Page:Catullus, Tibullus and Propertius.djvu/53

Rh bed? He backs out of it with the lame excuse that the bearers are scarcely his to lend, being Caius Cinna's purchase, though what was Cinna's was his friend's also; but, ends the poet, driven into a corner—

Not much evidence, it may be said, of the fruits, or want of fruit, of a year in the provinces. At any rate, there is proof that a second spring found the poet on the wing, rejoicing to be homeward bound. He is going to see all he can of famous cities by the way; and it does not seem as if he had persuaded any of his comrades to bear him company, though it has been surmised without much proof that his brother was of the number. Perhaps they had fared even worse, and could ill afford to pay their share of the expenses of the home route. The "Farewell to Bithynia" is so fresh and tender, and its last lines breathe a misgiving so soon to be realised, if the theory to which we alluded about his brother be true, that they deserve quotation:—