ARTIS AMATORIAE LIB. III. THE POWER OF POETRY AND MUSIC. SAXA ferasque lyra movit Rhodopeïus Orpheus, Sit tibi Callimachi, sit Coï nota poëtae, Nota sit et Sappho,-quid enim lascivius illa?— 325 330 321. Rhodopeius Orpheus, so called from Rhodope, a mountain in Thrace.-323. Vindex justissime matris, Amphion, who revenged the cruel treatment of his mother Antiope by Dirce.-324. Muros novos, the walls of Thebes, which rose of themselves at the music of Amphion. -326. Arioniae lyrae. The poet Arion having been thrown into the sea, was borne in safety to the shore by a dolphin, which was attracted by his music.-327. Naulia, a stringed instrument, of which we have no precise knowledge. Genialia, quae genium delectant, cheering, delightful.-329. Callimachi. See Amor. i. 15, 13. Coï poëtae, Philetas, born in Cos, an island at the south-west of Asia Minor. He was one of the earliest poets of the Alexandrian school, and his love-elegies, which have not come down to us, were highly esteemed.-330. Vinosi Teia Musa senis. Anacreon was born at Teos in Asia Minor in the sixth century before Christ. He takes his place among the first lyric poets of Greek literature: love and wine were the chief themes of his song. We have still a collection of small poems which bears his name, but of these only a very small part can have proceeded from him.331. Sappho, the celebrated lyric poetess of Mytilene in the island of Lesbos, lived in the sixth century before Christ. We have only a few fragments of her poems. Lascivius, more sprightly, gay, not in bad sense.-332. Cuive, vel ille a quo. Vafri arte Getae. Geta, a slave's name, which frequently occurs in the New Comedy. In the plays of this period, avaricious or self-willed fathers are often deceived by their Et teneri possis carmen legisse Properti; Sive aliquid Galli sive, Tibulle, tuum; Vellera, germanae, Phrixe, querenda tuae; O ita, Phoebe, velis; ita vos, pia numina vatum, 335 340 345 slaves, who take part with the sons. For Menander-the poet here referred to-see Amor. i. 15, 18.-333. Properti. Propertius, a Roman elegiac poet, a contemporary of Ovid. His poems are still extant.334. Galli-Tibulle. See Amor. i. 15, 28, and 29; and iii. 9.-335. Varroni. See Amor. i. 15, 21.-337. Et profugum Aenean, the Aeneid of Virgil.-342. Quis partes instruit ille duas, the poem before us, Ars Amatoria, in which he instructs both men and women in the art of love. -345. Epistola, the Heroides, letters of heroines to their absent husbands.-346. Ignotum-opus. The Heroides is a species of composition unknown to Greek literature; and in Roman literature, as we see from this passage, first attempted by Ovid.-348. Insignis cornu Bacche. See Amor. iii. 15, 17. FASTORUM LIB. I. THE MANNERS OF ANCIENT ROME. OVID is giving information about the worship of Janus, and represents the god as himself appearing in a vision, and making answer to the questions put to him. The discourse had been about new-year's gifts (strenae), and the poet had asked why a piece of money (stips) was always given. To this the god replies. RISIT et, o quam te fallunt tua saecula,' dixit, Qui stipe mel sumpta dulcius esse putes! Vix ego Saturno quemquam regnante videbam, Cujus non animo dulcia lucra forent. Tempore crevit amor, qui nunc est summus, habendi: 195 Pluris opes nunc sunt, quam prisci temporis annis, Dum casa Martigenam capiebat parva Quirinum, 200 Jupiter angusta vix totus stabat in aede, Nec pudor in stipula placidam cepisse quietem Et foenum capiti supposuisse fuit. 205 193. Saturno regnante, a Roman expression for the Golden Age.199. Casa-Quirinum. The casa Romuli was to be seen even in later times. Ovid says of it, Fast. iii. 184: Adspice de canna straminibusque domum, from which he appears to have seen it himself.-201. Angusta in aede, the temple of Jupiter Feretrius on the Capitol, which was about fifteen feet in length.-202. Fictile, made of clay, as the statues themselves were in the earliest times.-203. Gemmis. Augustus had adorned the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus with an immense quantity of gold and precious stones (16,000 pounds of gold, and pearls and precious stones to the value of 50,000,000 sesterces).-204. Senator and (v. 207) praetor. The examples of Cincinnatus, Curius Dentatus, Jura dabat populis posito modo praetor aratro, 210 215 Atilius Serranus, Fabricius, and others, are well known.-208. Levis argenti lamina. Fabricius, when censor, expelled Cornelius Rufinus from the senate because he possessed ten pounds of silver.-214. Vices, variatio. 215. Quibus, masculine; a corresponding iis (for ab iis) must be supplied in the following line. CARMENTA AND EVANDER, HERCULES AND CACUS, THE ARA MAXIMA. THE plan of the Fasti is to take the holidays as they occur in the calendar, and to introduce the stories about the particular divinities who were worshipped on them. In the following verses Ovid speaks of the 11th January (III. Id. Jan.), on which the Carmentalia were celebrated, and takes occasion to tell of Carmenta and her son Evander. PROXIMA prospiciet Tithono Aurora relicto Te quoque lux eadem, Turni soror, aede recepit 465 461. Proxima Aurora, proximo die Aurora. Tithonus was the husband of Aurora; she leaves him to bring in the day to the earth.462. Arcadiae deae, Carmentae. Sacrum pontificale, a sacrifice at which the pontifices officiate.-463. A short episode. Turni soror is Juturna, nymph of a river and lake in Latium, near the Alban Mount, the waters of which were supposed to possess a healing power (a juvando). Aede recepit. Lutatius Catulus built a temple to her in the Campus Martius in a time of drought.-464. Virginea aqua, usually called aqua Virgo, an aqueduct constructed by Agrippa, which conveyed water Dirigat in medio quis mea vela freto ? Orta prior luna, de se si creditur ipsi, A magno tellus. Arcade nomen habet. Hic fuit Evander. Qui quamquam clarus utroque, Quae simul aethereos animo conceperat ignes, Multaque praeterea. Tempore nacta fidem. Sed deus. Offenso pulsus es urbe deo. 470 475 480 485 from the Collis Hortulorum.-467. Quae nomen habes a carmine ductum, Carmenta. The name is identified by the ancients themselves with Camena; the Greeks identify Carmenta with their Themis.-469. Orta prior luna. The Arcadians maintained that they were autochthones, and that they had inhabited their country even before the existence of the moon; hence they are called rgorianvo. Fast. ii. 289: Ante Jovem genitum terras habuisse feruntur Arcades, et Luna gens prior illa fuit. -470. Arcas was the son of Jupiter and Callisto.-471. Quamquam clarus utroque. The father of Evander was, according to some, Mercury; according to others, Echemus.-475. Motus, a change of abode. -478. Parrhasiumque larem. The Parrhasians were an Arcadian tribe, but the intention of the poet is not to give a definite account of the home of Evander; he uses Parrhasius simply for Arcadius. Similarly, v. 618: Parrhasia dea; 545: domus Tegeaea; 627: Tegeaeae parenti; 634: Maenali diva. Larem, a Roman divinity, quite admissible in speaking of Evander, the founder of the Roman worship.-481. Nec te tua culpa fugavit. As Ovid wrote this poem in his exile, we may suppose that these words contain an allusion to his own fate.-482. Urbe. The city of Evander in Arcadia is called Pallanteum.-484. Est aliquid, it is worth something. Compare Metam. xii. 93.-486. Spemque metumque, in reference to the consequences which its course of action will have.488. Procella, as v. 495, tempestas, for calamitas. Ver forms the an |