XI. THE LUCKLESS WEDDING. THE story of Danaus appears to be told by no two authors alike. He was born in Africa, being the son of Belus, and brother of Aegyptus. On his father's death he inherited Libya, but fearing that the fifty sons of Aegyptus were plotting some mischief against him, he built a ship, and with his fifty daughters crossed over to Greece. Out of gratitude for services done (generally said to be the discovery of water) he was chosen king of Argos. When he was established there the sons of Aegyptus followed him, and sued for the hands of their cousins. Danaus assented to the match, but privately instructed them each to slay her husband on the marriage night, furnishing them with a dagger for the purpose. Hypermnestra alone relented. She was imprisoned by her father, but afterwards released by her husband Lynceus, who became king of Argos on Danaus' death. According to one account the other sisters were purified by Zeus, and married again; according to another they and Danaus were slain by Lynceus. Most authorities agree in assigning to them in Tartarus the penalty of ever filling a bottomless cask with water, so that Danaidum labor is a synonym for "fruitless toil." 1. Mittit, sc. epistolam, or salutem. So Leander to Hero: 2. Mittit Abydenus, quam mallet ferre, salutem. Fratribus, cousins. See XII. 22. Join nuptarum crimine. 4. Piam, used always of natural affection towards kindred. Cf. the passage in Horace, Odes, III. xi. 30: Impiae nam quid potuere majus? 7. Sic, on such terms. 9. II. 14. Perdere ferro. Igne, the fire on the marriage altar, whose sanctity she had refused to violate. So the faces are the torches, which are a necessary part of the bride's home-bringing. Ensem. The full form is "illo ense quem ensem;" the relative being strictly an adjective, which agrees with the antecedent repeated in the proper case in the second clause. Non est, sc. pia. There is no reality or merit in regretful virtue. 16. Nefanda, emphatic. 18. Dextrae orsa, in the words which my hand begins to write. MSS. have ossa, which might stand, = my finger joints. 19. 20. Putes, causal subj. The thought of his possible suspicion unnerves her. Non sibi, a murder which others had the heart to commit, though she had not. Note the position of the negative. 23. Pelasgi. 26. 28. A Danaus is not yet king of Argos, but with his daughters is the guest of its king, here (and by Aeschylus, Supplices) called Pelasgus, elsewhere called Gelanor. dispute with him afterwards led to Danaus' election in his place. Socer is Aegyptus. In focos, to throw upon the altar. Juno, who presided over marriage (see IX. 81), was the tutelary goddess of Argos: hence her opposition to the Trojans. See Virgil, Æneid I. 24: Veterisque meinor Saturnia belli Prima quod ad Trojam pro caris gesserat Argis. So Horace, Odes I. 7, 8: Plurimus in Junonis honorem Aptum dicet equis Argos. 30. Madidas, with perfumes. 31. Feruntur, as it were by fate; as if they had no will of their own in the matter. 32. Funere digna, lordly enough for a funeral pyre, where all that was most costly was laid. So here, fit for their destination. Cf. busta, above. 36. Tamen, after all, it was no mere seeming. 40. Populeas, aspen. 42. Soporis erant, belonged to sleep, ie, were fitted to produce sleep, were drugged. Chaucer has expanded this: 46. Recidit. The e in this word is generally long; in recido, it is short the difference is due to the accent falling upon it in the former word. 56. Non faciunt, are not suited. 57. Note the irony: they show their bravery by assailing those who lie defenceless. 62. What have I done that I may not keep my hands clean? 70. 74. Expulerunt. See IX. 65, note. Note the contrast in timida fortia. 78. Summae, the total. The butchery had been committed, according to one account, because an oracle had told Danaus that his life would be in danger from one of his nephews. To make all sure, he planned the death of all; but when one was left, his work was thrown away, and hence his anger. 79. In uno, in the case of one. K 83. Populo, they had been so numerous; so Niobe of her children (Stories from Ovid, VIII. 50): Fingite demi Huic aliquid populo natorum posse meorum. 85. It is best to understand periere sorores as lost to her: the deed of blood had put an impassable barrier between them. 88. 92. 94. What will be done to the guilty, when I am made a culprit for what deserves praise? Dignus, if you hold them not unworthily. Furtivis, her father would not allow a public funeral. It is well to compare with this the remainder of the passage in Horace, Odes, III. xi,, which seems to have suggested several points in the text : THE story of Hermione is alluded to in Virgil's Æneid, III. 325, where Nos, patria incensa, diversa per aequora vectae, The commentator, Servius, remarks upon this passage that Hermione, though betrothed to Orestes, had been promised by Menelaus to Pyrrhus, in his admiration for the bravery of the latter at Troy; or, according to another account, had already been betrothed to Pyrrhus, but during Menelaus' absence had been actually married to Orestes by Tyndareus, their grandfather. (Ovid seems to have followed the latter story. See Conjuge, 1. 16.) Pyrrhus, strong in the support of Menelaus, carried her off by force, but was afterwards surprised and slain by Orestes. I. 3. 5. 9. 12. 14. 16. Imagine patris, like his father. So Virgil, "instat vi patria Quod potui, what I could do (I did); I refused his advances. Celasset vultus, si non religata fuisset ; Lumina, quod potuit, lacrimis implevit obortis. Ne non invita tenerer, that I might not be detained as if I 66 I could not have been treated worse if the Trojans had been the victors, and had retaliated upon Greece. Cf. patria incensa, in the passage from Virgil above, and the whole description in the second book of the Æneid. Another allusion to the same legal actio. Whilst you would take up arms, if etc., will you be thus backward? This would be expressed in Greek by uèv and dè. The wondering question is not about this member or that, but about the contrast between the two. Cf. Stories from Ovid, XIX. 39 and note. 17. Not as when my father's wife was carried off, though the cause deserves it (19). 25. Auctor, again the technical name for the person who guarantees the title to property which is soid, or who, as having authority over her, and so possessing the right of transfer, gives away the bride. So Cic. p. Cluent., V. 14-Nubit genero sccrus, nullis auspicibus, nullis auctoribus. 27. At, of an opponent's plea-but, Pyrrhus will say. 23. 36. Taeda, pars pro toto, the marriage torch for the marriage. 37. Ille, Pyrrhus, proud of Achilles' exploits. 39. Tantalides, nom., Agamemnon. Tantalus was his great grand father. 42. Melius, more accurately. 43. Invidiosa. Orestes' act, the murder of a mother by her son, must bring him odium, but the fault was not his; his father's spirit bade him put on such arms. 47. 51. 53. Hanc tamen, yet such as it was. Rumpor, I am ready to burst with rage. Obiecit, cast blame upon. Some object is understood, as "quidquam." 59. Is it by some fatality of blood that we matrons of Tantalus' race are such a ready prey? 61. The story of Leda and the Swan. 64. Hippodamia was daughter of Oenomaus, king of Pisa, who required each suitor for his daughter's hand to contend with him in a chariot race from Pisa to the Corinthian Isthmus (see preceding line). Pelops bribed his charioteer, Myrtilus, and by his connivance won the victory. 69. Phoebe. Leda had three daughters, Phoebe and Helen and Clytemnestra. 71. Non longos, even then short. I was still a child. 73. If I were not run away with, it would seem as if I were not a genuine Pelopid. 78. Vivant. Note the unusual sequence: Menelaus and Helen are still alive. 88. What better proof? My very mother had to ask which was her child. 89. There was one exception to this general tale of bad fortune, and now even that is to be taken from me. XIII. OENONE. THIS story is one of all time: the simple playmate of youth abandoned for the courtly dame. There are many other aspects of the story which a Greek tragedian could fix upon; but it is this plain one that Ovid has chosen, and put into his pretty verse. I. 3. 7. Tantus, a prince. Paris was exposed as a child, and brought up by a shepherd who had rescued him, and ranked, therefore, merely as a peasant lad. Oenone was a nymph, the daughter of the river-god Cebren. Absit: let regard for persons be put aside where truth is con cerned. Note the change of construction: so we speak of lying in the hay. Trans: Often, as we lay, the frost was kept off us by a lowly thatch. |