PERVIGILIUM VENERIS. EDITED BY S. G. OWEN. ILLUSTRATED BY J. R. WEGUELIN.

Morte iaces aegra, quo non prudentior alter
Affectet Latiae pangere vocis opes;
Sive quis aggreditur caecos evolvere nodos,
Dulce Camenarum seu reparare decus.
Digna merebaris verae praeconia laudis,

Cognite non dubia, vir sine labe, nota.
Felix ingenii numeros tibi perficis omnes,
Hoc solum infelix quod cadis ante diem.
At meminere tui: non ulla oblivia certe

Fidus amicorum, scis, patietur amor.

PREFACE.

LITTLE is known of the life of Catullus; his very praenomen is uncertain. It is now usually believed to have been Gaius, and not as has been supposed Quintus. At any rate, if this is so we get an excellent point in 10. 29, meus sodalis Cinna est Gaius. · It's not Gaius Catullus I meant it's Gaius Cinna' (Palmer, Classical Review, 5. 7). Probably the poet's full name was Gaius Valerius Catullus. We need not grieve over our ignorance about this and other matters; the great central fact for us is the existence of the poetry of Catullus; of the man himself we must be content to know little beyond what he has told us. He was born at Verona in 87 B.C. or 84 B.C.; and in position was probably an eques, like so many of the great Roman