E. T. Merrill, Commentary on Catullus, Poem 74

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The first in arrangement, though apparently not in time of composition, of seven virulent invectives directed against a rival (cf. Catul. 91.1ff.) named Gellius. The other six poems are Catul. 80.1ff.,Catul. 88.1ff.,Catul. 89.1ff., Catul. 90.1ff., Catul. 91.1ff., Catul. 116.1ff. See Intr. 72.

patruum proverbially among the Romans the stern and rigorous relative; cf. Cic. Cael. 11.25 “fuit in hae causa pertristis quidam patruus, censor, magister” ; Hor. Carm. 3.12.3 “metuentes patruae verbera linguae” ; Hor. S. 2.3.87 “sive ego prave seu recte hoc volui, ne sis patruus mihi” .

[2] delicias: cf Catul. 45.24; Catul. 68.26; Catul. 2.1n. deliciae.

[3] perdepsuit: ἅπαξ λεγόμενον.

[4] patruum reddidit Harpocratem: i. e. made him the very picture of silence; for the Egyptian deity Horus, the rising sun, is called in the Osiris myths Harpocrates (i.e. the child Har), and is often represented with the left forefinger laid upon the lips, as if to enjoin silence; cf. the cut in Rawlinson's Anc. Egypt, vol. 1., chap. 10; also Varr. L. L. 5.57 etsi Harpocrates digito significat ut taceam. The phrase is parodied in Anth. Lat. 159.6 Riese, Anth. Lat. 346.6 Baehrens.

Catullus. Catullus. E. T. Merrill. Cambridge. Harvard University Press. 1893.

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E. T. Merrill, Commentary on Catullus
E. T. Merrill, Ed.

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