Page:Catullus, Tibullus and Propertius.djvu/86

74 The epithalamium ends with an arithmetical calculation of the same special pleaders, which the maidens apparently find unanswerable, and which is of this nature—namely, that they are not their own property, except as regards a third share. As the other two shares belong to their parents respectively, and these have coalesced in transferring their votes to a son-in-law, it is obviously as futile as it is unmannerly to demur to the nuptial rites. And so the poem ends with the refrain of "Hymen, O Hymenæe!" It has with much plausibility been conjectured by Professor Sellar to be an adaptation of Sappho or some other Greek poet to an occasion within Catullus's own experience. Certainly it does not exhibit like originality with the poem preceding it. It might be satisfactory, were it possible, to give, by way of sequel to the epithalamium of Julia and Manlius, trustworthy data of the young wife's speedy removal; but this is based upon sheer conjecture, and so much as we know has been already stated. If we might transfer to the elegiacs addressed to Manlius before noticed a portion of the story of Laodamia, which has sometimes been printed with them, but is now arranged with the verses to Manius Acilius Glabrio, we should be glad to conceive of Julia's wedded life as matching that of Laodamia, and offering a model for its portrayal.