Odi et amo. _Carmen_ 85. 1.
Si tamen e nobis aliquid nisi nomen et umbra
restat, in Elysia valle Tibullus erit:
obvius huic venias, hedera iuvenalia cinctus
tempora, cum Calvo, docte Catulle, tuo.
Ovid, _Amores_, 3. 9. 59-62.
Tenderest of Roman poets...
Sweet Catullus.
Tennyson, '_Frater, Aae atque Vale._'
Catullus is the greatest lyric poet of Roman literature.
With the exception of c. 61, it is in his shorter poems that Catullus
achieves his greatest success. The poet does not handle dactylic
measures quite easily; on the other hand, he is masterly in the lighter
lyrical forms. The harmony of substance and form, the refinement and
transparent clearness of the thoughts, are incomparable, as are the
grace, strength, and warmth of feeling in the shorter pieces.
Teuffel, Schwabe, and Warr, _History of Roman Literature_, vol. 1, p.
391 ff.
Catullus, born at Verona in Cisalpine Gaul, came early to Rome, where
most of his short life was spent. He has left us about 116 poems, most
of them brief, but a few of considerable length. The ultimate
preservation of these depended upon the fortunate rediscovery at Verona
of a single copy. Several of them imitate the learned and artificial
style of the Alexandrine school of Greek poetry. It is on this account
that Ovid applies to him the epithet doctus.
For Reference: Sellar, _Roman Poets of the Republic_, chapter 15;
Robinson Ellis, _A Commentary on Catullus_ (2d edition, Oxford, 1889);
Merrill, _Catullus_ (Boston, 1893); Ellis, _Translation of Catullus_
(London, 1871).
Metres: Phalaecian, A. & G. 623, 624, 625. 11: _Selections_ 1, 3, 4, 5.
Choliambic, A. & G. 618, a, b, c: _Selection_ 6. Elegiac, B. 369, 1, 2;
A. &. G. 616: _Selections_ 2, 7-9.
_1._ 2. oppositast: equals opposita est. The joke turns on the double
meaning of opponere, to expose and to mortgage. We may render the
passage as,--My little farm is not exposed to the drafts of the south
wind...but to a draft for, etc. 3. Apeliotae: a Greek word for east
wind, meaning from the sun, i.e. from the region where the sun rises.
For declension see B. 22; A. & G. 44. 4. ducentos: sc. sestertios. The
sestertius was worth from four to five cents. 5. O ventum...pestilentem:
O unhealthy draft!
_2._ Latin did not naturally use h at all with consonants nor favor its
use before vowels. Greek, however, frequently employs the aspirated
consonants ch, ph, and th as well as the rough breathing; and, though in
earlier times the Romans were satisfied to take Greek words over into
their language without aspirating, e.g. Corintus for [Greek: Korinthos],
in later times aspirating became a fashion. Of this fashion Arrius is an
unskilful follower, who, while believing himself to be achieving a fine
reputation for good form, makes himself a target for the ridicule of
Catullus.
1. vellet: imperfect subjunctive in the protasis of a general condition,
B. 302, 1, 3, a; A. & G. 518, c. 3. sperabat: he used to flatter
himself. 4. quantum poterat: with might and main. Arrius makes all the
display that he can of his elegant (?) accomplishment. 5. liber:
implying that Arrius' uncle had been a slave and that the family is of
humble origin. Catullus thus intimates that what Arrius thinks an
accomplishment really stamps him as of low birth. 7. misso: sent to
Syria on some public service, perhaps with Crassus in 55 B.C. 8.
audibant: B. 116, 4, b; A. & G. 183, 1. leniter et leviter: the devotees
of the aspirating fashion whom Arrius had left behind in Rome were not
so obtrusive about it as he, did not speak out 'quantum poterant.' 9.
postilla: equals postea. 11. Ionios: news of Arrius would come soon from
the Ionian Sea, for, lying as it did to the west of Greece, it would
soon be reached by him on his eastward journey. isset: B. 116, 1; A. &
G. 181, b.
The following is Martin's translation:
Whenever Arrius wished to name
'Commodious,' out 'chommodious' came:
And when of his intrigues he blabbed,
With his 'hintrigues' our ears he stabbed;
And thought, moreover, he displayed
A rare refinement when he made
His h's thus at random fall
With emphasis most guttural.
When suddenly came news one day
Which smote the city with dismay,
That the Ionian seas a change
Had undergone, most sad and strange;
For, since by Arrius crossed, the wild
'Hionian Hocean' they were styled.
_3._ 1. Veneres: the plural is symmetrical with Cupidines, while
suggesting 'the Graces.' 2. et...venustiorum: and all who have a soul
for beauty. hominum: partitive genitive. venustiorum: B. 240, 1; A. & G.
291, a. The expression describes those who possess qualities of grace
and charm, and implies that they can appreciate such qualities. 3.
puellae: probably Clodia, wife of Q. Caecilius Metellus Celer, to whom
under the name of 'Lesbia' Catullus addressed a number of poems. His
attachment for her was the 'one all-absorbing passion of the poet's
life.' 6. mellitus: a honey. suamque: his lady. Catullus speaks of the
sparrow in language appropriate to a lover. 11. iter tenebricosum: the
shadowy journey to Hades. 12. Cf. _Hamlet_, 3. 1:
The undiscover'd country from whose bourn
No traveller returns.
13. At...tenebrae: Evil be to you, evil shadows! 17. tua opera: for you,
i.e. for the sparrow, ablative of cause. 18. turgiduli...ocelli: my
girl's pretty eyes are so red and swollen.
_4._ 2. antistans...trecentis: worth a million of the rest to me.
milibus: depends on antistans, B. 187, III, 1; A. & G. 370. 4. Anum:
aged, used as an adjective. 5. mini: B. 188, c; A. & G. 378, 1. nuntii:
plural, though for a single message. 6. Hiberum: genitive plural. 7.
facta: deeds. 8. adplicansque collum: i.e. with arm about your neck
drawing you to me. 10. Cf. 1, 2 and note on venustiorum. Translate O! of
happy, happy mortals. 11. quid: a 'neuter not very rare in Latin in
similar sweeping appeals.'--Merrill.
_5._ Date, 56 B.C. 1. egelidos: in which there is no chill. 4. Catullus
is at the end of a year of absence in Bithynia on the staff of Memmius
the governor, and is about to return to Italy. Phrygii campi: the plains
about Nicaea. 6. claras Asiae urbes: the famous Greek cities on the
western coast of Asia Minor, as Ephesus, Smyrna. 7. praetrepidans:
tremulous with anticipation. 9. comitum: the other members of the
governor's staff, or cohors. 11. diversae variae: separate and varied.
_6._ Date, 56 B.C. Sirmione (Sirmio) is a peninsula--at high water an
island--extending into the Lago di Garda (Lacus Benacus). An ancient
ruin here of Constantine's time was long known as Catullus' villa. Cf.
with this and the ninth selection Tennyson's '_Frater, Ave atque Vale_':
Row us out from Desenzano, to your Sirmione row!
So they row'd and there we landed--'O venusta Sirmio!'
There to me thro' all the groves of olive in the summer glow,
There beneath the Roman ruin where the purple flowers grow,
Came that 'Ave atque Vale' of the poet's hopeless woe,
Tenderest of Roman poets nineteen hundred years ago,
'Prater, Ave atque Vale'--as we wander'd to and fro
Gazing at the Lydian laughter of the Garda Lake below
Sweet Catullus' all-but-island, olive-silvery Sirmio!
1, 2. Paene insularum...ocelle: pearl of all peninsulas. Paene is used
as an adjective by a Greek construction, A. & G. 321, c. Cf. Ovid,
_Heroides_, 15.357, paene puer. ocelle: cf. Milton, _Paradise Regained_,
4. 240, 'Athens, the eye of Greece.' 3. fert...Neptunus: twin-realmed
(Cranstoun) Neptune upholds in lakes or sea. fert: Poseidon, according
to Homer, is the earth-upholding. Cf. _Exodus_ 20.4 'the water under the
earth.' uterque: i.e. as god of stagna (lakes) and of mare. 5. Thyniam:
the part of Bithynia on the shore of the Thracian Bosporus. 6. liquisse:
the poets are fond of using uncompounded forms of verbs. Cf. 5, 4,
linquantur. 7. O...curis: 'The form of expression suggests that the
cares now past are, as past, actual pleasures.'--Ellis. 8, 9. peregrine
labore: the toil of travel. larem: the home, lit. the household god. 11.
Hoc...tantis: This it is that of itself is a compensation for so great
labors. 12. venusta: Ellis praises 'the beauty of Sirmio, with its high
cliffs descending into the transparently blue water, and the exquisite
color of the surrounding land and sky.' ero gaude: be glad for thy
master, i.e. thy master bids thee 'Rejoice!' 13. Lydiae: the shores of
the lake were once occupied by Etruscans, and they were said to have
come originally from Lydia. The epithet is transferred from lacus to
undae. 14. quidquid...cachinnorum: the clause is to be taken as a
vocative.
_7._ 2. Calve: Calvus was an accomplished orator and poet. Of his
literary work almost nothing remains. He was Catullus' intimate friend
and is often mentioned with him. 3. desiderio: yearning, in apposition
to dolore, defining and specializing it. 4. olim missas: lost in by-gone
days, missas equals amissas. Cf. _Selection_ 6, 6 and note. 6.
Quintiliae: Calvus' young wife. Calvus himself wrote elegies in her
memory.
_8._ This poem was sent to Hortensius introducing a translation from the
Greek poet Callimachus (which is possibly Carmen 66 and of the _Coma
Berinices_). 2. Ortale: Q. Hortensius Ortalus, Cicero's chief rival as
an orator. virginibus: the Muses. 3. fetus: fruitage. 4. mens animi: my
thoughtful soul. Cicero, _De Republica_, 2.40.67, describes the mens as
pars animi. 5, 6. Lethaeo gurgite manans unda: the wave slow-streaming
from the gulf of oblivion. The 'river of death' which the brother of
Catullus has just crossed (Catullus says forded) to return no more, is
called Lethaean (Greek [Greek: lethe], 'forgetfuluess'), since the dead
forget the living, and the living the dead. 6. pallidulum: poor, pallid
foot. 7. Rhoeteo: Rhoeteum was a promontory of the Troad. 8. obterit:
crushes. 13. Daulias: the nightingale, lit. the (transformed) woman of
Daulis. Catullus has taken this name from the legend of Tereus (see
_Harper's Classical Dictionary_, 'Tereus'), while he has followed the
myth as it appears in Odyssey, 19. 518 ff., where the plaintive song of
the nightingale is represented as the lamentation of Aedon for her child
Itylus, whom before her transformation into the nightingale 'she slew
unwittingly with the bronze.' 15. haec expressa carmina Battiadae: these
verses translated from Callimachus. Callimachus of Cyrene, 'the son of
Battus,' was a Greek poet of the Alexandrine school. His death occurred
about 240 B.C. 16. nequiquam...ventis: i.e. ineffectual.
_9._ 'An invocation accompanying offerings at the tomb of the poet's
brother.'--Merrill. Catullus probably made this visit to the Troad on
his Bithynian journey. Date, probably 57 B.C. 2. miseras ad inferias:
for these sad offerings. The inferiae, or offerings to the dead,
consisted of wine, milk, blood, honey, flowers, etc. 4. nequiquam: no
answer would be returned. 6. indigne: wrongfully, because his death was
premature. 7. Nunc tamen interea: But now while I thus am sorrowing,
interea, as in 14. 21, 36. 18, and _Ciris_, 44 ff., marks the transition
from reflection upon a situation to the act which that situation demands
at the moment. 9. multum manantia: drenched. 10. ave atque vale: the
formula of farewell to the dead, spoken at the conclusion of the funeral
ceremonies. Cf. Vergil, _Aeneid_, 11. 97 ff.