30

uni siqua placet, culta puella sat est;
cum tibi praesertim Phoebus sua carmina donet
Aoniamque libens Calliopea lyram,

unica nec desit iucundis gratia verbis,

omnia quaeque Venus quaeque Minerva probat. his tu semper eris nostrae gratissima vitae,

taedia dum miserae sint tibi luxuriae.

6

Non ego nunc Hadriae vereor mare noscere tecum,
Tulle, neque Aegaeo ducere vela salo,

26. I.e. let this rather be your conviction.

27. cum tibi praesertim: ‘and this is especially true in your case, for,' etc. · carmina : 'power of song.' Cf. Pott's Lat. Prose Comp.,. p. 32 (C. S.).

28. Aoniam: i.e. Boeotian, of the land of Helicon and the Muses, among whom Calliope holds the first place. Cf. Milton's Par. Lost, I, 14: "to soar above the Aonian mount." Calliopea this form occurs in Vergil and Ovid; also, cf. 3, 3, 38, n.

29. verbis: sc. tuis. Propertius often refers to the fact that Cynthia was a docta puella. I, 7, II, n.

Cf.

30. Sc. adsint; cf. 4, 1, 17-19. There are several examples of this sort of brachyology in Propertius. - Minerva in her capacity as patroness of feminine handiwork.

31. nostrae . . . vitae : more emphatic than nobis would be. Cf. Plaut. Men. 675: aetati tuae.

I. 6

The reason why Propertius cannot accept the invitation of Tullus to accompany him to the East. The same Tullus, to whom this first book of Propertius is dedicated, and who appears to have been a most intimate friend, is addressed also in I, I, 9; 14, 20; 22, 1; 3, 22, 2. He is believed to have been a nephew of L. Volcatius Tullus, and had doubtless asked Propertius to go with him to Asia in his uncle's train. As the latter was consul in 33 B.C. and, according to the Lex Pompeia de iure magistratuum, a provincial command could not be assumed till five years after the end of the year of office, the date of his departure for the East, and of this poem, was probably about 27 B.C.

The obvious similarity of the theme to that of Tibullus I, I, serves to emphasize the differences between the poets and their loves.

5

cum quo Rhipaeos possim conscendere montes,
ulteriusque domos vadere Memnonias:
sed me conplexae remorantur verba puellae,
mutatoque graves saepe colore preces.
illa mihi totis argutat noctibus ignes,

Tibullus does not wish to leave
home and Delia; Propertius, with
a sigh, admits that he dare not
meet the tirade of reproaches with
which Cynthia would inevitably
receive the announcement of such
a purpose. These early poems of
the Cynthia book suffice to show
that Propertius already felt the
attachment often a grievous bur-
den, yet one which he could not
bring himself to lay down;
situation in many respects similar
to that existing between Catullus
and Lesbia.

.

a

1-6: Not the dangers of the deep, but the words of my mistress hold me back, Tullus, from sailing with you. 7-18: Her complaints are unendurable; I would rather give up seeing the wonders of the world than risk them. 19-24: Go! win your spurs; for Cupid has not yet aimed his shafts at you. 25-30: But I am not for deeds of glory. 31-36: Where'er you go, forget not my unlucky star!'

I. vereor of the awesome respect the Romans often expressed for the sea. Cf. Hor. Car. 1, 3; Luc. 3, 193 sqq.; Petron. (Baehrens PLM., Vol. 4, p. 94).

2. ducere vela navigare. salo a favorite word with Proper

tius;

cf. 1, 15, 12; 3, 13, 6; 3, 7, 40. Poetic abl. of place.

3. cum quo. . . possim: 'for with thee I could.'- Rhipaeos : the mention of the extreme regions of cold and heat is frequently paralleled in the poets of this age, e.g. Hor. Car. I, 22, 17-24. Cf. Cat. 11, 1-14.

4. ulterius: the narrowness of the line distinguishing adverb and preposition is well illustrated in this use of the comp. adv. for the positive ultra as a preposition with acc. - domos . Memnonias i.e. Aethiopia.

5. Cf. Tib. I, 1, 55.

colore: per

6. mutato haps the best commentary is 1, 15, 39: quis te cogebat multos pallere colores, referring to alternating blushes and pallor. Cf. 1, 18, 17. - saepe belongs to mutato.

7. illa note the eager repetition of the pronoun, in contrast with the personal pronouns with which this short poem abounds. — totis ... noctibus: duration of time. - argutat: an impatient and not very gallant term. The verb is usually deponent and intransitive, but here has ignes (i.e. amorem) as an object. Cf. Verg. Aen. 4, 2; Ovid, Trist. 4, 10, 45: saepe suos solitus recitare Proper

et queritur nullos esse relicta deos:
illa meam mihi iam se denegat: illa minatur,
quae solet ingrato tristis amica viro.

his ego non horam possum durare querellis:
ah pereat, siquis lentus amare potest!
an mihi sit tanti doctas cognoscere Athenas

atque Asiae veteres cernere divitias,
ut mihi deducta faciat convicia puppi
Cynthia et insanis ora notet manibus,
osculaque opposito dicat sibi debita vento,
et nihil infido durius esse viro?

tu patrui meritas conare anteire secures,
et vetera oblitis iura refer sociis:

6. 10. ingrato Itali irato 0.

tius ignes; Novius, Exodio apud
Non. (Mueller, p. 376): totum
diem argutatus quasi cicada.
8. Cf. 3, 7, 18.

11. his

.

querellis: dat. with durare (= durus esse), 'be insensible to.'

12. lentus unresponsive.' Cf. Ovid, Her. 15, 169: amor tetigit lentissima Pyrrhae pectora. This verse gives the key to the career of Propertius.

17. opposito i e. she may tell her grievance to the wind that blows in her face, perhaps as she gazes after the vanishing ship that bears away her lover. - debita : still due from her lover.

19. tu, like the tua in v. 21 and the tibi in v. 23, serves to emphasize the contrast with me in v. 25. Cf. the thought with Tib. I, I, 53-55 patrui: see introduction to this poem. meritas: a com

13. doctas: a natural epithet; plimentary epithet. cf. 3, 21, 1.

15. deducta: the ships were drawn up on the shore in winter, and launched again when a journey was to begin. Cf. Hor. Car. 1, 4, 2: trahuntque siccas machinae

anteire:

'surpass.'-secures: i.e. the greatness which the official axes symbolized.

20. vetera

iura: many

Asiatic peoples had formerly been true to their Roman allies, before the political anarchy which for a time intervened during the civil

wars.

25

30

nam tua non aetas umquam cessavit amori,
semper at armatae cura fuit patriae,
et tibi non umquam nostros puer iste labores
adferat et lacrimis omnia nota meis.

me sine, quem semper voluit Fortuna iacere,
hanc animam extremae reddere nequitiae.
multi longinquo periere in amore libenter,

in quorum numero me quoque terra tegat.
non ego sum laudi, non natus idoneus armis:
hanc me militiam fata subire volunt.
at tu seu mollis qua tendit Ionia seu qua
Lydia Pactoli tingit arata liquor,

seu pedibus terras seu pontum carpere remis
ibis, et accepti pars eris imperii,

22. at O et w.

the service of my mistress. Cf. Tib. 1, 1, 75.

31. mollis. . . Ionia: cf. Verg. Georg. 1, 57: molles sua tura Sabaei.

32. Pactoli: the proverbial river which contributed so greatly in legend to the fabulous riches of Lydia. Cf. the modern verse: "Where Afric's sunny fountains roll down their golden sands.” — arata (sc. loca) = arva. — liquor: cf. 3, 18, 28.

33. carpere: cf. 1, 1, 12, n.

34. accepti: i.e. by the peoples who soon would be under pax Romana in Asia.

- pars: Tullus would naturally hold some office under his uncle's control.

tum tibi siqua mei veniet non inmemor hora, vivere me duro sidere certus eris.

7

Dum tibi Cadmeae dicuntur, Pontice, Thebae armaque fraternae tristia militiae,

atque, ita sim felix, primo contendis Homero, sint modo fata tuis mollia carminibus, nos, ut consuemus, nostros agitamus amores,