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Est homini, cum se cogitat esse pium,

Nec sanctam violasse fidem, nec foedere in ullo

Divum ad fallendos numine abusum homines, etc.

Another, and less admirable, side of the nature of Catullus is

Quis hoc potest videre, quis potest pati.

Nisi impudicus et vorax et aleo, etc.--

and in the less vigorous but much more offensive 57th poem.

Catullus in these poems expresses the animosity which the 'boni'

Et ille nunc superbus et superfluens

Perambulabit omnium cubilia, etc.

Irascere iterum meis iambis

Inmerentibus, unice imperator,--

Nam castum esse decet pium poetam

Ipsum, versiculos nihil necesse est.

language.

O Colonia, quae cupis ponte ludere magno,--

which has some touches of graceful poetry as well as of humourous

Quoi cum sit viridissimo nupta flore puella

(Et puella tenellulo delicatior haedo,

Asservanda nigerrimis diligentius uvis),--

Munus hoc mihi maximi da, Colonia, risus--

Chommoda dicebat, si quando commoda vellet

Dicere, et insidias Arrius hinsidias, etc.

Just as the ears of men had recovered from this infliction--

Subito affertur nuntius horribilis,

Ionios fluctus, postquam illuc Arrius isset,

Iam non Ionios esse, sed Hionios.

Like fastidious and irritable poets of other times (Horace, Pope,

Dii magni, horribilem ac sacrum libellum.

friends, who, though in other respects a man of sense, wit, and

Plenam veneni et pestilentiae.

About one half of the shorter poems, and more than half of the

epigrams, are to be classed among his personal lampoons or light

satiric pieces. Many of these show Catullus to us on that side of

Iam ver egelidos refert tepores,--

Phaselus ille quem videtis, hospites,--

Iam mens praetrepidans avet vagari,

with which a cultivated mind forecasts the pleasure of travelling

Aut quam sidera multa, cum facet nox,

Furtivos hominum vident amores,--

Velut prati

Ultimi flos, praetereunte postquam

Tactus aratro est;--

Nec sapit pueri instar

Bimuli, tremula patris dormientis in ulna,--

Et puella tenellulo delicatior haedo,

Adservanda nigerrimis diligentius uvis.

But the great charm of the style in these shorter poems is its

Miser Catulle desinas ineptire,--

Vivamus, mea Lesbia, atque amemus,--

Acmen Septimius suos amores,--

Verani, omnibus e meis amicis,--

Iam ver egelidos refert tepores,--

Paene insularum Sirmio insularumque,--

Miser Catulle, desinas ineptire,--

we apprehend through a perfectly pure medium, and by a single

Minister vetuli puer Falerni

Inger mi calices amariores, etc.

'In profuse strains of unpremeditated art.'

Ne diu taceat procax

Fescennina locutio--

Quos Hamadryades deae

Ludicrum sibi roscido

Nutriunt humore,--

Alba parthenice velut

Luteumve papaver--

the symbol of maidens--

'Whom youth makes so fair and passion so pale.'

The grace of trees and the bloom of flowers were prized by him

among the fairest things in Nature. The charm in woman which most

the Epithalamium of Peleus and Thetis, he compares Ariadne in her

Quales Eurotae progignunt flumina myrtos

Aurave distinctos educit verna colores.

Viden ut faces

Splendidas quatiunt comas?

The two pictures, further on in the poem, of a peaceful old age

prolonged to the utmost limit of human life--

Usque dum tremulum movens

Cana tempus anilitas

Omnia omnibus annuit--

and of infancy, awakening into consciousness and affection,--

Torquatus volo parvulus

Matris e gremio suae

Porrigens teneras manus,

Dulce rideat ad patrem

Semihiante labello.

Sit suo similis patri

Manlio et facile insciis

Noscitetur ab omnibus,

Et pudicitiam suae

Matris indicet ore.

are drawn with the truest and most delicate hand.

Idem cum tenui carptus defloruit ungui,

Nulli illum pueri, nullae optavere puellae,--

οἵαν τὰν ὑάκινθον ἐν ὤρεσι ποίμενες ἄνδρες

πόσσι καταστείβοισι, χάμαι δέ τε πόρφυρον ἄνθος.

'Grows, lives, and dies in single blessedness;'

Iam iam contingit summum radice flagellum,--

Sed ubi oris aurei Sol radiantibus oculis

Lustravit aethera album, sola dura, mare ferum,