Major sum, quam cui possit Fortuna nocere, An dea sim, dubitor, perque omnia saecula cultis 195 200 205 Nec dolor hic solus: diro convicia facto Tantalis adjecit, vosque est postponere natis 210 Ausa suis, et me, quod in ipsam recidat, orbam 'Desine: Phoebus ait 'poenae mora longa querela est.' 215 Dixit idem Phoebe ; celerique per aëra lapsu Contigerant tecti Cadmeïda nubibus arcem. Planus erat lateque patens prope moenia campus, 220 quoque quis dubitet? Who is in doubt regarding this? Dubitare is construed with the ablative with de, or the object is expressed in the form of a clause introduced usually by an. For the accusative hoc, see Gram. § 249, note 4, and $254, 3, with the note. 195. Quam cui, for quam ut mihi.-196. Multaque ut eripiat. See above, v. 527.-197. Excessere metum mea jam bona, mea bona jam majora sunt quam ut metuendum mihi sit.-198. Huic populo natorum; the strongest expression is here intentionally employed for numero: she has a whole nation of children.-201. Ite sacris, for ite a sacris, abite a sacris.-202. Ponite, deponite, as the following deponent shows.-204. Cynthus, the mountain in Delos, devoted to the worship of Apollo and Diana; hence they were called Cynthius and Cynthia.-206. Animosa, superbiens.-208. An dea sim dubitor. The usual construction would be: dubitatur an dea sim. Similarly, Metam. ii. 92: pater esse probor, for probatur me esse patrem. Dubitare is here used as a verb which in the active takes its object in the accusative; but this construction does not occur in the prose of the Augustan age.-212. Recidat with the first syllable lengthened, as Metam. x. 18, 180. Orbam, an exaggeration or misrepresentation on the part of Latona, for Niobe, in 200, does not say this. 213. Exhibuit linguam paternam, eadem qua Tantalus impietate locuta est. Tantalus also had boasted himself superior to the gods.-219. Assiduis equis, for assiduo, as the adjective is often put Pars ibi de septem genitis Amphione fortes 225 230 235 240 245 for the adverb of time. See iii. 640.-222. Tyrio suco. Tyrian juice is the juice of the purple shellfish, for the Tyrians were famous for their purple dye. Terga Tyrio rubentia suco; that is, terga purpureis stragulis tecta.-224. Qui matri―fuerat, qui natu maximus erat. -225. Čertum in orbem, designatum in orbem.-229. Defluit, said of a dying person sinking slowly down. Similarly in Livy: defluere ab equis.-230. Compare Hom. Il. i. 45, 49. Per inane, per aërem. So Metam. iv. 718.-232. Pendentia-carbasa. Carbasus is properly a fine kind of flax, brought from Spain, especially used for making sails; hence here put for sails. Pendentia, sc. ex antennis, to which they were fastened. Undique, connect with deducit. Rector, sc. navis, like gubernator. So Metam. ii. 186.-233. Ne qua effluat. Qua, for aliqua parte, that no breath of air may be anywhere lost. -237. Ut erat pronus. These words give the reason of what follows; as he was already bent forward, he fell over the neck and mane (per colla et jubas). Colla admissa. The epithet which belongs to the whole is here given to the part: equus est admissus; that is, incitatus, sc. ad celeriter fugiendum. Per here again expresses extent, as above, v. 171.-241. Nitidae palaestrae. The epithet which properly belongs to the wrestlers, whose bodies were anointed with oil, is here transferred to the palaestra. -246. Suprema lumina, moribundos oculos. Lumina versarunt, animam simul exhalarunt. Quod simul eductum est, pars est pulmonis in hamis Intima fatifero rupit praecordia ferro; Eruta, cumque anima cruor est effusus in auras. At non intonsum simplex Damasichthona vulnus Brachia sustulerat, ‘Dique o communiter omnes,' 250 255 260 265 270 275 247. Animam simul exhalarunt. The spondaic verse is here made use of intentionally, and with great_effect, to express the longdrawn breath of the dying.-248. Laniataque pectora plangens. Laniata must be understood to be used by anticipation: pectora ita plangens ut laniarentur.-252. Simul, simulac.-256. Internodia, the space between two nodi; that is, knots on the joint of any part of the body.-258. Pennis tenus. The arrows were feathered, that they might fly the more easily through the air.-268. Certam fecere; in prose, certiorem fecerunt.-269. Mirantem-ausi. Verbs denoting an affection of the mind are followed either by quod, or by the accusative with the infinitive. See Gram. 381.-271. Nam pater Amphion-dolorem, explains the preceding quod tantum juris haberent, for Amphion also, &c.-275. Resupina, as above, v. 169 alta. 276. Invidiosa means two things: full of envy, and envied. The fact that it is opposed to miseranda shows that the A quibus ad coelum liventia brachia tendens Illa malo est audax. Stabant cum vestibus atris เ Nec pes ire potest; intra quoque viscera saxum est. 280 285 290 295 300 305 latter is here the correct meaning.-279. Liventia, livid, the effect of the plangor, the beating of the breast and other parts of the body, as above, v. 248.-281. This line is probably an interpolation. 283. Efferor, sensu funebri.-286. Contento ab arcu. Ovid does not state expressly who it was that slew the daughters of Niobe. Other writers mention Diana, and this is no doubt the view of Ovid also; for, v. 216, she is represented as accompanying her brother to Thebes.-288. Cum vestibus atris. Black was the colour of mourning for women in the most ancient times. Metam. viii. 779: Omnes germanae Cererem cum vestibus atris Maerentes adeunt. 289. Demisso crine, also in token of grief.-290. Viscere, sc. suo; as v. 252, 258.-291. Imposita fratri ora, sc. osculandi causa.294. Oraque exit. She did not close her mouth even in death, she was engaged in speaking. Exit, for exiit, as above, i. 200, saevit, for saeviit, xiv. 461: Auxiliumque petit for petivit, -305. Nihil est in Flet tamen, et validi circumdata turbine venti 310 imagine vivum. Vivum is here the predicate to nihil.-311. Montis, Sipyli.-312. Marmora for stone in general. Lacrimas manant. Manare c. acc., poetical construction for lacrimae manant ex marmore. The ancients find the origin of this fable in the fact, that the highest degree of grief deprives the sufferer of feeling, and renders him rigid and motionless like a stone. This must be taken in connection with the circumstance, that the mountain of Sipylos, according to Pausanias, has in the distance the appearance of a woman in grief. There was also a fountain in the neighbourhood of Magnesia on Sipylos which had a petrifying power. METAMORPH. LIB. VIII. DAEDALUS ET ICARUS. DAEDALUS is a mythical personage, distinguished in various departments of art, especially in architecture and sculpture, for which he is said to have invented many of the requisite tools. His statues were particularly admired; for before his time statues were made with the eyes shut, the legs close together, and the arms attached to the sides; those which he made seemed, as it were, to see and walk. His nephew Perdix (according to others Talus, son of his sister Perdix) made likewise ingenious inventions, and Daedalus killed him out of envy. For this he was condemned by the Council of the Areopagus, and fled to Crete to Minos, for whom he built the labyrinth. DAEDALUS interea Creten longumque perosus Clausus erat pelago. Terras licet' inquit 'et undas Obstruat, at coelum certe patet: ibimus illac! Dixit, et ignotas animum dimittit in artes, 185 184. Exilium, his absence from home.-185. Clausus erat, impeditus erat quo minus proficisceretur. 186. Obstruat, sc. Minos, as appears from the parallel passage Ars Armand. ii. 35, foll., where Ovid treats of the same fable: Possidet en terras et possidet aequora Minos, Nec tellus nostrae nec patet unda fugae. 187. Omnia possideat, he may possess all, otherwise licet or ut omnia possideat. 188. Ignotas animum dimittit in artes. The expression dimittit indicates the intensity with which he devotes himself to the unknown arts; his mind, as it were, passes into, is immersed in, the object |