'Quid facitis? Quis clamor? ait, Qua, dicite, nautae, Naxon' ait Liber cursus advertite vestros: Illa mihi domus est; vobis erit hospita tellus.' Tum deus illudens, tanquam modo denique fraudem 635 640 645 650 655 660 preposition a.-634. Proreus; perhaps the same as the prorae tutela mentioned above.-636. Naxon. Naxos, one of the most famous of the Cyclades, sacred to Bacchus, who, according to some accounts, was brought up there.-639. Dare vela, vela expandere in nave; properly, vela dare vento. So v. 640: lintea danti. 640. Dextera Naxos erat. The adjective stands here for the adverb of place, as adjectives frequently do for adverbs of time (matutinus, vespertinus). Dextra mihi lintea danti; that is, in dexteram mihi gubernanti navem; the ablative denoting the place where, instead of the direction in which.-641. A remarkable case of hyperbaton. Join: Quis te furor tenet, Acoete? pro se quisque inquit.-643. Aure susurat, a rare expression for in aurem susurrat.-645. Scelerisque artisque, of the crime as well as of the action in general.-647. Scilicet, expression of bitter irony, to indicate the opposite of what is said.-649. Naxoque relicta, after he had left Naxos; that is, the way to Naxos.--652. Non haec mihi litora-rogata est. Non haec mihi litora promisistis, quae non sunt litora sed mare, non haec terra mihi rogata est, quae non est terra sed aqua.-657. Impellit, pulsat.--658. Per tibi nunc ipsum―adjuro. The separation of the preposition from the word which it governs is Illi admirantes remorum in verbere perstant, 665 670 675 680 685 very common in oaths.-662. Verbere, the singular is very rare.-663. Velaque deducunt, sc. de antennis. The sails which were spread, v. 640, must be supposed to have been again furled in the interim, v. 657. Geminaque ope-namely, with oars and sails.-664. Impediunt, cingunt, amplectuntur. The ivy impedes the motion of the oars by winding round them.--665. Distringunt, a rare word: pull tight. It indicates the weight of the ivy berries. 666. Racemiferis-uvis. Racemus has here the somewhat unusual meaning of berry, as Metam. iii. 484: aut ut variis solet uva racemis Ducere purpureum, nondum matura, colorem. Trist. iv. 6, 9: Tempus ut extentis tumeat facit uva racemis.667. Pampineis-velatam frondibus hastam. Description of the Thyrsus.-668. Simulacra_inania refers to the other wild beasts as much as to the lynces. It is only phantoms that appear to the sailors, but phantoms of those animals which are always in the train of Bacchus.-669. Pictarum, spotted.-670. Insania, furor a Baccho concitus, a kind of intoxication.-671. Nigrescere pinnisIncipit; that is, nigras pinnas accipere incipit.-672. Spinae curvamina flecti, curvam spinam accipere.-673. Miracula, as sometimes monstra, for mira species. -676. Obstantes -remos, the hindering oars; because they are entwined with ivy, they even obstruct the motion of the ship.-680. Truncoque repandus — Corpore, crooked in his maimed body; that is, with crooked and maimed body.— 681. Novissima cauda, extrema pars caudae. Falcata-sinuantur. Restabam solus. Pavidum gelidumque trementi 690 Falcari and sinuari; that is, curvari in modum falcis, sinus. - 689. Meum, mei compotem, in possession of my senses.-690. Diamque. Dia, an old name for Naxos. Tene, hold for. Similarly ii. 140: Inter utrumque tene. PENTHEUS. 'PRAEBUIMUS longis' Pentheus ‘ambagibus aures' 695 700 705 710 693. Vires absumere posset, sc. suas. Absumere, waste, spend; a poetical use of the word.-694. Praecipitem. Instead of the adverb of manner characterising the action, we have here the adjective attributed to the person, which takes place also with adverbs of time, and sometimes of place, as above, v. 640.— 695. Demittite nocti, poetical construction for ad noctem.-696. Solidisin tectis, in carcere bene munito. -701. Perstat Echionides, Pentheus, the son of Echion, persists in his resolution.-702. Cithaeron, the mountain in Boeotia where in particular the orgies of Bacchus were celebrated every third year, whence they are called trieterica.706. Longis, long continued.-708. Ultima, sc. campi. -710. Oculis cernentem sacra profanis. Only the initiated were allowed to behold the orgies.-713. Geminae sorores. Ino and Ille aper, in nostris errat qui maximus agris, Ille mihi feriendus aper.' Ruit omnis in unum Jamque male haerentes alta rapit arbore ventus, Quam sunt membra viri manibus direpta nefandis. 715 720 725 730 Autonoë.—714. Errat qui maximus agris. In Greek and Latin poetry the epithet which belongs to the substantive is often joined to the relative.-717. Jam trepidum. Jam is repeated with emphasis: one could scarcely believe that Pentheus would tremble, but now even he trembles, now he lowers his tone.-720. Actaeonis umbrae. Actaeon, the son of Autonoë, was changed by Diana into a stag, and torn to pieces by his own dogs.-722. Inoo raptu, by a sudden blow from Ino.-726. Collaque jactavit―crinem. The Bacchantes were always represented in ancient art with the head thrown back, and with streaming hair. -729. Autumno frigore tactas. Autumnus is here an adjective. Tangere is used of all the different influences of the weather; for example, of lightning.-730. Male haerentes, vix haerentes.-733. Ismenides, the Theban women, from the river Ismenus at Thebes. METAMORPH. LIB. IV. PYRAMUS ET THISBE. PYRAMUS et Thisbe, juvenum pulcherrimus alter, Tempore crevit amor: taedae quoque jure coissent; 55 60 65 70 75 57. Altam urbem. The story of the foundation of Babylon by Semiramis is well known. The walls were built of bricks, because there are no quarries in the wide plain of Babylonia.-59. Gradus, sc. amoris.60. Taedae jure. Pine torches were carried before the newly-married wife on her way to the house of the bridegroom; hence taeda for taeda jugalis, marriage.-62. Ex aequo, pariter, in an equal degree.-64. Quoque magis tegitur magis, a kind of anacoluthon. Properly, eo magis aestuat ignis should follow. Instead of this the poet repeats the verb of the first clause, and drops the comparison.-65. Rima quam duxerat. Rimam ducere or agere in the intransitive sense, to open in a chink.. 67. Nulli notatum, a nullo notatum. A singular use of nulli for nemini. In general nullus is used for nemo only in the genitive and ablative.-74. Quantum erat? how much would it be? would it be |