Caius Valerius Catullus, Poems and Fragments

Are too alien from ordinary pronunciation to please either an average reader or a classically trained student. the same may be said of the translation

The following stanzas are from a sapphic ode into which webbe translated, or as we should say, transposed the fourth eclogue of spenser's sheepheardes

There are many faults in these verses over quaintnesses of language, constructions impossible in english, quantities of doubtful correctness, harsh e

Or the hendecasyllables immediately preceding,

It is obvious that a very little more trouble would have converted these into very perfect and very pleasing poems. had sir philip sidney written ever

Blossoms , though only accented on the first syllable, counts for a spondee, the shortness of the second o being partly helped out by the two consonan

Forĕst , murmurĭng , pines ănd the , are all inadmissible. but where a vowel is followed by two consonants, one of which is unheard or only heard slig

And this would be a fair representation of a pure iambic line, according to the views of most german and most english writers. yet not only is die no

Whatever its defects, is at least a pretty exact representation of a pure iambic line. xxix. 6-8, are thus translated by heyse:-

By me thus,

The difference is purely negative i have bound myself to avoid certain positions forbidden by the laws of ancient prosody. to some i may seem to have

Catullus.

I am indebted for this expression to a translation of this poem by dr. j.a. symonds, the whole of which i should have quoted here, had it not been unf

Browning , ring and book , v. 664.

Xv.

Xvi.

Xvii. 1.

The round plate of iron which, according to rich, companion to the latin dictionary, p. 609, formed the lower part of the sock worn by horses, mules,

Xxi.

Xxii.

A clown.

Tickell , theristes or the lordling , 23-26.

Xxiii.

For a spirited, though coarse, version of this poem, see cotton's poems, p. 608, ed. 1689.

Browning , flight of the duchess , v. 21.

Ring and book , v. 701.

Move quickly over the road. so shakespeare:

2nd part of henry iv. , act i. sc. 1.

Xxxvi. 1.

Xxxvii. 1.

A member of the saraceni family at vicenza, finding that a beautiful widow did not favour him, scribbled filthy pictures over the door. the affair was

Properly green-eyed. the epithet would seem to be not merely picturesque the glaring of the eyes would be more marked in proportion as the beast wa

Tennyson , eleänore .

This line is quoted as catullus's by porphyrion on hor. c. 1. 16, 24. his words, catullus cum maledicta minaretur , compared with the last lines of th

Lv. 1.

This is the only instance where catullus has introduced a spondee into the second foot of the phalaecian, which then becomes decasyllabic. the alterna

There seems to be no authority for the meaning ordinarily assigned to libellis , book-shops. i prefer to explain the word placards, either announcin

In the rhythm of this poem, i have been obliged to deviate in two points from catullus. (1) in him the first foot of each line is nearly always a troc

Ben jonson , the barriers .

Lxiii.

In the metre of this poem catullus observes the following general type -

Troilus and cressida , act iv. sc. 5.

Abide as, i think, in spenser's faerie queene , vi. 2, 19.

Below, lxiv. 297, i have used it in its more common meaning of atoning for, faerie queene , iv. 1, 53.

Midsummer night's dream , iii. 2.

Longfellow's dante inf . iii. 22.

Tennyson , tithonus .

Keats , endymion , ii. ad fin.

Lxiv.

Lxiv. 160.

I have combined thou with your purposely, to suggest the idea conveyed in uestras as opposed to potuisti , the family abode as opposed to the individu

Bent as they move rapidly through the water.

From heyse,

Keats , lamia , part i.

I have attempted here to give what i conceive catullus may have meant to convey by the remarkable collocation at roseo niueae residebant uertice uitta

A verse seems to have been lost here, which i have thus supplied.

- pope , epitaph on the children of lord digby.

Lxix.

Clearness, transparency.

Browning , ring and book , i. 925.

Lxx.

Sir philip sidney thus translates this poem:-

Ben jonson , the fox , iv. 2.

LXII. 39-61.

Look in a garden croft, when a flower privily growing, &c.

Opinion. Look how a flower that close in closes grows,

Hid from rude cattle, bruised with no ploughs,

Which th' air doth stroke, sun strengthen, showers shoot higher,

It many youths and many maids desire;

The same, when cropt by cruel hand 'tis wither'd,

No youths at all, no maidens have desired;

So a virgin while untouch'd she doth remain

Is dear to hers; but when with body's stain

Her chaster flower is lost, she leaves to appear

Or sweet to young men or to maidens dear.

Truth. Virgins, O Virgins, to sweet Hymen yield,

For as a lone vine in a naked field

Never extols her branches, never bears

Ripe grapes, but with a headlong heaviness wears

Her tender body, and her highest sprout

Is quickly levell'd with her fading root;

By whom no husbandmen, no youths will dwell;

But if by fortune she be married well,

To the elm her husband, many husbandmen

And many youths inhabit by her then;

So whilst a virgin doth untouch'd abide,

All unmanur'd she grows old with her pride;

But when to equal wedlock, in fit time,

Her fortune and endeavour lets her climb,

Dear to her love and parents she is held.

Virgins, O Virgins, to sweet Hymen yield.