THE MINOR POEMS THE poems of the Virgilian Appendix are found in none of the great Virgilian Codices, and the text of numerous passages is therefore very uncertain. For an account of the MSS. of these poems, one must consult Ribbeck's Virgil, vol. iv. (Leipzig, 1868); Ellis, Appendix Vergiliana (Oxford, 1907); and Vollmer, Poetae Latini Minores, vol. i. (Leipzig, 1910). Only the more noteworthy variants are here given. Among the many other important works bearing on these poems are the following: Heyne-Lemaire's Virgil, vol. v. (Paris, 1820); Forbiger's Virgil, vol. iii. (Leipzig, 1875); Benoist's Virgil, vol. ii. (Paris, 1880); Ellis, "On some Disputed Passages of the Ciris," and "Further Notes on the Ciris and other Poems of the Appendix Vergiliana," in American Journal of Philology, viii. (1887); Rothstein, "De Diris et Lydia Carminibus," in Rheinisches Museum, xxiii. (1888); Leo's Culex (Berlin, 1891); Vollmer, "Coniectanea," in Rheinisches Museum, lv. (1900); Curcio, Poeti Latini Minori, vol. ii. (Catania, 1905); Linforth, "Notes on the Pseudo-Virgilian Ciris,' in American Journal of Philology, xxvii. (1906); Sudhaus, "Die Klage der Ciris," in Rheinisches Museum, lx. (1906); Housman, "The Apparatus Criticus of the Culex," in Transactions of the Cambridge Philological Society, vol. vi., part i. (1908); Keppler, Ueber Copa (Leipzig, 1908); Plésent, Le Culex (Paris, 1910); Birt, Jugendverse und Heimatpoesie Vergils (Leipzig, 1910); Phillimore, "The Text of the Culex," in Classical Philology, vol. v. (1910). Professor Phillimore is one of three English scholars who have recently upheld the genuineness of the Culex as an early work of Virgil's, the other two being S. Elizabeth Jackson (Classical Quarterly, 1911, pp. 163 ff.) and W. Warde Fowler (Classical Review, 1914, pp. 119 ff.). The authenticity of others of these poems as well seems to be assumed by Mooney in his metrical translation of The Minor Poems of Vergil (Birmingham, 1916). This book, however, does not include the Ciris. Birt is a stout advocate of the Virgilian authorship of most of the poems of the Catalepton. See also vol. i., p. vii. 369 CULEX* LUSIMUS, Octavi, gracili modulante Thalia 4 ut It.: et. 5 10 3 dicta V: docta . 5 notitiaeque ducum voces 2, Leo, Vollmer: ductum Vat. 1586 notitiae, doctumque voces Ellis. The readings and interpretation adopted are Phillimore's, but must be regarded as merely an approximation to the original verse, which cannot be recovered. 7 feratur Scaliger. 10 digna tuo Bembo: dignato N. The principal MSS. containing the Culex, as given by Vollmer, are the following: S = fragmentum Stabulense, Paris, 17177, of the 10th century. F = C = Fiechtianus, or Mellicensis (designated as M by Ellis), of the 10th century. Cantabrigiensis, Kk. v. 34, of the 10th century. V = Vaticanus 2759, of the 13th century. T= Corsinianus 43 F 5, of the 14th century. La group of MSS. of the so-called ludus iuvenalis of Virgil, designated as W, B, E, A, T, from the CULEX We have trifled, O Octavius,1 while a slender Muse marked the measure, and lo! like tiny spiders, have fashioned our thin-spun task. We have trifled to this end let our Gnat's song be sung, that in sportive mood throughout its course our argument may harmonize with epic story. A truce to thee, O Art; let Envy begone! Whoso is ready to blame our jests and Muse, shall be deemed lighter than even our Gnat in weight and name. Hereafter shall our Muse speak to thee in deeper tones, when the seasons yield me their fruits in peace, that so thou mayest find her verses polished, and worthy of thy taste. 1 The later Augustus, who is still a puer (vv. 26, 37) when thus addressed. The young Octavius assumed the toga virilis in his fifteenth year, in 48 B.C., before which event this dedication, if genuine, must have been written. Suetonius asserts that the Culex was composed in the poet's sixteenth year (54 B.C.); the dedication, however, may have been inserted later. Exc. = selections, in certain MSS. of the 12th to 14th centuries, found in an anthology of the 11th century. As a group, the above-named MSS. are designated as . To these Ellis adds some MSS., e.y. b: Mus. Brit. Add. 16562, written in 1400, and Vat(icanus) 1586, of the 14th or 15th century. Occasional references must be made to late MSS. which were emended by Italian scholars of the Renaissance. As a group, these are designated as It. The most notable among them is the Helmstadiensis 332, of the 15th century, designated as H. 371 Latonae magnique Iovis decus, aurea proles, Phoebus erit nostri princeps et carminis auctor et recinente lyra fautor, sive educat illum Arna Chimaereo Xanthi perfusa liquore, seu decus Asteriae seu qua Parnasia rupes hinc atque hinc patula praepandit cornua fronte, Castaliaeque sonans liquido pede labitur unda. quare, Pierii laticis decus, ite, sorores Naides, et celebrate deum ludente chorea. et tu, sancta Pales, ad quam ventura recurrunt 20 ventura] tutela Phillimore. recurrit 2. 15 20 25 30 21 agrestum bona secura FCL: ag. bona sis: tecum Philli24 chartis] tantis Phillimore. more. 27 <acies quibus horruit olim> conjectured by Bücheler. 1 i.e. Delos. 2 Far below the real summit of Parnassus, the rocky cliffs that tower above Delphi present two peaks, between which, in a deep chasm, flows the Castalian stream. 3 The Muses. |