The poems of Catullus, tr. into Engl. verse, with notes by T. Martin

The present translator, in the course of his task, had come to the conclusion that two poems had somehow or other become mixed up into one; and that the first and last sections must have been addressed to two different persons. The obvious close of the subject, where the translator has ended the lines to Manlius-the discord between all that followed with the assurance on which these lines proceed, that Catullus was too wholly out of spirits to write--the meaningless repetition of the lament for his brother, and numerous other indications had led to this conclusion, upon which the translator had acted, dividing the poem into two. It was, therefore, gratifying to him to find, on subsequently meeting with Theodor Heyse's edition of Catullus, that this editor had adopted a similar subdivision on the authority of the MSS.-a view concurred in by Lachmann and Rossbach. The poems gain greatly by being thus separated. In the lines to Manlius all is simple and clear. The rest of the poem is hopelessly obscure in many of its allusions, and clumsy in construction; its illustrations are far fetched, and the style generally inferior to the other serious efforts of Catullus. Its merits scarcely repay the labour of construing it, much less, it is to be feared, of turning it into English elegiac verse.

To MANIUS ACILIUS GLABRIO. PAGE 110.

T is a curious illustration of the tricks which an editor's imagination is apt to play, that most of the commentators of Catullus have discovered great beauty in the opening lines of this poem, as though, after assuring his friend Manlius that he could not possibly write a line, he was suddenly so overcome by an impulse of gratitude, that he launched at once into this panegyric of his friend. It is much more probable, so far as all internal evidence goes, that this poem was addressed, not to Manlius, but to quite a different person; and that the name "Manius," which occurs in some of the MSS., having been read carelessly by the transcribers, led to the two poems being run into one, as though they had been addressed to the same person on the same occasion. Each poem, as divided in the foregoing translation, is complete in itself.

Each has a distinct character. That to Manlius is spontaneous, easy, simple, and full of feeling; the other laboured, pretentious, and cold. In both, the best passages are those which refer to the death of the poet's brother. But how much superior is the short burst of grief in the former to the elaborate and somewhat pedantic reference in the latter to the poetical associations with Troy? Certainly Catullus was not in his happiest vein when he sat down to thank his friend for his generosity; and his friend has not much to thank Catullus for in being immortalized for generosity of so peculiar a kind. That it was Lesbia who shared her favours with Catullus and his friend, like Cunegonde with her Hebrew and the Grand Inquisitor, has been alleged by many of the commentators. But for this suggestion there is no foundation whatever. Originally some mere pedant's conjecture, it has been repeated, as so many such conjectures are repeated, without thought or inquiry. All the probabilities are against it. Catullus loved Lesbia too deeply ever to have maintained the indifference to her infidelities, into which he so coolly reasons himself in regard to the lady of this poem. Much more might be urged against the conjecture, were the inquiry of the slightest moment.

The translator has followed Heyse in addressing the poem to Manius Acilius Glabrio; but the authority for this is worse than doubtful. Rossbach and Lachmann think that Allius was most probably the name, founding their conjecture on the readings of the best MS. Thus v. 41-QUAM FALLIUS IN RE, which should be quâ me, Allius, in re, the F being easily mistaken for E in the uncial character; v. 49, In deserto ali―i.e., In deserto Alli; v. 150, Pro multis aliis, redditur officiis, thus corrected by RossbachPro multis, Alli, &c.

TO AURELIUS AND FURIUS. PAGE 129.

HESE are the friends through whom Catullus sent his message to Lesbia (see pp. 14 and 152), They are no friends now; so at least we must conclude, if we read this poem seriously. The poet seems to have taken great umbrage at their grounding a charge against the purity of his life upon the

warmth of his verses. According to our notions, they might have rested the charge upon more practical grounds. The verses might be no worse than much that was then current in the best society of Rome; but in some of his poems Catullus himself paints enough of his life to show that it was not what could at any time have been regarded as "chaste." Nor doubtless did Catullus himself so regard it; but he could not brook that a pair of profligates like his quondam friends should set themselves up as critics of his morals.

ON A STUPID HUSBAND. PAGE 130.

HE town here addressed is variously conjectured to have been Mantua, Verona, or Como. Mantua or Verona would answer to the description; and as Catullus was born in or near one or other of these places, the fact of the loutish husband whom he has so quaintly portrayed being, as he says, his townsman, points to one or other of them as the Colonia of this poem. Whichever it was, there was obviously some well understood stroke of humour in the allusion to its rickety bridge. Whether we read the first line, with most editors, O Colonia, quæ cupis ponte ludere longo, or substitute "magno" for "longo" with some, it is equally clear that the town was in a state of agitation about its bridge. This being the scene of all great public festivals, the citizens had grown ashamed of the structure. They wanted a finer bridge, and, of course, many a rumour had been circulated by expectant architects as to the insecurity of its timbers. Catullus echoes the wish of the citizens for a bridge worthy of their town, on condition that the old one signalizes the close of its career by having precipitated from it that favourite butt of the wags and cynics of all ages, a lethargic old man wedded to a lively young girl.

For the second translation of this poem I am indebted to my friend Dr. Charles Badham.