5 reges, Alba, tuos et regum facta tuorum, tantum operis, nervis hiscere posse meis, parvaque tam magnis admoram fontibus ora, unde pater sitiens Ennius ante bibit, quent recurrence of a similar theme, e.g. in 2, 10; 3, 9; and his more elaborate apology in 3, II, betray a restless longing on the part of Propertius to essay more serious writing, a consummation which he had already begun to reach in Book 4, and might well have fully realized, had he enjoyed long life. 1-12: Methought on Helicon I sang the glorious past of Rome; 13-24: but Phoebus chid me for wandering from my province; 25-36: and, leading me to the Muses' grot, showed me how they were busy each with her appointed function; 37-52: then one of them, -I think, Calliope, -appointed me my lot, to sing of love, and gave mé an inspiring draught from the spring whence drank Philetas.' 1. Visus eram: the tense indicates that he had already entered upon the themes he mentions, when he was interrupted by Apollo, v. 13 (C. S.). Reference to the famous dream of Ennius on Helicon is a commonplace in Roman literature; cf. Pers. Prol. I: nec fonte labra prolui caballino, nec in bicipiti somniasse Parnaso memini; Cic. Som. Scip. I, 2: pariant aliquid in somno tale quale de Homero scribit Ennius ; 666 4. tantum operis: for the expression cf. 3, 11, 70; for the syntax, an apposition with the rest of vv. 3 and 4, cf. L. 1081. Coming between the verb and its object, this expression serves somewhat to tone down the harshness of the construction. -hiscere: cf. 2, 31, 6; Browning, The Glove, I : 'Heigho!' yawned one day King Francis, 'Distance all value enhances!'" Still better, in the sense of speaking in a braggart or presumptuous manner, cf. Ayenbite of Inwyt : "Yelpth other of his wyth, other of his kenne, other of his workes." Cf. also Walt Whitman, Song of Myself, 52: "I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world." 6. pater: Ennius is traditionally the father' of Roman poetry; cf. Hor. Ep. 1, 19, 7. 1Ο et cecini Curios fratres et Horatia pila, regiaque Aemilia vecta tropaea rate, victricesque moras Fabii pugnamque sinistram Cannensem et versos ad pia vota deos, Hannibalemque lares Romana sede fugantes, anseris et tutum voce fuisse Iovem, cum me Castalia speculans ex arbore Phoebus 3. 7. cecini w cecinit 0. for 7. Curios Curiatios; similar poetic shortenings in Propertius, besides Horatia and Aemilia in this passage, cf. Baiae (I, II, 30), Tatiae (4, 4, 31), etc. This unusually violent abbreviation may have been supported in the mind of Propertius by the idea that the Roman Curii were descended from the Curiatii, there being some doubt in antiquity whether the latter were Alban or Roman champions. Cf. Livy, I, 24, I (nominum error manet) at the beginning of the description of this famous combat. pila: the spoils of the Curiatii taken by Horatius were probably placed upon a memorial column. At any rate there was a pila Horatia in the Forum at the corner of the Basilica Julia; cf. Platner, Top. p. 258. Cf. 3, 4, 6, n. 8. regia.. tropaea referring to the victory at Pydna over Perseus, King of Macedonia, by Aemilius Paulus in 168 B.C. 9. moras Fabii: the successful policy of Fabius Cunctator against Hannibal. IO. versos.. deos: after the battle of Cannae the gods listened to the prayers of the Romans and became propitious (C. S.). II. lares: the mysterious failure of Hannibal to take Rome in 211 B.C. was attributed to divine interposition; cf. Varro, Sat. Men. (Herc. T. F.): noctu Hannibalis cum fugavi exercitum, Tutanus hoc Tutanum Romae nuncupor; and for another tradition, Paulus, Epit. Festi, p. 283; Rediculi fanum extra portam Capenam fuit, quia accedens ad Urbem Hannibal ex eo loco redierit quibusdam perterritus visis. 12. anseris . . . tutum voce refers to the historic (?) cackling which saved Jove's temple from the Gauls; cf. Livy, 5, 47. 13. Castalia: more poetic geography! Cf. Tib. 1, 3, 7, n. Propertius speaks of a Pierian spring, a Castalian wood, or the shades of Helicon, in a conventional sense, much as we do to-day. Castalia is, of course, on Parnassus in Phocis, while the poet is supposed to be dreaming on Helicon in ་ sic ait, aurata nixus ad antra lyra, 15 quid tibi cum tali, demens, est flumine? quis te carminis heroi tangere iussit opus? 20 25 non hic ulla tibi speranda est fama, Properti: Boeotia! arbore: laurel; here used collectively. 15. flumine: i.e. fontibus, v. 5 (C. S.). 17. hic in this field.' 18. Thy tiny wheels must press the velvet mead': a pretty metaphor for the simple prose, "Elegy is your proper field '; yours are no chariot wheels to rut the battlefield (C. S.). 19. iactetur saepe : because of the impatient restlessness of the puella under these conditions. Postgate recalls Strato "addressing his book ": πολλάκι φοιτήσεις ὑποκόλπιον ἢ παρὰ δίφροις βληθέν. 21. sevecta: amaέ λey. — gy:o : the elegiac routine (C. S.). Propertius uses the word again, in its literal sense, in 3, 14, 11: gyrum pulsat equis. 30 35 pendebantque cavis tympana pumicibus, orgia Musarum et Sileni patris imago. fictilis, et calami, Pan Tegeaee, tui, et Veneris dominae volucres, mea turba, columbae tingunt Gorgoneo punica rostra lacu, diversaeque novem sortitae rura puellae exercent teneras in sua dona manus. haec hederas legit in thyrsos, haec carmina nervis aptat, at illa manu texit utraque rosam. e quarum numero me contigit una dearum : 29. orgia Heinsius ergo 0 organa Eldikius. 28. tympana: the tambourines especially dedicated to Cybele (C. S.), and used also in the service of Bacchus, who sometimes supplanted Apollo as the inspirer of poetry; cf. 4, 1, 62; 3, 2, 9, n.; 2, 30, 38; Tib. 1, 7, 37; Ovid, Met. 11, 17: tympanaque et plausus et Bacchei ululatus obstrepuere sono citharae. 29. Orgia: 'mystic instruments.'-imago: a terra cotta bust; cf. E. Maass in Hermes, Vol. 31 (1896), p. 382. 30. Tegeaee: Tegea was a typical Arcadian town, and Arcadia was the home of Pan. For the special cult of Pan at Tegea, cf. Farnell, Greek Cults, Vol. 4, p. 433. 31. mea turba = mea cura, or meae deliciae (C. S.).- columbae : amorous birds, sacred to Venus; cf. 4, 5, 63; Ovid, Met. 13, 674. 32. tingunt: moisten.'- Gorgoneo . . . lacu: Hippocrene, pro duced by the hoof of Pegasus; and Pegasus sprang from the blood of the Gorgon Medusa, and is sometimes called equus Medusaeus (C. S.). Cf. v. 2, n.; 3, 1, 19, n.-punica: 'purple-red,' the adjective referring more to their famous dye than to the people who produced it. Cf. Ovid, Am. 2, 6, 22 (of a parrot). 33. diversae in different parts of the cave. The nine Muses are represented as each engaged in her allotted sphere (C. S.). But this does not necessarily refer to the stereotyped functions of later times. 35. in thyrsos: purpose acc. The Muse is given the function of a Bacchante, in harmony with the spirit of the passage. Cf. v. 28, n.; 2, 30, 38: medius docta cuspide Bacchus erit; Lucr. 1, 922: acri percussit thyrso laudis spes magna meum cor et simul incussit suavem mi in pectus amorem Musarum. 40 45 ut reor a facie, Calliopea fuit. contentus niveis semper vectabere cycnis, 42. flare Fruterius flere 0. 38. Calliopea: cf. 3, 2, 16, n. While Propertius uses this form in these two passages and in 1, 2, 28, he employs the shorter form in v. 51, and in two other passages: 2, 1, 3; 4, 6, 12. 39. vectabere cycnis: Propertius as an erotic poet fancies himself riding in the car of Venus herself, as Ovid did, A. A. 3, 809: cygnis descendere tempus, duxerunt collo qui iuga nostra suo. Sometimes it is drawn by doves, and again by swans; cf. Hor. Car. 3, 28, 14: Paphum iunctis visit oloribus. 43. The construction shifts from the infinitive clause to the substantive clause of ind. quest. quibus in campis: Marius defeated the Teutons at Aquae Sextiae in 102 B.C., and the Cimbri near Vercellae, a year later. Mariano . . . signo: Marius made the eagle the exclusive mark of the Roman legions. Wolves, minotaurs, horses, and boars had previously also been used (C. S.). 45. It is most natural to suppose that the poet refers to the victory of Caesar over Ariovistus in 58 B.C., cf. Caes. B. G. 1, 53. 47. coronatos: still wearing the garlands of this evening's revel. alienum cf. viros (v. 50). 48. ebria signa fugae: in humorous contrast with v. 43. We |