Cetera saepe tamen potuere admissa negari; 135 140 Atque utinam subitae raperent mea poma procellae; Vel possem fructus excutere ipsa meos. Sic, ubi detracta est a te tibi causa perîcli, Quod superest, tutum, Pontice castor, habes. 145 150 Quid mihi 2 tunc animi est, cum sumit tela viator? Quem sub humo radix vinclaque curva3 tenent. Utve gravem candens ubi tolli vacca securim, 155 Saepe meas vento frondes tremuisse putâstis : 1 Non profectura. "Which will do no good." The stains of the nut on the hands cannot be washed out with water. Below, the beaver (in which Pontus was abundant) when pursued was thought to bite out its testicles (for which it was sought) in order to save its life. 2 Quid mihi. "What are my feelings?" Below, "ante" is an adverb, not a preposition, for "locum" is governed by "destinat:" "And first, marks out a place," etc. "And 3 Vinclaque curva. the crooked fibres (of the root)." Below, in "manicas," etc., Ovid appears to allude to some practice of shooting arrows at a criminal bound fast in chains. Si merui, videorque nocens; imponite flammae1 160 DEIANIRA HERCULI. Deianira, daughter of Oeneus, king of Calydon, in Aetolia, was the wife of Hercules. Hercules, when he had taken Oechalia, a city of the island Euboea, fell in love with Iole, daughter of Eurytus, king of that place. The report of this came to the ears of Deianira; upon hearing it, she wrote this letter to her husband. Meantime, a messenger comes to tell her that Hercules is dead, having been killed by a charmed shirt, which Deianira herself had given him. Deianira hereupon determined to kill herself. Gratulor Oechaliam 2 titulis accedere nostris ; 1 Imponite flammae. "Put me (in the form of logs) on the fire to burn." Below, "semel" is 66 once for all:" "Let me be punished once, and have done with it." 2 Oechaliam. A city of Euboea, taken by Hercules because Eurytus the king refused him his daughter Iole in marriage. Below, "Pelasgiadas" is a Greek adjective, a feminine แ 3 Decolor. The idea here seems to be that of a cloth or robe "discoloured," or stained: the sense will therefore be, "a stain upon your character; a disgraceful report," Quem nunquam Juno, seriesque immensa laborum 5 Fregerit,1 huic Iolen imposuisse jugum. Hoc velit 2 Eurystheus, velit hoc germana Tonantis, Laetaque sit vitae labe noverca tuae. 10 Plus tibi, quam Juno, nocuit Venus. Illa premendo Qua latam Nereus caerulus ambit humum: Tene ferunt geminos pressisse tenaciter angues, 1 Fregerit. The subjunctive of the "Oratio obliqua." When the substance of the words or thoughts of others are given in the narrative form, depending on a verb of narration ("dico," "narro," or the like), the main verb of the recital is in the infinitive (imposuisse), and the verbs in dependent clauses introduced by a relative, conjunction, etc., are in the subjunctive mood (fregerit). If the latter verbs are in the indicative, the sentences in which they stand are no part of the remarks of the person whose speech is quoted, but explanatory clauses introduced by the writer. If "fregit" had been used here, it would have been no part of the rumour described, but a remark of Ovid, for the benefit only of his readers. 2 Hoc velit. "This is what 15 20 20 Eurystheus would like." Cf. Verg. Aen. ii. 104: "Hoc Ithacus velit, et magno mercentur Atreida." Hercules was the son of Jupiter by Alcmena, and therefore step-son to Juno. Below, "sustulit" is "raised (to greatness)." 3 Laturum est. "Will bear you (when raised to the assembly of the gods)." Below, quid nisi notitia," etc., means that the former reputation of Hercules makes his present disgrace the more widely known. 4 Geminos, etc. When Hercules was still in his cradle, Juno sent two serpents to kill him; but the infant prodigy rose up in his cradle and throttled the snakes (Theocr. xxiv. 25, Pind. Nem. i. 40). Below, "Stheneleius" is " son of Sthenelus" (Eurystheus). Coepisti melius quam desinis: ultima primis Torqueor infesto ne vir ab hoste cadat. 1 At bene. This introduces a supposed remark by some objector: "but I am said to be happily married;" and "quia" has the subjunctive as introducing the substance of the views held by others about the marriage. The reply is given in the words, "quam male," etc. For the use of "at," cf. Cic. ad. Famil. ix. 6: "At in perturbata re publica vivimus: quis negat?" "But, some one will say, we live: well, who denies it ?" "At enim" is also common in this sense. The substance of Deianira's reply is, that husband and wife of unequal rank are as uncomfortable as two ill-matched steers in a plough; the wife being then "Perplexed night and morn With the burden of an honour Unto which she was not born." 30 word in its own clause: "monstraque persequitur terribiles que feras." But metre has something to answer for in these matters. This use of "que" out of its place is not uncommon in Ovid after a four-syllable verb, in the latter half of a pentameter. So Fast. iv. 448: "Ipsa suos abscideratque sinus." 3 Operata." Sacrificing." So Hor. Carm. iii. 14, 6: "Prodeat justis operata sacris." Verg. Georg. i. 339:"Sacra refer Cereri laetis operatus in herbis." It is used without any additional words in Tac. Ann. ii. 14: "Viditque se operatum." 4 Speque timor, etc. "Fear gives way before doubtful hope and hope before fear." Deianira fluctuated between hope and fear. The feeling is exactly that pourtrayed by Hood: "Our very hopes belied our fears, Maeandros, toties qui terris errat in îsdem, Nempe sub his animam pestis Nemeaea 2 lacertis 2 Pestis Nemeaea. The lion slain by Hercules in the woods of Nemea, in Argolis. Below, "Maeonia" is "Lydian," Maeonia being an old name of Lydia. Cf. Hor. Car. i. 6. 2: "Victor Maeonii carminis alite;" where the reference is to Homer, supposed to have been born at Smyrna in Lydia. 3 Busiris. He was a king of Egypt who sacrificed to Jupiter all foreigners who fell into his power. Hercules, when on the point of being thus sacrificed, bestirred himself, and turned the tables on the would-be sacrificers, and put them all to death. The word Busiris is said to mean "tomb of Osiris," and so the above legend may have sprung up (Herod. ii. 45). Cf. Verg. Georg. iii. 5. Below "detrahat," etc., means that Antaeus the giant whom Hercules killed by straining him up in his arms from the earth, by contact with which (Terra being his mother) he derived fresh strength, would be glad to tear off the fastenings from Hercules' neck, and so obliterate the marks of effeminacy: otherwise he would "be shamed through all his pulses" to have been defeated by so unmanly an antagonist. |