PREFACE THE text of Catullus now offered to the public is based in the main on the edition of Professor Robinson Ellis, from which most of my information is drawn, and to which I desire to acknowledge my indebtedness in the fullest manner. I had at first intended to display at the foot of the page the passages where my reading differs from that of Ellis, but this was found to be unsuitable to the plan of the book. I have therefore referred to his text in my critical notes very frequently, and I hope that I have expressed my acknowledgments to him with sufficient fulness. I have given on p. xxv a list of the other editions which have been of service to me. I desire to express here my thanks to my colleague, Mr. Starkie, for advice as to certain readings, and to Messrs. R. and R. Clark, for the care with which they have read my proofs. November 1895. A. P. INTRODUCTION I.-LIFE OF CATULLUS 1 GAIUS 2 VALERIUS CATULLUS, the most passionate and brilliant, if not the greatest of Roman poets, was 1 In this résumé results only are given: the most probable theories, as they seem to the editor, are adopted without discussion of the arguments on which they are based, or examination of rival theories. after largely add except, perhaps, the rude satirist P. xx. 1. 9: Lucilius P. xxvii. 1. 12 from foot: delete remark after GOM P. xxxviii. note on LXI. 217: add suae GO P. xxxix. on LXIII. 5: add iletas acuto GO before ilei acuto P. xlii. on LXIV. 109: read quaeviscumque before conj. Ellis P. xlvi. 1. 3 insert B. Schmidt after maritum P. 25, 1. : for XLVII read XLVIII P. 61, LXVIII. 141: for at qui read atqui INTRODUCTION I.-LIFE OF CATULLUS 1 GAIUS 2 VALERIUS CATULLUS, the most passionate and brilliant, if not the greatest of Roman poets, was 1 In this résumé results only are given: the most probable theories, as they seem to the editor, are adopted without discussion of the arguments on which they are based, or examination of rival theories. For the purposes of full inquiry the English reader should consult Ellis's Prolegomena to both his volumes: Munro's Criticisms and Elucidations of Catullus: and Teuffel's History of Roman Literature, Ed. 2, vol. i. p. 391 sqq., with the long list of authorities there given. 2 The praenomen Quintus (Q) is given to Catullus in many of the later mss. as D and P. The older mss. G and O give no praenomen. Gaius rests on the authority of Apuleius Apol. 10; and of Suetonius Frag. De Poetis in Jerome's Chronicle O1. clxxiii. 2. Q. used to be read in Pliny H. N. 37. 81, but is not in the best mss. If Scaliger's conjecture Quinte for qui te in LXVII. 12 were satisfactory on other grounds, it would be an argument in favour of Quintus : but it does not satisfy the passage. Gaius has the only testimony of any weight in its favour and it seems strange that x. 30 has not been pressed into the service in favour of Gaius: meus sodalis Cinna est Gaius, is sibi paravit. It would add some point if Catullus excuses himself for his slip by the fact that his friend had the same praenomen as himself. 'It's not Gaius Catullus I meant: it's Gaius Cinna.' Else why the emphatic position of Gaius? Why use it at all? : |