20 25 vos mala de nostris pellite limitibus, 18. pellite: 'avert': used instead of the obsolete averruncare of the ancient formula. 19. eludat: originally a gladiatorial term, to 'parry' an enemy's thrust; hence to 'disappoint.' We should have expected messorem; but the 'crop' is represented as disappointed because it cannot fulfill its promise. herbis: the green blades which make only a fair show. 21. tum: 'in that case,' i.e. if my prayers are granted. — nitidus : 'trim.' 22. Cf. Hor. Epod. 2, 43: vetustis exstruat lignis sacrum focum. ibus; Ovid, Fast. 3, 528: e ramis frondea facta casa est; Class. Rev., Vol. 22 (1908), p. 39. 25. extis: including theoretically the liver, heart, lungs, gall, and caul of the victims; but we need not suppose that a minute examination was made, if there were signs of a propitious omen. 26. fibra here in the proper signification of the filament terminating the exta; often by synecdoche for exta itself, as in 1, 8, 3: : nec mihi sunt sortes nec conscia fibra deorum. 27. fumosos: wine was commonly left in a fumarium, or smoke-chamber, where it gathered a flavor much relished by the ancients; cf. Ovid, Fast. 5, 518: fumoso condita vina cado. B. G., p. 489. Falernos : SC. cados. Falernian and Chian wines are types of the choicest vintages, native and foreign. As the former was acid and the latter sweet, they were favorites for mixing. Cf. Intr. § 42, I (4). 30 35 consulis et Chio solvite vincla cado. vina diem celebrent: non festa luce madere huc ades adspiraque mihi, dum carmine nostro rura cano rurisque deos. his vita magistris 34. intonsis: a common epithet of the Romans of early times, before the tonsorial art was in vogue. Cf. Hor. Car. 1, 12, 41: intonsis Curium capillis. Cf. 1, 7, 16, n. 35 ades adspiraque: Messalla is invoked, as if he were one of the Muses. So Vergil called upon Maecenas in Georg. 2, 39: tuque ades, inceptumque una decurre laborem, o decus. Maecenas. 36. agricolis: 'patrons of husbandry.' 38. glande: for acorns as a staple of food in the Golden Age, cf. Ovid, Met. 1, 106; Am. 3, 10, 9; Fast. 1, 676; Tib. 2, 3, 68: 40 45 50 illi conpositis primum docuere tigillis exiguam viridi fronde operire domum, servitium et plaustro supposuisse rotam. 43. tum consita AG tunc consita V tunc insita w. glans alat, et prisco more bibantur aquae. glans aluit veteres. 41. Ovid, Am. 3, 10, 13: prima iugis tauros supponere colla coegit et veterem curvo dente revellit humum. - illī for the elision cf. Intr. § 42. 44. inriguas: in the active sense, as in Ovid, Am. 2, 16, 2: inriguis ora salubris aquis. 46. securo: another poetical active instead of the ordinary passive use; cf. Verg. Aen. 6, 715: securos latices et longa oblivia potant. sidus might refer either to the sun, or to Sirius; most editors refer this passage to the sun, but without any very good reason think Horace is referring to the dog star in Epod. 1, 27: ante sidus fervidum. So Ovid, Met. 1, 424, aetherioque recens exarsit sidere limus, is quoted as referring to the sun; but Tibullus, 1, 7, 21, attributes the same result to Sirius as Vergil does in Aen. 3, 141: tum steriles exurere Sirius agros. 48. annua = quotannis, an odd adverbial use, with such a noun as terra. -comas: here used of the grain itself. 49. verno: agreeing with alveo, but used in the adverbial sense. -alveo: synizesis. 52. certo... pede: 'regular rhythm.' 55 60 et satur arenti primum est modulatus avena rure etiam teneris curam exhibitura puellis molle gerit tergo lucida vellus ovis. hinc et femineus labor est, hinc pensa colusque, fusus et adposito pollice versat opus: 58. curtas auxerat hircus opes Waardenburg yrcus hauxerat yrcus oves A hauserat VG hirtas duxerat hircus oves Heinsius. 53. satur: after eating his fill.' avena: for a similar scene cf. Verg. Ec. 1, 1–2. 54. ornatos: with wreaths. 55. minio: originally, doubtless, made of the lees of wine, the most convenient substance on such occasions. Cf. Hor. Ep. 2, 3, 277: quae canerent agerentque peruncti faecibus ora. Later a prepared vermilion was used for both man and god; cf. I, 1, 17. From this custom masks came to be used in the dramatic representations originating in the same rustic festivals. - Bacche: it was at the festivals of Dionysus that the Greek drama began, just as such native Italian dramatic forms as the Fescenninae and Saturae came from similar celebrations in Etruria. 56. ab used to make it clear that the idea is one of source here. Cf. Prop. 2, 27, II, n. 65 70 75 80 atque aliqua adsiduae textrix operata Minervae ipse quoque inter agros interque armenta Cupido illic indocto primum se exercuit arcu : hei mihi, quam doctas nunc habet ille manus! ah miseri, quos hic graviter deus urget! at ille 67. quoque inter agros A quoque inter greges V interque greges Gapros R. Klotz. libratum tereti versabat turbine fusum; Ovid, Met. 6, 22: sive levi teretem versabat pollice fusum. 65. aliqua: i.e. here and there one. - operata: 'engaged in the service of'; cf. note on v. 9.– Minervae: the patroness of weaving; cf. H. & T. § 39. This is best considered not a case of metonymy. 66. latere used collectively, referring to the pieces of brick by which the threads of the warp were weighted to keep them taut, and which would often strike together as the web was moved back and forth for the passage of the shuttle; 'rings the web beneath the driven lay' (Cranst.). ROM. EL. POETSII 161 67. Cf. Pervigilium Ven. 77: ipse Amor puer Dionae rure natus dicitur. Tibullus is fond of using ipse with the name of a divinity; cf. e.g. 1, 3, 58; 2, 2, 5; 1, 8, 5. 73. The perfect tenses express customary action. 74. iratae: sc. puellae. 76. iuvenem: her lover.' 77. pedibus praetemptat iter: 'her way on tiptoe feels' (Cranst.). 78. ante: adverb. 80. adflat: cf. 2, 4, 57: ubi indomitis gregibus Venus adflat amores. - Amor: the more common name of this god in Tibullus. |