Furetur licet usque non videbo.
One than a goose's marrow softer far,
Comes hither stealing for it's penalty sake;
Steal he as please him: I will see him not.
C. xxiii. v. 6. Dry and meagre as wood; like the woman of whom Scarron says, that she never snuffed the candle with her fingers for fear of setting them on fire.
C. xxv. v. 1. Cf. Auct. Priap. Ep. xlv.
v. 5. This is a Catullian crux. Mr. Arthur Palmer (Trinity College, Dublin, Jan. 31, 1890) proposes, and we adopt—
"Cum diva miluorum aves ostendit oscitantes."
(When the Goddess of Kites shows you birds agape.)
Diva miluorum is—Diva furum, Goddess of thieves; i.e., Laverna Milvus (hawk) being generally used for a rapacious