Hæc est feminei merces extrema triumphi, that I have followed Hertzberg in -eme 71-2 A noble sentiment finely expressed. This is the highest glory of a woman, to leave behind her a fair fame among those who are free to speak of her as she deserves.'ritum rogum, in its simplest sense, means nothing more than defunctam vita mulierem, according to the familiar use of emeritus applied to things done with, past and gone, and become unserviceable. Hertzberg interprets it plane meritum, i. e. laudari meritum,' comparing emerui v. 61, and emeritis for valde meritis, Ovid. Ep. ex Pont. i. 7, 61. It is difficult to decide: Propertius is apt to be so lax in his use of words that laudare emeritum rogum may have been intended for vitam bene merentem post fatum laudare. 75 80 74 This care lives as it were branded in my very bones.' The impression must therefore be deep indeed to survive the pyre. The passage from Cicero, Verr. 1, 44, quoted by Hertzberg after Broukhusius, is remarkably apposite; Cur hunc dolorem cineri ejus atque ossibus inussisti?' The conclusion of the poem from v. 73 is exquisitely beautiful, full as it is of affection, tenderness, and truthfulness to nature. 6 6 80 Oscula falle, abstersis lacrymis, decipe osculantes, et fac, ne flevisse te sentiant.' Hertzberg; who refers oscula to the children's kiss, not to the father's. But there seems no reason why we may not understand falle eos, osculando siccis genis,' i. e. 'give a feigned cheerfulness to your kisses,' since fallere aliquid is to do anything falsely or with a disguised action. So 'fallere terga lupo,' v. 5, 14, to assume a form which is not your real one; 'fallitur Jupiter,' ib. 1, 81, 'Jupiter is made a liar.' The same editor rightly, as I think, places a colon instead of a comma at the end of the preceding verse, the sense being ne doleas (sc. dolori indulgeas) coram illis. 82 In faciem meam &c. 'vain Atque, ubi secreto nostra ad simulacra loqueris, Seu memor ille mea contentus manserit umbra, Discite venturam jam nunc sentire senectam, 85 90 Quod mihi detractum est, vestros accedat ad annos: 95 dreams, taken for visions of me,' κaσμéva, or, in the words of Hertzberg, 'ita credita, ut facies mea tibi apparere videatur.' 83 Nostra ad simulacra, to my portrait:' imagine that it will answer you, and realise from it that which it only represents. 85 Mutarit janua lectum, for 'seu lectus genialis mutatus sit ex adverso januæ.' Propertius very frequently treats the means or cause by which anything is done, as the agent which effects it, of which Hertzberg has collected a great number of examples, Quæst. lib. ii. § 28, p. 153. The sense is, if a new marriage bed shall have been placed in the atrium opposite to the door,' i. e. a new bride introduced. Genialis hic lectus cuique domum intranti signum erat conjugum par in ea habitare; nam muliere mortua vel post divortium cum ea factum, tollebatur.' Orelli on Hor. Ep. i. 1, 87. Becker (Gallus, p. 247) regards adversus as a synonym of genialis. See also ibid. p. 166. 86 Cauta, suspicious.' The epithet is meant to imply, in as gentle a manner as is consistent with Cornelia's amiable character, the proverbial attributes of a noverca, severity and jealousy. 87 Laudate, aiveîte, ' acquiesce in.' 93 Sentire, 'learn to mark the least symptoms of his approaching age,' and so to anticipate his wants and weaknesses. The reading of Kuinoel, lenire, would be satisfactory enough, if only the poet had thought fit to use it. But some critics put themselves in the position of a master correcting a schoolboy's exercise, rather than confine themselves to detecting the interpolations and errors of transcribers. Causa perorata est. Flentes me surgite testes, Dum pretium vitæ grata rependit humus. Moribus et cœlum patuit; sim digna merendo, Cujus honoratis ossa vehantur equis. 99 Causa perorata est. See supra on v. 27. The poet, who seems to have forgotten that Cornelia was not arraigned before Eacus to talk of family matters, here recals the position in which he had placed her. Who the witnesses are, whom she invites to speak in her favour before the infernal tribunal, she leaves uncertain. The allusion is to the custom of the courts, by which witnesses were called after the defence. But there seems no particular reference intended to testor majorum cineres, v. 37. As she considers her defence complete, and leaves no doubt to be entertained of her innocence, she uses the words flentes me rather than dicentes pro me; and regards the reward bestowed upon her by the grateful earth' (i. e. by the shades who acknowledge and repay her merits,) as conferred at once, even while the witnesses are lamenting her loss to those above. IOI 'Some have even ascended all to the gods by their virtues : that I aspire to is, that my shade may have a triumphal entry into rest.' Such appears to be the true meaning of these obscure verses. For equis the Naples MS. and ed. Rheg. give aquis, whence Lachmann and Kuinoel, with Heinsius, edit avis, understanding it of laying her bones in the sepulchre of her honoured ancestors. But the verb vehantur is strongly in favour of equis. The idea of a triumphal procession, so familiar to the mind of a Roman, is borrowed to express Cornelia's joyful conveyance to the regions of Elysium, as Hertzberg, with his usual good sense, has shewn against the improbable fancies and alterations of his predecessors. There is perhaps an allusion to a curious Roman custom mentioned by Plutarch, Quæst. Rom. § Ιχχίχ. Διὰ τὶ τοῦ θριαμβεύσαντος, εἶτα ἀποθανόντος καὶ καέντος, ἐξῆν ὀστέον λαβόντας εἰς τὴν πόλιν εἰσφέρειν καὶ κατατίθεσθαι, &c. Γ Atque, ubi secreto nostra ad simulacra loque dreams, taken for visions of me,' ýkaσμéva, or, in the words of Hertzberg, 'ita credita, ut facies mea tibi apparere videatur.' 83 Nostra ad simulacra,' to my portrait:' imagine that it will answer you, and realise from it that which it only represents. 85 Mutarit janua lectum, for 'seu lectus genialis mutatus sit ex adverso januæ.' Propertius very frequently treats the means or cause by which anything is done, as the agent which effects it, of which Hertzberg has collected a great number of examples, Quæst. lib. ii. § 28, p. 153. The sense is, if a new marriage bed shall have been placed in the atrium opposite to the door,' i. e. a new bride introduced. Genialis hic lectus cuique domum intranti signum erat conjugum par in ea habitare; nam muliere mortua vel post divortium Antoni graves in sua fata manus, iv. 9, 56. Anubis latrans, iv. 11, 41. Aonia lyra, i. 2, 28; Aonium nemus, a- iv. 3, 42. du an 22; iii. 5, 1; positis idlibet trium stro pecando laas, i. 17, 20; Amori avit ætas, iv. 1, 11. 26, 39. t pæana, iv. Ilem lacrymis, la lyra, i. 9, 10. J, 1. em tuum esse, 18, 47. nupta futura Pero, xstinctum restituit ius, ii. 1, 62. aptiva, iii. 11, 2; Anlecto quum surgeret or, iii. 13, 31. Cepheia, i. 3, 4; sine arita, v. 7, 63; Andromee, iv. 22, 29. nus, iv. 22, 23; pomifer, 3; Aniena unda, i. 20, 8; 16, 4. Apelles omnem artis summam in sus, v. 1, 73; victor, v. 6, 70; non tardus amanti, i. 8, 41; non hæc mihi cantat, ii. 1, 3; Palatini Apollinis ædes, v. 6, 11; Apollinis arces Pergama, iv. 9, 39. Appia via te ducit, iii. 24, 6; dic quantum triumphum egerit, v.8, 17. Apriles idus, v. 5, 35. Aquilo sævus, iv. 7, 71; raptæ timor Arabs multi pastor odoris, iv. 13, 8; odores Arabum de gramine, iii. 21, 17. Arabiæ intactæ domus, iii. 21, 16; Arabium limen transcendere, i. 14, 19; Arabius bombyx, ii. 3, 15. Aracynthus mons, iv. 15, 42. Araxes, iv. 12, 8; v. 3. 35. Arcadius Deus, i. 18, 20; Arcadia rupes, i. 1, 14; Arcadii agri, iii. 20, 23. Archemori tristia funera, iii. 26, 38. Archytæ soboles, Babylonius Horos, v. 1, 77. Arctos geminas, iii. 13, 25. Arganthus, i. 20, 33. Argiva figura, iii. 17, 43; Argivæ fama pudicitiæ Evadne, i. 15, 22; Argivis viris Dardana præda dedit formosas heroinas, i. 19, 14. Argo Pagasa navalibus egressam, i. 20, 17; Argus rudis dux columba, iii. 18, 39. Argoa columba, iv. 22, 13. Argus fixus ignotis cornibus InachiMoi, 3, 20. |