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Clemency.

Si quoties homines peccant, sua fulmina mittat
Juppiter, exiguo tempore inermis erit :
Sed solet interdum fieri placabile numen ;
Nube solet pulsa candidus ire dies.
Vidi ego pampineis oneratam vitibus ulmum,1
Quae fuerat saevi fulmine tacta Jovis.

Every one is pleased with his own power.

Quantus apud Danaos Podalirius 2 arte medendi,
Aeacides dextrâ, pectore Nestor erat;
Quantus erat Calchas extis, Telamonius armis,
Automedon curru; tantus amator ego.
Me vatem celebrate, viri; mihi dicite laudes;
Cantetur toto nomen in orbe meum.

1 Vitibus ulmum. The vines were planted amongst elms (and poplars) for support. Cf. Verg. Georg. ii. 367: "Ubi jam validis amplexae stirpibus ulmos Exierint." Also Hor. Carm. ii. 15: "Platanusque caelebs Evincet ulmos;" plane-trees being unsuited to the purpose. The vine and elm were said to be "wedded" (maritari) to each other.

2 Podalirius. A son of Aesculapius, invited to the Grecian camp before Troy to stop a pestilence then raging. Achilles, grandson of Aeacus, and Ajax, son of Telamon, were famous

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Waste not time.

Quàm cito (me miserum!) laxantur1 corpora rugis,
Et perit, in nitido qui fuit ore, color!
Anguibus exuitur tenui cum pelle vetustas;
Nec faciunt cervos cornua jacta senes.

Nostra sine auxilio fugiunt bona: carpite florem ;
Qui, nisi carptus erit, tupiter ipse cadet.

Difference of condition.

Candidus in nauta turpis color; aequoris unda
Debet et a radiis sideris esse niger.

Turpis et agricolae; quia vomere semper adunco,
Et gravibus rastris, sub Jove 2 versat humum:
Et tua, Palladiae petitur cui fama coronae,

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Candida si fuerint corpora, turpis eris.

Peace.

Grata mihi pax arva colat; Pax candida primum
Duxit araturos sub juga curva boves.

1 Laxantur. In old age the wrinkled skin seems to hang loosely on the frame. Below, for the idea in "carpite florem,” etc., cf.

"Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old time is still a-flying;
And that same flower which smiles
to-day,

To-morrow will be dying."
2 Sub Jove. "Under the
sky in the open air." Cf.
Hor. Carm. i. 25: "Manet sub
Jove frigido Venator;" and Ovid,

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Fasti iii. 5: "Sub Jove pars
durat." So "sub divo" or "dio
is used.

3 Palladiae.

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The prize in the Olympic games was chaplet of olive, a tree sacred to Pallas. Below, "nato testa paterna" means that the winejar, filled with new wine by the father, poured forth its mellowed contents for the son's drinking. In the confusion of war, cellars would not be left equally undisturbed.

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Pax aluit vites, et succos condidit uvae;
Funderet ut nato testa paterna merum.
Pace bidens vomerque vigent: at tristia duri
Militis in tenebris occupat arma situs.

Hope.

Tib.

Spes alit agricolas, Spes sulcis credit aratis
Semina, quae magno fenore1 reddat ager.
Haec laqueo volucres, haec captat arundine pisces,
Cum tenues hamos abdidit ante cibus.
Spes etiam validâ solatur compede vinctum :
Crura sonant ferro, sed canit inter opus.

Grief.

Tib.

O ego! ne possim tales sentire dolores,
Quàm mallem in gelidis montibus esse lapis !
Stare vel insanis cautes obnoxia ventis,

Naufraga quam vasti tunderet 2 unda maris! Nunc et amara dies, et noctis amarior umbra est: Omnia nam tristi tempora felle madent.

1 Magno fenore. "And brought forth some thirty-fold, some sixty, some an hundred." The interest (fenus) in these three cases would be 3,000, 6,000, and 10,000 per cent.

2 Tunderet. The subjunctive is used because the whole statement is put forth as a mental conception.

"O that I were a cliff, for the billow of the waste sea to lash!" Originally "vastus" seems to have meant

Tib.

"waste," the idea of desolation being prominent. Tacitus has "vastum ubique silentium " (Agric. xxxviii.), a "silence as of the desert;" and although "vastus" is used sometimes to express size, there is equally connected with this idea of size a notion of something uncouth and shapeless; for instance, "vasta belua" would not be simply a huge beast, but an overgrown misshapen creature.

The warrior and poet.

Tu modo bella geris, numeris modo verba coerces ;
Quodque aliis opus est, hoc tibi ludus erit.
Utque nec ad citharam, nec ad arcum segnis Apollo,
Sed venit ad sacras nervus uterque 1 manus:

Sic tibi nec docti desunt, nec Principis artes,
Mista sed est animo cum Jove Musa tuo.

Spring.

Tristis hiemps adoperta gelu nunc denique cedit,
Et pereunt victae sole tepente nives;
Arboribus redeunt detonsae frigore frondes,
Vividaque e tenero palmite gemma tumet;
Quaeque diu latuit, nunc se qua tollat in auras,
Fertilis occultas invenit herba vias;

Nunc fecundus ager, pecoris nunc hora creandi;
Nunc avis in ramo tecta laremque parat.

Every time is not suited to writing.

2

Carmina proveniunt animo deducta sereno;
Nubila sunt subitis tempora nostra malis.
Carmina secessum scribentis et otia quaerunt :
Me mare, me venti, me fera jactat hiemps.

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Carminibus metus omnis abest; ego perditus ensem
Haesurum jugulo jam puto jamque meo.
Da mihi Maeoniden,1 et tot circumspice casus;
Ingenium tantis excidet omne malis.

One god sends affliction, another takes it away.
Mulciber in Troiam, pro Troiâ stabat Apollo;
Aequa Venus Teucris, Pallas iniqua fuit.
Oderat 2 Aenean proprior Saturnia Turno;
Ille tamen Veneris numine tutus erat.
Saepe ferox cautum petiit Neptunus Ulyssem;
Eripuit patruo saepe Minerva suo.
Et nobis aliquod, quamvis distamus ab illis,
Quid vetat irato numen adesse Deo?

It is hard to die in a foreign land.

Tam procul ignotis igitur moriemur in oris ?
Et fient ipso tristia3 fata loco?

1 Maeoniden. The genius of Homer (called Maeonides from Maeonia, the old name of Lydia, at a town of which (Smyrna) he was said to have been born; cf. Hor. Carm. i. 6: "Maeonii carminis alite") would be overwhelmed beneath the load of troubles by which Ovid was pressed down. For the general pith of the extract, cf. Juv. vii. 57: "Anxietate carens animus facit omnis acerbi Impatiens, cupidus silvarum avidusque libendis Fontibus Aonidum; neque enim cantare sub antro Pierio... Paupertas atque aeris

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inops;" and Hor. Epist. ii. 277: Scriptorum chorus omnis amat nemus et fugit urbem."

2 Oderat. Cf. Verg. Aen. i. 9: "Quidve dolens, regina deum tot volvere casus Insignem pietate virum (Aeneas) tot adire labores Impulerit?" Juno was daughter of Saturn. Below, "irato Deo," is "when one god is angry, what prevents some other deity befriending us?" The "iratus deus" here is no doubt Augustus, whose resentment Ovid incurred.

3 Tristia. Here the predicate, "Shall my death be made

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