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80

85

90

et Danai proles, Veneris quod numina laesit,
in cava Lethaeas dolia portat aquas.
illic sit quicumque meos violavit amores,
optavit lentas et mihi militias.

at tu casta precor maneas, sanctique pudoris
adsideat custos sedula semper anus.
haec tibi fabellas referat positaque lucerna
deducat plena stamina longa colu.

at circa gravibus pensis adfixa puella

paullatim somno fessa remittat opus.
tunc veniam subito, nec quisquam nuntiet ante,
sed videar caelo missus adesse tibi.

tunc mihi, qualis eris, longos turbata capillos,
obvia nudato, Delia, curre pede.

86. colu M colo OP. 87. at P ac 0. 89. tunc O tum w. nunc A.

'perfo

80. cava = cavata = rated'; cf. Ovid, A. A. 1, 432: elapsusque cava fingitur aure lapis; Met. 12, 130: parmam gladio galeamque cavari cernit.

81. quicumque: a comprehensive term for potential or actual rivals.

83. tu: the same as meos amores in v. 81, i.e. Delia.

84. anus: either Delia's mother (cf. 1, 6, 57-66) or nurse (cf. Prop. 4, 3, 41). For the picture cf. Ter. Haut. 275 sqq.

85. fabellas referat: the older woman is to 'spin yarns' to the maidens while they all spin yarn,

their evening's task. Cf. the story of Lucretia's occupation in Livy, 1, 57, 9. — lucerna : the fact

-

that lights were necessary so early

91. tunc GV

indicates perhaps that this elegy was written in the fall of the year.

87. at = ac. Tibullus is particular not to use ac before a palatal; cf. Haupt, Opusc. 1, 109; cf. v. 63, n. puella: the collective use for puellae; cf. Lachmann on Prop. 3, 3, 29.

90. caelo Tibullus uses the preposition in a similar phrase in 4, 13, 13.

92. nudato: Delia, surprised at her quiet evening's work, not only will leave her hair unconfined, but also will not even stop to put on her sandals as she runs to meet her lover. It is clear from this idyllic picture of Delia's modest home life that she was not a married

woman.

hoc precor, hunc illum nobis Aurora nitentem Luciferum roseis candida portet equis.

7

Hunc cecinere diem Parcae fatalia nentes

stamina non ulli dissoluenda deo;

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After Messalla's brief but victorious campaign in Aquitania, probably in B C. 31, he was summoned by Augustus to help settle affairs in the East (cf. 1, 3, Intr.), and his triumph over the Aquitani was therefore delayed until his return to Rome in B.C. 27, when it was celebrated on Sept. 25. His birthday occurring a few days thereafter, he received from Tibullus for the occasion this congratulatory poem. Belling (Untersuchung, pp. 174-175) has collected an interesting series of parallelisms from Vergil's Georgics. 1-12: The Fates decreed that this should be the birthday of one who should subdue proud Aquitania. That has come true, Messalla; the Romans have seen thy triumph; I was a witness of thy glorious deeds, as were the ocean, strange rivers, and people. 1322: Witnesses, too, of thy victorious progress are such eastern lands as Cilicia, Syria, and Egypt.

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'Tis 23-42: Egypt! to thee, father Nile, and to thee, great Osiris, that she owes her preëminence in agriculture, especially in the fruit of the vine, which gladdens the heart of man and drives dull

care away. 43-54: Yea, Osiris, thou lovest the festal day, with dance and song and beauty. Come then, and join in the celebration of this glad natal day! Come thou, Genius of the day, and let me offer thee appropriate offerings! 55-64: And, Messalla, may thy sons live to emulate thy deeds and bring honor to thy declining years! Let not men forget thy blessings conferred upon them! And may this day many times return, with ever-increasing joy!'

1. Hunc . . . diem: Messalla's birthday. Parcae: the three sisters, Clotho (spinner'), Lachesis (*allotter'), and Atropos ('inevitable'). nentes: SO the fates sang as they spun before the birth of Pollio's son in Verg. Ec. 4, 46– 47: talia saecla, suis dixerunt, 'currite' fusis concordes stabili fatorum numine Parcae. In Cat. 64, 323 sqq the prophecy is uttered

5

hunc fore, Aquitanas posset qui fundere gentes,
quem tremeret forti milite victus Atax.
evenere: novos pubes Romana triumphos
vidit et evinctos bracchia capta duces:
at te victrices lauros, Messalla, gerentem

portabat niveis currus eburnus equis.

non sine me est tibi partus honos: Tarbella Pyrene

7. 8. niveis o nitidis 0. 9.

at the wedding of the father and mother, with the oft-recurring refrain, 'currite ducentes subtegmina, currite, fusi.' In Tib. 4, 5, 3, the Parcae are represented as singing the fates at the time of birth: te nascente novum Parcae cecinere

puellis servitium. In this case the time is undefined. Ovid seems to have had this passage in mind when he wrote (Trist. 5, 3, 25), scilicet hanc legem nentes fatalia Parcae stamina bis genito bis cecinere tibi.

2. dissoluenda: cf. v. 40; Cat. 66, 38, n.deo: emphatic; not even the gods can escape the decrees of fate.

3. hunc best taken as referring to Messalla himself: for a similar ambiguity in pronouns cf. tibi (vv. 53 and 55) referring to different persons, and haec (Prop. 1, 13, 9, 11, 13); Prop. 3, 11, 37,

n.

4. milite instrumental.-Atax: this river (the modern Aude) was in Gallia Narbonensis; but Roman geography was notoriously inexact; moreover vv. 9-12 show that the poet is not confining the

Tarbella Scaliger tua bella 0.

account of the victorious progress of Messalla to the limits of Aquitania proper. As the Atax was directly in the line of march from the Province' to Aquitania, very likely it was the scene of the first conflict between the armies.

tos.

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5. evenere: i.e. the predictions of the preceding verses. - triumphos like lauros (v. 7), merely a poetic plural. Cf. 2, 5, 117. 6. capta by hypallage for cap- duces: among the features of Roman triumphal processions was a selection of the noblest captives led, bound, to death (commonly inflicted at the Tullianum); cf. Ovid, A. A. 1, 215: ibunt ante duces onerati colla catenis.

8. portabat descriptive imperfect.-niveis: cf. Ovid, A. A. 1, 214: quattuor in niveis aureus ibis equis! currus eburnus: the triumphal car was richly adorned with gold and ivory, and drawn by four horses, often, but not always, white. For details of the Roman triumph see Pohlmey's Der römische Triumph. Cf. 2, 5, 120.

9. non sine me: i.e. Tibullus was present in the Aquitanian cam

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testis et Oceani litora Santonici,

testis Arar Rhodanusque celer magnusque Garumna, Carnuti et flavi caerula lympha Liger. an te, Cydne, canam, tacitis qui leniter undis caeruleus placidis per vada serpis aquis, quantus et aetherio contingens vertice nubes frigidus intonsos Taurus alat Cilicas?

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12. Carnuti w Carnoti 0 Carnutis M.

paign. Tarbella Pyrēnē: the Tarbelli were an Aquitanian tribe living close up under the Pyrenees, near the ocean.

10. Santonici : the Santones occupied the territory on the coast just north of the river Garonne.

11. Arar: the modern Saône. 12. Carnuti. . . flavi: gen. sing. used in the collective sense : 'of the fair-haired Carnute.' The Carnuti lived between the Seine and the Loire. - et: the trajection of this copula occurs more often in this elegy than in any other of Tibullus; cf. vv. 15, 21, 38, 39, 54. Propertius is equally free in this respect; Ovid, more cautious; no example occurs in Catullus. Cf. Haupt, Opusc. 1, p. 122. caerula lympha in apposition with Liger: the epithet must refer to the bay at the mouth of the river, if it has any meaning.

13. an... canam: the missing first member of this double question might be supplied thus: utrum taceam quod non ipse vidi. - Cydne: though not the largest river of Cilicia, the Cydnus was important because Tarsus was situ

13. an w at 0.

ated upon it, and interesting because of the peculiarity possibly referred to in these verses and described by Strabo, viz. that before actually reaching the sea it flows into a kind of lake (pîyμa).

14. placidis: 'Thy placid stream, thine azure gleam, and thy wavelet's noiseless flow' (Cranstoun). Such tautologies are not uncommon in the poets; cf. aestiva in v. 22 following the same idea in v. 21; Sen. Herc. Fur. 680: placido quieta labitur Lethe vado. - vada: course.'

15. quantus. . . contingens . . . Taurus alat = quantus sit Taurus qui contingit et alit; cf. qualis

abundet (vv. 21-22). The Taurus furnished support to the Cilicians by its cultivated slopes and its grazing grounds.

16. intonsos: here a sign of rude barbarity: cf. Liv. 21, 32, 7: homines intonsi et inculti; Ovid, Ex P. 4, 2, 2: intonsis... Getis. But the early Romans had not been so particular; barbers first came to Rome in the year 300 B C.; cf. F. W. Nicolson's discussion of Greek and Roman Barbers in Harvard

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quid referam, ut volitet crebras intacta per urbes
alba Palaestino sancta columba Syro,
utque maris vastum prospectet turribus aequor

prima ratem ventis credere docta Tyros,
qualis et, arentes cum findit Sirius agros,
fertilis aestiva Nilus abundet aqua?
Nile pater, quanam possim te dicere causa
aut quibus in terris occuluisse caput?
te propter nullos tellus tua postulat imbres,
arida nec pluvio supplicat herba Iovi.
te canit atque suum pubes miratur Osirim

Stud. in Class. Philology, Vol. 2, pp. 41 sqq.; Varro, R. R. 2, 11, 10.

18. Palaestino: an adjective, used with no well-defined meaning by Tibullus. Palestine was a part of Syria, to be sure; but the fact referred to here was no more characteristic of Palestine than of other parts of the general region. - sancta: because the dove was sacred to Astarte, as well as to her Greek counterpart, Aphrodite. Syro: dat. of ref.: in the eyes of the Syrian.'

19. turribus: 'lofty palaces'; a vague word; cf. Prop. 3, 21, 15. The modern term is "skyscraper," at least in American cities.

21. qualis, etc. cf. note on v. 15. Sirius: cf. I, I, 27, n.

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epithet is particularly appropriate to the Nile, without which Egypt would not exist except as a part of the desert; it befits a Roman poet well, too, for Egypt was one of the principal granaries of Rome. No doubt Tibullus was well acquainted with the beautiful statue of father Nile, the type of which was imitated in representations of the Tiber; cf. Baum. Denk., p. 1028.

causa: the question is answered by Ovid, Met. 2, 254-255: Nilus in extremum fugit perterritus orbem occuluitque caput, quod

adhuc latet.

24. occuluisse caput: only in recent times has the source been discovered. The Nile problem was discussed by Herodotus in Bk. 2, by Seneca, Nat. Quaest. 4, I sqq. and elsewhere.

26. pluvio... Iovi: cf. H. & T. $ 207.

27. Osirim: as the greatest male divinity of the Egyptians, Osiris, the representative of the

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