1. vellet: imperfect subjunctive in the protasis of a general condition, B. 302, 1, 3, a; A. & G. 518, c. 3. sperabat: he used to flatter himself. 4. quantum poterat: with might and main. Arrius makes all the display that he can of his elegant (?) accomplishment. 5. liber: implying that Arrius' uncle had been a slave and that the family is of humble origin. Catullus thus intimates that what Arrius thinks an accomplishment really stamps him as of low birth. 7. misso: sent to Syria on some public service, perhaps with Crassus in 55 B.C. 8. audibant: B. 116, 4, b; A. & G. 183, 1. leniter et leviter: the devotees of the aspirating fashion whom Arrius had left behind in Rome were not so obtrusive about it as he, did not speak out 'quantum poterant.' 9. postilla: equals postea. 11. Ionios: news of Arrius would come soon from the Ionian Sea, for, lying as it did to the west of Greece, it would soon be reached by him on his eastward journey. isset: B. 116, 1; A. & G. 181, b.
The following is Martin's translation:
Whenever Arrius wished to name
'Commodious,' out 'chommodious' came:
And when of his intrigues he blabbed,
With his 'hintrigues' our ears he stabbed;
And thought, moreover, he displayed
A rare refinement when he made
His h's thus at random fall
With emphasis most guttural.
When suddenly came news one day
Which smote the city with dismay,
That the Ionian seas a change
Had undergone, most sad and strange;
For, since by Arrius crossed, the wild
'Hionian Hocean' they were styled.
3. 1. Veneres: the plural is symmetrical with Cupidines, while suggesting 'the Graces.' 2. et…venustiorum: and all who have a soul for beauty. hominum: partitive genitive. venustiorum: B. 240, 1; A. & G. 291, a. The expression describes those who possess qualities of grace and charm, and implies that they can appreciate such qualities. 3. puellae: probably Clodia, wife of Q. Caecilius Metellus Celer, to whom under the name of 'Lesbia' Catullus addressed a number of poems. His attachment for her was the 'one all-absorbing passion of the poet's life.' 6. mellitus: a honey. suamque: his lady. Catullus speaks of the sparrow in language appropriate to a lover. 11. iter tenebricosum: the shadowy journey to Hades. 12. Cf. Hamlet, 3. 1:
The undiscover'd country from whose bourn
No traveller returns.
13. At…tenebrae: Evil be to you, evil shadows! 17. tua opera: for you, i.e. for the sparrow, ablative of cause. 18. turgiduli…ocelli: my girl's pretty eyes are so red and swollen.
4. 2. antistans…trecentis: worth a million of the rest to me. milibus: depends on antistans, B. 187, III, 1; A. & G. 370. 4. Anum: aged, used as an adjective. 5. mini: B. 188, c; A. & G. 378, 1. nuntii: plural, though for a single message. 6. Hiberum: genitive plural. 7. facta: deeds. 8. adplicansque collum: i.e. with arm about your neck drawing you to me. 10. Cf. 1, 2 and note on venustiorum. Translate O! of happy, happy mortals. 11. quid: a 'neuter not very rare in Latin in similar sweeping appeals.'—Merrill.
5. Date, 56 B.C. 1. egelidos: in which there is no chill. 4. Catullus is at the end of a year of absence in Bithynia on the staff of Memmius the governor, and is about to return to Italy. Phrygii campi: the plains about Nicaea. 6. claras Asiae urbes: the famous Greek cities on the western coast of Asia Minor, as Ephesus, Smyrna. 7. praetrepidans: tremulous with anticipation. 9. comitum: the other members of the governor's staff, or cohors. 11. diversae variae: separate and varied.
6. Date, 56 B.C. Sirmione (Sirmio) is a peninsula—at high water an island—extending into the Lago di Garda (Lacus Benacus). An ancient ruin here of Constantine's time was long known as Catullus' villa. Cf. with this and the ninth selection Tennyson's 'Frater, Ave atque Vale':
Row us out from Desenzano, to your Sirmione row!
So they row'd and there we landed—'O venusta Sirmio!'
There to me thro' all the groves of olive in the summer glow,
There beneath the Roman ruin where the purple flowers grow,
Came that 'Ave atque Vale' of the poet's hopeless woe,
Tenderest of Roman poets nineteen hundred years ago,
'Prater, Ave atque Vale'—as we wander'd to and fro
Gazing at the Lydian laughter of the Garda Lake below
Sweet Catullus' all-but-island, olive-silvery Sirmio!