20

nec mihi materia est numeris levioribus apta,

aut puer, aut longas compta puella comas.' questus eram, pharetra cum protinus ille soluta

legit in exitium spicula facta meum lunavitque genu sinuosum fortiter arcum,

'quod’ que 'canas, vates, accipe' dixit 'opus !! me miserum! certas habuit puer ille sagittas :

uror, et in vacuo pectore regnat Amor. sex mihi surgat opus numeris, in quinque residat:

ferrea cum vestris bella valete modis ! cingere litorea flaventia tempora myrto,

Musa per undenos emodulanda pedes!

25

30

3

ah, nimium volui! tantum patiatur amari :

audierit nostras tot Cytherea preces !
accipe, per longos tibi qui deserviat annos,

accipe, qui pura norit amare fide!
si me non veterum commendant magna parentum

nomina, si nostri sanguinis auctor eques,
. nec meus innumeris renovatur campus aratris,

temperat et sumptus parcus uterque parens: at Phoebus comitesque novem vitisque repertor

hinc faciunt at, me qui tibi donat, Amor, at nulli cessura fides, sine crimine mores

nudaque simplicitas purpureusque pudor.

10

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; II-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 1, 5, 9.

7. With this passage cf. Prop. 3, 2, 11 sqg.

8. eques : Ovid was proud that

his equestrian rank was not of the parvenu type; cf. Am. 3, 15, 5; and Trist. 4, 10, 7, to which he adds : non modo fortunae munere factus eques.

9. renovatur: cf. Tib. 3, 3, 5, n; Prop. 3, 5, 5.

10. But the poet's biography in Trist. 4, 10, and the manner of his life at Rome do not indicate straitened circumstances. Cf. Tib. I, 1, 5, n.

11. comitesque novem: the Muses. — vitis que repertor: Bacchus, who also inspired poetry and song; cf. Tib. 1, 7, 29, n. ; Prop. 4, 1, 62.

12. hinc faciunt: are on my side'; cf. Cic. Ad Att. 7, 3, 5: dignos illinc facere.

14. purpureusque pudor: i.e. modesty such as would cause a “rosy blush'; cf. Am. 2, 5, 34 :

15 non mihi mille placent, non sum desultor amoris :

tu mihi, siqua fides, cura perennis eris. tecum, quos dederint annos mihi fila sororum,

vivere contingat, teque dolente mori;

te mihi materiem felicem in carmina praebe: 20 provenient causa carmina digna sua.

carmine nomen habent exterrita cornibus Io

et quam fluminea lusit adulter ave
quaeque super pontum simulato vecta iuvenco

virginea tenuit cornua vara manu :
25 nos quoque per totum pariter cantabimur orbem,

iunctaque semper erunt nomina nostra tuis.

15

Quid mihi, Livor edax, ignavos obicis annos

ingeniique vocas carmen inertis opus;

conscia purpureus venit in ora 23. quaeque : Europa ; cf. Prop. pudor.

2, 28, 52, n. 15. desultor: the figure is from 25. Cf. Am. I, 15, 8. the circus rider who leaped from one horse to another; cf. Prop. 4,

I, 15 2, 36: traicit alter no qui leve pondus equo.

The poet justifies his profession. 16. cura : cf. 3, 3, 32, n.

1-6: • Envy says, I am wasting 17. fila sororum : cf. Hor. Car. my time in poetry, which has no 2, 3, 15: dum res et aetas et sororum practical value. 7-30: Nay! my fila trium patiuntur atra.

work will be immortal, like that of 19. in carmina : purpose acc. my great Greek and Roman pred

20. causa = materie : cf. Prop. ecessors. 31-34: Then let all 2, I, 12: invenio causas mille bow before poetry. 35-42: The poeta novas.

rabble may be wedded to their idols, 21. cornibus Io : cf. Prop. 2, 28, but if Apollo fosters my art, I shall 17, n.

have undying fame after envious 22. quam : Leda, wooed by Jup- tongues have ceased to wag.' With piter (adulter) in the form of a the thought as a whole cf. Prop. swan (fluminea . . . ave).

3, I.

5

TO

non me more patrum, dum strenua sustinet aetas,

praemia militiae pulverulenta sequi, nec me verbosas leges ediscere, nec me

ingrato vocem prostituisse foro? mortale est, quod quaeris, opus; mihi fama perennis

quaeritur, in toto semper ut orbe canar. vivet Maeonides, Tenedos dum stabit et Ide,

dum rapidas Simois in mare volvet aquas. vivet et Ascraeus, dum mustis uva tumebit,

dum cadet incurva falce resecta Ceres. Battiades semper toto cantabitur orbe :

quamvis ingenio non valet, arte valet.
nulla Sophocleo veniet iactura cothurno.

cum sole et luna semper Aratus erit.
dum fallax servus, durus pater, inproba lena

15

1. Livor edax : cf. Prop. I, 8, 12. Ceres = arista. 29. — ignavos

annos : cf.
13. Battiades

Callimachus; Prop. 1, 12, 1.

cf. Cat. 65, 16, n. 5. verbosas .. ediscere : a reg.

14. A most acute characterizaular exercise for incipient Roman tion of the weakness of Callimacitizens, and recognized as a nec chus and the other Alexandrians; essary part of their education.

cf. Intr. § 7. 6. Cf. Prop. 4, 1, 134. — prosti 15. Sophocleo:Sophocles, chrontuisse probably implies not merely ologically the middle one of the public use, but also venality. great group of authors of Greek 8. Cf. 1, 3, 25.

tragedy, may well typify this re9. Maeonides : Homer ; cf. Prop. markable branch of Greek litera2, 28, 29. - Tenedos : it is on ture. — cothurno : i.e. tragedy. the Roman side of the legend 16. Aratus : astronomical that Tenedos becomes especially poet from Soli in Cilicia, who famous; cf. Verg. Aen. 2, 21 flourished in the third century B.C., sqq.

an

20

vivent et meretrix blanda, Menandros erit. Ennius arte carens animosique Accius oris

casurum nullo tempore nomen habent. Varronem primamque ratem quae nesciet aetas

aureaque Aesonio terga petita duci?
carmina sublimis tunc sunt peritura Lucreti,

exitio terras cum dabit una dies.
Tityrus et segetes Aeneiaque arma legentur,

Roma triumphati dum caput orbis erit.
donec erunt ignes arcusque Cupidinis arma,

25

15. 19. Accius S Actius P. PS.

25. segetes (restored by Bentley) w fruges

a

from the New Attic Comedy, de I, 55: aufert Pacuvius docti fascribed in the apt series of indi mam senis, Accius alti. vidual epithets, cf. the more com 21. Varronem : Varro Atacinus, plete list of stock characters found whose works included an imitation in Quint. 11, 3, 74 and 178; Apul. of a Greek epic on the Argonautic Flor. 3, 16.

expedition; cf. Intr. $ 12. 18. Menandros : the most cele 22. Aesonio: here used as brated of the writers of the New patronymic. Comedy

24. dabit una dies : the words 19. Ennius : the father of Ro of Lucretius himself in 5,95. Cf. man poetry’ properly heads this Ovid, Trist. 2, 426: casurumque part of the list of poets; cf. Prop. triplex vaticinatur opus; Prop. 3, 3, 3, 6. — arte carens : Ovid re

5, 31, n. peats this judgment in Trist. 2, 25. Tityrus: the opening word 424: Ennius ingenio maximus, of the Eclogues of Vergil. arte rudis ; cf. Hor. A. P. 259: segetes : i.e. the Georgics, treating Enni

magno cum pondere of this and similar themes. versus aut operae celeris nimium arma : the first word of the Aeneid. curaque carentis aut ignoratae ... 26. triumphati: i.e. victi, as artis ; Prop. 4, 1,61.- animosique commonly. - dum caput ... erit : Accius oris : Accius was the last cf. Hor. Car. 3, 30, 8: dum Capiand probably the most finished tolium scandet cum tacita virgine of the great Roman writers of pontifex, dicar. tragedy ; with this reference to his

27. ignes faces.

arcus: cf. sublime manner cf. Hor. Ep. 2, Prop. 2, 12, 9.

=