IV. 10, 86.]

The Poet's Autobiography.

181

Successor fuit hic tibi, Galle; Propertius illi;
Quartus ab his serie temporis ipse fui.
Utque ego majores, sic me coluere minores,
Notaque non tarde facta Thalia mea est.
Carmina cum primum populo juvenilia legi,
Barba resecta mihi bisve semelve fuit.
Moverat ingenium totam cantata per Urbem
Nomine non vero dicta Corinna mihi.
Multa quidem scripsi; sed quae vitiosa putavi,
Emendaturis ignibus ipse dedi.

Tunc quoque,

55

60

[cremavi,

cum fugerem, quaedam placitura

Iratus studio carminibusque meis.

Molle Cupidineis nec inexpugnabile telis

Cor mihi, quodque levis causa moveret, erat.

Cum tamen hic essem, minimoque accenderer igne, Nomine sub nostro fabula nulla fuit.

Paene mihi puero nec digna nec utilis uxor

65

Est data, quae tempus per breve nupta fuit.

70

Illi successit, quamvis sine crimine conjunx,
Non tamen in nostro firma futura toro.
Ultima, quae mecum seros permansit in annos,
Sustinuit conjunx exsulis esse viri.

Filia me mea bis prima fecunda juventa,
Sed non ex uno conjuge, fecit avum ;

Et jam complerat genitor sua fata, novemque
Addiderat lustris altera lustra novem.

Non aliter flevi, quam me fleturus ademptum
Matri proxima justa tuli.

Ille fuit.

Felices ambo tempestiveque sepulti,
Ante diem poenae quod periere meae!
Me quoque felicem, quod non viventibus illis
Sum miser, et de me quod doluere nihil.
Si tamen exstinctis aliquid nisi nomina restat,
Et gracilis structos effugit umbra rogos;

75

80

85

Fama, parentales, si vos mea contigit, umbrae
Et sunt in Stygio crimina nostra foro,

Scite, precor, causam

nec vos mihi fallere fas est

Errorem jussae, non scelus, esse fugae. Manibus hoc satis est: ad vos, studiosa, revertor,

Pectora, qui vitae quaeritis acta meae. Jam mihi canities pulsis melioribus annis Venerat, antiquas miscueratque comas, Postque meos ortus Pisaea vinctus oliva

90

Abstulerat decies praemia victor equus, Cum maris Euxini positos ad laeva Tomitas Quaerere me laesi principis ira jubet.

95

Causa meae cunctis nimium quoque nota ruinae
Indicio non est testificanda meo.

100

Quid referam comitumque nefas famulosque nocentes?

Ipsa multa tuli non leviora fuga.

Indignata malis mens est succumbere, seque

Praestitit invictam viribus usa suis.

Oblitusque mei ductaeque per otia vitae,
Insolita cepi temporis arma manu.

Totque tuli casus pelagoque terraque, quot inter
Occultum stellae conspicuumque polum.

Tacta mihi tandem longis erroribus acto
Juncta pharetratis Sarmatis ora Getis.

Hic ego finitimis quamvis circumsoner armis,
Tristia, quo possum, carmine fata levo.

Quod quamvis nemo est, cujus referatur ad aures,
Sic tamen absumo decipioque diem.

Ergo quod vivo, durisque laboribus obsto,
Nec me sollicitae taedia lucis habent,

105

115

Gratia, Musa, tibi; nam tu solacia praebes,

Tu curae requies, tu medicina venis;

Tu dux et comes es; tu nos abducis ab Histro,
In medioque mihi das Helicone locum.

120

IV. 10, 132.]

The Poet's Autobiography.

183

Tu mihi, quod rarum est, vivo sublime dedistil
Nomen, ab exsequiis quod dare fama solet.
Nec qui detrectat praesentia, Livor iniquo
Ullum de nostris dente momordit opus.

Nam tulerint magnos cum saecula nostra poëtas,
Non fuit ingenio fama maligna meo.

125

Cumque ego praeponam multos mihi, non minor illis
Dicor et in toto plurimus orbe legor.

Si quid habent igitur vatum praesagia veri,
Protinus ut moriar, non ero, terra, tuus.
Sive favore tuli, sive hanc ego carmine famam
Jure, tibi grates, candide lector, ago.

130

NOTES.

It is supposed that most classes who read Ovid at all, will read Ovid before any other Latin poet; and as it is desirable that a poetical composition should always be read as verse, — that is, with a knowledge of its rhythmical structure, a few directions will here be given for scanning at sight, or by ear; which, with a little practice, will be found an easy, almost mechanical process.

It is necessary, first, for the learner to understand the nature of the verse, as depending on precisely the same principles as the rhythmical divisions of a piece of music (§ 77); also, to be familiar. with the general rules of Quantity and Accent (§§ 3, 4).* Besides this, the teacher should explain and illustrate, so far as may be necessary, the structure of the hexameter (§ 82, a), reading from the text of the poem itself, until its peculiar movement has become familiar to the learner's ear. It will now be observed

1. That the difficulties in scanning lie almost entirely in the first half of the verse. With very rare exceptions, the last two feet, and generally the last three, are accented in verse exactly as they would be in prose: that is, the Arsis (first syllable) of the foot corresponds with the natural or prose accent of the word.

2. That in hexameter verse the third foot (rarely the fourth instead) regularly begins with the last syllable of a word. Thus, while the last half of a verse is almost always accented as in prose, the first half very seldom is. The slight pause interrupting the foot at the end of the word is called a casural pause (§ 79, 5); and is the most important point that distinguishes the movement of verse from that of prose. The pause in the third foot (less commonly the fourth) usually corresponds with a pause in the sense, and is called the principal cæsura.

3. That whenever a short syllable occurs in the verse, there must be a dactyl. This becomes a most convenient rule, as soon as the pronunciation of even the commonest words is known, in

* To these it may be well to add the quantity of final syllables (§ 78, 2). The learner should also be habituated to an accurate pronunciation of words according to their prose accent.