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.

Contents 1 Latin text and translation 2 General comments 3 Bibliography 4 External links

[edit] Latin text and translation

Line	Latin Text	English Translation
1	Si quicquam mutis gratum acceptumque sepulcris	If anything grateful or pleasing to silent tombs
2	accidere a nostro, Calve, dolore potest,	Is able to happen to us, Calvus, from our grief,
3	quo desiderio veteres renovamus amores	By which longing we renew old loves
4	atque olim missas flemus amicitias,	And weep friendships lost once upon a time,
5	certe non tanto mors immatura dolori est	Certainly an early death is not so great a sorrow
6	Quintiliae, quantum gaudet amore tuo.	To Quintilia, so much as she rejoices in your love.

[edit] General comments

This is one of several poems from Catullus to Calvus.

[edit] Bibliography

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

[edit] External links

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

Poems (Carmina) of The Roman poet Catullus
Lesbia poems	2, 2b, 3, 5, 7, 8, 11, 36, 37, 51, 58, 68, 70, 72, 75, 76, 79, 83, 85, 86, 87, 91, 92, 104, 107, 109
Invective poems	10, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 28, 29, 30, 33, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 47, 49, 52, 53, 54, 57, 59, 60, 69, 71, 73, 74, 77, 78, 80, 84, 88, 89, 90, 93, 95, 97, 98, 103, 108, 110, 111, 112, 113, 116
Unusual poetic meters	4, 8, 11, 17, 22, 25, 29, 30, 31, 34, 37, 39, 44, 51, 52, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64
Hendecasyllabic verse	1, 2, 2b, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 14b, 15, 16, 21, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 32, 33, 35, 36, 38, 40, 41, 42, 43, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 58b
Elegiac couplets	65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116
See also the list of poems by Catullus.