Et volucres nulla dulcius arte canunt. Non, Idæ et cupido quondam discordia Phœbo, Nec Phrygium falso traxit candore maritum Sed facies aderat nullis obnoxia gemmis, Non ego nunc vereor, ne sim tibi vilior istis: 15 It was not thus, i. e. by dress, that Phoebe and Hilaira, daughters of Leucippus, attracted Castor and Pollux. Apollodor. iii. 10, 3. Aeuкíπtov δὲ καὶ Φιλοδίκης τῆς Ἰνάχου θυγατέρες | ἐγένοντο Ιλάειρα καὶ Φοίβη. Ταύτας ἁρπάσαντες, ἔγημαν Διόσκουροι. The maids had previously been betrothed to Lynceus and Idas. Ovid, Fast. v. 700. Apollodor. iii. 2. Theocrit. Id. xxii. According to Pausanias, lib. iii. cap. 16, there was a temple in Sparta to Hilaira and Phoebe, with certain priestesses attached who were called Λευκιππίδες. 18 Eveni filia, i. e. Marpessa. Apollodor. i. 7, 8. Envos pèv ovv ἐγέννησε Μάρπησσαν, ἣν, ̓Απόλλωνος μνηστευομένου, Ιδας ὁ ̓Αφαρέως ἥρπασε, λαβὼν παρὰ Ποσειδῶνος ἅρμα ὑπόπτερον. Ιδας δὲ εἰς Μεσσήνην παραγίνεται, καὶ αὐτῷ ὁ ̓Απόλλων περιτυχὼν ἀφαιρεῖται Tην Kópην. It would seem, however, from an inscription on the carved chest of Cypselus, at Elis, preserved by Pausanias, lib. v. cap. xviii., that Idas eventually regained his bride, * nothing loath: Ιδας Μάρπησσαν 15 20 25 καλλίσφυρον, ἣν οἱ Απόλλων ἅρπασε, τὰν ἐκ ναοῦ ἄγει πάλιν οὐκ ἀέκουσαν. Patriis litoribus, because the river Evenus was named after her father, who drowned himself therein, being unable to overtake Idas in the pursuit. Litus is therefore improperly used for ripa. 21 Obnoxia, indebted to.' So Virg. Georg. 1, 396. 'Nec fratris radiis obnoxia surgere luna.' 22 Apelles, the famous painter of Cos, is mentioned also in iv. 8, 11. 'In Veneris tabula summam sibi ponit Apelles.' This passage shows that his figures were admired for their simplicity and subdued colouring. 25 Ne sim tibi. Irony: 'I have no fear lest I should be held by you in less esteem than your other admirers are;' whereas in fact this is the very ground of his alarm. One lover, he adds, is enough; so that Cynthia need not dress herself ad captandos plures. In other words: if Cynthia is content to love me alone, she will accommodate herself to my taste. Istis is said with contempt of Cum tibi præsertim Phoebus sua carmina donet, Aoniamque libens Calliopea lyram; Omnia, quæque Venus quæque Minerva probat. 30 III. Qualis Thesea jacuit cedente carina 5 finished picture. At the same time, it conveys the plainest proof that Propertius was a libertine, and that Cynthia knew it. The student should, however, remember that intoxication was not regarded by the Romans as a debasing and brutal habit. On the contrary, it was a gay and convivial indulgence, which no one was ashamed to own. See iii. 21, 1. The vice is comparatively a rare one to this day, in countries which produce wine; and it would be a great error to compare it with the sottish intemperance which came in with Saxon ale, and which induces its votaries to drink simply for the sake of getting drunk. 4 Cotibus is the reading of all good copies, and is here the same as cautibus, which Lachmann, Barth, and Kuinoel have edited. Compare codex and caudex. Cautes is a lengthened form of cos (cots), as plebes is of plebs. 5 Edonis, 'Howvis, a Bacchanal. Talis visa mihi mollem spirare quietem Hanc ego, nondum etiam sensus deperditus omnes, Et quamvis duplici correptum ardore juberent Sed sic intentis hærebam fixus ocellis, Et modo solvebam nostra de fronte corollas, 10 Quaterent facem. Seeoniv. 16,16. 16 The MSS. agree in reading et arma, except that one of the best omits et. Kuinoel, with his usual recklessness in altering the text, has admitted the ingenious, but violent correction of Gronovius, ad ora. This, as Lachmann remarks, would leave it ambiguous whether manu meant Cynthia's hand, kissed by Propertius, or that of the latter raised to the face of Cynthia. It must be confessed that et arma is difficult to explain. The best commentators agree in understanding it in a metaphorical sense; as a soldier sumit arma for battle, so the lover, who serves under the standard of Venus. Compare iv. 20, 20. 'Dulcia quam nobis concitet arma Venus.' Sumere must thus be taken in a slightly different sense, i. e. car | IO 15 20 pere oscula, sumere arma. It is worthy of notice that the MS. Groning. omits et before arma. Perhaps the original reading was some such epithet as amara, a word which frequently bears the sense of πικρὰ, i. e. kisses to my cost;' and this might be supported by v. 18. The obvious antithesis to the more natural epithet dulcia, would at once suggest this meaning. 18 Verbera is the reading of Kuinoel, from a late and worthless MS. All good copies agree in jurgia, which is perfectly unobjectionable. 21 Corollas. Chaplets were worn at the banquet, and generally by the comessantes (kwμáčovтes) after a feast. The word is contracted from coronula, like puella from puerula. Corona is the Greek kopávŋ, a ring.' Omniaque ingrato largibar munera somno, Ne qua tibi insolitos portarent visa timores, Namque ubi longa meæ consumpsti tempora noctis, 25 Munera. Though omnia is poetically added, the apples are meant, which (as Kuinoel remarks) were the favourite offerings of lovers. The choice of epithets in this exquisite passage deserves attention. 27 Duxit is the reading of the Naples MS. In any other poet than Propertius, who is fond of sudden transitions of this kind, the third person would be hardly compatible with tibi in v. 29. The meaning of the passage is this: -from Cynthia's sleeping sigh he derived a groundless 25 330 35 Moratura lumina are Cynthia's eyes, which would have slept on if the moonlight had not opened them. Compare 'victura rosaria Pæsti,' v. 5, 61. 34 Fixa cubitum, like deperditus sensus in v. 11, an idiom not uncommon in Latin, is very erroneously rendered 'fixed as to her elbow.' The latter is identical with the Greek depoapuévos тàs ppévas, &c., 'having διεφθαρμένος my senses destroyed.' So nixa caput, v. 8, and fusa brachia, iii. 7, 24. 35 The meaning appears to be, omen that she was dreaming of vio-So then, you have only come to me Me miseram quales semper habere jubes! Nam modo purpureo fallebam stamine somnum, Rursus et Orpheæ carmine, fessa, lyræ; Interdum leviter mecum deserta querebar Externo longas sæpe in amore moras: Dum me jocundis lapsam sopor impulit alis. Illa fuit lacrimis ultima cura meis. 40 45 IV. Quid mihi tam multas laudando, Basse, puellas Quid me non pateris, vitæ quodcumque sequetur, 41 Purpureo stamine. Cf. v. 3, 34. Et Tyria in radios vellera secta suos.' So Arete, the mother of the amiable Nausicaa, sate at the hearth ἠλάκατα στρωφῶσ ̓ ἁλιπόρφυρα, Od. vi. 53.-fessa, i. e. when tired of spinning. 43 Leviter, 'submissa et quasi suppressa voce.' Hertzberg. This is the reading of all the good copies. Kuinoel and Lachmann give graviter: the latter, I think, rather through inadvertency than from deliberate choice. 46 The meaning of this verse, which Hertzberg has rightly explained, is, that the last subject of care to her grief, before she fell asleep, was the infidelity of Propertius. It does not appear, however, from anything in the poem, that there was any ground for the accusation in this particular instance; though v. 44 proves that his delinquencies were habitual. 5 IV. To Bassus. He was a man of noble birth, and a writer of iambics. Ovid. Trist. iv. 10, 47. 'Ponticus heroo, Bassus quoque clarus iambo.' It is probable that Bassus had endeavoured to draw away his friend from his infatuated attachment to Cynthia, by disparaging her charms, and that not from disinterested motives, as may be inferred from v. 20. 4 Ducere is the reading of the Naples MS., which Kuinoel and Hertzberg have adopted. Others give vivere. 5 Antiope, daughter of Nycteus, was the mother of Amphion and Zethus, by Jupiter. She was illtreated by Lycus, king of Thebes, and Dirce, his wife, and avenged by her sons. Apollodor. iii. 5, 5. Infra. iv. 15, 11. Hermione was the daughter of Menelaus and Helen. Hom. Od. iv. 14. |