Readings from Latin Verse Part 11

fatis: by the fates, B. 189, 2; A. & G. 375. nostri: objective genitive, 11. caelum sperare: Aristaeus was deified after death. 12. honorem: honor from the possession of wealth. 14. relinquo: leave with reluctance, lose. 15. Quin age: _Why not go on?_ in ironical remonstrance. 17. molire: wield, imperative. 18. taedia: loathing of my praise, B. 55, 4, c. The plural expresses the aversion on each occasion.

19. thalamo sub: in the deep river's chamber. Sub governs thalamo, but follows it. Cyrene, as daughter of the river-G.o.d Peneus, dwells in subterranean chambers at the source of that stream. She is at this time in the thalamo described in 60 ff. Aristaeus enters through the river, thought of as emerging from the earth a full-grown stream, the waters arching over his head to admit him. He pa.s.ses beneath the earth where he sees groves and lakes, and rivers which are presently to issue as the various streams of the upper world. 20. Milesia: the wool of Miletus, a city on the west coast of Asia Minor, was famous. 21. carpebant: were plucking the fleeces, i.e. spinning. hyali...colore: dyed with the rich, gla.s.s-green color. 22. A similar catalogue of names is in _Iliad_, 18.

39 ff. Drymoque: que is long according to Greek usage before the double consonant beginning the next word. 28. auro ff.: arrayed in skins embroidered with threads of gold. 31 ff. _Odyssey_, 8. 34. mollia pensa: their soft tasks. See _Lex_. pendo II, pensum, B, 1. 35. impulit: struck his mother's ears. 39. procul: sc. dixit. frustra: idly, without reason.

42. nomine: ablative of specification. 43. nova: strange. 44. age: quick. 46. qua ff.: purpose clause, that the youth might enter there.

48. misit: let him pa.s.s, lit. sent him. He enters the earth through the opening by which the Peneus finds exit. 52. sub...terra: so Plato in the myth of the _Phaedo_ conceives of rivers as penetrating the depths of the earth. 53 ff. For the rivers named see _Lex_. 57. cornua: accusative of specification. voltu: dative, B. 49, 2; A. & G. 89. 60. in thalami pendentia pumice tecta: tecta may be regarded either as participle or noun. In the former case thalami tecta, 'the covered things of the chamber,' equals thalamum teclum, 'the covered chamber,' as strata viarum equals stratae viae; pendentia pumice tecta, roofs or covered things hanging with pumice (ablative of instrument) equals pendente pumice tecta, roofs of hanging pumice (ablative of description).

Translate: into the chamber roofed with arching pumice. 61. inanis: since so easily removed, accusative plural. 63. tonsis...villis: of shorn nap, smooth and soft. 64. onerant: B. 254, 4, a; A. & G. 317, d.

65. Panchaeis ignibus: incense-burning flames. Panchaea was a fabulous island, east of Arabia, rich in incense. 66. et mater: sc. dixit.

Maeonii: Lydian. Bacchi: the wine, as Vestam (1. 70) is the fire, the deities being named for that over which they preside. 69. centum: simply expressing a large number. 71. subiecta: shooting up. 73 ff. This part of the story has its original in _Odyssey_ 4. The Carpathian Sea is between Crete and Rhodes. 74. caeruleus: an epithet applied to Proteus as a G.o.d of the azure sea. 75. The yoked chariot of two-footed steeds equals the chariot yoked to two-footed steeds. 77. Pallenen: a peninsula of Emathia, or Macedonia. 79. quae...trahantur: what in the near future is drawn on in the chain of events. 83. eventusque secundet: and may make the issue favorable. 94. fulva cervice: ablative of description.

101. ambrosiae: used as an ointment, as _Iliad_, 14. 170, Aeneid, 12.419. 102. perduxit: anointed; _Lex_. perduco, I. C. 1. 105, 106.

quo...reductos: whither many a billow marches before the wind and divides into files that fall back, cogo and reductos may be used in a military sense. The wind is the rear-guard of the marching files of billows formed as the main wave enters an indentation in the sh.o.r.e. As the wave divides, all the secondary waves pursue the original direction, but the outer ones are r.e.t.a.r.ded, as compared with the middle ones, and seem to fall back. Statio, just below, is familiar as a military term.

Or reductos sinus can mean the depths of the bay. 107. deprensis: weather-bound. 108. vasti...obiice saxi: by the barrier of a vast rock, i.e. behind a rock. 109. averaum a lumine: in the darkness. 114.

faucibus: i.e. the deep-cut channels. Perhaps the author intends with a bold personification to speak of the almost dried-up rivers as dry-throated, siccis faucibus would then be well taken as ablative of description. 115. antra: plural in view of the many chambers. 117. rorem amarum: the bitter dew, beautifully used of the salt spray. 121. acuunt: whet the wolves, i. e. their hunger. 131. Nam quis equals quisnam, Who pray? Surprise is expressed. 133. neque est: nor is it possible, used with infinitive in Greek construction, _Lex_. 1 sum, I, B, 5, 6, e. 135.

la.s.sis rebus: shattered fortunes. 137. glauco: azure. 139.

Non...nullius: double negative for greater emphasis. It is in very truth the wrath of a G.o.d that pursues thee. irae: B. 55,4, c; A. & G. 100, c.

141. haud quaquam ob meritum poenas: penalties by no means on account of thy guilt, i.e. less than thy guilt. 147-149. Rhodope and Pangaeus are mountains, the Getae a tribe, Hebrus a river,--all in Thrace. Athenian Orithyia, daughter of Erechtheus, king of Athens, was carried by Boreas to Thrace, where she bore Calais and Zetes. As a nymph of the country she is interested in the fate of the Thracian Orpheus and Eurydice. 153.

Taenarias: a cavern on the promontory of Taenarus in Laconia was fabled to be the entrance of the infernal regions. 157. Erebi: Greek [Greek: Erebos], a place of darkness, i.e. the lower world. 159 ff. Cf. _Aeneid_ 6. 309-312. 161 ff. Cf. _Aeneid_ 6. 306-308. 165 ff. Cf. _Aeneid_ 6.

438-439. 167, 168. intima Leti Tartara: the inmost prison cells of death. crinibus: dative. anguis: accusative of specification. 169.

Eumenides: the Furies, deities who punish crime; even they are moved by Orpheus' song. Cerberus: the three-headed dog at the entrance of Hades who kept the spirits from escaping. 171. Ixion, for an attempt upon the chast.i.ty of Juno, was bound to an ever-revolving wheel. vento: ablative of cause. The logic is loose; because of the wind's stopping. 173. pone: adverb. Cf. _Aeneid_, 2. 208. 177. animi: locative genitive, B. 232, 3; A. & G. 358. 179. stagnis: ablative of source. 182. natantia: swimming.

188. praeterea vidit: saw him more, praeterea here equalling postea.

192. nabat: was sailing. 194. Strymonis: a river on the borders of Thrace. 196. agentem: that trees followed the music of Orpheus became one of the commonplaces of poetry. 197-201. Notice the sweetness of sound due to the alliteration, especially of the liquids. 202. hymenaei: nuptials. 203. Hyperboreas: Hyperborean, i.e. northern, lit. beyond the north wind. Tanaim: now the Don, a river named here, as are the Rhipaei monies of the following line, because belonging to the cold, distant, desolate North. 204. numquam viduata: never bereaved, with a thought of the bereaved Orpheus. The setting corresponds to the situation. The grim landscape is forever wedded to its desolation as Orpheus to his bereavement. 206. Ciconum: a Thracian people. munere: tribute to the dead. The word is used technically of funeral honors. 206-213. Cf.

_Lycidas_, 61-63:

By the rout that made the hideous roar His gory visage down the stream was sent, Down the swift Hebrus to the Lesbian sh.o.r.e.

210. Oeagrius: Oeagrius was a king of Thrace and father of Orpheus. 213.

referebant: echoed with. Cf. Pope, _Ode on St. Cecilia's Day_, 113-116:

Yet ev'n in death Eurydice he sung, Eurydice still trembled on his tongue, Eurydice the woods, Eurydice the floods, Eurydice the rocks, and hollow mountains rung.

214. iactudedit: i.e. iecit. 219. choros...agitabat: used to dance.

Agito means to occupy oneself with, as Plautus, Asinaria, 5. 1. 7. 221.

Napaeas: Dell-nymphs, Greek [Greek: napaiai], belonging to a wooded vale. 225. Lycaei: a mountain of Arcadia. 234. facessit: he despatches.

235-239. The repet.i.tions from 224-232 are in the Homeric manner. 241 ff.

The bees are thought to form within the bodies and to force their way through the yielding sides. 244. uvam demittere: to let fall a cl.u.s.ter.

The cl.u.s.ter formed by the bees when they alight in swarming resembles a bunch of grapes.

V. PHAEDRUS.

Flourished about 15 A.D.

Phaedrus, born in Thrace, came to Rome as a slave, and was set free by Augustus. Under Tiberius he was the victim of political persecution on account of some verses offensive to Seja.n.u.s. He published five books of fables (with occasional anecdotes) largely imitated from Aesop.

His style is fluent, his tone lively and sometimes coa.r.s.e, his diction correct, his verse skilful.--Teuffel, Schwabe, and Warr, _History of Roman Literature_, vol. 2, p. 30.

For Reference: Teuffel, Schwabe, and Warr, _History of Roman Literature_, vol. 2, p. 29 ff.

Metre: Iambic Trimeter, B. 370, 1, 2; A. & G. 618, a, b.

_1._ Aesopus: a famous writer of fables, born in Phrygia about 600 B.C.

He is said to have been liberated from slavery, to have lived at Sardis and to have been Croesus' amba.s.sador to Delphi, where he was murdered by the angry townspeople, who hurled him over a precipice. Babrius, a Greek who lived about 100 B.C., made a comprehensive collection of Aesopian fables which Phaedrus imitated with considerable closeness. 5-7. 'Let no one censure me for representing trees as speaking; it is merely the play of fancy and a fable.'

_2._ 4. latro: the robber wolf. 7. Qui: how? Qui is the old ablative of the relative, interrogative, and indefinite p.r.o.nouns.

_4._ 1. devocat: allures. 3. Tanto...melior: 'That is good!' See _Lex_.

under tantus, I, C, 3, a, b. 4. prosecutus: and went on to say. See _Lex_. underprosequor, II, B. 5. unde: equivalent to a quo. 7. dignum ff.: with a double meaning. 10. namque: for, a strengthened nam.

_5._ This story is also told by Cicero, _De Oratore_, 2. 352 ff., and by others. 1, 2. Quantum...superius: an earlier fable (4. 23) relates how Simonides, shipwrecked and dest.i.tute, was received most hospitably by one of his admirers. 4. Simonides: the renowned Greek lyric poet of Ceos. His ode upon those who fell at Thermopylae was especially famous.

Sterling translates:

Of those who at Thermopylae were slain, Glorious the doom, and beautiful the lot; Their tomb an altar: men from tears refrain To honor them; and praise, but mourn them not.

Such sepulchre nor drear decay Nor all-destroying time shall waste; this right have they.

Within their grave the home-bred glory Of Greece was laid; this witness gives Leonidas, the Spartan, in whose story A wreath of famous virtue ever lives.

5. pyctae: a word borrowed directly from the Greek. 8. poetae more: poets who wrote odes in honor of victories at the games usually inserted some legend containing an account of a similar victory won by a G.o.d or a hero. 9. gemma Ledae pignera: Castor and Pollux, the latter famous as a boxer. pignera: see _Lex_. II, B, 1. 10. auctoritatem...gloriae: citing the authority of a like glory. 11, 12. tertiam partem: only a third. 13.

duae: sc. partes, two-thirds. 24. humanam supra formani: the G.o.ds and heroes were 'divinely tall.' The diminutive servulo is in strong contrast. 31. Ut...rei: When the incident was told just as it occurred.

Another story of divine interposition on the part of Castor and Pollux is vividly told by Macaulay in _The Battle of Lake Regillus_.

_6._ Compare with Vergil's account of the oracle given by the Sibyl to Aeneas, _Aeneid_, 6. 9 ff. Some of the more obvious resemblances in diction and thought are _Aeneid_, 6. 12, 29, 35, 44, 45, 46 ff., 50, 95, 98, 99, 100.

1. Utilius: equalling a superlative, of highest value. 2. qui ff.: Delphi was a city in north central Greece and Parna.s.sus a mountain near it. 4. tripodes: this probably means the golden seat above the cleft in the ground in the adytum of Apollo's temple at Delphi. On this the priestess (vates, 1. 3; virgo, 1. 16) sat to breathe the rising vapors which induced the prophetic ecstasy. The tripus is named from being supported on three legs. adytis: from [Greek: aduton], 'not to be entered.' The adyta, or innermost parts of temples, were accessible only to priests. 5. lauri: the laurel was sacred to Apollo. 6. Pytho: the former name for Delphi. Pytho is poetically said to speak when the Pythian priestess speaks. 7. Delii: Delos, an island of the Aegean, nearly at the centre of the Cyclades, was sacred to Apollo, and was his birthplace. 12. ite obviam: oppose.

_7._ Plutarch, _Symposiacon Problematon_, V. 1 (Moralia, 674 B, C), tells essentially this same story. Parmeno, he says, was famous for his imitation of the grunting of a pig. Even when one came upon the stage having a real pig concealed under his cloak, the audience cried, 'This is nothing to compare with the sow of Parmeno.' Then he who had the pig threw it in the midst of them, 'to show that they judged according to opinion and not truth.'

1. Pravo favore: prejudice. labi: the metaphor is in evident contrast to that in stant of 1. 2. 2. pro iudicio...erroris: in defence of their mistaken judgment. 3. rebus manifestis: the disclosure of the truth. 4.

Facturus ludos: who was about to give an entertainment. 8. scurra: a city wit. urbano sale: clever jesting, merry cleverness. The Romans sharply contrasted city manners with those of the country to the disadvantage of the latter. 12. loca: seats. 18. verum: sc. porcellum.

pallio: mantle or toga. 19. simul: equals simul ac. 21. prosequuntur: honor. 27. degrunnit: grunts his best. 30. scilicet: to be sure. 32.

vero: sc. porcello. 35. imitatum: sc. esse.

VI. SENECA.

3 B.C.-65 A.D.

Seneca the Younger, or 'the Philosopher,' was born in Spain at Corduba; was educated at Rome; was banished in 41 A.D. to Corsica by Claudius; was recalled in 49; became Nero's tutor; largely deserves the credit for the good government of the early part of that emperor's reign; was consul in 57, but lost influence with Nero, and was compelled by him to commit suicide on a charge of partic.i.p.ation in the conspiracy of Piso.

His writings are chiefly philosophical and ethical. The frequent close resemblance of his views to those of Christianity occasioned the fabrication of a correspondence between himself and St. Paul. St. Jerome considered this genuine and therefore included him among the Christian saints.

Nine tragedies of Seneca's composition are extant. These have powerfully influenced the development of the English and French drama.

His style is forced and ornamental, moving, for the most part, in brief, disconnected, and often paradoxical sentences.

For Reference: Teuffel, Schwabe, and Warr, _History of Roman Literature_, vol. 2, p. 38 ff.; Leo, _L. Annaei Senecae Tragoediae_ (Berlin, 1878-1879); Sherburne's _Tragedies of Seneca Translated_ (London, 1702); Kingery, _Three Tragedies of Seneca_ (New York, 1908); Harris, _The Tragedies of Seneca Translated_ (The Clarendon Press, 1904).

Metres: Anapaestic Dimeter Acatalectic with Anapaestic Dipody, G. & L. 777, 780, 782: _Selection_ 1. Dactylic Hexameter, B. 368; A. & G. 615: _Selection_ 2.

_1._ Cf. Horace, _Carmen_, 1. 3. 9-40. 1. Audax: cf. ll. 24, 39. nimium: cf. l. 8. 7, 8. With too slight a part.i.tion dividing the ways of life and death, i.e. separating from himself by merely a thin plank the sea in which he would perish. Cf. Juvenal, 12. 57-59. Line 7 nearly equals inter vitam et mortem. 18. Hyadas: a group of seven stars in the head of Taurus, whose setting at both the morning and the evening twilight was attended with storms. 19. Oleniae...caprae: one of the horns of the goat Amalthea, which fed Jupiter with its milk, was placed among the stars.