20 25 30 nec mihi materia est numeris levioribus apta, 'quod' que 'canas, vates, accipe' dixit 'opus!' uror, et in vacuo pectore regnat Amor. sex mihi surgat opus numeris, in quinque residat: 3 Iusta precor. quae me nuper praedata puellast, ah, nimium volui! tantum patiatur amari: si me non veterum commendant magna parentum temperat et sumptus parcus uterque parens: nudaque simplicitas purpureusque pudor. 3. 12. hinc Merkel haec PS hac Palmer. at me Merkel ut me P et me S. 13. at Ehwald et 0. your lover, though I bring you neither nobility, nor wealth; 11-16: but I have the favor of the gods, fidelity and constancy. 17-26: Love me, live with me; and I will make your name as well known throughout the world as the names of the heroines of old.' 1. praedata ... est: ‘has captivated me'; cf. Am. 1, 2, 19: tua sum nova praeda, Cupido. 2. amet: his petition to Venus is in the third person, appropriately, in an address to his lady love. 3. tantum: 'simply.' 4. Cytherea cf. Am. 2, 17, 4. 5. accipe: the poet addresses the unknown lady, whose shadowy personality receives the name Corinna first in I, 5, 9. 7. With this passage cf. Prop. 3, 2, II sqq. 8. eques: Ovid was proud that 15 20 25 non mihi mille placent, non sum desultor amoris : te mihi materiem felicem in carmina praebe: carmine nomen habent exterrita cornibus Io quaeque super pontum simulato vecta iuvenco nos quoque per totum pariter cantabimur orbem, 15 Quid mihi, Livor edax, ignavos obicis annos conscia purpureus venit in ora 15. desultor: the figure is from the circus rider who leaped from one horse to another; cf. Prop. 4, 2, 36: traicit alterno qui leve pondus equo. 16. cura: cf. 3, 3, 32, n. 17. fila sororum: cf. Hor. Car. 2, 3, 15: dum res et aetas et sororum fila trium patiuntur atra. 19. in carmina: purpose acc. 20. causa materie: cf. Prop. 2, 1, 12: invenio causas mille poeta novas. 21. cornibus Io: cf. Prop. 2, 28, 17, n. 22. quam Leda, wooed by Juppiter (adulter) in the form of a swan (fluminea . . . ave). 23. quaeque: Europa; cf. Prop. 2, 28, 52, n. 25. Cf. Am. I, 15, 8. 6 I, 15 The poet justifies his profession. 1-6: Envy says, I am wasting my time in poetry, which has no practical value. 7-30: Nay! my work will be immortal, like that of my great Greek and Roman predecessors. 31-34: Then let all bow before poetry. 35-42: The rabble may be wedded to their idols, but if Apollo fosters my art, I shall have undying fame after envious tongues have ceased to wag.' With the thought as a whole cf. Prop. 3, I. 5 ΤΟ 15 non me more patrum, dum strenua sustinet aetas, nec me verbosas leges ediscere, nec me ingrato vocem prostituisse foro? mortale est, quod quaeris, opus; mihi fama perennis vivet Maeonides, Tenedos dum stabit et Ide, cum sole et luna semper Aratus erit. 20 vivent et meretrix blanda, Menandros erit. casurum nullo tempore nomen habent. 25 Tityrus et segetes Aeneiaque arma legentur, 15. 19. Accius S Actius P. PS. 25. segetes (restored by Bentley) o fruges from the New Attic Comedy, described in the apt series of individual epithets, cf. the more complete list of stock characters found in Quint. 11, 3, 74 and 178; Apul. Flor. 3, 16. 18. Menandros: the most celebrated of the writers of the New Comedy. 19. Ennius: the father of Roman poetry' properly heads this part of the list of poets; cf. Prop. 3, 3, 6. arte carens: Ovid repeats this judgment in Trist. 2, 424: Ennius ingenio maximus, arte rudis; cf. Hor. A. P. 259: Enni magno cum pondere versus aut operae celeris nimium curaque carentis aut ignoratae. artis; Prop. 4, I, 61.-animosique Accius oris: Accius was the last and probably the most finished of the great Roman writers of tragedy; with this reference to his sublime manner cf. Hor. Ep. 2, I, 55: aufert Pacuvius docti famam senis, Accius alti. 21. Varronem: Varro Atacinus, whose works included an imitation of a Greek epic on the Argonautic expedition; cf. Intr. § 12. 22. Aesonio: here used as a patronymic. 24. dabit una dies: the words of Lucretius himself in 5, 95. Cf. Ovid, Trist. 2, 426: casurumque triplex vaticinatur opus; Prop. 3, 5, 31, n. 25. Tityrus: the opening word of the Eclogues of Vergil. segetes i.e. the Georgics, treating of this and similar themes. arma: the first word of the Aeneid. 26. triumphati: i.e. victi, as commonly. dum caput. . . erit: cf. Hor. Car. 3, 30, 8: dum Capitolium scandet cum tacita virgine pontifex, dicar. 27. ignes faces. arcus: cf. Prop. 2, 12, 9. = |