25 30 illa tua totiens aera repulsa manu, quidve, pie dum sacra colis, pureque lavari te (memini) et puro secubuisse toro? nunc, dea, nunc succurre mihi (nam posse mederi ut mea votivas persolvens Delia voces ante sacras lino tecta fores sedeat bisque die resoluta comas tibi dicere laudes 24. aera the sistrum, a rattle composed commonly of several pieces of metal (hence the plural), the usual accompaniment of Isisworship; cf. Ovid, A. A. 3, 635 25. dum sacra colis: especially at the two more important annual festivals of the goddess. — pureque lavari . . et... secubuisse: sc. prosunt; the two principal requirements of the devotees of Isis at these festivals; cf. Prop. 2, 33, 1-4; also Tib. 2, 1, 11; Ovid, Am. 3, 9, 33. 27. posse mederi: sc. te. Cf. Stolz-Schmalz, 162, 2; Draeger, 454; Ter. Phorm. 610: venire salvom volup est. 28. picta . . . tabella: the custom of placing a votive picture in the temple of a deity after escape from sickness, shipwreck, or other danger, was a common one, especially in temples of Isis; cf. Juv. 12, 27: votiva testantur fana tabella plurima; pictores quis nescit ab Iside pasci; Hor. Car. 1, 5, 13; Sat. 2, 1, 33. The custom still persists in some churches in Italy. 29. votivas. . . voces = vota, i.e. those of Tibullus himself, viz. vv. 30-32. 30. lino tecta: clothed in linen.' The priests and devotees of Isis wore linen so much as to have the standing epithet liniger, like the goddess herself; cf. Ovid, Met. 1, 747 linigera . . . turba ; Ex P. 1, 1, 51: linigerae .. Isidis. Linen raiment was worn also by those consulting the subterranean oracle of Trophonius (Paus. 9, 39, 8), in the cult of earth gods (Dieterich, Abraxas 158 A), in magic rites (ib. 179, 9, etc.), and in incubation (Deubner, De Incubat. p. 25). — sedeat: cf. Prop. 2, 28, 45. 31. bisque die: in the early morning, before sunrise, and towards evening.-resoluta comas: cf. 2, 5, 66, where the Sibyl is likewise engaged in serving a deity. 32. insignis: i.e. for her unusual beauty.-Pharia = Aegyptia; Pharos was the island on which stood the famous lighthouse at the entrance to the harbor of Alexandria. 35 40 at mihi contingat patrios celebrare penates 45 ipsae mella dabant quercus, ultroque ferebant 33. contingat: like sedeat (v. 30), and debeat (v. 32), introduced by ut (v. 29). — celebrare penates: the usual custom on returning from a journey; cf. Ter. Phorm. 311. : 34. antiquo in comparison with such new-fangled cults as that of Isis. menstrua: the lar was worshiped especially on the Calends, as well as the Ides, the Nones, and festival occasions. lari: up to the time of Augustus the lar familiaris was spoken of properly only in the singular, indicating the protector of the familia as a whole; cf. Wissowa, Rel. u. Kult. d. Römer, p. 149. 35. The following description of "the good old days" of the "golden age" under Şaturn's rule is worthy to be compared with the many similar passages in the Roman poets, such as Ovid, Met. 1, 50 55 obvia securis ubera lactis oves. non acies, non ira fuit, non bella, nec ensem inmiti saevus duxerat arte faber. nunc love sub domino caedes et vulnera semper, hic choreae cantusque vigent, passimque vagantes 50. repente G reperte AV multa reperta via w. 51. pater: Juppiter. timidum: a predicate adjective here; cf. the English "strike him dead." 52. Clearly Tibullus does not consider the sentiment of v. 49 any sacrilege. 53. fatales: which fate has allotted. 54. notis: sc. litterarum. 55. Cf. 3, 2, 29; Prop. 2, 13, 35. 56. Note favorite position of the -que; cf. 1, 1, 51, n. 57. me: in contrast to lapis (v. 54). 58. Cf. Ovid, Am. 3, 9, 60.ipsa Venus: this function was usually ascribed to Mercury. dulce sonant tenui gutture carmen aves, at iuvenum series teneris inmixta puellis ludit, et adsidue proelia miscet Amor. abdita, quam circum flumina nigra sonant: 61. casiam: not the common casia of Italy referred to in Verg. Ec. 2, 49; but the imported product, corresponding to our common cinnamon bark.- - non culta: A. 496, note 3; H. 636, 3. —seges: for a similar use of the word cf. 4, 2, 18. 63. at: used often by Tibullus without any adversative force; cf. v. 87, n.; also 1, 7, 7; 10, 41; in 2, 5, 7 sed is used in the same = sceleratorum; cf. Verg. Aen. 6, 543: inpia Tartara; Ovid, Met. 4, 456 sqq. 68. circum: this preposition is always postpositive in Tibullus; cf. 1, 1, 23.1 - flumina nigra : the rivers that may properly be said to surround Tartarus are Phlegethon and Pyriphlegethon, the rivers of fire; cf. Verg. Aen. 6, 550-551: quae rapidus flammis ambit torrentibus amnis, Tartareus Phlegethon, torquetque sonantia saxa. The poets' conceptions of the details of the lower world were naturally vague and differed widely. Cf. Cat. 65, 6, n. 69. Tisiphone, with her wriggling locks of serpents, is a familiar figure in descriptions of the horrors of Tartarus; cf. Prop. 3, 5, 40; Verg. Aen. 6, 570-572; Ovid, Met. 4, 474-475 Hor. Car. 2, 13, 3536. The expression pro crinibus is a modifier of angues, equivalent to a relative clause. angues: for the construction cf. capillos, v. 91. Serpents are particularly connected 70 75 saevit, et huc illuc inpia turba fugit : versantur celeri noxia membra rota, with earth gods and beings of the 70. Cf. Culex, 219. 71. tum: cf. Verg. Aen. 4, 250, for similar use of the conj. to add another detail. in porta: of Tartarus, as in Verg. Georg. 4, 483; but Cerberus is usually the keeper of the entrance to the lower world as a whole; cf. Verg. Aen. 6, 417. — serpentum . . . ore stridet visage of hissing serpents'; cf. Ovid, Met. 11, 597: non vigil ales ibi cristati cantibus oris evocat Auroram; Plin. N. H. 10, 56, 77: ore rubicundo (of a hen); the expression gives us no definite information as to whether Tibullus conceived Cerberus as with one head or more, or with the snakes on his head (Hor. Car. 3, 11, 18), around his neck (Culex, 221), or composing his head, or heads. For the idea that Cerberus really was a snake cf. Paus. 3, 25, 5. Honey cakes were thrown to the snakes of Trophonius in Boeotia, as to Cerberus. 73. illic belongs to the next distich as well as to this one; similarly the force of illic in v. 77 extends as far as v. 80. So the examples of condemned wretches in Tartarus are arranged in pairs. The first two, Ixion and Tityos, were guilty of unbridled lust, and Tibullus wishes vv. 71-82 to be taken as a parallel to these. Tantalus and the Danaides were punished for presumptuous ingratitude and lack of appreciation of the good gifts of the gods, which in the latter case were represented by good husbands; these examples are quoted rather as a warning to Delia herself, and are to be compared with vv. 83-84. 77. circum: adverb; sc. sunt; cf. Caes. B. C. 2, 10: ubi ex ea turri quae circum essent opera tueri se posse sunt confisi. 78. iam iam: the repetition makes more vivid the picture of the sufferer's palpitating hope ever just on the verge of realization. Cf. Verg. Aen. 6, 602. |