'Roma reliquenda est: utraque justa mora est. Uxor in aeternum vivo mihi viva negatur, Et domus et fidae dulcia membra domus, Dividor haud aliter, quam si mea membra relinquam, Sic doluit Mettus tunc, cum in contraria versos Tum vero exoritur clamor gemitusque meorum, Tum vero conjux, humeris abeuntis inhaerens, 80 'Non potes avelli.—Simul, ah simul ibimus!' inquit ; 'Te sequar, et conjux exsulis exsul ero. Et mihi facta via est; et me capit ultima tellus 85 Te jubet a patria discedere Caesaris ira, Vixque dedit victas utilitate manus. Crinibus, et gelida membra levavit humo: Se modo, desertos modo deplorasse Penates, 90 95 ma, ultima. -62. Utraque mora, utraque causa morae. -66. Thesea fide, fidelity like that of Theseus and Pirithous. - 69. Nec mora, a favourite expression of Ovid's for statim.-70. Animo must be connected with proxima, not with amplectens.-72. Stella gravis nobis, stella inimica, fatalis nobis. -75. Mettus, Fufetius, the Alban general who, after peace had been concluded between Alba and Rome, went over to the enemies of Rome, and was therefore torn asunder by horses. 83. Et mihi, mihi quoque. -88. Dedit manus, yielded, an expression borrowed from the custom of the gladiators, who, when they found themselves conquered, raised their hands (manus tollere, manus dare), and begged for mercy. -89. Sive, intensifying, sive potius. Ferri, efferri, to be buried without a burial, an Ovidian antithesis.-92. Semianimis. The first i must be pro Nomen et erepti saepe vocasse viri; Nec gemuisse minus, quam si nataeve meumve nounced like y, for the sake of the verse.-97. Nataeve. 100 She had a daughter by a former marriage. Ovid's daughter, of whom he spoke above, was also, in all probability, by one of his two previous marriages.-101. Vivat, et absentem. This accusative is dependent on sublevet in the following line. The construction is interruped by the repetition of vivat; of which similar examples are to be found in our poet. TRISTIUM LIB. IV. ELEGIA X. Notices of the Author's Life. ILLE ego, qui fuerim, tenerorum lusor amorum, Si quid id est, usque a proavis vetus ordinis heres, Nec stirps prima fui, genito sum fratre creatus, 5 10 1. Qui fuerim, dependent on ut noris, v. 2. Tenerorum lusor amorum. Ludere and lusor, of poems of a light, gay style. Ovid appears to mention his love-poems in particular, because they were the most perfect of the works which he had yet published, and also perhaps with a painful feeling of the misfortune which they had brought upon him.-3. Sulmo, in the country of the Peligni, now Sulmone. Gelidis uberrimus undis. Sulmo was celebrated for the number and coldness of the streams in its neighbourhood. Pliny says of one of them: Sed idem aestate vix tolerandi rigoris.-6. Cum cecidit-pari, the year 43 B. C., when the consuls Hirtius and Pansa were slain at Mutina.-7. Si quid id est, meaning that it is of great consequence, as we have had it repeatedly.-8. Non modo Fortunae munere factus eques. The same idea is expressed, Amor. iii. 15, 5: Non modo militae turbine factus eques. 11. Lucifer est Una celebrata est per duo liba dies. Haec est armiferae festis de quinque Minervae, At mihi jam puero coelestia sacra placebant, Motus eram dictis, totoque Helicone relicto, Liberior fratri sumta mihique toga est, affuit idem, dies idem amborum natalis fuit.. - 12. Per duo liba. Libum was a cake offered to the Genius on birthdays.—13. Haec. -Minervae, the Quinquatria; a festival in honor of Minerva, treated of Fast. iii. 809, foll. It lasted for five days (hence the name), from the 19th to the 23d of March. Of the first day Ovid says: Sanguine prima vacat, nec fas concurrere ferro; but on the other four shows of gladiators were exhibited; Ovid's birthday was therefore the first of these four; that is, the 20th March. 14. Quae fieri-solet. Supply ea: ea de festis quinque Minervae quae fieri solet.-16. Insignes ab arte, distinguished for learning. A is used in this way in prose also: potens a pecunia, felix a laude, instructus a doctrina. By ars we have here to understand the artes ingenuae or liberales, quas doceat quivis eques atque senator Semet prognatos (Hor.): grammar, rhetoric, philosophy, and general literature.-17. Eloquium, eloquentiam. Viridi ab aevo, a prima juventute.-19. Coelestia, of heaven; that is, of the Muses.-22. Maeonides, Homerus. See Amor. i. 15, 9.-23. Helicone. Helicon, a mountain in Boeotia, was looked upon as a seat of the Muses. 24. Verba soluta modis: that is, versibus. So Trist. ii. 220: Imparibus carmina facta modis.. 25. Carmen, by anticipation. We should properly have expected quicquid scribebam, as in v. 26. 28. Liberior toga, the toga virilis, on the assumption of which young men obtained a greater freedom. The assumption usually took place on the Liberalia.-29. Induiturque-clavo. The latus clavus, or purple stripe of uncertain figure, on the tunic, was one of the insignia of the senators and higher magistrates. Augustus, however, allowed the sons of senators, and, as we see from the present passage, the sons of equites whose fortunes equalled that of the senators, to wear the latus clavus, that they might have access to Cum perit, et coepi parte carere mei. 40 Temporis illius colui fovique poëtas, Quotque aderant vates, rebar adesse deos. Saepe suas volucres legit mihi grandior aevo, Quaeque necet serpens, quae juvet herba, Macer; Saepe suos solitus recitare Propertius ignes, 45 Ponticus heroo, Bassus quoque clarus iambo, 50 the meetings of senate, and thereby be trained for public business.34. Deque viris quondam pars tribus una fui. There were a number of tresviri or triumviri at Rome; the reference is here to the triumviri capitales, who held one of the inferior jurisdictions, and had charge of the prisons.-35. Curia restabat. The Curia stands here as the place where the meetings of senate were held, properly Curia Hostilia. Before clavi mensura we must supply sed: I had now only to enter the senate, but I retired of my own accord, adopted, instead of the latus clavus, the angustus, the badge of the equestrian order. -39. Aoniae sorores, the Muses, because Helicon is in Aonia; that is, Boeotia. -43. Saepe suas volucres - Macer. There were two Latin poets of this name-Aemilius Macer and C. Licinius Macer. The reference is here to the former. He wrote a poem, in imitation of Nicander, on birds, serpents, plants, &c., which is now lost. He was born at Verona, and was a friend of Virgil's. 45. Propertius. S. Aurelius Propertius, whose elegies are still extant. Recitare, in a company of friends, in order to receive their judgment before publication. This was a general custom among the poets of that age. Ignes, amores, a favourite expression with Propertius.-47. Ponticus, a less-known poet of that age, who wrote a poem in hexameter verse (heroo, sc. versu) on the war of the Seven against Thebes. Bassus, a poet mentioned also by Propertius. He is clarus iambo, from which we may gather that he excelled in a species of composition like the epodes of Horace, or the hendecasyllabi of Catullus, after the model of Archilochus, or perhaps in satirical poems which are sometimes called iambi. 50. Dum ferit-lyra. In strictness, we can only say lyram ferire ; but the transition from this expression to carmina lyra ferire is easy, and occurs in other poets. Ausonia lyra, Italica or Latina lyra. 51. Virgilium vidi tantum. Ovid was twenty-four years old when 335 Tempus amicitiae fata dedere meae. Successor fuit hic tibi, Galle, Propertius illi; Quartus ab his serie temporis ipse fui. Utque ego majores, sic me coluere minores, Notaque non tarde facta Thalia mea est. Multa quidem scripsi; sed, quae vitiosa putavi, Tunc quoque, cum fugerem, quaedam placitura cremavi, Iratus studio carminibusque meis. Molle, Cupidineïs nec inexpugnabile telis Cor mihi, quodque levis causa moveret, erat. Cum tamen hic essem, minimoque accenderer igne, Paene mihi puero nec digna nec utilis uxor 65 70 70 Virgil died; and as he had already found admission to the circle of distinguished poets at Rome, he might have enjoyed his acquaintance, but for the circumstance that Virgil spent the last years of his life at Naples. Tibullo. He died in the same year as Virgil.-53. Galle, Cornelius Gallus. See Amor. i. 15, 29. The series of poets, who laboured especially in the department of love-elegies, is therefore, according to Ovid-Tibullus, Gallus, Propertius, Ovidius. This same series is given by Quintilian, x. 1, 93.56. Thalia, properly the muse of comedy, here put generally for musa.57. Populo legi, referring to public recitations, either in the Forum, or in the baths, or in buildings erected for the purpose, the first of which is, said to have been built by Asinius Pollio. -59. Moverat ingenium, urged me on, incited me to further efforts. 60. Corinna, the mistress whom he celebrates in the libri Amorum.· ·63. Quum fugerem, quum in exsilium abirem. Placitura, which would perhaps have pleased.-67. Cum tamen hic essem, cum tamen talis essem.-68. Fabula, as historia, town-talk. Amor. iii. 1, 21: Fabula (nec sentis) tota jactaris in Urbe. The sense is therefore: Although I was so susceptible, my life gave no occasion for scandal. The poet recurs to this point in several passages. So Trist. i. 8, 59: Vita tamen tibi nota mea est: scis, artibus illis Auctoris mores abstinuisse sui. Trist. ii. 349: Sic ego delicias, et mollia carmina feci, Strinxerit ut nomen fabula nulla meum, where fabula is used in the same sense. -73. Ultima. She was connected with the noble House of the Fabii, and also with the imperial family, and appears, from all accounts, to have been a woman of great worth. Such a tender relationship as that with which we are here |