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tu nostris niveos umeris inpone lacertos:

corpore nos facili dulce feremus onus.
saepe petens Heron iuvenis transnaverat undas:
tum quoque transnasset, sed via caeca fuit.
at sine te, quamvis operosi vitibus agri

me teneant, quamvis amnibus arva natent
et vocet in rivos currentem rusticus undam,
frigidaque arboreas mulceat aura comas,
non ego Paelignos videor celebrare salubres,
non ego natalem, rura paterna, locum,
sed Scythiam Cilicasque feros viridesque Britannos,
quaeque Prometheo saxa cruore rubent.

ulmus amat vitem, vitis non deserit ulmum:
separor a domina cur ego saepe mea?
at mihi te comitem iuraras usque futuram
per me perque oculos, sidera nostra, tuos.

ing of the images of the gods carried on the afterpart of the ship.

31. iuvenis: Leander, who, according to the familiar story, swam the Hellespont every night to visit his beloved Hero; cf. Her. 17 and 18.

32. tum: on the fatal night when the storm extinguished his guiding light and he perished in the waves.

35. vocet . rusticus the practice of artificial irrigation is no modern invention.

ding places, to Roman thought, in the cold and barren north.

40. saxa: i.e. the Caucasus Mountains; cf. Hor. Car. I, 22, 6: inhospitalem Caucasum.

41. ulmus amat vitem: the elm Iwas the favorite tree for a vineprop; the vine was said to be wedded to any tree so used, and other trees to be unwedded; cf. Hor. Epod. 2, 9-10: adulta vitium propagine altas maritat populos; Car. 2, 15, 4: platanusque caelebs; Cat. 62, 49 sqq. ut vidua vitis si forte eadem est ulmo coniuncta marito.

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44. oculos, sidera nostra, tuos: cf. Tib. 4, 2, 5-6; Prop. 2, 3, 14: non oculi, geminae, sidera nostra,

36. mulceat: 'caress'; cf. Cat. 62, 41: [flos] quem mulcent aurae; Prop. 4, 7, 60: mulcet ubi Elysias aura beata rosas. 39. A series of the most forbid- faces.

45 verba puellarum, foliis leviora caducis,

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inrita, qua visum est, ventus et unda ferunt. siqua mei tamen est in te pia cura relicti,

incipe pollicitis addere facta tuis,

parvaque quam primum rapientibus esseda mannis
ipsa per admissas concute lora iubas.

at vos, qua veniet, tumidi subsidite montes,

et faciles curvis vallibus este viae!

17

Siquis erit, qui turpe putet servire puellae,
illo convincar iudice turpis ego.

sim licet infamis, dum me moderatius urat,

quae Paphon et fluctu pulsa Cythera tenet.
atque utinam dominae miti quoque praeda fuissem,

45. foliis leviora cf. Her. 5, 109: tu levior foliis.

46. ventus et unda: cf. Cat. 70, 4.

47. Cf. Tib. 4, II, 1.

49. rapientibus esseda mannis : a rig suitable for a stylish young lady. Cf. Prop. 2, 32, 5: cur tua te Herculeum deportant esseda Tibur? Hor. Epod. 4.

2, 17

1-10: 'I will gladly be known as Corinna's slave; but I wish she were not so hard a mistress! Her beauty makes her overweening in pride. II-22: You need not despise me. Calypso, Thetis, Egeria, loved mortal men; and even lovely

Venus gave herself to ugly Vulcan.
Even my
verse illustrates the
happy union of greater and less.
23-34: So take me, darling; and
you need not be ashamed of me;
my verse offers you an enviable
glory, and you alone will I sing.'

1. Cf. Prop. 3, II, I.
3. urat: cf. 1, 1, 26.

4. Paphon: Paphos, on the
island of Cyprus, was a famous
center of Aphrodite worship; cf.
Hor. Car. 1, 30, 1: Venus, regina
Cnidi Paphique. — Cythera: this
island, south of the promontory of
Malea, was another celebrated
home of Aphrodite, and according
to one tradition she was born
there from the waves of the sea.
5. Cf. Prop. 1, 7, 5–8.

formosae quoniam praeda futurus eram !
dat facies animos: facie violenta Corinnast.
me miserum! cur est tam bene nota sibi?
scilicet a speculi sumuntur imagine fastus:
nec nisi conpositam se prius illa videt.
non tibi si facies nimium dat in omnia regni, –
o facies oculos nata tenere meos!

collatum idcirco tibi me contemnere debes :
aptari magnis inferiora licet.

15 traditur et nymphe mortalis amore Calypso
capta recusantem detinuisse virum.

20

creditur aequoream Phthio Nereida regi,
Egeriam iusto concubuisse Numae:

Volcano Venerem, quamvis incude relicta

turpiter obliquo claudicet ille pede.

carminis hoc ipsum genus inpar: sed tamen apte

17. 11. nimium vulg. animum P(?)S. in omnia vulg. nomina PS et omina Owen.

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longed to return to his home and his faithful Penelope.

17. Phthio... regi: Peleus; cf. Cat. 64. Nereida: Thetis.

18. Egeriam: the nymph whose shrine was outside the Roman Porta Capena, where she used to give counsel and love to Numa, the early Roman lawgiver.

20. Homer explains the lameness of Vulcan as caused by his fall when thrown out of heaven down to Lemnos; cf. Hom. Il. 1, 560 sqq.; later writers represented Venus as making fun of the physical defects of her divine spouse.

because he est.

21. Cf. I, 1, 3 sq.-inpar: sc.

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iungitur herous cum breviore modo.

tu quoque me, mea lux, in quaslibet accipe leges:

te deceat medio iura dedisse foro.

non tibi crimen ero, nec quo laetere remoto:

non erit hic nobis infitiandus amor.

sunt mihi pro magno felicia carmina censu,

et multae per me nomen habere volunt.
novi aliquam, quae se circumferat esse Corinnam :
ut fiat, quid non illa dedisse velit ?

sed neque diversi ripa labuntur eadem

frigidus Eurotas populiferque Padus,

nec, nisi tu, nostris cantabitur ulla libellis :
ingenio causas tu dabis una meo.

LIBER TERTIVS

9

Memnona si mater, mater ploravit Achillem,
et tangunt magnas tristia fata deas,
flebilis indignos, Elegeia, solve capillos!

22. herous: sc. modus; the hexameter was recognized as the regular vehicle of heroic poetical narration; cf. I, I, 2.

23. lux: cf. Cat. 68, 132. 24. deceat: concessive. dedisse i.e. as my superior.

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iura

25. crimen : cause for reproach.

27. Cf. Prop. 1, 8, 39-40. 29. circumferat: 'tells

around. '

34. Cf. Prop. I, 12, 20.

it

3, 9

On the death of Tibullus, 19 B.C. In this beautiful elegy Ovid, whose acquaintance with Tibullus was all too short (cf. Intr. § 38; Trist. 4, 10, 51), drops the conventional formality of most of the Amores, and we seem to see the genuine sorrow of a sympathetic soul. Moreover, when death touches the poets' guild, Ovid too is touched, and aroused to claim

5

IO

ah, nimis ex vero nunc tibi nomen erit!
ille tui vates operis, tua fama, Tibullus
ardet in extructo, corpus inane, rogo.
ecce, puer Veneris fert eversamque pharetram
et fractos arcus et sine luce facem.
adspice, demissis ut eat miserabilis alis

pectoraque infesta tundat aperta manu!
excipiunt lacrimas sparsi per colla capilli,
oraque singultu concutiente sonant.
fratris in Aeneae sic illum funere dicunt

immortality for his work. As a consolatio it may be compared with 2, 6, and Prop. 3, 7; 18; 4, II.

1-6: 'Mourn, Elegy! for thy chief exemplar is no more. 7-16: Venus and Cupid are in tears. 17-32: What a mockery to suppose that poets bear charmed lives! think of Orpheus, Linus, Homer! Nay, 'tis their work that is immortal. 33-46: What availed thee all thy piety? the gods, if gods there be, heed not. 47-58 Yet, how much worse it might have been! Thy mother and sister, Delia and Nemesis too, were by thy bedside, Tibullus. 59-66: If there be an Elysium, Tibullus will be there with Calvus, Catullus, and Gallus. 67-68:

Peace to thine ashes!'

1. Memnona: son of Tithonus and Eos, king of the Ethiopians. He went to the assistance of the Trojans after the death of Hector, and was killed by Achilles. Cf. Met. 13, 621 sqq. mater Achillem: Thetis in turn had to

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