'Vacare'

30. ora vacare] This is an unusual construction. is 'to have leisure,' and 'ora vacare' is 'to have leisure with the mouth.' As our idiom is different, we must translate nec poteras ora vacare,' nor could thy mouth find leisure.' 'Vacare is followed either by the dative or by the accusative within,' as here.

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33. Vivit edax vultur] He says that cruel birds and birds of ill omen live long, such as the vulture, the hawk, the jackdaw, and the crow; but the poor parrot is dead.

34. graculus auctor aquae] The crow was supposed to tell of the coming of rain, for which reason another poet calls it 'Imbrium divina avis imminentum,' the bird that divineth the threatening showers,' and also 'aquae augur' (Horace, Carm. iii. 17. 12, 27. 10). 'Auctor' may be translated here the prophet.' It has the same root as the verb augere,' 'to cause to grow,' and is used with various meanings, all more or less nearly connected. We use the word 'authority' for one on whom we rely for a fact, and 'auctor' is so used here.

35. cornix invisa Minervae] The story is, that the crow, having once been a favourite with Minerva, forfeited her favour in the following way: the goddess had shut up Erichthonius, a son of Vulcan, in a chest, and delivered it to the three daughters of Cecrops king of Athens to keep, with orders not to open it. This they nevertheless did, and the crow, who saw them indulging their curiosity, told her mistress of it. Instead of rewarding her, Minerva for her officiousness cast her off. Ovid tells the story in his Metamorphoses, ii. 551 sqq.

36. saeclis] The Romans called a century 'saeculum,' and also the ordinary period of a man's life. Here centuries are meant.

39. manibus rapiuntur avaris] Are snatched by the eager hands of death.' Implentur numeris' is like 'expleta est annis' (v. 8), and must be translated in the same way: Inferior things fill up the number of their days,' that is, live their full time.

41. Tristia Phyllacidae] Protesilaus the grandson of Phylacus was the first Greek who landed on the shores of Troy, and the first that was killed. Thersites was a boasting coward in the Greek army, who was killed some time after by Achilles. Hector the son of Priam was killed by Achilles towards the end of the Trojan war; but his brother Paris, who was the cause of the war, and other sons of Priam, survived him; among the survivors was Helenus, who sold himself to the Greeks. What Ovid says is, that the bad are suffered to live, while the good are taken away.

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45. non exhibitura sequentem] Not destined to produce another.' This is not a common expression; but one day succeeding another may be said to spring from that which goes before.

The participle in turus generally signifies either destiny or intention.

46. Parca] The ancients believed that there were three sisters who regulated the fate of men. One, whose name was Clotho, was supposed to spin the thread of each person's life, and when the whole thread was spun and the distaff was left bare his life came to an end. The poets sometimes write as if there was only one Parca; sometimes they give the spinning to all three. In all these matters fables vary, and different versions are adopted according to the poet's convenience or fancy.

49. Colle sub Elysio] 'Elysio' is here an adjective. According to the poets Tartarus was the place of punishment and Elysium the place of happiness, in Orcus the region of the dead. Ovid says that in a wood on a hill-side in Elysium the good birds gather.

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51. Si qua fides dubiis] If we may trust such doubtful tales.' 'Obscenae aves' are birds of ill omen, or common and unclean. The derivation of the word is doubtful. See p. 48, v. 537.

54. phoenix] Phoenix is the name of an imaginary bird; and the story is, that only one of the species ever existed at the same time; that he lived a great many years, and when he died, out of his body arose a successor. The fable is of Egyptian origin, and is told in various ways.

55. ales Junonia] This is the peacock, which was sacred to Juno. Ipsa suas' expresses the pride with which the bird opens its feathers.

"

58. Convertit] Turns their attention to his speaking.'

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59. tumulus pro corpore] In proportion to his body. Tumulus is a mound of earth, from 'tumere, to swell.'

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60. par sibi] As short as itself' (as the stone).

61. Colligor] The Romans used colligere' as we say to gather, that is, to infer, to conclude.

62. Plus ave] Beyond a bird.' is 'plus quam avis.'

The usual prose construction

To Corinna going to Sea.--P. 3.

2. Peliaco] He speaks as if the first voyage was made by the ship Argo, which conveyed Jason and his companions to Colchis on the Euxine, in quest of the golden fleece. This ship was built with timber cut from Mount Pelion, a range in Thessaly.

3. concurrentes] The ancients believed that at the entrance of the Thracian Bosporus, now called the Straits of Constantinople, there were two floating rocks which struck together and crushed any thing that passed between them. These were called Sym

plegades, from two Greek words signifying to dash together. It is said that after the Argo passed through them, which it did unhurt by the help of Orpheus, whose music arrested them, the rocks became stationary.

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5. ne quis] In order that no one might stir distant seas with the oar.' He thinks if the Argo had foundered, no one else would have ventured on distant voyages, and that her success encouraged others. 'Pressa' is 'crushed.'

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7. sociosque Penates] The homes of her friends.' The Penates were gods and good spirits who protected houses, each house having its own, three only being common to all-Jupiter, Juno, and Vesta. The spirits were those of the good men of the family, which when mentioned separately were called Lares and Manes (p. 10, v. 30, 43).

8. Fallacesque vias ire] Such phrases as 'ire viam,' 'cursum currere,' servitutem servire,' and so forth, are common. The case of the noun in these phrases is usually called the cognate accusative. "Some verbs, commonly intransitive, take an accusative of a noun related to the verb in form or meaning, often in order to attach thereto an adjective" (Key's Lat. Gr. § 893).

9. Quid tibi]Why shall I fear for thee?—that is, why should I be brought to this, that I should fear for thee all the winds of heaven?

10. egelidumque Notum] Adjectives and verbs compounded with 'e,' 'de,' 'per,' are often strengthened thereby (p. 12, v. 93).

11. illic] That is, on the seas. He says she will see no woods, such as damsels love to wander in on the seas; nor will she there pick up shells and pebbles.

14. mora] That is the pastime of the sandy (moisture imbibing) shore.' 'Illa' agrees with mora,' but it refers to what goes before, shells and pebbles. Mora' signifies delay and that which causes delay.

16. Hactenus est tutum] 'So far there is safety,'-that is, on the shore.

18. Scylla] Scylla and Charybdis were two rocks in the straits of Messina, between Sicily and Italy, which made the navigation dangerous. That is the meaning of 'infestet.' He says others may tell her of the dangers that lie in her way. In going by sea from Rome to Greece, if that was her destination, she would pass these rocks.

19. Ceraunia] This was a high mountain range, ending in a promontory on the coast of Epirus. The land is called violent from the violence of the waves that broke upon it. Emineant,' stand out.' 'Ceraunia' is properly the plural number of an adjective agreeing with 'saxa understood. Vessels going to Greece might be driven by south-west winds up the Adriatic upon the coast of Epirus.

20. Syrtes] This was the name of two gulfs, Syrtis Major and

Syrtis Minor, on the north coast of Africa. The first is now called the Gulf of Sidra, and the other the Gulf of Khabs. They were full of shoals and quicksands, and notoriously dangerous. St. Paul's ship, in which he went to Rome, was in danger of being driven into the Syrtis Major (Acts xxvii. 17).

20. Malea] This was a dangerous promontory on the coast of Laconia in the Peloponnesus, and east of Taenarum. makes the penultima of Malea long.

Ovid

27. Triton] Triton is the name of a son of the god Poseidon or Neptune, who at his father's bidding raised or calmed the waters. The same name is given to the servants of Neptune employed for the same purpose.

29. sidera Ledae] Leda was the mother of Castor and Pollux, who are said to have been placed in the skies after death as the constellation called Gemini, which was supposed to influence the sea. Therefore Ovid says to Corinna, if a storm should arise, thou wouldst invoke their help.

30. Felix dicas] Happy is he, thou wouldst say.'

31. fovisse] The poets sometimes use the perfect tense where in prose we should have the present. When they do so, it refers to some action complete in itself, not a continuing course of action, which is the proper sense of the present.

32. Threiciam] The lyre is called Thracian from Orpheus, who was a poet of Thrace. Threïcia' is a Greek form of the adjective: the Latin is Thrax.'

34. Galatea] This was a sea nymph, daughter of Nereus, who was the divinity especially worshipped as presiding over the Aegean Sea therefore his daughter is asked to be favourable to Corinna's ship. Nereus had fifty daughters, and Ovid says it will be their fault and his if Corinna is lost.

38. illa] That wind which is to bring her back, and which he prays may be stronger than that which carries her away. ‘Sinus,' is the sails. It is connected with 'sinuare,' 'to bend.'

39. proclinet] He prays that when she returns, Nereus may set the waves towards Italy, as if the waves carried the ship with them.

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41. Ipsa roges] He bids her pray for a good wind herself, and with her own hand set the sail to catch the breeze, Rogare,' like many other verbs, takes the subjunctive without 'ut' (v. 53). 47. Inque tori formam] He says they will make a couch of the sand and a table of any mound, and there recline to supper, where, with wine before them, she will tell him of the dangers she has escaped, and how she had feared no dangers when she was coming back to him. Instar' is an indeclinable noun: it means 'likeness,' or 'equivalent.'

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49. Lyaeo] This was a name of Bacchus derived from a Greek word meaning to relax. It here, as commonly elsewhere, means wine, of which Bacchus was the god.

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53. sint ficta licebit] Although they be false.' The usual form is licet,' let it be granted that it is so.' But the poets use the future tense sometimes. • Licet' therefore is not a conjunction, but a verb; and after 'licet' the subjunctive is used without • ut.'

56. Lucifer admisso] He prays that Lucifer, the morning star (p. 11. v. 72 n), may bring that day with all speed, with galloping (admisso) horses. The ancients commonly represented the heavenly bodies as riding on chariots (p. 10, v. 28). The poets often use the singular for the plural, and the plural for the singular, when it suits their purpose. The singular is used here perhaps because admissis' has an awkward sound.

On the Death of Tibullus.-P. 5.

Albius Tibullus was a Roman poet who wrote chiefly in elegiac verse. He died while he was young, about 20 B.C. He was a friend of Ovid, Virgil, and Horace.

1. Memnona si mater] Memnon was an Ethiopian prince, nephew of Priam, whom he assisted in the Trojan war. He was killed by Achilles. His mother was Eos, or, as the Romans called her, Aurora, the goddess of morning. Ovid relates elsewhere (Metam. xiii. 621) how she wept bitterly for her son, and her tears were turned into dew. Achilles was king of the Myrmidones, a people of Thessaly, and the principal warrior of the Grecian army in the Trojan war. He was killed by Paris son of Priam. His mother was Thetis, a sea goddess.

3. Elegeia] Elegiac verse (consisting of hexameters and pentameters) was employed much upon laments and sad subjects, and its name was generally supposed to be taken from Greek words expressing the cry of mourners. Therefore he says that the name given to Elegy, whom he addresses as the muse who presides over that sort of verse, will henceforth prove to be too justly derived, and bids her loose her hair in token of grief, because her chief poet is dead. Indignos' means innocent,' unworthy of such sorrow. See p. 10, v. 18.

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5. tui vates operis] The poet of thy work,' that is, the poet who sets forth thy work, which is elegy. Tua fama,' thy fame,' is he who gets fame for thee.

6. rogo] The most ancient practice at Rome in respect to the dead was to bury them without burning. Afterwards burning became more general. The ashes were put into an urn and buried. The wooden pile on which the body was burnt was called 'pyra' or 'rogus.'

6. Ecce puer Veneris] Cupido the son of Venus and god of love.