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et miserum toto iuvenem versare cubili:

quid relevant variis serica textilibus?

quae mihi dum placata aderit, non ulla verebor regna vel Alcinoi munera despicere.

17

Et merito, quoniam potui fugisse puellam! nunc ego desertas adloquor alcyonas.

24. vel O nec w aut Mueller.

animo taedia iusta tuo. Perhaps this construction may here be partly due to the influence of ostrino, which refers, of course, to the covering, as toro does principally to the cushion. Love steals under the gorgeous couch and cover, and the youth suddenly finds that even there he is not safe from such attacks.

21. versare: 'to make him toss'; cf. 2, 22, 47: quanta illum toto versant suspiria lecto.

22. quid relevant: cf. Lucr. 2, 34: nec calidae citius decedunt corpore febres textilibus si in picturis ostroque rubenti iacteris. variis... textilibus: abl. of quality, to be rendered as one phrase with serica: variety of silken fabrics.' serica: the Seres, the modern Chinese, furnished textile fabrics in large variety: garments, tapestries, bedspreads, and even carpets. Several words in this elegy indicate the wide range of Roman commerce in search of rich and rare luxuries (C. S.). The

material used by the Seres gave the generic name, ‘silks.'

24. vel: we should expect nec; but we have such sequences as nec... vel, e.g. in Tib. 1, 9, 59.

- Alcinoi: the king of the Phaeacians, who gave such liberal gifts (munera) to Odysseus (C. S.); 'gifts like those of Alcinous.'

I, 17

In the perils of a storm at sea Propertius bewails his folly and fate and contrasts his death with what it would have been had he died at Rome amid the lamentations of his mistress (C. S.). Whether the scene was real or imaginary we have no means of knowing. If it was real the anxieties caused by the perils of the sea were unnecessary, as the trip did not terminate fatally. The poet seems in 3, 21, to be really planning flight over the sea to Athens; but the situation here cannot be identified with one at that late

5

nec mihi Cassiope solito visura carinam,

omniaque ingrato litore vota cadunt. quin etiam absenti prosunt tibi, Cynthia, venti: adspice, quam saevas increpat aura minas.

17. 3. solito 0 solo Palmer.

stage of the progress of his relations with Cynthia. In his loneliness, his hatred of the sea, his longing for his loved one, as well as in the geographical situation, he is like Tibullus in 1, 3.

1-4: 'I deserve it all, for having forsaken my darling. 5-12: The storm does your will, Cynthia, upon me; can you not relent? Can you really bear that I should perish thus? 13-18: Cursed be he who first learned to sail the sea! Better anything than its cruel pitilessness! 19-24: Had I only stayed at home, even to die, my love would have shown her heart in the last sad offices. 2528: Yet, daughters of the sea, come to my help, and spare me!'

1. Et merito: Propertius usually plunges in medias res at once in his elegies, several times, as here, apparently presupposing a considerable process of thought; cf. I, 9; 2, 10; 3, 7; 3, 23; 4, 7. This habit may serve to justify the divisions of the poems in some cases. Cf. eg. 1. 8 b. - fugisse : cf. Tib. I, I, 29, n

2. desertas: lonely' (C. S.). —alcyonas: 'sea birds'; strictly, kingfishers. There was a fancy that they were connected with the

sea, as: hence, halcedo, halcyon.' The "halcyon days" were the fourteen days of the bird's incubation, during which the sea was supposed to be more calm and navigable (C. S.); cf. 3, 10, 9: alcyonum positis requiescant ora querellis.

3. Cassiope: a port on the northern end of the island of Corcyra, the first made on the regular course from Brundusium to Greece, and the last at which navigators called on the return voyage. Cf. Cic. Ad Fam. 16, 9, 1 ; Gell. 19, 1, 1; Suet. Nero, 22; Pliny, N. H. 4, 12, 52.. - solito : 'as usual' (C. S.). This absolute use of the participle is an easy extension of the more common one after comparatives, eg. Livy, 24, 9: plus solito. - visura: sc. est.

-

4. cadunt fall unnoticed,' i.e. fail. Cf. the modern colloquial "fall down."

5. prosunt: 'take your part' (C. S.).

6. increpat: the indicative is used because the dependent clause has more the nature of an exclamation than of an indirect question. Such constructions are found even in Cicero, and quite often in the poets, both early and classical.

ΙΟ

15

nullane placatae veniet fortuna procellae?
haecine parva meum funus arena teget?
tu tamen in melius saevas converte querellas:
sat tibi sit poenae nox et iniqua vada.
an poteris siccis mea fata reponere ocellis,
ossaque nulla tuo nostra tenere sinu?
ah pereat, quicumque rates et vela paravit
primus et invito gurgite fecit iter.
nonne fuit levius dominae pervincere mores

11. reponere O opponere o reposcere Baehrens.

They follow especially verbs of seeing and saying. Cf. Draeger, 155 (C. S.).

7. placatae procellae : epexegetical gen. with fortuna. 8. haecine: cf. LSHLG., p. 80. funus: the vocabulary of death is rich in Propertius, and the variations in usage manifold. This word here means 'dead body,' as in 4, 11, 3 (but body and soul are there identified), and as fata does in v. II. Cf. Verg. Aen. 9, 491 : funus lacerum tellus habet.

9. Unless Cynthia's curses cease soon Propertius believes his doom will be certain death.

10. nox the blackness of the tempest' (C. S.).

II. fata cf. v. 8, n.- reponere: lay away' i.e. in the tomb; but here in the more general sense (cf. consign to earth'), as the place and and circumstances are thought of as beyond the ken of Cynthia. Propertius means to say, 'Could you bear to have me die where you couldn't bury me?'

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12. Ossaque tenere: and yet not be able to clasp to your bosom.'-sinu : for the burial custom in this particular see B. G. Exc. 12, p. 519 (C. S.); cf. Tib. I, 3, 6.

13. pereat, quicumque navigation was an exceedingly perilous business in those days, and Roman poetry abounds in curses on the folly of tempting Providence by venturing off the land. E.g. Tib. 1, 3, 50; Prop. 3, 7, 29-32; Hor. Car. 1, 3, 9 sqq. illi robur erat, qui . . commisit pelago

ratem.

14. primus: the invention of ships and the beginnings of navigation are variously ascribed to Jason, Semiramis, Danaus, Erythras. The Phoenicians are thought to be the first nation that engaged extensively in commerce. cf. Tib. 1, 7, 20 (C. S.).

But

15. Cf. Verg. Ec. 2, 14: nonne fuit satius, tristes Amaryllidis iras atque superba pati fastidia? For fuit cf. Madv. 348, c.

20

(quamvis dura, tamen rara puella fuit), quam sic ignotis circumdata litora silvis.

cernere et optatos quaerere Tyndaridas? illic siqua meum sepelissent fata dolorem, ultimus et posito staret amore lapis, illa meo caros donasset funere crines,

16. rara: cf. 1, 8, 42.

18. optatos . . . Tyndaridas: Castor and Pollux, whose favor as bringing fair weather was constantly sought by sailors; cf. BPW., Vol. 30 (1910), Sp. 517. Perhaps the origin of the idea is to be traced to the convenience of their constellation, Gemini, as a guide for pilots, which would require fair weather, of course, to be useful, and the desire for this would cause petitions to the deified twins. But besides this the phenomenon known as St. Elmo's fire, at the masthead, was early recognized as an indication of the favor of Castor and Pollux. Cf. Pliny, N. H. 2, 37, 101; Hor. Car. 1, 3, 2; 1, 12, 27; 4, 8, 31; Cat. 68, 65; Geikie, p. 341. The mother of the twins was Leda, wife of Tyndareus; but legend and literature more often regard Juppiter as their father.

19. illic at Rome, which now seems so remote as to suggest this adverb. There, moreover, 'she' (illa, v. 21) is, the poet is thinking; cf. 1, 12, 3, n.

20. amore may be taken as practically equivalent to amatore ('her dead lover'); cf. 2, 28, 39.

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21. meo

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funere with characteristic vagueness in both words and syntax, as again in extremo ... pulvere in v. 23, Propertius leaves us in doubt whether he refers especially to time or to place. Fortunately for poets, they are not required to parse what they write; we may render the expressions respectively, would have presented her dead lover,' and 'would have called my name aloud when life had forever left this clay.'-crines : the friends of the dead often cut off their hair and laid it sometimes on the breast and sometimes on the tomb of the deceased. Cf. Ovid, Met. 3, 505: planxere sorores Naides et sectos fratri posuere capillos. Several of the burial customs of the Romans are indicated in this and the following lines. To decorate the graves of the dead with flowers seems to be a natural expression of the heart in all ages, but probably has some significance of a magic or mystical character also. Cf. Siebourg in Archiv. f. Religionswissenschaft, Vol. 8, pp. 390, sqq. To call upon

25

molliter et tenera poneret ossa rosa: illa meum extremo clamasset pulvere nomen, ut mihi non ullo pondere terra foret. at vos aequoreae formosa Doride natae, candida felici solvite vela choro:

si quando vestras labens Amor attigit undas, mansuetis socio parcite litoribus.

18

Haec certe deserta loca et taciturna querenti, et vacuum zephyri possidet aura nemus:

the name of the deceased was usual among the Romans. S. T. T. L (sit tibi terra levis) was often inscribed on the tomb as well as uttered among the last farewells. See B. G. Exc. 12 (C. S.). The conclamatio, or custom of having all present shout loudly the name of the deceased as soon as death appears to have taken place, is still practiced on the death of a Pope of Rome.

25. Doride natae: Doris was the daughter of Oceanus and Tethys. She married Nereus and was the mother of Nereids. Propertius appeals to them by the fellowship of love to spare him and give him tranquil waters (C. S.).

28. mansuetis . . . litoribus: instrumental.socio: i.e. because they could then have a fellow-feeling for his distress.

I, 18

In the silent solitude of the forest Propertius bitterly laments the hardheartedness of Cynthia.

1-8: Here at least I may utter my complaint; but where shall I begin to rehearse my sad estate? 9-16: What have I done to merit thy disdain? Have I been unfaithful? I swear I have not, richly as thou deservest to be forsaken. 17-22: Or do I not protest enough? the very trees shall witness my devotion. 23-26: Or have I revealed thy infidelities? I have borne all in silence. 27-32: And for all this my only reward is to wander lonely in the wildwood and make it vocal with the echoes of thy name?'

1. Haec certe: the poet has been almost bursting with grief, and only here at last does he find

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