76 5 Siqua recordanti benefacta priora voluptas est homini, cum se cogitat esse pium, divum ad fallendos numine abusum homines, ex hoc ingrato gaudia amore tibi. possunt 76. Follows 75 in the Mss. immediately, and was therefore also transposed after 87-75 by Lachmann. 3. in ullo w nullo VRM. 4. divum 3. fidem: to men, as contrasted with that obligation towards the 76 gods which is referred to in the Realizing thoroughly the entire following clause. unworthiness of Lesbia and bit numine: 'an terly conscious of the faithlessness oath in the name of the gods'; cf. with which she has rewarded his 64, 134: neglecto numine divum ; constant devotion, Catullus has Ovid, Met. 10, 430 : promissaque resolved to cure himself of his love. numine firmat. But, finding reason powerless to 5. longa aetate : during a cope with passion, he summons long life’; i.e. he has enough the aid of the gods to rid him of memories of this kind (cf. multa) his infatuation. to last him a lifetime. 1. benefacta: cf. vv. 7, 8. 6. ingrato: cf. 73, 3, n. 2. pium : 'conscientious’; ex 7. cuiquam : this indefinite, plained by the next two verses. more common in universal negaSeveral such expressions in this tives, is sometimes employed also elegy are to be explained only in universal affirmatives, usually from the point of view of the poet in expressed, or implied, condiconsumed by the one thought al tions; cf. Cic. Ad Fam. 6, 14, 1: ready stated in the introduction to si quisquam est timidus is ego the poem. suni. IO omnia quae ingratae perierunt credita menti. quare cur te iam amplius excrucies? et dis invitis desinis esse miser ? difficile est, verum hoc qua lubet efficias : hoc facias, sive id non pote sive pote. extremam iam ipsa morte tulistis opem, eripite hanc pestem perniciemque mihi. 15 20 II. istinc teque 10. cur te iam VM iam te cur Dw cur tu te iam Schoell. Heinsius instincteque 0 instinctoque GM istinc te ipsa Ellis. sum nos. 9. ingratae : here in the act. 15. haec refers to the same sense, *thankless.' — perierunt : thing as hoc in vv. 14, 15, 16 ; the have been wasted.' gender here conforms to that of II. offirmas : for a similar in salus. trans. use of this verb cf. Plaut. 16. pote : sc. est. Cf. v. 24; Stich. 68 : offirmabit pater advor 72, 7, n.; Prop. 3, 7, 10; Pers. I, istinc: a scornful ex 56: qui pote? pression : ‘from that unworthy 18. extremam iam ipsa morte: love.' in the last article of death.' Ca12. dis invitis : best taken in tullus feels that his is a desperate, the causal sense with desinis. Cf. life-and-death struggle. 68, 78. — esse miser : “to make 19. puriter: in the sense elabyourself unhappy. orated in the opening verses of this 13. Catullus the lover makes elegy. The form is one of the answer to Catullus the reasoner. poet's archaisms; cf. 39, 14; Cato, - longum: not absolutely long R. R. 23, 2. was the period covered by the love 20. pestem perniciemque: this of Catullus for Lesbia, but rela expression, found in various other tively long, as it absorbed the best writers, was doubtless considered years of his life. especially emphatic from its al14. Reason again gets the literation and Cf. upper hand. Cf. the struggle of “ beastly bore," “plaguey particuPropertius, 3, 21, 5. lar," and the like. assonance. hei mihi, subrepens imos ut torpor in artus expulit ex omni pectore laetitias ! aut, quod non potis est, esse pudica velit: 25 ipse valere opto et taetrum hunc deponere morbum. o di, reddite mi hoc pro pietate mea. 82 Quinti, si tibi vis oculos debere Catullum aut aliud siquid carius est oculis, eripere ei noli, multo quod carius illi est oculis seu quid carius est oculis. 21. hei Lachmann seu VM sei Ellis. 22. ex omni pectore laetitias : interpretation, it must have been every joyful feeling from my written at an earlier period than heart.' Nos. 72 and 76, while the poet 23. contra ... me diligat : “re still felt that Lesbia was his to ciprocate my love'; diligere stands lose, and still experienced the here for a higher type of affection pangs of jealousy at the mention than amare, as usual. Cf. 72, 3, n. of other lovers. 24. potis est : cf. 72, 7, n. 2. carius. oculis : cf. 104, 25. ipse : “it is for myself that 2 : ambobus mihi quae carior est I pray.' The emphasis is by con oculis ; 3, 5 : quem plus illa oculis trast with illa (v. 23). A. 195, b; suis amabat. L. 2376. 3. ei: synizesis. 26. pietate : cf. v. 2, 4. seu quid .. oculis : the phrase takes the place of another 82 substantive in the same construcCatullus beseeches Quintius tion as the preceding oculis. Cf. 13, (probably the same person men 9: sed contra accipies meros amores tioned in 100, 1) not to wrest from seu quid suavius elegantiusve est ; him his greatest treasure (presum 23, 12 : corpora sicciora cornu aut ably Lesbia). If this is the correct siquid magis aridum est. n. 83 Lesbia mi praesente viro mala plurima dicit: hoc illi fatuo maxima laetitiast. sana esset : nunc quod gannit et obloquitur, irata est, hoc est, uritur et coquitur. 5 84 Chommoda dicebat, si quando commoda vellet dicere, et insidias Arrius hinsidias, Cf. No. 92. 83. 6. coquitur Lipsius loquitur VRM. discernment it implies much 83 more.. “ The lady doth protest too 6. irata : cf. Ter. Andr. 555 : much, methinks." amantium irae amoris integraWritten not later than 59 B.C., the tiost. uritur : i.e. with love. year in which Lesbia's husband, Cf. Verg. Aen. 4, 68 : uritur inQ. Caecilius Metellus Celer, died. felix Dido; Tib. 2, 6, 5 ; 4, 6, 1. praesente : Catullus, how 17. — coquitur : ‘is tormented,' ever, seems not himself to have i.e by her passion. been there on the occasion referred 84 to, as is indicated by oblita (v. 3), meminit (v. 5). The use of the aspirate was 2. fatuo: the derivation of the much restricted in early Latin ; word (fari) makes it peculiarly but by the beginning of the first appropriate to one expressing ill century B.C. the increasing fregrounded boasts. quency of Greek loan-words led to 3. mule: much less frequent a tendency to go to the other exas a term of abuse than asinus. treme and apply the aspirate to 4. sana : i.e. not wounded by both vowels and consonants where Cupid's darts Cf. Tib. 4, 6, 18. it had no etymological justifica 5. acrior: more important,' tion. Cf. Quint. 1, 5, 20; Cic. De because to the possessor of subtle Orat. 160. Devotion to such a 5 et tum mirifice sperabat se esse locutum, cum quantum poterat dixerat hinsidias. sic maternus avus dixerat atque avia. audibant eadem haec leniter et leviter, cum subito adfertur nuntius horribilis, Ionios fluctus, postquam illuc Arrius isset, iam non Ionios esse, sed Hionios. IO 84. 3 and 4, which stand as 9 and 10 in the Mss., were transposed by Politianus. as fad became especially ridiculous 5. credo : no doubt.'— liber: when found in a parvenu of the implication plainly is that meager education. Such a person either this uncle or some other apparently was the Arrius of this uncle of his had not been free, witty epigram (cf. vv. 5, 6), who and thus that Arrius was at least seems to have been as extravagant connected with a family of liberwith his h's as a modern cockney. tini, apparently on his mother's It has been conjectured, but with side, from comparison of the list out other than circumstantial evi of relatives mentioned here. It is dence, that he may have been the certain that ignorance of the proper Q. Arrius whom Cicero (Brut. use of the aspirate was especially 242) mentions a worthless common among the lower classes. orator, without ability or noble Cf. Gell. 13, 6, 3: rusticus fit birth, who had gained some prom sermo, inquit, si adspires perinence by political methods. peram. I. Chommoda : • whages.' 7. misso in Syriam : if the vellet : this is perhaps the earliest above identification of Arrius be example of the Subjunct. of Indef. correct, this mission to Syria was Frequency, a construction appear doubtless with his friend Crassus ing about this time in isolated in (Cic. Brut. 242), i.e. in 55 B.C., stances (e.g. Caes. B.C. 3, 110, 4), and this would give an approxibut increasingly common in im mate date to the epigram. perial times. 8. audibant: cf. 68, 85, n. 2. hinsidias : "hambuscade.' 9. postilla : the anteclassical 4. quantum poterat: with as equivalent of postea; another of much emphasis as possible.' the many archaisms of Catullus. |