1. argumentum: sign, warning.—2. tute: A. & G. 99, ƒ. — possies. A. & G. 137, b, note. 17. Courageous words of Telamon (in the tragedy of that name) on receiving news that both his sons had been killed in battle. So Xenophon, on learning that his son Gryllus had fallen nobly at Mantinea, said: dew Ovnтdv γεγεννηκώς. 18. Telamon is the speaker here also. It was a fundamental Epicurean doctrine that the gods dwelt in a state of divine repose, without interfering in the affairs of this world for good or ill. I. esse: exist. — caelitum: agreeing with the gen. plural deum.— 2. abest: it is far from so. 19. This, too, is from the Telamon. A shrewd exposure of the pretensions of soothsayers and fortune-tellers, applicable to any age and country. Prose translation in Sellar, P. R. p. 115. 1. vates: this word, the oldest Latin term for poet, had in Ennius's time fallen into contempt on account of its application to soothsayers. The Greek word poeta was substituted. Vates was revived in the Augustan age by Vergil and Horace, who used it of an inspired bard, in a higher sense than poeta. — arioli: spelled also harioli.—3. alteri: dative. —4. ab eis: scan thus: u>, and so the next foot. - drachumam: note the contrast between this small coin and the meaning of divitias. CATULLUS. (Probably 87-54 B. C.) Mackail, pp. 52–61. Cruttwell, pp. 232-238. Sellar, P. R., Chap. 15. *Martial, 14. 195, Tantum magna suo debet Verona Catullo, quantum parva suo Mantua Vergilio Metrical translations of Catullus's poems by Sir Theodore Martin, Robinson Ellis, George Lamb, and others.1 1. Dedication of a volume of poems to Cornelius Nepos. Metre Phalaecean or Hendecasyllabic (p. 3, § 14, cf. § 29). 1. Quoi, century A. D. cui, was the early form, and did not give way to cui until the first The first volume of inscriptions (to Caesar's death) has only quoi. 1 Martin's translations are the best. He does not preserve the traditional order of the poems, but he keeps the usual numbering, so that any poem can be easily found by consulting the table of contents. Ellis reproduces the original metres. dono: present with future meaning; A. & G. 276, c; G. 228. - novom: see A. & G. 7. libellum: regularly used of a book of poetry, which was generally shorter than a book of prose. -2. pumice: pumice was used to even and polish the ends of the papyrus roll; cf. 12. 8; Ov. Trist. 1. 1. 11, nec fragili geminae poliantur pumice frontes. On the Roman book see Smith, D. A., s. v. Liber. 4. nugas: trifles, used of light short poems. So often in Horace and Martial. -5. Nepos, author of the familiar Lives, wrote also Chronica in three books (tribus chartis), which was the first attempt by an Italian at writing universal history. The friendship of Nepos and Catullus may have sprung from the fact that both came to Rome from Cisalpine Gaul. In the Life of Atticus (12. 4) Nepos speaks of Lucretius and Catullus together as the most finished poets of their time. Nepos himself appears to have written love-poems.-6. charta: a sheet of paper made from the inner pith of the papyrus stalk. Here used by synecdoche for the book or roll made from it.-7. Iuppiter: not a case of aldress, but a mere exclamation of amazement at such a learned work. - 8. quidquid hoc libelli: "this little booklet," Martin. Libelli is partitive; A. & G. 216, a, 3; G. 369. —9. patrona virgo: the muse of lyric poetry. The muses are elsewhere called virgines. Poets were sub clientela Musarum. Some scholars think that Minerva, not the muse, is invoked here. She was a patroness of poets (Ov. 11. 25, dea carminis illa est), and it was in her temple on the Aventine that the poets' guild had its meetings. -10. With this modest prayer for a poet's fame compare the more confident tone of Ovid's farewell to love-songs, Ov. 15. 8. Even Catullus is not always so modest. 2. Poems upon pet birds were not uncommon in antiquity. Catullus has another poem (3), lamenting the death of Lesbia's sparrow. Cf. further Ov. Am. 2. 6 on the death of a parrot, Mart. 1. 7 on a dove, 14. 76 on a magpie, etc. These were all outdone, however, in length and elaboration by John Skelton, an English poet of Henry Eighth's time. In his Boke of Phyllyp Sparowe we have a dirge over the death of the pet of a nun, Jane Scrope. Metre Phalaecean or Hendecasyllabic (p. 3, § 14). - 1. Passer: vocative belonging with vss. 9 and 10, all that intervenes being parenthetical. The sparrow was the canary-bird of Roman ladies, and is still a common pet in Italy. 2. qui: old ablative of the relative, interrogative, and indefinite pronouns. A. & G. 104, c.-ludere: depends on solet in vs. 4. 3. quoi: see on 1. 1. — primum: tip, i. e. first part of; cf. summus mons, etc. adpetenti: of the bird's pecking. 5. desiderio : the person longed for. Cicero writes to his wife and children (ad Fam. 14. 2. 4), valete, men desideria. nitenti: "bright," Ellis. -6. carum: adj. limiting nescio quid, which is cognate obj. of iocari. Whatever Lesbia does is dear to Catullus. Another interpretation makes carum nescio quid plλov Ti. — iocari: to trifle, frolic.—7. solaciolum : diminutives are characteristic of Catullus. - doloris : love-pangs. Cf. Ov. A. A. 2. 519, litore quot conchae, tot sunt in amore dolores.-8. credo: parenthetical. ut acquiescat: purpose of iocari. -9. ipsa := = puella. · -possem: A. & G. 267; G. 200. 3. Lament for Lesbia's Sparrow. Metre Phalaecean or Hendecasyllabic (p. 3, § 14). Translated by Byron, Translation from Catullus. Catullus introduces -- venus 1. Cupidines: the plural often in Alexandrian poets. the idea to Latin poetry and is followed by later writers. In art, too, many Cupids are often represented in attendance upon Venus, or sometimes upon Bacchus. Veneres is plural here for symmetry with Cupidines. Cf. 10. 12 (plural just as here) with Carmen 36. 3, Veneri Cupidinique. 2. quantumst (= quantum est) hominum: all the men there are. On case of hominum see note on 1. 8. tiorum: possessed of all charms and graces of mind and body. The personification of all these qualities is Venus, and to Catullus's mind Lesbia is not far behind; cf. 25. 5 f. — 5. This idea recurs frequently in the Alexandrian poets. Terence first used it in Latin literature: cf. Ad. 701, magis te quam oculos nunc ego amo meos. Catullus has it elsewhere; see e. g. 11. 1. Cf. also Deut. 32. 10, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. Once Catullus addresses an intimate friend as ocelle; cf. also 14. 2.-7. ipsam: mistress. Cf. the Pythagorean avτds ĕpa, ipse dixit = the master said so, it is gospel truth. Cf. 2.9. 8. illius: Catullus has but one case of a long penult in genitives of this class, illius, Carmen 67. 23. Cf. A. & G. 347, a, Ex. 1; G. 706, Ex. 4.- 10. ad solam dominam: cf. Carmen 61. 219, rideat ad patrem. - 12. A similar thought is to be found in a fragment of Philetas, the teacher of Theocritus (frg. 4 Sch. = Stob. Flor. iv. p. 94 Meineke), ἄτραπον εἰς Αἴδεω | ἤνυσα, τὴν οὔπω τις ἐναντίον ἦλθεν ὁδίτης. Vergil's ripam irremeabilis undae (Aen. 6. 425) and Shakspere's The undiscovered country from whose bourn No traveller returns (Hamlet 3. 1. 79 f.) will occur to all. 15. mihi: what is Lesbia's loss is Catullus's too. For syntax cf. A. & G. 229; G. 345, R. 1. - 16. miselle passer: poor little sparrow. - 17. tua opera: the metre shows the case. 18. Juvenal alludes to this line in 6. 7 f., cuius | turbavit nitidos exstinctus passer ocellos. Cf. Mart. 7. 14. 3 f., ploravit amica Catulli | Lesbia, nequitiis passeris orba sui; Herrick in 256, Upon the Death of his Sparrow: · 'Had Leshia, too too kind, but known 4. An old yacht, lying on the shore of a lake, boasts of its early seaworthiness. Of many parodies on this poem, the earliest, ascribed to Vergil (Cat. 8), begins, Sabinus ille quem videtis, hospites, ait fuisse mulio celerrimus. Metre Iambic Trimeter or Senarius. A. & G. 365, and a, b. 1. Phasellus: it has generally been held, in spite of many difficulties, that Catullus is here writing of his own yacht in which he returned from Bithynia to Italy in 56 B. C. It is much simpler, as Professor C. L. Smith has shown (Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, iii. pp. 75 ff.), to assume that Catullus had no personal interest in the boat. It was built on the shore of the Euxine, whence it bore its owner in safety to some Italian lake - perhaps Lake Garda (Lacus Benacus), for Catullus had a villa upon the shore of this lake. A beautiful vessel, built abroad, of proved sea-faring qualities, it had for many years been the pride of the lake; but now at last it lies on the beach," a reminder, to all who know its history, of the goodness of the twin deities who long ago, without so much as demanding a vow for their service, had brought it safely through its dangerous journey." The phasellus was a light swift sail boat, sometimes, but not always, supplied with oars. Cf. vss. 2-5; also Hor. 13. 28 f., fragilem phaselon (cf. páσnλos); Cic. ad Att. 14. 16. 1, in phaselum epicopum. The name was not confined, however, to small craft; cf. Sall. apud Nonium, p. 534, cohors una grandi phaselo vecta. Appian (de Bell. Civ. 5. 95) mentions pάonλoi tpinpetiKol, which may perhaps have been suitable for fighting, like triremes. See Torr, Ancient Ships, p. 120. -2. fuisse: has been (in its day). - celerrimus: for case, cf. A. & G. 272. b; G. 527. N. 2; for gender, G. 211. R. 2 (cf. A. & G. 187, e). — 3. ullius: see on 3. 8. - trabis: cf. Aen. 3. 191, vastum cava trabe currimus aequor. So δόρυ in Greek, as Eur. Hel. 1611, ἄναξ ἐς Ελλάδ ̓ εἶπεν εὐθύνειν δόρυ. — 5. foret: erat of dir. disc. On secondary sequence, cf. A. & G. 336, B. N. 2; G. 518.6-9. The course of the yacht from the Pontus (Euxine) to Italy is here traced backwards. - hoc: object of negare. - Hadriatici: adjective used for Hadriae. The Adriatic was a stormy sea; cf. Hor. Carm. 1. 33. 15, fretis acrior Hadriae; Taming of the Shrew, 1. 2, rough as are the swelling Adriatic seas. -7. Cycladas: also a dangerous neighborhood: cf. Hor. 4. 20. - 8. Rhodum nobilem: Rhodes was famous as a maritime power for several centuries. In Catullus's time the island was especially resorted to by students of oratory and rhetoric. Cicero and Caesar studied there under Molon. - Thraciam: adjective limiting Propontida.· 9. Propontida: the final short syllable is lengthened in thesis before the following mute and r. So impotentia in vs. 18 and ultimā Britannia in Carmen 29. 4. Cf. G. 704 (end) and 703, R. 1, and see on Ennius 2. 20.10. post: adverb with phasellus. A Grecism not common in Latin until the Augustan age, A. & G. 188, e 4; G. 439, N. 4. -II. comata silva: "a leafy wood," Munro. From the time of Homer's kóμn λains (Od. 23. 195) the poets often compared foliage to hair. 12. sibilum edidit: cf. Longfellow's the murmuring pines, Bayard Taylor's pine filled with a whispering gush (Metempsychosis of the Pine), and Tennyson's (Princess) 'As in a poplar grove when a light wind wakes A lisping of the innumerous leaf and dies, Each hissing in his neighbour's ear.' - loquente coma: Vergil is less artificial, Ecl. 8. 22, pinos loquentes. Cf. Ten nysol s The Talking Oak, stanzas 5 and 6: 'For oft I talked with him apart, And told him of my choice, Until he plagiarised a heart, And answer'd with a voice. Tho' what he whisper'd under Heaven I found him garrulously given, A babbler in the land.' ... - A -13. Amastri: Greek vocative. Amastris was a town on the coast of Paphlagonia, Cytorus a neighboring mountain. - 14. tibi: singular (so tuo in vss. 16 and 17) because the town and the mountain are thought of as one locality. 18. impotentia: see on vs. 9 for the metre. - 19. In alternative conditions the poets sometimes omit sive with the first member, as here with laeva. G. 496, N. 1, end. - -20. vocaret aura: cf. Aen. 3. 356, aurae vela vocant, but ib. 4. 417, vocat iam carbasus auras. - utrumque: with pedem. - Iuppiter: = aura; cf. Ennius in Varro's L. L. 5. 65, Iuppiter .. qui ventus est et nubes, imber postea, atque ex imbre frigus, ventus post fit, aer denuo. He is often used of the sky, as in Hor. 1. 25, manet sub Iore frigido venator. — 21. pedem: pedes (wódes) were the sheets which fastened the lower corners of the sail when it was set. breeze dead astern (secundus) would exert the same tension on both sheets; cf. Ov. Fast. 3. 565, nancta ratem . . . pede labitur aequo.-22. Such a "goodly vessel" could "laugh at all disaster," and had found no need to invoke the gods to bring her safely to her destination. The gods of the sea are poetically called shore gods, because offerings were made to them upon coming safe to land. Cf. Verg. Geor. 1.436, votaque servati solvent in litore nautae | Glauco, etc. In Horace's prayer for a safe voyage for Vergil to Athens (Carm. 1. 3), Venus, the Dioscuri, and Aeolus are invoked. - 23. sibi: agent, A. & G. 232, a; G. 354. — marei: mari. From about the time of the Gracchi ei was often used in writing to represent a long i. There was at this time no difference in sound between i and ei; cf. Allen, Early Latin, § 9.-24. novissimo: most distant; cf. Ov. Trist. 3. 13. 27, terrarum pars paene novissima, Pontus. — limpidum: Ellis testifies to the "transparent and exquisite blue of the Lago di Garda" to-day. We cannot be certain, however, that Lake Garda is meant here; see on vs. 1.-26. senet: is passing its old age. tibi singular, not as in vs. 14, but meaning Castor alone: then Pollux (gemelle Castoris) is added as an afterthought. - 27. "The Great Twin Brethren were so constantly thought of together, that the name of either one would suffice for both. So the temple of Castor (Liv. 2. 42. 5) at Rome was the seat of worship of both brothers. With the expression here cf. Hor. Epod. 17. 42 f., Castor fraterque magni Castoris; Carm. 3. 29. 64, geminus Pollux. The Dioscuri were protectors of sailors; cf. Hymn. Hom. 33. 6 f., σωτῆρας . WкUπÓρWV TE Veŵv; Hor. Carm. 1. 3. 2, see on vs. 22; N. T., Acts, 28. 11, ἀνήχθημεν ἐν πλοίῳ . . ̓Αλεξανδρίνῳ, παρασήμῳ Διοσκούροις (see on Hor. 4. 10). 5. Live and Love. 'It was a lover and his lass, This carol they began that hour, With a hey and a ho and a hey nonino! How that life was but a flower: And therefore take the present time With a hey and a ho and a hey nonino!' Shakspere, As You Like It, 5. 3. 'What is love? 't is not hereafter; Present mirth hath present laughter; |