quem labor adsiduus vicino terreat hoste, country life of my own little farm, 1. fulvo: cf. 2, I, 88.- congerat: hort. subj.- auro: abl. instr. 2. culti . . . soli: the well-tilled farms of other owners were often confiscated and allotted by victorious generals to their soldiers, as by Augustus more than once. The story of the loss and recovery of Vergil's estates near Mantua is well known; it is not impossible that Tibullus may have had some similar experience, to which reference is made in the various passages suggesting that his wealth had been seriously diminished, such as vv. 5, 19-20, 37, 41. Gold 3. quem . . . terreat: best regarded as subj. of characteristic, like fugent in the next verse. — labor adsiduus: the various routine duties of a Roman soldier's life in camp, including foraging amid the peril of an attack, which naturally terreat. 4. somnos: the plural refers to the repeated instances of the experience which this verse describes. Cf. v. 27, n. — - classica : for the evolution of the word's meaning cf. R. 1097. From the idea of being a means of distinguishing or summoning the classes it came to refer to the thing so used, i.e. the trumpet. - pulsa : an expression transferred from stringed to wind instruments. 5 me mea paupertas vita traducat inerti, dum meus adsiduo luceat igne focus. ipse seram teneras maturo tempore vites rusticus et facili grandia poma manu: nec Spes destituat, sed frugum semper acervos 5. vita PM vite (= vitae) A. 5. me: for the liberal use of personal pronouns cf. vv. 35, 41, 49, 53, 55, 57, 75, 77; 3, 3; etc. paupertas: not to be interpreted too literally, but rather as a playful comparison with the divitias of the professional soldier. So Horace in Sat. 1, 6, 71 speaks of his father as macro pauper agello, yet proceeds to tell how this same father was able to give him at Rome an education as good as the sons of rich men enjoyed, and adds: vestem servosque sequentes, in magno ut populo, si qui vidisset, avita ex re praeberi sumptus mihi crederet illos. And Horace says of Tibullus (Ep. 1, 4, 7): di tibi divitias dederunt artemque fruendi. — vita: abl. of the way by which cf. Hirt. B.G. 8, 27: nisi flumine Ligeri . . . copias traduxisset. For a different construction cf. CIL, 6, 12072, II: ut longum vitae liceat transducere tempus. - traducat: i.e. through life.-inerti: cf. vv. 58, 71. It was on account of the prominence of this thought in this poem (the word does not occur in any other elegy of Tibullus) that Vahlen proposed to read iam modo iners in v. 25. 6. adsiduo igne: 'with steady glow'; cf. v. 3. Such repetitions of a word are common enough in Tibullus (cf. previous note). - focus: the hearth fire was essential to every Roman house; indeed, the name for the hearth is often used by metonymy for the home; Ter. Eun. 815: domi focique fac vicissim ut memineris ; Hor. Ep. 1, 14, 1: agelli, quem tu fastidis, habitatum quinque focis. The depth of poverty associated with the extinguished hearth fire is indicated in Cat. 23, 1-2: Furi, cui neque servus neque arca nec cimex neque araneus neque ignis; cf. 2, 1, 22; Verg. Ec. 5, 70; Mart. 10, 47, 4; et passim. 7. ipse: 'with my own hand.' seram: like traducat (v. 5), opt. subj. praebeat et pleno pinguia musta lacu. et quodcumque mihi pomum novus educat annus, 12. florida O florea w. ple in the Forum Holitorium at Rome; cf. Preller, Vol. 2, p. 253. Cf. also 2, 6, 21. destituat: used absolutely here. the frugum : product of the grandia poma, as musta is that of the tenerae vites. 10. pinguia: 'rich'; cf. Hor. Sat. 2, 4, 65: pingui mero. lacu the trough-like wine vat into which the juice of the grape ran when first pressed out. Cf. 2, 5, 86. 11. nam: 'and I have good reason to hope, for' I am faithful in my worship of all the rustic divinities, even the humblest. For this elliptical use of nam, cf. Ter. Ad. 190. - stipes .. lapis: old tree trunks, stakes, and stones, either plain, or rudely carved, often represented divinities to the Romans, and were worshiped, whether standing by themselves in the fields, or set up at the crossroads. Boundary stones furnish an excellent illustration; for as representatives of the god Terminus they were honored with garlands hung upon them at certain times. Cf. Ovid, Fast. 2, 641 sqq.: Termine, sive lapis, sive es defossus in agro stipes, ab antiquis tu quoque numen habes. 12. florida: for the more exact florea; cf. 1, 2, 14; on the other hand Vergil, Aen. 1, 430, uses florea for florida. 13. novus . . . annus: a newly recurring harvest time. 14. libatum: 'as a consecrated offering.'-ante: adverbial.-deo: in the collective sense, including Spes, as well as Vertumnus, Pomona, or Silvanus. Cf. 1, 5, 27. 15. flava: the usual epithet, transferred to the goddess from the ripened grain which she represents. Cf. Servius on Verg. Georg. 1, 96: flava dicitur propter ar tarum colorem in maturitate; Ovid, Fast. 4, 424.- corona spicea: the most appropriate offering; cf. 2, 1, 4; I, 10, 22; Hor. Car. Saec. 29-30: fertilis frugum pecorisque Tellus spicea donet Cererem corona; Ovid, Am. 3, 10, 3; Baum. Denk. p. 417. 20 25 spicea, quae templi pendeat ante fores, vos quoque, felicis quondam, nunc pauperis agri tum vitula innumeros lustrabat caesa iuvencos, iam modo iam possim contentus.vivere parvo 25. iam modo iam possim M iam modo non possum O quippe ego iam possum P iam modo nunc possum w iam modo si possum Lachmann iam modo iners possim Vahlen iam mihi, iam possim Schneidewin dum modo iam possim Baehrens. 16. ante fores: cf. Prop. 4, 3, 17. 17. ruber custos: wooden figures of Priapus were commonly painted with vermilion and placed in gardens, where they served as the prototype of the scarecrow of to-day. Cf. Ovid, Fast. 1, 415: at ruber, hortorum decus et tutela, Priapus; Verg. Georg. 4, 110: et custos furum atque avium cum falce saligna Hellespontiaci servet tutela Priapi; Hor. Sat. 1, 8, 3-8. 18. falce pruninghook,' the gardener's weapon. Priapus: a god of fruitfulness in both plants and animals; his worship was not indigenous in Italy, but imported from the Asian shores of the Hellespont. Translate in apposition with ruber custos. 19. felicis quondam: cf. v. 2, n.; Verg. Ec. 1, 75: ite meae felix quondam pecus ite capellae. 20. fertis the present of customary action. munera vestra: i.e. those usually offered as most 21. tum in the times referred 30 35 nec semper longae deditus esse viae, at vos exiguo pecori, furesque lupique, parcite de magno est praeda petenda grege. hic ego pastoremque meum lustrare quot annis his having obtained from now on, without interruption, that quiet life which he desires. For the repetition, with inserted word, cf. Verg. Aen. 12, 179. modo = dummodo.- possim = = mihi liceat. vivere vitam degere. — parvo : 'my modest competence.' 26. nec: without being.'. semper implies the rather impatient memory of several expeditions already engaged in. - viae : 'marches.' 27. canis i.e. the dog star, Sirius. The climax of summer heat is usually coincident with the days following the star's appearance in July, and the ancients regarded it as a cause; cf. the modern expression, "dog days"; cf. 1, 4, 6: aestivi tempora sicca canis; 1, 7, 21.. ortus plural, referring to the daily rising of the sun (and the heat) during the period after the canis has appeared. Cf. Hor. Car. 4, 15, 15; 1, 17, 17.- sub umbra: cf. Verg. Ec. I, I, ; Hor. Car. 1, I, 21; Epod. 2, 23; Lucr. 2, 30. 28. ad rivos: cf. Ovid, Rem. Am. 194: ipse potes rivos ducere lenis aquae; Hor. Epod. 2, 25: labuntur altis interim ripis aquae; Lucr. 2, 29-30: prostrati in gramine molli propter aquae rivum sub ramis arboris altae. 29. tenuisse: there is no appreciable difference in meaning between the perfect tense here, and in v. 30, and the present, in referre (v. 32). The perfect forms were sometimes more convenient metrically. Cf. vv. 46 and 74; also I, 10, 61-63; Prop. I, 1, 15; 17, I. -bidentes: a common garden implement. 31. agnamve sinu: cf. Isaiah, 40, II: "He shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom." |