Erravisse ferunt, motamque tremoribus urbem. 800 In templum gladii: neque enim locus ullus in Urbe Ad facinus diramque placet nisi Curia caedem. Tum vero Cytherea manu percussit utraque Talibus hanc genitor: 'Sola insuperabile fatum, Nata, movere paras? Intres licet ipsa Sororum 805 810 Quae neque concursum coeli neque fulminis iram 815 820 -801. Templum, Curiam Pompeiam, for every consecrated place is called templum.-805-6. Qua prius-enses. Paris and Aeneas, being engaged in single combat, the former with Menelaus, the latter with Diomedes, were both rescued by Venus by means of a cloud.-807. Talibus hanc genitor. The predicate alloquitur is to be supplied, a somewhat rare omission when the object (hanc) is added.-810. Tabularia, archives. The decrees of fate are preserved in these archives, of which the Parcae are the guardians. Ovid gives no indication of the place where we are to imagine the dwelling of the Parcae: other poets place them in Tartarus, but this does not suit the passage before us, where Jupiter says: Intres licet ipsa, and legi ipse; for the celestial gods were not permitted to enter the infernal regions. Hence Ceres says to Jupiter, Fast. iv. 612: Taenaria recipi me quoque valle jube.-813. Adamas, adamant, an indestructible metal, usually explained as iron; but we shall do better not to think of any definite metal at all.-819. Natusque suus. See v. 750.-821. Nos in bella suos-habebit. Suos, with strengthened meaning, equivalent to propitios. So Metam. iv. 373: Vota suos habuere Deos.-822. Obsessae moenia-Mutinae. Mutina, now Modena, was, in the year after the assassination of Caesar, in the hands of Dec. Brutus, and was besieged by Antony. C. Octavius, the Victa petent Mutinae; Pharsalia sentiet illum, 825 830 835 future emperor Augustus, along with the consuls Hirtius and Pansa, came to raise the siege. The petitio pacis does not refer to Antony, who escaped to Liguria, but probably to Dec. Brutus, as a considerable number of his army went over to Octavianus.-823. Pharsalia. Unless we are to suppose that Ovid has here fallen into a gross historical error, we must take Pharsalia and Emathia in the widest sense for Macedonia, with which they were both in earlier times united, although Pharsalus was properly in Thessaly, and Philippi in Thrace. The battle at Pharsalus took place, as is well known, between Julius Caesar and Pompey; but Florus, iv. 7 (no great historical authority, it is true), says: Illi comparatis ingentibus copiis eandem illam quae fatalis Cnaeo Pompeio fuit arenam insederant; Macedonia, therefore, at least.-824. Iterum, deinde; for the meaning cannot be that a battle had taken place at Philippi before this time: all the accounts which have come down to us, even the most minute, speak only of one battle at Philippi. -825. Magnum nomen seems to be a play upon the word magnus: a great name and the name Magnus. The reference is to Sext. Pompey, who was conquered by Agrippa near Sicily.-826. Romanique ducis conjux Aegyptia, Cleopatra, the wife of Antony. Taedae Non bene fisa. Fidere is in prose less frequently construed with the dative than with the ablative.-829. Barbariem, the countries of the barbarians. Gentesjacentes. Strictly, terrae jacent, gentes habitant. But both expressions are frequently interchanged even in prose. Ab utroque Oceano, the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Ab gives the direction whence, while we in this connection are accustomed to express only the place where.-836. Prolem, Tiberium. Sancta de conjuge, Livia. Sancta is an epithet frequently applied to honourable women of that time. After the death of Marcellus and the sons of Julia, Augustus fixed upon his stepson, Tiberius, as his successor on the throne, and therefore adopted him (ferre simul nomenque suum) A. D. 4.-838. Pylios annos, Nestoris annos.-839. Cognataque sidera, the con Hanc animam interea caeso de corpore raptam 840 845 Passa recentem animam coelestibus intulit astris; 850 Hic sua praeferri quanquam vetat acta paternis, 855 860 865 stellation of Julius Caesar.-841. Forumque, where the temple of Julius Caesar stood.-846. Recentem animam, the soul which had now entered on a new life.-849. Flammiferumque crinem. This comet appeared B. C. 43, as Octavianus, on occasion of the consecration of a temple to Venus, was celebrating the games which Caesar had vowed; it stood for seven days in the north-western sky. The belief prevailed among the people that this was Julius Caesar, placed among the stars; and the poets were not slow to turn this belief to account, and thereby to gratify the ruling family.-851. Vinci gaudet, sc. se, as we have frequently noticed.-859. Mundi triformis, the universe, consisting of the three elements-earth, air, and water. Jupiter is therefore here, as elsewhere, represented as the ruler of the whole.-860. Pater. Augustus received the title of pater patriae A. D. 2.-861. Aeneae comites, Penates. Aeneas had brought them with him from Troy, and hence they had overcome fire and sword (quibus ensis et ignis Cesserunt).-862. Dique Indigetes, native Italian divinities, Aeneas, Quirinus, &c.-864. Caesareos inter sacrata penates. When Augustus was Pontifex Maximus, the statue of Vesta was removed to the Palatine Hill, where the dwelling of Augustus was. On another part of the Palatine, Apollo (Phoebus) had Quique tenes altus Tarpeias, Jupiter, arces, Qua caput Augustum, quem temperat, orbe relicto, 870 a temple, hence domestice.-866. Tarpeias arces. The Capitoline Hill was originally called Tarpeian, hence qui-arces is equivalent to Jupiter Capitolinus. 867. Quosque alios-piumque. There were some secret names of divinities which it was unlawful to utter. EPILOGUS. SIMILAR epilogues, in which the writer expresses his confidence in the endurance of his fame, are to be found in other poets of the same age. The best-known of these is that of Horace at the conclusion of the third book of his odes. JAMQUE opus exegi, quod nec Jovis ira nec ignes 875 875. Super alta-Astra. Ad astra would be more in accordance with our modes of thought. But similarly we have read sub antris, Metam. ii. 269, &c. AMORUM LIB. I. ELEGIA XV. THE poet defends himself against the reproach of being engaged in a useless occupation. QUID mihi, Livor edax, ignavos objicis annos, Nec me verbosas leges ediscere, nec me Mortale est, quod quaeris, opus; mihi fama perennis Vivet Maeonides, Tenedos dum stabit et Ide, 10 1. Livor edax. Envy is often represented as gnawing, eating. So it is said mordere, rodere, arrodere.-4. Praemia pulverulenta, per multum pulverem parta.-5. Verbosas leges. In general, laws are not verbose, but rather expressed briefly, and one great excellence of good laws consists in the conciseness of the expression. Verbosus is therefore here equivalent to: in quibus interpretandis et disceptandis multis verbis opus est.-6. Ingrato vocem prostituisse foro, to appear as a public speaker, either in political affairs, or as an advocate. Ovid had in his earlier years, in compliance with the wish of his father, applied himself to the study of eloquence: there is perhaps an allusion, in the bitter expression of this line, to an unfavourable reception which he may have met with on his appearing in public.-7. Mihi Quaeritur, a me quaeritur, ego quaero famam perennem.-9. Maeonides, Homer. It is well known that the honour of having given birth to Homer was contested by different Greek cities: Smyrna is here assumed as his birthplace, a Greek city in Maeonia or Lydia. It is to be observed, that instead of the gentile adjective (Maeonius), we have here, by a poetic usage, the patronymic form; Homer is thereby represented as a son of the country Maeonia. Tenedos, an island in the Aegean Sea, opposite Troy. Ide, a mountain in the neighbourhood of Troy.-10. Simoïs, a river in Troas. These localities are often mentioned in the Iliad. M |