12, 1-30; 15, 1-23.] THE TABLET-A DEFENSE OF POESY. There was luck in odd numbers. 28. numerus: the number (two). auspicii boni: of good omen; Genitive of Quality. 29. Quid precer: what am I to pray for? rodat unless that wasting old age may gnaw you. 30. situ: mould. 155 nisi vos cariosa senectus 5. A DEFENSE OF POESY. AM. I. 15.-1-2. Quid, etc.: why, biting envy, reproachest thou me with lazy years and callest poetry the work of an idle mind. 3. non me (charging) that I do not. while the active time of life permits. 4. sequi: pursue. dum strenua sustinet aetas: 5. leges: Ovid more than once speaks slightingly of the profession which his father chose for him. 7. Mortale: for a time only. mihi: Da tive of Agent, more common with the compound tenses: 354; A. & G. 232, b; B. 189; H. 388. 9. Maeonides: that is, Homer. quaeris: requirest. an island; Ide: a mountain; Simois: a river-all near Troy and all mentioned by Homer. 11. Ascraeus: the bard of Ascra, in Boeotia, was Hesiod, the poet of the farmer; hence the mention of uva and Ceres. mustis: with juice; the word usually means newly made wine. 12. incurva: curved. 13. Battiades: the Alexandrian poet Callimachus, a native of Cyrene, of which Battus was supposed to be the founder. Ovid seems to have had a correct estimate of him. 14. quamvis ingenio non valet: although he does not excel in genius; Ovid often uses quamvis with the Indicative: 606, R.; A. & G. 313, g; B. 309, 6; H. 515, ш. n. 3. 15. iactura: loss; the fame of Sophocles will remain undiminished. cothurno: the buskin; the foot-wear of tragic actors. Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides were the three great tragic poets of the Greeks. 16. Aratus: a writer on astronomy. 17. fallax servus, etc.: the standard characters in the Middle Comedy. Menander and his school are chiefly known to us through the translations of Plautus and Terence. 19. animosi: spirited, high-sounding. nius and Accius were early Roman poets. oris utterance, speech. En 21. primam... ratem: that is, the Argo; Varro Atacinus wrote, among other things, an Argonautica. 22. terga: hide, fleece; poetic Plural. 23. sublimis: lofty, of elevated style. preciate this great poet. duci Dative of Agent. Ovid was one of the first to ap 24. exitio Dative of the Indirect Object. LUCR. V. 93: una dies: compare Principio maria ac terras caelumque tuere, una dies dabit exitio. 25. Tityrus et fruges Aeneïaque arma: ie. the Bucolics, the Georgics, and the Aeneid of Vergil. In A. A. III. 338 Ovid says of the Aeneid : nullum Latio clarius extat opus. 26. triumphati: conquered; whose defeat had been celebrated by triumphs. The poet fondly imagines that Rome's power will always prevail. 27. ignes arcusque: flames and the bow. We have a number of charm ing elegies by Tibullus. Compare Am. III. 9. 29. Hesperiis: to those of the West; compare A. A. 11. 536: Vesper et Eoae novere Lycorida terrae. Lycoris was a fictitious name of the woman to whom Gallus addressed some of his love-poems. The works of this elegiac poet have been lost. See note on Am. III. 9, 63. 31. cum: while, although. 33. Cedant let them yield. 36. pocula, etc.: cups full of Castalian water. ministret: a Wish. 37. sustineamque, etc.: and may I wear on my hair the myrtle which dreads the cold; the myrtle was sacred to Venus. Compare A. A. 11. 53, where that goddess speaks to Ovid and gives him a leaf and seeds of the myrtle wreath which she is wearing. 38. multus legar: may I be read much; for this adverbial use of the adjective, see 325, R. 6; A. & G. 191; B. 239; II. 443. amante: Ablative of Agent; the preposition is rarely omitted; compare Her. xII. 135. 40. cum suus, etc.: when fitting honor protects each one according to his deserts. 41. Ergo, etc. therefore even when the last fire (the funeral pyre) shall have consumed me, I shall live, and a large part of me will survive; compare HoR. Od. III. 30, 6: Non omnis moriar, multaque pars mei vitabit Libitinam. Among It is noteworthy that Ovid's list of famous poets is incomplete. the Greeks there are several important names that are omitted, and among the Romans both Catullus and Horace are left unmentioned. 6. ELEGY ON THE PARROT. Indi: AM. II. 6.-1. Eois... ab Indis: from the Indies in the East. the people of India. Indus is usually the river. Of course, in Ovid's day there were no West Indies. 2. occidit: is dead. exsequias: to the funeral; probably Cognate Acc. like pompam funeris ire, Fast. vI. 663. frequenter in crowds. 3. The alliteration here and in 1. 28, and, in a less degree, in various other verses of this poem, seems to be intentional. 5. Horrida lanietur pluma: let your feathers be torn and ruffled. horrida is a kind of predicate adjective, indicating the result of the action of the verb. pro: instead of. 6. tuba: the trumpet was used in funerals. Compare Her. XII. 140. 7. scelus Ismarii tyranni: the crime of the Thracian King; the story is told at length in Met. vi. 424 ff. Tereus married Procne, the daughter of the Athenian King Pandion, and afterwards cruelly deceived her sister Philomela. To prevent the exposure of his villainy, he cut out Philomela's tongue and kept her shut up in a stable. Finally, however, she conveyed the information to her sister by using the art of embroidery, whereupon the two women devised vengeance on the tyrant, and to this end slew the boy Itys and served him as food on his father's table. Procne was changed into the swallow, Philomela into the nightingale, and Tereus into the hoopoe. 9. devertere in funus: turn aside to the funeral. 11. Omnes, quae: all ye who. libratis cursus: poise your flight. liquido: clear. 13. Plena fuit vobis concordia: there was complete concord between you two. 15. iuvenis Phoceus: i.e. Pylades. 18. mutandis sonis: in changing sounds; Dat. of the Gerundive. 19. quid iuvat: what availeth it, what advantage is it. es: when thou wast given. ut datus nostrae my; i.e. Corinna. iaces: thou 20. gloria: Voc., personified abstract substantive. liest dead. 21. hebetare to make dim; by comparison. The wings were bright green. 22. gerens having, and thou hadst. beak. Punica rostra: a purple tincta rubro croco: tinged with reddish yellow. 23. vocum simulantior: more imitative of sounds, a better imitator of sounds. 24. blaeso: lisping. 25. invidia: by envy, unjust fate. 27. coturnices: quails; these were so combative that quail-fighting ranked with cock-fighting as an ancient sport. 28. anus: a feminine substantive because coturnices is feminine, but the males are especially referred to: and perhaps for that reason they often reach a ripe old age, or inde 29. Plenus: satisfied. Cause. of them. prae: for, on account of, from; Preventing 30. ora: Accusative of Respect. 31. causae in English use the Singular. somni: Objective Geni tive. 33. ducens gyros: which makes curves. 34. graculus: both jackdaws and crows were harbingers of rain. Compare Met. II. 562. 39. Optima prima: usually the best things are first snatched away. mănibus: kands; distinguish from manibus. 41. Phylacidae: i e. Protesilaus, of Phylace in Thessaly, who was the first of the Greeks killed at Troy. Thersites the ugliest and most insignificant of the Greeks around Troy. 44. per mare: over the sea. 45. non exhibitura sequentem: destined to be the last. 46. vacuo: the thread of life was used up. colus usually feminine. 47. ignavo: dull, numb; growing numb with the chill of death. 49. Colle sub, etc.: at the foot of the Elysian hill there is a grove, leafy with the dark holm-oak. 50. udaque, etc.: and the moist earth is green with never-dying grass. 51. Siqua fides dubiis: if any faith is to be placed in doubtful things. 52. obscenae quo, etc.: from which birds of ill omen are excluded. quo: Ablative of Separation. 54. phoenix: the bird would finally cremate itself and from its ashes sprang another. AM. II. 10.-1. Graecine: a friend of Ovid's. Several of the Pontic Epistles (1. 6; II. 6; IV. 9) are addressed to him. negabas: wast wont to deny. 2. uno tempore: at the same time. in a negative sentence is regularly quis. 4. turpis to my disgrace. 5. operosae cultibus: attentive to dress. aliquem, one man; any one' 6. artibus in learning, in accomplishments. 8. nobis: me. 9. phaselos: boat, yacht. 10. alter et alter: the two. prior: superior. II. 1ò, 1–12; III. 9, 1–27.] THE DEATH OF TIBULLUS. 11. geminas: dost thou double. 159 Erycina i.e. Venus, so called from Mt. Eryx in Sicily, where she had a temple. 12. in curas satis: enough trouble, enough to occupy a man's attention. 8. ELEGY ON THE DEATH OF TIBULLUS. AM. III. 9.-1. Memnona: Memnon was the son of Eos (Aurora, Dawn), Achilles of Thetis, goddesses both. personified. solve indignos innocent, : 3. flebilis Elegeia (Voc.): sorrowful Elegy; capillos: loose thy hair; a sign of mourning. agrees grammatically with capillos, but to be translated rather by a phrase in undeserved mourning. 4. nomen the word elegeia (Meyeîa) meant anything written in the Elegiac distich. From the character of many of these compositions it also acquired the signification 'elegy,' 'lament,' which Ovid thought was the original meaning. Translate: now there will be too good a reason for thee to be called Elegy. 5. Ille that well-known. 9. Adspice, etc.: behold how pitiable he goes with drooping wings. 11. per over. 14. tectis tuis: from thy house; Abl. of Separation. Iule: Iulus was the son of Aeneas, who in turn was the son of Venus, and so the brother of Cupid. 15. confusa: distressed. moriente Tibullo: at the death of Tibullus. iuveni: i.e. Adonis; Dative, but to be translated as a Genitive. 17. divum cura: the favorites of the gods. 18. putent: Subjunctive of Characteristic. 20. omnibus: Dative after the preposition in composition. obscuras manus: dark hands; i.e. hands which bring darkness. Everything connected with the lower world is called dark. inicit manus: lays her hands upon; a method of claiming possession; compare Iler. xii. 158. 21. Quid profuit: of what advantage was. Thracian Orpheus. Apollo. Ismario Orpheo: the pater: Orpheo dissyllabic by Synizesis. mater: Calliope. 22. carmine quid, etc.: of what avuit that the wild beasts stood still, overcome by his song. 23. idem pater: that same father; i.e. of Orpheus. aelinon, aelinon: his woeful song. The word (originally Phoenician) comes from the Greek and is used in lamentations. Compare AESCH. Ag. 121: alivov αἴ λινον εἰπέ. 25. Maeoniden: i.e. Homer. fountain. ceu fonte perenni: as from a perennial 27. summa dies: the last day, death. identified with the waters of the lower world. Averno: Lake Avernus, here |