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CATULLUS.
Nor should these a surfeit bring,
Not though that sweet crop should yield
Kisses far outnumbering
Corn-ears in the harvest-field."
Not though that sweet crop should yield
Kisses far outnumbering
Corn-ears in the harvest-field."
But whilst as yet Catullus enjoys a dream of successful love, and the fancied happiness of possession, with no misgivings arising from awakened jealousy or fears of fickleness, has he left any hint whereby we may reach the secret of Lesbia's witchery? There is one which does pre-eminently supply this—his comparison of her with a contemporary beauty generally admired, by name Quinctia. The latter, he admits, has several feminine charms; but Lesbia's attraction is the concentration in herself of all the perfections of the most peerless women. Hers is a gathering of "every creature's best" into one ineffable grace, "so perfect and so peerless" is she![1] But let Catullus speak through his eloquent interpreter— :
"Most beautiful in many eyes
Is Quinctia, and in mine
Her shape is tall, and straight withal,
And her complexion fine.
Is Quinctia, and in mine
Her shape is tall, and straight withal,
And her complexion fine.
These single charms of form and face
I grant that she can show;
But all the concentrated grace
Of 'beautiful,' oh no!
I grant that she can show;
But all the concentrated grace
Of 'beautiful,' oh no!
For nowhere in her can you find
That subtle voiceless art—
That subtle voiceless art—
- ↑ Ferdinand to Miranda—"The Tempest," act iii. sc. 1.
