Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

Diffugiunt Tyrii quo quemque agit error, ut olim
Amisso dubiae rege vagantur apes.

555

Tertia nudandas acceperat area messes,
Inque cavos ierant tertia musta lacus:

Pellitur Anna domo, lacrimansque sororia linquit
Moenia: germanae justa dat ante suae.

560

Mixta bibunt molles lacrimis unguenta favillae,
Vertice libatas accipiuntque comas:

Terque vale dixit, cineres ter ad ora relatos

Pressit, et est illis visa subesse soror.

Nacta ratem comitesque fugae pede labitur aequo,

565

Moenia respiciens, dulce sororis opus.

Fertilis est Melite sterili vicina Cosyrae

Insula, quam Libyci verberat unda freti.

Hanc petit hospitio regis confisa vetusto.
Hospes opum dives rex ibi Battus erat.
Qui postquam didicit casus utriusque sororis,
'Haec,' inquit, 'tellus quantulacumque tua est.'

Et tamen hospitii servasset ad ultima munus,
Sed timuit magnas Pygmalionis opes.
Signa recensuerat bis sol sua. Tertius ibat
Annus, et exilio terra petenda novo est.

Frater adest, belloque potens. Rex arma perosus,
Nos sumus imbelles; tu fuge sospes,' ait.

570

575

555. Tyrii, the nation of Dido, who had come with her from Tyre to Carthage. Error, wanderings; so errores Aeneae, Ulixis, &c. Compare v. 626. Olim, frequently in comparisons which refer to some particular event, some fable or the like. The case is looked upon as having happened long ago, which does not, however, exclude the idea of its repetition under like circumstances. - 557. Tertia area. A similar way of reckoning time to that in the passage quoted, v. 534. Nudandas messes, the corn to be stripped off the husks; that is, to be threshed. -558. Lacus, a vessel for holdng the must, called also labrum.-560. Justa dat, she pays her siser the becoming honours; that is, she brings an offering to the dead. 561-2. Description of the inferiae. She dedicates to her a lock of hair, and brings at the same time precious ointment, while her tears flow at the recollection of the dead. Libatae, resectae. The lock was placed in the urn; hence bibunt favillae. Heroid. xi. 115: Non mihi te licuit lacrimis perfundere justis, In tua non tonsas ferre sepulcra comas. -565. Pede-aequo. Pes (like Tous in Greek) is the rope with which the sails are hauled in or veered out according to the direction of the wind; hence pede aequo, with a full wind.-567. Melite, now Malta, a Phoenician colony; hence Anna is entertained there. Cosyra, a small island near Malta, now Pantalaria. - 571. Utriusque, with short i, as often in poetry. This quantity is admissible in all the genitives in -ius, except alius.-574. Pygmalion, the brother of Dido and Anna. It was to escape his cruelty that they fled from Tyre.-575. Signa sua, the signs of the zodiac.

Jussa fugit, ventoque ratem committit et undis.
Asperior quovis aequore frater erat.
Est prope piscosos lapidosi Crathidis amnes
Parvus ager: Cameren incola turba vocat.
Illuc cursus erat. Nec longius abfuit inde,

Quam quantum novies mittere funda potest.
Vela cadunt primo et dubia librantur ab aura.
'Findite remigio, navita,' dixit, 'aquas.'
Dumque parant torto subducere carbasa lino,
Percutitur rapido puppis adunca Noto:
Inque patens aequor frustra pugnante magistro
Fertur, et ex oculis visa refugit humus.

Assiliunt fluctus, imoque a gurgite pontus
Vertitur, et canas alveus haurit aquas.

Vincitur ars vento. Nec jam moderator habenis
Utitur, at votis vix quoque poscit opem.

580

585

590

Jactatur tumidas exul Phoenissa per undas,
Humidaque opposita lumina veste tegit.

Tunc primum Dido felix est dicta sorori,

595

Et quaecumque aliquam corpore pressit humum.
Figitur ad Laurens ingenti flamine littus
Puppis, et expositis omnibus hausta perit.

Jam pius Aeneas regno nataque Latini'
Auctus erat, populos miscueratque duos.
Littore dotali solo comitatus Achate
Secretum nudo dum pede carpit iter,

Aspicit errantem, nec credere sustinet Annam
Esse. Quid in Latios illa veniret agros?'

Dum secum Aeneas, 'Anna est,' exclamat Achates.
Ad nomen vultus sustulit illa suos.

600

605

581. Crathidis. The Crathis, a river in Magna Graecia near Thurii, formed the boundary between Lucania and Bruttium.-582. Cameren, a place which we are now unable to determine. —584. Quam potest. Compare Metam. iv. 709.—585. Vela cadunt. The sails sink; that is, are not filled, because the wind begins to shift about (dubia). The sails are therefore furled, and rowing is commenced.-587. Torto lino, fune. Subducere, to draw up. furl; the opposite is deducere.-589. Magistro, sc. navis; that is, gubernatore. The same person that was just called navita.-590. Refugit. The tense is here varied, perhaps for no better reason than that the verse requires it. -597. Tunc primum. Dido is here congratulated on having found a grave, as it was considered a great misfortune not to be buried.599. Laurens littus, the coast of Laurentum in Latium, not far from the mouth of the Tiber. Figitur, of the violent shock with which the vessel is stranded.-600. Hausta, sc. mari, swallowed by the sea. -601. Nataque Latini, Lavinia. 602. Populos miscueratque duos; namely, Aborigines et Trojanos.-606. Quid-veniret. The imperfect subjunctive used here to express the idea of impossibility in

[ocr errors]

Quo fugiat? quid agat? quos terrae quaerat hiatus?
Ante oculos miserae fata sororis erant.

610

Sensit, et alloquitur trepidam Cythereïus heros,

Flet tamen admonitu motus, Elissa, tui:

'Anna, per hanc juro, quam quondam audire solebas

Tellurem fato prosperiore dari,

Perque deos comites hac nuper sede locatos,

615

Saepe meas illos increpuisse moras.

Nec timui de morte tamen, metus abfuit iste,
Hei mihi, credibili fortior illa fuit.

Ne refer, aspexi non illo pectore digna
Vulnera, Tartareas ausus adire domos.

620

At tu, seu ratio te nostris appulit oris,

Sive deus, regni commoda carpe mei.

Multa tibi memores, nil non debemus Elissae:
Nomine grata tuo, grata sororis eris.'

Talia dicenti, neque enim spes altera restat,

625

Credidit, errores exposuitque suos.

Utque domum intravit, Tyrios induta paratus,
Incipit Aeneas; caetera turba silet:

'Hanc tibi cur tradam, pia causa, Lavinia conjunx, Est mihi. Consumpsi naufragus hujus opes.

630

Orta Tyro est, regnum Libyca possedit in ora.
Quam precor ut carae more sororis ames.'
Omnia promittit, falsumque Lavinia vulnus
Mente premit tacita, dissimulatque fremens
Donaque cum videat praeter sua lumina ferri
Multa palam, mitti clam quoque multa putat.
Non habet exactum, quid agat. Furialiter odit,
Et parat insidias, et cupit ulta mori.

Nox erat. Ante torum visa est astare sororis
Squalenti Dido sanguinolenta coma,

'Et, fuge, ne dubita, maestum fuge,' dicere, 'tectum.'

635

640

the mind of Aeneas: how should she come?-611. Cythereïus heros, Aeneas, as being the son of Venus or Cytherea. -615. Deos comites, Penates, who had accompanied him from Troy.-616. Illos; namely, deos.-618. Credibili fortior, fortior quam credibile est. So Trist. i. 4, 49: Multaque credibili tulimus majora.-619. Ne refer, you need not tell me anything, for I know the whole. Illo pectore, sc. Didonis. Non digna, which she had not deserved.-623. Memores, sc. beneficiorum vestrorum.-627. Tyrios induta paratus. Paratus are ornamental robes; Tyrius equivalent to purpureus, because the Tyrians were famous for their purple dye.-633. Falsumque-vulnus, the hidden, secret wound; that is, the pain of jealousy.-635. Praeter sua lumina ferri, carried past before her eyes, opposed to clam, v. 636.-637. Non habet exactum, she has not fully considered, she is not yet resolved.-641. Dicere, still dependent on visa est, v.

Sub verbum querulas impulit aura fores.
Exilit, et velox humili super arva fenestra
Se jacit. Audacem fecerat ipse timor.
Quaque metu rapitur, tunica velata recincta
Currit, ut auditis territa dama lupis.
Corniger hanc cupidis rapuisse Numicius undis
Creditur, et stagnis occuluisse suis.

645

Sidonis interea magno clamore per agros

Quaeritur. Apparent signa notaeque pedum.

650

Ventum erat ad ripas. Inerant vestigia ripis:
Sustinuit tacitas conscius amnis aquas.

Ipsa loqui visa est: 'Placidi sum nympha Numici;
Amne perenne latens Anna Perenna vocor.'

Protinus erratis laeti vescuntur in agris

Et celebrant largo seque diemque mero.

655

Sunt quibus haec Luna est, quia mensibus impleat annum :
Pars Themin, Inachiam pars putat esse bovem.

Invenies, qui te nymphen Atlantida dicant,
Teque Jovi primos, Anna, dedisse cibos.

Haec quoque, quam referam, nostras pervenit ad aures
Fama, nec a vera dissidet illa fide.

Plebs vetus et nullis etiamnunc tuta tribunis

660

639.-642. Sub, immediately after. Querulas fores, quae sonum, quasi querelas, edere viderentur.-645. Tunica recincta, without taking time to alter anything in her dress, for one usually ran tunica succincta, with the tunic girt up.-647. Corniger Numicius. The Numicius is a small stream between Laurenium and Lavinium. The river-gods are all represented with horns, on account of the windings of the stream, or perhaps from the roaring of the waves.

[ocr errors]

649. Sidonis. Above, v. 631, she was said to be orta Tyro; we must therefore take Sidonis in a more general sense, equivalent to Phoenissa. In the same way Europa is called, Fast. v. 605: Tyria puella; v. 610 and 617: Sidonis. 654. Amne perenne. Evidently an etymology. How much value is to be attached to it may be judged from the fact that the name Anna is here derived from amnis, whilst she had borne that name before.-655. The poet here returns to the festival. -657. Here follow other accounts of Anna Perenna. In the first she is considered as Luna, the name being derived from annus; in the second as Themis, in which case the derivation is obscure. The Inachia bos is lo, also a goddess of the moon, which appears from her transformation into a cow, for horns denote the moon. The Nymphe Atlantis and primi cibi Jovis refer to Arcadia, where, according to some, was the home of Jupiter, and also Mount Atlas. This last account would mean much the same as the mythus which makes Jupiter the son of Time (Cronos, Saturnus); Time gives birth to Jupiter, or supplies him with his first nourishment.-661. Another tradition about Anna Perenna. 663. Plebs vetus, the old Plebs, to distinguish it from what is now called plebs. See

Fugit, et in sacri vertice montis erat.

Jam quoque quem secum tulerant, defecerat illos
Victus, et humanis usibus apta Ceres.

Orta suburbanis quaedam fuit Anna Bovillis,
Pauper sed mundae sedulitatis anus.
Illa levi mitra canos redimita capillos
Fingebat tremula rustica liba manu.
Atque ita per populum fumantia mane solebat
Dividere. Haec populo copia grata fuit.
Pace domi facta signum posuere Perennae,
Quod sibi defectis illa tuliscet opem.

665

670

v. 525.-664. Sacri montis. The Mons Sacer was three miles from Rome, on the other side of the Anio.-665. Defecerat illos, had failed them, come to an end.-666. Ceres, corn, bread.-667. Bovillae, a town on the Via Appia, near Rome (hence suburbanis), between Rome and Alba Longa.-668. Mundae sedulitatis anus, Genitivus Qualitatis, Gram. § 276.-669. Mitra, worn by poor women at Rome.-671. Populum, plebem. The two words are here used indifferently, without any reference to political distinctions. 674. Another derivation of the name, a perennando.

FASTORUM LIB. IV.

CERES AND PROSERPINA.

We have already had an extract from the fifth book of the Metamorphoses in which the same subject is treated as in the present extract. The study of both productions furnishes us with a high idea of the richness of Ovid's genius; and it is interesting at the same time, as showing how the difference of the metre affects the character of the composition.

TERRA tribus scopulis vastum procurrit in aequor
Trinacris, a positu nomen adepta loci,
Grata domus Cereri. Multas ea possidet urbes,
In quibus est culto fertilis Henna solo.
Frigida coelestum matres Arethusa vocarat,

Venerat ad sacras et dea flava dapes.

420

419. Tribus scopulis, tribus promontoriis; hence the name Trinacria or Trinacris. See Metam. v. 347.-420. A positu, from its shape, a somewhat rare use of the word.-422. Henna, a city in the middle of Sicily, situated on a height. See Metam. v. 385.-423. Arethusa. See Metam. v. 487. Coelestum. For this genitive, see Metam. v. 356. -424. Dea flava. Ceres is so called from the ears of corn with which

« ZurückWeiter »