CULEX* LUSIMUS, Octavi, gracili modulante Thalia 3 dicta V: docta n. 5 4 ut It.: et. 5 10 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 . *The principal MSS. containing the Culex, as given by Vollmer, are the following: S = fragmentum Stabulense, Paris, 17177, of the 10th century. = F Fiechtianus, or Mellicensis (designated as M by Ellis), of the 10th century. C = Cantabrigiensis, Kk. v. 34, of the 10th century. V = Vaticanus 2759, of the 13th century. = 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 9th to the 11th century. 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. в в 2 Latonae magnique Iovis decus, aurea proles, et tu, sancta Pales, ad quam ventura recurrunt Phlegra, Giganteo sparsa est quae sanguine tellus, 20 ventura] tutela Phillimore. recurrit . 15 20 25 30 21 agrestum bona secura FCL: ag. bona sis: tecum Philli 24 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. 11 The glory of Latona and mighty Jove, their golden offspring, even Phoebus, shall be the fount and source of our song, and he with resounding harp shall inspire, whether Arna nurture him—Arna, steeped in the Chimaera's stream of Xanthus-or the glory of Asteria, or that land where Parnassus' ridge, with broad brow, spreads his horns this way and that, and Castalia's singing waves glide in their watery course.2 Wherefore, come, ye sister Naiads," glory of the Pierian spring, and throng about the god in sportive dance. Thou too, holy Pales, to whom, as they appear, the blessings of husbandmen return with increase, be thine the care of him who keeps the lofty forest-homes and woodlands green; whilst thou dost tend them, freely I roam among the glades and caves. 4 24 Thou also, O Octavius revered, who by the writings thou hast earned winnest confidence, graciously attend my venture, O holy youth! For thee, indeed, my page sings not Jove's gloomy war,5 nor plants the lines wherewith Phlegra once bristled, the land that was sprinkled with the Giants' blood, nor drives the Lapiths upon the Centaurs' swords; the East burns not the Erichthonian towers with flames : 'tis not the piercing of Athos, not the casting of fetters upon the mighty deep, not the Hellespont, smitten with horses' hooves, what time Greece feared the Persians, as they streamed from every side, that at this late hour shall, through my book, seek fame : 4 The epithets venerande and sanctus are suggested by the youth and innocence of the boy, "who wore the same toga as priests and magistrates" (Professor Warde Fowler). 5 The battle between Jupiter and the Giants, fought in Phlegra. i.e. Athens, burnt by the Persians, of which Erichthonius was one of the early kings; cf. Georgics, III. 113. mollia sed tenui pede currere carmina, versu O bona pastoris (si quis non pauperis usum 36 apta] acta Ellis, after a Paris MS., 8207. 40 numeretur Sillig. 42 penetrabat, Leo, Vollmer. 45 laeta] nota Thilo. 47 rorida Haupt: florida Jacobs, Ellis. 50 tenerae myrtus Phillimore. 335 40 45 50 55 60 51 desertas (-is) herebant . ripis Ellis: rupes or rupis 2. 57 prostantis imaginis umbram Ellis. 60 somnia Haupt, Ellis: otia Phillimore: omnia . spretis V: pretiis. 61 inim. p.] nimia cuppedine Ellis. |