75 80 blanditiaeque fluant per mea colla rosae, vinaque fundantur praelis elisa Falernis, terque lavet nostras spica Cilissa comas. Bacche, soles Phoebo fertilis esse tuo. 74. terque V2 perque 0. 72. rosae collective; gen. 73. Falernis: of the various favorite wines Propertius singles this variety out for mention by name twice (the other passage is 2, 33, 39), but nowhere mentions Caecuban, Massic, Chian, or the vintage of Cales, apparently not being such a connoisseur of wines as Horace. 74. spica Cilissa: Cilician saffron (cf. spikenard), which was especially choice when it came from Mt. Corycus (Plin. N.H. 21, 31); cf. Ovid, Fast. 1, 76: sonet accensis spica Cilissa focis. 75. Cf. Enn. Sat. 64: numquam poetor nisi si podager; Ovid, Met. 7, 432: carmina vino ingenium faciente canunt. 76. Cf. 3, 2, 9; Tib. 3, 4, 43: casto nam rite poetae Phoebusque et Bacchus Pieridesque favent. 77. ille corresponds to hic. hic below, thus dividing among different poets the gigantic task of celebrating all the victories of Au 85 differat in pueros ista tropaea suos. sic noctem patera, sic ducam carmine, donec I I Desine, Paulle, meum lacrimis urgere sepulcrum : panditur ad nullas ianua nigra preces. did actually lead an expedition against the Parthians in 2 A.D. 83. nigras cf. 3, 7, 56.—sapis: cf. 2, 13, 42. 84. per across to Carrhae, where Crassus was slain. 4, II This last and finest of the elegies of Propertius, long known as regina elegiarum, was intended as a consolation to L. Aemilius Paullus Lepidus (consul suffectus 34 B.C.) nephew of the triumvir Lepidus. The occasion was the untimely death in 16 B.C. of his wife Cornelia, daughter of P. Cornelius Scipio (said to have been of consular rank) and Scribonia, the second wife of Augustus. This connection with the imperial family is doubtless responsible for the elegy. It is spoken by the deceased Cornelia herself at her tomb, and may have been intended as a sepulchral inscription. The reference in verses 65 and 66 to her brother P. Cornelius Scipio, who was con sul in 16 B.C., fixes the date. In dignity, nobility of tone, and genuine pathos this elegy is unequaled. 1-14: Paullus, burden not my tomb with idle lamentations; the grave knows neither sentiment nor reason. 15-28: Ye powers below, listen to my apologia! 29-66: I have never been unworthy of my noble family and honored kin. 67-72: Daughter, follow thy mother's example, and win the most glorious reward possible for a woman. 73-84: To you, Paullus, I commend our children; be to them henceforth both mother and father. Bear thy sorrow bravely, yet tenderly. 85-98: And, my children, if your father bring you home a new mother, be kind and tactful; but if I remain his only mate, keep him from a lonely old age; and may the years I have been denied be added to your lives; that you all are spared is my consolation. 99-102: I rest my case.' 5 cum semel infernas intrarunt funera leges, non exorato stant adamante viae. te licet ornantem fuscae deus audiat aulae: nempe tuas lacrimas litora surda bibent. vota movent superos: ubi portitor aera recepit, obserat herbosos lurida porta rogos. sic maestae cecinere tubae, cum subdita nostrum 1. urgere: cf. Tib. 1, 1, 67, n. sepulcrum: i.e. the spirit that dwells there. Cf. Cat. 96, 1; PAPA., Vol. 30 (1899), p. xxx, 3. 3. funera cf. 1, 17, 8, n. Body and soul are not distinguished here better than in our own common parlance; cf., on the distinction between natural and philosophical expression, W. A. Heidel in A. J. P., Vol. 33 (1912), p. 94. - leges: 'jurisdiction.' 4. non exorato: never known to yield,' and so presumably inexorabili. - stant: cf. Tib. I, I, 64. adamante viae: the poet is thinking particularly of the gates of the entrance to the world below, gates which never open outwards; cf. Verg. Aen. 6, 552: porta adversa ingens solidoque adamante columnae vis ut nulla. . . exscindere, etc. 5. licet... audiat: a supposition merely for the sake of argument. deus: Pluto. - aulae: cf. Hor. Car. 2, 18, 30: rapacis Orci .. aula. 6. bibent: cf. Cat. 66, 85. 7. portitor: Charon. aera: the coin placed in the mouth of the deceased according to Greek custom, to pay the ferryman of the Styx. 8. herbosos: Propertius mixes his metaphors: here he is thinking of the grass-covered mound of the tomb: beneath the sod.'— lurida porta: cf. verse 4, n.; the adjective is a favorite epithet for places and things connected with death; cf. Tib. 3, 3, 38.-rogos: 'ashes' (from the pyre where they are produced); cf. English "Peace to his ashes." It is only another of the poet's euphemisms for the dead,' and we must not be literal in trying to conceive what he means when he says that the gates of the lower world (which for the living mourners are practically identical with the door of the tomb) bar the ashes under the sod from returning to living friends. 9. sic: this was the story.' - cecinere: cf. Tib. 1, 7, 47. tubae used in various ways in connection with funeral ceremonies; here represented as joining in the loud wailing customarily raised when the torch was applied to the bier. IO 15 20 detraheret lecto fax inimica caput. quid mihi coniugium Paulli, quid currus avorum det pater hic umbrae mollia iura meae. 11. 13. num FL nun V non ND. habui Itali habuit 0. 21. iuxta O iuxta et Itali. Minoia O Minoida w. sella et Vw sella FLD sellam w. 10. lecto: sc. funebri. caput: 'my dear self'; cf. Hor. Car. 1, 24, 2: tam cari capitis; Cat. 68, 120. II. quid. . . profuit: cf. 3, 18, 11; Ovid, Her. 11, 17: quid iuvat admotam per avorum nomina, etc. - currus: i.e. triumphs. 12. pignora: Cornelia's three children. 13. Cornelia: 'for being a Cornelia.' The succession of questions in the first person is most emphatic. 14. Cf. 2, 9, 14: in parva sustulit ossa manu; Ovid, Am. 3, 9, 40. 15. damnatae damnatorum; cf. Tib. 1, 3, 67, n. — paludes: cf. Verg. Georg. 4, 478: limus niger et deformis harundo Cocyti tardaque palus inamabilis unda alligat. 17. inmatura: the same im 25 30 Eumenidum intento turba severa foro. fallax Tantaleus corripiare liquor, Cerberus et nullas hodie petat inprobus umbras, ipsa loquar pro me. si fallo, poena sororum Afra Numantinos regna loquuntur avos, 24. Tantaleus @ Tantaleo 0. corripiare O corripere ore Auratus. 29. fama... per . . . tropaea : a Propertian liberty of construction. 30. Afra. regna: i.e. the kingdom of Carthage, which included Numantia. - Numantinos avos: P. Cornelius Scipio Africanus, the younger, took Numantia, 133 B.C. 31. altera: 'on the other side of the house." Libones: L. Scribonius Libo, her uncle, was not an unusually distinguished person; probably she is hinting rather at Scribonia's fame for having married into the imperial family. |