50 55 60 tu cape spinosi rorida terga iugi. o utinam magicae nossem cantamina musae! dos tibi non humilis prodita Roma venit. adde Hymenaee modos, tubicen fera murmura conde: 48. cape O cave F2. 56. venit more emphatic than the expected veniet of this apodosis. 57. Cf. Cat. 64, 158 sqq.; si tibi non cordi fuerant conubia nostra .. tibi iucundo famularer serva labore. 58. alterna lege: 'by the rule of retaliation." 59. ego i.e. I, as well as the Sabine women, who rush into the thick of the combat to stop it. Tarpeia's plan depends on prevention. 60. medium . . . foedus: 'a compact between the combatants.' - palla : as a wedding garment, here used by metonomy for marriage. 61. tubicen in apposition with Hymenaee. Hymen as trumpeter credite, vestra meus molliet arma torus. et iam quarta canit venturam bucina lucem. ipsaque in Oceanum sidera lapsa cadunt. 65 experiar somnum, de te mihi somnia quaeram : fac venias oculis umbra benigna meis.' dixit, et incerto permisit bracchia somno, nescia vae furiis accubuisse novis. 70 nam Vesta, Iliacae felix tutela favillae, 68. vae furiis Jacob se furiis Livineius nefariis 0. 72. abscisso DV absciso NFL abscissos . . . sinus Broukhusius. fertur 0 pectus Hertzberg. will sound a very different note from that usually heard in camp. 63. quarta . . . bucina: the signal for the beginning of the last quarter of the night; cf. Eng. "eight bells," etc. The bucina belongs to the simple manners of the early age here described: cf. 4, I, 13. 64. Cf. Verg. Aen. 2, 9: suadentque cadentia sidera somnos. 65. te: Tatius. 69. Cf. verse 45, n; Ovid, Fast. 6, 365 vidimus Iliacae transferri pignora Vestae sede; 258: cum flammae custos aede recepta dea est. 70. alit: Vesta regards Tarpeia's case as hopeless, and punishes her by hurrying her on to certain ruin. -faces: cf. 4, 3, 50. 71. Thermodonta: a river in Cappadocia, commonly regarded as the home of the Amazons; but Propertius is thinking less of the ROM. EL. POETS- - 23 geography than of the scene. Vergil confuses the geography similarly in Aen. 11, 659: quales Threiciae cum flumina Thermodontis pulsant et pictis bellantur Amazones armis. 353 72. Strymonis : a Thracian woman, here regarded less as a typical Amazon (like Penthesilea, who came from Thrace to her eastern home), than as a Maenad in Thrace itself, reveling in passionate frenzy.—abscisso . . . aperta sinu : 'exposed by the tearing away of her garment'; sinu is best considered an abl. abs. The picture is that shown in the left-hand figure of illust. No. 929 in Baum. Denk. If we read absciso, the picture becomes that of an Amazon whose characteristic mutilation is exposed as she rushes into battle. But this interpretation is less in harmony with the mood of Tarpeia. fertur: 'is hurried along.' 75 80 85 urbi festus erat, dixere Parilia patres: cum pagana madent fercula divitiis Romulus excubias decrevit in otia solvi atque intermissa castra silere tuba. hoc Tarpeia suum tempus rata convenit hostem : mons erat adscensu dubius, festoque remissus : prodiderat portaeque fidem patriamque iacentem, 76. divitiis O delitiis V2 deliciis w. 86. tuis O suis w. 88. ipsa O ipse V2. difficilis) this may well be regarded as a dat., and it would be proper to class it as a supine. - festoque : the enclitic is pregnant in meaning here and accordingly, it being a holiday.' 84. occupat: sc. Tarpeia; she anticipates the alarm they would give. 85. Everything and everybody was wrapped in slumber. — Iuppiter: to whom especially this hill was sacred. 86. tuis Tarpeia's. 87. portaeque fidem = portamque fidam. 88. ipsa asking that the wedding day should be set according to her own choice was assuming 90 at Tatius (neque enim sceleri dedit hostis honorem) haec, virgo, officiis dos erat apta tuis. 6 Sacra facit vates: sint ora faventia sacris 93. Tarpeia w Tarpeio O Tarpeius Rossberg Tarpeium Palmer. 94. iniuste AFLDV iniustae N. the queenship which she coveted rather than an inferior station. go. nube ironical indeed! for the covering she is to have is the deadly one of the shields, as she sinks to a bed of death. 91. obruit armis: cf. Livy, I, 11, 7: accepti obrutam armis necavere. But though Propertius follows the regular account of her death, the motive of avarice which was supposed to determine its method is lacking. 93. duce: their guide up the citadel. 94. vigil: she alone was awake keeping guard, but as an official vigil she was hardly a success, and the expression is ironical. iniuste i.e. Tarpeia did not deserve the everlasting glory of having the hill called after her name. 4, 6 The third in the series of aetiological elegies in this Book (cf. 4, I, Intr.), dealing this time with the temple of Apollo on the Palatine hill, which was completed in 28 B.C.; cf. 2, 31, Intr.; Hor. Car. 1, 31. At the time of the dedication of the temple, Augustus also established ludi quinquennales in honor of Apollo, under whose patronage the victory at Actium had been won. As the submission of the Sycambri (v. 77) took place in 16 B.C., it appears probable that Propertius timed this poem to be a part of the fourth celebration of these games. The general correspondence of the scene of the battle of Actium here with that described by Vergil as represented on the shield of Aeneas (Aen 8, 5 cera Philitaeis certet Romana corymbis spargite me lymphis, carmenque recentibus aris 6. 3. cera 0 ara Haupt serta Scaliger. 675 sqq.) has led to the presumption that both may be traced to an official picture of the battle, perhaps one carried in the triumphal procession of Augustus. 1-14 As priest of Apollo and the Muses the poet brings his offering of song in honor of the Actian Apollo. 15-26: The scene of the battle. 27-36: Apollo appears equipped for war; 37-54: his address to Augustus. 55-68: the victory of Phoebus and Augustus -not a victory over one woman! 69-86: its ideal celebration. 1. vates: cf. 3, 1, 3; Hor. Car. 3, 1, 3: Musarum sacerdos canto; 1, 31, 1: quid dedicatum poscit Apollinem vates? - sint faventia = faveant: cf. Tib. |