CATULLUS 68 - Scuola Normale Superiore

to diuus (7x against 2x), in the long poems (61-68b) the proportion is reversed in favour of diuus (5x against
17x), and in the epigrams (poems 69-116) he only uses deus (4x). The archaic form diuus appears more often
in the more elaborate, more refined long poems, while deus, the form used in spoken Latin, predominates in
the more colloquial polymetrics and is the only form used in the epigrams. In 68b Catullus only uses diuus
(apart from here also in lines 70, 115 and 141) and never deus, which casts an interesting light on the style of
this poem.
quam plurima, quae munera, the noun qualified by quam plurima, has been drawn into the relative clause:
compare 64.208f. oblito dimisit pectore cuncta, / quae mandata prius constanti mente tenebat.
Themis See above on 153f.
olim ‘In the past’, ‘in olden days’: the word is not superfluous but locates the action of the main verb in a
past epoch that is contrasted implicitly with the present.
154 antiquis … piis The Romans associated all kinds of virtues with the antiqui (cfr. Cic. Mur. 17 Curiis,
Catonibus, Pompeiis, antiquis illis fortissimis uiris, Varro R.R. 1.13.6 potius ad antiquorum diligentiam
quam ad horum luxuriam and Verg. Geo. 2.174 res antiquae laudis) and especially pietas, ‘dutifulness’
(Lucr. 2.1170 antiquum genus … pietate repletum).
155 sitis felices The principal MSS write satis, but this was corrected to sitis already during the
Renaissance. sitis felices ‘may you be happy, blessed, fortunate’ is a benedictory formula of farewell
comparable to the Greek greeting ξα⇑ρε: cfr. 100.8 sis felix, Caeli, sis in amore potens, Lygdamus at [Tib.]
3.6.30 sis felix et sint candida fata tua, Hor. Od. 3.27.13f. sis (licet) felix ubicumque mauis / et memor nostri,
Galatea, uiuas and Apul. Met. 2.14 sisque felix et iter dexterum porrigas, as well as the inscription FELIX
SIS on a drinking-cup from Cologne (CIL 13.10018.84).
simul et In prose simul et means ‘together with’, ‘along with’, ‘both … and …’, as at Rhet. Her. 4.51
superbi a re simul et uerbis inuenientur, Cic. Ver. 2.3.176 Timarchides … cui simul et Volcatio pecunia a
ciuitate numerata est and Sal. Iug. 85.3 bellum parare simul et aerario parcere. In poetry the phrase is often
little more than a metrically convenient alternative to et, as also at 64.78 electos iuuenes simul et decus
innuptarum. The licence is as old as Enn. Ann. 138 Tarquinio dedit imperium simul et sola regni and
exploited by many others: note Cic. Arat. frg. 32.457 Buescu aluum, crura, umeros, simul et praecordia
lustrans, Verg. Aen. 1.144 Cymothoë simul et Triton, , and Ov. Met. 7.666 Cephalus simul et Pallante creati.
tua uita Another certain correction for the principal MSS’ tua ui(rtu)te. uita is common as a term of
endearment, especially in a romantic context (Cat. 45.13, 104.1 and 109.1, as well as Pl. Asin. 614, Cas. 135,
Cic. Fam. 14.4.1, Prop. 1.2.1 and 2.20.11, Ov. Am. 3.8.11f., etc.), but not necessarily so (cfr. Pl. St. 377 and
584).
156 The first hemistich of this pentameter is half a foot too short in the primary MSS: something has
evidently dropped out of the text. If all the words that do survive are genuine, and there is no reason to think
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