two other words, and we thus get a two-headed construction; e. g. II. 32 (26). 54 nec si consulto fulmina missa tonent, I. 11. 5 nostri cura subit memores a ducere noctes (n. and d. both go with c.), v. 6. 6 ductus erat per quas ante Iugurtha uias (i. e. ducta per eas uias per quas ante ductus erat Iugurtha). Sometimes the expression becomes extraordinarily brief; e. g. v. 4. 73 urbi festus erat (dixere Parilia patres), hic primus coepit moenibus esse dies (where dies has to be anticipated from the following dies), III. 19. 19 (16. 35) tu mea compones et dices ossa, Properti, haec tua sunt (Hertzb. p. 123). Sometimes the sentence must be read as a whole, as it is almost impossible to give it a detailed construction. Examples are III. 32 (26). 60 quem tetigit iactu certus ad ossa deus (we must take tetigit with iactu and i. with certus ad o.), ib. 1. 83 (misunderstood by the commentators but taken rightly by Teuffel, Hist. Lit. 1. p. 373), IV. 1. 14 non datur ad Musas currere lata uia, ib. 3. Cf. 1. 20. 24 where I have compared the tendency of the Greek tragoedians to spread the meaning through a sentence rather than apportion it among the words. A fulness which often degenerates ness. into redundance alternates with brevity. Redundant fulNot to mention the numerous cases in which Propertius simply reports a word or some part of it or of some kindred word or some other word, which carries the same meaning, for which it is sufficient to refer to Hertzb. p. 107 sqq. and many examples pointed out in the notes, we find two or more words which mean substantially the same appearing together where one Two words would be quite sufficient. Sometimes this where one will only creates a sense of redundance; e. g. I. 11. 10 remis confisa minutis paruola...cumba, III. 5. 8, v. 1. 63 nostris tumefacta superbiat Vmbria libris, ib. 46, 47 uexit et ipsa sui Caesaris arma Venus. do. arma resurgentis portans uictricia Troiae'. But often the consequence is that either the construction is clogged or the meaning confused. Examples of the first are III. 4. 1, 2 non tot Achaemeniis armantur Susa sagittis spicula quot nostro pectore fixit Amor, 1. 14. 5, 6 et nemus unde satas intendat uertice siluas urgetur quantis Caucasus arboribus, 11. 5. 11, 7. 8 and notes. Examples of the second are II. 8. 40 mirum si de me iure triumphat Amor, III. 8 (7). 10 dic alias iterum nauiget Illyrias. Often it is due to a desire to be emphatic (which may easily become exaggeration) combined with an inattention to the precise form of the expression. Thus saepe is used in 1. 13. 1 tu quod saepe soles, 1. 15. 1 saepe ego multa tuae leuitatis dura timebam: so semper 11. 9. 32 hoc unum didicit femina semper opus: solus II. 1. 65 hoc si quis uitium poterit mihi demere, solus Tantaleae poterit tradere poma manu, III. 13 (11). 35 hoc mihi perpetuo ius est quod solus amator nec cito desisto nec temere incipio. Sometimes mere inattention to the context produces an effect which was not intended; 1v. 6 (7). 26 where the sand is asked to do a favour sponte sua, at the same time that it is addressed as uilis. For III. 5. 28, where I have explained the recklessness of the expression as due to a sick despair, see note. So in 1. 16. 22 (n.) tristis et in tepido limine somnus erit he had Catullus' mihi limina tepida before him, and he put it down without observing that it does not go well with tristis. But oftener exaggeration is the cause. Proper- Exaggeration. tius is very liable to exaggeration. He gets carried away and uses a stronger phrase than is 1 These must be distinguished from mere careless repetitions, e.g. v. 1. 121, 124, Vmbria-lacus Vmber, or cases where the repetition adds something to the sense, v. 4. 39, 40 quid mirum in patrios Scyllam saeuisse capillos candidaque in saeuos inguina uersa canes? Scylla is punished with the same saeuitia as she shewed to her father. [Baehrens alters both passages without necessity.] justified and perhaps than was intended. This adds to his vagueness and obscurity. For we never know how much he has overstated and overcoloured. A good example is Iv. 10 (11). 41 (of Cleopatra). It will be seen how the expression becomes more and more exaggerated, until it is absolutely false and unreal. ausa Ioui nostro latrantem opponere Anubin baridos et contis rostra Liburna sequi (Cleopatra fled) foedaque Tarpeio conopia tendere saxo iura dare et statuas inter et arma Mari. Hardly less strange is v. 3. 5, 6 aut si qua incerto fallet te littera tractu, signa meae dextrae iam morientis erunt. The rest of the poem shews that Arethusa by no means thinks death is at hand. There is a curious instance (already quoted) in Iv. 13 (14). 21 lex igitur Spartana uetat secedere amantes (i.e. allows them not to be separated). It is needless to multiply instances which may be gathered from the notes, e. g. III. 1. 7'. And now we have traced most of the threads which cross in Propertius' tangle of obscurity: and though we have only been able to do so briefly and imperfectly, we have learned, I trust, better to appreciate his singularity. Many of the tendencies which we have pointed out are not peculiar to him. Other writers have written with indefiniteness or exaggeration, and have overlooked the meaning involved in their words or required by their context. In some perhaps this has produced as much confusion as in Propertius. Many 1 I may however call attention to his fondness for semper and omnia. semper is only very often'; 1. 20. 14 n., I. 3. 40, III. 8 (7). 17. For omnia see III. 7 (6). 50 (a fine use) omnia si dederis oscula, pauca dabis, Iv. 1. 23 omnia post obitum fingit maiora uetustas. It is frequent with an adj. or part. e.g. I. 4. 14 lacrimis omnia nota meis. authors have been brief to obscurity or full to redundance: but few have been both. Still rarer is it to find such oversubtlety in the arrangement and connexion of ideas. Rarest of all to find this alternating with an absolute disregard of their connexion. But it raises our wonder, indeed, to find all these qualities united in a single writer, and we cannot believe that there can be anything else tam sibi dispar. Polarization of an idea. Disjunctive ness. But the phenomena which meet us next are stranger still, and, I believe, even unique'. As they have not received the attention which is their due, I shall examine them in detail. In presenting his conceptions Propertius often resolves them in a very peculiar way. After giving us an idea in one form, he frequently gives it immediately in another, and treats this new aspect or manifestation of it, as though it were a fresh idea. To borrow a metaphor from physics, he frequently polarizes an idea and gives it two distinct. unconflicting expressions. This often has an exceedingly odd effect as may be seen from the following examples. 1. 11. 11, 12 aut teneat clausam tenui Teu 1 These expressions may seem too strong to some of my readers. As a statement of the facts themselves, I do not think that they are. I have not found anything like them elsewhere, except a few traces of the same tendency in Lucan. It may be said, however, that I have misinterpreted their significance. Some will think perhaps that they are merely unusual manifestations of verbosity; others, perhaps, that they are only strange examples of the Latin tendency which is most marked in the poets to repeat an idea for emphasis or clearness, and that here too Propertius is ultra-Latin. See p. xciii. That both these explanations are possible, and perhaps partially true, I would admit, and the more cheerfully so as I hold most firmly the conviction that there are no linguistic facts which are really simple, and that their explanation, like themselves, must often ramify into the most widely separated regions both of speech and of thought. thrantis in unda alternae facilis cedere lympha manu, ib. 20. 17-20 (and notes) namque ferunt olim Pagasae naualibus Argon egressam...Mysorum scopulis adplicuisse ratem (the Argo is the ratis, only viewed differently), ib. 22. 6-8 (note) sit mihi praecipue, puluis Etrusca, dolor...tu nullo miseri contegis ossa solo, II. 7. 17 hinc etenim tantum meruit mea gloria nomen (a glory winning a reputation' is a phrase which will remind our readers of Alice in Wonderland), with which compare III. 5. 21 nostri notescet fama sepulcri. IV. 1. 17 is a striking example sed, quod pace legas, opus hoc...detulit intacta pagina nostra uia; ib. 1. 35 meque inter seros laudabit Roma nepotes (the nepotes are the Rome which will praise Propertius) with which v. 1. 30, a passage that has given some trouble, is to be compared magnaque pars Tatio rerum erat inter oues the property was 'in sheep' i. e. it was sheep; v. 3. 51 Poenis tibi purpura fulgeat ostris (one of these words means the stuff); ib. 9. 21 sicco torret sitis ora palato. So also in the use of verbs I. 18. 29 quodcumque meae possunt narrare querelae, III. 32 (26). 87 haec cantarunt scripta Catulli, 89 haec... confessast pagina Calui, Iv. 25. 17 has...cecinit mea pagina diras. Sometimes it is less obvious. 1. 19. 14 quas dedit Argiuis Dardana praeda uiris (the heroines were part of the prey), III. 15 (13). 21 si exiles uideor tenuatus in artus (the man is his limbs); compare v. 8. 41 nanus et ipse suos breuiter concretus in artus and observe the false echo or reminiscence, IV. 16 (17). 9, 10 hoc mihi quod ueteres custodit in ossibus ignes... malum, ib. 30 cinget Bassaricas Lydia mitra comas (he is addressing Bacchus and he uses an adj. derived from one of his attributes instead of tuas), v. 7. 7 (of Cynthia) eosdem habuit secum quibus est elata capillos where it is very noticeable, as shewing how difficult it was after all for the Roman imagination to conceive |