The expression is a remarkable one. It appears to mean 'lumina (domicilium) fastus,' as Hertzberg explains, Quæst. p. 155. Constantis, 'resolute,' 'unbending pride.' But fastus is a word peculiarly used (1) as the boast of being superior to love, inf. i. 13, 27. (2) of those who reject the advances of others, as Penelope, iv. 12, 10 Compare iv. 18, 11; iii. 5. 13; iii. 17, 21. So Ovid. Fast. i, 419, Fastus inest pulcris, sequiturque superbia formam.’

4 Caput. Trampled on my neck as a conqueror on a prostrate enemy.' This seems to have been a favourite subject in ancient paintings. (Kuinoel on ii. 30, 8.)

5 Odisse. To speak and think of female virtue as mere prudery and affectation, and to dislike it as presenting an obstacle to possession.— Nullo consilio, i. e. temere, ‘recklessly; without object or principle; | without regard to reputation or interests.

7 The sense seems to be, ‘And now this passion has continued a whole year, and yet I have not secured the affections of my cold-hearted mistress.' He speaks of exclusive possession, for her character will not allow us to understand it otherwise. As the elegy was intended for her perusal, it is to be regarded in connexion with what follows as a reproof for her indifference to him.

5

ΙΟ

Some

9 The argument is this. suitors, by persevering attentions and devotedness, have softened the obdurate hearts of their mistresses; but in my case Love is slow to suggest any such methods of gaining my objeet, (v. 17.)-Milanion was the lover of Atalanta, daughter of Iasius. The form Iasis is, however, from Iasus, and this is the name given by Apollodorus, iii. cap. 9. Another form, used by Elian, is Iasion. The history of Atalanta is given by the lastmentioned writer in a very beautiful narrative, Var. Hist. xiii. 1. He does not mention Milanion, but records her successful contest against two centaurs, Hylæus and Rhocus, who came to serenade her. Apollodorus, 1.c., is more concise: 'Iáσov kaì Kλvμévns τῆς Μινύου Αταλάντη ἐγένετο. Ταύτης ὁ πατὴρ, ἀρρένων παίδων ἐπιθυμῶν, ἐξέθηκεν αὐτήν. ̓́Αρκτος δὲ φοιτῶσα πολλάκις θηλὴν ἐδίδου, μέχρις οὗ εὑρόντες κυνηγοὶ παρ' ἑαυτοῖς ἀνέτρεφον. Τελεία δὲ ̓Αταλάντη γενομένη, παρθένον ἑαυτὴν ἐφύλαττε, καὶ θηρεύουσα ἐν ἐρημίᾳ καθωπλισμένη διετέλει. Βιάζεσθαι δὲ αὐτὴν ἐπιχειροῦντες Κένταυροι Ροῖκος καὶ Ὑλαῖος, κατατοξευθέντες ὑπ ̓ αὐτῆς áné@avov. According to this writer, Milanion obtained her in marriage by the well-known expedient of dropping golden apples when matched with her in a foot-race. The offspring was the Parthenopaus of Eschylus, Theb. 542. Other accounts represent him

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30

Nerine (Virg. Ecl. vii. 37.) from Nereus; but this fails, for Nerine is simply contracted from Νηρηΐνη οι Νηρεΐνη. More appropriate would have been the feminine heroina from heros. Cf. i. 19, 13. The termination in inus is generally used in the case of persons born in Greek towns, but out of Greece (especially of those in Magna Græcia). The only way of defending the long would be to compare Homer's use of orwрivòs for ỏπwρivòs, on which see note on Esch. Cho. 1038. Kuraiaîos might be formed from Κυταία, as Αἰαῖος from Αla. The conjecture of Hertzberg is very plausible, Cytinais, i. e. Thessalicis. Steph. Byz. s. v. Kúria, inquit, πόλις Θεσσαλίας, ὡς θέων ἐν ὑπομνήμασι Λυκόφρονος (1389: Λακμώνιοί τε καὶ Κυτιναῖοι Κόδροι), ὁ πολίτης Κυτιναῖος. The principal argument in his favour is that the Thessalian witches are especially mentioned by the Latin poets as being able to draw down the moon by their incantations.

25 Et vos, i.e. vos etiam. At, the reading of one MS. (Groning.) seems objectionable from v. 19 beginning with at vos. I am surprised that

Lachmann, Hertzberg, and Kuinoel should have admitted, and Jacob approved, aut vos, the conjecture of Hemsterhuis. With Barth, I follow the Naples MS.

27 Ferrum et ignes. Toι Kéavtes τεμόντες εὐφρόνως πειρασόμεσθα πῆμ' аоσтρéαι vóσov. Esch. Ag. 822. 'Docte ab arte chirurgica metaphoram duxit.' Hertz.

29 The sense is, 'Nay, even banish me by way of cure, far from the sight of women.' There is much pathos in these beautiful lines. The only condition he imposes is freedom in expressing his sense of Cynthia's cruelty, (v. 28); that is, he will not desist from writing verses to her.

31 Vos remanete. Not remain at home,' but 'remain constant to each other;' a sense peculiar to Propertius, and clearly implied by the next verse. See below, el. 10, 29, and on ii. 9, 8.

35 Hoc malum, i.e. hoc extremum remedium, sc. exilium.-Mutet amore locum, i.e. discedat a domina sua. This distich contains advice to others to be constant, and so to avoid a quarrel (discidium) as the greatest of evils.

II. This beautiful elegy conveys advice to Cynthia not to be too fond of dress. We may suppose it written after meeting her in public more richly attired than he thought becoming her position. He cannot suppress a suspicion that she wishes to please others beside himself. Hence a tone of ill disguised jealousy throughout the poem.

2 Coa veste. The silk from Cos was celebrated in the time of Aristotle, Hist. An. v. 19. EK dè TOÚTOV TOû (ov καὶ τὰ βομβύκια (the cocoons) αναλύουσι τῶν γυναικῶν τινὲς ἀναπηνιζόμεναι, κἄπειτα ὑφαίνουσιν· πρώτη δὲ λέγεται | ὑφῆναι ἐν Κῷ Παμφίλη Πλάτεω θυγατήρ. (Kuinoel).-tenues, so called from their thin and pellucid texture. Whence Martial, viii. 67, says, 'femineum lucet ceu per bombycina corpus.' Infra, ii. 3, 15. • Nec si qua Arabio lucet bombyce puella.' In the time of Tiberius, luxury had arrived at such a height that a law was enacted forbidding men to dress in silk. See Tacit. Ann. ii. 33, where Ritter cites the following passage from Seneca de Benef. vii. 9, 'video sericas vestes, si vestes vocandæ sunt, in quibus nihil est quo defendi corpus aut denique pudor possit; quibus sumptis mulier parum liquido nudam

5

se non esse jurabit.' 'Promiscas viris et feminis vestes,' Ann. iii. 54, refers to the same abuse.-movere sinus. This alludes to the thin and fluttering folds of the dress, probably the tunica which the poet appears to have particularly admired in Cynthia: see ii. 3, 15; iii. 21, 25; iv. 9, 15. In this passage he speaks of it with a jealous dislike, as too fascinating to other eyes than his own. The toga (the dress of a meretrix) cannot here be meant, since in v. 2, 23-4, the Coan dress of a woman is plainly opposed to the toga of the male, though sinus is commonly used of the folds of the latter. But see Tibull. i. 9, 70. ii. 3, 53. 4 Muneribus is the ablative, not the dative.

5 Mercato, 'purchased.' The past participles of many deponent verbs are used both transitively and intransitively; as meditatus, comitatus, expertus, sortitus, oblitus, partitus, &c. though the transitive sense is probably the secondary one, deponents being merely middle verbs whose active is out of use, and the participles being verbal adjectives, which even in Greek sometimes take an accusative, as ἄπορα πόριμος Æsch. Prom. 924, and more commonly πoiŋτέον τάδε, &c.