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Rating: 
Summary: Lean, mean Catullus; Love-driven Tibullus; Vigil of Venus...
Review: "Let him tomorrow who has never loved,
and let him who has tomorrow love!"
This review relates to the volume -Catullus,
Tibullus, Pervigilium Veneris-, Second Edition,
Loeb Classical Library # 6, ISBN: 0674990072.
The original translations of Catullus (by F.W.
Cornish), of Tibullus (by J. P. Postgate), and
of the -Pervigilium Veneris- (by J. M Mackail)
have now been updated for the better by G. P.
Goold (his first 2nd edition appeared in 1988 --
this reprint is dated 2000), and Goold's
Introductory explanations for the state of the
translations and the need for updates appear
before each section of works (entire volume,
Reviser's Note, Aug. 1987; Catullus, Reviser's
Preface 1987; Tibullus, Reviser's Preface, 1988;
-Pervigilium Veneris-, Reviser's Preface, 1984).
Catullus, perhaps the best known of the 3 sources
of work in this volume, is an extremely interesting,
if not fascinating person and/or character. He can
be rough and bawdy and cynical, and at other times
stricken, driven, haunted, and sympathetic. His
poems are satiric attacks using "gutter language"
and sexual accusations, name-calling (especially
relating to ... proclivities) --
but they are also songs of pain, frustration, despair,
self-criticism, and complaint. There are also
exceptionally moving poems that recite the feelings
of the family and of himself over the loss of his
brother. Many editions of Catullus use euphemistic
language to get around his direct rough talk, or
they simply excise the "offending" passages. Thankfully,
this new edition restores the complete text with
appropriate graphic translations which give one the
sense of just what kind of an artist and person
Catullus was. G.P. Goold says that he has used
W.H.D. Rouse's paraphrases of several of Catullus'
poems because the paraphrases are so good. Those
poems paraphrased by Rouse are: 15, 21, 37, 69, 71,
74, 78, 79, 80, 89, 94, 97, 100, 110, 112, and 113.Here for those who can take it are the opening
lines of 37 (paraphrased by Rouse): ...BR>Tibullus, on the other hand, is a bit quieter -- his
opening lines talk of pastoral peace (until he a little
later starts talking to Delia and shows how driven he
is, how under her spell -- and Love, oh Love -- that
mesmerizer, that seducer, that desired ideal). "I am
a captive fast bound in the bonds of a lovely girl;
I sit a janitor before her stubborn doors. I care not
for glory, Delia dear; let me only be with thee, and
I will pray folk call me sluggard and idler." "But
me, for I have been ever pliable to gentle Love, shall
Venus' self escort to the Elysian fields."
-Pervigilium Veneris- "a poem of not quite a hundred
lines celebrating a spring festival in honour of the
goddess of love, is remarkable both for its beauty
and as the first clear note of romanticism which
transformed classical into medieval literature."
The poem is divided into 3 sections with sub parts:
Spring -- stanza I, The arrival of spring; stanza
II, The birth of Venus; stanza III, The budding of the
rose. The Festival -- stanza IV, Venus' message to
the nymphs; stanza V, The nymphs' message to Diana;
stanza VI, The festival at Hybla. Litanies to Venus --
stanza VII, As cosmic goddess of procreation; stanza
VIII, As tutelary goddess of Rome; stanza IX, As goddess
of vegetation; stanza X, As goddess of animals and birds;
and a personal epilogue at the end of the poem: "She sings,
I am mute. When will my spring come? When shall I become
like the swallow that I may cease to be voiceless? I
have lost my muse through being voiceless, and Phoebus
[Apollo] regards me not...."
-- Robert Kilgore [acominatus, patroklos, Encolp1850.]
Rating: 
Summary: Catallus and Tibullus: Exemplars of Roman Love Poetry
Review: Catallus and Tibullus belong to the same epic in the history of Latin Poetry, the Augustan Age; and they also derive their inspiration through the same source-from Erato the Muse of Love Poetry. What one will encounter, then, while reading their works, is what may be perhaps the finest manifestation of Roman Love Poetry that has been passed over to us through the ages. With the exception of Propertius or Ovid, Catallus and Tibullus have no rival when it comes to the art of love poetry; and one may argue that the former poets only surpass the later in their bulk of extant poems and in their depth of subject-matter. Also included in this volume, is the Vigil of Venus, a warm and colorful poem attributed to a certain Tiberianus, who belongs to much later time, likely during the reign of the Antonines. As the introduction points out, the Vigil of Venus contains the first piece of Romanticism to be found in Western Poetry. It is a poem of exceptional merit, and it is not unworthy of the majesty of Catallus and Tibullus. Taken as a whole, students of Latin Literature, and poets of our day, have much to learn and enjoy by reading these noble classics.
Rating:
Summary: For the Boyfriend
Review: I got this book for my boyfriend for christmas so I'm writing this review on his part. He loved it! He said that it's one of the greatest books he's ever read.
Rating:
Summary: Major new edition of Catullus should become standard
Review: Thomson's edition of Catullus finally weds a commentary to his twenty-odd year old critical text. For the scholar of neoteric poetry, Thomson's book is a must; undergraduates will find it too vast and too unconcerned with elementary matters (also with literary matters) but very helpful for bibliography on each poem (a role Quinn's text was growing a bit long in the tooth for). Graduate students are compelled to use this as their standard text. Thomson is at his best when unraveling the often diffuse manuscript tradition of this often-read, little-understood poet. For classicists with only a passing interest in Catullus and his work, Fordyce (supplemented by Quinn for the "obscene" poems) remains more than usable.
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