XI. Ecquid te mediis cessantem, Cynthia, Baiis, Qua jacet Herculeis semita litoribus, Et modo Thesproti mirantem subdita regno Proxima Misenis æquora nobilibus, Nostri cura subit memores ah ducere noctes? Ecquis in extremo restat amore locus? XI. Addressed to Cynthia while absent at Baiæ, and warning her, with all the earnestness of a jealous affection, to beware of the snares and gaieties of that much frequented watering place. 1 Mediis Baiis, midway between Misenum and Puteoli.-semita &c. 'Semita illa Herculis montis jugum erat velut alta mole in mare jactum.' Hertz. See iv. 18. 4. Strabo, lib. v. cap. iv. ὁ δὲ Λοκρῖνος κόλπος πλατύνεται μέχρι Βαΐων, χώματι εἰργόμενος ἀπὸ τῆς ἔξω θαλάττης ὀκτασταδίῳ τὸ μῆκος, πλάτος δὲ ἁμαξιτοῦ πλατείας, ὅ φασιν Ηρα- | κλέα διαχῶσαι, τὰς βοῦς ἐλαύνοντα τὰς Γηρυόνου. 4 For proxima Barth and Kuinoel read et modo, which was first introduced into the text by Scaliger from a late MS. Lachmann well observes that subdita is only applicable to regno. Modo would seem to imply that Cynthia occasionally made excursions from Baiæ to enjoy fine sea-views from other points. Thesproti regno is believed to be Puteoli; but the ancient historians afford no direct testimony in confirmation of the opinion. Among the fifty sons of Lycaon, King of Arcadia, a Thesprotus is mentioned by Apollodorus, iii. 8, 1, but nothing further is recorded of him. The reader will probably be contented with the remark of Hertzberg: 'Itaque non tam testimonio egere, quam testem ipsum Pro 5 pertium esse credam, illam Italiæ oram vel nescio cui Thesproto olim paruisse, vel a Thesprotis incolas accepisse, fontes vero, unde doctrinam eam hauserit, perditos esse.' The Roman poets, who delighted to exhibit their curious learning in Greek lore, had access to a vast number of writers whose works have long since wholly perished, so that we can hardly expect to adduce direct proofs for every statement advanced by them. This remark is applicable, as we shall have occasion to notice, to very many passages in Propertius.—A full account of Baiæ is given by Becker, Gallus, p. 85-97. 5 The construction is, 'ecquid cura subit te, cessantem Baiis, ducere noctes memores nostri ?' i.e. numquid curas ducere ?-ah ducere is the correction of Scaliger for adducere or aducere of the MSS. 6 All the MSS. have extremo, which Passerat, followed by Kuinoel, has changed to externo, i.e. alieno. This alteration, however, gives a sense far from satisfactory; for not only does it too bluntly bring a charge of faithlessness against Cynthia, but it makes the poet ask the superfluous question, have you any room for me in your new regard for another ?' Hertzberg suggests a meaning in which, in default of a better, I am inclined to acquiesce: 'have you any room left for me in a corner of your An te nescio quis simulatis ignibus hostis Perfida, communes nec meminisse deos; Non quia perspecta non es mihi cognita fama, love?' 'In extremo certe angulo num sibi locus restet, modestius quærit.' Barth compares 'extrema linea amare.' -Ter. Eun. iv. 2, 12. 7 Nescio quis. Said with marked contempt, as Kuinoel observes. 8 Some commentators regard confisa as the vocative for the accusative, as supr. 8, 19. To me it appears clearly to agree with cymba, since a gondola 'relies' on its oars for safe guidance. 9-14 'I had rather you were cruising in the Lucrine bay, or indulging in the retired baths of Cumæ, than listening to whispered vows while seated on the shore of Baiæ.' It is altogether uncertain what is meant by Teuthrantis in unda: the reading itself is but a conjecture of Scaliger's for tentantis or teutantis of the MSS. Teuthras was a king of Mysia, where there was a city called Cumæ, which, together with that near Baiæ, was a colony of Chalcidians; hence both cities may have been called after this king. Hertzberg thinks Naples may be meant, which was originally a colony of Cumæans, (Strabo, v. iv. μετὰ δὲ Δικαιαρχίαν ἐστὶ Νεάπολις Κυμαίων· ὕστερον δὲ καὶ Χαλκιδείς ἐπῴκησαν, καὶ Πιθηκουσαίων τινὲς, καὶ ̓Αθηναίων, ὥστε καὶ Νεάπολις ἐκλήθη dià TOUTO,) and contained, according to the same authority, baths not inferior to Baia: whence clausam would mean within a covered swimming-bath.' This is by no means improbable; but I cannot concur in his opinion that Teuthrantis is an adjective, Tev pavris, agreeing with lympha. Kuinoel, without quoting any ancient authority, makes Teuthras the name of a small river some distance from Baiæ. 12 Manu is for manui, the old, or rather the contracted, form of the dative, used occasionally even by Tacitus, as Ann. iii. 30, 33, 34; vi. 23. It is hardly necessary to remind the student that manuis, manui, manues, manuas &c., was the uncontracted declension, corresponding to the Greek termination in-ús,-vos. The dative ὀρχηστυ manu occurs in Homer Od. viii. 253, and λŋovî, ibid. xi. 514. 13 Susurros,ὀαρισμούς, ψιθυρισμούς. Words in both languages peculiarly used of lovers' converse. 16 Communes deos. The gods mutually invoked as witnesses to vows made between two parties. 17 The sense is; 'Not that my apprehensions arise from any incon Sed quod in hac omnis parte timetur amor. Attulerint nostri: culpa timoris erit. Tu mihi sola domus, tu, Cynthia, sola parentes, Seu tristis veniam, seu contra lætus amicis, Quicquid ero, dicam: Cynthia causa fuit. Litora, quæ fuerant castis inimica puellis. stancy in you; but in this place, viz., | Baiæ, even the slightest attentions paid are to be dreaded.' Amor is here on the part of men, whom the poet hinted at in v. 13 Compare a similar irony supr. El. 2, 25. 21 The best MSS. have an mihi non, which Pucci in the ed. 1481, altered to aut mihi sit, whence the corrected copies have an mihi sit― the reading of Kuinoel. Jacob gives from his own conjecture haud mihi sit, and in the next verse haud sine te, from one MS. (Groning.) Lachmann has ah mihi non major. The best correction, I think, is that of Hertzberg, who reads nunc for non, in the sense of the Greek enclitic vvv. The direct interrogative use of an, it must be observed, is very rare. Professor Key, (Latin Grammar, §. 1421.) denies that it ever is so used. It occurs however sup. 6. 13. and iii. 17, 23. 20 25 30 berg read dabant with Burmann from a late MS., and even Jacob approves. The ground of the alteration is, that the past tense, fuerant, immediately follows. But why not understand, • Baix will yet cause many quarrels, as it has heretofore.'—discidium, the reading of the Naples MS., seems more appropriate to dabunt than dissidium, which the other editors prefer, Kuinoel excepted. 29 On the pluperfect fuerant Hertzberg has a good note, in which he contends that the substantive verb may be so used, either alone or with a passive participle, for erant, but that the same licence does not extend to other verbs.-See inf. 12, 11. 30 Baiæ aquæ for Baiana is a bold expression. See note on v. 1, 36. crimen amoris; Baiæ might be called crimen for criminosa; but the genitive is added to show in what particular respect it deserves the bad character attributed to it. See an 'will give to many others amusing epigram in Martial, i. beside myself.' Lachmann and Hertz- | lxiii. 28 All the MSS. have dabunt, which seems to bear the simplest sense, XII. Quid mihi desidiæ non cessas fingere crimen, Quantum Hypanis Veneto dissidet Eridano. Cynthia, nec nostra dulcis in aure sonat. XII. To an anonymous friend, who had invited our poet into the country, and being unable to induce him to comply, had taunted him with his being a slave to Cynthia. The poet replies that she is far enough away, and laments that he has so far fallen from her affections. 2 Conscia Roma, quæ amores meos, Cynthiam inclusam quasi habeat. Conscia enim sæpe poetis ea dicuntur, quæ aliquid in se continent, vel inclusum habent.'. Kuinoel. I am satisfied with this explanation. Not so Hertzberg, who by an error in judgment unusual with him, labours to prove, at some length, that the true reading is conscio amore moram, and he has actually introduced this alteration into the text. The idea in the poet's mind was this: 'You accuse me of remaining in Rome from some secret motive which does not exist, and you call me a stay-at-home' (deses) for not leaving a mistress who all the time is far away.' 5 | panis, a river of Scythia; (the Bog.) Eridanus, a well-known name of the Po. The hyperbole in the distance is sufficiently manifest. 6 'Nor does the name Cynthia any longer sound sweet in my ears.' Others understand it: 'nor does she whisper sweetly in my ears,' i. e., prattle to me as before. Though this would more commonly be dulce sonat, there seems no reason why the feminine might not stand for the adverbial neuter. The poet however probably means, that he hears the name of his absent mistress with a pang, because it reminds him of lost affection. Non amplius mihi dulce est nomen Cynthiæ.'-Barth. Similarly ii. 1. 2, 'Unde meus veniat mollis in ore liber.' Hertzberg thinks it alludes to an imaginary sound of the name, for which he ingeniously quotes Lucretius, iv. 1058, 'si abest, quod amet, præsto simulacra tamen sint Illius, et nomen dulce obvorsatur ad aureis.' 3 Illa, Cynthia. Here again Hertz9 Invidia fuimus. ἐβάσκηνεν ἡμῖν ὁ berg is at fault. Illa, says he, can Ocós. This is generally read interonly refer to Rome. The poet's mind rogatively,-the objection to which is was so full of Cynthia, that he most that num would be out of place in the naturally speaks of her as illa.-Hy-second question, an (obruit me) Lecta Prometheis dividit herba jugis? Non sum ego, qui fueram; mutat via longa puellas. Mi XIII. Tu, quod sæpe soles, nostro lætabere casu, herba, quæ leeta &c., dividit (am- II Non sum illi, qui fueram. 14 To listen to my own complainings.' 15 'Happy he who has the chance of moving his mistress by a flood of his tears.' Nonnihil, i. e. plurimum. -Barth. 17 Happy, too, if finding himself slighted, he can transfer his affections to another; for there is some pleasure even in a change of mistresses.' Kuinoel has a full stop at the end of v. 16, making aut commence a new sentiment: Or, (if that cannot be,) should he be able to love another instead, there is some satisfaction,' &c. ΙΟ 15 20 XIII. Addressed to Gallus (see on El. 5.), on his having conceived an attachment for a woman of higher character than those with whom he had hitherto boasted of his acquaintance (v. 11). The person alluded to is the same as in El. 10., but certainly not Cynthia, as Hertzberg appears to suppose. I Lætabere will exult:' because Gallus had ridiculed the notion that Cynthia would prove as faithful to his friend as the latter had predicted. The absence of Cynthia at Baiæ is spoken of in the next verse, in which abrepto implies that a rival had supplanted him, in his (Gallus') imagination if not in reality. 3 Tuas voces. The taunt alluded to, that she would soon leave him. These are the voces molesta of El. 5, 1. D |