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Odi et amo.

85

quare id faciam, fortasse requiris.

nescio, sed fieri sentio et excrucior.

86

5

Quintia formosa est multis, mihi candida, longa, haec ego sic singula confiteor,

recta est.

totum illud "formosa" nego: nam nulla venustas, nulla in tam magno est corpore mica salis. Lesbia formosa est, quae cum pulcherrima totast, tum omnibus una omnes surripuit Veneres.

85

A brief and emphatic statement of the same theme as that of Nos. 72 and 75.

1. Odi et amo: cf. the imitation in Ovid, Am. 2, 4, 5: odi nec possum cupiens non esse, quod odi.

2. nescio .. sentio the fact is determined not by the intellect, but by the emotions.

86

The superiority of Lesbia's charms to those of an unknown beauty named Quintia. In No. 43 Catullus expressed his impatience of another such comparison.

1. candida, longa, recta: that these qualities were considered essential elements of female beauty is evident from such passages as the following: 13, 4: cenam non sine candida puella; Hor. Sat. 1, 2, 123 candida rectaque sit;

munda hactenus ut neque longa nec magis alba velit, quam dat natura, videri; Ovid, Am. 2, 4, 33: quia tam longa es, veteres heroidas aequas.

2. sic: i.e. as in vv. I and 2.

3. totum illud "formosa": i.e. the expression "formosa," with all that the term properly implies.

4. nulla. . . mica salis: 'not a particle of wit' (sparkling fascination, urbanitas); cf. Mart. 7, 25, 3: nullaque mica salis nec amari fellis in illis gutta.

5. pulcherrima: ‘very pretty'; of mere physical faultlessness, which might be true of a doll-like "putty-face," such as Quintia appears to be in the eyes of Catullus, without including at all the intellectual and emotional fascinations of an ideal "formosa."

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87

Nulla potest mulier tantum se dicere amatam vere, quantum a me Lesbia amata mea es. nulla fides ullo fuit umquam foedere tanta, quanta in amore tuo ex parte reperta meast.

92

Lesbia mi dicit semper male nec tacet umquam de me: Lesbia me dispeream nisi amat. quo signo? quia sunt totidem mea: deprecor illam adsidue, verum dispeream nisi amo.

87. 2. es Scaliger est VM.

87

Perhaps a fragment, though not necessarily incomplete. The supposition of Scaliger and other editors that No. 75 should be used to complete it is entirely gratuitous. More in sorrow than in reproach, Catullus reminds his Lesbia of the singleness and intensity of his love, which he apparently now realizes has been trifled with.

1. Cf. 8, 5: amata nobis quantum amabitur nulla; 37, 12; 58,2: illa Lesbia quam Catullus unam plus quam se atque suos amavit

omnes.

3. foedere a common term for mutual plighted faith in the lover's vocabulary; cf. Prop. 4, 3, 69; Pichon, s.v.

3. ullo VM nullo w.

4. amore tuo ex parte reperta meast the love that I have bestowed upon thee.' -tuo: objective; similarly, 64, 253.-mea: emphatic by contrast with that of the other lovers of Lesbia.

92

The theme is the same as that of No. 83.

2. dispeream nisi: cf. Prop. 2, 21, 9: dispeream, si quicquam aliud quam gloria de te quaeritur.

3. quo signo sc. hoc concludo; cf. Plaut. Mil. Gl. 1001: quo argumento. — sunt totidem mea: ‘I have exactly the same two experiences,' viz. (1) curse her; (2) love her. - deprecor: 'denounce.' For this unusual sense of the word, see the discussion of this passage in Gell. 7 (6), 16.

93

Nil nimium studeo, Caesar, tibi velle placere, nec scire utrum sis albus an ater homo.

95

Zmyrna mei Cinnae nonam post denique messem quam coepta est nonamque edita post hiemem,

93

Catullus does not care to be on good terms with Caesar. The same hatred towards the great "Imperator" appears in Nos. 29, 54, 57, where the connection has given rise to Baehrens's conjecture that this passage and the others mentioned were written soon after the arrival of Caesar with his retinue at Verona after the campaign of 55 B.C., when the military licentiousness which naturally prevailed crossed the path of the poet's own private life at some point, perhaps in the pursuit of Ameana by the notorious Mamurra.

1. Nil nimium studeo: 'I am not particularly anxious.' Somebody has apparently tried to reconcile Catullus to Caesar. A similar use of nimis is a favorite with Catullus; cf. e.g. 64, 22: 0 nimis optato saeclorum tempore nati heroes; cf. also Mart. 9, 81, 3: non nimium curo. velle is superfluous, as in Cic. Mur. 25, 50: nolite a me commoneri velle.

2. scire utrum sis albus an ater: a proverbial phrase; cf. Cic. Phil. 2, 41: vide quam te amarit is, qui albus aterne fuerit ignoras; Apul. Apol. 16: libenter te. albus an ater esses, ignoravi; cf. also Quint. II, I, 38.

95

On the appearance of the Zmyrna, a carefully elaborated poem by his friend C. Helvius Cinna, Catullus compares this work favorably with the attempts of three inferior poets. There is no need of separating vv. 9-10 from the rest of the poem.

1. Zmyrna: another name for Myrrha, whose unnatural love for her father, Cinyras, was the theme of the poem and gave it its name. The story is related in Ovid, Met. 19, 298 sqq. The inconsiderable fragments are collected in Baehrens's Frag. Poet. Rom., p. 324. — nonam: cf. Quint. 10, 4, 4: Cinnae Zmyrnam novem annis accepimus scriptam. Horace is very likely alluding to this case when he rec

5

milia cum interea quingenta Hortensius uno

*

Zmyrna cavas Satrachi penitus mittetur ad undas,
Zmyrnam cana diu saecula pervoluent.
at Volusi annales Paduam morientur ad ipsam
et laxas scombris saepe dabunt tunicas.

ommends that a book (A. P.,
v. 388) nonumque prematur in
annum. Such exhaustive careful-
ness was more a proof of the eru-
dition to be expected from its
Alexandrian tone than of great
poetic power; and we are not
surprised to learn that the poem
was so obscure even at the time
of its appearance that scholars
wrote learned commentaries to
explain its meaning. For the
construction, see A. 424 f.

2. edita sc. est.

What caused Ca

3. milia. . . quingenta: a mere hyperbole for an indefinitely large number. Cf. 9, 1: Verani, omnibus e meis amicis antistans mihi milibus trecentis. Hortensius cf. Intr. to No. 65. tullus to feel so differently towards him at this time can only be conjectured. It may be remarked, however, in general, that to criticize the work of another poet is quite another thing from being invited to contribute one's own poetic effusions. uno: anno, mense, and die have been suggested by different editors as probable nouns in the missing v. 4, which may be variously supplied. In any case, the idea must have been an unfavorable con

trast between the rapid work of Hortensius and the carefully finished Zmyrna. Cf. Hor. Sat. 1, 4, 9–16.

5. cavas: 'deep'; cf. 17, 4: cavaque in palude; Luc. 1, 396: cavo tentoria fixa Lemanno. Satrachi: the Satrachus was an obscure inland stream in Cyprus. It was in this region that the story of Zmyrna was located. — penitus : 'far inland.'

6. cana: hoary'; cf. Mart. 8, 80, 2: nec pateris, Caesar, saecula cana mori. pervolŭent: cf. Intr. § 43.

7. Volusi: the same tiresome versifier is referred to in No. 36. For an elaborate argument to identify him with Tanusius Geminus see Friedrich on this passage. - ipsam: the emphasis thus put upon Padua indicates this place as the home of Volusius, whose prosy verses will never travel farther than their birthplace, as contrasted with the imaginative work of Cinna, which is to penetrate to the remotest parts of the earth.

8. laxas: because the material is abundant. — tunicas: i.e. wrapping paper. The idea is borrowed by Martial (4, 86,8): nec scombris tunicas dabis molestas.

parva mei mihi sint cordi monumenta sodalis:

ΙΟ

at populus tumido gaudeat Antimacho.

96

Si quicquam mutis gratum acceptumve sepulcris
accidere a nostro, Calve, dolore potest,
quo desiderio veteres renovamus amores
atque olim missas flemus amicitias,

95. 9. sodalis written by a 15th cent. hand at end of verse in R omitted in V.

9. parva: the Zmyrna was but a short poem. -sodalis: cf. 10, 29: meus sodalis Cinna est Gaius.

10. populus: the multitude,' who, of course, lack literary appreciation of the best. - tumido: 'wordy.' — Antimacho: a voluminous epic and elegiac poet of Colophon, who lived about 400 B.C., and in popular esteem was adjudged one of the greatest of Greek poets. Cf. Intr. § 6; Cic. Brut. 191; Quint. 10, 1, 53: ei secundas fere grammaticorum consensus deferat.

96

The brevity and delicacy of this little elegy to his dear friend Calvus on the death of his beloved Quintilia prove Catullus a true poet and master of the art of consolation. To the genuine comradeship of these two early Roman

as

elegiac writers such poems Nos. 14, 50, and 53 bear ample testimony.. We see from Prop. 2, 34, 89, that Calvus himself wrote of his lost Quintilia.

1. Si quicquam: this conditional statement of immortality is paralleled often in Roman literature and inscriptions. Cf. Ovid, Am. 3, 9, 59; Cic. Ad Fam. 4, 5, 6; Tac. Agr. 46, 1; CIL. 10, 8131, 14: si sapiunt aliquid post funera Manes; CIL. 6, 6250: bene adquiescas, Hilara, si quid sapiunt inferi; also K. P. H. on "Conceptions of Death and Immortality in Roman Sepulchral Inscriptions," PAPA., Vol. 30, pp. xxviii-xxxi.

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