more likely that the word is corrupt, and I propose to amend thus: saeua nam lapsus ab arbore. The adjective is appropriate to the tree which concealed the snake, and characteristic of the use of the Flavian poets in such cases. The cause of the corruption would be the omission of initial s after the last letter of geris. I have been unable to discover any other mention of this adventure of Phalerus in his childhood. I. 723. sunt hic etiam tua uulnera, praedo, sunt lacrimae carusque parens. The last words are feeble. canusque parens (cp. 1. 718, in nostrae durus tormenta senectae) would be a slight improvement; but the phrase may be regarded as provisional, to be altered, and perhaps expanded, on revision. (Bährens, casusque pares.) I. 833. hic geminae aeternum portae, quarum altera dura, etc. aeternum is unsound; alternant and introrsum have been proposed. A genitive of the under-world' is probably concealed in aeternum (compare the Virgilian passage which Valerius is imitating, Aen. vi. 893, sunt geminae Somni portae). I propose hic geminae lemurum portae. The corruption of the first letter of lemurum might easily lead to a correction aeternum, in view of aeternaque moenia in 1. 847. II. 29, 30. torquentemque anguibus undas Sicanium dedit usque fretum cumque urbibus Aetnam intulit ora premens. In writing my last paper I felt, like others, doubts about intulit; but now I have no doubt that it is right. -tulil here is the perfect, not of fero, but, in accordance with its etymology, of tollo, and the word means 'lifted on top of him.' dedit (0ŋkɛ), put,' may be illustrated by datatim. It is quite possible that if the poem had been submitted to a final revision this passage would have been changed. II. 57. certusque ad talia Titan integer in fluctus et in uno decidit auro. auro is the happy correction of an anonymous Italian scholar for euro. Eyssenhardt retains euro, but the following lines adde quod in noctem uenti ueloque marique show that it is impossible. in uno decidit auro means 'set in a sheet of gold.' Schenkl is wrong in questioning in uno, and his suggestion et puro is excluded by the last line but one-puraque nec gravido surrexit Cynthia cornu. pleno would be better if any change were required. II. 152. picta manus fusto placet sed barbara mento. ustoque, Bon. Ald. edd. The corruption will be explained if we read— picta manus nurus usta placet sed barbara mento. Compare below, 160, et plaustro derepta nurus. II. 219. o qui me vera canentem sistat et hac nostras exolvat imagine noctes! noctes is one of the touches in Valerius which distinguish the genuine poet. An ordinary versifier would have written mentes. It is significant that Schenkl conjectures mentes, and prints it in his text. On the other hand, in 1. 252, iam dubiae donum rape mentis et ensem tu potius, miserere, tene, he proposes noctis for mentis, thereby vexing the sense, which is, as Burmann rightly explained, take quickly, while my mind still wavers.' II. 227. tantum oculos pressere fuelut agmina cernant Burmann supplied manu after pressere; Carrion metu, the Bologna ed. uiri. Read pressere, rei uelut agmina cernant, 'as if they were guilty men beholding the Eumenides,' a correction which accounts for the corruption. II. 316. tunc etiam uates Phoebo dilecta Polyxo (non patriam, non certa genus, sed maxima ftaeta Proteaque ambiguum Pharii se fab antris. huc rexisse uas iunctis super aequora phocis. saepe imis se condit aquis cunctataque paulum There can, I think, be no question that the last word of 1. 317 is cete (so C, caete). The coming of Polyxo to Lemnos is doubtless referred to, and the conjectures hitherto proposed have been based on this supposition. I propose to read sed maxima cete Proteaque ambiguum Phariis sibi narrat ab antris huc rexisse uias iunctis super aequora phocis. 'She tells that mighty monsters and ambiguous Proteus from Pharian caves guided her ways hither over the waters on yoked seals.' phocis, of course, applies only to Polyxo, not to her guides. This is simpler than any of the changes proposed by the commentators. II. 464. defectaque uirginis ora cernit et ad primos surgentia flumina flectus. I formerly proposed uergentia lumina fletus. prefer ad primos turgentia lumina fletus I now (cod. reg. turgentia). This was proposed to me by Mr. J. S. Reid, who observes that Valerius was thinking of the turgentia lumina fletu of Propertius. 'Swollen to shed (to the point of shedding) the first flood of tears': cp. pleni oculos, i. 298. 473. nos Ili felix quondam genus. felix is the certain correction of Slothouwer; V has ueteris. The origin of the corruption is worth noting. Ilifelix became llix, which was corrected to Ili, and ueteris was introduced, for the metre, from 1. 580, ueteris tumulos praelabitur Ili. II. 580. ueteris tumulos praelabitur Ili Dardaniumque patrem. Schenkl proposes Dardaniique patris, which does not explain the corruption. Read Dardaniumque patris, 'the father of the Dardanians,' i.e. Dardanus. Maserius suggested that Teucer was meant. III. 10. primas coniunx Percosia uestes quas dabat et picto Clite uariauerat auro. dederat picto et, Thilo's conjecture, which does not account for the reading of the MSS., has been adopted by editors. dabat is clearly the insertion of someone who thought that Clite, not Cyzicus, gave the apparel to Jason, and we may conclude that such an insertion was prompted by a defective line. The problem is to amend quas picto Clite uariauerat auro. Virgil, Aen. iii, 483, suggests the correction. There we have nec minus Andromache digressu maesta supremo fert picturatas auri subtegmine uestes, et Phrygiam Ascanio chlamydem, etc. Read quas picturato Clite uariauerat auro. picturatum aurum is gold thread wrought to form an embroidered picture, a variation for picturatas auro, as picto auro would be a variation for pictas auro: cp. vii. 227 non auro depicta chlamys, non flava galeri caesaries pictoque iuuant subtegmine bracae. See also Statius, Achilleid i. 330— et picturato cohibens uestigia limbo, an echo of Virgil, Aen., iv. 137. The similarity of the second and fourth syllables in picturato would account for the corruption. |