Page:Catullus, Tibullus and Propertius.djvu/80

68 follows in Theodore Martin's happy transcript of the passage of Catullus:—

By-and-by, one of the three prætexta-clad boys, who had escorted the bride from her father's home to her husband's, is bidden to let go the round arm he has been supporting; the blameless matrons (pronubæ), of like qualification as their male counterparts, conduct the bride to the nuptial-couch in the atrium, and now there is no let or hindrance to the bride-groom's coming. Catullus has so wrought his bridal ode, that it culminates in stanzas of singular beauty and spirit. The bride, in her nuptial-chamber, is represented with a countenance like white parthenice (which one critic suggests may be the camomile blossom) or yellow poppy for beauty. And the bride-groom, of course, is worthy of her; and both worthy