Turpe,1 nisi hoc matris precibus tribuisset, Achilles Veste virum longa dissimulatus erat.

Quid facis, Aeacide ?2 Non sunt tua munera lanae;

Tu titulos alia Palladis arte petas.

Quid tibi cum calathis? cum calathis?

terendo.

10

Clypeo manus apta

Pensa quid in dextra, qua cadet Hector, habes? Rejice succinctos operoso stamine fusos:

Quassanda est ista Pelias hasta manu.

Men are fond of doing what is forbidden.
Cui peccare licet, peccat minus! ipsa potestas
Semina nequitiae languidiora facit.
Desine (crede mihi) vitia irritare vetando;
Obsequio vincas aptius illa tuo.

Vidi ego nuper equum, contra sua vincla tenacem,
Ore reluctanti fulminis ire modo.

Constitit, ut primum concessas sensit habenas,
Frenaque in effusa laxa jacere juba.

5

Pelides moved from Scyros, where con

cealed

He lay, obedient to his mother's fears,
A seemly damsel."

2 Aeacide, etc. "O descendant of Aeacus, not thine the business of the distaff." Pallas was not only goddess of spinning, etc., but of war; that was the line for Achilles to take. Below, "Pelias hasta" is "the spear cut on Mount Pelion (in Thessaly)."

Nitimur1 in vetitum semper, cupimusque negata;
Sic interdictis imminet aeger aquis.
Centum fronte oculos, centum cervice gerebat
Argus; et hos unus saepe fefellit Amor.
In thalamum Danaë saxo ferroque perennem
Quae fuerat virgo tradita, mater erat.
Penelope mansit, quamvis custode carebat,
Inter tot juvenes intemerata procos.

Quidquid servatur, cupimus magis: ipsaque furem
Cura vocat. Pauci, quod sinit alter, amant.

10

15

Grief must find vent in words.

At poteras inquis melius mala ferre silendo,
Et tacitus casus dissimulare tuos.
Exigis, ut nulli gemitus tormenta sequantur:
Acceptoque gravi vulnere flere vetas.
Ipse Perilleo Phalaris permisit in aere
Edere mugitus, et bovis ore queri.

1 Nitimur, etc. "We press on to what is forbidden." Below, "imminet is "hangs eagerly over," i.e. longs for.

2 Argus. Argus, having a hundred eyes, was set by Juno to watch Io, whom Jupiter had changed into a heifer. He was slain by Mercury. Danae was immured in a tower, and yet Jupiter found his way in, in the form of a shower of gold. Cf. Hor. Carm. iii. 16, 1: "Inclusam Danaen turris ahenea Robustaeque fores, et vigilum canum Tristes excubiae munierant satis." Penelope was the wife of Ulysses.

cura.

5

"The

3 Ipsaque very anxiety for safe keeping invites the thief:" attracts his attention and provokes his cupidity.

4 Phalaris. See a previous note. Achilles gave up the body of Hector at the request of Priam his father. Apollo and Artemis, children of Latona, destroyed the sons and daughters of Niobe, as a punishment for her pride. Progne, wife of Tereus, king of Thrace, in revenge for his cruelty to her sister Philomela, served up at table his son Itys, and was subsequently changed into a

Cum Priami lacrimis offensus non sit Achilles,
Tu fletus inhibes, durior hoste, meos.
Cum faceret Nioben orbam Latonia proles,
Non tamen et siccas jussit habere genas.
Est aliquid, fatale malum per verba levare :
Hoc querulam Prognen Halcyonemque facit.
Hoc erat, in gelido quare Poeantius antro

Voce fatigaret Lemnia saxa sua.

10

Strangulat inclusus dolor, atque exaestuat intus; 15 Cogitur et vires multiplicare suas.

The Sibyl's prophecy.

Phoebe, fave: novus ingreditur tua templa sacerdos:1

Huc age, cum cithara carminibusque veni.
Nunc te vocales impellere pollice chordas,

Nunc precor
2 ad laudes flectere verba meas.
Ipse, triumphali devinctus tempora lauro,
Dum cumulant aras, ad tua sacra veni.

were

This is a
Tibullus

swallow. Halcyone, wife of whose care the Sibylline books Ceyx, on finding her husband's corpse washed up on the sea shore, threw herself into the waves, and was changed with her husband into a bird of the same name. Philoctetes, son of Poeas, being wounded in the foot by one of the poisoned arrows of Hercules falling on it, was left in the island of Lemnos by the Greeks, on their way to Troy.

1 Novus... sacerdos. Messalinus had been made a member of the "Quindecim viri," to

entrusted. "Templa seems to be in the plural, because the sacred precincts generally are meant. 2 Nunc precor, etc. curious expression. asks Phoebus to lend adequate words for the praise he was about to confer on Messalinus. "Flectere" conveys the idea of selecting or turning words aside for the especial use of the poet. Below, 66 tempora " is a Greek accusative of respect.

Sed nitidus, pulcherque veni. Nunc indue vestem Sepositam; longas nunc bene pecte comas: Qualem te memorant, Saturno rege fugato,

Victori laudes concinuisse Jovi.

Tu procul eventura vides: tibi deditus augur
Scit bene, quid fati provida1 cantet avis:
Tuque regis sortes: per te praesentit aruspex,
Lubrica signavit cum deus exta notis.

10

Te duce, Romanos nunquam frustrata Sibylla est, 15 Abdita quae senis fata canit pedibus.2

Haec dedit Aeneae sortes (postquam ille parentem
Dicitur, et raptos sustinuisse Lares:

Nec fore credebat Romam, quum maestus ab alto
Ilion, ardentes respiceretque deos;)
Impiger Aenea, volitantis3 frater Amoris,
Troica qui profugis sacra vehis ratibus,
Jam tibi Laurentes assignat Juppiter agros;
Jam vocat errantes hospita terra Lares.
Illic sanctus eris, cum te veneranda Numici
Unda deum caelo miserit Indigetem.
Ecce super fessas volitat Victoria puppes;
Tandem ad Troianos diva superba venit.
Ecce mihi lucent 4 Rutulis incendia castris;
Jam tibi praedico, barbare Turne, necem.

20

25

25

30

3 Volitantis, etc. The winged Cupid was, like Aeneas, son of Venus. Below, "Laurentes agros" is "the lands of Laurentum (a town of Latium)." Aeneas was drowned in the river Numicius, and after his death became a tutelar deity of the country.

4 Mihi lucent. "I see the fires gleam." Turnus was a Rutulian prince. Lavinium was founded by Aeneas, and Alba

F

Ante oculos Laurens castrum murusque Lavinî est,
Albaque ab Ascanio condita Longa duce.
Te quoque jam video, Marti placitura sacerdos,1
Ilia, Vestales deseruisse focos.

Carpite nunc, tauri, de septem montibus herbas, 35
Dum licet; hic magnae jam locus urbis erit.
Roma, tuum nomen terris fatale regendis,
Qua sua de caelo prospicit arva Ceres;
Quaque patent ortus, et qua fluitantibus undis
Solis anhelantes abluit amnis equos.
Troia quidem tunc se mirabitur; et sibi dicet
Vos bene tam longa consuluisse via.

Tib.

40

Arrival of Evander in Italy.

Orta prior Luna (de se s creditur ipsi)

A

magno tellus Arcade nomen habet.

Hic fuit Evander; qui, quamquam clarus utroque, Nobilior sacrae sanguine matris erat:

Longa by his son Ascanius, or
Iulus.

1 Sacerdos. Rhea Silvia, daughter of Numitor, was the mother of Romulus and Remus, by Mars. She was before this a Vestal Virgin. Below, "fatale," etc., is "marked out by the fates for ruling the lands.”

2 Amnis. Here, the ocean stream surrounds the south. Below, by "sibi dicet," etc., Tibullus means that Troy will consider Aeneas and his companions to have done her a good turn by removing to Latium. "Sibi consuluisse" is "to have consulted her interests."

3 Orta prior Luna. Arcadia (previously called Parrhasia) in the Peloponnesus, claimed to have existed before the moon. So in the Fasti :

"Arcades, et Luna gens prior illa fuit." Arcas was the son of Callisto, by Jupiter.

Clarus utroque. Evander was the son of Mercurius and Carmentis, who possessed the gift of prophecy. Below, "motus," etc., is "that troubles for her son and herself were at hand," and in this prediction she proved only too truthful (vera nimium).