15 20 iungiteque extremo felicia lintea malo : qualiscumque mihi tuque puella vale. ergo ego nunc rudis Adriaci vehar aequoris hospes, deinde per Ionium vectus cum fessa Lechaeo quod superest, sufferre, pedes, properate laborem, 14. secundat: cf. Ovid, Her. 13, 136: blandaque conpositas aura secundet aquas. 'un 15. turres cf. Tib. 1, 7, 19, n. 16. qualiscumque mihi: kind as you have been to me'; cf. 3, 1, 30.-tuque on the position of the conjunction, cf. Intr. § 28. 17. rudis . . . hospes: this is to be the poet's first voyage on the Adriatic. 18. undisonos: Propertius here apparently tried his hand at a kind of picturesque epithet more commonly met in Catullus and Lucretius. 19. fessa cf. Tib. 2, 5, 45. -Lechaeo sc. : mari (and sc. mare with Ionium). Lechaeum was the port of Corinth on the Corinthian Gulf, as Cenchreae was its port on the east side of the isthmus. 20. phaselus the term, originally derived from its similarity in shape to the kidney bean, is used somewhat loosely by the poets for any swift-sailing vessel, e.g. Cat. 4, 1; Hor. Car. 3, 2, 29. 21. quod superest refers to the remainder of the trip, which the poet in imagination is now, at Lechaeum, eager to accomplish. But while he starts across the isthmus on foot, it is only to take ship on the Saronic Gulf for Athens. 22. terris: abl. of inst. 24. Theseae. viae: i.e. the road that the poet thinks of as trodden by Theseus of old up to Athens, the city of which he is the mythical hero. bracchia longa: the 'long walls' extending from Athens to the Piraeus, here called arms,' after the Roman military terminology, were called 'legs' (σkλn) by the Athenians. Within these the via Thesea had become a fine street between four and five miles long, and this is what Propertius pro 25 30 illic vel studiis animum emendare Platonis aut certe tabulae capient mea lumina pictae, seu moriar, fato, non turpi fractus amore: vel: 25. illic i.e. at Athens. instead of a corresponding vel we have a series of clauses each introduced by aut. The poets abound in instances of similar carelessness, e.g. Ovid, Met. 15, 601: vel, si dignus erit, gravibus vincite catenis, aut finite metum fatalis morte tyranni. — studiis . . . Platonis: the Academic philosophy. 26. hortis: Epicurus taught his disciples in a celebrated garden at Athens, and left it to be used by his successors for the same purpose. 27. linguae i.e. ars dicendi, which became most powerful arma for Demosthenes. 28. librorum tuos . . . sales: hypallage for librorum tuorum sales. Menandre from the unusual nominative Menandrus; the most celebrated writer of the new Attic ROM. EL. POETS-21 comedy, to whom, as compared with his nearest rivals, the epithet doctus is not inappropriately applied; for he was a pupil of Theophrastus, and had a philosophical training. 321 29. aut certe: 'or at any rate'; if he cannot concentrate his thought on intense philosophical study, he can at least divert his attention with the abundant works of art at Athens. 30. manus : 'handiwork' (works of art); cf. Aetna, 598: vacca Myronis et iam mille manus. Similarly xeêpes in Greek (rarely and late). 31. profundi: sc. maris. 32. lenibunt the only case of the archaic future in the Augustan poets. But the corresponding forms of the imperfect occur in 1, 3, 25, and 3, 13, 35. 33. Propertius has changed his tune since he wrote 2, 13, and 3, 16, 22. Cf. also 2, 26, 58. 34. Cf. 2, 8, 27: ista mihi mors est inhonesta futura. 5 24 Falsa est ista tuae, mulier, fiducia formae, olim oculis nimium facta superba meis. noster amor tales tribuit tibi, Cynthia, laudes: versibus insignem te pudet esse meis. mixtam te varia laudavi saepe figura, ut quod non esses esse putaret amor: et color est totiens roseo collatus Eoo, 3, 24 The harshness and bitterness with which, in this and the succeeding poem, Propertius renounces Cynthia differ from anything in the other elegiac poets. Catullus still loves after he has learned to hate. The gentle Tibullus cannot bear to hurt the feelings even of one who has jilted him. Ovid is not to be taken seriously when he undertakes to break with his imaginary Corinna. But Propertius, when he ceases to love, transforms his passion into a burning hatred. Cynthia is by name held up to scorn, and the angry poet can explain his former admiration and love as only pure insanity, while he gloats over the misery in which, he prophesies, she will end her days. This elegy should be carefully compared as a kind of palinode with the opening one of the collection. Cf. also Schiller's An Minna. 1-8: 'It was under a delusive fascination that I called you beau tiful; 9-20: but what no power could compel me to do, I now do of my own will, acknowledge my madness, and pray for sanity henceforth.' 1. Falsa 'groundless.' mulier: the term, which is seldom used by the elegists as compared with femina and puella, and nowhere else in Propertius as an address, is significant of his changed attitude toward his mistress. 2. oculis: i.e. the admiration of the observer.-facta: vocative. 4. pudet: sc. me. For a similar thought cf. Tib. 1, 9, 47: attonita laudes tibi mente canebam, et me nunc nostri Pieridumque pudet. 5. mixtam. . . varia . . . figura : 'as combining' various types of beauty, or ‘beautiful features,' especially in the early poems of the first two books. 6. By such repeated flattery Propertius had actually fooled himself into believing it true. 7. roseo... Eoo: cf. Homer's 'rosy-fingered morn.' IO 15 cum tibi quaesitus candor in ore foret. quod mihi non patrii poterant avertere amici, eluere aut vasto Thessala saga mari. haec ego, non ferro non igne coactus, et ipsa naufragus Aegaea verba fatebor aqua. correptus saevo Veneris torrebar aheno, vinctus eram versas in mea terga manus. ecce coronatae portum tetigere carinae, traiectae Syrtes, ancora iacta mihist. 24. 12. verba 0 vera Passerat. 8. quaesitus: 'procured by artifice.' The contrast suggested in the two verses could only arise in the case of one completely blinded by love. 9. quod: the infatuation described in the previous eight verses. The various possible agencies for relief from it following here, the persuasion of friends, witchcraft, steel, fire, travel over the seas, -are the same that are enumerated in I, I, 19-30. 10. saga mari: Medea, wife of the Thessalian Jason, was the typical witch. The sea is the great purifier in nature. Cf. Schoemann, Gr. Alt. 2, 374; De Jong, Antike Mysterienwesen, 136; Conybeare and Howson, St. Paul, 1, 294. 11. haec, although referring to some general idea, such as quod (v. 9), has its form determined by the verba in v. 12. non . coactus: i.e. without being obliged to resort to the heroic treatment of 1, 1, 27, he is now free to tell the simple truth about Cynthia, voluntarily. 12. Even if life were at stake in the journey he has already (3, 21) projected, he is confident he would still stick to the truth, viz. that all his previous raptures were 'empty words' (verba). Perhaps he also recalls 1, 17, with its far different state of mind. 13. The poet's obsession is here illustrated from the picture of a victim dragged to the witches' caldron for torture. Cf. 1, 3, 13: duplici correptum ardore; 3, 6, 39: consimili inpositum torquerier. torrebar: of a habitual condition. 14. Cf. Ovid, Ex P. 3, 2, 72: evincti geminas ad sua terga manus. 15. coronatae: cf. Verg. Georg. iam I, 303: ceu pressae cum portum tetigere carinae puppibus et laeti nautae inposuere coronas. 16. Syrtes: among the most familiar and most dreaded perils of ancient navigators. 20 nunc demum vasto fessi resipiscimus aestu, vulneraque ad sanum nunc coiere mea. Mens Bona, siqua dea es, tua me in sacraria dono. 25 Risus eram positis inter convivia mensis, 17. resipiscimus: a word peculiarly appropriate for recovery from amorous mal de mer, in view of the thought to which it leads in v. 19. 18. ad sanum . . coiere: i.e. 'heal' (sanum = sanitatem); cf. Ovid, Trist. 4, 4, 41: neve retractando nondum coeuntia rumpe vulnera. 19. A temple was indeed dedicated to Mens on the Capitoline, in accordance with a vow of T. Otacilius made after the battle of Lake Trasimenus, and the festival of this personified quality was held on June 8th. Mens Bona as such we do not hear of elsewhere. 20. exciderant: the poet had wasted many prayers on Jove before he successfully tried the appeal to Mens Bona. 3, 25 The dénouement. See 3, 24, Intr. 1-10: 'For years I was foolishly faithful. You will recall it with regret, but no arts can win me back. You are to blame. Farewell. II-18: As you grow old, may your lot be that of the ugly hag, and may you know yourself how it felt to be disdained! This is my curse.' : 1. Risus laughing-stock.' For a similar use of this noun cf. Ovid, Fast. 1, 438: omnibus ad lunae lumina risus erat. Propertius uses iocus in the same way in 2, 24, 16: me. · pudet esse iocum. - positis. . . mensis: cf. Plaut. Most. 308: appone hic mensulam ; Verg. Aen. 1, 216: exempta fames epulis mensaeque remotae. Cf. also the expressions mensa prima, and mensa secunda, which originally had a literal signification. 3. Cf. Intr. § 33. 4. ungue. morso: cf. 2, 4, 3: saepe inmeritos corrumpas dentibus ungues. querere: 'lament the loss of.' |