' The poet means to
express the dependence of well obeyed laws, and
permanent magistracies on the sacredness of the
marriage union.
express the dependence of well obeyed laws, and
permanent magistracies on the sacredness of the
marriage union.
Catullus - Hubbard - Poems
113
25,) and Nicaea of Bithynia, and in summer the
heat was no less remarkably excessive.
6. Asia] This term includes Ionia, and parts of
Lydia and of iEolis.
CARMEN XXXI.
To Porcius and Socration.
Catullus is indignant that Porcius and Socration
had become, by the favor of Piso, richer and more
popular than his friends Verannius and Fabullus.
1. sinistra] vide Carm. 9. v. 1.
2. Pisonis] Cneius, afterwards the associate of
Cataline.
3. Veranniolo] diminutive of Verannius, Carm.
9. v. 17.
4. verpus] 'circumcised,' a term of severe re-
proach derived from the Jews, who were held in
extreme contempt.
6. de die] unseasonable, ' during the day ;' or as
Voss, repente 'at any time, receiving many and
sudden invitations. '
7. vocationes] 'invitations. '
CARMEN XXXIV.
To hicinius.
Catullus had passed a leisure day in framing
f
10
i
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? 114 NOTES.
festive and mirthful verses, over wine, with Licinius,
and had been charmed with his wit and humor. On
parting, the remembrance of their pleasant meeting
and a desire to renew it, made his night sleepless.
He rises from his restless couch, and writes this
poem to Licinius.
CARMEN XXXV.
To Leabia.
This is a translation by Catullus, of the ode of
Sappho, so highly praised by Longinus. Subjoined
is an English translation from the Greek by Ambrose
Philips. See the Spectator, No. 229.
"Bless'd as the immortal gods is he,
The youth who fondly sits by thee,
And hears and sees thee all the while
Softly speak and sweetly smile.
'Twas this deprived my soul of rest,
And rais'd such tumults in my breast;
For while I gazed, in transport tossed,
My breath was gone, my voice was lost;
My bosom glowed; the subtle flame
Ran quick through all my vital frame;
O'er my dim eyes a darkness hung;
My ears with hollow murmurs rung.
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? NOTES. 115
In dewy damps my limbs were chill'd;
My blood with gentle honors thrill'd:
My feeble pulse forgot to play;
I fainted, sunk, and died away. "
Verses 8 and 12--16, in the text, printed in
italics, and included in brackets, are doubtless an
interpolation.
CARMEN XXXVI.
Catullus in these verses vents his indignation at
the unworthy elevation of Nonius and Vatinius to
curule offices.
CARMEN XXXVII.
To Camerius.
The poet writes to Camerius the pains he had
taken, and the difficulties he had met, in trying to
find him; and reproves the unkind secresy of his
loves.
2. tenebras] 'Lurking places. '
3. minore Campo] A smaller part of the Campus
Martins, where the Roman youth practised their
exercises; called minor in comparison with the
portion in which the comitia were held.
6. Magni] 'the portico of Pompey. '
10. pessimal] Conf. note on Carm. 26. v. 9.
"
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? 116 NOTES.
22. ] In the earlier editions, the following verses
are arranged by themselves, as the conclusion of a
poem left imperfect, with the title Ad Camerium
The preceding verses seem to have in themselves
such unity and completeness, as to make the suppo-
sition that they are an entire poem by themselves,
very plausible. Yet they fit so well together from
the general resemblance of subject, (which induced
Scaliger and Doering to join them, and which may
be done without impairing the requisite unity of the
whole,) as to render it very probable that they were
originally one.
23. custos Me Cretum] 'Talus,' a giant with a
brazen body, fabled to have been given by Jupiter
to Europa, and made guardian of the island of Crete;
which he went round three times every day. Plato,
in his Minos, has given this explanation of the fable;
that Minos who made Rhadamanthus judge in the
capital, committed the rest of the island to Talus, and
that he thrice a year made a circuit through all the
cities and villages of the country administering jus-
tice, according to laws which were engraved on
tables of brass.
32. quaritando] Frequentative.
CARMEN XXXVIII.
A fragment of a poem of which we have neither
the beginning nor the conclusion. Conf. Carm. 43.
v. 154--7.
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? NOTES. J17
CARMEN XXXIX.
An Epithalamium on the Nuptials of Julia and
Manlius.
The poem opens with an invocation to Hymen to
aid the nuptial song, vs. 1--35, with various persua-
sives to induce his favoring presence, the grace and
beauty of the bride, vs. 16--25, his power to enchain
her affection, vs. 31--35. The poet then summons
a choir of virgins to join his invocation, vs. 35? 45,
and returns to celebrate the praises of Hymen, in
various virtues, and the love and veneration, and
gratitude of men, vs. 46--75. He now turns to hail
the approaching bride, and soothes her reluctant
bashfulness, with praises of her beauty, and the
honor and faithful love of her intended husband, vs.
76--110, alludes to various ceremonies and custom-
ary rites, the nuptial procession, the Fescemim
verses, the scattering of nuts, the threshold that
might not be touched, the separate banqueting of
the bridegroom with his fellows; and having
witnessed the entrance of the bride into her new
house, after addressing the husband in a strain of
high congratulation and compliment, he concludes
in lines of exceeding beauty, with wishes for their
highest bliss, and the consummation of their hopes
and happiness, in a young Torquatus, who shall
perpetuate his father's fame, and by his likeness
attest his mother's virtues.
10*
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? 118 NOTES.
2. Urania genus] Hymen, son of the muse Urania
and Bacchus. Seneca Medea, v. 110.
With the sketch of Hymen in this and the follow-
ing verses, compare Ovid, Heroides, 21. vs. 157--
168.
18, 19. Phrygiam Judicem] Paris. A twofold
resemblance is suggested, to the beauty of Venus
and her success.
22. Asia] i. q. Asiatica. So Virgil jEn. 7. vs.
701-2, Asia Palus, a marshy tract on the banks of
the Cayster. Homer, 11. ? . 461.
24. Imdicrum] "locus lusui aptum, lavacrum seu
nympharium. " Voss.
26. aditumferens] v. 43. and Carm. 62. v. 79.
43. bonce Veneris] 'Chaste Venus. '
44-5. boni amoris] 'honorable love. '
51. tremulus] 'trembling' with age, and there-
fore anxious to see his daughters married.
54. timens] 'in suspense,' fearing lest his hopes
may be disappointed.
55. captat aure] 'catches with the ear,' i. e. listens
attentively. Virgil jEn. 3. v. 514. Palinurus
auribus aera captat.
61. ] Claudian has a similar idea,
"JVidlum junxisse cubile
Sine hoc, nee primasfas est altollere taedas. '"
JVupt. Pallad. et Celer. vs. 32-33.
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? NOTES. 119
65. Comparier] the ancient form of the infini-
tive.
68. stirpe jungier] Scaliger interprets this phrase
not to be able to transmit an inheritance to ones chil-
dren, which could not be done if they were illegit-
imate. For an heir when he enters upon an inheri-
tance, perpetuates rather than succeeds to the rights
of his father, who is thus said stirpe jungier.
72. prasides] 'Magistrates.
' The poet means to
express the dependence of well obeyed laws, and
permanent magistracies on the sacredness of the
marriage union.
76. ] The bridal procession approaches.
87. Jlurunculeia] 'Julia Aurunculeia. ' Aurun-
culeius was a surname in the family of the Cottae.
96. sis] by syncope for si vis. Voss reads st
'hush,' and encloses st with jam videtur, in the pa-
renthesis. 'Jam videtur, and also vidin ? faces a. q.
c. may be an interrupting exclamation of some of
the spectators, or rather of the poet addressed to
the spectators.
114. ] The hiatus in the manuscripts of the three
preceding lines, by obscuring the connection and
the sense, renders the reading of the clause in
brackets, impossible to settle. The text is unques-
tionably corrupt.
127. fescennina locutio] Several specimens of
fescennine verses, may be found appended to Clau-
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? 120 NOTES.
(Han's poem, "in Nuptiis Honorii et Mariat. "
These, however, are mostly, no doubt, a departure
from the original idea of this species of composition.
The last only deserves the epithet procax, bestowed
by Catullus. For the origin of this kind of verses,
consult Horace Epist. Lib. 3. ep. 1. 145, and Dun-
lap's Roman Literature.
129. desertum] Scil. se, with which amorem in
the next line is in apposition.
131. iners] 'lazy,' an epithet of incitement.
133. Imsisti nucibw] 'indulged the follies and
levities of youth. ' The allusion is to the services
he had yielded to the passions of his master.
134. servire Thallassio] The origin of this phrase
is given by Livy, Lib. 1. Sec. 9.
136. villiili] Your fellows have till now been vile
in your eyes, who have been admitted to the pecu-
liar favors of your master. Some editions have
sordebam . . villice. Sillig villicae.
141. male] 'with difficulty. '
142. glabris] 'beardless boys,' whose intimacy he
had sought.
146-8. ] The allusion in these and the preceding
verses to the licentious pleasures of Julius, in his
former life, in a manner which evidently implies
they were of course, and involved no dishonor, and
merited no reproach, occurring too, as it does in a
complimentary poem to a noble friend, from which
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? NOTES. 121
all that could offend would have been carefully ex-
cluded, presents one of the darkest shades in the
picture of Roman manners. Yet, while the passage
is essential to the entireness of the poem, it is also
of much value as an illustration of the moral senti-
ments of that age.
162. anilitas] means specifically the old age of
women, as senectus of men.
181. mitte] 'let go,' dimitte.
182. pratextate] Addressed to the youth who had
led the bride in the nuptial procession.
183. adeant] some editions read adeat.
186. bona;] A common reading is unis, (unis sen-
ibus bonae) since the pronubae were usually selected
from the matrons who had been married only once.
206. pulvis] supposed to be contracted for pulve-
ris. This however is believed to be the only
place in which pulvis is found in the genitive.
"pulveris Africi. " Sillig.
208. subducat] 'Enumerate. '
216. Torquatus . parvulus] Sir William Jones
has written an eloquent imitation of this passage,
(in an epithalamium on the marriage of Lord Spen-
cer,) which he declared worthy of the pencil of
Domenichino.
"And soon to be completely blest,
Soon may a young Torquatus rise,
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? 122 NOTES.
Who, hanging on his mother's breast,
To his known sire shall turn his eyes,
Outstretch his infant arms a while,
Half ope his little lips and smile. "
CARMEN XL.
This poem consists of alternate. strains, sung by
choirs of youths and maidens. After a brief contest
on the merits and demerits of the evening star,
whose rising marked the hour of their meeting, the
maidens chant the praises of maidenhood, and the
rival youths the worth and dignity of married life.
The poem closes with an address to the lady, on
whose nuptials it was composed, persuading her to
lay aside her girlish bashfulness, and commit her-
self cheerfully and confidently to the arms of her
husband. This is supposed to have been written
on the same occasion with the preceding poem,
having relation to a different portion of the cere-
mony, and in order of time preceding.
1. consurgite] A company of young men, the
companions of the bridegroom, on the afternoon of
his wedding day assembled at his house, at a ban-
quet prepared for the occasion. At the first appear-
ing of the evening star, they rose from the table
and went out to meet the procession which attended
the bride, and welcome her to her future home.
4. Hymenaus] 'nuptial song. '
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? NOTES. 123
6. consurgite contra] The group of maidens, mates
of the hride, who accompanied her in the procession,
seeing the young men approach, begin their song.
7. (Etceos ignes] From the summit of GEta the
sun and stars were visible two hours earlier and
later than from the vallies beneath. Heyne (ad
Virg. Eclog. 8. v. 30. ) supposes the general use
of the epithet CEtteus by the poets, to have been
derived from some Greek poet who lived in that
vicinity, or wrote a poem on some event (as the
nuptials of Peleus and Thetis) which occurred there.
JVoctifer] 'The harbinger of night. '
9. canent] 'intimate,' 'predict. ' quod visere par
est] 'visu digna. '
11. palma] The parties were engaged in a con-
test of poetical and musical skill. The whole Car-
men is a genuine specimen of the amcebean.
20. ] Thus far preparation. The choir of girls
now enter on their theme.
33. Namque] The reference indicated in hamque
is lost in the absence of the preceding line. Voss
however, rejects the notion of a hiatus, and for
namque reads nempe, giving the line an ironical
sense.
34. ] 'Thieves work undetected by night, whom
after, you the same Hesperus returning with changed
name, find the same. quos eosdem] 'the very same
persons. ' mutato nomine] as evening star, Hes-
perus; as morning star Phosporus.
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? 124 NOTES.
36-7. ] The youths reply with an insinuation that
their competitors feel less indignation than they
express.
The comparisons which follow, vs. 39--58, are
hardly surpassed in elegance of expression and
aptness of similitude, in any language.
45. dum . dum] "prius dum signified quoad,
sequens usque eo. "--Quint. Inst. Lib. 9. cap. 3.
CARMEN XLI.
Of Atys.
"Atys was a beautiful youth, probably of Greece,
who, forsaking his home and parents, sailed with a
few companions to Phrygia, and having landed,
hurried to the grove consecrated to the great god-
dess Cybele. There struck with superstitious
frenzy, he qualified himself for the service of that
divinity; and snatching the musical instruments
used in her worship, he exhorted his companions
who had followed his example, to ascend to the
temple of Cybele. At this part of the poem, we
follow the new votary of the Phrygian goddess
through all his wild traversing of woods and moun-
tains, till at length, having reached the temple,
Atys and his companions drop asleep, exhausted by
fatigue and mental distraction. Being tranquillized
in some measure by a night's repose, Atys becomes
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? NOTES.
125
sensible of the misery of his situation, and struck
with horror at his rash deed, he returns to the sea-
shore. There he casts his eyes bathed in tears
over the ocean homeward, and comparing his for-
mer happiness with his present wretched condition,
he pours forth a complaint unrivalled in energy and
pathos. The violent bursts of passion are admira-
bly aided by the irresistible torrent of words, and
by the cadence of a measure powerfully denoting
mental agony and remorse* It is the only speci-
men we have in Latin of the Galliambie measure,
so called because sung by the Galli, the effeminate
votaries of Cybele.
The story of Atys is one of the most mysterious
of the mythological emblems. The fable was ex-
plained by Porphyry; and the emperor Julian after-
wards invented and published an allegory of this
mystic tale. According to them, the voluntary
emasculation of Atys was typical of the revolution
of the sun between the tropics, or the separation
of the human soul from vice and error. " Dunlop.
Ovid (Fasti Lib. 4, vs. 223--244) gives a version
of the story of Atys, quite different from that of
Catullus.
The inscription of this poem is very various in
* Gibbon, however, in a spirit of juster criticism perhaps, speaks
(History, chapter 33) "of the transition of Atys from the wildest
enthusiasm to sober pathetic complaint for his irretrievable loss. "
f
11
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25,) and Nicaea of Bithynia, and in summer the
heat was no less remarkably excessive.
6. Asia] This term includes Ionia, and parts of
Lydia and of iEolis.
CARMEN XXXI.
To Porcius and Socration.
Catullus is indignant that Porcius and Socration
had become, by the favor of Piso, richer and more
popular than his friends Verannius and Fabullus.
1. sinistra] vide Carm. 9. v. 1.
2. Pisonis] Cneius, afterwards the associate of
Cataline.
3. Veranniolo] diminutive of Verannius, Carm.
9. v. 17.
4. verpus] 'circumcised,' a term of severe re-
proach derived from the Jews, who were held in
extreme contempt.
6. de die] unseasonable, ' during the day ;' or as
Voss, repente 'at any time, receiving many and
sudden invitations. '
7. vocationes] 'invitations. '
CARMEN XXXIV.
To hicinius.
Catullus had passed a leisure day in framing
f
10
i
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? 114 NOTES.
festive and mirthful verses, over wine, with Licinius,
and had been charmed with his wit and humor. On
parting, the remembrance of their pleasant meeting
and a desire to renew it, made his night sleepless.
He rises from his restless couch, and writes this
poem to Licinius.
CARMEN XXXV.
To Leabia.
This is a translation by Catullus, of the ode of
Sappho, so highly praised by Longinus. Subjoined
is an English translation from the Greek by Ambrose
Philips. See the Spectator, No. 229.
"Bless'd as the immortal gods is he,
The youth who fondly sits by thee,
And hears and sees thee all the while
Softly speak and sweetly smile.
'Twas this deprived my soul of rest,
And rais'd such tumults in my breast;
For while I gazed, in transport tossed,
My breath was gone, my voice was lost;
My bosom glowed; the subtle flame
Ran quick through all my vital frame;
O'er my dim eyes a darkness hung;
My ears with hollow murmurs rung.
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? NOTES. 115
In dewy damps my limbs were chill'd;
My blood with gentle honors thrill'd:
My feeble pulse forgot to play;
I fainted, sunk, and died away. "
Verses 8 and 12--16, in the text, printed in
italics, and included in brackets, are doubtless an
interpolation.
CARMEN XXXVI.
Catullus in these verses vents his indignation at
the unworthy elevation of Nonius and Vatinius to
curule offices.
CARMEN XXXVII.
To Camerius.
The poet writes to Camerius the pains he had
taken, and the difficulties he had met, in trying to
find him; and reproves the unkind secresy of his
loves.
2. tenebras] 'Lurking places. '
3. minore Campo] A smaller part of the Campus
Martins, where the Roman youth practised their
exercises; called minor in comparison with the
portion in which the comitia were held.
6. Magni] 'the portico of Pompey. '
10. pessimal] Conf. note on Carm. 26. v. 9.
"
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? 116 NOTES.
22. ] In the earlier editions, the following verses
are arranged by themselves, as the conclusion of a
poem left imperfect, with the title Ad Camerium
The preceding verses seem to have in themselves
such unity and completeness, as to make the suppo-
sition that they are an entire poem by themselves,
very plausible. Yet they fit so well together from
the general resemblance of subject, (which induced
Scaliger and Doering to join them, and which may
be done without impairing the requisite unity of the
whole,) as to render it very probable that they were
originally one.
23. custos Me Cretum] 'Talus,' a giant with a
brazen body, fabled to have been given by Jupiter
to Europa, and made guardian of the island of Crete;
which he went round three times every day. Plato,
in his Minos, has given this explanation of the fable;
that Minos who made Rhadamanthus judge in the
capital, committed the rest of the island to Talus, and
that he thrice a year made a circuit through all the
cities and villages of the country administering jus-
tice, according to laws which were engraved on
tables of brass.
32. quaritando] Frequentative.
CARMEN XXXVIII.
A fragment of a poem of which we have neither
the beginning nor the conclusion. Conf. Carm. 43.
v. 154--7.
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? NOTES. J17
CARMEN XXXIX.
An Epithalamium on the Nuptials of Julia and
Manlius.
The poem opens with an invocation to Hymen to
aid the nuptial song, vs. 1--35, with various persua-
sives to induce his favoring presence, the grace and
beauty of the bride, vs. 16--25, his power to enchain
her affection, vs. 31--35. The poet then summons
a choir of virgins to join his invocation, vs. 35? 45,
and returns to celebrate the praises of Hymen, in
various virtues, and the love and veneration, and
gratitude of men, vs. 46--75. He now turns to hail
the approaching bride, and soothes her reluctant
bashfulness, with praises of her beauty, and the
honor and faithful love of her intended husband, vs.
76--110, alludes to various ceremonies and custom-
ary rites, the nuptial procession, the Fescemim
verses, the scattering of nuts, the threshold that
might not be touched, the separate banqueting of
the bridegroom with his fellows; and having
witnessed the entrance of the bride into her new
house, after addressing the husband in a strain of
high congratulation and compliment, he concludes
in lines of exceeding beauty, with wishes for their
highest bliss, and the consummation of their hopes
and happiness, in a young Torquatus, who shall
perpetuate his father's fame, and by his likeness
attest his mother's virtues.
10*
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? 118 NOTES.
2. Urania genus] Hymen, son of the muse Urania
and Bacchus. Seneca Medea, v. 110.
With the sketch of Hymen in this and the follow-
ing verses, compare Ovid, Heroides, 21. vs. 157--
168.
18, 19. Phrygiam Judicem] Paris. A twofold
resemblance is suggested, to the beauty of Venus
and her success.
22. Asia] i. q. Asiatica. So Virgil jEn. 7. vs.
701-2, Asia Palus, a marshy tract on the banks of
the Cayster. Homer, 11. ? . 461.
24. Imdicrum] "locus lusui aptum, lavacrum seu
nympharium. " Voss.
26. aditumferens] v. 43. and Carm. 62. v. 79.
43. bonce Veneris] 'Chaste Venus. '
44-5. boni amoris] 'honorable love. '
51. tremulus] 'trembling' with age, and there-
fore anxious to see his daughters married.
54. timens] 'in suspense,' fearing lest his hopes
may be disappointed.
55. captat aure] 'catches with the ear,' i. e. listens
attentively. Virgil jEn. 3. v. 514. Palinurus
auribus aera captat.
61. ] Claudian has a similar idea,
"JVidlum junxisse cubile
Sine hoc, nee primasfas est altollere taedas. '"
JVupt. Pallad. et Celer. vs. 32-33.
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? NOTES. 119
65. Comparier] the ancient form of the infini-
tive.
68. stirpe jungier] Scaliger interprets this phrase
not to be able to transmit an inheritance to ones chil-
dren, which could not be done if they were illegit-
imate. For an heir when he enters upon an inheri-
tance, perpetuates rather than succeeds to the rights
of his father, who is thus said stirpe jungier.
72. prasides] 'Magistrates.
' The poet means to
express the dependence of well obeyed laws, and
permanent magistracies on the sacredness of the
marriage union.
76. ] The bridal procession approaches.
87. Jlurunculeia] 'Julia Aurunculeia. ' Aurun-
culeius was a surname in the family of the Cottae.
96. sis] by syncope for si vis. Voss reads st
'hush,' and encloses st with jam videtur, in the pa-
renthesis. 'Jam videtur, and also vidin ? faces a. q.
c. may be an interrupting exclamation of some of
the spectators, or rather of the poet addressed to
the spectators.
114. ] The hiatus in the manuscripts of the three
preceding lines, by obscuring the connection and
the sense, renders the reading of the clause in
brackets, impossible to settle. The text is unques-
tionably corrupt.
127. fescennina locutio] Several specimens of
fescennine verses, may be found appended to Clau-
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? 120 NOTES.
(Han's poem, "in Nuptiis Honorii et Mariat. "
These, however, are mostly, no doubt, a departure
from the original idea of this species of composition.
The last only deserves the epithet procax, bestowed
by Catullus. For the origin of this kind of verses,
consult Horace Epist. Lib. 3. ep. 1. 145, and Dun-
lap's Roman Literature.
129. desertum] Scil. se, with which amorem in
the next line is in apposition.
131. iners] 'lazy,' an epithet of incitement.
133. Imsisti nucibw] 'indulged the follies and
levities of youth. ' The allusion is to the services
he had yielded to the passions of his master.
134. servire Thallassio] The origin of this phrase
is given by Livy, Lib. 1. Sec. 9.
136. villiili] Your fellows have till now been vile
in your eyes, who have been admitted to the pecu-
liar favors of your master. Some editions have
sordebam . . villice. Sillig villicae.
141. male] 'with difficulty. '
142. glabris] 'beardless boys,' whose intimacy he
had sought.
146-8. ] The allusion in these and the preceding
verses to the licentious pleasures of Julius, in his
former life, in a manner which evidently implies
they were of course, and involved no dishonor, and
merited no reproach, occurring too, as it does in a
complimentary poem to a noble friend, from which
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? NOTES. 121
all that could offend would have been carefully ex-
cluded, presents one of the darkest shades in the
picture of Roman manners. Yet, while the passage
is essential to the entireness of the poem, it is also
of much value as an illustration of the moral senti-
ments of that age.
162. anilitas] means specifically the old age of
women, as senectus of men.
181. mitte] 'let go,' dimitte.
182. pratextate] Addressed to the youth who had
led the bride in the nuptial procession.
183. adeant] some editions read adeat.
186. bona;] A common reading is unis, (unis sen-
ibus bonae) since the pronubae were usually selected
from the matrons who had been married only once.
206. pulvis] supposed to be contracted for pulve-
ris. This however is believed to be the only
place in which pulvis is found in the genitive.
"pulveris Africi. " Sillig.
208. subducat] 'Enumerate. '
216. Torquatus . parvulus] Sir William Jones
has written an eloquent imitation of this passage,
(in an epithalamium on the marriage of Lord Spen-
cer,) which he declared worthy of the pencil of
Domenichino.
"And soon to be completely blest,
Soon may a young Torquatus rise,
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? 122 NOTES.
Who, hanging on his mother's breast,
To his known sire shall turn his eyes,
Outstretch his infant arms a while,
Half ope his little lips and smile. "
CARMEN XL.
This poem consists of alternate. strains, sung by
choirs of youths and maidens. After a brief contest
on the merits and demerits of the evening star,
whose rising marked the hour of their meeting, the
maidens chant the praises of maidenhood, and the
rival youths the worth and dignity of married life.
The poem closes with an address to the lady, on
whose nuptials it was composed, persuading her to
lay aside her girlish bashfulness, and commit her-
self cheerfully and confidently to the arms of her
husband. This is supposed to have been written
on the same occasion with the preceding poem,
having relation to a different portion of the cere-
mony, and in order of time preceding.
1. consurgite] A company of young men, the
companions of the bridegroom, on the afternoon of
his wedding day assembled at his house, at a ban-
quet prepared for the occasion. At the first appear-
ing of the evening star, they rose from the table
and went out to meet the procession which attended
the bride, and welcome her to her future home.
4. Hymenaus] 'nuptial song. '
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? NOTES. 123
6. consurgite contra] The group of maidens, mates
of the hride, who accompanied her in the procession,
seeing the young men approach, begin their song.
7. (Etceos ignes] From the summit of GEta the
sun and stars were visible two hours earlier and
later than from the vallies beneath. Heyne (ad
Virg. Eclog. 8. v. 30. ) supposes the general use
of the epithet CEtteus by the poets, to have been
derived from some Greek poet who lived in that
vicinity, or wrote a poem on some event (as the
nuptials of Peleus and Thetis) which occurred there.
JVoctifer] 'The harbinger of night. '
9. canent] 'intimate,' 'predict. ' quod visere par
est] 'visu digna. '
11. palma] The parties were engaged in a con-
test of poetical and musical skill. The whole Car-
men is a genuine specimen of the amcebean.
20. ] Thus far preparation. The choir of girls
now enter on their theme.
33. Namque] The reference indicated in hamque
is lost in the absence of the preceding line. Voss
however, rejects the notion of a hiatus, and for
namque reads nempe, giving the line an ironical
sense.
34. ] 'Thieves work undetected by night, whom
after, you the same Hesperus returning with changed
name, find the same. quos eosdem] 'the very same
persons. ' mutato nomine] as evening star, Hes-
perus; as morning star Phosporus.
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? 124 NOTES.
36-7. ] The youths reply with an insinuation that
their competitors feel less indignation than they
express.
The comparisons which follow, vs. 39--58, are
hardly surpassed in elegance of expression and
aptness of similitude, in any language.
45. dum . dum] "prius dum signified quoad,
sequens usque eo. "--Quint. Inst. Lib. 9. cap. 3.
CARMEN XLI.
Of Atys.
"Atys was a beautiful youth, probably of Greece,
who, forsaking his home and parents, sailed with a
few companions to Phrygia, and having landed,
hurried to the grove consecrated to the great god-
dess Cybele. There struck with superstitious
frenzy, he qualified himself for the service of that
divinity; and snatching the musical instruments
used in her worship, he exhorted his companions
who had followed his example, to ascend to the
temple of Cybele. At this part of the poem, we
follow the new votary of the Phrygian goddess
through all his wild traversing of woods and moun-
tains, till at length, having reached the temple,
Atys and his companions drop asleep, exhausted by
fatigue and mental distraction. Being tranquillized
in some measure by a night's repose, Atys becomes
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? NOTES.
125
sensible of the misery of his situation, and struck
with horror at his rash deed, he returns to the sea-
shore. There he casts his eyes bathed in tears
over the ocean homeward, and comparing his for-
mer happiness with his present wretched condition,
he pours forth a complaint unrivalled in energy and
pathos. The violent bursts of passion are admira-
bly aided by the irresistible torrent of words, and
by the cadence of a measure powerfully denoting
mental agony and remorse* It is the only speci-
men we have in Latin of the Galliambie measure,
so called because sung by the Galli, the effeminate
votaries of Cybele.
The story of Atys is one of the most mysterious
of the mythological emblems. The fable was ex-
plained by Porphyry; and the emperor Julian after-
wards invented and published an allegory of this
mystic tale. According to them, the voluntary
emasculation of Atys was typical of the revolution
of the sun between the tropics, or the separation
of the human soul from vice and error. " Dunlop.
Ovid (Fasti Lib. 4, vs. 223--244) gives a version
of the story of Atys, quite different from that of
Catullus.
The inscription of this poem is very various in
* Gibbon, however, in a spirit of juster criticism perhaps, speaks
(History, chapter 33) "of the transition of Atys from the wildest
enthusiasm to sober pathetic complaint for his irretrievable loss. "
f
11
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