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Ut te postremo donarem munere mortis,

Et mutum nequidquam alloquerer cinerem ; Quandoquidem fortuna mihi tete abstulit ipsum, 5 Heu, miser indigne frater ademte mihi! Nunc tamen interea prisco quæ more parentûm Tradita sunt tristes munera ad inferias, Accipe, fraterno multum manantia fletu : Atque in perpetuum, frater, ave, atque vale. 10

CARMEN LXIII.

Ad Cornelium.

Si quidquam tacito commissum est fido ab amico, Quojus sit penitus nota fides animi;

Me unum esse invenies illorum jure sacratum, Corneli, et factum me esse puta Harpocratem.

CARMEN LXIV.

Ad Lesbiam.

Si quidquam cupidoque optantique obtigit unquam, et

Insperanti, hoc est gratum animo proprie : Quare hoc est gratum, nobis quoque carius auro, Quod te restituis, Lesbia, mî cupido.

Restituis cupido, atque insperanti ipsa refers te 5 Nobis. O lucem candidiore notâ !

Quis me uno vivit felicior? aut magis hac quid Optandum vitâ dicere quis poterit ?

CARMEN LXV.

In Cominium.

Si, Comini, populi arbitrio tua cana senectus
Spurcata impuris moribus intereat;

Non equidem dubito, quin primum inimica bo

norum

Lingua exsecta avido sit data volturio; Effossos oculos voret atro gutture corvus, Intestina canes, cætera membra lupi.

5

CARMEN LXVI.

Ad Lesbiam.

Jucundum, mea vita, mihi proponis amorem Hunc nostrum inter nos, perpetuumque fore. Dî magni, facite, ut vere promittere possit; Atque id sincere dicat, et ex animo;

Ut liceat nobis totâ producere vitâ

Eternum hoc sanctæ fœdus amicitiæ.

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CARMEN LXVII.

Ad Gellium.

Sæpe tibi studioso animo venanda requirens
Carmina uti possem mittere Battiadæ,
Quîs te lenirem nobis, neu conarere

Infestum telis icere, musca, caput;

Hunc video mihi nunc frustra sumtum esse la

borem,

Gelli, nec nostras hinc valuisse preces. Contra, nos tela ista tua evitamus amictu: At, fixus nostris, tu dabi' supplicium.

5

NOTES.

CARMEN 1.

To Cornelius Nepos.

CATULLUS in these verses dedicates his volume of poems to Corn. Nepos, on account of the interest he had shown, in what Catullus modestly calls "his trifles," and the commendations he had bestowed upon them, in the midst of his own learned and laborious occupations.

1. Quoi] i. q. cui.

6. Omne...

volumes.

chartis] a general history in three

9. patrona Virgo] 'Minerva,' the patroness of wits. Voss reads patroa, meaning Vesta, to whom the first fruits were offered. Vide Ovid Fasti, 6, 304.

CARMEN II,

To the Sparrow of Lesbia,

Catullus mentions the various endearments and

sports with her favorite bird, with which Lesbia was wont to amuse herself, and soothe the ardor of her passion; and the delight with which he could indulge the same playful fondness. The lady whom he so often addresses under the name of Lesbia, was named Clodia, the sister, it is supposed, of the infamous Clodius.

7, 8.] In these verses I have followed the reading of Voss, who gives this explanation; "credo te ô passer, nescio quid carum jocari cum meo desiderio nitenti i. e. cum puella mea, et similiter credo te solatiolum esse sui doloris, ut gravis ejus ardor acquiescat." Sillig reads,

Et solatiolum sui doloris

Credo, ut, quum gravis acquiescet ardor
Tecum ludere sicut ipsa possem, &c.

making solatiolum and carum quid accusatives de-
pendent on jocari, and introducing the apodosis of
the sentence with ut quum; ut for utinam.
11. puellæ] Atalanta, vide Ovid Met. Lib. 10.

CARMEN III.

A lament on the death of the Sparrow.

2. quantum .. hominum] conf. Carmen ii. v. 7. 10. pipilabat] i. q. pipiabat.

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