774 
POETRY. 
of his fong, but was too magnanimous to refent it. 
From Caefar he defcended to the loweft and obfcureft 
of the Romans. Patrician or plebeian, vice or folly 
u'as alike the fubjedl of his fatire, nor did he fpare the 
female fex. Bad poets, weak orators, the avaricious, 
the lafcivious, are treated without mercy. In a lefs 
manly ftrain he attacks perfonal misfortunes ; and 
foul breaths and Hammering voices are among the 
moft ferious of his charges. Of the grofs indecency of 
Catullus there can be but one opinion ; and it is likely, 
if not proved, that his life was as bad as his writings. 
Catullus, in common with the Romans, profeffed no de¬ 
corum. He fays, 
-Nam caftum efle decet pium poetam 
Ipfum ; verficulos nihil neceffe eft : 
Qui turn denique habent falem ac leporem 
Si lint molliculi & parum pudici. 
In his more ferious compofitions, Catulius was tender, 
and even delicate. The Carmen on the Death of Lefbia’s 
Sparrow is remarkable for its beauty. As it is ftiort, we 
infert it as a fpecimen of the better ftyle of Catulius: 
Lugete o Veneres, Cupidinefque, 
Et quantum eft hominum venuftiorum. 
Paffer mortuus eft mete puellae, 
Pafler deliciae mete puellae, 
Quern plus ilia oculis fuis amabat : 
Nam mellitus erat, fuamque norat 
Ipfa tarn bene quam puella matrem : 
Nec fefe a gremio illius movebat; 
Sed circumfiliens modo hue, modo illuc. 
Ad folam dominam ufque pipilabat. 
Qui nunc it per iter tenebricofum 
Illuc, unde negant redire quenquam. 
At vobis male fit, malae tenebrae 
Orci, quae omnia bella devoratis ; 
Tam bellutn mihi pafferem abftuliftis. 
O faftum male ! 6 mifelle paffer! 
Tua nunc Opera inese puellae 
Flendo turgiduli rubent ocelli. 
Mourn all ye Loves ! ye Graces mourn ! 
My Lefbia’s fav’rite fparrow’s gone ! 
Ye men for wit, for tafte, preferr’d, 
Lament my girl’s departed bird ! 
That fparrow, than her eyes more dear, 
Which oft has charm’d her lift’ning ear; 
Which knew her, as the infant knows 
The breaft from whence its being flows ; 
Which, hopping in amufive fport, 
At her lov’d fide would pay its court ; 
And, feated on her bofom’s throne, 
Would pipe to her and her alone : 
Poor bird 1 who now that darkfome bourn 
Haft pafs’d, whence none can e’er return : 
Perifli ye (hades of Stygian gloom, 
Which all that’s elegant confume ! 
’Twas you, detefted be the day ! 
Who fnatch’d our charming bird away. 
The 4ad Carmen is another of the lovelieft little 
poems that ever graced the Roman tongue. The Julias et 
Ivlanlii Epithalarnium, (58.) one of the longeft pieces in the 
volume, is unufually fpirited; and is perhaps the beft 
fpecimen we have of the ancient wedding-fong. It is 
immediately followed by the Carmen Nuptiale, which is 
fuppofed to have been written upon the fame occafion. 
In this carmen is that beautiful comparifon, which no 
reader of tafte or feeling can read without emotion : 
Ut flos in feptis fecretus nafeitur hortis, 
Ignotus pecori, nullo contufus aratro, 
Quern mulcent auras, firmat fol, educat imber, 
Multi ilium pueri, multas optavere puellas: 
Idem cum tenui carptus defloruit ungui, 
Nulli ilium pueri, nullas optavere puellse : 
Sic virgo dum intadla manet, turn cara fuis, fed 
Cum caftum amifit polluto corpore florem, 
Nec pueris jucunda manet, nec cara puellis. 
The 60th Carmen, de Aty, is a very Angular compo- 
fition in galliambics. Catullus relates the hiftory of the 
beautiful Atys differently from any other author. The 
diftion is highly finifned; and the complaints of Atys, 
however extraordinary may appear the misfortune of this 
fabulous perfonage, are tender and affe&ing. Gibbon 
the hiftorian, fpeaking of the allegorizing fpirit of the 
later Platonifts, who conftantly inwove philosophic fable 
with their polytheiftical mythology, fays, “ But all the 
allegories which ever iffued from the Platonic fchool, are 
not worth this ftiort poem of Catullus. The tranfition of 
Atys, from the wildeft enthufiafm to fober pathetic com¬ 
plaint for his irretrievable lofs, rauft infpire a man with 
pity, and an eunuch with defpair.” 
The 61ft Carmen is a long poem in heroic verfe, upon 
the marriage of Peleus and Thetis, and has therefore 
fometimes been erroneoufly termed an epithalarnium; but 
it wants the chorus of virgins. The introduction of the 
famous ftory of the Argonauts, has induced many of the 
old editors to ftyle it argonautica, after the manner of 
Orpheus. In describing the nuptial bed, Catullus takes 
occafion to recount the ftory of Thefeus and Ariadne, in 
a beautiful though long epifode, which embraces more 
than one half of the poem. If this be a fault, it is amply 
compenfated by the admirable manner in which the ftory 
is told. At the conclufion, the poet brings in the Fates 
chaunting a kind of hymeneal congratulatory fong ; an 
imagery which has a ftriking and pleafing effeCh It is 
with great appearance of reafon conjeftured by Vofiius, 
that this piece, as well as the 59th Carmen, was copied 
from the writings of Sappho, which are known to have 
formed the chief delight of Catullus. 
Catullus copied the Greeks, and maintains fomething 
of their fimplicity; but he inverted it with more keennefs 
and fatire, and hence united in fome degree the merits of 
Martial with thofe of the Greek fchool. 
Propertius .—Four Books of Elegies by this author 
have reached us: the firft called for fome unknown rea¬ 
fon, the Monobiblos. It contains zz Elegies, all to Cyn¬ 
thia; and in this we note his chief charadteriftics. He 
is more delicate and tender, but lefs original, than Catul¬ 
lus. He adorned his love-lays with many of the flowers 
of Grecian literature; and afiiduoufly ftudied the ancient 
fable. When he fpoke of important topics, Propertius 
betrayed much energy. When he learnedly defcants upon 
the antiquities of Rome, when he fings the victories of 
Auguftus, and deferibes the matron Cornelia, wife of 
Paulus the cenfor, his numbers are lofty, and foar beyond 
the flight of Elegy. 
It is a great merit in Propertius,that he rarely indulges in 
any very indecent expreflions or allufions. Though feveral 
of his Elegies betray confiderable warmth and paflion, yet 
there are few in which he give* way to the meretricious 
raptures of Ovid, or to the coarfe deferiptions of Catullus. 
The third Elegy in the Monobiblos may exemplify what 
we mean ; where he deferibes himfelf as repairing late at 
night to his miftrefs whom he finds afleep, and refpeflfully 
forbears to interrupt her repofe. There is in this Elegy 
an image of exquifite beauty; the moon in her courfe 
fhining full upon the face of Cynthia through the win¬ 
dows oppofite her bed fo as to awaken her: 
Donee diverfas percurrens Luna feneftras, 
Luna moraturis fedula laminibus, 
Compofitos levibus radiis patefecit ocellos. 
The reproach of Cynthia, contained in the fubfequent 
lines, is alfo beautifully tender. In fome of his Elegies, 
he indulges a fort of pathetic languor, which is extremely 
moving; particularly in the 7th, where he tells his friend 
Ponticus, tha,t he prefers the tenderness of elegy to all the 
grandeur of heroics s 
Nec tan turn ingenio, quantum fervire dolori 
Cogor, et astatis tempera dura queri; 
and 
