15 20 et Stygio sum sparsa lacu, nec recta capillis vitta data est, nupsi non comitante deo. omnibus heu portis pendent mea noxia vota: texitur haec castris quarta lacerna tuis. occidat, inmerita qui carpsit ab arbore vallum et struxit querulas rauca per ossa tubas, dignior obliquo funem qui torqueat Ocno 17. portis pendent: Cf. CIL. 3, 1422: Fortunae reduci, Lari viali, Romae aeternae. Altars with such inscriptions might well have stood at the city gates, where vows and offerings were made to ensure the safe return of absent friends (cf. v. 71). A temple to Fortuna Redux and a triumphal arch were erected outside the Porta Triumphalis before the return of Domitian from the Sarmatian campaign; cf. Mart. 8, 65. – noxia i.e. they seem to do more harm than good. 18. quarta apparently Lycotas had already been absent on several different campaigns. - lacerna : 20. rauca: proleptic. ossa: cf. 3, 9, 26, n.; "make out of bone" is the English idiom. more 21. obliquo: Propertius evidently has a picture in mind, perhaps that of Socrates mentioned by Pliny (N. H. 35, 137), or its celebrated prototype by Polygnotus (Paus. 10, 29, 1), where Ocnus is sitting slantwise at his work, spending his strength endlessly in twisting a grass rope which a donkey behind him devours as fast as it is made, - here, a type of the warrior, whose work is vain and endless, and especially of the inventor of weapons, etc. Cf. Tib. I, 10, 1; Bachofen, Gräbersymbolik, pp. 301 sqq., 314, 338 sq., 349 sqq. 25 30 35 aeternusque tuam pascat, aselle, famem. dic mihi, num teneros urit lorica lacertos? num gravis inbelles atterit hasta manus? haec noceant potius quam dentibus ulla puella det mihi plorandas per tua colla notas. diceris et macie vultum tenuasse: sed opto, e desiderio sit color iste meo. at mihi cum noctes induxit Vesper amaras, 34. radios w gladios O clavos Mss. of Passerat (?). suos O suo Rossberg. 40 45 50 qualis et haec docti sit positura dei, quae tellus sit lenta gelu, quae putris ab aestu, nec me tardarent Scythiae iuga, cum pater altas omnis amor magnus, sed aperto in coniuge maior: 38. docti . . . dei O educti . . . Dai Ellis Arctoi. . . soli Fonteinius. 47. altas O Atlas Itali. 48. adstricto Rothstein Affricus NFL aeris Rossberg Aeolus Fonteinius Arctoo Lachmann acrius Postgate. get her sex, and gives her the attributes of an ordinary woman. 46. sarcina: 'even though a burden'; cf. Ovid, Her. 3, 68: non ego sum classi sarcina magna tuae. = Iuppiter. 47. pater 48. adstricto . . . frigore: cf. 2, 26, 36, n.; Ovid, Trist. 2, 196: maris adstricto quae coit unda gelu. But cf. J. E. Church, Jr., in Univ. of Nevada Bulletin, Vol. 2 (1908), No. 4, pp. 92-98. 49. aperto i.e. acknowledge as legitimate; cf. Ovid, Her. 13, 30. 50. vivat: i.e. burn; cf. 4, 11, 54. ventilat: cf. 3, 16, 16; Ovid, Am. 1, 1, 8. The alliteration may be regarded as onomatopoetic, imitating the sound of rushing air. 55 nam mihi quo? Poenis tibi purpura fulgeat ostris Glaucidos et catulae vox est mihi grata querentis: flore sacella tego, verbenis compita velo, et crepat ad veteres herba Sabina focos. 51. tibi O te N nunc Housman. 52. meas N tuas 0. Puccius Craugidos Buecheler Graucidos NL Grancidos AFDV. . 52. crystallusque . . aquosa : a ring made of, or set with, a white transparent stone. Such stones were supposed to have been derived from ice. Cf. Sen. Q.N. 3, 25, 12; Pliny, N.H. 37, 23. The attractions of personal adornment mentioned in this passage correspond to those named by Catullus (69, 3): si illam rarae labefactes munere vestis aut perluciduli deliciis lapidis. 53. omnia surda: the stupid stillness of her home at present is contrasted with the glad celebration hinted at in the previous distich. rarisque: i.e. as compared with the many other occasions when it would happen if the household were in a normal state, on the Nones, the Ides, and holidays. 55. Glaucidos adsueta: one long acquainted with the routine forms of the ceremony. All such matters were turned over to her, as a matter of course, now, and were an empty form. 54. clausos: in the lararium. Cf. Mau-Kelsey, Pompeii, pp. 252 sqq. 55. Glaucidos: the Greek name of the lap-dog appropriately refers to its color. - et: 'even.' querentis: whining.' 56. tui partem: a part of thy place.' 57. flore verbenis: any herba sacra; cf. Servius on Aen 12, I 20. Propertius does not hesitate to use the sing. collective in one word, and the plur. in the other. compita: i.e. the shrines of the Lares Compitales at the compita. 58. crepat: cf. Tib. 2, 5, 81, n. - herba Sabina: savin or juniper, commonly used for incense; cf. Ovid, Fast. 1, 343: ara dabat fumos herbis contenta Sabinis, et non exiguo laurus adusta sono. 60 65 70 sive in finitimo gemuit stans noctua tigno, succinctique calent ad nova lucra popae. plumbea cum tortae sparguntur pondera fundae, sed, tua sic domitis Parthae telluris alumnis |