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te duce vel Iovis arma canam caeloque minantem
Coeum et Phlegraeis Oromedonta iugis,
celsaque Romanis decerpta Palatia tauris.

ordiar et caeso moenia firma Remo,
eductosque pares silvestri ex ubere reges,
crescet et ingenium sub tua iussa meum,
prosequar et currus utroque ab litore ovantes,
Parthorum astutae tela remissa fugae,
castraque Pelusi Romano subruta ferro,
Antonique graves in sua fata manus.
mollis tu coeptae fautor cape lora iuventae
48. Oromedonta 0 Eurymedonta Huschke.

47. te duce: the fair presumption is that Propertius suggests a more aggressive public career for his patron. - Iovis arma : the Gigantomachia is the first possible epic subject to be mentioned.

48. Coeum: a Titan: but the distinction between Giant and Titan is often overlooked. - Phlegraeis... iugis: the place where the mythical struggle occurred; it was localized sometimes in Thrace, sometimes in Campania. The most magnificent representation. of the scene in art was that which has been found on the Zeus altar at Pergamon.

49. Cf. 4, 1, 1-4; Tib. 2, 5, 25. 50. firma firmata. - Remo: the abl. abs. expresses means; probably there was some more occult meaning to the tradition, perhaps a connection with such human sacrifices as are believed to have been made in connection with bridge building.

51. pares

reges: Romulus and Remus. - silvestri. . . ubere: the famous bronze group in the Capitoline (Conservatori) Museum followed the tradition.

52. crescet... sub: shall come to measure up to.'

53. prosequar: i.e. metaphorically. utroque ab litore: quoted from Verg. Georg. 3, 33. The reference is a hyperbolical one to the shores of the ocean at the east and west boundaries of the world.

54. Cf. 3, 4, 17, n.

55. Propertius is probably romancing here for effect. Pelusium surrendered to Octavian, according to the accepted version of history, promptly after the appearance of the hero of Actium in its harbor.

56. in sua fata: acc. of purpose: we should expect in se. 57. mollis: 'kindly.' — coeptae iuventae: my youthful under

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60

dexteraque inmissis da mihi signa rotis. hoc mihi, Maecenas, laudis concedis, et a test quod ferar in partes ipse fuisse tuas.

I I

Quid mirare, meam si versat femina vitam
et trahit addictum sub sua iura virum,

takings.' fautor: Maecenas is
usually like the partisan at the
races cheering on his favorite

team.

But here the poet suggests that he come for the nonce to the chariot itself, and guide it where it may undertake a new course.

58. inmissis . . . rotis: as an elegiac poet Propertius is already far on in the race. — da. . . signa: but as patron Maecenas will now give the starter's signal for a new course, ie. in epic poetry, to which he must, however, have himself conducted the poet, as indicated in v. 57.

59. hoc .. laudis: i.e. that I look to you for inspiration and suggestion.

60. in partes ipse fuisse tuas : 'that even I have belonged to thy followers,' i.e. those recognized by Maecenas. The acc. is due to the implied motion which must have preceded fuisse; cf. Plaut. Amph. 180: mi in mentem fuit.

3, II

The good fortune of Rome in escaping from the power ofa woman through the merit of Augustus.

An elegy beginning with the commonplace, for our poet, of the thralldom of woman's love, and ending with the glories of Rome and the Emperor, seems almost like a playful supplement to 3, 9, a hint of what Propertius might do under proper conditions, in the epic style.

1-8: Do you think it strange that I bow to a woman? Men learn by experience and so may you. 9-26: Remember the power of Medea, Penthesilea, Omphale, Semiramis !

27-49: Yea, come nearer home, and think of Cleopatra and how great was the danger that she would bring glorious Rome under the sway of shameless Egypt! 49-72: But, thanks to Augustus, Rome was spared such humiliation and the gods still smile upon us as of old. So let every sailor on the Ionian Sea give thanks to Augustus!'

1. versat: my life is at the beck and call' of a woman. Cf. Tib. 2, 1. 64. The verb has frequentative force.

2. addictum : an insolvent debtor was called addictus when

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criminaque ignavi capitis mihi turpia fingis,
quod nequeam fracto rumpere vincla iugo?
venturam melius praesagit navita noctem,

vulneribus didicit miles habere metum.
ista ego praeterita iactavi verba iuventa:
tu nunc exemplo disce timere meo.
Colchis flagrantis adamantina sub iuga tauros
egit et armigera proelia sevit humo,

custodisque feros clausit serpentis hiatus,

iret ut Aesonias aurea lana domos.

ausa ferox ab equo quondam oppugnare sagittis
Maeotis Danaum Penthesilea rates;

aurea cui postquam nudavit cassida frontem,
vicit victorem candida forma virum.

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14. Maeotis: unusual employment of the word to imply the region from which, i.e. the vicinity of Lake Maeotis, the modern sea of Azov. Other writers located the Amazons on the Thermodon, or more vaguely. - Penthesilea : the handsome daughter of Ares and queen of the Amazons, who was slain in battle by Achilles. Cf. Verg. Aen. 1, 491.

15. nudavit cassida: 'the removal of the helmet disclosed,' by a kind of brachyology (C. S.). Another instance of this rare byform of the nom. occurs in Verg. Aen. 11, 775.

16. Cf. Horace's well-known expression: Graecia capta ferum victorem cepit (Ep. 2, 1, 156).

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25

Omphale in tantum formae processit honorem,
Lydia Gygaeo tincta puella lacu,

ut, qui pacato statuisset in orbe columnas,
tam dura traheret mollia pensa manu.
Persarum statuit Babylona Semiramis urbem,
ut solidum cocto tolleret aggere opus,
et duo in adversum missi per moenia currus

ne possent tacto stringere ab axe latus,
duxit et Euphratem medium, qua condidit arces,

11. 23. missi O mitti Tyrrell.

17. Omphǎlě: note quantity and hiatus. Omphale was said to be the queen of Lydia, and daughter of King Iardanus. Cf. H. & T. § 145.

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18. Gygaeo. lacu : : near Sardis, named after the well-known Lydian king. tincta lauta, with an increment of poetic imagination. Cf. Verg. Aen. 3, 665 fluctus latera ardua tinxit. Propertius means merely to indicate the region from which she came. puella: she was the young widow of Tmolus.

19. columnas: 'the pillars of Hercules,' on both sides the fretum Herculeum; Abyla in Africa, and Calpe (Gibraltar) in Europe, Isaid to have been one mountain

till sundered by the power of Hercules.

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24. ne DV nec NFL.

Parthians got their empire; but Propertius neglects any reference to the older empires under which Babylon flourished. — Semiramis : the Babylonian queen who was, according to one prevalent tradition, the founder of the city. Cf. Strabo, 16, 1, 2; Ovid, Met. 4, 58.

22. cocto baked,' i.e. of brick. - tolleret: consecutive.

23. Fabulous accounts of the walls of Babylon have survived. Herodotus (1, 178) says they were 337 feet high and 84 feet wide.

24. ne instead of the expected completion of his consecutive phrase, Propertius loosely tries to combine a purpose and a result idea in the same clause. What he means is that Semiramis had in mind a wall so broad that two chariots could pass without contact. Cf. A. & G. 537, 2, a, n. — tacto .. ab axe: through the grazing of a hub' (C. S.); cf. 3, 2, 25, n.

305

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iussit et imperio subdere Bactra caput.

nam quid ego heroas, quid raptem in crimina divos ? Iuppiter infamat seque suamque domum:

quid, modo quae nostris opprobria vexerit armis

et famulos inter femina trita suos

coniugis obsceni pretium Romana poposcit moenia et addictos in sua regna patres? noxia Alexandria, dolis aptissima tellus,

27. crimina Vg crimine 0.

26. imperio subdere . . . caput: 'to bow its head to her sway.' While the poet in leading up to the power of Cleopatra apparently intends to neglect the erotic element in the case of Semiramis, we must assume that he probably knew, and expected his readers to know, the story of the personal charms of the queen, her earlier marriage to Ormes, a general of Ninus, and the infatuation of Ninus himself for her, which led to the death of Ormes.

27. nam quid: there is an ellipsis: Enough such examples. Why need I dwell on ancient heroes, or even gods, to illustrate love and crime? Juppiter himself might furnish an instance. But we have one bad enough right at home in Antony and Cleopatra' (C. S.).

29. quid. . . quae: i.e. quid de ea dicam quae. - modo: 'but yesterday.' opprobria: because of the character of the woman, as well as the very fact that it was a

31. coniugis O coniugii Passerat.

woman with whom they were matched, it was an insult to the Roman army to engage in the

fiasco at Actium.

30. et etiam.- femina: scornful term.trita: too familiar.' Propertius regards Cleopatra merely as an abandoned woman, distinguished from others of her class only in that she demanded the empire as her price (C. S.). He disdains to name her.

31. coniugis obsceni : subj. gen. Propertius, like Horace, is ashamed to mention the name of Antony. pretium: cf. Eleg. in Maec. 1, 53: hic modo miles erat, ne posset femina Romam dotalem stupri turpis habere sui.

33. noxia Alexandria : the poet apostrophizes Egypt through her two chief cities, Memphis and Alexandria, as the bane of Rome, most apt in treachery, and source of bloodshed and disgrace (C. S.). - dolis aptissima: cf. Bell. Alex. 7.3: aptissimum esse hoc genus ad proditionem dubitare nemo potest.

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