20 inducat rugas inficiatque comas. hic veniat Natalis avis prolemque ministret, ludat et ante tuos turba novella pedes. 5 Phoebe, fave: novus ingreditur tua templa sacerdos : huc age cum cithara carminibusque veni. 21. hic A hec V haec G hac Heinsius sic Belling. Natalis O genialis Bachavis 0 avi Heinsius. prolemque O prolesque Baehrens. 22. et 0 ut w. rens. time brought the number up to twenty-one. The honor of becoming a member of this priestly college was much sought by noble Roman youth. The Valerian gens prided itself on its prominence in the Roman religion; cf. Preller3, Vol. 2, p. 86. In the inscription commemorating the Secular Games in 17 B.C. (Eph. Epig. 1891, pp. 222, 274) the name of Messalinus occurs last in the list of members of the college. Cf. Lanciani, Pagan and Christian Rome, Appendix. For the legend concerning the origin of the Sibylline books, cf. Gell. 1, 19; Preller3, Vol. 1, pp. 299 sqq.; Diels, Die Sibyllinische Blätter. For their subsequent history, cf. Lanciani in Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 69, p. 150 (cf. his Pagan and Christian Rome, p. 75); Preller3, Vol. 1, pp. 306–312, passim; Lact. Inst. 1, 6; and the bibliography in M. S. Terry's The Sibylline Oracles. Mommsen fixes the date of this poem as 19 B.C. (cf. Eph. Epig. 8, 2, 241). nunc te vocales inpellere pollice chordas, nunc precor ad laudes flectere verba meas. 5. 4. meas O tuas o mea Lachmann novas Vahlen. 1-18: 'Apollo, accept the new priest who to-day enters thy shrine, and show thine approval by thy presence, decked in festal attire. 19-66: It was this Sibyl, who to Aeneas, on his arrival in Italy, when naught but rural simplicity reigned where now is great Rome, prophesied the city's future greatness and his own deification. 67-82: All these things are accomplished; likewise the greater prodigies prophesied by other Sibyls. But, Apollo, let dreadful portents now cease; and give us a favorable omen for the future. 83-104 If the omen is propitious, let rustic merriment abound, and all its simple and unconstrained joys, even to the petty quarrel of the "lover and his lass." 105-122: But perish Cupid's darts! And may my Nemesis spare me till the joyous day when I can sing the praises of Messalinus celebrating a proud triumph over conquered cities!' (For a more artificial analysis, cf. PAPA., Vol. 26 (1895), p. vii.) 1. Phoebe Apollo apparently is addressed under the form in which he appeared in the famous statue by Scopas, the Apollo Citharoedus, imported by Augustus from Rhamnus expressly for the temple of Apollo which he built on the Palatine (cf. vv. 2, 5, 7, 8). Rep resentations of this statue are found on coins of Augustus, and a very similar type on some of Nero, to which corresponds the well-known statue in the Vatican, found at Tivoli. Cf. 3, 4, 23-40; Prop. 2, 31, 15-16; Ovid, Met. 11, 165; Fast. 2, 106; Am. 1, 8, 59; Baum. Denk., Vol. 1, p. 99; von Sybel, p. 236. Friedländer, Das Kgl. Münz Kabinet, No. 992; K. P. H. in AJA., Vol. 5 (1901), p. 7. — templa: although we have no record of the transfer of the Sibylline books to the Palatine temple of Apollo earlier than 12 B.C. (Suet. Oct. 31), it is probable that they were deposited there much earlier; certainly the only appropriate place accordant with the picture here presented would be that temple. Built by Augustus in honor of his special protecting deity at the battle of Actium, it was dedicated in B.C. 28, and with its surrounding porticoes and adjacent library was one of the most noted specimens of temple magnificence. Cf. Prop. 4, 6; 2, 31; Hor. Car. 1,31; Suet. Oct. 29; Preller3, Vol. 1, pp. 309– 310; Lanciani, Ancient Rome, pp. 109-115. The books were deposited in the basis on which stood the statue. 3. te: emphatic. Apollo is besought himself to supply the 5 IO 15 ipse triumphali devinctus tempora lauro, dum cumulant aras, ad tua sacra veni. sed nitidus pulcherque veni: nunc indue vestem victori laudes concinuisse Iovi. tu procul eventura vides, tibi deditus augur poet with the prelude to the main 4. flectere verba: 'sing in wellmodulated tones.' 5. triumphali: Apollo would appropriately wear the emblems of his own triumphs (cf. vv. 910, n.) when assisting in honoring the son of Messalla. For the father's triumph, cf. 1, 7; for the son's, yet to come, cf. vv. 115 sqq. - devinctus: cf. v. 117. 7. sed . . . veni: not only come, but come in festal attire'; cf. 1, 3, 63, n.. - nitidus pulcherque : in all thy radiant beauty.’ 8. sepositam: kept laid aside for special occasions, and so = 'sumptuous.' - longas. . comas: cf. Ovid, Am. I, I, II. 9-10: explanatory of triumphali in v. 5; the reference is to Apollo's triumphant strains on the occasion of Juppiter's vanquishing the Titans. Cf. Sen. Agam. 332; Verg. Aen. 8, 319. 11. tu: Apollo's personal control is affirmed over each of the four well-known methods of seeking prophetic knowledge: (1) the characteristic Roman augury by the flight of birds; (2) sortes, 'lots'; cf. I, 3, 11; (3) the Etruscan method of divination by examining the entrails of newly slain animals; (4) the Sibylline books. 15. Sibylla: the Cumaean Sibyl, the prophetess from whom, according to the tradition, came the Sibylline books themselves. 20 25 30 abdita quae senis fata canit pedibus. Phoebe, sacras Messalinum sine tangere chartas haec dedit Aeneae sortes, postquam ille parentem nec fore credebat Romam, cum maestus ab alto 23. Cf. Verg. Aen. 1, 278: his ego nec metas rerum nec tempora pono, imperium sine fine dedi. 6 aeternae. . . urbis the eternal city' is no modern name for Rome: cf. F. G. Moore in TAPA., Vol. 25 (1894), pp. 34-60.—firmaverat: cf. Prop. 3, 9, 50. With the description of Rome's site in prehistoric times (a favorite subject for Roman poets) cf. Prop. 4, I; Verg. Aen. 8, 313-368; Ovid, Fast. 1, 509 sqq., 243; A. A. 3, 119. 27. Cf. 1, 1, 36. Pan: corresponding in many ways to the Italian Faunus. Cf. Hor. Car. I, 17. 28. Cf. I, I, 18; 1, 10, 20. 29. votum: a votive offering, the fistula of v. 30. 30. silvestri deo = Silvanus, who was identified with Pan. 31. fistula: the pandean pipe composed of several (usually 7–9) reeds of carefully graded lengths, a prototype of the organ, common among shepherds. Cf. Ovid, Met. 2, 682. For its Greek name (syrinx) and origin, cf. Ovid, Met. 1, 705-712. For its form see Rich's Dict. s.v. arundo. nam calamus cera iungitur usque minor. at qua Velabri regio patet, ire solebat. exiguus pulsa per vada linter aqua. 35 illa saepe gregis diti placitura magistro ad iuvenem festa est vecta puella die, cum qua fecundi redierunt munera ruris, caseus et niveae candidus agnus ovis. 'inpiger Aenea, volitantis frater Amoris, Troica qui profugis sacra vehis ratibus, iam tibi Laurentes adsignat Iuppiter agros, iam vocat errantes hospita terra lares. 40 It is described by Ovid, Met. 8, 189-195. Cf. Verg. Ec. 2, 36: disparibus septem conpacta cicutis fistula; Hor. Car. 4, 12, 10. 32. usque minor: 'constantly decreasing.' -Velabri : 33. at: cf. 1, 3, 63, n. —` the low, swampy valley between the Capitoline, Palatine, and Aventine hills, bordering on the Tiber, which was continually overflowing into it. One of the first great engineering enterprises at Rome was the draining of this valley, including the Forum Romanum site, farther back from the river. This was accomplished by an early sewer along the general line of the present Cloaca Maxima, which still performs its ancient functions and can be inspected at several points. See Lanciani, Ancient Rome, p. 54; cf. Prop. 4, 9, 5-6: qua Velabra suo stagnabant flumine quaque nauta per urbanas velificabat aquas; Ovid, Fast. 6, 405-406. 34. pulsa... aqua: cf. Cat. 64, 58: iuvenis . pellit vada remis; Prop. 4, 2, 8: remorum auditos per vada pulsa sonos. 35. illa: i.e. aqua (= via.) – placitura: 'to delight'; cf. R. 1115, (3). 36. iuvenem = gregis... magistro of the preceding verse. festa... die: probably the Palilia (April 21); cf. v. 87. 39. The speech of the Sibyl here takes up the thread of thought broken off at v. 20.— frater Amoris: Venus was the mother of Aeneas by Anchises, and of Cupid by Ares (as is usually assumed); cf. Verg. Aen. 1, 667: frater ut Aeneas. 40. Troica sacra: the Penates; cf. Verg. Aen. 1, 68: portans victosque Penates. 41. Aeneas landed near Laurentum, the ancient city near the mouth of the Tiber, where he was hospitably received by Lati nus. |