For

7. flemus here is used with all its possible constructions, inf. (1. 7. 17), acc. and ne with subj., 11. 7. 3, which see. a similar change of constr. cf. 1. 5. 22. Strange as it may seem to us, one of the signs of fear amongst the ancients was weeping; cf. Hor. Od. 1. 3. 18 qui siccis oculis monstra natantia, qui uidit mare turgidum. caput. Some мss. capiti. tumultu. Müller's restoration for tumultum. For the -u form see Roby 390, and for tumultus el. 1. 7.

dubias

8. Cf. Virg. G. 2. 282, 283 necdum horrida miscent proelia, sed mediis dubius Mars errat in armis. manus, i. e. hostility of uncertain issue. the two engaging armies.

utrimque, i. e. in

9. ruinas, a common danger at Rome. See Juv. 3. 190-196. domibusque, for the repetition see Introduction.

10. subeant, 'rise unawares.' Cf. 1. 14. 20 nec timet ostrino, Tulle, subire toro, v. 2. 30 clamatis capiti uina subisse meo. nigra, from the discolouring effect of poison on the corpse and on the liquid; Aen. 4. 514 nigri ueneni, Virg. G. 2. 130 atra uenena. tuis. For the change of number cf. III. 20 (17). 43, 47 uidistis quandam...cum satis una tuis insomnia portet ocellis.

11-16. Only the lover knows when he shall die and whence his death-stroke comes, He fears not arms nor northwind's blast. Yea, though he be sitting, oar in hand, beneath the reeds of Styx, and looking on the gloomy sails of the bark of hell, let but the breath of his darling's cries once call him back again, and he will retrace the journey though all laws withstand.'

11. periturus, sit being omitted, a rare ellipse (cf. Introd.), except in Prop. where it is not uncommon. Cf. 1. 8. 37, Ov. M. 3. 719 illa quid Actaeon nescit. a morte. Cf. IV. 25.5 ista sum captus ab arte and 1. 16. 14. The cruelty of his beloved is his death.

12. hic, more vivid than is, 'the one I am discussing.' Cf. III. 3. 3. Compare Introduction.

13. sub harundine, the boat being moored under the reeds on the bank. Cf. IV. 9. 36. For the reeds of Styx cf. Virg. G. 4. remex. The ghosts row, as in Aris

478 deformis harundo.

tophanes Ran. 201 and Virg. Aen. 6. 320.

14. cernat, cf. uidere 1. 1. 12 n. infernae rotae 1. 9. 20.

infernae ratis, like

15. clamantis has more мs. authority than damnatum, and gives as good a sense. Cf. 1. 17. 23 ille meum extremo clamasset puluere nomen, and for the sense v. 7. 23, 24. Could damnatus of itself mean 'morti addictus,' as P. takes it?

aura,

a bold expression, 'the air that conveys the cry.' Cf. 1. 20. 50 n. Aen. 7. 646 ad nos uix tenuis famae perlabitur aura. The use, variously developed in these three passages, may have also arisen in part from the breath' of human speech being compared to the breath of the wind or air (cf. anima). The confusion between aura 'shining' and aura breathing,' for which see Prof. Nettleship, Journ. Philol. vII. p. 171, is not in point here.

16. concessum, strictly it is the redire which is not permitted, though we can translate 'return by a forbidden way.' iter. Cf. III. 5. 24.

III. xxix.

INTRODUCTION.

In this poem Propertius apologises for being late in keeping an appointment with Cynthia. His excuse is the opening of the temple of Apollo Palatinus or Actius, built by Augustus to commemorate the battle of Actium, and dedicated in B. c. 28. Compare the introduction to v. 6.

Propertius gives a description of it, one more minute than we find elsewhere. He begins with the outside and the cloisters which surrounded it, as the porticus Octauiae surrounded the temples of Jupiter, Juno, &c. In one of these porticus (TEMPLVM CVM PORTICIBVS Monum. Ancyr.) was the famous Palatine Library with its collections of ancient and contemporary works, and also a colossal bronze statue of Apollo by a Tuscan artist, which is said to have represented the Emperor himself. The Senate was sometimes convened here, Tac. Ann. 2. 37. The pillars in the open cloisters were of giallo antico marble, and adorned with statues of the Danaids and their cousins. temple itself was of marble from Luna (now Carrara), with ivory sculptured doors, and it contained within statues of Latona and Diana and the famous Apollo Citharoedus, a marble statue by Scopas; also a group of four oxen by the hand of Myron. There were besides other valuable works of art there. See Mr Burn's Rome and the Campagna, p. 175, and the passages quoted by him.

The

1, 2.

'You ask why I come so late to you. The golden portico of Phoebus has been opened by great Caesar.'

1. ueniam. Observe the tense. It conveys the impression that the poem was written immediately after the temple was opened. tibi, the dative of personal reference passing into that of motion towards. Cf. 111. 5. 34. aurea. In default of precise information about the porticos, we cannot tell whether this is to be taken literally, or whether it merely means 'magnificent' as Lewis and Short take it. Compare v. 1. 4 haec aurea templa. Chryselephantine decoration was not uncommon on the doors and panelled ceilings of temples; cf. v. 2. 5.

magno,

2. porticus, really more than one. See introd. compare 11. 7. 5. aperta, our Eng. 'opened.' So aperire ludum 'open a school' Cic. Fam. 9. 18. 1. Observe too that we can express the time more exactly in English, Caesar has been opening.'

3 end. So grand was it, laid out with Punic columns, a goodly show, and between them stood the women band of the old king Danaus. Then in the midst rose the temple of bright marble, dearer to Phoebus yea than Ortygia his birthplace. And over the pediment were two chariots of the Sun, and its folding doors were a glorious work of Libyan tusks. On one were the Gauls hurled down from Parnassus' height, another told the sad story of the dead children of Tantalus' daughter. Next, between his mother and his sister, the Pythian God himself in long robe chaunts a song. Truly more beauteous than Phoebus' self did he seem to me with marble lips parted for a song and all but speaking lyre. Then round the altar were set the cattle of Myron, four oxen of cunning work, a life-like group.'

3. in speciem, 'for show,' 'to make a fair show.' Cf. Manil. 5. 152 neque in usum tegmina plantis sed speciem. So in Caes. B. G. 7. 23. 5 in speciem is opposed to ad utilitatem. Poenis peregrinis Ov.; i.e. African, Numidian, a brown redveined marble, now called giallo antico. digesta, 'laid out, arranged,' frequently used of planting, as in Virg. G. 2. 54 uacuos si sit digesta per agros.

4. femina, for feminea or feminarum, a curious use. It is to be carefully distinguished from cases where words like senex, unus, yépwv &c. are applied by metaphor to things or animals, e. g. senex autumnus, anus charta, yépwv λéμßos. If we compare anus charta as=uetula charta, anus turba would=uetularum turba. I do not know any parallel. The Greek λus is both

femina and feminea. turba, the children. So in v. 11. 76: cf. ib. v. 98. The use is a vivid one. We naturally think of the children all playing together, or 'trooping' in as we say. Ovid Am. 2. 2. 4 has Danai agmen. Danai senis. The Danaids stood between the columns on one side, and opposite to them their cousins, the sons of Aegyptus. Compare the description in Ovid Tr. 3. 1. 61 signa peregrinis ubi sunt alterna columnis Belides, et stricto stat ferus ense pater.

5. I have adopted Hertzberg's order, which is the only natural one. The outside portico is first described, then the exterior of the temple and its doors, and then the interior, the statue and the altar. Cf. note on v. 13. claro. For this

use cf. Plaut. Most. 3. 1. 108, where a speaker wants a house speculo clariores, clarorem merum, Ov. M. 2. 24 claris smaragdis. surgebat. Cf. 1. 20. 37 n.

6. Ortygia, the earlier name of Delos. See Odyss. 5. 123, 15. 404 with the Scholiast's explanation, Callimachus Anth. Gr. 6. 121, Strabo 10. 486.

7. et duo erant (Hertzb.) explains the мs. reading et quoerat better than in quo erat. supra fastigia, i. e. on the acroteria, which were pedestals for statues above the pediment (see Rich s. v.). Cf. Ov. F. 5. 560 (quoted by P.) prospicit Armipotens operis fastigia summi et probat inuictos summa tenere deos. currus, probably those of the rising and setting

Sun.

8. ualuae. These representations on doors are as old as Simonides. See Anth. Gr. 9. 758. dentis, ivory tusks': first apparently in Cat. 64. 48. The elephant seems to have perplexed the ancient naturalists. His tusks are called dentes and cornua, and his trunk proboscis (sometimes in the form promuscis, as if a fly-flapper) and manus (xeip). The whole phrase is quoted by Mart. 14. 3 essemus Libyci nobile dentis opus.

9. altera. Some verb, meaning 'gave a thrilling representation of,' or something similar, has to be supplied from maerebat; for Propertius can hardly have sympathised with the discomfited Gauls. Gallos. In 279 B.C. the Gauls under Brennus forced their way into Greece as far as Delphi, which they attempted to sack, but were repulsed with great slaughter by the Delphians. According to the historians the God himself interposed to protect it by sending a heavy storm of lightning and rain upon the assailants. Cf. Callim. Del. 172.

10. maerebat, 'set forth in mournful imagery'; see 1. 9. 10 n. funera, P. 'dead children '; but it has more of the verbal meaning, 'the deaths in her family.' Cf. for the gen. v. 1. 97 (which he quotes) fatales pueri, duo funera matris auarae. Hence Senec. Ag. 392 tu Tantalidos funera matris uictrix numeras.

inter * *

in

11. deinde, when you enter the temple. terque. The repetition of the preposition is not strictly logical, but lends a certain emphasis, forcing us to think of both Latona and Diana separately; in Cic. Parad. 1. 14, Hor. Sat. 1. 7. 11, &c. it is used of moral difference. The reverse is the case in the use of μεταξύ, as in μεταξύ γῆς, between heaven and earth. Cf. Ar. Ach. 433. deus ipse, the well-known Apollo Citharoedus. The complete coincidence of the descriptions in this couplet and the following makes it certain that the same statue is intended in both, and nearly as certain that the two couplets should come together.

12. longa ueste, the palla of the citharoedus. So Virg. Aen. 6. 645 (of Orpheus singing) longa cum ueste sacerdos. carmina sonat, an extension of the cognate acc. Cf. Hor. Epod. 9. 5 sonante mixtum tibiis carmen lyra.

13. hic, the statue. See III. 23. 12 n. equidem, usually but not exclusively found with the first personal pronoun, perhaps through an erroneous idea that it was connected with ego. mihi. Compare Introduction, and Iv. 9. 10.

ipso, the original.

14. marmoreus, 'represented in marble.' For the adj. cf. Anth. L. 4. 62 ni me uidisset Cypria marmoream. tacita we expect it to sound, but it is silent, oeuvŵs távv oiyâ. carmen hiare, to open the lips as in singing, to open the mouth for a song. So Pers. 5. 3 fabula seu maesto ponatur hianda tragoedo, i.e. to be uttered through the rictus of his mask. The phrase is from Callimachus H. Apoll. 24 μápμapov ἀντὶ γυναικὸς οιζυρόν τι χανούσης (of Niobe).

15. steterant, oraσav. Cf. v. 3 erat digesta. menta, probably neut. pl., not fem. sing. (as in Pacuvius).

ar

16. artifices, passive. Cf. Pers. 5. 40 artificemque tuo dicit sub pollice aultum. uiuida, lifelike.' So in Mart. 7. 44. 2 cuius adhuc uultum uiuida cera tenet.