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 Cann. LXIV

'knee and bow her headless trunk. Run, drawing ' the woof-threads, ye spindles, run.

' Come then, unite the loves which your souls 'desire: let the husband receive in happy bonds the ' goddess, let the bride be given up — nay now! — ' to her eager spouse. Run, drawing the woof- ' threads, ye spindles, run.

* •

' Nor shall her anxious mother, saddened by lone- 'lying of an unkindly bride, give up the hope of ' dear descendants. Run, drawing the woof-threads, 'ye spindles, run.'

Such strains of divination in days of yore, foreboding happiness to Peleus, sang the Fates from prophetic breast. For in bodily presence of old, before religion was despised, the heavenly ones were wont to visit pious homes of heroes, and show themselves to mortal company. Often the Father of the gods coming down again, in his bright temple, when yearly feasts had come on holy days, saw a hundred bulls fall to the ground. Often Liber roving on the topmost height of Parnassus drove the Thyades crying Evoe with flying hair, when the Delphians, racing eagerly from all the town, joyfully received the god with smoking altars. Often in the death-bearing strife of war Mavors or the Lady of swift Triton or the Rhamnu- sian Maid by their presence stirred up the courage of armed bands of men. But when the earth was dyed with hideous crime, and all men banished justice from their greedy souls, and brothers dipped their hands in brothers' blood, the son left off to mourn his parents' death, the father wished for the death of his young son, that he might without hindrance enjoy the flower of a young bride, the

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the successive reprints of the first edition of this work, published in 1871, I was able to introduce several important corrections; and now that more time has elapsed, I have endeavoured to profit by the fiery ordeal through which the book has passed, and have taken advantage of all the criticisms which seem to me sound. I am also greatly indebted to a large number of correspondents for the communication of a surprising number of new facts and remarks. These have been so numerous, that I have been able to use only the more important ones; and of these, as well as of the more important corrections, I will append a list. Some new illustrations have been introduced, and four of the old drawings have been replaced by better ones, done from life by Mr. T. W. Wood. I must especially call attention to some observations which I owe to the kindness of Prof. Huxley (given as a supplement at the end of Part I.), on the nature of the differences between the brains of man and the higher apes. I have been particularly glad to give these observations, because during the last few years several memoirs on the subject have appeared on the Continent, and their importance has been, in some cases, greatly exaggerated by popular writers.

I may take this opportunity of remarking that my critics frequently assume that I attribute all changes of corporeal structure and mental power exclusively to the natural selection of such variations as are often called spontaneous; whereas, even in the first edition of the 'Origin of Species,' I distinctly stated that great weight must be attributed to the inherited effects of use and disuse, with respect both to the body and mind. I also attributed some amount of modification to the direct and prolonged action of changed conditions of life. Some allowance, too, must be made for occasional reversions of

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 impia non veritast divos scelcrare parentes: omnia fanda nefanda malo permixta furore.= iustificam nobis mentem avertere deorum. quarc ncc tales dignantur visere coetus, nee se contingi patiuntur lumine claro

Etsi me assiduo confectum cura dolore sevocat a doctis, Hortale, virginibus, nee potis est dulcis Musarum expromere fetus mens animi, tantis fluctuat ipsa malis: namque mei nuper Lethaeo gurgite fratris pallidulum manans alluit unda pedem, Troia Rhoeteo quern subter litore tellus ereptum nostris obterit ex oculis. [alloquar, audiero numquam tua [facta] loquentem,] numquam ego te, vita frater amabilior, aspiciam posthac. at certe semper amabo, semper maesta tua carmina morte *canam, qualia sub densis ramorum concinit umbris Daulias absumpti fata gemens Ityli — sed tamen in tantis maeroribus, Hortale, mitto haec expressa tibi carmina Battiadae, ne tua dicta vagis nequiquam credita ventis effluxisse meo forte putes animo, ut missum sponsi furtivo munere malum procurrit casto virginis e gremio, quod miserae oblitae molli sub veste locatum, dum adventu matris prosilit, excutitur: atque illud prono praeceps agitur decursu, huic manat tristi conscius ore rubor.


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unnatural mother coupling with her unconscious son did not fear to sin against parental gods: then all right and wrong, confounded in impious madness, turned from us the righteous will of the gods. Wherefore they deign not to visit such companies, nor endure the touch of clear daylight.

To Hor talus.

Though I am worn out with constant grief, Hortalus, and sorrow calls me apart from the learned Maids, nor can the thoughts of my heart utter the sweet births of the Muses, tossed as it is with such waves of trouble; — so lately the creeping wave of the Lethaean flood laps my own brother's death-pale foot, on whom, torn away from our sight, the Trojan earth under the shore of Rhoeteum lies heavy. (^Never shall I speak to thee, never hear thee tell of thy life;) never shall I see thee again, brother more beloved than life. But surely I will always love thee, always sing strains of mournin g for thy death, as under the thick shadows of the boughs sings the Daulian bird bewailing the fate o( Itylus lost. Yet, in such sorrows, Hortalus, I send to you these verses of Battiades translated, lest haply you should think that your words vainly committed to wandering winds have slipped from my mind: as an apple sent as a secret gift from her betrothed lover falls out from the chaste bosom of the girl, which — poor child, she forgot it! — put away in her soft gown, is shaken out as she starts forward when her mother comes; then, see, onward, downward swiftly it rolls and runs; a conscious blush creeps over her downcast face.

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vi structure; nor must we forget what I have called "correlated" growth, meaning, thereby, that various parts of the organisation are in some unknown manner so connected, that when one part varies, so do others; and if variations in the one are accumulated by selection, other parts will be modified. Again, it has been said by several critics, that when I found that many details of structure in man could not be explained through natural selection, I invented sexual selection; I gave, however, a tolerably clear sketch of this principle in the first edition of the 'Origin of Species,' and I there stated that it was applicable to man. This subject of sexual selection has been treated at full length in the present work, simply because an opportunity was here first afforded me. I have been struck with the likeness of many of the half-favourable criticisms on sexual selection, with those which appeared at first on natural selection; such as, that it would explain some few details, but certainly was not applicable to the extent to which I have employed it. My conviction of the power of sexual selection remains unshaken; but it is probable, or almost certain, that several of my conclusions will hereafter be found erroneous; this can hardly fail to be the case in the first treatment of a subject. When naturalists have become familiar with the idea of sexual selection, it will, as I believe, be much more largely accepted; and it has already been fully and favourably received by several capable judges.

 * September 1874.

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 Omnia qui magni dispexit lumina mundi, qui stellarum ortus comperit atque obitus, flammcus ut rapidi solis nitor obscurctur, ut cedant certis sidera temporibus, ut Triviam furtim sub Latmia saxa relegans dulcis amor gyro devocet aerio, idem me ille Conon caelesti in lumine vidit e Beroniceo veitice caesariem fulgentem clare, quam fmultis ilia dearumf levia portendens bracchia pollicitast, qua rex tempestate novo auctus hymenaeo vastatum finis iverat Assyrios. estne novis nuptis odio Venus fatque parentumf frustrantur falsis gaudia lacrimulis, ubertim thalami quas intra limina fundunt? non, ita me divi, vera gemunt, iuerint. id mea me multis docuit regina querellis invisente novo praelia torva viro. at tu non orbum luxti deserta cubile, sed fratris cari flebile discidium, cum penitus maestas exedit cura medullas! ut tibi turn toto pectore sollicitae sensibus ereptis mens excidit! at te ego certe cognoram a parva virgine magnanimam. anne bonum oblita's facinus, quo regium adepta's coniugium, quo non fortius ausit alis? sed turn maesta virum mittens quae verba locuta's! Iuppiter, ut tristi lumina saepe manu!


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The Lock of Berenice.

Conon, he who surveyed all the lights of the great heaven, who learnt the risings of the stars and their settings, how the flaming blaze of the swift sun is darkened, how the stars recede at set seasons, how sweet love calls Trivia from her airy circuit, banishing her secretly to the rocky cave of Latmus — that same Conon saw me shining brightly among the lights of heaven, me, the lock from the head of Berenice, me whom she vowed to many of the goddesses, stretching forth her smooth arms, at that season when the king, blest in his new marriage, had gone to waste the Assyrian borders.... Is Venus hated by new brides? and do they mock the joys of parents with false tears, which they shed plentifully within the bridal chamber? No, so may the gods help me, they lament not truly. This my queen taught me by all her laments, when her newly -wedded husband went forth to grim war. But your tears, forsooth, were not shed for the desertion of your widowed bed, but for the mournful parting from your dear brother, when sorrow gnawed the inmost marrow of your sad heart. At that time how from your whole breast did your anxious soul fail, bereft of sense! and yet truly I knew you to be stout-hearted from young girlhood. Have you forgotten the brave deed by which you gained a royal marriage, braver deed than which none other could ever dare? But then in your grief, when parting from your husband, what words did you utter! How often, O Juppitcr, did you brush 30


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 quis te mutavit tantus deus? an quod amantes non longe a caro corporc abesse volunt? atque ibi me cunctis pro dulci coniuge divis non sine taurino sanguine pollicita's, si reditum tetulisset. is haud in tempore longo captam Asiam Aegypti finibus addiderat. quis ego pro factis caelesti reddita coetu pristina vota novo munere dissoluo. invita, o regina, tuo de vertice cessi, invita: adiuro teque tuumque caput, digna ferat quod siquis inaniter adiurarit: sed qui se ferro postulet esse parem? ille quoque eversus mons est, quern maximum in -f*oris progenies Thiae clara supervehitur, cum Medi peperere novum mare, cumque iuventus per medium classi barbara navit Athon. quid facient crines, cum ferro talia cedant? Iuppiter, ut Chalybon omne genus pereat, et qui principio sub terra quaerere venas institit ac ferri stringere duritiem! abiunctae paulo ante comae mea fata sorores Jugebant, cum se Memnonis Aethiopis unigena impellens nutantibus aera pennis obtulit Arsinoes Locridos ales equus, isque per aetherias me tollens avolat umbras et Veneris casto collocat in gremio. ipsa suum Zephyritis eo famulum legarat, Graia Canopeis incola litoribus. ex Ariadneis aurea temporibus fixa corona foret, sed nos quoque fulgeremus devotae flavi verticis exuviae,
 * inde Venus* vario ne solum in lumine caeli


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away the tears with your hand! What mighty god has changed you thus? is it that lovers cannot bear to be far away from the side of him they love? And there to all the gods for your dear husband's welfare you consecrated me with blood of bulls, so he should complete his return. He in no long time had added conquered Asia to the territories of Egypt. This is done; and now, given as due to the host of heaven, I pay your former vows by a new offering. Unwillingly, O queen, I was parted from your head, unwillingly, I swear both by you and by your head; by which if any swear vainly, let him reap a worthy recompense. But who can claim to be as strong as steel? Even that mountain was overthrown, the greatest of all in those shores which the bright son of Thia traverses, when the Medes created a new sea, and when the barbarian youth swam in their fleet through mid Athos. What shall locks of hair do, when such things as this yield to steel? O, Jupiter, may all the race of the Chalybes perish, and he, who first began to seek for veins under ground, and to draw out hard bars of iron! My sister locks, sundered from me just before, were mourning for my fate, when the own brother of Ethiopian Memnon appeared, striking the air with waving wings, the winged courser of Locrian Arsinoe. And he sweeping me away flies through the gales of heaven and places me in the chaste bosom of Venus. On that service had the Lady of Zephyrium herself sent her own minister, the Grecian queen, sojourner in the shores of Canopus. Then Venus — that among the various lights of heaven, not only from the brows of Ariadne should the golden crown be fixed, but that I too might shine, I, the


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 uvidulam a -f-fluctu cedentcm ad tcmpla dcum me sidus in antiquis diva novum posuit: Virginis ct sacvi contingens namquc Leonis? lumina, Callisto iuncta Lycaoniae, vertor in occasum, tardum dux ante Booten, qui vix sero alto mergitur Oceano. sed quamquam me nocte premunt vestigia divum, lux autem canae Tethyi restituit, (pace tua fari hie liceat, Rhamnusia virgo, namque ego non ullo vera timore tegam, nee si me infestis discerpent sidera dictis, condita quin veri pectoris cvoluam): non his tarn laetor rebus, quam me afore semper, afore me a dominae vertice discrucior, quicum ego, dum virgo quondam fuit, omnibus i^expers unguentis, una milia multa bibi. nunc vos, optato cum iunxit lumine taeda, non prius unanimis corpora coniugibus tradite nudantes reiecta veste papillas, quam iucunda mihi munera libet onyx, vester onyx, casto colitis quae iura cubili. sed quae se impuro dedit adultcrio, illius a, mala dona levis bibat irrita pulvis: namque ego ab indignis praemia nulla peto. sed magis, o nuptae, semper concordia vestras semper amor sedes incolat assiduus. tu vero, regina, tuens cum sidera divam placabis festis luminibus Venerem, •unguinis expertem non siris esse tuam me, sed potius largis affice muncribus. sidera cur *retinent? iterum* coma regia fiam: proximus Hydrochoi fulgoret Oarion!


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dedicated spoil of her sunny head — me dripping from the wave, and transported to the abodes of the gods, me a new constellation among the ancient stars did the goddess set; for I, touching the fires of the Virgin and the raging Lion, and close by Callisto daughter of Lycaon, move to my setting, while I point the way before slow Bootes, who late in night scarce dips in deep ocean. But though at night the footsteps of the gods press close upon me, whilst by day I am re- stored to gray Tethys: under thy sufferance let me speak this, O Virgin of Rhamnus: — no fear shall make me hide the truth, no, not even though the stars shall rend me with angry words will I refrain from uttering the secrets of a true heart — I do not so much rejoice in this good fortune, as grieve that absent ever, absent must I be from the head of my lady; with whom of old, whilst she was still a virgin, I, who now share no more in any of her perfumes, with her drank many thousands. Now, ye maidens, since the torch has united you with welcome light, yield not your bodies to your loving spouses, baring your breasts with vesture opened, before the onyx jar offers pleasant gifts to me, the jar which is yours, who reverence marriage in chaste wedlock. But as for her who gives herself up to foul adultery, ah! let the light dust drink up her worthless gifts unratified: for I ask no offerings from the unworthy. But rather, O ye brides, may concord evermore dwell in your homes, ever abiding Love. And you, my queen, when gazing on the stars you propitiate Venus with festal lamps,, J let not me your handmaid want perfumes, but rather enrich me with bounteous gifts. Why do the stars keep me here? I would fain be the queen's hair once more; and let Orion blaze next to Aquarius. c. 15


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 O dulci iucunda viro, iucunda parcnti, salve, tequc bona Iuppiter auctet ope, ianua, quam Balbo dicunt servisse benigne olim, cum sedes ipse senex tenuit, quamque ferunt rursus nato scrvire maligne, postquam es porrecto facta marita senc. die agedum nobis, quare mutata feraris in dominum veterem deseruisse fidem. ' non (ita Caecilio placeam, cui tradita nunc sum) culpa meast, quamquam dicitur esse mea, nee peccatum a me quisquam pote dicere quicquam: verum fistius populi ianua qui te facit,f qui, quacumque aliquid reperitur non bene factum, ad me omnes clamant: ianua, culpa tuast.' non istuc satis est uno tc dicere verbo, rg sed facere ut quivis sentiat et videat. ' qui possum? nemo quaerit nee scire laborat.' nos volumus: nobis dicere ne dubita.


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Catullus.

Hail, house-door, once dear to a well-beloved husband and to his father, hail, and may Jupiter bless you with kindly help; you door, who once, they say, did kindly service to Balbus, when the old man himself held the house, and who since then, they tell us, are doing grudging service to his son, now that the old man is dead and laid out, and you are become the door of a wedded house.

Come tell us why you are said to be changed,

and to have deserted your old faithfulness to your

master.

House-door.

It is not — so may I please Caecilius whose property I am now become — it is not my fault, though it is said to be mine, nor can any one speak of any wrong done by me. Rut of course people will have it that the door does it all; they, whenever any ill deed is discovered, all cry out to me, 'housedoor, the fault is yours.'

Catullus.

It is not enough for you to say that with a single word, but so to do that any one may feel and see it.

House-door.

How can I? no one asks or cares to know.

Catullus. I wish to know — do not scruple to tell me.

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 'primum igitur, virgo quod fertur tradita nobis, falsumst. atqui non solum hoc sc elicit cognitum habere Brixia -f-Chinca suppositum specula, + flavus tiuam molli percurrit fluminc Mella, Brixia Veronac mater amata meae; seel de Postumio et Cornell' narrat amore, cum quibus ilia malum fecit adulterium.' dixerit hie aliquis: 'quid? tu istaec, ianua, nosti? cui numquam domini limine abesse licet, nee populum auscultare, seel hie suffixa tigillo tantum operire soles aut aperire domum? ' o ' saepe illam audivi furtiva voce loquentem solam cum ancillis haec sua flagitia, nomine dicentem quos diximus, ut pote quae mi speraret nee linguam esse nee auriculam. praeterea addebat quendam, quern elicerc nolo nomine, ne tollat rubra supcrcilia. longus homost, magnas cui litcs intulit olim falsum mendaci ventre pucrpcrium.

Quod mihi fortuna casuque oppressus acerbo conscriptum hoc lacrimis mittis cpistolium, naufragum ut cicctum spumantibus aequoris undis sublevem ct a mortis limine restituam, quem neque sancta Venus molli requiescere somno desertum in lecto caclibc perpctitur,


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 Carm. LXVII, LXVIII

House-door.

First then, that she came to us a virgin is untrue.

And yet this not only does Brixia say she well knows, Brixia that lies close under the citadel of Chinea, the town through which runs the soft stream of yellow Mella, Brixia dear mother of my own Verona; but she tells also of Postumius, and the amours of Cornelius, with whom she enjoyed un- lawful love.

Catullus.

Here someone will say: 'What, house-door, do you know all this, you who never may be away from your master's threshold, nor hear the people talk, but fixed under this lintel do nothing, but shut or open the house? '

House-door.

I have often heard her telling these sins of hers with hushed voice alone with her maids, speaking of those by name of whom I spoke, hoping no doubt that I had neither tongue nor ear. She added besides one whom I do not choose to mention by name, lest he should arch his red brows. He is a tall man, and was once troubled with a great lawsuit, from a falsely imputed child-birth.

To Manlius.

That you, weighed down as you are by fortune and bitter chance, should send me this letter written with tears, to bid me succour a shipwrecked man cast up by the foaming waters of the sea, and restore him from the threshold of death, whom neither does holy Venus suffer to rest, deserted in his widowed


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 nee vetci'iim dulci scriptorum carmine Musac oblectant, cum mens anxia pervigilat; id gratumst mihi, me quoniam tibi dicis amicum, muneraque et Musarum hinc pctis et Veneris: sed tibi ne mea sint ignota incommoda, Manli, neu me odisse putes hospitis officium, accipe, quis merser fortunae fluctibus ipse, nc amplius a misero dona beata petas. tempore quo primum vestis mihi tradita purast, rs iucundum cum aetas florida ver ageret, multa satis lusi: non est dea nescia nostri, quae dulcem curis miscet amaritiem: sed totum hoc studium luctu fraterna mihi mors abstulit. o misero frater adempte mihi, tu mea tu moriens fregisti commoda, frater, tecum una totast nostra sepulta domus, omnia tecum una pcricrunt gaudia nostra, quae tuus in vita dulcis alebat amor cuius ego interitu tota de mente fugavi hacc studia atque omnes dclicias animi. quare, quod scribis ' Veronae turpe, Catulle, esse, quod hie quisquis de meliore notast frigida deserto tepefecit membra cubili,' id, Manli, non est turpe, magis miserumst. ignosces igitur, si, quae mihi luctus ademit, haec tibi non tribuo munera, cum ncqueo. nam, quod scriptorum non magnast copia apud me, hoc fit, quod Romae vivimus: ilia domus,


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 Canu. LXVII 11

bed, nor do the Muses with the sweet poetry of ancient writers charm him, when his mind keeps anxious vigil; — this is grateful to me, since you count me as your friend, and come to me for the gifts both of the Muses and of Love.

But, dear Manlius, that my troubles may not be unknown to you, and that you may not think I am tired of the duty of a friend, let me tell you what are the waves of fortune in which I too am whelmed; so will you not again require gifts of happiness from one who is unblest.

At the time when first a white dress was given to me, when my youth in its flower was keeping jocund spring time, I wrote merry poems enough; not unacquainted with me is the goddess who mingles with her cares a sweet bitterness.

But all care for this is gone from me by my brother's death. Ah me unhappy, who have lost you, my brother! You, brother, you by your death have destroyed my happiness; with you all my house is buried. With you all my joys have perished, which your sweet love cherished, while you yet lived. By reason of your death, I have banished from all my mind these thoughts and all the pleasures of my heart.

And so, when you write ' It is no credit to you, Catullus, to be at Verona; because here, where I am, all the young men of better condition warm their cold limbs in the bed deserted by you '; that, Manlius, is rather a sorrow than a discredit. You will forgive me then, if I do not render to you those services which grief has taken from me, since I cannot do it.

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 ilia mihi sedes, ill ic mea carpitur aetas: hue una ex multis capsula me sequitur. quod cum ita sit, nolim statuas nos mente maligna id facerc aut animo non satis ingenuo, quod tibi non utriusque petenti copia pracstost: ultro ego deferrem, copia siqua forct. LXVIIIa non possum reticere, deae, qua me Allius in re iuverit aut quantis iuverit officiis: ne fugiens saeclis obliviscentibus aetas illius hoc caeca nocte tegat studium: 45 sed dicam vobis, vos porro dicite multis milibus et facite haec charta loquatur anus notescatque magis mortuus atque magis, nee tenuem texens sublimis aranea telam 50 in deserto Alii nomine opus faciat. nam mihi quam dederit duplex Amathusia curam, scitis, et in quo me corruerit genere, cum tantum arderem quantum Trinacria rupes lymphaque in Octaeis Malia Thermopylis, 55 maesta neque assiduo tabescere lumina fletu cessarent tristique imbre madere genae. qualis in aerii perlucens vertice montis rivus muscoso prosilit e lapide, qui cum de prona praeceps est valle volutus, 60 per medium densi transit iter populi, dulce viatori lasso in sudore levamen, cum gravis exustos aestus hiulcat agros:


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home, that is my abode, there my life is spent; when I come here only one box out of many follows me. And since this is so, I would not have you judge that it is due to niggardly mind or ungenerous temper, that you have not received a full supply of what you ask of each kind: I would have offered it unasked, if I had any such resources.

LXVIIIa

I cannot, ye goddesses, be silent about the matter in which Allius helped me, and how greatly he helped me by his services, lest time flying with forgetful ages hide this zeal of his in blind night. But I will tell you; do you hand on the tale to many thousands, and let the paper speak this in its old age.

and let him be famous more and more in death; and let not the spider who weaves her thin web

5 aloft spread her work over the neglected name of Manlius. For how much sorrow of heart the wily goddess of Amathus gave me, ye know, and in what manner she -has overthrown me. When I was burning as hotly as the Trinacrian rock and the Malian water at Oetean Thermopylae, when my sad

5 eyes never rested from wasting with perpetual tears, nor my cheeks from streaming with a flood of sorrow; — as in the top of a lofty mountain a bright stream leaps forth from a moss-grown rock, and gushing headlong down the steep valley crosses the

6 mid way thronged by the people, a sweet solace in his labour to the weary wayfarer when sultry heat makes the parched fields gape; and as to mariners

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 hie, velut in nigro iactatis turbine nautis lenius aspirans aura secunda venit 65 iam prece Pollucis, iam Castoris implorata,?-, tale fuit nobis Allius auxilium. is clausum lato patefecit limite campum, isque domum nobis isque dedit dominam, ad quam communes exerceremus amores. 70 quo mea se molli Candida diva pedc.^o intulit et trito fulgentem in limine plantain innixa arguta constituit solea; coniugis ut quondam flagrans advenit amore Protesilaeam Laudamia domum 75 inceptam frustra, nondum cum sanguine sacro hostia caelestis pacificasset eros. nil mihi tarn valde placeat, Rhamnusia virgo, quod temere invitis suscipiatur en's, quam ieiuna pium desideret ara cruorem, so doctast amisso Laudamia vircy coniugis ante coacta novi dimittere collum quam veniens una atque altera rursus hiemps noctibus in longis avidum saturasset amorem, posset ut abrupto vivere coniugio, 8g quod scibant Parcae non longo tempore abesse, si miles muros isset ad Iliacos: nam turn Helenae raptu primores Argivorum coeperat ad sese Troia cicre viros. Troia (nefas) commune sepulcrum Asiac Europacque, 90 Troia virum et virtutum omnium acerba cinis, attulit. ei misero frater adempte mihi, [ei misero fratri iucundum lumen ademptum, tecum una totast nostra sepulta domus; 95 omnia tecum una pcrierunt gaudia nostra, quae tuns in vita dulcis alebat amor].
 * quacne etiam* nostro letum miserabile fratri


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 La nu.

a

tossed by the black storm comes a favouring breeze with gentler breath, sought by prayer now to Pollux,

6 now to Castor; — such an aid to me was Manlius; he *s opened a broad track across the fenced field, he gave me access to a house and its mistress, under whose roof we should together enjoy each his own love.

7 Thither my fair goddess delicately stepped, and set the sole of her shining foot on the smooth threshold, as she pressed on her slender sandal: even as once Laodamia came burning with love to the house of Protesilaus, that house begun in vain, since not yet

7 had a victim's sacred blood appeased the Lords of;,.- heaven. Lady of Rhamnus, never may that please me which is undertaken amiss without the will of our Lords.

How much the starved altar craves for the blood

so of pious sacrifices, Laodamia learnt by the loss of her husband; forced to loose her arms from the neck of her new spouse, before the coming of one and then a second winter should content her eager love in the long nights, that she might endure to live,

8 though her marriage bond was broken off; and this 4; the Fates had ordained to come in no long time, if once he went as a soldier to the walls of Ilium.

por then, because of Helen's rape, had Troy begun to summon against herself the chieftains of

9 the Argives, Troy — O horror! — the common grave of Europe and Asia, Troy the untimely tomb of all heroes and heroic deeds: Troy brought pitiable death to my brother also: ah me, my brother taken from me unhappy, alas! dear light of my eyes, taken from thy unhappy brother: with thee now is all my house

9 buried; all my joys have perished together with thee, which while thou wert alive thy sweet love cherished.

1 — 2


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 quern nunc tarn longe non inter nota sepulcra nee prope cognatos compositum cineres, sed Troia obscena, Troia infelice sepultum lco detinet extremo terra aliena solo. ad quam turn properans fertur [simul] undique pubes Graeca penetralis deseruisse focos, ne Paris abducta gavisus libera moecha otia pacato degeret in thalamo. 10; quo tibi turn casu, pulcherrima Laudamia, ereptumst vita dulcius atque anima coniugium: tanto te absorbens verticc amoris aestus in abruptum detulerat barathrum, quale ferunt Grai Pheneum prope Cylleneum mo siccare emulsa pingue palude solum, quod quondam caesis montis fodisse medullis audit falsiparens Amphitryoniades, tempore quo certa Stymphalia monstra sagitta perculit imperio deterioris eri, "5 pluribus ut caeli tereretur ianua divis, --. Hebe nee longa virginitate foret. sed tuus altus amor barathro fuit altior illo, qui tamen indomitam ferre iugum docuit: nam nee tarn carum confecto aetate parenti '20 una caput seri nata nepotis alit, qui, cum divitiis vix tandem inventus avitis nomen testatas intulit in tabulas, impia derisi gentilis gaudia tollens suscitat a cano vulturium capiti: 125 nee tantum niveo gavisast ulla columbo compar, quae multo dicitur improbius oscula mordenti semper decerpcre rostro, quam quae praecipue multiyolast mulier.


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Thee now far, far away, not among familiar graves, nor laid to rest near the ashes of thy kinsfolk, but

1 buried in hateful Troy, ill-omened Troy, a foreign land holds in a distant soil.

To Troy at that time all the youth of Greece is said to have hastened together, deserting their hearths and homes, that Paris might not enjoy undisturbed leisure in a peaceful chamber, rejoicing in the rape of his paramour.

1 By that sad chance then, fairest Laodamia, wast thou bereft of thy husband sweeter to thee than life and soul; so strong the tide of love, so whelming the eddy that bore thee into the sheer abyss, deep as that gulf which (say the Greeks) near Cyllenian

1 Pheneus drains away the swamp, and dries up the ground which erst the false-fathered son of Amphitryon is said to have dug out, cutting away the heart of the hill, what time with sure shaft he hit the monsters of Stymphalus at the bidding

1 of a meaner lord, that the door of heaven might be frequented by more gods, and that Hebe might not long be unmated. But thy deep love was deeper than that gulf, which taught thee though untamed to bear the yoke.

Not so dear to her age-stricken parent is the head of the late-born grandchild which his only daughter

1 nurses, who, scarce at length appearing as an heir to ancestral wealth, and having his name brought into the witnessed tablets, puts an end to the unnatural joy of the kinsman, now in his turn derided, and drives away the vulture that waits for the hoary

1 head; nor did any dove so much delight in her snowy mate, who is said to be ever snatching kisses with biting beak, more wantonly than any woman, be she amorous beyond others' measure. You alone


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 sed tu horum magnos vicisti sola furores, ut semel es flavo conciliata viro. aut nihil aut paulo cui tum concedere digna lux mea se nostrum contulit in gremium, quam circumcursans hinc illinc saepe Cupido fulgebat crocina candidus in tunica, quae tamenetsi uno non est contenta Catullo, rara verecundae furta feremus erae, ne nimium simus stultorum more molesti. saepe etiam Iuno, maxima caelicolum, coniugis in culpa flagrantem concoquit iram, noscens omnivoli plurima facta Iovis. atque nec divis homines componier aequumst, ingratum tremuli tolle parentis onus, nec tamen illa mihi dextra deducta paterna fragrantem Assyrio venit odore domum, sed furtiva dedit *muta munuscula nocte, ipsius ex ipso dempta viri gremio. quare illud satis est, si nobis is datur unis, quem lapide illa, dies, candidiore notat. hoc tibi, quod potui, confectum carmine munus pro multis, Alii, redditur officiis, ne vestrum scabra tangat rubigine nomen haec atque illa dies atque alia atque alia, huc addent divi quam plurima, quae Themis olim antiquis solitast munera ferre piis: sitis felices et tu simul et tua vita et domus [illa], in qua lusimus, et domina, et qui principio nobis terram dedit aufert, a quo sunt primo *mi omnia nata bona. et longe ante omnes mihi quae me carior ipsost, lux mea, qua viva vivere dulce mihist.


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surpassed the desires of these, when once you were

1 matched with your golden-haired husband.

Not at all or but little worthy to yield to her was

my bright one who came into my bosom; and often

around her flitting hither and thither Cupid shone

white in vest of saffron hue. And though she is not

1 content with Catullus alone, I will bear the faults, for few they are, of my modest mistress, lest we become as tiresome as jealous fools. Juno, too, greatest of the heavenly ones, often keeps down her anger for her husband's fault, as she learns the many amours

1 of all-fickle Jove. Yet since it is not fit that men should be compared with gods * * *

away, then, with the hateful severity of an anxious father. And after all, she did not come for me led by her father's hand into a house fragrant with

14? Assyrian odours, but gave me in the silent night sweet stolen gifts, taken from the very bosom of her husband himself. Wherefore it is enough if to me alone is given that day which she marks with a whiter stone.

This gift — 'twas all I could — set forth in poetry

1 is returned to you, Allius, for many kind offices; no lest this and that day, and another and another should touch your name with corroding rust. To this the gods will add those countless gifts which Themis of old was wont to give to pious men of ancient time. May ye be happy, both you, and with you

1 your dear Life, and the house in which you and I sported, and its mistress, and he who first [ for us, from whom first all those good things had their springing for me. And far before all, she who is dearer to me than myself, my Light, whose life

1 alone makes it sweet to me to live. 120


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 Nulli sc dicit mulicr mea nubere malle quam mihi, non si se Iuppiter ipse petat. dicit: scd mulier cupido quod dicit amanti in vcnto et rapida scribere oportet aqua

Dicebas quondam solum te nosse Catullum, Lesbia, nee prae me velle tenere Iovem. dilexi turn te non tantum ut vulgus amicam, sed pater ut gnatos diligit et generos. nunc te cognovi: quare etsi impensius uror, j multo mi tamen es vilior et levior. qui potis est? inquis. quod amantcm iniuria talis cogit amare magis, scd bene velle minus

Desine de quoquam quicquam bene velle mcreri aut aliquem fieri posse putare pium. omnia sunt ingrata, nihil fecisse benignc ut mihi, quern nemo gravius nee acerbius urget, quam modo qui me unum atque unicum amicum habuit.
 * prodest, immo etiam tacdet obestque magis:


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The woman I love says that there is no one whom she would rather marry than me, not if Jupiter himself were to woo her. Says; — but what a woman says to her ardent lover should be written in wind and running water.

J I

y

You used once to say that Catullus was your only friend, Lesbia, and that you would not have Jupiter rather than me. I loved you then, not only as the common sort loves a mistress, but as a father loves his sons and sons-in-law. Now I know you; and therefore, though I burn more ardently, yet you are in my sight much less worthy and lighter. How can that be? you say. Because such an injury as this drives a lover to love more, but to like less.

I J

Leave off wishing to deserve any thanks from anyone, or thinking that anyone can ever become grateful. All this wins no thanks; to have acted kindly does no good, rather it is a weariness and harmful; so is it now with me, who am vexed and troubled by no one so bitterly as by him who but now held me for his one and only friend.

c. 17


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 j

Hue est mens deducta tua, mea Lesbia, culpa, atque ita se officio perdidit ipsa suo, ut iam nee bene velle queat tibi, si optima fias, nee desistere amare, omnia si facias

Siqua recordanti benefacta priora voluptas est homini, cum se cogitat esse pium, nee sanctam violasse fidem, nee foedere in ullo divum ad fallendos numine abusum homines, multa parata manent in longa aetate, Catulle, ex hoc ingrato gaudia amore tibi. nam quaecumque homines bene cuiquam aut dicere possunt aut facere, haec a te dictaque factaque sunt; omnia quae ingratae perierunt credita menti. quarc cur te iam *a! amplius excrucies? quin tu animum offirmas atque istinc teque reducis et dis invitis desinis esse miser? difficilest longum subito deponere amorem. difficilest, vcrum hoc qualubet efficias. una salus haec est, hoc est tibi pcrvincendum: hoc facias, sive id non pote sive pote. (i di, si vestrumst misereri, aut si quibus umquam cxtremam iam ipsa in morte tulistis opem, me miscrum aspicite et, si vitam puriter egi, eripite banc pestem perniciemque milii.


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To tin's point is my mind reduced by your fault, Lesbia, and has so ruined itself by its own devotion, that now it can neither wish you well though you should become the best of women, nor cease to love you though you do the worst that can be done.

If a man can take any pleasure in recalling the thought of kindnesses done, when he thinks that he has been a true friend; and that he has not broken sacred faith, nor in any compact has used the majesty of the gods in order to deceive men, there are many joys in a long life for you, Catullus, earned from this thankless love. For whatever kindness man can show to man by word or deed has been said and done by you. All this was entrusted to an ungrateful heart, and is lost: why then should you torment yourself now any more? Why do you not settle your mind firmly, and drawback, and cease to be miserable, in despite of the gods? It is difficult suddenly to lay aside a longstanding love. It is difficult; but you should accomplish it, one way or another. This is the only safety, this you must carry through, this you is are to do, whether it js possible or impossible. Ye gods, if mercy is your attribute, or if ye ever brought aid to any at the very moment of death, look upon me in my trouble, and if I have led a pure life, take away this plague and ruin from me.

17 — 2


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 heu, mihi surrepens imos ut torpor in artus expulit ex omni pectore laetitias! non iam illud quaero, contra me ut diligat ilia, ant, qnod non potis est, esse pudica vclit: ipse valere opto ct tactrum hunc deponere morbnm. o di, reddite mi hoc pro pietate mea

Rufe mihi frustra ac nequiquam credite amico (frustra? immo maemo cum pretio atquc malo), sicinc subrepsti mi, atque intestina perurens ei misero eripuisti omnia nostra bona? eripuisti, heu heu nostrae crudele venenum vitae, heu heu nostrae pcstis amicitiae

Nemone in tanto potuit populo esse, Iuventi, bellus homo, quern tu diligere inciperes, practerquam iste tuus moribunda ab sede Pisauri hospes inaurata pallidior statua, qui tibi nunc cordist, quern tu pracponere nobis audes, et nescis quod facinus facias

Ouinti, si tibi vis oculos debere Catullum aut aliud siquid carius est oculis, eripere ei noli, multo quod carius illi est oculis seu quid carius est oculis.


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Ah mc! what a lethargy creeps into my inmost joints, and has cast out all joys from my heart! No longer is this my prayer, that she should love mc in return, or, for that is impossible, that she should consent to be chaste. I would myself be well again and put away this baleful sickness. O ye gods, grant me this in return for my piety.

Rufus, whom I, your friend, trusted in vain, and to no purpose — in vain? nay rather at a great and ruinous price — have you stolen into my heart and burning into my vitals torn away, alas, all my blessings? Torn away, alas, alas! you the cruel poison of my life, alas, alas! you the deadly bane of my friendship.

Could there not, Juventius, be found in all this people a pretty fellow whom you might begin to like, besides that friend of yours from the sickly region of Pisaurum, paler than a gilded statue, who now is dear to you, whom you presume to prefer to me, and know not what a deed you do?

Ouinctius, if you wish Catullus to owe his eyes to you, or aught else that is dearer than eyes, if dearer aught there be, do not take from him what is much dearer to him than his eyes, or aught besides that dearer is than eyes.


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 Lesbia mi praesente viro mala plurima elicit: haec illi fatuo maxima lactitiast. mule, nihil sentis. si nostri oblita taceret, sana esset: nunc quod gannit ct obloquitur, non solum meminit, sed quae multo acrior est res, iratast. hoc est, uritur et loquitur

Chommoda dicebat, si quando commoda vcllet dicere, et insidias Arrius hinsidias, et turn mirifice sperabat se esse locutum, cum quantum poterat dixerat hinsidias. avunculus cius, sic maternus avus dixerat atque avia. hoc misso in Syriam requierant omnibus aures: audibant eadem haec leniter et leviter, nee sibi postilla metuebant talia verba, cum subito affcrtur nuntius horribilis, ro Ionios fluctus, postquam illuc Arrius isset, iam non Ionios esse, sed Hionios

Odi ct amo. quarc id faciam, fortasse requiris. ncscio, sed fieri sentio et excrucior.


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Lesbia says many hard things to me in the presence of her husband, a great joy to the fool. You understand nothing, dull mule. If she forgot me and were silent, she would be heart-whole. But as it is, her snarling and railing means this: she not only remembers but — a much more serious thing — she is angry; that is, she is burning all the while she is talking.

Arrius if he wanted to say ' honours ' used to say ' honours ' and for ' ambush,' ' /'ambush '; and thought he had spoken marvellous well, whenever he said '//ambush' with as much emphasis as possible. So, no doubt, his mother had said, so Liber his uncle, so his grandfather and grandmother on the mother's side. When he was sent into Syria, all our ears had a holiday; they heard the same syllables pronounced quietly and lightly, and had no fear of such words for the future: when on a sudden ic a dreadful message arrives, that the Ionian waves, ever since Arrius went there, are henceforth not Ionian, but //ionian.

I hate and love. Why I do so, perhaps you ask. I know not, but I feel it, and I am in torment.


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 Quintia formosast multis; mihi Candida, longa, rectast. haec ego sic singula confiteor, to turn illud formosa nego: nam nulla venustas, nulla in tarn magnost corpore mica salis. Lesbia formosast, quae cum pulcherrima totast, turn omnibus una omnis surripuit Veneres

I Nulla potest mulier tantum se dicere amatam vere, quantum a me Lesbia amata mea's. nulla fides ullo fuit umquam foedere tanta, quanta in amore tuo ex parte reperta meast

Xon ideo, Gelli, sperabam te mihi fidum in misero hoc nostro, hoc perdito amore fore, quod tc cognossem bene constantemve putarem aut posse a turpi mentem inhibere probro, sed ncque quod matrem nee germanam esse videbam hanc tibi, cuius me magnus edebat amor, et quamvis tecum multo coniungerer usu, non satis id causae credideram esse tibi. tu satis id duxti: tantum tibi gaudium in omni culpast, in quacumque est aliquid sceleris. io


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Quintia is thought beautiful by many; I think her fair, tall, well-grown. I so far allow each of these points, but I demur to 'beautiful': for she has no grace; there is not in the whole length of her tall person one mite of salt. Lcsbia is beautiful: for she possesses all the beauties, and has stolen the graces from all the women, all to herself.

No woman can say truly that she is loved as much as you, Lesbia mine, are loved by me. No faithfulness in any bond was ever such as has been found on my side in my love for you.

I hoped, Gellius, that you would be true to me in this miserable, this ruinous love of mine, not on the ground that I knew you well, or thought that you were honourable or could restrain your mind from baseness or villainy, but because I saw that she, whose mighty love was consuming me, was neither mother nor sister of yours. And although I was connected with you by much familiar friendship, I had not thought that that was reason enough for you. You thought it enough: so much delight do you take in any vice in which there is something of dis- honour.

c. 18


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 Lesbia mi dicit semper male nee tacet umquam de me: Lesbia me dispeream nisi amat. quo signo? quia sunt totidem mea: deprecor illam assidue, vcrum dispeream nisi amo

Nil nimium studeo, Caesar, tibi velle placere, nee scire utrum sis albus an ater homo

Zmyrna mei Cinnae, nonam post denique messem quam coeptast nonamque edita post hiemem, milia cum interea quingenta fHortensius uno Zmyrna cavas Satrachi penitus mittetur ad undas, Zmyrnam cana diu saecula pervoluent. at Volusi annales Paduam morientur ad ipsam et laxas scombri's saepe dabunt tunicas. parva mei mihi sint cordi monumenta [sodalis], at populus tumido gaudeat Antimacho.

Si quicquam mutis gratum acceptumve sepulcris accidere a nostro, Calve, dolore potest, quo desiderio vetcres renovamus amores atque olim amissas flemus amicitias, certe non tanto mors immatura dolorist Quintiliae, quantum gaudet amore tuo.


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Lesbia always speaks ill of me, and is always talking of me. May I perish if Lesbia does not love me. By what token? because it is just the same with me. I am perpetually crying out upon her, but may I perish if I do not love her.

I have no very great desire to make myself agreeable to you, Caesar, nor to know whether your complexion is light or dark.

My friend Cinna's Smyrna, published at last nine harvest-tides and nine winters after it was begun, whilst Hortensius [has brought out] five hundred thousand [verses] in one [year]

Smyrna will travel as far away as the deep- channeled streams of Satrachus. But the Annals of Volusius will die by the river Padua where they were born, and will often furnish a loose wrapper for mackerels. Let the modest memorials of my friend be dear to me, and let the vulgar rejoice in their windy Antimachus.

If the silent grave can receive any pleasure, or sweetness at all from our grief, Calvus, the grief and regret with which we renew our old loves, and weep for long lost friendships, surely Ouintilia feels less sorrow for her too early death, than pleasure from your love.

18—2


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 Surripui tibi dum ludis, mcllite Iuventi, saviolum dulci dulcius ambrosia, verum id non impune tuli: namque amplius horam suffixum in summa me memini esse cruce, dum tibi me purgo nee possum fletibus ullis tantillum vestrae demere saevitiae. praeterea infesto miserum me tradere Amori non cessasti omnique excruciare modo, ut mi ex ambrosia mutatum iam foret illud saviolum tristi tristius hellebore quam quoniam poenam misero proponis amori numquam iam posthac basia surripiam

Multas per gentes et multa per aequora vectus advenio has miseras, frater, ad inferias, ut te postremo donarem munere mortis et mutam nequiquam alloquerer cinerem, quandoquidem fortuna mihi tete abstulit ipsum, heu miser indigne frater adempte mihi. nunc tamen interea haec, prisco quae more parentum tradita sunt tristi munere ad inferias, accipe fraterno multum manantia flctu, atque in pcrpctuum, frater, ave atque vale.


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I stole a kiss from you, honey-sweet Juventius, while you were playing, a kiss sweeter than sweet ambrosia. But not unpunished; for I remember how for more than an hour I hung impaled on the top of the gallows tree, while I was excusing myself to you, yet could not with all my tears take away ever so little from your anger.... Besides, you made haste to deliver your unhappy lover to " angry Love, and to torture him in every manner, so that that kiss, changed from ambrosia, was now more bitter than bitter hellebore. Since then you impose this penalty on my unlucky love, henceforth I will never steal any kisses.

Wandering through many countries and over many seas I come, my brother, to these sorrowful obsequies, to present you with the last guerdon of death, and speak, though in vain, to your silent ashes, since fortune has taken your own self away from me — alas, my brother, so cruelly torn from me! Yet now meanwhile take these offerings, which by the custom of our f at l ie £LJ? ave been handed down -^a sowowful tribute^-for^a funeral sacrifice; take them, wet with many tears of a brother, and for ever, my brother, hail and farewell!


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 Si quicquam tacite commissumst fido fab amico, cuius sit penitus nota fides animi, meque esse invenies illorum iure sacratum, Cornell, et factum me esse puta Harpocratem

Aut, sodes, mihi redde decern sestertia, Silo, deinde esto quamvis saevus et indomitus: aut, si te nummi delectant, desine quaeso leno esse atque idem saevus et indomitus

Credis me potuisse meae maledicere vitae, ambobus mihi quae carior est oculis? non potui, nee si possem tarn perdite amarcm sed tu cum Tappone omnia monstra facis

Mentula conatur Pipleum scandere montem Musae furcillis praecipitem eiciunt.


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 Ca rm.

I — C V

If ever any secret whatsoever was entrusted in confidence by a faithful friend, the loyalty of whose heart was fully known, you will find both that I am consecrated by their rite, Cornelius, and you may think that I am become a very Harpocrates.

Prithee, Silo, either give me back the ten sestertia, and then you may be as violent and overbearing as you like; or, if the money gives you pleasure, don't try, I beg, to ply your trade and be at the same time violent and overbearing.

Do you think that I ever could have spoken ill of my life, her who is dearer to me than both my eyes? I could never have done it; nor, if I could help it, would I be so ruinously in love. But you and Tappo make out everything to be prodigious.

Mentula strives to climb the Piplean mount: the Muses with pitchforks drive him out headlong.


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 Sicui quid cupido optantique optigit umquam insperanti, hoc est gratum animo proprie. quarc hoc est gratum nobis quoque, carius auro, quod te restituis, Lesbia, mi cupido, restituis cupido atque insperanti, ipsa refers te nobis: o lucem candidiore nota! quis me uno vivit felicior, aut magis hac rem optandam in vita dicere quis poterit

Si, Comini, populi arbitrio tua cana senectus spurcata impuris moribus intereat, non equidem dubito quin primum inimica bonorum lingua exsecta avido sit data volturio, effossos oculos voret atro gutturc corvus, intestina canes, cetera membra lupi

Iucundum, mea vita, mihi proponis amorcm hunc nostrum inter nos perpetuumque fore. di magni, facite ut vcre promittere possit, atque id sincere dicat ct ex animo, ut liceat nobis tota perducere vita aetcmum hoc sanctae foedus amicitiae.


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If anything ever happened to any one who eagerly longed and never hoped, that is a true pleasure to the mind. And so to me too this is a pleasure more precious than gold, that you, Lesbia, restore yourself to me who longed for you, restore to me who longed, but never hoped, yes, you yourself give yourself back to me. O happy day, blessed with the whiter mark! What living wight is more lucky than I; or who can say that any fortune in life is more desirable than this?

If, Cominius, your gray old age, soiled as it is by an impure life, should be brought to an end by the choice of the people, I for my part do not doubt that first of all your tongue, the enemy of good citizens, would be cut out and quickly given to the greedy vulture, your eyes torn out and swallowed down the raven's black throat, while the dogs would devour your bowels, the rest of your members the wolves.

You promise to me, my life, that this love of ours shall be pleasant and last for ever between us. Ye- great gods, grant that she may be able to keep this promise truly, and that she may say it sincerely and from her heart, so that we may be allowed to extend through all our life this eternal compact of hallowed friendship.

c. 19


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 Firmano saltu non falso Mentula dives fertur, qui tot res in se habet egregias, aucupia omne genus, piscis, prata, arva ferasque. nequiquam: fructus sumptibus exsuperat. quare concedo sit dives, dum omnia desint. cxv Mentula habet finstar triginta iugera prati, quadraginta arvi: cetera sunt maria. cur non divitiis Croesum superare potis sit uno qui in saltu ftotmoda possideat, prata, arva, ingentis silvas fsaltusque paludesque usque ad Hyperboreos et mare ad Oceanum
 * saltus laudemus commoda, dum ipse egeat*.

Saepe tibi studioso animo venante requirens carmina uti possem mitterc Battiadae, qui te lenirem nobis, neu conarere tela infesta *mihi mitterc in usque caput, hunc video mihi nunc frustra sumptum esse laborem, Gelli, nee nostras hie valuissc preces. contra nos tela ista tua cvitamus amictu: at fixus nostris tu dabi' supplicium.


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Mcntula is truly said to be rich in the possession of the grant of land at Firmum, which has so many fine things in it, fowling of all sorts, fish, meadowland, corn-land, and game. All to no purpose; he outruns the produce of it by his expenses. So I grant that he is rich, if you will allow that he lacks everything. Let us admire the advantages of his estate, so long as he himself is in want.

Mentula has something like thirty acres of grazing land, forty of plough land: the rest is salt water. How can he fail to surpass Croesus in wealth, who occupies so many good things in one estate, pasture, arable, vast woods and cattle-ranges and lakes as far as the Hyperboreans and the Great Sea?

I have often cast about with busy questing mind how I could send to you some poems of Callimachus with which I might make you placable to me, and that you might not strive to send a shower of missiles to reach my head; but now I see that this labour has been taken by me in vain, Gellius, and that my prayers have here availed nothing. Now in return I will parry those missiles of yours by wrapping my cloak round my arm; but you shall be pierced by mine and punished.

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 148 C. Valeri Catulli Liber.

FRAGMENTA.

1. At non effugies meos iainbos.

2. Hunc lucum tibi dedico consecroque Priape, qua domus tua Lampsacist quaque [silva], Priape, nam te praecipue in suis urbibus colit ora Hellespontia ceteris ostreosior oris.

— \j — \j \j

de meo ligurrire libidost.

4. \y - ^ - et Lario imminens Comum.]

5. Lucida qua splende[n]t [summi] carchesia mali.


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 Fragmenta 1 49

FRAGMENTS.

1. But you shall not escape my iambics.

2. This inclosure I dedicate and consecrate to thee, O Priapus, at Lampsacus, where is thy house and sacred grove, O Priapus. For thee specially in its cities the Hellespontian coast worships, more abundant in oysters than all other coasts.

3. It is my fancy to taste on my own account.

4. And Comum built on the shore of lake Larius.

5. With which shines the top of the mast.


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i 9, 10. Or (qualecumque quidem patroni ut ergo M.) 'whatever it is worth indeed; that for the merits of its (my) patron,' &c.

ii 7. Or (et solaciolum sui dolor is, credo, et quo gravis acquiescat ardor P. cum—acquiescet codd.) 'both as a solace to her pain, ah yes! and that her grievous smart may be lulled by it.' quo abl.

iv 18. inde, or 'thereafter.'

23. Or ' for her.'

24. Or (novissime M. and codd.) ' when last she came from the sea,' &c.

vi 1. Or 'your loves ' = amores E.

vii 2. Either 'kissings of you' or 'kisses from you', = a tedatae, and accordingly in 9.

viii 14, 15. Or (cum rogaberis nulla. Scelesta la, vae te! P.) ' when you are asked no more. Ah, poor wretch! ' Perhaps nullam noctem.

ix 1. Or (O meis a.) ' preferred by me to all my friends, the whole three hundred thousand of them'; or (abl.), 'by three hundred thousand '; or perhaps, ' by three hundred miles.'

7. facta, or 'what you did there' = tua facta.

10. Or quantumst—beatiorum may = vocative, as III 2.

x. 8. Or ' seas,' but see Ellis's note.

10. Or (nec) 'neither the people themselves nor the praetors nor their staff.' hoc praetore fuisse is a possible emendation.


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152 23. Or (mi anime) 'my dear.'

26. Sarapim G, Serapini O, Serapim R.M.

32. The reading is doubtful, pararim is ungrammatical; paratis (= si parassem) harsh.

xi 11. Or (horribilem salum ult. Brit. M) 'the dangerous sea and distant Britons.' This reading is supported by R. horribiles ult.; ''horribilē salū ult. would easily become horribiles ult.

xii 9. disertus leporum is classed by Roby, L. Gr. (1320) and Madvig (290 g) with ingens virium, aevi maturus, vetus militiae, 'in respect of: there is no need for emendation.

14. exhibere codd. If ex Hibere is read it will be 'from the Ebro country.'

xiv 14. Or (continuo adj.) 'the very next day'; as Ov. Fast, v 734, vi 720. Or 'on that very day.'

xvii 15, 16. Or et might be taken as = sed, 'now a maiden... ought to be guarded,' &c. et—uvis being parenthetical.

20. Or 'she' (nulla).

xxii 5. palimpsesto codd., 'can hardly be Latin' M.; but referre in palimpseston, tabulas, &c., the usual term, does not necessarily exclude in palimpsesto relata, the finished act. Cf. xxviii 6–8. Perhaps in palimpsestos B.P.

11. abhorret = absurdus est M., 'unlike himself' E.

13. tristius of codd. is corrupt. I have translated tritius. Other emendations (none satisfactory) are tersius [tertius], scitius.

xxv 5. locus desperatus. The emendations proposed are no more than ingenious guesses. What is wanted is not a new idea (as munerarios, vicarios, balnearios), but something to carry out the idea of a storm at sea. Mr Mowat ('J. of Philol. xiv 252) suggests cum diva mater ( Tethys) horias ostendit aestuantes. I suspect that trabes' (cf. iv 3), is hidden in aries and that oscitantes means 'gaping.'

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Rh 'drunken Postumia, more drunken,' &c.: but in these MSS. e and o are interchangeable.

xxix 9. No satisfactory emendation is proposed.

21. Of the many emendations of this verse two may be mentioned: (1) timentque [ne] Galliae hunc, timent Britanniae (Avant.); (2) et huicne Gallia et metet Britannia M.

24. Another locus desperatus, not much mended by urbis o pudet meae E., urbis ob litem ipsimae M. (ipsimae = dominae, i.e. Rome), 'plague-sore of the mistress-town.' urbis (or orbis) o piissimi, 'most affectionate pair' Hpt. P. al.

xxx 4. Or (nec=nou) 'the deeds of deceivers please not at all,' &c. (see M. p. 114).

5. que codd. vv. 11. quod quos quem. M. reads quom, and puts a comma after malis, 'since you neglect me &c., what are men to do?'

7. me may be taken either with iubebas or with inducens.

xxxi 10. lecto' abl. Cf. 11 7 note.

13. Lydiae codd., 'Lydian,' i.e. Etruscan; al. limpidae liquidae'. H.V.M. (with Calverley) suggests that Lydiae may mean 'golden,' i.e. from Pactolus.

14. Or (taking ridete with cachinni voc, as in iii 1, 2 quantumst; quicquid est domni cachinnorum = omnes cachinni), 'laugh out, all the laughter there is in my home.' Cf. ix 10.

xxxiv 23. Or (Ancique Seal.), 'and of Ancus.' See E.'s note.

xxxvi 9, 10. Or (et haec pessima sic puella vidit | ioco se lepido v. d. P.), 'and the lady saw that these were the "worst writings" that she was thus devoting to the gods in merry jest'—or pessima may go with puella, as LV 10. vidit is probably corrupt.

By pessimus poeta Lesbia meant Catullus; Catullus, Volusius. Cf. Hor. Carm. 1 xvi 2.

xxxviii 6. Either (1) 'is it thus you treat my friend?' (perhaps alluding to some quarrel with Juventius), or (2) 'my tale of love' E.; in any case not = amorem.

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xxxix ii. parens codd. (pingnis gloss. Vat.); al. pastas far/us; porcus Seal. P., 'an Umbrian pig.' Cf. Pers. in 74 pinguibus Umbris.

xli i. Or {an/ic sana B ) 'is she in her right mind?' cf. 7.

xlii 16. Or (pole, nt rnlwrem...ore, conclamate &c. M.), 'if nothing else can do so, in order to extort a blush from her brazen face, bawl out,' &c. This reading carries the sense on, and avoids the 'awkward stop' at the end of 17; but has no MS. authority.

xliv 12. legi codd., 21 legit codd. Two explanations of this poem are given, according as legi or legit is read in 12, 21.

(1) (legi) Catullus, invited to dine with Sestius, read one of his speeches, caught cold from it, and did not go to dinner;

(2) (legit) Catullus was invited to dine with Sestius; went there, heard him read, and came away with a chill.

(2) makes better sense, reading/^/'/ (B.) for legit.

21. tunc — cum, 'just when I have read,' of a single occasion, or ' only when I happen to read.' eum almost = quoties.

xlv 8. ut ante of codd. has probably come in from 17. I follow Dr Postgate's reading. This makes three sneezes: (1) dcxtra 9, (2) sinistra 8 and sinistram 17, (3) dextrani 18; the first from the right, the second from the left, the third from the right again. (Journal of Philology xvn 237 sqq.) Dr Verrall suggests (ibid. 239 n.) that there were two pairs of sneezes; right and left at 8, 9, left and right at 17, 18. For Munro's view see his Criticisms, 120 sqq.

16. Or 'than to you,' understanding quam tibi: but sic (the formula of a vow) implies magis magisque, corresponding to maior acriorqne, and this is simpler and more natural.

xlvii 2. fames mnnda (for mnndi codd.) - fames tiiera Mart, in lviii 45.

xlix 7. omniums is the reading of R.

L 2. Or (invicem) 'in turns.'

1.1 a 11. Or (geminae) 'both my ears... my eyes are


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 Notes 1 5 5

quenched in night.' gemina has MS. authority, geminae is more in Catullus's manner. Cf. i.xm 75.

lv 9. Corrupt, avelli sinite Avant, avellent...puellae? E. ' avertistis, saepefl? are proposed as emendations.

22. vostri sis, nostri sis codd. nostri sis E. would mean c so long as I can get to you and tell you my secrets.'

23 — 32 appear in the MSS. as a separate poem. They are usually inserted, as here, after 13. But they come in awkwardly wherever they are placed; and the poem cannot be reconstructed with any certainty, and is probably imperfect.

LVii 7. kdiculo O, lectulo cett. codd. See M. p. 131. If mane (x 27), altered metri gr. into mane me, is the right read- ing, so here O may have altered lectulo into lecticalo. At any rate the emendation is not necessary.

lviii 5. Or (magnanimis) 'the high-minded descendants.'

lxi 77. Or (ades) ' bride, come forth,' or (claustra pandite ianuae, virgines) ' throw back the bars of the door, ye maidens,' cf. 227 claudite ostia, virgines.

79. fardel prob. from tardeo v.n. The codd. are defective here and at no, and no complete sense can be made out.

96. viderit — visura sit, translating Callimachus' oif/erai?jws.

167. Or (unus codd.) 'one special guest' (E.), at the cetia nuptialis.

200. Or (cupis cupis) ' desire what you desire.' capis of almost all codd. is, if not the original reading, a very early correction.

219. inscieis... omnibus codd. Catullus is not likely to have left one open short syllable (omnibus) in a poem in which synaphea is strictly observed, omnibus...insciis, omnibus...obviis, are proposed by Edd.

lxii 1. Or ' in heaven.'

11, 32. aequalis is read by all codd. n, by T only 32.

17. Or (convertite, T.) ' turn your minds hither.'

35. Or (eosdem codd.) ' you overtake unchanged.'

40. Or (contusus conclusus codd.) ' bruised.' convolsus T, cf. lxiv 40.

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 156 C. Valerius Cain llus

45, 56. Or ' whilst — whilst.' The rendering given in the text is from Quintilian, ix 3, 16.

lxiii 5. Or {devotvit He acuta sibi po tide re silicis) 'cast down from him his members with the weight of the sharp fiintstone,' or {dcvoisit, Hpt. B.) 'tore off'; the MSS. are corrupt.

9. Or {typanum ac typum M.) 'timbrel and medallion' (see M.'s note).

14. Or {veiut ex.) 'as exiles.'

16. Or pelagi, codd. pier, pelage is accepted by Bentley, Lambinus and several editors.

18. Or (ero) 'at your master's bidding.'

31. Or [animi [a nimo] egens) 'reft of sense,' or {animae egens) ' breathless.'

39. Or ' the golden-faced sun ' = xp u<to< £ u7?' s -

43. Or {trepidantcm R.) 'hurrying on his way,' or 'flut- tering.'

45. ipsa R. edd. ipse cett. codd.

54. omnia adirem codd., or {opaca, opertd) 'their hidden lurking-dens.'

58. Or {remota, ace. plur. neat.) 'bo borne into these distant forests.'

63. Or {ego enim vir P., perhaps cram) ' for I was a man.'

84. rciigat, a very rare usage, but required by the sense. Cf. 76 and LXiv 174.

lxiv 14. Or (fre/i) ' the Nereids raised their faces from the foaming tide of the sea.'

23, 23a. For this reading see M. p. 147.

39. Or 'the trailing vine.'

65. Or {lucfantis) 'straining,' or (ii/cen/is) 'shining.'

100. qiianto for quantum with magis by false analogy. quam turn, edd.

104. Or (suscepit) 'undertook,' or (suspendit) 'faltered' or 'dedicated' (cf. Verg. Geor. 11 389. Aen. xn 766; Hor. Carm. 1 v 15).

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Rh other emendations are lateque et cominus Avant.; lateque comeis obit omnia M.

119. lamentatast, laetabatur, luctabatur, are proposed.

140. Or (miscra) ' these miseries.'

174. If in Creta is read, religasset would be 'moored,' 'made fast.' See note on 84.

178. Idomeneos, prob. = 'Cretan.' Dia is Naxos, but the emendation is conjectural; the codd. have Ydoneos, idoneos, idmoneos.

200, 201. mente, as often in Catullus, is little more than an adverbial sign.

205. Or (quo motu = cuius motu) 'at his gesture.'

213. Or (castae) 'as she left the walls of the virgin goddess.'

227. Or (decet) 'as the sail, &c., befits our grief.'

254. If quae tum is read, we must suppose a lacuna after 253: if qui tum (of codd.), a lacuna after 255, unless we read horum 256, with Lachmann: if quicum (B.), bacchantes must be taken as = . 254, 255 are more appropriate to Bacchanalians than to Satyrs and Sileni.

270. proclivas or 'into ridges.'

283. Or (parit) 'brings to birth,' 'creates.'

287. Or (doctis) ' learned.' Other emendations are claris (Ital.), crebris (Lach.).

Minosim is corrupt. Other readings are Haemonisin (P.), Magnesson (E.), Naiasin, Meliasin.

296. silici may be abl., or (Scythica) 'with Scythian chain.'

309. Or (annoso niveae) 'snow-white bands rested on their aged heads'; codd. have at roseo niveae.

320. Haec=hae.

330. The codd. have quae tibi flexo animo mentis perfundat amorem. I print Muretus' emendation, which is accepted by almost all editors.

362. morti, not = cadaveri, but Polyxena is spoken of as a victim due for the death of Achilles, i.e. to the dead Achilles.


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 158 C. Valerius Cat u 1/ us

374. iamdudutn may be construed with cupido, 'long- expecting.'

382. Codd. have Pelei, which can hardly be dative (cf. 336). If Pelei is read, it must be taken with felieia earmina ' a song of Peleus' happiness.' Perhaps earmina is corrupt, and some such word as tempora should be substituted. But the simplest emendation is Peleo.

404. Or (penales) ' the gods of the household.'

lxv 12. Or (tegam) ' keep close or veiled in silence' E.

lxvi 15. Or (marilum) 'of their husbands' P. parumper, pavenles, an quod aventum are proposed.

19. mission or 'thrown' as Verg. Eel. in 64 malo me Galatea petit.

28. Or {quod non fortior an sit all's codd. omn.) 'which none else could venture and so win the title of braver ' E.

45. Codd. propere, al. pepulere, rupere.

77. Or {expersa) 'sprinkled with,' or explens ungiientis se, • delighting herself with.'

91. sanguinis codd., unguinis, Bentl.

93. cur iterent codd. corruerint is commonly read since Lach.

non vestris (vris) codd. vestris prob. =si ve ris, written ve siris, vestris.

94. fulgoret (or fulgerei) -fulguret. Codd. have fulgeret, but in these MSS. e and are convertible.

lxvii 5. Or (voto servisse maligno) 'lent yourself to the service of an ill-affected vow ' (whether ' of its new mistress ' (E.), or 'the old man's dying wish' (M.)) or (voto servisse maligne), 'to have carried out scurvily his wish and prayer' (M.).

12. Corrupt — verum — is mos populi; verum istud populi fab u la; verum est vox populi, &c. have been conjectured.

27 — 40 may be given either to Catullus or to the House- door.

Lxvm a 12. Or (lorruerit) 'burnt me up,' or in me quo corruerit i>enere, ' how she has rushed down upon me '; cf. Hor. Carm. 1 xix 9.


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 A T otes 159

32. arguta or ' creaking.'

44. Or taking abrupto as = obrcpto (M.) ' though her husband was torn from her ' {abrupto sidere Verg. yEn. xn 451 might thus mean 'when the sun is hidden ').

51. que vetet id codd., quaene etiam (Heins.) is commonly read. Other conjectures are quae taetre id (M.), qualiter id (et?) (E.), quae vel idem (M.R.)

53. Or ' ah, pleasing light of life taken from my miserable brother! '

100. Or fart a as 96.

10 1. at quia for atque of codd. atqui is also read.

102. Or ' take up the weary burden of the decrepit father'; with allusion to a supposed episode of Aeneas and Anchises in the lost verses.

105. Or (mira) ' wondrous.'

117. Nothing satisfactory can be made out of terrain dedit aufert of codd. M. translates terrain ' firm ground.' Under aufert some name {Anser, Ufens, Afer) may be concealed.

lxxii 8. ' Kindles perforce the more, but grows less kind ' (H.V.M.) or ' to love her more, but less to wish her well.'

lxxii 1 3, 4. P. punctuates omnia sunt ingrata, nihil fecisse benigne; immo taedet obestque et (ei?) magis atque niagis, for imiuo etiam tedet obestque magisque magis of codd. Other emendations of 4 are prodest, tarn iuvat, iuverit.

lxxvii 6. Or (pectus) ' the trusted breast on which my friendship leaned ' (E.).

lxxxiii 6. 'The heart flames, the mouth proclaims' (H.V.M. ), or (coquiiur) 'she is burning and glowing.' hoc est commonly introduces a proverb.

lxxxiv 5. Or (liber) 'the freeman,' i.e. the first of the line who was freeborn.

xci 3. Or (non nossem Avant.), ' it was not that I did not know you [as I did].' cognossem, 'supposed but false reason' (E.). cognossem would imply known probity.

xcv 3. Hortensius is corrupt. M. supplies the lacuna by Hatrianus in una | vcrsiculorum anno pufidus evomuit.


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 160 C. Valerius Catullus

9. Or {Diahwci) 'of my own Phalaecus ' (M.). xcvi 3. Or {quoin M. and P.) ' when in sorrow,' &c. en 1. M. reads tacite for codd. tacito. P. «" quoi quid tacito commissumst Jido ci amico, ' a silent and trusty friend.'

3. Or (comma after illorum) ' one of them, duly conse- crate ' (M.).

meque or 'that I too.' Cf. M. ad loc.

cvn 3. Or {carior ai/ro), referring to Lesbia (P.).

cxiv 6. The reading of the MSS. salt a m laudemus dum modo ipse egeai is probably corrupt. M. accepts it, taking tnodo as abl.: ' so long as he himself has no standard of moderation,' with a reference to cxv 5, 6. The reading in the text is Dr Postgate's {Journal of ' P/ii/o/ogy, xxn 261).

cxv 1. Or (iuxta) Seal, 'nearly,' or {vester P.) 'your (Caesar's) friend.'

2. Or (nemoris M.) ' woodland.'

4. tot bona (P.), or tot qui in saltu 11 no commoda ' (M.), for the corrupt tot moda totmoda of codd.

5. saltus is probably corrupt.

cxvi 1. Or (stiidiosc) 'studiously searching,' or studioso may be taken as dative, 'at your desire.'

4. So P. reads for telis infesta mitteremus que of codd.

CAMBRIDGE: PKINTED BY J. AND C V. CLAY, AT THE UNIVERSITY PRBSS.


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TOOK advantage of an Easter holiday-trip to Edinburgh to devote a few hours to the examination of a portion of the MSS. bequeathed to the Advocates’ Library by the late J. F. Campbell, the collector and editor of the Popular Tales from the West Highlands, and of the Leabhair na Feinne. I reckoned that to work carefully through those MSS. bearing upon folk-lore and upon Celtic antiquities, and, by indexing them, to render their contents accessible to students, would require at least a month’s steady labour. The following notes must thus only be considered as an attempt to draw the attention of folk-lorists to this mine of unworked matter; and no conclusion respecting the richness and value of the collection must be drawn from my silence respecting those portions which I had not time to examine. I may say at once, however, that the hopes I entertained of finding English versions of the many variants and unpublished tales to which Campbell refers in the P. T. were not realised. I came across a considerable deal of unpublished English, but chiefly stories about fairies, local and clan traditions. How many of the unpublished Gaelic tales, of which a list is given at the end of P. T., vol. iv, may be found in the collection I cannot of course say, but I incline to believe very few. It would thus appear that, besides the MSS. in the Advocates’ Library, there must be another batch elsewhere. If this is so, I would appeal to the owner to allow examination at the hands of a competent Gaelic scholar.


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xvi.

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 THE

A SERIES OF ARTICLES AND LETTERS REPRINTED FROM THE

BRISBANE; PRINTED BY G. AND J. BLACK (LATE W. THORNE), EDWARD STREET.

1880.

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 ——:o:——

republish in another column a letter originally printed in the Cooktown Courier. The writer lays bare a painful sore in our system of colonisation of which few of us are not conscious, but which we are apt in sheer disgust to ignore altogether. He uses strong language, but not stronger than that which is forced from every man who retains the ordinary feelings of humanity when brought in contact with the sickening and brutal war of races that is carried on in our outside settlements, especially those in the North. And there are special reasons why this subject should be again brought under public notice, so that we may at last adopt a line of conduct in dealing with the wretched aborigines of the colony which may reflect less disgrace on the community, and be more successful in saving our outside settlers from molestation.

It is necessary, in order to make the majority of the community understand the urgent necessity for reform, to dispense with apologetic paraphrases. This, in plain language, is how we deal with the aborigines: On occupying new territory the aboriginal inhabitants are treated in exactly the same way as the wild beasts or birds the settlers may find there. Their lives and their property, the nets, canoes, and weapons which represent as much labor to them as the stock and buildings of the white settler, are held by the Europeans as being at their absolute disposal. Their goods are taken, their children forcibly stolen, their women carried away, entirely at the caprice of the white men. The least show of resistance is answered by a rifle bullet; in fact, the first introduction between blacks and whites is often marked by the unprovoked murder of some of the former—in order to make a commencement of the work of "civilising" them. Little difference is made between the treatment of blacks at first disposed to be friendly and those who from the very outset assume a hostile attitude. As a rule the blacks have been friendly at first, and the longer they have endured provocation without retaliating the worse they have fared, for the more ferocious savages have inspired some fear, and have therefore been comparatively unmolested. In regard to these cowardly outrages, the majority of settlers have been apparently influenced by the same sort of feeling as that which guides men in their treatment of the brute creation. Many, perhaps the majority, have stood aside in silent disgust whilst these things were being done, actuated by the same motives that keep humane men from shooting or molesting animals which neither annoy nor are of service to them; and a few have always protested in the name of humanity against such treatment of human beings, however degraded. But the protests of the minority have been disregarded by the people of the settled districts; the majority of outsiders who take no part in the outrages have been either apathetic or inclined to shield their companions, and the white brutes who fancied the amusement, have murdered, ravished, and robbed the blacks without let or hindrance. Not only have they been unchecked, but the Government of the colony has been always at hand to save them from the consequences of their crime. When the blacks, stung to retaliation by outrages committed on their tribe, or hearing the fate of their neighbors, have taken the initiative and shed white blood, or speared white men's stock, the native police have been sent to "disperse" them. What disperse means is well enough known. The word has

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Rh been adopted into bush slang as a convenient euphuism for wholesale massacre. Of this force we have already said that it is impossible to write about it with patience. It is enough to say of it that this body, organised and paid by us, is sent to do work which its officers are forbidden to report in detail, and that a true record of its proceedings would shame us before our fellow-countrymen in every part of the British Empire. When the police have entered on the scene, the race conflict goes on apace. It is a fitful war of extermination waged upon the blacks, something after the fashion in which other settlers wage war upon noxious wild beasts, the process differing only in so far as the victims, being human, are capable of a wider variety of suffering than brutes. The savages, hunted from the places where they had been accustomed to find food, driven into barren ranges, shot like wild dogs at sight, retaliate when and how they can. They spear the white man's cattle and horses, and if by chance they succeed in overpowering an unhappy European they exhaust their savage ingenuity in wreaking their vengeance upon him, even mutilating the senseless body out of which they have pounded the last breath of life. Murder and counter murder, outrage repaid by violence, theft by robbery, so the dreary tale continues, till at last the blacks, starved, cowed, and broken-hearted, their numbers thinned, their courage overcome, submit to their fate, and disease and liquor finish the work which we pay our native police to begin.

This is the ordinary course of events, but occasionally a variation occurs, and the process of quieting the blacks is unusually prolonged. This is particularly the case in the North, where the blacks are more determined, better armed, and have more mountain and scrub retreats than in other parts of the colony. In the Cape York Peninsula the race conflict has hardly diminished in intensity since the whites began it by robbing and shooting the blacks on the occasion of the first rush to the Palmer. The struggle has been obstinate and fierce, and although an unusually large and costly body of police has been for years engaged in exterminating the aborigines, and few whites miss a chance of shooting any they may encounter, the strength of the tribes has not been broken. No doubt their numbers have been greatly thinned, but they have not been cowed. Consequently there is no part of Queensland in which more European lives have been lost, or where the bush is so thoroughly unsafe for the single traveller. it is difficult to estimate the extent of the loss that has been directly incurred, and still more difficult to calculate the indirect injury suffered by the district. Prospecting for minerals could only be carried on by well armed and equipped parties—and this in itself has been a serious drawback to the European miners. But the heaviest loss is being experienced now that the mining excitement has subsided. For, as the writer to the Cooktown paper says, there is plenty of good soil inviting settlement; but how many men dare fix their home in the bush when they know that neither their property nor their lives will be safe from the attacks of desperate savages, whose natural cunning has been intensified by their long struggle for life with the whites. Evidently settlement must be delayed until the work of extermination is complete—a consummation of which there is no present prospect—or until some more rational and humane method of dealing with the blacks is adopted. It is surely advisable, even at this the eleventh hour, to try the more creditable alternative, and to see whether we cannot efface some portion at least

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 370 The MSS. interesting to the folk-lorist fall into four classes:—

(a.) The, which I was not able to do more than glance at cursorily, but which would repay attentive study.

(b.) A volume lettered “”.

This MS., completed in 1870, was offered for publication to Messrs. Smith, Elder & Co., and refused by them in a letter dated July 1, 1870. The author looked through it in 1877, and noted that it would be unadvisable to publish it as it stood. In 1881 he again looked through it, and noted that it contained “honest, hard work”. There is no index, only a brief list of contents, which I transcribe as some indication of the nature and scope of the work. The figures in brackets, giving the number of pages allotted to each subject, are Campbell’s:

thus making a total of 273 pages, exclusive of the cancelled numbers. The pages are not numbered, and I had no time to check Campbell’s calculation, but I should roughly estimate the total number of pages at 350, equal to a similar number of fairly closely printed demy octavo pages.

In the last quarter of the volume I noted an unpublished Highland märchen, entitled The Black Horse, of which the following is a very brief abstract:

A king dies, and after a year his property is divided, and the youngest son (hero) gets a “limping white garron”. He sets forth on his travels and meets a mysterious stranger, who proposes to give him for his white garron a black horse having this property: “there is no place you can think of in the four parts of the wheel of the world that he will not take you there.” Hero accepts, and forthwith wishes himself in the realm of Under


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 Rh Waves, by the prince of which he is bespelled to go seek the King of Greece’s daughter. Hero effects this by inducing the Greek princess to get up behind him on the black horse. The princess delays the wedding by calling for different objects which the hero has to fetch. These are: (1) silver cup, (2) black silk hood locked within seven doors, (3) pair of shoes of light, (4) silver ring. To accomplish this last quest the hero, mounted upon his black horse, has to leap from a mountain of snow to one of ice, from thence through one of fire, and the horse must swim through a loch which takes fire and blazes. When this is done the hero has to make a castle, compared to which that of King Under Waves is but “washing water”, and finally to dig a well in the courtyard of the castle. Down this the princess induces the king to look, pushes him in, and weds the hero. After three years the latter minds him of the black horse, beheads him at the horse’s command, whereupon he turns into the Greek princess’s brother.

Campbell justly remarks of this tale that it is imperfect; the magic articles won by the hero should serve him in the fulfilment of the succeeding tasks.

Whilst only able to examine this volume cursorily, I yet agree with the author’s 1877 estimate, that it would not do to publish it as it stands. But it contains a deal of interesting matter, and should be studied by anyone purposing to write a general treatise upon folk-lore. It is much to be regretted that Messrs. Smith, Elder & Co. should not have seen their way to publish it in 1870, as it would have materially hastened the progress of research.

(c.), 17 volumes (16 very stout 4to., one thin 4to.).

These volumes contain the original MSS. of Campbell’s collection, the press transcripts of same, the corrected proofs and revises, letters relating to same, newspaper cuttings and other matter, bound together without pagination and without index. As some of these volumes must contain upwards of a thousand different leaves, it will easily be understood what time a thorough overhauling of their contents would require.


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 372 I tested the first volume, i-xvi of P. T., in half a dozen places, and I could not find that it contained the full text of the variants which Campbell cites or summarises.

Vols. ii-ix are of the same character, to judge from a very hasty inspection.

Vol. x opens with a cancelled list of fifty-one tales, followed by a new list of 224 tales, with provenance, narrator and brief characterisation of certain stories. These lists differ from the ones at end of P. T. iv. Then comes a very miscellaneous English collection of short tales, proverbs and folk-lore jottings, amongst them the opening of Koisha Kayn (from John Campbell, who had it from a very old man who knew the twenty-four tales making up the cycle). The remainder of the volume is in Gaelic, and may contain the full text of some of the unpublished versions.

Vol. xi, which is of the same character, but with less English, is lettered “Index”, but though I searched carefully I could find none.

Vol. xii contains unpublished Gaelic poems.

Vol. xiii at once attracted my attention. It is lettered “English collection. Published and unpublished, copied out 1860.” A brief description of this volume will show how difficult examination is. The bulk of it is formed by Miss Dempster’s Sutherlandshire collection (since published in these pages, F.-L. J., vol. vi), comprising 120 numbers; but this is interleaved (not interpaged) with two other series, one of which must have consisted of fifty-seven numbers, as there is a MS. list of contents to that effect at the beginning of the volume, but I could only find Nos. 1-18 and Nos. 25-57, whilst of Miss Dempster’s collection, which is in two differently paged series, Nos. 1-79 of one series seem to be missing. The fifty-seven No. list is of much the same character as Miss Dempster’s. At the end of the volume is a miscellaneous assortment of matter, chiefly fairy lore and local tradition, but some tales; amongst them what is apparently the full Gaelic text of a version of the Battle of the Birds, different from the one in P. T. Portions


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 Rh of Campbell’s diary seem to have got bound up in this volume by mistake, instead of with the Journals, and give fascinating glimpses of his method of collecting. The volume closes with a list of 170 English stories, quite different from the one in vol. x.

Vols. xiv-xvi do for the Introduction and Notes what vols. i-ix do for the Tales, i.e., bring together author’s MS., scribe’s transcript, proofs, revise, letters, reviews, etc.

Vol. xvii is lettered O’Cein’s Leg, 1870-71. It contains the fullest version as yet collected in the Highlands, running to 142 pages of MS., taken down by Hector MacLean from Lachlan MacNeill. The Gaelic text is followed by fourteen pages of English abstract. In view of the great interest of this tale, I copied out the pith of this abstract, and give it here, with constant reference to Mr. MacInnes’s version with my notes. The abstract is preceded by a list of the chief characters in the story of O’Cein’s Leg.

1. King of Ireland. 2. Son and Successor. 3, 4. His Foster-Father and his Magic Wife. 5. O’Cein, the wicked treasurer whose leg is broken.

6. The King of Lochlann, who does nothing and never appears.


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Author:Carl Adolf Feilberg

Works

 * The Way We Civilise: Black and White; The Native Police (1880)

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