35 et totiens nostro Memphi cruenta malo, tres ubi Pompeio detraxit harena triumphos! tollet nulla dies hanc tibi, Roma, notam. issent Phlegraeo melius tibi funera campo, vel tua si socero colla daturus eras, scilicet incesti meretrix regina Canopi, 34. totiens in particular, in the Alexandrian war of Caesar, the various engagements during the struggle of Octavian against the power of Cleopatra, and the event to which reference is made in v. 35. — nostro... malo: one of Propertius's vague ablatives: 'to our hurt.' 35. tres... triumphos: over Numidia (80 B.C.), Spain (71 B.C.), and Mithridates (61 B.C.); cf. Cic. Pro Sest. 61, 129: vir is, qui tripertitas orbis terrarum oras atque regiones tribus triumphis adiunctas huic imperio notavit. ubi: used loosely of tellus in general. detraxit harena: Pompey was murdered in the little boat in which he was proceeding to land, and his corpse was left upon the sandy beach, naked and headless. 37. issent fuissent: cf. Juv. 7,29: dignus venias hederis; German "Wie geht's?"-Phlegraeo... campo a willful or careless ambiguity. The expression may refer to Campania, where Pompey was dangerously ill at Naples, in 50 B.C. (cf. Cic. Tusc. Disp. 1, 86); or to Pharsalus, where he was finally defeated by Caesar, in a battle which might be poetically com pared to that of the Giants on the neighboring Phlegraean plains of Macedonia. The former interpretation seems to have been accepted by Juvenal (10, 283 sqq.); the latter, which suits better the development of the thought here, was apparently in the mind of Lucan (7, 144 sqq.; 8, 530, 531). - tibi: Pompey, though there is no new vocative to change the person addressed from that in the previous verse; cf. Tib. 1, 7, 3, n. 38. vel... si: 'even if' = 'even though,' if the second interpretation of v. 37 is accepted. — socero: Julius Caesar, whose daughter Julia became Pompey's wife in 59 B.C. - daturus eras: i.e. in losing in the battle of Pharsalus, if we accept the second interpretation of v. 37. 39. scilicet: a sarcastic introduction to a most bitterly scornful passage. incesti. . . Canopi: Canopus, a notorious resort twelve miles east of Alexandria, was reputed far to outdo the excesses of Baiae; Juvenal, who knew Egypt at first hand, speaks (15, 46) of famoso .. Canopo; and Kavwβίσμος became proverbial. meretrix regina: so also Pliny, 50 quid nunc Tarquinii fractas iuvat esse secures, from the Cimbri and Teutons, set 11. : 47. quid acc. of inner obj. (cognate). - nunc: i.e. if such conditions are to prevail; referring to the first clause in v. 49. Tarquinii: the last king of Rome. - iuvat: sc. Romam. the sign of absolute power, perpetuated in the insignia of the consuls, the fasces. secures : 48. nomine: i.e. Tarquinius Superbus. 49. cape: rejoice, O Rome, in thy triumph' (C. S.). 50. diem vitam. 51. The subject is Cleopatra, with another of Propertius's sudden transitions, and unannounced. -tamen: i.e. in spite of the presumptuous pride voiced in vv. 39-46. — timidi: the epithet is transferred from Cleopatra by metaphor (C. S.). The fleeing fleet is included also. - vaga : 'wandering' through various mouths in its course to the sea. 52. accepere ... manus: figuratively. Romula: this adjective is used also in 4, 4, 26; the usual prose form is Romulea Romana; cf. Hor. Carm. Saec. 47: Romulae genti. == 53. bracchiă: cf. Intr. § 43. spectavi: Propertius doubtless saw in the triumphal procession an effigy of Cleopatra with the asp that common tradition in literature and art has accepted as the means of her death, though here, as often, the tradition rests on an uncertain basis. Cf. Hor. Car. 1, 37, 26; Plut. Ant. 86. — sacris : i.e. to Isis; cf. Ovid, Am. 2, 13, 13: pigraque dabatur circa donaria serpens: Juv. 6, 538: et movisse caput visa est argentea serpens. 54. Propertius mixes his metaphors, the last sleep, and that journey from which there is no return. The frame drinks in the poison which causes the queen to start on the journey to the world of the dead. Only Propertius would dare to speak of draining a draught of journey!" 55 60 'non hoc, Roma, fui tanto tibi cive verenda' 55. hoc . . . tanto . . . cive: Augustus is complimented by being referred to under his favorite title of Princeps. The abl. abs. is equivalent to a clause of proviso. -fui: Cleopatra is speaking. 56. Sc. non fuit verenda with lingua, referring to Antony. 57. toto: cf. 2, 1, 47 (uno); Tib. 4, 6, 9, n. 58. Marte bello. 59. The general sense of this fine outburst is that in Augustus Rome had a hero far greater than in all her past history, and possessing him she scarcely need fear Jove himself (C. S.), much less a woman. The glory of defeating Hannibal, Syphax (a Numidian king who helped Hannibal), and Pyrrhus, as representing masculine warriors from Greece and Africa, the countries that Cleopatra represented, is appropriately contrasted here with the terrorizing influence she had over Rome, expressed in v. 58. The animadversions of the critics and the transpositions by the editors in the latter part of this poem are incomprehensible. Cf. Vahlen, Ind. Lect. 1886-87, Berlin. 61. Here follow instances of self-sacrificing heroism to save the State in earlier days. Curtius: the story is told in Livy, 7, 6. monimenta such word repetitions are not uncommon in the Roman elegy; cf. vv. 16, 17; 19, 21; 36, 40; Vahlen, l.c. : 62. at the method of Decius was a different one; see Livy, 8, 9; 10, 28; Cic. Tusc. Disp. 1, 37, 89. 63. Coclitis: Horatius Cocles, the hero of the bridge; cf. Livy, 2, 10. semita: the location of the street named after Horatius is not known. 64. est cui: M. Valerius Corvus; see Livy, 7, 26. habere = habendam; cf. Verg. Aen. 5, 260: loricam quam Demoleo detraxerat ipse victor... donat habere viro; R. 1363. 65 70 haec di condiderant, haec di quoque moenia servant: nunc ubi Scipiadae classes, ubi signa Camilli, 65. condiderant: even before these heroic deeds the gods had established Rome. 66. salvo Caesare: the construction is a repetition of hoc tanto... cive (v. 55). The thought of the verse is contrasted with that of v. 58. 67. nunc ubi i.e. in comparison with the glorious victory of Augustus at Actium. Scipiadae : the regular patronymic formation in this family. classes: the famous fleet prepared in 45 days in 205 B.C. to bring the second Punic war to a close. The plural, like pontes, in v. 63, is purely rhetorical. Cf. L. 1110. - signa Camilli : taken from the Gauls in 390 B.C.; cf. Livy, 5, 49, 7: dictator. triumphans in urbem rediit; Verg. Aen. 6, 825: referentem signa Camillum. ... 68. modo but recently,' contrasted with the other great Roman victories mentioned. Bospore : vocative. It was from Panticapaeum on the Cimmerian Bosporus, which Pliny (N. H. 4, 78) calls the edge of Europe, that the body of the dead Mithridates was sent to Pompey at Amisus; but Propertius flatters the memory of Pompey by intimating that the latter conquered a region that he probably never saw. 69. Leucadius... Apollo: the celebrated temple of Apollo on the north promontory of the island of Leucas looked down upon the battle of Actium. The Leucadian Apollo was frequently invoked by sailors.- versas acies: cf. Hor. Epod. 9, 17-20. 70. tantum operis belli: i.e. the fleet of Cleopatra. una dies: that of the battle of Actium. 72. Augustus has cleared the seas of all the enemies of Rome, including pirates. Cf. Hor. Car. 4, 5, 19: pacatum volitant per mare navitae. |