62. Carmen Nuptiale. Some parts of this epithalamium have been taken from Theocritus, particularly from his eighteenth Idyl, where the Lacedæmonian maids, companions of Helen, sing before the bridal-chamber of Menelaus[497]. This second nuptial hymn of Catullus may be regarded as a continuation of the above poem, being also in honour of the marriage of Manlius and Julia. The stanzas of the former were supposed to be sung or recited in the person of the poet, who only exhorted the chorus of youths and virgins to commence the nuptial strain. But here these bands contend, in alternate verses; the maids descanting on the beauty and advantages of a single life, and the lads on those of marriage.
The young men, companions of the bridegroom, are supposed to have left him at the rising of the evening star of love:—
—— “Vesper Olympo
Expectata diu vix tandem lumina tollit.
* * * * *
Hespere, qui cœlo lucet jucundior ignis?”
These lines appear to have been imitated by Spenser in his Epithalamium—
“Ah! when will this long weary day have done!
Long though it be, at last I see it gloom,
And the bright evening star, with golden crest,