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60

65

70

qualia creverunt moenia lacte tuo !

moenia namque pio coner disponere versu :
hei mihi quod nostro est parvus in ore sonus!
sed tamen exiguo quodcumque e pectore rivi
fluxerit, hoc patriae serviet omne meae.
Ennius hirsuta cingat sua dicta corona:
mi folia ex hedera porrige, Bacche, tua,
ut nostris tumefacta superbiat Umbria libris,
Umbria Romani patria Callimachi.
scandentes quisquis cernit de vallibus arces,

ingenio muros aestimet ille meo.

Roma, fave, tibi surgit opus: date candida cives
omina, et inceptis dextera cantet avis.

sacra diesque canam et cognomina prisca locorum :
has meus ad metas sudet oportet equus. -

65. cernit NLDV cernet F.

twin sons, the founders of Rome; cf. H. & T. § 205.

57. moenia: the theme now definitely proposed, after these preliminaries. namque: for the position cf. Uhlmann, p. 71. pio cf. v. 60. — disponere describere.

58. Ah, me! that the strain should be so feeble in my mouth' (C. S.).

61. The spasm of modesty past, Propertius proceeds to emulate the father of Roman poetry' and his own great Alexandrian model, Callimachus. - hirsuta : cf. Ovid, Trist. 2, 259: sumpserit Annales, - nihil est hirsutius illis; Am. I, 15, Prop. 3, 3, 6.

19, n.

But cf.

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65. Cf. v. 125.

66. muros like moenia in v. 57; Propertius includes all that the walls inclose. For the idea cf. Ovid, Am. 3, 15, II.

67. surgit the poem is compared to a structure.

69. The enthusiasm of the poet leads him to expand his scheme boldly, and announce a theme not unlike that actually treated by Ovid in the Fasti.

70. Cf. Verg. Georg. 3, 202: ad Elei metas et maxima campi sudabit spatia; Hor. Car. 1, 15, 9: heu, heu, quantus equis, quantus adest viris sudor!

75

80

'quo ruis inprudens, vage, dicere fata, Properti?
non sunt a dextro condita fila colo.
accersis lacrimas cantans, aversus Apollo:

poscis ab invita verba pigenda lyra.
certa feram certis auctoribus, aut ego vates
nescius aerata signa movere pila.

me creat Archytae suboles Babylonius Horops
Horon, et a proavo ducta Conone domus.
.di mihi sunt testes non degenerasse propinquos,
inque meis libris nil prius esse fide.

nunc pretium fecere deos, et fallitur auro.
Iuppiter. obliquae signa iterata rotae

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75. aut O haud w. 77. Horops w

to his nationality. - Horops: cf. ὡροσκόπος.

78. Horon: the name is intended to be self-explanatory, as that of a professional astrologer, who casts one's nativity.- Conone : another distinguished Greek astronomer, from Samos; cf. Verg. Ec. 3, 40: Conon et quis fuit alter, descripsit radio. . . orbem.

79. degenerasse: transitive. Cf. Ovid, Ex P. 3, 1, 45: hanc cave degeneres.

81. nunc: 'in these days.' pretium a means of gain.' fecere subject indef. - fallitur: is made a mockery of.'

82. The list of subjects that Horos can wisely discuss and interpret depends upon dicam (v. 87). obliquae. . . rotae: i.e. the ecliptic.signa: of the zodiac. iterata: i.e. as the years pass.

felicesque Iovis stellas Martisque rapacis et grave Saturni sidus in omne caput, 85 quid moveant pisces animosaque signa leonis, lotus et Hesperia quid capricornus aqua, dicam Troia cades, et Troica Roma resurges; et maris et terrae longa sepulcra canam. dixi ego, cum geminos produceret Arria natos, (illa dabat natis arma vetante deo) non posse ad patrios sua pila referre penates: nempe meam firmant nunc duo busta fidem. quippe Lupercus, equi dum saucia protegit ora, heu sibi prolapso non bene cavit equo : Gallus at, in castris dum credita signa tuetur, concidit ante aquilae rostra cruenta suae. fatales pueri, duo funera matris avarae!

90

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89. dixi: proof of the justice of his claims by actual success in the past is cited through two instances, which are not otherwise known to fame. - produceret : i.e. in the train of the general departing for war.

90. deo: which deity is left indeterminate.

91. The hope of the mother was doomed to be disappointed, prophesied Horos.

92. nempe : as a matter of fact.'

93. The pathetic details of the death of the two sons seem to be descriptive of some actual events known to Propertius.

97. matris: the case implies the responsibility of the real author of their fate, in that she persisted against due warning. avarae a

100

vera, sed invito contigit ista fides.

idem ego, cum Cinarae traheret Lucina dolores

et facerent uteri pondera lenta moram, "Iunonis facito votum impetrabile" dixi:

illa parit, libris est data palma meis.

hoc neque arenosum Libyae Iovis explicat antrum, aut sibi commissos fibra locuta deos,

105 aut siquis motas cornicis senserit alas,

umbrave quae magicis mortua prodit aquis : adspicienda via est caeli verusque per astra

IOI. facito votum Lachmann facite votum 0 votum facite w.

common motive, but vague in its application here, unless we could know more of the circumstances. Perhaps Propertius knew her motive; perhaps he only ascribes a general one.

98. fides: 'prophecy.'

99. Cinarae : a typical name of a Greek hetaera. - traheret: 'prolonged.'

100. facerent. . moram: 'lingered.'

IOI. Iunonis : SC. Lucinae. The case implies that the goddess can claim such worship as a right. Cf. Bursian's J. B., Vol. 140, 3, 26.

103. Iovis . . . antrum: the famous oracle of Juppiter Ammon in the Libyan Desert. By this time, however, its authority had been already much reduced; cf. Strabo, 17, 813; yet Juvenal (6, 553-555) speaks of it as still held in reverence.

104. fibra : the entrails inspected by the Etruscan haruspices. deos: i.e. the secrets of the gods. Cf. Tib. 1, 8, 3: conscia fibra deorum; 2, 1, 26; Tac. Ger. 10: deorum illos [equos] conscios putant. Cf. the Stoic

idea of the immanence of God.

105. Old-fashioned Roman augury. The cornix was one of the special divining birds, the oscines; cf. Hor. Car. 3, 27, 11: oscinem corvum prece suscitabo.

106. umbrave 'ghost.'- magicis

mortua : aquis: a

favorite resort for the practice of necromancy. One such wellknown spot was the lake of Avernus; cf. Cic. Tusc. Disp. 1, 37: in vicinia nostra Averni lacus, "unde animae excitantur obscura

umbra opertae ex ostio altae Acheruntis."

107. per astra trames: cf. signa, v. 82, n.

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trames, et ab zonis quinque petenda fides. exemplum grave erit Calchas: namque Aulide solvit ille bene haerentes ad pia saxa rates,

idem Agamemnoniae ferrum cervice puellae

tinxit, et Atrides vela cruenta dedit: nec rediere tamen Danai. tu diruta fletum supprime et Euboicos respice, Troia, sinus. 115 Nauplius ultores sub noctem porrigit ignes, et natat exuviis Graecia pressa suis. victor Oiliade, rape nunc et dilige vatem quam vetat avelli veste Minerva sua. hactenus historiae: nunc ad tua devehar astra: incipe tu lacrimis aequus adesse novis.

I 20

108. zonis quinque: the five zones in the heavens supposed to correspond to, and to condition, those on our earth, are described in Verg. Georg. I, 233 sqq. ; Cic. Som. Scip. 13; etc.

109. Calchas: a well-known case of a mistaken prophet, adapted to serve as a 'horrible example' to all that fail to resort to astrology. - Aulide: where the Greeks assembled for the expedition against Troy. — solvit : by proxy, of course, in prophesying success and announcing a favorable moment for embarking.

110. pia loyal'; even the rocks would fain have saved their countrymen from the dire disasters that were to come before they reached home again.

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113. fletum supprime: even in her hour of ruin Troy is represented as ceasing for a time her mourning, to gloat over the destruction of the Greek fleet on the rocks of Caphareus; cf. 3, 7, 39, n.

115. Nauplius: who set the false signal fires on the Euboean shore and led the returning Greeks to shipwreck.

116. Graecia cf. 3, 7, 40, n. 117. vatem: Cassandra, whom Ajax Oileus ravished in the temple of Minerva where she sought protection, clinging to the robe of the goddess.

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