5 76 Siqua recordanti benefacta priora voluptas nec sanctam violasse fidem nec foedere in ullo nam quaecumque homines bene cuiquam aut dicere. aut facere, haec a te dictaque factaque sunt. 76. Follows 75 in the Mss. immediately, and was therefore also transposed after 87-75 by Lachmann. 3. in ullo a nullo VRM. 76 Realizing thoroughly the entire unworthiness of Lesbia and bitterly conscious of the faithlessness with which she has rewarded his constant devotion, Catullus has resolved to cure himself of his love. But, finding reason powerless to cope with passion, he summons the aid of the gods to rid him of his infatuation. 1. benefacta: cf. vv. 7, 8. 2. pium: 'conscientious'; explained by the next two verses. Several such expressions in this elegy are to be explained only from the point of view of the poet consumed by the one thought already stated in the introduction to the poem. 3. fidem: to men, as contrasted with that obligation towards the gods which is referred to in the following clause. 4. divum. . . numine: 'an oath in the name of the gods'; cf. 64, 134: neglecto numine divum; Ovid, Met. 10, 430: promissaque numine firmat. 5. longa aetate: 'during a long life'; i.e. he has enough memories of this kind (cf. multa) to last him a lifetime. 6. ingrato: cf. 73, 3, n. 7. cuiquam: this indefinite, more common in universal negatives, is sometimes employed also in universal affirmatives, usually in expressed, or implied, conditions; cf. Cic. Ad Fam. 6, 14, 1: si quisquam est timidus is ego sum. IO 15 20 omnia quae ingratae perierunt credita menti. quare cur te iam amplius excrucies? quin tu animo offirmas atque istinc teque reducis, difficile est longum subito deponere amorem. o di, si vestrum est misereri, aut si quibus umquam 10. cur te iam VM iam te cur Do cur tu te iam Schoell. Heinsius instincteque O instinctoque GM istinc te ipsa Ellis. 9. ingratae: here in the act. sense, 'thankless.' perierunt : 'have been wasted.' II. offirmas: for a similar intrans. use of this verb cf. Plaut. Stich. 68: offirmabit pater advorsum nos.-istinc: a scornful expression: 'from that unworthy love.' 12. dis invitis: best taken in the causal sense with desinis. Cf. 68, 78. esse miser: 'to make yourself unhappy.' 13. Catullus the lover makes answer to Catullus the reasoner. -longum: not absolutely long was the period covered by the love of Catullus for Lesbia, but relatively long, as it absorbed the best years of his life. 14. Reason again gets the upper hand. Cf. the struggle of Propertius, 3, 21, 5. II. istinc teque 15. haec refers to the same thing as hoc in vv. 14, 15, 16; the gender here conforms to that of salus. 16. pote: sc. est. Cf. v. 24; 72, 7, n.; Prop. 3, 7, 10; Pers. 1, 56: qui pote? 18. extremam iam ipsa morte : in the last article of death.' Catullus feels that his is a desperate, life-and-death struggle. 19. puriter: in the sense elaborated in the opening verses of this elegy. The form is one of the poet's archaisms; cf. 39, 14; Cato, R. R. 23, 2. 20. pestem perniciemque: this expression, found in various other writers, was doubtless considered especially emphatic from its alliteration and assonance. Cf. "beastly bore," "plaguey particular," and the like. 25 hei mihi, subrepens imos ut torpor in artus non iam illud quaero, contra ut me diligat illa, ipse valere opto et taetrum hunc deponere morbum. 82 Quinti, si tibi vis oculos debere Catullum 5 83 Lesbia mi praesente viro mala plurima dicit: mule, nihil sentis. si nostri oblita taceret, sana esset: nunc quod gannit et obloquitur, non solum meminit, sed, quae multo acrior est res, 84 Chommoda dicebat, si quando commoda vellet 83. 6. coquitur Lipsius loquitur VRM. 83 "The lady doth protest too much, methinks." Cf. No. 92. Written not later than 59 B.C., the year in which Lesbia's husband, Q. Caecilius Metellus Celer, died. 1. praesente: Catullus, however, seems not himself to have been there on the occasion referred to, as is indicated by oblita (v. 3), meminit (v. 5). 2. fatuo: the derivation of the word (fari) makes it peculiarly appropriate to one expressing illgrounded boasts. 3. mule much less frequent as a term of abuse than asinus. 4. sana i.e. not wounded by Cupid's darts. Cf. Tib. 4, 6, 18. 5. acrior: more important,' because to the possessor of subtle discernment it implies much more.. 6. irata cf. Ter. Andr. 555 : amantium irae amoris integratiost.- - uritur: i.e. with love. Cf. Verg. Aen. 4, 68 : uritur infelix Dido; Tib. 2, 6, 5; 4, 6, 17. coquitur : 'is tormented,' i.e by her passion. 84 The use of the aspirate was much restricted in early Latin ; but by the beginning of the first century B.C. the increasing frequency of Greek loan-words led to a tendency to go to the other extreme and apply the aspirate to both vowels and consonants where it had no etymological justification. Cf. Quint. 1, 5, 20; Cic. De Orat. 160. Devotion to such a 5 IO et tum mirifice sperabat se esse locutum, cum subito adfertur nuntius horribilis, iam non Ionios esse, sed Hionios. 84. 3 and 4, which stand as 9 and 10 in the Mss., were transposed by Politianus. fad became especially ridiculous when found in a parvenu of meager education. Such a person apparently was the Arrius of this witty epigram (cf. vv. 5, 6), who seems to have been as extravagant with his h's as a modern cockney. It has been conjectured, but without other than circumstantial evidence, that he may have been the Q. Arrius whom Cicero (Brut. 242) mentions as a worthless orator, without ability or noble birth, who had gained some prominence by political methods. I. Chommoda: 'whages.' vellet this is perhaps the earliest example of the Subjunct. of Indef. Frequency, a construction appearing about this time in isolated instances (e.g. Caes. B.C. 3, 110, 4), but increasingly common in imperial times. 2. hinsidias: 'hambuscade.' 4. quantum poterat: with as much emphasis as possible.' 5. credono doubt.'- liber: the implication plainly is that either this uncle or some other uncle of his had not been free, and thus that Arrius was at least connected with a family of libertini, apparently on his mother's side, from comparison of the list of relatives mentioned here. It is certain that ignorance of the proper use of the aspirate was especially common among the lower classes. Cf. Gell. 13, 6, 3: rusticus fit sermo, inquit, si adspires perperam. 7. misso in Syriam if the above identification of Arrius be correct, this mission to Syria was doubtless with his friend Crassus (Cic. Brut. 242), i.e. in 55 B.C., and this would give an approximate date to the epigram. 8. audibant: cf. 68, 85, n. 9. postilla: the anteclassical equivalent of postea; another of the many archaisms of Catullus. |