My friend, the dearest and the best,
E'en though ten thousand I possess'd!--
My own Verannius! art thou come
To greet again thy gods of home,
And brethren that so well agree
Together, and in loving thee--
And come to thy sweet mother, too?
O blessed news! and it is true,
That I shall see thee safe at last;
And hear thee tell thy travel pass'd--
Of Spanish places, things, and tribes,
(While every word my heart imbibes,)
In thine old way: shall I embrace
Thy neck--and kiss thy pleasant face?
Find me the happy where you can,
I still shall be the happiest man.
GRATIAN.--What are we to have next?
AQUILIUS.--An invitation to dinner, or, as the Romans made it,
supper--and a curious invitation it is. Fabullus, to whom it was
addressed, was companion to his friend Verannius--and both were with the
pestilent Piso, in Spain.
CURATE.--And brought little out of it; but returned poorer than they
went--as did, it should seem, Catullus himself from Bithynia. So that I
should imagine the invitation to Fabullus was a mere jest upon their
mutual poverty. For it does not appear that Fabullus was in a condition
to indulge in luxuries.
AQUILIUS.--Perhaps, when the invitation was sent, Catullus was not aware
that his friend had been as unsuccessful, under Piso, as he had himself
been, under Memmius. Thus stands the invitation:--