ΙΟ 15 desertum in lecto caelibe perpetitur, id gratum est mihi, me quoniam tibi dicis amicum, neu me odisse putes hospitis officium, tempore quo primum vestis mihi tradita purast, multa satis lusi: non est dea nescia nostri II. incommoda Do commoda VM comoda R. Mani Lachmann mali VRM al' mauli sec. man. in M margin of R mauli or malli Dw. 20 25 quae dulcem curis miscet amaritiem : sed totum hoc studium luctu fraterna mihi mors haec studia atque omnis delicias animi. 27. Catullo Do Catulle VR. 18. dulcem . . . amaritiem: an oxymoron familiar to all literature, as to all human experience; cf. 64,95: sancte puer, curis hominum qui gaudia misces; Sappho, Frag. 40: γλυκύπικρον ἀμάχανον ὄρπετον ; Plaut. Cist. I, 1, 69: ecastor amor et melle et fellest fecundissumus : gustu dat dulce, amarum ad satietatem usque oggerit; Ben Jonson, Sad Shepherd, 1, 2: "I have known some few, And read of more, who have had their dose, and deep, Of these sharp bitter-sweets." This parallel archaic form of the noun (amaritiem), though of a common type, occurs nowhere else. 19. totum hoc studium: i.e. both love's dalliance and the poetry that accompanies it, including both ideas expressed in v. 26.-fraterna . . mors: cf. 65, 5, n.; IoI. 21. moriens: instrumental. 22. tota ... sepulta domus : to be understood in no literal sense, but as the natural extravagant expression of poignant grief. The next verse repeats the thought in different form. 26. haec studia: the writing of love poetry. - omnis delicias animi: the joys of love itself. This phrase reminds Catullus of a remark in the letter of Allius, to which he replies parenthetically in vv. 27-30, resuming the main argument in v. 31. 27. Veronae: the quotation from the letter of Allius begins here and includes the next two verses, quoting, as is common in literature, not the whole sentence of Allius, but the important part, something like est, or credo esse, evidently being omitted. Catullus after his brother's death is tarrying at his old home in Verona, while (so Allius writes) Lesbia's lovers are taking advantage of him in his absence from Rome. 30 35 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. 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.' 40 45 id facere aut animo non satis ingenu quod tibi non utriusque petenti copia p ultro ego deferrem, copia siqua foret non possum reticere, deae, qua me All iuverit aut quantis iuverit officiis, ne fugiens saeclis obliviscentibus aetas illius hoc caeca nocte tegat studium, sed dicam vobis, vos porro dicite multi milibus et facite haec charta loquatu notescatque magis mortuus atque ma nec tenuem texens sublimis aranea tela 39. posta VRM facta Dw. Allius Scaliger quam fallius VRM. 41. No gap before this z 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, 88 as in this poe really sings of t of his associat partly in direct by indirection lel of Laodamia 42. iuverit. the emphatic re 43. oblivisce used with causa 44. caeca : caligine. 45. porro: i 46. anus: presumably gar which may ha elaborated in th ing verse). W use cf. 77, 10: tur anus; 9,4: Mart. 12, 4, 4: ch 48. notescat: inceptives that a 50 in deserto Alli nomine opus faciat. 55 60 nam mihi quam dederit duplex Amathusia curam cum tantum arderem quantum Trinacria rupes qui cum de prona praeceps est valle volutus, 50. Alli O ali GR alii M. 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: "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. |