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A poem of the Juventian cycle (cf. introductory note to Catul. 15.1ff.), and, like Catul. 24.1ff., a remonstrance addressed to Juventius for his intimacy, this time with a certain Pisaurian who was his host. This last circumstance would seem to point to Aurelius (c. 15), and the supposition is further strengthened by the facts that Aurelius and Furius were intimately associated in the mind of Catullus; that he broke friendship with both; that the cause of the break with at least Furius was his intimacy with Juventius; that Aurelius was at least an object of suspicion and warning on the same score. Bruner finds this idea confirmed by a possible play upon the name of Aurelius in v. 4 inaurata.

[2] bellus homo: such a lover Juventius also found in Furius; cf. Catul. 24.7f.

[3] Pisauri: Pisaurum (now Pesaro) was an Umbrian town on the Adriatic planted as a Roman colony B.C. 184 (cf. Liv. 39.44). Plutarch (Plut. Ant. 60) reports that the town was swallowed up by an earthquake just before the battle of Actium. The previous settlement there of a number of military colonists by Antony (Plut. l.c.) may have been an attempt to check the decay (moribunda sede) noted by Catullus.

[4] inaurata statua: gilded statues were common in Rome at a later date, the second supplement to the Notitia (written in the first half of the fourth century A.D.) mentioning eighty of gods alone. This number is understood to be exclusive of statues in temples and other shrines. With the comparison cf. Catul. 64.100n.

[5] cordi est: cf. Catul. 44.3n.

[6] nescis: etc. perhaps the idea is that Nemesis will avenge the slighted love of Catullus (cf. Catul. 50.20n.), or simply that Catullus by great and continued kind services has a strong claim upon the gratitude and affection of Juventius. But the offense of slighting love was often exaggerated by the poets. With facinus faciascf. Catul. 110.4n.


Catullus. Catullus. E. T. Merrill. Cambridge. Harvard University Press. 1893.

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hide References (4 total)
  • Commentary references from this page (4):
    • Catullus, Poems, 15
    • Catullus, Poems, 24
    • Livy, The History of Rome, Book 39, 44
    • Plutarch, Antonius, 60
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