Chapter 17

Multas per gentes et multa per aequora vectus Advenio has miseras, frater, ad inferias, Vt te postremo donarem munere mortis Et mutam nequiquam adloquerer cinerem, Quandoquidem fortuna mihi tete abstulit ipsum, 5 Heu miser indigne frater adempte mihi. * * * * Nunc tamen interea haec prisco quae more parentum Tradita sunt tristes munera ad inferias, Accipe fraterno multum manantia fletu, Atque in perpetuom, frater, ave atque vale. 10

CI.

ON THE BURIAL OF HIS BROTHER.

Faring thro' many a folk and plowing many a sea-plain These sad funeral-rites (Brother!) to deal thee I come, So wi' the latest boons to the dead bestowed I may gift thee, And I may vainly address ashes that answer have none, Sithence of thee, very thee, to deprive me Fortune behested, 5 Woe for thee, Brother forlore! Cruelly severed fro' me. * * * * Yet in the meanwhile now what olden usage of forbears Brings as the boons that befit mournfullest funeral rites, Thine be these gifts which flow with tear-flood shed by thy brother, And, for ever and aye (Brother!) all hail and farewell. 10

Through many a folk and through many waters borne, I am come, brother, to thy sad grave, that I may give the last gifts to the dead, and may vainly speak to thy mute ashes, since fortune hath borne from me thyself. Ah, hapless brother, heavily snatched from me. * * * But now these gifts, which of yore, in manner ancestral handed down, are the sad gifts to the grave, accept thou, drenched with a brother's tears, and for ever, brother, hail! for ever, adieu!

CII.

Si quicquam tacito conmissumst fido ab amico, Cuius sit penitus nota fides animi, Meque esse invenies illorum iure sacratum, Corneli, et factum me esse puta Harpocratem.

CII.

TO CORNELIUS.

If by confiding friend aught e'er be trusted in silence, Unto a man whose mind known is for worthiest trust, Me shalt thou find no less than such to secrecy oathbound, (Cornelius!) and now hold me an Harpocrates.

If aught be committed to secret faith from a friend to one whose inner faith of soul is known, thou wilt find me to be of that sacred faith, O Cornelius, and may'st deem me become an Harpocrates.

CIII.

Aut, sodes, mihi redde decem sestertia, Silo, Deinde esto quamvis saevus et indomitus: Aut, si te nummi delectant, desine quaeso Leno esse atque idem saevus et indomitus.

CIII.

TO SILO.

Or, d'ye hear, refund those ten sestertia (Silo!) Then be thou e'en at thy will surly and savage o' mood: Or, an thou love o'er-well those moneys, prithee no longer Prove thee a pimp and withal surly and savage o' mood.

Prithee, either return me my ten thousand sesterces, Silo; then be to thy content surly and boorish: or, if the money allure thee, desist I pray thee from being a pander and likewise surly and boorish.

CIIII.

Credis me potuisse meae maledicere vitae, Ambobus mihi quae carior est oculis? Non potui, nec si possem tam perdite amarem: Sed tu cum Tappone omnia monstra facis.

CIIII.

CONCERNING LESBIA.

Canst thou credit that I could avail to revile my life-love, She who be dearer to me even than either my eyes? Ne'er could I, nor an I could, should I so losingly love her: But with Tappo thou dost design every monstrous deed.

Dost deem me capable of speaking ill of my life, she who is dearer to me than are both mine eyes? I could not, nor if I could, would my love be so desperate: but thou with Tappo dost frame everything heinous.

CV.

Mentula conatur Pipleum scandere montem: Musae furcillis praecipitem eiciunt.

CV.

ON MAMURRA.

Mentula fain would ascend Pipléan mountain up-mounting: Pitch him the Muses down headlong wi' forklets a-hurled.

Mentula presumes the Pimplean mount to scale: the Muses with their pitchforks chuck him headlong down.

CVI.

Cum puero bello praeconem qui videt esse, Quid credat, nisi se vendere discupere?

CVI.

THE AUCTIONEER AND THE FAIR BOY.

When with a pretty-faced boy we see one playing the Crier, What can we wot except longs he for selling the same?

When with a comely lad a crier is seen to be, what may be thought save that he longs to sell himself.

CVII.

Siquoi quid cupido optantique obtigit umquam Insperanti, hoc est gratum animo proprie. Quare hoc est gratum nobisque est carius auro, Quod te restituis, Lesbia, mi cupido, Restituis cupido atque insperanti ipsa refers te. 5 Nobis o lucem candidiore nota! Quis me uno vivit felicior, aut magis hac res Optandas vita dicere quis poterit?

CVII.

TO LESBIA RECONCILED.

An to one ever accrue any boon he lusted and longed for Any time after despair, grateful it comes to his soul. Thus 'tis grateful to us nor gold was ever so goodly, When thou restorest thyself (Lesbia!) to lovingmost me, Self thou restorest unhoped, and after despair thou returnest. 5 Oh the fair light of a Day noted with notabler white! Where lives a happier man than myself or--this being won me-- Who shall e'er boast that his life brought him more coveted lot?

If what one desires and covets is ever obtained unhoped for, this is specially grateful to the soul. Wherefore is it grateful to us and far dearer than gold, that thou com'st again, Lesbia, to longing me; com'st yet again, long-looked for and unhoped, thou restorest thyself. O day of whiter note for us! who lives more happily than I, sole I, or who can say what greater thing than this could be hoped for in life?

CVIII.

Si, Comini, populi arbitrio tua cana senectus Spurcata inpuris moribus intereat, Non equidem dubito quin primum inimica bonorum Lingua execta avido sit data volturio, Effossos oculos voret atro gutture corvos, 5 Intestina canes, cetera membra lupi.

CVIII.

ON COMINIUS.

If by the verdict o' folk thy hoary old age (O Cominius!) Filthy with fulsomest lust ever be doomed to the death, Make I no manner of doubt but first thy tongue to the worthy Ever a foe, cut out, ravening Vulture shall feed; Gulp shall the Crow's black gorge those eye-balls dug from their sockets, 5 Guts of thee go to the dogs, all that remains to the wolves.

If, O Cominius, by the people's vote thy hoary age made filthy by unclean practices shall perish, forsure I doubt not but that first thy tongue, hostile to goodness, cut out, shall be given to the greedy vulture-brood, thine eyes, gouged out, shall the crows gorge down with sable maw, thine entrails [shall be flung] to the dogs, the members still remaining to the wolf.

CVIIII.

Iocundum, mea vita, mihi proponis amorem Hunc nostrum internos perpetuomque fore. Di magni, facite ut vere promittere possit, Atque id sincere dicat et ex animo, Vt liceat nobis tota producere vita 5 Alternum hoc sanctae foedus amicitae.

CVIIII.

TO LESBIA ON HER VOW OF CONSTANCY.

Gladsome to me, O my life, this love whose offer thou deignest Between us twain lively and lusty to last soothfast. (Great Gods!) grant ye the boon that prove her promises loyal, Saying her say in truth spoken with spirit sincere; So be it lawful for us to protract through length of our life-tide 5 Mutual pact of our love, pledges of holy good will!

My joy, my life, thou declarest to me that this love of ours shall last ever between us. Great Gods! grant that she may promise truly, and say this in sincerity and from her soul, and that through all our lives we may be allowed to prolong together this bond of holy friendship.

CX.

Aufilena, bonae semper laudantur amicae: Accipiunt pretium, quae facere instituunt. Tu quod promisti, mihi quod mentita inimica's, Quod nec das et fers saepe, facis facinus. Aut facere ingenuaest, aut non promisse pudicae, 5 Aufilena, fuit: sed data corripere Fraudando + efficit plus quom meretricis avarae, Quae sese tota corpore prostituit.

CX.

TO AUFILENA.

Aufiléna! for aye good lasses are lauded as loyal: Price of themselves they accept when they intend to perform. All thou promised'st me in belying proves thee unfriendly, For never giving and oft taking is deed illy done. Either as honest to grant, or modest as never to promise, 5 Aufiléna! were fair, but at the gifties to clutch Fraudfully, viler seems than greed of greediest harlot Who with her every limb maketh a whore of herself.

Aufilena, honest harlots are always praised: they accept the price of what they intend to do. Thou didst promise that to me, which, being a feigned promise, proves thee unfriendly; not giving that, and often accepting, thou dost wrongfully. Either to do it frankly, or not to promise from modesty, Aufilena, was becoming thee: but to snatch the gift and bilk, proves thee worse than the greedy strumpet who prostitutes herself with every part of her body.

CXI.

Aufilena, viro contentam vivere solo, Nuptarum laus e laudibus eximiis: Sed cuivis quamvis potius succumbere par est, Quam matrem fratres _efficere_ ex patruo.

CXI.

TO THE SAME.

Aufiléna! to live content with only one husband, Praise is and truest of praise ever bestowed upon wife. Yet were it liefer to lie any wise with any for lover, Than to be breeder of boys uncle as cousins begat.

Aufilena, to be content to live with single mate, in married dame is praise of praises most excelling: but 'tis preferable to lie beneath any lover thou mayest choose, rather than to make thyself mother to thy cousins out of thy uncle.

CXII.

Multus homo es Naso, neque tecum multus homost qui Descendit: Naso, multus es et pathicus.

CXII.

ON NASO.

Great th'art (Naso!) as man, nor like thee many in greatness Lower themselves (Naso!): great be thou, pathic to boot.

A mighty man thou art, Naso, yet is a man not mighty who doth stoop like thee: Naso thou art mighty--and pathic.

CXIII.

Consule Pompeio primum duo, Cinna, solebant Mucillam: facto consule nunc iterum Manserunt duo, sed creverunt milia in unum Singula. fecundum semen adulterio.

CXIII.

TO CINNA.

Pompey first being chosen to Consul, twofold (O Cinna!) Men for amours were famed: also when chosen again Two they remained; but now is each one grown to a thousand Gallants:--fecundate aye springeth adultery's seed.

In the first consulate of Pompey, two, Cinna, were wont to frequent Mucilla: now again made consul, the two remain, but thousands may be added to each unit. The seed of adultery is fecund.

CXIIII.

Firmano saltu non falso Mentula dives Fertur, qui tot res in se habet egregias, Aucupium, omne genus piscis, prata, arva ferasque. Nequiquam: fructibus sumptibus exuperat. Quare concedo sit dives, dum omnia desint. 5 Saltum laudemus, dum modo _eo_ ipse egeat.

CXIIII.

ON MAMURRA'S SQUANDERING.

For yon Firmian domain not falsely Mentula hight is Richard, owning for self so many excellent things-- Fish, fur, feather, all kinds, with prairie, corn-land, and ferals. All no good: for th' outgoing, income immensely exceeds. Therefore his grounds be rich own I, while he's but a pauper. 5 Laud we thy land while thou lackest joyance thereof.

With Firmian demesne not falsely is Mentula deemed rich, who has everything in it of such excellence, game preserves of every kind, fish, meadows, arable land and ferals. In vain: the yield is o'ercome by the expense. Wherefore I admit the wealth, whilst everything is wanting. We may praise the demesne, but its owner is a needy man.

CXV.

Mentula habes instar triginta iugera prati, Quadraginta arvi: cetera sunt maria. Cur non divitiis Croesum superare potissit Vno qui in saltu totmoda possideat, Prata, arva, ingentes silvas saltusque paludesque 5 Vsque ad Hyperboreos et mare ad Oceanum? Omnia magna haec sunt, tamen ipse's maximus ultro, Non homo, sed vero mentula magna minax.

CXV.

OF THE SAME.

Mentula! masterest thou some thirty acres of grass-land Full told, forty of field soil; others are sized as the sea. Why may he not surpass in his riches any a Croesus Who in his one domain owns such abundance of good, Grass-lands, arable fields, vast woods and forest and marish 5 Yonder to Boreal-bounds trenching on Ocean tide? Great are indeed all these, but thou by far be the greatest, Never a man, but a great Mentula of menacing might.

Mentula has something like thirty acres of meadow land, forty under cultivation: the rest are as the sea. Why might he not o'erpass Croesus in wealth, he who in one demesne possesses so much? Meadow, arable land, immense woods, and demesnes, and morasses, e'en to the uttermost north and to the ocean's tide! All things great are here, yet is the owner most great beyond all; not a man, but in truth a Mentule mighty, menacing!

CXVI.

Saepe tibi studioso animo venante requirens Carmina uti possem mittere Battiadae, Qui te lenirem nobis, neu conarere Telis infestis icere mi usque caput, Hunc video mihi nunc frustra sumptus esse laborem, 5 Gelli, nec nostras his valuisse preces. Contra nos tela ista tua evitamus amictu: At fixus nostris tu dabi' supplicium.

CXVI.

TO GELLIUS THE CRITIC.

Seeking often in mind with spirit eager of study How I could send thee songs chaunted of Battiadés, So thou be softened to us, nor any attempting thou venture Shot of thy hostile shaft piercing me high as its head,-- Now do I ken this toil with vainest purpose was taken, 5 (Gellius!) nor herein aught have our prayers availèd. Therefore we'll parry with cloak what shafts thou shootest against us; And by our bolts transfixt, penalty due thou shalt pay.

Oft with studious mind brought close, enquiring how I might send thee the poems of Battiades for use, that I might soften thee towards us, nor thou continually attempt to sting my head with troublesome barbs--this I see now to have been trouble and labour in vain, O Gellius, nor were our prayers to this end of any avail. Thy weapons against us we will ward off with our cloak; but, transfixed with ours, thou shalt suffer punishment.

* * * * *

NOTES

EXPLANATORY AND ILLUSTRATIVE

Carmen ii. v. 1. Politian, commenting on Catullus, held in common with Lampridius, Turnebus and Vossius that Lesbia's sparrow was an indecent allegory, like the "grey duck" in Pope's imitation of Chaucer. Sannazarius wrote an Epigram smartly castigating Politian, the closing lines of which were to the effect that the critic would like to devour the bird:--

Meus hic Pulicianus Tam bellum sibi passerem Catulli Intra viscera habere concupiscit.

Martial says:

"Kiss me and I will give you Catullus's sparrow,

by which he does not mean a poem.

And in the Apophoreta:

"If you have such a sparrow as Catullus's Lesbia deplored, it may lodge here."

Chaulieu has a similar Epigram:--

Autant et plus que sa vie Phyllis aime un passereau; Ainsi la jeune Lesbie Jadis aima son moineau. Mais de celui de Catulle Se laissant aussi charmer, Dans sa cage, sans scrupule, Elle eut soin de l' enfermer.

Héguin de Guerle however sees nothing to justify this opinion, remarking that Catullus was not the man to use a veil of allegory in saying an indecency. "He preferred the bare, and even coarse, word; and he is too rich in this style of writing to need the loan of equivocal passages."

v. 12. The story of the race between Hippomenes and Atalanta, and how the crafty lover tricked the damsel into defeat by the three golden apples is well known. Cf. Ovid. Metam. lib. x. v. 560, et seq. According to Vossius the gift of an apple was equivalent to a promise of the last favour. The Emperor Theodosius caused Paulinus to be murdered for receiving an apple from his Empress. As to this, cf. the "Tale of the Three Apples," in _The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night_ (Sir Richard Burton's Translation, Benares, 1885-8, 16 volumes), vol. i. p. 191. Cf. also note to C. lxv. v. 19.

v. 13. Virgins wore a girdle, generally of wool, for wool by the ancients was supposed to excite love, which the bridegroom the first night unbound in bed. Both in Greek and in Latin the phrase _to undo the zone_ was used to signify the loss of virginity.

C. vi. v. 8. Some say this is the spikenard, and the same with the Syrian _malobathrum_. But any rich odour was termed Syrian, by the Romans, who were extravagantly fond of perfumes; and used them, according to Vulpius, as provocatives to venery.

v. 9. _Pulvinus_, not _pulvinar_. Cf. carmen lxiiii. v. 47, post.

C. vii. v. 6. Battus (in Libyan) Bahatus, a chief, a ruler.--Halevy Essai, p. 164.--_R. F. B._

C. viii. v. 18. Plautus speaks of Teneris labellis molles morsiunculae. Thus too Horace:

Sive puer furens Impressit memorem dente labris notam.

Or on thy lips the fierce fond boy Marks with his teeth the furious joy. _Francis_.

Plutarch tells us that Flora, the mistress of Cn. Pompey, used to say in commendation of her lover, that she could never quit his arms without giving him a bite.

C. xi. v. 5. In the Classics, Arabs always appear as a soft effeminate race; under primitive Christianity as heretics; and after the seventh century as conquerors, men of letters, philosophers, mediciners, magicians and alchemists.--_R. F. B._

v. 20. _Ilia rumpens_. More exactly rendered by Biacca:

E sol di tutti Tenta l'iniqua ad isnervar i fianchi.

Guarini says of a coquette, that she likes to do with lovers as with gowns, have plenty of them, use one after another, and change them often.

C. xiii. v. 9. I understand this, "Thou shalt depart after supper carrying with thee all our hearts."--_R. F. B._

C. xiiii. v. 15. Whence our Christmas-day, the Winter Solstice connected with Christianity. There are only four universal festivals--"Holy days,"--and they are all of solar origin--The Solstices and the Equinoxes.--_R. F. B._

C. xv. v. 7. The Etymology of "platea" shows it to be a street widening into a kind of _place_, as we often find in the old country towns of Southern Europe.--_R. F. B._

v. 18. _Patente porta_. This may be read "Your house door being open so that each passer may see your punishment," or it may be interpreted as referring to the punishment itself, _i.e._, through the opened buttocks.

v. 19. This mode of punishing adulterers was first instituted amongst the Athenians. The victim being securely tied, a mullet was thrust up his fundament and withdrawn, the sharp gills of the fish causing excruciating torment to the sufferer during the process of its withdrawal, and grievously lacerating the bowels. Sometimes an enormous radish was substituted for the mullet. According to an epigram quoted by Vossius from the Anthologia, Alcaeus, the comic writer, died under this very punishment.

Lo here Alcaeus sleeps; whom earth's green child, The broad-leaved radish, lust's avenger, kill'd.

C. xvi. v. 1. _Paedicabo et irrumabo._ These detestable words are used here only as coarse forms of threatening, with no very definite meaning. It is certain that they were very commonly employed in this way, with no more distinct reference to their original import than the corresponding phrases of the modern Italians, _T' ho in culo_ and _becco fottuto_, or certain brutal exclamations common in the mouths of the English vulgar.

v. 5. Ovid has a distich to the same effect:

Crede mihi, distant mores a carmine nostri; Vita verecunda est, musa jocosa mihi.

"Believe me there is a vast difference between my morals and my song; my life is decorous, my muse is wanton." And Martial says:

Lasciva est nobis pagina, vita proba est.

Which is thus translated by Maynard:

Si ma plume est une putain, Ma vie est une sainte.

Pliny quotes this poem of Catullus to excuse the wantonness of his own verses, which he is sending to his friend Paternus; and Apuleius cites the passage in his Apology for the same purpose. "Whoever," says Lambe, "would see the subject fully discussed, should turn to the Essay on the Literary Character by Mr. Disraeli." He enumerates as instances of free writers who have led pure lives, La Motte le Vayer, Bayle, la Fontaine, Smollet, and Cowley. "The imagination," he adds, "may be a volcano, while the heart is an Alp of ice." It would, however, be difficult to enlarge this list, while on the other hand, the catalogue of those who really practised the licentiousness they celebrated, would be very numerous. One period alone, the reign of Charles the Second, would furnish more than enough to outnumber the above small phalanx of purity. Muretus, whose poems clearly gave him every right to knowledge on the subject, but whose known debauchery would certainly have forbidden any credit to accrue to himself from establishing the general purity of lascivious poets, at once rejects the probability of such a contrast, saying:

Quisquis versibus exprimit Catullum Raro moribus exprimit Catonem.

"One who is a Catullus in verse, is rarely a Cato in morals."

C. xviii. This and the two following poems are found in the Catalecta of Vergilius, but they are assigned to Catullus by many of the best critics, chiefly on the authority of Terentianus Maurus.

v. 2. Cf. _Auct. Priapeiorum_, Eps. lv. v. 6, and lxxvii. v. 15.

v. 3. _Ostreosior_. This Epithet, peculiarly Catullian, is appropriate to the coasts most favoured by Priapus; oysters being an incentive to lust.

C. xx. v. 19. The traveller mocks at Priapus' threat of sodomy, regarding it as a pleasure instead of as a punishment. The god, in anger, retorts that if that punishment has no fears for him, a fustigation by the farmer with the self-same mentule used as a cudgel may have a more deterrent effect. Cf. _Auct. Priap._ Ep. li. v. 27, 28:

Nimirum apertam convolatis ad poenam: Et vos hoc ipsum, quod minamur, invitat.

Without doubt, ye flock to the open punishment [so called because the natural parts of Priapus were always exposed to view], and the very thing with which I threaten, allures you.

And also Ep. lxiv.,

Quidam mollior anseris medulla, Furatum venit hoc amor poenae. Furetur licet usque non videbo.

One than a goose's marrow softer far, Comes hither stealing for it's penalty sake; Steal he as please him: I will see him not.

C. xxiii. v. 6. Dry and meagre as wood; like the woman of whom Scarron says, that she never snuffed the candle with her fingers for fear of setting them on fire.

C. xxv. v. 1. Cf. Auct. Priap. Ep. xlv.

v. 5. This is a Catullian _crux_. Mr. Arthur Palmer (Trinity College, Dublin, Jan. 31, 1890) proposes, and we adopt--

"Cum diva miluorum aves ostendit oscitantes."

(When the Goddess of Kites shows you birds agape.)

Diva miluorum is--Diva furum, Goddess of thieves; _i.e._, Laverna Milvus (hawk) being generally used for a rapacious robber. Mr. Palmer quotes Plaut. (Poen. 5, 5, 13; Pers. 3, 4, 5; Bacch. 2, 3, 40), and others.--_R. F. B._

v. 6. _Involasti_, thou didst swoop--still metaphor of the prey-bird.--_R. F. B._

C. xxvi. v. 3. Still the "Bora" of the Adriatic, extending, with intervals, from Trieste to Bari. It is a N.N. Easter of peculiar electrical properties, causing extreme thirst, wrecking ships, upsetting mail-trains, and sweeping carriages and horses into the sea. Austral, the south wind, is represented in these days by the Scirocco, S.S.E. It sets out from Africa a dry wind, becomes supersaturated in the Mediterranean, and is the scourge of Southern Italy, exhausting the air of ozone and depressing the spirits and making man utterly useless and miserable.--_R. F. B._

C. xxviii. v. 10. These expressions, like those in carmen xvi. ante, are merely terms of realistically gross abuse.