ANCIENT LATIN EPIGRAMMATISTS. B.C. 54-A.D. 370.. CATULLUS. Flourished B.C. 54. He was born at Verona, and in early life removed to Rome, where his poetry and wit caused him to be held in high estimation. With the exception of Martial, he is the most celebrated of the Latin Epigrammatists. The numbering of the epigrams varies in different editions of Catullus. The one to which reference is made is that of Doering, Londini, 1820. TO JUVENTIA (Ep. 48). Translated in "The Works of Petronius Arbiter, &c., translated by several hands." 1714. Juventia, might I kiss those eyes, That such becoming sweetness dart, E'en though the harvest of our kisses were And speaks the blessings of the fruitful year. It was formerly the custom to kiss the eyes as a mark of tenderness. In Chaucer's "Troilus and Cresseide we have: Thus Troilus full oft her eyen two Steevens, in his notes to Shakespeare's "Winter's Tale," mentions au old MS. play of "Timon of Athens," in which the same expression occurs: O Juno! be not angry with thy Jove, But let me kisse thine eyes, my sweete delight. There is another epigram by Catullus very similar to this, and Martial has closely imitated them in Book VI. Ép. 34. ON THE INCONSTANCY OF WOMAN'S LOVE (Ep. 70). Translated by George Lamb. My Fair says, she no spouse but me That what the fair to lovers swear Should be inscribed upon the air, Or in the running stream. The original of this may be a Greek epigram by Xenarchus, who flourished B.C. 350; thus translated by Cumberland in the "Observer," No. 106: Ah, faithless women! when you swear I register your oaths in air. There are many imitations of the epigram of Catullus. In the " Diana,” a pastoral romance by George de Monte-Mayor, a Spanish writer, born in the early part of the 16th century, are some lines on a false mistress, who had deceived her lover after writing her eternal vows on the sandy margin of a river: No prudent doubt fond love allows, We act as he commands: I trusted to a woman's vows, Though written on the sands. The old English poet, Sir Edward Sherburne, has an epigram called "The Broken Faith": Phineas Fletcher, the author of the "Purple Island," has some stanzas "On Woman's Lightness," of which the following is the first : Who sows the sand? or ploughs the easy shore? Or strives in nets to prison in the wind? 1 Fond, too fond thoughts, that thought in love to tie In "Wit's Interpreter; the English Parnassus" (3rd edit. 1671, p. 275), there is an epigram of similar character, but with the metaphor varied: A woman may be fair, and her mind, Is as inconstant as the wavering wind: Venus herself is fair, and shineth far, Yet she's a planet, and no fixed star. A curious allegorical description of the brevity of renown may be given here, as cognate to the preceding epigrams. Lord Chatham is believed to be the subject of the lines: Let his monument be the world, And let that world be a bubble; And let Fame, in the character of a shadow, ON HIS OWN LOVE (Ep. 85). Translated in "Select Epigrams," 1797. That I love thee, and yet that I hate thee, I feel; I tell thee, nor more for my life can reveal, That I love thee, and hate thee-and tell it with pain. Martial has an epigram (Book I. 33) on dislike without reason, which is well known in the English parody by Tom Brown (Brown's Works, 1760, IV. 100): I do not love thee, Dr. Fell, I do not love thee, Dr. Fell. Dr. John Fell was Bishop of Oxford, and Dean of Christ Church in the reigns of Charles II. and James II. Tom Brown, of facetious memory, being sentenced to expulsion from Christ Church for some irregularity, was offered pardon by the Dean if he could translate extempore Martial's epigram, which he immediately did in the form given above, probably very much to the Dean's astonishment. Another epigram by Martial (Book XII. 47), on the difficulty of arriving at a conclusion with respect to a companion, is translated by Addison, in the "Spectator," No. 68: In all thy humours, whether grave or mellow, Hast so much wit, and mirth, and spleen about thee, ON QUINTIA AND LESBIA: THE COMPARISON (Ep. 86). Quintia is beauteous in the million's eye; A seasoning spice of that-I know not what; Shakespeare, in "The Tempest," makes Ferdinand compare the perfect beauty of Miranda with other women, whose beauty was in one respect or another defective (Act III. sc. 1): For several virtues Have I lik'd several women; never any So perfect, and so peerless, are created The prominent idea of the epigram, that beauty without grace"that piquant something" cannot give entire satisfaction, is well expressed by Capito, a Greek epigrammatist, in the following distich (Jacobs II. 183), the only epigram ascribed to him by Jacobs. The translation is by Dr. Wellesley: Beauty devoid of grace, is but a bait TO CALVUS, ON THE DEATH OF HIS WIFE QUINTILIA (Ep. 96). Translated by Elton. If ere in human grief there breathe a spell To charm the silent tomb, and soothe the dead; And o'er fond friendships lost, our tears are shed; Sure, a less pang must touch Quintilia's shade, So, Shakespeare in his 30th Sonnet: When to the sessions of sweet, silent thought For precious friends hid in death's dateless night, It appears that Calvus showed his love for Quintilia by writing a monody to her memory, which has not been preserved. Propertius alludes to it: 6. The soft expression Calvus' page betrays, Who mourn'd Quintilia's death in pitying lays. In Notes and Queries," 1st S. V. 361, a translation of a Latiu epitaph is given, inscribed on the monument of a husband by a truly mourning wife. It is in the church of S. Giles, Cripplegate, to the memory of William Staples, citizen of London, who died in 1650: That heaven's thy home, I grieve not, soul most dear; DIRGE AT HIS BROTHER'S TOMB (Ep. 101). Slow faring on, o'er many a land and sea, This beautiful dirge, so pathetic and so grand, is alone sufficient to stamp Catullus as a true poet; and it is painful to remember that he |