30 35 Spes facilem Nemesim spondet mihi, sed negat illa. et madefacta meis serta feram lacrimis, non feret usque suum te propter flere clientem: ne tibi neglecti mittant mala somnia manes, canit: the subject is violently changed to a personal one easily imagined from the context (vinctum). 27. Nemesim: see Intr. § 24. 28. deam: Spes. 6 29. inmatura: 'not yet due to death,' so untimely.'-ossa: by metonomy for mors. Cf. Prop. I, 19, I, n. — sororis: this rather shadowy person is nameless, but from the definiteness of the details given below seems to be real rather than fictitious. 30. sic. . . quiescat: cf. 2, 5, 63, n.-sub tenera . . . humo: the petition will be that the ground shall rest tenderly upon the ashes of her dead sister as if it had consciousness to appreciate the conventional request, sit tibi terra levis. The belief that the soul of the dead rested eternally in the grave, while by no means universal among the Romans, is clearly indicated in many epitaphs. Cf. 34. cum: the word implies the poet's expectation of finding sympathy with him in his woes. — muto: equivalent to a concessive clause. 35. clientem: he claims her as a patroness, just as in v. 33 he has played the part of a fugitive slave seeking refuge at her tomb. 36. illius ut verbis: as if I were using her own words.'-sis: the rare subjv. instead of the regular inf. with veto. H. 642, 5.lenta indifferent.' 37. Cf. H. & T. § 3; Verg. Aen. 6, 896; and J. W. Hewitt in Harvard Studies, 19, 92, n. 6. The Manes might also send good 40 45 50 maestaque sopitae stet soror ante torum, venit ad infernos sanguinolenta lacus. lena necat miserum Phryne furtimque tabellas saepe, ego cum dominae dulces a limine duro saepe, ubi nox promissa mihi est, languere puellam nuntiat aut aliquas extimuisse minas. tum morior curis, tum mens mihi perdita fingit, 45. necat G vetat AV vocat Lachmann suggests. dreams. 'Her sweet forgotten puellae flendo turgiduli rubent shade' (Williams). ocelli. : 39. qualis cf. 1, 10, 37, n. 40. lacus cf. Verg. Aen. 6, 134: bis Stygios innare lacus. 41. desino: the only instance of the short final syllable in this word. Tibullus has also nescio. Similar shortenings are rare up to the time of Ovid. Cf. L. 2443. · luctus over her sister's untimely death. 42. Cf. 1, 1, 51, 52. The standpoint of 1, 10, 63-64 is a different one. Cf. also Ovid, Trist. 2, 209: nam non sum tanti, renovem ut tua vulnera. 43. digna est: 'it is not meet that she.' foedare loquaces: cf. Cat. 3, 17: tua nunc opera meae 44. lena her old hag of a guardian.' Tibullus feels obliged to vent his feelings upon somebody. 45. tabellas: billets-doux.' 47. cum: concessive, with ind. Cf. note on Cat. 68, 32. duro it is called hard-hearted because it will not let him pass to his lady love. 48. haec lena. Cf. the story of Nasica and Ennius,. Cic. De Orat. 2, ch. 68. 49. 'Often when a meeting has been arranged.' 50. aliquas: made by some unnamed rival perhaps. quisve meam teneat, quot teneatve modis. tum tibi, lena, precor diras: satis anxia vivas, moverit e votis pars quotacumque deos. LIBER TERTIVS 5 2 Qui primus caram iuveni carumque puellae durus et ille fuit, qui tantum ferre dolorem, non ego firmus in hoc, non haec patientia nostro nec mihi vera loqui pudor est vitaeque fateri 2. ferreus ille fuit: cf. I, 10, 2. Similar imitations of the genuine work of Tibullus are frequent in this book. 4. coniuge: 'betrothed'; probably a coniunx by anticipation only; cf. Verg. Aen. 3, 330: ereptae magno flammatus amore coniugis; 2, 344: gener auxilium Priamo ferebat. qui: of the same antecedent as the qui in v. 3; cf. Cat. 64, 96: quaeque regis Golgos quaeque Idalium frondosum. 5. in hoc usque adeo; 'to this extent.' = 6. For a similarly sententious verse, cf. 3, 4, 76: vincuntur molli pectora dura prece. ergo cum tenuem fuero mutatus in umbram et fleat ante meum maesta Neaera rogum. maereat haec genero, maereat illa viro. 2. 15. precatae w rogate A rogatae V recentem Postgate. 9. ergo cf. Prop. 2, 13, 17. tenuem. . . in umbram: cf. Verg. Aen. 4, 278: in tenuem ex oculis evanuit auram. 10. The details of the Roman burial customs here following are given with varying degrees of completeness in several other noteworthy passages; e.g. Prop. 2, 13; I, 17, 19-24; 4, 1, 127; Ovid, Trist. 3, 3; Verg. Aen. 6, 202235. See B. G. Excursus, Scene 12; Guhl und Koner, p. 857.super... teget: tmesis. 12. fleat of the lament just as the pyre was lighted. - Neaera : cf. Intr. § 25; also I, I, 61 sqq. 13. matris dolore = a matre dolente; cf. Cat. 66, 50, n. 14. genero viro: dat.; cf. v. 4, n. 15. sqq. cf. B.G. 519. - praefatae ante: pleonastic. 16. liquore: i.e. aqua. 18. incinctae: 'enveloped' (in the black mourning robe). — nigra candida the juxtaposition of the words is intended to heighten the effect of the contrast. - veste instrumental abl.; the ashes are gathered into the robe itself. legent, like spargent in v. 19, expresses greater confidence than the following optative subjunctives. 20. fundere: cf. 1, 7, 50. lacte for its appropriateness as an offering to earth powers, cf. Fowler, Roman Festivals, p. 103; cf. its use in incantations, e.g. 1, 2, 48. 21. carbaseis . . . velis: 'a linen cloth' upon which the ashes were dried. For the plural see Lex. Cf. Cic. In Ver. 5, 12, § 30: tabernacula carbaseis intenta velis conlocabat. S.V. 25 30 atque in marmorea ponere sicca domo. illic quas mittit dives Panchaia merces eoique Arabes, pinguis et Assyria, et nostri memores lacrimae fundantur eodem: atque haec in celebri carmina fronte notet. 'Lygdamus hic situs est: dolor huic et cura Neaerae, coniugis ereptae, causa perire fuit.' 22. marmorea 24. pinguis o dives O. domo: i.e. sepulcro; cf. the epitaph in Buecheler's Car. Epig. 434, v. 15: haec domus aeterna est, hic sum situs, hic ero semper; also PAPA., Vol. 30, p. xxx; Prop. 2, 13, 32, n. — sicca: when dry.' - Only one in every three pentameters in this Elegy opens with a spondee; and one in every three contains only dactyls, e.g. v. 2. Cf. Intr. § 42, II (5). 23. Panchaia: a fabulous island supposed to be in the Erythraean Sea. merces: perfumes. Cf. Ovid, Fast. 3, 561: mixta bibunt molles lacrimis unguenta favillae. 24. Assyria: on the form of the verse cf. Intr. $ 42, II (2). 25. lacrimae cf. 1, 3, 8. 26. sic: i.e. as just described. conponi: to be consigned to the tomb'; cf. Prop. 2, 24, 35: tu mea conpones et dices,ossa, Properti, haec tua sunt. versus in ossa: when I have become "dust to dust."" 27. littera: 'inscription'; cf. Ovid, Met. 11, 705: inque sepulcro si non urna, tamen iunget nos littera. 28. celebri: 'upon the thronged highway.' This is exactly the situation that Propertius (3, 16, 25) prays his tomb may not have. 29. Lygdamus: the word occurs nowhere else in the book. A comparison of the Greek Aydos suggests the probability that it was formed to furnish an equivalent for Albius (Tibullus). 30. perire: poetic with causa; cf. Verg. Aen. 10, 90: quae causa fuit, consurgere in arma. As other commentators have remarked, this was about the last reason Neaera would have assigned in an epitaph upon a rejected lover or husband! Tibullus would hardly have been so absurd. |