Artistic defects of the work 384 " arising from the nature of the subject 385 " from inequality in its execution 387 Intensity of feeling pervading the argument 388 Cumulative force in his rhythm 389 Qualities of his style 390 Freshness and sincerity of expression 392 Imaginative suggestiveness and creativeness 394 Use of analogies 395 Pictorial power 397 Poetical interpretation of Nature 398 Energy of movement in his descriptions 400 Poetic aspect of Nature influenced by his philosophy 402 Poetical interpretation of life 403 Modern interest of his poem 406 CHAPTER XV. CATULLUS. Contrast to the poetry of Lucretius 408 The poetry of youth 409 Accidental preservation of the poems 410 Principle of their arrangement 412 Vivid personal revelation afforded by them 413 Uncertainty as to the date of his birth 414 Birth-place and social standing 417 Influences of his native district 419 Identity of Lesbia and Clodia 422 Poems written between 61 and 57 B.C. 425 Poems connected with his Bithynian journey 429 Poems written between 56 and 54 B.C. 433 Character of his poems, founded on the passion of love 436 " " " on friendship and affection 439 His short satirical pieces 444 Other poems expressive of personal feeling 450 Qualities of style in these poems 452 " of rhythm 453 " of form 454 The Hymn to Diana 455 His longer and more purely artistic pieces 456 His Epithalamia 457 His Attis 461 The Peleus and Thetis 462 The longer elegiac poems 469 Rank of Catullus among the poets of the world 472