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II. 3. 43, 44 siue illam Hesperiis siue illam ostendet

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Love of symme

spondencc.

Eois, uret et Eoos' uret et Hesperios. Compare I. 8. 25 and indeed the whole of the poem, I. 16.30, 20. 26, and the notes2. The attrac- try and corretion of these correspondences in metre and syntax extends yet further; and under their influence Propertius often assimilates the form of one sentence to another, even when there is little similarity in substance between them. Examples are 1. 12. 20 Cynthia prima fuit, Cynthia finis erit (Cynthia et ultima erit would have made the correspondence real); II. 5. 28 Cynthia forma potens, Cynthia uerba leuis (the discord between the real construction and that which the words seem to suggest is very marked). In I. 13 (11). 18 the result is a very forced expression ambos una fides auferet, una dies. While discussing the influence of mere expressions in Propertius, I will add a tolerably complete list of the instances Literal and mewhere in consequence of the use of a word taphorical conin more than one sense we find either a confusion, or more strictly a non-differentiation of ideas, or a more or less conscious play upon words. III. 17 (14). 23, 24 (a passage generally misunderstood) libertas quoniam nulli iam restat amanti, nullus liber erit si quis amare uolet 'since we now see (iam as in III. 32 (26). 24 omnes iam norunt quam sit amare bonum) that no lover is free (i.e. his own master), he will be no free man (i. e. free-spirited) who chooses to love,' ib. 19. 24 (16. 40) ferre ego formosam nullum

fused.

1 Observe the double quantity of Eous, and compare what Martial says 9. 12. 13 sqq. on the unsuitability of Eărinus for verse, dicunt Earinon tamen poetae, sed Graeci quibus est nihil negatum et quos Apes "Apes decet sonare; nobis non licet esse tam disertis qui Musas colimus seueriores.

2 The repetition of the same words in similar positions is the chief agent in producing these effects.

onus esse puto 'to bear with the beauteous is no burden,' so in Iv. 1. 6, Iv. 6 (7). 33, iv. 8 (9). 23, 24, iv. 23. 7 and notes, v. 5. 54 uersibus auditis quid nisi uerba feres? (a play on uerba dare to cheat)'. In some of these cases the literal and metaphorical are blended. So also in IV. 3 (4). 4 Tigris et Euphrates sub tua iura fluent, where the idea of the actual motion of the rivers is united with the metaphorical idea of their passing under Augustus' jurisdiction. We have, however, nothing as bad as Ovid's experiments in this line, of which I will quote two, in order to shew how hopelessly false and hollow the thing may become when not guided by genuine poetical feeling. Trist. 3. 5. 45, 46

non mihi quaerenti pessumdare cuncta petitum

Caesareum caput est quod caput orbis erat (two bodies and one head)

Pont. 2. 5. 38

sed sunt tua pectora lacte

et non calcata candidiora niue (a good metaphor spoilt, material and metaphorical fairness' being confused).

the phenomena.

I am sure that my readers will pardon this somewhat long, though imperfect, discussion if I have shewn them that in Propertius we Explanation of are dealing with no ordinary phenomena. These contrasts, these extravagancies, these fluctuations and incoherencies, these half-formed or misshapen thoughts, what do they signify? What is the secret of this chaos? It is that here we are looking on a stage in the realization of thought which is not usually presented to our view. In other writers we only see the full-formed crystals, sometimes flawed and dim, sometimes bright and clear. In Propertius thought is crystallizing still. It is still comparatively amorphous

1 These must be distinguished from cases where the confusion is in the idea itself; where, for example, a God and his statue (v. 1. 7) or a river and river-God are not discriminated (Iv. 3. 45 n., v. 2. 7 n.).

and still turbid with development. At such a stage there is hardly any limit to possibilities; and almost anything is possible with Propertius. At such a stage the susceptibility to impressions is extreme; and we have seen how potent even the smallest influences are in attracting and deflecting Propertius. But I will leave my readers to pursue the metaphor farther for themselves'.

Incapacity for

It is hardly necessary to point out that with thought, thus unconsciously developing itself, a conscious self-criticism was impos- self-criticism. sible. And I cannot find the slightest proof or hint in the poems that they were subsequently submitted to its test. It is true that we find traces of double readings occasionally (see Appendix A); but these are to be differently explained. Poets are not usually good critics, especially of their own compositions; and Propertius certainly was no exception to the rule. There is the greatest difference in his work. By the side of poems which shew the highest flights of his imagination, we find, as in III. 18 (15), the flattest level of conversational prose. Even if he had wished thus to improve his poems, it is very doubtful whether he could. For his best work is that which is done at once under the strong and controlling influence of immediate inspiration.

1 This, though an early stage in the development of poetical thought, is not the earliest. The curious in such matters may find the earliest in some of the poems of Blake.

I trust these remarks will be intelligible. They are as clear as the nature of the case allows. It is impossible here at any rate to distinguish between the genesis of thought and its embodiment in language.

2 There is nothing that shews so much spirit as v. 8, nor so much grace as I 9 (10), a birthday poem to Cynthia; and they are as finished as anything in Propertius. Yet they were written immediately after the events that they commemorate.

Advantages a

His 'facundia.'

I have hitherto been mainly occupied in tracing the peculiarities where they have had an injurious influence upon his work; but we rising out of his must not forget that there is another side. peculiarities. To them we owe the greater part of that facundia which, as we have seen, Martial singles out for his praise. Not only is the vocabulary on which he draws unusually large', but he employs it with the greatest freedom. Thus he frequently uses a word in a fresh sense on the strength of some analogy. E. g. on the analogy of leuitas 'inconstancy' he has grauitas in the sense of 'constancy' III. 13 (11). 14, and pondus habere 'to be constant,' III. 20 (17). 22. This and the frequency with which words occur with slight changes in meaning give an unequalled freshness and variety to his style.

pertius.

But this freedom is by no means confined to his expression. It is even more apparent in his thought. I have spoken already of Boldness of Prothe extraordinary originality or rather singularity of his conceptions. This is shewn in many ways; perhaps in none so clearly as the boldness of his imagery. I do not know any ancient writer who compares with him in this respect with the exception of Pindar; and Pindar's boldness is not that of Propertius3. The one shews the exuberance of a splendid

1 In estimating it we must make allowance for the unusually large number of proper names that occur in his writings, and also the number of words and phrases which occur again and again and form, as it were, the framework of his style.

2 One of the best ways of testing this is to look out in the dictionary a few words which occur in Propertius, and to observe the number of cases in which his usage differs from the rest.

In several other respects Pindar and Propertius approximate. In their grammar I may notice the predicative use of the noun, yovéwv Bios 'your parents while they live'; a part.

Metaphors.

and daring genius: the other the irregular workings of a mind whose yet indefinite possibilities were not directed by any law either external or self-imposed, and whose natural bent was towards the singular and solitary. There is hardly any simile or employment of a simile from which Propertius shrinks. Thus we have v. 1. 61 Ennius hirsuta cingat sua dicta corona, Iv. 8 (9). 3 n. quid me scribendi tam uastum mittis in aequor? Occasionally his metaphors are so bold and so remote from the subject that they illustrate as to be almost unreal. Thus to sing of war' is hardly recognizable in Phoebum quicumque moratur in armis iv. 1. 7; Cynthia's avarice is expressed with hyperbolical symbolism in III. 8 (7). 17 semper in Oceanum mittit me quaerere gemmas et iubet ex ipsa tollere dona Tyro.

So metaphors are sometimes so accumu- αλληγορία. lated or so interwoven with metonymies as to produce what was technically known as aλnyopía or alia oratio, a word which we cannot translate literally but which means the real meaning of the expression is so completely unlike its apparent, literal meaning that, in order to be understood, it has to be completely recast. A good example of the first is v. 6. 1-10, and of the second ib. 58 n.

Modern spirit.

It is in his metaphors perhaps that Propertius approaches most closely to the modern spirit. But the resemblance is not limited to them. It is a resemblance which must at once strike the attentive reader and perhaps puzzle him at first. It is not merely due to his treating of human passions and affections which are the same through all time and under every mask of fashion. It is not this identity of subject or even of treatment that I

or adj. and noun forming one idea, beà 'EXλas the desire for Greece'; their curious use of prepositions, &c.

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