Nec mihi jam fastus opponere quærit iniquos, Conditio! cineri nunc medicina datur. Ante pedes cæcis lucebat semita nobis; 15 20 25 Servata, an mediis sidat onusta vadis. 30 VI. O me felicem! o nox mihi candida! et o tu Quam multa apposita narramus verba lucerna, Nam modo nudatis mecum est luctata papillis, Illa meos somno lapsos patefecit ocellos Quam vario amplexu mutamus brachia! quantum telligible; nor is the difficulty re- not connected with the reading given in the text. Cf. iv. 24, 16. 31 'If you should unfortunately change your feelings towards me through any fault of mine, my wish then is that I may be found dead before your door, and so give a proof of my affection to the last.' See i. 16, 17. seqq. On vestibulum see Becker, Gallus, p. 237. VI. The subject is continued from the last, and probably refers to the Quin etiam, si me ulterius provexerit ira, Necdum inclinatæ prohibent te ludere mammæ; Viderit hæc, si quam jam peperisse pudet. Verus amor nullum novit habere modum. Terra prius falso partu deludet arantes, 20 25 30 Fluminaque ad caput incipient revocare liquores, Quam possim nostros alio transferre dolores: 35 Hujus ero vivus, mortuus hujus ero. Illa velit, vitæ longus et annus erit; Si dabit hæc multas, fiam immortalis in illis: same occasion. He reiterates his profession of ardent attachment and fidelity to Cynthia. 25 Catena, 'jugo Veneris.' Jacob.velles, addressed to Cynthia, 'I would that you might consent,' &c. Kuinoel has vellent, i. e. fata; the conjecture of Burmann. The allusion in catena is to the well-known legend of Mars and Venus in Hom. Od. viii. 275, &c. 28 Totum conjugium, i. e. qui solo suo conjugio fruuntur; qui toti sibi, non aliis, dediti sunt. The order of the words is, 'masculus et femina, totum (in se ipsis) conjugium.' 40 31 Falso partu, monstroso, 'unnatural.' Juvenal, Sat. xiii. 64. 'Egregium sanctumque virum si cerno, bimembri Hoc monstrum puero, vel miranti sub aratro Piscibus inventis, aut fetæ comparo mulæ.' 35 Jacob and Lachmann, with Barth and Kuinoel, read calores from the Aldine.- dolores is much more elegant, and may easily bear the same sense. 39 Even a single year will seem long for my life.' With the next verse compare v. 10 of the preceding: 'immortalis ero, si altera talis erit.' Qualem si cuncti cuperent decurrere vitam, Et pressi multo membra jacere mero, Ac veluti folia arentes liquere corollas, 41 Jacob alone has deducere from the Groning. MS. The sense is, 'If all mankind would worship Venus and Bacchus, the service of Mars would soon cease.' 44 Verreret, Barth and Kuinoel with Scaliger. Lachmann defends the vulgate by Virgil's use of volvere, Georg. iv. 525, to which Hertzberg adds Æn. i. 100, 'scuta virum galeasque et fortia corpora volves.' But volvo and verto are not synonymous; and the conjecture of Scaliger has much to commend it. 45 Rome beset all around by its own victories' is a bold figure. Propriis triumphis is interpreted by Kuinoel civilibus victoriis; and perhaps propriis may signify de se ipsa reportatis. The idea however is, that its victories have been but so many defeats, and that it has been wearied in weeping for its own citizens. Solvere crines refers to the dishevelled hair of captives. See v. 11, 38. 'Africa tonsa,' which relates to the same custom, since either cutting off or letting fall the long hair implies the same disregard of personal adornment. So Livy, i. 26. Solvit crines, et flebiliter nomine mortuum sponsum 1 50 appellat.'-Lassa solvere, as lassa vocare, iii. 4, 28. 47 Hæc, sc. what he avows in the next verse, that the gods have never been outraged by his intemperance. See v. 42. It is probable that there is an allusion to Antony's well-known propensity, since this would be in keeping with the reference to the battle of Actium v. 44. This however is mere supposition, the sense being complete in itself, 'Whatever posterity shall say of our pleasures, they cannot charge us with the crime of provoking the gods to take vengeance on our country.' 49 Dum lucet, i. e. antequam advesperascit. Compare supr. v. 2. Lachmann and Kuinoel give dum licet, hunc &c. The Groning. MS. has dum liceat, the ed. Rheg. dum licet, the Naples MS. alone dum lucet. 51 A very choice and original simile, or rather, a new way of expressing an old one. 'Life is as frail as the leaves which fall from the garlands on the heads of the guests, into the goblets.' This sense of calathus (usually 'a flower-basket') is found in Virg. Eclog. v. 71, Vina novum fundam calathis Ariusia nectar.' Compare iii. 25, 37. Sic nobis, qui nunc magnum speramus amantes, VII. Prætor ab Illyricis venit modo, Cynthia, terris, Nunc sine me tota janua nocte patet. 53 Lachmann and Kuinoel prefer spiramus; a conjecture, though a probable one. Yet with magnum we may understand fructum from v. 49. 54 Includet fata. This is generally interpreted 'finiet vitam.' Hertzberg has suggested a more natural meaning of the words, 'crastina dies nos mortuos Orcino thesauro tradet,' and he ingeniously explains from this verse the obscure one in Hor. Od. i. 24, 17, Non lenis precibus fata recludere.' In fine, fata being used for mortuos, the notion of inclosing in the tomb is so natural a one, that it is found under some form or other in many passages, e. g. v. 11, 2, ́ ́ Panditur ad nullas janua nigra preces.' VII. Written to upbraid Cynthia for renewing a connexion with a certain wealthy but unintellectual official, already alluded to i. 8. He will not allow himself to suppose she cares for anything but his money; hence he directs his reproaches rather against her avarice than the fickleness of her attachment. 5 that the prætor was governor of the 8 Pleno vellere. While his fleece hangs thick upon him,' i. e. before he is stripped of it by those who are I Illyricis. From i. 8, 2, it appears ready and willing to plunder him. |