EXCERPTA EX OVIDII CARMINIBUS. METAMORPH. LIB. I. QUATUOR AETATES. THE Greek and Roman poets consider man as fallen from a state of primeval innocence into a state of guilt. This declension they represent by a series of Ages, which, according to their worth, they compare with the metals; the purest being named after gold, the age next in purity after silver, and so on. The poets differ from each other with regard to the number of these Ages. Ovid assumes four-the Golden, the Silver, the Brazen, and the Iron. AUREA prima sata est aetas, quae vindice nullo, 90 95 91. Fixo aere. In the earliest times, the laws were set up for public view on brazen tablets, as we are expressly informed with regard to the Laws of the Twelve Tables.-95. Pinus. The fir is here, as frequently, put for that which is made of fir (materies pro materiato): the ship.98. Tuba directi-aeris cornua flexi. According to the analogy of the genitivus qualitatis (Gram. § 276), the material is here put in the geni B Mollia securae peragebant otia gentes. Ipsa quoque immunis rastroque intacta, nec ullis 100 105 110 115 tive.-101. Immunis, which properly signifies free from taxes, is here more particularly explained by nullo cogente, v. 103. The earth yields its fruits, not by compulsion, but spontaneously, ipsa per se.-104. Arbuteos foetus, the fruit of the strawberry-tree, which grows wild in Italy (Arbutus unedo, Linn.) It resembles the common strawberry, except that it is larger, and bears the seed within the pulp. Montana fraga, common strawberries, which grow in abundance on wooded hills.-105. Corna, the fruit of the wild cornel-tree. It is stony, with little pulp. In Homer it is mentioned as the food of swine-Odyss. x. 242. Mora, blackberries, the fruit of the rubeta.-106. Patula Jovis arbore. The oak is sacred to Jupiter, who is said to have delivered his oracles at Dodona by means of oaks.-108. Sine semine. Without having been planted.-110. Nec renovatus; that is, without having been prepared anew after the respite of the winter, or of the whole year, when the field lies fallow. The former seems the more simple. Nec must be connected with the next word (et non-renovatus), and not with the whole sentence, which would give exactly the opposite sense. -111. Nectar. The Golden Age was thus exalted above mere human enjoyments.-112. Flavaque-mella. The ancients considered honey as an ethereal dew, which, in the Golden Age, dropped, pure and abundant, from the leaves of trees, especially of the oak; but which is now corrupted by foreign juice, and must be toilsomely gathered by the bees. Of the later age Virgil says: Juppiter mella decussit foliis.113. Saturn is usually distinguished in Italian story from the Kronos of the Greeks, as the first king of Latium. Here the poet takes no notice of this: he refers simply to the end of the god, which is also transferred to Saturn by the Roman poets.-114. Subiit. The last syllable is here lengthened by the arsis, or metrical accent. This takes place principally in words ending in r, s, or t, more rarely in words ending in a vowel.-115. Auro deterior-acre. Auro and aere for aurea and aenea. Deterior, less good, in comparison with good. Pejor, worse, Perque hiemes aestusque et inaequales autumnos Communemque prius, ceu lumina solis et auras, 120 125 130 135 in comparison with bad.-117. Inaequales autumnos. With the Latin poets the versus spondaicus seldom ends in a molossus (Metam. ii. 247, Taenarius Eurotas). They seem to have followed no definite purpose in the matter, and just as little can definite rules be laid down with regard to the rhythmical relation of the preceding word. We find the Spondeus, Molossus, Dispondeus, Choriambus, and other feet, in the second-last place.-118. Exegit, measured, portioned out. Compare the expressions 'pondus exigere,' 'exigere aliquid mensura.'—125. The Brazen Age is treated very briefly by Ovid; war commences, but is unaccompanied as yet by crime. The poet seems to have been here deserted by the sources from which he drew; and, being thus thrown more upon his own fancy, to have deferred the completion of his work to a more favourable opportunity; which, however, his unhappy fate never afforded him. The fact of this want of a final revision may serve also to account for the contradiction, that war is represented as commencing here, and likewise in the Iron Age, v. 141.-127. The Iron Age is the last of this series. Whether the poet considered himself as living in it, or looked upon the whole representation as belonging to the mythical world, is not distinctly stated; but the former seems very probable from the description, in which many traits of corruption coincide closely with those so often censured by the Roman satirists. -128. Venae pejoris. The comparison of the earth with the human body has been customary at all times. Thus, for example, we speak of veins of metal.-131. Amor habendi, Gr. λsovežíα.—134. Insultavere. Insultare is properly saltare in aliqua re, but usually with the collateral notion of contempt. Contemnere occurs in the same way: Nondum caeruleas pinus contemserat undas (Tibull. i. 3, 37). Carinae, by synecdoche for naves.-135. Ceu lumina solis et aurus; that is, humum Cautus humum longo signavit limite mensor. 140 145 150 quae prius communis fuerat, sicut lumina solis et aurae communes sunt. 137. Alimenta debita, the means of sustenance which men may reasonably require from the earth. Segetes—poscebatur humus. See Gram. § 259, 1. Thus we say, even in prose, interrogor sententiam.— 138. Sed itum est. The simple sed after non tantum is stronger than sed etiam, as in Greek λλά after où μóvov.-143. Concutit arma. It was customary in rude times to strike the spear against the shield to excite terror.-145. Gratia, amor mutuus, concordia.-146. Vir, conjux, maritus.-147. Lurida aconita, a poisonous plant, found in Pontus, seldom in Italy; according to Metam. vii. 415, it sprung from the foam of Cerberus dragged to the upper world. The plural has here no especial force. Lurida, from its effect on the colour of those poisoned by it.-148. Inquirit in annos, that he may be able to form a conjecture as to the time of his father's death, when he will be delivered from his troublesome superintendence, and put in possession of his property.— 150. Astræa, the Aixn of the Greeks. Compare Fast. i. 249: Nondum Justitiam facinus mortale fugarat, Ultima de superis illa reliquit humum. She was placed among the stars. Coelestum, a rare form for coelestium, here used by Ovid for the sake of the verse. GIGANTES. THE story of a new creation of men resulting from the storming of heaven by the giants, and the following one of Deucalion and Pyrrha, though evidently unconnected with the fable of the four Ages, are here added by Ovid on account of the similarity of their character. The storming of heaven by the giants is not mentioned by Homer or Hesiod, and was therefore probably invented by later poets: Ovid here alludes to it very briefly. The formation of a new race of men from the blood of the giants seems to have been taken |