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esse, quod hic quisquis de meliore nota frigida deserto tepefactat membra cubili,

id, Mani, non est turpe, magis miserumst. ignosces igitur, si, quae mihi luctus ademit, haec tibi non tribuo munera, cum nequeo. nam quod scriptorum non magna est copia apud me, hoc fit quod Romae vivimus: illa domus, illa mihi sedes, illic mea carpitur aetas:

huc una ex multis capsula me sequitur.

quod cum ita sit, nolim statuas nos mente maligna

28. quisquis V quivis Lachmann. 29. tepefactat altered from tepefacit RM tepefacit V tepefaxit Lachmann tepefactet Bergk. 30. Mani Lachmann mali VRM mauli or malli Dw.

:

28. hic i.e. Rome, whence Allius wrote. quisquis apparently used for quisque without est ; cf. Cic. Ad Fam. 6, 1, 1: quocumque in loco quisquis est; Tusc. Disp. 5, 34, 98; also the legal phrase, quod quemquam hac lege profiterei oportebit, which Lachmann quotes on Lucr. 5, 264, from the Lex Iulia Municipalis, 13. meliore nota: Clodia and her various paramours belonged to an aristocratic circle of society.

29. deserto: i.e. by Catullus when he went to Verona.- tepefactat: this expressive frequentative form is a ἅπαξ λεγόμενον, as is one other of the two dozen frequentatives used by Catullus, trusantem (56, 6). But the present instance, it should be noted, is a quotation from Allius.

30. magis cf. 66, 87, n.miserumst: i.e. a reason to pity me, a further cause for such sorrow

as to prevent me from complying with your request.

31. ignosces: mild command. 32. haec... munera: the love poetry. cum: a good illustration of the narrow line dividing the temporal from the causal. Perhaps both ideas were in the mind of the poet.

33. nam anticipates the question why Catullus cannot comply with the first part of the request in v. 10, i.e. send him some books of poetry (scriptorum), not necessarily erotic; perhaps translations from Callimachus, like No. 66, perhaps of a different character.

34. vivimus: here in Verona I am merely temporarily managing to exist; real life, with all that makes it worth living, is only at Rome, for me.

36. huc to Verona.-capsula: for books. sequitur = secuta est. 37. statuas: 'conclude.'

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id facere aut animo non satis ingenuo,
quod tibi non utriusque petenti copia postast:
ultro ego deferrem, copia siqua foret.

non possum reticere, deae, qua me Allius in re
iuverit aut quantis iuverit officiis,
ne fugiens saeclis obliviscentibus aetas
illius hoc caeca nocte tegat studium,
sed dicam vobis, vos porro dicite multis
milibus et facite haec charta loquatur anus

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notescatque magis mortuus atque magis,

nec tenuem texens sublimis aranea telam

39. posta VRM facta Dw. 41. No gap before this v. in VRM. qua me Allius Scaliger quam fallius VRM.

39. non utriusque neutrius, referring to the two requests of v. 10. postast: although the only example of this verb with copia, it seems (to say nothing of its Ms. authority) to express better than the more usual facta the thought of offering, or setting before Allius, a choice of what was desirable; and the origin of posta as a false reading is very hard to explain.

41. non possum: cf. nequeo (v. 32); though he cannot accede to either request of Allius formally, he cannot refrain from writing the praises of Allius himself. Conventionalities prevent certain things for people in mourning; but the phenomenon of eluding these restrictions and allowing Nature to assert herself under other forms is a familiar one in all times,

as in this poem, where Catullus really sings of the former delights of his association with Lesbia, partly in direct manner, and partly by indirection through the parallel of Laodamia. deae Musae. 42. iuverit . . . iuverit: note the emphatic repetition.

43. obliviscentibus: poetically used with causative force.

44. caeca: active. nocte = caligine.

45. porro: 'in turn.'

46. anus: 'when old' (and presumably garrulous, a quality which may have been further elaborated in the following missing verse). With this adjectival use cf. 77, 10: qui sis fama loquetur anus; 9,4: anumque matrem; Mart. 12, 4, 4: chartaque dicet anus.

48. notescat: one of several inceptives that appear first in Cat.

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in deserto Alli nomine opus faciat.

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nam mihi quam dederit duplex Amathusia curam
scitis, et in quo me corruerit genere,

cum tantum arderem quantum Trinacria rupes
lymphaque in Oetaeis Malia Thermopylis,
maesta neque adsiduo tabescere lumina fletu
cessarent tristique imbre madere genae,
qualis in aerii perlucens vertice montis.
rivus muscoso prosilit e lapide,

qui cum de prona praeceps est valle volutus,
per medium densi transit iter populi,
dulce viatori lasso in sudore levamen,

50. Alli O ali GR alii M.

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The subj., of course, is Allius. magis. atque magis: Catullus employs also the shorter magis magis in 38, 3 and 64, 274.

50. deserto . nomine: the picture is that of an inscription neglected and forgotten. Ellis cites Shakespeare, Sonnets, 55, 4: 66 unswept stone, besmear'd with sluttish time."

51. duplex Amathusia: 'the two-phased goddess of Amathus'; cf. v. 18. At Amathus was one of the celebrated Cyprian temples of Aphrodite. The supposed reference here to a Hermaphroditic statue of the goddess is probably due to the learned imagination of the commentators.

52. genere: 'manner.'

53. Trinacria rupes: Aetna, the ever-active volcano.

54. lympha: the hot springs at Thermopylae, on one side of

54. Malia w Maulia VRM Manlia D.

which is Mt. Oeta, and on the other, the Malian gulf.

56. imbre: 'flood' of tears. 57. qualis: points of likeness in the simile are the high, clear, and beautiful source of the stream, its crystal purity, and its sudden burst into full flow. To these we may possibly add the relief afforded by it to the wayfarer through the weary wastes of burning passion; but vv. 59-62 seem rather the mere natural rounding out of a beautiful description of natural scenery without special significance, the poet being himself carried on by the force of his own rhetoric, like his mountain brooklet. Cf. also Howe, p. 12.

58. muscoso: this descriptive word goes further to paint the picture than any other. Cf. Verg. Ec. 7, 45: muscosi fontes.

59. prona praeceps: cf. 65, 23, n.

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cum gravis exustos aestus hiulcat agros.
hic, velut in nigro iactatis turbine nautis
lenius adspirans aura secunda venit
iam prece Pollucis, iam Castoris inplorata,
tale fuit nobis Allius auxilium.

is clausum lato patefecit limite campum,
isque domum nobis, isque dedit dominam,
ad quam communes exerceremus amores.
quo mea se molli candida diva pede
intulit et trito fulgentem in limine plantam

innixa arguta constituit solea,

66. Allius (in the margin Manllius) O Manlius GRM Mallius altered from Manlius D Manius Lachmann. 67. clausum O classum GM claussum w. 68. dominam VM dominae Froelich.

62. Cf. Sall. Iug. 19, 6: loca exusta solis ardoribus.

63. hic refers back to the cum of v. 53.

65. Pollucis... Castoris: obj. gen., like the more natural precationibus deorum dearumque (Livy, 1, Praef. 13); Prop. 4, 1, 101. inplorata agrees, probably, with aura. Cf. Prop. 1, 17, 18, n.

66. nobis = mihi; so also in v. 68.

67. limite: the means by which Catullus gained access to his love; a kind of cross-lots' route, upon which might well have been inscribed, “ private way, dangerous passing."

68. dominam: the lady of the house,' who would supposably act as chaperon and lend the air of propriety to the meeting. What house and what lady, whether Allius's wife or not, we are not informed.

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75

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85

coniugis ut quondam flagrans advenit amore

Protesilaeam Laodamia domum

inceptam frustra, nondum cum sanguine sacro
hostia caelestis pacificasset eros.

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nil mihi tam valde placeat, Rhamnusia virgo,
quod temere invitis suscipiatur eris.
quam ieiuna pium desideret ara cruorem,
docta est amisso Laodamia viro,
coniugis ante coacta novi dimittere collum,
quam veniens una atque altera rursus hiems
noctibus in longis avidum saturasset amorem,
posset ut abrupto vivere coniugio,

quod scibant Parcae non longo tempore abisse,

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85. scibant VM sceibant D scibat Lachmann scirant Lucian Mueller.

74. Laodamia: in extent and detail this episode is worthy of the poet's Alexandrian models, and is paralleled in Catullus only by the Ariadne episode in No. 64. Laodamia is a type of intense and constant conjugal affection. When her newly wedded spouse, Protesilaus, the first of the Greeks to perish on the plain of Troy, was permitted to return for three brief hours to earth, she committed suicide that she might accompany him on his final journey to the lower world. For various forms and details of the myth cf. Hom. Il. 2, 695-710; Eurip. Protesilaus; Hygin. Fab. 103; Ovid, Her. 13.

75. inceptam frustra: because never finished, either literally or figuratively; cf. I. 2, 701: kai δόμος ἡμιτελής.

76. hostia... pacificasset: just what sacrifice was omitted is not clear; but it seems to have been one that should have preceded the beginning of a new house by Protesilaus, an important undertaking which should not have lacked preliminary divine approval. -eros: this unusual designation for the gods is repeated in v. 78.

77. Rhamnusia virgo: cf. 66, 71, n.

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78. quod ut id. - invitis. eris: cf. 76, 12.

79. ieiuna: cf. Prop. 3, 15, 18: ieiunae saepe negavit

vilem
aquam.

82. Cf. Intr. § 42, I (5) (a). 84. vivere: 'bear to live.' 85. quod coniugio. scibant: the regular early form in this conjugation, but later supplanted by

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