Et magnum Siculis nomen superabitur undis; Quid tibi Barbariem gentesque ab utroque jacentes 825 830 835 840 845 825. Magnum nomen seems to be a play upon the word magnus: a great name and the name Magnus. The reference is to Sext. Pompey, who was conquered by Agrippa near Sicily. 826. Romanique ducis conjux Aegyptia, Cleopatra, the wife of Antony. Taedae Non bene fisa. Fidere is in prose less frequently construed with the dative than with the ablative. 829. Barbariem, the countries of the barbarians. Gentes-jacentes. Strictly terrae jacent, gentes habitant. But both expressions are frequently interchanged even in prose. Ab utroque Oceano, the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Ab gives the direction whence, while we in this connection are accustomed to express only the place where. — 836. Prolem, Tiberium. Sancta de conjuge, Livia. Sancta is an epithet frequently applied to honourable women of that time. After the death of Marcellus and the sons of Julia, Augustus fixed upon his stepson, Tiberius, as his successor on the throne, and therefore adopted him (ferre simul nomenque suum) A. D. 4.Pylios annos, Nestoris annos.- ·839. Cognataque sidera, the constellation of Julius Caesar.-841. Forumque, where the temple of Julius Caesar stood. 846. Recentem, animam, the soul which had now entered on a new life.-849. Flammiferumque-crinem. This comet appeared B.C. 43, as Octavianus, on occasion of the consecration of a temple to Venus, was celebrating the games which Caesar had vowed; it stood for seven days in the north-western 838. Stella micat, natique videns benefacta fatetur 850 855 860 Vestaque Caesareos inter sacrata penates, 865 Quique tenes altus Tarpeias, Jupiter, arces, Quosque alios vati fas appellare piumque, Qua caput Augustum, quem temperat, orbe relicto, 870 sky. The belief prevailed among the people that this was Julius Caesar, placed among the stars; and the poets were not slow to turn this belief to account, and thereby to gratify the ruling family. -851. Vinci gaudet, sc. se, as we have frequently noticed. -859. Mundi triformis, the universe, consisting of the three elements earth, air, and water. Jupiter is therefore here, as elsewhere, represented as the ruler of the whole.-860. Pater. Augustus received the title of pater patriae A.D. 2.-861. Aeneae comites, Penates. Aeneas had brought them with him from Troy, and hence they had overcome fire and sword (quibus ensis et ignis Cesserunt). -862. Dique Indigetes, native Italian divinities, Aeneas, Quirinus, &c. -864. Caesareos inter sacrata penates. When Augustus was Pontifex Maximus, the statue of Vesta was removed to the Palatine Hill, where the dwelling of Augustus was. On another part of the Palatine, Apollo (Phoebus) had a temple, hence domestice. -866. Tarpeias arces. The Capitoline Hill was originally called Tarpeian, hence qui-arces is equivalent to Jupiter Capitolinus.-867. Quosque alios-piumque. There were some secret names of divinities which it was unlawful to utter. EPILOGUS. SIMILAR epilogues, in which the writer expresses his confidence in the endurance of his fame, are to be found in other poets of the same age. The best-known of these is that of Horace at the conclusion of the third book of his odes. JAMQUE opus exegi, quod nec Jovis ira nec ignes 875 875. Super alta-Astra. Ad astra would be more in accordance with our modes of thought. But similarly we have read sub antris, Metam. ii. 269, &c. AMORUM. LIB. I. ELEGIA XV. THE poet defends himself against the reproach of being engaged in a useless occupation. QUID mihi, Livor edax, ignavos objicis annos, Ingeniique vocas carmen inertis opus, Non me more patrum, dum strenua sustinet aetas, Nec me verbosas leges ediscere, nec me 5 1. Livor edax. Envy is often represented as gnawing, eating. So it is said mordere, rodere, arrodere.-4. Praemia pulverulenta, per multum pulverem parta.-5. Verbosas leges. In general, laws are not verbose, but rather expressed briefly, and one great excellence of good laws consists in the conciseness of the expression. Verbosus is therefore here equivalent to: in quibus interpretandis et disceptandis multis verbis opus est.-6. Ingrato vocem prostituisse foro, to appear as a public speaker, either in political affairs, or as an advocate. Ovid had in his earlier years, in compliance with the wish of his father, applied himself to the study of eloquence; there Mortale est, quod quaeris, opus; mihi fama perennis Dum fallax servus, durus pater, improba lena 10 15 20 is perhaps an allusion, in the bitter expression of this line, to an unfavorable reception which he may have met with on his appearing in public.-7. Mihi Quaeritur, a me quaeritur, ego quaero famam perennem.-9. Maeonides, Homer. It is well known that the honour of having given birth to Homer was contested by different Greek cities Smyrna is here assumed as his birthplace, a Greek city in Maeonia or Lydia. It is to be observed, that instead of the gentile adjective (Maeonius), we have here, by a poetic usage, the patronymic form: Homer is thereby represented as a son of the country Maeonia. Tenedos, an island in the Aegean Sea, opposite Troy. Ide, a mountain in the neighbourhood of Troy.-10. Simois, a river in Troas. These localities are often mentioned in the Iliad.-11. Ascraeus, Hesiod, born in Ascra, a town of Boeotia. His poem "Epya kai nupat treats chiefly of husbandry. We have other poems by him, which, however, were not so universally ascribed to him as the one just mentioned, and hence Ovid refers only to the latter. -12. Ceres, for seges, as Minerva for weaving, &c.-13. Battiades, Callimachus of Cyrene, the city of the Battiadae. He lived at Alexandria under Ptolemy Philadelphus. The judgment which Ovid here passes on Callimachus, applies more or less to all the Alexandrian poets: they are distinguished for ingenuity and learning rather than true poetic genius.-15. Sophocleo cothurno. Sophocles, the celebrated Athenian poet, seven of whose tragedies have come down to us. Cothurnus, the high shoe which the tragic actors wore to raise them to the dignity of the characters which they represented, usually gods and princes.-16. Aratus, the author of a poem on the course of the stars, which is still extant.-18. Menandros, usually Menander, a comic poet who belongs to the period of the socalled New-Comedy. In it were represented the failings of human nature, especially as they show themselves in the sphere of the middle classes. We know him only from the imitations of Terence.19. Ennius, a friend of the younger Scipio Africanus, the first Italian poet who made use of hexameter verse, and wrote in imitation of the Greeks. His works, however, were still wanting in polish and grace (arte carens). Accius, or Attius, the most celebrated tragic poet of Rome, who was universally admired for the sublimity of his compositions (animosum os). He was one of the earlier contempo M Varronem primamque ratem quae nesciat aetas, raries of Cicero.-21. Varronem. There were two distinguished authors of this name. The reference is here to P. Terentius Varro, surnamed Atacinus from Atace, a village in Gallia Narbonensis. His poems were highly esteemed by his contemporaries, but have not come down to us. Ovid here alludes to his Argonautica, which he wrote in imitation of a poem by Appollonius Rhodius, which bore the same name.-22. Aesonio duci, ab Aesonio duce; that is, Jasone, filio Aesonis.-23. Lucreti. T. Lucretius Carus, the author of a poem, De Rerum Natura, on the philosophical principles of Epicurus, which gives evidence of a rich poetic genius. It is still extant. - -24. Exitio una dies, an expression employed by Lucretius himself.-25. Tityrus et fruges Aeneïaque arma, the three poems of Virgil. Tityrus is one of the characters in the Bucolics or Pastorals; fruges refers to the Georgics, a poem on husbandry, and the Aeneïa arma to the Aeneid. The last-mentioned poem was not known till after the death of Virgil, and hence the present elegy cannot have been written before the year 19 B.C. -26. Roma-erit, as long as Rome shall rule over the world; that is, according to the Roman idea, for ever. Triumphati orbis. According to the prose construction we should have: orbis, de quo triumphatum est; or better, de quo triumphavit.-28. Tibulle. Albius Tibullus, author of love-elegies, which are still extant, and an intimate friend of Ovid. Compare below, Amor. iii. 9. Cultus, refined, elegant. Numeri tui, versus tui. 29. Gallus. C. Cornelius Gallus, likewise an elegiac poet. He is only known to us from the laudatory mention which is made of him by his contemporaries, especially Virgil, and by the later critics. His model among the Greeks was Euphorion. He called his mistress Lycoris, under which name a Roman freedwoman is said to have been meant.-32. Aevo, temporis longinquitate.-34. Tagi. The Tagus in Portugal is frequently mentioned as bearing gold. -36. Castalia aqua. The Castalian fountain was on Parnassus, the seat of Apollo |