XVIII. 3. 7. 9. WHAT BECAME OF SILVIA. A ferry-boat worked, as is common now, by a rope attached to • each bank. Swollen with the melted snows from the neighbouring hill, which makes the stream foul and muddy. What have I gained by my haste, by curtailing my hours of sleep, by joining day to night, i.e., by starting before daybreak, if I am thus early to be stayed in my course. 13. Join non ferendae invidiae. You will bring on yourself intolerable infamy, if a poet's verse shall celebrate your delays. Inachus, a river god of Argos. Melie, a nymph, daughter of Oceanus. 17. Pallidus isse. Paleness is a common sign of a lover. Cf. Why so pale and wan, fond lover? Prythee why so pale? Will, if looking well can't move her, For isse, cf. Tennyson's "I went mourning, " of Jephthah's 19. Cornua. Cf. Stories from Ovid, XI., The Wooing of Deianira. Hercules contended with Achelous for the hand of Deianira, the daughter of Oeneus. In the struggle Achelous lost one of the horns which were the regular appendage of a river god. It was taken by the Naiads, and became the Cornu Copiae. 21. 24. Nec satis hoc fuerat; rigidum fera dextera cornu Sacrarunt, divesque meo bona Copia cornu est. Calydon, of which Oeneus was king. The sources of the Nile were then, as now, the puzzle of geographers. 28. Tibur, the modern Tivoli, was much older than Rome, and was traditionally said to have been founded by Greek colonists (So Horace, Od. II. 6, 5, Tibur Argeo positum colono), the name of the founder being Catilus. Horace, Odes, I. 18, 2: Circa mite solum Tiburis et maenia Catili. It is upon the river Anio, which, in 1826, did such damage by sudden floods that its course had to be diverted by a tunnel, so as to form the present cascade. The old bed is undermined in many places, so as to justify the expression "per cava saxa volutans." 29. Erat, quamvis admits the indicative in poetry. With the marks of her nails on her hair and on her cheeks. Patrui nefas. 30. 31. 35. Teris, pace. 38. Vitta. Cf. XVII. 18, note. 42. Lentus, without being moved. 56. Virginis, emphatic: while I was still a maid. 57. Taedas, marriage. Iliacis focis, the hearth of Vesta. See XVII. 17. So Iliaca Vesta, Fasti, VII. 227. 60. Life is not worth having, when I cannot look people in the face. 63. Ad pectora, to support her. 66. No doubt you, an old hypocrite, have your loves, but you conceal them. 71. If you were a "mighty river," instead of a mere country beck, swollen, not by deep springs, but by winter rains, we might excuse such presumption. 78. Your bed is then dry and empty, and the traveller who should come to you, hoping to quench his thirst, would have as good reason to curse you as I now have. XIX. THE STOLEN BRIDES. The THE story of the Rape of the Sabine Women, which has formed a subject for so much pictorial illustration, appears to belong to the class of legends which are invented to account for existing customs. whole series of marriage rites at Rome kept up the notion so common in early times that the bride was carried off by force. She was torn from her mother's arms, carried by the bridesmen across her husband's threshold, as if to indicate that she did not enter his house of her own will, and the miniature spear (caelibaris hasta) was passed through her hair, as if she were a captive taken in war. Again, no marriage could take place on a festival day, violence being then forbidden. The cry, "Talassio," which was used by the bridesmen, is another custom which the story attempts to account for, but vainly; for there are different interpretations given, none of which is rational. That the story is utterly unhistorical is evident from the mention of Circus games. The Circus itself was then an impracticable marsh, which was not drained till the time of the Tarquins; and the games which are spoken of were only introduced from Etruria at a later time. The Sabine war, which is represented as a consequence of this rape, is probably historical. We know that the Sabines were about this time pressing westward from their mountain homes, and the numerous temples and sacred places belonging to Sabine deities on the Quirinal Hill confirm the alleged existence of a Sabine settlement there, which was afterwards incorporated with the Latin settlement on the Palatine. 3. The Casa Romuli was still shown on the slope of the Palatine, near the western angle of the hill towards the Circus. it was like is plain from this passage. 6. Tamen, humble though it was. IO. Credebar, Mars is speaking. Male, sc. vix. What 15. Sollicitos, full of anxiety. If this is to be taken as a complement, it refers to the anxiety of the people about this issue of their plan. It may be a general epithet; it may refer to the anxious watching who is to be victor. 16. 17. 66 Viduos (cf. our void "), simply "unwedded." In the imperial times it was customary to stretch a vast awning, across the amphitheatre to protect the spectators from sun and rain. This awning was attached to stout upright poles fastened to the walls. The rings in which they were placed may still be seen in the old amphitheatres, for instance, in that at Nîmes.. Marmoreo, the seats were not yet of marble. Cf. Pro 18. Pulpita, the stage. It was customary to sprinkle it with saffron dissolved in wine, to give a pleasant odour. pertius, IV. 1, 15: 22. Nec sinuosa cavo pendebant vela theatre, Pulpita sollennes non oluere crocos Scena is here apparently the background of the stage. There were then no costly garlands, and the barber was un known. 24. Velit, practically an indirect question: each settles for himself (the question) which maiden he will have. 26. 27. The stage was the ground itself, merely levelled. See for an account of the games introduced from Etruria into Rome, Livy, Book VII. 1—3. Ludius, a stage player. There was then no claque, no applause arranged beforehand. At Rome, as in French theatres in our own time, it was usual to have bodies of men stationed in different parts to applaud at a given signal. In medio plausu, when attention was thus called off. 28. Signa petenda, the signal they were to wait for: 36. Sine mente, panic-stricken, senseless. 39. Genialis. The marriage couch was called lectus genialis : hence the epithet. 41. i.e., Negabat, se comitem fore, refused herself as a companion. Cures, the Sabines. 45. 46. Possibly an allusion to the war between Caesar and Pompey, who 49. 57. 59. was Caesar's son-in-law. Dictam, fixed as the place of meeting. Romulus' wife. Mea nurus, Hersilia,, 52. Lente, without effort: we must make a choice. L XX. THE DEATH OF ROMULUS. A FITTING conclusion to a life which began with miracle. The apotheosis, as well as the birth, is Greek rather than Italian in its character. The supposition that Romulus was slain by a conspiracy of the patricians, and the consequent story of his rule becoming despotic, are poetic fictions invented to explain the legend. The legend itself seems to date from Ennius: all that is mentioned before that is that the king suddenly disappeared. As Romulus was the hero of the Latin Rome, so Quirinus was the hero-or, it may be, the war-god of the Sabines. The combination of the two names in one person after his death implies that the Latin and the Sabine element in the Roman population were completely fused together. The mention of a Julius as the bearer of the deified hero's message deserves notice. According to the prevalent tradition, it was not till later (in the reign of Tullus Hostilius) that the Julii became Roman citizens. The legend was, therefore, in all probability, one of the Julian family. I. Proxima lux, A. D. XIV. Kal. Mart. (Feb. 16th). The 17th was dedicated to Quirinus, i.e. was the festival of the Quirinalia. 4 When raised to heaven as war god he took the name of his weapon. 6. Cures, used here for the Sabines generally. 9. Vires, strength enough to stand alone. 16. Movit, the shaking made the burden gall him. 17. Capreae paludem, a piece of marshy ground in the Campus 18. Iura dabas. Romulus' removal was generally associated with a festival, apparently one of purification, called the Poplifugia, a festival somewhat similar to the Lupercalia. 22. 23. 29. 33. 36. Fit fuga, the thunder would at once disperse the assembly, making all that was done null and void. See Introduction. Trabea, a striped toga, hence worn afterwards by Roman magis trates. Pia, with filial duty; Romulus was to them as a father. 37. Collis, the Quirinal, often called simply the “Hill.” XXI. TARQUIN AND LUCRECE. THE legend of the expulsion of the Tarquins is already on the borderland of history. The revolution which brought it about was made in the interest of the aristocracy. Tarquin the Proud, by the help of the patricians, had overthrown the constitution of Servius, which gave too great privileges to the lower classes; but, having once ascended the throne by their help, he endeavoured to make the monarchy hereditary, and established what bears most resemblance to a Greek Tupavvis. With this view he commenced great architectural works, the temple of the Capitoline Jove and the drainage works of the Cloaca Maxima, and strengthened himself by alliances with the neighbouring Latin towns. So successful were his efforts that in a treaty with Carthage, which was concluded in the year after his downfall, Rome is entitled to speak on behalf of the whole Latin confederacy, and her commerce is already extended to the shores of Africa. There can be little doubt that the task-work which followed these great undertakings would weigh heavily upon the people, and the patricians would win some support from them in consequence; but all the names of the conspirators are patrician, and all that they did shows a feverish anxiety to secure the plebeians on their side. To attain this they gave them a material interest in the exclusion of the royal house by distributing the property of the Tarquins among them, and in other ways, by copious largess of corn, etc., bound the people to their side. It is quite possible that other causes were at work for instance, the Sabine element in the Roman population would naturally dislike the rule of a foreigner over them. There is no reason to discredit the story of Lucrece. Such outrages have often been the spark to kindle the latent dissatisfaction into a flame. 2. 4. A.D. VI., Kal. Mart. (Feb. 24th), called the "Regifugium." 6. Whatever be the origin of the story about Gabii, historical documents extant in Dionysius' time proved that the city made peace according to regular form on equal terms, and received equality of rights with Rome. The trick of Sextus is copied from the similar trick of Zopyrus against Babylon (Herod., III. 154 foll.), and Tarquin's answer of the lily-heads is the answer of Thrasybulus to Periander (Herod., V. 92). 7. 15. 16. 18. 20. 23. 29. 33. Proles manifesta, an unmistakeable son of the Haughty (as he showed by his acts). Tueatur, to take the charge-conduct-of the war. He gave a crafty assent; it was just what he wanted. Quod, from the emphatic position probably the interrogative: ask what way he would point out?" Added only to make a more definite picture. 66 to 26. Ducibus, abl., because of suis, stript of their leaders. This response was given to a private inquiry of the young men as to which of them should succeed to his father's power. This fiction is due simply to the name Brutus. It is incredible that one who was looked upon as half-witted should be sent on such an embassy, or should hold, as Brutus is represented as doing, the office of Tribunus Celerum, or commander of the cavalry force of the city, a post practically next to the king. |