
 
 16. Menandri Gnom. Monostich. 88 (Meineke Fragm. Com. Graec. 
 
 iv. 342) rfXaf aKaipns ev |3/)0Totr Seivov kokov, io8 (Mein. p. 343) TeXa 8' 6 
 ficofjos Kov Tt }ir) yekoiov tj. 
 
 17. Celtiber. Diod. Sicul. v. 33. 5 "iSiov Be n koi irapABo^ov vd/jn/iov Trap' 
 airrols (toIs- KtXT-i'jSjj/XTj) iimv. 'EffifieXfis yap SvTfS (cai Kaddpioi rah SiaiVatt, h' 
 epyov imTrihdovcri ^avava-ov Ka\ ffoXX^s dxaSapa-ias KfKOivavrjKos' Trap' e/caora yap 
 TO crujLta \ovovtTiv oflpio, koi tovs ofioKTas TrapaTplfiovTfs, ravTrjv fiyovvrai Bepufireiav 
 
 etvat Tov cafiaTos. Celtiberia in terra. The addition of lerra is not 
 meaningless: it suggests that Celtiberia was a peculiar out-of-the-way 
 part of the world, perhaps that it was barren and deficient in natural re- 
 sources. Strabo 163 ovre yap 17 ttjs x^P'^' <pv(ns TroXfav eViSficTiKi? ttoWSiv 
 ea-n fiia tijv Xwrpdri/rn ^ Sta tow eKTOTturjibv koi to dvrjp.epov, ov6' oi ^ioi Kal 
 Trpii^eis aiiToiv ?^to rail' Kara rqv TrapaXiav Tqv Kad' qpas xmayopeiovtri towvtov 
 
no A COMMENTARY 
 
 oiSev, ib. 164 fj 8' SWt] (li/ioipei) to ir\eov Bia t^i/ oKiyapiuv T&v dvBpairav Kai 
 TO fiTj irpos butyaiyrjv aKKa pSKKov rrplis dvayKriv Kai oppfp) SrjpiwSt} liera edovs 
 <j>av\ov Qv ei prj ns oUrai irpbs Siayayljv fji/ ravs offpm XouojiEVous iv 8e|a/ie- 
 vais TraXaioujueVa) Kai Tois oBoiTas crprixopevovs KaX avToiis Kai ras yuvaiKas airav, 
 Kaddnep Ka'i Toiis Kavra^povs <j)acr\ Kai tovs 6p,6povs avTois. 
 
 18. mixit. ' The Greenland females occasionally wash their hair and 
 faces with their own urine, the odour of which is agreeable to both sexes, 
 and they are well accustomed to it as this liquor is kept in tubs in the 
 porches of their huts for use in dressing the deer and seal skins.' Sir 
 J. Richardson Polar Regions p. 304, a passage indicated to me by Prof. 
 RoUeston. This reading {mixit) of the Bodleian MS. (0) is perhaps the 
 spelling of Catullus. It is so spelt in two inscriptions quoted by O. lahn 
 Persius i. 114. The n was only faintly heard in pronunciation before s, 
 and the gs became x. Compare the forms atligeret cesor Clemes Malu- 
 ginesis mesor OrucuUius Pisaurese Quiciilis Secudo in Mommsen C. I. L. i. 
 p. 608. mane, i. e. he uses on getting up in the morning the water 
 he passed over-night. This would give it time to take a deeper colour. 
 Besides, urine was believed to have salutary effects if used in the morning, 
 Plin. xxviii. 69 Oslhanes contra mala medicamenta omnia auxiliari promisit 
 matutinis suam cuique insiillaiam in pedem. 
 
 19. russam, the colour ovpov nendKausspkaou. Russus, according to 
 Charisius (55 P.) the correct form, not russeus any more than albeus 
 ox prasineus, is a rare word. Lucretius applies it to the awnings spread 
 over theatres, iv. 75 luiea russaque uela Et ferrugina, Martial xiv. 176 
 to a mask made to imitate a Batavian face, either from the red colour 
 of Batavian hair, or from the red brick-like colour of the complexion 
 as imitated by the mask-maker. According to A. Gellius ii. 26. 6 Rusus 
 color et ruber nihil a uocalulo rufi diiunguntur neque proprietates eius omnes 
 declarant, it was an indefinite colour : from Prudentius, who uses it twice 
 of blood (Peristeph. x. 908, xi. 130), we may perhaps infer it to have 
 been a coarse not very bright red. 
 
 20. uester, ' that Celtiberian tooth of yours.' So Hibera urina 
 XXXVII. 20. expolitior, a rare comparative; the superlative uillas 
 expolitissimas occurs in a passage from a speech of P. Scipio Africanus 
 against Claudius Asellus (Gell. ii. 20. 6), applied to houses in com- 
 plete repair. So expolitio is technically used by Cicero (Q. Fr. iii. 
 6 urbanam expolitionerri) and Vitruvius vii. Praef. 18 of the processes 
 necessary to finish a house completely, including paving, plastering, 
 painting the walls (ruderatio, albarium, picturae). This idea may be 
 in Catullus' mind, so 21 bibisse a well-known word of colour. Plin. 
 H. N. viii. 193 Lanarum nigrae nullum colorem bibunt. Solin. xxii. 12, 
 speaking of the British woad-tattooing, plurimumfuci artus bibant. 
 
 21. loti, the common word for urine, as is shown by its frequent occur- 
 rence in Cato R. R. cxvi. i, ib. 6, cxxii, and the proverbial Non ualet lotium 
 suum (Petron. 57), ' he is not worth his salt.' Cf. the answer of Vespa- 
 sian when reproved by Titus for putting a tax on urine (Sueton. Vesp. 
 23) Pecuniam ex prima pensione admouii ad nares, sciscitans num odore 
 offendcretur ; et illo negante ' Atqui' inquit ' e lotio est.' 
 
ON CATULLUS. XL. Ill 
 
 XL. 
 
 Ravidus is only mentioned here ; nor is the name a common one. 
 He had enraged Catullus by making love, as Conr. de Allio and Schwabe 
 (Quaestt. p. 82) think, to Lesbia, as seems to me more probable, by 
 familiarities with Juventius (so Vorlaender, p. 1 9). At any rate the words 
 meos amores are applied to Juventius in the other poems, see XV. i, 
 XXI. 4. With XV indeed the poem before us has much in common ; 
 cf. qualubet 6 with XV. 11, mala mens with XV. 14 Quod si te mala mens 
 furorque uecors, where uecors again is like uecordem parat excitare 
 rixam here. As in XXXVI Catullus speaks of truces iambi which had 
 brought Lesbia to her senses, in LIV. 6 of iambi which had roused 
 the anger of Caesar (cf Fragm. I), so here he threatens Ravidus with 
 the terrible punishment of an immortality in iambics. Schwabe con- 
 siders that iambi may include hendecasyllabic poems, and this would 
 be in accordance with Hephaestion 10. 62 ed. Westphal when talking 
 
 of antispastic verses he says tS>v 8e rpiiicTpav to fitv Kara\t]KnK6v, rb liovrjv 
 Tr)v 7Fpairr]v avTLairaOTiKrjv fX°^ '"^^ ^^ ^^^^ aKKas ta^jStKUff, ^oXai/cetov KaXetrat. 
 
 If so the iambics with which Ravidus is threatened are the hendeca- 
 syllables in which the threat is conveyed, and this is perhaps more prob- 
 able than that Catullus either wrote or thought of writing a regular 
 iambic attack like the famous verses on Caesar (XXIX), the verses 
 expostulating with Lesbia (VIII), those against Suffenus (XXII), the 
 Salax Taberna (XXXVII), Egnatius (XXXIX), Sestius (XLIV), Rufa 
 (LIX) or the unknown object of LX. On the other hand, as Westphal 
 has shown, Catullus seems here to be imitating an iambic poem of Archi- 
 lochus, and the "i.ay.^01 which Cato wrote in imitation of the same poet 
 (Plut. Cato 7) can scarcely have been hendecasyllables. 
 
 1. Archil, fr. 9 2 Bergk Ilarf p Avitdfi^a, wolov ((ppdcro) ToSe ; Tls (ras iraprjeipe 
 <f>p(vas ; ' As t6 TrpiK rjpfjpeKrda, vvv 8c 8rj noKiis 'Aoroim (jiaivcai -yf Xms., a passage 
 
 also imitated by Laberius ap. Non. 490. mala mens, ' infatuation,' as 
 in XV. 14, Tib. ii. 5. 104. Kauide, perhaps pronounced Raude, but 
 an hypermeteris not impossible, as in the Glyconic poems XXXIV. ir, 22, 
 LXI. 115, 135, 140, 184. Conr. de Allio fancifully supposed the name 
 fictitious, to describe the reddish-brown eyes of Catullus' rival. It is the 
 colour thought best by Columella for cocks R. R. viii. 2. 9. 
 
 2. Agit praeeipitem, of blind folly. Harusp. Resp. xxiv. 5 1 demons 
 et iam pridem ad poenam exiliumque praeceps. Verr. i. 2. 6 Aguni eum 
 praeeipitem poenae ciuium Romanorum. iam.bos. Plut. Cato 7 opytf xal 
 vionyn Tpe\jfas eavT^v (U Idpfiovs n-oXXa tov SKyniaiva Kadv^piae, ra jriKpa 
 7rpoa-)((>>pri(TdiJ,evos toC 'Apxi^oxov. 
 
 3. Archil, fr. 93 Bergk tIs ipa 8aiiia>v kqX tcov p^oXoufievof ; Expressions 
 like Qui illi dii irati Att. iv. 7. i, deos satis sciofuisse iratos And. iv. i. 40, 
 and the ironical satin illi sunt di propitii Phorm. iv. 3. 31, are common : 
 Catullus here gives them a new and less ordinary turn. non bene, 
 'unwisely.' aduocatus. Pronto p. 47 Naber deorum unumquemque 
 mihi uotis aduoco. 
 
 4. Vecordem, XV. 14. Vecors is as much stronger than excors as 
 uesanus than insanus. Both words are used by Catullus of the loss of 
 
112 A COMMENTARY 
 
 reason produced by love VII. lo, C. 7, and the same notion lies in rixam, 
 'a love-quarrel,' Hor. C. iii. 14. 25, Colutn. viii. 2. 14 nee pugnacem nee 
 rixosae libidinis marem of a cock. parat, ' means,' ' is on the way.' 
 Rem. Am. 99. 
 
 5. peruenias in. era uulgi. The plural ora gives a poetical cast 
 to the common in ore uulgi uersari (Verr. i. 46. 121), in ore omnium 
 esse Phil. x. 7. 16, in ore est omni populo Adelph. i. 2. 13. Ouid. Trist. 
 iii. 14. 23, 24 combines the two, Num: incorrectum populi peruenit in ora. 
 In populi quicquam si tamen ore meum est. 
 
 6. Quid uis ? ' What would you have ? ' ' What are you aiming at ? ' 
 Heaut. i. i. 9 quid uis tibii' quid quaeris? De Orat. ii. 67. 269 Quid tibi 
 uis, insane? Prop. i. 5. 3 Quid tibi uis, insane? meos sentire furores ? 
 Infelix properas ultima nosse mala. Hor. Epod. xii. i, S. ii. 6. 29. qua 
 lubet, ' no matter how,' LXXVI. 14. uotus esse, ' to secure notoriety.' 
 Mart. X. 3. II Cur ego labor em notus esse tarn praue ? 
 
 8. Cum .longa poena, 'to your own far-reaching discomfiture,' 
 so magno cum pretio atque malo LXXVII. 2, cum summo probro And. 
 V. 3. 10. It is perhaps fanciful to suppose a pun on penna, keeping up 
 the idea of Ravidus as a long- tailed cock (procerissimae caudae Colum. 
 viii. 2. 10). 
 
 XLI. 
 
 This poem and XLIII are both attacks on the same person, a woman, 
 called, if we can trust the MSS, Ameana or Amiana. She was the 
 mistress of a man whom Catullus called decocior Formianus. This bankrupt 
 of Formiae has been generally identified with Mamurra the favorite of 
 Caesar attacked in c. XXIX; rightly, I think, as both Caesar and 
 Mamurra are again assailed in c. LVII, and the latter is there expressly 
 connected with Formiae. This also agrees very well with the facts of 
 Mamurra's life. From Pliny H. N. xxxvi. 48 we know that Mamurra 
 had been Caesar's superintendent of engineers in Gaul {prae/ectum 
 fabrum G. Caesaris in Gallia), and it was here that he received from his 
 chief the grants which roused Catullus to the attack upon him in XXIX 
 (cf. 3. Mamurram habere quod Comata Gallia Habebat uncti). Now in 
 XLIII. 6 Ten prouincia narrat esse bellam ? Catullus says Amiana had 
 been talked of as a beauty in the province, and there can be little doubt 
 that the province here spoken of is the province par excellence, the Roman 
 province in the south of Gaul. This view becomes more probable if we 
 refer XLII to the same woman, cf. 9 Catuli ore Gallicani. 
 
 When and where the poet made this acquaintance we cannot tell : 
 perhaps, as Westphal suggests, in Cisalpine Gaul, which part of his 
 province Caesar, to obtain fresh levies or for other reasons, generally 
 visited in the winters of his nine years' campaign beyond the Alps 
 (B. G. V. i). It was during one of these visits that, according to a 
 plausible conjecture of Schwabe's (Quaestt. CatuU. p. 235-237), Caesar 
 invited Catullus to dinner as a sign of forgiveness for the insult he 
 had received in the verses upon Mamurra ; and it must have been also 
 during these visits that he was himself at times the guest of the poet's 
 
ON CATULLUS. XLL 113 
 
 father at Verona, if we may so interpret the words of Suetonius (Jul. 73). 
 It is easy to suppose that Caesar may have brought his favorite Mamurra 
 with him, and Mamurra might naturally be accompanied by his mistress. 
 If, as Westphal thinks, the liaison took place at Verona, and the poems 
 referring to it were written there, Amiana was herself, it would seem, 
 either a Veronese or a native of the country thereabouts, for the poet 
 appeals to her relations to take care of her, and this would have com- 
 paratively little force if Amiana had no relations in the place where 
 the appeal was made. 
 
 1. Ameana, (A me an a) I have retained as the reading of the best 
 MSS. If genuine, it may possibly be a rustic or provincial form of 
 Amiana, Uke wa uella speca senum, for uia uilla spica sinum (Varro- 
 R. R. I. 2. 14. ib. 48. 2), which were still so pronounced by country 
 people in Varro's time. Even Livy still wrote sibe guase (QuintiL 
 i. 7. 24). Catullus if he retained the rustic or archaic Ameana for the 
 more modern form, may have wished to heighten in this way the contrast 
 between the refined Roman Lesbia and her would-be Gaulish rival. It is 
 equally possible that (i) Ameana is a form of late Latin, or (2) that 
 it represents the corrupted form of another name, perhaps Anneiana, 
 cf. the Anneianum oppidum near Ateste (Cluver. Ital. Antiq. p. 155). 
 
 2. Tota perhaps refers to the legal formula for manus iniedio, in which 
 sesieriium x milia was the specified sum. See Excursus. milia 
 decern, the sum which Catullus actually paid to the leno Silo. CII. i. 
 poposoit, Hor. S. ii. 7. 89 Quinqtie talenta Poscit ie mulier. 
 
 3. turpiculo, rather coarse, as is shown by XLIII. i Salue nee rninimo 
 puella naso. It was a gross feature in the face. Turpiculus both in 
 Varro and Cicero has this idea of immodesty, Varro L. L. vii. 97, 
 Puerulis lurpicula res (i. e./ascinus) in collo quaedam suspensa, ne quid obsit, 
 lonae scaeuae causa scaeuola appellaia. 
 
 4. Decoctoris. According to Cicero (Phil. ii. 18. 44) Illud audaciae 
 tuae quod sedisii in quatuordecim ordinibus cum esset lege Roscia decocto- 
 ribus certus locus, quamuis quis forlunae uitio non sua decoxisset, the lex 
 Roscia B.C. 67, which gave the equites fourteen rows of seats in the theatre 
 next to those of the senators, contained a special enactment assigning a 
 particular place to bankrupts, and therefore excluding those who though 
 otherwise members of the equestrian order and entitled to sit in their 
 seats had ceased to possess the equestrian income of 400,000 sesterces. 
 This was a public slur on decoctores as a class, and hence there is some- 
 thing like a special force in the introduction of the word here. The 
 substantive does not seem to occur in any extant author before 
 Catullus : decoquere in its primary sense of boiling down with the waste 
 attending that process is found in Varro R. R. i. 2. 26 iubel ranam liuidam 
 conicere in aquam usque quo ad iertiam partem decoxeris. Livy uses it of 
 melting down money in order to test its value by seeing how much passes 
 away in dross, XXXII. 2 {Carlhaginiensium argenium) quia probum non 
 esse quaesiores renuntiauerant experientibusque pars quaria decocta erat, 
 pecunia Romae mutua sumpta inter trimenium argenti expleuerunt, where 
 dococta means that the coin when tested by being again melted was 
 found to be only | silver, \ passing away as dross. From one of these 
 applications, perhaps the latter, as coquo and its compounds are technical 
 
 I 
 
114 A COMMENTARY 
 
 words in reference to metal, decoquere passes into the purely technical 
 sense of bankrupt. The original expression may have been aes suum 
 decoquere, the corresponding was aes alienum conflare. Formiani. As 
 Horace calls Formiae the city of the Mamurrae, and Cicero talks of the 
 wealth of Mamurra (Att. vii. 7. 6) Catullus could hardly have chosen a 
 more insulting name for his rival than ' the bankrupt of Formiae.' Mamurra 
 would no doubt be known to many as the millionaire of Formiae. 
 
 5. Propinqiii. In cases of madness the property and person of the 
 insane were made over to his or her relations. See Excursus. Varro 
 R. R. i. 2. 8, says of a farmer who persisted in cultivating ground 
 which was either unhealthy or too poor to remunerate his labour, mente 
 est captus atque ad adgnatos et gentiles est deducendus. Hor. S. ii. 3. 217 
 inierdicto huic omne adimat ius Praetor et ad sanos abeat tutela propinquos. 
 
 5-8. It would be well if Amiana's relations looked after her. She is not 
 quite in her sound senses ; at any rate she might be recommended to 
 examine her looking-glass a little oftener. 
 
 6. medicos. Hor. Epist. i. i. loi Insanire puias sollennia me neque 
 rides Nee medici credis nee curatoris egere. 
 
 1. nee rogare. Similarly Thais writing to Thessala says of an insolent 
 
 rival e86ii€t de fiot Irani xaKoas irpaTTfiv as firjdt KaroTrrpov KfKTrja-Bai. ft yap 
 eiSfi/ iavrriv (ravSapdx>)S XP'^f" ^X"""""" ™* ^'' W^' *'* aixop(j>iav f^\atTCJ>fipei 
 Alciph. i. 33. 4. Anth. Pal. xi. 266 'fevbes tq-atrrpov «x" t^rjpoa-Bevis' fi yap 
 d\rj6is fSkeniv ovk hv oXas rjBeKev airo ^\errfa>. So Plaut. MoSt. i. 3. 93 
 8 Mulier quae se suamque aetalem spernit, speculo ei usus est. Mart. ii. 
 41. Si speculo mihique credis. 
 
 8. Aes imaginosum. Copper was often ,used for mirrors. Aesch. 
 
 fr. 384 Karoirrpov tiSovs xa'^K'ir fW, otvos Se imv. Anth. P. vi. 211. 4 to 
 
 X«XKfov T ea-oitrpov. Several such mirrors, some of them very rude and 
 with inscriptions in early Latin as well as figures of early workmanship, 
 are preserved. See Mommsen in C. I. L. 54-60. According to Pliny, 
 H. N. xxxiii. 130, the best mirrors of a past age (apud maiores) were made 
 of a mixture of copper and tin ; silver ones were introduced by Pasiteles 
 in the time of Pompeius and supplanted the others (but see Plaut. 
 Most. i. 3. III). Seneca, Nat. Quaest. i. 17, traces the stages in the 
 history of mirrors from the orhis nondum argentei nitoris fragilis uilisque 
 materia to the specula tolls paria corporihus aura argentoque caelata gemmis 
 deinde adornata of his own time. imaginosum seems to refer to some 
 kind of mirror in which the face would be multiplied a great many times. 
 This might be done if the metal surface were cut into many faces. Pliny 
 describes cups which by a particular configuration gave back a whole 
 tribe of reflexions (xxxiii. 129). Or a number of mirrors might be 
 arranged in reference to each other so as to multiply the reflexion a 
 great many times like those described by Lucretius iv. 302. 
 
 Excursus on XLI. 
 
 There seems to be a legal allusion running through the whole of this 
 poem. In 2 the sum Amiana demands of Catullus is the actual sum 
 mentioned in the Twelve Tables under the formula for manus iniectio. 
 Gains iv. 2 1 Per manus iniectionem aeque de his rebus agebatur, de quibus ut 
 
ON CATULLUS. XLL 115 
 
 ita agerelur, lege aliqua cautum est ; uelut iudicati lege xii tabularum. Quae 
 actio talis erat. Qui agebat sic dicebat : Quod tu mihi iudicatus siue dant- 
 natus es sestertium x milia, quae dolo malo non soluisti, ob earn, rem ego tibi 
 sestertium x milium iudicati manus inicio ; et simul aliquam partem corporis 
 eius prendebat. In 5 the relations of Amiana are called upon to take 
 charge of her as of unsound mind ; this also is part of the xii tables. 
 Cic. de Inuentione ii. 50, 148 Si furiosus escit, agnatum gentiliumque 
 in eo pecuniaque eius potestas esto. Ad Herenn. i. 13. 23 Lex est: si 
 furiosus escit, adgnatum gentiliumque in eo pecuniaque eius potestas esto. 
 Ulpian. Lib. Sing. Regularum 12. 2 lex duodecim tabularum /uriosum 
 itemque prodigum, cui bonis interdictum est, in curatione iubet esse agna- 
 torum. Madmen and spendthrifts are combined also by Justinian i. 
 23. 3 Furiosi quoque et prodigi licet maiores uiginti quinque annis sint 
 tamcn in curatione sunt adgnatorum ex lege duodecim tabularum; sed 
 solent Romae praefectus urbi uel praetor et in prouinciis praesides ex 
 inquisitione eis curatores dare. Amiana herself is called insane; her 
 lover, the bankrupt of Formiae, as a prodigus would be liable to the 
 same legal penalties : it is only going a step farther to suppose that 
 Catullus himself had been attacked under a legal provision of the same 
 kind. The lex Plaetoria, which seems to be alluded to in the Pseudulus 
 of Plautus i. 3. 69 Peril ; annorum lex me perdit quinauicenaria, forbade 
 persons under twenty-five years of age to form contracts or have contracts 
 formed with them by placing them till that time in the hands of curators. 
 Prise, viii. 387 K., 792 P. Similiter protulerunt tam in actiua quam in 
 passiua significatione tutor uador uenor uelificor .... uociferor 
 ueneror . . . confiteor tueor aggredior stipulor. In quo illud quo- 
 que est obseruandum quod actiua significatione quomodo passiua ablatiuo 
 coniungitur stipulor a te pro interrogo te et interrogor a te, quomodo 
 dicimus quaero a te pro interrogo te quamuis sit actiuum. . . . Suetonius 
 autem passiue protulit in iv praetorum^ Laetoria quae uetat minor em 
 annis uiginti quinque stipulariiitepaTaaBai. . . . Plautus in Cistellaria: 
 
 Me respondere postulas: iniurium est. 
 
 Stipulari semper me ultro oportet a uiris: 
 
 Eum quaestum facio, nil uiris promiitere, 
 actiue dixit. Idem in Pseudulo — 
 
 Minae uiginti saluae et sanae sunt tibi 
 
 Hodie quas abs te est instipulatus Pseudulus. 
 Idem in Rudente passiue dicit — 
 
 Ni dolo vialo instipulatus sis siue etiam dum siem 
 
 Quinque et uiginti annos natus. 
 Cicero De Officiis iii. 15. 61 circumscriptio adulescentium lege Plae- 
 toria, De Nat. iii. 30. 74. Hist. August. Antonin. x De curatoribus 
 uero cum ante non nisi ex lege Plaetoria uel propter lasciuiam uel propter 
 dementiam darentur, ita statuit ut omnes adulti curatores acciperent non 
 redditis causis. Lex lulia Municipalis 112 (Mommsen C. I. L. p. 122) 
 queiue lege Plaetoria ob eamue rem quod aduersus earn legem fecit fecerit 
 condemnatus est erit, the only authoritative evidence for Plaetoria against 
 the more general reading Laetoria. Now suppose Catullus had either 
 formed a stipulation with Amiana, or been the responding party to a 
 
 » So Keil ; but from xviii. 275 Keil it is clear that it ought to be pratortm. 
 
 I 2 
 
116 A COMMENTARY 
 
 stipulation formed by her, to pay her 10,000 sesterces, had afterwards 
 refused to pay, had then been summoned by her, and to escape the 
 penalties had shielded himself under an exceptio of the lex Plaetoria, i. e. 
 as overreached by a designing woman ; we have a case before us which 
 might very well occasion the poem as we have it with all its technical 
 allusions. For Amiana would no doubt be sarcastic on her niggard 
 lover as a youth not able to protect himself and still wanting a curator ; 
 Catullus as surely would retort, ' You say I want a curator ; I think it is 
 your bankrupt admirer and yourself that want one ; he as a prodigal, you 
 as a person of unsound mind, which you must be to go the length of think- 
 ing your charms worth so extravagant a sum.' 
 
 XLII. 
 
 It is difficult to believe with Conr. de Allio and Schwabe that this 
 poem is an attack on Lesbia : Catullus no doubt speaks coarsely of her 
 XI. 17-20, LVIII. 4, 5, but he nowhere speaks to her abusively as in 11, 
 12, still less in language of such untempered grossness as 13, 14 : nor 
 would he have been likely to describe his incomparable mistress (XLIII. 
 7 ) as strutting affectedly, or grinning like a Gaulish puppy. 
 
 The position of the poem between XLI and XLIII seems to indicate its 
 object, the decoctoris arnica Formiani : cf. mimice ac moleste Ridentem caiuli 
 ore Gallicani 8, 9 with Nee sane nimis elegante lingua XLIII. 4, lutum 
 lupanar 13 with XLI. i : and, generally, all the three poems describe a 
 greedy affected unblushing woman. This is also the view of Victorius. 
 
 The occasion of these hendecasyllables would seem to be conveyed by 
 the refrain 11, 12. Catullus had sent his tablets to the woman, probably 
 with some proposal of an amorous kind; cf. Suet. Gramm. 14 cum codi- 
 cillos Memmi ad Pompeii uxorem de stupro pertulisset, and she had refused 
 to return them. They may have contained a promise of money. The 
 mere fact that the tablets were used by Catullus for writing his poems in 
 proves nothing as to their use for other purposes. 
 
 Catullus, if I am right, has borrowed the idea of this poem from hunting. 
 The hendecasyllables are called upon to pursue the thief (6-9) ; they 
 form a circle round her and, like' so many clamorous hounds, call upon 
 her to drop what she has stolen (11, 12) ; finding that nothing comes of 
 it, they, after a pause, raise their voices again in a still louder chorus 
 (18-20) ; this also fails and they are finally reduced to a lower and more 
 submissive tone (21-24). 
 
 Ovid has imitated Catullus when speaking of men who make love in 
 order to steal, he says A. A. iii. 447 
 
 Forsiian ex horum numero cultissimtis ille 
 
 Fur sit, et uratur uestis amore tuae. 
 
 ' Redde meum,' clamant spoliatae saepe puellae, 
 
 ' Redde meum ' toto uoce hoante foro. 
 
 1. hendecasyllatoi here (as in XII and XXXIII) selected as the proper 
 rhythm for abusing a thief. quot estis Otnnes . . . guotquot estis 
 omnes gives the idea of numbers pouring in and reinforcing each other 
 for the attack. Similarly the refrain 11, 12, consisting as it does of the 
 
ON CATULLUS. XLIL 117 
 
 same words arranged in two ways, gives the effect of a chorus taking up 
 the same strain one after the other, so that different parts of it are heard 
 at the same time. 
 
 3. turpis, 'shameful,' as moecha, for her infidelities. Hor. S. ii. 7. 59 
 turpi clausus in area of the chest in which an adulterer is concealed. 
 
 4. uestra, of which you are the proper owners, as Catullus ordinarily 
 used the tablets for writing the rough draft of his hendecasyllables in. 
 reddituxam, se omitted as in Pseud, i. 5. 152 mque simfacturus quod 
 
 facturum semeram. The construction is found, rarely in Cicero, Rose. Am. 
 xxii. 61 confitere hue ea spe uenisse Mur. iii. 7, more often in Livy (Zumpt 
 60s), especially with the fut. infin. active, in which case esse is generally 
 omitted (Madv. 401). 
 
 5. From Charis. 97 Keil it seems that Asinius laid down the rule 
 that pugillares must always be used masc. and always in the plural : but 
 that pugillar was used by the mime-writer Laberius, pugillaria by Catullus 
 more than once in his hendecasyllables. If Asinius is Asinius Polio who 
 is often quoted as an authority on points of grammar (Suet. Gramm. 
 II, Gell. X. 26, Quintil. i. 5. 55, viii. i. 3, xii. i. 22, and who detected 
 
 patauinitas in Livy (Quintil. i. 5. 55, viii. i. 3), it seems possible that his 
 objection to pugillaria was of the same kind : it was a provincial expres- 
 sion. Catullus then possibly uses it here as in keeping with the talk 
 and manners of Amiana, the beauty of the Gaulish Province (XLIIL 6). 
 The word is derived irom ptigillus, either small enough to be held in the 
 closed hand, or a set of tablets, the leaves of which were arranged or sewn 
 together one after the other like the fingers of the hand {in seriem suiae 
 Charis. 97). si pati potestis, 'if you can submit to that'=' submit 
 to that, if you can,' possibly with an allusion to the vulgarity of the 
 word. Fronto de bello Parthico p. 121 Naber Cur, iu, Marce . . . 
 non inuenias libimei iempora non modo ad oraliones ei poemaia el historias 
 et praecepta sapientium legenda, sed eiiam syllogismos, si perpeli poles, 
 resoluendos ? 
 
 6. Persequamur et reflagitemus. Cato ap. Gell. xvii. 6 Earn pe- 
 cuniam uiro muluam dat, poslea ubi irata facia est, seruum receplicium seelari 
 alque flagitare uirum iubet. reflagitemus seems to be &. Xey. ' let us 
 press her to return them.' Flagitare, of clamorous importunity, as in 
 Men. Prol. 48, Pseud, i. 5. 143 Clamore magno el mullo flagilabere. 
 
 8. Turpe, strictly an adverb, as in Att. vii. 18. i quoad sciremus ulrum 
 turpe paee nobis an misere bello essel utendum. So hilar e De Orat. ii. 71. 
 290, iii. 8. 30, Fin. v. 30. 92. Nonius mentions fidele perspicace hilare 
 memore futtile. incedere, a-ofieiv, of a conceited strut : such a woman 
 was called in Greek a-6^as. Meretrices were distinguished from virtuous 
 women by their walk (ineessu) as well as their dress. Gael. xx. 49. 
 mimice ac moleste looks like a parody of Plautus' modice et modeste 
 Pers. iii. i. 18. mimice, with a laugh that might suit a farce. Mimes 
 as defined by Diomedes iii. p. 488 sermonis cuiuslibet motus sine reuerentia 
 uel factorum turpium cum lasciuia imitatio were according to Plutarch 
 (Symp. vii. 8. 4) of two kinds, wroSea-eis or farces with a regular subject 
 for performance on the stage, and vaiyvta or shorter Jeux d esprit, v/hethei 
 in modulated prose like those of Sophron, or verse, for performance in 
 private, or at least without the formality of a stage. They were essentially 
 mimetic and accompanied by gesticulations grimaces simulated tones, etc. 
 
118 A COMMENTARY 
 
 In Cicero's time they had supplanted the Atellanae (Fam. ix. i6. 7) as 
 the regular sequel of a tragedy. Their characteristic was coarseness 
 of every kind (Quid. Trist. ii. 497, luuen. vi. 44, viii. 197, lulius Capitolinus 
 Antonin. 29, Lamprid. Helagabalus 25, Val. Max. ii. 6. 7, cf. Placidus 
 s. u. Carisa, Festus s. u. strutheum). Laughter being the special object of 
 mimes, the names connected with them generally express this : yeKwromias 
 iPpiyiXtas Koyxai cachinno iiaaipoi (O. lahn Persius Proleg. p. xcii. ed. i). 
 moleste, 'offensively,' 'tastelessly.' X. 33. 
 
 9. catuli ore, the open mouth, (o-rd/ia 6a/fppa>y6s Arist. H. A. ii. 33) and 
 grin of a puppy. Gallicanl, ' of Gaulish breed,' probably from the 
 Provincia, which, as part of the Roman territory, would entitle a dog bred 
 there to be called strictly Gallicanus : so Cicero speaks of an estate held 
 by a Roman in Narbonese Gaul a.s,/undus Gallicanus Quint, xxv. 80, cf. re 
 Gallicana iv. 15. Catullus obviously alludes to the Celtic dogs described 
 in Arrian's Kt/wjyfTiKdr. These were of two kinds, one shaggy and ugly 
 with a villainous look and a whining bark (iii. i Tipi Xtkav aviapov nai 
 6riptS>det g irovtipaX ISetv) used for tracking ; the other called ueriragi from 
 a Celtic root meaning ' swift,' fine creatures to look at, and used for 
 running (Arr. iii. 6). 
 
 10. Circumsistite. Asin. iii. 3. 28 Circumsistamus ; alter hinc, hinc 
 alter appellemus. The idea seems to be that of hounds forming a circle 
 round a beast. Quid. M. iv. 722 apri quern turba canum circumsona 
 terret. 
 
 11. putida, ' disgusting,' a.r\hr\s. codicillos, tablets made of pieces 
 of wood (caudices) cut into thin plates, and then coated with wax for 
 writing on with a stylus. They were used for any purpose of the moment : 
 Q. Cicero sends to his brother Marcus codicilli demanding an immediate 
 reply (Q. Fr. ii. 11. i) : Acidinus informs Servius at Athens of the death 
 of M. Marcellus by codicilli (Fam. iv. 12. 2) ; Cicero sends his codicilli \a 
 Balbus to obtain instant information as to the contents of a law (Fam. vi. 
 18. i). Probably in the time of Catullus it was usual to carry such tablets 
 or memorandum-books about the person, whether for sending sudden 
 messages, letters, amatory proposals (Hor. Epod. xii. 2, Quid. A. A. iii. 
 621, 630, Petron. S. 129), etc., or for writing down anything the moment 
 suggested, as Catullus writes his hendecasyllables here, and as Ovid 
 and Jiis critics enter each on their separate codicilli the three verses 
 from his poems which he wishes to preserve, they to erase (Sen. Cont. ii. 
 10. fin.) Catullus does not tell us how his tablets came into Amiana's 
 possession : perhaps she had wished to look at some of his verses : more 
 probably he had sent them with a love-proposal. 
 
 13. lutum, ' piece of filth,' Plautus similarly of a leno Pers. iii. 3. 2 
 lutum lenonium, Conmictum caenum, sterquilinium publicum, ib. 10, Rud. i. 
 2. 8, Pomp. Inscriptt. 15 16 Laudata a muliis, sed luius intus erat. 
 Shakspere Timon of Athens iv. i. 5 to general filths Convert 0' the instant 
 green virginity. lupanar. Apul. de Magia 74 libidinum ganearumque 
 locus {lutus conj. Kriiger) lustrum lupanar. 
 
 14. perditius, 'more degraded, abominable,' a rare, if not unique, com- 
 parative, potest, most MSS, potes GO perhaps rightly, as more 
 direct. 
 
 15. Sed, recalling himself and reflecting, 'And yet,' as in Mart. i. 14. 6 
 Sed lamen esse tuus dicitur: ergo potest, non est satis. Hor. S. ii. 3. 69. 
 
ON CATULLUS. XLIIL 119 
 
 16. potest seems here to be ' is possible,' as in the comic writers, and 
 occasionally in Cicero Att. xii. 40. 2 Qui potest? Font. xvi. 36 Aut quoniam 
 id quidem. non potest, orandus erii nobis amicus meus M. Plaetorius. See 
 on LXXIL 7. But the antithetical form of the words si nil aliud . . . 
 ruborem exprimamus makes it possible that the subject oi potest is to be 
 supplied from the sentence and that «z7a/zK(/ depends on exprimere : ' if it, 
 (i. e. our shouting and hollowing) can extort nothing else, let us wring a 
 blush.' ruborem. ' Hee blusheth like a black dogge, hee hath a brazen 
 
 face.' John Withal's Little Dictionary for Children, s. u. Faciem perfricuit, 
 a passage indicated to me by Prof. H. Morley. 
 
 17. Perreo ore, also in Pis. xxvi. 63 os tuum ferreum. senatus conuicio 
 uerberari maluisti. Acharn. 590 dvala-xwros iiv o-tSijpoCs r avrjp. So durum 
 OS duritia oris of unblushing effrontery. exprrmamus, 'let us wring 
 out.' Mart. vii. 37. 3 uses it of a man wringing the moisture from his 
 nose. 
 
 18. Conclamate, ' give tongue together.' Arrian describing the Celtic 
 hounds says iii. 5 tt/doj to 6ripiov imKpaCova-iv. uoce. Hor. Epod. vi. 9, Virg. 
 G. iii. 45. 
 
 21. nil proflcimus, ' we make no way.' nihil mouetur is perhaps 
 still technical, from the language of the chase, uvdh xmoiavfi, ' she gives no 
 sign of stirring.' Xen. Cyn. iii. 6, v. 12, 15, vi. ri. 
 
 22. ratio modusque, as Horace combines ratione modoque S. ii. 3. 
 266, 271, Epist. ii. I. 19. Ratio, 'method,' Grat. Cyn. 6, 311, 317 ed. 
 Haupt. uobis, the reading of only one or two MSS, seems to agree 
 better with/o/«&; yet nobis might be justified by the alternation of ist 
 and 2iid person which seems to characterize the poem, 6 reflagitemus, 7 
 quaeritis, 17 exprimamus, 18 Conclamate. 
 
 23. Si quid proflcere amplius potestis, ' in the hope of perhaps 
 making some farther way.' De Orat. ii. 69. 283 Vide, Scaure, mortuus 
 rapitur ; si potes esse possessor. 
 
 24. Pudica et proba. A recantation {subturpicula n-oXtvuSia Att. iv. 5. i) 
 like the palinodia of Stqsichorus (fr. 26-29 Bergk), admitting Helen's 
 chastity, and Horace's equally unreal recantation to Canidia Epod. xvii, 
 the latter part of which indeed is imitated from Catullus, especially 40, 41 
 tu pudica, tu proba, Perambulabis astra sidus aureum. Afranius ap. Non. 2 56 
 nam proba et pudica quod sum, consulo et parco mihi. 
 
 XLIII. 
 
 Addressed to the same woman, Amiana. Catullus had heard her 
 compared with Lesbia and makes this reply. 
 
 1. nee minimo. Horace's nasuta S. i. 2. 93. Lucian combines a lorig 
 nose (pir ^Kph) with a scraggy neck and blue lips in describing a plain 
 woman, Dial. Meretr. i. 2. 
 
 2. beUo pede, i. e. small. Am. iii. 3. 7 Pes erat exiguus, pedis est 
 aptissima forma. Hor. S. i. 2. 93 Depugis, nasuta, breui latere ac pede longo 
 est. nigris oceUis. The blackness of the pupil was a mark of beauty, 
 
 Alciphron fr. v. 4 o0eaX/ioi fie j-ij tJJj- 'Apreiuv oXi)S crfXijvi)s fi/cvxXoTfpof Koi to 
 
120 A COMMENTARY 
 
 fic^av ai xSpat fieKavTarcu. Varro Papiapapae fr. i. Riese (Non. 455) Oculis 
 suppaetulis nigdli pupuli Quantum hilaritatem. significantes animuli. Among 
 the feminine characteristics mentioned by the Latin translator of Loxus 
 (p. 107 in Valentine Rose's Anecdota) are /«/z7/a« suhnigrae uel euidenier 
 nigrae. 
 
 3. longis digitls. Propertius speaks of Cynthia's longaemanm ii. 2. 5 ; 
 and long tapering fingers are mentioned as a sign of softness by Rose's 
 Physiognomonp. 157, ore sieco. Plautus Mil. Gl. iii. i. 52 combines 
 a dropping mouth with a running nose as marks of the inuenusius. 
 
 4. sane. X. 4. elegante, refined. Cicero has aures elegantes of ears 
 trained to distinguish wit, Fam. ix. 19. 2. lingua refers not so much 
 to what she was in the habit of saying, as to some unfeminine movement, 
 perhaps an immodest protrusion of the tongue, De Orat. ii. 66. 266, Asin. 
 iv. I. 49 ne sic tussiat Vt quoiquam linguam in iussiendo proferat, Pers. S. i. 
 60 linguae, quantum sitiat canis Apula, tantum. 
 
 6. prouincia, the Roman province in Gaul, as in Caesar's Bellum 
 Gallicum. narrat, ' says.' And. ii. 3. 30. 
 
 7. Alciph. ii. I. 2 Aa/iia mi fiera ToCde KaOcidfis; aril Sia vvktos oKrjs airbv 
 KarauXf ts J trol vvv o^jros eVetrraXKe, troi VvaSaivav t7]V eratpav avyKpivei J 
 
 8. saecltun, 'generation,' as in Mart. v. 10. 8 £t sua riserunt secula 
 Maeoniden. Insapiens, infacetum, MSS. See on XXII. 14. 
 
 XLIV. 
 
 There are two interpretations of this poem according as legi or legit is 
 read in vv. 12, 21. 
 
 All the commentators before the appearance of Lachmann's Lucretius, 
 and Lachmann himself in the first edition of his Catullus keep legit in 
 21, and alter legi the reading of the MSS. to legit in 12. Catullus, 
 according to this view, had been tempted by the prospect of an unusually 
 good dinner with Sestius, and went through the infliction, either at dinner 
 or before, of hearing Sestius read a speech of his own composition. This 
 was followed by a violent cold and cough, to get rid of which the poet 
 retired to his own farm-house in the Sabino-Tiburtine territory. In this 
 poem he expresses his repentance, and promises never to have anything 
 more to do with Sestius' compositions on penalty of an exactly similar 
 punishment faUing on Sestius, — for he will not say himself. 
 
 Against this view it may be said (i) it is at variance with the actual 
 words of the poem v. 18 Si nefaria scripta Sesti recepso which imply that 
 Catullus had actually taken Sestius' speech in his own hands, and could 
 not mean that he had merely listened to a recitation of it, (2) dum uolo 
 10 followed by legit 12 is so weak in meaning, if indeed it be per- 
 missible as Latin, that even if it were found in the MSS. it would have 
 raised a scruple as being unlike the manner of Catullus. 
 
 Accordingly, Lachmann in his Lucretius p. 290, and Bergk in Ross- 
 bach's Catullus p. X, retain legi in v. 12 and alter legit in v. 21 to legi. 
 They have been followed by Schwabe who explains the poem thus: 
 Catullus, anxious to secure the good graces of Sestius with the view of 
 being asked to dine, consented to read one of his speeches ; the badness 
 
ON CATULLUS. XLIV. 121 
 
 of the style acted upon him like a cold wind, and threw him into a severe 
 influenza. To recover he withdrew to his farm and wrote this poem, 
 vowing never to allow anything of Sestius' to come into his hands again. 
 On this view Catullus is not understood to have been actually invited to 
 dine with Sestius; he only went through what he believed to be a 
 necessary preliminary. I think this falls short of the natural meaning 
 of the poem, especially 8, 9 Non inmerenti quam mihi meus uenler Dum 
 sumptuosas appelo, dedit, cenas. It is more probable that Catullus both 
 read the speech and was present at the dinner ; and it would add to the 
 point to refer to the former what was probably caused by the latter. A 
 letter of Cicero's is so illustrative of Catullus' poem both in subject and 
 style that I give it here entire (Fam. vii. 26) : Cum decimum iam diem 
 grauiter ex intestinis laborarem, neque its, qui mea opera vti uolebant, me 
 proharem non ualere, quia fehrim non haberem,fugi in Tusculanum, cum 
 quidem biduum ita ieiunus fuissem, ut ne aquam quidem gustarem. liaque 
 confedus langtwre etfame, magis tuum officium desideraui, quam abs te re- 
 quiri putaui meum. Ego autem cum omnes morbos reformido, ium in quo 
 Epicurum tuum Stoicimale accipiunt, quia dicat Bva-ovpiKa kcu Sva-evTepma iraBrj 
 sibi molesta esse, quorum alierum morbum edacitatis esse puiant, alterum 
 etiam turpioris iniemperantiae. Sane SvaevTepiau pertimueram. Sed uisa est 
 mihi uel loci mulatto, uel animi etiam relaxatio, uel ipsafortasse iam se- 
 nescenlis morbi remissio profuisse. Attamen ne mirere unde hoc acciderit, 
 quomodoue commiserim : lex sumptuaria, quae uidetur \n-6rqTa altulisse, ea 
 mihi fraudi fuit. Nam dum uolunt isti lauti terra nata, quae lege excepta 
 sunt, in honorem adducere : fungos heluellas herbas omnes ita condiunt, ut 
 nihil possit esse suauius. In eas cum incidissem in cena augurali apud 
 Lentulum, tania me bidppoia arripuit, ut hodie primum uidealur coepisse con- 
 sistere. Ita ego, qui me ostreis it muraenisfcuile abstinebam, a beta et a malua 
 deceptus sum. Posthac igitur erimus cautiores. Tu tamen cum audisses ab 
 Anicio (tiidit enim me nauseantem), non m-odo mittendi causam iustam habuisti, 
 sed etiam uisendi. Ego hie cogito commorari, quoad me reficiam. Nam el uires 
 et corpus amisi. Sed si morbum depulero, facile, ut spero, ilia reuocabo. The 
 sumptuary law of which Cicero speaks seems to have been the lex Aemilia 
 proposed by M. Aemilius Lepidus, consul 676 | 78 S unless indeed we 
 suppose that the lex Antia of Antius Restio, the date of which is uncertain, 
 falls at this time. If so Antius may be the person whom Sestius had 
 attacked in the speech mentioned by Catullus, with which indeed the 
 words Sumptuosas cenas would well agree. Macrob. 16, Dein (post 
 KtvsxXxzm) paucis interiectis annis alia lex peruenit ad populum ferente Antio 
 Restione ; quam legem quamuis esset optima obstinatio tamen luxuriae et 
 uitiorum firma concordia nullo abrogante inritam fecit. Illud tamen me- 
 morabile de Restione latore ipsius legis fertur, eum quoad uixit postea non 
 recenasse ne testis fieret contemptae legis quam ipse bono publico pertulisset. 
 Cf. Cell. ii. 24. 13. Allusions to a sumptuary law would not be un- 
 likely from Catullus; his friend the orator Calvus moaned over the 
 extravagant custom, then coming in, of employing silver in the construc- 
 tion of cooking vessels. Plin. H. N. xxxiii. 140. 
 
 • According to Pliny viii. 233 and Aurelius Victor (De Viris lllust. 72) this law 
 was proposed by M. Aemilius Scaurus, consul 639 | 115, as it treated specially of the 
 kinds of food to be eaten (Gell. ii. 24. 12, Macrob. Sat. m. 17. 13). 
 
122 A COMMENTARY 
 
 1. Sabine, an imperfect attraction, as the verb is omitted : in Hor. 
 S. ii. 6. 20, Pers. iii. 28, 29, Tib. i. 7. 53, the vocative is really the subject 
 of the sentence. Tiburs, the later form of Tiburtis, as Ardeas of 
 Ardeatis Prise, i. 129 Keil. 
 
 2. ' The pretended site is still pointed out in the valley by Monie 
 Catillo. It is evident however that it was more distant from the town, 
 and lay at a point where the boundary between the Sabine and the 
 Tiburtine territory was uncertain.' Dyer in Diet. Geog. ii. p. 1204, 
 Tiburtem. The Campus Tiburs or Tiburtis (in De Orat. ii. 65. 263 the 
 substantive is omitted), was a particularly desirable residence partly for 
 its fertility, partly for its salubrity. Strabo 238 calls ittreiiov evKapnArarov ; 
 it was famous for its orchards (Hor. C. i. 7. 14, Prop. iv. 7. 81, Colum. 
 X. 138, Stat. S. i. 3- 81), grapes (Plin, xiv. 38), figs (ib. xv. 70), and roses 
 (Mart. ix. 60. i) : the soil wMch toth Horace (C. i. 18. 2) and Statius 
 (S. i. 3. ig) call mili, is tbus described by Varro R. R. i. 9. 6 In mediocri 
 terra, ut in Tiburti, quo propius accedil ut non sit macra quam ut sit ieiuna, 
 eo ndomnes res commodior quam si indinauit ad illud deierius ; from Mart, 
 iv. 64. 32 every part of it must in his time have been under cultivation. 
 The air cooled by the waters of the Anio which there forms a water-fall 
 as well as by the elevation and well-wooded character of the ground was 
 proverbially salubrious (Mart. iv. 57. 10, iv. 60. 6, v. 71. 6) : hence it 
 was much frequented and filled with villas. Sallust bought a fine house 
 at Tibur (Declam. in Sallust. vii. 19): Horace, his friend Quintilius 
 Varus (C. i. 18. 2), Cynthia the mistress of Propertius (iii. 16. 2, iv. 7. 
 85)^ Vopiscus, the rich friend of Statius, who has described his villa, S. 
 i. 3, lived there; Pliny Epist. v. 6. 45 classes Tibur with Tusculum and 
 Praeneste as one of the most desirable residences ; Catullus in contrasting 
 it with the Sabine territory implies, what Horace states more unequivocally, 
 that a Sabine farm was not thought much of (C. ii. 18. 14) : possibly, as 
 Dyer suggests, the Tiburtine territory was also preferred as the more 
 aristocratic and fashionable situation. autumaut, ' give out,' generally 
 of a rather questionable assertion. Men. Prol. 8, Capt. iv. 2. in, 117 si 
 tier a auiumas, v. 2. 2 /ahum autumas. The word was one of those dis- 
 cussed by Nigidius Figulus, Gell. xv. 3. 4. 
 
 3. Cordi esse, in its earliest use found in addresses to the gods. 
 luppiter si tibi magis cordi est Cato ap. Macrob. S. iii. 5. 10, Dis pietas 
 mea Et Musa cordi est Hor. C. i. 17. 13, Satis scio quibuscumque dis cordi 
 
 fuit subigi nos .... iis non fuisse cordi tam superbe ab Romanis foederis 
 expiationem spretam Liu. ix. i, Vos dii immortales precor quaesoque, si nobis 
 rum fuit cordi Liu. ix. 8, is explained by Priscian ii. 224 Keil as a dat. Hke 
 lucro, damno esse. But Statius' use of the abl. corde instead Theb. vi. 829 
 Sed corde labores Ante alios erat unctapale, with which of. Most. i. 4. 10 Si 
 tibi corde estfacere, seems to show that it is more probably a locative ' at 
 heart,' iv dvfta : an explanation which equally well agrees with the Plautine 
 cordi carus est Men. ii. i. 21, Epid. i. 2. 30. 
 
 4. 'Am ready to stake anything to prove you are Sabine,' probably as 
 poorer and fetching less in the market. Cato ap. Fest. s. u. Repastinari. 
 Ego iam a principio in parsimonia atque in duritia atque industria omnem 
 adulescentiam meam abstinui agro colendo saxis Sabinis silicibus repas- 
 tinandis atque conserendis. The Sabine slopes suited the olive (Col. 
 v. 8. s), a sign of thinness of soil (Virg. G. ii. 179-181); even the 
 
ON CATULLUS. XLIV. 123 
 
 most fertile parts, as the Rosea rura Velini, called by Vopiscus Caesar 
 Sumen Italiae, were rich as pasture-ground rather than productive of 
 crops (Plin. xvii. 32). pignore contendimt. Phaedr. iv. 20. ^ A me 
 contendet ficium quouis pignore. Gell. v. 4. 2 Contra librarius in quoduis 
 pignus uocabat si in una uspiam litera delictum esset. 
 
 6. Pui libenter in tua subtirbana, like 11 Orationem in Antium 
 petitorem is a line of pure prose, such as may be found in Cicero's letters. 
 Pui libenter, almost technical of being in a country house. Cato R. R. 
 4 Ruri si rede habitaueris, libentius et saepius uenies, Att. ix. 3. i Tuscu- 
 lanum ubi ceteroquin sum libenter, xvi. 14. 2 ero libentius {in Tusculano), 
 The perf., as in XXIX. 12, is used in its strict sense 'I have been.' 
 BUburbana. Tibur is twenty Roman miles from Rome, and like Praeneste 
 and Tusculum can be seen from it. Strab. 238. Catullus' villa would 
 be much like the Sabine farm on the Salarian road twenty-four miles 
 from Rome, which Varro describes as a half-way house between Rome 
 and Reate (R. R. iii. 2. 14). 
 
 7. malam, ' tiresome,' like malus morbus, of fevers, quae quotidie eodem 
 tempore reuertantur, quaeue pares semper accessiones habeant, neque tertio quo- 
 que die leuentur Cels. ii. 4. expui. Cels. iv. 1 1 . i sanguinem exsj>uere. 
 The other reading expuli, ' I threw off,' might be .supported isy Hor. T!p. 
 Ti. 2. 137 Expttht hellebvro morbum lilemque meraco. There is the same 
 variation in Mart. i. 19. 2. 
 
 8. uenter. Mart. xi. 86. 5, 6. 
 
 9. Dum appeto, for coveting. Fam. vii. 26. 2 quoted in Introd., 
 Mart. iii. 13. i, vii. 13. i. dedit, inserted out of its place in the 
 sentence which contains the protasis. See on LXIV. 240, Lucr. vi. 158 
 Venius enim cum confercit, franguntur , in arlum. Ouid. M. x. 696 An 
 Stygia sontes dubitauit merger et unda. Bergk on Theogn. 461 shows that 
 this hyperbaton was common in the Alexandrian poets : he quotes Theoc. 
 xxix. 3, Epig. xix. i, Callim fr. 443. 
 
 10. Sestianus. Catullus probably alludes to P. Sestius, whom Cicero 
 defended in the oration Pro Sestio on a charge of uis 6g8 | 56. Cicero 
 speaks of him as an honourable and brave man, but he was arrogant 
 (Plut. Cic. 26), intemperate in language (Att. iv. 3. 3), and cross-grained 
 (moroso homine Q. Fr. ii. 4. 1, peruersitaiem ib.). He is mentioned with 
 Atticus and L. Calpurnius Piso as one of Cicero's chief advisers in his 
 exile (Q. Fr. i. 4. 2 where Cicero calls him officiosissimus^ and as taking 
 a prominent part in his recall (Att. iii. 20). 
 
 11. Orationem in Antium petitorem, probably the actual title of the 
 speech, ' a speech against Antius as petitor.' The sense oi petitor is doubt- 
 ful. It is generally explained as ' prosecutor ' in a private suit, perhaps 
 denying Antius' right to bring an action on some ground of informality. 
 It is at least as probable that it means . (Stat, and Conr. de AUio) ' a 
 candidate for oflBce : ' so puerum bullatum petitoris in a fragment of Scipio 
 Africanus Minor ap. Macrob. iii. 14. 7, and so four times in Q. Cicero's 
 de petitione consulatus. The speech would then be like that of Cicero 
 against C. Antonius and L. Catilina his competitors in the consulship, 
 which was mainly directed against the bribery they had employed in 
 securing their election (Ascon. in Orelli's Cic. iv. 940, 942, 944), or like 
 that of P. Clodius against T. Annius Milo when canvassing for the con- 
 sulship against Q. Metellus Scipio and P. Hypsaeus (Orelli iv. 950), 
 
124 A COMMENTARY 
 
 in which the main charges were that Milo had used illegal means of all 
 kinds and was deeply in debt. Such speeches must have been common 
 when so many offices were open to competition ; Cicero it is true used 
 petere petitio competitor candidatus, avoiding petitor in this sense ; but this 
 would prove nothing as to Sestius' or Catullus' use of the word. 
 
 12. ueneni seems to refer to the virulence, pestilentiae to the unwhole- 
 some style of the speech. Hor. S. i. 7. i Regis Rupili pus atque uenenum, 
 Mart. vii. 72. 13 Atro carmina quae madeni ueneno. But XIV. 19 uenena 
 is applied to poets simply as bad, and the two ideas perhaps "cross each 
 other. Sestius was notorious as a bad writer, Fam. vii. 32. i 
 Ais ut ego discesserim omnia omnium dicta, in his etiam Sestiana, 
 in me conferri (are imputed to me). Quid? tu idpateris ? non defendis ? 
 non resistis? Equidem sperabam ita notaia me reliquisse genera dictorum 
 meorum, ut cognosci sua sponte possent. Sed quando tanta faex est in 
 Vrie, ut nihil tarn sit dKvBijpov quod non alicui uenustum esse uideatur ; 
 
 pugna, si me amas, nisi acuta dfi<f)i,0o\ia (double entendre), nisi elegans 
 imep^oKfj (exaggeration), nisi Trapdypanna bellum (nice pun), nisi ridiculum 
 Trapa irpoaSoKiap (amusing turn that was not expected), nisi cetera, quae 
 sunt a me in secundo libro de Oratore per Anionii personam disputata de 
 ridiculis, ainyya et arguta apparebunt, ut sacramento contendas mea non 
 esse. Att. vii. 17. z Scire iam ie oportet, L. Caesar quae responsa referat a 
 Pompeio, quas ah eodem ad Caesarem ferat literas. Scriptae enim et datae ita 
 sunt, ut proponereniur in publico ; in quo accusaui mecum ipse Pompeium, qui, 
 cum scriptor luculentus esset, tantas res atque eas, quae in omnium manus uentu- 
 rae essent, Sestio nostro scribendas dederit. Itaque nihil umquam legi scriptum 
 'SrjanabiaTipov. This shows Sestius' style to have been wanting in freedom 
 and clearness. legi, not legit, is the natural sequence, after dum uolo. 
 In 8, 9 mihi uenter dedit dum appeto is virtually a uentre tuli. See Holtze 
 Synt. ii. p. 128. 
 
 13. grauido, the MSS, as Victorius iv. 8 remarked, and so Lucilius 
 ap. Non. 283, grauidine the palimpsest of Fronto p. 85, 7 Naber, graui- 
 dinosos Tusc. Disp. iv. 12. 27 according to Orelli's three best MSS, the 
 Balliol 136 and Non. 32, 115. Celsus iv. 5 shows that grauido was our 
 ' cold.' Nares claudit, uocem obtundit, tussim siccam mouet: sub eadem 
 salsa est saliua, sonant aures, uenae mouentur in capite, turbida urina est, 
 frigida, ' shivering,' ascribing to the cold the symptoms felt by the patient, 
 as we say ' a sick headache.' So/rigidae/ebres'PW-a.yLx.Vi.ii^. tre- 
 quens, ' wearing,' ' hacking,' technical of coughing. Cels. iv. 5. 
 
 14. Quassamt, 'shook me convulsively till at last I fled into thy 
 bosom.' Virg. G. iii. 496 quatit aegros Tussis anhela sues. Macrob. S. 
 vii. 15. 9 tussim nimis asperam et alias quassationes. usque dum, in 
 the sense of ' until,' is more generally used with an idea of purpose, and 
 with the fut. or subj., as often in Cato R. R. (Holtze ii. p. 129). 
 
 15. recuraui, a rare word used also by Apuleius : so dvaitopfeii'. 
 urtica, nettles were a common prescription for cough. Cels. iv. 4 classes 
 it with malua (mallows) as a cibus mollis. Plin. xxii. 35 utilissimam cibis 
 coctam conditamue arteriae, ttissi . . . cum tisana pectus purgare. Horace 
 (Ep. L 12. 8) Persius (vi. 70) Pliny (xxi. 93) all mention nettles as a 
 cheap and common food; Celsus ii. 20 classes them among food boni 
 suci ; but Catullus can hardly mean that he merely put himself on spare 
 diet : they are here the specific cure of a specific complaint (tussis). 
 
ON CATULLUS. XLV. 125 
 
 16. refeetus, 'restored to health,' as Horace by his farm, Ep. i. i8. 
 104. 
 
 17. Tilta, the subject is changed ixoTXi fundus to uilla. 
 
 18-21. 'And henceforward, if ever I give admission to Sestius' vile 
 compositions I gladly submit to let their freezing air bring the same cold 
 and cough — I will not say to myself, but to their master Sestius — for in- 
 viting me to dinner only when I have read some detestable book by 
 him.' 
 
 18. nee deprecor quin, in reference to the sin {peccatum) of which he 
 had been guilty and of which he might naturally wish to beg off the con- 
 sequent punishment. Fronto p. 84 Naber nee deprecor quin me oderis. 
 Plautus and the comic writers are full of similar uses, nunquam me quis- 
 quam exorabit (Men. iii. 2. 52), haud causificor quin (Aul. iv. 10. 25), nulla 
 causa est, causam non dico quin, on which see Holtze ii. 177-179. 
 
 19. reeepso, like occoepso capso accepso, etc. The meaning is not so 
 much ' take up again ' as ' give admission to ' with the idea of counte- 
 nancing implied in such admission. Rose. Com. viii. 23 labor em quaesius 
 recepit, quaestum labor is reiecit, Plin. vii. loi Si poetica recipiatur fabu- 
 lositas. 
 
 19. A Ttaph. Trpoa-BoKiav poor enough to be an imitation of Sestius' style. 
 Catullus may have remembered Most. i. 3. 95, 6 Ob istuc uerbum ne ne- 
 quiquam, Scapha, tarn lepide dixeris Dabo aliquid hodie peculi — tibi, Phile- 
 matium mea, where the lover suddenly turns from Scapha the utterer of 
 the remark on Philematium's beauty to Philematium herself. Mart. ii. 
 46. 9, 10 Quantum erat, infelix, pannis fraudare duobus — Quid metuis ? 
 non te, Naende, sed tineas. Cf. infr. CXIV. 6. 
 
 20. ferat frigus inverts the usual construction in vihich/rigus is ac- 
 cusative. Quintil. vi. i. 37 Nam ei imperitia et rusticitas et rigor et de- 
 
 formitas afferuni interim /rigus, '•proAncQ a frigid effect.' Frigus=. 
 ' frigidity of style,' is not common, though the adj. is frequently found in 
 Cicero, Brut. Ixvii. 236, De Orat. ii. 64. 260. 
 
 21. Qui uocat, 'for so inviting me.' Holtze i. 380-382. tune 
 cum, 'only when,' De Orat. ii. 64. 260 Hdec aut frigida sunt aut turn 
 salsa cum aliud est expectatum. 
 
 XLV. 
 
 The date of the poem is approximately fixed by 22 at 699 | 55, the 
 year in which Caesar made his first campaign into Britain and Crassus 
 set out for Syria (Schwabe Quaestt. p. 316). This is perhaps confirmed 
 by the introduction in 6, 7 of the ' green-eyed lion,' an animal which had 
 become almost familiar to the Romans in this year, in the memorable 
 games (Pis. xxvii. 65) instituted by Pompeius,in honour of his dedication 
 of a temple to Venus Victrix (Plin. viii. 20). On this occasion 600 lions 
 were brought into the circus (ib. 53). 
 
 1. Acmen Septimios, a juxtaposition which suggests the notion of 
 reciprocity running through the poem, 20 amant amantur, 21 Vnam, 23 
 Vno, perhaps the correspondence of the two names as fortunate ; Acme 
 the prime, Septimius from septem the prime number (Macrob. in Somn. 
 
126 A COMMENTARY 
 
 Scip. i. 6, Cicero de Rep. vi. i8. i8, Gell. iii. lo. 7). Septimios is clearly in- 
 dicated by the reading of most MSS. Septimos, and is actually found in O. 
 In 2 1 the MSS. have the form in -tus. I follow them implicitly, not from 
 a conviction that Catullus himself made this variation, but because such 
 variations are found in the best MSS. elsewhere, and we cannot determine 
 the extent to which uniformity in such cases gave way to other considera- 
 tions, e. g. of sound ; in i Septimios is perhaps preferred as an assonance 
 to suos (see on 12, and XXVII. 4) ; in 21 Septimius or Septumius from its 
 proximity to misellus. 
 
 2. Tenens, iambus in the first foot as in 10 At Acme, 24 Facit, 25 Quis 
 ullos : similarly in 6, 7, 19, 20 Solus, Caesio, Nunc ab, Mutuis he admits a 
 trochee in the first foot. Mommsen holds that these are the marks of the 
 duriusculi uersus which the younger Pliny Epist. i. 1 6. 5 considered Catullus 
 to have introduced designedly to vary the effect : to Pliny's ear they no doubt 
 sounded harsh ; but it seems doubtful whether this was true in the same 
 sense of Catullus ; at any rate they appear uniformly in the more highly 
 finished poems, and not, I think, as a harshness meant to bring the 
 smoother rhythm into greater relief, but as belonging to the freer and 
 more Greek, therefore more ideal character of the metre, just as Catullus 
 follows Sappho in the construction of his Sapphic poems, not only in the 
 trochee of the second foot, but in the greater liberty which he allows 
 himself in distributing the feet to the words, e.g. XI. 19, 22, LI. 3, 'j. 
 
 3. perdite, 'to desperation,' Ter. Phorm.i.2.32. KhwiusussAperditim 
 in the same sense. amare porro, ' to go on loving.' Cato Dierum 
 Dictarum de Cons, suo fr. 29 lordan Me sollicitum atque exercitum habitum 
 esse atque porro fore. 
 
 4. Omnes auuos, ' all years that be, to the end of time.' Pseud, i. 5. 
 1 20 non unum in diem Verum hercle in omnis quantumst. 
 
 5. Quantum {pote) qui pote plurimum perire, ' as fondly as the 
 fondest lover can.' Pronto in a letter to M. AureUus p. 18 Naber Illud 
 queri possim cur menondum ames tantum quantum plurimum potest ; namque 
 in dies plus amando efficis, ne quod ante diem amaueris, plurimum /tierit. 
 pote gives a touch of homeliness. perire. XXXV. 12. 
 
 6. Simonides Amorg. fr. 14 Bergk oix Hv ns oSra SaaidoLS iv ovpca-iv 'Avrip 
 \codt' eSeicrev oiSe iraphaKiv MoCi/os trTewypfi (Tvp.Tie<Ta>v h arpaita. SolUS, ' with 
 
 none to help me.' Virg. G. iii. 249. India. India is more especially the 
 home of the tiger (Plin. viii. 66) and elephant, ib. 24, but lions are also 
 found there Strab. 703, unless indeed Catullus includes under India the 
 country which is often confused with it, Aethiopia, probably on account 
 of the similarity of its products, animals, and coloured population ; 
 see Strabo's comparison 690, 695 (xv. 13, 22, 24). Pliny mentions 
 Aethiopian lions vi. 195. Indiaque 'or India' Quid. Pont. i. 2. 121 Non 
 tibi Thermodon, crudusque rogabitur Atreus, Quique suis homines pabula fecit 
 equis. tosta, ' sun-burnt.' Plin. vi. 70 A Gange itersa ad meridiem 
 
 plaga tinguntur sole populi, iam quidem infecti, nondum tanun Aethiopum modo 
 exusti, quantum ad Indum accedunt tantum colore praeferunt sidus. 
 
 1, Caesio, 'green-eyed,' with the notion of fierceness which the greenish 
 eyes of the feline tribe conveys. So Theod. Martin ' The green-eyed 
 lion's hungry glare.' Plin. viii. 54 Leonum omnis uis constat in oculis.' 
 
 8, 9. ' When he had said this, Love sneezed his good-wiU on the 
 right, as he had sneezed his good-will on the left before/ i. e. signified his 
 
ON CATULLUS. XLV. 127 
 
 ^ow complete approbation, as Tennyson, Edwin Morris, Shall not love to 
 me, As in IheLatin song J learnt at school, Sneeze out a full God blessyou right 
 and left? And so seemingly Lord Lyttelton Notes and Queries for 1874, 
 p. 429. Ante implies that up to this time the love had been only 
 partially happy. 
 
 8. sinistra ut ante does not imply that hitherto Love had been un- 
 favourable (Voss, who however reads sinister ante), for it does not follow 
 that sneezing on the left was a bad omen because sneezing on the right 
 was a good one, although it may have been so, as sneezing before noon 
 was considered by the Greeks a deterring sign (Aristot. Probl. 33); 
 the notion is rather that of incomplete, as opposed to complete, approval ; 
 a progression from left to right analogous to the shifting of the ring from 
 the left hand to the right which Pliny mentions as a cure for sneezing 
 (xxviii. 57) ; perhaps an equalizing of what had till then preponderated 
 on one side ; Acme and Septimius having till now loved, but not lai^ 
 fif/M ; henceforward the balance is equal on both sides, the condition of 
 perfect love, Mutuis animis amantamantttr. Whether Catullus intended to 
 contrast the Roman superstition which made the left side the lucky one 
 with the Greek which'made the right (De Diuin. ii. 39. 82 Hatcdignoro quae 
 bona sint sinistra nos dicere, etiam si dextra sint) possibly in allusion to the 
 Roman lover and his Greek haipa is doubtful. 
 
 9. Dextram. Aristophanes Eq. 639 alludes to the same custom, ster- 
 nuit. Sneezing was considered an omen even in Homer's time. Od. xvii. 
 
 541 Qs </>aTO, TijKe/uixoii 8e fiey i'wrapfV ajjxf)] fie firapi S/iepSoKcov Kovd^rjae' yc- 
 Xatro-e fie IIi^i/eXiiTreia, Aiijra 8' np' EipMwv ejrea Trrepoetra irpoarjida' 'Ep)^e6 jxoi, rhv 
 ^civov ivairrlov Sfie KoKiaaov' oix opaas S jioi. vlbs eVtVrape 'natnv hniT(riv ; Theocr. 
 xviii. 1 6 "OX^je yajx^p, dya66s Tis eVerrrapev ep\op,ivm toi 'Es SsrapTav, oTrot 
 &XXot apiaries, ios amiaaio, vii, 96 2ipixiSa iiev'EpaTes eVeWapoi', with which 
 compare Prop. ii. 3. 23 Num tibi nascenti primis, mea uila, diebus Aridus 
 argutum sternuit omen Amor? Aristotle H. A. i. 11 avatrvei koI iKirvit Tavrg 
 {rfi pivX) Kol 6 TTTappJas fiia Taunjs yiyvfrai, irvfijiaTOS dBpoov e|o6os, (rqfifiov 
 oluivuTTiKhv Kol lfp6v pMvov tS>p 7rvevp.aTav, In Probl. 33 he treats the subject 
 at length. Sneezing was a god, it was connected with the head, the most 
 sound part of the body, was a sign of good health, and was a discharge 
 
 of the only sacred wind in the body, wore i>s a-rjfulou vyieias rov dppaiTTOv Koi 
 ifptoTaTov rdnov 7rpoo'Kvvova%v as iepov Ka\ <j>7jfi7jv dyaBrjv Trotovvrai. Cf. 
 
 Aristoph. Aues 720, Herod, vi. 107, Xen. Anab. iii. 2. 9, Hesych. s. u. 
 ^vnfiSKovs. The difficulty in Catullus' poem is in the suggestion which 
 the circumstantiality of the words sinistra ut ante, Dextram sternuit ap- 
 probationem and the apparent allusion to some actual sign in Nunc ab 
 auspicio bono profecti, convey that something external happened which 
 might be described as Love's sneezing ; but this is contravened by the 
 repetition of the same words after the protestation of each of the lovers. 
 
 10. reflectens, lifting herself as she reclines in gremio and turning her 
 head slightly round to reach Septimius. 
 
 11. pueri, as often in Horace, C. i. 5. i, 13. ir, 27. 20. ebrios, 
 ' swimming.' ■ Anacr. 1 9 Bergk peSCav epari. Rose's Physiognomon p. 
 123 Quanto magis umidi fuerint, el si plerunque palpebras iungunt, ueneri 
 et amori gratos et obnoxios profiientur. Lucian 'Epmres 3 SiriyoviUvov aov 
 Tov TToKiiv KaraKiryov &v dp)(rj6ev rjpdirBris JXapal tS>v opparav al /SoXai raufpSts 
 
 awypalvovTo. ocellos. Plin. xi. 146 says when we kiss the eyes we 
 
128 A COMMENTARY 
 
 seem to reach the soul itself. TibuUus iv. 5. 7, 8 Mutuus adsit amor, 
 per ie dulcissima furta Perqtce tuos oculos per Geniumque rogo, seems to 
 connect the eyes with the reciprocity of love. 
 
 12. Illo, ' that fair mouth.' Catullus affects ille in reference to love, 
 VIII. 6 ilia muUa ium iocosa, C. 3 illud Fraternum tiere dulce sodalicium. 
 In these cases the object is recalled to the memory as familiar. pur- 
 
 pureo. Simon, fr. 7 2 Bergk iroprpvpeov 'Ajt6 ardiiaTos ifXaa <j)avav jrapOevos, 
 
 ore. The repetition of the full vowel in Illo purpureo ore is no doubt 
 intentional, see on XXVII. 4 : its effect is heightened by the triple a of 
 sauiaia. 
 
 13-16. ' I swear,' thus spoke she, ' dear life, my own Septimius, as 
 truly as I pray we may be the servants of the one lord who rules us now, 
 so truly is the fire far stronger and fiercer which is burning with a con- 
 suming flame in my bones,' i. e. my love for you is much stronger than 
 yours for me. So Heyse, rightly : the other sense, ' I swear my love is 
 far stronger than it was before,' is weak, especially in conjunction with so 
 solemn an adjuration and with Muiuis animis immediately following. To 
 make seruiamus refer to Acme alone, ' let me be the slave,' is alien to the 
 simplicity of the poem, and not supported by VIII. 5 nobis compared 
 with 3 tibi, XL VI. ^ Linquaniur Calulle compared with 6 uolemus, both 
 of which are spoken in soliloquy. 
 
 13. Sic, of oaths, Heaut. iii. i. 54, Hor. C. i. 3. i. Its separation by 
 inquit from mea uita gives solemnity, as in 2. mea uita of Lesbia 
 CIV. I, CIX. i; of AUius' mistress LXVIII. 155. It was a common 
 expression as shown by its use in Plautus (Siich. iv. 2. 6) and Cicero's 
 letters (Fam. xiv. 2. 3, xiv. 4. i). 
 
 14. Huic, ' of the present,' cf. XXI. 2, XXIV. 2, where however there 
 is an expressed antithesis to the past and future. Prop; i. 7. 15 Te 
 quoque si certo puer hie concusserii arcu, where puer hie is Love implied 
 in the previous verses, suggests a slightly different interpretation, this 
 master whom our words and actions imply. uni, not uno, is the reading 
 of all the best MSS: uno, which Scaliger mentions as a ' uetus scriptura,' 
 is found in my Brit. Mus. MS. h, and in Mr. Allen's codex, probably the 
 Cujacianus itself. Catullus uses unim. XVII. 17 for unius; but here the 
 archaism is no improvement. usg.ue seruiamus, ' let us go on in our 
 servitude.' III. 10, XL VIII. 3. 
 
 15. multo mihi maior, triple alliteration in answer to Septimius' pote 
 plurimum perire. 
 
 16. mollibus, ' melting,' not a mere epithet : the marrow is represented 
 as lique^fing under the heat of passion. Medullitus amare is found in 
 Plautus Most. i. 3. 86. 
 
 19. auspicio perhaps alludes to the old Roman custom of taking the 
 auspices on marriage, which in Cicero's time still survived as a tradition 
 in the nuptiarum auspices De Diuin. i. 16. 28. profecti, ' taking as a 
 starting-point.' De Orat. ii. 14. 58 Denique etiam a pkilosophia pro/ectus 
 princeps Xenophon, Socraticus ille . . . seripsit historiam. Fin. ii. 14. 
 
 20. Mutuis animis, an expression of Q. Metellus Celer's, which 
 Cicero takes up in a letter Fam. v. 2. 3 Quod ita scribis pro mutuo inter 
 uos animo, quid tu existimes esse in amicitia mutuum, nescio; equidem hoc 
 arbiiror, cum par uoluntas accipitur et redditur. amaut, amantur, 
 
 TheOCr. xii. 1 5 ? pa tcJt (aaav XpvafWi noiKm ajiBpcs, St diTf^iXi/tr' 6 (pihrjBfis. 
 
ON CATULLUS. XLVI. 129 
 
 21. misellus, | love-sick,' as we say ' poor ' of a man desperately in love, 
 6 BfiK6i Theoc. vii. 96. In Lucr. iv. 1076 miseris is opposed to sanis as 
 desperate to rational lovers, there Munro compares 1159, 1179 and Greek 
 
 22. Syrias Britanniasque, ' than any Syria or Britain,' at this time 
 the places to which, from the appointment of Crassus to the govern- 
 ment of Syria, and Caesar's mission to Britain, young men who 
 aspired to make a fortune would naturally turn their thoughts; both 
 countries were rich; though this can hardly have been more than a 
 surmise about Britain as yet, and Cicero writing to Trebatius in 700 | 54 
 says m Britannia nihil esse audio neqtce auri neque ar genii Fam. vii. 7. i. 
 Strabo 749 sqq. mentions the fertility of Commagene {<T<^ihpa (vtalfmv) 
 Laodicea {noKvoivos wpis tJ SKKji dKafmia), the country watered by the 
 Orontes (x^par iranirSXKrjs evSai/iovos Si ^i S 'Op6vn)s pel), the district about 
 Damascus {6ui<fiep6vTm iiratvovfievrj), and the plain lying between Libanus 
 and Antilibanus, properly known as Coele-Syria {hiappArai irorapoh SpSova-i 
 Xo>pav tvSalfiova Kal rrap^opov). At the present day the Arabs give the 
 name oijeune (fruitful) to part of Syria. Pliny speaks of the soil of Britain 
 as worked in a peculiar manner which brought in rich returns {illam 
 Gallias Britanniasque locupletaniem xvii. 43). The plural Syrias, Britannias 
 would be strictly correct : Syrias as including Coele-Syria ; Britannias as 
 in Pliii. xvii. 42, 43 ; but Catullus seems to mean no more than Propertius 
 ii. 16. 20 Die alias iterum nauiget Illyrias, ' new lUyrias,' i. e. provinces as 
 lucrative as Illyria: Syrias Britanniasque will thus be 'any Syria or 
 Britain,' ' all the Syrias and Britains in the world.' For the sentiment cf. 
 
 Archil, fr. 2 5 Bergk OS /iot to Tiyfa toS noKvxpv<rov peKfi, OiS' elXe ttw pe 
 f^Xot, ov8' dyaiopm Qeav cpya, pcyoKris S' ovK epco) TvpavviSos' 'AirSirpodev yap 
 fo-nv 6(f>6aKpaiv ipav, Prop. ii. 14. 23 Hoec mihi deuictis potior uictoria 
 Partkis ; and the idea of victory is probably included in Catullus' words. 
 
 23. in Septimio. Drager Hist. Synt. p. 607 shows that this use of in 
 is particularly frequent in reference to love ; he quotes eight instances 
 from Ovid. Cf Hertzberg on Prop. i. 13. 7. fldelis is applied by 
 Cicero, Q. Fr. i. 3. 3 fidelissimam coniugem, to his wife, by Propertius iii. 25. 
 3 Quinque tibi potui seruire fideliter annos to his connexion with Cynthia, 
 to which he had bound himself like a slave to his master. Catullus is 
 fond of representing love as a bond or treaty to be observed on both sides. 
 See on CIX. 6. 
 
 24. Facit delicias, LXXIV. 2 : • centres her pleasure and her love 
 in Septimius only.' 
 
 26. auBpicatiorem, a rare comparative. Auspicare is an old word 
 used by Naevius Caecilius and Plautus (Non. 468). For similar participial 
 adjectives see Drager's list pp. 24, 25. 
 
 XLVI. 
 
 Catullus must have written this poem just before parting company 
 with Memmius and the rest of his staff in Bithynia, i. e. if lungclaussen 
 and Schwabe are right (see onX) in the spring of 698 | 56 : on my view, 
 in 64. It expresses the natural gladness of an eager temperament 
 escaping from official duties neither remunerative (X, XXVIII) or, as 
 regards Memmius, congenial. 
 
130 A COMMENTARY 
 
 The cities of Asia Minor were at this time the most interesting in the 
 •world. We may estimate the curiosity of Catullus by Horace's words 
 Ep. i. II. 1-3 
 
 Quid tibi uisa Chios, Bullati, nolague Lesbos? 
 Quid concinna Samos f quid Croesi regia, Sardis ? 
 Smyrna quid et Colophon i' maiora minoraue fama ? 
 And by Ovid's 
 
 Trist. i. 2. 78 Oppida non Asiae, non mihi uisa prius. 
 Pont. ii. 10. 21 7^ duce magnificas Asiae perspeximus urbes. 
 Not many years before Catullus, Cato had put off his return to Rome, 
 
 jSovXT/flEtr Tr\am\6r\vai Koff laropiau t^s 'Acriar (Plut. CatO 12), a journey 
 
 which his friend Curio told him was likely to make him pleasanter and 
 more civilized (ib. 14). 
 
 1. egelidos, 'from which the chill has passed away: ' Colum. x. 282, 
 so Celsus aqua egelida IV. 5, aqua neque ea ipsafrigida sedpoiius egelida 
 danda est ib. 18. The other sense ' very cold ' is found Virg. Aen. viii. 610. 
 
 2. aeguiuoctialls. Both equinoxes, the vernal towards the end of 
 March, and the autumnal towards the end of September, are attended 
 by gales, as also the summer and winter solstices. (Plin. xviii. 221) 
 Cic. Att. X. 17. 3 Nunc quidem aequinociium nos moraiur quod ualde 
 perturbatum erat. Gell. ii. 22, Apul. de Mundo 11. The vernal equinox 
 might strike Catullus more vividly in the country of Attis-worship ; it 
 was on the 25th of March that, at least later, the mournful part of the 
 ceremonies ended, and the joyous {Hilarid) began (Macrob. i. 21. 10). 
 
 3. atireis, the best MSS. perhaps rightly: in LXIV. 164 auris. 
 
 4. Catulle, favorite self-address, carried still further in uolemus, as if 
 mind and body were two separate identities. Such soliloquies always 
 indicate intense feeling, see on VIII; here the joy of the soul at a 
 change to new scenes ; this as proceeding mainly from bodily elasticity 
 naturally introduces the bodily and personal vocative Catulle. campi 
 would well describe the table-lands of Phrygia proper (Vitruuius ii. i. 5 
 Phryges qui campestribus locis sunt habitantes, 'anr6poTos Dionys. Perieg. 
 813) stretching S.E. of Bithynia, and from LXIII it is probable that this 
 country was visited by Catullus ; but he perhaps means little more than 
 the Bithuni campi of XXXI. 5, i. e. the level tract W. of the Sangarius, 
 which included the lake Ascania with its city Nicaea. 'Ei/ hi if luaayalxf 
 
 T^s Btdvvlas. . . , Nixaia ^ iirjTpdnoKis tjjs BiBviiias im Tjj 'KaKavia Xifivj) (irepi- 
 KeiTcii 8c KuxXfi) TreSiov fiiya Koi tr(j)6Spa cSSmjiov {ager uber) oi iraw be vyuivhv 
 Tov Bipovs), KTliTp,a 'Avny6vov fjiev irpaTOV Tov iCKvmTOU os aMiv ' Avnyovlav 
 irpoaemcv, elra Au<rt/ua;(ou, os diro rrji yvvatKhs p.fTwv6iui<rf NiKaiav. ^v 8f avrrj 
 
 Bvyarqp 'Avrmdrpov. uber, its fertility was known as early as Homer, 
 'Aa-Kavirjs ipi^akaKos II. xiii. 793. Sir Charles Fellows thus describes the 
 vicinity of Nicaea (Asia Minor p. 109) ' We passed through underwood 
 and shrubs all evergreens, and to the eye of an Englishman the richest 
 that could be. There were the common and dwarf daphnes, the blossom 
 of the latter scenting the air; many varieties also of the laurestinus, and 
 among them the strawberry-tree, whose luxuriant foliage and beautifully 
 clean and oriental stem distinguished it above its rivals. It grows so 
 large and plentifully as to be the principal firewood, burning rapidly with 
 a great blaze. Amidst this perfect garden — for beneath our feet were 
 
ON CATULLUS. XLVII. 131 
 
 violet, hyacinth, and anemone in great variety — the most perfect view 
 opened before us, not grand but of perfectly lovely beauty. In the 
 extreme distance was the snowy range of Olympus, and before it a series 
 of fine mountains, with their feet bathed in the most placid of lakes, the 
 ancient Ascania, which is about ten miles long and four in breadth. At 
 the southern end of the lake, beautifully situated, stood the ruined towers 
 of the many times famous Nicaea. Beneath us, sloping from our feet 
 to the edge of the lake, was a highly cultivated and rich valley. We were 
 still twelve miles distant from the town of Nicaea, and every turn we 
 made in the descent only raised the beauties of the scene.' aestuosae, 
 ' sultry.' 
 
 6. Claras. Cicero to his brother Quintus at the time proconsul of 
 Asia writes in oculis clarissimae prouinciae (Q. Fr. i. 2. 9). Its fame was 
 derived mainly from its splendid and luxurious cities, which Josephus 
 reckons at 500 (B. lud. ii. 16. 4). Asiae maximam oramMlo super aiam 
 ( Graecia) cinxit urhibus non ut munitam coloniis illam gentem sed ui ohsessam 
 teneret (Pro Flacco xxvii. 64). 
 
 7. praetrepidans, ' in a flutter of expectation,' eager in advance at 
 the thought of the approaching pleasure; so praegestire praemetuere 
 praetimere. 
 
 8. laeti, with studio. uigesciint, ' feel brisk,' a Lucretian word : 
 uirescunt, ' feel a new spring,' is a natural conjecture. Hor. Epod. xiii. 4. 
 
 9. coetus, Suet. Aug. 85 nonnuUa in coetu familiarium recitauit : 
 Catullus prolDably alludes to social gatherings in which the members of 
 the cohors met each other. 
 
 10. It is not easy to say whether Iionge is 'from a distance' or 'to a 
 distance.' In the former case Longe a domo profectos would be ' starting 
 from their distant home,' longe being expanded by a domo ; for longe in 
 this sense with a verb of motion, cf. Ter. Eun. iii. 3. 43 accurrit ad me, 
 quam longe quidem. It is perhaps more natural to take longe of the 
 distance io which Memmius and his cohors had travelled on leaving their 
 home : cf. Eun. iv. 2. 5 longe iam abieram. The two journeys would 
 thus be better contrasted : the distant foreign land to which they had 
 come, the distant home to which they were returning. 
 
 11. Diuersae, as separated by long distances from each other, uariae 
 as passing through a variety of countries. For the asyndeton see on 
 XXXVI. 10. reportant need not imply conveyances: se reporiant= 
 'return,' B. Hisp. 40: uicirix redit ilia pedemque ex hosie reportat of 
 Camilla, Aen. xi. 764. 
 
 XLVII. 
 
 The date of this poem is open to the same doubts as the preceding ; if 
 the Piso mentioned in it and XXVIII is L. Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, 
 proconsul of Macedonia from the end of 696 | 58 till some time after 
 the beginning of 699 | 55 (Ascon. in Pisonian. p. i Orelli) it must fall 
 within that period. If on the other hand I am right in identifying Piso 
 with Cn. Piso, quaestor pro praetore in Spain 689 | 65, it was probably 
 written in this year. 
 
 The arguments in support of either view are mentioned on XXVIII, 
 
 K 2 
 
132 A COMMENTARY 
 
 This poem is rather in favour of the former hypothesis ; the Greek 
 Socration, the sumptuous entertainments, the extortion practised by Piso's 
 two creatures, might each be illustrated by Cicero's oration in Pisomm, 
 as well as by an epigram Anth. P. xi. 44 ascribed to Philodemus and 
 probably addressed to this Piso ; the attraction of Piso to the society of 
 philosophical Greeks, his attachment to the school of Epicurus, and his 
 fondness for entertainments, all mentioned by Cicero, are shown in a 
 friendly point of view by Philodemus' inviting him to a plain dinner i^ 
 evart)! on the fhds, a day kept as a festival by Epicureans and on which 
 the conversation would no doubt be philosophical. 
 
 That Porcius is, as Statius suggested, the person mentioned by Cicero 
 in conjunction with Munius as employed by M. Fonteius B.C. 76-73 to lay 
 an impost on wines in Gaul, Font. ix. (v.) 19, is a view not impossible in 
 itself, but not sufficiently proved to be available as an argument either way. 
 
 1. duae suggests (i) their distinctness, (2) their confederacy for knavish 
 purposes. sinistrae. Diebeshande (Heyse), instruments of thieving, 
 not manm only nor dextellae (Att. xiv. 20. 5), but left hands, for pil- 
 fering and extortion. See on XII. i. Schwabe compares Verr. Act. 
 Sec. ii. 10. 27 Comites illi iui delecti manus erant tuae ; praefecti scribae 
 accensi medici haruspices praecones manus erant time. Vtquisque te maxime 
 cognatione affinitate necessitudine aliqua attingebat ita maxime manus 
 tua putabatur ; cohors tola tua ilia quae plus mali dedit Siciliae quam si 
 centum cohortes fugitiuorum fuissent, tua manus sine controuersia fuit. 
 Quidquid ab horum quopiam captum est, id non modo tibi datum sed tua 
 manu nuTneratum iudicari necesse est. Possibly, like Verres, Piso had 
 conferred upon his subordinates the ius anuli aurei ; sinistrae might 
 thus cortvey a farther sarcastic allusion. 
 
 2. scabies and fames are correlative : want of food produces a 
 leprous or scrofulous state of body Cato R. R. v. 7 Scabiem pecori et 
 iumentis caueto ; id ex fame et si impluit fieri solet ; such diseases are 
 infectious luuen. ii. 79 grex totus in amis Vnius scabie cadit et porrigine 
 porci ; hence scabies famesque mundi seems ■=■ 'itching starvelings 
 to infect a universe ', i. e. with an itch for lucre {^scabiem et contagia 
 lucri Hor. Ep. i. 12. 14) enough to infect everybody they came near. 
 This makes scabies famesque a va-Tfpov vporepov ; but the order seems de- 
 signed to suggest that Porcius and Socration are in a slightly different 
 sense the scabies famesqxte mundi, as having a diseased craving for gain 
 which might beggar the universe by the spoliation which they practised 
 to gratify it. Others make mundi a subjective genitive : Porcius and 
 Socration standing as types of ravenous rapacity, the world's concentrated 
 beggardom. Cf. Plin. H. N. Praef. 25 Apion grammaticus hie quern Tib. 
 Caesar cymbalum mundi uocabat, cum propriae famae tympanum potius 
 uideri posset, immortalitate donari a se scripsit ad quos aliqua conponebat, 
 where cymbalum mundi seems similarly to admit of an objective and 
 subjective explanation equally, 'the world's rattle' either as sounding 
 the praises of mankind, or as employed by mankind to sound its praises. 
 
 4. Verpus, 'J'mXds, atre^oiK-qjiivos Aristoph. Acham. 161, Eq. 964. See 
 on XXVIII. 12. Priapus, a figure which must have often met the 
 eyes of Catullus in the neighbourhood of Lampsacus, fr. II. Suidas 
 S< U. TO HyaKiia tov Upumov . , . dv6pa7roet8h Troiovaiv iv rfi Se§ia aK^mpov 
 
ON CATULLUS. XLVIIL 133 
 
 KaT€)(ov, ixravel irap' airov ^ave'urav t^v lijpav kol rrjv 6aKa<T(Tav, iv be rfj evavifuf 
 Kparav to aiSoiov airov ivrerafiivov Sum rh KcKpVfifieva iv rjj y;i o-jrep/naxa (jtavfpa 
 
 KaBlarriai. There was another representation of him in which e'xe tA 
 
 m'Sotoj/ tnavta els tijk irvyiiv (Suid. ibid.) like PhaneS (Suid. S. U. *ajo;r, cf. 
 
 Lobeck Aglaophamus 491). 
 
 5-7. 'Are you to squander money on splendid feasts from morn 
 onwards ? Are my companions to hunt about the streets for a chance 
 invitation ? ' 
 
 5. lauta, like men of fashion. Sen. Ep. 95. 26 Quidquid apud 
 lautos solet diem, ducere. sumptuose, ' extravagantly,' Varro R. R. 
 iii. 17. 6. 
 
 6. De die, in full day, before the afternoon has set in. The Romans 
 dined as a rule after the business of the day was over, according to 
 Martial iv. 8. 6 from the ninth to the tenth hour i. e. about 3 p.m. It was 
 a sign of luxury to begin earlier. Ter. Ad. v. 9. 7 obsonare cum fide, 
 Scortum adducere, apparare de die conuiuium, Liu. xxiii. 8 Coeperunt epulari 
 de die et conuiuium non ex more Punico out militari disciplina esse, sed 
 ut in ciuitate atque etiam domo diti ac luxuriosa omnibus uolupiafis illecebris 
 instructum. 
 
 7. Quaerunt. Pomponius Maiali fr. 3 Ribb. (Non. 476) cenam quae- 
 rital: Si eum nemo uocal, reueriit maestus ad maenam miser. uoca- 
 tiones, very rare in this sense. Fore, quotes Justin xxxvii. 4 Non in 
 conuiuio sed in Campo, non in uocaiionibtis sed in exercitaiionibus ; but 
 here the better MSS, as Dr. Riihl informs me, give auocationibus or 
 aduocationibus. Both Plautus Capt. i. r. i and Cornelius Nepos Cim. 4 
 use inuocatus in the sense of ' uninvited.' 
 
 XLVIIL 
 
 I AGREE with Bruner and Westphal in thinking that this is one of 
 the earlier poems of the series addressed to Juventius : perhaps the 
 first. See on XV. The date cannot be determined; but it probably 
 falls within the later years of the poet's life. 
 
 1. Mellitos. III. 6. The triple -os is archaic and gives a touch of 
 simplicity. 
 
 2. Si quis sinat, slightly altered from the more common sine me. 
 Cas. i. I. 46 quom mihi ilia dicet Mi animule. Mi Olympio, Mea uita, mea 
 mellilla, mea festiuitas. Sine tuos ocellos deosculer uoluptas mea. Sine amabo 
 ie amari meus festus dies. Mens pullus passer, mea columba, mi lepus. 
 usque basiare. XLV. 14, V. 9. 
 
 3. milia trecenta, of any great number as in IX. 2. 
 
 4. uideor with mihi='l think,' is more usual than uideor alone; but 
 the pronoun is sometimes omitted as in Att. iv. 1 2 Macroni uix uideor 
 praesto, 'I scarcely think I can attend to Macro,' Most. iii. 2. 132 Non 
 uideor uidisse posies pulchriores. satur. VII. 2. ro. 
 
 5. densior. Fin. v. 30. 91 seges spicis uberibus et crebris. aridis 
 aristis. Vulp. compares Augustin. de Ciuit. Dei iv. 8 quamdiu seges 
 ab initiis herbidis usque ad aridas aristas perueniret. 
 
134 A COMMENTARY 
 
 XLIX. 
 
 ScHWABE (Quaestt. p. 126) thinks this poem was written as an acknow- 
 ledgment of Cicero's services in defending M. Caelius Rufus, the paramour 
 and afterwards enemy of Clodia, against the charge of uis brought against 
 him by L. Sempronius Atratinus at her instigation. The^ speech Pro 
 Caelio was delivered early in 56 B.C., and the poem may belong to the 
 same period. 
 
 Westphal p. 241 also connects the poem with Clodia, but refers it to 
 an earlier date. Clodia's husband, Q. Metellus Celer, one of the -prae- 
 tors for 691 I 63 was sent towards the close of that year into Cisalpine 
 Gaul with proconsular power (Fam. v. 2. 3). His wife Clodia remained 
 at Rome and during his absence was visited by Cicero, not without arous- 
 ing the jealousy of Cicero's wife, Terentia (Fam. v. 2. 6, Plut. Cic. 29). 
 Catullus may have been introduced by Cicero to Clodia at the same time ; 
 this poem is the expression of the gratitude which he would naturally feel 
 to the man who had introduced him to Lesbia and doubtless retired in his 
 favour. 
 
 The poem itself gives no hint of either view. It merely brings into 
 prominent contrast the poet Catullus and the orator Cicero ; whatever 
 point it has lies in this antithesis, and this only. It is probable indeed 
 from the emphasis laid on Cicero's powers as a pleader (Disertissimt 1, 
 optimus omnium patronus 7) that Catullus' gratitude was evoked by 
 some oratorical effort in behalf of a friend ; but it seems unlikely that 
 the Pro Caelio, which has preserved in their coarsest form the scandals 
 attaching to Clodia, should have been the occasion of a panegyric from 
 Clodia's most devoted lover : if indeed Lesbia was Clodia, a fact which, 
 like the identification of Catullus' friend Caelius with M. Caelius Rufus, 
 the hero of Cicero's oration, can hardly be considered certain. Westphal's 
 hypothesis is even more gratuitous. If we are to construct hypotheses 
 where nothing can be demonstrated, it is hardly more fanciful to suppose 
 that this gratiarum actio of the poet's synchronized -with the two speeches 
 delivered by Cicero shortly after his return from exile. Cum senatui gratias 
 egit and Cum populo gratias egit ; cf. the words of this last VII. 16 Cn. 
 Pompeius uir omnium qui sunt/uerunt erunt uirtute sapieniia gloria princeps 
 with Catullus' Disertissimt Romuli nepotum, Quot sunt quotque fuere, Marce 
 Tulli, Quotque post aliis erunt in annis. 
 
 iCatxillus has shown his dexterity in 'Cor form of this eulogy. The words 
 .ff(7»?a/2'«e/ci/«OT,withoutbeingcontemptuous,might suggest thatCicero was 
 not a man of the highest rank ; the accumulation of superlatives alternately 
 balancing and in effect destroying each other looks like an allusion to 
 this well-known characteristic of Cicero's style ; 6, 7 might be repre- 
 sented as neutralizing 4, 5 ; for, if Cicero is the greatest of advocates 
 in the same proportion as Catullus is the worst of poets, he will descend 
 in the scale of eloquence as Catullus rises in the scale of poetry. Yet the 
 effect of the whole is sincere admiration ; it must have been welcome to 
 Cicero as the homage of the greatest poet of the time. Cf. Sest, Iviii. 
 123 neque poetae, quorum ego semper ingenia dilexi, tempori meo de- 
 fuerunt. 
 
ON CATULLUS. XLIX. 13& 
 
 1. Disertissime. The word is perhaps chosen as the most colourless, 
 standing as it does sometimes in opposition to a mere natural gift of 
 speech (De Orat. i.xx. 91 neminem scriptorem ar/w (writer of a treatise on 
 oratory) ne mediocrikr quidem diseriumfuisse dicebat . . . eloquenlissimos 
 autem homines qui isia nee didicissent nee omnino scire curassent, in- 
 numerabiles quosdam nominabaf) or again to the highest perfection of 
 elpquence, as in the dictum of the orator M. Antonius disertos se 
 uidisse multos, eloquentem omnino neminem {OxdAox \. 18; cf. De Orator, 
 i. 21. 94 and 95 non despero fore aliquem aliquando qui . . . exislat talis 
 orator qualem quaerimus, qui iure non solum disertus, sed etiam eloquens 
 dici possit) ; sometimes as the antithesis of a jejune and cold style : so 
 Caesar, after reading the Cato of Brutus, thought himself diserium Att. 
 xiii. 46. 2, cf. Tac. Dial, de Orat. 21, Ad Att. xv. ib. 2 Est oratio {Bruit) 
 scripta elegantissime sententiis ; tier bis ut nihil possit ultra. Ego tamen, si 
 illam causam habuissem, scripsissem ardentius. Cicero uses it as practically 
 =eloquentissimus. Phil. ii. 43. in Exspecto eloquentiam tuam. Disertissi- 
 mum cognoui auum tuum ; at te etiam apertiorem in dicendo. Cf. Sest. Ivii. 
 122 disertissimus poeta, and calls himself one of the diserti to Paetus 
 Fam. ix. 19. 2. Bomuli nepotum, like Remi nepotes LVIII. 5 and 
 unde Haec tetigit, Gradiue, tuos urtica nepotes luuen. ii. 127 is slightly 
 ironical. 
 
 2, 3. XXL 2, 3, XXIV. 2, 3. 
 
 2. Marce Tulli, the name by which Cicero seems to have been most 
 familiarly known. Sest. Iviii. 123 Nominatim sum appellatus in Bruto. 
 Tullius qui liber tat em ciuibus stabiliuerat. Milies reuocatum est: 
 and by which he would be addressed officially, e. g. when asked his opinion 
 in the senzte Die M. Tulli Att. vii. 7. 7. Hence Pliny in his apostrophe to 
 Cicero as the most famous of Romans addresses him by this title vii. 116 
 Sed quo te, M. Tulli, piaculo taceam ? 
 
 5. pessimus omnium poeta, a humility so exaggerated as hardly to 
 escape the suspicion of persiflage. Catullus uses the words pessimus poeta 
 of Volusius, pessimi poetae of Caesius Aquinus Suffenus XIV. 23. 
 
 6. Tanto pessimus. . . Quanto tu optimua. Veil. Paterc. ii. 11 
 Quantum bello optimus, tantum pace pessimus. Martial imitates Catullus i. 
 7. 4, 5 Tanto Stella meus tuo Catullo Quanto passere maior est columba. 
 Plin. Ep. iv. I. 4. 
 
 7. omnium, which, like pessimus omnium, is of course constructed with 
 optimus, by its position suggests one of the titles actually given to Cicero, 
 Fam. vi. 7. 4 (a letter of A. Caecina) Vbi hoc omnium patronus facis quid 
 me ueterem tuum nunc omnium clientem sentire oportet f At first licebat quern 
 nolebam non defendere Fam. vii. i. 4, but as his reputation rose he was 
 forced nonnumquam homines non optime de me meritos rogatu eorum qui bene 
 meriti sunt defendere (ib.), amongst them Vatinius and Gabinius. He was 
 besides /(i//-o«z«' of many towns e. g. Capua Pis. xi. 25, Sest. iv. 9, Tac. 
 Dial. 36. Cicero himself seems to imply in the Brutus xcvii. 332 nee 
 enim decet te ornatum uberrimis artibus numerari in uulgo patronorum that 
 he did not associate with the profession of a patronus the highest oratorical 
 distinction : Catullus' words would doubtless have fallen far short of his 
 own estimate of his powers. 
 
136 A COMMENTARY 
 
 Catullus and G. Licinius Calvus, the orator and poet, to whom XIV 
 and XCVI are addressed (cf. LIII), had met each other it would seem in 
 Calvus' house, if we may so infer from the fact that no third person is 
 mentioned, and that the whole poem places prominently in view the re- 
 ciprocity of the two partly in their rivalry as poets, partly in their friendship 
 as men. They had agreed to test their respective powers in a sort of wit- 
 combat; and Catullus having lent his tablets for the purpose, each in 
 turn wrote verses in them, probably of an epigrammatic kind and in 
 different kinds of metre. The contest excited Catullus so much that he 
 could not eat or sleep, and after a restless night in which he was con- 
 stantly thinking of his friend composed the following poem, expressing his 
 anguish and imploring Calvus to relieve him. He does not explicitly 
 say how, but it is a natural supposition that Catullus' wish to be once 
 more with Calvus, expressed in 13, is identical with the prayer which 
 Calvus is implored to attend to in 18, 19; and that the poem may be 
 practically considered a return-invitation (cf. Schwabe p. 263). The 
 description of Catullus' restlessness might strike Calvus with special force, 
 from the excitability of his own temperament. Plin. H. N. xxxiv. 166. 
 
 Cicero seems to have known this poem. Att. ix. 20. i Cum me aegri- 
 tudo non solum som.no priuaret, uerum ne uigilare quidem sine summo dolore • 
 pateretur, tecum ut quasi loquerer, in quo uno acquiesco, hoc nescio quid nullo 
 argumento proposito scribere institui. 
 
 '1. Hesteruo die. Cic. Catil. iii. 2. 5, rather more formal than heri. In 
 Catil. ii. 3. 6 most MSS. have hesierna die. The masculine was the pre- 
 ferable form, as is shown by the independent hesterno Vatin. i. 3. die 
 otiosi like Tuo imbuisse IV. \^, foro otiosum X. 2, sua occupati XV. 8, 
 noui umbilici XXII. 7. The quadrisyllable relieves the harshness of the 
 elided iambus, for which see Lachm. on Lucr. iii. 954. 
 
 2. lusimus, ' indulged our fancy,' here of humorous improvisations in 
 verse, as in LXI. 225 Lusimus satis and a fragment of Varro's Tithonus, v. 
 Riese (Non. 342) Risi multum, lusi modice iambis. 
 
 3. deUcatos is constructed by Muretus with uersiculos ' wanton verses,' 
 as in Pis. xxix. 70 delicatissimis uersibus of Philodemus' verses on Piso's 
 debaucheries, De Off. i. 40. 144 turpe in re setter a conuiuio digna aut deli- 
 catum aliquem inferre sermonem ; but this is against the rhythm : hence it 
 would seem better to explain it of the two poets who had agreed to play 
 the idler for the day. Paulus Diac. s. u. Delicata dicebant diis consecrata, 
 quae nunc dedicata. Vnde adhuc matiet delicatus, quasi lusui dicatus, a 
 passage from which it appears that delicatus was the original spelling of 
 dedicatus \ if so the words were perhaps confounded, and the Bolognese 
 MS. may retain Catullus' own hand in dedicates, its reading a m. pr. 
 
 4. uersiculos. Horace calls his Epodes uersiculi Epod. xi. 2, as well 
 as the poems he began to write in Greek S. i. 10. 32, and the lines imi- 
 tating an erotic epigram of Callimachus S. i. 2. 109. 
 
 5. numero. Orator Ivii. 191 dactylicus numerus, 192 Qui paeana prae- 
 tereunt non uident mollissimum a sese numerum eundemque amplissimum 
 
ON CATULLUS. L. 137 
 
 praeleriri ; ib. heroum numerum, where Cicero is speaking of the varieties 
 of rhythm, dactyl, trochee, paeon, etc. Catullus uses numero here in a 
 sense slightly beyond this, ' metre,' hendecasyllable, iambic, etc. 
 
 6. Eeddens mutua, ' exchanging replies.' Each took up the other, 
 perhaps repeating some word of his friend's and making play with it, or 
 introducing a similar or opposite word. Cf. Eun. iii. i. 49 Vbinominabit 
 Phaedriam, tu Pamphilam Continuo ; si quando ilia dicet ' Phaedriam 
 Comissatum intromittamus' hi ^Pamphilam Cantatum prouocemus ;' si 
 laudabit haec Illiusformam tu eius conlra. Denique Par pro pari referto, 
 quod earn mordeat. per iocTUU atque uiaum, ' over our jokes and 
 wine.' XII. 2 in ioco atque uino. 
 
 7. Atque, of transition ' And so.' abii, ' came away,' perhaps with 
 the double notion of leaving the house and retiring under a particular 
 state of feeling. 
 
 9, 10. Catullus can neither eat nor sleep for thinking of his friend. So 
 Achilles, thinking of Patroclus, II. xxiv. 127 Teio/ov i\i.6v, rio iiixpis ohv- 
 
 pSfievos Koi a^evav S^i/ cScat KpaSitjv, jufivrniivos oiSt ti arlrov Ovt fvvrjs ; 
 
 10. tegeret. Soph. El. 780 Sktt oike vvkt6s vnvov, oUt f'l fiiJpas'Ene 
 areya^Hv fiSvv. Virg. G. iv. 414 incepto tegeret cum lumina somno. 
 
 11, 12. II. xxiv. 3—6 avrap 'hxiXkivs KAaie 0iXou cTapov iie\ivr)fUvoi, oiSc fuv 
 vTTVos "Hpei TravSanoTcop a\V iaTpfCJ>eT' evda Kal ivda, HarpSKKov Troflfcai/ d8poTrjT<t 
 re Kai fieVos rjv, ib. 9 ToB ^t^i/Tjo-xdjUcvot BdKepov Kara Sdapvov ei^ev "AXXot em 
 jrXevpas KaTaKel/ievos, oXXore 8' avre "Ynrioy, S)0^oTe Se irpjivr]!. 
 
 11. indomitus fUrore, ' in rampant frenzy.' Indomitus, which was 
 perhaps suggested by the Homeric imvos travhaiMTap, well expresses the 
 physical restlessness of the animal system produced by unusual excite- 
 ment of brain. De Harusp. Resp. xxiv. 52 indomitos atque effrenatos 
 
 furores. 
 
 12. Versarer, ' tossed uneasily.' Verr. ii. 30. 74 Itaque aestuabat dubi- 
 tatione ; uersabat se in utramque partem, non solum mente, uerum etiam 
 corpore, Prop. i. 14. 21. cupiens uidere lucem. Another Homeric 
 
 idea. II. ix. 237 'EKTOip 8e jutya <r6ivei ^Xep^alviav Maiverai iiarayKas , . . 
 Kpartpr) he e Xvaaa SeSvKev' 'Aparai 8e ra)(i(rra tpavrmevai 'H£ Stax. 
 
 13. loquerer siiiinlc[ue ut essem, a varepov irporepov. simul essem. 
 Fam. ix. i. 2 Siue in Tusculano siue in Cumano ad te placebit, sine quod 
 minime uelim Romae, dummodo simul simus, Att. v. 9. e, propter uicini- 
 tatem lotos dies simul eramus inuicem, Hor. Ep. i. 10. ^oJExcepto quod non 
 simul esses, cetera Icutus, Juuen. v. 18 Vna simus, ail. 
 
 14. The labouring rhythm expresses the bodily struggle of the poet : 
 cf. LV. 13-24 where the spondaic rhythm corresponds with the labour of 
 Catullus in finding Camerius, and gives way to dactylic when swiftness 
 has to be expressed. labore, ' worry,' of the ineffectual struggle of the 
 limbs in conflict with the mind's excitement. Cf. Lucret. iv. 11 21 of 
 lovers absumunt uires pereuntque labore. 
 
 15. Semimortua, in a nimibed and lethargic state, Hygin. P. A. ii. 4 of 
 drunkards Semimortua membra iactantes, Philodemus in Anth. P. xi. 30. 
 4 'HiiiBaves 6vi)trKei tovto rb repfiepiov. Cf. Ovid's proemortua membra Am. iii. 
 7.65. 
 
 16. ioounde, as in XIV. i iocundissime Calue in reference to the com- 
 paniable qualities of Calvus. Hor. S. i. 3. 93 minus hoc iocundus amicus 
 Sit mihi? 3. 44 Nil ego conlulerim iocundo sanus amico. 
 
138 A COMMENTARY 
 
 18. Caue, as in LXI. 145, Cic. Aral. 296, Hor. S. ii. 3. 38 dexter stetit 
 el caue /axis Te quiequam indignum, Ouid. Trist.i. i. 25 7a caue defendas. 
 Servius on Aen. iv. 409 says that cauo cauis existed as well as caueo caues, 
 and that hence Catullus used cauere. In the comic writers it is hard to say 
 whether the e was short or slurred over as we know from Cicero it was in 
 ordinary pronunciation (De Diuin. ii. 40. 84). But the existence of 
 cauium, i. e. cauiium, seems to prove that Servius is right in his assertion of 
 an original cam cauis, and it is probable that the ordinary caue of Plautus 
 and the other comic writers was the imperative of this, and was pro- 
 nounced rapidly with the following word as a monosyllable. In this case 
 a determined disyllabic pronunciation such as we find in Catullus might 
 be one of the differences which he Calvus and others of the same school 
 were introducing to distinguish themselves from the earlier poetry. The 
 combination catte sis is very common, Amphit. ii. 2. 215, Pers. iii. i. 61, v. 
 2. 35, Cistell. fr. Mai p. 486 caue sis cum amore iu unquam. bellum sump- 
 seris and even in Trag. Naev. Lycurg. fr. xiii Ribbeck {Non. 259), but 
 always =^faa« si uis, not as here. 
 
 19. OramuB LV. i. caue — caue — caueto gives a mock solemnity. 
 So Cato R. R. 38 Ignem caueto tie iniermittas quin semper siet, neue noctu 
 netie ullo tempore intermittaiuf caueto. Such repetitions are also found 
 in magic formulae, despuas, show you reject my entreaties by spit- 
 ting on the ground. Spitting was connected with magic : O. lahn 
 Pers. ii. 31 quotes Varro R. R. i. 2. 27 Ego tui memini, medere meis 
 pedihus Terra pestem teneto. Salus hie maneio in meis pedibus. Hoc ter 
 nouies cantare iubet, terram tangere, despnere, ieiunum cantare, where it is 
 a cure for pains in the feet; Tib. i. 2. 54 Ter cane, ter dictis despite car- 
 minibus, ib. 96 Despuit in molles et sibi quisque sinus, Ciris 371 Ter in 
 gremium mecum, inquit, despue uirgo, Despue ter, uirgo, Petron. 131 Hoc 
 peracto carmine ter me iussit expuere terque lapillos conicere in sinum quos 
 ipsa praecantatos purpura inuoluerai, Plin. xxviii. 35 ueniam a deis spei 
 alicuius audacioris petimus in sinum spuendo; and was supposed to prevent 
 the bad effects of magic, fascination (Theocr. vi. 39, xx. 11), the evil eye, 
 etc., besides being used to counteract excessive praise and the jealousy 
 of the gods consequent thereupon. Schol. Theocr, vi. 39 'Qs fi^ ^atr- 
 
 Kavda de, Tp\s fls efxbv eirrvtra K6\7roy' irolovat yap fiexpi Tov vvv fiaXuTTa 
 Tovro at yvvoLKes to vep.ea-T]T6v eKTpeirop^i/ai, KoKKipa^oe. ^alp.tov r^ KcSX- 
 
 irotaiv eirnrTvova-i yvvaines. If we follow the suggestion of this scholion 
 Catullus might mean ' Don't be rash enough to reject my petition as too 
 flattering, lest Nemesis, whom you think to propitiate by rejecting my wish, 
 turn round upon^o« for over-cruel indifference,' a view perhaps confirmed 
 by the use of reposcat for the w&^\tr poscat and the prominence of a te at 
 the end of 20. But as spitting was also used simply as a sign of contempt 
 and rejection (Lucian itcpl rZv em ptirO^ awovTwv p. 489 rjv be petiidaa Koi 
 pv6pi<Ta TO npoaramov els t6 ^Skttov, Koreljipqvriire Kol evSiic StijmMTf, Soph. 
 Antig. 653 ^Tvuas ataei re dvapevTJ, 1 232 7rTV(Tas Trpotranri^ Koviev avTemav^ and 
 
 contempt as implying too lofty an opinion of oneself is particularly liable 
 to raise the anger of Nemesis, it seems simpler to explain ' Don't be rash 
 enough to spurn my petition, and so bring down upon yourself the anger of 
 Nemesis for your cruel contempt.* ocelle, ' dear heart,' ' liebes Hertze,' 
 Heyse. Asinar. iii. 3. 74. 
 
 20. reposcat, Aen. ii. 139. Most MSS. have reponat, 'should make 
 
ON CATULLUS. LL 139 
 
 a repayment of punishment on your side.' Fam. i. g. ig ne tibi ego idem 
 reponam. cum ueneris. Sen. de Ira ii, 28. 5 CogUemus aliis non facere 
 iniuriam, sed reponere. 
 
 21. Catullus may have had in mind some lines of Antimachus ap. Strab. 
 
 SSS'Sart hi Tiy T^icfitiTit /iryaXij Sedy, fj rdde irdvra Hpis fiaKapoav cXa^tv, ^a/iov 
 Se oi eicraTO Trpfiror "ASprjtrTos iroranoio naph poov Ai(7^7rojo "Ev6a TfTifiijTot tc koI 
 
 'ASprjoTfui KtAtiTat. But the sentiment is almost a common-place of lovers, 
 
 Alciph. i. 37. 4 Tr/v aifieiTiv Seic avrov ipav el ovTai e/ie TrepiAyjffTm ipSxrav, 
 Lucian. Dial. Meretric. xii. 2 oi p-iya, & Avcria, tovto jtouXs, yivawv adkwv 'KvttShv 
 lupjjvbs eVi (roi ; eort ns Ocos tj 'ASpatrreia koi toi Totaira opa. 
 
 LI. 
 
 This poem of Sappho's and Callimachus' elegy on the Lock of Beronice 
 (LXVI) are the only surviving specimens of Catullus' power as a trans- 
 lator. If he translated any other Greek originals, his versions have not 
 come down to us ; see on LXV. 16, CXVL 2. The general features of 
 LI and LXVI are the same : each is faithful without being strictly exact ; 
 there are omissions, insertions, and inversions. Thus in the first strophe 
 of Sappho's Ode there is nothing to correspond to Ilk si fas est supe- 
 rare diuos, to idemtidem, to special; on the other hand Catullus omits 
 TrXao-iov dSu (jxoveia-ac altogether. In the second strophe t6 /uoi p.av Kapblav 
 €v arriideirw cTrrdaa-ev is rather poorly rendered by misero quod omnis Eripit 
 sensus mihi ; in the third oCtiko is not translated, the order of the last two 
 lines is inverted, the strong 'OTnrdreo-o-i 6' oiSfv opT\p is paraphrased by 
 gemina tegunlur Lumina node ; nothing in the Greek corresponds to 
 sonitu suopte. Catullus has besides given to his version something of 
 the look of an original poem by introducing the name of Lesbia. 
 
 It is difficult to pronounce whether the last four lines Oiium — urbes 
 belong to LI or to a different poem of which they are the one surviving 
 fragment. The latter view was maintained by Statins, and more recently 
 by Spengel Bergk Schwabe and L. MuUer. Others hold them to be 
 spurious. 
 
 (1). There is no ground for denying their genuineness. They are found 
 in all the MSS ; the rhythm is like that of Catullus' other sapphics, 
 especially in the admission of a trochee in the second foot, cf. XL 6, 15 ; 
 they are probably alluded to by Macrob. S. ii. 7. 6. 
 
 (2.) It is possible to trace a connexion between 1-12 and 13-16. The 
 change from a passionate address to Lesbia to a moralizing soliloquy 
 addressed to himself is not alien either to Catullus, see VIII. 12-19, 
 LXIII. 50-61, or other poets, e.g. Tib. i. 4. 81-84 where the poet after 
 giving rules for success in love suddenly breaks into a complaint of his. 
 own anguish ; Virg. Eel. ii. 68 sqq. As Westphal observes, there may 
 be a contrast between two emotions, the pleasure of an absorbing love 
 and the Roman spirit of activity in conflict with it. The connexion might 
 be as follows : ' Catullus, you are giving way to love dreams ; beware, or 
 the indolence which fosters such fancies will destroy you as it has destroyed 
 cities and kings.' 
 
140 A COMMENTARY 
 
 (3). Such a connexion is however violent; there is a disproportion 
 between the three strophes of love-symptoms and the single strophe of 
 virtuous soliloquy ; a disproportion hardly removed by the emphatic 
 repetition of the word Otium. And why should Catullus omit the fourth 
 strophe of Sappho's Ode ? It cannot be said that the picture is perfect 
 without it ; the sweat tremor paleness and death-like sensations are an 
 integral part of the description, and are accordingly mentioned by the 
 prose paraphrasts of the ode, Longinus de Sublim. lo, Plut. Erot. 
 1 8, Plut. Demetrius 38. If, as might be argued, he meant not so 
 much to translate Sappho, as to write a paraphrase bearing on his own 
 love, and therefore did not think himself bound to add the fourth strophe — 
 the three Latin strophes have a certain roundness and completeness in 
 themselves — he would still take care in substituting a strophe of his own 
 to make it harmonize with the rest. Or if, after translating three strophes, 
 accident prevented him from completing his version of a poem which 
 certainly extended to five strophes, perhaps to seven or eight, there seems 
 to be no reason why he should not have allowed his work to remain a 
 fragment. It seems therefore a probable conclusion that the four verses 
 Otium — urbes have become disjoined from those preceding them; and 
 that they formed originally the end of another sapphic poem. The 
 lines themselves represent some of Sappho's strongest characteristics ; 
 the self-address (Sapph. fr, 59 Bergk), the repetition of the same word 
 three times as in the famous ode (i. 21-23). 
 
 2. An addition of Catullus'. si fas est, a trace of Roman religio. 
 Catullus would avoid saying anything impious (Westphal). Tusc. Disp. 
 V. 13. 38 Humanus animus decerptus ex mente diuina cum alio nulla nisi 
 cum ipso deo, si hoc fas est dictu, comparari potest. Ouid. Pont. iv. 8. 
 55 Di quoque carminihts, si fas est credere, fiunt, Tantaque maiestas 
 ore canentis eget. diuos, ' the holy gods.' Catullus like Varro and 
 Ateius makes diuos a more solemn word than deos, not to the extent of 
 distinguishing, as they AiA, diuos perpetuos,, deos qui propter sui consecrationem 
 timentur (Servius on Aen. rv. 45) but as the more ancient and formal word. 
 Varro ap. Serv. ad Aen. xii. 139 Ita respondeant cur dicant deos cum omnes 
 anfiqui dixerint diuos. Hence diuos diua in the forms of prayer preserved 
 by Liu. vii. 26, xxv. 12. Catullus has diux)s LXIV. 404, XC. 5 ; deos in 
 the playful passage XIII. 13. 
 
 3. sedens aduersUS. Lucian "Epmrcs 53 °^ y'^P airoxfrq t6 Seapflu 
 ipaifievov, ovd* ojravTiKpv KoBrj^evov Kal 'XaXovvros aKoveiPj dXV ^anep ^Sovris liKifiaKa 
 <TVfnrr)^a.ii.€vos epas irpSrrov €)^ei jSad/iov Sifreas tva 185 (spectat), K&v Bcaaryrcu, 7rod« 
 irpotrdyap e^a^^twQai' hi Sxptov yoOw 8aicrv\tav k&v p^vov Olyrj, ra t^s dTroKaiKreats 
 
 fls cmav &ia6ei to a&pa. identidem, of Lesbia XL 19. 
 
 6. Eripit sensus, ' ravisheth from me all my wit.' Chaucer, Romaunt 
 of the Rose, p. 176 Bell: so sensibus ereptis LXVI. 25. simul te 
 aspexi. Vatin. ii. 4 simul ac te aspexi, prius quam loqui coepisti. 
 
 8. This verse is lost : the Greek is ^mvas Ovhkv %t fUti, cf. Plut. Erot. 18 
 
 37 KoKr] ^a7r<j>0} Xeyet ttJs eptapeinjs eTTKJiaveiaTjs Trjv re ^av^v t<T^€(T6aL Koi 
 <j)\€yeir6ai to irapa, Plut. Demetr. 38 TO Trjs Sa7r<j)ovs ixelva Trdvra, (jxov^s 
 iiri(Txe<Tis K.rX. 
 
 9-12 may be compared with Lucr. iii. 152 sqq. — a description of 
 fear: especially with 154-156 Sudoresque ita pallor emque existere tola Cor- 
 
ON CATULLUS. LL 141 
 
 pore et infringi linguam uocemque aboriri Caligare oculos, SDnere auris, 
 succidere artus. 
 
 0. tenuis, 'subtle,' Sappho's XorToj> tivp : the notion is of a flame rapidly 
 permeating and diffusing itself through the body. 
 
 10. demanat, flows downward from the eyes which first receive it : so 
 Gell. xvii. II. I potum dixit defluere ad pulmonem eoqtie satis umeciato 
 demanare per eum quia sit rimosior. Wakefield on Lucr. iii. 154 would 
 read dimanat, as agreeing better with the diflusive character of the fluid 
 element fire, cf. Lucr. ii. 382. This though probable is not necessary 
 and is not supported by MSS. suopte. Paul. Diac.p. 311 M. 6'ko/& 
 suo ipsius, ut meopte meo ipsius, ttiopte tuo ipsius. The form is a very old 
 one; Naevius has suopte cibo ap. Macrob. S. iii. 18. 6, Plautus meapte 
 meopte tuopte suumpie mepte, Terence nosirapte, Cicero suopte and simple. 
 Corssen seems right in explaining -pte in these forms as pe-te; pe in 
 ipsip-pe-=ipsi neque alii Paul. Diac. p. 105 M., ip{e)se eapse eampse eopse sepse 
 sapsa reapse sirempse for eape-se etc. emphasizes the word to which it is 
 attached = ' just ; ' -te intensifies this as in tu-te. Catullus seems to 
 contrast the special sound of ringing within the ear itself to ordinary 
 sounds from without. 
 
 11. Tintinant, a less common form of tinlinnare, which like tintinnire 
 was used by Naevius and Afranius (Festus p. 364 M.). Ringing in the 
 ears is often mentioned in connexion with love. Meleager in Anth. P. 
 v. 212. I Aici ^ot 8t)i/f I (iec iv oiatriv tixos eparos ; but more generally as a 
 sign to a lover that his adsenl love is thinking of him, Plin. H. N. 
 xxviii. 24, Stat. S. iv. 4. 25, 26, Fronto p. 28 Naber, Anth. Lat. 452 
 Riese, 974 Meyer, Lucian Dial. Meretr. ix. 2. gemina transfers the 
 doubleness of the two eyes to the darkness which has settled equally on 
 both. ' Night closes evenly on both my eyes.' 
 
 12. Lumina. Archil. 103 Bergk Totoi yap (f>i\6T7]Tos cpas (mb KapSlrjv 
 
 i\v(r6(is IloXXijv kot' dx^iiv oppArav tx^vev KAti/rar « <rn]deav awa\as (ppevas. 
 
 13-16. For the sentiment cf. True. i. 2. 34-40, as well as the well- 
 known passage of Ovid's Rem. Am. 135-144. 
 
 13. molestum est, 'disorders you.' Fam. vii. 26. i arpayyovpuA ral 
 Sva-evTtpiKa reaBrj sibi molesla esse. Hor. Epist. i. i. 108 nisi cum pituila 
 molesla est. Cicero somewhat similarly Cael. xix. 43 amores et hoe deliciae 
 quae uocanlur, quae firmiore animo praedilis diulius moleslae non solent esse. 
 
 14. 'Idleness makes the veins throb with wantonness beyond measure.' 
 Both exultas and gestis {aTpipiAs) are physical words. Lucr. iii. 141 
 Hie exullat enim pauor ac metus. Cic. de N. D. i. 27. 77 Cur non gestiret 
 taurus equae conlrectatione, ecus uqccae ? Both are combined by Cicero 
 Tusc. Disp. V. 6. 16. 
 
 15. reges. Westphal thinks this refers specially to Priam whose king- 
 dom was destroyed by the luxury of his son Paris and his paramour 
 Helen. This would be appropriate in a poem to Lesbia, the wife of 
 another ; but the reference is doubtless more general. Val. Maximus ix. 
 I gives several instances of kings ruined by luxury, Hannibal at Capua, 
 Xerxes Antiochus Ptolemaeus Physcon ; the only city he mentions is 
 Volsinii in Etruria, quae poslquam luxuria prolapsa est, in profundum 
 iniuriarum el turpiludinis decidil, ut seruorum se insolenlissimae dominalioni 
 subiceret : Sybaris is a better known example. 
 
 16. Perdidit urtaes, a common-place of Euripides. Archelaus fr. 241 
 
142 A COMMENTARY 
 
 Nauck 6 8' ijSis awv f) kokij t avavSpia Oifr' oiKov oS« yaiap opBaaeuv &v. 
 
 Erechtheus fr, 366. 
 
 LII. 
 
 The old interpretation of this poem, accepted by Clinton, supposed it 
 to be written during or after the consulship of Vatinius 707 | 47, which 
 was held only for a short time at the end of the year, Dion C, xlii. 
 55; whence Macrob. S. ii. 3. 15 says In consulatu Vatinii quern, 
 paucis diehus gessit, notabilis Ciceronis urbanitas circumferelaiur. 
 Magnum ostentum, inquit, anno Vaiinii factum est, quod illo consule nee 
 bruma nee uer nee aestas nee auctumnus fuit. Querenti deinde Vatinio quod 
 grauatus esset domum ad se infirmatum ■uenire, respondit: Volui in consulatu 
 tuo uenire, sed nox me comprehendit. This would oblige us to put off the 
 year of Catullus' death till that year ; whereas the absence of any certain 
 allusions in the extant poems to the stirring events between 64-47 makes 
 it probable that he died in 54. Moreover if Catullus alludes to the actual 
 year of Vatinius' consulship, it would be diflScult to explain 2 Sella in curuli 
 Struma Nonius sedet, for in this year there was no appointment, of praetors, 
 curule aediles or quaestors (Mommsen Hist, of Rome iv. p. 2. p. 480 
 Eng. Transl.). 
 
 Mommsen (Hist, of Rome iv. p. 2. p. 320 note) has suggested a 
 different interpretation. Catullus in 3 speaks not of Vatinius' actual 
 consulship, but of the certainty with which he looked forward to being 
 made consul. This he might do as early as 698 | 56 when Caesar and 
 Pompeius met at Luca and drew out lists of intended consuls (faginulas 
 futurorum consulum Att. iv. 8l>. 2). lungclaussen and Schwabe both 
 accept this interpretation ; the latter illustrates Catullus' words by two 
 passages of Cicero's speech In Vatinium ii. 6 At tamen hoc, Vatini, memento 
 ... me . . . magnificeniissime post hominum memoriam consulem factum, 
 omniaque ea me pudenter uiuendo consecutum esse quae iu inpudenter 
 uaticinando sperare te saepe dixisti. v. 11 Quaesturam petisti (in 
 the year 6go | 64) cum P. Sestio, cum hie nihil laqtieretur nisi quod agebat, 
 in de alter consulatu gerendo te dicer es cogitare ; to which may be added 
 xvi. 38 palam dictitas (in 56 B.C.) te dis hominibusque inuitis amore in te 
 incredibili quodam C. Caesaris omnia quae lulis consecuturum. Schwabe 
 however prefers as a more probable occasion of Catullus' outburst, 
 the beginning of 699 [ gg, when public feeling was outraged by the 
 election of Vatinius as praetor against Cato. This election is frequently 
 alluded to as a memorable scandal ; Liv. Epit. log Cum C. Catonis 
 iribuni plebis inter cessionibus comitia tollerentur, senatus uestem mutauit. 
 M. Cato in peiitione praeturae praelato Vatinio repulsam tulit. Val. Maxi- 
 mus vii. 5, Ext. 6 calls it comitiorum maximum crimen : Seneca introduces 
 it as a stock-subject of declamation Epist. 118. 4 Scio apudte (Fortuna) 
 Catones repelli, Vatinios fieri, 120. 19. De Constantia Sapientis i. 3 
 Indigne ferebas, sicut es iniquitatis impatiens, quod Catonem aetas sua 
 parum intellexisset, quod supra Pompeios el Caesares surgentem infra 
 Vatinios posuisset ei tibi indignum uidebatur quod illi dissuasuro legem toga 
 in foro esset erepta, ib. ii. 3. Plutarch (Cato 42) says it was done by 
 shameful bribery, and that after it Cato addressed the assembly fore- 
 telling all the future evils of the triumvirate. Cf. Couat, Etude p. 260. 
 
 Who the Nonius of 22 was is not known. From Plin. H. N. xxxvii. 
 
ON CATULLUS. LIL 143 
 
 87 it appears that he was the father of a senator of the same name pro- 
 scribed by Antonius on account of an opal of extraordinary value, which 
 Antonius coveted : and great grand-father of Servilius Nonianus who had 
 filled the consulship in the lifetime of Pliny; probably in 788 | 35 a.d. 
 Catullus' words do not tell us much; they seem however to imply that 
 Nonius was a plebeian who had risen for the first time to a curule office, 
 probably the aedileship, see note on 2 ; and that he had a personal 
 deformity of the same kind as Vatinius, seemingly a tumour on the neck. 
 Struma ^. 
 
 Lehmann Teuffel and Schwabe think the person alluded to may be 
 Nonius Asprenas who attended Caesar in the African war and was left 
 by him in charge of the camp just before the battle of Thapsus 708 | 46 
 (B. Af. 80) ; in the following year he conveyed a body of horsemen from 
 Italy to Caesar in Spain (B. Hisp. 10). This Nonius is called proconsul; 
 hence had presumably held a curule office, and perhaps had been elected 
 curule aedile at the same time that Vatinius was elected praetor (Schwabe 
 Quaestt. CatuU. pp. 38-44). 
 
 A better-known Nonius of this period was M. Nonius Sufenas who 
 had been tribune of the plebs in 57-56 b.c. and with his colleagues 
 Procilius and C. Cato prevented the consular comitia in 56, in con- 
 sequence of which an interrex was appointed and Crassus and Pompeius 
 declared consuls for the following year (Dion C. xxxix. 27, Appian B.C. 
 ii. 17). Sufenas and his two colleagues were brought to trial in 54 for 
 their behaviour in this matter ; on the 5th July Sufenas and Cato were 
 acquitted, Procilius condemned, a proof says Cicero (Att. iv. 15. 4) of 
 the indifference to public morality in the judicial tribunals of the time : 
 Ex quo intellectum est TpurapeumayiTas ambitum comitia interregnum mai- 
 estatem totam denique rem puUicam flocci nan facere. If this Sufenas is 
 the M. Nonius mentioned in conjunction with M. Bibulus Q. Minucius 
 Thermus P. Silius Nerva respectively governors of Syria Asia Bithynia in 
 a letter to Atticus (vi. i. 13) written from Cilicia 704 | 50, cf viii. 15. 
 3 cum imperio sunt ut Sufenas, he would seem to have held a curule office 
 in the interval between his tribuneship in 56 and the latter date. His 
 support of Pompeius and Caesar would make him obnoxious to Catullus, 
 though nothing that Cicero says of him implies anything like the un- 
 popularity of Vatinius. But if his election coincided with that of Vatinius, 
 the two might well be combined as specimens of the odious success which 
 uncompromising devotion to the' cause of th^'triumvirs was pretty certain 
 to secure. 
 
 1. Quid est P ' How now ? ' ' What mean you ? ' rousing himself from 
 his indifference, as in Tib. iv. 16. 38 Lachm. qiiid moraris emori P 
 A stronger Quin moreris ? ' it is time you died downright and instantly.' 
 Hor. C. iii. 27. 58 Quid mori cessas ? Heroid. ix. 146 Impia quid dubitas, 
 Deianira, mori? emori, 'to die with desperation.' Sail. Cat. 20 Nonne 
 
 ' The MSS. of Marius Victorimis 1 74 G. quote the line with Scrofa for Struma. 
 But scro/awas the cognomen of the Tremellii, Varro R. R. ii. 4. 1-3, Macrob. S. i 6. 30. 
 The variation however is not without importance, as indicating that the word, whatever 
 it was, was not a name, but a personal allusion. Yet it is not easy to see why Catullus 
 should have ascribed to Nonius the well-known deformity of Vatinius ; such a side-stroke, 
 to use an expression of Vatinius' own (In Vatin. v. 1 3) must have seemed as flat at the 
 time as it seems unintelligible now. 
 
144 A COMMENTARY 
 
 emoriper uirtutem praesiat, quam uitam miser am atque inhonestam, viialienae 
 superbiae ludihriofueris, per dedecus amittere ? 
 
 2. Sella in curuli . . sedet. The right of using the curule chair 
 belonged to the consuls praetors curule aediles and censors ; as well as 
 to the Flamen Dialis the dictator and magisler equitum (Diet. Ant. s. v.). 
 As to attain a curule office was the first step towards founding the nobility 
 of a plebeian family, sella in curuli sedei is sometimes applied to noui 
 homines in opposition to nobiles. The aedileship, as the first ciu-ule office 
 to which a man could aspire, is perhaps meant here, cf. A. Gell. vii. g. 
 6 Gn. Flauius, Anni filius; aedilis, id arrisit : sellam curulem iussit sibi 
 afferri, earn in limine apposuH, ne quis illorum exire posset, utique hi omnes 
 inuili uiderent sese in sella curuli sedentem. Struma. Cels. v. 28. 7 
 Struma est tumor in quo suiter concreta quaedam ex pure et sanguine quasi 
 glandulae oriuntur . . . Nascuntur maxime in ceruice, sed etiam in alis et 
 tnguinibus. 
 
 3. Per cousulatum. We may imagine Vatinius saying ' Ita fiam 
 consul ut quae affirmo uera sunt?' Schwabe. perierat. Cic. in Vat. 
 i. 3 speaks of Vatinius' inconstantiam cum leuitate tum etiam periuriq 
 implicatam. 
 
 LIII. 
 
 This epigram is a tribute to the oratorical genius of Catullus' friend 
 C. Licinius Calvus. Of the twenty-one orations by him extant at the time 
 when the Dialogus de Oratoribus was written, those against Vatinius 
 were still studied alone, the second of the number particularly (Dial. 21). 
 They are quoted by Seneca Epist. 94. 25, Quintilian vi. i. 13, ix. 2. 25, 
 3. 56, as well as by the grammarians (Charis. 224 Keil, Diomed. ii. p. 
 443) and writers on rhetoric (Aquila Romanus p. 183 ed. Ruhnk., 
 Julius Severianus Syntom. Rhet. p. 342). The fragments have been 
 collected by Meyer, Orator. Roman. Fragm. pp. 474-478. The exact 
 historical sequence of the orations is uncertain. Meyer thought Calvus 
 attacked Vatinius three times, in 58, 56, 34 b.c. This inference rests on 
 a passage of the Bobbian Scholia on Cicero's In Vatinium p. 323 Haec 
 (rei in tribunal sui quaesitoris escensio, subselliorum dissupatio, urnarum 
 deiectio) facta sunt, quum reus esset de ui P. Vatinius accusante 
 C. Licinio. Nam quum praetor C. Memmius (696 | 58) quaesitorem 
 sortito facere uellet, et Vatinius postularet ut ipse acctisator suus mutuas 
 reiectiones de quaesitoribus faceret, conspirati quidam pro ipso Vatinio 
 inmissi tribunal conscenderunt, et sortes quae intra urnam continebantur 
 dispergere adgressi sunt, atque ita effectum est gratiose per P. Clodium, ut 
 omnia secundum tioluntatem suam Vatinius obtineret. It seems probable 
 that Vatinius was at least threatened as early as 58 by Calvus. When 
 Cicero delivered his oration In Vatinium in 56, the prosecution was 
 certainly hanging over his head (In Vat. iv. 14 and the Bobbian Schol, 
 p. 316), though Calvus seems to have delayed it, and to have incurred 
 suspicion in consequence (Ad Q. Fr. i. 2. 4). In 55 Vatinius was praetor 
 and could not be brought to trial ; it was not till 54 that the prosecution 
 at last took place in August (Ad Q. Fr. ii. 15. 3), chiefly, it would seem, 
 on a charge of bribery, Schol. Bob. in Plancianam p. 262 lam de sodaliciis 
 
ON CATULLUS. LIIL 145 
 
 causam dixerat P. Vatinius eodem defendente M. Ciceroru, Asconius in 
 Scaurianam p. 1 8 Hanc quoque orationem cisdem consulihus dixit quibus pro 
 Vatinio, L. Domiiio Ahenobarho et Appio Claudia Pulchro coss. ; though 
 other charges were probably included, of. the sentence quoted from 
 Calvus' oration by Quintilian ix. 3. 56 Non ergo magis pecuniarum 
 repetundarum quam maiestafis, neque maiestaiis magis quam Plauiiae legis, 
 neque Plauiiae legis magis quam ambitus, neque ambitus magis quam omnium 
 legum. 
 
 1. corona, 'a circle of bystanders,' especially to hear a pleader. 
 Quintil. xii. 10. 73 Nulli non agentium parata uulgi corona est. Sen. de 
 Ira ii. 7 ludex damnaturus quae fecit eligitur et corona pro mala causa bona 
 paironi uoce corrupta. Epist. 114. 12 Mirari quidem non debes corrupta 
 excipi non tantum a corona sordidiore, sed ab hac quoque turba culiiore ; togis 
 enim inter se isti, non iudiciis distant. Hence, as the corona was apt to 
 consist of a low class of people, nescio quern, ' a fellow.' 
 
 2. mirifice, ' to perfection : ' a slightly different use from the Cicero- 
 nian and ordinary one, which makes it nearly i. q. ualde, e. g. mirifice 
 dolere, diligere, etc. 
 
 3. crimina, like explicasset, implies a series of charges. 
 
 4. manusque tolleixs, Philodemus ncpi KaKiav col. xxiii. im^aveiv rar 
 Xfipas dvareii/as iis raxii (rvvqKat. Hor. S. ii. 5. 96 DoTiec ' Ohe ' iam Ad 
 caelum manibus sublatis dixerit. 
 
 5. Dii magni XIV. 12. salaputium disertum, 'A mighty tit of 
 an orator:' as explained by Seneca Controv. vii. 19, p. 211 ed. Bursian 
 Idem postea cum uideret a clientibus Catonis, rei sui, Polionem Asinium 
 circumuentum inforica ; inponi se supra cippum iussit, erat enim paruolus 
 statura, propter quod et Catullus in hendecasyllabis uocat ilium salaputtium 
 disfrtum. This is perhaps the meaning of Quid. Trist. ii. 431 Parfuit 
 exigui similisque licentia Calui, Detexit uariis qui sua furta modis. 
 salaputium, the reading of Sen. Cont. vii. 19, is not known to occur else- 
 where : its meaning is guessed from that passage, but the etymology is 
 quite doubtful. Possibly the last part of it contains the root pu- which 
 as pu-s is found in pusillus posilla pusus pusa, pusio, as pu-t in putus (a 
 boy) Verg. Cat. ix. 2, as well as in pumilo, pumilio a dwarfs (Corssen 
 Aussprache i. p. 362, who however makes no mention of the word). More 
 probably it is connected, as Conr. de AUio suggested, with prae-putium 
 it6(t6iov. Both iroa-Biov and noa-BaXia-Kos are used=' little boy ; ' adBcov is a 
 coaxing name for a boy-baby (L. and S.) ; hence Walter Savage Landor 
 may be right in his translation ' little cocky.' The first part of the com- 
 pound is perhaps, but not certainly, connected with sal-ire sal-ax, etc. 
 Possibly pupulus LVI. 5, certainly pipinna Mart. xi. 72. i, are similar 
 words, partly of endearment, partly of coarseness. 
 
 1 Quouis puero pusilliorem Apiil. Met. v. 9. 
 
146 A COMMENTARY 
 
 LIV. 
 
 MuNRO (Journal of Philology v. 303) writes this poem thus : 
 Oihonis caput (oppido est pusilluni) 
 Et, trirusHce, semilauta crura. 
 Subtile et hue peditum Libonis, 
 Si non omnia, displicere uellem 
 Tibi et Fuficio sent recocio: 
 Irascere iterum meis iambis 
 Inmerentibus, unice imperator. 
 ' It is not known who Otho or Libo or Fuficius was, but it is plain that 
 the poet means to say that Otho and Libo were favourites of Caesar and 
 Fuficius, standing in the same relation to the former, as he had scurrilously 
 described Mamurra as doing in the 29th poem. I could wish, he says, 
 that Otho's head, (right puny it is) and, you thorough clown, those half- 
 washed legs of his, and Libo's offensive habits, if not everything else about 
 them should disgust you.' Then pretending to recal his former quarrel 
 with Caesar, he breaks off abruptly with the words ' you will be enraged 
 a second time with my innocent iambics, O general without peer.' 
 
 In I the parenthesis, he considers, adds force to the expression ; such 
 parentheses are a marked feature of most Latin styles. He compares 
 Sen. Hipp. 35 At Spartanos {genus est audax Auidumque ferae) nodo 
 cautus Propiore liga. 
 
 In 2 trirustice is like Plautus' trifur trifurcifer triparcus triuenefica ; the 
 vocative he retains as more spirited. 
 
 In 4 Si non omnia, which was already explained in this sense by Vulp. 
 and illustrated by Sest. iii. 7 ut ille . . . si non omnem, at aliquam partem 
 maeroris sui deponerei Munro compares with Lucr. iii. 406 Si non omni- 
 modis at magna parte animai Priuatus, ii. 1017 .SV' non omnia sunt, at 
 multo maxima pars est Consimilis : Lucilius i. 33 ed. L. Miiller Si non 
 amplius, at lustrum hoc protolleret unum. 
 
 In spite of the pronounced judgment of this great critic, I adhere to 
 the opinion which I share with most edd., that the lines are fragmentary. 
 For, 
 
 (i) The MSS. show traces of confusion in placing after i the two 
 verses L. 16, 17, which are found also in their proper place. 
 
 (2) The MSS. point in 2 to a proper name. Et eri, Et heri, et beri, 
 are forms which a name not understood, and therefore corrupted, naturally 
 assumes. A name too is required by the parallelism of the three lines : 
 each contains a person and a personal characteristic. ' 
 
 (3) Even if we allow the first five lines to be consecutive, the aposio- 
 pesis before Irascere iterum is immeasurably harsh, not to say unin- 
 telligible. It may safely be asserted that nothing like it is found in any 
 complete poem of Catullus. 
 
 (4) Nothing is gained by interpreting the poem as a complete whole. 
 Everything shows that the MS. of Catullus from which all extant MSS. 
 spring was imperfect. Why should we deny here what is allowed in 
 XIV b, LI. 8, LXI. 79 sqq., 108 sqq., LXII. 32 sqq., LXVIII. 47 sqq., 
 XCV. 4? And in this part of the MSS, there are other traces of 
 
ON CATULLUS LIV. 147 
 
 confusion : thus the verses Non cusios si fingar ilk Crelum—Essem U 
 mihi, amice, quaeriiando are inserted in the MSS. after LVIIL 5, whereas 
 they obviously belong to LV, and the Bodleian MS. (O), perhaps the oldest 
 extant, has a space of five lines before LXL 
 
 Assuming then that the poem is a mere fragment, I hold it hazardous 
 to define its precise meaning. It obviously alludes to some of Caesar's 
 friends, probably of the humbler kind ; for Caesar, to use the words of 
 Caelius Rufus in a letter to Cicero (Fam. viii. 4. 2) SoUt infimorum 
 hominum amicitiam sibi qualibet impensa adiungere ; and the persona;! 
 peculiarities satirized by Catullus in 2, 3 would be suitable to such men, 
 and less dangerous to attack than in a higher rank. Schwabe thinks the 
 Sufficio of 5 may be Fuficius Fango, who is mentioned by Dion C. xlviiL 
 22, 23 as appointed by Caesar to govern Africa, maintaining an un- 
 successful struggle with T. Sextius, and finally committing suicide. He is 
 described as having risen to the senate from the ranks, and for this reason 
 unpopular with the provincials : he would thus be a fit subject for attack.; 
 but if he was occupied with active military service in 714 | 40 he could 
 hardly be called senex at the time Catullus wrote this poem. (Schwabe 
 Quaestt. p. 225.) 
 
 1. oppido, an old word beginning to be antiquated and obsolete in 
 Quintilian's time (viii. 3. 25). Nonius explains it as = ualde^ Paulus 
 Diac. as ualde multum. According to Corssen ii. p. 870 its original mean- 
 ing was ' on the ground,' ' on the spot : ' he compares the Homeric ffmeSov : 
 and so Curtius. ' On the spot,' might easily pass into ' downright,' as 
 
 funditMS, ' from the bottom,' passes into ' utterly.' pusillum. Aristotle 
 Problems 30. 3, associates a small head with prudence {<pp6vri<ns) ; the 
 Physiognomon edited by Rose on the contrary says p. 1 14 Capui bretie 
 sine sensu sine sapientia est. Caput breue prope rolundum impudeniiae 
 argumentum est: refer tur ad rapaces aues. According to the same 
 author p. 1 6 1 Polemon made a narrow slanting head one characteristic 
 
 of his ideal /lapcmovrjpos, 
 
 2. rustice, a change fi-om the third person to the second ' you, clownish 
 Herius, have legs only half- washed,' like Persiusi. 73 Vnde Remus, sulcogue 
 ierens dentalia, Quinti, where Conington quotes Virg. Aen. vii. 684 Quos 
 diues Anagnia pascit, Quos Amasene pater. semilauta, ^/xiXoura, a double 
 offence, not only bare but dirty. crura, to expose the legs was a sign 
 of rusticity. Philetaerus ap. Athenaeum i. 2 1 'A/*</)i a-rcpvoic cjApos ov Ka6ri<rci.s, 
 ToKav ; fiijS aypoiKai avo ydvoTor dfupe^fi ; on which Eustathius On Homer p. 
 
 ir64 quoted by Meineke iii. 300 says 8ok« yap o a-KwrToiievos yjnXa ivSia-eas 
 
 7rpo(j)aiveiv tb trieeXTj : and SO Theophrastus makes it a sign of the aypoiKos 
 
 to sit dva^e^Xrificvos &va> tov y6vaTos, 
 
 3. peditum seems to be Sm. Xey. Scaliger is no doubt right in 
 explaining the line of a diseased incapacity for containing the wind, cf. 
 Mart. iv. 87. 4, vii. 18. 9, 10, x. 14. lo, Plato Rep. iii. 405 <j)vaas tc koI 
 
 Korappous voarjuamv ovSfiaTa Ti6e<r6aL. 
 
 6. I have inserted this verse here as agreeing with the last two. 
 Irascere iterum — unzce imperaior. Porphyrion on Hor. C. i. 16. 24 Iambi 
 autem uersus aptissimi habentur ad maledicendum. Deniqtte et Catullus, cum 
 maledicta minor etur sic ait. At non effugies meos iambos. At any rate 
 this seems more probable than Hauthal's view, that the line belongs to XL, 
 
 L 2 
 
148 A COMMENTARY 
 
 a poem complete in itself : Westphal's hypothesis that it is part of a lost 
 poem between XIV, XV is gratuitous, and not justified by the three lines 
 still remaining of XlVb. 
 
 9 (4). Scaliger seems right in supposing si non to be the relic of an 
 adjuration, peream si non, or something similar. Hor. S. i. 9. 48 Disper- 
 eam ni Summosses onines, ii. 1.6 Peream male si non optimum erat. Mart, 
 ii. 6. 2 Si non nuntiris, Classics, dispeream. omnia displicere uellem, 
 an indifference to Caesar's good opinion like XCIII. uellem, 'I 
 could wish,' as often. Hor. S. i. 3. 41, ii. 2. 40. 
 
 10 (5). Sirfficio, the reading of MSS. was retained in my first ed. and 
 might be supported by some MSS. of Verr. ii. 12.31, Vitruu. de Architect, 
 vii. Praef. 14, Plin. H. N. xxxiv. 25. But it is doubtful whether this name 
 occurs in Insdriptt., hence I now adopt the generally received Fuficio. 
 Vitruuius vii Praef. 1 4 mentions a Fuficius as one of the earliest Romait 
 writers on architecture, In ea re ab Graecis uolumina plura edita, ab noslris 
 oppido quampauca. Fuficius enim mirum de his rebus ni primus instituit 
 edere uolumen. Hem Terentius Varro de nouem disciplinis unum de architec- 
 iura, Publius Septimius duo. recocto, ' rejuvenescent,' ' in his second 
 youth,' i. e. an old man who affects the manners and morals of young 
 men. The idea is a common one in Greek from the Iliad (i. 446) on- 
 wards ; Demos in the Equiles of Aristophanes appears at the end of the 
 play 1321, 1336 rejuvenescent from a magic cauldron in which Agoracritus 
 has boiled him as Medea boiled Aeson and the nurses of Bacchus ; in 
 the r^pas Aristophanes introduced a number of such young old men ; 
 Alciphron ii. 2 describes Epicurus as a ■nSkiv iieipamevoiiems iTpe<Tfimr]i, cf. 
 Merc. ii. 2. 19-28, Petronius ap. Diomed. p. 518 K. anus recocta uino Tre- 
 mentibus labellis, Anth. P. xi. 256, quoted by Vulp. where, as here, there 
 seems to be a notion of disparagement; cf. Syr. Sent. 661 Ribbeck Nil 
 turpius quam uiuere incipiens senex, where Ribbeck compares Sen. Epist. 
 23. 10; hence recocto cica. scarcely mean merely 'brisk,' 'hale.' The cmi- 
 <j>Bos yipmv of glossaries is obscure ; it perhaps means ' a double-refined old 
 man,' i. e. an old man in whom the qualities of old age appear in sublimated 
 form, like gold purified by boiling : seni recocto would then be nearly i. q. 
 ueteratori. 
 
 LV. 
 
 This poem cannot have been written earlier than 699 | 55, to which year 
 most accounts assign the dedication of Pompeius' theatre, with the ad- 
 joining piazza {Magni ambulatione 6); but it may be later, as Varro 
 and Tiro Tullius, Cicero's freedman, stated that this theatre was dedicated 
 in the third consulship of Pompeius (Gell. x. i) which would remove 
 the date to 702 | 52. Catullus is generally thought to have died two 
 years before this ; but as Jerome's Chronicle is certainly erroneous in 
 assigning his death to 697 | 57, we are left to internal arguments, and 
 where nothing is certain, possibilities seem worthy of mention. 
 
 Catullus describes here the laborious search he had made to find his 
 friend Camerius, a person only known to us from this poem, but described 
 'distinctly enough as a man about town. The interest of the poem lies 
 'chiefly in the topographical notices which it contains of the fashionable 
 
ON CATULLUS. LV. 149 
 
 localities of Rome. Plautus may have suggested the idea, Amph. iv. 
 I. I sqq. 
 Naucrakm quern conuenire uolui in naui non erai. 
 Neque domi neque in urbe inuenio quemquam qui ilium uideril : 
 Nam omnis plateas perreptaui, gymnasia et myropolia, 
 Aput emporium aique in macello, in palaestra aique in foro. 
 In medicinis, in ionslrinis, aput omnis aedis sacras. 
 Sum de/essus quaeritando, nusquam inuenio Naucratem. 
 A passage repeated with slight variations Epid. ii. 2. 13 sqq., cf. Ter. Ai 
 iv. 6. 1-5 : both doubtless in imitation of a Greek original. 
 
 This is the only poem in which the second foot of the Phalaeciac is a 
 spondee. And even here it alternates with the regular dactyl. The 
 effect is certainly unpleasing ; but it has given by contrast an increased 
 rapidity to the lines Non si Pegaseoferar uolatu — Quos iunctos, Cameri, 
 mihi dicares^ in which Catullus has sought to express the idea of 
 swiftness. 
 
 1. si forte non molestum est, a common expression, Afranius 95 
 Ribbeck Mane, Serui, quaeso nisi molestum est, Ter. Ad. v. 3. 20 Ausculta 
 paucis nisi molestum est. Cic. Cluent. Ix. 168 Tu autem, nisi molestum est, 
 paulisper exsurge. The MSS. have molestus es, and Rossb. writes molestu's 
 as beatu's XXIIL 27. ' If you are not out of humour, in a bad temper,' 
 as perhaps in a fragment of Caelius' speech De Vi (Quintil. xi. r. 51) ne 
 cui uestrum . . . mem aut uultus molestior aut uox immoderatior aliqua aul 
 denique quod minimum est iactantior gestus fuisse uideatur. Gloss. Ball, 
 Molestus iracundus amarus. 
 
 2. tenebrae, ' den,' but in a somewhat less definitely local sense than 
 Juvenal's tenebras unum conducis in annum iii. 225. Varro ap. Non. r2o 
 (Prom. Lib. xiii Riese) In tenebris ac suili uiuunt, nisi nonforum hara atque 
 homines ibi nuru: plerique sues sunt existimandi. Sest. ix. 20 hominem 
 emersum subito ex diuturnis tenebris lustrorum ac stuprorum, uino ganeis 
 lenociniis adulteriisque confectum . . . quinelucem (y. 26) quidem insolitam 
 adspicere posset. 
 
 3. campo minore. Becker (Rijmisch. Alterth. i. p. 599) mentions 
 two hypotheses as to this smaller campus : (i) that it is the aXXo -nthiov 
 of Strabo 236 Toinav hi to TrXfiora o Mdpnos c)^fi Kafiivos, irpbs rfj cpucret irpotr- 
 \a^o>v Kal Tou ck t^j npovoias Kotr/iov, koI yap to fifyiSos tov neSiov daypjia-riv 
 Sfia Kat TOf apfjLarohpofiLas Koi ttjv aXXrju l^Traaiav aKcoXvTou wape^ov tw too-ovt(o 
 7T\r)6ti Tmv a-(f>aipa xal KpUa (cut jraKaliTTpa yvpra^opevaiK. Koi to irfpiKilpeva epya 
 Kai t6 e8a<j)os Trod^ov St* erovs /cat tS)v 'K6(pa>v aT€(j)dvai ratv VTrep tov TTorapov 
 f'^XP'' "^^^ pflSpov a'Krjvoypa<l)iK^v o^iv iirihetievvpevai 8v(rairdWaKTov irapexovfTL Trjv 
 V€av. ir\7](riou d* cVri tov neNov tovtov kol aWo nebvov /cat oroai kvkKco irap- 
 TrXrjdels xdi aXarij /cat BcaTpa Tp'ia Koi ap.<^i6eaTpov km vaa\ TroXurfXftr /cat o'vvfxfis 
 oXXiJXotr, tor ndpepyov &v So^eifV d7ro(j>aivfiv ttjv aXXr/y TrdXti/. This oXXo TTfSiop 
 
 is supposed to be that part of the Campus Martins where the ground 
 forms an angle with the Tiber, where the Equiria took place (Quid. F. 
 iii. 520) and the youth of Rome bathed (Gael. xv. 36.) Becker objects to 
 this that it does not agree either with the order of the places mentioned 
 by Catullus, who, on this view, ought to have mentioned the ambulatio 
 Pompeii next, whereas both the Circus and the Capitol precede ; nor with 
 Strabo himself, who implies that this oXXo ■n^hlov was not used for purposes 
 
150 A COMMENTARY 
 
 of exercise. (2) It may be, as Scaliger held, the Campus Martialis ori 
 the Caelian, where the Equina took place if the Campus Martius was 
 flooded, Ouid. F. iii. 522, Paul Diac. p. 131 M. This would agree with its 
 juxtaposition to the Circus Maximus, with its tabernae Ubrariae. Pro- 
 pertiu» seems to allude to two Campi ii. 23. 5, 6 Et quaerit Miens 'Quae- 
 navi nunc porticus illam Integitf' et 'Campo quo mouet ilia pedes i' 
 
 4. Circo, a favourite haunt of meretrices, Ouid. A. A. i. 135. sqq. Necie 
 nobilium fugiat cerlamen equorum : Multa capax populi commoda Circus 
 habet. Nil opus est digilis per quos arcana loquaris; Nee tibi per nutus ac- 
 cipienda noia est. Proximus a domina nulla prohibente sedeto : lunge tuum 
 lateri quam potes usque latus. Am. iii. 2, Trist. ii. 283, 4. luuen. iii. 63, as 
 well as of the people generally, Sen. de Ira ii. 8. i Circum in quo maxi- 
 mam sui partem papulus ostendit. libellis is generally interpreted 
 ' book-shops,' as in Mart. v. 20. 8, Priap. ii. 2, with which Scaliger and Voss 
 compare iv Ixdviriv Iv Xa^ai/ots ; SO TO ^iffKLa an Attic name for the book- 
 mart in Pollux ix. 5, spectacula Suet. Cal. 31. Cicero Phil. ii. 9. 21 
 speaks of book-shops in the forum, and Asconius on Mil. p. 34 describes 
 the body of Clodius as burnt in the curia codicibus librariorum (Hertzberg, 
 cf. Becker i. p. 599 note). Yet this use of the word seems doubtful for 
 the age of Catullus; hence libellis possibly=' placards,' either (i) an- 
 nouncing the sale of Camerius' eflfects, as insolvent (Pro Quint, vi. 25, Sen. 
 de Ben. iv. 12), or (2) giving notice of him as a lost, article. Such a 
 libellus might be issued either by the master of the article lost (Prop. iii. 
 23. 21-24) or by the finder, who in this way intimated his discovery, and 
 called upon the owner to claim it. In this sense in omnibus libellis 
 would be a sort of trap vts6vouiv joke ; ' I have looked for you everywhere, 
 in the smaller Campus, the Circus, every place where I was likely to hear 
 of missing articles ; ' or (3) containing announcements of the horses or 
 men exhibiting in the Circus. Cf. Ouid. A. A. i. 163-168, luuen. xi. 201, 
 libelli gladiaiorum Phil. ii. 38. 17. Camerius might appear among the 
 names in the libelli, either as driving a chariot or less probably fighting 
 as a gladiator. This would not be without precedent ; in the shows 
 exhibited somewhat later by Caesar, Furius Lepidus and Q. Calpenus, 
 the first a man of praetorian rank, the second a senator, fought in the 
 arena ; and young men of high rank drove bigae and quadrigae or rode 
 as desultores in the Circus (Suet. Caes. 39, cf. Dio h. 22, liii. 1). Under 
 the empire this became an acknowledged scandal (luuen. viii. 199 sqq.), 
 encouraged-by the senate and sometimes enforced by the emperors ; it 
 was of course well paid, hence a natural resource of bankrupt profligates. 
 Tac. Hist. ii. 62 Cautum seuere (by Vitellius) ne equites Romani ludo et arena 
 polluerentur ; priores id principes pecunia ac saepius ui perpulerant ; ac 
 pleraque municipia et coloniae aemulabantur corruptissimum quemque 
 adulescentium pretio illicere. See Mayor on luuen. viii. 199. 
 
 5. templo, asPIautus Amph. iv. i. 5 apud omnis aedis jarraj mentions 
 the temples with the gymnasia meat-markets fora medicine- and hair- 
 cutting-shops as places where the missing Naucrates was likely to be found, 
 stmrmi louis, i. e. Capitolini, as Martial ix. 1. 5 calls him summi patris. 
 The great temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, with its two side celiac of Minerva 
 and Juno, built by Tarquinius Superbus (Tac. Hist. iii. 72, Liu. i. S5), 
 was burnt in 671 [83 L. Scipione, C. Norbano consulibus Tac. Hist, 
 iii. 72. Sulla undertook to restore it, and some columns taken by him 
 
ON CATULLUS. LV. 151 
 
 from the temple of Zeus Olympics at Athens were used for the new 
 building (Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 45), but the work was really carried out and 
 completed by Q. Lutatius Catulus. (Verr. iv. 31. 69, ib. 38. 82.) It 
 was dedicated by him in 685 | 69 (Liu. Perioch. 98), and his name 
 was inscribed upon the pediment, and remained there in spite of the 
 attempt made by J. Caesar, when praetor in 692 | 62, to have it erased 
 (Suet. Caes. 15, Dion C. xxxvii. 44), down to the time of Vitellius, when 
 the temple was again burnt (Tac. Hist. iii. 72,Plut. Poplic. 15). Hence 
 Cicero Verr. iv. 31. 69 speaks of the restored temple as Catulus' darts- 
 simum pulcerrimumque monumentum and declares that the eternal memory 
 of his name was consecrated with it. templo summi louis sacrato 
 virtually =' temple consecrated to supreme Jupiter,' though the genitive 
 depends rather on templo than sacrato; cf. LXL 122. Sacrato is not 
 otiose, calling attention as it does to the still new consecration of the 
 building, and thus suggesting a further reason why idlers might be 
 found there. Temples however were acknowledged resorts of merelrices. 
 Ouid. Trist. ii. 287-294 mentions them with the theatres circus and 
 porticoes in this connexion. Quis locus est templis augustiori' haec quoque 
 uitet In culpam si qua est ingeniosa suam. Cum steterit louts aede, louis 
 succurret in aede, Quam multas matres fecerit ille deus. Proxima adoranti 
 lunonia templa, subibit, Paelicibus multis hanc doluisse deam. Pallade con- 
 specta natum de crimine uirgo Sustulerit quare, quaeret, Erichthonium a 
 passage which seems to refer to the Capitoline temple with its three cellae 
 of Jupiter Juno and Minerva. Seneca ap. Augustin. de Ciuit. Dei vi. 10 
 shows how religious pretexts drew women there Sunt quae lunoni ac 
 Mineruae capillos disponant longe a templo nan tantum a simulacro stantes, 
 digitos moueant orantium modo. . . Sedent quaedam in Capitolio quae se a loue 
 amariputant nee lunonis quidem si credere poetis uelis iracundissimae respectu 
 terrentur. TertuUian Apologet. 15 Si adiciam in templis adulteria componi, 
 inter aras lenocinia tractari, in ipsis plerumque aedituorum et sacerdotum 
 tabernaculis sub isdem uittis et apicibus et purpuris ture flagrante libidinem 
 expungi where Rigault quotes Suet. Tib. 44. See DoUinger Gentile and 
 Jew ii. pp. 184, 197 Eng. Transl. 
 
 6. Magni. A name given to Pompeius by Sulla on his return from the 
 war in Africa, 674 | 80, Plut. Pomp. 13, Reg. et Imp. Apophthegm. Pom- 
 peius. Cicero uses the name Att. ii. 13. 2, written 695 | 59 Quanta in odio 
 noster amicus Magnus ! cuius cognomen una cum Crassi Diuitis cognomine 
 consenescit (Mayor on Phil. ii. 26. 64) : in another letter of the same year 
 he says ludis Apollinaribus (July 5) Diphilus tragoedus in nostrum Pompeium 
 petulanter inuectus est. Nostra miser ia tu es Magnus ; milies coactus 
 est dicere. The name must therefore have been familiarly known at this 
 time. ambulatione, the Portions Pompeii, adjoining the theatre 
 
 which Pompeius built in his second' consulship 699 | 55 (Plut. Pomp. 52, 
 Veil. P. ii. 48, Asconius in Pisonian. pp. i, 15). Cicero speaks of it 
 De Fato iv. 8 written apparently 710 | 44 Quid enim loci natura afferre 
 
 » Gellius states (N. A. x. i) that Pompeius dedicated the temple of Victory which 
 surmounted his theatre in his third consulship, and that in consequence of the doubt 
 whether consul tertio or tertium was better grammar, he inscribed upon his theatre at 
 the advice of Cicero TERT. This story is given on the authority of Varro and Tiro 
 TuUius, Cicero's freedman ; Asconius in Pison. p. i, seems to show that the earlier 
 date was questioned in his time. See the note in Becker, Rom. Alterth. 1. p. 676. 
 
152 A COMMENTARY 
 
 potest ut in porticu Pompeii polius quam in Campo ambulemus ? Propertius 
 describes it in his time as planted with planes and hung with tapestry 
 ii. 32. II Scilicet umbrosis sordet Pompeia columnis Porticus aulaeis nobi- 
 lis Attalicis Et creber plaianis pariter surgentihus ordo. It was much 
 frequented by courtesans, Prop. iv. 8. 75, Ouid. A. A. i. 67. 
 
 7. I'emellas seems to be an-. Xey. ' light women.' prendi, ' accosted,' 
 as in And. ii. i. 16, Phorm. iv. 3. 15. So Ouid. A. A. ii. 527 Excuiies 
 omnes ubicumque puellas. 
 
 8. 'But found they faced me sedately notwithstanding.' tamen, 
 ' after all,' in spite of my earnestness and decided suspicion. serenas, 
 with no trace of a cloud on their faces. 
 
 9. Auellent expresses as an indignant protest in the third person 
 what would more naturally take the form of a direct question in the 
 second : so XL VII. 6, 7. ipse, ' with my own lips,' a sign of deter- 
 mination. So perhaps CVI. i uidet ipse, 'sees with his own eyes.' 
 flagitabam. XLII. 6. 
 
 10. Camerium. This resolution in the first foot of a Phalaeciac 
 occurs here only. pessimae puellae, ' shameful wenches,' reproach- 
 fully, as in XXXVI. 9. 
 
 11. nudum reducta, proleptic, ' with her bosom drawn back bare,' 
 i. e. with the robe drawn back from her bosom so as to leave it bare. 
 The action, done so openly, implies a meretrix of the less refined class, 
 such as Propertius describes iv. 8. 29-34 as using all their blandishments 
 to distract him from thinking of Cynthia, Caniabant surdo, nudabant pectora 
 caeco ib. 47. 
 
 12. ' Look, this is where he is hiding, in the rosebuds of the bosom.' 
 Not, I think, ' of my bosom ; ' she only points to her own breast as a 
 lively and natural way of showing Catullus what his friend is about. 
 papilla means (i) the nipple of the breast, (2) a rosebud, Peruigilium 
 Veneris 14, 21 ; hence a special propriety in roseis. Plato describes Love 
 
 as sleeping in roses, fr. 32 Bergk airbs S' iv KaXvKecra-i, pohav TreneSrjiiims 
 
 wvo) e58ei/ fieidioajv, cf Anth. P. v. 210. 4. The passage has been imitated 
 by Ben Jonson Masques At Court 1608 Look all these ladies' eyes, And see 
 if there he not concealed lies. Or in their bosoms twixi their swelling breasts. 
 The wag affects to make himself such nests. 
 
 13. ' But indeed it is a task for Hercules to bear with you any longer.' 
 ferre, as in Heaut. i. 2. 28 nam quern ferret, si parentem nonferret suum? 
 Anth. Lat. 701 Riese Accusare et amare tempore uno Ipsi uix fuit Herculi 
 
 ferendum. The only other meaning it could have ' to carry you off ' as a 
 prize, as Hercules aurea mala tulit (Mart. ix. 10 1. 4, quoted by Voss) is 
 strained and does not suit iam so well. Herculei labos, both archaic 
 forms. Nonius 487 Vapor et uapos et timer et timos et labor et labos ita 
 sunt ut color et colos ; he quotes Lucretius for odos (VI. 952), Naeuius 
 for timos pauos, Accius for uapos, Varro for labos (Manius xxii Riese). 
 Varro has besides colos (Prometh. iii Riese). Lachmann on Lucr. vi. 1 260 
 adds honos lepos arbos, and observes that except arbos they all have the 
 first syllable short. Quintilian i. 4. 13 where clamos is also mentioned, 
 regards the form as an archaism like Valesii Fusii, but clamos is not known 
 to exist in any author certainly, and Mr. Nettleship has shown that it has 
 a very doubtful right to be ascribed to Ennius (Camb. Journal of Philology, 
 1870 p. 98). With Herculei labos cf Varro's Herculis athla Bimarcus ix, 
 
ON CATULLUS. LV. 153 
 
 Eum. xii Riese. Catullus perhaps thought of the first lines of Plautus' 
 Persa (i. i. 1-5) Qui avians egens ingressus est princeps amoris in uias 
 Superauit aerumnis suis aerumnas omnis Herculi. Nam cum hone cum 
 excetra cum ceruo cum apro Aeiolico, Cum auibus Stymphalicis, cum 
 Antaeo dductari mauelim Quam cum amore: iiafio miser quaerundo argenio 
 muluo. 
 
 14. ' With such determined pride you withhold your company.' Tan- 
 to, as tantum XXII. 11, and ita in the lines of the Persa just quoted. 
 In as in Bacch. iv. 9. 91 in siuUiiia si deliqui. In such cases in is not 
 pleonastic, but expresses a course of conduct. 
 
 15-24. To search for you would task the strongest and swiftest per- 
 sonages of mythology. 15-18 are imitated by Propertius ii. 30. 3-6 
 Non si Pegaseo uecteris in aere dor so Nee tibi si Persei moueril ala pedes. 
 Vel si te sectae rapiant talaribus aurae Nil tibi Mercurii proderit alta uia. 
 Victorius compares Alexis (Mein. Com. Fragm. iii. 476) 'E/ioi napacnTf'iv 
 
 KptiTTOV r/v T<S JJrjyda-a) 'H Toit BopedSms ^ fl n Barrov en Tpej(^ei''ii Arfpia Aaxrj- 
 Tos ETfOjSoDTaSn. UeTerm yap, ovK olov jSaSif" ras 68ouy. 
 
 15. custos Cretum. Talos, a giant or gigantic moveable statue of 
 brass, fabricated by Hephaistos for Minos to guard Crete. Talos made 
 a circuit of Crete three times a year (Plato Minos 15) or three times 
 a day (ApoUod. i. 9. 26) warning off intruders, and killing them if they 
 resisted, according to Simonides and Sophocles in his Daedalus by leaping 
 into fire, and then crushing them in a red-hot embrace. Schol. Plato p. 926. 
 
 31, ApoUod. i. 9> 26 'EvTeidfv a.va)(6evTes KoKvovTm KprjTrj TrpoeriVxE"' vnb TdXo). 
 TOVTOv ot p(V Tov ;^aXKoi) yevovs jlvai XiyovciV ol 8e vno 'H(f)aiaTOv Mivm't SoBrjvai, 
 OS 17V \a\KOvs avTjp' oi 8f Tavpov avrbv \tyov(riv. f i^f 8e (fiKcfia plav diro av-)^(vos 
 KaTareivovcrav a)(pt ir(j)vpS)v' Kara 8e to Stppa t^s cf>\€^6s ^Xos SiripfKTTO p^aXKoCj. 
 ouTos 6 TdXas Tp\s eKaaTrjs fjpepas Tr)v vr\crov mpiTpoxd^tov eVijpci' 610 Koi Tore tt]v 
 
 'Apyia npocnrXfoviTav 6eatpS>v Tois \t6ois efiaXKev. The scene is described by 
 Apollonius Argon, iv. 1636 sqq. fingar, should be wrought into the 
 legendary statue which guarded Crete. So Tib. iv. i. 206 mutata figura 
 Sen me fingel ecum rigidos percurrere campos. 
 
 16. Pegaseo. Ov. Pont. iv. 7. 52 Ante citos quantum Pegasus ibat 
 equos. 
 
 17. Ijadas. Paus. iii. 21. I XlpocKBovn Sc avrdStv crraSlovs ("koitl tov 
 Eipara to peCua eyyvTario Trjs 68ov ylyverai, Kai Adda pv^pa icmv oiKvrryn imfp- 
 ^oKopevov iroSSiv Toiis fV avrov' Koi 8^ koI 'OXvpiriaaiv icTTf<^avovTO S6\l)(a Kparav, 
 SoKfiv 8e poi Kapvcov avrUa ppra Tr)v viictjv fKopl^ero, Koi (Tvp^d(Tr]s ivravBa oi 
 reXevrrjs 6 rdcfyos ((ttIu xmep rr/v Xf(U(^poi>. Tov be 6pi>wpov touts) viicrfv koI avrov 
 '0\vpiriaai nkfju ov 8oXi;j(OU crraSiov Se dveXdpevov "A^aiov i^ Alylov iprjaiv elvai Kai 
 
 to is Tovs 'OXvpirioviKas "HXelav ypdppara. In ii. 19. 7 Pausanias mentions a 
 
 statue of him, toO vaov be e<mv ivTos AdSas, rroSoii' wKirrfTi vnepfiaXXdpevos rovs 
 
 e(l>' avTov, and a Ladas' stadium on the road to the Arcadian Orchomenus 
 viii. 12. 3. The other Ladas mentioned by Pausanias iii. 21. i, x. 23. 14 
 as a native of Aegium in Achaia and victor in the stadium Ol. 125. 2 was 
 less famous ; but the two names were probably confounded. According 
 to Hesychius XaSar was the name of a young stag. 
 
 18. Bhesi. The Thracian king whose snow-white horses were cap- 
 tured by Ulysses and Diomed on the night of his arrival at Troy as the 
 ally of Priam. niueae, II. x. 437 ToC 8^ koXXiVtous linrovs iSov ^Se peyi- 
 
 OTOvs. AevKdrepoi x^^""^! 6eUw 8' avepoiaiv 6/xoioi. Eur. Rhes. 3°^ "P"^ ^^ 
 
164 A COMMENTARY 
 
 'Pijo-OK SiXTTf Salfiova 'EottSt iv iimeioicri QpnKiois oxots. Xpvirij 8« TrXaoriyJ 
 avxeva (vyrjijiipov Ila>\av EK^nf xiivos i^avyfarfpav. The Order of these four 
 
 vv. 15-18, altered by Muretus and some modern editors, seems to me 
 unexceptionable : /erar must of course be supplied in 17, 18. The re- 
 currence of SI in the two first lines (15, 16) makes its omission less harsh 
 in the two following (17, 18); on the other hand there is something 
 strange and painful to the ear if the first st is separated from the second, 
 to say nothing of the changes thus required in 18, iigis (Muret.) 5iga 
 (Rossb.), the latter certainly wrong, unless the objection brought by 
 Caesar against quadriga (Gell. xix. 8) may be held not to apply to bigd, 
 which is found in Statius S. iii. 4. 46. 
 
 19. pliunipedas, ' feather-footed,' B. Jonson, such as o m-cpiirovs 
 'Epp,ris Philodemus in Anthol. P. xvi. 234. 4. For the jbrm cf. /remi- 
 pedas in Varro's Sexagessis xxi Riese. uolatilesqiie, e. g. Daedalus, 
 Zetes and Calais, who Imputes Calaisque pwr Zeiesque fuerunt. Mox 
 pariier ritu pennae coepere uolucrum -Cingere ulrumque laius, pariter 
 flauescere malae Ov. Met. vi. li(s. Theognis joins them with the Harpies 
 
 715? 6 'QKvrepov 8' firjo'Ba TroSas Taxtav 'ApTrviav Kai Traibav Bopea, Tav ax^iap 
 
 flirt TToSfS. 
 
 20. 21. ' And with them ask for the fleetness of the winds, that you 
 might yoke them together and make them over to my service.' 
 
 21. iunctos seems to combine the meanings of ' yoked ' and ' all 
 together,' the winds are to be harnessed in a team. dicores, as Phorm. 
 i. I. 13 hanc operam iibi dico, Caesar B. G. vi. 13 sese in seruHutem dicant 
 nohilibus. 
 
 23. langoribus, ' one faintness after another.' Heaut. iv. 6. 2, 3 
 Vel me haec deambulatio Quam non laboriosa ad langorem dedit The 
 spondaic rhythm, following seven' dactyUc lines, suits the idea of 
 labour and exhaustion. peresus essem, 'I should be devoured,' 
 
 not 'I should have been devoured.' See on LXIV. 317. Here the 
 combination of peresus with defessus takes from the harshness of the 
 construction. 
 
 25-32. ' Tell me where I shall have a chance of finding you. If you 
 are in love, speak it out ; the whole enjoyment of love lies in frank 
 acknowledgment. Or if you are determined to keep your lips shut, I will 
 bear it, provided only you listen to my own confessions.' 
 
 25. Die nobis ubi sis futurus. Att. xiv. 7. i Bruium nostrum audio 
 uisum sub Lanuuio. Vbi tandem est futurus i' ede, 'give out,' luuen. iii. 
 74, 296. Here, as there, ede seems to begin a clause; to make ubi sis 
 
 futurus depend upon it, takes from the abruptness and so_from the force 
 of the hne. 
 
 26. Audacter stands doubtfully between ede and committe, and might be 
 constructed with either. commttte is also ambiguous (i) ' risk it,' 
 absolutely, somewhat like Ouid. Met. ix. 630, (2) ' entrust it ' with lucei. 
 Heaut. V. 2. 13 JSi commisi et credidi, Att. xv. 11. i Auctor'non sum ut te 
 urbi committas, Pis. xxvii. 65 Da te populo, committe ludis. lucei, ' to-day- 
 light,' i.e. to publicity Lucr. iv. 11 88. 
 
 27. If Nunc is right, the meaning would seem to be ' are you still in the 
 keeping of light women ? ' as I know you are always likely to be (7). Hunc 
 te, the reading of the excellent British Museum MS. a, would however agree 
 better with what follows. ' Is this the kind of man you prove, you the 
 
ON CATULLUS. LVL 155 
 
 devoted slave of fair women?' i. e. can a man so devoted to love be so 
 resolutely reserved ? Num. te, the reading of most editions, though not un- 
 like LX. I Num. te leaena moniibus Lihystinis, seems to put the question 
 too doubtfully. laeteolae, yoXaKTo'xpMTfi, a rare word, used also by 
 Ausonius Epist. vii. 46 of the flesh of a muscle. Martial iii. 58. 22 uses- 
 ladeus in describing the smooth healthy look of country slaves. It seems 
 to combine the whiteness (candor Tib. iii. 4. 29, Prop. ii. 3. 9, 10, Stat. 
 S. ii. I. 41) which the Romans considered essential to beauty, with a 
 further idea of glossiness, perhaps also of fresh fair colour. That the 
 notion of whiteness is the dominant one is however clear from Prop. ii. 
 3. II, \2 Vt Maeotica nix minio si certet Hibero, Vtque rosae puro lade 
 natant folia, Lucretius' candens lacteus umor, Varro's candidum lade, candidei 
 ladis. 
 
 28. tenes after ienent'm 27 is a carelessness worthy of Lucretius. 
 
 29. A sentiment strongly in opposition to the common one. Qui sapit 
 in tadto gaudeat ilk sinu (Tib. iv. 13. 8) : but cf VI and Prop. i. 9. 33. 
 (fiavfpSis ipav is a Sentiment approved by Plato Symp. 182. Pructus 
 amoris, as in Prop. iii. 20. 30, and Lucr. iv. 1073 Nee Veneris frudu caret 
 is qui uitat amorem. 
 
 30. gaudet, as One cA \!ae. pabula amoris Lucr. iv. 1063. 
 
 31. palatum is more generally used in expressions of gluttony, 
 or of things that affect the taste ; with its use here cf. Hor. S. ii. 3. 
 274, Pers. i. 35, Ouid. Am. ii. 6. 47. obseres palatum is a variation 
 upon xXfi'tii/ o-To'/io (Phoen. 865), but more defined ; not shutting the 
 mouth only, but placing the tongue against the palate and so closing 
 it up to prevent any articulate utterance. This again is rather like 
 Lucretius. 
 
 32. The MSS. are strongly against the common reading uestri sim, 
 most of them having nostri, all sis. The only sense which uestri sim 
 admits of ' you may keep as quiet as you will, provided only you take me 
 into the confidence of yourself and your mistress ' (uestri), i. e. in effect 
 ' tell me and then, if you please, tell no one else,' is not only an arrogant 
 dictation which Camerius might well resent, but weak, if not ridiculous, 
 for it is not Camerius whose mouth we should expect to be closed after 
 such a confession, but Catullus himself; just as Propertius, admitted to 
 the fullest confidence of Gallus and his mistress, promises his friend that 
 he may count thenceforward on his secrecy, (i. 10. 1-14.) Whereas if 
 we keep the MSS. reading all is plain. ' I have been looking for you all 
 over Rome, have asked every woman I met where you were, have 
 exhausted myself in my attempts. Do say where I shall find you : if you 
 are in the custody of a light woman, to confess it will add to your pleasures ; 
 but you need not confess it ; all I care for is to be able to find you and 
 tell you my own secrets.' 
 
 LVI. 
 
 It is doubtful who the Cato addressed here is. The general character of 
 M, Porcius Cato makes it unlikely that he admitted Catullus to his society ; 
 while there is no positive proof that the two men knew each other. The 
 only other Cato of any celebrity at the time was the grammarian and poet. 
 
156 A COMMENTARY 
 
 Valerius Cato ; and since Statius and Scaliger (Praef. ad Diras) he has 
 been generally accepted as the poet's friend. Suetonius (Gramm. 1 1 ) tells 
 us he came from Gaul, and having lost his property in the confiscations of 
 Sulla docuii mullos et nohiles; uisusque est peridomns praeceptor maxime 
 ad poetic am tmdentibus ; ut quidem apparere uel his uersiculis potest Cato 
 Grammaticus, Latina Siren, Qui solus legit ac facit poetas. Be- 
 sides grammatical treatises he -wrote poems, the principal of which were 
 Lydia and Diana, the former praised by Ticida, the latter by Cinna. He 
 lived to extreme old age and died in great poverty, as is shown by two 
 epigrams of Furius Bibaculus, with whom he is classed by Messala 
 Corvinus as a literator (Suet. Gramm. 4). Ovid mentions him with the 
 other licentious writers of the time, Trist. ii. 433 Quid referam Ticidae, 
 quid Memmi carmen, apud quos Rebus abest omnis nominibusque pudor ? 
 Cinna quoque his comes est Cinnaque procacior Anser Et leue Cornifici parque 
 Catonis opus. All these men, like the others there enumerated by 
 Ovid, Catullus Calvus Hortensius Servius,' formed, as Schwabe remarks 
 (Quaestt. p. 309), a kind of literary guild for the improvement of Latin 
 poetry. They were the new school, oi veanepoi Att. vii. ;:. r, the cantor es 
 Euphorionis Tusc. Disp. iii. 19. 45, the docti, the followers and rivals of 
 Callimachus and the Alexandrian poets. In addressing Cato, Catullus 
 would thus be addressing a countryman, a literary associate, and a man 
 not likely to be offended by mere indelicacy. 
 
 In spite of this, I am inclined to think that. Catullus may have meant 
 this poem for M. Porcius Cato, the statesman and philosopher. The 
 portrait of him given by Plutarch shows him to have had a humorous and 
 
 even coarse side, Plut. 5 to V^os airoi Karaiuyviftcvov TjSoviiv Tiva Kol iicihlajxa 
 T(S a-ejiva napeixfv ovk cmavBpaiTov; cf. the story of his forcing his friend 
 Munatius to sleep near him, in order more literally to fulfil the latter's 
 promise of keeping a watch upon him day and night (ib. 9) ; his remark 
 to the populace on Cicero's banter ^ avSpcs ms yeXolov virarov expfiev (21); 
 
 his reception of Ptolemy irvyxave p.£v &v totg irspi KoCKias KaOaptyiv, TjKetv de 
 Tov TlToXeiiatov, el jSouXoiro, Ke\ev(ras irpbs avTov, as 8e rjXOev^ oi/re dnavTrja'as 
 
 oiSre vjre^avaa-Tas (35) ; his distribution of parsley chaplets vegetables and 
 jars of wine to the successful performers in the theatre on the election of 
 Favonius as aedile, with his remark irai^ovra Set Tjj naiSia xpw^<"- (46) ; 
 lastly the stories, no doubt exaggerated, but probably based on something 
 real, of his fondness for wine, ib. 6, and 44 aipeOils a-TpaTjjybs oiStv i'So^e- 
 
 npoartdevat TJj dpxu roaovrov els o'ep.vorrjTa Koi fieyedos apx^^ KoKas, ofTov 
 d^aipeiv Kai KaTcu(rxvveiv dw7r68j}Tos Koi dxtrav jroWaKts cTrt to (^TJfia irpoepxop'evos 
 
 "Evioi 8e 0a(Ti per apiarov olvov TTfTraKSra ;(p);/iariffu'. Plin. Epist. iii. 
 
 1 2 Erunt officia antelucana in quae incidere inpune ne Catoni quidem licuit, 
 quem tamen C. Caesar ita reprehendit ut laudet. Describit enim eos quibus 
 obuius fuerat, cum caput ebrii rettxissent, erubuisse : deinde adicit putares 
 non ab illis Catonem, sed illos a Caione deprehensos. Some of these 
 stories no doubt supplied Caesar with materials for his Anticato, a work 
 which even Cicero warmly approved (Att. xiii. 50. i). They are sufiicient 
 to make the connexion of his name with a coarse poem at least not 
 impossible. In the poem itself there is nothing which obliges us 
 to suppose that Catullus was more than acquainted with Cato. The 
 
 ^ Servius is the MS. reading. Can it be Servius Claudius, mentioned by Cicero 
 Fam. ix. 16. 4, as lilleratissimus, an expert critic of Plautus, and by Suet. Gramm. 2? 
 
ON CATULLUS. LVL 157 
 
 familiar tone might very well be assumed. It would probably more 
 than half offend the receiver ; but Catullus, whose sympathies with a man 
 like Cato would not extend much beyond their common hatred of Caesar, 
 may have written it, if not with that intention, at least with no wish to avoid 
 it. It will not, I think, be denied that the point of the epigram, such as 
 it is, is increased if we read it in this light. The juxtaposition of Cato 
 Catullum has little force in reference to Valerius Cato ; the moment we 
 think of the grim Stoic, whose name was already proverbial, (Pint. 
 
 Cat. 12. ou iravres vfuv a^i^ovrai. Kdrmi/fy, 19 ttoXXouj rjhr) nepi rav amaraiv 
 (cai napaSo^av mcncp iv ■napoip.ia Ttvi \ey(iv Sri tovto fiev ouSe Kdriovos Xeyovros 
 ■niOaviv ecTTi .... Plin. Epist. iii. 2 1 Tunc me uel rigidi legant Catones), 
 the antithesis to the loose and reckless poet makes itself felt humorously. 
 In fact the three last lines look like a parody : not so much perhaps of 
 Cato's general style (which would seem to have been verbose) as of 
 particular expressions. Deprendi corresponds to the i^^Kiyx^"' which 
 recurs so often in Plutarch's biography (Cat. 16, 45, 46, 49, 59, 64) 
 and was perhaps often in the mouth of so determined a reformer of 
 
 abuses. With Dignam auribus cf. ap^ofim "Kiynv orav p,fi iiiXK<o Xiyeiv 
 a|ia tnoTrris (Plut. 4) : si placet Dionoe recalls Cato's eXeye pj\ KoKas ex^'" 
 d/couoTjs Ttjs 'A<])poSiTris: Ridiculam and cachinno are not only specially 
 applicable to a Stoic (Pers. i. 121) but quite agree with Cato's behaviour 
 on ludicrous occasions (Plut. Cato 13 toIs piv ovv <j)lXois toS Kdravos 
 
 ■ycXtuff eccTTCCrc to(TOVTOSj fiore dpaXa^fiu eavTovs ovK edvvavTO fiict tov iT\r)6ovs 
 &pa /3a8i'foi/Ter, 6 Sc Kdrav T<ire p,iv lirxvpas SiaTpaTrfls, 'Q TJjs KaKoSuifiovos, i(piq, 
 iriKfOiS, SKKo bk ovSev e05cy^aTO, ^6v<a 6e v<rrepov cladei ye\av Koi airbs eirl 
 
 TovTto Kw. Siriyovpevos Koi pvrjfiovcvav). Lastly there is a peculiar propriety in 
 these verses as addressed to Cato ; for, as Westphal observes, the first 
 lines are an imitation of Archilochus, and Plutarch expressly tells us that 
 Cato, disappointed of marrying Lepida, and prevented by his friends 
 from bringing a law-suit against Scipio her husband, opyfj koi veorrin rpi-^as 
 iavrbv els iafijiovs iroWa tov SKrjTrlava KaBv^pitre ra niKpa 7r/)oiT;(p>;o-d/ievos toO 
 ' Ap}^CK6xov, tA fie dicdXaoToc dcj>e\s kcu naidapiaScs (7). 
 
 "The incident itself, if my view of it is right, is a piece of childish pre- 
 cocity, such as might have pleased Sterne, and which has its counterpart 
 in the mock marriage of two children, one a girl of seven, in Petron. 
 S. 25. I cannot agree with Schwabe in explaining the poem simply 
 of stuprum cum masculo Quaestt. p. 144, a view which lays too much 
 stress on the last line, or with Westphal who interprets pupulum puellae to 
 mean one of Lesbia's paramours, ihe pusilli moechi of XXXVII. 16. If 
 puellae is genitive, pupulum may be Clodius, ih^ pusio of Cael. xv. 36. 
 
 1. Probably imitated, as Westphal thinks, from Archilochus (fr. 79 
 Bergk) 'Epaa-p.ovl8r) XapiKae, XPVH^ "' yekoiop 'Epea, woXi <j>IXTaff iralpav, 
 
 2. 'As worthy of your attentive ears and your loud laugh.' Caecina 
 in a letter to Cicero Fam. vi. 7. 3 tot malis turn uinctum turn fractuM 
 siudium scribendi quid dignum auribus aut probabile potest afferre ? oi 2. 
 composition worth hearing. Brut. ii. 6 uoce erudita et Romanis Graecis- 
 que auribus digna. cachinno, as became a Stoic. Pers. i. 1 2 sapienlum 
 digna cachinno, Prudent, c. Symm. ii. 403. tuo with the second noun 
 refers to auribus as well. Hor. S. ii. 2, 42. 
 
158 A COMMENTARY 
 
 3. quioquid amas, ' as you've any love for Catullus.' Variation of the 
 ordinary si me amas Att. i. 20. 7, ii. i. 12. 
 
 4. nimis, ' ever so amusing.' A word of ordinary life and the Come- 
 dians. 
 
 5. Deprendi, possibly at some nocturnal festival. Aelian. V. H. vii. 19 
 
 "H/coutra St KwoKec^dXous (cat TrapBfVols emiiavrjvai koL jicVtoi koL ^ida-aaSm, in-fp 
 T-a tieipcLKia to. T<iv MevdvBpov ra sv rats •navvv)(_i(Tiv aKoXaoro. De- 
 
 prehendere of persons taken in adultery or the like, Fam. viii. 7. 2 Seruius 
 Ocella nemini persuassisel se moechum esse, nisi triduo bis deprehensus esset 
 (a letter of Caelius'). Hor. S. i. 2. 134, Val. Max. vi. i. 13 Sempronius 
 Musca C. Gallium deprehensum in aduUerio flagellis cecidit. pupu- 
 lum, which Varro uses of the eye-ball Papiapapae i. 3. Riese, Arnobius 
 •of a doll, seems here to be i. q. pupum, a word of endearment used by 
 the common ■^to^^=-pusionem or puerulum. Suet. Calig. 13 laetissimo 
 ■obuiorum agmine incessit super fausta omina sidus et pullum et pupum et 
 alumnum appellaniium, cf. Varro Tithonus iii Riese, ' a tiny doll of a boy.' 
 puellae seems to be dative of motion towards, as in Aen. iv. 451, vi. 178, 
 126, xi. 193 (Drager p. 394). The only other hypothesis possible is that 
 it is genitive after pupulum; then puellae will probably be Lesbia. 
 
 6. Trusantem, though apparently an-. Xty., is probably genuine, cf. mola 
 trusatilis. Phaedrus ii. 7. 8 uses trusitare in the sense of 'jostling,' 
 oHTTtfEo-flat, which Aristophanes constructs with a dative Acharn. 844, 
 Lys. 330; but nothing proves such a construction to be possible with 
 the Latin word. It is doubtless used sens, obscen, si placet Dionae, 
 a variation upon si dis placet, expresses humorously the monstrosity of the 
 act : see Ad. iii. 4. 30, Eun. v. 3. 10, Pis. xvi. 38, Liu. vi. \o perpeluos, si 
 ■dis placet, iribunos: ' Dione's pardon on the deed,' or ' out upon the deed, 
 Dione.' I do not agree with Prof. Key's view that siheK=sic, ' so heaven 
 ordains:' the meaning literally seems to be ' if the gods approve such an 
 ■outrage,' implying that they scarcely can. Dionae, the mother of 
 Venus, II. V. 370. Possibly Catullus alludes to this passage jocosely. 
 Diomed had just wounded Venus in the hand, and Venus appeals to her 
 mother against him. Catullus takes upon himself the part of Dione, the 
 assertion of innocence against violence. 
 
 7. Protelo, properly applied to a team of oxen drawing in even succes- 
 sive pulls. (Munro on Lucr. ii. 531 .) There is of course a double entendre 
 (pro tela). rigida like tenia LXXX. 6. So Mart. ix. 47. 6. cecidi 
 Lucilius ap. Non. 21 uetulam atque uirosam Vxorem caedam potius quam 
 .castrem egomet me. So irardairuv Lucian"EpcoTes 53. The word is probably 
 chosen as saiim^ pupulum in the sense of floggingy^r«/a scuticaque cecidit 
 .Suet. Gramm. g, 
 
 LVII. 
 
 This poem is one of the series aimed at Mamurra; a series which 
 includes besides XLI XLIII, the five epigrams on Mentula XCIV CV 
 CXIV CXV CXVI, for we can scarcely doubt that the Mentula of those 
 is identical with Mamurra, the diffututa mentula of XXIX. 13. If lung- 
 claussen is right in suggesting that the pseudonym was adopted by the 
 poet after his reconciliation with Caesar (Suet. Caes. 73) to avoid giving 
 offence, those five poems were probably written later than either XXIX 
 
ON CATULLUS. LVIL 159 
 
 or this. Which of these two was written first, it is not easy to decide. 
 We can scarcely argue from the words of Suetonius (Caes. 7 3) uersiculis 
 de Mamurra perpelua stigmata imposita non dissimulauefat that LVII gave 
 Caesar more offence than XXIX ; for the iambics are far more incisive 
 than the hendecasyllables, and would be remembered when these were 
 forgotten. 
 
 The idea of the poem is reproduced by Martial viii. 35 : 
 
 Cum sitis similes paresque uita 
 
 Vxor pessima, pessimus maritus, 
 
 Miror non bene conuenire nobis. 
 
 1. The same line ends the poem, as in XVI XXXVI, Mart. vii. 26. 
 conuenit, 'An admirable agreement!' Mart. viii. 35. 3. improbis, 
 'shameless,' LXVIII. 126, luuen. iv. 106 improbior satiram scribente 
 cinaedo, ix. 63 Improbus es, cum poscis, ait. Hence very often it passes 
 into ' lewd ' as in Prop. iv. 4. 44 Improba uirgineo lecta ministrafoco. 
 
 2. The que, joined as it is with pathico, and thus standing between 
 Mammrae and Caesarique, distributes the vice equally to both. 
 
 3. Maculae, ' marks of infamy.' Declam. in Salust. vi. 16 Nonne tibi 
 uiderer aeternas inurere maculas, quas reliqua uita tua eluere non posset i' 
 Catullus perhaps means a secondary reference to the marks sometimes 
 found on the bodies of twins. Suet. Aug. 80 Corpore tradilur maculosa, 
 dispersis per pectus atque aluum genetiuis notis. utrisque expresses 
 their community with each other, as separate from other men. Utrique 
 would separate the two personalities from each other. 
 
 4. Vrbana, ' of city dye,' i. e, Roman. 
 
 6. Impressae, stamped (i) as natural marks, Varro Papiapapae iv 
 Riese laculla in mento impressa amoris digiiulo, (2) as stigmata Petron. S. 
 105, brands which cannot be washed out. resident, as we might say 
 ' are settled in the bone.' True. Prol. 7 in nobis resident mores pristini. 
 eluentxir. Cf. Plaut.Poen. i. i. 'jo Inest amoris macula huic homini in pectore 
 Sine damno magno quae elui fteutiquam potest. Caelius writing to Cicero 
 (Fam. viii. 14. 4) Persuasum est ei censuram lomenium (wash for the skin) 
 aut niirum esse. Err are mihi uidetur : nam sordes eluere unit, uenas sibi 
 omnes et uiscera aperit. 
 
 6, 7, I have punctuated, as the correspondence of pause indicates, 
 in the middle : similarly 8, 9. These four lines explain what the maculae 
 are. 
 
 6. Morbosi, ' disordered,' in the special application to unnatural lust 
 nearly i. q. pathici. Priap. xlvi. i. 2 non candidior puella Mauro, Sed 
 morbosior omnibus cinaedis. luuen. ii. 17, ix. 49. See Bentley on Hor. C. 
 i. 37. 9, 10. gemelli, 'true twins.' Verr. iii. 66. 155 Volo mi f rater 
 
 fraterculo tuo credos : consorti quidem in lucris atque furtis gemino et 
 simillimo nequitia improbitate audacia. 
 
 7. Haupt is no doubt right in pointing out the connexion of erudi- 
 tuli with lectulo. The leclulus was as much a sofa for reading or 
 lounging upon (Ouid. Trist. i. 11. 38), as a bed for sleeping in (Att. xiv. 
 13. 5). In LI Catullus composes his poem to Licinius on the very lectulus 
 where he has been tossing about all night in the attempt to sleep: 
 and so Pliny Ep. v, 5. 5 Visus est sibi per nocturnam quietem iacere in 
 lectulo suo compositus in habitu sludentis, habere ante se scrinium; but 
 
leo A COMMENTARY 
 
 ordinarily no doubt they were kept separate, and perhaps Catullus means 
 no more than that Mamurra and Caesar were inseparables in their every 
 day life, and shared each other's studies. This does not make it necessary 
 to remove the stop after leciulo, for kdulo connotes more than the idea of 
 erudituli, and forms so to speak only a step to it : is therefore separable 
 and admits a pause in the metre. erudituli, ' with a taste for learning,' 
 apparently another cm. \ey. Mamurra must have tried poetry if he is the 
 Mentula of CV. Caesar, besides his Commentaries, reliquit el de Analo- 
 gia libros duos et Anticatones totidem ac praeterea poema quod inscribitur 
 Iter. Quorum lihrorum primos in transitu Alpium cum ex citeriore Gallia 
 conuentibus peraCtis ad exercitum rediret; sequentes sub tempus Mundensis 
 pfoelii fecit; nouissimum dum ab Vrbe in Hispaniam ulterior em quarto et 
 
 uj-cesimo die peruenit. Epistulae quoque eius ad Senatum extant 
 
 Extant et ad Ciceronem item ad familiares domesticis de rebus, in quibus 
 si qua occultius perferenda er ant per notas scripsit, id est, sic struclo litter arum 
 
 ordine, ut nullum turbum effici posset Fertmtur et a puero et ab 
 
 adulescentulo quaedam scripta, ut Laudes Herculis, tragoedia Oedipus, item 
 Dicta Collectanea, quos omjies libellos uetuit Augustus publicari. Catullus 
 probably alludes mainly to his fondness for grammatical questions ; A. 
 Gellius who calls him grauis auctor linguae Latinae (iv. i6. 8) and sermonis 
 praeier alios suae aetatis castissimi (XIX. 8. 3) gives some of his views; 
 he made the dative sing, of the 4th decl. end in u, not ui ; the genitive 
 singular of the 5th in e, not in ei (iv. 16. 8, ix. 14. 25); denied that 
 harena could be used in the plural, quadrigae in the singular (xix. 8) ; 
 points which he probably discussed at length in the two books De 
 Analogia addressed to Cicero (Gell. xix. 8. 3). In a letter to Atticus 
 (xiii. 52) Cicero, who had just entertained him at dinner, says 'S.Tsovtaijav 
 oiSiv in sermone ; cjuXoXoya multa. 
 
 8. quam . . magis. So Lucilius i. 32 Inritata canes quam homo quam 
 (sc. literam r) planius dicit, where L. Miiller compares this line and Tib. 
 iv. 7. 8 Ne legal id nemo quam meus ante uelim. uorax, in close con- 
 nexion with adulter; each had a boundless appetite for adulteries; 
 Cicero says of Piso uerbum ipsum (tioluptatem) deuorarat (Sest. x. 23). 
 Mamurra's adulteries are described in XXIX : of Caesar Suetonius says 
 plurimas et illustresfeminas corrupisse; in quibus Postumiam SeruiiSulpicii, 
 Lolliam Auli Gabinii, Tertullam M.. Crassi, etiam Cn. Pompeii Muciam 
 
 Sed ante alias dilexit M. Bruti matrem Seruiliam. Ne prouincialibus 
 
 quidem matrimoniis abstinuisse uelhoc distichoapparet, iactato aeque a militibus 
 per Gallicum triumphum: Vrbani seruate uxores, moechum caluum 
 adducimus. Aurumin Gallia effutuisti, at hie sumpsisti mutuum. 
 Dilexit et reginas inter quas Eunoen Mauram, Bogudis uxorem . . . sed 
 maxime Cleopatram (Caes. 50, 51, 52). 
 
 9. ' Rival partners in the company of the fair.' sociei seems to 
 be ambiguous taken singly ; sociei puellularum would naturally mean ' asso- 
 ciates of light women : ' preceded by Kiuales it bears the further notion 
 of ' partners in,' the puellulae forming a societas, in which Mamurra and 
 Caesar had not only equal shares, but each the shares of the other ; w,hat , 
 was proprium to one was shared by him with the other, and the totum thus 
 belonged to 'both and neither. For socius followed by a similar genitive 
 cf. Rose. Amer. xl. 117 At uero T. Roscius non unum rei pecuniariae 
 socium fefellit .... uerum nouem homines honestissimos, eiusdem muneris 
 
ON CATULLUS. LVIIL 161 
 
 UgaHonis officii mandatorumque socios induxit. Propertius ii. 34. 15-18 
 Te socium uitae, ie corporis esse licebit, Ti dominum admitto rehtis, amice, 
 meis. Lecto te solum, lecio te deprecor uno. Riualem possum non ego f err e 
 louem, connects the ideas of partnership and rivalry in much the same 
 way. This seems to me better than Scaliger's ' friendly rivals in the love 
 of women,' i. e. rivals but not enemies ; or Haupt's ' rivals and lovers of 
 women at once,' ' qui et socii sint amatoresque puellarum et rivales ea- 
 rundem tanquam pathici.' 
 
 LVIII. 
 
 Catullus must have written this at a very late stage of his passion for 
 Lesbia. lungclaussen (pp. 16, 19) refers it to the year 698 | 56, in which 
 Catullus is supposed to have returned from Bithynia. During his absence 
 Clodia had become notorious, as we see from Cicero's speech Pro Caelio, 
 probably delivered at the beginning of 56. Catullus had returned with 
 changed feelings, and cooled by separation. This affected his poetry, 
 which became less impassioned, and increasingly more satirical. Schwabe 
 is more definite ; he thinks that it was written about the same time as the 
 Pro Cai?/zo, which he fixes at the March or April of 56 (Quaestt. p. 127). 
 Both agree in considering the tone of the poem to be calm, and both 
 think it was written before XI Fun et Aureli. 
 
 I hold each of these views to be untenable. It is true that a certain 
 air of calmness is thrown over the poem ; but it is rather in the form 
 than in the feeling. Much of it lies in mere shortness, and in the epi- 
 grammatic antithesis of the two clauses of which it is made up. Even 
 this is only true when we look at the whole ; for the repetition of Lesbia 
 in the first three lines is, in itself, passionate, it is only in connexion with 
 the abrupt sequel that it becomes not so much calm as intense. Without 
 expressing despair, the poem has reached the point at which hope has 
 become impossible. There is no conflict of feelings as in VIII LXXVI 
 LXXXV, Even XI seems written in a much more hopeful mood, and shows 
 a wish to return. XI cannot have been written before 699 | 55 ; and 
 LVIII is, I think, later, indeed the last poem referring to Lesbia. If 
 Catullus died in 54, the date may be referred to the end of 55, or the 
 beginning of 54. 
 
 The Caelius may be the person mentioned in C, as Catullus there 
 says he had found him a faithful friend Cum uesana meas torreret flamma 
 medullas, which can only refer to Lesbia. It has more generally been 
 referred to Caelius Rufus, himself one of Clodia's lovers, and perhaps 
 the author of the name by which she seems to have been familiarly 
 known, quadrantaria (Quintil. viii. 6. 53; cf. Pro Gael. xxvi. 62). It is 
 perhaps a confirmation of this view that the fullest commentary on 5 
 is to be found in Cicero's oration Pro Cael. xvi. 38 Nihil iam in islam 
 mulierem dico ; sed si esset aliqua dissimilis istius, quae se omnibus 
 peruulgaret, quae haberet palam decretum semper aliquem cuius in hortos 
 domum Baias iure suo libidines omnium commearent, quae etiam aleret adu- 
 lescentes et parsimoniam palrum suis sumptibus sustentaret, si uidua libere, 
 proterua petulanter, diues effuse, libidinosa meretricio more uiuerei, and xx. 
 49 Si quae non nupta mulier domum suam patefecerit omnium cupiditati, 
 palamque sese in meretricio uita collocartt, uirorum alienissimorum conuiuiis 
 
 u 
 
162 A COMMENTARY 
 
 uii instituerit ; si hoc in urbe, si in hortis, si in Baiarum ilia celelritate 
 facial : si deniqtie ita sese gerat non incessu solum sed ornatu alque comilatu, 
 non flagrantia oculorum, non fiberiate sermonis, sed etiam complexu oscu- 
 latione aquis nauigatione conuiuiis ut non solum merelrix sed etiam proterua 
 meretrix procaxque uideaiur : cum hac si qui adulescens forte fuerit, utrum 
 hie tibi, L. Herenni, adulter an amator, expiignare pudicitiam an explere 
 libidinem uoluisse uideaiur ? 
 
 1. Lesbia, Leslbia ilia, Ilia Lesbia. So Caelius in a letter to Cicero 
 (Fam. viii. 8, i) Scito C. Sempronium Rufum, Rufum mel ac delicias tuas, 
 calumniam maximo plausu iulisse. Att. ii. 24. 2 Vettius ille, ilk noster 
 index ; i. 16. 5 Nosti Caluum ex Nanneianis ilium, ilium laudator em 
 meum. 
 
 2. Catullus, to bring out the connexion of the two names as they 
 recur in the poems ever since together. unam, as in X. 17, XXXVII. 
 17, and more closely XLV. 21, 23. 
 
 3. A different form of Amata nobis quantum amabitur nulla, VIII. 5, 
 XXXVII. 12. 
 
 4. quadruuiis, where four roads met, where of course the largest 
 concourse of people might be looked for, and where loungers stood 
 about, ^OTa.ct'% frequentia compita S. ii. 3. 25. Cf. TpioSiTir, 'a street- 
 walker.' angiportis, ' alleys,' or small streets, sometimes terminating 
 in a cul-de-sac (Adel. iv. 2. 39), sometimes not (Eun. v. 2. 6, 7). Small 
 or back streets are apt to be disreputable. Hor. C. i. 25. 9, 10 Inuicem 
 moechos anus arrogantes Flebis in solo lewis angiportu, a passage which is 
 like this in implying that only the lower class of lovers was likely to be 
 found there. Haupt quotes from an MS. of the 8th cent. (Bibl. Nationale 
 Paris. 7651) Angiportus uiae angustae inter minor es uicos quae exitum ad 
 muros aut nullum aui angustum habent (Hermes for 1868, p. 303). Such 
 women were called o-jroSi/o-iXaCpat or Xfoxjiopoi. 
 
 5. Glubit, sens, obscen. like XeVci. Athenaeus says t^ XeTrea-Sai 
 
 XpavTai eTU acreKyovs Koi ^ofyriKrjs bi dtppobitrltov 7j8ov^f (xiv. 663). The 
 
 Balliol Glossary has Glumit excoriat. magnauimos or as Catullus 
 
 perhaps wrote magnanimis is obviously ironical. Remi uepotes, see 
 
 on XLIX. I. Voss quotes Sen. Consol. ad Marciam 9 Egregium versum 
 ef dignum audiui, qui non e populo Remi (not sprung from the streets), 
 Cuiuis potest accidere, quod cuiquam potest. 
 
 LIX. 
 
 It is an ingenious suggestion of Vulpius that these lines are a pas- 
 quinade, and were posted up in the place where they were composed to 
 catch the eye of passers by. Vidistis in 3 seems to make an appeal 
 to the general public of the town; and the coarseness of the attack 
 is quite in accordance with the general character of pasquinades (see 
 Story's Roba di Roma) as well as with actual inscriptions of antiquity, 
 such as are preserved on the walls of Pompeii. See on XXXVII. 
 10. If this is so, the place where it was written was not, I think, 
 Bononia; for Bononiensis in i could have little meaning except as a 
 description of a person who was not a Bolognese (cf. Schwabe Quaestt. 
 p. 88); we may suppose Rufa to have come from Bononia to her 
 
ON CATULLUS. LIX. 163 
 
 husband Menenius' home, wherever that may have been, perhaps 
 Verona. If we adopt the other hypothesis, that the poem is a mere 
 squib, circulated at first among the poet's friends and afterwards incor- 
 porated in the rest of his poems, it seems more probable that the per- 
 sons attacked lived at Bononia. Rufa and her husband Menenius may 
 have fallen under Catullus' displeasure during some visit which he made 
 there; he would compose on the spot and would add Bononiemis as 
 being himself a stranger to the place. 
 
 We have no means of deciding who Rufa, Menenius, or the person 
 called Rufulus are. Schwabe (Quaestt. p. 88) identifies Rufulus with 
 M. Caelius Rufus the friend of Catullus and a lover of Clodia's. The 
 poem, he, like Vulp., considers to be aimed more at Rufus than Rufa; 
 Rufa may be a fictitious name suggested by Rufus, the more so as the 
 addition of Bononiensis would leave no doubt as to the person meant. 
 
 In my opinion there is no real evidence to show that M. Caelius Rufus 
 has anything to do with the poem. A Rufus is coarsely lampooned in 
 LXIX Noli admirari quare tibi femina nulla, and there also Schwabe 
 identifies him with Caelius Rufus. It is true Catullus seems to have 
 taken a pleasure in attacks upon his friends; the Furius of XXIII is 
 the Furius of XI ; and the Aurelius of XXI and XVI is the Aurelius of 
 XV. But we have no right to infer from this that whenever a Rufus is 
 alluded to, it is the same person ; still less when the name appears in a 
 disguised form, or when the circumstances of the poem supply a better 
 reason for its adoption. Such is surely the case here ; Rufa explains 
 Rufulus, not nice uersa. Rufulus is not only the diminutive of Rufus, but 
 the well-known name of one class of military tribunes. Pseud. Asconius 
 ad Verr. Act. i. p. 142 (Orelh) Tribunorum miliiarium duo genera, primum 
 eorum. qui Rufuli dicuntur ; hi in exercitu creari soleni ; alii sunt comi- 
 tiati qui Romae comitiis designantur. Catullus seems to have availed 
 himself of some circumstance which presented the two meanings in one 
 person. This does not oblige us to suppose the person's name was 
 actually Rufus ; it may have been ; but the diminutive might apply 
 equally well to the admirer, or perhaps the kinsman, of Rufa, as in 
 LXXIX the brother of Lesbia is called Lesbius. We might paraphrase 
 ' Rufa has found a Rufus to be kind to ' or ' Rufa is too familiar with 
 her namesake the tribune.' 
 
 1. Bufa Kufulum, Mke. pupulum puellae LVII. 5. 
 
 2. sepulcretis, • grave-yards.' Fore, quotes no other instance. Like 
 busticetum, it seems to have been a word of contempt, and probably de- 
 notes the burying-places of the poorer class," such as that described by 
 Horace S. i. 8. 8-10 miserae plebi commune sepulcrum. 
 
 3. ipso, to denote her eagerness. rapere de rogo, such thieves 
 were called bustirapi 'Pse.VLd. i. 3. 127. eenam, not the silicernium or 
 funeral-feast, which it was the old fashion to eat at the tomb (Varro 
 Meleagri xi Riese (Non. 485) Funus exequiali stanies ad sepulcrum antiquo 
 more silicernium confecimus, id est irepiSemvov, quo pransi discedenies dicimus 
 alius alii uale), but, as the next hvo lines show, part of the food placed 
 upon the pyre for the manes of the deceased and burnt with the corpse. 
 Aen. vi. 225, xi. 198, 9. 
 
 4. deuolutum, from the round flat shape of the loaves they would 
 
164 A COMMENTARY 
 
 easily roll down. Stat, quotes Sidonius ApoUinaris who uses it of the 
 corpse itself rolling down. prosequens, playing on the meaning of 
 prosequi exsequias, defunctum. 
 
 5. The ustor or undertaker's man, who lays out the corpse upon the 
 pyre and burns it, observes Rufa in pursuit of the fallen loaf and cuffs her 
 as punishment for her intended theft. Ustores are generally spoken of 
 contemptuously (Lucan viii. 738 Robora non desint misero, nee sordidus 
 ustor, Pro Mil. xxxiii. 90, Mart. iii. 93. 26), hence semiraso as in 
 Apuleius ix. 1 2 frontem literati et capillum semirasi et pedes anulati, a des- 
 cription of slaves in a pistrinum, who, perhaps as runaways (fugitiui Cas. 
 ii. 6. 45), had been branded (literati Cas. ii. 6. 49), had half their hair 
 shaved and wore fetters on their feet. On this view semiraso nearly = 
 furaci or fugitiuo : nothing could be a better mark upon a man 
 than such a disparity as the two halves of the face would then present; we 
 may suppose one side to be close-cropt ; Cicero, describing a man who 
 shaved off all his hair, says (Rose. Com. vii. 20) Nonne ipsum caput et 
 supercilia ilia penitus abrasa olere malitiam et clamitare calliditalem uiden- 
 tur ? . . . Qui idcircQ capite et superciliis semper est rasis, ne ullum pilum 
 uiri boni habere dicatur, and compares him to the knavish leno Ballio in 
 the Pseudulus of Plautus. So seminudus, ' half-naked,' semiatratus, 'in ^isSi- 
 TtiOMimng,' semirosus semirutus and Catullus' own semimortuus L. 15. The 
 more usual force however of semi in such compounds is ' only half,' so 
 semilautus LIV. 2, semidoctus semifadus semifultus semiputatus ; on this 
 view semirasus would mean ' only half-shaved, imperfectly shaved,' a mark 
 of carelessness and unneatness which agrees not only with the dirtiness 
 ascribed to ustores by Lucan, but with the general tendency of the Romans 
 to associate cleanliness with careful shaving, squalor and rusticity with 
 the reverse, cf. Gell. iii. 4. i, Mart. vi. 64. 4 patris ad speculum tonsi-= 
 ' a father of ordinary neatness,' Varro Gerontodidasc. i Riese (Non. 214). 
 
 LX. 
 
 It is obvious that these five lines are in no connexion with LIX, although 
 as great a critic as Scaliger considered them to be so, and for that reason 
 invented a verb fallare=.f alter e, supposing that the deceit of which Rufa 
 was guilty in LIX, is part of the contemptuous treatment alluded to in LX. 
 4. Yet if the lines are a fragment, the fragment is complete in itself, and 
 there is no reason for supposing that it was ever more. The beginning 
 is closely imitated from some verses in the Medea 1342, 3, repeated again 
 with a slight alteration 1 358, 9 : and as from some other imitations in 
 LXIV, e. g. 176 sqq.=:Med. 502 sqq., it is clear that Catullus was familiar 
 with this play, the fragment may be a mere reminiscence of Euripides, or 
 perhaps an imaginary study from him. At any rate there is nothing to 
 connect it with Lesbia or any one else. 
 
 1—3. Med. 1342, 3 Ae'aivav, oi yvvaiKa, Trjs Tvp<Tr)vihos SkuXXtjj e)(ovtrav 
 
 dypimrepav (^uo-iy. The same comparison occurs LXIV. 154-7. So Aesch. 
 
 Eum. 193 \ioVTos &VTpov aifi.aTopp6<l)ov OUfiv Toiavras cIkos. Bacch. 988 Tis apa 
 viv €T€K€V ; Oil yap e^ aiparos yvvatKav e(^u, Aealvas Be ye twos t] Topydvav Ai^vffaav 
 ■yeVoff. 
 
 1. leaena. According to Philargyrius on Virg. E. ii. 63, leaena was a 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXI. 165 
 
 word not used by the ancients {ueieres) but which had become classical. 
 Plautus said leo/emina, Varro lea. This is perhaps its first occurrence in 
 a writer of authority ; Cicero's De Gloria, from which it is also quoted, 
 seems not to have been written till 44 b.c. Catullus' employment of the 
 word is perhaps tentative ; it is almost a translation. Libystinis, a 
 
 rare form, found also in Macrob. Sat. i. 17. 24 Apollo Libystinus. 
 
 2. Homer Od. xii. 85 sqq. describes Scylla as a monster with a voice 
 hke a new-born whelp, with twelve feet, and six long necks, each with a 
 head containing three rows of teeth ; from the waist downwards plunged 
 in the depths of a cave, above which the heads rise. This is quite differ- 
 ent from the Scylla of Lucretius v. 892 rabidis canibus stucinctam semi- 
 marino Corpore, of Catullus here, of Tibullus iii. 4. 89 Scyllaue uirgineam 
 canibus succinda figuram, of Propertius iv. 4. 40 Candidaque in saeuos 
 inguina uersa canes, of Virgil Eel. vi. 77 Candida succinctam latrantibus 
 inguina monslris, of Ovid. Met. xiii. 732, which represent Scylla as a 
 maiden down to the waist, and a combination of wolf-dog and dolphin 
 below. In Aen. iii. 424 sqq. Virgil, while seeming to follow Homer's 
 description, really combines it with the other legend ; see Conington there. 
 Heyne, in an Excursus on Eel. vi, shows that in works of art the later is 
 the prevailing representation, varied in different ways; sometimes the 
 figure ends in two dolphins' tails : sometimes these are combined with 
 the forequarters of dogs ; sometimes these latter grow out of the belly 
 and terminate in one dolphin's tail. Catullus is quite definite in his con- 
 ception ; Scylla's body terminates in barking dogs : she barks with the 
 extremities of the groin. The line looks like an etymology, for ukvKKos 
 was a form of a-mXa^. (Heyne. ) 
 
 3. tetra, ' inhuman,' like iivaapa kA iraiSoXeTap Med. 1393, r^f p.V(rapat 
 
 Kni vmSu(j)6vov T^crfie \eali/j]s ib. 1406. Catullus may have been thinking of 
 both passages. 
 
 5. Contemptam, like despicaiam habere Eun. ii. 3. 93, curaios habere 
 Cato R. R. 5, Hec. iv. 2. 6 habueris praepositam. The combined verb 
 and participle are not simply=the verb alone, they give the idea of 
 permanence or settled determination. (Holtze Syntaxis ii. p. 235.) 
 
 LXI LXII. 
 
 With LXI begins a new division of Catullus' poerns. The eight 
 poems LXI-LXVIII are obviously distinct from the lyrics on the one 
 hand (I-LX) and the Epigrams (LXIX-CXVI) on the other. They may 
 have been placed together merely as longer than the rest ; but they 
 possess also a unity of subject. Except LXV, which is a mere prelude to 
 the Coma Berenices, all of them deal with marriage directly or indirectly : 
 LXI LXII are Epithalamia ; LXIV describes the mythical wedding of 
 the mortal Peleus with the goddess Thetis, and still keeping in view the 
 same ground idea, interweaves the story of Ariadne, her desertion by 
 Theseus and final union with Bacchus; LXVI, a translation from 
 Callimachus, neither very interesting in itself nor very felicitous as a 
 version, was perhaps selected as exhibiting the peculiar modifications of 
 European custom as regards marriage introduced by Egypt and sanctioned 
 by the court of the Ptolemies ; LXVII exhibits the cognate topics, incest 
 and adultery, from a comic but still Roman point of view ; LXVIII 
 
166 A COMMENTARY 
 
 describes the intensity of the sexual passion in women, partly in the 
 conjugal fondness of Laodamia, partly in the adulterous love of Lesbia ; 
 lastly LXIII, perhaps the greatest of Catullus' poems, in the frenzied 
 emasculation and consequent despair of Attis, sets before us in colours 
 of unsurpassed vividness the overwhelming force of the anti-nuptial 
 sentiment, as realized and consecrated by antiquity. The eight poems 
 are thus connected by the common subject marriage into a distinct 
 whole; but this whole admits of a new subdivision (i) the epic and 
 lyrico-epic poems, in which the male sentiment either predominates 
 or is exhibited side by side with the female (LXI-LXIV), (2) the elegiac, 
 which are more concerned with the feminine emotion (LXVl-LXVIII). 
 
 Catullus in writing Epithalamia either set or followed the fashion of 
 his time : Priscian quotes an Epithalamium by Calvus, and another by 
 Ticida ; the former seems to have been in hexameters and was perhaps 
 like LXII, the latter in Glyconics, closely resembling LXI. Sappho had 
 written a book of Epithalamia in various metres, and the extant fragments 
 show that these were known to Catullus. 
 
 The two poems differ widely in scope and treatment. The first (LXI) 
 describes the ceremonies of a Roman wedding, and is in the main Italian 
 in its imagery and allusions ; the frame-work alone is Greek. The second 
 (LXII) is almost a Greek study ; the scene indeed seems to be laid in 
 Greece, for it is not likely that Catullus would have introduced Olympus 
 and Oeta with the same laxity afterwards made fashionable by Virgil and 
 the poets of the Augustan era. Yet here also the allusions of the con- 
 cluding strophe are Roman ; though it is diflBcult to believe that the 
 poem was like LXI written for the same occasion, the marriage of Junia 
 and Mallius. 
 
 Few poems of antiquity are so familiar to modern readers as the first 
 of these Epithalamia ; and nothing which Catullus wrote is at once so 
 genial, so artistic, and so completely Roman. The refrain Hymen 
 Hymenaee and the exordium (1-30) are, it is true, Greek, and if we had 
 Sappho's Epithalamia entire we should probably find that Catullus drew 
 from these many of the ideas which give such a charm to his work : the 
 metre too is Greek. But speaking generally, the scene, the technicalities, 
 and the allusions are Roman : the language too is carefully modelled on 
 the familiar phrases of Roman life. Thus the old custom of carrying off the 
 bride, which the Romans associated with the rape of the Sabine women 
 by the warriors of Romulus (3) — the selection of a lucky day for the 
 marriage ceremony (11) — the allusions to the manus by which the wife 
 passed into her husband's power (50) — to the law by which none but a free- 
 bornRomancitizencouldactas a legionary (7 2) — the Fescennines with their 
 boyish coarseness (119 sqq.) — the old marriage cry Talasio — the lifting 
 of the bride over the threshold of her husband's house (160 sqq.)— the 
 presence of the praetextatus when she is led to the marriage-chamber — 
 the uniuirae who lay her on the marriage couch — are all specially Roman 
 customs. Roman also are the combinations domutn dominam (31), bona 
 cum bona aliie (19), bonafama (62), dedis a gremio suae Mairis (58), dare 
 nuces (124), and the recurring formula noua nupla. Farther a peculiarly 
 Italian tone is given to the whole poem by the repeated allusions to the 
 presence of boys at the ceremony ; an interesting characteristic which 
 seems to represent a really ancient tradition. 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXI. 167 
 
 I have used for this poem the special commentaries of Robortello 
 (1548), and Pleitner (1858), as well as the exhaustive work ofRossbach, 
 Die Romische Ehe (1853). Passerat's copious commentary (1608) con- 
 tains most of the passages from Latin authors bearing on the subject 
 of Roman marriage. 
 
 1-45. Invocation to Hymenaeus, calling on him to attend at the 
 marriage of Mallius and lunia (1-35); followed by a summons to the 
 virgins appointed to sing the hymeneal (36-45). 
 
 1. Helieoniei. Hymenaeus is a dweller on Helicon, as the son of one 
 
 of the Muses. Hesiod Theog. I Movtrdav %\iKaivia.Bav, Aid' 'EXikwvos 
 
 fXovaiv Spof fieya xf fo^fov re, Varro R. R. iii. 16. 7 His diis Helicona 
 alque Olympon atiribueruni homines. 
 
 2. Cultor, not common in the sense of 'dweller,' but Catullus uses 
 cullrix similarly LXIV. 300. Vraniae genus, ' seed of Urania.' Ac- 
 cording to the Scholiast on Eur. Rhes. 895 Calliope bore to Apollo four 
 sons I^inus Hymenaeus lalemos Orpheus, and this tradition is contained 
 in a mutilated fragment of Pindar there quoted, and repeated by the 
 Scholiast on Pindar P. iv. 313 ; according to Alciphron i. 13. 3 Hyme-i 
 naeus was son of Apollo and Terpsichore, and so Proclus ap. Photium 
 
 524 'Yfievaiov iv ydixois aSf<Tdm (f>a(ri Kara Tt66ov Ka\ ^fjTrjinv 'Yfnevaiov ToO 
 Tcp\l>i.}^dpas ov cf)a<Ti yrffiavra aX^avq ■yei/ctrflai. Catullus makes him a 
 
 descendant, perhaps a son, of Urania. Either Calliope r\ Sfj npocj^epe- 
 fTTCLTri eoTiv &7ra<Tf(ov (Hes. Theog. 79) or Terpsichore the Muse of naidia 
 (Schol. ApoU. Rhod. iii. i) might more naturally have been chosen as 
 the mother of the musical god of marriage ; Urania is the gravest of the 
 Muses, and from her connexion with astronomy (Schol. Apoll. Rhod. iii. 
 i) and natural phenomena was introduced, much about the same time 
 as Catullus was writing, by Cicero in the second book of his poem JJe 
 Suo Consulaiu (De Div. i. 11. 17). But the functions of the Muses were 
 not always accurately defined, and as Linus is called the son of Urania 
 (Paus. ix. 29. 3, Hes. fr. 214 Markscheffel, Hygin. Fab. 161) or Calliope 
 (Apollod. i. 3. 2) indifferently, it is a natural supposition that Hymenaeus 
 was similarly ascribed to each of the three Calliope Terpsichore or Urania. 
 It is not impossible that Urania is selected as a name of good omen with 
 which to begin a hymeneal ; pure love was under the protection of Cypris 
 Urania as impure of Pandemos, Plat. Symp. 180, Xen. Symp. viii. 9, and 
 so Theocritus says of a married pair that from year to year they prospered 
 increasingly beginning from Urania Anth. P. vi. 340. 5. 
 
 3. rapis alludes to the custom of capturing the bride, other traces of 
 which were the parting the bride's hair with a spear, Ov. Fast. ii. 560, 
 Plut. Quaestt. Rom. 87, and the avoidance olferiae as wedding-days; 
 because y^r?i> vim cuiquam fieri piaculare est; idea tunc uitantur nup- 
 iiae, in quibus uis fieri uirgini uidetur (Macrob. S. i. 15. 21). Festus 
 Rapi simulabatur uirgo ex gremio matris, aut si ea non esset, ex proxima 
 necessitudine, cum ad uirum traditur, quod uidelicet ea res feliciter Romulo 
 cessit. M'Lennan traces this form of marriage by capture, not only 
 among the Dorians (Herod, vi. 65, Plut. Lye. 15), Italians, and ancient 
 inhabitants of India, but more especially among the Khonds of Orissa, 
 the Kalmucks, the Junguzes and Kemchadales of Siberia, the Nogay 
 Tartars, the Circassians, the Toorkomans, the Mongols, the Welsh, the 
 
168 A COMMENTARY 
 
 Irish up to the last century, as well as in various tribes of Africa and 
 America. He connects it with the earliest state of society, which pro- 
 hibited endogamy or marriage within the tribe, and forced a man who 
 was in want of a wife to have recourse to a foreign tribe. The relation 
 of separate tribes was originally one of hostility ; and so long as it was, 
 wives could only be got by theft or force ; hence the association of the 
 ideas of seizure and marriage. 
 
 4. Sappho introduced 'Y^i^raov or 'Yfiivmov as an e^v/jo/iov or refrain 
 interposed between each successive line, such poems being called fieaiiima 
 (Hephaest. 129). Aristophanes in the song at the end of the Pax gives 
 the form 'Yft^v 'Yuevai Sj, sometimes singly, sometimes repeated twice : 
 in the Aves it is more like Catullus, 'Yfi^w & "ijihaC & (1736, 1742, 1754)1 
 where the Scholiast says ySiro tovto kv yd^oty. Euripides in the chorus 
 sung by Cassandra in frantic imagination of marriage introduces two 
 
 forms, 'Vfiiji/ S 'Yfievai ava^ 3 1 1, 314; 'YnijV S 'Y^ityai' 'YjOfV 33 1 ; in the 
 
 Phaethon the simple 'Y^i^j' 'Y/iijv occurs fr. 781. 15 Nauck. Theocritus 
 xviii. 58 has 'Yp;!/ & 'Yfievaie, and this was evidently the common form 
 of the cry, and is certainly used by Catullus in LXII. In LXI. 50, 60 
 the MSS. are confused; but I see no reason for supposing that Catullus 
 wrote there or anywhere O Hymen Hymmaee. In Plaut. Cas. iv. 3 the 
 reading is doubtful. 
 
 6. Cinge. Catullus here transfers to Hymen the chaplet which the 
 bride was bound to wear. Paulus p. 63 M. Corollam noua nupta deflori- 
 ius uerbenis herbisque a se lectis sub amiculo ferebat (Rossbach). tempora 
 specially assigiied to amaracinum by Antiphanes ap. Athen. xv. 689. 
 
 7. Suaue olentis. Lucretius ranks the smell of amaracus oil with 
 that of myrrh and spikenard ii. 847. In iv. 1179 ^^^ despairing lover 
 anoints the door-posts of his mistress' house with amaracinum: it was 
 probably pleasing to women, as Chaeremon describes them lying upon 
 it fr. 14. 16 Nauck. amaraci, the Sicilian name for the Syrian and 
 Egyptian sampsuchum Plin. xxi. 61, with whom the Scholiast on Nicander 
 Ther. 576 seems to agree. And so Dioscorides iii. 41 Sprengel Sa/iif^vx"" 
 
 Kparwrov to Kv^tKijvov Kql KvTrpiov' devrepevei de tovtov Alyinrriov' KaXeircu fie iino 
 TLv^iKTjvSiv K(u Ta>v iv "^iKiKia dfidpoKov' noa de eVrt ttoKvkXcovos epTrovfra ctti rrjs 
 yrjs <^vWa datrea Koi Trepixjieprj ej(0V(raj ofxota' rrjs Xctttoi^uXXou KoXapivSrjSj trcjyoBpa 
 evaSrjs Kol BeppauriKri, TtKeKop,(vri Koi els (TTCtjidvovs ; IsidoruS Origg. xvii. 9. 14 
 Sampsiichus est quem Latini amaracum uocant. Cuius nominis usum 
 Vergilius etiam ad Venerem referens ait Vbi mollis amaracus ilium Floribus 
 aspirans amphctiiur umbra (Aen. i. 693) ; and Diodes the physician, as 
 quoted by Athenaeus xv. 681, cf. Plin. xxi. 61, Gloss. Ball", samsucus 
 laiine amaracus. Similarly Theophrastus classes amaracus with habro- 
 tonum thyme parsley origanum (Hist. PI. i. 12) ; with the two former of 
 these, with sisymbrium and helenium (Hist. PI. vi. 7) ; with plants used 
 for aromatic purposes, casia cinnamon balsam myrrh anise (Hist. PI. ix. 
 7) ; lastly, with fruticose plants used for chaplets (Hist. PI. vi. i). ' For 
 the latter purpose it was well fitted by its fragrance (to anepiia eSoa-iiov, 
 oa-pji 8e paKaKayripa ib. vi. 7) ; and this would agree with Nicander's 
 classification of a-dp^jrvxov amongst arecjiavaipaTiKa (Athen. xv. 683). Sib- 
 thorp Sprengel and Billerbeck (Flora Classica p. 156) identify vap.-^x"^ 
 with marjoram, maiorana origanum; and Daubeny (Roman Husbandry 
 p. 272) accepts this view, which certainly agrees with the fact that Statius 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXL 169 
 
 sprinkles his bridegroom with savory (S. i. 2. 21). On the other hand 
 Meleager (Anth. P. iv. i. 11, 41), Columella (x. 171, 296), and perhaps 
 Nicander (Thar. 575, 617) make sampsuchum and amaracus distinct 
 plants. Columella indeed seems to imply that amaracus had a conspicuous 
 flower; for he combines it with narcissus and pomegranate blossom 
 (balaustium), and this after a simile in which he compares the bright 
 children of the gardens with the moon Sirius Mars Hesperus and the 
 rain-bow (x. 288-297). Both Catullus and Virgil also speak of \}s\^ flowers 
 of amaracus (Aen. i. 694), and Virgil, like Columella, implies that it was 
 a plant of some height (umbra). If, then, amaracus was marjoram, it must 
 have been an exotic, indeed an oriental, variety hardly comparable with 
 the plant as known in the colder parts of Europe : see Wheler's descrip- 
 tion of an origanum he found at Smyrna, Journey p. 250, ed. 1682. 
 
 8. Flammeum, the marriage veil, of a reddish-yellow colour like 
 flame. Plin. xxi. 46 Lutei uideo honorem aniiquissimum, in nuptialibus 
 flammeis totumfeminis concessum. It was of large dimensions sufficient to 
 cover the whole person from head to foot (Rich, Companion p. 290, 
 Rossbach Rom. Ehe p. 280), and was worn over the head, veiling the 
 side-face (hence uelaruni flammea uuUus Luc. ii. 361, Mart. xii. 42. 3), 
 but leaving part of the features open, as shown in the figure given by 
 Rich. Theflammeum was also worn by the Flaminica (Paulus p. 89 M.) 
 and, if it is Identical with the flammeus of Nonius 541, by matronae; 
 Rossbach connects it in each case with the sacrifice which was offered, 
 by the Flaminica at the altar of Jupiter Dialis, by the matron at the house- 
 hold hearth, by the bride at the hearth of her new husband (p. 285). 
 
 0. gerens, 'wearing.' Coronamex auro et gemmis/ulgentemgerit^axxo 
 Eumenides xlii Riese ap. Non. 540. 
 
 10. Iiuteum. Yellow was a feminine colour (Plin. xxi. 46), and seems 
 to have been peculiarly associated with marriage. In the Aldobrandini 
 marriage-picture the head-dress of the bride-groom, the shoes of the bride, 
 the mattress and counterpane of the bed, the footstool, the towel are all 
 yellow (Bbttiger Aldob. Hochz. p. 195). socoum, the loose untied 
 
 shoe, which at Rome was properly confined to women or comic actors : 
 Catullus probably assigns it to Hymenaeus in his feminine character, and 
 as representing the bride ; but he might well be thinking of many Greek 
 passages, e. g. Iph. A. 1041 where the Muses wear golden sandals at the 
 wedding of Peleus, Orest. 1468 of Helen's golden sandals. 
 
 U. hilari die ; some days were airi and were therefore to be 
 avoided, lyfacrob. i. 16. 21 Dies postriduanos ad omnia maiores noslri 
 cauendos pularunt, etiam afros uelut infausia appellalione damnarunt ; for 
 which reason all Kalends Nones and Ides were bad days for marrying 
 upon, as the day after was a black day, and unfit for the new wife to 
 enter upon the dominium or perform the sacred rites which belonged to 
 her in her new position (S. i. 15. 22). 
 
 13. tinnula. Pomponius, in a fragm. preserved by Macrobius S. vi. 
 4. 13 Vocem deducas oportet ut uideantur mulieris Verba.— lube modo ad- 
 feratur munus, ego uocem dabo Tenuem et tinnulam made a tinnula uox= 
 ' the shrill voice of a woman.' But as Hymenaeus is also called upon to 
 beat the ground with his feet and shake the pine torch, I think Catullus 
 includes in Unnula the shrill, at times almost metallic, voice of boys, 
 who certainly sang the Fescennines, and who are actually called upon 
 
170 A COMMENTARY 
 
 n 7 to sing in modum the nuptial cry lo Hymen Hymenaee to. So in the 
 marriage-procession in Hes. Scut. Here. 278, 9 toI \iiv vnh Xiyvpav mpiyyav 
 lea-av avSrju 'E| ajraXav a-rojidrav. This view seems more likely than that 
 Catullus supposes Hymenaeus playing on a pipe, as Claudian describes 
 him Epithal. 98 non uilem mihi fistula commodat usum Responsura choris, 
 which would be iinnula as it is in Calpurnius Eel. iv. 74. 
 
 14. Pelle humum. Hes. Theog. 70 of the Muses i^pX S' "axe yala 
 
 \i^\aiva 'XfivevaaLSj eparos be TroSwv ano doviros optopet. Iph. A. 1041 XP^^^°' 
 adv8akov 'l)^vos 'Ev yd Kpovovaai. 
 
 15. Pineam. From Pliny H. N. xvi. 75 Spina nuptiarum facibus 
 auspicatissima, quoniam inde fecerint pastores qui rapuerunt Sabinas, ut 
 auclor est Masuritis, and Festus p. 245 M. Patrimi et matrimi pueri prae- 
 textati ires nubeniem deducunt, unus qui facem praefert ex spina alba, 
 quia noctu nubebant, duo qui tenent nubentem, cf. Paulus p. 244 M. and 
 Varro ap. Non. 112; it would seem that the torch carried by a boy 
 before the bride was made of spina or spinus alba, perhaps white thorn. 
 Varro ap. Charisium 141 Keil, also states that spinus alba was used for 
 making iorch&s purgationis causa, and Ovid Fast. vi. 129, 165 introduces 
 it as efficacious in averting evil powers. Hence Parthenius Alex. Guarinus 
 and Robortello read spineam here. But as there are many passages where 
 marriage-torches are spoken of as made of pine, e. g. Aen. vii. 396, Ouid. 
 Fast. ii. 558, Sen. Med. iii, cf. Anth. P. vii. 407. 5; as Catullus gives 
 to Hymenaeus the general characteristics of the marriage procession, 
 whereas Festus speaks of the spina as used for one particular torch of the 
 five that were carried in front of the bride hyi. puer patrimus et matrimus; 
 lastly as, according to Paulus D. p. 87 M. the marriage torch was in 
 honour of Ceres, the dea taedifera (Heroid. ii. 42), I retain, with Scaliger 
 and most editors, the MS. reading /z«ea»z. 
 
 16. The simple straight-forwardness of this line, and the juxtaposition 
 of the names of the bride and bridegroom, mark the transition to the 
 actual business of this poem. 
 
 17. ' Sicut Venus cum bono augurio uenit ad indicium Paridis, quia 
 uictoriam reportauit, ita etiam luha proficiscitur ad uirum suum.' Alex. 
 Guarinus, rightly, I think, as this interpretation includes the comparison 
 of lunia with Venus as simply beautiful. Statins also introduces the 
 judgment of Paris in his Epithalamium, but only to bring in Helen as a 
 reward less lovely than the bride, S. i. 2. 43. 
 
 18. Venit. II. xxiv. 29 *bs ViUfa-a-e 6eas Sre 01 p.i<Tcrav\ov ikovto. Eut. 
 Iph. A. 1300 evda TTOTE UoXXas efioXe Kai 8o\i6<l)pa)V KiJjrpis 'Hpa ff 'Epfias 
 6 Aios ayyeKos . . . KptVti/ eVt crTvyvav ipiv re KaWovas, Androm. 275 I^atav 
 is vcmav ^HXfl" 6 Maias t€ koX Aids tokos, 284 ral &' im\ vKonofiiOV vdnos rj\v6ov. 
 
 Phrygium. Trojan, perhaps with a notion of Paris' special connexion 
 
 with Ida, liapiv OS 'iSntoff *l8aToff eXeycT 'EXeycT* eV ^pvyatu TrdXet. Iph. A. 
 1289, 90. 
 
 19. ludicem, ' arbiter of beauty.' Troad. 924 'EKpive rpia-a-ov feCyos 8Se 
 rpuKTwv deav, Hel. 26, Hec. 644. According to the Schol. on II. xx. 3 the 
 scene of the judgment of Paris was Callicolone. bona cum bona, 
 like Bona te Venus luuerit . . . quoniam bonum Non abscondis amorem; 
 ' gracious ' expresses both ideas. 
 
 20. alite (o-w oiffli/ois AyaBolmv Hes. Fr. 149 Markschefifel) in reference 
 to taking the auspices, which was an essential part of a Roman marriage 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXI. 171 
 
 (Cic. de Diuin. i. i6, Valer. Max. ii. i. i, luuen. x. 336, Tac. Ann. xi. 
 27), though in the time of Catullus it had become a mere form (De 
 Diuin. i. 16. 28 nuptiarum auspices, qui re omissa nomen tantum lenent), 
 and was probably so in this case. When the relations and friends of the 
 bride had met in her father's house, the ceremony opened with taking 
 the auspices, which originally meant ascertaining the good-will of the 
 auspicial gods of marriage, Ceres Tellus Mars Picumnus Pilumnus and 
 luno Pronuba (Servius on Aen. iv. 58, 166, Nonius 528) through the 
 signs which they were supposed to send by birds, or from something 
 unusual in the sky. Pliny mentions the aegithus, a species of hawk, of 
 small size and lame in one foot, as prosperrimi augurii nuptialibus 
 negotiis, apparently from its fertility as a breeder (H. N. x. 21; Arist. 
 H. A. ix. 89) ; in later times the rite degenerated into the mere presence 
 of an auspex to witness the payment of the dowry and give a formal 
 sanction to the marriage. 
 
 21-25. So Nausicaa is compared to a young palm Od. vi. 163, Helen 
 to a cypress Theocr. xviii. 30. Catullus delights in these descriptions 
 from plants; in 34 the bride is like ivy clasping a tree, in 57 she is 
 florida puellula, in 89 like a hyacinth, in 187 like white parthenice or 
 yellow poppy. So in the second Epithalamium she is like a flower in a 
 garden-croft LXIL 39-44, or a vine in a bare field 49-53. Compare also 
 LXIV. 89, 90. 
 
 21. rioridis, ' blossoming.' I have before me whilst writing a spray of 
 myrtle, with two white flowers growing immediately behind each pair of 
 leaves. The beauty of the plant lies much in the contrast of the white 
 buds or blossoms which grow all the way up the sprays with the green 
 and glossy {enilens) leaves. 
 
 22. Plin. H. N. xv. 119 Arbor ipsa in Europae citeriore caelo quod a 
 Cerauniis montibus incipit primum Circeis in Elpenoris tumulo uisa ira- 
 dilur, Graecumque ei nomen remarut quo peregrinam esse apparel. Fuit ubi 
 nunc Roma est iam cum conderelur, quippe ita traditur, myrtea uerbena 
 Romanes Sabinosque, cum propter raptas uirgines dimicare uoluissent, de- 
 positis armis purgatos in eo loco qui nunc signa Veneris Cluacinae habet : 
 cluere enim antiqui purgare dicebant. Et in ea quoque arbore suffimenti 
 genus habetur, idea tum electa, quoniam coniunctioni et huic arbori Venus 
 praeest. Cf. 122 Cato tria genera myrti prrodidit, nigram candidam con- 
 iugulam fortasse a coniugiis . . . coniugalem exisiimo nunc nostratem did. 
 The association of the myrtle with Venus (Eel. vii. 62, Geor. i. 28, Ouid. 
 F. iv. 139-144, Plut. Numa 19) may have led Catullus to introduce it in 
 his marriage poem. Asia was explained by Lambinus of the Asian 
 meadow by the Cayster (II. ii. 461, G. i. 383, Aen. vii. 701) in compliance 
 with the rule laid down by Servius on Aen. vii. 701 cum Asiam de pro- 
 uincia dicimus a breuis est. Myrtles are fond of water (Theophr. Hist. PI. 
 
 ii. 8, Eur. El. 777 Kupet hi ktittois iv KarappiiTois ^ffias, Apeirav Tepflvrjs fiMpa-'ivr)! 
 
 Kdpa jtXokovs, lon 117— i2o), and Catullus speaks of them as growing on 
 the banks of the Eurotas LXIV. 89. The marshy region of the Cayster 
 would thus be not alien to the habits of the plant, though no passage is 
 quoted which proves it to have grown there with special luxuriance. 
 Voss seems to have felt the difficulty when following Eustath. on Dionys. 
 
 Perieg. 634, 01 8e (jtaaiv Sn 'Atria jroXis AvSias napa TfiaXa ra Spei eV g rpt- 
 Xopdos Ktddpa evpeSr), Koi otto Tavrrjs rj X'''P^ KoKeiTaf fj ano 'A(tu>v Tims AuSoC e^ 
 
172 A COiMMENTARY 
 
 o5 'Aa-tat XeifjMV, cf. Schol. ApoU. R. ii. 779 'Aot'Sos rfireipoio Ttji AvSlas Xcytt' 
 'Ao-i'a yap to irporepov ixoKciTo f] AvSia Kal r) Ktddpa 'Acriu Xeytrat eVei fV Aufii'o 
 
 npanov eipidr], he explained myrtus Asia ' a Lydian myrtle : ' and this would 
 agree with the statements of modern travellers, e. g. of Sir C. Fellows 
 (Asia Minor p. i8), and with Catullus' fondness for learned allusions 
 (doctus). Yet the quantitative rule laid down by Servius, though no doubt 
 based on the ordinary usage of the Roman, at least the Augustan and 
 post-Augustan, poets, can scarcely be held to apply with certainty to 
 Catullus ; the Alexandrian poets regularly use 'ao-Is long, Mosch. ii. 
 9, ApoU. R. i. 444, ii. 779, Nicand. Then 216, Alex, i, fr. 74. n 
 Schneider, and so Ovid Asida, Aside terra M. v. 648, ix. 447 ; while 
 there would be a special propriety in describing the myrtle as a denizen 
 of Asia Minor. Theophrastus de Cans. Plant, vi. 18. 20 mentions Cisthos, 
 which Nicander (Ther. 804) joins with Pedasa in Caria, as a place where 
 the myrtle grew in shafts of unusual length ; and Sir C. Fellows speaks 
 of it as growing very luxuriantly in Mysia, Asia Minor p. 26, comp. p. 42 
 ' The underwood was of mjatle, growing sometimes twenty feet high, 
 the beautiful daphne laurel and the arbutus,' as well as in Pamphylia, 
 where ' the myrtles were prodigious bushes ; I measured several which 
 covered a circle forty feet in diameter, the stem -being as thick as my 
 body' p. 196. Hence Muretus may be right in maintaining against 
 Lambinus and the Roman scholars of the i6th century that Asia is 
 Asiatic, not Asian ; though the latter view has been almost universally 
 adopted, and is considered by Voss to be beyond question. ramulis, 
 instrum. abl. Theophr. de Cans. Plant, v. 13. 4 to yap da-Sevij xai Xeirra tovt' 
 
 ov jrd(r)lsif KaQdirep to Tav fivpplvcoVj dXXd Kal rdxt-iTT en-iKaeraf XcTrra yap Kal 
 avra ra icKtovia Ka\ drroKa rfj (pia-ei. Virg. Ecl. vii. 6 dum ieneras defendo a 
 frigore myrtos. 
 
 23. Quos, perhaps literal : each spray is tended by a Hamadryad, and 
 all of them together are their plaything. The Hamadryads are described 
 in the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite 264 sqq. Tgo-j 8' ofi' % eXdrai, ^e Spues 
 
 vyjnKdprjVoi Teivop.ivtjo'iv efpva-av eVi 'p^^oyi ^toriavelpn, KaXdi Trj\rj6dov(Tai, iv 
 oijpeo'iv v^XoXatV A\X ore Kev Brj p.o'ipa Trapea-rrjKrj davdrotOj *A^dverai fiev Trpa- 
 Tov eVl x^o"' Sei/Spca KoKd^ ^\otds 8* a/i0t7rfpt^^£i/u^«, TriTTTOvfTi d' air' S^oi, Tav 
 
 Sc ff o/ioS 1/^x7 ^f'Tfi cjjdos r]e\ioio. Comp. Pind. F. 142 Bergk, ApoU. 
 Rhod. ii. 479-483, Callim. Del. 83-85. 
 
 24. Ludicrum, aBvpua Hom. H. Cer. 16, where Persephone stretches 
 her hands to take the narcissus as a koKov a6vpp.a. Alciph. iii. 22. silii with 
 Ludicrum. rosido. Theophrast. Hist. PL ii. 8. Seio-dai. Se (primv'AvSporiav 
 Kal Kcmpov Spi/ivTaTTis Kdiir\ei(TTr]s vS pe ias cXaiav Kal fivppivov Kal poiav. 
 
 25. There is no reason to doubt that the reading of almost all MSS, 
 umore, is right. Catullus contracts the dactyl in a pherecratean verse, as 
 he contracts it in phalaecian verses (hendecasyllables), several times in 
 LV (Luc. Mailer de Re Metrica p. 166). 
 
 26. aditum fereus, like aditum. ferat 43, reditum in nemora ferat 
 LXIII. 79, reditum aduada tetulit LXIII. 47, ad Idae teiuli nemora pedenif 
 LXIII. 52 describes the act of approaching as a process, here with the 
 idea of state and solemnity ; in the Attis of labour and pain. 
 
 27. Perge linquere, either 'leave in due course,' 'duly leave,' as 
 in Cic. Arat. 326 Post hunc ore fero Capricornus uadere pergit, pro- 
 ceeds to advance, i. e. advances in his order, Hor. C. ii. 18. 16 Nouaeque 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXL 173 
 
 pergunt interire lunae, or, better, 'be leaving,' throwing more circum- 
 stance into the act, a favorite formula with Statius Theb. i. 688 ne 
 perge queri, ix. 660 Nee tu perilura mouere Auxilia et maestos in uanum 
 perge labores, x. 708 ne perge meos orhare penates. Thespiae. Strab. 
 409 Qe(ne[av 8e \eyei ras vvv Qeanias' €<tti 8c n6\is nphs Tffl 'EXi/tSw, votico- 
 Tspa uiroO (TriKetfifvq ik ra Kpuyalca koKtch Koi avrfj koX 6 'EXikwj/ . , . iv Se rfj 
 QeaiTifuiv tori Km r) A(TKpr} koto to Trpbs 'EXiKmca fiepos, fj rov 'HcridSou narpis. 
 
 An epigram by Philiades of Megara ap. Steph. Byz. in QidTTua describes it 
 as lying in-6 Kpordcfiois 'EXtKoivos, and so Fausanias ix. 26 imo tA Spos tw 
 
 'EXiKuiua ^Kurrai. 
 
 23. Bupis, Helicon, as Parnasia rupes Eel. vi. 29 (Passerat). The 
 description of Pausanias ix. 29. 3 in 'EKikHvi hi nphs to oKcos Iovti tIov 
 
 t/iavirav ev dpiiTTepa, fiev f) 'AyaviiTTrr) Ttrjyrf Bvyarepa de flvai Trjv ^ hyavimtrfu 
 ToC Tfpiiriaov Xeyoviri' pel Sc koi oStoi o Tep/irjiTos Vfp\ t6v 'EKiKava. TijV 8e 
 tlQfiav ipxop.ev(f iiphs to aKaos, iariv (Ik<ov EvCprjiiris firtipyiUTficvr] \l6a' Tpo(j>6v de 
 eivai rfjv Ev<^rjpr)v \eyovt7i Tcov fiovfrav' TavTrjs re ovv eiKO)j' Koi p.eT avrrjv AtVor 
 eariv ev Trerpa piKpa airr^Xaiov rponov elpyaafievij' rovra Kara eros eKaarov np6 
 T^s 6v<Tias Toiv Mono-ail' eaayl^ovai, does not correspond with that of Catullus, 
 who perhaps had never visited the spot. At any rate his ' Aonian caverns ' 
 must be 5elow Aganippe, Aonios soVirg. Eel. x. \2 Aonie Aganippe. 
 
 Already in the Theogony the Muses are called 'EAiKiuMaSfs, and dance 
 round its violet-hued fount, perhaps that afterwards known as Aganippe 
 (Hes. Theog. 1-4). speeus. Caves and grottoes are often mentioned 
 in connexion with the Muses, e.g. the Libethrian grotto Strabo 410, 471, 
 Paus. ix. 34 which was also part of Helicon, and so Columella speaks of 
 Antra Castaliis semper rorantia guHis x. 267. 
 
 20. Nympha is not used for lympha, but Aganippe, daughter of a 
 river, (see on 28) and herself a water-nymph, pours down the water of 
 the spring which bears her name. Cf Anth. P. ix. 328. i Nip,<j)ai NrfidSes 
 
 KoKKippoov at ToSe vd/jui XelTe kot oiipeiov irpavos dneipecriov. According tO 
 
 Varro, quoted by Servius on Eel. vii. 2 1, the Muses were sometimes identi- 
 fied with the Nymphs, as residing in springs ; thus -fountains were some- 
 times consecrated to the Camenae, and so Virgil Eel. vii. 2 1 asks the 
 Nymphae Libethrides to grant him a song. 
 
 30. Frigerans seems not to be found in any other writer of authority. 
 
 31. Domum and dominam are in relation to each other as often, 
 LXVin. 68, Trin. iv. 3. i, Cic. Phil. xiii. 9. 19 minaretur dominis, notaret 
 domos, De Fin. i. 18. 58, Petron. 76 domimis in domof actus sum. 
 
 33-35. A common simile applied in an uncommon way. Generally 
 the ivy is lihe person who clasps, as in Hec. 398, Med. 1213, Hor. C. i. 
 36. 20, Epod. XV. 5, here it is love which clasps the soul. 
 
 33. reviinciens, ' binding fast ; ' like religare the original idea seems 
 to be binding back so as to prevent escape. Ennius has somno leni placi- 
 doque reuinctus Ann. 5 Vahlen. 
 
 34. tenax, ' clinging.' Hor. Epod. xv. 5. hue et hue with errans ; 
 the disorder of the words corresponds to the straggling irregularity of 
 the ivy. 
 
 36. integrae, 'unstained,' XXXIV. 2. 
 
 37. Par dies looks Hke an expression of common life, as we might 
 say ' your own time.' in modum, ' in measure,' like in numerum Lucr. 
 ii. 631, Virg. Eel. vi. 27, G. iv. 175. There seems to be no authority 
 
174 A COMMENTARY 
 
 for Pleitner's ' in modum solennem, cum citatur ad munus.' In Theocritus 
 the virgins \vho chant the Epithalamium of Helen and Menelaus'AftSoi- S' 
 
 apa Tratrat is iv /xeXos iyKporenKTai Uoaal •ntpLirKeKTOis (xvni. 7, 8). 
 
 41. audiens, when he hears the cry Hytnenaee Hymen which sum- 
 mons him to his duty of presiding at the marriage. Callira. H. Apoll. 2 1 
 
 OTTTTor 117 "Kaiqcv Irj nairiov aKova-rj, 
 
 42. eitarier, lilte m'/i'er 68, compararier 65, 70, 75, gives an antique 
 cast to the expression. 
 
 44. Bonae Veneris, 195. As Venus was goddess of the sexual rela- 
 tions, and these might be virtuous or vicious, Ouid. Fasti iv. 133, 4 Rile 
 deam Latiae colitis mairesque nurusque ; Et uos quis uiitae longaque uestis 
 abest, she is bona Venus as goddess of married and honorable love. Fasti 
 iv. 153-156 Cum primum cupido Venus est deducta mar i to Hoc bibit : ex illo 
 tempore nuptafuit. Supplicibus uerbis illam placate : sub ilia Et forma et 
 mores et bonafama manet, for ilia is not Fortuna Virilis (Paley) but Venus, 
 as is shown by the following lines. So Theocritus distinguishes vJmpis 
 
 Oipavia from Kvrrpis IldvSripos, Anth. P. vi. 340 'A KiiTrpis ov irdvSapos' 
 t\daK€0 Tav 6eov eliraiv Ovpaviav^ dyvas avdefia Xpvcroydvas, OtKo> ev *Ap(}}iK\eovSf 
 a Koi TeKva Kai plov €a\€ Svvov. del de a<^iv \iiiov els eras r/v 'Ek iriBev 
 dp^op,evoiSj & TTOTVia. 
 
 45. Coniugator, ' uniter,' does not seem to be found elsewhere. 
 Cicero uses the verb, De Oif. i. 17. 58 Estque ea iucundissima amicitia 
 quam similitudo morum coniugauit. amoris boni, as distinct from 
 meretricii amores. 
 
 46-75. A hymn in praise of Hymenaeus, sung by the virgins (36-9). 
 
 46. Haupt, whose reading I have adopted, makes ancsiis a predicate, 
 ' Where is the God that lovers should be more earnest to seek ? ' It seems 
 more natural to take magis with petendus, ' What God is more to be 
 sought by heart-sick lovers ? ' So Quern colent homines magis ? 48. ancsiis 
 refers to the deferred hope of fruition, when Veneris dulcedinis in cor 
 Stillauit gutta et successit frigida cura Lucr. iv. 1059. Comp. Tib. i. 
 3. 16 Quaerebam tar das anxius usque moras. Stat. S. i. 2. 81 Quantos 
 iuuenis premat anxius ignes. 
 
 47. Est. A very effective rhythm, produced by the gradual ascent from 
 the monosyllabic ^j/ to the quadrisyllable amantibus. It is used again in 
 127 lam seruire Talassio. 
 
 51. tremulus, ' decrepit/ Eun. ii. 3. 45 Incuruos iremulus Idbiis de- 
 missis gemens. 
 
 52. Inuocat with suis, as in Ouid. A. A. iii. 376 Inuocat iratos et sibi 
 quisque deos. The old father implores the god of marriage on his children, 
 i. e. for help in his children's behalf, anxious to see them wed before he 
 dies. 
 
 53. Zonula, also in a fragment of Serenus ap. Non. 539 aut zonulam 
 aut acum aut ricam was perhaps the word used by girls for the more 
 common zona. As two girdles were worn, one round the hips, the other 
 beneath the breasts. Rich (s. u. zona) distinguishes the former as zona, the 
 latter as cingulum. But the breast-band is strophium or mamillare (Mart, 
 xiv. 66) ; whilst the fact that cingulum is also a man's belt, and that 
 cinguli yii.% a word for slender-waisted men (Paulus D. s. u.) shows this 
 to be the general term, in fact the Roman equivalent for iavr\. And this 
 agrees with the passages where cingulum is used of the woman's girdle. 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXI. 175 
 
 Paulus D. p. 63 M. Cinxiae lunonis nomen sanctum hahebatur in nuptiis, quod 
 initio coniugii solutio erat cinguli, quo nana nupta eratcinda. ib. Cingulo noua 
 nupta praecingebatur, quod uir in lee to soluebat, factum ex lana ouis, ut, sicui 
 ilia in glomos sublata coniuncta inter se sit, sic uir suus secum cincttis uinc- 
 iusque esset. Hunc Herculaneo nodo uinctum uir soluit ominis gratia, ut sic 
 ipsefelix sit in suscipiendis liberis, ut/uit Hercules, qui septuaginla liberos 
 reliquit. As here used cingulum is evidently i. q. zona as described by 
 Mart. xiv. 1 5 1 Longa satis nunc sum ; dulci sed pondere uenter Si tumeat, 
 fiam tunc tibi zona breuis, i. e. the lower girdle round the hips. Virgins 
 let the folds of their robe fall free of this girdle at marriage, because then 
 they unclasp it ; hence zonam soluere=to surrender one's virginity : and so 
 Alcestis 175^ XfKTpov, ev6a irapBcvei eXva iyu> KopeifiaT ix tovS a.vhp6s, in 
 contradistinction to the more common usage according to which the lover 
 Xu« t^iivr)v or liirprjv Od. xi. 245, Theocr. xxvii. 55, Mosch. ii. 164. 
 
 54. timens, ' fearing,' whilst desiring. So Tib. i. 8. 36 Dum timet 
 et teneros conserit usque sinus, and Statins S. i. 2. 3 1 2« tamen attonitus, 
 quamuis data copia tantae Sortis, adhuc optas, permissaque numine dextro Vota 
 paues. Mr. Clayton compares Troilus and Cressida iii. 2 I am giddy ; 
 expectation whirls me round. The imaginary relish is so sweet That it enchants 
 my sense : what will it be When that the watery palate tastes indeed Love's 
 thrice-reputed nectar ? death, I fear me. Swooning destruction, or some joy 
 too fine, Too subtle-potent, tuned too sharp in sweetness. For the capacity of my 
 ruder powers : I fear it much. nouos maritus, like noua nupta. Varro 
 ap. Non. 47, Gerontodidascalus ii. Riese Nouos maritus tacitulus taxim 
 uxoris soluebat cingillum. Captat aure, Aen. iii. 514 auribus aera 
 capiat. 
 
 56. fero, 'rude,' partly from the ardor uiolentus of love (Lucr. iv. 
 iii6,cf. 1079-1083), partly with the idea of the bridegroom ravishing the 
 bride as an enemy. in manus, a poetical variation upon the legal 
 formula in manum. By marriage cum conuentione in manum the wife 
 passed out of her father's family into that of her husband, the agnati of 
 the latter becoming now her own. The husband thus acquired the right 
 of a father over his wife, and full power over her property ; she was no 
 longer sui iuris, but alieni. (Rossb. Rom. Ehe pp. 53^56-) 
 
 57. ipse, ' with thy own hand,' perhaps implying that in the rape 
 which on the wedding-day was symbolized by the bride's being torn by 
 force from her mother's bosom, the central idea of marriage, and there- 
 fore the prime function of the marriage-god lay. He was present through 
 all the ceremony ; but in this act he interfered personally. So above Qui 
 rapis teneram ad uirum Virginem. 
 
 58. Festus p. 289 M. Rapi simulatur uirgo ex gremio matris ; aut, si 
 ea non est, ex proxima necessitudine cum ad uirum traditur, quod uidelicet ea 
 resfeliciter Romulo cessit. Rossbach thinks this immediately preceded 
 or was the first act of the domum deductio : the bride was removed from 
 her mother's arms by the pronuba, as seems likely from Stat. S. i. 2. 11- 
 15, Claudian Epithal. 124-128 (Rossb. pp. 308, 329). 
 
 61-75. The gradation in these three strophes from (i) the relation of 
 husband and wife to (2) that of parent and child, and (3) that of citizen 
 and country is the natural one, and corresponds to the different stages of 
 married life, (i) of passion purely sexual, (2) of family feeling, (3) of 
 responsibility as arising from the possession of children as members of 
 
176 A COMMENTARY 
 
 the community. The transition from the purely personal to the more 
 general relation, as from the more to the less selfish feeling, is appropriate 
 to the'solemnityof a Roman Hymeneal, and shows that the MS. order is 
 the right one. Cf. Cic. de Off. i. 17. 54 Nam cum hoc sit nalura com- 
 mune animaniium ul habeant lulidinem procreandi, prima societas in ipso 
 coniugio est, proxima in liberis, deinde una domus, communia omnia. Id 
 autem est principium urbis et quasi seminarium rei publicae. 
 
 61-65. So Claudian Epithal. 31 sqq. Hunc Musa genitum legit Cyiherea 
 ducemque Praefecit thalamis : nullum iunxisse cubile Hoc sine nee primas 
 fas est attollere taedas. 
 
 62. Phorm. iv. 5. 12 Id si nonfama adprobat. 
 
 63. Commodi capere, a common expression. Eun. iii. 3-25 Quid 
 ex ea re tandem utcaperes commodi? v. 5. i Ex meopropinquorurehoc capio 
 commodi, ' find a gain.' 
 
 67. Liberos dare, ' bear children,' the express and formal object of 
 marriage, as is shown by the recurring phrases liberum quaerundum, 
 quaerendorum (Gell. iv. 3. 2, Suet. Jul. 52, Quintil. Declam. 247), liber- 
 orum, liberum quaesendum (Ennius in Cresphonte and Andromeda ap. 
 Festum p. 258 M.), creandorum (Val. Max. vii. 7. 4) gratia uxorem ducere. 
 Pleitner quotes Gaius i. 64 Ergo si quis nefarias atque incestas nuptias 
 contraxerit, nequ^ uxorem habere uidetur, neque liberos. Hi enim qui ex eo 
 coitu nascuntur, matrem quidem habere uideniur, patrem uero non utique ; nee 
 ob id inpotestate eius sunt, sed quales sunt ii quos mater uulgo concepit. Nam 
 nee hi patrem habere intelleguntur, cum his eiiam incertus sit : unde solent 
 spurii filii appellari. 
 
 68. Stirpe rdtier, 'rest on a new stock of children,' as Prop. iv. 11. 69 
 Et serie fulcite genus. Phn. Epist. iv. 21. 3 cut nunc unus ex tribus liberis 
 superest domumqu£ pluribus adminiculis paulo antefundatam desolatusfulcif 
 ac sustinet. The ordinary reading iungier must mean ' be continued,' 
 i. e. form a continuous link in the family by means of a new stock of 
 children, as in Plin. iv. 9. 10 labore quem difficilius est repetere quam 
 iungere. Scaliger thought Catullus alludes here to the fact that children 
 of an informal marriage ■vitit peregrinae condicionis, and could not take 
 an inheritance as the sui heredes of their father. A suus heres continues 
 the right of his father, and in this way forms a new stirps by which the 
 father is continued {parens iungitur). Rossbach retains uincier, ' give 
 way to,' as Statius urges a son to overtake his sire, S. iv. 4. 74 Surge 
 agedum iuuenemque puer deprende parentem. 
 
 71. Quae . . careat . . Won queat,' if any house should be without, 
 it could not ; ' a change from the direct assertion of the two previous 
 strophes, suited to the more remote contingency'; they speak of wedded 
 happiness and coming children ; this of children old enough to serve in 
 the defence of the state. sacris, probably to recal the sacra priuaia 
 or family rites which the Romans were bound by law to maintain un- 
 broken (De Legg. ii. 9. 22). 
 
 72. praesides in the same sense zs praesidium, 'guardians,' 'defenders.' 
 Liu. vi. 1 6 luppiter optime maxime, lunoque regina ac Minerua ceierique di 
 deaeque, qui Capitolium arcemque incolitis, sicine uestrum militem ac prae- 
 sidem sinitis uexari ab inimicis ? Catullus alludes to the fact that the 
 Roman legions consisted originally of none but freeborn Roman citizens. 
 (Passerat.) But the statement, which is expressed generally, ' a land where 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXL 177 
 
 marriages are irregular cannot provide soldiers to protect its borders,' 
 contains of course a general truth, as where the family, or more strictly, 
 the paternal relation is weak, e. g. in tribes where promiscuous intercourse 
 takes place, there cannot be the same subordination or therefore the same 
 united action ; each warrior thinks of himself, and is more ready to wander 
 off in quest of a livelihood than to remain in one place or present himself 
 at any moment for the defence of a scarcely settled territory. 
 
 76-120. The Virgins' song to Hymenaeus ended, the poet places 
 us at the street-door of the bride's house, where the crowd is waiting 
 for the bride to appear. As she delays a long time, the emotions she 
 may be supposed to pass through are successively described, (i) Love 
 and shame must be in conflict ; shame is the stronger, she is weeping to 
 think she must leave her mother. (2) So fair a woman should not weep ; 
 she should think of her beauty and come forth. (3) She must and ought 
 to appear, and not keep our procession waiting. (4) Let her think what 
 a kind husband expects her and come. (5) And how joyful he is in 
 the anticipation of her love. She must come. The central idea is the 
 wish to see the bride, Prodeas noua nupta ; which is therefore repeated 
 twice in the central stanza 92 and 96. This section of the poem is 
 very Greek throughout : probably a good deal was modelled on Sappho, 
 Callimachus was also, perhaps, imitated in parts. 
 
 76—78. Callim. H. Apoll. 5-8 oi;^ op^xis; enivivaev o ^r/Kios rj8u ti 
 t^olvL^ ^K^aTTivrjSf 6 6e kvkvos ev Tjepi KoKov delSet, AvTol vvv Karoxij^s dvaKkii/ecrSe 
 TTvKdav' AuTai be xXtjISfy" d yap 6f6s ovKin fjuiKpdv. 
 
 77. adest the reading of all the MSS. follows naturally upon pandiU 
 as giving the reason. ' Open the door ; the bride is here, ready to come 
 forth ; and our procession, bride, is ready with its torches to escort you.' 
 The sudden change pandite, adest, uiden accords with the eager 
 expectation of the crowd : much as J^k/ in 8i is followed hyjlere 
 desine in 82. uiden is perhaps general, as in Tib. ii. i. 15 Cernite is 
 followed by uiden 25 ; yet in 94 uiden must be addressed to the bride. 
 faces. Torches' were naturally introduced in a ceremony which originally 
 took place at night. Servius ad Eel. viii. 29 Varro in aetiis ait sponsas 
 
 faces praeire, quod antea non nisi per nodem nubenles ducehantur a sponsis : 
 and the Scholiast on Lucan ii. 356 quotes from Varro Venienli nouae 
 nuptae funal praeluceal. Plutarch (Quaestt. Rom. 2) states that the 
 number of torches lighted at a marriage was always five, a specially yap.ii- 
 Xjor dpi.6p.6s, as made up of the male number 3 and the female 2 ; some- 
 thing of which feeling we retain in the proverbial ' there's luck in odd 
 numbers.' (Rossb. Rom. Ehe p. 339). 
 
 78. comas. Cf. Aesch. Ag. 306 cpXoyos pAyav nayava, also in 
 Eurip. fr. 833 Nauck; Shakspere's 'red and bearded fires;' and more 
 nearly irvpos dp.rf>r]Kris fioa-Tpvxos of lightning Prom. 1044. 
 
 79. The lacuna must have contained something like this, ' The 
 bride delays ; it is time she should get the better of her shame. Yet she 
 listens to the voice of shame more than to us, and weeps because she 
 must go.' Tardet possibly from tardere, cf lentet from lentere in 
 Lucilius ap. Priscian. 880. P. 397 K. ingenuus, 'the shame of one gently 
 born.' Statins quotes Philetas (fr. 16 Bergk) dya6r\ 8' im ^Bea-iv alSms. 
 
 81. Flet. Plutarch Quaestt. Rom. 105 6 Bappav etpi^Kev on Xvrroipemi 
 fiev ai napdevoi yapovvrai, x^^lpovaai Se at yvvaiKes. 
 
 N 
 
178 A COMMENTARY 
 
 82. Tilinius ap. Non. 227 Accede ad sponsum audacler, uirgo nulla 
 est tali Setiae. 
 
 83. non periculum est, often in Cicero. Tusc. Disp. v. 40. 118 
 Quae qui recordetur haud sane periculum estne non mortem, autoptandam aut 
 certe non timendam putet. De Orat. i. 48. 209 Nullum est periculum ne quid 
 tu eloquare nisi prudenter. 
 
 84-87. Sappho fr. 106 Bergk mi yAp t)v hipa nais, a yafi&pe, Tomira. Eur. 
 Hec. 635 'EXevas eVi XfKTpa, rav KoKKiarav o XP'>"''''4>"'I' "AXiof aiyd^ei. 
 
 diem Viderit uenientem is an inversion of Callim. H. Dian. 249 toS &' 
 
 oijTC Bearepov cfi^erm Hats, 
 
 87. uailo, ' many-iiued/ a sense into which it easily passes from the 
 earlier one of ' streaked ' which is found in Cato R. R. xxxiii, Ixxiii. 
 
 88. Dimtis, who might plant it for ornament, not for food or 
 medicinal purposes. II. xi. 68 uvSpos /lampos kot apovpav. hortulo, 
 ' pleasure-garden,' the lojiriov xai iyKoKKinrurpa nKovTou of Thuc. ii. 62. 
 
 89. stare, not merely 'stand,' but 'rise tall or straight.' flos 
 hyaointhinus, an exact translation of Homer's vaKiv6i.vov avdos Od.vi. 231, 
 to which the locks of Odysseus are compared. Daubeny, who examines 
 the question what the flower was at some length (Roman Husbandry 
 pp. 236-238) concludes 'that the term idKivdos was in general applied to 
 some plant of the lily tribe ; but that the poets confounded with this the 
 larkspur, which has upon it the markings alluded to (Ai AI) ; and that 
 the name Hyacinth was given in the first instance to the plant which most 
 distinctly exhibited them.' The figured iaKwBos in the Vienna MS. of 
 Dioscorides agrees very well with the straight upstanding flower Catullus 
 seems to have had in view. Virgil says more conectly _fiorem hyacinihi 
 Aen. xi. 69. 
 
 90. Catullus may have had in view Cas. iv. 3. 6 Nam quid illaec nunc 
 Tam diu intus remoratur, quasi oh industriam ? 
 
 91. Prodeas seems to put prodi into the bride's mind, and to 
 remove the command into a second stage ; prpdi, ' come forth ; ' prodeas, 
 ' we would have you come forth,' ' think that we tell you to come forth,' 
 Such imperatival subjunctives when addressed to definite persons are rare 
 (Madvig Lat. Gram. § 385). noua nupta was a formula, Varro fr. 
 Agatho ap. Non. 167, Plin. H. N. viii. 194, xviii. 10, xxviii. 142, 
 XXXV. 78. 
 
 93. Si lam tiidetur, ' if at last you are pleased to do so,' a gentle 
 rebuke for delaying. Si uidetur, an urgent ' if you please,' is common 
 Pro Quinctio v. 19 Nunc hoc uelim cures, si tibi uidetur, quod dixisti. Fam. 
 vii. 23. 4 Tu et ad omnia r escribes et quando te exspectem feceris me, si tibi 
 uidetur, certiorem. 
 
 94. Perhaps an allusion. to the nupta uerba which marriage made lawful. 
 Festus'p. 170 M. Nupta uerba dicebantur ab antiquis quae uirginem dicere 
 non licebat, ut Plautus in Dyscolo, Virgo sum nondum didici nupta uerba 
 dicere. 
 
 95. Aureas. Pind. fr. 57 B. Bergk aWoiiha Se 8as mo ^avdcCun nevKats. 
 
 97. leuis, 'truant,' 'fickle,' Prop. ii. 24. 18. in mala Deditus 
 adultera, as Lucr. iii. 647 Et semel in pugnae studio quod dedita mens est, 
 iv. 815 quibus est in rebus deditus ipse. 
 
 98. The rhythm is unique, and unusually harsh. 
 
 99. Probra, ' s,csxvA3\&,' probrum castis in/erre Cael. xviii. 42, in the 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXL 179 
 
 special sense of adultery, with which it was very early identified. Cell. x. 
 23. 4 Verba M. Catonis adscribsi ex oraiione quae inscribiiur de dote . . . si 
 uinum bibit, si cum alieno uiroprobri quid fecit, cmdempnatur. Cic. Phil. ii. 
 38 Probri insimulasii pudicissimamfeminam. The MSS. give proca, which 
 Rossbach prints in his text. There was an old word procare or procari, 
 ' to demand,' whence procus, ' a suitor,' procax, ' forward,' in special 
 reference to licentious advances, as Cicero pro Cael. xx. 49 says ut non 
 solum mereirix, sed etiam procax uideatur, and so Apuleius uses procatio 
 of adulterous solicitations. Proca may be the noun corresponding to 
 procare; if so it would seem to mean ' wantonnesses.' If however I am 
 right in referring to this a passage in the Balliol Glossary ' progom vitu- 
 perationem,' the word would seem to have meant ' blame ; ' proca turpia 
 would then be ' foul reproach.' As the metre does not admit a pyrrich 
 we might suppose the word to have been pronounced /(?;-f a. See Excursus 
 in vol. i. 
 
 100. tills teneris, like Lucretius' meo diti de pectore i. 413, tuo corpore 
 sancto i. 38, seems to be an imitation of Ennius' antique manner (Munro 
 on Lucr. i. 413). Here it adds something of simplicity quite in harmony 
 with the feeling of the passage. 
 
 102. Perhaps suggested by Sapph. fr. 104 Bergkn'o) ct-', & ^iKc ya/u/Spf, 
 
 KaKas iiKairhai ; "OpnaKi ^pahivif a-e koKutt f iKacrSo). adsitas, planted near 
 or by it. Varro R. R. i. 16. 6 uitis adsita ad holus, Quid. Her. v. 47 
 adpositis uitibus ulmus. 
 
 107. The lectus genialis was similarly apostrophized by Ticida in his 
 Epithalamium, Felix lectule talibus Sole amoribus. 
 
 108. Probably refers to the ivory feet of the bed. The comic poet 
 Plato speaks of such couches as tXe^aj/roVoSey fr. incert. 8. Cf Varro's 
 
 ' eburnei, eboratilecti (Non. 378, 229). pede lecti, so Lucilius ap. Macrob. 
 S. vi. 4. 18, Sen. de Ben. ii. 34. 2. 
 
 110. uaga, 'fleeting.' Chaucer Romaunt of the Rose p. 25 Bell The 
 tyme that passeth night and day, And restlesly travayleth ay. And stele th 
 
 from us so pryvely, That to us semeth sikerly That it in one point dwelleth 
 evere, And certes itne resteth never e. 
 
 111. medio die, at the mid-day siesta, XXXIL 3. Quid. Am. i. 
 5. I Aestus erat mediamque dies exegerat horam. Apposui medio membra 
 leuanda toro. Pars adaperta fuit, pars altera clausa fenestrae : Quale fere 
 siluae lumen habere solent .... Ilia uerecundis lux est praebenda puellis. 
 Qua timidus latebras speret habere pudor etc. The Romans regarded noon 
 as the end of their working day Plut. Q. R. 84. 
 
 114-158. The bride at last appears, the boys who carry the torches 
 before her lift them in the air, and taking up the cry lo Hymen Hymenaee 
 io move on in procession, together with the rest of the crowd assembled, 
 to the bridegroom's house. This domum deductio or solemn procession 
 of the bride to her husband's house was in actual life the occasion of 
 loud and open merriment; verses called Fescennine, containing coarse 
 allusions to marriage and its obligations, were sung, and walnuts scat- 
 tered amongst the crowd. Catullus represents this thoroughly Italian 
 characteristic by the five strophes 124-148 Da nuces pmeris, iners — Io 
 Hymen Hymenaee : all of which are more or less coarse, and may all 
 therefore be supposed to belong to the Fascennina locutio (120). It is 
 true that the two strophes 124-133 Da nuces pueris, iners Concubine — 
 
 N 2 
 
180 A COMMENTARY 
 
 Concubine, nuces da, which might be sung alternis (Hor. Epist. ii. i. 145), 
 which contain the specially Italian allusion to nuces the comites Fescen- 
 ninorum and the specially Roman cry Talasio, and from which the Greek 
 epiphonema lo Hymen Hymenaee io is excluded (Rossbach R(>m. Ehe p. 
 345) stand in a sense by themselves, and might be suppiosed, as they have 
 been by Peiper, to represent the Fescennines alone. The rhythm too of 
 the twice repeated verse Concubine, nuces da (see on 128) is unusually 
 harsh and seeras to correspond with the rugged rhythm of the old Fes- 
 cennines. But (i) noise and coarseness seem to have been the dis- 
 tinctive feature of the domum deductio, as a whole; nothing proves 
 that either the throwing of nuces, or the flute-playing or the jokes 
 habitual on this occasion were confined to the beginning of the pro- 
 cession: (2) the allusion in 124-133 is carried on in 134-143; the 
 four strophes therefore can hardly be separated from each other : (3) 
 the boys whp are called upon in 1 1 6 to chant in measure Io Hymen 
 Hymenaee io, Io Hymen Hymenaee may be presumed to sing from this 
 verse onwards (of course excepting 11 9-1 23) to the end of the domum 
 deductio, when the bride steps over the threshold of her new home (159) 
 and a new scene begins : (4) Varro and Festus state that the licence 
 of coarse speech was the special prerogative of boys on these occasions. 
 Varro Agatho fr. i (Non. ^i,'j), pueri obscenis uerbis nouae nupiulae aures 
 reiurant. Festus p. 245 M. Praetexium sermonem quidam puiant did quod 
 praetextaiis nefas sit obsceno tier bo uti. AM quod nttbentibus depositis prcu- 
 iextis a multiiudine puerorum obscena clamentur. Therefore 124-133 the 
 most characteristic specimen of ihe praetextatus sermo which the poem 
 presents cannot be excluded from the song of the boys or marked off by 
 themselves without a grave violation of artistic propriety. If we suppose 
 the boys to sing Diceris male le a tuis — Scimus haec tibi quae liceni — Nupta, ' 
 tu quoque quae turn, we may be be sure that they also sing Da nuces 
 pueris, iners and Sordebant tibi uillicae. Whether the crowd chime in^. 
 as Rossbach thinks and as the words Nostra uerba 93 might lead us to 
 suppose, there is not much to determine. The only strophe where 
 such a view seems more than possible is Scimus haec tibi quae licent 
 
 139-143- 
 
 115. uideo. This is the first time an express personality is introduced. 
 It occurs again 189 ita me iuuent Caelites, 210 uolo, perhaps 225 lusimus. 
 It seems most natural to suppose the poet himself to be the speaker in 
 every case, as Statius in his Epithalamium of Stella and Violantilla 
 addresses the bridegroom in his own person. 
 
 119. proeax, ' saucy.' 
 
 120. Fascennina. ' Paul. D. p. 85 M. Fescennini uersus qui cane- 
 lantur in nuptiis ex urbe Fescennina dicuntur allati, siue ideo dicti quia 
 
 fascinum putabantur arcere ; and so Servius on Aen. vii. 695. Fescennia 
 or Fescennium was an old Etruscan town near Falerii (Aen. vii. 695, 
 Plin. iii. 52, Dionys. i. 21), not in Campania as Servius wrongly states: 
 Dionysius says it existed in his time i. 21, but its only historical import- 
 ance is in its being supposed to have given its name to the Fescennines, 
 in the time of Catullus confined, it would seem, to the meaning of 
 licentious verses sung at weddings, Liu. vii. 2 non, sicut ante, Fescennino 
 uersu similem inconpositum temere ac rudem alternis iaciebant Hor. Ep. ii. 
 I. 139 Fescennina per hunc inuenta liceniia morem Versibus alternis appro- 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXL 181 
 
 bria ruslica fudit. Luc. ii. 368 Non soliti lusere sales, nee more Sabino 
 Excepit tristis conuicia festa maritus. Sen. Med. 113 Fesia dicaxfundat 
 conuicia Fescenninus, Soluat turba iocos. Sen. Controuers. vii. 21 (p. 223 
 Bursian) Inter nupiiales fescetminos in crucem generi nostri iocabantur. 
 Plin. XV. 86 luglandes nuptialtum /escenninorum comites (Teuffel Hist, of 
 Rom. Lit. § 5). locutio I prefer to iocatio in accordance with the 
 definition ad Heren. iii. 13. 23 Iocatio est or alio quae ex aliqua re risum 
 pudentem et liberalem potest comparai-e. It maybe doubted whether 
 the Fescennina licenlia could come under this. 
 
 121. Walnuts (Plin. H. N. xv. 86) were scattered amongst the crowd 
 while the Fescennines were sung. From Virg. Eel. viii. 30 Sparge marite 
 nuces, and the words of Servius there dicilur ideo a nouo marito nuces spargi 
 debere quod proiectae in lerram tripudium solistimum. faciarU it is clear that 
 they were thrown by the bridegroom. This would not prove that they 
 were thrown by no one else. Catullus makes the singers of the Fescen- 
 nines call upon the concubinus or favon'te slave of the bridegroom to do so. 
 This is artistically an improvement in two ways, (i) the position of the 
 concubinus becomes more effective poetically. He is taunted by those 
 whose youth reminds him of his own prime, now past, while it irritates 
 him by the inversion of the natural position which he ought to occupy 
 towards them. They are younger, therefore should be his inferiors ; yet 
 it is just because they are younger that he is inferior to them. (2) The 
 turn from the concubinus to the husband varies by contrast the position 
 of the latter, and so enhances the dignity of marriage. 
 
 122. The meaning of Desertum will slightly vary according as 
 domini amorein is taken to mean 'his master's love for him' or 'his 
 love for his master.' In the latter case Desertum would be ' is left for- 
 lorn,' viz. by his master moving off to a new affection. But this is harsh ; 
 domini is more naturally taken as subjective genitive, desertum will then be 
 ' is forsaken,' a change from the more ordinary desertum domino like templo 
 summi louis sacrato LV. ,1^ (Doering). Another way would be to take deser- 
 tum as ' outstript,' ' that his master^s love for himself is left behind (outstript) 
 by a new passion (for his wife) : ' so A. A. ii. 725 Sed neque tu dominam 
 uelis maioribus ustis Desere, tuc cursus anleat ilia tuos: but this is too 
 artificial. 
 
 123. concubinxis, .a favorite slave, i. q. delicatus. Quint, i. 2. 8 Nee 
 mirum ; nos docuimus, ex nobis audiunt, nostras arnicas, nostras coTKubinos 
 uident. Plin. H. N. viii. 180 Concubine procaci. Martial vi. 22. 1,2 uses 
 the word of a slave who shared his mistress' bed Quid nubis, Proctdina, 
 concubino El moechum modo, nunc facts maritum ? and Rich Companion 
 s, u. explains it here of the bridegroom who till now had lived in concu- 
 binage with a female slave; 122-123 will then mean ' he who has lived 
 in concubinage when he hears that the love once permitted him as master 
 for his female slave is a thing of the past, now that the only legitimate 
 union marriage is come,' and so Rossbach and before them Scaliger. But 
 the strophe 129-134 has then httle, if any, force; and the sudden turn 
 to the bridegroom in 134 becomes comparatively tame. 
 
 124. nuces pueris, as in 121, looks like a regular combination, and 
 may perhaps have been a common-place in Fescennines. Marquardt 
 shows from an Inscription (Henzen 7128) that nuts were thrown amongst 
 boys on birth-days as well as at weddings. Nuces were used in all 
 
182 A COMMENTARY 
 
 kinds of games and are thus synonymous with playthings Pers. i. lo, 
 Hor. S. ii. 3. 171, Sueton. Aug. 83 modo talis aut ocellatis nucibusque 
 ludebat cum pueris minutis. Servius on Eel. viii. 30 Meritorii pueri i. e. 
 catamiti quibus licenter ukbantur antiqui recedentes a turpi seruitio nuces 
 spargebant i. e. ludum pueritiae, ut significarent se puerilia cunda iam sper- 
 nere, or whoever was the author of the note, seems to have had Catullus in 
 view. iners, in reference to the soft and unlaborious life which he led 
 as a delicaius: De N. D. i. 36. 102 Quasi pueri delicati nihil cessatione 
 melius existumai. 
 
 125. ' You have done with playthings now. Your master discards 
 them for a manlier duty, and so must you.' Such would seem to be the 
 connexion of thought ; but there is some difficulty in the sudden change 
 from the concubinus to his master. 
 
 126. lubet, the reading of a MS. in the British Museum, may be 
 right, as Talassio is notninative as well as dative. 
 
 127. Ter. And. i. 2. 17, 18 Dum tempus ad earn rem tulit, siui animum 
 ut explerei suom : Nunc hie dies dliam. uiiam adfert, alios mores postulat. 
 Talassio, Liu. i. 9 Vnam longe ante alias specie ac pulchritudine insig- 
 nem a globe Talasii cuiusdam raptam ferunt, muliisqm tcisciianiibus cuinam 
 eamferrent, identidem ne quis earn uiolaret Talasio ferri clarmtatwn; inde 
 nuptialem hanc u^cemfactam : and so Plutarch Q. R. 31 Aia xi 6 noXvBpvK- 
 XrjTQs aBerai TaXdaios iv tols ydfiois ; iroTcpov dtro r^j ToKatrtas ; Kal yap rbv 
 ToKapov TaKa<TOV ovofid^ovan' Kai ttjv vvp-^rjv ela-dyovTes, vaKos inrotTTpwvvvovuiv'' 
 avrf} 5* f t(r0epet p.ev rjKaKdrrjv Kai rrjv arpaKTov, ipl(o de rfjv 6vpav irepioTef^iL ToC 
 dvhpos. ^ TO Xeyofx^vov virb tS>v loToptKotv dkrjdes, on veavlas ^v Tts Xap.irpbs iv rots 
 TToXcfjLi.Ko'is Koi TaWa ;^/)j^o"T(Jff, ovofia TdKdatos , . . oBev evrvxovs ydp.ov yevo- 
 pAvov Koi Totff oKKois eWicrdrjaav i'TTLCJian/eiv rbv T!aKd(Tiov wtrirep "EXXi/vcs tov 
 'Yp.ivai.ov; A shorter form Talassus is found in the vocative Mart. xii. 42. 4, 
 and in Festus p. 359 M., another Talassio, onis in Festus s. u., Mart. i. 35. 
 6, 7, iii. 93. 25, xii. 95. 5. In the Catalecta iv. 9, v. 16 where the cry is 
 given as it was commonly uttered, it is doubtful whether Talassio is dative 
 or vocative. Livy and Plutarch seem to think it dative ; Festus and Martial 
 vocative. Rossbach connects Talassius with the other agricultural gods 
 associated with Italian marriage ceremonies, perhaps with Consus. Livy's 
 account proves that tradition connected the name with the primeval 
 custom of ravishing the bride. 
 
 128. Concubine, nuces da. The harsh rhythm, made up of three 
 words, the first of which has twice the number of syllables in the second, 
 and this twice as many as the third, is perhaps a relic of the original 
 Fescennines, which themselves were probably in Satumian metre. (Rossb. 
 Rom. Ehe p. 342.) 
 
 129. Sordebant, 'were of no account,' Virg. Eel. ii. 44 sordent tibi 
 munera nostra. uillicae, wives of uillici (Cato 143, Colum. xii. i, 
 luuen. xi. 69, Mart. i. 55. 11, ix. 60. 3, x. 48. 7), whom the favorite slave 
 would show his contempt for, not, I think, when they attempted to kiss 
 and pet him (Muretus), nor to assert his superiority over all his master's 
 establishment, in which the superintendents of the uillae would hold a 
 high position and their wives rank correspondingly (Pleitner), but as 
 too homely in their appearance and occupations to please his gentility or 
 give him any concern as rivals in his master's favour. In Martial's 
 time it was the custom to take young delicati who belonged to the town 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXL 183 
 
 establishment into the country (iii. 58. 2^^2 Exercel hilares/acilis hortus 
 urbanos, Et paedagogo non iubente lasciui Parere gaudent uillico capillati, Et 
 deb'caius operefruitur emiuchus) ; there they would come under the juris- 
 diction of the uillica ; and if disinclined to work, as too dainty or indolent, 
 would thus be placed in a situation such as Catullus may have had in view. 
 This would be equally possible if the master had no town house at all ; 
 but so distinct a word as uillicae is more likely to have been introduced 
 with the express intention of contrasting town-bred effeminacy with the 
 healthy manners of the country. 
 
 130. hodie atque heri, ' only yesterday,' like x^" to' jr/woi/i'. 
 
 131. ' Now the curler shaves your face,' you are no more young. 
 Mart. xi. 78-3 Flamfnea iexuntur sponsae, iam uirgo paratur. Tondebil 
 pueros iam noua nupta ttios. The word tmdei perhaps includes not only 
 the shaving of the first hair on the cheeks and chin (Anth. P. xii. 19 1. i Ohx. 
 
 f)(6i^ T'lCi.i fi<Tda Koi oiiK ovap ovros 6 iratyKov"ii\v6e ; iras avefirj toCto tA icujiaviov, 
 Koi rpi^l navT eKoKvyjre to. irpiv Ka\d; cf. Anth. P. xii. 30. I, 31. 3, 3g. 3, 
 
 174. 4, T95. 8, 26. 4, 27. 3) ; but the removal of the long locks habitually 
 worn by delicati, Anth. P. xii. 233. 3. 4, 192. i. Horace mentions both 
 together in this reference C. iv. 10. 2, 3. The cinerarius or ciniflo 
 curled the hair of women, sometimes of men (Asin, iii. 3. 37) with irons 
 heated in ashes. Varro L. L. v. 129 Calamisirum quod his calefactis in 
 cinere capillus ornaiur. Qui ea ministrabat a cinere cinerarius est appellatus. 
 Here he plays the part of a barber generally. Charisius loi K. and 
 Servius on Aen. iv. 698 explain cinerarius as a slave who prepared or 
 applied a yellow powder (perhaps a soap, Plin. xxviii. 191) to dye the 
 hair, quoting Cato's Origines (vii. fr. 9 lordan) Mulieres nostrae capillum 
 cinere unciilabant ut ruiilus esset, cf. Val. Max. ii. i, and grammatically this 
 is more probable than Varro's explanation, as cinerarius naturally means 
 the powder man, not the man who merely uses ashes for the ulterior object 
 of heating an iron. But Varro's authority on a point of contemporary 
 fashion is not to be gainsaid ; possibly the older sense passed into the 
 later. Cinerarius was the title of one of the plays of Afranius. 
 
 134. Diceris, future. te abstinere, a construction very common 
 in connexion with love. Turpilius Paedium (ap. Non. 40 Ribbeck 163) 
 Vt ille hac sese abstineret, ego supersederem nuptiis. Declam. in Salust. iii. 9 
 Facilius se mulieres a uiris absiinuerunt quam iu uir a uiris. Hec. i. 2. 64 
 Sese ilia abstinere ut potuerit. 
 
 135. Vnguentate and glabris are in relation to each other : the 
 meaning seems to be ' when they see you essenced and perfumed for your 
 wedding, they will say, So spruce a bridegroom will surely slip again into 
 his early habits, his former pleasures will not quite lose their attractive- 
 ness for such a dandy.' glabris, slaves who acquired an artificial 
 smoothness by the use of depilatories, perhaps an Etruscan introduction. 
 Athen. xii. 518 jroXu ye ixevrot xo^povcn a-vvSvres rots ttoktI koI to'is fwtpaKiots" 
 KOI yap ylvovrai nap' avTois nam KaXoi ras o\jfeis are Tpv<f>epS)S SuuTapievoi Kal 
 'Kcawoiuvoi ra (ratiiaTa. Phaedr. iv. g. 22 eunuchos glabros. In marite, 
 marito 140, marite 184, as also ualentem 227, the last syllable is hyper- 
 metrical and is elided before the first vowel of the following line. So XI. 
 19, 22. All these instances except the last seem to give the idea of 
 exuberance; in XI. 22 the elision of prati suggests the excision of the 
 flower on the edge of the meadow. 
 
184 A COMMENTARY 
 
 139. Pro Cael. xx. 48 Quando denique fuit ut quod licet, non liceret? 
 ■where Cicero speaks of mereiricii amores. Catullus probably means by 
 quae licent any connexion, however disreputable, which was not punishable 
 by law : he excludes adullerium incesium and stuprum with ingenui. 
 Plut. Q. R. 65 Aia tItt) vvii(f)rj Trparov ovK ivTvyxavit, fUTa (^toTof 6 dvrjp, dXXa 
 fita orKdruvSf t) dia^oKrj Tis ifjTiv atppobiffnav irapavop-av t6 yivop-tvov, las Koi Tois 
 voplpoLs alaxvvrjs tlvos Trpoa-ovoTjs ; 
 
 140. cogmta is chosen as a sexual word. Quid. Her. vi. 133 Tur- 
 piter ilia uirum cognouit adultera uirgo. 
 
 141. non eadem, ' not as before,' 'not equally.' Tusc. Disp. ii. 22. 52 
 Opinio est quaedam effeminaia ac leuis nee in dolore magis qtiam eadem in 
 uoluptate. 
 
 144. Vulp. quotes Mart. xii. 96. 5-8 Plus tibi quam. domino pueros 
 praesiare probabo. Hifaciunt, ui sisfemina sola uiro. Hi dant quod non uis 
 uxor dare. ' Do tamen ' inquis ' Ne uagus a thalamis coniugis erret amor ' 
 sqq. where Martial seems to have Catullus in view. This is not necessary : 
 Catullus more naturally refers to the obligations by which, in a state of 
 society when marriage had to be enforced by penalties and rewards, the 
 wife was in an especial degree bound to avoid everything which could be 
 a pretext for unfaithfulness. 
 
 146. ni is used very similarly in Lucr. iii. 286, and so niue Lucr. ii. 
 ^34 answers to ne in 731 : in Cato R. R. 143 ne — neue — neue — neue is 
 followed by ni — neue, if Schneider's text represents the MSS. That ni 
 (net) is only another form of ne is expressly stated by Donatus on Eun. 
 ii. 3. 36, Servius on Aen. iii. 686, Priscian 61. K, and is proved by 
 MSS. and Inscriptt. Ritschl (Rhein. Mus. for 1853 PP' 479-486) reject- 
 ing the hypothesis that ni ne are both abridged forms of nei, shows that the 
 S. C. de Baccanalibus, belonging to the sixth cent, a.v.c, has ne twenty 
 times for nei once ; ni does not occur. The seventh cent. Inscriptt. 
 show ne only rarely, ni and nei, especially the latter, very often ; in the 
 Lex lulia, at the beginning of the eighth, ne occurs forty or fifty times 
 for nei eight times, ni three ; and Ritschl concludes that ni or nei was the- 
 predominant form in the seventh cent., ne in the sixth and eighth. The 
 MSS. of Plautus still retain ni in Epid. iii. 2. 3, Most. ii. i. (>(>, iv. 2. 
 21, Pseud, ii. 2. 59. 
 
 149-158. In these two strophes Catullus expresses in his own way 
 the ceremony usual when the bride reached the door of her new home. 
 The husband asked ' What is your name ? ' she replied, ' Where you are 
 Caius, I am Caia ; ' words probably of great antiquity, and implying 
 her admission as mistress to the household in wliich her husband was 
 
 master, gttou <ru icvpios koL olKoSefrTTOTrjs, koX eya Kvpla koi otKodeairotva Plut. 
 Q.R.30. 
 
 149. potens, ' rich,' W. Wagner on Ter. Eun. ii. 3. 62. So Phaedr. i. 
 24. I Inops potentem dum uult imiiari peril ; Stat. S. i. 2. 158 Exuliat 
 uisu iectisque potentis alumnae, ii. 7. 56 Priami pokntis aurum. 
 
 150. uiri tiii suggest the first part of the formula ubi tu Caius, the 
 following lines the latter ibi ego Caia. 
 
 151. seruiat reminds the bride of her new importance as mistress of 
 all her husband's slaves : some allusion to this very prominent feature of 
 Roman life may have been part of the old tradition, which connected the 
 name Caia with Gala Caecilia, otherwise Tanaquil, the wife of Tarquinius 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXL 185 
 
 Priscus, quam summam asseuerant lanificam fuisse (Paulus D. s. u. Gaia 
 Caecilia). In the early legends the Roman matron is surrounded by her 
 maids spinning, and it was part of her duties to deal out to the female slaves 
 of her household the amount of wool (pensum) which each had to make 
 up by the end of the day. A distaff and spindle accompanied the bride, 
 and the distaff and spindle of Tanaquil were still preserved in the temple 
 of Sancusin the time of Varro (Plin. H. N. viii. 194). 
 
 152 153 interrupt the sentence ; the continuation of which in two suc- 
 cessive strophes perhaps conveys the idea of the continuity of married 
 life. Theocritus similarly interrupts a sentence by an interjected refrain, 
 ii. 103-105. 
 
 154. tremulum is explained by mouens, ' shaking into a tremor.' 
 
 155. anilLtas is not found elsewhere in good authors. tempus, a 
 singular rejected by Charisius but found in its strict sense of one of the 
 two temples in Virgil Silius Statins and others, is used more loosely by 
 Auct. ad Heren. iv. 55 duhitanti Graccho percutit tempus, and so here. 
 The hair of the eye-brows when white with age is particularly conspicuous, 
 hence canities and iempora are often combined, cf. troXioKpoTafpov yrjpai 
 Bacchyl. fr. 3. 2, and so Lucian Dial. Meretr. xi. 3. 
 
 156. ' Nods universal assent on all.' A good description of the effect 
 produced by the perpettial jerking of a very old woman's head. Prof. 
 Key (Language p. 60) following the Datanus reads amnuit-=abnuil, as 
 amnegaueril-=abnegauerit in Orelli Insc. 11 75, and translates 'Until 
 palsied Age deny to thee, as to all others in like case, every kind of 
 pleasure : ' a rather violent interpretation. Annuit after usque dum, 
 ' still on to the time when,' as in Asin. ii. 2. 62. (Holtze Synt. ii. 
 p. 129.) 
 
 159 sqq. With the halt at the husband's door begins a new division 
 of the poem, describing what takes place within the house up to the 
 moment when the bride having been placed on the lectus genialis, the 
 bridegroom is summoned to join her. Catullus makes no mention of the 
 ceremony which immediately preceded the lifting of the bride over her 
 husband's threshold, the anointing of the door-posts with the fat of pigs 
 (Plin. xxviii. 135), in earlier times of wolves (ib. 142, Seru. on Aen. iv. 
 458), and wreathing them with wool (Plut. Q. R. 31, Seru. u. s.) As this 
 rite was believed to be the origin of the word uxor (Donat. ad Hecyr. 
 i. 2. 60 uxor dicitur uel ab ungendis postibus et figenda lana, id est quod 
 cum puellae nubereni maritorum pastes ungebant ibiqtie lanam figebant, uel 
 quod lotos maritos ipsae ungebant, Seruius on Aen. iv. 458 uxores dictae sunt 
 quasi unxores, Isidor. Origg. ix. 8), it is noticeable that Catullus passes it 
 over. Perhaps it was too commonplace or too much associated with 
 commonplace obscenity. 
 
 159. The bride was lifted over the threshold of her husband's house 
 
 by those who formed her immediate escort (ot vpmefmovTes Plut. Q. R, 
 
 29), including, it would seem from Lucan ii. 358, 9 Turritaque premens 
 
 frontem matrona corona Tralata uetuit contingere limina planta, one or more 
 
 married women. Plutarch gives three reasons; Trorepov on rat npinas 
 
 yvvaiKas &pnd(TavTfS ovtws elirqveyKav, airai be ovk fl<Trj\dov ; rj Pov\oirrai SoKelv 
 €io-«W ^Laiofievas, ovx CKOva-as, ottov p.eX\ov(Ti §iaXuf ti/ ttjv irapdevlav ; rj avp^oXou 
 (an Tov fir)8e i^iivai hi avrrjt, firfhk KaTaXtnuv rrjv oiKtav fl fifj ^uurBfir), Kaddirep 
 
 KM fl<r^\de ^uurBeiaa ; Varro connected it with the sanctity of the threshold, 
 
186 A COMMENTARY 
 
 ne a sacrilegio incoharenl si depositurae uirginitatem calcent rem Veslae 
 (Seru. on Eel. viii. 29), Isidorus with the symbolical union or separation of 
 the married pair signified in the meeting or parting of the two valves of 
 the door (Origg. ix. 7). Another reason seems to have been the wish to 
 avoid the bad omen of a possible stumble (Quid. Met. x. 452), to which 
 Catullus perhaps alludes in amine cum bono. Rossbach is no doubt right in 
 tracing the rite to times when the bride was ravished and only entered 
 her husband's dwelling by force : it corresponds to the formal abduction 
 from her mother's bosom before the procession started. Transfer 
 limen. pedes, like Plautus' Sensim super atiolle limen pedes, noua nupta 
 Cas. iv. 4, I. 
 
 160. aureoles, from the colour of the shoes, cf. II. \i. 
 
 161. It might seem from Ovid's Cuslos in fore nullus erai (Fast. ii. 
 738) that /bnV sometimes =' door- way;' rasilem would then refer to the 
 polished floor of the door-way, in crossing which there would be a 
 greater chance of stumbling. On the more usual interpretation rasilem 
 refers to the polished material, wood or perhaps metal of some kind (fibula 
 rasilis auro Stat. Theb. vii. 658) of which the door, as part of the house of 
 a rich man, was composed ; but the use of the singular is strange on an 
 occasion when both valves would naturally be open. 
 
 164-173. On entering the atrium, the bride sees the nuptial supper, 
 and her husband reclining at it on a couch to which no other guest is 
 admitted. How he pores over the thought of her ; he must love her as 
 deeply as she loves him ; but the flame is deeper and more silent. 
 
 164. unus either (t) with accubans, ' reclining with no second near 
 him,' or (2) with the whole sentence, ' See how thy husband is the one 
 single guest who, while reclining on his couch as a banqueter, is not attend- 
 ing to the banquet but wholly absorbed in thee.' This, though grammatically 
 exact, lays too much on unus, and while extending its influence to the 
 whole, takes from its peculiar force as individually connected with accu- 
 bans; therefore (i) is preferable ; unus however is •a.o\.-=solus (Voss), but 
 in opposition to two, unus sine altero, and thus suggests that the husband 
 is waiting to be joined by this second, viz. the bride. 
 
 165. Tyrio, a proof of his wealth. Mart. xii. 17. 8. 
 
 166. immineat. Ouid. Met. i. 146 Imminet exitio uir coniugis, ilia 
 marili and so Sen. Hipp. 855 flelusque nostros spernil ac morii imminet. 
 Cul. 90 hue imminet : omnis Dirigit hue sensus: in all these the sense is 
 mainly, if not wholly, mental, ' is intent upon ; ' Arnobius adu. Gent. iii. 
 26 quoted by Stat, nisi uirginalia uincla iam feruentes dissoluerent atque 
 imminentes mariii applies the word to the fixed and menacing glances of 
 violent desire : and so Muretus and Stat. here. But though Catullus may 
 include an absorbed look, the notion of violence is alien to the passage, 
 and is not required by the usage of the word. It seems more probable 
 that immineat expresses bending or poring in thought over the absent 
 person whom, if present, the bridegroom would be actually bending or 
 poring over, as seen in the well-known picture, cf. luuen'. ii. 119, 120 
 Ingens Cena sedet gremio iacuit noua nupta mariii, and see on 171. 
 The cena nuplialis is here in the bridegroom's house, as in Plaut. Cure. 
 V. 3. 50, Cic. ad Q. Fratr. ii. 3. 7, Suet. Cal. 25. Elsewhere it is celebrated 
 in the bride's house before the domum deductio. (Rossb. Rom. Ehe pp. 
 325, 6). 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXL 187 
 
 170. uritur, as colours are said uri, and as a brand inuritur. 
 
 171. penite seems to be an. Xey. but was probably Plautine, cf. 
 
 peclore peniiissumo Cist. i. i. 65. The inwardness of the bridegroom's 
 
 love is inconsistent with any strong or violent expression in his features. 
 
 Quid. Heroid. 4. 19, 20 Venit amor grauius quo serius. Vrimur inlus, 
 
 Vrimur et caecum pector-a uolnus hahent. 
 
 173. After this verse a strophe seems to be lost, as the transition is 
 otherwise unusually abrupt. It perhaps described the bride's approach to 
 the marriage-chamber. 
 
 174. brachiolum in this sense seems an-. Xty. 
 
 175. Of the three boys who escorted the bride, (see on 15) one carried 
 a torch, the others supported her on each side; how then does Catullus 
 speak of only one? It would seem either (i) that one of them withdrew 
 on entering the husband's house, or at any rate that one only was per- 
 mitted to lead the bride to the marriage chamber, or (2) as Varro, quoted 
 by Servius on Aen. iv. 167 Aqua et igni mariti uxores accipiebant. Vnde 
 hodieque et faces praeluceni et aqua petita de puro fonte per puerum felicissi- 
 mum aut puellam interest nupitis, speaks of a single boy being employed to 
 bring in fresh spring-water, with which the bride's feet were then washed, 
 and there is nothing to prove that this was one of the three who had 
 escorted her in the procession, the praetextatus addressed by Catullus 
 may be this one. ks,felicissimus he would no doubt be patrimus et matri- 
 mus, the son of parents still living, but this would not necessarily identify 
 him with any of the other three. Praetextate is in relation both to 
 puellulae and uixi; the praetexta is the dress of boyhood and girlhood, 
 the symbol of innocence still under control (Q. Cic. de Pet. Cons. iii. 10 
 prope in parentum gremi't's praetextatos tt5eros, Snet Gramm. 16) ; the bride 
 is escorted by a praetextatus up to the door of the marriage-chamber but 
 not beyond, because she is still a virgin but a virgin who from that moment 
 passes into a wife ; henceforth she has to do with men, not with inuestes 
 but uesticipes (cf. Rossb. pp. 336, 7). pueUulae shows that Aurunculeia 
 was very young, perhaps little over the age of puberty, which began with 
 the twelfth year. (Rossb. p. 274.) 
 
 176. Most of the MSS. have adeant, ' let them, i. e. the bride with 
 her train of pronubae approach the couch of the husband.' Cf. Claudian 
 Rapt. Pros. ii. 562 Ducitur in thalamum uirgo : stat pronuba iuxta Stel- 
 lantes nox picta sinus, tangensque cubile Omina perpetuo genitalia foedere 
 sancit. But adeat the reading of G and is simpler and more effective, 
 as it places in juxtaposition, and thus in contrast, the three personalities 
 girl boy husband, and these only : adeant introduces a fourth, the pro- 
 nubae, and thus takes from the unity of the picture. uiri suggests by 
 contrast the yirginal couch hitherto occupied by the bride. 
 
 179. Addressed to the pronubae, matrons who had lived through 
 their married life with one husband, and thus auspicated the marriage 
 happily. Festus s. u. Pronubae, Seruius on Aen. iv. 166, Isid. Origg. 
 ix. 8. bonae feminae as in the verse of Ennius quoted by Donatus in 
 reference to marriage rites by Donatus on Hec. i. 2. 60 Exin Tarquinium 
 bona femina lauit et unxit. Such women were called uniuirae or unt- 
 cubae. 
 
 180. Cognita«, XCI. 3. bene. The MSS. have either berue or 
 breue, (see on 140). If breue is retained, it can only mean that the women 
 
188 A COMMENTARY 
 
 acting as pronubae had married old men and had enjoyed the pleasures 
 of married life for a shorter time than other women ; were therefore 
 selected as specially chaste. Possibly Paulus' gloss Proculos sunt qui 
 credant idea di'ctos quia pairibus senibus quasi procul progressis aetate nati 
 sunt, refers to the children of such marriages. 
 
 181. Collocate, 'lay out,' in the lectus genialis. Eun. iii. iv. 45 deinde 
 earn in lecto conlocarunt, where Donatus observes that the word was tech- 
 nical of the occasion (Passerat). 
 
 184-228. This is the last division of the poem ; it falls into three 
 sections 184-198, the summons to the bridegroom to join the bride, 
 ending with some words of encouragement to him; 199-223 the 
 Epithalamium proper, a song to the newly-wedded pair sung by 
 virgins outside the marriage-chamber; 224-228 a few words calling 
 upon the virgins to leave the lovers to themselves, with a final bene- 
 diction. 
 
 184. Pleitner thinks the words lam licet uenias, marite, as also 
 Bona ie Venus luuerit are parts of a regular form observed in Roman 
 marriages. 
 
 185. Nearly all the MSS. give est libi. Bentley to avoid the hiatus 
 before the first vowel of uxor changed this to tibi est, and so Dawes 
 Lachmann and Haiipt. Haupt observes (Quaestt. Catull. 24-27) that this 
 and 216 omnibus Et are the only cases where Catullus, who seems to 
 have followed Anacreon, allows the continuity of the glyconic rhythm to 
 be interrupted by a final syllable either short or in hiatu, the ten apparent 
 exceptions are not really such, as they all precede lo {O) Hymen Hymenaee 
 10. With regard to 216 the explanation suggested by Haupt and 
 adopted by Lachmann seems suificient ; omnibus is the last word of the 
 third line of the strophe, as are also all the other ten, and as Catullus 
 appears to have divided each strophe into two systems of 3 and 2 lines 
 respectively, the pause before the beginning of the second system 
 might justify there, if anywhere, a hiatus or a short syllable. This 
 does not account for est tibi, and I have admitted tibi est as more than 
 probable, the more so that it is the actual reading of one, and that 
 an unusually independent MS, and is pointed to by ubi est, the reading 
 of A and L. Yet the hiatus of tibi before Ore is less harsh than before 
 any other vowel, as the full sound of the blends with it more readily ; 
 just as, according to Gellius, N. A. vii. 20, Virgil actually altered Veseuo 
 Nola iugo to Veseua Ora iugo as melius suauiusque : and as Catullus him- 
 self writes illo purpureo ore from mere delight in the accumulation of 
 sounds. 
 
 186. floridiilo, 'like a fair flower.' The bride's complexion was 
 probably iJ,e\ix^a>pos, a sort of olive, now looking pale, now yellow or 
 like honey : hence the comparison to two flowers, and, if parthenice be 
 the fever-few, to a flower in which both colours are combined. 
 
 187. Parthenice is usually identified with parthenium or perdicium, 
 a sort -of chamomile or fever-few. Plin. xxi. 176 Parthenium alii leu- 
 canthes alii amaracum uocant, Celsus apud nos perdicium et muralem. Nasci- 
 iur in horiorum sepibus, flore albo, odore mali, sapore amaro. Dioscorides iii. 
 143 (155) describes the flower more exactly XeukA ki^kXo), to hi \i.kaov fa\^aiav, 
 of Nicand. Ther. 863. Catullus would then be speaking much in the 
 same way as any modern poet who should compare a bride to a daisy : 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXL 189 
 
 though he might have in his eye some species of parthenium, in which 
 the white petals were so much the larger part of the flower, as to conceal 
 or obscure the yellow centre. But from Plin. xxii. 41 and the Scholiast 
 on Nicander Ther. 537 it appears thzX parthenium was also a name for 
 helxine or convolvulus, and this, from the beauty of the shape and the 
 more perfect uniformity of its colour, as well as from its harmonizing 
 better with the luteum papauer to which the bride is also compared, may 
 be the flower. 
 
 188. papauer. Alex. Guarinus Robortello and Passerat think the 
 poppy alluded to is the erraticum flore rufo of Plin. H. N. xix. 169, the 
 poiat of Theophr. Hist. PI. ix. 14. Perhaps ^/a««a»z luteum, which has a 
 fine but not particularly elegant flower, is meant. Glaucea are mentioned 
 with poppies by Columella x. 104. See Daubeny Roman Husbandry p. 
 278. 
 
 189. ita me iuuent Caelites. See on 115. The exclamation ita vie 
 iuuent Caelites can scarcely come from any but an actual eye-witness : we 
 may suppose the poet present in the bridegroom's house, as before he 
 stands waiting for the appearance of the bride. 
 
 190. nihUo minus, not ' none the less that she is so fair,' which is 
 too nearly like prose, but ' not less at all than she,' as Cic. de Off. i. 2 1 . 
 7 2 Capessentibus rem publicam nihilo minus quam philosophis. 
 
 191. Vulp. quotes II. iv. 127 Oide aiBiv, Mci/t'Xaf, 5eoi liaKapfs XeXiidovro 
 * Addi/aTOt. 
 
 193. remorare, used by Plautus of the bride's delay Cas. iv. 
 
 3- 7- 
 
 195. lam uenis is a more natural sequence of thought than lam 
 uenis ? (Pleitner) ' you have not delayed long ; I see you are coming,' 
 than ' you have not delayed long ; what ? are you already on the way ? ' 
 We should have expected either two questions, or, what we have, two affir- 
 mations. Bona te Venus luuerit, ' may the grace of Venus help you 
 for making no secret of a gracious love.' Bona, as in Sis bonus ofelixque 
 tuis Eel. V. 65, Saepe cupido Huic mains esse solet, Cui bonus antefuit Prop, 
 ii. 18. 21, cf bona uenia, etc., but with an allusion to the bona Venus, bonus 
 amor of 44, 5, a gracious or worthy as opposed to an ungracious or illicit 
 love. 
 
 196. palam. We must suppose the door of the thalamus open; it 
 is shut in 224. 
 
 197. cupis capis. The similarity of sound adds to the efiect of 
 promptness produced by the mere juxtaposition of the two verbs, with 
 which cf. Ovid's Mars uidet hanc uisamque cupit potiiurque cupita Fast. iii. 
 21 ; caeduntque caduntque Sil. xii. 385. cupis, cupis the reading of the 
 Oxford MS. (0) is not impossible: cf. Enn. Phoenix i. Vahlen Siultiist 
 qui cupita cupienter cupit, and the Lucretian juxtaposition quae ueniunt, 
 ueniant iv. 723. 
 
 199. Pind. 01. 2. fin. 'i'd/ifior dpi6n6v 7r€pme(j>fvyfV 'EKelms oaa -j^apfiaT 
 aWois cBrjKfV Ti'r tai (ppdam IvvatTO ; Callim. H. Dian. 253 1rap.d6a laov. 
 Africei. VII. 3. Anth. P. xii. 145. 3, 4 'lo-oi/ eVi ■^a^apj)v avrXeXv SiKa, Kairo 
 At^vaarjs 'I'djufiou apiBiiTfrifV dpTiaaai ■^eKaSa. 
 
 200. Siderum, VII. 7. 
 
 201. Subducat prius qui uolt is unusual: uelii is not only the 
 natural sequence, but is actually found in the parallel instance G. ii. 105. 
 
190 A COMMENTARY 
 
 Ovid, with whom it is a recurring formula, generally uses either a fut. 
 in the protasis, followed by a subj. in the apodosis citius numerabis . . . 
 quam statuatur summa (Pont. ii. 7. 23-29), citius erit . . habebit . . uincet . . 
 quam ueniant (ib. ii. 4. 25-29), or two subjunctives as Trist. v. 2. 28 qtiae 
 si comprendere coner, Icariae numerum dicere comr aquae. A passage 
 nearer Catullus than these is Trist. v. 6. 43, 4 His qui contmtus non est 
 in litus arenas, In segetem spicas, in mare fundat aquas, but bere/undat is 
 imperative, not like subducai a strict subjunctive, and the indie, est pre- 
 cedes not, as uolt, follows the subjunctive, 
 
 203. multa milia, which in XVI. 12 is joined with basiorum, is 
 here followed by ludei as a collective noun Yiksfrumenti Hor. S. i. x. 45, 
 scripti OniA.Vont. iv. 16. 24, wzem^rz Asin. iv. i. 41 ; Lucretius hasnumerus 
 corporis i. 436. ludei like lusus Prop. i. 10. 9. 
 
 204. Ludite ut lutoet. Phorm. ii. 2. 33 postilla iam ut lubet ludas 
 licet : the words seem to belong to everyday life, slightly deflected. Cf. 
 naiCecv Xen. Symp. ix. 2. 
 
 207. indidem, i.e. indidem unde oritur Cist. i. i. 64, 'from the same 
 stock.' 
 
 208. The subject to ingenerari is Nomen ; less probably ingenerari 
 is impersonal, ' that engendering should be made from the same stock 
 continually.' The idea is expressed in its physical relation by Lucr. 
 iv. 1220-1222. 
 
 209-218. The bride on her marriage-day, probably when she first 
 reached the lectus genialis, prayed for the good-will of her husband's 
 genius (Arnob. ii. 67) ; we may perhaps be supposed to hear in this 
 strophe and the two following the form such prayers would usually take, 
 uolo being an actual reminiscence of the beginning of the prayer (cf. 
 Rossb. Rom. Ehe' p. 369). 
 
 209. uolo, with a bare subjunctive, is here used not in its mt)St com- 
 mon sense 'I should like' (see the instances from Plautus and Terence in 
 Holtze Synt. ii. 166), but as an optative formida. Pers. ii. 4. 23 Amicus 
 sum, eueniant uolo tibi quae optas. paruulus, ' a baby.' Virgil Aen. iv. 
 328-9 seems to imitate Catullus. The passage is extraordinarily modern. 
 
 210. Alex. Guarinus observes that matris may be the nurse, as in 
 Menaechm. Prol. 19-21 mater sua Non internosse posset, quae mammam 
 dabai, Neque adeo mater ipsa quae illos pepeperat. But this is scarcely con- 
 sistent with pair em in 212, or with the repetition in inverse -order of 
 patri, matris in the next strophe, or the double matre matre in 220, 
 222 ; the two words are throughout in relation, and the same relation, 
 to each other. Besides, the fondness for connecting the ideas of mother 
 and child which has so long marked the Italians, and so greatly influenced 
 their art and religion, can hardly have been strange to the Romans, how- ■ 
 ever few traces of it survive in their literature. 
 
 212. Dulce is more subjective than objective : it is the father's 
 pleasure at the preference which his child shows him by stretching out his 
 hands, rather than the softness of the smile itself. So Lucr. iv. 1253 
 parlu possent ditescere dulci. rldeat ad patrem, ' send a smile towards 
 his father,' as if expecting a smile in return, Virg. E. iv. 61-3. 
 
 213. semihiante like semihominis the reading of all Ribbeck's MSS. 
 in Aen. viii. 194, semihorae Pro Rabir. ii. 6, semihiulco Gell. xix. 11.4, semi- 
 hiantibus K'^vX. Flor. ii. 15 against semiulco of Macrob. S. ii. 2. \'\,semianti 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXL 191 
 
 Apul. Met. V. 1 8. labello Apul. Flor. ii. 15 Canlicum ore tereli, semi- 
 hiantibus in conatu labellis diquare (Marcilius). 
 
 214-221. Hesiod makes it a sign of happiness in a state when ilKTovaiv 
 
 yvvalKts ioiK&ra rixva -yo«i)<rivE. 2 35 : cf. Theocr. xvii. 44,63, Hor. C. iv. 5.23. 
 
 214. similis patri. The passages quoted by Holtze (Synt. i. 336) 
 show that the genitive was used by Plautus and Terence habitually of 
 similar appearance : and so Mulier ferebat filium similem sui Inscriptt. 
 Pomp. 1877. Cicero also prefers the genitive in this sense (Madvig on 
 Fin. V. 5. 12). Lucretius iv. 12 11, 12 combines genitive and dative with 
 little if any difference, see Munro. In the Augustan writers the dative 
 with similis almost wholly supplanted the genitive (Madvig u. s.) ; Cicero 
 would thus represent the more ancient, Catullus the newer, and, as Ritschl 
 suggests Opusc. ii. p. 581, the more exalted and poetical style. 
 
 215. inscieis, according to its ordinary usage, would mean ' without 
 their knowing it,' 'unconsciously.' Catullus seems to use it here as =' with- 
 out their knowing him,' nearly i. q. alienis. The MSS. have insciens, and so 
 Pleitner, 'without his knowing it,' as in And. iv. 4. 43, Haut. iv. i. 19, 
 V. 2. 17 : the picture is thus very well defined; the boy described in this 
 strophe as the babe in the former, the adulescens in the following, when he 
 passes in the street is easily recognized by every one who meets him, 
 but is himself perfectly unconscious of the fact; an innocence which 
 forms an integral part of their perception. 
 
 216. Noscitetur. Caelius in Antonium (Quintil. iv. 2. 124) Quarum 
 cum omnium uocem tadumque noscitaret, proximae cuiusque collum amplexu 
 petebat. Liu. xxii. d facie quoque noscitans consulem. 
 
 217. Mart. vi. 27. 3, 4 Est tibi quae patria signatur imagine uulius 
 Testis maternae nata pudiciliae. suae is emphatic, ' a mother truly 
 his own,' perhaps with some notion of the son repeating the mother's 
 features, as the daughter the father's, Lucr. iv. 1226. 
 
 218-222 passes to the child as adulescens : ' May he show himself 
 as good as was Telemachus, as clearly the noble son of his mother as 
 Telemachus was of Penelope.' As before the physical, so here the 
 moral, likeness is dwelt upon. Catullus can hardly mean ' let the fame 
 of his mother's chastity make him well-known simply as her child ' (Alex. 
 Guarinus) though this suits well with U7iica. 
 
 219. approbet, ' establish.' Suet. Aug. 46 iis qui e plebe sibi filios 
 filiasue approbarent. unica, 'singular,' 'unmatched,' quite an old 
 
 usage, e.g. sagaci corde aique ingenio unico Afran. Brundisinae fr. i 
 Ribbeckcf. XXIX. 11. 
 
 222. Telemacho manet Penelopeo. Quid. Trist. v. 14. 35, 6 
 Adspicis ut longo maneat laudabilis aeuo Nomen inexsiinctum Penelopea 
 fides? Catullus is true to the Homeric idea of Telemachus : he is more 
 the child of Penelope than of Odysseus, as was natural in the long ab- 
 sence of his father. Cf. Od. i. 2 1 5-2 20 where Telemachus speaks doubt- 
 fully of his father, and is answered by Athene (222, 3) oJ lih rot ycw^i- ye 
 
 Seoi vam/ivov oiriava efJKav, enei (re ye toIov iyeivaToHriveKdneia. The Strong 
 
 word Penelopeo sums up the three strophes 209-222 in a name which 
 expresses their central idea, the wife's chastity. The best MSS. have 
 Penelopeo, and the form in may have been used by Catullus, as he seems 
 to have written Beronice in LXVI. The Etym. M. mentions Menolaus 
 and Menoptolemus as variations on the usual forms with e, s. u. 65. 
 
192 A COMMENTARY 
 
 223. If we suppose the poet to be speaking in the poem throughout, 
 his personality reappears here. So Alex. Guarinus and Doering, the 
 latter of whom supposes him to act the part of a precentor. It is perhaps 
 more probable that one of the chorus, probably the leader (Conr. de 
 Allio), addresses the rest of the company (so Pleitner). Lusimus will 
 then be a strict plural, referring to the song just ended, the Epithalamium 
 proper 199-222. ostia, with a singular meaning, hardly belongs to 
 the age of Catullus. Varro uses it as a. strict plural R. R. i. 51. i. 
 
 224. Lusimus, here of singing a festive song, see on L. 2. At, 
 resumptive. bonei . . . bene, see on 195. 
 
 225. bene uiuiie, ' good-luck to you,' an expression of good-will 
 at leaving them, as Sappho fr. 103 ;^aipoio-a vi^a, xaiperm 8' 6 yaii^p6s, ib. 
 105 X"'/"^ viiJ.tj>a Xaipi, rlfiie yap0pe, iroXKa. Theocr. xviii. 49 Xai'poi;, & 
 vipffja, ;(aipots eiirivBepe yap.Ppe. Tib. iii. 5- 3 1 Vivii^ felices . 
 
 226. Munere for ' married duty,' is very harsh, even if the MS. 
 reading assidue be changed to assiduo. Catullus says above of Hymen 
 42 & citarier ad suum munus, but the absence of a pronoun, or at least 
 an epithet, makes munere hardly comparable with that. Cf. however 
 Petron. S. 87 where munus seems i. q. devoir. Possibly Virgil alludes 
 to this meaning in quo munere G. iv. 520 'by which display of marital 
 duty.' 
 
 LXII. 
 
 There is no reason to suppose that this Hymeneal was written for the 
 same occasion as the preceding, the marriage of Mallius and lunia. 
 Neither the allusions nor the language are specially Roman, with the 
 exception perhaps of 58 ; whilst the / "grgZ-oL-the— pnem. an^amoehean 
 song equally distributed between a number of youths andTiiaidens,4S 
 obviously taken from Greek models, Theocritus, ^perhaps Sappho. Thgo- 
 criius-injdeed.haa^upplied.Ca.tullus~with-,oxie,of~the most marked features 
 of the,,poem,.the iteration in_59-64 of the same^woxd. as. in the Epi- 
 thalamium of Helen 49-54: hutJjii&xuxurs_ai§aiii.a fragment of Sapphe^s 
 Epithalamia 93 : arid he .seems ,to,.haye,had,botb poets before him. If 
 mdeed we follow the natural suggestion of i, 7 in which Olympus and 
 Oeta are mentioned successively, the scene is Greek, and the whole poem 
 purely ideal. 
 
 The situation seems to be as follows : A banquet has been given 
 in the ^bridegroom's house, in anticipation of the anival of the bride. 
 A hymeneal is to be sung by a company of youths and maidens alter- 
 nately, as soon as she appears. The youths recline at one table, the 
 maidens at another. The evening- star is suddenly seen by the youths- 
 rising over the ridge of Olympus, arid is the signal for rising from table. 
 One of them addresses the others to that effect in 1-4, and all sing the 
 refrain Hymen — Hymenaee (5). The sudden rising of the youths and 
 their joint song cause the maidens to rise similarly ; one of them addresses 
 the rest to that effect, and then they sing in chorus the sarne refrain as the 
 youths Hym^n — Hymenaee (10). A pause ensues, during which the bride 
 may be supposed to be approaching or perhaps entering the house, and 
 in which the youths (apparently in two hemichoria) speak (a) of the visible 
 labour of the maidens in recalling their forthcoming song, {b) the necessity 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXII. 193 
 
 of careful attention on their own part if they are to secure victory (i 1-19). 
 Then begins the amoebean song proper, 20-58, consisting of 3 strophes 
 sung by the maidens, 3 antistrophes by the youths ; these are general, 
 speaking first of the evening-star, his cruelty or kindness, his unwel- 
 comeness or welcomeness; secondly, of women, their virginal and their 
 married state; the maidens in each case representing the dark side of 
 marriage, the youths the brighter (Pleitner). In 59 the bride is for the 
 first time individually addressed, not by the maidens either with or without 
 the youths, but by the youths alone, as is clear (i) from the omission of the 
 refrain Hymen — Hymenaee after 58, which shows that the youths go on to 
 E( iu ne pugna without any interruption ; (2) from the agreement of the 
 address in tone with the sentiments of the youths throughout, as well as 
 in the peculiar repetition of words which characterizes this and the 
 previous isolated speech of the youths (11-19) before the amoebean 
 song begins. 
 
 1. Vesper, the name of Venus when an evening star. Plin. H. N, 
 u. 36 Infra solem ambit ingens sidus appellalum Veneris, alterno meaiu 
 uagum ipsisque cognominibus aemulum solis ac lunae. Praeueniens quippe 
 et ante matutinum exoriens luciferi nomen accipit ut sol alter diemque matur- 
 ans, contra ab occasu refulgens nuncupatur Vesper, utprorogans lucem mcemque 
 lunae reddens. Varro L. L. vi. 6 says its evening name was Vesperugo, its 
 morning iubar. Olympo. Mr. Tozer, in a letter to me, says, ' There 
 is no part of the plain of Thessaly from which Olympus and Oeta can 
 be seen in the same view : because the line of Othrys intervenes. They 
 can be seen together from three positions, viz. the ridge of Othrys, the 
 summit of Pelion, and the Northern heights of Euboea : but I doubt 
 whether Catullus knew this, and if he did, whether he could choose such 
 a position for the scene of his poem. Anyhow, it seems to me impossible 
 that from any point of view these two mountains should appear in the west.' 
 Catullus speaks as a poet ; ignoring or ignorant of the geographical diffi- 
 culty. It would be enough for him that the two names Oeta and Olympus 
 were both Thessalian, possibly both connected by poetry or tradition with 
 the appearance of the evening star. If Olympo \it\t-=caelo Catullus was 
 guilty of the artistic defect of combining an actual mountain in 7 with a 
 nominal mountain in i . This seems to outweigh the fact stated by Varro 
 L. L. vii. 20 that the Greeks often use Olympus for the sky, Soph. Aj. 
 1389, Apoll. R. iii. 1357 where the Schol. observes !SKv^mov etmv ofiolas 
 Tols vcwTepoK t6v ovpavov, and that the Romans from Ennius onwards (Ann. 
 158 Vahlen) imitate them in this use. Virgil's imitation E. vi. 86 Inm'to 
 
 processit Vesper Olympo leaves the question doubtful ; but there also Servius 
 seems to interpret Olympo of the mountain. Olympo, ' from Olympus,' 
 see Drager Synt. p. 457. The simple abl. follows tollit as it follows sur- 
 gere Non. 397. 
 
 2. Expectata .... uix tandem. Anth. P. v. 223. 5 vuiera lidyis 
 
 •Ko6iovTL (jiavfitrav, 
 
 4. dicetur before Hymenaeus, as auctus hymenaeo LXVI. 1 1, despexit 
 hymenaeos LXIV. 20. In C. 6 exigitur unica amicitia the reading is 
 doubtful. 
 
 6. Mr. Mowat's conjecture consurgere contra, though less lively than 
 the usually accepted consurgite contra, is not only palaeographicalljr 
 
 o 
 
194 A COMMENTARY 
 
 ingenious but agrees very well with Nimirum in 7, which is then, as )t 
 should be, more decidedly ironical. ' Virgins, do you see the youths ri'se 
 to their feet opposite ? No doubt the star that brings night is showing 
 his fires over Oeta.' From the same assumed disparagement of marriage 
 and its preliminaries, the virgins perhaps use Nociifer (Calp. v. 120 Et 
 tarn solefugato Frigidus aesttvas impellit Noctifer koras), not Hesperus or 
 Vesper (Pleitner). 
 
 7. Oetaeos. As the youths had looked towards Olympus, so the virgins 
 look towards Oeta, as the rising-place of the evening-star. Servius on 
 Eel. viii. 30 {Oeta mons Thessaliae, in quo Hercules exustus est uolens, et post 
 in caelum receptus est. De hoc monte stellae uidentur occidere, sicut de Ida 
 nasci . . . . In eodem monte Hesperus coli dicitur , qui Hymenaeum. speciosum 
 puerum amasse dicitur) connects Oeta with an actual worship of Hesperus, 
 apparently also with Hymenaeus. It seems probable that the connexion 
 arose from some natural, perhaps atmospherical, circumstance about 
 Oeta like those mentioned by Lucr. v. 663, Mel. i. 94, 95, about the 
 Phrygian Ida. Servius represents the two ideas, that of Oeta as the set- 
 ting-point, that of Ida as the rising-point of constellations, as correlative ; 
 and if they were, the origin of the idea was probably nautic-al, and the 
 starting-ground of both observations the Aegean. But in the Roman 
 poets Oeta is recurringly the place where constellations rise ; the evening- 
 star here, Virg. Eel. viii. 30, Cul. 203, Stat. S. v. 4. 8, the sun Sen. H. 
 F. 133, H. O. 861-2, the morning Cir. 350. 
 
 8. Sic eerte est, 'Be sure it is so.' LXXX. 7. 
 
 8. canent quod uisere par est, 'they will sing something we may 
 well give an eye to,' ' something worth looking at.' Visere of looking at 
 a soimd ktvttov hibopua Aesch. Theb. 103, cf x"/* °P9 " Sp""''/*"" Theb. 
 Sgo. Conversely Pratinas fr. i. 17 Bergk a/toue rav ijmv &.mpiov xop^'""- 
 If Bentley had remembered this verse of Catullus he would not have 
 referred mirahileuisu Caelatumq-ue nouem Musis opus Hor. Epist. ii. 2. 91 
 to a temple, instead of a poem. par est. Attius Armorum ludicium 
 152 Ribb. Huius me diuidia cogit plus quam est par loqui. Hor. Ep. i. 
 15- 25. 
 
 12. secum with requaerunt, ' are inwardly recalling their studied 
 song.' Doering quotes Plin. Paneg. 3 gratiorem existimari qui delubris 
 eorum puram castamque mentem quam qui meditatum carmen intulerit. 
 Requaerunt as iniacta LXIV. 153. 
 
 13. meditantur, ' their study is not in vain,' a general present, inclu- 
 ding the previous stud/ of, and the present labour in recalling, their song. 
 memorabile quod sit, ' worth speaking of,' d^ioii.vr)ij,6pevTov ; not simply 
 'fit for utterance,' as in Cure. i. i. 8. 
 
 14. This line is found in the Thuanaean Anthology only ; it occurs in 
 none of the other MSS. As all of these are traceable to one very imper- 
 fect original, no weight can be laid upon their omission. The hne is a 
 good one in itself; is not unlike Catullus in language or rhythm ; and 
 divides the strophe into two equal parts. laborant, of course allu- 
 sively, of mental travail (Hor. C. iii. 22. 2); the change to labor ent 
 (Voss) is unnecessary and weak : see on XLIV. 2r. 
 
 15. diuisimus is supported by Virgil's animum nunc hue celerem, nunc 
 diuidit illuc Aen. iv. 285. Cf. Trach. 272 t6t SKKotf airov o/xiia fi&ripa 
 he vovv''ExovTa. One MS, gives dimisimus, and dimisimm is conjectured 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXIL 195 
 
 independently by Pleitner, who compares Ouid. Met. iii. 381 aciem partes 
 dimisit in omnes, ib. viii. 188. But the meaning is obviously ' we have let 
 our minds diverge one way, our ears another,' i. e. while professing to 
 think over our song have really been listening to something else ; not 
 'we have let both our minds and ears drift in another direction than 
 the task before us,' which would weaken the force of the second alio, 
 though on other grounds this interpretation of alio — alio is possible, cf. 
 And. i. 2. 18, and is maintained by Turnebus Aduers. xxix. 21. 
 
 16. amat mctoria curam looks like a proverb. Soph. fr. 364 Nauck 
 
 OvToi TToff a^fi rS>v aKpav av^v ttovov. 
 
 17. saltern, your thoughts if not your voices. committite, ' match 
 with theirs,' often of gladiators matched in pairs, cf. Juuen. i. 162, vi. 436. 
 The Thuanaean MS. has conuertile, either ' bid your thoughts turn round, 
 recall them from where they have been straying,' as in De Nat. Deor. i. 
 27.77 animos imperitorum ad deorum cultuma viiae prauitate comterterent, 
 or simply ' turn your thoughts, if that is all you can do {saltern), in that 
 direction,' viz. towards attaining victory. 
 
 20. fertur. Germanicus Prognost. 41 Breyssig has Cythereius ignis 
 Fertur oiNtxm.%. crudelior. Theocr. viii. 91. 
 
 21. auellere, another allusion to the rape of the bride, see on LXI. 
 58. possis, ' can endure.' Passerat compares Aen. ix. 482 potuisli 
 linquere solam Crudelis ? 
 
 22. retiuentem, ' as she clings to it,' viz. to her mother's embrace. 
 
 23. ardenti, tht/ero iuueni of LXI. 56. 
 
 24. urbe. The horrors of a town under sack are stock illustrations of 
 cruelty. Sallust. de Re Publica ii. 3 tamquam urbe capta libidine ac licentia 
 sua pro legibus utuntur. Aen. ii. 746 Aut quid in euersa uidi crudelius 
 urbe ? Prop. iv. 8. 55 Fulminat ilia oculis ei quantum femina saeuit. Spec- 
 taclum capta nee minus urbefuit. They are all perhaps traceable to Homer 
 
 II. ix. 592 Sqq. KijSe' &a' avBpanouTi TTf'Xei Tmv aorv oXwj. "AvBpas fieu 
 KrelvavtTi, irdXiv de re Trvp ap,advi/€L, TeKva Sc r akXot dyovin, ^aSv^avovs re yvvoLKas 
 (Vulp.). 
 
 26. iOCUndior. ApoU. Rhod. i. 775-780 'Aorepi . . "Ov pa re vriyaT€rj(Tt,v 
 f€py6fx€fat KoKv^ijfTiv Nv/z(^ai drjTjaavTO 86pMU imep dureWovra, Kai (T<pLai Kvaveoio 
 dt rj£pos Sp,paTa BeKyei KdK()V ep€v66fi€Vos, ydwrai de re rjiBeoio Hapdevos IfifipoviTa 
 fier dWoSaTToTaiv eovros Avdpatriv, (o Kai piv fivrj^Trju Kopeovtri TOKrjes* 
 
 27. ' Spondet puellae paler, despondet adulescentis,' Donatus on Andr. 
 i. I. 75, a remark which he repeats on Ad. iv. 7. 16. Catullus may be 
 speaking technically, though the words are often used without such dis- 
 tinction; e. g. Varro L. L. vi. 70, 71 seems to show that both spondere and 
 despondere were used of the bride's father, qui spoponderat filiam despondisse 
 dicebatur, quod de sponte eius id est de uolunlate exierat. 
 
 28. Quae Thuan. Quod {quo most MSS.), 'whatever,' gives rather 
 more liveliness, but does not accord quite so well with iunxere. pepi- 
 gere . . . pepigerunt is very unusual, but we need not with Muretus 
 suspect the verse. Similarly Martial Ep. i. 103. 4 Riserunt faciles ei 
 tribtiere dei. Lucilius ap. Gell. N. A. xvi. 9 Susque omnia deque fuerunt 
 Susque haec deque fuere, inquam. These passages, like Orat. xlvii. 157, 
 prove that the ancient theory of -re representing a dual had little corres- 
 ponding to it in the actual feeling of the language (Quintil. i. 5. 44, 
 Serv. on Aen, ii. i). parentes. Gellius N. A. iv. i quotes from 
 
 a 
 
196 A COMMENTARY 
 
 Servius Sulpicius the forjn of sponsalia usual in Latium {ea parte Italiae 
 quae Latium appellatur) up to the Lex lulia B.C. 90 Qui uxorem ducturus 
 erat, ab eo unde ducenda erat stipulabatur earn in mairimonium daturum ; 
 \ducturn\ iri qui ducturus erat itidem spondebat. Is contractus stipulaiionum 
 sponsionumque dicelatur Sponsalia. Turn quae promissa erat sponsa appella- 
 batur, qui spoponderat ducturum, sponsus. From this passage it would seem 
 that the father of the bride first (ante) entered into a contract with the 
 suitor to give him his daughter in marriage; then that the suitor engaged 
 to marry her. On this view parentes, like uiri, is a general plural, ' the 
 husband,' 'the father,' like patres natosque Aen. ii. 579, soceros, pactas x. 
 79, (Drager Synt. p. 8). It is perhaps more natural to explain /ar^^/M 
 of the fathers on either side, the pater adulescentis and the pater puellae (see 
 on 27) : ante will still refer to pepigerunt alone. 
 
 29. iunxere, like iungere taedas, feeder a, etc. : in LXXVIII. 3 iungit 
 amores is used of the person who brings lovers together. If Quod be kept 
 in 28, z'K«Avr«=' closed by union.' prius. Plin. H. N. ii. 38 Huius 
 natura cuncta generantur in terris. Namque in alterutro exortu geniiali 
 rore conspergens non terrae modo conceptus implet, uerum animantum quoque 
 omnium stimulat. se tuus extuUt ardor, a beautiful collocation. Virgil 
 imitates this Aen. viii. 591 Lucifer . . . Extulit os sacrum caelo. 
 
 30. optatius, ' more desirable,' often in Cicero. 
 
 32. The only line of this strophe which seems to have survived. The 
 general purport of it must have been a renewed attack on Hesperus as the 
 foe of virginity, the thief who takes the maiden from her companions. 
 As the youths allude to the double character of Hesperus as a morning 
 and evening star, it is not unlikely that this also formed part of the vir- 
 gins' song. 
 
 32. aequalis. Thuan. here, and all the MSS. in 1 1, no doubt rightly. 
 In both places aequalis =irfKiKfs, Thesmoph. 1030, Find. P. 3. 19. 
 
 33. 'Who is more the lover's friend than Hesper? At his approach 
 the watch must be set, for he ushers in night, the kind concealer of love's 
 stolen delights. It is true the virgins pretend to hate him ; but they only 
 do this to conceal their real fondness.' uigilat custodia semper, 
 perhaps with a reference to watch-dogs, which are often mentioned in 
 this connexion Ouid. Trist. ii. 459, Tib. i. 6. 32, cf. Varro L. L. vii. 32 
 Canes . . . quod ea uoce indicant noctu quae latent, latratus appellatus. But 
 Tib. i. 6. 10 and iv. 6. 11 Nee possit cupidos uigilans deprendere custos, an 
 imitation of Catullus, Ouid. Am. i. 6. 7, point to a less special interpreta- 
 tion, viz. the person (Ouid. Am. iii. 4. i) or persons employed by the 
 master of the house to keep a look out. uigilat, ' is awake.' 
 
 34. Nocte latent fures. According to the ridiculous etymology of 
 Catullus' contemporary Varro/«r was derived ixorafuruus, becausey^wrw 
 per noctem quae aira sit facilius furentur (Gell. i. 18. 4), cf. Non. 50, 
 who quotes Hom. II. iii. 11 KXeirTji de re vvkt6s afieivto. Both the Greeks 
 and Romans associate the ideas of theft and stolen, especially adulterous, 
 love. So (jiaipios evva Theocr. xxvii. 68, KkiirTfivyafiov xxii. 151, Tib. i. 5. 
 7, i. 9. 55, Prop. ii. 32. 17, iii. 8. 39, Ouid. Trist. ii. 461, Am. iii. 4. 25. 
 So Shakspere Antony and Cleopatra ii. 6 Here they might take two-thieves 
 hissing. idem, ' whom, when often thou returnest the same star, 
 Hesper, still, though thy name be changed, thou surprisest the same 
 thieves of love still.' idem, according to the mistaken idea, that the 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXIL 197 
 
 evening-star was at the same time and on the same day the morning- 
 star, a natural confusion caused by the fact that Venus is seen at 
 different times both at sunset and dawn. Plat. Epinomis 987 quoted 
 
 by Passerat o fiev yap ia<T(j>6pos ecTTTfpdr re i>v avTOS 'AcfipoSirrjs flvai (Tffehbv 
 eX" Xo'yoi/. Cramer Anec. Ox. 413. 16 6 be airbs ia(r(l)6pos Koi ea-ircpof 
 KaiToi ye to 7ra\ai6v aXKos eSSxei dvai 6 ia>u(f>6pos Koi nXAos 6 cairepos' npSyros 
 fie "IjivKOs 6 'Frjylvos avvryyaye ras npacrr]yopias. Saepe, ' time after time,' aS 
 
 in magno inpopulo cUm saepe coorta est Seditio Aen. i. 148. reuerteus, a 
 
 common idea : Callim. fr. 52 Airoi pAv <^CKkov(T ahroi 8/ re ite^plKadw, ^EiTTrepiov 
 <f>i.\eov(Tiv, drop (TTvyeoviriv 'Emov. Meleager in Anth. p. xii. 114 'Hour SyyeXe 
 Xaipe, 0aea<^ope, Kal raxvs f\6ois"'Ea-wfpos, rjv cmayw \d6pios aS6i.s &yav. Cinna 
 
 fr. Smyrna quoted by Seruius on Geor. i. 288 Te maiutinus flentem conspexil 
 Eous Et flentem paulo uidit post Hesperus idem. Ciris 3,51 Quevi pauidae 
 alternis fugitant optantque puellae, Hesperium uitant, optant ardescere solem '. 
 Manil. i. 177 Nee maiutinis fulgeret Lucifer horis Hesperus immerso 
 dederat qui lumen Olympo. Carmen de Maecenate 129-132 Quaesiuere 
 chori iuuenem sic Hesperon ilium, Quem nexum medio soluit in igne Venus. 
 Quem nunc infuscis placida sub node nitentem Luctferwn contra currere 
 cernis equis. Sen. Ag. 819-821 Retulit pedem nomen alternis Stella quae 
 mutat, seque mirata est Hesperum did. Hipp. 749-752 Qualis est primas 
 referens tenebras Nuntius nodis, modo lotus undis Hesperus, pulsis iterum 
 ienebris Lucifer idem. Lucan ap. Lutatium ad Stat. Theb. ix. 424 Luci- 
 ferum ter iusserat Hesperon esse. Stat. Theb. vi. 238-241 Rosida iam nouies 
 caelo dimiserat astra Lucifer et totidem Lunae praeuenerat ignes Mutato 
 nodurnus equo, nee consciafallit Sidera et alterno deprenditur unus in ortu. 
 Tennyson In Memoriam cxx Sweet Hesper-Phosphor, double naTne For 
 what is one, the first, the last. Thou, like my present and my past. Thy place 
 is changed ; thou art the same. 
 
 35. eosdem after idem as in luu. vii. 153 eadem cantabit uersibus 
 isdem. Eous, the conjecture of Schrader, is clever but weak. 
 
 37. Qviid turn refers to and is explained by si carpunt, ' what, if 
 they do rail?' like Eel. x. 38 Quid turn sifuscus Amyntas ? requirunt, 
 ' look for longingly,' both here and in VIIL 13 of an absent object, and so 
 De Sen. x. 33 cum absit ne requiras. 
 
 39-58. One of the most frequently imitated passages in Catullus. It 
 has been paraphrased by Ariosto (i. 42), and closely translated by Ben 
 Jonson (The Barriers). More lately Browning has transfused it, The 
 Ring and the Book iii. 233-240. 
 
 30. septis, 'inclosed,' as Ovid says of guarding women Cingenda 
 est altis sepibus ista seges A. A. iii. 562. secretus with nascitur, 'grows 
 sequestered.' 
 
 40. Stat, quotes Columella x. 27 Talis humus uel parieiibus uel sepibus 
 hirtis Claudatur, ne sit pecori, neu peruiafuri. eontusus, ' bruised,' a 
 less violent word than conuolsus (Thuan.), 'torn away,' ' shattered,' which 
 Catullus uses in LXIV. 40 of the plough tearing up clods, conuulsis, 
 contusis occur side by side, medically, PUn. H. N. xxv. 98. 
 
 41. Muleent, ' stroke,' Ben Jonson, cf. XL 23. educat, the showers 
 
 • Eoum Ribbeck, after Bentley and Niike. Yet solem seems defensible, cf. Plin. ii. 
 36 Praeueniens qiiippe et ante malutinum exoriens luciferi nomen accipit ut sol alter diem- 
 que malurans. 
 
198 A COMMENTARY 
 
 play the most important part in the gradual development of the flower ; 
 they alone can be said to rear it to perfect growth. Vulp. quotes from 
 
 Plato Legg. viii. 845 "YSmp hi ■na.vrasv fiiv t6 irepl ras KTjTreias Sia^cpovras Tp6<i)i- 
 liov, ev8td(f>$apTov 8c. otVe yap yr]v ovre ^Kiov oCte irvevitaTa rots vSan ^vVTpo<pa 
 tS)V ck yrfs ava^afTTavdvraiv pahiov (pdetpetv, 
 
 42. ilium, Ke'ipov or Kehov St of Greek similes. The line with 44 is 
 imitated by Ouid. Met. iii. 353 Mulh' ilium iuuenes, multae cupiere puellae. 
 Sedfuit in tenera tarn dira superbia forma Nulli ilium iuuenes, nullae tctigere 
 puellae. The perfects optauere coluere accoluere 53, 55 are aoristic, Madvig 
 Opusc. ii. 115. 
 
 44. tenui ungni (Her. iv. 30) defines carptus : the flower is nipt; 
 in itself carptus would, I think, imply a ruder action, pulling or pluck- 
 ing, deflornit, ' has shed its blossom,' as is shown by 46, and so 
 Plin. H. N. xviii. 120 Faba aquas inflore maxime concupiscit ; cum uero 
 defloruit, exiguas desiderat. 
 
 45. dum . . . dum is the reading of the Bolognese and somC'Other MSS. 
 as well as of Quintilian ix. 3. 16, for though Halm's MSS. of the Inslitutio 
 have in the second clause turn, the context shows that Quintilian read 
 dum twice. He explains the line ' as long as she remains unwed, so 
 long is she dear to her kinsmen.' On this view dum — dum would be 
 literally ' the while she remains unwed, the while she is dear.' Cf. the use 
 of cum — cum, and more closely of ro^pa fiiv — ro'^pa hi in Callim. Del. 39, 
 40, 00-01/ — oo-o-ow Theocr. iv. 39. It is not necessary to interpret Catullus 
 so harshly. Sic may contain the predicate optata est implied in the 
 protasis of the simile, ' so is the virgin desirable while she remains unpro- 
 faned, while she is dear to her kinsmen.' 
 
 46. florem, in the sense of youth in its prime, is common, not only 
 in Catullus (XVII. 14, LXIV. 402) and other poets, but even in prose, 
 sometimes with aetatis aeui etc., sometimes without, Eun. ii. 3. 28, Lucr. 
 iv.1105. Suet. Jul. 49. But here the word is not yet a mere metaphor; 
 the comparison is not between a flower in its freshness or decay with a 
 maiden in her prime or decline, but between a flower unplucked and a 
 maiden in her virginity. Hence castum florem is not so much 'the pure 
 flower of her prime ' as ' the flower of her chastity ; ' in other words 
 castum defines ^cir^wz. 
 
 49. nude, ' bare,' i. e. without trees or other signs of fertility. Sail. 
 Jug. 79 per loca inaequalia et nuda gignentium. 
 
 60. mitem. is in relation to educat, but must not be joined in con- 
 struction with it, as also Ovid's Nan ager hie pomum, non dukes educat 
 uuas Pont. i. 3. 51, cf. Colum. x. 13. 
 
 51. prono pondere, Ciris 26. Conr. de Allio quotes De Senect. xv. 
 52 Vitis quae natura caduca est et nisifulta sit ad ierramfertur. 
 
 62. lam iam, 'is on the point to,' as in Aen. ii. 530 iam iamqtte 
 manu tenet et premit hasta. flagellum is explained by Varro R. R. i. 
 
 31. 3 Eiuncidum enim sarmenium propter infirmitatem sterile neque ex se 
 potest eicere uitem, quam uocant minorem flagellum, maiorem etiam unde uuae 
 nascuntur, palmam. The radix and. flagellum are correlatives, as old 
 English crop and moore, i. e. top and root, eontingit radice flageUum 
 an inversion for eontingit radicem flagello. For the comparison cf. 
 Shakspere Henry the Sixth, Part i. Act 2. sc. 5 And pithless arms like 
 to a wither d vine That droops his sapless branches to the ground. 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXU. 199 
 
 53. It is not easy to decide between eoluere and accoluere, the read- 
 ing of Tliuan. In 55 I have little doubt that accoluere is right, and it 
 might be said that if read there it should be read in 53. Lachmann rejects 
 it here, perhaps as less supported by MSS ; but such variations are quite 
 in accordance with the artificial usages of the school to which Catullus 
 belonged: so/eriur in 20 is responded to by lucelin 26, pepigerunt and 
 pepigere occur in the same line 28. 
 
 64. ulmo marito, ' to the elm as her husband,' contrasts with Quin- 
 tilian's maritam ulmum viii. 3. 8. Is it impossible that Catullus meant 
 marito to be adjective, and notwithstanding retained the termination in 0, 
 where a feminine sign was out of place ? Ennius used cupressus, CzXo ficus 
 masc. Servius on G. iv. 145 adds spinus, Priscian platanus populus laurus, 
 Donatus/z'wM (Neue Formenl. i. (a^^; fagus seems toibe masculine in 
 a poem ascribed by Bucheler to the age of Nero, Riese Anthol. L. 726 : 
 Horace uses lepus, Plautus eUphantus feminine, where the notion of sex 
 made it natural or necessary, S. ii. 4. 44, Stich. i. 3. 14; see Bentley on 
 the former passage. 
 
 55. accoluere, ' till about,' a sense which seems not found elsewhere. 
 
 56. inculta, ' untended,' ' uncared for.' senescit, cf. Lysist. 593 
 
 Ilfpl tSi/ Sf Kopiov iv Tois flaXdjiiois yrfpatrKOvcrmv aviafiai,, 
 
 57. par, ' with one that is her equal,' opaXAs yaixos Prom. 901, Quid. 
 Heroid. ix. 29-32 Quant male inaequales ueniunt ad aratra iuuenci, Tam 
 premilur magna coniuge nupta minor. Nan honor est sed honus, species laesura 
 ferentem. Si qua uoles apte nubere, nube pari. 
 
 58. innisa, Eurip. fr. Nauck 944 Kal vaihas dvai narpl nfj (TTvyov- 
 fiivovs. Catullus uses a strong expression for the distaste which a parent 
 feels at the sight of an unmarried daughter. Passerat quotes from Menander 
 'AXffis fr. 6. Mein. XaXtTrdv ye Bvyarrjp (CT^/ia Kal dvaSidBerov, 'Ai/fil^toi fr. 2 
 6vydTrip KTrm' f'o''""' epyaScs warpi, and Meineke a fr. of Lycon ap. Diog. 
 Laert. v. 65 Bapii (fiopriov narpl Koptj. Possibly there is a reference to the 
 increased importance which a childless parent, at least in later times, 
 obtained. Sen. Cons, ad Marciam 19 adeo senectutem solitudo ad potentiam 
 ducit ut quidam odia filiorum simulent et liber as eiurent et orbitatem manu 
 
 faciant. But family affection was not a Roman virtue. Fronto p. 135 
 Naber Nihil minus in tola mea uita Romae repperi quam hominem uere 
 <l>iK6<rropyov, ut putem, quia reapse nemo est Romae (f>i\6(TTopyos, ne nomen 
 quidem huic uirtuti esse Romanum. parenti. Hom. H. Cer. 136 Aoiex 
 KovpiSlovs Mpas Kal TtKva T(Ki(r6ai 'Sis iBekovai TOK^fs. 
 
 59-65. Final apostrophe to the bride, in close connexion with the 
 lines immediately preceding, and enforcing them. The youths take up 
 the thought which would be most predominant at such a time, the loss of 
 virginity, and remind the bride that this is a possession which she can only 
 call partly her own; the larger share her parents and her husband claim. 
 In two fragments of Sappho the bride dwells similarly on the approaching 
 loss of her virginity, fr. 102 Bergk'H p m napBevUs imfiaXKopLai; and fr. 109 
 which seems to represent the struggle of mind in the form of a dialogue, 
 napdevla, irapdcvla, noip-f 'Kmour oixn ', Ofcri ij^m npbs ae, oHKeri ij^a. 
 
 60. Callim. H. Apoll. 15 kokov liaKapea-a-iv ipiCeiv. 
 
 63. This arithmetical division of the whole into three parts is well 
 
 known from Pindar's ev nap' ecrXov nripara <TVV Svo baiovrai /SpoTois dBavuToi. 
 P. iii. 81 Bergk, cf. Aesch. Supp. 1069 to jBeXrepov kokov koi to Slpoipov atva>. 
 
200 A COMMENTARY 
 
 64. pugnare duobus. Plat. Legg. xi. 919 irp6s 8io lidxea-Bai koI evavrla 
 
 XoXotiJi'. Phaed. 89 nphs Sio oils' 'HpaKXrjs. It was a proverb (Passerat). 
 
 65. oum dote. Dig. xxiii. 3. 5 Profedicia dos est quae a patre uel 
 parents prof ecta est de bonis uel facto eius. There could be no matrimonium 
 
 without a dos ib. 3. 
 
 LXIII. 
 
 In the Attis Catullus presents an idea which, by contrast, works into 
 the series of poems connected with marriage, the frenzy of self-emascula- 
 tion, and the agony of mind which its reaction produces. Common as 
 the sight of the eunuch priests of the Great Mother must have been in 
 antiquity, and frequent as are the allusions to the worship in Greek and 
 Roman writers, it cannot be said to have greatly influenced their poetry. 
 The externals of the cultus are indeed often mentioned; the short 
 Homeric hymn eij p^ripa B^av already speaks of her as 
 
 Ht KpoToKav TVTTavav t la^^ <T\iv re ^pofws avXStv 
 ECfaSev rjdk XvKotv KKayyrj )(apimS>p re XeojircoVj 
 Oijped T Tj^rjevTa Koi. vKrievres evavKoi. 
 
 Pindar, in a dithyramb of which Strabo has preserved a fragment, x. 
 469, says 
 
 (Toi fiev Karapx^Lv 
 Marep p.€yd\aj irapa p6fi^oc Kvp^dXcoUj 
 *Ev 5e Ke^dSeiv Kpdrc^j cddopeva de dds inro ^avQaiai nevKais 
 
 (Bergk fr. 57 B). 
 Sophocles, identifying the Great Mother with Earth, invokes her as ' the 
 blessed one who sits on bull-slaughtering hons,' Philoct. 400 ; and Eu- 
 ripides, besides numerous allusions to her rites scattered through his 
 plays, e. g. the choric rhesis of the Phrygian Eunuch in the Orestes 1368 
 sqq., see especially 1453, represents her (Hel. 1301) as searching, like 
 Demeter, for her daughter over the snowy woods of Ida, to the sound of 
 cymbals and tambourines. (Cf. 17 SKi] rrjs 'Peas Paus. viii. 10). The 
 dithyrambic poet Telestes (circ. 400 b.c.) associates the introduction of 
 Phrygian music into Greece with the Mountain Mother 
 
 npwTOt Trapd KpaTTJpas *E'Wdvoiv ev avKois 
 SuvtwaSoi TleKoTTOs fiarpbs opetas 
 ^pvyLov aciirav v6p.ov (Bergk fr. 4). 
 
 Diogenes tragicus ap. Athen. xiv. 636 speaks of noble Phrygian ladies as 
 celebrating her rites 
 
 Kalrot kXvo) pev AtrtaSos pirprjcjiopovs 
 KvffeKas yvvaiKas, iratbas oK^lcov ^pvyatu, 
 TvTrdvoLart Kal p6fi^oi(n kol ^aKKOKTVirviV 
 Bop^ots ^pepoviras dvTix^pa'i Kvp^dXcov 
 ^o(j>fiv dfZv vjui/SSov larpdv 6' apa. 
 
 A custom which found its way to Greece, and was ridiculed by Menander 
 in his comedy 'Upeia. (See Meineke Fragm. Com. Grace, iv. p. 140). 
 We may form some conception of the extravagant behaviour of these 
 women from the description of Nicander Alex. 215-220. Speaking 
 of a particular form of madness he compares the shrieks which attended 
 it to those of a priestess of Rhea {KcpvotfiSpos ^duopos ^apta-Tpta 'Petrjs) on 
 the ninth day, when she makes those whom she encounters in the streets 
 tremble at the hideous howl of the Idaean Mother. 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXIIL 201 
 
 The earliest connexion of these rites with Attis is perhaps traceable in 
 Aristoph. Aues 874, where Cybele is mentioned with Sabazius; for the 
 cry Evo( 2a/3oi, "Yrjs "Attijs, "Atttis "Ytjs, associates if it does not identify 
 Sabazius with Attis. Anecd. Bekk. 202"At7;s vrfs, to fih vijs vi6s, r6 8e 
 
 Sxrit 6f6s 2a/3afios. *AXXot fic'Yiji' rbv Ai6vv(rov (Lob. Aglaoph. IO46). Theo- 
 
 pompus, who belonged partly to the old, partly to the new comedy, quoted 
 
 by Suidas i. p. 370 "Ams napa $pu|l /idXio-TO njiaTcu as irpia-iroKos r^s firjTpos 
 rav 6fS)V. "Arnv, oip^i "Arria" Qedvofmos iv KawijXio-i 
 KoKaaojUii ye ere 
 
 Koi rhv arov "hmv (Meineke Fr. Com. Graec. ii. p. 801) 
 is already familiar with Attis ; and this appears to be the first actual notice 
 of him. About a century later Hermesianax the elegiac poet, a friend 
 and disciple of Philetas, wrote a poem on Attis, an abstract of which is 
 given in Paus. vii. 17. 9. This account made him the eunuch son of a 
 Phrygian Calaus ; he migrated to Lydia, there instituted the rites of the 
 Mother, and was killed by a boar, sent by the anger of Zeus. Attis is 
 also mentioned with Cybele in the Anacreontea 1 1 Bergk, but the date 
 of these is very uncertain ; in Theocritus xx. 40 koI tv 'Pea K\aiets t6v 
 jStoKoXoi', " Cybele's passion for him is a famihar story, like that of the 
 moon for Endymion, and of Aphrodite for Anchises and Adonis; 
 ApoUonius in the passage describing the rites performed near Cyzicus by 
 the Argonauts in honour of Rhea i. 1092-1152 does not speak of Attis; 
 but in the Alexipharmaca of Nicander 8, the underground chambers 
 {SaXapjxi) where the votaries of Rhea underwent castration, and the place 
 of Attis' mysterious rites (opyacrrripiov "Attcw) are conjoined as a descrip- 
 tion of that town. To the same period ' perhaps belongs the earliest 
 extant specimen of the GalHambic metre peculiarly associated with the 
 
 CultUS (Hephaestion xii. p. 39 Westphal) raXXal /i?;rpoy opeitjs (fiiXSdvpa-oi 
 tpop.d8es, Aif evTfa TraTayelrai Koi xa^tfo icpcJraXa. Alexander Polyhistor, a 
 contemporary of the dictator Sulla, in the third book of his work n-epl 
 <S>pvyiat, spoke of the Galli ; Gallus and Attis both castrated themselves ; 
 Gallus gave his name to the river Tyras where he had settled after his 
 castration, and from the river the name passed to similar votaries generally. 
 (Steph. B. s. u. TaXXos and Miji-piSn-oXis). 
 
 These passages are quoted from writers anterior to Catullus ; but it 
 is from writers of his own or later periods that we derive most of our 
 information as to the origin and details of the cult, especially in its con- 
 nexion iwith Attis. Its original seat, so far as it can be traced historically, 
 was Phrygia. Marmor Parium Epoch. 10 (1506 b. c.) in Muller's Fragm. 
 
 Hist. Graec. vol. i. p. 544 [|3peVas 6\e5>v p.i]Tpos i(pdvri €V KV^cXois, KaX "Yayvis 6 
 ^pii^ av\ovs wpSros rjipev iyK\iKYi\i\vai\s iroKei t^]s ^p^yyias kcu &ppLOvlav tj]V 
 KdK\ovpevr)V ^pvyitTTi nparos r)v\rj(T€ Koi aWovs mfiovs MrjrpSs, Aiovi<rov, Uavot. 
 
 Strabo 472 (pria-l 8e 6 2Krj\lfws (Demetrius of Scepsis, fl. circa 190 b.c.) 
 
 ev rfi KprjTu ras Trjs 'Peas Tinas fif) vopi^eadai p,i]8e eVj^wpiafeii'. . . . dXX' ev 
 
 ' Bergk Poet. Lyr. fr. adesp. 121 inclines to ascribe these verses to the writer of 
 Priapea, cited by Hephaestion xvi. p. 57 Westphal as >Euphorion Chersonesita, by 
 Slrabo 382 as Euphronius. Meineke (Anal. Alex. pp. 341-348) makes it probable that 
 this Euphorion (so he prefers to name him) was a contemporary of Ptolemaeus Phi- 
 lopator, whom he celebrated as S v(os Ai6vvaos. If so, his date would be 222-205 ^•'^• 
 But the Galliarabic metre had been used before by Callimachus (Schol. Hephaest. p. 
 194 Westphal) though it is expressly stated by Hephaestion (p. 65) to have been 
 appropriated to Cybele and her worship by the laler poets (oi veiirepoi). 
 
202 A COMMENTARY 
 
 TJj ^pvytq. fiovov Kai TJj TpadSi, ib. 469 oi 8e BepiKwres ipvymv n <pv\o» Koi 
 dn-Xms oi ^piyes Kai tS>v Tpmav 01 jrcpi t^v "ISijI' KaTotKoBires 'Peav pev Kai airol 
 Tipma-t Kai opyid^ovai. ravTrj, iirjTepa KoXovvres 6eS>v Ka\ "Ay&iaTiv Kai 'ipvyiav 6eov 
 p.€yaXr\Vy otto fie rav Torncv 'Idaiav Kai Aivdvprjvrjv Kai ^CTtvXrjvtjv Kai UeaaivovvTlSa 
 Kai KvfieXrjv. It was in an especial manner connected with the town of 
 Pessinus ; at Pessinus Attis was buried (Paus. i. 4. s), and a coin of 
 Pessinus containing the heads of Cybele turrita and Attis in a Phrygian 
 cap and a pine-crown with stars, and on the reverse a lion with his paw • 
 on a tympanum, and two crotala, is stated to be the earliest relic of the 
 worship. (Labatut in Revue Numismatique Beige for 1868). Pessinus was 
 on the southern slope of Mount Dindymon, or, as it seems also to have 
 been called, Agdistis (Paus. i. 4. 5, Strabo 567), a word peculiarly local 
 and which was sometimes used to denote the goddess herself (Strabo 469 
 and 567, Hesychius s. u. 'Ayfiio-Tir) as well as the mythical hermaphro- 
 dite who sprang from the seed of Jupiter and from whose own genitals 
 Attis was said to have arisen (Paus. vii. 17. 11, Arnob. v. 2). 
 
 The Phrygian language was Indo-European, as may be inferred from 
 the extant inscriptions (see that on the tomb of Midas, and another quoted 
 from Texier's Asie Mineure ii. 157, in Rawlinson's Herodotus i. 666), in 
 which the verbal and substantival sufBxes closely resemble those of Latin 
 or Greek ; from the assertion of Plato Cratyl. 410 that ttC/j vha>p Kvvts 
 existed with slight variations in Phrygian ; and from the fact that many 
 Phrygian names are found in Zend Persian or other Indo-European 
 languages, e.g. Bayalor, the Phrygian Zeus (Hesych.) = Old Persian baga, 
 Zend bagha, Ind. Baghavai, Slavonic bogh ; Mazeus (6 z^vs irapa ^pvil 
 Hesych.) =Medineus the Lydian Zeus (ib.) =Zoroastrian Mazda ; Men, the 
 lunar god (Plut. de Isid. 24, Strabo 557, g'j'])=privri mensis mond month 
 (Rawlinson i. 667 note, Robiou Hist, des Gaulois d'Orient p. 137) : and 
 it might seem that the worship of Cybele was Indo-European ' were it not 
 that other names connected with it are either doubtful as Ma the mother, 
 Rhea perhaps =i?z', the Babylonian word by which the Great Goddess of 
 the Assyrians Bilta or Mulita is commonly known, (Sir H. Rawlinson in 
 Rawlinson's Herod, i. p. 605,) or distinctly Semitic as Nana the legendary 
 eater of the almond from which Attis is conceived, who may safely be 
 identified with the Babylonian Nana, modern Syrian Nani (Sir H. 
 Rawlinson p. 635). However this may be, the worship of Cybele rapidly 
 spread over the whole of Asia Minor ; Herodotus iv. 76 describes it as 
 fully established at Cyzicus in the sixth century b.c, mentions the burning 
 of her temple at Sardis v. 102, and knows her by the name of the Dindy- 
 menian Mother i. 80 ^. From Polyaenus viii. 53. 4 it would seem that 
 about 500 B.C. the rites were already solemnized in Caria with eunuchs, 
 women, flute- and tambourine-players ; Herodotus iv. 76 adds night- 
 processions : perhaps a Greek addition, Pindar fr. 57 B. In Greece itself 
 Achaia seems to have been a special seat of the worship ; temples of the 
 Dindymenian Mother and Attis are mentioned at Dymae and Patrae 
 
 ^ Robiou thinks Bactrian, and many names connected with the cultus are traceable 
 in Zend, e.g.Berecyntus = Befezat^ Corybantes = Gereuant6, Labatut p. 286. 
 
 ' Herodotus vii. 73 makes the Armenians colonists of the Phrygians, and Stephanus 
 B. s.u. 'Appfvla, says they had many Phrygian words. Sir H. Rawlinson p. 605 con- 
 cludes from the fact that the same sign Ri, with the determinative of divinity, com- 
 mences some of the royal names in the Armenian inscriptions of Van, that the 
 Babylonian goddess was also worshipped there. 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXIIL 203 
 
 (Paus. vii. 17. 9, vii. 20. 3). But in Phrygia proper the cult was of far 
 greater antiquity : tradition ascribed it to Midas (Justin xi. 7, Clem. Al, 
 Protrept. p. 5 ') : Arrian, quoted by Eustathius on Dionys. Periegetes 
 
 oOQj says AcyovTat ^pvyes TraXatorarot avSpaitav yeveadai Koi otl fialvovTai rrj 
 Peu Km Trpbs Kopv^dvrau KaTf^ovTm' Srau be avroiis KaTacrxjl to delov, iXavvop^voi 
 Kai jitya ^oStvrfs xai 6pxoip,evoi irpoBeairl^ovai ra fieWovra deo<popovfievoi koI 
 p.aiv6iievoi. Diodorus Sic. iii. 58, 59 gives a condensed account of tlie 
 collective traditions which had gathered round the Mother and her votary : 
 
 TlapaoeOorai Se r^s 6eov ravTTjs Kai Kara ttjv ^pvyiav yeveo'ts, Ot yap iy\ti)pLoi 
 p.vd6Koyoi}cn t6 iraXaihv yevi(r8ai /3ao-iXea '^pvyias Kai AuSi'ay MgoW yfip.avTa 
 oe Atv&vprjv yevuTJo'ai, fiiv naihiov BqKv, rptc^eiv 8' airb fir] ^ovK6pevov lis Spos 
 CKOcii/at t6 irpoa-ayopevSpiciiov Ku^fXoi/. 'Evravda to vaiSla Kara nva delau 
 Trpovoiav ras napSaXeis Kai nva twv aWoiv tS>v oKKfj dia(pep6vT(av BrjpLoiu 
 Trapex^crBat ttjv BrjKrjv Ka\ biaTpe^iiv. Tvvaia Se nva jrapa rhv T6irov iroip.ai- 
 vovra KariSeiv to yivdpevov, Kai 6avfia(rnvTa ttjv irepmiTeiav ave\ea'6ai to fipc(jios, 
 Kat wpoaayopevo'ai Kv0e\r)V anb tou Tcijrou. Av^opevrjv 8e TtjV jratBa Tip Te 
 (caXXft Kai (ra)(j)poa'vvri SuveyKclv, en 8e (rvveo'ei yeveadai davpacTTtjv. Trjv Te 
 yap 7To\vKd\aftov trvpiyya TrpwTiji' emvorfiraL Koi irpbs Tar naiSias Kai xopeias 
 evpelv Kvp0a\a Kai Tvpnava, npos 8e tovtois Kadappovs twv voaovvTav 
 KTXjvav Tf Kai TrprnnH' vju^aai ehrgyya'aaBaL' SiA koI tS>v fipespav mis vtmiais 
 (Tco^opevav Kai rav irXe'uTTav vir' aliTris ivayKoKi^opevav, 8ia ttjv els Tavra (rrrouS^i/ 
 Kol <\>CKoaTOpyiav vith traVTav avTrjV opeiav prjrepa lipoa-ayopevBrjvai. Svva- 
 vacTTpecfieadat 8' airj Kai (j)i,\iav e^eiv enl irkiov (paal Map(Tvav toi' ^piya, Bavpa- 
 ^6pevov enl xrvveaei Kai iT<o(ppo(rvvTj, Kai ttjs pev (rvveaeas TeKprjptov Xap^dvovat 
 tA piprjcra<T6ai Toiis (pBoyyovs ttjs iroKvKaXdpov avpiyyos Kai peTeveyKclv em 
 Tovs av\ovs Trjv SXrjv dppovlav* rrjs 8e aaKppocrvvrjs OTjpe'lov eival <l>a(ri to pexpt 
 Trjs TeXevTrjs direiparov yeveo'dai Ta>v a0po6io"ia)i'. TrjV ovv Ku^cXt/v els 
 aKprjv rjXtKias eXBovtrav dyaiTTJa'ai Ttov eyxo>ptoiv Tiva veavia-Kov tov irpoaayopevopevov 
 pev"ATTiv, viTTcpov 8' eniKXrjdevTa ndiraV avve\6ovaav 8' els opCKlav oItco 
 \d6pa Kol yevopevrjv eyKvov emyvaxTd^vai Kara tovtov tov Katp6v vtto tSiv yoveav. 
 AidTTep avax6ei(Tr)s avTTjs els to. ^acriKeia, Kai toC iraTpos t6 pev TrpmTOv i>s TtapBe- 
 vov TTpoade^apevov, peTO. 8e raCra yvdvTOs ttjv (jjBopdv, Kai rds Te Tpo(j)ois Kai tov 
 Attiv dveXdvTos Kai to. ampaTa eKpi^avTOS aTa(j)a, <paal Trjv Kv^e\i]v 8ia ttjv 
 irpis t6 peipdxiov <f>i\oa-Topylav Kai TrjV ejrl rals Tpo(f>ois Ximrjv eppavrj 
 yevopevrjv els ttjv xapav eKirri8rj<Tai. Kai TauTijx pev oXoXufowo-aj/ Kai Tvp- 
 vavi^ovaav povrjv eirievai nda-av x^P^-^t KaToKeXvpevrjv Tas Tpixas, tov 8e 
 Mapo'vav iXeovvTa to irdOos eKovo'tats avTJj irapaKoKovQelv Kai crvpirKavatrBai 8ia 
 rrpi npoikrdpxovo'av (^iKiav. . . . Koto 8e ttjv <ipvyiav epTreaoioTjs vdaov tois av- 
 Opayjrois Kai Trjs yrjs aKapnov yevopevrjSj eirepaTrja-avTav t6v 6eov wepl ttjs Totv KaKoiv 
 OTraXXay^ff, npotTTa^ai <^aa\v avTols Bdyjfai to' Attl8os o-Sypa Kai Tipdv Tf]v 
 KvfieXijv a) 9 6e6v. Aionep tovs 0pvyas Bid tok xP"""" r](j)avia-pevov tov o'mpaTos 
 ei8(i}\ov KaTatTKevdfTai tov peipaKtov, trpos (o dprjvovvras tois oiKetais npats tov 
 nddovs i^iKdiTKeaBai ttjv tov irapavoprjOevTOs prjviv' awep pexpt ToC Kad' fjpds |3iou 
 TTOiovvras airovs SiaTeXelv. Trjs 8e Kv^eXrjs tA TroXatoj' ^apoiis iBpva-apevovs 
 6vtrias iniTeXe'iv Kar ctos' vtrrepov 8e ev Hea-ivovvn Trjs ipvyias KaTaa-Kevdaai 
 veav TToXuTcX^ Kai npAs Kai fluiriar KaraSfi^at peyc^oTrpeTreaTdras, Mi8ou toC 
 fiaaiXeas els toOto avp^iXoKaXr)iTavTos' tm 8' dyciXpaTi r^f Beov Trapao'T^cat irap- 
 
 ' 'OXoiTo oSc i TTjaSe dp^as diroTijs dvSpinrois, ehe 6 AapSavos, o prjTpbs $euv 
 KaraSei^as rd pvaTiipia^ etre 'HeTioov 6 rd ^fiodpa/cwv opyia Kai TeKerds vwoffTrjffdfievos, 
 tire 6 *puf iicetvos o Mi'Sas, S irapd tov 'OSpvaov paSiiv, eirciTO SiaSoiis toTs vnoTfTaypivois 
 fVTexvov dTTdrtjv. 
 
204 A COMMENTARY 
 
 SdAeif Kal Xeovraj Sta to SoKfiv vtto roirav Trp&ras Tpa(j)rjpat. Iltpi /ifx ovv 
 (irjTpos 6fS>v Toiaira jivdoKoyeirai wapd tc tois *p«^i Koi Tois 'ArXavriois Tois irapa 
 Toi' ^QKeavbv otKova-i. 
 
 This account of Diodorus illustrates most of the prominent ideas of 
 the worship. 
 
 (i) Emasculation and its connexion with chastity. As here Marsyas is 
 ancipaTos rmv a(ppoSi(Timv, SO in another version of the legend is Attis ; 
 Ouid. Fast. iv. 224 Phryx pmr in siluis facie speciabilis Attis Turrigeram 
 casta uinxii amore deam. Hunc sibi seruari uoluit, sua templa tueri ; Et 
 dixit. Semper fac pmr esse uelis. Similarly Cybele herself casta est acci- 
 pienda manu ib. 260 ; her image is met by the Vestal virgins 296 ; Claudia 
 appeals to the Goddess as umpire of chastity castas casta sequere manus 
 324. Euripides Kpijrer fr. 475. 9-18 Nauck 
 
 *Ayvbv 6e jSt'ov Teivopev, e^ ov 
 
 Atos *ldaLOv pvcTTTjs yevoprjVf 
 
 Kai vvKTiTToXov Zaypeas jipovras 
 
 Tds T a)fjLO(t>dyovs daiTas TeXcfrav, 
 
 yirjrpt T opeia Babas dvaa-^^avj 
 
 Kal KovprjTtav 
 
 BaK^QS eKKrjOrju otntoQiis. 
 
 IlaAXevKa 6* e^tav elfxaTa <j}€vyai 
 
 Tivetriv re ^parmv Km veKpoBrjKtjs 
 
 Ov j(ptp7rr6p€V0Sj ttjv t ip^vxfov 
 Bpaxriv edeaTav 7re(fiv\aypai, 
 Origen Philosophumena v. 9 Udm ydp iriKpas koI 7ie(j)v\ayp^vcos napayyiX- 
 \ova-iv djre'xeo-flai as diroKeKopiiivoi Trjs vpbs yvvaixa opiXlas. Minuc. Octavius 
 xxii. 4, Lact. i. 17 Deum mater et amauit formosum aduhscentem et eundem 
 cum paelice deprehensum exsectis uirilibus semiuirum tradidit. Arnob. v. 3, 
 Plin. XXXV. 165. And this is perhaps the most prominent feature of the 
 ritual. 
 
 (2) Its connexion with wz'/tf nature. Cybele is fed by panthers, as she 
 is drawn by lions ; Kxi&tka are according to Hesychius caves ' ; Cybele is the 
 p.rjrr,p opeia and /i^TT/p 'iSala {ISri a wild wood) ' ; and the same idea is 
 strongly expressed by ApoUonius Argon, i. 1092-1152. Jason is to go 
 to the top of Dindymon and there appease the mother of all the gods, 
 the supreme sovereign of nature. Then a statue of the goddess is planted 
 on the hill overarched by the highest oaks ; an altar is wreathed with 
 oak-leaves, and youths dance a war-dance, clashing swords and shields 
 together. It is part of the same idea that her temples were some- 
 times open to the sky (Paus. viii. 44. 3), that the oak is sacred to her 
 (Schol. on ApoU. Rhod i. 1124), perhaps also that the pine tree figures so 
 prominently in her rites. This conception naturally passes into the later 
 one of a supreme civilizing power as exhibited by Lucretius ii. 600 sqq. 
 and Varro ap. Augustin. de Ciuit. Dei vii. 24 ; an interpretation which 
 the recurring story of a lion overawed by the gestures and tambourines 
 of the Galli (Varro ap. Non. 483, Anth. P. vi. 217-220) shows to have 
 been common. But the other and earlier idea is the truer, and is obviously 
 connected with the rocks woods and caverns of Phrygia. Statins S. i. 5. 
 
 ^ Kv0iKa oprj ^pvyias' real dvTpa Kal OdKapioi. OdKafwi would seem to mean chambers, 
 natural or constructed, like the AogptVi;! OaKa/xat of Nicander Alexiph. 8. 
 ^ Robiou p. 137. 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXIIL 205 
 
 36, ii. 2. 87 associates the castration of Attis with the marble caverns of 
 Synnada ; Vitruvius ii. 1.5 mentions the Phrygian habit of excavating hills 
 and forming in them passages and rooms ; that subterraneous chambers 
 were connected with the rites of Attis is expressly stated by the schol. on 
 Nicander Alex. 8 ; and these whether in the natural form of rock-caverns 
 or the later but still ancient shape of excavated rock-temples or cities, 
 may plausibly be considered the earliest sanctuaries of the mysteries of 
 Cybele, as the mountain-tops of her more open rites. 
 
 (3) A third point mentioned by Diodorus is the identification of 
 Attis with Papas. This is also stated by Arrian in a fragment of his 
 Bithyniaca quoted by Eustathius on II. v. 408 aviAvrts els ra aKpa tS>v opSiv 
 Bidvvol eKoKovv Tlwivav tok Ai'a Kai "Kttiv. tov avTov ', and again in the Philoso- 
 phumena ascribed to Origen, v. 9 ed. E. Miller^. Herodotus iii. 59 says 
 Papaeus was the Scythian name for Zeus ; if Attis was worshipped as 
 Papas, it would seem that he must first have been identified with Zeus, 
 the/a/her ' par excellence ; perhaps the llnTrtas Smr^p of an inscription in 
 Leake's Asia Minor p. 20, quoted by Rawlinson iii. 199. Both names 
 seem to be true Phrygian ; Aies and £a&a are found on the tomb of 
 Midas ; but at what period they became identified, and how, is probably 
 undiscoverable. 
 
 • (4) The prominence given to the dead body of Attis, and the annual 
 mourning for him, with the various symbolical interpretations of successive 
 ages are found in most of the accounts. Theocr. xx. 40, Mart. xiv. 
 204. 1 
 
 Aera Celaeneos lugenlia Matris amoves. 
 Stat. Theb. X. 170 
 
 Sic Phryga ierrificis geneirix Idaea cruenium 
 Elicit ex adyiis consumptaque brachia ferro 
 Scire uetat : quatit ilk sacras in pectora pinus 
 Sanguineosque rotat critics el uolnera cursu 
 E X animal : panel omnis ager, respersaque cultris 
 Arbor el allonili currum erexere leones. 
 Stat. S. ii. 2. 87 
 
 Synnade quod maesla Phrygiae fodere secures 
 Per Cybeles lugenlis agros. 
 
 ' Cf. Plin. V. 143 Urbsfuit immensa Attusa nomine, nunc sunt xii ciuitales inter quas 
 Gordiucome, g«ae luliopolis uocatur (in Bithynia) ; and the 'Atios \6((>os near Smyrna 
 (Aristides xxv. vol. i. p. 318 ed. Jebb), like the similar 'Att^s \6ipos on which Ilium was 
 built (ApoUod. iii. 12. 3, Hesych. s. u. 'ATt6\oipos) was probably a relic of this 
 worship. 
 
 ' Xaipe ri Karrjtph dnnva^ia 'P4as, 'Atti- al icaXovai iilv 'Aaaiipiot Tpiir66r]Tov'ASai>iv, 
 f!An 8' Ai7U7rTOs 'Oaipiv t rrovpiviov ptjvis Kepas"^\Kr)vis aocj>iav, 'S.aiioSpSjcts 'ASap ai0da- 
 pLiov, Atpuvioi KopiPavra, kcu 01 i-piiyts oAXorf piv noTrav, irdre Si viicvv ^ 6(bv 1j rbv 
 axapirov ij atwoKov fj x>^ofpiiv ar&xvv a.pT]$ivTa, tj hv TioKixapiios irucTtv a/MiySaXos dvepa 
 avpucT&i/. TovTov (ptjalv ehai no\vpop(pov 'Attiv, by vpvovvres Kiyovffiv ovras. 'Attiv 
 bpvifaai rbv 'Ffirjs oi(«) uSivcuv avp06p0ois, ovS' ai\Siv 'iSa'uav KovpriToiv, pi«Tr)Ta 
 (1. uv/ctjTav), aW' ofs SoiiSfiav ixi(a povaav (poppiyyaf, euoT, cii^v ws Uiv, ws Baxxevs, as 
 voi^^t XfvKoiv aarpav. The two passages are obviously lyrical, and are arranged by 
 Schneidewin Philol. iii. 261 and BergkPoet. Lyr. p. 1320. Bergk considers them to be 
 late, which is indicated by the syncretistic confiision of various deities. 
 
 '' Buschmann Transact, of the Philol. Society vol. vi. shows that the types pa and 
 la, with, the similar forms ap and at preponderate as names for father while ma and na, 
 am and an, preponderate as names for mother. Tylor, Primitive Culture i. 203. 
 
206 A COMMENTARY 
 
 Carmen in Symmachum ed. Morel Tj^ 
 
 Plangere cum uocem soleant Megalemibus adis. 
 Arrian Tactica xxxiii. 4 Sparm 8e ((ttIv & koI ^piyta' kqi yap r] Pea auTois i) 
 ^pvyla Ttparat eK TletrartvovvTos eXBovira, Koi to irivBos to a/i0i ra "Att.i; ^pvymv hi 
 'Pafiri TrfvOelrai, koX to Xovrpbv Se rj 'Pea ecj) oS tov irevBovs Xrjyei tw ^pvyav 
 
 ydfiM Xovrai. What seems to be a purely Phrygian account of Attis and 
 the origin of the mourning for him is given by Pausanias vii. 17. 10 sqq. 
 and more fully, probably on the most ancient authority he could procure, 
 by Arnobius v. ^-'j '. In various ways it is often alluded to by the Christian 
 fathers, Lact. i. 17, Minuc. vi, vii, xxii. 4, xxiv. 4, Firmicus iii. 2, viii. 3, 
 xviii. I. 
 
 The worship of the Magna Mater was introduced into Rome in the 
 second Punic war. In accordance with an injunction of the Sibylline 
 books, that a foreign foe might be driven from Italy if the Idaean mother 
 were brought to Rome from Pessinus, an embassy was sent in 205 b.c, 
 (Liv. xxix. 1 1) to Attalus king of Pergamus, who made over to the Romans 
 a sacred stone, not larger than could easily be carried in the hand, and 
 of a black colour (Prudent. Martyr. Rom. 206), which the Pessinuntines 
 affirmed to be the mother of the Gods. The next year (P. Sempronio 
 M. Cornelio consulibus, quintusdecimus is annus Punici belli erat Liv. 
 xxix. 13) it was transferred to Rome and placed in the temple of 
 Victoria on the Palatine on the 12th of April, which was kept as a 
 holiday. There was a lectisternium and games called Megalesia. (Liv. 
 xxix. 14.) The Megalesia are mentioned in ancient calendars, as 
 well as in Ovid's Fasti, as beginning on the 4th of April, and lasted six 
 days. So Fasti Maffeiani, CIL. I. 305, F. Praenestini ib. p. 316 where 
 they are thus described Ludi M.D.M.I. Megalensia. uocaniur. quod. ea. 
 dea. Migale. appellatur. Nobilium. mutitationes. cenarum. soliiae. sunt, fre- 
 quenter, fieri. Quod, mater, magna, ex. libris. Sibullinis. arcessita. locum, 
 mutauit. ex. Phrygia. Romam., F. Philocali p. 340. Lucretius ii. 600 
 sqq., and Ovid Fast. iv. 179 sqq. describe the procession of castrated 
 priests carrying the towered image of the great Goddess through the 
 streets to the sound of cymbals tambourines and flutes, collecting con- 
 tributions {stips) as they pass on, whence the name p-ryrpayiprai; a word of 
 worse association than that by which Cicero mentions them Legg. ii. 9. 22 
 famuli mairis Idaeae, cf. ii. 16. 40. According to Servius on G. ii. 394, the 
 hymns to the Mother of the Gods were always in Greek, a peculiarity 
 which must for a long time have given them a distinctiveness quite in 
 accordance with the fact mentioned by Livy xxix. 1 1 that the worship of 
 Cybele was the first introduction of a foreign cult into Rome. But it is 
 remarkable that none of the Roman authors either prior to Catullus or 
 contemporary with him have in speaking of the rites made any allusion 
 to Attis. This is perhaps mere accident ; Caecilius, the friend of Catullus, 
 may have introduced Attis in his poem on the Magna Mater (Cat. xxxv. 
 18) ; the fragments of the Saturae of Varro speak of the Mother with 
 her priests and orgiastic rites and mention her connexion with Ida, 
 Eumen. fr. xxxiii-xliv Riese, lex Maenia fr. ii, "Ovos Xvpas xi; in his Anti- 
 quitates rerum diuinarum Varro would scarcely omit some mention of 
 
 ' See my article in the Cambridge Journal of Philology for 1868, On a recently 
 discovered Latin poem of the fourth century. 
 
 " It is in this account that the name Nana appears. 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXIIL 207 
 
 the ritual, though according to Augustine De Ciu. Dei vii. 25, as Mr. 
 Bywater has shown me, he turned away from any discussion of the 
 meaning of the Attis legend ^. It seems probable that this legend was 
 imported to Rome from Pessinus with the worship of the Mother ; 
 for Attis, like Batacus, seems to have been the traditional title of 
 her priests there (Polyb. xxii. 20, Plut. Marius 17); and Servius expressly 
 states (on Aen. xii. 836) that the rites of the mother of the Gods were 
 observed by the Romans according to the use of Phrygia, of which 
 the Attis legend may be said to form the most prominent part. At 
 any rate the century subsequent to Catullus seized on the story with 
 avidity ; in the time of Nero Berecyntius Aitis was a stock subject for 
 the effeminate poets of the day, including Nero himself (Pers. i. 93, 
 Dion C. Ixi. 20), and it was about the same time, perhaps under 
 Claudius (Lydus iv. 41) that a festival was instituted, which in successive 
 days commemorated the sufferings of Cybele for the loss of Attis and her 
 joy at his restoration. The Fasti Philocali give the days in order. 
 Mart. 22 Arbor inirat, 23 Tubilustrium, 24 Sanguem, 25 Hilar ia, 26 
 Requ{i)eiw, 27 Lauaiio (CIL. I. p. 338). On the first day a pine, on which 
 was hung an image of Attis, was carried in procession amidst the lamen- 
 tations of priests called Dendrophori Matris Deum Magnae, or simply 
 DendrophorP, to the temple of the great goddess, and there wreathed with 
 wool and flowers, in commemoration of the suicidal self-mutilation of Attis 
 under a pine-tree, the violets which had risen from his life-blood, and the 
 removal of the tree by Cybele to her cavern (Arnob. v. 7, Preller Rbmische 
 Mythologie p. 736). On the second day there was a irepuroKma-fios ^ or 
 sounding of trumpets, either as Julian Orat. v. p. 169 Spanh. suggests to 
 sound the retreat and humiliation of Attis, or as a signal of mourning ; 
 on the third, the Sanguen or dies sanguinis, the priests castrated themselves 
 (Jul. V. 1 68 C, Trebell. Pollio Vita Claudii iv. i, Tertullian. Apol. xxv, 
 Lact. i. 21). During this time a castus or abstinence* from bread (Arnob. 
 v. 16) pomegranates apples and herbs of which the root was eaten 
 was observed ; at the expiration of the three days of mourning, which 
 collectively seem to have been called calabasis ^, a period of joy called 
 the Hilaria set in ; this, it would seem, commemorated the restor- 
 ation to Cybele of the body of Attis, with the privilege of remaining 
 
 ' If we may believe Clement of Alexandria Protrept. 12, the Corybantic rites of 
 Dionysus were early carried into Etruria ; and the castrated Dionysus, whose genitals 
 were conveyed thither in a cista, was by some identified with Attis ; with this compare 
 the It pis K6yos mentioned by Lucian de Syra Dea 1 5 ; according to this Attis was a 
 Lydian by birth ; Rhea castrated him and he then assumed the form and dress of a 
 woman and travelled from place to place chanting Rhea, recounting his own sufferings, 
 and initiating men in his rites, xal rd 0pvyis KaX AuBoi /cai Xaiii66p(fKes eiriTf- 
 \ iovat, 'Artiai iraVTa tpiaBov. 
 
 ' The original meaning of tubilustrium is shown by Mommsen in his note on 
 this day of the calendar to have been quite different; but, as he observes, Julian 
 evidently considers it part of the Attis ceremonial. 
 
 ' Drunkards were excluded from the rites, Arnob. v. 2. 
 
 * The Dendrophori formed a collegium, and occur in Inscriptt. IRN. 2624, 635a ; in 
 IRN. 2559 a long list of them is given, and they are described as sub cura xv uir. s.f. 
 (see Mommsen Inscript. Regni Neapolitani p. 482. 
 
 " Macrob. i. 21. 10 ritu eorum catabasi Jinita, simulationeque luclus peracia, cehbratur 
 laetitian exordium a. d, octauum Calendas Aprilis, quern diem Hilaria appellant, quo 
 primum tempore sol diem longiorem node prolendit. 
 
208 A COMMENTARY 
 
 unputrified, and of retaining vitality in the little finger and the hair (Paus. 
 vii. 17. 12, Arnob. v. 7). The fifth was a day of repose, requietio ; on the 
 sixth the image of Cybele was carried to the Almo, and there washed as 
 (according to Ovid F. iv. 337 sqq.) it had been after its first landing at 
 Ostia before entering Rome. (See Mommsen GIL. I. pp. 389, 390, 
 Preller pp. 735-738.) No inscription of the repubUcan period has pre- 
 served the name of Attis ; but it is found in a Balearic inscription combined 
 with the Magna Mater GIL. II. 3706, IRN. 4064,- with Minerua Berecintia 
 or Paracentia IRN. 1398, 1399, 1400, 1401, with the Magna Mater and 
 Bellona IRN. 5354; the Archigallus Matris Deum is mentioned IRN. 
 3583. The symbols of the worship are exhibited with great clearness on 
 each side of a brazen hand engraved in the Magnae Deum Matris Idaeae 
 ei Aitidis initia of Pignorius ; the same work exhibits a figure of Attis, as 
 fjiJLiSrjKvs, wearing a dress which reaches in one piece from the feet and legs, 
 round which it forms slashed trousers, to the ' head which it covers in the 
 form of a Phrygian cap ; the female breasts and imperfect male genitals 
 are exposed, the right hand points to the latter, and the throat wears a 
 necklace. The same subject is not uncommon in other works of art, as 
 well as on coins. A bas-relief, engraved by Zoega i. 13, represents a 
 towered Gybele holding a tympanum and a pine-branch and drawn on 
 a car by two lions. At the side is a pine on which a cock is perched, 
 and from which cymbals hang. Attis supports himself on the trunk, in a 
 Phrygian dress and holding a tympanum : near him is a crook ; on the 
 reverse side is a tree with birds and implements, by it a bull and a ram ; 
 on one of the sides two flutes, one recurua, and a syrinx : on the other 
 torches and cymbals. Another given by Zoega ii. log, represents a 
 sacrifice to the Mother. In Donaldson's Architedura NumismaUca is 
 figured a medallion of the elder Faustina, on the reverse of which is 
 MATRI. DEVM. SALVTARI; beneath, a towered Gybele seated with her 
 feet upon a stool, her left hand rests upon a tympanum or cymbal, on each 
 side of her is a lion. Attis in a Phrygian cap and chlamys stands outside, 
 holding in his right hand a pastoral stick, in his left a Pan's pipe. Others 
 are described by Labatut, and in Greuzer's Symbolik ii. 2. taf. iv. Greuzer 
 (ii. pp. 378-382) gives a resume of the various symbolical meanings 
 attached by successive ages to the details of the ritual. Gf. Varro ap. 
 Augustin. de Giuit. Dei vii. 24, Lucret. ii. 604, Servius on Aen. iii. in, 
 Ovid F. iv. 189 sqq., Plutarch de Iside ei Osiride 69, Macrob. i. 21. 9, 
 22. 5, lulianus Orat. v tir tijv MrjTepaTwv 6iS)v, Eusebius Praep. Evangelica 
 no, 120, Sallustius irepX 6(S>v xai Koa-jiov 4, Origen Philosophumena v. 7, 8, 
 9, 14 ed. E. Miller. 
 
 Catullus in his Attis has not followed any of the legends as they have 
 been transmitted to us : he has taken the bare outline of the story and 
 worked it up as his own imagination suggested. His Attis is a youth, who 
 surrounded by all the happiness of Greek life, the gymnasia with their 
 group of applauding spectators, the crowd of admirers who hang garlands 
 in his vestibule and wait his rising at day-break to escort him to the 
 palaestra, is suddenly roused by a call which he cannot resist, to leave all 
 and follow Gybele. With a band of companions ready to bind themselves 
 by the same laws and share his exile, he sails to the Trojan Ida ; there with 
 the rest of the troop castrates himself; and amid the sound of tambourines 
 and cymbals, the instruments of Gylsele's worship, hurries with them to 
 
ON CATULLUS LXIIL 209 
 
 the sanctuary of the goddess on the top of Ida. Sleep dispels their frenzy, 
 and at sunrise Attis, now repentant, returns to the shore, and looking 
 across the sea to his country, declares his regret. Cybele, roused by his 
 passionate complaint, sends a lion to frighten him again into obedience ; 
 he returns into the forest and there remains all his life her votary. It will 
 be seen from this that the main idea of the poem is the revolt against 
 nature, or as it might more truly be called, the passion of unnaturalness. 
 This is expressed partly in the description of the self-mutilating frenzy 
 of Attis, partly in the agony of regret with which he recalls his life before 
 it. This regret is intensified by the completely Greek, quite un-Roman 
 cast of feeling of 59-67, in which a peculiar glow is thrown over the as- 
 sociations of home which had hitherto found little, if any, expression in 
 Roman poetry, as it had comparatively little influence on Roman life. Only 
 in the Phaedrus, the Charmides, the Lysis, the Symposion of Plato, can 
 we realize that intense admiration of perfect male form to which Catullus 
 has here given such splendid expression. On the other hand the horror, 
 to us so familiar, of the loss of virihty, is more Roman than Greek, and 
 is skilfully combined by Catullus with the Roman conception of country 
 as an aggregate fatherhood (see on 49). In the back ground of the picture 
 is the aspect of a wild forest and mountain scenery, the snowy ridges of 
 Ida which house the hind and the boar, the sanctuaries and pillared 
 caverns of Phrygia, and supreme over these, Cybele, the lion-charioted 
 mountain mother, on whom the winds and sea and all the earth beneath 
 and the snowy seat of Olympus depend, to whom when she ascends 
 from the mountains into the great heaven Zeus himself gives way (Apoll. 
 R. i. 1099-1101). This stern power, whose rule is absolute and unrelent- 
 ing, whose devotees lash themselves into frenzy as the lions that draw 
 her chariot work themselves into rage (76), is, as has been observed by 
 Prof. Sellar, thrown into relief by slight touches of sympathy for the 
 feminine youth of Attis, such as teneris digitis, roseis labellis, tenerum 
 Attin, as well as by the beautiful description of day-break, a passage 
 unusually modern in its colouring and in its association of revivified 
 nature with restored reason. 
 
 It can hardly be doubted that Catullus derived at least some part of his 
 inspiration in this, the most famous of his poems, from an actual inspec- 
 tion of the localities. We know that he visited the plains of Phrygia 
 XLVI. 4, and the neighbourhood of Ida must have been known to him 
 from his brother's grave at Rhoeteum LXV. 7. It is not impossible that 
 Attis and his company are supposed to land at Lecton, at which point 
 Homer places the beginning of Ida, II. xiv. 283 
 
 '\'bT\v 8' iKiaQfjv iroKvrrldaKa, fjajripa BijpSiv, 
 AeKTOv, 061 irpaiTOv XmerrjV SKa' to) 8* eVi ^epaov 
 B^rrjV' axpOTdrrj 8e ttoScox inb treiero v\j]' 
 
 where Strabo observes 583 toIs oSa-tv otKftas toO ttoitjtou ^pafojTor tA Acktov. 
 KM yap 5ti t^s'ISijs fVxi to AeKTOi/ Kai Sion irparj) dw6^a(ns (K doKdaoT]! avni 
 
 Tois im TTju'lSriv dviovatv tipr^Kev opBas. This would agree with the not 
 very distinct words of the first lines of the poem, which seem to imply 
 that Attis and his troop landed after crossing the sea on ground sacred 
 to Cybele, and at no great distance from the sanctuary of the goddess on 
 Ida. It corresponds also with 47 sqq. in which Attis is described as 
 
210 A COMMENTARY 
 
 returning in the morning to the shore and looking over the sea, on this 
 view the Aegean, to his native country Greece. This will also account 
 for the introduction, borrowed from the same Homeric episode, of Sleep 
 and Pasithea 11. xiv. 270-276. 
 
 1. The opening is like the chorus in the Helena 1301 'Opela irorc 
 fipd/ioSi KmXa describing the wanderings of the Mountain Mother in quest 
 of her daughter. celeri not otiose {6o}j vrji Od. iii. 61) but as part of 
 the general rapidity. 
 
 2. citato may be adj. as in 26 ciiaii's tripudiis, and the rhythm of the 
 line which makes a break between citato and cupide is in favour of this ; 
 on the other hand cupide is more naturally constructed with citato (par- 
 ticiple) than with tetigit ; the rhythm will then be Xiksfurenti rabie 4, siluis 
 redimita 3. 
 
 4. Stimulatus, aea-oPrjijJvos oiarpa, applied to a votary of Cybele Anth. 
 P. vi. 219. I. uagus auimis is \-iks/urens animis Aen. viii. 228 ; in 
 neither place can the ordinary sense of the plural ' high spirit, pride,' be 
 said to remain. The plural seems to give the idea of conflicting feelings 
 or emotions. The ablative, which was early changed to animi, is like 
 Medea animo aegra Enn. Trag. 288 Vahlen. The bewilderment of feel- 
 ing in Attis corresponds to the actual wanderings which formed part of the 
 rites connected with him [erroribus Tib. i. 4. 60). Cf. Anthol. P. vi. 218. 
 6 TijiTtavov €^ Upas ijAarayria-ev oKrjs, said of a votary of Cybele. 
 
 5. Deuoliiit, ' dashed to the ground,' Apul. M. I. 19 Spongia repente de 
 eo deuoluitur, Ovid has Corpora deuoluunt in humum Met. vii. 574. The 
 word gives the idea of falling heavily. ile, the conjecture of Lachmann, 
 is defended by Haupt from Servius on Aen. vii. 499, Eel. vii. 26, 'hoc 
 ile et haec iliayac;V .• ' and as ' ipsa formae raritate et fortasse uetustate huic 
 carmini imprimis aptum.' According to PUn. H. N. xi. 208 ilia are inter 
 uesicam et aluom arteriae ad pubem tendentes, and Fore, connects this with 
 ilia rumpens XI. 20. But ile must li\txt=testiculos, an unexampled use. 
 Archilochus fr. 138 Bergk'lras Se/ucSefflvdn-eflpio-ei', and Alcaeus, the author 
 of an epigram in the Anthology (Anth. P. vi. 218. i) 'K.eipap.evos yovimv m 
 aito (p\el3a MriTp6s ayipr-qs speak the one of the muscles, the other of the 
 vein of the genitals. If Catullus meant to express a similar idea by ile, 
 it seems unlikely that he would have used deuoluit ; unless we suppose 
 deuoluit ile to mean 'he severed the ligaments and let the testicles fall 
 to the ground.' silicis, Arnobius vi. i r says the Pessinuntines wor- 
 shipped a silex as the mother of the gods, hence a special propriety in 
 the use of flints for emasculation. pondere, ' mass,' perhaps imply- 
 ing that it was used just as taken up, without any detrition : a characteristic 
 mark of unreflecting frenzy. 
 
 6. sine tiiro, 'robbed of their virility.' Lucan x. i-^'^/erro mollita 
 iuuentus Atque exsecta uirum. Stat, quotes Arnob. v. 39 Pintis ilia 
 solenniter quae in Mairis infertur sanctum Deae, nonne illius imago est 
 arboris sub qua sibi Attis uirum demessis genitalibus abslulit /'is Quid 
 admiserat Gallus . . . ut se uiro . . . priuaret? 
 
 7. Etiam with maculans, ' whilst still staining.' And. i. i. 89 Nil 
 suspicans etiam mali. The MSS. have maculas, like requires CXVI. i ; 
 the n was indistinctly pronounced before j, not only in the nom. sing, of 
 participial forms in -ns, but in the adverbial suffix -iens, as well as in the 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXIIL 211 
 
 adjectival forms found in Inscriptions Pisaurese Thermesium Narbonesium 
 etc., as Corssen shows at length, Aussprache i. pp. 252-5. 
 
 8. citata, change of gender to denote the now rifuyvvaiKa Berj! Xdrpiv 
 Anth. P. vi. 2 1 7. 9. So Parthenius Erotica 1 5 of a man in woman's dress, 
 
 ETtip^e Se iras avrfi Kara vovv yev6ii(Vos, ov jjieBieL re aiirijv dfi<j)iire(rov<rd t( koI 
 
 f^rifyrrififVT] naa-av wpav. For the Same reason the hands are snow-white. 
 
 Cf. Babr. 126. 6 Tit yap dypoUav OvK oiSev "Attii' XfVKov i>s iirripa>6ri \ leue, 
 
 to distinguish it from the larger and more ponderous kettle-drum (Rich, 
 Companion p. 704). 
 
 9. Anth. P. vi. 219. 19 Xfipl S' avaa^iiiiepos fieya Tifmavov iirKarayqiriv, 
 AH/mrAv 'Pfi'ar ok\ov 'OXujuTrtaSos. The form rmravov occurs as early as the 
 Homeric Hymns xiv. 3; cf. Aesch. fr. 56. 10 Nauck. Both here and in 
 the passage from Varro's Eumenides (Non. 49) as well as the 'verses of 
 Maecenas quoted by Atil. Fortunatianus i. 4 Ades inquit Cybelle fera 
 moniium Dea Ades ei sonante typano quate flexibile caput, the word is wrongly 
 written in the MSS. with m. It was ' a wooden hoop covered on one side 
 with hide {terga taurei) like a sieve, and set round with small bells or jingles. 
 It was sounded by beating with the hand or running the forefinger round 
 the edge, sometimes also with a stick (Phaedr. iv. i),' Rich, Companion 
 p. 704. In some cases it had no metal appendages; Lucretius ii. 
 618 Tympana tenia tonani palmis, Statins Theb. v. 730 Tergaque et aera 
 del, viii. 22igemina aera sonant Idaeaque terga, (see Otto Miiller on ii. 78), 
 Sil. Italicus Pun. xvii. 18 Circum arguta cauis tinnitibus aera, simulque 
 Certabant rauco resonantia tympana puhu, distinguish the tympana from 
 the a^ra or cymbals: and so Catullus. See on 18. tubam. Both 
 Lucretius ii. 619 and Varro ap. Non. 334 mention horns {cornua) in 
 connexion with Cybele, and these only differ from the ordinary tuba in 
 being round, a-oKmy^ arpoyyvKri. But according to Seruius on Aen. xii. 
 836 sacra Matris deum Romani Phrygio more coluerunt ; and we may be 
 sure that trumpets, an Etruscan invention (Aen. viii. 526, Soph. Aj. 17), 
 originally formed no part of the rites. Catullus then, who is describing 
 the Phrygian cultus in its most unadulterated form (he had probably 
 witnessed it in Asia Minor, its original home), naturally contrasts it with 
 more purely Roman rites, and remembering the part which the trumpet 
 plays in these, introduces tubam Cybelles to show how prominent in her 
 exotic worship was the corresponding instrument, the tambourine. Voss 
 
 compares Polyaenus Strateg. i. I AidioKror kvix^oKols koI Tvp.-iruvots iarjuaivev . 
 dm (rdlvmyyos. Cybelles. The MSS. are in favour of Cybeles or Cybelles. 
 Hertzberg on Prop. iii. 22.3 writes Cybelae ' Nam Bentleii normae qui ad 
 Lucan. i. 600 penultima producta Cybebe, correpta Cybele semper scribi 
 iubet, nee codd. MSS. nee Graecorum usus addicit, qui non modo Ku/3«'Xi; 
 Kv^fi^t) Kv^rjKr] Kv0iK\a promiscue scribunt, sed in deriuatis Ku0i)Xio-njf 
 Ku/SijXis contrariam formam constanter seruant.' tua, mater, initia. 
 Catullus again contrasts another ritual, for mi'tla are properly the mysteries 
 of Ceres (Cic. Legg. ii. 14. 36, Varro R. R. iii. i. i) ; the tambourine is 
 so called as the symbol of initiation into the mysteries of the Great Mother 
 Cybele. The Balliol Glossary has tnitta sacrorum orgia. 
 
 10. terga taurei, the ^vparjs ravpflov of Anth. P. vi. 219. 21, taurea 
 terga Ouid. F. iv. 342. oaua, Aesch. fr. 56. 6 xa^toSeVoir KoruXair. 
 teneris, Ibis 458 Et quatias molli tympana rauca manu. 
 
 12, Steph. B. rdXXor" Trrfra/nos $puytas" oi nepioiKoi Kara fiev Ti/idBeov Ilara/io- 
 
 P 2 
 
212 A. COMMENTARY 
 
 yaXXLTm Kara &e JlpojiadiSav Ilora^oyaXXjji'oi, ois napariBiTai 6 UoKvtirrap iv Tif 
 TTcpi ^pvyias rpiVo)' koI on tov TdWov koI Toi'"An-w diroKdijrat ra atSoia rai xAv 
 /Jieii rdXXoi/ eXfleix ivX tov Tvpav TOTap-bv Koi olKqaai Koi toi/ irorap-bv VaWov Kokeaai' 
 anb iiceivov yap Toiis Tepvop,ivovs ra alSoia TaWovs koKoviti. Plin. H. N. V. 1 47 
 Flumina sunt in ea (Galaiid) praeUr iam dicta Sangarius et G alius a quo 
 nomen traxere Matris deum sacerdotes. The fem. form TaWai is found in a 
 fragment quoted by Hephaestion xii raXXai fiijrpos opcij/s </)iXdflupo-oi hpopAhes. 
 With a similar reference to emasculation Virgil Aen. ix. 617 uere 
 Phrygiae neque enim Phryges, ite per alta Dindyma, ubi assueiis bi/orem dal 
 tibia canlum : and see Boot on Cic. Att. iv. u . 
 
 13. ApoUonius calls Rhea p.r]repa t^ivhvplrjv ■iroKm6rvMv \. II25, cf. 'Peiijw 
 
 TToKimoTvmv 1 1 5 1 :=dominae, which like era was her special title, see Aen. iii. 
 113 and the note of Servius. Voss cannot be right in explaining pecora 
 of the ass (Babr. 126, Phaedr. iv. i) which he supposes to have been 
 employed in drawing the car of Cybele, and the place of which is here 
 taken by the votaries. Rather they are uaga pecora either as wander- 
 ing at random in the roving and orgiastic worship of Cybele, ' Cybele's 
 loose-wandering herd,' or as straying away from Cybele their lawful mistress, 
 ' Cybele's stray sheep.' Somewhat similarly Aeschylus, speaking to the 
 
 Furies, Eum. 196 XcapciT avev ^OT^pos al7ro\oiip,fiiai, Xloijivr]! TOiairqs fi" oCtis 
 ev(l)t\rjs decov. 
 
 14. exules is explained by 59, 60. 
 
 15. Sectam, ' following my rule.' Sectam sequi is frequent in Cicero, 
 either in the special sense of submitting to the dictates of a school of 
 philosophy (Brutus xxxi. 120) or adopting a particular course of life, 
 Gael. xvii. 40 apud nos qui hanc sectam rationemque uitae re magis quam 
 verbis secuti sumus, Sest. xlv. 97 Sunt principes consilii publici, sunt qui 
 eorum sectam secuntur. Livy (xxix. 27) seems to imitate Catullus. Long 
 before them the poet Naevius, according to Servius on Aen. ii. 797, wrote 
 Eorum sectam secuntur multi mortales (Punica fr. 10 Vahlen) of Aeneas and 
 Anchises flying from Troy to Italy, and taking with them the matres- 
 que uirosque Collectam exilio pubem : a use very like that of Catullus 
 here. 
 
 16. Rapidum, here and in LXIV. 358, ' swift-flowing,' ayappoov H. ' 
 Cer. 34. tmetileiita, LXIV. 179, ' the boisterousness.' Tacitus has 
 truculentia caeli Awn. ii. 24. pelagi, all MSS, and nothing makes the 
 change to pelage (Lucr. vi. 619), though accepted by Bentley and others, 
 necessary. Cf Virgil's pelagi alta Aen. ix. 81. "The only instance in 
 Catullus of a Greek plural in e is Tempe LXIV. 35, 285, 6. (Heussner 
 Obseruat. Gramm. p. 15). 
 
 17. euirastis. Nonius 46 Euirare dicitur uirilitaiem amittere et effe- 
 minari. Varro Marcipore (fr. xvi Riese) Spatule euirauit omnes Veneriuaga 
 pueros. 
 
 18. aere with citatis, ' gladden your heart with rovings stirred by 
 the clanging copper.' So Lachmann, and no doubt the pure ionic a 
 minore comes in here with special effect. But as Servius states that 
 Cybele was called Era, the reading of most Edd. erae may be right, 
 ' gladden the heart of your queen, Cj'bele,' cf Harusp. Resp. xi. 24 hanc 
 Matrem Magnam . . . accepimus agros et nemora cum quodam strepitu 
 
 fremituque peragrare. 
 
 21. cymbalum, ' a musical instrument consisting of two hollow half- 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXIIL 213 
 
 globes of bell-metal, with a ring at the top, by which they were held 
 between the fingers and clashed together with both hands.' Rich, Com- 
 panion p. 231. Cymbalum for cymbalorum is harsh. Catullus has also 
 Caelicolum Troiugenum deum diuum uirum (Heussner p. 11); Lucretius 
 Chaldaeum Molossum Graium Siculum consanguineum, see Munro on i. 
 162. V. 727. Stat, mentions nox as the reading of one MS. and thought 
 it might be right in the sense of Nox ipsa sonat cymbalum. My MS. A 
 has nox, and the use of node by the poet Statius in a passage which 
 seems modelled on Catullus, Theb. xii. 224-227 Node uelut Phrygia cum 
 lamentata resultant Dindyma, pinigeri rapitur Simoentis ad amnem Dux 
 uesana chori, cuius dea sanguine ledo Ipsa dedit ferrum et uittatafronte 
 notauit, is sufficiently particular to make this reading possible. Cymbalum 
 will then be accus. after sonat, somewhat as in hominem sonat Aen. i. 328 
 =-sonat sonum cymbali, see Drager p. 359. 
 
 22. The invention of the flute is assigned to Phrygia, Plutarch n-epi 
 
 Mov<riK^f 5) 'AXe^avSpos 8' ev rfj 'S.vvayanyfi twv nfpl ^pvylas KpovjiaTa'O'Kvfx.iTov 
 (<pr) irpaTov ds roiis "EWr/vas Kop.i(Tai, en 8e Kal roiic 'iSalovs AaKTv\ovs' "Yayviv 8e 
 Trparov av\rj(rat, fira toi» toiJtoi; viov Mapavav, eir "OXu/iTroc. Lucret. ii. 62O, 
 
 Ouid. Fast. iv. 181, Polyaen. Strat. viii. 53, 4. curve calamo, a reed 
 or cane bent at the lower end into a horn, or having a horn-shaped 
 extremity affixed there ; according to Rich, Comp. 663 ' this was specially 
 employed in the ceremonials of Cybele; it is termed curua Aen. xi. 737, 
 Tib. ii. I. 86, or tibia adunco cornu Ouid. Met. iii. 533.' graue, the 
 curved or horn-like extremity gave it depth of tone. 
 
 23. The connexion between the rites of Dionysus and Cybele is often 
 alluded to. ApoUodorus Bibl. iii. 5. i says Dionysus was purified from 
 madness by Rhea at the Phrygian Cybela, and was then initiated by her 
 into her rites and took her dress : thence passed into Thrace with a train 
 of Bacchanals and Satyrs and punished Lycurgus king of the Edoni by 
 the Strymon. Strabo on the other hand x. 470 sqq. thinks the rites 
 were brought from Thrace by colonists from that country into Phrygia ; 
 he quotes a fragm. from the Edoni of Aeschylus (56 Nauck) as prov- 
 ing the identity of the cultus of Dionysus and Cybele. So Euripides 
 Bacch. 58, quoted by Munro on Lucr. ii. 611, Tcmixitpi iv ■nSKfi (bpvyav 
 Tifinava, 'Pf'ai re firjTpbs ijia 6' evpfffiara. ederigerae, as Bacchus is 
 called Kia-a-octtopos Thesmoph. 988, and Bacchanals are said KUTi7o<j)ope'iv. 
 Voss, who thought that M'aenades are the Galli in a female dress, as Attis 
 calls himself a Maenad in 69, explains ederigerae by a passage of the 
 Etym. M. 220 which states that Ptolemy Philopator was called Callus 
 because he was' wreathed with ivy-leaves like the Galli. iaciunt. 
 Anth. P. vi. 219. 2 'Po/j/3i)Toiij &oveti>v'Kv(T(roji,avels riKoKapovs. 
 
 24. sacra sancta is a rare collocation : sanda seems to refer to their 
 inviolability. acutis, shrill, as of eunuchs or women. agitant is 
 interpreted by Stat. ' strike,' and he must therefore have explained sacra 
 as ' sacred instruments,' cf. I'rop. iv. i. 22. It is simpler to take agitant 
 
 ' TaXXos' i {fnXoTTCLTajp TlToXfpaTos'- SicL rb ^iJXXois Kiffffov KaTeffrixOai d)S oi yaXXot, 
 'Aei ycip rats AiovvffiaKaU TiXeraTs Kiaff^ €OTc(pavovvTo. The emendation KanaTttpBai 
 (which Voss follows) is rejected by Loheck and Gaisford, the former of whom explains 
 'quia iiulgo bacchantes caput hedeia redimibant Ptolemaeus ille cxsuperantia quadara 
 pielatis hcdeiae signum sibi inuri iussit.' 
 
214 A COMMENTARY 
 
 as either 'solemnize,' cf. Dionysia agt'/ai HeSini. iv. 4. 11, or more probably 
 ' set in motion,' something like commouere sacra. 
 
 25. ilia calls up the ceremonial as a solemn and well-known scene as 
 in Aen. ii. 779 Nee . . . Fas aut ille sinii superi regnator Olympi. uoli- 
 tare, LXIV. 251 of moving rapidly, as often in Cicero. 
 
 27. notha, i. e. necfemina nee uirVa\s> 457, as Attis calls himself below 
 mei pars and uir skrilis. Orest. 1528 Qvn-^kpyuvr] irecjniKas oiSr evdvSpdmv 
 (TV y el. 
 
 28. trepidantibus, not.=iremuh's (Voss) but referring to the con- 
 fused and tumultuous character of the cries. Sueton. Nero 49 trepidanter 
 effaius. 
 
 29. recrepant, ' ring in echo,' a rare word used also in Ciris io8 Saepe 
 lapis recrepat Cyllenia murmura pulsus. The echoes produced by the instru- 
 ments are found also in the fragment of Aeschylus' Edoni 8-1 1 Taupii- 
 
 <j>6oyyoi 5' virojxvKaiVTai IIoBevii^ d<j)avovs <J3o^€poi fiifiot' Tvirdvov 6* eiKoii/ SmtO' 
 VTTOyalov Bpovrrjs tpeperat ^apvTap&rjs, 
 
 30. Viridem. ' Ida would be covered with snow during the winter, as 
 all mountains of the same height are in the neighbourhood of the Aegean. 
 During the summer it is free from snow. If Catullus implies in the Attis 
 that the leaves were on the trees, and I fancy that he does, this would be 
 a test of his accuracy.' H. F. Tozer: a view confirmed by this line and- 
 ^2 per opaca nemora, as well as the general impression of the poem; 
 though 70, in which uiridis Idae and algida nine amicta loca are combined, 
 makes it possible that Catullus may be speaking more generally from 
 recollections of Greek poetry. Hes. Theog. loio'lSijr vkqiamit, Theocr. 
 
 xvii. 9 "\hav h 7ro\vBfvdpov, Anth. P. vi. 218. 2 "ISjjs ciSevSpov. Idam. 
 
 Heussner thinks Catullus may have written Idan (Fdan is the reading of 
 G) like Cybelles Arsinoes Acmen. 
 
 31. iiadit with uaga, ' moves with an errant step.' Animam agere is 
 generally 'to breathe one's last,' 'to be at the last gasp,' as in Seneca's 
 Est tanti habere animam ut agam? Ep. loi. 12, cf Ep. 26. 6, 54. 2 : 
 but there is nothing to prevent its being used here in a sense short of this 
 ' gasping as if for life.' Catullus seems to be imitating ApoUon. R. ii. 430 
 
 cV da-ireTOV e/c Kapdroio 'Ac^/i' dva<^va'i6tjav. 
 
 32. Comitata tympano marks out Attis as moving by himself in ad- 
 vance of the rest, almost =' with no attendant but the tambourine.' 
 Comiialus is nearly alwaj's followed by an abl. of persons or living atten- 
 dants, even in such cases as Tib. iii. 2. 13 mairis comitata dolore,\.t. 
 dolenie matre, Stat. A. ii. 309 lacrymis comitata sororum, Ouid. Am. i. 6. 33 
 militibus comitatus et armisr=armatis militibus : possibly the tambourine 
 with its bells and noise is thought of personally. opaca, probably 
 with trees in full leaf, as Aen. viii. 107 inter opacum Adlabi nemus. 
 
 33. The point of the comparison lies mainly in the free bearing of 
 the neck, as a restive heifer might be called SuaXo^oj; its propriety in the 
 fact that it was customary to sacrifice to Cybele sine labe iuuencam . . ■ 
 operum coniugiique rudem (Ouid. F. iv. 335, 6). indomita, 'not broken 
 into the yoke,' paaxos dSd/xaTos Phoen. 640 KirchhofF. 
 
 34. properipedem seems to be Sir. \ey. Cicero has celeripes Att. ix. 
 7. I, apparently quoted from some poet. 
 
 35. domum, probably a temple, certainly a definite sanctuary of some 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXIIL 215 
 
 kind. Ouid Met. x. 686 sqq. describes a temple of Cybele built by 
 Echion in the depths of a forest and with a cavern adjoining ; Claudian 
 Rapt. Pros. 199 sqq. a rock temple surrounded by pines on the top of 
 Ida, within which the votaries of Cybele are heard shrieking : Plutarch de 
 Fluv. 1 3 mentions altars to Zeus and the Great Mother on Ida or Gar- 
 garon. The temples of the Mother of the Gods were sometimes open 
 to the sky, like that which Pausanias found near the source of the Alpheus 
 (viii. 44. 3); the Bithynian worship of Attis was celebrated on the tops of 
 mountains (Arrian ap. Eustath. ad II. v. 408) ; the description in 39, 40 
 gives the idea of an eminence from which air sea and earth are all visible ; 
 and we may perhaps conclude that this sanctuary was on one of the 
 heights of Ida, Gargaron, or perhaps Cybela, if we may refer to Ida a 
 statement in the Balliol Glossary Cybele mons troie dicius a Cyhelo prima 
 sacerdote. lassulae, as frigidulos LXIV. 131, pallidulum. LXV . 6, 
 iurgiduli III. 18, aridulis LXIV. 316. The diminutive seems to give the 
 idea of pity or sympathy, ' feeble and weary,' ' sick and weary.' 
 
 36. e, ' after,' a sense in which ex would be more common, as in De 
 Inuent. ii. 4. 14 post quam illos artius iam, ut fit, ex lassitudine dormire 
 sensit. Here e is probably chosen as more clearly expressing that im- 
 mediate sleep is the natural, not merely the actual, result of exhaustion. 
 
 Apoll. R. iii. 616 Koupijv 8' e'^ axeav abivos KOTeXarjifev imvos. sine Cerere. 
 
 Abstinence from bread, technically called castus, was part of the later 
 Attis ritual, Arnob. v. 16 fin. Quid temper atus ab alimonio panis ? Cui rei 
 dedistis nomen castus. Nonne illius temporis imitatio est, quo se numen ab 
 Cereris fruge uiolentia maeroris abstinuit? 
 
 37. labante langore, 'with drooping faintness,' abl. as inL. 10, Virg. 
 G. iv. 414 incepto tegeret cum lumina somno of Proteus. This seems 
 more probable than taking labante langore as abl. absolute, ' as their 
 faintness begins to droop,' the natural preliminary of sleep. Propertius 
 seems to imitate Catullus, i. 10. 7 QuamUis labentes premeret miki somnus 
 ocellos. 
 
 38. qmete molli recurs in 44, and molli seems to have been read by 
 Festus p. 273 M., though the article is too fragmentary to decide much. 
 Mollis (nominative), the reading of most MSS, would refer to the un- 
 natural impulse of the Galli to emasculate themselves and assume female 
 attire, as the tympana are called mollia. Prop. iii. 17. 33, Stat. Achill. i. 
 654. This would necessitate rabidi. 
 
 39. oris aurei, an unusual genitive of quality or description, as such 
 genitives, when no verb is added, ordinarily describe either a class of 
 objects or individual objects generally, not objects of which one only 
 exists in rerum natura ; ' a golden-visaged sun,' not ' the golden-visaged 
 sun.' Attis was identified with the sun. Arnob. v. 42 Quid tandem de nobis 
 sol aureus meruit tit ei cum semiuiro facer elis uocabulum istud esse com- 
 mune ? oris airrei radiantibus oculis. Soph. Ant. 100-103 'Aktu 
 dfXt'ou . . . i xP"<^f°* (ifif'pas ^Xicjiapov. Enn. Med. fr. xxi (321 -323 Vahlen) 
 luppiter tuque adeo summe sol, qui omnis res inspicis Qui mare terram caelum 
 contines tuo cum lumine. radiaiitibus, ' ray-darting ;' Ovid has radiantia 
 lumina solis Trist. ii. 325. Who bid the worlds bright eye adieu. In gelid 
 tears of falling dew. Cotton, Night. 
 
 40. Atripartite division probably connected with the cult. So a fragment 
 of the Orphic Theogony (vi. 3, 4 Hermann) Al6epos eipfi'iji ^6' oipm/oi dy\a6u 
 
216 A COMMENTARY 
 
 in/'os nJdTou T arpvyeTov, yai'ijs t epiKvSios filprj. Sil. Ital. xvii. 36 SCjCj. 
 Caelicolum genetrix, numen quod numina nobis Cuncta areas, cuius proles 
 ierramque fretumque Sideraque et manes regnorum sorte gubernat. Horn. 
 H. Cer. 69 *AXXA trv yap St) iraa-av enl j(66va Kol Kara novrov AlBepos cK BItjs 
 
 KaraSepxeai aKTivea-a-iv, a passage perhaps in Catullus' view. Lustrauit, 
 either ' surveyed,' ' scanned' as Od. xi. 16 'HeXioy (fxiedav iwiSepKirai oktI- 
 vea-a-i, or more probably 'illumined' as in Lucr. v. 575, 693 Munro. In 
 this sense lustrauit nearly := pa/e/ecit, the sense ascribed to it by Nonius 
 in Aen. iv. 6 and Catil. i. 3. 6 Si lustrantur, si erumpunt omnia (MSS. 
 and Orelli illustrantur). album, 'bright,' as at day-break, after 
 
 the gloom of night has dispersed. So albente caelo of dawn Caesar 
 B. C. i. 68. Apollonius has n-oXioio fit' r]ipas iii. 275, and before him 
 Euripides ttoXjoi/ niflep' Orest. 1376, Xtokijj/ m.6kpa Androm. 1228. sola, 
 Enn. Ann. 443 sola terrarum, Lucret. ii. 593 sola terrae. dura, 
 
 Virgil Eel. vi. 35 Turn durare solum et discludere Nerea ponto con- 
 nects the solidification of the earth's crust with a separation from the 
 previously surrounding sea. ferum, as nemorafera 89, Virgil's monies 
 feri Eel. v. 28. The solid habitable earth stands out in contrast with 
 the wild and homeless sea. Diodorus xvii. 7. 6 and Lucretius v. 663 
 mention a tradition that at day-break fires were seen in different places 
 on the top of Ida, which by degrees appeared to unite into a single orb. 
 Euripides (Troad. 1066 Kirchhoff) speaks of the woods of Ida as Tep/iova 
 nptoToPoXov d\i<o, Tav KaToKafiTropevav (aSeav Bcparrvav ; and it WOuld thus Seem 
 that the unusual minuteness with which Catullus describes the transition 
 from night to day is connected with some phenomena of dawn peculiar to 
 the place. 
 
 41. Pepulit is explained by Fore. ' drove away,' as the sun's steeds are 
 ■said to drive away the stars, Eur. Ion 84. But Catullus always uses pellere 
 of striking or smiting, even in LXIV. 2j,() pulsae uentorum flamine nubes, 
 as is shown by LXIV. 272, and so Lucretius of the setting sun, sol ultima 
 caeli Impulitv. 6^2. sonipedibus. The horses of the sun are unknown 
 ■to Homer, and are first found in the Homeric hymns. In the short hymn 
 to the sun 14 they are called aptreves, and this notion may lie in uegetis, 
 which with sonipedibus nearly = the Homeric rerpdopoi apaeves Iktvoi, the 
 Apjiara \afi7rpa TeBpatTrav of Eur. Ion 82, cf. a line from an unknown author 
 quoted by Censorinus fr. 15 p. 98 lahn Agilis sonipes rapitur celeri sonitu 
 irepidans. But the primary idea of uegetis is of course ' fresh from their 
 jest,' as in Hor. S. ii. 2. 81. 
 
 43. Pasithea, in II. xiv. 250, 276, is described as one of the younger 
 Charites and is promised to Sleep as a wife if he executes the commands 
 of Here. Catullus makes her the actual wife of Sleep, and so perhaps 
 Antipaterin Anth. P. ix. 517. 6. Lachmann on Lucret. vi. 971 observes 
 that Statius makes the final a of Pasithea long, and this is borne out by 
 Otto Miiller's MSS. in Theb. ii. 286, though it is not equally certain in 
 the other words mentioned by Lachm. from Statius, Nemea Tegea Malea 
 Midea, where the MSS. fluctuate between final a and e. Trepidante 
 seems to express the eager joy of Pasithea at her husband's return. 
 
 Cf. Anth. P. ix. 51'7- 5 a^vTV&aai kcv UKoiav AiiTOs Ilao-tfJf'ijs "Yn-vos iv dyKoKiaLV, 
 
 Trepidantem would give a more lively picture of Sleep fluttering as he 
 descends into Pasithea's bosom, but it is without MS. support. 
 
 44. Ita, ' then.' de, 'after,' as in Most. iii. 2. 8 Non bonus somnus 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXIIL 217 
 
 est de pr audio. rapida rabie, cf. the uiolentus furor of Lucret. ii'. 621; 
 it refers partly to the mental delirium (Attius, fr. Meleager 450 Ribbeck 
 amentia rapior ferorque) partly to the excited gestures and movements pf 
 the Galli, Lucret. ii. 630-636. 
 
 45. ipse pectore reooluit =secum recoluit. Phil. xiii. 20. 4 g quae si 
 tecum ipse recolueris. 
 
 46. liqiiida, free from the storm of passion which had darkened its 
 perceptions. Plautus has animo liquido etiranquillo of a mind unruffled and 
 at rest, Epid. v. i. 36. Eur. Hipp. 220 Kadapav (jjpha. sine queis, euphe- 
 mistic ; testiculis is meant. ubique, ' and where,' literally, I think ; in 
 the sanctuary of Cybele on the Asian Ida, not in the cities and gymnasia 
 of Greece. The emasculated condition to which Attis is reduced is finely 
 expressed in the nerveless tribrach ubique which precedes the final 
 iambus. 
 
 47. aestuante. The agitation of the spirit finds sympathy in the 
 agitation of the sea. If liquida mente is immediately followed by animo 
 aestuante, this is only that the clear mental perception, which comes on 
 waking from sleep is followed immediately by the tumultuous agony of spirit 
 which the thought of the unalterable consequences brings. rusum with 
 tetulit. The form rusum is shown by Munro on Lucret iii. 45 to occur 
 three times in the two primary MSS. of Lucretius, /rMaw twice, introsum 
 once. 
 
 49. Patriam. Afragment ofVarro's Lex Maenia ap. Non. 106 (Riese 
 ii) is a commentary on this line, as well as on the whole of the soliloquy 
 following. Si qui patriam maiorem extinguit, in eo est culpa; quod facit 
 pro sua parte is qui se eunuchat aut alioqui liberos non producit. ' He who 
 castrated himself could not be a father, and so continue the succession of 
 stocks which form the collective patria ; to be a eunuch was therefore to 
 play the parricide to one's country. miseriter is one of the unusual 
 adverbs mentioned by Nonius 517; he quotes a line of Laberius Maereo, 
 mens incorrupta miseriter corrumpitur (Ribbeck 60), but not Catullus, which 
 is remarkable as Catullus is quoted for the immediately following pro- 
 periter. Schwabe follows the latter MSS. in reading ^^z'j^rz'/wj' of which 
 Fore, quotes no example, but which would be like conmunitus publicitus 
 pugnitus inmortalitus largitus all mentioned by Nonius. Sound is in 
 favour of miseriter, and this, as well as the absence of other adverbs in 
 -ius from Catullus, has probably determined most editors including Lachm. 
 in preferring miseriter. 
 
 50. mei creatrix, mea genetrix, 'thou that didst engender me, O thou 
 that art my mother ! ' Lucretius v. 792 makes the earth the original mother 
 of all living beings, including men, and describes the birth of the first men 
 from uteri ierram radicibus apti 808, whence he says maternum nomen 
 adepta Terra tenet, mcrito quoniam genus ipsa creauit ^22. In mei creatrix 
 Catullus seems to apply a similar idea to the native country ; which is 
 not only, as Varro says, maior parens, but the actual conceiver and en- 
 genderer of its children. The genitive mei after creatrix shows that the 
 force of the primitive verb is still too strong to allow it to become a mere 
 substantive like genetrix ; and this also agrees with the use of rerum 
 nalura creatrix in Lucretius. Plato Crito 51 compares the obligations 
 which a man has to his country with those to parents and ancestry, o-e/Se- 
 a6w, 5ei Kai fxaKKov ineiKftv Koi BcoTrfieiv narpiSa xo^fTaii'ouo'ai' rj Trarfpa' xm ^ 
 
218 A COMMENTARY 
 
 ■ndBeiv fj iToifiv a &v KfXfCri, Koi iraaxfi", lav n TrpoaTaTTtj iraBeiv, fjavxlav 
 ayovra, eav re TVTrreaSai iav re Seiirdai, ioiv re els 7r(5Ae/iOK Syr/ Tpai6i]a6)ievov rf 
 dnoBavoiiievov, novriTeov Tavra, koi to SiKatoj/ ovTas ex"t ''°'' ™x'' i^eiKTeov, oiSe 
 dvax<opT]T€oVj ovbe XetTrreov ttjv tcl^iv, aK\a Koi ev TroXe/zo) Koi ev diKatr- 
 TTipw KQi jTavraxov Troirjreov a av KeKeinj rj TrdXis (cai r/ jrarpts : with which 
 
 contrast 51 sqq. 
 
 51. Attis flies from his country, with its civic and social obligations 
 now become distasteful, as a slave flies from a master whose service has 
 become intolerable. There is an extra point in the comparison, as it sug- 
 gests the new service of Cybele to which the runaway has devoted himself; 
 Cybele is now the domina, the era (92) ready to resent any show of inde- 
 pendence {libere nimis 80) in her ntw/amula (68, 90) and minisira (68). 
 erifugae is an-. Xpy. like retonent ederigerae properipedem siluicultrix ne- 
 moriuagus. 
 
 52. PamtLll, wpo'o-TroXoi or irpiiroKoi, each used in the double sense of 
 an attendant on men, and a ministrant of the gods. Here of course the 
 former alone is meant, as inOuid. Metam.viii. 635 dominos illic famulosne 
 requiras, but the word is perhaps chosen as suggesting the other idea, the 
 new service of Cybele. Cicero uses eri zxA famuli as correlatives De Off. 
 iL 7. 24 ; and Idaeae matris famuli occurs in a law quoted De Legg. ii. 
 9. 22. 
 
 53. Eur. Troad. 1066 'I6aia Ki(r(T0CJ>6pa vdirq Xiovi Kardpvra TroTafila. 
 
 stabula, 'housing-places,' the a-Kioevras eWuXous of Hom. H. Ven. 74. 
 
 54. furibunda is usually taken as nominative agreeing with the now 
 feminine Attis: but this after miser in 51 is impossible ; _/«r;'i5«»a'fl: lali- 
 bula is like mugieniifremitu below ; the dens 3.x^ furibunda as sheltering 
 lions and other fierce beasts of prey ; Martial haifuriali dente of a lion 
 ii. 75. 7, Claudian tacilusque {led) per^ alias Incedit furiale niues De Bello 
 Getic. 325. latibula, ^toXeois Babr. 106. 3, Anth P. vi. 219. 8. Homer 
 calls Ida p.r}Tepa Bripmv II. xiv. 283 ; in the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite 70, 
 71, wolves lions bears leopards are particularized. 
 
 55. quibus locis, ' in what region,' Nap. Dat. 4 guaerit quibus locis sit 
 Aspis. reoT, ' am I to think?' See on I. i. 
 
 56. So Byron of a passionate weeper, TAe very balls Of her black eyes 
 seem' d turned to tears Don Juan iv. 33. The straining of the eyes might, 
 even in prose, be described as the effort which they make to see. Catullus 
 intensifies this ; the effort of the eyes becomes the longing of the e3'eballs, 
 the central-point of vision. pupiila is used by Varro Prometheus 
 Liber fr. v Riese (Non. 172), by the poet Calvus fr. 11 L. Miiller, and 
 perhaps by Catullus again LXVIII. 55. Lucretius iv. 249and Cicero prefer 
 pupilla. dirigere aciem, Plin. H. N. xi. 148 Pupilla cuius angusliae 
 non sinunt uagari incerlam aciem ac uelut canali dirigunt. 
 
 57. carens est. Cic. de Nat. D. ii. 8.21 Omnia haec meliora sunt quam 
 ea quae sunt his carentia ; where however a class of objects is meant. 
 Lucretius has ii. 1089 genus omne quod hie generatimst rebus abundans, 
 iii. 396 magis est animus uitai clauslra coercens El dominantior, where 
 Munro seems scarcely to distinguish abundans coercens est from abundai 
 coercet, cf. Hertzberg on Prop. iii. 17. 38. Here, I think, Catullus draws 
 out caret into carens est to mark more clearly the duration of the short 
 interval during which the mind is calm. See on LXIV. 317. 
 
 58 sqq. ApoU. Rhod iv. 361 Xi.aTpr]v re xXra re fuydpntiv airois Ti TOKijoi 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXIIL 219 
 
 No(r0i(rd/i))i', to fwi ^ev virepraTa, ttJXoBi 8" oTij Avypf/triv Kara mvrov afx oKkvo- 
 ve<T<Ti Ipopivfiai. 
 
 59. genitoritaus, ' parents,' as it seems to be in Lucret. ii. 615. Patres 
 is quoted from inscriptions with the same meaning, cf. Aen. ii. 579 : 
 and so yewiyropes Eur. I. T. 576. 
 
 60. Attis' thought returns to the wrestling-school, the course, and 
 the gymnasium, the chief centres of Greek life and imagination. Euripides 
 makes Polynices talk of returning to his native gymnasia (Phoen. 368) 
 and the chorus mourns that Hippolytus will no longer be seen with his 
 steeds on the race-course of Limnae (Hipp. 1 1 31). palaestra. Catullus 
 seems here to distinguish the palaestra from the gymnasium, and so 
 Plautus Amph. iv. i. 3, 4. In another place Bacc. iii. 3. 22 Ante solem. 
 nisi lu exorientem in palaestram ueneras, Haud mediocris gymnasi praefecio 
 poenas penderes, the palaestra seems to be part of the gymnasium, as in 
 fact the gymnasium included every kind of exercise, even a stadium for 
 foot-racing and a hippodrome for horse-racing. Plato however speaks of 
 particular palaestrae, as the palaestra of Taureas the scene of the Char- 
 mides, and the newly-erected palaestra outside the walls of Athens the 
 scene of the Lysis. stadio et gymnasiis MSS. and, if this is right, 
 the original ionic a minore is preserved in the first foot of the second 
 half of the line, as in Varro's sonitu malri' deum and tibi nunc semiuiri 
 (Eomen. £•. xxxv Riese) ; it seems doubtful whether guminasiis would 
 have been admitted by CatuBus, though L. MuTler defends it by Varro R. 
 
 R. i. 55- 4. 
 
 61. Miser a miser, LXL 132. anime, like the 6vpl so frequent 
 in Greek soliloquies, Archil, fr. 66. i Bergk, Med. 1056, Philetas fr. 7, 
 Schneidewin'H pkv 81) 'noKlfaai 'ire<j)vpriiTm p^aXfTroIcrii' Ovfie, yaKr]valji 8' imjiia- 
 ytai ovS* o(Tov otrtrov, ^Ap,<j)\ 8c rot veat alev avtat TeTprj^antv. 
 
 62. flgurae. As Attis complains so deeply {eiiam atque eiiam) of his 
 lost happiness, figurae would seem to imply not merely the various shapes 
 which before his present condition he had gone through as youth stripling 
 and boy, but that in all these shapes he had been admired. Figurae 
 would seem therefore to mean not only shape, but shapeliness, or rather 
 an admired shape. Propertius uses it with something of the same mean- 
 ing iii. 19. 21 Tuque Minoa uenundala, Scylla, figura. The cast of the 
 expression is Greek, and recalls the admiration of form, as well as the 
 celebrity attaching to unusual beauty, which grew out of the gymnasia, 
 
 cf. Lysis 204 E ■noKKov 8«ie to eiSos ayvoeiv tov naMs, ikqi/os yap drro pSvov 
 
 TouTov ytyvaa-Kea-Bm. ego non quod, inversion of the natural order, as in 
 XCI. 5 Sed neque quod matrem for quod neque. Plant. Poen. i. 2. 105 
 Quid iam non dudum. ante lucem, Hor. S. i. 5. 33 non ut magis alter 
 amicus. 
 
 63. ' I have been a woman, and a youth, and a stripling, and a boy, I 
 have been the flower of the gymnasium, I was the glory of the oiled ring.' 
 Fui is to be supplied from 64 to all the nominatives in 63. Attis begins 
 with the last stage and goes back to the first ; and in the retrospect each 
 stage, including the final and present one, is viewed as part and parcel of 
 the past. Quid. Met. x. 522, 3 modo formosissimus infans lam iuuenis, 
 iam uir, iam se formosior ipso est. ephebus has a special propriety as a 
 properly constructed gymnasium included an ephebeum, 'a large hall 
 furnished with seats, intended as the exercising-room of the ephebi,' Rich 
 
220 A COMMENTARY 
 
 p . 3 2 4. The f <^i)/3oi were youths above 1 6 or 1 7 years, if Xenophon represents 
 the general Greek usage Cyrop. i. 2. 8 fif'xp' /^f" S"? ^S ? enraKaibeKa ir&v Smh 
 ■yEKEOf oi TTOiSfs T-avTU TTpaTTOuo-t, EK Toiirov 8e els Toiis i(j>r]Povs e^epxovTtu, from 
 18 to 20 according to Pollux viii, 105 (Diet. Antiqq.). 
 
 64. olei, De Orat. i. 18. 82 Nilidum quoddam genus est uerlorum et 
 laetum sed palaestrae magis et olei. 
 
 65-67. These lines might in themselves refer to the admiration of 
 Attis as simply beautiful, as in the Lysis 204 B Socrates asks tk 6 koXo's; 
 that he is to see in the palaestra, and in the Charmides 154 D is asked to 
 give his opinion on the beauty of the vmvia-Kos Charmides. But from 67 
 it is clear that the homage paid to Attis is connected at least in part 
 with his successes in the gymnasium ; it is on his way thither at day- 
 break that he sees the garlands at his gate, and the crowd of admirers 
 waiting to escort him. In fact that perfection of form which the 
 Greeks considered at least as essential to beauty as perfect features (Lysis 
 154 D el e6i\oL aTTohvvai bo^ei <Tot airpotroiTros elvai' ovrtos to «t5os 7rdyKa\6s 
 ea-Ti) was SO closely connected with the exercises of the gymnasium and 
 the palaestra, that the two ideas naturally became associated, and the 
 flower of the gymnasium would usually combine both. 
 
 65. frequentes, crowded with e'paa-Toi Charm.*i54 A. ib. C 01 Se Si; aXXot 
 
 TravTes epav epoiye edoKovv avrov . , . jroXXol Se 817 tiXKoL epaa-Toi Kol iv Tois oTrtaSev 
 
 emovTo. It was the custom with lovers to attend at the gate or vestibule 
 of those they admired. Plat. Symp. 183 Koi^ijo-eis em dvpats. Theocr. 
 
 vii. 122 M7]KeTL-TOL <ppovpscopes eTTt 7rpo6vpoi(Tiv,"ApaTej Mrjde irodas rpi^apes' 6 
 8' opOptos aWov dXeKTap KoKKva-bcov vdpKTjfTtv dvLrjpaitn bibolrj. teplda*, ac- 
 
 cording to Statins, ' swarming, populous,' in the same sense as calere 
 in Phil. v. 4. 1 1 and as feruere more commonly. But no example of 
 tepere so used is quoted by Fore, and it is safer to take it of the actual 
 warming of the doorway by the epaa-rai who spent the night stretched upon 
 it. So Propertius in a poem which is throughout a commentary upon this 
 part of the Attis^ i. 16. 17—26 lanua uel domina penitus crudelior ipsa, Quid 
 mihi lam duris clausa taces foribus ? Cur nunquam reserata meos admiitis 
 amoresP . . . Nullane finis erit nostra concessa labori? Tristis et in tepido 
 lim in e somnus erit ? Me mediae nodes, me sidera prona iacentem , Frigidaque 
 Eoo me dolet aura gelu. Plato Symp. 183 A speaks of sleeping at the, 
 door of the beloved as one form of iSeXodovXeia. 
 
 68. Garlands were hung on the doorposts and laid on the limen (but 
 see Munro on Lucr. iv. 1178) of the beloved. In the Amores i. 6. 67, 8 
 Ovid takes the garland from his head at dawn and lays it on Corinna's 
 threshold to show that he has been there all night. Cf. Met. xiv. 708- 
 710 Inter dum madidas lacrymarum. rare coronas Postibiis intcndit, posuilque 
 in limine duro Molle latus. 
 
 67. A law of Solon's enacted that gymnasia should be opened at sun- 
 rise and closed at sunset, Aeschin. c. Timarch. 2. 12. Achaeus'AfiXa 3 
 Nauck Vvpvoi. yap opBpov (so I emend the MSS. siflouK) ^atbipovs Ppaxiovas 
 "H^ri ircjipiyoiivTes e/mopeCopTaL via SriKISovTes HvBei Kaprepas enajiibas. The 
 
 idea of a group collected to admire is found in Callim. fr. 169 Blomf. 
 
 Mep^XeTO 8' eloTTVrjXais oTTTTOTe Kovpos 'ioi, 
 
 68. deum, L. Miiller would write for deum here and for deae in 3 and 
 20, Rheae : but here deum in the first clause generalizes what is specialized 
 in the second (see on 75), and deae is sufficiently defined in 3 by Phrygium- 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXIII. 221 
 
 nemus, in 20 by the rest of the line. Cybeles famula, Valerius 
 Flaccus seems to use famulus absolutely of the servants of Cybele, 
 Argon, iii. 20. Catullus heightens the indignity of the word by using 
 the i&wimxas. famula. 
 
 60. mei pars, i.e. amissis genitalibus. uir sterilis, 'a man- but 
 without a man's power of procreating.' Passerat's uis sterilis, ' seed that 
 cannot generate,' is ingenious, but forced. 
 
 71. columinibus might apply to the towered cities and pillared tem- 
 ples of Phrygia, which is called evreixqTot in the Homeric hymn to 
 Aphrodite 112, cf. Ouid. Fast. iv. 219, 220 Al cur turrita caput est 
 ornata corona? An Phrygiis turres urbibus ilia dedii?, Lucr. ii. 606 and 
 see Paley on Troad. 46. It seems more likely that Catullus refers to 
 the peculiar rock-formations of Phrygia. Sir Charles Fellows, speaking 
 of the country near Cotyaeum, in which the hills form a number of 
 pointed sugar-loaf rocks and in other places lofty rocks perforated 
 with caves (Asia Minor p. 128), says, 'These peculiar pointed rocks 
 are hollowed like a honey-comb with sepulchral caves, many leading 
 from one to the other by flights of steps, and all having small re- 
 cesses scooped out of the sides, probably for urns containing the ashes 
 of the dead, and little holes above each for a lamp or small offering; 
 in some of them slight traces of architectural ornaments remain.' 
 p. 133. 'At the distance of twenty miles from KootEiyd we entered a 
 valley, also filled with the singularly formed pointed rocks of the pumice- 
 earth, and for eight miles passed through a continuous cemetery, the 
 rocks and the ground being perforated by thousands of caves. Each of 
 those which we entered had others above and below it, and the road 
 sounded hollow from the excavations.' p. 134. Such underground 
 retreats were particularly associated with the rites of Cybele, see the 
 passage of Nicander quoted on 35 : and even where her temples were in 
 the open air, a cavern was often adjoined, as in Ovid's description Met. 
 X. 686-694 Templa deum matri quae quondam clarus Echion Fecerat ex uoto 
 nemorosis abdiia siluis, Transibant . . . Luminis exigui fuerat prope templa 
 recessus Speluncae similis natiuo pumice tecius, Religione sacer prisca, quo 
 multa sacerdos Lignea contulerat ueterum simulacra deorum. 
 
 72. Phaedrus has nemoricultrix of a sow ii. 4. 3, Publilius Syrus 
 ap. Petron. S. 55 pietaticultrix of a stork. aper nemoriuagus, II. xi. 
 414 '12s 8' ore Kairpiov d/Kpi Kvvfs BoKepoi r aifijoi Sevovrai, 6 fie t fl<n ^aBeirjs 
 
 73. Attius Neoptolemus 471 Ribbeck Dolet pudetque Graium me et uera 
 piget, where Nonius 424 xtm'ixVs, pigere paenitentiae est. 
 
 74. Koseis, as of one in tender youth, like Hopcjivpeov 'Awo arSfiaTos 
 ieia-a (fiiovav irapBivos Simon. 72 Bergk. Cf. Mart. viii. 56. 15 roseis labris 
 of the young slave Alexis. This, as Prof Sellar remarks Roman Poets of 
 the Republic p. 370, is one of those touches which incidentally force upon 
 the mind the contrast between the tender youth of Attis and the power 
 of the passion which possesses him. 
 
 75-76. Various objections have been made, amongst others by W. 
 S. Landor and Mr. Browning, to the language and order of these lines. 
 There is not much reason for introducing the gods, if Cybele alone is 
 meant: geminas is meaningless; and rwua nuntia unusual. Hence 
 Scaliger transposed the two lines and changed deorum to eorum, i. e. 
 
222 A COMMENTARY 
 
 leonum : Lachmann for deorum read matris. It is more probable that 
 Catullus speaks as he has done already in 68 deum ministra el Cybeles 
 famula ; the cry bursts upon the ears of the gods collectively, to indicate 
 its loudness and passion; it is noticed by Cybele alone because she 
 alone is concerned to do so. 
 
 75. Geminas is not otiose, but expresses the vehemence of the complaint 
 which insists on finding its way to the ears of the gods. II. xii. 442 ms (par 
 
 inorpivav, ol S' oSaa-t irdvTes okovov : Callim. Ep. xxxi. 6 Toy koKov, & fiSxBrip, 
 
 e/SXettes u/iii^orepois, ' you had a full sight.' Translate ' full or straight to 
 the ears of the gods.' So Virgil Aen. vi. 788 ffuc geminas hue flede acies; 
 in Culex 150 geminas auium uox ohslrepit aures seems to mean that the 
 song of the birds rises noisily all around the shepherd : in Stat. S. iv. 4. 
 26 Cerium est ; inde sonus geminas mihi circuit aures, the sound is un- 
 mistakeable, it is heard in both ears. nuntia. According to Nonius 
 2 15 quoted by Voss nuntium neuter apud aliquos non receptae aucloritalis 
 ledum est, sed dodos : Servius, on the other hand, on Aen. vi. 456, xi. 897 
 recognizes it as the ordinary expression for guod nuntiatur. It is, as a 
 matter of fact, rare ; Varro quotes from the Censoriae tabulae L. L. vi. 
 86 Vbi nodu in lemplum censurae auspicauerit atque de caelo nunlium eril ; 
 but in Lucr. iv. 704, it is more adj. than subst. and is besides used ac- 
 tively: see Munro. For the general expression, cf. Orator liii. 177 Aures 
 uel animus aurium nuntio naturalem quondam in se continel uocum omnium 
 mentionem. Catullus makes the sound deliver the message to the ears : 
 Cicero makes the ears transmit the message to the mind. 
 
 76. iuucta with iuga, perhaps to make the yoking of so fierce a beast 
 more prominent, and so Pacuvius fr. 347 Ribb. Angues ingentes allies 
 iundi iugo. Virgil Aen. iii. 113 and Pliny viii. 55 iugo subdidit eos pri- 
 musque Romae ad currum iunxit M. Anlonius both mention the yoking, as 
 well as the drawing of the chariot. lunda iuga nearly =:quiius iundi erant. 
 leombus with resoluens. Lions were a regular adjunct of the Magna 
 Mater, and are often found on coins and in works of art, crouching at 
 either side of her throne or drawing her car. Lucret. ii. 604 explains 
 this as meaning that the savage instincts are to give way to the parental 
 relation ; from Firmicus Maternus ix. 2 it might seem that the chastity, 
 from Servius on Aen. iii. 113, that the abnormal appetites of the lion were 
 
 , the cause ; it is more hkely that lions abounded in the mountainous or 
 woodland region which was the original seat of the cult, and that the 
 secret of taming them was transmitted from thence with it. Cf. Schol. on 
 Aristoph. Aues 877. In the time of Catullus lion-taming was a traditional 
 secret of the Galli. Varro mentions the figure of a lion ad Idam eo loco 
 ubi quondam, subilo eum cum uidissent quadrupedem, galli lympanis adeo 
 fecerunl mansuem, ut Iradarent manibus, "Ovos Aipas fr. ii Riese, Non. 483 : 
 cf. Anth. P. vi. 218-220, 237. 
 
 77. Iiaeuum. The Idaei Dactyli were divided into Serial and apurrepoi 
 Schol. on ApoU. Rhod. i. 11 29: some such allusion nriay be meant. 
 peeoris includes not only sheep and goats, but larger animals, as oxen 
 and bulls Varro R. R. ii. i. 10. Sophocles Phil. 400 calls Ge, whom 
 he identifies with the Great Mother, ravpoKTovav Xfon-ai' ecjieBpe; the 
 lion that threatens the life of a votary of Cybele is ravpocpovos Bqp Anth. 
 
 P. vi. 219. 7, fiovcfiayos vi. 217. 4, ap.ir)(TTris vi. 237. 6. Stimulans, 
 
 ' striking with a goad ' (Hertzberg). Catullus may have thought of the 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXIIL 223 
 
 Homeric Ke'irp^ iitunttpxtov II. xxiii. 430. In Lucan i. 208 the lion uses 
 his own tail as a goad. 
 
 78 sqq. seems modelled on Men. v. 2. 109-116, especially 113, 114 
 Agile equifacitote sonitus ungularum appareat : Cursu celerifacite inflexa 
 sit pedum perniciias ; 115, 116 Ecce Apollo denuo Me iuhes facer e impetum 
 in eum qui hie sfat atque occidere ; and 118 Imperium iuum demutat aique 
 edicium Apollinis. (Stat.) 
 
 79. The force of furoris ictu cannot be estimated by the common 
 use of the participle iclus with such ablatives, e. g. Liu. v. 2 1 quoted by 
 Doering, uelul repeniino icli furore. Statins in an admirable note shows 
 that Catullus has in his mind the /ido-ns TroXuaorpdyaXoy Anth. P. vi. 234. 
 4, a scourge of knuckle-bones strung on a thong which was used to 
 punish refractory Galli or with which they affected to flog themselves for 
 the purpose of exciting compassion, Rich, Companion p. 289, where a 
 drawing is given. Plutarch Moral. 1 1 27 C ovU fidimyos €Xev6fpas Seo/uvos, 
 
 dkXa Ttjs ao'T'payaKaTrjs ixflvris 3 Toiis FaXXovs TrXij/i/ieXoOiras iv Tois MrjTpaois 
 /eoXdfou(ri. The meaning then is : Attis is refractory and must be brought 
 back to obedience. The lion's onset is to rouse the religious frenzy which, 
 like the lashes of the scourge, will recall the delinquent to his duty, and 
 make him return to the service of Cybele. 
 
 81. COiUda/, oKKala. II. xx. I'JO Ovp!) Se irKevpds re Koi l<T\ia a/icjiOTepmBfV 
 Mao-Tterat, « 8' aMv firorpivei pax^a-aa-dat. Plin. viii. 49 Leonum animi index 
 Cauda . . . Inmota ergo placido, clemens blandienti, quod rarum est ; cre- 
 brior enim iracundia. Eius in principio terra uerberatur, incremento terga 
 ceu quodam incitamento flagellantur . Luc. i. 208 se saeuae slimulauit uer- 
 bere caudae. tua, ' your own,' generally it is another who iussit pati 
 uerbera Sen. Med. 337. 
 
 82. mugienti fremitu, the roar bellows, as the hair of the excited 
 votary is itself called mad, Anth. P. vi. 220. 2 "EKcppai/ paivopevr/v Sovs avi- 
 
 poKTi Tpi^a. 
 
 83. Imitated by Sen. H. F. 948 of the constellation Leo et rutila iubam 
 Ceruice iactat. torosa, Aen. xii. 6 mouet anna leo gaudetque comantis 
 Excutiens ceruice toros. 
 
 84. reUgat, binds up the loose straps to the pole, to prevent their 
 dangling till the lion returns. 
 
 85. Ferus is used by Cicero de Diuin. ii. 30. 63, and often later, as by 
 Virgil Aen. ii. 51, vii. 489, Phaedrus i. 21. 8, Ovid Heroid. ix. 114, the 
 two last of a lion, as a substantive, and Vulp. and Doer, take it so here, 
 perhaps rightly. Catullus may then be expressing Br\p, which, according 
 to the schol. on Arat. 36, was applied to lions kot i^oxip>. ipse sese 
 adhortaus, like perrunipere nituntur seque ipsi adhortantur Caesar B. G. 
 vi- 37 (Vulp.) rapidum animo, proleptic after incitat, 'spurs himself 
 into fury of heart.' 
 
 86. refringit is well explained by Stat. Theb. iv. 139 Non aliter siluas 
 umeris et utroque refringens Pectore, montano duplex Hylaeus ab antro Prae- 
 cipitat. As the lion rushes on, the brushwood is beaten back on each 
 side and a path thus opened. pede uago recurs LXIV. 277 : in each 
 case it seems to express the indeterminateness of the direction. 
 
 87. humida is farther defined by albicantis, a rare participle. The 
 shore whitens with the foam of the billows : it is not likely that the 
 whiteness is that of the sandy shore (XcvKo</)a^ ■^apadov I. A. 1054). 
 
224 A COMMENTARY 
 
 88. Lucretius connects the use of marmor in reference to the sea with 
 the white flashing colour of the waves in agitation ii. 666 mare . . . Veriitur 
 in cams candenti marmor e fluctus. Ennius quoted by A. Gellius ii. 26. 21 
 Verrunt extemplo placide mare marmore flauo, seems to use marmor of a 
 smooth sea, and Conington on Aen. vi. 729 considers this to be the idea 
 which the Roman poets associated with the word, in opposition to that of 
 glistening, which predominates in the Greek aKa fiapfmpdrjv II. xiv. 273. 
 Corssen i. p. 412 considers the sense of glistening' to be the only one 
 conveyed by the word. I believe that in Catullus at any rate the notion of 
 flashing colour is combined with that of a smooth level surface. My 
 metrical translation aims at expressing this, ' the sea's level opaline.' 
 
 89. Paeit impetum, a strictly prose expression. Liv. i. 5. 
 
 91. magna dea. Prop. iii. 17. 35 Vertice turrigero iuxla dea magna 
 Cybelle. domina, here in close connexion with Dindymei, ' queen of 
 Dindymus.' Dindymon, or Dindyma plural, rarely Dindymus (Prop. iii. 
 22. 3, Plin. v. 142), is the name of a mountain which rises above Pessinus 
 in Galatia (Strabo 567), of mountains of the Troad (Stephanus B.), and 
 of a mountain near Cyzicus (Apollon. Rhod. i. 985, and Scholia there). 
 Stephanus may have extended the Troad to Cyzicus, as Strabo 586 places 
 the beginning of the Troad at Zeleia, a little to the W. of Cyzicus ; or some 
 part of the Trojan Ida may have been called Dindymon, as Ovid connects 
 Dindymon et Cybelen el amoenam foniibus Iden Mater et Iliacas semper 
 amauit opes F. iv. 249, and Strabo says 473 that all the extremities of 
 Ida were sacred to Cybele. The name Dindymenian mother would in 
 the first instance no doubt be connected with the earliest seat of the 
 worship, the Phrygian Dindymon, but as soon as the worship spread 
 farther and the name Dindymon with it, the Goddess of Dindymon would 
 lose its original definiteness and be variously applied by different writers. 
 Thus Apollonius Rhod. i. 985, Prop. iii. 22. 3, speak of the Cyzicene 
 Dindymon ; and so probably Sil. Italicus xvii. 20, where he describes the 
 introduction of the cult at Rome, Semiuirique chori gemino qui Dindyma 
 monte Casta colunt ; cf. Schol. Apoll. Rhod. i. 985 AiVSu/ioi' 3pof Kufixou 
 lepov TTJs 'Peas 5ta t6 tcbvfiovs fxcurrovs iv avra dvrjKetVj rj Bta to Suo ex^iv aKpas 
 ovTo) raXfiTot : Virgil speaks indefinitely of Dindyma ix. 618, x. 252 ; 
 Catullus, I think, has in his mind the Phrygian mountain proper, as in 71 
 he speaks of the atta Phrygiae columina, words which can scarcely apply to 
 the country near Cyzicus or in the Troad. 
 
 92. Imitated by Ouid. Fast. iv. 116 a nobis sit procul iste furor. 
 
 LXIV. 
 
 The marriage of Peleus and Thetis was a favorite subject of ancient 
 poetry. Pindar Isthm. v. 24 declares that no city was so barbarous as 
 not to have heard the fame of the hero Peleus, the happy son-in-law of the 
 gods : in Pyth. iii. 87-96 he classes him with Cadmus, as the two happiest 
 of men, who heard the Muses singing, and witnessed the Gods banqueting 
 at their marriage, and saw the Kings, the sons of Cronos, on golden seats, 
 and received gifts. In the third Nemean Peleus is described as taking 
 lolcos without an army and grasping the seaborn Thetis. In the fourth, 
 after overcoming her in the shape of fire and a lion, he marries her, one 
 of the high-throned Nereids, and sees the fair-circling seat on which the 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXIV. 225 
 
 kings of heaven and sea sat, and set before him gifts. In the fifth the 
 Muses with Apollo in the midst sing of Peleus and Thetis ; how Hippo- 
 lyte tried to seduce and then kill Peleus ; how then Zeus promised to give 
 him speedily one of the sea-bom golden-spindled Nereids for a wife, with 
 the consent of Poseidon, like Zeus, a rival for the possession of Thetis. 
 This is more fully drawn out in the eighth Isthmian. There Zeus and 
 Poseidon, after contending for Thetis, give her up to Peleus, on account 
 of a prophecy of Themis that if Thetis married Zeus or one of his brothers, 
 her son should be a greater king than his father. ' Let Thetis wed a 
 mortal and see her son slain in war, like Ares in hands and like lightning 
 in his power of foot. I Themis assign to Peleus a goddess as the most 
 pious man of lolcos : let a message be sent straight to Chiron's cavern, and 
 let not Thetis dissent : she shall lose her virginity in Peleus' arms in the 
 evenings when the moon is full.' Zeus and Poseidon assented ; thence- 
 forth Achilles became famous in war, dyed the Mysian plain with the 
 blood of Telephus, made a bridge for the return of the Greeks home, and 
 delivered Helen. In the Iphigenia in Aulis of Euripides 701-709 
 Zeus gives Thetis to Peleus, who marries her on Pelion, the gods 
 themselves holding the wedding feast. A chorus in the same play (1036- 
 1074) describes the marriage ceremony; the Muses sang of Peleus and 
 Thetis to the feasting gods, Ganymede acted as cup-bearer, and the fifty 
 Nereids danced on the sand. The Centaurs attended, and Chiron prophe- 
 sied the future greatness of Achilles. In the Andromache (15 sqq.) Peleus 
 and Thetis after their marriage are said to have lived aloof from men on 
 the borders of Phthia and Pharsalus, at a place called from the event 
 Thetideion. 
 
 Isocrates, Euagoras 192 b, sums up the life of Peleus thus, UrfKcvs S' 
 
 tv rfi fiO-Xli '^fl "^P^s JLivravpovs dpurrevaas KaX Kara TroXXouff aWovs Kivbvvovs 
 fvdoKifxrjaas ©ertSt t^ i^rjpeas BitrjTOf itv ddavdrco avvaiCTja'e koX fiovov tovtov (patrt 
 rSiv Trpoyfyfvrjiievav iitb BeSiv iv Tois ydp,ots lipevatov acrBfjvm. According to 
 
 Apollonius Rhodius iv. 791 sqq., Zeus in love with Thetis but repulsed 
 through the influence of Hera, swears she shall never marry an immortal, 
 but continues to persecute her till Themis prophesies that the son of 
 Thetis is fated to be superior to his father. Then Hera gives to Thetis 
 the best of mortal men, invites all the gods to be present, and herself 
 holds up the marriage-torch at their wedding. 
 
 It is probable that Catullus was acquainted with all the above-mentioned 
 passages of Pindar Euripides and Apollonius ; but he may have drawn also 
 from other sources, now lost. The well-known lines in II. xxiv. 6 1 sqq. 
 AvTup 'A;(iXX€U£ itTTi dfas ■ydi'oj, rjv e'-yo) our^ 
 Qpt\jfa te KQi aTLTrjKa Koi dvhpX iropov ■napaKomv 
 IlijXfl, OS iT€p\ KTJpi (fiiKos yever aSavaroiin, 
 ndmes 8' avnaaaBc 6eoi ydpov' iv fit ov Toiai 
 Aalvv e)(a)V (jjdpfuyya, 
 
 are indeed the outline which later poets did but fill up. Elsewhere in 
 the Iliad the marriage is mentioned in allusion to the gifts which Peleus 
 then received from the gods, the horses Xanthus and Balius and the 
 divine armour, xvi. 381, xvii. 443, xviii. 82 ; and by Thetis xviii. 432 sqq. 
 who complains that Zetis had singled her out from the goddesses of the 
 sea to wed a mortal against her own will, and only to bring her to greater 
 misery. Hesiod besides an allusion to the marriage Theog. 1006, wrote 
 
 Q 
 
226 A COMMENTARY 
 
 "ETriflaXd/tia eis HiyXea (cai eiTiv, of which Tzetzes Pioleg. ad Lycophr. has 
 preserved two verses 
 
 Tpis fiaKop AlaKiSt] Koi Tcrpaxis 8X/3ie UrjKev 
 *0s T-oio-S' eV fieydpois Upov Xexos elcrava^aLveis^, 
 
 and four lines from an elegiac ecViSoi 'Em^aXdfiioj' by Agamestor of 
 Pharsalus are quoted by the scholiast on Lycophron 178. At a later 
 period Statius Achill. i. 193 imagines Achilles, still a youth in Chiron's 
 cave, singing to his mother the labours of Hercules, the fight of Pollux 
 and Amycus, of Theseus and the Minotaur, lastly her own God-attended 
 nuptials on Pelion. 
 
 Catullus would therefore have no want of literary precedents in writing 
 his Marriage of Peleus and Thetis. But it was quite as universal a subject 
 of art. Valerius Flaccus Argon, i. 129-133 makes the marine pro- 
 cession of Thetis to the marriage-chamber of Peleus the first of a series 
 of tableaux with which he imagines the Argo to have been painted : and 
 besides numerous works now lost, a variety of bassi-relievi vases urns etc. 
 still existing, show the popularity of the legend. A bas-relief figured in 
 Zoega i. 52 represents, according to Winckelmann Monumens Inddits 
 vol. ii. pp. 97-99 ed. 1808, a procession of figures bearing marriage-gifts 
 to Peleus, who is seated with Thetis veiled on his right, with his right 
 hand stretched out to take a sword presented by Vulcan; after whonl 
 comes Pallas with a helmet in her right hand and a spear in her left, 
 followed by a train of single figures male and female. At the top is a 
 border with marine monsters, cf. Plin. xxxvi. 26. Another (Mon. 
 Indd. ii. pp. 93-97) is thought by Winckelmann to refer to the same 
 subject : in it the Gods form an outer group enclosing the central 
 figures of Thetis asleep and Peleus advancing towards her. The same 
 subject is believed to be portrayed on the famous Portland vase, as well 
 as on another figured in Millingen's Unedited Monuments pi. x; and 
 it stands fourth in the eleven designs illustrating the life of Achilles on 
 the Franfois vase found atChiusiin 1845 and now preserved at Florence ''. 
 
 Even more frequent in ancient art was the legend of Ariadne, as may 
 perhaps be inferred from the frequent repetition of it by Ovid (Heroid. x, 
 Met. viii. 172-181, F. iii. 459-516). Xenophon Symp. ix describes a 
 sort of ballet performed at a private entertainment, in which a young 
 man and woman act in pantomime the parts of Bacchus and Ariadne. 
 Gell gives two Pompeian pictures supposed to refer to this subject. In 
 the first (vol. i. p. 164) Ariadne looks out upon the sea; a ship is in the 
 horizon. In the other (ii. p. 121) she lies asleep, while Theseus embarks. 
 Very similar is the picture of Ariadne described by Philostratus 'EMves 
 p. 786 Kayser ; and Pausanias saw in the most ancient temple of Dionysus 
 
 at Athens a picture, in which were 'ApidSvrj KaBeiSma-a km Gijo-eis amyoiievos 
 
 Kal Aidvva-os ^Kav 4s t^s 'ApidSvTis ttjv i.pirayr]v i. 20. 3. A vase with the in- 
 scription NASIQN given in Millingen's Unedited Monuments i. pi. 26, 
 contains the figures of Ariadne Dionysus and Eros ; and Dr. Birch aflarras 
 that no incident appears so frequently on vases of every period and with 
 every variety of detail. (Ancient Pottery p. 238). 
 
 ' Duntzer fr. xxxv. 
 
 ' Birch History of Ancient Pottery p. 226. This vase has the names of the figures 
 inscribed. It is noticeable that the return of Theseus to Crete, his marriage and 
 dance with Ariadne, form the second of the groups painted upon it. 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXIV. 227 
 
 It would seem probable then that Catullus wishing to write a poem 
 distinctljf^epic jiuchaxacto:, partly as giving scope to a greater variety of 
 powers, partly as a new contribution to the Alpya.nrlriaa_e pyllia whi ch 
 were_ the Jashion of the day, partly to show hi^ management^of the 
 hexameter, still known to the Romans chiefly in the Annales of Ennius, 
 was~~3etermined in the choice of his subject mainly by its universality 
 and adaptability as shown in works of art. This would alone suffice 
 to explain the main defect of the poem, the loose connexion of its parts. 
 Each part in effect was conceived separately, and was then worked 
 into a not very artistic whole by the introduction, borrowed from 
 ApoUonius, of a quilt on which one of the stories is embroidered: 
 the total effect is of two poems rather than one. So strongly has this 
 been felt that some have denied the poem to be a real whole ; Merkel 
 Praef. ad Ibin p. 360 considers it to be a translation from a Greek 
 original, itself much larger, Bernhardy defines this as a poem of the 
 Hesiodic school, Bergk as a poem of Euphorion, Riese of Callimachus, 
 Hertzberg of a contemporary of Callimachus or ApoUonius '. Haupt 
 holds that the abrupt beginning (1-3) as well as the sustained and solemn 
 close (381-408) disprove this hypothesis, and he defends the unnecessary 
 apostrophe to the heroes (22-25), and the inordinate length of the 
 episode of Ariadne, by the custom of the Alexandrian poets. Yet nothing 
 in Callimachus or Theocritus can, I think, be said to produce the same 
 feeling of disproportion as this digression of Catullus, which indeed seems 
 to have absolutely nothing to do with the main subject of the poem. 
 Even granting that a connecting link is to be found in the common 
 theme of the two stories, the glory of marriage, a view recently put for- 
 ward by Mr. Shadworth Hodgson^ (Theory of Practice ii. p. 535), and 
 which certainly has the merit of making the episode, not indeed of almost 
 equal, but of somewhat less unequal, importance with the rest of the poem, 
 it will hardly be denied that this view does not lie on the surface, and 
 after all does not explain the want of poetical finish in the junctures. 
 This is particularly perceptible in 50-52, 212 sqq. in each of which the 
 
 ' And so Teuffel Hist, of Roman Literature i. 211. 6, English Translation. 
 ° ' The theme of the so-called Marriage of Peleiis and Thetis of Catullus is the glory 
 of marriage, idealised by means of an instance in which all the circumstances of happi- 
 ness are united, and which is invested with all the imagined glories of the heroic age. 
 Those who consider the subject of the poem to be merely the marriage of Peleus and 
 Thetis are at a loss to account for the disproportionate length of the episode, as it 
 then appears, the story of Theseus and Ariadne. But the truth is that the theme of 
 the poem. Hip g1"ry of marringp. is exhibited by the two contrasted stories, which thus 
 properly assume almost equal importance. Thus it is the veiy marriage-bed of Peleus 
 and Thetis which is covered with the tapestiy exhibiting the story of Ariadne : 
 
 Talibus araplifice vestis decorata figuris 
 
 Pulvinar complexa suo velabat amictu. 
 Thetis is given in marriage by Jupiter himself: Ariadne deserts her father's home 
 for Theseus. The first union receives its crovra in the birth of an heroic son Achilles ; 
 the inconstancy of mind which leads Theseus to desert Ariadne, in the second, is 
 the cause of his own father's death. 
 
 Sed quali solam Theseus me mente reliquit 
 
 Tali mente, Deae, funestet seque suosque. 
 Again, the circumstance that the union of Peleus and Thetis was an union between a 
 mortal and an immortal finds its counterpart in the advent of Bacchus. But though 
 old wounds may be healed, there is no future in the picture ; while for Peleus and 
 Thetis the song of the Parcae weaves into the fraition of the present the anticipated 
 fame of their son.' 
 
 Q 2 
 
228 A COMMENTARY 
 
 reader is carried off into a new digression. Unfortunately the contem- 
 poraneous epyllia, the To of Calvus, the Smyrna of Cinna, the Glaucus of 
 Comificius, have perished ; those of a later period, such as the Ciris, 
 though probably modelled on Catullus and his school, are the work of 
 very inferior writers. 
 
 The influence of the Alexandrian poets on Catullus has been much 
 dwelt upon ; and it is possible that the defects of the Peleus. and Thetis are 
 conscious imitations of their peculiarities ; for the short disposition of 
 large subjects, a disproportionate copiousness of detail as compared with 
 the rapid conciseness of the transitions, and a tendency to subjective 
 reflexions and apostrophes e.g. 22-30, 94-100, 116-123, are, as has 
 been well observed by Riese, among the more prominent features of the 
 school. My commentary will show how often Catullus has been indebted 
 to them for words ideas and types of expression ; Merkel, Proleg. to 
 ApoUonius p. xiv, considers that the artistic hexameters of ApoUonius 
 have nowhere been so successfully imitated as in the Epyllion of Catullus ; 
 and the same view has been enforced in detail by Haupt and L'. Miiller. 
 Yet it must not be forgotten that the Alexandrian poets belong as a 
 whole to a declining, Catullus to a rising, period of art. Neither 
 Callimachus ApoUonius nor Theocritus ever leaves that impression of 
 simplicity whi ch is one great charm Of \!a& Peleus and Thetis ; on the 
 other hand we fail to detect in this any oT those tricks by which the 
 later Greeks sought to veil their exhaustion. The Callimachean artifice 
 of repeating the same word three or four times over in one sentence 
 (H. Jov. 6, 7, 56, 84, Dian. 56, 7, 136-140, Ap. 27-30) or clenching a 
 thought by a short epigrammatic clause at the end, is rarely found, cf. 
 however 256-264 : there is no attempt to heighten the interest by sudden 
 questions and answers (Callim. H. Jov. 62, Dian. 113-121, 183-185) or 
 to produce a quaint effect by amusing episodes (Callim. H. Dian. 66- , 
 79, 146-158, Cer. 57-116). Weaknesses the poem has; but they are 
 not those of over-elaboration. In places there is a nescio quid nimii; 
 the same idea or the same word recurs too often (see vol. i. 241 note on 
 pectus mens cor animus) ; present participles, as was observed by Hertz- 
 berg, are accumulated more than the genius of the language admits, see 
 g, 7 ; the complaint of Ariadne is, as a whole, too lengthy ; sometimes 
 a line might have been omitted advantageously. In these respects it 
 might almost be said that the poem is at least as unlike the Alexandrians 
 as it is like them ; on the other hand it would not be fair to ascribe, with 
 Westphal, to them whatever is unpleasing, to Catullus whatever is really 
 good and beautiful. 
 
 Haupt has noticed the inaccuracy of Catullus in making Ariadne speak 
 of the mountains of Idomeneus (178), the son of her brother Deucalion, 
 and either not born or in tender years at the time supposed, at least 
 a generation before the Trojan war. Again, the first lines, in which the 
 Argo sails on Amphitrite for the first time, are inconsistent with the 
 description of Theseus departing celeri cum classe, and with the story 
 cf Theseus' black sail. It is equally probable that Catullus disregarded 
 the strict proprieties of time in connecting Venus with Golgi and Ida- 
 lium ; or in speaking of Pallas as the dweller on Itonus, and Diana as 
 the inhabiter of Idrus. But these are small errors if compared with the 
 liberties which other Roman poets, notably Virgil, allowed themselves 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXIV. 229 
 
 in matters of geography and chronology. As a whole the poetic 
 keeping of the Peleus and Thetis is good ; nothing offensively modern 
 or unnatural mars th^ heroic tone assumed at the outset. 
 
 There is nothing to determine the date. Bruner thinks it was written 
 when Catullus was in Asia Minor, and published on his return to Rome. 
 Westphal, who finds in the treason of Theseus and the unrighteousness 
 of the post-heroic age the morbid reflex of the poet's own bitterness 
 when abandoned by Lesbia, refers it to the supposed cycle of rival 
 poems, and, considering these to extend from the death of Metellus in 
 59 to the journey into Bithynia early in 57, assigns as a probable date 
 the later half of the year 58. Munro on Lucr. iii. 57, where he collects 
 the passages in the Peleus and Thetis which resemble Lucretius, observ- 
 ing that all these are found in the episode of Theseus and Ariadne, 
 surmises that this episode was filled up by Catullus when he was fresh 
 from reading the new work of Lucretius ; and accepting the view of 
 Schwabe that Catullus published a collected edition of his poems only 
 a very short time before his early death in 54 B.C., considers that the 
 Nuptials of Peleus and Thetis must have been written just before this 
 publication. Couat assigns it, with the other long poems, to the last 
 years of the poet's life, when his powers were in full maturity (Etude 
 p. 252). It seems probable that the subject was suggested to Catullus 
 when he was at Sigeum and Rhoeteum, the former the burialplace of 
 Achilles, the latter of Ajax and the poet's brother. Philostratus Heroic, 
 p. 741 says the Thessalians sent theori yearly to the tomb of Achilles, 
 and that before landing they sang a hymn to Thetis. 
 
 The name of the poem in most of the MSS. is Argonautia or Argo- 
 nautica, a title which can hardly have come from Catullus, as the subject of 
 the poem is so definitely the marriage of Peleus and Thetis, and only the 
 beginning has any reference to the Argonauts. On the other hand Peleus 
 was a prominent Argonaut, and assisted in carrying off Medea (Pind. fr. 
 149 Bergk) ; the name may therefore have been given by some one 
 well acquainted with the whole history of the hero, perhaps a grammarian 
 of the later Empire. 
 
 I have used for this poem the special commentaries of Bernardinus 
 Realinus (Bononiae apud Anselmum Giaccarellum 1551) Mitscherlich 
 and Kraft : but the best illustration of it is to be found in ApoUonius' 
 Argonautica, of which Catullus must have made a considerable study. 
 
 1. Feliaco. ApoU. R. i. 386 n);Xias 'Apyw. Eur. Med. 1-5 ^Iff atpeK' 
 
 'Apyovs fifj SiaTTTCKrBai (rxcKpos Ko'Xp^mv «s alnv Kvavias SufwrXijyaSaf, M^S" Iv 
 vairauTi IIjjXiov iriaeiv jrore TfiriBfiaa nevKr) firid' fpfTfiSxrai x^P"* 'AvSpSiv apuj-reaiv 
 
 01 TO irayxpva-ov Sepos lleXia lieTrjKBov. Cf. Enn. Med. fr. 280-285, ^ passage 
 repeatedly quoted by Cicero, ad Heren. ii. 22. 34, de Fato xv. 35, pro 
 Caelio viii. 18, de Fin. i. 2. 5, de Nat. Deor. iii. 30. 75, and parodied 
 by Phaedrus iv. 7. 6. 
 
 2. liqiiidas, ' watery,' or ' flowing,' as Lucr. v. 488 speaks of Vndasel 
 liquidam vwlem camposque nalanies. The idea is shown by Ouid. Met. i. 
 94, 95 Nondum caesa suis peregrinum ul uiseret orbem Montibus in liquidas 
 piniis descender at undas; it was a new thought to bring the world of water 
 and the world of solid nature together ; the first ship associated them. 
 
 4. ApoU. R. iii. 347 T3 8' ivayeipafievos UavaxaiiSos ft n (fiepuiTOV, 'Upaav 
 
230 A COMMENTARY 
 
 Teov a(TTv (the city of Aeetes) tieTrjXvBe. ApoUonius i. 9. 16 calls the 
 
 / Argonauts rois dpiVrovs TTis 'EXXdfios. They were all oBavuTav vlf's « icai 
 viavot ApoU. R. iii. 366. 
 
 5. Auratam. pellem, xp""'*""' M*™ "^"f ApoU. R. i. 4. auertere, 
 as Mitscherlich observes, seems chosen in reference to driving off cattle, 
 its common though not invariable meaning. Caesar B. C. iii. 59 stipendium. 
 equitum fraudabant et praedam omnem domum aueriebant. Virgil has auertere 
 equos Aen. i. 472, iauros viii. 208, praedas x. 78. Mitsch. points out that 
 Catullus has been imitated by Val. Flaccus v. 630 Vellera sacra meis 
 sperantem auertere lucis. 
 
 6. cita, not merely otiose like Homeric 6aa vqt, but in reference to the ease 
 and quickness of the voyage. decurrere, Virgil Aen. v. 212 suggests 
 that the idea may be that of running down a slope of water. The accusative 
 uada salsa is like currimus aequor Asn. iii. 191, aequora curro v. 235. 
 
 HedyluS ap. Strab. 683 n-ms dedSeVTov Xevfia Si' tlapivSiv cSpa/iOfieii ^fifiipav. 
 
 7. Verrentes. Enn. Ann. 377 Vahlen Verrunt •exiemplo placidum 
 mare marmore flauo. abiegnis. Priscian ii. 44, speaking of adjectives 
 in -eus, says inueniuntur pauca sine e utquernus columns ahiegnus oleaginus 
 
 faginus, and in an old Inscript. CIL. I. 577 abiegnieis abiegnea as well 
 as a longer form abiegineas occur. This proves that the original form 
 was abieginus, whence abiegiTUUs abiegneus on the one hand, abiegnus on 
 the other. palmis, ' oar-blades,' rapcrols. Vitruv. x. 8 (3), 6 remt . . . 
 extremis progredieniibus palmis •{parmis MSS.) . . . protrudunt porrectam 
 nauem. The word is also found in Laberius 53 Ribbeck, Non. 151. 
 
 8. Diua, Pallas. ApoU. R. i. in Air^ •yap koi vqa 6or]V Ka.p.e avv Se 01 
 "Apyos Tfi^fK 'Ap((TTopiSr]s Keivrjs VTroBrnioavvjiaiv, iii. 340 N^a 8' 'ABrjvait] 
 
 ndKXas Kajnev. retinens in summis urbibus arces, whence she is 
 
 called 'Epuo-iTTToXis HoKias HoKiov^os 'AKpaia 'AKpia, cf. II. vi. 88 vijic 'Afliyi/aiijs 
 yKavKomiSos ev iroKi aKprj, 
 
 9, 10. currum, texta. Pallas is specially the patroness of chariot- 
 making and of carpentry. Thus II. v. 59 sqq. Phereclus, the builder of 
 the ships in which Paris sailed to Troy, is loved by her ; the 'wooden 
 horse was made by Epeios a-iiv 'ASrjvri Od. viii. 493 ; the skilful carpenter 
 who straightens the ship timber by his rule works under her suggestions 
 II. XV. 410 sqq. In the Hymn to Aphrodite 12, 13 Athene Upmrri reKToms 
 aptpas iiTixGoviovs iblba^s Iloi^trat aarivas re /cat appara TroLKtXa j(akKWf hence 
 
 she is called 'EpyoKi; and Krixava-is. 
 
 9. Ipsa. A well-known terra-cotta relief in the British Museum 
 represents Argus Athene and Tiphys building the Argo '. cmTum. 
 
 Aesch. Supp. 33 (riiv Qxa raxvripei, Soph. Trach. 656 va&s TroXvKmirov ^XIM") 
 
 Dionys. Hal. de Comp. Verb. 17 quotes an unknown fragment OJ 8* tmi- 
 
 yovTO liktiyrais dTrTjvatat ;^aXK€juj3d\o(o-(i'. 
 
 10. ' Joining a close fabric of pine to the rounded keel.' texta 
 might be in reference to the junction of the pine uprights to the keel ; 
 more probably the connected series of upright and horizontal planks which 
 form the sides of the vessel, and which are joined to the keel as a quite 
 separate piece are caUed texta. Attius Nyctegresia 484 Ribbeck has scandii 
 oras, laterum texta flamma Volcani uorax : according to Servius on Aen. 
 xi. 326 Ennius used textrinum=.2i dockyard. 
 
 ' See Birch Ancient Pottery p. 492. The same subject is not uncommon on Greek 
 vases of tlie later period, ib. p. 360. 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXIV. 231 
 
 11. cursu with imbuit, as Mart. viii. 51. 17 Imhuat egregium digno 
 mihi nectar e munus. rudem, strange to it, Prop. iii. 15. 5. Amphi- 
 triten, perhaps with a personal idea, as the use oi Amphiirite^^mare is 
 stated by Haupt to belong to the late Greek of Oppian and Dionysius. 
 This would confirm the reading indicated by the Oxford MS. (0) Ilia 
 rudem cursu proram imbuit Amphitrite, as suggested by me in my 
 edition of 1867, and now adopted by Behrens. 'It was then that 
 Amphitrite gave to the untaught prow the first lesson in voyaging.' For 
 this pregnant use ol Ilia compare Prop. iv. 4. 14 uhi nunc est curia septa, 
 Bellicus ex illo/onte bibebat ecus, ' from the spring there.' Apollonius i. 
 1062 seems to make rdSe (r^/ia='monument of this event.' 
 
 12. proscindere is generally used of the first ploughing which breaks 
 up a virgin soil Virg. G. i. 97, and this would have a point here, in refer- 
 ence to the Argo, the first ship that ploughed the sea. 
 
 13. Od. xii. 171 oi &' eV ipfTiio. 'Efrf/ifi/oi "kfvKaivov vhtop ^ear^s eKarrjiTiv. 
 remigio, not 'rowing,' as in Bacch. ii. 3. 55 remigio sequi, nor 'the 
 rowers,' as in Hor. Ep. i, 6. 63, but, ' the oars ' collectively, as in Hor. C. i. 
 14. 4, Tac. Ann. ii. 24 claudae naues raro remigich Sil. vii. 412, quoted 
 by Mitsch. Ac tortus multo spumabat remige pontus Cum trepidae fremitu 
 uitreis e sedibus antri Aequoreae pelago semel emersere sorores cannot prove 
 that remigio-=' rowers,' as the ablative is after spumabat not tortus, and 
 Silius need not be doing more than paraphrase Catullus. 
 
 14. feri uultus, ' wild faces,' in apposition with Nereides. The faces 
 are wild because they belong to the children of the wild sea LXIIL 40. 
 Apollonius i. 547-552 says all the gods looked from heaven on the Argo 
 and its crew, and the nymphs of Pelion wondered on the highest peaks as 
 they gazed upon the work of Athena; and in i. 13 10 as the Argo passes, 
 the sea-god Glaucus lifts his shaggy head and chest from the sea and 
 utters a prophecy. One of these seems to have suggested to Catullus the 
 general idea of 14-18 ; but he alters the expression, like Moschus ii. n8 
 
 f^jjp€i8es S* dvfdva-av vire^ 6,\6s, al d^apa iratrai KjjTelots vaiTotfTiv ecjyrjfievcu avTO)(iovro, 
 
 Catullus in his turn has been copied by the author of the Ciris 391, 
 of the Dirae 55-57, and by Silius vii. 413. 
 
 15. monstriun, 'the strange creature.' Catullus no doubt knew the 
 passage from Attius in which a shepherd ut procul diuinum et nouom uehi- 
 culum Argonautarum e monte conspexit, prima admirans et perterritus 
 loquitur De N. D. ii. 35. 89. 
 
 16. Ilia atque aUa, the general reading of the MSS. seems to be a 
 corruption either of Ilia atque haul alia or Illaque haul alia. For the loss of 
 haul cf Pseud, i. 5. 59 where atquealio tu of M&S. appears to represent an 
 original atque haul alio (Ritschl) or haudque alio tu (Bothe). The meaning 
 must be ' on that day only, and on no other before or since,' perhaps, as 
 Voss suggests, a reminiscence of Apollonius' ndn-f s 8' oipavSOcv XeCo-ov 6eol 
 tJliaTi Keiva N^ai. 547, where the position of T/iaTiKfi'vo) makes it emphatic. 
 In iv. 317 the shepherds leave their flocks vr)S>v (j>6^w, old re dijpas '0<ra-6nevoi 
 
 novTov fieyaKTjTeos i^aviovras. Ov yap ttco oKlas ye irdpos jrodt vqas tSovro. 
 
 17. Mortales oculi is found also in Lucret. i. 66, Pedo ap. Sen. Suas. 
 i. 15. Cf mortali manu Prop. ii. 32. 50, mortale corpus Ouid. M. iii. 308, 
 xiv. 824, m. on? Ouid. M. vii. 87, m. pectoraM. iv. 201. 
 
 18. Nutricum, ' breasts,' apparently an. \ey. in this sense. Catullus 
 
 follows a Greek use. Hesych. titBIov Tvrdr) tit66s ftaaros fj rporpos, but 
 
 i^ 
 
232 A COMMENTARY 
 
 Liddell and Scott give no instance of rtrfiijrr' breast.' Tirdos is used both 
 for a teat (Thesm. 640) and a nurse, for which Philo i. 166 is quoted. 
 Similarly fia^/ii;, mamma are used both for nurse or mother and breast. 
 Hertzberg condemns Nutricum as tasteless, and considers it to prove that 
 Catullus was not writing a poem of his own, but translating from the 
 Greek. It looks like an attempt at novelty, like the spondaic endings in 
 which Catullus shows himself t&v vearepav (Cic. Att. vii. 2. i). ex- 
 tantes e gurgite cauo is like Lucretius iv. 397 Extantisque procul medio 
 de gurgite mantis ; Munro however does not mention it on iii. 57, where 
 he collects the parallels between Lucretius and Catullus ; all those are in 
 the Ariadne episode ; this is not. Tacitus Ann. i. 70 modo pectore, modo 
 ore tenus extantes. 
 
 19-21. The triple consecution of the same word is found in the 
 
 ^ Alexandrian poets, Callim. H. Del. 83-85, H. Apol. 27-30, 42-44, 54-57 
 
 where *oi0o) is followed by *o(/3os three times, 61-62, Theocr. i. 71-72, 
 
 73-74,80-81, 100-101,116-117, ii. 38-39, vii. 83-84; but also inHomer 
 
 II. xxi. 197—198 TraxTfs — ircura — ■natrai, 35°— 35^ koUto — koUto — Kalero. 
 Hesiod "E. K. "H. 576—578 ^is — r)as — rjas, 315— 317 alSas — alSas — alBas. 
 
 Theog. 832-834 aWore — oXXotc — S\\ot( : see Paley on the first of these 
 passages. 
 
 20. Homer II. xviii. 432-434 makes Thetis accept Peleus as a husband 
 
 against her will, 'Ek fiev n' aKKdmv SKidav dv8pl bdiUKTtrev AlaKiSri n?)X^i', Ka\ 
 erKrjv avepos evvrji/ IIoXXoi fioK' ovk iBeKovcra. despexit hymenaeos, like 
 
 aucius hymenaeo'L'SNl. 1 1, is probably in imitation of Homer, certainly of 
 Greek models. The fact that -ii of the present and perfect indicative is 
 sometimes long in Ennius' Annales and the comedians would rather 
 determine Catullus and his school against it. See Mr. Nettleship's Ex- 
 cursus to Aeneid xii in Conington's Virgil. 
 
 21. pater was explained by the early commentators and lately by 
 Orelli of Nereus, whom Homer II. i. 538, xviii. 52, Hesiod Theog. 244, 
 1006, Eurip. Androm. 46, 1274, Apollod. iii. 13. 5, Tib. i. 5. 45, Verg, 
 Aenf viii. 383 agree in making the father of Thetis. This view might 
 be illustrated by a passage of Philostratus Junior Eiko'ws i. p. 863 Kayser 
 
 TO yap TOi Motpav ewi riS 7rai8t t6ypa tov irarphs Nrjpeas rf Gerts paSovtra Koi as 
 en ap,^<o TreTrpapevov avT^ elrj ^ ^fjv dickeSis rj eviikfa yevdpevov rd^itTTa reXeuTay, 
 
 dirdOeTos airfi 6 irais . . . KpimreTM : where F. T. Welcker remarks that this 
 foreknowledge of the future agrees with the character of Nereus as a seer 
 (eii^euSea kqi dXrjdia Hes. Theog. 233). On this hypothesis Nereus is sup- 
 posed by Catullus to recognize in Peleus the predestined husband of 
 Thetis. But this prominence of Nereus in the marriage of his daughter 
 does not seem to be dwelt upon by most of the writers who have 
 mentioned the subject, though Pindar probably includes Nereus in the 
 oipavov fian^rjes itdvTov Te who set forth gifts at Peleus' marriage Nem. iv. 
 no. The early traditions point to Zeus as the person most directly 
 interested in the marriage; Homer II. xviii. 432 makes Zeus single out 
 Thetis to wed a mortal; in Pindar (Nem. v. 8) Zeus, when Peleus 
 has refused the adulterous advances of Hippolyte, determines that he 
 shall wed a Nereid ; in Isthm. viii Zeus and Poseidon, both in love 
 with Thetis, on hearing the prophecy of Themis that if Zeus or his 
 brother wedded her, the child born would be stronger than his father, 
 consent to give her up to Peleus. Aeschylus (Prometh. 762 sqq., 920 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXIV. 233 
 
 sqq.) makes Prometheus threaten Zeus with the same prophecy about 
 Thetis ; Lucian Dial. Deor. i follows the same story. In Apoll. R. 
 iv. 791 sqq. Zejis, repulsed by Thetis, swears she shall never marry 
 an immortal, but continues to persecute her till frightened by the 
 prophecy of Themis ; then Hera gives her to Peleus. It is clear then 
 that Zeus, not Nereus, figured most conspicuously in the legend ; hence 
 pater ipse (cf. Virg. G. i. 121, 328, 353, Lucr. vi. 398) is Jupiter : a view 
 confirmed more positively by Eur. I. A. 700 ka. to 8' AtaxoC ■kvUs tIs 
 
 Kartay^f Smfurra ; ArA. IlrjKevs' 6 IlijXfit 8' f(Txf Nijp/uc Koprjv, KA. Sfoii SiSouros, 
 }} fiia Bf&vXa^av ; ATA.. Zfits riyyirjtrc Koi Si'Ssxr' 6 Kvpios. Kraft quOteS Ouid. 
 
 Met. xi. 224 sqq. I^rgo ne quidquam mundus loue mains haherei, Quamuis 
 hand tepidos sub_^ pec/ore senserat ignes, luppiter aequoreae Theiidis conubia 
 uitdt. In suaque Aeaciden succedere uola nepolem, lussit et amplextts in 
 uirginis ore marinae : and so Anth. P. ix. 485. 3. 
 
 22-24. An invocation in the style of the Homeric hymns, where it is 
 generally added at the end, e.g. H. Merc. 579, 580 Kal av fih ovTa t- 
 
 X'^^P^t Aior K(u MniaSof vU, Avrap tya Kal auo Koi nXXijs fivfjaoii aoiSrjs, 
 H. Ven. 292, 3, H. Bacch. 58, 9, H. Dian. 7-9, H. Els Mrirepa eeav 6 Kal 
 ail jueV ovra x<»'pf ^f"' S' apa iraum dotSg : more rarely earlier in the poem 
 as H. Apoll. Del. 14 sqq. It is, however, as Haupt observes, found also 
 in the Alexandrian poets, e.g. Theocr.xvii. 135-137 Xmpc, Sva^xiToKepaie' 
 
 aedev 8' eya lira Kal SWav Mi/^crojuai fjpaiav' boKfW 8' eTTor ovK dnoffKrjrov ^dey- 
 ^opai fo-a-opevois' dperdv ye piv ck Aths e^fis. Apollonius breaks into a 
 
 similar apostrophe to the heroes of the Argo iv. 1381 sqq., but only, it 
 would seem, as an artifice to avoid detailing a tiresome action which 
 would have involved a lengthy description. 
 
 22. nimis, LVI. 4, ' happy beyond measure.' Realinus compares Aen. 
 vi. 649 Magnanimi heroes, nati melioribus annis. 
 
 23. deum genus, hlov yeVor Hom. H. 34. 2. Stat, compares 
 
 Hesiod'E. n. 'H. 158 'Avhp&v fipiiav 6fXov ycvos, ol KoKfovrm 'HpWeot irporipri 
 
 yevtfi KOT diriipova yaiav. More probably CatuUus may have in view Apol-;/' 
 lonius iii. 402 Ei yap erriTvpov eare dfav yivos, especially as the Argonauts 
 were all dBavdrav vies re Kal viavoL ApoU. R. iii. 366. bona, ' benign,' 
 Hor. C. iv. 2. 38. mater is usually interpreted of Thetis either as a 
 primeval goddess (Mitsch.) or as the mother of a son himself a hero. It 
 seems better to explain it with Muretus of the Argo. • In Apoll. R. iv. 
 1325 the Argonauts are directed to pay to their mother a return for all 
 her long labour in bearing them in her womb, and this is explained in 
 1370 to refer to the Argo itself, which had carried them through a con- 
 tinued series of toils. This passage Catullus seems to have known; 
 the idea is not unnatural in itself, and agrees with the recurring repre- 
 sentations of the Argo as an animate being, (Apya a proper name, like 
 Eido Hypso Aphro Brimo loulo), possessed of voice and reason, and 
 in part divine. Philo lud. vol. 2. p. 468 quoted by Nauck fr. Aesch. 20 
 
 Ov&' f] \pya> vavapxovvTos 'idirovos enerpeircv iiri^aiveiv olxcTais pepoipapevr] Kal 
 ^XV' *"■' Xoyurpov, (fiviris oSa-a (jiiKcXevSepos. o6fv Kal Ai<rxv\os in air^s tiwe' 
 IloCS' earlv 'ApyoCs Upbv aCSatroi' JuXov; ApoUod. i. 9. 19 ^fpewSvr 8e airov 
 (Herculem) iv 'AffteroK ttjs eeo-<raXiar aTroXeKJidrjvai \iyfi, Trjs 'Apyovs (j>6ey- 
 lapevris''pri Svvaadai (jiipfiv to tovtov fidpos, cf. i. 9. 24, places which 
 
 all seem to refer to the piece of speaking timber {aiSrjev 86pv) which 
 Athene built into the cutwater, and which Apollonius describes as urging 
 
234 A COMMENTARY 
 
 the start from Pagasae (i. 525) and warning the Argonauts to expiate 
 the murder of Absyrtus by a visit to Circe (iv. 580 sqq.). The MSS. 
 vary between ma/er and malre ; and the Veronese Scholiast on Aen. v. 
 80 quotes the passage as Saluete deum gens (Aen. x. 228) bona matrum 
 Progenies saluete iierum. Lachmann seems to consider this as a fragment 
 of a lost poem in his first edition ; Orelli Eel. Lat. p. 94 and Haupt Quaest. 
 Cat. p. 44 treat it as genuine and conclude that our MSS. have lost a 
 line. This view has been generally taken since and the lacuna has been 
 variously filled up (see my first vol.). But Conington rightly observes 
 that saluete iterum may be part of the scholion; the weight of the 
 Veronese Scholia, imperfect and full of lacunae as they are, is not to be 
 set against our MSS ; it is difficult to imagine any mode of filling up the 
 lacuna which would not either be weak or load the sentence unnecessarily. 
 
 24. conpellabo must not be pressed, as if the poem actually con- 
 tained repeated apostrophes to the heroes. Catullus seems to have in 
 
 view the recurring Avrap I'y&iv ifiimv te koI aWris fivr^iTOji aoibris of the 
 
 Homeric hymns. Theocritus expresses shortly the sense of Catullus' 
 
 three lines 1. 144 ^ x^P^^ iroKXdKtj MoOo-at, Katper' eya 8* vfipLV Koi es 
 va-Tepov ^dtov aaa. 
 
 26. eolumen, ' pillar.' Pindar calls Hector ipolas apaxov da-TpaPrj xtova 
 Ol. ii. 82 Bergk. Anth. P. vii. 441 'Y-^Xois Meydnp-ou 'ApurrocpoavTa re 
 Na^ov Ktovas. 
 
 27. SUDS. Melanippides described Thetis as actually pregnant by 
 Zeus when she was married to Peleus, Schol. on II. xiii. 350. diuum 
 genitor, a motive to Thetis for rejecting a mortal. 
 
 28. tentiit, ' clasped ' as wife. pulcerrima. Thetis conquered 
 Medea in a contest of beauty. Neptunine, in what sense ? Accord- 
 ing to Apollod. i. 7. 4 Poseidon had a son Nereus, and if this Nereus 
 was the father of Thetis, she might be called Neptunine TrairnanpiKas as 
 the granddaughter of Neptune or Poseidon (Schmitz Diet. Biog. s. v. 
 Thetis, and Haupt Quaest. p. 71). So Ajax is called Aeacides Euphor. 
 fr. 36, Perseus Agenorides Ouid. Met. iv. 771, Protesilaus Phylacides 
 (Meineke Anal. Alex. p. 71), and Lycophron Al. 1324 speaks of Theseus 
 as the son of Phemius, his grandfather. But, as Haupt observes, the 
 best MSS. of ApoUodorus i. 7. 4 read Nireus ; Nereus is the son of 
 Pontus and Ge (i. 2. 6) : ApoUodorus gives the following stemma: — 
 
 Uranus =Ge Pontus =Ge 
 
 , I , 
 
 Oceanus = Tethys 
 
 Doris ^ -,Nereus 
 
 Thetis 
 
 thus Thetis would be Neptunine either as granddaughter of Pontus, whom 
 Catullus would then identify with Neptune, or more generally as the 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXIV. 235 
 
 descendant of a number of marine deities represented by the general term 
 Neptune. Slightly different is the explanation of Perizonius, that Thetis 
 is called Neptunine as the most famous of the goddesses of the sea, 
 the peculiar domain of Neptune. Against all these views must be set the 
 fact that Catullus particularizes the grandfather and grandmother Oceanus 
 and Tethys ; and that he seems to have in his mind a distinct pedigree 
 throughout. Hence, as he nowhere actually calls Thetis a daughter of 
 Nereus, he perhaps identifies Nereus with Neptune, possibly to avoid the 
 awkwardness of the form Nereine, a word which though shown by Niike 
 (Hecale p. 44) to be found in Oppian (Hal. i. 386), and Quintus Smyr- 
 naeus, was avoided by the Romans, and is replaced by Nerine, Virg. Eel. 
 vii. 37. Haupt asserts that Neptunine is without any properly Latin 
 precedent ; but the Glossaries quote Oceanine Oceani filia; and if from 
 Ei??;i/os Ei//co\o£ 'QKeapos'Adprjirros could be formed Euenine Eucoline Oceanine 
 Adrestine, Catullus imitating these Greek forms might form from Nepiunus 
 Neplunine. 
 
 30. Supposed by Riese to be imitated from a line of Euphorion, fr. 
 158 in Meineke's Analecta Alexandrina, 'nxfai/oi toj -naaa ntpippvros ivbi- ^ 
 SiTai x6a>v. Catullus however is more particular ; Oceanus surrounds 
 the globe with the sea : so Eurip. Orest. 1377 ■it6vtov 'iiKfovos &v Tavpoicpcwos 
 ayKoXius 'E'KlcriTav (tuxXoi x^cJi/ci : and before him Aesch. Prom. 137. The 
 belief in a circumambient ocean was held in Catullus' time by Cornelius 
 Nepos, and supported by the evidence of Q. Metellus Celer, the husband 
 of Clodia, who when proconsul of Gaul had received as a present some 
 Indians carried by storms, as they asserted, from the Indian Ocean to the 
 shores of Germany (Mel. iii. 45). 
 
 31. Quae is a vagueness like il/a Amphitrite above : it refers to the 
 taedae felices of 25. tempore depends on fluitae, 'days determined 
 by the approach of the welcome time.' 
 
 34. Dona. So in the Homeric hymn Aphrodite says to Anchises 139 
 
 Sqq. Oi 6c' Kt TOi xpvaSv re aXis ifrdrjTa ff v(j>aVTrjv Ilep'^ovcriV ail 8e jroXXa (cat 
 dy\aa bi)(Bat anoiva, TaCra 8e TTOt^ffap balvv ydfiov Ifiepoevra Tifitov dv6p6moi<Ti 
 
 Koi aBavaTouri, 6eoi<Tiv. The marriage-gifts precede the banquet. prae . 
 se, ' in their hands.' Cic. Phil. ii. 12. 30 Stillantem prae sepugionem iulit. 
 
 35. Scyros lies off Euboea, at a considerable distance even from the 
 S. E. point of Thessaly, the Sepias Akte. Meineke Vindiciae Strabon . 
 p. 152 accordingly proposed to read here Cieros (Strabo 435), a town 
 of Thessaliotis, apparently identified with Cierium. This would be in 
 the vicinity of Larisa Crannon and Pharsalus ; but it is not likely that so 
 obscure a place would be mentioned by Catullus, and it does not cor- 
 respond to the MSS. reading Siros Syros or Scyros. How then could 
 Catullus introduce Scyros here? (i) According toll.i. 479, 484Peleus is 
 King of Phthia at the extremity of which lay the Dolopes ; Thuc. i. 98, 
 Died. xi. 60 speak of Scyros as inhabited by Dolopes and Pelasgi (Orelli) ; 
 (2) Scyros may be included in Thessaly as Pelasgian, a name sometimes 
 equivalent to Thessalian Hesych. rteXao-yot ol Q^naakoi., and ApoUonius i. 
 580 calls , Thessaly ttoXuX^ios afa neXao-ySv where the Schol. says 5 otto 
 ntXatrySx tdvovi /3apj3af)uco0 o\K.r\aavTOi ttjv QetriraKiav /tai to Apyos ^ otto IIcX- 
 
 00700 Tov Uoa-fiSSivos viov koX Aapiaijf. (3) With such claims to be called 
 Thessalian, Scyros would naturally occur to Catullus as intimately con- 
 nected with the family of Peleus. This would appear from the selection 
 
236 A COMMENTARY 
 
 of the island as the hiding place of the young Achilles, or from the 
 Homeric account according to which Achilles himself attacked and took 
 Scyros II. i. 668 and afterwards left his child Pyrrhus there : or from the 
 story mentioned by Philostratus Vit. ApoUon. 731 that Peleus sent Achilles 
 to Scyros to avenge the death of his friend Theseus, killed there by 
 Lycomedes (Lycoph. Al. 1324); Philostratus adds ivravBa rm 'A;^tXXe( 
 
 diaLTtofieva TraptyiyveTO rj Qeris . . . ^vWeyofievov 8e eV rfiv AvXtfia tov urpaTov 
 &te7r6pdfiev(rev avTov es Trjv ^6iav 5tu ra eir avra KeK\(orrp.eva tov IlTjKea iroiovpevyj 
 
 Kvpiov TOV iraMs. (4) Peleus himself was buried in Icos, a small island 
 between Scyros and Sciathus Anth. P. vii. 2. 10. Phthiotica, is not 
 strictly applicable to Tempe as Phthiotis proper did not extend farther 
 north than Pharsalus and the Thessalian plains (Strabo 430) ; but Tempe 
 seems to be called Phthiotic as the valley through which the Peneus flows, 
 as Callimachus has TiriveU ^Simra Del. 112. It is not likely that Catullus 
 uses Tempe here as an appellative, ' vallies,' when he speaks afterwards of 
 the celebrated Tempe, infr. 285 : and both Crannon and Larisa are, like 
 Tempe, close to the Peneus, 
 
 37. Pharsaliam. The more ordinary account makes Peleus marry 
 Thetis on Pelion, the abode of Chiron. Eurip. I. A. 704, 5, 1040. Cf. 
 Androm. 1277, Stat. Achill. i. 192. In the Andromache i6 sqq. Thetis 
 is said to have gone with her newly-married husband Peleus to the 
 neighbourhood of Pharsalus, and to have given her name to the place, 
 Thetideion; and so Pherecydes cited by Schol. on Pind. Nem. iv. 81. 
 Pharsalia is the name both of a town and a district. Here the town is 
 meant, as is shown partly by the omission of any preposidon (Kraft), 
 partly by its being combined with Crannon and Larisa, partly by the 
 word coeunt which could scarcely apply to any place larger than a town. 
 There is no need to alter Pharsaliam into Phar salon the form of the word 
 in Strabo; not that Pharsaliam is to be considered a trisyllable, by 
 synizesis of -iam, as Mitsch. and Kraft think ; but the second a which 
 is properly long (Androm. 16) is shortened in Pharsaliam, long in 
 Pharsalia. In Calpurn. iv. loi Pharsaliae is the reading of most 
 MSS, and in I. A. 812 the MSS. give r^w yap "Kmav ^apa-oKiov. For the 
 doubtful quantity in proper names cf. ApoUonius' BprfiKiov but eprjimrfi i. 
 iiio, 1113; Bf^piKCiv but Be^pCxfs ii. 2, 98; and for the combination 
 Pharsaliam Pharsalia in one line, Callim. H. ad lov. 55 KoXa p,kv ^e'Ieu, koKo. 
 S eTpa<f>€f; Epig. XXX. 3 KoKos 6 nais, "AxfXSe, \iriv Ka\6s, Lucretius' 
 
 liquidis liquida iv. 1259 where see Munro, Horace's nigris riigro C. i. 
 32. II ; and Cf. Jebb on Soph. El. 148. 
 
 38-42. The order of these verses has been objected to by various com- 
 mentators : Ramiresius de Prate (Hypomnem. in Martialem i. 44) and 
 Walter Savage Landor proposed to arrange them thus Rura colit — Nongle- 
 bam — Squalida — Non humilis — Nonfalx which cannot be right, ending 
 as it does weakly with umbram, and neglecting the evidently intentional 
 repetition of non in three consecutive verses. Ritschl, observing that 38 
 contains the general idea that neither men nor beasts work, and that in 39, 
 41 the first part alone of this is drawn out, viz. the care bestowed by men 
 on vineyards and gardens, while in 40 the poet passes to what concerns 
 both men and beasts, ploughing, to which 42 adds as conclusion the conse- 
 quences of all the first four, arranges them thus Rura colit — Non humilis — 
 Nonfalx — Non glebam — Squalida which he compares with Eel. iv. 40, 41. 
 It is true that this keeps together the two lines about trees, as well as the 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXIV. 237 
 
 two about ploughs ; and it might be called the most natural order. Yet 
 it is also possible that Catullus may have intended an alkrnative, 39, 41 
 corresponding, and 40, 42 to each other: a view which had struck me 
 before I found it in Kraft. The old objection to these five verses, 
 noticed by Realinus, as absurdly exaggerating the duration of the nuptials, 
 is hardly excused by his defence, that Catullus only takes a poet's licence 
 of amplifying his subject : the want of proportion still remains : there is a 
 nescio quid nimii. 
 
 38. mollescunt, from no longer bearing the yoke. 
 
 39. Hertzberg thinks humilis, ' sunken,' a possible translation of oiVo- 
 TreSi) x^ifo^^, which Catullus may have - found in the original Hertzberg 
 supposes him to copy. Both views are gratuitous ; vines grow low, and 
 vineyards, if uinea is to be interpreted literally, might be called low for 
 the same reason (Realinus). euruis, with curved prongs, see Rich s. u. 
 piirgatur, cleared by the removal of the accumulated weeds and earth at 
 the bottom of the plant. 
 
 40. prono can hardly refer to the bending forward of the ploughman 
 (Vulp. who compares curuus arator Virg. Eel. iii. 42, arator incuruus 
 Plin. xviii. 179); it represents the presso uomere or depresso aratro of 
 Geor. ii. 203, i. 45 ; the more the plough is pressed downwards the more 
 thorough the ploughing; hence also taurus, which, as in G. i. 45, 65 
 Fortes inuertant tauri, by the suggestion of extra strength, adds to the 
 idea of labour. 
 
 41. Servius on Eel. i. 57 Tria genera sunt frondatorum, frondator qui 
 arbores amputai, et qui frondibus manipulos facit hiemis tempore animalibus 
 ad pastum offerendos, et qui manibus uitium folia auellit, quo ardor solis 
 uuam maturiorem reddat. The language of Catullus might suit all these 
 operations, lopping the boughs and stripping off the leaves of trees, 
 to be then used for fodder ; or else cutting away the redundant leaves 
 of the vines : the falx would serve either purpose. Mitsch. refers it to 
 the last, \ht pampinatio, or pruning of the leaves from the vine-plants : Kraft 
 to the lopping and pruning of the elms and other trees, to which the vines 
 were tied in the arbustum. I think that it is in any case safer to ex- 
 plain arboris generally, not particularly of the vine, as he has already 
 mentioned uinea in 39, and the alternation of ideas in 39, 41 need not 
 be more exact than it is in 40, 42. On the other hand in a country like 
 Italy, where the vine was commonly grown, the mention of the pruner 
 would so readily call up the vine, as well as the tree to which it was at- 
 tached, that it is not likely that Catullus meant to exclude it. The rhythm 
 of the verse is L^cretian. 
 
 42. desertis, ' left to themselves,' to moulder. infertur, ' steals 
 over,' nearly =' «';^r/j^,' Mitsch. who compares Tib. i. 10. 50 Militis in 
 ienebris occupai arma situs. 
 
 43. Ipsius, of Peleus, in opposition to the forsaken houses of the visitors. 
 quacunque opiileiita recessit Regia, ' in every farthest nook of the 
 sumptuous palace.' recessit of a house retiring into inner chambers 
 and corners. Aen. ii. 300 Secreta parentis Anchisae domus arboribusque 
 obtecta recessit, of a house withdrawn from public gaze. 
 
 44. So in Od. iv. 72 sqq. Telemachus wonders at XoKkov re ampoirtiv 
 
 Kara Sw/nara tjxrjfVTa Xpvirov t ^Xe'irrpov Tf xal apyvpov ^S' cXf'^avror in the 
 
 palace of Menelaus. splendent. Bacchyl. 27. 8. BergkXpvtrm 8'fXe- 
 
 (pavTi Tf papfiaipovaiv oiKoi. 
 
238 A COMMENTARY 
 
 45. soliis, dative, as Aen. vi. 603 lucent genialibus altis Aurea fulcra 
 torts. mensae is also I think dative ; in each case the ordinary con- 
 struction with the ablative solta candent ebore, mensae collucent poculis (cf. 
 Aen. X. 539 Totus collucens ueste atque tnsignibus armis) is inverted in the 
 same way. If genitive, mensae will be like Virgil's plenae pocula mensae 
 Aen. xi. 738. With the singular mensae, which is found in all the MSS, 
 cf. arboris in 41. Catullus cannot mean one long table, as is shown by 
 constructae mensae 304. Transl. ' The thrones are of white ivory, the 
 tables bear glittering cups.' 
 
 46. The Bolognese MS. has gazza, a. good form and found also in the 
 Medicean of Virgil Aen. ii. 763, v. 40. According to Conington on 
 Aen. v. 40, probably quoting Curt. iii. 13 (cf. Died. xvii. 35), gaza is 
 Persian for royal treasure : regali is thus explanatory of gaza as altas 
 olAlpes XI. 9 . gaudet, ' is gay,' looks like a translation of yivmai or -yma ; 
 it has the same double play of meaning, gladness and brightness passing 
 into each other ; Cratinus has ympiSia-aL rpawe^ai Incert. fr. 9. 
 
 47. Puluinar, whether used to denote a cushion or a couch, always 
 conveys a notion of greatness and grandeur, and hence is applied to the 
 couches on which the images of the gods were laid out at the Lectis- 
 ternium, or to beds of state such as that of the divine Thetis, and the 
 Roman Emperors (Suet. Dom. 13, Juv. vi. 132). Rich, Companion s. u 
 Apollonius, describing the marriage-bed of lason and Medea in the cave 
 of Phaeacia, calls it XcKvpov ixeya iv. 11 39. 
 
 48. Seditous in mediis corresponds to the atrium in a Roman 
 house (Rossbach) ; it was of course also placed here in order to be seen 
 and admired by the visitors. Indo quod dente politum, i. e. framed 
 of polished ivory, as raro corpore nexum Lucret. vi.- 958 = ' possessing a 
 loose texture of body;' the transition from ' polished with ivory' to 'made 
 of polished ivory ' is natural and intelligible. Indo dente, ' the tusks 
 of Indian elephants.' Stat. S. iii. 3. 95 Indi dentis honos. Prop. ii. 31. 
 12 Et ualuae Libyci nobile dentis opus. Varro speaks both of eburnei and 
 eborati lecti (Pseud, fr. xii Riese, Quinquatrus fr. iii). 
 
 49. purpura in itself might = ' purple hangings,' much as in Pro 
 Cluent. xl. Ill usqu£ ad talos demissa purpura, of a praetexta, Suet. 
 Jul. 84 lectus eburneus auro ac purpura stratus ; then conchili~ will 
 depend on/uco, and the two words define the colour of the purpura, 
 which might be purple violet or red; as Propertius says iv. 3. 51 Nam 
 mihi quo Poenis tibi purpura fulgeat ostris ? to express the crimson 
 colour of Lycotas' robe; and as Statins S. iii. 2. 139 Qux) preliosa Tyros 
 rubeat, quo purpura fuco Sidoniis iterata cadis distinguishes the dye 'of 
 the Tyrian and Sidonian purples. It seems more probable that conchili 
 depends on purpura like Lucretius' purpureus color conchili, ' purple from 
 the sea-shell;' the notion of coverlet would be sufficiently expressed in 
 tegii. In the Argonautica lason's mantle is described as red in the 
 middle, purple at the edges ApolL R. i. 728 ; but; Catullus can hardly 
 mean anything so definite as this. The combination of ivory couches 
 ■w?ith purple or crimson coverlets is often mentioned: Plato Com. ap. 
 
 Athenae. 48 K2t' iv Kklvais iXefjjaVTdwoatv koX (TTpi>fJ.a(Ti iropcjivpo^dirTOis. 
 Varro Quinq. fr. iii in eborato lecto ac purpurea peristromate. Hdr. S. ii. 
 6. 102 rubro ubi cocco Tincta super lectos canderet uestis eburnos. 
 
 50 sqq. The introduction of a quilt containing in embroidery repre- 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXIV. 239 
 
 sentations of mythical events is probably owingjo Ap9llonius, who de- " 
 scribes seven scenes embroidered on the mantle given by Pallas to lason 
 i. 730—767. Such descriptions are common from Homer onwards: like 
 the shield of Achilles II. xviii. 478 sqq. is the shield of Hercules described 
 by Hesiod 'AtTTT. 'H. 139 sqq., and the shields of the chieftains in Aes- 
 chylus' "Ettt. inl Bridas and Euripides' Phoenissae 1090 sqq. In the Ion 
 1141-1165 Euripides describes with great minuteness the scenes em- 
 broidered on the hangings of a building: Theocritus i. 27 the carving of 
 a cup, Moschus ii. 37 the figures on Europa's basket. The Roman poets 
 abound with similar descriptions; Virgil, besides the shield of Aeneas 
 viii. 625 sqq., and the doors at Cumae on which were sculptured the death 
 of Androgeos, the drawing of the lots for the victims to the Minotaur, and 
 the story of Pasiphae vi. 20 sqq., describes vi. 250 sqq. a chlarnys on 
 which was embroidered the rape of Ganymede: Ovid the carvings on 
 the doors of the temple of the sun, and on a cup given to Aeneas M. 
 ii. 5, xiii. 681 sqq.: Silius the shield of Hannibal ii. 403 sqq. I have 
 ah-eady spoken of the disproportionate length of this description : 
 another point worthy of notice is the difficulty of deciding how much is 
 supposed to be represented on the coverlet. Kraft considers that 50-75 
 and 251-264 are alone represented: all the rest being mere digression. 
 If so, it is difficult to see what are the heroum uirtutes : an expression 
 which naturally refers to the devotion of Theseus for his country and his 
 battle with the Minotaur 76-85, 105-115. 
 
 50. priscis hominum figuris iox priscorum hominum figuris. See on 
 XXXI. 13. Mitsch. compares Stat. Achil. ii. i,i,\ priscosque uirum mirarer 
 honores. uariata, of embroidery, Mart. viii. 28. 18 Texta Semiramia 
 quae uariantur acu. 
 
 51. uirtutes, 'valorous deeds,' as perhaps in 323. Mitsch. compares 
 (cXe'a avlpwv 'HpoxBx II. ix. 524. mlra arte. ApoUonius says of lason's 
 
 mantle Iv fi' ap kKaarai TtpfiaTi 8ai8a\a woWa SiaKpiSov (v eKCKaoTO i. 729. 
 
 52. Catullus follows ApoUonius iv. 433 MivaiBos fjv irorc Orjo-eis Kvmo-o-o- 
 
 dev io-nojjiivrjv Air] evi KaWme vrjcrm, cf. iii. 999 sqq. : an account based on ^ 
 Od. xi. 321-325, which describes Ariadne as accompanying Theseus from 
 Crete to Athens, but killed on the way in the island Dia by Artemis, 
 owinj to the witness of Dionysus. fluentisono is an-. Xey., it 
 
 seems to express afK^ipirri Od. xi. 325, but with more definiteness, 
 ' stream-sounding,' i. e. ' loud-streaming ; ' fluenta, not waves, but the 
 streamings of the waves. Diae. In Od. xi. 321-325 Theseus while 
 taking Ariadne from Crete to Athens is frustrated by her death hix) iv 
 
 d/KfupiiTri. The schol. on this passage says Aia vija-os npos rfj KprjTTj rJTis 
 
 vvv Nd^of xaXeiTof Upa 8c avrr) tov Aiovv(Tov ; and SO Eustathius there ; and 
 as Strabo 484 speaks of an island Dia close to the Heracleion of Cnossus, 
 from which town Ariadne started with Theseus, it seems likely that this 
 Dia is the one meant by Homer. ApoUonius iv. 425-434 speaking 
 of Theseus and Ariadne, says he left her, after she had foUowed him 
 from Cnossus, in the island Dia ; and that then Dionysus, the prince 
 of Nysa, wooed her in a wonderful robe which the Charites wrought for 
 hini in the island. This also might refer to the Dia near Crete : and 
 Theocritus ii. 46 is not more determinate. But the scholiasts on ApoUo- 
 nius and Theocritus explain Dia in each case of Naxos, the former 
 quoting a line of Callimachus (fr. 163 Blomf ) 'Ev Air/- to yap eo-Ke ttoXhi- 
 
240 A COMMENTARY 
 
 repov ovvojxa Nd^<^, cf. Etym. M. s. u. Am ; and whatever may have been 
 the case with Homer ApoUonius and Theocritus, the story of Ariadne 
 is connected by the Roman poets with the Cyclad island Naxos, which, 
 perhaps from its fertility in vines, was consecrated to Bacchus (Serv. on 
 Aen. iii. 125), hence sometimes called Awwa-ias, and is often mentioned 
 as his birthplace Horn. H. xxxiv. 2 or in connexion with him, Apollod. 
 iii. 5. 2, Died. iii. 65. 3, v. 50-52. That Catullus means Naxos is shown 
 by 178, where the Cretan mountains are said to be separated by a long 
 distance of sea from Dia. 
 
 55. Voss's emendation makes all clear. Ariadne only half awake 
 (incertum uigilans Her. x. 9) and dazed by the sight of Theseus' ship 
 sailing away without her cannot bring herself to believe that it is true. Ovid 
 Her. X. 31 seems to allude to this line, Aut uidi, aut tamquam quae me 
 uidisse puiarem, Frigidior glacie semianimisque fui. 
 
 56. exeita sompno, for ex sompno (Liv. iv. 27) is rare. Lucan i. 239 
 has straits exeita iuuentus. 
 
 58. pellit uada remis, a carelessiless of which there is no other 
 example in the Peleus and Thetis. Ennius has similar endings not rarely 
 fusi sine mente Ann. 134, conferta rate pulsum 378, iubam quassat simul 
 altam, spumas agit albas in two consecutive lines 506, 7, simul cata dicta 
 519; and so has Cicero in the fragments of his poems, Lucretius, and 
 even TibuUus ii. 5. in. 
 
 60. procul is defined by ex alga, ' from a distance amid the shore- 
 weeds,' alga, though not commonly mentioned in such scenes by the 
 ancients (see however Val. Place, i. 252) adds to the effectiveness of the 
 picture. Ariadne has gone to the extreme edge of the shore, the sea- 
 weed and sea-pools, to gain a last glimpse of the receding ship : cf. 168 
 (Kraft). 
 
 61. The comparison lies in the wild but speechless and tearless (Her. 
 x. 44) grief of Ariadne. Hor. C. iii. 25. 8. Saxea. Philemon fr. inc. 
 
 xvi Meineke vt;o Se rSj/ Kax.atv Toji/ tTVfjLireo'QVTaiVj Tov re (rvfi^avTos iraBovs Tlpou- 
 
 rjyopeiSii Sia to /i.^ (jxovelv \i6os, of Niobe. Eheu. It is not easy to 
 
 decide between eJieu and euhoe. In 255 Euhoe bacchantes are constructed 
 together on a Greek analogy, and bacchantis euhoe might be so constructed 
 here ' of one shouting the Bacchic cry Euhoe,' though the separatfon of 
 bacchantis from euhoe makes some difference : euhoe would then, as Conr. 
 de Allio Mitsch. and Doer, suggest, express the open mouth in the one 
 case of the Bacchanal shouting, in the other of Ariadne struggling to 
 make her cry heard. Such a statue seems to be described by Callim. 
 
 H. Apol. 22-24 ^^^ f^^ ° daKpvoeis dva^dWeraL akyea TreTpus "Oorts ev\ ^pvyijj 
 Siepos Xldos iarfipiKTai. Mapp-apov dvrl ywaiKis oi^vpSv tl x"""'''''';*. I have 
 
 preferred eheu as simpler and more pathetic : it is to be taken with the 
 second prospicit, ' alas still gazes,' implying the futility of the effort. 
 
 62. For the repeated prospicit cf. Lucret. iv. 790 mollia membra Mollia 
 mobiliter. Cic. de Diuin. i. 8. 14 acredula uocibus instat, Vocibus instat. 
 Ouid. F. vi. 1 6 Ex illis sed tamen unafuit, Ex illisfuit una. curartim, 
 like fiepip-vai. Theocr. xvii. 52, the sorrows of love as in 72 and II. 10. 
 uudis, as Lucretius iii. 298 has irarum fluctus, Virgil magna irarum 
 fluctuat aestu Aen. iv. 532. 
 
 63.- Horn. H. Cer. 40 'O^ii be /iiv KpaSirjv axos eWa^ep, d/ifjii be ;^ai'Tais 
 ' hpPpoorlais KprjSffiva Saifero X^P"^' ^'^SO'', Kvcfi/fox Sc Kohvpifm kot aptjiorepav 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXIV. 241 
 
 ^ciKfT afiav. flauo, Homer II. xviii. 592 calls Ariadne KoXXiTrXora/ioj : 
 
 Hesiod Th. 947 XjOinroxo^iijs 8c ^litwaos ^avBfjv'ApidSvriv Koiprjv M/cuos BoKeprjv 
 
 ■noiria-aT Hkoitiv seems to connect the golden hair of Dionysus with the 
 yellow locks of his wife Ariadne. mitram, ' the mitre of the Greek 
 women was formed of a scarf of mixed colours, fastened round the head 
 and under the chin ; ' Rich, s. u. subtilem, ' fine-spun,' Lucr. iv. 88. 
 retinens, 'holding in its place,' Cir. 510 Nunquam illam. posthac oculi 
 uidere stwrum Purpureas flauo retinentem uertice uiitas. 
 
 64. couteota is drawn out in uelatum, as ingraia is expanded by 
 frustra in 103. 
 
 65. ' Strophium est fascia breuis quae uirginalem horror em cohihet papil- 
 larum ' Non. 538. It was a sash or scarf twisted into a long round 
 and even form [tereli), and fastened round the bust close under the breast 
 to serve as a support to the bosom, Rich, s. u. According to Mart. xiv. 
 66 Taurino poieras pectus constringere tergo. Nam pellis mammas non capit 
 ista tuas, leather was used for one kind of breast-band; and this may be 
 the meaning of tereti, of smooth leather. lactentes is more usual of the 
 thing suckled, Romulus parutts atque lactens Cic. Cat. iii. 8. 19, agni porci 
 lactentes, etc.; and Isidorus (Origg. xix. 33) seems to have actually read 
 lactantes in this passage, which he wrongly ascribes to Cinna. But Virgil 
 G. i. 315 Fru?nenta in uiridi stipula lactentia turgent, and Quid. F. i. 351 
 sata teneris lactentia sucis show that lactens may be used simply for ' full of 
 milk,' and so Catullus here, of course to give the idea of swelling or full- 
 ness usual in such cases. 
 
 67. Ipsius, of their mistress. alludebant is explained by Quid. 
 Met. iv. 342 Hue it et hinc illuc, et in alludentibus undis Summa pedum 
 taloque tenus uestigia tingit. Phn. xxvi. 39 Tripolion in maritimis nascitur 
 saxis ubi alludit unda, neque in mart neque in sicca. Stat. Theb. ix. 336 
 extremis adludunt aequora plantis. The waves reach Ariadne not enough 
 to disturb her position, enough to move the fallen pieces of her dress 
 gently from the ground. Val. Flac. vi. 664 constructs alludere, as Catullus, 
 with an accusative, allidebant would be out of place, as Attius Clytaem- 
 nestra fr. iv Ribbeck shows Flucti inmisericordes iacere et taetra ad saxa 
 adlidere. 
 
 68. fluitantis is explained by Stat, and Fore. ' loose-flowing,' as in 
 Tac. Germ. 1 7 uestis Tion fluitans, sed stricta, cf. plena fluitantia uela 
 theatro Prop. iii. 18. 13. But this would make Catullus guilty of the 
 critical fault of using a word metaphorically where it ought to have a 
 literal meaning, ' floating,' Lucr. ii. 555. 
 
 69. uicem, here strictly a substantive after curans, ' what happened 
 to.' Suet. Aug. 66 Vicem suam conquestus est. pectore, sensuously, 
 animo, as we should say with her heart, meaning the affections, mente the 
 thought. 
 
 70. pendebat, 'was fixed immovably.' Xen. Symp. viii. 19 tov ix toO 
 
 a-afiaros Kptfiaixevov of a lover. Plato Legg. 831 C KTrjiiaTav e| hv Kpejuxfievij 
 wacra yjrvxri nokirov wavros uiie av wore Sivatro rav aWaiv imiiiKeiav "(T'p^eii', Eurip, 
 El. 950 'Apeos iKKptpavinirai, ' think of nothing but war ; Anth. P. v. 24 1 . 7 a 
 fTTi iratrai EiVlc (p,rjs ^vxrjs ^KiriSes eKxpepees. The general idea is of an 
 absorbed concentration, in which the eyes or thoughts fix themselves on 
 the one object of their devotion, and cannot be shaken from it. Val, 
 Flacc. i. 481 Peruigil Arcadia Tiphys pendebat ab astro. 
 
242 A COMMENTARY 
 
 71. Apuleius who uses externare in the sense of disinheriting, probably 
 derived it from externus, ' to estrange,' and this has generally been looked 
 upon as the etymology of the word in its other meaning, ' to alienate 
 from one's senses or reason,' hence ' to madden.' It is found in this 
 sense below 165, and in Ouid. Met. i. 641 pertiviuit seque externata re- 
 
 fugit, xi. 77 Externata fugamfrustr a teniabat, Ibis 432 Cur externati solis 
 agantur equt, in each of the last three passages in the sense of ' scared,' 
 ' frightened.' The analogy of consiernare points to an old verb sternare, 
 perhaps another form of sternere ; the original sense might be ' fling to 
 the ground ; ' thence consternare, ' to throw into disorder,' of a number ; 
 exsternare, ' to throw off one's balance,' of an individual. See however 
 Corsseni. 178. 
 
 72. Spinosas, Hor. Epist. i. 14. 4. Erycina. This name belongs 
 quite to the heroic times : according to Diod. iv. 83, Hyg. 260 Eryx was 
 the son of Venus and Butes, and built the city of Eryx and the. temple 
 of Venus there : later Aeneas, himself a son of Venus, on his voyage to 
 Italy added to its wealth and ornaments (Diod. iv. 83. 4). ApoUonius 
 iv. 915 speaks of Kypris, the goddess who rules Eryx, as saving the 
 Argonaut Butes, here not represented as her son, from death by the 
 Sirens, and placing him on Lilybaeum. ApoUonius like Diodorus would 
 thus seem to consider the association of Venus with Eryx to precede the 
 Argonautic expedition : Catullus therefore speaks correctly : though a later 
 account, followed by Virgil Aen. v. 759 represents the temple of Eryx as 
 founded by Aeneas on his voyage to Italy. It was famous from the 
 earliest times, and honoured in succession by the Sicanians Carthaginians 
 and Romans (Diod. iv. 83. 4-7) ; at Rome a temple was built to Venus 
 Erucina outside the CoUine gate b.c. i8i (Liv. xl. 34, Strabo 272). 
 serens, 'planting.' Kraft compares Soph. Aiax 1005 oo-as avias /lot Kara- 
 inrelpas cjidlvets, 
 
 73. Ilia tempestate . . . quo ex tempore, like quo tempore . . ex 
 eo XXXV. 13, 14. The usage is perhaps borrowed from the Alexandrian 
 
 poets Callim. H. ApoU. efert Kcivov 'E^ot eV 'Aficfipva-a ffuyiT(8os erpKJiev 
 
 tiriTovs, ApoU. R. iv. 520 'Ek T66ev, e'^oTE. The repetition, to which Ritschl 
 objects as meaningless, is purposely introduced to define the moment 
 at which the passion of Ariadne began ; a point of time to which the poet 
 again recurs in 86 and 171. 
 
 74. euruis describes the peculiar conformation of Piraeus which forms 
 three distinct inlets, each of them used by the Athenians as a harbour. 
 Pausanias i. i. 2 says that Theseus sailed to Crete from Phalerum; and 
 it was at Phalerum that an altar to Androgeos stood in his day i. i. 4. 
 
 75. iniusti. Minos, who in the Odyssey gives sentence amongst the 
 dead, and is consulted by them as arbiter of their disputes (xi. 568 sqq.), 
 is here called iniustus, either from the severity of the tax laid upon the 
 Athenians which his ordinary character for justice (Ouid. Her. x 69) and 
 the fact that the Athenians threw themselves upon his mercy in leaving it 
 to him to decide the amount of punishment (ApoUod. iii. 15. 8) would 
 make more sensibly felt ; or in accordance with the later legends which 
 represent him as an unjust and cruel tyrant (L. Schmitz in Diet. Biog. 
 
 who quotes Philostrat. Vit. ApoUon. iii. 25 MiVm tov a^unrfri xmfp^aKi\i.evov 
 
 mvTas). The author of the Platonic dialogue Minos 1 2 and Plutarch Thes. 
 1 6 ascribe this character for injustice to the tragedians Kai yap S Mlvas ae\ 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXIV. 243 
 
 otereXf I kokZs axovcov /cat XoiSopov^cvof iv roif 'AttikoIs Bearpots kw, oStc 'HtrioSos 
 avrov wvrj(r€ (Sao'tXeuraToi', oure "O/xi/pos oapifTTTjv Aios 7rpo(rayop€V(ra5 (Od. 
 XIX. 179)) ^^' ^T'^parfia'avTes oi rpayiKol TToXKfjv dwA rov \oyeiov Kal Trjs (TKr)vfis 
 aio^iav avrov KaTe(TKe8a(Tav ws xaX«7roi) km /Siai'ou yevojiivov. Cortynia 
 
 templa. So Minos is called Gortynius heros Cir. 114, Gortynius arbiter 
 Stat. Theb. iv. 530. Cockerell (On the Labyrinth of Crete in Walpole's 
 Travels ed. 1820 pp. 402-409) thought Gortynia templa referred to 
 the Labyrinth, which Cedrenus and Eustathius describe as a cave at 
 Gortyna, and which Tournefort and Cockerell have in modern times 
 identified with a subterraneous cavern leading into numerous labyrinthine 
 chambers near Agio Deka, in the vicinity of Gortyna. The Labyrinth 
 was generally placed at Cnossus, and is figured on Cnossian coins : but 
 Claudian de vi Cons. Honorii speaks of it as semiuiri Gortynia tecta 
 iuuenci, and the etymology of Gortyna might seem to connect it with the 
 Minotaur. Hesych. KapreiiviSes ol Voprvvwi. Kp^Tcs. ib. Kdprriv ttjv jSoCw 
 
 Kp^T€s. This would also give more force to iniusti, and would accord with 
 the immediately sequent mention of the Minotaur and his human victims ^. 
 See however 172, 3. Templa. Ennius, speaking of the palace of 
 Priam, calls it saeptum altisono car dine templum (Androm. Aechm. 119 
 Vahlen) either from its being built in the style and shape of a sacred 
 building or from the solemnity and quasi-divinity of the royal ofiBce. 
 Some such meaning jt would have here, ' solemn halls,' or ' halls of state : ' 
 the plural of course takes from the definiteness of the meaning. Those 
 who explain Gortynia templa of the labyrinth might support their view by 
 Callim. H. Del. 311 yvaptrTov eSos (tkoKlov "Ka^vplvBov : and if the labyrinth 
 is meant, it might be called a temple from the association of such struc- 
 tures with sepulture, and the divine honours paid to mythical heroes 
 after their death : Diodorus seems to speak of the temple of Belus and 
 the tomb of Belus as identical ii. 9. 4, xvii. 112. 3 : Ninus was buried in 
 the palace of Semiramis Diod. ii. 7. i ; and such a combination of temple 
 palace and tomb seems to be indicated by the fluctuating sense of the 
 Memnonia. 
 
 76. peste, Plut. Thes. 15 TA hm.p6viov e(j>6fip( t^k x^paV dipopla TC yap 
 Kal v6(ros eve<rKrjylrf jroWrj Kal avfSvirav ol Trorapoi, Diod. iv. 6r. I mentions 
 
 drought and famine. ApoUod. iii. 15. 8 yevopivov ry n6Xei XifioS re Kal 
 Xoi/iov. 
 
 77. ApoUod. iii. 15. 7 gives two accounts of Androgeos' death, ToOtov 
 
 Alyfvs ewl Mapadaviov cTrepij/e ravpov, vcji o5 8ie(ji6dprj' tvioi 8e avrov Xiyovari iropev- 
 6fji€Pov us Orj^as ern. top Aaiov dyava irphs rav dyaividTatv evfbpevBevTa hia cj)d6vou 
 diro\ea-6ai, Plut. Thes. 15 'AvSpoyetonepl rrjv 'ATTiKrjv dnodaveiv 8(S\(o bd^avros. 
 Androgeoneus is formed from Androgeon, the accusative of which Andro- 
 geona is found in Prop. ii. i. 62, as Acrisioneis Aen. vii. 410 from 
 Acrision. 
 
 78-80. Innuptarum — Minotauro — uexarentur. Catullus here 
 allows himself three consecutive spondaic endings : this was done by the 
 Alexandrian poets, e.g. Euphorion fr. 27 in Meineke's Analect. Alexand. 
 
 <t»'>vrj6el(rrjs — KiKkfiaKeirBai — avSrjB^vai, 
 
 ' Leake Supplement to Numismata Hellenica p. 157 thinks it beyond doubt that the 
 cavern explored by Tournefort and Cockerel! was the famous Labyrinth ; and he con- 
 siders its forty or fifty chambei"s to have been used for purposes of primeval, or perhaps 
 royal, sepulture. 
 
244 A COMMENTARY 
 
 78. Plut. TheS. l^'EmiojpvKeva-diievoi Kai SerjdevTfs eTTOirjaavTO tTVvBjjKas &ittc 
 irefijreLv St* evpea iroiv Baafidv rjWeovs iirra Koi irapdevovs TOtravraSj 6fio\oyov(riv ol 
 
 srXeTo-Tot Tail ^y^pat^eav : and SO Paus. i. 27. 10, Diod. iy. 61. 3, ApoUod. 
 iii. ig. 8. Servius on Aen. vi. 21 gives the names of six youths, seven 
 maidens. On this view Theseus himself would be the seventh youth, 
 and so Hygin. P. A. ii. g Cum Theseus Cretam ad Minoa cum sepiem 
 uirginibus et sex pueris uenisset, and the Schol. on II. xviii. 590. A 
 second version, followed by Euripides H. F. 1326 and Plato Phaedo 58, 
 mentioned fourteen youths; a third (Verg. Aen. vi. 21, Hygin. Fab. 41) 
 made the number seven children sent yearly. decus innuptarum, 
 the flower of the virgins, as Pindar speaks of riplaav Sitnoi Nem. viii. ig. 
 
 79. Cecropiam ; the primeval period eVl Kexpairos /cm t&v wparav 
 ^aaCKitcv terminated with Theseus, Thuc. ii. ig. Hence Cecropia would 
 still be the most correct name: and so Callimachus Del. 31 g speaking 
 of the ropes of the 6eap\s which were sent yearly to Delos in com- 
 memoration of Theseus' landing there with the rescued victims calls 
 the Athenians 'KsKpmi&ai. dapem. Plut. Thes. ig Tois 8e iraibas «s 
 
 KprjTTjv Kop.i^op,svovs 6 juei/ TpayiKotraTOs p,vBos^ arro^alvet rov Mtvaravpoif ev ria 
 Aafivplvda Sia(j>6elpeiv, ^ jrKavaiiievovs avToiis Kai TVxel" e^oSov pf; Swapevovs «« 
 KnTa6vr](rKeai. In the ' TheseuS of Euripides ol Ta-nopevoi nal&fs fls jSopaj/ 
 
 TO MivaTaipa were introduced, according to the Schol. on Aristoph. Vesp. 
 312 andTzetzes Chiliad, ii. ggg : see the fragments in Nauck. 
 
 80. angusta, the small size of Athens would make the recurring loss, 
 of its youth felt more severely. It was after the events described by 
 Catullus that Theseus increased the size of the town, and included all the 
 Attic populations under it as metropolis Thuc. ii. ig, Plut. Thes. 24. 
 Ouid. F. iii. 181 Moenia tarn stahant populis angusta fuiur is, Crediia sed 
 turbae tunc nimis ampla suae suggests the farther contrast, sentimentally 
 so attractive to the Romans in reference to their own city, of the primeval 
 simplicity and later greatness of Athens : and this may well have been in 
 the thought of Catullus writing as he is of the noKmyiviaiv Kkka (parav 
 ApoU. R. i. I. uexarentTir, ' were sorely troubled ;' uersarentur the read- 
 ing of one or two MSS. ' were in confusion, upset,' would be an ex- 
 aggeration. 
 
 81. corpus has a special force in reference to the beauty of Theseus. 
 Hesiod 'A. 'HpaxX. 182 describes him as imelKeXov aBavarouri. Diod. iv. 
 71. 4 calls him eimpenei^ dicupepaf, Hyginus Fab. 270 ranks him inter 
 
 /brmost'ssmos. 
 
 82. Proicere, of a voluntary sacrifice. Plut. Thes. 17 TaSr (the 
 murmurs of the citizens against Aegeus) r)via top Brjaia Koi SiKaiHv pfj apeXelv 
 
 dWa Koivavflv ttjs Tv\r]s rots iroklrats e^eSaiKev eaVTOv dveii Kkripov irpoo'eKBav. 
 
 optauit potlus quam funera portarentiir. Andr. iv. g. 2 Quae sibi 
 inhonesie optauit parere hie ditias Potius quam in patria honeste pauper 
 uiueret, where W. Wagner quotes Aul. Prol. 1 1 Inopemque optauit potius eum 
 relinquere Quam eum thensaurum commonstraret. Cretam as an island 
 omits the preposition. 
 
 83. Funera . . . nee funera is an obvious imitation of Greek combi- 
 nations like vdes avafs (Pers. 681), S&pa SSapa, ydpos ayapjjs, mrpos SmoTpos, 
 ■noKis airoKis, Td<j)OS aTa(pos, jSjoy alBiaTos, etc. (see Passerat) ffioTos oi jSioTOs 
 
 Anth. P. ix. g74. 2; a poet quoted by Cic. de Orat. iii. g8. 219 has 
 innuptis nuptiis, Cicero himself insepultam sepulturam Phil. 1. 2. g, of the 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXIV. 245 
 
 irregular funeral of J. Caesar. The idea seems to be the same as in Lucr. 
 V. 993 Vtua uidens uiuo sepeh'ri uiscera busto of men devoured by wild 
 beasts, and thus buried in a living tomb : here the living tomb is the 
 Minotaur, and the youths and maidens are the bodies conveyed to their 
 unnatural and hideous burial in his jaws. (Conr. de AUio, Hertzb.) 
 Manilius similarly of Andromeda exposed to a sea-monster v. 548 
 Virginis et uiuae rapitur sinefunerefunus. The original idea is perhaps 
 found in Lycophron Alex. 154 of Pelops' shoulder eaten by Demeter 
 "AaapKa iwTTvXacr' iruii^eva-ev Ta<l>ia, 413 of a number of Greeks devoured 
 
 by sea-monsters noXXmi/ yap iv a7r\dyxvoia-t TviJ^evBria-eTai Bpadeh iroXvaToi- 
 
 XouTi Kap,nea)v yvaOois 'Nfipidp.os fV/io'y. From another point of view funera 
 necfunera, ' a freight of living dead,' ' corpora peritura et adhuc uiua ' 
 (Passerat), might be explained of the living victims transported in the 
 hearse-like black-sailed ship of death like bodies really dead ; so seem- 
 ingly Alex. Guarinus ' Funera Cecropiae quia licet uiua corpora portar- 
 entur, habebantur tamen tanquam mortua.' 
 
 84. nitens, ' pressing on,' as in Val. F. i. 358 ; oars, though not men- 
 tioned, may be implied. Attius Telephus fr. xiii Ribbeck remisque nixi 
 properiier nauem infugam Transduni, ApoUon. iv. 1631 imppmovr eKarriaiv. 
 
 85. Magnanimum, *the heTO,'=iieyddvpov of Homer and Apollonius. 
 superbas, ' of tyranny,' as Aen. viii. 196 foribmque affixa superbis Or a 
 uirum tristi pendebani pallida tabo. 
 
 86 sqq. The description of Ariadne's passion for Theseus and her 
 lament for his faithlessness are closely modelled on Apollonius' minute 
 and studied picture of Medea, her love for lason and the conflict of 
 feeling which at one moment forbids her to leave her parents and home, l^^" 
 at another urges her to fly with her- lover iii. 275 sqq. As a peculiar 
 exhibition of feminine passion the elaborate but vivid description of 
 Apollonius is in my judgment more effective than that of Catullus, it 
 approaches the greatness of Euripides and Virgil. All three are more or 
 less painful ; in Catullus there is nothing which can be called tragical or 
 harrowing. 
 
 86. CUpidO lumine, Apollon. iii. 443 etcnreVioi/ 8' h ■nam fifTerrpemv 
 Alcovos vlos KdXXfi' Kai xapireo'a'Lv' iir avT^ fi* ofipara Kouprj Ao^a Trapa "Kmapijv 
 <TXop.ivri BrjUTO KoKvTrTprjv, Krjp a)(fi (rpixovaa. lumine, ' a glance,' Stat. 
 
 Achill. i. 584 ni'mt'o quod lumine sese Figat et in uerbis intempestiuus 
 anhelet. 
 
 87. suauis odores, fiuiiScos Ik ddKapoio Horn. H. Cer. 244. exspir- 
 ans, imitated by the author of Ciris 3 Cecropius suaues exspirans hortulus 
 auras. 
 
 88. Mitsch. compares HeS.'E. «. "H. 517 rrapdemK^s &Trd\6xpoos . . "Hre 
 Soficov fVToardi (/n'Xff irapa pjjTtpi pipvei Oiiffm epy flhv'ia voKvxpvaov 'A^poSi'n;?, 
 Eu re \of(ra'apevr] rcpfva XP°'^ '''''' ^^^' fXato) Xpia'apevrj wxi-l KaroKe^iTai ekSoAi 
 
 oIkov. alebat, was nurturing at the time Theseus arrived. The couch is 
 said to rear the maiden in her mother's embrace, inasmuch as she grows 
 up in the inner chambers of the house, among the women and under 
 the eye of her mother. 
 
 89. Eurotae, Culex 400 Spariica myrtus (Realinus). I do not know 
 of any passage where the myrtle is mentioned in connexion with the 
 Eurotas ; Virgil Eel. vi. 83 speaks of the bays of Eurotas, probably the 
 rhododaphne or oleander which grows by it in great luxuriance (Gell, 
 
246 A COMMENTARY 
 
 Journey in Morea p. 322, ed. 1823). But myrtles are common through- 
 out Peloponnesus, Eur. El. 324, 512, 778; the plant has at the present 
 day a special name there, fwpna (Sibthorp, Flora Graeca v. p. 59), and 
 its presence in Laconia may be inferred from Hesych. fivproKh ri 6$v- 
 livppivri. i>s AAxaves. It is difficult to decide between myrtus and myrlos ; 
 MSS. are rather in favour of the former, and there can be little doubt 
 that laurus is right in 289. 
 
 00. distinctos eolores, ' diverse hues,' for ' flowers of diverse hue,' 
 somewhat similarly Tib. i. 4. 29 Quam cito purpureas deperdit terra eolores, 
 and more nearly Prop. i. 2. 9 Aspice quos summitiit humus formosa eolores. 
 educit, not 'rears,' a sense which it has Aen. vii. 763, viii. 413, ix. 584, 
 but 'brings forth,' as in Plin. H. N. x. 152, cited by Conington on Aen. 
 VI. ^id^-^avanifxnei. Find. P. ix. 82 oaea Tf \6!iiv rjpiva cfiiW' dpawepirei 
 
 (Mitsch.), or more closely eK^/pfi, used of the ground Herod, i. 193, of 
 women Callim. H. Del. 56. Infr. 282 Aura parit florts. 
 
 91. declinauit, ' drooped,' Ovid Met. vii. 86 sqq. Special el in uultu 
 ueluli turn deniqtie uiso Luminafixa tenel : nee se mortalia demens Or a uidere 
 putat : nee se decimal ab illo. 
 
 92. ApoUon. iii. 286 /SeXos 8' heSaUro Roiprj Ncp^ec ijro Kpahig [fundilus), 
 <l>\oyi fiKiKov' avrla S' am BdXXci/ in-' Ai(rovl&r)v dpapiyfiaTa : after which foUowS 
 
 the simile of the chips bursting into a blaze at the touch of fire. 
 
 93. Theocr. iii. J'J^Os }ie Karatrpix^v Kai isoariov tixP''^ IdiTTU, 
 
 94 sqq. An apostrophe to Love, perhaps suggested by ApoUon. iv. 
 
 /' 445"449 2;^^''Xi* EptBff, p^^ya ttw^j f^^y^ (TTvyos dpBpanrourtVj 'Ek <Ti6ev ov\6pevai 
 1/ T epides tTTOifa\at re y6oi tc ^AXyed t ^XX' ctti roitrtv aireipova T€Tprjxa(nv. CatuUus 
 
 associates Love and Venus, as Euripides Hipp. 1268-1270 Sv toi/ Bemv 
 
 QKapmrov ^ptva Km ^parSiv ayet?, Kvirpi, 2iiv S' 6 TTOiK{k6jnepos dp(j>t^aKo)f ^QKVrdrta 
 TTTcpa. 
 
 95. inmiti eorde. The ordinary explanation of this difficult verse, 
 ' Ah thou that woefully rousest thoughts of frenzy in the cruelty of thy 
 heart,' falls short of its proper definiteness of meaning; Love rouses 
 madness in the heart. Hence Mitsch. explains inmiti of the yet untamed 
 heart of the victim who is smitten for the first time, comparing Ovid A. 
 A. ii. 177 Si nee blanda satis nee erit tibi comis amanti Perfer el obdura : 
 poslmodo mills erit, Tib. iii. 6. 13. So Statius Achill. i. 302 calls Achilles, 
 as yet strange to love, Trux puer el nulla temeratus pectara matu. This 
 would be lite the Hkopittov <ppepa of Hipp. 1268. Doering in his first 
 edition thought inmiti co\i\d=^inmatura, Hor. C. ii. 5. 10, 'a heart unripe 
 for love ; ' a less violent possibility would refer inmiti to the ■nduToKpm 
 
 epares, the BrjKvKpaTrjS dirfparos epms of Aesch. Choeph. 597, 600. Against 
 
 any of these views may be set the general feeling of the address which 
 begins with apostrophizing Love as cruel, and only specifies Ariadne 
 later ; as well the logical connexion between inmiti carde and the subject 
 of the sentence, Sancle puer. It remains to explain the ablative as local, 
 ' Thou that settest all madness astir in thy fierce heart ; ' Love is pdpyos, 
 a raging madman, ApoUon. iii. 120, and not only the rouser of strife 
 and grief in others (iv. 446, 7) but himself full of turmoU, Terprixas (iii. 
 276). Somewhat simUarly Cic. Att. iii. 7. 2 Nonfaciam ut enumerem 
 miserias amnes ne el meum maerarem exagitem el te in eundem luctum uocem ; 
 more nearly Moschus iii. 85 "a"' tow cpaTa"ETpc(ll€V iv KoXitouri kuI ijpeBe Tav 
 
 'h^pohirav of a lover stirring love in his own breast, cf. Stat. S. v. i. 201, 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXIV. 247 
 
 both quoted by Mitsch.' and so Medea Ktvel Kpattav Kivel 8c x"^"" Med. 
 49- 
 
 95. Sancte, ' divine,' XXXVL 3. curis . . . gaudia, LXVIII. 18. 
 
 Soph. fr. 856 Nauck {Kinpis) 'EarXv ii(v Ai8/)s, eo-T-i 8" &<^etTos /3ia,*Eo-T«/ 8e 
 "Kvaa-a naviAs, ean 8' i/«pos "AjcpaTOf, ear olfiayfios. Eurip. fr. Aeolus 26T3 
 o AcjipoBiTT] TToXX' £ve<rri jroiKiXa" Tepirci re yap p.a\iaTa kcu Xvnei /Sporous. 
 
 96. GolgOS . . . Idalium, Theocr.xv. 100 AeWoiy & To\ya>s re KCU 'iMXiov 
 
 e(t)ihd<Tas, and see on XXXVI. 12, 14. 
 
 97. incensam. iaotaatis Pluctibus is a confusion of metaphors more 
 readily condoned by the ancients than ourselves. Find. fr. 100 Bergk 
 Tos 6c Qfo^eVou aKrlvas wpodutTrov papjiapoliTas hpaxtis^Os fir/ ■n66a KVfialveTai, 
 e^ aSdnavTOs 'H o-iSdpov Kex^KKevrai /likalvav ^'''W? <P^oyi, PlatO Epigr. 30. 3 
 Bergk A 8»Xoi veoTrjTos aiiavriicravTes eKetvris TlpaT07r\6ov, 81 ootjs ij\deTC 
 
 nvpKatrfs. incensam with mente. 
 
 98. Pluctibus, Prop. ii. 12. 7 Scilicet alterna quoniam iaciamur in 
 unda Nosiraque non ullis permanet aura locis. See Hertzberg there. in, 
 'for love of,' after suspirare as in Ouid. F. i. 417. Alexander Aetolus ap. 
 
 Parthen. Erotic, xiv. 11 'Xvdevs 'Eppeirj ra^iva (f>l\os, <i ivi vvp.<prj Malvas tupap 
 axr)crei. rhv \i66\fvcrrov epov. flauo, ApoUoniuS iii. 1016 Toloj drrb ^avBoto 
 
 KaprjaTos AitroytSao STpdimv Epcos rj^fiav ottA (jjXoya, 
 
 99. langueuti, ' fainting,' the relaxation of the muscles produced by 
 Strong fear. timores, at the thought of Theseus combating the 
 Minotaur. ApoUonius iii. 619 sqq. describes Medea as frightened by a 
 dream in which she herself yokes the oxen instead of lason, and again 
 iii. 751 as unable to sleep for the thought of his danger. Dreams are 
 probably in Catullus' mind though not, of course, exclusively. 
 
 100. Quanto instead of quantum would seem to be explicable on a 
 false analogy, quanto grauius, quanto melius, etc. The general idea seems 
 
 taken from ApOllon. iii. 297 iTrakds 8c pfTeTpairdTO napeids 'Es x^dov, aXXor 
 
 tpfvSos. expalluit, LXXXL 4. The comparison of paleness to the 
 sickly colour of gold is not uncommon. Mitsch. quotes Ouid. Met. xi. 
 145 Arua rigent auro madidis pallentia glebis, Sil. i. 233 redit infelix 
 effosso concolor auro, Stat. S. iv. 7. 15 Pallidus fossor redit erutoque Concolor 
 auro. In the same way Theocritus ii. 88 compares a blanching com- 
 plexion to \heyellow dd\JAos, and Lucr. iv. 336 speaks of the pallores in 
 the yellow-tinged faces of jaundiced persons. fulgore is rejected by 
 Ritschl on the ground that the ideas of paleness and glitter are incon- 
 gruous : he proposes fuluore, supporting it by the analogous rarity of 
 macor in Pacuvius, pigror in Lucilius, aegror in Lucretius. May not 
 fulgore auri express the cold glitter of southern faces when blanched with 
 emotion ? 
 
 101. monstrum, rtt rcpas Diod. iv. 61. 3. 
 
 102. Apollonius iii. 428 puts in lason's mouth the determination here 
 
 assigned to Theseus Ta koI iya> rbv aeffkov vnfp(f>ia\6v TTep iovra Tkuftropai, el 
 
 Km poi SavMiv popos. oppeteret was objected to by Muretus as not 
 suited to praemia. It is in fact almost always used of meeting one's 
 death or dying, oppetere mortem Enn. Trag. 235, Cic. Sest. xxi. ^l,pestem 
 poetaap.Cic. Tusc. Disp. ii. i6. 38, Plant. Asin.i. i. 7, letum Sen. Troad. 
 370 ; Phaedrus iii. 16. 2 h3.s poenas oppetit superhiae of incurring punish- 
 ment. Hence appeteret, the reading of the Bodleian MS. (O), may be 
 ' Who however refers exagilans to Ariadne ; a view of course impossible. 
 
\/^ 
 
 '248 A COMMENTARY 
 
 right: mortem appelere is found Suet. Ner. 2, Sen. Ep. 24. 23 in both 
 places apparently of wishing to die. Yet such passages as Fam. xi. 28. 
 4 nunquam enim honesiam mortem fugiendam, saepe etiam oppetendam (faced) 
 putaui are enough to prove that oppetere even with mortem might retain 
 the idea of something sought voluntarily. 
 
 103. i. e. Non tamen ingrata munuscula frustra diuis promiitens suc- 
 cendit uota tacito labello, ' yet not without return were the gifts she pro- 
 mised to the gods in vain (i. e. not without return so fhat she promised 
 them in vain) when on her lip she kindled the silent breath of vows.' 
 ingrata is farther drawn out in frustra, as, in Aen. ii. loi nequiquam 
 is again explained by ingrata, in Tib. iii. 4. 14 Et frustra immeritum 
 pertimuisse uelit by immeritum, in Pont. i. 5. 9, 10 Haec qwque quaelegitis 
 .... Scribimus inuita uixque coacta manu, the inuita manu is drawn out 
 in uixque, and uixque itself explained by coacta. Cf. Callim. Ep. 71.1 Ti's 
 6 \jrev(rTas arvyva Ka6a-\JA€ iit.aTrjv'''EvTea ; H. Cer. 90 'AXe/idrffls axaptcrra Kdrf ppeev^. 
 
 munuscula are the offerings {am6rtixa.Ta) which Ariadne promises to the 
 gods, in the event of their bringing Theseus safe through. Catullus has 
 munera of gifts vowed or offered to the gods LXVI. 38, 82, cf. 92 : 
 these are here called munuscula, to denote the extreme youth of Ariadne ; 
 the offerings of a girl would be childish. 
 
 104. tacito, ' unvoiced,' i. e. which found no audible expression : as be- 
 comes a maiden praying for her lover. Mitsch. quotes Find. P. ix. 171 
 
 A<l>a)Voi ff d)s EKOora (jitKrarov IlapdeviKal Ti6rrtv fj YioK eiij^ovT, S TeXeaiKpaTts, 
 
 eppsv. suooendit, ' kindled,' on the lips as an altar the vows which 
 ascend like incense to the gods ; so Hercules Vota incepta tamen libataque 
 turaferebat Stat. Theb. xi. 236; in each case the ground idea seems to 
 be that the incense is lighted as the prayer is thought, so that the steam 
 of the incense carries the prayer : Xi^avanov \a0av koI ■npoaev^&pevos piVrctr 
 avTov TYjv ivxfjv (fiepovTo Dio. C. xli. 45. Suspendit, ' she let her vows hover 
 or hang irresolutely,' 1. e. only gave them half-utterance like Lucr. v. 1069 
 Suspensis dentibus, suspenso gradu, ' on tip-toe,' would be like ApoUonius 
 iii. 683 of Medea hesitating to speak Mv6os 8' aXXort pev 01 m aKpoTarris 
 
 dvsreWfv rXaxrcri;?, oXXor' evepBe Kara or^^os irevoTrjTO, but is without. MS. 
 
 authority: succepii (De Nat. Deor. iii. 39. 93), is prosaic. uota. In 
 ApoUon. iii. 467 Medea prays to Hecate that lason may return home alive. 
 
 105. Similes of falling trees are among the commonest in ancient 
 poetry II. v. 560, xiii. 389, which recurs xvi. 482. Apollonius has three 
 
 iii. 967 H hpvaXv ^ paKpj](TLV teibopevoi eXdrrja-LV, At re 7rdpaa(Tov €Kt]\ot ep oUpeatv 
 eppl^avTai ^rjvepLjj' pera d* a^ris vtto ptir^s dvepoto Kivvpevai opdbTja-av dneipiTOVy 
 
 which Catullus seems to have imitated, iii. 1374, iv. 1680. Tauro, an 
 early instance of the specification of place in similes so common in 
 Virgil and the later poets. Hesiod "E. k. 'h. 509 sqq. of Boreas noXXos 
 
 8e Spiis v^jflK6pous eXdras re iraxelas Ovpeos iv ^ijo-criyf irChva x6ov\ irovXv- 
 ^OTelpt] 'EpTriirToiv' Kal ndaa fioa totc vrjpiTOs v\ri. Leake speaking of Cilicis 
 
 Tracheotis says, ' During the ascent the road presented some magnificent 
 views of mountain scenery. We leave on the left a very lofty peaked 
 summit, one of the highest of the range of Taurus, probably between 
 6000 and 7000 feet above the level of the sea. In the lower regions of 
 
 ' After this note was written I found the same view in Madvig Opuscula i. p. 62 
 ' Copiosius, ut solet, Catullus eandem rem et adiectivo et adverbio expressit : Non ia- 
 grata tamen munuscula fuerunt et frustra oblata.' 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXIV. 249 
 
 the mountain we passed through woods consisting chiefly of oak ilex 
 arbutus lentisk and junipers of various species. As we ascend we enter 
 the region of pines.' Journey in Asia Minor, p. 234 of Walpole's Travels 
 ed. 1820. brachia, Cul. 142. 
 
 106. comgeram (Theoc. v. 49, coniferae cyparissi Aen. iii. 680) 
 Budanti cortiee, a general description of the pine ; Kraft remarks that 
 it has no particular force, which is perhaps true; but it is to be re- 
 membered that the habit of looking for a special meaning in every detail 
 of a poet's fancy is the growth of a learned and artificial school. Catullus 
 retains sufficient simplicity to allow this mere piece of description to be 
 ascribed to variety and nothing more. Perhaps however he describes 
 what he may have seen. Leake speaking of the region of the Calycadnus 
 (Caramania) opposite Cyprus says, ' In the upper parts scarcely any trees 
 were seen but pines of different species ; most of these were of a moderate 
 size, but some which we saw in the highest parts of the mountain were 
 straight, large, tall, and fit for the masts of ships of war. Great numbers 
 had been destroyed for the sake of the turpentine by making an incision 
 near the foot of the tree and lighting a fire under it, which has the effect 
 of making the resin run more freely.' Walpole's Travels p. 240. sud- 
 anti cortiee, cf. Eel. viii. 54 Pinguia corticibus sudant elecira myricae : B 
 and D have corpore, ' trunk,' which would be like brachia in 105. Pliny 
 has corpus piceae xvi. 57, so body in old writers for trunk. Wheler's 
 Journey into Greece p. 295, ed. 1682 ' We saw a wonderful great Cypress- 
 tree. The body, a foot from the ground, is twenty-one foot about,' ib. p. 310 
 ' Spurge in Trees, with Bodies half a foot Diameter' 
 
 107. Indomitus turbo, like Pacuvius' saeui turbines fr. inc. 415 Ribb. 
 D has Indomitum, and as Servius on Aen. vii. 378 states that Catullus 
 used turben in the neuter, Spengel read here Indomitum turben, and this 
 has been accepted by most editors since, including L. Miiller who com- 
 pares sanguen in Stat. Theb. iv. 464. I have not done so (i) because 
 Indomitum might equally well refer to rObur ; (2) all the MSS. give turbo, 
 and it is improbable that the rare turben should have fallen out ; (3) 
 Servius may have referred to a lost poem, e. g. that in which Catullus 
 Ireats of magic (fr. ix.) and may have introduced a magic wheel, cf. Hor. 
 Epod. xvii. 7. At any rate he could not have arrived at the conclusion 
 that Catullus used turben neuter from this line ; (4) even on the hypo- 
 thesis of two editions, one in which Indomitum turben, one in which In- 
 domitus turbo was written, consistency would require us to follow the 
 preponderating text of our MSS. The authority of Z> here is rather 
 diminished from its not being supported by the similarly descended Brit. 
 Mus. MS. a ; (5) Charisius iii. 145 Keil treats turben as masc. ; (6) Pleitner 
 considers that the extra liquid in turben adds to the effect of the line ; to 
 me it softens and weakens it. eontorquens expresses the riving of 
 the wind on every side of the tree, Aen. iv. 442, cf. G. i. 481 Proluit 
 insano eontorquens ueriice siluas Eridanus. robur, ' heart of oak ; ' Cic. 
 Mur. XXXV. 74 Lacedaemonii qui quotidianis epulis in robore accumbunt seems 
 to use it of any very hard or solid wood. 
 
 108. procul with Prona cadit. radicitus extuxbata, ApoUon. iv. 
 
 1683 sqq. Tf 8' iwA vvkt\ 'Piirfja-iv /xev jrpara rivdacreTaL, v<TT€pov aSre IIpviivoBfi/ 
 
 i^eayeta-a KaTrjptwfv. In the similar passage of Virgil Aen. v. 449 the MSS. 
 are in favour ofradicibusy and radicibus is the reading of several MSS, 
 
,250 A COMMENTARY 
 
 here, including the Riccardian and a : procul might then be taken closely 
 with the abl. ' wrenched away to a distance from its roots.' In 288 radicitus 
 is certain : and I prefer it here as Homer has U pi-iiw, Apollonius wpu/i- 
 va6iv in corresponding descriptions, II. xxi. 243, Argon, iv. i68g. 
 
 109. latecLue et cominus, ' far and near : ' cominus as in Lucr. iv. 
 407, Ouid. Pont. i. 6. 74, Stat. S. iii. 5. 38 Cum iam Lethaeos audirem 
 cominus amnes. According to Servius on G. i. 104 this meaning oi co- 
 minus was most frequent in Cisalpine Gaul, obuia. Other MSS. omnia. 
 The former is more distinct. The whole line is well illustrated by a frag- 
 ment of Varro's Parmeno ix Riese Alia traps pronis (Catullus' Prona) in 
 humum accidens proxumae (Catullus' cominus) Frangit ramos cadens. 
 
 110. saeuum, 'the fierce one,' (toruuvi taurum Ouid. Met. viii. 132) 
 substantively, as ferus in LXIII. 8g, pudicas Prop. iii. 13. 9. The 
 difficulty of the word lies in its vagueness ; Hesiod's I'Sptr for the ant, 
 avooTioi the polypus, ^epeoims the snail, mvToSos the hand, ■yXauK^ the 
 sea, Aeschylus' rj dfiuivros the sea, are quaintnesses which at once explain 
 themselves. Catullus perhaps signalizes by the strangeness of the expres- 
 sion the monstrous character of the <tvjiij,iktov e'Sor Kairo^aiKiov Tp€<j>os, the 
 raipov koX ^porov SiirKrjv <j)i<nv Eur. Thes. fr. 383, 384 Nauck. pros- 
 trauit. The sculptor Bathycles represented the Minotaur bound and 
 led off alive by Theseus Pans. iii. 18. 11. 
 
 Ill seems a translation of HoWa liarrpi Kepdea-a-iv is riepa 6vpr]vavTa, a 
 
 line quoted by Cic. Att. viii. 5. i from an unknown author. uanis, 
 
 ' mocking,' ' ineffectual,' as receiving the blows of the Minotaur without 
 feeling them, or allowing them to produce any effect. Mitsch. compares 
 Stat. Theb. vi. 790 geminatque rolatas Multiplicatque manus : rapiunt 
 conamina uenti, Pars cadii in caestus. 
 
 112. pedem reflexit, like Reflects gressum dum licet teque eripe Sen. 
 Thy. 428, might mean simply 'returned:' more probably it is chosen in 
 direct reference to the tortuous path through the Labyrinth, along which 
 Theseus winds his Avay back. 
 
 113. regens. Her. x. 103 Nee tibi quae rediius monstrarent fila de- 
 dissem Fila per adductas saepe recepta manus shows how Theseus guided 
 himself In Aen. vi. 30 Daedalus is described as Caeca regens filo uestigia. 
 file. Plut. Thes. 19 *E7ret 5e KaTeTrXcuo-ec ets Kprjrrjv^ as juev ol TToKholypdfjyovcri 
 KOL adovaij irapa rrjs 'Apiddifrjs epatrOeitrrjs t6 \ivov Xa^av KoX 8t8a\6eis as ia-rl rov 
 \afivpiv6ov Toils eXiyfiovs Sie^eXffeiv, amicTiive rhv Mivaravpov Kol airinXeva-e ti]v 
 
 'ApidSvriv dvdka^av kcu. Toiis rjiBeovs. Hyginus gives a curious Story p. A. ii. 
 5 Diciiur eiiam a Vulcano facta {corona) ex auro et Indicis gemmis per 
 quas Theseus existimatur de tenehris Labyrinthi ad lucem uenisse, quod 
 aurum et gemmae in obscuro fulgorem luminis efficiebant. 
 
 114. flexibllS. ApoUod. iii. \. ^rp> h \a0ipiv6os oixripa Kainrals iroXvnXoKOis 
 
 liKavav Trjv t^obov. Ouid. Met. viii. 159 thus describes it Daedalus ingenio 
 fabrae celeberrimus artis Ponit opus, turbatque notas et lumina flexum Ducit 
 in errorem uariarum ambage uiarum; he compares it to the Maeander. 
 
 115. Tecti with error. Both Virgil Aen. vi. 29, and Ouid Met. viii. 168, 
 Her. x. 7 1 call the Labyrinth tectum : cf. Strabo of some caverns arti- 
 ficially worked into mazes near Nauplia 369 e^c|5? hi rji NavTrXi'o to. tmriKaia 
 
 Koi OL iv avTols OLKohoprjToX Aa^vptvdoty KvKKdmeia S' ovopA^ovo'iVj a description 
 
 which quite suits the account of the doors and chambers in the cavern 
 near Agio Deka, explored by Cockerell. frustraretur, should bafiSe 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXIV. 251 
 
 him in his attempt to come out. inobseruabilis error, the untrace- 
 able irregularity of the building, dvircvpeTot Bacc. 1221; it was not 
 possible to note where the path began to lose itself; as obseruare uestigia 
 Aen. ii. 753, ix. 393 of noting one's steps with the view of retracing them. 
 Virgil imitates Catullus twice Aen. v. 59 1 Fuller et indeprensus et inremeaUlis 
 error, vi. 2 7 Hie labor ilk domus et inextricabilis error, in each case of the 
 Labyrinth. 
 
 116. A sudden interruption or self-interpellation in the style of the 
 Alexandrian poets. So ApoUonius iv. 1378-1388 breaks the ordinary 
 course of his narrative by an apostrophe to the heroes and a reflexion on 
 their greatness, when he wishes only to give in outline a tiresome and 
 tedious event of the expedition, the carrying of the Argo on the 
 shoulders of the crew for twelve days and nights. With Sed quid ego 
 plura commemorem, cf. Enn. Ann. 210 Sed quid ego hie animo lamentor ? 
 318 Sed quid ego haec memoro ? Sallust. de R. P. ii. 9 Sed quid ego plura 
 quasi de ignotis memorem ? Nep. Att. 17 De pietate Attici quid plura com- 
 memorem ? a primo carmine (Lucr. vi. 937), from the first part of 
 my song, viz. the description of Ariadne standing on the shore of Dia. 
 Catullus can hardly mean the subject of the first part of the whole col- 
 lective poem, viz. the marriage of Peleus and Thetis j as the great length 
 of the complaint of Ariadne would be in ridiculous opposition to such a 
 remark. Possibly the cum primo of MSS. represents in primo the read- 
 ing of A.- cf. Lucr. vi. 937 ; this would mean ' why should I, at the outset 
 of my song (either the whole poem, or the episode of Ariadne) stray off 
 to details which prevent my coming to the point ? ' 
 
 117. Vt, ut — u( 118, ul 121, ut 122, as in Theocr. vii. 73 mt — i>s, as 
 74 — as 78 — as 80, and in ApoUon. iv. 731 oa-a — 732 &s re — 733 &s Tf. 
 uultum. ApoUonius iii. 999 says Minos was angry at her going, but 
 was afterwards pacified and consented. 
 
 118. consanguineae. According to ApoUod. iii. i. 2 Minos and 
 Pasiphae had four daughters, Akake Xenodike Ariadne Phaedra. If 
 Catullus particularized the sister in his own mind, Phaedra is probably 
 meant, as the most prominent, and as actually represented with Ariadne 
 in works of art, Paus. x. 29. 3. In his later life Theseus is represented as 
 the husband of Phaedra ; but neither Phaedra nor Pasiphae (ma/ris) were 
 characters much in harmony with the sentimental parting here described. 
 
 119. misera.in gnata after both deperdita and lamentata est, 
 ' wept aloud in desperate love for her hapless daughter.' Prop. i. 13. 7 
 Perditus in quadam tardis pallescere euris Ineipis, ii. 4. 18 Gaudeal in puero. 
 misera, from the violence of Ariadne's love for Theseus, 7 1 : perhaps 
 spoken from the mother's point of view, lamentata est Conington ; but the 
 conjecture is slightly weak. The MSS. have leta, which Lachmann changed 
 to laetabatur, ' used to take joy in.' Perhaps lentabatur, ' lingered,' Sil. viii. 
 1 1 : this at any rate would not do violence to the imperfect. 
 
 120. praeoptaxit, a word used by Plautus Capt. iii. 5. 30, Trin. iii. 
 2. 22, and Terence Hec. iv. i. 17, as well as Caesar Livy and others. 
 Cornelius Nepos Attic. 12 Vt praeoptarel equitis Romani filiavi generosarum 
 nuptiis. 
 
 121. Diae. Diod. iv. 61. 5 'AvoKOfitfo^fi/or Se ds TrivTrarpiSa itai Kke^as rfiv 
 'AptaSvriv t\a6ev iKTrkfva-as vvieros Kai KOT^pev (Is vrjcov ttjv t6t€ pfv Aiav, vvv hi 
 Na^oi' irpoaayoptvopAvrfV, t 
 
252 A COMMENTARY 
 
 122. A word is lost here, which in my first volume I suggest may be 
 tenentem. The rarity of this rhythm would not be much greater than in 
 the poem on the Civil War in Petronius, where it occurs once in 295 lines. 
 ApoUonius is also very sparing in his use of it : in the 1406 lines of the 
 third book I have counted two, 863 11 90 epf/ivij ipeiivijv, in Book iv con- 
 taining 1779 lines I have found four, 568 606 1629 ((ceXawg KeKmvris 
 KfXmvfj) 686 e^cTjuui : an average which might justify Catullus. 
 
 123. Liquerit, a form suflficiently uncommon to be noticed by Nonius 
 335 ' liquerit significat et reliquerit.' ApoUon. iv. 434 Mu/ioiSos ^1/ jrore 
 
 Q-qams KvaxT^ToOfv fa-Troiievrjv Aig evi (cdXXure vrjira. Plutarch Thes. 20 sayS 
 
 that a verse of Hesiod's represented Theseus as leaving Ariadne for love 
 of another woman Aegle, and that Peisistratus expunged the verse as a 
 slur upon Athens. Another account, in Pausanias x. 29. 4, represented 
 Theseus as robbed of Ariadne by Dionysus who attacked him with a 
 larger fleet. immemori. Catullus follows the popular version which 
 made Theseus a proverb of unfaithfulness. Theocr. ii. 45 Toaa-ov exoi \ddas 
 
 QfTtTOV 7r6Ka Qrjaea (pavri *Ez/ Ala \a(r6rjfiev etfVXoKdjUO) *Apiadvas. 
 
 124. ardenti, as in 197 mops, ardens, amenti caeca furore, of the fever 
 olpain, nearly =' agonized.' Att. ix. 6. 4 Ante sollicitus eram eiangelar . . . 
 nunc auiem postquam Pompeius et consules ex Italia exierunt, nan angor, sed 
 ardeo dolor e oiSe pot ^rop "E/tn-cSoi/, dXX' dXaXuKTij/iai. JVon sum, t'nguam, 
 mihi crede mentis compos ; tantum mihi dedecoris admisisse uideor. 
 
 125. Clarisonas, a word used by Cicero in his Aratea, 280. 
 
 126. turn . . . turn 128, 'at one time, at another.' Cic. de Nat. Deor. 
 ii. 20. 53 Mercurius nunquam ah sole longius discedit turn antecedens turn 
 subseguens, De Diuin. ii. 2. 6 eae turn a principibus ienerentur tum a populis 
 aliquando a singulis. 
 
 127. Ouid. Her. x. 25-28 Mom/uit : apparent frutices in uertice rari 
 Hinc scopulus raucis pendet adesus aquis. Adscendo, uires animus dabat, 
 atque ita late Aequora prospectu metier alta meo. The MSS. read aciem 
 uastos, which has generally been altered into aciem in uastos. Possibly 
 Catullus wrote acie uastos, ' might stretch with her gaze the waste surges 
 of the sea before her,' i. e. might see the waste surging sea stretching 
 before her ; a construction however which rather belongs to a later school 
 of poetry. 
 
 128. tremuli might refer to the slight agitation of the sea under a 
 gentle breeze, as Her. xi. 75 K/ mare fit tremulum tenui^ cum stringitur 
 aura, Sen. Ag. 432 Vnda uix actu leui Tranquilla zephyri mollis afflatu 
 iremit, ' ruffled ; ' more probably it is ' rippling.' 
 
 129. Apollon. iii. 874 "Av 8e ^irmvas AeirTa\€ovs XeuK^f iTrtyovvlSos a^pis 
 
 aeipov. MoUia, 'fine,' LXV. 21. nudatae, proleptic: my Metrical 
 Translation expresses the idea, Lifting raiment fine her thighs which softly 
 did open. 
 
 130. extremis quereUis, instrumental, ' with the last utterances of her 
 sorrow.' 
 
 131. ' As with streaming lips she called up faint chill sobs.' Trigi- 
 diilos, from the chilling effect of grief, Kpvepoio y6ou> Od. iv. 103, cf. 
 Choeph. 83. udo, the tears fell on her mouth : she cries and sobs 
 alternately. ore, another instrum. abl. cieutem, they came and 
 went. With the general description cf. Ouid. Her. xi. 34 Et cogor lacry- 
 mas combibere ipsa meas. 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXIV. 253 
 
 132-201. This complaint of Ariadne, which is often imitated by suc- 
 ceeding poets, notably by Virgil in the fourth book of the Aeneid, and by 
 Ovid in the tenth of his Heroides, in the third book of the Fasti 459- 
 516, and in his version jjf Minos and Scylla Met. viii. 108-142, is 
 itself largely borrowed from Greek sources. The Medea of Euripides, 
 and the third and fourth books of ApoUonius' Argonautica, are full of 
 passages which in thought and expression closely resemble Catullus. 
 Together they form the best commentary on this part of the poem. 
 
 132. patriis ab aris, as in Aen. xi. 269, irarpbs 8o'/iot Med. 440, 86iiovs 
 
 Trarpaovs 8oi. So Medea in Apollon. iv. 361 Harpriv re (cXea re peydpcov alrovs 
 
 re TOKfjas ^oo^urapTjv. Charisius probably refers to passages like this, when 
 he says p. 33 Keil arae pro penatibus, dicimus namque ara singulariier. 
 auectam. Ariadne left with her father's consent ; it might seem there- 
 fore that there is no idea of force in auectam. Plautus has amicam secum 
 auexit ex Samo Bacch. iv. i. 2, and Quot eras annos natus cum te pater a 
 patria auehit ? Men. v. 9. 56. But combined with patriis ab aris, the 
 family sanctuary, the centre of the ideas of home as well as of virginity 
 
 (Etym. M. S. U. ZfCyos fjpiovfiov' Trapa\a^6vTes rrjv vvp(f>riv cK Trjs irarpaas 
 t'lTTiat fVi Tfiv apa^av nyovaiv eis to toO yapovvros iampas ficdw/r, cf. Cic. pro 
 
 Domo xli. 109) auectam can, I think, hardly be without some notion 
 of violence, and it seems more likely that Ariadne in her passionate 
 reproaches represents what was a voluntary act of her own as forced 
 upon her by her irresistible lover. So Tac. Ann. vi. 34 lason post auectam 
 Medeam, which was certainly an abduction. This also agrees with the 
 position of perfl.de, ' Is it thus, faithless one, that you bore me from the 
 shelter of my father's altars to leave me, Theseus, faithless one, on a lonely 
 shore ? ' 
 
 133. Perflde. Theseus was a stock type of perfidy. Theocr. ii. 45, 
 Alciphr. ii. 4. 10. 
 
 134. neglecto, ' slighting,' so fr. Trag. Incert. 55 Ribbeck Cuius ipse 
 princeps iuris iurandifuit, Quod omnes scitis, solus neglexit fidem. nu- 
 mine, the sanctity or power of the gods which he had appealed to to 
 confirm his oaths. Apollon. iv. 358 makes Medea say Xiov m Ai6s 
 
 'iKcaioio "OpKia ; nov Se pfXi^pm iiroaxeiri<" iSe/Sdno-ii; ; 
 
 135. Dobree Advers. p. 434quotesDem. de Falsa Legat. 409 Tfjv apav kqI 
 
 Triv emopKiav o'tKciSe elaeveyKqade. deUOta, not simply ' aCCUrsed,' Hor, 
 
 C. iii. 4. 27, but under sentence of cursing. It is not a mere expression 
 of anger for the past, but of menace for the future. Ouid. Her. vi. 163, 4 
 Haec ego coniugio fraudata Thoantias oro, Viuite deuoto nuptaque uirque toro, 
 and so Hor. Epod. xvi. 9 Impia perdemus deuoti sanguinis aetas. portas, 
 in reference to the ship returning with its freight of perjury and the curse 
 which that perjury entails. Caesar B. G. v. 23. Yet in 12s) Portans optata 
 maritis Hesperus, Ciris 289 Aut amor insanae luctum portauit alumnae; 
 per tare seems 'to be the bearer of,' and so And. ii. 2. i Di boni, boni quid 
 porto, ii. 6. 2 Hie nunc me credit aliquam sibi fallaciam P or tare. 
 
 137. praesto. Lucr. ii. 1067 cum materies est multa parata, Cum locus 
 est praestO. Apollon. iv. 385—389 « bi a-e Trarprit AvtIk ipai <f e\a<reiav 
 'Epivvvfs' ota Koi avrf) Srj iraBov aTpoirlj)' ra pev oii Be'pis aKpaairra 'Ev yair] Tretreciv 
 paiKa yap piyav rfXirei SpKov, NijX«r. 
 
 138. ueUet, ' should consent,' cf. 302. 
 
 139. nobis, not, as Kraft thinks, ' to me and my parents : ' it is simply 
 
 L^ 
 
254 A COMMENTARY 
 
 a variation of miki as often in Propertius. See Prop. ii. i. 55, 56 nuos 
 sensus, funera nostra; ii. 4. 16, 17 /M^a, nobis ; ii. 6. 41 iVoj wjfor num- 
 quam, numquam me ducet arnica. 
 
 140. Voce, not whispered but spoken. mihi with iubebas as in 
 Cicero Caesar and other good authors. 
 
 141. Aen. iv. 316 Per conubia nostra, per inceplos hymenaeos. Wagner 
 and Conington there distinguish between conubia the furtive union, 
 hymenaeos the formal rite. Catullus certainly makes no such distinction : 
 the marriage and the marriage-rites are here identical. 
 
 142. cuucta, all in one moment, together. aerei is shown by aereas 
 nebulas XXX. 10 to mean, not ' breezy,' or ' gusty,' but ' sky-sweeping,' 
 cf. Tib. iv. I. 127 Nulla nee aereas uolucris perlabitur auras. It adds the 
 notion of rapid dispersion through space. Troad. 419 dviixois (ftipca-Bui 
 napaSiSaiJ,', 453 SS 6oais avpcus (ptpeirBai a-ot rafl'. irrita, proleptic, ' into 
 nullity.' 
 
 143. There is no reason to doubt the genuineness of Turn iam, though 
 unlike nunc iam, it is of comparatively rare occurrence : see Most. i. 2. 48 
 Adlegionem cum itant adminiculum eis danunt Tum iam aliquem cognatum 
 suum, ' from that moment they proceed to give : ' Liu. xxvii. 14 Tum iam 
 non unus manipulus, sedpro se quisque miles, pila conicere: Mel. ii. 37 obiacet 
 tum iam uasta ei multum prominens Graecia ; here tum w»z='from that 
 lime onwards,' viz. the time when Theseus made his false promises to 
 Ariadne. Stat, observes that Catullus in making Ariadne denounce the 
 whole race of men for the fault of Theseus follows rhetorical precedents, 
 Aristot. Rhet. ii. 2 1 Ka66\ov Si p,ri Svros Ka66\ov flnetv, fidXtora AppArrfi iv 
 <r;^erXtao"/X(3 kol deivcaaei, 
 
 144. tiiri. sermones, ' what her lover speaks with her.' 
 
 145. praegestit, ' is very eager : ' a rare word used also by Cic. Cael. 
 xxviii. 67 Praegestit animus iam uidere lautos iuuenes, Hor. C. ii. 5. 9. 
 apisoi=the commoner adipisci: it can hardly be called an archaism 
 as it is used in letters by Cicero Att viii. 14. 3 and Sulpicius Fam. iv. 5. 6, 
 as well as by Tacitus Ann. iv. i, iv. 16, and Pliny the younger Epist. iv. 
 8. 6. 
 
 146. metuunt, ' scruple,' Lucr. vi. 565. Stat, quotes Hecyr. i. i. 10 
 Nam nemo illorum quisquam, scito, ad te uenit Quin ita paret sese abs te ut 
 blanditiis suis Quam minumo pretio suam uoluptatem expleat. 
 
 148. metuere. See on LXII. 42. 
 
 149-152. Med. 4'j6''E(Ta>ad a as 'Itraaai ''EWrjvav Sa-oi, ApoUon. iv. 364 
 S&v €veK£v Kafmriav, iva poi troos ap^i Te ^ovtrlv, 'ApKJyi re yrjyeveeaaiv dvairK^ffeias 
 deffkovs, 
 
 149. Certe, at any rate you cannot deny I saved you in your danger. 
 ttirbine, 'whirling waters,' as uortice awzor/j LXVIII. 107. Silius has 
 Gradiui turbine XI. 101, uersantem, ftXio-ff^/ievof : Apollonius uses the 
 latter as Catullus uersaniem, in the general sense of being placed in, moving 
 in : cf. Cicero's inter tela uersariY)^ Orat. i. 46. 202, in conuersione rerum 
 ac perturbatione uersemur Flac. xxxvii. 94. 
 
 150. Eripui . . . ereui, assonance Uke Eripuifateor leto me et uincula 
 rupi k&Xi. ii. 134, Promisi ultorem et uerbis odia aspera moui ib. 96, Excepi 
 et regni demens in parte locaui iv. 374, and so Ennius Ann. 51 Vahlen 
 Tendebam lacrumans et blanda uace uocabam. germanum, the Minotaur. 
 Hyg. 205 Ariadne Minors filia fratr em et filios occidit. The suppression 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXIV. 255 
 
 of the name just saves Catullus from the charge of bad taste. But he was 
 no doubt thinking of the murder of Absyrtus by his sister Medea's designs 
 ApoUon. iv. 451 sqq., Med. 167. creui, 'I determined/ as in Cist. i. 
 I. I explained by Varro L. L. vii. 98, Lucilius ap. Non. 261 Postquam 
 praesidium castris educere creuit, Cic. de Legg. iii. 3. 8 Quoicumgue senatus 
 creuerii populusque iusserit. This meaning survived in the single formula 
 hereditalem cernere, to determine whether one would take an inheritance 
 or not. 
 
 151. fallaci, ' deceitful as thou art,' pathetic, supremo in tempore, 
 ' in thy last need,' cf extremo tempore 169, Lucr. i. 93 Nee miserae prodesse 
 in tali tempore quibat : and so sorte suprema, 'death,' Hor. Ep. ii. 2. 
 
 173- 
 
 152. Pro quo, as a return for which, so pro uita 157, pro multis 
 officiis LXyilL 1 50. feris dabor, Troad. 450 6r\pa\ haammv hiuraadai. 
 alltibUSC[ue, AHttgr ap &KK.av<jTov &Ta^ov olavois yKvKvv &ri(Tavpliv elaopSxri. 
 
 irphi xapai jSopSr. In Ouid. Her. X. 83 sqq. Ariadne looks to an approach- 
 ing end of her sorrows by wolves lions tigers or seals. 
 
 153. iniacta, retains the a of the primitive, as conspargere Lucr. iii. 
 661, dispargitur iii. 539, iv. 895, dispargit ii. 1135, exspargi v. 371, 
 explaudentibus Lucr. iv. 710, consacraui Monumentum Ancyranum iv. 25 
 Mommsen. tumulabor, not implying a formal tomb, but the mere 
 sprinkling of the earth over the corpse which constituted burial Antig. 
 429, Hor. C. i. 28. 3. The author of the Ciris 441 inieda tellus tumulabit 
 arena imitates Catullus, and Ouid Met. vii. ■^61 par ua tumulatus arena, 
 shows the meaning ; cumulabor, the first hand in D, would point to a <n\p.a 
 Od. xi. 75. 
 
 154-157. See on LX. 1-3, where the lioness and Scylla are similarly 
 introduced. 
 
 155. conceptum expuit, 'engendered and disgorged.' II. xvi. 33 
 
 NijXtf'r, ovK Spa <Toi ye rrarrip rjv iTnrdra IlT/Xeir OuSc Oerts lirjTTjp' yXavKfj 8/ ere 
 tUt€ 6aKa(nra Tiirpai t ^Xi/Sotoi on toi koos eWiK atnjvfjs. Oxpuit. CatuUus 
 
 may be thinking of Homer's k^fpAv, twice used of Carybdis Od. xii. 237, 
 437. Gall. XV. 21 Ferocissimos et immaTus et alienos ab omni humanitate 
 ianquam a mari genitos Neptuni filios dixerunt Cyclopa et Cercyona et 
 Scyrona et Laestrygonas. 
 
 156. Syrtis, probably from ApoUonius' account of the Syrtis and the 
 stranding of the Argo upon it iv. 1228-1392. It is thus described 1237 
 
 ndvTTj yap Tfvayos, iravrt) pLViSetira ^vdoio Tap(j)fa' Kov<j)r] &e crf^ai eVi/3Xvei uSaros 
 "X*"/' 'HeptT; S* afiaBos irapaneKKtrai' oiiSe xt Keiae EpTrerrfi/, oufie ttottjtov aelpcTai, 
 ib. 1246 'Hepa koi /icyaXi;s vwra ^dovoSfrjepi itra TrjXoii imepTeivovra dirjveKes' ou- 
 8( Tiv dpSnov, Oi waTov, ovK dndvevBc KaTrjvydairavTO fiorijpav AvXtoK, evKrjXa) 8e 
 
 KareixeTo irdvra 70X1717;. rapax, ' ravening,' alluding to the sea-monsters 
 which terminated Scylla's body LX. 2. uasta Carybdis, as in Lucr. 
 i. 722, 'waste,' 'desolate,' from its destroying any living creature which 
 approached: hence oXoi^v Xdpv^Siv Od. xii. 428: cf. xii. 106 M^ a-i ye 
 
 Kftdi TV)(Oit ore poifiSrjaeiev. Oi yap Kev piaaiTO a imcK KaKov ov^ ivo<Tl)(6iov. 
 
 Virgil Aen. vii. 302 appropriates the line : and the whole passage 154-157 
 is paraphrased by Tib. iii. 4. 85-92. 
 
 157. qui reddis, for so returning, as CXIV. 2 Non /also diues Fertur, 
 qui tot res in se habet egregias, and XLI V. 21. In these cases the indie, 
 expresses the reason in the instance; the subj. includes the instance as 
 
256 A COMMENTARY 
 
 one of a number which collectively form the reason. pro dulci uita, 
 the dear boon of life, as uita dulcius atque anima LXVIII. io6. 
 
 159 seems to express Apollonius' 'He nv ovKo\iivr\v e'Saijs ex jrarpo! 
 
 €vmfivm. 6'j'j. Saeua, 'angry,' Hor. Ep. ii. 2. 21. prisci, from the 
 notion of 'old-fashioned,' ' antique,' passes into that of ' morose,' ' peevish,' 
 Copa 34 j4 per eat cui sunt prisca super cilia. Plautus uses pristinus some- 
 what similarly Prol. Trucul. 6. parentis, Aegeus, not Minos. 
 
 160. uestras, of you and your family, see on XXXIX. 20 ; so Pro 
 Scauro 30 Si te omen nominis uestrt forte duxit, Theocr. ii. 128 Xiiinas 
 
 KCLi jreXexeif Koi XajujrdSes riv6ov i<j> i/ie'as. 
 
 161. The ground idea is found II. iii. 409 EiV otc a rj SKoxov Trot^o-frai fj 
 
 Sye BovXriv. Eurip. fr. 133 NaUck"A'yoii Se Ii, & iev, eire npoanoKov 6eXeis EiV 
 
 Skoxov e'lTf Siicoih'. Shakspere Tempest iii. 1 I am your wife if you will 
 marry me : If not I'll die your maid : to he your fellow You may deny me ; 
 but III be your servant Whether you will or no. iocundd labore, a toil 
 that was a delight. 
 
 162. permtileens uestigia. As the old Euryclea washes the feet of 
 her master Ulysses, Od. xix, 387 ; of. the lines from Pacuvius' Niptra 
 (244 Ribbeck) Cedo tamen pedem tuum lymphis flauis flauum ut puluerem, 
 Manibus isdem quibus Ulixi saepe permulsi, abluam Lassitudinemque minuam 
 manuum mollitudine. In my Metrical Translation I explain liquidis as 
 ' clear : ' but liquidas undas in 2, liquidas aquas Tib. i. 9. 12 cannot mean 
 this ; in all three cases the sense is the same, ' flowing,' here, with a farther 
 notion of the Uquid water falling about and over the feet, 'soft- 
 fiowing.' 
 
 163. Catullus here amplifies the Homeric ■aopavveiv \e'xos II. iii. 411, 
 Od. iii. 403, vii. 347, ApoUon. iii. 1129, iv. 1107, 11 19; it matters little 
 that according to Heyne, iropaivdv \ixos is in Homer always applied 
 to the wife, only later to concubines. Catullus borrows the outline of the 
 expression and fills it up according to his own fancy. The passage is 
 imitated by the author of the Ciris 443 Mene inter comites ancillarum^tie 
 cateruas Mene alias inter famulorum munere fungi, Coniugis atque tuae quae- 
 cunque erit ilia, beatae, Non licuit grauidos penso deuoluere fusos ? 
 
 164. From Lycophron Al. 1451 Ti fuucpa rKfipav els a.vr]K6ovs irirpas, Eis 
 Kvpa KU)<p6v, els vairas 8aaTr\r}Tt8as Ba^m, Kevov yj/aWovtra paaraKos Kp&rov ; 
 
 (Scaliger). ignaris auris, ' the brutish gales,' that know nothing and are 
 heedless of my soitow, the Km^ais pa^^ravpais of Callimachus fr. 67. 4 Blomf. 
 
 165. sensibus auctae, as Lucr. iii. 630 Sic animas intro duxerunt 
 sensibus auctas. At neque sorsum ocultneqtte nares necmanus ipsa Esse potest 
 animae neque sorsum lingua neque aures Auditu per se possunt sentire neque 
 esse. Munro thinks Catullus here copies Lucretius. 
 
 166. ' Can neither hear the words which others utter nor give back words 
 of their own.' Mittere uocem=.'io speak,' Lucr. iii. 931, Cic. Sest. xix. 
 42, Flac. iii. 6 : reddidit uocem='\QVieA in reply,' is found in Aen. viii. 217, 
 reddere uoces, ' to reply,' A. P. 158. Yet the ambiguous position of missas 
 and the awkwardness of making uoces do double duty might suggest 
 another interpretation, ' can neither hear the words launched upon them 
 nor give them back as their own,' the answer to the words being repre- 
 sented as the same words given back with an answer. Virgil imitates 
 Catullus twice Aen. i. 408 Cur dextrae iungere dextram Non datur ac 
 ueras audire et reddere uoces f vi. 688 datur ora tueri Nate tua et notas 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXIV. 257 
 
 audire et reddere uoces ? where both mias and tieras apply equally to 
 audire and reddere; and this might seem to support the latter and more 
 artificial interpretation. 
 
 167. prope iam with the whole of the clause mediis tiersatur in undis, 
 ' has all but reached the middle of his course over the waters.' uersatur, 
 see on 149. 
 
 169. insultans with extremo tempore, as Prop. iii. 6.-^4 Si place/, 
 insultet, Lygdame, morte mea. 
 
 170. etiam with inuidit, has gone the length of grudging me a listener. 
 So Lucr. vi. 179 Plumhea uero Glans etiam longo cursu uoluenda liquescii, 
 actually melts. 
 
 171-176. Besides a general resemblance to the famous opening of the 
 Medea Catullus here imitates ApoUon. iii. 773 'Qs i^t\6v y€ 'AprefuSos 
 
 Kpaarvoiai jrapos /ScXef (r(ri bajjajvai, Ilplv t6v y elaihiciv, irplv 'AxaitSa yatav iKccrdai 
 XaXittdn-ijs Vias' tovs fuv 6c6i rj tis 'Epivviis 'App.i TroXuxXauTOUS Sfvp' rjyayt KiiSev 
 avias, iv. 32 aide ere ttSvtos, Setve, bieppaurev irpiv KoX;(i8a yaiav iKetrBai, Virgil 
 
 copies Catullus, Aen. iv. 657, 8. 
 
 171. tempore primo, returns to the moment when Ariadne first 
 saw Theseus. So Medea contrasts the past with the present Med. 
 
 493- 4. 
 
 172. Gnosia. Homer II. xviii. 590 describes Daedalus as working a 
 representation of a x°P°' for Ariadne evt Kvaaa-a evpeijj : Cnossus and 
 Gortyn are associated in the catalogue II. ii. 646 : in Od. xix. 178 
 Cnossus is called a great city, in which Minos nine seasons was king 
 {ivveiapos ffaa-iKeve). puppes. In 53 Theseus leaves Dia celeri cum 
 classe ; in 212 he leaves Athens classi ; on the other hand in 85 he 
 presses on his journey to Minos naue leui, and in 1 2 1 the one ratis which 
 bore him and Ariadne reaches Dia. It would seem therefore that the 
 expedition consisted of more than one ship ; and that the ship of Theseus 
 as forming part of the collective fleet, is sometimes included in this, some- 
 times spoken of independently, perhaps thought of as pursuing its journey 
 apart from the rest. 
 
 \ 173. Indomito. Sen. H. Get. 875. 
 : 174. ' The faithless seaman had moored his cable on the shore of 
 
 /Crete.' religasset funemi=7reiV^aTa or irpvp-vr^aui dva^m, which Apol- 
 lonius constructs sometimes with enX and a genitive iii. 570, sometimes 
 with a dative ii. 462, iv. 1637, sometimes with iv or em and a dative i. 965, 
 iv. 523 fVf x^o"^ TretirpMT ebrjiTav. The MSS. mostly read Creiam : Creta 
 however is found in D and O, and must, I think, be right, as in Creiam 
 could scarcely mean ' on the shore of Crete.' The ordinary construction 
 after religare funem is ab, Aen. vii. 106, Luc. vii. 860 ; Horace C. i. 32. 
 7 has a simple abl., and so Seneca Med. 611 : Quid. M. xiv. 248 religata 
 in litore, as Catullus here. 
 
 175. malus, substantively, ' caitiff.' lason reproves Medea for con- 
 tinually Xeyouo-' 'lao-ov' iy KaKinTOi ear' a.vr\p Med. 451. 
 
 176. requiesset, probably of actual repose as in LXVIII. 5 : Ariadne 
 would be more impressed by the beauty of the stranger who was resting 
 his limbs under the same roof. 
 
 177—183. Closely modelled on Med. 502 NCv ttoi Tpcmaip,ai ; irirrepa irpos 
 TTOTpor 80/xovt ; 06s <rol 7rpoboi(ra koi irarpav a^iK6p,r]V ; * H irpos roKaivas TleKiabas ; 
 KoKSis y &v oiv Ae^rnvro p.' o'kois !>v ■narepa KareKravov. Soph. EI. 8l2 Nvw d« 
 
 s 
 
258 A COMMENTARY 
 
 TTOi fu j(pri fioKeXi/ ; Mdi/ij yap dpi, ffoC r direcrTeprjpfUri Koi ■iraTp6s. OviQ Met. 
 viii. 1 1 3-1 1 8 expands Catullus. 
 
 177. me referam, ' am I to return?' Aen. vii. 286, Hor. S. i. 6. 115. 
 The younger Dousa quotes Enn. Medea Exul fr. x Ribbeck Quo nunc me 
 uertam ? quod iter incipiam ingredi? Domum paternamne anne ad Peliae 
 filias ? Similarly Eur. Supp. 1095 sqq. niter, ' what hope have I to 
 rest upon ? ' So Prop. ii. 34. i Cur quisquam faciem dominae iam credit 
 amori ? Phaedr. Prol. iv. 2.0 Inliiteratumplausumcur desidero? For permu- 
 tations of indie, and subj. see Hertzb. Quaest. Propert. p. 118. 
 
 178. Idomeneosne, an anachronism. Idomeneus was the son of 
 Deucalion, a child, like Ariadne, of Minos and Pasiphae (ApoUod. iii. i . 
 2); Homer makes him leader of the Cretans in the Trojan war II. ii. 645. 
 The name is probably chosen as most readily suggesting Crete ; mytho- 
 logically Idomeneus and Crete were brother and sister ApoUod. iii. 3. i. 
 The tomb of Idomeneus was at Cnossus Diod. v. 79. 3. Lachmann pro- 
 posed to read Idomeneus 'iSo/ifw Sr, a reading mentioned by the Schol. on II. 
 xiii. 424 'iSopeveiis S' oil \rjyf pems p€ya. Ramsay Latin Prosody p. 144 
 says -eos of Greek genitives is generally, perhaps always, to be scanned as 
 two short syllables; but L. Miiller de Re Metrica p. 275 seems right in 
 defending Idomeneos on the analogy of Peleo 336, of ostrea cerea in Horace, 
 alueo aluearia aerei dureo aurea aureis ferrei Eurystheo Menestheo Orphea 
 Typhoeo Typhoea in Virgil, Enipeo Nereo Prometheo in Propertius, alu£o in 
 Tibullus, not to speak of the more doubtful cases of Greek genitives in ei, 
 Erechthei Pelei Thesei, etc. a, the interjection. At, the reading of 
 Muretus Statins and Doering, is compared by the younger Dousa to a 
 very similar passage De Orat. iii. 56. 214 Quo me miser conferam ? quo 
 uertam? in Capitoliumne i' At fratris sanguine redundat. An domum? 
 matrtmne ut miseram lamentantemque uideam ? 
 
 178. Discernens diuidit. II. i. 157 en-el ? pciKa n-oXXa piTa^ii Ovpea re 
 tTKidevTa daka(r(Td t€ Tjxr]€(rara. Soph. Phil. 635 wff rjpas noXv JleXayos SpiCft rrjs 
 'oSvaraeas vfms. Lucr. i. 721 Angu^toque fretu rapidum mare difiidit undis 
 Italiae terrarum or as a finibus eius. Sen. Epist. viii. 2. i Oblitus uasto nos 
 mari diuidi. truculentTiin, LXIII. 16. After this word the MSS. 
 have uM, which thotigh metrically improbable is at least explicable. ' Am 
 I to sail for the Cretan mountains ? Those mountains where a wide tract 
 of sea separates me, alas, with a watery waste, and keeps me away.' Ovid 
 in a similar soliloqiiy Met. viii. 115 has a relative Patris ad ora? Quae 
 tibi donaui ? ditiidit, sc. »«(?»/«. 
 
 180. patris. ApoU. iv. 378 nSs Itppm ippara irarpos; quemne, i. e. 
 eiusne quern; so often in Plautus, Epid. v. 2. 52 Epid. Jnueni, et domist. 
 Apoec. Quemne hodie per urbem uterque sumus defessi qttaerere ? Merc. iii. 3. 
 12 Lys. Peruerse fades. Dem. Quodne ames ? See Holtze Syntax ii. p. 262. 
 
 181. fratema caede, i. e. Minotauri. See on 1 50. 
 
 182. memet is very rare in poetry : but Catullus here returns to the 
 language of the earlier poets. Attius (Athamas fr. ii. Ribbeck) said 
 utinam memet possem obliscier. Here memet intensifies the idea of self, 
 ' myself by myself,' suggesting the absence of the person from whom 
 Ariadne would naturally look for consolation. 
 
 183. incuruans, with the strain of the rowing. The relation of lentos 
 to incuruans is doubtful; lentos is not only supple or pliant, but 'resist- 
 ing ; ' on this view the rower bends the resisting oar by the strain of his 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXIV. 259 
 
 pull, and the effect of the adjective is to heighten the eagerness of Theseus 
 to get away, by suggesting the toil of his rowers as they beat the water, 
 lenlos thus suggesting the reason of incuruans. Yet from Aen. iii, 384 
 Trinacria lentandus remus in unda it would seem that in connexion with 
 rowing lentos expresses the flexibility of oars produced by their passing 
 repeatedly and rapidly through the water ; for this sense and this only 
 suits equally well lenlare remum and leniare arcum Stat. Achill. i. 436 : 
 since lenlare, as Dr. Henry shows, rax!i9X-=-lentum facer e, and this is incom- 
 patible with the sense of tough or resisting. Then lentos incuruans would 
 be either ' making the flexible oars curve ' or proleptically ' bending into 
 flexibility' by rapid motion through the water. Catullus perhaps imitates 
 
 Apoll. R. ii. 591 'EirsyvaiiiTToVTO 8e KtoTrat 'Hurt KafiirvKa TO^a. At any rate 
 Catullus cannot allude to the apparent curvature of the oars in the water, 
 an alternative suggested by Passerat, quoting Lucr. iv. 438 sqq. 
 
 184. sola insula, in apposition with litus, ' the shore has no dwellings, 
 an island of desolation.' Orelli compares Her. x. 59 Vacat insula cuUu. 
 Non hominum uideo, non ego facta bourn. 
 
 186. nvJlSispes, 3.spo/eslolidumXVIl. 24, impotenliafretalY.iS. For 
 
 the description cf. ApoUon. iv. 1237 Havrn yap revayos, iravrr; iivdfvra ^vBoio 
 Tap(j)ea, ib. 1 247 oiScTiv' apSfi6v, Ov Trarov, oi/K diravevBe KaTrjvyd(T(ravTO ^OTrjpav 
 AifXtov, evKTj^a de KaTet)(€TO Trdvra yaKrjviJ, 
 
 187. omnia . . . omnia. Vulp. compares Lucr. v. 830 0?wma wj^^aw// 
 Omnia commulat natura et uertere cogit. Virgil imitates Catullus Aen. i. 
 91 Praesentemque uiris inieniant omnia mortem, whence Orelli thinks he 
 read inteniant here. 
 
 188. Non tamen ante. Ouid. Met. xiv. 724 Non tamen ante tui 
 curam cessisse memento Quam uitam. 
 
 189. fesso, 'worn out with grief:' similarly Ouid. Met. xiv. 730 Si 
 tamen O superi mortalia facta uidetis, Este Tnei memores, nihil ultra lingua 
 precari Sustinet. 
 
 190, 1. Voss quotes Pacuvius Iliona fr. ix. Ribbeck Di me etsi perdunt 
 tamin esse adiutam expetuntCumprius quam inter eospatium ulciscendi danunt. 
 
 192. xiirum, of men, as sexually distinct from women : not quite= 
 'lovers.' Tib. iii. 6. 41 Sic cecinit pro te doctus, Minoi, Catullus Ingrati 
 referens impia facta uiri, does not prove th^.t facta uirum can itself mean 
 ' the deeds of husbands : ' on the other hand Sillig is wrong in explaining 
 it as %\n\'^\y= hominum, 
 
 193. anguino not anguineo is the MS. reading, and is supported by 
 Pacuv. Antiopa fr. iv Ribbeck, Varro R. R. i. 2. 25, Prop. iv. 8. 10. On 
 the other hand in.Trist. iv. 7. 12 Gorgonis anguineis cinctafuisse comis : 
 Merkel's MSS. point to the form in -eus : and so perhaps Tib. ii. 4. 87. 
 According to Pausanias i. 28. 6, quoted by Ritter on Hor. C. ii. 13. 36, 
 Aeschylus was the first who described the hair of the Furies as intertwined 
 
 with snakes, Choeph. im^THitKiKTam^pivai UvkuoU SpaKOvaiu. 
 
 194. praeportat, 'bears on its front,' a word occurring twice in 
 Cicero's Aratea, 208 of the Centaur partem praeportans ipse uirilem, 430 
 of the Scorpion prae se Scorpius infestus praeportans flebile acumen. Lucr. 
 ii. 621 Telaque praeportant uiolenti signafuroris. 
 
 196. Vae misera, the reading of most MSS, is retained by Bentley and 
 defended from Ouid. Am. iii. 6. loi uae demens, and Verg. Eel. ix. 28 
 Mantua uae miserae nimium uicina Cremonae, where luie seems to have 
 
 s 2 
 
260 A COMMENTARY 
 
 little connexion with miserae; cf. Hor. C. i. 13. 3. I have followed D in 
 reading miserae (i) because when combined with miser, uae generally 
 takes a dative, Andr. iv. 4. 4, Heaut. ii. 3. 9 ; (2) the assonance of the 
 two e sounds miserae extremis would be in the manner of Catullus, see 
 on XLV. 12 ; (3) the final e of miserae would easily fall out before the e 
 oi extremis; (4) uae miserae is certain in Heroid. iii. 82. 
 
 197. ardens, see on 124. amenti caeca. Sest. vii. 17 caecus alque 
 amens tribunus. 
 
 198. Here I seem to trace a prolixity, not to say prosiness, unusual 
 in Catullus, and quite in the manner of his great but less artistic con- 
 temporary, uerae, 'containing true indictments:' Lucr. iii. 57 has 
 uerae uoces turn demum peciore ab imo Eiciuntur. 
 
 201. funestet, ' bring the curse of death upon.' 
 
 202. profudit, as Lucretius has \)Q'Cs\ propello z.x\.A prdpelh ; so prdcuro 
 prhpino prhpago (Munro in Public School Gramm. § 221). 
 
 204. inuicto. Most MSS. have inuito which was explained by Heinsius 
 Aduersar. p. 574 ' utpote qui fratris filiofaueret' Theseus being according 
 to some accounts the son of Poseidon (Plut. Thes. vi). If so, Catullus 
 confused two accounts of his parentage ; for in 241 Aegeus is represented 
 as Theseus' father. Voss suggests that Catullus is here expressing the 
 Homeric Uav mKovri ye dvfia, said of Zeus granting a thing with only 
 half a mind; as Ovid says of Augustus Pont. i. 2. 126 £t iacit inuita 
 
 fulmina rara manu. But it seems unlikely that Catullus would introduce 
 a word which like inuito conveys a special allusion, without any hint to 
 explain it ; and I have followed nearly all edd. in reading inuicto ; the 
 two words are easily confused, Ouid. A. iii. 9.. 24, Ibis 502. Conr. de 
 AUio quotes from Livy vii. 30 Annuite, patres conscripti, nutum numenque 
 uestrum inuictum Campanis et iubete sperare. numine after anniiit 
 might seem to be physical, as it must be in Lucr. ii. 632 Terrificas 
 capitum quatientes numine cristas; see Munro there, and cf. iv. 179; 
 in iii. 144 ad numen mentis momenque mouetur it seems to be in a transi- 
 tion stage, ' direction.' Lachmann however on Lucr. ii. 632, a line which 
 recurs again v. 131 5 with undique for numine, denies that numen ever 
 means nutus ; and Varro L. L. vii. 85 while deriving numen from nuere, 
 implies that numen was not =nutus. The same connexion is found in 
 Cic. de Rep. i. 36. 56 Vt rex putaretur unus esse in caelo, qui nutu ut ait 
 totum Olympum coniurteret, but immediately after deos omnis censent unius 
 regi numine, and in the passage from Livy vii. 30 just quoted. Cf. Paul. 
 Diac. p. 172 M. It would seem that Catullus like Varro Cicero Livy had 
 in his mind the received etymology from nuere ; but we need not conclude 
 that numine inuicto is therefore strictly physical, as it certainly is not in Liu. 
 vii. 30 : ' sovereign inclination ' perhaps expresses the idea in both passages. 
 
 205. II. i. 528 'H Kol Kvavcrjo-iv in Bippvai viva-f Yipovimv 'Aii0p6iTiai &' &pa 
 ^OLTaL eireppaaravTO avaKTOs Kparos aff adavaroio, fieyav 8* eXeXt^ei/ "OXu/zttoi/. 
 
 206. "The language seems to be Lucretian, v. 515 Quo uolue?tda micant 
 aeterni sidera mundi, 1203 Suspicimus magni caeUstia mundi Templa super 
 stellisque micantibus aethera fixUm. 
 
 207. caeca, ' blank, ' rather than ' blinding,' as in Aen. v. .589. 
 
 208. Plautus has consitus senectute Men. v. 2. 4, like aerumnam obseuisti 
 Epid. iv. I. 30 and the common obsitus squalor e, illuuie, etc. The metaphor 
 would thus seem to be a true Roman one, though in Lucr. ii. 211 sol 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXIV. 261 
 
 lumine conseril arua Munro quotes a Greek fragment a-irflpav BtoKTiarav 
 rpXoya from Arist. Poet. 21. Cf Heliodorus ap. Galen, de Antid. ii. p. 
 
 776 Aid. (Meinek. Anal. Alex. p. 385) 'HeXioi' andpovra 6eoU (jjafainffporov 
 
 aty\i)». It is remarkable that Catullus speaks of darkness, Lucretius of 
 light, as thick-sown ; but Catullus approaches more nearly to the Plautine 
 use of the word, Lucretius seems to have in his mind the idea of various 
 spots successively illumined by the sun ; with him the word is more of a 
 distinct simile, in Catullus it approaches a metaphor. 
 
 209. mandata as shown by 238 is substantive. 
 
 210. sustollens. Lucr. iv. 906 uses sustollere of a machine drawing 
 up weights by pulleys. It is not simply =/o//««j but gives the idea of 
 hauling up with some effort. dulcia signa, viz. the white sail, 235. 
 
 211. uisere, 'sighted.' 
 
 212. diuae, the city of Pallas, Athens. classi, abl. as in LXVI. 
 46, 'in his ships,' see on 172. 
 
 213. oonorederet, ' consigned to,' very common in Plautus. Cicero 
 combines commendare el concredere Pro Quint, xx. 62. 
 
 215. unice, as in XXXIX. 5. The position of unice between iocun- 
 dior and uita is doubtless intentional. Theseus was more dear than long 
 life as the only son of his father. iiita, LXVIII. 106. Lucan v. 739 
 makes Pompey say to his wife Cornelia Non nunc uita mihi dulcior, inquit. 
 Cum laedet uitae, laeto sed tempore coniux, but length of days is more often 
 represented as a blessing, irrespective of the happiness or unhappiness 
 which attends it. 
 
 216. Realinus notices a similar iteration oi Nate in Aen. v. 724, Stat. 
 in Aen. i. 664, where Servius remarks ' Nate ab indulgentissimx) nomine 
 causa amoris! demittere. Passerat shows that this is a prose use of 
 the word. Fam. x. 8. 2 a letter of Plancus Cum in eum casum me /or tuna 
 demisisset, ix. i. 2 Cum me in res turbulentissimas infidelissimis sociis demi- 
 sissem : and so Livy. 
 
 217. Reddite. Theseus was the offspring of an amour of Aegeus 
 with Aethra, the daughter of Pittheus king of Troezen, Aegeus, 
 knowing her to be pregnant, left his sword and sandals beneath a rock, 
 and ordered her, if she should bear a son, to bid him when he reached 
 manhood, as a test of his strength, lift the rock and remove the tokens 
 of his paternity. This Theseus did and on arriving at Athens was re- 
 cognized by showing Aegeus' sword. Aegeus was old at the time he 
 thus recovered his son. Plut. Thes. 12. 
 
 218. fortuna, ' ill fortune.' More usually ybr/a«a and uirius are united 
 as the two sides of the same great Roman character. Liv. xxiii. 41 Tua 
 nos non magis uirtus forlunaque, ' your valour and good fortune.' fer- 
 iiida, 'impetuous.' 
 
 219. Eripit. Augustus began his will with the words Quoniam sinistra 
 fortuna Caium et Lucium mihi eripuii. Suet. Tib. 23 (Passerat). lan- 
 
 guida, 'failing,' as languescentlumina trior le 188. 
 
 220. saturata, like pascere oculos, ' a common phrase,' Munro on 
 Lucr. i. 36. 
 
 223. A line in the style of Cicero's poems, as indeed is most of this 
 section of the Peleus and Thetis. expromam mente is illustrated 
 by LXV. 3 Nee potis est dulcis Musarum expromere fetus Mens animi. 
 The mind is the storehouse of grief or joy. Ion 923 p-iyas drjaavpos i>t 
 
262 A COMMENTARY 
 
 avoiyvvrai KaKmv €(j) ouri n-Ss &v iK^oKot haKpv. Plaut. TrUC. ii. 7. 43 Nunc 
 ego meos animos uiolentos meamqice tram ex pectore iam promam. 
 
 224. Canitiem, 'grey hair,' as in Prop. i. 8. 46, and in Virgil. 
 
 puluere. II. xviii. 23 'Aiujmrfprjcn Se x^P'"" *'^"'' '"'''"' aldoKoecra-av Xeiaro 
 KaK K€<j)akrjs xaptei* S' ^a-^yve iTpda-airov. 
 
 225. infecta, 'coloured by a dye,' Prop. ii. 18. 23. uago, 'sway- 
 ing' or 'wavering.' Nonius 469 quotes a line from the Hectoris Lustra 
 of Ennius Arbores tcento uagant, where the verb seems to have the same 
 meaning; cf Lucr. iii. 1052 animiincerto fluitans errore uagaris, where I 
 think the metaphor is the same, ' you waver swaying to and fro with an 
 unsteady vacillation.' 
 
 226. nostros. . . nostras, in opposition to Non ego ie gaudens laeianti 
 pectore miitam. The meaning seems to be, ' if others have a sign of joy, 
 / will have a sign of my own, a sign of grief.' luctus, ineendia, 
 hendiadys, 'the grief kindled in my heart.' ineendia as the mother of 
 Euryalus incendit luctus Aen. ix. 500, where Conington compares Od. xx. 
 
 353 Olfunyi) Sc SeSrje, 
 
 227. Cartoasus, which according to the Veronese Schol. on Aen. viii. 
 34 is both masc. and fem., is here fem. as in Ennius Ann. 560 Vahlen, 
 Lucr. vi. 109, Prop. iv. 11. 54. dicet, may show. Nonius 287 Dicare 
 indicare nunliare. Lucilius lib. xxx Sicubi ad auris Fama tuam pugnam 
 clarans allata dicasset. So Lucretius uses dedicare =■ indicare. There is 
 however some plausibility in Lachmann's conjecture decet ; dicere for decere 
 occurs in the palimpsest of Pronto p. 159 Naber: the objection to it is 
 that the statement though true is weak ; whereas Aegeus would naturally 
 go on to explain the reason of his hanging up a dyed sail. ferrugine 
 Non. ^^g ferrugineum coloremferri similem esse uolunt ; uere autemferru- 
 gineus caeruleus est, and he quotes Plautus Mil. G. iv. 4. 43 palliolum 
 habeas ferrugineum, nam is colos thalassicus'st. This is explained by Munro 
 on Lucr. iv. 76 to denote a dark violet colour like that of steel after it has 
 been heated in the fire and cooled; and he affirms the Mediterranean in 
 certain weather to have precisely such a colour. Hibera. Aen. ix. 582 
 
 ferrugine clarus Hibera, where Servius interprets Hibera of the Pontic 
 Iberia, a country celebrated for dyeing colours. Yet on. G. i. 467 he explains 
 
 ferrugo to be purpura nigrior, Hispana ; and this is more likely. Cato 
 ap. Gell. N. A. ii. 22. 29 speaking of the Hispani qui citra Hiberum cole- 
 rent says Sunt in his regionibus ferrariae, argenti fodinae pulcerrimae, and 
 Strabo 146 speaks of to irepX ras ^ifraXXeias eicjivcs of Spain. 
 
 228. II. V. 260 El Kev poi TToXu/SouXof 'Adiir/Tj nvBos opi^rj ' A.ii(j)OT€pa> Krelvai. 
 
 saucti, from the sanctuary of Athena which made the town celebrated. 
 So Soracte is sanctum as the sanctuary of Apollo Aen. xi. 785 (Passerat). 
 Itonus or Iton (XL ii. (s^€) is placed by Strabo near the Phthiotic Thebes, 
 
 above the Crocian plain, 435 Taiv Qrj^Siv 8e iv rfi fiea-oyau} TO KpoKiov TTfSiov 
 TTpoff ra KaTa\^yovTi tjjs ''Odpvos, 81 o^ 6 "Afi^jypvaos pu' tovtov 8* imepK€iTat 6 
 "iTtovos, onov TO T7J9 ^iTfovlas Upov, dtfi ov Kai to €v tji BotMTta /cat 6 Kouaptoff 
 
 TTOTap^s, cf. Paus. i. 13. 2. The Itonian Athene is often mentioned, especi- 
 ally in the Alexandrian poets, Callim. Cer. 74, Apoll. R. i. 551, 721 as read 
 by the Schol. ; Millingen pi. ii. note 8 speaks of Thessalian coins on 
 which she is represented as holding a spear to dart against the enemy. 
 Itoni, as in CaUim. Cer. 74, Epigr. ap. Plut. Pyrrh. 26, Anth. P. ix. 743. 2. 
 Homer and ApoUonius make the first letter long. 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXIV. 263 
 
 229. nostrum, the race of kings to which Aegeus and Theseus be^ 
 longed. According to ApoUod. iii. 14. 5 sqq. Cecrops was succeeded by 
 Cranaus ; Cranaus was expelled by Amphictyon, who in his turn was ex- 
 pelled by Erichthonius, the child born from the rape of Hephaestus on 
 Athene. Erichthonius was succeeded by his son Pandion, Pandion by his 
 son Erechtheus, the great-grandfather of Aegeus; who is thus great-great- 
 great grandson of Athene. There is perhaps also a special reference in 
 Itoni, for Itonus was traditionally the son of Amphictyon Erechthi. 
 The MSS. point pretty unifonnly to Erechthi, not Erechthei. This ten- 
 dency to assimilate Greek nouns in -eus -es to Roman nouns of the 
 second declension, like the tendency to decline Greek nouns in -e on 
 the analogy of Roman nouns of the first declension, still predominates in 
 Cicero and the writers of his time. Catullus may have thought of II. ii. 
 
 546 sqq. Ot 6' S.p 'Adrivas el)(ov ivKrififVOV nToKUdpov, Aijiiov 'Epf\drjos fjieyaXr)- 
 Topns, ov ttot' 'Adrjinj Qpii^e, Aios 6vyaTT)p, reKf &e ffi'Supoy apovpa, KaS 6' ev 
 Adrjvrjs fttrcv, em (vl Triovt 'Vrjat, 
 
 232. uigeant . . . obliteret. De Orat. ii. 87. 355 I'/a audire . . . ul 
 illi non infundere in cures tuas oralionem sed in animo uideantur inscri- 
 bere. Itaque soli qui memoria uigent sciuni quod ei quaienus et quomodo 
 diciuri sint. Cicero talks of men with a vigorous memor)' ; Catullus 
 makes the memory the soil in which the words to be recorded live and 
 grow {uiuit uigetque Liv. xxxix. 40). 
 
 233. inuisent seems to be litde more here than ' look upon,' as in De 
 N. D. ii. 43. no, though there is perhaps the idea of the eyes passing 
 through a succession of objects and coming at last to the sight of the hills 
 of Attica. lumina is strictly correct in the same sense as Lucretius 
 speaks of objects which perueniunt oculorum ad lumina nostra vi. 184. 
 
 234. antennae. ' The yard-arm was made of a single piece of fir when 
 the vessel was a small one, but of two pieces braced together for those of 
 a larger size. Hence the word is often met with in the plural number, 
 while the sail attached to it is at the same time expressed by the singular, 
 antennis totuni subnedite uelum Quid. Met. xi. 483 ' (Rich, Companion s. u.). 
 Hence there is an appropriateness in undique, not merely from end to 
 end, but from each end of the two pieces which together form the yard- 
 arm, uestem, as we might say ' housings,' of course meaning the sail. 
 
 235. Candidaque. Another version, followed by the poet Simonides, 
 represented the sail which Aegeus gave not as white, but purple or red. 
 
 Plut. Thes. 1 7 Updrfpov fiev oiv ov^fp-la (raiTrjplas ^XttIs vneKfiTO' Sto Kal 
 p(\av i<TTLOv fp^oucav, its inX crvuffyopa jrpoSrjXa, Tr)V vavv eirepirov. totc 8e toO 
 6r](Tfais Tov iraripa Bappivovros Koi peya\r)yopovvTos ms ^^'P''"''"''" '"o" MiKti- 
 Tnvpov, edioKev erepov iariov XevKov ra Kv^fpvfjTr;, KeXfutras imotTTpe(j)ovTa troifo- 
 ixivov TOV BrjTeuis inuparrdai to XeuKoi', el Si prj, ra piXavi TiKeiv Ka\ diroa-rjpjiivfiv 
 TO TrdBos. 6 fie ^iptavihrjs ov \fvx6v (f)j]{riv eivat to dodcv vtto tov Atyew?, dWa 
 
 ^OlPlKiOV llTTlOV vypUi 7re<j>Vpp€V0V TTpLvbs avSii iptOdWoV' Kai TOVTO TrjS CFGiTrjptaS 
 
 avToiv TToirjo^aa-Bai crrifielov. intorti, Ouid. M. iii. 679, 'twisted,' like 
 tortos funcs Aen. iv. 575, Hor. Epist. i. 10. 48; the word suggests either 
 the strength of the cables which haul up the sails, or their tight and com- 
 pact make, which would render them more available for the same purpose. 
 
 236. Before this verse Faernus and Muretus inserted a verse ascribed 
 to Catullus by Nonius H46, to Cinna by Isidorus Origg. xix. 2. 10 and the 
 Schol. on Lucan v. 418. Nonius gives it imperfectly Lucidaqua splendet 
 
264 A COMMENTARY 
 
 carchesia mali, Isidorus adds alti, the Schol. on Lucan summi; they besides 
 read, Isidorus confulgent, the Schol. cum fulgent. This verse was generally 
 admitted into the text till Lachmann's edition, and Lucian MilUer has 
 again inserted it. His reasons are (i) that it is appropriate: Aegeus 
 would see the top of the mast first, and there if anywhere a white sail 
 would naturally be hoisted, (2) other verses have fallen out of our 
 MSS. of Catullus, (3) the authority of Nonius is unquestionable, and the 
 more so here that he cites the verse from Catullus Veronensis. I reject 
 the verse (i) because, though it is true that it might naturally follow the 
 description in 234-235 \ and might even be appropriate, it is doubtful 
 whether Catullus had this idea, since in 243 the sail when it first comes 
 in sight is puffed out by the wind, a description which does not suit the 
 top, but the central part of the sail ; (2) when other verses have fallen 
 out, the sense always indicates it, which it certainly does not here; (3) 
 the authority of Nonius is, as L. Miiller himself admits, rather shaken by 
 the fact that he ascribes to Catullus elsewhere (.517) a verse attributed 
 by Diomedes 513 K. to Serenus, and though his circumstantiality here 
 makes it less probable that he is wrong in assigning the verse to Catullus, 
 it is possible that it came from one of the lost poems ; (4) it seems here 
 unnecessary, a descriptive accessory which mars the simple completeness 
 of 234, 5, and spoils the force of the opposition of colours in these two 
 lines by introducing another object, the mast-top, itself described as bright. 
 
 237. Agnoseam, may recognize the joy of which the white sail was the 
 sign. aetas is generally interpreted ' time ; ' it is perhaps more natural 
 to refer it with Alex. Guarinus to the life of Theseus, cf LXVIII. 16, 
 and Propertius in several places ii. 5. 27 Scribam igitur quod non unquam 
 tua deleat aetas, ii. 18. 5 Quid si iam canis aetas mea candeat annis ? 
 reducem sistet, ' shall bring safe home.' Augustus ap. Suet. i% Saluam 
 ac sospitem rempullicam sistere in sua sede, Aen. ii. 620 tutum patrio te 
 limine sistam, Liu. xxix. 27 domos reduces sistatis. 
 
 238. The construction of this and the following two lines is, as re- 
 marked by Haupt, peculiarly Alexandrian. Theoc. xii. 8 a-Kiiprjv S' imo 
 
 (fjrjybv *HeXtou (^pvyavros ohomopo'i eSpap-ov as Tt?. Apoll. R. iii. 858 T^s oirjv t 
 eV opeiTcn KeXaivqv iKpdda cprjyov KaarTTifj ev KO^Xa dftrjaaro (jiappd(r(re(r6ai. 
 ib. 1293 avrap 6 Tovcye Ev SiajSas eniovras are (TTriKas elv aXi ireTprj Mifivfi 
 aireipecTiria-L hovevpeva Kvpar aeXXaiff. So Hor. A. P. 457 SC[q. Hic . , . Si 
 
 ueluti merulis intentus decidit auceps In puteum foueamue. 
 
 239. Catullus seems to be Imitating II. v. 522-526 'AXX' %pivov ve(f)f- 
 
 "K^ariv eoiK6T€Sj as re Kpovicov ^tjvepirjs eiTTrjfrev eir' aKptmoKoitTLV opetriTLV ^Arpepas, 
 o^p cvdrjfTt pevos Boptao kol a\\(ov Zaxprimv avepav, otre ve<pfa tTKLoeina Uvoifjaiv 
 XtyvpfjCTt 8ia(TKidvaa-tv deifTes. 
 
 240. niuei {Spei vupoivri II. xiii. 754, compared by Kraft), in the very 
 rare sense of niuosi or niualis : similarly however Verg. G. iii. 354 Sed 
 iacet aggeribus niueis informis et alto Terra gelu, Germanicus Arat. 243 
 niueus Haemus. This forgetfulness on the part of Theseus was, accord- 
 ing to Pausanias i. 22. 5, caused by grief for the loss of Ariadne, cf. 
 Diod. iv. 61. 5 : Plutarch says both Theseus and the pilot forgot for joy 
 at their safe return (Thes. 22). 
 
 ' Cf. the Schol. on Lucan v. 41 8 edited by Usener ' carcesia mali ligna quae antemnam 
 tenent aut eerie quod est in suinmum arboris quod nunc calcese dicitur, in quo trochliae per 
 quasfunes citrruni.' 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXIV. 265 
 
 241. prospectum petebat, 'looked out to see.' Pacuvius in his 
 Chryses (Non. 467) similarly in omnis partis prospectum aucupo. arce, 
 the Acropolis. Wordsworth, Athens and Attica, places the traditional 
 locale of this precipitation towards the S. W. angle of the Acropolis, a 
 little higher than the temple of Aphrodite Pandemos. ' This particular 
 spot commands a wide prospect of the sea. Catullus has been saved 
 from an error, p&rhaps by his acquaintance with the scene, into which 
 later writers have fallen. They with few exceptions make Aegeus throw 
 himself from the rock of the Acropolis into the sea, which is three miles 
 off.' 
 
 21:2. absumeus. Mitsch. compares Theocritus in Anth. P. ix. 432. 
 
 I Ti Toi wXeov, €1 Karara^Cii Adxpyin &iy\rjvtas S)T7as d5vp6fitvos. 
 
 244. SCOpuloruni e Uertice, dva^avra ds Tqu OKpmoKiv cavTov KaraKp'i- 
 
 Hvia-M Diod. iv. 61. 7. Pausanias i. 22. 5 mentions the exact spot. An- 
 other version made Sunium the place from which Aegeus threw himself 
 into the sea called from him Aegean: see Stat. Theb. xii. 624-626, and 
 cf. Schol. on ApoU. R. i. 831. 
 
 243. funesta with paterna morte. Cicero uses /unesta/amilia of a, 
 household in mourning for the death of one of its members, Legg. ii. 
 22. 55, and so Epicedion Drusi 474. 
 
 247. Minoidi, after offerre luctum like the datives after offerre mortem 
 Rose. Amer. xiii. 37, offerre exiiium Tac. Ann. iv. 1 1, where see Nipperdey. 
 
 248. Obtulerat. Cicero generally says offerre luctum, as in Rose. 
 Am. V. 13. mente immemori is placed between the two clauses as 
 equally referring to either ; with the first in the sense of faithlessness to 
 Ariadne, in the second of forgetfulness towards Aegeus. For the senti- 
 ment cf. an epigram ascribed to Archias Anth. P. ix. 339. 5 ov trcuxev 
 
 in a\Xo) 'Ek Kflvov T\j]fi.av avrhs eSexTO popov. 
 
 249. G and O point to a reading ium prospectans ; but tamen as- 
 pectans, the reading of most MSS, is more skilful as an expression. ' Yet 
 all the while she gazing still at his receding keel,' etc.; partly as indicating 
 the fixed despair of Ariadne which took no heed of the lapse of time and 
 the actual disappearance of Theseus' ship, partly as suggesting the im- 
 mobility of the figures on the tapestry. 
 
 250. saucia, ' stricken,' not with grief (Doer.) but with love as in Aen. 
 iv. I graui iamdudum saucia cura, Tib. ii. 5. 109. 
 
 251-264. Transition to another part of the subject embroidered on 
 the coverlet : Bacchus in quest of Ariadne with his crew. Besides the 
 natural connexion of this with the former part of the story, Catullus may 
 have been led to introduce it by two other reasons, (i) the connexion 
 of the wandering Bacchus with Thetis. ApoUod. iii. 5. i em 'li/8ous hid 
 
 T^f QpaK-Tji rjTTflyeTO. AvKovpyos 8e, ndls ApvavTos, 'HSavav ^airCKevav, oi trpv- 
 liova TtoTap,6v irapoiKOvai, irpmros v^picras f^e'jSaXei' avTov. Kdi Awwcros jiev els 
 6aKa(Taav Trpos Qeriv TrjV Ntjpfas Karecpvye, BaK^ai 8e iyevovTO alxpoKaiToi Kai to 
 
 avvendpxvov 2aTiipa>v irXrjSos aiirm. (2) The Connexion of the worship of 
 Bacchus with the Ptolemies and Alexandria. See Athen. v. 200 where a 
 long account is given ofaDionysiac procession of Ptolemy Philadelphus, 
 in which the same subject was represented. 
 
 251. florens, the bright-blooming or the fresh young lacchus : a com- 
 posite idea, expressing partly the youth of the god, partly the freshness 
 of his complexion and look, like t6v apaiov de6v as he is called Aristoph. 
 
266 A COMMENTARY 
 
 Ran. 395. uolitabat, of rapid and indeterminate motion as often in 
 Cicero. Mitsch. compares Ciris 307 Nunquam ego te in summo uolitantem 
 ueriice moniis . . . Conspiciam. 
 
 252. Wysigenis. lacchus is supposed to be returning from the 
 Indian (Plin. vi. 79) Nysa, as in Aen. vi. 805 Nee qui pampineis uietor iuga 
 flectit habenis Liber agens celso Nysae de uertice tigres. Hence probably 
 his name Nysius, combined with Euhius by Cicero pro Flacc. xxv. 60. 
 Others, as Diodorus iii. 66. 3, place Nysa in Arabia, nera^ii *ou'i)ti)s Koi 
 NeiXov Diod. iv. 2, where he seems to be following the Homeric Hymn to 
 Dionysus 26. 8 : others in Asia Minor or Thrace: Steph. B. mentions 
 a Nysa in Naxos : in an island so closely connected with the worship of 
 the god, it is not unlikely that one of the principal legendary names as- 
 sociated with him should be introduced for that reason; but the descrip- 
 tion of Catullus is of a barbaric or non- Greek procession ; oriental, even 
 if not Indian. Strabo 687 quotes a fragm. of Sophocles which closely 
 
 corresponds with Catullus, "Odev KareiSov tIjv fie^aKX'<i>lJiei/riv Bporo'wi KKetvfiv 
 NOo-av, ijv 6 ^ovKfpas 'lax^os m>r& jtaiav r)b'i,(TTr)v rpicjxi. ApoUonius iv. 43 1 
 speaks of Dionysus as the prince of Nysa when he wooes Ariadne in Dia, 
 a passage which may have been in Catullus' memory. Silenis. Diod. 
 
 ni. 72. I (TVo'TpaTeva'aL fie cjiarrt kol tS)v Nucrattoi/ tovs evysveaTcLTOvSj ot^ ovopd' 
 ^€(j6ai 2etXT;i/ouff. UpaTOv yap rStv awdvrajv ^oaiKevaai (paal ttjs Nvot/s 2€iXtjv6v. 
 Aelian V. H. iii. ,40 Sarupot Be dno tov o-etTrjpfvat, ^eiKrjvol Se diro tov aiWaivfiv. 
 Tov de alWov ylroyov \eyov(Tt perd TratBtds dvirapecTTOv' ^Eo'dfjs 8' ^v rots ^eLkr)vdis 
 dprptpdhXoi xfoj^f- Silenorum nomine seniores omnes Bacchi comites intelligi 
 notum est Hertzberg on Prop. ii. 32. 14. 
 
 253. tuo amore, 'love of you:' so mea cura, 'care for me,' Prop. i. 
 8. I, amore meo, 'love of me,' Hor. Epod. v. 81. 
 
 255. ' Raving to the cry Euhoe, swinging their heads to the cry 
 Euhoe.' The construction follows the Greek use of evol, in such 
 passages as Trach. 218 iSou p dvaTapdaaei Euoi p b KUTiTos, Thesmoph. 
 
 1003 KaT opea'^vp^dv eparois ev vpuois Euioy Ei/toi', evoi dvaxop^vt^v, cf. Bacch. 
 
 158. Lobeck Aglaoph. p. 1042 quotes Harpocration to prove that the 
 pronunciation was eu-hoe, i. e. with an audible inter-aspiration : Lachm. 
 on Lucr. v. 743 shows that the h is found in many Latin MSS. The 
 MSS. of Catullus here are in favour of euohe rather than oi euhoe ; so 
 incohare by the side of inchoare ; but in Aen. vii. 389 all Ribbeck's 
 MSS. seem to have euhoe. 
 
 256. Harum alludes to the women who traditionally formed the main 
 part of such Bacchic processions. See the Bacchae of Euripides passim, 
 
 and cf. Diod. iii. 63 perd &e raCxn (TTpaToneiov eK Tav yvvaiKmv avvayayovra 
 Ka\ OuptTols KodoTrXla-avTa urpareiav en\ irdrjav froLrja-aa-dai rrpt olKovpeinjv' Kara- 
 fiet^at Se Kal rd Trepl ras reXerds Koi peraSovvat rSiv pvoTtjplccv rols evtje^etn rav 
 
 dvBpmrani Ka\ BUaiov ^iov da-Kovtri. In the S. C. de Bacchanalibus it is decreed 
 that magister neque uir neque mulier quisquam essei. tecta, either with 
 vine-leaves (Ouid Met. iii. 666 speaks of Bacchus shaking pampineis uela- 
 tam frondibus hastam, Aen^ vii. 396), or ivy (Prop. iii. 3. 35, a plant 
 resembling which called a-Kiv!ia^6s grew on Nysa Schol. ApoU. R. ii. 904), 
 or fir-cones. Rich gives illustrations of all three. The legend was that 
 Bacchus covered the top of the thyrsus with leaves to conceal an iron 
 point which might be used as a weapon (Diod. iii. 64, iv. 4). 
 
 257. iuuenoo, as in the lines ascribed to Nero in Persius i. 100, 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXIV. 267 
 
 Bacch. '737 Kal Tfjv ineu &v TrpoaflScs tvBrjKov nSpiv MvKanei/rjv exov<rav iv x^poiv 
 SUj;, AX\ai 8e daiioKas 8te(l)6povv (nrapayfuaiTiv. EiSft 8' hv fj irKevp fi Sixri\ov 
 
 (fx^aiTiv 'PinTOfifv ava re leai Kario. On vases Bacchus is seen tearing the 
 limbs of a kid or fawn, or holding a snake. Birch Ancient Pottery p. 294. 
 
 258. Bacch. 665 KaraoriKTOuj &opas'0(j)e<n KareC^cravTO Xip^/xmo-ii' yivvv. 
 
 259. ' Some with deep caskets were bearing mysterious emblems in 
 procession.' cams cistis is abl. instrum., the caskets being the most 
 prominent indication of the procession. celebrabant retains its 
 proper sense of crowding or doing a thing in a crowd or concourse infr. 
 287,302: but Ast is hardly right in interpreting 'frequenter adibant, 
 ad orgia accedebant uenerationis causa,' as in Tib. i. 3. 33, iii. 5. 29. 
 The meaning of orgia is fixed by Seneca's imitation Here. Oet. 592 
 Nos Palladias ire per aras Et uirgineos celehrare chores ; Nos Cadmeis 
 orgia ferre Tecum solitae condita cistis, as well as by Theocr. xxvi. 1 3 2iv 8' 
 
 erapa^e iToa\v fiaviaSfOs opyia 'RaKXOv 'E^anivas iirioiKra, to 8' ovx Speovri 0e/3aXoi, 
 
 which in 7 ^^re called if pa in Kia-ras vfrtovaiilva. The cisia was originally 
 a cylindrical wicker-basket, as represented on numerous coins and bas- 
 reliefs ; later a casket or box of more costly materials, used for holding 
 the mystic emblems of the rites of Bacchus or Ceres, and borne in pro- 
 cession by cistophori. Rich. 
 
 260. Hom. H, Cer. 476 "Opyia Sejiva rd T oi/ffmr eoTi Trapi^ipev oStc 
 trvBea-Bm OCt d;^«iV fieya yap Ti flfoiv ayos la~f(avei avtrjv. Bacch. 47 1 nfi-. Ta 
 6' opyi e'ffTi TLv Idiav t^ovrd trot ; Aiov. "kppr)T o^aK^firoitriv el&evai fipoTwv. 
 Hfu. "Epff I 8' Svrjtrw TOiai 6vov(Tiv rlva ; Atov. Oi Be/Jiis aicova'ai <r', eari S o'|t' 
 flSevai, Isocrat. Paneg, 28 A^/ui/rpoy (vncvSis SiaTfBeioTfs ck tS>v cvepyeariaiv 
 As ovx <"'"' ""' n^^O'S fj Tois fuiivrjiifvois aKovftv, TheOC. iii. 5 1 o"'' "^ ireva-ela'de 
 j3E/3aXo(, Apoll, R. i. 920 01 \dxov opyia Kelva Aal^ovfs ivvacrai, Ta jxev ov defits 
 
 apfuv dftSeiv. profani, A. A. ii. 601 Quis Cereris riius audel uulgare 
 profanis ? 
 
 261. Lucr. ii. 618 Tympana tenia tonant palmis et cymbala circum Con- 
 caua (the tenuis tinnitus of Catullus) raucisonoque minantur cornua cantu Et 
 Phrygio stimulat numero caua tibia mentis (the cornua and tibia of Catullus). 
 plangebant. Lucr. vi. 115. proceris gives the idea of tapering 
 fingers. 
 
 262. tereti, ' rounded ; ' the cymbals consisted of two hollow half- 
 globes similia hemicyclis caeli Seruius on G. iv. 64. ciebant. G. iv. 
 64 Tinnitusque cie et matris quate cymbala circum. 
 
 263. MiiltiB, many made horns blow out their hoarse-toned boom. 
 bombos, as in Lucr. iv. 544, Pers. i, 99. From the passage in Lucretius 
 it would seem that bombas expresses the under- or after-sound which is 
 heard in playing horns and similar instruments. Augustinus de Dialect. 
 V Verbum cum dicimus, inquiunt, prima eius syllaba uerum significat, secunda 
 sonum. Hoc enim uolunt esse bum. Vnde Ennius sonum pedum bombum 
 pedum dixit : an etymology which Wilmans ascribes to Varro, De Marci 
 Terenti Varronis libris grammaticis p. 144. 
 
 264. Barbara, LXin. 22. stridebat, ' shrilled.' 
 
 265. ampliflce, ' gorgeously.' Fore, quotes no other instaifce, and 
 amplificus only from Fronto p. 150 Naber. 
 
 266. sue, a drapery of its own; it was a special couch and had a 
 special coverlet as befitted the marriage-bed of a goddess and its promi- 
 nent position in the centre of the palace (47-49). 
 
268 A COMMENTARY 
 
 267. Od. iv. 47 Airap fVet Tapirrjaav 6pi>jievoi o(j>ddKfioiaiv. Spenser 
 Prothalamion Whom when they saw they stood amazed still Their wondering 
 eyes to fill. 
 
 268. decedere, ' to give place to,' Amph. iii. 4. 4, more fully decedere 
 de uia Amphit. iii. 4. i, Trin. ii. 4. 80, and in Cicero. diuis for isivrfi 
 
 6* avTiaatrQc ^eot ya/AOU II, xxiv. 62. 
 
 269-275. The departure of the guests is compared to the waves of 
 the sea stirred by a breeze at morning. At first it is slow and only a few 
 are seen moving from the doors of the palace ; by degrees the impulse 
 becomes more general, till at last they are seen streaming in all directions, 
 and at a long distance off. The simile is to some extent modelled on 
 
 II. iv, 422 sqq. 'fi? ^ ot ev atytaXw ■jroKvr)^fi Kvp.a daXd(r(TTjs"OpvvT eirtura-VTepov, 
 fe^upou VTTOKiV^a-avTOSj IIoz/TQ) pev Ta irpara Kopva-(reTat, avrap eTreiTa Xep(r(^ PT/' 
 
 vipevov fieydXa ^ptpu : but the details make it quite original. The passage 
 has been partially imitated by Alciphron iii. i. fin. 
 
 269. flatu matutino with Horrificans. 
 
 270. Horrificans, 'ruffling,' as horror Lucan v. 446. Homer uses 
 <^/>i| of the sea brushed by a wind II. vii. 63 Oii; Se fe^upoio ej^evaro novrov 
 em <j>pi^ 'Opvvpevow veuv, pi\dvei Se Te TroiTos vir' aiTrjs. procUuas, pro- 
 
 leptic with incitat, stirs into slanting ridges : Catullus seems to mean no 
 more than the curved form of waves just beginning to rise on a hitherto 
 smooth and windless sea. The Bodleian MS, has procliuiter, a word 
 found in Gell. i. 6. 6 : the comparative is used by Lucr. ii. 792. Similar 
 adverbs are humaniter Fam. vii, i, 5, longiter Lucr. iii. 676, caduciter 
 Varro ap. Non. 91. Nonius gives a long list of them pp. 509-517. 
 
 271. sub limiua, to which the MS. reading sublimia points, naturally 
 connects itself with exorieute, ' when morning is rising upwards to 
 the threshold of the far-travelling sun,' with which might be compared II, 
 ii. 48 'Ho)s pkv pa 6ea irpoa-efirjfreTO paKpbv'OT^vpnov, Theocr. ii, 147, xiii. II 
 OvO' OKa a XciKiimos avaTpexei is AiAs aais, except that they speak of the 
 morn as rising to the sky, Catullus to the east. It is an objection to this 
 view that exoriens when applied to the rise of the morning or the sun 
 (Lucr. iv, 538, G. i. 438, Cic. Arat. 589) does not generally contain any 
 farther idea, and is not as here constructed with a clause which implies 
 motion in a particular direction. We might then punctuate after exorienie 
 and construct incitat with sub limina, the west wind pushing the waves 
 up against the eastern sky, as Aeschylus represents them Ag. 1 180-1 182. 
 uagi, as in a fragm. of Laevius ap. Macrob. S. i. 18. 16 Hac qua sol 
 uagus igmas habenas Inmittit propius iugatque terrae, not ' tremulous,' 
 (Ast), nor ' straggling,' in reference to the broken and dispersed appear- 
 ance of the sun at daybreak, as seen from the top of Ida (Voss). 
 
 272. tarde with procedunt, the slowness is in proportion to the 
 lightness of the gust. 
 
 273. plangore, 'plash,' Lucr. ii. 1155: clangore, the reading o^ ACL, 
 would give the idea of a ringing sound, like clangente in the passage from 
 Attius below. cachiuui, ' ripples.' A passage of Attius' Phinidae may 
 have occurred to Catullus (571 Ribbeck) Simul etcircum Tnagna sonaniibus 
 Excila saxis suauisona echo Crepitu clangente cachinnat. 
 
 214:. magis magis, like /laXXov paK\ov Iph. T. 1406, Ran. looi, in 
 each instance perhaps a nautical expression, increbescunt I retain 
 as the reading of most good MSS ; the MSS, of Cicero fluctuate between 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXIV. 269 
 
 increhruit and increhuii, though on Phil. xiv. 5.12 OrelH says ' nuUus ex 
 meis increbruit ; ' on the other hand in Virgil all Ribbeck's primary MSS. 
 have the r in increbrescere G. i. 359, Aen. viii. 14, crebrescere xii. 222, cre- 
 , brescit xii. 407 : in Plant. Merc. v. i . 9, Ritschl's MSS. all give increbrescuni. 
 Cicero uses increbrescere of the wind getting higher Fam. vii. 20, Virgil 
 of the sound of the winds gradually increasing G. i. 359 ; Catullus applies 
 the word more strictly to the waves crowding faster and faster, iiracrtrvTepov 
 Kvna II. iv. 423: so Sallust quoted by Servius on Aen. i. 116 Crebritaie 
 fluduum. 
 
 275. procul, rather with the whole sentence than with nantes alone : 
 • and far out at sea as they float reflect a brightness from the glowing light.' 
 procul, just as the guests are seen at last streaming off no longer in the 
 'vicinity of the palace only, but at a great distance from it. nantes, 
 
 Ennius hasfluclus naiantes 584 Vahlen: Theocr. xxi. 18 Tpvcl>ep6v wpoae- 
 vaxf BaluuTaa (Mitsch.). 
 
 276. uestibuli regia tecta, 'the shelter of the royal porch,' inversion 
 of the adjective as in XXXL 13. 
 
 277. At (ad) se, ' to their own homes :' so transcurrito ad uos Mil. Glor. 
 
 ii. 6. 45; abi ad uos ib. 54. Od. xxi. 215 OIkio r tyyui ipeio TenyiUva, 
 
 ' near my own dwelling.' uago pede, as their feet bore them this way 
 or that: uagus here=' wide-ranging.' 
 
 278. princeps, ' first,' as might have been expected from the prominent 
 part he plays in the legend of Peleus and Achilles. Pindar Nem. iii. 97 
 makes Chiron give Thetis in marriage to Peleus. Staphylus, in the third 
 book of his work on Thessaly, represented Chiron as an astronomer who, 
 wishing to make Peleus celebrated, contracted an alliance for him with 
 Philomela the daughter of Actor, then gave out that Peleus was going to 
 marry Thetis, and that the gods would come to the wedding in a storm. 
 As soon as stormy weather set in he married Peleus to Philomela : the 
 report meanwhile spreading that Peleus had wed a goddess. Schol. on 
 Apoll. R. iv. 816. Pelei. Where was the cavern in which Chiron 
 lived. 
 
 279. portans. On a vase figured by Millingen pi. x, and represent- 
 ing the marriage of Peleus and Thetis, Chiron carries over his left shoulder 
 what looks like a branch or stalk of some large shrub. siluestria, in 
 keeping with his character as well-versed in plants and herbs : the cen- 
 taury was sometimes called Chironia. 
 
 280. quodeunque might be quotcumque, see Lachm. on Lucr. iii. 317, 
 but the distance oiflores makes it more likely that it is an indefinite ex- 
 pression ' all which.' 
 
 281. fl.um.inis, here not of a particular river, but generally ' by river- 
 waters.' 
 
 282. Callim, H. Apoll. Si'AvOea p,cv(j)opeoviTtv iv (lapi, Toaa-a Trep^Qpai 
 HoiKi^ dytvfV{Tt ^e(j}vpQv ttvcIovtos eepo'rjp^ 
 
 283. indistinctis, ' unsorled,' i. e. in which the flowers were of various 
 kinds and colours, like the garland called Eros which was sold at Nicaea 
 for the dead. Etym. M. plexos. Lucr. v. i ^gg plext's redmt're coronis 
 Fhribus etfoUis : avBt) nXeKra Pers. 618. 
 
 284. Quo, with iocundo odore. risit. Hom. H. Cer. 13 KijiSei S* 
 
 o8p§ 7ra9 ovpav6s €vpvs virfpBev Tola re Tratr eyeXatrore Kal aXpvpbv oid^a 
 6aKd(ro-r)s. 
 
270 A COMMENTARY 
 
 285. Penios not Pernios nor Penius is the best attested reading of the 
 MSS: the river-god is meant. uiridantia, as in a fragra. of Attius' 
 Bacchae ap. Non. 489 (Ribb. 243, 244) ubi sanctus Cithaeron Frondel 
 uiridantibus felts; the word gives the idea of a diffused verdure, not 
 simply of greenness. Tempo, as Callim. H. Del. 105 niji-Eios eXio-o-o^ifi/os 
 bia Tefiirewv, where the river is also personified as here by Catullus. 
 
 286. siluae. ' The cliffs all through the pass are composed of grey 
 limestone finely tinted with red, and their ledges and hollows are fringed 
 with trees which fix their roots to the rocks. The vegetation is magnifi- 
 cent, and wherever the slopes are sufficiently gradual, runs far up the 
 mountain sides : it is composed of oak, wild olive and dwarf ilex, together 
 with a thick undergrowth of agnus castus, palluria, and oleander, while 
 the banks of the stream are everywhere shaded by plane-trees of luxuriant 
 growth. In a few places also may be seen the laurel of Apollo, which 
 that divinity was said to have transplanted from hence to Delphi.' Tozer, 
 Researches in the Highlands of Turkey vol. ii. p. 68 : the same author 
 remarks that Catullus has shown his usual felicity in seizing on one salient 
 feature of Tempe, its overhanging woods : whereas most other ancient ac- 
 counts are more or less inaccurate. 
 
 287. ' To be thronged by the Doric dances of the Magnesian women ;' 
 the construction of celebrauda like Aen. iii. 280, Adiaque Iliacis cele- 
 bramus litora ludis. linquens, XXXV. 3. Aen. vii. 562 supera ardua 
 Unquens. I follow Scaliger in retaining Doris ; the form is found as a 
 variant in Cic. Flac. xxvii. 64, Servius on Aen. ii. 27, which seems 
 identical with Isidor. Origg. ix. 2. 80, Festus p. 206. 3 : but Dorii (cod. 
 Doriis) Fest. p. 317. 33 and this latter form with a double i may be 
 the word meant in the other places. Magnessum is my conjecture 
 for Minosim; I suppose it to stand for mayvrjaauiv. Strabo 442 Ueiropffe 
 8e Tt TOLOVTOV Koi fj Mayv^rtp* KortjpLdfirjfievaiv yap ^drj ttoWcov avTTJs T07ra)v, 
 ovSeva^ TOVTOiV wvop^as MdyvrjTas "Ofiripos ahX eKeivovs fiovovs ots ru^Xeos Kal 
 ov yi/apifjuas flta(Ta(^er ot irepl IIt]V€lov koi XlfjXiov elvoa-i^vWov 'Nalea-Kov, ib. 
 443 Tovs vno Tov TrotijToO XexO^vras Mdyvrjras varTaTovs cV tw QerraXiKa KardKdyip 
 vopiCTTiOv TOVS evTos Toiv Te/iTTwv diro TOV Tlr]veiov Koi t^s ''Oaarjs e(os UrjXtov, 
 
 The general sense is expressed by Collins, Ode to the Passions, Tkey saw 
 in Tempe' s vale her native maids, Amidst the festal-sounding shades. To 
 some unwearied minstrel dancing : he probably read after Heinsius Ae- 
 monisin. Haupt's iVawjzw, though partially supported by Cul. 19, 117, 
 119, is tame and purposeless; the common interpretation which refers 
 the line to the Muses (Mnemonidum Mnemonisin Aonisin) has little support 
 from the descriptions of Tempe: yfet see Stat. S.v. 3. 209. It would seem 
 that the Muses are only associated with Tempe as the attendants of Apollo 
 (Hor. C. i. 29. 9), in whose honour a novennial procession of youths 
 from Delphi existed in historical times : but Catullus says expressly that 
 Apollo stayed to guard heaven (299), and here therefore no such notion 
 of association exists. Doris, partly as Thessalian, partly as exposing 
 the limbs, cf. Smpidfetv, and see my Excursus in vol. i. 
 
 288. uacuos, ' empty-handed.' Stat, compares a passage of Attius 
 apud Festum 265 M. Neque erai quisquam a ielis uacuus, sed uti cuiquisque 
 obuiam Fueral sicferrum alitis, saxeum alius raudus sumpserat (Ribbeck 
 263). So KfCEos II. ii. 298, Od. XV. 214, icei/os O. C. 359. ille, either 
 an inversion of non ille uacuos, namque tulit, or more probably 'in his 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXIV. 271 
 
 turn,' ' as his gift.' radicitus with iulit, like Virgil's teneram ab radice 
 ferens, Siluane, cupressum G. i. 20, where however ab radice seems to 
 be ' from the root upwards,' whereas radicitus is rather ' torn from the 
 roots ;' in other words iulit radicitus is the more pregnant expression. 
 
 289. recto with proceras, 'stately with an upright stem.' laurus, 
 for which Tempe was famous, Sdcpvrjs Tffjmibos Nicand. Alex. 198. 
 
 290. nutanti. Ennius apud Gell. xiii. 20. 13 Capitibus nutantis pinos 
 rectosque cupressos. The word expresses the swaying of the luxuriant 
 mass of foliage which forms the top of the plane-tree. lenta, 'limber,' 
 a natural description of the poplar. 
 
 291. aerea, 'sky-springing,' Mart. xii. 50. i, cf. 240: Virgil has 
 aereae ulmi, aereae quercus, of high-towering trees. The younger Dousa 
 
 quotes TheOC. xxii. 4 1 AeOxai re jrXaTai/oi re KOl axpoKOfioi KVitapiairoi for the 
 
 same combination of poplar plane and cypress. 
 
 292. Haec, 'all these,' indefinite like quodcunque 280. late con- 
 texta, ' woven into a broad close screen.' Plin. Epist. v. 6. 9 Sub his 
 per latus omne uineae porriguntur unamque faciem longe lateque con- 
 texunt. 
 
 293. molli ftonde, as in Eel. v. 31 Etfoliis lentas intexere mollibus 
 haslas. 
 
 294. sollerti oorde, as the inventor of the arts and sciences Prom. 
 440-506. Prometheus says of himself, naaai Tf'xvm PpoTotaiv « llpo- 
 
 Hr)6ea>s ib. 506- 
 
 295-7 seem based on Apoll. R. ii. 1250 sqq. Kai Sfj KavKoo-iav opeav 
 
 avfTeXKov epiTTvai 'HXt/3aT0(, t66l yvia jrepl aTV<j)€\oLai irdyottriv *lW6p€Pos )(aKK€- 
 jfftv a\vKr07Te8j}<7t Ilpop.r]d€vs AUtov ^irari <j>€p^e TraKifiireres dla'crovTa, 
 
 295. Extenuata, 'faded.' Pliny uses cicatrices ex tenuare xxxii. 24 
 and 37. uestigia, the scars left by the nails which fastened Prometheus 
 to Caucasus. Others, explain extenuata uestigia of the piece of rock set 
 in iron (Plin. H. N. xxxvii. 2, Servius on Eel. vi. 42) which Jupiter gave 
 Prometheus on setting him free, to wear as a ring in memory of his 
 punishment : extenuata then would mean reduced to small compass. The 
 view of Lenz, which refers the words to the crown of olive said to have 
 been worn by Prometheus after his release Athen. xv. 674, Hygin. P. A. 
 ii. 15, ApoUod. ii. 5. 11, is impossible. 
 
 286. silici like ungui classi capiti may be ablative, restrictuB fol- 
 lowing the construction of reuinxit Aen. iii. 76, ligauit Anth. L. 707. 6 
 Riese, religare Hor. C. i. 32. 8. More probably it is dative, as stringi in 
 Quint. Declam. x. 8. Martial Spect. 7. i has in Scythica religatus rupe 
 Prometheus. 
 
 297. Persoluit, ' paid in full.' Prom. 112 Tomvhe voivas apirKaKtip.dTmv 
 riva. praeruptis, npoi TrtVpoir 'Y\lnj\oKpTiiJ.vois Prom. 4. 
 
 298. After Prometheus, whose counsel had diverted Jupiter from his 
 own attempt at marrying Thetis, Jupiter himself with the rest of the younger 
 dynasty of gods is naturally introduced. All appear except Phoebus 
 and his sister Hecate, whose absence has been variously explained. 
 Kraft thinks Catullus was here following an Alexandrian account : Prel- 
 ler ascribes the absence of Apollo to his strong feeling for Troy, a view 
 substantially the same as that of Muretus, who connects it with the fact 
 that Achilles was slain by Apollo; in II. xxi. 278 Achilles speaks of this 
 death as foretold by Thetis : its anticipation by both her and Apollo would 
 
272 A COMMENTARY 
 
 be enough to keep the latter away. Hecate would do what her brother 
 did, Koi yap eyo) AijTmias &iTmp 'AttoXXibi/ Callim. H. Diaii. 83. A fanciful 
 reason was suggested by Marcilius, founded on the story mentioned by 
 Staphylus (see on 278) that the marriage of Peleus took place in stormy 
 weather, when neither sun nor moon was visible. This would certainly 
 give a greater point to the introduction of Hecate. couluge natisq,ue. 
 Homeric: Od. iii. 381 Ai™ koI jraiSea-ai, Koi aiSoir] irapaKoiTi,. The hyper- 
 meter as in CXV. 5, also a hexameter: so XXXIV. 22 Romulique in 
 a glyconic. 
 
 299. Aduenit caelo. Plautus uses the ablative after adtienio of any 
 place where one has been for some time living, Lemno aduemo True. i. 
 I. 74, ii. 4. 4, Aegypio aduemo Most. ii. 2. 10, and so aduenio Acherunte 
 ap. Cic. Tusc. Disp. i. 16. 37 : domo is habitually used without the pre- 
 position; and it seems likely that Catullus has this idea in his mind, 
 heaven being the usual abode of the gods. Such omissions of the 
 preposition are however common in poetry, see Madvig Gramm.,§ 275. 
 4. Phoebus in II. xxiv. 63 is expressly stated to have been present at the 
 nuptials of Peleus and Thetis, with his lyre; and Plato Rep. ii. 383 says 
 Aeschylus introduced him singing a prophecy afterwards falsified of the 
 happiness of Thetis and" her child. Euripides however makes no mention 
 of Apollo in the chorus which describes the nuptial feast Iph. A, 1036- 
 1074 : and as he supposes this song to be sung by theMuses, would seem to 
 follow a different account from that given in the Iliad. Catullus differs 
 from both : neither Apollo nor the Muses are supposed by him to be 
 present. 
 
 300. Vnigenam, also in LXVI. 53, either 'only-begotten,' as in 
 Cicero's translation of the Timaeus iv Singularem deus hunc mundum atque 
 unigenam procreauit=- Plato's efr o8e p.ovoyevris ovpav6s 31 B, cf. Fest. 195 
 M. oenigenos unigmitos ; or (2) ' of the same race,' ' sister,' opoyviov (Hertz- 
 berg) : Artemis is called in the Iliad xx. 71 Kamyvifrri 'Eicdroio, in the 
 Homeric hymns 9. 2 SpoTpotpos 'AirM^avos. The latter view is the general 
 one, as the goddess is called Phoebus' sisUr in 301, and there is a prima 
 
 facie absurdity in speaking of a goddess as an only child in one line, and 
 as having a brother in the next. Yet, setting aside LXVI. 53, the evidence 
 is more in favour of ' only-born ' than ' of one and the same race : ' whilst 
 /jiovoyeiiris, Plato's equivalent for unigena, is a recurring epithet of Hecate 
 
 from the Theogony onwards, Th. 426 OiS' on powcryevfis rjo-a-ov 6ea eppope 
 Tiprjs, 448 Ou7-<B Toi Koi povvoycvj)! ex pjjTpos ioiara, aS the single child of 
 
 Asterie, Leto's sister, by Perses 406-409. Similarly ApoUon. R. iii. 1035 
 Movvoyevrj b' 'EKaTrjv UfptrriiSa pfCKiaaom, on which liri£ the Scholiast mentions 
 another story adopted by Musaeus, that Zeus impregnated Asterie and 
 then gave her to Perses. On this latter view she might be called povvoycv))s 
 €K prjTpos, yet sister to Phoebus as in part the child of Zeus. Or again she 
 might be called unigena as Hecate, soror Phoebi as Artemis with whom 
 Hecate is often identified. The mere form of the two statements is rather 
 against the prevailing view ; for it is not in Catullus' manner to repeat the 
 self-same idea in two consecutive lines. cultricem niontibus=^«fl« 
 colit moniibus : the ablative with colere is like incohre with ablative, Rud. 
 iv. 2. 2, Varro Prom. fr. iv Riese; Gellius has colere in locoii. 22. 19. Pos- 
 sibly Catullus translates oip^a-KJ^olTiv. Idri is explained by Voss of the 
 Carian district Idrias Herod, v. 118; Steph. B. mentions a Carian city 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXIV. 273 
 
 Idrias, formerly Chrysaoris, which was also called Hecatesia (s. u. 'Eku- 
 Trjtrta) and where Hecate was worshipped as Lagynitis. Strabo 660 also 
 speaks of the territory of Stratonicaea as containing a celebrated temple 
 of Hecate at Lagyna, to which there were great gatherings yearly. Leake 
 Numism. Hellen. Asiatic Greece p. 124 states that coins of Stratonicaea 
 bear a head of Diana, surmounted by a crescent : others an altar with 
 fire, others torches, both referring to the worship of Hecate at Lagyna. 
 There would be less difficulty in identifying this goddess with the cultrix 
 montibus Idri, if the form Idreus could be established. But the nominative 
 seemsto be Idrieus,the genitive lAPiecoC occurs on coins of Halicarnassus : 
 the MSS. of Steph. Byz. s. u.'iSptar give the genitive as 'iSpUw, s. u. EiSpairos 
 ns'iSpios : it is not easy to see how Idri as a Latin genitive could represent 
 either. Nor is it easy to see why the Carian Hecate should be introduced 
 here. Elsewhere in this poem the geographical allusions are generally 
 Greek, mainly indeed Thessalian. Possibly Catullus wrote In; a town 
 Irus near Trachis is mentioned by Lycophron 903 ; Steph. B. calls it a 
 Malian town, cf. Thuc. iii. 92 'Upijs Tpaxivioi and Meineke's note on 
 Callim. Del. 287. Herodotus vii. 98 describes Malis as hemmed in by 
 high and inaccessible mountains called the Trachinian rocks, which would 
 suit Catullus' montibus. That Apollo and Artemis were both worshipped 
 in this neighbourhood seems clear from Trachin. 205 sqq. where a hymn 
 is sung to Apollo Artemis and the neighbouring nymphs. Strabo 432 
 includes Trachis and the district of Oeta in the territory ruled by Achilles. 
 
 302. celebrare, ' to crowd,' i. c. form one of the procession carrying 
 the torches. Sen. Oct. 708 cited by Realinus on 321, Quorum toros 
 celebrasse caelesies ferunt, of Peleus and Thetis. 
 
 303. niueis, from the dazzling whiteness {candor 45) of the ivory seats. 
 flexerunt, 'rested,' like mpTTTfiv O. C. 19 o5 kZKo Kdfi^ov roih' Itf d^iarov 
 ■nerpov. Mitsch. Compares Stat. Achill. ii. 393 tenero necflexa cubili Membra. 
 
 305. Cum interea, ' and in the meanwhile,' without the notion' of 
 tamen which according to Hand Tursellinus s. u. it ordinarily has. 
 
 306. Veridicos, a word used twice by Lucretius in his last book, vi. 6 
 and 24. Persius ha.s Parca tenax ueriv. 48. Mr. Cranstoun suggests that 
 Catullus in introducing the Fates as singing the hymeneal of Peleus and 
 Thetis, as they sing that of Zeus and Hera in the Birds of Aristophanes 
 1731, had in view the description of them in the Homeric hymn to 
 
 Hermes 555 koto 8e ncparos ■nittoKayp.ivai a\(j)iTa Xevxa OtKia vnuraovaiv iiro 
 
 irrvxi Uapvriaoio. This would certainly be in the vicinity of Thessaly. But 
 it seems more probable that he knew and in part copied the fine descrip- 
 tion of the Fates in the tenth book of Plato's Republic 617, where each of 
 them sits on a throne in a white robe and with a chaplet on her head, 
 Lachesis singing the past, Clotho the present, Atropos the future, touch- 
 ing and turning the spindle of Necessity. 
 
 307. His, 263. tremulum, shaking with age. 
 
 308. Candida. Plato Rep. 617 dvyaTepasTTJs'AvdyKrisMoipas\tvx(ipovov<ra! 
 
 artpimTa fVl t&v Ke(f>dkS>v f;(oiJo-ar. (Stat.) CatuUus adds to the white robe 
 a purple border which falls round the feet. Hom. H. Cer. 182 dptpl Be 
 
 7r«VXof Kvdveoc pabivulai Berjs iXeXi^ero nocra-lv. talos. Tib. iii. 4. 35 Ima 
 
 uidebatur talis illudere palla. Alex. Guarinus observes that Catullus gives 
 to the Fates the dress of a Roman matron, the uittae tenues, insigne 
 pudoris, Quaeque tegis viedios instita tonga pedes A. A. i. 31. incinxerat 
 
 T 
 
274 A COMMENTARY 
 
 is rare, except in Ovid : the participle is found in Cicero Acad, Pr. ii. 28. 
 89, a translation, in Virgil G. iv. 342 and elsewhere. 
 
 309. Atroseo niueae, the reading of all the MSS. and supported by 
 Cir. 122 .4/ roseus medio surgebat ueriice crinis, is explained by Alex. 
 Guarinus of the rose-perfumed heads of the Fates, by Orelli of their divine 
 brightness : Kraft considers rosea to be a perpetual epithet which has lost 
 its special force, and is applied to the aged goddesses in the same manner 
 as jtaXXwrapgof to the Graiae by Hesiod Theog. 270. But roseus in the 
 time of Catullus was not a very common word in itself, while its juxta- 
 position to niueae seems to confine the meaning of both to colour, just as 
 in Cir. 511 Purpureas flauo retinentem ueriice uittas, Stat. Ach. i. 610 
 Cinxit purpureis flauentia iempora uitlis the purple and yellow are intended 
 to form a contrast. In Ciris 122 the purple lock in the middle of the 
 white hair of Nisus is caEed roseus crinis, but this lock was peculiar to 
 Nisus and could not be supposed to belong to the Fates : nor do I know 
 of any passage where their hair is called bright, even were such an idea 
 consistent with the description of them as aged women. It remains to 
 suppose either (i) that rosea is ' rose-crowned,' an extension of its use in 
 Copa 32 Et grauidum rosea necie caput strophio, something like Claudian's 
 roseis conuallibus Hennae Rapt. Pros. iii. 85 ; then the Fates would wear 
 a chaplet similar to that ascribed to the Muses by Sappho ap. Plut. Symp. 
 iii. 2, and the white fillets would blend with these into a sort of infula, which 
 was regularly made of alternate flocks of red and white wool ; or (2) that 
 the epithets are inverted ; the hair was white, the fillets red, but as each 
 colour blends into the other, Catullus attempts to express this blending by 
 describing the hair as red, the fillets white. So Chaeremon ap. Athen, 
 608 speaks of yellow hair luxuriating in the tawny winds {^ovBoiaiv ovi\u>ii), 
 and again of crocus-flowers wiping off on the dress of persons reclining 
 on them a sun-like reflexion (Oeneus fr. 14. 14 Nauck); passages which 
 show that the idea of rays of colour thrown olf and communicating them- 
 selves to neighbouring objects was carried to great lengths by the ancients. 
 This view I have attempted to express in my Metrical Translation Wreaths 
 sat on each hoar crown, whose snows flush' d rosy beneath them. 
 
 310. carpebant, ' were busy with,' a word chosen here from its double 
 use of pulling the fluff off wool, G. iv. 335, carpentes pensa G. i. 390, and 
 pursuing a way or assigned course. 
 
 311. amictum. Calm is here masculine as in Prop. v. i. 72 and 9. 48. 
 
 312. deduceus, ' drawing down' from the mass of wool -at the upper 
 part of the distaff' the fibres which are to become thread. Varro L. L. 
 vii. 54 Carere a carendo, quod earn tumpurgant ac deducunt ut careat spur- 
 cUia (ex quo carminari dicitur turn land) cum ex ea carunt quod in ea haeret, 
 neque est lana, quam in Romulo Naeuius appellat asia ab Oscis. supinis, 
 ' up-turned,' the natural position, as the distaff' was held high in the air, 
 on a level with the head or above it. 
 
 313. I'ormabat, ' shaped,' i. e. gave to the fibres their new form of 
 thread. prono, ' down-pressed ; ' the spindle was twirled nearer and 
 nearer to the ground. torquens, viz./usum, as is shown by TibuUus 
 ii. 1. 64 Fusus et apposite pollice uersat opus, Ouid. Met. vi. 22 Siue leui 
 teretem uersabat pollice fusum : Carm. in Maecen. 73 Tor sisti pollice fusos. 
 
 314. Iiibratum with tereti turbine, ' poised evenly on its rounded 
 wheel.' The meaning oi turbine is fixed partly by tereti, partly by Epiced. 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXIV. 275 
 
 Drusi 164 Hanc lucem celeri lurline Parca neat. This turbo or more 
 properly uerticillum was ' a small circular plate of wood, stone or metal, 
 through which the lower end of the spindle was inserted, for the purpose 
 of giving it rotation, and assisting by its weight to twist the thread tight.' 
 Rich. 
 
 315. Atgue ita, ' and as it went on' in reference to the process described 
 in 3 1 2-314. decerpens, clearing the threads by plucking away the out- 
 standing shreds which made their surface uneven. To this perhaps refers 
 Festus' decermina dicuntur quae decerpuntur purgandi causa. semper, 
 ' continually,' every time a new shred presented itself. dens, the finger 
 might be lifted to the teeth without disturbing the course of the operation. 
 
 316. morsa seems to be air. Xey. Stat, compares mansa. 
 
 317. leui, on the otherwise smooth thread. Conversely Carm. Maecen. 
 74 Lenisii morsu leuia fila parum. fuerant extantia, Lucr. ii. 1089, 
 ill. 396, iv. 427, Prop. iv. 6. i, Cic. N. D. ii. 8 Quae sunt his carentia, 
 quoted by Hertzberg on Prop. iii. 17. 37. Drager Histor. Synt. p. 267 
 quotes from Cato R. R. praef male cogitanles sunt, Cic. de Orat. iii. 26 
 inhaerenies esse debent, B. Hisp. 29 currens erat, Liv. xxviii. 44 nee aduos 
 pertinens sit and the comic ut sis sciens, with others. The construction is 
 however rare. • 
 
 318. At the feet of the Fates are baskets containing the thread 
 already wound off and rolled up into balls, ready for use. These balls 
 (glomera) as cleared from all impurities were of course much whiter than 
 the unprepared wool : hence candeniis. Cf a fragment of Philetas (Bergk 
 Anth. Lyric, p. 115) Aixatdcs els rdXapovs XeuKov Syovaiv epi. Realinus and 
 Mayor on luuen. xii. 65 consider the whiteness to have reference to the 
 happy fate foretold by the Parcae : Mayor cites Sen. Apocol. 4, Mart. vi. 
 58. 7, 8 Si mihi lanificae ducunt non pulla sorores Stamina, iv. 73. 3, 4. 
 mollia. Od. iv. 124 trnKaKov ipioto. The wool-baskets lie at the feet of the 
 Parcae as in ApoU. R. iii. 254 the sewing-maidens nodav npowapoide ^akovirai. 
 
 Nij/ioTa Kal /tXmOT^pns, aoXXees CKTodi iratrat "Efipa/xoi/. 
 
 319. VeUera, Varro R. R. ii. 11. 9 Lanam demptam ac conglobatam 
 alii uellera, alii uelumina appellant. uirgati, of osier or wicker-work, 
 Ouid F. iv. 435 lento calathos e uimine textos, Heroid. ix. 76 Rasilibus cala- 
 this. Elsewhere uirgatus is ' striped,' and Forcellini interprets it here of the 
 variously coloured rods of which the baskets were made, but like pa^twros 
 with which it is compared by Conington on Aen. viii. 660 it may easily 
 have had both meanings. custoditaant, like scibant LXVIII. 85, 
 audibant LXXXIV. 8. calathisci, KaKaBiaKoi, Thesm. 822, Lysist. 
 
 535. 579- 
 
 320. peUentes uellera, ' filantes. Nam quae filant uellera digitis im- 
 pellunt,' Alex. Guarinus. In drawing out the threads the mass of wool 
 is from time to time smartly struck or tapt to facilitate the separation of 
 each thread from the -rest, and break up the knots which naturally form in 
 it. So Carm. in Maecen. 75 Percussit crebros te propter Lydia nodos. 
 clarisona uoce with /uderunt, with which diuino carmine is also con- 
 structed as a second ablative, a practice common in Lucretius (cf. Cicero's 
 uberibus grauidis uitali rare rigabat De Div. i. 1 2) and more excusable 
 here as talia diuino carmine fata is practically i. q. tale carmen diuinifati. 
 
 322. perfljdiae nulla arguet aetas. Pind. 01. x. (xi.) 56 'o t i^e- 
 
 Xf'y;^a)X fiovos 'Wddeiav fT^TUfiOV Xpovos. 
 
 T 2 
 
276 A COMMENTARY 
 
 323. ' O thou who exaltest thy rare glory by great deeds of valour.' 
 decus eximixun, the special honour of marrying a goddess, as in 25 
 eximie taedis felicibus amle. This is more probable than to take decus as 
 referring to the glory of Peleus' heroic race, the Aeacidae, whose special 
 gift from the gods was courage Hes. fr. ccxxiii Markscheffel 'aXk^v ^lei/ 
 
 yap eSioKiv 'OXv/xvios AlaKiSaia-iv, xciii AiaKi8as iroKe/jua Kcxapioras rjire Sairi, 
 
 though this is a particularly Roman idea ; Epitaph. Cn. Scipionis i Vtr- 
 iu/es generis meis moribus accumulaui, Ouid. Pont. i. 8. 17 llle memormagni 
 generis uirtute quod auget. uLrtutibus augens, Te'Xos emrldHs SC aper^v 
 Plato Cratyl. 395 ; Cicero has dum nosiram gloriam tua uirtute augeri 
 .expeto Q. Fr. i. i. 2. 
 
 324. tutamen, a rare but felicitous word Aen. v. 262. clarissiiue, 
 ' most glorious ' on account of thy son, the yet unborn Achilles. Eur. I. A. 
 1063 Meya (fims ycvvda-eis addressed to Thetis at the marriage-feast. Stat. 
 compares Cic. de Off. iii. 16. 66 Vt enim caeteri ex patribus sic hie (the 
 father of Cato Uticensis) qui illud lumen progenuii ex filio est nominandus. 
 Ouid. Met. xi. 266 Felix et nato,felix et coniuge Peleus. 
 
 325. sorores. Ouid. Trist. v. 3. 17 Dominae fati quicquid cecinere 
 sorores. 
 
 326. quae fata secuntur depends on duceutes, to which subteg- 
 mina is added as an appositive predicate, ' but do you, ye spindles, run 
 on, drawing out as threads the destinies which are to come : ' cf. Theocr. 
 xxiv. 69 "o n jiolpa Kara KKaartjpos fTte'iyei. To separate quae ilOTSxfata 
 either as nom. 'threads which follow the course of fate,' or accus, 
 'threads which fate follows,' Stat. Theb. i. 213 Etuocemfata secuntur, is 
 unnatural : to construct quae fata secuntur with Currite, ' run through 
 the fate which is to come,' is harsh and only doubtfully supported by 
 Virgil's Talia saecla suis dixerunt currite fusis Concordes stabili fatorum 
 numine Parcae Eel. iv. 46, where see Servius. 
 
 328. iam, straightway. portans, the bearer, see on 135. maritis 
 refers not to husband and wife, a sense which it has in the Digest xxiv. i. 
 52, but to the husband alone, whom Catullus regards as the more favoured 
 party, LXI. 109, and of course much more when the bride is a goddess, 
 see above 27—30. 
 
 330. flexauiino, passive, as in a fragment of Pacuvius quoted by Cic. 
 de Div. i: 36. 80, Vario L. L. vii. 87 (Teucer 422 Ribbeck) Flexanima 
 tanquam lymphata aut Bacchi sacris Commota, where it seems to mean 
 ' passionate.' Nonius 113 only quotes it in its active sense, ' heart-quell- 
 ing,' also in a line of Pacuvius. Ast compares G. iv. 516 Nulla Venus, 
 non ulli animum flexere hymenaei. perfundat amorem. The ordinary 
 construction oi per/undere with an abl. of the thing sprinkled is replaced 
 by the more recondite ace. of the thing and dat. of the recipient, as in 
 Prop. ii. 4. 5 Nequiquam perfusa meis unguenta capillis. 
 
 331. Languidulos, like \v<nji.f\)\s applied to sleep Od. xx. 57 and 
 love Hes. Theog. 911, Archil. 85 Bergk, Carm. Popul. 44 Bergk. Cicero 
 used the word in a passage preserved by Quintil. viii. 3. 66 Humus erat 
 inmunda, lutulenta uino, coronis languidulis et spinis cooperta piscium. In 
 Catullus the diminutive seems to give the idea of softness ' the soft languor 
 of sleep.' 
 
 332. Dirae 171 Grandia formoso supponens gaudia collo, probably an 
 imitation, 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXIV. 277 
 
 334. contexit, ' has roofed in,' i. e. safe from prying eyes : a variation 
 from the more prosaic shutting-in of the bride Theoc. xviii. 5. Lachmann 
 conjectured connexit, which would be more nearly like coniunxit in 335 ; 
 nexisti for the more usual form mxuisii was read in Prop. iii. 8. 37 by 
 Diomedes p. 366 P, nexit for nexuit by Lucilius ap. Priscian 861 P. 
 
 336. Qualis adest Thetidi, quails Peleo for qualis adest Thetidi et 
 Peleo. Concordia, LXVIL 87. The four lines 334-337 are omitted in 
 some good MSS. and rejected by Scaliger, who thought they were added 
 by MaruUus or some other Italian of the Renaissance, to avoid the abrupt- 
 ness of the transition from 332 to the birth of a son in 338. But (i) the 
 oldest MSS. have them, and though absent from the Datanus, they are 
 found in the similarly derived codex a ; (2) they might easily have fallen 
 out owing to the refrain Curriie ducentes subtegmina, currite,fusi, the eye 
 passing from 333 to 337 and omitting the interval; (3) the difficulty of 
 contexit and the juxtaposition of amor amantes would have been avoided 
 by an interpolator; (4) the symmetry of the song is broken if they are 
 omitted; as the five five-line strophes 337-361 are followed by a strophe 
 of four lines, it would seem natural that they should be preceded by a 
 strophe of the same number ; the correspondence is chiastic 564. 
 5x5. 4 6 lo- 
 
 339. tergO. Schol. V. on II. xvi. 380 AJo-xuXoi hi 'A;(iX\ea <jvv TJj TroKOTrXia 
 (jirjaip Smtrdev opiirftravTa irrjirjaai ttjv rdffipov jiij bfi^avra ra vara toU f;f flpoir. The 
 expression seems derived from II. xiii. 289 Ou/c av h avx^v &ma-6c wetroi. 
 
 /Se'Xor, oih' e'w vutm, 'AAXd Kev rj arepvcDV rj KijSuor dvTiaircte. So Mommsen 
 
 CIL. I. 682, Sallust lug. 85 Cicatrices aduerso corpore, Plin. H. N. vii. loi Z. 
 Siccius Dentatus quadraginta quinque cicatricibus aduerso corpore insignis, 
 nulla in tergo, Ouid A. A. i. 209 Tergaque Parthorum Romanaque pectora 
 dicam, Met. x. 706 of animals Quae non terga fugae, sed pugnae pectora 
 praebent. 
 
 340. uago, ' wide-ranging,' Stat. Achill. ii. 400 of Achilles exhaus- 
 iumque uago per gramina passu Laudabat gaudens. certamine. In the 
 Iphigenia in Aulis Euripides describes Achilles running a race in armour 
 against a four-horse chariot 212 sqq. Cf. his Homeric name ■nohinKqs, 
 TrdSas aKVi ; Euripides' tov la-dvefuiv Tf iroSoiv Aaf^poSpo/iov 'Ap^iX^a I. A. 
 206. 
 
 341. Flammea like ignea Aen. xi. 718, igneus xi. 746. Pindar Isthm. 
 
 viii. 37 Bergk calls Achilles Xelpas "Apet t ivaKlyKiov orepon-aio-t T aKnav 
 woSmv, cf. Hes. Scut. H. 345 Upoyhovr i/ceXot itvp\ rji flucXXi;. praO- 
 
 uertet, imitated by Virgil Aen. vii. 807, xii. 345, and more closely by 
 Statius Achill. ii. 396 uolucres cum iam praeuertere ceruos et Lapithas 
 cogebat equo. cerua©. Pindar Nem. iii. 51 says Achilles slew stags 
 without the help of dogs or nets by superior swiftness. 
 
 343. Non quisquam se conferet, for the nearest was fier dfiifiova 
 UriXciava, ab Achilk secundus: Achilles describes himself II. xviii. 105 Toior 
 
 iaiv olos ovTiS 'Ap^aiSv ;(aXKOX'T'<ii'<BJ' 'Ek jtoXc/xm. 
 
 344. campi for teuen or tenen of the MSS. is confirmed not only by 
 Stat. Achill. i. 84-88, but by a line in the Latin version of the Iliad 384 
 Sanguine Dardanii manabant undique campi. 
 
 345. longinquo might be ' distant,' i. e. a war over seas, as Cicero 
 speaks of externa hoste atque longinquo Cat. ii. 13. 29 : but it is more 
 probably 'lingering,' as Caesar has longinqua oppugnatio B. C. iii. 80, 
 
278 A COMMENTARY 
 
 Cicero and Corn. Nepos longinquum tempus, Propertius longinquus amor i. 
 6. 27. Catullus seems to have in his mind II. ii. 134 sqq. where Aga- 
 memnon complains that nine years have past, the timbers of the ships 
 are rotten and the ropes broken ; the wives and children of the Greeks 
 sit at home waiting for them, but their task is still unfinished. 
 
 346. Periuri. Pelops promised Myrtilus the charioteer of Oenom^us 
 half his kingdom if he succeeded in making him conquer Oenomaus 
 in a chariot-race, the condition of marrying his daughter Hippodamia. 
 Myrtilus did this, and Pelops married Hippodamia ; but falsified his 
 promise to Myrtilus and threw him into the sea near Geraestus in Euboea, 
 upon which Myrtilus cursed the house of Pelops, a curse from which 
 ^rang all the subsequent calamities of the Pelopidae. Soph. El. 504- 
 515, Eur. Or. 985-1012, Plato Crat. 395, Lye. Al. 165, Sen. Thy. 139 
 sqq. 'Ptriuri is thus not otiose : Pelops' perjury caused the rape of 
 Helen, and tTlis the siege of Troy. tertius heres, Agamemnon, as 
 he explains in the 'speech just quoted II. ii. 105 Auto/j d aln TleKa^ S&k 
 
 'Arpei, voijiivi Xaav' "Arpevt Se ^vriaKav eKmev TToKvapvi QvecTri' Airap o avre 
 Qv€(rT 'Ayafttfimvt Xfijre (fioprjvai, 'SoW^aiv vrjuouri Koi "Apyt'i jravTi avaa-ireiv, 
 Pelops himself is on this view not included, and this is in strict conformity 
 with the use of secundus tertius heres ; cf. also Ovid's sic ab loue tertius 
 Aiax (Met. xiii. 28), which he himself explains not t© include Jupiter, 
 thus, Aeacus, Telamon, Aiax : on the other hand Thyestes^ is not -generally 
 included in the line of Argive kings, then tertius heres would refer to 
 Agamemnon as grandson of Pelops and heir to his throne in the third 
 generation. 
 
 348. II. xviii. 122 Kat Tiva TpmiaSmv Kol Aapbavtdtov ^aOvKoKirap Ap.<poTe~ 
 p^(rtP X^P^"^ irapeiatav airoKatav t^aKpv ofiop^afievrjv uStvAi' (rTova\tjiTat e<f>eiTjv. 
 
 350. ineuruo, of the bowed heads of old women yripai kui^os Od. ii. 17, 
 
 cf. the description of Polyxo ApoU. R. i. 672 AsvKfja-tv irnxvoaova-rj edeipais 
 . . . ava S' %cr)((6e hiiprjv 'Hko fiSKis Kvtfiolo fieracfipevov, and Propertius' 
 curua anus ii. 18. 20, incurua proceritas Tac. A. iv. 57. The MSS. 
 generally give in ciuium which is already corrected in D to in cinerem, 
 the common reading. This would refer either (i) to the custom of cut- 
 ting off the hair and covering the corpse with it (II. xxiii. 135, 152, Od. 
 xxiv. 46, Eur. Tro. 480), or throwing it upon the pyre: 'when they 
 unbind their hair to let it fall into the embers,' or (2) to the practice of 
 sprinkling ashes or dust on the head in token of mourning, as Achilles 
 
 does II. xviii. 25-27 ; cf. Eur. Supp. 826 Kal-a pkv Svv§iu ijKoKiiriieff iji^X 8e 
 
 2n-o8Ai/ Kapa Kf\ip,e6a : ' when they unbind their hair to receive the embers,' 
 and so perhaps Seneca Troad. 99-102 Soluimus ' omnes Lacerum multo 
 funere crinem. Coma demissa est libera nodo, Sparsitque cinis feruidus ora, 
 cf 84 Soluite crinem : per colla fluanl Maesta capilli, tepido Troiae Puluere 
 turpes. But such a construction of in cinerem soluent is very harsh, if 
 indeed it is possible. soluent can hardly mean scindent, to which it is 
 opposed by Ouid Met. xi. 682 nee crinem soluere curat, Scindit : cf. Aen. 
 iii. 685, Ouid. Am. iii. 9. 3, Prop. ii. 15. 46, quoted by Passerat. 
 
 351. Putrida, ' withered,' mammae putres Hot. Ep. viii. 7. uaria- 
 bunt. Plant. Poen. Prol. 26 Ne et hie uarientur uirgis et loris domi. 
 pectof a which were stript bare for the purpose, see Sen. Troad. 90 sqq. 
 Cic. Tusc. Disp. iii. 26. 6i Varia et detestabilia genera lugendi : paedores, 
 muliebres laceratiows genarum pectoris, feminum capitis pertussimes. 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXIV. 279 
 
 353. II. xi. 67 Sqq. OJ 8" mot' aurjrfipes (vavrioi aXXtyXoeiru' 'Oyftov iXavvaxriv 
 av8p6t fiCLKapos kut apovpav Tlvptiv § Kpvdiav, to 8e bpiypaTa raptpea irinTei' *Qi 
 
 Tpaifs rat 'Axcuol in aWJiKoitri Sopovres Ajiovv. praecerpenB, mowing 
 the heads off, lopping, Plin. xviii. 177 Araiuros boues oportet fiscellis cap- 
 istrari ne germinum tenera praecerpanl. cultor, ' a husbandman,' less 
 particularizing than messor, which O gives. 
 
 354. sole sub ardenti. Virg. Eel. ii. 13. 
 
 355. corpera is found in the Brit. Mus. MS, a, and is printed by 
 Lachmann in his first edition. So pignera feneris facineris iocineris 
 
 facinerosus (Corssefl ii. p. 202) ; in Lucr. iv. igo German. Arat. Progn. 
 11 fulgere fulgera are abl. and accus. oi fulgur, with which compare 
 fulgeratoris quoted by Corssen from Gruter; Priscian i. 36 Aniiqui auger 
 el augeratus pro augur et auguratus dicebanl. 
 
 357. Catullus refers to the 2ist book of the Iliad, where Achilles kills 
 a number of Trojans in the Xanthus, "Ov Zav66v KoKiovai 6eoi, &Sp« 8e 
 'S.Kap.avhpov. Attius ap. Non. 192 is very like Catullus Scamandriam 
 undam salso sanclam obtexi sanguine Atque aceruos alia in amni corpore 
 expleui hoslico Ribb. 322. 
 
 358. passim, if we may suppose Catullus to speak from personal 
 observation, may refer to the scattered and disunited character of the 
 SrafiavSpou (K^oXal, as described by Strabo 595 a-vp.iTea-6vTes yap 6 T€ Sipdeir 
 Kal 6 ^KapavSpos iv Tw rrebla, ttoXX^w KaraipipovTcs IKvu, 7rpo(T)(ov<n Tr)v jrapciKicai 
 Kal TiK^XAv (TTopa T€ KOI XtpvodoKaTTas (cai e\rj noiovai. So Brutus in a letter 
 to Cicero, Fam. xi. 13. 2 Ille enivi iil passim, ego ordinalim, ' in loose order,' 
 and so Asellio ap. Servium on Aen. xii. 121 opposes passim and pilalim 
 as ' promiscuously,' and ' in a close column.' It seems morfe probable 
 that passim diffundilur refers to the river losing itself in the whirling 
 waters of the Hellespont and being carried hither and thither by their 
 more powerful current : passim and rapido will then be in relation to each 
 other, the latter explaining the former; cf. II. xxi. 124 SKapavSpos Oio-ei 
 Btvrjfis ei'o-o) oK&s evpea kSKttov, where fvpia suggests an idea very similar to 
 passim diffundilur. A third view, proposed by Mitsch., explains passim of 
 the full body of water which the Scamander pours into the sea: the 
 glossary of Philoxenus has passim a.9p6as : but though Homer calls the 
 river eddying, such a description of its mouth can scarcely have been true 
 in his time, and was the very reverse of true in the time of Catullus, who, 
 we must remember, visited this locality in person ; on the other hand 
 no real instance is quoted where the word means this, rapido. 'Ayappoov 
 
 'E\\ri(TnovTov II. xii. 30, Stin? 7rop<^v/>orra ApoU. R. i. 935- 
 
 359. II. xxi. 7 'H/iiWej 6e 'Es irorapov elXfvino ^adippoov, apyvpobivrjv, ib. 
 20 Toil' Se OTOvos apvvr dfiKrjs 'Aopi 6eivopivav, ipvdaiuero 8 aipxiTi vbap. 
 angUStanS, ib. 2 1 8 liKijdet yap Sfj pot vcKvav ipoTftva piiBpa, Ovde tL irji Svvapat 
 irpoxifiv poov fir aXo b'lav, Srcti/rf/ifiror veKvea-a-i. 
 
 360. tepefaciet, but lepe/axil LXVIII. 2 9, madefienl LXIV. 368. per- 
 mixta oaede, 'with indiscriminate slaughter,' Lucr. iii. 643. II. xxi. 16 
 
 nXJjropdoi (ceXdSo)!' iirtp'i^ mirav te Kal dvSpav. 
 
 362. quoque, the last and most terrible attestation, reddita, ' given 
 over,' 'assigned,' not simply, I think, an archaism for morlidalus (Serv. on 
 Aen. iii. 333). Ollus lelo dalus est was the official notice of a./unus in- 
 dicliuum Varro L. L. vii. 42. 
 
 363. teres, ' rounded,' the natural shape of the (rrjpara dr barrows in 
 
280 A COMMENTARY 
 
 which the Homeric heroes were buried. It can hardly refer to the pillar 
 ^ith which such barrows were often surmounted (Forcellini) ; a gradually 
 diminishing roundness is sufficiently in accordance with Festus' defini- 
 tion p. 363 M. Teres est in longUudine roiundaium, quotes aggeres nalura 
 ministrat. aggere. Od. xxiv. 80 of the tomb of Achilles 'A/«/)' airolo-t 8' 
 
 CTTetra [leyav Kai diJ.vfj.ova TVfi^ov 'K.cuafjxv 'Apyeiav lepos orparos alxfJ-iJ^dav* Aktjj 
 enl iTpov)(ova-rj., eVi •nkatel ''EWr^a-novTajy *fls k^v TrjKeCJjavfjs eK trovTo^iv dvdpda-Lv 
 
 eirj : ail account however in which the story of Polyxena forms no part. 
 bustum (Ouid. Met. xiii. 452) is correct, as the body was first burnt, then 
 the barrow raised over the ashes, Od. xxiv. 71 sqq., H. xxiv. 787 sqq. 
 
 364. Excipiet, perhaps with an idea of welcoming, as a gift to the 
 dead Achilles, whose shade was restless till the sacrifice was completed. 
 Hec. 537) Troad. 623 ASipov d^jnixv veKpm. 
 
 366. fessis. Hor. C. ii. 4. 11 Tradiditfessis leuiora tolli Pergama Grais. 
 It is remarkable that copiam Achiuis, corporum aceruis, two unusually harsh 
 elisions, occur in this the most finished part of the poem. The infinitive 
 after dederit copiam is like Sal. Catil. 17 in otio uiuere copia erai: the 
 construction with the gerund is very common in the comic writers. 
 
 367. Neptunia. Troad. -4-7 'E^ ol yap ap(j)l Trjvde TpanKrjv xdom <S>6i^6s 
 TC (cdyo) \atvcws itipyo\js itipi^ 'Opdolinf eflf/^ev Kavoaiv spoken by Poseidon. 
 
 soluere uiucla looks like a free translation of 'tpoiijs Upa Kp{fiep.va Xiaiitv 
 II. xvi. 100, Tpoa]s \iofuv Xiirapa KprjSepva Od. XX. 388 ; uincla, ' fastenings,' 
 is naturally applied to the walls enclosing a city. Petronius de Bello 
 Ciuili 291 IVon muris oppida soluis. 
 
 368. madefient for madescent, of. the MSS, as liquefiunl for liqmscuni 
 of Korn's MSS. Pont. i. 2. 57. There is however some probability in 
 the reading of the Datanus mitescent, as the sacrifice of Polyxena was to 
 appease the shade of Achilles, Hec. 535-541; cf the use oi pjiCKiaaav II. 
 vii. 410, ApoU. R. ii. 925. sepulcra, ' place of burial,' like rai^ol. 
 
 369. uictima, wp6<r4>ayp.a Troad. 628, a-tpdyiov Hec. 108. Polyxena 
 compares herself to a calf Hec. 206 and is so spoken of by Talthybius 
 Hec. 526. 
 
 370. summisso poplite. Hec. 561 Kadetaa irpbs ydiav yam. trun- 
 cum, by being severed from the neck Hec. 567 Te/ii/ej aihr\pa vvivpmoi 
 
 htappods, 
 
 372. optatos anitni amores is not a mere variation of optaios anitnis 
 amores, cf. Ter. Heaut. ii. 4. 28 Anliphila maxime animo exoptatam meo, 
 nor does animi simply mean ' inward,' as in animi cupido which Orelli 
 compares with it (Sallust Orat. Philippi 11); rather it expresses the sur- 
 render of the heart and feelings to an absorbing love, ' fond love.' So ex 
 animo Lucr. iv. 1195, and similarly habebam alibi animum amori deditum. 
 Hecyr. iii. i. 13. 
 
 373. feliei, as Pindar says of Peleus, Isthm. vi. (v.) 36 HrfKeos dtei kKcos 
 
 TjpiDOS, evddipovos ■ya/ijSpoO- 6e3iv^ . 
 
 374. Dedatur, LXI. 58. iam dudum, with dedatur in the sense of 
 ' forthwith,' as in Aen. ii. 103, Ouid. A. A. i. 317, ii. 457, Val. Flacc. vi. 456. 
 Hertzberg constructs iam dudum with cupido ; this is in accordance with 
 the frequent combinations iam dudum exspecias Ter. Eun. v. 4. 8, iam 
 dudum auent Enn. Alexander 34 Ribbeck. 
 
 376. orienti luce, ' at dawn of day,' like orienti lumine Lucr. v. 664, 
 bice serenanti Cicero in the lines from his poem De Consulatu quoted 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXIV. 281 
 
 De Divin. i. ii. i8 which seems nearly =:/«^e serena, like node serena Aiat 
 345, iuna siknii Cato R. R. 40, but luna decrescente ib. 31. Madvig's rule 
 that the participle never ends in i in ablatives absolute seems to be 
 observed by Cicero in his Aratea, thus minitanti murmure 305, iierknli 
 cursu 579, but praecipilanie node 314; cases like orienti luce, lumine etc. are 
 better regarded as temporal, a development, it would seem, of the local 
 meaning of the ablative. 
 
 377. flic, either 'necklace,' as Epithal. Laurentii et Mariae 71, 2 
 Nullum sit capiti quo crinis comitur aurum. Nee collo maneani nisi quae 
 sunt laeuia fila ; or simply ' thread,' if, as is not unlikely, a more homely 
 test of consummation is alluded to. Ramage, Nooks and Byways of Italy 
 p. 208 'I met an intelligent inhabitant as I was strolling through Venusia. 
 Among other things, he inquired, laughing, if I had ever heard of the 
 following mode of discovering whether a youth or maiden is still without 
 knowledge of the other sex. He said that the custom was not unknown 
 to Southern Italy, and maintained that it was an excellent criterion. 
 Measure the neck of a marriageable youth or maiden correctly with a 
 ribbon ; then double the length, and bringing the two ends together, place 
 the middle of it between the teeth. If we find that it is sufficiently long 
 to be carried from the mouth over the head without difficulty, it is a sign 
 that the person is still a virgin, but if not, we are to infer the contrary.' 
 Hesterno, i. e. ante quam cum marito coiret (Alex. Guarinus). For a 
 physical particularization of grief, similarly against modern taste, see 
 ApoU. R. iii. 762. 
 
 379. discordis, of quarrelling lovers, as discordare Ter. And. iii. 3. 43. 
 
 380. Secubitu, estrangement from her husband's bed. Ouid Am. iii. 
 10. 16. See onLXI. loi. 
 
 382. praefantes is explained by Orelli 'speaking as prelude to the 
 marriage;' he quotes De Divin. i. 45. 102 Alaiores nostri omnibus rebus 
 agendis quod bonum faustum felix fortunatumque esset praefabantur, cf. 
 louem lanumque praefamino Cato R. R. \\\,praefatus dittos Kexi. si. 301, 
 where see Servius. Livy however ws&& prae/ari carmen v. 41 of the Ponti- 
 fex maximus dictating the set form of words by which the Senate devoted 
 themselves, and this may be the meaning here ; the plural carmina occurs 
 in this sense Pro Rabir. iv. 1 3 Tarquinii ista sunt cruciatus carmina. The 
 Parcae dictate the set words which are to be followed by fate. Pelei 
 in any case is genitive, not, as Scaliger and Voss thought, dative, for 
 which Catullus uses Peleo 336, whether felicia Pelei carmina is ' Peleus' 
 happy marriage-song,' or ' a form of happy words for Peleus ' nearly= 
 ' set words of felicitation to Peleus.' 
 
 383. diuino, ' prophetic,' as in Aen. iii. 373 Atque haec deinde canit 
 diuino ex ore sacerdos, cited by Behrens, who reads here cecinere e pectore. 
 
 384. Praesentes, ' in bodily shape.' ante, in the heroic age, as 
 
 Nestor says Od. iii. 420 of Athene "H /zoi evapyris ?X5e fleoO « fiaixa Oakfiap, 
 
 and as Alcinous says of the Phaeacians Od. vii. 201 sqq. that the gods 
 feast with them in bodily form, sitting where they sit. So Hes. fr. 218 
 
 Markscheifel Swai yap rdre Salres taav, ^vvol de 66a>KOt 'AOavdrouri 6to1ai 
 
 KaTadprjTois T dvdpairois. Dousa compares Germanicus Aratea 107 of Justice 
 mediis te laetaferebas Sublimis populis nee dedignaia subire Teda hominum 
 et pur OS sine crimine, diua, penates lura dabas. 
 
 385. vaoTtaii=mortalium. coetu, dat. asinLXVI. 37. -* 
 
282 A COMMENTARY 
 
 387. templo in folgente reuisene is explained by Scaliger as an 
 archaism, ntaxly :=iempltim reuisens : in the older language the abl. 
 was often used when the stricter grammar of later times required the ace. 
 as ponere in mensa in scrobe in sole in iecto, all in Cato R. R., and more 
 nearly parallel introire in naso ib. 157 (Holtze Synt. i. 85) ; Cicero has 
 reponere with in and an abl. N. D. ii. 49. 125, Virgil mandet humo solita 
 Aen. ix. 214, Ovid in parte recipere Heroid. vi. 20 : praedium in publico 
 obligatum in the lex agraria CIL. I. 200. 74 corresponds, as Mommsen 
 points out, to the more usual in publicum oUigalum : and coloniam deducere 
 seems technically constructed with the abl. in Men. Ancyr. 5. 35, perhaps 
 in Liu. xl. 34, Suet. Caes. 81. This seems better than connecting reuisens 
 with annua sacra, or making reuisens a simple epexegesis of templo in 
 
 fulgente, ' in his temple which he revisited,' a Greek rather than a Roman 
 construction. Of course in all such cases where verbs of motion are 
 followed by a local abl., the explanation is the same ; they express not 
 only motion, but the rest which follows motion : thus mandet humo solita 
 commie to the keeping of earth, templo in fulgente reuisens returning in his 
 temple to see. fulgente looks as if Catullus were thinking of the 
 splendid temple of Jupiter at Olympia. 
 
 388. Annua sacra, as Alex. Guarinus saw, cannot refer to the 
 Olympian games, the foundation of which by Hercules as a nevTaeTtipis is 
 explicitly stated by Pindar in a passage probably known to Catullus 01. x. 
 (xi.) 70, 71 ; the descriptioa in 387-389 is in fact a general one; Horn. 
 
 H. Cer. 2J '0 ^ {^povl^rjs) v6(r<l)tv HoTO Oewv drrdvevde TroXvXX/oT^ ivi vrja 
 
 A4yp,tvos If pa KoKa napa BvrjT&v avBpimiav, and more closely parallel Callim. 
 
 H. Apoll. 76—7^ Afifif he Toi fioKa koKov dvaieropov' iv 8e irdXiji' 6^K€ TeXia^oplriv 
 e7r€Trj(Twv, 7/ evi iroWol 'Xo-totiov iriKTovfJiv eir l(rxtov, ^ (ivaj ravpot., 
 
 389. centum, not merely in reference to iKarofifiai, but to the regular 
 Hellenic custom vavTa 6inv Uarov Strabo 155. tauros is an early cor- 
 rection, cf. Trist. ii. 75; the MSS. have currus with procurrere or per- 
 currere as a variant for procumtoere. Procurrere currus is not impos- 
 sible as an imitation of- the earlier poets ; Ennius has longiscere longe 
 Ann. 480 Vahlen, Cicero signaque signauit K12X. 163, ialaria tales ends v. 
 65 of the careful elegy on Maecenas, discurrere cursus v. 16 of the hexa- 
 meters to the ocean in Riese's Anthol. Lat. ii. p. 168; Val. Flaccus vi. 
 697, quoted by Orelli, has infesto procurrit in agmina curru ; Tib. i. i. 55 
 Me retinent uinctum formosae uincla puellae ; Virgil's par cert par to Aen. 
 viii. 317, is perhaps an imitation of the same love of identical sounds : 
 
 Horn. H. Ven. 114 Tpaasyap ficyipm fif Tpo<j)is rpe^v, Od. ix, 217 ivoyieve 
 
 vajxav Kara niova prjKa. This would also Suit centum, see Verg. G. iii. 18. 
 But terra is then a rather meaningless addition, unless we suppose an 
 opposition between the god in his temple and the chariots rushing along 
 the ground before him, 
 
 390. uagus. Eurip. Hypsipyle fr. 752 Nauck Uimxros 6y dipaoun Kai 
 
 ve^pav dopais KadaiTTOs ev irevKaiffi XLapvaahv Karh IlrjSa j^opevav itapOh/ots trvv 
 
 AfX^io-tK. Liber. , Festus p. 182 M. Oreos Liber pater, et Oreades 
 Nymphae appellantur, quod in montibus frequenter apparent; Macrob. S. i. 
 18. 3. Paxnasi uertice summo, Lycorea, if Catullus is speaking 
 exactly, as we might be led to suppose from Paus. x. 32. 7. But Lycorea 
 is at a considerable distance above the Corycian cave ; and in the earlier 
 Greek poets it is this latter and the two peaks of Parnassus at some dis- 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXIV. 283 
 
 Unce below it, between which the Castalian spring flows, which are 
 specially associated with the worship of Dionysos. Soph. Antig. 1 1 26 2e S* 
 
 VTtip oiXoqtov Trerpas ST€po}fr ^iriaire \iyvvs,ev6a Ka)pvKiaiNvp.<f>ai arelxovtrL BaK)(i8fs 
 KatrraXias re vap.a; of. Eum. 2 2, Ion 1 1 25, 6, Bacch. 306. These two 
 summits are the most conspicuous features in the scenery to any body in 
 Delphi, and the God would naturally be represented descending from these 
 upon the city. 
 
 391. egit, drove before him. ' The ancient path to the heights of 
 Parnassus ascended the mountain immediately above the city. It was a 
 zigzag path consisting of more than a thousand steps cut out of the hard 
 rock and forming an uninterrupted flight of steps to the heights above.' 
 Diet. Geog. s. u, Delphi. This steep ascent may have suggested Catullus' 
 picture. « 
 
 392. Delphi, the people, Herod, i. 54. certatim, struggling which 
 should be first. Phil. ii. 46. 1 18 Certatim, mihi crede, ad hoc opus curretur. 
 
 393. lacti is found in two MSS. and read by Voss, who shows from 
 Bacch. 142, Hon C. ii. 19. ro that milk was offered as well as wine 
 and honey to Bacchus. But this would hardly agree with fumantibus 
 aris, which as in Cic. de Divin. ii. 30. 63 must mean altars steaming 
 with sacrificed victims. 
 
 394-396. Ares encourages the Trojans II. v. 461 sqq. Athene runs 
 from Olympus to bid the Pylians arm for battle II. xi. 7 1 3 ; in one of the 
 Cyclic poems Ulysses and the Thesprotians are . routed in a battle with 
 the Brygi by Ares, and Ares is then opposed by Athene (Photii Excerpt. 
 Tn4heIiidDt ed. of Homer p. 525). The two deities are mentioned as 
 
 the patrons of war together 11 -v. ^50 Vovra ^' 'A^wjc 4am mm. 'AApn; -marm 
 /i«Xij(r«. 
 
 394. Mauors, a poetical word according to Paulus Diac. p. 147 M. 
 It is however explained by Cic. N. D. ii. 26. 67, iii. 24. 62 as the fuller 
 name of Mars, qui magna uorteret, and Maurte occurs in an old inscrip- 
 tion CIL. I. 63 Mamrtei ib. 808. Corssen considers it to mean ' the- 
 battle-turner ; ' he connects it with mah to cut, p^xt\, pA^aipa, and uortere, 
 like Tpoiraios in Zfiis Tponalos, etc. (I. p. 410 note). It is found in Ennius 
 Ann. 108 Vahlen, and, in a line of the comic writer Licinius Imbrex ap. 
 Gel. xiii. 23 ; but it is remarkable that in the other extracts from ancient 
 writers there given referring to Mars and his wife, the shorter and ordinary 
 form of the name is preserved throughout. 
 
 .395. rapidi, ' streaming,' hardly suits a lake, especially the Libyan 
 lake Tritonis which Lucan ix. 347 calls iorpens palus : it remains 
 doubtful whether Catullus speaks of the river Triton which falls into this 
 lake, Herod, iv. 178 Uxnap.hv pkyav Tffl ovvop.a TpiTmv, Plin. H. N. V. 28 
 Palus uasta amnem Tritonem nomenque ab eo accipit, Pallantias appellata 
 Callimacho et citra minorem Syriim esse dicta, a multis uero inter duas 
 Syrtis Sil. It. iii. 322, Schol. ApoUon. R. iv. 1311 ipWav irarapos Aifiiris- 
 
 f'oTi fie Kal Boimrlai' SoKet Sc ^ 'Adr/va nap' iripm airwv yfy€vii<r6ai : or, of the 
 
 small river Triton, near Alalcomenae in Boeotia, Paus. ix. 33. 7 'p« 8c rat 
 
 TTOTQ/xof evravda ov p,cyas x^'i-l'^PP°^' ovopa^ova-t Se Tplrava airov, on rfju 'Adiji/o* 
 Tpa(j)rjvai irapa norap.w Tpiravi e^" ^oyos, mr Sff tovtov tov Tplrava ovra xat 
 
 ovxi tSiv Ai^iav, cf. K. O. Muller Orchomenos p. 34,9, Leake Northern 
 Greece ii. p. 136 : or of a third in Thessaly. Schol. Apoll. R. i. 109 
 
 TpiTaves rpeis BoioiTtar, QeaaaKias, Ai/Sutjs" iv 8e ra Kara Aifivrjv irexSl 17 'ABrjva. 
 
284 A COMMENTARY 
 
 Catullus seems to use Tritonis hera as peculiarly belonging to Athene 
 in her warlike capacity; so CaUim. Ep. ^i- 5 ^oipara 8" aiiiaToevra fUOes 
 TpuaviSi Siq, Verg. Aen. ii. 226, 615, xi. 483 Armipotens belli praeses, 
 Tritonia uirgo, Sii. Ital. iii. 322, 3, ix. 297. Ramnusia iiirgo, LXVI. 
 71, LXVIII. 77, Nemesis, of which goddess a famous statue and temple 
 existed at Rhamnus. Paus. i. 33. 2 describes both, luKpbv he ino Aa\d<r- 
 
 aris ova tiefUa-eiis iirriv Upov, rj 6ei>v poKitrra avBpairois i^purTois iar'ni anapai- 
 rrjTos. fioKEi Se Koi Tois an-o(3a(riv is MapaBava t&v ^ap^dpav aTravrrjirai p.tjmpa 
 fK Trjs dfov TavTTjs' KaTatppovTuravTes yap {T^ifTiv ipnobiav ctvai tols AOrjvas eXcic, \i6qv 
 Udpiov MS eTT i^eipyavfxivois rjyov is rpoivaiov iTOtr](TLV. Tovtov ^eidlas tov \ldov 
 fipydtraTo dyaXfia pev elvai NefttVewr, T3 K6(^aA^ de eireari T^s dfov (rT€<j>avos 
 i\d<^ovs €^a>v Koi NIktjs dyakpara ov peyaKa J cf. Strabo 39^? Auson. Epig. 2 1. 
 
 It might fall within the scope of Nemesis' attribute? to interfere in defence 
 of a weaker army hardpressed by an overpowering and confident enemy ; 
 or possibly her name Adrastea was thought to express her power of stop- 
 ping flight in the weaker, producing it in the stronger : see Rhes. 342- 
 365 and 468, where the name perhaps has this reference. But there is 
 some plausibility in the conjecture ofBehrens and VA'ptr^ Amarunsia, 
 referring to Artemis of Amarynthus in Euboea, where she had a celebrated 
 temple and festival. Strabo 448 mentions a stele in this temple which 
 estimated the numbers who joined in her procession at 3000 hoplites, 
 600 horsemen, 60 chariots ; and another, also at Amarynthus, forbidding 
 the use of missiles launched from a distance, bows, slings, javelins etc. ; the 
 place seems therefore associated with war. 
 
 397 sqq. are modelled on Hes. "E. k. 'h. 171-199, in which Hesiod 
 describes the fifth race of men. Cf. especially 180-186 oiSt itarrip wai- 
 
 hetrtTiV opottos, ouSc tl iraiBeSj Ovde ^eivos ^eti/o8o_;^o), Koi iraipos iralpaj Ov8e ' 
 KOtriyvrfTos <pl\os 'itrtTiToi, ojs ro Trapos Trep, Atyj/a 8e yrjpdtxicovTas aTipr^trova-i TOK^as, 
 MepylrovTai 8' apa Toits ;(aXe7roIs fid^ovres eweaai SpfcVXioi ovde Beav uttlv ctdoTeff, 
 ov8e p£v oiye Vr)pdvTetT(n TOKevatv otto dpe-rrTripLa doiev. 
 
 398. HeS.'E. K.'H 190 AtKi; 8' ill x^P<" I""- A.lSa)s OvKetrraijib. I97 'ABavd- 
 TUiv pxra ^vKov s^av itpohviTovr avBpamovs Aldus Kal Nepecris. Clipida refers 
 to the increasing desire of amassing wealth, and the crimes it produces. 
 Lucr. iii. 70 sqq. is a commentary Sanguine ciuili rem conflant diuitiasque 
 Conduplicant auidi caedem caede accumulantes. Crudeles gaudent in trisfi 
 
 funere fratris (399) Et consanguineum mensas odere timenigue. This part 
 of the poem is very like Sallust's account of the decline of Roman morals 
 Catil. 10-13. 
 
 399. Verg. G. ii. 510 Gaudent per/usi sanguine /ralrum. 
 
 401. As Catiline put his son out of the way in order to marry Aurelia 
 OrestiUa. Sal. Catil. 15 Quod ea nubere illi dubilabat, timens priuignum 
 adullum aetata, pro certo creditur {Catilind) necalo filio uacuam domum 
 scelestis nuptiisfecisse. 
 
 402. Liber, without the constraint which the presence of a son by the 
 former marriage would produce, including the possibility of the son's 
 becoming his father's rival in the affections of the virgin bride. no- 
 uercae expresses the new bride's relation to her husband's former children. 
 
 ' Tritonia and Nemesis are combined as liere in an inscription in hexameters describ- 
 ing the dedication to the two goddesses of a tomb belonging to Herodes Atticus near 
 Rome, in Jacobs Delectus Epigrammatum Graecorum p. 349 : but this is a very poor 
 support. 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXV. 285 
 
 So gener of an intended, but not actual son-in-law, Hor. Epod. vi. 13 ; 
 Verg. Aen. ii. 344 (Ast). innuptae, virgin, LXII. 6 : it can scarcely 
 be ' else unwed,' i. e. unless the son died. 
 
 403. mater, as locasta with Oedipus. substernens se. Suet. 
 Aug. 68 pudiciiiam A. etiam Hirtio substrauerit. 
 
 404. Impia, see on 62 : ' ob ingens scelus idem repetit uerbum.' Alex, 
 Guarinus. diuos parentes, the deified spirits of her parents, to whom 
 there could be no greater offence than such incestuous confusion of their 
 own relation with hers, as at once mother and wife. For the expression 
 cf. a fragm. of Corn. Nepos uhi mortua ero pareniahis mihiet inuocabis deum 
 parenkm. An ancient law ascribed to Servius TuUius enacted Sipareniem 
 puer uerberil asl ok plorassit, puer diuis parenium saceresto Fest. s. n.plorare. 
 scelerare, ' to bring the stain of sin upon,' Verg. Aen. iii. 42. 
 
 405. fanda uefauda, that may be told or may not as too abominable. 
 Sen. de Ira ii. 9. 2 Velul signo data ad fas ne/asque miscendum coorti sunt. 
 
 406. lustiflcam seems to be ok. Xfy. 
 
 408. contiugi probably from tango as seems to have been the usage 
 of Lucretius. See Munro on i. 934. 
 
 LXV. 
 
 The immediate object of this poem is to introduce a translation of 
 Callimachus' BepevUris llX((Ko/ioj to the notice of Hortalus, probably Q, 
 Hortensius Hortalus, the orator and rival of Cicero (Att. ii. 25. i, iv. 15. 
 4). Voss indeed considered the Hortalus here addressed to be the 
 grandson of the orator, the M. Hortensius Hortalus of Tacitus Ann. ii. 
 37. This however, as Ernesti observes, would ill agree with the date 
 of the poem ; nor do I see any ground for thinking that Q. Hortensius 
 Hortalus, the son of the orator, a Caesarian, but a friend of Cicero's, 
 who speaks of him as a profligate (Att. vi. 3. 9, x. 4. 6), is meant. But 
 it would be quite in Catullus' manner to inscribe a poem to one of the 
 most famous speakers of the day, as indeed he inscribes XLIX to Cicero, 
 and if in XCV. 3 Hortensius is derided as a poetaster and contrasted with 
 the author of Zmyrna, G. Helvius Cinna, this also is quite in agreement with 
 the character of Catullus, to love and hate alternately ; nor is there any- 
 thing to preclude the supposition of Schwabe (Quaestt. p. 272) that XCV 
 was composed after a quarrel. 
 
 Catullus has however worked into these introductory verses to Hortalus 
 a second theme which reappears more distinctly in LXVIII, his grief 
 for the death of his brother. The emphatic iteration in that elegy of the 
 lines in which this death is recorded 20-24, 92-96, as well as the short 
 epicedion CI Multas per gentes etmultaper aequora uecius show how deeply 
 he felt the loss. This brother at the time when LXV was written had 
 recently {nuper 5) died in the Troad (cf LXVIII. 91), where Catullus 
 saw his grave (CI) no doubt during his Bithynian journey. From LXV. 
 9-14 as well as from the general scope of all the allusions to this event, 
 it seems probable that the sad news reached the poet some time after it 
 happened, and from a considerable distance, whilst he was still in Italy, 
 whether at Verona or Rome. From LXVIII. 34-36 it might appear that 
 he was at Rome, his ordinary residence, and was driven by g^ief with a 
 few books as his companions to Verona. 
 
286 A COMMENTARY 
 
 It is a question whether Catullus sent with the Coma Beronices any other 
 poems translated from Callimachus. The words carmina Batiiadae LXV. 
 1 6, CXVI. 2 are ambiguous; the 'verses of Callimachus ' might as well 
 be one long, as several short poems ; carmina is used of a single poem 
 LXI. 13, LXIV., 383. But it seems improbable that Catullus would 
 have either tasked himself to translate more than one long and difficult 
 elegy, or if he did so would not have recorded it more distinctly. 
 
 The date is fixed by lungclaussen Schwabe and Westphal at 694 | 60. 
 This supposes the Bithynian journey to fall in 57. But if Catullus went 
 to Bithynia in 65-64, the composition of LXV must be assigned to the 
 years immediately preceding. 
 
 1 sqq. This exordium is imitated by the author of the Ciris r sqq. 
 Eisi me uario iactatum laudis amore. 
 
 1. confeetum dolore, Lucilius ap. Non. 268 doloribus con/edum corpus. 
 The reading of some MSS. defectum, ' fainting,' might be supported by 
 German. Aratea 65 defecta lahore. Col. v. 6. 37 Arborem senio defectam, 
 Grat. Cyn. 435 defecia tale: but its other sense ' abandoned by' with an 
 abl. of the thing lost de/ecius uiribus, etc. makes the word an awkward 
 one and less likely therefore to be used by Catullus. 
 
 2. doctis, the Muses, Tib. iii. 4. 45 doctae sorores, Catal. 11. 2 Doctae 
 Pegasides. uirginitous, 'EXiKmi/iai rrapBevoi Find. I. vii. 57. 
 
 3. fetus, perhaps with the idea found in Pindar that poets are the 
 keepers of the golden apples of the Muses (fr. 273 Bergk). /eius is used 
 of the produce of trees Verg. G. i. 55, ii. 390. expromere. Catal. 
 II . 7 nostras expromere cantus Maximus et sanctos dignus inire choros. 
 
 4. Mens animi, ' the thought of the mind,' is found in Plautus Epid. 
 iv. 1. 4, Cist. ii. I. 6, and four times in Lucretius, iii. 613 Animi mens 
 consiliumqtie, iv. 758 Mens animi uigilat, v. 149 Animi uix mente uidetur, 
 vi. 1 183 Perturbata animi mens. Cicero de Rep. ii. 40. 67 speaks of 
 mens as pars animi. ipsa, the mind is too unquiet itself to produce 
 anything else. 
 
 5. Iiethaeo in gurgite. Catullus appears to mean the river Lethe, 
 which does not seem to occur before Plato Rep. 621 C as another 
 expression for the previously mentioned river of Indifference ('A/ieXT^s). 
 
 Moschus Epitaph. Bion. 22 'AXXa isapa nXour^i /^eXos XijflaioK atlhti applies 
 
 the word to the forgetfulness of the living world which comes upon the 
 dead. Like Catullus, Tibullus i. 3. 80, iii. 3. 10, Propertius iv. 7. 10. 91, 
 speak of the water and boat of Lethe ; Virgil describes it Aen. vi. 705 
 Lethaeumque domos placidas qui praenatat amnevi. So Culex 215 Lethaeas 
 cogunt (ransnare per undas. 
 
 6. Theoc. i. 140 Xm Ad^LS c/3a poov' exXvo'e tlva Tov p.oLtrais fJ3iKov dvSpa, 
 
 Tw oi i/viicjiaia-iv amx^ij, manans, ' slow-streamin^^'s suggests the same 
 idea as the uada lenta and implicat of Prop. iv. 12. 16. alluit, present, 
 as in Prop. ii. 32. 23, the action extending from a recent past to the 
 present. 
 
 7. Rhoeteo, the reputed grave of Ajax, as Sigeum of Achilles, Anth. 
 P. vii. 146. I, Mel. i. g6, Plin. H. N. v. 125 : it is here that Virgil makes 
 Aeneas erect a cenotaph to Deiphobus, Aen. vi. 505. Seneca Troad. 1123 
 makes Rhoeteum the grave of Achilles. 
 
 8. obterit, ' crushes,' Lucr. iii. 893 Vrgeriue superne obtritum pondere 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXV. 287 
 
 terrat similarly of a grave. Pindar fr. 19 1 Taprapou wSfi^v irtl^ci a 
 
 a(f)aveos. 
 
 9. audiero nunquam, ' shall I never for a moment hear thee ? ' The 
 fut. perf. seems to give the notion of a moment of time, or a momentary 
 action cut off and separated from other moments, isolated, Madvig Opusc. 
 ii. p. 95, where he quotes Plane, xxxiii. 79 Midto citiusmeam salutempro ie 
 abiecero quam Cn. Plancii salutem tradidero contentioni tuae, ' I would 
 rather once for all,' Att. iii. 1 9 Nusquam facilius hanc miserrimam uitam 
 uel susieniaho uel quod multo est melius abiecero, in which as here the two 
 futures are combined. Possibly however the notion may be simply that 
 of a second action included in the first, as in the instances quoted by 
 Madvig p. 89 ; ' shall I never speak with thee, and in speaking hear 
 thee talk of what thou has done.' The word lost after tua is more 
 likely to have \>&tn/acla than uerba, gesta, or fata. 
 
 10. uitaLXVm. 106, LXIV. 215, Cul. 212. 
 
 11. At certe semper amabo. Inscript. Orell. 4847 Namque ego ie sem- 
 per mea alumna Asialica quaeram Adsidueque tuos uoltus fingam mihi merens. 
 
 12. tegam, I will muffle or veil in silence. That this is the meaning is 
 shown by the comparison with the nightingale singing veiled from sight 
 amid the leaves. tua morte after maesta, as LXIV. 379 ; cf. Verg. 
 G. iii. 518 Maerentem abiungens fraterna morte iuuencum. 
 
 13. So Barry Cornwall to a nightingale at midday Thy holy strain 
 Should be amongst the silence born : Thy heart may there unfold its pain, 
 Leaning upon its bridal thorn. Hom. Od. xix. 518 'Qf 8' t!r* UavSapeov Kovpr) 
 
 )(\atpr]is drj?i6)V KaXoi^ deldjjtrw eapos vtov i<rTapevoto, ^evhpitav ev n€Td\oi<Ti 
 Ka6e(ope'vrj irvKtvoi<Tiv,''M re 6apa Tpamaira ;(«i ir6Kvr])(ea (jiavrjv IlaiS' o\o- 
 ^vpopfVtflTvXov ^iKov, ov 1T0T€ ^oK Ka "KTelve 8l dcjjpablas, Kovpov Zrjdoio avaKTOs. 
 
 This however is not the commoner legend alluded to by Catullus, accord- 
 ing to which Procne and Philomela were the daughters of Pandion ; the 
 former married the Thracian prince Tereus, who fell in love with her sister 
 Philomela and violated her ; for which both the sisters killed Tereus' son 
 Itys and served him up to his father as a meal : the three were then 
 changed into birds, Procne into a swallow, Philomela into a nightingale, 
 Tereus into a hoopoe. ApoUod. iii. 14. 8, Soph. Elect. 107, Ouid. Met. vi. 
 425-670. 
 
 14. Daulias, from Daulis an ancient town of Phocis, on the road from 
 Orchomenus and Chaeroneia to Delphi (Diet. Geog. s. u.), where Tereus 
 
 ruled. Thuc. ii. 29 'O y^iv iv AavKia rrjs icaKibos vvv KoKovpJinjs •y^s 6 Trjpevs 
 (Ufcci Tcire vurA QpoKuv oiKovpLevTjs' Koi tA epyov t6 nepi tov "Vrvv ai yvfoiKfs iv rrj 
 yfj Tavrrj eirpafaV woXKois Si xai tSiv TroiijT&i' iv ai/Sdvor pvrjprj Aav\ias fj Spvis 
 
 iirav6pfUTTai. The name is derived from bavK6s^haavs, owing to the thick 
 woods which grow there. Paus. x. 4. 7. absumpti, ' foully slain,' 
 Increpet absumptum nee sua mater Ityn Prop. iii. 10. 8. 
 
 15. The sentence begun with Elsi in i and interrupted by the long 
 parenthesis 9-14 is resumed here, the sed implying that it has been 
 broken off and as it were begins de nouo. maeroribus, this spelling 
 is confirmed by Inscr., e. g. CIL. L 1202 and one of the Augustan age 
 Orelli 4859. For the plural Mr. Pinder compares Stat. S. v. 5. 8 Quern 
 luimus tantis maeroribus ? spoken of frantic grief for the loss of an adopted 
 son. So the Inscr. above quoted CIL. I. 1202 Inlerieisti et liquisti in 
 maeroribus matrem. mitto. Pindar fr. i o i Tovro rot Tre/iTro) peraidpinov. 
 
288 A COMMENTARY 
 
 16. expressa, ' translated,' so Ter. Adelph. Prol. 1 1 Verbum de uerbo 
 expressum exlulii. Cic. in Limone ap, Sueton. in uita Terenti 5 Conuer- 
 sum expressumque Latina uoce Menandrum, Plin. Epist. iv. 18. i. Bat- 
 tiadae, Callimachus son of Battus of Cyrene : so he calls himself in a 
 distich written to be placed upon his tomb, Epig. 36. i Blomf 
 
 17. nequicquam because credita uentis, LXIV. 59, Lucr. iv. 1096. 
 The meaning is not that the words had been trusted to the winds, and then 
 that the winds had betrayed their trust ; but that they had been committed 
 to the winds, and were therefore ineffectual. tua dicta, probably some 
 request which Hortensius had made to have a poem of Callimachus trans- 
 lated by Catullus. 
 
 18. SiQuxisse, of forgetfulness. So Cic, Earn. vii. 14. 1 Si nostri 
 ohlitus es, daho operam ui istuc ueniam ante quam plane ex animo tuo effluo. 
 
 19-24. The comparison is not merely fanciful. As the lover's gift falls 
 unconsciously from the girl's bosom, so, Hortensius might think, had the 
 words he had spoken in friendship have passed out of the memory of his 
 friend. 
 
 19. missum might be ' thrown,' cf Anth. P. v. 79. i T(p nijKa fioKKa ae 
 and 80. I ^TJKov iya, ^dWei fu <^iXwv, (re ns, and the passage of Lucian 
 cited on 2 1 , but Virgil's Aurea mala decern mist, eras altera mittam Eel. iii. 7 1 
 favours the ordinary interpretation. munere, as in CI. 8. malum, 
 apples were sent as gifts by lovers, Theocr. iii. 10, Verg. E. iii. 7r, Prop, 
 ii. 34. 69, 7 1 : perhaps from a supposed resemblance to the breasts. Crates, 
 ap. Mein. Fragm. Com. ii. 248 'QpiKwraTa Ta titA", &(rirep ii!j\ov. Can- 
 tharus ib. ii. 836, and often in Aristophanes. 
 
 20. ProcTirrit . . gremio. Festus p. ip^M.JVec mulieri ftecgremio 
 credi oportere : prouerbium est, quodet ilia incertiet leuis animiest, etplerum- 
 que in gremio posita, cum in obliuionem uenerunt exsurgentium, procidunt. 
 
 21. miserae, to be taken in close connexion with oblitae ; so perhaps 
 LXIV. 57 . molli sub ueste locatum. Lucian Dial. Meretr. xii. i TtXos 
 
 fie Tov firjXov dirobaKoov irpoKu^as ttojs ev(rr6\a)S irpotrrjKoVTitras els tov koXttov 
 avTTJs, oufie \a6eiv ye neipiopLfvos epe, rj 6e cjjLKrjaatra pcTa^ii rav fiatrrav vttq 
 
 tS dwobfo-pta irape^iaaro, a passage which Aristaenetus has copied 
 nearly word for word. 
 
 23. Atque, as in Verg. G. i. 203 Atque ilium in praeceps prono rapit 
 alueus amni. Most. ii. 2. 56, 57 Lucerrmm forte oblitus fueram exstinguere 
 Atque ille exclamat derepenie maxumum, is not simply for statim (see Gell. 
 ix. 29) but introduces in the form of an emphatic concluding clause a 
 sudden and unexpected catastrophe. illud in contrast to Huic. 
 
 prono, the apple shoots forwards to the ground. deoiirsu. Coning- 
 ton on Verg. G. iii. 276 Saxaper et scopulos et depressas conuallis considers 
 that Virgil there and Catullus here meant to indicate the one swiftness the 
 other indecorum by the spondaic ending : he compares II. iv. 74 B^ fie 
 
 KaT OiiKvpiroiO Kaprjvcov dt^a(Ta, X. 359 ^evyepevm' rot 8* al^jra dLoDKeiv copprjdijaav. 
 
 At the end of his note however he adds that, judging merely by the ear, 
 we might say that the change from dactyl to spondee in all the lines 
 except II. X. 359 expresses motion downwards. To me it seems more 
 likely that in each case the interruption of the dactylic movement by a 
 spondaic rhythm expresses a sudden check : the line is as it were pulled 
 up ; the level sinks into a valley, the apple comes to the ground, the rapid 
 flight is arrested and after a time becomes slower : meanwhile the slowness 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXVL 289 
 
 of the spondees throws into greater relief the quick movement of the 
 dactyls which precede it. Decursus is used by Lucretius of the rush of 
 water down a hill-side v. 946. 
 
 24. manat, 'spreads.' oonscius, 'guilty,' Most. iii. i. 13 Nihil 
 est miserius quam animus hominis conscius. The ' conscious blush' has in 
 English become almost proverbial. 
 
 LXVI. 
 
 The BepevUr/s uMKafios, of which Catullus has here given a'translation, 
 is, if we except the Aovrpa naXXdSos, the only surviving specimen of the 
 Callimachean elegy. The few certain fragments of the original which 
 remain are not enough to decide whether Catullus has given a literal 
 version or not ; but there is at least no reason to think that he has merely 
 paraphrased Callimachus (see vol. I. pp. 332-334). The obscurity how- 
 ever which the loss of the Greek necessarily produces in a translation 
 from so elaborate a writer as Callimachus makes many passages of the 
 Latin poem doubly difficult ; it may indeed be doubted whether we shall 
 ever be able to explain completely vv. 51-58. But even if we had this 
 original we should still be in perplexity as to the time when it was com- 
 posed, or the exact circumstances in the life of Berenice and her husband 
 to which it alludes. In the diversity of conflicting statements it seems 
 best to place together those passages in the poem itself which speak 
 clearly. They are these — 
 
 8-14 E Beronicaeo uertice cesariem 
 
 Fulgentem clare, quam multis ilia dearum 
 
 Leuia protendens brachia pollicita est, 
 Qua rex tempestate nouo audits Hymenaeo 
 
 Vastatum finis iuerai Assyrios, 
 Dulcia nocturnae portans uestigia rixae, 
 Quam de uirgineis gesserat exuuiis. 
 
 19-22 Id mea me multis docuit regitia querellis 
 Inuisente nouo praelia torua uiro. 
 At tu non orbum luxti deserta cubile. 
 Set fratris cari flebile discidium ? 
 
 25-29 At te ego certe 
 
 Cognoram a parua uirgine magnanimam. 
 
 Anne bonum oblita es facinus, quo regium adepta's 
 Coniugium, quod non fortior ausit alls? 
 
 Sed turn maesta uirum mittens quae uerba locuta es ! 
 
 35 Is haut in tempore longo 
 
 Captam Asiam Aegypii finibus addiderat. 
 Quis ego pro factis caelesti reddita coetu 
 Pristina uota nouo munere dissoluo. 
 7^ dum uirgo quondam fuit. 
 
 From these passages it appears that Berenice vowed a lock of her 
 hair to the Gods shortly after her nuptials with her cousin Ptolemy 
 Euergetes, and that the occasion of the vow was her husband's starting 
 on an expedition to lay waste the Assyrian (or Syrian) borders. Ptolemy 
 
 u 
 
290 A COMMENTARY 
 
 is called king, and would seem to have been so at the time : similarly 
 Berenice is called queen. She was not a girl at the time of her marriage, 
 though that marriage had been brought about by an act of heroism per- 
 formed when she was still a girl. Ptolemy's expedition was soon success- 
 ful, and ended in the subjugation of Asia. Then, apparently some time • 
 after it had been first made (fristina uota), Berenice performed her vow ; 
 the identification of the lock with a group of stars discovered or named by 
 Conon, and the poem of Callimachus recording the event, were perhaps 
 considerably later. 
 
 The expedition alluded to in 12, 36, has usually^ been identified with 
 
 that mentioned by Polybius v. 10 Swc^aive yap Se\evKuav en Tore KarexfO'Sai 
 (jipovpais \mh t&v i^ Alyimrov ^aaCKemv, Ik tSiv Kara top Eifpyerriv ijriKKrjOeVTa 
 IlToXffiaToj/ KOipStv, ev ols cKelvos, Sia to BepeviKtis av)iiiTa>ii,aTa Kai Trjv 
 vTrep €KfluT]S opyfju, trTpaTevaas ctti tovs Kara Suptav Tonovi eyKpaTjjs 
 
 eycVf™ TouTijf rrjs n6\eas. Appian Syr. 65 Alio de «x^ (Ajitiochus Theos, 
 
 King of Syria) AaoSliaiv koI 'Bepevtxqv cf tpinTis re (col iyyvifs UroXfiiaiov toC 
 4(Xa8eX<^ov Bvyarepa. Kol avroi) (Antiochum Theon) iKTcivc AaoBUri, Koi eV 
 CKeiva BfpiviiOjV Tf Koi to BeptviKris ^pe(pos' Kai TIroXepalos 6 tov *t\a8«X<^ou 
 TavTa rtvvvp,ivos AaoBiKrjv re exTUve Koi is BapvXmva rj\a<jf. Hie- 
 ronymus Comment, in Daniel, xi. 7 Occisa Berenice et mortuo Ptolemaeo 
 Philadelpho patre eius in Aegypto frater illius et ipse Piolemaeus, cognomento 
 Euergetes, iertius successii in regnum . . . et uenit cum exercitu magna et 
 ingressus est prouinciam regis Aquilonis, id est, Seleuci cognomento Callinici 
 qui cum matre Laodice regnahat in Syria : et abusus est eis et obtinmt in 
 iantum ut Syriam caper et et Ciliciam superioresque partes trans Euphraten 
 et propemodum uniuersam- Asiam. Cumque audisset in Aegypto sedttionem 
 moueri, diripiens regnum Seleuci, quadraginta milia talentorum argenti tulit 
 et uasa pretiosa simulacraque deorum duo milia quingenta ; in quibus erant 
 et ilia quae Cambyses, capta Aegypto, in Persas portauerat. Denique gens 
 Aegyptiorum idolatriae dedita quia post multos annos deos eorum retulerat 
 Euergetem eum appellauit ; et Syriam quidem ipse obtinuit, Ciliciam autem 
 amico suo Antiocho gubernandam tradidit, et Xantippo alteri duci prouincias 
 trans Euphratem. Justin xxvii gives a very indistinct account. Poly- 
 
 aenus viii. go ^erantp^deXs im avTav UToKe/iaios rjKfv 6 iraTTjp T^s avriprgfiivris, 
 Kcu. humifmaiv inh t^s npocrqyopias rov ■nct^ovevp.evov itaihos Koi t^s avrjprip,ivrjs 
 BepeuUrjs Q)s ert ^avriav eTTtoroXay, otto TOvTavpov fiexp'i- "^^^ 'IvStK^s ^wpiff 
 TToXefiov Kal fidxis iKparrjire, t& (TTpaTrjyTjpan t^j navapiVxTjs xpr)(Tafi.evos. 
 
 Inscriptio Adulitana ap. Montfaucon Collect. Nou. Patrum et Scriptorum 
 Graecorum ii. p. 141 transcribed by Cosmas in the beginning of the reign 
 of Justin, who began to reign a.d. 518 (Clinton F. H. iii. p. 382 note) 
 
 BacriXev; piyas TlToKep.alos vibs fiaaiKias IlToXf/xaiou Kai (3a(riXi(7<n;s 'Ap<nv6t]S 
 6ei>v aSfK(pSiv, tS>v fSacrtXeffiv IlToKepaiov Kal ^atrCKitrai]! BepfviKt]s 6e&v (TaiTr)pa>v 
 dirdyovos, to /xcv diro irarphs HpoKXeos tov Aidy, ra Be dnb pr)Tp6s Atowuov TOu 
 Aios, irapaXa^atu irapa tov Trarpos ttju ^aaiKelav Alyv-irrov Kai AtjSuijs Kal ^vpias 
 Kal ^oivUrjs Kal KvTrpov Kal AvKias Kal Kapias Kal Tutv KvKXdBav vrjatav, e^etrTpd- 
 Ttvtrev els Triv 'Atrtap fiera Bvvdpe&v Tre^iKav Kal lirirLKOtv Koi vavriKov arSKov, Kat 
 eXecfydvToiv TpoyXoBvTLKav Koi AWtoTriKatv ots o re iraTrjp avTov Kal avTos TrpcoTos eK 
 tSv x&paiv TOVTav eBrjpevtrav, Kal Karayayovrei eh A'lyWTOV KareaKevaaav sroXf/iiK^v 
 Xpelav. Kvpievaas Be Trjs re ivTOi Evcppdrov \i>pas trdirqs, Kal KiXixlas Kal Ilap<f>v\ias 
 Kal 'lavias Kal TOV 'EXXijirffoWou Kal OpaKrjs, Kai tS>v Bvvdp^av t&v iv rats x^ipo'S 
 TavTais irairaiv, Kai eKe^dvrav 'ivBiKmv, Kal tovs pAtvap^ovs Toiis ev Tots Toirois irdvTas 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXVL 291 
 
 vitriK6ovs KaTatTTrfaas, StejSe t&v Ei^paTijv norajxAv, Kcu Trjv Metroiroraiiiav Koi Ba/3u- 
 Xaviav Koi ^ovaidvrjv Koi Ilcpa-tda Koi MriSeiav Koi. rrjv \onr^p Traaav C(»s BaKrpidvTji 
 vjT avTiv woirja-d/iftios, xm dva^ijTria-as oa-a virb rav HepaSiv if pa e^ hlymrov 
 ^SIX^Ii <"•' avanonia-as fifra t^s aXXijj •ydfijr rijr an6 took TOTrav els AlyvTrrov, 
 Ovva^fii aTTcVrctXe fitd twv opv')(6iinrfav TTorap-wv, 
 
 Ptolemy Euergetes became King of Egypt b.o. 247 (Clinton F. H. iii. 
 p. 379, following Porphyry and the Astronomical Canon), and, according 
 to Eutropius iii. i, the Syrian war was over in 241 B.C. when the Romans 
 sent an embassy to Ptolemy offering him help in it. The Assyrian con- 
 quests mentioned by Jerome and the inscription of Adule seem to fall' 
 within the same limits : whether therefore fines Assyrios mean Syria or 
 Assyria, whether Asiam means Asia Minor or the districts east of the 
 Euphrates, the war mentioned in the poem can hardly be later than 
 242 B.C. That it was however earlier than this is probable (i) from 
 the words Is haut in tempore longo Captam Asiam Aegypti finibus ad- 
 diderat ; (2) from the date of the marriage of Ptolemy and Berenice, 
 (i) Antiochus Theos the king of Syria to whom Ptolemy Philadelphus 
 had married his daughter Berenice, was killed in 247 b.c. and succeeded 
 in 246 by his son Seleucus Callinicus. The murder of Antiochus was 
 followed by that of his wife Berenice and her infant son, and it was to 
 avenge this last outrage that Ptolemy Euergetes the son of Philadelphus 
 and brother of the murdered Berenice, invaded Syria. We thus obtain 
 246-245 as the probable date of the beginning of the expedition alluded 
 to in 12, and, without pressing haut in tempore longo, we may perhaps 
 conclude that he returned not later than 244 ; (2) Berenice, the wife of 
 Euergetes, had been betrothed to him in infancy by her father Magas 
 of Cyrene. But on the death of Magas, his widow Apame, or, according 
 to Justin xxvi. 3, Arsinoe, disapproving of the marriage, invited from 
 Macedonia Demetrius surnamed o KaXdr, brother of Antigonus Gonatas, 
 to take the place of Ptolemy as the intended husband of her daughter. 
 Demetrius, however, instead of ingratiating himself with Berenice, formed 
 an amour with her mother, and was killed in her arms at the instigation 
 of Berenice (Justin xxvi. 3). This, as since Niebuhr has been generally 
 agreed, is the bonum /acinus alluded to in the poem (27), by which 
 Berenice secured her marriage with Ptolemy. If then she was at that 
 time a girl, Cognoram a parua uirgine magnanimam, i. e. probably not 
 more than 13 or 14 years old, and the marriage with Ptolemy followed 
 as soon after the death of Demetrius as the conditions of age and the 
 circumstances of the time allowed (the language of the poem in 25-30 
 implies, I think, that Berenice was then a full-grown woman), the 
 marriage can hardly fall later than 247, the date of Ptolemy's accession. 
 The ordinary chronology places the reign of Magas, which lasted 50 
 years, b.c. 308-258 ; allowing two or three years for the arrival and death 
 of Demetrius, Berenice might be 13 in the year 255, and 21 in 247 \ 
 
 Merkel however, Prolegomena to Apollonius xii, xiii, with whom 
 
 ' Droysen, accepting Niebuhr's view (Kl. Schriften, p. 235) that the statement of 
 Eiisebius, which fixes the death of Demetrius at OI. 130. 2, B.C. 259, is corrupt, 
 determines from Trogus Prol. xxvi that event at some period between the revolt of 
 Ptolemy the son of Philadelphus at Ephesus (Athen. 593) and the death of Antiochus 
 Theos in 247. Assuming it to have happened in 251 ] 250 when Berenice was 14 years 
 old, he thinks she may have married Ptolemy in her 1 7th year, 248 1 7. 
 
 U 2 
 
292 A COMMENTARY 
 
 Donaldson agrees (Hist, of Greek Literal, ii. 432), maintains that the 
 war mentioned in the poem cannot have been the Syro-Assyrian 
 expedition of 247-242. For if it had been, we should expect to find 
 some allusion to the cause which occasioned that war, the outrage on 
 Ptolemy's sister Berenice, as well as to the worship of Arsinoe the sister- 
 wife of Philadelphus as Aphrodite, which must have preceded the expe- 
 dition. Again, if the death of Demetrius happened in 01. cxxx ^, 260- 
 257 B.C. as stated in the Eusebian Chronicle, the marriage of Berenice 
 with Ptolemy Euergetes would naturally follow soon, and could not fall 
 as late as 247. Hence he concludes that the war alluded to is that 
 mentioned by Jerome Comment, in Daniel, xi. 6 Isie aduersus Ptolemaeum 
 Philadelphum — gessit bella quamplurima et totis Babylonis et Orientis uirihus 
 dimicauit. Volens itaque Piolemaeus Philadelphus post multos annos molestum 
 finire certamen filiam suam nomine Berenicen Antiocho uxorem dedit. This 
 war seems to have brought to the dominion of the Egyptian king many 
 cities of Asia Minor ; and caused others to be founded or receive new 
 names. It was conducted, he supposes, not by Ptolemy Philadelphus in 
 person, perhaps owing to his weak health (Athen. xii. 536), but by his son 
 Euergetes, the hero of the poem. 
 
 This view, though in accordance with Niebuhr, who in his Lectures 
 on Ancient History iii. p. 289 believes the marriage of Euergetes and 
 Berenice to have taken place in the latter part of the life of Philadelphus, 
 and with Droysen who considers the word parentum in 1 5 to have no point 
 if neither the father nor mother of the bridegroom was present (Berenice's 
 parents were both dead) is open to objection on several grounds. 
 
 1. We must then assume that Callimachus spoke of Ptolemy as king 
 before his father's death. This indeed is not impossible ; but it is not 
 stated of him, as it is of his father, who was associated by Ptolemy I 
 in the government two years before his own death (F. Hell. p. 379), and 
 is specially joined with Antiochus I of Syria and Artaxerxes the brother 
 of Cyrus from this point of view by Plutarch llcpi t^s 'AXflaxfipou Tvxy)^ n 
 
 ap^TTis C. 9 "ATTi^i Trpos 'AvTLOX^ov Tov SeXeiJKOu, irphs ^ApTo^ep^rfif t6v Kvpov 
 A8e\(j)6v'' aireXde TTpos IlToAf^atoi/ tov ^tXafieX^ov. ^KKfivovs ^wvres ol Trarepes 
 /SatriXetff dvrjyopevaav, CKeivoi fid^as dBoKpvrovs eviKaVj CKflvoi Travijyvpl^ovTes iv 
 TTO^TTais Koi 6eaTpOLs dLeTe\e(rav, eKeivcoy €KatrT09 fit* fvTvxiav eyrjpaaev. 
 
 2. The war described by Jerome as carried on between Ptolemy II 
 (Philadelphus) and Antiochus Theos seems to have been signaUzed by 
 no striking successes on the part of Ptolemy, such as Callimachus implies. 
 It was a molestum certamen which was ended pacifically by the marriage of 
 Antiochus with Ptolemy's daughter Berenice. In fact if not an obscure 
 war it seems not to have been a great one : and nothing is said by any 
 of the chroniclers who have recorded it of Euergetes playing any part in 
 it. The story mentioned by Libanius Orat. xi seems to show that Phila- 
 delphus was, at any rate, not kept in Egypt by ill-health during the latter 
 years of his reign. 
 
 3. It is at least more likely that a court-poet would speak of an expe- 
 dition in which his royal patron had gained real distinction. Everything 
 in the poem points to the war being a more than ordinarily serious one, 
 Berenice would hardly have vowed her lock if Ptolemy had been merely 
 
 1 Obiit etiam Demetrius, cuius cognomentum Pulcher uocabatur, anno c. trigesimae 
 Olumpiadis secundo, Hieron. Chron. i. p. 237 ed. Schiine. 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXVL 293 
 
 starting on a short raid into Syria: she must have contemplated an 
 absence of some time and dangers from which her husband might perhaps 
 not return at all : such a war, a gigantic war, as Niebuhr calls it is that 
 mentioned by Polybius, Appian, Jerome, and the inscription of Adule, in 
 which Euergetes at the head of a vast army, after making himself master 
 of Syria and Cilicia, passed the Euphrates and subjugated a great part 
 of Asia. It was after this expedition that he received the name of 
 Euergetes, probably, as Jerome says, for bringing back the images of 
 Egyptian gods which had been carried away by Cambyses into Persia, cf. 
 
 the decree of CanopUS line 7 'EirciSri ^ao-iXriis UTo\efmios nroXefmiov Koi 
 'Apcrivor/s 6(Siv ahe\<pStv xai ^triKuraa Bf pfviKri ij d8fX0^ avTov Koi yvvfj, Scare- 
 XoCtrtc TToXXa koi fteyoKa evepyeTovvTfs rii Kara rfjv xapav Upa Koi ras rifias 
 tS>v 6(S>v em Trkfov aij^ovres . . . kcu to e^cvcxBeura ck t^s x'ipas Upa ayd\p,aTa 
 virt) T&v Ilf p<tS>v f^<TTpaTei<ras 6 /3a(riXeus dvetrairfv els AiyvTrrov Kai mreiaKev els 
 TO iepa o6ev eKaa-rov e^ dpxrjs e'^TO^") '• it was in fact the great event of his 
 reign. The words of the poem Vastatuni fines iuerat Assyrios and Captam 
 Asiam Aegypti finibus addiderat, suit this war quite as well as the earlier 
 one ; and though no hint is given in the poem of the object of the expedi- 
 tion, the allusion to Berenice as not only wife but sister of Ptolemy (21, 
 22) has more meaning if the latter was starting to revenge an outrage on 
 his sister ; an outrage which above all others was likely to be most keenly 
 felt by a Ptolemy, and therefore by his sister-wife. 
 
 4. The verses in which Arsinoe is spoken of 54-58, though very 
 obscure, do point to her deification as Arsinoe Aphrodite. This is the 
 motif oi 56 Veneris casta collocat in gremio. If Arsinoe was Venus, it is a 
 natuual idea to describe the lock as borne to the goddess in heaven by 
 the famulus of her representative on earth. Arsinoe had a temple on the 
 Zephyrian promontory in Egypt (Strabo 800, Athen. 318, Steph. B. s. u. 
 Ze<j>vpiov) and was called from it Zephyritis, a name which occurs in this 
 connexion in an epigram by Callimachus and another by Poseidippus 
 (Athen. 318). The same name is found in v. 57 of Catullus' poem; 
 and it is a reasonable inference that it refers to the same person. 
 
 5. Catullus and therefore Callimachus pointedly contrast the time 
 when Berenice killed Demetrius with that of her nuptials. At the former 
 she was a girl, and yet showed the courage of a woman : at the latter she 
 was a woman and yet completely overcome by the grief of parting with 
 her husband. There was therefore some interval between the two periods. 
 Yet even if we suppose no interval it would not follow that she married 
 in 01. cxxx. It is true that her father Magas was regent of Cyrene for 
 50 years (Athenaeus xii. 550) and if we suppose him to have become 
 regent immediately after the revolt of Ophelias in 308 bc. his death 
 would fall in 258 or 257 : but this is a modern inference. (Orelli 
 Eclogae Poet. Latin, p. 125 2nd ed.)^ 
 
 Accepting then the ordinary view that Callimachus speaks of the Syro- 
 Assyrian war of Ptolemy III, we must suppose him to have written the 
 poem after the return of Ptolemy to Egypt, apparently in 245 ; and we 
 may perhaps infer from the use oipristina uota that the fulfilment of the 
 vow was not till some years after the vow had been offered, and that the 
 poem was itself later. This is quite in accordance with the statement of 
 ancient writers as to the life of Callimachus. Suidas says Callimachus 
 lived on to the time of Ptolemy Euergetes {napcTeive pexpl tov Eiepye'rov 
 
294 A COMMENTARY 
 
 icXi/flei/Toj iiToXe/iaiou) and that he was the master of Aristophanes the Gram- 
 marian when still a young man ('ApioTO(^oi'i;r Bufdi/nos — iiaBTfrris KaXXi/idxou 
 KOI ZijfoSoTou' dXXo ToC /iEi" (KaXXi/iuxou) w'os, rov Se (ZrjVO&6Tov) irais iJKOvtre. 
 
 Clinton considers this to extend the life of Callimachus to 8 30 b.c. ; Ritschl 
 places his death in Ol. cxxxvi. 236-233 b.c; but even supposing him to 
 have died early in the reign of Euergetes, before 240, a sufficient time is 
 left to make everything in the poem not only intelligible, but exact. 
 
 The Coma Berenices shows Callimachus in two points of view which are 
 not very discernible in his other extant poems, first as a student of astro- 
 nomy, secondly as a man familiar with Egyptian habits and ideas. From 
 a Scholion on Homer II. xviii. 48^, as well as from Hyginus P. A. 18, 
 34 (fragm. 385, 386, 387 in Blomfield's Callimachus) we know that he 
 wrote about the stars, a branch of science which was then making great 
 advances under the patronage of the Ptolemies, and- which had very 
 shortly before been popularized in the Phaenomena of Aratus. Niebuhr 
 calls the reign of Euergetes the golden age of the exact sciences (Lect. 
 on Anc. Hist. iii. 242, 3) ; and we may look upon this poem as a scien- 
 tific not less than a poetical tribute paid by learning to the founders and 
 supporters of the Museum. It is thus not ^s^ithout reason that Callimachus 
 dwells so long on the stars at the beginning of the poem, and that he 
 returns to them in the middle and at the end of it : the same spirit of 
 flattery which had prompted Conon to associate a royal name with a con- 
 stellation would induce Callimachus not only to versify the event, but to 
 turn his astronomical knowledge to account in doing so. Compare 1-9, 
 59-74, 89-94. 
 
 Again, the poem becomlg more significant if explained by Egyptian 
 allusions. It is true that to offer locks of hair in vows was not uncommon 
 in Greece ; but the conceit of making Berenice's lock a star was more 
 natural in a country where all the males shaved their heads, and only 
 women wore their hair (Herod, ii. 36) ; fine locks would be finer, and be 
 fitter objects of admiration than elsewhere. Nor would Callimachus 
 have dwelt on the double connexion of sister and wife, so odious to the 
 Greeks, had he not been writing in a country of abnormal customs, 
 where Greek influences had only made their way in proportion as they 
 fell in with the national usage. If the Ptolemies one after another adopted 
 a form of marriage generally thought incestuous, we may be sure it was 
 to please their subjects : and Callimachus in the sentimental eulogy which 
 he pronounces on the connexion, must have known that he was pleasing 
 not his royal patrons only, but the great mass of the Egyptian people. 
 Equally Egyptian is the description of Berenice praying with outstretched 
 arms (10), the introduction of the Aethiop Memnon (52), and the allu- 
 sion traceable in 90 to a \vxva<a.ta such as that at Sais mentioned by 
 Herodotus ii. 62. 
 
 The poem is of course full of references to the reigning dynasty : 45,6 
 allude to the completion of the canal between the Pelusiac branch of the 
 Nile and the Red Sea, which Philadelphus is said to have carried on from 
 the Bitter Lakes to the head of the Heroopolite bay at Arsinoe near the 
 modern Suez (Strab. 804, Plin. H. N. vi. 1 65), a great work which we have 
 seen revived in our own day. Even if, as Sir G. Wilkinson infers from 
 Herod, ii. 158, all that the Ptolemies did was to reopen and improve the 
 canal (Rawlinson's Herodotus ii. p. 243), this would be enough to give a 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXVL 295 
 
 point to the othei-wise far-fetched introduction of Athos. Again, the 
 deification of Arsinoe as Aphrodite, mentioaed in 53-58, is quite in 
 accordance with the traditions of the Ptolemies. The decree of Canopus 
 ordains the apotheosis of a Berenice, daughter of Euergetes and his 
 queen, who died young, and speaks besides of ' King Ptolemy son of 
 Ptolemy and Arsinoe, the broiher-gods, and Queen Berenice, his sister 
 and wife, the Benefactor Gods,' and similarly the Rosetta stone (lines 
 
 4, 5 ed. Sharpe, 1871) has B^av 2aynipS>v ral Beav 'AficXilxBi' Koi deav 
 EiepyfT&v (cai BfSiv H\(maT6paip Kal 6eov 'Eirujjavoiis EvxapiiTTOV, and decrees 
 
 divine honours to Ptolemy Epiphanes, as well as additional honours 
 to his ancestors who were deified already; ib. 1. 10 Epiphanes is called 
 
 6(6s (K 6fov Koi Beat KaBanip' Qpos 6 T^y'lcrtos Koi 'Oaipios vi6s. Agam, 59" 
 
 6-2, in which, as in the passage of Nonnus' Sylloge Historiarum quoted 
 below, the crown of the yellow-haired Ariadne in the sky is compared 
 with the golden lock of Berenice now similarly exalted, is in distinct 
 reference not only to the fact that one of the Alexandrian demes was 
 called Ariadnis, but to the mythical connexion of the Ptolemies with 
 Bacchus, his family and descendants. Satyrus ap. Theophilum in Meineke's 
 
 Analecta Alexandrina p. 346 'S.a.Tvpos iaroprnv tovs druiovs 'AXe^avSpiav dp^d- 
 ficvos dtrh ^iXondropos ToC Kal IlroXffiaiou irpotrayOpevBevroSf-TOVTOv p.r]vvti, Aidyuo-oi/ 
 dp)(r)yeTriv ycyovevai . . . oBfv Kai rat vpoaawplas e)(ov(riv 01 Kar avToiis Srjpoi, 
 'Apiabvrjs dnb Trjs Bvyarpos MiVo yvi/atKOf 8c Aioxucrou, IlaiSos narpoffiiKas Tjjs 
 fU)(6ei<Tris AwvviT(f 'Ev popipfi irpifuiiii (1. Trpvdvrj), QeiTTis dno eeoriov rov 'A\Beas 
 narpos, BoavAs OTri Bdavros ttoMs Aiomo-ov, Sra^uMs drri STa<jiv\ov toO Aion;- 
 (70U, Elaiv\s OTTO Eui/dor rov Atoma-ov, Mapavls otto Mdpavos uiov 'ApidSvrjs Kal 
 AwvviTOv' oStoi yap ndvTfs viol Awviktov ; cf. Inscript. Adul. Ta (ih diro TOu 
 irarpos HpaxKeos Tov Aids, rd Se dwo jiriTpos Atom<TOV rov Aids. Alciph, ii. 4. 
 19 TlroXefiaiov Kai tov airov Aidvvaov, ov drjpoKpaTiKdv, i>s oiaBa. So 'j6—'j8 have 
 a particular force in reference to the princesses of the house of Ptolemy, 
 who were devoted to unguents, Athen. eSp'Hxfiao-e 8e koi to iv 'AXe^av- 
 8peia (^pvpa) 8id TrXoCroi/ Kal 6m tt/v 'Aptrivdqs Ka\ BepevtKrjs crirovSriv. 'Eyevero 8e 
 Ka\ ev KvprjVD pdSivov xprfardTarov Kaff ov xpdvov f^r) fj BepewKT) fj ^pyaXij. Lastly 
 
 with 91, 92 compare the following passages which speak of the liberality 
 of the Ptolemies, Memnon lib. xiii, xiv. c. 25 in Miiller's Fragment. 
 Histor. Grace, Yi.To\epauis 6 t^i Aiy\mTov ^airiKevs XaimporaTais piv SapeaXs 
 
 tmpyfTfiv rds irSKeis nporiyfro, Decree of Canopus lines 7-10 (Sharpe). 
 
 In 58 where Grata seems to be opposed to Canopieis as Greek to 
 Egyptian, the selection of Canopus as a generic term may have been 
 partially determined by the favour which that town received from Euer- 
 getes and his queen. The decree of Canopus mentions rh ev Kavama Uphv 
 tS>v Eiepyermv Bemv (1. 7 Sharpe), and the infant daughter of the royal pair 
 
 was consecrated as a goddess p^trd tov 'Oa-lpios ev ra iv KavmTta iepa, 6 ou 
 /idvov ev rots irpdiTois iepols euTi dKKd xdi utto rov ^airiKetos Kai r£v Kara rffv ^dtpav 
 ndvrav ev TOis pd\iara Tt/im/ieVoir irndp^ei (1, gO Sharpe). 
 
 I have used for this poem the special commentaries of Valckenaer 
 1799, Ugo Foscolo 1803, and Briiggemann 1830; as well as that of 
 Orelli in his Eclogae Poetarum Latinorum ed. 2. 1833. 
 
 1. dispexit, of seeing clearly where from darkness or confusion it 
 is not easy to do so. Lucr. vi. 647 Latest alteque uidendum Etlonge cunctas 
 in partis dispicienduvi. despcxit, the MS. reading, would not necessarily 
 
296 A COMMENTARY 
 
 imply that Conon was dead and looked down upon the stars as a soul 
 living in heaven after death (Valckenaer, who compares Manil. i. 756, cf. 
 Verg. E. V. 57); it might mean simply that the skill of the astronomer was 
 able to place him in a point of view from which the whole world of con- 
 stellations moved before and subject to his eye. 
 
 2. obitus, ' settings.' Cicero de Fato ix. 1 7 Signorum ortus obitusque 
 pirdiscere. 
 
 3. rapidi, ' scorching.' Georg. i. 92, 424. Briiggemann compares 
 o^ii'''HXtoi' in an epigram of Callimachus (31. i Blomf.) otascuretur, 
 in eclipses. Plin. H. N. ii. 47. 
 
 4. cedant, not ' yield,' overpowered by the blaze of the sun (Ugo 
 Foscolo), but ' withdraw,' like Horace's Decedentia certis Tempora mo- 
 mentis Epist. i. 6. 4. 
 
 5. Iiatmia saxa, the cave on Mount Latmos in Caria where the Moon 
 was said to have kissed Endymion. ApoU. R. iv. 57 Oix ap iya jwiwri /iera 
 
 AaTfuov avrpov oKitrKm Ov S olrj KoKca irepiZaloiiai ' Evhvfiiavi, with the schol. 
 Xeyerat 8e Karepx^adai els tovto to avrpov rrjv ^eXrjvrjV Trpoff ^^vbvp.laiva. Pau- 
 
 sanias v. i. 5 says there was a sanctuary {ahvTov) of Endymion on Latmos. 
 relegans. Love makes her an exile from the sky : a graceful conceit to 
 express a lunar eclipse. 
 
 6. guro, 'her ciicling course/ as in Sen. Hipp. 312 Nodurnas agitare 
 bigas Discit et gyro breuiore flecti, Hor. S. ii. 6. 25 Seu bruma niuahm 
 Interiore diem gyro trahit. Valck. and Orelli explain it less probably of 
 the circle of the sky, like yDpoK y^s lesaias xl. 22. deuoeet. Theocr. 
 
 XX. 37 'Evdvfiiav dc fi's i/w ; ov jSmkoXos; ov ye 2e\dva BmncoXfoj/T-a (jiiKaa^eV air 
 Ov\vfnra> de fioXoiaa Adrfiiov &v vottos ^Xde Koi els eva TratSt Kd6evhev, 
 
 aereo is not to be changed to aetherio ; Callimachus has Telpenv, 
 7)viKa irXelara Kar rjepa ^ovKoXeovrai Del. 176, where O. Schneider shows 
 that aWfip and arjp are interchanged by. Callimachus ApoUonius and their 
 imitators. 
 
 7. nunaine with Fulgeniem, ' shining with the divinity of a god,' i. e. 
 with the effulgence proper to celestials. The Greek, which is here 
 
 preserved T^Sc (MSS. ^Se) K6va>v p e^\e^ev ev rjepi, rbv BepovUrjc Boarpvj^ov, 
 ovT dpa Keivrj maiv eBrjKe deoia-iv, has nothing corresponding to numine, 
 and Canter accordingly conjectured lumine, Voss in lumine. But the 
 Greek seems to be fragmentary, and perhaps represents what was origi- 
 nally four lines. At any rate numine cannot mean that Conon saw the 
 lock, now changed into a star, by divine power, ' quasi diuinum quid 
 fuerit, illam uidere in Stellas conuersam ' Alex. Guarinus. 
 
 8. cesariem, here perhaps from a wrong idea of its connexion with 
 caedo, of a single tress : generally it is used of a head of hair, particularly 
 if it is thick or long : cf. Promissa cesaries Liv. xxviii. 35, decoram 
 Cesariem Ktn. i. 589. Gratius Cyn. 272 discretaque collo Cesaries, nonpexa 
 nimis, can scarcely be alleged as parallel to Catullus' use. 
 
 9-10. Valck. rejects these verses (i) because the stars in Berenice's 
 hair are not bright, but dim. (2) Multis dearum is in opposition to cunclis 
 diuis in 33. Berenice would have avoided the offence of praying to some 
 Gods and omitting others, and the Greek is vainv deolcriv. (3) Leuia pro- 
 tendens brachia is meaningless. But (1) to say that the lock shone brightly 
 is little more than saying that it had become visible as a constellation, 
 though even if an exaggeration it would be pardonable in a court-poet. 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXVL 297 
 
 (2) All the gods may include many goddesses, Catullus says dearum not 
 deorum ; and yet if he did write deorum, as from naaai Qeoiaiv is possible, 
 this would not necessarily be in opposition to cundis dims, a poet varies 
 his expressions on grounds not to be tested by logic. (3) As Haupt 
 remarks Quaestt. p. 81, to stretch out the arms is a natural way of 
 expressing prayer, cf. the Homeric xtipas di/Zx"" H. i. 450, iii. 318, 
 and Callim. Del. 107 Urj^us 'A/i^oTipovs opiyoixra liaTrjv icjiBcy^aro Tola, 
 
 cited by Stat. 
 
 9. dearum, as Arsinoe, daughter of Ptolemaeus, offers a plait of her 
 hair to Artemis in an epigram of Damagetus, Anth. P. vi. 277, and leaves 
 it in her temple. In the six epigrams there which speak of hair offered in 
 dedication, the four addressed to goddesses are in behalf of women, 
 the two addressed to gods of males (Anth. P. vi. 274-279). Sil. Italicus 
 makes a warrior vow to offer his hair to Gradivus if victorious Pun. iv. 
 200, and Tacitus Germ. 3 1 says the Catti used to make vows not to shave 
 their head till they had slain an enemy. 
 
 11. nouo auctus hymenaeo, hiatus as in CVIL i, followed by a 
 compensating lengthening of the final syllable of aucius ; cf LXIL 4, 
 LXIV. 20 dicetur hymenaeus, despexit hymenaeos, CXV. i habet ins tar. 
 auctus, LXIV. 25. 
 
 12. Assyrios. Blomfield Callim. fr. 152 thinks the original is pre- 
 served here. "Hi' eV 'Ao-crvpiav fnicSaTrfj a-Tpanfi (Etym, M. S. U. 'Aaavpia, 
 
 where the MSS. give 'h an-' 'Ao-o-upiW). But O. Schneider Callimachea ii. 
 p. 420 points out that the Assyria of the Etym. M. is the country of the 
 Leucosyri near Sinope, which could not be meant by Callimachus here. 
 Nor is it easy to determine whether Assyrios is Assyrian, as Callimachus 
 calls the Euphrates the As-syrian river (H. ApoU. 107), or Syrian, as in the 
 passages cited by Noldeke Hermes v. p. 466, Verg. G. ii. 465, Ciris 440, 
 Culex 62, Petron. S. 119, Sen. Hipp. 87. It is perhaps in favour of the 
 latter view that the poet says in 36 that Ptolemy soon annexed Asia to 
 Egypt : and that Lucian de Dea Syra 1 7 calls Stratonice the celebrated 
 wife of Antiochus I king of Syria, the contemporary of Euergetes, wife 
 of the king of the Assyrians. 
 
 13. A line imitated by the author of one of the Catalecta, 11.5 Horrida 
 barbaricae portans insignia pugnae. Dulcia uestigia. ' Signa et notas 
 iocundas ferens, quas puella marito infixerat, dum pudicitiae florem uio- 
 lenter quodammodo auferret.' Alex. Guarinus. Claudian. Fescenn. 30 
 Nodurni refer ens uolnera proelii (Valck.) 
 
 14. de, to win. Quid Ibis 173 Deque tuofiet, licet hac sis laude superbus, 
 Insatiabilibus corpore rixa lupis. uirgineis exuuiis, 'the spoils of 
 virginity,' LXVIII. 14. 
 
 15-38. 'Are brides in earnest when they weep on reaching the marriage- 
 chamber ? Their tears must surely be hypocrisy. Else Berenice would 
 not have been so sad when she had to part from her bridegroom. She 
 will say it was as a brother, not as a husband that she wept for him. But 
 her grief was too overpowering to make that credible. In fact she seemed 
 to have quite lost all self-control. Yet as a girl, she feared nothing : she 
 cannot have forgotten the splendid crime which secured her marriage 
 with the King of Egypt. What then overpowered her so completely in 
 parting from her husband ? It must be love. Then she vowed to offer 
 me, the lock of her hair, as well as a sacrifice of oxen, if Ptolemy returned 
 
298 A COMMENTARY 
 
 safe. This he soon did, and I am now given up to the gods in fuliilment 
 of the vow.' 
 
 15. Scaliger compares Callimachus fr. ii8 Blomf. 'H icais fi KaraKkeiaros 
 Tfjv 01 (jiaa-t TCKovrfs Eivaiovs 6api,ir)unis''E.\6(iv icrov 6\e6pm. Sententiae Varronis 
 II Riese Sic flet heres ui puella uiro nupla ; utriusgue fletus non apparens 
 est risus. anne. The MSS. have atque, which either necessitates salsis 
 or gives a weak sense, ' Is it true that brides hate love ? and is it possible 
 that they disappoint their parents' pleasure by pretended grief on the 
 verge of union ? Surely their hatred is hypocritical, their tears are feigned.' 
 In this case/izlst's anticipates and therefore spoils the conclusion non uera 
 gemunt. It seems clear that falsis is the determinative word in the 
 second half of the interrogative sentence, and that an opposition is implied 
 to the first. Hence anne seems necessary. 
 
 16. falsis lacrimulis, like Terence's haec uerha una mehercule falsa 
 lacrimula (tear-drop) Quam oculos terendo misere uix uiexpresserit Restin- 
 guei Eun. i. i. 22. Fronto p. 229 Naber Gutiam unam minimam quanta 
 dissimulantis lacrima esse solet. 
 
 17. Vbertim. Fronto p. 268 Naber Vbertim flentem desiderio iuiaJque 
 huius discidii dolore. The MSS. vary between intra inter, luminalimina. 
 The choice would seem to lie between intra limina, inier lumina, ' among 
 the lamps of the marriage chamber,' Mart. x. 38. *;. Yet in Aen. xi. 267 
 Ribbeck reads prima inter limina where the MSS. give both inter and 
 intra. 
 
 18. i. e. Ita me dini iuerint, non uera gemunt. The separation of 
 non from gemunt gives prominence to the negation, as in XIV. 16. For 
 the adjuration cf. LXI. 189 ita meiuuenlCaelites. iuerint. In Phorm. 
 iii. 3. 4 adiuerit comiter, the MSS. including the Bembine give adiuuerit, 
 as the MSS. of Catullus iuuerint here. 
 
 20,. torua, not quite otiose, but in contradistinction to nodurnae rixae 
 above (Alex. Guarinus). 
 
 21. Et, the reading of some of the best MSS, is perhaps right; as Hand 
 thought Tursellin. i. 441. 'And will you say it was not for the desolation 
 of your couch you mourned .' ' like Et tu in Caesaris memoria diligens ? 
 Phil. ii. 43. no. 
 
 22. fratris. Decree of Canopus line 7 ed. Sharpe Bao-tXfis iiToXe/xaioy 
 
 nroXe/Liniou Kal 'Apirii'oijs 6iS>v dSc\<jiS)V Ka) ^aalXtcrcra BepepiKri fj dSeK<pfi avTov Koi 
 
 yvvfi 6eo\ Eiepyerai, and similarly the golden plate containing the dedication 
 of a temple to Osiris at Canopus, quoted by Paley Theocritus p. 94. Mr. 
 Sharpe, note on the hieroglyphics p. 37, considers that Berenice is so 
 called in compliment, as in Solomon's Song the king styles his wife his 
 sister. Other explanations are that (i) Berenice and her husband were 
 both children of Arsinoe, the daughter of Lysimachus, Arsinoe having 
 married Magas, Berenice's father, after her banishment from the court 
 of her first husband, Ptolemy Philadelphus (Niebuhr), a view based on 
 Hyginus' Ptolemaei et Arsinoes filiam cf. Justin, xxvi. 3 ; but Droysen 
 Hellenismus ii. p. 244 rejects the authority of Hyginus as doubtful, and 
 according to other accounts the name of Berenice's mother was Apame 
 (Paus. i. 7. 3); (2) that Berenice is cousin ofEuergetes as being daughter 
 of Magas, the son of Berenice, wife of Ptolemy I (Soter), by a former 
 husband. Ptolemy II (Philadelphus) would then be ojnofi^T/jios dSfX<^os 
 to Magas : and the children of each might thus be called abeK-lioX as cousins 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXVL 299 
 
 by the mother's side. This latter is the generally received view, and the 
 pronounced manner in which Callimachus dwells on the relation makes it 
 probable that this, or possibly some other link, gave an air of reality to what 
 would otherwise be a rather overstrained compliment. Yet it is not to 
 be forgotten that this sister-wife connexion had a religious meaning to 
 the Egyptians. ' As the Egyptian Isis and Osiris were at once Sun and 
 Moon, brother and sister, and husband and .wife, so it was with the 
 Peruvian Sun and Moon, and thus the sister-marriage of the Incas had 
 in their religion at once a meaning and a justification.' Tylor, Primitive 
 Culture i. p. 261. See Theocr. xvii. 130-134. 
 
 23. Orelli rightly shows that this verse is in close connexion with the 
 two preceding. Catullus often carries on a sentence begun in one 
 distich to the middle or end of the hexameter of the next : cf. 7-9, S9-61, 
 79-81, LXV. 9-1 1, and several times in LXVIII. Conr. de AUio 
 explains Cum z.%=qtia7idoquidem, cf. LXVIIL 8, Roby Latin Grammar 
 §1725: but this, besides laying too much stress on the fraternal as 
 opposed to the conjugal relation, does not agree so well with Vt tibi tunc 
 toto peclore sollicitae which can only apply to the intense grief of a Imer. 
 Hence cum is temporal, ' at a time when.' ' Will you say you wept, 
 not for a husband, but a brother ? what ? when your very vitals seemed 
 to be consumed by grief? How utterly you were overcome! ' cura, 
 the grief of lovers, see on LXIV. 72, LXVIIL 51. exedlt, like Est 
 mollis cura medullas Aen. iv. 66 : XCI. 6 Hanc cuius me magnus edehat 
 amor. 
 
 34. Vt, ' how,' interjectionally as Manil. v. 88, compared by Stat, and 
 Valck. Quae lua tunc ftterat fades 1 quamfugii in auras Spiriits ! vt toto 
 caruerunt sanguine membra I Most of the commentators take toto pee- 
 tore with excidil: cf. Ouid. Pont. ii. 4. 24 : tome it seems more naturally 
 to connect itself with sollicitae, ' in the utter disquietude of thy heart.' 
 
 25. ' Thy senses were ravished from thee, thy reason fell away.' Sen- 
 sibus ereptis like LI. 5, 6 Miser quodomnis Eripit sensus mihi. Briigge- 
 mann suggests that Callimachus may have used the word used by Sappho 
 there, nrocnv, cf Callim. H. Dian. 191. at te ego certe for at ego 
 certe of most MSS. is more likely than atque ego certe : yet atqu£ might 
 well mean ' and all the time,' 'yet for all that,' as in Cic. ad Fam. xiv. 4. 
 5 Cetera, quamquam ferenda non sunt,feramus. Atque ego qui te confirmo 
 ipse vie non possum. Suet. Cal. 54 after an enumeration of Caligula's skill 
 as an actor and dancer, Atque hie tarn docilis ad cetera natare nesciit. 
 Fronto p. 70 Naber Sed quae tua el mea meteoria est, neque tu me admonebis, 
 neque ego tibi narrabo. Atque enim reuera opus consul to est, 
 
 27. facinus. According to Hygin. P. A. ii. 24 Berenice mounted a 
 horse and rallied the flying army of Ptolemy Philadelphus, thus saving 
 her father's life, an exploit for which Calhmachus called her magnani- 
 mous {magnanimam). Though Hyginus must here have Catullus in view, 
 his explanation is probably wrong. The bonum /acinus, as Niebuhr 
 pointed out, is the assassination of Demetrius the paramour of Berenice's 
 mother. Justin xxvi. 3 (Arsinoe) inuita se contractum matrimonium solutura 
 misit, qui ad nuptias uirginis regnumque Cyrenarum Demttrium fratrem 
 regis Antigoni a Macedonia arcesserent, qui et ipse ex filia Ptolemaei pro- 
 creatus erat. Sed nee Demetrius mor am fecit. Itaque cum . . . Cyrenas 
 aduolasset, fiducia pulchritudinis, qua nimis placere socrui coeperat, statim 
 
300 A COMMENTARY 
 
 a principio superbus regiae familiae militibusque tmpotens erai, studiumque 
 placendi a uirgine in matrem contulerai. Quae res suspectd primum uirgini, 
 dein popularibus militibusque inuisafuit : itaque uersis omnium aniviis in 
 PtolemMi filium (Euergetem) insidiae Demetrio comparaniur; cum in ledum 
 socrus conscendisset, percussores immiituntur. Sed Arsinoe audita uocefiliae 
 ad/ores stantis et praecipientis utmatri parcerent, adulterum paullisper corpore 
 suo protexit. Quo interfedo Berenice et stuprum viatris salua pietate ulta est 
 et in matrimonio sortiendo indicium patris secuta. 
 
 28. quod non fortior ausit alls. Not, ' which no one else though 
 braver would venture ' (Voss), but ' which none else would show them- 
 selves braver by venturing,' ' could venture and so win the title of braver.' 
 
 fortior is part of the predicate. So Hor. iii. 23. 1 8 Non sumptuosa blandior 
 hostia Molliuit auersos Penates. Polybius v. 36 speaks of Berenice's roX^a. 
 sMa=.alius. Catullus speaks generally. 
 
 29. turn, in pointed opposition to the period of girlhood mentioned in 
 26-28. mittens, when you were sending on his way, like Mitteret in 
 magnum imperium Aen. xi. 47. 
 
 30. luppiter, here and 48 perhaps a translation of ZeSwdTfp, a form of 
 invocation which may have been connected with marriage, or at least with 
 
 women. Alcman introduced 7rap6evovs \eyoia-as Zev narfp at yap ifihs 
 
 ■n6(rts etrj fr. 29 Bergk. tristi for triuisti, like MistiXTV. 14. Catullus 
 has also luxti 21, duxti XCI. 9, promisti CX. 3, subrepsti LXXVII. 
 3, abstersti XCIX. 8. Berenice rubs her eyes to dash away the tears. 
 Propertius i. 15. 35 Hos tu iurabas, si quid mentita fuisses, Vt tibi sup- 
 posilis exciderent manibus suggests another idea not incompatible with 
 the former; tears are often dashed from the eyes as much in anger 
 as in grief : the new bride would be revenging herself on her eyes for 
 losing sight of her husband, and would feel a pleasure in punishing 
 them violently. 
 
 31. ' Who is that great God that changed thee ? ' tantus is in refer- 
 ence to mutauit, as in Quae te tarn laeta tuleruni Saecula ? Aen. i. 605, 
 ' what age bore thee, an age happy enough to do so ? ' ' what God changed 
 thee, a God great enough to do so ? ' Stat, compares Theocr. xx. 20 
 
 Apa Tis e^amvas /xe deos ^porbv oKkov erev^ev j 
 
 32. earo corpore, 'body of their beloved.' Calvus fr. 14 Lachm. Et 
 leges sandas docuit et cara iugauit Corpora conubiis et magnas condidit urbes. 
 In both passages carum corpus is used of the newly-wed. 
 
 33. me seems absolutely necessary here, as the object oi pollicita es 
 cannot be supplied from the preceding lines : otherwise prae cundis, as 
 read in ed. Gryph. 1542, would be forcible enough, suggesting the idea 
 of Berenice standing as it were in front of the whole company of gods, 
 and calling upon them collectively to hear her promise. ibi, ' there- 
 upon,' as often in Plautus,Amph. v. i. 39 /"w/^waOT . . . ibi; ib. 41 Inuo- 
 cat deos . . . ibi continuo contonat. 
 
 34. Non sine taurine sanguine, the sacrifice accompanied the 
 vow, as in Tibullus iii. 3. 2 the vow for Neaera's safe return is accom- 
 panied by an offering of incense. A queen would of coarse offer a 
 costly sacrifice. Vulp. and apparently Bruggemann explain the words 
 to mean that Berenice vowed to cut off her lock and to sacrifice bulls, 
 as in Iliad vi. 93 Hecuba promises to sacrifice oxen in the temple of 
 Athene if she take pity on the Trojans, cf. ib. 115 Aaifioo-ti/ apr\aaij6ai. 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXVL 301 
 
 {moa-xfaBai 8' tKarofifias ; SO Achilles' father Peleus vows to the Sperchius 
 if his son return to his native, land Soi re K6)t.rfv Kcpieiv pt^nv ff UpT)v 4ku- 
 To'/ij3i;i', nevTr/KovTa 8' fvop\a nap' airdSi lifpC Upevtreiv. But cunciis diuis 
 
 implies a great occasion, and such an occasion would naturally be ac- 
 companied by a sacrifice. 
 
 36. Asiam as recorded in the inscription of Adule quoted above. The 
 inscription records Ptolemy's conquest both of Asia Minor and the more 
 eastern part of Asia, to the east of the Euphrates. The former seems to 
 be meant by Justin xxvii. 3 speaking of this actual expedition Ea iem- 
 pestale omnia bella in exitium Asiae gerebantur ; uii quisque fortior fuisset, 
 Asiam uelut praedam occupabai. Seleucus el Antiochusfraires helium propter 
 Asiam gerebani : Ptolemaeus rex Aegypti sub specie sororiae uUionis Asiae 
 inhiabat : but the word does not seem to occur in the extant remains of 
 Callimachus, and Justin would be no guide as to the poet's usage. 
 
 37. reddita, ' given up,' according to promise, as in Horace's Ergo 
 obligatam redde loui dapem C. ii. 7. 17. So reddere epistulam oi delivering 
 a letter to persons who ought to get it, Cic. Att. iv. 1 5. 3, and see on 
 LXIV. 362. coetu LXIV. 385. 
 
 38. ' I pay the vow of the past by an offering of to-day.' This is the 
 only sense which the antithesis pristina nouo can bear, and such is the 
 meaning of Sophocles' KaS/xou toO waXai via rpocfifi O. T. i, and Virgil's 
 Seque nouo uelerum decepium errore locorum Aen. iii. 181, cf. Mart. v. 7. 
 3. Pristina need not imply that the vow had been made a long time 
 before, as die pristini-=pridie (Gell. x. 24. 8, cf. Caesar B. G. iv. 14), 
 nox pristina=z' the night before,' Suet. Aug. 94. dissoluo. Cic. ad 
 Att. XV. II, quoted by Valck. Erat absurdum quae, si sietisset respublica, 
 uouissem, ea me euersa ilia uota dissoluere. Valck. observes that Catullus is 
 fond of resolving uoluere and soluere, so euoluam'wSx. <} /^^ peruoluent XCV. 
 6, soluunt LXL 53. 
 
 39-50. ' I was very unwilling to leave the head of my queen, but who 
 can resist steel ? Steel could open a way through Athos when Xerxes cut 
 a canal through it for his fleet ; how was a lock of hair to stand against 
 steel ? My curse upon the Chalybes, and upon the wretch who was the 
 first to dig the ore and fashion it for the purposes of war ! ' In 38 the lock 
 is cut off' in fulfilment of the vow ; 39-50, we may suppose, represent 
 the interval during which it lies by itself before being transported to the 
 sky, as described in 51 sqq. 
 
 39. Imitated by Virgil Aen. vi. 460 Inuitus, regina, tuo de litore 
 cessi. 
 
 40. adiuro teque tuumque caput. The Greek is here preserved 
 a-i]v Tt KCLprjv &po(Ta <t6v tc jSiov. Forcell. gives no instance of adiuro con- 
 structed with an accusative of the thing sworn by from Cicero Plautus or 
 Terence, who say adiuro per. Virgil Aen. xii. 816 Adiuro Stygii caput 
 inplacabilefontis perhaps follows Catullus. Cf. Apuleius Met. ix. 41, Koziol 
 Styl des Apuleius p. 348. The lock swears by the head and person of 
 Berenice, as Aeneas swears by the head of Ascanius (Aen. ix. 300), and 
 as Dido calls to witness her sister's person and head, Aen. iv. 357. Cf. 
 Trist. V. 4. 46 Per caput ilk suum solitus iurare tuumque Quod scio non 
 illi uilius esse suo. There is of course a strict propriety in making the 
 lock of hair swear by the head whence it has been severed. 
 
 41. quod, i. e. caput. inaniter, not uncommon in Cicero. 
 
302 A COMMENTARY 
 
 42. Qui. Holtze Syntax, i. p. 362. se postulet esse parem as 
 
 in Menaechm. ii. 3. 88 Set ego inscitus sum qui era me posiulem moderarier, 
 Cic. de Orat. i. 22. loi. 
 
 43. ' Even that famous mountain was levelled to the ground, vifhich is 
 the highest within the borders of his realm that Thia's bright child passes 
 over in his chariot.' euersus, as in Ouid Met. xi. 554 Si quis Athon 
 Pindumue reuolsos Sede sua totos in apertum euerteret aequor. Here the 
 word is an exaggeration ; it seems to allude to the loss of earth caused 
 by cutting the canal. in oris, like luminis orae in Lucretius, caelestibus 
 oris Met. ix. 254. This, though harsh, is less violent than to interpret in 
 oris, ' on its shores,' i. e. the shores of Macedonia, to which Athos belongs ; 
 or ' on sea-coasts ' generally. maximum. Cic. de Rep. fr. inc. 39 
 Quis enim est Athos aut Olympus tantus ? Strab. 331 fr. 33''E(7Tt S' o'kSav 
 opos /LtaoTOf iSes, o^vrarov, vylrrjXoraTov' o5 ol rrjv Kopv(j}f]V olkovvtcs opSnTL tov tJXiov 
 dvareXKovTa irpb itpav Tpt&u rrjs iv TJj TrapaXla avaroXrjs, cf. ib. fr. 35. Nicander 
 
 described Athos as a giant Steph. Byz. s. u. "Adas. 
 
 44. Progenies Thiae clara, the Sun. Find. Isthm. iv. i Mai-cp deXlov 
 
 TToXuffivu/ie QeLa, Hes. Theog. 37 1 9"'" 8' r)e\i6v re jiiyav Xafinpav t€ (Tekfivjjv 
 Telvaff VTroSp,ri6el(T' 'Yirfplovos iv (pikoTrjTi. Apollod. i. 2. 2 'Vnepiovos 8e Koi 
 
 eei'as ■Ho)r''HX(os SeXrjtnj. This is Bentley's reading and explanation : for 
 the expression Valck. compares Paus. viii. 33. 3 BafivXams Se rairris rjvriva 
 
 etSe TToXeau t5)V tots peyitTTrjv tjXwSj 38, I TloXecov de oTrdtras eVi Tjj Tjwelpa 
 c8ei.§e yrj Kal iv vrjirois AvxdiTovpd inn Tvpea-fivTaxr], koi TauTrju elSev 6 rjXios irpa- 
 ■njv : and so Verg. Aen. vii. 216 Regnis quae maxima quondam Extremo 
 ueniens sol adspiciebai Olympo. The MSS. have Phitiae which would 
 naturally be a corruption of Phthiae, and this was the old reading till 
 Voss suggested and Bentley explained Thiae : Bentley's explanation is 
 made more uncertain by superuehitur which is used in Liv. xlii. 48 of 
 sailing past a, pTomontory praeter oram Italiae superuectus Calabriae extre- 
 mum promuntorium in lonio mart Dyrrachium traicit. (i) Scaliger ti^- 
 ■phiintA progenies Phthiae clara to be the Macedonians, and so before him 
 Alex. Guarinus, who considers Athos to be here included in Thessaly, as 
 Seneca Med. 720 calls it Haemonian. Servius on Aen. i. 246 makes the 
 Achivi children of (Achaeus and) Phthia, and CaUimachus may have 
 identified these with the Thessalians, as they sometimes were, according to 
 the Schol. on Apoll. R. i. 284, cf. Schol. on i. 177. This would agree with 
 the view of Conr. de AUio, who however reads Thyiae, Thyia being the 
 mother of Macedon, founder of the Macedonian race. Steph. Byz. s. u. 
 
 MaKe^ovia, *H x^P^ "'ro MaK^ddvos tov Auts Kai Qvias Trjs AsvKaXiavos as (fyrjaiv 
 'Htrtofios 6 •jrotrjTtjs' *H 5* V7roKV(r<rafiem] All yeivaro TepiriKepavva Yie fivo) MdyVT)Ta 
 
 McucriSdva ff ijtiroxapp.riv Oi jTfpl liiepiijvjcat^Xu/in'oj/ Sap/iT (vaiov. The Mace- 
 donians might be called/amous^s^fi^e the victories of Alexander ; Plin. H. 
 N. iv. 39 ITaec est MacedonicClerrarum imperio potita quondam, haec Asiam 
 Armeniam Iberiam Albaniam Cappadociam Syriam Aegyptum Taurum Cau- 
 casum iransgressa, haec in Bactris Medis Per sis dominata toto oriente possesso, 
 haec etiam Indiae uictrix per uesiigia Liheri patris atque Herculis uagata. 
 (2) The Macedonian kings may be meant. They would be Progenies 
 Phthiae, as descended from Achilles, the lord of Phthia. So Prop. 
 V. II. 39, 40 Et Persen proaui simulantem pectus Achillis Quique tuas 
 proauo /regit Achille domos. Sil. Ital. xv. 291 speaking of Philip king 
 of Macedonia, Hie gente egregius, ueterisque ab origine regni, Aeacidum 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXVI. 303 
 
 sceptris proauoque tumebat Achille. Velleiusi. 6 Circa quod tempus Caranus 
 uir generis regii sextus decimus ab Hercule profedus Argis regnum Mace- 
 doniae occupauit ; a quo Magnus Alexander cum fuerit Septimus decimus, 
 iure maierni generis Achille, auctore paler ni Hercule gloriatus est. (3) It had 
 occurred to me that an actual king, son of a Phthia, might be meant : but 
 the only Macedonian king whose reign approaches the limits of the poem, 
 Philip V, son of Demetrius II and Phthia, daughter of Alexander II 
 King of Epirus, seems to have been born after 239 b.c. and would thus 
 have been a child in 230, the latest period at which Callimachus could be 
 supposed to be still living. But whatever the real explanation, it seems 
 probable that Callimachus should, in speaking of Athos, introduce some 
 definite reference to Macedonia. The Ptolemies were proud of their 
 Macedonian descent, and mentioned it in their inscriptions (Pans. vi. 3. 
 I, X. 7. 8). 
 
 45. peperere nouum mare, like Petronius' Mare nascitur arm's. 
 Anth. L. 461 Riese, Hie quem cernis Athos inmissis peruius undis Flexibus 
 obliquis circuvuundus erat. Accepit magno deduclum Nerea fluctu Per que 
 latus misit maxima uela suum. Sub tanto subitae sonuerunt ponder e classes, 
 Caeruleus cana sub niue pontus erat. Idem commisit longo duo litora ponte 
 Xerxes et fecit per mare (the Hellespont) miles iter. Quale fuit regnum 
 mundo noua ponere iura I Hoc terrae fiat, hac mare dixit eat. The idea is 
 an expansion of Herodotus' remark that the construction of the canal was 
 a piece of display, /xfyaXoi^potriivijs cj/exa vii. 24. Lucretius iii. 1029 speaks of 
 the bridge over the Hellespont, but not of Athos. 
 
 46. taarbara, i. e. non-Hellenic. nauit, the canal was broad enough 
 to admit two triremes rowed abreast, Herod, vii. 24. Cicero de Fin. ii. 34. 
 112 Si Athone perfosso maria ambulauisset terramque nauigasset maria 
 pedibus peragrantem, classibus monies possibly had Catullus' words in his 
 memory. 
 
 47. Quid facient crines, cum ferro talia cedant ? So Ouid A. A. 
 iii. 633 Quid faciei custos, cum sint tot in urbe theatra ? But Verg. E. iii. 
 16 Quid domini faciant, audent cum talia fures ? A. A. iii. 655 Quid sapiens 
 
 faciei, stultus cum munere gaudet ? The subj. in the second clause is the 
 more usual, the indie, the more poetical construction. Munro in Journal 
 of Philology ii. p. 145. 
 ' 48. The mock solemnity of this adjuration would be understood by an 
 Egyptian. Diodorus i. 45. 2, 3 tells a story of Tnephachthos, king of Egypt, 
 pronouncing a solemn curse on Menes the introducer of luxury, which he 
 then has inscribed ifpoir ypanifiamv on the temple of Jupiter at Thebes. 
 luppiter ut pereat, as in Hor. S. ii. i. 43 O pater et rex luppiter ut 
 pereat positum rubigine telum. 
 
 49. sub terra, as miners. Apoll. R. ii. 1007 of the Chalybes, whom 
 like Xenophon Anab. v. 5 he places next to the Tibareni, 'AXXa o-iSi^po^dpow 
 
 aTv(j)e\fiv p^fiji/a yaroijJovres Qvov dfieifiovrm PtOTrjcriov. uenas, veins of 
 
 ore, so fUKpa (f)\e\jf dpyvpiTiSos Xen. Vect. i. 5. 
 
 50. Institit, in the same sense as insistere uiam, ' began : ' so, I think, 
 Att. fr. 134, 428 Ribbeck, insistere negotium Mil. Glor. iii. 3. 55. Draken- 
 borch on Liu. xxx. 12 shows that this meaning is common in Livy. 
 ferri. Iron was used as far back as the construction of the pyramids 
 Herod, ii. 125. stringere=2'» stricturas cogere. In this connexion 
 stringere expresses, as Prof. Edwin Palmer has explained to me, the 
 
304 A COMMENTARY 
 
 pulling or drawing out of the bar of iron from the furnace, strictura the 
 bar itself thus drawn from the furnace, not yet worked up for any par- 
 ticular purpose, but only chopped into convenient lengths for use as 
 material. 
 
 51-78. ' I had not been long parted from my sister-tresses when the 
 winged famulus of Arsinoe flew in, carried me off to the sky, and laid 
 me in the bosom of Venus. The goddess immediately changed me into 
 a star, assigning me a position near the Virgin and the Lion. Yet though 
 thus exalted to the society of the gods, I take the stars to witness that I 
 am less rejoiced at my elevation than grieveld to part from Berenice, and 
 my life of essences and unguents as a lock of her hair.' 
 
 51. Abiunctae is taken as a genitive with mea fata, ' the fate of me now 
 severed from them,' by Alex. Guarinus Muretus Anna Lefevre Valckenaer 
 and Orelli ' nam minora a maioribus segregantur, non autem maiora a 
 minoribus' (Guar). But (i) If a lock has been cut away the remaining locks 
 may as properly be said to be severed from it, as it from them; (2) 
 Catullus would avoid the ainbiguity of leaving comae either genitive or 
 plural ; (3) the ordinary view is more in accordance with the natural order 
 of the words : just as in Hor. C. iii. 25. 19, 20 Duke periculum est, 
 Lenaee, sequi deum Cingentem uiridi tempora pampino, the construction of 
 Cingentem is mainly determined by this. paulo ante with abiunctae. 
 The expression is compared by Valck. with Aeschines de Fals. Legat. 52 
 'A8eX<^oi ot Bia^vyevTis ifwv ^jjv ovk hv irpoeXoivTo, and sorores with Poen. i. 
 3. 8, 9 Hamper dexteram Perque hanc sororem laeuam. 
 
 52. IiUgebant. Verg. G. iii. 518 sqq. Maerentem abiungens fraterna 
 morte iuuencum. cum se, ' when the brother of the Aethiop Memnon, 
 the winged horse of Locrian Arsinoe, came before me as the air 
 vibrated to his fluttering wings, and bearing me aloft flew away with 
 me through the darkening sky and laid me in the spotless bosom of 
 Venus. It was Zephyritis herself who had sent her own servant 
 on that errand, she the dweller from Greece on the shores of Cano- 
 
 pus.' Aethiopis. Find. Isthm. v. 40 STpdrapxav AlBimav a(j>o^ou 
 
 Mefivova, Paus. X. 3 1 . 7 Hnpa 8c tw Mepvovi Kal ttoIs &l6io^ TrenoitfTat yvfivoSj 
 
 oTi d Mefivayv PacriXeiis rjv tov AiBiojrav yivovs. Hence he is black in works of 
 art, nocticolor Laevius ap.-Gell. N. A. xix. 7. 6, niger Quid. Am. i. 8. 4, 
 and this is probably the idea which Callimachus suggests here. 
 
 53. Vnigena. LXIV. 300. On the usual interpretation of unigena, 
 ' born from the same parent,' ' brother,' the reference is either to Zephyrus, 
 son of Eos and Astraeus, as Memnon was son of Eos and Tithonus ; or, 
 to Emathion, here identified with an ostrich, the famulus of Arsinoe 
 
 Zephyritis. Apollod. iii. 12. 4 iSavhv jiiv olv 'Hms dpn-ao-atra fit' tpaTa 
 els AldtoTTiav KOfii^u' KciKei ovvfKQovtra yevva naibas *H/iadtfi>i/a Kal Mefivova, 
 
 Emathion is connected with Arabia (Apollod. ii. 5. 1 1), and seems etymo- 
 logically to be derived from H/mSos, ' he of the sands,' a name which would 
 well describe an ostrich. Memnon was himself mythically associated 
 with- a bird, the Memnon or Memnonis, and there would thus be less 
 impropriety in making him the brother either of an ostrich, or of a hero 
 identified with one. Or this bird which was fabled to spring from the 
 funeral-pyre of Memnon (Ouid. M. xiii. 600-619, Am. i. 13. 3, 4 sic 
 Memnonis umbras Annua solenni caede parentet auis), and which is des- 
 cribed as a very black species of hawk (Aelian H. A. v. i, Anecdota Paris, 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXVL 305 
 
 Bekkeri ii. p, 25 OiSc Spvets oi Mf/u/ovos yivos n^v Tav iie\avTaT(ov AlOionav 
 "ct . . , Kal ihv ano tS>v nrepvyav ^X"" afT'So)" ov ns anefdafie ktvttovj, 
 
 may be in this sense the only child of the Aeihiop Memnon. There would 
 be a propriety in describing such a bird as the attendant of Arsinoe 
 Aphrodite, because the hawk is a frequent emblem of Athor, the Egyptian 
 Venus (Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians c. xiv. p. 206). nutantibus, 
 'flapping.' Apuleiusvi. i^libratis pinnarumnutaniium motibtis of the eagle 
 that carried off Psyche. 
 
 64. Arsinoes, the sister wife of Ptolemy Philadelphus, whom he 
 married after banishing his first wife, Arsinoe daughter of Lysimachus. 
 She was deified as Aphrodite Arsinoe, and a temple was built to her on 
 the Zephyrian promontory by Callicrates, as recorded in an epigram of 
 
 Poseidippus ap. Athen. 318 ToJto kA iv rnvrta koI en-l x^o"' '^f *«Xa8f\(^ou 
 KiwpiSor WaaKfaff Upbv 'Ap(nv6r)c. 'Hv dvoKoipaveovirav eTrl Zf<lmpijidos aKTrji 
 UpSyros 6 vaiapxos BtjKaTO KaKKiKpdrrjs. 'H 6c Km fiirKotriv fimo-ft koI x^'^I""'^ 
 pea-<ra TA nXdrv Xio-tro/ieVots cKXiiravfl ne\ayos. Hecker Comment, on Anthol. 
 
 Graec. p. 73 quotes Schol. Ven. Ii. xiii. 703 UTeXtpaios ds tA rqs 'hpaivdrfs 
 xCKidpovpov i^x^Xidporpov Bekker) repfvos peXavas ivriKt jSowf and Schol. Theocr. 
 xvii. 123 'O HKa&i\<\>os oiros <oKoS6pri(Te KoX rap •yowmj/ dpxjtorepav TrappeyeSri 
 va6v Koi Toii dheK<\)aK 'Apa-worj icui ^iXmrepa as showing that her worship was 
 widely diffused. From her temple at Zephyrium, she seems to have been 
 called Zephyritis (57) Athen. 318, Steph. Byz. s.u. Zeipipmv. tort kcu aKpa rij? 
 
 AlyvTTTov' d(j) 5e ^ 'AtjypoSiTTi kcu 'AptttvSrf Ze(j)vpiTcs, as KaWipaxos. From 
 
 Hesych. 'in-iria* T) 't'tXaSfXtjiov 'Apvivdrj it wouM Seem that she was fond of 
 horses; she was also devoted to unguents and perfumery Athen, 689. 
 IiOcridOB, Bentley's conjecture for elocridicos of MSS. (compare x°i-P'^'>X°^ 
 for ;(oi(i)tXor, opxit^oxoi for ipxiKos Meineke Anal. Alex. p. 40), was explained 
 by Bentley of the Pentapolis or Cyrenaica, where there was in very early 
 times a Locrian settlement, Aen. xi. 265 Libycone habitantis litore Locros ?, 
 and where the Ptolemies gave their names to three cities, Ptolemais, the 
 earlier Barca, Berenice, before Hesperides, Arsinoe, before Teucheira: 
 A Zephyrian promontory is included in this region by Ptolemy iv. 4. 5 ; 
 hence Locridos might suggest Arsinoe's title Zephyritis, whether she was 
 so called from this Zephyrium (Bentley), or as seems more probable, was 
 connected by the name with every Zephyrian promontory within the 
 domains of the Ptolemies. From Eustathius on Dionys. Perieg. 21 Aontpos 
 
 pkv yap 8ia Toiis AoKpoiis KaXeirai o 2€(f)\>pos, o ierri AoKpiKds* KoBdrrep ^lapaptKos 
 6 Boppds iv Tols i^fjs djrA 'lapdpov 7ro'Xfo)f, cf. Schol. there a>inr€p QprftKiov 
 rhv Boppav, evrai koi AoKp6v tAv Zi(j)vpou KKr/Teov, it WOUld seem that the 
 
 words Aofcpir and fe0w/)o9 might connote each other ; and if this was 
 possible anywhere, it might be in Callimachus. Bernhardy on Dionys. 
 p. 532 thinks Callimachus transferred the name Locrian from the 
 Locri Epizephyrii on the S. E. coast of Italy, where there was a pro- 
 montory Zephyrium, to the Zephyrian promontory in Africa where 
 Arsinoe was deified ; a view which Hecker Comment, in Anth. Graec. 
 p. 73 explains to mean that Arsinoe, as worshipped on the African 
 Zephyrium, is supposed to have Zephyrus as her famulus, and as 
 Zephyrus was specially associated with the Locri Epizephyrii, the lady 
 mistress of Zephyrus is called from him Locrian. These explanations 
 are very doubtful : the opposition of Grata Catwpieis in 58 suggests as a 
 possibility that Locridos refers to the Locrians in Greece, with whom 
 
 X 
 
306 A COMMENTARY 
 
 Arsinoe ma^ have been in some way connected. ales equos, not the 
 Phoenix (Alex. Guarinus) nor Pegasus (Scaliger after a suggestion of 
 Muretus, and so Sherburne Translation of Manilius p. 28), who, though the 
 hoTse, is not the son, of Aurora (Lycophron 17); but either (i)Zephyrus, 
 who is described by Eurip. Phoen. 2 1 1 as wvoair 'mweitravros tV oipava, cf. 
 Val. Flacc. i. 610 quoted by Yvip. /undunl se car cere laeti Thraces equi, 
 Zephyrusque et nodi concolor alas Nimborum cum prole Nottis. Zephyrus 
 would then be the famulus of Arsinoe as he is of Cupido in Apul. v. 1 3 ; or 
 (2) an ostrich, as first suggested by the Italian poet Vincenzo Monti from 
 
 Paus. ix. 31 Kal 'Apa-ivSrjt iariv iv 'EX«mw eiKuv fjv JlToKefuCios eyrj/iev aSeXfjios 
 &v' rr\v fie 'Apa-Lvdrjv arpovdos <f)epeL X'^^'^V ™'' o.irTrjvtov* Trrepa fifv ye Koi avrat 
 Kara ravra rais aWoLs (l)vov(TiVj vtto fie ^dpovs Kal jieyedovs ovx out re eVny 
 
 avex^iv <r<j>as e'l t6v aepa to irrcpa. The Pentapolis was famous for its breed 
 of ostriches : Arsinoe, who, like her husband, would be interested in rare 
 or fine animals (see Athen. 200 where eight pairs of ostriches figure in 
 the grand procession of Ptolemy Philadelphus) and was fond of horses, 
 had perhaps tamed an ostrich to carry her : the same reason which caused 
 this to be represented in a work of art would associate the ostrich with 
 the deified Arsinoe as famulus or subordinate, as a doe is /amula of 
 Diana Sil. It. xiii. 124, and a pig famulus to the same goddess Ouid Met. 
 viii. 272 ; or (3) if umgefia=' only child,' the Memnon, or black hawk 
 described above may be meant. Bach view is open to objection. (1) If 
 Zephyrus is the winged horse, there is little force in Aethiopis; Callimachus 
 might perhaps call Zephyrus brother of Memnon but he would hardly add 
 an unmeaning epithet ; and Zephyrus though often represented winged 
 (Lucr. v. 736) is not often a winged horse ; and if he is, how would he take 
 the lock, and how would he deposit it in Venus' bosom ? (2) Ostriches 
 do not fly (Aelian H. A. ii. 27) ; Callimachus would be guilty of a grotesque 
 violation of fact in making one soar through the sky : in fact the very 
 passage of Pausanias which speaks of Arsinoe on an ostrich says that an 
 ostrich's wings cannot lift it into the air. (3) How could a hawk be called 
 ales equos ? As bearing a message not on land, but through the air ? or 
 as the best representative in bird-form of the horse, an animal peculiarly 
 favoured by Arsinoe ? Of the three theories the most plausible is perhaps 
 the second ; it is accepted by Orelli, Briiggemann, Haupt. Its grotesque- 
 ness would not be felt much in Egypt, perhaps would actually recommend 
 it ; and even in Rome at a later period a peacock carries the Empress 
 Faustina to heaven, as represented on a coin in Donaldson's Architectiu-a 
 Numismatica p. 183. As to its flying, Flavins Vopiscus in his life of 
 Firmusc. 6 says Sedentem ingentibus struthionibus uectum esse et quasi uoli- 
 tasse. There is besides (cf. Claudian in Eutrop. 310) a peculiar force in 
 Memrumis Aethiopis, if an ostrich is meant : for the Aethiopian ostriches 
 were celebrated (Plin. x. i. i) : on the other hand nothing could be a 
 better description of an ostrich than 'a winged horse,' an expression 
 which would also allude to the partiality of Arsinoe for horses, and, if 
 Hyginus represents a distorted fact, for horse-racing. 
 
 55. aetherias umbras, implying that it was night. Aen. v. 838 Cum 
 leuis aether iis delapsus somnus ab astris Aera dimmiit tenebrosum et dispulit 
 umbras. 
 
 56. Veneris, for Arsinoe was identified with Venus, as 'K^pohin^ 
 'Apa-ivdri ; . SO Ariadne was Aphrodite Ariadne, Plut. Thes. 20, cf. 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXVI. 307 
 
 'HpaKKijs eefiiaav Athen. 289, 'htppohirr) Aaiila (Lobeck Paralipomena p. 
 
 57. eo legarat, 'had dispatched on that service.' Most. iii. 2. 96 
 Quo me miseras adfero omne inpetratum. Vatin. vi. 15 -£0 impulisset quod 
 esset oblitterandum. famulum, if Zephynis is meant, cf. Apul. v. 6 
 illi iuo famulo praecipe Zephyro simili uectura sorores hue mihi sistat 
 (Valck.) : if, as I think, some bird, cf. Aelian H. A. i. 47 of the raven dtpi.- 
 irav 'A'it6K\wvos, Porphyrius de Abstinentia iii. ^'OpviBes toU dvBpanrois ela-i. k^- 
 pvKes aXXoi SWcav 6c&v' Aibt p.iv airhs, 'An-dXAmi/ot 8e Upa^ Km K6pa^, 'Upas 8e 
 TTCAapyis, Adrjvas 8e ai Kpt^ re Koi y\av^, koL Armrjrpos ■ycpavos /cai aXXtui' SKKoi. 
 
 68. Lachmann's conjecture Graia seems certain : there is an antithesis 
 between Greece and Egypt : for this seems to be the meaning of Cano- 
 pieis. Solin. 31. i (Mommsen p. 153. 6, 7) Quod ab Atlante usque Canopi- 
 tanum ostium panditur , ubi Libyae finis est et Aegyplium limen, dictum a 
 Canopo Menelai gubernatore. There is the same opposition of birth-place 
 and place of living Aen. x. 719 Venerat antiquis Corythi de finibus Acron, 
 Graius homo. Canopus may also be selected as in the neighbourhood 
 of the territory called the Zephyrian plain-country (Zfi^vpioi/ ■ndi.a&a, Schol. 
 Od. iv. 563, quoted by Hecker u. s.) Cauopieis litoribus, a local abl. 
 See on LXIV. 300. 
 
 59. iuueni Ismario, Bacchus. Prop. iv. 17. 7, Ouid. F..iii. 513-516 
 Sintque tuae tecum faciam monumenta coronae, Vulcanus Veneri quam dedit, 
 ilia tibi. Dicta facit, gemmasque nouem iransformat in ignes. Aurea per 
 Stellas nunc micat ilia nouem. Milhngen pi. 26 gives a vase-picture in 
 which Ariadne holds a crown or wreath of gold, studded on each side 
 with pearls or precious stones. This crown was made by Vulcan. For 
 the various legends about it, see Hygin. P. A. 5. limine caeli, ' the 
 threshold of heaven,' i. e. the lower part of the sky in which the stars are 
 supposed to be fixed, and beyond which the gods dwell. Verg. E. v. 56 
 Candidus insuelum miratur limen Olympi Sub pedibusque uidet nubes et sidera 
 Daphnis. Attius similarly alto ab limine caeli, where the MSS. have lumine, 
 as here most of the MSS. of Catullus have numine. . 
 
 60. Ex Ariadueis temporibus taken from Ariadne's brows and 
 transferred to the sky. 
 
 61. corona. Apoll. R. iii. lOOI Oi fi« xai avroX 'Adavaroi. 0iXai/TO, fie'cra 
 oe oi aWept reKfjLap ^Aarepdfis (rref^avos, T^vre K\ciov(r ^Apidbjn]s, Hapw/p^os oiipa- 
 viois cveKiaa-eTai ftSoiKoicnv. Arat. Phaen. 71. 
 
 62. flaui, like Ariadne's, LXIV. 63. The parallel between Ariadne 
 and Berenice is a natural one, and was doubtless a favorite conceit 
 among the courtiers of Alexandria. exuuiae, used by Attius of the 
 skin of a beast (256, 446), here of the hair stripped from the head. Sen. 
 Hipp. 1 181. The Greek seems to be preserved here, oore </)d/3flf ^av6o- 
 Tdrais cKdpa (Callim. fr. 483 Blomf.) 
 
 63. 'Vmdulum for uindulum or uiridulum of MSS. would be like 
 Horace's uuida uestimenta (C. i. 5. 14) of garments dripping from the sea, 
 Plautus' uuidum rete Rud. v. 3. 5. But Ausonius Epigr. cvi. 4 speaking 
 of the dripping hair of Venus as painted by Apelles rising from the sea 
 says V mi dull s spumas stringit utraque comis, and umiduli is probably 
 right in Ouid A. A. iii. 629 : cf. Lucr. vi. 509 where Wakefield con- 
 jectures for uiuenti of MSS. umentia, which Lachmann accepts. a 
 fluctu can hardly refer, as Sillig thought, to the lock rising as a star 
 
 X 2 
 
308 A COMMENTARY 
 
 from the waves^ which it does afterwards (69, 70) : it only becomes a 
 star when received by Venus ; more probably the waves are introduced as 
 the natural transit to the sky, possibly with the farther notion suggested 
 by Voss of the souls of the dead passing through the ocean on their way 
 to another life, cf. Od. xxiv. 11, Hes. *E. k. 'h. 169. Hesych. 'Owai/oio 
 
 nopov' t6v aepa els ov at ^jnjxfii tS>v TeKevrtavTav ano^atpovaiVy an idea peculiarly 
 
 appropriate in a poem where the allusions are throughout Egyptian : for 
 the passage over a lake was a regular formality of Egyptian funerals and 
 only after such transmission could the soul be admitted to the regions 
 of the blessed (Wilkinson Ancient Egyptians ii. p. 420 Second Series). 
 The Alexandrian poets, as Meineke shows Anal. Alex. p. 156, habitually 
 called the horizon the Ocean, see the Schol. on Aratus Phaen. 56 'QKeavhv 
 
 t6v opl^ovTa 6 '^Aparos Xeyet iroiTjTtK&s, 
 
 65. Virginis . . . Iieonis. The stars which form the Coma Berenices 
 are above the tail of the Lion, and adjoin the right arm of the Virgin. 
 
 66. Callisto, daughter of the Arcadian Lycaon, having had inter- 
 course with Jupiter whilst in attendance on Diana, was metamorphosed 
 into a bear : the bear was killed and placed among the stars as Helice or 
 Ursa Maior. (Apollod. iii. 8. 2, Ouid. F. ii. 155 sqq.. Met. ii. 409 sqq.). 
 iuxta as contra in Ennius ap. Varr. L. L. vii. 1 2. But iuncia is an obvious and 
 plausible emendation. Iiycaoniam. Callim. H. lov. 4 1 Blomf. AuKaowV 
 
 apKTOto where Schol. ttjs irparju \eyofilvr\s KaXXioroOs, AuKaoi/os 8e 6vya.Tp6s, 
 
 67. Vertor in occasum, ' I wheel to my setting,' like Theocr. xxiv. 1 1 
 
 \p.os fie tTTpi(^iTm peaovvKTiov is dvatv apKTOs. tardUZH dux EUte BootOll, 
 
 ' leading the way in front of slow Bootes.' German. Aratea 139 Tardus 
 in occasum sequitur sua plaustra Bootes. 
 
 68. uix sero. The epithet tardily-setting applied to Bootes alludes to 
 the fact that his disappearance, ' inasmuch as the constellation is in a per- 
 pendicular position, occupies some time, whereas his rising is rapid, being 
 effected in a horizontal position.' Sir G. C. Lewis, Astronomy of the An- 
 cients p. 59. Homer speaks of Bootes as 01/^e Suoira BomT-Tji/ Od.v. 272. 
 
 60. Scaliger compares Arat. Phaen. 339 Bttav imo jroo-o-l ipopeiTca Ati'i/^- 
 avov 'HpiSavoio TroXvicKavarov iroTap.oTo. Manilius V. 1 4 seems to imitate 
 Catullus Premunt uestigia diuum Fluminaque errantes late sinuantia flexus 
 (Valck.). Plutarch Q. R. 76 Mtra t^v riKeurTfi av6i,s ai ^x"' '"V" c^^V'"!'' ""'^ 
 n-oSof eioviriv, Verg. E. V. 56. 
 
 70. Tethyi. German. Arat. 589. 
 
 71. Paoe tua, 'under correction from thee,' as Ouid. Pont. iii. i. 9 
 Pace tua dixisse uelim. Am. iii. 2. 60 Pace loquor Veneris, tu dea maior 
 eris. Bamuusia. See on LXIV. 395. The lock speaks under 
 correction of Nemesis, because she punishes excessive praise (dxaXira 
 Aeyeij/ Jacobs Anthol. Epig. p. 37), especially of things mortal as compared 
 with immortal or divine. If Callimachus knew the legend which made 
 the Telcbines, in some accounts the first workers of iron, the sons of 
 Nemesis (Bacchylides fr. 69 in Bergk's Poet. Lyr. Graeci), there might be 
 a particular meaning in this mock-heroic invocation of the goddess : the 
 poet would then say ' without any offence to the goddess who punishes 
 proud words, and is the ultimate cause of my being severed from the 
 head of my sovereign, I declare I would rather be there again than raised 
 to the dignity of a star.' 
 
 72. tegam, 'will veil.' timore is probably causal 'for fear;' 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXVL 309 
 
 conceivably it is instramental, tegam then='I will not bury under any 
 fear:' but see on LXV. 12. 
 
 73. Nee si=o48' A. This passage seems to prove that nec-=ne quidem 
 is not confined to writers of the Augustan and post-Augustan age. But 
 see Madvig de Fin. pp. 802-814. discerpent, not discerpant, is the 
 reading of the MSS, ' if they are to rend me,' not ' if they were to rend 
 me;' the future expresses an anticipation which is almost a realiza- 
 tion. Bentley wished to change dictis to dextris, an almost grotesque 
 personification of the stars, and besides unnecessary, as dictis might 
 already convey the idea : dictis for digitis is found in a fragment of 
 Lucilius ap. Non. 25, cf. dictum 117; but such trifling is here forced; 
 see Luc. Miiller on Lucil. xvii. i. Fore, quotes no instance of &«r- 
 pere used in this sense of defaming ; but carpere is often thus used, 
 carpere sermonibus Liv. vii. 12, uocibus Caesar B. G. iii. 17, cf. Cic. Balb. 
 xxvi. <,1 In conuiuiis rodunt, in cir cutis uelticant, non illo inimico sed hoc 
 maledico dente carpunt : similarly yawa distrahi Tac. Ann. iii. 10. 
 
 74. i. e. Non tegam timore uera quin euoluam condita ueri pectoris a 
 construction like Prop. i. 8. 21 Nam me non ullae poterunt corrumpere 
 tedae Quin ego, uita, tuo limine uera querar, ' that it should prevent me 
 from unwrapping the secrets of a sincere heart.' Condita is here a sub- 
 stantive, as under the Empire, when it was used =' magazines,' 'store- 
 houses.' euoluam, Cic. de Orat. ii. 86. 350 euolutum illis integumentis 
 dissimulationis tuae nudatumque. 
 
 75,6. me afore . . . Afore me, a remarkable inversion. 
 
 77,8. 'With whom I, as I was a stranger to all unguents while 
 Berenice was in the former time of her virginity, so I have since drained 
 in her company unguents many a thousand.' The two periods are con- 
 trasted by quondam, associated by una. The lock had always been with 
 her mistress, alike in the ardess simplicity of her girlhood, and in the 
 luxurious profusion of her married hfe : and this is why it is so hard to 
 leave her (discrucior). Omnibus expers unguentis conveys by allusion the 
 farther idea of artlessness and innocence : hoKeph jxiv ra eiiiara, SoXepa Se 
 TO xpi'/""" was proverbial Clem. Alex. i. p. 294 Sylburg, Herod, iii. 22, 
 Plut. Q. R. 26, Symp. iii. i, de Herod. JVEalign. 28 : which Miiller con- 
 siders to be a peculiarly Dorian feeling (Dorians iv. 2. 5). For the use 
 of unguents in marriages cf. Lysist. 943, Plut. 529 Ovre fiipota-iv p-vpla-ai 
 
 (TTOKTOiS, SnoTav vip,(j>r)v ayayrjaBov, Xen. Symp. ii. 3 Ai fievrui yvvaiKes, aXXois 
 Te Kai ^v vvii(j)ai tvxoxtiv ovaai, pvpov fiiv n Koi ■npofrhiaivr av. See A. 
 
 Miiller on Acharn. 1054. Other views are (i) to refer omnibus expers 
 ^ Vugueutis to the time at which the lock is speaking, ' in whose company 
 I, that now am robbed of all unguents, (Huebner Inscriptt Hisp. 172. 15 
 Di immor tales experiem patria incolumitate fortunisque omnibus faxint), 
 drank in many thousand unguents while she was yet a maid.' (2) That of 
 Munro, who reading ex pars for expers translates ' with which head, while 
 my queen was in the time of her virginity, I, a part of that head, absorbed 
 in its company many thousands from among every kind of unguent.' (3) 
 That of Lachmann, who changed unguentis \.o unguenti si ; omnibus expers 
 Vvould then mean ' strange to all lovers,' (Muretus, Orelli), not ' free from 
 every care ' (Briiggemann) ; for unguenti milia multa cf. LXL 203. The 
 clause Quicum ego si una milia multa bibi vvould then become the protasis 
 to which Nunc uos is the apodosis. (4) To change expers into expersa, 
 
310 A COMMENTARY 
 
 (Heinsius and Conington). Catullus admits hypermeter in hexameters 
 LXIV. 298 naiisque, CXV. e, paludesque, Lucretius has v. 849 concurrere 
 debere, Callimachus ^fiiav 8" oiic olS Epigr. 42. r. On all these four views the 
 period of maidenhood is contrasted with the period since marriage as a 
 time of unguents with a time when unguents ceased. But this exactly 
 inverts the fact, for if Berenice, used unguents as a girl she would use 
 them a fortiori as a queen ; though no doubt the time during which the 
 lock had belonged to her as queen had been short compared with the 
 previous period of girlhood. 
 
 79-88. ' I now call upon you, newly-wedded brides, to show your con- 
 sideration for me by withholding from your lords their nuptial rights till 
 you have first offered unguents to me ; I speak to the good alone, for if 
 any adultress aiakes such an offering, let it perish : I seek not rewards 
 from the vile : though my hope is that you may live in love and harmony 
 with your husbands.' 
 
 80. post, ' hereafter ; ' non must be taken in close connexion with this. 
 Whatever you may have done before, remember that you must not here- 
 after gratify your husbands, without paying an acknowledgment to me. 
 unanimis, IX. 4. 
 
 81. nudantes, ' baring the nipples of your breasts by tliTtwiag back 
 your robe.' Lucilius ap. Varr. de L. L. vi. 69 Quae cum ad me cubitum 
 uenit, sponte ipsa suapieit Adducta ut tunicam et cetera reiceret. 
 
 82. munera. Callim. fr. 106. 1-3 Blomf. Koi yap tym tA \i.iv oo-o-a 
 
 Kaprjan ttj/ws tStoKa, SavOa trvv eioS/iots aKpoKarTi (ciKpa XiVi; O. Schneider) 
 
 iTTfcj)dvois, "Attvou -navT iyevovTo jrapa^pij/i'. onyx, the stone, not the gem : 
 it was found chiefly in Arabia. Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 60 JIunc aliqui lapidem 
 alabastriten uocant quem cauant et ad uasa unguentaria, quoniam aptum 
 seruare incorrupta dicatur. Possibly Catullus may use onyx to translate 
 uXd^aoTpos; a word used by Callimachus L. P. 13, 15. 
 
 83. Vester onyx, quae, ' your vase alone, ye who.' The repetition 
 of uester as well as the sudden address in the second person are quite 
 Callimachean. So L. P. 40, 41 Kptioi/ 8" As Spos axlaaTo, Kptlov Spos. 
 iura, the rights of a wife; cf. LXI. 144-6. 
 
 85. ' Ah, may the light dust drink in her vile gifts that they may be in 
 vain,' i.e. may her offerings of .oil or unguents be absorbed by the 
 ground and not reach the deity for whom they are meant. This seems 
 to be the idea : it is perhaps modelled on the proverbial vSap koX yaia 
 
 yivourSe II. vii. 99, which Hesychius explains as huAv6eir)Te km mroddvoire, 
 
 and for which ApoUonius substitutes k6vis Koi yaia iyivovro iv. 1408; 
 cf. €(s Te(t>pav ypii(j)etv. Propertius ii. 16. 46 prays that a rival lover's gifts 
 of robes and gems may be carried off by storms and so be changed to 
 earth and water: cf. Tib. i. 9. 11, 12 At deus ilia In cinerem et liquidas 
 munera uertat aquas, 
 
 87. magis, LXVIII. 30, LXXIII. 4. Q. Catulus ap. Gell. xix. 9. 3, 4 
 Ne illunc fugitiuum Mitteret ad se intro, sed magis eiceret. 
 
 88-04. ' Do you, Berenice, when you make offerings in the evening to 
 Venus, remember to extend your bounty to me, your faithful servant, who 
 would still rather be a lock on your head than hold a place among the stars.' 
 
 89. tuens sidera, looking on the stars at evening: this explains festis 
 luminibus, no doubt the lamps lighted in honour of the goddess. Hero- 
 dotus ii. 62 speaks of such a \vxvQii.ata at Sais. 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXVL 311 
 
 ©1. Sanguinis, from the victims offered on the occasion. Herodotus 
 ii. 62 speaks of sacrifice accompanying the XvxvoKatd. Horace mentions 
 victims offered to Venus C. i. 19. 16, iv. 11. 8. But there is much proba- 
 bility in Bentley's conjecture Vnguinis. iusseris for uestris of MSS. 
 seems to me more probable than Scaliger's siueris or Lachmann's siris. 
 For non iusseris, 'thou shall not command '=' see thou command not,' 
 see Drager p. 287. Non/eceris for nefeceris is condemned by Quintilian 
 i. 5- 50- tuum, ' thy servant,' Men. v. 7. 39, masc. as in Vutdulum 63. 
 The rhythm is like 63 a<f iempla deum me. 
 
 92. afflce muneribus, an expression of prose. Cic. ad Fam. ii. 3. 2, 
 Nep. Ag. 3. 
 
 93. 4. ' Would that the stars might fall together in a crash ! let me 
 become a lock on a royal head ; then let Orion shine next to Aquarius ; ' 
 i. e. to be once more a lock on the head of my sovereign, I would gladly 
 see all the stars thrown into confusion. 
 
 94. Orion and Aquarius instead of being, the former, a southern sign 
 near the Bull and the Dog, the latter a zodiacal sign between Capricornus 
 and the Fish, may for aught I care be close to each other. Hydro- 
 choi, dat. 'Yipoxotl for which Aratus 389 has 'xhpoxorfi. Germanicus 
 Arat. 382 uses Hydrochoos as nomin. fulgeret, imperf. oifulgere, not 
 pres. oi fulgerare, though the latter word might well suit the flashing 
 sword and belt of Orion, fulgeret returns to the tense of corruerent; the 
 construction is like XXIII. 22 Siieras fricesque, Non posses : cf. VI. 2, 3. 
 Tib. i. 8. 22 Et faceret, si non aera repulsa sonent. Oarion, as in 
 Corinna fragm. 2. 2 Bergk, Find. fr. 50, Callim. H. Dian. 265 Blomf. 
 
 EXCURSUS ON LXVI. 
 Passages speaking of the BipevUtji HKoKa/ios. 
 
 Eratosthenis Catasterism. xii 'op&vrai imp airov (Leonem) iv Tpiyinnf 
 
 Kara t^k KtpKov dpavpo) iiTTa, oX KoKovvrai n\6Kapoi Bepci'iKijs EifpyiriSos. Also 
 
 in the Vienna Scholia on Aratus p. 411 in vol. i. of Buhle's edition. 
 Hipparchus in the Catalogue of Fixed Stars inserted in Ptolemy's Syntaxis 
 vii. 5 several times alludes to the nXoxafior : thus under oi nepl rbv Kiovra 
 
 dp6p<p6noi he says t^s ficra^ii tS>v aKpav Tov \iovros Kal Trjs apKTov ve<j)(\otiSovs 
 avarpoKpiJ! jcnXoujUKVi); TrXdica/ios to fiopei&rarov. Again t&v voriav tov 7r\oKdpov 
 '^"X™" V ^poriyovnevri. Again darepes I &« devrepov fieyedovs u, nejiirrov S, Koi 6 
 
 trKoKapos. Again under oi wep\ roij lx6vas dpopfjxaroi he adds at the end 
 KOI 6 wKoxapos t^a tov dpi6p.ov. The concluding words of the catalogue 
 are koI 6 liKoKapms. Hyginus P. A. ii. 24 Sunt aliae septem stellae ad 
 caudam Leonis in triangulo collocatae, quas crines Berenices esse Canon 
 Santius Mathematicus et Callimachus dicit ; cum Ptolemaeus Berenicent 
 Ptolemcui et Arsinoes filiam sororem suam duxisset uxorem, et paucis post 
 diebus Asiam oppugnatum profectus esset, uouisse Berenicem, si uictor 
 Ptolemaeus redisset, se detonsuram crinem ; quo uoto damnatum crinem in 
 Veneris Arsinoes Zephyritidis posuisse templo, eumque posiero die non com- 
 paruisse ; quod factum cum rex aegre ferret, Conon mathematicus, ut dnte 
 diximtis, cupiens inire gratiam regis dixit crinem inter sidera uideri 
 collocatum ; et quasdam uacuas a figura septem Stellas osiendit, quas esse 
 
312 A COMMENTARY ■ 
 
 fingeret crinem. Hanc Berenicem nonnuUi cum Callimacho dixemnt i^uos 
 alere et ad Olympiad mittere consuetam fuisse. Alii dicunt hoc ampliui, 
 Plolemaeum Berenices patrem multitudine hosiium perterriium fuga saluten 
 
 ,pe(isse ; filiam autem saepe consuetam insiliisse in equum etreliquam exercitus 
 copiam consiituisse el compltires hosiium interfecisse, reliquos in fugam 
 coniecisse, pro quo etiam Callimachus earn magnanimam dixit. Era- 
 
 ■Josthenes autem dicit et uirginibus Lesbiis dotem quam cuigue relic lam aparente 
 nemo solueret, iussisse reddi ; et inter eas consiituisse petilionem. Strabo 3 
 Tov B€p€vUr}s TrXonaiiov Koi tov Kdvco^ov e)^6es Kal Trparjv KaTQ}VOfia(r[ievov. Pliri. 
 
 ,H. N. ii. 178 Nec'Canopum {uidet) Italia et quem meant Berenices crinem. 
 Tatianus contra Graecos p. 149 ed. Paris. 1615 Justini Martyris Ti's iarw 
 
 ■0 BepeiiiKTis -nKoKajios, irov 8e 01 aarepes aur^i irpXv T17J' TrpoeiprjfUvrjv q.ito6av(iv ; 
 
 Theon Scholiasta in Arati Phaen. i46''A7rXooi" tovt€(ttu> dKaTavopaarol elm 
 
 • Kai ov avp.7iKr]povvTat. els tvttov i^ avrav* oi Se rjXaKaTTjv avTrjv \eyovfn. Kova)i/ fie 
 6 p,a6rjpaTLK6sj Urokeiiaia xapi^6fievosj BepovUrjs viKoKafiov e^ avTov KaTrjtJTfpKre' 
 TovTo Kai KaX\ipa^os ttou t^j^crtc *Hfie Kovav fi e^Xeyj/ev tv rjepi t6v BepovlKr]S 
 ^narpvxov out apa Kcivrj ■naa-iv tSrjKe Beo'unv. Pfoclus de Sphaera XV Bdptia 8e' 
 ifTTiVj oVa TOV rSav ^(odloiv kvkXov irpbs apKTOvs Ketrai . . . deXTatrdUf Koi 6 vtTTepov 
 KaTr)a-Tepi(7p.evos viro KaXXi/iap^ov BepeinKris nXoxanos. Achilles Tatius IsagOge 
 
 in Arati Phaenom. p. 134 of Petavius' Uranologium 'o pev do-rfip koL aa-rpov' 
 
 -ovKCTi fie TO dvaiToKiv' 6 pAvToi KaAXtjLta;^o( (codd. ^av /leVrot 6 KaKKlpaxoi) 
 
 TlpXv dcTTepi T© BepevLKtjs 
 iiri. TOV TrXoKOftov (jytjcTtv bs e^ ewTa KaTa(j)avSiV ovyKeiTat. tovtov fie tov ;rXo- 
 ^Kapov ovK oiSev ApaTos' TrapeTrjptfoe fie Kovtav 6 padrjpaTtKAs. Hesych, 
 Bfpm'dijs nXoKOfios' . TOVTOV KaTTjOTepioBai <^rja\ Kdmov. NonnUS Sui/aymyij 
 
 ia-Topimv in editione Etonensi 16 10 S. Gregorii Nazianzeni in Julianum 
 
 Inuectiuarum duarum p. 159 'ApidSvi] dvydTrjp irrrjpxe Mivmos TOV KpriT&v 
 ^aaikecos' avTrj rjpdadrj Qqfreojs Tov ^hOrivaiav ^atrCKews, eKBovTOS iir dvaipea-ei tov 
 MivaiTavpov' eK tov ovv Orja-eas eXa/3ev avTrjv 6 Atovwfros Kai dvrjyayev 4v TJj Na^a> 
 Koi (TWepiyrj avTfj' Koi irpos Tiprjv ain^s, aTeCJxivov iv to ovpava St* dtTTepav 
 ime^taypatprja-ei/. fj fie tov TrXoKdpov r^s Bepoi/iKTjs eariv airnj' BepovUi) yvvrj tls tjv 
 'Tov eV * AXe^avdpia UroXejuatou Tov ILvepyeTov ka\ovpevov. tov ovv dvdpos avTtjs 
 •TOV IlroXejLtatou ovtos ev ItoXepoiSj rjv^arOj oti el VTroorpe^et aTptcTos Twv likoKa^ 
 fLiav tS>v eavTTjs ajroKappa dvadijoet dvddrjfia ev tS lep^' Kai avedrjKev 1) BepoviKrj 
 TOV liKoKapov diroKetpaa'a tov eavT7)s imooTpe^avros tov UroXepalnv. K6va>v de tcs 
 -a/v dtrrpovopos ent Tav avTrfS ;tpoi't»v 6 (1. os) irpos KuXaKeiav auT^s <l>rj(rtv Sri oi 
 BeoX TOV TrXdKafiov tovtov ev oaTpots dvedijKav. Koi vvv euTi rts ^orpvoteidrfs Beats 
 doTepmv ev rm ovpavm o KoKovot 7r\6<apov BepovUrjs. (Also in Villoison's Anec- 
 
 ■dota i. p. 90.) Scholiasta Germanici Arat. p. 72 ed. Breysig. Videnlur aliae 
 itixta caudam eius stellae obscurae septem quae uocantur crines Berenices Evep- 
 "yeVifios. Dicuntur et earum uirginum quae Lesbo perierunt : cf. ibid. 132. 
 Meyer Anthol. Lat. 1565. 8-ii, Riese 916 E Beronicaeo detonsum uertice 
 trinem Retulii esuriens Graecus in asira Conon. Gentia, rapla tibi fiat 
 toma protenus astrum, Et regal Illyricas certior Vrsa rales. 
 
 ' Valckenaer considers this a mistake, and thinks that Hyginns has here confused 
 Berenice, tlie wife of Ptolemy Euergetes, with a Berenice or Pherenice, the daughter of 
 Diagoras of Rhodes, who, as daughter mother and sister of men who had conquered at 
 Olympia, obtained a special permission to witness the games. Ael. V. H. x. i. But 
 if Arsinoe, the wife of Philadelphus, was called hnria, as Hesychins says, a term which 
 would imply fondness for horses and probably skill in managing them, may not 
 Berenice have had the same taste and shown it by sending horses, to Olympia ? 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXVIL 313 
 
 LXVII. 
 
 The obscurities which surround this poem are so considerable that it 
 seems hopeless to do more than sketch in outline the story which it con- 
 tains, leaving the subordinate points undecided. 
 
 A house, probably in Verona (34) had belonged for some time to an 
 old man named Balbus, who seems to have been unmarried, as may be 
 inferred from 6 Postquam es porrecto facta marita sent. During his life 
 it was free from scandal, which is expressed in the words ' the door of 
 the house was the kindly servant of its master,' 3, 4. On his death it 
 came into the possession of a newly-married couple, and soon grew 
 scandalous. The chief of these scandals was that the wife had committed 
 incest with her husband's father, whence the door is sarcastically des- 
 cribed in I as iocunda uiro, iocunda parenii. She had in fact not been 
 a virgin at the time when she entered the house as a bride ; but had 
 previously committed incest with her husband's father at Brixia. Brixia 
 was also the scene of several other adulteries, with a Postumius, a 
 Cornelius, and a tall man whose name is suppressed, but who had been 
 attacked in the law-courts on a question of supposed pregnancy. 
 
 The chief difficulty of the poem is to determine the relation of the 
 persons mentioned in 3, 9. (i) Is Balbus simply the first tenant of the 
 house afterwards occupied by the scandalous pair? or is he otherwise 
 connected with them? (2) Is Caecilius the impotent husband of 20, or 
 a second husband, or merely third in the series of tenants into whose 
 hands the house had successively passed ? 
 
 (i) Nothing connects Balbus necessarily with any part of the scandal. 
 So long as he occupied the house, the door was faithful to its master : 
 it is only after his death that it loses its former character and becomes 
 disreputable (piuiata feraris In dominum ueterem deseruisse fidem). 
 To suppose with Doering that Caecilius is the adoptive son and heir 
 of Balbus, is a gratuitous hypothesis, not supported by the descrip- 
 tion of the father and son in 23-26, and inconsistent with the general 
 tenour of the poem and the probabilities of the case. If the incest 
 spoken of in 23-26 was committed by Balbus, how is it that the 
 house did not become scandalous while Balbus was still living in it? 
 or how could it be true that the same door was successively loyal to 
 the aged adulterer, false to the youthful husband of the adulteress ? 
 on the other hand to suppose with Schwabe (Quaestt. p. 347) that the 
 Balbus of 3 is the Caecilius of 9 — that this Caecilius Balbus, a native 
 of Brixia, was admitted into the house of an old Veronese, who at his 
 death left it with the rest of his property to him, is improbable (a) as 
 dissevering Balbo 3 from senex 4 ; (3) as weakening the natural force 
 olcui tradita nunc sum 9, words which suggest that Caecilius was the new, 
 as opposed to Balbus, the former, owner. 
 
 (2) The form of the expression ita Caecilio placeam, cui tradita 
 nunc sum 9 can scarcely apply to the cajoled husband described in 
 20. The door has just been taxed with treachery to its master (8), 
 it replies, ' My new master will find no cause to distrust me : I will 
 explain how it is that I seem culpable. The guilty wife was guilty 
 before she came here, as all Brixia knows: and the reason of her 
 
314 A COMMENTARY 
 
 guilt was her husband's impotence. This and her other crimes I know, 
 not because I am told all the secrets of Brixia, but because I used to 
 overhear the woman's own confessions.' Catullus had contrasted the 
 condition of the house under its first owner Balbus and under its later 
 tenants the guilty wife and her husband (1-8) : it would be weak, after 
 this, to represent the door as wishing to please the very master to whom 
 it had already done the deepest disservice. Hence Caecilius cannot be 
 the impotent husband described in 20. But it is still a question whether 
 he is merely the third owner of the house, or besides this the second 
 husband of the woman. The words uirpriorm. zomight seem to implya 
 former husband; this husband may have died or divorced his wife ; Caeciliun 
 had married her and in doing so become the new master of the hoiwe. If 
 this is so, Catullus, we must suppose, holds his dialogue with the door just 
 after the new marriage : he has heard of the scandals cownected with its last 
 master, and inquires the reason ; the door, in explaining, intipiates that a 
 new state of things has now set in and «3cpresses a hope that all may be 
 decorous for the future. Ttet Caecilius is not merely the new tenant, 
 seems also to follow from the interest which Catullus continues to take 
 in the Jbouse, Nos uolumus, nobis dicere ne duhita, words which show that 
 he. has a personal interest in its inmates, no doubt as himself one of the 
 woman's admirers ; whether an unsuccessful one taking his revenge (as 
 Alex. Guarinus thought) in this exposure, or an aspirant who hopes to 
 frighten a vicious woman into compliance, is uncertain. 
 
 Three stages, on this view, are traceable — , 
 
 r. Before the woman occupied the house, whilst she still lived at 
 Brixia. 
 
 2. Her first entrance into the house, as the bride or wife of an im- 
 
 potent husband. 
 
 3. When she was married to her new husband Caecilius. 
 
 A simpler, but in my view less tenable hypothesis, is as follows : An 
 old man Balbus owns a house at Verona. He is the father of a son 
 Caecilius, who at his death succeeds to the ownership of the house and 
 brings into it with him his newly-married wife. The wife, who was 
 supposed to be a virgin at the time of her marriage, had however pre- 
 viously committed incest with her husband's father in his house at Verona, 
 as well as at Brixia, the scene of several other scandalous amours. 
 On this view 1-8 might be paraphrased thus : ' Door, who, if scandal 
 says true, have favoured a father's illicit passion for his son's wife, who 
 while old Balbus lived and occupied you as master, lent yourself to his 
 incestuous purpose, and when at his death his son Caecilius entered you 
 as a bridegroom turned round and betrayed your new master, explain this 
 change of conduct.' The door repUes, ' If I seem to favour my first 
 master's passion, and betray my new one, it is because the facts of the 
 case are not accurately known. Caecilius' wife was not a virgin when 
 he brought her here : his father had anticipated the marital duties of his 
 languid son, and the reputed noua nupta had lost her virginity before her 
 marriage. This was known at Brixia, where she has had other par- 
 amours. Scandal naturally followed her when she came to Verona.' 
 
 The personal part sustained by the house-door need not surprise us. 
 As I have observed on the Attis, the threshold and the door were 
 peculiarly associated in the ancient world with ideas of love and therefore 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXVIL 315 
 
 of scandal. Serenades sung by Greek lovers at the house-door of their 
 mistress had a special name irapaKKavaiBvpov, a humorous specimen of 
 which is to be found in the Ecclesiazusae of Aristophanes 950-975. But 
 Catullus would remember many similar scenes in the literature of his own 
 country; compare e. g. the words of Plautus Cure. i. 15 sqq. Fleckeisen 
 
 Phaedr. Huic proxumum illut ostiumsl oculissimum. 
 
 Salue : ualuistine usque oculissimum ostium ? 
 Palin. Caruiine /ebris ie heri uel nudiusterlius, 
 
 Ei heri cenauistine f 
 Phaedr. Deridesne me? 
 
 Palin. Quid lu ergo, insane, rogiias ualeaine ostium? 
 Phaedr. Bellissumum hercle uidi et taciturnissimum : 
 
 Numquam ullum uerbum muttit : quom aperitur, tacet, 
 
 Quomque ilia nociu clanculum ad me exit, tacet. 
 
 And a similar personification of a door Asin. ii. 3. 10 
 
 Ita haec morata ianuast: extemplo ianitorem 
 Clamat procul si quem uidet ire ad se calcitronem, 
 
 Propertius i. 16. 17-48 makes the door of Cynthia recall in a soliloquy 
 the serenade which he had addressed to her before it ; Ovid in one of the 
 most famous of his Amores (i. 6) represents himself stationed aU Jiig^ at 
 fhe door <of CoriniHrit Aowae, and ^amiy wflitsilm g ^le potter to admit 
 him. 
 
 1. iocuuda, ironical, ' you that are welcome to the husband's father 
 as well as to the husband himself/ in allusion to 23-26. iocunda as 
 in LXIL 26 of connubial delights, dulci, ' darling,' or ' well-beloved,' as 
 husbands ought to be : similarly ironical LXXVIII. 3, C. 4. The form 
 of the expression is ingeniously ambiguous, suggesting that the uir and 
 the parens are identical. 
 
 2. auctet. Amphit. Prol. 6 Bonoque atque amplo auctare perpetuo lucre; 
 also in Lucretius. The whole line is imitated by Ouid. F. 1.612 Et quod- 
 cunque sua luppiter auget ope. 
 
 3. seruisse benigue, 'yielded ungrudging service,' Plin. Epist. vii. 24. 
 8 Domus C. Cassi seruiet domino non minor i. 
 
 4. 'In old times whilst the old man was himself the tenant of his 
 home.' ipse, in opposition to the subsequent tenants, senex, Balbus. 
 
 5. ' And who afterwards, they say, lent yourself to the service of an 
 ill-aflfected vow,' whether of its new mistress, not to submit to the dictation 
 of an impotent husband, or some paramour, bent on a criminal purpose. 
 It was a common practice with lovers to make vows at the door of their 
 mistress's house; see Theoc. xxiii. 35-46, Prop.i. 16, Mart. x. 13. 7, 8: 
 sometimes garlands or other tokens were left in the porch, as in Am. i. 6. 
 67, where Ovid maintains a dialogue, kept up all through the night, with 
 a ianitor, whom he cannot induce to unbar the gate which keeps him 
 from Corinna. A more complying ianitor we may perhaps suppose gave 
 admittance to the paramours of the lady introduced here by Catullus. 
 Others make uoto maligna ablative, ' with a grudging will : ' this agrees 
 better with benigne in 3, but hardly leaves uoto its proper amount of 
 meaning. 
 
316 A COMMENTARY 
 
 6. ' When the old man was laid out and you became the door of a 
 bride.' porrecto, as a corpse, Mart. ix. 85. 4 Sed mea porrexit spor- 
 tula, Paule, pedes. Pers. iii. 104 Tandemque beatulus alio Compositus lecto, 
 crassisque lutalus amomis Ad portam rigidos calces extendit. marita. 
 Liv. xxvii. 31 Vagabatur cum uno aut alkro cdmiie per maritas domos dies 
 noctesque. 
 
 7. mutata. Prop. ii. 14. 31 Quod si /arte aliqua nobis mutabere culpa. 
 
 8. ueterem with fldem. 
 
 9. ita, as I wish to please my new master. If this is the unfortunate 
 husband of 20-22, the words of the door can hardly be quite sincere: 
 which would not be out of keeping with the rest of the speech. More 
 probably however Caecilius is the third occupant of the house ; and the 
 door after losing its character under its second tenant expresses here its 
 anxiety to please its new and more reputable master. 
 
 10. Heroid. iii. 8 Culpa iua est, quamuis haec quoque culpa tua est. 
 
 11. pecoatum, participle; in Heaut. i. i. 106 it seems to be sub- 
 stantive, quisquam quicquam, Plautine. 
 
 12. ' But it'fe what the people say, Quintus, The door is the culprit.' This 
 is my correction of the corrupt MS. reading Verum isiius {isti) populi 
 ianua qui tefacit. Persius i. 42 uses os populi meruisse of a poet being 
 talked of by the people : cf. Phorm. v. 7. 18 Nam qui erit rumor populi si 
 idfeceris ? Olim cum honeste potuit turn non est data. Nunc uiduam extrudi 
 iurpe est, Pseud, i. 5. 4, ad Herenn. ii. 8. 12 Contra rumores dicemus primum 
 . . . et aliquam fictam fabulam in aduersarios afferemus, quam dicamus 
 omnibus in ore esse. Quinte, the conjecture of Scaliger, is not disproved 
 in my judgment by the arguments of Schwabe Quaestt. p. 15 sqq. The 
 praenomen might well be used by the door to a fellow-townsman (Sen. 
 Apocol. 6 Marci municipem uides where see Bucheler), especially to 
 one whom it wished to conciliate or cajole : Hor. S. ii. 5. 32, 6. 37. 
 ianua facit, with the double-entendre conveyed by /o^fr^ luuen. vii. 240, 
 Petron. 87 si quid uis, fac iterum. Mart. ix. 16. 2. Another possibility 
 would be to read Verum isti populo ianua, Quinte, facit, ' but the house- 
 door, Quintus, does sacrifice to your fine mob,' i. e. is sacrificed for the 
 offences of other people. In the Orat. pro Domo xxix. 77 the MSS. 
 read cum popuh fecisti not pro populo. The words would still convey a 
 double-entendre, ' the house-door does the deed in the judgment of the 
 inob.' 
 
 ■ 14. Qui . . . omnes. The collective noun populi is distributed by 
 omnes, cf. the instances quoted by Roby Latin Grammar ii. 1434. 
 
 15. uno dicere uerbo, 'just to say so and have done,' a slightly 
 different sense from the not uncommon one ' without more ado,' uno 
 uerbo omnia sana faciei Cato R. R. 157. 7, And. i. i. 18 Quin tu uno uerbo 
 die quid est quod me uelis ? 
 
 16. Viz. by detailing the facts at length. 
 
 17. Quisaut scit aut curat i' Phil. xiii. 16. 33. laborat, ' is anxious,' 
 so Horace S. ii. 8. 19 nosse laboro, Epist. i. 3. 2 scire laboro (Vulp.). 
 
 19. uirgo tradita, 'made over to us a maid,' i. e. a virgin-wife. 
 nobis, the house with its master and establishment. 
 
 20. non iUam uir prior attigerit. Either (i) 'To be sure, her first 
 husband did not touch her ; ' this assumes a second marriage : Non atti- 
 gerit concessively ; the negative particle non (not ne) is determined by 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXVIL 317 
 
 illam, as in LXVL 80 non by post: or (2) 'Her husband cannot have 
 been the first to handle her.' Prop. ii. 3. 25 Haec tibi contulerint caelestia 
 munera diui, ' must have contributed ; ' where as here some MSS. give the 
 pluperfect. On this latter view prior is in reference to the other person 
 to whom she lost her virginity : but Tibullus i. 4. 32 Qui prior Eleo est 
 car cere missus equus seems to use/irMr=before all the rest. 
 
 21. sicula seems —pugiunculus. It was probably distinct from secula 
 the Campanian word iox falx Varro L. L. v. 137. tenera, 'not full 
 grown.' Hor. S. i. 3. 116. beta. Suetonius mentions betissare-= 
 languere as one of the words used commonly by Augustus (Oct. 87). 
 Ponit assidue et pro stulto baceolum, et pro puHo puleiacium et pro cerrilo 
 uacerrosum et uapide se habere pro male et betissare pro languere quod 
 uulgo lachanizare dicitur. 
 
 22. tunicam, XXXIL 11, Ouid. Am. i. 7. 48 Aut tunicam summa 
 deducere turpiter ora Ad mediam, uses the word of Corinna's under-robe. 
 
 23. illiuB with pater not with gnati. 
 
 24. miseram, ' degraded,' the consequence of the incestuous act. 
 couBcelerasse, LXIV. 404 : Cicero has consceleratus as an adjective, but 
 not, it would seem, the verb. 
 
 25. caeco, ' headstrong,' Pis. xxiv. 57 Quae te, praedo amentissime, nisi 
 praedae ac rapinarum cupiditas tarn caeca rapiebat ? 
 
 26. iuers, 'listless,' ' cold,' Hor. Epod. 12. 17. iners sterili semine like 
 Falsum mendaci uentre 48. 
 
 27. unde unde, ' from somewhere or other,' ' no matter whence.' Hor. 
 S. i. 3. 88, cf Apul. M. V. 30 Nee uindictae solacium undeunde spernendum 
 est. 
 
 29. Egregium, ironical as in Aen. iv. 93. 
 
 30. minxerit. This disproves Doderlein's theory quoted by O. lahn 
 on Pers. i. 114 that meiere alone, not mingere, is used 'ubi obscene quis 
 uel cum risu loquitur.' The commentators compare Hor. S. ii. 7. 52 meiat 
 eodem, Pers. vi. 73 Patriciae immeiat uuluae, and the similar use of oipeiv. 
 Curtius connects /ioixos with mingere. nati gremium can hardly be 
 gremium uxoris nati (Hertzberg on Prop. iv. 3. 52) as if the wife's bosom 
 were the son's possession, (Ostenditque tuum, generose Britannice, uentrem 
 luuen. vi. 124 which Vulp. quotes is different); but the father who makes 
 a cuckold of his own son is said to make water into his son's lap, partly 
 with the contemptuous idea found also in KaTovpciv (Eccles. 832), partly 
 with the farther notion of the bride reclining in gremio mariti, luuen. ii. 
 120. 
 
 32. Brixia now Brescia, a town west of the Lago di Garda in the 
 territory of the Cenomani, a Gaulish tribe, who are mentioned as its 
 founders by Livy v. 35 Alia subinde manus Cenomanorum, Elitouio duce, 
 uestigia priorum secuta eodem saltu, fauente Belloueso, cum transcendisset 
 Alpes, ubi nunc Brixia ac Verona urbes sunt {locos tenuere Libui) considunt. 
 In XXXII. 30 he speaks of uicos Cenomanorum Brixiamque quod caput 
 gentis erat, whence it must have been the capital of the district. The 
 Chinaea specula is not known from any other authority; Cluverius 
 says it was a fort on the top of the hill overlooking the town, and 
 was included in it. The name is probably Celtic; specula in itself 
 need not imply more than a high summit capable of being used 
 as a place of observation, like the specula aerii monlis Verg. E, viii, 
 
318 A COMMENTARY 
 
 60, a (TKCfitit) irepujimvoiiha ivl \i>pf Hom. H. Ven. loo. siipposita 
 specula =^o«Va sub specula, abl. for dat. as subdere in Apuleius Met. 
 V. 20. 
 
 33. percTirrit. The Mella, now Mella, does not traverse Brlxia, but 
 flows a mile west of it. Hence Cluverius conjectured /ra^farr?/; others 
 have supposed Catullus to allude to a small stream called Garza which 
 flows through the city : Cluverius objects to this view that Philargyrius on 
 Verg. G. iv. 278 Mella amnis in Gallia Cisalpina uicinus Brixiae oritur ex 
 monk Brenno describes it as near, not in, the town. He adds that in his 
 time the Mella was drawn oflf into so many small channels that the main 
 bed was nearly dry near Brixia. It seems possible that in ancient times 
 an arm may have passed through the city which has since been filled up ; 
 or that the city formerly extended farther to the west, just as Verona itself 
 is now traversed by the Adige, which once only surrounded it (Cluver. p. 
 115). This latter view is however thought improbable by Mr. Bunbury 
 in the Diet. Geog. moUi, ' rippling.' 
 
 34. mater, the mother-town or metropolis of Verona. Catullus seems 
 therefore to agree with those who like Ptolemy (iii. i. 31), Justin (xx. 5), 
 and apparently Livy (v. 35), made Verona a Gaulish settlement. On the 
 other hand Pliny (H. N. iii. 130) says Raetorum ei Euganeorum Verona ; 
 Strabo 206 says the Raeti reached to that part of Italy which is above 
 Verona and Comum, (though 213 he includes Verona among the 
 Gaulish settlements near the Po) ; so too the Raetica uina are ascribed to 
 the Veronensis ager Plin. xiv. 16 and 67. Cluverius thought Verona was 
 founded by the Raeti and afterwards received a Gaulish colony from 
 Brixia, as was the case at Mantua ; Niebuhr (Lectures on Ethnography 
 ii. p. 245 English Transl.) suggested that Brixia may have been the seat 
 of a conventus, a relation similar to that which the metropolis in Asia 
 Minor bore to the towns under it ; or that Catullus alludes to an earlier 
 time, when Brixia may have been one of the twelve cities forming the 
 Etruscan community north of the Apennines, to which Felsina Mantua 
 Adria and Melpum belonged. In this capacity it may have stood to 
 Verona in the position of metropolis, as Mantua did to the twelve 
 subordinate communities Aen. x. 203. Veronae is not dative as 
 Vulp. after Alex. Guarinus thought, but genitive, ' Brixia, the well-loved 
 mother-city of my own Verona.' meae, because the door belongs to 
 a house at Verona. The valuable Brit. Mus. MS. a has nice for meae ; 
 possibly Catullus wrote Brixia Veronae mater amata uicem, ' Brixia that 
 mother-city which I love as I love Verona,' a verse which we may suppose 
 the poet to have inserted as a way of expressing the close connexion 
 between the two towns ; unless indeed maier refers to 'Cat family coming 
 originally from Brixia, in the same manner as Virgil calls Aricia (Aen. 
 vii. 762) and Populonia (x. 172) the mothers of the warriors who come 
 from them. For uicem used in this sense cf Sallust ap. Non. 497 Ceteri 
 uicem pecudum obtruncabantur ; Key Lat. Gram. § 917. At any rate 
 there seems to be no cause for doubting the genuineness of the line : 
 Vulp. quotes from the Heroides of Ovid a similar juxtaposition of words 
 Proderit exemplo mater amata suo (viii. 40). So infamantur amantum 
 Prop, iii, 16. 27. 
 
 36. malum, ' vile : ' like a mala adultera LXI. 97. 
 
 37. Dixerit hie aliquis. The door interrupts itself, ' some one will 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXVIL 319 
 
 ask here.' So Ouid. Pont. ii. 2. 29 Dixerit hoc aliquis iutum non esse : 
 fatemur. 
 
 38. domini limine, suggests by contrast alienum Itmen Prop. iii. 3. 
 
 47- 
 
 39. It is odd that the very words used by the door to express its 
 inability to catch up the talk of the town might as easily convey the 
 exactly opposite idea. Plautus Merc. ii. 4. 9 Omnia ego islaec auscultaui 
 ab ostio, True. i. 2. i Ad fores auscultate atque adseruate aedes speaks of 
 the house-door as a favorite place for overhearing conversations. The 
 fact seems to be that Catullus speaks not of conversations held in or near 
 the house, but of the popular rumour of the streets. The door is a fixture, 
 it cannot go about and pick up scandal. sufflxa, used in a more 
 ordinary combination XCIX. 4, here 'fastened up to,' as in Luc. ix. 328 
 Prouidus antennae suffixit lintea summae. 
 
 40. aperire aut operire domum : so the Romans said both aperire 
 and operire caput Non. 237, 507. Plant. Capt. iii. 3. 9 operla quaefuere 
 aperta sunt (Vulp.). 
 
 42. ancillis. Tib. i. 2. 94, Ouid. Am. i. 11. 2. 
 
 43. Nomine, a sign of complete fearlessness. 
 
 44. linguam, to speak; auxiculam, to hear. Propertius i. 16. 27, 
 28 O utinam traiecta tua mea uocula rima Percussas dominae uertat in 
 auriculas shows that a door might literally become vocal ; but it is 
 probable that this mode of conversing with her lovers had not been 
 practised by the lady of whom Catullus is speaking. Plautus, in the 
 passage of the Curculio quoted in the introduction, gives eyes as well as 
 the power of speech to a door ; in the passage from the Asinaria he 
 speaks of a door crying aloud {clamat). 
 
 45. dicere nolo. luv. viii. 275. 
 
 48. ' Lest he lift his reddening eye-brows in anger.' Quint, xi. 3. 79 
 Ira contractis {superciliis), tristitia deductis, hilaritas remissis ostenditur. 
 More often supercilium tollere, subducere, etc., refer to the grave airs of 
 offended virtue, as in Cic. Pis. ix. 20, Priap. 49. 4, Varro ap. Non. 399. 
 Cf the Greek o^pOs ava<nrav Acharn. 1069, Fals. Leg. 442, Alexis ap. 
 Mein. Com. Fragm. iii. p. 391, mpfiv Menander ap. Mein. iv. 82, 205, 
 Diphilus ap. Mein. iv. 415, eiratpeiv Baton ap. Mein. iv. 502, in which the 
 prevailing idea is of philosophic or magisterial pride. In Eq. 631 kS- 
 /3Xai//'e vanv Kai to fUranr avitmatrev anger is meant as here, cf. the Schol. on 
 Vesp. 655 Tar o(^pvs atpiiv Wos tois opyi^oiuvois. The physiognomist 
 edited by Rose (Anecd. Graeca p. 116) mentions eyebrows reaching 
 upwards towards the forehead as a sign of a passionate disposition. 
 rubra refers either to the colour of the eyebrows (cf. Alexis ap. Mein. iii. 
 423 TOs oi^piii TTvppas fx*'"?) or to the reddening of the brow common in 
 anger. 
 
 47. Vulp. and Forcellini take Longus homo to he=stultus like 
 Theocritus' avfip rpiaKai&eKawrixvs XV. 17, and the latter compares longurio. 
 But Nonius, the only authority for the word, merely says longurio=longus, 
 and nothing in the passage quoted by him from Varro's Triphallus 
 implies any such notion of stupidity. Conr, de AUio seems to be more 
 right in explaining Longus homo of the tall stature and long limbs of this 
 wrongly-accused suitor : so LXXXVL i. magnas . . . puerperium, 
 ' who was once assailed by a lengthy process at law for the supposed 
 
320 A COMMENTARY 
 
 pregnancy of an enlarged womb." He had been accused of sluprum with a 
 woman who from the external signs of pregnancy was believed to have had 
 a child by him. Such seems to me the natural meaning of the word&: the 
 commentators generally explain them of a legal process brought against 
 him for recovery of property which he had obtained under false pretences, 
 as heres of some one with whom he was not really connected by ties of 
 blood. On this view the puerperium is that of his supposed mother. 
 lites, not merely the costs, but the whole legal process with all its details : 
 similarly Horace S. i. 7. 5 says Persius . . . habebat . . . liies cum Rege 
 molestas. Cic. uses inferre litem Cluent. xli. 116. 
 
 48. The line recalls Horace's taunt addressed to Canidia Epod. 17. 
 50 Tuusque uenter Padumeius, ei iuo Cruore rubros obstetrix pannos lauit 
 Vtcunqtie foriis exsilis puerpera. 
 
 LXVIII. 
 
 This is perhaps the most artificial, though it is hardly one of the most 
 successful, of the poems of Catullus. I have shown in my first volume, 
 that it falls into two quite separable parts 1-40, 41-160, each written at 
 a different time. For (i) in 31—40 Catullus tells his friend he cannot 
 send him any gift of verse, whereas in 41-160 he sends him an elaborate 
 encomion of more than 120 lines; (2) Mallius is caelebs in 1-8 ; he has 
 a wife or a mistress in 155 ; (3) 1-40 are written in an ordinary style, 
 41-160 are finished and evidently framed on a Greek model. I assume 
 here what it seems outrageous to deny, that the Mallius of the first part 
 (11) is the AUius and Mallius (66) of the second. 
 
 What then are the conditions under which 1-40 were written ? Malliu& 
 the host and friend of Catullus 12, cf. 69-71, whom he had assisted in 
 prosecuting his amour with Lesbia by providing a house at Rome where 
 the lovers might meet, 70, had, whilst suffering from the grief caused by 
 the loss of his own wife or mistress, written to Catullus for consolation, 
 asking him to send him a poem speaking of love 10, and also for a loan 
 pf books 33-40. Mallius had taken the opportunity of remonstrating with 
 the poet on his stay at Verona, either as debarring him from the amorous 
 pursuits natural to his temperament and position in society, or as pre- 
 venting him from interfering in the scandalous career upon which Lesbia 
 had now entered. (See note on 27-30.) Catullus, in the forty .begin- 
 ning lines which form his direct reply to the letter of Mallius, professes 
 his inability to comply with his friend's demand, (i) because his brother's 
 untimely death m'akes any thought of love or love-poetry impossible ; 
 (2) because not being at Rome he has only a part of his library with him. 
 
 This section of the poem then was written at Verona, shortly after the 
 death of the poet's brother. The second part 41-160 must have been 
 composed considerably later ; for in the interval Mallius had ceased to be 
 caelebs, and Catullus had sufficiently recovered his ordinary tone to do 
 what his friend had requested, write and send a poem treating of his 
 passion for Lesbia, illustrated by a subject which would at the same time 
 remind Mallius of his own Joss, the unhappy love of Laodamia. That 
 some time had elapsed between the two parts is also indicated, I think, 
 by the occurreiice in each of the verses describing the death of the poet's 
 brother 20-24, 94-98 ; a repetition which is in another way significant, 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXVIII. 321 
 
 as showing the mutual relation of the two divisions. If on the one hand 
 the occurrence in both parts of the same five verses makes it probable 
 that the two parts were not written simultaneously, it is equally improbable 
 on the other that they belong to two perfectly distinct poems : and it 
 follows that 1-40 are an introduction to 41-160 ; separable it is true, but 
 with the separation not well defined. Where the latter part was written 
 is not clear ; in my first volume I suggested that the erudite style in which 
 it is composed points to Rome, where the poet possessed an ample 
 library; this is also not inconsistent with the concluding lines 147-160 
 which have more meaning if we suppose Catullus to have been near 
 Lesbia at the time. 
 
 It would seem that the poem was composed at an early though not the 
 earliest period of the amour with Lesbia. She had ceased to be faithful 
 to Catullus; but her errors were still confined to a few 135 Rara uere- 
 cundae furta feremus herae. She is still dearer to the poet than his own 
 self, and while she lives he finds a pleasure in living 159, 160. Hence 
 lungclaussen, who assigns the earliest love-poems to the years 692-694 
 v.c, 62-60 B.C., considers that this falls in 694 | 60, to which year he also 
 assigns the death of Catullus' brother. Schwabe concurs on this latter 
 point with lungclaussen but, believing that the last part of the poem was 
 written first, assigns w. 41-160 to the year 60, vv. 1-40 to 59. Couat, 
 Etude p. 250, leaves a larger margin, and places it between 65-57 b-C. 
 
 I have used for this poem the special commentaries of Santen (1788) 
 and A. Weise (1869). 
 
 1-14. ' Your letter written under the grief of losing her you love and 
 absence from books in which you might find consolation gave me 
 pleasure, because you prove in it that you consider me a real friend, by 
 asking me to make up for your losses by writing to you of love, and send- 
 ing you a poem of my own. Yet I cannot comply with your request, for 
 my own happiness is shipwrecked.' 
 
 1. Quod . . . mittis, formal commencement of a letter as Fam. vi. 
 7. I Quod tibi non tarn celeriler liber est reddiius, ignosce timori nostra el 
 miserere iemporis. 
 
 2. Conscriptum lacrimis, not ' tear-scrawled,' but as in Caesar 
 B. G. V. 48 Episiulam Graecis conscriptam litteris, ' written in tears ' 
 instead of ink (Vulp.). hoe, Catullus has Mallius' letter before him. 
 epistoUum, eiruTrSXiov Plut. Cato 24. 
 
 3. Naufragum, mainly in reference to love, a sense which is often 
 found in the Greek Anthology v. 161. 4, 235. 5 ; with a more general 
 idea Philodemus ircpl kokiHv col. 18 vavayav iv ginaa-i, Theophrastus 
 (quoted by Ussing on Philodemus u. s.) ap. Diog. L. v. 55 iv toXs ISiois 
 fwXa vtvavayriKAra. eiectum, 'thrown on shore,' Aen. iv. 373. 
 
 4. Subleuem, lift from the ground where you lie ship-wrecked. The 
 word is common in the sense of relieving e.g. in a letter ofMetellus 
 Ceier's to Cicero Fam. v. i. i, and Cicero's reply v. 2. 9. a mortis 
 limine restituam. Culex 224 Restitui superis leti iam limine ab ipso. 
 
 5. sancta, as in XXXVI. 3, Tib. iv. 13. 23 Sed Veneris sandae considam 
 uinctus ad aras is applied here to Venus as the goddess of faithful love. 
 
 6. Desertum in lecto caeUbe, 'on the widower's couch where you 
 lie forsaken.' caelibe probably means that he had lost his wife. 
 
322 A COMMENTARY 
 
 Cdelihes are defined by\Quintilian i. 6. 36 Qui uxore carent, cf. Acron on 
 Hor. C. iii. 8. r, Cic. Legg. iii. 3. 7 Censores prolem describunto, caelibes 
 esse prohibenio ; so Laodamia writing to her husband says lecio caelibe 
 Heroid. xiii. 107. perpetitur, ' endures,' a stronger word than 
 
 paiilur. 
 
 7. ueterum scriptorum. Fronto p. 18 Naber nee uideo qui uelerum 
 scriptorum quisquam me beatior/tterit, means the ancient authors of Rome. 
 Catullus doubtless means the Greek poets as Horace speaks of ueterum 
 libri S. ii. 6. 61. Poetry is often mentioned as a cure for love, e.g. 
 Theocr. xi. 1-3, Philoxenus ap. Philodemum Trepi Mouo-k^s Vol. Hercul. 
 i. 15 (quoted by Bergk on Philox. fr. 7) n-o^/jara fi' ei npoaipelrai (the love- 
 sick patient) SiSdo-^o), koI ^iho^cvov, el toCt fiviTTeTo, fii] reX/ws yjrevBca-Bai. Plut, 
 Symp. Quaest. i. ^"Ottov Kal t6v KvKXaira Movaais fv^avois latrQal tjirjtri 
 t6v epatTa ^i\6^€vos. 
 
 8. cum here and in 32 Haec libi non tribuo munera cum nequeo seems 
 to waver between the temporal sense ' at a time when ' and the causal 
 ' since,' so common in Plautus and Terence. See Roby Latin Grammar 
 §1725. mens perulgilat. 'Lacx.n.'j^^mens animiuigilaf. anxia, 'for 
 sorrow.' A variation of the idea of the soul keeping awake through the 
 night is the Euripidean yoomw opSpevofiem Sup. 977 rising up betimes in 
 the morning to' weep. 
 
 9. Fronto p. 60 Naber Vtique illud ipsum quod tania ad m£ scripsisii 
 . . . id uero mihi longe fuit gratissimum, in eo ego me beatissimum supra 
 omnis homines arlitratus sum ; nam quanti mefaceres, quantamque amiciliae 
 meae haberes fiduciam in eo maxime atque dulcissime ostendisti. 
 
 10. ' You ask me to supply you with the two things you are at present 
 in want of, poetry and the consolations of love.' This Catullus might 
 have combined (et-et) by sending him a poem of his own composition, 
 treating of some subject connected with love, presumably some story 
 of unhappy affection, such as that of Laodamia, and working up into 
 it his own or his friend's love-history. Munera et Musarum et Veneris 
 are thus virtually a hendiadys (Vulp. Doer. Westphal). For Mu- 
 nera Musarum = poems, cf. Hor. Epist. ii. r. 243 Libras et ad haec 
 Mmarum dona. The expression is Greek. Alcman fr. 37 ToC^ hlerai 
 Mouo'ai' eSet^ev Aatpov fiaKatpa irap6ev<i>v, Archil fr. I Kai Mouo'6(oi' eparov dStpoi/ 
 fTritrrafievos, Theogn. 250 'AyXaa Wovcriiiov Bapa locrTefpavav, cf. I055~57> 
 Solon 41 Movaemv irapa Sapa SiBaxBeis, Anth. P. vii. 14. 8 S&p' 'EXiKavLaSav. 
 
 "Veneris munera is used by Horace iv. 10. i of personal charms; but 
 Catullus obviously 'means the p-etKixa S&pa Horn. H. 10. 2, the Sapa (^tXoore- 
 
 (j)dvov 'AtjjpoSiTris H. Cer. 102, Theognis' Kun-poyfi/oCs Sapov loarei^dvov I304, 
 
 1332, xi"""l^ 'AippoSirris bapa 1293, the sensuous delights of love. It 
 seems possible that Mallius had asked Catullus to find him a new mistress ; 
 and that Catullus in the words Munera et Musarum et Veneris designedly 
 chooses an expression which would cover his friend's request and his 
 own more delicate interpretation of it. Other interpretations are (i) 
 to explain ' the gifts of Venus ' of a wish expressed by Mallius that 
 Catullus should return to his love-pursuits at Rome (Parthenius), an 
 impossible view ; (2) that Munera Musarum are poems of consolation 
 (Alex. Guarinus), or epic poems (Conr. de AUio), Munera Veneris love- 
 poems;! 1(3) 'h^' Munera Musarum are works of Greek poets, Munera 
 Veneris love-poems by Catullus himself (A. Weise). It seems clear 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXVIIL 323 
 
 that (2) is wrong; Catullus '-would then be saying, 'You ask me to send 
 you both poems and love-^oems,' which would be ridiculous ; (3) is 
 arbitrary. " - 
 
 12. hospitis ofiacium would most naturally mean the duty of a host, 
 on which view Mallius must have asked Catullus to admit him to his 
 house for a time. There is nothing in the poem which supports this 
 view ; it seems probable that Catullus means only ' the duty of a friend 
 whom you have entertained,' viz. by providing the house in which the 
 poet and Lesbia met, 67 sqq. 
 
 13. Accipe, ' listen,' a common use from the earliest writers onwards. 
 Lucil. ap. Non. 240 Hoc etiam accipe quod dico, nam periinet ad rem. Hor. 
 S. i. 4. 38 Agedum pauca accipe contra. merser fluotibus repeats 
 the metaphor of 3, 4. merser, ' am plunged,' Lucr. v. 1008 : Horace 
 more closely Epist. i. i. 16 Mersor ciuilibus undis, Epist. i. 2. 22 Aduersis 
 rerum inmersabilis undis. 
 
 14. dona beata, ' the gifts of happiness,' viz. the amatory verses which 
 I might write under happier circumstances. Similarly Prop. ii. 20. 25 
 muneribus beatis, ' gifts of the wealthy,' aura beata, ' breeze of the happy,' 
 iv. 7. 60, see Hertzberg Q. P. p. 144, and cf. LXVL 14. 
 
 15-26. ' When I first quitted boyhood, I allowed my life to have its 
 spring, and was no stranger to the goddess of love and her bitter-sweet 
 delights ; but since the death of my brother I have given up all such pur- 
 suits: for with him all my pleasure is buried,and all our house in desolation.' 
 
 15. uestis pura, the toga worn by men, made of white wool, without 
 ornament or colour, (Rich s. u.) as opposed to the toga praetextata of boys. 
 Togam puram dare is used technically of admitting a boy to the status of 
 manhood, Phaedr. iii. 10. 10, Cic. Att. v. 20. 9, ix. 6. i, vi. i. 12 where 
 the day on which the ceremony usually took place is mentioned, the 
 Liberdlia, March 17. 
 
 17. Multa satis lusi, ' I dallied with love at my will,' as below 156. 
 Pomp. Inscriptt. 1781 mea uita, meae deliciae, ludamus parumper. This 
 agrees better with non est dea nescia nostri than to explain the words of 
 love-poems as in LXL 225, Ouid. Am. iii. i. 27, 8 Quod tenerae cantent, 
 lusit tua Musa, puellae, Primaque per numeros acta iuuenta suos. non 
 est dea nescia nostri, like Cir. 242 Non est Amathusia nostri Tarn- 
 rudis ul nullo possim cognoscere signo, seems to be an inversion of the prose 
 non sum nescius Veneris, justified by the reciprocity of the relation ; he 
 who knows Love is known by Love. Cf. Theocr. ix. 35, 6 'E/ili/ Mwo-ai 
 0iXat° ots yap opevvn Tadevaai; roir S' oUti irof^ SaKtja'aTo Kipica. 
 
 18. ' She who mingles with her sorrows a honey-gall.' Sappho had 
 called Eros yKuKimiKpov Spnerov fr. 40 Bergk, cf Theogn. 13S3 Utxpos xaX 
 
 y\vKvs e<Tn, Koi apnaXeos Kal djnji'^f . . . (pais. PlautUS similarly Pseud. i. I. 
 63 Dulce amarumque una nunc misces mihi oi&\o\er receiving a letter from 
 his mistress, and ii. 4. i Dulcia atque amara aput te sum elocutus omnia. 
 Scis amorem, scis laborem, sets egestatem meam, cf. the play of words in mel, 
 fel Poen. i. 2. 182, Cist. i. i. 7 1, True. i. 2. 76. Romaunt of the Rose p. 86 
 Bell For ever of love the siknesse Is meinde with swete and bitternesse. 
 
 22. sepulta domus. This seems to imply that Catullus had looked 
 to his brother to continue the family name, and that he had died childless. 
 For the expression cf. Anth. P. vii. 139. r ''EnTopi pev Tpoi'i; o-vyKordavtv, 3 
 
 HfWa 8' 'AKf^avSpa avvaniiKeTo. 
 
324 A COMMENTARY 
 
 23. Romeo and Juliet iv. 5 For with my child my joys are buried. Eurip. 
 Temenid. fr. 734 Nauck Ranoiai Se "Awavra <j>poSSa avvdavSvff imh x6ov6s. 
 
 26. studia atq.ue delicias. Cael. xix. 46 Studia deledaiionis Indus 
 iocus conuiuium. 
 
 27-40. ' If then you write to me, " Catullus, you cannot stay at Verona 
 without disgrace, for in your absence your Lesbia is the paramour of all 
 the fashionables of Rome :" I reply that is my misfortune, not my disgrace, 
 so you must pardon me, if having nothing pleasant to tell you of my 
 love-affairs, I send you nothing on that subject. As to the other request 
 for books, I have only a few here, because my ordinary residence is Rome, 
 and my library is there. You will see that it is not from any churlish or 
 illiberal feehng that I disappoint you in both requests : if I could write to 
 you pleasantly of love or had books with me, I would have written to you 
 or offered you books without waiting to, be asked.' 
 
 27. Quare. ' Therefore as regards your assertion " It is a disgrace to 
 Catullus to be at Verona, because here (i. e. at Rome) every one of 
 higher rank has unchilled the frozen limbs on the couch you have for- 
 saken," ' i. e. has consoled Lesbia for Catullus' absence by becoming in 
 turns her paramour. This is the ordinary interpretation, and is confirmed 
 by the correspondence between the two parts of the poem, perceptible 
 throughout : both mention AUius' friendship to Catullus, the death of 
 Catullus' brother, and the passion of the poet for Lesbia. An objection 
 has been raised on the ground that Mallius cannot have written from 
 Rome, if he asks for a loan of books, which he might either borrow from 
 some one else or buy at a book- shop there; to which we may reply that 
 though he might have done so, he need not ; he might well have taken 
 the opportunity of writing to Catullus to ask him as a literary man for 
 books which he was sure to possess, and which Mallius was not sure to 
 be able to procure in any other way. Another interpretation is to refer 
 hie to Verona where Catullus was at the time ; ' it is disgraceful to 
 Catullus to be at Verona, because here every man of mark is left to warm 
 limbs that are loveless on a bed which is forsaken,' i. e. is unable to 
 follow at Verona the pursuits of a man of pleasure, which would be a 
 disgrace to Catullus since his amour with Lesbia and his fame as a poet 
 had made him fashionable. This has'the advantage (i) ol %\Yva% tepefaxit 
 its proper meaning of slightly, as opposed to thoroughly, warming. Prop, 
 i. 13. 26 non tepidas faces; (2) of Tasking /rigida and deserto mutually 
 explain each other, and making both refer to the subject of tepefaxit, 
 instead of a different subject to be supplied from the general meaning of 
 the poem ; cf. A. A. iii. 70 Frigida deserta node iacebis anus, but the 
 meaning is weak, and without particular knowledge of the circumstances 
 of the time, scarcely intelligible. Prof. Jowett has suggested to me an 
 entirely different interpretation. He supposes AUius to remonstrate with 
 Catullus on remaining at Verona, when he might imitate the example of 
 the fashionable world by taking a course of hot baths, i. e. at Baiae or some 
 other well-known watering-place. AUius will then say, ' It is disgraceful 
 to you, CatuUus, to be at Verona, because everybody of any fashion has 
 been here (at Baiae, or some other hot spring) giving up his bed and 
 warming his chilly limbs' (in a hot bath); and Catullus will reply, ' My 
 absence from the world of fashion is not a disgrace, but a sign of my 
 present misery.' This certainly agrees with the introduction of the hot- 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXVIIL 325 
 
 springs of Thermopylae in the latter part of the poem 54, as well as 
 with the repeated allusions to Baiae and similar resorts in the writers of 
 this period as well as later. See Excursus. deserto, gives uKiis warm 
 bed and takes to warm baths. ' 
 
 28. Esse, ' to be staying,' as often in Cicero e. g. Att. viii. 1 1. B. 2 Veni 
 Capuam ad Nonas Februar. Cum fuissem irtduum, recepi me Formias. 
 hie seems to be a reference to the actual letter of Mallius. quisquis, 
 ' everybody,' as in the description of Terence in Cicero's Limon Suet. Vit. 
 Terentii 5 Quidquid comeloquens. Madvig onde Fin. v. 9. 24 shows that 
 quidquid is used several times by Lucretius =^KZ(/ya^, ii. 957 in suos 
 quidquid meatus, iv. 145 summum quidquid, v. 131 ubi quidquid crescat, 
 773 qua fieri quidquid posset ratione, 1454 unum quidquid. 
 
 29. Frigida. Matius fr. 4 L. Miiller Sinuque amicam refice frigidam 
 caldo, Prop. iv. 7. 6 Et quererer lecti frigida regna mei. Quid. Am. iii. 5. 
 42 Frigidus in uacuo destituere toro. Ben Jonson The Silent Woman iv. 2 
 She that now excludes her lovers may live to be a forsaken beldame in a frozen 
 bed, with which compare A. A. iii. 70. tepefacsit but tepefaciettXIV. 
 360. So madefient LXIV. 368. The word is not necessarily used of 
 partial warmth, A. A. ii. 360 Hospitis (Paridis) est tepido node recepta 
 sinu, Ibis 1 38 tepidus Ganges, frigidus Ister erit. 
 
 30. tvirpe, miserum, an ordinary antithesis. Cic. de Har. Resp. 
 xxiii. 49, quoted by Vulp. Nam si Cn. Pompeio, uiro uni omnium fortissimo 
 quicunque nati sunt, miserum magis fuit quam turpe, quamdiu ille tri- 
 bunus plebisfuit, lucem non aspicere, carere publico. 
 
 31. Imitated by Propertius i. 11. 19 Ignosces igitur, si quid tibi triste 
 libelli Atiulerint nostri. 
 
 33. Nam, passing to another part of Mallius' request. The line has 
 been explained by some commentators as merely adding another ground 
 for not sending a poem: see on 37. But the expression of 39, 40, 
 especially the words Vitro ego deferrem are in favour of the common 
 view that Mallius had asked his friend for a loan of books. scriptorum, 
 masc. copia. Ouid. Trist. iii. 14.37 ^^n hie librorum, per quos inuiter 
 alarque, Copia. Hor. Epist. i. 18. no. 
 
 34. So Cicero ad Fam. ix. i. 2 Scito enim me, posteaquam in urbem 
 uenerim, redisse cum ueteribus amicis, id est, cum libris nostris, in gratiam. 
 
 35. sedes. In the Digest i. 16. 203 domus is defined ubi quisque sedes 
 et tabulas haberet suarumque rerum constitutionem fecisset. 
 
 36. una ex multis, ' one only,' ' only a single,' like unus e multis 
 Hor. Ep. i. 6. 60. capsula, a smaller capsa or circular box employed 
 for the transport of books. Rich, who quotes Cic. Divin. in Caecil. xvi. 
 51, Hor. S. i. 4. 22, 10. 63. Such small cases would naturally be taken 
 
 on a journey. Cf. Plut. CatO 20 UapdKa^mv ^tfiXta koI (jjiKoaocpovs i^dSi^cv 
 (Is AfVKaviav. 
 
 37. mente maligna, as in Plant. Bacch. iii. 2. 17 Malignus, largus, 
 ' niggardly.' 
 
 38. non satis ingenuo, ' churlish.' 
 
 39. petenti, ' at your request,' the reading of all the MSS, is less 
 prosaic than petiti. copia posta est, ' I have set at your disposal.' I 
 have followed Voss in keeping posta ; somewhat similarly Horace Epist. 
 i. 18. Ill Sed satis est or are louem, qjiae ponit et aufert, cf. reponerew'iih a 
 dative of the person = to restore ; Petronius Sat. 115 has ponere consilium. 
 
326 A COMMENTARY 
 
 which Biicheler notices as unusual. The iorxa poslus is found four times 
 in Lucretius i. 1059', iii. 857, 871, vi. 965 (Neue Formenl. ii. p. 435). 
 
 40. Vitro deferrem. Pseud, iv. 8. 5 Obuiam uliro ei de/eram, Hor. 
 Epist. i. 12. 22 Si quid petet, ultra Defer, Fam. xiii. 29. 5 Vliro te ad me 
 detulisse putabo. 
 
 41 sqq. Here begins the second part of the poem, an Encomion on 
 AUius. It commences with an address to the muses, like Theocritus' 
 Encomion on Ptolemy, Id. xvii. i. 
 
 41-50. ' Muses, I must needs declare the service AUius rendered me. 
 Time must not bury his zeal in oblivion. I will tell the story to you, and 
 ye will tell it to posterity, that the name of AUius may grow in fame after 
 death and nothing dim the record of his memory.' 
 
 41. (ieae, the Muses; Homer addresses them so II. ii. 485 'Y/ieis yap 
 
 Giai ioTf TTapecrre T€ 'i(TT€ re navra, and SO in Pindar *V/zi'oi 6eav^=Vfivoi Mova-av, 
 Isth. vii. 131. Stat. Theb. i. 3 Vnde iubetis Ire deae ? 
 
 43. Nee . . . tegat, ' nor can time conceal,' a potential. obUul- 
 soentibus seems abl. absolute, ' as the ages forget it,' i. e. bring forget- 
 fulness of it. Very similar is Petron. S. 135 Hecale quam Mum loquen- 
 tibus annis TradidH, to the years that speak her name. 
 
 44. caeca, 'blank,' see on LXIV. 207. 
 
 45. Callimachus H. Dian. 186 'EXm, Sid, a-v i>,h afifuv, iyi) 8' irepoiaiv aeluat, 
 
 exactly inverts Catullus' idea. The Muses are here the recorders of the 
 poet, who dictates to them the verses in which the noble deeds of Allius 
 are to be handed down to posterity. The form of the expression recalls 
 a passage of Plato's Symposium 189 iya> oiv mipacrojxw, vjiiv dcrriyria-aaBai 
 Trjv 8vvaiJ.iv avTov, vfie'is fie rav oKKtov StSdcrKoXot eafo-dc. 
 
 46. earta anus 3,s /ama anus LXXVII. 10: the paper and rumour 
 are to grow old to tell the story. Aesch. fr. 323 Nauck has yepov ypapfia, 
 Theocr. vii. 17 y^prnv ir/jrXor, Od. xxii. 184 yepov aaKOs. Ciris 40 Nostra 
 iuum senibus loqueretur pagina saeclis imitates Catullus. Martial is fond 
 of using senex in this way, series mulli, cycni, etc. 
 
 49-50. ' And that no spider aloft weaving her web of gossamer spin 
 her thread over AUius' forgotten name.' Perhaps with the idea oC a 
 monument, which from neglect becomes covered with cobwebs, an ' un- 
 swept stone besmeared with sluttish time,' Shakspere Sonnets Iv. 4. 
 Neglect is often thus expressed, e. g. Od. xvi. 34 'oSuo-o-^oj hi tto-u tvvtj 
 
 X^rct ivevvalav kclk apa^via Karat, exovaa. TheOCr. Xvi. 96 dpdxvia 8' fls ottX* 
 apdxvai Aeirrd hiaaTrfiraivTo. Prop. iii. 6. 33 Pulris et in uacuo iexeiur 
 aranealedo. tenuem telam. Mart. viii. 33. 15. subUmis, i^pai- 
 
 noTryros apaxvrfs Hes. E. 775. 
 
 50. Deserto, left to itself to moulder. Prop. ii. 6. 35, 36 Sed non 
 immerito uelauit aranea fanum Et mala desertos occupat herba deos. 
 opus faciat=««a/. Cf Tib. i. 3. 88. opus, of a spider, as of a silk-worm 
 Mart. viii. 33. 16. tpyov dpaxva was an expression of the poet Callias 
 according to Suidas s. u. dpdxvrjs. See Bergk Pind. fr. 281 (268). 
 
 51-72. ' The Muses know what pangs I suffered from the goddess 
 of love. And when I was at the height of my fever, and tears of passion 
 drenched my cheeks, ceaseless as the brook which now dashes from the 
 mountain, now courses along the valley, now passes through the haunts of 
 men, bringing relief to the drought-parched traveller ; then it was that 
 MaUius came to my relief, like a favourable breeze to storm-tossed 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXVIIL 327 
 
 mariners. It was he who made a road to my passion, by furnishing a 
 house where I might meet Lesbia.' 
 
 51. duplex is explained by Meursius Cyprus i. 8, Voss, and Bentley 
 on Hor. C. i. 6. 7 of a statue of Venus at Amathus in which the goddess 
 was represented as an hermaphrodite, and Voss considers the reason of 
 the epithet here to be in reference to the twofold character of the poet's 
 amours, ' utpote qui non Lesbiam tantum, sed et complures deperiret 
 adolescentes.' The passages there quoted areHesych.'A^pdSiTos- efd^pao-Tot 
 
 jU€i/ Tov Epfia<j)p6dtT6if (jiTjtjitf, 6 fie to Trepi *Afia9ovyra yiypa(\>tiis Ilatwv fls avbpa 
 
 Tt]v 6f6v icrxnii-aTiaBui ev Kvnpcji Xeyn. Macrobius Sat. iii. 8 Nonnullorum 
 quae scienlissime prolata sunt male enuntiando corrumpimus dignitatem, ut 
 quidam legunt : Discedo ac ducente deo flammam inter et hostes Ex- 
 pedior, cum ilk doctissime dixerit, ducente deo nondea. Nam et apud Caluum 
 Aterianus adfirmat legendum, Pollentemque deum Venerem, non deam. 
 Signum etiam eius est Cypri barbatum corpore, sed ueste muliebri, cum sceptro 
 ac natura uirili, el putant eandem mar em ac feminam esse. Aristophanes 
 eam 'A(l>p6BiTov appellat. Laeuinus etiam sic ail: Venerem igilur almum 
 adorans, Siue/emina sine mas est [Seu/emina isue mas est Haupt) Ila uti 
 alma Noctiluca est. Philochorus quoque in Atthide eandem affirmat esse 
 Lunam, et ei sacrificium facere uiros cum ueste muliebri, mulieres cum uirili 
 quodeadem et mas aestimatur et/emina : words which recur with little varia- 
 tion in Servius on Aen. ii. 632. Plutarch Thes. xx states from Paeon of 
 Amathus that the couvade was practised there, seemingly in connexiofi 
 with the worship of Ariadne Aphrodite, KaTaKkiv6p,iv6v nva tS>v veavla-Kwv 
 (jideyyia-Bai Koi iroieiv anep wSlvovcrat yvva'iKfi, and there can be little doubt 
 that a cultus of Venus as half male, half female, was specially connected 
 if not with Amathus, with Cyprus in general. If Catullus knew this, it is 
 probable that in the word duplex he meant to allude to it ; but the point 
 can scarcely be that which Voss suggests, as Catullus is speaking of 
 Lesbia alone ; possibly the reference is to the alternate predominance of the 
 ' male and female in love, whether in the actual shape of the lover ruling his. 
 mistress and vice versa (Aelius Spartianus in Caracallo c. vii quoted by 
 Ian on Macrob. iii. 8) or to the union of a more violent with a more 
 passive element which characterizes the emotion in any given individual. 
 Most of the commentators, including Hertzberg, explain duplex as ' wily,' 
 as 8wrX<5oj is used (Santen) ; on this view Catullus would allude to the 
 suddenness and completeness of the passion into which his still inex- 
 perienced youth was surprised by the feminine artifices of Lesbia. Fore, 
 quotes besides only Hor. C. i. 6. 7 duplicis Ulixei for this sense, and 
 Bentley denies it altogether ; yet, as Fore, says, Ovid seems to allude to 
 it in Am. i. 1 2 . 2 7 . A. Weise can hardly be right in explaining duplex of the 
 mixed pains and pleasures of love, see above on 18. Amathunsia 
 need not have any special reference, see Ciris 242, Ouid. Am. iii. 
 
 15- 15- 
 
 52. in quo genere can hardly be = quomodo, for though genus is 
 shown by Madvig on Cic. Fin. ii. 3. 9 to mean ' manner,' in alio genere, 
 una genere, etc., there seems to be no reason for the preposition, unless 
 Fam. viii. 7. 2 Multa in hoc genere incredibilia te absente acciderunt, Varro 
 R. R. i. 18. I in eo modo, can be thought similar ; it seems safer to explain 
 it as=z« qua re; cf Cic. ad Q. Fratr. ii. 12. 5 Ego rescripsi nihil esse 
 quod posihac arcae nostrae fiducia conturbaret, lusique in eo genere et 
 
328 A COMMENTARY 
 
 familiariler et cum dignitate. Att. iv. 2. 7 Quo in genere nunc uehemenier 
 laboraiur. Fam. v. 12. 7 Nee minus est Spar Hates Agesilaus ilk perhibendus 
 qui neque pictam neque fictam imaginem suam passus est esse, quam qui in 
 eo genere laborarunt. ? corruerit, ' overthrow,' as in Lucr. v. 368. 
 
 53. Trinaeria rupes, Aetna. Grat. Cyn. 430, Theocritus ii. i34''Ep<i)s 
 
 8' Spa Kai Airrapalov TloWaKts 'A^aiWoio (reXar (piKoyep^repov aWei prefers 
 
 Lipara in a similar comparison. Horace Epod. 17. 33, and Ouid. Rem. 
 Am. 491, follow Catullus. 
 
 54. Lympha, the hot mineral springs, which gave Thermopylae its 
 name ; they were sacred to Hercules, to whom they were presented by 
 Athene, according to Peisander TS 8' h BepiioiriXyai 6ea yKavK&ms 'kBfjvt] 
 UoUi dep/ia Xoerpa vapa prjyiuvi 6dKdaaT]s, by Hephaestus according to Ibycus, 
 Schol. Aristoph. Nub. 1050. Sophocles speaks of them Trach. 633-650. 
 
 Herod, vii. 176 T£i/ Bepiixmv\ia>v to fih np6 iaveprjs Spos 3ffaT6v re Kol drro- 
 KpjjfivoVf vyj/rjKbv, dvareivop is ttjv' O'lTrjv. to fie wpos t^v rj& t^s odov dd\aa-(Ta 
 VTTohe-}(iTai Kai Tevdyea. eaTi fie eV t^ ea-o&ia TavTjj 3epfia XovTpa. Malla 
 
 maybe an allusion to the name of Allius Mallius, even if we do not follow 
 Turnebus (Advers. xxiv. 5) in supposing that the hot springs at Ther- 
 mopylae were called aqua Mallia from L. Mallius who made his way out 
 of the pass with the elder Gato, Plut. Cat. Ma. 13. 
 
 55. assiduo and neque cessarent, perhaps suggested by the ceaseless 
 flow of the hot springs, just as Sophocles speaks Trach. 919 of Saxpiav 
 
 Bepfm vd/iaTa. 
 
 56. imbre, of a shower of tears, Ouid. Trist. i. 3. 18. 
 
 57 sqq. It is a question whether this simile refers to the tears of 
 Catullus, or to the relief which Allius gave him. A. Weise who discusses 
 the question at length (Kritische und Erklarende Bemerkungen pp. 20- 
 26) supports the latter, which is also the view of Ramler Rossbach and 
 Westphal. His grounds are (i) Quah's in 57 seems naturally to corres- 
 pond to Tale in 66. (2) If the simile refers to the tears of Catullus, the 
 latter part of it is a digression without special meaning ; (3) the tears of 
 sorrow are compared with the pleasurable relief which a stream of water 
 gives to the thirsty traveller ; (4) there is a want of logical parallelism in 
 the expression imbre madent genae, qualis riuus prosilit as compared with 
 Qualis riuus prosilit, tale fuit nobis Mallius auxilium. Against this it 
 may be said (i) 63 Hie uelut seems to introduce a new object of com- 
 parison, not to resume one spoken of before, though the length of the 
 first simile makes such a resumption less harsh and improbable than it 
 would otherwise be ; (2) no part of the simile is irrelevant ; the tears of 
 sorrow in the end bring relief (dulce leuamen), not less certainly because 
 they continue a long time ; if the digression loses sight of the idea with 
 which the simile started, it leads up in doing so to another idea closely 
 connected with it, at any rate not sufficiently at variance to rouse a 
 feeling of illogical contradiction. (3) This is certainly the first impression 
 which the passage conveys ; the view that it refers to the help given by 
 Allius proceeds from exaggerating the importance of 59-62, and almost 
 necessitates the change of Hie in 63 to Ae, against the MSB. If Qualis 
 referred to what follows, some particle of transition would, I think, have 
 preceded it : elsewhere verses beginning thus refer to what goes before, 
 not to what follows ; cf. 109 Quale ferunt Grai, LXV. ig Vt missum sponsi, 
 LXV. 13 Qualia sub densis, LXIV. 89 Quales Euroiae progignunt flumina 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXVIIL 329 
 
 tnyrlus, LXI. i6, 17 Namque lunia Mallio Qualis Idalium colens. As 
 Haupt remarks Quaestt. p. 89, three distinct moments or phases may be 
 traced in the comparison ; in 57, 58 the brook is seen bursting forth on, 
 or, perhaps, from the top of a mountain ; in 59 pursuing its course along 
 the precipitous slopes of a valley ; in 60 running on level ground past a 
 high road, where it may be drunk by the thirsty wayfarer. 
 
 57. aerei, LXIV. 240. perlucens seems to refer not to the 
 transparence of the water, which would make the participle i. q. qui 
 perlucet, and only weakly connect it with in aerei monlis ueriice, but to the 
 distinctness with which the white glimmering colour strikes the eye, as it 
 dashes down the crest of the mountain. So fiiayXau<ro-«v in Apoll. R. i. 
 1 28 1, and lucere Aen. ix. 383 of the glimmer which a path makes as 
 perceptible through brushwood (see Conington there). This gives more 
 force to aerei ; the eye notices the line of colour high on the ridge. 
 
 58. RillUS. II. ix. l^'laraTo SaKpv)(ea>v, &(tti Kprjvrj fifXaroSpoi "H re kot 
 alyiKmo! nerpris Svoipepiv ;(f'ft vSap. musCOSO. Lucret. v. 95 1 Lubrica 
 saxa super uiridi stillantia musco (Vulp.). 
 
 59. Varro Cave Canem ap. Non. 75 Vbi riuus praecipiiatur in nemore 
 deorsum rapiiur atque offensus aliquo a scopulo lapidoso albicatur. This 
 illustrates de prona praeceps ualle; the brook after leaving the mountain 
 falls into a valley which descends unevenly into a plain : along these un- 
 even, often rocky slopes the water tumbles headlong praeceps est uolutus. 
 prona ualle is found in Cul. 123 (A. Weise). 
 
 60. ' Crosses along the path where the people throng.' iter with per 
 
 medium, cf. II. XV. 681 Idas (k nf&loio fifya irpoTi aoTv hiiiKei Aao(j)6pov 
 Kaff 68tiv, noXees t4 i BrjrjaavTO 'Avtpfs rjBe yvvalKfi. Nicand. Alex. 2l8 
 
 Aao(t>6poi KeXevdoi. This is simpler than with Huschke and A. Weise to 
 join transit iter, ' makes its path across.' iter transire occurs in 
 
 Corn. Nep. 17. 4 Tanta usus est celeritate ut quod iter Xerxes anno uertente 
 confecerat, hie transierit triginta diebus, but with the different sense of 
 passing over and so getting to the end, as Haupt, apparently without the 
 passage before him, had anticipated (Quaestt. p. 88). densi seems 
 to point to the neighbourhood, if not to the actual streets of a town, cf. 
 Hor. Epist. i. 6. 59 Differtum transire forum popftlumque. 
 
 61. Eldik quotes Anth. P. xvi. 228. 3 UiSaKa t « irayas yjmxpov wie- 87 
 yap oSirats 'Aiuravp.' ev Bfp/jiai Kaipari tovto <j>t\ov. Oppian Cyneg. ii. 39, 
 40 fvxpov 8' f^ avrpoio npoxfviifvov apyv(j)ov vhmp Ol'iv KiKpjfSiai ttotov, y\v- 
 
 Kfp6v re )io(Tp6v (Doering). lasso is connected with in sudore by 
 
 Stat, and had the line belonged to a later period would probably have 
 been meant so, as the rhythm points that way, and lassus might well 
 mean 'wearying,' like tussis anhela G. iii. 497, arida febris G. iii. 458, 
 arida torres Lucr. iii. gi'] , fecundi calices Hor. Epist. i. 5. 19. In Catullus 
 it is safer to refer it to uiatori. 
 
 62. grauis, ' oppressive,' ' brooding,' Hor. C- ii. 5. 6 Nunc fluuiis 
 grauem Solantis aestum. hiulcat. G. ii. 353. 
 
 63. II. vii. 4-7 'Qr 8e 6(bs vavTTjatv eeKSopevoitriv eS(BKfi< Ovpov, iitijv kcku- 
 |xaa^u> ev^e(rrr]<r' fKaTr/a-i, H6vtov i\avvovT(s, Kapdra 8 vtto yvla \e\vvTat : a 
 passage imitated by Val. Flacc. vii. 25 Grataue iam fessis descendunt 
 flamina remis. Hie, 'then,' as in LXIV. 269. nigro turbine, 
 
 rather the black whirling waters (cf. LXIV. 1 49), than the hurricane itself, 
 though this latter is called turbo ater Aen. x. 603. In this latter sense in 
 
330 A COMMENTARY 
 
 is less appropriate, cf. Prop. iii. 5. ii uenio iaclamur, ii. 12. 7 alterna 
 quoniam iaclamur in unda, Hor. Epist. i. 11. 15. 
 
 64. aspirans aura seeunda, Sil. Ital. xv. 162 Leuis inde secunda 
 Aspirans aura propellit carbasa uenius. 
 
 65. To make implorata abl. as if implorare precem were a variation 
 on precari precem, is harsh, though metrically the long final syllable is 
 preferable to the ear ; it remains (with Bergk Philologus xvi. 626) to 
 suppose it nominative, 'a gale, besought by prayer at one time to 
 Castor, at another to Pollux.' preee Pollueis like uoia deum 
 Aen. xi. 3 which Macrobius S. vi. 5 explains as quae dis uota sunt, 
 and lunonis uotum Prop. iv. i. loi. So Val. Flacc. i. 570 Frairesque 
 petiuit lyndareos, placida et mediis infrontibus haesit Protenus amborum, 
 lumenque innoxiafudii Purpureum, miseris olim implorabik naulis, where 
 the light on the foreheads of Castor and Pollux is alluded to. So also Hor. 
 C. in. 29. 59, 64. iam . . . iam, as in Aen. iv. 157, Hor. S. ii. 7. 20. 
 The earliest mention of the Dioscuri as protectors of ships and seamen 
 
 seems to be Horn. H. 33, cf. 8 Oi S' ana ptjSiv Eixo/Jifvoi RoiKiovm AtAs 
 Koupovs iJt^yaKow "A-pifecririv XevKolatv fV* dKpcarrjpta l3dvTes Xlpvp.vr}s* Trjv fi' at/efi6s 
 Te piyas Kal Kvp.a 6dKdiTtn}s QrjKav v7Tolipv)^irjv' ol 6* e^airtvrjs ecjidi/qaav Sov$^tTt' 
 TTTepvyea-fTi St* aWepos dt^avres, Altiko S' dpydkecov dvep.aiv Kariiravtrav deXKas, 
 Ku/iara 5* icrropftrav XeuK^y dXos iv TrsKdyi(T<Tt, Naurats orrjfiaTa tcdKd, ttovov Kpitriv. 
 
 ol Se iSoVrfs Tr]8rjiTav, itaitravTo 8' oi^vpoio irovoio. There can scarcely be a 
 reference to intercessory prayer, as if Castor and Pollux were implored to 
 pray for the safety of the ship (Vulp.). 
 
 67. ' It was he who made accessible with a broad pathway a field 
 closed before,' a natural metaphor; Catullus of course speaks of the 
 permission which he thus obtained to indulge his passion for Lesbia. 
 Compare the Greek use of Xet<)i^dpos=a woman open to all comers. 
 
 Theogn. 581 'ExOaipa> Se yiivalKa jrcpiSpopov dv&pa rt pdpyov, ° Os rfiv dXKorpiriv 
 ^oiXer apovpav dpovv. Plaut. Curc. i. I. 35, 36 Nemo ire quenquam publica 
 prohibet uia Dum neperfundum sepium facial semitam, and Asin. v. 2. 24. 
 
 68. domum and dominam. are regularly connected as house and 
 mistress of the house (see on LXI. 31); hence the meaning seems to be 
 ' AUius allowed me to meet Lesbia in a house the mistress of which was 
 favourable to our love.' So, I think again in 156. The interpretation 
 which makes dominam Lesbia is against Quo mea se molli Candida diua pede, 
 in which Lesbia seems to appear for the first tirne. 
 
 69. Ad qvia,m.^apud quam, as in Heaut. iii. 3. 43, v. 2. 26, Pomp. 
 Inscriptt. 1880 At quern non ceno, barbarus ille mihi est. See Drager 
 Hist. Synt. p. 534. Santen and A. Weise refer quam to domum, a con- 
 struction like that in Hes. "E. «. 'H, 405, 6 oIkov piv ■npuniara yvvaiKa tc 
 /SoCi/ T dpoTTJpa, KTrjTriv ov yapiTriv f)Tis Kal /Soucriv CTTOiro. For a relative 
 
 referring to a remoter object cf. Tac. Ann. i. 74, Cic. Arch. x. 25. Yet 
 below when Catullus speaks definitely of the house he writes domus in 
 qua 156, and on this view the poet is needlessly obscure, as he might 
 have said in 68 isque dedil dominae. communes amores cannot 
 
 be a mistress shared by both (Petron". S. 105, Mart. xi. 81. i) for Lesbia 
 at this early stage of her passion for Catullus would at least have taken 
 care not to indulge a second passion for Mallius in the very house 
 provided by him for her meeting the poet. It remains to explain it either 
 (i) of Catullus and Mallius pursuing their loves in common, in the same 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXVIIL 331 
 
 house, Exercere amores communes being i. q. exercere amorem communiter ; 
 or (2) of Catullus and Lesbia pursuing their love together, cf. the com- 
 munia gaudia, communis uolupias of Lucr. iv. 1 195, 1208. exercere 
 amorem, of prosecuting love, like exercere inimicitiam odium, etc. Pro- 
 pertius uses agHare amorem in the same sense i. 7. 5. 
 
 70. diua. Anth. P. v. 137. 3. 
 
 71. trite and fulgentem possibly in relation to each other. The 
 feet would be more conspicuous against a polished surface, fulgentem 
 of the white glistening feet, asTibullus i. 8. 31 has iuuenis cui leuia fulgent 
 Ora ; others refer it to the bright colour of the sandal, cf 1 34, LXI. 9, 
 10 and 160, Lucr. iv. 11 25. 
 
 72. The construction seems to ht fulgentem plantam innixa arguta 
 solea constituit {earn) trito in limine. So Propertius twice ii. 29. /^oProsilit 
 
 in laxa nixapedem solea, i. 3. 8 Non certis nixa caput pedf^s. Stat, quotes z-^--'' 
 Turpilius 3 1 Ribbeck Sandalio innixa digitulis primoribus ; and so Ouid. 
 Am, iii. i. 31 pictis innixa cothurnis. arguta is explained by Muretus 
 Santen Jacobs Hertzberg Conington (on Geor. iii. 80), and A. Weise, 
 who quotes Pallad. iv. 13. 2 Aures breues et argutae, as 'neat.' But both 
 Catullus elsewhere VI. n, and Propertius confine argutus to the sense 
 of sound : hence Statius is more right in explaining it here as ' crepante,' 
 'creaking.' Possibly the sound of the sandal is connected with the 
 smallness of the foot as Ben Jonson The Silent Woman iv. i If she 
 have an ill foot (A. A. iii. 271), let her wear her gown the longer and her 
 shoe the thinner. solea. De Harusp. Resp. xxi. 44 muliebribus soleis. 
 
 73-86. ' There Lesbia came to me, enamoured as Laodamia of old 
 when she entered the house of her new- wed husband Protesilaus ; that 
 husband whom she was destined to lose prematurely for neglecting the 
 proper sacrifices to the gods, as it was fated he should die at Troy.' 
 
 74. Protesilaeam like Menelaeo Prop. ii. 15. 14. 
 
 75. Inceptam frustra, ' begun for no perfect issue,' the house was 
 doomed to be incomplete by losing its nobler half, its lord and master, 
 
 Protesilaus. II. ii. 698 Sqq. Tfiv aZ UpaTtalXaos dpfi'ios fiyepiveve, Zaos ii>V 
 TOTe 8' rjbi) ?xcv koto, yala fieKaiua. ToO 8e (coi dii(j)i8pv(l)rjt aXop^os ^vXcikti iXt- 
 XeiTTTO Kal dSfjLos ^fiiTeXrjs' top 5' cKTave AdpBapos dvfjp, Nt^os aTTodpacTKOVTa ttoXu 
 
 irpamoTov 'Kxaiav. So Val. Flaccus of the widowed wife of a hero slain 
 in battle vi. 688 Coniux miseranda Caico Linquitur et primo domus im- 
 perfecta cubili. Inscript. at Philadelphia, quoted by Schrader on Musaeus 
 
 p. 341 HapBivos ris aniKvac piTprjV, r]s &pwv aii6os"Etrxfi' ev rjpiTtKei Travaapivov 
 BaKdpm. Anth. P. vii. 627. I 'apiriKri BaKaytov re Kal iyyvBi vvfirfitKa \iKTpa, 
 Plut. Quaest. Rom. 50 'O rov y(yaprjK6Tos oiKos TiXftos' 6e tov ■y^junvrot ovk 
 
 QTeXiys p.6vov dWa koI Trenrjpapivos. These passages show that this was a 
 common interpretation of ^^iteXij? : but in Catullus there is a harshness in 
 connecting Protesilaeam domum in the literal sense with Inceptam frustra 
 in the connotative one of family ; hence it seems better to refer inceptam 
 frustra to the uncompleted house which Protesilaus as a married man was 
 
 building for himself. Schol. II. ii. 701 *H drfXeiioros" t6os yap rjv Tois yrjpaai 
 6d\apov olKoSo/ie'ta'Bai' Sto ol noWol (pairiv on oiKohopav Bakapov favra 6 
 npatrea-tKaos dncTrXevcrev im tov noXcpov. So Paley ; and cf. Wordsworth Lao- 
 damia My neiv-planned cities and unfinished towers. sangtiine sacro, 
 ' the blood of sacrifice.' So Sacrutn iugulis demitie cruorem G. iv. 542. 
 Tac. Ann. ii. 14 Vidit se operatum et sanguine sacro respersa praetexta. 
 
332 A COMMENTARY 
 
 76. Hostia, the victim oflfered in the sacrifice which preceded marriage, 
 irporeXeia Eur. I. A. 718, cf. ib. 433. (Alex. Guarinus, Santen). There is 
 nothing in Homer which connects the untimely death of Protesilaus with 
 neglect of such a nuptial sacrifice ; Catullus must be following some later 
 legend, perhaps the Protesilaus of Euripides, in which the hero was de- 
 scribed as obliged to leave his wife for Troy after only one day's cohabita- 
 tion. Schol. Aristid. p. 671 ap. Nauck fragm. Trag. Graec. p. 443. 
 Possibly however Catullus refers not to a special nuptial sacrifice, but to'the 
 common Homeric notion of sacrifice as necessary to the success of any 
 undertaking, like the wall and trench which were built 6emj> aUryri and 
 without offering reXijcWas iKaroii^as II. xii. 6-8 (a passage quoted by 
 Santen), and the voyage which is stopped for the same reason Od. iv. 
 352. paciflcasset, Sil. Ital. xv. 421, had won the good-will (paceni) 
 of the gods by sacrifice at their altars Aen. iv. 56. heros. 5eois yap 
 Seo-TToraf koXeiv xp™" Eur. Hipp. 88. Caelestes heros exactly=:the dominos 
 deos of Heroid. iv. 12. 
 
 77. tarn ualde, 'so very much,' ' overmuch.' In Petron. S. i26,Nolo 
 iibi iam ualde placeas which Santen thinks imitated from Catullus, the 
 sense seems to be strictly 'so excessively,' and so in Fin. v. 11. 31: as 
 here, Petron. S. 17 Sed de remedio non iam ualde laboro. Bamuusia 
 uirgo, the actual statue of Nemesis at Rhamnus was said to be made out 
 of a piece of marble brought by the Persians for the purpose of erecting 
 a trophy over the Greeks, whom they felt confident of conquering at 
 Marathon, according to an epigram translated by Ausonius (Epigr. 21). 
 This would itself be Susceptum temere inuitis heris, and may have struck 
 Catullus if he had seen the statue. It is at least remarkable that the 
 Ramnusia uirgo is mentioned by him three times, LXIV. 395, LXVI. 
 71, and here : Pliny says Varro preferred it to all statues xxxvi. 17. 
 
 78. intiitis heris, aUxfri BeSiv. Aen. ii. 402 inuitis diuis. 
 
 79. ieiuna might be ' thirsting,' Prop. iii. 15. 18, but it is perhaps more 
 probably the opposite of pinguis, Aen. iv. 62 ; starved for want of the 
 blood on which it feeds. So Hense Poetische Personification i. 239. 
 pium, ' of oblation.' There can be no reference, as Voss supposed, to 
 the blood of Protesilaus as one of the best of the Grecian heroes ; but 
 Catullus may mean that the death of Protesilaus proved how unappeasable 
 is the desire of the gods for blood ; if animals are not forthcoming, 
 they must have men. desideret. So Horace C. iv. 11. 6-8 Ara castis 
 Vincia uerbenis auet immolato Spargier agno. cruorem. Servius on 
 Aen. viii. 106 Frustra quidam cruorem pecudum, sanguinem hominum 
 uolunt. Catullus has sanguine sacro in 75. 
 
 82. luia atque altera rursus, ' one winter and after it a second.' 
 Cluent. xiii. 38 Cum unum iam et alterum diem desideraretur. 
 
 83. in, in the course of : see on XXIII. 20. saturasset, her purpose 
 was baflSed. auidum. Lucr. iv. 1102-1108. 
 
 84. abrupto, the idea seems to be that of a thread broken off: so 
 often with medius, m. sermonem Aen. iv. 388, m. annos Luc. vi. 610, Plin. 
 Epist. V. 5. 4 Mors ituohatum aliquid abrumpat. 
 
 85. Quod, sc. coniugium. non longo tempore abisse, ' had 
 surely passed away soon,' ' was sure to pass away soon.' In oratio 
 recta the sentence would be Non longo tempore abiit coniugium, si miles 
 ierit. For this rhetorical use of the perfect to express a future action 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXVIIL 333 
 
 following with certainty upon the occurrence of a given contingency 
 Drager Historische Syntax p. 233 quotes Fam. xii. 6. 2 St conseruatus 
 eril, uicimus, Verr. iii. 62. 145, Liv. xxi. 43. 2, in each passage uicimus ; 
 and for the Infinitive Liv. xxi. 8. 8 Poem cepisse iam se urbem, si paulum 
 adnilaiur, credenle. For a3«M«='pass away' cf. Fam. ix. 20. i Ilia mea 
 quae solebas antea laudare abierunt. The only other interpretation which 
 seems possible is Santen's ' for the fates knew that he had not gone away 
 for long, if he went to Troy ; ' so soon would he be sent back dead. He 
 compares Prop. iii. 12. 13 Neue aliquid de te flendum refer atur in urna. 
 Sic redeunt illis qui cecidere locis. For the abl. of duration of time see 
 Drager p. 493. This would make the passage very like a Tragic fragm. 
 quoted by Santen from Tusc. Disp. iii. 13. 28 Praeterea ad Troiam cum 
 misiob de/endendam Graeciam, Scibam me in mortiferum bellum, non in epulas 
 miltere : but the suppression of the explanatory clause is intolerably harsh, 
 as taken by themselves the words, if the subject is Protesilaus, suggest 
 the exactly opposite meaning, viz. that he would soon come back alive, i. e. 
 as a conqueror. Some inferior MSS. give abesse, a word often confused 
 with abisse, e. g. in the Copa 5 where see Ribbeck : the meaning would 
 then be ' which severing of the marriage-tie was not very distant.' 
 scitaant. Lucr. v. 934, cf. audibant LXXXIV. 8, custodibant LXIV. 319. 
 Ouid. Heroid. xiii. 93 Sors quoque nescio quern fato designat iniquo Qui 
 primus Danaum Troada tangat humum. Auson. Epitaph. Heroum 12 
 Fatah adscriptum nomen mihi Protesilao . . . Quid queror ? hoc letum iam 
 turn mea fata canebant, Tale mihi nomen cum pater imposuit. (A. Weise). 
 
 87-104. ' Already the Greeks were arming for Troy, that city as fatal 
 to Protesilaus as to all other heroic worth, and now to my lost brother, 
 whom I cannot cease to mourn, and who lies buried under that accursed 
 soil. But then all Greece was astir to attack it, and to avenge the rape 
 of Helen.' 
 
 87. Helenae. Propertius perhaps was thinking of this passage when he 
 wrote ii. 34. 87 Haec quoque lasciui cantarunt scripia Catulli, liesbia quis 
 ipsa notior est Helena. raptu, in consequence of the rape i. e. to 
 avenge it : so munere isto XIV. 2. primores dpior^as of Homer : so 
 perhaps primorum Aen. ix. 309. 
 
 88. ad sese oiere, 'either the offending city challenges Greece to 
 war before her walls, cf. Sil. Ital. iv. 272 Crixum clamore ciebat Ad pug- 
 nam : or, mote probably, Troy summons to her walls the chiefs of 
 Greece, because she causes the summons of war against her to be issued 
 to them in their own country, as in Heroides viii. 73 Taenaris,Idaeo tram 
 aequor ab hospite rapta, Argolicas pro se uertii in arma manus. For ciere 
 in this sense of calling to arms cf. Aen. x. 198. 
 
 89. nefas, ' O execrable,' parenthetical as in Aen. vii. 73, viii. 688, Stat. 
 Theb. iii. 54. commune sepulcrum is applied to the earth by Lucr. v. 
 259, to a promiscuous burial-ground by Horace S. i. 8. 10. Cf. Auson. 
 Epit. Her. 11. 3, 24. 3. Asiae Europaeque. The position of Troy, 
 on the ground where Europe and Asia meet, struck the ancients much 
 more than those among the moderns who like Max Muller resolve the 
 Trojan war into a solar myth. Philostratus Icones 765'Y\^i;Xij/jeK aui-ij ^ 
 irSKis KOI ravri ra KprjSffiva tov 'IXi'ou, weSioK 8e rovrl fieya Koi diroxpav rrfv 'halau 
 irpbs Trjv 'Eipamrjv avriTa^ai. Aen. vii. 223 Quibus actus uterque Europae 
 atque Asiae fatis conatrrerit orbis, x. 90 Consurgere in arma Europamque 
 Asiamque, Prop. ii. 3. 36. 
 
334 A COMMENTARY 
 
 90. uirum et iiirtutum, ' heroes and heroical deeds.' Enn. Phoenix 
 338 Vahlen Virum uirtute uera uiuere animatum addecei, Verg. Aen. i. 
 566 Virtuksque uirosque. acertaa cinis, ' untimely grave,' like acerbo 
 
 funere Aen. vi. 429. CIL. I. 1202 Eheu heu Taracei ut acerbo es dediitts 
 fato. Non aeuo exsacio uitai es tradiius morti, Sed cum te decuit florere 
 aetaie iuenia, Interieisti et liquisti in maeroribus mairerii. ib. 1^22 pueri 
 uirtus indigne occidit. Quoiusfaium acerbum populus indigne tulit. Sen. ad 
 Marciam de Consol. 9 Tot acerbafunera (ducuntur) : nos togam nostrorum 
 infantium, nos militiam et paternae hereditatis successionem agitamus 
 anivio. De Ira iii. 25 Aequiore animofilium in angulo fleuit, qui uidit acerba 
 funera etiam ex regia duci. Tac. Ann. xiii. \*\ A maioribus instiiutum 
 subtrahere oculis acerbafunera, referring to Britannicus. Catullus alludes to 
 the premature deaths of Achilles Patroclus Antilochus Ajax Protesilaus, 
 as well as of Hector Troilus Paris Memnon. cinis. According to 
 Nonius 198, Caesar Catullus and Calvus made the word feminine, cf 
 Calvus fr. 4. Lachm. cum iam fulua cinis fuero, 5 Forsitan hoc etiam 
 gaudeat ipsa cinis. Lucret. iv. 926 has multa cinere, and so cineres suas 
 Orelli Inscript. 4393, cinere adoperta 4479, usta cinis 4839. 
 
 91. ueter id fatum miserabile, ' that ancient death of sorrow,' 
 i. e. the same untimely decease which befel the heroes of old. ueter 
 is neuter Vikt/atum celer aut tardum Nonius 526, iaculum celer ib. 552, 
 maturum dicitur celer ib. 348 : cf. 240. Ennius wrote ueter masc. ueter 
 Priamm, Ann. 17 Vahlen, and so Attius 481 ueter fatorum terminus ; it 
 is not known to occur as a fem. or neuter ; but if, as Probus asserts 
 1453 P., acer was used in all three genders, and celer origo in Lucretius 
 iv. 160, Volucer fama, siluester aedon in Petronius S. 123, 131, to say 
 nothing oi fames acer in Naevius, acer hiems in Ennius (Neue Formenlehre 
 der Latin. Sprach. ii. p. 7) prove that the termination in -er was not con- 
 fined to the masculine, it seems not improbable that it was also occa- 
 sionally neuter, like uber solum Tac. Hist. v. 6. 
 
 92-96 nearly = 20-24. This repetition Fratrem maerentis rapto de 
 fratre dolentis Insolabiliter is, I believe, unexampled in the other Roman 
 poets, and can hardly be considered, artistically, very happy. 
 
 97. tain longe looks as if Catullus were writing in Italy, sepulcra, 
 strictly plural, ' the tombs of the family : ' not so in LXIV. 368. 
 
 98. compositum, 'buried,' properly in reference to laying up the 
 ashes in a funeral urn. Tib. iii. 2. 26, Val. Flacc. vii. 208. Hor. S. i. 9. 
 28 Omnes conposui where Acron explains in urnis sepeliui. cineres, 
 masc, but acerba cinis above : probably one of the artifices of the cantor es 
 Euphorionis. 
 
 99. otaseena, ' abominable,' as Cassandra calls the ship which carried 
 Helen, the cause of so many deaths, to Troy obscenam puppim Heroid. v. 
 119. infeUee, 'accursed:' originally perhaps .applied to the arbor 
 infelix on which criminals were hung. Rabir. iv. 13. The abl. infeUoe is 
 rare; Neue ii. p. 47 quotes felice from Cic. Or. xlviii. 159, but Catullus 
 himself prefersy^&z LXII. 30, LXIV. 373. 
 
 100. Detinet, not simply Kartx" H- iii- 243, Od. xi. 300 but ipvKn, II. 
 
 xxi. 62 17 fiiv epv^ei Tt) (pval^oos rJTf Kara Kparepov vep ipvKei. extreme SOlO, 
 ' on the land's last verge : ' he was buried Rhoeteo subter litore LXV. 7. 
 
 101. Eldik compares Bion XV. 9 Ovhi tie "EWijk Oifrf MvKtivaiay, oUt 
 "HJliSof , oure Aaxaipav, Meivev ihv Kara dafta, ^tpinv SicTravov %pr)a. 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXVIIL 335 
 
 102. penetralia focos the hearths in the centre of their homes, 
 connected with the family worship of the household gods; the ipxilef 
 irvpa of Troad. 483 seems to express the same idea, just as 'EpKeioi= 
 Penates, though the outer court (epKoi) is strictly quite different from the 
 iablinum, or inner recess of the atrium, where the Romans placed their 
 household gods. Cic. N. D. ii. 27. 67 Vis ems {Vestae) ad aras et focos 
 pcrtinet. Itaque in ea dea quae est rerum custos intimarum omnis et precatio 
 et sacrificatio extrema est. Nee longe absunt ah kac ui di Penates, sitie a 
 penu ducto nomine (est enim omne quo uescuntur homines penus) siue ah eo, 
 quod penitus insident : ex quo etiam penetrales a poetis uocantur. Some 
 MSS. give penetrans deos, cf. Tac. Ann. ii. \o penetralis Germaniae deos, 
 Sen. Theb. 340 Facibus petite penetrales deos ; but Cic. de Harusp. Resp. 
 xxvii. 57 has Deorum ignes solia mensas abditos ac penetrales focos. 
 
 103. libera, ' undisturbed.' LXIV. 402. 
 
 104. pacato, ' where war did not come,' ' quiet from war.' Cic. pro 
 Lig. ii. 4 Domo egressus est non modo nullum ad bellum, sed ne ad minimam 
 quidem suspicionem belli ; legatus in pace profectus est; in prouincia paca- 
 tissima ita se gessit ut ei pacem esse expediret. thalamo. Catullus 
 perhaps recalled the meeting of Helen with Paris in the BaKafia) icai Sivaroia-i 
 AeXfc"' of the latter, II. iii. 391, cf. 421, 423. 
 
 105-118. ' It was thus that Laodamia lost Protesilaus, the husband 
 whom she loved with a passion not less deep than the chasm which 
 Hercules made by draining the waters of Pheneos in Arcadia, a task 
 which he undertook voluntarily, at the same time that he shot the birds of 
 Stymphalus at the bidding of Eurystheus, thus winning the rank of a god 
 and an immortal bride, Hebe.' 
 
 106. uita dulcius atque anima, ' life and the breath of life.' Lucan 
 V. 739 Nbn nunc uita mihi dulcior, inquit, Cum taedetuitae, laeto sed tempore, 
 coniux. The addition of atque anima gives intensity to an otherwise 
 commonplace expression. 
 
 107. atasorbens, ' engulfing.' Cicero uses the word metaphorically 
 with aestus. Brut. Ixxxi. 282, uertice. Charis. 88. 16 Keil uertex a 
 uertendo dicitur, uortex a uorando, et uult Plinius uerticem immanem uim 
 impetus habere ut ingens a uertice pontus (Aen. i. 114), uorticem uero 
 circumactionem undae esse, ut et rapidus uorat aequore uortex (Aen. i. 117). 
 From this it would seem that the ordinary distinction of uortex fluminis, 
 uertex capitis, which is found in Flavius Caper de Orthographia p. 2243 
 Putsch was not recognized by Pliny, and probably did not exist in his 
 time. The older form was uortex, the forms in e were introduced by 
 Scipio Africanus, according to Quint, i. 7. 25. (Brambach Neugestal- 
 tung der Lateinischen Orthographic p. 102). The MSS. of Catullus uni- 
 formly present the e form. See Ribbeck, Verg. iv. p. 436. amoris, 
 both with uertice and Aestus. 
 
 108. abruptum, ' sheer,' here adj. In Sen. N. Q. iii. 16. 4 abrupto in 
 infinitum hiatu, which explains the idea, it is a participle. Catullus 
 seems to be thinking rather of the precipitous character of the descent 
 than of the chasm itself barathrum. The subterranean channels, or 
 katavothras as they are now called, which carry off the waters of rivers 
 like the Erasinus and the Ladon, and when choked up make them over- 
 flow, were called fiepeSpa, in Arcadian CfpfBpa, Strabo 389. 
 
 109. Quale, ' like the oozy soil which, as the Greeks tell, is drained near 
 
336 A COMMENTARY 
 
 Cyllenaean Pheneos by the straining out of the marsh-waters.' A descrip- 
 tion of the katavothra. The comparison is not exact, for the abyss of 
 love is like the hollow into which the water subsides, not the soil which 
 the overflow of the waters has converted into a marsh. But there is 
 much plausibility in Schrader's emendation Siccare. Then Quale will 
 refer to barathrum, ' like the abyss which drains the soil : ' and this agrees 
 better with Quod in in. Pheneos, a town in the N.E. of Arcadia, with 
 a territory extending about seven miles in length and breadth, and shut in 
 by offshoots of Cyllene and the Aroanian mountains. (Diet. Geog.) The 
 river Olbius or Aroanius traverses this plain, and when the Pepedpa, which 
 ought to carry off its waters, are stopped up, inundates the plain and be- 
 comes a lake. The reservoir ascribed to Hercules was intended to act as 
 an artificial channel for this river. Paus. viii. 1 4 Am ftfVou 8e apv^ev 'npaKKrjs 
 rov ^eyearS>v jredlov peviia elvax T& iroTapm t& 'OX^t^, ovTiva *Apodviov 'ApKodoiv 
 KaXova-tv €T€poi KaX ouK*OX/3tov. pjjKos fiev rov opvyparos (rrabioi irevrrjKovrd elaC 
 ^d6os 8e, oaov p.ri TTETrTCOKos ioTiv avrov, Kal es TptaKovra KaOfjKei TrdSas. The 
 
 author of the article in the Diet. Geog. considers this to be the work which 
 Catullus speaks of; but Pausanias mentions besides two ^dpaBpa, one 
 beneath mount Oryxis, the other under mount Skiathus, as also con- 
 structed by Hercules : and as in Pausanias' time marks were shown on 
 the sides of the mountains up to which the waters were believed to have 
 ascended, and Catullus specially mentions the hewing out of the mountain, 
 it seems likely that the poet had these in his mind. Cylleneum. 
 
 Catullus perhaps follows Callim. Del. 7 1 ^evyev 8' 6 yepav p-erdnurSe *ei/oios ; 
 
 in Paus. viii. 14, Stat. Theb. iv. 291 Pheneos is fem. 
 
 110. emulsa. Strabo 389 calls the katavothra or ^cpeBpa strainers. 
 
 *EpaT0(rd6vr]s Se (prja-i irepX ^evehv p.tv rov 'Aviav KoXovpevov jrorapxtv Xipva^eiv ra 
 Trpi T^s 7r6\ea>s, KaTabietj6iu 8' ets rivas rjdpovs oiis KaKeiuOai ^epedpa. pingue, 
 
 rraxv, a tAick soil, here from the coagulation of the marsh-waters, more 
 generally from the richness of the juices, as in Verg. G. i. 64, Tib. ii. 3. 6. 
 
 111. Quod, sc. siccatum solum, nearly^' which drainer of the soil.' 
 caesis mentis medullis. Paus. viii. 14 'Y(|)' iKarepa Si 4<tti r^ opei ^dpaOpov 
 
 TO vbap Karadexdpevov eK rov Trefitov. Ta 8e jSdpadpa 01 ^evearai ravrd ^aaiv 
 eivai ^eipoTTOiTjra, rroi^aaL Be avra 'HpaKXea r7)viKavra iv Severn irapa Aaovofiij rjj 
 'Ap<f)iTpvcovos pfjrpt olKovvra' yeveadat yap 'Ap<jyiTpvaiva eK Aaovoprjs 'AXxatw rrjs 
 Tovvims, yvvaiK^s ^cvedriSos, Kal ouK ex rrjs UeXoiros Ava-iSiKrjs. El 8c 'HpaKh^s 
 dXrjdei Xo'yip irapd rovs ^evedras fieTa)KT)(re, iteWoiro av Tts, hico')(64vTa 4k Tlpvv$os 
 vtrb Eypvadeas avrov ovk. avrUa is Qrj^as, Trporepov de is ^eveov dtptKeaOat. 
 
 Pausanias here follows a different version from Catullus; the common 
 point of the two is the connexion of Pheneos with Amphitryon. 
 
 112. Audit = dicitur. Fore, quotes no instance of audire in this 
 sense followed by an infinitive, falsiparens, a translation of Callimachus' 
 ■^eubonarap Cer. Cal. 98, where Triopas applies it to his unnatural father 
 Poseidon. Here the word is in close connexion with Amphitryoniades, 
 ' he who was falsely called Amphitryon's son,' being really the son of 
 Jupiter. 'Ap(j)iTpvavtASris is a recurring title of Hercules in the Scutum 
 Herculis ascribed to Hesiod. The construction of the reservoir at 
 Pheneos was one of the voluntary labours of Hercules, e| airaypea-ijis 
 Callim. fr. 120 Blomf. 
 
 113. Tempore quo, during his visit to Arcadia. Stymphalus adjoins 
 Pheneos on the east : and like it was celebrated for a mountain-inclosed 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXVIII. 337 
 
 lake which escaped by a katavothra and, when this outlet was obstructed, 
 inundated the neighbouring country. eerta sagitta. Hor. C. i. 12. 
 23, 24. monstra, the birds of lake Stymphalus, which Pausanias viii. 
 2 2 conjectures to have resenabled the Arabian birds of the same name, of 
 the size of cranes, and in form like the ibis, except that their beaks were 
 stronger and not crooked. Peisander of Camirus (Paus. viii. 22. 4) and 
 Apoll. Rhod. ii. 1054-1059, gave a different account. According to 
 this, Hercules was unable to keep off the birds with his bow, and only 
 scared them away by shaking a brass ratde from the top of a high rock. 
 
 114. deterioris, EurystheUS, Ma\a yap iroXv x*'/""" ^<»" AeS/zij/iTjv, 6 de 
 
 fioi pifuXcTTous ('nmWeT deeXovs, the words of Hercules to Ulysses Od. xi. 
 621. 
 
 115. Od. xi. 602 Avt6s be fi€T' dBavaToiin deo'uTi TepTrerai ii> BaKi-gs, Koi , 
 ex« iaiKKl(T(jjvpov"li^rjv. Hom. H. 15. 7 NCj/S' ^81; Kara koKov c8os vi(f>6evTos 
 
 OXvptrov Nai'ft repnopevos Koi ^x^i K6\Xlir(pvpov "H^rji/. ianua, ' the gate- 
 
 way,' Cic. N. D. ii. 27. 67 Transitiones peruiae Iani,foresque in liminibus 
 profanarum aediiim ianuae nominanlur, a remark otherwise in strange 
 contrast with the application of the word here to the abode of the gods. 
 tereretur, ' might be trodden,' as in terere uiam limcn 'porlicum cf. LXVI. 
 69. Another interpretation is suggested by Sen. H. F. 960 Quid si 
 negaret ? non capH terra Herculem Tandemque superis reddil. En ultra 
 uocat Omnis deorum coelus et lax at fores Vna ueiante. Recipis et reseras 
 polum? An contiimacis ianuam mundi traho ? viz. the wearing away of the 
 door by the opening and shutting necessary to admission. 
 
 117. altus amor, /Sd^ut epa>i Theoc. iii. 41. 
 
 118. ' For it forced him that was the master (Protesilaus) to become 
 the slave and bear the- yoke,' viz. of his wife's overpowering passion. 
 The comparison is strictly exact : as Hercules bowed his neck to the 
 task of digging a deep reservoir for the marsh-waters, so did Protesilaus 
 to gratify the deep love of Laodamia. So Ovid represents Hypsipyle as 
 saying of Medea's passion for her husband Jason, Her. vi. 97 Scilicet ut 
 iauros, ita te iuga ferre coegit, in allusion to the fire-breathing bulls 
 which she taught him to subdue; Prop. ii. 3. 47-50 expands the idea ; 
 Wordsworth in his Laodamia expresses in detail such a passion, and con- 
 trasts it with the finer love of Protesilaus himself, Be taught, faithful 
 Consort, to control Rebellious passion ; for the Gods approve The depth, and 
 not the tumult, of the soul ; A fervent, not ungovernable, love. 
 
 119-14.0. ' Neither the love of a grandfather for his only daughter's 
 son, nor that of a dove for her mate, could compare with the transports 
 of Laodamia. Yet hardly inferior to Laodamia in strength of passion 
 was Lesbia when she met me, breathing love and desire. And if she is 
 not quite as faithful to me as I might wish, I take care to complain as 
 little as I can, knowing that she has examples for her lightness in the 
 Celestials themselves, and that I am only copying the forbearance of Juno ' 
 to her roving husband Jupiter.' 
 
 119—124. From Pindar 01. xi. 86 'AXX' are irdis e^ a\6)^ov naTpl HoBeivos 
 iKOvn vcOTOTOt TO TToXiv rjSr], poiKa Sf TOi Beppaivfi (piKoTari voov, 'En-ft ttXoCtoi 
 & Xa;^wi; noipeva 'EirnKTOv aXKorptov Qvcuxkovtl trrvyeparaTOS. 
 
 119. confecto aetate parenti. Aen. iv. 599. 
 
 120. Vna, therefore his only hope of posterity. Santen remarks that 
 the passage has special force in reference to the lex Voconia b.c. 169, 
 
 z 
 
338 A COMMENTARY 
 
 which enacted that no one included in the census after the censors of 
 that year should make any female his heir: (Verr. i. 42. 107, of. Gaius 
 ii. 274) a provision which extended even to only daughters (Augustin. de 
 Ciuit. Dei iii. 21). caput suggests the pleasure which an old man 
 would feel in the thought of his perpetuation as a free Roman citizen. 
 
 Seri, o^iyovov Hom. H. Cer. 164 sqq. Ti/XuyfTos fie 01 vios h\ fieydpa eimijKTffl 
 'O^iyivos Tpi(j)eTai, 7roXD£ij;(ETOs diTTraaws Tf {ut'x tandem inuenius) : ib. 219 
 IlatSa fie /iot Tpe(j)e rdi/Se, tov dyjriyovov Kal aikiTTOv "Stnaffav dddvarotj 7r6Xvapr]70s 
 
 8/ fioL iarlv (Santen), cf. II. ix. 481, 482. 
 
 121. diuitiis, dative, ' to succeed to the wealth.' inuentus, here 
 , used of the child whose appearance has been long looked for in vain. 
 
 The construction is like And. iii. ■^ 39 Tibi generum firmum et filiae in- 
 ttenias uirum. 
 
 122. 'Has entered his name on the tablets of the will.' Tes/arzz=to 
 make a will, e. g. Liu. i. 34, and tabulae testatae (passive) seems to mean 
 little more than ' the tablets of the will made,' though possibly there may 
 be a farther notion of the will being drawn up with particular attention 
 to all requisite formalities, as would be natural in the case of a long- 
 expected heir. On this View tabulas would itse¥ stand for the will 
 as in A. A. ii. 332, luuen. iv. 19; testatas would mean ' testibus con- 
 firmatas,' as Santen explains. Cic. ad Heren. i. 13. 23 Tabulas in carcerem 
 afferunt, tesiamentum ipso praesente conscribunt, testes rede affuerunl. No- 
 men inttilit=has been entered byname, nominatim. scriptus i?j/DeOrat. 
 i. 38. 175. 
 
 123. ' Blasting the unnatural joy of the baffled heir next of kin, bids 
 the vulture soar away from the gray head,' i. e. frees the grandfather from 
 the expectant heir who counted on the absence of direct issue to inherit 
 the property. Heren. i. 13. 23 quoting from the Twelve Tables Si pater- 
 familias intestate moritur, familia pecuniaque eius adgnalum gentiliumque 
 
 esto : De Inuent. ii. 50. 148. Impia, 'quia gentilis propinquum sine 
 liberis heredibus decessurum sperabat,' Santen. Rather, perhaps, in 
 opposition to the pious grief of a nearer relation for the loss of his aged 
 kinsman. derisi, proleptic LXIV. 129. Browning, The Ring and the 
 Book ii. 5&0 Partly to cheat the rightful heirs agape, Each uncUs cousin's 
 brother's son of him, For that same principal of the usufruct It vexed him 
 he must die and leave behind. 
 
 124. Suscitat. The vulture is perched on the gray head already, in 
 anticipation. True. ii. 3. 16 Ilium student iam ; quasi uolturii triduo Prius 
 praediuinant quo die essuri sient, where Spengel quotes Plin. H. N. x. 19. 
 uolturium, of an heir expectant. Mart. vi. 62 Amisit pater unicum Salanus. 
 Cessas mittere munera, Oppiane ? Heu crudele nefas malaeque Parcae. Cuius 
 uulturis hoc erit cadauer ? Sen. Epist. 95. 43 Amico aliquis aegro adsidet. 
 Probamus. At hoc hereditatis causa facit. Vultur est, cadauer expectat. 
 Suidas S. U. cmtipoi ymas (ErasmuS amp oi yCwf s) eVI Tmx dm KKr\povo\u.av t\ 
 hid Kepdos TrpoareBpevdvTav rivi' napdcrou ol yvTres Tois Burjaifxatois 7rapeBpevov<riv. 
 capiti, ablative like lapidi fieri labi tripodi Cilici Heliconi de parti in luci 
 axidevenrationimucroniinhucTetius. cano capiti. Pers. i. 83. 
 
 125. niueo columbo, XXIX. 8. According to Varro L. L. ix. 56, 
 quoted by Vulp. columba was for a long time the only form, and the dis- 
 tinction mas columbus,femina columba of comparatively recent introduction ; 
 yet columbus is found in Rud. iii. 6. 49. The constancy of the male and 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXVIIL 339 
 
 female dove to each other is often mentioned, Prop. ii. ig. 27, Paroem. 
 Graeci ii. 447 ed. Leutsch, Plin. H. N. x. 104 Pudicitia illis (columbis) 
 prima et neutri nota adulteria ; coniugi fidem non uiolant, communemque 
 seruant domum ; nisi caelebs aut uidua nidum non relinquit. 
 
 126. Compar, ' mate,' Hor. C. ii, g. 2. It is found in Inscriptt.=wife, 
 as in Orelli 2656. multo improbiuB is explained by Santen as = 
 improbissime, cf. paulo, nimio with comparatives. But in all the other pas- 
 sages where it is used by Catullus XLV. 15, LXXII. 6, LXXXII. 3, 
 LXXXIII. 5, in Horace throughout, in the passages of Plautus given in 
 the Delphin index, and in Terence, the comparative, when combined with 
 mulio, retains its distinct comparatival force, though the thing compared 
 is sometimes left to be inferred, sometimes placed in the clause following, 
 e. g. Men. v. 6. 13 Magis multo patior facilius ego uerba : uerbera odi\. e. 
 
 facilius uerberibus. Poen. Prol. 7 Qui edistis multo fecistis sapientius : Qui 
 non edistis, saturi fite fabulis. In Most. iii. 2. 139 Multo improbiores, Lucil. 
 XXX. 78 L. Miiller Inprobior multo, qudm de quo diximus ante, Quanta 
 blandior haec, tanto uementius mordet, the comparatives have their proper 
 force. Here the thing compared with the wantonness of the dove is the 
 doating caprice of women ; but the sentence is abruptly closed before 
 this object is expressed; it thus becomes the nominative of a new 
 clause, and is then inferred backwards : ' the dove which is said to kiss 
 far more wantonly (than a woman), though a woman's fancy is the most 
 wide-ranging of all things.' The interposition of 127 makes this less 
 harsh ; but the alteration to Quam quae is a slight one, and may be right. 
 dicitur, as often in Pliny of statements taken from others, H. N. x. 191, 2. 
 
 127. Athen. 394 'iSioi' hk "Kcyci ttjs irfpiarTcpas to Kwelv avras orav fiiXXoKnv 
 dvafialvfiv, ^ ovK dvex^aBm ras BtjXelas' 6 Se irpccrlBiTepos kol dva^alvei p.r] Kvaas. 
 ol df VfOiTepOi di\ TOVTO irotTjffavTes o^evovaiv, Koi al dqXelai 8' aK\r]\as dva^aivoviTiu 
 orav appTjv lifj ndpjj Kvadiievm. Lycophron Al. I3I calls Helen Kd<r(Tr)s 
 
 neXfidSos. mordenti, participial ablative used adjectively. So mugienti 
 fremitu candenti e gurgite laetanti coetu fulgenti aiiro atque argento laetanti 
 pectore, Neue Formenl. ii. p. 46. semper with decerpere, ' to be for 
 
 ever snatching.' 
 
 128. The argument returns to the point which it started'with, the 
 strength of woman's passion, and so to Laodamia. multiuola, like 
 omniuoli in 140, from uelle, cf Varro's multicupidus ap. Non. 123, not from 
 uolare, as if the idea were ' those gentle birds that fly from man to man.' 
 Fore, gives no other instance : but Vulp. quotes from the Vulgate Eccle- 
 siastic, ix. 3 Ne respicias mulierem multiuolam, ne forte incidas in laqueos 
 illius. To take mulier of the female dove, as Doering, is harsh in point 
 of language and not true, as doves though wanton, are notoriously faithful 
 to each other, and could not possibly be called multiuolae. 
 
 129. tu, Laodamia. horum, masculine, as the particular instances are 
 thought of generally. Cf. LXVI. 2^/ortior alis. 
 
 130. flaUO. PhilostratUS 'YipaiKd 673 Kai p.r)v Ka\ KOiirfi ^avBrjs ex^i to 
 
 lifTpiov. concUiare, here of bringing man and wife together Lucr. v. 
 963, Am. i. 13. 42, more generally in a bad sense of acting as procurer. 
 Mil. Glor. iii. i. 206. 
 
 131. Aut nihil aut paulo, a curious modification, but cf. fioVos 7 
 irp&Toi BvTfrav Aristot. Eleg. fr. 3. 3 Bergk. Cic. Fam. xiv. 4. i Certe 
 nihil aut non multum inuita mcli uidissemus. Hor. C. iv. 14. 20 Indomitas 
 
340 A COMMENTARY 
 
 prope qualis undas Exercet Auster. Ouid. Her. ii. 146 Aut hoc cut simili 
 carmine notus eris. xiv. 41 Aui sic aut etiam tremui magis: Shelley Pro- 
 metheus Act ii. ad fin. And rest having beheld somewhat like thee. 
 
 133. ciroumcursans. Sen. Apocol. ix. (Hercules) modo hue modo 
 illuc cursabat. 
 
 134. crocina. Aristophanes gives Cupid wings of gold Aves 697 
 'S.TiK^av vanov iTTepvyoiv xpvroiv. candldus probably refers to his 
 lustrous complexion. Plato Rep. 474 says fair loves (Xfu/col) were called 
 6eS}v TToiSfs. tunica. Sappho fr. 64 Bergk gives Eros a purple 
 chlamys. 
 
 135. Ter. Eun. i. 2. 42 Neque tu uno eras contenta neque solus dedit. 
 Hor. Epod 14. 15, of a male, A. A. ii. 399. 
 
 136. Bara and uerecuudae explain each other. Catullus will bear 
 with his lady's frailties, for she is decorous and they are few. herae, 
 in Greece the Spartans and Thessalians called their wives Semroiva Plut. 
 Lye. xiv, Hesych. s. u. AeoTroiW. 
 
 137. stultorum, 'Jealous fools.' Propertius ii. 34. 20 says of himself 
 in reference to Cynthia Siultus quod stulto saepe timore tremo. Alciph. i. 3 1 
 Aia Ti]V eii(j)VTOv afiaBlav VTrepapaiTO ficTpovTrjs tpmriK^s fi;XoT07ri'as. From 
 
 a less particular point of view, a lover whose assiduity makes him tiresome 
 (molestus) becomes disagreeable (odiosus) and converts love into hatred, a 
 proof of his folly (stultitia). 
 
 138. AristOph. Nub. 1080 elr « tok a" irmveveyKeiv Kaxeivos i>s ^TTOtv 
 epayros eWt Koi yvvaiKav. Ka/rot crii 3j/rjr6s Siv 6eov ir&s pei^ov &v hvvaw J ad- 
 dressed to a supposed adulterer. in culpa is constructed both with 
 flagrantem (Drager p. 607) and iram as in pellice saeuae Ouid. Met, iv. 
 546, uesanum in uite, Prop. iii. 17. 23. See Hertzberg on Prop. i. 13. 7, 
 and Quaestt. Prop. p. 134. contudit, as in Att. xii. 44. 3 Contudi 
 animum et fortasse uici, si modo permansero, might mean simply ' has 
 crushed or mastered ; ' but it seems more likely that the reference is to 
 stifling the flame of anger, as Cic. de Rep. i. i has Incendium belli Punici 
 excitatum conludisset. iram. Callim. Del. 55 OiS' "w.prjv Koreova-av {me- 
 
 TpetraVf fj /leV dirda-ais Aetvov eire&piiiaTO \€;^a)to"ti', at Aa TratSas 'E^e/pepov. 
 Trist. ii. 291, 2 Proxima adoranli lunonia templa subibit Paelicibus multis 
 hanc doluisse deam. 
 
 140. omniuoli. Stat, compares "Epmn navTopeKTa Anacreont. lo. 11 
 Bergk. plurima furta, as related by him to Juno II. xiv. 315-328, 
 Dia Danae Europa Semele Alcmena Demeter Latona. 
 
 141-142. The explanations of these two verses on the view that they 
 follow each other are mainly two (i) 'Yet after all men are not gods, 
 and I am not without a bad wish : to be rid of my mistress' father, who 
 is tiresome and watches us ' (Scaliger) or, ' is censorious on our amour ' 
 (Conr. de AUio) ; and (2) ' Yet, since men are not gods, i. e. either (a) 
 I am not so great as Juno, and must therefore be more patient, or (b) I 
 am not so great as Juno, and Lesbia may therefore resent being treated 
 like Jupiter ; or (c) Lesbia is a frail woman and must not be treated as 
 Juno treated Jupiter ; away with the tiresome burden of a father's senility 
 i. e. let us have no over-jealousy ; I do not wish to treat my mistress as a 
 father, but as a lover. The general sense would then be like Ouid. Am. 
 iii. 4. 43, compared by A. Weise Si sapis {=ne nimium simus stuUorum 
 more molesti\, indulge dominae [=rar a furta fer emus herae\ uultusque 
 
» ON* CATULLUS. LXVIIL 341 
 
 seueros Exue\_^tremuli tolle parentis otitis]. To these maybe added the 
 view of Heyse.'^s) ' Yet since men are not gods but jealous and impatient 
 mortals, you must take upon yourself, Catullus, the tiresome task which 
 properly belongs to parents, of watching your mistress' irregularities.' The 
 poet will then be addressing himself in tolle, which, without any indication 
 of a change of person as in VIII. i8, 19 is unjustifiably harsh, although 
 such sudden self-a!ddresses are not uncommon in Propertius, e. g. ii. 5. 
 9-1 6. Santen explains iolk as a general expression ' away with,' cf. peie 
 nobiles amicos XXVIIL 13, / ttunc tolle animos Prop. iii. 18. 17, and if 
 either (i) or (2) is adopted, this is the readiest interpretation of the word. 
 I prefer to follow Marcilius and Lachmann in supposing a considerable 
 lacuna between 141 and 142, though there is no indication of this in the 
 MSS. The lost verses probably contained, as Haupt suggests, another 
 digression ; perhaps, as I suggested in my first volume an allusion to 
 the loss of Creusa by Aeneas ; at any rate the words Ingratutn tremuli 
 tolle parentis onus might well apply to Aeneas lifting his father Anchises 
 on his shoulders, as narrated by Virgil Aen. ii. 707 sqq. The connexion 
 of ideas would then be as follows : ' Yet men are not gods, I am not 
 Juno. Let me put myself in the position of a mortal : I, it is true, have 
 lost Lesbia, but not wholly, and not a wife ; Aeneas, the son of a Goddess, 
 lost his wife Creusa wholly, when at the bidding of his mother Venus he 
 shouldered his father on the way to his new home.' 
 
 141. II. v. 440 MijSt fleoifftx 'l(r' W(Ke ^povUai' eWei oii iroTt (pvXov ojidiov 
 'ABavarav T€ 6eav X"M"'' ipx^t'^vav t avOpamasv. Philo de Caritate T. ii. 404 
 ed. Mang. (Bergk fr. Pindar 265 A)''E7rfiTa 8' &ti (ppovriparos {jv6nK€aii oKoyou 
 yev6p.tvos "nas akd^atv ovts avhpa ovre fjp.t6eov p-aWov rj Sat'/xoi/a Kara tov 
 nipSapov VTro\ap.8a.vci iavrov, {mep roiis opovs rijs avBpamivqs <^uo-ea)f a^imv ^alveiv. 
 
 It is remarkable that Catullus in comparing himself and Lesbia with Juno 
 and Jupiter (Cas. ii. 3. 14) inverts the very profanity which caused Ceyx and 
 Alcyone, who called each other Jupiter and Juno, to be metamorphosed 
 into birds (ApoUod. i. 7) ; Plutarch de Fluv. 1 1 mentions the similar me- 
 tamorphosis of the brother and sister Haemus and Rhodope into moun- 
 tains, for the same profanity. Lesbia seems to have challenged comparison 
 with Juno, LXX. 2, LXXII. 2 ; Cicero alludes to Clodia several times as 
 'Hpa ^oSmis, probably in reference to the stories of her scandalous inter- 
 course with her brother (Cael. xxxii. 78, Att. ii. 9. i, 12. 2, 14. i, 22. 5, 
 23.3). nee was perhaps answered by a lost ««(r or «^ .• it might however 
 be, ' Yet since ott the other hand mortals ought not to be compared with 
 gods.' Quid. Pont. iv. 13. 5 Non quia mirifica est, sed quod nee publica certe. 
 
 142. Ingratum and trennili (LXI 51) are in relation to each other. 
 The father is a disagreeable burden as old and helpless, inutilis Aen. ii. 
 647, cf. 708 the words of Aeneas to Anchises Ipse subibo umeris, nee vie 
 labor iste grauabit. In tolle there may be a double entendre as in 
 the epigram on Nero Quis neget Aeneae magna de stirpe Neronem ? Sustulit 
 hie mairem, sustulit ilk patretn. Cf. Varro Sexagessis fr. vii Riese. 
 
 143-146. ' After all Lesbia was not solemnly married to me ; her 
 husband was living and our first meeting was clandestine. I may there- 
 fore be well contented if I am the one favoured lover whose day she 
 marks as a day of signal and special happiness.' 
 
 143. Nee tamen is obviously in reference to some married pair, 
 mentioned in the digression. dedueta, of a bride Prop. iv. 3. 13, Tib. 
 
342 A COMMENTARY • 
 
 iii- 4- 31. dexstra paterna, in the Roman conueniio in manum, the father 
 delivered his daughter to her husband : cf. LXII. 6o (Santen). 
 
 144. Fragrantem, i. e. with all the pomp and luxury of a formal 
 marriage. Assyrio. See on VI. 8. 
 
 145. mira, ' rare,' ' unspeakable.' Somewhat similar is Lucretius' 
 manuum mira uirtuie v. 966, Hor. Epist. ii. 2. 129 miros iragoedos. The 
 idea is nearly that of Alciphron's ln^dvr^s riys Upas wktos ii. i. 4. miuius- 
 cula. Petron. fr. Bucheler 30. 14 dai aduUera munus. 
 
 146. dempta uiri gremio, ' subtracted from her husband's embraces; ' 
 see on LXVII. 30. This line is almost alone sufficient to show that 
 Catullus is speaking of Lesbia. 
 
 147. Quare illud satis est. Catalecta 13. 11. 
 
 148. Queui diem, in conformity with a remark oT "Servius on Aen. 
 '•736 Quidam uolunt masculini generis diem bonum significare, feminini 
 malum. candldiore. 'Id solenne est scriptOribus Latjnis ut dies 
 felices creta uel albo lapide lapillo "calculo gemma si^nandos et notandos 
 dicant : infaustos uero nigrb.' Bentley on Hbr. C. i. 36. 10, who besides 
 this passage of Catullus and CVII. 6 quotes Mart. xii. 34. .5-7, viii. 45. 
 I, 2,xi. 36. I, 2, ix. 52. 4,5, X. 38. 4, 5, Stat. S. iv. 6. 18, Plin. Epist. vi. 11. 
 3. Lesbia must have so far varied this custom as to specialize one particular 
 day by a white mark, and assigned it to her most favoured lover. It is re- 
 markable that Roman women wore white robes and nets for the dead, Plut. 
 Q. R. 26 : to an imaginative lover this would rather detract from the 
 happy significance of the omen. 
 
 149-160. ' Such, AUius, is the gift of verse with which I would requite 
 your many kindnesses to me, and keep in everlasting remembrance your 
 household name : heaven will add all those blessings which have from time 
 immemorial been the portion of good and true friends. I wish all happiness 
 to you and your lady-love, to the house as well as the owner of the house 
 which harboured Lesbia and me, to Anser, the first promoter of our love, 
 lastly to her who is dearer to me than all the world beside, Lesbia, whose 
 life makes my life happy.' 
 
 149. quod potui, ' it was all I could.' Catullus sends his friend the 
 best he can do. Verg. E. iii. 70 Quod potui, puero siluestri ex arbore lecla 
 Aurea mala decern misi : eras altera mittam (Vulp.). Heroid. viii. 3 Quod 
 potui, renui. Calp. ix. 68. The elaborate character of the poem is in 
 strong contrast with the humility of the poet's language. oonfectum 
 carmine, wrought or framed in verse; Caesar B. G. i. 29 has Tabulae 
 litteris Graecis confectae, Nepos Hann. 13 Libros Graeco sermone conficere. 
 Possibly Catullus wrote confictum, a word which would suggest the 
 elaborate moulding and dove-tailing into shape, which characterize the 
 poem. So Fauos.confingunt et ceras of bees Plin. H. N. xi. 11. 
 
 151. uestrum after tibi, ' your family name,' see on LXIV. 160. 
 scabra, ' corroding.' Verg. G. i. 495 Exesa inueniet scabra robigine pila. 
 Here the notion seems to be that of a monument, in which the letters of 
 Allius' name are engraved and liable to be corroded by time. Shak- 
 spere Sonnets ci it lies in thee To make him much outlive a gilded tomb. 
 And to be praised of ages yet to be. 
 
 152. ' To-day and to-morrow and other days in long succession.' Ad 
 Heren. iv. 50. 63 Alio nomine appellat, deinde alio atque alio. 
 
 153. Themisgave to Peleus as eia-e^earaTos the deofiopov yipas of marrying 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXVIIL 343 
 
 Thetis, Find. Isthm. viii. 40. Heeychius identifies Themis with Good For- 
 tune ayaSq Tuxv, see Welcker Gotterlehre iii. 18-20 and 210, Plutarch with 
 Carmenta, who gave the Roman matrons cvTCKvlav nai wdKureKvlav Q. R. 
 56. Hesiod associates her with Aphrodite Hebe and Dione (Theog. 16), 
 and she is called o-oj/uutiic^ 6fa in Etym. M. Hence I think the blessings 
 of wtuch Catullus speaks are those of marriage, happiness in the possession 
 •of a healthy wife and children, as well as of a vigorous body. If this is 
 so, Allius who in 1-40 is spoken of as a widower would seem to have 
 chosen another wife {/ua uita), whether as yet married or not is un- 
 certain. 
 
 154. Antiquis, e. g. in the golden age, or in the Heroic period. 
 piis is here a substantive as pudicas Prop. iii. 13. 9. Ovid has diues 
 auarus Am. iii. 7. 50, Statius sapientum priorum S. ii. 2. 69,Fronto antiqui 
 ueteres p. 1 66 Naber. 
 
 155. uita, in this sense of ' beloved,' is generally in the vocative, 
 True. ii. 4. 37, Cas. i. 47, and so above XLV. 13 infr. CIX. i, Prop. ii. 
 3. 23, 26. I, uita i. 2. I, i. 8. 22. 
 
 156. ' And the house itself in which we both enjoyed our love, and 
 she that is mistress of the house.' ipsa fixes the meaning of domina, 
 ' not only the mistress of the house, but the house itself,' cf. 70. 
 lusimus can hardly refer to Allius and Catullus; like nobis in 157 it 
 must be explained either of the poet alone, or, as seems more likely, of 
 Catullus and Lesbia. 
 
 157. rem coudidit, ' was the originator of all.' This is my conjecture 
 for the MS; reading ierram dedit ; but there is much to recommend 
 Scaliger's ie transdedit either as ' placed you at my disposal ' Cic. ad 
 Q. Fr. ii. 3. 5 Domum ad eum staiim uenimus eique nos totos iradidimus, 
 or in the sense of recommending, Fam. vii. 17. 2 Ei te commendaui et 
 tradidi, Hor. Epist. i. 18. 78 Fallimur et quondam nan dignum tradimus, 
 S. i. 9. 47 Hunc hominem uelles si iradere. Fronto p. 168 Naber Neque 
 iu me a Nigra tibi iraditwn diligere coepisli. Scaliger explains it in this 
 sense ; but though Caesar seems to have written se hostibus transdederunt 
 B. G. vii. 77, I doubt whether this spelling is admissible in the sense of 
 recommending. Anser is the conjecture of Heyse ; perhaps the person 
 alluded to by Virgil E. ix. 36, Prop. ii. 34. 84, Ouid. Trist. ii. 435;- cf. 
 Cic. Phil. xiii. 5. 
 
 158. prime unelided before omnia is extraordinarily harsh ; but cf 
 LXVI. 48 chalybum, XCVIL 2 culum. Peiper conjectures moniina -nata 
 honi. 
 
 159. Et longe ante alias omnes miiissima mater Tib. iii. 4. 93 ; hence 
 the construction seems to be Et quae longe ante omnes carior mihi me ipso 
 est, a condensed expression for et quae longe omnium carissima, atque adeo 
 me ipso carior est. The order of the words is as in Cic. Att. iii. 22.3 
 Premor desiderio omnium meorum qui mihi me cariores semper fuerunt. 
 Pont. ii. 8. 27 Per patriae nomen quae te tibi carior ipso est, Trist. v. 14. 2 
 mihi me coniunx carior. 
 
 160. 'M.tXQ,.\\.i,.^Idmihi adimitur qua causa uitam cupio uiuere. Fronto 
 p. 59 Naber amo uitam propter te, ib. 88 desiderantissime, causa optima 
 
 uitae meae. Callimachus fr. 219 Blomf TiBmlrjV St inttvov diroTrviua-aura 
 
 wvBolfiriv. -uiuere dulce mihi est is Homeric Od. xxiv. 435 oix av 
 
 Cfioiye fiera ^peaiv ijSii yevoiro 7,i>ififv, aK\a raxtora 6ava>v (pdi/icvoicn fUTeiriv, 
 
344 A COMMENTARY 
 
 Excursus on LXVIII. 28, 29. 
 
 If Prof. Jowett's view of these verses is right, it seems probable that 
 Allius may have alluded to Baiae, then, as later, the fashionable watering- 
 place of the Romans. Varro gave this name to one of his Menippean 
 Satires, Non. iS4 Puellascere ecfeminari uel reuiridiscere, Varro Bats 
 Quod non solum innubae fiunl communis, sed etiam ueteres 
 puellascunt et multi pueri puellascunt, a passage which shows the soft 
 and enervating character of the place V Cicero often alludes to Baiae, 
 especially in reference to the profligacy which there found a natural 
 home. Gael. xv. 35 Libidines amores adulieria Baias aclas conuiuia comis- 
 saliones canius symphonias nauigia. xx. 47 Nihil igitur ilia uicinitas 
 redolet ? nihil hominumfama ? nihil Baiae denique ipsae locuntur ? Illae 
 uero non locuntur solum, uerum etiam personant: hue unius mulieris lihidi- 
 nem esse prolapsam, ut ea non modo solitudinem ac ienebras, atque haec 
 flagitiorum integumenta non quaerat, sed in turpissimis rebus frequeniissima 
 celebritate et clarissima luce laetetur ? 49 Si quae non nupta mulier domum 
 suam patefecerit omnium cupidiiati, palamque sese in meretricia uita collo- 
 carit, uirorum alienissimorwn conuiuiis uti insiiluer-it ; si hoc in urbe, si in 
 hortis, si in Baiarum ilia celebritate faciai. In these three passages 
 Cicero is speaking of Clodia, therefore perhaps of Lesbia ; and the con- 
 nexion of Baiae with Clodia and her brother Pulccr is shown by a frag- 
 ment of Cicero's oration In Clodium et Curionem iv. i Orelli Primum homo 
 durus ac priscus inuecius est in eos, qui mense Aprili apud Baias essent ei 
 aquis calidis uterentur. Quid cum hoc homine nobis tarn tristi ac seuero i' 
 Non possunt hi mores ferre hunc tarn austerum et tarn uehementem magis- 
 irum, per quern hominibus maioribus natu ne in suis quidem praediis impune 
 turn, cum Romae nihil agitur, liceai esse Maliiudif}ique seruire. . . . Quid 
 homini, inquil, Arpinati cum Bails, agresii ac rustico ? Quo loco iia fuit 
 caecus, ut facile appareret uidisse eum quod fas non fuisset : nee enim 
 respexit ilium ipsum patronum libidinis stiae non modo apud Baias esse, 
 uerum eas ipsas aquas habere, quae gustu iamen Arpinatis fuissent. Cf. 
 Att. i. 16. 10 where this joke is repeated: it proves conclusively that 
 Baiae was the fashionable resort of the beau mande, and that the society 
 there was not only made up of those de meliore nota, but apt to be ex- 
 clusive to those who were not. This would explain Catullus' strong 
 expression turpe (27) ; he would lose. consideration as a man of fashion 
 by not being at Baiae ; of course more, if Lesbia was there. His reply 
 non est turpe, magis miserum est is in other words what Cicero says Att. 
 ix. 2. ^ Te uero nolo nisi ipse rumor iam raucus eritfactus ad Baias uenire. 
 Erit enim nobis honestius etiam cum hinc discesserimus uideri uenisse in ilia 
 loca ploratum! potius quam natatum. The season at Baiae was in spring (cf. 
 Tib. iii. 5. 1-4 where however the allusion is not to Baiae, but to hot 
 springs in general) and Venus, the goddess of April (Hor. C. iv. 11. i6) 
 seems to have been the tutelary deity of the place (Mart. xi. 80. i). Hence 
 a special point in the combined allusions to spring and Venus in 16- 
 18. Indeed the whole exordium of the poem, gains new significance if 
 we suppose Allius to have written to Catullus from Baiae, where the 
 sight of the sea with its foaming breakers would suggest the image of 
 
 ' See Couat Etude p. 43. 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXIX. 345 
 
 shipwreck in 3, as the sancta Venus in 5 -would be a reminiscence of the 
 goddess who though worshipped as the tutelary power of the place 
 could do nothing to relieve the pangs of one of its visitors. 
 
 It is not however necessary to suppose Baiae alluded to. There were 
 hot sulphur springs near Verona, subsequently known as aquae lunonis, 
 now Caldiero. The writer of Murray's Handbook to Northern Italy 
 states that an inscription found at Caldiero proves the baths there to 
 have been built or repaired by Petronius Probus A.V.C. 753 ; but they are 
 likely to have been known long before this happened. Again Allius may 
 have been at the hot springs near Padua, \}<\&f antes Palauini or Pataui- 
 norum aquae calidae of Pliny H. N. xxxi. 61, ii. 227, the celebrated/ow/M 
 Aponi rudes puellis (Mart. vi. 42. 4) of the Empire: cf Luc. vii. 193, 
 Sil. xii. 218. But neither of these are known to have been fashionable in 
 Catullus' time. 
 
 LXIX. 
 
 The Rufus of this poem is supposed by Muretus Statius and Schwabe 
 to be M. Caelius Rufus, the rival of Catullus in the affections of Lesbia : 
 a view which Vulp. and Doering impugn, considering it improbable that 
 such an attack should be directed against a man suSiciently handsome 
 to be described by Cicero (Cael. xv. 36 Candor huius te ei proceritas, 
 uultus oculique perpulerunt). Schwabe (Quaestt. p. 87) justly remarks that 
 this does not really affect the question ; but if Caehus was the profligate 
 Cicero calls him it is difficult to believe that i, 2 can refer to him. See 
 below on LXXVII. 
 
 2. supposuisse after uelit, a recurring formula CIL. I. p. 43 Net'guis 
 eorum Bacanal habuise uelei, ib. Bacas uir nequis adiese uelet, and so Liu. 
 xxxix. 14 and 17, Hor. S. ii. 3. 187 Ne quis humasse uelit Aiacem, Prop, 
 ii. 19. 32 nocuisse uelit, but not in Cicero Caesar Sallust or Tacitus. 
 (Drager p. 230). The frequent use of this infinitive in elegiac poetry is 
 probably determined, as Hertzberg (Quaestt. Propert. p. 120) observes, by 
 its metrical convenience. Holtze ii. 38 and Drager call it an aoristic 
 use ; it is equally possible that the wish is- regarded as anticipating the 
 completion of the act. 
 
 3. rarae, 'of thin texture,' Am. i. 5. 13, like the Coan robes, Plin. 
 H. N. xi. 76, Hor. S. i. 2. loi Cois tibi paene uidere est Vt nudam. labe- 
 factes, 'corrupt,' Cluent. Ixviii. 194 Quibus pecuniam promiserit, quorum 
 fidem pretio labefactare conata sit. 
 
 4. perlucidTili, Siauyeof, like the amethyst Anth. P. v. 205. 3. Bentley 
 on Hor. iv. 13. 14 quotes Sen. Epist. 90. 45 Illi quidem non aurum nee 
 argentum nee perlucidos lapides itna terrarum faece quaerebant. N. Q. iii. 25 
 KpiaToKKov appellant Graeci hunc perlucidum. lapidem. Manil. v. 526. 
 deliciis, ' to make her doat,' in reference to the daintiness of the gift, 
 Hor. C. iv. 8. 10. 
 
 6, Valle alarum, like uirginalis scrobs = muUebria Arnob. iv. 7. 
 trux caper. Quid. A. A. iii. 193 Quam paene admonui ne trux caper iret 
 in alas. The words caper, capra (Hor. Epist. i. 5. 29) hircus (Hor. Epod. 
 12. 5, infr. LXXI. i, Plant. Pseud, ii. 4. 48, cf. Kwa^pa ypaoos) are all used 
 of the rank smell of the arm-pits. trux, enough to knock one down. 
 
346 A COMMENTARY 
 
 According to Varro caper was strictly only qui excastratus est Gell. ix. 9. 
 10 : possibly the word is used here in reference to the abhorrence of 
 women. 
 
 7. mala Bestia is Plautine. Bacch. i. i. 21. 
 
 8. quicum, feminine, as in Trin. Prol. 15 (Holtze Synt. i. p. 379). 
 
 9. crudelem pestem LXIV. 76. uasorum. A. A. i. 522 Nee 
 laedat nares uirque paterque gregis (Vulp.). iuterfi.ce seems to keep in 
 view the idea of the mala bestia, though the passages cited by Nonius 449 
 show that interficere was used of destroying inanimate objects, e. g. bread 
 Lucil. inc. 92 L. Muller, harvests Verg. ,G. iv. 330, and possibly there- 
 fore a smell. 
 
 10. fugiunt, the indie, adds downrightness and coarseness, -as in 
 Plautus; see Holtze Synt. ii. 236 sqq., Drager Histor. Syat. p. 307. 
 
 LXX. 
 
 A SHOfix epigram on Lesbia without chronological indication, but 
 probably subsequent to the first stage of the passion, and if we may 
 argue from the word habere, after the death of Lesbia's husband. It is 
 obviously modelled on Callimachus, Epig. 26 : of. especially the repe- 
 tition of dicil — dicit with'Q/iOO-e — a/ioaev : — 
 
 ' Qfioae KaWiyvuiTos 'Ia)w5t, fi^or cKeitnjs 
 e^cw iiTjTe ^iKov Kpel(TiTova, firjTe ^iXijc. 
 &H0CT€v' ' atCKa "Keytyvtriv dXrjOea, Toiis iv epcoTi 
 
 opKovs fir) bvveiv ovar es adavaTwv. 
 vvv 8' 6 fiev dpcreifiK^ OepeTOL wvpi, rqs 8e ToKalvrji 
 vvfitpjjs, Qjs Meyapiav, oil \6yos, ovt apidfios. 
 Cf. Hesych. 'AtppoSlcrios Spxas. Plat. Symp. 183 'A<j)poSi(nov opuov of (jjatriv 
 etvm, Phileb. 65. 
 
 1. NuUi . . . non si, as LXXXVIII, 7, 8. 
 
 2. luppiter, LXXII. 2, Cas. ii. 5. 13-15 Olymp. Oraf, opsecrat Ne 
 Casinam uxorem ducani. Stal. Quid tu postea ? 01. Negaui enim ipsi vu 
 concessurum loui. Si is mecum oraret. Poen. i. 2, 76 Ilia me amel malim 
 quam di. Heroid. iv. 36, Met. vii. 801. 
 
 4. Plato Phaedr. 276 Ovk. apa <nrovS!j aira iv vhan ypd-^ei. Meleager in 
 
 Anth. P. V. 8. 5 NCv 6' 6 fiev opKid <j>rj(TW iv vBaTi KeTva (j)ipe<r6ai, Paroem. 
 
 Graec. ii. p. 379 "Opraus iya> yvvaiKos els vScop ypdcpa, a line ascribed to 
 Sophocles (fr. 741 Nauck, where see references). Philostr. Imag. ii. 8 'AXV 
 
 ovK ovap Tavra, S KpiBTjts, ovSe is vdtop tqv epara tovtov ypdcjieis. Cic. Fin, ii, 
 2 2. 72 Fundamenia in uoluptate, lamquam in aqua, poniiis. Troilus and 
 Cressida iii. 2 as false As air, as water, wind or sandy earth. 
 
 LXXI. 
 
 Marcilius seems to be right in saying that this epigram is tame, unless 
 some actual name is introduced to give it point, and it follows that the 
 MS. reading of i Viro is not a corruption of zar« but, as Scaliger observed, 
 another way of spelling Virro, a name which occurs in Juv. v. 39, 43, 99, 
 128, 134, 149, 156, ix. 35, and is similarly corrupted in many MSS. 
 
 The general sense of the epigram is thus expressed by Haupt Quaestt. 
 p. 92 ' Si unquam cuiquam homini merito contigit ut hirco et podagra 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXXL 347 
 
 laboraret, aemulus iste tuus utrumque malum meritissirao et poena ius- 
 tissima nactus est. Nam quotiens rem habet cum ilia quondam tua puella, 
 ulciscitur iniuriam tibi illatam; punit enim odore suo puellam et se podagra.' 
 The MSS. however give quam, not qium, in 2, and this agrees with the 
 antithesis of the last line Illam affligit odore, ipse peril podagra. On 
 this view Virro transmits his foulness, Virro's mistress her gout, (Sen. 
 Ep. 75. 20, 21) to the new lover. The words si cui bono hircus obsiitit 
 will \hefiz=si cui bono fuit {pro/uif) quod hircus obstaret, and the argument 
 may be stated as follows : Si cui unguam bono/uil quod alarum hirco 
 labor aret,aul si cui feminae bona causa fuit cur podagra cruciaretur,in amante 
 aemulo Virronis utrumque perspiciiur. Quoiies enim cum Virronis amica stu- 
 prumfacit. et Virronis et amicae uitiis labor at, ab eo Mr cum ab ea accipit 
 podagram : unde fit ui simul se cum amica puniat, simul ambos Virronem 
 et amicam ultores facial nequitiae, cum uiriusque uitium in se admiserit. 
 Here both uestrum and ulciscitur are ambiguous; in 3 ueslrum=e.\\hex 
 tuum suumque or tuum et amicae tuae ; in 5 ulciscitur ambos is either 
 "'■puflj&hes both,' i. e. himself and her, or ' gives both a revenge,' i. e. both 
 you and your mistress, t>y the paags wiudi-each uf jtooi tcanimitsloJiijn. 
 For ulcisci in this latter sense cf. Sest. lii. 111 In quo tavien est me ultus 
 cum illo ore inimicos est meos sauiatus. 
 
 1. Si cui bono. Possibly merito in 2 is referred backwards to this line, 
 as Haupt suggests p. 92. It seems more like the direct style of Catullus 
 to explain Si cui bono obsiitit hircus on the analogy of et ns kw. aXXor, flirep 
 iroTc, eiTTOTf Koi SWoTc, etc. So CIL I, Cic. Fam. vii. 23. 3 Si quid generis 
 isiiusmodi me delectat, piclura delectat. ' If there ever was a good soul 
 afflicted with foulness and racked for his sins with gout, that man is 
 Virro's rival.' bond, semi-ironical, XXXIX. 9 bone Egnati. sacer, 
 'accursed,' XIV. 12. alarum. Petron. S. 12% Quid est ? inqnit, nun- 
 quid te osculum meum offendit ? nunquid spiritus ieiunio macer P nunquid 
 alarum negligens sudor ? obstitit, in a general sense, ' stood in his 
 way.' Ouid. F. iii. 435 Ne tamen ignaro nouitas tibi nominis obstet. Plaut. 
 Trin. i. i. 15 Quae in rebus multis opstant odiossaeque sunt. 
 
 2. merito is used almost specially of punishment falling upon an 
 offender who deserves it. Am. ii. 14. 39 of a woman dying in the attempt 
 to procure abortion. Ipsa peril, ferturque toro resoluta capillos, Et clamant 
 Merito, qui modo cumque uident. Prop. i. 17. i of a lover overtaken by a 
 storm for deserting his mistress, Et merito, quoniam potuifugisse puellam. 
 Nunc ego desertas alloquor alcyonas. Here the offender is served right by 
 the double punishment which his profligacy entails upon him. tarda 
 podagra. Hor. S. i. 9. 32 'quia tardos homines facit et est waXXay^.' 
 Acron there. secat, 'racks.' Mart. ix. 92. g Podagra cheragraque 
 secatur. 
 
 3. exereet, as in LXVIII. 69, Sen. Epist. 99. 13 Stmm alienamque 
 libidinem exercent. amorem is not i. q. amicam, but the love which 
 you and he share together {uestrum). 
 
 4. Miriflce, LIII. 2. a te. Virro transmits with his mistress both 
 his own complaints. 
 
 5. ulciscitur, 'punishes.' Menaechm. i. 2. 17 Nam si /oris cenat 
 profecto me, haul uxorem, ulciscitur. ambos, i. e. himself and her. 
 
348 A COMMENTARY 
 
 LXXII. 
 
 This epigram is closely connected in subject with LXX. But what 
 was then a future possibility, the perfidy of Lesbia, is now a past reality. 
 It may therefore have been written considerably later : yet it belongs to 
 a time when the passion was still at its height (impensius uror\ and is 
 earlier, I think, than either "VIII or LXXVI. The tone is like Theognis : 
 see the notes. Tibullus has imitated this epigram i. 9. 31-34 
 
 Tunc mihi iurabas nullius diuitis auri 
 Pondere, non gemmis uendere uelle fidem. 
 
 Non tibi si pretium Campania terra darelur, 
 Non tibi si Bacchi cura Fahrnus ager. 
 
 1. Dicebas q,uondam seems to put Lesbia's assertion (ZJzVt/ LXX, i, 
 3) quite in the past: like Fulsere qwndam candidi libi soles VIII. 3, and 
 At non haec quondam nobis promissa dedisti'LXIV .I'^i). solum. Theogn. 
 1 3 1 4 sqq. Oi fieV iri TOVTOis y rjirda <pi\os irporspov, 'AXV iya ex iravraiv a iS6- 
 Kovv 6r)a-€(j6ai eraipov Ilt(TT6i^' Kal dr] vvv oKXov t)^iia-6a (jilXov. 
 
 2. tenere, XI. 18. louem, LXX. 2. 
 
 3. Dilesi is no doubt less distinctly erotic than amare, but it does not 
 necessarily imply a moral preference : for Catullus himself has nescio quid 
 
 febrictdosi Scorii diligis VL 4, quem tu diligere inciperes LXXXI. 2. 
 
 5. NuilC te COgnoui. Theogn. g6g''E<p6rjp ah/Tja-as irpiv aov Kmh irdvTa 
 
 Safjvai. "Hdea. impeustus. Terence has impense cupere Ad. v. 9. 36, 
 inuidere Eun. iii. 1.23: the meaning is simply ' more exceedingly.' 
 
 6. mei for mihi seems to have been written by Catullus here as in 
 LXXVII. 3. leiiior, ' of less esteem.' Ter. Hec. v. i. 33 Nee leuiorem 
 nobis, quibus est minime aecum, eum uiderier. 
 
 7. Qtii potis est? inquis. Plin. Epist. iv. 9. 17 Qui fieri potest ? 
 inquis. Pers. i. 56 Quipote ? uis dicam ? nugaris. Cicero Att. xii. 40. 2 uses 
 Qui potest ?=' how is it possible? ' if the MSS. can be trusted. 
 
 8. The younger Dousa quotes Anth. P. v. 256. 3, 4 "Y/3p« ipanas eXutrc- 
 fmTrjV o8e fwOos aXarai.' "Y^pis f'/u^w ipidet paWov cptopavirjv. Here the iniuriai 
 
 is doubtless a preference shown by Lesbia to some rival of Catullus, 
 magis, the lover becomes more enamoured of the person, as he becomes 
 less attached to the character (minus) Ouid. A. iii. 11. 38 Auersor morum 
 crimina, corpus amo (Dousa f.) 
 
 LXXIII. 
 
 A SHORT protest against the ingratitude of a friend. Who the person 
 alluded to is, is not known: Muretus Voss and others think it is the Alfenus 
 of XXX : Alex. Guarinus, with whom Schwabe agrees (Quaestt. p. 85), 
 the Rufus of LXXVII, in accordance with which view Schwabe reads 
 in 4 Immo etiam, Caelei, taedet obestque magis. As there is nothing in the 
 language of the epigram to determine the character of the oifence, it may 
 have been written on either : but it may quite as well have been written on 
 neither. It is not necessary to suppose that Catullus introduced the 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXXIV. 349 
 
 name of his ungrateful friend : quisquam rather points to the contrary. 
 The tone is again Theognidean. 
 
 1. bene uelle mereri, ' to wish to do any kindness.' So constantly 
 and in Asin. i. 2. 3 (a scene which may have occurred to Catullus, see on 
 3) Bene merenti mala es, male merenti bona es. 
 
 2. pium, ' grateful.' Pont. iv. i. 7, 8 Non potuit mea mens quin esset 
 grata teneri. Sil precor officio non grauis ira pio. 
 
 3. ingrata, ' without return,' as in Asin. i. 2. 10 Ingrata inriia esse 
 omnia iniellego Quae dedi et quod benefeci. Epid. i. 2. 33 Miserum est in- 
 gratum esse homini id quod facias bene. This is more likely than that 
 Omnia sunt z'wgra/a = ' everything is ungrateful,' 'all is ingratitude,' cf. 
 LXXXIX. 3 omnia plena puellis ; for ingratus in this sense cf. Sen. Epist. 
 99.4 Dolor iste non superuacuus iantum sed ingratus est. Ergo quodhabuisti 
 talem amicum, per Hi opera? tot annis, tanta coniunctione uitae, tarn 
 
 familiari studiorum societate nihil actum est ? The sentiment is of course 
 common Od. iv. 695 Oifle n'r eVrt x<"/"s f foTio-fl" fufpycojc Theogn. 1263 
 Q naij OS ev epSoVTt kokiju aTredaKas ajuot^^c, Ovde Tts dvT ayadwv corl X^P^^ irapa 
 (TOi' Ovdev TTO) fi avrjtras' eyo) de ac nuWaKis ^^rj Ku epScoj' aiSoOf oii^efjLirjs erv^ov. 
 
 4. mhil fecisse benigne Frodest, ' There is no kindness which 
 brings to the doer an after-gain.', Petron. S. 92 Neminm. nihil boni 
 facere oportet : aeque est enim ac si in puteum conicias, sed antiquus amor 
 cancer est. immo etiam taedet. Att. ii. 6. 2 Nam istic non solum non 
 licet, sed etiam taedet. obestque. Fronto p. 168 Naber Ne quid obsit 
 amicitia nobis quae nihil prof uit. 
 
 5. Vt mihi (obest). Theogn. 1309 "fio-rrfp iya vOv &H' em a-ol. queni 
 nemo grauius nee acerbius urget, Sapph. fr. 1 2 Bergk Smvas yap Ev 
 
 Bea, Krjvoi p.€ fid\i(rTa trtvov Tat. 
 
 6. Probably the most prosaic verse in Catullus : yet the position of 
 modo belongs to verse, not prose. unum atque unicum. True. i. 
 2. 91 unice unum (amat). 
 
 LXXIV. 
 
 This is the first of a series of poems addressed to Gellius. The re- 
 maining six are LXXX LXXXVIII LXXXIX XC XCI CXVL The 
 MS order is no indication of the chronological sequence ; and it is quite 
 possible, as Bruner and Westphal suppose independently, that the earliest 
 is XCI, in which Gellius is accused of acting treacherously to Catullus in 
 the matter of Lesbia. With Catullus, as we know from the parallel cases 
 of Furius and Aurelius, of Egnatius and Ravidus, jealousy was the 
 habitual starting-point of a poetical attack ; and there is a fierceness in 
 these epigrams on Gellius which must have been prompted by a personal 
 motive, probably the strongest personal motive which the poet knew, 
 rivalry in the love of Lesbia. 
 
 Were all the poems written to the same individual ? and if so can we 
 identify him ? 
 
 Reasoning a priori we should expect to find in a series of attacks 
 aimed at the same personality the same name ; and conversely, if we 
 found the same name attached without variation to a series of poems 
 agreeing in their general scope as well as in the specific character of their 
 
350 A COMMENTARY 
 
 charges we should incline to believe that they were all aimed at the same 
 individual. If then in four of the poems (LXXXVIII-XCI) a person 
 called Gellius is accused of incest and other gross impurities, the remain- 
 ing two poems (LXXIV, LXXX) in which the same name Gellius is 
 introduced, and which also dwell on incest and gross impurity, must be 
 addressed to the same person. If subsequently we find in each of the 
 two groups the same fluctuation of vocative and nominative {Gelli 
 LXXXVIII XCI Gellius LXXXIX=G«//z«j- LXXIV G«//z' LXXX) the 
 probability of identity is increased. Proceeding to the last poem of the 
 series CXVI, if we find, not indeed the same kind of allegation, but a con- 
 fession of hostiUty which has taken the shape of a personal attack, has 
 drawn upon the author of that attack the hatred of the person assailed, has 
 obliged the assailant to supplicate his enemy by an appeal to his literary 
 vanity — a supplication which after all is of no avail; — all this agrees so 
 entirely with what we learn from the former six poems as to justify us in 
 concluding that it is the sequel and result of them, and that the Gellius 
 in each of the three groups is the same. Nor will it be denied that the 
 solemn and emphatic Gelli of CXVI. 6 comes with far greater force if 
 we suppose it a final warning to a character already held up to detestation. 
 In one word, as Merkel has well remarked, Gellius is to Catullus what the 
 subject of the Ibis was to Ovid, the mark of his most determined hostility ; 
 to suppose a division of personality is to frame an hypothesis as gratuitous 
 and improbable in itself, as it is injurious to the effect of the collective 
 series of poems. 
 
 Assuming then that the Gellius of all the seven epigrams is the same, 
 can we find any historical person to correspond with the description of 
 Catullus 1 the points of this description are — 
 
 1. Gellius was young — rosea lobelia LXXX. r — and the vices ascribed 
 to him, though not incompatible with maturer years, suggest more 
 naturally the idea of youth : especially LXXXIX. 1-3 Gellius est tenuis : 
 quidni ? cui tam bona mater Tamque ualens uiudt tamque uenusta soror 
 Tamque bonus patruus tamque omnia plena puellis Cognatis. It is also more 
 probable that Catullus ■ would be on terms of close friendship with a yoimg 
 man; parity of years would be more likely to produce confidence, and 
 this confidence would be more likely to be abused by a young man. 
 (XCI). 
 
 2. He is accused of gross profligacy: and in particular (1) of making 
 advances to Lesbia ; (2) of incest with his mother, sister, and uncle's~wife ; 
 (3) of personal impurities of an unmentionable kind : LXXIV. 5 quamuis 
 inrumet ipsum, LXXX. 6, LXXXVIII. 8. 
 
 3. He was literary, CXVI. Catullus had tried to appease his anger by 
 sending him some translations from Callimachus : and the words tela isia 
 tua euitamus, as compared with fixzis nostris seem to imply that he had 
 written something against Catullus. 
 
 There are two historical personages to whom Catullus has been 
 supposed to allude. Schwabe (Quaestt. pp. 103-117) collects the pas- 
 sages in which they are mentioned ; I give them in extenso. 
 
 The first of these is Gellius PubUcola, who is attacked by Cicero in his 
 speech Pro Sestio li. no. This Gellius was the son by a former husband 
 of a woman who afterwards married L. Marcius Philippus consul 663 | 
 91, and thus uterine brother of L. Marcius Philippus consul 698 | 56. 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXXIV. 351 
 
 Pro Sest. li. no An sicubi aderit Gellius homo et frater indignus uiro 
 clarissimo atque Optimo consule, et ordine equesiri, cuius ilk ordinis nomen 
 retinet, ornamenta confecil, id erit populare ? Est enim homo ilk populo 
 Romano dediius. Nihil uidi magis : qui cum eius adulescentia in amplissimis 
 honoribus summi uiri, L. Philippi uitrici, florere potuissei, usque eo nonfuit 
 popular is, ut bona solus comes set. Deinde ex impuro adulescente et petulante, 
 posteaquam rem paternam ah idiotarum diuitiis ad philosophorum regulam 
 perduxit, Graeculum se atque otiosum putari uoluit, studio litter arum se subito 
 dedidit. Nihil f saneate f iuuabani anagnostae, libelli pro uino eliam saepe 
 oppignerabdntur ; manebat insaturabile abdomen, copiae deficiebant. Itaque 
 semper uersabaiur in spe rerum nouarum : otio et tranquillitaie rei publicae 
 consenescebat. lii. Ecquae seditio umquam/uit, in qua non illeprinceps ? Ecqui 
 seditiosus, cui ille non familiaris ? Ecquae turbulenta contio, cuius ille non 
 concitator ? Cui bene dixit umquam bono ? bene dixit? immo quem for tern et 
 bonum ciuem non petulantissime est insectatus? qui, ut credo, non libidinis 
 causa, sed ut plebicola uideretur, liber tinam duxit uxorem. in. Is de me 
 suffragium tulit, is adfuit, is interfuit epulis et gratulationibus parricidarum 
 —in quo tamen est me ultus cum illo ore inimicos est meos sauiatus — qui 
 quasi mea culpa bona perdiderii, ita ob eam ipsam causam est mihi inimicus, 
 quia nihil habet. Vtrum ego tibi patrimonium eripui, Gelli, antu comedisti ? 
 Quid? tu meo periculo, gurges ac uorago patrimonii, helluabare, ut si ego consul 
 rem publicam contra te etgregales tuos defendissem, in ciuitale esse me nolles ? 
 Te nemo tuorum uidere uult : omnes adiium sermonem congressum tuum 
 fugiunt : te sororis filius Posiumius, adulescens grauis senili iudicio notauit, 
 cum in magna numero tutor em liberis non instituit. Sedlatus odio etmeo et rei 
 publicae nomine, quorum utri ille sit initnicior nescio, plura dixi quam di- 
 cendum fuit, in furiosissimum atque egentissimum ganeonem. 112. Illuc 
 reuertor contra me cum est actum, capta urbe atque oppressa, Gellium, Fir- 
 midium, Titium, eiusmodi furias illis mercennariis gregibus duces et auctores 
 fuisse, cum ipse lator nihil ab horum turpitudine audacia sordibus abhor- 
 reret. In Vat. ii. 4 Gellius nutricula seditiosorum omnium. De Harusp. 
 Resp. xxvii. 59 Aut tam emitientibus canibus Scyllam tamque ieiunis quam 
 quibus istum uidetis, Gelliis Clodiis Titiis rostra ipsa mandentem ? Att. iv. 
 3. 2 Vix Decimum designatorem, uix Gellium retinet. Q. Fr. ii. 1. 1 Fuerunt 
 nonnulli aculei in C. Caesarem, contumeliae in Gellium. Schol. Bob. in 
 Orat.pro Sestio li. L.Marcius Philippus uir honestissime cognitus, qui etiam 
 collega Cn. Lentulo Marcellino in consulaiu fuit. Fratrem hie (cod. hunc) 
 habebat uterinum L. Gellium, et ipsum quantum apparet Ciceronis inimicum. 
 In quantum igitur legem Philippi fratris {coA.frater) eius extulit, in tantum 
 hunc deflorauit, qui dissimilis exstilerit. 
 
 There are several points in which the Gellius here described by Cicero 
 would correspond with the Gellius of Catullus : he was literary {Graeculus), 
 indifferent to conventional ideas of decorum, as shown by his marrying 
 a libertina, and foul in his vices (of. illo ore with LXXX, LXXXVIIL 
 8). He was also a partisan of Clodius, and notorious among the men 
 of the time; an additional reason for the marked prominence which 
 Catullus has given to his name. 
 
 It is however unlikely that the Gellius of Cicero's orations is the Gellius 
 of Catullus for the following reasons: (i) If L. Marcius Philippus was 
 consul in 56 b. c, even allowing him to have obtained the consulate suo 
 anno he must have been 43 years old at the time; and his half-brother 
 
352 A. COMMENTARY 
 
 Gellius must have been older. The poems against Gellius must have 
 been written subsequent to the period when Catullus first became ac- 
 quainted with Lesbia, on the ordinary hypothesis 62-59 b-c- : now even 
 in 59 L. Marcius Philippus must have been 40, and Gellius no longer 
 young : it follows that in proportion as a later date is assigned to the 
 poems, the chance of their being addressed to Cicero's Gellius becomes 
 less ; (2) when Cicero delivered the Pro Sesiio, in b. c. 56, the son of Gel- 
 lius' sister Postumius was already father of several children ; (3) Cicero's 
 description implies that Gellius had gone through the successive phases of 
 a profligate youth, a would-be philosopher, a political incendiary ready 
 for any seditious or revolutionary undertaking. Again, if Cicero's Gellius 
 was the Gellius of Catullus, it is strange that Cicero who never shows 
 any scruples of delicacy in the charges he brings against his opponents, 
 should say nothing of incest— the most prominent feature of the picture 
 painted by Catullus. And reversely if Gellius was the glutton and the 
 needy adventurer Cicero represents him, would not so skilful an artist as 
 Catullus have worked this into his picture ? 
 
 For these and similar reasons Schwabe, whose arguments, though in the 
 whole convincing, seem to me over-minute (see especially pp. 108, 109), 
 concludes that the Gellius Publicola of Cicero's Pro Sestio cannot be 
 the object of the seven epigrams of Catullus: although this identification 
 has been adopted by Parthenius Manutius Muretus Turnebus Statius 
 Vulpius, and recently by Drumann and Halm. (Schwabe Quaestt. p. 
 
 103) 
 
 It was the opinion of Octavius Pantagathus quoted by Statius on 
 LXXIV. I, and recently revived by Bruner and Schwabe, that Catullus 
 alludes to a younger Gellius, the son ofL. Gellius Publicola consul 682 | 
 72. The passages which refer to him are these: Val. Max. v. g. i Z. , 
 Gellius omnibus honoribus ad censuram defunctus cum grauissima crimina 
 de filio, in nouercam commissum stuprum et parricidium cogitatum, prope 
 modum exploraia haberet, non tamen ad uindiciam procurril continuo, sed 
 paene uniuerso senatu adhibito in consilium expositis suspicionibus defen- 
 dendi se adulescenii poleslaiemfecii : inspectaque diligentissime causa absoluit 
 eum ium consilii turn etiam sua senteniia. Quod si impetu irae abslractus 
 saeuire festinasset, admisisset magis scelus quam uindicasset. Dion Cass, 
 xlvii. 24 Atarpi^ouros Se BpovTov ravTTj eKeivto V^Wlos IIoTrXtKdXas eirejiuvXevcre 
 . . . Se Slj TeXkios i(f>mpa6r) fikv, orafle be Beivou ovSfii, 6 yap SpovTos (Kflvop 
 re iv Tois (^iXrarots del tvots vopifras elvaiy Kai tov ddeX^ov mrrov MapKOv MeairdKav 
 navv ™ Kaatr/o) irpoa-KeliJievov eiSmf, d(j)TjKev airov. fcai 6s eiteSeTO p,ev Koi tS 
 Kaa-ffi'o), oi/bev Se oiSe T(5re kokov eiraBev. Ahiov Se on i) pr}T7jp airov IldAXa 
 Ttpofiadovcra ttjv ein^uvKrjv KctX SciVaffu Trepi re ra Kao"o-ta) p.r} irpoKaTaXriK^Qj} 
 (a-(jl6Spa yap airov rjydira) Kai jrepl rm mm prj KaTa(f>apaSri, to re iin^ovXevpa airrf 
 fKovaa r<£ Kaarirlai irpoep.rivva'e Kai ttjv traTTjpiau tov natSbs dvreKa^ev' ov pevTOt 
 Kai /SfXTtft) avTov €7roi7](Te' irpos re yap rov Kcuaapa Ka\ irpbs tov AvTavtov airh rmv 
 evepyeraiv drrrjvrofioXTjaev. 
 
 If, as is generally assumed, the Gellius Publicola of Dion Cassius is 
 the person alluded to by Valerius Maximus, it would seem that L. Gellius 
 Publicola consul 72, censor 70, divorced his wife Polla and that after this 
 divorce Polla married the father of the famous M. Messala Corvinus, 
 subsequently well known as an orator and as the friend of TibuUus. 
 After divorcing Polla, L. Gellius married again ; and it is to this wife and 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXXIV. 353 
 
 the charge of incestuous intercourse between her and her husband's son 
 that Catullus may be alluding. It is a farther possibility, maintained by 
 Bruner and less positively by Schwabe, that the pairuus of LXXIV is the 
 Gellius attacked by Cicero ; and if so, the uxor patruinxiiy be the liber Una 
 of Pro Sestio lii. It will not be denied that read in this light the poems 
 stand out in increased clearness, especially LXXIV, each detail of which 
 is consistent with the delineation of Cicero: cf i, 2 with Cicero's ad 
 philosophorum regulam / 3, 4 with qui ut credo, non libidinis causa, sed ui 
 plebicola uideretur, liber tinam duxit uxor em ; 5, 6 with ilia ore inimicos est 
 meos sauiatus. The mater of LXXXVIII LXXXIX XC XCI will then be 
 the nouerca of Valerius Maximus. (Schwabe Quaestt. pp. 111-117.) 
 
 I will add here a conjecture of my own. Horace in his first book of 
 Satires (lo. 28) speaking of the folly of those who mixed Greek words 
 with Latin, mentions Pedius Publicola and Corvinus together as speakers 
 who affected a laborious purism in their language. They are again com- 
 bined in V. 85 of the same satire te, Messala, tuo cum fratre ; if we may 
 follow the natural impression which the words convey, as well as the direct 
 attestation of Acron, whose note \% fratre Publicola. What little is known 
 of Pedius Publicola is given by this scholiast and Porphyrion. Acron on 
 S. i. 10. 25 Te, inquit, qui Lucilium defendis, consulo : utrum tunc tanium 
 Latinis Graeca permisceas, cum tiersus facias, an et quando durissimarn 
 causam Petillii de furlo Capitolino aduersus Pedium Publicolam siue ad- 
 uersus Messalam Coruinum peroras ? Hi autem ita a Graecis abhorruerunt 
 ut Messala primus Funambuli nomen intulerit et post eum Terentius (Hec. 
 Prol.) Funambuli eodem accessit exspectatio. Again Pedius Publicola et 
 Messala Coruinus oratoresfuerunt, qui obseruauerint ne Graecis sermonibus 
 uterentur. Erant autem fratres causidici optimi. Porphyrion u. s. Pedius 
 Publicola et Messala adeo curasse dicuntur ne Graeca Latinis uerhis iw 
 miscerent ut Messala primus funambulus dixerit, ne axotvo^arrfv diceret. 
 Post hunc Terentius Funambuli eodem accessit exspectatio. A more coiTect 
 version of this statement is given by Cruquius' scholiast u. s. Pedius Publi- 
 cola et Messala Coruinus a Graecis uocibus ita abhorruerunt ut Messala 
 schoenobaten latine funambulum reddiderit ex Terentio in Hecyra. 
 
 Can this Pedius Publicola, the brother of Messala Corvinus, and his rival 
 in accuracy of language, be the Gellius Publicola whom Dion Cassius calls 
 the brother of M. Messala .? Publicola is mentioned as commanding the 
 right wing of Antonius' fleet at the batde of Actium (Veil. P. ii. 85) and 
 does not afterwards appear in history ; but there is nothing which would 
 lead us to infer that he died then. It is at least conceivable that he passed 
 by adoption into the family of the Pedii, and under this name combined 
 with his own cognomen Publicola, devoted himself to oratory with the 
 same aims and purpose as his more famous brother M. Messala Corvinus. 
 The connexion of Messala with Q. Pedius, the grand-nephew of Julius 
 Caesar, and consul 711 | 43, who had married a relation of Messala's, 
 the grandmother of Q. Pedius, the painter (Plin. H. N. xxxv. 21), would 
 be a reason for Gellius' wishing to connect himself with the family of the 
 Pedii. He would retain his cognomen Publicola in the same manner as 
 M. Junius Brutus when adopted by Q. Servilius Caepio is called Q. Caepio 
 Brutus (Phil. x. 11. 24-26), less formally Q. Caepio, sometimes simply M. 
 Brutus or M. Caepio. 
 
 It is obvious that Catullus' last poem would be addressed with peculiar 
 
364 A COMMENTARY 
 
 propriety to a man whose literary bias was to purism. Catullus says he 
 had often been seeking with a mind which hunted closely {animo uenante 
 requirens) to send Gellius some translations from Callimachus, and that 
 he had hoped to soothe his anger by this appeal to his literary vanity. 
 According to Quintilian (x. 5. 2) it was a habit with Messala to translate 
 Greek orations into Latin ; Gellius may have followed the same principle, 
 a natural expedient for securing accuracy and delicacy of expression. 
 
 1. patruxim, his uncle, as in LXXXVIII LXXXIX. The Romans 
 associated ideas of strictness and stern morality with this relation, as in 
 Horace's palruae uerbera linguae C. iii. 12,3, Persius' Cum sapimus 
 patruos i. ri, Pro Caelio xi. 25 Fuit in hac causa pertristis quidam pairuus 
 censor magisler : oliurgauii M. Caelium, sicut neminem unquam parens, 
 multa d^ncontinentia intemperantiaque disseruit. obiurgare. Pro 
 Caelia^^27 Deliciarum obiurgatio. Hor. S. ii. 2. g^ lure, inquit, Trausius 
 istis Mrgatur uerbis, where the railing words are explained by 97 Iratum 
 patruum, uicinos, te tibi iniquom. 
 
 2. delicias diceret, VI. i. faeeret, XLV. 24. 
 
 3. ipsi=an emphasized sibi. Roby Latin Grammar 2269 quotes De 
 Diuin. i. 54. 122 ; but except in oratio obliqtta this use is rare and hardly 
 classical (Drager p. 66). perdepsuit=/«/az/, as molere vi\\\ch. is com- 
 bined with depsere in Varro ap. Non. 99. Cic. Fam, ix. 22. 4 Batuit, inquit, 
 impudenter : depsii multo impudeniius. Atqui neutrum est obscoenum. 
 
 4. ■ And by the act laid his uncle under the seal of silence.' reddidit, 
 not simply=/9«V, but made as the result of his act : the notion is literally 
 that of giving back or returning with a new condition attached. The 
 verse is imitated in an epigram Riese Anthol. Lat. 159. 6 Incepio puerum 
 reddidit Hippocratem. 
 
 6. uerbum non faciet, as often. Ter. And. i. 2. 7, 8 Nunquam cuiquam 
 nostrum uerbum faciet, neque id aegre tulit. Si. At nunc faciet. 
 
 LXXV. 
 
 That this tetrastich is an independent whole and not the second half 
 of an eight-line epigram from which it has been severed by an accidental 
 displacement of some leaves of the archetype — a theory first stated by 
 Scaliger and adopted since by most editors including Lachmann— is in 
 my opinion probable from the following considerations, (i) It is in itself 
 perfect : it is the isolation of LXXXVII, the supposed missing half, which 
 first prompted the wish to complete that allowedly imperfect tetrastich 
 by these four lines, and to alter the reading of all good MSS in LXXV. i 
 to do so ; (2) the MS reading Hue deducta is a simple and natural expres- 
 sion, which bears in itself the marks of genuineness. Caesar B. C. i. 62 
 Hue iam rem deduxerat ui equiies etsi difficuller atque aegre fiebat, possent 
 lamen atque auderent flumen transire. i. 70 Res tamen ab Afranianis hue erat 
 necessario deducta ut, sipriores, mantes quos petebant, attigissent, ipsi periculum 
 uitarent, impedimenta iotius exercitus cohortesque in castris relictas seruare non 
 possent. i. 86 Faucis cum esset in utramque partem uerbis disputatum, res hue 
 dedttdtur ut ii qui habeant domicilium aut possessiones in Hispania, statim ; 
 reliqui ad Varum flumen dimittantur. Hor. S. I. i. 15 Ne te morer, audi Quo 
 rem deducam. Velleius P. i. 2 Sed uelferocia ingendi uel inscitia nostrorum 
 ducum uel fortunae indulgentia cum alios duces, turn Pompeium magm 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXXVL 355 
 
 nominis uirum ad turpissima deduxii foedera . . . nee minus turpia ac 
 deUstabilia Mancinum Hostilium consulem. In all these passages deduci is 
 used of something to which a person or object is finally brpughfa^a crisis 
 or point at which the situation defines itself, sometimes 'J^Kessitating 
 a disgraceful issue, sometimes as indicating two altSMpPes, each dis- 
 agreeable. It is in this last sense, I think, that (^j^ms says Hiu est 
 mem deducta : his devotion to Lesbia on the one haaJrand her increasing 
 profligacy on the other, have reduced him tojjimuserable alternative : 
 however virtuous she may become, he canngJ^Ky longer love her with 
 absolute good will : however vicious, he cann^dismiss his love entirely. 
 
 1. mea with Lesbia, as in V. i,LXXij^I. 2. culpa, XI. 22. 
 
 2. ' And has lost itself so irrepar^|^^rrecoverabIy) by its own devo- 
 tion ; ' i. e. has reduced itself to snd^fr^^ie of distracted love by its deter- 
 mination to be constant. oflB.cio, as Prop. ii. 25. 39 A/ uos'^^j^offida 
 (attentions) t'n viultos reuocatis amoves. So Shakspere uses ' duty.' per- 
 didit se. Tib. ii. 6. 51 Tunc morior curis : tunc mens mihi perdita 
 fingit Quisue vieam teneat, quot teneatue modi's. 
 
 4. omnia si facias, Shakspere Sonnets Ivii So true a fool is love that in 
 your will, Though you do anything, he thinks no ill. 
 
 LXXVI. 
 
 In this poem Catullus takes a retrospect of his passion for Lesbia, and 
 reflecting on his own fidelity and ihe now incurable vices of his mistress, 
 resolves to break off" the connexion. He is consoled in this determination 
 by thinking how true he had himself been to Lesbia throughout ; his 
 many words and deeds of lova^nnot fail to bring him joy in the recol- 
 lection (1-6). It is true th?/have not been requited; so much the more 
 reason why they should cease (7-10). He must brace his resolution to 
 leave her, and even if so long-continued a love cannot be relinquished 
 without pain, must make up his mind to this as the only course of safety 
 (11-16). Here however he is overcome by an agony of love, and, as if 
 conscious of his vs^akness, calls on the gods to help him in tearing from 
 his heart the passion which has ended with robbing him of all pleasure 
 and brought him to the verge of death (17-22). Lesbia is now sunk 
 past all recovery ; he will not hope any more that she can be otherwise ; 
 it is enough if the gods repay his devotion by suff'ering him to forget her 
 (23-26). 
 
 The intensity of this soliloquy makes it one of the most interesting in 
 the cycle of Lesbia-poems : as an expression of resignation struggling 
 with despair it possesses a force and reality which belong only to the 
 highest genius. Its ruggedne'ss rather adds to the eff"ect : perhaps from 
 the contrast which it presents in this respect to the polished tenderness 
 of Ovid and the elaborately-wrought, though not less equally real, feeling 
 of Propertius. It must have been written late, perhaps indeed after all 
 the rest of the cycle except LVIII. See however on XI. 
 
 1. Catullus argues from the conduct of men in their dealings with their 
 fellow-men to his own conduct as a lover. If the memory of services 
 done and the consciousness of duty religiously performed brmg pleasure 
 
356 A COMMENTARY 
 
 in the retrospect, his own religious fidelity to Lesbia must surely be a 
 source of satisfaction in the future, in spite of her ingratitude. The 
 language is parallel on both sides ; the benefacta of men to men (i) is 
 answered by Catullus" bene dicta factaque (lo) to Lesbia : the pietas (2) 
 which leads men to avoid breaches of oath or contract in dealings with 
 each other, has kept Catullus from any verbal or formal violation of his 
 solemnly-pledged fidelity to her (26). It is this notion qI pietas which 
 connects the beginning with the centre and end of the poem ; it recalls 
 the unkindness of the gods and then by a kind of revulsion of feeling 
 prompts the despairing appeal to their compassion. 
 
 2. plum is explained by 3, 4; it consists in the blameless perform- 
 ance of what possesses a religious or quasi-religious sanction, fulfilment 
 of oaths or promises, and avoidance of anything which would tend to 
 violate such sanction, e. g. swearing by the gods with the intention of 
 deceiving. Alciphron ii. 4, 18 eu<re/3ti o-oi KexPIH-ai' epaarjj Kol SpKav UpSiv 
 fivrjfiovi. 
 
 3. sanetam fldem, ' the sanctity of good faith.' 
 
 4. Diuum numine abusum, the reading of nearly all the MSS, is 
 supported by Cic. pro Domo Sua xlviii. 125 Ementiri fallere abuti deorum 
 immortalium numine (Vulp.) Numen and nomen are often confused in 
 MSS. (see Bentley on Hor. Epist. ii. i. 16, Ribbeck on Aen. v. 768) and 
 Quintilian has Potest uideri hoc nomine (epichirematis) recte abusus Inst. 
 Orat. v. 10. 6; but here nomine (Voss) is without MS support, and is 
 weaker than numine, as the mere name of the gods was often introduced 
 into expressions of conversation or ordinary life, and would hardly be 
 impium : whereas to swear by the divine power of the gods was a recur- 
 ring formula in oaths and promises, e. g. Ouid. Met. x. 430 Promissaque 
 numine firmat, vii. 94 Seruatus promissa dato. Per sacra triformis Ilk 
 deae, lucoque foret quod numen in illo . . . iurat ; and so Quintilian in a 
 transferred sense vi. Prooem. 10 luro per illos manes numina mei doloris. 
 
 5. parata maueut, ' are ready and in store.' in longa aetate, the 
 retrospect would be a life-long pleasure. 
 
 6. ingrato, ' unrequiting,' LXXIII. 3. 
 
 7. The exclusive cuiquam, ' any single one,' is here used without a 
 negative as in Att. ix. 15. 5 Praeterquapi quod ie moueri arbitror oportere 
 iniuria quae mihi a quoquam facta sit, Sen. de Tranquill. 1 1 Cuiuis potest 
 accidere quod cuiquam potest, and in the numerous passages of the comic 
 writers as well as of Cicero, where quisquam is preceded by si. See 
 Holtze Synt. i. p. 400, Drager Synt. p. 80, who however quotes some 
 instances where a negative is either expressed or implied, e. g. Phil. viii. 
 4. 12, Legg. iii. 18. 42, De Fato 26. Catullus in speaking of the benefits 
 performed by lovers to the beloved uses Platonic language. See Phaedrus 
 231, where however the opposite view is stated, that lovers regret the 
 kindness they have done, after the passion is over. 
 
 9. perierunt, ' have gone for nothing.' Prop. ii. 2 1. 5 Tot nodes periere, 
 Lucr. iii. 940 sqq. Sin ea quae fructus cumque es periere profusa Vitaque in 
 offenstist, cur amplius adder e quaeris, Rursum quod per eat male et ingrdtum 
 occidat omne f 
 
 11. Offirmare animum is found in Plautus Merc. Prol. 81, and Plin. 
 Epist. vii. 27. 10 offirmare animum auribusque praetendere ; but as offirmare 
 is used intransitively Pers. ii. 2. 40 Obfirmastin' occultare, Hec. iii. 5. 4 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXXVL 357 
 
 Cerium offlrmare est uiam persequi, Eun. ii. i . 1 1 Censen posse me 
 offirmare Perpeti, ' to steel myself so as to bear,' Wagner ad loc. the 
 construction with the ablative is easily intelligible. istinc te ipse 
 reducis, ' and of your own accprd withdraw from that love : ' ipse, as 
 nothing but his own resolution could rid him of the passion. The 
 ordinary reading istinc te usque reducis is unlikely because usque would 
 naturally qualify istinc like usque illinc, ' from as far as that,' True. iv. 3. 
 Y9, not reducis, ' go on withdrawing,' as the sense requires. 
 
 12. dels iutiitiB, in despite of the gods, though the gods say no : i. e. 
 though destiny seems resolved to keep you miserable. Sen. Theb. 205 
 Quod innocens es dis quoque inuitis, of the involuntary criminal Oedipus. 
 Aen. ii. 402. Quintil vi. Prooem. 3 Quem ultra esse usum mei dis repug- 
 nantibus credam ? desinis esse miser. Rem. Amoris 657 Odio qui 
 finit amorem, Aut amat aut aegre desinit esse miser (Stat.). 
 
 13. Difllcile est— Difficile est. See on LXIV. 61,2. longum 
 amorem, 'a love of long time,' here past; in Aen. iii. 487 of the future. 
 Propertius i. 19. 26 Non satis est ullo tempore longus amor seems to mean 
 that there is no moment at which the lover, looking back on the past, can 
 say love has lasted long enough. 
 
 14. efficias, as if laying down an injunction, ' you are to do this in any 
 way you can.' See on VIIL i. 
 
 15. Vna salus, Aen. ii. 354. hoc est tibi peruincendum, ' this is 
 the point you must not fail to win,' as in Liu. iv. 1 2 Tribunus plebis . . , 
 
 f actus neque ut de agris diuidendis plebi referrent consules ad senatum per- 
 uincere potuit, xxxvii. 1 6, Cic. Att. ii. 1.8 Restitit^ ac peruicit Cato, which 
 shows the idea of resistance or struggle against opposing forces seen in 
 peruicax. 
 
 16. siue pote. From this we may perhaps infer that Catullus would 
 have moiAed potest in the sense sometimes found in the comic writers = 
 ' is possible.' It is not that he makes potis, pote an adjective, but that he 
 confines potest to the construction with the infinitive. That potis is not 
 adjective to Catullus is clear from XLV. 5 Qui pote plurimum perire, 
 LXVIL 1 1 Nee peccatum a me quisquam pote dicere quicquam, LXXII. 7 
 Qui potis est ? 
 
 17. si uestrum. est misereri, which was denied. 
 
 18. Extremam is explained by ipsa in morte. Virgil seems to have 
 this line in his memory Aen. ii. 447 Extrema iam in morte par ant : this 
 confirms my reading ipsa in (MSS ipsam) instead of the ipsa oi most 
 edd. : the preposition is not so closely connected with the following word 
 as to prevent the pentameter dividing after it, cf. CXL 2 Nuptarum laus 
 e laudibus eximiis, Prop. iv. 8. 35 Vnus erat tribus in seer eta lectulus 
 herba. 
 
 19. puriter seems strange from Catullus, not so much as the lover of 
 Lesbia, towards whom he had been religiously faithful, but as judged by 
 poems like that to Ipsithilla XXXIL Yet he himself declares that his poems 
 were no indication of his conduct XVI. 5 ; and Horace in a passage hke 
 this S. i. 6. 68-70 Si neque auaritiam neque sordes nee mala lustra, Obiciet 
 uere quisquam mihi, purus et insons, Vtme collaudem, si et uiuo carus amicis, 
 certainly appeals to the chastity, or at least to the absence of profligacy, 
 in his life. Cf. puriter of bodily cleanliness in XXXIX. 14 and of cleanly- 
 washed hands, 'in a comic fragm. ap. Non. 516. The ordinary view 
 
358 A COMMENTARY 
 
 explains puriier ' blamelessly ' of the absence of anything like crime or 
 impiety, as Propertius speaks of Cynthia ii. 32. 27, 28 Non ttM deprenso 
 damnata esi/ama ueneno ; Testis erts puras, Phoebe, uidere manus ; cf. 
 Ouid. Pont. ii. 7. 49 : and so Theognis 198 uses Kadapms with a-iv SUtj, 
 as we say ' with clean hands ' for ' honestly.' 
 
 20. pestem pemiciemque, ' mischief and misery.' The two words 
 are joined in Ad. ii. i. 34 Pernicies communis adulesceniium, Periurus, 
 pestis, Pro Rabir. i. 2 Pestem acperniciem ciuitatis j Lucilius ap. Non. 218 
 Pestem pemiciemque catax quam et Manlius nobis. 
 
 21. Sei, after the former jz'in 19 is not more objectionable than the 
 double si'va. Hon Epist. ii. 2. 155-1S7, and again 158-159. surrepeus. 
 
 Callim. Epig, 45. 5 ^^ "''"' """ Sf'Soixa, Meve^tve, iif] /le napeurSiis OJtos 6 
 a-iyepTTT}! els tow epara iSdXg. Seneca Epist, 104. I ha.s /ebrem subrepentem. 
 torpor, he seems to speak of the lethargy which Horace Epod. 14. i 
 describes as produced on him by his passion for Phryne. 
 
 22. PaSserat's exsomni is clever, but hardly agrees with the lethargic 
 stupor Catullus is describing. laetitias, a strict plural. Cicero has 
 sollicitudines et laeittias tuas Att. i. 17. 6 and quotes omnibus laetitiis as an 
 expression of the copiic ^et Caecilius de Fin. ii. 4. 13, Fam. ii. 9. 2 
 (Vulp.). 
 
 23-24. Ouid. Am. iii. 14. 1-4 Non ego ne pecces, cum sis formosa, 
 recuso, Sedne sit misero scire necesse mihi. ~Ntc te nostra iubet fieri censura 
 pudicam, Sed tantum tentes dissimulare rogat. 
 
 24. non potis est, ' is impossible,' as in LXXII. 7, Eun.ii.-2.32. This 
 seems simpler than to supply esse and make Lesbia the subject of p^rtis-esi. 
 
 25. ualere . . . morbum. Phaedr. 231 of lovers airoi o/joXoyoCo-i 
 
 votxfiv p.aWov rj (TQjippoveiv. 
 
 26. pro, as the reward of, LXIV. 157, LXVIII. 150. The author of 
 the Ciris 524 imitates Catullus Itli pro pietate sua . . . Reddidit optatam 
 muiato corpore uitam. But in Caesar B. G. v. 27 Pro pietate satisfacere, 
 =: ' as natural duty demanded.' 
 
 LXXVII. 
 
 Ir we could be sure that the four lines Sed nunc — anus which Scaliger 
 Lachmann and Haupt place after v. 6 of this poem are rightly inserted 
 there, we might speak more confidently of its exact meaning. But these 
 lines in the MSS follow LXXVIII. 6, and though they cannot belong to that 
 epigram (which certainly ends with the word adulterium), and can hardly 
 be said to fit well into either of the other places assigned them XCI. 10, 
 LXXX. 8, it does not follow that they are rightly assigned to LXXVII. 
 It was the opinion of Bergk, subsequently, it is true, withdrawn, that they 
 are the remains of a poem which as a whole is lost. That there are 
 solid grounds for this belief is, I think, clear, (i) 1-6 are in themselves 
 complete ; as in other hexastichs of Catullus, the point of the epigram 
 is conveyed in the balance of the last two lines, whether we suppose an 
 antithesis between the past fidelity of Rufus and his present treachery 
 {uenenum, pectus) or an emphatic repetition of the same denunciation in 
 slightly different terms (uenenum, pestis) : with the former view cf LXXIII. 
 5, 6, LXXIV. 5, 6, XCVI. 5, 6 ; with the latter LXXXIII. 5, 6, LXXXVI. 
 5, 6, XCVIII. 5, 6. CXIV. 5, 6. (2) There is in 1-6 a tendency to 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXXVIL 3S9 
 
 repeat in the pentameter either a word or a sound of the hexameter, i, 2 
 frmtra,frusira ; 3, 4, 5 subrepsH, eriputsti, Eripuisti; 5, 6 heu heu noslrae ; 
 hcu heu noslrae; this is not found in the four verses Sednunc — loquetur anus, 
 which in consequence give a perceptibly feeble effect to the whole. (3) The 
 strong word amiciHae clenches the epigram well as in CIX. 6. (4) If the 
 four verses Sed nunc — anus form part of the epigram, what is the point of 
 the opposition conveyed by them ? Scaliger explained it to lie in the 
 fact that in 1-6 Rufus is upbraided for his treachery in robbing Catullus 
 of the affections of Lesbia, in 7-10 is taxed with the additional aggravation 
 of making love in a foul way (w hircosum). But if this is the meaning, 
 we should have expected the high-flown language of 1-6 to be followed 
 at the end of the epigram by language at least not less strong. Whereas 
 after stating in hyperbolical words that Rufus was the viper who had 
 stolen into his bosom, and robbed him of his all, he ends with the com- 
 paratively tame remark, ' yet this is not the cause of my present anger; I 
 am now protesting against the disgusting character of your intimacy with 
 Lesbia, and I assure you that you will pay for your outrage in the know- 
 ledge of your filthiness which I transmit to posterity.' To me this seems 
 a descent and an anti-climax. Is it not equally possible that the four 
 verses Sed nunc — anus are the surviving remnant of a lost epigram, the 
 commencement of which contained an attack on an enemy of the poet's 
 on some ground not associated with Lesbia, to which Sed nunc— anus add 
 this intimacy as a new and final aggravation ? 
 
 If it is uncertain whether verses 7-10 belong to LXXVII at all, it is 
 also uncertain who the person addressed is. Muretus and Statius thought 
 it was M. Caelius Rufus, the orator; and this view was accepted by 
 Niebuhr (Rhein. Mus. ii. 598) and more recently by Teuffel lungclaussen 
 and Schwabe. As M. Caelius is known to have been one of the lovers 
 of Clodia there is nothing to make this opinion impossible, and the poem 
 may then be assigned to the period when Caelius and Clodia were ac- 
 quainted, i. e. from 695 | 59 to 697 | 57 (Schwabe Quaestt. pp. 66, 67). 
 On the other hand the tenour of Cicero's speech Pro Caelio seems rather 
 to indicate that Clodia was notorious, if not actually infamous, when she 
 made the acquaintance of Caelius (cf. XXXI. 75 in hoc flexu quasi aetatis 
 — nihil enim occultabo frelus humanitate ac sapienlia uestra—fama adules- 
 centis paulum haesit ad metas notitia noua mulieris et infelici uicinitate : 
 cf. '\h. ab illius /amiliarilalis in/a mi a) and if so, can we suppose Catullus 
 to have so completely shut his eyes to the prevailing ill-repute of his 
 mistress, as to call her pura puella, and speak of her pura sauia ? 
 
 1. frustra refers to the disappointment which Catullus felt in finding 
 Rufus to be false, when he thought him true, nequicquam, to the 
 fact that nothing came of believing him to be true. credite, ' believed,' 
 as several times in Ovid, Met. vii. 98, Trist. iii. 10. 35 Vix equidem credar. 
 Verg. Aen. ii. 247 Dei iussu non unquam credila Teucris. 
 
 2. immo, 'I was not disappointed of one thing — a heavy loss.' 
 magno cum pretio atque m.alo. Trin. i. z. 182 Famigeralori res sit cum 
 damno et malo. 
 
 3. subrepsti, like a snake : Theognis 602 speaks of a false friend 
 as fvxpov &s iv KoKnm jtoikiXov dx^s orjiiv. De Harusp. Resp. xxiv. 50 Etiamne 
 in sinu atque in deliciis quidam optimi uiri uiperam illam uenenatam acpesli- 
 
360 A COMMENTARY 
 
 /eram habere poiueruni ? Seneca very similarly Consol. ad Marciam i Vide 
 quam non sulrepam tibi nee furtum facer e adfedibus tuis cogilem. mei, 
 
 LXXII. 6. intestina=' bowels,' is common in Plautus. pemrens, 
 as Pliny says Epist. vii. 1.4 Perustus ardentissima febre : Catullus explains 
 his meaning in 5, 6. 
 
 4. omnia nostra bona probably refers to Lesbia, who was all in 
 all to Catullus. Terence in the Andria makes Chrysis on her death-bed 
 speak of Glycerium as bona nostra haec. Behrens well compares LXVIII. 
 158 ^ quo sunt prima omnia nata bona. 
 
 5, 6. ' Shame on thee, the cruel poison of my life, shame on thee 
 the once-true breast on whom my friendship leaned,' i. e. shame on 
 you for betraying the intimacy of our friendship by injuring me in my 
 dearest affections. I have retained pectus which is regularly used with 
 amicitiae. Stat. S. iv. 4. 103, Mart. ix. 14. 2, Manil. ii. 582, Carmen 
 de Maecenate 26 (Riese Anth. Lat. ii. p. 248) Pectus eram tiere pectoris 
 ipse tui. Cicero Lael. xxvi. 97 dwells on the cognate idea of friends 
 looking into each others' breasts, In qua nisi ut dicitur apertum pectus 
 uideas tuumque ostendas, nihil fidum nihil exploratum habeas, ne amare 
 quidem aut amari, cum, id quam uere fiat ignores. Shakspere is fond of 
 the conceit, especially in the Sonnets, e. g. cix. 3, 4 As easy might I from 
 myself depart As from my soul which in thy breast doth lie. 
 
 7-10. Ifthese verses belong here, Scaliger's explanation is probably right, 
 ' Exprobrat illi os hircosum,' and so Schwabe Quaestt. p. 86; cf. LXXX, 
 LIX. I. The words spurca saliua occur again XCIX. 10, perhaps, but 
 not certainly, with the same meaning. In themselves w. 7, 8 need mean 
 no more than that the object of Catullus' attack was a profligate who had 
 ventured on the last liberties with Lesbia, cf. Lucr. iv. 1108. purae, 
 if Lesbia is alluded to, would indicate that as yet she had not entered on 
 her final stage of debauchery; but even at an early period the word 
 seems incongruous. 
 
 8. 8auia, here 'lips,' as in Mil. Glor. ii. i. 16. conminxit, or as 
 Catullus perhaps wrote conmixit, see Neue Formenlehre ii. p. 382, and 
 cf. Hor. S. i. 3. 90, ' has befouled,' is supported by conmictae XCIX. xo. 
 
 9. non inpune feres, ' you shall not carry off your act (i. e. retire 
 with) unpaid for.' So often, e. g. XCIX. 3, Heaut. v. i. 45 Ne illud haud 
 inultum, si muo,ferent, Asin. iv. 7. 2 tacita haec auferas. 
 
 10. qui sis. Ouid. Pont. iv. 3. i, 2 Conquerar,an taceam? ponam sine 
 nomine crimen, An notum qui sis omnibus esse uelim? fama anus. See 
 on LXVIII. 46. Martial's imitation xii. 4. 4 Fama fuisse loquax cartaque 
 dicet anus personifies in one Ijne the two things personified separately by 
 Catullus ; but he has ahofama anus i. 39. 2. 
 
 LXXVIII. 
 
 A SHORT epigram on a man named Gallus, otherwise unknown. The 
 hexastich is obviously complete in itself, and is one of the best written by 
 Catullus. The vv. Sed nunc id doleo — carta loqueiur anus, which follow 
 it in the MSS, cannot belong to it; but it is quite possible that they are 
 in their right place, part of the poem to which they belong having been 
 lost and these four verses surviving as a fragment. See introduction to 
 LXXVII. 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXXIX. 361 
 
 Gallus has two brothers, one the husband of a charming wife, the 
 other father of as charming a son. Gallus shows his good taste in effect- 
 ing the union of a pair made for each other. Gallus also shows his folly 
 in not seeing that he is himself a husband and an uncle, and that his own 
 wife may effect a similar union with his nephew. 
 
 1. lepidissima, 'very charming,' with a bodily idea as in Epid. i. i. 
 41 Forma lepida et liberali adulescentulam, Heaut. v. 5. 16 Dabo illam 
 lepidam quam tu facile antes. 
 
 3. bellus, a man of refinement, with especial reference to gallantry. 
 Inscr. Pomp. 1883 Nemo est bellus nisi qui amauii. Lucr. iv. 11 90 Ei si 
 bello animosi et non odiosa. Att. I. i. 4 Durius accipere hoc mihi uisus est 
 quam ego uellem et quam homines belli solent : the last two passages show 
 the idea of surrender or complaisance which forms part of the notion of 
 a man of gallantry. Here Gallus shows himself true to the character by 
 his indifference to personal or family considerations in forwarding the 
 intimacy of his two scandalous relatives. 
 
 4. bello bella, of course in the other sense 'pretty:' so CVL i. 
 Bacch. I. i. 48 lepidus cum lepida accubet. 
 
 6, 6. ' Gallus is a fool and fails to see that whilst he is himself an 
 uncle who teaches his nephew how to seduce an uncle's wife, he is all the 
 time a husband with a wife of his own,' and that the lesson taught may 
 be applied against himself, by the seduction of his wife by his nephew. 
 This seems to be a more probable construction than to make Qui patruus 
 patrui monstret adulterium a definition of maritum, ' that he is a husband 
 who with a nephew of his own (patruus) points out how a nephew may 
 seduce his uncle's wife.' 
 
 LXXIX. 
 
 This poem becomes more interesting if we read it in the light of 
 Apuleius' assertion, that Lesbia's real name was Clodia. For if Lesbia 
 is Clodia, Lesbius will of course be Clodius, and, as Schwabe has shown, 
 Quaestt. p. 62 sqq. P. Clodius, the sororius adulter of Pis. xii, the istius 
 mulieris uir,fratrem uolui dicere of Cael. xiii. Not only does this give a 
 point to pulcer (P. Clodius Pulcer), but also to gente, in which we may 
 well trace an allusion to the family pride of the gens Claudia. The 
 meaning of the last line to some extent depends on the reading which 
 we adopt. The general idea indeed is unaffected ; sauia must refer to 
 that oris impudicitia which, though not specially imputed to P. Clodius, is 
 included in the general description of his infamy, De Harusp. Resp. 
 xxvii, 59, XX. 42, Sest. vii. 16 qui enim in eiusmodi uita nerui potuerunt 
 esse hominisf rater nis flagitiis sororiis stupris omni inaudita libidine in/atnisi' 
 (Schwabe Quaestt. p. 91). But if we retain the reading of most MSS 
 natorum, the allusion would seem to be something more than this : 
 for in conjunction with tria we can scarcely fail to interpret this of that 
 fixed number of three children, on which under the empire was founded 
 the ius trium liberorum or natorum (Mart. iii. 95. 6, ii. 91. 6, 92. i), and 
 which would seem to have been becoming the recognized number of a 
 iustafamilia some time before. Suet. Caesar 20 Campum Stella tern . . . 
 diuisit extra sortem ad uirginti millibus ciuium, quibus terni pluresque liber i 
 
362 A COMMENTARY 
 
 essent. ib. 50 Pompeio exprobratum est quod cuius causa post tres liheros 
 exegisset uxorem . . . ems postea filiam . . . in matrimonium recepisset. 
 Cattillus may then be supposed to allude not only to the impurum os 
 of Clodius, but also to the mollities which was sometimes associated with 
 it, cf. Gell. i. 5. I Hinc eliam turpibus indignisque in eum uerbis nan lem- 
 peraium, quin parum uir et ore quoque pollute diceretur. The connexion of 
 the two lines would then be ' still vile as I and my family are in the esti- 
 mation of this handsome scion of a patrician family, I defy him to produce 
 three children of his own begetting who would not shrink from kissing 
 their polluted father.' See however for another explanation my note on 4. 
 
 1. quidni, ' well he may be,' ' by all means let him be so.' Aesch. fr. 
 
 303 Nauck XfUKOs. ri S' Qv-^i ; Km koKois Tjf^evfzevos *0 ^otpos. 
 
 2. cum tota gente. Clodius might look down upon the provincial 
 Catullus. Cicero alludes to his connexion with the gens Claudia in 
 Clodium et Curionem v. 3 Tune cum uincirentur pedes fasciis, cum calautica 
 capiti adcommodaretur, cum uix manicatam tunicam in lacertos indnctres, 
 cum strophio adcurate praecingerere, in tarn longo spatio nunquam te Appii 
 Claudii nepotem esse recordatus es ? 
 
 3. puleer, cf. Cicero's jokes on the pulcdUfs puer Att. i. 16. 10, ii. i. 
 4, 22. I. uendat, a word which seems peculiarly associated with 
 Clodius. De Harusp. Resp.^xvii. 58 Reges qui erant, uendidit ; qui non 
 erant, appellauit, an .allosion to Clodius' putting up to sale the person 
 and effects Gf Ptolemy king of Cyprus, Sest. xxvi. 57, xxvii. 59, Pro Domo 
 XX. 52. Possibly Catullus may also be thinking of his pecuniary em- 
 barrassments (see on XXVI), ' let Clodius have my person and goods 
 made over to him by the praetor {addictus) for debt.' Flacc. xx. 48. 
 
 4. i. e. if he can find three children to acknowledge him as their father 
 by kissing him, as was usual between parents and children. Plaut. Stich. 
 i. 2. 34. The point is thus twofold (i) he cannot be a father of a perfect 
 
 familia; (2) he is too polluted to allow of his nearest relations kissing him. 
 Others take natorum in the sense of nemo natus, ' no one in the world,' 
 or as =' well-born,' Mart. x. 27. ^Nemotamen natumte, Diodore, putat,Xht 
 opposite of ex se natus Tac. xi. 21 a man of no family. The Bodleian 
 MS (O) has notorum, ' acquaintances,' Cael. ii. 3, Hor. S. i. i. 85. It can 
 hardly be gen. plur. of notor, ' vouchers of respectability,' though this 
 would agree well with the interpretation which refers 3 to debt : ' let 
 Clodius have my person and goods made over to him by the praetor as 
 an insolvent debtor, if he can find any three people of character to ac- 
 knowledge him as a friend and advance him money to pay his own debts.' 
 See Pro Flacco xx, where Cicero speaks of Heraclidas borrowing from 
 
 primarit uirt, and on the attestation lectissimi kominis. 
 
 LXXX. 
 
 1. Quid dicam quare, ' what am I to say is the reason ? ' Rose. 
 Amer. xxxiii. 94 Permulta sunt quae did possunt quare intellegatur. For 
 Quid est quare cf. Sen. de Ira ii. 6. 3. rosea, LXIII. 74. 
 
 3. ' When you rise in the morning, or leave your couch after the mid- 
 day siesta,' LXI. iii. 
 
 4. quiete E moUi with suscitat, Tusc. Disp. iv. 19. 44 Quaerentibm 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXXXL ' 363 
 
 respondebai Milliadis tropaeis se e somno suscilari. longo die, not 
 simply, I think, ' in the lingering summer day,' but 'in the long hours of 
 the day,' i. e. when the heat is greatest, and the hours pass most slowly. 
 
 5. ' At any rate there is something the matter.' Verg. Eel. viii. io8 : and 
 in Pers. v. 51 Nescio quod certe est quod me tibi temper at astrum, some 
 MSS have nescio quid (Conington). an uere. Pont. i. ^. ■^x An populus 
 uere sanos negat esse poetas ? 
 
 6. medii uiri. Mart. ii. 61. 2, iii. 81. 2. Priap. xliv. 2. tenta= 
 mentulam tentam Priap. xx. 6, cf. ib. xxxiii. 2, Ixxix. i. uorare. Mart, 
 vii. 67. 15. 
 
 7. Sio certe est. See on LXIL 8. rupta ilia, of a rupture, as 
 in XL 20. 
 
 8. sero. Petr. Petitus Misc. Obs. iii. 2 compares Plutarch's (nrcpiiaTiKos 
 oppos, De Placitis Philosophorum 24. 
 
 LXXXI. 
 
 One of the series of poems to Juventius, who is here accused of desert- 
 ing the poet for a rival from Pisaurum. From in tanto populo we may 
 conjecture that it was written at Rome. Cicero mentions a Drusus of 
 Pisaurum, a friend of Pompeius, as employed on the lucrative Campanian 
 commission Att. ii. 7, but there is nothing to identify him with the 
 object of Catullus' jealousy. Couat £tudep. 98 thinks Furius is meant. 
 
 2. diligere inciperes, a pleonasm in the style of the older poets 
 -(Scaliger). Enn. Medea Exul 231 Ribbeck quod iter inc^piam iiigredi ■i' 
 
 3. moribunda "is explained "byToss oT tlie sickly character of the air 
 of Pisaurum, which in his own time was believed to prevent longevity : 
 by Conr. de Allio of the inhabitants who, from their unhealthy climate, 
 wore a deathly look : a view adopted by Forcellini. It seems more 
 natural to refer moribunda to the decaying ( Viribus ilia carens et iam 
 moribunda Ouid. M. vii. 851) state of Pisaurum, which, though it does 
 not seem to be expressly stated, is not at variance with the general 
 language of Cicero ; at any rate Mr. Long Diet. Geog. s. u. can hardly 
 be right in concluding from Sest. iv, Phil. xiii. 12 that Pisaurum was at 
 that time in a flourishing condition. Pisauri, a town of Umbria on 
 the Adriatic between Fanum Fortunae and Ariminum. It was founded 
 as a Roman colony simultaneously with Potentia in Picenum b. c. 184, 
 Liv. xxxix. 44. (Diet. Geog. s. u.) 
 
 4. inaurata, composed of wood or some similar material and then 
 coated with gilt. They are often mentioned as in Cic. Verr. ii. 61, iv. 
 40, Pis. xi. 25, Amm. Marc. xiv. 6, xxviii. 4 : such gilt statues were 
 sometimes presented as a compliment to distinguished benefactors, as by 
 the Capuans to Cicero Pis. xi. 25. Here inaurata is in reference to the 
 paleness of the man, cf LXIV. 100. statua, with the notion partly 
 of stiffness as in Pseud, iv. i. 7, partly of inanity as in Eur. El. 383 AJ 
 
 fie trapKes ai wrat (pptvav 'AyaAjtun-' dyopas ua-iv, quoted by Mayor On luuen. 
 viii. 55, partly of frigidity Dion Iviii. 2 Tv/ivois ttotc avbpas dnavTrja-avras 
 avTjj Kal fuWovras Sia tovto 6avaTa6rj(re(Tdm taaicrcv (Liuia) elnoiaa ort cyiHiv 
 au^pidpTijLtv rntff (rti)(j)povov(Tais ol towvtol bia(^cpov(TL. 
 
364 A COMMENTARY 
 
 6. et nescis, without being sensible of your enormity, el nearly=f/ 
 lamen as in XCVII. 2. 
 
 LXXXII. 
 
 The Quintius of this poem may be the person mentioned in C. i 
 with Caelius as flos Veronensum iuuenum, and as enamoured of Aufilena. 
 Schwabe, following many of the commentators, thinks that C. 7 Cum 
 uesana meas iorreret flamma medullas refers to Catullus' passion for Aufilena 
 (CX, CXI), and explains the present poem as a protest addressed by the 
 poet to a rival. But this view of C is violently improbable, and it seems 
 better with Conr. de AUio to explain LXXXII. 3, 4 of Lesbia, Ambobus 
 mihi quae carior est oculis CIV. 2 ; for only Lesbia can be designated by 
 mea uita. 
 
 1. oculos debere, to be indebted to you as the preserver of all he 
 holds most dear ; the sense might be paraphrased, ' if you wish me to 
 look upon you as the saviour of my happiness, do not become the 
 destroyer of it.' 
 
 2. carius oculis. Lear i. i Dearer than eyesight space and liberty. 
 
 3. Eripere. Hor. S. ii. 5. 35 Eripiet quiuis oculos citius mihi. ei 
 monosyllabic as in eidem Lucil. Inc. iv. 4, Manil. iii. 73. See Lachmann 
 on Lucr. iii. 227. 
 
 4. seu qmcl=j'zW quid=:uel si quid. Plin. Epist. i. 18.4 Patria et si 
 quid carius fides uidebatur. Symm. Ep. i. 32 Me tibi et parente et amico et 
 si quid utroque carius est carioremfuisse sensisti. 
 
 LXXXIII. 
 
 If Lesbia was Clodia, this epigram must have been written before the 
 death of Q. Metellus Celer in 59. There is nothing to fix it more deter- 
 minately. The subject of it is similar to Prop. iii. 8, cf. especially 9, 10 
 Nimirum ueri dantur mihi signa caloris : Nam sine amore graui femina 
 nulla dolet. 19, 20 Non est certa fides, quam non iniuria uersat. Hostibus 
 eueniat lentapuella meis. 28 Semper in irata pallidum esse uelim^ 
 
 2. fatuo, XCVIII. 2 uerbosis dicitur et/atuis. Servius on Aen. vii. 47 
 Fatuos dicimtis inconsiderate loquentes : and so perhaps here, the husband 
 shows )\imit[i /atutts in bragging of his wife's open disparagement of 
 Catullus. 
 
 3. Mule, ' dolt,' a very rare use; connected with its tarditas indomita 
 (Plin. H. N. viii. 171). Catullus may also allude to the well-known fact 
 that mules rarely breed. Umpfenbach Philologus for 1874 p. 234 
 retains the MS reading Mulle, quoting the proverb MuXXos navr dKowr 
 
 enl Tav KtofjyorrjTa TrpotnroLovfiei/av Koi iravra OKOvovTfov I see Diogenianus vi. 40, 
 
 Zenob. v. 14, Apostol. xi. 85 in Leutsch's Paroemiographi Graeci. But 
 the allusion is too obscure to be probable. 
 
 4. Sana, ' heart-whole,' in reference to love as a disease as in LXXVI. 
 25, Tib. iv. 6. 18. (Conr. de Allio). gannit, 'snarls.' Varro L. L. vii. 
 103 Multa ab animalium uocibus tralata in homines, par tim quae sunt aperta, 
 
 partim obscura . . . Plauti. Gannit odiosus, omni totaefamiliae. ob- 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXXXIV. 365 
 
 loquitur, ' rails,' Afranius ap. Non. 78 Quid est istuc ? ie Hater are atque 
 obloqui. 
 
 5. aerior, Hor. S. ii. 7. 93, more poignant or stimulating, i. e. more 
 potent in rousing some outward manifestation of displeasure ; quae multo 
 acrior est res nearly =z'(f quod multo acrius est. 
 
 6. uritur, 'her heart burns,' partly with love, as in Hor. C. i. 13. 9 
 Vror seu tibi Candidas Turparunt umeros immodicae mero Rixae, pardy with 
 vexation to think of the lover she has quarrelled with but cannot bring 
 herself to dismiss. et loquitur, 'and therefore speaks.' 
 
 LXXXIV. 
 
 Cicero in the Brutus (Ixix. 242) mentions among the inferior orators of 
 his time a Q. Arrius, who had risen from the ranks into importance with- 
 out any special talent or learning, by watching his opportunities, but had 
 fallen into insignificance in the collapse of forensic mediocrities occa- 
 sioned by the judiciary regulations of Pompeius in his third consulship 
 702 I 52 (cf. Brut. xciv. 324, De Fin. iv. i. i). Cicero says of him /uit M. 
 Crassi quasi secundarum, and Schwabe infers from this that he was in the 
 intimacy of Crassus and may therefore have accompanied him into 
 Syria 699 | 55. The description would agree very well with what is 
 said of Arrius in Catullus' poem. (Schwabe Quaestt. pp. 322-331.) 
 
 The pronunciation of the letter h was one of the grammatical questions 
 of the time. Caesar treated de uerborum aspirationibus in his work 
 de Analogia (Fronto p. 221 Naber) ; Nigidius Figulus laid down a rule 
 Rusticus fit sermo si adspires perperam (Gell. xiii. 6) ; Varro enjoins its 
 omission or retention in individual words e. g. Gracctis ortus (Charis. p. 82 
 'K.tW) pulcrum (Charis. 73 Keil) Rodus retor (Cassiodorus p. 2285 P.), and 
 elsewhere indicates the same thing by his etymologies, as in connect- 
 ing olus asta with olla asiare L. L. v. 108, 115 hordeum with hor r ere L. 
 L. V. 106. 
 
 According to Cicero (Orator xlviii. 160) a change was introduced in 
 his own lifetime. The old fashion was to aspirate vowels only, con- 
 sonants never ; this he had been obliged to give up in deference to the 
 new fashion. Quin ego ipse, cum scirem ita maiores locutos esse ut nusquam 
 nisi in uocali aspiratione uterentur loquebar sic, ut pulcros Cetegos 
 triumpos Kartaginem dicerem ; aliquando idque sero conuilio aurium 
 cum extorta mihi ueritas esset, usum loquendi populo concessi, scientiam mihi 
 reseruaui. Orciuios tamen et Matones Otones Caepiones sepulcra 
 coronas lacrimas dicimus quia per aurium iudicium licet. And this 
 agrees with the well-known statement of Quintilian i. 5. 20 H litterae 
 ratio mutata cum temporibus est saepius. Parcissime ea ueteres usi etiam in 
 uocalibus, cum aedos ircosque dicebant, diu deinde seruatum ne consonan- 
 tibus aspirarent, ut in Graccis et in triumpis; erupit breui tempore 
 nimius usus ut choronae chenturiones praechones adhuc quibusdam 
 inscriptionibus maneant, qua de re Catulli nobile epigramma est. Cf. Gell. 
 ii. 3. Corssen i. pp. 103 sqq. traces this fluctuation in inscriptions and 
 MSS : see also Brambach Neugestaltung der Latein. Orthographie pp. 
 282-294. 
 
 From this epigram it is clear that Catullus disapproved of the gradually 
 
366 A COMMENTARY 
 
 encroaching predominance of h, in this respect agreeing with Cicero. 
 Their judgment was to some extent confirmed by the Augustan writers ; 
 for the MSS of Virgil, which may be taken as the best representative of 
 the orthography of that time, are against such spellings as chorona chert'- 
 iurio, etc., and preponderate in favour oierus umerus umor ora onus Onus; 
 on the other hand the new fashion prevailed in such words as Cethegus 
 Otho, etc. Catullus takes care to represent Arrius' over-fondness for the 
 letter as a vulgar habit which he had inherited from his ancestors ; if this 
 is true, the plebeian pronunciation had overpowered the more aristocratic, 
 which, as we saw from Cicero, was then beginning to be antiquated ; if, 
 as is more probable, the habit was a consequence of the increasing 
 number of Greeks in Rome, we can only look upon the poet's state- 
 ment as one of those personalities so frequently found in his writings, or 
 rather perhaps as a misrepresentation intended to throw ridicule on a 
 trick of pronunciation which threatened to become the fashion. 
 
 1. commoda, military stipends or rewards out of the usual course. 
 Fam. vii. 8. i Simul sum admiraius cur tribunaius commoda, dempto prae- 
 sertim labor e miliiiae, contempseris. A. A. i. 131, 2 Romule, milUibus scisli 
 dare commoda solus. Haec mihi si dederis commoda, miles ero. 
 
 4. quantum poterat, ' with the full strength of his lungs.' 
 
 5, 6. Cicero De Orat. iii. 12. 45 very similarly, but in contrariatn 
 partem, of women preserving in its integrity the language and pronuncia- 
 tion of antiquity, Equidem cum audio socrum meant Laeliam—facilius enim 
 mulieres incorruplam antiquitatem conseruant, quod multorum sermonis 
 expertes ea tenent semper quae prima didicerunt — sed earn sic audio ut Plau- 
 tum mihi aut Naeuium uidear audire. Sono ipso uocis ita redo et simplici est 
 ut nihil ostentationis aut imitationis adferre uidealur ; ex quo sic locutum 
 esse eius pairem iudico,sic maiores ; non aspere ut ille quem dixi, non 
 uasle non rustice non hiulce sed presse et aequabiliter et leniter and so the 
 elder Curio grew up in a house trained to purity of language patrio 
 instituto (Brut. lix. 213). But these were aristocrats; the plebeian 
 Arrius would inherit a plebeian pronunciation. 
 
 5. Credo, ironical : Arrius seems to have prided himself on his here- 
 ditary pronunciation. Theophrastus makes it a sign of the ^vax^ph^ to call 
 
 his ailments a-vyyeviKa appaarfjiiaTa, e)(etv yap avra Kal rbv irarepa koI tov irairTTOv. 
 
 Liber is probably the uncle's name : Passerat ingeniously explains it as 
 adj. Arrius, he supposes, was the descendant of men who were not free ; he 
 compares a similarly ironical line of Afranius ap. Charisium 119 Keil liber 
 natus est, ita mater eius dixit, In Gallia ambos cum emerem. The whole 
 verse is consistently contemptuous : auunculus, itself an undignified word 
 (Serv. on Aen. iii. 343), is made more so by the prosaic addition of eius. 
 eius, very rare in poetry; Bentley on Hor. C. iii. 11. 18 quotes five 
 instances where it ends a hexameter, Hor. S. ii. 6. 76, Lucret. i. 782, 965, 
 Prop. iv. 2. 35, Quid. Trist. iii. 4. 27. 
 
 7. omnibus aures, Fronto p. 6 1 Naber Omnibus aures tuae uoculae 
 subseruiunt where Naber reads omnium against the MS. 
 
 8. leniter et leuiter, Att. xiii. 21.6 De Attica optime quod leuius ac lenius 
 et quodfert fi/coXiat. Apuleius is full of such assonances; see Koziol Stil 
 des L. Apuleius pp. 201-208. 
 
 9. postilla, a word found in Ennius (Ann. 42), Cato, Plautus Men. iv. 
 
ON CATULLUS. LXXXVL 367 
 
 3. II, Terence (Eun. i. 2. 47) and the older writers, but probably anti- 
 quated in Catullus' time. 
 
 10. Phil. xiii. 9. \^ Paraia sentenlia consularis cum repenie ei afferiur 
 nuncitis. 
 
 11. Ionics. He would cross the Adriatic {Ionium mare De Orat. iii. 
 19. 69, cf. Prop. iii. 1 1. 72) on his way. The repose (requierant) was not 
 allowed to remain undisturbed long ; for this would be at the beginning 
 of the journey. Catullus probably means by lonios fluclus the lower part 
 of the Adriatic, as Virgil places the Strophades lonio in magno Aen. iii. 
 211, cf. Strabo 123, Mela ii. 67 ; he can hardly allude to any part of the 
 Aegean, though Ovid seems to mean this Fast. iv. 566, cf Sen. Theb. 610, 
 Thy. 143. 
 
 LXXXV. 
 
 This epigram is a brief but pointed expression of the connexion 
 between violent love and violent hate. Plut. Cato 37 KLvBweiei ro \iav 
 
 (j}t\fiv, &s <^r]<Tl Qf6<j>pa(TTOs, aiTtow tov fjiiaeiv yiyve<T6ai noWaKis. Am. ii. 4. 
 
 5 Odi, nee possum cupiens non esse, quod odi. The infidelities of Lesbia 
 would have been sufficient to occasion it at almost any period of Catullus' 
 amour with her : but it belongs rather to the early than to the later period. 
 See on LXXVL 
 
 LXXXVI. 
 
 A COMPARISON of a certain Quintia with Lesbia. ' Quintia in the 
 judgment of many is beautiful ; to my view she has particular points of 
 beauty, fine complexion, height, and symmetry of form ; but is not com- 
 pletely beautiful. Only Lesbia is such ; she combines a beautiful whole 
 with perfection in every part.' 
 
 Catullus has before compared Lesbia with rival beauties, see XLIIL 
 Petronius has a similar epigram fr. xxxi Bucheler — 
 
 Non est forma satis, nee quae uult bella uideri. 
 
 Debet uulgari more placere sibi. 
 Dicta sales lusus sermx>nis gratia risus 
 
 Viruunt naturae candidioris opus. 
 Condit enim formam quicquid consumitur artis 
 Et nisi uelle subest, gratia iota peril. 
 
 1. nmltis. So Lucilius ap. Non. 306 Omnes formosi, fortes tibi : 
 ego' improbus : esto. longa, ' tall,' LXVL i, 47. Varro ap. Non. 27 
 describes a woman 2& proceram candidam teneram formosam, Prometheus 
 Liber fr. x Riese. 
 
 2. Recta, 'well-shaped,' Prop. ii. 34- 46 Despicitet magnos recta puella 
 deos. singula, ' one by one,' Philostrat. Icones i. 28 Taxa m Ka\ rfiv 
 
 napeiav iiratveo-cTai, Kai to /lerpa rqs piv6s, km Kaff iv ovraaX raiv ™ Trpoa-ama, 
 
 3. iUud formosa, that word ' beautiful.' The word is quoted without 
 alteration. So Quintil. viii. 6. 38 illud canto, ix. 3. 64 illudedico. So 
 in Greek Strab. 157 'Ywdp^at jr(iX«y avrodi, rfiv /ifV KoXou/iej/i)!' "EXX);«i, t^v 
 fie 'A^f^iXoxoi. 
 
 4. mica salis, ' grain of salt,' ' any spark of animation. Stat, compares 
 
368 A COMMENTARY 
 
 Lucr. iv. 1162 toia merum sal. Mart. vii. 25. 1-4 Dulcia cum tantum scribas 
 epigrammata semper Et cerussata candidiora cute, Nullaque mica salts 
 nee amari/ellis in illis Gutta sit, demens, uis tamen ilia legi. 
 
 5. formosa would seem from this to imply more than puleer- 
 rima; not mere beauty of form or person, but a general charm of 
 gesture and expression. 
 
 6. Anth. P. V. 95 Tea-crapfs ai Kaptres, Ila^iai diio, koL iVxa MoCtrai' Afp- 
 KvKis h iraa-als Uova-a 'Xapis Ila^ii). Musaeus Her. et Leand. 6 3 IloXXai 8' 
 €K peXeav Xaptres peov' ol fie TraXatol 'Tpeis Xapiras yj^evaavro ire(pvK€vat, €ts Sc Tis 
 'HpoOs *0^6aKp,os yeXoav eKorbv XapiTea-ai TedffKei. 
 
 LXXXVII. 
 
 An obviously imperfect fragment. See on LXXV. 
 
 3. Nulla fides ntillo. So Lachmann after the Datanus, and the double 
 negative is in harmony with the simple plainness of the statement, as 
 well as with to uKaKov ttjs yvvaiKetas epprjvdas which CatuUus here, like 
 Sophron, may voluntarily be imitating Etym. M. 774. 41. Similarly 
 Tibullus iv. 7. 8 Ne legal id nemo quam meus ante uelim. foedere. 
 The addition of nulla takes from the harshness of the abl. without in. 
 But in would easily fall out after unquam, and Doering may be right in 
 restoring it, as I have done in the very parallel case LXXVI. 18 ipsa in 
 morte. 
 
 4. amore tuo, ' love /or you.' LXIV. 253. ex parte. See on 
 LXXVI. 18. 
 
 LXXXVIII— XCI. 
 
 On Gellius : the first three deal with the charge of incest only, the 
 fourth accuses him besides of making love to Lesbia. See on LXXIV. 
 With this and the two following epigrams compare Mart. ii. 4 quam 
 blandus es, Ammiane, matri ! Quam blanda est tibi mater, Ammiane ! Fra- 
 irem te uocat et sorer vacatur. Cur uos nomina nequiora tangunt ? Quare 
 non iuuat hoc quod estis esse? Lusum creditis, hoc iocumque? Non est. 
 Mater quae cupit esse se sororem. Nee matrem iuuat esse nee sororem., 
 
 LXXXVIII. 1. Quid facit is, like Qualem existimas qui in adulterio 
 deprenditur ? De Orat. ii. 68. 275. 
 
 2. Prurit, Mart. ix. 73. 6. abieotis tunieis, a mark of shameless 
 depravity. peruigilat, Aristoph. fr. 116 Dindorf iv ^Suoo-fiois irpmpjxai 
 ■nawv^i^av. Nub. 1069 t^k viiKra wavvvxlC^to. Lucian Dial. Meretr. xiv. i 
 
 'O Be Tcov vvKrtJdV (^tXetrat Kai. pApos evbov eori Koi ■jravvvxiC^fot. In all these 
 
 passages there is probably some idea of the nocturnal festivals of Venus, 
 the licentious peruigilia Veneris. 
 
 3. non sinit, by seducing his uncle's wife, LXXIV. 3. 
 
 4. suscipiat, ' incurs,* ' contracts,' as Cic. Phil. xi. 4. 9 Miserior igitur 
 qui suscipit in se sceltis quam si qui alterius facinus subire cogitur. So 
 suscipere impuritates parricidia maculam crimen etc. 
 
 5. 6. Lucr. vi. 1076 Non si Neptunus fluctu renouare operant det,Non 
 mare si totum uelit eluere omnibus undis. Did Catullus copy Lucretius, or 
 Lucretius Catullus .' 
 
 5. quantum non, 'more than.' Liu. ix. 37 quantus non unquam antea 
 
ON CATULLUS. XC. 369 
 
 exercitus. Trist. ii. 231 Tanto quantum non exiitit unquam. Tethys. 
 Haupt Ind. Lect. 1855 afifirms that Tethys is not used for mare by any 
 writer before Archias Anth. P. vii. 214. 6 UopBiifiireis Tijfiuor eh mpara, 
 although from Catullus LXVL 70 Callimachus maybe thought to have 
 done so. Here Catullus obviously has in his mind Homer's 'Qkcovov tc 
 
 6eS>v yiveuiv kcu lup-ipa TrjBvv, cf. ApoU. R. iii. 244 Trjdios aKfavov re : a 
 
 personality attaches to both names, as is farther indicated by genitor 
 Nympharum. 
 
 6. abluit. O. T. 1227 Of/iot yap oi/r' hv "larpov oUre 0a(Tiv hv Ni\|fat 
 
 KaOapp.^ rqvdf rrfv (TTeyt]v, oa-a KeiOet. De Legg. ii. lo. 24 amnibus ullis elui. 
 genitor Nympharum, Ocean with all his streams cannot wash away 
 such guilt. Catullus may have in his mind the national custom of 
 punishing parricides by throwing them, after first being sewn in a bag, 
 into the deep sea or a running stream. Rose. Amer. xxv. 70, and 
 especially xxvi. 72, Digest, xlviii. 9. 9. An ancient legal formula in Cic. 
 Legg. ii. 9. 22 enacts the punishment of death for incest, Incestum ponli- 
 fices supremo suhplicio sanciunto. 
 
 7. nihil quicquam, as in Plaut. Bacch. iv. 9.113 Nil ego tibi hodie 
 consili quicquam daho, Poen. iii. i. i Tarda amico nihil est quicquam in- 
 iquius, Merc. iii. i. 9, Ter. And. i. i. 63, Hec. iii. 3. 40, Ad. iii. 3. 12, and 
 so nemo quisquam (Holtze Syntax, i. p. 403). ' There is nothing whatever 
 that is crime.' 
 
 LXXXIX. 
 
 1. quidni? ' well he may be,' De Orat. ii. 67. 273 Cum rogaret eum 
 (Maximum) Salinator ut meminisset opera sua se Tarentum recepisse : 
 Quidni, inquit, meminerim ? nunquam enim recepissem, nisi tu perdidisses. 
 bona, ' kind,' ironically, in the same sense as CX. i, where see note. 
 
 2. ualeus uiuat, in contrast with the tenuitas of Gellius. 
 
 3. bonus, as allowing him to take liberties with his wife. omnia 
 plena, a common formula. Att. ii. 24. 4 Sed prorsus uitae taedet, ita sunt 
 omnia omnium miseriarum plenissima. Fam. ix. 22, 4 Siultorum plena sunt 
 omnia. Verg. G. ii. 4 Tuts hie omnia plena Muneribus. Tib. i. 8. 54 Lacry- 
 mis omnia plena madent. Ouid. Pont. iii. 3, 86 Cunctaque laetitiae plena 
 triumphus habet (partly from Vulp.). 
 
 5. nihil attingat, nisi quod fas tangere non est. Similarly Cicero in 
 Clodium et Curionem fr. iv. 3 Orelli Quo loco ita/uit caecus ut facile appareret 
 uidisse eum quod/as nonfuisset. 
 
 XC. 
 
 2. aruspioium seems to allude to divination with sticks of tamarisk, 
 as described by Strabo 733 (see on 5), Schol. Nicand. Theriac. 613 Mdyot 
 
 hi Ka< '%Kv6ai p-vpudva navrcvovrai ^vKa' koI yap iv ttoWois rdnois pd^Sois pav- 
 TfvovTai. Phoenix ap. Athen. 530 Oi napci Udyma-i irvp iepov ave(TTT]<Tev, 
 'Q<rrrep v6pos, pdfiSoia-i tov 6tov ^ai<ov. (Scaliger.) 
 
 3. Strabo 735 Tovr St Mdyovs oi Sanrovaiv, dXX' olavo^paTovs iaaf tovtois 
 6e Ka\ priTpdo'i irvvip^eaftai, Trdrpiov v€v6pj,<rTai. (Scaliger.) 
 
 4. impia, ' unnatural,' and, to Roman ideas, abominable. Euripides 
 Androm. 173 sqq. speaks of such incestuous connexions as peculiarly 
 
 B b 
 
370 A COMMENTARY 
 
 barbarous, i. e. nOn-FIellenic, toioOtok nav to PapSapav yems, Uartjp re BvyaTpi 
 Traiff Te p^Tpi fjLiyi/VTat Koprj r' a3eX<^o), 8ia (j)6vov 8 ol ^iXrarot X<opovai Kai 
 tSi/S" oiSh i^dpyet v6p,os, where the SchoUast notes raira Uepaiica Wrf 
 
 (Doering). 
 
 5, Guatus, ' that the son of these parents may worship the gods with 
 a chant which is acceptable,' i. e. if the gods are to look with favour on the 
 rite, it must be performed by the son born of an incestuous union between 
 a mother and her child. carmine, the eVmSul of which Strabo speaks 
 
 several times 733 E'""' ^' pvppivriv hiaBivns to. xpia, pa^Bois XfTTToTs ec^oTTTOiTat 
 oi Mdyoi KaX eVaSoutrti', airoairevBovres eXaiov ofiav yciKQKTL kol pe\iTt Kexpafievov 
 ovK els TTvp, ovb v8a}p, dXX els Tov8a(l>os. ras 5' cVfi>8as iroiOvVTat ttoKvv ^p6vov 
 pd^Swv p,vpiKivcov Xeirrav decrp,r]v Kare'xpvTes. ibid. Koi Kaff fjpjpav Sc ela-idvris 
 
 in^Sovaiv &pav o-xeSo'i/ Tt. (Scaliger.) diuos, according to Strabo 732 
 Zeus the Sun the Moon Aphrodite and the elements. 
 
 6. Omentum, the caul or membrane enveloping the intestines. Plin. 
 H. N. xi. 204 Ventriculus aique intestina pingui ac tenui omenta integuntur. 
 Catullus here speaks with strict correctness, for the M^gians, though 
 victims were cut up as part of their worship, did not like most nations 
 assign any portion oiHat flesh to the gods, tpias he roC fVijrXou n fUKpbv 
 Tideacriv, as 'Keyovai Tives, em TO irvp. Strabo 732 (Scaliger). licLuefacieus. 
 Persius imitates Catullus ii. 47 Toi tibi cum in flammas iunicum omenta 
 liquescant (Scaliger). Persius has in flammas, Catullus in flamma, if the 
 reading of most MSS may be trusted : but it is not impossible that 
 Persius is here a safer guide as in flammam is actually found in L. 
 
 XCI. 
 
 3. cognossem, subjunctive of the supposed but false reason, as ulde- 
 bam, of the actual or true one. Roby Latin Grammar 1744. 
 
 5. neque quod, an inversion of the natural order quod neque : see on 
 LXIII. 62. matrem here for nouercam (Westphal CatuU's Gedichte 
 p. 121). germanam, properly a sister on both the father's and 
 mother's side, whence the combination soror germana. 
 
 6. cuius me not me cuius, in spite of the bad rhythm, and the inversion 
 of neque quod in 5. edebat, ' preyed upon,' gives the idea of a slowly 
 and silently consuming passion. Aen. xii. 801 Ni te tantus edit tacitam 
 dolor. 
 
 8. Non satis id causae. De Inuent. ii. 20. 60 Atrocitas iniuriarum 
 satisne causae sit quare praeiudiceiur ? id is emphatic : ' though you 
 were admitted to my intimacy, that did not seem to me a sufficient ground 
 for expecting that you would betray me ; ' a fine irony. 
 
 9. satis id, exactly inverts the emphasis of id satis in 8. 
 
 10. Culpa, Cic. Fam. ix. 22. z Memini in senatu diserium consularem 
 ita eloqui : Hanc culpam maiorem an illam dicam ? poluit ohscoenius f Non, 
 inquis : non enim ita sensit. Non ergo in uerbo est : domi autem in re 
 non esse: nusquam igitur est. Plin. H. N. viii. 43 Odore pardi coitum sentit in 
 adulter a lea totaque uiconmrgit inpoenam. Idcirco ea culpa flumine abluitur 
 aut longius comitatur. 
 
ON CATULLUS. XCIIL 371 
 
 XCII. 
 
 On the same subject as LXXXIII, and perhaps belonging to the same 
 period : but more probably later, if we may argue from assidue in 4 that 
 Lesbia had entered upon the more profligate period of her life. 
 
 2. dispeream nisi, like dispeream si Prop. ii. 21. 9, a form of adjura- 
 tion which seems to have become archaic in Martial's time xi. 90. 8. 
 
 3. Quo signoP Anth. P. v. 213. 3 EiVf 8e o-ij/tetoi/. Fam. xii. 21. i 
 Signum enim magnum amoris dedisti. Hec. ii. i. 39 Quid ais P non signi 
 hoc sat est ? sc. of pretended hatred. totidem mea. The expression 
 is perhaps drawn from the language of games, possibly the game of scripta 
 as described by Ouid A. A. iii. 363 sqq., cf. Rich. s. u. abacus ; ' I have 
 made as many points,' our scores are even, as we might say, it's six of one 
 to half-a-dozen of the other, meaning it is exactly the same with me as 
 with her. This is perhaps the meaning of Ovid's Quid faciam ? turbae 
 pars habet omnis idem F. v. io8 all the Muses have made the same score. 
 Not unlike \s paria habet Fronto p. 24 Naber. depreoor. Gellius N. 
 A. vi. 16. 2 in a discussion on this verse interprets the word as meaning 
 detestor uel execror uel depello uel abominor ; and he quotes instances from 
 Ennius and Cicero where it seeias =propulsare or abigere. If this is right, 
 deprecor here=' I wish off, away,' ' I pray to be rid of.' It can hardly 
 mean, as it has been explained, ' I curse her ; ' but the fluctuations of 
 Gellius suggest as a possibility, 'I cry out upon her,' nearly =' I rail or 
 revile at her.' 
 
 4. Assidue, Sen. Ep. 9. 22 Nee quiduno die sentiat sed assidue. 
 
 XCIII. 
 
 An expression of contemptuous indifference to the good opinion of 
 J. Caesar. Schwabe assigns it to 55 b. c. : but there is absolutely nothing 
 to fix the date. It was perhaps suggested by some overture which Caesar 
 had made him : his fame as a poet would make it worth while to win him 
 over, if not to friendship, to silence. It probably preceded XXIX, 
 LVII. 
 
 1. Nil TiiTTiinm studeo, ' I am not over-anxious.' Mart. ix. 81. 3 Non 
 nimium euro. uelle placere, a pleonasm perhaps belonging to common 
 life. Sen. Apocol. 14 Incipit patronus uelle respondere where Bucheler 
 quotes Petron. 9 Coepii mihi uelle pudorem extorquere, 70 coeperat Fortu- 
 nata uelle saltare, 98 Si Gitona tuum amas, incipe uelle seruare. Similarly 
 Plant. Asin. i. 3. 61 Neque conari id facere audebatis prius. Nep. Att. 4 
 Noli me uelle ducere. 
 
 2. Phaedr. iii. 1 5. 10 (of a lamb) Vnde ilia sciuit niger an albus nascerer ? 
 Cic. Phil. ii. 16. 41, Quintil. xi. x. 38, Apul.de Magia 16. The personal 
 appearance of Caesar would of course interest his admirers ; and Catullus 
 seems by his expression to convey that he hardly cared to think of Caesar 
 as a great man. Plin. H. N. xxxv. 10 Maius, ut equidem arbitror, nullum 
 est felicitatis specimen quam semper omnis scire cupere qualisfuerit aliquis. 
 
 Bb 2 
 
372 A COMMENTARY 
 
 XCIV. 
 
 This with CV Menlula conatur Pipleum scandere montem CXIV Fir- 
 manus saltu non /also Mentula diues CXV Menlula habel instar trtginia 
 milia prati, forms a series of attacks on an individual nicknamed Mentula, 
 probably identical with Mamurra, the favorite of Caesar XXIX, LVII, and 
 perhaps the decoctor Formianus of XLI, XLIII. The points dwelt upon 
 in the epigrams are Mentula's profligacy, his unsuccessful attempts in 
 literature, and his wealth. In all these he corresponds closely with Ma- 
 murra, the pet and paramour of the ladies of Rome(XXIX. 7), the diffututa 
 mentula on whom Caesar and Pompeius squander twenty or thirty 
 millions of sesterces, the possessor of all the rich stores of Gaul and 
 Britain ; again the eruditulus whom Caesar admits to his own reading 
 sofa (LVII. 8). This view is scarcely invalidated by the fact that Mentula 
 is not a metrical equivalent of Mamurra, for though this rule is generally 
 observed and probably determined Catullus in calling his mistress Lesbia, 
 it is obvious that Mentula *, as a nickname, and not a pseudonym, might 
 follow the ordinary freedom observed in nicknames, cf. LII. 2 struma 
 Nonius (see Schwabe Quaestt. p. 234). It is perhaps a confirmation of 
 this identification that Mentula in CXIV is called Firmanus ; for in the 
 combination Firmanus Mentula Catullus may well have meant to suggest 
 the Formianus Mamurra (Schwabe p. 231). It is a suspicion of lung- 
 claussen's that the adoption of the name Mentula was subsequent to 
 Caesar's reconciliation with Catullus, as mentioned by Suetonius Jul. 73 ; 
 the poet would have ceased to attack Caesar, but would continue his 
 hostility to the favorite ; hence would adopt a pseudonym. (See lung- 
 claussen p. 22, Schwabe pp. 235-239.) This view is to some extent at 
 variance with the present epigram, the point of which turns upon the- 
 correspondence of Mentula's name with his conduct, and would be a very 
 poor joke if the name was not a real one. Hence Frohlich considers 
 Mentula to be an actual name like Bestia Buca Capita Naso Bibulus 
 Caballus Capella Capra and denies the identification with Mamurra (cf. 
 Westphal p. 195). It seems possible that the word was as a name con- 
 nected in some way with the family of Mamurra, and was known to be, 
 but was kept out of sight, perhaps from some accident of language, which 
 tended in the time of Catullus and Cicero to give a specific and obscene 
 meaning to many words which had long been innocuous. Fam. ix. 22. 
 
 Mentula commits adultery, at least there's a namesake of his which does ; 
 it's a true proverb that says : the pot will find its own way to the pot-herbs. 
 
 Mentula, wanton is he. His calling sure is a wanton's. 
 Herbs to the pot, 'tis said wisely, the name to the man ''■. 
 
 1. Mentula in the first case seems to be used as a name ; in the 
 second, in its proper sense of membrum uirile. We might paraphrase 
 the line ' Mentula is an adulterer : poor man he can't help his name.' 
 
 2. hoc est, quod dicitur illud Fraternum uere dulce sodalicium C. 3, 4. 
 ipsa olera oUa legit, ' the pot gathers the pot-herbs for itself,' i. e. if 
 
 ' Similarly Plato was called Satho by Antisthenes Diog. Laert. iii. 35, vi. 16, 
 Athen. v. 320, xi. 507 as pointed out to me by my lamented friend Mr. R. Dear. 
 ' From my Metrical Translation, London, Murray 1871. ' 
 
ON CATULLUS. XCV. 373 
 
 there's a pot it will find its own way to the herbs, and a Mentula will play 
 a nunlulds part. That this is the meaning is shown by the assonances 
 Mentula — mentula, olera — olla. Scaliger compares the Homeric airos yap 
 e(j}e\KeTai avSpa aiSr/pos Od. xvi. 294. Another view, adopted by many 
 of the older commentators, explains ipsa olera olla legit =' it's the pot 
 itself that steals the herbs,' i. e. an excuse put forward by the real thief. 
 On this view v. i may be explained either (i) as an excuse offered by 
 Caesar. Caesar says ' It is Mentula (i. e. Mamurra) that is the adulterer, 
 not I.' Reply, ' True ; at any rate there's a namesake of Mentula's that 
 commits adultery. It's the old proverb, the pot is the thief of the pot- 
 herbs; but the pot did not put them there, and Mamurra is not re- 
 sponsible for Caesar's adulteries.' Or (2) 'You say it is the flesh that 
 commits adultery: by all means; you might as well say " it's the pot that's 
 the thief." ' (Vulp.) Varro connects olla with olus L. L. v. 108. 
 
 XCV. 
 
 On the Zmyrna of G. Helvius Cinna, Catullus' companion in the cohors 
 of Memmius in Bithynia (X. 29). Of this poem, which was on the in- 
 cestuous connexion of Myrrha with her father Cinyras, and which occupied 
 its author for nine years, a few fragments only remain. I quote them from 
 L. Miiller's edition — 
 
 At scelus incesto Zmurnae crescebat in aluo Prise. 718. P. 
 
 Te matutinus flentem conspexit Eous 
 
 Et flentem paullo uidit post Hesperus idem Servius on G. i. 288. 
 
 Besides these, Charisius 73 and 1 18 mentions the genitive tabis as an un- 
 exampled form used by Cinna in the Zmyrna. The poem was, as might 
 be expected from its elaboration, obscure. Philargyrius on Eel. ix. 35 Cinna 
 Zmyrnam scripsit quam nonum post annum ut Catullus ait edidit ; id quod et 
 Quintilianus ait. (x. 4. 4) Vnde etiam Horatium in Arte Poetica dicunt adeuvi 
 allusisse, cum ait ' nonumque prematur in annum.' Fuit autem liber obscurus 
 adeo ut et nonnulli eius aetatis grammatici in eum scripserint magnamque ex 
 eius enarratione sint gloriam consecuti. Suetonius Gramm. 8 says Crassitius 
 wrote a commentary on it, Vni Crassitio se credere Zmyrna probauit 
 . . . Intima cui soli nota sua exstiterint. Martial (x. 2X. /^) ludice te melior 
 Cinna Maronefuit selects Cinna as a type of those obscure poets who 
 write for grammarians. Yet it was this poem, not the hexameter Pro- 
 pempticon Pollionis (Charis. 124 K.) or iht poemata in various metres (Gell. 
 ix. 12, xix. 13) which gave him his reputation. Catullus does not seem 
 to have exaggerated his friend's merits, since Virgil Eel. ix. 35 Nam 
 neque adhuc Vario uideor, nee dicer e Cinna Digna, sed argutos interstrepere 
 anser olores classes him with Varius and contrasts him with Anser. See 
 Servius there, and cf. Valgius' lines ap. Schol. Veron. on Eel. vi. 22 
 Herrmann Codrus[que) ille canit, quali tu uoce solebas Atque solet numeros 
 dicere, Cinna, tuos ; Dulcior ut nunquam Pylio profluxerit ore Nestoris aut 
 (doc)to pectore Demodoci. See Teuffel, Hist, of Roman Literature i. p. 
 370 English Translation, Schwabe Quaestt. pp. 266 sqq. 
 
 The Hortensius of 3 is probably the Q. Hortensius Hortalus to whom 
 Catullus sent his translation of the Coma Beronices. The description of 
 Catullus agrees well with the words of Gellius xix. 9 Nam Laeuius inpli- 
 cata et Hortensius inuenusta et Cinna inlepida et Memmius dura ac deinceps 
 
374 A COMMENTARY 
 
 omnes rudia fecerunt alque absona, as well as with Cicero's statement (Orat. 
 xxxviii. 132) that Hortensius was a better speaker than writer, and Quin- 
 tilian's assertion that his writings were below his reputation (xi. 3. 8 ; see 
 Schwabe Quaestt. p. 270). Catullus may have quarrelled with him after 
 sending him LXV and the accompanying translation : or uke uersa after 
 oflfending Hortensius by the slighting allusion to his poetry in the present 
 epigram, may have sent LXV as a peace-offering. 
 
 The change from Hortensius to Volusius (7, 8) is perhaps intentional. 
 To pass from one poetaster to another, as if both were on a level, 
 and both equally contemptible, would indirectly add to the acerbity of 
 the attack on the former, epecially if the lines on Volusius Annaks Volusi 
 cacata carta were already published and known. 
 
 1. i. e. post nonam messem quam coepta est-=nona messe post guam coepta 
 est. messem = ' summer,' Heroid. vi. 56, 7 Hie tibi bisque aetas bisque 
 cucurrit hiemps, Tertia messis erat. nonam, Quintil. x. 4. 4 Cinnae 
 Zmyrnam nouem annis accepimtis scriptam et panegyricum Isocratis qui 
 parcissime decern annis dicunt elaboratum. 
 
 3. cum interea, ' and all the time '=' and yet,' see on LXIV. 305. 
 MilUa quingenta, of any large number like milibus trecentis IX. 2. uno, 
 perhaps mense : Haupt suggests die ; Plutarch says Cicero could write 
 500 verses in one night, Cic. 40. 
 
 5. cauas, ' deep,' descending far into their bed, Verg. G. i. 326, iv. 427. 
 SatracM, a river of Cyprus, mentioned by Lycophron Al. 448 where Tzet- 
 
 zes notes ^drpa^os 7r6\is Kal iroTaftos Kvirpov' Ttves 8e dta rod e ypd(j}ov(rt ^erpa^ov, 
 Nonnus Dionys. xiii. 458 ^Hi;(i BaXairaiyovov lla<f)iris mii(j)r]iov vScop StVpa^^or 
 tfieptiecs, 66f, ttoKKclkis otdfia Xa^ovaa Kvirpi; dve)(Kaiv&(T€ \e\ovp€vov vUa Mvpprjs 
 
 which shows its connexion with Myrrha or Zmyrna the subject of Cinna's 
 
 poem. Etym. M. p. 117; 37 '^^o^' Trorapos t^s Kinpov' 'as yap 6 "aSojws 
 oiVopd^eTo, Kai djr' avrov 01 KvTrpov ^atrikeiKravres' ZatiKos Se 6 KcBpacrevs Kai avTOV 
 drro Ttjs eavroii piiTpos KKr]6!jvai.' rip) yap Qdavros Bvyarepa ov Spipvav d\\a 'Aaav 
 ('Atoav Meineke) koKovctl. ^ikeas Be TrpatTOv jSatriAea 'ASov 'HoiJff ovra Kai Ke0a- 
 Xou, d^' oZ Kai opos Tt aivopdaOrj \wloVj i^ ov /3 iruTaniov ^epopsvaiv 2epa;^ou Kai 
 
 XiKiims, rav eva tovtoiv 6 iiapBcvios 'ASov x/xXi/Kf , (Meineke Anal. Alexand. 
 p. 279, cf. Haupt Obss. Crit. pp. I, 2, Weichert Poet. Lat. Rel. p. 179). 
 Haupt is doubtless right in explaining Catullus' introduction of the 
 Satrachus here in reference to the subject of the Zmyrna. ' Cinna's poem 
 shall be read in the remote region whose legends it narrates.' penitus, 
 far into the interior of the country. m.ittetur, to be read in the 
 
 provinces Mart. xii. 3. i Ad populos mitti qui nuper ab urbe solebas Ibis, io, 
 Romam nunc peregrine liber. 
 
 6. cana, the centuries will grow gray in reading the poem : so long will 
 it be remembered. Mart. viii. 80. 2 uses saecula fa«a=past ages, 
 euoluent, Trist. ii. 238 nostras euoluisse iocos. 
 
 1. Volusi, i. e. Tanusi. See on XXXVI. Paduam, one of the 
 
 mouths of the Po. Polyb. ii. 1 6 Sp^tfeToi 8' cis hvo pipi) Kara rois rrpotrayopev- 
 opJi/ovs TpiyafioKovs' tovtoiv 8e to pev CTcpnv aropa Trpocovopd^erai IlaScfa, to 8' 
 
 eTcpnv'OKava. Vibius Sequester p. 13 Bursian Padua (Paduae, Bursian's 
 cod. Vaticanus andBrit. Mus. Add. 16, 986, Paiusa Bursian) GalliaeaPado 
 dicta. Serv. on Aen. xi. 457. ad ipsam, they will not travel beyond 
 the birth-place of their author. 
 
ON CATULLUS. XCVL 375 
 
 8. scombris. They will be used as waste-paper to wrap fish in. Mart. 
 111. 50. 9 Quod si non scombris scelerata poemata donas, Cenabis solus tarn, 
 Ligurine, domi. iii. 2. 3, 4 JVe nigram ciio raptus in culinam Cor dy las 
 madida tegas papyro. laxas because there was plenty of paper and 
 no stint : hence also perhaps saepe : other and viler uses are alluded to 
 XXXVL I. tunicas, of paper used for wrappers, Mart. iv. 86. 8 (Alex. 
 Guarinus). 
 
 9. parua, Servius on Eel. ix. 35 calls the Zmyrna a libellus. sodalis 
 though a mere conjecture is supported by X. 29. 
 
 10. populus, as Horace speaks oi uetilosae plebis suffragia'E.p\s,t. i. 19. 
 37. tumido, ' wordy,' mainly in reference to the length of Volusius ' 
 Annals, hence in opposition to parua monumenta (Schwabe p. 282), but 
 also with the notion of many words and little meaning. This agrees with 
 ancient statements about Antimachus, e. g. Brut. li. 191 Dixisse Aniima- 
 chumferunl qui cum conuocatis auditoribus legeret eis magnum illud uolumen 
 suum (his Thebais) et cum legeniem omnes praeter Plaionem reliquissent : 
 Legam, inquit, nihilo minus ; Plalo enim mihi instar est centum millium. 
 Schol. on A. P. 146 Antimachus poeta reditum Diomedis narrans coepit ab 
 exordio pritnae originis, id est, coepit ab inter itu Meleagri. This lengthiness 
 was also found in Antimachus' Lyde, an elegiac poem on his mistress, 
 cf. Callim. fr. 441 Blomf AuSi; km Tra](v (pingue) ypafifta Kcu ov Topov. It 
 seems strange that Catullus should think of comparing Volusius with a 
 poet who, according to Quintilian x. i. 53, ranked second among epic 
 poets ; perhaps we may trace in this his dislike of unfinished workmanship 
 (adfectibus et iucunditate et dispositione et omnino arte deficitur Quintil. u. s.) 
 and the predominating influence of Alexandrian symmetry and con- 
 ciseness. 
 
 XCVI. 
 
 To Calvus on the loss of Quintilia his wife or mistress. Schwabe 
 Quaestt. p. 264 thinks the former, as Quintilia is an actual Roman name ', 
 and the grammarian Diomedes 376 Keil sp)eaks of Calvus' wife Caluus 
 alibi ad uxor em ^ prima epistula uidetur in uia delita.' Calvus wrote 
 elegies on Quintilia Prop. ii. 33. 89, 90 — 
 
 Haec etiam docti confessa est pagina Calui 
 Cum caneret miserae funera Quiniiliae, 
 to which two of the extant fragments have been referred fr. 16, 17 L. 
 MuUer. 
 
 1. quicguam after si as in CIL i. mutis sepulcris, nearly=the 
 silent dead CL 4 Et mutam nequicquam alloquerer cinerem. So Antipater 
 
 of Sidon in Anth. P. vii. 23. 5 'Otppa «' m a-noSi^ re Koi oa-ria Tip^iv aprjTat, 
 
 Et fiij Tis (jiBifievois xpifwrreroi ei^po(riva. gratum acceptumque. The 
 two words are combined similarly Tusc. Disp. v. 14. 45 (Peiper) and^ 
 Stich. i. I. 49. Cf XC. 5. 
 
 3. Quo desiderio, in apposition with dolore, 'from the regret with 
 which we renew the image of past loves.' 
 
 4. missas, 'lost,' as in Pseud, ii. 3. 19 Certa mittimus dum incerta 
 
 • This is not conclusive : Quintilia occurs as the name of a Mima (Teuffel, Hist, of 
 Roman Literature, i. p. 11, English Transl.) 
 
376 A COMMENTARY 
 
 peiimm. For the sentiment cf. Sen. Ep. 99. 19 Hoe lacrimae per eli- 
 sionem cadunt nolentibus nobis ; aliae sunt quibus exiium damns cum memoria 
 eorum quos amisimus retraciatur el inesi quiddam duke tristitiae, cum occur- 
 runt sermones eorum iucundi, conuersaiio hilaris, officiosa pietas. 
 
 5. Certe, perhaps in its strict sense ' at least ; ' implying that the joy 
 might be much greater than the grief; in any case it preponderated. 
 tanto doloreist as magno dolori esse B. G. v. 29. 
 
 6. quantum gaudet=^Ka«/«OT gaudium habet, as in Luc. i. 259 Sed 
 quantum, uolucres cum bruma coercet, Rura silent, mediusque iacet sine mur- 
 mure pontus, Tanta quies. Pers. i. 60 Linguae qttantum sitiat canis Apula, 
 tantum. ' At least be sure that Quintilia's grief for her early death is not 
 so great as the joy she feels in your love.' The same balance in Prop, 
 ii. 18. 15, 16 Cui maiora senis Tithoni gaudia uiui Quam grauis amisso 
 Memnone luctus erat. 
 
 XCVII. 
 
 Against Aemilius, of whom nothing is known. The poem is un- 
 usually coarse even from Catullus : only XXIII XXXIII XXXVII and 
 the fragmentary LIV can compare with it. There is a similar epigram 
 Anth. P. xi. 241 of which the last part is lost Ti o-ro/ja x^ irpaicros tuvtov, 
 
 Qe6da}pe, crov ^^et, "Sla-re dtayvavai toXs ipvancois Ka\l>v rjv. 'H ypa^ai, ae eSce 
 woiov ord/ia, ttolov 6 7rpa)KT6s, cf. ib. 415 Tt's trov, MevTopldrj, 7rpo(j)avciis ovras 
 fieredrjKev TfjV Trvyrjif, ovTrep to OT(5/i' €K€iTO irpo tov J Bdels yap, kovk dvanvcis, 
 (j>6eyyri 8' e<c tS>v Korayuav, Qavpa p.' 'd\fi rh Kara ircos aov S.VW ■yeyoMV. Riese 
 
 Anth. Lat. 205. 10. 
 
 1. ita me dii ament, as in Plautus, e. g. Pseud, iv. i. 33. 
 
 2. culum. See on LXVI. 48. Alex. Guarinus well observes that the 
 non-elision of -urn here, follows the hiatus of dii ament in i : hence it 
 seems doubtful whether Viruinne os an culum, the generally accepted 
 emendation, is necessary. 
 
 3. I. e. OS nihilo mundior res est culo, cuius nihilo inmundior res est ore. 
 nUo, as in Hor. S. i. 5. 67, Priap. 52. 10. 
 
 4. Verum etiam, ' or rather indeed.' mundior et melior, double 
 alliteration as in Veil. P. ii. 3 Equestris ordinis pars melior et maior. So 
 leniler etleuiter LXXXIV. 8. 
 
 5. sesquipedalis, like Sappho's ndSes im-opiyvmi., fragm. 98 Bergk, 
 Pers. i. 57. 
 
 6. 'And gums that might belong to a worn-out carriage-frame,' i.e. 
 receding from the teeth and forming fissures or gaps like those in the 
 body or frame of a gig, when the leather or other soft material with which 
 it is covered gives way and falls into a number of uneven notches or slits 
 all round. See Rich s. u. Nearly so Alex. Guarinus ' exesas carie, sicut 
 est capsa uetus tineis corrosa : ' but his MS of Festus, i. e. probably of 
 Paulus Diaconus ' codex manu scriptus antiquus sane et integer satis, in 
 quo multa reperiuntur uocabula quae in aliis desunt codicibus ' did not 
 contain the word : and he speaks therefore with hesitation. Festus 
 explains ploxenum as capsum in cisio capsaue ; i. e. the body of a carriage, 
 Vitruv. X. 9. 2. Quintilian (i. 5. 8) says Catullus found the word in the 
 region of the Po. 
 
ON CATULLUS. XCVIIL 377 
 
 7. defessus, according to Scaliger, refers to the mule resting to make 
 water, ' fessi muli strigare solent, hoc est interquiescere, ut meiant, idque 
 aut in aestu, aut in difRcili uia, puta in salebris, aut uado, aut caeno.' 
 But this is very harsh : hence it seems better to explain defessus in the 
 original sense oi/aiisci=findi, nearly i. q. defissus, the reading of most 
 editions. in aestu, ' quia turn laxior esse solet,' Alex. Guarinus. The 
 MSS. give in aestum which Scaliger defends as an archaism. Cato R. R. 
 39 seems to have written in uillam quid fieri possit, 52 in arborem relin- 
 quiio, Hyginus Fab. 82 in aquam stare ; cf. the dissertation in Hand's 
 Tursellinus, iii. 344 sqq. but here such an archaism seems very doubtful 
 as in aestu would naturally follow the construction of in sole Cato R. R. 
 88, Celsus i. 2, iv. 3 ; and even if in aestum be retained it might more 
 easily be explained, ' at the approach of.' 
 
 9. Cf. XXXVII. 5. faeit, ' gives out.' 
 
 10. Et,' and yet.' Y\a,tAx.\.%.\x Caput Incolume absluleris etmercedem 
 postules. Sen. de vita beata 21 Quare opes contemnendas dicit et hahet ? 
 pistrino traditur atque asiuo, ' is made over to the grinding-mill and the 
 donkey,' i. e. is sentenced to drive the donkey employed to turn the stone 
 mill(/«o/a) in the pistrinum. A horse is figured in this employment in Rich 
 s. u. mola asinaria. Cf. Cato R. R. i i,Ouid. F. vi. 318, A. A. iii. 290. This 
 is more natural than to explain asino after Muretus and Voss of the upper 
 stone of the mill, like 81/os (Hesych. ovo^ 'Kkyerai, 6 di/uT-fpoj XWoj toC /xuXov, 
 Xenoph. Anab. i. 5. 5 ovos dXen^s) ; or to suppose that tradi asino can 
 mean to be made over to donkey's service, whether literally or, as Seal, sug- 
 gests, understanding asino as a jocular name for the man thus employed. 
 Plautus has in pistrinum tradier Most. i. i. 16; and of this Catullus' 
 words are a mere expansion. Apuleius ix. 1 2 describes the men em- 
 ployed in the pistrinum as sic tunicati ut essent per pannulos manifesti ; 
 
 frontes litterati et capillum semirasi et pedes anulati, turn lurore deformes, 
 etfumosis tenebris uaporosae caliginis palpebras adesi ; and in 13 speaks of 
 the miserable state of the mules and asses employed. 
 
 11. attingit, ' is ready to touch,' ' consents to handle.' 
 
 12. Aegroti, and therefore cacaturi. Voss' explanation 'pallidi et 
 luridi,' is possible, yet hardly as a mere epithet naturally belonging to 
 executioners : but as heightening the revolting idea connected with such 
 men by a new circumstance of disgust, as we might speak of a sick hang- 
 man, oarniflcis, contemptuously, as the rudest and most brutal of 
 men. Carnifici mea flenda potest fortuna uideri Trist. ii. 37. Permixtum 
 nautis ei/uribus acfugitiuis Inter carnifices et/abros sandapilarum luuen. 
 viii. 174. 
 
 XCVIIL 
 
 It is doubtful to whom this epigram alludes. The MSS have Victt, 
 one or two inferior ones Vitti: and this may represent the name Vettius, or 
 Vectius. The history of Catullus' time contains one notorious person of this 
 name, L. Vettius the informer, Vettius ille, ilk noster index as he is called 
 by Cicero Att. ii. 24. 2. His first appearance is in B.C. 62 when he accused 
 J. Caesar of being an accomplice of Catiline, Suet. Jul. 17 ; later, in 59 
 B.C., he gave information to the younger Curio of a plot to assassinate 
 tompey, was brought before the senate and there produced a list of 
 
378 A COMMENTARY 
 
 supposed conspirators, including Brutus and C. Bibulus the consul. This 
 list he afterwards expanded, omitting Brutus and adding others not_men- 
 tioned before, Lucullus, C. Fannius, L. Domitius, Cicero's son-in-law C. 
 Piso, and M. luventius Laterensis. Cicero was not included ; but was 
 indicated as an eloquent consular who had said the occasion called for 
 a Servilius Ahala or a Brutus. (Att. ii. 24, In Vatin. x, xi.) Vettius 
 was not believed and was thrown into prison, where he was shortly 
 afterwards found dead. 
 
 Cicero (In Vat. x sqq.) asserts that Vettius was brought to the Rostra 
 to make a public statement on this alleged conspiracy by Vatinius, and that 
 as he was retiring he was recalled by Vatinius and asked whether he had 
 any more names to add. An informer who did not scruple to charge 
 some of the noblest and best men in Rome with so monstrous a design 
 would naturally be hated, and this hatred would be increased by his 
 connexion with Vatinius, the object of universal disgust. There is there- 
 fore nothing improbable in the view put forward doubtfully by Schwabe 
 but accepted by Westphal, that the epigram of Catullus is directed against 
 this L. Vettius. If the young luventius of the poems belongejl to the 
 family of luventius Laterensis, Catullus would have aj)ersonal motive in 
 addition to public and general grounds of dislike: but public feeling 
 alone would be enough to prompt the -epigram. The persistency with 
 which Cicero attaches the wxsids index indicium to Vettius was doubtless 
 meant to convey .a -siur ; while the words of Catullus Isia cum lingua etc., 
 find a practical commentary in Cicero's language ihi tu indicem Vettium 
 linguam ei uocem suam scekri et menli tuae praebere uoluisii x. 24, just as 
 Si nos omnino uis omnes perdere, Veiii is well illustrated by Cicero's ciui- 
 tatis lumina Tiotassetxx. 26. 
 
 1. putide, 'disgusting,' XLII. 11. 
 
 2. fatuls, see on LXXXIII. 2. Faiui or idiots were sometimes kept 
 in Roman houses Sen. Ep. 50. i. 
 
 3. Ista cum lingua, ' as owner of that vile tongue,' Pers. iii. 1. 68 
 Cum hcu doiepoteris udmendiconubere. Phorm. iii. i. i Multitnodis cum istoc 
 animo es uiiuperandus. si ubus ueuiat tibi, ' should you ever have 
 the opportunity,' Cato R. R. 157 Ethoc, si quando usus uenerii, qui debilis 
 erii haec res sanumfacere polesl. Mil. Glor. i. i. 3 Vbiusus ueniai. 
 
 4. Culos. Your tongue is so foul that it might well be employed as a 
 peniculus for the filthiest purposes : either as a sponge to clean the pos- 
 teriors (Paul. Diac. p. 208 M., Mart. xii. 84. 7) or a brush for removing 
 the dirt from a rustic's shoe (Festus p. 230 M., Mart. ii. 3. 40). car- 
 patinas, or as it is sometimes spelt carbalinas is explained by Hesych. 
 
 /iovdw f\fwv Km fVTf\es (nvobrjiia dypoiKiKov, where Rich SUppoSeS liovdTTfX/iOV 
 
 , to mean having the sole and upper-leather all in one. 
 
 5. omnino omnes, Varro Bimarc. fr. ii. Riese Tpoirav rpinms qui non 
 modo ignorasse me Clamat, sed omnino omnis heroas negat Nescisse. 
 
 6. Hiscas, ' just speak,' of speaking in the lowest whisper, Munro on 
 Lucr. iv. 66 who there quotes Mayor on Phil. ii. 43. in Respondebisne ad 
 haec aut omnino hiscere audebis? omnino, ' by all means;' the two senses 
 may be kept up by translating ' if you wish quite to kill all of us, just speak ; 
 you'll quite succeed in doing what you wish.' The word is perhaps taken 
 from Vettius' speeches. 
 
ON CATULLUS. XCIX. 379 
 
 XCIX. 
 
 To luventius. The tone of remonstrance is Theognidean : see 1283 
 sqq. From dum ludis in i I am inclined to think that this is one of the 
 earliest of the series, perhaps the first ; it belongs to the same period as 
 XLVIII and is prior to XV XVI XXI XXIII, as well as to LXXXI : 
 and so Bruner. 
 
 The poem is interesting from two points of view, (i) from the comic 
 exaggeration of the offence : cf. however Xen. Symp. iv. 25 AoKfl oItos 
 
 Koi 7re(pi\rjK€vat tqv KK^Lviav' o{> epcuTos ovdev eVrt Suvdrcpop VTrfKKavfia' Koiyap 
 
 aiiKrjOTov Koi eXwiSas Tinas yXvKftas napixfi. (2) From the w^f/iVa/ character 
 of the language throughout. See my Excursus in vol. i. 
 
 2. dulci dulcius, Asin. iii. 3. 24 melle dulci dulcior. ambrosia, 
 Anth. P. xii. 68. 10. 
 
 3. idnon impiine tuli, LXXVII. 9. 
 
 4. Sufflxum in cruce, impaled on an upright pole with a sharp point 
 at the top. In Pison. xviii. 42 Si ie et Gabinium cruci suffixos uiderem. 
 Sen. Epist. i o i . 12 Suffigas licet et acutam sessuro crucem subdas. Maecenas 
 ap. Senec. Epist. 10 1. 11 Hanc mihi uel acuta Si sedeam cruce sustine. 
 
 5. purgo, 'clear myself,' i. e. excuse: so often, Amphit. iii. 2. 28 Vti 
 me purgarem tiii, said by Jupiter in fear of Alcmena's anger. Eun. iii. i. 
 44 Purgon ego me de istac Thmdi i' Cic deJPet. Consulatus ix. 35 Si qui 
 tibi se purgare uolet, quod suspectum se esse arbitretur. x. 40 Quos laesisli, ris 
 te plane purgato. 
 
 6. tantilluiu, 'one grain,' Apul. M. vi. 21 Ne tantillum quidem inde 
 delibo. uestrae, not=/«a^, but 'of you and others like you,' 'your 
 boyish cruelty.' So Prop. iii. 15. 44 Nescit uestra ruens ira referre pedem 
 the anger of you women : cf. ii. 9. 3 1 . 29. 32 Me similem uestris moribus 
 esse putas ? Ouid. Her. i. 75. Mart. vi. 43. 6 Vestrae, Castrice, diuitiae,ol 
 you millionaires. Vester is never=/«aj in Catullus, See on LXXI. 3. 
 
 Saeuitiae. Theogn. 1300 dXXri ti /ioi rep/ia yeWro Kixf<-v 2^f opyr]s. 
 
 8. abstersti, Asin. iv. i. 52 Tu labellum abstergeas Potius quam quis- 
 quam sauium facial palam. articulis, ' fingers,' De Nat. Deor. i. 28. 79 
 Naeuos in articulo pueri delectat Alcaeum, so Am. ii. 15. 4. Petronius 
 32 has articulo digiti. Catullus perhaps preferred the word as giving 
 greater distinctness to the idea. 
 
 9. contractum, of taking or catching a disease, infection, etc. Tussim 
 contractam Cels. iv. 10. 
 
 10. lupae, the Roman name for a prostitute of the lowest kind. Lucilius 
 ap. Non. 498 Si nihil adfaciem et si olim lupa prostibulumque Numi opus 
 atque assis. The word is mentioned in the Pornographia of Suetonius 
 in Miller's Melanges Grecques as Ximra. 
 
 11. infestum, ' to the attack of,' passive as CXVI. 4, Cell. ix. 12 Jn- 
 fesius ancipiti significatione est. Nam et is in/estus appellatur, qui malum 
 
 infert cuipiam, et contra cui aliunde impendet malum, is quoque in/estus 
 dicitur. misero amori, ' my woeful love,' which is here represented 
 as punishing Catullus by the agony which it makes him endure from 
 the displeasure of the loved object: so misero amori i^. 
 
 12. Won eessasti, untiringly : you gave yourself up to the task. 
 
380 A COMMENTARY 
 
 13. ex ambrosia, ' from being ambrosia, ' Stich. i. 2. 8i Quin uos capitis 
 condicionem expessuma primariam. 
 
 14. tristi, ' bitter,' as in Anth. P. v. 29. 2 HiKporepov yiyvcrai iWf^opov. 
 
 15. 16. Cf. the last two lines of Ouid. Pont. i. 9 Qui quoniam exstinciis 
 quae debet praestat amicis Et nos exstinciis adnumerare potest. Cf. ii. 2. 123. 
 
 c. 
 
 Two youths of Verona, Caelius and Quintius, had respectively attached 
 themselves to a brother and sister of the same family, Aufilenus and 
 Aufilena. Catullus here expresses his satisfaction in this very fraternal 
 love-making, but professes his sympathy for the former in preference, as 
 for one whose friendship he had tested at the height of his own passion for 
 Lesbia. At least the words uesana flamma can hardly refer to anything 
 but this, cf. VII. 10, XCI. 2. The reference to sodalicia in 4 suggests 
 that the poem was written in 799 | 55 when Crassus seems to have 
 carried a law against the illegal political societies known by that name. 
 
 The Aufilenus and Aufilena of this poem recall the Agathocles and 
 Agathoclea who were each in turn beloved by Ptolemy Philopator Schol. 
 on Thesmophor. 1059. 
 
 1. Caelius, perhaps the Caeli, Lesbia nostra, Lesbia ilia of LVIII. 
 (Westphal). Quintius, perhaps the person to whom LXXXII is 
 addressed, and a relation of the Quintia of LXXXVI. 
 
 2. Flos iuueuum, Theogn. 1320 Sov 8' f'Sor vaa-i vioiai ficXft. 
 
 3. Hoc est, quod dieitur illud. The expression_/r(z/i?r»aw sodali- 
 cium was proverbial. ' This is that brotherhood of true love of which the 
 proverb speaks,' This is generally explained as referring simply to 
 Aufilenus and Aufilena, Catullus meaning that Caelius and Quintius are 
 
 fratres sodales because they attach themselves to a brother and sister. But 
 the words would certainly have more point if the two lovers were not 
 only attached to a brother and sister, 'bxA fratres themselves, cf. Horace's 
 par nobilefratrum S. ii. 3. 243. This would be possible if either Quintius 
 or Caelius had been adopted and taken the name of his new family, or if 
 they were merely cousins, as suggested by Vulp. 
 
 4. dulee, A. A. ii. 480. 
 
 5. Sudden question and answer as in 1. 1-3 Quidonoi' . . . Corneli, 
 tihi. 
 
 6. The construction seems to be tua amicitia exigitur nobis perfecta 
 unica either (a) ' your friendship is tested by me complete and singular,' 
 or {b) ' your friendship is tested by me as consummated to a rare perfec- 
 tion.' In this case perfecta is strictly participial and unica depends on 
 it as nitens seems to depend on perfecta Aen. vi. 895. exigitur. Stat, 
 shows from Plin. xxxvi. 188 that exigi is used of testing measurements of 
 length thickness, etc., with a foot-rule or plumb-line. That exigitur 
 might end the first half of a pentameter before a word beginning with a 
 vowel seems to be indicated by Martial xiv. 77 Si tibi talis erit qualem 
 dilecta Catullo Lesbia plorabat, hie habitare potest, which can scarcely be 
 anything but a CatuUian archaism. Yet the reading is doubtful and 
 Quintilian ii. 4. 4 \ist& perfecta exigi potest (pratio) in the sense of ' can be 
 exacted : ' the natural meaning, but impossible here. 
 
ON CATULLUS. CI. 381 
 
 7. Cum, i. e. exigitur tumfuisse perfeda cumflamma iorrerei. Caelius 
 may have sent Catullus a poem of consolation, like that which the poet begs 
 of Cornificius, XXXVIII (Westphal): or, as is more probable, may have 
 spoken his sympathy and tried to amuse him. Conr. de AUio, compar- 
 ing LXXXII, suggests that Caelius had been tested in regard to Lesbia 
 and had not tampered with her, whereas Quintius had tried to withdraw 
 her from Catullus. 
 
 8. potens, ' successful,' as in Prop. ii. 26. 22 Tola dicar in urbe 
 potens. ' In amore eueniat tibi ut potiaris.' Turnebus Advers. xvij. 11. 
 
 CI. 
 
 A POEM written on the arrival of Catullus at Rhoeteum, where his 
 brother was buried (LXV. 7). It would naturally be his first thought 
 when starting on his Bithynian journey to visit this spot with as little 
 delay as possible : and I cannot agree with Schwabe in supposing that it 
 was on his return from Bithynia that Catullus visited the tomb and wrote 
 these verses. Certainly this is not the first impression left by 1-4, in 
 which Catullus says he had travelled over many peoples and seas and had 
 just reached the grave, in order thai he might pay the last sad duties to 
 the dead. Nor can it be inferred from 10 in perpetttum, /rater, aue 
 atque uale that Catullus was then leaving Asia finally. The poem, as 
 Gruppe suggests, would naturally be inscribed upon the tomb, or at least 
 upon a stone at the place where the ashes were deposited ; and would 
 of course express the final leave-taking. But even if they were not so 
 engraved, there is no difficulty in supposing that Catullus at the time 
 when he wrote them did not contemplate the chance of a return to Rhoe- 
 teum. Or again, we might regard the words in perpetuum aue atque uale 
 as the solemn expression in poetry of the last words uttered at the 
 funeral ceremony, cf Aen. xi. 97 Salue aeternum mihi, maxime Palla, 
 Aeternumque uale. 
 
 Parthenius can hardly be right in explaining the poem of a cenotaph ^ 
 (Aen. ix. 215 Absenti ferat inferias decoretque sepulcro) erected by Catullus 
 to his brother's memory on returning to Italy, though the words tete abstulit 
 ipsum would agree well with that view, and parentum would have more 
 meaning if the rite was performed on some part of the poet's patrimonial 
 estate. But this is certainly not the obvious meaning of the first four 
 lines : especially of Aduenio ut te donarem. 
 
 1. uectUB more strictly belongs to multa per aequora, like uentosa per 
 aequora uectis G. i. ao6, and in fact Catullus had performed most of the 
 journey by sea. 
 
 2. Aduenio, ' I am come,' Stich ii. 4. 8 Salue, hicine hodie cenas, saluos 
 quom aduenis ? Poeta ap. Tusc. Disp. i. 6. 37 Adsum atque aduenio 
 Acherunte. 
 
 3. munere mortis, ^ death-gift,' i. e. the gift which belongs to death 
 and is therefore the last (Jiostremo). 
 
 ' Cenotaphs were common. Appian says many of the captives taken by the 
 pirates before their suppression by Pompeius found, on returning to their homes, 
 cenotaphs erected to their memory as dead. B. Mithr g6. 
 
382 A COMMENTARY 
 
 4. mutam, see on LXVIII. 90. neq.uicq.uain, as Aeneas addresses 
 the ashes of Anchises Aen. v. 81 Saluete recepii Nequtguam cineres. 
 
 5, 6. That these verses are the protasis to which 7-10 are the apodosis, 
 is probable from the imitation of Cir. 42-46. The connexion of thought is 
 ' Since destiny does not permit me to see you again in person {tete ipsum), 
 receive meanwhile as compensation (tamen) these last rites traditionally 
 offered to the dead.' 
 
 5. quandoquidem, a choriambus as in XL. 7. fortuna, LXIV. 
 218. 
 
 6. frater adempte mihi, repeated from LXVIII. 20, 92. indigne, 
 ' wrongfully,' because the death was premature. CIL. I. 1422 Parentibus 
 praesidiuvi amicis gaudium Pollicita pueri uirius indigne occidit. Quoius 
 fatum acerbum populus indigne iulit. Gael. xxiv. 59 cum hie uir (Q. 
 
 Metellus, husband of Ciodia) inlegerrima aetate, Optimo habitu, maximis 
 uiribus eriperetur indignissime bonis omnibus aique uniuersae ciuitati. 
 
 7. tamen, as some compensation, though a poor one, with a notion 
 of consoling. ^ Capt. ii. 3. 44 In idntis aerumnis iamen. Cluent. vii. 22 
 filium quem tamen unum ex multis fortuna reliquum esse uoluisset. Verg. 
 Eel. X. 31, Aen. iv. 329. The passage of the Ciris illustrates the meaning, 
 44 Haec tamen inter ea quae possumus. . . . Accipe dona. prisco 
 more parentum, ' according to ancestral custom,' Aen. vi. 223. 
 
 8. Tradita, ' handed down ' as the traditional uSage. Tib. ii. i. 2 Ritus 
 ut a prisco traditus extat auo. munere, ' by way of donation,' as in 
 LXV. 1 9. So Lucil. iv. fr. 26 L. MuUer portant ingenies munere pisces. 
 Mart. ix. 59. 2 Et mansura pio munere templa dedit. Hygin. P. A. ii. 35 
 Canem munere accepisse. The abl. is supported by most of the good MSS. 
 against the ordinary reading tristis munera ad inferias, with which how- 
 ever cf. Tib. ii. 4. 44 Nee qui det maestas munus in exsequias. inferias, 
 Serv. on Aen. x. ^ig In/eriae sunt sacra mortuorum ab inferis dictae. The 
 offerings to the dead were wine, milk, blood, honey, flowers. 
 
 9. manantia would seem to imply that the offerings were mainly 
 solid : possibly flowers as in Tib. ii. 6. 3 1 Ilia mihi sancta est, illius dona 
 sepulcro Et madefacta meis sertaferam lacrymis, and so Ovid, after asking 
 his wife to have his ashes put in an urn, adds Tu tamen exstinctoferalia 
 munera fer to Deque tuis lacrymis urnida serta dato'Yr&t. iii. 3. 81. 
 
 10. So Haue Vale CIL. 2. No. 3490, aue et uale ib. 3506, 3512, 3519, 
 haue et uale, ib. 3686, all funeral inscriptions, and so Virgil joins salue 
 and uale when Aeneas utters his farewell to the corpse of Pallas Aen. xi. 
 97. Either word haue or tiale is often found alone in Inscriptt. to the de- 
 ceased. Catullus no doubt conveys in this line what was actually the 
 conclusion of the inferiae ; the solemn words of farewell to the dead. 
 
 CII. 
 
 A SHORT expression of resolute secrecy on some matter unknown. 
 Schwabe conjectures that the Cornelius to whom it is addressed is the G. 
 Cornelius who was impeached by the Cominii and defended by Cicero 
 688 I 66. See on CVIII. 
 
 1. Si quicquam. See on LXXI. i, Holtze Synt. i. p. 400. taoito, 
 ' to one who kept silence.' 
 
ON CATULLUS. CIIL 383 
 
 2. Cuius, epexegesis of tacilo. fides animi, ' inward good-faith.' 
 
 3. Meque=;«^ quoque or et me. So uosque XXXL 13, postque Manil. 
 iv. 39, hodieque, iamque, perhaps also Meqtu Prop. iii. i. 35, posieroque 
 tempore Sallust de R. P. ii. 13, where however posieroque is followed by 
 another clause -beginning with que and may be ' both,' ' and,' as que . . . et 
 conceivably are here. Cf. Poen. Prol. '3 Sileieque et tacete atque animum 
 aduertite (Holtze ii. p. 333). But where a personal pronoun with que is 
 followed by que or et in this sense, the words thus connected are generally 
 other pronouns, not verbal clauses, e.g. Asin. iii. 2. 31 Vt vieque teqtie 
 maxume atque ingenio nostra decuit, Sallust de R. 1'. i. 5 Quoniam tuque et 
 omnes tut agitatis. illorum iure saeratum, ' bound by their oath of 
 initiation.' So Virgil Aen. ii. 157 Fas mihi Graiorum sacrata resoluere 
 iura where Servius explains quia non licet soluere sacramentum militare 
 aduersariis uel kostibus. The oath (tus) is sanctioned by the penalty of a 
 curse on him who violates it {saeratum) ; and conversely the man who 
 takes the oath is bound by its sanction (sacratus). illorum, seemingly, 
 taciiorum quorum fides pemius nota sit. Catullus here disclaims what Sinon 
 avows Aen. ii. 158 Fas omnia ferre sub auras Si qua tegunt. 
 
 4. Arpocratem, Varro L. L. v. 57 Hi dei (Caelum et Terra) idem qui 
 Aegypti Serapis et Isis, etsi Arpocrates digito significat ut taceas earn (1. 
 taciscam). 
 
 cm. 
 
 Against a leno who was at once exacting and rude. Schwabe following 
 Vulp. states the argument of the poem thus : Silo had received 10,000 
 sesterces from Catullus as payment for introducing him to some Irmpa, 
 had then refused to introduce him, and on being pressed had broken into 
 threats and violence. Catullus remonstrates, ' pay me back the money, 
 and then be as violent as you please : but if you want to keep it, it becomes 
 you as a man of your profession to keep a civil tongue.' 
 
 This is possible, but not necessary : nor even, I think, probable. 
 Catullus, who shudders at the 15,200 sesterces for which his villa is 
 mortgaged, and indignantly declines to pay Ammiana the 10,000 ses- 
 terces she claims, is not likely to have paid this very sum to any eralpa in 
 advance. It is enough for our purposes to suppose that after Silo and 
 Catullus had both performed their part of the bargain, the poet gave some 
 ground of complaint to the leno, which caused the latter to fall into a 
 violent rage : then Catullus expostulates with him as unreasonable ; such 
 rudeness might be pardoned if he were called upon to give back the sum 
 paid him for his services ; but if he keeps his money, he is expected to 
 show the ordinary civility of his profession. 
 
 1. sodes, a mild but firm remonstrance ' if you please.' See Ramsay's 
 Mostellaria p. 236. decern sestertia, a sum little short of £90: not 
 very considerable in itself (Juv. xiii. 72 sqq.) but a large amount to pay 
 to a leno, as we may perhaps infer from XLI. 2. 
 
 2. ' After that understand that you may be as angry and violent as you 
 will.' OBto, i. e. Aac lege, ut reddas. iadoraxt\x8,Men.[. 2. 1 Indomita 
 inposque animi. 
 
384 A COMMENTARY 
 
 3. Si te numi delectant. Mart. xi. 70. 7 Sz te delectat numerata 
 pecunia. 
 
 4. atque idem, ' and all the time'=' and yet' XXII. 14, 15. 
 
 CIV. 
 
 Some one had remonstrated with Catullus for his harsh language to 
 Lesbia. Catullus denies the fact, and charges his accuser in turn of shrink- 
 ing from nothing, a certain Tappo, not otherwise known, abetting him in 
 this inhumanity. 
 
 Catullus' denial may be true on this particular occasion; but it is 
 in direct contradiction of his assertion above XCII. i Lesbia mi dicit 
 semper male, 3 sunt totidem mea : deprecor illam Assidue, and he has left 
 undoubted proof of his determination not to spare Lesbia's failings in 
 each division of his poems. See especially XI. 15-20, XXXVII. 14-16, 
 LVIII, LXVIII. 135, 136, LXXVI. 23-26. 
 
 2. Anth. P. V. 122. I M^ av ye, jirj^ eX roi ttoXv ^eprepor e'lStrai S(T<ru)V 
 
 'AiKJxn-epmv. See above LXXXII. 2. 
 
 3. Catullus may have remembered Terence's Nequefaciam neque me 
 satis pie posse arhitror Ad. iii. 4. 13. Plin. Epist. ix. 31. 2 Neuirum possum 
 satis, et si possem, timerem. 
 
 4. Tappone, a name found in inscriptions 7. Titim T.f. Ser. Tappo 
 Henzen 6457, Orelh 3827 C. APPVLEIVS M. F. TAPPO, and in Liu. 
 XXXV. 10, 20, xxxvii. 46, xxxviii. 36. omnia monstra facis, 'you 
 shrink from nothing as too shocking,' i. e. you do such things your- 
 self and accuse others of doing them. Scaliger's translation -naina Teparo- 
 \oycU or TfpaTOTToieU in the sense of ' you make a monstrosity of every- 
 thing,' cf. ^eviCeadai, might be illustrated by a line quoted by Cicero Cael. 
 XV. 36 Quid clamore exorsa uerbis paruam rem magnam facis ? Catullus 
 would then seem to imply that he had said something which Tappo and 
 his friend had exaggerated into a maledictum against Lesbia. 
 
 cv. 
 
 On Mamurra's attempts at poetry. See LVII. 7. 
 
 1. Pipleium, a village sacred to the Muses, in the Thracian Pieria, 
 not far from Dion. Strabo 330 fr. 18 'Ort irTro xm 'oXujutto) iriiXtf AToi'. e^" 
 
 6e KotfjLTjv irKrjolov Illp.7r\etav' evravda rbv Opcj)ea dtarpl'^l/ai (jjaat rbv KiKova . . , 
 ivravOa irKrjaiov Kai to Ael^rjOpa. ib. 410 TfKjialpoiT av ns OpaKas elvai toue t6v 
 'EXiKwva rats Moiirms KaBttpaxravras, 01 Koi tIjv IltepiSa Kai to Aei^Bpov Kal TrjV 
 nipTrKeiav rah airais Beats di/eSei§av. ib. 47 1 Hiepia Kot'OKvpnos Koi nlpwka Ka\ 
 AeifirjBpov, which shows the original form to have been Pimpla. Cf. ApoUon. 
 R. i. 25, Lye. 275, Varro L. L. vii. 20. Miiller Dorians i. p. 501 considers 
 the names Aei^TjBpa ' a well-watered valley,' UlpirKr) ' a full fountain,' 'EXtKwi/ 
 'a winding stream,' purely Greek. scandere, as Enn. Ann. 223 
 
 Vahlen Cum neque Musarum scopidos quisquam superarat Nee dicti stu- 
 diosus erat. 
 
 2. furcUleis, 'two prongedforks,'used for various agricultural purposes, 
 Varro R. R. i. 49. i. Cicero has the same expression Att. xvi. 2. 4 
 Quoniam fur cilia exirudimur I am obliged nolens uolens to retire. Horace 
 
ON CATULLUS. CVII. 385 
 
 Naturam expelles furca Epist. i. lo. 24. So SiKpots aOtiv Ar. Pax* 638, 
 SiKpdvois f^aiBe'iv Luc. Tim. 12. 
 
 CVI. 
 
 On a boy whom the poet had seen in the company of a crier. Such 
 an association can have but one meaning ; he wishes to put himself up 
 for sale. The epigram is well illustrated by a passage from the Bacchides 
 of Plautus iv. 7. 16. C. s/ul/e, sluUe, nescis nunc uenire te : Atque in eo 
 ipso adstas lapide uhi praeco praedicat. N. Responds, quis me uendU ? Slaves 
 thus sold by auction were made to stand upon a stone to elevate them 
 above the crowd and thus give buyers a better view (Ramsay Most. 
 p. 270). 
 
 Possibly the epigram is directed against'Clodius, Cicero's pulcellus puer , 
 who may have used the services of a crier to harangue the people, as 
 Augustus sometimes did Suet. Aug. 84, or to command silence, when 
 necessary. Tac. Ann. xi. 7 Prompta sibi exempla quantis mercedibus P. 
 Clodius aut C. Curio coniionari soliti sint. This would add to the mean- 
 ing of se uendere. 
 
 \. praeconem. Criers were used to announce sales and call the 
 articles put up for sale. A. P. 419 Vt praeco ad merces iurbam qui cogit 
 emendas. Hence uoci praeconis subicere=.\.o sell by auction De Off. ii. 23. 
 83. ipse if genuine seems to mean suis oculis as in Aen. iv. 358 : 
 cf. ipse flagitabam LV. 9. It of course implies that the sight was an unusual 
 and surprising one. But isse is an easy and plausible conjecture, ' has 
 walked in the company of.' 
 
 2. Quid credat. Calvus fr. 6 Lachm. Magnus quern metuunt omnes 
 digito caput uno Scalpit. Quidcredas hunc sibi udle r' uirum. diseupere, 
 'longs,' Trin. iv. 2. 87. Caelius in Cic. Fam. viii. 15. 2. The word is not 
 common. 
 
 CVII. 
 
 To Lesbia, who had returned unexpectedly after an absence. The 
 poem implies a temporary reconciliation ; but it is mere trifling to attempt 
 to fix the period at whicji it was written. 
 
 1. cupido optantique. The unelided is extraordinarily harsh, but 
 cf. LXVL II, LXVIII. 158. 
 
 2. lusperanti after optanli as in De Orat. i. 21. 96 Insperanti, mihi 
 ei Cottae sed ualde optanti uirique nostrum cecidit. Here it is the de- 
 termining word of the clause, ' if a man has seen something he wished 
 ardently fall in his way unexpectedly.' proprie, ' in the strict sense.' 
 Sest. xli. 89 Descendit ad accusandum. Quis unquam tarn proprie rei 
 publicae causa ? Phil. ii. 31. 77 O hominem nequam ! quidenim aliuddicam ? 
 magis proprie nihil possum dicere. 
 
 3. oariua auro, Choeph. 372 TaCra \kiv Z> irai Kpeia-trova xpuo-oS, where 
 Conington quotes Pind. 01. i. i and Aristotle Hymn, in Hermiam xp^<r<^ 
 
 re Kpea-aa xal yoveav. Theoc. viii. 53 M^ fiot yav UeXorros, /iij fioi xpitreia 
 
 Ta\avTa Elr) cx""- Sappho fr. 1 2 2 Xpitrov xp^rirepa. Lido is my conjec- 
 ture for the MS. reading nobis. So Sappho fr. 85. 3 'Airi tSs iyi> oiibi 
 
 cc 
 
386 A COMMENTARY 
 
 Avbiav naa-av. Tib. hi. 3. 29, Stat. S. ii. 2. 121. Behrens ingeniously con- 
 jectures quouis. 
 
 5. iusperanti has been constructed amongst others by Hertzberg 
 Quaestt. Propert. p. 121 with nobis=mihi on the analogy oi absenle nobis 
 Eun. iv. 3. Y, praesente his, praesente omnibus, praesenie lestibus ap. Non. 
 154, praesente legaiis omnibus Varro ap. Donatum ad Eun. iv. 3. 7. Cf. 
 Perfida nee m^rito nobis inimica merenti Tib. iii. 6. gg. Changes from a 
 singular to a plural are not uncommon in Latin especially in pronouns of 
 the first person, Prop. iii. 1 6. i dominae mihi uenit epistula nosirae, Mart. 
 X. 14. 9 Nil aliud uideo quo te credamus amicum, cf. Plat. Rep. iv. 425 rat 
 TeKcvrav Sij oi/iai (f)aXji€v av, H. Fur. 858, 1. A. I002 ; but here such a com- 
 bination is very harsh and at least not necessary, to say nothing of the 
 increased effect of the line if ipsa begins a new clause. refers te. 
 Prop. i. 18. II Sic mihi te re/eras leuis. 
 
 6. caudidiore nota. See on LX VIII. 148. Od. xxiv. si4Ti'f to ;uo» 
 
 7. Quis me uno uivdt feliciorP Eun. v. 8. i. Aut magls ab dis 
 Optandum in uitaP This is my conjecture for the MS reading aut 
 
 hac 
 magis me est optandus uita. Stich. ii. i. 24 Vix ipsa domina hoc si sciat 
 exoptare ab deis audeat. 
 
 CVIII. 
 
 LiPSius (Var. Lect. ill. g) was the first to identify the Cominius of this 
 epigram. Cicero (Cluent. xxxvi. 100) mentions two brothers P. and L. 
 Cominius as accusers of Staienus; and in the Brutus (Ixxviii. 270) 
 notices amongst the less eminent speakers of his own time P. Cominius 
 of Spoletum Quo accusante defendi G. Cornelium, in quo et composHum di- 
 cendi genus et acre et expeditumfuit. G. Cornelius was prosecuted for 
 maiestas 688 | 66, but the trial was interrupted, as narrated by Asconius 
 in Cornelianam p. g9 Orelli. Detulit nomen Publius, subscripsit Gaius et 
 cum P. Cassius praetor decimo die, ut mos est, adesse iussisset eoque die ipse 
 non adfuisset, seu auocatus propter publici frumenti curam seu gratificans reo, 
 circumuenti sunt ante tribunal eius accusatores a notis operarum ducibus, ita 
 ut mors intentaretur, si mox non desisterent. quam perniciem uix effugerunt 
 interuentu consulum, qui aduocati reo descenderunt. et cum in scalas quas- 
 dam Cominii fugissent, clausi in noctem ibi se occultauerunt, deinde per 
 tecta uicinarum aedium pro/ugerunt ex urbe. postero die cum P. Cassius 
 adsedisset et citati accusatores non adessent, exempium nomen est de reis Cor- 
 nelii. Cominii autem magna infamiaflagrauerunt tiendidisse silentium magna 
 pecunia. In the following year Cornelius was again accused by P. 
 Cominius, but acquitted mainly owing to Cicero's speeches in his defence, 
 an oratorical display which Quintilian (viii. 3. 3) ranks amongst his most 
 brilliant efforts: cf. Ascon. acj Cornel, p. 61 Orelli. 
 
 Schwabe considers this P. Cominius to be the object of Catullus' 
 epigram. This would agree with the words poputi arbitrio{x), as Cornelius 
 was a popular, champion, and would not be inconsistent with Cicero's 
 statement (Brut. Ixxviii. 271) that P. Cominius was recently dead in 
 708 I 46, if we suppose Cominius to have died at an advanced age and 
 to have been already old (tua cana senectus) when he prosecuted Cornelius, 
 in 688 I 66. 
 
ON CATULLUS. CIX. 387 
 
 On the other hand I cannot see in Cicero's language Cluent. xxxvi. 
 I GO P. et L. Cominiis equitibus Romanis honeslis hominihus et diseriis any- 
 thing cold or disparaging. Yet the speech /^o Cluenlio was delivered in 
 the very year when the two Cominii accused Cornelius. 
 
 This however is nothing against the general probability of the hypo- 
 thesis. The epigram bears on its face the marks of being aimed at a 
 public character, and such the principal in the prosecution of a man so 
 well known as G. Cornelius could not fail to be. We can no more con- 
 clude from the acerbity of the epigram that P. Cominius was a monster 
 than we can conclude it from similar attacks made by Catullus on other 
 public men. He may have had a personal motive, possibly friendship for 
 Cornelius, as Schwabe suggests, see on CII ; but it is quite as possible 
 that he wrote under the influence of the moment, during the height of 
 the popular indignation against Cominius as detailed by Asconius. 
 
 3. Non equidem dubito like Haud equidem patiar Ouid. M. viii. 497. 
 Virgil similarly Dubitem haud equidem implorare quod usquam est Aen. viii. 
 311- 
 
 4. exerta, 'protruding,' in life a sign of Cominius' contemptuous 
 effrontery (Liu. vii. 10, Gell. ix. 13, Pers. i. 60), in death of the barbarity 
 practised on the corpse, execta, the reading of most edd. and Lachm. 
 might be supported by Cluent. Ixvi. 187 Stratonem in crucem esse actum 
 execta scitote lingua, Fronto de Eloquentia p. 145 Naber Si linguam quis 
 uni homini execel : cutting out the tongue would be a natural and appro- 
 priate way of punishing a scurrilous orator. auido uultuxio, Trist. 
 i. 6.11 edax uultur. sit data, of a future distinctly foreseen, as in Sen. 
 de Iraii. 21. 10 Non dubito quin citius patrem imitatus sit quam Platonem. 
 
 5. It is not easy to decide whether effossos refers like uoret to the 
 raven, or is the preliminary punishment inflicted by men. Effodere 
 oculos is common inPlautus (Aul. i. i. 14, 146, Men. i. 2. 46, Trin. ii. 4. 62, 
 cf. Ter. Eun. iv. 6. 2) as a threat, and Caesar B. G. vii. 4 mentions cutting 
 off the ears or gouging the eyes as a lighter sort of punishment in Gaul : 
 cf. Suet. Domit. 17. But the two lines together (5, 6) suggest a single 
 picture : the raven, the dogs, the wolves are respectively busy on the eyes, 
 the intestines, the rest of the limbs of one body and at the same time ; 
 hence it is better to take effossos uoret as ' peck out and devour,' ci./odere 
 of a crow pecking the breast of a cow Am. iii. 5. 24, 39. 
 
 6. This and the preceding verses are imitated by Ovid Ibis 167-170 
 Vnguibuset rostro tardus trahet ilia uultur, Et scindent auidi perfida cor da 
 canes. Deque tuo fiet, licet hac sis laude superbus, Insatiabilibus corpore 
 rixa lupis. 
 
 CIX. 
 
 Another poem to Lesbia, apparently of reconciliation. The distrust 
 in verses 3, 4 points to a not very early period of the amour ; yet hardly 
 the latest, at which time Catullus would have avoided such language as 
 Aeternum sanctae foedus amicitiae. 
 
 1. proponis, 'you promise.' Val. Max. ii. 15 Recur sum its ad pristi- 
 num militiae ordinem proposuerunt, si quis bina spolia ex hostibus tulisset. 
 
388 A COMMENTARY 
 
 2. inter nos with iucundum perpetuumque fore. Holtze Synt. 
 i. 365 shows that inter se amare, etc. is a recurring formula. 
 
 3. Att. xvi. I. 6 Dii faxint ul facial ea quae promHiii : commune enim 
 gaudium. 
 
 4. sincere. Catullus uses the words of Phaedria Eun. i. 2. 95 Viinam 
 isiuc uerbum ex animo ac uere diceres Polius quam ie inimicum habeam : 
 si isluc crederem Sincere did, quiduis possem perpeti. 
 
 5. Lachmann Lucr. p. 367 denies that perducere here and in Prop. i. 
 3. 37 uiinam tales perducas inprobe nodes can be used without some 
 idea of a specified limit or end as in Lucr. v. 1027. But here the end is 
 sufficiently defined by tota uita ; whilst producere would suggest a slightly 
 different idea, that oi prolongation in uninterrupted sequence, as opposed 
 to mere continuation. 
 
 6. Alternum, ' reciprocating,' (Turnebus) though not supported by 
 any good MS is not impossible. In G. i. 60 some MSS have alternaque 
 
 foedera : perhaps rightly ; in each passage the meaning would be the 
 same ; a treaty implies two parties : hence Catullus would repeat in alter- 
 num the inter nos of 2 : Virgil would express the mutual agreement of any 
 particular region and its natural growths, to produce and be produced by 
 each other. sanctae, ' inviolable,' amicitiae sanctum et uenerabile nomeft 
 Trist. i. 8. 15. foedus, not merely poetical : foedus et amicitia dabun- 
 iur is said of a treaty of alliance between the Roman people and Bocchus 
 Sail. lug. 104. See Acron on Hor. Epist. ii. r. 25. 
 
 ex. 
 
 This and CXI are both addressed to a woman named Aufilena, 
 probably the person mentioned in C. i as beloved by the Veronese 
 Quintius. If this is so, Aufilena may be supposed in the interval to 
 have grown scandalous ; for here Catullus accosts her as an arnica, and 
 in CXI accuses her of incestuous intercourse with one of her relations. 
 
 The point dwelt on in the epigram is repeated more emphatically by 
 Ouid. A. A. iii. 463-466 Ilia potest uigiles flammas extinguere Vestae, Et 
 rapere e templis, Inachi, sacra tuis ; Et dare mista uiro iritis aconita cicutis, 
 Accepto Venerem murure si qua negat. 
 
 Aufilena, a mistress who deals with her lovers handsomely, is always a 
 favorite; she gets her own price. But you are constantly outraging 
 me : by not doing what you contracted with me to do, or by refusing to 
 have any dealings with me at all. 
 
 A woman of generous feeling would not promise without performing : 
 a chaste woman would withhold all promises whatever. You have neither 
 proper feeling nor chastity : you promise your favours, receive the money 
 in advance, and then refuse performance : this is rapacity and worse than 
 the rapacity of a prostitute lost to all shame. 
 
 1. bonae, 'kind,' i. e. not exacting, Tib. ii. 4. 45 At bona quae nee auara 
 fuit. 
 
 2. facere instituunt is explained by Scaliger as a legal periphrasis 
 ioxfaciunt, ' set about doing.' But the verse has more meaning if imti- 
 tuunt retains its proper force ' undertake,' ' determine ' (sex libris exponere 
 instilui Varro L. L. v. i), as Catullus is explaining what it is that makes such 
 
ON CATULLUS. CX. 389 
 
 women acceptable, i. e. not merely the performance of what they stipulate, 
 but the honorable feeling which makes the performance a matter of course. 
 quae, iieut., not fem. plur. ' they receive the price of their purposed 
 favours,' because they are understood to be bonae, and not likely to dis- 
 appoint their lovers. 
 
 3. ' But you, in making me a promise, in disappointing me as only a 
 false mistress can, in refusing either to give or take, are outraging me 
 continually.' mentita, as in Hor. Epist. i. i. 20 Vt nox longa quibus 
 mentilur arnica. inimica seems to be here the opposite of arnica, 
 (as amicus and inimicus in the ordinary sense are opposed Phil. xii. 9. 
 23) but with special reference to Aufilena's/^r^i^, as in Prop. ii. 9. 44, 
 Tib. iii. 6. 55. A different interpretation is suggested by A. A. ii. 155, 
 6 Dos est uxoria lites. Audiai optatos semper amica sonos, where Ovid 
 warns the lover not to quarrel with his mistress, but leave wrangling to 
 married people : so here Aufilena may show herself inimica by taking the 
 first step to quarrel with Catullus by withholding what she had engaged 
 to grant. Cf A. A. ii. 461-464. 
 
 4. das and fers are correlative 'give and take,' as in Most. iii. i. 82 
 Feram si quid daiur, Trist. i. 2. 68 Quodque dedii cum uolet ipseferet. So 
 fioCi/ai KOI Xa/Seii/, Soy (tai "KaQi, Anth. P. V. 209. 2. The words may be 
 explained either of Aufilena's granting her favours and receiving the price 
 of them, or of the reciprocal enjoyment which each of the lovers receives 
 from the other, ' you disappoint me in altogether refusing to have anything 
 to do with me amatorie.' Both senses of dare are combined by Ouid A. 
 A. iii. 461 Si bene promittunt (men) totidem promittite uerbis. Si dederint, 
 el uos gaudia pacta date : a.nd/erre is used of the lover favoured by his 
 mistress Rem. 522. saepe a greater fault in a woman. A. A. iii. 31 
 Saepe uirifallunt, tenerae non saepe puellae. 
 
 5. ingenuae, Conr. de AUio quotes Fam. ii. 6. 2 Est animi ingenui 
 cui multum debeas eidem plurimum ueile debere : the word seems to express 
 what we call nice feeling, cf. A. A. ii. 530 Dedecet ingenuos taedia ferre 
 sui. est and fuit are strictly correct : if you had the feelings of an 
 honorable woman you ought now to perform the contract which, had 
 you been chaste, you would never have made at first. 
 
 6. ' But to purloin one's gifts by cheating him of the returns they bring, 
 is the conduct of a woman more grasping than the harlot who has pro- 
 stituted herself in every limb.' The construction is like De Off. iii. 13. 
 55 Quid est enim aliud erranti uiam non monstrare si hoc non est, emptor em 
 pati ruere P Plus etiam est quam uiam non monstrare, nam est scientem in 
 errorem alterum inducere. data, nearly a substantive as in Asin. i. i. 42, 
 iii. 1.22. It is often used of the sums given to women. 
 
 7. Fraudando. By withholding the promised favours after receiving 
 the money for them, Aufilena became a thief: \!as. fraudatio effecti con- 
 stitutes the furtum dati. efifectis, i. e. quae ex datis efficiuntur, the 
 returns (^amatorie) which the data bring in. Efficere is often used of the 
 yields of land, Verr. ii. 3. 63. plus quam meretricis auarae, sc. est, 
 an unusually harsh omission. So parum Heroid. iii. 25. The words 
 seem to admit of three constructions (i) plus auarae quam meretricis, in 
 which case plus is used with an adjective =«Jg'«J, cf Nemes. iv, ^z plus 
 est formosus Mas ; (2) meretricis est plus quam auarae, ' is the act of a 
 prostitute more than grasping,' i.e. something more than ordinarily 
 
390 A COMMENTARY 
 
 rapacious, see Zumpt Lat. Gr. 725. Soperfidia plus guam Punica Liu. xxi. 4 , 
 Bella plus guam ciuilia Luc. i. i, plus guam uicina Met. i. 573, and often ; 
 (3) {est) plus guam meretricis auarae, ' is the act of one something beyond a 
 rapacious strumpet,' =^;W esi guae plus guam auara meretrix est. Hand, 
 Tursellinus s. u. shows that plus guam is constructed in this sense with 
 substantives, as well as adjectives, e. g. plus guam sicurios, plus guam 
 homicidas Phil. ii. 13, proelia plus guam uirorum Liu. x. 28 ; and there 
 seems no reason why if Catullus could say plus guam meretricis he should 
 not have said plus guam meretricis auarae. At least this is less violent than 
 (2), whilst (i) is improbable in the Latin of Catullus, and breaks up into 
 two what is practically a single expression {j)lusguam). Ben Jonson 
 imitates Catullus Every Man In His Humour iv. 8 thy more than strumpet 
 impudence. 
 
 CXI. 
 
 On the incestuous intercourse of Aufilena with one of her relations, 
 her uncle, as is generally thought : perhaps her brother, as from C. i, 
 3 we know she had one. 
 
 From I, 2 we may infer that Aufilena was married. If she was married 
 when CX was written, it is possible that Ovid alludes to Aufilena Trist. 
 ii. 429, 30 Nee contentus ea (Lesbia) multos uulgauit amores In guibus ipse 
 suumfassus adulterium esi. 
 
 1. eontentam, but nuptarum. So Lucilius ap. Lact. v. 9. 20 Vni se 
 atgue eidem studio omnes dedere et arli Verba dare ut cante possint, pugnare 
 dolose. Blanditia certare, bonum simulare uirum se ; Insidias facer e, ut si 
 hostes sint omnibus omnes. Lex lulia Municipalis 17 Queiguomgue/rumentum 
 populo dabunt, dandumue curabit ; and so, I think, Lucr. vi. 956^/ iem- 
 pesiate in terra cadogue coorta In caelum terrasgue remotae iura faxessunt. 
 tdro solo. Merc. iv. 6. 8 Vxor contenlast guae bonasluno uiro. 
 
 3. succumbere, of cohabiting. Varro R. R. ii. 10. 9 Quas uirgines 
 ibi appellant, nonnunguam annorum xx, guibus mos eorum non denegauit 
 ante nuptias ut succumbereni guibus uellent. Mart. xiii. 64. i. Hence 
 succuba. 
 
 4. The interpretation depends on the meaning of patruo. (i) Au- 
 filena may have committed incest with her uncle : then matrem fratres 
 concipere ex patruo will be either (a) by incest with an uncle to have sons 
 that as born of the same mother are brothers, as the children of an uncle 
 and a niece are cousins (^fratres in another sense) ; or, (b) to be a mother 
 who by incest with her uncle bears children who are her own cousins, 
 i. e. her sons, and as her uncle's children her cousins (^fratres patrueles) 
 also. (2) Aufilena committed incest with her brother ; then matrem and 
 patruo are both in reference to fratres, the mother and uncle respectively 
 of the incestuous offspring, ' that the mother by intercourse with the uncle 
 should conceive sons who are at once brothers {fratres') as the sons of 
 the same father and mother, and cousins (^fratres patrueles) as the off- 
 spring of a brother and sister.' This is, in my judgment, the most 
 probable view, as giving each word its significance in relation to the 
 others. 
 
ON CATULLUS. CXIIL 391 
 
 CXII. 
 
 There is nothing to identify the Naso of this epigram. In the trial 
 of Cluentius 688 | 66 Q. Voconius Naso, had acted as index quaestionis 
 Cluent. liii. 147 : and he must have held the praetorship in that or some 
 other year, Flac. xxi. 50. See Waddington Fastes 24. 
 
 Salmasius is right in calling the epigram very obscure : but all the 
 alterations suggested make it obscurer. It is possible that the word multus 
 had popular meanings which have not reached us for that very reason : at 
 any rate none of the commentators quite establish the sense they give 
 it. On the other hand Munro's ingenious Mutus is too simple not 
 to be disappointing. 
 
 1. Multus is generally explained a.s=mul/orum hominum, 'a. man of 
 many friends,' like homo perpaucorum hominum Eun. iii. i. 18. The 
 lexicons quote no instance, but the sense seems referable to the same 
 usage as multa opinio est Gell. iii. 16. i a general opinion : multus homo 
 would thus mean a man generally or commonly known. With this 
 Catullus may combine the sense found not unfrequently ' in many places,' 
 e. g. Flor. iv. 2 Multus in eo proelio Caesar fuit. Others explain multus 
 of the body, ' lengthy,' or ' large,' cf. Am. ii. 4. 33, 34 Tu quia tarn longa es, 
 ueteres Heroidas aequas. Et potes in toto multa iacere toro, as we sometimes 
 say of a tall man, ' there's a great deal of him.' But it is clear that iii the 
 last clause multus es et pathicus, the multus is defined by the pathicus : 
 hence some meaning like that given above seems more likely : ' you're 
 much in men's company,' or ' you're known to everybody.' neque 
 
 tecum multus homo qui Descendit, i. e. (i) mque multus homo {est) qui 
 tecum descendit; (2) neque multus tecum (est) homo qui luum descendit. The 
 position oi tecum is designedly ambiguous : in (2), multus tecum— 'xi, seen 
 often in your company,' and descendit is of course obscene. 
 
 2 Descendit (i) goes down to the forum with you, a recurring 
 formula, Phil. ii. 6. 15 Hodie non descendit Antonius. viii. 2. 6 Consul se cum. 
 praesidio descensurum dixit. Rose. A. xlvi. 133 ^//^r tibi descendit de palatio 
 et aedibus suis. De Orat. ii. 66. 267 In forum descendens. So KaTofiaivfiv Plut. 
 
 CatO 50 iifT apuTTOV &<riTep ("uBiaTO Kara^as els ayopdv,. PhilodemUS Ilepi 
 KaKtai/ 20 Ussing els oTiS^TTOTf Koivaivr]p.a (rvyKara^veiv. (2) Sens, obscen. 
 luuen. xi. 164, cf. inclinare luuen. ix. 26, x. 224. 
 
 CXIIL 
 
 Pleitner (Q. Val. Catullus Epigramme in lul. Caesar und Mamurra 
 Speyer 1849) has identified the Maecilia of this epigram with Mucia, 
 wife of Pompeius. The arguments in favour of this view are— 
 
 I. The change from Maecilia to Mucilla is a very slight one, whether 
 we suppose a corruption in the MSS, or assume that Catullus slightly 
 disguises the name, as he has done in the case of Volusius and Aqumus. 
 Mucilla would be a diminutive of Mucia, as Domitilla Claudilla Terentilla 
 Liuilla Octauilla from Domitia Claudia Terentia Liuia Octauia (Schwabe 
 Quaestt. p. 214); and the diminutive might be used with a notion of 
 disparagement as in Suet. Oct. 69 (ibid.). 
 
392 A COMMENTARY 
 
 2. Mucia committed adultery with J. Caesar, and was accordingly 
 divorced by Pompeius on his return to Italy after his conquests in the 
 
 East 693 I 61. Plut. Pompeius 42 'E|u/3pio-f yap fj Movxia irapa ttjv djro- 
 brjfilav avTov. Koi ir6ppa> fxev &v 6 Uofiiri^ios KaTf(l>p6vet tov 'KoyoV tr\r]trlnv 5e 
 'JraXias y€i'6p.evos icai irxo^d^ovTi ra Xoyiap^ fiaXXov, Ss eoLKe^ rrjs alrlas ayj/^dpfvos 
 f7r€p,ylrev avrfj ttjv a(j>€crLVj oijTe Tore ypd-\^as oCff va-repov e<^ Ois d<l)rJK€v e^etirav. 
 
 iv 8" tTTiCTToAois Kmepavos fj aWla yeypairrm. Cicero says the divorce was 
 much approved Att. i. 12. 3. Mucia afterwards married M. Aemilius 
 Scaurus, a man of profligate character, Ascon. in Scaurianam p. 19 Orelli ; 
 and is perhaps the same Mucia who is mentioned with Fulvia by Val. 
 Maximus ix. t. 8 as prostituting her chastity in the house of Gemellus, in 
 the consulship of Metellus Scipio 702 | 52 (Schwabe p. 217). 
 
 The name Maecilia is a real one, e. g. C. I. L. 2. No. 1277 MaeciliaeP. 
 F. Herennianae : and this throws some slight additional doubt on a theory 
 certainly very plausible. The two dates b. c. 70 and 55 are interesting 
 on a very different ground ; the first as the year in which Virgil was born ; 
 the second as that in which, on Oct. 15, Virgil assumed the toga uirilis, 
 Lucretius died. (Donatus in vita Vergilii.) 
 
 In the first consulship of Pompeius, Maecilia counted two paramours ; 
 now that fifteen years have elapsed and Pompeius is a second time 
 consul, Maecilia still counts two, but with the addition of a thousand to 
 each unit. Nothing breeds like adultery. 
 
 1. Cousiile Pompeio primum with M. Licinius Crassus 684 | 70. 
 The Romans reckoned their ages by consuls. Nee quoius annus eai, nee quo 
 sit nata require Consule, says Ovid to the lover, A. A. ii. 663, 4. sole- 
 baut. Plautus has solere cum uiris of women cohabiting with men Cist. i. 
 I. 38 and it is possible that Catullus constructs the accusative Maeciliam 
 after solere in this sense, not as dependent on an infinitive understood, 
 stuprare or something similar. The construction oi posse with an accusa- 
 tive sens, obscen. Hor. Epod. xii. 15, Mart. iii. 76. 4, is parallel. 
 
 2. nunc iterum with Crassus 699 | 55. The occasion was memorable 
 for the games exhibited by Pompeius, including a show of 600 mules, 
 3000 cralerae, and a great display on the last day of elephants. Cic. 
 Fam. vii. i. 
 
 3. sed creuerunt milia in unum Singula, ' but there has been an 
 increase of a thousand for each one of the two,' i. e. instead of two there 
 are 2000. Singuli is attracted into the case of milia as often. The 
 only other sense possible would be to take in unum with milia, a thousand 
 taken together i. e. in the aggregate, ' Two still remain, but grown in each 
 case to an aggregate of 1000.' Seneca Epist. 95. 27 contrasts singula and 
 in unum as individuals and an aggregate. The MSS give singulum which 
 I retained in my first vol. This would more distinctly emphasize the 
 numerical idea ' there has been an increase of a thousand for each unit! 
 But Lachmann denies that Catullus could have written Singlum Lucr. p. 
 412, and the rhythm is decidedly against it, especially with fecundum 
 following. 
 
ON CATULLUS. CXIV. 393 
 
 CXIV. 
 
 This and CXV describe an estate of Mentula's at Firmum, a Picenian 
 town somewhat to the south of Ancona. The reason which determined 
 Catullus to devote two poems to this subject was probably the oppor- 
 tunity it gave him of another attack upon the decoctor Formianus. Firmanus 
 would suggest Formianus, even though the change to Formianus which 
 was introduced into the text as early as Muretus and has been adopted 
 by many editors since, has been rightly rejected by Conr. de AUio as 
 metrically impossible. 
 
 The Picentine territory was a very fertile one (Varro R. R. i. 2. 7, 
 Colum. iii. 3. 2) and the language of Catullus in i saltu nan f also diues 
 Fertur implies that the owner of this Firman manor was thought a for- 
 tunate man. Nor does Catullus deny that it was a fine property to look 
 at ; but its value was not equal to its size, the greater part of it was un- 
 productive, either forest-land or marsh or water. Hence the profits 
 derived from it were less than the necessary outlay (4). From CXV. 7 
 Omnia magna haec sunt I think we may infer that in mere extent it 
 was considerable; the depreciation of i, 2 is perhaps exaggerated; if 
 Mentula is Mamurra, he would probably take care to make his property 
 at Firmum correspond with his wealth elsewhere ; cf. Att.vii. 7.6 EtLabieni 
 diuiiiae ei Mamurrae placent. 
 
 Mentula has an estate at Firmum which may well entitle him to the 
 name of rich ; for what a variety of fine things there are in it ! Game, fish, 
 meadow and arable land in profusion. Still it does him very little good ; for 
 the costs are greater than the returns after all. Allow then that he is a rich 
 man ; still he is a rich man in want of everything which constitutes 
 wealth ; allow his manor to be a fine one, still the master of it is a 
 beggar. 
 
 1. Firmanus, Att. iv. 8. 3. saltu, which is technically a measure 
 of land =800 iugera (Varro R. R. i. 10 fin. Quaiuor centuriae coniunctae ut 
 sinl in utramque partem binae appellaniur in agris diuisis uiritim publice 
 salius, i. e. 200 iugera x 4=800 iugera) is here used "of an estate, where 
 the ground was mainly pasturing-ground or wood, not arable land : see the 
 definition quoted CXV. 2, and cf Varro L. L. v. 36 Quos agros non colebani 
 propter siluas aut id genus, ubi pecus posset pasci et possidebant, ab usu suo 
 saltics nominarunt. The abl. is not after diues, but causal or instrumental, 
 ' on account of.' 
 
 2. qui tot, some MSS have qui quot, ' for think what a number of fine 
 things it contains ! ' as in luuen. vi. 277, Heaut. ii. 3. 122 Quae solet quos 
 spernere. res is often used of edibles, see Boot on Att. iv. 10. i. 
 
 3. Auoupium, 'game,' so uenatio. Cels. ii 26 Minima inflatio fit ex 
 uenaiione aucupio piscibus. De Fin. ii. 8. 23 Piscaiu aucupio ^ uenatione. 
 omne genus indeclinable, as several times in Varro. The birds would 
 be found in the ingentes siluae as well as in the saltus paludesque CXV. 
 5 ; the fish only in the paludes. Hence omne genus is better constructed 
 with Aucupium than with piscis. Yet cf. Pomponius ap. Non. 488 omne 
 piscati genus. 
 
 4. Nequicquam, Lucretian, iv. mo. exuperat, Plin. H. N. 
 
394 A COMMENTARY 
 
 xvii. 213 VilUak rediium inpendia exsuperant. The nominative is probably 
 salius, as more simple and straightforward : to make the nom. Mentula, 
 ' he exceeds the produce by the outlay,' gives a different subject io/rucius 
 and sumptibus, and thus takes from the forcible plainness of the epigram. 
 6. Mart. xi. 1 2 lus tibi natorum uel seplem, Zoile, deiur, Dum matrem 
 nemo del tibi, nemopatrem. mode unelided before ipse is suspicious, but 
 Lachmann's domo the only plausible emendation proposed (see Phil. xiii. 
 17.34 where domo modo are similarly confused) suggests a contrast between 
 the estate and the buildings upon it which is not expressed elsewhere in 
 either of the epigrams and spoils the antithesis salium and ipse. 
 
 cxv. 
 
 Mentula owns about thirty iugera of meadow-land, forty of arable : the 
 rest of his estate is marsh and water. Such a man may well be thought 
 a Croesus, possessing as he does in one single estate an endless variety, 
 meadow plough-land forest pasture and marsh stretching on to infinity. 
 Yet vast as all this is, the master of it is vaster still ; what shall I call 
 him ? he is not a man, but a monstrous menacing Mentula. 
 
 1. hatoet likey^^/jj'e/Lucr. ii. 2T,sciretv. 1 049, both retained by Munro. 
 See Mr. Nettleship's Appendix on the lengthening of short final syllables in 
 Conington's Virgil iii. p. 466. instar, ' to the amount of.' Veil. P. ii. 
 20 triginta legionum instar impleuerat. 
 
 2. arul. Arable land was not strictly included in the idea of salius. 
 Aelius Gallus ap. Festum p. 302 M. Salius est ubi siluae et pasliones sunt, 
 quarum causa casae quoque : si qua parlicula in eo saltu pastorum aut custo- 
 dum causa aratur ea res nan peremit nomen saltui. maria can hardly 
 be as sometimes explained ' big talk,' like maria et mantes polliceri Sallust 
 Cat. 23; nor, as Passerat thought, channels of sea-water introduced 
 artificially like the Euripus et maria which Lucullus constructed for fish 
 in one of his villas near Naples, Plin. H. N. ix. 170, unless indeed we 
 suppose that the sea overlapped the estate and formed such channels 
 naturally. It remains to interpret it ' mere waste water,' a succession of 
 salt-water or brackish pools, (cf. the septem maria made by the Po not far 
 from its mouth Plin. H. N. iii. 119 Qua largius uomit septem maria diclus 
 
 facere, 1 20 Egesto amnis impelu per Iransuersum in Atrianorum paludis 
 quae septem maria appellanlur^, which took up space and gave the estate 
 its appearance of size, but could not be turned to much profit. Vulpius' 
 interpretation ' lakes ' is not supported by Suet. Ner. 3 1 Slagnum maris 
 instar. 
 
 4. tottaoda would be like multimodi Lucr. iii. 856, if the MS reading 
 there could be trusted : but Lachmann in his note on the passage reads 
 mullimodis and says ' multimodus adiectiuum lingua Latina non agnoscit, 
 quamquam tolmoda Catullum scripsisse multi crediderunt 115. 4.' Yet 
 Fronto p. 24 Naber has omnimode. 
 
 5. saltusque as part of a salius would seem to mean pasture-grounds, 
 the main idea of the word : it can hardly be as suggested by Turnebus 
 Advers. xxvi. 9 the measure described in Varro R. R. i. 10, which would 
 not agree with paludes. The hypermetrical que of paludesque conveys 
 
ON CATULLUS. CXVL 395 
 
 the idea of infinite continuity, like Virgil's pugnent ipsique nepolesqtte Aen. 
 iv. 629. 
 
 6. Hjrperboreos, here probably taken to represent the extreme north, 
 but with the farther notion of fabulous or mythical. Plin. H. N. iv. 89 
 Pone eos monies (Ripaeos) ultraqiie Aquilonem gens/elix {si credimus) quos 
 Hyperboreos appellauere, annoso degii aeuo,fabulosis celebraia viiraculis. Ibi 
 creduntur esse cardines mundi extremique siderum ambitus. mare Oee- 
 anum, the great Northern ocean. So Caesar B. G. iii. 7 Proximus mare 
 Oceanum in Andibus hyemarai=Oceanum vii. 4. Tac. Ann. i. 9 Mari 
 Oceano septum imperium, and often. Juvenal has Oceano fluciu xi. 94, 
 where see Mayor. The words oceanus, mare oceanum (Paus. i. 33. 4) must 
 have been unusually familiar to the Romans at this time, in connexion 
 with Caesar's conquests in Gaul, and his invasion of Britain, and Hyper- 
 boreos may similarly allude to Gaul sub septenlrionibus posita B. G. i. 16. 
 
 7. ' All these are on a large scale ; but the master goes beyond them 
 and is largest of all.' ipse and ultro are combined similarly Varro R. R. 
 iii. 17. 6 Neque satis erat eum non pasci piscinis, nisi eos ipse pasceret ultro, 
 Plaut. Men. v. 2. 'jg Insanire me aiunt, ultro quom ipsi insaniunt. The 
 MSB have maximus ultor, without meaning, though the words are joined 
 by Virgil Aen. viii. 201. Of the emendations Bruner's is the cleverest 
 maximu multo (mutlo), cf. Lucilius' maximu multo Non. 19. 
 
 8. Non homo sed, a recurring, but not very common, formula. 
 Stich. i. 2. 7 Non homines sed sues. Asin. ii. 4. 88 Lupus est homo homini, 
 non homo. Ter. Hec. ii. i. 17 Lapidem non hominem. Att. i. 18. i Non homo 
 sed litus atque aer et solitudo mera.s\\. 13. 6 Non homitiem, sed scopas solutas. 
 Petronius S. 39 Fantasia non homo. 43 Discordia non homo. 44 Piper non 
 homo. Menand. 'Opyi) i. 6 Krijo-in-iros, ovk avBpanros. Philemon Incert. Ixiii. 4 
 ^Tpanara, kovk avSpamc. ssd uero, Lucr. iv. 986 Non homines solum 
 sed uero animalia cuncta. mentula magna minax alliteration in the 
 style of Plautus and the comic writers. For minax cf. Priap. 31. i, 51. 
 28, 56. 2, 72. 2. 
 
 CXVI. 
 
 Addressed to Gellius, probably the person attacked in LXXIV LXXX 
 LXXXVIII-XCI : see introduction to LXXIV. There I have suggested 
 that the Gellius of this poem is the person afterwards known as Pedius 
 Publicola, an orator mentioned by Horace (S. i. 10. 28) as affecting, like 
 his contemporary Messala Corvinus, a pure Roman style from which 
 Greek words were carefully excluded. The present poem proves Gellius 
 to have been a man of some culture ; for only to a man of culture could 
 translations from Callimachus be an acceptable oflFering. The first line 
 indeed almost implies that he was a very exacting critic ; as such he might 
 look for something more exact and finished than the only specimen which 
 we still retain of Callimachean translation by Catullus, the Coma Beronices. 
 That version can scarcely be said to show signs of careful word-hunting 
 {studioso animo uenante) ; it is rough, and where we can compare it with 
 the original, inexact ; we may form some idea of its imperfections by 
 contrasting it with the one complete elegy extant of Callimachus, the 
 Aovrpa HaXXaSor, a poem marked by singular delicacy of feeling, as well 
 as by great finish in language and versification. If Catullus ever completed 
 
396 A COMMENTARY 
 
 his design of sending Gellius a Latin version of some of the works of 
 Callimachus, the poems have not descended to our time : unless indeed 
 the fragment of five lines Num te leaena monlibus Libysiinis (LX) may be 
 so considered. 
 
 I see no reason to doubt that this epigram was written after the others ; 
 the anger which Catullus says he had vainly attempted to soothe would 
 naturally have been roused by the gross charges which those epigrams 
 contain : while the solemn tone of the concluding lines of CXVI is 
 stamped with the conviction of a mutual hostility which nothing now 
 could alter. 
 
 1. studioso is constructed with uenante, like Saxosus sonans G. iv. 
 370. Catullus alludes to the careful hunting for words which was part of 
 the literary training introduced by the Alexandrian poets and gram- 
 marians : this word-hunting was called Xf|t5i)pin, Gell, ii. 9, cf. Plato's 
 fli/peufif oi/o/iara Gorg. 489 B, drjpaTrjs \6ywv Aristoph. Nub. 358, and Anth. 
 P. xi. 3 2 1 . 5 ^vvSe<Tfui)V Xi/ypwy BrjprjTopes, ofs to pnv rj atfilv Ei'oSe Km C^relv el 
 
 Kvvas eixe Kij/cXo)t|^. Somewhat similarly M. Aurelius to Fronto p. 253 Naber 
 Necdum legi Coelianum excerptum quod misisti, nee legam priusquam sensus 
 ipse uenaius fuero. reqiiireus expresses the labour of the search as 
 Ovid says Pont. iii. 4. 47 Vix bona post tanto quaerenii uerba subibant. 
 
 2. uti possem mittere carmiua, ' seeking how possibly to send,' 
 refers not to the difficulty of transmitting the verses to Gellius, but to the 
 labour of translating Callimachus adequately. 
 
 3. Qui=^«zi5«j carminibus. Cato R. R. 11 Cola qui florem. demant, 12 
 Confibulas ligneas qui arbor es comprimat, Capt. v. 4. 6 Aut anaies aut co- 
 iurnices daniur quicum lusitent (Holtze Synt. i. p. 379). nobis=»z;'Az' 
 with lenirem immediately preceding is noticeable. See on CVII. 5, 6. 
 
 4. The order of the words suggests constructing Telis with mittere 
 like jSoXXeik la iovpi, etc. and so Hertzberg in his Translation ' dass du 
 nach meinem Leidendem Haupt nicht stets zieltest mit deinem Geschoss.' 
 The addition of inusque is rather in favour of this ; as the instrumental 
 ablative is more in place where a distinct effort is expressed. Otherwise 
 Telis infestum might be taken together, ' and that you might not attempt 
 to shoot far enough to reach the head which your arrows assailed,' cf. 
 Q. Curt. iv. 6. 22 Interiora quoque -urbis telis infesta erant. inusque 
 is rare. Stat. Theb. i. 438 Quae causa furoris Externi inuenes ? neque 
 enim meus audeat istas Ciuis inusque manus. By telis Catullus no doubt 
 alludes to some attack, either written or spoken, which the author of libels 
 as gross as the epigrams on Gellius, might naturally draw upon himself. 
 Ad Herenn. iv. 28. 38 Vehementer auditorem commouet eiusdem redintegratio 
 uerbi et uulnus maius efficit in contrario causae, quasi aliqnod telum saepius 
 perueniat in eandem partem corporis. Ouid Pont. iv. 6. 33 of a speaker 
 Cum tibi suscepta est legis uindicta seuerae. Verba uelut tinctum singula uirus 
 habent. Hostibus eueniat quam sis uiolentus in armis Sentire et linguae tela 
 subire tuae. For mittere used absolutely ' to shoot,' ' aim,' cf. Ouid F. iii. 
 584 Quam quantum nouies mittere funda potest. 
 
 5. Caesar B. G. iii. 14 intellexit frusira tantum labor em sumi, 
 
 6. hie, ' in this point,' viz. of averting your anger. 
 
 7. 8. ' Instead of that, while I am wrapt close to parry those darts of 
 yours, you shall be pierced by mine and so pay the penalty.' Catullus 
 means that pacificatory measures had failed ; he can no longer play the 
 
ON CATULLUS. CXVL 397 
 
 suppliant to Gellius, or attempt to avert a hostility which has declared 
 itself openly. On the contrary he makes up his mind for war, and in 
 that war he is sure to have the best of it. Contra refers both to 
 euitamus and dabi, and more to the latter. In what sense Catullus 
 was close-wrapt against the attack of GeUius he does not say : possibly 
 he means that it would be dangerous to Gellius to attack him by name. 
 Or, if we suppose the epigrams against Gellius were written before 
 Catullus was known as a poet, amidei might express the obscurity which 
 he enjoyed under his incognito, as compared with the notoriety the 
 epigrams drew down upon Gellius. Compare the words of Apuleius 
 on his obscure accuser Aemilianus Apol. i6 Hoc mihi aduersum ie usu 
 uenil, quod qui forte constitit in loco lumine conlusirato atque eum alter e 
 tenehris prospectat. Narh ad eundem modum tu quidem quid ego in propatulo 
 et celebri agam facile e tenehris tuis arbiiraris, cum ipse humilitate abditus et 
 lucifuga nan sis mihi mutuo conspicuus. amictei seems to include not 
 
 only the safety of the poet's own person, but the difficulty of seeing him ; 
 a close wrapper would of course serve both purposes. So Aristides T. 
 
 ii. 155^' ^^ rti/fs Kai c^^oi irapa^ooiPTes pryropiKriv ^eyovat^ pmKKqv he TOvOopv^ovTfS 
 eK Toil ^i^ovs To^evoyres Kara 'A^lcato^' . . . Toaoirrov fioi irpos tovtovs airoKeK- 
 plaBio, oTi pjiTopiKrj wapa noSas 8iS6a(ri ttjv b'lKrjv. Munro with most editors 
 prefers amictu, ' by wrapping my toga round my arm,' as a simple and easy 
 means of parrying the darts : cf. Sen. de Constant. 7 Non minus latro est 
 cuius ielum opposita ueste elusum est, Pacuuius Hermiona (Non. 87) currum 
 liquit, clamyde contorta astu clipeal bracchium, Petron. S. 80 iniorto circa 
 bracchium pallio composui ad proeliandum gradum, ib. 63 inuoluta sinistra 
 manic curiose : Catullus would then mean ' I have only to lift my arm to 
 be quite safe, my toga will defend me without any other armour.' But if 
 this were the meaning, would amictu have thus stood alone ? and if 
 Catullus alludes to a covering of the head (4), amictei would better include 
 this than amictu. 
 
 8. dabi, the single instance in Catullus of an elided s : an old-fashioned 
 custom which Cicero considered in^his time subrusticum Orat. xlviii. 161. 
 He adds that it was avoided by the new school of poets (poetae mm) : and 
 we may feel sure that Catullus would not have allowed it, in any of his 
 lyrics. It is noticeable that the elided s precedes another s ; probably 
 Catullus would not have admitted it before any other letter. 
 
FRAGMENTS. 
 
 See on LIV. 
 
 II. 
 
 A DEDICATORY poem to Priapus, written at Lampsacus, one of the chief 
 seats of the worship of the god. Few poems of Catullus are so often 
 quoted by the grammarians as this ; it is ascribed to him by Terentianus 
 Maurus, Atilius Fortunatianus, and Marius Victorinus, and cited, though 
 without the author's name, by Censorinus p. 97 lahn. The metre is 
 called Priapeus, and was particularly associated with this ithyphallic 
 divinity: it recurs in this connexion Priap.g5 ed. L. Muller Huncego 
 iuuenes locum uillulamque palusirem, a poem which was long ascribed to 
 Catullus and inserted in the editions of his works. Catullus himself uses 
 the metre XVII O colonia quae cupis ponle ludere longo. 
 
 We can hardly infer from this tetrastich that Catullus actually consecrated 
 a planted inclosure to Priapus. Possibly the poem was written for a 
 Roman friend living at Lampsacus : it can hardly be a translation. We 
 may conjecture that the occasion of a visit to the town prompted not 
 only this, but whatever other poems Catullus wrote on the same subject. 
 Dedicatory or epigrammatic verses on Priapus were common (Priap. 60). 
 The Priapia contain (8 1) a hexastich ascribed to Tibullus, in which, like 
 Catullus here, a certain Perspectus dedicates a temple to the god. 
 
 1. lucum, some MSS locum, a frequent confusion. Apuleius plays on 
 the two words F. i. i Cum aliqui Incus aut aliqui locus sanctus in uia obla- 
 tus est, Apol. 56 Nullus locus aut lucus consecraius (Koziol Stil des 
 Apuleius p. 203). dedico consecroque, formulistic like dabo dedica- 
 hnque on a Narbonese altar to Augustus (Hermes 1872 p. 203). Priape 
 a god unknown to Hesiod, and introduced at a later period, Strabo 587 
 fin. 
 
 2. ' At Lampsacus your special domicile.' Priapus calls himself Ille 
 tuus ciuis, Lampsace Priap. 55. 6. Te ruricola, Lampsace, tuta deo Trist. i. 
 10. 26. PaUS. ix, 31. 2 TouTm n\t.ai tw 6e& hkhovrai /xev Ka\ aXXmf eu6a flalv 
 alyav vojuat /cat Trpo^drav rj Kal cff/iol /ieXtacrSv. AaiiylraKT)voi 5e ey TrXeov rj Beovs 
 Tovs aWovs voy.i^QV<Ti. Aiovvaov re avrov TraiSa eivat Kal * A^pohiTrjs Xeyovres* 
 
FRAGMENTS. 399 
 
 Antn. Jr. XVI. 242. Y) 8 Hap' "EXXtjs 'Hnva ttjv Up^v Adii^froKov aiJUpiiroXfts, 
 The nominative is sometimes Lampsacum Verr. i. 24 Oppidum est in 
 Hellesponto Lampsacum in primis Asiae prouinciae clarum et nobile. 
 
 3. urbibua, e.g. Priapus near Lampsacus, Strabo 587. 
 
 4. Hellespoutia Petron. S. i ■^^HeUespontiaci seqidtur grauis ira Priapi 
 after Virgil G. iv. iii Hellespontiaci seruet tutela Priapi. ceteris 
 perhaps from the number of rivers flowing into the Hellespont, one of 
 the conditions most favourable for oysters according to Pliny H. N. xxxii. 
 59. ostriosior, Priap. 76. 13 Cyzzfw OT/r/wa. The oysters of Cyzicus 
 are mentioned Plin. H. N. xxxii. 62 : those of Abydos by Nicander ap. 
 Athen. 92, Ennius Hedyph. 2, Virgil G. i. 207, and in Ausonius' catalogue 
 Epist. ix. 29. 
 
 III. 
 
 This fragment is also Priapean. de meo, ' on my means, ' at my 
 cost,' as often in the comic writers Pers. i. 3. 42 tuburcinari de suo, iv. 3. 
 4 Nil gustabii de meo, Stich. iii. 1.25 Vel decern, dum de iuo, True. v. 5. 61 
 Sedde uesiro uiuiio, (Hohzei. p. 5^). ligurrire. ItVas the function 
 of Priapus to prevent thieves from stealing and eating garden fruits. See 
 the Priapia passim. The word probably conveys an obscene joke (Serv. 
 on Eel. vii. 33). See Priap. 35. 2, 5. 43. 4, Mart. xiv. 69, and cf. Voss 
 Catullus p. 314. libido, ' humour.' 
 
 IV. 
 
 It is doubtful whether this verse is by Catullus. It is ascribed by 
 Diomedes 496 G. to Serenus, probably the Septimius Serenus several 
 times mentioned by Terentianus Maurus 1891-1900, 1973-1982, 1991, 
 2627-2630, and quoted by Nonius as the author of Ruralia and Opuscula. 
 Though there is nothing in the verse like the matters described in most of 
 the other extant fragments of Serenus, tlje unusual character of the 
 metre would well suit this poet, and the proceleusmatic foot, which is the 
 basis of the verse, is found in the four lines, seemingly by Serenus, quoted 
 in Terent. Maurus 2001-2004 Quando flagella iugas, ita iuga, etc. 
 
 Whoever was the author, it seems more likely that he wrote abiit (Lach- 
 mann) than abit. Hephaestion defines the Proceleusmatic tetrameter 
 ylyverai yap, Ikcuttov Ttav 7rpa)ro)v rptSiv irobav avanaiarav XfXvp.€vov els t6v npoKe- 
 ^evcriiaTiKiv, Si/ieTpov aKaToXrjKTOv dvairaurriKiiv, quoting aS a specimen Ari- 
 StOphanes' rts Spea ^aBvKOjia rdh' imervTo jSpOrai/ ; and Marius Victorinus p. 
 2545 recipit autem prima et secunda et tertia sede Proceleusmaticum, quarta 
 Tribrachyn aut Anapaestum, quibus et clauditur, scilicet detracta Proceleus- 
 matico syllaba ultima, aut duabus breuibus uhimis in unam longam redactis 
 propter anapaestum uti metrum sit, non numerus : and he gives as specimens 
 Nemus aue reticuit, ager homine sonat, and Peril abit auipedis animula 
 leporis. This is also the specimen given by Terent. Maurus 1464, with 
 the explanation that the verse is a tetrameter, with the last foot a tribrach. 
 Cf. the line quoted from the lyric poet Timotheus fr. 7 Bergk (Etym. 
 M. 630) TeTOfUvov opiyava hia pvfXoTpefjjij with the appended description 
 o'vyKCiTat 8* oStos 6 orixof dirb irpoKiKevafiaTiKav, 6 6c TeXevraios nois dvairaia^ros 
 
400 A COMMENTARY ON CATULLUS. 
 
 c'oTi TMj/ Bio fipa)(iav els /itav fUiKpav a-uvaipe8ei<rZv. On the Other hanp 
 
 Atilius Fortunatianus ii. 17 gives a specimen in which the last foot is an 
 iambus ; and though in i. 7 two of the three lines given seem corrupt, 
 and the third has the final tribrach, it does not seem certain that the 
 corrupt lines had the tribrach also. 
 
 V. 
 
 See on LXIV. 235. 
 
 VII XI XII. 
 
 These fragfnents dwell on the same characteristic of Catullus' style, his 
 tendency to deviate from common use in the gender of nouns. As 
 carbasus is fem. in fr. VII and LXIV. 227, turben neut. either in LXIV. 
 107 or elsewhere, so he combines ulmo mariio LXII. 54, and makes cinis 
 fem. LXVIII. 90, CI. 4, as Calvus did also fr. 4, 5 Lachm. (Charis. 78), 
 and as Cinna made aluus masc. in his Zmyrna (Prise. 718). . Similarly 
 Catullus seems to have followed Ennius in making arms fem. (fr. XI). 
 
 Cf the strange -vocative une XXXVII. 17, Ticida's sole, (see on LXI. 
 107) both seemingly experiments. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Catullus is here speaking of the famous Rhaetian wine, which was of 
 course well known in Verona, Comum, and the neighbourhood of the 
 Rhaetian Alps. Strabo 206 0/ \iJkv oZv 'Paii-oi fie^P' '"^' 'l^aXias Ka6T[Kovai 
 
 Tjjs \m€p Ovrjpavos Kol Kafiov. Kal o ye 'PatriKoy oivos rav iv tols ItoKlkoIs drraivov- 
 fievfov ovK diroXflTrea-Oat doKav ev Tois Tovrav VTTapeiais ylvrrau Celsus iv. 1 2 
 
 mentions Rhaetic as a good wine for complaints of the chest. Mart. xiv. 
 ICO Si non ignota est dodi tibi terra Caiulli Potasti testa Raetica uina mea. 
 Verg. G. ii. 95 .£V quo te carmine dicam, Raetica ? nee cellis ideo contende 
 Falernis. Plin. xiv. 67 In Veroniensi item Raetica, Falernis lantum postlata 
 a Vergilio, ib. 25 Namque est aliquis tanttts locorum amor ut omnem in iis 
 gloriam suam relinquant nee usquam transeant totae. Quod et in Raetica 
 Allobrogicaqne quam supra picatam appellauimus euenit, domi nobilibus nee 
 adgnoscendis alibi. Fecundae tamen bonitatis uice copiam praestant, eugenia 
 feruentibus locis, Raetica temperatis. This was the favorite wine of Augustus 
 (Suet. Aug. 77). From Sen. N. Q. i. 11 His quod nomen inponimus ? an 
 jfacio quod Vergilius, qui dubitauit de nomine, deinde id de quo dubitarat pro- 
 posuit? Ft quo te nomine dicam Raetica? nee eellis ideo contende Falernis, 
 it might seem that it had another name : but he probably quotes from 
 memory. There was an inferior Raetica una Plin. xiv. 41. 
 
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