ΙΟ 15 atque aliquid duram quaerimus in dominam: nec tantum ingenio quantum servire dolori cogor et aetatis tempora dura queri. hic mihi conteritur vitae modus, haec mea famast, hinc cupio nomen carminis ire mei. me laudent doctae solum placuisse puellae, Pontice, et iniustas saepe tulisse minas: me legat adsidue post haec neglectus amator, et prosint illi cognita nostra mala. te quoque si certo puer hic concusserit arcu, vimus. amores: the plural emphasizes the varying phases of his passion. 6. aliquid i.e. some poetic appeal to her fancy. - duram: cf. the preceding elegy.-in dominam: the preposition implies purpose. This use with both in and ad is unusually common in Propertius, there being all together some 40 cases, of which more than half are with in, which is elsewhere rare in this signification. For a complete list of the examples cf. the editor's collection in PAPA., Vol. 28 (1897), p. xxiii. 7. ingenio: an implication that his own taste might lead him to greater themes, were he not absorbed in his passion. Such a claim is justified by Book 4. 9. hic... haec . . . hinc: emphatic repetition of the subject of his poetry, viz. his love. 10. nomen: 'glory.' The wish has been fulfilled; cf. the phrase "Cynthia Monobiblos." 11. laudent the subject is indefinite.doctae . . . puellae: the same.epithet is applied to Cynthia in 2, 11, 6 and 2, 13, 11, doubtless because she herself wrote poetry; cf. 1, 2, 27-28. Catullus (65, 2) uses the term of the Muses themselves.solum so far as his poetic offerings were concerned, Propertius surely could win over all rivals for Cynthia's favor; but the poet hopes for a unique affection also. Cf. 2, 7, 19: tu mihi sola places: placeam tibi, Cynthia, solus. minas : cf. 12. iniustas Intr. to 1, 6, ad fin. 14. cognita nostra mala: cf. previous note. 15. te: by attraction for the emphatic tu which we should expect here as the subject of flebis. certo: cf. 2, 12, 9-12; Ovid, Am. 1, 1, 25. puer hic: cf. 1, 6, 23, n.; 3, 10, 28: quem gravibus pennis verberet ille puer; in this case the pronoun is determined by the contrast between the experience of the speaker and his friend. 20 25 quod nolim nostros eviolasse deos, longe castra tibi, longe miser agmina septem et frustra cupies mollem conponere versum, nec tibi subiciet carmina serus Amor. tum me non humilem mirabere saepe poetam : tu cave nostra tuo contemnas carmina fastu: saepe venit magno fenore tardus Amor. 7. 16. quod O quo codex Barberinus. eviolasse O evoluisse or te violasse Itali evoluisse Canter quam nolis . . . heu violasse Heinsius quam nolim te violasse ! Rothstein. 16. Though I should be sorry to have my patron divinities do such a dastardly deed.' — quod : poetic cognate acc. nostros: Venus and Amor.-eviolasse: intensive compound. The variant reading evoluisse would be properly used only of the Parcae. 17. longe: 'sorely.' - castra agmina cf. vv. 1-2. 19. mollem: a common epithet of elegiac verse as distinguished from heroic measures. Cf. Intr. $3 Perhaps both the metrical weakening (shortening) of the alternate verse and the character of the subject matter are implied in the term. Cf. 2, 1, 19-20; 2, I, 2; 2, 34, 43-44; Dom. Marsus, 5 8 Tune igitur demens, nec te mea cura moratur ? an tibi sum gelida vilior Illyria, et tibi iam tanti, quicumque est, iste videtur, ut sine me vento quolibet ire velis? tune audire potes vesani murmura ponti fortis, et in dura nave iacere potes? tu pedibus teneris positas fulcire pruinas, tu potes insolitas, Cynthia, ferre nives? I, 8 1-8: Are you beside yourself, Cynthia, to abandon me for such a fellow, and with him to brave wind and weather? 9-16: May the tempests of winter prevent your sailing and my grieving. 17-26: But if you go, may safety attend you; for I shall ever be faithful, and know that you are still destined for me.' Cf. Vahlen, "Ueber zwei Elegien des Propertius," in Sitz. d. Kgl. Pr. Akad. d. Wiss. 1882, pp. 262-280. 1. igitur: we are introduced to the situation not at the beginning, but toward the conclusion of the poet's meditations. Cf. 3, 7, I. mea better taken in the objective sense. Cf. 1, 15, 31: tua sub nostro... pectore cura. 2. tibi: 'in your eyes.'-gelida: a stock epithet of depreciation; cf. Hor. Car. 4, 5, 25: quis Parthum paveat, quis gelidum Scythen. Propertius naturally desires to exaggerate the severity of the climate as he does further in : 5. tune the emphatic pronoun used here and repeatedly in the following verses calls attention to the absurdity of the idea that so luxurious a lady as Cynthia should plan so rough an experience. 6. dura: Propertius seems to be thinking of the planks as the only bed on shipboard. But the sailors' comforts would contrast sharply with the pampered life of Cynthia. Cf. Hor. Car. 2, 13, 27: dura navis, dura fugae mala, dura belli. 7. pedibus teneris: cf. Verg. Ec. 10, 49: ah, tibi ne teneras glacies secet aspera plantas! positas.. pruinas: the fallen snow, as distinguished from the 10 15 o utinam hibernae duplicentur tempora brumae, nec tibi Tyrrhena solvatur funis harena, neve inimica meas elevet aura preces, atque ego non videam tales subsidere ventos, cum tibi provectas auferet unda rates, ut me defixum vacua patiatur in ora crudelem infesta saepe vocare manu. 8. 15. ut Hemsterhusius et 0. For an attempted justification of this unique usage see Postgate, Prop., Appendix B. 9. hibernae: 'stormy'; cf. Verg. Aen. 5, 126; hiberni condunt ubi sidera Cori; Hor. Epod. 15, 8: turbaret hibernum mare. 10. tardis... vergiliis: causal; the adjective has a predicate force. The rising of the Pleiades was the signal for the safe opening of the navigation season. 11. Tyrrhena: the praetor, a Roman official, would be more apt to sail from the station of the Roman fleet at Ostia, than from Brindisi. For the meter, cf. Intr. $ 42, I (4). In imagination the poet sees the whole picture of the proposed departure, and utters a succession of wishes that the various details of it one by one may not be realized in fact. 17. Under no conditions will a like feeling of enmity (infesta) be treasured against his darling, no matter how he hates the cruel sea. 20 25 sit Galatea tuae non aliena viae, ut te, felici praevecta Ceraunia remo, accipiat placidis Oricos aequoribus. 19. ut te NAFV2 utere DV. 18. Galatea: a friendly sea divinity, as were all the Nereids, appropriately invoked as a type of female beauty, and so presumably especially interested in Cynthia. Cf. H. & T. 70; Ovid, Am. 2, 11, 34 (this whole poem is strongly imitative). 19. praevecta: voc. for acc., an extreme example of Propertius's fondness for the vocative. Possibly confisa is a parallel, in I, II, 9. Cf. also 3, 22, 30: nec tremis Ausonias, Phoebe fugate, dapes. Cf. Vahlen, I. c., pp. 266 sqq. Ceraunia: the dangerous promontory Acroceraunia, behind which lay the haven of Oricos (Oricus, Oricum). Cf. Hor. Car. 1, 3, 20: infamis scopulos, Acro ceraunia. 21. non ullae: sc. feminae; a unique use of the fem. plur.; but cf. 4, 11, 50.- corrumpere de te : cf. Plaut. As. 883: me ex amore huius corruptum oppido. 21. de te 0 taedae w. 22. verba querar: cf. Ovid, Met. 9, 303: moturaque duros verba queror silices. 23. deficiet with subject inf. clause is a poet's way of saying 'I shall not fail to,' etc., a lover's hyperbole. citatos: hurrying'; cf. Sen. Herc. Fur. 178: properat cursu vita citato; Phaedra, 1049: pistrix citatas sorbet aut frangit rates. 25. dicam ie. in reply to the answer of the sailors, whatever it may be. — Atraciis: the only Atrax historically known was in central Thessaly. Either Propertius is implying that it makes no difference whether Cynthia is in Illyria or elsewhere, or in poetic hyperbole, or the usual geographical inexactness, he is stretching the limits of Illyria as far eastward as possible for the effect desired in this contrast. 26. Hylleis: the name of a not definitely located Illyrian tribe, who traced their descent from Hyllus, a son of Heracles by the water nymph Melite. Cf. Apollon. |