30 35 hanc sequar, et fidos una aget aura duos. unum litus erit sopitis unaque tecto arbor, et ex una saepe bibemus aqua, et tabula una duos poterit conponere amantes, prora cubile mihi seu mihi puppis erit. omnia perpetiar: saevus licet urgeat eurus, velaque in incertum frigidus auster agat, quicumque et venti miserum vexastis Ulixen et Danaum Euboico litore mille rates, et qui movistis duo litora, cum rudis Argus 26. 39. rudis F2 ratis 0. Argus o Argo 0. emphatic pronoun. se 30. hanc excluding all other loves. quar: probably, like aget, future; more positive than the pres. subj. would have been. 33. conponere: 'nestle' (Phillimore). 36. frigidus auster: auster is normally a hot wind; but the poets enjoy much freedom of imagination in applying epithets to winds, which are indeed variable in temperature as well as in direction. Cf. 2, 9, 34: nec folia hiberno tam tremefacta noto; 4, 3. 48; Verg. Georg. 4, 261: frigidus ut quondam silvis immurmurat Auster; J. E. Church in Univ. of Nev. Studies 2, 4, pp. 92-98. 38. Euboico litore: i.e. on the promontory of Caphareus, where the Grecian fleet was shipwrecked on the return from Troy. Cf. 3, 7, 39; 4. I, 114; Verg. Aen. 11, 260: Euboicae cautes ultorque Caphareus. - mille: not literally a thousand; cf. H. 163, 2; though ROM. EL. POETS - 17 257 Homer says there were 1186 Grecian ships in the expedition against Troy, Dares, the impostor, says 1140; Dio, 1200; the Scholiast of Euripides, 1170 (C. S.). Whatever the original number, it was doubtless reduced on the return. Cf. Class. Jour., Vol. 4 (1909), p. 165. 39. duo litora: the Symplegades, the two notorious rocky islands near the entrance to the Bosporus, which were reputed to float hither and thither and to crush unlucky vessels between them. Cf. Apollon. Rhod. 2, 317 sqq. For an explanation of the phenomenon see Smith, Dict. Geog., article" Bosporus."- cum rudis Argus: cf. 3, 22, 13: qua rudis Argoa natat inter saxa columba; Luc. 3, 193: inde lacessitum primo mare, cum rudis Argo. By being first sent through the perilous passage the dove became the pathfinder of the ship. Cf. the dove sent by Noah. 40 45 50 dux erat ignoto missa columba mari. Neptunus fratri par in amore Iovi. crudelem et Boream rapta Orithyia negavit : crede mihi, nobis mitescet Scylla nec umquam 47. Argis w arvis 0. 41. illa: the only "she" for Propertius. all. 42. Cf. Hom. Od. 12, 415. 44. The poet is willing to risk wandering unburied this side of paradise, if Cynthia's body can only be saved and duly buried. 45 sqq. "All the world loves a lover." Cf. 3, 16, 11 sqq. 46. Iovi Jove was the divine lover par excellence; yet Neptune here is his equal, says Propertius. 47. Amymone, sent by her father Danaus to find water in time of drought, was ravished by Neptune, who with his trident produced the spring of Lerna, or Amymone Lernae palus, as her reward for yielding to his em 49. iam amplexu: 'even while in her embrace.'-votum : a preliminary promise to fulfill her chief desire is assumed for Neptune. What ardent lover ever failed to give it? What god would break it? illi: Amymone; corresponding to deus; she returned full-handed to her father. 51. Orithyia: daughter of Erechtheus; as she strayed from home in play, she was carried away by Boreas and became the mother of a famous progeny. Boreas represented wild stormy weather, to the people of southern climes especially. 53. nec umquam et numquam. 55 alternante vacans vasta Charybdis aqua, ipsaque sidera erunt nullis obscura tenebris, purus et Orion, purus et haedus erit. quod mihi si ponenda tuo sit corpore vita, exitus hic nobis non inhonestus erit. 27 At vos incertam, mortales, funeris horam quaeritis, et qua sit mors aditura via, quaeritis et caelo Phoenicum inventa sereno, quae sit stella homini commoda quaeque mala, 54. alternante water's ebb and flow.' 57. quod FLV2 quid NDV. 27. I. At O et w. aqua: 'the 56. Orion .. haedus both constellations rise at a stormy time of year, and were commonly regarded as the cause of bad weather. Cf. Verg. Aen. 4, 52: dum pelago desaevit hiems et aquosus Orion; 9, 668: veniens pluvialibus Haedis verberat imber humum. Haedi is a double star in Auriga, and the name is usually in the plural. 57. tuo . . . corpore: for thy body'; i.e. if my life must be lost in saving thine (C. S.). 58. erit: another example of the change from possibility in protasis to probability in apodosis. 2, 27 1-10: O fellow men, ye anxiously seek to know the time and the manner of your death; 11-16: but only the lover knows his fate; if his mistress call, he would even return to her from the jaws of hell.' Rothstein on insufficient grounds joins this to the preceding elegy. 1. funeris mortis: cf. 1, 17, 8, n. 3. Phoenicum: the Roman's indistinct knowledge of eastern affairs appears here again: the Chaldaeans were the inventors of astrology, probably; the Phoenicians were good astronomers certainly, so far as the art of navigation was concerned, and doubtless practiced astrology like other eastern nations. inventa: to be taken in apposition with v. 4. Cf. Job 38, 33: "Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven?" 10 5 seu pedibus Parthos sequitur seu classe Britannos, solus amans novit quando periturus et a qua morte, neque hic boreae flabra neque arma timet. iam licet et Stygia sedeat sub arundine remex, 5. sequitur sequimur 0. 7. fletis @ fletus N flemus FLDV fles tu Housman. capiti LDVF2 caput NF. tumultum O tumultu w. 10. labris. . . tuis O suis Broukhusius vestris . . . labris Foster. 5. Parthos... Britannos: the two widely remote objects of the ambition of Augustus, constantly reappearing in the literature of the period. — sequitur: the subject is supplied from homini. 6. Epexegetical of v. 5; maris et terrae modify viae. 7. fletis: here followed by three different constructions: acc. and inf. (v. 7), acc. alone (v. 9), and subj. with ne (v. 10). In the last two instances the idea of fear is the prominent one in fletis. 8. Mavors: this longer and perhaps more impressive, because more sonorous, form occurs only here in Propertius, though he uses the shorter usual form six times. 9. Cf. Juv. 3. 190-202. 10. nigra: 'deadly'; cf. Verg. Aen. 4, 514: nigri cum lacte veneni. — tuis: for a similar ex ample of the individualizing singular instead of the expected general plural cf. 2, 25, 41-47: vidistis . . . tuis. . . ocellis. 11. periturus: sc. sit: cf. 1, 8, 37.a qua: cf. for the use of the preposition, 3, 2, 25; 4, 3, 39; Tib. 2, 1, 56; Uhlmann, p. 40. 12. morte: i.e. the disfavor of his darling. 13. sub: cf. 3, 9, 36. — arundine characteristic of the banks of sluggish streams like those in the infernal world; cf. Verg. Georg. 4, 478: quos circum limus niger et deformis arundo Cocyti tardaque palus inamabilis unda alligat, et noviens Styx interfuso coercet. remex: Aristophanes (Frogs, 197 sqq.) represents the dead as paddling their own canoe ; and Vergil (Aen. 6, 320: illae remis vada livida verrunt) probably implies the same. 15 cernat et infernae tristia vela ratis : si modo clamantis revocaverit aura puellae, concessum nulla lege redibit iter. 28 Iuppiter, adfectae tandem miserere puellae: tam formosa tuum mortua crimen erit. 15. clamantis O damnatis V2 damnatum w. 14. tristia vela ratis: the phantom ferryboat of Charon appears to be equipped not merely with oars but also with sails to catch any shadow of a breeze that may stir in that calm locality! 15. clamantis: it might be at the conclamatio just after death, at the funeral pyre, or perhaps at the tomb. aura: the faintest whisper only might reach the Styx, indeed only the breath of the voice might fan the ghostly cheeks of the lover. 16. Cf. 4, 11, 4. 2, 28 Cynthia is dangerously ill. Propertius utters fervent, and ultimately effectual, prayers for her recovery. The arguments advanced by different editors for dividing this elegy variously into two or three separate poems seem insufficient. The natural vacillations of anxiety, despair, hope, and ultimate confidence pass swiftly before the sympathies of the reader. For various parallels, cf. Ovid, Am. 2, 13. 1-4: 'Juppiter, show pity in my darling's hour of need; 5-14: true, she may have brought her affliction upon herself by offending some divinity, perhaps through perjury or overweening pride. 15-24: Yet, like other famous beauties who had offended some divinity, you too, Cynthia, may ultimately triumph over your difficulties; 25-30: but if you must die, glory and fame will be yours in death; 31-34: humble yourself, however, before the gods; and hesitate not, Jove, to grant our petition. 35-46: All the omens and incantations fail to give us any encouragement; my life is bound up in hers; pity us both, and both of us will pay thee our Vows; 47-58: Persephone and Pluto, confirm my hope; already fair ones enough are in your realms, and sooner or later must we all come to you. 59-62: And, light of my life, forget not to pay |