The translation of Mr Good was succeeded, in 1813, by that of Dr Busby, which is in rhyme, and is introduced by enormous prolegomena on the Life and Genius of Lucretius, and the Philosophy and Morals of his Poem.
CATULLUS.
The MSS. of Catullus were defaced and imperfect, as far back as the time of Aulus Gellius[620], who lived in the reigns of Adrian and the Antonines; and there were variæ lectiones in his age, as well as in the fifteenth century. There was a MS. of Catullus extant at Verona in the tenth century which was perused by the Bishop Raterius, who came from beyond the Alps, and who refers to it in his Discourses as a work he had never seen till his arrival at Verona. Another was possessed in the fourteenth century by Pastrengo, a Veronese gentleman, and a friend of Petrarch[621], who quotes it twice in his work De Originibus; but these and all other MSS. had entirely disappeared amid the confusions with which Italy was at that time agitated, and Catullus may, therefore, be considered as one of the classics brought to light at the revival of literature. The MS. containing the poems of Catullus was not found in Italy, but in one of the monasteries of France or Germany, (Scaliger says of France,) in the course of the fifteenth century, and according to Maffei, in 1425[622]. All that we know concerning its discovery is contained in a barbarous Latin epigram, written by Guarinus of Verona, who chose to give his information on the subject in an almost unintelligible riddle. It was prefixed to an edition of Catullus, printed in Italy 1472, where it is entitled Hextichum Guarini Veronensis Oratoris Clariss. in libellum V. Catulli ejus concivis:
“Ad Patriam venio longis de finibus exul:
Causa mei reditûs compatriota fuit.
Scilicet a calamis tribuit cui Francia nomen,
Quique notat turbæ prætereuntis iter.
Quo licet ingenio vestrum celebrate Catullum
Quovis sub modio clausa papyrus erat.”