II. Maculis distincta, marked with knots. 16. 19. 20. 24. The maculae are the knots at the joints of the meshes (hence, Fr. maille, our chain-mail). In titulos meos, to form an inscription in my honour. A common proverb for an impossibility. Cf. Shakespeare, Richard III., Act I. Sc. I : Now is the winter of our discontent Made glorious summer by this sun of York. The Nut-brown Maid, St. 6: My somers day, in lusty way, is derked before the none. Decentior, who looks more seemly with her armour on. Micuere, beat rapidly. 25. 27. 32. 34. Iste, your present love. 35. Ceratas, caulked with wax. Nostros flentis. Cf. Martial, VII. 51, 7: Quum tenet absentis nostros cantatque libellos. common. 66 "Nostros" for "meos" is quite 36. Suas, so we should say, we filled each his own sack." 40. They laughed at your pretext, for the wind was really favourable. 44. Eruta, ploughed up. 52. My first impulse, at sight of your return, was to come to meet you. 53. Mihi, I caught sight of. It does not appear why purple was not "cultus Paridis:" he was a king's son. 57. 61. That was not enough for me; the sight of a woman in your company ought to have sent me away at once. Why did I, like a mad woman, wait any longer, to see a base rival flaunting herself in my place. Sacram Iden, it was sacred to Cybele, who is called mater Idaea. 62. Illuc, thither, to my rocks, I bore my tears. Coniuge, "deserta" = "orba." Cf. IX. 186. Dicar ut, the thought of being called. Priam could object to have a nymph for his daughter-in-law. The sentence is what is called the restrictive consecutive. My want of admiration for so lofty a connection must not be supposed to go so far as to come under the head of "sour grapes.' Solibus The plural is used to denote the excessive heat, sunny days. 83. Recolo, I remember. Germana, Cassandra, who had the gift of prophecy, with the curse added that she should speak truth, but no one should listen to her. 85. 89. 91. Types of fruitless toil. Obscenam, like a bird of evil omen. In cursu, as she ran about in her mad fit. XIV. BRISEIS. THE following extract is part of a letter supposed to be written by Briseis to Achilles from the tent of Agamemnon, who had taken her to fill the place of Chryseis, whom he had been obliged to restore to her father. See the story in Homer, Iliad, book I. 3. An, etc. Or, is my regular ill-fortune sufficient to account for it? Does it ever cling to me? 5. Lyrnessus was one of the eleven towns of the Troad, and was captured by Achilles and his men. "I was an important 7. 9. II. item in my country, and so fell into your hands as part of the "Three that shared one blood and one fate." Compenso is to weigh one thing against another, so as to make 13. Iuratus, another of the quasi-passive participles of A-verbs: "with an oath." Matris aquosae, Thetis, daughter of Nereus. 15. 23. And now this is all that it comes to; you reject me, though I come with a dower in my hand. Devorer, be swallowed up. 25. Phthiis. Achilles' men came from Phthiotis, a district of Thessaly. Antequam takes the subjunctive of that which is deprecated or to be prevented. 33. Socero, Peleus, son of Aeacus. Nereus was father of Thetis, Achilles' mother, and so grandfather-in-law. 35. Pensa. 41. The amount of wool to be carded and spun by each of the maids was weighed out in the morning; hence pensum came to mean an appointed task. I would rather be maltreated, if it must be, than be forgotten and left as unworthy of notice. 52. Oenides, Meleager, son of Oeneus, king of Calydon. He had slain his uncles in the Calydonian hunt, and then refused, in anger at his mother's curse, to go out to the war, till his wife, Cleopatra, persuaded him. Homer, Iliad, IX. 556 and foll. (where Phoenix is trying to induce Achilles to return to the help of the Greeks). 67. Phoenix, Ajax, and Odysseus were sent as envoys to Achilles. Homer, Iliad, IX. 168: 70. Φοῖνιξ μὲν πρώτιστα διίφιλος ἡγησάσθω, αὐτὰρ ἔπειτ ̓ Αἴας τε μέγας καὶ δῖος Οδυσσεύς. Sinu, by the beating of my breast. 72. Comminuere, you will be made to falter. 74. Auspiciis tuis, i.e., so as to imitate your example. 79. Utque facis, and (if you act) as you are acting you will drive her to death. '80. 82. Hoc animae, the little life I have left. Magnificum, because the sense is "feminam jussisse mori." 85. Achilles in his anger was drawing his sword from the scabbard, when Athene appeared, at Hera's command, and dragged him back, visible to him alone. Iliad, I. 194, and foll. XV. EVANDER. THE story of Evander, and the accompanying story of the Visit of Hercules, told here by Ovid, and incorporated by Virgil in the national epic (Eneid, VIII.), are among the many attempts to account for the Greek element in Roman customs and culture, which is really due to the Greek colonies of Velia and Cumae, and possibly to early intercourse with Marseilles. The immediate cause of it is the festival of the Lupercalia, whose similarity to the Arcadian festival of Pan at once strikes the eye. It was natural to account for this by an Arcadian migration, and as the festival was closely connected with the Palatine Hill, the Arcadian settlement was naturally placed there. But the worship of the god Lupercus was really a native cultus; the god is the native representative of the productive power of the earth, as is plain from the superstitions connected with his festival (compare the story of Caesar's wife alluded to in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar), and Evander is only another form of Faunus. In the same way Schwegler (Röm. Gesch., bk. VII.) has traced the worship, later associated with the Greek Hercules, to the native Sabine cultus of a god, Semo Sancus, a god of heaven, the upholder of right and justice against the powers of darkness--the equivalent, in fact, of the Latin Jupiter. This deity became later identified with the Grecian Heracles, the purifier of the earth, and the protector of men against unrighteous oppression; and when the identification was made, it was natural to ask how the Greek worship was introduced. Hence the legend of Hercules' visit, which takes a form not peculiar to the Roman mythology. In the Indian mythology the same myths occur. The celestial god Indra has the same conflict with an enemy who appears under varied forms. Here, too, the struggle arises from a robbery of cattle by Vala, Indra's foe; here, too, the robber has hidden the cattle in a cave, and Indra wins them back and slays his adversary. Even in minor details the two agree-it is the lowing of the cattle that betrays their whereabouts. The comparison of the two myths leads to the conclusion that Cacus, too, was one of the native gods, and so he is called son of Vulcan (86), and his sister, Caca, as we learn from Servius' Commentary on Virgil (Æneid, VIII. 190), had a chapel like Vesta, with a fire continually burning. Cacus, that is, was a chthonian or subterranean deity, necessarily in conflict with the powers of heaven. This is indicated by the cave in which he dwelt, and by the fire and smoke that comes out of his mouth (1. 103 and following). The very illustration that Ovid uses (105) points to a parallel with the similar conflict between Zeus and Typhoeus. (Compare also the story of Hermes' theft of cattle, Hom. Hymn Merc., 1. 18 and following.) There is also, no doubt, in the whole story a reference to the volcanic nature of the soil, which would cause the subterranean powers to be looked on in a more hateful light. When the identification with Heracles was once made, it was a very natural step to use Evander as the necessary link for the founding of a Greek worship. I. Proxima, a.d. III. Id. Jan. (Jan. 11th). Tithono, the lover of 2. 3. 4. Aurora, for whom she asked the boon of immortality, but Arcadiae deae. Carmenta, or Carmentis, the mythical mother of an allusion here to the "Aqua Virgo brought by Agrippa from 7. Carmine, i.e. Carmenta. The prophetic character of the goddess is probably deduced from this name. 9. II. Orta prior luna, a piece of haphazard etymology. The Arcadians called themselves por éληvo, a word which has puzzled etymologists. Utroque. Virgil, Æneid, VIII. 138. Vobis Mercurius pater est. 16. Tempore. The course of events, as time went on, proved her boding true. 17. Join nimium vera. 18. 20. Parrhasia was a town in Arcadia. 24-26. 27. It is a comfort in adversity not to have to blame yourself for it: when a man is conscious of fault on his own part, his actions are crippled by fear; but the consciousness of innocence inspires confidence and hope. You are not the first to suffer from a stern destiny: men of weight and power have been overcome by it. 30. Cadmus. See Stories from Ovid, V. 31. Cadmus was banished from his home, till he should bring back his sister Europa, whom Zeus had carried away, but found a fresh home in Boeotia, where he founded Thebes. Pagasaeus. Pagasae was the port from which the Argo sailed; it was the harbour of Iolcos. 33. Taken from a fragment of Euripides ἅπας μὲν ἀὴρ ἀετῷ περάσιμος, ἅπασα δὲ χθὼν ἀνδρὶ γενναίῳ πατρίς. 35. Tamen, after all. Informes hiemes reducit Juppiter, idem Summovet. Non si male nunc et olim 40. Tuscis, the Tiber, cf. Horace, Odes, III. 7, 28. 41. 44. 47. 50. Nec quisquam citus aeque Tusco denatat alveo. Terenti. A place in the Campus Martius, where was an altar of Dis, buried in the earth. Servius says: It is called Terentum, because there the Tiber wears away its banks-so it was probably on a bend of the river. Regentis iter, the steersman = rectoris. ne, in prose, quominus. Novos deos. A bit of Ovid's flattery of the reigning house. 58. Who could believe such destinies were in store for one place? 61. Tamen. In spite of thy defeat thou wilt prevail. 63. Patrem, inaccurate. Anchises died, and was buried in Sicily. 65. Idem. Augustus or Tiberius, each of whom was pontifex maximus as well as emperor. Augustus was treated as a deus even in his lifetime; hence the flattery of the next line. She came down to our time. 69. 72. Ovid revised the Fasti when he was in exile, longing for the pleasures and companionships of Rome. |