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[3] meae puellae: undoubtedly the Lesbia of the other poems: (1) so Martial thought (cf. Mart. 7.14.3ploravit amica Catulli Lesbia, nequitiis passeris orba sui” ; Mart. 14.77qualem dilecta Catullo Lesbia plorabat” ), though Juvenal follows Catullus in mentioning no name ( Juv. 6.7nec tibi, cuius turbavit nitidos exstinctus passer ocellos” ); (2) in the few other places where Catullus speaks of his ‘puella,’ no other than Lesbia is indicated (cf. Catul. 11.15; Catul. 13.11; Catul. 36.2; Catul. 37.11); (3) stronger than all other proof is the internal evidence from the poems themselves, for Catullus surely loved but one woman, and spoke of no other in words of such pure, tender, and all-absorbing passion as in Catul. 2.1ff. and Catul. 3.1ff.


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