Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

Umbria te notis antiqua penatibus edit (mentior? an patriae tangitur ora tuae?), qua nebulosa cavo rorat Mevania campo et lacus aestivis intepet Umber aquis 125 scandentisque Asisi consurgit vertice murus, murus ab ingenio notior ille tuo. ossaque legisti non illa aetate legenda patris, et in tenues cogeris ipse lares: nam tua cum multi versarent rura iuvenci, abstulit excultas pertica tristis opes.

130

mox ubi bulla rudi dimissa est aurea collo,

123. qua quam 0. 125. Asisi Lachmann asis NFL axis DV.

[blocks in formation]

123. Mevania: modern Bevagna, on low-lying land full of springs, was formerly a more important place than at present.

124. lacus. . . Umber: if the poet means anything more than the spreading waters of the Clitumnus here, he must refer to a lake long since drained, a proceeding of which there are famous examples in Italy. Important operations of this kind were undertaken in this region according to Cassiodorus, Var. 2, 21, 2. Cf. Class. Rev., Vol. 22 (1908), p. 245, where H. E. Butler refers to a local

ROM. EL. POETS-22

[merged small][ocr errors]

126. Cf. v. 66. — For the preposition cf. 2, 27, II, n.

127. Ossaque legisti: cf. Tib. 3, 2, 17. - illa: at such an' [early]. legenda: i.e. he ought not to have been bereaved so early; to be taken, of course, with

[blocks in formation]

337

matris et ante deos libera sumpta toga,

tum tibi pauca suo de carmine dictat Apollo.
et vetat insano verba tonare foro.

135 at tu finge elegos, fallax opus, (haec tua castra)
scribat ut exemplo cetera turba tuo.
militiam Veneris blandis patiere sub armis
et Veneris pueris utilis hostis eris.

140

145

nam tibi victrices, quascumque labore parasti,
eludet palmas una puella tuas :

et bene cum fixum mento discusseris uncum,
nil erit hoc, rostro te premet ansa suo.
illius arbitrio noctem lucemque videbis,

gutta quoque ex oculis non nisi iussa cadet.
nec mille excubiae nec te signata iuvabunt

140. eludet w eludit 0. 141. cum fixum Memmianus confixum O. discusseris discusserit 0 decusseris Broukhusius. 142. premet @ premat NLDV premit F.

132. matris : now acting as head of the family after the death of his father. - deos: the Lares.libera of a free citizen.

134. Apollo, by inspiring him to poetry, interrupted the normal course of his life as a young nobleman trained to the law. Cf. Ovid, Trist. 4, 10, 15-30.

135. fallax: unsatisfying,' as the poet's own experience had proved. haec tua castra: cf. 2, 10, 19, n.; Tib. 1, 1, 75.

[ocr errors]

137. Cf. 1, 6, 29-30.

138. pueris utilis: i.e. for them to aim at, a susceptible young man. Propertius is following here the later conception of a plurality of Cupids. Note the succession of words ending in is.

140. eludet: 'shall mock.' palmas: a type of successful achievement.

141. bene cum: cf. Tib. 2, 6, 14. uncum: probably the hook with which corpses were dragged from the place of execution; cf. Ovid, Ibis 164: indeploratum proiciere caput; carnificisque manu, populo plaudente, traheris, infixusque tuis ossibus uncus erit; Juv. 10, 66; Seianus ducitur unco.

142. rostro: the point or barb of the hook which grips like a 'beak.'-ansa: the handle.'

143. illius puellae.

145. excubiae: watchers.' — signata. . . limina: sealing the doors.' Cf. the legend of Pyramus and Thisbe.

I 50

limina persuasae fallere rima sat est. nunc tua vel mediis puppis luctetur in undis,

vel licet armatis hostis inermis eas,

vel tremefacta cavo tellus diducat hiatum :

octipedis cancri terga sinistra time.'

3

Haec Arethusa suo mittit mandata Lycotae, cum totiens absis, si potes esse meus.

' when once

146. persuasae: she has made up her mind.' This transitive use of the verb belongs to the sermo cottidianus. Cf. Uhlmann, p. 24.

147. nunc, used as here to bring the argument to a close, reminds of the modern use of now then,' for which the ordinary classical equivalent is igitur.

148. armatis: cf. 3, 1, 26, n. 149. cavo used substantively: 'open in a yawning gulf.'

150. None of the perils enumerated in the preceding verses need terrify him, so long as he avoids the constellation which the astrologer names as his bête noir. The ulterior meaning of this absurdity to which the poem here is reduced is obscure.

4, 3

A love letter from a Roman lady to her husband now long absent from her in the wars. Whether or not the names Arethusa and Lycotas represent any

particular persons known to the poet cannot be decided. Some have believed these names stand for the Aelia Galla and Postumus of 3, 12. Rothstein suggests that Lycotas represents the Lupercus of 4, 1, 93. Similarly the attempt to fix the date of the elegy and to connect it positively with a particular campaign (eg. that against the Parthians in 20 B.C.) can hardly be successful. The absent warrior has served on many a field, "from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same," and the various references to the Parthian country are not convincing proof that he is actually there at the present time. But wherever he is, waiting for a fair wind to bring him back, or for the summer sun to melt the icy bonds that prevent his return, this letter, which the lovelorn lady would not have known whither to send, must appeal to every reader as one of the most delightful specimens of the poet's art. It reveals a re

5

siqua tamen tibi lecturo pars oblita derit,
haec erit e lacrimis facta litura meis:
aut siqua incerto fallet te littera tractu,
signa meae dextrae iam morientis erunt.
te modo viderunt iteratos Bactra per ortus,

te modo munito Neuricus hostis equo,

3. 8. Neuricus Jacob hericus NFL hernicus D henricus V Sericus Beroaldus.

markable acquaintance with the workings of the feminine mind, and a sympathetic knowledge of woman's heart. Though a model for the Heroides of Ovid, it stands above them all in simplicity, subtle analysis, and genuine feeling.

1-6: 'I can scarcely write intelligibly, for my grief, 7-10: to one who is so constantly a wanderer from me. 11-18: Was this the meaning of our marriage vows? 19-22: Perish the man that taught the art of war! 23-28: Do you suffer? I hope a little of the suffering is because you miss me. 29-42: How is it with me? I caress your very weapons, pass sleepless, lonely nights; weave garments for you to wear in camp, and study eagerly about the distant regions where you tarry. Only sister and nursie are with me, with vain comforts. 43-48 : Would that I might follow you to the ends of the earth! 49-62: Greatest of all is the love of a wedded wife; without her husband she has nothing to live for; every event of life is turned to his account. 63-72: Take care of

[blocks in formation]

4. Ovid made good use of this idea; cf. Her. 3, 3: quascumque aspicies, lacrimae fecere lituras; II, I; Trist. I, 1, 13, etc.

6. iam morientis: the hyperbole is to be taken rather more seriously than the familiar and thoughtless, "I'm just dying to see you," of to-day.

7. iteratos... per ortus: 'repeated risings,' referring to sunrise, seems to imply that he had been in Parthia now on two separate expeditions. Bactra : a chief city of Bactria, representing to Rome the Far East.

8. munito. . . equo: when, in cavalry, horse and man both were mailed, they were called cataphracti; cf. 3, 12, 12: ferreus aurato neu cataphractus equo. — Neuricus: perhaps the Sarmatian tribe which Tacitus describes as cataphracti (Hist. 1, 79). But the word

[ocr errors]

hibernique Getae, pictoque Britannia curru,
ustus et eoa discolor Indus aqua.

haecne marita fides, hae sunt pactae mihi noctes,
cum rudis urgenti bracchia victa dedi?
quae mihi deductae fax omen praetulit, illa
traxit ab everso lumina nigra rogo,

11. hae sunt pactae mihi DV et pacatae mihi FL et parce avia N et pactae in gaudia Rothstein (in savia Haupt). noctes 0 et primae praemia noctis Housman et pactae praemia noctis Foster, alii alia.

occurs nowhere else, though Neuri or Neuroe are mentioned among these obscure tribes.

9. Getae just north of the Danube. - pictoque . . curru : Caesar (B. G. 4, 24, and 33) does not refer to the adornment of the characteristic chariots of the Britons.

10. ustus: swarthy' because of the hot climate.—eoa. . . aqua : may be taken of the great southern sea as a whole, extending from Ethiopia to the Far East. It may be considered either an instrumental ablative or locative with discolor. Propertius probably neither knew nor cared which. Cf. Ovid, A. A. 3, 130: quos legit in viridi decolor Indus aqua. discolor: the peculiar character of the water of the Indian Ocean, as well as of the Red Sea (e.g. its effect on a pearl diver), was an article of the geographical creed of the Roman poets; cf. Tib. 2, 2, 16, n.; 4, 2, 19.

- Indus: this may refer to the Ethiopians (cf. Verg. Georg. 4, 293), against whom a Roman campaign was conducted by C.

Petronius in 22 B.C.; but in consideration of the state of geographical knowledge then, it is dangerous to be dogmatic. Cf. Ovid, Trist. 5, 3, 23: Persidaque et lato spatiantem flumine Gangen, et quascumque bibit decolor Indus aquas. Cf. Tac. Agr. 10, where ignorance of Europe is exploited; much less did Propertius have any clear conception of the great Southeast.

11. Cf. Ovid, Her. 6, 41: heu! ubi pacta fides? ubi conubialia

iura?

13. deductae fax: the torches carried in the wedding procession when the bride was conducted to the bridegroom's house. Cf. Cat. 61, 77.

14. everso... rogo: i.e. from fire discovered in poking open the ashes of a funeral pyre after it had burnt out. - lumina nigra: cf. Hor. Sat. 1, 9, 72: huncine solem tam nigrum surrexe mihi! Ovid, Fast. 2, 561 conde tuas, Hymenaee, facis et ab ignibus atris aufer! habent alias maesta sepulcra faces.

« ZurückWeiter »