Page:Catullus, Tibullus and Propertius.djvu/32

20 pretty ditties on Lesbia's sparrow, in life and in death, which the most casual of readers connects with Catullus, and which have given the key-note to any number of imitations, parodies, and kindred conceits, though, it may be confidently averred, at a marked abatement of ease and grace. In the first, he pictures with vivid touches the coy and witching charmer, inflaming her jealous and impatient lover, and haply disguising her own passion, by playful toying with her pet birdie, to which she surrenders her finger-tip in mock provocation. He has plainly no sympathy with misplaced favours, as he regards the privileges vouchsafed the favourite, whilst he hungers in the very reach of enjoyment. And his moral from what he witnesses is the simple suggestion of a less trifling and more worthy object—himself—though there is a little obscurity in the connection with Atalanta and the apples. We give it, in this instance, from a stray version by the author of 'Lorna Doone'—

Perchance the poet did not take into account that the fruit, once grasped, was scarce worth the effort to secure it; that all was not gold that glittered; that