ELEGY XII. The poet had declined an invitation from a friend who taunted him with indolence and unwillingness to leave his mistress. He replies that she is far away; and laments his lonely and heartless situation. V. 4. Hypanis (the Bog), a river in Sarmatia Europaea. ELEGY XIII. Propertius, after referring to his own lonely lot, congratulates Gallus on his good fortune, and extols the charms of this new mistress of his heart. V. 21: Non sic Haemonio Salmonida mixtus Enipeo Neptune (here called Taenarius deus, from cape Taenarus where he had a celebrated temple), under the form of the river Enipeus, ravished Tyro, daughter of Salmoneus, who was enamoured of the river-god. V. 29. Nec mirum, cum sit Jove dignae proxima Ledae (Mueller). V. 30. Ledae partu = Helen and Clytemnestra. ELEGY XIV. Wealth cannot be compared with love, which contains in itself all riches. V. 1, 2 :— Tu licet abjectus Tiberina molliter unda, Lesbia Mentoreo vina bibas opere. Cf. Hor. Carm., ii. 3, 6-8 :— Seu te in remoto gramine per dies Interiore nota Falerni. And Propert., i. 11, 14 :— Molliter in tacito litore compositam. Lesbos produced excellent wines. See Hor., Epod. ix. 33, 34. Mentor, a famous Greek silver-embosser, flourished 356 B.C. See Propert., iv. 9, 13. V. 19. Arabium-limen. or onyx." "The threshold of Arabian marble V. 20. Ostrino. "Of the purple wool of Tyre." V. 24. Alcinoi munera. The wealth of Alcinous, king of Phaeacia, was proverbial. ELEGY XV. On Cynthia's indifference and levity. The poet contrasts her conduct with that of Calypso, Hypsipyle, Alphesiboea, and Evadne -women famous in Greek story for their loyalty in love. V. 7. Eois pectus variare lapillis. "To adorn your bosom with Indian gems of varying hue." V. 15-18. Nec - hospitio. Hypsipyle was queen of Lemnos. In her reign Venus punished the Lemnian women by the infidelity of their husbands, which they resented by putting all the males to death. The Argonauts visited the island, and by them the widows had children. Hypsipyle bore twins to Jason. V. 19, 20. Alphesiboea - Amor. Alphesiboea, daughter of Phegeus, and wife of Alcmaeon who put her away and married Callirrhoe. The brothers of Alphesiboea slew Alcmaeon, and were slain by her in turn to appease the Manes of her faithless lord. V. 21, 22. Conjugis-pudicitiae. When Capaneus was killed by lightning at the siege of Thebes, his wife Evadne threw herself on the burning pile with him. V. 29. Muta, most editors; multa, MSS., which Paley retains. It is difficult to see the force of multa. The idea is the same as in Propert., iii. 6. 33; iv. 19, 6: Hor. Od., i. 29, 10-12: and Euripides, Medea, 409 :— ELEGY XVI. A clever poem, in which a door relates its grievances. V. 2 Tarpeiae-pudicitiae. For the legend of Tarpeia, see Propert., v. 4. V. 7. Et mihi non desunt turpes pendere corollae. It was usual for lovers to wreathe the doors of their mistresses with chaplets and flowers. Cf. Lucret., iv. 1173-1175; Tibull., i. 2, 13, 14; Theocr., Idyll., ii. 152. V. 23. Sidera prona. Cf. Propert., v. 4, 64 : : Ipsaque in Oceanum sidera lapsa cadunt. V. 29. Saxo-Sicano = Aetna. V. 48. Aeterna, Cdd.; alterna, Mueller. ELEGY XVII. Propertius portrays the dangers and terrors of a storm at sea. This elegy was probably written with the view of alarming and conciliating Cynthia; for there is no evidence to show that the poet ever made a voyage. V. 3. Cassiope. A constellation, into which Cassiopeia, wife of Cepheus and mother of Andromeda, was changed. By Cassiope Hertzberg and Jacob think a harbour among the Acroceraunian mountains is meant (Cic. Epist. ad Fam., xvi. 9); so also does Mr Wratislaw, who reads Cassope (Kaoσóη, Strabo, vii. 7). V. 12. Ossaque nulla tuo nostra tenere sinu. Cf. Tib. i. 3, 5, 6 :— non hic mihi mater, Quae legat in maestos ossa perusta sinus. V. 15. The Groningen MS. has melius; the Naples MS. levius. V. 18. Optatos-Tyndaridas. Castor and Pollux, the tutelary gods of mariners. Cf. Hor. Carm., i. 3, 2 ; i. 12, 27: Catull., lxviii. 63-65 and Macaulay, "Battle of the Lake Regillus❞— : "Safe comes the ship to haven, Through billows and through gales, If once the Great Twin Brethren Sit shining on the sails." V. 25. Doride. Doris, wife of Nereus and mother of the Nereids. ELEGY XVIII. This elegy, full of deep feeling and tenderness, is a soliloquy, poured forth to the rocks and trees and birds in the silence and gloom of a forest. V. 11. I have followed Paley in treating levis as a vocative. V. 17. Calore and colore have equal MS. authority. I have followed the former reading, which has been adopted by Barth, Lachmann, Jacob, and Mueller. Kuinoel, Keil, Paley, and Wratislaw admit the latter. V. 20. Arcadio pinus amica deo. Pitys, the mistress of Pan, was changed into a pine (πíτus). V. 27. Dumosi montes. I have followed Mueller, who admits the conjecture of N. Heinsius. The MSS. have divini Fontes. ELEGY XIX. Propertius expresses to Cynthia his fears lest, in the event of his death, she should forget him; assures her of his affection, which, like that of Protesilaus for Laodamia, will outlive the pyre; and urges the enjoyment of the present hour, as the longest life is too short for love. V. 5. Haesit. "Has stuck as a bird caught by bird-lime" (Hertzberg); "has left his image" (Wratislaw). V. 7. Phylacides. Protesilaus, grandson of Phylacus (hence Phylacides), was allowed by the gods below to visit his wife Laodamia for three hours. At the end of their interview she expired. ELEGY XX. In this beautiful elegy the poet advises Gallus to be careful of Hylas, a youth on whom he had bestowed his regards, lest he should fare like Hercules in the case of his favourite of the same name. V. 4. Ascanius, a river in Bithynia. Minyis: "The Argonauts." V. 6. Theiodamanteo-Hylae. Hylas, the favourite boy of Hercules, was a son of Theiodamas, king of the Dryopes, by the nymph Menodice. V. 9. Gigantea-ora. The Phlegraean plains near Cumae, the scene of the conflict between the gods and the giants. V. 12. Adryasin. The wood-nymphs were called indifferently Dryades, Adryades, and Hamadryades. V. 17. Pagasae. A harbour in Thessaly whence the Argonauts sailed. Argo: Mueller reads Argon with the old copies, as accusative of Argo (like Calypson, Priap., lxviii. 23). Mr Ellis (Professorial Dissertations, 1872-73, p. 20) suggests that Argon may be the acc. of Argus (the builder of the "Argo"). "This," he says, "would necessitate Egressum for Egressam, a frequent confusion of letters in the MSS. of Propertius. On the other hand, it would remove the difficulty of finding a subject for applicuisse." V. 18. Phasidos. Phasis, a river of Colchis flowing from Armenia into the east of the Euxine. V. 19. Athamantidos. Helle, daughter of Athamas, from whom the Hellespont received its name. V. 27. Suspensis-palmis; "with down-stretched hands." The commentators generally explain palmis by pennis. Barth reads plumis. V. 29. Mr Wratislaw renders sub extrema ala, "under his own armpit ;" and pendens, "on tiptoe," or "in anxious fear." The old commentators understand by ala the "wing of one of his pursuers," and interpret pendens "raised aloft." V. 31. Pandioniae genus Orithyiae. Zetes and Calais were the sons of Boreas or Aquilo (Aquilonia proles, v. 25, supra) and Orithyia, daughter of Erechtheus, son of Pandion. V. 32. Ah dolor! ibat Hylas, ibat Hamadryasin. Mr Wratislaw, after Kuinoel and Hertzberg, construes, “Ah! on went Hylas, on he went, a pang to the Hamadryads." I prefer, with Paley, to consider "Ah dolor!" as an exclamation like proh pudor! The following note by Professor Ellis (Professorial Dissertations, 1872-73, p. 19) is to the point: "I do not know whether any one has noticed the resemblance of v. 32, Ah dolor! ibat Hylas, ibat Hamadryasin, to a line of Alexander Aetolus quoted by Parthenius ('Epwr. Пað., xiv. 22), Αὐτὸς δ' ἐς νύμφας ὤχετ' Ἐφυδριάδας,—a resemblance sufficient to determine the construction of Hamadryasin after ibat—not, as Hertzberg, after dolor." |