E. T. Merrill, Commentary on Catullus, Poem 26

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By itself this poem might well be taken as a mere jest at a friend's expense, or, if, with G, nostra be read in Catul. 26.1, at the expense of Catullus himself. But all other references to Furius are distinctly hostile in tone (Catul. 11.1ff.; Catul. 16.1ff.; 23.1ff.; 24.1ff.), and there is no reason for premising a period of friendship in which Catullus might jest with Furius. Vestra should therefore be read, and the poem grouped with 23 and 24 as satirizing the extreme poverty into which Furius had doubtless brought himself.—Meter, Phalaecean.

Furi: see Intr. 37.

vestra: i.e. of Furius and the two unpresentable members of his family whom Catullus does not mean to have him forget, his father and step-mother; cf. Catul. 23.5ff.

[2] opposita: with a play upon the meaning of ‘to mortgage’; cf. Pl. Ps. 87 “vix hercle opino [me posse mutuam drachumam unam dare], etsi me opponam pignori” ; Ter. Phor. 661 “ager oppositust pignori decem ob minas.”

[3] Apeliotae: cf. Plin. NH 2.119 “ab oriente aequinoctiali subsolanus … illum Apelioten Graeci vocant.”

[4] milia: etc. the sum was no great one, when 10,000 sesterces was a reasonable rent for merely a house in Rome (cf. Cic. Cael.7.17); but as Furius was at the bottom of his pocket, it is probable that he had mortgaged his house for all that he could raise on it. Catullus is scornfully indicating, therefore, the meanness of the house itself.

[5] 0 ventum: etc. 0 awful, fatal draft.

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

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E. T. Merrill, Commentary on Catullus
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