instances, in which it was thought the canon would not strictly apply.

To each poem is prefixed a brief statement of the occasion of it, or an analysis of the scheme of thought it contains, which will be sufficient in general to guide the student to the true interpretation; and as few students probably will read Catullus who have not made some attainments in classical antiquities, &c., many explanations have been omitted, which would be necessary for younger pupils. In selecting the passages to be illustrated, as well as the material and manner of illustration, the editor has been continually guided by the experience of intelligent pupils with whom he has read this author in his own school.

BOSTON, MARCH, 1836.

THE

METRES OF CATULLUS,

ADAPTED AND ALTERED FROM VULPIUS' DIATRIBE

DE METRIS CATULLI.

The different species of verse employed by Catullus, are thirteen.

I. The hexameter, consisting of six feet, of which the first four are either spondees or dactyles, the fifth a dactyle and the sixth a spondee. In Catullus the fifth is not unfrequently a spondee. The following scheme presents the construction.

This is used alone, in Carm. 40 and 42.

II. The Pentameter, consisting of five feet, of which the first two are dactyles or spondees, the third a spondee, the last two anapaests. It is sometimes divided into hemistichia, or half verses, the first half consisting of two feet either dactyles

or spondees and a long syllable, the last of two dactyles and a long or short syllable. We give a scheme of both varieties.

I.

II. ཡ

The Pentameter is employed in alternate verses with the hexameters, in Carmen 43, and all the other poems to the end. Some of the pentameters of Catullus are quite harsh. The cæsura is often neglected.

III. The Phalacian commonly called the Phalæcian hendecasyllable, consisting of five feet, a spondee, dactyle and three trochees. In the first foot a trochee or an iambus is sometimes admitted, and in the second, but rarely, a spondee.

Catullus has used this verse more frequently than any other in Carm. 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 17, 18, 20, 21, 25, 26, 27, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34. A species called pseudo Phalacian, occurs with the pure Phalæcian in Carm. 37. It differs from the pure in that the first foot may be a tribrachys, and the second a trochee, and often a spondee.

IV. The Iambic Trimeter. It has six feet, properly each an Iambus. It admits however in the first, third, and fifth places a spondee, or its solutions the dactyle and anapaest. These varieties are not all used by Catullus. Carmen 4, 15, are pure Iambics. Carmen 36, is mixed with spondees. This measure is used in these three only.

V. Scazon, or Choliambus (zoliaμbos i. e. lame iambus,) which coincides with the Iambic Trimeter, except that the fifth foot is always an iambus, and the sixth a spondee, or seldom a trochee.

This measure is found in Carm. 16, 23, 28, 29.

VI. The Iambic Tetrameter catalectic, consisting of seven feet, which may be varied as in the Iambic Trimeter, and an additional syllable. Carmen 19 is in this measure. (The third line has an amphibrachys in the second place.)

VII. The Sapphic has five feet, a trochee, spondee, dactyle, trochee, and trochee or spondee. The second foot is sometimes a trochee.