Part 33 (1/2)

O quoties rigida pulsabis pallia vena!

or with this quatrain of an old French poet:

Ainsi depuis une semaine La longue roideur de ma veine, Pour neant rouge et bien en point, Bat ma chemise et mon pourpoint.

C. x.x.xvii. v. 1. Taverns and Wine-shops in Rome were distinguished by pillars projecting into the streets, the better to catch the eye of the pa.s.senger, as sign-posts of inns do with us now; the tavern in question was a house of ill-fame, and we are told it was the ninth column or sign-post from the Temple of Castor and Pollux.

v. 2. It was customary to display on the fronts of brothels the names of the inmates, just as shopkeepers' names were inscribed over places of more reputable trade: this was called _inscriptio_ or _t.i.tulus_.

v. 10. _Scorpionibus_. Indecent inscriptions scribbled on the walls and door with burnt sticks.

v. 11. Catullus's mistress had, it seems, run away from him to a common brothel, in front of which it was the custom, not only for women but even for men, to sit down and offer themselves for prost.i.tution.

v. 16. _Semitarii moechi_. Wh.o.r.emongers who take up with common women who offer themselves at every corner of the streets for a mere trifle.

v. 20. _Hibera Urina_. We are a.s.sured by Strabo, _Lib._ 3, that this filthy custom prevailed greatly in Spain: teeth were not only washed in stale urine, the acid of which must necessarily render them white, but they were also rubbed with a powder of calcined human excrement. Persons sometimes even bathed their whole bodies in urine.

C. x.x.xxi. v. 3. _Turpiculo naso_. The kind of nose alluded to is such as sheep or goats have. Cf. Lucretius, _lib._ iv. v. 1152.

C. x.x.xxvii. v. 6. _In trivio_, i.e., in the most public places, in hopes of finding some host.

v. 7. This hunting for invitations does not, according to modern notions, place the two friends of Catullus in a respectable light; but it was a common and avowed practice at Rome.

C. liii. v. 5. _Salaputium_. A pet name for the male virile member. This word has been the subject of much debate among the learned. Some read _solopachium_, meaning a ”mannikin eighteen inches high”; Saumasius proposes salopygium, a ”wagtail”; several editors have _salaputium_, an indelicate word nurses used to children when they fondled them, so that the exclamation would mean, ”what a learned little puppet!” Thus Augustus called Horace _purissimum penem_.

C. liiii. I find it an impossibility to make any sense out of this poem.

v. 5. _Seni recocto_. Horace applies this epithet to one who has served the office of _quinquevir_, or proconsul's notary, and who was therefore master of all the arts of chicanery. These are his words, Sat. v. lib. 2:

_Plerumque recoctus_ _Scriba ex quinqueviro corvum deludit hiantem._

A seasoned scrivener, bred in office low, Full often dupes and mocks the gaping crow. FRANCIS.

The modern Italians say of a man of this stamp, _Egli ha cotto il culo ne'

ceci rossi_. The phrase _seni recocto_ may imply one who enjoys a green and vigorous old age, as if made young again, as the old woman was by wine, of whom Petronius speaks, _a.n.u.s recocta vino_; or aeson, who was re-cooked by Medaea. That witch, says Valerius Flaccus, _Recoquit fessos aetate parentes_.

C. lvi. v. 6. _Trusantem_. Many read _crissantem_, which means the movement of the loins in women; _ceventem_ being the like of a man. As the expression refers to the lad, _crissantem_ cannot be correct.

v. 7. _Pro telo_. Alluding to the custom of punis.h.i.+ng adulterers by transfixing them with darts. The double-entendre of _Telo_ with _Mentula_ is evident, and makes clear the apology to Venus. See _lib._ 9 of Apuleius for a similar pa.s.sage.

C. lvii. v. 7. _Erudituli_. The accomplishments alluded to are not literary, but Priapeian. It is in this sense Petronius calls Gito _doctissimus puer_. Oezema, a grave German jurist, parodied a part of this piece. His epigram can be read without danger of having one's stomach turned.

Belle convenit inter elegantes Dione's famulas, et eruditos Antiquae Themidis meos sodales.

Nos jus just.i.tiamque profitemur: Illae semper amant coluntque r.e.c.t.u.m.

”There is a charming coincidence of sentiment between the fair votaries of Venus and my learned brethren: we profess law and justice; they dearly love the thing that is upright.”

C. lviii. v. 1. _Caeli_. This is the same with Caelius Rufus, Catullus's rival in the affections of Lesbia, or Clodia, according to Achilles Statius; Plutarch calls her Quadrantaria; she was debauched by her own brother, Publius Clodius; afterwards she became the mistress of Catullus, and lastly the common strumpet of Rome.

v. 4. The meanest trulls frequented the public streets.