The Poems of Catullus

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1899 Excerpt: ... At non effugies meos iambos. II Hunc lucum tibi dedico Consecroque Priape, Qua domus tua Lampsacist Quaque lege Priapi. Nam te praecipue in suis Urbibus colit ora Hellespontia ceteris Ostriosior oris. NOTES i The dedication is to Cornelius Nepos, an amiable man but dull historian. It was probably intended as a preface to some only of the poems. 1. dorw, am I giving? more vivid than am I to give? though the latter is of course possible; cf. the well-known in qua te quaero proseucha? (Juv. iii. 296). 2. pumice. Cf. xxii. 8. 6. iam turn cum. Emphatic. Nepos found time to praise him even when engaged on his own great work. 7. Onme aevum, i.e. the Chronica of Nepos, a history of all time. 8. laboriosis, full of research. 9. quidquid hoc libelli, qualecunque. Self-depreciatory; whatever its worth, whatever its kind. 10. patrona virgo, Le. the Muse. The sudden invocation is not unnatural. Bergk's correction, patroni tit ergo, that for its patron's sake, is ingenious and gives additional point, but it is not necessary. 11. perenne, through the years; or perhaps unaging, an intentional surprise after plus uno. II To Lesbia's sparrow. 3. primum digitum, finger-tip. 5,6. When the bright lady of my longing love is minded to try some charming play (Munro). 8, 9. dolor, grief; e.g. at being parted from her lover, ardor, the passion of love. 9. credo, ah yes lit. I believe it, for Catullus has felt the same grief. Iia A fragment, or possibly complete in itself. Lesbia may have sent him an apple, a common lover's gift (cf. lxv. 19), and this may be his acknowledgment. puellae, Atalanta, who stopped to pick up the go...