120 
riores, sed quia timidiores sumus, Scimus 
alicque hujus opusculi illam esse verissimam 
degem, quam Catullus expressit.* Here 
we see even the grave sententious Pliny 
contenting himself with the omission of 
a practice which, however improper and 
unworthy of real genius, he does not pre- 
sume to condemn. ‘That it. existed, 
these and many other authorities which 
might be adduced, sufficiently demon- 
strate. But it is equally true that Ca- 
tullus has, more than any other cotem- 
porary poet, indulged in this licentious- 
ness of his age. 
But proceed we now to consider the 
poet of Verona in his more serious com- 
positions. Catullus is not always the 
gay and enamoured writer whom love 
Mspires, or satire misleads. In some of 
his pieces he is tender and delicate. 
That on Lesbia’s Sparrowt is remarkable 
for its wit-and beauty. Some writers 
have affected to insinuate that the plea- 
santry. it contains is tinctured with that 
Jibidinous vein too prevalent in the wri- 
tings of this author. .Bat we confess 
that we can see no positive grounds for 
this assertion. As it is short, we insert 
it as a specimen of the better style of 
Catullus: 
Passer delicize mez puellae, 
Quicum ludere, quem in sinu tenere 
+Quoi primum digitum dare adpetenti 
Et acres solet incitare morsus$ 
Quum desiderio meo nitenti 
Carum nescio quid lubet jocari, 
Ut solatiolum sui-doloris 
Credo, ut tum gravis acquiescat ardor: 
‘Tecum ludere, sicut ipsa, posse, 
Et tristes animi levare curas, 
Tam gratum est mihi, quam ferunt puelle 
Pernici aureolum faisse malum, 
Quod zonam soluit diu ligatam. 
Where a composition, without any mani- 
fest injury to the text, will bear a good 
and commendable sense, it is surely the 
safest and most candid way to give it 
such interpretation. The fourth, cz praise 
of his Pinnace, written on the vessel which 
conveyed him from Bithynia to Italy, 
has many passages of fine Grecian elo- 
quence, which alone would entitle him 
to the appellation ,of Doctus.|| The 
eighth$ is one of the most elegant and 
tender in the ‘volume. We may also 
notice the Carmen ad Dianam,§| which 
# Epist. 14. lib. 4, 
+ Carms, 2. 
$ Quoi for Cu. 
{| Vulpius in loco. 
§ Ad RY 4 ipsuet, 
q 5t 
Lyceum of Ancient Literatire—No. XXXJ. [Sept. 1, 
Scaliger thinks was written on the same; 
occasion with the famous Carmen seculare 
of Horace; but a little attention to chro=. 
nology will evince the absurdity of this’ 
conjecture. It is more probable that 
this piece was never intended for a se- 
cular ode, but composed for some par-. 
ticular festival in honour of the godéless. | 
The forty-second* is perhaps one of the 
loveliest little poems that ever graced 
the Roman tongue. The Julie ef Mantr 
Epithalamium,t one of the longest pieces 
in the volume, is unusually spirited, and 
is, perhaps, the best specimen we have 
of the ancient wedding-song. It is im- 
mediately followed by the Carmen Nup- 
tiale, which is supposed to have been 
writtel upon the same cccasion. Many 
editors, particularly among the French, 
make this. piece the principal part of the 
epithalamium on Julia and Manlius, 
bringing in the preceding carmen by way. 
of chorus. But this arrangement is not 
adopted by the German or English come 
mentators. In this carmen is that beau- 
tiful comparison, which no reader of taste 
or feeling can read without emotion: 
Ut flos in septis secretus nascitur hortis, 
Ignotus pecori, nullo contusus aratro, 
Quem mulcent aure, firmat sol, educat imber, 
Multi illum pueri, multe optavere puelle: 
Idem cum tenui carptus defloruit ungul, 
Nulli illum pueri, nullz optavere puellz : 
Sic virgodum intacta manet, tum cara suis, sed 
Cum castum amisit polluto corpore florem, 
Nec pueris jucunda manet, nec cara puellis. 
The 60th carmen de Aty, is a very singu- 
lar composition in galliambics.[ . Ca- 
tullus relates the history of the beautiful 
Atys differently from any other author.§ 
The diction is highly finished, and the 
complaints of Atys, however extras 
ordinary may appear the misfortune. 
of this fabulous personage, are tender 
and affecting. Gibbon the historian, 
* De Acme et Septimio. 
T Carm, 58. The epithalamium was a poem 
sung by youths, or virgins, or both, when the 
bride was brought to the bridegroom, and 
placed in the thalamus. Apollo was said te 
have written the first among the Greeks, on 
the marriage of Peleus and Thetis. The 
most ancient in Latin that we know of, is this 
of Catullus, : 
t This metre usually consists of an anas 
pest orspondee ; then two iambics, with a long 
catalectic syllable ; to which are again added 
an anapest and two iambics, as Vice weris, et. 
favoni glacies reseluitur. Sometimes, that the 
“yerse may run more rapidly, a tribrachus ts 
put inthe last foot for an iambic, as Super alta 
mecius Atys celeri rate maria. : 
§ See Ovid. Fast. 9 & Metam. 10. 
speaking 
