Readings from Latin Verse Part 10

III. CATULLUS.

84-54 B.C.

Odi et amo. _Carmen_ 85. 1.

Si tamen e n.o.bis aliquid nisi nomen et umbra restat, in Elysia valle Tibullus erit: obvius huic venias, hedera iuvenalia cinctus tempora, c.u.m 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 pa.s.sage 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 fas.h.i.+on. Of this fas.h.i.+on 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 Cra.s.sus in 55 B.C. 8.

audibant: B. 116, 4, b; A. & G. 183, 1. leniter et leviter: the devotees of the aspirating fas.h.i.+on 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: part.i.tive 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 pa.s.sion 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 antic.i.p.ation. 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 G.o.d of stagna (lakes) and of mare. 5. Thyniam: the part of Bithynia on the sh.o.r.e 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 G.o.d. 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 sh.o.r.es 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 Cla.s.sical 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.

IV. VERGIL.

70-19 B.C.

Roman Vergil, thou that singest Ilion's lofty temples robed in fire, Ilion falling, Rome arising, Wars, and filial faith, and Dido's pyre;

Thou that singest wheat and woodland, Tilth and vineyard, hive and horse and herd; All the charm of all the Muses Often flowering in a lonely word;

Poet of the happy t.i.tyrus Piping underneath his beechen bowers; Poet of the poet-satyr Whom the laughing shepherd bound with flowers;

I salute thee, Mantovano, I that loved thee since my day began, Wielder of the stateliest measure Ever molded by the lips of man.

Tennyson, _To Vergil_.

Vergil, as the author of the _Bucolics_ and the _Aeneid_, is already known to the student. The _Georgics_ were composed after the former and before the latter, since they were begun in 36 B.C. and finished in 29 B.C. Hesiod's _Works and Days_ supplied a partial model, and the influence of Lucretius was powerful. The poet shows an intense enthusiasm for his subject, which Mr. Merivale a.s.serts to be the Glorification of Labor. The First Book treats of the tillage of the ground, the Second of the culture of trees and of the vine, the Third of the care of the animals bred by the farmer, and the Fourth and last of bee-keeping. Elegant episodes diversify the poem, the longest of which we extract. The dedication of the _Georgics_ is to Maecenas. Their extent is about 2200 lines.

For Reference: Conington's _Vergil_, Fifth Edition, revised by Haverfield, George Bell and Sons, London, 1898, Vol. I, pp. 135-165, and notes upon _Georgics_, 4. 315-558.

Metre: Dactylic Hexameter, B. 368; A. & G. 615.

_1._ Servius twice tells us (_Eclogues_ 10. 1 and _Georgics_ 4. 1) that the poet Cornelius Gallus was Vergil's friend, and that the latter half of the fourth _Georgic_ was originally written in his praise, but that this was suppressed at the command of Augustus and the tale of Aristaeus subst.i.tuted. Gallus, we remember, appears in the sixth and tenth _Eclogues_. The story of his disgrace by the emperor and his suicide is a familiar one.

Aristaeus, having lost his bees 'by disease and hunger,' is commanded by the nymph Cyrene, his mother, to obtain from the sea-G.o.d Proteus the reason for this manifestation of divine displeasure. He learns that it is because Eurydice, the wife of Orpheus, has perished as a result of his amorous pursuit; and the story of Orpheus' descent to the lower world to recover her is narrated to him. Then Cyrene instructs him how to secure a new swarm. 1. hanc...artem: this method of obtaining new swarms of bees by slaying cattle and allowing bees to form in their decaying bodies. 3. Peneia Tempo: Tempe is a beautiful valley in Thessaly through which the river Peneus flows. 5. extremi: i.e. the rising river. amnis: the Peneus. 7. gurgitis: flood. 9. Thymbraeus: Thymbra was a city near Troy where there was a temple of Apollo. 10.