15. (Super stramen fœnoque iacentibus.) Remark the change in the construction of stramen and fæno.-Compare the following, His difficultabibus circumventus ubi videt neque per vim neque insidiis opprimi posse hominem tam acceptum popularibus. Sall. Jug. VII. Igitur, fatalis dux ad excidium illius urbis servandæque patriæ, M. Furius Camillus, &c. Liv. V. 19. Quaque licet fugio, sicut ab hoste, virum. Ov. Her. VIII. 110. 16. (Defensa,) defendere signifies properly "to ward off,” E. VII. 47. Solstitium pecori defendite, iam venit æstas. and Senec. de Prov. c. IV. Imbrem culmo aut fronde defendunt. '—so Virg. The student will find other examples in Hor. C. I. xvii. 3. Sat. I. iii. Cic. de Senect. XV. &c. 14. 19. (Maculis.) The knots of a net seem to be indicated by macula. N. Heins. would understand the coloured feathers employed to scare the beasts of chase, and drive them into the toils, as in Virg. G. III. 372, Hos (sc. cervos) non immissis canibus, non cassibus ullis, Scheller in his Lexicon says that the macula are the meshes or holes of the net.1 The word cannot bear either of the two last mentioned significations in the following passage from Varro, R. R. III. C. 11, where he is giving directions for the construction of a ŋocorgopeîov or duck-yard ;—after describing the manner in which the wall is to be built and plastered, he continues" idque sæptum totum rete grandibus maculis integitur ne eo involare aquila possit, neve ex eo evolare anas;" and so Columella, VIII. 15, almost in the same words. In these passages grandibus maculis must mean "strong knots," for large meshes would admit of the very evil which the farmer is here taught to guard against. 24. Recta, although found in most MSS., is scarcely intelligible, since it cannot be connected either with trunci or nomina. Rite, which appears in two MSS., is probably the true reading. Recte was perhaps placed in the margin as an explanation of rite, and might then find its way into the text, and finally would be changed into recta, to prevent a violation of the laws of prosody. 1 And so Burm. ad Nemes. Cyneget, 302. 25. (Consita.) Sero and its compounds are used perpetually by Virgil and the prose writers upon agriculture, in the sense of "to plant," as well as in that of "to sow." 30. (Ad fontem.) The expression of rivers running backwards seems to have been applied proverbially, among the Greeks, to any thing which was so strange as to seem a violation of the laws of nature. So the chorus in the Medea of Euripides, 414, *Άνω ποταμῶν ἱερῶν χωροῦσι παγαί Καὶ δίκα καὶ πάντα πάλιν στρέφεται, in like manner Horace, when expressing his astonishment at the resolution of Iccius, C. I. xxix. 10, Quis neget arduis Pronos relabi posse rivos Montibus, et Tiberim reverti, and Ovid himself, complaining of the perfidy of a friend, fully illustrates the idea, In caput alta suum labentur ab æquore retro Et nihil est de quo, non sit habenda fides. Laturum misero quem mihi rebar opem.-T. I. viii. 1. 31. (Lymphæ.) Et lympha et nympha pro aqua ponitur; verum ubi poetæ aquis actionem quandam humanam tribuunt, nympham potius quam lympham, dicunt.-Itaque Heins. e MSS. emendat nymphæ. R. The two words, as might be expected from their resemblance both in form and meaning, are perpetually confounded in MSS. 32. (Sustinet) nearly the same as tuli in verse 12, implying that a person brings himself by an effort to do something from which he would naturally shrink. It occurs again in line fifty-two. So Cic. Verr. II. i. 4. Sustinebunt tales viri se tot hominibus honestissimis non 33. (Fatum....dixit.) R. understands dixit to be equivalent here to prædixit, which is unnecessary-" pronounced my doom" is the meaning. 34. (Mutati, &c.) Hyems vel tempestas de calamitate dicitur. Mutatus amor est aliorsum versus, metaphora sumta a vento, qui cum secundus fuisset, mutatus et adversus est. Vulgo amoris hyemem de amoris frigore accipiunt, quod nullo modo patitur vox mutati. R. 37. (Micuere sinus.) See note on Tibull. I. x. 12. p. 176. 41. Classe peracta the reading adopted by Burmann and approved by Ruhnken, can scarcely be defended. Parare and ornare are the technical words employed by the best writers with regard to the equipment of a fleet, while not a single example can be produced in favour of peragere. In the passages quoted from Suetonius Calig. XXI. and Oth. VI., it is applied to buildings the construction of which required great time and toil. 42. (Ceratas,) i. e. cera piceque oblitas, so again Ov. R. A. 447, Non satis una tenet ceratas anchora puppes. 43. (Parce negare,) i. e. noli negare, cave neges. This use of the verb parco is very common among the poets, although scarcely admissible in prose composition, e. g.-Hor. C. III. viii. 26, Parce privatus nimium cavere, and Virg. E. III. 94, Parcite, oves, nimium procedere, non bene ripa ............ 44. (Præterito,) "the love which once you bore to me, but which now has passed away." 45. (Nostros vidisti flentis ocellos,) i. e. mei flentis ocellos. This peculiar construction, by which the possessive pronoun is substituted for the genitive of the personal, is found occasionally in the best writers. It may be useful to the student to give a few examples, quum mea nemo Scripta legat vulgo recitare timentis... Hor. S. I. iv. 22. Sæpe mihi dices vivæ bene: sæpe rogabis Ut mea defunctæ molliter ossa cubent, Ov. Amor. I. viii. 107. Cui nomen meum absentis honori fuisset, ei meas præsentis preces non putas profuisse? Cic. Planç. X. Tuum hominis simplicis pectus nudum vidimus. Cic. Phil. II. gratæ in vulgus leges fuere. Quas quum solus (sc. Publicola) pertulisset, ut sua unius in his gratia esset, tum, &c. Liv. II. 8. In vacuum pontem Gallus processit, et, Quem nunc, inquit, Roma virum fortissimum habet, procedat, agedum, ad pugnam, ut noster duorum eventus ostendat, utra gens bello sit melior.-Liv. VII. 9. Cogor vestram omnium vicem unus consulere.-Liv. XXV. 38. The use of nostros in the passage before us, instead of meos, renders the expression still more complicated; to this we have a parallel in Martial. VII. li. 7. Si tenet absentis nostros cantatque libellos. The same idiom is found in Greek, Hom. II. III. 180, Δαὴρ αυτ' ἐμὸς ἔσκε κυνώπιδος, εἴ ποτ' ἔην γε and again, Sophocl. Edip. Col. 345. σφὼ δ ̓ ἀντ ̓ ἐκείνων τἀμὰ δυστήνου κακὰ 50. (Ille secundus erat.) nec illo flante abire poteras. B. Scilicet mihi amanti, quia te retinebat, A singular misapprehension of the meaning. Enone intends to say that when the wind was really favourable for the voyage, Paris, unable to tear himself from her arms, and eager to frame an excuse for delay, complained that it was adverse, a pretext so flimsy that “riserunt comites." 54. (Eruta.) Translatio ducta est ex agricultura; nam proprie fossor dicitur eruere terram. R. We have a double metaphor in Ov. Amor. III. viii. 43, Non freta demissi verrebant eruta remi. 59. Alii est dativus commodi, ut grammatici loquuntur. R. (Votis ergo meis.) This line is probably corrupt, for the final syllable in ergo is uniformly made long by the writers of the Augustan age, and by Ovid himself elsewhere. See the question fully discussed in "Elements of Latin Prosody," p. 58. 60. (Pellice,) i. e. Helena. (Blanda,) i. e., supplex-precibus delinivi Deas marinas. 61. (Moles nativa.) Nativa, "the work of nature," as opposed to any bulwark reared by the hand of man. So in the Fasti, V. 149. Est moles nativa: loco res nomina fecit. Appellant saxum: pars bona montis ea est. 64. (Impetus.) "Impulse," as opposed to "ratio," a meditated plan. Et quod nunc ratio est, impetus ante fuit. Ov. R. A. 10. 69. (Morabar.) Hæc non intelligo: forte rectius morabor cum Leidensi codice. H. The meaning is this, "It was not enough that I beheld with fluttering heart a woman's cheek for had that been enough to satisfy me of your infidelity, why did I madly linger? No, I did not believe the worst, until, upon a nearer view, I saw an impure mistress clasped in your embrace-there was no longer any room for doubt. Tunc vero rupique sinus et pectora planxi," &c. Heusinger and Jahn, read Non satis id fuerat? quid enim furiosa morabar? but the interrogation in the first member of the clause does not suit the quid enim which follows. Ruhnken, who adopts this punctuation, understands it thus, "Cur me non subduxi, ut Helenam ne viderem in gremio tuo hærentem." The explanation of Burmann is harder to itself. understand than the passage 71. (Sinus,) i. e. vestes. Properly speaking, the folds of the garment; it is used in the same general sense in Ep. XIII. 36. Indue regales, Laodamia, sinus. 73. (Idam v. Iden,) A number of nouns of the first declension, chiefly proper names, are employed by the poets, sometimes under their Greek, sometimes under their Latin shape, as best suits their purpose. Thus we have Ida and Ide; Leda, Lede; Helena, Helene; Creta, Crete; and many others. Where either form is equally admis. sible, as in the present passage, we must he guided entirely by the best MSS. |