2. With this account of the auspices taken by Romulus and Remus, cf. Livy 1. 6 f. 1. curantes . . . cura: such a pleonasm is not uncommon in ancient writers: cf. Plaut. Men. 895, magnú cum cura ego illum curarí volo, and St. Luke 22. 15, with desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you. Note also the alliteration in the verse.—2. regni: on the case, A. & G. 218, b. — auspicio augurioque : augurium is the more general word, but here again we have pleonasm and alliteration.—3. hinc Remus: according to Livy, Romulus stood on the Palatine, Remus on the Aventine. Where Ennius put Remus is matter for conjecture. 4. servāt: watches for, = observat, but archaic Latin is apt to prefer simple to compound verbs. On the quantity, cf. esset, 7, and see the note on soror, 1. 7.5. quaerit: used absolutely, looks for omens. -6. -ne: or, the interrogative particle being omitted in the first member of the double question; A. & G. 211, a. Remora: even at a late period there was a spot on the Aventine called Remoria, where Remus was said to have watched for the birds. 7. cura: anxiety. induperator: archaic for imperator, indu being an older form of in.-8. mittere⚫ let full. At the Ludi Circenses the presiding magistrate gave the signal for the start by throwing down a mappa or napkin. On these races, Smith, D. A. s. v. Circus, p. 432 ff. -9. volt: is about to. 10. quam: how. - pictis faucibus: the decorated doors of the carceres, for which see Smith. - -II. populus: note the diastole, A. & G. 359, f.; G. 721. — ora tenebat: cf. Verg. Aen. 2. 1, intentique ora tenebant. — 12. rebus: the result, a curious dative, cf. A. & G. 235. They set their faces for the sight.-14. It may be that Cicero, who quotes this passage and thus preserves it for us, has omitted a verse or two about the night which may have preceded this line. Some editors place verse 13 after verse 2. candida: used of a brilliant whiteness, and hence more natural here than seems albus in 13, although Ennius elsewhere uses albus of the sun.―icta: struck, shot. -foras: modifies dedit. -15. praepes: the exact meaning of this adjective (flying forward? cf. 10. 7) was obscure even to the ancients, but, as it was often applied to a bird of good omen, it may be rendered auspicious.-17. ter quattuor: Augustus had the same augury of twelve vultures in the Comitia on the occasion of his first election to the consulship, 43 B. C., cf. Dio Cassius 46.46. So, too, Venus augurs from twelve swans in Aen. 1. 393. — quattuor: if the text is right, this must be scanned as a dissyllable, but the synizesis is strange. Most editors write quattor, which, however, is found only in late inscriptions. 18. avium: this, too, is a case of synizesis, avyum; cf. A. & G. 347, d, remark. 19. conspicit: intellegit. — data esse: the subject is regni scamna solumque, which is modified by auspicio stabilita, while propritim belongs to data esse and means exclusively, as his own. Note that, although the final vowel of stabilita is naturally short, the word being a neuter plural, yet the syllable, though without ictus, is long by position before the two consonants at the beginning of the next word. This would not occur in classical poetry; cf. G. 703, Rem. 1. — 20. scamna solumque: throne and soil. - = 3. Ennius's story that this Delphic oracle was given to King Pyrrhus is doubtless based upon the well known tale of Croesus (Hdt. 1. 53), who was told by the oracle that if he invaded Persia he should destroy a great kingdom. Pyrrhus is called Aeacides because he claimed descent from Aeacus and Achilles. 4. A description of the cutting of the wood for the funeral pyre which Pyrrhus reared for his own and the Roman soldiers who fell in the battle of Heraclea, B. C. 280. The passage is an imitation of Homer's account of the woodcutting for the pyre of Patroclus, Il. 23. 114 ff. : οἵ δ ̓ ἴσαν ὑλοτόμους πελέκεας ἐν χέρσιν ἔχοντες πίπτον and it is in its turn imitated by Vergil, Aen. 6. 179 ff.: I. arbusta alta: note the characteristic alliteration here and in fraxinus franqitur, abies alta; in pinus proceras pervortunt he goes a step too far for real beauty. The onomatopoeia in fraxinus frangitur is admirable, and the selection of epithets for the trees is very appropriate. 5. silvāi frondosāī: on the forms, A. & G. 36, a. Note the homoeoteleuton. 5. In 280 B. C., Fabricius and other envoys were sent to negotiate with Pyrrhus for the ransom of the Roman prisoners. Of the king's speech as given by Ennius, Cicero says (Off. 1. 38), regalis sane et digna Aeacidarum genere sententia. The Roman writers regularly treated him as a chivalrous foe. Prose translation in Sellar, P. R. p. 99. 1. dederītis: perf. subjunctive in a prohibition. Short i is never found in this form of the tense. 2. nec cauponantes bellum: caupo is a petty retail dealer. Hence, not turning war into petty traffic. The phrase looks like an imitation of Aeschylus, Sept. 545, où каtnλeúσeiv μáxny, which, however, means fight by wholesale.—3. cernamus: decide, determine. The usage of the verb in this sense with an accusative seems to be old legal Latin. 'Putting our lives to the issue.' 4. velit: see on servāt, 2. 4. era Fors: Dame Fortune. - 5. accipe: hear, addressed to Fabricius, while ducite, 8, is addressed to all the envoys. 7. eorundem scanned as a trisyllable certumst: 1 am resolved. — 8. dono doque pleonastic, like our 'give and grant.'-volentibus. . . dis: a common polite formula. Note the spondaic verse. Vergil ends two verses with the same words: Aen. 3. 12; 8. 679. 6. In 235 B. C. the temple of Janus was closed for the second time in the history of Rome; cf. Livy 1. 19. 3. But war soon broke out again, and the temple was not shut for a third time until after the battle of Actium, B. C. 29. Horace, in preserving this passage of Ennius (Sat. 1. 4. 60 ff.), notes that it is true poetry, for even the individual words, if you dismember the sentence, as it were, the disiecti membra poetae. In fact, we have here poetic personification (Discordia and Belli), two words which smack of epic diction (taetra and ferratos), and the alliteration and pleonasm postes portasque. are, 1. Discordia: Ennius appropriately makes the goddess Strife (the Greek "Epis, whose apple led to the Trojan war) break open the gates. Vergil is not so happy in the selection of Juno in his imitation (Aen. 7. 622), Belli ferratos rumpit Saturnia postes. -2. ferratos: ironshod, ironclad. — Vergil in another imitation has (Aen. 1. 293) dirae ferro et compagibus artis | claudentur Belli portae, prophesying the closing by Augustus. 7. From this famous description of the 'Cunctator,' Vergil takes (Aen. 6. 846) his Tu Maximus ille es | unus qui nobis cunctando restituis rem. 1. rem: as often, rem publicam. ---2. noenum: ne, not, + oinom or oenum, old forms of unum. rumores: famam, what men said of him.' see on servāt, 2. 4. == - ponebāt : 8. An oft-quoted characterization, applied by Ennius to a poor shepherd who showed the consul Flamininus a pass which led into the Macedonian camp. The story is told in Livy 32. 11. re: wealth. — fidei: note the quantity of the penult, which is found thus only once or twice elsewhere. 9. Of this verse, Cicero (Rep. 5. 1) says: vel brevitate vel veritate tamquam ex oraculo mihi quodam esse effatus videtur. stat: stands fast. The ablatives are instrumental. 10. The brave stand made by a tribune in a battle during the war with the Istrians, 178 B. C. Imitated from Homer's description of Ajax, Il. 16. 102 ff. Αἴας δ ̓ οὐκέτ ̓ ἔμιμνε· βιάζετο γὰρ βελέεσσι· Cf. Vergil, Aen. 9, 806 ff., of Turnus: Ergo nec clipeo iuvenis subsistere tantum flumen agit: fessos quatit aeger anhelitus artus. 1. conveniunt: come all together. -tribuno: A. & G. 235 N.-2. tinnīt: see on servāt, 2. 4. 3. galeae: sc. tinniunt. Cf. Vergil's imitation in Aen. 9. 666, tum scuta cavaeque | dant sonitum flictu galeae. —nec: for the usual non. - pote: sc. est. The form pote, like potis, is of all genders. — 5. adundantes hastas: the swelling tide of lances.—7. praepete: see on 2. 15, and cf. Verg. Aen. 4. 71, volatile ferrum.-8. Histri: a tribe dwelling in the district still called Istria. 11. Here again Ennius forms a connecting link between Homer and Vergil. In the Iliad, 6. 506 ff., Paris going to battle is compared to a stalled horse at large: ὡς δ ̓ ὅτε τις στατὸς ἵππος, ἀκοστήσας ἐπὶ φάτνῃ, δεσμὸν ἀποῤῥήξας θείῃ πεδίοιο κροαίνων, εἰωθὼς λούεσθαι ἐϋῤῥεῖος ποταμοίο, κυδιόων· ὑψοῦ δὲ κάρη ἔχει, ἀμφὶ δὲ χαῖται ὤμοις ἀίσσονται· ὁ δ ̓ ἀγλαΐῃφι πεποιθώς, ῥίμφα ἡ γοῦνα φέρει μετά τ ̓ ἤθεα καὶ νομὸν ἵππων. And so Turnus in the Aeneid, 11. 492 ff., Qualis, ubi abruptis fugit praesaepia vinclis aut ille in pastus armentaque tendit equarum ; emicat, arrectisque fremit cervicibus alte luxurians, luduntque iubae per colla, per armos. Ennius (who probably also applied this simile to some enemy of the Romans) has omitted a part of Homer's comparison and added a new thought in the last verse. Vergil in this case is evidently drawing directly from Homer, and takes little, if anything, from Ennius. 1. equos: nominative. A. & G. 38 N. - fartus: cf. Jeremiah 5. 8, They were as fed horses in the morning. 2. vincla: tether. — magnis animis: high spirits. 3. caerula: we find this adj. applied to the color of trees in Ovid, M. 11. 158, A. A. 2. 518; in Propertius to a cucumber, 4. 2. 43; and in Manilius to leaves, 5. 260. In these passages and here it would seem that we must render it green. Ennius used the word much more happily in another passage, ponti caerula prata. -5. spiritus: breathing. - anima: breath. 12. Cicero in quoting this passage (Cato M. 14) tells us that in it Ennius was comparing his own old age to that of a victorious racehorse. - 1. equos: nominative. — spatio: used here for the racecourse. At the very end of the course.'-2. vicit Olympia: imitated from the Greek 'Oλúμria vikâv. -confectus: foredone. EPIGRAMS. Metre Elegiac Distich or Stanza. See p. 3, § 17, and cf. § 27. 13. These two verses are in many editions prefixed to the two which follow (14), and the four are called the 'Epitaph of Ennius.' There is, however, no real evidence that they belong together. Some scholars hold that the first two were written by an unknown poet after the death of Ennius. Prose translation in Sellar, P. R. p. 76. 1. Enni imaginis: scan thus: . Note that the final i in Enni is only half elided. Ennius is here following Homer, in whose poetry halfelision is common. -2. panxit: made fast, composed. 14. Compare with this the wish of Solon: μηδέ μοι ἄκλαυστος θάνατος μόλοι, ἀλλὰ φίλοισιν which Cicero thus translated (Tusc. 1. 117): Mors mea ne careat lacrimis: linquamus amicis 1. dacrumis: older form of lacrumis, cf. dingua and lingua. We are told that Pompey preferred the old spelling and pronunciation kadamitates instead of calamitates. Note the alliteration with decoret, and cf. volito viros in the next verse. - decoret: pay (me) honor.- -2. faxit, on the form, G. 131, 4, b. volito: flit. Sellar, P. R. p. 76, translates: I still live as I speed to and fro through the mouths of men. Vergil imitates this in G. 3. 8 f., temptanda via est, qua me quoque possim tollere humo victorque virum volitare per ora. 15. Cicero (Legg. 2. 57) says that this was written by Ennius on Scipio. The latter died some fifteen years before his friend. Prose translation in Sellar, P. R. p. 75. 1. situs a very common word on tombstones; hence the abbreviation H.E.S or H.S.E.- —2. quivit: from queo. - opis pretium: reward for his service. Scheme : IN TROCHAIC VERSE. Metre Trochaic Tetrameter or Septenarius. See p. 5, § 25. : uu luu luu luu luu Instead of or 'cyclic' dactyl, many scholars indicate the dactyl of trochaic verse by 33. See p. 1, § 1. 16. Moral of the Aesopean fable of the Lark and the Reapers. It was written in the Septenarius throughout, but only a few phrases and the moral remain to us of Ennius's poem. Cf. La Fontaine, 4. 22. |