Catullus 96

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Catullus 96 is a poem written by the Roman poet Catullus, and addressed to his friend Calvus on the premature death of his wife or mistress, Quintilia. According to Sextus Propertius (Elegies 2.34.89-90), Calvus himself wrote an elegy for her, which Catullus may be responding to; Calvus' fragment forsitan hoc etiam gaudeat ipsa cinis may be part of this elegy.

The meter of this poem is elegiac couplets, a common form in Catullus' poetry.

Latin text

Line	Latin Text
1	Si quicquam mutis gratum acceptumque sepulcris
2	accidere a nostro, Calve, dolore potest,
3	quo desiderio veteres renovamus amores
4	atque olim missas flemus amicitias,
5	certe non tanto mors immatura dolori est
6	Quintiliae, quantum gaudet amore tuo.

General comments

This is one of several poems from Catullus to Calvus.

Bibliography

• Davis, JT (1971). "Quo desiderio: The Structure of Catullus 96". Hermes 99 297–302.

External links

http://www.vroma.org/~hwalker/VRomaCatullus/096.html

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Last updated on Sunday June 29, 2008 at 23:16:43 PDT (GMT -0700)
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