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et Stygio sum sparsa lacu, nec recta capillis vitta data est, nupsi non comitante deo. omnibus heu portis pendent mea noxia vota : texitur haec castris quarta lacerna tuis. occidat, inmerita qui carpsit ab arbore vallum et struxit querulas rauca per ossa tubas, dignior obliquo funem qui torqueat Ocno

15. sparsa: as a bride she should rather have been sprinkled with water from a running stream or a spring. Cf. Servius on Aen. 4, 167: aqua petita de puro fonte

interest nuptiis. recta: Festus (p. 286) refers to an old superstition whereby certain articles of apparel worn on formal occasions must be woven vertically according to an ancient custom, rather than horizontally.

16. deo: Hymen.

17. portis pendent: Cf. CIL. 3, 1422: Fortunae reduci, Lari viali, Romae aeternae. Altars with such inscriptions might well have stood at the city gates, where vows and offerings were made to ensure the safe return of absent friends (cf. v. 71). A temple to Fortuna Redux and a triumphal arch were erected outside the Porta Triumphalis before the return of Domitian from the Sarmatian campaign; cf. Mart. 8, 65. noxia: i.e. they seem to do more harm than good.

18. quarta: apparently Lycotas had already been absent on several different campaigns. lacerna :

Lucretia was similarly engaged when Tarquinius came to her house. Cf. Ovid, Fast. 2, 745: mittenda est domino - nunc, nunc properate, puellae! -quamprimum nostra facta lacerna manu.

19. vallum: carried by every Roman warrior, and accordingly a type of war. The poet makes Arethusa curse the inventor of war; cf. Tib. 1, 10, 1.

20. rauca: proleptic. per ossa: cf. 3, 9, 26, n.; "make out of bone" is the English idiom.

21. obliquo: Propertius evidently has a picture in mind, perhaps that of Socrates mentioned by Pliny (N. H. 35, 137), or its more celebrated prototype by Polygnotus (Paus. 10, 29, 1), where Ocnus is sitting slantwise at his work, spending his strength endlessly in twisting a grass rope which a donkey behind him devours as fast as it is made, — here, a type of the warrior, whose work is vain and endless, and especially of the inventor of weapons, etc. Cf. Tib. I, 10, I; Bachofen, Gräbersymbolik, pp. 301 sqq., 314, 338 sq., 349 sqq.

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aeternusque tuam pascat, aselle, famem.
dic mihi, num teneros urit lorica lacertos?
num gravis inbelles atterit hasta manus?
haec noceant potius quam dentibus ulla puella
det mihi plorandas per tua colla notas.
diceris et macie vultum tenuasse: sed opto,
e desiderio sit color iste meo.

at mihi cum noctes induxit Vesper amaras,
siqua relicta iacent, osculor arma tua.
tum queror in toto non sidere pallia lecto,
lucis et auctores non dare carmen aves.
noctibus hibernis castrensia pensa laboro
et Tyria in radios vellera secta suos.
et disco qua parte fluat vincendus Araxes,
quot sine aqua Parthus milia currat equus.
cogor et e tabula pictos ediscere mundos,

34. radios w gladios O clavos Mss. of Passerat (?). suos O suo Rossberg.

23. num: Arethusa hopes for a negative answer for her comfort.

24. inbelles she thinks of him as a bridegroom, not as a hardened soldier.

26. Cf. Hor. Car. 1, 13, 11: sive puer furens inpressit memorem dente labris notam.

27. diceris perhaps by some sympathetic fellow-soldier whose letters have reached home.

28. color by implication from macie; cf. also 1, 1, 22, n. — meo: objective; cf. 1, 8, 1, n.

29. noctes induxit Vesper: cf. Cat. 62, 7, Oetaeos ostendit Noctifer ignes; Verg. Georg. 4, 552; suos Aurora induxerat ortus.

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qualis et haec docti sit positura dei,

quae tellus sit lenta gelu, quae putris ab aestu,
ventus in Italiam qui bene vela ferat.
adsidet una soror, curis et pallida nutrix
peierat hiberni temporis esse moras.
felix Hippolyte! nuda tulit arma papilla
et texit galea barbara molle caput.
Romanis utinam patuissent castra puellis!
essem militiae sarcina fida tuae,

nec me tardarent Scythiae iuga, cum pater altas
adstricto in glaciem frigore nectit aquas.

omnis amor magnus, sed aperto in coniuge maior :
hanc Venus, ut vivat, ventilat ipsa facem.

38. docti . . . dei O educti . . . Dai Ellis Arctoi. . . soli Fonteinius. 47. altas O Atlas Itali. 48. adstricto Rothstein Affricus NFL aeris Rossberg Aeolus Fonteinius Arctoo Lachmann acrius Postgate.

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get her sex, and gives her the attributes of an ordinary woman.

46. sarcina: 'even though a burden'; cf. Ovid, Her. 3, 68: non ego sum classi sarcina magna

tuae.

47. pater = Iuppiter.

48. adstricto . . . frigore: cf. 2, 26, 36, n.; Ovid, Trist. 2, 196: maris adstricto quae coit unda gelu. But cf. J. E. Church, Jr., in Univ. of Nevada Bulletin, Vol. 2 (1908), No. 4, pp. 92-98.

49. aperto i.e. acknowledge as legitimate; cf. Ovid, Her. 13, 30. 50. vivat: i.e. burn; cf. 4, II, 54. - ventilat: cf. 3, 16, 16; Ovid, Am. 1, 1, 8. The alliteration may be regarded as onomatopoetic, imitating the sound of rushing air.

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nam mihi quo? Poenis tibi purpura fulgeat ostris
crystallusque meas ornet aquosa manus.

omnia surda tacent, rarisque adsueta kalendis
vix aperit clausos una puella lares.

Glaucidos et catulae vox est mihi grata querentis:
illa tui partem vindicat una toro.

flore sacella tego, verbenis compita velo,

et crepat ad veteres herba Sabina focos.

51. tibi O te N nunc Housman. 52. meas N tuas 0. Puccius Craugidos Buecheler Graucidos NL Grancidos AFDV.

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a ring made of, or set with, a white transparent stone. Such stones were supposed to have been derived from ice. Cf. Sen. Q.N. 3, 25, 12; Pliny, N.H. 37, 23. The attractions of personal adornment mentioned in this passage correspond to those named by Catullus (69, 3): si illam rarae labefactes munere vestis aut perluciduli deliciis lapidis.

53. omnia surda: the stupid stillness of her home at present is contrasted with the glad celebration hinted at in the previous distich. - rarisque i.e. as compared with the many other occasions when it would happen if the household were in a normal state, on the Nones, the Ides, and

holidays.

55. Glaucidos

adsueta: one long acquainted with the routine forms of the ceremony. All such matters were turned over to her, as a matter of course, now, and were an empty form.

54. clausos: in the lararium. Cf. Mau-Kelsey, Pompeii, pp. 252 sqq.

55. Glaucidos: the Greek name of the lap-dog appropriately refers to its color. et: 'even.'. querentis: whining.'

place.'

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56. tui partem: a part of thy 57. flore verbenis: any herba sacra; cf. Servius on Aen 12, I 20. Propertius does not hesitate to use the sing. collective in one word, and the plur. in the other. -compita: i.e. the shrines of the Lares Compitales at the compita.

58. crepat: cf. Tib. 2, 5, 81, n. herba Sabina: savin or juniper, commonly used for incense; cf. Ovid, Fast. 1, 343: ara dabat fumos herbis contenta Sabinis, et non exiguo laurus adusta sono.

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sive in finitimo gemuit stans noctua tigno,
seu voluit tangi parca lucerna mero,
illa dies hornis caedem denuntiat agnis,

succinctique calent ad nova lucra popae.
ne, precor, adscensis tanti sit gloria Bactris,
raptave odorato carbasa lina duci,

plumbea cum tortae sparguntur pondera fundae,
subdolus et versis increpat arcus equis.

sed, tua sic domitis Parthae telluris alumnis
pura triumphantis hasta sequatur equos,
incorrupta mei conserva foedera lecti:
hac ego te sola lege redisse velim.
armaque cum tulero portae votiva Capenae,
subscribam salvo grata puella viro.'

59. noctua: cf. 2, 28, 38, n.

60. tangi... mero: the regular method of meeting the omen of a sputtering lamp, which was a "sign" of "company," while merum was a token of hospitality; cf. Ovid, Her. 19, 151: sternuit et lumen

signa dedit.

et nobis prospera ecce, merum nutrix

faustos instillat in ignes. 'cras-' queerimus plures' inquit et ipsa bibit. parca: scantily fed.'

61. caedem: i.e. for sacrifice in honor of the hoped-for return of her lord.

62. succinctique . . . popae: the assistants of the priests at sacrifice were clad in a short garment suitable for their office; cf. Suet. Cal. 32: succinctus poparum habitu. ad nova lucra: this was their time to "make hay while the sun shines."

63. adscensis: 'of scaling the walls of.'

64. odorato: a conception of eastern princes as tenacious in modern times as in Roman. — carbasa lina: a typical spoil from this region. Carbasa signified linen of an especially fine quality, and so has practically adjectival force here with lina.

65. plumbea. . . pondera: for an illustration cf. Baum. Denk., Vol. 3, p. 2077. - sparguntur : ' are flying.'

66. versis ... equis: cf. 3, 4, 17. n.

67. sic: cf. Tib. 2, 5, 63, n. - alumnis : inhabitants.'

68. pura... hasta: the headless spear customarily awarded for deeds of unusual bravery. Cf. Verg. Aen. 6, 760: pura iuvenis qui nititur hasta.

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