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THE NUT TREE.

In this juvenile production of Ovid, he supposes a walnut tree, growing near a public road, to make the following complaint of the outrages committed against it by those who passed by.

13. Matrem : 'their parent tree.'

19. Continuos : successive.'

22. Clytemnestræ digna: See Lat. Gram. Rule XIII. Obs. 2. Clytemnestra was slain by her own son Orestes. 27. Quæque cerasus: ' and let the cherry-tree hear this, which tinges its fruit with various colours.'

29. Feritur: i. e. is any tree which bears only leaves pelted ?

31. Sinceros: unmarred; unbruised.'

37. De quo victoria: the conquest of whom.'-Lucro: ⚫ for gain.'

40. Cui timeat: 'that for which he should fear;' i. e. money, or treasure.

44. Fragmina

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fragments;' broken branches.

45. Vicinia: nearness to me.'

53. Sed, puto: but, I suppose.' Ironically.

68. Parca colona: O rustic housewife, too frugal.' 81. Rapti of what is plundered.'-Relicti: of that which is left,' viz. for my owner.

88. Solve: 6 nor the sun.'

90. Malo est: 'is a misfortune.'

91. Polydore: Polydōrus the son of Priam was murdered for his wealth, by his brother-in-law. See Met. Book XIII, verse 399, note.

92. Aonium virum: her husband Amphiarāüs. To avoid going to a war, in which he knew he was to perish if he went, Amphiaraüs had secreted himself. But his wife Eriphyle, induced by a diamond necklace, discovered the place of his concealment, and Amphiarāüs was obliged to go to the war. But before his departure he enjoined it

on his son to kill his mother, as soon as the tidings of his own death should reach him, which command was executed.

94. Opes the Hesperides, or daughters of Hesperus, had a garden in which some of the trees were said to bear golden apples.

97. Nec.

thorns.'

hamis and am not defended by crooked

100. Icario cane: ' with the dog-star.'

105. Hæc mihi perpessa: 'after I have suffered all these evils.'

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115. Quæ publica tangunt: things that grow by the way-side.'

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127. At non finit: but the divine Augustus has not confined the blessings of peace to the city of Rome.'

137. Fusco succo: the juice from the bark of the walnut tree, and from the outer covering of the nut, when handled, stains the hand with a dingy yellow, which will not yield to water, and can only be worn off.

153. Sagittis: this is an allusion to malefactors condemned to be shot, who are tied to the stake, and therefore cannot move to shun the arrow which they may see aimed at them.

162. Dedecus esse semel: 'for the punishment to be inflicted at once.'

TRISTIA.

LIB. IV. ELEGIA X.

OVID gives some account of his family, and of his own life.

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1. Ille posteritas: the construction is, O posteritas, accipe, ut nóris quem legis, ego sum ille qui fuerim lusor

tenerorum amorum.

3. Sulmo: a town of the Peligni, about ninety miles northeast of Rome.

6. Consul uterque: both consuls Hirtius and Pansa fell at Mutina, in a battle against Antony, 43 years before the Christian era.

7. Ordinis: sc. equestris: of equestrian rank.’

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11. Lucifer idem: the same day;' i. e. of the month. 13. Hæc est solet: this is the first of the five days, sacred to the warlike Minerva, which is bloody with the fight of gladiators; i. e. the second day of the festival. For on the first day of the Quinquatria oblations were offered, but without the effusion of blood. On the second, third, and fourth, shows of gladiators were exhibited, and on the fifth was a solemn procession through the city. During this celebration, which commenced on the 18th of March, the scholars had holydays.

18. Verbosi Fori: of the noisy forum.' 22. Mæonides: Homer.

29. Lato clavo: Senators had a broad stripe of purple on the breast of their tunic, called latus clavus; and the knights a narrow one, called angustus clavus. Augustus gave the sons of senators permission to wear the latus clavus when they assumed the manly gown.

vir.

34. Tribus una: he intimates that he had been a trium

35. Curia: the senatorial dignity only remained for him to gain. He had passed through the other gradations.—

Clavi by saying that the width of his purple was contracted, he means that he did not receive the senatorial dignity, which, as above stated, was designated by a broader stripe of purple upon the robe.

43. Suas volucres legit: read his description of birds.' Æmilius Macer, a poet of Verona, wrote concerning birds, serpents, and plants.

47. Ponticus: Ponticus and Bassus were contemporary poets with Ovid. One wrote in heroic, and the other in iambic verse.

50. Dum ferit: 'while he strikes the lyre to his polished songs.'

51. Tibullo: Tibullus died when Ovid was very young, soon after the commencement of their acquaintance. Some say he died the day Ovid was born; but this is a mistake.

56. Thalia: the construction is, meaque Thalia [musa] non tardè facta est nota.

60. Corinna: this is the name under which Ovid celebrates a favorite in his Amorum Libri, which he calls juvenilia.

90. Errorem: it is not known fully what was the cause of Ovid's banishment; but he is supposed to have been guilty of some violation of honour, in relation to Augustus.

95. Pisaá olivá: the victors at the Olympic games were crowned with olive at Pisa, a city of the Peloponnesus.

96. Abstulerat decies: i. e. after ten celebrations of the Olympic games. These took place every four years, and of course he means, after he was forty years old.

97. Tomitas: Ovid was banished to Tomos.

108. Occultum i. e. the concealed, or South pole, the North pole being visible.

123. Qui detrectat presentia: 'which undervalues the works of living authors.'

QUESTIONS.

Book I.

METAMORPHOSES.

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From whom was Prometheus descended?

By whom, and by what means is

the first man said by the poets to have been formed and animated?

How was the impiety of Prometheus punished?

Which was the first of the four ages of the world?

How were the laws of the Romans made known to the people?

Who was the sovereign of the gods?

Why was the oak dedicated to Jupiter?

By whom was Saturn dethroned? How was the empire of the world

divided, after Saturn was driven from his throne? Under what names is Jupiter supposed to have been worshipped by the Africans, Babylonians, and Egyptians?

What age followed the golden? In what age is the year said to

have been first divided into sea

sons?

What were the first habitations of mankind?

Which of the goddesses was thought to preside over corn and harvests?

In what island was Ceres princi pally worshipped? What is the third age of th world called?

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