Hector erat. Tum colla jugo candentia pressos ‹ Quisquis es, o juvenis, solatia mortis habeto,' omne Tegminis officium; tamen indestrictus abibo. 80 85 90 95 annum Hector erat; that is, Hectoris mors a fato dilata erat. -77. Tum- equos, a somewhat awkward expression. Join: tum exhortatus equos pressos jugo (qui jugo pressi erant) colla candentia. So guttura pressus, Metam. ix. 78. For jugo premi, compare i. 124 pressique jugo gemuere juvenci.-79. Vibrantia tela. Vibrare is here intransitive, as Metam. iii. 34: Tresque vibrant linguae.81. Haemonio, Thessalo, because Phthiotis, the home of Achilles, was a part of Thessaly.-82. Aeacides, grandson of Aeacus, son of Peleus. 83. Error, the turning aside from the mark. Nullus fuit error in hasta, an unusual expression, as if missing the mark were a property contained in other lances, but not in this one. We may translate fuit, was possible. -85. Hebeti ictu. The epithet is transferred from the weapon to the stroke, by a metonymy frequent in all languages. —92. Tegminis officium, omne quod officium tegendi praestat; hence omne tegmen. The stress is laid on a property of the object, to denote the object itself. Similarly Metam. i. 744: Officioque pedum Nymphe contenta duorum Erigitur. Indestrictus, ne leviter quidem vulneratus. Compare v. 101.93. Est aliquid, with great emphasis: it is an incalculable advantage. Metam. xiii. 241: Est aliquid de tot Graiorum milibus unum A Diomede legi. Sed qui, sed ab eo qui. Such an omission is unusual, and would not occur in simple prose. -95. Haesurum, destined to stick. Clypei curvamine, curvo clypeo, a similar case to that explained v. 92. -97. Novena - decimo. According to Homer there were only five. Terga, coria. Orbe, as the shield Tela manu torsit; rursus sine vulnere corpus 100 105 110 115 was round, so also the skin with which it was covered.-100. Sincerum, uninjured, as Metam. i. 101: ne pars sincera trahatur. Apertum, equivalent to: se praebentem, in allusion to v. 91, Removebitur omne Tegminis officium.-103. Sua irritamina is sufficiently explained by puniceas vestes. It was usual, before the fight, to rouse the bulls into fury by all kinds of red objects. 104. Elusaque vulnera sentit, he perceives that the wounds, which he thought to inflict on the object held before him, are eluded. Eludere, to evade, of the gladiator, with the collateral notion that, by evading, he mocks his opponent, makes him ridiculous. 107. Effudit in uno, in the case of one, in fighting with one. In unum would denote that the power passed over to another. -108. Lyrnesia Moenia. Lyrnesus or Lyrnessus, a city in Mysia. It was there that Briseïs was born, about whom the strife arose between Agamemnon and Achilles (in the beginning of the Iliad).-109. Tenedon. The island of that name, on the Trojan coast.- - 110. Eëtioneas Thebas. A town on the coast of Mysia, belonging to Troas, where Eetion, the father of Andromache, was king.-111. Caïcus. A river in Mysia, purpureus with blood (populari caede). Those who dwell in the neighbourhood of the river are its countrymen (populares).-112. Telephus, likewise a Mysian king, son of Hercules and Auge. He was wounded by Achilles, and the oracle declared that the wound could only be healed by the same weapon that had caused it. He therefore applied to Achilles, and received from him some rust scraped from his spear; with this he was cured. Metam. xiii. 171: Ego Telephon hasta Pugnantem domui, victum orantemque refeci.-113. Per litus, ver the whole shore. 115. Male crederet, non fidem haberet. Tale, not enough, too little.-116. In adversum, in front, facing Atque ait: 'Haec manus est, haec, qua modo vicimus, hasta: 120 Utar in hoc isdem: sit in hoc precor exitus idem.' Sic fatur Cygnumque petit: nec fraxinus errat, 125 130 135 Quem super impulsum resupino corpore Cygnum Tum, clypeo genibusque premens praecordia duris, 140 Vincla trahit galeae, quae presso subdita mento Eripiunt animae. Victum spoliare parabat; 145 him, in opposition to aversum. -122. Fraxinus, by a not unusual metonymy for hasta, because the spears were made of ash.-124. Velut muro solidave a caute repulsa est. The preposition belongs to muro also, a favourite mode of expression with the Greek and Latin poets. So Metam. vii. 708: Pectore Procris erat, Procris mihi semper in ore. 126. Viderat et fuerat gavisus, the pluperfect, to denote that the impression was only momentary.-127. Sanguis. The lengthening of the last syllable by the arsis is of frequent occurrence with this and similar words which preserve the i in declension, in particular therefore with those which have the accusative in im, or the ablative in i. -130. Cavare, to hollow, to pierce.136. Ante oculos natant tenebrae, his eyes grow dim, here graphically expressed by the swimming motion of dark clouds before the eyes Impulsum resupino corpore, stumbling backwards. 139. Vertit dragged him hither and thither.—142. Elidunt, crush. So caput elidere in Plautus. 138. ACHILLIS MORS. AFTER an episode of some length the thread of the narrative is here resumed, and a short account given of the death of Achilles. Ar deus, aequoreas qui cuspide temperat undas, 580 585 590 580. Cuspide, v. 594: triplici cuspide; that is, tridente.-581. Stheneleida. Cygnus, the friend of Phaethon, was the son of Sthenelus, king of the Ligurians. We must therefore suppose, if the reading is correct, that Ovid wishes to intimate that the Cygnus in the present fable was changed into a bird already existing, cujus modo nomen habebat (v. 145), and thereby refers us back to the original Cygnus. Compare xiii. 395.-582. Dolet, properly: regrets it, for it was himself that transformed him.-583. Memores iras. The attribute which belongs to the subject is here transferred to the anger. Metam. iv. 190: Exigit memorem Cythereïa poenam; xiv. 477: Memores de vulnere poenas Exigit. Civiliter, properly: as citizens should act towards citizens; hence: moderately, considerately. Plus quam civiliter. Magis is usually joined to adjectives and adverbs; plus is strictly employed to indicate that the adjective does not exactly express the truth, does not completely exhaust the thought. Just as in the present passage, Lucan says in the beginning of his poem: Bella plus quam civilia, more than civil wars, wars between such as stand in a still nearer relation than that of citizen to citizen. So in Livy: Perfidia plus quam Punica; Cic. Phil. ii. 13: Confitebor eos plus quam sicarios esse. Exercet iras, not outwardly, in actions, but concipit animo, gerit animo.-585. Sminthea, from Sminthus, a town in Troas, noted for the worship of Apollo. -587. Irrita Trojae. Neptune and Apollo assisted Laomedon to build the walls of Troy. By irrita Neptune seeks to rouse the anger of Apollo.-588. Ecquid, an urgent inquiry, here strengthened by its repetition.-591. Hectoris-tracti. This is the later fable. In Homer, Achilles drags the corpse of Hector only round the grave of Patroclus.-592. Bello cruentior ipso, an unusual comparison of a man with a (no doubt personified) abstraction.594. Det mihi se, let him only trust himself to me; that is, let him Sentiat. At quoniam concurrere cominus hosti 595 600 Tela Parin; fassusque deum 'Quid spicula perdis 605 Quod Priamus gaudere senex post Hectora posset, 610 615 Nescio quid, parvam quod non bene compleat urnam. At vivit, totum quae gloria compleat orbem. Haec illi mensura viro respondet, et hac est 620 only venture on the sea. Faxo. Gram. § 146, 6.-596. Non datur, sc. nobis, for both are meant. The emphasis lies on cominus and occulta.-601. Fassusque deum, fassusque se deum esse; properly: confessing the god that was concealed under the cloud.-607. Quod -gaudere posset. Instead of the ablative or a preposition with its case, gaudere here takes the accusative of a pronoun. See above, vi. 194. Post Hectora, post Hectora interfectum. Posset. The subjunctive may be explained by understanding some such condition as: if he were now capable of joy.-611. Thermodontiaca-bipenni, by an Amazon, for the Amazons dwelt in the neighbourhood of the Thermodon. -612. Pelasgi Nominis, like nomen Latinum, where nomen is equivalent to race, nation, especially with reference to military affairs.-614. Deus idem, Vulcan, who had made the armour of Achilles.-616. Nescio quid, used to express what is trifling, insignificant. Non bene, not completely, scarcely.-618. Haec mensura; namely, totius orbis.-621. Bella movet, usually of the party that commences war; here only occasions war. Arma feruntur, not strictly, for the strife is carried on not with weapons, but with words. The expression is chosen for the sake of the juxtaposition, armis arma.- -623. Minor Atrides, Menelaus; bello major et aevo, |