5 5 certe non tanto mors inmatura dolori est Quintiliae, quantum gaudet amore tuo. 99 Surripui tibi, dum lúdis, mellite Iuventi, saviolum dulci dulcius ambrosia. verum id non inpune tuli: namque amplius horam suffixum in summa me memini esse cruce, dum tibi me purgo nec possum fletibus ullis tantillum vestrae demere saevitiae. 96. 5. dolori est D dolore est w dolor est VM dolorist Haupt doloreist Ellis. 6. quantum: i.e. gaudium. 99 Catullus protests against the torture inflicted upon him by Juventius in punishment for a stolen kiss. The series of poems connected with the fondness of Catullus for the pretty boy Juventius includes among others Nos. 15, 24, 48, 81. Some editors have argued that Juventius, as well as Marathus, the boy favorite of Tibullus, are mere literary fictions. It seems more probable that Juventius, at any rate, was a real person, who afforded some diversion for the poet's affections after he had finally cast off Lesbia as unworthy. 1. mellite: cf. 48, 1-3: mellitos oculos tuos, Iuventi, siquis me sinat usque basiare, usque ad milia basiem trecenta. 2. saviolum: a rare example of Catullus's favorite diminutive ΙΟ 15 nam simul id factum est, multis diluta labella ne quicquam nostro contractum ex ore maneret, quam quoniam poenam misero proponis amori, Multas per gentes et multa per aequora vectus 99. 8. abstersisti o abstersti O astersi GM. 7. id: the stealing of the kiss. 8. guttis: i.e. of water. - articulis fingers'; cf. Prop. 2, 34, 80: Cynthius inpositis temperat articulis. 9. contractum: cf. the Eng. 'contract a disease'; Plin. N.H. 36, 27, 69: pestilentiae quae ob scuratione solis contrahitur. 10. Cf. 78, 8: savia conminxit spurca saliva tua. 11. Amori: i.e. as to an executioner. The offishness of Juventius made the flames of Catullus's love burn all the hotter. 14. tristi tristius: cf. v. 2, n. 15. Catullus shows philosophic insight into the boyish contrariness of Juventius, and meeting him on his own ground is likely to win the day. ROM. EL. POETS-8 101 Written on visiting his brother's tomb at Rhoeteum, and probably used as an epitaph there. This visit must have been made on his way to Bithynia with Memmius in 57 B.C., rather than on the return journey, and was indeed one of the principal motives that prompted him to go to the East at that time. Cf. 65, 5-11; 68, 19-24, 89-100; also Tennyson's familiar poem. 1. per gentes: i.e. past their shores, while multa per aequora means 'over' many seas. Some of the seas were doubtless the Ionian, the Sicilian, the Cretan, the Myrtoan, the Aegean. To a landsman who had traveled little by either land or sea, this 113 5 ΙΟ ut te postremo donarem munere mortis et mutam nequiquam adloquerer cinerem, quandoquidem fortuna mihi tete abstulit ipsum, heu miser indigne frater adempte mihi. nunc tamen interea haec prisco quae more parentum tradita sunt tristis munera ad inferias accipe fraterno multum manantia fletu, atque in perpetuum, frater, ave atque vale. 2. inferias: as his brother is already buried, and no other members of the family are present, the funeral rites are necessarily much abridged in this case, and perhaps consist essentially only in the placing of this epitaph and the final adieu, spoken in v. 10, without the garlands, perfumes, and other features of more elaborate ceremonies. 5. fortuna: 'misfortune,' as in 64, 218.tete: cf. 30, 7: certe tute iubebas. 6. Cf. 68, 20 and 92; Ovid, Fast. 4, 852: atque ait invito frater adempte, vale!' as it is.'. interea merely intensifies tamen, without any distinct notion of time. Cf. Ciris, 44: haec tamen interea .. accipe dona (an imitation of more this passage); Lucr. 5, 83: si tamen interea mirantur. parentum: cf. CIL. 9, 4508, 1: frater, post tempora nostra maiorum ut faceres more suprema mihi. 8. ad inferias: purpose acc. 9. fraterno multum manantia fletu: cf. Mart. 6, 85, 11: accipe cum fletu maesti breve carmen amici atque haec absentis tura fuisse puta. 10. in perpetuum: this common phrase does not refer to the mortality of the soul, but merely to the irrevocable fact of death; cf. the Christian inscriptions, Buecheler, Car. Lat. Epig. 734, 10: Paula soror tumulum dedit et solacia magni parva tulit luctus, tristique heu pectore 'salve perpetuomque vale frater carissime' dixit; 737, 10: iam vale perpetuo dulcis et in pace quiesce. — ave atque vale such novissima verba were regularly employed at the close of funeral rites; cf. Verg. Aen. 6, 231: lustravitque viros dixitque novissima verba; II, 97: salve aeternum mihi, maxime Palla, aeternumque vale. 5 I02 Si quicquam tacito commissum est fido ab amico, meque esse invenies illorum iure sacratum, 107 Si quoi quid cupido optantique obtigit umquam restituis cupido atque insperanti, ipsa refers te 107. 1. quoi quid Ribbeck quicquid GM quid quid O quicquam D. 107 The joy of Catullus on the unexpected return of Lesbia after an estrangement. Evidently written before any serious rupture in their intimacy occurred. The repetitions in the phraseology (see vv. I and 4, 2 and 3, 4 and 5) are noteworthy as an indication of his rapturous excitement. 1. cupido: cf. 68, 158, n. 2. hoc used of the general proposition, while in v. 3 it refers to this particular case as stated in v. 4. 3. nobis: cf. 116, 3, n. - - carius auro: cf. Tib. 1, 8, 31: carior est auro iuvenis. 5. ipsa of your own accord.' 6. candidiore nota: lucky or happy days were marked with a quis me uno vivit felicior, aut magis hac rem 108 Si, Comini, populi arbitrio tua cana senectus spurcata inpuris moribus intereat, non equidem dubito quin primum inimica bonorum lingua execta avido sit data vulturio, 8. op 107. 7. hac rem Postgate hac e 0 me est GM hac res Lachmann. tandam in Postgate optandus VM optandas Lachmann magi' mi esse optandum in Statius. 108. 1. Si, Comini, Guarinus sic homini VM. populi arbitrio Statius populari arbitrio VM. 4. execta o exercta O exerta GM excerpta Ellis. pulsiveness and extravagance in his expressions, we need not at once convict Cominius of being such a monster of iniquity as he is here described. = 4. execta exsecta. — sit data: it is doubtful whether the tense has any special significance here, any more than the rather frequent active forms in tenses of completed action found in the elegiac writers, where tenses of incomplete action would be expected. Cf. Tib. 1, 1, 29, n.- vulturio: all the creatures enumerated here are of the sort that viciously peck or snap at other flesh, so that the comparison in each case is appropriate; cf. Ovid, Ibis, 169-172: unguibus et rostro crudus trahet ilia vultur, et scindent avidi perfida corda canes, deque tuo fiet― licet |