quisve meam teneat, quot teneatve modis. tum tibi, lena, precor diras: satis anxia vivas, moverit e votis pars quotacumque deos. LIBER TERTIVS 5 2 Qui primus caram iuveni carumque puellae durus et ille fuit, qui tantum ferre dolorem, non ego firmus in hoc, non haec patientia nostro nec mihi vera loqui pudor est vitaeque fateri 2. ferreus ille fuit: cf. 1, 10, 2. Similar imitations of the genuine work of Tibullus are frequent in this book. 4. coniuge: 'betrothed'; probably a coniunx by anticipation only; cf. Verg. Aen. 3, 330: ereptae magno flammatus amore coniugis; 2, 344: gener auxilium Priamo ferebat. qui: of the same antecedent as the qui in v. 3; cf. Cat. 64, 96: quaeque regis Golgos quaeque Idalium frondosum. 5. in hoc this extent.' usque adeo; 'to 6. For a similarly sententious verse, cf. 3, 4, 76: vincuntur molli pectora dura prece. ΙΟ 15 20 ergo cum tenuem fuero mutatus in umbram et fleat ante meum maesta Neaera rogum. maereat haec genero, maereat illa viro. 2. 15. precatae w rogate A rogatae V recentem Postgate. 9. ergo cf. Prop. 2, 13, 17. tenuem . in umbram: cf. Verg. Aen. 4, 278: in tenuem ex oculis evanuit auram. 10. The details of the Roman burial customs here following are given with varying degrees of completeness in several other noteworthy passages; e.g. Prop. 2,13; I, 17, 19-24; 4, 1, 127; Ovid, Trist. 3, 3; Verg. Aen. 6, 202235. See B. G. Excursus, Scene 12; Guhl und Koner, p. 857.super... teget: tmesis. 12. fleat of the lament just as the pyre was lighted. - Neaera: cf. Intr. § 25; also 1, 1, 61 sqq. v. 4, n. 15. sqq. cf. B.G. 519. — praefatae ante pleonastic. 16. liquore: i.e. aqua. 18. incinctae: 'enveloped' (in the black mourning robe). — nigra candida the juxtaposition of the words is intended to heighten the effect of the contrast. - veste: instrumental abl.; the ashes are gathered into the robe itself. legent, like spargent in v. 19, expresses greater confidence than the following optative subjunctives. 20. fundere: cf. 1, 7, 50. lacte for its appropriateness as an offering to earth powers, cf. Fowler, Roman Festivals, p. 103; cf. its use in incantations, e.g. 1, 2, 48. 21. carbaseis . . . velis: 'a linen 25 330 atque in marmorea ponere sicca domo. illic quas mittit dives Panchaia merces eoique Arabes, pinguis et Assyria, et nostri memores lacrimae fundantur eodem: sed tristem mortis demonstret littera causam atque haec in celebri carmina fronte notet. 'Lygdamus hic situs est: dolor huic et cura Neaerae, coniugis ereptae, causa perire fuit.' 24. pinguis o dives O. ossa: when I have become "dust to dust." 27. littera: 'inscription'; cf. Ovid, Met. 11, 705: inque sepulcro si non urna, tamen iunget nos littera. 28. celebri: 'upon the thronged highway.' This is exactly the situation that Propertius (3, 16, 25) prays his tomb may not have. 29. Lygdamus: the word occurs nowhere else in the book. A comparison of the Greek Aydos λύγδος suggests the probability that it was formed to furnish an equivalent for Albius (Tibullus). 30. perire: poetic with causa; cf. Verg. Aen. 10, 90: quae causa fuit, consurgere in arma. As other commentators have remarked, this was about the last reason Neaera would have assigned in an epitaph upon a rejected lover or husband! Tibullus would hardly have been so absurd. 5 1Ο 3 Quid prodest caelum votis inplesse, Neaera, nam grave quid prodest pondus mihi divitis auri, quidve domus prodest Phrygiis innixa columnis, 15 20 25 30 et nemora in domibus sacros imitantia lucos et quae praeterea populus miratur? in illis non opibus mentes hominum curaeque levantur: o niveam, quae te poterit mihi reddere, lucem! nec me regna iuvant nec Lydius aurifer amnis building as the basilica of S. Paolo Fuori le Mura gives us a slight hint as to the magnificence in that respect that must have been common in Rome's best days. The poets frequently refer to this; cf. Hor. Car. 2, 18, 3-5; 2, 15, 20; Statius Silv. 1, 5, 34 sqq.; Prop. 3, 2, 9. 15. nemora in the peristyles of luxurious houses, and the great villas of the wealthy. 16. aurataeque: cf. Hor. Car. 2, 18, 1: Non ebur neque aureum mea renidet in domo lacunar. 17. concha by metonomy for the pearl within the concha. 2, 4, 30: e rubro lucida concha mari. Cf. |