Nereï, te vereor: tua fulmine saevior ira est. 860 865 870 Me videt atque Acin, ' Videoque,' exclamat 'et ista 875 Et Fer opem, Galatea, precor, mihi! Ferte parentes,' 880 Dixerat et vestris periturum admittite regnis !' 885 penetrabile telo.-858. Nerei. The second syllable is here, and in many other passages, short, according to the rule vocalis ante vocalem corripitur. Elsewhere it follows the Greek quantity Nngnis; for example, Metam. xii. 93: Est aliquid non esse satum Nereide.-868. Viribus, equivalent to ignibus. He seems to feel Aetna with its fire in his breast.-874. Videoque exclamat. Que is here joined to video, a part of the speech, instead of to exclamat, of which we have met with several examples.-875. Veneris vestrae, amoris vestri.-877. Debuit, according to the notion which one could form of it with the help of fancy.878. Sub aequore. The ablative, because she is already in the water, and only plunges under it; had she been on the land, and plunged into the water, we should require the accusative.-886. Vires avitas, the power, nature of his grandfather, the Symaethus; he was changed Puniceus de mole cruor manabat, et intra 890 895 into a river.-890. Fracta dehiscit, a poetical expression for diffringitur. Dehiscit, with the e shortened on account of the following vowel, as in děorsum, děhinc, deinde, &c. So praĕacutus, proavus, &c.-892. Os cavum, caverna, hiatus.-894. Cornua. River-gods are regularly represented with horns, because rivers, near their mouths, part into different arms, sometimes also on account of their windings.-896. Acis in amnem Versus. Acis, a river which rises on Aetna, noted for its impetuous current. METAMORPH. LIB. XV. AESCULAPIUS. ROME had been ravaged for three years by a plague, and the oracle declared that the city could only be delivered from the pestilence if Aesculapius were brought to Rome. An embassy was therefore sent to Epidaurus, and brought the god in the form of a serpent, on which a temple was built to him on the island of the Tiber, B. C. 291. PANDITE nunc, Musae, praesentia numina vatum,— 625 630 635 623. Spatiosa, longum temporis spatium complectens.-624. Coroniden, Aesculapium, Apollinis et Coronidis filium.-625. Adsciverit. The dií adsciti are opposed to dii indigetes or indigenae.-627. Tabo. Tabum, a wasting disease, graphically delineated by the epithet exsangue.629. Medentum. See Metam. v. 356.-630. Mediamque tenentes Orbis humum Delphos. Delphi was considered by the Greeks as the centre of the earth.-634. Laurus. The last syllable is lengthened by the caesura, as Metam. x. 98: Et bicolor myrtus et baccis caerula tinus.— 635. Cortina, the caldron-shaped tripod. It is here, as it were, per Et pete nunc propiore loco: nec Apolline vobis, 640 645 650 Ante tuum, Romane, torum, sed qualis in aede Esse solet, baculumque tenens agreste sinistra 655 'Pone metus veniam simulacraque nostra relinquam. 660 sonified.-638. Propiore loco; namely, in Epidaurus, where the temple of Aesculapius stood, on the east coast of Argolis. Ovid is here chargeable with a geographical inaccuracy, for Epidaurus is farther from Rome than Delphi. Others refer propiore loco to Rome itself, and suppose the oracle to intimate that the Sibylline books were to be consulted, as, according to one account, they really were. But this would seem to be unnecessary after the oracle had itself directed the Romans to seek the son of Apollo, and there was therefore nothing left for the Sibylline books to reveal except the unimportant particular, to which of the not numerous temples of Aesculapius recourse was to be had.-640. Bonis avibus, bonis auspiciis.-641. Accepere Senatus. As a collective, the subject takes the verb in the plural.-644. Missi, rarer than legati.-645. Concilium, the assembly of the people; patres, the Bovan, senatus.-647. Ausoniae, Romanae, Latinae, a general expression for the Tyrrhenian race in Italy, which, however, occurs only in poetry.-651. Seram lucem, the setting sun.-654. Sed qualis. The opposition is not founded on what goes before, but on what is as yet only in the conception of the poet, who is thinking of what is left unexpressed.-655. Baculum-agreste. The form baculum is the more correct; baculus belongs to later Latinity; Ovid has it in one passage (Fast. i. 177).-656. Deducere, to stroke.-660. Usque, without In quantum verti coelestia corpora debent.' Extemplo cum voce deus, cum voce deoque 665 Incerti, quid agant, proceres ad templa petiti 670 675 'En deus est, deus est! Linguisque animisque favete, Quisquis ades!' dixit. 'Sis, o pulcherrime, visus Utiliter, populosque juves tua sacra colentes!' 680 685 ceasing, for some time.-667. Operosa, magno cum labore, apparatu et sumtu exstructa.-668. Coelestibus, divinis, non fallentibus.-669. Aureus. The snakes kept in Epidaurus in the temple of Aesculapius were of a golden colour. The serpent is typical of vigilance and prudence, and therefore fitly associated with the god of medicine.-670. In serpente deus, in corpore serpentis deus. Praenuntia, sc. adventus sui.-672. Movit, shook, as v. 636: at the appearance of a god, or even at the sound of his voice, everything trembles (intremuere).-675. Castus. The priest is bound above all others to be distinguished by purity.-677. Linguisque animisque favete, a stated form used on the entrance of the sacred into the common world, or, conversely, of the profane into the sanctuary. Favere animis refers to purity of thought, favere linguis to the refraining from all unhallowed words.-679. Utiliter, in commodum nostrum. -680. Jussum veneratur numen, quod jussus est venerari. See Metam. vi. 163. — 681. Verba geminata referunt, repetunt. - 682. Aeneadae, Romani, as descendants of Aeneas. Praestant et mente et voce favorem, referring back to linguisque animisque favete.-683. Rata pignora, in apposition to sibila, a valid pledge for the fulfilment of his promise. |