Degli amatori, a mezza notte, scopre.”
Martial likewise imitates, and refers to this and to the 5th poem of Catullus, in the 34th epigram of the 6th book—
“Basia da nobis, Diadumene, pressa: quot? inquis—
Oceani fluctus me numerare jubes;
Et maris Ægæi sparsas per littora conchas,
Et quæ Cecropio monte vagantur apes.
Nolo quot arguto dedit exorata Catullo
Lesbia: pauca cupit, qui numerare potest.”
The verses of Catullus have been also imitated in Latin by Sannazzarius, by Joannes Secundus, of course, in his Basia, and by almost all the ancient amatory poets of France.
8. Ad Seipsum. This is quite in the Greek taste: About a third of the Odes of Anacreon are addressed Εις σεαυτον. Catullus here playfully, yet feelingly, remonstrates with himself, for still pursuing his inconstant Lesbia, by whom he had been forsaken.