5 milia cum interea quingenta Hortensius uno * * * * Zmyrna cavas Satrachi penitus mittetur ad undas, ommends that a book (A. P., 2. edita: sc. est. 3. milia. . . quingenta: a mere hyperbole for an indefinitely large number. Cf. 9, I: Verani, omnibus e meis amicis antistans mihi milibus trecentis. Hortensius: cf. Intr. to No. 65. What caused Catullus 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. I, 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. — pervoluent: 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. Si quicquam mutis gratum acceptumve sepulcris quo desiderio veteres renovamus amores 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 elegiac writers such poems as 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. 2. nostro i.e. of the living in general. 3. desiderio : with dolore. in apposition 4. missas: 'lost,' i.e. relinquished of necessity. 5 certe non tanto mors inmatura dolori est 5 Quintiliae, quantum gaudet amore tuo. 99 Surripui tibi, dum ludis, 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 formation; cf. v. 14; perhaps only in these two instances. dulci dulcius: cf. v. 14; also 22, 14: infaceto est infacetior rure; etc. 3. namque memini: 'I guess I didn't! For I haven't forgotten how,' etc. 4. summa. cruce: cf. Eng. 'on the hatchel.' The kind of crucifixion involving impalement brought the greatest torture to the victim; cf. Sen. Ad Marciam de Cons. 20, 3: cruces non unius quidem generis, alii per obscena stipitem egerunt; Ep. 101, 12: suffigas licet et acutam sessuro crucem subdas. 5. tibi: in your eyes.'-purgo: used with conative force; A. 467. 6. tantillum: 'a particle'; cf. the slang expression, not a little bit.' - vestrae : referring not to the individual, but to the class to which Juventius belonged. IO 15 nam simul id factum est, multis diluta labella ne quicquam nostro contractum ex ore maneret, quam quoniam poenam misero proponis amori, IOI Multas per gentes et multa per aequora vectus 99. 8. abstersisti w 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. II3 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 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!' 7. nunc: as it is.'interea merely intensifies tamen, without distinct notion of time. any Cf. Ciris, 44: haec tamen interea ・ ・ accipe dona (an imitation of this passage); Lucr. 5, 83: si tamen interea mirantur. more 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. |