Page:Catullus, Tibullus and Propertius.djvu/17

Rh scanty exchequer and shabby equipment whilst in the suite of Memmius in Bithynia, cut rather at that ill-conditioned and illiberal prætor than himself; and as to the jeu d'esprit about the "Mortgage," it makes all the difference of meum and tuum whether we read of "your" or "my" country-seat as the snug tenement, as to which the poet tells Furius-

Some possible colour for the suspicion is indeed found in the fact that on occasion—like other young men about town—Catullus sought to improve his finances, and so—like other young men—joined the suite of the prætor, Caius Memmius, in Bithynia, attracted by the literary prestige of that governor, who was the friend and patron of Lucretius. From him, however, he derived nothing but disappointment. Memmius did not enrich his own coffers: his suite, if we may judge by Catullus, did not recoup their outfit; but, on the contrary, might have stood as a warning to other would-be fortune-menders for the nonce, as the poet points the simile—

But with regard to the poet's general finances we have certainly no reason, from his remains, to suppose that he was habitually out at elbows. On the contrary,