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CO
MINOR LATIN POE^^
WITH INTRODUCTIONS AND
ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS BY
J. WIGHT DUFF
EMERITUS PROFESSOR OK CLASSICS, ARMSTRO.Vc; COLLEGE (iN
THE UNIVERSITY OF DURHAM), XEWCASTLE-UPON-TYSE,
FELLOW OF THE BRITISH ACADEMY
AND
ARNOLD M. DUFF
ASSISTANT LECTURER IX CLASSICS, UKIVERSITT COLLEGE
or WALES, ABERYSTWYTH
LONDON
WILLIAM HEINEMANN LTD
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS
HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS
MCMXXXIV
Pnnted in Great Britain
CONTENTS
Preface ......
PuBLiLius Syrus — Sententiae : Introduction
Text
" Elegiae in Maecenatem " : Introduction
Text
Grattius — Cynegetica : Introduction
Text . '
Calpurnius Siculus — Bucolica : Introduction
Text
" IvAUS Pisonis " : Introduction
Text
EiNSiEDELN Eclogues : Introduction
Text
" Precatio Terrae " AND *' Precatio Omnium
Herbarum " : Introduction
Text .
" Aetna " : Introduction
Text .
Florus : Introduction
Text .
PAGE
ix
3
14
115
120
143
150
209
218
289
294
319
324
339
342
351
358
423
426
V
CONTENTS
PAOK
Hadriax : Introduction .... 439
Text 444
/ Nemesianus — Bucolica ami Cynegetica :
Introduction . . . . .451
Text 456
Two Fragments ox Bird-Catching :
Introduction . . . .512
Text 512
Reposianus, Modestinus, " CupiDO Amans,"
Pentadius : Introduction . . . 519
Text 524
Tiberianus : Introduction .... 555
Text 558
Servasius : Introduction .... 573
Text 576
" Dicta Catonis " : Introduction to Disticha . 585
Text 592
Introduction to Monosticha . . . 622
Text 624
Introduction to Lines from Columbanus . 628
Text 630
Introduction to Lines on the Muses . 634
Text .634
Introduction to Epitaph on Vitalis . 636
Text 636
vi
CONTENTS
" Phoenix " : Introduction .
Text ....
AviAXUS — Fabulae : Introduction
Text ....
RuTiLius Namatiaxus — De Reditu
Introduction
Text ....
Index ....
Suo
PACK
643
650
669
680
753
76-4
831
PREFACE
To select for inclusion in a single volume of the Loeb
Library a series of works representing the minor poetry
of Rome has been a task of much interest but of no
little difficulty. The mere choice of poets and poems
could hardly be thought easy by anyone acquainted
"svith the massive volumes issued in turn by Burman
senior and his nephew, the Poetae Latini Minores by
the former (1731) and the Anthologia Latum by the
latter (1759 — 1773). But a more serious difficulty
confronted the editors ; for, in spite of the labours of
scholars since the days of Scaliger and Pithou on the
minor poems collected from various sources, the
text of many of them continues to present trouble-
some and sometimes irremediable critces. This is
notably true of Aetna and of Grattius ; but even for
the majority of the poems there cannot be said to be a
textus receptus to be taken over for translation with-
out more ado. Consequently the editors have had
in most cases to decide upon their own text and to
supply a fuller apparatus criticus than is needful for
authors \\'ith a text better established. Certainly,
the texts given by Baehrens in his Poetae Latini
Minores could not be adopted wholesale ; for his
scripsi is usually ominous of alterations so arbitrary
as to amount to a rewriting of the Latin.
At the same time, a great debt is due to Baehrens
in his five volumes and to those who before him,
like the Burmans and Wernsdorf. or after him, like
PREFACE
\'ollmer, have devoted scholarly study to the poetae
Latini minores. Two excellent- reminders of the
labours of the past in this field can be found in
Burman's own elaborate account of his predecessors
in the Epistola Dedicatoria prefixed to his Anthologia,
and in the businesslike sketch which Baehrens'
Praefatio contains. The editors' main obligations
in connection with many problems of authorship and
date may be gauged from the bibliographies prefixed
to the various authors.
In making this selection it had to be borne in mind
that considerable portions of Baehrens' work had
been already included in earlier Loeb volumes —
e.g. the Appendix Vergiliana (apart from Aetna) and
the poems ascribed to Petronius. Also, the Consolatio
ad Liviam and the Nux, both of which some scholars
pronounce to be by Ovid, were translated in the
Loeb volume containing The Art of Love. Other
parts such as the Aratea of Germanicus were con-
sidered but rejected, inasmuch as an English trans-
lation of a Latin translation from the Greek would
appear to be a scarcely suitable illustration of the
genuine minor poetry of Rome. It was felt appro-
priate, besides accepting a few short poems from
Buecheler and Riese, to add one considerable author
excluded by Baehrens as dramatic, the mime-writer
Publilius Syrus. He is the earliest of those here
represented, so that the range in time runs from the
days of Caesar's dictatorship up to the early part of
the fifth century a.d., when Rutilius had realised,
and can still make readers realise, the destructive
powers of the Goths as levelled against Italy and
Rome in their invasions. This anthology, therefore,
may be regarded as one of minor imperial poetry
PREFACE
extending over four and a half centuries. The
arrangement is broadly chronological, though some
poems, like the Aetna, remain of unsettled date and
authorship.
While, then, the range in time is considerable, a
correspondingly wide variety of theme lends interest
to the poems. There is the didactic element —
always typical of Roman genius — pervading not only
the crisp moral saws of Publilius Syrus and the
Dicta Catonis, but also the inquiry into volcanic action
by the author of Aetna and the expositions of hunting-
craft by Grattius and by Nemesianus ; there is pol-
ished eulogy in the Laus Pisonis, and eulogy coupled
with a plaintive note in the elegies on Maecenas ;
there is a lyric ring in such shorter pieces as those on
roses ascribed to Florus. A taste for the description
of nature colours the Phoenix and some of the brief
poems by Tiberianus, while a pleasant play of fancy
animates the work of Reposianus, Modestinus and
Pentadius and the vignette by an unknown writer
on Cupid in Love. Religious paganism appears in
two Precationes and in the fourth poem of Tiberianus.
Pastoral poetry under Virgil's influence is represented
by Calpurnius Siculus, by the Einsiedeln Eclogues
and by Nemesianus, the fable by Avianus, and auto-
biographic experiences on a coastal voyage by the
elegiacs of Rutilius Namatianus. Although Rutilius
is legitimately reckoned the last of the pagan classic
poets and bears an obvious grudge against Judaism
and Christianity alike, it should be noted, as sympto-
matic of the fourth century, that already among his
predecessors traces of Christian thought and feeling
tinge the sayings of the so-called " Cato " and the
allegorical teaching of the Phoenix on immortality.
PREFACE
The English versions composed by the editors for
this volume are mostly in prose ; but verse trans-
lations have been wTitten for the poems of Florus
and Hadrian, for two of Tiberianus and one of
Pentadius. Cato's Disticha have been rendered into
heroic couplets and the Monosticha into the English
iambic pentameter, while continuous blank verse
has been employed for the pieces on the actor
Vitalis and the two on the nine Muses, as well as for
the Cupid Asleep of Modestinus. A lyric measure has
been used for the lines by Servasius on The Work
of Time. Some of the poems have not, so far as the
editors are aware, ever before been translated into
English.
The comparative unfamiliarity of certain of the
contents in the miscellany ought to exercise the
appeal of novelty. While Aetna fortunately engaged
the interest of both H. A. J. Munro and Robinson
Ellis, while the latter also did excellent service to the
text of Avianus' Fables, and while there are com-
petent editions in English of Publilius Syrus, Cal-^
purnius Siculus and Rutilius Namatianus, there are
yet left openings for scholarly work on the minor
poetry of Rome. It possesses at least the merit of
being unhackneyed : and the hope may be expressed
that the present collection will direct closer attention
towards the interesting problems involved.
Both editors are deeply grateful for the valuable
help in copying and typing rendered by Mrs. Wight
Duff.
July, 1934. J. W. D.
A. M. D.
xu
PUBLILIUS SYRUS
VOL.
INTRODUCTION
TO PUBLILIUS SYRUS
To the Caesarian age belonged two prominent
writers of mimes with both of whom the great
Juhus came into contact — Decimus Laberius (105-
43 B.C.) and Pubhlius Syrus. PubHHus reached Rome,
we are told by the elder Pliny ,^ in the same ship as
Manilius, the astronomical poet, and Staberius
Eros, the grammarian. As a dramatic performance
the mime * had imported from the Greek cities of
Southern Italy a tradition of ridiculing social life in
tones of outspoken mockery ; it represented or
travestied domestic scandals with ribald lan£Cuao;e
and coarse gestures. At times it made excursions
into mythological subjects: at times it threw out
allusions which bore or seemed to bear audaciously
on politics. Audiences who were tiring of more
regular comedy found its free-and-easy licence vastly
amusing, though Cicero's critical taste made it hard
for him to sit through a performance of pieces by
Laberius and Publilius.*^
" Plin. y.H. XXXV. 58 (199). The correct form of his name,
instead of the erroneous " Publius," was established by
Woelfflin. Phil. 22 (1865), 439.
* See Hermann Reich, Der Mimus, ein litterarentwickelungs-
geschichtlicher Versuch, Berlin, 1903. For brief account, J.
Wight Duff, Lit. Hist, of Rome, 1909, pp. 222-23; Klotz,
Gesch. der rdm. Lit., 1930, p. 77.
' Ad Fam. XII. 18. 2.
INTRODUCTION
There came a day in 45 b.c. when Caesar forced
the veteran knight Laberius — he was then sixty — to
play in one of his own mimes as a competitor against
the alien Publilius, who had thro^^^l do\\Ti a dramatic
challenge to all comers. The dictator, while he
awarded the prize to the foreigner, restored to the
Roman, with ostentatious condescension, the ring
which outwardly confirmed the equestrian rank
sullied by his appearance on the stage. This eclipse
of Laberius marked for Publilius an opportunity
which he knew how to use. Some fresh invention,
some originality in treatment capable of catching the
popular favour, may be conjectured as the reason
why the elder Pliny calls him " the founder of the
mimic stage." Of Syrian origin, he had come to
Rome as a slave, most likely from Antioch.*^ His
wit secured his manumission, and the gift of under-
standing Roman psychology was a factor in his
dramatic success. And yet, in contrast ^\'ith forty-
four known titles of plays by his vanquished rival
Laberius, only two of Publilius' titles have come
down to us in uncertain form — " The Pruners,"
Putatores (or, it has even been suggested, Potatores,
" The Tipplers "), and one conjecturally amended to
Murmidon} Perhaps his improvisations were too
precariously entrusted to actors' copies to guarantee
literary immortality ; and, in any case, though pieces
of his were still staged under Nero, the mime
gradually lost its vogue in favour of pantomime.
The didactic element in him, however, was destined
to survive. The elder Seneca praises him for
" Plin. N.H. loc. cit. Publilium -flochium {Antiochium,
0. Jahn, Phil. 26, 11) mimicae scenae conditorem.
>> Nonius, 2, p. 133; Priscian, Gramm. Lat. (Keil), 2, 532, 25.
TO PL'BLILIUS SYRUS
putting some thoughts better than any dramatist,
Greek or Roman ; Petronius gives a specimen of his
style in a passage sixteen lines long, and in the
second century Gellius recognises the neatness and
quotability of his moral maxims, of which he cites
fourteen examples, all but one to be found in our extant
collections." Roman educators soon saw practical
advantage in excerpting from his mimes, for use in
school, -wise saws and modern instances, the inherited
experience of human conduct brought up to date in
pithy Latin. Similar anthologies had already been
made from Menander in Greek and very possibly
from Ennius in Latin. ** Such a text-book had been
available for generations before Jerome '^ as a school-
boy learned the line " aegre reprendas quod sinas
consuescere." But if the earliest collection of the
maxims in the first century a.d. was purely Publilian,
it is now hard to decide how much proverbial phil-
osophy has been foisted into later collections by free
paraphrase of genuine verses and by insertion of
thoughts from Seneca (or Pseudo-Seneca) and others.
It is equally hard to decide how much has been
spoiled or lost by such misreading and distortion of
genuine verses (iambic senarii or trochaic septenarii)
as led copyists to mistake them for prose. There is,
however, good authority for the acceptance of over
700 lines as genuine survivals of what was once a
considerably larger selection.
It will be appreciated thatPublilius' lines, originally
• Sen. Control'. VII. 3. 8; Petron. Sat. 55; Gell. X.A.
xvii. 14.
* Phaedrus, III. Epil. 3.3-35.
' Hieron. Epist. 107, 8 (I. 679, Vallarsi): cited again Epist.
128, 4: see F. A. Wright, Select Letters of St. Jerome (Loeb
CI. Lib.), pp. 356, 478.
5
INTRODUCTION
spoken by different dramatic characters, could not
constitute a uniform ethical standard. In contrast,
therefore, with generous sentiments we meet such
self-regarding maxims as " It mayn't be right, but
if it pays think it so " (quamyis non rectum quod
iuyat rectum putes), or the pernicious morality of
" The end justifies the means " (honesta turpitudo
est pro causa bona). As in the proyerbs of all nations,
there are contradictory ways of looking at the same
thing: while "Deliberation teaches wisdom" (de-
liberando discitur sapientia), it is also true that
" Deliberation often loses a good chance " (deliber-
ando saepe perit occasio) ; for the sagacity of the
ages has always to reckon with both the impetuous
and the oyer-cautious.
Further, if not necessarily either moral or con-
sistent, proyerbs are not necessarily profound. So
if a few aphorisms dare to be paradoxical, some are
the sheerest of platitudes. But, though shallow
sayings take us nowhere, the reader meets with
pleasure eyen familiar thoughts in Latin guise like
" Honour among thieyes " (etiam in peccato recte
praestatur fides); " Least said, soonest mended " or
Qui s' excuse s' accuse (male factum interpretando facias
acrius) ; " No man is a hero to his yalet " (inferior
rescit quicquid peccat superior) ; and " Touch wood ! "
(irritare est cafamitatem cum te felicem yoces).
A few remarks on the manuscript collections are
needed to indicate how the text is composed." To
* Cf. Schanz-Hosius, Gesch. der rom. Lit. ed. 4, 1927, pp.
261-62; W. Meyer, Die Sammlnngen der Spruchverse des
Publilius Syrus, Leipzig, 1877, and the introd. to his edition
of the Sententiae, Leipzig, 1880. Friedrich (ed. 1880) testifies
to Woelfflin's full discussion of Publilian MSS. in the Prole-
gomena to his edition of 1869, II. pp. 15-23.
6
f TO PUBLILIIS SYRUS
the so-called " Seneca Collection," of which the best
manuscripts go back to the ninth or tenth century,
and are classed under 2 in the Sigla, belong 265 verses
arranged in sequence by their initials from A to N.
Of these, 159 are preserved in that collection alone.
By the ninth century the latter half of the verse-
sayings from O to V had disappeared, and the col-
lection was filled up with 149 prose sententiae from the
so-called Senecan work De Morihus. The title then
imposed on the collection was Senecae senteniiae or
Senecae proverbia : and in some manuscripts these
proverbs, wherein Publilius lay embedded but
unnamed, were combined with works of Augustine.
This is true of the codex Dunelmensis, brought early
in the fourteenth century to Durham, which has been
inspected during the preparation of the present
volume, and is described in a subsequent note. In
the tenth century the latter half of the verse-sayings
had reappeared : and the IT collection, now repre-
sented by lines A to I, in the Palatino-\'aticanus
(formerly Heidelbergensis), supplied 325 additional
verses. It was when 11 still contained the second half
of the sayings that a scribe in the eleventh century
combined the texts of a 11 and a 2 manuscript into
^, inserting any new verses from 11 after the prose
sentences under each alphabetical letter, so that his
manuscript, F, the Frisingensis, is the most complete
corpus of Publilian sententiae extant. To the 265 verse
sententiae of 2 it added 384, making a total of 649.
Gretser's Ingolstadt edition of 1600, four years before
CJruter, made use of the Frisingensis. The Ziirich
Collection, Z, contains 132 sayings, including 50 not
found elsewhere : it is represented by Turicensis C.
78 (tenth century), giving a set of sententiae C to V ;
INTRODUCTION
and Monacensis 6369 (eleventh century), giving a set
of senteniiae A to D. The Verona excerpts, O (four-
teenth century), entitled Flores moralium aidoritatum ,
give 60 verses (16 of them new), indicating their Pub-
lilian origin under the incorrect names of " Publius,"
" Publius Syrus " or " Publius mimus."
EDITIONS
(A full list is given in Bickford-Smith's bibliography.)
D. Erasmus. Disticha moralia titulo Cato?iis . . .
Mimi Puhliani {cum scholiis Erasmi), . . .
London. 1514.
Jos. Scaliger. P. Syri Senieiit. et Dion. Catonis
Disticha graece redd. Levden. 1598.
J. Gretser. Ingolstadt. 1600.
J. Gruter. Senecae et Syri Mimi for san etiam aliorum
si?igulares Senteniiae centum aliquot versihus ex
codd. Pall, et Frisi?ig. auctae (Ed. i. 1604).
Leyden. 1708. [Contains 771 iambics and
81 " trochaici quasi."]
R. Bentley : at end of his edition of Terence and
Phaedrus. Cambridge. 1726. [238 iambics
and 27 trochaics.]
J. Konrad Orelli. Publii Syri Mimi et aliorum Sen-
teniiae . . . Leipzig. 1822. [791 iambics and
83 trochaics, Mith Scaliger 's Greek verse
renderings.]
Supplemenium editionis Lipsiensis . . . Leipzig.
1824.
J. Kaspar Orelli (with Phaedri fahulae novae).
Puhlii Syri Codd. Basil, et Turic. antiquissimi.
Zurich. 1832. [216 verses from the Basiliensis,
and others from the Turicensis.]
8
TO PUBLILIUS SYRUS
O. Kibheck. P. PuhliUus Lockius (sic) Syrus in
Comicorum Latinorum Reliquiae. Leipzig. 1855.
[857 sententiae, includiiiij 269 " minus probatae "
and 43 from the I'urice/isis.]
E. Woelfflin. FuhUlii Syri Sententiae. Leipzig. 1869.
[693 verses, including 40 from the Turicensis.
Woelfflin rejected many spurious verses.]
A. Spengel. Publilii Si/ri Sententiae. Berlin. 1874.
[721, including 71 from Zurich and Munich
MSS., some in prose.]
W. Meyer. Publilii Syri Seiitentiae. Leipzig. 1880.
[733 lines.]
O. Friedrich. Publilii Syri Mimi Sententiae. Berlin.
1880. [761 lines besides others under the head-
ings of " Caecilii Balbi Sententiae," " Pseudo-
Seneca," •* Proverbia " and 390 "Sententiae
falso inter Publilianas receptae."]
R. A. H. Bickford-Smith. Publilii Syri Sententiae.
London. 1895. [722 lines.]
SIGLA
O = Collectio Veronensis : codex Capituli Veron.
168 (155) : a. 1329.
2 = Collectio Senecae.
P == pa et P^
P^' : Paris. 2676 : saec. x-xi.
Pb : Paris. 7641 : saec. x.
R = Rheinaugiensis 95 : saec. x.
B = Basiliensis A.N. iv. 11 (K. III. 34): saec. x.
A = Vindobonensis 969 : saec. x.
F et V : cf. infra.
C = Paris. 8049 : saec. xiv.
S = Monac. 484 chart. : saec. xv.
INTRODUCTION
Z = Monac. 23474 : saec. xiv.
Dun. =^ Dunelmensis B II. 20 : saec. xiv.
Inc. = editiones ante editionem Erasmi (a. 1514)
impressae.
n = Collectio Palatina.
H = Palatino-^^atic. 239 (olim Heidelbergensis) :
saec. x-xi. (A-I).
^ = Collectio Frisingensis.
F = Monac. 6292 (olim Frisingensis) : saec. xi.
V = Vindobon. 299 : saec. xii. (circ. cxx. versus).
xj/ = Monac. 17210 : saec. xiii.
Dresd. = Dresdensis J. 44 : saec. xiii (contulit M.
Manitius, Hermes xli, 1906, pp. 294-99).
Bart : = Giunta ad librum Bartholomaei da San
Concordio " Ammaestramenti degli Antichi."
TT = Vatic. Regin. 1896 : saec. xiii.
a = Albertani Brixiensis libri.
K = Monac. 7977 : saec. xiii.
o- = Monac. 17210: saec. xiii.
par. = Paris. 8027 : saec. xiv.
Z = Collectio Turicensis.
M = Monac. 6369 : saec. xi. (A-D).
T = Turic. C. 78 : saec. x. {C-\^.
O = Caecilii Balbi quae vocatur collectio maior :
(f) minor.
A Note on the Dunelmensis
The Durham manuscript, examined in preparing
the text of this work, may be briefly described as an
example of the 2 group. This codex of the Se?i-
ientiae forms, under the significant misnomer of
" Proverbia Senec(a)e," part of a folio volume of
lO
TO PUBLILIUS SYRUS
212 double-columned vellum sheets, of which the
main contents are tractates, genuine or doubtful,
bearing the name of Augustine. Immediately pre-
ceding the " Proverbia " there is a page given to
" Sententiae quorumdam philosophorum " and over
two pages to excerpts from Cicero's De Divinatione.
In a note near the end of the volume it is described
as " liber Sti. Cuthberti de Dunelm. ex procuratione
ffis Robti. de Graystan." Robert de Graystan was
" electus " as bishop of Durham in 1333, but was not
admitted to the episcopate. The manuscript cannot
be said to possess independent value with regard to
Publilius. Though written in well-formed letters
with decorated initials, it has not a few imperfections
apart from unscannable lines and its mixture of prose
and verse. Within the first 30 lines there occur
blunders like the haplography of aut (6), a deo for
deo (22), actus sn du for aetas cinaedum (24), and
crinem for crimen (29). Of its total of over 450
sententiae, the letters A to N have 313 sayings which
are mainly verse (though of the 45 under N about
four-fifths are prose). For the remainder, O to V,
beginning " Omne peccatum actio est," material is
drawn entirely in prose from a work of uncertain
authorship, De Morihus. After the V sente?itiae there
follows a moral poem of about 120 hexameters by a
Christian poet, beginning
Quisquis vult vere Domino per cuncta placere,
Hunc fugiens mundum totum cor vertat ad ilium.
The text of Publilius is in this volume largely based
on Meyer's valuable edition of 1880: the main
alterations are noted. Lines accepted by Meyer at
II
liNTRODUCTION TO PUBLILIUS SYRUS
the close of each letter-section under the formula
" Publilii esse videtur " are given in brackets: also
1. 145, which, though not in any manuscript of
Publilius, is entitled to the same heading, because
it is quoted by Gellius and Macrobius.
For the significance of the Greek letters on the
left of the Latin text, readers are referred to the
table of Sigla and to the remarks on the manuscript
collections earlier in the Introduction. Meyer's
obelus (f) has been retained only where the text
printed remains unsatisfactory in respect of metre
or meaning.
12
MINOR LATIN POETS
E Alienum est omne quicquid optando evenit.
Ab alio exspectes alteri quod feceris.
Animus vereri qui scit, scit tuto ingredi.
Auxilia humilia firma consensus facit.
6 Amor animi arbitrio sumitur, non ponitur.
Aut amat aut odit mulier : nihil est tertium.
Ad tristem partem strenua est suspicio.
Ames parentem si aequus est : si aliter, feras.
Adspicere oportet quicquid possis perdere.
10 Amici vitia si feras, facias tua.
Alienum aes homini ingenuo acerba est servitus.
Absentem laedit cum ebrio qui litigat.
Amans iratus multa mentitur sibi.
3 tuto m 2 in B et P^ : tuta PRAFVS : tutus C Incun.
1° sic M : si B 7n 1 in rasiira, C : nisi ceteri. facis plerique
codd. : facias Kibbeck.
14
PUBLILIUS SYRUS
^^'HAT comes by wishing is never truly ours."
As you treat a neighbour, expect another to treat you.
Courage that can fear can take the road with safety.
United feeling makes strength out of humble aids.
Love starts but is not dropped at will.
Woman either loves or hates : there is no third thing.
Suspicion is ever active on the gloomy side.''
Love your parent, if he is just : if not, bear with him.
You ought to watch whatever you can lose.
Tolerate a friend's faults, and you make them your
own.
For the freeborn, debt is bitter slavery.
Wrangling with a drunk man is hurting one who is
off the scene.
The lover in anger tells himself many a lie.
" Quoted by Seneca, Epist. viii. 9.
* A long exegetical account is given in Gruter's notae
poslumae (1708 ed.). There is no need to change with Fried-
rich to attritam in partem.
15
MINOR LATIN POETS
Avarus ipse miseriae causa est suae.
15 Amans quid cupiat scit, quid sapiat non videt.
Amans quod suspicatur vigilans somniat.
Ad calamitatem quilibet rumor valet.
Amor extorqueri non pote, elabi potest.
Ab amante lacrimis redimas iracundiam.
20 Aperte mala cum est mulier, tum demum est bona.
Avarum facile capias ubi non sis item.
Amare et sapere vix deo conceditur.
Avarus nisi cum moritur nihil recte facit.
Aetas cinaedum celat, aetas indicat.
25 Avarus damno potius quam sapiens dolet.
Avaro quid mali optes nisi: " vivat diu ! "
Animo dolenti nihil oportet credere.
Aliena nobis, nostra plus aliis placent.
Amare iuveni fructus est, crimen seni.
^^ sic Spengel, Meyer : potest . . . potest pier. codd. : pote
. . . pote V. elabi HC : sed elabi PRAFVSZ : sed labi B.
2^ item Bothe : idem codd.
^^ deo H Erasmus : adeo ceteri.
^* aetas Pilhoeus : aestate Pt- P* corr. BRA : aestatem P^:
astute FVCS : astus Woelfflin cinae dum A : cinedum B :
cenae dum P^ : crines dum FVCS : caelat P^A : actus sa du
l6
PUBLILIUS SYRUS
The miser is himself tlic cause of his misery.
A lover knows his desire : his wisdom is out of sight.
Even when awake, the lover has dreams of his
suspicions.
To accredit disaster any tale has power.
I.ove can't be wrested from one, but may slip away.
Tears may buy off a lover's wrath.
A woman is good at last, when she's openly bad.
The miser may be your easy prey, when you're not a
miser too.
Wisdom with love is scarcely granted to a god.
The one right thing a miser does is to die.
Time conceals and time reveals the reprobate.
It's the miser, not the wise man, M'hom a loss pains.
What ill could you wish a miser save long life ?
One must not trust at all a mind in pain.
We fancy the lot of others ; others fancy ours more.
Love is the young man's enjoyment, the old man's
reproach.
Dunelm. etas te celat, etas te iudicat Dresd. astute dum
celatur aetas so indicat Erasmus : astu crimen celatur,
aetas indicat Zivinger cit. apud Gruterum : astus cinaeduin
celat, aestus indicat Friedrich.
26 sic M H : nisi ut pier. codd.
17
VOL. I. C
MINOR LATIN POETS
30 Anus cum ludit morti delicias facit.
Amoris vulnus idem sanat qui facit.
Ad paenitendum properat, cito qui iudicat.
Aleator quanto in arte est, tanto est nequior.
Amor otiosae causa est soUicitudinis.
n Avidum esse oportet neminem, minime senem.
36 Animo virum pudicae, non oculo eligunt.
Amantis ius iurandum poenam non habet.
Amans ita ut fax agitando ardescit magis.
Amor ut lacrima ab oculo oritur in pectus cadit.
40 Animo imperabit sapiens, stultus serviet.
Amicum an nomen habeas aperit calamitas.
Amori finem tempus, non animus, facit.
Z Audendo virtus crescit, tardando timor.
Auxilium profligatis contumelia est.
45 AfFatim aequa cui fortuna est interitura longe
effugit.
3* otioso C Inc.
^^ oculis H Meyer : ab oculis FVaK : ab oculo Woelfflin :
amoris lacrima ab oculis in p.c. Spengel : amor ut lacrima
oboritur oculis, oculis in pectus cadit Friedrich.
i8
PUBLILIUS SYRUS
The old woman in skittish mood is Death's darhng toy.
The one who causes also cures the wound of love.
Hasty judgement means speedy repentance.
The cleverer the gamester, the greater his knavery.
Love causes worry in the leisure hour.
None should be greedy, least of all the old.
Modest women choose a man by mind, not eye.
A lover's oath involves no penalty.
A lover is like a torch — blazes the more he's moved.
Love, like a tear, rises in the eye and falls on the
breast.
The sage will rule his feelings, the fool will be their
slave.
Misfortune reveals whether you have a friend or only
one in name.
'Tis time, not the mind, that puts an end to love.
Courage grows by daring, fear by delay.
Help wounds the pride of those whose cause is lost.
The man whose luck is fair enough gives ruin a wide
berth.
*^ sic Wight Duff : Affatim inqua fortuna longo non habet
interitiun M : affatim si cui fortuna Christ : affatim si quoi
fortunast Ribbeck : affatim aequa si fortuna Meyer.
19
c2
MINOR LATIN POETS
Avaro acerba poena natura est sua.
Avaro non est vita sed mors longior.
Alienam qui orat causam se culpat reum.
Adsidua ei sunt tormenta qui se ipsum timet.
60 Animo imperato ne tibi animus imperet.
Animo ventrique imperare debet qui frugi esse
vult.
O Aegre reprendas quod sinas consuescere.
Amico firmo nihil emi melius potest.
(j) (Amicis ita prodesto ne noceas tibi.)
55 (Avarus animus nuUo satiatur lucre.)
(Amici mores noveris non oderis.)
S Bis fiet gratum quod opus est si ultro ofFeras.
Bonarum rerum consuetudo pessima est.
Beneficium dare qui nescit iniuste petit.
60 Bonum est fugienda adspicere in alieno male.
Beneficium accipere libertatem est vendere.
*8 sic Meiser : Alienam qui suscipit causam semet criminat
esse rerum M.
20
II PUBLILIUS SYRUS
For the miser his own nature is bitter punishment.
The miser has no life save death delayed.
The pleader of another's cause arraigns himself.
He who dreads himself has torment without end.
• Rule your feelings lest your feelings rule you.
He who would be discreet must rule his mind and
appetite.
Reproof comes ill for a habit you countenance."
There's nothing better in the market than a staunch
friend.
Benefit friends without hurt to yourself.
' No gain satisfies a greedy mind.'^
Study but do not hate a friend's character.
Twice welcome the needed gift if offered unasked.
Constant acquaintance with prosperity is a curse.
He who can't do a good turn has no right to ask
one.
In another's misfortune it is good to observe what to
avoid.
To accept a benefit is to sell one's freedom.
" St. Jerome records his reading this maxim when at
school : Epist. 107, 8 {legi quondam in scholis puer : aegrc,
etc.). He quotes it also in Epist. 128, 4 : see Introduction.
* Quoted by Seneca, Epist. xciv. 43.
21
MINOR LATIN POETS
Bona nemini hora est ut non alicui sit mala.
Bis emori est alterius arbitrio mori.
Beneficia plura recipit qui scit reddere.
65 Bis peccas cum peccanti obsequium commodas.
Bonus animus laesus gravius multo irascitur.
Bona mors est homini vitae quae exstinguit mala.
Beneficium dando accepit qui digno dedit.
Blanditia non imperio fit dulcis venus.
70 Bonus animus numquam erranti obsequium commodat.
Beneficium qui dedisse se dicit petit.
Benivoli coniunctio animi maxima est cognatio.
Beneficium saepe dare docere est reddere.
Bonitatis verba imitari maior malitia est.
76 Bona opinio hominum tutior pecunia est.
22
r
PUBLILIUS SYIIUS
Nobody has a good time without its being bad for
someone.
To die at another's bidding is to die a double death.
He receives more benefits who knows how to return
them.
35 You sin doubly when you humour a sinner.^
When a good disposition is wounded, it is much more
seriously incensed.
Good for man is death when it ends life's miseries.
The giver of a gift deserved gets benefit by giving.
Coaxing, not ordering, makes love sweet.
70 Good judgement never humours one who is going
%\Tong.
Claiming to have done a good turn is asking for one.
The alliance of a well-wisher's mind is truest kinship.
To confer repeated kindness is tuition in repayment.
Aping the words of goodness is the greater wicked-
ness.
75 There is more safety in men's good opinion than in
money.
" It is difficult to grasp the meaning of some of the
sayings, as the original dramatic context is unknown. The
double sin here maj* imply a sin twice as bad : cf. the
expression his emori, 63, and the sentiment in 10.
MINOR LATIN POETS
Bonuin quod est supprimitur, numquam exstinguitur.
Bis vincit qui se vincit in victoria.
Benignus etiam causam dandi cogitat.
Bis interimitur qui suis armis perit.
80 Bene dormit qui non sentit quam male dormiat.
Bonorum crimen est officiosus miser.
Bona quae veniunt nisi sustineantur opprimunt.
Bona fama in tenebris proprium splendorem tenet.
Bene cogitata si excidunt non occidunt.
85 ^Bene perdit nummos iudici cum dat nocens.
Bona imperante animo bono est pecunia.
Bonum ad virum cito moritur iracundia.
Brevissima esto memoria iracundiae.
^2 sic Gruter : b.q. eminent nisi sustineantur obprimunt
Buecheler: n. s. cadunt ut opprimant pier. codd.
®^ sic Bickford- Smith : bona imperante animo est pecunia
S : bono PRA : in parente anima nonnulli codd. : bona im-
perante bono animo est pecunia Meyer in not.
24
PUBLILIUS SYRUS
A good thing may be trampled on but never anni-
hilated.
Twice is he conqueror who in the hour of conquest
conquers himself.
Generosity seeks to invent even a cause for giving.
Doubly destroyed is he who perishes by his own arms.
0 He sleeps well who feels not how ill he sleeps.
The dutiful man reduced to misery is a reproach to
the good.
Prosperity must be sensibly sustained or it crushes
you.
A good name keeps its own brightness in dark days.
Good ideas may fail but are not lost.
5 When the culprit bribes the judge, he loses coin to
some purpose.
When the mind issues good orders, money is a
blessing.
With the good man anger is quick to die.
Let the harbouring of angry thoughts be of the
briefest.
^® sic Gritter in notis postumis {om. Dunelmensis) : breve
mens BRP*'AP-» corr. : breviens P* : brevis mens S : breve
amans FV. est ipsa FYS.
25
MINOR LATIN POETS
Bona turpitude est quae periclum vindicat.
90 Bona comparat praesidia misericordia.
Beneficium dignis ubi des omnes obliges.
n Brevis ipsa vita est sed malis fit longior.
Beneficia donari aut mali aut stulti putant.
Bene perdis gaudium ubi dolor pariter perit.
95 Bene vixit is qui potuit cum voluit mori.
■f Bene audire alterum patrimonium est.
Boni est viri etiam in morte nullum fallere.
Z Bona causa nullum iudicem verebitur.
Bonus vir nemo est nisi qui bonus est omnibus.,
D Consueta vitia ferimus, nova reprendimus.
101 Crudelis est in re adversa obiurgatio.
Cavendi nulla est dimittenda occasio.
Cui semper dederis ubi neges rapere imperes.
*^ sic F VH : bene vulgo audire GriUer : bene e patre audire
Friedrich.
^°" nova Bentley, Meyer : inconsueta Z : non ceteri codd.,
Woelfflin, Spengel, Friedrich.
26
PUBLILIUS SYRUS
l\nil is fair if it punishes the menace of a foe.
90 Pity provides good defences.
Whenever you benefit the deserving, you put the
world in your debt.
Life, short itself, grows longer for its ills.
They are either rogues or fools who think benefits
are merely gifts.
You are content to miss joy when pain is also lost.
95 Well has he lived who has been able to die Avhen he
willed.
To have a good name is a second patrimony.
It is the mark of a good man to disappoint no one
even in his death."
A good case will fear no judge.
No one is a good man unless he is good to all.
100 We tolerate the usual vices but blame new ones.
Rebuke is cruel in adversity.
No opportunity for caution should be let slip.
By perpetual giving you would invite robbery when
you say " no."
" i.e. his manner of dying must equal the standard of his
life.
27
MINOR LATIN POETS
Crudelem medicum intemperans aeger facit.
105 Cuius mortem amici exspectant vitam cives oderunt.
Cum inimico nemo in gratiam tuto redit,
Citius venit periclum cum contemnitur.
Casta ad virum matrona parendo imperat.
Cito ignominia fit superbi gloria.
110 Consilio melius vincas quam iracundia.
Cuivis dolori remedium est patientia.
Cotidie damnatur qui semper timet.
Cum vitia prosunt, peccat qui recte facit.
Contumeliam nee fortis pote nee ingenuus pati.
115 Conscientia animi nuUas invenit linguae preces.
Comes facundus in via pro vehiculo est.
Cito improborum laeta ad perniciem cadunt.
Contemni (sapienti) gravius est quam stulto percuti.
Cotidie est deterior posterior dies.
11^ nullas PA : nuUus RB : nullius FVC : nimias Friedrich.
^^® sapienti addidit Gruter in noiis : contemni est * gravius
quam stultitiae percuti Meyer.
28
PUBLILIUS SYRUS
The intemperate patient makes the doctor cruel.
05 He for whose death his friends are waiting lives a
life his fellows hate.
No one is safe to be reconciled to a foe.
Danger comes more quickly when under-estimated.
The chaste matron of her husband's home rules
through obedience.
The boast of arrogance soon turns to shame.
1 10 Policy is a better means of conquest than anger.
Endurance is the cure for any pain.
The man in constant fear is every day condemned
When vices pay, the doer of the right is at fault.
Insult is what neither bravery nor free birth can
brook.
115 A good conscience invents no glib entreaties."
A chatty road-mate is as good as a carriage.
The joys of rascals soon collapse in ruin.
Contempt hurts the wise man more than a scourge
does the fool.
Daily the following day is worse {i.e. for prompt
action).
" Friedrich takes conscientia as " a bad conscience " and
reads nitnias.
29
MINOR LATIN POETS
120 Crimen relinquit vitae qui mortem appetit.
n Cogas amantem irasci aniare si velis.
Contra imprudentem stulta est nimia ingenuitas.
Crudelis est non fortis qui infantem necat.
Consilium inveniunt multi sed docti explicant.
125 Cave quicquam incipias quod paeniteat postea.
Cui omnes bene dicunt possidet populi bona.
Cui nolis saepe irasci irascaris semel.
Crudelis lacrimis pascitur non frangitur.
Caeci sunt oculi cum animus alias res agit.
130 Caret periclo qui etiam cum est tutus, cavet.
Cum ames non sapias aut cum sapias non ames.
Cicatrix conscientiae pro vulnere est.
Cunctis potest accidere quod cuivis potest.
^22 imprudentem codd. : impudentem Gruter, Meyer.
^24 consiliis iunionim multi se docti explicant FV : alii alia.
30
PUBLILIUS SYRUS
) Eagerness for death bequeaths an indictment of life.
Force a lover to anger if you wish him to love.
To counter ignorance, too much breadth of mind is
fatuous.
Barbarous, not brave, is he M'ho kills a child.
Many can hit on a plan, but the experienced find
the way out.
) Beware of starting what you may later regret.
The man of whom all speak M'ell earns the people's
favours.
Lose your temper once for all with the man with
whom you don't want to lose it often.
Cruelty is fed, not broken, by tears.
The eyes are blind when the mind is otherwise
occupied.
I He's free from danger who even in safety takes
precaution.
Love means you can't be wise : \\'isdom means you
can't be in love.
The scar of conscience is as bad as a wound.
What can happen to any can happen to all.
^^ Cunctis . . . cuivis FV : ciiivis . . . cuiquam cit.
apud Senecam, de Tranq. xi. 8 : cf. Consol. ad Marciam ix. 5.
31
MINOR LATIN POETS
Cave amicum credas nisi si quern probaveris.
135 Contra felicem vix deus vires habet.
Cum das avaro praemium ut noceat rogas.
Z Cum se ipse \-incit sapiens minime vincitur.
Contra hostem aut fortem oportet esse aut
supplicem,
Cito culpam effugias si incurrisse paenitet.
140 Cum periclo inferior quaerit quod superior occulit.
Consilium in dubiis remedium prudentis est.
I Cum . inimico ignoscis amicos gratis complures
aequiris.
Contubernia sunt lacrimarum ubi misericors miserum
adspicit.
0 Crebro ignoscendo faeies de stulto improbum.
145 (Cui plus licet quam par est plus vult quam licet.)
"9 sic Orelli : culpa effugiri T : potest MT : si T : cidpam
penitet incurrisse MT : cito culpam effugere pote quern
culpae paenitet Meyer.
^*^ sic Meyer : in adversis medicinae remedium MT.
^^2 alii alia.
32
PUBLILIUS SYRUS
Mind y<ni think no man a friend save liini you have
tried.
Against the lucky one scarcely a god has strength.
In rewarding the avaricious you ask for harm.
When the sage conquers himself, he is least con-
quered.
Facing a foe, one must be either brave or suppliant.
You could soon avoid a fault, if you repent having
run into it.
At his peril does an inferior search for what a
superior hides.
The prudent man's remedy at a crisis is counsel.
When you forgive an enemy, you win several friends
at no cost.
When pity sees misery, there comes the comradeship
of tears.
Frequent pardons will turn a fool into a knave.
He who is allowed more than is right wants more
than is allowed."
" This sentenlia {cf. " give an inch and he takes an ell ")
is quoted by Gellius, X.A. xvii. 14, and Macrob. Saturn, ii. 7,
but omitted by M88. of Publilius.
33
VOL. I. D
MINOR LATIN POETS
E Discipulus est prioris posterior dies.
Daninare est obiui'gare cuni auxilio est opus.
Dill apparandiim est bellum ut tineas celerius.
Dixeris male dicta cuncta cum ingratum hominem
dixeris.
150 De inimico non loquaris male sed cogites.
Deliberare utilia mora tutissima est.
Dolor decrescit ubi quo crescat non habet.
Didicere flere feminae in mendacium.
Discordia fit carior concordia.
155 Deliberandum est saepe : statuendum est semel.
Difficilem habere oportet aurem ad crimina.
Dum est vita grata, mortis conditio optima est.
Damnum appellandum est cum mala fama lucrum.
Ducis in consilio posita est virtus militum.
160 Dies quod donat timeas : cito raptum venit.
^^^ quicquid PBRA : diu quicquid CSZ : saepe quicquid
F : saepe Woelfjlin : diu del. st. est semel Bothe : del. est
decies Friedrich,
34
PUBLILIUS SYRUS
Next day is \)u\n] uf the day before.
When there's need of help, reproach is to make
things worse.
War needs long preparation to make you win the
sooner.
Call a man ungrateful and you have no words of
abuse left.
) Devise evil against your enemy, but speak none of
him.
To think out useful plans is the safest delay.
Pain lessens when it has no means of growth.
Woman has learned the use of tears to deceive.
Harmony is the sweeter for a quarrel.
5 Think things out often : decide once.
One should not lend a ready ear to accusations.
When life is pleasant, the state of death is best."
Ill-famed gain should be called loss.
Soldiers' valour hangs on their general's strategy.
) Fear what a day gives : soon it comes to rob.
" The sententia means that the best time for death is
while {dum temporal) life is pleasant : i.e. before sorrows
come, one miglit die, in Tacitus' words, felix opportunitate
mortis. Joseph Scaliger's translation of the line is evr}/j.(pov-
aii' atpfcts QavcLTOu KaX-i].
35
d2
MINOR LATIN POETS
Diniissum quod nescitur non amittitur.
n Deliberando discitur sapientia.
Deliberando saepe perit occasio.
Duplex fit bonitas simul accessit celeritas.
165 Damnati lingua vocem habet, vim non habet.
Dolor animi <(niniio)> gra\4or est quam corporis.
Dulce etiam fugias fieri quod amarum potest.
Difficile est dolori convenire cum patientia.
Deos ridere credo cum felix vovet.
Z Durum est negare superior ciun supplicat.
171 Dissolvitur lex cima fit iudex misericors.
Dominari ex parte est cum superior supplicat.
Decima hora amicos plures quam prima invenit.
L Etiam innocentes cogit mentiri dolor.
175 Etiam in peccato recte praestatur fides.
166 nimio axld. Bathe : quam corporis dolor GriUer, Orelli.
1*8 difficilius cum dolore convenit sapientiae Friedrich.
16* fovot H : vocet F : infeUx vovet Meyer in notis : deo
se credere credit cum felix vovet Friedrich.
36
PUBLILIUS SYRUS
'i'hc loss that is not known is no loss.
Delibcr<ation teaches wisdom.
Deliberation often means a chance is lost.
Bounty is doubled so soon as speed is added,"
)5 The condemned man's tongue has utterance, not
force.
Pain of mind is far more severe than bodily pain.
Shun even a sweet that can grow bitter.
'Tis hard for pain to agree with patience.
I trow the gods smile when the lucky man makes his
vow.*
(0 Refusal is difficult when your better entreats.'^
Law is weakened when a judge yi^ds to compassion.
One is half master when one's better entreats.
Evening discovers more friends than the dawn does.*^
Pain forces even the innocent to lie.
f5 Even in crime loyalty is rightly displayed.
<• Cf. his dat qui cito dat and 1. 274.
* If the reading is right, it implies that the gods rejoice in
their prospect of gain : the lucky man's vow is a sure debt.
" Cf. use of superior in 172,
** It is a cynical thought that friends are more likely to
gather round a man late in the day. They can then be social
and convivial without any need to help him in his daily task.
There might even be a hint that morning tempers are often
unsociable.
37
MINOR LATIN POETS
Etiam celeritas in desiderio mora est.
Ex vitio alterius sapiens emendat suum.
Et deest et superest miseris cogitatio.
Etiam oblivisci quid sis interdum expedit.
180 Ex hominum questu facta Fortuna est dea.
EfFugere cupiditatem regnum est vincere.
Exsul ubi ei nusquam domus est sine sepulcro est
mortuus.
Etiam qui faciunt oderunt iniuriam.
Eripere telum non dare irato decet.
185 Exsilium patitur patriae qui se denegat.
Etiam capillus unus habet umbram suam.
Eheu quam miserum est fieri metuendo senem !
Etiam hosti est aequus qui habet in consilio fidem.
Excelsis multo facilius casus nocet.
n Extrema semper de ante factis iudicant.
191 Ex lite multa gratia fit formosior.
Etiam bonis malum saepe est adsuescere.
38
PUBLILIUS SYIIUS
Desire finds even (jiiiekness slow.
From ca neighbour's fault a, wise man eorreets his own.
The MTctched have too little and too much of thought.
Sometimes 'tis fitting even to forget what you are.
0 The grumbling of men made Fortune a goddess.
To shun desire is to conquer a kingdom.
The exile with no home anywhere is a corpse without
a grave.
Even those who do an injustice hate it.
Anger is rightly robbed of a weapon, not given one.
55 He suffers exile who denies himself to his country.
Even one hair has a shadow of its o\\'n.
Alas, hoM' wretched to be aged by fear !
He who has confidence in his policy is fair even to an
enemy.
The exalted are much more readily hurt by mis-
fortune.
90 The end always passes judgement on what has
preceded.
After much strife reconciliation becomes more
beautiful.
It is often bad to grow used even to good things.
39
MINOR LATIN POETS
Z I Est utique profunda ignorantia nescire quod pecces.
194 Etiam sine lege poena est conscientia.
0 Errat datum qui sibi quod extortum est putat.
S Fidem qui perdit quo rem servat relicuam ?
Fortuna cum blanditur captatum venit.
Fortunam citius reperias quam retineas.
Formosa facies muta commendatio est.
200 Frustra rogatur qui misereri non potest.
Fortuna unde aliquid fregit cassumst <(reficere).
Fraus est accipere quod non possis reddere.
Fortuna nimium quem fovet stultum facit.
Fatetur facinus is qui iudicium fugit.
205 Felix improbitas optimorum est calamitas.
Feras non culpes quod mutari non potest.
Futura pugnant ne se superari sinant.
Furor fit laesa saepius patientia.
Fidem qui perdit nihil pote ultra perdere.
1*^ sic Friedrich : se ser\ et FBml : se servat PBAC :
reservat R. reliquum PBRA : relicuo Benthy, Meyer.
201 sic Spengel : cassmn est F : quassum est PBRACS :
cassum est non perit Ribbeck : quassat omnia Friedrich.
40
PUBLILIUS SYRUS
It is surely the depth of ignorance not to know your
fault.
Even without a law conscience works as punishment.
5 It is a mistake to think one is given what has been
extorted.
With credit lost, what means are there of saving
what remains ?
When Fortune flatters, she comes to ensnare.
It is easier to strike luck than to keep it.
A handsome appearance is an unspoken testimonial.
0 \'ain is the appeal to him who cannot pity.
That from which Fortune breaks off something, 'tis
vain to repair.
It's cheating to take what you could not restore.
Fortune turns her spoiled darling into a fool.
A man o>mis guilt by avoiding trial.
5 Successful >\dckedness means good folk's disaster.
What can't be changed you should bear, not blame.
The future struggles not to let itself be mastered.
Patience too often wounded turns to frenzy.
Lose credit and one can lose no more."
Cf. l'J6.
41
MINOR LATIN POETS
210 Facilitas animi ad partem stultitiae rapit.
Fides in animum unde abiit <(^"ix) imiquam redit.
Fidem nemo umquam perdit nisi qui non habet.
Fortmia obesse nulli contenta est semel.
Fulmen est ubi cum potestate habitat iracundia.
215 Frustra, cum ad senectam ventum est, repetas
adulescentiam.
Falsum maledictum malevolum mendacium est.
Feminae naturam regere desperare est otium.
Feras difficilia ut facilia perferas.
i Fortuna vitrea est : tum cum splendet frangitur,
220 Feras quod laedit ut quod prodest perferas.
Facit gradum Fortuna quem nemo videt.
Fortuna plus homini quam consilium valet.
n Frugalitas miseria est rumoris boni.
Z Famulatur dominus ubi timet quibus imperat.
2^" animi codd. : nimia Woelfjiin : ad partem codd. : sapit
PBRA : rapit FCS : f. nimia partem stultitiae sapit Spengel,
3Ieyer.
211 sic Spengel.
221 gratum codd. (gatum R) : gradum Nanck : Facit
Fortuna quem non remoreris gradum Friedrich, cuius
praefationem vide.
222 homini P^RFCZ : in homine Spengel, Meyer.
42
PUBLILIUS SYRUS
Complaisance is a rapid road in the direct ion of folly.
Honour scarce ever revisits the mind it has quitted.
None ever loses honour save him who has it not.
Fortune is not content ^\^th hurting anyone once.
'Tis thunder and lightning when anger dwells with
power.
5 It is no good asking for youth again when age is
reached.
The ill-grounded curse is an ill-intentioned lie."
To control woman's nature is to abandon the hope
of a quiet life.
Endure what's hard so as to stand the test of the easy.
Luck is like glass — ^just when it glitters, it smashes.
0 Bear what hurts so as to stand the test of success.
Luck takes the step that no one sees.
Luck avails a man more than policy.
Frugality is wretchedness ^vith a good name.
The master is valet when he fears those he orders.
" " Frigida omnino sententia " is Orelli's criticism. " Sen-
tentia nimiura quantum languet," Ribbeck.
43
MINOR LATIN POETS
225 Facile invenies qui bene faciant cum qui fecerunt
coles.
Frenos imponit linguae conscientia.
0 Felicitatem in dubiis virtus impetrat.
Falsum etiam est verum quod constituit superior.
E Grave praeiudicium est quod iudicium non habet.
230 Gravissima est probi hominis iracundia.
Gravis animi poena est quern post facti paenitet.
Gravis animus dubiam non habet sententiam.
Gravius malum omne est quod sub adspectu latet.
Gravius nocet quodcumque inexpertum accidit.
235 Gravis est inimicus is qui latet in pectore.
Gravissimum est imperium consuetudinis.
Grave crimen, etiam leviter cum est dictum, nocet.
Z Grave est quod laetus dederis tristem recipere.
<h (Geminat peccatum quem delicti non pudet.)
227 .sic Baehrens : facilitatem . . . imperat codd.
238 sic Woelfflin in notis, p. 115 : quod fronte laeta des
tristi accipi Meyer.
44
PUBLILIUS SYRUS
You'll easily find folk to do kindnesses by cultivating
those who have done them.
Conscience sets a bridle on the tongue.
V'alour secures success in hazards.
Even false becomes true when a superior so decides.
Where there is no judgement, there is grave pre-
judging.«
Most potent is the anger of an upright man.
Heavy the penalty on the mind which afterwards
regrets a deed.
The steadfast mind admits no halting opinion.
It is always a more serious evil that lurks out of sight.
A novel disaster always works the graver mischief.
The foe that lurks in the heart is one to be reckoned
with.
Most tyrannous is the sway of custom,
A serious charge, even lightly made, does harm.
'Tis hard getting back in sadness what you gave in
joy.
He who is unashamed of his offence doubles his sin.
" E.g. hanging without trial might be called the worst
prejudice."
45
MINOR LATIN POETS
S Heu quam difficilis gloriae custodia est !
241 Homo extra corpus est suum cum irascitui*.
Heu quam est timendus qui mori tutum putat!
Homo qui in homine calamitoso est misericors
meminit sui.
Honesta turpitudo est pro causa bona.
245 Habet in adversis auxilia qui in secundis commodat.
Heu quam miserum est ab eo laedi de quo non possis
queri !
Hominem experiri multa paupertas iubet.
Heu dolor quam miser est qui in tormento vocem
non habet!
Heu quam multa paenitenda incurrunt vivendo diu !
250 Heu quam miserum est discere servire j" ubi sis
doctus dominari !
Habet suum venenum blanda oratio.
Homo totiens moritur quotiens amittit sues.
Homo semper aliud, Fortuna aliud cogitat.
Honestus rumor alterum est patrimonium.
255 Homo ne sit sine dolore fortunam invenit.
46
PUBLILIUS SYRUS
Alas, liow hartl tlic maintenance of fame !
A man when angry is outside himself.
Ah, how formidable is he who thinks it safe to die !
Pity for a stricken fellow-man is to remember one's
own lot.
Foul is fair when the cause is good.
Aid lent in weal brings aid in woe.
Ah, how ghastly is a hurt from one of Avhom you
daren't complain !
Poverty orders many an experiment.
How pitiful the pain that has no voice amid
torture !
Ah, how many regrets does length of life incur!
Ah, how wretched to learn to be a servant when you
have been trained to be master !
The wheedling speech contains its special poison.
One dies as often as one loses loved ones.
Man's plans and Fortune's are ever at variance.
An honourable reputation is a second patrimony."
' Man meets with fortune that pain may dog him still.*
" C/. the sentiment in 96.
* Nisard's rendering is " L'homme serait sans douleur
s'il ne trouvait la fortune."
47
MINOR LATIN POETS
Honeste servit qui succumbit tempori.
Homo vitae commodatus non donatus est.
Heredis fletus sub persona risus est.
Heredem ferre utilius est quam quaerere.
260 Habent locum maledicti crebrae nuptiae.
n Honeste pareas improbo ut parcas probo.
Humanitatis optima est certatio.
Honos honestum decorat, inhonestum notat.
Heu, conscientia animi gravis est servitus !
265 Hominem etiam frugi flectit saepe oceasio.
Homini turn deest consilium cum multa invenit.
Z Humilis nee alte cadere nee graviter potest.
Honestum laedis cum pro indigno intervenis.
S Inferior rescit quicquid peccat superior.
270 Inimicum ulcisci vitam accipere est alteram.
2^* haec (c in rasura) F : heu quam Gruter : heu Wodfflin,
Meyer.
269 rescit PA : nestit R : orrescit B : horrescit FCSZ :
reus est Ribbeck.
48
PUBLILIUS SYRUS
To yield to the need of the time is honourable
service.
Man is only lent to life, not given.
Beneath the mask an heir's weeping is a smile.
It's of more use to tolerate an heir than seek one
out.
• Frequent re-marriage gives room for the evil tongue.
To spare the good you may fairly spare the bad.
The finest rivalry is in humanity.
Honour adorns the honourable ; the dishonourable
it brands.
Ah, conscience doth make bondsmen of us all !
i Opportunity often sways even an honest man.
When you discover many openings, you are gravelled
for a plan.
The humble can fall neither far nor heavily.
You hurt the honourable by intervening for the
unworthy.
Any fault in a superior is found out by his inferior.''
) Revenge on an enemy is to get a new lease of life.
" The usual form is resciscere, but for the simple verb
rescire see Gell. X. A. ii. 19. 2. «
49
VOL. I. E
MINOR LATIN POETS
Invitum cum retineas, exire incites.
Ingenuitatem laedas cum indignum roges.
In nullum avarus bonus est, in se pessimus.
Inopi beneficium bis dat qui dat celeriter.
275 Inopiae desunt multa, avaritiae omnia.
Instructa inopia est in divitiis cupiditas.
Invitat culpam qui peccatum praeterit.
lucundum nihil est nisi quod reficit varietas.
Ingenuitas non recipit contumeliam.
280 Irritare est calamitatem cum te felicem voces.
Impune pecces in eum qui peccat prior.
Ingratus unus omnibus miseris nocet.
In miseria vita etiam contumelia est.
Ita amicum habeas, posse ut facile fieri hunc
inimicum putes.
285 Invidiam ferre aut fortis aut felix potest.
In amore semper mendax iracundia est.
.SO
PUBLILIUS SYRUS
Hold back a man against his will, and you might as
well urge him to go.
An appeal to the unworthy is an insult to the noble
mind.
The miser treats none well — himself the worst.
To do a kindness to the needy at once is to give
twice.
) Beggary lacks much, but greed lacks everything.
In riches greed is but poverty well furnished.
He who passes over a sin invites WTong-doing.
There's nothing pleasant save what variety freshens.
The noble mind does not take an insult.
) To call yourself •• happy " is to provoke disaster.
You may safely offend against him who offends first.
One ungrateful person does harm to all the unfor-
tunate.
In misery even life is an insult.
Treat a friend ^^'ithout forgetting that he may easily
become a foe.
5 It's either the brave man or the lucky that can stand
unpopularity.
in love anger is always untruthful.
E 2
MINOR LATIN POETS
Invidia tacite sed inimice irascitur.
Iratum breviter vites, inimicum diu.
Iniuriarum remedium est oblmo.
290 Iracundiam qui vincit hostem superat maximum,
lactum tacendo crimen facias acrius.
In malis sperare bene nisi innocens nemo solet.
In iudicando criminosa est celeritas.
Inimicum quamvis humilem docti est metuere.
295 In calamitoso risus etiam iniuria est.
ludex damnatur cum nocens absolvitur.
Ignoscere hominum est nisi pudet cui ignoscitur.
In rebus dubiis plurimi est audacia.
Illo nocens se damnat quo peccat die.
300 Ita crede amico ne sit inimico locus.
Iratus etiam facinus consilium putat.
2*^ iactum in te tacendo acumen crimen facias acriu3
(Irochairus) Friedrich.
293 sic HBCF : vindicando PRAS.
^*^ nisi codd. : ubi Incun., Meyer.
52
I
PUBLILIUS SYRUS
Silent but unfriendly is the anger of envy.
Avoid an angry man for a little, but an enemy for
long.
For \\Tongs the cure lies in forgetfulness."
0 Who quells his \^Tath o'ercomes the mightiest foe.
You aggravate a charge thrown at you, if you meet
it with silence.
None but the guiltless can nurse bright hopes in woe.
In judgement rapidity is criminal.
Experience dreads an enemy however humble.
5 When a man is ruined, even a laugh is a wrong.
Acquittal of the guilty damns the judge. '^
It is for men to pardon, unless the pardoned puts one
to the blush.
In a tight corner boldness counts for most.
The culprit condemns himself on the day of his
offence.
0 So trust a friend as to give no room for an enemy.
The angry man takes (hostile) intention as an actual
deed.
" Quoted by Seneca, Epist. xciv. 28.
* This line, chosen as the motto for The Edinburgh Review,
founded 1802, marked its tendency to severity in criticism.
53
k
MINOR LATIN POETS
Invidia id loquitur quod videt non quod subest.
n Iniuriam aures facilius quam oculi ferunt.
lacet omnis virtus fama nisi late patet.
305 Ignis calorem suum etiam in ferro tenet.
In venere semper certat dolor et gaudium.
In amore forma plus valet quam auctoritas.
Ingrata sunt beneficia quibus comes est metus.
Imprudens peccat quem peccati paenitet.
310 Inertia indicatur cum fugitur labor.
Iratus cum ad se rediit sibi turn irascitur.
In amore saepe causa damni quaeritur.
lucunda macula est ex inimici sanguine.
In venere semper dulcis est dementia.
315 In misero facile fit potens iniuria.
Inter dum habet stultitiae partem facilitas.
306 certant ifi Spengd.
54
PUBLILIUS SYRUS
Envy speaks of wliat she sees, not of what is beneath
the surface.
The ear tolerates a wTong more readily than the eye.
Every virtue is depressed unless it gains wide
recognition.
5 Eire keeps its own heat even in steel.
In love, pain is ever at war with joy.
In love, beauty counts for more than advice does.
Unwelcome are the favours whose attendant is fear.
He who regrets his offence offends without foresight.
0 Work shunned is an index of laziness.
It is on returning to his senses that the angry man is
angry with himself.
In love, an opportunity for suffering loss is often
sought.'^
It's a pleasant stain that comes from an enemy's
blood.
To lose your wits in love is always sweet.
6 Over the wretched unfairness easily gets power.
Compliance is sometimes half folly.
" Possibly of a lover's lavish expenditure on a lady-love
which may eventually be a serious loss to him ; but it prob-
ably means that lovers are so foolish that they are continu-
ally devising something which really does them harm.
55
MINOR LATIN POETS
Inertia est laboris excusatio.
Iniuriam facilius facias quam feras.
Iratus nihil non criminis loquitur loco.
320 Incertus animus dimidium est sapientiae.
In turpi re peccare bis delinquere est.
Ingenuus animus non fert vocis verbera.
Iniuriam ipse facias ubi non vindices.
Is minimum eget mortalis qui minimum cupit.
325 Inimici ad animum nullae conveniunt preces.
Inimico exstincto exitium lacrimae non habent.
Ibi semper est victoria ubi concordia est.
Iter est quacumque dat prior vestigium.
Ibi pote valere populus ubi leges valent.
Z Insanae vocis numquam libertas tacet.
331 Improbe Neptunum accusat qui iterum naufragium
facit.
2 Loco ignominiae est apud indignum dignitas.
^2° remedium codd. : dimidium Bofhe : incertis animis
r. e. sapientia Meyer in appar. crit.
^24 minimo Seneca, Epist. cviii. 11.
326 oxitum H 0 : exitium {antiquo sensu nsurpaium) ceteri
codd.
330 I invectibe T : insanae Friedrich : invectae Bickford-
Smith.
56
PUBLILIUS SYRUS
Excusing oneself from work is laziness.
A %\Tong is easier done than stood.
An angry man has nothing but accusations to utter.
0 The hesitant mind is the half of wisdom.*^
An offence in base circumstances is a double fault.
A noble mind brooks not the lashes of the tongue.
You yourself do wTong when you do not punish.
The man with least desires is least in want.
5 No entreaties are fitted to reach an unfriendly mind.
When an enemy is destroyed, tears have no outlet.
A'ictory is ever there where union of hearts is.^
The road runs wheresoever a predecessor leaves his
footprint.
Where laws prevail, there can the people prevail.
0 The outspokenness of wild invective is never hushed.
It is an outrage in a man twice shipwTCcked to blame
the God of Sea.
To stand high ^^^th the unworthy is tantamount to
shame.
" Cf. 162.
* The saying means that victory in a conflict lies with the
thoroughly united side.
57
MINOR LATIN POETS
Laus nova nisi oritur, etiam vetus amittitur.
Laeso doloris remedium inimici est dolor.
335 Levis est Fortuna : cito reposcit quod dedit.
Lex universa est quae iubet nasci et mori.
Lucrum sine damno alterius fieri non potest.
Lasci\ia et laus numquam habent concordiam.
Legem nocens veretur, Fortunam innoeens.
340 Libido, non indicium est, quod levitas sapit.
Libido cunctos etiam sub vultu domat.
n Longum est quodcumque flagita\-it cupiditas.
T Lapsus ubi semel sis, sit tua culpa, si iterum
cecideris.
Lex videt iratum, iratus legem non videt.
345 Legem solet obli^iscier iracundia.
Locis remotis qui latet lex est sibi.
Late ignis lucere, ut nihil urat, non potest.
3*^ cunctos codd. : cinctos (= strenuos) Salmasius.
3*2 sic Friedrich : f longum est quod flagitat cup. FH,
Meyer : longinquum est omne quod cup. fl. Gruter.
^*^ oblivisci codd. : obIi\ascier Gruter.
**' alii alia.
58
PUBLILIUS SYRUS
Unless fresh praise is won, even the old is lost.
The injured man's cure for pain is his enemy's pain.
Fickle is Fortune : she soon demands back what she
gave.
'Tis a universal law that ordains birth and death.
Gain cannot be made without another's loss.
Wantonness and honour are never in harmony.
The guilty fear the law, the guiltless Fortune.
I Flippancy's taste is caprice, not judgement.
The wanton will subdues all under its very glance."
Tedious the tale of greed's demands.
When you've slipped once, be it your fault if you fall
again.
The law sees the angry man, the angry man doesn't
see the law.
> Anger usually forgets the law.
He who lurks in remote places is a law unto himself.
Fire cannot throw its light afar without burning
anything.
" Gruter explains " earn esse vim libidinis ut homines
sup<#et ipso aspectu " : according to his second exphmation
sub vidtu implies " beneath their apparently grave coun-
tenance."
59
MINOR LATIN POETS
Licentiam des linguae cum verum petas.
Z Lucrum est dolorem posse damno exstinguere.
S Malignos fieri maxime ingrati docent.
361 Multis minatur qui uni facit iniuriam.
Mora omnis odio est sed facit sapientiam.
Mala causa est quae requirit misericordiam.
Mori est felicis antequam mortem invoces.
355 Miserum est tacere cogi quod cupias loqui.
Miserrima est fortuna quae inimico caret.
Malus est vocandus qui sua est causa bonus.
Malus bonum ubi se simulat tunc est pessimus.
Metus cum venit, rarum habet somnus locum.
360 Mori necesse est, sed non quotiens volueris.
Male geritur quicquid geritur fortunae fide.
6o
PUBLILIUS SYRUS
You must p:ive licence to the tongue when you a-^k
for the trutli.
It is gain to be able to extinguish pain at the cost
of a loss.
It is especially the ungrateful who teach folk to
become niggardly.
A wrong done to one means a threat to many.
All delay is hateful, but it makes wisdom.
It's a poor case that seeks pity.
Lucky to die before having to invoke death.
It's ^^Tetched to be forced to conceal what you'd
like to reveal.
It's a very poor fortune that has no enemy.
He must be called bad who is good only in his own
interest.
When the villain pretends to be good, he is most
villain.
When fear has come, sleep has scanty place.
You needs must die, but not as often as you have
wished.*^
The business that trusts to luck is a bad business.
" Cf. "Cowards die many times before their death: The
valiant never taste of death but once " {Jul, Caes. ii. 2).
6i
MINOR LATIN POETS
Mortuo qui mittit munus, nil dat illi, adimit sibi.
Minus est quam servus dominus qui servos timet.
Magis fidus heres nascitur quam scribitur.
365 Malo in consilio feminae vincunt \iros.
Mala est voluntas ad alienam adsuescere.
Maximo periclo custoditur quod multis placet.
Mala est medicina, ubi aliquid naturae perit.
Malae naturae numquam doetore indigent.
y Misereri scire sine periclo est vivere.
371 Male vivunt qui se semper victuros putant.
Male dictum interpretando facias acrius.
Male secum agit aeger medicum qui heredem facit.
Minus decipitur cui negatur celeriter.
375 Mutat se bonitas irritata iniuria.
Mulier cum sola cogitat male cogitat.
Male facere qui vult numquam non causam invenit.
366 ad alienum consuescere codd. : adsuescere Erasmtis
alienam ads. Meyer {in apparatu).
3^0 misereri R Dresd. : miseri PA : miseriam FS Inc.
62
PUBLILIUS SYRUS
A gift sent to a dead man is nothing to him, but
means less for oneself.
A master who fears his slaves is lower than a slave.
One can trust the heir by birth more than the heir
by will.«
In an ill design woman beats man.
'Tis poor will-power to get used to another's beck
and call.
What many like is very perilous to guard.
It's a bad cure when a bit of nature is lost.
Bad natures never lack an instructor.
To know how to pity is to live \\'ithout danger.^
Theirs is a bad life who think they are to live for ever.
Explain an ill saying and you make it worse.
The patient who makes an heir of his doctor treats
himself badly.
There is less mistake when one says " no " at once.
Kindness alters when provoked by wrong.
A woman when she thinks alone thinks ill.
The intention to injure can always find a reason. .
" Cj. 259.
* The Dresdensis alono shares with R the likeliest reading.
63
MINOR LATIN POETS
Malivolus semper sua natura vescitur.
Multos timere debet quern multi timent.
3S0 Male imperando summum imperiuni amittitur.
Mulier quae multis nubit multis non placet.
T Malivolus animus abditos dentes habet.
Medicina calamitatis est aequanimitas.
Muliebris laerima condimentum est malitiae.
385 Metum respicere non solet quicquid iuvat.
Malo etiam parcas, si una periturus bonus.
Magnum secum affert crimen indignatio.
Malus etsi obesse non potest tamen cogitat.
Mage valet qui nescit quod calamitas valet.
390 Mora cogitationis diligentia est.
Multa ignoscendo fit potens potentior.
Multis placere quae cupit culpam cupit.
Minimum eripit Fortuna cum minimum dedit.
Meretrix est instrumentum contumeliae.
^^* I magis F, Meyer : mage Gruter, J. C. Orelli, Woel
393 cum F : cui a, Bentley, Meyer.
64
PUBLILIUS SYRUS
The spiteful man ever battens on his own nature.
Many must he fear whom many fear."
By bad ruling the most exalted rule is lost.
The woman who marries many is disliked by many.
The spiteful mind has hidden teeth.
The medicine for disaster is equanimity.
A woman's tear is the sauce of mischief.
It's pleasure's way to take but small account of fear.
You may spare even the bad, if the good is to perish
along with him,^
Indignation brings with her some serious charge.
A \illain, even though he cannot do a hurt, yet thinks
of it.
He has the more power who knows not the power of
calamity.
\ Slow deliberation is but carefulness.
By forgiving much, power grows more powerful.
She who would fain please many would fain be frail.
Fortune robs least when she has given least.
A harlot is an instrument of shame.
" Cf. Laberius' Necesse ed muUos timeat quern mulli timent.
For Laberius see Introduction.
" Cf. 261.
. 65
■ VOL. I. F
MINOR LATIN POETS
395 Malus bonum ad se numquani consilium refert.
Manifesta causa secum habet sententiam.
Multorum calamitate vir moritur bonus.
Metus improbos compescit non dementia.
Muneribus est, non lacrimis, meretrix misericors.
400 Metuendum est semper, esse ciun tutus velis.
Mors infanti felix, iuveni acerba, nimis sera est seni.
Malam rem cum velis honestare improbes.
Malum est consilium quod mutari non potest.
Malitia unius cito fit male dictum omnium.
405 Mortem ubi contemnas viceris omnes metus.
Misera est voluptas ubi pericli memoria est.
Male vincit <is) quern paenitet victoriae.
Misericors civis patriae est consolatio.
Malitia ut peior veniat se simulat bonam.
410 Malus animus in secreto peius cogitat.
Mutare quod non possis, ut natum est, feras.
Multa ante temptes quam \1rum invenias bonum.
*°2 honestatem F ip : honestare Meyer»
66
PUBLILIUS SYRUS
) The villain never lays a good plan before his mind.
A clear case brings the right verdict with it.
The affliction of many is deatli for the good man.
Fear, not clemency, restrains the wicked.
Not tears but gifts can touch a courtesan.
► You must always fear when you would be safe.
Death is luck for childhood, bitter for youth, too late
for age.
In wishing to give fair colour to a bad case, you
condemn it.
It's an ill plan that can't be changed.
The malice of one soon becomes the curse of all.
Despise death and you've conquered every fear.
It's but sorry pleasure when danger is remembered.
He's a poor victor who regrets his victory.
A merciful citizen is the solace of his country.
To make her onset worse, malice pretends to be good.
The evil mind thinks worse evil in secret.
What you cannot change, you should bear as it comes.
You may make many attempts before finding a good
man.
L
67
f2
MINOR LATIN POETS
Miserrimum est arbitrio alterius vivere.
Mansueta tutiora sunt sed serviimt.
415 Mala mors necessitatis contunielia est.
Minus saepe pecees si scias quid nescias.
Malus quicumque in poena est praesidium est bonis.
Z Mala est inopia ex copia quae nascitur.
O Monere non punire stultitiam decet.
420 Multo turpius daninatur cui in delicto ignoscitur.
(j) (Malum ne alienum feceris tuum gaudium.)
2 Nihil agere semper infelici est optimum.
Nihil peccant oculi, si animus oculis imperat.
Nihil proprium ducas quicquid mutari potest.
425 Non cito ruina obteritur qui rimam timet.
*^^ quod F 0 : quid Gruter, Meyer.
^2° sic 0, Meyer: cuius delictum {vel delicto) agnoscitur (f>:
cui delictum ignoscitur Friedrich, Bickford-Smith.
*'" perit ruina a Meyer : ruina perit CS : r. peritur P^ : r.
perituir PaRAF : r. opteritur Woelfjlin : rimam P^ : ruinam
TFCSZ Dunelm,
68
I
PUBLILIUS SYRUS
The height of misery is life at another's will.
The tame way is safer, but it's the way of
slaves.
5 A dishonourable death is fate's insolence.
You'd go ^^Tong less often if you knew your ignor-
ance.
Any evil-doer under punishment is a protection to
the good.
It's an ill want that springs from plenty.
Advice, not punishment, is what fits folly.
) He who is pardoned in his vvrong-doing is far more
shamefully condemned.'^
Make not another's misfortune your joy.
For the unlucky it's always best to do nothing.
The eyes commit no v\Tong, if the mind controls the
ej^es.
Think nothing your own that can change.
5 It's long before the downfall overwhelms him who
fears a crack.
° i.e. a man who has such a bad character that no one
pays attention to his misdeed is, in fact, wholly out of court.
To treat his misdeed so lightly shows what is thought of the
offender.
69
I
MINOR LATIN POETS
Nullus est tarn tutus quaestus quam quod habeas
parcere.
Nescias quid optes aut quid fugias : ita ludit dies.
Numquam periclum sine periclo vincitur.
Nulla tarn bona est fort una de qua nihil possis queri.
430 Nusquam melius morimur homines quam ubi libenter
viximus.
Negandi causa avaro numquam deficit.
T Naturam abscondit cum improbus recte facit.
Non turpis est cicatrix quam virtus parit.
Numquam ubi diu fuit ignis defecit vapor.
435 Necesse est minima maximorum esse initia.
Non corrigit, sed laedit, qui invitum regit.
Nimia concedendo interdum fit stultitia <stultior>.
Nihil magis amat cupiditas quam quod non licet.
*26 tantus codd. : tarn tutus Woelfflin : parcere Ingolsl. :
carcere R : arcere PFC Dunelm. : carere A Ijic.
*'' stultior supplevit Meyer.
70
P PUBLILIUS SYRUS
There's no gain so safe as saving what you've got.
You never can tell what to Mish for or what to avoid :
such is the day's jest.
A risk is never mastered save by risk.
There's no luck so good but you could make some
complaint about it.
0 Nowhere do we men die better than where we have
lived to our liking.
The miser never lacks a reason for saying "no.""
When a rascal does right, he is concealing his
character.
Never ugly is the scar which bravery begets.
Where there has been fire for long, there's never a
lack of smoke.
5 Very big things must have very small beginnings.
He who controls the unwilling hurts rather than
corrects.
By excessive yielding, folly sometimes grows more
foolish still.
Greed likes nothing better than what is not allowed.
" This is the last of the verses in 2, the rest of whose
sententiae are in prose.
71
MINOR LATIN POETS
Nisi vindices delicta, improbitatem adiuves.
440 Nulli facilius qiiam malo invenies parem.
Nihil non acerbuni prius quam maturum fuit.
Nocere posse et nolle laus amplissima est.
Non \incitiirj sed \dncit, qui cedit suis.
Necessitas dat legem, non ipsa accipit.
445 Nescio quid agitat, cum bonum imitatur malus.
Nulla hominum maior poena est quam infelicitas.
Non no\dt virtus calamitati cedere.
Necessitas ab homine quae vult impetrat.
Necessitati quodlibet telum utile est.
450 Nocere casus non solet constantiae.
Non pote non sapere qui se stultum intellegit.
Necessitas egentem mendacem facit.
Non facile solus serves quod multis placet.
Necessitas quod poscit nisi des eripit.
455 Nocens precatur, innocens irascitur.
72
PUBLILIUS SYRUS
If you didn't punish offences, you'd help roguery.
) It's the bad man whose hke you'll find most easily.
Everything ripe was once sour.
Power to harm without the will is the most ample
fame.
He who yields to his own people is conqueror, not
conquered.
Necessity prescribes law: she does not bow to it
herself.
) When the rogue copies good folk, he has something
in mind.
Man meets no worse punishment than misfortune.
Bravery knows no yielding to calamity.
Necessity wins what she wants from man.
Necessity finds any weapon ser\-iceable.
) Misfortune seldom hurts steadfastness.
He must have wit who understands he is a fool.
Necessity makes beggars liars.
Single-handed, you'd find it hard to keep what many
want.
Necessity snatches what she asks, unless you give it.
5 Guilt entreats where innocence feels indignant.
73
MINOR LATIN POETS
Nee vita nee fortuna hominibus perpes est.
Non semper aurem facileni habet felicitas.
Numquam non miser est qui quod timeat cogitat.
Ni qui scit facere insidias nescit metuere.
460 Negat sibi ipse qui quod difficile est petit.
Nimium altercando Veritas amittitur.
Nullo in loco male audit misericordia.
Necessitas quod celat frustra quaeritur.
Necessitas quam pertinax regnum tenet !
465 Nemo immature moritur qui moritur miser.
Nocentem qui defendit sibi crimen parit.
Nihil non aut lenit aut domat diuturnitas.
Nihil turpe ducas pro salutis remedio.
Noli contemnere ea quae summos sublevant.
470 Nihil aliud scit necessitas quam vincere.
Nemo timendo ad summum pervenit locum.
*^^ sic Gruter : propria est hominibus Spengel, Meyer
perpetua est F a.
74
PUBLILIUS SYRUS
Neither life nor luck is Lasting " for num.
Success has not always the ready car.
Misery never quits him whose thoughts run on
something to dread.
Everyone fails to fear an ambush except him who
can set one.
) He who begs for what is difficult says " no " to
himself.
In excessive wrangling truth gets lost.
Pity gets a bad name nowhere.
What necessity hides is sought for in vain.
How firm the hold of Necessity upon her throne !
) None dies untimely who dies in misery.
The champion of the guilty begets a charge against
himself.
There's naught that time does not either soothe or
quell.
To cure bad health, think nothing unclean.
Do not despise the steps which raise to greatness.
) Necessity knows naught else but \ictory.
Fear never brought one to the top.
" per pes is a Plautine as well as a late Latin word :
perpetem pro perpetuo dizerunt poetae, Fest. 217, Miill.
75
MINOR LATIN POETS
Nisi per te sapias, frustra sapientem audias.
Necessitati sapiens nihil umquam negat.
Non facile de innocente crimen fingitur.
475 Nimium boni est in morte cum nihil est mali.
Ni gradus servetur, nuUi tutus est summus locus.
Nihil est miserius quam ubi pudet quod feceris.
Nee mortem efFugere quisquam nee amorem potest.
Necessitatem ferre non flere addecet.
i80 Nusquam faciUus culpa quam in turba latet.
Z Non leve beneficium praestat qui breviter negat.
(Non est beatus esse se qui non putat.)
T Omnis voluptas quemcumque arrisit nocet.
Officium benivoli animi finem non habet.
485 O vita misero longa, felici brevis !
Obiurgari in calamitate gravius est quam calamitas.
^s** numquam F if/ : nusquam Woelfflin.
''^^ sic F : qu(a)ecunque ijj.
^^* officium F : obsequium a 0, Meyer.
^^^ sic citat. apnd Senecam, Contr. vii. 18.
76
I
PUBLILIUS SYRUS
Without mother-wit of your own, it's no good
Hstening to the wise.
A wise man never refuses anything to necessity.
A charge is not easily framed against the guiltless.
' Death is too much a boon when it has no bane.
Unless one's step be guarded, the summit is safe for
none."
There's nothing more wTctched than being ashamed
of what you've done.
There's no one can escape either death or love.
'Tis fitting to bear and not bemoan necessity.
) Crime is nowhere more easily hidden than in a
crowd.
To say " no " at once is to confer no slight kindness.
He's not happy who does not think himself so. ^
All pleasure harms whomso it charms.
The services of a benevolent mind have no end.
5 O life, long for woe but brief for joy !
To be scolded in misfortune is harder than mis-
fortune's self.
" i.e. a slip in the highest positions is ruin.
* The Latin comes from Sen. J^p. ix. 21.
77
MINOR LATIN POETS
O dulce tormentum ubi reprimitur gaudium !
Omnes aequo animo parent ubi digni imperant.
Occidi est pulchrum, ignominiose ubi servias.
490 O taciturn tormentum animi conscientia!
Optime positum est beneficium <(bene) ubi meminit
qui accipit.
Obsequio nuptae cito fit odium paelicis.
Occasio receptus difficiles habet.
O pessimum periclum quod opertum latet !
495 Omnes cum occulte peccant, peccant ocius.
Occasio aegre offertur, facile amittitur.
0 Oculi <(occulte) amorem incipiunt, consuetude
perficit.
T Probus libertus sine natura est filius.
Prodesse qui vult nee potest, aeque est miser.
600 Pericla timidus etiam quae non sunt videt.
Pudor doceri non potest, nasci potest.
*^^ sic Spengel : ubi eius Gruter.
495 giQ Woelfflin : o. c. peccant occulte pacantur citius F.
78
P PUBLILIUS SYRUS
'Tis sweet torture when joy is held in.
W hen worth holds sway, all cheerfully obey.
It is noble to be slain, when your servitude is
shameful.
O conscience, silent torture of the mind!
A benefit is best bestowed when the recipient has a
good memory.
The bride's complaisance soon brings loathing for a
harlot.
The favourable moment is hard to recover.
O worst of dangers that lurks unseen !
Sinners in secret are always quicker to sin.
Opportunity is slow to offer, easy to miss.
The eyes start love secretly : intimacy perfects it.
An upright freedman is a son without the tie of
blood.
The wish to help without the power means sharing
misery."
Cravens see even dangers which do not exist.
Modesty is born, not taught.
" Meyer punctuates " nee potest aeque, est miser."
79
MINOR LATIN POETS
Plus est quani poena sinere miserum vivere.
Pudorem alienum qui eripit perdit suum.
Patientia aninii occultas divitias habet.
505 Peiora multo cogitat mutus dolor.
Pecunia <una) regimen est rerum omnium.
Pudor dimissus numquam redit in gratiam.
Perdendi finem nemo nisi egestas facit.
Poena ad malum serpens iam cum properat venit.
610 Plus est quam poena iniuriae succumbere.
Pro medicina est dolor dolorem qui necat.
Patiens et fortis se ipsum felieem facit.
Prospicere in pace oportet quod bellum iuvet.
Parens iratus in se est crudelissimus.
515 Perdit non donat qui dat nisi sit memoria.
Probi delicta neglegens, leges teras.
^"2 sine rem F : sinere Spengel : sine spe Woelfflin {in not.),
Meyer.
5"= multa codd. : multo Tzschucke, Meyer.
^"* serpentia F : serpendo Bothe : serpens, iam Bickford-
Smith.
8o
P PUBLILIUS SYRUS
It is more than punisliment to let one live in
misery.
Who steals another's modesty loses his own.
Patience of mind has secret wealth.
Dumb grief thinks of much worse to come.
Money alone is the ruling principle of the world.
Modesty, once dismissed, never returns to favour.
Only want sets a limit to waste.
Punishment with creeping pace comes on the
offender in the moment of his haste.
'Tis more than punishment to yield to WTong.
The pain that kills pain acts as medicine.
The man who unites patience and courage secures
his own happiness.
In peace one must forecast the sinews of war.
The parent enraged is most cruel to himself.
A gift is lost, not presented, unless there be recol-
lection of it.
In overlooking even a good man's offences, you would
impair the laws.
^^® t probe delicta cum legas deteras codd., Meyer : probi
Ingol. : cum tegas Spengel : cum neglegas ( ? neglegas),
leges teras Woel/fiin.
8l
VOL.
I
MINOR LATIN POETS
Pars benefici est quod petitur si belle neges.
Properare in iudicando est crimen quaerere.
Populi est mancipium quisquis patriae est utilis.
520 Per quae sis tutus ilia semper cogites.
Perfugere ad inferiorem se ipsum est tradere.
Peccatum amici veluti tuum recte putes.
Potens misericors publica est felicitas.
Praesens est semper absens qui se ulciscitur.
525 Perfacile quod vota imperant felix facit.
Poenam moratur improbus, non praeterit.
Perdidisse ad assem mallem quam accepisse turpiter.
Paucorum est intellegere quid donet deus.
Perenne coniugium animus, non corpus, facit.
530 Pereundi scire tempus adsidue est mori.
^2' ad assem add. Friedrich : honeste Woelfflin : om. codd.
^28 -j- det F, Meyer : celet Rihheck : dicat Buecheler : donet
dies Woelfflin : doceat dies Meiser.
82
PUBLILIUS SYRUS
A nice refusal of a request-is half a kindness done.
Haste in judgement is to look for guilt.
Whoever is useful to his country is the nation's
slave.
Always bethink yourself of means of safety.
To take refuge \\ith an inferior is self-betrayal.
You would do right to consider your friend's fault as
if it were your ovm.
Mercy in power is good fortune for a people.
He who a\enfjes himself thouo-h absent is ever
present."
It's very easy fur the lucky man to do what his
^\ishes command.
The \-illain delays his punishment — he does not
escape it.
I'd rather lose to the last farthing than get dis-
honourably.
It is granted to few to comprehend what God gives.
Mind, not body, makes lasting wedlock.
To know the hour of doom is continual death.
" K.g. a t3nrant through a system of espionage might be
called ubiquitous: rf. the "eyes and ears" of the Persian
king, Xen. Cyrop. viii. 2, 9-10 (rt? S' dAAo? iSwdaOr] ex^povg
a-ne^ovras ttoWwv fir]vu)V oSovTi-ncopeladai coj Flepacuv fiaaiXevg ;)
83
G 2
k
MINOR LATIN POETS
Potenti irasci sibi periclum est quaerere.
Peccare pauci nolunt, nuUi nesciunt.
Paucorum improbitas est multorum calamitas.
Pro dominis peccare etiam virtutis loco est.
535 Patiendo multa venient quae nequeas pati.
Paratae lacrimae insidias non fletum indicant.
Peccatum extenuat qui celeriter corrigit.
Pudorem habere servitus quodammodo est.
Potest uti adversis numquam felicitas.
540 Prudentis vultus etiam sermonis loco est.
Probo beneficium qui dat ex parte accipit.
Pudor si quern non flectit, non frangit timor.
Poena allevatur ubi relaxatur dolor.
Plures tegit Fortuna quam tutos facit.
545 Post calamitatem memoria alia est calamitas.
Probo bona fama maxima est hereditas.
533 est multonim Buecheler : universis est F.
539 sic Bickjord- Smith : potest ultus in F.
84
PUBLILIUS SYRUS
To be angry with the powerful is seeking danger for
oneself.
Yqw are unwilling to sin — none but know the way.
The wickedness of a few is widespread calamity.
To do wTong for one's master even passes for merit.
Sufferance will bring much you could not suffer.
The ready tear means treachery, not grief.
The quick corrector w^eakens sin.
To feel qualms is in a measm-e slavery.
The lucky man never knows how to deal with
adversity.
The wise man's looks are as good as a discourse.
The giver of a benefit to the good is in part the
receiver.
If honour sways one not, fear cannot quell.
The punishment is lightened when the pain slackens.
Fortune shields more people than she makes safe.
After misfortune, remembrance is misfortune re-
newed.
For the upright a good name is the greatest inheri-
tance.
8s
I
MINOR LATIN POETS
Pericla qui audet ante vincit quam accipit.
Perpetuo vincit qui utitur dementia.
Z Plures amicos niensa quam mens concipit.
O Prudentis est irascier sero et semel.
551 Per quem sis clarus illi quod sis imputes.
Poenae sat est qui laesit cum supplex venit.
T Quamvis non rectum quod iuvat rectum putes.
Quisquis nocere didicit meminit cum potest.
555 Qui metuit calamitatem rarius accipit.
Quam miserum est mortem cupere nee posse emori !
Qui pro innocente dicit satis est eloquens.
Qui cum dolet blanditur post tempus sapit.
Quod tinieas citius quam quod speres evenit.
560 Quod vult cupiditas cogitat, non quod decet.
^^" sic Friedrich : irasci et sero et semel 0 : nee sero et
semel Halm, Meyer.
86
PUBLILIUS SYRUS
The bold detVat danger before meeting it.
He is for ever victor who employs clemency.
One's table receives more friends than one's heart
does.
I It is ^^•isdom to lose one's temper late and then once
for all.
To the man who made you famous give the credit of
what you are.
'Tis penalty enough when the offender comes on
his knees.
Think right what helps, though right it may not be.
Power to harm once learned is remembered when the
chance comes.
5 He who dreads disaster rarely meets it.
How '^^Tetched to long for death yet fail to die !
The pleader for innocence is eloquent enough.
If a man takes to coaxing when he feels the smart, it
is ■\\'isdom learned too late.
The dreaded thing happens sooner than you might
expect.
0 Greed contemplates what it wishes, not what befits.
^2* quicquid Meyer.
^^^ contumeliam raro Spengel, Meyer.
87
I
MINOR LATIN POETS
Quicquid conaris, quo pervenias cogites.
Qui bene dissimulat citius inimico nocet.
Quod semper est paratum non semper iuvat.
Quodcumque celes ipse tibi fias timor.
565 Qui ius iurandum servat quovis pervenit.
Quod aetas vitium posuit aetas auferet.
Quemcumque quaerit calamitas facile invenit.
Quod periit quaeri pote, reprendi non potest.
Quam miserum officium est quod successum non
habet!
570 Quam miser est cui est ingrata misericordia !
Quam miserum est cogi opprimere quem salvum velis !
Quem fama semel oppressit vix restituitur.
Quod vix contingit ut voluptatem parit !
Quam miserum est id quod pauci habent amittere !
^" vix . . . vix Gruter : vi . . . vix Woelfflin : quid vis
. . . ut {vdut sententia ex Epicureorum disciplina profecta)
Friedrich,
88
I PUBLILIUS SYRUS
111 your every endeavour contemplate your goal.
An apt dissembler sooner hurts his foe.
What is always at hand does not always help.
Your guarded secret means you grow a terror to
yourself.
He who observes his oath reaches any goal.
The fault which time has set up time \\'ill take away.
Disaster easily finds whomsoever it seeks.
What is destroyed can be looked for but never
recovered.
How sorry the service that has no success !
How wretched he to whom pity is against the
grain !
How wretched to be forced to crush him you fain
would save !
It is hard restoring him whom ill report has once
crushed.
What pleasure is produced by what is won \vlth
difficulty !
How pitiable it is to lose what few possess !
89
MINOR LATIN POETS
575 Qui in vero dubitat male agit cum deliberat.
Qui timet amicum, amicus ut timeat, docet.
Quicquid vindicandum est, {omnis) optima est
occasio.
Quam miserum auxilium est ubi nocet quod sustinet !
Qui pote consilium fugere sapere idem potest.
580 Qui ulcisci dubitat improbos plures facit.
Qui obesse cum potest non vult prodest <(tibi).
Quicquid bono concedas, des partem tibi.
Quod nescias cui serves stultum est parcere.
Quae vult videri bella nimis, nulli negat.
585 Qui debet limen creditoris non amat.
Qui pote transferre amorem pote deponere.
Qui culpae ignoscit uni suadet pluribus.
^'' potest F: pote Gruter, capere Gruter {in not. post.),
Spengel : rapere Woelfflin.
581 tibi add. Halm.
584 -j- nimium illi negat F, Meyer : nimis, nulU negat
Gruter, Orelli : nimium litigat Spengel.
90
PUBLILIUS SYRUS
5 He Avho hesitates in the case of truth acts ill when
he deliberates."
Who fears a friend teaches a friend to fear.
When aught has to be punished, every opportunity
is best.
A sorry help when support hurts !
The man who can shun advice may yet be wise.*
3 A hesitating avenger makes rascals increase.
He who will not hurt when he may is your bene-
factor.
Whatever you may grant to the good, you give
partly to yourself.
It's silly to be sparing, if you don't know for whom
you're saving.
She who is over fain to be thought pretty, refuses
none.
5 The debtor loves not his creditor's threshold.
If one can transfer affection, one can put it aside.
To pardon one offence is to prompt more offenders.
" i.e. he who hesitates when facts are plain commits a
crime by his very deliberation.
* i.e. there is advice which it is wise not to take. This is
pithier than the truism involved in the change to capcre.
91
MINOR LATIN POETS
Quod improbis eripitur doiiatur probis.
Qui sibi non vivit aliis merito est mortuus.
590 Quicquid fit cum virtute fit cum gloria.
Qui exspectat ut rogetur officium levat.
Qui timet amicum vim non novit nominis.
Qui <(non) potest celare vitium non facit.
Qui omnes insidias timet in nullas incidit.
595 Quam malus est culpam qui suam alterius facit !
Qui docte servit partem dominatus tenet.
Qui se ipse laudat cito derisorem invenit.
5^^ sibi non F : sibi minime T : sibimet Ribheck, Spengel :
sibi modo Gruter {not. post.). Bathe.
^^^ sic Meyer in not : qui potest zelare non facit vitium ip :
qui pote celare vitium, vitium non facit Grvier (fugit Ribheck).
92
PUBLILIUS SYRUS
What is snatched from the bad is a gift to the o;ood.
He who does not live a busy Hfe of his own is as
good as dead for others.*^
A deed of valour is a deed of fame.
He who waits to be asked lessens his service.
He who fears a friend doesn't know the meaning of
the word.
He who cannot conceal a vicious act does not commit
It
He who fears everv ambush falls into none.
What a rascal he is who throws his own guilt upon
another !
The skilled servant holds part of his master's power.
The self-praiser soon finds a mocker.
" The man who cannot attend to his own afifairs with
competence is no good to others. Sihi vivere is not here " to
live only for oneself" : it does not, as OreUi takes it, imply
a miser who spends neither on himself nor on others.
Friedrich aptly ilhistrates the sense from Sen. Ep. Iv. 4—5,
where the phrase is used of one who rises above slothful
retirement or an animal-like existence of self-indulgence to a
strenuous and full life in which through serving others he
will serve his highest self (cf. ibid, non continuo sibi vivit, qui
nemini).
* *A criminal is usually inspired with the hope of eluding
detection : so a character in a mime might be imagined
to say, " He who can't get away with it, doesn't do it." The
text is, however, uncertain (see appar. crit.).
^ Cf. sentiment in 400.
93
MINOR LATIN POETS
Quam miserum est bene quod feceris factum queri !
Quam est felix vita quae sine odiis transiit !
600 Quicquid futurum est summum ab imo nascitur.
Quam miserum est ubi consilium casu vincitur!
Quicquid fortuna exornat cito contemnitur.
Quicquid plus quam necesse est possideas premit.
Qui pote nocere timetur cum etiam non adest.
605 Quem bono tenere non potueris, contineas malo.
Quod senior loquitur omnes consilium putant.
Quam miserum est, ubi te captant, qui defenderent !
Quod quisque amat laudando commendat sibi.
Quem diligas etiam "f queri de ipso malum est.
610 Qui venit ut noceat semper meditatus venit.
Quis miserum sciret, verba nisi haberet dolor ?
Quam miserum est cum se renovat consumptum
malum !
94
PUBLILIUS SYRUS
A sorry thing to complain of a good deed you've
done !
How happy the life which has passed without strife !
I Whatever is to be top springs from the bottom.
A pity when chance beats design !
Whatever fortune bedizens is soon despised.
Any possession beyond the needful overburdens you.
He who can hurt is dreaded even when not upon the
scene.
Him you have failed to control'by fair means, you
must restrain by foul.
What a senior says all take for advice.
Pity it is when your supposed defenders take you
prisoner !
Everyone commends his hobby to himself by
praising it.
It's ill complaining even about the very friend you
love.
Who comes to injure always comes with mind made
up.
Who would know the wTetched, if pain had no words ?
What a pity when an outworn evil is renewed!
95
MINOR LATIN POETS
Quanto serius peccatur tanto incipitur turpius.
Quam miser est qui excusare sibi se non potest !
615 Quo caveas, cum animus aliud verba aliud petunt ?
Qui invitus servit, fit miser, servit tamen.
Quod est timendum decipit si neglegas.
Quid tibi pecunia opus est, si uti non potes ?
Quod fugere credas saepe solet occurrere.
620 Quamvis acerbus qui monet nulli nocet.
Z Qui numerosis studet amicis is etiam inimicos ferat.
■f Qui semet accusat ab alio non potest criminari.
Qui dormientem necat absentem ulciscitur.
Quod est venturum sapiens ut praesens cavet.
^^5 cavetis F : caveas Bothe, Woelfflin, Spengel, Meyer :
cavet Ls Orelli.
*2^ sic Haupt. : qui numerosis s. a. et inimicos necesse est
ferat T : q. studet multis a. multos i. f. Mejjer.
*22 qui se ipse accusat, accusari non potest Ribbeck : alii alia.
96
PUBLILIUS SYRUS
The later the sin in coming, the more disgraceful its
start.
How wretched the man who cannot make his excuses
to himself!
How take precautions when heart seeks one thing
and words another ?
The un\\illing slave grows wretched, but is still a
slave.
The object of your fear tricks you, if you overlook it.
Why do you need money, if you can't use it ?
What you suppose to be in flight is often wont to
face you.
The warning voice, however sharp, hurts none.
He who is devoted to numerous friends should
likewise put up with foes.
He who accuses himself cannot be accused by
another."
The slayer of a sleeping man is taking vengeance on
the absent.
The wise man guards against what is to come, as if
it were present.
" criminari is deponent in classical Latin.
VOL. I. 97
MINOR LATIN POETS
O Quern diligas, ni recte moneas, oderis.
626 (Quod vult habet qui velle quod satis est potest.)
T Ratione non vi vineenda adulescentia est.
Rei nulli prodest mora nisi iracundiae.
Reus innocens fortunam non testem timet.
630 Rarum esse oportet quod diu carum velis.
Rapere est aceipere quod non possis reddere.
Regnat non regitur qui nihil nisi quod vult facit.
Rivalitatem non amat victoria.
Ruborem amico excutere amicum est perdere.
635 Rex esse nolim ut esse crudelis velim.
Res quanto est maior tanto est insidiosior.
Roganti melius quam imperanti pareas.
Respicere nihil consuevit iracundia.
Rapere est, non petere, quicquid invito auferas.
640 Remedium frustra est contra fulmen quaerere.
poi
98
^*° remedium fraus F : remigium frustra Gruter in notu
postumis. flumen F : fulmen Bentley.
PUBLILIUS SYRUS
You will hate the man you love, unless you admonish
him aright.
He who can wish for m hat is enough has his wish.''
Youth must be mastered not by force but by reason.
Anger is the one thing benefited by delay.
The innocent man on trial fears fortune, but not a
witness.
Rare must be that which you would long hold dear.
It is robbery to take what you could never return.
He is a king and no subject who does only what he
likes.
Victory loves not rivalry.
Wring a blush from a friend and you lose him.
I'd fain have no kingly power with its promptings
to cruelty.
The bigger the affair, the greater the snare.
A request is better to comply with than an order.
Anger's way is to regard nothing.
It's no request, it's robbery, to take from the
unwilling.
It's no good to seek an antidote for a thunderbolt.
" The Latin is from Sen. Ep. eviii. 11.
I
99
H 2
MINOR LATIN POETS
Rogare officium servitus quodanunodo est.
Z Reddit non perdit cui quod alienum est perit.
T f Semper iratus plus se posse putat quam possit.
Spes est salutis ubi hominem obiurgat pudor.
645 Suadere primum dein corrigere benivoli est.
Sapiens contra omnes arma fert cum cogitat.
Sanctissimum est meminisse cui te debeas.
Stulti timent fortunam, sapientes ferunt.
Sensus, non aetas, invenit sapientiam.
650 Semper beatam se putat benignitas.
Sapiens locum dat requiescendi iniuriae.
Solet esse in dubiis pro consilio temeritas.
Semper consilium tunc deest cum opus est maxime.
Sapiens quod petitur, ubi tacet, breviter negat.
655 Semper plus metuit animus ignotum malum.
^*2 sic Haupt : qui quod alienum erat persolvit T.
^" se posse plus iratus quam possit putat Pithoeus : fortasse
trochaicus semper iratus plus sese posse quam possit putat
A. M. Duff.
100
PUBLILIUS SYRUS
To ask a favour is slavery of a sort.
To lose what is not your own is not to lose but to
give back.
Anger always thinks it has power beyond its power.
When shame rebukes a man, there's hope for his
soul's health.
It's the well-wisher's way to advise before he corrects.
The sage bears arms against the world when he
thinks.
'Tis most just to remember to whom you owe your-
self.
Fools fear fortune, wise men bear it.
Wisdom is found by sense, not years.
Bounty holds herself ever rich.
The wise man gives an injury room to settle down.
In a hazard venturesomeness replaces deliberation.
Counsel is ever lacking when most needed.
It's a curt refusal when the wise man meets a request
with silence.
The mind always fears the unknown evil more.
*5^ sic Spengel : f sapiens semper quiescendi dat locum
iniuriae F, Meyer : saepe ignoscendo das iniuriae locum
Gruter : semper quiescens des iniuriae locum Meyer iji not.
®^* sic F : cum . . . si . . . graviter 0, Meyer.
101
MINOR LATIN POETS
Secunda in paupertate fortuna est fides.
Si nihil velis timere, metuas omnia.
Siunmissum imperium non tenet vires suas.
Secundus est a matre nutricis dolor.
660 Sibi supplieium ipse dat quem admissi paenitet.
Suum sequitur lumen semper innocentia.
Stultum est ulcisci velle alium poena sua.
Sibi primum auxilium eripere est leges tollere.
Suis qui nescit parcere inimicis favet.
665 Sine dolore est vulnus quod ferendum est cum vic-
toria.
Semper metuendo sapiens evitat malum.
Stultum est queri de adversis, ubi culpa est tua.
Solet hora quod multi anni abstulerunt reddere.
Spina etiam grata est ex qua spectatur rosa.
102
PUBLILIUS SVRUS
In poverty faith is fortune renewed."
If you want to fear nothing, you should dread all.
Diminished power keeps not its strength.
The nurse's pangs are second to the mother's.
He who repents his deed inflicts punishment on
himself.
Innocence ever follows her own light.
It's folly to want vengeance on another by punishing
oneself.
To destroy the laws is to rob oneself of one's first
support.
He who cannot spare his own folk befriends liis
foes.
It's a painless wound that the victor must bear.
By constant fear the wise man escapes harm.
Silly to grumble about misfortune when the fault's
your own.
An hour often restores w hat many years have taken
away.
Pleasant even the thorn which yields a rose to view.
" i.e. if a man reduced to poverty retains a faith in better
times to come, that is in some degree a restoration of
fortune.
MINOR LATIN POETS
670 Stultum est vicinum velle ulcisci incendio.
Stultum facit Fortuna quern vult perdere.
Spes inopem, res avarum, mors miserum levat.
Se damnat iudex innocentem qui opprimit.
Sibi ipsa improbitas cogit fieri iniuriam.
675 Satis est beatus qui potest cum vult mori.
Solet sequi laus, cum viam fecit labor.
Socius fit culpae qui nocentem sublevat.
Suspicio sibi ipsa rivales parit.
Semper metuendum quicquid irasci potest.
680 Seditio civium hostium est occasio.
Salutis causa bene fit homini iniuria.
Stultitia est insectari quem di diligunt.
Sat magna usura est pro beneficio memoria.
Sero in periclis est consilium quaerere.
Z Sua servat qui salva esse vult communia.
686 Satis est superare inimicum, nimium est perdere.
Suspiciosus omnium damnat fidem.
I04
r PUBLILIUS SYRUS
70 It's silly to want vengeance on a neighbour by firing
the house.
Fortune makes a fool of him whom she would ruin."
Hope eases the beggar, wealth the miser, death the
wretched.
A judge who crushes the guiltless is self-condemned.
Villainy compels injury to be done to itself.
75 Happy enough he who can die when he wills !
Praise ever follows when toil has made the way.
To help the guilty is to share his crime.
Suspicion doth breed rivals for herself.
What can show anger must ever be dreaded.
80 Discord mid citizens is the foeman's chance.
Injury may well be done a man for safety's sake.
'Tis folly to upbraid the favourite of heaven.
'Tis high enough interest for a benefit to remember it.
'Tis too late in perils to search for advice.
85 He who wishes safety for the common property is
the guardian of his own.
It i-^ enough to beat a foe, too much to ruin him.
The suspicious man condemns the good faith of all.
" A more familiar form of this idea is quern luppiter viill
perdere dementat prius.
105
MINOR LATIN POETS
Suspicio probatis tacita iniuria est.
Superari a superiore pars est gloriae.
690 Supplicem honiinem oppriniere virtus non est sed
crudelitas.
Sat est disertus e quo loquitur Veritas.
4:^ Thesaurum in sepulcro ponit qui senem heredem
facit.
Taciturnitas stulto homini pro sapientia est.
Tarn deest avaro quod habet quam quod non habet.
Z Tarde sed graviter sapiens (mens) irascitur.
696 Tuti sunt omnes unus ubi defenditur.
O Temptando cuncta caeci quoque tuto ambulant.
Tarn de se iudex iudicat quam de reo.
'F Ubi fata peccant, hominum consilia excidunt.
700 Voluptas e difficili data dulcissima est.
Ubi omnis vitae metus est, mors est optima.
Unus deus poenam afFert, multi cogitant.
^^^ de quo T : pro quo 0 : e quo Casp. Orelli in not.
^*5 alii alia : mens Bickford-Smith.
'"2 u. deus poenam affert quam m. cogitant F : dies
{delevit quam) Gruter : citant Buecheler : irrogant Meyer :
coquunt Friedrich.
io6
PLBLILILS SYRUS
Suspicion is an unspoken \NTong to tested worth.
To be bested by a better means a share in the glory.
'90 To crush the suppliant is not valour but barbarity.
Eloquent enough is he who h<a.s the accent of truth.
He stows treasure in the tomb who makes an old
man his heir.
For a fool it is wisdom to hold his tongue.
The miser lacks what he has as much as what he
hasn't.*^
95 A wise mind grows angry slowly but seriously.^
All are safe when one is defended.
By testing everything even the blind walk safely.
A judge passes judgement on himself as much as on
the accused.
When fate goes a\^Ty, human counsels fail.
00 Out of difficulty comes the sweetest pleasure.
When life is all one terror, death is best.
God alone brings punishment, though many intend it.
" One of the best known lines of Publilius : it is quoted
by Seneca, Controv. vii. 3 (18) 8; Quintilian, viii. 5, 0 and ix.
3, 64; Hieronymus, Epist. liii, 10 sub Jin. Jeromes order is
avaro tarn deest . . .
>> Cf. 550.
107
MINOR LATIN POETS
Ubi peccat aetas maior, male discit minor.
Ubi nihil timetur, quod timeatm- nascitur.
705 Ubi sis cum tuis et absis. patriam non desideres.
Verum est quod pro salute fit mendacium.
Ubicumque pudor est, semper ibi sancta est fides.
Utilius ferrum est in sulco quam orichalcum est in
proelio.
Ubi innocens formidat damnat iudicem.
710 Voluntas impudicum non corpus facit.
Virtuti melius quam fortunae creditur.
Verbum omne refert in quam partem intellegas.
Virum bonum natura non ordo facit.
Ubi coepit ditem pauper imitari, perit.
715 Veterem ferendo iniuriam invites novam.
Virtutis spolia cum videt, gaudet labor.
Virtutis vultus partem habet victoriae.
Mrtute quod non possis blanditia auferas.
Utrumque casum adspicere debet qui imperat.
''^^ absLS patria Meyer : patriam desideres F : non aid.
Orelli.
'°8 om. Meyer : Utilius est vero in sulco quam gravis
galea in proelio Par. 8027 servat solus : vera est Wodfjlin :
fernim est alii : quam orichalcum Friedrich.
io8
PUBLILIUS SYllUS
When seniors blunder, juniors learn but ill.
When nothing is feared, something arises to fear.
0") When far away with your own folk, you would not
miss your ftitherland.
Falsehood for safety's sake is true.
Where scruples are, there faith is ever revered.
Steel in the furrow is more useful than yellow copper
in battle.
Innocence in terror condemns the judge.
riO The will, not the body, makes impurity.
It's better trusting to valour than to luck.
For any word it matters how you understand it.
Nature, not rank, makes the gentleman.
When the poor man starts to ape the rich, he's lost.
'15 Tolerate an old wrong and you may invite a new^ one.
The sight of valour's spoil makes the delight of toil.'*
Bravery's countenance has a share in the victory.
Coaxing may win what the stout heart could not.
A ruler should look at both the sides of chance.
" Labor is personified: hard-wrought soldiers, after the
fight, look with joy on the spoil which proves their victorious
bravery.
109
MINOR LATIN POETS
720 \'oluptas tacita metus est mage quam gaudium.
Viri boni est nescire facere iniuriam.
Vultu an natura sapiens sis, multum interest.
Virtuti amorem nemo honeste denegat.
Z Ubi libertas cecidit, audet libere nemo loqui.
725 Vita otiosa regnum est et curae minus.
Ubi omnes peccant, spes querelae tollitur.
Ut plures corrigantur, f rite pauci eliduntur.
Virtutis omnis impedimentum est timor.
Ubi iudicat qui accusat, vis non lex valet.
730 Ubi emas aliena, caveas ne vendas tua.
O Ubi peccatum cito corrigitur, fama solet ignoscere.
Ubi innocens damnatur, pars patriae exsulat.
Vincere est honestum, opprimere acerbum, pulchrum
ignoscere.
^ (Velox consilium sequitur paenitentia.)
'20 magis F, Spengel, Meyer : mage metus Gruter.
''^ sic T : rite unus perit Casp. Orelli in not. : ut plures
sanes recte paucos amputes Friedrich.
no
PL15LIL1LS SYRLS
20 Dumb pleiisure is rather fear than joy.
Goodness means inabihty to do a wrong.
It makes a wide difference whether you were born
wise or only look it.
From virtue no man honourably Avithholds his love.
Where freedom has fallen, none dare freely speak.
25 The life of ease is a kingdom without the worry.
Where all go WTong, the hope of remonstrance is
removed.
A few are justly destroyed that more may be reformed.
All virtue finds an obstacle in fear.
When the accuser is judge, force, not law, has power.
50 In buying others' goods, see you don't have to sell
your own.
When an offence is soon corrected, scandal commonly
overlooks it.
When the innocent is found guilty, part of his native
land is exiled.
It is honourable to conquer, bitter to crush, hand-
some to forgive.
Repentance follows on a hasty plan.
''° sic Meyer in apparatu : invenies necesse est tua T.
Ill
ELEGIAE IN MAECENATEM
VOL. I.
INTRODUCTION
TO THE ELEGIES
These two elegies are transmitted as a single con-
tinuous poem in manuscripts of the minor " Virgilian"
works {Culex, Dirae, Copa, Moretum). The ascription
to Virgil is chronologically impossible ; for Maecenas
died in 8 b.c, eleven years after \'irgil. Scaliger
first separated the longer poem from the thirty-four
lines which give the " Dying Words of Maecenas,"
and he propounded the guess (once considered attrac-
tive) that both elegies, as well as the Consolatio ad
Liviam. might be the work of Albinovanus Pedo.
To some extent modern opinion inclines to accept as
genuine the claim of the author (Eleg. I. 1-2 '.cf. II.
3-4) to have already written the consolatory lament
addressed to Livia on the death of Drusus/' The
repetition of the phrases Caesaris illiai opus and
ilia rapit iuvenes ^ as well as the noteworthy parallelism
between two other passages <^ strengthens the case,
though it is conceded that the Elegiae are artistically
inferior to the Consolatio. They have, however, a
similar rhetorical ring ; and the metrical technique of
the elegies, while it shows fewer elisions than dees
the Consolatio, is in keeping with that of the Augustan
" The Consolatio is translated in the Loeb Library : Ovid,
Art of Love and other Poems, pp. 325 sqq,
* C'on.s. 39, Eleg. II. 6; Cans. 372, Eleg. I. 7.
' Cans. 47-48, Eleg. I. 15-10.
i2
INTRODUCTION
period. Haupt's endeavour to regard the first
elegy as a defence of Maecenas against a charge of
timicae solutae in Seneca's 114th letter has been suc-
cessfully rebutted by Skutsch : " Seneca's letter
contains other censures which the poet could not
have left unanswered, if he had ever seen them. In
this elaborate letter on decadence, and in particular
on speech as a mirror of morals, emphasis is laid upon
Maecenas' undisciplined style as a parallel to the
dishabille which he notoriously affected. There are
no convincing allusions to prove that the poem
followed the letter, and we should not expect a reply
to it to ignore the instances adduced.^
The contents and tone of the poems give the
impression that the author stood close to the facts
introduced.^ This direct contact with reality, which
appears to underlie the allusions to Maecenas' war-
service, to his cur a urhis and intellectual interests,
" P. W. Bealencydopddie, IV. 1901 : art. on ' Consolatio ad
Liviam.'
* Th. Birt, like Haupt, considers the Elegiae post-Senecan,
and holds that the passage about the beryl (I. 19-20) refers to
the wide difference between Maecenas' style and the common
level of expression {Ad hist, hexam. latini symb., Bonn, 1876,
p. 66).
^ Prof. R. S. Radford in The Cuhx and Ovid, Philologus, 1930,
86, 1, defends the 0\adian authorship of both Consolatio and
the Elegiae. Dealing with The Order of Ovid's Works {Trans.
Amer. Philol. Assoc, 1923) he assigns the former to 9 B.C., the
latter to 8 B.C. In E. Wagner's De Martiale Poetarum Augus-
teae aetatis imitatore, Regimonti (=Konigsberg), 1880, similar-
ities of phraseology' between Elegy I and Martial were unduly
stressed as suggestive of a difference in style between Elegy I
and Elegy II. A few years earlier M. Hertz in Analecta ad
carm. Horat. historiam, Breslau, 1876, had discovered echoes
of Horace in I, but none in II. This sort of internal " evidence "
amounts to very little.
Ii6
I
TO THK KlA'XilVS
makes a pleasant contrast to the occasional declama
tory or mythological passages. There is something
agreeably personal in the tenderness of the farewell
to Terentia (II. 7-10) and in the poet's confession
that, though he had not himself belonged to Mae-
cenas' intimate circle, Lollius had put him in a posi-
tion to compose this memorial poem (I. 10). The
Lollius here meant had been consul in 20 B.C., and
died in 1 B.C.
EDITIONS
Th. Gorallus (Clericus). C Pedonis Albinovani
Elegiac III. Amsterdam, 1703 (assigning both
elegies and the Consolatio ad Liviam to Albino-
vanus).
P. Burman. Anthologia Veterum Latinonnn Epi-
grammatum et Poematum (ascribing the Elegiae
to an " incertus auctor "), I. pp. 251-287.
Amsterdam, 1759.
C. Wernsdorf. Poetae Latiyii Minor es, III. p. 155
sqq. Altenburg, 1782.
J. Plumtre. The Elegies of C. Pedo Albi)iovanvs ivith
an English version (heroic couplets). Kidder-
minster, 1807.
J. H. F. Meineke. Drei dem C. Pedo Albinovaiius
zugeschriehene Elegien . . . mit einer metrischen
Uebersetzung. Quedlinburg, 1819.
H. Meyer. Anthologia vet. Lat. epigram, et poematum
(based on Burman), Nos. 109 and 110. Leipzig,
1835.
O. Ribbeck. Appendix Fergiliana, pp. 193-204.
Leipzig, 1868.
E. Baehrens. Poetae Latini Minores, I. pp. 122-136.
Leipzig, 1879.
117
INTRODUCTION
F. Biicheler, and A. Riese. Anthologia Latina, I. 2,
ed. 2. Leipzig, 1906.
R. Ellis. Appendix Vergiliajia. Oxford, 1907.
J. Middendorf. Elegiae in Maecenatem (text and
notes). Marburg, 1912.
F. ^'ollmer. Poetae Latini Minores, I. pp. 143-155.
Leipzig, 1927.
Relevant Works
E. Hubner. In Hermes. 13 (1878), p. 239.
E. Wagner. De Martiale poetanim Augiisteae aetaiis
imitatore (pp. 42-46 on points of style in Elegiae
and Consolatio).
F. Skutsch. P. W. Realencyclopddie, l\. col. 944
sqq. 1901.
F. Lillge. De Elegiis in Maecen. quaestiones, diss.
Breslau, 1901.
B. Axelson. In Eranos, xxviii. (1930), 1 sqq. (Con-
tention that the Elegiae and the Consolatio ad
Liviam belong to a date not earlier than that of
Statius and Martial.)
R. B. Steele. The Nux, Maecenas, and Consolatio ad
Liviam. Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.A., 1933.
(One of the contentions here is that similarities
of diction in the works of Seneca to the Consolatio
and to the Maecenas poems fix their publication
within or later than the reign of Nero.)
SIGLA
O = archetype of all the codices.
S = Scaliger's lost manuscript whose readings are
preserved in his " Virgilii Appendix. ..."
pp. 52&-541. Leyden, 1573.
ii8
f TO TIIK ELEGIES
F z= codex Fit'chtianus, now Mellicensis, 11th cent.
(contains lines 1-25).
B = codex Bruxellensis 10676, 12th cent.
P = codex Parisiniis hit. 16236, 10th cent, (contains
lines 1-43).
Z = a lost codex represented bv three 15th century
MSS. :
H = Helmstadiensis 332.
A = Arundelianus, Brit. Miis. 133.
R = Rehdigeranus, Breslau Public Library.
M = Monacenses (manuscripts in Munich), including :
m = Mon. lat. 305, llth-12th cent,
n = Mon. lat. 18059, 11th cent.
V = \'ossianus lat. oct. 81 (Ley den), 15th cent.
g zrr any correction by Italian scholars in the later
MSS. or early editions.
Considerable departures have been made from
Vollmer's text in readings and in punctuation.
119
ELEGIAE IN MAECENATEM
I
Defleram iuvenis tristi modo carmine fata,
sunt etiam merito carmina danda seni.
ut iuvenis deflendus enim tarn candidus et tarn
longius annoso vivere dignus avo.
irreligata ratis, numquam defessa carina,
it, redit in vastos semper onusta lacus :
ilia rapit iuvenes prima florente iuventa,
non oblita tamen sed f repetitque senes.
nee mihi, Maecenas, tecum fuit usus amici,
Lollius hoc ergo conciliavit opus ;
foedus erat vobis nam propter Caesaris arma
Caesaris et similem propter in arma fidem.
regis eras, Etrusce, genus ; tu Caesaris almi
dextera, Romanae tu vigil urbis eras,
omnia cum posses tanto tam carus amico,
te sensit nemo posse nocere tamen.
*» et n (= codd.), Vollmer : it ed. Ascens. 1507.
11 fidus n : foedus Heinsius.
13 almi n : alti Heinsius.
120
I
TWO ELEGIES ON MAECENAS
I
My saddened muse of late had mourned a young
man's " death : now to one ripe in years also let songs
be duly offered. As youth is mourned, so must we
mourn for one so white-souled, so worthy to live
beyond the span of an age-laden grandsire. The
barque that knows no fastening, the never-wearied
keel, goes and returns for ever with its load across
the vasty pools : it carries off the young in the first
bloom of their youth, yet unforgetful claims the old
as well. At one time, my Maecenas, I lacked
converse with thee as a friend : my present task, then,
'twas Lollius'' won for me. For between you two
was a bond because of your war-service for Caesar
and your equal loyalty to Caesar's service. Thou
wert of royal race, O Tuscan-born, thou wert the
right hand of bounteous Caesar, thou wert the
guardian of the Roman city. All-pow^erful though
thou wert in such favour with so exalted a friend,
yet no man ever felt thou hadst the power to hurt.
" i.e. Drusus, who died in 9 B.C., the year before Maecenas'
death.
* M. Lollius, consul 20 B.C., died 1 B.C. Gorallus and
Meineke take opus of gaining Maecenas' friendship for the
author. Opus, however, seems odd in this connexion, and
here Wemsdorf 's view is followed that the opus is the present
elegy.
121
MINOR LATIN POETS
Pallade cum docta Phoebus donaverat artes :
tu decus et laudes huius et huius eras,
vincit vulgares veluti beryllus harenas,
litore in extremo quas simul unda movet.
quod discinctus eras, animo quoque, carpitur unum
diluitur nimia simplicitate tua.
sic illi vixere, quibus fuit aurea Virgo,
quae bene praecinctos postmodo pulsa fugit.
livide, quid tandem tunicae nocuere solutae
aut tibi ventosi quid nocuere sinus ?
num minus urbis erat custos et Caesaris opses ?
num tibi non tutas fecit in urbe vias ?
nocte sub obscura quis te spoliavit amantem,
quis tetigit ferro, durior ipse, latus ?
mains erat potuisse tamen nee velle triumphos,
maior res magnis abstinuisse fuit.
19 sic Birt : vincit vulgares vincit FBPHMV, Vollmer : vicit
vulgares vicit AR : sicut volgares vincit Riese, Middendorf.
beritus FBPH m ; berithus AR : peritus n V : berillus A Id.
1517 : Berytus Ellis.
22 diluvii hoc n (ac V) : diluis hoc Oudendorp, Baehrens,
Vollmer : diluitur AM. 1517, Riese.
" obses (op- B) n : hospes A^.
122
TWO ELEGIES OX MAECENAS
Apollo with learned Minerva had conferred their
art^ on thee : thou wert the ornament and glory
of both — even as the beryl " surpasses the common
sands which the wave tosses about along with it on the
shore's edge. That thou wert luxurious in mind as in
dress is the one slander urged against thee : it is dis-
pelled by thine exceeding plainness of life. So did they
live among whom dwelt the golden Maid '' who soon
fled into exile from the bustle of mankind. Back-
biter, say what harm his loosened tunic did you, or
dress through which the air could play r Was he
a whit less guardian of the citv. and less a hostage
for our absent emperor ? Did he make the streets
of Rome unsafe for you ? 'Neath the murk of night
who could rob you in an amour, or who in excess of
heartlessness drive steel into your side ? Greater it
was to have had the power, yet not to wish for triumphs :
a greater thing it was to refrain from mighty deeds.
' With an allusion to Maecenas' fondness for jewels. Among
terms applied to Maecenas in a jocular letter from Augustus
were Cibriorum smaragde . . . berylle Pursennae (Macrob.
Saturn. II. iv. 12). The beryl (p-qpvXXos) is a transparent gem,
usually sea-green, and, though now found in many parts of the
Old World and the New, was mainly known to the ancients as
coming from India (Plin. X.H. XXXVII. 5, 20, India eos
gignit raro alibi repertos, a passage which tempts one to take
extreme in litore as " on a distant shore " : cf. extremos equos,
56). Pliny rightly associates it with the emerald. Since one
species was the aquamarine, some knowledge of this may have
prompted the reference to the sea-shore in 20. It is difficult,
however, to imagine that this product of granitic rocks can
have been often washed up among the sands of the sea, though
Gk>rallu.s quotes Greek hexameters from Dionysius Periegetes,
of which one interpretation supports the view.
* Astraea, or Justice, sojourned among men in the Golden
Age, but wa^ driven from earth by the growth of depravity.
123
MINOR LATIN POETS
maluit iimbrosam quercum lymphasque cadentes
paucaque pomosi iugera certa soli ;
Pieridas Phoebumque colens in moUibus hortis
sederat argutas garrulus inter avis.
marmorea Aonii vincent monumenta libelli :
vivitur ingenio, cetera mortis erunt.
quid faceret ? defunctus erat comes integer, idem
miles et Augusti fortis et usque pius :
ilium piscosi viderunt saxa Pelori
ignibus hostilis reddere ligna ratis ;
pulvere in Emathio fortem videre Philippi ;
quam nunc ille tener, tarn gravis hostis erat.
cum freta Niliacae texerunt lata carinae,
fortis erat circa, fortis et ante ducem,
militis Eoi fugientis terga secutus,
territus ad Nili dum fugit ille caput,
pax erat : haec illos laxarunt otia cultus :
omnia victores Marte sedente decent.
Actius ipse lyram plectro percussit eburno,
postquam victrices conticuere tubae.
^3 njTnphas n : lymphas Wernsdorf. cadentes BP :
canentes ZMV.
^' marmora m(a)eonii ARMV : marraora minei SPH : mar-
morea Aonii I'el marmora Smyrnaei ScaUger.
** tarn . . . tam B, Vollmer.
*5 l(a)eta BZ, Vollmer : lata MV, Ellis.
124
TWO ELEGIES ON MAECENAS
He chose rather the shady oak, the falhng waters,
the few sure acres of fruit-bearing soil. Honouring
the Muses and Apollo in luxurious gardens, he re-
clined babbling verse among the tuneful birds.
Aonian writings " will eclipse marble monuments :
genius means life, all else will belong to death.
What was he to do ? He had filled his part as blame-
less comrade, yea, as Augustus' warrior, gallant and
devoted throughout. The rocks of Pelorus abounding
in fish saw him give the enemy's craft for fuel to the
flames : ^ Philippi ^ saw his bravery amid Emathian
dust : as tender of heart as he is to-day, so dread
a foe was he then. When (Antony's) Egyptian
ships covered the waters wide, Maecenas showed
bravery around and bravery in front of his leader,^
following in the wake of the fugitive Oriental warrior,
while he flees panic-stricken to the mouth of the
Nile. Peace came : its leisure brought a slackening
of those ways : when the W^ar-god sits idle, every-
thing beseems the conquerors.
The very god of Actium ^ smote the lyre with ivory
quill after the bugles of victory were hushed. He
" i.e. poetic : "Aonian " is an epithet of the Muses.
* The reference is to the fighting against Sextus Pompeius
in Sicilian waters, 38-35 B.C.
* Philippi, on the borders of Thrace, is here called
" Emathian " {i.e. Macedonian). The allusion is to the defeat
of Brutus and Cassius b\' Octavian Caesar and Antony, 42 B.C.
•* i.e. at Actium in 31 B.C. Most authorities accept the
testimony of Dio, li. 3. 5, that Maecenas was in Rome when
Actium was fought. See E. Groag, art. "" Maecenas," P. W.
Realend. XIV. i. col. 210, and Gardthausen, Augustus und
seine Zeit, I. i. p. 365. This Elegia is the one ancient source
which suggests the contrary view.
' Apollo. In the games instituted at Actium by Augustus
in honour of his victory, musical performances were included.
125
MINOR LATIN POETS
hie modo miles erat, ne posset femina Romam
dotalem stupri turpis habere sui ;
hie tela in profugos — tantum eurvaverat areum —
misit ad extremes exorientis equos :
Baeche, coloratos postquam devieimus Indos,
potasti galea dulee iuvante merum,
et tibi seeuro tunieae fluxere solutae,
te piito purpm-eas tunc habuisse duas.
sum memor et eerte memini sie dueere thyrsos
braechia purpurea candidiora nive,
et tibi thyrsus erat gemmis ornatus et auro,
serpentes hederae vix habuere loeum ;
argentata tuos etiam sandalia talos
vinxerunt eerte nee, puto, Bacehe negas.
mollius es solito meeum turn multa loeutus
et tibi eonsulto verba fuere nova,
impiger Alcide, multo defunete labor e,
sie memorant curas te posuisse tuas,
sie te eum tenera laetum lusisse puella
oblitum Nemeae, iamque, Erymanthe, tui.
®^ thyrsos n : tigres Burman, Vollmer.
^2 Bacchea RMV" : braechia Aid. 1517. purpurea H : hyper-
borea Vollmer.
^^ talaria n, Vollmer : sandalia V.
'^ multum BHM, Vollmer : laetum Ascens. 1507.
126
ip TWO ELEGIKS OX MAECENAS
was of late a warrior to prevent a woman" from having
Rome as a marriage-oift for her foul lewdness : he sped
his arrows after the runaways — st) mighty the bow he
had bent — far as the furthest steeds of the rising sun.
O Bacchus,'' after we subdued the dark-skinned
Orientals, thou didst drink sweet wine with thy
helmet's aid, and in thy care-free hour loose flowed
thy tunics — 'twas the time, I fancy, when thou didst
wear two *■ of brilliant colour. My memory works,
and certes I remember that thus arms whiter than
the gleaming snow led the Bacchic wands, and thy
wand was adorned with gems and gold — the trailing
ivy scarce had room thereon ; silvern surely were the
slippers which bound thy feet : this I trow, Bacchus,
thou dost not deny. Softer e'en than thy wont was
much that thou saidst then in converse with me : 'twas
of set design that thy words were new to the ear.
O Hercules unwearied, after mighty toil performed,
'twas even so, they relate, thou didst lay aside thy cares,
and even so didst hold joyous sport with tender damsel,
forgetful of Nemea, forgetful now of Erymanthus.**
" Apollo is fancied to have fought for Octavian against
Cleopatra of Egypt and her lover Antony.
' Vollmer takes 11. 57-68 as a " dithyramb " addressed
by Apollo to Bacchus. Antony's historic posing as Bacchus
gives point to the passage.
' To wear two was a sign of luxury.
^ Hercules' twelve labours included the slaying of the
Xemean lion and of the Erymanthian boar. An oracle having
ordered Hercules to undergo for penance a period of menial
service, he placed himself under the charge of Omphale,
princess of Lydia, and found favour with her by spinning and
dressing like a woman, while she donned his lion's skin. The
tale of the strong hero relaxing into effeminacy is adduced
here as an apology for Maecenas' luxury after he had accom-
plished great tasks.
127
MINOR LATIN POETS
ultra numquid erat ? torsisti pollice fusos,
lenisti morsu levia fila paruin.
percussit crebros te propter Lydia nodos,
te propter dura stamina rupta manu.
Lydia te tunicas iussit lasciva fluentis
inter lanificas ducere saepe suas.
clava torosa tua pariter cum pelle iacebat,
quam pede suspenso percutiebat Amor,
quis fore credebat, premeret cum iam impiger infans
hydros ingentes vix capiente manu,
cumve renascentem meteret velociter Hydram,
frangeret immanes vel Diomedis equos,
vel tribus adversis communem fratribus alvom
et sex adversas solus in arma manus ?
fudit Aloidas postquam dominator Olympi,
dicitur in nitidum percubuisse diem,
atque aquilam misisse suam, quae quaereret, ecqui
posset amaturo digna referre lovi,
valle sub Idaea dum te, formose sacerdos,
invenit et presso molliter ungue rapit.
sic est : victor amet, victor potiatur in umbra,
victor odorata dormiat inque rosa ;
victus aret victusque metat ; metus imperet illi,
membra nee in strata sternere discat humo.
tempora dispensant usus et tempora cultus,
haec homines, pecudes, haec moderantur avis,
lux est ; taurus arat : nox est ; requiescit arator,
liberat et merito fervida colla bovi.
*^ terretH: tereret ^-i W. 1517 : meteret Struchtmeyer, Vollmer.
8* ecquid BAR, Vollmer : et quid HM : et qui V : ecquis
: ecqui Baehrens, Ellis,
^" signa n : digna Heinsius : vina exld. var.
*^ sacerdos H : iacentem Heinsius : fortasse satelles Ellis,
128
TWO ELEGIES OX MAECENAS
Could au^ht exceed this ? — twirlin<T spindles with
the thumb, and bitino; the rouoh threads smooth
with the mouth ! Lvdian Omphale beat thee
for leavino; too many knots or for breaking the
tlu-eads with that hard hand. The sportive Lydian
bade thee often wear loose-flowinff robes among;
her spinning-maids. The knotty club was thrown
down along with thy lion-skin, and on it the Love-god
danced with light-poised toe. That this would come
who was like to believe in the hour when the active
babe strangled monstrous serpents which his hand
could hardly grasp ? or when he nimbly lopped each
Hydra-head as it grew again? or conquered the
savage steeds of Diomede or the body common
to three confronting brothers, and the six confronting
hands," which he fought unaided r After the Ruler
of Olympus routed the sons of Aloeus,* they say he
lay asleep till the bright dawn, and sent his eagle
in quest of one who could render fitting service to
Jove bent on love, until in Ida's vale he found thee, fair
priest,*" and carried thee off in talons softly closed.
Such is the world's way : the \-ictor must love, the
victor have the mastery in the shade, the victor
must sleep on scented rose-leaves : the vanquished
must plough, the vanquished must reap : fear must
be his lord : never must he learn to rest his limbs
on the cushioned ground. The seasons regulate
different habits and ways in life : the seasons rule
mankind and cattle and birds. 'Tis da\Mi — the
bull ploughs : 'tis night — the ploughman rests ;
he frees the steaming neck of the ox which has
" i.e. of the three-headed monster Geryon.
'' Giants who had warred against the Gods.
<^ Ganvmede is thereafter to minister to Jove.
129
VOL. I.
MINOR LATIN POETS
conglaciantur aquae ; scopulis se condit hirundo :
verberat egelidos garrula vere lacus.
Caesar amicus erat : poterat vixisse solute,
cum iam Caesar idem quod cupiebat erat.
indulsit merito : non est temerarius ille :
vicimus : Augusto iudice dignus erat.
Argo saxa pavens postquam Scylleia legit
Cyaneosque metus, iam religanda ratis,
viscera dissecti mutaverat arietis agno
Aeetis sucis omniperita suis :
his te, Maecenas, iuvenescere posse decebat,
haec utinam nobis Colchidos herba foret !
redditur arboribus florens revirentibus aetas :
ergo non homini quod fuit ante redit ?
vivacesque magis cervos decet esse paventis
si quorum in torva cornua fronte rigent ?
vivere cornices multos dicuntur in annos :
cur nos angusta condicione sumus ?
pascitur Aurorae Tithonus nectare coniunx
atque ita iam tremulo nulla senecta nocet :
1"' Scilleia BHA : Scylleia R. legit n : Seyllaea relegit Sal-
masius.
109 disiecti BARV : direeti SH^ : dissecti Vat. 3269. agni
n : agno Aid. 1517.
130
TWO ELEGIES OF MAECENAS
done its work. The streams are frozen— then the
swallow shelters 'mid the crags : in spring loud-
twitterincT she skims the jrenial meres.
The Emperor was Maecenas' friend: so he was
free to live a life of ease when the Emperor was
now all he longed to be. He granted indulgence
to Maecenas' merits : nor is Maecenas reckless : we
have won our victory'': 'twas the judgement of
Augustus that counted him deserving.'' After the
Argo had skirted in affright the reefs of Scylla *-' and
the peril of the Clashing Rocks, when the barque had
now to be moored, the daughter'^ of Aeetes, all-skilled
in her magic juices, had changed into a lamb the
body of the ram she had cut up. 'Twas right,
Maecenas, that by such means thou shouldst have
power to grow young again : would that we had the
herb of the Colchian (sorceress) !
Trees reclothed in green have the bloom of their
life restored : and to man then does not that which
was his before come again ? Is it meet that the timid
deer with stiff horns on their wild foreheads should
have longer life ? Crows, 'tis said, live for many a
year : why do we men exist on narrow terms ?
Tithonus, as Aurora's consort, feeds on nectar, and
so, though he be palsied now, no length of age can
work him harm. That thy life, Maecenas, might
■ As Anton}' has been overthrown, easy-going relaxation
is no longer a danger.
* i.e. to indulge in a more luxurious life after Antony's
defeat.
' Tfie Argo would not naturally pass by Scylla and
Charybdis on the outward voj^age to Colchis.
^ Medea, princess of Colchis, famous for her powers in
sorcery.
K 2
MINOR LATIN POETS
ut tibi vita foret semper medicamine sacro,
te vellem Aurorae complaeuisse virum.
illius aptus eras croceo recubare ciibili
et, modo puniceum rore lavante torum,
illius aptus eras rosea,s adiungere bigas, ]
tu dare purpurea lora regenda manu,
tu mulcere iubam, cum iam torsisset habenas
procedente die, respicientis equi.
quaesivere chori iuvenum sic Hesperon ilium,
quem nexum medio solvit in igne Venus, 1
quern nunc in fuscis placida sub nocte nitentem
Luciferum contra currere cernis equis.
hie tibi Corycium, casias hie donat olentis,
hie et palmiferis balsama missa iugis.
nunc pretium candoris habes, nunc redditus umbris :
te sumus obliti decubuisse senem. 1
ter Pylium flevere sui, ter Nestora canum,
dicebantque tamen non satis esse senem :
^2® chori SBHAM : thori V. iuvenem n : iuvenum Scaliger.
^^^ infusci BM : infusi Z : in fluscis corr. in fuscis V : infusa
Vollmer. placida H : placide Baehrens : placidus Volbner.
" i.e. caused Hesperos to set; in myth, Hesperos was a fair
youth elevated by Venus into the " Evening-star," which was
by the ancients correctly identified with Phosphoros (Lucifer),
132
r
TWO KLK(;iRS OX MAECENAS
last fi)r ever in virtue of a holy drug, I could wish
thou hadst found favour with Aurora as husband.
Worthy wert thou to recline on her saffron bed, and,
as the morning-dew was just moistening the purple
couch, worthy wert thou to yoke the two steeds to her
rosy car, worthy to give the reins for guidance by the
bright-hued hand, worthy to stroke the mane of the
horse as it looked back (on its nightly course), now that
Aurora had turned the reins at the advance of day.
In such a way did the bands of his youthful
comrades feel the loss of Hesperos, whom \^enus
attached to herself and released in the midst of his
fiery course : ^ thou canst see him now as Lucifer
gleaming in the dark 'neath the stilly night and
charioting his steeds on an opposite course.^ He
it is that presents to thee the Corycian saffron-flower,
he presents the aromatic cinnamon, he too the
balsams sent from palm-growing hills.
Now hast thou, Maecenas, the guerdon of sin-
cerity, now that thou art given to the shades :
we have forgotten that thou didst die an old man.''
His people mourned the King of Pylos, Nestor,
hoary after three generations of life ; and yet they
said he had not fully reached old age. Thou wouldst
the " Morning-star." Actually it is the planet Venus. The
allusion is to the fact that, after a cycle of brilliancy, the
planet's apparent height above the horizon at sunset gradu-
ally diminishes and it sinks into invisibility.
* Lucifer, particularly associated with the East, appro-
priately offers, in honour of Maecenas, fragrant Oriental plants,
crocus from Corycus in Cilicia (Pli-n. X.H. XXI. G. 17), casia
from Arabia Felix {ih. XII. IS, 41), and balsam from Judaea
(Joseph. Ant. Jud. XIV. 4 (7)).
' i.e. we do not realise that you were old when you died,
because in life you ahvays seemed young, and in our thoughts
you still retain the charm of perpetual youth.
^33
MINOR LATIN POETS
Nestoris annosi vicisses saecula, si me
dispensata tibi stamina n-ente forent.
nunc ego, quod possum : " Tellus, levis ossa teneto,
pendula librato pondus et ipsa tuom.
semper serta tibi dabimus, tibi semper odores,
non umquami sitiens, florida semper eris."
II
Sic est Maecenas fato veniente locutus,
frigidus et iam iam cum moriturus erat :
" mene," inquit, " iuvenis primaevi, luppiter, ante
angustam Drusi non cecidisse diem I
pectore maturo fuerat puer, integer aevo
et magnum magni Caesaris illud opus,
discidio vellemque prius " — non omnia dixit
inciditque pudor quae prope dixit amor,
1^° nempe H : nente AM. 1517.
* augustam AR, Vollmer : angustam BHMV, Heinsius. bruti
n : Drusi Franciiis et I.F. Gronovius. Mem Xi, Vollmer: diem
Heinsius.
I
TWO ELEGIF.S OX MAECENAS
have surjiasscd the generations of long-lived Nestor,
if 1 had been spinner to assign thee the threads of
destiny. But as things are, all that I can, I pray :
" O Goddess Earth, light be thy touch on his bones ;
o'erhanging keep thine own weight as in a balance
suspended : so shall we ever give thee wreaths,
and ever fragrances : never shalt thou feel thirst,
but ever be decked with flowers."
II
[Scaliger was the first to distinguish this as a
separate poem : in the MSS. it runs on after Elegia I
without break.]
Thus spoke Maecenas at the coming of fate,
chill on the very brink of death. " Why," said he,
" did I not sink in death, O Jupiter, before young
Drusus' narrow day of life ? He had shown himself
a youth of ripe judgement, a stalwart for his years —
the mighty achievement of mighty Caesar's training."
Would that before our civil strife . . ."* The rest
he never spoke : scruples cut short what affection
nearly said — yet was he clearly understood : '^ dying,
" Caesaris illud opus is used similarly, Consol. ad Liviam,
39.
* Maecenas recalls the hostilities between Octavian Caesar
and Mark Antony.
« ManiJestuJi erat moriens might be taken, with Scaliger,
as a Graecism, 5f;Xos -fiv a-rrodi'TJaKwy, " it was clear he was
dying."
MINOR LATIN POETS
sed manifestus erat : moriens quaerebat amatae
coniugis ample xus oscula verba manus.
" sed tamen hoc satis est : vixi te, Caesar, amico
et morior " dixit, " dum moriorque, satis.
mollibus ex oculis aliquis tibi procidet umor,
cum dicar subita voce fuisse tibi.
hoc mihi contingat : iaceam tellm*e sub aequa.
nee tamen hoc ultra te doluisse velim.
sed meminisse velim : vivam sermonibus illic ;
semper ero, semper si meminisse voles,
et decet et certe vivam tibi semper amore
nee tibi qui moritur desinit esse tuus.
ipse ego quicquid ero cineres interque fa villas,
tunc quoque non potero non memor esse tui.
exemplum vixi te propter moUe beati,
unus Maecenas teque ego propter eram.
arbiter ipse fui ; volui, quod contigit esse ;
pectus eram vere pectoris ipse tui.
vive diu, mi care senex, pete sidera sero :
est opus hoc terris, te quoque velle decet.
et tibi succrescant iuvenes bis Caesare digni
et tradant porro Caesaris usque genus.
^^ potuisse n, : doluisse Heinsius.
-^ beate H : beati Sahnasius.
2* unus n : unctus Maehly.
^^ voluit, q.c. esse, pectus eram VoUmer: voluit fl : volui
Aid. 1517.
136
'nVO ELEGIES OX MAIX I'.XAS
he sought for his beloved wife's enibraees, her kisses,
words and hands :
" Yet after all this is enouu:h," he said, " I have
lived and I die in thy friendship, Caesar ; and, as I die,
it is enouirh. From thy kindly eyes some drop will
fall, when thou art told the sudden news that I am
gone. This be my lot, to lie 'neath the impartial
earth : nor yet would I have thee longer grieve for
this. But I would wish for remembrance : there in
thy talk would I live ; for I shall always exist, if
thou wilt always remember me. 'Tis fitting so,
and I shall surely live for thee in affection ever ;
thy dying friend ceases not to be thine own. Myself,
whatever I shall be among the ashes and the embers,
e'en then I shall not be able to forget Caesar. 'Tis
thanks to thee I have lived the luxurious pattern of
bliss, thanks to thee that I was the one Maecenas of
the day. I was my own controller : I willed to be
what fell to my lot : ^ I was truly the heart of thine
o\\Ti heart.
Long mayest thou live, old friend I love so well;
late mayest thou pass to heaven : the earth hath need
of this : this should be thy will too. May the youths
doubly worthy of Caesar ' grow up to thy support
and thenceforward hand on to the future the house
" A.s captain of his fate, Maecenas did not aim at rising
above his equestrian rank.
* Gains and Lucius, the sons of Agrippa by Julia, were
adopted by Augustus in 17 B.C. as " Caesares." " Doubly "
is variously explained : it may refer to their paternity by
blood and by adoption ; or to their personal qualities
added to adoption; or, as Gorallus thought, simply to the
fact that they were two. Lucius died a.u. 2, and Gaius
A.D. 4.
I
137
MINOR LATIN POETS
sit secura tibi quam primuni Livia coniunx,
explcat amissi munera rupta gener.
cum deus intereris divis insigiiis avitis,
te \^enus in patrio coUocet ipsa sinu."
^^ sit secura tibi H : set tibi secure V : sed tibi sit curae
Ellis.
3^ cum n : turn Wernsdorf : tu Baehrens. in terris CI : in-
tersis Rihbeck : intereris Volhner : cur deus in terris ? Ellis.
3* patrio n : proprio Ribbeck, Riese, Baehrens. ipsa BHM :
alma AR.
138
TWO ELEGIES ON MAECENAS
of Caesar. Right soon may thine Empress Livia
be free from anxiety : let a son-in-hiw fulfil the
broken duties of him who is lost.'' When thou
hast taken thy place, a god distinguished among
a line of deities, let Venus' own hand set thee in the
paternal bosom." ''
" Tiberius is the gre/ier : Agri-p^a,, the gener amissus. In 11
B.C. Augustus had forced Tiberius to divorce Vipsania
Agrippina and marry his daughter Julia, the widow of
Agrippa. This marriage, it is hoped in the couplet 31-32,
will both assure Livia of descendants through her own son
Tiberius and, at the same time, strengthen dynastic prospects
by adding to the number of Augustus' grandchildren, now
that Agrippa is dead.
* i.e. the bosom of Julius Caesar, Augustus' adoptive
father. The reference to ^'enus is appropriate, as the Julian
gens claimed descent from her (Suet. Jul. 6).
139
GRATTIUS
i
INTRODUCTION
|, TO GRATTIUS
The period of Grattius is fixed as Augustan by one
of Ovid's pentameters, Ep. ex Ponio, IV. 16. 34,
" aptaque venanti Grattius arma daret." This is a
specific reference to Grattius' twenty-third line,
whether the reading there be venanti or venandi,
and it places him in a list of Ovid's contemporaries
before a.d. 8. It is possible, though not certain,
that his work was known to Manilius : otherwise,
antiquity is silent about him. If it were as certain
that he borrowed from the Aeneid as it is that he
borrowed from the Georgics, then his work could be
placed between the limits 19 b.c. and a.d. 8. His
title to the epithet Faliscus, reported to have been in
a manuscript now vanished, is not admitted by all.
Nostris Faliscis of 1. 40 does not necessarily imply
that he was a native of Falerii : " any Italian or even
Sicilian might have used the phrase ; and indeed
there is a possibility that he was connected with
Sicily ; for he mentions (435-36) that he had fre-
quently seen ailing dogs dipped in the bituminous
pools of Sicily. Sihis nostris of 137, though taken
by Curcio to mean " our Roman woods," may not
imply more than " our western woods " in contrast
" Among recent writers Volhuer and P. J. Enk are con-
vinced that he was Faliscan.
143
INTRODUCTION
'v\ith the East which Grattius had jast mentioned.
There is more of the Roman note in the allusion to the
simple board of ancient heroes of Rome (321) ; but
it must always be remembered how, from Ennius
onwards, Latin authors born far from the capital
itself tended to speak and \\Tite as Romans. If,
then, we cannot add the descriptive FaUsciis to his
name, it is left *' Grattius "" ^^^thout cognomen or
praenomen.
If Grattius ever ^^Tote lyric poetry,'' it is long since
lost. His sole surviving work is his Cynegetica, of
which we have one book of about 540 hexameters
mutilated towards its end. Here, like several other
\^Titers of antiquity, he treats of the chase and especi-
ally of the rearing and training of dogs for hunting
purposes. The sources of his material are not easy
to trace. ^ Some authorities affirm, while others
deny, his debt to the Cynegeticus of Xenophon (or
pseudo-Xenophon) and to Plutarch. It seems at
least likely that some Greek author of the Alexan-
drian period lay behind his list of dogs, in which the
Asiatic breeds come before the European, with the
" Celtae "'^ sandwiched between " Medi " and
" Geloni " (155-57). The Latin influence which is
most noticeable upon Grattius is that of Virgil,
especially his Georgics.
The debt of subsequent wTiters to Grattius
was of the slightest ; largely for the reason that a
° The spelling Gratius in Ovid is less correct. Buecheler
Eh. Mus. 35 (1880), p. 407 : cf. C.I.L. vi. 19-117 sqq.
* This hypothesis is bricfiy discussed by Enk, prohg. pp.
2—3
" Enk, op. cit. pp. 31-32.
^ Can his Greek original have meant " Galatian " instead
of " Gaulish " ? Radermacher, Rh. Mus. 60 (1905), p. 249.
144
TO GRAITIUS
didactic poem on so restricted a subject had little
chance of a great vogue. Even upon Nemesianus,
who handled the same theme in the third century,
his influence has been doubted. But while Schanz,
Curcio and others hold that Grattius was unknown to
Nemesianus, Enk has made out a good case to support
the belief that the earlier author was consulted bv
the later."
Grattius' method of treatment is, after his proem
(1-23), to treat first (24-149) of the huntsman's
equipment in the means of catching and killing
game, and secondly (150-541) of his companions in
the chase, dogs and horses, Avith a brief sub-section
on the dress to be worn by hunters. The longest
portion is that devoted to dogs (150-496) and it
thus justifies the title of the poem; but, besides
handling their breeds and breeding, their points and
diseases, it is, on the whole fortunately, broken by
episodes. These episodes, although in them rhet-
oric contends with poetry, are enlivening additions
or insertions. They are four, and concern a renowned
hunter Hagnon (213-62) ; the miserable effects of
luxury on human beings (310-25), somewhat quaintly
appended to the prescription of plain fare for dogs ;
a grotto in Sicily (430-66) ; and a sacrifice to Diana
(480-96). The earlier part on nets, devices for
frightening game, on snares, springes, spears and
arrows, is also diversified with episodes, namely, a
eulogy of the chase (61-74) and of the ingenious
hunter Dercylus (95-110). Many readers will wel-
come these digressions as pleasant side-paths ; for
it is not everyone to whom the methods of the
ancient hunter can make appeal. At the same time
" Mnemos. 1917, pp. 53-GS.
145
VOL. I. L
INTRODUCTION
the subject has decidedly antiquarian interest,
and it is only fair to remember that great scholars
of the past, including Julius Caesar, Scaliger and
Nicolaus Heinsius, awarded high praise to Grattius'
elegance.
His well-turned hexameters show that he was an
apt student of \ irgil ; and his alliteration may indi-
cate admiration for still older poets of Rome. There
is also an independent turn in him which shows itself
in his employment of words in unusual senses, e.g.
nodus, 32, of a mesh ; vellera, 77, of feathers ; verutus,
110, of a weapon's teeth; caesaries, 273, of a dog's
hau' ; populari, 376, of spoiling ; dulcedo, 408, of scratch-
ing. There are several a-n-a^ dp-qixira in his poem :
plagium, 24 ; cannabius, 47 ( ? cannahinus, ^^ollmer) ;
praedexter, 68 ; apprensat, 239 ; perpensare, 299 ;
delecta from delicio, 303 (if that be the reading and
not dilecta or even de lade) ; nardifer, 314 ; offectus,
406 ; termiteus, 447.
EDITIONS
G. Logus (de Logau) : Editio princeps (with Ovid's
Halieutica, Nemesianus and Calpurnius). Venice,
1534.
J. Ulitius (van Miet) : In Venatio Novantiqua.
Leyden, 1645, 1655.
Thos. Johnson : Gratii Falisci Cynegeticon (cum poe-
matio Nemesiani). London, 1699.
R. Bruce and S. Havercamp : In Poetae latini rei
venaiicae scriptores et bncolici a?itiqui (cum notis
Barthii, Ulitii, Johnsonii). [Elaborate com-
mentary at end.] Leyden, 1728.
P. Burman : In Poetae latini minores I. Leyden, 1731.
146
TO GRA7TIUS
C. A. Kuttner : Grat'u Cifnegeticon et Nemesiani
Cyneg. (cum notis selectis Titii, Barthii, Ulitii,
Johnsonii et Biirmanni integris). Mitaviae
(= Mitau), 1775.
J. C. Wernsdorf: In Poetae latiiii miiiores I. Alten-
burg, 1780.
R. Stern : Gratii et Nemesiani carmiiia veiiatica . . .
Halle, 1832.
M. Haupt : Ovidii Halieidica, Gratii et Nemesiani
Cynegeiica. [Important as a critical edition.]
Leipzig, 1838.
E. Baehrens : In Poetae latini minores I. Leipzig,
1879.
G. Curcio : In Poeti latini minori I. Acireale, 1902.
J. P. Postgate : In Corpus poeianim latinorum II.
London, 1905.
F. VoUmer: In Poetae latini minores II. 1. Leipzig,
1911.
P. J. Enk : Gratti Cynegeticon quae supersunt (cum
proleg., not. crit., comm. exeget.). [A learned
edition sho^v1ng genuine appreciation of
Grattius.] Zutphen, 1918.
TRANSLATION
Grati Falisci Cynegeticon, or a poem on hunting
by Gratius the Faliscian, Englished and illus-
trated by Chris. Wase, w. commendatory poem
by Edmund Waller. London, 1654.
RELEVANT WORKS
Th. Birt : Ad historiam hexametri latini symhola,
diss. Bonn, 1876.
147
IXTRODUCTION TO GRATTIUS
Fr. Buecheler : Coniectanea in Rhein. Mus. 35 (1880),
p. 407 [defends spelling " Grattius "].
Robinson Ellis : Ad G?'attii Cyneg. in Philolog. 52
(1894).
H. Schenkl : Zur Kritik laid Ueherlief. des Grattius u.
a?idere?i lateinischeii Dichter?i, Teubner [= Fleck.
Jahrb. Suppl. xxiv. 1898 pp. 387-480).
L. Radermacher : Interpretationes latinae in Rhein.
Mus. 60 (1905), pp. 246-49.
G. Pierleoni : Fu poeta Grattius? in Riv. Jil. 1906,
pp. 580-97. [A depreciatory criticism on
Grattius' style, answered by P. J. Enk in the
Prolegomena to his edition.]
F. \^ollmer : art. Grattius in Pauly-Wissowa, Real-
encifcl.
J. Herter: Grattianum in Rhein. Mus. (N. F. 78),
1929, pp. 361-70.
A. J. Butler : Sport in Classic Times. London, 1930.
[A fuller list is given in P. J. Enk's edn., 1918.]
SIGLA
A = codex Vindobonensis lat. 277 : saec. ix.
B = ex A descriptus : " Parisinus lat. 8071 : saec. ix.
Sann.^ emendationes factae a Giacomo Sannazaro
in apographis quae extant in codice Mndob.
lat. 277 fol. 74-83 et in codice Vindob. lat.
3261 fol. 43-72.
Ald.^ editio princeps, anno 1534 a Georgio de
Logau curata.
" L. Traube, in Berlin, philol. Wochenschriff, 1896, p. 1050.
As a copy of A, B does not give independent evidence. It
contains lines 1-159.
148
I
I
GRATTI CYNEGETICON
Dona cano divom, laetas venantibus artis,
auspicio, Diana, tuo. prius omnis in armis
spes fuit et nuda silvas virtute movebant
inconsulti homines \dtaque erat error in omni.
post alia propiore via meliusque profecti
te sociam, Ratio, rebus sumpsere gerendis.
hinc omne auxilium vitae rectusque reluxit
ordo et contiguas didicere ex artibus artis
proserere, hinc demens cecidit violentia retro,
sed primum auspicium deus artibus altaque circa
firmamenta dedit ; turn partis quisque secutus
exegere suas tetigitque industria finem.
2 inermis Barth {in not. " forte legend.") : in armis A.
GRATTIUS
THE CHASE
Under thine auspices, Diana, do I chant the drifts
of the gods " — the skill that has made the huntersglad.
Erstwhile their sole hope lay in their weapons : ^ men
untrained stirred the woods with prowess unaided by
skill : •" mistakes beset life everywhere. Afterwards,
by another and a more fitting way,*^ with better
schooling they took thee, Reason, to aid their enter-
prises. From Reason came all their help in life : the
true order of things shone forth : men learned out of
arts to produce kindi'ed arts : from Reason came the
undoing of mad violence. But 'twas a divinity who
gave the first favouring impulse to the arts, putting
around them their deep-set props : then did every
man work out the portions of his choice, and industry
" Like Xenophon or the pseudo-Xenophon, Cyn. ad init.
10 fj.'kv frprifua deiy k T.A.. , Grattius claims a diviiie origin for
hunting.
* Good sense is got without taking armis from armi,
" members," as Vollmer does with Barth, Burman and others.
A. E. Housman, CI. Rev. U (1900), 465-66, and P. J. Enk, in
his edn. 1918, take armis from arma.
" Xuda virtute : rf. 153 nudo marte contrasted with ex
arte.
^ i.e. by training they attained to a more convenient and
suitable method (via) than the old haphazard hunting. For
sense of propior cf. Cic. ad Alt. XIV. xix., }ios alium port tun
propiorem huic aetati videbamus.
15'
I
MINOR LATIN POETS
tu trepidam bello vitam, Diana, ferino,
qua primam quaerebat opem, dignata repertis
protegere auxiliis orbemque hac solvere noxa.
adscivere tuo coniites sub nomine divae
centum : omnes nemiorum, umentes de fontibus
omnes
Naides, et Latii (satyi'i) Faunus<que subibant)
Maenaliusque puer domitrixque Idaea leonum
mater et inculto Silvanus termite gaudens.
his ego praesidibus nostram defendere sortem
contra mille feras et non sine carmine iussus,
carmine et arma dabo et venandi persequar artis.
armorum casses plagiique exordia restes.
prima iubent tenui nascentem iungere filo
limbum et quadruplicis tormento adstringere limbos :
1" gentem Badermacher, Schenkl, Vollmer: centem A:
mentem Haupt : centum B ex. corr., Postgate, Enk.
1* sic Enk : Faunusque subibat Vollmer in not. : iuvabant
vel favebant Herter : Latii cult or qui Faunus amoeni Aid.
^^ lusus A : nisus Ulitius : iussus Graevius. post v. 23 vid-
ervtiir VoUmero restituendi vv. 61-74.
23 et venandi A : venanti et Ulitius. cf. Ov. ex Pordo IV.
xvi. 34 cum . . . aptaque venanti Grattius arma daret.
^* plagii sic A {vocabidum a plaga formatum). exordia restes
Vollmer : exordiar estis A : exordiar astus Aid. et vulgo.
152
GRA'ITIUS
attained its fro:i\. Tlie life that was imperilled hy
warfare against wild beasts, where most it needed
help, thou, Diana, didst deign to shield with aids of
thy discovery, and to free the world from harm so
great. Under thy name the goddesses joined to
them a hundred comrades : " all the nymphs of the
groves, all the Naiads dripping from the springs,
and Latium's satyrs and the Faun-god came in sup-
port ; Pan, too, the youth of the Arcadian mount,
and the Idaean Mother, Cybele, who tames the
lions, and Silvanus rejoicing in the wilding bough.
I by these guardians ordained — and not without
song — to defend our human lot against a thousand
beasts, with song too will furnish weapons and pursue
the arts of the chase.
The beginning of hunting equipment consists in
nets and the ropes of the snare.'^ First of all, experts
prescribe that the rope along the edge of the
net be twined, at the start, of thin thread and then
fourfold strands be drawn tight to form the twist ; '^
" Herter, Rhein. Mus., 78 (1929), p. 366, takes centum with
divae.
* With lines 24-60, 75-94, on hunting-nets, cf. Xen. Cyn. ii.
3-8 ; Arrian, Cyn. 1 ; Pollux, Onomast. V. 26-32; Oppian, Cyn.
1. 150-51 ; Xemes. Cyn. 299 sqq. The Latin rete {d.KTuov) means
net in general, or specifically a large "haj^"; plaga {^voZiov)
means a net placed in the known run or track of the game ;
cassis [iipKiis) means a funnel-shaped net resembling, accord-
ing to Pollux, a KeKpvcpaXos {reikuluui) — Avhich may be applied
either to a network cap for the hair or to the bag-shaped
reticule, pouch or belly of a hunting-net.
"^ Li tabus, the rope along the edge of the net, corresponds
to the Tovo? in Xen. Cyn. x. 2, Pollux V. 27. Grattius uses
limhi, the plural, for the fila linea out of which the litnhus is
made {Limbns yrandis et capitalis linea ilia est cvi minores
litnhi quadrangulo sinuamine circurnstringuntur, Barth).
153
MINOR LATIN POETS
ilia operum patiens, ilia usus linea longi.
tunc ipsum e medio cassem quo nascitur ore
per senos circum usque sinus laqueabis, ut omni
concipiat tergo, si quisquam est plurimus, hostem.
at bis vicenos spatium praetendere passus
rete velim plenisque decern consurgere nodis ;
ingrati maiora sinus impendia sument.
optima Cinyphiae, ne quid cunctere, paludes
lina dabunt ; bonus Aeolia de valle Sibyllae
fetus et aprico Tuscorum stuppea campo
messis contiguum sorbens de flumine rorem,
qua cultor Latii per opaca silentia Thybris
labitur inque sinus magno venit ore marinos,
at contra nostris imbellia lina Faliscis
Hispanique alio spectantur Saetabes usu.
vix operata suo sacra ad Bubastia lino
velatur sonipes aestivi turba Canopi :
ipse in materia damnosus candor inerti
ostendit longe fraudem atque exterruit hostis.
at pauper rigid custos Alabandius horti
cannabi<(n)as nutrit silvas, quam commoda nostro
armamenta operi. gravis {est)> tutela, sed illis
tu licet Haemonios includas retibus ursos.
tantum ne subeat vitiorum pessimus umor
» Ingrati is predicative : " Thankless {i.e. profitless) wil
be the nets that demand greater expense."
154
I
GRATTIUS
that makes a length to stand its work; that will
serve many a day. The snare itself, at the central
mouth which it has when being made, you must
entangle all round with six pouches so that in the
whole cavity it may catch the savage quarry, how-
ever big he is. But I should have the whole net
extend forty paces in length and rise ten full meshes
in height from the ground. Nets likely to cost more
outlay are unremunerative."
The Cinyphian marshes,^ doubt it not, \vi\\ yield
excellent thread-material ; there is fine produce from
the Aeolian valley ^ of the Sibyl, and there is the
flax harvest on the sunny Tuscan meadow drinking
in the neighbouring moisture from the river, where
Tiber that fertilises Latium glides through the shady
silences and meets with mighty mouth the gulfs
of the sea. But on the other hand om- Falerians
have flax-crops unfit for conflict, and (those of)
the Spanish Saetabes are tested by a different
use.*^ The dancing crowds of sultry Canopus ^ are
scarcely veiled by their transparent native linen when
sacrificing in the ritual at Bubastis : its very white-
ness, ruinous in a material useless for nets, reveals
the deceit afar off and frightens away the beasts.
Yet the poor guardian of a well-watered estate at
Alabanda/ can rear a growth of hemp, right fitting
equipment for this task of ours. Burdensome is
the care needed, but you may entrap within such
toils the bears of Thessaly. Only, first take pains
that no moisture, worst of plagues, steal thereon:
I
* In North Africa between the two Syrtcs.
*■ At Cumae on the Bay of Naples.
** i.e. are unsuitable for nets.
' In Egypt. In Caria, Asia Minor.
55
MINOR LATIN POETS
ante cave : non est umentibus usus in armis,
nulla fides, ergo seu pressa fluniina valle
inter opus crassaeque malum fecere paludes
sive improvisus caelo perfuderit imber,
ilia vel ad flatus Helices oppande serenae
vel caligineo laxanda reponite fumo.
idcirco et primas linorum tangere messes
ante vetant quam maturis accenderit annum
ignibus et claro Plias se prompserit ortu.
imbiberint : tanto respondet longior usus.
magmmi opus et tangi, nisi cura vincitur, impar.
nonne vides veterum quos prodit fabula rerum
semideos — illi aggeribus temptare superbis
caeli iter et matres ausi <(a)ttrectare deorum —
quam magna mercede meo sine munere silvas
impulerint ? flet adhuc et porro flebit Adonin
victa Venus ceciditque suis Ancaeus in armis
(et praedexter erat geminisque securibus ingens).
ipse deus cultorque feri Tirynthius orbis,
^^ clausaeque Barth : causaeque A : crassaeque SaJin.^, Aid.
^^ prompserit Sann. : promiserit A.
*" imbiberit A : -int Burman.
^* Jr& fr&a {sic = iret freta contra metrum) A : ire freta
et Ulitius, Johnson, Stern et alii: aethera turn Heinsius :
aethera et ad Haupt : sidera et ad (ad cu77i treetare per tmesin)
Vollmer : caeli iter et Enk. : ausi Heinsius : ausit A. treetare
A : tractare Sann. : <a)>ttrectare Heinsius.
156
GRATTIUS
in damp e(jiiipment there is no use, no dependence.
Therefore, whether streams in a narrow valley and
sluggish swamps have Avrought harm amid the
hunter's task, or unforeseen rain from heaven shall
have drenched the nets, either unfold them to face
the northern breezes of serene Helice" or set them
in murky smoke to slacken. For such reasons too
it is forbidden to touch the first crops of flax before
the Pleiad '' has kindled the year with ripening fires
and appeared in its brilliant rising. If nets drink
in breeze or smoke,'' their longer service answers
accordingly.
The chase is a mighty task, unfit to be handled,
save it is mastered by pains.'^ Do you not see
the demigods whom old mythic lore records (they
dared on proud-piled mountains to essay the way
to heaven ^ and assault the mothers of the gods)
— at what mighty cost they hunted the wood-
lands without the boon of my teaching ? Venus,
baffled, still weeps and long wiW weep Adonis :
Ancaeus/ fell, arms in hand (yet was he right skilful
and imposing with the double axe). The god him-
self, he of Tiryns, who civilised a barbarous world,
" Ursa Major.
* Summer began with the rising of the constellation of the
Seven Pleiades (Lat. Vergiliae), and winter with their setting.
' i.e. si Una imbiberint flatus velfumum : cf. 55-56.
'^ Lines 61-74 are by some editors transposed to follow
either 23 or 24.
' Unsatisfying attempts have been made to read irefreta and
explain it as applicable either to the giants traversing the
ocean of the sky in their attack on heaven or even to the
Argonauts crossing the sea, which is Curcio's strange sugges-
tion.
^ A son of Neptune and an Argonaut, who, like Adonis,
was killed by a boar.
MINOR LATIN POETS
quern mare, quern tellus, quern praeceps ianua Ditis
omnia temptantem, qua laus erat obvia, passa est,
hinc decus et famae primum impetravit honorem.
exige, si qua meis respondet ab artibus, ergo,
gratia quae vires fallat collata ferinas.
sunt quibus immundo decerptae vulture plumae
instrumentum operis fuit et non parva facultas.
tantum inter nivei iungantur vellera cygni,
et satis armorum est. haec clara luce coruscant
terribiles species, at vulture dirus ab atro
turbat odor silvas meliusque alterna valet res.
sed quam clara tuis et pinguis pluma sub armis,
tam mollis tactu et non sit creberrima nexu,
ne reprensa suis properantem linea pennis
implicet atque ipso mendosa coarguat usu.
hie magis in cervos valuit metus ; ast ubi lentae
interdum Libyco fucantur sandyce pennae
linteaque expositis lucent anconibus arma,
rarum si qua metus eludet belua falsos.
nam fuit et laqueis aliquis curracibus usus :
'1 ohvia Sann.: obula A. passiA, VoUmer: ipassa. est Haupf .
GRATTIUS
to whom sea «ind earth and the sheer gateway of
Phito yielded as he essayed all things where glory's
path lay open, even he (Hercules) won from the chase
the chiefest ornament and honour of his fame.
Consider, then, what benefit, derived from the arts
I treat, can trick the strong beasts when matched
against them.
Some hunters have found in plumes plucked from
the filthy vulture a handy means of working and no
slight help. Only, at intervals along the line there
must be added the down of the snow-white swan,
and that is implement enough : the white feathers
glitter in clear sunlight, formidable appearances for
game,^' whereas the dread stench from the black
vulture disturbs the forest-creatures ; and the contrast
of colour works the better effect. But, while the
plumage hanging from your device has its bright
gleam or heavy scent, let it be at the same time soft
to handle and not very closely entwined, so that the
cord when pulled in will not entangle you with its
feathers in your hurry and by its faultiness convict
you in the very using. This device of terror has more
use against stags ; but when the pliant feathers are
sometimes dyed with African vermilion and the
flaxen cord gleams from its projecting forks,'' it is
rare for any beast to escape the counterfeit terrors.
Yes, and there is also some use in " running "
" The linea pinnis distincta intended to drive game into
snares was called a "formido" {of. metus, 85); Sen. Dial. iv.
11.5; PA^erfm 46-48 ; Virg. 6'. III. 372; Lucan IV. 437-38.
* The ancon {ayi<u)v) was a forked pole on which to spread
nets. A pure Latin term for a similar trestle was the ames
of Hor. Ejpod. ii. 33 : cf. varae, Lucan, Phars. IV. 439 ; and
in Greek crTdkiKes, araKiSfs, or crxaXiSes; Xen. Cyn. ii. 7,
Oppian, Cyn. I. 151.
159
I
MINOR LATIN POETS
cervino iussere magis contexere nervo ;
fraus teget insidias habitu mentita ferino.
quid qui dentatas iligno robore clausit
venator pedicas ? quam dissimulantibus armis
saepe habet imprudens alieni lucra laboris !
o felix; tantis quern primum industria rebus
prodidit auctorem I deus ille an proxima divos
mens fuit, in caecas aciem quae magna tenebras
egit et ignarum perfudit lumine vulgus ?
die age Pierio, fas est, Diana, ministro.
Arcadimii stat fama senem, quem Maenalus auctor
et Lacedaemoniae primum vidistis Amyclae
per non adsuetas metantem retia valles
Dercylon. haut illo quisquam se iustior egit,
haut fuit in terris divom observantior alter :
ergo ilium primis nemorum dea finxit in arvis
auctoremque operi digna{ta) inseribere magno
iussit adire suas et pandere gentibus artes.
ille etiam valido primus venabula dente
induit et proni moderatus vulneris iram
omne moris excepit onus ; tum stricta verutis
^'^^ auctor A : altor Turnebus, Postgate.
^"^ haud Sann. : aut A.
^°* hau fuit Baekrens : au fuit A : aut (t dehta) fuit Paris.
8071.
1 60
GiLvrrius
nooses : " it is rcconiincndcd to compose these of
deer's leather preferably : the deceit will cloak the
snare through falsely suggesting a creature of the
wild.'' What of the hunter who to his toothed
springe adds an oaken stake ? How often, thanks to
these tricksome devices, does one unexpectedly reap
the fruit of another's toil ! '^
Fortunate the man whose industry made him first
inventor of arts so great ! Was he a god or was that
mind close kin to the gods which mightily sped its
clear gaze into blind darkness and flooded the unin-
structed crowd with light ? Come speak, Diana,
for 'tis heaven's will, unto a servant of the Mases.
The story stands secure that it was an old Arcadian
whom you, Maenalus, his witness, and you, Lacedae-
monian Amyclae, first saw laying out hunting-nets
in unaccustomed vales — Dercylos his name. Never
did man bear himself more justly than he : on earth
there was no other more regardful of the gods. He
then it was whom the goddess fashioned in primeval
fields,'^ and deigning to inscribe him as author of a
mighty work, she enjoined him to go and unfold her
own arts to the nations. He was the first also to dress
hunting-spears with a strong tooth, and, controlling
the angry onslaught of a forward thrust, to receive
all the (boar's) weight on projecting spear-guards.^
" Enk, pp. 36-38, has a full note on different interpretations
of laquei curraces.
* i.e. the cervinus iiermis wiU have the smell of the cervus.
" An animal partly lamed or dragging with it the robur
would be easily caught.
^ Arcadia.
' The term morae is applied to projecting metal alae or
orfce.s- fixed behind the spear-head so as to hinder the spear
from going too deeply into the beast.
i6i
VOL. I. M
MINOR LATIN POETS
dentibus et geniina subiere hastilia furca
et quidam totis clauserunt ensibus <hastas),
ne cessaret iners in vulnere massa ferino.
blandinienta vagae fugies novitatis : ibidem
exiguo nimiove nocent. sed lubricus errat 1
mos et ab expertis festinant usibus omnes.
quid, Macetum immensos libeat si dicere contos ?
quani longa exigui spicant hastilia dentes !
aut contra ut tenero destrictas cortice virgas
praegravat ingenti pernix Lucania cultro ! 1:
omnia tela modi melius finxere salubres.
quoeirca et iaculis habilem perpendimus usum,
ne leve vulnus eat neu sit brevis impetus illi.
ipsa arcu Lyeiaque suos Diana pharetra
armavit comites : ne tela relinquite divae : 1:
magnum opus et volueres quondam fecere sagittae.
disce agedum et validis dilectum hastilibus omnem.
plurima Threiciis nutritur vallibus Hebri
cornus et umbrosae \ eneris per litora myrtus
taxique pinusque Altinatesque genestae 1
112 post ensibus nihil in A: orbes male add. Aid.: tortis
. . . hastas //. Schenkl.
11' dicere A : ducere Baekrens.
12° praegravat Aid. : -av& A.
123 neu leve A : ne leve Sann.
162
r.UA'ITlUS
Later, there succeeded to them ^veapons furnished
with spit-Hke teeth and twofold fork, and some
gave their spear-ends a rinc^ of sharp points to
prevent the thick steel remaining inactive in the
wounded quarry.'' You are to shun the allurements
of fleeting novelty : in this same field of hunting they
do harm by a small or excessive size of spear. But
slippery fashion goes its wandering round, and all
men are in liaste to discard usages which have been
tried. What if I choose to speak of the enormous
Macedonian pikes ? How long are the shafts and how
small the teeth which furnish their spikes ! Or, on
the other hand, how does nimble Lucania overload
with a huge point thin rods stripped of their tender
bark ! All weapons have been the better fashioned
by healthy moderation. Wherefore for javelins
too we weigh thoroughly their manageable handling,
lest their wounding power speed lightly or the
weapon's force fall short. '^ Diana herself armed her
o\\-n comrades with bow and Lycian quiver : abandon
ye not the weapons of the goddess : once on a day
great work was WTOught by swift arrows.
Now, moreover, learn the whole range of choice for
strong spears. The cornel tree grows abundantly
in the Thracian valleys of the Hebrus ; there are
shady myrtles along the shores of Venus ; *^ there are
yew trees and pines and the broom-plants of
Altinum,'^ and the lopped bough more likely to help
" The sharp points would make the wound worse.
* Vulnus is used of the weapon which wounds in Virg. Aen.
IX. 74.5, X. 140; Sil. Ital. I. 397; Val. Flacc. III. 197. llli
sc, vulneri i.e. iacido.
' i.e. in CVprus.
"* On the Adriatic shore, not far from Vemce.
163
MINOR LATIN POETS
et niagis incomptos opera iuturus agrestis
termes. ab Eois descendit virga Sabaeis
mater odorati multum pulcherrima turis :
ilia suos usus intractatiimque deeorem
(sic nenioruRi iussere deae) na.talibus hausit
arbitriis ; at enim multo sunt ficta labore
cetera quae silvis errant hastilia nostris :
numquam sponte sua procerus ad aera termes
exiit inque ipsa cm-vantur stirpe genestae.
ergo age luxuriam primo fetusque nocentis
detrahe : frondosas gravat indulgentia silvas.
post ubi proceris generosa(m) stirpibus arbor
se dederit teretisque ferent ad sidera \irgae,
stringe notas circum et gemmantis exige versus.
his, si quis \-itium nociturus sufficit umor,
ulceribus fluet et venas durabit inertis.
in quinos sublata pedes hastilia plena
caede manu, dum pomiferis advertitur annus
frondibus et tepidos autumnus continet imbres.
sed cur exiguis tantos in partibus orbes J
lustramus ? prima ilia canum, non ulla per artis
cura prior, sive indomitos vehementior hostis
nudo marte premas seu bellum ex arte ministres.
^^^ in comptos A : in contos Johnson, opera A : superat
Stern. lutores A : lotaster Johnson : iuturus Sudhaus.
agstis (-st- ex -rt- corr.) A : agrestis Sann.
^^^ avertitur Volbner : advertitur A.
164
(iUATTlUS
with its service the uncouth country-folk. From the
Arabians in the East comes the branch that is far
the fairest mother of fragrant frankincense : it draws
from the hiws of its birth (so have the goddesses of
the groves ordained) its own uses and its natural
shapeHness ; but it is only with much toil that the other
stems widely grown in our western woods are fashioned
into spear-shafts. Never did bough of its own accord
rise tall into the air ; and the broom curves even in
its lower stem. Come, then, strip off at once the
excessive growth and harmful branches : indulgence
overloads trees with leaves. Later, when the tree
proves its goodliness in its tall stems and the shapely
branches tend starwards, cut round the places where
suckers start and remove the rows of sprouting
branches. If any sap of an injurious sort causes
harm, it will flow out of these wounds and so harden
the weak veins. When the shafts have risen to
a height of five feet, cut them with full grasp,
while the year approaches the season of fruit-
laden leafage and autumn holds back the warm
showers.
But why do we traverse these wide rounds amidst
small details ? The foremost care is that of dogs ; "
no other care comes before that throughout the whole
system of hunting, whether you energetically
pursue the untamed quarry with bare force or use
skill to manage the conflict. Dogs belong to a
" On dogs generally see Xen. Cyn. iii-iv, vii ; Aristotle, Hist.
An. 574a 16 sqq. and passim; Arr. Cyn. 2 sqq.; Poll. Onom.
V. .37 sqq.; Geoponica (lOth cent.) xix. 1 sqq.; Virg. G. III.
404 sqq. ; Varro, Ji.R. II. 9 ; Piin. X.H. VIII. 142 sqq. ; Colum.
B.R. VII. 12-13; Xernes. Cyn. 103 sqq.; Oppian, Cyn. I. 308-
588; Claud. Stil. III. 298-301.
165
MINOR LATIN POETS
mille canuni patriae ductique ab origine mores
quoique sua. magna indocilis dat proelia Medus
magnaqiie diversos extollit gloria Celt as.
arma negant contra martemque odere Geloni,
sed natura sagax : Perses in utroque paratus.
sunt qui Seras alant, genus intractabilis irae ;
at contra faciles magnique Lycaones armis.
sed non Hyrcano satis est vehementia gentis
tanta suae : petiere ultro fera semina siMs ;
dat Venus accessus et blando foedere iungit.
tunc et mansuetis tuto ferus errat adulter
in stabulis ultroque gravem succedere tigrin
ausa cards maiore tulit de sanguine fetum.
sed praeceps \-irtus : ipsa venabitur aula
ille tibi et pecudum multo cum sanguine crescet.
pasce tamen : quaecumque domi sibi crimina fecit,
excutiet silva magnus pugnator adepta.
at fugit adversos idem quos repperit hostis
Umber : quanta fides utinam et sollertia naris,
tanta foret virtus et tantum vellet in armis !
quid, fret a si Morinum dubio refluentia pont<(o)
veneris atque ipsos libeat penetrare Britanno^s) ?
" i.e. the breeds are innumerable : cf. Oppian, Cy^. I. 400,
TO Se jJLVpla (pv\a ireKovTai.
* A Sarmatian tribe in the region of the modem Ukraine.
'^ In pugnacity and sagacity.
^ Or, possibly, Tibetan.
" British dogs were, Strabo tells us, IV. v. 2 (C 199), ex-
ported as eixpuels irphs ras Kvurjyeaias. Cf. Nemes. 225, divisa
i66
(iRA'mUS
thousand hinds " and they each have characteristics
derived from their origin. The Median dog, thouirh
undiscipHned, is a great fighter, and great glory
exalts the fiir-distant Celtic dogs. Those of the
Geloni,^ on the other hand, shirk a combat and dis-
like fighting, but they have wise instincts : the
Persian is quick in both respects/ Some rear
Chinese'^ dogs, a breed of unmanageable ferocity;
but the Lycaonians, on the other hand, are easy-
tempered and big in limb. The Hyrcanian dog,
however, is not content with all the energy belonging
to his stock : the females of their own M'ill seek unions
with wild beasts in the woods : \'^enus grants them
meetings and joins them in the alliance of love.
Then the savage paramour wanders safely amid the
pens of tame cattle, and the bitch, freely daring to
approach the formidable tiger, produces offspring of
nobler blood. The whelp, however, has headlong
courage : you will find him a-hunting in the very yard
and growing at the expense of much of the cattle's
blood. Still you should rear him: whatever enorm-
ities he has placed to his charge at home, he will
obliterate them as a mighty combatant on gaining
the forest. But that same Umbrian dog which has
tracked wild beasts flees from facing them. Would
that with his fidelity and shrewdness in scent he
could have corresponding courage and corresponding
will-power in the conflict ! What if you visit the
straits of the Morini, tide-swept by a wayward sea,
and choose to penetrate even among the Britons ? ^
Brilatmin mittit Veloces nostrique orbis venntibus aptos : Claud.
Stil. III. 301, mngnaqiLe taurorum fracturae colla Britaiinac.
The Morini were northern Gauls whose chief town Gesoriacum
became Bononia (i3oulognc).
167
MINOR LATIN POETS
o quanta est merces et quantum impendia supra !
si non ad speciem mentiturosque decores
pronus es (haec una est catulis iactura Britannis),
at magnum cum venit opus promendaque virtus
et vocat extreme praeceps discrimine Mavors : 1^
non tunc egregios tantum admirere Mol<(os)s<os).
comparat hxis versuta suas Athamania <(gentes)>
Azorusque Pheraeque et clandestinus Acar<nan) :
sicut Acarnanes subierunt proelia furto,
sic canis ilia suos taciturna supervenit hostis. 15
at clangore citat quos nondum conspicit apros
Aetola quaecumque canis de stirpe : malignum
officium, sive ilia metus con\dcia rupit
seu frustra nimius properat favor, et tamen ill<(ud)
ne vanum totas genus pcspernere per artis : 19
mirum quam celeres et quantum nare merentur,
turn non est victi quoi concessere labori.
idcirco variis miscebo gentibus usum ;
quondam inconsultis mater dabit Umbrica Gallis
^■^8 pronis {ut sit principiian parenthesi) Vollmer : pronuis
A, Postgate, ana^ iipvfj-^vov : pronus es H. SchenJcl : protinus
Sann. et vulgo, extra jMrenthe^iyi.
1^2 jinis versus periit in A : fraudes add. AM. : gentes
Vollmer.
^^^ Azorusque Wernsdorf : Acirusque A.
^^^ furor A, Burm., Wernsdorf, Stern: favor Grojiov, John-
son : cf. 230 favore, 240 faventem.
i68
GRATTIUS
O how great your reward, how great your gain
beyond any outlays ! If you are not bent on looks
and deceptive graces (this is the one defect of the
British whelps), at any rate when serious Avork has
come, when bravery must be shown, and the impetuous
War-god calls in the utmost hazard, then you could
not admire the renoA\Tied Molossians" so much.
With these last * cunning Athamania compares her
breeds ; as also do Azorus, Pherae and the furtive
Acarnanian : just as the men of Acarnania steal
secretly into battle, so does the bitch surprise her
foes without a sound. But any bitch of Aetolian
pedigree rouses ^vith her yelps the boars which she
does not yet see — a mischievous service, whether
it is that fear makes these savage sounds break out
or excessive eagerness speeds on uselessly. And
yet you must not despise that breed as useless in all
the accomplishments of the chase : they are marvel-
lously quick, marvellously efficient in scent ; besides,
there is no toil to which they yield defeated. Con-
sequently, I shall cross the advantages of different
breeds : — one day an Umbrian mother will give to
the unskilled Gallic pups '^ a smart disposition ;
" Molossian dogs are frequently mentioned in ancient
literature: e.g. An&to^h.. Thesm. 4:\Q', Poll. V. 37; 0pp. C'yn.
I. 375; Plaut. Capt. 86; Luer. V. 1063; Virg. G. III. 405;
Hor. Epod. vi. 5 ; Sat. II. vi. 114 : Luean IV. 440 ; Sen. Phaedra,
33; Stat. Theh. III. 203, Silv. II. vi. 19; Ach. I. 747; Mart.
XII. i. 1; Claud. Stil. II. 215, III. 293; Xem. Cyn. 107.
* It seems appropriate to take his of Molossian dogs rather
than of British, as the proper names refer to neighboui'ing
districts of Epirus, Thessaly, Aetolia and Acarnania. Atha-
mania is a district in Epirus near the Pindus range.
•■ Cf. the qualities suggested in 171-73, and 156. " Galhc "
in 194 may mean " Galatian" : see Introduction.
169
MINOR LATIN POETS
sensum agilem, traxere animos de patre Gelonae
Hyrcano et vanae tantum Calydonia linguae
exibit vitium patre emendata Molosso.
scilicet ex omiii florem virtute capessunt
et sequitur natura favens. at te leve si qua
ta<(n)>git opus pavidosque iuvat compellere dorcas
aut versuta sequi leporis vestigia parvi,
Petronios (haec fama) canes volucresque Sycambros
et pictam macula Vertraham delige flava :
ocior affectu mentis pennaque cucurrit,
sed premit inventas, non inventura latentis
ilia feras, quae Petroniis bene gloria constat.
quod si maturo pressantes gaudia lusu
dissimulare feras tacitique accedere possent,
illis omne decus, quod nunc, metagontes, habetis,
constaret : silva sed virtus irrita damno est.
at vestrum non vile genus, non patria. vulgo
1^^ tantum A : natum Stern.
2^2 cani Ilaupt : cana A : Petroniost haec fama cani VoUmer.
203 vertraham sic A : cf. Mart. XIV. cc. falsa A : flava
vel fulva Johnson.
21° ante silva primus distinxit Baehrens.
170
(iUATTlUS
})U})pics of a Gelonian mother have drawn spirit
from a Hyrcanian sire ; " and Calydonia,'' good only
at pointless barking, will lose the defect when im-
proved by a sire from Molossis. In truth, the off-
spring cull the best from all the excellence of the
parents, and kindly nature attends them. But
if in any wise a light sort of hunting captivates you,
if your taste is to hunt the timid antelope or to follow
the intricate tracks of the smaller hare, then you
should choose Petronian <^ dogs (such is their reputa-
tion) and swift Sycambrians ^ and the \'ertraha ^
coloured with yellow spots — swifter than thought or a
winged bird it runs, pressing hard on the beasts it
has found, though less likely to find them when they
lie hidden ; this last is the well-assured glory of the
Petronians. If only the latter could restrain their
transports until the completion of their sport, if they
could affect not to be aware of their prey and approach
without barking, they would be assured all the honour
which you dogs of the metagon f breed now hold :
as it is, in the forest ineffectual spirit means loss.
But you metagontes have no ignoble pedigree or home.
" Cf. 157-58 and 101-63.
* i.e. Aetolia : cf. 186-92.
« Petroni : possibly dogs workable on stony ground (petra).
^ Sycamhri, a tribe of VVestern Germany near the Rhine.
* Perhaps Vertagra : cf. Italian veltro, a greyhound.
MSS. of Martial, XIV. cc. 1 give the forms yer/mc^^s, vertdgu.s,
vetrdgus. The word seems to be Celtic : Arrian, Cyneg. 3. 6,
al Se irohwKiis Kvves at KeKriKal KaKovvrai jxkv oueprpayoi (pvvri
TTj K6\Ta;f ... It has sometimes been explained as a
"tumbler" dog that inveigled game by rolling himself into a
heap to disguise his appearance.
^ The fiirdycov is mentioned only by Grattius. Burman
suggested the word implied the tracking of game : Ulitius
and Curcio take it of the cross-breediiig of the dog.
171
MINOR LATIN POETS
Sparta suos et Creta suos promittit alumnos :
sed primum celsa lorum cervice ferentem,
Glympice, te silvis egit Boeotius Hagnon,
Hagnon Astylides, Hagnon. quern plurima semper 1
gratia per nostros unum testabitur usus.
hie trepidas artis et vix no\itate sedentes
vidit qua propior peteret via nee sibi turbam
contraxit comitem nee vasa tenentia longe :
unus praesidium atque operi spes magna petito '
adsumptus metagon lustrat per nota ferarum
pascua, per fontes, per quas trivere latebras.
primae lucis opus : turn signa vapore ferino
intemerata legens si qua est qua fallitur eius
turba loci, maiore secat spatia extera gyro ; i
atque hie egressu iam tum sine fraude reperto
incubuit, spatiis qualis permissa Lechaeis
Thessalium quadriga decus, quam gloria patrum
excitat et primae spes ambitiosa coronae.
sed ne qua ex nimio redeat iactura favore, S
2^2 Sparta suos A : Sparte vos Baehrens : Sparte quos
H. Schenkl.
2^^ peteret viam A : patuit via Aid. : ferret via Baehrens.
172
GRATTIUS
Sparta," by common report, and Crete'' alike claim
you iis their own nurslino:s. But, Glympic '^ hound,
you were the first to wear leash on high-poised neck
and he that followed you in the forest was the Boeotian
Hagnon, Hagnon son of Astylos, Hagnon, to whom our
abundant gratitude shall bear witness as pre-eminent
in our practice of the chase. He saw where the
easier road lay to a calling as yet nervously timorous
and owing to its newness scarce established : he
brought together no band of followers or implements
in long array : his single metagon was taken as his
guard, as the high promise of the longed-for spoil ;
it roams across the fields which are the haunts
of beasts, over the wells and through the lurking-
places frequented by them. 'Tis the work of early
dawn : then, while the dog is picking out the trail
as yet unspoiled by another animal's scent, if there
is any confusion of tracks in that place whereby he
is thrown off, he runs an outside course in a wider
circle and, at last discovering beyond mistake the
footprints coming out, pounces on the track like the
fourfold team, the pride of Thessaly, which is launched
forth on the Corinthianrace-com'se, stirred by ancestral
glory and by hopes covetous of the first prize. But
lest loss be the outcome of excessive zeal, the dog's
" For Spartan or Lacedaemonian dogs cf. Soph. Aj. 8;
Xen. Cyn. ui. 1; 0pp. Cyn. I. 372; Pollux, V. 37; Virg. G.
III. 405; Hor. Ejiod. vi. 5; Ov. Met. III. 208, 223; Sen.
Phaedra, 35; Luean, IV. 441 ; Claud. Stil. III. 300 {tenuesque
Lacaenae) ; Xemes. Cyn. 107, etc.
* For Cretan dogs cf. Xen. Cyn. x. 1; Poll. V. 37; 0pp.
Cyn. I. 373; Ov. J/e/. III. 208, 223 ; Sen. Phaedra, Si; Claud.
Stil. III. 300 {hirsutae Cressae), etc.
' The reference is to a locality on the Ai'givc and Laconian
border.
173
MINOR LATIN POETS
lex dicta officiis : neu voce lacesseret hostem
neve levem praedam aut propioris pignora lucri
amplexus primos nequiquam efFunderet actus ;
iam vero impensum melior fortuna laborem
cum sequitur iuxtaque domus quaesita ferarum, 21
et sciat occultos et sigiiis arguat hostes :
aut eiFecta levi testatur gaudia cauda
aut ipsa infodiens uncis vestigia plantis
mandit humum celsisve apprensat naribus auras.
et tamen, ut ne prima faventem pignora fallant, 24
circum omnem aspretis medius qua clauditur orbits)
ferre pedem accessusque abitusque notare ferarum
admonet et, si forte loco spes prima fefellit,
rusum opus incubuit spatiis ; at, prospera si res,
intacto repetet prima ad vestigia gyro. 24
ergo ubi plena suo rediit victoria fine,
in partem praedae veniat comes et sua norit
praemia : sic operi iuvet inservisse benigne.
hoc ingens meritum, haec ultima palma tropae<(i)>,
Hagnon magne, tibi divom concessa favore : 2a
233 offenderet A, Vollmer : efEunderet Johnson, vulgo.
236 & sciat A : ut sciat Sann.
2*" faventem (= studiosum, cf. v. 230).
2*1 orbis Sann. : orbi A : orbem Baehrens.
174
GRArrii's
(lilt it's are regulated", he must not asscail his foe with
barking ; " he must not seize on some trivial prey or
on signs of a nearer catch and so blindly lose the
fruit of his first activities. When, however, better
fi)rtunc already attends the outlay of toil, and the
sought-for lair of the wild beasts is near, he must
both know his enemies are hidden and prove this
by signs : either he shows his new-won pleasure by
lightly wagging the tail, or, digging in his own foot-
prints with the nails of his paws, he gnaws the soil
and sniffs the air with nostrils raised high. And
yet to prevent the first signs from misleading the
dog in his keenness, the hunter bids him run all
about the inner space encircled by rough ground
and nose the paths by which the beasts come and go ;
then, if it happens that the first expectation has
failed him in the place, ^ he turns again to his task in
wide coursings ; but, if the scent was right, he will
make for the first trail again as the quarry has not
crossed the circle. Therefore, when full success has
arrived with its proper issue, the dog must come as
comrade to share the prey and must recognise his
own reward : thus let it be a delight to have given
ungrudging service to the work.
Such was the mighty benefit, such the surpassing
prize of triumph granted to thee, great Hagnon, by
favour of the gods : so shalt thou live for ever, as long
" Cf. Lucan, Phars. IV. 441, nee crediiur ulli Silva cani
nisi qui presso vestigia rostro Colligit et praeda nescit latrare
reperta, and Pliny's description of the silent tracking of game,
y.H. \lll. 147, quam silens et occulta sed quani significans
demonMratio est cauda primum deinde rostro.
* i.e. if the animal has already escaped and is no longer
lying hidden there.
MINOR LATIN POETS
ergo semper eris, dum carniina dimique manebunt
silvarum dotes atque arma Diania terris.
hie et semiferam thoimi de sanguine prolem
finxit. non alio maior sub pectore virtus,
sive in lora voces seu nudi ad pignora martis. 2.'
thoes commissos (clarissima fama) leones
et subiere astu et parvis domuere lacertis ;
nam genus exiguum et pudeat, quam informe. fateri ;
vulpina species : tamen huic exacta voluntas,
at non est alius quern tanta ad munia fetus 26
exercere velis, aut te tua culpa refellet
inter opus, quo sera cadit prudentia damno.
iunge pares ergo et maiorum pignore signa
feturam prodantque tibi metagonta parentes,
qui genuere sua pecus hoc immane iuventa. 26
et primum expertos animi, quae gratia prima est,
in venerem iungam. tum sortis cura secunda,
ne renuat species aut quern detractet honorem.
sint celsi vultus, sint hirtae frontibus aures,
OS magnum et patulis agitatos naribus ignes 27'
Spirent, adstricti succingant ilia ventres,
Cauda bre\-is longumque latus discretaque collo
2=5 lora Ellis : ora A.
2^2 quom Gronov : quo A.
2^5 tenuere A : genuere Gesner.
268 aut quern Baehrens : atque A : aut quae Aid. : aut
qua Barth.
176
GRATTIUS
as my soiifjs shall last, as long as the woods keep
their treasures and Diana's weapons abide on earth.
'Twas he too who developed a species with a wild
strain from the blood of tlie t/ioes.^ Beneath no
other breast is there hi(]^her couras^e, whether you
call them to the leash or to the test of open conflict.
The tkoes (their reputation is famous) can steal
craftily on lions pitted against them '^ and overcome
them with their short legs ; for it is a small-sized
breed, and one may scruple to o\m"i how ugly : it
has a fox-like look : still its resolution is perfect.
But there is no other breed which you could wish to
train for tasks so important ; or else your own mistake
v,i\\ find you out in the hunt when loss of game
makes late-learned wisdom vain.
Now then couple well-matched mates '^ and mark
the offspring with the pledge of their pedigree,
letting the parents who produce this wonderful
progeny in the vigour of their youth yield you a
fine metag07i. First I shall mate dogs tried in courage,
the foremost quality : the next care in the apportion-
ment is that outv.ard appearance shall not belie
descent or lower any of its merits. They should
have the face high, they should have shaggy ears by
their foreheads, the mouth big, and they should
breathe fiery blasts from wide nostrils ; a neat belly
should gird their flanks below; tail should be short
and sides long, hair parted on the neck, and that
" The eojis of Oppian, Cyneg. III. 336-38, are jackals
sprung from a union of wolves with leopards. The du:s of
Aristotle is perhaps rather a civet than a jackal. Pliny,
X.H. Vm. 123, mentions ihoes as a kind of wolf.
* e.g. in the public games at Rome.
* For the mating of dogs, with 263 sqq. cf. Xcmesianus,
Cy7i. 1U3 ^qq.; Oppian, Cyn. I. 376 sqq.
177
VOL I. N
MINOR LATIN POETS
caesaries neu pexa iiiniis neu frigoris ilia
impatiens ; validis turn surga,t pectus ab armis,
quod niagnos capiat motus magnisque supersit.
efFuge qui lata pandit vestigia planta :
mollis in officio, siccis ego dura lacertis
crura velim et solidos haec in certamina calces.
sed frustra longus properat labor, abdita si non
altas in latebras unique inclusa marito <^est)
femina : nee patres veneris sub tempore magnos
ilia neque emeritae servat fastigia laudis.
primi complexus, dulcissima prima voluptas :
hunc veneri dedit impatiens natura furorem.
si tenuit custos et mater adult era non est,
da requiem gravidae solitosque remitte labores :
vix oneri super ilia suo. tum deinde monebo,
ne matrem indocilis natorum turba fatiget,
percensere notis iamque inde excernere pravos.
signa dabunt ipsi. teneris vix artubus haeret
ille tuos olim non defecturus honores,
iamque ilium impatiens aequae vehementia sortis
extulit : afFectat materna regna sub alvo,
ubera tota tenet, a tergo liber aperto.
28" in latebras Sann. : illecebras A. est add. Lachmann.
281 patres Sann. : patre A.
285 custos A : castus Ellis : fastus Lachmann : renuit
cunctos Pith., Burm.
28^ pravos Burman : parvos A.
2^^ tenet, a tergo s : ten& eatergo A : tenetque a tergo
Baehrens.
178
neitlier too shasrgy nor yet unable to stand cold;
and then from strong limbs " must rise a breast
capable of drawing deep breaths, and with strength
left for more. Avoid the dog that spreads his steps
with a broad foot : he is weak in hunting-duty. I
should want hardy legs with firm muscles and I
sliould want solid feet for such struggles.
But zealous and prolonged trouble is all in vain unless
the bitch is shut up in some deep retreat and secluded
for a single male : otherwise she cannot at the time of
coupling maintain unspoilt the pedigree of a fine
sire or the pitch of past distinction won. The first
unions, the first pleasure is sv.eetest : such frenzy
has uncontrolled nature given to love. If the attend-
ant has kept her shut up and the pregnant bitch has
no unions with other dogs, ^ give her rest and remit
her usual tasks : she is barely sufficient for her own
burden. Then later I shall suggest, to prevent an
unruly litter of whelps from wearing their mother
out, that you examine them by their points and there-
upon pick out the inferior ones. They will themselves
give indications. The puppy that one day will not
fail '^ your pride in him ^ is scarcely yet firm in his
tender limbs, and already his vigour, impatient of
equality with the rest, has raised him above them :
he aims at sovereignty beneath his mother's belly,
keeps her teats wholly to himself, his back unen-
" The shoulder-blades should be broad, as in Oppian, Cyn.
1.409, evpees ^fxovKa.Tai : cf. Xen. Cyn. iv, 1; Pollux, V. 58;
Arr. Cyn. 5. 9; Colum. B.R. VII. xii. 4.
* Vollmer's inclusion of the si tenuit clause in the preceding
sentence, with hiuic . . . furorem as a parenthesis, is un-
aatisfacton^'.
' Cf. note on illutn . . . mergeniem, 424—5.
'' Or ■■ high tasks to which you may call him."
MINOR LATIN POETS
dum tepida indulget terris dementia mundi ;
verum ubi Caurino perstrinxit frigore vesper,
ira iacet turbaque jDotens operitur inerti.
illius et manibus vires sit cura futuras
perpensare : leves deducet pondere fratres :
nee me pignoribus, nee te mea carmina fallent.
protinus et cultus alios et debita fetae
blandimenta feres cm'aque sequere merentem :
ilia perinde suos, ut erit f dilecta, minores
ad longam praestabit opem. turn denique, fetu
cum desunt, operis fregitque industria matres,
transeat in catulos omnis tutela relictos.
lacte novam pubem facilique tuebere maza,
nee luxus alios avidaeque impendia vitae
noscant : haec magno redit indulgentia damno.
nee miruni : huma,nos non est magis altera sensus ,
tollit ni ratio et vitiis adeuntibus obstat.
haec ilia est Pharios quae fregit noxia reges,
dum servata cavis potant Mareotica gemmis
2^' ire plac& A : ira iacet Ulitius : irreptat Badermacher.
288 et Heinsius : e A.
299 leuis A.
2°2 de lacte Sann., Vollmer : delacta A : dilecta Stern : suo
saturat de lacte Johnson 1699 eel. : delecta {particip. a delicere)
Heinsius.
30^-5 fetu A : fetus cum desunt operi Ellis, operis Ulitius :
operi A.
3^^ ni Graevius : se A.
i8o
(JUAITIUS
cumbered and impressed by the others so lon^if as
the nrcnial warmth of the heavens is kind to earth ; "
but when evening has shrivelled him with north-
western chilliness, his bad temper flags and this
strong pup lets himself be snugly covered by the
sluggish crowd (of the rest). It must be your care
thoroughly to weigh his promised strength in your
hands : he will humble his light brothers with his
weight.'^ In these signs my poems v.iW mislead
neither myself nor you.
As soon as she has produced young, you are to
offer the mother different treatment and the com-
forts due to her, and to attend her carefully as she
deserves. Exactly as she is kindly treated, she
will maintain her little ones until a long service
of nurture has been rendered.^ Then finally, when
the mothers fail their offspring and their assiduity
in the task of suckling has shattered them, let
all your concern pass over to the deserted whelps.
You must sustain the young brood with milk and a
simple pap : they must not know other luxuries and
the outlays of a gluttonous life : such indulgence
comes home at mighty cost. Nor is this surprising :
no other life eats more into the senses of mankind,
unless reason banishes it and bars the way against
the approach of vices. Such was the fault that ruined
Egyptian kings, as they drank old Mareotic wines
in goblets of precious stone, reaping the perfimies
" i.e. during the sunny day.
* Cf. Livy IX. 34: ... ad scrvorum niinlsterium deduxisti
(= brought down, degraded). The reference is not to exact
weighing in a trutina or balance.
"^ The text is uncertain ; but the sense required is that the
greater the caro lavished on the mother, the longer she will
be able to give milk to her pups.
i8i
MINOR LATIN POETS
nardiferumque metunt Gangen vitiisque ministrant.
sic et Achaemenio cecidisti, Lydia, Cyro : 31
atqui dives eras <(ac) fluminis aurea venis.
scilicet ad summam ne quid restaret habendi,
tu quoque luxui'iae fictas duni colligis artes
et sequeris demens alienam, Graecia, culpam,
o quantum et quotiens decoris frustrata paterni ! 32
at qualis nostris, quam simplex mensa Camdllis !
qui tibi cultus erat post tot, Serrane, triumphos !
ergo illi ex habitu virtutisque indole priscae
imposuere orbi Romam caput, actaque ab illis
ad caelum virtus summosque tetendit honores. 32
scilicet exiguis magna sub imagine rebus
prospicies, quae sit ratio, et quo fine regendae.
idcirco imperium catulis unusque magister
additur : ille dapes poenamque operamque <(mor-
amque)
temperet, hunc spectet silvas domitura iuventus. 33
nee vile arbitrium est : quoicumque haec regna di-
cantur,
ille tibi egregia iuvenis de pube legendus,
2^^ in fine nullum lacunae signum in A : ministrans add.
Aid. : peraeque Baehrens : moramque H. Schenkl.
182
GUA'niUS
of nard-beariiio- Ganges and ministering to vice.
By this sin fell you too, Lydia, beneath Persian
Cyrus ; and yet you were rich and golden in the veins
of your river." In good truth, so that nothing might
be left to crown the possession of wealth, how much
and how often, O Greece, did you too ftill short of
ancestral honour by gathering together the arts
which luxury fashioned and by madly following the
faults of other nations ! But of what sort, how
simple, was the table of our Camilli I ^ What was
your dress, Serranus, after all yom- triumphs ! ^
These were the men who, in accord ^^ith the bear-
ing and character of ancient virtue, set o'er the
world Rome as its head ; and by them was virtue
exalted to heaven, and so she reached highest
honours.
In truth, taught by great precedent you will be
able to provide for small details, finding the right
system and the limits which should govern them.
Therefore rule is imposed on the whelps in the shape
of a single keeper : he must control their food and
punishments, their service and rest : the young
pack that is to master the woods must look to him.
It is no trumpery charge : whosoever has such
power dedicated to him should be a youth picked
by you from young folk of merit, at once prudent
" The river Pactolus was famous for its golden sands.
Postgate's Padolique aurea venis suggests that fluminis was
a gloss on the original reading.
* The plural alludes rhetorically to M, Furius Camillus, the
conqueror of Veil, who saved Rome after the Allian disaster :
for his poverty cf. Hor. Od. I. xii. 42 sqq.
« C. Atilius Regulus Serranus was consul in 257 and in 250
B.C. He was summoned from farm-work to imdertake a
military command, Val. Max. IV. iv. 5; Virg. Aen. VI. 845.
183
MINOR LATIN POETS
utrimique et prudens et sumptis inipiger armis.
quod nisi et accessus et agendi tempora belli
noverit et socios tutabitur hoste minores, 33
aut cedent aut ilia tamen \'ictoria damno est.
ergo in opus vigila | factusque ades omnibus arixiis :
arma acuere viam ; tegat imas fascia suras :
<(sit pell)>is \dtulina, suis et tergore fulvo
i<(re decet; niteant) canaque e maele galeri, 34
ima Toletano praecingant ilia cultro
terribilemque nianu \-ibrata falarica dextra
det sonitum et curvae rumpant non pervia falces.
haec tua militia est. quin et Mavortia bello
vulnera et errantis per tot divertia morbos 34
causasque affectusque canum. tua <(cura) tueri est.
stat Fatum supra totumque avidissimus Orcus
pascitur et nigris orbem circumsonat alis.
scilicet ad magnum maior ducenda laborem
cm'a, nee expertos fallet deus : huic quoque nostrae 3c
337 vigil aSectusque Vollmer.
^28 arma hacuere uita A : arma acuere viam (virum John-
son) Aid. versuum 339 et 340 initia perierunt in A praeter
primam v. 340 liiteram, quae tamen utriun j an p fiierit dubi-
tandum (p hrjit Sa7in.).
23^ ante inulina potest fuisse us vel is : inulina A : sit famulis
vitulina tuis Ulitius, Burm., Wernsd. suis {genit., = suis) A.
3^^ divertia A : divortia vulgo.
^^" huic Baehrens : hiac A.
184
(iiiArnus
and, when he grasps his weapon^, unflac^ii:in,<,^ But
unless lie knows the right ways of approach and the
right moments for attack and can protect his allies
when unequal to their enemy, then either the dogs
will run away or the victory so won is after all too dear.
So then be wakeful for your work and attend
equipped" with weapons fully. Weapons make the
way of the chase more keen ^ : let bandaging protect
the lower parts of the leg: the leather should be
calf's leather, and tawny pig-skin is fit for the
march : the caps should gleam with the grey of the
badger:^ close under the hunter's flanks should be
girt a knife of Toledo steel: a missile weapon
brandished in the right hand should give a terrifying
sound, while curved reaping-hooks must break
through thickets which block the way.
Such is your active service in the chase. But
especially is it your concern to care for the martial
wounds suffered in fight, the maladies which stray
along so many different paths, their causes and the
symptoms shown by your dogs. Above stands
Fate : the insatiable Death-god devours everything
and echoes round the world on sable wings. Clearly
for a great task still greater care must be employed,
nor will the deity ^^ play the experienced false : for
this our care too there is another divinity ^ easy to
" f actus, if sound, must have the force of instructus.
* Via is the method of the hunt, cf. 5. Johnson's virutn
is attractive, " make the hunter keen."
' The nose, chin, lower sides of the cheeks and the mid
forehead of the badger (inacles) are white : the ends of the
hairs on the body are at bottom yellowish-white, in the
middle black, and at the ends ash-coloured or grey : hence
the proverb " as grey as a badger." The skin dressed without
removing the hair can be used for caps or pouches.
'^ Diana. " Paean.
i8s
MINOR LATIN POETS
est aliud, quod praestet opus, placabile numen.
nee longe auxilium, licet alti vulneris orae
abstiterint atroque cadant cum sanguine fibrae :
inde rape ex ipso qui vulnus fecerit hoste
virosam eluviem lacerique per ulceris ora 3c
sparge manu, venas dum sucus comprimat acer :
mortis enim patuere viae, tum pm'a monebo
circum labra sequi tenuique includere filo.
at si pernicies angusto pascitur ore,
contra pande viam fallentisque argue causas 3(
morborum : in vitio facilis med<(icina recenti) ;
sed tacta impositis mulcent p<ecuaria palmis)
(id satis) aut nigrae circum picis unguine signant ;
quodsi destricto levis est in vulnere noxa,
ipse ha.bet auxilium validae natale salivae. 3<
ilia gravis labes et curis altior illis,
cum \'itium causae totis egere latentes
corporibiLS seraque aperitur noxia summa.
inde emissa lues et per contagia mortes
venere in vulgum iuxtaque exercitus ingens 3'
aequali sub labe ruit, nee viribus ullis
aut merito venia est aut spes exire precanti.
quod sive a Stygia letum Proserpina nocte
extulit et Fm'iis commissam ulciscitur iram,
seu vitium ex alto spiratque vaporibus aether 3'
2^2 orae Barth : ora A.
253 atroque Sann. : utroque A.
255 ulceris AM. : viceris A.
25' pura monebo Sann. : purmo bebo A.
260 pande Aid. : prande A.
261 med<icina recenti) Aid. : med<icina reperto) BaehreJis.
262 sed A : seu Heinmus. tacta A : tactu Sann. p<ecuaria
palmis) Aid.
269 morbi Sann., Vollmer : morbis A : mortes Stern.
2'0 fusaque Vollmer : lusaque A : iuxtaque Sann.
i86
GRAITIUS
be entreated who can guarantee the work of healing.
Nor is aid far distant, though the lips of a deep
wound have parted and the fibres are dripping with
dark blood: thereupon seize from the very enemy
that has dealt the wound some of his fetid urine,
sprinkling it with the hand over the mouth of the
torn wound, till the acid juice compresses the veins :
for the avenues of death lie open. Then my advice
will be to go round the lips till they are clean and
sew them fast Mith a slender thread. But if deadly
danger battens in a narrow wound, contrariwise,
widen the outlet and expose the treacheroas causes
of corruption : the remedy is easy in a newly-found
mischief; but the beasts which are infected they
soothe ^\'ith strokes of the hands (that is enough),
or seal the sore around with an ointment of black
pitch : if, however, there is merely a trivial hurt in a
slight wound, the dog has the natural remedy of
efficacious saliva. ^^ It is a serious plague, too deep
for the treatments mentioned, when hidden causes
have sped the malady through all the bodies of the
pack and the damage is only discovered in its final
consummation. Then has pestilence been let loose,
and by contagion deaths have come upon the pack
at large, and the great host alike perishes beneath
an infection that falls on all : neither is there indul-
gence granted for any strength or service, nor is
there hope of escape in answer to prayer. But
whether it be that Proserpina has brought death
forth from Stygian darkness, satisfying her wrath
for some offence entrusted to the Furies to avenge,
whether the infection is from on high and ether
breathes with contagious vapours, or whether earth
" i.e. he licks the wound.
187
MINOR LATIN POETS
pestiferis, seu terra suos populatur honores,
fontem averte mali. trans altas ducere calles
admoneo latumque fuga superabitis amnem.
hoc primum efFugium leti : tunc ficta valebant
auxilia et nostra quidam redit usus ab arte,
sed varii motus nee in omnibus una potestas :
disce vices et quae tutela est proxima tempta.
plurima per catulos rabies invictaque tardis
praecipitat letale malum : sit tutius ergo
antire auxiliis et prinaas vincere causas.
namque subit, nodis qua lingua tenacibus haeret,
(vermiculum dixere) mala atque incondita pestis.
ille ubi salsa siti praecepit viscera longa,
aestivos vibrans accensis febribus ignes,
moliturque fugas et sedem spernit amaram.
scilicet hoc motu stimulisque potentibus acti
in fui'ias vertere canes, ergo insita ferro
iam teneris elementa mali causasque recidunt.
nee longa in facto medicina est ulcere : purum
sparge salem et tenui permulce vulnus olivo :
ante relata suas quam nox bene compleat umbras,
ecce aderit factique oblitus vulneris ultro
blanditur mensis cereremque efflagitat ore.
3'^ seu terra suos Sayin. : si litaeras vos A.
3^* praecipitat Pithou : precipiat A. sit tutius Sarin., qui
et securius coniecit : sicutius A : sic tutius AM.
2^8 longae A : longa Sann. : longe Volhner, Curcio.
^*° amara A : amatam Ulitius.
i88
GRArnus
is devastating her own fair products," remove the
source of the evil. I warn you to lead the dogs over
the high mountain-paths : you are to cross the
broad river in your flight. This is your first escape
from destruction : thereafter the aids we have devised
will avail and some service is secured from our lore.
But varied are the onsets of disease, nor is there
the same force in all of them : learn their phases
and make trial of the medicine which is most available.
Rabies, prevalent among young dogs and uncon-
trollable for those who delay treatment, launches a
deadly evil : it must be safer then to forestall it
Nnth remedies and overcome its first causes. For
the mischievous and barbarous plague — it has been
described as a tiny worm — steals in where the tongue
is rooted to its firm ligaments. When the worm
has seized on the inwards briny with prolonged
thirst, darting its sweltering fires with fevers
aflame, it works its escape and spurns its bitter^
quarters. Impelled, it is plain, by its activity and
potent goads, dogs turn frantic. So, when they
are quite young, it is usual to cut out with the knife
the deep-seated elements and causes of disease.
Prolonged treatment is not needed for the wound so
made : sprinkle clean salt and soothe the affected
part with a little olive-oil : before returning night
can well complete her shadows, look, the dog will
be on the scene, and, forgetting the wound made,
is actually fawning at table and pleading for bread '^
with his mouth.
" i.e. with the result that they rot and cause disease.
* With the meaning of ainaram compare salsa in 388.
' The goddess' name is put by metonymy for bread : cf.
Nemes. Cyn. 154, cererem cum lade ministra : so for com,
Virg. G. I. 297; Cic. N.D. II. 23. GO ; Aetna, 10.
189
MINOR LATIN POETS
quid, priscas artes inventaque simplicis aevi
si referam ? non ilia metus solacia falsi, ^
tarn loiigam traxere fidera. collaribus ergo
sunt qui lucifugae cristas inducere maelis
iussere aut sacris conserta monilia conchis
et vivum lapidem et circa Melite{n/sia nectunt
curalia et magicis adiutas cantibus herbas. 4
ac sic ofFectus oculique venena maligni
vicit tutela pax impetrata deorum.
at si deformi lacerum dulcedine corpus
persequitur scabies, longi \-ia pessima leti :
in primo accessu tristis niedicina, sed una •^
pernicies redimenda anima, quae prima sequaci
sparsa malo est, ne dira trahant contagia vulgus.
quodsi dat spatiurn clemens et promonet ortu
morbus, disce vias et qua sinit artibus exi.
tunc et odorato medicata bitumina vino 4
^"^ deformis los. Wa^sius, Volhner : deformi A, Postgate.
*i^ promonet A : praemonet Titius.
*^^ vino Johnson : \dro A. cf. v. 476 et Veget. mulom. 2. 135. 5.
" The omission of a punctuation mark after falsi would
imply in Grattius an Epicurean disdain for primitive super-
stition : "those consolations of a groundless fear did not
continue to command such a lasting belief." According to
190
GRArrius
What need to record primitive devices and the
inventions of an unsophisticated a<xe ? Of no ground-
less fear were those tlie consohitions : so lasting a
confidence have they prolonged.' Thus there are some
whose prescription has been to fasten cock's combs
upon the dog-collars made from the light-shunning
badger/' or they twine necklets around, strung of
sacred shells,'' and the stone of living fire '^ and red
coral from Malta and herbs aided by magic incan-
tations. And so the peace of the gods won by the
protective amulet is found to vanquish baleful
influences and the venom of the evil eye.
But if the mange pursues a body torn with the
ugly itch for scratching, it is the cruellest road of
slow death : at the first onset, the remedy is a
melancholy one. but destruction must be bought
otf by the one life (of the dog) which has first been
contaminated with the infectious disease, to prevent
the whole pack from contracting the dread contagion.
If, however, the ailment is slight, giving time and
fore warnings at the start, learn the methods of
cure and by skilled devices escape wherever feasible.
Then fire is found to blend and into one whole unite
tlie text here accepted, Grattius seems to admit that super-
stitious cures soothed reasonable fears, and remained long in
vogue.
* The badger burrov.-s underground, confining itself to its
hok> during the day and feeding at night.
*■ Among prophylactic amulets the conchae were sacred to
Venus. Pliny, y.H. XXXII, 2-<), mentions the shell echeneis
or remora, believed to have power to stop ships by adhering
to the hull. The marvellous properties of such shells, he
considers, became the more credible because they were
preserved and consecrated in the temple of Venus at Cnidos.
''Pyrites: rf. Pliny, X.H. XXXVl. 137, molarem quidam
pyriten vacant : cf. Aetna, 454.
191
MINOR LATIN POETS
Hippoiiiasque pices neclectaeque unguen amurcae
miscuit et suinmam complectitur ignis in unam.
inde lavant aegros : ast ira coercita morbi
laxatusque rigor, quae te ne cura timentem
difFerat, et pluvias et Cauri frigora vitent ; 4^
due magis, ut nudis incumbunt vallibus aestus,
a vento clarique faces ad solis, ut omne
exsudent vitium subeatque latentibus ultro
quae facta est niedicina vadis. nee non tamen ilium
spumosi catulos mergentem litoris aestu 4-2
respicit et facilis Paean adiuvit in artes.
o rerum prudens quantani Experientia vulgo
materiem largita boni, si vincere curent
desidiain et gratos agitando prendere finis !
est in Trinacria specus ingens rupe cavique 42
introsum reditus, circum atrae moenia silvae
alta premunt ruptique ambustis faucibus anines ;
^^^ Hipponiasque primus agnovit Haupt : iponiasque A :
impone atque pices, vel impositasque pices vel denique fraces
Heinsius. neclectaeque Haupt : nee liceat qu§ A : immun-
daeque Aid.
^^^ ast A : est Aid. : atque Barth.
^^^ ne cura timentem Sann. : nee urat in mentem A.
*2^ duo H. Schenkl : sic A : stent Postgate.
*2^ paean adiuvit Sann. : paeana divint A.
192
GRATTIUS
doses of bitumen, mixed with fragrant wine, and
portions of Briittian" pitch and ointment from the
unregarded dregs of oHve-oil. Therewith tliey
bathe the aihng dogs : then the anger of the malady
is curbed and its severity relaxed. Let not this treat-
ment, for all your anxiety, distract you (from further
precautions) : the dogs must avoid both rains and the
chills of the north-west wind : rather, when sultry heats
hang over the bare valleys, take them (to heights)
away from the wind to meet the rays of the bright
sun, so that they may sweat out all the infection and
moreover that the healing which has been effected
may steal into their hidden veins.'^ Besides the
Healing-God, kindly disposed to om- sldll, fails not
to regard favourably and to aid him who dips^
his whelps in the tide of the foaming beach.
O Experience, foreseeing in affairs, how much
material benefit hast thou lavished on the mass
of men, if they make it their care to overcome
sloth and by vigorous action to get a grip of fair
ideals I
There is in Sicily a grotto enormous in its rocky
mass — with hollow windings which return upon
themselves ; high ramparts of black woodland enclose
it around and streams bursting from volcanic jaws —
» Iwrrun'iov is Vibo Valentla on the \ia. Popilia in the
tenitory of the Bruttii. Curcio thmks that Hippo in Xumidia
is meant.
* Vadis is also explained as (1) pores (Enk), (2) intestines
(Radermacher). Vollmer imagines a contrast between
latent ibus vadis, meaning ex aquis recondUis, and the open sea
of the next sentence.
' The Latin of ilium mcrgentem in the sense of ilium qui
mergit is questionable; but c/. ille . . . defecturus, 291.
V^ollmer proposes tentatively illic or ullum.
193
VOL. I. O
MINOR LATIN POETS
Vulcano eondicta domus. quam supter eunti
stagna sedent venis oleoque madentia vivo.
hue defecta mala vidi pecuaria tabe 43
saepe trahi victosque malo graviore magistros.
'•' te primum, \^ulcane, loci, pacemque precamiir,
incola sancte, tuam : da fessis ultima rebus
auxilia et, meriti si nulla est noxia tanti,
tot miserare animas liceatque attingere fontis, 44
sancte, tuos " ter quisque vocant, ter pinguia libant
tura foco, struitur ramis felicibus ara.
hie (dictu mirum atque alias ignobile monstrum)
adversis specibus ruptoque e peetore montis
venit ovans Austris et multo flumine flammae 44
emieat ipse : manu ramum pallente sacerdos
termiteum quatiens " procul hine extorribus ire
edico praesente deo, praesentibus aris,
quis scelus aut manibus sumptum aut in peetore
motum est "
inelamat : ceeidere animi et trepidantia membra. 45
o quisquis misero fas umquam in suppliee fregit,
quis pretio fratrum meliorisque ausus amiei
sollicitare caput patriosve lacessere divos,
ilium agat infandae comes hue audacia culpae :
diseet commissa quantum deus ultor in ira 45
pone sequens valeat. sed eui bona peetore mens est
*^^ supter Sarin. : super A.
^^^ fessis Sann. : fissis A.
*3^ meriti Sa7in. : mentis A.
^^^ miserare A : -rere Aid.
**^ vocant ter Sann. : vocanter A.
" ira commissa (a curious condensation recalling commissa
piaciila, Virg. Aen. VI. 509) is here taken v. ith Wernsdorf to
194
GRATTIUS
\'iilcan's acknowledged haunt. As one passes
beneatli, the pools lie motionless oozing in veins of
natural bituminous oil. I have often seen dogs
dragged hither fordone from mischievous wasting,
and their custodians overcome by still heavier
suffering. " Thee first, O Vulcan, and thy peace,
holy dweller in this place, do we entreat : grant
final aid to our wearied fortunes, and, if no guilt
is here deserving penalty so great, pity these many
lives and suffer them, holy one, to attain to thy
fountains " — thrice does each one call, thrice they
offer rich incense on the fire, and the altar is piled
with fruitful branches. Hereat (wondrous to tell
and a portent elsewhere unknown) from the con-
fronting caves and the mountain's riven breast there
has come, exultant in southern gales and darting
forth 'mid a full flood of flame, the God himself:
his priest, waving in pallid hand the olive branch,
proclaims aloud: " In the presence of the God, in
the presence of the altars, I ordain that all go out
of the land far from here, who have put their hands
to crime or contemplated it in their heart " : forth-
with droop their spirits and their nervous limbs.
Oh ! whoso has ever impaired heaven's law in the
case of a wretched suppliant, whoso for a price has
dared to aim at the life of brothers or of faithful
friend or to outrage ancestral gods — if such a man
be impelled hither by audacity, the comrade of
unutterable sin, he will learn how mighty is the
power of the God who followeth after as the avenger
in >\Tath for crime committed." But he whose mind
mean ira quae commissis scderibus provocata est. The sense
is different in 374, Furiis commissam . . . iram, unless 455
can imply " in wrath assigned to him to vent."
o 2
MINOR LATIN POETS
obsequitur<(que) deo, deus illam molliter aram
1 ambit et ipse, suos ubi contigit ignis {hon)ores,
defugit a sacris rursumque reconditur antro :
huic fas auxilium et Vulcania tangere dona. 4(
nee mora, si medias exedit noxia fibras,
his lave praesidiis afFectaque corpora mulce :
regnantem excuties morbum. deus auctor, et ipsa
artem aluit natura suam. quae robore pestis
acrior aut leto propior via ? sed tamen illi 4(
hie venit auxilium valida vementius ira.
quod primam si fallet opem dimissa facultas,
at tu praecipitem qua spes est proxima labem
aggredere : in subito subita et medicina tumultu.
stringendae nares et <(bi)na ligamdna ferro 4'
armorum, geminaque cruor ducendus ab aure :
hinc vitium, hinc ilia est avidae vehementia pesti.
ilicet auxiliis fessum solabere corpus
subsiduasque fraces defusaque Massica prisco
sparge cado : Liber tenuis e pectore curas 4'
exigit, et morbo Liber medicina furenti.
quid dicam tussis, quid inertis damna veterni
^'^^ excuties Barth : -iens A.
466 hie A : hinc Aid.
*^8 at tu Sann. : ad tu A : actu Baehrens.
*^" &na A : et bina Haujpt : scindenda Burin, et alii.
*'' inertis Sann. : maestis A : moesti .4W. veterni -Sann.
-nis A.
196
GRATTIUS
is good at heart and is reverent to the God, has his
altar-gift gently caressed by the Fire-god, who him-
self, when the flame has reached the sacrifices offered
in his honom-, retreats from the holy ritual and again
conceals himself in his cave. For such a one 'tis
right to attain relief and Vulcan's kindliness. Let
there be no delay : if the malady has gnawed
right into the fibres, bathe with the remedies
specified " and soothe the suffering bodies : so will
you expel the tyrannous disease. The God lends
support, and natm-e herself nourishes her own
skilful remedy.* What plague is sharper than
** robur "'^ or what path nearer to death ? But still
for it there comes here assistance more active than
the powerful anger of the ailment.
Yet if a lost opportunity baffles first aid., then you
must attack the furious pestilence where prospects are
likeliest : sudden disturbance calls for sudden relief.
The nostrils must be cut slightly with the steel, as well
as the two muscles of the shoulders, and blood is to be
drawn off from both ears : from the blood comes the
corruption, from the blood the violence of the insatiate
plague. Forthwith you will comfort the wearied
body with palliatives, and you must sprinkle on the
wounds the sediment of oil-dregs and Massic wine
outpoured from its ancient cask — Bacchus expels
light cares from the heart : Bacchus also is healing
for the fury of disease.
Why mention coughs, why the afflictions of a
" e.g. the oil from the bituminous lake of 4.34.
'' lu the form of tire and bitumen.
^ The disease has the symptoms of tetanus according to
vetermarv writers: V'egetius, Mulomedicina 2, 88; Chiron,
315; Pelagonius, ed. Ihm, 294.
197
MINOR LATIN POETS
aut incurvatae si qua est tutela podagrae ?
mille tenent pestes curaque potentia maior.
mitte age (non opibus tanta est fiducia nostris), 4
mitte, anime : ex alto ducendiun numen Olympo,
supplicibus<(que) vocanda sacris tutela deorum.
idcirco aeriis molimur compita lucis
spicatasque faces sacrum ad nemorale Dianae
sistimus et solito catuli velantur honor e, 4
ipsaque per flores medio in discrimine luci
stravere arma sacris et pace vacantia festa.
tum cadus et viridi fumantia liba feretro
praeveniunt teneraque extrudens cornua fronte
haedus et ad ramos etiamnum haerentia poma, 4
lustralis de more sacri, quo tota inventus
Tustraturque deae proque anno reddit honorem.
ergo impetrato respondet multa favore
ad partis, qua poscis opem; seu vincere silvas
sen tibi fatorum labes exire minasque 4
cura prior, tua magna fides tutelaque Virgo,
restat equos finire notis, quos arma Dianae
admittant : non omne meas genus audet in artis.
^'8 incurvatae ed. Gryph. 1537 : incuratae A.
^^* nemorale Turnebus, Postgate : nemora alta A, Burm.,
Wernsd., Stern, Curcio, Enk.
" 483-96, description of an Ambarval sacrifice to Diana,
-R-ith allusion to her worship near Aricia.
* Multa, nom. sing, fern., agreeing with deu understood :
i.e. "in full force" (like noxhs pet in Greek). Enk thinks
multa neut. plur. ; Vollmer takes it for mulcta in the sense of
'■ mollified."
GRAniL'S
slujig^ish lethartry or any prophylactic there is for
gout that twists the Hmbs ? A thousand plagues
hold their victims, and their power transcends our
care. Come, dismiss such cares (our confidence is
not so great in our own resources) — dismiss them,
my mind: the deity must be summoned from high
Olympus and the protection of the gods invoked
by suppliant ritual. For that reason we construct
cross-road shrines in groves of soaring trees " and
set our sharp-pointed torches hard by the woodland
precinct of Diana, and the whelps are decked with
the wonted wreath, and at the centre of the cross-
roads in the grove the hunters fling down among the
flowers the very weapons which now keep holiday
in the festal peace of the sacred rites. Then the
wine-cask and cakes steaming on a green-wood tray
lead the procession, with a young goat thrusting horns
forth from tender brow, and fruit even now clino^inij
to the branches, after the fashion of a lustral ritual
at which all the youth both purify themselves in
honom' of the Goddess and render sacrifice for the
bounty of the year. Therefore, when her grace is
won, the Goddess answers generously '' in those
directions where you sue for help : whether yom*
greater anxiety is to master the forest or to elude
the plagues and threats of destiny, the Maiden
is your mighty affiance and protection.
It remains to define by their characteristics the
horses which Diana's equipment can accept as useful.^
Not every breed has the courage needed for my
' Dianae arnm = the chase. For horses in general see
Xen. Cyn. 1 ; Pollux, Onom. I. 188 sqq.; Virg. C/. III. 72 sqq.;
Varro R. R. II. 7; Columella, VI. 20-29; Plin. X.fl. VIII.
154; Xemes. Cyn. 240 sqq.; Oppian, Cyn. I. 158-307.
199
MINOR LATIN POETS
est vitium ex animo, sunt quos imbellia fallant
corpora, praeveniens quondam est incommoda virtus,
consule, Penei qualis perfunditur amne 5(
Thessalus aut patriae quern conspexere Mycenae
glaucum? nempe ingens, nempe ardua fundet in
auras
crura, quis Eleas potior lustravit harenas ?
ne tamen hoc attingat opus : iactantior illi 5(
virtus quam silvas durumque lacessere martem.
nee saevos miratur equos terrena Syene
scilicet, et Parthis inter sua niollia rura
mansit honor ; veniat Caudini saxa Taburni
Garganumve trucem aut Ligurinas desuper Alpes : 5
ante opus excussis cadet unguibus. et tamen illi
est animus fingetque meas se iussus in artes :
sed iuxta vitium posuit deus. at tibi contra
Callaecis lustratur (e)quis scruposa P}T{ene),
non tamen Hispano martem temptare m^inistro) 5
ausim : <(in^ muricibus \'ix ora tenacia ferr<(o^
concedunt. at tota levi Nasam<(onia virga)
fingit equos : ipsis Numidae solver<(e capistris)
5°^ syenae A : Sidene Bxirm. : Cyrene Wesseling,
51^ m<inacem> Aid.: m<inistro> H. Sckerikl : m<aligno>
Birt.
^i« ferr<o> Scnin.
^1' at Ulitius : aut A : ast //. Schenkl. virga UlitiuSy cf.
Lucan IV. 683.
200
GRATTIUS
profession. Some show deficiency on the store of
spirit ; some have feeble bodies to play them ftilse ;
at times excessive mettle is unsuitable. Bethink
you — what sort of Thessalian horse bathes in Peneus'
stream, or what is the grey sort on which its native
Mycenae fixes its gaze ? Assuredly it is huge,
assuredly it will throw its legs high in air. What
better steed ever traversed the race-course in Elis ? ^'
Yet let it not touch our hunting-work : its vigour is
too impetuous for an attack on the hard fighting of the
forests. Doubtless Syene'^ on the level plain ha^ horses
to admire which are not Mild, and those of Parthia
have kept their reputation in their own flat country :
if such a horse comes to the crags of Taburnus near
the Caudine Forks or to rugged Garganus *^ or over
the Ligurian Alps, he will collapse before his task
with hoofs battered.^ And yet he has spirit and
will mould himself to my methods if ordered : but
heaven alongside of merit imposes defects. On the
other hand, you find the horses of the Callaeci ^ can
traverse the jagged Pyrenees. I should not, however,
venture to try the conflict with a Spanish steed to
serve me : amid sharp stones they scarce yield their
stubborn mouths to the steel; but all Nasamonia^
controls her horses with light switches. The bold
and hard-toiling Numidian folk free theirs even
" i.e. at the Olympic games.
* Syene (Assouan) in Upper Egypt below the First
Cataract.
*■ Taburnus was in Samnium : Garganus in Apulia.
^ i.e. owing to the stony nature of the ground.
' The Callaeci were a people of Hispania Tarraconensis.
f The Nasamonian tribe dwelt in the eastern part of the
Syrtis Major in N. Africa.
20I
MINOR LATIN POETS
audax et patiens operum g<(enus. ille vigebit)
centum actus spatiis atque eluctabitur iram. ;
nee magni cultus : sterilis quodcunique remisit
terra sui tenuesque satis producere rivi.
sic et Strymonio facilis tutela Bisaltae :
possent Aetnaeas utinam se ferre per arces,
qui ludus Siculis. quid turn, si turpia colla >
aut tenuis dorso curvatur spina ? per illos
cantatus Graiis Acragas victaeque fragosum
Nebroden liquere ferae : o quantus in armis
ille meis quoius dociles pecuaria fetus
sufficient ! quis Chaonios contendere contra i
ausit, vix merita quos signat Achaia palma?
spadices vix Pellaei valuere Cerauni ;
at tibi devotae magnum pecuaria Cyrrhae,
Phoebe, decus meruere, levis seu iungere currus
usus, seu nostras agere in sacraria tensas. i
^1' g<enus. ille vigebit) Aid.
^29 ilia . . . coetus Vollmer : ille . . . coetus A : foetus
Aid.
^'3 & A : at Vollmer.
" In Thrace. Grattius proceeds to express a wish that these
Thracian horses could have the chance of showing their powers
on the mountains of Sicily. The Sicilian horses are mentioned
for their swiftness, Oppian, Cyn. I. 272. Their victories in
horse-racing and chariot -racing are the themes of many of
Pindar's odes : e.g. Pyth. i. celebrates a victory won by Hieron
of Aetna {cf. Gratt. 524). The qualities of speed and sure-
footedness requisite in Sicilian sport {cf. qui ludus Siculis,
525, And fragosum Nebroden, 527-528) explained to Grattius'
mind how, though not of prepossessing appearance, these
202
GRAITIUS
from halters : the horse will show his vigour careering
in a hundred race-courses and will work off his
temper in the contest. Nor does his keep cost
much : whatsoever of its own the ban-en earth or
the small rivulet doth yield, is enough to support
him. So too maintenance is easy for horses of the
Bisaltae " near the Strymon : oh, that they could
career along the highlands of Aetna, the sport
which Sicilians make their own ! What then,
though their necks are ugly or though they have a
thin spine cur\ing along their back? Thanks to
such steeds Acragas was praised in song by the
Greeks,'' thanks to such, the vanquished creatures
of the ^^'ild quitted craggy Nebrodes.*^ Oh. how-
stalwart ^^^ll he be in hunting whose herds shall
yield colts that can be trained I Who could dare
pit against them the horses of Epirus, which are
distinguished by Greece with honour scarce deserved ?
The chestnut-brown horses of Macedonian '' Ceraunus
have scanty worth as hunters : but the herds of
Cyrrha,' sacred to thee, O Apollo, have won high
honour, whether the need be to yoke light vehicles
or pull our (image-laden) cars in procession to
horses could be trained to win glory in the games of Greece
(cantatus Graiis Acragas, 527).
* Pindar, Olymp. iii. 2, K\€iva.f 'AKpayavra (= Agrigentum
in Sicily, now Girgenti). Olympian Odes ii. and iii. celebrate
victories won by Theron of Acragas in chariot -racing ; Pyth.
vi. and Lsthm. ii. similar victories by Xenocrates of Acragas,
*■ A Sicilian mountain. Fragosum indicates the serviceabiUty
of Sicilian horses as hunters on rocky ground.
** The fact that Pella was in Macedonia and the Ceraunian
range in Epirus does not justify the epithet Pellaci; but, as
Enk says, " poeta parum curat geographiam."
' Cyrrha or Cirrha, a seaport in Phocis, near Parnassus on
which was the Delphic oracle of Apollo.
203
MINOR LATIN POETS
venanti melius pugnat color : optima nigr<(a)
<(cru)ra illi badiosque leg<(a)nt et . . .
<(et quo)rum fessas imitantur terga favillas.
<(o quan)tum Italiae (sic di voluere) parentes
<(praestant) et terras omni praecepimus usu J
<(nostraque quam pernix) collustrat prata {inventus) !
536 melius A : mellis Graevius : vineus Burman : maelis
Birt : medius H. Schenkl. nigr . . . A : nigri Aid. : nigra Enk.
53' <(cru>ra Ulitius : <(o>ra Birt : <(cu>ra Volbner. leg<u>nt
Aid. : leg(a)nt VoIImer. & avedon videtur legi in A : in
pectore crines edd. : glaucosque periti Birt.
538 <et quo>rum Aid. terda A : terga Aid.
533 <o quan>tum Ulitius.
5*^ <praestant> et Ulitius.
5*1 <nostraque quam pernix) Ulitius et post prata add.
<iuventus>.
204
GRATTIUS
the shrines. For the hunter the horse's colour is a
better ally (than its origin). His legs had best be
black : let brown steeds be chosen . . . and those
whose backs resemble spent embers. Oh, how much
do the mares of Italy (such is heaven's will) excel
in their foals ; how much have we outstripped the
world in every practice of life ; and how active
the young breed which brightens our meadows ! . . ."
" A portion of the poem is lost — presumably of no great
extent, as restat of 497 suggests that the author was drawing
to a conclusion.
205
CALPURNIUS SICULUS
INTRODUCTION
TO CALPURXIUS SICULUS
The group of poems consisting of the pastorals by
T. Calpurnius Siculus and by Nemesianus, the Laus
Fisojiis and two short Einsiedehi eclogues " present
a bundle of interconnected and, though baffling,
still not uninteresting problems. Certain questions
arise at once. On separating the eclogues of Cal-
purnius from those of Nemesianus, to what dates
should one assign their authors? Why did "Cal-
purnius Siculus " bear these two names? Had he a
relationship with C. Calpurnius Piso, the conspirator
of A.D. 65, to whom, according to most authorities,
the Laus Pisonis was addressed ? ^ If so, did
Calpurnius Siculus WTite that panegyric in praise of
Piso as his patron, and can " Meliboeus," the
patron in two Calpurnian eclogues, have been the
same Calpurnius Piso ? If he was not, was he
Seneca, or someone else ? Again, can the Ein-
siedeln eclogues have emanated from the same
hand as the Calpurnian eclogues or the Laus Pisonis,
or are they products of a school of Neronian poets
influenced by a transient passion for pastoral themes,
" For these other poems see pp. 289-315, pp. :i 19-335, and
pp. 451-515 in this volume.
* See Introduction to the Panegyric on Piso, p. 289.
209
VOL. I. P
INTRODUCTION TO
to which school M. Hubaux -' has ascribed Cataleptoji
IX bequeathed to us in the Appendix Jergiliana ?
To most of these and to several related questions,
the most contradictory ansvrers have been given, ^
which cannot here be more than lightly touched
upon. Since Haupt in his classic essay of 1854,
De carminihus hucoUcis Calpumii et Nemesiani, divided,^
on principles of style, the eleven eclogues which had
often passed together under the name of Calpurnius
Siculus into seven by him and the remaining four by
Nemesianus, there has been no serious doubt about
the gap in date between the two sets. Indeed,
attention to certain suhscriptiones and headings in
the manuscripts (including a tell-tale blunder in
RiccarcUanus 363, Titi Calphurnii hucolictim carmen ad
Nemesianum Karthaginiensem '^) ought to have led to
an earlier separation of the poems by all editors.
In any case, it is now generally agreed that Cal-
purnius Siculus belongs to the Neronian age and the
" In Les themes bucoliques dans la poesie latine, Brussels,
1930.
^ For a resume of the different h^^otheses, see Groag, " C.
Calpurnius Piso," P. W. Reahncyd.lll. (1899); Skutsch, " T.
Calpurnius Siculus," ibid. ; Schanz, Gesch. der rom. Literatur,
II. 2 ; Clementina Chiavola, Delia vita . . . di Tito Calpurnio
Siculo, 1921.
*■ Haupt -was the first to make clear the Xeronian date of
Calpurnius' seven eclogues; but the Aldine edition of 1534
prints the two sets separately — in fact Nemesiani Bucolica
precede Calpumii Siculi Bucolica.
^ This confusion, which quite impossibly makes Xeme-
sianus contemporary with Calpurnius, may be due either to
a misreading of a double manuscript title, giving the names
of both poets at the beginning of the eclogues, or to a
corruption of words separating the two collections finis
bucolicorum Calphurnii Aurelii Nemesiani poetae Carthagi-
niensis egloga prima.
CALPURNIUS SICULUS
eclogues of Nemesianiis to the author of the Ci/ne-
getica in the third century a.d. Features of style
and of metre, like the preservation of length in final
-0 and a paucity of elision, clearly distinguish the
verse of Calpurnius from that of Nemesianus,''
imitator of Calpurnius Siculus though he was. Some
of the decisive points in favour of the Neronian date
for Calpurnius consist in such allusions as those to
the comet of 54 a.d. (i. 77-83), to the wooden amphi-
theatre of 57 A.D. (vii. 23-24) and to the young
prince of golden promise, handsome, eloquent,
divine.^ who can be identified with no one so aptly
as with Nero at the outset of his reign.
About the poet's name there is no means of deter-
mining whether it argues a relationship with the
C. Calpurnius Piso to whom it is usually thought that
the Laus Pisonis was addressed. One hypothesis
suggests that he might have been a son of one of
Piso's freedmen. Certainty is equally unattainable
as to the meaning of the epithet "Siculus": it
may indicate Sicilian origin in the geographical sense,
but it may just as well record the literary debt of
the eclogues to Theocritus. " Meliboeus," the patron
in Calpurnius Siculus' first and fourth eclogues, is
drawn as an actual personage in a position enabling
him to recommend the author's verses to the em-
peror, and skilled in poetry and weather-lore.
Sarpe's contention that this fits Seneca as the
writer of tragedies and of the Naturales Quaestiones
remains, on the whole, more plausible than the
theory once maintained by Haupt and Schenkl,
that the patron is the versatile Calpurnius Piso him-
" Birt, Ad historiam hexametri lalini symbola, Bonn, 1877, 63.
^ See i. 42-45, S4-88; iv. 84-87, 1.37; vii. 6, 83-84.
211
p2
INTRODUCTION TO
self. On the foundation of this latter theory was
built the guess that the Lmis Pisonis was the work
of Calpurnius Siculus. But there is no consensus of
opinion about the identification of " Meliboeus."
While some have supposed him to represent Seneca
or Calpurnius Piso, others have seen in him Colu-
mella " or M. \'alerius Messala Corvinus,^ consul
with Nero in 58 a.d. : others still have dismissed all
such identifications as sheer caprice. There is no
more certainty about the two Einsiedeln eclogues.
As the conjecture that they were composed by Piso ^
is countered with equal readiness to believe that
Calpurnius WTote them,^ discretion will acknowledge
that there is not enough e\'idence to prove more
than that they belong to the same literary environ-
ment as the Calpurnian poems.
The arrangement of the eclogues of Calpurnius
does not follow the chronological order of composi-
tion. The four more strictly rural poems preceded
in time the three which may be called " courtly " in
virtue of their praises of the emperor (i, iv, vii) :
some, indeed, may have been written before Nero
succeeded to the purple. There is much to be said
for Haupt's suggested order of writing, namely,
that the earliest and least finished is iii, the quarrel
with Phyllis, which Scaliger considered an unamus-
ing piece of clo^vTlishness ; next, vi, a singing-match
broken off by the umpire owing to the competitors'
loss of temper — a weakish imitation of Theocritus iv
and V and of Virgil's third eclogue ; ii, somewhat
" Chytil, Der Eklogendichter T. Calp. Siculus, Znaim, 1894.
'' Hubaux, op. cit.
" Groag, " Calp. Piso " in P. W. Rmhncycl.
** Hubaux, op. cit.
CALPUllNIUS SICULUS
after the manner of \'irgirs seventh eeloffue, the
anioebean praises of the pretty Crocale by two rivals,
a herd and a gardener; and v, the aged Micon's
expert advice to a young rustic on the management
of flocks, based on Georgics III. 295-456. The
three " courtly " poems, i, iv, vii, were \vi-itten after
these four and placed at the beginning, middle and
end of the collection. In eclogue i, roughly modelled
on Virgil's " Messianic " eclogue, the tuneful shep-
herds are imagined to discover a prophecy by Faunus
heralding a renewal of the Golden Age under a new
" Prince Charming," and they hope their poetry
may reach the imperial ears through the good offices
of their patron Meliboeus : in iv, the longest of the
seven, hopes are expressed that the poetic eulogies
on the emperor will be recommended to his majesty
by Meliboeus, and it is indicated that some success
had been already gained through his patronage ;
finally, in vii Corydon, newly back to the country
from Rome, relates to Lycotas his impressions of
the amphitheatre and of the handsome emperor.
Another feature of the arrangement may be noted.
Eclogues ii, iv, vi are amoebean in form, and are
sandwiched between eclogues which are not verse-
dialogues in structure. In thought and manner,
though there are, as we have seen, contemporary
allusions, the pervasive influence is that of Virgil,
and in a less degree that of Theocritus. The style
also owes something to Ovid. Without being in the
least deeply poetic, and in spite of the artificiality
inherent in pastorals, the eclogues of Calpurnius
breathe a rural atmosphere which makes them
pleasant to read. Historically, they pass on the
Virgilian tradition to Nemesianus.
213
INTRODUCTION TO
EDITIONS
(The Eclogues of Calpurnius with those
of Neniesianus.)
C. Schweynheiiii and A. Pannartz : (with Sihus
Itahcus) eleven Eclogae under name of C.
Calpurnius. Rome, 1471.
A. Ugoletus. Calpurnii Siculi et Nemesiani hucolica.
Parma, circ. 1490. [For this edition Angelus
Ugoletus used the codex of Thadeus Ugoletus :
see infra under A in "Sigla."]
G. Logus. In edn. containing Poetae ires egregii.
Aldus, Venice, 1534.
P. Burman. Poet. Lat. Minores I. Leyden, 1731.
J. C. Wernsdorf in Poet. Lat. Mifiores, \^ol. II. Alten-
burg, 1780. [Wernsdorf gives an introductory
essay and account of earlier editions.]
C. D. Beck. Recogn. annot. et gloss, instr. Leipzig,
1803.
C. E. Glaeser. Calp. et Nemes. . . . recensuit.
Gottingen, 1842. [Glaeser's edn. made an
advance in preferring the Codex Neapolitanus
to the MSS. of the second group.]
E. Baehrens. In Poet. Lat. Mi?wres III. Leipzig,
1881.
H. Schenkl. Calp. et Xemes. bucol. rec. Leipzig,
1885.
. Re-edited in J. P. Postgate's Corp. Poet. Lat.,
Vol. II. London, 1905.
C. H. Keene. The Eclogues of Calpurnius Siculus
and M. Aur. Olyrup. Nemesianus (introd., com-
ment.). London, 1887.
214
CALPURNIUS SKL LUS
C. Giarratano. Calpumii et Scnteaiani liucoUca.
Naples, 1910.
. Calpnrtiii et Xemesia/ii Bucolica. (Paraxia
cd.) Turin, 1021.
ENGLISH TRANSLATION
E. J. L. Scott. The Eclogues of Calpiirnius (the
seven in octosyll. verse). London, 1890.
RELEVANT WORKS
G. Sarpe. Quaestiones philologicae. Rostock, 1819.
[Argues that " Meliboeus " = Seneca.]
M. Haupt. De Carminihus hiicoUcis Calpurnii et
Xemesiani. Berlin, 1854. [Argues that " Meli-
boeus " = Calpurnius Piso.]
E. Chytil. Der Eklogefulickter T. Calpurnius Siculus
inid seine Jorhilder. Znaini, 1894. [Identifies
" Meliboeus " with Columella.]
E. Skutsch. Art. Calpurnius Siculus. P. \V. Realen-
cycL col. 1401 sqq. 1899.
G. Ferrara. Calpuriiio Siculo e il Panegirico a Cal-
purnio Pisone. Pavia, 1905.
Clementina Chiavola. Delia vita e deW opera di Tito
Calpurnio Siculo. Ragusa, 1921.
J. Wight Duff. A Liter arij History of Rome in the
Silver Age, pp. 330-338. London, 1927.
J. Hubaux. Les themes bucoliques dans la poesie
latine. Brussels, 1930.
E. Cesareo. La poesia di Calpurnio Siculo. Palermo,
1931.
215
INTRODUCTION TO
SIGLA
Used by H. Schexkl ix Postgate's C. P. L.
The Best Group of MSS.
N = Neapolitanus 380. end of 14th cent, or beginning
of I5th.
G = Gaddianus 90, 12 in Laurentian Library,
Florence : 15th cent. [Akin to N, but some-
what inferior.] "
A = Nicolaus Angelius' readings from the now lost
MS. brought by Thadeus Ugoletus from Ger-
many : they were entered in the year 1492 on
the margin of codex Riccardianus 363 at
Florence.
H = Readings in codex Harleianus 2578, 16th cent.,
apparently from a manuscript of Boccaccio's
or the manuscript of Ugoletus.
IXFERIOR MSS.
V = " vulgaris notae libri," of I5th or I6th cent, and
interpolated. [Schenkl divides them into two
classes : —
V = the slightly better ;
w = the worst.
Giarratano dislikes Schenkl's subdivision into
u and ic]
" Baehrens, the first collator of G, inclined to overvalue it :
Schenkl, on the other hand, perhaps ovo'valued N. Giarra-
tano pleads for a fair estimate of the merits of G, even if N is
on the whole the better manuscript.
2l6
CALPLRXIUS SICULUS
Ax Intervening Ciroup
P = Parisinus 8049, 12th cent. ; only reaches Ed.
IV. 12.
Exc. Par. = Extracts from Calpurnius and Nemes-
ianus in two Jiorilegia, liber Parisinus
7647, 12th cent., and liber Parisinus
17903, 13th cent.
[The texts of H. Schenkl and of Giarratano
have been taken into account in determining
the readings adopted.]
217
CALPURNIUS SICULUS
CoRYDOX : Orxytus
C. Nondum solis equos declinis mitigat aestas,
quamvis et madidis incumbant prela racemis
et spument rauco ferventia musta susurro.
cernis ut ecce pater quas tradidit, Ornyte, vaccae
molle sub hirsuta latus explicuere genista ? 5
nos quoque vicinis cur non succedimus umbris ?
torrida cur solo defendimus ora galero ?
O. hoc potius, frater Corydon, nemus, antra petamus
ista patris Fauni. graciles ubi pinea denset
silva comas rapidoque caput levat obvia soli, 10
bullantes ubi fagus aquas radice sub ipsa
protegit et ramis errantibus implicat umbras.
C. quo me cumque vocas, sequor, Ornyte ; nam mea
Leuce,
dum negat amplexus nocturnaque gaudia nobis,
per\-ia cornigeri fecit sacraria Fauni. 15
prome igitur calamos et si qua recondita servas.
nee tibi defuerit mea fistula, quam mihi nuper
matura docilis compegit harundine Ladon.
^ declinis NA : declivis GV : declivus P.
2i8
CALPURNIUS SICULUS
ECLOGUE I
CoRYDON : Ornytus
Not yet doth the waning summer tame the sun's
horses, although the wine-presses are squeezing the
juicy clusters and a hoarse whisper comes from the
foaming must as it ferments. Look, Ornytus, do
you see how comfortably the cattle our father trusted
us to watch have lain do\Mi to rest in the shaggy
broom ? Why do not we also make for the neigh-
bouring shade r Why only a cap to protect our
sunburnt faces r
Rather let us seek this grove, brother Cory don, —
the grottoes over there, the haunt of Father Faunus,
where the pine forest thickly spreads its delicate
foliage and rears its head to meet the sun's fierce
rays, where the beech shields the waters that bubble
'neath its very roots, and with its stravina; boua:hs
casts a tangled shade.
Whithersoever you call me, Ornytus, I follow. For
by refusing my embraces and denying me nightly
pleasures, my Leuce has left it lawful for me to
enter the shrine of horned Faunus. Produce your
reed-pipes then and any song you keep stored for
use. My pipe, you will find, will not fail you — the
pipe that Ladon's skill fashioned for me lately out
of a ripely seasoned reed.
219
MINOR LATIN POETS
O. et iani captatae pariter successinius umbrae,
sed quaenam sacra descripta est pagina fago,
quam modo nescio quis properanti falce notavit ?
aspicis ut virides etiam nunc littera rimas
servet et arenti nondum se laxet hiatu ?
C. Ornyte, fer propius tua lumina : tu potes alto
cortice descriptos citius percurrere versus ;
nam tibi longa satis pater internodia largus
procerumque dedit mater non invida corpus.
O. non pastor, non haec trivial! more viator,
sed deus ipse canit : nihil armentale resultat,
nee montana sacros distinguunt iubila versus.
C. mira refers ; sed rumpe moras oculoque sequaci
quamprimum nobis divinum perlege carmen.
O. " qui iuga, qui silvas tueor, satus aethere Faunus,
haec populis ventura cano : iuvat arbore sacra
laeta patefactis incidere carmina fatis.
vos o praecipue nemorum gaudete coloni,
vos populi gaudete mei : licet omne vagetur
securo custode pecus nocturnaque pastor
claudere fraxinea nolit praesepia crate :
non tamen insidias praedator ovilibus ullas
aiferet aut laxis abiget iumenta capistris.
aurea secura cum pace renascitur aetas
et redit ad terras tandem squalore situque
alma Themis posito iuvenemque beata sequuntur
25 codice GA.
^^ fatis Ulitius : fagis codd.
" Themis, the Greek goddess of justice, was driven from
earth by man's deterioration after the fabled Golden Age.
Poets also called her " Astraea." Squalore situque conveys
an image of the Goddess in her broken-hearted banish-
ment, squalore suggesting mourning (as in Cicero often)
CALPURNIUS SICULUS
\. Now we have both come beneath the shade we
sought. But what legend is this inscribed upon the
hallowed beech, which someone of late has scored
with hasty knife ? Do you notice how the letters
still preserve the fresh greenness of their cutting
and do not as yet gape with sapless slit ?
. Ornytus, look closer. You can more quickly scan
the lines inscribed on the bark high up. You have
length enough of limb by the bounty of your father,
and tall stature ungrudgingly transmitted by your
mother.
». These be no verses in wayside style by shepherd or
by traveller: 'tis a very god who sings. No ring
here of cattle-stall ; nor do alpine yodellings make
refrains for the sacred lay.
. You tell of miracles ! Away with dallying ; and at
once with eager eye read me through the inspired
poem.
t. '' I, Faunus of celestial birth, guardian of hill and
forest, foretell to the nations that these things shall
come. Upon the sacred tree I please to carve the
joyous lay in which destiny is revealed. Rejoice
above all, ye denizens of the woods; rejoice, ye
' peoples who are mine ! All the herd may stray and
yet no care trouble its guardian : the shepherd may
neglect to close the pens at night with wattles of
ash-w^ood — yet no robber shall bring his crafty plot
upon the fold, or loosing the halters drive the bullocks
off. Amid untroubled peace, the Golden Age springs
to a second birth ; at last kindly Themis," throwing
off the gathered dust of her mourning, returns to the
earth ; blissful ages attend the youthful prince who
and situ the dust that has gathered round her in her motionless
grief. Now the poet pictures her springing to life again.
221
MINOR LATIN POETS
saecula, maternis causani qui vicit lulls. 45
duni populos deus ipse reget, dabit impia \actas
post tergum Bellona manus spoliataque telis
in sua vesanos torquebit viscera morsus
et, modo quae toto civilia distulit orbe,
secum bella geret : nuUos iam Roma Philippos 50
deflebit, nullos ducet captiva triumphos ;
omnia Tartareo subigentur carcere bella
immergentque caput tenebris lucemque timebunt.
Candida pax aderit ; nee solum Candida vultu,
qualis saepe fuit quae libera Marte professo, 55
quae domito procul hoste tamen grassantibus
armis
publica difFudit tacito discordia ferro :
omne procul vitium simulatae cedere pacis
iussit et insanos dementia contudit enses.
nulla catenati feralis pompa senatus GO
carnificum lassabit opus, nee carcere pleno
infelix raros numerabit Curia patres.
plena quies aderit, quae stricti nescia ferri
altera Saturni referet Latialia regna,
altera regna Numae, qui primus ovantia caede 65
agmina, Romuleis et adhuc ardentia castris
45 vicit XP: vIcit G: lusit V. iiUis XGPV: in
ulnLs A.
^5 quae codd. : ceu Baehrens,
5^ iubila Oodofr. Hermann : vulnera Leo : fulmina H.
Schenkl in not. : publica codd. {quo servato confodit t.
praecordia f. Maehly).
CALPIRNIUS SICULUS
pleaded a successful case for tlu- luli of the mother
town (of Troy).'' Wliile he, a very Ciod, shall rule
the nations, the unholy War-(ioddess shall yield and
have her vanquished hands bound behind her back,
and, stripped of weapons, turn her furious teeth into
her own entrails ; upon herself shall she wage the
civil wars which of late she spread o'er all the world :
no battles like Philippi shall Rome lament hence-
forth : no triumph o'er her captive self shall she
celebrate. All wars shall be quelled in Tartarean
durance : they shall plunge the head in darkness,
and dread the light. Fair peace shall come, fair
not in visage alone — such as she often was when,
though free from open war, and with distant foe
subdued, *• she yet 'mid the riot of arms spread
national strife '' with secret steel. Clemency has
commanded every vice that wears the disguise of
peace to betake itself afar : she has broken every
maddened sword-blade. Xo more sliall the funereal
procession of a fettered senate weary the headsman
at his task ; no more will crowded prison leave only
a senator here and there for the unhappy Curia to
count. '^ Peace in her fullness shall come ; knowing
not the drawn sword, she shall renew once more the
reign of Saturn in Latium, once more the reign of
Numa who first taught the tasks of peace to armies
that rejoiced in slaughter and still drew from
Romulus' camp their fiery spirit — Numa who first
'^ The reference is to an early oration by Xero on behalf of
the inhabitants of Ilium (Suet. NerOy 7; Tac. Ann. xii. 58).
^ This is best taken as a reference to the Roman invasion of
Britain in Claudius' reign.
•■ If publicn is right, discordia must be plural of discordiion,
a rare neuter form.
^ There were many arbitrary executions ordered by Claudius.
223
MINOR LATIN POETS
pacis opus docuit iussitque silentibus armis
inter sacra tubas, non inter bella, sonare.
iam nee adumbrati faciem mercatus honoris
nee vacuos tacitus fasces et inane tribunal 70
accipiet consul ; sed legibus omne reductis
ius aderit moremque fori vultumque priorem
reddet, et afflictum melior deus auferet aevum.
exultet quaecumque notum gens ima iacentem
erectumve colit boream, quaecumque vel ortu 75
vel patet occasu mediove sub aethere fervit.
cernitis ut puro nox iam vicesima caelo
fulgeat et placida radiantem luce cometem
proferat ? ut liquidum niteat sine vulnere plenus ?
numquid utrumque polum, sicut solet, igne
cruento 80
spargit et ardenti scintillat sanguine lampas ?
at quondam non talis erat, cum Caesare rapto
indixit miseris fatalia civibus arma.
scilicet ipse deus Romanae pondera molis
fortibus excipiet sic inconcussa lacertis, 85
ut neque translati sonitu fragor intonet orbis
nee prius ex meritis defunctos Roma penates
censeat, occasus nisi cum respexerit ortus."
'® tepet Postgate : patet codd. fervit GP : servit NV.
'^ niteat Ulitius : mutat XG : mittat P : nutet V
nonnulli: nictet Barth.
^■^ prius a XG : pfios = patrios Diets apiid Levy,
Gnomon^ 1928, pp. 594 sqq.
" The comet of lines 77 sqq. is taken to be the comet of
A.D. 54 which was believed to have heralded the death of
224
CALPLllXIUS SICULUS
luislied the clash of arms and bade the trumpet
-^oimd 'mid lioly rites instead of war. No more
-hall the consul purchase the form of a shadowy
dignity or, silenced, receive worthless fasces and
"'. aninsrless judgement-seat. Nay, laws shall be
t ored ; right will come in fullest force ; a kinder
iiud will renew the former tradition and look of the
Forum and displace the age of oppression. Let all
the peoples rejoice, whether they dwell furthest
down in the low south or in the uplifted north,
whether they face the east or west or burn beneath
the central zone. Do ye mark how^ already for a
twentieth time the night is agleam in an unclouded
sky, displaying a comet radiant in tranquil light ?
and how brightly, with no presage of bloodshed,
twinkles its undiminished lustre ? Is it with any
trace of blood-hued flame that, as is a comet's way,
it besprinkles either pole ? does its torch flash with
gory fire ? But aforetime it was not such, when, at
Caesar's taking off, it pronounced upon luckless
citizens the destined wars.** Assuredly a very god
shall take in his strong arms the burden of the
massive Roman state so unshaken, that the world
will pass to a new ruler without the crash of rever-
berating thunder, and tjiat Rome will not regard
the dead as deified in accord with merit ere the
dawn of one reign can look back on the setting of
the last."^
Claudius, Suet. Claud. 4(3. Similarh',' Virgil, Georg. I. 487 sqq.,
described the celestial portents accompanying the assassina-
tion of Julius Caesar.
" The words seem obscurely to imply a succession to imperial
power without disturbance or interregnum. By one of his
early acts, Xero proclaimed divine honours for his pre-
decessor, Claudius.
225
VOL. I. O
MINOR LATIN POETS
C. Ornyte, iam dudum velut ipso numine plenum
me quatit et mixtus subit inter gaudia terror. 90
sed bona facundi veneremur numina Fauni.
O. carmina, quae nobis deus obtulit ipse canenda,
dicamus teretique sonum modulemin* avena :
forsitan augustas feret haec Meliboeus ad aures.
II
Idas : Astacus : Thyrsis
Intactam Crocalen puer Astacus et puer Idas,
Idas lanigeri dominus gregis, Astacus horti,
dilexere diu. formosus uterque nee impar
voce sonans. hi cum terras gravis ureret aestas,
ad gelidos fontes et easdem forte sub umbras 5
conveniunt dulcique simul contendere cantu
pignoribusque parant : placet, hie ne vellera
septem,
ille sui \ictus ne messem vindicet horti ;
et magnum certamen erat sub iudice Thyrsi,
adfuit omne genus pecudum, genus omne ferarum
et quodcumque vagis altum ferit aera pennis. 11
convenit umbrosa quicumque sub ilice lentas
pascit oves, Faunusque pater Satyrique bicornes ;
adfuerunt sicco Dryades pede. Naides udo,
®^ plenum XGP : plenus V.
II. ^ Crotalem X.
^ ulmos PV : umbras NG.
' hie ne Baehrens : hie ut codd.
^^ quaecumque codd. : quodcumque Ulitius. altum
codd. : avium Barth.
226
I CALPURNIUS SICULUS
Ornytus, Umv^ has my very heinii;, full of the ijod's
own spirit, been thrilled with awe : min<rlino- with
my joy it steals upon mc. Come, let us praise the
kindly divinity of eloquent Faunus.
Let us rehearse the strains which the god himself
has presented us to be sung; let us make music
for it on our rounded reed-pipe. Haply these
\ 1 rses will be borne by Meliboeus " to our prince's
ears.
ECLOGUE II
Idas : Astacus : Thyrsis
The virgin Crocale for long was loved by young
Astacus and young Idas — Idas who owned a wool-
bearing flock and Astacus a garden. Comely were
both ; and well-matched in tuneful song. These,
upon a day when oppressive summer scorched the
earth, met by a cooling spring — as it chanced,
beneath the same shady tree ; and made ready to
contend together in sweet singing and for a stake.
It was agreed that Idas, if beaten, should forfeit
seven fleeces and Astacus the produce of his garden
for the year. Great was the contest to which
Thyrsis listened as their judge. Cattle of every kind
were there, wild beasts of every kind, and every
creature whose roving wing smites the air aloft.
There met ever)" shepherd who feeds his lazy flocks
beneath the shady oak, and Father Faunus too and
the twy-horned Satyrs. Dry-foot the wood-nymphs
came ; with watery feet the river-nymphs ; and
" Meliboeus represents the poet's patron, an unidentified
courtier, or Seneca according to some, or Calpurnius Piso
according to others : see Introduction.
227
o2
MINOR LATIN POETS
et tenuere suos properantia flumina cursus ; 15
desistiint tremulis incurrere frondibus Euri
altaque per totos fecere silentia montes :
omnia cessabant, neglectaque pascua taiiri
calcabant, illis etiam certantibus ausa est
daedala nectareos apis intermittere flores. 20
iamque sub annosa medius consederat umbra
Thyrsis et " o pueri me iudice pignora " dixit
" irrita sint moneo : satis hoc mercedis habeto,
si laudem victor, si fert opprobria victus.
et nunc alternos magis ut distinguere cantus 25
possitis, ter quisque manus iactate micantes."
nee mora : decernunt digitis, prior incipit Idas.
I. me Silvanus amat, dociles mihi donat avenas
et mea frondenti circumdat tempora taeda.
ille etiam parvo dixit mihi non leve carmen : 30
" iam levis obliqua crescit tibi fistula canna."
A. at mihi Flora comas pallenti gramine pingit
et matura mihi Pomona sub arbor e ludit.
" accipe " dixerunt Nymphae " puer, accipe
fontes :
iam potes irriguos nutrire canalibus hortos." 35
I. me docet ipsa Pales cultum gregis, ut niger albae
terga maritus ovis nascenti mutet in agna,
23 habete Kempfer, Baehrens.
31 crescat NGP : crescit V, Keene : crescet Maehly.
32 et APV : at NG. pallenti 7)e Rooy : parienti codd.
pingit XGP : cingit Ha apt.
33 matura mihi codd. et mihi matura Pomona sub arbore
plaudit Haupt : alii alia.
228
CALPURNIUS SICULUS
hastening torrents stayed their courses. East-
winds ceased their rush upon the quivering leaves
and so made deep silence over all the hills ; every-
thing stood idle ; bulls trampled the pasture, Mhich
they heeded not ; during that contest even the
craftsman bee ventured to leave unvisited the
nectar-yielding flowers. Now under the shade of an
aged tree had Thyrsis taken his seat between them
and said, " Lads, if I am to be judge, I urge that
the stakes count for nothing. Let sufficient recom-
pense be won herefrom, if the victor take the glory
and the vanquished the reproach. Now, the better
to mark off your alternate songs, raise in sudden
movement each your hands three times." " They
obey at once. The finger-trial decides, and Idas
begins first.
I am loved of Silvanus — he gives me reeds to obey
my will — he wreathes my temples with leaves of
pine. To me while yet a boy he uttered this
prophecy of no slender import: " Already upon the
sloping reed there grows a slender pipe for thee."
But my locks doth Flora adorn Avith pale-green
grasses, and for me Pomona in her ripeness sports
beneath the tree. " Take, boy," said the nymphs,
** take for yourself these fountains. Now with the
channels you can feed your well-watered orchard."
Pales herself teaches me the breeding of a flock,
how a black ram mated with a white ewe produces
a changed colour in the fleece of the lamb born to
" In the Itahan game of mora, the two players raise
simultaneously any number of fingers they like, each calling
out a number, v»-hi(h •wins if it gives the correct sum of the
fingers raised by both. Here the winner is the one who
makes the best score out of three rounds.
229
MINOR LATIN POETS
quae neque diversi speciem servare parentis
possit et ambiguo testetur utrumque colore.
A. non minus arte mea mutabilis induit arbos 40
ignotas frondes et non gentilia poma :
ars mea nunc malo pira temperat et modo cogit
insita praecoquibus subrepere persica prunis.
I. me teneras salices iuvat aut oleastra putare
et gregibus portare novis, ut carpere frondes 45
condiscant primoque recidere gramina morsu,
ne depulsa vagas quaerat fetura parentes,
A. at mihi cum fulvis radicibus arida tellus
pangitur, irriguo perfunditur area fonte
et satiatur aqua, sucos ne forte priores 50
languida mutata quaerant plantaria terra.
I. o si quis Crocalen deus afferat I hunc ego terris,
hunc ego sideribus solum regnare fatebor ;
secernamque nemus dicamque ; " sub arbore numen
hac erit ; ite procul — sacer est locus — ite profani."
A. urimur in Crocalen : si quis mea vota deorum 56
audiat, huic soli, virides qua gemmeus undas
fons agit et tremulo percurrit lilia rivo,
inter pampineas ponetur faginus ulmos.
I. ne contemne casas et pastoralia tecta : 60
rusticus est, fateor, sed non et barbarus Idas,
saepe vaporato mihi cespite palpitat agnus,
saepe cadit festis devota Parilibus agna.
^^ genitalia i-ulgo : gentilia iv.
*" vagos codd. : vagas ScaUger.
*8 at XG : et PV. fulvis codd. : vulsis {vel furvis)
Burman. arida NGA : altera PV.
" panditur V.
5* decernamque XGPH : dicam naraqiie V : discer-
namque Glaeser : secernamque Grunov.
^^ hoc erit codd. : hac erit Ulitius : incolit Giarratano.
" parilibus P : paliribus NG : palilibus V.
230
C'ALPURNIUS SK'ULUS
it. insoinucli that tlio lamb cannot preserve the
a])pearance of the sire so different from its dam,
and yet testifies to both by varied colour.
V. No less transformable by my cunning, the tree puts
on a dress of alien leaves and fruits of a diverse
■>pecies. My cunning now crosses pears with apples
and anon constrains engrafted peaches to supplant
the early plums.
. It is my joy to lop branches from tender willow or
wild olive and carry them to the young flocks, that
they may learn to nibble the leaves and crop the
herbage with early bite, lest the lambs though
weaned may follow their straying dams.
^. But I, when I plant tawny roots in the parched
ground, drench the flower-bed with a welling flood
and give it water in plenty lest haply the slips
droop with the change of soil and feel the need of
their former moisture.
[. Oh, if some god bring me Crocale here, him will I
acknowledge sole ruler of earth and stars. Unto
him will I hallow a grove and say, " Beneath this
tree a divinity shall dwell. Begone, ye uninitiated,
begone ftir hence, 'tis holy ground."
\. I burn with love for Crocal(*: if any of the gods
hear my prayer, to him alone shall be dedicated a
beechen bowl among the vine-clad elms, where the
sparkling brook speeds its waters, where it flows
among the lilies with its rippling stream.
[. Scorn not the cottage and a shepherd's homestead.
Idas is a rustic, I allow ; but he is not a savage too.
Oft on the altar of smoking peat writhes the lamb
offered by me, oft in death falls the ewe-lamb
devoted at the festival of Pales.
231
MINOR LATIN POETS
A. nos quoque pomiferi laribus consuevimus horti
mittere primitias et fingere liba Priapo, 65
rorantesque favos damus et liquentia mella ;
nee fore grata minus, quam si caper imbuat aras.
I. roille sub uberibus balantes pascimus agnas,
totque Tarentinae praestant mihi vellera matres ;
per totum niveus premitur mihi caseus annum : 70
si venias, Crocale, totus tibi serviet hornus.
A. qui numerare velit quam multa sub arbore nostra
poma legam, tenues citius numerabit harenas.
semper holus metimus, nee bruma nee impedit
aestas :
si venias, Crocale, totus tibi serviet hortus. 75
I. quamvis siccus ager languentes excoquat herbas,
sume tamen calathos nutanti lacte coactos :
vellera tunc dabimus, cum primum tempus
apricum
surget et a tepidis fiet tonsura Kalendis.
A. at nos, quos etiam praetorrida munerat aestas, 80
mille renidenti dabimus tibi cortice Chias,
castaneasque nuces totidem, cum sole Decembri
maturis nucibus virides rumpentur echinni.
^5 figere NGPA : fundere V : fingere edd. ant.
^' sunt NGP : fore vel fere V.
'^ annus vulgo : hornus cod. Titii., edd. ant.
« Flora, Pomona and Priapus are the " Lares " of the
garden.
232
CALPURNIUS SICULUS
1 too have been wont to offer first-fruits to tlie i^ods ^
who protect my apple-orchard and to mould for
Priapus cakes of sacrifice. Dripping combs of trick-
ling honey I present — nor think they shall be less
acceptable to heaven than a goat's blood staining
the altar.
A thousand lambs I feed which bleat beneath their
•mother's teats ; as many Tarentine ewes yield me
their fleeces.'' Throuiihout the year I press the
snow-white cheese : if you come, Crocale, the whole
produce of this year will be at your command.
He mIio would count what multitude of apples I
gather under my trees will sooner count fine sand.
Ever am I plucking the green fruits of the earth —
neither midwinter nor summer stays me. If you
come, Crocale, the whole garden will be at your
command.
Although the parched field is withering the drooping
grass, yet accept from me pails of quivering curdled
milk. Fleeces will I give in the early days of
spring sunshine so soon as sheep-shearing starts
with the temperate kalends.-
But I who receive gifts even from the scorching
summer vdW give you a thousand Chian figs of
glistening skin, and as many chestnuts, when the
December sun ripens the nuts and their green husks
burst.
'■ Sheep from the district of Tarentum in South Italy were
famed for the good quality of their wool : Varro, R.R., II.
ii. 18; Columella, R.B., VII, ii. .3; iv. 3: cf. Horace's refer-
ence to the valuable fleeces of sheep pasturing near the
neighbouring river, the Galaesus, Od. II. vi. 10.
' The moderately warm weather in the months between
the spring equinox and midsummer is recommended for
shearing by Varro, R.R. II. xi. G.
MINOR LATIN POETS
I. num, precor. inforaiis videor tibi: num gravis
annis?
decipiorque miser, quotiens moUissima tango 85
ora nianu primique sequor vestigia floris
nescius et gracili digitos lanugine fallo ?
A. fontibiis in liquidis quotiens me conspicor, ipse
admiror totiens. etenim sic flore iuventae
induimur vultus, ut in arbore saepe notavi 90
cerea sub tenui lucere cydonia lana.
I. carmina poscit amor, nee fistula cedit amori.
sed fugit ecce dies revocatque crepuscula vesper,
hinc tu, Daphni, greges, illinc agat Alphesiboeus.
A. iam resonant frondes, iam cantibus obstrepit
arbos :
i procul, o Doryla, plenumque reclude canalem, 96
et sine iam dudum sitientes irriget hortos. —
vix ea finierant, senior cum talia Thyrsis :
" este pares et ob hoc Concordes vivite ; nam vos
et decor et cantus et amor sociavit et aetas." 100
III
loLLAS : Lycidas
Numquid in hac, Lycida, vidisti forte iuvencam
valle meam ? solet ista tuis occurrere tauris,
et iam paene duas, dum quaeritur, eximit horas ;
nee tamen apparet. duris ego perdita ruscis
^^ hie procul P. o GV : y N : et P : i Hmipl. pri-
mumque codd. : plenumque Haupt, H. Schenkl : rivumque
Bathrens : pronumque C. Schenkl. canalem PV : canale
NG : canali Baehrens.
234
CALPURNIUS SICULUS
. Tell mc, pray, you do not think nic imconicly, do
vou ? not laden with years ? Is it my ill fortune to
l)e deceived whenever my hand touches my tender
cheeks and when unconsciously I trace the marks
of my first bloom and beguile my fingers with the
slender down ?
v. Whenever I see my image in the clear stream I
wonder at myself. For my visage clothes itself
with the bloom of youth in like manner as I have
oft remarked wax-like quinces glistening under the
delicate down upon their tree.
. Love calls for song : nor is the pipe unequal to the
call of love ; but lo ! the day departs and evening
brings the gloaming back. On this side, Daphnis,
drive the flocks — on that let Alphesiboeus drive
them home.
v.. Now are the leaves a-rustling; now the forest
drowns our song. Go yonder, Dorylas, go ; and
open full the channel. Let it water the garden-
plots which have thirsted so long.
Scarce had they finished so, when Thyrsis full of
years gave judgement thus: "Be equal: live
therefore in amity ; for beauty and song, love and
youth, have made you comrades both."
ECLOGUE III
loLLAS : Lycidas
Have you chanced, Lycidas, to see a heifer of mine
in this vale ? She is wont to go to meet your bulls.
By now the search for her has wasted nearly two
hours ; and in spite of all she is not to be seen.
For long have my legs been hurt by the rough
235
MINOR LATIN POETS
iam dudum nuUus dubitavi crura rubetis 5
scindere, nee qiiiequam post tantiim sanguinis
egi.
L. non satis attendi : nee enim vaeat. uror, lolla,
uror, et immodice : Lveidan ingrata reliquit
Phyllis amatque novum post tot mea munera
Mopsiun.
I. mobilior ventis o feniina ! sic tua Phyllis : 10
quae sibi, nam memini, si quando solus abesses,
mella etiam sine te iurabat amara videri.
L. altius ista querar, si forte vacabis, lolla.
has pete nunc salices et laevas flecte sub ulmos.
nam cum prata calent, illic requiescere noster 15
taurus amat gelidaque iacet spatiosus in umbra
et matutinas revocat palearibus herbas.
I. non equidem, Lycida, quamvis contemptus, abibo.
Tityre, quas dixit, salices pete solus et illinc,
si tamen invenies, deprensam verbere multo 20
hue age ; sed fractum referas hastile memento,
nunc age die, Lycida : quae noxam magna tulere
iurgia ? quis vestro deus intervenit amori ?
L. Phyllide contentus sola (tu testis, lolla)
Callirhoen sprevi, quamvis cum dote rogaret : 25
en, sibi cum Mopso calamos intexere cera
incipit et puero comitata sub ilice cantat.
^ nullus Heinsius : nullis codd.
^^ quavis NG : quamvis PV. contemptus P : contentus
NGV nonnulli.
"2 vos tarn PV : nos tam G : noxam Baehrens.
° Palearia, strictly the dewlap or skin hanging from
the neck of oxen, is loosely used here for mouth and
throat.
236
CALPl RNIUS SICULUS
l)n>om and yt*l 1 liavc nowise sin-unk from letting
tlic bramble thickets scratch them: and after so
nuich loss of blood I have effected nothing.
I ])nid not enoii«]^h heed; for I have not the time.
1 burn, I burn with love, lollas — beyond all measure.
Phyllis has left her Lycidas ungratefully, and after
all my presents has found a new lover in Mopsus.
O woman more inconstant than the wind ! Is it
thus with your Phyllis, who, I remember, when you
alone were absent, would swear that without you
honey itself seemed bitter ?
These troubles I will tell more fully, when you
chance to have leisure, lollas. Search now these
willows, and turn beneath the elms on the left.
For there, when 'tis hot in the meadows, my bull
loves to rest, as he reclines his great bulk in the
cool shade, and in his mouth chews the cud after
his morning's grazing."
No, Lycidas, I will not go away, though thus
mocked by you. Tityrus,'' by yourself make for
those willows he spoke of, and if indeed you find
the heifer, catch her and drive her thence with
many a blow here ; but remember to bring back
your broken crook. Come now, Lycidas, tell me.
What great quarrel has brought the mischief ? What
god has come to sunder the love of you two ?
Content with only Phyllis (you are my witness,
lollas), I spurned Callirhoe although she asked my
love with a dowry to offer. Then, lo ! Phyllis begins
to take Mopsus' aid in joining reeds with wax and
she sings beneath the oak attended by the youth.
* lollas bids his attendant search for the missing heifer,
while he stays behind to hear about Lycidas' quarrel -with his
sweetheart. Similarly in Theocr. Idyll. Til. 1 sqq. it is Tityrus
w lio has to work while his master indulges in love and song.
237
MINOR LATIN POETS
haec ego cum vidi, fateor, sic intimus arsi,
ut nihil ulterius tulerim. nam protinus ambas
diduxi tmiicas et pectora nuda cecidi. 30
Alcippen irata petit dixitque : " relicto,
improbe, te, Lycida, Mopsum tua Phyllis amabit."
nunc penes Alcippen manet ; ac ne forte negetur,
a I vereor ; nee tam nobis ego Phyllida reddi
exopto quam cum Mopso iurgetur anhelo. 35
a te coeperunt tua iurgia ; tu prior illi
victas tende manus : decet indulgere puellae,
vel cum prima nocet. si quid mandare iuvabit,
sedulus iratae contingam nuntius aures.
iam dudum meditor, quo Phyllida carmine placem.
forsitan audito poterit mitescere cantu ; 41
et solet ilia meas ad sidera ferre Camenas.
die age ; nam cerasi tua cortice verba notabo
et decisa feram rutilanti carmina libro.
" has tibi, Phylli, preces iam pallidus, hos tibi
cantu s
dat Lycidas, quos nocte miser modulatur acerba, 46
dum flet et excluso disperdit lumina somno.
non sic destricta marcescit turdus oliva,
non lepus, extremas legulus cum sustulit uvas,
ut Lycidas domina sine Phyllide tabidus erro. 50
te sine, vae misero, mihi lilia nigra videntur
30 deduxi V.
33 negetur XGP : vagetur V.
3^ cum G : quod XPHV.
*' excluso NGP : excusso V. disperdit NGPH : dis-
pergit V : distergit Scaliger.
238
CALPURXIUS SICULUS
\\ lien I saw this, I own, such fh-e I felt within that
I could endure no more : at once I tore open both
her vests and beat her naked breast. In fury she
went to Alcippe, saying as she went, " Spiteful
Lycidas, your Phyllis will abandon you and give
her love to Mopsus." And now in Alcippe 's house
she stays : and oh, I fear that entry will be refused
me. But more than I desire to have Phyllis restored
to me, do I pant" to see her quarrel with Mopsus.
It was with you that your quarrel began. You must
be the first to stretch out to her your hands in
surrender. It is fitting to show indulgence to a girl,
even when she is the aggressor. If you please to
send any word to her, I as your messenger will take
care to win your angry mistress' ear.
Long have I been pondering with what song I am
to pacify Phyllis. Mayhap, when she hears my lay,
she can be softened : and it is her way to laud my
poetry to the stars.
Come, speak — for I will carve your words upon the
bark of the cherry-tree and then cut away the lines
on the red rind and take them to her.
" These prayers, Phyllis, your Lycidas, now wan with
grief, despatches to you, this song which in misery
he plays through the painful night, weeping the
while and by banishment of sleep doing despite to
his eyes. No thrush grows thin so much when the
olive-tree is stripped, nor hare when the gleaner has
gathered the last grapes, as I, Lycidas, have pined
a-wandering without Phyllis for my queen. Without
you (poor wretch that I am!), lilies seem black to
" anhelo might be an adjective — " the wheezy Mopsus " :
exopto would then govern first an infinitive {reddi) and
secondly a subjunctive {iurgetur).
239
MINOR LATIN POETS
nee sapiunt fontes et aeescunt vina bibenti.
at si tu venias, et Candida lilia fient
et sapient fontes et dulcia vina bibentur.
ille ego sum Lycidas, quo te cantante solebas 55
dicere felicem, cui dulcia saepe dedisti
oscula nee medios dubitasti rumpere cantus
atque inter calamos errantia labra petisti.
a dolor ! et post haec placuit tibi torrida Mopsi
vox et carmen iners et acerbae stridor avenae ? 60
quern sequeris? quern, Phylli, fugis ? formosior
illo
dicor, et hoc ipsimi mihi tu iurare solebas.
sum quoque divitior : certaverit ille tot haedos
pascere quot nostri numerantur vespere tauri.
quid tibi quae nosti referam ? scis, optima Phylli,
quam numerosa meis siccetur bucula mulctris G6
et quam multa suos suspendat ad ubera natos.
sed mihi nee gracilis sine te fiscella salicto
texitur et nullo tremuere coagula lacte.
quod si dura times etiam nunc verbera, Phylli, 70
tradimus ecce manus : licet illae vimine torto,
si libet, et lenta post tergum vite domentur,
ut mala nocturni religavit bracchia Mopsi
Tityrus et furem medio suspendit ovili. 74
accipe, ne dubites, meruit manus utraque poenas.
his tamen, his isdem manibus tibi saepe palumbes,
saepe etiam leporem decepta matre paventem
misimus in gremium ; per me tibi lilia prima
contigerunt primaeque rosae : vixdum bene
florem
"^ gracili edd. ant.
"^ scilicet codd. : si libct Burman : sou licet //. Schenhl:
sic licet Giarralano.
'5 dubita PV.
240
CALPLRNIUS SICl LIS
mc, fountains lose their taste and wine as I drink
turns sour. But if you come, lilies will grow white
again, fountains taste aright and wine be sweet to
drink. I am that Lycidas at whose singing you
used to declare your joy, to whom you gave many a
tender kiss, whose strains half-sung you did not
hesitate to interrupt by seeking my lips as they
strayed o'er the reed-pipe. O sorrow! and, after
that, have you been pleased by the harsh voice of
Mopsus, his lifeless song and the shriek of his
strident pipe ? Whom do you follow ? and whom,
Phvllis, do vou avoid ? I am called more comely
than he, and that is but what you were wont to say
to me on oath. Besides, I am richer ; let him vie
in pasturing as many kids as there are bulls of mine
counted at even-tide. Why should I rehearse to
you what you know? You are aware, darling
Phyllis, how many heifers are milked over my
pails, and how many have calves clinging to their
teats. But when you are gone, I can weave no
slender basket-work out of willow-withes : no milk
quivers in its curdled form. But if even now,
Phyllis, you are afraid of cruel blows, see, I sur-
render my hands : let them, if you choose, be bound
with twisted osier and the tough vine-twig behind
my back, as Tityrus once bound the knavish arms
of your night-prowler Mopsus, and strung the thief
up inside his sheepfold. Take them, be not slow;
both hands have earned their punishment. Yet
with these, yes, these same hands, have I many a
time put turtle-doves or a frightened hare into your
lap, after snaring their mother ; through me it was
your luck to get the earliest lilies and the earliest
roses ; scarce had the bee well partaken of the
241
VOL. I. R
MINOR LATIN POETS
degustarat apis, tu cingebare coronis. 80
aurea sed forsan mendax tibi munera iactat,
qui metere occidua ferales nocte lupinos
dicitur et cocto pensare legumine panem :
qui sibi tunc felix. tunc fortunatus habetur,
\'ilia cuni subigit manualibus hordea saxis. 85
quod si turpis amor precibus, quod abominor, istis
obstiterit. laqueum miseri nectemus ab ilia
ilice, quae nostros primum violavit amores.
hi tamen ante mala figentur in arbore versus :
* credere, pastores, levibus nolite puellis ; 90
Phyllida Mopsus habet, Lycidan habet ultima
rerum.' " —
nunc age, si quicquam miseris succurris, lolla,
perfer et exora modulate Phyllida cantu.
ipse procul stabo vel acuta carice tectus
vel propius latitans vicina sepe sub horti. 95
ibimus : et veniet, nisi me praesagia fallunt.
nam bonus a ! dextrum fecit mihi Tityrus omen,
qui redit inventa non irritus ecce iuvenca.
^" degustabat codd. : degustarat Heinsius.
®" a dextrum Baehrens : a dextro GPV plerique : a
dextra HV nonnulli.
►42
CALPURNIIS SICULIS
flo^vor wlu-n you were crowned with cliaj)!!!^. Hut
perhaps he may lyin<^ly boast to you of «^ol(len
gifts— he. who, they say, "lathers the funeral Ui})ines «
when ni<iht is far spent, and makes up for the lack
of bread with a boilinfj; of greens, wlio deems him-
self happy and blest by fate in the very hour when
he grinds inferior barley with a mill his own hand
works. But if (I pray, heaven forfend I) a base
passion is an obstacle to these my pleadings, I \v\\\
in my misery twine a noose from yonder oak-tree
which first did outrage to our affection.* Yet, ere
all is o'er, these lines shall be affixed upon the
accursed tree : ' Shepherds, put not your trust in
fickle maids. Phyllis is loved by Mopsus ; the
end of all claims Lycidas.' " — Come now, lollas, if
you have any help for misery, take this missive to
Phyllis and entreat her with harmonious song. My-
self I will stand apart, perhaps concealed by prickly
reed-grass or hiding nearer beneath the neighbouring
garden hedge.
I will go : and Phyllis y,vi\\ come, unless the portents
cheat me. For the good Tityrus has brought me an
omen — ah ! a favourable one I Look, he returns
successful, my heifer found.
° Lupines were served at feasts in honour of the dead, and
were sometimes carried off by the poorer guests : cf. Tibull. I.
V. 53-54. Their main use was to feed cattle.
» See 26-27.
243
R 2
MINOR LATIN POETS
IV
Meliboeus : Corydox : Amyntas
M. Quid tacitus, Corydon, vultuque subinde minaci
quidve sub hac platano, quam garrulus adstrepit
umor,
insueta statione sedes ? iuvat algida forsan
ripa levatque diem vicini spiritus aninis ?
C. carmina iani dudum, non quae neniorale resultent, 5
volvimus, o Meliboee ; sed haec, quibus aurea
possint
saecula cantari, quibus et deus ipse canatur,
qui populos urbesque regit pacemque togatam.
M. dulce quidem resonas. nee te diversus Apollo
despicit, o iuvenis, sed magnae nuniina Romae 10
non ita cantari debent, ut ovile Menalcae.
C. quicquid id est, silvestre licet videatur acutis
auribus et nostro tantum memorabile pago ;
nunc mea rusticitas, si non valet arte polita
carminis, at certe valeat pietate probari. 15
rupe sub hac eadem. quam proxima pinus
obumbrat,
haec eadem nobis frater meditatur Amyntas,
quem vicina meis natalibus admovet aetas.
M. iam puerum calamos et odorae vincula cerae
iungere non cohibes, levibus quem saepe cicutis 20
ludere conantem vetuisti fronte paterna ?
dicentem, Corydon, te non semel ista notavi :
3 insueta XGH : inseta P : infesta cod. Vat. Urb. 353.
huraida cod^. : algida Baehrens : herbida H. Schenkl.
^ urbemque V.
^2 in hoc versa desinit P.
^* nunc XG, Exc. Par. : dum V : nam Baehrens : non
C. Schenkl.
244
CALPLRNIUS SK LLUS
ECLOGUE IV
' Meliboeus : Corydox : Amyntas
vl. Corydon, why sit you silent with a visage that bodes
something ever and anon? Why sit you in an
unwonted place, beneath this plane-tree at whose
roots brawl the prattling waters ? Maybe you like
the watery bank, where the breeze from the neigh-
bouring stream assuages the heat of day ?
'. lor long, Meliboeus, have I been pondering verses,
\ rrses of no woodland ring but fit to celebrate the
uolden age, to praise even that very god who is
sovereign over nations and cities and toga-clad peace. ^
rl. Sweet of sound are your lays and 'tis not with cold
disdain that Apollo looks upon you, young Corydon :
but the divinities of mighty Rome are not to be
extolled in the same style as the sheepfold of
Menalcas.
'. Whate'er my song, though it seem boorish to a
critic's ears and worthy of record only in my o\vti
village, yet, as things are, my awkwardness, even if
lacking in poetry's polish and skill, must surely win
approval for its loyalty. Beneath this same rock
shaded by the nearest pine-tree, kindred strains to
mine are composed by my brother Amyntas, whose
neighbouring years bring his time of birth near
to mine.
i. Ah! do you not now stop the lad from joining his
reeds in bonds of fragrant wax, as with a father-like
I frown you often checked him when he tried to play
on slender hemlock-stems ? Not once alone, Cory-
don, have I remarked you giving advice like this :
" Cf. I. 42 sqq.
I 245
MINOR LATIN POETS
" frange, puer, calamos et inanes desere Musas ;
i, potius glandes rubicundaque collige corna,
due ad mulctra greges et lae venale per urbem
non tacitus porta, quid enim tibi fistula reddet,
quo tutere famem ? certe mea carmina nemo
praeter ab his scopulis ventosa remurmurat echo."
C. haec ego, confiteor, dixi, MeUboee, sed ohm :
non eadem nobis sunt tempora, non deus idem,
spes magis arridet : certe ne fraga rubosque
colligerem viridique famem solar er hibisco,
tu facis et tua nos alit indulgentia farre ;
tu nostras miseratus opes docilemque iuventam
hiberna prohibes ieiunia solvere fago.
ecce nihil querulum per te, Meliboee, sonamus;
per te secura saturi recubamus in umbra
et fruimur silvis Amaryllidos, ultima nuper,
litora terrarum. nisi tu, Meliboee, fuisses,
ultima visuri trucibusque obnoxia Mauris
pascua Geryonis, liquidis ubi cursibus ingens
dicitur occiduas impellere Baetis harenas.
scilicet extremo nunc vilis in orbe iacerem,
a dolor I et pecudes inter conductus Iberas
irrita septena modularer sibila canna ;
nee quisquam nostras inter dumeta Camenas
respiceret ; non ipse daret mihi forsitan aurem,
ipse deus vacuam, longeque sonantia vota
39-40 vocabula litora et ultima traiecit Havpt (opusc. I.
362).
246
CALPURNIUS SICULUS
Boy, break your })ipes, forsake tlie l)e^«rarly
j Muses. Go, gather aeorns instead and red eornel-
eherries ; lead lierds to the milking-pails ; loud in
\()ur ery through the city carry your milk for sale.
What will the pipe bring you to ward off famine ?
Of a truth, no one repeats my lay save the wind-
sped echo from yonder crags."
I. This, I confess, I did say, Meliboeus ; but it was
long ago ; our times are not the same now, our god
is changed.** Hope wears a more radiant smile ;
in sooth, it is your doing that I no more gather
strawberries and brambles, or assuage hunger with
green mallow. Your kindness feeds us with grain.
You, in pity for our means and quick-taught youth,
stop us from dispelling hunger-pangs with beech-
nuts in winter. Lo I 'tis thanks to you, Meliboeus,
that no complaint passes our lips : thanks to you
we recline well-fed in care-free shade, and enjoy
the woodland of Amaryllis.^ But for thee, Meliboeus,
we should of late have looked upon the furthest, yea,
the furthest shores of earth, Geryon's meadows
exposed to the Moor's fury, where mighty Baetis,*^
they say, with flowing currents strikes upon the
western sands. Doubtless should I now lie an out-
cast at the world's end, oh. woe I and, but an hire-
ling, among Iberian flocks should be playing on
sevenfold pipe my unavailing scrannel tunes : no one
would give a glance at my muses among the thorn-
bushes : he himself, our divine sovereign himself, may-
hap would never lend a leisured ear to me, nor hear,
" i.e. an emperor has come to the throne, who favours
poetry with his patronage.
* The reference is to Virgil's formosam resonare doces
Amaryllida .«ilvas. Eel. i. 5.
<■ The Guadakiuivir in Spain.
247
MINOR LATIN POETS
scilicet extremo non exaudiret in orbe.
sed nisi forte tuas melior sonus advocat aures
et nostris aliena magis tibi carmina rident,
vis, hodierna tua subigatur pagina lima ?
nam tibi non tantum venturos dicere nimbos
agricolis qualemque ferat sol am'eus ortum
attribuere dei, sed dulcia caraiina saepe
concinis, et modo te Baccheis Musa corymbis
munerat et lauro modo pulcher obumbrat Apollo,
quod si tu faveas trepido mihi, forsitan illos
experiar calamos, here q-os mihi doctus lollas
donavit dixitque : " truces haec fistula tauros
conciliat : nostroque sonat dulcissima Fauno.
Tityrus hanc habuit, cecinit qui primus in istis
montibus Hyblaea modulabile carmen avena."
M. magna petis, Corydon, si Tityrus esse laboras.
ille fuit vates sacer et qui posset avena
praesonuisse chelyn, blandae cui saepe canenti
allusere ferae, cui substitit advena quercus.
quern modo cantantem rutilo spargebat acantho
Xais et implicitos comebat pectine crines.
^^ dicere ventos X : discere veiitos GH : dicere nimbos
X^ : noscere nimbos V plerique.
^^ modulabile carmen V : carmen mulamine (modu-
labile 7n^) X : carmen modukA^it G : carmen modulatus
//. Schenld.
" For theories identifying Meliboeus see Introduction-
It has been pointed out there that some take this passage
as a reference to Seneca.
^ The reference is to tragedy (the ivy being sacred to
Bacchus) and to lyric poetry (the laurel being sacred to
Apollo).
248
( ALPrUNUS SKILLS
ill sooth, the distant sound of my prayers at earth's
I furthest ends. But if perehance no sweeter melody
attract your ear, if the songs of others fail to charm
you more than mine, will you let the pa^e I compose
to-day be corrected by your critical file r For not
only have the gods given to you to tell husbandmen
of coming rain-storms and of the kind of sunrise a
i^olden sunset offers, but you are often the singer of
sweet poetr}'," and now the Muse rewards you with
Bacchic ivy-clusters, now fair Apollo shades your
J brow with laurel.^ But if you would show fjivour
to my nervous attempts, perhaps I might make trial
of those reeds which skilful loUas ^ presented to me
yesterday with the words, " This pipe wins over
savage bulls, and makes sweetest melody to our own
Faunus. It once was owned by Tityrus, who among
these hills of yours was the first to sing his tuneful
lay on the Hyblaean pipe." ^
I. You aim high, Corydon, if you strive to be Tityrus.
He was a bard inspired, one who could on the reed-
pipe outplay the lyre. Often, while he sang, beasts
of the wild fawned in frolic near, and the oak came
close and halted there : did he but sing, a Naiad
would adorn him with red acanthus and dress with a
comb his tangled locks.
'■ lolla-s, according to Wernsdorf, stands for a scholar or poet
who had prompted the writing of the Eclogues. Some have
suggested one of Calpurnius' teachers, or even Theocritus —
which conflicts with the idea that Tit^-rus is Virgil. Cesareo
wisely refuses to identify lollas. La Poesia di Calp. Sic, p. 174.
"^ Ancient authority regarded the Tityrus of Virgil's
Eclogues as representing the poet himself. The allusion in
Uyblaea is to the pastoral poetn,' of the Sicilian Theocritus,
which Virgil imitated: Virg. Ed. X. 51, carmina pastoria
Siculi moiiuldbor a vena.
249
MINOR LATIN POETS
C. est — fateor, Meliboee, — deus : sed nee mihi
Phoebus
forsitan abnuerit ; tu tantum eommodus audi :
scimus enim, quam te non asperiietur Apollo.
M. incipe, nam faveo ; sed prospice, ne tibi forte
tinnula tani fragili respiret fistula buxo,
quam resonare solet, si quando laudat Alexin,
hos potius, magis hos calamos sectare : canales
exprime qui dio;nas cecinerunt consule silvas.
incipe, ne dubita. venit en et frater Amyntas :
cantibus iste tuis alterno succinet ore.
ducite, nee mora sit, vicibusque reducite carmen ;
tuque prior, Corydon, tu proximus ibis, Amynta.
C. ab love principium, si quis canit aethera, sumat,
si quis Atlantiaci pondus molitur Olympi :
at mihi, qui nostras praesenti numine terras
perpetuamque regit iuvenili robore pacem,
laetus et augusto felix arrideat ore.
A. me quoque facundo comitatus Apolline Caesar
respiciat, montes neu dedignetur adire,
quos et Phoebus amat, quos luppiter ipse tuetur ;
in quibus Augustos visuraque saepe triumphos
laurus fructificat vicinaque nascitur arbos.
'® hos potius V : hospicius NG. magnos calamos Leo :
magis hos calamos NG : calamos magis hos V : magis
hos calamo Baehren^s.
'^ exprime Leo : et preme NG : prome vel pro me V:
per me A, Wernsdorf: primi Bursian.
®° dicite codd. {fortasse rede, cf. F. 81 audiat aut dicat) :
ducite Barth.
®- canit V : canat N {corr. m^) G.
®" visuraque NG : visurus V : visurae Barth.
" Virg. Ed. IV. 3, si canimtis silvas, silvae sint consule
dignae. The contrast is between the amatory poetry of
Virgil's second eclogue entitled "Alexis," and the loftier
tone of the fourth entitled " Pollio " after the consul of
250
CALPl KMUS SICULUS
•4 He is, I own, a poet divine, Meliboeus, but may-
hap Phoebus will not say me nay either : do you
but favourably hear me ; for we know how far
Apollo is from sliiihtinir you.
I. Beirin, my favour is with you; but take heed lest
}u reliance your tinklingr pipe breathe from boxwood
a> frail as is its usual sound whene'er the praise
of Alexis is the theme. Rather these reeds, these
far more you must pursue : press the pipes which
sang of woods worthy a consul." Begin ; have no
doubt. See, your brother x\myntas comes too. In
alternate refrain his voice will answer your verses.
Draw out your lay : dally not : in tunis resume the
song. You first. Condon, and you will come next,
Amyntas.
. From Jove let every bard begin, ^ whoso sings of
the sky, whoso essays to describe the Olympian
burden which Atlas bears. For myself, may I
win a glad propitious smile from the imperial lips
of him whose incarnate godhead rules our lands
and whose youthful prowess rules the eternal peace.
.. On me too may Caesar, with eloquent Apollo
for comrade, look with favour : nor let him disdain
to approach my hills which even Phoebus loves,
which Jove himself protects : where blooms the
laurel, destined to see many an imperial triumph,
where rises too the laurel's companion-tree.*^
40 B.C. and prophesying a golden age of peace. Here in
Calpurnius the praises of Xero as " Caesar " correspond to
the higher theme of the " PoUio."
** A quotation from Virg. Eel. III. 60, which is in turn an
echo of Theocr. XVII. 1.
' The oak, sacred to Jupiter, especially at the oracle of
Dodona. With the laurel of victory there may be associated
in the poet's mind the oak garland given for saving a
citizen's life in battle.
k
MINOR LATIN POETS
C. ipse polos etiam qui temperat igne geluque,
luppiter ipse parens, cui tu iam proximus ipse,
Caesar, abes, posito paulisper fulmine saepe
Cresia rura petit viridique reclinis in antro
carniina Dictaeis audit Curetica silvis.
A. adspicis, ut virides audito Caesare silvae
conticeant ? memini, quanivis urgente procella
sic nemus immotis subito requiescere ramis,
et dixi : " deus hinc, certe deus expulit euros." 1
nee mora ; Parrhasiae sonuerunt sibila cannae.
C. adspicis, ut teneros subitus vigor excitet agnos ?
utque superfuso magis ubera lacte graventur
et nuper tonsis exundent vellera fetis ?
hoc ego iam, memini, semel hac in valle notavi
et venisse Palen pecoris dixisse magistros.
A. scilicet omnis eum tellus, gens omnis adorat,
diligiturque deis, quern sic taciturna verentur
arbuta, cuius iners audito nomine tellus
incaluit floremque dedit ; cui silva vocato
densat odore comas, stupefacta regerminat arbos.
C. illius ut primum senserunt numina terrae,
coepit et uberior sulcis fallentibus olim
luxuriare seges tandemque legumina plenis
vix resonant siliquis : nee praefocata malignum ]
messis habet lolium nee inertibus albet avenis.
*^ ad finem versus ipse V : esse NG : ecce Leo.
** habes NGV : abes H : ades Burman : aves IfOrville .
ovas Baehrens.
i"! Parrhasiae i/eiWtSiwtS : pharsalieN": farsalie G : phar-
saliae AV plerique. sonuerunt AH : solverunt codd.
plerique.
" Baehrens' allotment of stanzas is followed here.
Giarratano gives 92-96 to Corydon and thinks that
Amyntas' corresponding stanza has dropped out here : he
also postulates transpositions later in the poem. H. Schenkl
gives 87-96 to Amyntas so that he inverts Baehrens'
252
CALPURNIUS SICULUS
JEven he, controller of the licaNcns in heat aiul
cold, our father .hqiiter himself, to whom you your-
self, Caesar, now stand next, doth oft lay down his
thunderbolt awhile to visit Cretan meads, and, in
some verdant grot reclining, 'mid Dicte's forests
listens to Curetic lays."
Do you see how the green woods are hushed at
the sound of Caesar's name ? I remember how,
despite the swoop of a storm, the grove, even as
now, sank sudden into peace with boughs at rest.
And I said, " A god, surely a god has driven the
east winds hence." Forthwith the Parrhasian '^
reeds let their notes go free.
Do you see how a sudden vigour thrills the tender
lambs, how the ewe's teats are more heavily laden
with abundant milk, how, just after shearing, the
fleeces of the dams grow in luxuriant waves ? This
once ere now, I mind me, I noted in this valley,
and how the shepherds said, " Pales has come."
Yes, and him doth all the earth and every nation
adore. He is beloved of the gods ; as you see, the
arbutus-tree pays him silent homage ; at the sound
of his name the sluggish earth has warmed to life
and yielded flowers : invoke him, and in his honour
the wood spreads thick its perfumed foliage, and the
spellbound tree breaks into bud again.
As soon as the earth felt his divine influence, crops
began to come in richer abundance, where furrows
erstwhile disappointed hope ; at length the beans
scarce rattle in their well-filled pods : no harvest
is choked with the spread of the barren tare, or
whitens with unproductive oats.
allotment of stanzas from 97 to 121 : he marks a missing
stanza by Amyntas after verse 121.
* Panhasia, in Arcadia, was one of Pan's haunts.
k
MINOR LATIN POETS
A. iam neque damnatos metuit iactare ligones
fossor et invento, si fors dedit. utitur auro ;
nee timet, ut nuper, dum iugera versat arator,
ne sonet ofFenso contraria vomere massa, 120
iamque palam presso magis et magis instat
aratro.
C. ille dat. ut primas Cereri dare cultor aristas
possit et intacto Bromiimi perfundere vino,
ut nudus ruptas saliat calcator in uvas
utque bono plaudat paganica turba magistro, 125
qui facit egregios ad pervia compita ludos.
A. ille meis pacem dat montibus : ecce per ilium,
seu cantare iuvat seu ter pede lenta ferire
gramina, nullus obest : licet et cantare choreis
et cantus \1ridante licet mihi condere libro, 130
turbida nee calamos iam surdant classica nostros.
C. numine Caesareo securior ipse Lycaeus
Pan recolit silvas et amoena Faunus in umbra
securus recubat placidoque in fonte lavatur
Nais et humanum non calcatura cruorem 135
per iuga siccato velox pede currit Oreas.
124 saliat A v : psal(l)at XGzr.
129 gramina edd. antiq. : carmina codd.
1^2 Lycaeas Heinsius.
1^* placitoque Heinsius : placido quin Haupt.
" Wernsdorf takes damnatos as "wretched," "miser-
able," because involving toil ("pro infelicibus, laboriosis,
ut invisam [sr. fo.ssori] terram, Hor. Od. III. xviii. 15-16 ").
Cf. "hateful nights," damnalae nodes, Propert. V. xi. 15.
But a more likely sense is "criminal," "condemned," as
a transferred epithet: i.e. the spade is now innocent
)>ecause, even if it unearths treasure, this no longer brings
a prosecution on the digger.
254
CALPrilNirS SICULUS
J No more does the ditj^er dread to ply the criininal
' spade : " what treasure-trove of ^old chance offers
him he puts to use. Nor, as of late, does the
plouijhman, while turning up his acres, fear that
an ingot may ring against the impact of his plough-
share ; '' now openly he pushes on more and more
with plough deep-driven.
. By his favour <^ the cultivator can give to Ceres
the first corn-ears and to Bromius pour libation of
wine till now unbroached : thanks to him the light-
clad vintager tramples the bursting clusters and the
village throng applauds their Js^od mayor, who
holds magnificent games at the meeting of the
highways.*^
. He it is who bestows peace on my hills. See,
it is through him that no one prevents me, if 'tis
my pleasure to sing or to tread the sluggish grass
in triple measure. In choral dance too may I sing,
and I may preserve my songs on the green bark ;
and no more do boisterous trumpets dro\\ii our
reed-pipes' note.
Emboldened by Caesar's divine protection, Lycean
Pan himself revisits the groves and Faunus reclines
untroubled in the lovely shade. The Naiad bathes
in the unruffled stream and, free from the risk of
treading on human gore, the Oread courses swiftly
o'er mountain-ranges, her foot unstained.
* Treasure-trove had sometimes led to dangerous ditKculties
■with the imperial authorities : see Juv. IV. ,37 sqq.
*■ i.e. under the emperor's auspices, agriculture is in a
position to honour the gods aright.
^ The Compitalia, celebrated at the shrines where cross-
roads met, were held at a date between the Saturnalia
(Dec. 17) and Jan. 5. See W. Warde Fowler, Roman
Festivals, 1899, pp. 279-80.
255
MINOR LATIN POETS
A. di. precor, hunc iuvenem, quern vos (neque fallor)
ab ipso
aethere misistis, post longa reducite vitae
tempora vel potius mortale resolvite pensum
et date perpetuo caelestia fila metallo : 140
sit deus et nolit pensare palatia caelo !
C. tu quoque mutata seu luppiter ipse figura,
Caesar, ades seu quis superum sub imagine falsa
mortalique lates (es enim deus) : hunc, precor,
orbem,
hos, precor, aeternus populos rege ! sit tibi caeli 145
vilis amor coeptamque, pater, ne desere pacem I
M. rustica credebam nemorales carmina vobis
concessisse deos et obesis auribus apta ;
verum, quae paribus modo concinuistis avenis,
tarn liquidum, tarn dulce cadunt, ut non ego
malim,
quod Paeligna solent examina lambere nectar. 151
C. o mihi quae tereti decurrunt carmina versu
tunc, Meliboee, sonent si quando montibus istis
dicar habere Larem, si quando nostra videre
pascua contingat ! velHt nam saepius aurem 155
invida paupertas et dicit : " oviha cura !
at tu, si qua tamen non aspernanda putabis,
fer, Mehboee, deo mea carmina : nam tibi fas est
^*- tu quoque mutata codd. : tu commutata Ilaupt : tu
modo mutata Baehrens.
^^* etenim NG : es enim Glaeser.
^^^ canunt codd. : cadunt Burman.
^^^ solent XGAH : sonant V : legunt edd. antiq.
^^2 o mihi HV : olim NG. quae teriti G : quam tenero
V : quae tereti Glaeser [post hunc versnm H. Schenkl
lacunam statuil).
^^^ contingat NG : contigerit V, Baehrens.
256
CALPLRNIUS SICULUS
O ye gods, I pray you, recall only after a long
I span of life this youth, whom ye, I knt)w it well,
have sent us from heaven itself: or rather untwine
his allotted skein of mortality and grant him
celestial threads of the metal of eternity. Let
him be a god and yet loath to exchange his palace
for the sky."
, Thou too,^ Caesar, whether thou art Jupiter
himself on earth in altered guise, or one other of the
powers above concealed under an assumed mortal
semblance (for thou art very God) — rule, I pray
thee, this world, rule its peoples for ever I Let
love of heaven count as nought with thee : abandon
not, O Sire, the peace thou hast begun I
.. I used to think they were but rustic lays which the
sylvan deities bestowed on you — lays fit for cloddish
ears ; but what you have even now sung on w'ell-
matched pipes has so clear, so sweet a fall that I
would not liefer sip the nectarous honey which
Pelignian swarms are wont to sip.^
Oh ! the songs of mine which run in humble verse
would then, my Meliboeus, resound, if ever on
these hills I were called the owner of a homestead,
if ever I had the fortune to see pastures of my own.
Too often does malicious poverty pluck my ear and
say, " The sheepfold is your task." But you,
Meliboeus, if in spite of all you think that any of my
poems are not to be disdained, then take them to
the Emperor-God. For you have the right to visit
" i.e. let him remain a divine emperor in his residence on
the Palatine Hill.
'' quoque is justified, as the last stanza is addressed to all
the gods and this one to Caesar, i.e. Xero.
'^ The allusion is to Ovid, who was born at Sulmo in the
district of the Peligni.
VOL. I. S
MINOR LATIN POETS
sacra Palatini penetralia visere Phoebi.
turn mihi talis eris, qualis qui dulce sonantem 160
Tityron e sihis dominam deduxit in urbem
ostenditque deos et " spreto " dixit " ovili,
Tityre, rura prius, sed post cantabimus arma."
A. respiciat nostros utinam fortuna labores
pulchrior et meritae faveat deus ipse iuventae ! 165
nos tamen interea tenerimi mactabimus haedum
et pariter subitae peragemus fercula cenae.
M. nunc ad flumen oves deducite : iam fremit aestas,
iam sol contractas pedibus magis admovet umbras.
V
MiCON
Forte Micon senior Canthusque, Miconis alumnus,
torrentem patula vitabant ilice solem,
cum iuveni senior praecepta daturus alumno
talia verba refert tremulis titubantia labris :
" quas errare vides inter dumeta capellas 5
canaque lascivo concidere gramina morsu,
Canthe puer, quos ecce greges a monte remotos
^^^ deos cald. : deis Heinsius.
^^^ fremit NV : premit Heinsius : furit Maehly. acstus
Ulilius.
V. ^ canaque V : vanaque NG. gramina GV, C'iarra-
tano : germina NH {corr. m^), Baehrens, II. ScJienkl.
258
. C'ALPUUNIUS SKULrS
' the holy inner shrine of the Palatine Phoebus."
Then you shall be to me such as he was who
brought Tityrus ^ of tuneful song from the woods to
the queen of cities, showed him the divine powers,
and said, " We will scorn the sheepfold, Tityrus,
and sing first the countryside but, later, the
weapons of war."
.. Oh, that a fairer fortune would look upon my
labours and that the God in person would show
favour to deserving youth ! Yet meanwhile we
will slay a tender kid and prepare withal the courses
of a hasty meal.
I. Take forthwith the sheep to the river. Now 'tis
the raging heat of summer: now the sun curtails
the shadows and brings them closer to our feet.*'
ECLOGUE V
MiCON
It fell out that the aged Micon and Canthus,
Micon's foster-son, were seeking shelter from the
blazing sun beneath a spreading holm-oak, when
to give counsel to his fosterling the old man \vith
shaky lips uttered these faltering w^ords :
" The she-goats you see straying among the
thickets and cropping with playful bite the dew-
glistening grass, the flocks, Canthus, my boy, which
lo ! you see have left the mountain-side and are
[ " The emperor was already associated with Apollo in verse
1 87. The palace was near the famous library of Apollo on the
Palatine.
* Tityrus means Virgil : under the patronage of Maecenas
I he turned from tlie Eclogues {e silvis, 101) to the (,'eorgics
I {rura, 163) and, later, to the Aeneid (arma, 163).
' ' I.e. it is the noontide of a summer day.
s2
MINOR LATIN POETS
ceriiis in aprico decerpere gramina campo,
hos tibi do senior iuveni pater : ipse tuendos
accipe. iam certe potes insudare labori, 10
iani pro nie gnavam potes exercere iuventam.
adspicis lit nobis aetas iam niille querellas
afFerat et baculuin premat inclinata senectus ?
sed qua lege regas et amantes lustra capellas
et melius pratis errantes mollibus agnas, 15
percipe.
vere novo, cum iam tinnire volucres
incipient nidosque reversa lutabit hirundo,
protinus hiberno pecus omne movebis ovili,
tunc etenim melior vernanti germine silva
pullat et aestivas reparabilis incohat umbras, 20
tunc florent saltus widisque renascitur annus,
tunc Venus et calidi scintillat fervor amoris
lascivumque pecus salientes accipit hircos.
sed non ante greges in pascua mitte reclusos,
quam fuerit placata Pales, tum cespite vivo 25
pone focum geniumque loci Faunumque Laresque
salso farre voca ; tepidos tunc hostia cultros
imbuat : hac etiam, dum vivit, ovilia lustra,
nee mora, tunc campos ovibus, dumeta capellis
orto sole dabis. simul hunc transcendere montem 30
coeperit ac primae spatium tepefecerit horae.
at si forte vaces, dum matutina relaxat
21 silvae codd. : tiliae Maehly : saltus Baehrens : segetes
C. et H. Schenkl.
32 relaxet G.
260
CALPIIRNIUS SICULl'S
browsing on the herbage in the sunny meadow,
these I, your aged sire, make over to you, while
you are yet young. Take them into your own
cliarge : now truly can you sweat o'er the task,
now in my stead you can ply your active youth.
Do you see how the years now bring me a thousand
plaints, and how the stoop of age leans on the staff?
But learn the rules for your control over the she-goats
which love the copses and over the lambs which
stray to better purpose in the grassy meadows.
In the fresh spring-time when birds will be
already starting to twitter and the returned swallow
daubing its nest with mud, you are forthwith to
shift the whole flock from its winter fold. For
richer then sprouts the wood with fresh-growing
buds, and, as it revives, makes the beginning of
summer shade. Then the glades are in blossom
and the green year is born again. Then is \^enus'
time, when sparkles the warm glow of love and the
wanton herd welcomes the leaping he-goats. But
do not turn loose the flocks and send them into the
meadows till Pales has been propitiated. Then
build an altar of fresh sods and with salted meal
invoke the genius of the place and Faunus and the
Lares. Then let a victim stain the knives warm
with blood : with it too, while it yet lives, purify
the sheepfold." Thereafter, you will, without delay,
let the sheep roam the meadows and the goats
the thickets, when the sun has risen, as soon as
he has begun to surmount the hill here and has
warmed the course of the matin hour. But if you
chance to have leisure, while the sun melts the frosts
" A lustration-ritual could be carried out by solemnly
leading round the victim before it was sacrificed.
261
MINOR LATIN POETS
frigora sol, timiidis spiuiiantia mulctra papillis
implebit quod mane fluet ; rursusque premetur
mane quod occiduae mulsura redegerit horae. 35
parce tamen fetis : ne sint compendia tanti,
destruat ut niveos venalis caseus agnos ;
nam tibi praecipuo fetura coletur amore.
te quoque non pudeat, cum serus ovilia vises,
si qua iacebit o\-is partu resoluta recenti, 40
banc umeris portare tuis natosque tepenti
ferre sinu tremulos et nondum stare paratos.
nee tu longinquas procul a praesepibus berbas
nee nimis amotae sectabere pabula silvae,
dum peragit vernum Io\'is inconstantia tempus. 45
veris enim dubitanda fides : modo fronte serena
blandius arrisit, modo cum caligine nimbos
intulit et miseras torrentibus abstulit agnas.
at cum longa dies sitientes afFeret aestus
nee fuerit variante deo mutabile caelum, 50
iam sih^s committe greges, iam longius herbas
quaere ; sed ante diem pecus exeat : umida dulces
efficit aura cibos, quotiens fugientibus euris
frigida nocturno tanguntur pascua rore
et matutinae lucent in gramine guttae. 55
at simul argutae nemus increpuere cicadae,
-2 spument tibi V plerique : spumantia Barfh.
3^ implebis codd. : implebit Haupt : in tenebris Housmnn.
^* coletur NG : colatur V, Baehrens.
*^ patenti V plerique : parenti NG : tepenti 1B.W.
*• sitientes GV nonnuUi : sitientibus V nonnulli.
262
CALPUUNIUS SICULUS
of (lawn, [\\v nioniing flow of milk will fill tiur pails
a-frothiu'j^ from the swelling dugs ; and again the
yield of milking at the evening hour will be pressed
for cheese in the morning. Yet spare the young-
lings : let not thrift be of such moment that cheese
for the market ruins the snow-white lambs." For
the young you will tend with supreme regard.
And, when at night you visit the sheepfold, if any
ewe lies enfeebled by recent lambing, be not ashamed
to carry her on your own shoulders and to bear in
your warm bosom the quivering lambs that cannot
yet stand. You must not seek out grazing-ground
far distant from your stalls, nor the food yielded
by too remote a wood while the fickleness of the
sky is carrying the spring season to its close. To be
distrusted is the faith of spring : one hour she smiles
coaxingly unclouded of brow ; the next she brings
rain-clouds with fog and bears away the luckless
lambs in raging streams.
But when long days bring the thirsty summer
heats, when the weather is no longer changeable
under an inconstant sky, then trust your flocks to
the woodland, then seek for pasture at a greater
distance : yet see that the herd goes out ere
daylight. The moist air sweetens their food, when-
ever, as the east winds fall, the chill meadows are
touched with night-dew and in the morning sparkling
drops are on the grass. But as soon as the chirping
tree-crickets shrill through the grove, drive your
" i.e. your anxiety to sell must not divert to cheese-making
the milk which the Iambs need.
" tinguuntur V nonnulli.
263
MINOR LATIN POETS
ad fontem compelle greges ; nee protiniis herbas
et eampos permitte sequi. sed protegat illos
interea veteres quae porrigit aeseulus umbras,
verum ubi declini iam nona tepescere sole 60
incipiet seraeque t videbitur hora merendae,
rursus pasce greges et opacos desere lucos.
nee prius aestivo pecus includatur ovili,
quam le^ibus nidis somnos captare volueris
cogitet et treniulo queribunda fritinniat ore. 65
cum iam tempus erit maturas demere lanas,
sucida iam tereti constringere vellera iunco,
hircorumque iubas et olentes caedere barbas,
ante tamen secerne pecus gregibusque notatis
consimiles include comis, ne longa minutis, 70
moUia ne duris coeant, ne Candida fuscis.
sed tibi cum vacuas posito velamine costas
denudavit ovis, circumspice, ne sit acuta
foi-pice laesa cutis, tacitum ne pustula virus
texerit occulto sub vulnere : quae nisi ferro 75
rumpitur, a I miserum fragili rubigine corpus
arrodet sanies et putria contrahet ossa.
providus (hoc moneo) viventia sulphura tecum
et scillae caput et virosa bitumina portes,
vulneribus laturus opem ; nee Brutia desit 80
pix tibi : tu liquido picis unguine terga memento,
58 sed G : sine V.
*° declivi V : declivis XG : declini Hcinsius. nona
codd. : sera Baehrens : rura . . . incipient Maehly.
^^ incipiet serique v.h. premendi NG : incipiet seraeque
v.h. merendae V : incipit atque seri v.h. premendi Baehrens.
^^ tremulo tremebundo fruniat ore XG : tinniat ore
AH : tremulo queribunda {vel gemibunda) fritinniat ore
G'laeser : tremuli tremel^unda coagula lactis X (cf. III. 69).
*^ maturas NGA : maternas V.
'^ forfice V. pusula X : pustula GV.
8^ pix tibi : tu Baehrens : pia tibi NG : dura tibi X^V.
264
CALPURNius sicrLrs
Hocks to the waters, and do not allow them to ranfje
over grass and open fields without a respite ; " but
for an interval let them be protected by the oak
i which spreads its ancient shade. When, however,
'neath a westering sun, the ninth hour already
begins to mark a cooling of heat, when it seems to
be time for a late luncheon, set your flocks grazing
again and quit the shady groves. Do not pen your
herd in the summer sheepfold until the birds in
their fragile ne^t^ think of wooing sleep and twitter
their plaints with tremulous note.
When the time is already come to shear the full-
grown wool, the time to bind the greasy fleeces
with swathes of rushes and cut the neck-tufts and
rank beards of the he-goats, yet first separate the
herd ; brand your flocks and pen together the sheep
of similar wool, lest long go with short, smooth with
rough, or white with dark. But when you find a
sheep has bare sides after losing the covering fleece,
take heed lest the skin has been hurt by the sharp
shears and lest an inflamed sore has covered a
secret poison beneath the unnoticed wound ; unless
the sore is opened with the steel, alas I the corrupted
blood will eat away the wretched bodv^ by reason
of the tender ulcer and will shrivel the bones into a
crumbling mass. Here is my counsel ; have the
foresight to take with you native sulphur and the
head of a sea-leek and strong-smelling bitumen, so
that you may bring relief to such wounds. Be
not without Bruttian pitch ; if the back is torn,
forget not to smear it with the liquid ointment ;
" protinus is here taken in a time sense, leading up to
interea {cf. Juv. III. 140 protinus ad cen-sum, de moribus
ultima fiet quaestio) : locally, it might mean "far and \ride."
265
MINOR LATIN POETS
si sint rasa, Unas, vivi quoque pondera melle
argenti coquito lentumque bitumen aheno,
inipressurus ovi tua nomina ; nam tibi lites
auferet ingentes lectus possessor in armo. 85
nmic etiam, dum siccus ager, dum fervida tellus,
dum rimosa palus et multo torrida limo
aestuat et fragiles nimium sol pulverat herbas,
lurida conveniet succendere galbana septis
et tua cervino lustrare mapalia fumo. 90
obfuit ille malis odor anguibus : ipse videbis
serpentum cecidisse minas : non stringere dentes
uUa potest uncos, sed inani debilis ore
marcet et obtuso iacet exarmata veneno.
nunc age vicinae circumspice tempora brumae 95
qua ratione geras. aperit cum vinea sepes
et portat lectas securus circitor uvas,
incipe falce nemus vivasque recidere frondes.
nunc opus est teneras summatim stringere virgas,
nunc hiemi servare comas, dum permanet umor, 100
dum viret et tremulas non excutit Africus umbras,
has tibi conveniet tepidis fenilibus olim
promere, cum pecudes extremus clauserit annus,
hac tibi nitendum est, labor hie in tempore noster,
gnavaque sedulitas redit et pastoria virtus. 105
ne pigeat ramos siccis miscere recentes
^2 rasa V : rara NG : scabra vel cruda H. Schenkl.
durae NG : vivi (sc. argenti) V nonnulli : vini HV
nonnulli. massae NG : melle vel moUe V : durae . . .
malthae ardenti Giarratano.
®^ argenti NGV plerique (ardenti G in marg.) : arrhenici
//. Schenkl : chalcanthi Haupt, Bnehrens.
*i obfuit codd. : obvius Burman : obficit Maehly.
*' circitor NG : vinitor V.
^°* hoc ... hie NG : hac . . . hinc Glaeser : hac . . .
hie H. Schenkl : hue . . . hue Baehrens.
266
CALPURNIUS SICULUS
strc}) too a heavy mass of quicksilver in hoiuy and
>ti<,ky pitch in a caukh'on, when you mean to stamp
y(nir name on your sheep, for the owner's name read
I on the shoukler will save you from serious law-suits.
Now also, while the field is parched and earth
i burning hot, while the marsh is seamed with cracks,
scorched and seething in its plenteous mud, and
the sun too powerfully reduces the slender herbs
to dust, then it will be suitable to set on fire pale
yellow gum-resin in the folds and purify your huts
with the fimies of burned hart's horn." Such an
odour is enemy to noxious snakes ; with your own
eyes you will see the serpents' threatening mien
collapse ; not one can bare its crooked fangs, but,
jaw powerless, each shrivels in weakness and, with
its poison blunted, lies disaiTned.
Now come, take heed how to manage the season
of approaching winter. When the vineyard clears
I its rows, and the watchman, care-free, carries home
the gathered grapes, then begin to prune the wood
and its un^^'ithered leaves. Now is there need to
lop the tender twigs at the top of the tree, now to
conserve leaves for the winter, while the sap remains,
while the wood is green and the African wind does
not yet dislodge the quivering shade. These leaves
you will find it serviceable to bring out from your
warm haylofts later, when the end of the year has
confined your cattle to the fold. Thus must you
strive amain ; such is our work in due season.
Vigorous industry and the shepherd's manly task
ever come round again. Be not slow to mingle
fresh boughs with dry^ and to supply new sap, lest
" In ancient times a chief source of ammonia.
267
MINOR LATIN POETS
et sucos adhibere novos, ne torrida nimbis
instet hiemps nimioque gelu nmbusque coactis
incursare vetet nemus et constringere frondes ;
tu tamen aut leves hederas aut molle salictum 110
valle premes media, sitis est pensanda tuorum,
Canthe, gregum widante cibo : nihil aridus illis,
ingenti positus quamvis strue, prosit acervus,
virgea si desint liquido turgentia suco
et quibus est aliquid plenae vitale medullae. 115
praecipue gelidum stipula cum fronde caduca
Sterne solum, ne forte rigor penetrabile corpus
urat et interno vastet pecuaria morbo.
plura quidem meminisse velim, nam plura
supersunt.
sed iam sera dies cadit et iam sole fugato 120
frigidus aestivas impellit Noctifer horas."
VI
AsTYLUs : Lycidas : Mxasyllus
A. Serus ades, Lycida : modo Nyctilus et puer
Alcon
certavere sub his alterno carmine ramis
iudice me. sed non sine pignore. Nyctilus haedos
^"^ ne torrida l^GVplerique : licet horrida Martellius :
dum torr. Haupl : cum torr. Giarratano.
^^^ incur vare velit NG : incursare vetet Haupt.
^^- cante G : chante N.
268
I
CALPLRNUS SKULL'S
iting winter swoop u})on you with its rain-clouds
.and by excessive frost and drifts of snow prevent you
from raiding the forest and from making bundles
of leaves ; ** but in the heart of the valley you will
prune the smooth ivy or pliant willow-copse.^
With fresh green fodder, Canthus, you must allay
the thirst of your flocks. No withered heap, stacked
in however luige a pile, would avail them, if you
lacked fodder of sprouts which are swollen with juicy
sap and have some life-giving substance of fullest
pith. Above all strew the chill ground with stubble
as well as fallen leaves lest frost nip the sensitive
body and waste the herds with deep-set disease.
Fain would I recall more precepts ; for more
remain. But now the late day fcills ; and, now that
the sun is put to flight, the chill Night-Bringer <^
drives forth the summer hours."
ECLOGUE VI
AsTYLus : Lycidas : Mnasyllus
You are here too late, Lycidas. Just now
Nyctilus and young Alcon have been contending in
alternate song beneath these branches. I was
umpire : each laid a stake. Nyctilus pledged his
" The passage urges the need to get green stuff betimes
for the flocks before winter makes it diflfieult to bring it in
from the woods.
* i.e. if prevented by frost and snow from cutting other
trees.
*■ i.e. Hesperus, the evening star : cf. note on Eleg. in
Maecen, I. 129-132.
269
MINOR LATIN POETS
iuncta matre dedit ; catulum dedit ille leaenae
iuravitque genus, sed sustulit omnia victor.
L. Nyctilon ut cantu rudis exsuperaverit Alcon,
Astyle, credibile est, si vincat acanthida cornix,
vocalem superet si dirus aedona bubo.
A. non potiar Petale, qua nunc ego maceror una,
si magis aut docili calamorum Nyctilus arte
aut cantu magis est quam vultu proximus illi.
L. iam non decipior : te iudice pallidus alter
venit et hirsuta spinosior hystrice barbam ;
candidus alter erat levique decentior ovo
et ridens oculis crinemque simillimus auro,
qui posset dici, si non cantaret, Apollo.
A. o Lycida, si quis tibi carminis usus inesset,
tu quoque laudatum nosses Alcona probare.
L. vis igitur, quoniam nee nobis, improbe, par es,
ipse tuos iudex calamos committere nostris ?
vis conferre manum ? veniat licet arbiter Alcon.
A. vincere tu quemquam ? vel te certamine quis-
quam
dignetur, qui vix stillantes, aride, voces
rumpis et expellis male singultantia verba ?
L. fingas plura licet : nee enim potes, improbe, vera
^ Laconem vel Lacaenae IJeinsius.
* Petale editio Ascensiana et vulgo : Crocale GV.
^^ posses codd. : nosses Ilaupt.
22 vinces NG : vincere V : vincen Claeser, Baehrens.
270
CALPURNIUS SICULUS
^oat-kids along with their mother; Aleon pledged
a whelp from a lioness mother, atfirming its breed
on oath." But he won and carried off all.
. That untrained Alcon can have beaten Nyctilus
in song is only believable, Astylus, if the crow can
excel the goldfinch or the eerie owl surpass the
tuneful nightingale.
. May I never win Petale, for whom alone I pine,
if Nyctilus can rank next him in trained skill upon
the pipes or in song any more than in looks,
. No longer am I deceived. When you were
umpire, Nyctilus came pale, his beard pricklier
than the bristly porcupine. But his rival was fair,
sleeker than a smooth egg, with laughter in his
eyes and the very gleam of gold in his hair, worthy
the name " Apollo," if only he did not sing.
. O Lycidas, if you'd any practice in song, you too
would know how to applaud x\lcon and award him
the palm.
Well then, since you're not on a level even with
me, you rascal, will you yourself, umpire though
you've been, match your reed-pipes against mine ?
Will you join strife ? Alcon, if you like, may come
as arljiter.
Can i/OM beat anyone ? or would anyone deign to
compete with you ? — scarce can your dry throat
jerk out its dribbling notes and squirt words forth
in miserable gasps.
More lies you may tell; and yet, you rascal, you
" It was a cross similar to the semifera proles of Grattius
Cyneg. 253. Pollux V. 38 mentions the Hyrcanian breed
from dogs and lions (Ta? Se 'Tp/cava? eV kwcov koX Xeovrojv,
Koi KXrjdrjvai AeoiTo/iiyeij). Alcon has offered a sort of sworn
warranty of its pedigree.
271
I
MINOR LATIN POETS
exprobrare mihi, sicut tibi multa Lycotas. 26
sed quid opus vana consumere tempora lite ?
ecce venit Mnasyllus : erit (nisi forte recusas)
arbiter inflatis non credulus, improbe, verbis.
A. malueram, fateor, vel praedamnatus abire 30
quam tibi certanti partem committere vocis.
ne tamen hoc impune feras : en adspicis ilium,
Candida qui medius cubat inter lilia, cervum ?
quamvis hunc Petale mea diligat, accipe victor,
scit frenos et ferre iugum sequiturque vocantem 35
credulus et mensae non improba porrigit ora.
adspicis, ut fruticat late caput utque sub ipsis
comibus et tereti pendent redimicula collo ?
adspicis, ut niveo frons irretita capistro
lucet et a dorso, quae totam circuit alvum, 40
alternat vitreas lateralis cingula buUas ?
cornua subtiles ramosaque tempora molles
implicuere rosae rutiloque monilia torque
extrema cervice natant, ubi pendulus apri
dens sedet et nivea distinguit pectora luna. 45
hunc, sicutque vides, pignus, Mnasylle, paciscor
pendere, dum sciat hie se non sine pignore vinci.
L. terreri, Mnasylle, suo me munere credit :
adspice, quam timeam ! genus est, ut scitis,
equarum
^° praedamnatus NA : predam nactus V.
*- subtiles cwld. : summa vides F. Leo : sutilibus molles
raraosa coroUis Heinsius.
**■ natant NH : natent G : notant V : nitent Ulitius.
272
CALPURNIUS SICULUS
can't bring true reproaches against me like all
that Lycotas brings against you. But what need
to waste our time in fruitless wrangling ? See,
here comes Mnasyllus. He will be (unless mayhap
you shirk the challenge) an umpire undeceived,
you rascal, by boastful words.
I own I had preferred to depart, even though
condemned beforehand, rather than match a bit
i»f my voice against your rivalry. Still, that you
may not go unpunished for all this — look, do you
-ce yonder stag that reclines in the heart of the
white lilies ? Though my own Petale is fond of him,
take him if you win. He is trained to bear reins
and yoke and follows a call with trustfulness ; 'tis
no glutton mouth he shoots out for his food. Do
you see how his head branches wide with antlers,
and how the necklet hangs beneath his very horns
and shapely neck r Do you see how his forehead
gleams, enmeshed with sno\\T frontlet, and how
from his back the side girth, circling his whole belly,
has amulets of glass on this side and on that ? Roses
twine neatly round his horns and softly round his
branching temples ; and a collaret with red-gold
chain dangles from beneath the neck, where a boar's
pendent tusk is set, showing up his breast with
snow-white crescent. This stag, just as you see
him, is the stake whose forfeiture I risk, Mnasyllus,
to secure that this fellow may know he is not worsted
in a stakeless conflict.
He thinks, Mnasyllus, that his wager frightens
me. Look how alarmed I am ! You know I have
**^ sicumque vides G : sicutque Baehrens, Giarratano :
hunc ego qualeracumque vides in valle V.
*' perdere NH : prodere G : pendere N^V.
273
VOL. I. T
MINOR LATIN POETS
non vulgare mihi ; quarum de sanguine ponam 50
velocem Petason, qui gramina matre relicta
nunc primum teneris libavit dentibus : illi
terga sedent, micat acre caput, sine pondere cervix,
pes levis, adductum latus, excelsissima frons est,
et tornata brevi substringitur ungula cornu, 55
ungula, qua viridi sic exsultavit in arvo,
tangeret ut fragiles, sed non curvaret, aristas :
hunc dare, si vincar, silvestria numina iuro.
M. et vacat et vestros cantus audire iuvabit.
iudice me sane contendite, si libet : istic 60
protinus ecce torum fecere sub ilice Musae.
A. sed, ne vicini nobis sonus obstrepat anmis,
gramina linquamus ripamque volubilis undae.
namque sub exeso raucum mihi pumice lymphae
respondent et obest arguti glarea rivi, 65
L. si placet, antra magis vicinaque saxa petamus,
saxa, quibus viridis stillanti vellere muscus
dependet scopulisque cavum sinuantibus arcum
imminet exesa veluti testudine concha.
M. venimus et tacito sonitum mutavimus antro : 70
seu residere libet, dabit ecce sedilia tophus,
ponere seu cubitum, melior viret herba tapetis.
nunc mihi seposita reddantur carmina lite ;
nam vicibus teneros malim cantetis amores :
Astyle, tu Petalen, Lycida, tu Phyllida lauda. 75
5<* vulgare NGA : iugale V. Post 52 vel post 53 est
vulgo insertus dubius versus 54 {pes levis etc.) : 53-57 exstant
in Exc. Par., om. 54.
"'^ me sane NV : mascillo G : Mnasyllo Baehrens.
''^ mutavimus NG : mutabimus Burraan.
274
1 CALPURNIUS SICULUS
some mares of no mean breed ; from their stoek
swift-footed Petasos I will stake : now for the first
time weaned from his mother, he has cropped the
orass with tender teeth. His back is firmly set,
head tossing keenly, neck free from over-weight,
foot light, flank thin, forehead high-poised ; and
below, in narrow sheath of horn, is bound his shapely
hoof — the hoof which takes him prancing across the
green cornland so lightly as to touch, but not bend,
the slender blades. By the woodland deities I
swear, him I will give, if I lose.
M. I am at leisure and 'twill be a joy to hear your
-ongs. Compete, of course, if you so wish and I
will judge. Look, yonder, straight ahead, the
Muses have made a couch under the ilex-tree.
\. Nay, let us leave the meadow and the bank of
the flowing stream, so that the sound of the neigh-
bouring river may not drown our music. For under
the worn porous rock the waters echo me hoarsely,
and the gravel of the babbling brook spoils a
song.
L If you wish, let us seek the caves rather and the
1 crags which neighbour them, those crags where
clings green moss with dripping fleece, and a vaulted
I roof, as it were of tortoise-shell scooped out, over-
'< hangs the rocks which make a curving hollow arch.
M. We have arrived; we have exchanged the noise
for the silent cave. If you wish to sit down, look,
the tufa will afford a seat ; if you wish to recline,
the green grass is better than couch-coverlets.
Now, away with your -wrangling and render me
your songs ; I would rather that in turn you sang
of tender love-affairs. Astylus, sing you the praises
of Petale, and you, Lycidas, of Phyllis.
275
t2
MINOR LATIN POETS
L. tu modo nos illis (iam nunc, Mnasylle, precamur)
auribus accipias, quibus hunc et Acanthida nuper
diceris in silva iudex audisse Thalea.
A. non equideni possum, cum provocet iste, tacere.
rumpor enim, Mnasylle : nihil nisi iurgia quaerit. 80
audiat aut dicat, quoniam cupit ; hoc mihi certe
dulce satis fuerit, Lycidam spectare trementem,
dum te teste palam sua crimina pallidus audit.
L. me, puto, vicinus Stimicon, me proximus Aegon
hos inter frutices tacite risere volentem 85
oscula cum tenero simulare virilia Mopso.
A. fortior o utinam nondum Mnasyllus adesset !
efficerem, ne te quisquam tibi turpior esset.
M. quid furitis, quo vos insania tendere iussit?
si vicibus certare placet — sed non ego vobis 90
arbiter : hoc alius possit discernere iudex !
et venit ecce Micon, venit et vicinus lollas :
litibus hi vestris poterunt imponere finem.
*" ranasille X: raascille G: merito V,
8=» te teste GH : te stante NV.
^^ mutare Maehly : misccre Baehrens : sociare C.
Schenkl.
^" sed G : sum Baehrens : sic Barth.
" Acanthis has been guessed to be either an ordinary
shepherdess or a dangerous witch, like her namesake in
276
CALPURNIUS SICULUS
L,. 1 pray you, Mnasyllus, do you l)ut hear us this
VL-ry hour with that same ear witli which, 'tis said,
you heard and judged Astylus and Acanthis of hite
in the Thalean wood."
A. I cannot keep quiet when that fellow provokes
me. I am ready to burst, Mnasyllus ; he is only
seeking a quarrel. Let him listen or recite, since
^o he desires. 'Twill be joy enough for me to
watch Lycidas quaking, when, blenched, he hears
in your presence his evil deeds made public.
L. It was at me, I suppose, friend Stimicon and at me
neighbour Aegon had their secret laugh in the
--hrubbery here for wanting to ape the kisses of a
urown man with young Mopsus,
A. Mnasyllus is stronger than I am. Oh, I wish he
were still off the scene! then I'd take good care
that you (Lycidas) never saw an uglier face than
your own I
M. Why do you storm at each other? To what
bounds has your madness urged you to go ? If you
want to compete in turn But no, I'll not be your
umpire: someone else may be the judge to settle
this ! Look, here come both Mycon and neighbour
lollas : they will be able to put a close to your strife.
Propertius, IV. v. 63. Thale{i)a may imply either " Sicilian "
from association with the nymph of that name in Sicily
mentioned by Macrobius, Sat. V. xix, or simply "bucolic,"
since Thalia was muse of pastoral poetry as well as of
comedy (rf. Virg. Eel, VI. 1-2, where Servius gives Thaha
as the proper Latin form). Some think it = Latin virens,
connecting it with the root of ^aAAetv and daXXos, a young
branch. Another view is to take Thalea as a nominative,
i.e. *'a true bucolic muse when you acted as judge," "a
Thalea come to judgement." Whatever the obscurity of
allusion, however, it is certain that Astylus is annoyed, and
would assault Lycidas but for the presence of Mnasyllus.
277
MINOR LATIN POETS
VII
LyCOTAS : CORYDON
L. Lentus ab urbe venis, Corj^don ; vicesima certe
nox fuit, ut nostrae cupiunt te cernere silvae,
ut tua maerentes exspectant iubila tauri.
C. o piger, o duro non mollior axe, Lycota,
qui veteres fagos nova quam spectacula mavis 5
cernere, quae patula iuvenis deus edit harena.
L. mirabar, quae tanta foret tibi causa morandi,
cur tua cessaret taciturnis fistula silvis
et solus Stimicon caneret pallente corynibo :
quein sine te maesti tenero donavimus haedo. 10
nam, dum lentus abes, lustravit ovilia Thyrsis,
iussit et arguta iuvenes certare cicuta.
G. sit licet invictus Stimicon et praemia dives
auferat, accepto nee solum gaudeat haedo,
verum tota ferat quae lustrat ovilia Thyrsis : 15
non tamen aequabit mea gaudia ; nee mihi, si quis
omnia Lucanae donet pecuaria silvae,
grata magis fuerint quam quae spectavimus urbe.
L. die age die, Corydon, nee nostras invidus aures
despice : non aliter certe mihi dulce loquere 20
quam cantare soles, quotiens ad sacra vocatur
aut fecunda Pales aut pastoralis Apollo.
2 fuit codd. : ruit Heinshis : subit Baehrens.
1' scilicet codd. plerique : sit licet Vnonnulli.
^^ spectavimus AH : spettamus in G : spectamus in NV.
2" despice codd. : decipe Baehrens.
" The emperor Xero.
'' The Palilia {Parilia) or festival of Pales (cf. 22 infra,
II. 63, V. 25) was celebrated by shepherds in April and was
accompanied by musical competitions.
278
CALPURNIUS SICULUS
ECLOGUE VII
Lycotas : Cory DON
You are slow, Cory don, in coming ])ack from
Rome. For twenty nights past, of a truth, have
our woods longed to see you, and the saddened bulls
waited for your yodellings.
0 you slow-coach, no more unbending than a
tough axle, Lycotas, you prefer to see old beech-
trees rather than the new sights exhibited by our
youthful god ® in the spacious arena.
1 wondered what could be reason enough for
your delay, why your pipe was idle in the silent
woods, and why Stimicon, decked in pale ivy, sang
alone : to him, for want of you, we have sadly
awarded a tender kid. For while you tarried from
home, Thyrsis purified the sheepfolds and bade
the youths compete on shrill-toned reed.^
Let Stimicon be unconquered and win prizes
to enrich him, — let him not only rejoice in the kid
he has received, but let him carry off the whole
of the folds which Thyrsis purifies, still he will not
equal my joys, nor yet, if someone gave me all the
herds of Lucanian forests, would they delight me
more than what I have seen in Rome.
Tell me, come, tell me, Corydon, Be not so
grudging as to disdain my ears. Truly, I shall find
your words as sweet as your songs are wont to be
whenever men to sacred rites invoke Pales the fertile
or Apollo of the herds. ^
'= The Apollo of Euripides' Alcestis had been compelled to
tend the flocks of King Admetus in Thessaly.
279
MINOR LATIX POETS
C. vidimus in caelum trabibus spectacula textis
surgere, Tarpeium prope despectantia culmen ;
emensique gradus et clivos lene iacentes 25
venimus ad sedes, ubi pulla sordida veste
inter femineas spectabat turba cathedras.
nam quaecumque patent sub aperto libera caelo,
aut eques aut nivei loca densavere tribuni.
qualiter haec patulum concedit vallis in orbem 30
et sinuata latus resupinis undique silvis
inter continuos curvatur concava montes :
sic ibi planitiem curvae sinus ambit harenae
et geminis medium se molibus alligat ovum,
quid tibi nunc referam, quae vix suffecimus ipsi 35
per partes spectare suas ? sic undique fulgor
percussit. stabam defixus et ore patenti
cunctaque mirabar necdum bona singula noram,
cum mihi iam senior, lateri qui forte sinistro
iunctus erat, " quid te stupefactum, rustice," dixit
" ad tantas miraris opes, qui nescius auri 41
sordida tecta, casas et sola mapalia nosti ?
en ego iam tremulus iam vertice canus et ista
factus in urbe senex stupeo tamen omnia : certe
vilia sunt nobis, quaecumque prioribus annis 45
vidimus, et sordet quicquid spectavimus olim."
25 immensosque codd. : emensique Schrader.
« iam NG : tarn V. tremulus et NGV : tr. tam AH :
tr. iam Friesemann.
" This is best taken as describing the wooden amphi-
theatre constructed by Nero in a.d. 57 (.Suet. Nero, 12 ; Tac.
Ann. xiii. 31).
^ For the allotment of seats at Roman spectacula see Suet.
Aug. 44. Keene's edition of Calpurnius has an appendix on
the amphitheatre in relation to this eclogue.
'^ The first amphitheatre determined the oval shape, as it
280
CALPrUNIUS SICULUS
I aw a theatre that rose skyward on interwoven
In nu'^ and almost looked doAvn on the summit of
thr C'ajntoline." Passing up the steps and slopes
ot uentle incline, we came to the seats, where in
dingy garments the baser sort viewed the show close
to the women's benches. For the uncovered parts,
exposed beneath the open sky, were thronged by
knights or white-robed tribunes.'' Just as the
valley here expands into a wide circuit, and, winding
at the side, with sloping forest background all
around, stretches its concave curve amid the un-
broken chain of hills, so there the sweep of. the
amphitheatre encircles the level ground, and the
oval in the middle is bound by twin piles of building,''
Why should I now relate to you things which I my-
self could scarcely see in their several details ? So
dazzling was the glitter everywhere. Rooted to the
spot, I stood with mouth agape and marvelled at
all, nor yet had I grasped every single attraction,
when a mian advanced in years, next me as it chanced
I'll my left, said to me: "Why wonder, country-
( 'Mi^in, that you are spellbound in face of such
111 lunificence ? you are a stranger to gold and
• 1 ly know the cottages and huts which are your
liiiinble homes. Look, even I, now palsied with
;i-(', now hoary-headed, grown old in the city
tin re, nevertheless am amazed at it all, Certes,
we rate all cheap we saw in former years, and
shabby every show we one day watched."
was made by C. Scribonius Curio (Plin. X.H. xxxvi. 15 (24),
117) of two wooden theatres revolving on pivots to face each
other, and each greater than a semicircle. Pliny pictures the
imperial Roman people whirled round by this invention
through the air and cheering at the risk they ran (loc. cit.
281
MINOR LATIN POETS
balteus en gemmis, en illita porticus auro
certatim radiant ; nee non, ubi finis harenae
proxinia marmoreo praebet spectacula muro,
stemitur adiunctis ebur admirabile truncis 5C
et coit in rotulum, tereti qui lubricus axe
impositos subita vertigine falleret ungues
excuteretque feras. auro quoque torta refulgent
retia, quae totis in harenam dentibus exstant,
dentibus aequatis ; et erat (mihi crede, Lycota, 55
si qua fides) nostro dens longior omnis aratro.
ordirio quid refer am ? vidi genus omne ferarum,
hie niveos lepores et non sine cornibus apros,
hie raram silvis etiam, quibus editur, alcen.
vidimus et tauros, quibus aut cer\-ice levata 60
deformis seapulis torus eminet aut quibus hirtae
iactantur per colla iubae, quibus aspera mento
barba iacet tremulisque rigent palearia setis.
nee solum nobis silvestria cernere monstra
contigit : aequoreos ego cum certantibus ursis 65
spectavi vitulos et equorum nomine dictum,
sed deforme pecus, quod in illo nascitur amne
qui sata riparum vernantibus irrigat undis.
a ! trepidi, quotiens sola discedentis harenae
*^ vernantibus XGA : venientibus V.
^^ sol discedentis N (nos supra sol m^) : sodiscendentis
G : nos descendentis V : sola discedentis Haupt : se
discindentis Baehrens : alii alia.
<» i.e. the podium (ttoSiov), a projecting parapet or balcony
just above the arena for the emperor or other distinguished
spectators. The balteus was a praecinrtio, a wall running
round the amphitheatre at intervals dividing the tiers of
seats into stories.
282
CALPURNIUS SICULUS
■ Look, the partition-belt begemmed and the gilded
arcade vie in brilliancy; and withal just where the
end of the arena presents the seats closest to the
marble wall," wondrous ivory is inlaid on connected
beams and unites into a cylinder which, gliding
smoothly on well-shaped axle, could by a sudden
turn balk any claws set upon it and shake off the
beasts.^ Bright too is the gleam from the nets of
gold wire which project into the arena hung on
solid tusks, tusks of equal size; and (believe me,
Lycotas, if you have any trust in me) every tusk
was longer than our plough. Why narrate each
sight in order ? Beasts of every kind I saw ; here
I saw snow-white hares and horned boars, here I
saw the elk, rare even in the forests which produce
it. Bulls too I saw, either those of heightened nape,
with an unsightly hump rising •from the shoulder-
blades, or those with shaggy mane tossed across the
neck, with rugged beard covering the ^h,'^^ "'^n^
quivering bristles upon their st^^ ^ ^^^^ ^* ^P^^^^
was it my lot only to se^
sea calves also I bfs for letting beasts rise from under-
them and the na are well illustrated by the excavations
of horses itneatrum Flavium (the "Colosseum").
i.i'.autv of an artificiallv contrived garden in the
spring-ly^^g contrasts with the savage beasts; and the
banks. ors are refreshed by jets of saffron water.
b T.-nth explains demiltere as " inserere aut intro porrigere."
., jaetaphor may be from planting.
kccT
28s
MINOR LATIN POETS
vidimus inverti, ruptaque voragine terrae 70
emersisse feras ; et in isdem saepe cavernis
aurea cum subito creverunt arbuta nimbo.
L. o felix Corydon, quern non tremebunda senectus
impedit I o felix, quod in haec tibi saecula primes
indulgente deo demittere contigit annos ! 75
nunc, tibi si propius venerandum cernere numen
fors dedit et praesens vultumque habitumque
notasti,
die age die, Corydon, quae sit mihi foniia deorum.
C. o utinam nobis non rustica vestis inesset :
vidissem propius mea numina ! sed mihi sordes 80
pullaque paupertas et adunco fibula morsu
obfuerunt. utcumque tamen conspeximus ipsum
longius ; ac, nisi me visus decepit, in uno
nee soliitfi YJiltus et Apollinis esse putavi.
contigit : aequoreos ^t> : tj
spectavi vitulos et equorum noi.. fulvo Baehrens.
sed deforme pecus, quod in illo nasci.
, ., ... '^At Burman,
qui sata riparum vernantibus irrigat unrfi
a ! trepidi, quotiens sola discedentis harena*.
Bur-
^8 vernantibus NGA : venientibus V. ,o.
^* sol discedentis N (nos supra sol m^) : sodiscenden^
G : nos descendentis V : sola discedentis Haupt : b
discindentis Baehrens : alii alia.
" i.e. the podium (ttoSiov), a projecting parapet or balcony-
just above the arena for the emperor or other distinguished
spectators. The balteus was a praecinclio, a wall running
round the amphitheatre at intervals dividing the tiers of
seats into stories.
282
CALPl UN I us SICULUS
aitua part asunder and its soil upturned and beasts
plunge out from the chasm cleft in the earth ; '^ yet
often from those same rifts the golden arbutes
sprang amid a sudden fountain spray (of saffron).^
O lucky Corydon, unhampered by palsied eld;
lucky in that by the grace of heaven it was your lot
to set ^ your early years in this age I Now if fortune
has vouchsafed to you close sight of our worshipful
Emperor-god, if there and then you marked his
countenance and mien, tell me, come, tell me,
Corydon, what I may deem to be the features of the
gods.
O would that I had not been clad in peasant garb !
Else should I have gained a nearer sight of my deity :
but humble dress and dingy poverty and brooch
with but a crooked clasp prevented me ; still, in a
way, I looked upon his very self some distance off,
and, unless my sight played me a trick, I thought
in that one face the looks of Mars and of Apollo
were combined.
" Such arrangements for letting beasts rise from imder-
ground in the arena are well illustrated by the excavations
at the Amphitheatrum Flavium (the "Colosseum").
* The beauty of an artificially contrived garden in the
amphitheatre contrasts with the savage beasts; and the
spectators are refreshed by jets of saffron water,
"^ Barth explains demittere as " inserere aut intro porrigere."
The metaphor may be from planting.
28s
LAUS PISONIS
I INTRODUCTION
TO LAUS PISOXIS
The Paiiegyric on Piso, by a young poet who pleads
poverty but covets literary fame in preference to
wealth, is addressed to one Calpurnius Piso, who is
eulogised as eloquent in the law-courts, in the senate
and in private declamation ; as generous, musical,
athletic, and an adept in the chess-like game of
latrnncuU. Such qualities agree ^\^th the description
in Tacitus {An7i. XV. 48) of that Gaius Calpurnius
Piso who was the ill-fated figure-head of the abortive
plot in A.D. 65 against Nero : they also agree with
the scholiimi on Juvenal's Piso bonus (V. 109), which
mentions this particular Piso's power of drawing
crowds to see him play the Indus latrunculorum. The
identification with the noble conspirator is plausible,
though we can prove neither that Piso bonus was the
conspirator nor that Piso the conspirator had been
consul, as the person addressed in Laus Pisonis, 70,
clearly had been. This latter point decided Hubaux
{Les Themes Bucoliques, p. 185) to see in the person
addressed Lucius Calpurnius Piso, consul with Nero
in A.D. 57.
The authorship is still more doubtful. In the now
missing Lorsch manuscript the poem was erroneously
assigned to Virgil. Certain similarities to Lucan's
style indicate identity rather of period than of
authorship, though the old ascription to Lucan has
289
VOL. I. U
INTRODUCTION TO
found modern support (B. L, Ullman, C.P. XXIV,
1929, 109 sqq.). The names of Ovid, Saleius Bassus
and Statius have been advocated, of whom the first
lived too early and the others too late to vrrite the
Laiis Piso7iis. Resemblances in style and in careful
metrical technique led Haupt (opusc. I. 391) to argue
that the work was by the pastoral poet Calpurnius
Siculus. Haupt himself lost confidence in his
hypothesis ; and it has been opposed by G. Ferrara
in Calpur?uo Siculo e il pa?iegirico a Calpurnio Pisone,
Pa via, 1905.
EDITIONS
Editio Princeps in J. Sichard's edn. of Ovid. Vol.
II. pp. 546-549. Basel, 1527.
Hadrianus Junius. Lucani poema ad Calpuriiium
Pisonem ex lihro Catalecton in Animadiersorum
Libri Sex. Basel, 1556.
[Junius used a Codex Atrebatensis of which
we lack subsequent record, unless Ullman is
right in identifying it with the Arras Flori-
legium ; see i?ifra under Sigla " a."]
Jos. Scaliger. Lucani ad Calpurn. Pisonem Pane-
guricum in Virgilii Maronis Appejidix. Lyon,
1573.
[Scaliger's text follows that of Junius, and
agrees with the Paris MSS. more than with
the editio princeps.^
J. C. Wernsdorf. Poet. Lat. Min. W . pp. 236-282.
Saleii Bassi ad Calpurnium Pisonem poeniation,
Lucano vulgo adscriptum. Altenburg, 1785.
J. Held. Incerti Auctoris ad Calp. Pisonem carmen.
Breslau, 1831.
290
LAUS PISONIS
C. Beck. Statu ad Pisonem pocmation. Aiisbacli,
1835.
C. F. \\'ebcr. Incerti auctoris carmen panegyricum in
Calpurn. Pisonem (appar. crit. and prolegomena).
Marburg, 1859.
E. Baehrens. Poet. Lat. Min. I. pp. 221-236, Incerti
Laus Pisonis. Leipzig, 1879.
Gladys Martin. Laus Pisonis (thesis), Cornell Univ.
U.S.A., 1917.
[Introduction, text, notes.]
B. L. Ullman. The Text Tradition and Authorship
of the Laus Pisonis in Class. Philol. XXI\\
((1929) pp. 109-132.
[As the Florilegia are the only existing MSS.
of the Laus, Ullman prints a restoration of
their archetype.]
RELEVANT WORKS
K. Unger. P. Papinii Statii ad Calp. Pisonem Pocma-
tion, Jahns Jahrb. 1836, p. 261.
M. Haupt. De Carminihus Bucolicis Calpurnii et
Xemesiani, Berlin, 1854, and Opusc. i. p. 391.
Leipzig, 1875.
E. W'celfflin. Zu dem carmen panegyricum in Calp.
Pisonem, in Philologus XML (1861) pp. 340-344.
J. Maehly. Zur Literatur des Pajiegyricus in
Pisonem, Fleckeis. Jahrb. 1862, p. 286.
G. Ferrara. Calpurjiio Siculo e il panegirico a Cal-
purnio Pi son e. Pa via, 1905.
F. Skutsch. T. Calpurnius Siculus, in P. W\ Heal-
encycl. III. 1404.
C. Chiavola. Delia vita e dell' opera di Tito Cal-
purnio Siculo, pp. 24-36. Ragusa, 1921.
291
u2
INTRODUCTION TO LAUS PISONIS
J. Hubaux. Les Themes Bucoliques dans la poesie
latine, esp. pp. 184-185. Bruxelles, 1930.
SIGLA
S = readings in J. Sichard's edition of Ovid, Vol. II.
pp. 546 sqq., Basel, 1527, representing a lost
manuscript of the Laus Pisonis in the monastery
at Lorsch {ex hihUotheca Laurissana^.
Two MSS. of Florilegia containing, along with
excerpts from other authors, excerpts amounting
to almost 200 lines of the Laus (the gaps represent
over 60 lines) : —
p = Parisinus-Thuaneus 7647, 12th-13th century,
n = Parisinus-Nostradamensis 17903, 13th century.
P == Consensus of p and n.
B. L. UUman, op. cit., adds evidence from three
other kindred Florilegia : —
a ^=^ one at Arras which he believes may be Junius'
Atrebatensis.
e ^= one in the Escorial, Q. I. 14.
b = one in Berlin (Diez. B. 60 f. 29) containing a
few lines and probably descended from e.
[Ullman thinks the common ancestor-manuscript
of e, p, a was " a sister or cousin of n : thus the
testimony of n is worth as much as that of the
other three manuscripts together."]
The main variants from Baehrens' text are noted.
292
LAUS PISONIS
UxDE prills coepti surgat mihi carminis ordo
quosve canam titiilos, dubius feror. hinc tua, Piso,
nobilitas veterisque citant sublimia Calpi
nomina, Romanas inter fulgentia gentes ;
hinc tua me virtus rapit et miranda per omnes
vita modos : quae, si desset tibi forte creato
nobilitas, eadem pro nobilitate fuisset.
nam quid imaginibus, quid avitis fulta triumphis
atria, quid pleni numeroso consule fasti
profuerint, cui vita labat ? perit omnis in illo
gentis honos, cuius laus est in origine sola,
at tu, qui tantis animum natalibus aequas,
et partem tituli, non summam, ponis in illis,
ipse canendus eris : nam quid memorare necesse est,
ut domus a Calpo nomen Calpurnia ducat
claraque Pisonis tulerit cognomina prima,
humida callosa cum " pinseret " hordea dextra?
nee si cuncta velim breviter decurrere possim ;
et prius aethereae moles circumvaga flammae
annua bissenis revocabit mensibus astra,
12 at tu S : felix P.
1' furaida Scaliger : horrida MaeJdy.
294
PANEGYRIC ON PISO
Uncertain are my feelings where first should start
the order of the poem which I have undertaken, or
what titles of honour I should chant. On the one
hand, Piso, comes the summons of your noble rank
with the exalted names of ancient Calpus,'' re-
splendent among the clans of Rome : on the other, I
am thrilled by your own merit, your life in every
phase inspiring admiration — such a life as would
have been equal to nobility, if nobility had perchance
not been yours at birth. For what shall halls
strengthened by images and triumphs ancestral.^ what
shall archives filled \\ith many a consulate, profit the
man of unstable life ? In him whose only merit is
birth, the whole honour of a family is lost. But you,
gifted with a mind to match your high descent in
which you set a part but not the whole of your renown,
you will yourself be a fit theme for song. \Miat need
to record how the Calpurnian house derives its name
from Calpus and won its first famous surname of Piso
for pounding (pi{?i)seret) the moist barley with hard-
skinned hand ? I could not, if I would, rehearse
the whole in brief; the circling mass of heavenly
flame '^ will in a twelvemonth recall its yearly con-
" Through the Calpi the gens Calpurnia claimed descent
from Xuma PompiHus. The Pisones of Hor. A. P. 292 are
termed '" PompiUus sanguis."
*> fuUa suggests the columns to which triumphal ornaments
were attached.
^ The sun.
MINOR LATIN POETS
quam mihi priscorum titulos operosaque bella
contigerit memorare. manus sed bellica patrum
armorumque labor veteres decuere Quirites,
atque illos cecinere sui per carmina vates.
nos quoque pacata Pisonem laude nitentem
exaequamus a\-is. nee enim, si bella quierunt,
occidit et virtus : licet exercere togatae
munia militiae, licet et sine sanguinis haustu
mitia legitimo sub iudice bella movere.
hinc quoque servati contingit gloria civis,
altaque Wctrices intexunt limina palmae.
quin age maiorum, iuvenis facunde, tuorum
scande super titulos et avitae laudis honores,
armorumque decus praecede forensibus actis.
sic etiam magno iam tunc Cicerone vigente
laurea facundis cesserunt arma togatis.
sed quae Pisonum claros visura triumphos
olim turba vias impleverat agmine denso,
ardua nunc eadem stipat fora, cum tua maestos
defensura reos vocem facundia mittit.
22 sic S : memorare manus. sed bellica fama Baehrens.
23 docuere 8 : decuere correxit vir doctus saec. X VI.
2' occidit et S: non periit P: fortasse interiit in archetypo
]Vight Duff.
35 vigente Wernsdorf: iuventae S: iubente Weber, Baeh-
rens.
296
PANEGYRIC ON PISO
stellations ere it could be mine to record the
titles and toilsome wars of the men of olden days.
But the warlike hand of their fathers and anned
emprise well beseemed the citizens of yore, mIio
were sung by bards of their o"\\ti times in their
lays.**
We too can praise as his grandsires' peer a Piso
brilliant in the glories of peace. For, if wars have
sunk to rest, courage is not dead also : there is
freedom to fulfil the tasks of campaigning in the
gown — freedom, ^\'ith no blood drawn, to conduct
mild M'arfare before the judge ordained by law.
Hence too comes the distinction of saving a fellow-
citizen : and so victorious palms em\Teathe the lofty
portals.^ Come now, eloquent youth, o'er-climb the
titles of your forbears and the honours of ancestral
fame ; outstep by forensic exploits the renoA\Ti of
arms. So too in great Cicero's day of vigour the
laurelled arms gave way to eloquence bego^Tied.^
The crowd which once in close array thronged the
streets to see the illustrious triumphs of the Pisos
now packs the laborious law-courts, when your
oratory utters its accents to set unhappy defendants
" This, it should be observed, indicates belief in the ex-
istence of heroic lays in ancient Rome : c/. Cic. Tvsc. Disp.
IV. ii. ; Brutus xix. 75; Varro apud Noniuin Marcellum, 76 ;
Val. Maximiis, IT. i. 10. For Niebuhr's ballad-theory see
J. Wight Duff, Lit. Hist, of Rome to Golden Age, pp. 72-73.
^ i.e. the advocate can save a life in the law-court, as the
soldier can on the battlefield. Successful pleadings were
honoured by setting up palm-branches at the pleader's
house-door: cf. Juv. VII. 118 .scnlarum gloria pal ma e ; Mart.
VII. xxviii. 6 excolat et geminas plurima palma fores.
'^ An intentional echo of Cicero's own alliterative line,
cedant arma togae, concednt laurca Inudi, De Off. I. xxii. 77 :
cf. Philipp. II. viii. 20.
297
MINOR LATIN POETS
seu trepidos ad iura decern citat hasta virorum
et firmare iubet centeno iudice causas,
seu capitale nefas operosa diluis arte,
laudibus ipsa tuis resonant fora. diini rapis una
iudicis affectum possessaque pectora temptas,
victus sponte sua sequitur quocumque vocasti :
flet si flere iubes, gaudet gaudere coactus
et te dante capit iudex, quam non habet, iram,
sic auriga solet ferventia Thessalus ora
mobilibus frenis in aperto flectere campo,
qui modo non solum rapido permittit habenas
quadrupedi, sed calce citat, modo succutit alte
flexibiles rictus et nunc cervice rotata
incipit effuses in gyrum carpere cursus.
quis non attonitus iudex tua respicit ora ?
quis regit ipse suam, nisi per tua pondera,
mentem ?
nam tu, sive libet pariter cum grandine nimbos
densaque vibrata iaculari fulmina lingua,
seu iuvat adstrictas in nodum cogere voces
et dare subtili vivacia verba catenae,
vim Laertiadae, brevitatem vincis Atridae :
dulcia seu mavis liquidoque fluentia cursu
verba nee incluso sed aperto pingere flore,
** dura Piso : nam S : dum rapis una Baehren^.
*^ tentas S: ducis P {fortasse ex versu 138 translalum)
frenas Maehly.
^^ rabido Baekrens : rapido PS.
^2 succutit alte {sive acre) Baehrens : succutit arce P : om
S : succedit a : subripit a^.
2Q8
1 PANEGYRIC OX PISO
tire. Whether the spear of the decemviri summons
the panic-stricken to trial and ordains the estab-
hshment of cases before the centumviri,** or whether
with busy skill you refute a capital charge, the
very courts resound with your praises. As you
carry along with you a judge's feelings, assailing
his captured heart, vanquished he follows of his
ovm accord wherever you call — weeps if you say
"weep," rejoices if so compelled; and you are the
giver from whom a judge gets an anger not his
own. So the Thessalian rider is wont on the open
plain to guide his horse's steaming mouth with
mobile bit. now spurring his rapid steed and not
merely giving him rein, now jerking high the open
jaws in his control, and now starting to wheel the
horse's neck round and pull its wild rush into a circle.
What judge fails to watch your lips in wonderment.^
\^ ho orders his own mind save by your weighty
arguments? For whether it be rain along with
hail and repeated thunder-bolts that you choose to
hurl with whirling tongue, or whether you please
to condense compact expressions in a period and
lend enduring words to the graceful texture of your
speech, you surpass Ulysses' force and Menelaus'
brevity ; or whether with no concealed but with
open flowers of speech you prefer to embellish sweet
words as they floM' on their clear course, the famous
" Decemviri and centumviri took cognisance of civil lawsuits.
The spear, as a symbol of magisterial power, was set in the
ground to mark the holding of a centumviral court : cf.
Mart. VII. Ixiii. 7 centum gravis hasta virorum ; Stat. Silv.
IV. iv. 43 cenieni moderatrix iudicis hasta. Suet. Aug. 3G
shows that decemviri (stlitihus iudicandis) were required from
Augustus' time to call together the " Court of One Hundred "
{at centumviralem hnstam . . . decemviri cogerent).
299
MINOR LATIN POETS
inclita Nestorei cedit tibi gratia mellis.
nee te, Piso, tamen populo sub iudiee sola
niirantur fora ; sed numerosa laude senatus
exeipit et meritas reddit tibi euria voces.
quis digne referat, qualis tibi luce sub ilia
gloria contigerit, qua tu, reticente senatu,
cum tua bissenos numeraret purpura fasces,
Caesareum grato cecinisti pectore numen ?
quodsi iam validae mihi robur mentis inesset
et solidus primos impleret spiritus annos,
auderem voces per carmina nostra referre,
Piso, tuas : sed fessa labat mihi pondere cervix
et tremefacta cadunt succiso poplite membra,
sic nee olorinos audet Pandionis ales
parva referre sonos nee, si velit improba, possit ;
sic et aedonia superantur voce cicadae,
stridula cum rapido faciunt convicia soli.
quare age, Calliope, posita gravitate forensi,
limina Pisonis mecum pete : plura supersunt
quae laudare velis inventa penatibus ipsis.
hue etiam tota concurrit ab urbe iuventus
auditura virum, si quando iudiee fesso
turbida prolatis tacuerunt iurgia rebus.
^* retinente S : reticente vulgo : recinente Unger, Baehrens.
" CJ. Hom. II. I. 249 rov /col a-Kh yXdoaaris /xeXiTos yXvKiwu
^e€u avB-f). For the eloquence of Ulysses and Menelaus cf. II.
III. 221-223 and 213-215.
* The passage 68-83 {quis . . . ipsis) is omitted here by P
i.e. p + n ; but 77-80 {sic nee . . . soli) are added at the
close of the poem.
300
PANEGYRIC ON PISO
charm of Nestor's honied eloquence " yields place to
you. 'Tis not only courts before a citizen jury that
admire you, Piso : the senate welcomes you with
manifold praise, and its assembly renders you well-
earned plaudits. Who ^ niay worthily recount the
glory that befell you beneath the light of that day
on which, when your purple counted its twelve
fasces,^ before a hushed senate you sang from
grateful heart the praise of the imperial divinity ?
Yet, if the strength of powerful intellect were now
within me, and my early years were filled with solid
force, then should I dare to recount your eloquence,
Piso, in lays of mine ; but my neck sways wearily
beneath the load : hamstrung, my limbs drop palsied.
Even so Pandion's little bird '' dares not record the
swan's notes, nor, had it the wanton will, would it
have the power; even so the nightingale's song
excels the grasshoppers a-chirping their noisy abuse
at the scorching sun.
Wherefore come. Calliope,*^ passing over his forensic
dignity, with me approach Piso's doors : there is still
more abundance of what is found in his very home to
tempt your praise. Hither also repair youths from
all over Rome to listen to the man, whenever judges
are weary, and in vacation/ confused wrangles are
*■ When he entered on his consulate, Piso delivered a com-
plimentary address to the emperor. Pliny's Panegyricus
illustrates this kind of oration.
^ Pandion's daughter, Philomela, was changed into a
nightingale, or, in some accounts, a SAvalloAV, as here.
' The Muse particularly of heroic narrative poetry. For a
summary of the provinces of the nine Muses see the lines
in this volume, pp. 434-^35 and pp. 034-635.
f Cases are said to be prolatae when there is a iustitium
or cessation of legal business, particularly at times of harvest
and vintage.
301
MINOR LATIN POETS
tunc etenim levibus veluti proludit in armis,
compositisque suas exercet litibus artes.
quin etiam facilis Romano profluit ore
Graecia, Cecropiaeque sonat gravis aemulus urbi.
testis, Acidalia quae condidit alite muros,
Euboicani referens facunda Neapolis arteni.
qualis, io superi, qualis nitor oris anioenis
vocibus I hinc solido fulgore micantia verba
implevere locos, hinc exornata figuris
advolat excusso velox sententia torno.
magna quidem virtus erat, et si sola fuisset,
eloquio sanctum modo permulcere senatum,
exonerare pios modo, nunc onerare nocentes ;
sed super ista movet plenus gravitate serena ]
vultus et insigni praestringit imagine visus.
talis inest habitus, qualem nee dicere maestum
nee fluidum, laeta sed tetricitate decorum
possumus : ingenitae stat nobilitatis in illo
pulcher honos et digna suis natalibus ora. ]
additur hue et iusta fides et plena pudoris
libertas animusque mala ferrugine purus,
ipsaque possesso mens est opulentior auro.
quis tua cultorum, iuvenis fiicunde, tuorum
limina pauper adit, quern non animosa beatum ]
excipit et subito iuvat indulgentia censu ?
quodque magis dono fuerit pretiosius omni,
*^ foecimda S : facunda Unger. arcem PS, Baehrens : artem
Maehly.
° Especially the exercise of declamation.
*• Or, it may be, in settling the fictitious cases of the
rhetorical conlroversiae.
<^ The Acidalian fountain in Boeotia, where the Graces
bathed, was sacred to Venus. Her bird [ales) was the dove.
Euhoicam alludes to the connexion of Cumae, on the bay of
Naples, with Chalcis in Euboea : c/. Viig. Aen. vi. 2.
302
PANEGYRIC ON PISO
hushed. For then his sport seems to be with light
-weapons," as he pHes his true accomphshments after
lawsuits are settled.^ Moreover, Greek culture flows
forth readily from Roman lips, and Athens meets a
weighty rival in his accents. Witness, eloquent Naples
that founded her walls under Acidalian auspices and
repeats the skill of Euboea.^ What lustre, ye gods
above, what lustre shines on the fair language of his
lips ! Here words sparkling in compact splendour
have filled out his choice passages ; here, decked
out with tropes there flies to the hearer from the
freed lathe a swift epigram. '^ Great merit truly
it was, even if it had been the only one, now to
delight the venerable senate with his style, now
to clear the innocent, anon to lay the burden upon
the guilty : yet more appealing still is a counten-
ance full of serene dignity, while his look dazzles
with the stamp of eminence. The mien he wears is
such as we can call neither sad nor flippant, but
seemly in a joyous seriousness. The fair honour of
inborn nobility stands fast in him, and lineaments
worthy of his birth. Thereto is joined true loyalty,
frankness full of modesty, and a nature unstained by
malicious envy — his mind itself is richer than the gold
he owns.
Which of your clients, eloquent youth, approaches
your threshold in poverty who is not welcomed and
enriched by a generous indulgence with the aid of
an unexpected income ? And, what may well be
more precious than any gift, you esteem him as
** Cf. the sense of excusso (rudenti) in 229. The lathe,
metaphorically, is made to turn out the epiiirani which flies
to the audience; (rf. Kor. A. P. -iAl male tor natos . . .versus).
The tomus is "shaken free" of its epigram, as the ship in
V'irg. Aen. VI. 353 is excussa magisiro.
MINOR LATIN POETS
diligis ex aequo, nee te fortuna colentum
natalesve movent : probitas spectatur in illis.
nulla superboruna patiuntur dicta iocorum, 1.
nullius subitos afFert iniuria risus :
unus amicitiae summos tenor ambit et imos.
rara domus tenuem non aspernatur amiciun
raraque non humilem calcat fastosa clientem ;
illi casta licet mens et sine crimine constet 1'
vita, tamen probitas cum paupertate iacebit ;
et lateri nullus comitem circumdare quaerit,
quern dat purus amor, sed quem tulit impia merces ;
nee quisquam vero pretium largitur amico,
quem regat ex aequo vicibusque regatur ab illo, 1;
sed miserum parva stipe focilat, ut pudibundos
exercere sales inter convi\da possit.
ista procul labes, procul haec fortuna refugit,
Piso, tuam, venerande, domum : tu mitis et acri
asperitate carens positoque per omnia fastu 1^
inter ut aequales unus numeraris amicos,
obsequiumque doces et amorem quaeris amando.
cuncta domus varia cultorum persona t arte,
cuncta movet studium ; nee enim tibi dura clientum
turba rudisve placet, misero quae freta labore 1-
nil nisi summoto novit praecedere vulgo ;
120 illi n: ilia peab: illic S. licet et S contra metrinn:
licet domus P {ez inter polatione) : licet, licet et Baehrens : illic
casta licet mens p mgo. m. rec. {quod transiit in editt.).
12® focilat S : om. in lacuna P : munerat aliquot edd.
" focilat, " revives," " cherishes," the reading of S, does not
agree in quantity with the usual /dct/a^ or foe illat.
PANEGYRIC ON PISO
an equal : neither the fortune nor the pedigree of
clients influence you : uprightness is the test in
them. They do not wince under any witticisms of
overbearing jests: no man's grievance furnishes
material for sudden laughter. A uniform tenor of
friendship encompasses highest and lowest. Rare
the house that does not scorn a needy friend ; rare
the house that does not trample contemptuously on
a humble dependant. Though his mind be clean and
his life unimpeachable, still his probity will rank as
low as his poverty ; and no patron seeks to have at
his side a retainer got by pure affection but one whom
cursed gain has brought him : no one confers largess
on a true friend in order to guide him on an equal
footing and in turn be guided by him, but one hires ^
the wretched man for a trumpery wage to have the
power of practising shameful witticisms at the festal
board.* Far has such a disgrace, far has a plight of
this sort fled, worshipful Piso, from your house. In
your gentleness and freedom from sharp asperity,
laying aside pride everywhere, you are reckoned
as but one among your friendly peers : you teach
obedience, as you court love by loving. The whole
house rings with the varied accomplishments of its
frequenters : zeal is the motive force everywhere ;
for you find no satisfaction in a clumsy uneducated
band of clients, whose forte lies in trivial services and
whose one ability is to walk before a patron when the
common herd are cleared away. No, it is a wide
* Juvenal, writing at the beginning of the second century
A.D., draws parallel pictures of the relations between patron
and client: e.g. with 115-116 and 118-119 cf. Juv. III.
152-153, nil habet infelix paupcrtas durius in se quam quod
ridicules homines facit, and with 122-124 cf. X. 46 defossa in
loculos quos sportula fecit arnicas.
VOL. I. X
MINOR LATIN POETS
sed virtus niimerosa iuvat. tu pronus in omne
pectora ducis opus, seu te graviora vocarunt
seu leviora iuvant. nee enim faeundia semper
adducta cum fronte placet : nee semper in armis
bellica turba manet, nee tota classicus horror
nocte dieque gemit. nee semper Gnosius arcum
destinat, exempto sed laxat comua nervo,
et galea miles caput et latus ense resolvit.
ipsa vices natura subit variataque cursus
ordinat. inversis et frondibus explicat annum.
non semper fluidis adopertus nubibus aether
aurea terrificis obcaecat sidera nimbis :
cessat hiemps, madidos et siccat vere capillos ;
ver fugit aestates ; aestatum terga lacessit
pomifer autumnus, nivibus cessurus et undis.
ignea quin etiam supenmi pater amia recondit
et Ganymedeae repetens convivia mensae
pocula sumit ea, qua gessit fulmina, dextra.
temporibus servire decet : qui tempora certis
ponderibus pensavit, eum si bella vocabunt,
miles erit ; si pax, positis toga vestiet armis.
hunc fora pacatum, bellantem castra decebunt.
felix ilia dies totumque canenda per aevum,
quae tibi, vitales cum primum traderet auras, ]
contulit innumeras intra tua pectora dotes.
mira subest gravitas inter fora, mirus omissa
pauli'-per gravitate lepos. si carmina forte
^** frondibus S : front ibiis Beck, Baekrens.
15^ nubibus S : nimbis P : nebulis Wernsdorf: nivihym Earth.
15' vestiet p n^ : gestiet S n^ (secundum Ulbnanum vestiet
n, non ex gestiet corr., ut Baehrens dicit).
306
PANEGYRIC OX PISO
range " of good iiiialitic"^ that })leases you. Your
OAvn keenness leads the mind to every sort of work,
wliether the call has come from graver pursuits, or
lighter pursuits are to your fancy ; for the eloquence
of the serious brow does not charm at every season :
not for ever does the warlike band remain under
arms : nor does the trumpet's alarum blare all night
and day : not for ever does the Cretan aim his bow,
but, freeing its string, he relaxes its horns : and the
soldier unbinds helmet from head and sword from
flank. Nature herself undergoes alternations, in
varied form ordering her courses, unfolding the year
with the change of the leaf. Not for ever does
ether, shrouded in streaming clouds, darken the
golden stars with dreadful rains. Winter flags and
in the springtime dries his dripping locks. Spring
flees before the summer-heats : on summer's heels
presses fruit-bearing autumn, destined to yield to
snow and flood. Yea, the Sire of the Gods stores
away his fiery weapons, and, seeking again the
banquet at the table served by Ganymede, he grasps
the goblet in the right hand wherewith he wielded
the thunderbolt. 'Tis meet to obey the seasons :
whoso has weighed the seasons * with sure weights,
he, if war calls him, will be a soldier ; if peace, he
will lay down his arms and his dress will be the gown.
Him the law-court in peace, the camp in war will
befit. Happy that day, for all time worthy of song,
which, so soon as it gave you the breath of life, con-
ferred on you countless gifts within your breast.
A wondrous dignity upholds you in court ; a wondrous
wit, when for the moment dignity is dropped. If
" Cf. 66 numerosa laude.
^ Here tempoia is used in the sense of " the fit times."
x2
MINOR LATIN POETS
nectere ludenti iuvit fluitantia versu,
Aonium facilis deducit pagina carmen ;
sive chelyn digitis et eburno verbere pulsas,
dulcis Apollinea sequitur testudine cantus,
et te credibile est Phoebo didicisse magistro.
ne pudeat pepulisse lyram, cum pace serena
publica securis exultent otia terris,
ne pudeat : Phoebea chelys sic creditur illis
pulsari manibus, quibus et contenditur arcus ;
sic movisse fides saevus narratur Achilles,
quamvis mille rates Priameius ureret heros
et gravis obstreperet modulatis bucina nerv^is :
illo dulce melos Nereius extudit heros"
pollice, terribilis quo Pelias ibat in hostem.
amia tuis etiam si forte rotare lacertis
inque gradum clausis libuit consistere miembris
et vitare simul, simul et captare petentem,
mobilitate pedum celeres super orbibus orbes
plectis et obliquis fugientem cursibus urges :
et nunc vivaci scrutaris pectora dextra,
nunc latus adversum necppino percutis ictu.
nee tibi mobilitas minor est, si forte volantem
aut geminare pilam iuvat aut revocare cadentem
et non sperato fugientem reddere gestu.
haeret in haec populus spectacula, totaque ludos
I'l nee S : ne Baehrens. si S : sic Baehrens.
1'' ibat in hostem P8 : iverat liasta Schrader, Baehrens.
308
PANEGYRIC ON PISO
mayhap it is your pleasure to twine in sportive
verse the unpremeditated hiy, then an easy page
draws out the Aonian soncr-, or. if you smite the lyre
with finirer and ivory quill, sweet comes the strain
on a harp w(n-thy of Apollo : well may we believe you
learned under Phoebus' tuition. Blush not to strike
the lyre : mid peace serene let national tranquillity
rejoice in a care-free world : blush not : so, 'tis
believed, Apollo's strings are played by the hands
which also stretch the bow. Even so fierce Achilles
is related to have touched the lyre, albeit the hero
son of Priam (Hector) burned a thousand ships, and
the war-trumpet clashed harshly with the well-
tuned strings. The hero sprung from Nereus ° beat
out sweet melody with the thumb 'neath which the
menacing spear from Pelion ^ sped against the foe.
If moreover you have chosen mayhap to whirl
weapons from the shoulder and take your stand, limbs
taut in fixed position, and at the same moment both
avoid and hit your adversary, then with nimbleness
of foot you swiftly interlace circle upon circle ; with
slant^\'ise rush you press on your retreating opponent ;
now your vigorous right hand lunges at his breast, now
your unexpected thrust strikes his exposed flank.
No less is your nimbleness, if mayhap it is your
pleasure to return the flying ball '^ or recover it Mhen
falling to the ground, and by a surprising movement
get it within bounds again in its flight. To watch
such play the populace remains stockstill, and the
" Achilles, son of Thetis, and grandson of Xereus.
'' Pelias, sc. hasta : the spear of Achilles -was so called
because its shaft came from Pelion. The phrase Pelias hasta
occurs in Ovid, Her. iii. 126, and in Pentadius, De Fortuna,
29-30.
•^ Excursus X in Wemsdorf's Poet. Lat. Min., iv. pp. 398-
404, deals with lusus pilae at Rome.
MINOR LATIN POETS
turba repente siios iani sudabunda relinquit.
te si forte iuvat stiidioruni pondere fessuni
non languere tanien liisusque movere per artem,
callidiore modo tabula variatur aperta
calculus et vitreo peraguntur niilite bella,
ut niveus nigros, nunc et niger alliget albos.
sed tibi quis non terga dedit ? quis te duce cessit
calculus ? aut quis non periturus perdidit hostem ?
mille modis acies tua dimicat : ille petentem,
dum fugit, ipse rapit : longo venit ille recessu,
qui stetit in speculis : hie se committere rixae
audet et in praedam venientem decipit hostem ; *
ancipites subit ille moras similisque ligato
obligat ipse duos ; hie ad maiora movetur,
ut citus ecfracta prorumpat in agmina mandra
clausaque deiecto populetur moenia vallo.
interea sectis quamvis acerrima surgant 1
proelia militibus, plena tamen ipse phalange
aut etiam pauco spoliata milite vincis,
et tibi captiva resonat manus utraque turba.
sed prius emenso Titan versetur Olympo,
quam mea tot laudes decurrere carmina possint. '
felix et longa iuvenis dignissime vita
203 Q^ fracta S : effracta doclus quidam : ecfracta Bachrens.
204 fortasse quassaque Maehly.
^^' etiam S : tantum Baehrens.
203 versetur PS : mersetur Wernsdorf : vergetur Baehrens.
" Excursus XI, ibid., pp. 404^19, deals with the Indus
latrunculorum, a game with a resemblance to chess or draughts.
^ i.e. instead of advancing, this "soldier" lets himself be
stopped and then, when he looks penned in, suddenly breaks
out. Another explanation is that one counter " undergoes
a double attack " {mora technically meaning " check "), t.e.
is in danger from two opposing pieces, but by a further
move endangers two enemies.
310
PANEGYRIC OX PISO
whole crowd, sweatino; with exertion, suddenly
abandons its own iianies. If mayha]) you please,
when weary with the wei^^ht of studies, to he never-
theless not inactiV'C but to play _i»-anies of skill, then
on the open board " in more eunnins; fashion a piece i';
moved into different positions and the contest is waged
to a finish with glass soldiers, so that white checks
the black pieces, and black checks white. But what
player has not retreated before you ? What piece is
lost when you are its player ? Or what piece before
capture has not reduced the enemy ? In a thousand
ways your army fights : one piece, as it retreats, itself
captures its pursuer : a reserve piece, standing on
the alert, comes from its distant retreat — this one
dares to join the fray and cheats the enemy coming
for his spoil. Another piece submits to risky delays ''
and, seemingly checked, itself checks two more :
this one moves towards higher results, so that, quickly
played and breaking the opponent's defensive line,''
it may burst out on his forces and, when the rampart
is down, devastate the enclosed city.'^ Meanwhile,
however fierce rises the conflict among the men in
their divided ranks, still you win with your phalanx
intact or deprived of only a few men, and both your
hands rattle with the crowd of pieces you have
taken.
But the Sun-God would complete his circuit after
measuring the heavens, ere my lays could traverse
so many merits. Fortunate youth, most worthy of
' Mandra, a herd of cattle, was taken by Scaliger for the
equites of the Indus lair luiculor urn. There is evidence that,
as a piece, the latro had higher value than tlie mandra. In
the sense of "enclosure," mandra may mean the line of less
valuable pieces (like " panns ").
** The ir6\is of a similar CTreek game.
3"
MINOR LATIN POETS
eximiumque tuae gentis decus, accipe nostri
certus et hoc veri complectere pignus amoris.
quod si digna tua minus est mea pagina laude,
at voluisse sat est : animum, non carmina, iacto. 2]
tu modo laetus ades : forsan meliora canemus
et \-ires dabit ipse favor, dabit ipsa feracem
spes aninium : dignare tuos aperire Penates,
hoc solum petimus. nee enim me divitis auri
imperiosa fames et habendi saeva libido 2f
impulerunt, sed laudis amor, iuvat, optime, tecum
degere cumque tuis virtutibus omne per aevum
carminibus certare meis : sublimior ibo,
si famae mihi pandis iter, si detrahis umbram.
abdita quid prodest generosi vena metalli, 2i
si cultore caret ? quid inerti condita portu,
si ductoris eget, ratis efficit, omnia quamvis
armamenta gerat teretique fluentia malo
possit ab excusso dimittere vela rudenti ?
ipse per Ausonias Aeneia carmina gentes 22
qui sonat, ingenti qui nomine pulsat Olympum
Maeoniumque senem Romano provocat ore,
forsitan illius nemoris latuisset in imibra
quod canit, et sterili tantum cantasset avena
ignotus populis, si Maecenate careret. 23
qui tamen haut uni patefecit limina vati
nee sua \ ergilio permisit numina soli :
Maecenas tragico quatientem pulpita gestu
^^" numina S : nomina P : carmina Lachmann : somnia
Baehrens.
" Cf. Ennius' Musae quae pedibus magnum pulsatis Olym-
pum : or the idea may be that Virgil's fame rises and
" strikes " the heavens.
* L. Varius Rufus, who with Plotius Tucca edited the
A eneid, was an epic and elegiac as well as a tragic author :
312
PANEGYRIC OX PISO
long life, distinguished ornament of your clan,
assured of my loyalty, accept and welcome this
pledge of true affection. Yet, if my page f;ills short
of your renown, the intent is enough. I vaunt my
aspiration, not my poetr\ . Do you but lend your
joyful presence : perchance I shall sing better lays
and your very favour will give strength, the very
hope A\'ill give a fertile spirit : deign to throw open
your home : this is my sole request. For it is no
imperious hunger for rich gold, no savage lust of
possession that has prompted me, but love of
praise. I fain, noble sir, would dwell with you, and
through all my life hold rivalry in my songs with
your excellences : more lofty will be my way, if you
are now opening for me the path of fame, if you
are removing the shadow (of obscurity). What
profits the hidden vein of precious metal, if it
lack the miner? What can a vessel do, buried in
some sluggish haven, if it lack captain, though it
carry all its tackle, and could loosen its flapping
sails on the shapen mast from the slackened rope ?
The very bard who through Italian peoples makes
his poem on Aeneas resound, the bard who in his
mighty renown treads ^ Olympus and in Roman
accents challenges the old man Maeonian, perchance
his poem might have lurked obscure in the shadow
of the grove, and he might have but sung on a
fruitless reed unknown to the nations, if he had lacked
a Maecenas. Yet it was not to one bard only that he
opened his doors, nor did he entrust his (imperial)
divinities to ^'irgil alone : Maecenas raised to fame
Varius,* who shook the stage with tragic mien ;
Hor. Od. I. vi. 1 and Porphyrion nd loc. ; Sat. I. x. 44; A. P.
65; Quintilian X. i. 98; Mart. VIII. xviii. 7; Tac. Dial. xii. 6.
MINOR LATIN POETS
erexit Varium. Maecenas alta tonantis
emit et populis ostendit nomina Graiis.
camiiiia Romanis etiam resonantia chordis,
Ausoniamque chelyn gracilis patefecit Horati.
o decus, in totum nierito venerabilis aevum,
Pierii tutela chori, quo praeside tuti
non umquam vates inopi timuere senectae.
quod si quis nostris precibus locus, et mea vota
si mentem subiere tuam, memorabilis olim
tu mihi Maecenas tereti cantabere versu.
possumus aeternae nomen committere famae,
si tamen hoc ulli de se promittere fas est
et deus ultor abest ; superest animosa voluntas
ipsaque nescio quid mens excellentius audet.
tu nanti protende manum : tu, Piso, latentem
exsere. nos huniilis domus, at sincera, parentum
et tenuis fortuna sua caligine celat. ;
possumus impositis caput exonerare tenebris
et lucem spectare novam, si quid modo laetus
adnuis et nostris subscribis, candide, votis.
est mihi, crede, meis animus constantior annis,
quamvis nunc iuvenile decus mihi pingere malas '.
coeperit et nondum vicesima venerit aestas.
^*^ nomina Graiis S : Troica Macri Baehrens.
" A divine power hostile to pride is suggested, but not
named; cf. Sen. H.F. 385, sequitur superhos ultor a tergo
deus; Ovid, Met. XIV. 750, quam iam deus ultor agebat. The
idea resembles that of Nemesis, and it is noteworthy that
Ovid, Met. XIV. 693-694 mentions the del ultores and,
independently, the " mindful wrath" of Nemesis.
314
PANEGYRIC OX PISO
Maecenas drew out tlie grand style of the tliunderintj
poet and revealed famous names to the peoples of
Greece. Likewise he made known to fame songs
resonant on Roman strings and the Italian lyre of
graceful Horace. Hail! ornament of the age,
worshipful deservedly for all time, protection of the
Pierian choir, beneath whose guardianship never did
poet fear for an old age of beggary.
But if there is any room for entreaties of mine, if
my prayers have readied your heart, then you, Piso,
shall one day be chanted in polished verse, to be
enshrined in memory as my Maecenas. I can consign
a name to everlasting renown, if after all 'tis rio-ht
for any man to promise this of himself, and if the
avenging god is absent :*' there is abundance of spirited
will, and the mind itself ventures on something of
surpassing quality. Do you stretch out your hand to
a swimmer : ^ do you, Piso, bring to the light one who
is obscure. The home of my sires, humble but true,
along with its slender fortune hides me in its own
darkness. I can clear my head of its enshrouding
burden, I can behold fresh light, if you, my fair-
souled friend, do but cheerfully approve and support
my aspirations. I have, trust me, a spirit firmer than
my years, though youth's comeliness has just begun
to shade my cheeks and my twentieth simimer is not
yet at hand.
^ The appeal of this young poet contrasts with Johnson's
famous sarcasm : " Is not a patron, my lord, one who looks
with unconcern on a man struggling for life in the water, and,
when he has reached ground, encumbers him with help ? "
o^D
EINSIEDELN ECLOGUES
INTRODUCTION
TO EINSIEDELN ECLOGUES
The Einsiedeln pastorals, so called after the tenth-
century manuscript at Einsiedeln from Avhich H.
Ilagen first published them in 1869, have already
been touched upon in connexion with Calpurnius
Siculus. These two incomplete poems date almost
certainly from the early years of Nero's reign
(a.d. 51-68). In the hrst, the emperor is an Apollo
and a Jupiter and the inspired author of a poem on
the taking of Troy. In the second, one of the
shepherds is convinced that M'ith the emperor's
accession the Golden Age has returned. This poem,
the earlier and the more artistic of the two, in its
opening ''quid tacitus, Mi/stes?" either echoes or
is echoed by the opening of Calpurnius Siculus'
fourth eclogue, " quid tacitus, Cory don '^ " On the
ground of the laudata chelys of i. 17, it has been
argued that the author's muse was already popular
at court and that it might have been worth while
for Calpurnius Siculus, a humbler person and a junior
poet, to pay him the compliment of imitation.'^ The
argument proceeds to identify the author of the Einsie-
deln poems with the eminent Calpurnius Piso on the
ground that, if Calpurnius Siculus 'patron" Meliboeus "
" This is Groag's theory, P. W. Reakncyd. III. 1379 : it is
contradicted by Skutsch, P. W. Realencycl. V. 2115.
i
INTRODUCTION TO
was really Piso," then it is appropriate that he, as
the speaker at Eclogue iv. 1, should appear to quote
" quid tac'dus? " from himself. Besides, in spite of
Piso's later complicity in the conspiracy against Nero,
he had been at one time on intimate terms with the
emperor,^ and might well have indulged in pastoral
panegyrics upon him. This implies that the Einsie-
deln poems preceded the Calpurnian eclogues. But
if the gaudete ruinae and laudaie rogos of Einsied. i.
40-41 could be taken to indicate composition after
the fire of Rome in a.d. 64, then it is hard to picture
Piso so praising Nero on the verge of his plot against
him. However this may be, the eulogies upon Nero
are in the manner of court literature during the
opening years of his reign, as is evident from the
tone of Seneca's praises in his Apocolocyntosis and
De Clemeritia. Much learned speculation has been
spent on the pieces. It has generally been felt
needless to assert (as Hagen, Buecheler and Birt
have done) two separate authors for them ; and,
while Lucan, as well as Piso, has been put forward
as the -wTiter, the balance of opinion tends to agree
that there is not enough evidence on which to dog-
matise. Ferrara ^ thinks it possible that the two
pieces are by Calpurnius Siculus. There are, it is
true, resemblances between the Einsiedeln pair
and his eclogues ; but the verj^ fact that the adulation
of Nero in the first piece and the restoration of the
<* It must be remembered that a case can be made out for
regarding " Meliboeus " as Seneca. Some, on the other hand,
consider all such identifications to be futile (see introd. to
Calpurnius Siculus).
^ Tacitus, Ann. XV. 52.
" In Caljjurnio Siculo e il panegirico a Calpurnio, Pavia,
1905.
320
EINSIEDELN ECLOGUES
Golden Age in the second are themes in common
\vith the fom-th and first Calpurnian eclogues
niihtates rather against than for identity of author-
ship. At least, it is arguable that a writer with
aspirations after originality would not go on harping
on the same string. In one way, indeed, there is a
departure from pastoral usage, which normally
confines speakers to complete hexameters : the
second poem has this amount of individuality in
structure, that the interlocutors sometimes start
speaking in the middle of a line (ii. 1 ; 4 ; 5 and 6).
EDITIONS
H. Hagen, in PhiM. 28 (1869), pp. 338 sqq. (the
first publication of the text).
A. Riese, in Anthol. Latina, Nos. 725 and 726.
E. Baehrens, in P.L.M. Ill, 60-64.
C. Giarratano, with Bucolica of Calpurnius and
Nemesianus (Paravia ed.). Turin, 1924.
RELEVANT WORKS
R. Peiper. Praefationis in Senecae tragoedias suppkm.
Breslau, 1870. (First established the Neronian
date.)
F. Buecheler. Rh. Mus. 26 (1871), 235.
O. Ribbeck. Kh. Mus. 26 (1871), 406, 491.
Th. Birt. Ad historiam hexametri latini synihola, p. 64.
[Argues, like Hagen and Buecheler, that the two
poems are by different authors.] Bonn, 1876.
E. Groag, in P. W. Realencyd. III. (1899) col. 1379.
[Considers Calpurnius Piso the author.]
321
INTRODUCTION, EIXSIEDELN ECLOGUES
F. Skutsch, in P. W. Realencycl V. (1905) col. 2115.
[Considers Groag's conjecture unfounded.]
A. Maciejczyk. De carminum Einsidlensium tempore
et auctore. Diss. GreifsMald, 1907.
S. Loesch, Die Einsiedler Gedichie : eine litterar-
historische Untersiichimg (w. text and a facsimile).
Diss. Tubingen, 1909. [These last two writers
argue for Lucan's authorship.]
J. Hubaux. Les themes bucoliques dans la poesie
lat'me, Bruxelles, 1930, pp. 228 sqq.
For a fuller list see Schanz, Gesch. d. rbm. Lit.
SIGLUM
E == Codex Einsiedlensis 266 : saec. x.
Baehrens' transpositions of lines are not followed,
nor all of his emendations.
322
Y 2
INCERTI CARMINA BUCOLICS
Thamvra : Ladas : Mida
Th. Te, formose Mida, iam dudum nostra requirunt
iurgia : da vacuam pueris certantibus aurem.
Mi. haud moror ; et casti nemoris secreta voluptas
invitat calamos : imponite lusibus artem.
Th. praemia si cessant, artis fiducia muta est.
La. sed nostram durare fidem duo pignora cogent :
vel caper ille, nota frontem qui pingitur alba,
vel levis haec et mobilibus circumdata bullis
fistula, silvicolae munus memorabile Fauni.
Th. sive caprum mavis vel Fauni ponere munus,
elige utrum perdas ; sed erit, puto, certius omen
fistula damnato iam nunc pro pignore dempta.
Thamira E: Thamyra Hagen: cf. Thamyras, 21.
^ et casti Baehrens {cf. Tac. Germ. 40 castum nemus) : et cusu
E : et lusu Hagen : excusum Gundermann.
^ nulla Hagen, Ribbeck.
' nota . . . alba Hagen : notam . . . albam E.
^ nobilibus E, corr. Hagen.
* munus venerabile Baehrens : munus et memorabile E.
^^ set Baehrens : et E.
1^ dempta Baehrens : empta est E.
324
EINSIEDELN ECLOGUES
[The personages are Thamyras and Ladas as
contending shepherds, and Midas as umpire.]
Th. Long have our contests called for you, my hand-
some Midas ; lend a leisured ear to competing
swains.
Mi. I am ready : the sequestered charm of the
holy wood is an invitation to pipings : lay skill
upon your minstrelsy.
Th. If prizes are lacking, the confidence of skill is
dumb.
La. Xay, two stakes will make our confidence endure :
either yonder he-goat, whose forehead is decked
with the white mark, or this light pipe set
round with moveable knobs,*^ the memorable
gift of Faunus, denizen of the woods.
Th. Whether you prefer to stake the he-goat or
Faunus' gift, choose which of the two you are to
lose ; but the surer omen, I fancy, will be the
pipe which, instead of being a stake, is as good
as taken away from the rejected competitor.
° The bullae might control the musical notes by closing or
opening the perforations ; but they might merely be decora-
tive. Hubaux [Les thenifs bucoliques, p. 230) thinks of " una
fliite ornee de verroteries."
MINOR LATIN POETS
La. quid iuvat insanis lucem consumere verbis ?
iudicis e gremio victoris gloria surgat.
Th. praeda mea est, quia Caesareas me dicere laudes
mens iubet : huie semper debetur palma labori.
La. et mi sidereo cor movit Cynthius ore
laudatamque chelyn iussit variare canendo.
Mi. pergite, io pueri, promissum reddere carmen ;
sic vos cantantes deus adiuvet ! incipe, Lada,
tu prior ; altemus Thamyras imponet honorem.
La. maxime divorum caelique aeterna potestas,
seu tibi, Phoebe, placet temptare loquentia fila
et citharae modulis primordia iungere mundi
carmine uti virgo furit et canit ore coacto,
fas mihi sit vidisse deos, fas prodere mundum :
seu caeli mens ilia fuit seu solis imago,
dignus utroque <deo) stetit ostro clarus et auro
^' mi s, cor movit (commovit olim) Baehrens : me s. cor-
rumpit E, Giarratano.
2" cantantes E : certantes Baehrens.
21 imponit E : imponet Baehrens : imponat Hagen.
22 caelique JIagen : ceterique E.
23 temptare Peiper : emitare E.
2* versum qui est 24 in E post 31 traiecit Baehrens.
25 carmine uti Baehrens : carminibus E.
2'' mundo Hagen, Baehrens : mundum E.
28 utraque Peiper. post stetit, dux addidit Baehrens : deus
Peiper : ante stetit, deo addidit Krichenberg : Nero Buechehr.
" i.e. to Nero's merits.
326
I EINSIEDELN ECLOGUES
La. What avails it to waste the (layli<rht in wild
words? Let the winner's ftime rise from the
umpire's bosom.
Th. The spoil is mine, because my mind prompts me
to recount a Caesar's praises : to such a task
the prize is ever due.
La. My heart too hath Apollo stirred ^Wth celestial
lips and bade me sing changing strains to my
lyre which has already won praise.
3//. Proceed, my lads, to render the promised song :
so may God aid you as ye sing ! Ladas, begin —
you first : Thamvras in turn will bring his
tribute."
La. Greatest of gods, eternal ruler of the sky,*
whether, Phoebus, it is thy pleasure to make
trial of the eloquent strings and set to melodies
on the lyre the first principles of the world,
even as in song the maiden-priestess raves and
chants with lips o'er-mastered, so may I be
allowed to have looked on gods, allowed to
reveal the story of the universe : *" whether that
mind was the mind of the sky or likeness of
the sun,^ worthy of both divine principles Apollo
took his place, brilliant in purple and gold, and
* Some have taken this as addressed to Jupiter ; but Ladas
is concerned with Phoebus alone (17-18), while Thamyras is
concerned with the emperor (15-16). This seems to preclude
the idea supported by some scholars that the emperor (instead
of Apollo) is the subject of stetit in 28.
' Ladas prays for inspiration like that of the Pythian
prophetess : c/. Lucan, V. 88-99, on Apollo as guardian of
eternal fate at Delphi, a passage containing noticeable
parallelisms of expression to the verses here given to Ladas.
•* The reference is to Apollo as the omniscient god of
divination (Lucan V. 88 caeli . . . deus omnia cursu-s aeterni
secreta teneiis) and as the Sun-God.
MINOR LATIN POETS
intonuitque manu. talis diWna potestas
quae genuit mundum septemque intexuit oris
artificis zonas et totas miscet amore.
talis Phoebus erat, cum laetus caede draconis
docta repercusso generav-it carmina plectro :
caelestes ulli si sunt, hac voce loquuntur !
venerat ad modulos doctarum turba sororum. . . .
Th. hue hue, Pierides, volucri concedite saltu :
hie Heliconis opes florent, hie vester Apollo est !
tu quoque Troia sacros cineres ad sidera tolle
atque Agamemnoniis opus hoc ostende Mycenis !
iam tanti cecidisse fuit ! gaudete, ruinae,
et laudate rogos : vester vos tollit alumnus !
(^venerat en et Maeonides, cui} plurima barba
2° orbis Hagen : oris E.
3^ totas Baehrens : toto E : totum Fiese.
^5 versum qui est 35 in E post 41 traiecit Baehrens. sororum
Hagen : sonarum E.
^^ hie versus totus et 43 ex maiore parte desunt in E.
^^ explevit Baehrens ut supra.
" Apollo's power, from a Stoic stand-point, was totiiis pars
magna lovis (Lucan, V. 95). The artifez, or contriver of the
mundus, is the STj/xiowpyJj of Platonic philosophy. According
to Plutarch, Thales and Pythagoras divided the heavens
into five zones, Pythagoras dividing the earth into five
corresponding zones {De Placitis Philosophoriim, 2, 12 and 3,
14). The 8toio Poseidonius gave Parmenides as originator
of the division into five zones (Strabo, Geog. II. ii. 2).
Poseidonius himself recognized seven zones (Strabo, II. ii. 3
[C. 95]), and his influence acts directly or indirectly on this
passage.
328
EINSIEDELN ECLOGUES
sped thunder with his liand. Such was the
divine power which lias begotten the W(jrld
and has inwoven with the seven borders the
artificer's zones ° and blends them all with love.*
Such was Phoebus, when, rejoicing in the
slaughter of the dragon,*^ he produced learned
minstrelsy to the beat of the plectrum : if
there are any dwellers in heaven, they speak
with voice like this. The band of the learned
sisterhood had come to the sounds of the
music. . . .
Th. Hither, hither, ye Pierian Muses, approach in
the fleet dance ! Here flourishes the wealth
of Helicon ; here is your own Apollo ! You
too, O Troy, raise your hallowed ashes to the
stars,** and display this work to Agamemnon's
Mycenae ! Now has it proved of such value to
have fallen ! Rejoice, ye ruins ; praise your
funeral pyres : 'tis your nurseling that raises
you again ! . . . <(Lo ! Homer too had come,
* The principle of attraction in the universe descended from
the Theogony of Pherecydes to Stoic philosophy. This physical
<pi\ia of the Greeks is echoed in Lucan, IV. 189-191, nunc
ades aeterno complectens ormiia nexu, o rerum mixtique fialus,
Concordia, mundi, ct sacer orhis amor. The difficulties of the
passage 22 sqq. are discussed by Loeech, Die Einsiedler
GedicJite (1909), pp. 34-42.
'^ i.e. the serpent Python sent to torment Latona, cf.
Lucan, V. 80.
^ The reference might be, some have argued, to Nero's
poem on Troy, from which according to common gossip he
recited the episode of the fall of the city ("AAwfrjs 'wiov) on
the occasion of the great fire at Rome, a.d. 64 : Tac. Ann. xv.
39; Suet. Ner. 38; Dio, Ixii. 18. But it would not be a
tactful allusion, and there arc difficulties in placing the poem
so late.
MINOR LATIN POETS
albaque caesaries pleno radiabat honore.
ergo ut divinis implevit vocibus aures,
Candida flaventi discinxit tempora vitta
Caesareimique caput merito velavit amictu.
baud procul Iliaco quondam non segnior ore
stabat et ipsa suas delebat Mantua cartas.
II
Glyceraxus : Mystes
Gl. Quid tacitus, Mystes ? Mi/, curae mea gaudia
turbant :
cura dapes sequitur, magis inter pocula surgit,
et gravis anxietas laetis incunibere gaudet.
Gl. non satis accipio. Mi/, nee me iuvat omnia fari.
GL forsitan imposuit pecori lupus ? Mi/, baud timet
hostes
turba canum vigilans. Gl. vigiles quoque som-
nus adumbrat.
Ml/, altius est, Glycerane, aliquid, non quod patet:
erras.
Gl. atquin turbari sine ventis non solet aequor.
Ml/, quod minime reris, satias mea gaudia vexat.
*^ implentur . . . aurae Baehrens : implevit aures E.
*^' discinxit Hagen : distinxit E.
*' velavit Peiper : celabit E.
II. ' nou quod patet Baehrens : non non pat E.
EINSIEDELN ECLOGUES
whose) full beard and white hair shone in
undimmed honour. So when lie filled the
poet's ears with accents divine, he undid the
golden circlet from his fair brow and veiled the
emperor's head with its deserved attire. Hard
by stood Mantua,** erstwhile as forceful as the
lips which sang of Ilion ; but now with her own
hands she began to tear her writings to shreds.
[The poem is incomplete. Probably Thamyras'
verses are unfinished and certainly the judgement
of Midas is lacking.]
II
A Dialogue between Glyceranus and Mystes.
Gl. Why silent, Mystes? My. Worries disturb
my joys : worry pursues my meals : it rises
even more amid my cups : a load of anxiety
enjoys burdening my happy hours.
Gl. I don't quite take you, Mt/. Well, I don't like
to tell the whole.
Gl. Mayhap a wolf has tricked your cattle ? Mi/.
My watchful band of dogs fears not enemies.
Gl. Sleep can o'ershadow even the watchful.
Mtf. 'Tis something deeper, Glyceranus — no open
trouble : you are wrong.
Gl. Yet the sea is not usually disturbed without
winds.
Ml/. You may not think it, but 'tis satiety that
plagues my joys.
* Virgil's birthplace, now eclipsed by Nero's ministrelsy !
This gross sycophancy contrasts with tlie reverential homage
shown towards Virgil both in Calp. Sic. iv. 62-63 and in Lous
Pisonis 230 sgg. It suggests different authorship.
MINOR LATIN POETS
Gl. deliciae somnusque solent adamare querellas.
My. ergo si causas curarum scire laboras —
Gl. quae spargit ramos, tremula nos vestiet umbra
ulmus, et en tenero corpus summittere prato
lierba iubet : tu die, quae sit tibi causa tacendi.
Ml/, cernis ut attrito difFusus cespite pagus
annua vota ferat sollennesque inchoet aras ?
spirant templa mero, resonant cava tympana
palmis,
Maenalides teneras ducunt per sacra choreas,
tibia laeta canit, pendet sacer hircus ab ulmo
et iani nudatis cervicibus exuit exta.
ergo num dubio pugnant discrimine nati
et negat huic aevo stolidum pecus aurea regna ?
Saturni rediere dies Astraeaque virgo
tutaque in antiquos redierunt saecula mores,
condit secura totas spe messor aristas,
languescit senio Bacchus, pecus errat in herba,
nee gladio metimus nee clausis oppida muris
bella tacenda parant ; nullo iam noxia partu
femina quaecumque est hostem parit. arva
iuventus
^5 cespite pagus Baehrens : cortice fagus E.
^^ inchoet Baehrens : imbuet E : imbuat Hagen : induat
Peiper.
21 nunc Baehrens : num E.
2* tutaque Baehrens : totaque E.
" Maenalus in Arcadia was especially associated with Pan.
^ i.e. the present generation has no handicap in the struggle
of life : there is no conflict between man and nature, because
the Golden Age has returned.
' The very cattle must own that the blessings of the
Golden Age belong to the present era.
EINSIEDELN ECLOGUES
Pleasure and drowsihead are commonly in
love with complaints.
Well then, if vou are intent on knowing- the
reasons for my pangs
GL There is an elm-tree with outspread branches
which will cover us with its quivering shade,
and, look ! the green-sward bids us lie down
on the soft meadow : i/oii must tell what is your
reason for silence.
3fy. Do you see how the villagers, outspread o'er
the well-worn turf, offer their yearly vows and
begin the regular altar-worship ? Temples
reek of wine ; the hollow drums resound to the
hands ; the Maenalids ^ lead the youthful
ring-dances amid the holy rites ; joyful sounds
the pipe ; from the elm hangs the he-goat
doomed to sacrifice, and with neck already
stripped lays his vitals bare. Surely then the
offspring of to-day fight with no doubtful
hazard .f* ^ Surely the blockish herd denies not
to these times the realms of gold ? '^ The days
of Saturn have returned with Justice the Maid : '^
the age has returned in safety to the olden ways.
With hope unruffled does the harvester garner
all his corn-ears ; the Wine-god betrays the
languor of old age ; the herd wanders on the
lea ; we reap with no sword, nor do towns in
fast-closed walls prepare unutterable war :
there is not any woman who, dangerous in her
motherhood, gives birth to an enemy. ^ Unarmed
'^ Line 23 imitates Virg. Ed. iv. G, iam red it et Virgo,
redeunl Saturtiia regrui.
' No foeman can be born, as war is at an end.
333
MINOR LATIN POETS
nuda fodit tardoque piier domifactus aratro
miratur patriis pendentem sedibus ensem.
est procul a nobis infelix gloria SuUae
trinaque tempestas, moriens cum Roma supre-
mas
desperavit <[opes) et Martia vendidit arma.
nunc tellus inculta novos parit ubere fetus,
nunc ratibus tutis fera non irascitur unda ;
mordent frena tigres, subeunt iuga saeva leones
casta fave Lucina : tuus iam regnat Apollo !
^2 est Baehrens : sed E.
^* opes add. Peiper : ow. E.
^' sueta Baehrens : seva E.
334
EINSIEDELN ECLOGUES
our youth can dig the fields, and tlie boy,
trained to the slow-moving plough, marvels at
the sword hanging in the abode of his fathers.
Ear from us is the luckless " glory of Sulla and
the threefold crisis ^ when dying Rome despaired
of her final resources and sold her martial arms.
Now doth earth untilled yield fresh produce
from the rich soil, now are the wild waves
no longer angry with the unmenaced ship :
tigers gnaw their curbs, lions endure the cruel
yoke : be gracious, chaste Lucina : thine own
Apollo now is King.'"
[The poem thus relates the shepherd's gaudia
but not the curae of verse 1.]
" Sulla was traditionally regarded as felix.
** The allusion seems to be to (1) the first capture of Rome
by a Roman army when Sulla took the city in 88 B.C.; (2)
Marius' reign of terror in 87 when slaves from the ergastula
were armed {Mnrtia vendidit arma), and (3) the occupation
of Rome by Sulla in 82.
' This last line is taken from Virgil, Ed. iv. 10, Lucina,
goddess of childbirth, is here not Juno, but Diana, who as
the Moon-goddess is sister to the Sun-god Apollo. He is the
deity of the tenth Sibylline era which Virgil in Eel. iv.
identifies with the Golden Age.
335
PRECATIO TERRAE
AND
PRECATIO OMNIUM HERBARUM
VOL. I.
INTRODUCTION
TO PRECATIO TERRAE
AND PRECATIO OMNIUM HERBARUM
Both these prayers afford interesting glimpses into
features of ancient religion much older than the
poems themselves. It is characteristic of the worship
of the Earth-Goddess that they should exhibit a
recognition of her as the source of life and energy
and nourishment, an anticipation of a final refuge in
her at death," and a confidence in her power to give
help and healing. The divinity of the Earth-Mother
was believed to be communicated to the dead, who
were by inhumation absorbed into her. The words
of the first Precatio find a full parallel in the epitaph —
mortua heic ego sum et sum cinis, is cinis terrast :
sein est terra dea, ego sum dea, mortua non sum.^
The return of the body to Mother Earth was a natural
notion for a primitive agricultural folk, since much of
the religious ritual of such peoples must be con-
nected with the land. Earth had to be propitiated
that she might grant increase to crops and cattle ;
* With 11. 12-14 of the first Precatio, cf. mater genuit
materque recepit in Buecheler, Carmitia hit. epigrnphica. No.
809 : cj. also the traditional sepulchral inscription ^it tibi
terra levis, and the spirit of the prayer to Tellus which ends
the ttrst elegy on Maecenas (141 sqq., p. 134 supra).
" Buecheler, op. cit.. No. 1532 : cf. 974.
339
z2
INTRODUCTION TO PRECATIO TERRAE
and at funerals the pig was sacrificed to the Corn-
Goddess to secure her favour in receiving the dead.
It is, then, inteUigible that the Di Manes and Tellus
Mater should sometimes be coupled ; e.g. Decius
in his devoiio (Li\T VIII. ix. 8) named them together.
So Romans came to look on the tomb as an eternal
home " where the spirit of the dead should abide, still
a member of the old clan, still in some kind of
communion with the living through the offering of
sacrifice and food.
An excellent plastic illustration of the Precatio
Terrae may be found in the allegorical relief of Tellus
Mater, from the walls of the Ara Pacis Augustae
decreed by the Senate to the emperor Augustus in
13 B.C. It is symbolic of peace and plenty, and
characteristically representative of the fusion of
Eastern with Western elements in Graeco-Roman art.
Baehrens, indeed, would ascribe both the Precationes to
the same period as the Ara Pacis (Miscell. Crit., Gron-
ingen, 1878, pp. 107-1 13). Under the name of Antonius
Musa we have a treatise " de herba betonica " in a
Leyden MS. (Leidensis), a Breslau MS. (Vrati-
slaviensis), and two Florentine MSS. (Laurentiani).
These four also contain the two Precationes in senarii.
The Precatio Omnium Herharum is in one MS. (Laur.
11th cent.) ascribed to Musa: on this ground Baeh-
rens concludes that both poems are by him. If this
were convincing, it would settle their date as
Augustan ; but the argument is weak, and there are
features in the poems suggestive of a later period.
Maiestas tua, for instance, in lines 25 and 32 of the
" Buecheler, op. cit., No. 69 suae gnatae, sibeique, uxori
banc constituit domum aeternam ubei omnes pariter aevom
degerent : cf. 1488.
AND PRIICATIO OMNIUM HKRBARUM
first piece, has a post-Au^ustaii ring ; and it is note-
worthy that the word tnaiestas comes three times in the
Precafio Omnium Ilerharum.
SIGLA
(following Baehrens, P.L.M. I. pp. 137-138)
A = codex Leidensis (M.L.V.Q. 9), saec. VI.
B = codex Vratislaviensis (cod. bibl. univers. III.
F. 19), saec. XI.
C = codex Laurentianus (plut. Ixxiii. 41), saec. XI
ineunte.
D = codex Laurentianus (plut. Ixxiii. 16), saec. XIII.
341
PRECATIO TERRAE
Dea sancta Tellus, rerum naturae parens,
quae cuncta generas et regeneras indidem,
quod sola praestas gentibus vitalia,
caeli ac maris diva arbitra rerumque omnium,
per quam silet natura et somnos concipit,
itemque lucem reparas et noctem fugas :
tu Ditis umbras tegis et immensum chaos
ventosque et imbres tempestatesque attines
et, cum libet, dimittis et misces freta
fugasque soles et procellas concitas,
itemque, cum vis, hilarem promittis diem,
tu alimenta vitae tribuis perpetua fide,
et, cum recesserit anima, in tete refugimus :
ita, quicquid tribuis, in te cuncta recidunt.
merito vocaris Magna tu Mater deum,
pietate quia \icisti divom numina ;
tuque ilia vera es gentium et divom parens,
sine qua nil maturatur nee nasci potest ;
tu es Magna tuque divom regina es, dea.
te, diva, adoro tuumque ego numen invoco,
facilisque praestes hoc mihi quod te rogo ;
referamque grates, diva, tibi merita fide,
exaudi <(me), quaeso, et fave coeptis meis ;
- sidus codd. : indidem Baehren-s : in dies Buechehr.
^ tutela codd. : vitalia Baehren-s.
^° solem codd. : soles Baehrens.
^' ver et BC : vera A : veto D : vera es Baehrens.
342
i
A LITANY TO EARTH
Goddess revered, O Earth, of all nature Mother,
engendering all things and re-engendering them
from the same womb, because thou only dost supply-
each species with living force, thou divine controller
of sky and sea and of all things, through thee is
nature hushed and lays hold on sleep, and thou like-
M-ise renewest the day and dost banish night. Thou
coverest Pluto's shades and chaos immeasurable :
winds, rains and tempests thou dost detain, and, at
thy will, let loose, and so convulse the sea, banishing
sunshine, stirring gales to fury, and likewise, when
thou wilt, thou speedest forth the joyous day. Thou
dost bestow life's nourishment with never-failing
faithfulness, and, when our breath has gone, in thee
we find our refuge : so, whatsoe'er thou bestowest, all
falls back to thee. Deservedly art thou called
Mighty Mother of Gods, since in duteous service
thou hast surpassed the divinities of heaven, and thou
art that true parent of living species and of gods,
without which nothing is ripened or can be born. Thou
art the Mighty Being and thou art queen of divinities,
0 Goddess. Thee, divine one, I adore and thy
godhead I invoke : graciously vouchsafe me this
which I ask of thee : and with due fealty, Goddess,
1 will repay thee thanks. Give ear to me, I pray,
and favour my undertakings : this which I seek of
343
MINOR LATIN POETS
hoc quod peto a te, diva, mihi praesta volens.
herbas, quascumque general maiestas tua,
salutis causa tribuis cunctis gentibus :
hanc (nunc) mihi permittas medicinam tuam.
veniat medicina cuni tuis \irtutibus :
quidque ex his fecero, habeat eventum bonum,
cuique easdem dedero quique easdem a me accepe-
rint,
sanos eos praestes. denique nunc, diva, hoc mihi
maiestas praestet <tua>, quod te supplex rogo.
PREGATIO OMNIUM HERBARUM
Nunc vos potentes omnes herbas deprecor.
exoro maiestatem vestram, quas parens
tellus generavit et cunctis dono dedit :
medicinam sanitatis in vos contuHt
maiestatemque, ut omni generi ^identidem)
humano sitis auxihum utiHssimum.
hoc supplex exposco <(et) precor : ve<locius)
<(huc) hue adeste cum vestris virtutibus,
quia, quae creavit, ipsa permisit mihi,
ut coUigam vos ; favit hie etiam, cui
medicina tradita est. quantumque vestra {nunc)
virtus potest, praestate medicinam bonam
causa salutis. gratiam, precor, mihi
praestetis per virtutem vestram, ut omnibus
in rebus, quicquid ex vobis (ego") fecero,
28 veni ad me cum A : veniat me cum BCD : veniat
medicina cum Baehrens : veni veni ad me Btiechehr.
1" favente (-tem A) hoc codd. : favit hie Baehrens.
*^ viribus ACD : virtutibus B : in rebus Baehrens.
344
T A PRAYER TO ALL H1:RBS
thee, (ioddess, vouchsafe to me \villingly. All herbs
soever which thy majesty " engendereth, for health's
sake thou bestowest upon every race : entrust to me
now this healing virtue of thine : let healing come with
thy powers: Mhate'er I do in consonance therewith,
let it have favourable issue : to Avhomso I give those
same powers or whoso shall receive the same from
Die, all such do thou make whole. Finally now, O
Goddess, let thy majesty vouchsafe to me what I
ask of thee in prayer.
A PRAYER TO ALL HERBS
With all you potent herbs do I now intercede ;
and to your majesty make my appeal : ye were
engendered by Mother Earth, and given for a gift
to all. On you she has conferred the healing which
makes whole, on you high excellence, so that to all
mankind you may be time and again an aid most
serviceable. This in suppliant wise I implore and
entreat : hither, hither swiftly come with all your
potency, forasmuch as the very one who gave you
birth has granted me leave to gather you : he also
to whom the healing art is entrusted has shown his
favour.^ As far as your potency now extends, vouch-
safe sound healing for health's sake. Bestow on me,
I pray, favour by your potency, that in all things,
whatsoever I do according to your will, or for what-
" maiestas tua (in lines 25 and .32) sounds post-Augustan :
maipstas had already become a title of respect for an emperor
in Phaedrus II. 5. 23. Cf. in the following poem, maiestatPtn
Vf.stram addressed to the herbae in line 2 : cf. lines 5 and 18
and Juvenal's tcmplorum qnoque maiestas praesentior, XI. Ill,
for a " mystic presence" in temples.
** i.e. Paean, Apollo as deity of healing.
345
MINOR LATIN POETS
cuive homini dedero, habeatis eventus bonos
et efFectuni celerrmiimi. ut semper iiiihi
liceat favente maiestate vestra vos
coUigere,
ponamque vobis fruges et grates agam
per nomen Matris, quae vos iussit nascier.
-^ maiestatis codd. : Matris Baehrens. nasci codd. : nascier
Riese.
346
A PRAYER TO ALL HERBS
soever man 1 prescribe, ye may have favourable
issues and most speedy result. That I may ever be
allowed, with the favour of your majesty, to gather
you . . . and I shall set forth the produce of the
fields for you and return thanks through the name
of the Mother who ordained your birth.
347
AETNA
INTRODUCTION
TO AETNA
The poem on Aetna has many claims on the
attention of readers. It was placed among the
minor works of Virgil by manuscript tradition,
though this assignation, which came to be disputed
by the time of Donatus, finds few scholars to support
it now. But whatever its authorship and its date,"
Aet?ia was written by an author who must win respect
by reason of his earnest enthusiasm for the study of
nature. He is in quest of a vera causa to explain
volcanic action, and in his concentration of purpose,
coupled \v'ith his disdain for mythology, there rings,
notwithstanding his errors, a note half-suggestive of
scientific modernity. If he despises mythology as
no true explanation (though, like Lucretius, accept-
ing it as an ornament), the author also -despises sight-
seers who gad about the world to the neglect of the
wonders of nature near their homes. His is a call to
observe: "study the colossal work of nature the
artist " (artijicis naturae ingens opus adspice, 601).
Basing his observations and theories upon Aetna
specially — because Vesuvius was mistakenly con-
sidered extinct (431-432) — he argues that the con-
trolling motive force behind eruptions is air operating
in the vacua with which the earth is honeycombed,
* See J. Wight Duff, A Literary Hintory of Rome in the Silver
Age , 1927, pp. 338-339.
351
INTRODUCTION TO
and that the volcanic fire gets a nutritive material in
the lava-stone {lapis molaris).
There are digressions from which the poem gains
in attractiveness. One passage (224-273) utters a
stirring proclamation of the majesty of physical
research in contrast ^-ith mankind's ignoble cares.
Again, towards the conclusion, the poet turns from
theorising about physical phenomena to an episode
(604-64:6) which centres in the human quality of
heroic devotion sho^^^l by two brothers who rescue
their parents from a sea of fire during an appalling
eruption.
The difficulty of the poem itself is partly textual,
partly stylistic — the former becomes evident in the
apparatus criticus; the latter, in great measure,
arises from a striving after brevity, a tendency to
overload words and phrases, a fondness for metaphor
and for personification, and perhaps an occasional
adoption of expressions from the sermo pleheius of
Rome." These points resemble characteristics of
the *' Silver " Latinity of the early empire. The
terseness, too, in mythological references, where
details are taken for granted as well known, suggests
some degree of lateness in period,^ and is consistent
with Buecheler's verdict that the poem must be later
than Ovid and Manilius and with Munro's testimony
regarding its versification. But it must have been
composed before a.d. 63, as the terrible earthquake
which devastated the towns close to Vesuvius in that
year could not have been overlooked by a didactic
poet who had the volcanic zone of Campania under
" See J. M. Stowasser, Zur Latinitdl des Aetna in Zeitschrijt
fur d. oesterr. Gymn., 51 (1900), p. 385.
" E. Bickel, Rhein. Mus. Ixxix. 3 (1930).
35^
AETNA
consideration and dismissed it as inaetive (431-432).
Similarities to expressions in Seneca's Natnrales
Quaestiones of a.d. 65 do not prove the contention that
Aetna came after that work ; for both authors may
well have used a common source. A summer visit
to the volcano may have turned the poet to study
Posidonian theories" : conirruity of subject must have
directed him to read Lucretius and Manilius, while
in the use of the hexameter he had before him as
models both \ irgil and Ovid.
There is no clear way of deciding the authorship.
Seneca's letter to his friend Lucilius Junior {Epist.
Ixxix. 4r-7), once widely accepted as proof that
Lucilius composed the work, implies nothing beyond
a prediction that Lucilius was to insert a passage
about Aetna in a projected poem on Sicily.
EDITIONS
J. B. Ascensius. Firgilii Opera. Paris, 1507.
Jos. Scaliger. In Firgilii Appendix. Leyden, 1573.
J. Le Clerc (Gorallus). Aetna c. notis et interpret.
Amsterdam, 1703, 1715.
J. C. Wernsdorf. Lncilii Jiuiioris Aetna in Poetae
Latini Minores. Altenburg, 1780-1799.
F. Jacob. Lncilii Junioris Aetna (Latin notes ; trans-
lation in German hexameters). Leipzig, 1826.
" e.g. on rrvevfia (= .spiritus) as a volcanic agent : cf. Aetna,
2l:i, 344. Poseidonius) r. 1.30-50 B.C.), born at Apamea in
Syria, was a traveller of encyclopaedic knowledge, whose
works are now lost. Apart from eminent services to eclectic
Stoicism, he devoted much attention to physical science. A
great authority on earthquakes and volcanoes, he is constantly
quoted by Strabo (r. B.f. (53-25 a.d.) in his (Uography (see
index to Loeb ed., vol. viii). Seneca in the Nut. Quaest. often
cites him and his pupil Asclepiodotus. For a full account of
his influence on Aetna see Sudhaus' ed. pp. 59-81.
ZS2>
VOL. I. A A
INTRODUCTION TO
H. A. J. Munro. Aetna revised emended and
explained. Cambridge, 1867.
E. Baehrens. In Poetae Latini Mijiores, \o\. II.
Leipzig, 1880.
S. Sudhaus. Aetna erklart (German prose trans.).
Leipzig, 1898.
Robinson Ellis. Aetna with textual and exegetical
commentary (English prose translation). Oxford,
1901.
Aetna (" ineerti auctoris carmen") : in Postgate's
Corpus Poetarum Latinorum, \^ol. II. London,
1905.
J. Vessereau. Aetna avec traduction et commentaire.
Paris, 1905.
M. L. De Gubernatis. Aetna carmen VergiUo ad-
scriptum (recens. et interpret.). Turin, 1911 :
also an edition in Para via series.
F. Vollmer. In Poetae Latini Minores, Vol. I, ed. 2.
Leipzig, 1927.
E. Schwartz. Berlin, 1933. (With a limited appara-
tus, which claims for the editor some emendations
made earlier by others : e.g. Ellis' varie, 184 ;
Baehren's' moles, frustra, 489 ; Vessereau 's
iunctas, 509.)
RELEVANT WORKS
A. De Rooy. Co?iiecturae in MartiaUs lihr. xiv. et
Severi Aetnam. Utrecht, 17G4.
F. C. Matthiae. In Neue Bibliothek der schbnen Wissen-
schaften, 59 (collation of Gyraldinian variants).
1797.
M. Haupt. In Opuscula. Leipzig, 1875-76. (His
text oi Aetna at end of his edition of Virgil.)
354
AETNA
J. Maehly. Beitrage cur Kritik des Lehrgedichts
Aetna. Basel, 1862.
B. Kruczkiewicz. Poema de Aetna I'er^ilio esse
o
trihuendum. Cracow, 1883.
P. U. Wagler. De Aetna poeniate quaestiones critic.ae.
Berlin, 1884. (With index verhorum.)
R. Unger. Aetna (suggested readings). Journal of
Philology, xvii. 34, pp. 152-154. Cambridge,
1888.
L. Alzinger. Studia in AeUiam collata. Leipzig, 1896.
J. Franke. Res meirica Aetnae car minis. Diss.
Marburg, 1898.
R. Hildebrandt. Beitrage zur Erkldrung des Gedichtes
Aetna. Leipzig, 1900.
S. Sudhaus. Zur Uehej'Ueferung des Gedichtes Aetna in
/?A.iVL/5.1x. pp. 574-583. Frankfurt-a-M. 1905.
E. Herr. De Aetnae carminis sermone et de tempore
quo scriptum sit. Marburg, 1911.
E. Bickel. Apollon und Dodona (ein Beitrag zur
Datierung, etc.) in Rheinisches Museum, Ixxix. 3.
Frankfurt-a-M. 1930.
SIGLA
C = Cantabrigiensis : in Cambridge University
Library, Kk. v. 34, 10th century (considered
by Ellis the best codex). See note at end of
this introduction.
S = fragmentum Stabulense, now in Paris, 17177,
10th or 11th century. (Besides about 260
fairly complete lines, it has about 86 more in a
truncated form.)
Z =3 a lost archetype whose text is represented
(see Vollmer's stemma codicum) by three
related MSS. of the 15th century : viz.
355
AA 2
INTRODUCTION TO
H = Helmstadiensis 332,
A = Arundelianus 133, in British
Museum,
R = Rehdigeranus, 125 in the city
Library, Breslau.
V = Vatieanus 3272 (Unes 1-4:34: fee un dins aethnd)^
15th century.
Exc. = florilegia of excerpts, 11th to 13th cent.
(Two are in Paris. 7647 and 17903. and one in the
Escorial, Q. 1. 14.)
G = readings of a lost codex used by LiHus
Gyraldus (Giglio Giraldi) in the 16th century
and represented by N. Heinsius' collation for
lines 138-287, and'by a copy of lines 272-287
surviving in codex Laurentianus 33. 9. [The
value of the recorded Gyraldinian readings
for those 150 lines has been estimated dif-
ferently by critics. Some are attractive, but
it is difficult to see how others, though plaus-
ible on the surface, could ever have been cor-
rupted into what C gives. Schwartz " has
recently suggested that alterations and errors
in G may be due not to a late humanist, but
to a Carolingian " corrector."]
codd. = general consensus of MSS.
A text of Aet?ia, in view of the unsatisfactory
evidence of the manuscripts, must be eclectic.
Some passages are frankly matter for despair, and
are incurable by the licence of emendation, or rather
rewriting, in which Baehrens allowed himself to
indulge. But there are other passages where
" ed. 1933, p. 8.
AETNA
Robinson Kllis' scholarshij), inucnuity, and palaco-
graphical knowUdiio enabled him to make eon-
jecturcs of a hiiih descree of pro))ability. Many of
these are here adopted.
The corrupt state of the tradition has necessitated
Mhat may appear to be a considerable apparatus
criticus, but it does not profess to be exhaustive.
Note ox C
The text in C is neatly, though often inaccurately,
written on vellum as part of a miscellaneous volume
which begins with a patristic comment on the story
of the prodigal son and contains extracts from
Ausonius among others, with the Cidex immediately
preceding the " Aetkna " at the end. These poems
are both ascribed to \"irgil in the manuscript. Be-
sides the handwriting, several points suggest its
insular or Saxon origin. It has many corruptions,
such as unintelligent division of words (e.g. 66, iiifert
edivis; 114 indusis oUdum), dittographies (e.g. 240
cura aestatae peril, cur a aestas), haplographies (e.g.
599 etiam ilia manus for et iam mille manus), and other
blunders like 107 crehrer : 472 repit for recipit ; 566
ignobilis for sic nohilis ; 595 camilli for capilli. But in
spite of defects, its date and its preservation of many
sound readings constitute it a most valuable con-
tribution to the text. All the readings reported as
from C in the apparatus criticus have been specially
verified for the purpose of this edition.
357
AETNA
Aetna mihi ruptique cavis fornacibus ignes
et quae tarn fortes volvant incendia causae,
quid fremat imperium, quid raucos torqueat aestus,
carmen erit. dexter venias mihi carminis auctor
seu te Cynthos habet seu Delo est gratior Hyla
seu tibi Dodone potior, tecumque faventes
in nova Pierio properent a fonte sorores
vota : per insolitum Phoebo duce tutius itur.
aurea securi quis nescit saecula regis ?
cum domitis nemo cererem iactaret in arvis
venturisque malas prohiberet fructibus herbas,
annua sed saturae complerent horrea messes,
ipse suo flueret Bacchus pede mellaque lentis
penderent foliis et pinguis Pallas olivae
secretos amnes ageret : turn gratia ruris :
non cessit cuiquam melius sua tempora nosse.
5 ilia SAR om. H : ila C : Hyla Munro.
* dodona CSH'A : do bona H^ : do dodona R : Dodone
^W. 1517, Vollmer : Laidonis Munro, Ellis.
1" Iactaret CS.
^* pingui rodd. : pinguis H-.
^^ cum V: turn celeri cfxld. : securos omnis aleret cum
gratia ruris Baehrens : secretos amnis ageret cum gratia
ruris Vollmer.
358
AETNA
Aetxa shall be my poetic theme and the fires that
break from her hollow furnaces. My poem shall tell
what those mighty causes are which roll conflagra
tions on their way, what it is that chafes at govern-
ance, or whirls the clamorous heat-currents. Come
with favour to be my inspirer in song, whether
Cynthos " be thy dwelling-place, or Hyla ^ please
thee more than Delos, or Dodona^ be thy favourite :
and with thee let the sister-Muses hasten from the
Pierian spring to forward my new emprise. On an
unwonted track 'tis safer going if Apollo guide.
Who knows not of the Golden Age of the care-free
King '^ ? when no man subdued fields to his will or
sowed grain in them or fended harmful weeds from
the crops which were to come ; when plenteous
harvests filled the barns to last the year; when,
with no tread but his own, Bacchus ran into wine ;
when honies dripped from clinging leaves, and Pallas
made flow her own especial streams of rich olive-oil :
then had the country graciousness. To none was it
e'er vouchsafed to know more joyously his own times.
" Cynlhos, the rocky hill-shrine of Apollo on Delos.
*" Hyla or Hyle, forest-land in Cypru.s, is rightly inferred
from Lycophron's epithet for Apollo — ^TAcittjj.
« E. B\Qke\, Rhein. Mm. Ixxix. 3 (1930), defends Apollo's
association -with Dodona, traditionally the oracle of Zeus.
■^ Saturn.
359
MINOR LATIN POETS
ultima quis tacuit iiivenum certamina, Colchos?
quis non Argolico deflevit Pergamon igni
impositam et tristi natorum funere matrem
aversumve diem sparsumve in semine dentem ?
quis non periurae doluit mendacia puppis,
desertam vacuo Minoida litore questus ?
quicquid in antiquum iactata est fabula carmen.
fortius ignotas molimur pectore curas,
qui tanto motus operi, vis quanta perennis
explicet in denso flammas et trudat ab imo
ingenti sonitu moles et proxima quaeque
ignibus irriguis urat — mens carminis haec est.
principio ne quem capiat fallacia vatum,
sedes esse dei tumidisque e faucibus ignem
Vulcani ruere et clausis resonare cavernis
festinantis opus, non est tam sordida divis
cura, neque extremas ius est demittere in artes
sidera : subducto regnant sublimia caelo
ilia, neque artificum curant tractare laborem.
^® matrem H^AR : mentem CSH^ : mensam Schwartz.
2° semine cald. : semina Scaliger.
2- qui tanto C8H^ : quis tantos H^AR. operi CS : operit
H: reperit AR. vis quanta Ellis. qu(a)e CSH : quis A:
quamvis R. tanta codd. : causa Aid. 1517.
360
AETNA
Who has not told '^ of the Colchians — melhiy of
warriors on farthest soil ? Who but has uttered a
diru:e for Pergamos set on her blazing Argive pyre
and the mother mourning the poignant slaying of her
sons, or the day that turned its course in horror, or
the dragon's tooth sown mid the sprinkling of seed ?
Who has not lamented the lying signal of the ship
that kept not troth, or chanted the plaint of Minos'
daughter forlorn on a deserted shore ? — yes, every
form in which legend has been thrown into ancient
song.
More gallantly I set my spirit toiling on a task
untried ; what are the forces for this mighty working,
how great the energy which releases in dense array
the eternal flames, thrusts masses of rock from the
lowest depth with gigantic noise and burns every-
thing near in rills of fire — this is the burden of my lay.
First, let none be deceived by the fictions poets
tell — that Aetna is the home of a god, that the fire
gushing from her swollen jaws is Vulcan's fire, and
that the echo in that cavernous prison comes from
his restless work. No task so paltry have the gods.
To meanest crafts one may not rightly lower the
stars ; their sway is royal, aloft in a remote heaven ;
they reck not to handle the toil of artisans.
* The mythological topics here briefly dismissed as hack-
neyed subjects of poetry are, in the order of mention, Jason's
Argonautic expedition to Colchis ; the burning of Troy by the
Greeks ; Hecuba's loss of her sons ; the retreat of the Sun-God
from the " banquet of Thyestes " on human flesh ; the crop of
warriors which sprang from the dragon's teeth sown by
Cadmus ; the fatal failiu-e of Theseus to keep his compact yrith
his father to hoist sails of good omen in the event of a successful
return to Athens; and Theseus' desertion in Xaxos of King
Minos' daughter, Ariadne, who had enabled him to thread the
labyrinth in Crete.
MINOR LATIN POETS
discrepat a prima facies haec altera vatum :
illis Cyclopas memorant fornacibus usos,
cum super incudem numerosa in verbera fortes
horrendum magno quaterent sub pondere fulmen
armarentque lovem : turpe est sine pignore carmen.
proxima vivaces Aetnaei verticis ignes
impia soUicitat Phlegraeis fabula castris.
temptavere (nefas) olim detrudere mundo
sidera captivique lovis transferre gigantes
imperium et victo leges imponere caelo.
his natura sua est alvo tenus, ima per orbes
squameus intortos sinuat vestigia serpens,
construitur magnis ad proelia montibus agger :
Pelion Ossa gravat, summus premit Ossan Olympus :
iam coacervatas nituntur scandere moles,
impius et miles metuentia comminus astra
provocat, infestus cunctos ad proelia divos
provocat, admotis per inertia sidera signis.
luppiter e caelo metuit dextramque coruscam
armatus flamma removet caligine mundum.
incursant vasto primum clamore Gigantes,
his magno tonat ore Pater, geminantque faventes
undique discordi sonitum simul agmine venti.
39 flumen CSRi : fulmen H^AR.
^^ creat codd. : ciet De Gubernalis {Paravia ed.) : gravat
Jacob : onerat Baehrens : terit Aid. 1517.
°2 infestus C8 : infensus AR : inde Iris . . . convocat
Baehren~s (an illustration of his arbitrary changes).
53 admotisque tertia C : admotis ad territa sidera signis
Ilaujd : admotisque terit iam sidera signis Sudhaus : admotis
per inertia Ellis.
^* e caelo codd. : et caelo Bormans, Sudhaus, Vollmer.
^^ discordes comitum codd. : discordi sonitum Jacob, Ellis.
362
AETNA
There is this second form of poetic error, diiferent
from the first. Aetna's furnaces, it is declared, are
those the Cyclopes used, when, employing their
strength in rhythmic strokes upon the anvil, they
forged the dread thunderbolt beneath their heavy
hanuners and so gave Jupiter his panoply — a graceless
tale with ne'er a pledge of truth.
Next, there is a sacrilegious legend which molests
with Phlegra's " warfare the ever-living fires of
Aetna's summiit. In olden time the giants essayed
impiously to thrust down the stars from the
firmament, then capturing Jove to place his
sovereignty elsewhere and impose their laws on
vanquished heaven. These monsters have man's
nature down to the belly ; below 'tis a scaly serpent
that forms the tortuous windings of their steps.
Great mountains are built into a pile for waging the
battle. Ossa weighs down Pelion ; Olympus, top-
most of the three, lies heavy on Ossa. Now they
strive to climb the mountain-masses heaped in one ;
the sacrilegious host challenges to close fight the
alarmed stars — challenges in hostile array all the gods
to battle : the standards advance through constella-
tions paralysed. From heaven Jupiter shrinks in
alarm ; weaponing his glittering right hand with
flame, he withdraws the firmament in gloom. With
mighty outcry the Giants begin their onset; hereat
thunders the deep voice of the Sire, and therewithal
from every quarter the supporting winds with their
discordant host redouble the noise. Thick burst the
" It was fabled that the Earth-born brood of the Giants, in
tlieir rebellion against the gods, sought to scale heaven by
piling Mount Ossa on Pelion and then Olympus on Ossa. They
were discomfited by Jupiter's lightnings on the Phlegraean
plain in Macedonia.
MINOR LATIN POETS
densa per attonitas riimpuntur flumina nubes,
atque in bellanduni quae cuique potentia divum
in commune venit : iam patri dextera Pallas
et Mars laevus erat : iam cetera turba deorum :
stant utrimque decus. validos tum luppiter ignes
increpat et iacto proturbat fulmine montes.
illinc devictae verterunt terga ruinae
infestae divis acies, atque impius hostis
praeceps cum castris agitur Materque iacentis
impellens \dctos. tum pax est reddita mundo,
tum Liber cessata venit per sidera : caelum
defensique decus mundi nunc redditur astris.
gurgite Trinacrio morientem luppiter Aetna
obruit Enceladon, vasto qui pondere mentis
aestuat et petulans exspirat faucibus ignem.
haec est mendosae vulgata licentia famae.
vatibus ingenium est : hinc audit nobile cannen.
plurima pars scaenae rerum est fallacia : vates
sub terris nigros viderunt carmine manes
atque inter cineres Ditis pallentia regna :
mentiti vates Stygias undasque canesque.
hi Tityon poena stravere in iugera foedum ;
sollicitant illi te circum, Tantale, cena
soUicitantque siti ; Minos, tuaque, Aeace, in umbris
^^ flumina CS : fulmina Z, 3Iunro, Ellis.
^2 s(a)evus CSHA : scaevus R : laevus Bormans.
«3 stant CSHiA : stat H^R. utrimque CS : utrumque Z.
deus CZ : de . . S : tuens Baehrens, Vessereau : verens Ellis :
stant ut cuique decus Unger.
^* victo CSH^ : vinctos H^ : victor AR : ia^to ed. Ascens.
1507.
^^ infert(a)e S : infest(a)e Z : infert edivis (sic) C.
^* tum liber codd. : tunc imber Vollm^r. cessat CS :
c(a)essa H^A : cressa H^ : celsa R : tum nimbo cessante
nitet Baehrens : Liber cessata Ellis, Vessereati : cessat :
lenit per sidera caelum De Gubernatis (Paravia ed.).
364
I AETNA
rrents throuiih the a>-t<»iiicd clouds : nil the warlike
prowess of one and every irod joins the common
cause. Already was Pallas at her father's right and
Mars at his left : already the rest of the gods take
their stand, a glory on either flank. Then Jupiter
discharges the din of his puissant flres : he hurls
his holt and lays the mountains low. From that
scene the falling throng fled vanquished, the armies
embattled against heaven : headlong the godless
foe is driven, his camp with him, and Mother Earth
urging her prostrate sons back to the fight they have
lost. Then peace is restored to the firmament:
then mid stars at rest comes Bacchus : the sky and
the honour of a world preserved are now restored to
the stars. As in the Sicilian sea Enceladus lies
dying, Jupiter whelms him under Aetna. Beneath
the mountain's mighty weight he tosses feverishly,
and rebellious breathes fire from his throat.
Such is the widespread licence of faulty rumour.
Bards have genius : so their lay wins high renown.
'Tis well-nigh all delusion that the stage gives us.
Bards have beheld in poetry dark ghosts in the
underworld and the pale realm of Dis amid the
ashes of the dead. Bards have sung false lays of
Stygian wave and Stygian hound. Some have
stretched over many an acre Tityus ugly in his
punishment : others torment you, Tantalus, with a
banquet spread around — torment you too with thirst.
They sing of your judgements, Minos, and yours,
"^ petulans Z : petula in se CS : patulis edd. ant., Baehrens.
"^ canentes codd. : canesque Scaliger.
** p(o)ena CSAR : cena Baehrens, Ellis.
3^5
MINOR LATIN POETS
iura canunt, idemque rotant Ixionis orbem —
quicquid et interius ; falsi sibi conscia terra est.
nee tu, terra, satis : speculantur numina divom
nee metuunt oculos alieno adniittere caelo.
norunt bella deiim, norunt abscondita nobis
coniugia et falsa quotiens sub imagine peceet
taurus in Europen, in Ledam candidus ales
luppiter, ut Danaae pretiosus fluxerit imber :
debita carminibus libertas ista ; sed omnis
in vero mihi cura : canam quo fervida motu
aestuet Aetna novosque rapax sibi congerat ignes.
quacumque immensus se terrae porrigit orbis
extremique maris curvis incingitur undis,
non totum ex solido est : ducit namque omnis
hiatum,
secta est omnis humus, penitusque cavata latebris
exiles suspensa vias agit ; utque animanti
per tota errantes percurrunt corpora venae
ad vitam sanguis omnis qua commeat eidem,
terra voraginibus conceptas digerit auras,
scilicet aut olim diviso corpore mundi
in maria ac terras et sidera, sors data caelo
prima, secuta maris, deseditque infima tellus
sed tortis rimosa cavis ; et qualis acervus
exsilit imparibus iactis ex tempore saxis,
^* quicquid interius codd. : in terris Baehrens. sibi
conscia OS : consortia Z. terrent codd. : texent De Guber-
natis (Paravia ed.) : terra est Aid. 1517: quidquid et in-
fernist, falsi consortia adhaerent Ellis.
*^ peccent codd. : peceet Schrader.
*^ non totum et solido desiint namque omnis hiatu CS :
solidum . . . hiatus R: non totum ex solido est, ducit namque
omnis hiatum tJllis : non totum et solido densum est Vollmer :
solidum et densum Cercke.
^"° idem codd. : eidem Ellis.
366
AETNA
BVeacus, in the world of sliades : they also set Ixion's
wheel revolving — and whatsoe'er is deeper hid;
earth is conscious of the fiilsehood. Nor yet do you,
O earth, suffice them : they spy on the divine powers :
they are not afraid to let their eyes peer into a
heaven where they have no portion. They know the
wars of gods, their unions hidden from us, all the sins
of Jove in deceitful guise, as a bull to trick Europa, a
white swan for Leda, a streaming shower of precious
ore for Danae. Such freedom must be accorded to
poetry ; but with truth alone is my concern. I will
sing the movement that makes fervent Aetna boil
and greedily gather its own stores of fire renewed.
Wherever the earth's vast sphere extends, girt
with the curving waves of farthest ocean, it is not solid
all in all. Everywhere the ground has its long line
of fissure, everywhere is cleft and, hollowed deeply
with secret holes, hangs above narrow passages
which it makes. <* As in a living creature veins run
through the whole body ^vith wandering course,
along which passes every drop of blood to feed life
for the selfsame organism, so the earth by its
chasms draws in and distributes currents of air.
Either, I mean, when of old the body of the
universe was divided into sea, earth and stars, the
first portion was given to the sky, then followed
that of the sea, and earth sank down lowest of the
three, albeit fissured by winding hollows ; and,
even as a heap springs out of stones of uneven shape
" suspensa : cf. pendent in sese, 108.
MINOR LATIN POETS
lit crebro introrsus spatio vacuata f charybdis
pendeat in sese, simili quoque terra figura
in tenuis laxata vias, non omnis in artum
nee stipata coit : sive illi causa vetusta est,
nee nata est facies, sed liber spiritus intrat
et fugiens niolitur iter, seu lynipha perenni
edit humum limo furtimque obstantia mollit ;
aut etiam inclusi solidum vicere vapores,
atque igni quaesita via est ; sive omnia certis
pugnavere locis ; non est hie causa dolendi
dum stet opus causae, quis enim non credit inanes
esse sinus penitus, tantos emergere fontes
cum videt ac totiens imo se mergere hiatu ?
non ille ex tenui quocumque agat : apta necesse est
confluvia errantes arcessant undique venas
et trahat ex pleno quod fortem contrahat amnem.
flumina quin etiam latis currentia rivis
occasus habuere suos : aut ilia vorago
^"' vacat actaCS : vacuata Aid. 1517 : voiceiaeta Buecheler
(cf. Lucret. vi. 1005, multusque vacefit). charibdis C : carinis
corr. in charims S : carambos V.
^'^^ simili codd. : similis Ellis. futur(a)e codd. : futura est
Vollmer : figura Aid. 1517 : figurae Ellis.
112 nvmpha CS : Ivmpha Z. perenni codd. : perennis
Ellis.
11* videre codd. : exedere Aid. 1517 : vicere Sevin : rupere
Jacob : fudere Munro : solvere Birt.
11** dolendi codd. : docendi Aid. 1517 : docenda Chricus :
docendi, dum stet opus, causas Munro.
11' credit CS : credat Aid. 1517. (In 118-122 textual
difficulties have possibly been increased by the loss of a line
after 119 : Munro and Ellis mark a lacuna.)
11* torrens Z : torres (n superscribed) C : totiens Haupt.
uno codd. : imo V, Haupt.
12" non Z : nam CS. vocemque codd. : vacuoque Scaliger :
quocumque Sudhaus : nam mille ex tenui vocuoque (sic)
agitata Munro : non ille ex tenui violens veget ; arta Ellis.
368
AETNA
thrown at random, so as to form a chary])dis " liollowcd
witli frequent interstices within and hanging upon
itself, even so in like configuration the earth, too,
loosened into tiny channels, does not all unite com-
pactly or into narrow compass. Or maybe the cause
of it is indeed ancient, though the formation is not
coeval with its origin, but some air enters unchecked
and works a road as it escapes ; or water has eaten
away the ground with the mud it perpetually makes
and stealthily softens what blocks its course. Or
again hot vapours cribbed and confined have over-
come solidity and fire has sought a path for itself:
or all these forces may have striven in their assigned
places. No cause is here for mourning our ignorance,
so long as the working of the true cause stands
assured. Who does not believe that there are gulfs
of emptiness in earth's recesses, when he sees springs
so mighty emerge and so often plunge again in the
depth of a chasm ? That chasm could not speed it
from any slender source : fit confluents must needs
summon from everywhere their wandering ducts and
the chasm draw from a full source the making of a
mighty river. Moreover, rivers running with broad
currents have found their own places of sinking.
Either an abyss has snatched them headlong down
" No editor has found a satisfactory reading here. What is
wanted is a feminine noun agreeing with vacuata and meaning
a loosely compacted heap with hollows in it : charybdis, "' a
whirlpool," does not express this. Clericus invented corymbis
(fern.) for this passage from Kopvfx&os, " a peak " or " cluster,"
and Gronov suggested corymbas {Kopv/xffds, " a string running
round a net ").
"^ cum fluvio C : cum flu via S : confluit AR : confluvia
H^ and modern editors.
^22 et trahat C8H : extrahat AR : ut trahat Munro.
VOL. I. B B
MINOR LATIN POETS
derepta in praeceps fatali condidit ore,
aut occulta fluunt, tectis adoperta cavernis,
atque inopinatos referunt procul edita cursus.
quod ni di versos eniittat terra canales,
hospitiuni fluvio det seniita, nulla profecto
fontibus et rivis constet via, pigraque tellus
conferta in solidum segni sub pondere cesset.
quod si praecipiti conduntur flumina terra,
condita si redeunt, si quaedam incondita surgunt,
baud miruni clausis etiani si libera ventis
spiramenta latent, certis tibi pignora rebus
atque oculis haesura tuis dabit ordine tellus.
immensos plerunique sinus et iugera pessum
intercepta licet densaeque abscondita nocti
prospectare : procul chaos ac sine fine ruinae.
cernis et in silvis spatiosa cubilia retro
antraque demersas penitus fodisse latebras ?
incomperta via est operum ; tantum effluit intra . . .
argumenta dabunt ignoti vera profundi,
tu modo subtiles animo duce percipe curas
occultique fidem manifestis abstrahe rebus,
nam quo liberior quoque est animosior ignis
^28 si codd. : ni Jacob : nisi Volhner.
^29 fluvium CS : fluminum Z : fiuviorum Aid. 1517 :
fluviis Birt : fluvio Baehrens. aut CSHA : haud Chricus :
et det Baehrens : det Ellis.
^^1 conserta codd. : conferta Aid. 1517.
^^^ si qua etiam CSR : si quae etiam V : et iam Scaliger : si
quaedam Murtro.
1^^ densaqne . . . nocte G.
139 Vollmer punctuates after procul.
1*" spatioque codd. : spatiosa Aid. 1517.
^*^ demissa pedibus CZ : dimiss apedibus (^jc) S : demersas
penitus G.
"2 Munro and Ellis mark a lacima after this line, operum
CSZ : aer Jacob, effluit intra CSZ : effugit ultra G.
AETNA
and buried them in its fateful jaws, or tliey flow
unseen, o'er-arched by closed caverns, then, coming
to light far away, renew their unexpected course.
If earth did not let out channels in different places,
if some path did not give welcome to a river, truly no
road would be assured for springs and streams, and
sluggish earth, packed in a dense mass, would be
rendered idle by its unmoving weight. But if rivers
are buried in a sheer abyss of earth, if some which
are buried come back to light and others without
such burial rise from earth, no wonder is it that con-
fined winds have liberating vents which are con-
cealed. Proofs of this through facts indisputable,
proofs which hold the eye, the earth will give you in
due order. Oftentimes you may look out on vast
cavities and tracts of land cut off ruinously and
plunged into thick darkness ; 'tis far-flung chaos
and unending debris. Moreover, do you see how^ in
forests there are lairs and caves of widely receding
space which have dug far down their deep-sunk
coverts ? Undiscovered is the route of such working :
only within there is an outflow. . . ." These (caves)
will furnish true proofs of a depth unknown to us.
Let but your mind guide you to a grasp of cunning
research: from things manifest gather faith in the
unseen. For as fire is always more unfettered and
" Some part of the argument about the hidden forces of air
is lost. The reasoning seems to be that, though the process of
working is unascertained, yet anyone entering such caverns
will be conscious of the efflux of air.
^** occultamque codd. : occultique Baehrens.
371
bb2
MINOR LATIN POETS
semper in inclusis nee ventis segnior ira est,
sub terra penitusque novent hoc plura necesse est,
vincla magis solvant, magis hoc obstantia pellant.
nee tanien in rigidos exit contenta canales 15
vis animae flammaeve : ruit qua proxinia cedunt
obliquumque secat qua visa tenerrima caula est.
hinc terrae tremor, hinc motus, ubi densus hiantes
spiritus exagitat venas cessantiaque urget.
quod si spissa foret, solido si staret in omni, lo
nulla daret miranda sui spectacula tellus,
pigraque et in pondus conferta immobilis esset.
sed sunmiis si forte putas concrescere causis
tantum opus et sunimis alimentum viribus, ora
qua patula in promptu cernis vastosque recessus, 16
falleris et nondum tibi lumine certa liquet res.
namque illuc quodcumque vacans hiat impetus omnis :
at sese introitu solvunt adituque patenti
conversae languent vires animosque remittunt.
1*8 movent CSH : movet AR : novent Ellis.
151 verrit CS : ruit G.
152 causa est CSHi . causa {om. est) AR : massa est
Munro : caula est C'krkus : crusta est Haupf : secant quae
causa tenerrima caussa est G (faulty enough to justify Ellis'
remark "the fondest admirer of Gyr. will not claim much
for it here.")
158 subitis G : summis CSZ : concrescere G : concredere
CS : concedere Ellis.
15^ et subitis G : et summis CSZ : adsumptis Ellis : ex
subitis alimenti incursibus Unger. oris CSZ : ora ? G, Munro.
160 qu(a)e CSZ : qua Ellis, patula G : valida CSZ.
vastosque G : validosque CSAR : validosaque H.
1^1 falleris et G : fallere sed CSZ. certo tibi lumine res
est G : tibi lumine certaque retro CSZ : tibi lumine certa
liquet res Ellis.
1" illis G : illic H2 : illuc CSRi : illud AR. quaecumque
G : quodcunque CSARH^ : quocumque Ri. vacant hiatibus
G : vacat hiat impetus CS : vagantur hiatibus Baehrens :
vacans hiat, impetus Ellis.
372
AETNA
inore furious in coiitined spaces, and as the rage of
tlu> winds is no less vehement tliere, so to this extent,
uiulerground and in earth's dej^tlis, must fn-e and wind
cause greater changes, all the more loose their
bonds, all the more drive off what blocks their course.
Yet 'tis not into unyielding channels that the pent-up
force of air or flame escapes. It hurtles on only
where the nearest barriers give way, and cuts its
course sideways just where the enclosure seems most
frail. Hence comes the trembling, the quaking of
earth, when compressed air stirs the pores till they
gape and drives sluggish matter before it. But if
earth had no openings, if its frame were entirely
solid, it would give the eye no marvellous visions of
its inner self; inert and packed into a weighty mass,
it would remain immovable. But if perhaps you
think that this mighty action is a growth from
causes at the surface and its nourishment a growth
from surface strength" at the point where you
perceive before you outstretched clefts and vast
chasms — if so, you are wi'ong : the case is not yet
clear to you, established in its true light. For all
the onslaught of the winds makes for any open
vacuum, but at their entry their forces slacken ;
altered by the spacious access to the chasm, they
turn feeble and relax their spirit. For when the
" Ellis' reading concedere means ''is a yiekling to forces at
the surface." Conjecturing adsumptis in the next line, he
takes alimentum as gen. plur. ; the meaning then would be :
'* when a powerful addition of materials feeding the flame has
been received." In either case, provided (tummi.s of 158 is
right, the author is opposing the theory that eruptions can be
caused by agencies near the surface.
^^^ et CSZ : set Ellis : at Vessereau.
^'^* conceptae G : conversae CSZ : conruptae Baehrens.
373
MINOR LATIN POETS
quippe iibi quod teneat ventos acuatque morantes
in vacuo desit cessant, tantumque profundi
explicat errantes et in ipso limine tardant.
angustis opus est turbare in faucibus illos.
fervet opus densaque premit premiturque ruina
nunc Euri Boreaeque Notus, nunc huius uterque.
hinc venti rabies, hinc saevo quassat hiatu
fundamenta soli : trepidant urbesque caducae
inde, neque est aliud.. si fas est credere, mundo
venturam antiqui faciem veracius omen.
haec primo cum sit species naturaque terrae,
introrsus cessante solo trahit undique venas
Aetna : sui manifesta fides et proxima vero est.
non illic duce me occultas scrutabere causas,
occurrent oculis ipsae cogentque fateri.
plurima namque patent illi miracula monti.
hinc vasti tcrrent aditus merguntque profundo,
corrigit hinc artus penitus quos exigit ultra,
hinc spissae rupes obstant discordiaque ingens.
inter opus nectunt varie mediumque coercent
pars igni domitae, pars ignes ferre coactae,
165 qui teneat G : contineat CZ : quod teneat Haupt.
ventosa qua quaeque CS : ventos aquasque ( ? qua quasque)
G : ventos acuatque Munro.
166 defit G : desint CSHA : desinit R : desit Ellis.
168 turbanti G : turbant in CSH : turbare R, Ellis, illos
CSZ: illoG.
I'l quassa meatu Wernsdorf, Maehhj : quassa boatu linger.
i'5 immo G : primo CZ : imo Matthias.
176-177 Punctuation varies according as stop is placed
after venas, Aetna or sui.
1^8 caulas Baehrens. i^" spiracula Baehrens.
1^2 porrigit G : corrigit CZ. artus GCZ : artos Maehly.
exacstuat G : quos exigit CS.
1*^ spissae CZ : scissae G.
1** aliae G : varies CH^ : varios H^AR : varie Ellis,
374
AETNA
vacuum contaitis nothinti; to stop the winds or spur
them in their delay, they Hag; all the great abyss
deploys them drifting to and fro, and on the very
threshold they lose their speed. It must needs be
in narrow gullies that the winds work their havoc.
Hot glows the work : " now the South Wind presses
or is pressed on by the thick swoop of the East Wind
and the North : now, again, both these winds by a
current from the South. Hence the wind's fury :
hence it can shatter the foundations of the ground
with cruel cleavage. For that reason do cities totter
in panic, and, if such belief be not impious, there is
no truer presage that the universe will return to its
primeval appearance.^
As this from the beginning has been the character
and nature of the earth, everywhere Aetna runs
channels into its interior, while the surface-soil re-
mains inert : Aetna is the plain and truest proof of
its own nature. There, with my guidance, you will
not have to search for hidden causes : they will of
themselves leap into your vision and force acknow-
ledgement ; for that mountain has countless marvels
apparent to every eye. On this side are vast open-
ings which terrify and plunge in an abyss, on another
side the mountain rearranges its limbs projected
too far. Elsewhere thick crags bar the path, and
enormous is the confusion. They make a chequered
weaving of their work and hem it round — some
rocks quite subdued by fire, others compelled to
" The phrase ferret opus occurs twice in Virgil : Georg. IV.
169 ; Aen. I. 436. Cf. other Virgilian echoes such as manifesta
fides. 111, Aen. II. 309: III. 375; volvuntnr ab imo, 200 and
volvunlur in imo, Aen. VI. 5S1.
" i.e. chaos: antiqui sc. mundi.
375
MINOR LATIN POETS
[ut niaior species et ne succurrat inanis].
haec illi sedes tantarumque area rerum est,
[haec operis visenda sacri faciesque domusque].
nunc opus artificem incendi causamque reposcit —
non illam parvi aut tenuis discriniinis ; ignes
niille sub exiguo ponent tibi tempore veram.
res oculique decent ; res ipsae credere cogunt.
quin etiani tactu nioneant, contingere tuto
si liceat ; prohibent flammae, custodiaque ignis
illi operum est arcens aditus. divinaque rerum 1(
cura sine arbitrio, eadem procul omnia cernes.
iiec tamen est dubium penitus quid torqueat
x\etnam,
aut quis mirandus tantae faber imperet arti.
pellitur exustae glomeranter nimbus harenae,
flagrantes properant moles, volvuntur ab imo 2(
fundamenta, fragor tota nunc rumpitur Aetna,
nunc fusca pallent incendia mixta ruina.
ipse procul magnos miratur luppiter ignes,
neve sepulta novi surgant in bella Gigantes,
neu Ditem regni pudeat neu Tartara caelo 2(
vertat, in occulto tacitus tremit ; omniaque extra
congeries operit saxorum et putris harenae.
^^^ aetne C : aethne S : ethnae R. The line is repeated
after 195 in CSZ.
187-188 This is the order in G : CSZ omit ISS.
^'•^ -parxi aut tenuis discriminis ignes CSZ ( ingens Ellis) :
parvo aut tenui discrimine signis G (signes Heinsius).
^*^ ponent tibi Z : ibi S : ponentibus C. vera CSZ :
veram Munro. exiguum venient tibi pignora tempus G.
^^2 oculique docent CZ : oculos ducent G. cogunt CSAR :
cogent GH^
^*^ moneant AV: moneatCS : moneam G (V), Mvnro, Ellis.
^'^ operum C : operi G.
^®' torqueat CSZ : torreat G.
AETNA
t luliire fires yet [to make its look more imposing
and its mental picture no unreal one]. Such is
.Vrtna's scat, the field of phenomena so miglity:
[such the enticing form and home of its hallowed
activity].
Now my task demands who is the maker and what
the cause of the conflagration — no cause that of
slight or trivial import. A thousand fires in a moment
of time will set before you the true cause. Facts
and your eyes instruct you : facts unaided compel
belief. Nay, they would instruct you by touch, were
it safe to touch. But flames forbid it; Aetna's
activity has the protection of fire which prevents
approach, and the divine control over all is without
witness ; all such things you will descry from a
distance. But there is no doubt what racks Aetna
within or who is the marvellous artificer that directs
handiwork so great. A cloud of burnt sand is driven
in a whirl ; swiftly rush the flaming masses ; from the
depth foundations are upheaved. Now bursts a
crash from Aetna everywhere : now the flames show
ghastly pale as they mingle with the dark downpour.
Afar off even Jupiter marvels at the mighty fires and
trembles speechless in his secret haunt, lest a fresh
brood of Giants be rising to renew long-buried war or
lest Pluto be growing ashamed of his kingdom and
be changing hell for heaven ; while outside all is
covered with heap on heap of rock and crumbling
189 exutae CZ : exhaustae G : exustae ed. Ascens. 1507.
glomeratur CHAV : glomerantur SR : glomeratim G : glome-
ranter Ellis.
20S tantum premit CSZ : tremit G : tacitus treinit
Bachrens, Ellis.
377
MINOR LATIN POETS
quae nee sponte sua veniunt nee corporis uUis
sustentata cadunt robusti viribus : omnes
exagitant venti turbas et vortice saevo
in densuni collecta rotant volvuntque profundo.
hac causa exspectata ruunt incendia montis.
spiritus inflatis nomen, languentibus aer.
nam prope nequicquam per se est violentia : semper
ingenium velox igni motusque perennis,
verum opus auxilium est ut pellat corpora : nullus
impetus est ipsi ; qua spiritus imperat, audit ;
hie princeps magnoque sub hoc duce mihtat ignis,
nunc, quoniam in promptu est operis natura
sohque,
unde ipsi venti ? quae res incendia pascit ?
cum subito cohibentur, inest quae causa silenti ?
subsequar. immensus labor est, sed fertiHs idem,
digna laborantis respondent praemia curis.
non oculis solum pecudum miranda tueri
more, nee effusos in humum grave pascere corpus,
nosse fidem rerum dubiasque exquirere causas,
ingenium sacrare caputque attollere caelo,
scire quot et quae sint magno natalia mundo
principia (occasus metuunt an saecula pergunt
208 veniunt G : faciunt CSZ.
211 collecta G : coniecia CSZ.
212 expectata CSZ : expectanda G. ruunt CZ : terunt
G. montis Z : mortis C (Ellis cites montis ifi error, Proleg.
Ixxviii).
2^3 inflat iis Maehly. momen Scaliger.
21* par est CZ : pars est G : per se est Wagler.
217 audit CSHR2 : audis ARi : audet G.
221 cum CSZ : cur G. cohibetur inest CSZ : cohibent iners
G : cohibent vires Heinsius. silenti CSZ : silendi G.
223 laborantis Exc, CSZ : laboratis G.
22' sic G : sacra per ingentem capitique attollere caelum
CSZ.
378
AETNA
sand. They come not so of their own accord : un-
supported by the strenj^th of any powerful body they
fiill. It is the winds which arouse all these forces of
havoc : the rocks which they have massed thickly
together they whirl in eddying storm and roll from
the abyss. For this reason the rush of fire from the
mountain is no surprise. Winds when swollen are
called " spirit," but " air " when sunk to rest." The
violence of flame unaided is almost ineffectual ; true,
fire has always a natural velocity and perpetual
motion, but some ally is needed for the propulsion
of bodies. In itself it has no motive energy : where
spirit is commander, it obeys. Spirit is emperor :
fire serves in the army of this great captain.^
Now, since the character of Aetna's activity and
of the soil is manifest, whence come the winds them-
selves ? What feeds the conflagration ? When they
are suddenly arrested, what is the inherent cause of
the hush? I shall follow up the inquiry. Infinite
is the toil, yet fruitful too. Just rewards match the
worker's task. Not cattle-like to gaze on the world's
marvels merely with the eye, not to lie outstretched
upon the ground feeding a weight of flesh, but to
grasp the proof of things and search into doubtful
causes, to hallow genius, to raise the head to the sky,
to know the number and character of natal elements
in the mighty universe (do they dread extinction or
<* Ellis justifiably defended this Unc against attack, Jrnl.
Philol. xvi. 301, citing the parallel doctrine of Seneca, Nat.
Quaest. II. i. .3 {cum motus terrae fiat spiritu, spiritus autem sit
aer agitaius . . .) : VI. xxi. and xxii,
'' The imperial note in the Latin of 217-218 is unmistakable.
228 natalia Exc, CS : fatalia G.
379
MINOR LATIN POETS
et firma aeterno religata est machina vinclo ?)
solis scire nioduni et quanto minor orbita lunae est
(haec brevior cursu ut bis senos pervolet orbes,
anniius ille meet) : quae certo sidera currant
ordine quaeve suo derrent incondita gyro :
scire vices etiam signorum et tradita iura
[sex cum nocte rapi, totidem cum luce referri],
nubila cur Phatne caelo denuntiet imbres,
quo rubeat Phoebe, quo frater palleat igni,
tempora cur varient anni (ver, prima iuventa,
cur aestate perit ? cur aestas ipsa senescit
autumnoque obrepit hiemps et in orbe recurrit ?) ;
axem scire Helices et tristem nosse cometen,
Lucifer unde micet quave Hesperus, unde Bootes,
Saturni quae stella tenax, quae Martia pugnax,
quo rapiant nautae, quo sidere lintea tendant ;
scire vias maris et caeli praediscere cursus ;
quo volet Orion, quo Sirius incubet index,
et quaecumque iacent tanto miracula mundo
non disiecta pati, nee acervo condita rerum,
sed manifesta notis certa disponere sede
singula, divina est animi ac iucunda voluptas.
232 pervolet Exc, CSZ : pervolat G. Ellis inserts ut.
233 movet GHR : monet CSA : meet Exc.
23* suos servent G : suo errant CSZ : suo derrent Ellis.
motus G : cura CSAR : gyris Haupt : gyro Schroder : guro
( ? circo) Ellis.
236 omitted in all MSS. except G.
237 caelo terris Exc, CSZ : Panope caelo G : Phatne caelo
3Iatthiae.
245 tendant Exc, CSAR : pandant G.
247 volet Exc, CSZ: vocet G. setius CS : secius H:
serus AR : Sirius Aid. 1517, incubet Exc, CSAR : excubet G.
2*^ digesta Exc, CSZ : disiecta Ellis : congesta G.
« i.e. six zodiacal signs rise by day, six by night.
380
AETNA
:o on through tlie ages, and is the t'abrie fixed secure
A ith everlasting chain ?). to know tlie Hmit of the
sun's track and the measure by which the moon's
orbit falls short thereof (so that in her shorter course
she flies through twelve rounds while he has a yearly-
path), to know what stars run in constant order and
which stray irregularly from their true orbit, to know
likewise the changes of the zodiac-signs and their
immemorial laws [that six be sped during the night
and as many return with the dawn]," to know why
lowering Phatne ^ gives celestial warning of rain,
what is the nature of the Moon-Goddess' red and her
brother's pallid tire, why the year's seasons vary
(why does spring, its youthful prime, die with the
advent of summer ? why does summer itself turn old,
why does winter creep upon autumn and return in
the season's cycle ?), to know the axle of Helice,^ to
discern the ill-omened comet, to see on what side
gleams the Morning-Star, where the Evening-Star,
and whence the Bear-Keeper, and which is Saturn's
steadfast star and which the warlike star of Mars,
under what constellation the sailor must furl or
spread his sails, to know the paths of the sea and
learn betimes the courses of the heavens, whither
Orion is hastening, over what land broods Sirius with
warning sign ; in fine, to refuse to let all the out-
spread marvels of this mighty universe remain
unordered or buried in a mass of things, but to arrange
them each clearly marked in the appointed place —
all this is the mind's divine and grateful pleasure.
'' The Manger-constellation (^ctrvrj) which Aratus associates
with storm. Panope, the reading in G, being a fine-weather
divinitv, is unsuitable here.
<■- The Great Bear.
MINOR LATIN POETS
sed prior haec honiinis cura est cognoscere terram
et quae tot miranda tiilit natura notare.
haec nobis niagis affinis eaelestibus astris.
nam quae mortali spes quaeve amentia maior 2
in lovis errantem regno perquirere velle,
tantum opus ante pedes transire et perdere segnem.
torquemur miseri in parvis premimurque labore :
scrutamur rimas et vertimus omne profundum.
quaeritur argenti semen, nunc aurea vena. 2
torquentur flamma terrae ferroque domantur,
dum sese pretio redimant ; verumque professae
turn demum vilesque tacent inopesque relictae.
noctes atque dies festinant arva coloni ;
Calient rure manus, glebarum expendimus usum. 2
fertilis haec segetique feracior, altera viti.
haec platanis humus, haec herbis dignissima tellus,
haec dura et melior pecori silvisque fidelis.
aridiora tenent oleae, sucosior ulmis
grata : leves cruciant animos et corpora causae 2
horrea uti saturent, tumeant et dolia musto.
252 hominis Z (? S) : dominis C : omni G.
253 et qu(a)e nunc C8H : et quae tot Pitho-v : quaeque in
eaG.
25* magna CSZ : magis G.
255 mortalis spes est quaeve CSH: mortali cuiquam est G.
256 velle CSZ : divos G.
258 premimurque Exc, CSZ : terimurque G.
263 viles taceant CSZ : tum demum humilesque iacent
{unmetrical) G: vilesque iacent Maehly : vilesque tacent
Wight Duff.
2*5 expendimus usum G : expellimur usu Exc, CSZ :
expendimur usu Schwartz.
2«' platanis Exc, CSZ : plantis G.
382
AETNA
Yet this is man's more primary task — to know the
artli and mark all the many wonders nature has
yielded there. This is for us a task more akin than the
stars of heaven. For what kind of hope is it for mortal
man, what madness could be greater — that he should
wish to wander and explore in Jove's domain and yet
pass by the mighty fabric before his feet and lose it
in his negligence ? We torture ourselves wretchedly
over little things : we let toil weigh us down : we
peer into crannies and upturn every depth. The
quest is now for a germ of silver, now for a vein of
gold. Parts of the earth are tortured with flame
and tamed with iron till they ransom themselves
at a price " ; and, when they have owned their
secret, they are silenced '^ and abandoned to con-
tempt and beggary. Day and night farmers hasten
on the cultivation of their fields : hands grow hard
with rural toil ; we ponder the use of different soils.
One is fertile and is more fruitful for corn, another
for the vine ; this is the soil for plane-trees, this the
worthiest of grass crops ; this other is hard and better
for grazing and trusty to a tree-plantation. The
drier parts are held by the olive ; elms like a soil more
moist. Trivial motives torture men's minds and
bodies — to have their barns overflowing, their wine-
casks swelling with must, and their haylofts rising
* In man's quest for gold and silver, regions of earth are
" put to the torture " by the processes of mining and smelting
until they buy themselves off by the ore they have yielded
{sese pretio redimant).
* i.e. the rest is silence after the truth {i.e. where their
hidden treasures lie) has been extorted from them : tacent
gives a better contrast than iacetU.
2" dura et Exc. : dure G : diviti CSZ.
3^3
MINOR LATIN POETS
plenaqiie desecto surgant faenilia campo :
sic avidi semper, qua visum est carius, itis.
implendus sibi quisque bonis est artibus : illae
sunt animi fruges, haec rerum maxima merces :
scire quid occulto terrae natura coercet,
nullum fallere opus, non mutum cernere sacros
Aetnaei montis fremitus animosque furentes,
non subito pallere sono, non credere subter
caelestes migrasse minas aut Tartara rumpi,
nosse quid impediat ventos, quid nutriat illos,
unde repente quies et muto foedere pax sit ;
cur crescant animi, penitus seu forte cavernae
introitusque ipsi servent, seu terra minutis
rara foraminibus tenues in se abstrahat auras
(plenius hoc etiam rigido quia vertice surgens
illinc infestis atque hinc obnoxia ventis,
undique diversas admittere cogitur auras,
et coniuratis addit concordia \ires) ;
sive introrsus agunt nubes et nubilus Auster,
seu fortes flexere caput tergoque feruntur,
praecipiti deiecta sono premit unda fugatque
torpentes auras pulsataque corpora denset.
2"^ avidi GCS : avidis Matthiae. qua visum est CSZ : quovis
est G. ipsis G : istis CSZ : itis Ellis : sic avidi semper
quaestus : est carius istis Unger.
"'' multos CS : multo Z : mutos Scaliger : multum G
mutum Haupt : motum Postgate.
"1 impediat CSZ : intendat G. illos C : ignes GH^
ignis AR.
2^2 multo codd. : muto Oudin (who also suggested inulto)
iuncto Mencken, Vollmer : nullo Unger,
283 concrescant GCSZ : cur crescant Scaliger, Pithou. forte
CSZ : porta G.
28* servent GCZ : fervent S : sorbent Sudhaus.
285 tenues G : neve CSZ : nivis in sese Ellis.
28« surgens G : surgit CSZ.
384
AETNA
higher, charged with the full reapings of the field.
So do ye tread the path of greed where sight reveals
aught more precious.
Everyone should imbue himself with noble accom-
plishments. They are the mind's harvest, the
greatest guerdon in the world — to know what
nature encloses in earth's hidden depth, to give no
false report of her work, not to gaze speechless on
tlu' mystic growls and frenzied rages of the Aetnaean
mount, not to blench at the sudden din. not to believe
that the WTath of the gods has passed underground
to a new home, or that hell is breaking its bounds;
to learn what hinders winds, what nurtures them,
whence their sudden calm and the silent covenant of
their truce, why their furies increase, whether it
chance that caverns deep down or the very inlets
conserve them or that the earth, porous by reason
of its minute openings, draws off into itself thin
draughts of air (and this in fuller measure because
Aetna, rising with its stiff peak, is exposed on this
side and on that to hostile winds and of necessity
admits gales all round from different quarters and
their concert brings more strength to their league),
or whether they are driven inwards by clouds and
the cloud-laden South Wind, or M'hether they have
gallantly encircled the summit and sweep on behind ;
then the water from the clouds, streaming down with
headlong noise, presses on the sluggish air-currents,
drives them before it, and with its buffeting condenses
^^^ forte co(kL : fortes Ellis.
"^2 una CSZ : iraa Birt : unda Scaliger, Pithou.
2*3 torrentes codd. : torpentes De Rooy, Munro, Ellis.
385
VOL. I. C C
MINOR LATIN POETS
nam veluti sonat ora diu Tritone canoro —
pellit opus collectus aquae victusque nioveri
spiritus et longas emugit bucina voces ;
carmineque irriguo magnis cortina theatris
imparibus numerosa modis canit arte regentis,
quae tenuem impellens animani subremigat unda :
baud aliter summota furens torrentibus aura
pugnat in angusto et magnum commurmurat Aetna.
credendum est etiam ventorum exsistere causas
sub terra similis harum quas cernimus extra ;
ut, cum densa premant inter se corpora, turbam
elisa in vacuimi fugiant et proxima secum
momine torta trahant tutaque in sede resistant.
quod si forte mihi quaedam discordia tecum est,
2^* ora diu H : ore diu AR : ora due C : hora duci Munro :
hora deo Maehly : hora deis Ahinger : hora die Hanpt :
sonituro horam Schwartz : uma ciens Tritona canorum ElHs.
tritone CH : tritona AR : canoro Z : canoro C.
^^* cremant CSZ : premunt Oronov : premant Baehrens.
^"^ nomina CSZ : momine Gronov : agmina Sudhaus. tota
CSZ : torta Jacob.
" The two similes illustrate from mechanical examples the
theory of the action of water and air in Aetna. In the first
example, the readings suggested give a choice among a variety
of contrivances. If ora is read, the Siren-like horn might be on
the sea-shore, or on the Tiber-bank during one of Julius
Caesar's naumachiae, or at Lake Fucinus when the emperor
Claudius exliibited a naval spectacle in a.d. 53 (Suet. Claud.
xxi). If duci were a certain correction and if it were then clear
that only Claudius was meant, the passage would assist (as
some have tried to make it assist) in dating the poem. The
reading hjra implies a hydraulic time-machine for announcing
the hour to gods or men {deo?, deis?, duci?). Ellis' uma is
meant to denote a hydraulic vessel fitted to work the
" Triton." The second comparison is concerned with a
386
AETNA
their element'^. For just as the shore echoes
for long the tuneful Triton-liorn — the machinery'*
is set in motion by a volume of water and the air
which is perforce moved thereby, and then the
trumpet bellows forth its prolonged blare; just as
in some vast theatre a water-organ, whose musical
modes harmonise through tlieir unequal pipes,
sounds its water-worked nmsic thanks to the organ-
ist's skill, which starts a small draught of air while
causing a rowing movement in the water below ^ —
even so the wind, dislodged by the rushing streams,
raves and struggles in its narrow space and Aetna
murmurs loudly with the blast.
Besides, we must believe that beneath the earth
there arise causes of winds like those we see above
ground ; so that, whenever closely massed particles
})i( ss against each other, they are forced out into a
lite space and escape the crush, and by their motive
( iirrgy whirl and drag what is nearest along in their
cMurse, halting only when a safe position is reached.
But perhaps you may be at variance with me in
li\ >iraulic organ of a sort kno-rni in Rome from Cicero's time
(f'i-<r. Disp. III. 18 (43), hydrauU hortabere lit audiat voces
jr.'lufi quatn Platonis ? i.e. "will you advise him to listen
to the notes of a water-organ rather than to the words of
Plato ? "). The invention is ascribed to Ctesibius, a barber
of Alexandria, circ. 200 B.C. Xero was almost madly interested
in water-organs (Suet. Xero xli and liv).
^ i.e. probably Anth a pedal. A mosaic foimd near Trier last
century gives a representation of a water-organ (Wilmowsky,
Rom. Villa zu Xennig, Bonn, lS(i4-(i5). There the position of
the organ-player is consistent ^\-ith his using his hands to play
and his feet on a pedal to set the water in motion. In May
1931, a handsome hydraulic organ dating from a.d. 288 was
discovered at Aquincum on the Danube, the capital of Lower
Pannonia (now Alt-Ofen, part of Buda Pest).
3S7
cc 2
MINOR LATIN POETS
principiis aliis credas consurgere ventos :
non dubium rupes aliquas penitusque cavernas
proruere ingenti sonitu. casuqiie propinquas 3
difFugere impellique animas : hinc crescere ventos :
aut lunore etiam nebulas effundere largo,
ut campis agrisque solent quos alluit amnis.
vallibus exoriens caligat nubiliis aer :
flumina parva ferunt auras, vis proxinia vento est : 3
eminus adspirat fortes et verberat umor.
atque haec in vacuo si tanta potentia rorum est,
hoc plura efficiant infra clusique necesse est.
his agitur causis extra penitusque : coactu
exagitant ventos : pugnant in faucibus : arte 2
pugnantis suffocat iter, velut unda profundo
terque quaterque exhausta graves ubi perbibit Euros,
ingeminant fluctus et primos ultimus urget :
haud secus, adstrictus certamine, tangitur ictu
spiritus involvensque suo sibi pondere vires c
densa per ardentes exercet corpora venas,
et, quacumque iter est, properat transitque morantem,
donee confluvio veluti siponibus actus
exsilit atque furens tota vomit igneus Aetna.
^1° provehere CSH : proruere AM. 1517.
312 effundere CSZ : se effundere Baehren-s.
31*^ fortis CSZ : fontis V. ^^^ rerum CZ : rorum Jacob.
21^ coactus C : coactu Ellis.
32G ardentes CSZ : artantes Jacob, vires CZ : venas Aid.
1517 : fauces Svdhaus : gyros f^llis.
" 307-329. The reasoning takes the form of an answer to a
possible objector who suggests that there may be causes for
winds in Aetna other than those already set forth (283-306).
The argument is that you must allow that rock-falls under-
ground generate air-currents; and, just as river vapours in
valley's emit air (more perceptiblj- in hot climates, Munro saj^s
here ; c/. also Lucret. VL 476 sqq.), so the effect of moisture (c/.
388
AETNA
yitiir l)eliet' that winds rise from other causes.'' It is
iiiuloubted (I claim) tliat there are rocks and caverns
tar below which fall forward with enormous crash,
and that their fall disperses and sets in motion air-
currents hard by : hence the gathering of winds.
Again, fogs with their ample vapour pour out air,
as they commonly do in plains and fields watered by
a river. Rising from valleys the air makes a sombre
cloud: rivulets bring gusts whose force is like the
force of winds. Moisture from a distance breathes
on the air-currents and Avhips them into strength.
And, if a free space lets moisture have such power,
its effects must be greater in proportion when within
confined limits underground. These are the causes
above and below ground which are at work. By
compression they rouse the winds ; they strive in
narrow gorges ; in that close strife their channel
strangles them. As when a wave, drawn up again
and again from the deep, has drunk full of the East
Wind's violence, the billows redouble their number
and the first are pushed on by the last, in that same
way the (volcanic) wind feels the impact of the
struggle which compresses it, wraps its own strength
within its heavy mass and impels its close-packed
particles through fiery passages. Wherever a path
is found, it speeds on, ignoring any wind that would
stay its course, until, driven by the confluent air-
stream, as by so many forcing-pumps,'' it leaps forth
and all over Aetna discharges itself in blasts of
angry fire.
the clouds of 290-293) within confined caverns underground
must be far more potent. Two analogies are cited — waves under
strong gales and the siphon forcing water on burning houses.
* Sipo {sipho, sifo — alcpuv) was the tube of a tire-engine
used to pump up water.
MINOR LATIN POETS
quod si forte putas isdem decurrere ventos I
faucibus atque isdem piilsos remeare, notandas
res oculis locus ipse dabit cogetque negare.
quamvis caeruleo siccus love fulgeat aether,
purpureoque rubens surgat iubar aureus ostro,
illinc obscura semper caligine nubes !
pigraque defuso circum stupet umida vultu,
prospectans sublimis opus vastosque receptus.
non illam videt Aetna nee ullo intercipit aestu ;
obsequitur quacumque iubet levis aura, reditque.
placantes etiam caelestia numina ture I
summo cerne iugo, vel qua liberrimius Aetnae
introspectus hiat, tantarum semina reruni,
si nihil irritet flammas stupeatque profundum.
huicne igitur credis torrens ut spiritus ille
qui rupes terram.que rotat, qui fulminat ignes, ;
cum rexit vires et praeceps flexit habenas,
praesertim ipsa suo declinia pondere, numquam
3*^ (a)cthnae AR : aethna C : etna H (? ablative).
^*2 inj^.rospectus CSZ : introspectus Schroder.
3** huinc C : huicne Ellis : hinc Scaliger, Baehrens.
^^^ notat CSZ : rotat Jacob.
^" declivia CZ : declinia Ellis. All lines after 346 are
missing in S.
" 330-358. This passage aims at disprovmg the idea that
the wind which in an eruption issues from the crater has been
constantly entering the mountain by the same avenue. Two
arguments refute the notion : (1) the cloud which hangs
invariably over the summit would be displaced by any wind
AETNA
But if Haply you ima<;inc that the winds run down
the same passage as that by which they are ex-
pelled and return, Aetna's own region will give your
eyes facts for their notice and so compel denial.'^
However brilliant the atmosphere, however rainless
under the blue sky, though the dawn rise with golden
beams and blush with crimson tint, yet in that
quarter there is always a cloud of impenetrable
gloom and of slow movement that hangs lumpishly
around, moist in its showery countenance, looking
forth from its height on the mountain's state '' and its
vast recesses. Aetna ignores it and never dislodges
it with any discharge of heat ; wherever the bidding
of a light breeze sends it, the cloud obeys, but then
comes back. Further, look for yourself at worship-
pers who on the highest spur, just where there gapes
open the freest view of the mountain's interior —
source of such mighty upheavals — propitiate with
incense the deities of heaven, provided nothing
arouses the flames and the abyss remains in stupor.
Do you then accept this as proving how that rushing
volcanic " spirit," the whirler of crags and soil, the
darter of fires, is, when once it has controlled its
powers and put a sudden check on the reins, never
known to pluck asunder bodies of matter or dislodge
them from their strong arch, even though by their
passing down the crater; (2) the custom of worshippers to
assemble at the crater and there offer incense would be im-
possible, if there were powerful winds blowing into the moun-
tain. This, then, is ocular evidence of calm against any theory
that winds from without cause volcanic explosions.
^ opus here is not much more than '" condition." It
implies the activity, actual or latent, of the mountain, its
"working" : cf. 142, 188, 219, 277, 566. An alternative sense
would be " fabric," " formation " as in 257.
391
MINOR LATIN POETS
corpora diripiat, validoque absolverit arcu ?
quod si fallor, adest species : tantusque ruinis
impetus attentos oculoruni transfugit ictus, 3.
nee levis adstantes igitur ferit aura movetque
sparsa liquore manus sacros ubi ventilat ignes ;
verberat ora tamen pulsataque corpora nostris
incursant : adeo in tenui vini causa repellit.
non cinerem stipulamve levem, non arida sorbet 3(
gramina, non tenues placidissimus excit apludas :
surgit odoratis sublimis fumus ab aris :
tanta quies illi est et pax innoxia rapti.
sive peregrinis igitur propriisve potentes
coniurant aniniae causis, ille impetus ignes 36
et montis partes atra subvectat harena,
vastaque concursu trepidantia saxa fragores
ardentesque simul flammas ac fulmina rumpunt.
^*8 diripiant CHA : diripiat R : deripiat Ciericus. absolveret
CZ : absolverit Scaliger. arcu CZ : aestu vel actu Wernsdorf.
251 nee levitas tantos CZ^: nee levis astantes Ellis {in note).
"^■* fJlIis marks a lacuna after this line.
^'"^ humus excita praedas C : exit humus apredas H :
exit humor f apndas AR : placidissimus excit apludas Ellis.
35' adoratis CAR : odoratus H : odoratis Scaliger.
" The passage is difficult. Taking nt with Birt and Sudhaus
as " how," we may paraphrase it : " noting the calm on
Aetna's summit, }"ou can miderstand how the spiritus, so
powerful when roused, fails to displace any part of the crater
(arcu) when quiescent." [Sudhaus renders " von dem Fels-
rande des Kraters," but arcu, if the right reading, may mean
an arched cavern and not the crater-curve.] Ellis propounds
a different \Tlew, suggesting that huicne credis ut numquam
diripiat may mean " Can 30U believe, on the showing of this,
the impossibility of the spiritus, when in a milder form, tearing
down masses of rock ? "
* Cf. ventilat ignem, Juv, III. 263 : ventilel aurum 1. 28.
" Cf. Virg. G. IV. 6, in tenui labor. The connexion of
392
AETNA
weight they have a natural tendency to fall r "
Still, if I am wrong, appearance supports nie : and
such a great downward coursing rush eludes the
eager glance of the eye. And so neither are they
who stand near the crater struck and moved by the
light wind, when the purified hand of the priest
brandishes the sacred torches ; ^ yet it strikes their
faces, and bodies set in motion invade our bodies :
in so slight an instance there is a cause which
repels force.'' The air in its complete calm ^ draws
up no cinder or light stubble, stirs no parched grass
or thin bits of chaff. Straight on high rises the
smoke from the incense-perfumed ^ altars : so pro-
found is that sleep of the air, a peace guiltless of ravin.
Whether then it is through extraneous or internal
causes that the winds make their puissant alliance,
that volcanic rush carries up amid black sand streams
of tire and pieces of the mountain : huge rocks shiver
as they clash and burst into explosions together with
blazing flames and lightning flashes ; as when forests
thought is not easy to follow. It has just been claimed that
even powerful volcanic agencies may elude notice (349-350);
and the parallel is cited of the air-current made by the priest in
his lustration striking the worshippers' faces without their
being aware of the impact. Corpora — " atoms " : nostris —
" our human bodies," which suffer the impact of atoms of air
imconsciously. The extremely condensed adeo in tenui vim
causa repdlit is Uterall}- '• m so slight an instance a cause repels
force," i.e. keeps it from being felt. The " slight instance " is
the priestly sprinkling of water and his waving the lustral
fire : " force " may be said to be " repelled," if it is not allowed
free play, and the worshippers are apparently unconscious of
its operation. Tiie proper explanation of causa is obscure,
and Ellis may be right in suspecting a lacuna after repdlit.
^ i.e. on Aetna's summit between eruptions.
* adoratis, " venerated," the reading of C, makes quite good
sense.
393
MINOR LATIN POETS
haud aliter quam cum prono iaciiere sub Austro
aut Aquilone fremunt silvae, dant bracchia nodo I
iniplicitae ac serpunt iunctis incendia ramis.
nee te deeipiant stolidi mendaeia vulgi,
exhaustos eessare sinus, dare tenipora rursus
ut rapiant \-ires repetantque in proelia victi.
pelle nefas animi mendacemque exue famam :
non est divinis tarn sordida rebus egestas
nee parvas mendieat opes nee eorrogat auras,
praesto sunt operae. ventorum examina, semper:
eausa latet quae rumpat iter cogatque morari.
saepe premit fauces magnis exstructa minis ;
congeries clauditque vias luctamine ab imo,
et spisso veluti tecto sub pondere praestat
haud similes, teneros cursu, cum frigida monti
desidia est tutoque licet discedere, ventos.
post, ubi conticuere, mora velocius urgent :
pellunt oppositi moles ac vincula rumpunt.
quicquid in obliquum est, frangunt iter : acrior ictu
impetus exoritur ; magnis operata rapinis
flamma micat, latosque ruens exundat in agros :
sic cessata diu referunt spectacula venti.
nunc superant quaecumque regant incendia silvae,
quae flammas alimenta vocent, quid nutriat Aetnam.
incendi poterunt illis vernacula causis
materia appositumque igni genus utile terrae.
3"" animi CZ : animo Aid. 1517.
^"' et scisso C : et spisso Jacob. pr(a)estat CZ : i:)ressat
Baehren-s.
3'^ hand similis teneros cursu CV : haud simili strepere
hos cursu Munro : aut simili tenet occursu Ellis.
^*" conticuere CAR : convaluere mora, velocius Morel.
-^5 si CZ : sic Maehly.
" Silvae, *' materials " = Greek vXr] in the sense of ** mass,"
" stufiF." The plural here is noticeable.
394
AETNA
have fallen beneath the swoop of the South wind or
when they moan under a Northern £rale, they inter-
twine their arms in a knot and with the union of the
branches the fire creeps on. Do not let yourself
be deceived by the blockish rabble's fiilsehood that
the activity of the mountain recesses flags through
loss of power, that mere time lets them capture their
forces again and after subjection fetch them back
into battle. Banish the disgraceful thought and
spurn lying rumour. Such squalid poverty tits not
things divine nor begs for mean supplies nor solicits
doles of air. Ever at hand arc workers, the swarming
band of the winds : there is an unseen cause enough
to interrupt the free passage and compel a stoppage.
Often a pile heaped up with huge fallen boulders
chokes the gullies : it bars the ways against the
struggle below, and beneath its weight, under a
massive roof as it were, shows the winds unlike their
former selves, gentle in their current, while the
mountain is in cold inaction and the onlooker may
still depart in safety. Later, after their silent spell,
they press on the swifter for the delay : they dis-
lodge the masses of rock which they face : they burst
their bonds. Whatever slants across their path,
they break a way through : their fury rises fiercer
for each impact. Flame glitters with widespread
havoc for its work, and in its rush wells far across the
country-side : so after long quiescence the winds
renew their brave displays.
Now there remain to be discussed all the materials "
which govern the conflagration, what fuels summon
the flames, what is Aetna's food. There is native
material capable of being kindled by these causes ;
also a serviceable sort of earth which fire finds
395
MINOR LATIN POETS
uritur adsidue calidus nunc sulphuris umor, i
nunc spissus crebro praebetur alumine sucus.
pingue bitumen adest et quicquid comminus acris
irritat flammas : illius corporis Aetna est.
atque banc materiam penitus discurrere, fontes
infectae crispantur aquae radice sub ipsa. c
pars oculis manifesta iacet, quae robore dura est
ac lapis : in pingui fervent incendia suco.
quin etiam varie quaedam sine nomine saxa
toto monte liquent : illis custodia flammae
vera tenaxque data est. sed maxima causa molaris 4
illius incendi lapis est : is vindicat Aetnam.
quern si forte manu teneas ac robore cernas,
nee fervere putes, ignem nee spargere posse.
sed, simul ac ferro quaeras. respondet et ictu
scintillat dolor, hunc multis circum inice flammis 4
et patere extorquere animos atque exue robur.
fundetur ferro citius ; nam mobilis illi
et metuens natura mali est, ubi cogitur igni.
sed simul atque hausit flammas, non tutior hausti
ulla domus, servans aciem duransque tenaci 4
saepta fide : tanta est illi patientia victo ;
^^^ eripiantur CH : eripiant AR : excipiantur Vollmer :
crispantur Ellis : testantur Maehly : evincant tibi Morel in
supphm. novae editionis.
*"^ est si C : est sic R : est ; is Munro.
^^^ coritur C : cogitur V, Munro,
*^^ tutum CZ : tanta Scaliger : bruta Ellis.
" The accus. and infin. construction materiam discurrere
depends on a verb implied in crispantur.
* Springs of water at the foot of Aetna with a sulphurous or
bituminous taste testify to the presence of inflammable sub-
stances in the mountain. The author proceeds (398-425) to
argue that stones which liquefy, especially the lava-stone
(lapis molaris) point to the same conclusion. Though a chief
AETNA
proper to its use. At one time the hot liquid of
sulphur burns continuously ; at another a Huid
presents itself thickened with copious alum ; oily
bitumen is at hand and everything that by close
encounter provokes flames to violence. Of such
substance is Aetna composed. And to show '^ that this
fuel is scattered deep Mithin the mountain, we find
springs of tainted water rippling at its very base.''
Some of this fuel lies obvious to the sight ; in its
solid part it is hard — a stone ; but it contains an oily
juice in which burns fire. Moreover, in divers places
all over the mountain there are rocks of no specific
name which liquefy. To them has been given a true
and steadfast guardianship of flame. But the para-
mount source of that volcanic fire is the lava-stone.
It above all claims Aetna for its own. If perchance
you held it in your hand and tested it by its firmness,
you would not think it could burn or discharge fire,
but no sooner do you question it with iron than it
replies, and sparks attest its pain beneath the blow.
Throw it into the midst of a strong fire, and let it
wrest away its proud temper : so strip it of its
strength. It Avill fuse quicker than iron, for its
nature is subject to change and afraid of hurt under
pressure from fire. But once it has absorbed the
flames, there is no safer home for what is absorbed ;
preserving its edge, it hardens with steadfast fidelity
what it confines. Such is its endurance after being
cause of volcanic conflagration, the lava-stone externally does
not look inflammable ; if struck, however, with an iron bar, it
gives off sparks, and in a powerful furnace is more quickly
fusible than iron. Its great characteristic is its stubborn
retention of fire : this marks it off from other substances which,
once burnt out, cannot be rekindled.
397
MINOR LATIN POETS
vix umquani redit in vires atque evomit igneni.
totus enini denso stipatus robore carbo
per tenues adniissa vias incendia nutrit
cunetanterque eadem et pigre concepta remittit.
nee tamen hoc uno quod montis plurinia pars est,
vincit et incendi causam tenet ille : profecto
miranda est lapidis vivax animosaque virtus,
cetera materies quaecumque est fertilis igni,
ut semel accensa est, moritur nee restat in ilia
quod repetas : tantuni cinis et sine seniine terra est.
hie semel atque iterum patiens ac mille perhaustis
ignibus instaurat vires, nee desinit ante
quam levis excocto defecit robore pumex
in cinerem putresque iacet dilapsus harenas.
cerne locis etiam : similes adsiste cavernas.
illic materiae nascentis copia maior.
sed genus hoc lapidis (certissima signa coloris)
quod nullas adiunxit opes, elanguit ignis.
dicitur insidiis flagrasse Aenaria quondam
nunc exstincta super, testisque Neapolin inter
et Cumas locus ex multis iam frigidus annis,
quamvis aeternum pingui scatet ubere sulphur.
*^^ cardo C : tardans AR : tarde H : carbo Ellis.
^^^ lapidum CZ : lapidis De JRooy.
*-■' iacet Z : iacit C. delapsus CZ : dilapsus Scaliger.
*2^ et languit CH : elanguit Jacob.
*^^ pinguescat et CH : pingui scatet Ellis.
" There is an apparent inconsistency between 1. 412 and the
statements of 418 and 422 sqq. The partial burning of
successive eruptions (422-42.3) is to be contrasted with a com-
plete burning out of the lava-stone (411^12 and 424-425) ; or
398
AETNA
overpowered. Rarely does it ever c;o haek to its
old streiiii'th and beleh out fire." 'riiroiiii'hout it is a
carbonised bloek paeked with a density of strength ;
narrow arc the channels through which it receives
and feeds its fires ; slowly and unwillingly it releases
them when collected. Yet not for this sole reason
that lava forms the greatest part of the mountain
does it remain triumphant and control the cause of
volcanic fire. In truth the thing to marvel at is the
vitality and pluck of the stone. Kvery other sub-
"^ stance productive of fire dies after it has been
lighted: nothing remains therein to be recovered —
merely ashes and earth with not a seed of flame.
Init this lava-stone, submissive time and again, after
absorbing a thousand fires, renews its strength and
fails not till its heart is burnt out, and, now a light
})umice-stone, has collapsed into cinders scattering a
crinnbling sand in its fall.
.ludge likewise by special places ; take your stand
l)v similar volcanic hollows. These have a larger
store of natural fuel. But because this species of
stone — colour attests this most surely — has nowhere
contributed its resources, the fire has died away.
Acnaria,^ we are told, once blazed out in sudden
! 1 rachery, though to-day its summit is quenched.
Another witness is the region^ between Neapolis
and Cumae, now cooled for many a year, though
i sulphur wells forth unceasingly in rich abundance.
' it may be that 412 implies only an immediate return to former
strength.
* Monte Epomco (Latin Epopeus), the chief mountain of
Ischia (Latin Aenaria) has been noted for sudden outbreaks.
" locus = Solfatara. Its character in antiquitv is described
by Lucretius (vi. 747-8), Strabo 246 (== V. 4. 6^ ad fin.) and
Petronius, Satyr. 120, line 67 sqq.
399
MINOR LATIN POETS
in mercem legitur, tanto est fecundius Aetna.
insula, cui nomen facies dedit ipsa rotunda, 4
sulphure non solum nee obesa bitumine terra est :
et lapis adiutat generandis ignibus aptus,
sed raro fumat qui vix si accenditur ardet,
in breve niortales flanimas quod copia nutrit.
insula durat et a Vulcani nomine sacra, -1
pars tamen incendi maior refrixit et alto
iactatas recipit classes portuque tuetur.
quae restat minor et dives satis ubere terra est,
sed non Aetnaeo vires quae conferat illi.
atque haec ipsa tamen iam quondam exstincta fuisset,
ni furtim aggereret Siculi vicinia montis 4
materiam silvamque suam, pressove canali
hue illuc ageret ventos et pasceret ignes.
sed melius res ipsa notis spectataque veris
occurrit signis nee temptat fallere testem. 4
nam circa latera atque imis radicibus Aetnae
candentes efflant lapides disiectaque saxa
intereunt venis, manifesto ut credere possis
pabula et ardendi causam lapidem esse molarem,
cuius defectus ieiunos coUigit ignes. 4
ille ubi collegit flammas iacit et simul ictu
4*" durata CZ : durat adhuc Scaliger : durat et a Vollmer.
*** Aetnaei codd. : Aetnaeo Ellis, illi CZ : igni Haupt.
<* Botunda is a translation of a-rpoyyvA-n, the Greek name
represented by the modern Stromboli.
* Trachytic lava, not the lapis molaris of Aetna.
" In the Lipari islands Vulcano ('Upa 'Hcpaiamv) is the
southernmost, as Stromboli is the northernmost.
«* or " to act the counterfeit witness."
400
AETNA
It is gathered for merchandise, so much more plenti-
ful is it here than on Aetna. The isle whose name
comes from its own round shape " is land that waxes
fat not merely in sulphur and bitumen ; a stone * is
found besides, fitted to beget fire, which aids erup-
tion. But it rarely gives out smoke ; if kindled, it
burns with difficulty ; for the supply feeds but for a
little the short-lived flames. There survives too the
island sanctified by Vulcan's name.*' Most of its
fire, however, has grown cold, and now the isle
welcomes sea-tossed fleets and shelters them in its
haven. What remains is the smaller portion — soil
fairly rich in the abundance of its fuel, but not such
as could match its power with that of Aetna's great
supply. And yet this very island would long ago
have been extinct had not its neighbour, the Sicilian
mountain, always been secretly providing it with its
own fuel and material, or through some sunken
channel been driving the winds this way and that to
feed the flames.
But better than any signs and tested by real
proofs, true fact encounters us : it seeks not to de-
ceive the watcher, '^ Round the sides and at the
lowest base of Aetna rocks fume with white heat
and scattered boulders cool down in their pores,
enabling you to believe the evidence that the lava-
stone is food and cause of the burning : ^ its failure
gathers only starveling fires. When it has gathered
flames, it discharges them and in the moment of
* CJ. Plin. X.H. xxxvi. 137, molarem quidam pyriten vacant :
Grattius, Cyti. 404, vivum lapidem. The lapis molaris is
appropriately called pyrites, " firestone " {irvpir-ns) or virus
lapis, " the live stone," in virtue of its characteristic conserva-
tion of fire : rf. note on 395.
401
VOL. I. D D
MINOR LATIN POETS
materiani accendit cogitque liquescere secuni.
haud equideni niirum < in) facie quani cernimus extra ;
si lenitur opus, res stat : niagis uritur illic
sollicitatque magis vicina incendia saximi 4
certaque venturae praemittit pignora flammae.
nam siniul atque niovet vires turbamque minatur,
diffugit extemploque solum trahit : f ictaque
ramis t- • • •
et grave sub terra murmur demonstrat et ignes.
tum pavidum fugere et saeris concedere rebus 4
par rere : e tuto speculaberis omnia collis.
nam subito effervent onerosa incendia raptis,
accensae subeunt moles truncaeque ruinae
provolvunt atque atra rotant examina harenae.
illinc incertae facies hominumque figurae : 4
pars lapidum domita, stanti pars robora pugnae
nee recipit flammas : hinc indefessus anhelat
atque aperit se hostis, decrescit spiritus illinc —
haud aliter quam cum laeto devicta tropaeo
prona iacet campis acies et castra sub ipsa. 4
tum si quis lapidum summo pertabuit igni,
asperior sopito et quaedam sordida faex est,
qualem purgato cernes desidere ferro :
verum ubi paulatim exsiluit sublata caducis
*^^ in Vollmer : om. CZ. facie que {sic) C : scats quod
AR : scaterest Ellis.
*^^ restat codd. -. res stat Wight Duff.
*^- minatus C : minatur Ulitius.
*^^ exemploque C : extemploque Z. ictaque ramis CZ
actaque rima Clericus : undique rimans Vessereau.
*^^ parere CHR : par rere A. e Scaliger : et CZ. collis CZ
colli ed. Asrens. 1507.
*^^ atque atra axld. : adque astra Ellis, sonant codd.
rotant Wigfd Duff: volant De Rooy.
*'^ stanti C : stantis Munro.
402
AETNA
impact kindles other fuel, foreiiiu- it to melt in a
common blaze. No marvel is there in the appear-
ance presented outside : if the action is abating, the
upheaval is at a standstill. The more potent fire is
in the crater : there the lava tempts more winningly
all inflammable bodies within reach and sends sure
forewarnings of the conflagration to come. For as
soon as it stirs its forces, and threatens havoc, it
flies in different directions, dragging at once the soil
with it : smitten in its branches ..." while the
eruption is announced by a deep rumbling under-
ground accompanied with fire. Then shall you think
fit to flee in panic and yield place to the divine event.
From the safety of a hill you will be able to observe
all. For on a sudden the conflagration blazes out,
loaded with its spoils ; masses of burning matter
advance ; mutilated lumps of falling rock roll forth
and whirl dark shoals of sand. They present vague
shapes in human likeness — some of the stones
suggest the defeated warrior, some a gallant host
armed for a standing fight, unassailed by the flames ;
on one side pants the enemy unwearied and deploys
his forces, on another the breath of fury Avanes, even
as when an army, vanquished in the victor's joyous
triumph, lies prostrate on the field right to the gates
of the camp. Then any stone that a surface fire has
liquefied becomes, when the fire is quenched, more
rugged — a sort of dirty slag like what you will see
drop from iron when smelted. But when a heap has
"^ There may be a lacuna after minatur (462) as Muiiro
thought, and there must be a lacuna after ictaque ramis (463),
if that is the right reading.
*'- hinc defensus C : hine indefessus Ellis.
*" sopita es CH^: s. est H^AR : sopito Maehly.
403
DD 2
MINOR LATIN POETS
congeries saxis, angusto vertice surgunt; 4
sic veluti in fornace lapis torretur et omnis
exustus penitus venis subit altiiis umor :
amissis opibus levis et sine pondere puinex
excutitur : liquor ille magis fervere magisque
fluminis in speciem mitis procedere tandem 4
incipit et pronis demittit collibus undas.
illae paulatim bis sena in milia pergunt.
quippe nihil revocat, certis nihil ignibus obstat,
nulla tenet (frustra) moles, simul omnia pugnant.
nunc silvae rupesque natant, hie terra solumque. ^
ipse adiutat opes facilesque sibi induit amnis.
quod si forte cavis cunctatus vallibus haesit,
utpote inaequales volvens perpascitur agros ;
ingeminat fluctus et stantibus increpat undis,
sicut cum rapidum curvo mare f cernulat aestu, '.
ac primum tenues f undas agit, ulteriores . . .
progrediens late difFunditur et t succernens , . .
flumina consistunt ripis ac frigore durant,
paulatimque ignes coeunt ac flammea messis
exuitur facies. tum prima ut quaeque rigescit i
effumat moles atque ipso pondere tracta
volvitur ingenti strepitu ; praecepsque sonanti
cum solido inflixa est, pulsatos dissipat ignes,
*86 primis Z : prunis C : pronis Munro.
*88 Curtis CH : certis Wernsdorf.
*8' frustra moles CHA : moles, frustras. obvia p. Baehrens.
**" notant CAR : natant Baehrem. haec tela codd. :
nunc terra Haupt : hie terra Elli^ : perhaps hinc . . . hinc.
*^^ ipsa codd. : ipse Scaliger, Ellis.
*^* ingeminant CZ : ingeminat ed. Ven. 1475.
495 curvo CA : turbo Vollmer. cemulus codd. : cernimus
Munro : cernulat Jacob, Ellis.
**^ imas C : simas H : undas Baehrens : simans Ellis :
rimas Morel : tenuis sinuans agit unda priores Jacob.
404
AETNA
gradually sprun|Li up raised from fallen rock^, tb.ey
mount in a narrow-pointed pyramid: i/ust as a stone
is ealcincd in a furnace and its moisture all burnt out
in-^ide and through the pores it steams on high, so
the lava-stone loses its substance and is turned out a
light })umice of inconsiderable weight : the lava-
liquid begins to boil hotter and at last to advance
more in the fashion of a gentle stream, as it lets its
waves course down the slopes of the hills. By stages
the waves advance some twice six miles. Nay,
nothing can recall them : nothing checks these
determined fires : no mass can hold them — 'tis vain :
all is war together. Now woodland and crag, here
again earth and soil are in the flood. The lava-river
itself aids their supplies and adjusts the compliant
material to its own course. But if perhaps in some
deep valley it lags and stops, its rolling volume
browses leisurely over the fields uneven as they are.
Then it redoubles its billows and chides the laggard
waves ; as when a violent sea plunges headforemost
with curving swell ; and first it urges on its feeble
waves, others beyond . . . advancing, it spreads far
and wide, and choosing (what to envelop). . . . The
lava-streams come to a standstill inside their margins
and harden as they cool ; slowly the fires shrink and
the appearance of a weaving harvest of flame is lost.
Each mass in turn, as it stiffens, emits fumes, and,
dragged by its very weight, rolls on with enormous
din ; whenever it has crashed pell-mell into some solid
substance which resounds with the impact, it spreads
abroad the fires of the concussion and shines with
**^ succernens CZ : succrescunt Jncoh : sua certis Schwartz.
^^^ inflexa CZ : inflixa Scaliger.
405
MINOR LATIN POETS
et qua disclusa est candenti robore fulget.
emicat exameii pUgis, 3rdentia saxa
(scintillas procul ecce vides. procul ecc'e ruentes)
incoliuiii fervore cadunt : verum impetus ignes
Simaethi quondam ut ripas traiecerit amnis,
vix iunctas quisquam fixo dimoverit illas.
vicenos persaepe dies iacet obruta moles,
sed frustra certis disponere singula causis
temptamus, si firma manet tibi fabula mendax,
materiam ut credas aliam fluere igne, favillae
flumina proprietate simul concrescere, sive
commixtum lento flagrare bitumtine sulphur,
nam posse exusto cretam quoque robore fundi
et figulos huic esse fidem, dein frigoris usu
duritiem revocare suam et constringere venas.
sed signum commune leve est atque irrita causa
quae trepidat : certo verum tibi pignore constat,
nam velut arguti natura est aeris, et igni
cum domitum est constans eademque et robore salvo,
utraque ut possis aeris cognoscere partem ;
baud aliter lapis ille tenet seu forte madentes
effluit in flammas sive est securus ab illis
^"^ esse . . . esse CZ : ecce . . . ecce Scaliger. fides C :
fide Z : vides Haupt : este pedes Ellis.
507 verum CZ : fert Baehrens. ignes codd. : ingens Baehrens,
Ellis : igni est Vessereau.
^^^ iunctis codd. : uncis Ellis : iunctas Vessereau.
^^® post . . . fundit CZ : posse . . . fundi Wernsdorf.
exustam CHA : exusto Sudhaus.
^2^ ignis CZ : igni Scaliger.
^22 constat CZ : constans Haupt.
^23 ultraqueCH : utramqueAR : utraque il/wnro. portam
CZ : partem Cltricus.
406
AETNA
white-glowing core wherever it has been opened out.
A host of sparks flash forth at every blow : the glow-
ing rocks (look, you see the flashes in the distance —
look, raining down in the distance !) fall with un-
diminished heat. Yet, though the rush has been
known to throw its fires across the banks of the river
Simaethus, " hardly will anyone part those banks when
once united by the hard-set lava. Very often for
twenty days on end a mass of rock lies buried. But
in vain I try to marshal each effect with its deter
mined cause, if a lying fable remains unshaken in your
mind, leading you to believe that it is a different sub-
stance which liquefies in fire, that the lava-streams
harden in virtue of their cindery property, or that
what burns is a mixture of sulphur and glutinous
bitumen. For clay also, they assert, can fuse when
its inner material is burnt out, and potters are a
testimony to this : then by the process of cooling it
recovers its hardness and tightens its pores. But
this analogous indication is unimportant — an in-
effectual reason given on hasty grounds. An unfailing
token makes the truth evident to you. For as the
essence of gleaming copper, both when fused with
fire and when its solidity is unimpaired, remains
constant and ever the same, so that in either state you
may distinguish the copper portion, in no other
way the lava-stone, whether dissolved into liquid
flames or kept safe from them, retains and preserves
" The Simaethus or Symaethus in Eastern Sicily drains a
considerable part of the island. The impetuosity of the lava-
flood, carrying it over the bed of the river, is contrasted with
the rigid immobility which marks it when solidified (507-olO)-
The hard masses are describetl as lying immovable for twenty
dajs together, blocking the river. D'Orville preferred to read
pedes " buried twenty feet in the ground."
407
MINOR LATIN POETS
conservatque notas nee vultum perdidit ignis.
quin etiam externa t immotus color ipse refellit,
non odor aut levitas : putris magis ille magisque,
una operis facies eadem perque omnia terra est.
nee tanien infitior lapides ardescere certos, 53(]
interius furere accensos : haec propria virtus.
quin ipsis quaedam Siculi cognomina saxis
imposuere t rhytas et iam ipso nomine signant
fusilis esse notae : numquam tamen ilia liquescunt,
quamvis materies foveat sucosior intus, 535
ni penitus venae fuerint commissa molari.
quod si quis lapidis miratur fusile robur,
cogitet obscuri verissima dicta libelli,
Heraclite, tui : nihil insuperabile ab igni,
omnia quo rerum natura semina iacta. 54(
sed nimium hoc mirum ? densissima corpora saepe
et solido vicina tamen compescimus igni.
non animos aeris flammis succumbere cernis ?
lentitiem plumbi non exuit ? ipsaque ferri
materies praedura tamen subvertitur igni. 545
spissaque suspensis fornacibus aurea saxa
exsudant pretium : et quaedam fortasse profundo
^2^ quin etiam co(/cZ. : quia s-peciem. Ellis, extemam niultis
codd. : externa immotus A. M. Duff.
^^^ propala CZ : propria ed. Ven. 1475.
^^^ fridicas C : frichas AR : chytas or rhytas Scaliger :
FpiiSas (= frydas) Ellis (in notes).
539 gigni CZ : ab igni Scaliger.
^^^ quae codd. : cui Jacob : quo Scaliger.
^^^ lenitiem C : lentitiem A : lenticiem HR.
" The editorial externa immotus meets the diflficulty of finding
a noun to agree with extemam (either substituted in the text
for etiam, or understood like materiam or naturam). Externa
refellit = " refutes the idea of alien substances," though the
object of refellere is usuall}^ a person or such a Avord as verbum
408
AETNA
its characteristics, and fire has not ruined its look.
Moreover, the very constancy of its colour, not its
smell or lightness, disproves any foreign elements."
The stone crumbles more and more, but its mode of
working has the same look and the earth therein is
unchanged throughout. I do not, however, deny
that specific stones take fire and when kindled burn
fiercely within. It is a quality proper to them.
The Sicilians have given those very stones a name,
rhytae, and by the title itself record that they are of
X fusible character.^ Yet although these stones have
1 somewhat juicy substance to preserve heat within,
they never liquefy unless they have been brought
deeply into touch with the pores of the lava-stone.
}jut if anyone wonders that the core of stone can be
fused, let him ponder those truest of sayings in thy
mysterious book, O Heraclitus,'^ " naught is uncon-
querable by fire, in which all the seeds of the universe
are sown." But is this too great a marvel ? Bodies
of thickest grain and w^ell-nigh solid we nevertheless
often subdue by fire. Do you not see how copper's
sturdy spirit yields to flame ? Does not fire strip away
the toughness of lead? Even iron's substance, hard
though it be, is yet undone by fire. Massive nuggets
of gold sw-eat out their rich ore in vaulted furnaces ;
and mayhap there lie in the depths of earth undis-
or metidacium. Immotus color leads up to utia operis fades
eadem in 529; and the awkward multis disappears. For
metrical parallel see 479.
^ Scaliger based his suggestion of rhytas on (>vt6s (^e?v)
" flowing," " fluid," hence applicable to fusible substances.
^ Hcraclitus of Ephesus, one of the early Ionian philosophers,
held that heat is the inherent principle of existence and that
everything is in a perpetual flux. By the obscurity of his
writings on physics he earned the name of " the dark "
{(TK0TClv6s).
409
MINOR LATIN POETS
incomperta iacent similique obnoxia sorti.
nee locus ingenio est : oculi te iudice vincent.
nam lapis ille riget, praeclususque ignibus obstat,
si parvis torrere velis caeloque patenti.
candenti pressoque agedum fornace coerce ;
nee sufFerre potest nee saevum durat in hostem.
vineitur et solvit vires captusque liquescit.
quae maiora putas artem tormenta movere
posse manu ? quae tanta putas incendia nostris
sustentare opibus quantis fornaeibus Aetna
uritur, areano numquam non fertilis igni ?
sed non qui nostro fervet nioderatior usu
sed eaelo propior, vel quali luppiter ipse
armatus flamma est. his \dribus additur ingens
spiritus, adstrietis elisus faucibus : ut cum
fabriles operae rudibus contendere massis
festinant, ignes quatiunt follesque trementes
exanimant, pressoque instigant agmine ventum.
haec operis forma est, sic nobilis uritur Aetna :
terra foraminibus vires trahit, urget in artum
spiritus, incendi via fit per maxima saxa.
magnifieas laudes operosaque visere templa
divitiis hominum aut arces memorare vetustas
traducti maria et taetris per proxima fatis
currimus, atque avidi veteris mendacia famae
5^^ ingenium CZ : ingenio ed. Ven. 1475.
'"'^^ autem C : aiurem AR : artem Ellis.
°^^ ac sacro C : a saero AR : areano Ellis.
^^5 examinant CZ : exanimant H^.
^^* fama codd. : forma Wolf.
5G8 vivit codd. : via fit Baehrens.
^'^ sacras C : areas Ellis : artes vel arces Vesseremi.
410
AETNA
covered minerals subject to similar ordinance. No
place this for inuenuity : be you the judiie and your
eyes will triuin])h. The lava-stone is rigid ; its surface
barrier resists all hre, if you seek to burn it with small
fires and in the open air. Well then, confine it in .a
narrow white-hot furnace — it cannot endure or stand
firm against that fierce foe. It is vanquished : it
relaxes its strength ; in it*^ captor's grip it melts.
Now, what greater engines^ think you, can skill apply
with the hand, or M'hat fires can it support with our
human resources to compare with the mighty fur-
naces with which Aetna burns, ever the mother of
secret fire } Yet her fire is not of the limited heat
within our ow'n experience, but more akin to that of
heaven or the kind of flame with which Jupiter him-
self is armed. With these mighty forces is allied
the gigantic volcanic spirit forced out of straitened
jaws, as when mechanics hasten to pit their strength
against masses of natural iron, they stir the fires and,
expelling the wind from panting bellows, rouse the
current in close array. Such is the manner of its
working : so goes far-famed Aetna's bm-ning. The
earth draws in forces through her perforations ;
volcanic spirit compresses these into narrow space,
and the path of conflagration lies through the
mightiest rocks.
Over the paths of the sea, through all that borders
on ghastly ways of death, we hasten to visit the
stately glories of man's achievement and temples
elaborate with human wealth or to rehearse the story
of antique citadels. Keenly we unearth the false-
^"^ traducti CHA : tracti R. maria De Rooy : materia CZ.
terris CZ : terras De Rooy : taetris Scaliger.
411
MINOR LATIN POETS
eruimus cunctasque libet percurrere gentes.
nunc iuvat Ogygiis circumdata moenia Thebis
cernere : quae fratres, ille impiger, ille canorus. .
condere, felicesque alieno intersumus aevo.
invitata piis nunc carmine saxa lyraque,
nunc geniina ex uno fumantia sacra vap'ore
miramur septemque duces raptumque profundo.
detmet Eurotas illic et Sparta Lycurgi
et sacer in helium numer^s, sua turba, trecenti.
nunc hie Cecropiae variis spectantur Athenae
carminihus gaudentque soH victrice Minerva,
excidit hie reduci quondam tibi, perfide Theseu,
Candida soUicito praemittere vela parenti :
tu quoque Athenarum carmen, iam nobile sidus,
Erigone ; sedes vestra est : Philomela canoris
evocat in silvis et tu, soror, hospita tectis
^««_tam CZ : iam Aid. 1534.
587-8 Erigone edens questus P. canorus en volat in sHvai
^/a^ss:^ngonae es, dequesta senem : P. canoris plorat Itvr
silvis Elhs. evocat CZ : eiulat Jacob : en vocat 3Iunro
■ f mj-tho bgical allusions in lines 574-579 are to the
miraculous buildmg of Thebes ^hen the stones obeyed the caU
^nrlf" 1 I'Z' \ ^r*^f ^ Amphion and Zethus; the never-
endmg hatred of Eteocles and Polynices, the sons of Oedipus
shoMTi in the separation of even the flames on their altar: the
seven champions who marched from Argos upon Thebes; the
gulf in the earth which swaUowed Amphiaraus
f..ff 'f 'rr^'^^^T^'t'^ ^^*^^' ^^^ caUed^^.i, not because thev
fortified Thebes, but because they avenged on Dirce her mal-
treatment of their mother Antiope. To furnish Thebes with
waUs and towers Zethus brought up the stones with his strong
arms, and Amphion fitted them together by the music of h§
law fver°*^' "" ^"^ ^^^ "''^'" ^^ ^^''''^^ ^""^ Lycurgus her legendary
412
AETNA
floods told by ancient legend ^ and we like to speed
our course through every nation. Now 'tis our joy
to see the walls which gird Ogygian Thebes, the
walls reared by the brothers, the active one (Zethus)
and the tuneful one (Amphion) . . . and so for a
[lappy hour we live in a bygone age. We marvel
now at the stones charmed into place by duteous
5ons,^ with song and lyre, now at the sacrificial reek
sundered as it rose from a single altar-steam, now at
the seven chiefs and him whom the chasm snatched
iway. There the Eurotas and the Sparta of Lycurgus '^
irrest us and the troop consecrated to war, the Three
Hundred, the band true to themselves.'^ Here
again in manifold poetry is Cecropian Athens shown
to us and her joy that Slinerva won her soil.'' Here
once upon a day, faithless Theseus, your promise
escaped your mind, to hoist, as you were nearing
home, the white sail for an advance signal to your
anxious father./ You too, Erigone, were an Athenian
lay, henceforth a star of renown ; Athens is the home
of you and yours.fi' Philomela's call fills the groves
with song and you, her sister (Procne), find a guest's
<* The three hundred Spartans who laid down their hves
fighting against the Persians in the pass at Thermopylae,
480 B.C.
* Athens is called " Cecropian " after her legendary king
Cecrops. Athene (identified with Minerva) by her gift of the
! olive won the land belonging to Athens and so ousted Poseidon.
The marble sculptures in the western pediment of the Parthe-
non recorded this rivalry.
f'f. 21-22 supra for another reference to Theseus' return
fiuiu Crete.
' Vestra ('' of you and yours ") alludes to her father Icar(i)u3
and the faithful hound which became Sirius. Erigone hanged
herself for grief at her father's death. The theme was treated
in a once celebrated poem by Eratosthenes.
413
MINOR LATIN POETS
acciperis, solis Tereus ferus exsulat agris.
miramur Troiae cineres et flebile victis
Pergamon exstinctosque suo Phrygas Hectore :
parvum
conspicimus magni tumulum ducis : hie et Achilles
impiger et vietus niagni iacet Hectoris ultor.
quin etiam Graiae fixos tenuere tabellae
signave ; nunc Paphiae rorantes arte capilli, ,
sub truce nunc parvi ludentes Colchide nati,
nunc tristes circa subiectae altaria cervae
velatusque pater, nunc gloria viva Myronis
et iam niille nianus operum turbaeque morantur.
haec visenda putas terrae dubiusque marisque :
artificis naturae ingens opus aspice : nulla
tu tanta humanae plebis spectacula cernes,
praecipueque vigil fervens ubi Sirius ardet.
Insequitur miranda tamen sua fabula montem
^^^ paflaeCZ: Paphiae J W. 1517. parte CZ: a.Tte Scaliger :
patre Haupt : matre Baehrens, Ellis.
^8» turb(a)eque CHA : tabulaeque Ellis.
*"2 cum CZ : tu Cltricus. humanis codd. : humanae
Ellis. Ph(o)ebus CZ : rebus Aid. 1534 : plebis Ellis (" ez
plebeis quod est in Rehd. GO ").
" Procne, wife of the Thracian King Tereus, avenged his
violation of her sister Philomela bj^ slaying their son Itys or
Itylus and serving his flesh to Tereus as food. Legend changed
Philomela into a nightingale, Procne into a swallow.
* suo Hectore sc. exstincto. Either (1) instrumental ablat.,
" through their Hector," he being by his death the cause of
their destruction or (2) ablat. absolute, " their Hector having
been destroyed " : see Munro's note (which cites Cic. Pro Mil.
47, iacent suis testibus, " they are prostrated by the evidence of
their own witnesses,") and Th. Maguire's discussion. Journal of
Philology, III. (1871), pp. 232 sqq.
'^ The picture meant is the Venus Anadyomene by Apelles.
414
AETNA
rvelcome in the home, while eriiel Ttreus lives an
^xile in the deserted fields." We wonder at Troy
n allies and her eitadel bewept by the vanquished,
he Phryirians' doom owing- to the fall of Hector.*
>Ve behold the humble burial-mound of a mighty
eader : and here lie vanquished alike untiring
\chilles and (Paris) the avenger of heroic Hector.
Vioreover, Greek paintings or sculptures have held
•Mitranced. Now the Paphian's tresses dripping
irt shows them),^ now the little boys playing at
II feet of the pitiless Colchian,*^ a sad group with a
jiilier veiled around the altar of the substituted
jiiiid.' now the life-like glory of Myron's art/ yea a
Mioiisand examples of handiwork and crowds of
masterpieces make us pause.
These attractions you think you must visit — waver-
ng between land and sea. But look upon the colossal
vork of the artist nature. You ^^^ll behold no sights
o great belonging to the human rabble — (this you
vill find) especially if you keep watch when the Dog-
tar is blazing in his heat. Yet there is a w^onderful
tory of its own which attends the mountain : it is
[■he traditional treatment of the tresses survives to some
xtent in Botticelli's " Xascita di \'enere."
** The Medea of Timomachus (3rd cent. B.C.), a celebrated
3icture in which the painter represented the mother dehberat-
ng whether she should kill her children to revenge herself on
Fason.
j ^ The masterpiece of Timanthes (about 400 B.C.) in which he
painted the sacrifice of Iphigenia, expressing woe on the faces
pf the bystanders, but veiling the face of the grief-stricken
father, Agamemnon. The cerva, according to one form of the
legend, was at the last moment miraculously substituted for
ihe victim.
f The bronze cow bv Mvron, a greatly admired work (Cic.
Verr. IV. Ix. 135).
MINOR LATIN POETS
nee minus ille pio quam sonti est nobilis igni.
nam quondam ruptis excanduit Aetna cavernis,
et velut eversis penitus fornacibus ingens
evecta in longum lapidis fervoribus unda,
baud aUter quam cum saevo love fulgurat aether
et nitidum obscura caelum caligine torquet.
ardebant agris segetes et mollia cultu
iugera cum dominis ; silvae collesque rubebant.
vixdum castra putant hostem movisse, tremebant
et iam finitimae portas evaserat urbis.
tum vero, ut cuique est animus viresque rapinae,
tutari conantur opes : gemit ille sub auro,
coUigit ille arma et stulta cervice reponit,
defectum raptis ilium sua carmina tardant,
hie velox minimo properat sub pondere pauper,
et quod cuique fuit cari fugit ipse sub illo.
sed non incolumis dominum sua praeda secuta est :
cunctantes vorat ignis et undique torret avaros,
consequitur fugisse ratos et praemia captis
concremat : ac nullis parsura incendia pascunt
vel solis parsura piis. namque optima proles
^"^ quamquam sors nobilis ignis CZ : quam quo sons,
n. ignist Baehrens : quam sonti n. ignist Maehly.
^^' ignes CZ : ingens Scaliger.
«08 lapidis CH : rapidis AR.
"" c(a)elum CZ : telum Postgate.
^11 mil{l)ia CZ : mollia Scaliger : mitia Heinsius.
^12 urebant C : virebant Z : ruebant Wagler : rubebant
Munro, Ellis.
®^^ nimio CZ : minimo Auratus, Pithou.
623 ratis CZ : ratos Aid. 1517.
62* concrepat CZ : concremat Auratus, Pithou.
625 dees CH : piis Aid. 1517.
" The eruption was historic. Aelian, quoted in Stobaeus'
Florilegium, 79, 38, p. 456 (Gaisford), places it in Olympiad
416
AETNA
no less famous for a fire of goodness tlian for one of
guilt. Once Aetna burst open its caverns and
glowed white-hot" : as though its deep-pent furnaces
were shattered, a vast wave of fire gushed forth afar
upborne by the heat of the lava-stone, just as when
the ether lightens under the fury of Jupiter and
plagues the bright sky with murky gloom. Corn-
crops in the fields and acres soft-waving under
cultivation were ablaze \\ith their lords. Forests
and hills gleamed red. Scarce yet can they believe
the foe has struck camp ; yet they were quaking and
he had already passed the gates of the neighbouring
city. Then every man strives to save his goods with
such courage and strength as avails him to snatch
at them. One groans beneath a burden of gold ;
another collects his arms and piles them again about
his foolish neck; another, faint under what he has
seized, has his flight hindered by his poems I ^ Here
the poverty-stricken man hastens nimbly beneath
the lightest of loads : everyone makes for safety with
what he held dear upon his shoulders. But his spoil
did not follow each owner safe to the end : fire
devours them as they linger : it envelops the greedy
ones in flame. They think they have escaped, but
the fire catches them : it consumes its prisoners'
booty : and the conflagration feeds itself, set on
sparing none or only the dutiful. Two noble sons,
81 (= 456-453 B.C.). He gives the names of the Catanaean
youths who saved their parents from the flames as Philonomos
and Kallias : cf. n. on 029 infra.
* 616-618. The satire at the expense of those who try to
save their goods at the risk of life culminates in the glance at a
poet struggling under a load of his own works. There is also
a satiric undertone in the picture of tourists (569-600), who are
curious sightseers rather than students of nature.
417
VOL. I. E E
MINOR LATIN POETS
Amphinomus fraterque pari sub munere fortes
cum iani vicinis streperent incendia tectis,
adspiciunt pigrumque patrem matremque senecta
eheu ! defessos posuisse in limine membra.
parcite, avara manus, dulces attollere praedas :
illis divitiae solae materque paterque :
banc rapient praedam. mediumque exire per ignem
ipso dante fidem properant. o maxima rerum
et merito pietas homini tutissima virtus !
erubuere pios iuvenes attingere flammae
et quacumque ferunt illi vestigia cedunt.
felix ilia dies, ilia est innoxia terra.
dextra saeva tenent laevaque incendia : fertur
ille per obliquos ignes fraterque triumphans,
tutus uterque pio sub pondere sufficit : ilia
et circa geminos avidus sibi temperat ignis.
incolumes abeunt tandem et sua numina secum
salva ferunt, illos mirantur carmina vatum,
illos seposuit claro sub nomine Ditis,
nee sanctos iuvenes attingunt sordida fata :
securae cessere domus et iura piorum.
^2^ Amphion CH : Amphinomus AR. fontis CH : fortis
(nom. plur.) A.
^2^ senemque CZ : senecta Scaliger : sedentem Barth
senentem Baehrejis : sequentem Ellis.
^^" manduces corr. in manducens C : manus dites Aid. 1517 :
manus dulces Ellis.
^^2 rapies C : raperest 3Iunro : rapient Ellis.
«38 dextera CZ. tenet CH : tenent AR. fervent HR ;
ferunt corr. in fervent C : fertur Buecheler.
^^® fratremque CZ : fraterque ed. Ascens. 1507.
^*" sufficit codd. : substitit Baehrens.
**'' sed curae C : securae Miinro, Ellis, Vessereau.
418
AETNA
Amphinomus and liis brother, gallantly facinfj an
equal task, when tire now roared in homes hard by,
saw how their lame father and their mother had sunk
down (alas !) in the weariness of aije upon the thres-
hold.** Forbear, ye avaricious throng, to lift the
spoils ye love ! For ihem a mother and a father are
the only wealth : this is the spoil they will snatch
from the burning. They hasten to escape through
the heart of the fire, which grants safe-conduct
unasked. O sense of loving duty^ greatest of all
goods, justly deemed the surest salvation for man
among the virtues ! The flames held it shame to
.touch those duteous youths and retired wherever they
iturned their steps. Blessed is that day : guiltless
lis that land. Cruel burnings reign to right and left,
j Flames slant aside as Amphinomus rushes among
jthem and \Wth him his brother in triumph : both
Ihold out safely under the burden which affection laid
:on them. There — round the couple — the greedy fire
jrestrains itself. Unhurt they go free at last, taking
Kvith them their gods in safety. To them the lays
I of bards do homage : to them under an illustrious
name has Ditis ^ allotted a place apart. No mean
destiny touches the sacred youths : their lot is a
dwelling free from care, and the rightful rewards of
the faithful.
" Claudian, Carmina Minora, XVII (L), has an elegiac
poem on the statues of the two brothers, Amphinomus and
Anapius at Catina now Catania. For allusions to their pietas
cf. Strabo, vi. 2. 3 (C. 269), who calls the second brother
Anapias: Sen. Benef. III. 37. 2; Martial, VII. 24. 5; Sil.
Ital. XIV. 197. Hyginus, Fab. 254, gives them different
names. Their heads appear on both Sicilian and Roman
coins, p.g. Head, Hist. -\ um. 117; Brit. Mas. Cat.
^ Ditis (more commonly Dis in the nominative) is Pluto,
god of the under- world.
419
EE 2
FLORUS
INTRODUCTION
TO FLORUS
There is considerable plausibility in the argu-
ments which have been advanced in favour of
regarding three aj^parently different Flori. namely
the historian, the rhetor and the poet as one and
the same person. The acceptance of these argu-
ments commits us to taking the correct name to
have been P. Annius I'lorus, as the rhetor was
called, and to explaining as confusions the " Julius
Florus " or " Annaeus Florus " found in the MSS.
of the historian. ** We no longer possess the rhetor's
dialogue discussing the problem whether Mrgil was
more an orator than a poet {Fergilins orator an
poeia), but from a Brussels manuscript containing
an introduction to the lost theme important facts
about the author's life are recoverable.^ He was
born in Africa about 74 a.d. While at Rome in his
younger days under Domitian he entered for the
Capitoline competition in poetry, but owing to
jealousy was denied the wreath of victory. This
injustice so rankled in his heart that he left Rome
for distant wanderings which ended with his settle-
ment at Tarraco in Spain. One day in Trajan's
■ One MS. has " L. Annei Flori."
^ F. Ritschl, Bheiri. Mus. 1. 3U2: (). Jahn, Flori epitome,
Leipzig, 1852, p. xli ; edn. by K. Halm, Leipzig, 1854,
p. 106; cdn. by 0. Rossbach,' Leipzig, 1S96, p. 183. See
J. Wight DufE, A Lit. Hist, of Home in Silver Age, p. 644.
423
INTRODUCTION TO
reign a friend twitted him \\dth his long absence
from the capital, telling him that his poems had
won appreciation there. By Hadrian's time he was
once more in Rome, enjoying the Emperor's regard
in virtue of his literary abilities and possibly because
of some common links with Spain also. The intimacy
was so close that it emboldened Florus to address
Hadrian in a few extant trochaic lines of persiflage
upon his craze for travel — Ego nolo Caesar esse — to
which we have the imperial repartee Ego Jiolo Florus
esse.^ Happily there is more poetry in his hexa-
meters upon spring-roses and in some at least of his
trochaic tetrameters. This is the quality which has
lent support to the conjecture hazarded by certain
scholars, that Florus was the author of one of the
most romantic poems in Latin, the Pervigilium
Veneris. Certainly that poem would have been
signally appropriate during the principate of Hadrian,
who resuscitated the cult of Venus on a scale of
great magnificence.^ We cannot, however, be sure
that the Pervigilium Veneris belongs to the second
century : and a rival hypothesis claims it for the
fourth century, laying stress upon its resemblance to
the manner of Tiberianus.^
In the codex Salmasianus of the Latin Anthologia
(Parisinus, 10318) twenty-six trochaic tetrameters
appear under the superscription Flori de qualitate
vitae. The codex Thuaneus (Parisinus 8071) has,
instead of Flori, Floridi, a corruption due to a mis-
take in the succeeding word. Five hexameters in
the codex Salmasianus also bear the heading Flori.
° Spartianus, Hadrian, xvi.
^ See Introduction, p. ,344, to Loeb edition of Catullus,
Tibullus and Pervigilium Veneris.
'^ Sec Introduction to Tiberianus, infra.
424
FLORUS
TEXTS OF FLORUS' VERSE
P. Burman. Anthol Lat. Lib. IL No. 97; IIL
Nos. 288-29L Amsterdam, 1759.
[Burman ascribes 97, Ego nolo . . ., to
"Julius Florus " ; 288, 0 quales . . ., 289,
Aid hoc. risit . . ., and 290, Ilortus erat . . ., to
an unknown author; and 291, J'enerunt ali-
quaiido rosae . . ., to '* Florus." Baehrens and
Buecheler follow these ascriptions.]
J. C. Wernsdorf. Poetae Latini Mifwres. III. pp. 483-
488. Altenburg, 1782.
L. Mueller. RutiUus Xa)jmtia7i7is, etc., p. 26 sqq.
Leipzig, 1870.
E. Baehrens. Poet. Lat. Min., IV. pp. 279, 346 sqq.
Leipzig, 1882.
F. Buecheler and A. Riese. Anthologia Latina, I. i.
pp. 119-121, and pp. 200-202. Leipzig, 1894.
RELE\'ANT WORKS
O. Mueller. De P. Aimio Poeta et de Pervig. Ven.
diss. Berlin, 1855.
F. Eyssenhardt. Hadrian und Florus. Berlin, 1882.
G. Costa. Floro e Adriano, Bollettino di Jilol. 13
(1907), p. 252.
425
FLORUS
Ego nolo Caesar esse,
ambulare per Britannos
Scythicas pati pruinas.
II-IX. De QuALITATE ^^ITAE
II
Bacche, vitium repertor, plenus adsis vitibus,
effluas dulcem liquorem, comparandum nectari,
conditumque fac vetustum, ne malignis venulis
asperum ducat saporem, versus usum in alterum.
Ill
Mulier intra pectus omnis celat virus pcstilens ;
dulce de labris loquuntur, corde vivunt noxio.
II. De Qualitate Vitae codd. : Vitium L. Mueller.
II. 1 vitium codd. : vini tu L. Mueller.
" The numbering I-XIII follows L. Mueller's edition :
No. XIV is taken from Baehrens.
^ The Latin is given by Spartianus, Hadrian xvi : also
Hadrian's retort (see p. 444). As the latter is in four lines, it
may be assumed that Florus' third line is lost.
426
FLORUS
i«
I've no mind to be a Caesar,
Strolling round amono; the Britons,
Victim of the Scythian hoar-frosts.^
II-IX. The Quality of Life ^
II
Bacchus, of the vine revealer, let thy fullness aid
the vine :
Send the dulcet juice aflowing which no nectar can
outshine.
Grant it ever-mellowing storage lest in veins inimical
It produce a smack of roughness turned to vinegar
withal.
Ill
Every woman in her bosom hides a poisonous pesti-
lence :
Though the lips speak ne'er so sweetly, yet the heart
contrives offence.
*■ The MS. heading for the 26 verses in II-IX is so
inappropriate that Luoian Mueller by emending vitae into
vitium suggested that it meant "On the Nature of Vines"
and -svas appUcable only to poem II.
427
MINOR LATIN POETS
IV
Sic Apollo, deinde Liber sic videtur ignifer :
ambo sunt flammis creati prosatique ex ignibus ;
ambo de donis calorem, vite et radio, conferunt ;
noctis hie rumpit tenebras, hie tenebras pectoris.
Quando ponebam novellas arbores mali et piri,
cortici simunae notavi nomen ardoris mei.
nulla fit exinde finis vel quies cupidinis :
crescit arbor, gliscit ardor : animus implet litteras.
VI
Qui mali sunt non fuere matris ex alvo mali,
sed malos faciunt malorum falsa contubernia.
VII
Sperne mores transmarinos, mille habent offucia.
cive Romano per orbem nemo vivit rectius :
quippe malim unum Catonem quam trecentos
Socratas.
V. 3 fit codd. : fit iam L. Mueller : facta Baehrens.
" Cf. Juvenal II. 83, nemo repentefuit turpissimus, " no one
became an absolute villain in a moment," and St. Paul's
quotation from Menander, I. Cor. xv. 33 (pdeipovaiu fjOr] xpv<^^'
bjxiKiai KOKal, " evil commimications corrupt good manners."
428
FLORUS
IV
So Apollo and then Bacchus are firc-bring:crs, I
opine :
Both the gods are flame-created; in their ])irth the
fires take part.
Both confer their heat for guerdon, by the sunbeam
or the vine ;
One dispels the long night's darkness, one the dark-
ness of the heart.
When my young pear-trees I planted, when I planted
apple-trees,
On the bark the name I graved of the sweetheart
who is mine.
Never henceforth will my passion find an end or find
its ease.
As the tree grows, so my zeal glows : love-dreams
through each letter shine.
VI
Rascals have not been so always — rascals from their
mother's womb ;
But false comradeship with rascals brings one to a
rascal's doom."
VII
Shun the morals brought across seas; they've a
thousand trickeries.
None in all the world lives straighter than a citizen
of Rome.
Why, I prize one Cato more than fifteen score like
Socrates.
429
MINOR LATIN POETS
VIII
Tarn malum est habere nummos, non habere quam
malum est ;
tain malum est audere semper quam malum est
semper pudor ;
tam malum est tacere multum quam malum est
multum loqui ;
tam malum est foris amica quam malum est uxor
domi;
nemo non haec vera dicit, nemo non contra facit.
IX
Consules fmnt quotannis et novi proconsules ;
solus aut rex aut poeta non quotannis nascitur.
X
De Rosis
Venerunt aliquando rosae. per veris amoeni
ingenium una dies ostendit spicula florum,
altera pyramidas nodo maiore tumentes,
tertia iam calathos, totum lux quarta peregit
floris opus, pereunt hodie nisi mane leguntur.
XI
De Rosis
A, quales ego mane rosas procedere vidi !
nascebantur adhuc neque erat par omnibus aetas.
prima papillatos ducebat tecta corymbos,
altera puniceos apices umbone levabat,
tertia iam totum calathi patefecerat orbem,
430
FLORUS
VIII
Tis as bad possessing money as to live in penury ;
Just as bad perpetual daring as perpetual modesty;
Just as bad is too mueh silence as too much loquacity ;
Just as bad the girl you visit as the wife at home
can be.
None can say that this is falsehood : none but does
the contrary.
IX
Every year we get fresh consuls, every year pro-
consuls too :
Only patrons, only poets, are not born each year
anew.
Roses ix SpRixcTniE
Roses are here at last : thanks to the mood
Of lovely Spring, one day shows barbs of bloom ;
A second, pyramids more largely swoln ;
A third reveals the cup : four days fulfil
Their task of flowering. This day seals their doom
Unless the mornino; brine's a gatherer.
XI
Roses
What roses have I seen come with the morn !
Scarce born they were, yet not alike in age :
One showed the breast-like buds that hid the flower,
One shot its purple crest from swelling heart,
A third had ojn-ned full its rounded cup,
431
MINOR LATIN POETS
quarta simul nituit niidati germine floris.
dum levat una caput dumque explicat altera nodum,
sic, dum virgineus pudor exsinuatur amictu,
ne pereant lege mane rosas : cito virgo senescit.
XII
De Rosa
Aut hoc risit Amor aut hoc de pectine traxit
purpureis Aurora comis aut sentibus haesit
Cypris et hie spinis insedit sanguis acutis.
XIII
De Rosis
Hortus erat Veneris, roseis circumdatus herbis,
gratus ager dominae, quern qui vidisset amaret.
dum puer hie passim properat decerpere flores
et velare comas, spina libavit acuta
marmoreos digitos : mox ut dolor attigit artus
sanguineamque manum, tinxit sua lumina gutta.
pervenit ad matrem frendens defertque querellas :
" unde rosae, mater, coeperunt esse nocentes ?
unde tui flores pugnare latentibus armis ?
bella gerunt mecum. floris color et cruor unum
est! "
432
VLORUS
A fourth was bright witli well-grown naked bloom,
Oiu' rears its head, while one untwines its eoil :
Si>. while their maiden virtue's ehastely garbed,
At dawn pull roses fresh : maids soon grow old.
XII
The Rose
1 he rose was Cupid's smile, or from her comb
Dawn drew it forth — Dawn of the lustrous hair,
Or haply Venus was by briars caught
And on the sharp thorns this her blood remained.
XIII
Venus' Rose-Gardex
\'(nus a garden had, rose-bushes round —
It- lady's darling plot; once seen, beloved.
Htr boy, in random haste to cull the blooms
And crown his tresses, pricked with pointed thorn
His marble fingers. Soon, as pain stabbed limbs
And blood-stained hand, the tear-drop bathed his
eye.
In rage he seeks his mother with his plaints :
" Whence comes it, mother, that the roses hurt ?
Whence fight thy flowers with hidden arms? They
war
On me : the flower's hue is the same as blood ! "
433
VOL. I. F F
xMIXOR LATIN POETS
XIV
De Musis
Clio saecla retro niemorat sermone soluto.
Euterpae geminis loquitur cava tibia ventis.
voce Thalia clueiis soccis dea comica gaudet.
Melpomene reboans tragicis fervescit iambis.
aurea Terpsichorae totam lyra personat aethram.
fila premens digitis Erato modulamina fingit.
flectitur in faciles variosque Polymnia motus.
Uranie numeris scrutatur sidera mundi.
Calliope doctis dat laurea serta poetis.
" Ascribed to Floras, Baehrens, P.L.M. IV. p. 279. Cf. the
verses which have come down under the name of Cato, P.L.M,
III. p. 243.
The Muses in Hesiod {Theog. 36-103, 915-918) are the nine
daughters of Zeus and ^Mnemosyne, born in Pieria. Some-
times represented as linked together in a dance, they formed
an allegory of the connexion among the liberal arts. For
434
FLORUS
XIV
The Nine Muses °
( lio records past ages in her prose.
1 uterpe's hollow reed makes double sound.
\ Oice-famed Thalia revcllin«i- loves the sock.
Melpomene's notes in tragic iambs seethe.
Terpsichore's golden lyre thrills all the sky.
Strings touched by Erato sweet love-songs make.
Pnlymnia's odes suit swift and varying moods.''
I rania scans the stars of heaven in verse.
Calliope crowns epic bards with bays.
if functions and varying symbols in literature and art see
iusen" in Roscher's Ausfuhrliches Lexikon der gr. unci
/. Mythologie and " Musai " in P. W. Realencyclopiidie.
'' Mot us is here taken of the mind. But it is possible to
take it of bodily movement (" P. sways her body in easy and
in varied movements"); for a province assigned at a late
period to Polymnia was that of pantomime.
435
F F 2
HADRIAN
INTRODUCTION
TO HADRIAN
P. Aelius Hadriaxus, who was born in a.d. 76,
reigned as Trajan's successor from 117 till his death
in A.D. 138. His contradictory traits of character,
summarised by Spartianus ^ in his Vita, indicated a
restlessness of temperament which was reflected in
the physical restlessness of the perpetually travelling
Emperor. He took genuine interest in army organ-
isation, in agricultural prospects, in building schemes,
and (as sho\\Ti during his visit to Britain, where Po?is
Aelii ^ commemorated his name) in the establish-
ment of frontier-lines. Prose and verse attracted
his dilettante tastes : in Latin he felt a preference
for archaic writers — for Ennius rather than Virgil,
for Cato rather than Cicero, and for Coelius Anti-
pater rather than Sallust : towards Hellenic thought
and literature he was so much drawn that his courtiers
secretly nicknamed him " Graeculus." Inscriptions
have preserved fragments of his military addi-esses,
and at one time collections of his speeches were in
existence. His autobiographic books, which whether
from modesty or another motive he caused to be
published under the names of his literary freedmen,
became the direct or indirect ^ source of much in
"^ Hadr. xiv. ^ at Xewcastle-upon-Tyne.
« J, Durr, Die Reisen d. Kaisers Hadrian, 1881 ; and J.
Plew, Quellenuntersuchungen zur Gesch. d. Kaisers H., 890.
439
INTRODUCTION TO
the life by Spartianus. A lost miscellany of his
appeared under the forbidding title of Catachannae,^
and he dabbled in both Greek and Latin poetry:
most things by starts and nothing long, he was an
epitome of contemporaiy cultm'e. Possessed of an
excellent memory, readiness in speech, and con-
siderable humour, he loved to engage in discussions
with the professors of the day. Sometimes he de-
ferred to them, sometimes browbeat them ; yet
though he was a tormenting catechiser, he conferred
generous benefactions upon teachers. Moreover,
he established a library at his spacious villa whose
ruins still impress the tourist under the slopes of
Tivoli : he had another library at Antium, and a
third at his famous academy in Rome, the Athenaeum.
The mediocrity of most of the surviving verse
ascribed to him reconciles us to the rejection of the
uncertain pieces. When the poet Florus took the
risk of chaffing his imperial majesty on his mania
for travelling {ego nolo Caesar esse ),^ he incurred
nothing worse than the retort in the quatrain begin-
ning Ego nolo Florus esse. Spartianus ^ is our
authority for the simple lines of death-bed farewell
* Spartianus, Hadrian xvi, mentions this lost work as being
in the manner of Antimachus, Catac{h)annas (in different MSS.
catacannos, catacrianos, catacaymos), libros ohscurissimos Anti-
niachum imitando scripsit : perhaps Hadrian aped the learning
of the Greek epic poet until he became obscure. Catachanna,
in Fronto (ed. Xaber, p. 35 and p. 155) was applied to a fruit-
tree inoculated with alien buds (resembling the extraordinarily-
engrafted tree of Pliny N.H. XVII. 120) and to a style blended
of elements from Gato and Seneca. Unger, Jahrb. Phil.
119 (1879), p. 493, connectedit with KaraxTj/'r?, "derision", and
it is therefore defined in Thesaurus Ling. Lat. Ill col. 586, as
" res risu digna."
* Spartianus, Hadr. xvi. '^ Ibid. xxv.
440
HADRIAN
to his soul, \vhere ijenuint' feeling, echoed in tender
diminutives, has bequeatlied an immortal challenge
to translators in many languages." The lines pur-
porting to have been inscribed on the grave of the
Emperor's favourite hunting-steed Borysthenes have
been suspected. That an inscription was written is
clear from Dio Cassius.'' It is true that he does not
say whether it was in Latin or Greek ; but, on the
whole, it seems fair to accept the testimony of
Pithoeus that he found the Latin lines in an ancient
manuscript.
EDITIONS
P. Burman. A?ithologia Veterum Lat. Epigram, et
Poem. Vol. I. Lib. II, Nos. 96, 98; Vol. II.
Lib. IV, No. 399. Amsterdam, 1759-73.
L. Mueller. In a section De Poetis Saeculi Urbis
Conditae X which is appended to his edition of
Namatianus. Leipzig, 1870. [L. Mueller ac-
cepts as genuine only " ego nolo Florus esse
. . .," " animula vagula ..." and the verse
" lascivus versu, mente pudicus eras," ten lines
in all.]
E. Baehrens. P.L.M. Vol. IV. pp. Ill sqq. Leip-
zig, 1882. [Baehrens prints five poems ascribed
to Hadrian, of which only that on Borysthenes
has been included in the present edition.]
F. Buecheler and A. Riese. Anthologia Latina, I. i.
pp. 306-7, Leipzig, 1894. I. ii. p. 132, Leipzig,
1906. [The " Hadrianic " poems in the above
Translations . . . oj Dying Hadrian^s Address to his Soul,
collected by D. Johnston, Bath, 1876.
" Ixix. 10.
441
INTRODUCTION TO HADRIAN
collection are identical with three in Baehrens :
as their authenticity is questionable, they are
not included in the present edition.]
RELEVANT WORKS
F. Gregorovius. Der Kaiser Hadrian, ed. 2. Stutt-
gart, 1884 (Eng. tr., London, 1898).
J. Diirr. Die Reisen des Kaisers Hadrian. Vienna,
1881.
S. Dehner. Hadriani Reliquiae, particula I. Diss.
Bonn, 1883. (For adlocutiones to the army.)
J. Plew. QuellenuntersiLchungen zur Geschichte des
Kaisers Hadrian (pp. 11-53 on the Vita by
Spartianus). Strassburg, 1890.
W. Weber. Untersuchungen zur Gesch. d. K. Hadrian.
Leipzig, 1907.
B. Henderson. Lifo and Principate of Hadriani.
London, 1923 (" Literary Activities," pp. 240
sqq.).
J. Wight DufF. A Literary Hist, of Rome in the
Silver Age. London, 1927. (Sketch of Litera-
ture in the reign of Hadrian, pp. 628-649.)
442
HADRIAN
I
Ego nolo Florus esse,
ambulare per tabernas,
latitare per popinas,
culices pati rotundos.
II
Lascivus versu, mente pudicus eras.
Ill
Animula vagula blandula,
hospcs comesque corporis,
quae nunc abibis in loca,
pallidula, rigida, nudula,
nee ut soles dabis iocos ?
" Spartianus, Hadr. xvi : see Flonis' lines, p. 426,
444
HADRIAN
I
Retort to Florus °
I've no mind to be a Florus
Strolling round among the drink-shops,
Skulking round among the cook-shops,
Victim of fat-gorged mosquitoes.
II
Ox A Poet-friend
Your lines were wanton but your heart was clean.^
Ill
Hadrian's Dying Farewell to his Soul
Dear fleeting sweeting, little soul,
My body's comrade and its guest,
What region now must be thy goal.
Poor little wan, numb, naked soul,
Unable, as of old, to jest ?
^ Apuleius, Apolog. xi, cites the Latin as from Hadrian's own
pen to honour the torab of his friend Voconius.
445
MINOR LATIN POETS
IV
Borysthenes Alanus,
Caesareus veredus,
per aequor et paludes
et tumulos Etruscos
volare qui solebat,
Pannonicos nee ullus
apros eum insequentem
dente aper albicanti
ausus fuit nocere :
sparsit ab ore caudam
vel extimam saliva,
ut solet evenire.
sed integer iuventa
inviolatus artus
die sua peremptus
hie situs est in agro.
IV. ■* et ruscos Masdeus : et ocres Baehrens.
^~ii Pannonicos in apros (nee ullus insequentem dente aper
albicanti ausus fuit notare) sparsit ab ore caldam vel extimam
salivam Baehrens : Pannonicos nee ullus f apros insequentem
cod. : apros eum insequentem Scriverius.
^"~ii caudam cod. : caldam Casaubon. extimam salivam
cod. : extima saliva Scriverius. Hos versus transposuit Riese.
446
HADRIAN
IV
On' his Favourite Huxtixg-horse
Borysthenes the Alan "
Was mighty Caesar's steed :
O'er marshland and o'er level,
O'er Tuscan hill'?, with speed
He used to fly, and never
Could any ru'^hing boar
Amid Pannonian boar-hunt
Make bold his flank to gore ''
With sharp tusk whitely gleaming :
The foam from off his lips,
As oft may chance, would sprinkle
His tail e'en to the tips.
But he in youthful vigour,
His limbs unsapped by toil,
On his own day extinguished,
Here lies beneath the soil.
" Alanus, belonging to the 'AAavoi, warlike Scythians on
the Tanais and Palus Maeotis.
* twcere governing the accusative is one of the suspicious
points in these lines. Baehrens emends to notare.
447
NEMESIANUS
VOL. I. G Q
INTRODUCTION
TO NEMESIANUS
Towards the end of the third century a.d., M.
AureHus Olympius Nemesianus wrote bucohc and
didactic poetry. He has already been mentioned
in the introductions to Calpurnius Siculus and Grat-
tiii-. His four eclogues for long passed under
C aljnirnius' name, and of his hexameter poem on
in.' chase 325 verses have survived. He belonged
to Carthage, as his designation Carthaginiensis in
M>S. implies; and, when he says of the Spanish
[)le gens ampla iacet trans ardua Calpes culmina
/. 251-252), his attitude is that of an African
■lor. It is recorded ° that he won fame in poetic
Mitests and in several kinds of literature. A love
for the open air fitted him to attempt pastoral
pottry, and it is in keeping with this that at the
outset of his didactic poem he should echo the
all Host conventional renunciation of mythology to
l)r found in Virgil, Martial and Juvenal, and should
(li-dain it as something hackneyed, preferring to
'■ ruam the glades, the green tracts and open
])lains." ^ But he contemplates a more epic task
when, in addressing Numerianus and Carinus, the
liiother emperors who were the sons of Carus, he
announces his intention ^ to compose a narrative of
tlhir triumphant exploits. Of the two, Numerianus
" Vopiscus, Carus, Numericnius et Carinus, xi.
" Cyn. 48^9. « Cyn. 63-78.
451
G G 2
I
INTRODLXTIOX TO
was at least a good speaker and had himself entered
the field of poetry. The Cynegetica may be assigned
to the period which elapsed between the death of
Carus in 283 a.d. and that of Numerianus in 284 ;
and, if we decide that in Cyyiegetica 58-62 Nemesianus
is referring to his eclogues as lighter perforaiances
than his ambitious literary voyage into didactic
poetry, then we may date his pastorals as earlier.
The four pastoral poems, traditionally coupled
with the seven by Calpurnius, are now by general
consent separated from them. In the first, Tityrus
declines on the ground of age Timetas' invitation to
show his poetic skill, but instead prevails on him to
repeat a song inscribed by Timetas on the bark of
a tree. This takes the form of a eulogy on the
dead Meliboeus, who is introduced as a sort of
analogue to the Meliboeus honoured by Calpurnius
as his patron. But the real cue is taken from the
praises of Daphnis in Virgil's fifth eclogue. Nemesi-
anus' second eclogue, in which two shepherd lads
complain that their sweetheart Donace is shut up
at home by her parents, has drawn elements from
Calpurnius' second and third poems. Nemesianus'
third eclogue introduces Pan surprised by three
rustics, who, after trying his pipe in vain, are enter-
tained by Pan's own minstrelsy in praise of Bacchus.
This eclogue is modelled on Virgil's sixth, where
Silenus, caught asleep, had to pay the forfeit of a
song. In the last eclogue, attractive for its glimpses
of country scenes, Lycidas and Mopsus deplore the
pains of unreturned affection. This is the one
pastoral in which Nemesianus employs the prettily
recurrent burden or refrain of the Theocritean
tradition which Virgil followed in his Pharmaceutria
452
NKMESIANUS
<>! eighth eclogue. Here, then, the \ irgilian inHu-
( lice acts directly on him ; for the refrain is not one
of C'alpurnius' devices.
In the incomplete Cynegetica of 325 hexameters
tlu- tirst 102 lines are introductory: the remainder
handles needful preliminaries to the chase rather
than the chase itself — first hunting-dogs, their rear-
ing, feeding, training, diseases and breeds ; then
horses, their qualities, breeds and maintenance ;
finally implements such as nets and snares. It will
be noted that the order here is not the same as in
Grattius.** Though Grattius was more expert in
hunting than the Carthaginian poet was, it may be
felt to be an advantage for Nemesianus that he
enters less into details, and, if not so concentrated
on imparting instruction as Grattius was, for this
very reason has more chance of giving pleasure to a
reader.
The diction and the metre of Nemesianus benefit
undoubtedly in standard from the conscious imita-
tion of Virgil as a model. Among the more notice-
able metrical points, some of them due to his late
period, are the shortened -o in devotio {Cyn. 83)
and exerceto {Cyn. 187),^ the single occurrence of
hiatus catuli hue {Cyn. 143) and the close of a hexa-
meter in fervida zonae {Cyn. 147). Elision is not
overdone : some 52 elisions (very many of them in
-que or atqiie) occur in the 325 lines of the Cynegetica.'^
" It has been pointed out in the Introduction to Grattius
that according to some he did, according to others he did not,
influence Xeraesianus.
" Cf. such shortenings in Nemesianus' eclogues as exspeclo
(ii. 2(5), coniungo (iii. 14), mulrf-ndo (i. 53), hudaridd (ii. 80).
<■ Keene counts 30 elisions in the four eclogues, i.e. in 319
lines. Elision is much less frequent in Calpumius.
453
INTRODUCTION TO
There are in it a few rare words such as inoccidims
(105) and cihatus (160) ; but in the main the diction
is classical. And, in respect of both language and
metre, broadly similar features characterise the
pastoral and the didactic poetry of Nemesianus.
EDITIONS
Eclogues
For the chief editions and relative literature see
the works given under Calpurnius Siculus, pp. 214:-
215.
E. Baehrens' text: P.L.M. III. pp. 176-190.
H. Schenkl's text is given in Postgate's Corp. Poet.
Lai., 1905, II. pp. 565-568.
Cynegetica
For editions, which usually combine Nemesianus
wdth Grattius, see the list given under Grattius,
pp. 146-147.
E. Baehrens' text: P.L.M. III. pp. 190-202.
J. P. Postgate's text is given in Corp. Poet. Led., II.
1905, pp. 569-571.
D. Martin. Cynegetica of Nemesianus (with com-
ment.). Cornell Univ., U.S.A., 1917.
RELEVANT WORKS
M. Fiegl. Des Grattius Falishns Cynegetica : seine
Vorgd?iger u. seine Nachfolger. [Holds that
Nemesianus borrowed from Grattius: P. J. Enk
in his ed. of Grattius and in Mnemos. 45 (1917)
454
NKMESIANUS
sii|)j)oils this: so docs V. Miillcr in Mncinos.
1(3 (1918). G. Curcio in his cd. of Ciiattius
opposes the view.]
1*. Monceaux. Les Africnins : Etude sur la iiltcrulure
lat'inc d'Afriquc. Paris, 1894.
SIGLA
I'or the Eclogues see the Sigla for Cal})urnius
>iculiis, pp. 216^217.
For the Cynegetica :
A - Parisinus 7561, saec. x.
n = Parisinus 4839, saec. x.]
This codex, disfigured by many worthless
readings, was collated by Baehrens out of re-
spect for its age : it is ignored by Postgate in
C.P.L. and its readings are not recorded in this
edition.
C (Baehrens) = a (Postgate) Vindobonensis 3261,
saec. xvi.
This codex contains Nemesianus after Ovid's
Halieutica and before Grattius' Cynegeiica. a-
denotes that it was written by Sannazarius, as
shown by H. Schenkl, Supplement}) and der Jahr-
biichcrfilr klass. Philol. xxiv, 1898, pp. 387-480.
455
NEMESIANI CARMINA
ECLOGAE I
TiMETAS : TiTYRUS
Tim. Dum fiscella tibi fluviali, Tityre, iunco
texitur et raucis imniunia rura cicadis,
incipe, si quod habes gracili sub harundine carmen
compositum. nam te calamos inflare labello
Pan docuit versuque bonus tibi favit Apollo,
incipe, dum salices haedi, dum gramina vaccae
detondent, viridique greges permittere campo
dum ros et primi suadet dementia solis.
Tit. hos annos canamque comam, vicine Timeta,
tu iuvenis carusque deis in carmina cogis ? 1
diximus et calamis versus cantavimus olim,
dum secura hilares aetas ludebat amores.
nunc album caput et veneres tepuere sub annis,
iam mea ruricolae dependet fistula Fauno.
te nunc rura sonant ; nuper nam carmine victor 1
risisti calamos et dissona flamina Mopsi
^^ et calamis versus V nonnulli : et calamis et versu NGA : |
et calamis et versum aptavimus Baehrens.
" The hybrid alternative title " Epiphunus " {iirl and
funus) refers to the obituary lament on Meliboeus.
NEMESIANUS
ECLOGUE I
TiMETAS : TiTYRUS ^
While, Tityrus, you are weaving a basket with
river rushes, and while the country-side is free
from the harsh-toned grasshoppers,^ strike up,
if you've got any song set to the slender
reed-pipe. Pan has taught your lips to blow
the reeds and a kind Apollo has given you the
grace of verse. Strike up, while the kids crop
the willoMs and the cows the grass, while the
dew and the mildness of the morning sun urge
you to let your flocks into the green meadow-
land.
Neighbour Timetas, do you constrain these years
of mine and hoary hair to sing, you a young
man beloved of the gods ? Time was when I
found words ; time was when I sang verses to
the reeds, so long as my care-free youth uttered
the merry lays of love. Now my head is white
and passion has cooled beneath the years.
Already hangs my pipe devoted to the country-
haunting Faunus. With your fame the country
now resounds. Victor in song of late, when I
was judge, you mocked the pipes of Mopsus
'' It is morning and the cicalas are not yet noisy.
457
MINOR LATIN POETS
iudice me. mecuin senior Meliboeus utrumque
audierat laudesque tuas sublime ferebat ;
quem nunc emeritae permensum tempora vitae
secreti pars orbis habet mundusque piorum.
quare age, si qua tibi Meliboei gratia vivit,
dicat honoratos praedulcis tibia manes.
Tim. et parere decet iussis et grata iubentur.
namque fuit dignus senior, quem carmine Phoe-
bus,
Pan calamis, fidibus Linus aut Oeagrius Orpheus
concinerent totque acta \ix\ laudesque sonarent.
sed quia tu nostrae laudem deposcis avenae,
accipe quae super haec cerasus, quam cernis
ad amnem,
continet, inciso servans mea carmina libro.
Tit. die age ; sed nobis ne vento garrula pinus I
obstrepat, has ulmos potius fagosque petamus.
Tim. hie cantare libet ; virides nam subicit herbas
mollis ager lateque tacet nemus omne :' quieti
adspice ut ecce procul decerpant gramina tauri.
omniparens aether et rerum causa, liquores, i
corporis et genetrix tellus, vitalis et aer, I
accipite hos cantus atque haec nostro Meliboeo /
mittite, si sentire datur post fata quietis. :
nam si sublimes animae caelestia templa
sidereasque colunt sedes mundoque fruuntur, 4
tu nostros adverte modos, quos ipse benigno
^' hos cantus N : hos calamos V, Baehrens.
458
NEMESIANUS
aiul his discordant blasts. With nic I lie ajL!;(d
Mcliboeus had heard you both, and he extolled
your merits on high. He has fulfilled the
span of life's campaign, and dwells now in a
part of that secluded sphere, the heaven of
the blest. Wherefore, come, if you have a
living gratitude to Meliboeus, let the dulcet
strains of your flute tell of his glorified spirit.
Tim. 'Tis right to obey your commands, and your
commands are pleasing. The old man de-
served that the poetry of Phoebus, the reeds
of Pan, and the lyre of Linus or of Orpheus,
son of Oeagrus. should join in his praises and
should extol all the glorious deeds of the hero.
But since you ask but the praise my pipe can
give, hear now what the cherry-tree you see
beside the river keeps upon this theme ; it
preserves my lay in the carving on its bark.
Tit. Come, speak : but lest the pine, made garrul-
ous by the wind, trouble us with its noise,
let us seek rather these elms and beeches.
Tim. Here 'tis my pleasure to sing : for underneath
us the soft fields spread their carpeting of
green sward, and fi\r and wide all the grove is
still. Look ! see in the distance how the bulls
are (jpietly browsing in the grass.
Ether, parent of all ; water, primal cause of
things ; and earth, mother of body ; and life-
giving air ! accept ye these strains ; waft these
words to our loved Meliboeus, if those at rest
are permitted to have feeling after death.
For if souls sublime dwell in the celestial
precincts and the starry abodes, if the heavens
are their lot, do thou, Meliboeus, give ear to
459
MINOR LATIN POETS
pectore fovisti, quos tu, Meliboee, probasti.
longa tibi cunctisque diu spectata senectus
felicesque anni nostrique noiissimus aevi
circulus innocuae clauserunt tempora vitae.
nee minus hine nobis gemitus lacrimaeque
fuere
quam si florentes mors invida carperet annos ;
nee tenuit tales communis causa querellas.
" heu, Meliboee, iaces mortali frigore segnis
lege hominum, caelo dignus canente senecta
concilioque deum. plenum tibi ponderis aequi
pectus erat. tu ruricolum discernere lites
adsueras, varias patiens mulcendo querellas.
sub te iuris amor, sub te reverentia iusti
floruit, ambiguos signavit terminus agros.
blanda tibi vultu gravitas et mite serena
fronte supercilium, sed pectus mitius ore.
tu calamos aptare labris et iungere cera
hortatus duras docuisti fallere curas ;
nee segnem passus nobis marcere iu^ntam
saepe dabas meritae non vilia praemia Musae.
^^ pelleret V : carperet NGA : velleret Glaeser : tolleret
Ileinsius : perderet Burman.
*^ mortali NG : letali V, Baehrens.
^° canente codd. : callente Baehrens.
53 patiens codd. : paeans Maehly, Baehrens, H. Schenkl,
Giarra'ano : sapiens Burman.
^* ruris N^GV : iuris N^, Martellius. iusti V, N {in mar-
gine) : iuris G {corr. ex ruris), N {corr. ex viris).
460
NEMESIANUS
my lays, wliicli your own kind heart clu-rislied
and your judgement approved. An advanced
old age, long esteemed by all, and happy years
and the final cycle in our human span closed
the period of your life ^^hich injured none.
Neither did this make our tears and lamenta-
tions less sore than if churlish death had
plucked the years of your prime : nor did
the common cause " check dirges such as
these: "Ah, Meliboeus, in that chill which
awaits all men you lie strengthless, obeying
the law of all flesh, worthy though you are of
heaven in your hoary age and worthy of the
council of the gods. Your heart was full of
firmness fairly balanced. With patient ear
and soothing word for diverse plaints, you
were wont to judge the disputes of the peasants.
Under your guidance flourished a love of law
and a respect for justice ; disputed land was
marked with a boundary line. You had a
courteous dignity in your countenance and
kindly brow with an unruffled forehead ; but
still kindlier than your face was your heart.
You urged me to adapt the reed-pipe to my
lips and to fashion it with wax, and so taught
me to beguile oppressive cares. You would
not suffer my youth to languish in idleness ;
guerdons of no mean price you often gave to
my Muse if she quitted herself well. Often
" i.e. that all men are mortal : cf. Hamlet I. ii :
" Thou know'st 'tis common ; all that lives must die,
Passing through nature to eternity ";
Temiyson, hi Mernoriam, vi :
" Loss is common to the race —
And common is the commonplace."
461
MINOR LATIN POETS
saepe etiam senior, ne nos cantare pigeret,
laetus Phoebea dixisti carmen avena.
felix o Meliboee, vale ! tibi frondis odorae
munera dat lauros carpens ruralis Apollo ; (
dant Fauni, quod quisque valet, de vite racemos,
de messi culmos omnique ex arbore fruges ;
dat grandaeva Pales spumantia cymbia lacte.
mella ferunt Nymphae, pictas dat Flora coronas :
manibus hie supremus honos. dant carmina
Musae,
carmina dant Musae, nos et modulamur avena :
silvestris te nunc platanus, Meliboee, susurrat,
te pinus ; reboat te quicquid carminis Echo
respondet silvae ; te nostra armenta loquuntur.
namque prius siccis phocae pascentur in arvis
hirsutusque freto vivet leo, dulcia mella
sudabunt taxi, confusis legibus anni
messem tristis hiemps, aestas tractabit olivam,
ante dabit flores autumnus, ver dabit uvas,
quam taceat, Meliboee, tuas mea fistula
laudes." 8(
Tit. perge, puer, coeptumque tibi ne desere
carmen,
nam sic dulce sonas, ut te placatus Apollo
provehat et felix dominam perducat in urbem.
iamque hie in silvis praesens tibi fama benignum
stravit iter, rumpens livoris nubila pennis. 8|
^^ messi Maehly : messe XGA : campo V : messo Burrtian.
73-74 reboant , . . silvae {nam. pJur.) Baehrens.
'* armenta codd. : arbusta Hawpt, Baehrens.
'^ hirsutusque V wonnuZZi : vestitusque NG V^Zenywe : insue-
tusque Heinsius : villosusque C. Schenkl.
'^ tractabit GV : tractavit N : iactabit Burman : prae-
stabit Havpt, Baehrens.
462
NEMESIANUS
too, lest singing might irk us, you sang joy-
fully despite your years to a flute inspired by
Phoebus. Farewell, blessed Meliboeus ; Apollo
of the country-side plucks the laurel and offers
you gifts of fragrant foliage. The Fauns offer,
each according to his power, grape-clusters
from the vine, harvest-stalks from the field,
and fruits from every tree. Time-honoured
Pales offers bowls foaming with milk ; the
Nymphs bring honey ; Flora offers chaplets
of varied hue. Such is the last tribute to the
departed. Songs the Muses oiler : the Muses
offer song : and we play your praises on the
flute. Your name, Meliboeus, is in the whisper
of the forest plane-tree and the pine : every
tuneful answer that echo makes to the wood-
land resounds your name. 'Tis you our herds
have upon their lips. For first will seals browse
in the dry meadow, the shaggy lion live in the
sea, and yew-trees drip sweet honey ; first will
the year confound its laws and winter's gloom
control the harvest and summer the olive-
crop ; autumn will yield blossoms, spring will
yield grapes, ere your praises, Meliboeus, are
liushed upon my flute."
Forward, my boy, leave not off the music you
have begun. Your melody is so sweet that a
favourable Apollo bears you onward and is
your auspicious guide into the queen of cities.'*
For propitious fame has here in the woods
made smooth a kindly path for you, her
pinions piercing the clouds of malice.
" i.e. the imperial capital, Rome : cf. II. 84.
463
MINOR LATIN POETS
sed iam sol demittit equos de culmine mundi,
fluniineos suadens gregibus praebere liquores.
II
Idas : Alcon
Formosam Donacen puer Idas et puer Alcon
ardebant rudibusque annis incensus uterque
in Donaces venereni furiosa niente ruebant.
banc, cum vicini flores in vallibus horti
carperet et molli gremium compleret acantho,
invasere simul venerisque imbutus uterque
turn primum dulci carpebant gaudia furto.
hinc amor et pueris iam non puerilia vota :
quis anni ter quinquef hiemes et cura iuventae.
sed postquam Donacen duri clausere parentes,
quod non tam tenui filo de voce sonaret
soUicitumque foret pinguis sonus, improba cervix
sufFususque rubor crebro venaeque tumentes,
tum vero ardentes flammati pectoris aestus
carminibus dulcique parant relevare querella ;
ambo aevo cantuque pares nee dispare forma,
ambo genas leves, intonsi crinibus ambo.
atque haec sub platano maesti solatia casus
alternant, Idas calamis et versibus Alcon.
^ callibus G. Hermann.
^ venerisque H V nonnulli : venerique V nonnulli : veneris
NG. imbutus codd. : immitis ed. Aid. 1534.
* anni codd. : actae Heinsius : aevi Ilartel. hiemes et cura
iuventae codd. phrigue : hiemes et cruda iuventa Haupt :
et mens et cura iuventae Summers : increscit cura iavencae
Baehrens : alii alia.
1® haec sub Glaeser : hie sub XG : hi sub AH, Baehrens :
sub hac V : hinc sub H. Schenkl.
464
XEMRSIANUS
But now tlie sun is driving his steeds down
from the arch of heaven and prompting us to
give our flocks the river waters.
ECLOGUE II
Idas : Alcox
Young Idas and young Alcon had a burning pas-
sion for the fjiir Donace : both, ablaze in their
inexperienced years, rushed with frenzied spirit into
their love for Donace. Her they assailed together,
when she was gathering flowers in the neighbouring
garden vales and filling her lap with soft acanthus.
Then first initiated, they both snatched the joys of
Venus by a sweet robbery. Hence came love,*^ and
the boys felt longings beyond their boyish age.
Their years were only fifteen winters, yet they had
the pangs of early manhood. But after her stern
parents had imprisoned Donace, because her voice
had lost its fine music, and its thickened sound caused
anxious thought, because her neck grew coarse,
and spreading blushes came and went and her veins
showed larger, ^ then truly the youths made ready
to relieve the burning heat of a love-enflamed heart
with the sweet plaint of their minstrelsy — both of
them equal in age and song, of well-matched come-
liness, both smooth in cheek, both of unshorn locks.
And beneath a plane-tree — Idas on the flute followed
by Alcon in his verse — they poured out this solace
for their sad plight.
" Cf. Grattius, Cyneget. 283-284.
* The reasons given are traditional signs of lost maidenhood.
465
VOL. I. H H
MINOR LATIN POETS
7. " quae colitis silvas, Dryades, quaeque antra,
Napaeae,
et quae marmoreo pede, Naiades, uda secatis
litora purpureosque alitis per gramina flores :
dicite, quo Donacen prato, qua forte sub umbra
inveniam, roseis stringentem lilia palmis?
nam mihi iam trini perierunt ordine soles,
ex quo consueto Donacen exspecto sub antro.
interea, tamquam nostri solamen amoris
hoc foret aut nostros posset medicare furores,
nulla meae trinis tetigerunt gramina vaccae
luciferis, nullo libarunt amne liquores ;
siccaque fetarum lambentes ubera matrum
stant vituli et teneris mugitibus aera complent.
ipse ego nee iunco molli nee vimine lento
perfeci calathos cogendi lactis in usus.
quid tibi, quae nosti, referam ? scis mille iuvencas
esse mihi, nosti numquam mea mulctra vacare.
ille ego sum, Donace, cui dulcia saepe dedisti
oscula nee medios dubitasti rumpere cantus
atque inter calamos errantia labra petisti.
heu, heu ! nulla meae tangit te cura salutis ?
pallidior buxo violaeque simillimus erro.
omnes ecce cibos et nostri pocula Bacchi
horreo nee placido memini concedere somno.
te sine, vae misero, mihi lilia fusca videntur
^2 aera NH V jplerique : ethera G : aethera Ulitius,
Bnehrens.
** fusca NGA : nigra V, Baehrens.
" Line 35 closely follows Calpurnius, Ed. III. 65.
* Lines 37-39 are copied from Calpurnius, Ed. III. 55 sqq^
466
NEMKSIAXUS
Id (IS. " Ye Dryads who haunt the woodland, Napaean
nymphs who haunt the caves, and Naiads
whose marble-white feet cleave the watery
strands, who nourish the gleaming flowers
athwart the sward, say, in what meadow or
haply 'neath what shade shall I find Donace
pulling lilies with her rosy hands ? Three suc-
ceeding days are now lost to me, while I have
been awaiting Donace in the grotto that was
our tryst. Meanwhile, as if this were con-
solation for my love or could heal my passion,
my cows for three morns have touched no
grass, nor sipped the waters from any stream.
Calves stand licking the dry udders of their
new-delivered mothers and fill the air with
their tender lowing. And for myself, neither
of soft sedge nor of pliant osier have I made
baskets for the purposes of curdling milk. Why
should I relate to you what you know ? '^ You
are aware I have a thousand heifers ; you
know my milk-pails are never empty. I am
he to whom, Donace, you gave many a tender
kiss, whose strains half-sung you did not hesi-
tate to interrupt by seeking my lips, as they
strayed o'er the reed-pipe.'' xAlack, alack, are
you touched by no thought for my health ?
Paler than the box-tree and most like unto
the (white) \iolet I stray. See, I shrink from
all food and from the goblets of our loved
Bacchus, nor do I mind me to yield myself
to gentle sleep. Ah, without you,*^ to my
unhappy sight lilies are grey and roses pale
Cf. 44-4S witli the pass.ir^e whifh it imitates, Calp. Erl.
ni. 51-54.
467
HH 2
MINOR LATIN POETS
pallentesque rosae nee diilce rubens hyacinthus,
nullos nee myrtus nee laurus spirat odores.
at si tu venias, et Candida lilia fient
purpureaeque rosae, et diilce rubens hyacinthus;
tunc niihi cuin niyrto laurus spirabit odores.
nam dum Pallas amat turgentes unguine bacas,
dum Bacchus vites, Deo sata, poma Priapus,
pascua laeta Pales, Idas te diligit unam."
haec Idas calamis. tu, quae responderit Alcon
versu, Phoebe, refer : sunt curae carmina Phoebo.
A. " o montana Pales, o pastoralis Apollo,
et nemorum Silvane potens, et nostra Dione,
quae iuga celsa tenes Erycis, cui cura iugales
concubitus hominum totis conectere saeclis :
quid merui ? cur me Donace formosa reliquit ?
munera namque dedi, noster quae non dedit Idas,
vocalem longos quae ducit aedona cantus ;
quae licet interdum, contexto vimine clausae
cum parvae patuere fores, ceu libera ferri
norit et agrestes inter volitare volucres,
scit rursus remeare domum tectumque subire,
viminis et caveam totis praeponere silvis.
praeterea tenerum leporem geminasque palumbes
nuper, quae potui, silvarmn praemia misi.
*^ et dulce rubens V nonnulli : sed sine hiatu tunc dulce
rubens V alii : dulce atque rubens Baehrens.
^" unguine X^GA : sanguine X^V.
^^ vites V : uvas XG. Deo Glaeser : deus codd.
^* curae Haupt : aurea codd.
®- clausae Haupt : clausa codd. : caveae Maehly.
^* norit Wernsdorf : novit codd.
468
NKMESIANUS
and the hyacinth has no sweet bhish, nor do
myrtle or hiurel breathe any fragrance ; but
if you come, lilies will grow white once more,
the roses be red, and the hyacinth regain its
sweet blush ; then for me wiW laurel with
myrtle breathe fragrance forth. For while
Pallas loves the olive-berries that swell with
fatness, while Bacchus loves the vines, Deo "
her crops. Priapus his fruits and Pales the
joyous pastures, Idas loves you alone,"
So Idas on the pipes. O Phoebus, recount what
\lcon answered in verse. Over poetry Phoebus
presides.
A. " O Pales, lady of the hills, Apollo of the pasture-
land, Silvanus, lord of the groves, and my Dione *
whose citadel is the lofty ridge of Eryx, whose
province it is throughout the aeons to rivet
the love-unions of mankind ; what fate have I
merited ? Why has fair Donace deserted me ?
I gave her gifts, such as our friend Idas never
i^ave — a tuneful nightingale that trills its songs
hour after hour : and, although sometimes, when
the little cage-doors — barred with woven osier —
are opened, it can fly forth as if free and wing
its way among the birds of the field, yet it
knows how to return home again and enter its
abode and prefer the cage of osier to all the
woods that are. Besides, of late I sent her what
spoils of the forest I could, a young hare and a
" Deo is Atjw, Demeter, the corn-goddess.
* Dione, strictl}- mother of Venus, is here identified with
Venus, whose temple on Mount Eryx in X.W. Sicily gave her
the epithet of "' P.rycina."
469
MINOR LATIN POETS
et post haec, Donace, nostros contemnis amores?
forsitan indignmn duels, quod rusticus Alcon
te peream, qui mane boves in pascua duco.
di peeorum pavere greges, formosus Apollo,
Pan doctus, Fauni vates et pulcher Adonis,
quin etiam fontis speculo me mane notavi,
nondum purpureos Phoebus cum tolleret ortus
nee tremulum liquidis lumen splenderet in undis :
quod vidi. nulla tegimur lanugine malas ;
pascimus et crinem ; nostro formosior Ida
dicor, et hoc ipsum mihi tu iurare solebas, |
purpureas laudando genas et lactea coUa
atque hilares oculos et formam puberis aevi.
nee sumus indocti calamis : cantamus avena,
qua divi cecinere prius, qua dulce locutus
Tityrus e silvis dominam pervenit in urbem.
nos quoque te propter, Donace, cantabimur
urbi,
si modo coniferas inter viburnacupressos
atque inter pinus corylum frondescere fas est."
sic pueri Donacen toto sub sole canebant,
frigidus e sihds donee descendere suasit
Hesperus et stabulis pastos inducere tauros.
88 descendere N : discedere G : descendere vel discedere V :
decedere Baehrens.
470
NEMESIANUS
])air of wood-pigeons. And after this, Donaee,
(In you despise my passion? Perhaps you think
it shame that the clownish Alcon should pine
with love for you, I who lead oxen to their morn-
ing pasturage. Gods have fed herds of cattle,
beauteous Apollo, skilled Pan, prophetic Fauns,
and fair Adonis. Nay, I have remarked myself
in a fountain's mirror of a morning, before
Phoebus raised aloft the splendour of his up-
rising, and when no quivering light shone in the
clear waters. As far as I saw, no down covers
my cheeks ; I let my hair grow ; men call me
more handsome than our Idas, and this indeed you
were wont to say to me on oath,*^ while praising ^
the radiance of my cheeks, the milky whiteness of
my neck, the laughter in my eyes and the come-
liness of my manhood. Nor am I "without skill
on the reed-pipe. I sing on a flute whereon
gods have sung ere now, whereon Tityrus made
sweet music and so advanced from the woodland
to the imperial city.'' Me too on your account,
Donaee, the city will celebrate, if only the
cypress with its cones be allowed to burst into
leaf amonsr the osiers or the hazel amono: the
pines."
So the boys sang of Donaee throughout the day
until chilly evening bade them come down from the
woods and lead the full-fed bulls to their stalls.
" Lino 79 is repeated from Calp. ITT. 62.
** With laudando (80) cf. Xeraes, Ed. I. 53, mulcendo.
<^ '■ Tityrus " means Virgil. Among frequent reminis-
cences of the Eclogues one is appropriately near; line 86 is
based on inter viburna cupressi of Virg. Ed. I. 25.
4/1
MINOR LATIN POETS
III
Bacchus
Nyctilus atque Micon nee non et pulcher Amyntas
torrentem patula vitabant ilice soleni,
cum Pan venatu fessus recubare sub ulmo
coeperat et somno laxatus sumere vires ;
quern super ex tereti pendebat fistula ramo.
banc pueri, tamquam praedem pro carmine possent
sumere fasque esset calamos tractare deorum,
invadunt furto ; sed nee resonare canorem
fistula quem suerat nee vult contexere carmen,
sed pro carminibus male dissona sibila reddit,
cum Pan excussus sonitu stridentis avenae
iamque videns " pueri, si carmina poscitis " inquit,
" ipse canam : nulli fas est inflare cicutas,
quas ego Maenaliis cera coniungo sub antris.
iamque ortus, Lenaee, tuos et semina vitis
ordine detexam : debemus carmina Baccho."
haec fatus coepit calamis sic montivagus Pan :
" te cano, qui gravidis hederata fronte corymbis
vitea serta plicas quique udo palmite tigres
ducis odoratis perfusus colla capillis,
vera lovis proles : nam cum post sidera caeli
sola lovem Semele vidit lovis ora professum,
hunc pater omnipotens, venturi providus aevi,
* laxatas G : lassatas N V plerique : lassatus V nonnulli :
laxatus Hoeufft.
® praedem Titius : praedam codd.
^^ cum NG : turn V.
21 iam tunc codd. : nam tunc Burman : nam cum Baehrens.
" Bacchus is the subject of Pan's song : some editors prefer
" Pan " as the title.
472
NEMESIANUS
ECLOGUE III
Bacchus "
Nvctilus and Mycon and likewise fair Amyntas
were shunning the scorching heat of the sun beneath
a spreading ilex, when Pan, fatigued in the chase,
set himself to recline under an elm and gain strength
by sleep's recreation. From a rounded bough above
him hung his pipe. This the boys seized by stealth,
as though they could take it to be a surety for a
song, as though 'twere right to handle the reed-
pipes of gods. But neither would the pipe sound
its wonted music, nor would it weave its song, but
instead of songs it rendered vilely discordant
"^Creeches, till Pan was awakened by the din of the
^trident pipe, and, now seeing them, said, "Boys,
if songs ye call for, I myself will sing. No man
may blow upon the hemlock stalks which I fashion
with wax within Maenalian caves. ^ And now, O
God of the winepress, I will unfold in order due the
^tory of thy birth and the seeds of the vine. Song
i- our debt to Bacchus."
With these words, Pan the mountain-ranger began
thus upon the reeds: "Thee I sing, who plaitest
vine-wreaths with berried clusters hanging heavy
on thine ivy-circled brow, who leadest tigers with
juice-soaked vine-branch, thy perfumed hair flowing
o'er thy neck, true offspring of Jove. For when
Semele alone, save the stars of heaven, saw Jove
wearing Jove's own countenance, this child did the
Almighty Father, careful for future ages, carry till
'' The Arcadian mountain-range of Maenalus was sacred to
Pan.
473
MINOR LATIN POETS
pertiilit ct iusto produxit tempore partus.
hiinc Xymphae Faunique senes Satyrique procaces,
nosque etiam Nysae Wridi nutrimus in antro.
quin et Silenus parvum veteranus alumnum
aut greniio fovet aut resupinis sustinet ulnis,
evocat aut risum digito naotuve quietem
allicit aut tremulis quassat crepitacula palmis.
cui deus arridens horrentes pectore setas
vellicat aut digitis aures adstringit acutas
applauditve manu mutilum caput aut breve mentum
et simas tenero collidit pollice nares.
interea pueri florescit pube iuventus
flavaque mature tumuerunt tempora cornu.
turn primum laetas extendit pampinus uvas :
mirantur Satyri frondes et poma Lyaei.
tum deus ' o Satyri, matures carpite fetus '
dixit ' et ignotos primi calcate racemos.'
vix haec ediderat, decerpunt vitibus uvas
et portant calathis celerique elidere planta
concava saxa super properant : vindemia fervet
collibus in sum^mis, crebro pede rumpitur uva
nudaque purpureo sparguntur pectora musto.
tum Satyri, laseiva cohors, sibi pocula quisque
obvia corripiunt : quae fors dedit, arripit usus.
cantharon hie retinet, cornu bibit alter adunco,
-" veteranus 0. Schubert : veneratus codd.
3 7 extendit G : ostendit XVH.
*° primi NG : pueri V : proni Baehrens.
*^ rubraque NG : udaque V nonnvlli : nudaque V reliqui.
*' arripit NG : hoc capit V : occupat Ulitius, Baehrens.
■ ■ — \
" The story of Semele's perishing amid the lightnings of
Jupiter's tremendous epiphany and of the preservation of her;
child, Bacchus, in Jupiter's thigh till he reached the due hour
of birth is alluded to in Nemes. Cyneg. 16 sqq.
474
NEMESIANUS
it< full time and bring forth at the due hour of
birth.'* This child the Nymphs, the aged Fauns
and wanton Satyrs, and I as well, did nurture in
the green cave of Nysa.*' Nay, the veteran Silenus,
too, fondles his little nursling in his bosom, or holds
him in his cradling arms, or wakes a smile with his
finger, or woos repose by rocking him, or shakes
rattles in tremulous hands. Smiling on him, the
ui'd plucks out the hairs which bristle on his breast,
ir with the fingers pulls his peaked ears, or pats
^\ith the hand his crop-horned"^ head or his short
chin, and with tender thumb pinches his snub nose.
Meanwhile the boy's youth blooms with the coming
of manhood, and his yellow temples have swollen
with full-grown horns. Then first the tendril out-
sj^reads the gladsome grapes. Satyrs are amazed
at the leaves and fruitage of Lyaeus. Then said
the god, ' Pluck the ripe produce, ye Satyrs, be first
to tread the bunches whose full power ye know not.'
Scarce had he uttered these words, when they
snatched the grapes from the vines, carried them in
baskets and hastened to crush them on hollowed
stones with nimble foot. On the hill-tops the vintage
goes on apace, grapes are burst by frequent tread,
and naked breasts are besprinkled with piu-ple must.
Then the wanton troop of Satyrs snatched the gob-
lets, each that which comes his way. What chance
offers, their need seizes. One keeps hold of a
tankard ; another drinks from a curved horn ; one
* Xysa, the fabled birthplace of Bacchus, was by some
afcounts placed in Arabia Felix, by others in India.
*■ " crop-homed " (r/. '' crop-eared ") is meant to suggest the
stumpy or cropped horns with wliich Silenus was represented.
Wemsdorf, following Heinsius, took mutilum as " bald " : cj.
turpepecus mutilum, Ovid, A.A. III. 249.
475
MINOR LATIN POETS
concavat ille manus palmasque in pocula vertit,
pronus at ille lacu bibit et crepitantibus haurit
musta labris ; alius vocalia cymbala mergit
atque alius latices pressis resupinus ab uvis
excipit ; at potus (saliens liquor ore resultat)
evomit, inque umeros et pectora defluit umor.
omnia ludus habet cantusque chorique licentes ;
et venerem iam vina movent : raptantur amantes
concubitu Satyri fugientes iungere Nymphas
iamiamque elapsas hie crine, hie veste retentat.
turn primum roseo Silenus cymbia musto
plena senex avide non aequis viribus hausit.
ex illo venas inflatus nectare dulci
hesternoque gravis semper ridetur laccho.
quin etiam deus ille, deus love prosatus ipso,
et plantis uvas premit et de vitibus hastas
integit et lynci praebet cratera bibenti."
haec Pan Maenalia pueros in valle docebat,
sparsas donee oves campo conducere in unum
nox iubet, uberibus suadens siccare fluorem
lactis et in niveas adstrictum cogere glebas.
^2 hunc versum post 53 collocant codices plerique.
^3 at potus codd. pUrique : aes potum Baehrens : at polls
ed. Aid. 1534. saliensque liquore G, Baehrens: rediens liquor
ore Maehly.
^* evomit NGH : spumeus V : ebibit Baehrens, qui hunc
versum cum 52 coniungit.
^3 prosatus ipso V multi : natus ab ipso V pauci, Baehrens.
^5 integit NG : ingerit V.
476
ni:mksianls
hollows his hands and makes a cup of his jjahns ;
another, stooping forward, drinks of the wine-vat
and with smacking lips drains the new wine ; another
dips therein his sonorous cymbals, and yet another,
lying on his back, catches the juice from the squeezed
grapes, but when drunk (as the welling liquid leaps
back from his mouth) he vomits it out, and the
liquor flows over shoulders and breasts. Every-
where sport reigns, and song and wanton dances.
And now love is stirred by the wine ; amorous satyrs
are seized with desire to unite in intercourse with
the fleeing nymphs, whom, all but escaped, one
captor holds back by the hair, another by the dress.
Then first did old Silenus greedily quaff bowls full
of rosy must, his strength not equal to the carousal.
And ever since that time he rouses mirth, his veins
-woUen with the sweet nectar and himself heavy
with yesterday's lacchus." And indeed that god
ri nowned, the god sprung from very Jove, presses
the grape-clusters with his feet, enwreaths the spear-
like thyrsi from the vine-wands, and proffers a mixing
bowl to a lynx that drinks thereof."
So Pan taught the boys in the Maenalian vale,
until night bade them drive together the sheep
scattered o'er the plain, urging them to drain the
udders of their milk-flow and curdle and thicken it
into snow-white clots of cheese.
" i.e. his debauch on the gifts of the Wine-god.
477
xMINOR LATIN POETS
IV
Lycidas : Mopsus
Populea Lycidas nee non et Mopsus in umbra,
pastores, calamis ae versu doctus uterque
nee tri^iale sonans, proprios eantabat amores.
nam Mopso Meroe, Lyeidae erinitus lollas
ignis erat ; parilisque furor de dispare sexu
eogebat trepidos totis diseurrere silvis.
hos puer ae Meroe multum lusere furentes,
dum modo eondictas vitant in vallibus ulmos,
nunc fagos placitas fugiunt promissaque fallunt
antra nee est animus solitos alludere fontes.
cum tandem fessi, quos dirus adederat ignis,
sic sua desertis nudarunt vulnera silvis
inque \-icem dulces cantu luxere querellas.
M. immitis Meroe rapidisque fugacior Euris,
cur nostros calamos, cur pastoralia vitas
carmina ? quemve fugis ? quae me tibi gloria
victo ?
quid vultu mentem premis ac spem fronte
Serenas ?
tandem, dura, nega : possum non velle negantem.
cantet, amat quod quisque : levant et carmina
curas.
^° ad ludere MaeJily, Baehrens.
11 durus XGA : lusus vel luxus V : dims H. Schenki :
torridus Baehrens. ederat XG V plerique, Baehrens : adederat
V nonnulli.
1^ dixere vulgo : duxere V plerique : luxere Glaeser :
mulsere Maehly.
1^ non codd. : iam Baehrens : nam C. Schenki.
** An alternative title is " Eros."
* From Virg. Aen. TV. 477, spent frnnte serenat.
478
NEMKSIAXUS
ECLOGUE IV
Lycidas : Mopsus °
The shepherds, Lycidas and Mopsus too, both of
them skilled on the reed-pipes and in verse, were
singing each of his own love in the poplar shade,
littering no common strain. For Mopsus the flame
was Meroe, for Lycidas 'twas lollas of the flowing
locks ; and a like frenzy for a darling of different sex
drove them wandering restlessly through all the
groves. The youth and Meroe sorely mocked these
shepherds in their desperate passion ; now they would
shun the valley-elms which had been made a trysting-
place ; anon they would avoid the beeches where they
fixed to meet, fail to be at the promised cave, or
liave no mind to sport by the wonted springs ; until
at length in weariness, consumed by the dread fire
of love, Mopsus and Lycidas thus laid bare their
wounds to the solitary groves, and by turns wailed
forth in song their sweet complaints.
^[. Pitiless Meroe, more elusive than the rushing
I'.ast wind, why do you avoid my pipes, why my
shepherd songs ? Or whom do you shun r What
glory does my conquest bring to you ? Why
conceal your mind under your looks, why show
fair hope on your brow? ^ At last, O heartless
maid, refuse me ; I may cease to want her who
refuses me.
Let each sing of what he loves : song too
relieves love's pangs. "^
rhe device of a refrain follows the examples in Theocritus,
Lli/IL I. and II. and Virgil, Eclog. VIII. It is effectively used
in the trochaics of the Fervigiliinn Veneris: 'eras amet qui
niunquatn amavit (jniquf (imdvil cra.^ amet.^
479
MINOR LATIN POETS
L. respice me tandem, puer o crudelis lolla.
non hoc semper eris : perdunt et gramina flores,
perdit spina rosas nee semper lilia candent
nee longum tenet uva comas nee populus mnbras :
donum forma breve est nee se quod commodet
annis.
cantetj amat quod quisque : levant et carmina
curas.
M. cerva marem sequitur, taurum formosa iuvenca,
et Venerem sensere lupae, sensere leaenae
et genus aerimn volucres et squamea turba
et montes silvaeque, suos habet arbor amores :
tu tamen una fugis, miserum tu prodis amantem.
cantet, amat quod quisque : levant et carmina
curas.
L. omnia tempus alit, tempus rapit : usus in arto est.
ver erat, et vitulos vidi sub matribus istos,
qui nunc pro nivea coiere in cornua vacca.
et tibi iam tumidae nares et fortia colla,
iam tibi bis denis numerantur messibus anni.
cantet, amat quod quisque : levant et carmina
curas.
M. hue, Meroe formosa, veni : vocat aestus in
umbram.
iam pecudes subiere nemus, iam nulla canoro
gutture cantat avis, torto non squamea tractu
signat humum serpens : solus cano. me sonat
omnis
silva, nee aestivis cantu concedo cicadis.
^° prodis XG : perdis V.
480
NEMESIANUS
Turn your gaze on me at last, lollas, cruel boy.
You will not be ever thus. Herbs lose their
bloom, thorns lose their roses, nor are lilies
always white ; the vine keeps not its leaf for
long nor the poplar its shady foliage. Beauty is
a short-lived gift nor one that lends itself to age.
Let each sing of what he loves : song too
relieves love's pangs.
. The doe follows the buck, the comely heifer the
bull, wolves have felt the stirring of love, lionesses
have felt it, and the tribes of the air, the birds,
and the throng of scaled creatures, and moun-
tains and woods — and trees have their own
loves. You alone flee from love ; you betray
your hapless lover.
Let each sing of what he loves : song too
relieves love's pangs.
Time nurtures all things, time snatches them
away ; enjoyment lies within narrow bounds.
'Twas spring, and I saw beneath their mothers
yonder calves, w^hich now have met in horned
battle for the snow-white cow. For you, already
your nostrils swell, already your neck grows
strong, already you count your years by twenty
harvests.
Let each sing of what he loves : song too
relieves love's pangs.
. Come hither, fair Meroe ; the heat calls us to
the shade. Now the herds have found cover in
the wood ; now there is no bird that sings from
tuneful throat; the scaly serpent marks not
the ground with its sinuous trail. Alone I sing,
all the wood resounds with my strain, nor do I
yield in song to the summer cicalas.
481
VOL. I. I I
MINOR LATIN POETS
cantetj amat quod quisque : levant et carmina
curas.
L. tu quoque, saeve puer, niveum ne perde colorem
sole sub hoc ; solet hie lucentes urere malas.
hie age pampinea mecum requlesce sub umbra ;
hie tibi lene fluens fons murmurat, hie et ab ulmis
purpureae fetis dependent vitibus uvae.
cantet, amat quod quisque : levant et carmina
curas.
M. qui tulerit Meroes fastidia lenta superbae,
Sithonias feret ille nives Libyaeque calorem,
Nerinas potabit aquas taxique nocentis
non metuet sucos, Sardoriun gramiina vincet
et iuga Marmaricos coget sua ferre leones.
cantet, amat quod quisque : levant et carmina
curas.
L. quisquis amat pueros, ferro praecordia duret,
nil properet discatque diu patienter amare
prudentesque animos teneris non spernat in annis,
perferat et fastus. sic olim gaudia sumet,
si modo sollicitos aliquis deus audit amantes.
cantet, amat quod quisque : levant et carmina
curas.
M. quid prodest, quod me pagani mater Amyntae
^•^ hie V plerique, Leo, Giarratano : hac G, Baehrens.
*' virens NG, H. Schenkl : fluens V plerique.
" Sithonias means "Thracian"; Sardoa gramina, bitter
herbs from Sardinia; Marmaricos, belonging to the north of
Africa between Egypt and the Syrtes.
NEMESIANUS
Let each sing of what he loves : song too
relieves love's pangs,
. You too, cruel youth, destroy not your snow-
white colour under this sun ; it is wont to scorch
fair cheeks. Come, rest here with me beneath
the shadow of the vine. Here you have the
murmur of a gently running spring, here too on
the supporting elms hang purple clusters from
the fruitful vines.
Let each sing of what he loves : song too
relieves love's pangs.
M. The man who can endure proud Meroe's un-
responsive disdain will endure Sithonian snows
and Libyan heat, will drink sea-water, and be
unafraid of the hurtful yew-tree's sap; he will
defy Sardinian herbs and will constrain Marmaric
lions to bear his yoke."
Let each sing of what he loves : song too
relieves love's pangs.
L. Whoe'er loves boys, let him harden his heart
with steel. Let him be in no haste, but learn
for long to love with patience. Let him not
scorn prudence in tender years. Let him even
endure disdain. So one day he will find joy, if
so be that some god hearkens to troubled lovers.
Let each sing of what he loves : song too
relieves love's pangs.
M. What boots it ^ that the mother of Amyntas
* Lines 62-72 draw upon the magical ideas in the Pharma-
ceutriae of Theocritus, Idyll. II, and its adaptation by Virgil,
Eel. VIII. 64-109. From Virgil come the odd numbers, fillets
of wool, frankincense, burning of laurel, ashes thrown in a
stream, the many-coloured threads, herbs of virtue, and
charms to affect the moon or a snake or corn-crops.
483
ii2
MINOR LATIN POETS
ter vittis, ter fronde sacra, ter ture vaporo,
incendens vivo crepitantes sulphure lauros, (
lustravit cineresque aversa efFudit in amnem, (
cuni sic in Meroen totis miser ignibus urar ?
cantet, amat quod quisque : levant et carmina
curas.
haec eadem nobis quoque versicoloria fila
et niille ignotas Mycale circumtulit herbas ;
cantavit, quo luna tumet, quo rumpitur anguis,
quo currunt scopuli, migrant sata, vellitur arbos.
plus tamen ecce mens, plus est formosus loUas.
cantet, amat quod quisque : levant et carmina
curas.
CYNEGETICA
Venandi cano mille vias ; hilaresque labores
discursusque citos, securi proelia ruris,
pandimus. Aonio iam nunc mihi pectus ab oestro
aestuat : ingentes Helicon iubet ire per agros,
Castaliusque mihi nova pocula fontis alumno
ingerit et late campos metatus apertos
imponitque iugum vati retinetque corymbis
implicitum ducitque per avia, qua sola numquam
^* versus qui sunt in codicibus 64 et 65 transposuit Hauptius.
^* quoque XGA : quae V.
Cyn. ^ alumnus Ulitius, Baehrens.
" The notion, imitating Virgil. Eel. VIII. 82 (fragiles
incende bitumine lauros), is that the laurels are kindled with
divine fire, bitumen being reckoned a product of lightning.
484
NEMESIANUS
from our village j^iirificd mc thrice with chaplets,
thrice with sacred leaves, thrice with reeking
incense, while she burnt crackling laurel ^ with
live sulphur, and, turning her face away, cast
the ashes into the river? what boots it when
my unhappy heart burns thus for Meroe in all
the fires of love ?
Let each sing of what he loves : song too
relieves love's pangs.
L. Round me also this self-same dame, Mycale,
carried threads of varied colour and a thousand
strange herbs. She uttered the spell which
makes the moon grow large, the snake to burst,
rocks to run, crops to change their field, and
trees to be uprooted : yet more, lo ! still more
beautiful is my lollas.''
Let each sing of what he loves : song too
relieves love's pangs.
THE CHASE
The thousand phases of the chase I sing ; its merry
tasks do we reveal, its quick dashes to and fro — the
battles of the quiet country-side. Already my heart
is tide-swept by the frenzy the Muses '^ send : Helicon
bids me fare through widespread lands, and the
God of Castaly presses on me, his foster-child, fresh
draughts from the fount of inspiration : and, after
far roaming in the open plains, sets his yoke upon
the bard, holding him entangled with ivy-cluster,
and guides him o'er wilds remote, where never
* i.e. despite all incantations, Tollas retains a beauty wliich
exerts an irresi.stible power over Lycidas.
* Aonia = Bocotia, associated with the Muses through
Mount Helicon.
4S5
MINOR LATIN POETS
trita rotis. iuvat aurato procedere curru
et parere deo : virides en ire per herbas
iniperat : intacto premimus vestigia musco ;
et, quamvis cursus ostendat tramite noto
obvia Calliope faciles, insistere prato
complacitum, rudibus qua luceat orbita sulcis.
nam quis non Nioben numeroso funere maestam
iam cecinit ? quis non Semelen ignemque iugalem
letalemque simul novit de paelicis astu ?
quis magno recreata tacet cunabula Baccho,
ut pater omnipotens maternos reddere menses
dignatus iusti complerit tempora partus ?
sunt qui sacrilego rorantes sanguine thyrsos
(nota nimis) dixisse velint, qui \dncula Dirces
Pisaei<(que) tori legem Danaique omentum
imperium sponsasque truces sub foedere prime
dulcia funereis mutantes gaudia taedis.
Biblidos indictum nulli scelus ; impia MjTrhae
1^ facilest Pithoeus, Baehren-s.
^* non placito Baehrens : complacito AC : complacitum H.
SchenJd.
^^ complerit vulgo : compellere AC.
2^- sacrilegos orantes A : sacrilego rorantes C.
° Lines 8-14 : for this almost conventional claim to be
original, cf. Lucret. I. 926, avia Pieridum peragro loca nullius
ante irita solo; Virg. G. III. 291-293; Hor. Od. III. i. 2^;
Milton, P.L. I. 16.
^ Juno (here strikingly called paelex, " concubine ")
tempted Semele into the fatal request that Jupiter should
appear to her in all his glory.
<^ After Semele perished amidst the flames of her lover
Jupiter's visitation, the god kept her unborn child, Bacchus,
in his thigh imtil his birth was due : cf. Nem. Ed. III. 21-24.
486
t^
NEMESIANUS
wheel marked ground." 'Tis joy to advance in
gilded car and obey the God : lo, 'tis his behest to
fare across the green sward : we print our steps on
virgin moss ; and. though CalHope meet us pointing
to easy runs along some well-known path, it is our
dear resolve to set foot upon a mead where the track
lies clear mid furrows hitherto untried.
For ere now who has not sung of Niobe saddened
by death upon death of her children ? Who does
not knoM- of Semele and of the fire that was at once
bridal and doom for her — as the outcome of her
rival's ^ craft ? Who fails to record the cradling
renewed for mighty Bacchus — how the Almighty
Sire deigned to restore his mother's months and
fulfilled the time of regular pregnancy.'" Poets
there are whose taste is to tell the hackneyed tales
of Bacchic wands dripping with unholy blood,'' or
Dirce's bonds j*^ and the terms imposed for the wooing
at Pisa,/ and Danaus' bloody behest, and the merci-
less brides who, fresh from plighted troth, changed
sweet joys to funeral torches.!' No poet fails to tell
of Biblis' criminal passion ; ^' we know of M}Trha's
^ i.e. of Pentheus, King of Thebes, torn to pieces by his
mother and other Bacchanalian devotees.
* Dirce was tied to a savage bull by Amphion and Zethns
out of revenge for her part in the maltreatment of their mother,
Antiope : cf. Aetna, bll.
f To escape prophesied death at the hands of a son-in-law,
Oenomaus, King of Elis and Pisa, proclaimed that he would
give his daughter, Hippodamia, in marriage only to the suitor
who should win a chariot-race against his supernatural
steeds.
» The fifty Danaides, with the exception of Hypermestra,
carried out the command of their father, Danaus, to kill their
bridegrooms on their marriage-night.
* i.e. for her brother Caunus.
487
MINOR LATIN POETS
conubia et saevo \-iolatum crimine patrem
novimus, utque Arabum fugiens cum carperet arva
ivit in arboreas frondes animamque virentem.
sunt qui squamosi referant fera sibila Cadmi
stellatumque oculis custodem virginis lus
Herculeosque velint semper numerare labores
miratumque rudes se toUere Terea pinnas
post epulas, Philomela, tuas ; sunt ardua mundi
qui male temptantem curru Phaethonta loquantur
exstinctasque canant emisso fulmine flammas
fumantemque Padum, Cycnum plumamque senilem
et flentes semper germani funere silvas.
Tantalidum casus et sparsas sanguine mensas
condentemque caput visis Titana Mycenis
horrendasque vices generis dixere priores.
Colchidos iratae sacris imbuta venenis
munera non canimus pulchraeque incendia Glauces,
non crinem Nisi, non saevae pocula Circes,
2' foedo vel scaevo Ulitius.
^° quis qua osi A.
^2 fort, memorare Postgate.
^^ se tollere ad aera {sive aethera) Baehrens : s&oller&acerea
A: sustoUere Burman: rudi s. t. T. pinna Heinsius.
*^ incendia Pithoeus : ingentia AC.
" Myrrha (or Zmyrna), daughter of King Cinyras, was
metamorphosed into a fragrant tree.
* Juno, jealous of Jupiter's love for lo, consigned her to the
guardianship of Argus of the hundred eyes, afterwards trans-
formed into a peacock.
' Procne and Philomela punished Tereus for his luifaithful-
ness b}^ serving to him as food Itys, his son by Procne. When
Procne was changed into a swallow and Philomela into a
nightingale, Tereus became a hoopoe to pursue them : cf.
Aetna, 589.
•^ The fiery ruin which overtook Phaethon in the Sun-God's
chariot was lamented by Cycnus, who was changed into a
488
NEMESIANUS
impious amour, of her father defiled with eruel
crime, and how, traversinc^ in her fiii^ht tlie fields
of Araby, she passed into the greenwood life of the
leafy trees." There are some who relate the fierce
hissinc: of Cadmus turned to a scaly serpent, and
Maiden Id's gaoler starred with eyes,^ or who are
fain for ever to recount the labours of Hercules, or
Tereus' wonderment that after your banquet, Philo-
mela,^ he could raise wings as yet untried ; there are
others whose theme is Phaethon's ill-starred attempt
upon the heights of the universe in the Sun's chariot,
and whose song is of flames quenched in the thunder-
bolt launched forth, and of the river Padus reeking,
of -Cycnus and the plumage of his old age, of the
(poplar-)trees for ever weeping by reason of a
brother's death. *^ Bards ere now have told of the
misfortunes of the Tantalids, the blood-besprinkled
tables, the Titan Sun hiding his face at the sight of
Mycenae and the dread vicissitudes of a race.*^ We
do not sing of gifts imbued with the accursed poison
of the angry Colchian dame / and of the burning of
fair Glauce ; not of Nisus' lock ; 'J not of cruel Circe's
swan, and by his sisters, the Heliades, who were changed into
poplars.
* Blood-guilt was transmitted through Pelops, son of
Tantalus, and through his sons Atreus and Thyestes to
Agamemnon and his son Orestes. Atreus, King of Mycenae,
avenged himself for the seduction of his wife on his brother by
slaying his two sons and setting their flesh before their
father. From this " banquet of Thyestes " the Sun hid his
face in horror : cf. Aetna, 20.
f The sorceress Medea from Colchis, infuriated by Jason's
desertion of her for Glauce, sent to her bridal gifts which
consumed her with fire.
' On the purple lock of Nisus, King of Megara, the safety of
his kingdom depended. His betrayal by his daughter is told
in Ciris {Appendix Vergiliana).
489
MINOR LATIN POETS
nee nocturna pie curantem busta sororem :
haec iam magnorum praecepit copia vatiim,
onmis et antiqui vulgata est fabula saecli.
nos saltiis viridesque plagas eamposque patentes
serutamur totisque citi discurrimus arvis
et varias cupimus facili cane sumere praedas ;
nos timidos lepores, imbelles figere dammas
audacesque lupos, vulpem captare dolosam
gaudemus ; nos flumineas errare per umbras
malumus et placidis ichneiimona quaerere ripis
inter harundineas segetes faelemque minacem
arboris in trunco longis praefigere telis
implicitumqiie sinu spinosi corporis erem
ferre domum ; talique placet dare lintea curae,
durn non magna ratis, vicinis sueta moveri
litoribus tutosque sinus percurrere remis,
nunc primum dat vela notis portusque fideles
linquit et Adriacas audet temptare procellas.
mox vestros meliore lyra memorare triumphos
accingar, divi fortissima pignora Cari,
atque canam nostrum geminis sub finibus orbis
litus et edomitas fraterno numine gentes,
quae Rhenum Tigrimque bibunt Ararisque remotima
^^ cursu (= cursui) Baehrens : curae AC : cymbae
Heinsius.
^^ gemini Heinsius.
" Circe's potions and spells transformed men into beasts.
* Antigone buried her brother PoljTiices in defiance of the
edict of Creon.
c eres {— ericius, ericinus or erinaceus) corresponds to the
Greek exivos.
^ This passage dates the Cynegetica. For the Emperor
Cams and his sons, Carinus and Numerianus, see Gibbon,
490
NEMESIANUS
cups ; '^ nor yet of the sister ^ whose conscience con-
trived a (brother's) burial by night : in all this ere
now a band of mighty bards has forestalled us, and
all the fabling of an ancient age is commonplace.
We search the glades, the green tracts, the open
plains, s^\'iftly coursing here and there o'er all the
fields, eager to catch varied quarries with docile
hound. We enjoy transfixing the nervous hare, the
unresisting doe, the daring wolf or capturing the
crafty fox ; our heart's desire is to rove along the
river-side shades, hunting the ichneumon on the quiet
banks among the crops of bulrushes, with the long
weapon to pierce in front the threatening polecat on
a tree-trunk and bring home the hedgehog '^ en-
twined in the convolution of its prickly body : for
such a task it is our resolve to set sail, while our
little barque, wont to coast by the neighbouring
shore and run across safe bays with the oar, now first
spreads its canvas to southern Minds, and, leaving
the trusty havens, dares to try the Adriatic storms.
Hereafter I will gird myself with fitter lyre to
record your triumphs, you gallant sons of deified
Carus,*^ and will sing of our sea-board beneath the
twin boundaries of our world,^ and of the subjuga-
tion, by the brothers' divine power, of nations that
drink from Rhine or Tigris or from the distant
source of the Arar or look upon the wells of
Decline and Fall, ch. xii. They succeeded their father on his
death in a.d. 283. In 284 Carinus celebrated elaborate games
at Rome in the name of himself and Xumerian; but the
brothers never saw each other after their father died. Xume-
rian's death in 284 during his return journey with his army from
Persia prevented him from enjoying the triumph decreed to
the young emj)erors at Rome.
* Fines are the limits set by Ocean on East and West.
491
MINOR LATIN POETS
principium Nilique vident in origine fontem ;
nee taceam, primum quae nuper bella sub Arcto
felici, Carine, manu confeceris, ipso
paene prior genitore deo, utque intima frater
Persidos et veteres Babylonos ceperit arces,
ultus Romulei violata cacumina regni ;
inibellemque fugam referam clausasque pharetras
Parthoruni laxosque arcus et spicula nulla.
haec vobis nostrae libabunt carmina Musae,
cum primum vultus sacros, bona numina terrae,
contigerit vidisse mihi : iam gaudia vota
temporis impatiens sensus spretorque morarum
praesumit videorque mihi iam cernere fratrum
augustos habitus, Romam clarumque senatum
et fidos ad bella duces et milite multo
agmina, quis fortes animat devotio mentes :
aurea purpureo longe radiantia velo
signa micant sinuatque truces levis aura dracones.
tu modo, quae saltus placidos silvasque pererras,
Latonae, Phoebe, magnum decus, heia age suetos
sume habitus arcumque manu pictamque pharetram
suspende ex umeris ; sint aurea tela, sagittae ;
Candida puniceis aptentur crura cothurnis ;
^^ vident Johnson : bibunt AC.
^^ primum AC : prima Baehrens.
<* The war maintained against the Sarmatians by Cams after
Probus' death was left to Carinus to finish, when Carus had to
face the Persian menace in the East. In his Gallic campaign
also, Carinus showed some degree of soldierly ability.
* Numerian is here flatteringly associated with the exploits
of Carus, who after subduing Mesopotamia carried his vic-
492
NEMESIAXUS
the Nile at their birth ; nor let me fail to tell what
campaigns you first ended, Carinas, beneath the
Northern Bear ** with victorious hand, well-nigh out-
stripping even your divine father, and how your
brother '' seized on Persia's very heart and the
time-honoured citadels of Babylon, in vengeance
for outrages done to the high dignity of the realms
of Romulus' race/ I shall record also the Parthians'
feeble flight, their unopened quivers, unbent bows
and unavailing arrows.
Such strains shall my Muses consecrate to you
both, as soon as it is my fortune to see your blest
faces, kindly divinities of this earth. Already my
feelings, intolerant of slow time and disdainful of
delay, anticipate the joys of my aspiration, and I
fancy I already discern the majestic mien of the
brothers, and therewith Rome, the illustrious senate,
the generals trusted for warfare, and the marching
lines of many soldiers, their brave souls stirred with
devotion. The golden standards gleam radiant afar
with their purple drapery, and a light breeze waves
the folds of the ferocious dragons.^
Only do thou, Diana, Latona's great glory, w'ho
dost roam the peaceful glade and woodland, come
quickly, assume thy wonted guise, bow in hand, and
hang the coloured quiver from thy shoulder ; golden
be the weapons, thine arrows ; and let thy gleaming
feet be fitted with purple buskins ; let thy cloak
torious arms to Ctesiphon. Numcrian's subsequent retreat
surprised the Persians.
'^ The reference is to violations of the Eastern frontiers of the
Empire. Cacumina regni is taken, with ^^'e^nsdorf, to mean
Jastigium et maitstatem imperii Romani.
'' They were military emblems from Trajan's time.
493
MINOR LATIN POETS
sit chlamys aurato multum subtegmine lusa
corrugesque sinus gemmatis balteus artet
nexibus ; implicitos cohibe diademate crines.
tecum Naiades faciles viridique iuventa
pubentes Dryades Nymphaeque, unde amnibus umor,
adsint, et docilis decantet Oreadas Echo,
due age, diva, tuum frondosa per avia vatem :
te sequimur, tu pande domos et lustra ferarum.
hue igitur mecum, quisquis percussus amore
venandi damnas htes pavidosque tumultus
civilesque fugis strepitus belUque fragores
nee praedas avido seetaris gurgite ponti.
principio tibi cur a canuna non segnis ab anno
incipiat primo, cum lanus, temporis auctor,
pandit inocciduum bis senis mensibus aevum.
ehge tunc cursu facilem facilemque recursu,
seu Lacedaemonio natam seu rure Molosso,
non humili de gente canem. sit cruribus altis,
sit rigidis, multamque trahat sub pectore lato
costarum sub fine decenter prona carinam, ]
quae sensim rursus sicca se colhgat alvo,
renibus ampla satis vaUdis diductaque coxas,
cuique nimis molles fluitent in cursibus aures.
huic parilem submitte marem, sic omnia magnum,
dum superant vires, dum laeto flore iuventas 1
^^ decantet Oreadas vulgo : d leant oreades A : decantet
oreades C.
*^ domos C : dolos A.
^^ hue Ulitius : hinc AC.
^"° avidos AC : pavidos vel rabidos Ulitius : rabidos
Baehretis : rapidos Postgate.
" Lines 91-93 are discussed in a special excursus by Wems-
dorf. With lusa rf. Virg. G. II. 464, illusasque auro vestes,
"garments fancifully embroidered with gold."
494
NEMESIANUS
be richly tricked with golden thread,'^ and a belt
with jewelled fastenings tighten the wrinkled tunic-
folds : restrain thine entwined tresses with a band.
In thy train let genial Naiads come and Dryads
ripening in fresh youth and Nymphs who give the
streams their water, and let the apt pupil Echo
repeat the accents of thine Oreads.^ Goddess, arise,
lead thy poet through the untrodden boscage : thee
we follow ; do thou disclose the wild beasts' homes
and lairs. Come hither then with me, whosoever,
smitten with the love of the chase, dost condemn
lawsuits and panic-stricken turmoil, or dost shun the
din in cities and the clash of war, or pursuest no spoils
on the greedy surge of the deep.
At the outset your diligent care of your dogs "
must start from the beginning of the year, when
Janus, author of the march of time, opens for each
twelve months the never-ceasing round. At that
season you must choose a bitch obedient to speed
forward, obedient to come to heel, native to either
the Spartan or the Molossian '^ country-side, and of
good pedigree.^ She must stand high on straight
legs ; with a comely slope let her carry, under a
broad breast, where the ribs end, a width of keel
that gradually again contracts in a lean belly : she
must be big enough with strong loins, spread at the
hips, and with the silkiest of ears floating in air as
she runs. Give her a male to match, everywhere
similarly well-sized, while strength holds sway, while
^ i.e. the surroundings should reverberate to the voices of
the attendant mountain-nymphs.
'^ On dogs generally see note on Grattius, Cyneg. lol.
" Cf. Grattius, Cyneg. 181, 197, 211-212.
' On the matmg of dogs cj. Grattius, Cyneg., esp. 2G3-284.
495
MINOR LATIN POETS
corporis et venis primaevis sanguis abundat.
namque graves morbi subeunt segnisque senectus,
invalidamque dabunt non firaio robore prolem.
sed di versa magis feturae convenit aetas :
tu bis vicenis plenum iam mensibus acrem
in venereni permitte marem ; sit femina, binos
quae tulerit soles, haec optima cura iugandis.
mox cum se bina formarit lampade Phoebe
ex quo passa marem genitalia viscera turgent,
fecundos aperit partus matura gravedo, 1
continuo largaque vides strepere omnia prole.
sed, quamvis avidus, primos contemnere partus
malueris ; mox non omnes nutrire minores.
nam tibi si placitum populosos pascere fetus,
iam macie tenues sucique videbis inanes 1
pugnantesque diu, quisnam prior ubera lambat,
distrahere invalidam lassato viscere matrem.
sin vero haec cura est, melior ne forte necetur
abdaturve domo, catulosque probare voluntas,
quis nondum gressus stabiles neque lumina passa 1
luciferum videre iubar, quae prodidit usus
percipe et intrepidus spectatis annue dictis.
pondere nam catuli poteris perpendere vires
corporibus<(que) leves gravibus praenoscere cursu.
quin et flammato ducatur linea longe 1
^22 hie in codicibus sequuntur 224—230, quos traiecit Hauptius,
Schradero viani praemonstrante.
" Sohs stands here for annos, i.e. annual revolutions of the
sun according to the ancient cosmology.
'> Wernsdorf, following Barth, explains passa as meaning
aperta (from pandere, not from pati).
496
NEMESIANUS
bodily youth is in its joyous flower and blood
abounds in the veins of early life. For burden-
some diseases creep on and sluggish age, and they
will produce unhealthy offspring without steadfast
strength. But for breeding a difference of age in
the parents is more suitable : you should release
the male, keen for mating, when he has already
completed forty months : and let the female be
two full years old." Such is the best arrangement
in their coupling. Presently when Phoebe has
completed the round of two full moons since the
birth-giving womb fertilised by the male began to
swell, the pregnancy in its due time reveals the
fruitful offspring, and straightway you see all round
an abundant noisy litter. Yet, however desirous of
dogs, you must make up your mind to put no value
on the first set born ; and of the next set you must
not rear all the young ones. For if you decide to
feed a crowd of whelps, you will find them thin with
leanness and beggared of strength, and, by their
long tussle to be first to suck, harassing a mother
weakened with teat outworn. But if this is your
anxiety, to keep the better sort from being killed
or thrown out of the house, if it is your intention to
test the puppies before even their steps are steady
or their eyes have felt '' and seen the light-bearing
sunbeam, then grasp what experience has handed
on, and assent fearlessly to well-tried words. You
will be able to examine the strength of a puppy by
its weight and by the heaviness of each body know
in advance which will be light in running.*^ Further-
more, you should get a series of flames made in a
' 138-139: the parallel in Grattius, Cijn. 298-299, is one of
the points suggesting that Nemesianus had read Grattius.
497
MINOR LATIN POETS
circuitu signet^que) habilem vapor igneus orbem,
impune ut medio possis consistere circo :
hue omnes eatuli, hue indiscreta feratur
turba : dabit mater partus examen, honestos
iudieio natos servans trepidoque perielo. 1
nam postquam eonelusa videt sua germiina flammis,
continuo saltu transeendens fervida zonae
vincla, rapit rictu primum portatque cubih,
mox ahum, mox deinde aUum. sic conseia mater ,
segregat egregiam subolem virtutis amore. :.;l|
hos igitur genetrice simul iam vere sereno
molU pasce sero (passim nam lactis abundans
tempus adest, albent plenis et oviUa mulctris),
interdumque eibo cererem cum lacte ministra,
fortibus ut sucis teneras complere medullas .1
possint et vahdas iam tunc promittere vires. ;•-
sed postquam Phoebus candentem fervidus axem. <
contigerit tardasque -vias Cancrique morantis
sidus init, tunc consuetam minuisse saginam
profuerit tenuesque magis retinere cibatus, II
ne gravis articulos depravet pondere moles,
nam turn membrorum nexus nodosque relaxant
infirmosque pedes et crura natantia ponunt,
tunc etiam niveis armantur dentibus ora.
^*2 ut Johnson : in AC.
^** examen AC : examine vulgo.
^*^ exitio Scaliger. trepidosque Baehrens : fort, trepi-
dansque Postgate.
" Cf. Grattius, Cyn. 307, lacte novam pubem facilique tuebere
rnaza. For the use of the goddess' name by metonymy for
bread cf. Gratt. Cyn. 398 : also Aetna, 10.
^ In the long days of midsummer the sun might be fancied
to cross the sky more slowly. Morantis refers to the almost
498
NEMESIANUS
wide circuit with the smoke of the fire to mark a con-
venient round space, so that you may stand unharmed
in the middle of the circle : to this all the puppies,
to this the whole crowd as yet unseparated must be
brought : the mother will provide the test of her
progeny, saving the valuable young ones by her
selection and from their alarming peril. For when
she sees her offspring shut in by flames, at once with
a leap she clears the blazing boundaries of the fire-
zone, snatches the first in her jaws and carries it to
the kennel ; next another, next another in turn :
so does the intelligent mother distinguish her nobler
progeny by her love of merit. These then along
with their mother, now^ that it is clear spring, you
are to feed on soft whey (for everywhere the season
that abounds in milk has come, and sheepfolds are
white with brimming milk-pails) : at times, too, add
to their food bread with milk," so that they may be
able to fill their young marrows with powerful juices
and even at that time give promise of vigorous
strength.
But after the burning Sun-God has reached the
glowing height of heaven, entering on his slow paths
and on the sign of the lingering Crab,^ then it will
be useful to lessen their regular fattening food and
retain the more delicate nourishment ,'' so that the
weight of heavy bulk may not overstrain their limbs ;
for that is when they have the connecting joints of
the body slack, and plant on the ground unstable
feet and swimming legs : then too their mouths are
furnished with snowy teeth. But you should not
imperceptible lengthening and shortening of the days before
and after the solstice.
"^ i.e. the molle serum of 1. 152.
499
KK 2
MINOR LATIN POETS
sed neque conclusos teneas neque vincula coUo
impatiens circunidederis noceasque futuris
cursibus imprudens. catulis nam saepe remotis
aut vexare trabes, laceras aut mandere valvas
mens erit, et teneros torquent conatibus artus
obtunduntve novos arroso robore dentes
aut teneros duris impingunt postibus ungues ;
mox cum iam validis insistere cruribus aetas
passa, quater binos volvens ab origine menses,
illaesis catulos spectaverit undique membris,
tunc rursus miscere sero Cerealia dona
conveniet fortemque dari de frugibus escam.
libera tunc primum consuescant colla ligari
Concordes et ferre gradus clausique teneri.
iam cum bis denos Phoebe reparaverit ortus,
incipe non longo catulos producere cursu,
sed parvae vallis spatio septove novali.
his leporem praemitte manu, non viribus acquis
nee cursus virtute parem, sed tarda trahentem
membra, queant iam nunc faciles ut sumere praedas.
nee semel indulge catulis moderamina cursus,
sed donee validos etiam praevertere suescant
exerceto diu venandi munere, cogens
discere et emeritae laudem virtutis amare.
nee non consuetae norint hortamina vocis,
seu cursus revocent, iubeant seu tendere cursus.
quin etiam docti victam contingere praedam
exanimare velint tantum, non carpere sumptam.
sic tibi veloces catulos reparare memento
1^8 mandere Heinsius : pandere AC.
^^' munera Ulitius : munere AC. sic inierpunxit Postgate.
500
NEMESIANUS
keep them shut up. nor impatiently put chains on
their neck, and from want of foresight hurt their
future running powers. For often young dogs,
when kept separate, will take to worrying the
tiinber-fittings, or to gnawing the doors till they are
torn, and in the attemjit they twist their tender
limbs or blunt their young teeth by chewing at the
wood or drive their tender nails into the tough door-
posts. Later, when time, revolving eight months
from their birth, now lets them stand on steady legs
and sees the whelps everywhere with limbs un-
harmed, then it will be suitable again to mix the
gifts of Ceres with their whey and have them given
strengthening food from the produce of the fields.
Only then must they be trained to have their free
necks in leash, to run in harmony or be kept on
chain. When Phoebe has now renewed twenty
monthly risings, start to bring out the young dogs
on a course not over-long but within the space of
a small valley or enclosed fallow. Out of your hand
let slip for them a hare, not of equal strength nor
their match in speed of running, but slow in moving
its limbs, so that they may at once capture an easy
prey. Not once only must you grant the whelps
these limited runs, but until they are trained to out-
strip strong hare^, exercise them long in the task of
the chase, forcing them to learn and love the praise
due to deserving merit. Likewise they must recog-
nise the urgent words of a well-known voice, whether
calling them in or telling them to run full-speed.
Besides, when they have been taught to seize the
vanquished prey, they must be content to kill, not
mangle, what they have caught. By such methods
see that you recruit your swift dogs every season,
=;oi
MINOR LATIN POETS
semper et in parvos iterum protendere curas.
nam tristes morbi, scabies et sordida venis
saepe venit multamque canes discrimine nullo
dant stragem : tii sollicitos impende labores
et sortire gregem sufFecta prole quotannis.
quin acidos Bacchi latices Tritonide oliva
admiscere decet catulosque canesque maritas
unguere profuerit tepidoque ostendere soli,
auribus et tineas candenti pellere cultro.
est etiam canibus rabies, letale periclum.
quod sen caelesti corrupto sidere manat,
cum segnes radios tristi iaculatur ab aethra
Phoebus et attonito pallens caput exserit orbe ;
seu magis, ignicomi candentia terga Leonis
cum quatit, hoc canibus blandis inviscerat aestus,
exhalat seu terra sinu, seu noxius aer
causa mali, seu cum gelidus non sufficit umor
torrida per venas concrescunt semina flammae :
quicquid id est, imas agitat sub corde medullas
inque feros rictus nigro spumante veneno
prosilit, insanos cogens infigere morsus.
disce igitur potus medicos curamque salubrem.
tunc virosa tibi sumes multumque domabis
castorea, attritu silicis lentescere cogens ;
ex ebore hue trito puh^s sectove feratur,
admiscensque diu facies concrescere utrumque :
mox lactis liquidos sensim superadde fluores,
199 olivo AC : oliva vulgo. Tritonide . . . Postgate qui cum.
Housmano olivo ut interpretamentum eiecit. :,
2°' sed Baehrejis : seu AC.
** The reference is to the heat of the sun on entering the sign
of Leo.
502
i
NEMESIANUS
and again direct your anxious thoughts towards the
young ones. For they liavc melanclioly ailments,
and the filthy mange often comes on their veins,
and the dogs cause widespread mortality without
distinction : you must yourself expend anxious
efforts on them and every year fill up your pack by
supplying progeny. Besides, the right thing is to
blend tart draughts of wine with Minerva's olive-
fruit, and it will do good to anoint the whelps and
the mother dogs, expose them to the warm sun, and
expel worms from their ears with the glittering
knife.
Dogs also get rabies, a deadly peril. Whether it
emanates from taint in a heavenly body when the
Sun-God shoots but languid rays from a saddened
sky, raising a pallid face in a world dismayed ; or
whether, rather, in striking the glowing back of the
fire-tressed Lion," he drives deep into our friendly
dogs his feverish heats, whether earth breathes forth
contagion from its bosom, or harmful air is the cause
of the evil, or whether, when cool water runs short,
the torrid germs of fire grow strong throughout the
veins — whatever it is, it stirs the inmost marrow
beneath the heart, and with black venomous foam
darts forth into ferocious snarls, compelling the dog
to imprint its bites in madness. Learn, therefore,
the curative potions and the treatment that brings
health. In such cases you will take the fetid drug
got from the beaver and work it well, forcing it to
grow viscous %\'ith the friction of a flint : to this
should be added powder from pounded or chopped
ivory, and by a long process of blending you will get
both to harden together : next put in gradually the
liquid flow of milk besides, to enable you to pour
5^3
MINOR LATIN POETS
lit non cunctantes haustus infundere cornu
inserto possis Furiasque repellere tristes
atque iterum blandas canibus componere mentes.
sed non Spartanos tantum tantumve Molossos
pascendum catulos : divisa Britannia mittit 2
veloces nostrique orbis venatibus aptos.
nee tibi Pannonicae stirpis temnatur origo,
nee quorum proles de sanguine manat Hibero.
quin etiam siccae Libyes in finibus acres
gignuntur catuli, quorum non spreveris usum. 2
quin et Tuscorum non est externa voluptas
saepe canum. sit forma illis licet obsita \-illo
dissimilesque habeant catulis velocibus artus,
baud tamen iniucunda dabunt tibi munera praedae,
namque et odorato noscunt vestigia prato 2'
atque etiam leporum secreta cubilia monstrant.
horum animos moresque simul naresque sagaces
mox referam ; nunc omnis adhuc narranda supellex
venandi cultusque mihi dicendus equorum.
cornipedes igitur lectos det Graecia nobis 2
Cappadocumque notas referat generosa propago
y armata et palmas superet grex omnis avorum.
224-230 pQgi ]^22 in codicibus.
231 extrema AC : externa ^Yight Duff.
2*2 armata et palmas nuper grex AC : fortasse superet i
Postgate: "locus vexatissimus totius poematii" Wernsdorf, j
qui proponit harmataque ( = ap/xara) et palmas numeret : j
armenti et palmas numeret Gronov : Martius et palmas
superans Bur man.
" For British dogs see Grattius, 174 sqq. and note there:
divisa Britannia is an allusion to Virg. Ed. I. 66, penitus toto
divisos orbe Britannos.
NEMESIANUS
in throu,i]:h an inserted horn doses %vhieh do not stick
in the throat, and so banish the mehincholy I'uries,
and settle the dogs' minds once more to friendHness.
But it is not only Spartan whelps or only Molos-
sian which you must rear : sundered Britain sends
us a swift sort, adapted to hunting-tasks in our
world.^ You should not disdain the pedigree of
the Pannonian breed, nor those \^hose progeny
springs from Spanish blood. Moreover, keen whelps
are produced within the confines of dry Libya, and
their service you must not despise. Besides, Tuscan
dogs often give a satisfaction not foreign to us.**
Even allowing that their shape is covered with
shaggy hair and that they have limbs unlike quick-
footed whelps, still they will give you an agreeable
return in game : for they recognise the tracks on
the meadow, though full of scents, and actually
point to where a hare lies hid. Their mettle and
their habits as well, and their discerning sense of
smell I shall record presently ; '^ for the moment the
whole equipment of the chase ^ has to be explained,
and I must deal with the attention due to horses.
So then let Greece send us choice horny-hoofed
coursers, and let a high-mettled breed recall the
traits of the Cappadocians, and let the whole stud
be soundly equipped and surpass the victorious
racing-palms of their ancestors. Theirs is surface
* Burman gives the choice between summa and minima as
equivalents to extrema. Xon . . . externa seems to fit better
the only Italian dogs in the passage.
' This shoAvs the incomplete state in which Xemesianus has
been transmitted; for these subjects are not treated in his
extant work.
•* The supellex venandi corresponds to Grattius' arma, i.e.
nets, traps, hunting-spears, caps and so forth.
5^5
MINOR LATIN POETS
illis ampla satis levi sunt aequora dorso
imniodicumque latus parvaeque ingentibus alvi,
ardua frons auresque agiles capitisque decori
altus honos oculique vago splendore micantes ;
plurima se validos cervix resupinat in armos ;
funiant imientes calida de nare vapores,
nee pes officium standi tenet, ungula terram
crebra ferit vi^ftusque artus animosa fatigat.
quin etiam gens ampla iacet trans ardua Calpes
culmina, cornipedum late fecunda proborum.
namque valent longos pratis intendere cursus,
nee minor est illis Graio quam in corpore forma ;
nee non terribiles spirabile flumen anheli
provolvunt flatus et lumina vivida torquent
hinnitusque cient tremuli frenisque repugnant,
nee segnes mulcent aures, nee crure quiescunt.
sit tibi praeterea sonipes, Maurusia tellus
quem mittit (modo sit gentili sanguine firmus)
quemque coloratus Mazax deserta per arva
pavit et adsiduos docuit tolerare labores.
nee pigeat, quod turpe caput, deformis et alvus
est ollis quodque infrenes, quod liber uterque,
quodque iubis pronos cervix deverberet armos.
nam flecti facilis lascivaque colla secutus
paret in obsequium lentae moderamine virgae ;
verbera sunt praecepta fugae, sunt verbera freni.
2*5 decori Baehrens : decoris A : capitique decoro C.
" One of the fabled Pillars of Hercules, in Hispania Baetica,
now the Rock of Gibraltar. Nemesianus, wTiting from the
standpoint of an African, thinks of all Spain {gens ampla) as
beyond Calpe.
506
NEMESIANUS
wide enough on their smooth back, an enormous
extent of side, and neat belly for their huge size, a
forehead uplifted, quick ears, high pride of comely
head, and eyes sparkling with restless gleam ; an
ample neck falls back on powerful shoulders ; moist
breath steams from hot nostrils, and, while the foot
does not maintain its duty to stand still, the hoof
repeatedly strikes the earth and the horse's spirited
mettle tires its limbs. Moreover, beyond the soaring
peaks of Calpe " lies a vast country, productive far
and \\'ide of fine coursers. For they have the
strength to make long runs across the prairies,^ and
their beauty is no less than that in a Grecian body ;
panting they roll forth terrifying snorts, a flood of
breath ; they shoot out spirited glances ; all a-quiver
they raise whinnyings and fight against the bridle,
never giving their ears smooth rest nor their legs
repose. Besides, you may select the courser sent
by Mauretania (if he be a stout descendant of good
stock), or the horse which the dusky Mazax tribes-
man ^ has reared in desert fields and taught to under-
go ceaseless toil. No need to repine at their ugly
head and ill-shapen bellv, or at their lack of bridles,
or because both breeds have the temper of freedom,
or because the neck lashes the sloping shoulders
with its mane. For he is an easy horse to guide,
and, following the turn of an unconfined neck, com-
plies obediently under the control of a limber switch :
its strokes are the orders for speed, its strokes are
^ The commendation of Spanish horses is supported by
Martial I. xlix. 21-25 : cf. XIV. excix. But, according to
Oppian, Cytieg. I. 284—286, the Iberian horses, although fleet
{dooi), were found wanting in staying power {5p6fMov iv Travpoiaiv
iKcyXO/J-ivoi (TrabioKTU').
" Belonging to the Numidian tribe of Mazaees in Africa.
MINOR LATIN POETS
quill et promissi spatiosa per aequora campi
cursibiis acquirunt commoto sanguine vires
paulatimque avidos comites post terga relinquunt.
haud secus, efFusis Nerei per caerula ventis,
cum se Threicius Boreas superextulit antro
stridentique sono vastas exterruit undas,
omnia turbato cesserunt flamina ponto :
ipse super fluctus spumanti murmure fervens
conspicuum pelago caput eminet : omnis euntem
Nereidimi mirata suo stupet aequore turba.
horum tarda venit longi fiducia cursus,
his etiam emerito vigor est iuvenalis in aevo.
nam quaecumque suis virtus bene floruit annis,
non prius est animo quam corpore passa ruinam.
pasce igitur sub vere novo farragine molli
cornipedes venamque feri veteresque labores
effluere adspecta nigri cmn labe cruoris.
mox laetae redeunt in pectora fortia vires
et nitidos artus distento robore formant ;
mox sanguis venis melior calet, ire viarum
longa volunt latumque fuga consumere campum.
inde ubi pubentes calamos duraverit aestas
lactentesque urens herbas siccaverit omnem
messibus umorem culmisque aptarit aristas,
hordea tum paleasque leves praebere memento :
pulvere quin etiam puras secernere fruges
2®^ permissi Keinsius.
2'^ pater fluctus {id est Neptunus) Baehrens : super fluctus
AC. marmore Heinsius.
2*- passa vulgo : posse AC.
"^2 culmisque armarit Burman : culmusque Baehrens, Post-
gate : aptarit Wight Duff.
508
NEMESIANUS
as bridles too. Nay, once launched across the
spacious levels of the plain, with blood stirred, the
steeds win fresh strength in the race, leaving by
degrees their eager comrades behind. Even so,
on the outburst of the winds across the blue waters
of Nereus, when Thracian Boreas has uprisen o'er
his cavern and with shrill howling dismayed the
dreary waves, all the blasts on the troubled deep
give way to him : himself" aglow mid foaming
din. above the billows he o'ertops them in mastery
manifest upon the sea : the whole band of the
Nereids is mazed in wonderment as he passes over
their watery domain.
These horses are slow to attain confidence in
prolonged running; also, theirs is youthful vigour
even in age that has served its time. For no quality
which has bloomed full at its due period suffers
collapse in spirit ere physical powers fail. In the
fresh spring-time, then, feed the coursers on soft
mash, and, lancing a vein, watch old-standing ail-
ments flow out with the ooze of the tainted blood.
Soon strength returns joyously to their gallant
hearts, moulding the sleek limbs with strength
diffused : soon a better blood runs warm in their
veins, and they wish for long stretches of road, and
to make the broad plain vanish in their career.
Next, when summer has hardened the ripening
stalks and, scorching the juicy blades, has dried
all the moisture for harvest and joined corn-ears
to stems, then be sure to furnish barley and light
chaff: moreover, there must be care to winnow
the produce free from dust, and to run the hands
" Boreas.
MINOR LATIN POETS
cura sit atque toros manibus percurrere equorimij
gaudeat ut plausu sonipes laetumque relaxet
corpus et altores rapiat per viscera sucos.
id curent famuli comitumque animosa iuventus.
nee non et casses idem venatibus aptos
atque plagas longoque meantia retia tractu
addiscant raris semper contexere nodis
et servare modum maculis linoque tenaci.
linea quin etiam, magnos circumdare saltus
quae possit volucresque metu concludere praedas,
digerat innexas non una ex alite pinnas.
namque ursos magnosque sues cervosque fugaces
et vulpes acresque lupos ceu fulgura caeli
terrificant linique vetant transcendere septum,
has igitur vario semper fucare veneno
curabis niveisque alios miscere colores
alternosque metus subtegmine tendere longo.
dat tibi pinnarum terrentia milia vultur,
dat Libye, magnarum avium fecunda creatrix,
dantque grues cycnique senes et candidus anser,
dant quae fluminibus crassisque paludibus errant
pellitosque pedes stagnanti gurgite tingunt.
hinc mage puniceas native munere sumes :
namque illic sine fine greges florentibus alis
invenies avium suavique rubescere luto
et sparsos passim tergo vernare colores.
his ita dispositis hiemis sub tempus aquosae
incipe veloces catulos immittere pratis,
incipe cornipedes latos agitare per agros.
" Of. Grattius, Cynegeficon, 75-88 (the "formido").
* e.g. the ostrich.
* i.e. aquatic fowl.
510
* NEMESIANUS
over the horses' muscles, so that the courser may
enjoy being patted and relax his body in pleasure
and quickly pass the nourishing juices throughout
his frame. This must be the task of the servants
and brave young attendants.
Besides they too must learn always to weave with
knots far enough apart the hollow nets fit for the
chase, and the toils set on tracks, and the nets
which run in a long stretch ; they must learn to
preserve the right size for the openings between
the knots and for the binding cord. Moreover, the
line which can enclose great glades and by reason
of terror shut in winged game as prey must carry
here and there, ent^^'ined on it, feathers of different
birds. ^ For the colours, like lightning-flashes,
frighten bears, big boars, timid stags, foxes and
fierce wolves, and bar them from surmounting the
boundary of the cord. These then you will always
be careful to diversify with various hues, mixing other
colours with the whites, and thus stretching all
along the line one terror after another. In feathers
you draw a thousand means of fright from the
vulture, from Africa, fertile mother of great-sized
birds,'' from cranes and aged swans and the white
goose, from fowl that haunt rivers and thick marshes
and dip webbed feet in standing pools. Of these ^
you will rather take birds \\ith red plumage by
nature's gift; for among the former you will find
endless flocks of birds with bright-hued wings, their
colours reddening ^^^th pleasant orange tint and
gleaming everywhere in flecks upon the back. With
such arrangements made towards the season of rainy
^vinter, begin to send your swift dogs across the
meadows ; begin to urge your horses over the broad
5"
MINOR LATIN POETS
venemur dum mane novum, dimi mollia prata
nocturnis calcata feris vestigia servant.
T^VO FRAGMENTS ON BIRD-CATCHING
ASCRIBED TO NEMESIANUS
Introduction
Gybertus Longolius (de Longueil, 1507-1543), in
a Dialogus de avibus printed at Cologne in 1544, is
the authority for ascribing the two following frag-
ments to Nemesianus. He records that they were
surreptitiously copied by a young friend of his,
Hieronymus Boragineus of Liibeck, from a poem
De Aucupio by Nemesianus " in bibliotheca porcorum
{sic) Salvatoris Bononiensis." This account is not
VERSUS DE AUCUPIO
. . . et tetracem, Romae quem nunc vocitare taracen
coeperunt. avium est multo stultissima ; namque
cum pedicas necti sibi contemplaverit adstans,
immemor ipse sui tamen in dispendia currit.
tu vero adductos laquei cum senseris orbes
appropera et praedam pennis crepitantibus aufer.
nam celer oppressi fallacia vincula colli
excutit et rauca subsannat voce magistri
" a black grouse. The bird is identified with the urogallus
by LongoHus. Pliny's form is tetras.
NEMESIANUS
fields. Let us go hunting: while the morning is
young, while the soft meads retain the tracks im-
printed by the wild beasts of the night.
free from suspicion, any more than certain points in
the Latinity and prosody of the lines. Contemplaverit
in 1. 3 may be an archaistic return to the active form
of the verb as used in early Latin ; but the metrical
quantity of notae which Longolius read in 1. 13 and
of gulae in the last line of all is unclassical, and the
frequent elision of a long vowel (11. 5, 6, 14 and
27) i*^ noticeable. Teuffel considers the lines a late
production, though they are usually printed along
with the Cynegetica.
E. Baehrens' text, P.LM. III. pp. 203-204.
J. P. Postgate's text, C.P.L. II. p. 572.
FRAGMENTS ON BIRD-CATCHING
I
. . . and the tetrax,^ which they have now begun
to call tarax at Rome. It is far the silliest of birds ;
for although it has perched and has watched the
snare laid for it, yet reckless of self it darts upon its
own hurt. You, however, on finding the circles of
the noose drawn tight, must hasten up and carry
off your prey with its whirring wings. For it is
quick to shake off the treacherous bonds of the neck
when caught, deriding '' with hoarse cry the hunter's
* Suhsannarc, a late Latin verb, used by Tertullian, and in
the Vulgate.
LL
MINOR LATIN POETS
consilium et laeta fruitur iam pace solutus.
hie prope | Peltinum <ad> radices Apennini
nidificat. patulis qua se sol obicit agris,
persimilis cineri collum, maculosaque terga
inficiunt pullae cacabantis imagine guttae.
Tarpeiae est custos arcis non corpore maior
nee qui te volucres docuit, Palamede, figuras.
saepe ego nutantem sub iniquo pondere \adi
mazonomi puerum, portat cum prandia, circo
quae consul praetorve novus construxit ovanti.
II
cum nemus omne suo viridi spoliatur honore,
fultus equi niveis silvas pete protinus altas
exuviis : praeda est facilis et amoena scolopax.
corpore non Paphiis avibus maiore videbis.
ilia sub aggeribus primis, qua proluit umor,
pascitur, exiguos sectans obsonia vermes,
at non ilia oculis, quibus est obtusior, etsi
sint nimium grandes, sed acutis narlbus instat:
impresso in terram rostri mucrone sequaces
vermiculos trahit et \dli dat praemia gulae.
1° Pelt(u)inum Buecheler : Pentinum Longolius : Pontinum
Ulitius. in radicibus Burman : et radices Haupt : ad radices
Baehrens.
12 dorsum Longolius : collum Gesner.
13 notae Longolius : guttae Ulitius.
1' mazonomi Gesner : mazonoim Longolius. circo Bur-
man : cirro Longolius.
21 facilis praeda est et amoena Riese.
28 atque gulae d. pr. vili Wernsdorf.
" The geese of the Capitol saved it from surprise by the
Gauls, in 390 B.C., Livy, V. xlvii.
NEMESIANUS
design and now in freedom delighting in the joy of
peace. Near Peltinum by the foot of the Apennine
range it builds its nest where the sun presents him-
self to the outspread lands : at the neck it is very
like ashes in colour, and its spotted back is marked
with dark flecks in the fashion of a partridge. The
guardian of the Tarpeian citadel " is no larger in
size, nor the bird that taught you, Palamedes, wing-
like letters.* Often have I seen a slave swaying
beneath the unfair weight of a huge dish of such
dainties,^ as he carries the collation which a consul
or a new praetor has furnished for the circus at a
fete.
II
When the woodland everywhere is despoiled of
its green honours, make straight for the deep forest,
mounted on the snow-white housing of your steed.
The snipe is an easy and an agreeable prey. You
will find it no larger in body than ^'enus' doves. It
feeds close to the edge of embankments, by the
wash of the water, hunting tiny worms, its favourite
fare. But its pursuit thereof is rather with keen-
scented nose than with the eyes, in which its sense
is rather dull, too big for the body though they be.
With the point of the beak driven into the ground it
drags out the little worms which needs must follow,
therewith rewarding an appetite cheap to satisfy.*^
** Palamedes was said to have invented some of the Greek
letters (T, 0, H, *, X) by observing the flight of cranes : cf.
Martial, IX. xiii. 7, XIII. Ixxv. ; Ausonius, Idyll, xii. (Techno-
paegnion de Uteris mfnuisyllabis) 25; Pliny N.H. VII. 192.
<^ For the mazonotnus (/j.a(oy6/j.os) see Hor. Sat. II. viii. 86.
"* For the unclassical lengthening of gula, Wernsdorf cites as
a parallel from Xemesianus' fellow-African Luxorius, quid
festinus abis gula impelkrUe, sacerdos .^
ll2
REPOSIANUS
AND SOME CON'TEMPORARIES
INTRODUCTION
TO REPOSIANUS, MODESTINUS, " CUPIDO
AMANS" AND PENTADIUS
The codex Salmasianus ° — a title which records
the previous ownership of Claude de Saumaise — is
the chief authority for the surviving poems by three
authors of the third century here selected from it
— Reposianus, Modestinus and Pentadius, with the
additional piece Cupido Amans by an unknown hand.
The codex represents, though imperfectly, the
extensive and varied Anthologia Latina compiled from
poets of different periods, originally in twenty-four
books, at Carthage in the time of the Vandal kings
about A.D. 532. Owing to the disappearance of the
first eleven quaternions, half-a-dozen books at the
beginning are lost except in so far as the missing
contents are represented by codex Leid. Voss.
Q. 86 [" V "], by codex Paris. 8071 (or Thuaneus,
" T "), both of the ninth century, and by other
MSS.^ The 182 hexameters by Reposianus on the
liaison between Mars and Venus depend solely on
the codex Salmasianus ; for Modestinus we have
the additional authority of T ; and for Pentadius
we have V as well as S and T.
Reposianus' theme is the discovery of the intrigue
•^ It is also the manuscript for Florus' pooms, see p. 424.
" See Baehrens' prolegomena P.L.M. IV. pp. 3-54 ; Bueche-
ler and Riese, Anth. Lat. I. i, praefatio, pp. xii. sqq.
INTRODUCTION TO
between the Goddess of Love and the God of War
by the injured husband, as first related in European
Hterature by Homer. Odyssey \TII. 266-366. The
Roman poet exhibits a turn for description, especially
in depicting the flowery grove where the lovers meet ;
but there is in him a certain poverty of style — a
certain want of variety in language, in thought and
in structure. Manifestly he overdoes the use of
forie {e.g. 68, 83, 87, 95, 114, 121, 126, 156, 166).
The archaism mage of line 9 is an artificiality which
he shares with Nemesianus {Cyneg. 317), with Sul-
picius Lupercus Servasius and other late poets. The
most noticeable metrical points are his use of iuo
(93) as a monosyllable and gratiosa (126) as a tri-
syllable. A few turns of phrase suggest the Lucre-
tian picture of Mars in ^^enus' lap (Lucret. I. 31-40) ;
but Reposianus shows signs of independence in
treating his sensuous theme. Thus, he alters the
scene of the amour from the traditional house of the
Fire-God, Vulcan, to a forest, which gives the cue for
his introduction of some beauties in external nature
(33-50). Further, the chains fastened upon the
offending lovers are not, according to earlier forms
of the fable, prepared as a trap in anticipation of
their continued guilt, but fashioned at Vulcan's
forge after Phoebus has informed him of Venus'
infidelity.
The three longer pieces by Pentadius, On Forhme,
0?i the Coming of Spring and On Xarcissns, have
" echoic " lines : the rest are short epigrams.
Among these the quatrain 0?i Woman s Love, begin-
ning Crede ratem veniis, may be a tetrastichon com-
bining a pair of independent elegiac distichs. It has
been ascribed to a variety of authors besides Pen-
520
REPOSIAXUS
tadius — to Marcus Cicero, to his brother, to Petronius,
to Aiisonius, and to Porphyrius, the panegyrist of
Constantine. The epigram has been claimed for
Qiiintus Cicero " as a vigorous expression of a thought
which might have been in his mind after his divorce
{Ad Att. XIV. 13. 3). But it cannot be argued that
either the situation or the reflection was by any
means peculiar to him.
EDITIONS
Bcposiaiuis : P. Burman. Anthol. Lot. Lib. I. No. 72
Amsterdam, 1759.
J. C. Wernsdorf. Pod. Lat. Min. IV. pp. 319 sqq
Altenburg, 1785.
E. Baehrens. Poet. Lat. Min. IV. pp. 348 sqq
Leipzig, 1882.
F. Buecheler and A. Riese. A?iik. Lat. I. i
No. 253. Leipzig, 1894.
Modesi'uius : P. Burman. Anthol. Lat. Lib. I. No. 31
E. Baehrens. Poet. Lat. Min. IV. p. 360.
F. Buecheler and A. Riese. Aiith. Lat. I. i
No. 273, p. 217.
Pejiiadius : P. Burman. Anthol. Lat. Lib. I. Nos.
139, 141, 165; III. No. 105; V. No. 69.
J. C. Wernsdorf. Poet. Lat. Min. III. pp. 262-
80, pp. 405-407.
E. Baehrens. Poet. Lat. Min. l\ . pp. 343-5,
358-9.
F. Buecheler and A. Riese. Anth. Lat. I. i.
Nos. 234-5, 265-8.
" Jas. Stinchcorab, " The Literary Interests of a Roman
Magnate," Class. Weekly, Oct. 3, 1932.
INTRODUCTION TO REPOSIANUS
SIGLA
S = codex Salmasianus sive Parisinus 10318 : saec.
vii.
T = codex Thuaneus sive Parisinus 8071 : saec. ix.
exeunte.
V = codex Vossianus L.Q. 86 : medio saec. ix.
522
REPOSIANUS
De Concubitu Martis et \'exeris
DisciTE secures non umquam credere amores.
ipsa Venus, cui flanima potens, cui niilitat ardor,
quae tuto posset custode Cupidine aniare,
quae docet et fraudes et amorurn furta tuetur,
nee sibi securas valuit praebere latebras.
improbe dure puer, crudelis crimine matris,
pompam ducis, Amor, nullo satiate triumpho !
quid conversa lovis laetaris fulmina semper ?
ut mage flammantes possis laudare sagittas,
iunge, puer, teretes Veneris Martisque catenas :
gestet amans Mavors titulos et vincula portet
captivus, quem bella timent I utque ipse veharis,
iam roseis fera colla iugis submittit amator :
post vulnus, post bella potens Gradivus anhelat
in castris modo tiro tuis, semperque timendus
te timet et sequitur qua ducunt vincla marita.
ite, precor, Musae : dum Mars, dum blanda Cythere
imis ducta trahunt suspiria crebra medullis
" conversa, either throv\'n back by the power of love or
exchanged for the disguises which Jove used in his amours.
* mage, an artificial archaism, as in Sulpicius Lupercus
Servasius, II. {De Cupiditate) 16, and in the Dicta Catonis,
Praef. II. 2, Distich. II. 6; IV. 42.
'^ An ancient form of Mars : his surname Gradivus (14) marks
him as god of the march (gradus).
'^ Cythere {cf. 172), a late Latin collateral form of Cytherea
(153), refers to the birth of Venus from the sea at the island
524
REPOSIANUS
The Intrigue of Mars with Venus
Learn ye the creed that amours are never free
from care. \'enus herself of the potent flame, \^enus
of the blazmg campaign, who might indulge love
with Cupid as her safe warden, instructress in deceits,
protectress of the stealth of love, did not avail to
furnish herself with a secure lurking-place. Harsh
tyrant Boy, cruel in a mother's fault, O Love, you
lead your victorious procession, never sated with any
triumph ! Why do you always rejoice that Jove's
thunderbolts have been reversed ? " That you may
the better ^ praise your flaming arrows, draw tight,
Boy, the well-woven chains of \ enus and of Mars :
let NLavors ^ in love wear the label of a slave, let him
whom wars do dread be a prisoner bearing bonds !
To let you ride triumphant, the lover yields his savage
neck to a rosy yoke. After wounds dealt and battles
fought, powerful Gradivus pants as a new-enlisted
recruit in your camp ; he that should ever be feared
fears you, following where wedlock's bonds do lead.
Pray, come, ye Muses: while Mars, while alluring
Cythere ^ draw fast-following sighs from the depth
of Cythera. Cypris (35, 79, 141, 14G) recalls her cult in Cyprus,
and Faphie, Reposianus' favourite epithet for Venus (23, 50,
61, 64, 80, 105, 109, 13(3, 139, 178), alludes to her temple at
Paphos in Cyprus. Reposianus shares the epithets Cythere,
Cypris and Paphie with Ausonius (4th cent, a.d.), though
Paphie is used by Martial.
MINOR LATIN POETS
dumque intermixti captatur spiritus oris,
carmine doctiloquo ^ ulcani vincla parate,
quae Martem nectant Veneris nee bracchia laedant
inter delicias roseo prope livida serto.
namque ferunt Paphien, Vulcani et Martis amorem,
inter adulterium nee iusti iura mariti
indice sub Phoebo captam gessisse catenas,
ilia manu duros nexus tulit, ilia mariti
ferrea vincla sui. quae vis fuit ista doloris ?
an fortem faciebat amor ? quid, saeve, laboras ?
cur nodos Veneri Cyclopia flamma paravit ?
de roseis conecte manus, Vulcane, catenis !
nee tu deinde liges, sed blandus vincla Cupido,
ne palmas duro nodus cum vulnere laedat.
lucus erat Marti gratus, post vulnera Adonis
pictus amore deae ; si Phoebi lumina desint,
tutus adulterio, dignus quem Cypris amaret,
quem Byblos coleret, dignus quem Gratia servet.
22 divitias S : delicias Burman. prope S : modo Baehrens.
2^ manus S : manu Schrader : Venus Baehrens.
^2 comodus S : nodus cum Baehrens, alii alia.
^* pictus S : dictus vel lectus vel dignus Wernsdorf : huius
Baehrens : laetus Biese {in not.).
« i.e. arms so delicate that rose-leaves might almost make
them black and blue.
* Addressed to Vulcan as the injured husband of Venus.
* i.e. to fashion iron chains.
^ After the death of her beloved Adonis from a wound
inflicted by a boar in the forest, Venus might be imagined to
dislike all woods. The passage implies that she made an
exception in the case of the grove where she met her lover Mars,
and so it is "decorated," " lit up " by the beautiful presence
of the enamoured goddess, pictus may be right, though
amore is less directly instrumental than the concrete ablatives
in Lucr. V. 1395-1396, anni tempora pingehant viridantes
floribus herbas; Sen. 3Ied, 310, stellisque quibus pingitur
526
REPOSIANUS
of their bciiifr, and while they woo the breath of
intermingled kisses, do ye with dulcet strain make
ready Vulcan's bonds to twine round Mars and yet
do no hurt to \'enus' arms that mid their dalliance
are half-discoloured with the pressure of even a
garland of roses. ^
The tale is told that the Paphian goddess, darling
of \'ulcan and of Mars, amid her adulterous inter-
course and rights usurped by one not her lawful
husband, was 'neath the revealing Sun-god caught,
and wore the chains. She bore on her hand the
cruel coils, she bore the iron bonds of her own hus-
band. What was that violence in your resentment ? *
Did love make strength r ^ Why toil, O ruthless one ?
Why did the flame of the Giants' forge prepare
entanglements for \'enus ? Rather, Vulcan, make
the linking for the hands from chains of roses !
And then you must not tie the bonds, but coaxing
Cupid must, lest the knotting hurt the palms and
inflict harsh pain.
There was a grove dear to Mars, adorned ^ by the
goddess' love after Adonis' death-wound; if only
sunlight were lacking, safe for unlawful passion, meet
for the Cyprian's affection, meet for worship from
Byblos,^ meet for the regard of one of the Graces./
aether; Pentadius, De Adventu Veris, line 11, florihu-f innu-
meris pingit sola flatus Eoi : cf. Lucr. II. 374-5, conchanim
genus . . . videmus pingere telluris gremium. The meta-
phorical use seems a not unnatural extension from the idea
of pingunt in 38, or in sir mea. flavfntem pingnnt vineta
(inrumnam (of vineyards throwing their green reflection on
the yellow Garonne), Auson. Mosella 160, or in quis te naturae
pinzit color? ib. 110.
' This Phoenician coast-to^\Ti was the chief seat of the wor-
ship of Adonis : cf. 66 and Bybliadc'^, 90.
f Cf. line 51. The singular is used in Ovid. Met. VI. 429.
MINOR LATIN POETS
vilia non illo surgebant gramina luco :
pingunt purpureos candentia lilia flores :
ornat terra nemus : nunc lotos niitis inumbrat,
nunc laurus, nunc myrtus. habent sua munera
rami ;
namque hie per frondes redolentia mala relucent.
hie rosa cum violis, hie omnis gratia odorum,
hie inter violas coma mollis laeta hyaeinthi :
dignus amore locus, cui tot sint munera rerum.
non tamen in lueis aurum, non purpura fulget :
flos leetus, flos vincla tori, substramina flores ;
deliciis Veneris dives Natura laborat.
texerat hie liquidos fontes non vilis harundo,
sed qua saeva puer componat tela Cupido.
hunc solum Paphie puto lucum fecit amori :
hie Martem exspectare solet. quid Gratia cessat,
quid Charites ? cur, saeve puer, non lilia nectis ?
tu lectum consterne rosis, tu serta parato
et roseis crinem nodis subnecte decenter.
haec modo purpureum decerpens pollice florem,
cum delibato suspiria ducat odore.
ast tibi blanda manus (flores) sub pectore condat !
tunc ne purpurei laedat te spina roseti,
destrictis teneras foliis constringe papillas !
sic decet in \ eneris luco gaudere puellas :
ut tamen illaesos Paphiae servetis amores,
^^ locos vitis S : lotos mitis Burinan.
*" rami Baehrens, Riese : lauri vulgo.
^^ lilia pendent S : mala relucent Baehrens.
^- licia vulgo.
^^ diligatum . . . odorem S : delibat eum . . . odorem
Baehrens : delibato . . . odore Klappius.
** There are no purple coverlets.
5^8
REPOSIANUS
No common herha<ic ^rcw ^^itl^in that grove: white
lilies set off its bright-hued floAvers. The earth gives
adornment to the woodland : now the mild lotus
casts its shade, now the laurel, now the myrtle.
The boughs have their own gifts ; for here mid
leafage fragrant apples shine out. Here the rose is
neighbour to violets, here is every charm of scent,
here among the violets are the joyous bells of the
delicate hyacinth. Meet for love is a place which
hath such wealth of boons. Still, gold there is none
in all the grove, no gleam of purple " : flowers are
the bed, flowers the frame of the couch, flowers
the support beneath. Rich Nature toils for Venus'
luxury. Here had no common reeds shaded the
crystal wells, but such as those whence young Cupid
fashions his cruel weapons. I trow our Lady of
Paphos made this grove for naught but love. Here
'tis her way to wait for Mars. Why be the Graces
slow to come — the sisterhood of the Charites ? *
Why, cruel Boy, do you not twine lilies ? Nay, you
must strew the couch with roses, you must make
garlands ready and with rosy knots bind up \ enus'
hair in seemly wise.*^ Even as her finger culls the
bright-hued bloom, let her draw long si^hs as she
drinks in its fragrance. But for thyself let a caress-
ing hand store the flowers beneath thy bosom !
Then, lest a thorn of the bright-hued rose-bush
hurt thee, strip off the leaves ere thou bind together
the tender buds ! '^ Even thus 'tis seemly that
maids rejoice within the grove of \'enus : yet that
ye may preserve amours uninjured for the Paphian,
* The Greek Xapms corresponded to the Latin Gratiae.
<^ Wernsdorf thinks tu is addressed to one of the Graces.
^ For papillae as rosebuds cf. Pervig. Ven. 14 and 21.
529
MINOR LATIN POETS
vincula sic mixtis caute constringite ramis,
ne diffusa ferat per frondes liimina Titan,
his igitur lucis Paphie, dum proelia Mavors
horrida, dum populos diro terrore fatigat,
ludebat teneris Bybli permixta puellis.
nunc varies cantu divom referebat amores
inque modum vocis nunc motus forte decentes
corpore laeta dabat, nunc miscens | denique plantas,
nunc alterna movens suspense pollice crura,
molliter inflexo subnitens poplite sidit.
saepe comam pulchro collectam flore ligabat
ornans ambrosios divino pectine crines.
dum ludos sic blanda Venus, dum gaudia miscet
et dum flet, quod sera venit sibi grata voluptas,
et dum suspense solatia quaerit amori :
ecce furens post bella deus, post proelia victor
victus amore venit. cur gestas ferrea tela ?
ne metuat Cypris, comptum decet ire rosetis.
a, quotiens Paphie vultum mentita furentis
lumine converse serum incusavit amantem !
verbera saepe dolens minitata est dulcia serto
aut, ut forte magis succenso Marte placeret,
amovit teneris suspendens oscula labris
nee totum effundens medio blanditur amore.
decidit aut posita est devictis lancea palmis
et, dum forte cadit, myrto retinente pependit.
ensem toUe, puer, galeam tu, Gratia, solve ;
^2 mentita S : minitata Higtius.
^* atmovet S : admovit wlgo : amovit Wakkerus.
°- An imitation of Virg. Georg. IV. 347.
REPOSIANUS
carefully knit together bonds of branches inter-
twined to keep the Sun-crod from shedding a flood
of light through the foliage. In these woodlands,
then, the Paphian used to sport amid a bevy of
tender damsels from Byblos, while Mavors plied
savage warfare, while he wearied the nations with
dread alarm. Now she would rehearse in song the
chequered amours of the gods " and to the vocal
measure now joyously, as it befell, made seemly
movements with her body ; now in turn plying
intricate steps, now on light fantastic toe moving
alternate feet, she sinks down resting upon grace-
fully bended haunch. Oft she would bind her hair
close-drawn with pretty blooms, ordering ambrosial
tresses with comb divine.
While thus sweet ^'enus engages in various sports
and joys, and turns to tears for that her darling
pleasure cometh late, and seeks some solace for her
love deferred, behold in frenzy after warfare comes
the god, after his battles the vanquisher vanquished
by love. Why dost thou wear weapons of steel?
I^est Cypris feel alarm, 'tis seemly to come with
roses garlanded. Ah, how often did the Paphian's
look feign anger as her averted eye reproached her
lover's tardiness ! Oft, piqued, did she threaten
sweet lashes from festoons of flowers, or, mayhap
the more to please when Mars was afire with
passion, withheld those kisses which she poised on
tender lips, alluring in the midst of love by checking
love's full flood.
Down fell his lance or with love-vamjuished hands
was laid aside, and, as it happened to fall, hung
on a myrtle-bough which caught it. Take, Boy, his
sword : let one of the Graces unlace his helmet : ye
U M 2
MINOR LATIN POETS
solvite, Bybliades, praeduri pectora Martis :
haec laxet nodos, haec ferrea vincula temptet
loricaeque moras, vos scuta et tela tenete.
nunc violas tractare decet. laetare, Cupido,
terribilem divum tuo solo numine victum :
pro talis flores, pro scuto myrtea serta,
et rosa forte loco est gladii, quern iure tremescunt !
iverat ad lectum Mavors et pondere duro
floribus incumbens totum turbarat honoreni.
ibat pulchra Venus vix presso pollice cauta,
florea ne teneras violarent spicula plantas,
et nunc innectens, ne rumpant oscula, crinem, 1
nunc vestes fluitare sinens, vix lassa retentat,
cum nee tota latet nee totum nudat* amorem.
ille inter flores furtivo lumine tectus
spectat hians Venerem totoque ardore tremescit.
incubuit lectis Paphie. proh sancte Cupido, 1
quam blandas voces, quae tunc ibi murmura fundunt !
oscula permixtis quae tunc fixere labellis !
quam bene consertis haeserunt artubus artus !
stringebat Paphiae Mavors tunc pectore dextram
et collo innexam ne laedant pondera laevam, 1
lilia cum roseis supponit Candida sertis.
saepe levi cruris tactu commovit amantem
in flammas, quas diva fovet. iam languida fessos
forte quies Martis tandem compresserat artus ;
non tamen omnis amor, non omnis pectore cessit ]
flamma dei : trahit in medio suspiria somno
^* iura S : iure Riese : bella Baehrens.
^°^ sinu S : sinens Oudendorp. laxa S : lassa Baehrens.
^"^ tectus S : tectam Baehren-s.
^"* motoque Baehrens.
° Cf. Lucret. I, 36, of Mars in Venus' lap, pascit amore avidos
inhians in te, dea, vistt^.
REPOSIANUS
damsels of Byblos, unlace the breast of stalwart
Mars^ — let one slacken the knots, one try the iron
bands which i>iiard his breastplate, you others keep
the shield and weapons. 'Tis the fitting moment to
handle violets. Rejoice, O Cupid, that the awe-
inspiring god is conquered by your divinity alone :
instead of weapons there be flowers, instead of shield
the myrtle wreaths ; the rose, it so befalls, takes the
place of the sword at which men have cause to
tremble !
Mavors had come to the couch and resting his hard
weight upon the flowers disordered all their graceful-
ness. Fair Venus came scarce leaving footprint in
her caution lest the prickly flowers should mar her
tender feet, and, now entwining her tresses lest kisses
might ruflle them, now letting her robes flow loose,
can scarce confine them in her languor : she is not
wholly hid nor wholly bares her charms. He in his
covering of flowers with stealthy eye gazes agape at
\"enus, quivering in the full flame of passion.'* The
Paphian goddess sank upon the couch. Ah ! Cupid
the august, how coaxing the words, what the mur-
murs they then did utter there ! What kisses did
they then imprint upon commingled lips ! How well
did limb clasp limb in close embrace ! Then Mavors
drew his right hand from the Paphian 's breast and
lest his weight should hurt the left arm twined around
her neck, sets white lilies and rose-wreaths under-
neath. Oft the leg's light touch stirred the lover
into flames by the goddess fanned. At last, it
befell, the languor of repose had mastered the
weary limbs of Mars ; yet did not all love's rapture,
yet did not all the flame, quit the god's breast :
amidst his slumber he heaves sighs and from the
533
MINOR LATIN POETS
et venerem totis pulmonibus ardor anhelat.
ipsa Venus tunc tunc calidis succensa venenis
uritur ardescens, nee somnia parta quieta.
o species quam blanda ! o quam bene presserat art us 1
nudos forte sopor ! niveis sufFulta lacertis
colla nitent : pectus gemino quasi sidere fulget.
non omnis resupina iacet, sed corpore flexo
molliter et laterum qua se confinia iungunt.
Martem respiciens deponit lumina somno, 1
sed gratiosa, decens. pro lucis forte Cupido
Martis tela gerit : quae postquam singula <(lustrat),
loricam clipeum gladium galeaeque minacis
cristas, flore ligat ; tunc hastae pondera temptat
niiraturque suis tantum licuisse sagittis. 1
lam medium Phoebus radiis possederat orbem,
iam tumidis calidus spatiis libraverat horas :
flammantes retinebat equos. proh conscia facti
invida lux I ^>neris qui nunc produntur amores
lumine, Phoebe, tuo ! stant capti iudice tanto
Mars Amor et Paphie, ramisque inserta tremescunt
lumina, nee crimen possunt te teste negare.
viderat effusis Gradivum Phoebus habenis
in gremio Paphiae spirantem incendia amoris.
o rerum male tuta fides ! o gaudia et ipsis
vix secura deis I quis non, cum Cypris amaret,
120 sic Baehrens : o quam blanda quies S, Riese.
122 turget S : fulget Baehrens.
1-* quo . . . iungant Baehrens.
1-' regens S: gerit Riese. tela; rigens Baehrens. lustrat
Bur man, Baehrens-, om.S: vidit vulgo: sumpsit i?/e.se.
1^2 sic Bur man : iam mediis Maehly : dimidiis Riese.
calidum spatium . . . horis Baehrens, Riese.
13^ ramis cum Baehrens.
" The manuscript reading 5»am blanda quies seems an over-
bold contradiction of the preceding line.
534
REPOSIANUS
depths of his Uinfi!:s hot passion still pants love.
Venus herself then, even then, enkindled with
glowing poison, is afire and burns : she wins no
restful dreams. How winning the sight ! ^ How
fit the slumber that has o'ercome the naked limbs !
A fair neck rests on snowy arms : the breast seems
lit up by a pair of stars. Not wholly on her back
is she reclined, but with a gentle bend of the body
where side meets side. Looking at Mars, she drops
her eyes in sleep, charming as ever, comely.^ In
front of the grove meanwhile Cupid is handling
Mars' weapons : and after scanning them one by one,
breastplate, shield, sword, plumes of the threatening
helmet, he binds them each with flowers ; then tests
the spear's weight, marvelling that his own arrows
have been allowed such power.
Already had Phoebus taken possession of the mid-
world with his rays, already in the heat of his proud
course had he balanced the hours of day and was
restraining his flaming steeds. Ah ! envious day-
light privy to the deed ! What love-intrigues of
Venus are now betrayed, O Phoebus, by thy sun-
shine ! With a judge so mighty there stand as
prisoners Mars and Love and Paphos' queen; shed
through the branches, sunbeams quiver ; they cannot
disown their guilt confronted by thy testimony.
From his chariot in full career Phoebus had espied
Gradivus breathing love's fires in the Paphian god-
dess' lap. O ill-placed confidence ! O joys even
for the very gods scarce free from care ! Who but
would hope, when Cypris was in love, that loving
* Baehrens marks a lacuna here because of the abrupt
transition.
535
MINOR LATIN POETS
praeside sub tanto tutum speraret amare ?
criminis exempluni si iam de nuniine habemus,
quid speret niortalis amor r quae vota ferenda ?
quod numen poscat, quo sit securus, adulter ?
Cypris amat, nee tuta tamen ! compressit habenas
Phoebus et ad lucos tantummodo lumina vertit
et sic pauca refert : " nunc spargis tela, Cupido ;
nunc nunc, diva \ enus, nati devicta sagittis
das mihi solanien ; sub te securus amavi :
fabula, non crimen, nostri dicentur amores."
haec ait et dictis N'^ulcanum instigat amaris :
" die ubi sit Cytherea decens, secure marite !
te exspectat lacrimans, tibi castum servat amorem ?
vel si forte tuae ^ eneris fera crimina nescis,
quaere simul Martem, cui tu modo tela parasti."
dixit et infuso radiabat lumine lucum
inque fidem sceleris totos demiserat ignes.
haeserat Ignipotens stupefactus crimine tanto.
iam quasi torpescens (vix sufficit ira dolori)
ore fremit maestoque modo gemit ultima pulsans
ilia et indignans suspiria pressa fatigat.
antra furens Aetnaea petit, vix iusserat, omnes
incubuere manus, multum dolor addidit arti.
quam cito cuncta gerunt ars numen flamma maritus
ira dolor ! nam vix causam tunc forte iubendo
^*2 amorem vulgo.
^*^ sparge tela 8 : spargis Hiese : sparge o Baehrens.
^^^ da S : das Oitdendorp. securus S : si lusus Baehrens.
" Apollo mischievously argues that Venus' example has
show^l him that conscience need not trouble a lover : so his own
amours will be handed down as entertaining stories, not moral
offences.
536
REPOSIAXUS
should be safe 'neath overseer so mighty ? If now
we take our pattern of wrongdoing from deity, what
may a mortal's love expect ? What prayers must be
oftered ? What deity should a paramour entreat for
an easy mind? Cypris is in love, yet not in safety.
Phoebus held tight his reins and towards the grove
turned but his eyes, uttering these brief words :
" Now dost thou shower thy darts. O Cupid; now,
now, divine \ enus, quite vanquished by thy son's
arrows, thou givest me solace ; 'neath thy power I
have learned to love care-free. My amours will be
recounted for a fable, not a crime." '^
So speaking he stirs up Vulcan with bitter words :
" Say, heedless husband, where is the comely Lady
of Cvthera ! Does she await thee in tears, preserving
lier chaste love for thee ? Or, if mayhap thou
knowest not the wild offences of thy ^ enus, search
at the same time for Mars, whom of late thou didst
provide with weapons." As he spoke, he lit up the
grove with a flood of light, sending straightway his
full fires down in proof of guilt. The Lord of Fire
was at a loss, stunned by so great a crime : now half-
benumbed (anger scarce meets his pain) he growls
aloud, and groaning in melancholy wise convulses
his sides to their very depth and wrathfully heaves
sigh on sigh unceasing.* In his frenzy he makes for
the cavern-forge of Aetna. Scarce were his orders
given, when all hands fell to work — much did resent-
ment add to skill. How quickly is all accomplished
by skill, deity, flame, husband, anger, pain ! Scarce
in the moment of his ordering had he explained the
* Cf. phrases like Virg. Aen. IX. 415, longis singidtibus ilia
pulsat; \lll. 94, noctemqite diemque fatigant ; Sil. Ital. XII.
496, curasque ita corde fatigat.
537
MINOR LATIN POETS
dixerat, et vindex coniunx iani vincla ferebat.
pervenit ad lucos, non ipsi visus Amori,
non Chariti : totas arti mandaverat iras.
vincula tunc manibus suspense molliter ictu ]
illigat et teneris conectit bracchia palmis.
excutitur somno Mavors et pulchra Cy there,
posset Gradivus validos disrunipere nexus,
sed retinebat amor, Veneris ne bracchia laedat.
tunc tu sub galea, tunc inter tela latebas, ]
saeve Cupido, timens. stat Mavors lumine torvo
atque indignatur, quod sit deprensus adulter.
at Paphie conversa dolet non crimina facti ;
sed quae sit vindicta sibi tiun singula volvens
cogitat et poenam sentit, si Phoebus amaret. ]
iamque dolos properans decorabat cornua tauri,
Passiphaae crimen mixtique cupidinis iram.
MODESTINUS
Forte iacebat Amor victus puer alite somno
myrti inter frutices pallentis roris in herba.
1'^ stans S : stat Burman : flat Baehrens.
^^° sancit Baehrens. ^^^ reparans Baehrens.
182 PasBif^ S.
" i.e. for the full satisfaction of his anger he depended on the
skill at the forge with which the avenging chains were made.
* Reposianus departs from the traditional story according to
which the lovers were entrapped in a snare previously contrived
by the Fire-god: see Odyss. viii. 276 sqq.-, Ovid. Met. IV.
llQsqq.: Ars. Am. 11. 511 sqq.; Statius, 6'i7y. I. ii. 59-60. He
also substitutes a grove for the Fire-god's house as the scene
of the amour.
538
MODESTINUS
reason before the avenging husband was already
bringing the chains. He reaches the grove, unseen
by Love himself, unseen by any Grace : to his art
he had entrusted all his rage.'^ Then with light
soft touch he bound the chains upon the sleepers'
hands, linking their arms with gentle movement.''
Mars shakes himself free of sleep : so too the fair
Cytherean. Gradivus well might burst asunder the
strong bonds, but love restrained him lest he hurt
\ enus' arms. Then did you lurk hidden 'neath
Mars' helmet, then did you lurk among his weapons,
cruel Cupid, in cowardice. Mavors stands sullen
of look, chafmg because he is an adulterer caught.
But the Paphian feels no grief that her guilty deed
has turned awry : instead, she thinks of what re-
venge is hers, revolving point by point, and feels it
were fit penalty if Phoebus fell in love : and now,
hastening forward her guile, she set to ornament
the horns of the bull which would mean Pasiphae's
guilt and the wrath involved in blended lust.*^
MODESTINUS
Cupid Asleep
YouxG Love lay once with winged sleep o'ercome
Mid myrtle shrubs where pale dew soaked the grass.
* The fable ran that Venus took revenge on Phoebus through
his offspring. Pasiphae, daughter of the Sun-god, and wife of
Minos, king of Crete, was the victim of Venus, who caused her
to become enamoured of the bull : cf. Virg. Aen. VI. 25,
PasipJuie mixtumque genus prolesque biformis (in reference to
the Minotaur).
Here, as occasionally elsewhere, cupido (= "desire") is
masculine: there is no need to personify it as "Cupid," nor
to adopt the suggestion in Burman of mixtaeque libidinis.
539
MINOR LATIN POETS
Imnc procul emissae tenebrosa Ditis ab aula
circueunt animae, saeva face quas cruciarat.
" ecce meus venator ! " ait " hunc " Phaedra
" ligemus ! "
crudelis " crinem " elamabat Scylla " metanius ! "
Colchis et orba Procne " numerosa caede necemus ! "
Didon et Canace " saevo gladio perimanius !
Myrrha " meis ramis," Euhadneque " igne creme-
mus! "
" hunc " Arethusa inquit Byblisque " in fonte
necemus ! "
ast Amor evigilans dixit " mea pinna, vol emus."
AUCTOR INCERTUS
CupiDO Amaxs
Quis me fervor agit ? nova sunt suspiria menti.
anne aliquis deus est nostro vehementior arcu ?
quern mihi germanum fato fraudante creavit
diva parens ? satis an mea spicula fusa per orbern
vexavere polum laesusque in tempore mundus
invenit poenam ? sed si mea vulnera novi,
Cupido Amans : ^ fato S : furto Wakkerns : partu Baehrens.
° The ten victims of unhappy love are represented as making
allusions to their OAvn misfortunes. Thus Phaedra seems to
see a second Hippolytus, eager for the chase ; Scylla remembers
the lock she treacherously clipped from her father's head;
Dido and Canace recall their death by a sword; Myrrha her
transformation into a tree; Euhadne or Evadne her suicide
on a blazing i^yve ; Byblis and Arethusa their metamorphosis
into a fountain.
540
ANONYxMOUS
Kound him came ghosts, from Pluto's gloomy hall
Set free, ghosts whom his cruel brand had scorched, °
"Look! 'tis my hunter!" Phaedra said: "bring
bonds I "
But ruthless Scylla cried " Let's shear his hair! "
The Colchian dame ^ and Procne sore-bereaved
Said " We must make him die full many a death !
Dido and Canace urged death by steel :
Nay. by my branches I " Myrrha claimed. " Let's
burn
Him in the fire! " Euhadne thought his due.
Byblis and Arethusa Mished him dro-'.vned.
But Love awoke and said " My wings, let's fly!
ANONYiMOUS
Cupid ix Love *-"
What is the glow of passion that impels me ?
Sighs be new for me to think of. Can it be that
some god has mightier force than Cupid's bow ? To
whom by some trick of fate has my goddess mother
given birth to be a brother for me ? Have my
darts, shot through the globe, harassed the heavens
enough, and an injured world at the fit moment dis-
covered a penalty ? Nay, if I know wounds of my
'' Medea.
*■ This poem by an unknown author was first printed by
Burman, Anth. Lot. I. Lib. I, No. 30 immediately before
Modestinus' poem (. . . " ex Divionensi codice prinii
producimus et Salmasianis schedis "). It is here included as a
companion picture to " Cupid Asleep." See Buecheler-Riese,
Anth. Lat. I. i. No. 240, p. 107; Baehrens, P.L.M. IV.
pp. 345-346.
• 541
MINOR LATIN POETS
hie mens est ignis : meus est, qui parcere nescit.
in furias ignesque trahor ! licet orbe superno,
luppiter, et salsis undis, Neptune, tegaris,
abdita poenarum te cingant Tartara, Pluton,
impositum rumpemus onus ! volitabo per axem
mundigerum caelique plagas pontique procellas
umbriferumque Chaos ; pateant adamantina regna,
torva venenatis cedat Bellona flagelHs I
poenam mundus amet : stupeat vis maior ! anhelat
in se saevus Amor fraudemque in vuhiere quaerit I
PENTADIUS
De Fortuna
Res eadeni adsidue niomento volvitur uno
atque redit dispar res eadem adsidue.
vindice facta manu Progne pia dicta sorori,
impia sed nato vindice facta manu.
carmine visa suo Colchis fuit ulta maritum,
sed scelerata fuit carmine visa suo.
coniugis Eurydice precibus remeabat ad auras,
rursus abit vitio coniugis Eurydice.
^ ex altis S : et salsis Wakkenis : exiiltes JRiese.
1° poenarum vulgo : terrarum Maehly : Taenarium Baeh-
rens. te cingant Oudendorp : est ingum {sic) S.
^^ vix S: vis schedae: mox Baehrens : stupeat, vincatur,
anhelet JRiese.
^® vulnera Baehrens.
Pentadius : ^' * functa L. Muelhr, Baehrens : facta codd.
^' * visa codd. : fisa Baehrens : nisa Biese.
542
PENTADIUS
dealing, this is my own fire — that fire of mine which
knows not how to spare. Into a frenzy of fires am I
dragged ! Although thou. () Jupiter, be concealed
in the sphere above, and thou. O Neptune, in the
salt-sea waves, although the hidden Hell of punish-
ment encircle thee, Pluto, we will burst the burden
laid on us ! I will fly across the axis that supports the
world, through fhn tracts of the sky and the tempests
of ocean, and through shadowy Chaos : let adaman-
tine realms ope wide, let the War-Goddess, sullen
mid her envenomed whips, retreat! Let the world
love its punishment ! Let mightier force stand
mazed I — So pants fell Cupid inly and, though him-
self wounded," aims at guile.
PENTADIUS
I
On Changing Fortune
The same thing constantly rolls on with uniform
movement, and unlike its old self returns the same
thing constantly. By her avenging hand,'' legend
says, Progne proved loyal to her sister but proved
disloyal to her son by her avenging hand. Through
her incantation the Colchian (Medea) was seen tc
have revenged herself on her husband, but she was
seen to be guilt-stained through her incantation.
Her consort's entreaties all but won Eury dice's return
to upper air : again is Eurydice lost through the fault
" Cupid forgets his own wound in his desire to do mischief.
* Progne or Procne : cf. Xemes. Cyneg. 3.3. She avenged on
her husband King Tereus his outrage on her sister Philomela by-
slaying Itys her own son by Tereus : cf. Nem. Cyn. 33-34.
543
MINOR LATIN POETS
sanguine poma rubent Thisbae nece tincta repente :
Candida quae fuerant. sanguine poma rubent.
Daedalus arte sua fugit Minoia regna,
aniisit natuni Daedalus arte sua.
niunere Palladio laeti qua nocte fuere,
hac periere Phryges munere Palladio.
nate quod alter ades caelo, sunt gaudia Ledae ;
sed maeret mater, nate quod alter abes.
hostia et ipse fuit diri Busiridis hospes
Busirisque aris hostia et ipse fuit.
Theseus Hippolyto vitam per vota rogavit,
optavit mortem Theseus Hippolyto.
stipite fatifero iuste quae fratribus usa est,
mater saeva fuit stipite fatifero.
sola relicta toris flevisti in litore. Gnosis ;
laetaris caelo sola relicta toris.
aurea lana fuit, Phrixum quae per mare vexit ;
Helle qua lapsa est, aurea lana fuit.
^ tristi nece codd. : Tliysbaeo tincta Heinsius : Thisbae
nece L. MuelUr.
1'. ^^ saepe codd. : et ipse Heinsius : sacra Baehrens.
23 litore codd. : in litore vulgo : litora {coniungendum cum
sola) Baehrens.
" Heinsius saw that the reference was to the tr3^sting-place
of Pyramus and Thisbe, and altered the tristi of the manu-
scripts. L. Mueller's Thisbae saves nece.
^ Castor and Pollux, Leda's twins, were granted an alternate
immortality ; when changed into the constellation Gemini, one
had to be above the horizon, the other below. This is the one
instance among these Latin " echoic " verses in which the
opening of a couplet is not exactly repeated at the close. Here
there is the slight change of ades to abes.
^ The Egyptian king who sacrificed strangers was in turn
immolated by Hercules.
544
PENTADIUS
of her consort. Red with blood is the fruit suddenly-
stained by Thisbe's death : ^ the fruit which once was
white is red with bltmd. By his skill (in flying)
Daedalus escaped from the realms of Crete : his son
(Icarus) was lost to Daedalus by his skill. Minerva's
gift ruined the Trojans oji that same night in which
they were gladdened by Minerva's gift (of the
wooden horse). O son, because thou, the one twin,
art present in the sky, Leda feels joy ; but her
maternal heart is sore, O son, because thou, the
other twin, art not present.^ A victim of dread
Busiris ^ was the stranger his very self, and Busiris
at the altar his very self was a victim. For Hippo-
lytus Theseus sought long life in his prayers ; yet
Theseus' (final) prayer was death for Hippolytus.**
A fatal brand Althaea used justly for avenging her
brothers, and a cruel mother she proved herself with
that same fatal brand. ^ Left alone on thy couch, O
Cretan lady, thou didst weep upon the strand ; thou
now rejoicest in the sky because thou wast left alone
on thy couch./ The Golden Fleece it was which bore
Phrixus o'er the sea : that from which (his sister)
Ilelle fell was the Golden Fleece.i^ The Tantalid
'^ i.e. after the false charge brought against Hippolytus by
Phaedra,
' Althaea avenged her brothers, whom her son Meleager had
slain, by burning the brand on which his life depended {im-
pieiate pia e.<<t, Ovid, Mel. VIII. 477) : cf. Rutilius, 11, il.S,
f Ariadne, deserted by Theseus, was consoled by Bacchus
and eventually made a constellation.
" Phrixus, in danger of death by sacrifice through the
malignity of his stepmother Ino, escaped overseas with his
sister Helle on the ram of the Golden Fleece provided by Zeus,
Helle was drowned by falling from the ram into the strait which
was called the Hellespont after her; but her brother reached
Colchis in safety,
545
N N
MINOR LATIN POETS
Tantalis est numero natorum facta superba,
natoriim afflicta | Tantalis est numero.
Pelias hasta fuit, vulnus grave quae dedit hosti ;
hoc quae sanavit, Pelias hasta fuit.
per mare iacta ratis pleno subit ostia velo,
in portu mersa est per mare iacta ratis.
lux cito summa datur natusque exstinguitur infans
atque animae eximiae lux cito summa datur.
sunt mala laetitiae diversa lege creata,
iuncta autem adsidue sunt mala laetitiae.
II
De Advextu Veris
Sentio, fugit hiemps ; Zephyrisque animantibus orbem
iam tepet Eurus aquis : sentio, fugit hiemps.
parturit omnis ager, persentit terra calores,
germinibusque novis parturit omnis ager.
laeta virecta tument, folio sese induit arbor :
vallibus apricis laeta virecta tument.
iam Philomela gemit modulis, Ityn impia mater
oblatum mensis iam Philomela gemit.
monte tumultus aquae properat per levia saxa,
et late resonat monte tumultus aquae,
floribus innumeris pingit sola flatus Eoi,
27-28 afflicta codd. {contra metrum) : fortasse infelix Wight
Duff. Metri causa coniecit Oudendorp T. e numero , . . afflicta
est T. e numero.
^2 versa codd. : mersa Heinsius.
^^ prima codd. (corruptum) : primae Oudendorp : pretium
Heinsius: fortasse eximiae A. M. Duff.
^^ e lege creandi Baehrens.
^^ autem Riese : etiam Baehrens.
PENTADIUS
(Niobe) grew proud over the number of her children :
m the number of her children grief crushed the
Tantalid. Achilles' spear" it was which dealt the
enemy a heavy blow : what also cured the wound was
Achilles' spear. The sea-tost barque enters the
river-mouth under full sail : but in harbour sinks the
sea-tost barque. Soon is the final day assigned and
the new-born child cut olF: likewise to illustrious
life soon is the final day assigned. Evils and joy
are made on a different pattern : yet are they
constantly linked — evils and joy.
II
On the Arrival of Sprixg
Winter, I feel, has fled ; and while Zephyrs quicken
the world, Eurus is already genial on the waters :
winter, I feel, has fled. Every field is in travail:
earth feels thrills of warmth throughout : with the
new buds every field is in travail. Green copses swell
joyously : the tree robes herself with leaves : in
sunlit dales green copses swell joyously. Now doth
Philomel lament in tuneful notes ; now, for that
Itys was served at the board,'' doth the impious
mother Philomel lament. From the hill the tumul-
tuous stream speeds among the smooth-worn stones :
far and wide resounds from the hill the tumultuous
stream. With flowers beyond all count the breath
of the Orient wind decks the ground ; and vales like
" See note on Laus Pisonis, 177.
^ i.e. as food to Tereus. Philomela here takes the place of
Procne : cf. De Fort una, 3-4.
547
N N 2
MINOR LATIN POETS
Tempeaque exhalant floribus innumeris.
per cava saxa sonat pecudum mugitibus Echo,
voxque repulsa iugis per cava saxa sonat.
vitea miista tunient vicinas iuiicta per ulmos ;
fronde maritata vitea musta tument.
nota tigilla Unit iani garrula iuce chelidon ;
dum recolit nidos, nota tigilla Unit,
sub platano viridi iucundat sonmus in umbra,
sertaque texuntur sub platano viridi.
tunc quoque dulce mori, tunc fila recurrite fusis
inter et amplexus tunc quoque dulce mori.
Ill
Narcissus
Cui pater amnis erat, fontes puer ille colebat,
laudabatque undas, cui pater amnis erat.
se puer ipse videt, patrem dum quaerit in amne,
perspicuoque lacu se puer ipse videt.
quod Dryas igne calet, puer hunc irridet amorem ;
nee putat esse decus, quod Dryas igne calet.
stat stupet haeret amat rogat innuit adspicit ardet
blanditur queritur stat stupet haeret amat.
quodque amat, ipse facit vultu prece lumine fletu ;
oscula dat fonti, quodque amat ipse facit.
1* visque T : usque V : bisque S : voxque corr. Salmasius,
Baehrens.
^^ iucunda codd. : iucundat Meyer.
" musta, usually of new wine, here by metonymy means the
clusters containing the promise of wine.
* i.e. in the spring season restore the by-gone days of youth.
•= The River-god Cephisus was the father of Narcissus, who
fell in love with his own reflection in water. The story is
beautifully told bv Ovid, Mel. III. 346-510.
548
PENTADIUS
Tempe are fragrant with flowers beyond all count.
Mid hollow rocks resounds Echo to the lowing herd ;
the note reverberated by the heights mid hollow
rocks resounds. Wine-filled clusters <* swell, linked
amonff their neiij:hbour elms : mid married leafaire
wine-filled clusters swell. The familiar roof-timber
already at daybreak is being smeared with mud by
the twittering swallow ; as she repairs her nest, she
smears the familiar roof-timber. Under the green
plane-tree sleep takes pleasure in the shade : and
garlands are a-twining under the green plane-tree.
Then too 'twere sweet to die : then run, ye threads
of destiny, back on the spindles : ^ amid embraces
then too 'twere sweet to die.
Ill
Narcissus
The youth who had a river for sire ^ was ever fond
of fountains : the waters won praise from him who
had a river for sire. The youth beholds himself as
he seeks his sire in the river ; in the translucent pool
the youth beholds himself. When a Dryad is fired
with passion, the youth flouts such love : he deems
it ne'er an honour that a Dryad is fired with passion.
He stands astonished ; halts and falls in love, ques-
tions, nods, gazes all aflame ; now coaxing, now
reproaching, he stands astonished ; halts and falls
in love. And what he loves, himself he makes ** in
look, entreaty, eye and tears ; prints kisses on the
fountain, and what he loves, himself he makes.
'^ i.e. he makes his own reflection, with which he is in love.
549
MINOR LATIN POETS
IV
Narcissus
Hie est ille. suis nimium qui credidit undis,
Narcissus vero dignus amore puer.
cernis ab irriguo repetentem gramine ripas,
ut per quas periit cernere possit aquas.
V
Chrysocome
Chrysocome gladium fugiens stringente marito
texit adulterium iudice casta reo.
VI
De Femixa
Crede ratem ventis, animum ne crede puellis ;
namque est feminea tutior unda fide,
femina nulla bona est, vel, si bona contigit una,
nescio quo fato est res mala facta bona.
IV. ^ undis codd. : umbris Baehrens.
* crescere codd. : cemere Baehrens {in not.).
° The Anthologia Latina contains also two elegiac couplets
on Narcissus (Baehrens, F.L.M. IV. p. 305 and p. 340); but
their authorship is uncertain. The Tumulus Ilectoris given
to Pentadius in Cabaret-Dupaty's Poetae Minores is by
Baehrens assigned to Pompilianus {P.L.M. IV. p. 149), while
the Tumulus Acidis is of uncertain authorship {P.L.M. \.
p. 404).
PENTADIUS
IV
Narcissus "
This is he who trusted overmuch in the pools
which were his kin — the youth Narcissus, worthy
of no counterfeit love. You behold him making
again from the moist meadow for the river-banks in
hope of beholding the waters which wrought his
doom.^
V
Goldilocks
Chrysocome escaping from the sword as her
husband drew it (to punish her) veiled her adultery
by being found innocent when the culprit acted as
judge. '^
VI
Ox Woman's Love**
Trust to the winds thy barque, but to a girl
Never thy heart's affections ; for the swirl
Of ocean wave is less to be eschewed
Than woman's faith. No woman can be good,
Or if a good one comes, then freakish fate
Good out of ill has managed to create.
^ crescere would imply his perennial growtii as a flower after
metamorphosis.
'^ Convinced of her infidelity, her husband had been within
an ace of killing her; but in court the judge pronounced her
not guilty — he had been her partner in the offence !
^ Variouslj' ascribed to the Ciceros, to Ausonius and other
poets besides Pentadius. See Introduction.
TIBERIANUS
INTRODUCTION
TO TIBERIANUS
From Jerome's Chronicle (ad aim. 2352) we learn
that Tiberianus, " vir disertus," was a governor in
Gaul as " praefectus praetorio " in a.d, 335. Possibly
he is the same as the Tiberianus Mhom we find holding
official positions in Africa and Spain slightly earlier
in the fourth century. His poetry is represented by a
few surviving poems and quotations. The feeling for
the beauty of nature pervading the twenty trochaic
tetrameters * in his Amnis ihat gives some counten-
ance to Baehrens' suggestion that he composed the
metrically similar Pervigilium J^eiieris ; ^ and the
almost entire avoidance of quadrisyllabic endings in
that poem bears, it has been argued, a resemblance
to the manner of Tiberianus.*^ His authorship of the
twenty-eight hexameters on the pernicious influence
of gold is attested by Servius' citation of its third
line on Aeneid VL 136. The twelve hendecasyllabics
" Tiberianus apparently uses greater metrical licence than
is found in the Fervigiliutn Veneris. He allows an anapaest
in the fifth foot, if either Baehrens' violnrum sub spiritu or
Garrod's violarum suspiritu is accepted in line 7, and a spondee
in the fifth foot, if the MS. readings are correct in lines 6
and 14.
* See Introduction to Florus for the contention that the
Pervigilium is much earlier: cf. also Introduction to the poem
in Loeb ed. of Catullus, TibuUus and Perrig. Ven.
'^ See Appendix to J. A. Fort's ed. of Pervig. Ven., Oxford,
1922.
555
INTRODUCTION TO
on a bird may be somewhat less confidently ascribed
to him. Based on different manuscript authority is
the poem purporting to be translated from Greek
into Latin " a quodam Tiberiano," and in its invo-
cation of the Supreme Being blending Orphic,
Pythagorean and Platonic elements. There are,
besides, a few fragments referred explicitly to
Tiberianus by Servius and Fulgentius.^
EDITIONS
M. Haupt. Ovidii Halieutica, etc. Leipzig, 1838.
[Haupt first printed poem No. iv " Omnipo-
tens . . . "] ^
E. Baehrens. Unedirte lateinische Gedichte, p. 27 sqq.
Leipzig, 1877.
Poet. Lat. Minor es, III. pp. 263-269. Leipzig,
1881.
F. Buecheler and A. Paese. Anthologia Latina, I. ii.
Nos. 490, 7196, 809-810.
The text here given is in the main that of Baehrens,
with the chief departures indicated.
SIGLUM for Poems I-III.
H = codex Harleianus 3685 : saec. xv. (Containing
also various medieval verses.)
" These scraps are given by Baehrens, P.L.M. III. 269, and
are included in this edition.
* See also L. Quicherat, Bihlioth. de Vecole des chartes, IV.
p. 267 sq.
55^
TIBERIANUS
SIGLA for Poem IV.
R — Regincnsis 215 : sacc. ix. (Collated by Baeh-
rens.)
P = Parisinus 2772 : saec. x-xi. (Collated by
Quicherat and by Riese.)
S = Parisinus 17160: saec. xii. (Collated by Baeli-
rens.)
V = ^'i^doboncnsis 143 : saec. xiii. (Used by Haiipt.)
557
TIBERIANUS
Amnis ibat inter arva valle fusus frigida,
luce ridens calculorum, flore pictus herbido.
caerulas superne laurus et virecta myrtea
leniter motabat aura blandiente sibilo.
subter autem molle gramen flore adulto creverat :
et croco solum rubebat et lucebat liliis,
et nemus fragrabat omne violarum <(sub> spiritu.
inter ista dona veris genimeasque gratias
omnium regina odorum vel colorum Lucifer
auriflora praeminebat, flamma Diones, rosa.
roscidum nemus rigebat inter uda gramina :
fonte crebro murmurabant hinc et inde rivuli,
antra muscus et virentes intus <(hederae)> vinxerant,
qua fluenta labibunda guttis ibant lucidis.
® turn croco Baehrens : et croco H.
' violarum spiritu H {contra metrum) : sub addidit Baehrens :
spiritu violarii Fort.
^^ sic Garrod {Oxford Book of Latin Verse) : auro flore
praeminebat forma dionis H : aureo flore emiiiebat cura
Cypridis Baehrens.
^^ hederae addidit Mackail : myrtus Baehrens : om. H.
1* qua Ziehen : quae H, Baehrens, qui hunc versum ante 13
transposuit. guttis ibant lucidis H : gurgite i. lucido Fort.
558
TIBERIANUS
I
Through the fields; there went a river ; down the
airy glen it wound,
Smiling mid its radiant pebbles, decked with flowery
plants around.
Dark-hued laurels waved above it close by myrtle
greeneries,
Gently swaying to the whispers and caresses of the
breeze.
Underneath grew" velvet greensward with a wealth
of bloom for dower,
And the ground, agleam with lilies, coloured 'neath
the saffron-flower.
While the grove was full of fragrance and of breath
from violets.
Mid such guerdons of the spring-time, mid its
jewelled coronets.
Shone the queen of all the perfumes, Star that love-
liest colours shows.
Golden flame of fair Dione, passing every flower — the
rose.
Dewsprent trees rose firmlv upright with the lush
grass at their feet :
Here, as yonder, streamlets murmured tumbling from
each well-spring fleet.
Grottoes had an inner binding made of moss and
ivy green,
WTiere soft-flowing runlets glided with their drops of
crystal sheen.
559
MINOR LATIN POETS
has per umbras omnis ales plus canora quam putes
cantibus vernis strepebat et susurris dulcibus ;
hie loquentis murmur amnis concinebat frondibuS;
quis melos vocalis aurae musa Zephyri moverat.
sic euntem per vireeta pulchra odora et musica
ales amnis aura lucus flos et umbra iuverat.
II
Aurum, quod nigri manes, quod turbida versant
flumina, quod duris extorsit poena metallis !
aurum, quo pretio reserantur limina Ditis,
quo Stygii regina poli Proserpina gaudet !
aurum, quod penetrat thalamos rumpitque pudorem,
qua ductus saepe illecebra micat impius ensis I
in crremium Danaes non auro fluxit adulter
mentitus pretio faciem fulvoque veneno ?
non Polydorum hospes saevo necat incitus auro ?
altrix infelix, sub quo custode pericli
commendas natum ? cui regia pignora credis ?
fit tutor pueri, fit custos sanguinis aurum !
immitis nidos coluber custodiet ante
et catulos fetae poterunt servare leaenae.
sic etiam ut Troiam popularet Dorica pubes,
aurum causa fuit
pretium dignissima merces :
infami probro palmam convendit adulter.
" Jupiter : cj. Sulpicius Lupercus Servasius, II. 7-8 {De
Cupiditale).
^ Polydorus, son of Priam, was murdered by Polymnestor,
King of Thrace, for the gold which Priam had sent with
Polydorus : cf. Virgil, Aeneid III. 41-57, esp. auri sacra fames.
'^ Paris gave his j udgement in favour of Venus for the promise
of Helen's love, and his award of the golden apple to her thus
led to the Trojan war.
560
TIBERIANUS
Throuc:h those shades eacli bird, more tuneful than
belief could entertain,
Warbled loud her chant of spring-tide, warbled low
her sweet refrain.
Here the prattling river's murmur to the leaves made
harmc^ny.
As the Ze})hyr's airy music stirred them into melody.
To a wanderer through the coppice, fair and filled
with song and scent,
Bird and river, breeze and woodland, flower and shade
brought ravishment.
II
O Gold, whirled onward by dark hell and muddy
rivers, wrested by the convict from cruel mines :
gold, the bribe unbarring Pluto's doors, and the
delight of Proserpine, queen of the Stygian world!
gold which invades the marriage-bower and shatters,
chastity, and at whose enticement the unholy sword
often flashes from scabbard drawn ! Was it not in
golden stream that to Danae's lap there came the
adulterer" who masked his appearance in his bribe
of yellow poison? Was not barbarous gold the
motive when Polydorus ^ was slain by his host ?
Unhappy nurse, under what guardian against danger
dost thou entrust a son ? To whom dost thou com-
mit children of royal line ? Gold becomes protector
of the boy, gold the guardian of the blood ! Sooner
will ruthless serpent guard nestlings, and lionesses
be ready to save the whelps of a newly delivered
dam. So too for Troy's destruction by the young
manhood of Greece the reason lay in gold ... a
bribe the worthiest recompense. At the price of
infamous scandal the paramour sold his award. ^
561
o o
MINOR LATIX POETS
denique cernamus, quos auruni servit in usus.
auro emitur facinus, pudor almus venditur auro,
turn patria atque parens, leges pietasque fidesque
omne nefas auro tegitur, fas proditur auro.
porro hoc Pactolus, porro fluat et niger Hernius ?
aurunij res gladii, furor aniens, ardor avarus,
te celent semper vada turbida, te luta nigra,
te tellus mersum premat infera, te sibi nasci
Tartareus cupiat Phlegethon Stygiaeque paludes !
inter liventes pereat tibi fulvor harenas,
neo post ad superos redeat faex aurea puros !
Ill
Ales, dum madida gravata nube
udos tardius explicat volatus,
decepta in medio repente nisu
capta est pondere depremente plumae :
cassato solito vigore pennae,
quae vitam dederant, dedere letum ;
sic, quis ardua nunc tenebat alis,
isdem protinus incidit ruinae.
quid sublimia circuisse prodest ?
qui celsi steterant, iacent sub imis !
exemplum capiant, nimis petendo
qui ventis tumidi volant secundis.
III. 1 madida g. pennis H : madidis g. p. Garrod : madida g.
nube Baehrens.
' ac Baehrens.
^ sublima circuisse H : sublima requisiisse Baehrens.
^^ sub ictu Baehrens.
^- variis t. tonant H : ventis t. volant RoMe.
562
TIBKRIANUS
Let us then see for what uses gold doth serve. It
is the buying-priee of erime, it is the sale-jirice of
kind modesty, uf fatherland and parent, of laws and
pietv and faith : all guilt is hidden by gold, by gold
all righteousness betrayed. With it must Pactolus
still flow on. and likewise the dark Hermus-stream ?"
O gold, thou murderous thing, thou frenzied madness
and passionate greed, let muddy shallows and a
stream's dark silt conceal thee evermore : let earth
below whelm and bury thee, let Tartarean Phlegethon
and the Stygian pools covet thy birth for themselves !
Perish thy yellow gleam among the sombre sands !
Never hereafter let the o-olden dreg's return to elean-
handed men of the world above !
Ill
A bird with drenching rain o'erweighted.
Hindered by wet, her flight abated.
And sudden, mid her efforts foiled.
Was caught as 'neath her load she toiled.
When her old strength of wing grew nought,
What once brouoht life now ruin brought :
So pinions used for soaring high
Straight dashed her on the ground to die.
What boots it round the heavens to fly ?
Who stood exalted, lowest lie !
Learn this, who aim beyond the scale
And haughtily ride the favouring gale.
" The golden sands of the Lydian river Hermus and its
tributarj', the Pactolus, were renowned in antiquity.
563
MINOR LATIN POETS
IV
Omnipotens, amiosa poll quern siispicit aetas,
queni sub niillenis semper virtutibus unum
nee numero quisquam poterit pensare nee aevo,
nunc esto affatus, si quo te nomine dignum est,
quo sacer ignoto gaudes, quom maxima tellus
intremit et sistunt rapidos vaga sidera cursus.
tu solus, tu multus item, tu primus et idem
postremus mediusque simul mundique superstes.
nam sine fine tui labentia tempora finis,
altus ab aeterno spectas fera turbine certo
rerum fata rapi vitasque involvier aevo
atque iterum reduces supera in convexa referri,
scilicet ut mundo redeat quod partubus haustus
perdiderit refluumque iterum per tempora fiat,
tu (siquidem fas est in temet tendere sensum
et speciem temptare sacram, qua sidera cingis
immensus longamque simul complecteris aethram)
fulmineis forsan rapida sub imagine membris
flammifluum quoddam iubar es, quo cuncta coruscans
ipse vides nostrumque premis solemque diemque.
tu genus omne deum, tu rerum causa vigorque,
tu natura omnis, deus innumerabilis unus,
tu sexu plenus toto, tibi nascitur olim
* mundique superstes RS : mundoque superstans
Baehrens.
^" altus et Baehrens. spectans codd., Baehrens : spectas
Riese.
^^ austrum R : abstrum P : abstui S : astra V : haustum
Quicherat : haustus Baehrens.
1^ fulgentis . . . Phoebi Baehrens.
^^ choruscas S : coruscant R : coruscas P, Baehrens :
coruscans Riese.
2" ipse vides codd. : ipseque das Baehrens.
564
TIBERIANUS
IV
Almighty Beins:. to wliom heaven's aije, ancient
of years, showeth reverence, whom for ever One
amid a thousand attributes, no man shall e'er have
power to apprai«;e in number or in time, now be
thou addressed if under any name it is fittinfj to
address thee ; yet even in name unknown thou
hast thy hallowed joy, when mia:htiest earth shud-
dereth and wandering constellations stay their
rapid courses. Thou art alone, yet in thyself many,
thou art first and likewise last, and midway in
time A\'ithal, outliving the world. For without end
for thyself, thou bringest the gliding seasons to an
end. On high from everlasting thou beholdest the
cruel destinies of the world awhirl in their pre-
destined cycle, living souls in the coils of time, and
again on their return restored to the vault above, ^
doubtless so that there may come back to the world
what it has lost, exhausted by birth-^, and that this
may again flow through the seasons of time. Thou (if
indeed it is allowed towards thee to direct the senses
and essav to grasp the hallowed beauty wherewith in
thine immeasurable power thou dost invest the stars
and dost embrace withal the far-stretched upper air)
in some quick guise mayhap with lightning limbs art
like a flame-flo\\-ing radiance wherewith thou dost
cause to flash all the world beneath thine own eyes
and speedest onward the sunlight of our day. Thou
art the whole kindred of the gods, thou art the cause
and energy of things, thou art all nature, one god
beyond reckoning, thou art full of the whole of sex,
for thee cometh to birth upon a day here a god, here
" CJ. Virg. Aen. VI. 2-41, supcra ad conveza fcrebai.
565
MINOR LATIN POETS
hie deus hie mundus, domus haec hominumque
deumque,
lucens, augusto stellatus flore iuventae.
quern (precor, adspires), qua sit ratione creatus,
quo genitus factusve modo, da nosse volenti :
da, Pater, augustas ut possim noseere causas,
mundanas olim moles quo foedere rerum
sustuleris animamque levi quo maximus olim
texueris numero, quo congrege dissimilique,
quidque id sit vegetum, quod per cita corpora vivit.
Fragmexta
1. Servius ad Verg. Aen. VI. 532:
Tiberianus etiam inducit epistolam vento
allatam ab antipodibus, quae habet : " super i
inferis salutem."
2. Fulgentius, Mythologiarum I. 26 :
. . . unde Tiberianus : " Pegasus hinniens
transvolat aethram."
3. Fulgentius, yiythologiarum III. 7 :
nam et Tiberianus in Prometheo ait, decs
singula sua homini tribuisse.
4. Fulgentius, VergiUana Continentia, p. 154 :
. . . memores Platonis sententiae, cuius here-
ditatem Diogenes Cynicus invadens nihil ibi plus
aurea lingua invenit, ut Tiberianus in libro de
Socrate memorat.
2* hie deus hie mundus codd. : hie cunctus m. Baehrens.
domus hie codd. : d. haee Riese : d. una Baehr&ns,
566
TIBERIANUS
a world — this home of men and gods — hicent, starred
with the majestic bloom of youth. Touching this
world (vouchsafe thy ftivour, I pray), grant to a
willing mind the knowledge of the principles on which
it was created, the manner of its origin and making.
Grant, O Sire, that I may have power to learn causes
majestic, by what alliance of things '^ thou didst of
old upraise the world's masses of matter, and of what
light texture, intimate yet dissimilar, thou didst of
old in thy might weave the soul, and what that
vigorous element is which in quick-moving bodies
constitutes life.
Fragments
1. Tiberianus also introduces a letter brought by
the wind from the antipodes, with the words " Those
above greet those beneath."
2. Hence Tiberianus says : " Pegasus neighing
flies across the upper air."
3. For Tiberianus too says in the Prometheus that
the gods have assigned to a man his individual traits.
4. (We used " golden " of brilliant eloquence),
recalling the utterance of Plato on whose inheritance
Diogenes the Cynic encroached and found there
nothing more than a golden tongue, as Tiberianus
records in his book on Socrates.
" Or " law of nature."
567
MINOR LATIN POETS
5. Fulgentius, Expositio sermonum aniiquorum, p. 183:
sudum dicitur sereniim. Tiberianus : " Aureos
subducit ignes sudus ora Lucifer."
[6. Servius ad Verg. Aen. VIII. 96 :
ostendit adeo perspicuam fiiisse naturam
fluminis ut in eo apparerent imagines nemorum,
quas Troianae naves secabant. Tiberianus :
" natura sic est fluminis,
ut obvias imagines
receptet in lucem suam."]
6^ Tiberianus Baehrens : Terentianus vidgo.
568
TIBERIANUS
5. The word suduin means serene : e.g. Tiberianus :
Lucifer, serene to look on. draws away liis golden
fires."
[6. He shows that so transparent was the nature
of the river that in it appeared clear reflections of
the woods across which the Trojan vessels cut their
way. as Tiberianus says :
" Such is the nature of the stream
That images which meet it seem
Clear-mirrored in its own bright gleam."] '^
" The ascription of this to Tiberianus depends on Baelirens'
suggestion that Terentianus in Servius' text is a blunder for
Tiberianus.
569
SULPICIUS LUPERCUS
SERVASIUS JUNIOR
IXTRODUCTIOX
TO SERVASIUS
The codex Leidensis Vossianus of Ausonius contains
two poems ascribed to Siilpicius I>upercus Serbastus
Junior. Schryver (Scriverius) altered " Serbastus "
to " Sebastus," which Baehrens retains; Wernsdorf
printed " Servastus," and Riese proposed " Ser-
vasius." From this schoohnan author, whose very
name is imperfectly known, there are thus preserved
three Sapphic stanzas on the transitoriness of every-
thing in nature and a longer elegiac complaint on the
ruinous result which the prevalence of money-
getting produces upon rhetorical studies. The
archaisms ma^e and fiuicUer (II. 16 and 18), artificially
introduced into these laboured verses of the fourth
century, contribute to the effect of unreality.
EDITIONS
P. Barman. Anthol. Lat. Lib. III. No. 97 {De J^etus-
tate). Amsterdam, 1759.
J. C. Wernsdorf. Poet. Lat. Mhi. III. p. 235 and
p. 408. Altenburg, 1782.
E. Baehrens. Poet. Lat. Min. IV. Nos. 118-119
(pp. 107-109). Leipzig, 1882.
F. Buecheler and A. Riese. Anthol. Latina I. ii. Nos.
648-649. Leipzig, 1906.
(The main departures from Baeln-ens' text are
indicated.)
573
INTRODUCTION TO SERVASIUS
SIGLUM
E (Baehrens' siglum) = codex nobilissimus Ausonii,
Leidensis Vossianus 111 : saec. viii-ix.
(In West-Gothic writing it contains, after its text
of Ausonius, other poems including the two ascribed
to Sulpicius Lupercus " Serbastus.")
574
SULPICIUS LUPERCUS
SERVASIUS JUNIOR
De \'etustate
Omxe quod Natiira parens creavit,
quanilibet firnium videas, labascit :
tempore ac longo fragile et caducum
solvitur usu.
amnis insueta solet ire valle,
mutat et rectos via certa cursus,
rupta cum cedit male pertinaci
ripa fluento.
decidens scabrum cavat unda tofum,
ferreus vomis tenuatur agris,
splendet attrito digitos honorans
anulus auro.
II
De Cupiditate
Heu misera in nimios hominum petulantia census
caecus inutilium quo ruit ardor opum,
auri dira fames et non expleta libido
feral i pretio vendat ut omne nefas !
576
SULPICIUS LUPERCUS
SERVASIUS JUNIOR
I
The Work of Time
All that Nature ever bore,
Firm to look at, time makes hoar.
Frail and fleeting more and more,
Its strength in service losing.
Streams fresh valley-routes pursue.
Ancient courses change to new,
When their banks are broken through
By floods' persistent oozing.
Cascades make rough tufa yield ;
Ploughs wear thinner in the field ;
Rings that jewelled fingers wield
Show gold rubbed bright by using.
II
Greed
Alas for the wretched craving after excessive in-
comes ! What is the end on which the blind passion
for useless wealth rushes, so that the cursed hunger
for gold and greed unsatisfied may barter any
enormity for a recompense fraught with destruction ?
577
p p
MINOR LATIN POETS
sic latebras Eriphyla viri patefecit, ubi aurum
accepit, turpis materiam sceleris ;
sic quondam Acrisiae in gremium per claustra puellae
corruptore auro fluxit adulterium.
o quam mendose votum insaturabile habendi
imbuit infami pectora nostra malo !
quamlibet immenso dives vigil incubet auro,
aestuat augendae dira cupido rei.
heu mala paupertas numquam locupletis avari !
dum struere immodice quod tenet optat, eget.
quis metus hie legum quaeve est reverentia veri,
crescenti nummo si mage cura subest ?
cognatorum animas promptum est patrumque cruorem
fundier : afFectus vincit avara fames,
divitis est, semper fragiles male quaerere gazas :
nulla huic in lucro cura pudoris erit.
istud templorum damno excidioque requirit ;
hoc caelo iubeas ut petat : inde petet.
mirum ni pulchras artes Romana iuventus
discat et egregio sudet in eloquio,
ut post iurisonae famosa stipendia linguae
barbaricae ingeniis anteferantur opes,
at qui sunt, quos propter honestum rumpere foedus
audeat illicite pallida avaritia r
^® crescenti nummo vulgo : crescentis nummi Baehrens.
^^ fratrumque cod., Baehrens : patrumque vulgo.
21 exitioque vulgo.
25 iurgisonae clamosa impendia Heinsius.
2' atqui vulgo.
° Amphiaraus, for whom it meant death to take part in the
Theban War, was betrayed by his wife for a golden necklace :
c/. Hor. Od. III. xvi. 11-13 : Statins, Theb. VI. 187-213.
SULPICIUS LUPRRCUS SERVASIUS JUNIOR
Tims it was that iM-iphyla betrayed her Imshand's <*
liidinic-phiee wlien she received the fjold that was
the cause of her foul crime : thus it was that lon^^
ago through prison-bars there rained in corrujiting
gold an adulterous stream on the lap of Acrisius'
daughter.'' How culpably the unquenchable longing
for possession stains our hearts with scandalous
wickedness ! However boundless the gold o'er which
Dives broods wakefully, within there seethes the
accursed lust for adding to his wealth. Alas for the
baleful poverty of the miser who is never rich ! His
desire for a limitless heap of what he holds makes
him a beggar. What fear is here of laws, what
respect for what is ftiir, if 'neath his growing bullion-
heap there lurk still more the pains of greed ? Taking
the lives of kinsmen, shedding a father's blood comes
readily to his mind : miserly hunger masters feeling.
An evil quest after frail treasures is ever the rich
man's way: in the matter of gain h^e will have no
qualms of shame. Such gain it is he pursues, though
it mean loss or destruction to temples : '^ bid him
seek this in heaven and from heaven he will fetch it.'^
It is not unlikely that the young men of Rome learn
fine accomplishments and sweat at distinguished
rhetoric only in order that, after the glorious cam-
paigns ^ of an eloquent lawyer's tongue, they may
prize barbaric wealth above talent. Yet who are
those (glib pleaders) thanks to whom pale avarice
ventures on the forbidden crime of breaking an
* Danae : cf . Hor. Od. III. xvi. 1-8 ; and Tiberianus' poem
on gold, II. 7-8.
•■ i.e. he sacrilegiously robs or fires them.
^ An echo of Juvenal III. 78, in caelum iusseris, ibit.
* Heinsius' emendation (meaning literally " the bawling out-
lay of a loud litigious tongue ") gets rid of d before .stipejidia.
579
pp 2
MINOR LATIN POETS
Romani sermonis egent, ridendaque verba
frangit ad horrificos turbida lingua sonos.
sed tamen ex cultu appetitur spes grata nepotum ?
saltern istud nostri forsan honoris habent ?
ambusti torris species, exesaque saeclo
amblant ut priscis corpora de tumulis !
perplexi crines, frons improba, tempora pressa,
exstantes malae deficiente gena,
simataeque iacent pando sinuamine nares,
territat os nudum caesaque labra tument.
defossum in ventrem propulso pondere tergum
frangitur et vacuo crure tument genua,
decolor in malis species, hoc turpius illud,
quod cutis obscure pallet in invidiam.
-^ egens vulgo.
2^ ultu cod. : vultu Scaliger : cultu Oudendorp.
^* amblant nt Baehrens : abtantur cod.: a,hduntnT vulgo:
aptantur Vinetus.
^^ caesaque cod. : scissaque vel fissaque Heinsms : crassaque
Wernsdorf.
^^ discolor cod. : corr. Heinsius. in manibus cod. : in
mails Baehrens.
580
SULPICIUS LUPERCUS SERVASIUS JUNIOR
honourable compact ? They are befjo:ared of Latin
style, and their confused jargon minces ridiculous
words to an accompaniment of shocking sounds. Yet
does their dress prompt the younger generation to
indulge pleasing hopes (of legacies) ? " Have they
mavhap such a share at least of our Roman dignity ?
No, theirs is the appearance of a burnt-out fire-
brand : they walk like skeletons gnawed by time
from ancient graves ! Their hair is tangled, fore-
head impudent, temples thin, jaws protruding while
their cheeks are sunken, and their flattened nostrils
rest on a tip-tilted curve : the toothless mouth is a
terror and the chapped lips are swollen. Forced down
by the impetus of weight, back sinks to belly ; and
the knees swell on a shrunken leg. Sallow is the
look of their jaws, and it is an uglier feature that the
skin wears a mysterious pallor suggestive of envy.
" i.e. Can it be said for the misers that they dress well and
in accordance with their wealth ?
581
DICTA CATONIS
INTRODUCTION
TO DICTA CATONIS
In the educational training: of the Middle Ages,
when Donatus supplied the rudiments, an early and
safe reading-book ^vas the compendium of practical
ethics which passed under the name of " Cato."
Here was a work with much of the unimpeachable
but hackneyed morality of the copy-book headline,
and a useful repertory of material for adorning the
letters of a young student desirous of creating a
good impression when he ^\Tote home. It is signifi-
cant that Chaucer accounts for the foolish marriage
of the carpenter in the Miller s Tale by remarking
that " he knew not Catoun, for his wit was rude."
This vade ineaun of proverbial wisdom has. however,
bequeathed an extraordinary number of enigmas :
its title and the meaning of the title, the date of
different strata in our collections, the proportion
borne by what we now possess to the larger corpus
of Dicta Catonis once in existence, the relation of the
single lines to the couplets, the disentanglement of
pagan elements from Christian additions or altera-
tions, and the textual criticism of what has been
handed down to us, all constitute problems of
considerable difficulty.
Inscriptional evidence proves that about the end
of the second century a.d. some of the proverbs
585
INTRODUCTION TO
were well enough known to be quoted." It is likely
that an unknown author gave to his collection of
wise saws the title of Cato, as an echo of the moral
instruction addressed generations earlier by Cato
the Censor to his son. The name " Dionysius,"
sometimes added, rests upon a doubtful testimony
by Scaliger to the effect that it existed in a manu-
script belonging to Bosius. If " Dionysius " has to
be considered at all, it may be explained, on Haupt's
theory,^ as due to a contamination of Cato's name
with that of Dionysius, whose Periegesis, translated
by Priscian, might have immediately preceded Cato
in Bosius' manuscript.
By the fourth century we have evidence that the
Disticha enjoyed an extensive vogue, and the Irish
monk Columbanus at the turn of the sixth century
had access to a large body of moral verses whence
to draw part of the collection of separate hexameters
to which he added many lines from Christian sources.
But wide use did not guarantee the preservation of
the text. Some disticha became less popular for
school-work than others ; extracts, excisions and
transpositions were made ; and couplets were, by
intention or chance, reduced to single lines {inono-
sticha) amidst the confusion into which the collec-
tion had fallen by the eighth century. It is, then,
not an unreasonable supposition that a re-editing of
the Catonian corpus took place in the Carolingian
era ; and it is possible that the brief verses prefixed
to Books II, III and IV of the Disticha date from
that period. Our present collection opens with a
« Distich. II. 3 is used in C.LL. VI. 11252.
* M. Haupt, Opusc. I. 376. Cf. Boas, Phil. Woch. 1930,
649 sqq.
s86
DICTA CATONIS
prose preface ostensibly directing? its precepts to a
son {fli karissime) in what we might call a Cato-like
manner, and between this preface and the Disticha
are 57 brief prose senientiae, some only two words
long. About these opinion is sharply divided. It
has been, on the one hand, argued that some of
them may be the oldest part of the sayings, that
some may even go back to Cato the Censor himself,
and that some at least were expanded later into
disticha ; on the other hand, it has been argued that
these breves sentetitioe may have constituted a sum-
mary introduction based, as excerpts, upon a once
much fuller collection of verse sayings. °
Despite the excisions and alterations to which
Christian re-editing subjected the inferior ethics of
the original collection, there have survived evident
traces not merely of antiquity {e.g. in the prose
sentences foro par(c)e or ad praetorium siato), but of
pagan principles in the religious thought or the
practical ad\ice. Thus, in the Disticha the polythe-
istic an di sint of II. 2 must be the original text, and
is combined with monotheism (ruitte arcana dei) in
one manuscript only : II. 12, on divination, and
IV, 38, on sacrifice, may be called pre-Christian,
while IV. 14, on cleansing by a victim's blood, may
possibly be directed against the doctrine of the
atonement. Occasionally the ring is that of worldly
cunning, I, 26, or selfishness in I, 11 and in the
second line of III. 12. A wife's tears. III. 20,
or her comiplaints about her husband's favourite
slave, I, 8, must not, readers are enjoined, be too
« Skutsch, in P.W. Rmlencyd. V., on "Dicta Catonis,"
maintains the priority of the prose sentences in opposition to
Bischoff.
587
INTRODUCTION TO
much regarded. But, taken all in all, it is a sound
if homely morality that is preached — respect for
the lessons of books and of life, diligence in work,
loyalty to friends, avoidance of quarrels, bravery in
misfortune, temperance in prosperity, and — as
Stoicism had taught — consideration for slaves.
In the maxims can be discerned the human experi-
ence of many generations, some of it going back to
Greek originals and some of it touched with a
literary reminiscence of Horace or Ovid. On the
whole, the language is simple and clear, as befits
proverbial wisdom, so that an archaism like mage
{Praef. II. 2 ; Distich. II. 6 ; IV. 42) or a compound
like officiperdi (IV. 42) stands out as something
unusual. The closing distich emphasises the brevity
aimed at in the couplets. Yet the very condensa-
tion led to a monotony of clause-structure and of
expression ; and this monotony is not redeemed by
any great metrical variety in the hexameters. The
prevailing merit, however, remains of a neat in-
telligibility which suited both teacher and taught ;
and this ensured for the collection its long career as
an educational manual. " Catho " was one of the
books printed during the early years of Caxton's
work at Westminster. The distichs were para-
phrased by Caxton's contemporary, Benedict Burgh,
who expanded each couplet into the Chaucerian
seven-lined stanza or rhyme-royal. Both text and
paraphrase are extant in many fifteenth-century
MSS., e.g. the Harleian 4733, and the volume, hand-
somely illustrated with coloured miniatures, w^hich is
now Peniarth MS. 481 in the National Library of
Wales, Aberystwyth. The educational vogue of
these disticha moralia is exemplified by their use
DICTA CATONIS
durintj the eiiT^htecnth century in Scotland as an
adjunct to Uuddinian's Rudiments of the Latin
Tongue : they were, for example, included among
the Prima Morum et Pietatis Praecepta, printed as a
schoolbook at Kdinburtjh in 1784.
EDITIONS
D. Erasmus. Disticka moralia titulo Catonis . . .
mimi Publiani . . . cum scholiis Erasmi. (?) Lon-
don, 1514.
M. Corderius. Catonis Disiicha Lat. et Gall, interpret.
Oliva, 1561.
P. Pithou. Catonis Disiicha. Paris, 1577.
M. Corderius. Disticha moralia 7wmine Catonis
inscripta c. Gall, interpretatione . . . et Graeca
Planudae interpretatioiie. Paris. 1585.
Jos. Scaliger. P. Syri sentent. et Dion. Catonis disticha
graece redd. Leyden, 1598.
P. Scriverius. Dionysii Catonis Disticha. Amster-
dam, 1G35 and 1636.
M. Z. Boxhorn. Catonis Disticha. Amsterdam, 1646.
O. Arntzen. Utrecht 1735; Amst. 1754 (with the
dissertations of Boxhorn, Cannegieter, and
Withof).
F. Hauthal. Berlin, 1869.
E. Baehrens. Poet. Lat. Min. III. pp. 205-246.
Leipzig, 1881.
G. Nemethy. Ed. 2. Budapest, 1895.
RELEVANT WORKS
F. Zarncke. Der Deutsche Cato. Leipzig, 1852.
H. J. Mueller. Symbolae ad emendandos scriptores
Latinos. II. Quaestiones Cato?iianae. Berlin, 1876.
589
INTRODUCTION TO
J. Nehabs. Der altengUsche Cato. Berlin, 1879.
M. O. Goldberg. Die Catonischen Distichen wdhrend
des Mittelalters in eriglischen und franzosischen
Literatur. Leipzig, 1883.
E. Bischoff. Proleg. zu Dionysius Cato. Diss. Erlan-
gen, 1890.
F. Skutsch. Pauly-Wissowa, Realencycl. V. (1905)
s.v. " Dicta Catonis."
E. Steehert. De Catonis quae dicuntur disiichis.
Greifswald, 1912.
M. Boas. Der Codex Bosii der Dicta Catonis in
Ehein. Mus. 67 (1912), pp. 67-93.
For a list of translations into other languages see
M. Schanz, Gesch. der rom. Lit., ed. 3, 1922, pp. 38-
39 : to which may be added The Distichs of Cato
translated into couplets, -vvith introductory sketch
by Wayland J. Chase, Madison, U.S.A., 1922.
SIGLA FOR DISTICHA
(As in Baehrens, P.L.M. III. 206-211.)
A = codex biblioth. capit. Veronensis 163 : saec.
ix. (Imperfect and in confused order, though
preserving many good readings. °)
B = codex Matritensis 14, 22 : saec. ix. (Contains
disticha up to I. 27, 1.)
C = codex Turicensis 78 : saec. ix.
D = codex scholae medicinalis Montepessulanae 306 :
saec. ix.
•* On this, the oldest codex, see K. Schenkl, Zeitschr. fur
osterr. Gymn. 24 (1873), p. 485; C. Cipolla, Biv. di filol. 8
(1880).
DICTA CATONIS
K = codex \'ossianus L.(^. SC) : saec. ix.'*
V = codex Ambrosianus C 74 : saec. x. [The last
four are from a common original, CD and KF
showing close agreement.]
f = codiees inferiores, including Reginenses and
Parisini.
[The codex Matritensis is regarded by M. Boas,
along with Paris. 8093 saec. ix and A^aticanus Reg.
2078 saec. x, as representing a Spanish-Gallic
tradition of the vulgate collection, in contrast to a
" Xeben-vulgata " and " Vor-vulgata " represented
by Paris. 9347, Monacensis 19413 saec. xi, Vaticanus
Barber. 8, 41 saec. xiii-xiv. See references at close
of the Sigla given for the Monosiicha.']
The main departures from Baehrens' text are
indicated in the apparatus criticus.
" See H. J. Mueller, op. cit., pp. 17 sqq.
591
CATO
I. COLLECTIO DISTICHORUM VULGARIS
Prologus
Cum animadverterem quam plurimos graviter
in via morum errare, succurrendum opinioni eorum
et consulendum famae existimavi, maxime ut
gloriose viverent et honorem contingerent. nunc
te, fili karissime, docebo quo pacto morem animi
tui componas. igitur praecepta mea ita legito,
ut intellegas. legere enim et non intellegere
neglegere est.
Deo supplica.
Parentes ama.
Cognatos cole.
Datum serva.
Foro parce.
Cum bonis ambula.
Antequam voceris, ne accesseris.
Mundus esto.
Saluta libenter.
Maiori concede.
Incp dicta marci catonis ad filium suum A : Marci Catonis
ad filium salutem litt. mai. rubr. B : Incipiunt libri Catonis
philosophi litt. mai. D : tit. om. C : totum prologum om. EF.
Prologus : ^ graviter in via morum BC s omnes : gravitate
murum A.
Sententiolae : ^ parce A : pare B ? nonnulli : para
CD r nonnulli.
CATO
I. THE COMMON COLLECTION OF
DISTICHS
Prologue
As I noticed the very great number of those who
go seriously astray in the path of conduct, I decided
that I should come to the aid of their belief and
take thought for their reputation, so that they might
live with the utmost glory and attain honour. Now
I will teach you, dearest son, how to fashion a
system for your mind. Therefore, so read my pre-
cepts as to understand; for to read and not to
understand is to give them the go-by .°
Pray to God.
Love your parents.
Respect your kindred.
Guard what is given you.
Avoid the market-place.^
Walk in good company.
Don't approach, until you're invited.
Be tidy.
Salute willingly.
Yield to your senior.
° On the manuscript authority for the order of these
sententiolae see Baehrens, P.L.M. III. pp. 206 and 214-215.
* This seems to anticipate Bacon's warning against idola
fori, misconceptions due to the careless notions of the Crowd.
593
QQ
MINOR LATIN POETS
Magistratum metue.
Verecundiam serva.
Rem tuam custodi.
Diligentiani adhibe.
Familiam cura.
Mutuum da.
Cui des videto.
Convivare raro.
Quod satis est dormi.
Coniugem ama.
lusiurandum serva.
Vino tempera.
Pugna pro patria.
Nihil temere credideris.
Meretrieem fuge.
Libros lege.
Quae legeris memento.
Liberos erudi.
Blandus esto.
Irascere ob rem {gravem).
Neminem riseris.
In iudicio adesto.
Ad praetorium stato.
Consultus esto.
Virtute utere.
Trocho lude.
Aleam fuge.
Litteras disce.
22 te tempera r pauci.
594
CATO
Honour a magistrate.
Preserve your modesty.
(iuard your own proj^erty.
Practise diligenee.
Take trouble for your household.
Be willing to lend.
Consider to whom you should give.
Let your banquets be few.
Sleep as much as suffices.
Love your wife.
Keep an oath.
Be moderate with wine.
Fight for your country.
Believe nothing rashly.
Shun a harlot.
Read books.
Remember what you read.
Instruct your children.
Be kind.
Be angry for a serious cause.
Mock no one.
Support a friend in the law-court.
Maintain your standing at the praetor's residence."
Be conversant with the law.
Practise virtue.
Play with the hoop.
Eschew dice.
Study literature.
" The praetor ium may be the official residence of a provincial
governor, or the headquarters in a camp, or sometimes a
great private mansion {e.g., Juvenal I. 75). The advice hero
apparently is " keep in with the powers that be" or *' keep
in with your patron." Erasmus took praetorium of a law-
court, explaining " multa enim discuntur in agendis causis."
595
qq2
MINOR LATIN POETS
Bono benefacito.
Tute consule.
Maledicus ne esto.
Existimationem retine.
Aequum iudica.
Nihil mentire.
Iracundiam rege.
Parentem patientia vince.
Minorem ne contempseris.
Nihil arbitrio virium feceris.
Patere legem quam ipse tuleris.
Benefici accepti esto memor.
Pauca in convivio loquere.
Miserum noli irridere.
Minime iudica.
Alienum noli concupiseere.
Illud aggredere quod iustum est.
Libenter amorem ferto.
Liberalibus stude.
CATONIS DISTICHA
LIBER I
1. Si deus est animus, nobis ut carmina dicunt,
hie tibi praecipue sit pura mente colendus.
2. Plus vigila semper neu somno deditus esto ;
nam diuturna quies vitiis alimenta ministrat.
3. Virtutem primam esse puto, compescere linguam
proximus ille deo est qui scit ratione tacere.
4. Sperne repugnando tibi tu contrarius esse :
conveniet nulli qui secum dissidet ipse.
*° tute corruptum videtur : fortasse tuta consule A. M. Dujf.
2. 1 neu A : nee BCDEF : ne r.
596
CATO
Do good to a good man.
Give safe adviee.
Do not be abusive.
Hold fast to your reputation.
Judge fairly.
Tell no lie.
Control your anger.
Overcome your parent with patience.
Do not despise a younger man.
Do nothing with the caprice of might.
Accept the law which you yourself made.
Bear in mind a benefit received.
Say little at a banquet.
Do not deride the wretched.
Judge not at all.
Do not covet what is another's.
Undertake what is fair.
Show affection gladly.
Put zeal into noble pursuits.
THE DISTICHS OF CATO
BOOK I
1. If God be spirit, as bards represent,
He must be worshipped with a clean intent.
2. Watch always more : sleep must not thee entice :
Prolonged inaction serves up food for vice.
3. To rule the tongue I reckon virtue's height :
He's nearest God who can be dumb aright.
4. Avoid the clash of inconsistency :
Who fights with self, with no one will agree.
597
MINOR LATIN POETS
5. Si vitam inspicias hominum, si denique mores,
cum culpant alios : nemo sine crimine vivit.
6. Quae nocitura tenes, quamvis sint cara, relin-
que :
utilitas opibus praeponi tempore debet.
7. Clemens et constans, ut res expostulat, esto :
temporibus mores sapiens sine crimine mutat.
8. Nil temere uxori de servis crede querenti :
semper enim mulier quem coniunx diligit odit.
9. Cum moneas aliquem nee se velit ille moneri,
si tibi sit carus, noli desistere coeptis.
10. Contra verbosos noli contendere verbis :
sermo datur cunctis, animi sapientia paucis.
11. Dilige sic alios, ut sis tibi carus amicus ;
sic bonus esto bonis, ne te mala damna sequan-
tur.
12. Rumores fuge neu studeas novus auctor haberi;
nam nuUi tacuisse nocet, nocet esse locutum.
13. Spem tibi poUiciti certam promittere noli :
rara fides ideo est, quia multi multa loquuntur.
14. Cum te aliquis laudat, index tuus esse memento ;
plus aliis de te quam tu tibi credere noli.
15. Officium alterius multis narrare memento ;
at quaecumque aliis benefeceris ipse, sileto.
16. Multorum cum facta senex et dicta reprendis,
fac tibi succurrant iuvenis quae feccris ipse.
17. Ne cures, si quis tacito sermone loquatur :
conscius ipse sibi de se putat omnia dici.
18. Cum fueris felix, quae sunt adversa caveto :
non eodem cursu respondent ultima primis.
^2 1 neu studeas Baehrens : ne studeas A : ne (nee D)
incipias ceteri omnes.
13. 1 polliciti A : promissi BCDE : promissam F {et sic
CE m. 2 corr.).
CATO
5. Test but the life aiul ways of tlK-m who l)hinie
Their fellows; all, you'll fnid, have faults the
same.
6. Gear that may harm forgo, however dear:
Wealth yields to usefulness in time of fear.
7. Be mild or firm as eircumstanees claim :
A sage may change his outlook free from blame.
8. A wife's complaints about the slaves mistrust :
Her husband's favourite wakens her disgust.
9. In warninjj one who fain would not attend,
Drop not the endeavour, should he be your
friend.
10. To fight the wordy you must words eschew :
Speech is bestowed on all, sound sense on few.
1 1 . Love other men ; yet be your own true friend :
Do good to good men so no loss attend.
12. Shun tattling, and the newest thing to say
Seek not : closed lips hurt no one — speaking
may.
13. Think not hopes built on promises are sure :
Much said by many seldom proves secure.
14. When someone praises you, be judge alone :
Trust not men's judgement of you, but your
own.
15. Let others' kindness frankly be revealed;
Your own good turns to others keep concealed.
16. When you, grown old, blame what folk do or
say,
Think what you did in your own youthful day.
17. Reck not of what the whispering lip lets
fall :
Self-conscious men think they're the talk of all.
18. In happy hours beware the hapless lot:
What the start promises, the end is not.
599
MINOR LATIN POETS
19. Cum dubia et fragilis nobis sit vita tributa,
in morte alterius spem tu tibi ponere noli.
20. Exiguum niunus cum dat tibi pauper amicus,
accipito laetus, plane et laudare memento.
21. Infantem nudum cum te natura crearit,
paupertatis onus patienter ferre memento.
22. Ne timeas illam quae vitae est ultima finis :
qui mortem metuit, quod vivit, perdit id ipsum.
23. Si tibi pro meritis nemo succurrit amicus,
incusare deos noli, sed te ipse coerce.
24. Ne tibi quid desit, quod quaesisti, utere parce ;
utque, quod est, serves, semper tibi desse
putato.
25. Quod dare non possis, verbis promittere noli,
ne sis ventosus, dum vir bonus esse videris.
26. Qui simulat verbis nee corde est fidus amicus,
tu quoque fac simules : sic ars deluditur arte.
27. Noli homines blando nimium sermone probare :
fistula dulce canit, volucrem dum decipit auceps.
28. Cum tibi sint nati nee opes, tunc artibus illos
instrue, quo possint inopem defendere vitam.
29. Quod vile est, carum, quod carum, vile putato :
sic tu nee cupidus nee avarus nosceris uUi.
30. Quae culpare soles ea tu ne feceris ipse :
turpe est doctori, cum culpa redarguat ipsum.
31. Quod iustum est petito vel quod videatur hones-
tum ;
nam stultum petere est quod possit iure negari.
32. Ignotum tibi tu noli praeponere notis :
coo;nita iudicio constant, incognita casu.
^*' ^ quod quaesisti Baehrens : quod quaeris A.
25, 1 verbis promittere noli Baehrens : nee bis {ex vis corr.
m. 2) promittere noli A : noli promittere verbis Columb.
'"• ^ redarguat Baehrens : arguat A : redarguit ceieri codd.
6oo
CATO
Our life is but a frail uncertain breath :
Rest not thy hopes, then, on another's death.
When your poor friend ^ives of his poverty,
Accept well pleased and thank him hand^^omely.
A naked babe since nature fashioned thee,
With patience bear the load of poverty.
Fear not lest life's concluding]: l«'ip be niirh :
He makes his life no life who dreads to die.
If no friend helps you as your deeds demand.
Tax not the gods but hold yourself in hand.
Save up your gains lest you go short some day :
To keep possessions, fancy they're away.
Utter no promise that you cant redeem.
Lest you inconstant prove, while kind you seem.
The glib dissembler, faithless friend at heart,
See that you copy : so art baffles art.
Approve not men who wheedling nothings say :
Fowlers pipe sweetly to delude their prey.
Since sons you have — not wealth — such training
give
Their minds that they, though poor, unharmed
may live.
Hold dear the cheap, and cheaply hold the
dear :
So none can say you hunt or hoard your gear.
Do not yourself what you are wont to blame :
When sin convicts the preacher's self, 'tis shame.
Ask what is right or fair to human eye :
Fools ask what others rightly may deny.
Do not the unknown o'er the known advance :
Known things on judgement hang, unknown on
chance.
^2'^ notis noli praeponere amicis Baehrens.
6oi
MINOR LATIN POETS
33. Cum dubia in certis versetur vita periclis,
pro lucro tibi pone diem quicumque sequetur.
34. Vincere cum possis, interdum cede sodali,
obsequio quoniam dulces retinentur amici.
35. Ne dubita, cum magna petes, impendere parva :
his etenim presses contingit gloria raro.
36. Litem inferre cave, cum quo tibi gratia iuncta
est:
ira odium generat, concordia nutrit amorem.
37. Servorum culpa cum te dolor urguet in iram,
ipse tibi moderare, tuis ut parcere possis.
38. Quern superare potes interdum vince ferendo ;
maxima enim est hominum semper patientia
virtus.
39. Conserva potius, quae sunt iam parta, labore :
cum labor in damno est, crescit mortalis egestas.
40. Dapsilis interdum notis et largus amicis
cum fueris, dando semper tibi proximus esto.
LIBER II
Telluris si forte velis cognoscere cultus,
V^ergilium legito ; quodsi mage nosse laboras
herbarum vires, Macer haec tibi carmina dicit ;
^^•^ presses contingit gloria raro Baehrens : rebus coniungit
gratia caros codd. omnes, sine sensu.
*"• ^ largus edd. vett. : carus codd. ^ cum s" nonnulli : dum
CDEF s- nonnuUi. dando Par. 2112 m. 1, Begin. 2078 in
ras. : felix codd. ceteri, quod ortum videtur ex I. 18, I.
6o2
CATO
33. Since our frail life through dangers sure must
run,
Count every day that comes as something won.
34. Yield to your mate some points you well might
score :
Compliance keeps your friends attached the
more.
35. In mighty aims small cost you must not spare ;
For those whom triHes cramp high fame is rare.
36. Beware of strife with one close linked to thee :
Anger breeds hate, love feeds on harmonv.
37. If, stung by slaves' misdeeds, you've angry grown,
Control yourself and so hurt not your own.
38. Sometimes put up with him you might beat
down ;
Of human virtues patience is the crown.
39. What you have won conserve at cost of pains :
Want must increase, when labour brings no
gains.
40. Though sometimes on your friends you lavish
gear,
In giving always to yourself keep near."
BOOK II
If perchance you fain would acquaint yourself
with farming, read Virgil ; but if your struggle
rather is to know the virtue of herbs, this is the
poetry that Macer ^ offers you ; if you long to know
" The self-regarding morality of this distich advises the
generous man never to depart too far from his own interest.
* The didactic poet Aemilius Macer of Verona (d. 16 b.c.)
wrote a work De Ilerbis (Ovid, Trisl. lY. x. 43-44).
603
MINOR LATIN POETS
si Romana cupis et Punica noscere bella,
Lucanum quaeres, qui Martis proelia dixit;
si quid amare libet vel discere amare legendo,
Nasonem petito ; sin autem cura tibi haec est,
ut sapiens vivas, audi quae discere possis,
per quae semotum vitiis deducitur aevum :
ergo ades et quae sit sapientia disce legendo.
1. Si potes, ignotis etiam prodesse memento:
utilius regno est meritis acquirere amicos.
2. An di sint caelumque regant, ne quaere doceri :
cum sis mortalis, quae sunt mortalia cura.
3. Linque metum leti ; nam stultum est tempore
in omni,
dum mortem metuas, amittere gaudia vitae.
4. Iratus de re incerta contendere noli :
impedit ira animum, ne possis cernere verum.
5. Fac sumptum propere, cum res desiderat ipsa;
dandum etenim est aliquid, dum tempus postu-
lat aut res.
6. Quod nimium est fugito, parvo gaudere memento :
tuta mage est puppis modico quae flumine
fertur.
7. Quod pudeat, socios prudens celare memento,
ne plures culpent id quod tibi displicet uni.
* romam veils et p. cognuscere {sic) A : civica pro punica
Scriverius.
2, 1 codd. omnes habent : mitte arc(h)ana dei caelumque
inquirere quid sit, nisi quod C unus ante versum 2 inserit :
an dii sint caelum qui (i ex corr.) regant nequ^re {sic)
doceri ; ho,ec altera versus forma genuina iudicanda est, cum
prior ilia colorem christianum prae seferat.
604
CATO
of Roman and Punic" warfare, you \\\\\ svvk Lucan,
who has recounted the combats of Mars; if your
fiincy is to have a love-affair or by reading learn how
to love, make for Ovid. But if your serious aim is a
life of wisdom, hear what you may learn of things
that ensure a course of life divorced from vice. Come
then and, as you read, learn what wisdom is.
1. To help even strangers, if you can, take pains :
A crown counts less than friends whom kindness
gains.
2. Ask not if Gods exist or are Heaven's kings :
As thou art mortal, think of mortal things.
3. Cease fearing death : 'tis folly day by day,
For fear of death, to cast life's joys away.
4. Temper in fighting rival claims eschew :
Temper bars minds from seeing what is true.
5. Make haste to spend when so the case desires ;
For something must be given, as need requires.
6. Pleased with small store, take care to avoid the
extreme :
Safer the craft that sails a moderate stream.
7. What makes you blush 'fore friends decline to
own,
Lest many blame what you dislike alone.''
" If Punica be the right reading, did an erroneous super-
scription on a manuscript of Lucan mislead the author of these
lines? {Cf. H. Blass, Rhein. Mus. xxxi. p, 134.) Or has a
verse referring to a poet other than Lucan, e.g. SiUus ItaUcus,
dropped out of the text ? Lucan's Pfuirsalia narrated the
civil war between Caesar and Pompey; Sihus' Punica the
struggle of Rome against Hannibal.
" One of the many prudential maxims : to confess openly a
secret fault may invite ill-natured comment about what is
really your own concern.
605
MINOR LATIN POETS
8. Nolo putes pravos homines peccata lucrari :
temporibus peccata latent, et tempore parent.
9. Corporis exigui vires contemnere noli :
consilio pollet cui vim natura negavit.
10. Cui scieris non esse parem, pro tempore cede :
victorem a victo superari saepe videmus.
1 1 . Adversum notum noli contendere verbis :
lis verbis minimis interdum maxima crescit.
12. Quid deus intendat, noli perquirere sorte :
quid statuat de te, sine te deliberat ille.
13. Invidiam nimio cultu vitare memento :
quae si non laedit, tamen hanc sufTerre moles-
tum est.
14. Esto animo forti, cum sis damnatus inique :
nemo diu gaudet qui iudice vincit iniquo.
15. Litis praeteritae noli maledicta referre :
post inimicitias iram meminisse malorum est.
16. Nee te coUaudes nee te culpaveris ipse ;
hoc faciunt stulti, quos gloria vexat inanis.
17. Utere quaesitis modice : cum sumptus abundat,
labitur exiguo quod partum est tempore longo.
18. Insipiens esto, cum tempus postulat aut res :
stultitiam simulare loco, prudentia summa est.
19. Luxuriam fugito, simul et vitare memento
crimen avaritiae ; nam sunt contraria famae.
20. Nolito quaedam referenti credere saepe :
exigua est tribuenda fides, qui multa loquuntur.
^' 2 tempore si Baehrens : temporibus codd. omnes,
^*. ^ ferto Baehrens : esto codd.
^^' ^ ipsum A, Baehrens : aut res ceteri codd. ^ ioco Baeh-
rens : loco codd. cum tempore laus est A : prudentia summa
est ceteri codd.
6o6
CATC)
8. Think not that wicked men fmd wronodoinjr
gain :
At times the wrung lies hid — in time 'tis plain.
9. Strength housed in little frame do not disdain :
In counsel men of slight physique may reign.
10. When you're outmatched, to meet the case,
retreat : °
Oft-times the vanquished will the victor beat.
11. In wordy war do not engage thy friend;
For trivial words in mighty strife may end.
12. What God intendeth seek not to divine :
His plans for thee require no aid of thine.
13. Proud pomp will rouse men's jealousy, be
sure :
Though it mayn't hurt, it's irksome to endure.
14. When judged unfairly, your own courage trust :
None long has joy who wins through judge
unjust.
15. The quarrel past, its bitter words ignore :
'Tis ill to think of wrath, when strife is o'er.
16. Praise not yourself, nor to yourself take blame :
Fools do so, plagued by love of empty fame.^
17. Make temperate use of gains : when all is cost,
What took long time to get is quickly lost.
18. Play the fool's part, if time or need advise :
To act the fool at times is truly wise.
19. Flee luxury, avoiding all the same
The charge of avarice : both blot a name.
20. Trust not those who for ever news relate :
Slight faith is due to tongues that glibly prate.
" Cf. the French reculer pour ynieiix sauter.
* The second line refers more obviously to the first part of
the preceding line, but insincere self-depreciation may be the
form of vanity known as " fishing for compliments."
607
xMINOR LATIN POETS
21. Quae potus peccas ignoscere tu tibi noli ;
nam crimen vini nullum est, sed culpa bibentis.
22. Consilium arcanum tacito committe sodali,
corporis auxilium medico committe fideli.
23. Successu indignos noli tu ferre moleste :
indulget Fortuna malis, ut vincere possit.
24. Prospice qui veniant casus hos esse ferendos :
nam levius laedit, quicquid praevidimus ante.
25. Rebus in adversis animum submittere noli :
spem retine ; spes una hominem nee morte
relinquit.
26. Rem tibi quam nosces aptam dimittere noli :
fronte capillata, post est Occasio calva.
27. Quod sequitur specta quodque imminet ante
videto :
ilium imitare deum, partem qui spectat utram-
que.
28. Fortius ut valeas, interdum parcior esto :
pauca voluptati debentur, plura saluti.
29. Judicium populi numquam contempseris unus :
ne nulli placeas, dum vis contemnere multos.
30. Sit tibi praecipue, quod primum est, cura salutis ;
tempora nee culpes, cum sis tibi causa doloris.
31. Somnia ne cures; nam mens humana quod
optat,
dum vigilans sperat, per somnum cernit id
ipsum.
23. 1 successus nolito indigni {vel indignos) ferre Bmhrens.
2 vincere A : laedere ceteri codd.
26. 1 noris Baehrens : noscis CDEF r plerique : nosces s"
pauci : scieris A.
^"' 2 sit codd. : sis s" pauci.
31, 2 vigilat codd. omties : vigilans edd. vet. verum Baehrens :
sperat codd. ornnes.
6o8
C'ATO
21. Your faults in drink should not your ])ardon
\\'in :
The wine is guiltless : 'tis the drinker's sin.
22. Trust secret plans to friend who guards his
speech,
And bodily treatment to a faithful leech.
23. Chafe not against men's undeserved success :
To bring it low Luck smiles on wickedness.
24. Ills, as they come, prepare to undergo :
What we've foreseen deals us a lighter blow.
25. Let not your courage droop in darkest hours :
Hope on ; for hope alone at death is ours.*^
26. Do not let slip the thing that suits your mind :
Chance wears a forelock, but is bald behind.
27. Observe the past and what impends foresee,
Like Janus, facing both ways equally.
28. For growth in strength, at times eat food in
measure ;
You owe more to your health than to your
pleasure.
29. Ne'er stand alone to flout the general view :
If you flout many, none may care for you.
30. Your health, the chief thing, guard with might
and main :
Don't blame the season for your self-caused
pain.
31. Reck not of dreams; in things which men
pursue,
Sleep sees the hopes of waking hours come
true.
° This is probably an instance where Christian thought has
coloured the Disticha : " hope alone does not desert man — not
even in death."
609
MINOR LATIN POETS
LIBER III
Hoc quicumque volet carmen cognoscere lector,
cuin praecepta ferat quae sunt gratissima vitae,
commoda multa feret ; sin autem spreverit illud,
non me scriptorem, sed se fastidiet ipse.
1. Instrue praeceptis animum, ne discere cessa ;
nam sine doctrina vita est quasi mortis imago.
2. Cum recte vivas, ne cures verba malorum :
arbitrii non est nostri quid quisque loquatur.
3. Productus testis, salvo tamen ante pudore,
quantumcumque potes, celato crimen amici.
4. Sermones blandos blaesosque cavere memento :
simplicitas veri forma est, laus ficta loquentis.
5. Segnitiem fugito, quae vitae ignavia fertur ;
nam cum animus languet, consumit inertia
corpus.
6. Interpone tuis interdum gaudia curls,
ut possis animo quemvis sufFen-e laborem.
7. Alterius dictum aut factum ne carpseris umquam,
exemplo simili ne te derideat alter.
8. Quod tibi sors dederit tabulis suprema notato,
augendo serva, ne sis quem fama loquatm*.
9. Ciuii tibi divitiae superant in fine senectae,
munificus facito vivas, non parous, amicis.
10. Utile consilium dominus ne despice servi :
si prodest, sensum nuUius tempseris umquam.
11. Rebus et in censu si non est quod fuit ante,
fac vivas contentus eo quod tempora praebent.
Ill prologum ita habet A : ceteri codices interponunt
distichon primum inter versum 2 et versum 3 prologi.
*. ' forma Barth : fama codd. omnes : norma Scriverius.
laus f . loquentis A : fraus f. loquendi CDEF s'.
6io
CATO
BOOK III
Any reader who decides to study this poem will
reap many advantages, as it offers maxims most
acceptable for life ; but if he spurn it, he will show
disdain not for me, its author, but for himself.
1. Fail not to learn : equip your mind with rules ;
Count as but death the life that never schools.
2. Mind not ill tongues, if you live straight of soul :
A neighbour's words are not in our control.
3. If called to witness, hide as best you can
A friend's misdeeds, but be an honest man.
4. Beware of softly whispered flatteries :
Frankness is mark of truth, flattery of lies.
5. Shun slackness, which means idling all your
days :
With lazy minds sloth on the body preys.
6. Sandwich occasional joys amidst your care
That you with spirit any task may bear.
7. Another's word or act ne'er criticise,
Lest others mock at you in selfsame wise.
8. A heritage bequeathed to you by will
Keep and increase : so save your good name
still.
9. If you've abundant wealth, as old age ends.
Be generous, not close-fisted, with your friends.
10. Sound counsel from your slave do not despise :
Spurn no man's view at all, if it is wise.
11. If goods and income are not what they were.
Live satisfied with what the times confer.
®. 2 auge servando vel augendo cura iie segnem Withof.
6ii
RR 2
MINOR LATIN POETS
12. Uxorem fuge ne ducas sub nomine dotis,
nee retinere velis, si coeperit esse molesta.
13. Multorum disce exemplo, quae facta sequaris,
quae fugias : vita est nobis aliena magistra.
14. Quod potes id temptato, operis ne pondere
pressus
succumbat labor et frustra temptata relinquas.
15. Quod factum scis non recte, nolito silere,
ne videare malos imitari velle tacendo.
16. ludicis auxilium sub iniqua lite rogato :
ipsae etiam leges cupiunt ut iure regantur.
17. Quod merito pateris patienter ferre memento,
cumque reus tibi sis, ipsum te iudice damna.
18. Multa legas facito, perlectis neglege multa ;
nam miranda canunt, sed non credenda poetae.
19. Inter convivas fac sis sermone modestus,
ne dicare loquax, cum vis urbanus haberi.
20. Coniugis iratae noli tu verba timere ;
nam lacrimis struit insidias, cum femina plorat.
21. Utere quaesitis, sed ne videaris abuti:
qui sua consumunt, cum dest, aliena sequuntur.
22. Fac tibi proponas mortem non esse timendam :
quae bona si non est, finis tamen ilia malorum
est.
23. Uxoris linguam, si frugi est, ferre memento ;
namque malum est non velle pati nee posse
tacere.
24. Aequa diligito caros pietate parentes,
nee matrem ofFendas, dum vis bonus esse parenti.
^*. 2 inceptata Baehrens : temptata s nonnulli.
15, 2 velle tnritare Baehrens.
^^' 2 rogentur (i.e. adeantur) Baehrens : regantur E w.l.
^8' ^ facito turn lectis Baehrens : factorum lectis CD.
23. 2 tacere codd. : carere Withof.
6l2
CATO
Do not for dowry's sake espouse a wife,
Nor wish to keep her. if she causes strife.
From men's behaviour learn what to pursue
Or shun. The life of others gives the cue.
Try what you can, lest by hard task foredone
You fail and drop what you've in vain begun.
Do not conceal ill deeds within your ken,
Lest silence look like aping wicked men.
If sued unfairly, ask the judge for aid :
The very laws would fain be justly swayed.
What you deserve to bear, with patience bear :
And, when you're judge of self, you must not
spare.
Read much, but, having read, with much dis-
pense ;
Bards' themes are wonders, but revolt the sense.
Upon your talk, at dinners, set a bit,
Lest you're dubbed " rattle," when you'd fain
be " wit."
Fear not the words your angry wife may say :
A weeping woman plots but to waylay.
Use your estate, yet shun extravagance :
Want follows waste and begs for maintenance.
Be this thy motto — " I do not dread death " :
Death, if no boon, our troubles finisheth.
A thrifty wife may talk and talk : endure :
Lost patience and loud brawling are no cure.
Love both your parents, one as much as other :
To please your father never wound your mother.
613
xMINOR LATIN POETS
LIBER IV
Semotam a curis si vis producere vitam
nee vitiis haerere animi, quae moribus obsunt,
haec praecepta tibi saepe esse legenda memento :
invenies, quo te possis mutare, magistrum.
1. Despice divitias, si vis animo esse beatus ;
quas qui suspiciunt, mendicant semper avari.
2. Commoda Naturae nullo tibi tempore derunt,
si contentus eo fueris quod postulat usus.
3. Cum sis incautus nee rem ratione gubernes,
noli Fortunam, quae non est, dicere caecam.
4. Dilige f te ornari, sed parce dilige formam,
quam nemo sanctus nee honestus captat habere.
5. Cum fueris locuples, corpus curare memento :
aeger dives habet nummos, se non habet ipsum.
6. Verbera cum tuleris discens aliquando magistri,
fer patris imperium, cum verbis exit in iram.
7. Res age quae prosunt ; rursus vitare memento,
in quis error inest nee spes est certa laboris.
8. Quod donare potes gratis concede roganti ;
nam recte fecisse bonis in parte lucrorum est.
9. Quod tibi suspectum est confestim discute quid
sit;
namque solent, primo quae sunt neglecta,
nocere.
10. Cum te detineat veneris damnosa libido,
indulgere gulae noli, quae ventris amica est.
*> ^ olens nardum Baehrens : denarium codd. : te ornari
Cannegieter. defuge odorem Baehrens : dilige formam codd.
2 quem codd. (quod non congruit cum formam): quam vulgo.
habere codd. : ab aere Scaliger.
614
CATO
BOOK IV
If you would lead a long life divorced from anxieties,
and not cling to faults in the mind which harm
character, then remember that you must often read
these rules. You will find a teacher through whom
you will be able to transform yourself.
1. Scorn wealth, if you would have a mind care-
freed :
Its votaries are but beggars in their greed.
2. Ne'er will you lack supplies from Nature's hands,
If you're content with that which need demands.
3. Reckless, haphazard steersman of your lot,
Do not call Fortune blind : blind she is not.
4. Love neatness : sho^^^ness love not amain,
Which good and honest folk seek not to gain.
5. Yourself, when you grow rich, treat well ; for
pelf
The invalid o^^'ns, but does not own himself.
6. At school you sometimes bear the teacher's cane :
So 'gainst a father's angry words don't strain."
7. Do what is helpful ; but from things recoil
Where hazard leaves dim hope to honest toil.
8. Give gratis what you can upon request :
Befriending friends may be as gain assessed.
9. Test quickly what it is that you suspect :
Men end by suffering from what they neglect.
10. When on some ruinous amour forced to spend.
Indulge not gluttony, the belly's friend.^
" verbera and verbis make an excellent contrast in the
Latin.
* i.e. love in itself is ruinous enough ; but expensive feasts
given in honour of a sweetheart may prove ruinous to health
and purse.
6iS
MINOR LATIN POETS
11. Cum tibi praeponas animalia bruta timore,
unum hominem scito tibi praecipiie esse timen-
dum.
12. Cum tibi praevalidae fuerint in corpore vires,
fac sapias : sic tu poteris vir fortis haberi.
13. Auxilium a notis petito, si forte labores ;
nee quisquam melior medicus quam fidus amicus.
14. Cum sis ipse nocens, moritur cur victima pro te ?
stultitia est morte alterius sperare salutem.
15. Cum tibi vel socium vel fidum quaeris amicum,
non tibi fortuna est hominis sed vita petenda.
16. Utere quaesitis opibus, fuge nomen avari:
quid tibi divitiae, si semper pauper abundes ?
17. Si famam servare cupis, dum vivis, honestam,
fac fugias animo quae sunt mala gaudia vitae.
18. Cum sapias animo, noli ridere senectam;
nam quoicumque seni puerilis sensus inhaeret.
19. Disce aliquid; nam cum subito Fortuna recessit,
ars remanet vitamque hominis non deserit
umquam.
20. Prospicito tecum tacitus quid quisque loquatur :
sermo hominum mores et celat et indicat idem.
21. Exerce studio quam vis perceperis artem :
ut cura ingenium, sic et manus adiuvat usum.
22. Multum venturi ne cures tempora fati :
non metuit mortem qui scit contemnere vitam.
23. Disce sed a doctis, indoctos ipse doceto :
propaganda etenim est rerum doctrina bonarum.
II' ^ bruta Arntzen : cuncta codd. timore D : timere ceteri
codd.
16, 2 divitias DF, Baehrens : divitiae C.
18. 2 cuicumque seni edd. vet. : quocumque sene codd. : qui-
cumque senet Scaliger. pueri bis Withof. inhaeret Baehrens :
in illo est codd.
6i6
CATO
1 ] . When fear of brute beasts harasses y<nir mind,
Know what you most should dread is human
kind.
12. If you have bodily strength in high degree,
Add wisdom : so win fame for bravery.
13. In straits ask those you know their aid to lend ;
Xo doctor can surpass a trusty friend.
1-i. Why dies a victim for you in your sin ?
Grace through another's blood fools hope to win.
15. Seeking a mate or friend who will be true,
A man's life, not his fortune, you must view.
16. Employ your gains : earn not a niggard's name :
What boots your wealth, if you're in want the
same ?
17. If throughout life you'd keep an honoured name,
Shun in your thought the joys which end in
shame.
18. Don't mock old age, though you've a gifted
brain :
Old age must ever show a childish vein.
19. Learn something; for when Luck is sudden
gone,
Art stays nor ever leaves man's life alone.
20. Look quietly out on what the city says :
Men's talk at once reveals and hides their
ways.
21. Practise with zeal an art once learned: as pains
Help talent, so the hand, used deftly, trains.
22. For fated hours to come show small concern :
He fears not death who knows how life to spurn.
23. Learn from the learned, but the unlettered
teach :
Far should the spread of wholesome knowledge
reach.
617
MINOR LATIN POETS
24. Hoc bibe quo possis si tu vis vivere sanus :
moibi causa mali minima est quaecumque
voluptas.
25. Laudaris quodcumque palam, quodcumque pro-
baris,
hoc vide ne rursus levitatis crimine damnes.
26. Tranquillis rebus semper diversa timeto,
rursus in adversis melius sperare memento.
27. Discere ne cessa : cura sapientia crescit,
rara datur longo prudentia temporis usu.
28. Parce laudato ; nam quem tu saepe probaris,
una dies, qualis fuerit, ostendit, amicus.
29. Non pudeat, quae nescieris, te velle doceri :
scire aliquid laus est, culpa est nil discere velle.
30. Cum venere et baccho lis est et iuncta voluptas :
quod lautum est animo complectere, sed fuge
lites.
31. Demissos animo et tacitos vitare memento:
quod flumen placidum est, forsan latet altius unda.
32. Dum fortuna tibi est rerum discrimine prava,
alterius specta cui sit discrimine peior.
33. Quod potes id tempta ; nam litus carpere remis
utilius multo est quam velum tendere in altum.
34. Contra hominem iustum prave contendere noli ;
semper enim deus iniustas ulciscitur iras.
35. Ereptis opibus noli maerere dolendo,
sed gaude potius, tibi si contingat habere.
36. Est iactura gravis quaesitum amittere damno ;
sed tibi cum valeat corpus, superesse putato.
2^. 1 hoc adhibe vitae quo possis v. s. Baehrens. ^ mali est
nimia est Baehrens.
22, 1 tibist rerum Baehrens : rerum tibi sit A : tua rerum tibi
ceteri codd. discrimine prava Baehrens : discrimine peior A :
displicet ipsi ceteri codd.
6i8
CATO
If you'd live healthy, drink in temperate
measure :
Oft ill diseases spring from trivial pleasure.
What you've approved and lauded openly,
Shun the reproach of damning flightily.
When all is calm, dread ever fortune's change :
Then, in bad times, your hope towards good must
range.
Fail not to learn ; for wisdom grows by pains :
Mere long-drawn waiting rarely prudence gains.
Praise sparingly ; for him you oft commend —
One day reveals how far he has been friend.
Blush not to wish, where ignorant, to be taught :
Knowledge wins praise : drones wish to study
naught.
With love and wine are strife and pleasure knit :
Take to your heart the joy : the strife omit.
Gloomy and silent men take care to shun ;
Still waters haply all too deep may run.
When fortune at a crisis serves thee ill.
Look at that other who is served worse still.
Try only what you can : 'tis wiser far
To row inshore than sail beyond the bar.
Strive not unfairly 'gainst an upright man :
On wrath unjustified God sets a ban.
When robbed of wealth, in anguish sorrow not :
Rather rejoice in what falls to thy lot.
To part with what toil won the loss is sore :
Yet think, if health be thine, thou hast full
store.
33. 2 utiliu3 multo est A : tutius est multo s.
3*^. 1 quaesitum a. damno A : quae sunt a. dam(p)ni3 ceteri
codd.
619
MINOR LATIN POETS
37. Tempora longa tibi noli promittere vitae :
quocumque incedis, sequitur Mors corporis
umbra.
38. Ture deum placa, vitulum sine crescat aratro :
ne credas gaudere deum, cum caede litatur.
39. Cede locum laesus Fortunae. cede potenti :
laedere qui <(potuit> poterit prodesse aliquando.
40. Cum quid peccaris, castiga te ipse subinde :
vulnera dum sanas, dolor est medicina doloris.
41. Damnaris numquam post longum tempus ami-
cum:
mutavit mores, sed pignora prima memento.
42. Gratior officiis, quo sis mage carior, esto,
ne nomen subeas quod dicunt officiperdi.
43. Suspectus cave sis, ne sis miser omnibus horis ;
nam timidis et suspectis aptissima mors est.
44. Cum servos fueris proprios mercatus in usus
et famulos dicas, homines tamen esse memento.
45. Quam primum rapienda tibi est occasio prona,
ne rursus quaeras iam quae neglexeris ante.
46. Morte repentina noli gaudere malorum :
felices obeunt quorum sine crimine vita est.
47. Cum coniunx tibi sit, ne res et fama laboret,
vitandum ducas inimicum nomen amici.
48. Cum tibi contigerit studio cognoscere multa,
fac discas multa a vita te scire doceri.
49. Miraris versus nudis me scribere verbis ?
hoc brevitas fecit, sensu uno iungere binos.
*^- ^ prona Baehrens : prima codd. ^ iam quae Baehrens :
quae iam codd.
*^. 2 multa a vita Baehrens : multa vita codd. te scire
Baehrens : nescire codd. doceri EF : docere C.
■*'. 2 sensu uno iungere Baehrens : sensu (-sum m. 2 corr.)
coniungere A : sensus coniungere ceteri codd.
620
CATO
37. Thyself to promise years of life forbear ;
Death, like thy shadow, dogs thee everywhere.
38. Spare calves to plough : heaven's grace ^^^th
incense gain :
Think not God loves the blood of victims slain.
39. When stricken, yield to Fortune, yield to power:
Who once could hurt may help in happier hour.
40. For faults committed, oft yourself arraign :
In treating wounds, the cure for pain is pain.
•il. Never condemn your friend of many a year :
If changed his ways, think how he once was dear.
42. Show gratitude to bind affection's tie :
Lest " ingrate " be the name you justify.
43. Earn not suspicion lest you live in grief:
Suspected cravens find in death relief.
44. When you've bought slaves to serve your own
sweet will.
Though servants called, they're men, remember,
still.
45. The lucky chance you must secure with speed.
Lest you go seeking what you failed to heed.
46. Joy not when knaves come by a sudden end :
Their death is blest whose life you can commend.
47. Having a w-ife, wouldst save thy gear and fame ?
Beware the friend who is but friend in name.
48. Great knowledge you have gained from books,
you own :
Yet note that life has lessons to be known.
49. You wonder that I write in these bare lines ?
Terseness the couplet in one thought combines.*
" An apology for the unadorned language of the distichs :
the aim at brevity has prevented expansion, the object being
to clinch one general thought in a couplet (or, if sensus
coniungere hinos be read, "to combine two allied thoughts").
621
MINOR LATIN POETS
II. CODICUM TURICENSIS ET
VERONENSIS APPENDIX
1. Laetandum est vita, nullius morte dolendum;
cur etenim doleas a quo dolor ipse recessit.
2. Quod scieris opus esse tibi, dimittere noli ;
oblatum auxilium stultum est dimittere cui-
quam.
3. Perde semel, socium ingratum quom noveris
esse;
saepe dato, quom te scieris bene ponere dona.
4. Dissimula laesus, si non datur ultio praesens :
qui celare potest odium pote laedere quern vult.
5. Qui prodesse potest non est fugiendus amicus,
si laesit verbo : bonitas sine crimine nil est.
6. Contra hominem astutum noli versutus haberi :
non captare malos stultum est, sed velle cluere.
7. Dat legem Natura tibi, non accipit ipsa.
8. Quod tacitum esse velis verbosis dicere noli.
9. Fortunae donis parvum tribuisse memento :
non opibus bona fama datur, sed moribus ipsis.
^. 2 nihil est A : an nulla est ? Baehrens in not.
^. 2 velle cluere Baehrens : velle nocere A sine sensu.
SIGLA FOR MONOSTICHA
(As used by Baehrens in constituting his text.)
[For the contribution of single lines from each
manuscript, see P.L.M. III. pp. 212-213.]
A = Vaticano-Palatinus 239 : saec. x.
B = Vaticano-Reginensis 711 : saec. xi.
C = Vaticano-Reginensis 300: saec. xi.
622
CATO
II. APPENDIX OF ADDITIONAL LINES
FROM ZURICH AND VERONA MSS. (= C and A)
1. Find joy in life ; grieve for the death of none.
Why grieve for him from whom all grief has
gone?
2. Never let slip the thing you know you need :
They're fools who fail the proffered aid to heed.
3. Your friend, ungrateful proved, dismiss ^^-ith
haste :
Give often, when you know your gifts well
placed.
4. Conceal your wrong, if vengeance must be slow :
Who hides his hate can injure any foe.
5. Your useful friend, though by his words annoyed.
Drop not ; there is no goodness unalloyed.
6. To outwit craft, court not for guile a name :
Trap rogues you may, but not therefrom seek
fame.
7. On you falls Nature's law, not on herself.
8. Don't tell a chatterbox what you'd keep quiet.
9. As slight in worth the gifts of Fortune view :
To character, not wealth, renown is due.
D = Parisinus 8069 : saec. xi.
E = Voravensis 111 : saec. xii.
F = Marbodi codex S. Gatian. Turonensis 161.
[For the Cambridge MS. in Gonville and Caius
College, saec. ix, see H. Schenkl, Wien. Sitzungsher.
143 (1901). For further views on the MSS. see
M. Boas, Mnemos. 43 (1915), 44 (1916); Philol 74
N.F. 28 (1917); Rhein. Mus. T2 (1917).]
623
MINOR LATIN POETS
III. COLLECTIO MONOSTICHORUM
Utilibus monitis prudens accommodet aurem.
Non laeta extollant animum, non tristia frangant.
Dispar vivendi ratio est, mors omnibus una.
Grande aliquid caveas timido committere cordi.
Numquam sanantur deformis vulnera famae.
Naufragium rerum est mulier male fida marito.
Tu si animo regeris, rex es ; si corpore, servus.
Proximus esto bonis, si non potes optimus esse.
Nullus tarn parous, quin prodigus ex alieno.
Audit quod non vult, qui pergit dicere quod vult.
Non placet ille mihi, quisquis placuit sibi multum.
Nulli servitium si defers, liber haberis.
Vel bona contemni docet usus vel mala ferri.
Ex igne ut fumus, sic fama ex crimine surgit.
Paulisper laxatus amor decedere coepit.
Splendor opum sordes vitae non abluit umquam.
Improbus officium scit poscere, reddere nescit.
Irridens miserum dubium sciat omne futurum.
Mortis imago iuvat somnus, mors ipsa timetur.
Quanto maior eris, tanto moderatior esto.
Alta cadunt odiis, parva extoUuntur amore.
Criminis indultu secura audacia crescit.
Quemlibet ignavum facit indignatio fortem.
Divitiae trepidant, paupertas libera res est.
Haut homo culpandus, quando est in crimine casus.
Fac quod te par sit, non alter quod mereatur.
Dissimilis cunctis vox vultus vita voluntas.
Ipsum se cruciat, te vindicat invidus in se.
Semper pauperies quaestum praedivitis auget.
Magno perficitur discrimine res memoranda.
Terra omnis patria est, qua nascimur et tumulamur.
" i.e. the very fact of envying a man is in itself {in se) i
testimony to his merit.
624
CATO
III. COLLECTION OF SINGLE LINES
Let prudence to sound warnings lend an ear.
Gladness must not transport, nor sorrow break.
Life's way will vary : death is one for all.
Trust not a faint heart with some high emprise.
The wounds of base repute are never cured. o
The wife who tricks her husband wrecks the home.
King art thou, ruled by mind ; by body, slave.
If short of best, then emulate the good.
No thrift but will be free with others' gear.
Say all you like ; you'll hear what you mislike. 10
Who much hath pleased himself doth not please mc.
To none subservient, you are reckoned free.
Life's rule is — spurn your goods and face your ills.
As fire gives smoke, a charge gives rise to talk.
Love gradually relaxed begins to go. 15
Wealth's glitter never washed a foul life clean.
Rascals can ask a service, but not give.
Mockers at woe should know the future's hid.
Death's copy, sleep, delights : death's self affrights.
The greater you are, be all the more restrained. 20
Hate ruins high things, love exalts the small.
Give rein to guilt, and daring grows secure.
Wrath forces any coward to be brave.
Where wealth brings panic, poverty is free.
Man's not to blame when fortune is arraigned. 25
Act as befits you, not as men deserve.
In voice, look, life and will all are unlike.
Self-racking Envy clears you in herself."
The rich man's gain aye grows by poverty.
Great crises foster deeds enshrined in thought. 30
All the Earth's our home ; there we are born and
buried.
625
s s
MINOR LATIN POETS
Aspera perpessu fiunt iucunda relatu.
Acrius appetimus nova quam iam parta tenemus.
Labitur ex animo benefactum, iniuria durat.
Tolle mali testes : levius mala nostra feremus. :
Saepe labor siccat lacrimas et gaudia fundit.
Tristibus afficiar gravius, si laeta recorder.
Quid cautus caveas aliena exempla docebunt.
Condit fercla fames, plenis insuavia cuncta.
Doctrina est fructus dulcis radicis amarae.
Cimi accusas alium, propriam priiis inspice vitam.
Qui vinci sese patitur pro tempore, ^-incit.
Dum speras, servis, cum sint data praemia sensis.
Nemo ita despectus, quin possit laedere laesus.
lUe nocet gravius quem non contemnere possis.
Quod metuis cumulas, si velas crimine crimen.
Consilii regimen virtuti corporis adde.
Cum vitia alterius satis acri lumine cernas
nee tua prospicias, fis verso crimine caecus.
SufFragium laudis quod fert malus, hoc bonus edit.
Si piget admissi, committere parce pigenda.
Quod nocet interdum, si prodest, ferre memento :
dulcis enim labor est, cum fructu ferre laborem.
[Laetandum est vita, nuUius morte dolendum :
cur etenim doleas, a quo dolor ipse recessit ?]
Spes facit illecebras visuque libido movetur.
Non facit ipse aeger quod sanus suaserit aegro.
Ipsos absentes inimicos laedere noli.
Ulcus proserpit quod stulta silentia celant.
" solus habet A. cum data sint A. sensis Baehrens :
saevis A : servis Mai.
" Cf. Tennyson's " For a sorrow's crown of sorrow is
remembering happier things " and Dante's " nessun maggior
dolore che ricordarsi del tempo felice nella miseria."
^ i.e. you are a slave if you cherish extravagant hopes,
because your thoughts have no freedom from the imaginary
626
CATO
Things hard to bear grow pleasant to relate.
Keener our zest for the new than our grasp on the old.
A good turn slips the mind, a wrong endures.
No witness near — we'll easier bear our ills. 35
Work often dries the tear and spreads delight.
Memory of joys will aggravate my woes.*
Caution and care you'll learn from others' case.
Hunger is sauce : no dishes please the gorged.
'Learning is pleasant fruit from bitter root. 40
Ere you accuse, your own life first inspect.
Who at fit moment yields is conqueror.
Your hopes enslave you ; for your thoughts are bribed.^
None so despised as cannot hurt when hurt.*^
The man you could not slight can harm you more.^ 45
Cloak crime with crime and you increase your fear.
To bodily courage add the sway of thought.
When ^^•ith sharp eye another's faults you mind,
Not seeing yours, you're blamed in turn as blind.
Praise voted to the bad disgusts the good. 50
If irked by what you've done, don't do what irks.
Harm sometimes must be borne, if found to suit ;
For sweet the toil of bearing toil \\'ith fruit.
[Find joy in life ; grieve for the death of none.
Why grieve for him from whom all grief has gone ?] ^ 55
Hope makes allurements : lust is stirred by sight.
What you prescribe when well, you drop when sick.
Don't hurt e'en enemies behind their backs.
Sores spread in stealth by foolish silence hid.
advantages you are counting on and allotting to yourself
as if already won.
'^ i.e. the veriest craven will retaliate : " even a worm will
turn."
•* The thought is not very deep : the man with no chinks
in his armour is one to be reckoned with.
« In D : also in Appendix from Zurich and Verona MSS.
supra.
627
ss 2
MINOR LATIN POETS
Nemo reum laciet qui vult dici sibi verum.
Vincere velle tuos satis est victoria turpis.
Nonnumquam vultu tegitur mens taetra sereno.
Quisque miser casu alterius solatia sumit.
Vera libens dicas, quamquam sint aspera dictu.
^'ir constans quicquid coepit complere laborat.
Iniustus, qui sola putat proba quae facit ipse.
Omne manu factum consumit longa vetustas.
Haut multum tempus mentis simulata manebunt.
Quicquid inoptatum cadit, hoc homo corrigat arte.
Durum etiam facilem facit adsuetudo laborem.
Robur confirmat labor, at longa otia solvunt.
Ut niteat virtus, absit rubigo quietis.
Sat dulcis labor est, cum fructu ferre laborem.
Magni magna parant, modici breviora laborant.
Ne crede amissum, quicquid reparare licebit.
Non pecces tunc cum peccare impune licebit.
Tristis adest messis, si cessat laeta voluptas.
Absentum causas contra maledicta tuere.
^^ haut multum E : haud ullum CF. mentis E : vanitas
CF : bonitas Riese : gra vitas vel virtus Buecheler.
IV. LINES FROM COLUMBANUS
Which may be regarded as Catonian
Under the name of the Irish monk Columbanus
(a.d. 543-615) there has come down a carmen mono-
stichon in 207 verses constituting a set of rules for
life (praecepta vivendi). While many are of Chris-
tian origin, Baehrens selects about a quarter of
these as being Catonian in source ; and Manitius
thinks considerably more might be claimed under
this head." Baehrens bases his text on Canisius in
628
CATO
None hini arraigns who wants truth said to him. 6()
'Tis a poor win to seek to beat your own.
Cahn looks do sometimes cloak a loathsome mind.
Another's woe consoles all wretched folk.
Speak the truth freely, though the truth be hard.
The steadfast strive to end a task begun. 65
Unfair the man who approves his own acts only.
Long lapse of time consumes all handiwork.
'The mind's pretences will not long endure.
Let man by skill make good unwelcome chance.
Hard work grows easy to the practised hand. 70
I^ong leisure saps the strength which work upbuilds.
That worth may shine, let rest be free from rust.
Sweet task it is to face a task and win."
The great aim high ; plain folk ply humbler tasks.
Whate'er may be recovered think not lost. 75
Sin not in the hour when you may safely sin.
Sad reaping comes, if joyful pleasure wanes.
Champion the absent 'gainst backbiting tongues.
" CJ. line 53 supra.
his Thesaurus (Amsterdam, 1725),^ who used a codex
Frisingensis. It gives the ascription to Columbanus
— incipit Uhelliis cuiusdam sapientis et ut fertur heati
Columba?ii. In the word sapientis may be detected
an echo of " Cato the Philosopher." '^ Other manu-
scripts are the codices Sa?igallefises, Lugdioiensis 190,
and Parisifius 8092.
« Gesch. der latein. Lit. des Mittelalters, I. (1911), pp. 181
sqq. : cf. E. Diimmler, Poet. lot. aevi Karolini, I. 275-281.
* First ed. Ingolstad, 1601.
' The Disticha are entitled in the Parisinus 2659, saee. ix.
liber (quartus) Catonis pkilosophi. The Montepessulanus has
libri Catonis philosophi.
629
MINOR LATIN POETS
IV. EX COLUMBANO QUAE VIDENTUR
CATONIS ESSE
Corporis exsuperat vires prudentia mentis.
Ne tua paeniteat caveas victoria temet.
Vir bonus esse nequit nisi qui siet omnibus aequus.
Non tu quaeso iocis laedas nee carmine quemquam. ^
Sit servus mentis venter, sit serva libido. £
Eripe, si valeas, non suggere tela furenti. 1
Saepe nocet puero miratio blanda magistri.
Cum sapiente loquens perpaucis utere verbis.
Egregios faciet mentis constantia mores.
Felix, qui causam loquitur prudentis in aurem.
Tantum verba valent, quantum mens sentiat ilia.
Non erit antiquo novus anteferendus amicus.
Moribus egregiis facias tibi nomen honestum.
Cui prodest socius qui non prodesse probatur ?
Res se vera quidem semper declarat honeste.
Actibus aut verbis noli tu adsuescere pravis.
Praemeditata animo levius sufferre valebis.
Quae subito adveniunt multo graviora videntur.
Felix, alterius cui sunt documenta flagella.
Praemia non capiet, ingrato qui bona praestat.
Omnis paulatim leto nos applicat hora.
Ante diem mortis nullus laudabilis exstat.
Doctor erit magnus, factis qui quod docet implet.
Quod tibi vis fieri, hoc alii praestare memento.
Quod tibi non optes, alii ne feceris ulli.
Corripe prudentem : reddetur gratia verbis.
Plus tua quam alterius damnabis crimina iudex.
« CJ. Publilius Syrus, line 2.
630
CATO
IV. LINES FROM COLUMBANUS
Presumably of Catoxian origin
Foresight of mind surpasses bodily strength.
Take care your victory bring you no regrets.
He can't be good who is not fair to all.
Wound no one, pray, with either jest or verse.
'Let appetite and lust be slaves of mind. 5
Seize, if you can, a madman's arms : lend none.
A teacher's flattering wonder harms a boy.
Talking wath sages, use but scanty words.
Firmness of mind will make fine character.
Blest he who states his case to wisdom's ear, 10
As the heart feels, so much the worth of words.
New friends must not be set before the old.
By noble traits make yours an honoured name.
Who gains by friend who stands no test of use ?
Truth ever honourably declares herself. 15
Do not grow used to evil acts or words.
You'll bear more lightly what the mind fore-knew.
Far heavier seem the strokes which sudden fall.
Blest he who from another's scourging learns.
Goods given to ingrates will bring no reward. 20
Each hour slow moving steers us nearer death.
Praiseworthy none stands out till day of death.
Great teacher he who as he teaches acts.
As you'd be treated, see you treat another.'*
What you'd not like yourself, don't do to any. 25
Reprove the wise : your words will bring you
thanks.
Thy faults, when judge, condemn more than
another's.
631
MINOR LATIN POETS
Sis bonus idque bonis, laesus nee laede noeentera.
Vir prudens animo est melior quam fort is in armis.
Di\itias animo iniustas attendere noli.
Semper avarus amat mendacia furta rapinas.
Invidiae maculat famam mala pestis honestam.
Nil sine consilio facias : sic facta probantur.
Instanter facias, sors quae tibi tradat agenda.
Improperes numquam, dederis munuscula si qua.
Omnia pertractet primum mens verba loquelae.
Sic novus atque novum vinum veterascat amicus.
Alma dies noctem sequitur somnosque labores.
Tempora dum variant, animus sit semper honestus.
Corripe peccantem, noli at dimittere, amicum.
Observat sapiens sibi tempus in ore loquendi ;
insipiens loquitur spretum sine tempore verbum.
lam magnum reddis modico tu munus amico,
si ipsum ut amicus amas : amor est pretiosior auro.
Dives erit semper, dure qui operatur in agro.
Otia qui sequitur, veniet huic semper egestas.
Omnibus est opibus melior vir mente fidelis.
Qui bona sectatur prima bene surgit in hora.
Multorum profert sapientis lingua salutem.
Hostili in bello dominatur dextera fortis.
Lingua ligata tibi multos acquirit amicos.
Diligit hie natum, virga qui corripit ilium.
*^ forte Baehrens : in ore cod. Fris.
^^ hostili Baehrens : hostibus cod. Fris.
^1 ligata tibi Baehrens : placata sibi cod. Fris.
632
CATO
Treat well the good : though harmed, harm not the
bad.
Men sage in mind excel the brave in arms.
To unfair money-getting give no heed. 30
Greed ever loves lies, theft and robbery.
Fair fame is soiled by envy's cursed plague.
Do naught uncounselled : so are deeds approved.
What chance hands you to do, do earnestly.
Never upbraid for any gifts you give. 35
Thought, words and language first must handle all."
Let time mature new friends just like new wine
Kind day comes after night, toil after sleep.
Times change : let honour always rule the mind.
Reprove, but don't let go. your erring friend. 40
Wise men respect the hour for utterance ;
Fools out of season utter worthless trash.
To a humble friend you give a handsome gift
In friendly love : love counts for more than gold.
Rich he'll be ever who toils hard afield. 45
The quest of ease will in its trail bring want.
The man of trusty mind excels all wealth.
Who aims at gear is smart to rise at dawn.
The sage's tongue reveals the health of many.''
In fighting foes, the strong right hand is lord. 50
A tongue fast bound procures you many a friend/
He loves his son who chides him with the rod.*^
** i.e. reflection and discussion should precede action.
* i.e. gives advice which, if acted on, will secure the general
welfare.
' i.e. silence may be golden in avoiding oflFence to others.
^ This may be influenced by the Scriptures : e.g. Prov. xiii.
24 "He that spareth his rod hateth his son; but he that
loveth him chasteneth him betimes."
633
MINOR LATIN POETS
LINES ON THE MUSES
The lines on the Muses were well kno^m in the
Middle Ages, and, according to Baehrens, may well
be the work of the composer of the Disticha. They
are found in the follo^ving, among other, MSS. : —
A = Turicensis 78 : saec. ix.
B = Caroliruhensis 36 f. : saec. ix-x.
CATONIS DE MUSIS VERSUS
Clio gesta canens transactis tempora reddit.
dulciloquis calamos Euterpe flatibus urguet.
comica lascivo gaudet sermone Thalia.
Melpomene tragico proclamat maesta boatu.
Terpsichore affectus citharis movet impetrat auget.
plectra gerens Erato saltat pede carmine vultu. j:
signat cuncta manu loquiturque Polymnia gestu.
Urania <(arce) poll motus scrutatur et astra.
carmina Calliope libris heroica mandat.
mentis Apollineae vis has movet undique Musas,
in medioque sedens complectitur omnia Phoebus.
^ comicolas civo A : lascivio E.
^ impetrat Baehrens : imperat codd. omnes.
'"^ ita ponunt DE : 8, 9, 7 collomnt ABC et ceteri omnes.
^ Urania arce poli Baehrens : Urania poli codd. omnes
(poliq. B) : Uranie caeli vulgo.
1^ medioque sedens Baehrens : medio residens codd. omnes
{aut 10 aut 11 spurium putat Riese).
" Cf. p. 434, supra, lines De Musis ascribed to Florus. Thei
ascription of the above verses to " Cato " is doubtful. Burman,
Anthol. Lat., Lib. I. No. 74, gives the heading " Musarum
634
CATO
C = \'ossianus L.Q. 33 : saec. x.
D = Cantabrigiensis, CoUegii S. Trinit. O. 4. 11:
saec. x-xi.
E = Parisinus 7930 : saec. xi.
The title in A is simply Xomina Musarum ; but
two MSS. ascribe the lines to Cato, viz. B Versus
Catonis de Duisis vel jiominihus philorum (sic) and
C hicipiunt versus Catonis philosophi de novem musis.
LINES ON THE MUSES-
To recreate the past is Clio's theme :
Euterpe plies the pipes ^^^th tuneful breath :
Thalia's joy is playful comedy :
Melpomene utters woe with tragic cry :
Tei-psichore's lute moves, wins and swells the heart:
Lyric the song, dance, smile of Erato :
Polymnia's hand marks all — she speaks in act: ^
Urania scans the sky and moving stars :
Calliope records heroic lays.
Apollo's varied thought each Muse inspires :°
So Phoebus, mid them throned, combines their
charms.
Inventa " and cites the parallel lines from the Anthologia
Graeca.
" Polymnia or Polyhymnia was traditionally the Muse
of sacred song, but varied provinces were at different periods
assigned to her — rhetoric and even agriculture and geometry.
A wall-painting from Herculaneum associated her with /jlvBovs
(fabulas). It was a late development to assign pantomimus
to her patronage, and the line refers to the expression of
everything by gesture.
'^ Apollo, as their patron, was known as Musagetes.
635
MINOR LATIN POETS
EPITAPH ON VITALIS THE MIME-ACTOR
This poem is subjoined to the Disiicka Catonis in
the following manuscripts :
A = Turicensis 78 : saec. ix.
B = Reginensis 2078 : saec. ix-x.
C = Parisinus 2772 : saec. x-xi.
D = Reginensis 1414 : saec. xi.
E = Parisinus 8319 : saec. xi.
A gives no title : D gives Epitaphiujn Vitalis Mimi
Filii Catonis, which Baehrens accepts : BC give
EPITAPHIUM VITALIS MIMI [FILII
CATONIS]
Quid tibi, Mors, faciam, quae nulli parcere nosti ?
nescis laetitiam, nescis amare iocos.
his ego praevalui toto notissimus orbi,
hinc mihi larga domus, hinc mihi census erat.
gaudebam semper, quid enim, si gaudia desint,
hie vagus ac fallax utile mundus habet ?
me viso rabidi subito cecidere furores ;
ridebat summus me veniente dolor,
non licuit quemquam curis mordacibus uri
nee rerum incerta mobilitate trahi.
vincebat cunctos praesentia nostra timores
et mecum felix quaelibet hora fuit.
motibus ac dictis, tragica quoque veste placebam
exhilarans variis tristia corda modis.
fingebam vultus, habitus ac verba loquentum,
ut plures uno crederes ore loqui.
^ amara coni. Burman.
• curis mordacibus uri Baehrens : mordacibus urere curis
codd. (ordac. B. curris B, C m. 1).
636
CATO
Epitajium Jilii Cat{h)onis ; and E EpitaphiU Vitalis
mimi. Burman, Aiith. Lat., Lib. IV. No. 20, and
Meyer, Atith. vet. Lat., 1173, have the poem under
the heading J'italis mimi. Its late period is shown
in the shortening of the final syllable in jiescis \. 2
and crederes 1. 16. The German monk Ermenrich
of the ninth century, writing to Grimald, cites
nescis as a trochee " in epitaphio Catonis Censorini
dicentis " (where dice?itis, it may be guessed, is
an attempt to include the lines as among Dicta
Catonis).
EPITAPH ON VITALIS THE MIME-ACTOR
How shall I treat thee, Death, who sparest none?
Thou knowst not mirth, knowst not the love of fun :
Yet all the world in these my merit knew —
Hence came my mansion, hence my revenue.
I always wore a smile : if smiles be lost.
What boots a world in wayward trickery tossed ?
At sight of me wild frenzy met relief:
My entrance changed to laughter poignant grief.
None felt the canker of anxiety
Nor worried mid this world's uncertainty.
O'er every fear my presence won success :
An hour with me was ever happiness.
In tragic role my word and act could please.
Cheering in myriad ways hearts ill at ease :
Through change in look, mien, voice I so could run
That many seemed to use the lips of one.
" veste Buecheler : verba codd. : voce PitJioeus.
^' angebam CD. loquentu E corr. : loquentur codd.
^® crederis codd., nisi quod in A e supra i m. 1 est positum.
MINOR LATIN POETS
ipse etiam, quern nostra oculis geminabat imago,
horruit in vultus se magis isse meos.
o quotiens imitata meos per femina gestus
vidit et erubuit totaque muta fuit !
ergo quot in nostro vivebant corpore formae,
tot mecum raptas abstulit atra dies,
quo vos iam tristi turbatus deprecor ore,
qui titulum legitis cum pietate meum :
" o quam laetus eras, Vitalis " dicite maesti,
" sint tibi di tali, sint tibi fata modo ! "
^' meos per femina Baehrens : meo = se = femine A : meos
es semina BCD : meo se femina E. gestus Baehrens : gestu codd.
2" muta Baehrens : mata CD : mota E : nata B : compta
A interpolate.
^^ vivebant Goetz : videbantur codd. (videantur E) : ride-
bant Hauthal.
638
CATO
The man whose double on the stage I seemed
Shrank, as my looks his very own he deemed.
How oft a woman whom my gestures played
Saw herself, blushed, and held her peace dismayed !
So parts which I made live by mimicry
Dark death hath hurried to the grave with me.*^
To you who with compassion read this stone
I utter my request in saddened tone :
Say sadly : " Glad, Vitalis, did you live :
Such gladness may the Gods and fates thee give ! "
" abstulit aim dies (22) is from Virg. Aeri. VI. 429.
^^ raptas Pithoeiis : raptor codd. (rapitor E).
^* titulum Burman, Schroder : tumulum codd.
** di tali Baehrens : vitalis codd., nisi qvod vitalis m. 1 in
dii tales corr. A. fata Heinsius : laeta codd. e glossa.
639
PHOENIX
INTRODUCTION
TO PHOENIX
It is not surprising that poets and historians,
Latin as well as Greek, should have felt the magnet-
ism of legends concerning the phoenix, a strange
Eastern bird of brilliantly varied plumage, reappear-
ing in loneliness at long cyclic intervals after an
aromatic and musical death, which was at once a
mysterious loss and a mysterious renewal of life.
Even in its pagan forms — for it varied considerably
in detail — the story had undeniable attraction.^
The earliest reference traceable is one in Hesiod ^
to the bird's longevity. Herodotus' contact with
Egypt impelled him to mention the story of its re-
emergence at Heliopolis every 500 years — a cyclic
period doubled and even further increased by other
" See W. H. Roscher Ausjuhrliclies Lexicon der griech. u.
rom. Mythologie, 1902-1909, III. 2. col. 3450-3472 for an
account of the Phoenix {^o7viO in literature and in both pagan
and Christian art, e.g. on coins as a symbol of eternity and
rejuvenation. Here it must suffice to select some representa-
tive references : Herod. II. 73; Ovid.-lw. II. vi. 54, Met. XV.
392-407 ; Stat. Silv. II. iv. 36 ; Sen. Epist. xlii. 1 ; Plinv, S.H.
X. 3-5; Tac. Ann. VI. 28; Aur. Vict. De Caesaribus 4;
Claudian, De Cons. Stil. II. 414-420, Carm. min. xxvii (xliv).
* Fragm. 163 (222), 3-4, ed. GoettUng, 1878 = Loeb ed.
of Hesiod, etc., p. 74, aurap 6 <f>olvi.$ ivv^a fiev KopaKas sc.
YT]pdaK€Tai, " the phoenix Uves nine times longer than the
raven." The idea is echoed in the " reparabilis ales" of
Ausonius, Bk. VII. Edog. v. 5-6 (Loeb ed.).
643
TT 2
INTRODUCTION TO
authorities. Ovid fitted the description of the nest
into the last book of his Metamorphoses', and at a
subsequent date Statius conceived the fancy of a
still happier phoenix untouched by the lethargy of
age. The rarity of the fabulous bird struck Seneca
as a good analogy to the infrequent occurrence of a
perfect Stoic sage. Pliny in his Natural History
touches with considerable minuteness upon the
bird's nest of spices, its habits, and the groA\i;h of
its offspring ; while the news that it had been seen
in Egypt in the year a.d. 34 draws from Tacitus an
account of its periodic death and the transport of
the father's body by the new phoenix to the altar
of the Sun. Towards the end of the classical period
we note the continued attraction of the theme for
Claudian, not only in an elaborate simile of half a
dozen lines in his De Consulatu Stilichonis, but also
in the 110 hexameters which he almost certainly
modelled upon our extant elegiac Phoenix. This is
most commonly ascribed to Lactantius, the pupil of
Arnobius in oratory, who was professor of rhetoric
at Nicomedia early in the fourth century and who
later in the West became the instructor of Prince
Crispus by the invitation of Constantine. As his
conversion from paganism did not divorce him from
ancient culture, Lactantius attained distinction
among early Christian authors for the beauty and
eloquence of his Latin style.
But no more surprising than the semi-romantic
pagan appeal of the phoenix fable is the fact that
Christian writers should have found an added
symbolic fascination in such features as its Oriental
paradise and its resurrection to life through death.
Prima facie, then, there seems little to startle one
644
PHOENIX
in the ascription to Lactantius ; but, in fact, the
authorship of the Phoenix has Ion": been under dis-
cussion. It is easy to discover in the poem both
pagan and Christian constituents. Baehrens indeed
argues tliat the pagan element is enough to invah-
date the traditional ascription (supported by certain
MSS.<* of the poem) to so unquestionably Christian
an author. To meet this objection Brandt has
argued that the Phoenix was composed by Lactantius
before his conversion; and Pichon, who minimises
the Christian colour, is so sure that the pagan
touches would have been unacceptable to a Christian,
that he holds the only possible alternatives to be
the composition of the poem either by Lactantius
at a pre-Christian stage or by a different author who
was pagan. Yet such " contamination " of con-
flicting strains does not seem to be an insuperable
barrier to the prevailing belief: indeed it is rather
to be expected in the age and circumstances of
Lactantius. Baehrens, who, like Ribbeck, rejects
the Lactantian authorship, is not convinced by
Dechent's study of similarities in phraseology be-
tween our poem and the unquestioned works of
Lactantius. As regards the testimony by Gregory
of Tours ^ in the sixth century to a poem on the
phoenix which he summarises and ascribes to Lac-
tantius, Baehrens eventually concluded^ that Gregory
« See the Sigla.
' De cursu stellarum 12, p, 861. Our poem is quoted eight
times under the name of Lactantius in a short anonymous
treatise de dubiis nominibus (between Isidore of Seville and the
ninth century) ; and it is significant that Alcuin cites Lactantius
as a Christian poet in his list of books in the library at York
(F. Diimmler, Poet. lat. aev. Carol. I. p. 204).
' P.L.M. III. pp. 250-252.
645
INTRODUCTION TO
had not before him the same poem as we have, but
a lost one by Lactantius. On Jerome's authority
we know that Lactantius wrote a ohoLnopiKov from
Africa to Nicomedia, presumably when he went on
Diocletian's invitation to teach rhetoric in that
city; and it is Baehrens' suggestion that into this
narrative of his own journey eastwards he might
have appropriately worked an account of the fabled
Oriental bird, using our extant poem (according to
Baehrens, by a pagan) but adding Christian colour.
The hypothesis next assumes that after the sup-
posed disappearance of Lactantius' poem monkish
copyists made an incorrect ascription of the surviving
poem to the " Christian Cicero," being misled by
the outward resemblances in it to Christian ideas and
by the knowledge that a Phoenix had actually been
composed by Lactantius. It will be noted that the
monks, if this guess be true, did not find the pagan-
ism of the poem so much of a stumbling-block as
Baehrens and Pichon have done. But the majority
of critics, including Ebert, Manitius, Riese, Birt and
Dechent, have been satisfied with a less elaborate
theory and have accepted our poem as Lactantius'
authentic work.
For English readers the Phoenix possesses special
historical and literary interest as the basis of
an early Anglo-Saxon Phoenix in alliterative ac-
centual verse. Its author, whether the North-
umbrian Cynewulf or not — for here too there is a
dispute — undoubtedly modelled the earlier portion
of his poem upon the extant Latin poem. Here
again, as in the original, we meet the earthly para-
dise, partly a plain, partly " a fair forest where
fruits fall not " (wuduholt wijnlic,waestmas ne dreosa'b).
646
PHOENIX
Here too, familiar as in the ancient source, are the
bird's unrivalled notes of song, its flight to the
Syrian palm-tree in the fullness of a thousand years,
the building of its nest, its own admirable beauty,
its strange death and birth to fresh life. But the
adaptation is free. The English borrower omits
as he wishes. Phaethon and Deucalion vanish.
Phoebus' car becomes " God's candle." Even the
texture of the Anglo-Saxon proem on the far Eastern
land where the marvellous bird dwells is interwoven
with Biblical thought. Such expansion is still more
noticeable in the later part, where a transition is
made from the mystery of the phoenix's sex and
birth to analogies with the life of the elect; and,
when the ways of the phoenix are treated as symbolic
of the Christian life, the English poem departs
entirely from the Latin original.
EDITIONS
Apart from editions of Lactantius (e.g. ed. prijiceps,
Rome, 1468; M. Thomasius, Antwerp, 1570;
Gallaeus, Leyden, 1660):
Gryphiander. Jena, 1618.
Burman. In his Claudimi. Amsterdam, 1760.
Wernsdorf. In P.L.M. III. Altenburg, 1782.
A. Martini. Liineburg, 1825.
H. Leyser. Quedlinburg, 1839.
A. Riese. In AnthoL Lot. 1863; ed. 2. Leipzig,
1906.
L. Jeep. In his Claudian, vol. ii. Leipzig,
1879.
E. Baehrens. In P.L.M. III. Leipzig, 1881.
647
INTRODUCTION TO
RELEVANT WORKS
A. Ebert. In Allgeme'nie Gesckickie der Lit. des
Mittelalters im Ahendlande. Leipzig, 1874, ed. 2,
1889.
G. Goetz. In Acta Societ. philol. Lips. V. p. 319 sqq.
H. Klapp. In Progr. gymn. Wandsbeckiani. 1875.
A. Riese. Ueber den Phoenix des Lactaniius, Rk.
Mus. xxxi. 1876.
H. Dechent. Ueber die Echtkeit des Phoenix von
Lactaniius, Rh. Mus. xxxv. 1880, pp. 39-55.
M. Manitius. In Geschichte der christl.-latein. Poesie.
Stuttgart, 1891.
O. Ribbeck. In Geschichte der r'om. Dichtu7ig, III.
p. 364. Stuttgart, 1892.
S. Brandt. Zum Phoenix des Lactaniius, Rh. Mus,
xlvii. 1892.
A. Knappitsch. De Lactaniii Ave Phoenice. Graz,
1896.
R. Pichon. Lactance : J^tude sur le mouvement philo-
sophique et religieux sous le regne de Constaniin.
Paris, 1901.
C. Pascal. Sul carme de ave Phoenice. Naples, 1904.
. / carmi De Phoenice in Leiteraiura latina
medievale : Nuovi Saggi. Catania, 1909.
C. Landi. De Ave Phoenice : il carme e il suo autore
in Aiti e memorie di Padova, 31, 1914-1915.
SIGLA
(As in Baehrens' P.L.M. III. pp. 247-249.)
A = Parisinus 13048 : saec. viii, scriptura lango-
bardica exaratus inter Venantii Fortunati
poemata, fol. 47^-48^ versus 1-110, sine titulo
exhibens.
648
PHOENIX
B = codex bibliothecae capitularis \''eronensis 163:
saec. ix, continens Claudianiim maxime cuius
post " Phoenicem " legitur nostrum carmen,
fol. 14'*-19^, cum hac inscriptione iiefn Lacta(n)tii
de eadem ave.
C = Vossianus L.Q. 33 : saec. x : fol. 73^-75^,
versus Lactantii de ave Pkoenice habet.
O = consensus codicum melioris notae vel communis
archetypus.
CODICES IXTERPOLATI
D = codex Cantabrigiensis [Bibl. Univers. Gg. 5.35] :
saec. xi, qui inter multa poemata Christiana
fol. 168=^-170^, habet " Phoenicem " praemisso
titulo : Incipit libellus de fenice, paradisi ut
feriiir hahitatrice. Quidam ferunt Lactantium
hunc scripsisse lihellum.
E = Bodleianus F. 2. U: saec. xii, fol. 126M28b,
sine inscriptione libellum continens.
9 = pauca quae correctiora leguntur in codicibus
saeculo xiv maximeque xv scriptis.
[For the large number of late and inferior manu-
scripts see A. Martini's edition, 1825.]
\
649
DE AVE PHOENICE
Est locus in primo felix oriente remotus,
qua patet aeterni maxima porta poli,
nee tamen aestivos hiemisve propinquus ad ortus,
sed qua Sol verno fundit ab axe diem,
illic planities tractus diflfundit apertos,
nee tumulus crescit nee cava vallis hiat,
sed nostros montes, quorum iuga celsa putantur,
per bis sex ulnas imminet ille locus.
hie Solis nemus est et consitus arbore multa
lucus perpetuae frondis honore virens.
cum Phaethonteis flagrasset ab ignibus axis,
ille locus flammis inviolatus erat ;
et cum diluvium mersisset fluctibus orbem
Deucalioneas exsuperavit aquas,
non hue exsangues Morbi, non aegra Senectus
nee Mors crudelis nee Metus asper adest
nee Scelus infandum nee opum vesana Cupido
aut Ira aut ardens caedis amore Furor ;
Luctus acerbus abest et Egestas obsita pannis
et Curae insomnes et violenta Fames,
non ibi tempestas nee vis furit horrida venti
nee gelido terram rore pruina tegit ;
16 adest AB : adit CDE.
1^ aut metus 0 (c/. v. 16) : aut Mars edd. vet. : Venus Ouden-
dorp : Pavor Goetz : Letum Biese : hue meat Birt : aut Ira
Baehrens.
650
PHOENIX
There is a fiir-off land, blest amid the first streaks
of dawn, where standeth open tlie mightiest portal
of the everlasting sky, yet not beside the risings of
the summer or the winter Sun, but where he sheds
daylight from the heavens in spring. There a plain
spreads out its open levels; no knoll swells there,
no hollow valley gapes, yet that region o'ertops
by twice six ells our mountains whose ridges are
reckoned high. Here is the grove of the Sun, a
woodland planted with many a tree and green with
the honours of eternal foliage. When the sky went
ablaze from the fires of Phaethon's car, that region
was inviolate from the flames ; " it rose above the
waters on which Deucalion sailed, when the flood had
whelmed the world in its waves. ^ Hither no bloodless
Diseases come, no sickly Eld, nor cruel Death nor
desperate Fear nor nameless Crime nor maddened
Lust for wealth or Wrath or Frenzy afire with the love
of murder ; bitter Grief is absent and Beggary beset
with rags and sleepless Cares and violent Hunger. '^
No tempest raveth there nor savage force of wind :
nor does the hoar-frost shroud the ground in chilly
" For Phaethon's disastrous driving of the car of his father
Apollo see Ovid, Met. II. 1-332.
* Deucalion's ark saved him and Pyrrha during the primeval
deluge.
' The personifications are largely based on Virg. Aen. VI.
274 .sy?.
651
MINOR LATIN POETS
nulla super campos tendit sua vellera nubes
nee cadit ex alto turbidus umor aquae,
sed fons in medio, quern vivum nomine dicunt,
perspicuus, lenis, dulcibus uber aquis ;
qui semel erumpens per singula tempora mensum
duodeciens undis irrigat omne nemus.
hie genus arboreum procero stipite surgens
non lapsura solo mitia poma gerit.
hoc nemus, hos lucos avis incolit unica Phoenix,
unica, si vivit morte refecta sua.
paret et obsequitur Phoebo memoranda satelles :
hoc Natura parens munus habere dedit.
lutea cum primum surgens Aurora rubescit,
cum primum rosea sidera luce fugat,
ter quater ilia pias immergit corpus in undas,
ter quater e vivo gurgite libat aquam.
tollitur ac summo considit in arboris altae
vertice, quae totum despicit una nemus,
et conversa novos Phoebi nascentis ad ortus
exspectat radios et iubar exoriens.
atque ubi Sol pepulit fulgentis limina portae
et primi emicuit luminis aura levis,
incipit ilia sacri modulamina fundere cantus
et mira lucem voce ciere novam,
quam nee aedoniae voces nee tibia possit
musica Cirrheis adsimulare modis ;
25 sed O : est Baehrens.
32 sed 0 : si (= siquidem) Baehrens.
33 memoranda 0 : veneranda Baehrens.
*' voces 0 : fauces Baehrens.
652
PHOENIX
damp. Above the plains no cloud stretches its
fleece, nor falleth from on high the stormy moisture
of rain. But there is a well in the midst, the well
of life they call it, crystal-clear, gently-flo^\'ing, rich
in its sweet waters : bursting forth once for each
several month in its season, it drenches all the grove
twelve times with its flood. Here is a kind of tree
that rising with stately stem bears mellow fruits
which will not fall to the ground.
In this grove, in these woods, dwells the peerless
bird," the Phoenix, peerless, since she lives renewed
by her own death. An acolyte worthy of record,*
she yields obedience and homage to Phoebus : such
the duty that parent Nature assigned to her for observ-
ance. Soon as saffron Aurora reddens at her rising,
soon as she routs the stars with rosy light, thrice
and again that bird plunges her body into the kindly
waves, thrice and again sips water from the living
flood. Soaring she settles on the topmost height of
a lofty tree which alone commands the whole of the
grove, and, turning towards the fresh rising of
Phoebus at his birth, awaits the emergence of his
radiant beam. And when the Sun has struck the
threshold of the gleaming portal and the light shaft
of his first radiance has flashed out, she begins to
pour forth notes of hallowed minstrelsy and to sum-
mon the new day in a marvellous key which neither
tune of nightingale nor musical pipe could rival in /
" " alone of its kind," " unparalleled " : cf. Ovid Am. II.
vi. 54, et vivax phoeniz, tmica semper avis.
^ In most accounts the phoenix appears as a male bird
{pater, etc.). Contrast, however, Ovid's unica avis {I.e.)
with Claudian's Titanius ales {Carm. Min. xxvii.7) and his
idem (masc.) in De Cons. Stil. II. 415. AureUus Victor, De
Caesaribus 4, has quam volucrem in reference to the phoenix.
653
MINOR LATIN POETS
sed neque olor moriens imitari posse putetur
nee Cylleneae fila canora lyrae.
postquam Phoebus equos in aperta effudit Olympij.^
atque orbem totum protulit usque means,
ilia ter alarum repetito verbere plaudit
igniferumque caput ter venerata silet.
atque eadem celeres etiam discriminat horas
innarrabilibus nocte dieque sonis,
antistes luci nemorumque verenda sacerdos
et sola arcanis conscia, Phoebe, tuis.
quae postquam vitae iam mille peregerit annos
ac sibi reddiderint tempora longa gravem,
ut reparet lapsum spatiis vergentibus aevum,
adsuetum nemoris dulce cubile fugit ;
cumque renascendi studio loca sancta reliquit,
tunc petit hunc orbem, Mors ubi regna tenet,
derigit in Syriam celeres longaeva volatus,
Phoenicen nomen cui dedit ipsa vetus,
securosque petit deserta per avia lucos,
hie ubi per saltus silva remota latet.
tum legit aerio sublimem vertice palmam,
quae Graium Phoenix ex ave nomen habet,
in quam nulla nocens animans prorepere possit,
lubricus aut serpens aut avis ulla rapax.
*' sed 0 : et Baehrens.
*" ac si A : ac se BCDE : et sic Barth : ac sibi Hoevfft.
®^ dirigit 0 : derigit Baehrens.
^® vetus DE : vaetus A : vetustas BC : Venus Heinsius,
** sic ubi post DE : hie ubi per edd. vet.
'° Graium A : gratum ceferi.
^^ prorepere A : proripere B : prorumpere ceteri.
"^ From Cirrha near Parnassus.
^ An allusion to Mercury's early association with Mount
CyUene in Arcadia.
654
PHOENIX
Cirrhean " modes ; nay, let not the dying swan be /
thought capable of imitating it, nor yet the tuneful
strings of Cyllcnean ^ lyre.
After Phoebus has given his steeds the rein into
the open heavens and in ever onward course brought
forth his full round orb,^ then that bird with thrice
repeated beat of the wing yields her applause, and
after three obeisances to the fire-bearing prince
holds her peace. She it is also who marks oif the
swift hours by day and night in sounds which may
not be described, priestess of the grove and awe-
inspiring ministrant of the woods, the only confidant
of thy mysteries, Phoebus. When she has already
fulfilled a thousand years of life ^ and long lapse of
time has made it burdensome to her, she flees from
her sweet and wonted nest in the grove, so that in
the closing span she may restore her bygone exist-
ence, and when in passion for re-birth she has left
her sacred haunts, then she seeks thisjvyoi'ld where
Death holds sovereignty. Despite her length of
years she directs her swift flight into Syria, to which
she herself of old gave the name of" Phoenice," and
seeks through desert wilds the care-free groves, here
where the sequestered woodland lurks among the
glades. Then she chooses a palm-tree towering with
airy crest which bears its Greek name " Phoenix "
from the bird : against it no hurtful living creature
could steal forth, or slippery serpent, or any bird of
' Possibly " revealed the whole wide world " (c/. Virg. Aen.
IV. 118).
■* Tac. Ann. VI. 28 gives 500 years as the usually accepted
length of the Phoenix-cycle, but he mentions also 1461 years
{i.e. the " magnus annus " = 365 j x 4). Martial V. vii. 2 gives
decern snecula, and Pliny 1000 years, a round figure adopted by
Claudian and Ausonius.
65S
MINOR LATIN POETS
turn ventos claudit pendentibus Aeolus antris,
ne violent flabris aera purpureum,
neu concreta Noto nubes per inania caeli
submoveat radios solis et obsit avi.
construit inde sibi seu nidum sive sepulcrum :
nam perit ut vivat, se tamen ipsa creat.
colligit huic sucos et odores divite silva,
quos legit Assyrius, quos opulentus Arabs,
quos aut Pygmeae gentes aut India carpit
aut moUi generat terra Sabaea sinu.
cinnamon hie am*amque procul spirantis amomi
congerit et mixto balsama cum folio,
non casiae mitis nee olentis vimen acanthi
nee turis lacrimae guttaque pinguis abest.
his addit teneras nardi pubentis aristas
et sociat murrae vim, Panachaea, tuae.
protinus instructo corpus mutabile nido
vitalique toro membra vieta locat.
ore dehinc sucos membris circumque supraque
inicit exsequiis immoritura suis.
tunc inter varios animam commendat odores,
depositi tanti nee timet ilia fidem.
'^ hinc 0 : hue Riese : hviic Baehrens.
®* panacea r Wernsdorf.
^° quieta CDE : quiete AB : vieta Heinsius.
°- Cf. Claudian, Carm. Min. xxvii. 44, bustumque sibi
partumque futurum.
^ The Pygmies were considered legendary dwarfs of Egypt or
Ethiopia : the allusions are to both African and Asiatic spices.
" terra Sabaea ~ Arabia Felix, whose chief town Saba was
famed for its myrrh and frankincense.
** Cf. Ovid, Met, XV. 398, Tuirdi lenis aristas.
656
PHOENIX
prey. Then Aeolus imprisons the winds in over-
arching grottoes, lest their blasts harass the bright-
gleaming air, or the cloud-wrack from the South
banish the sunrays throughout the empty tracts of
heaven and do harm to the bird. Thereafter she
builds herself a cradle or sepulchre " — which you
will — for she dies to live and yet begets herself.
She gathers for it from the rich forest juicy scented
herbs such as the Assyrian gathers or the wealthy
Arabian, such as either the Pygmaean races or
India ^ culls or the Sabaean '^ land produces in its
soft bosom. Here she heaps together cinnamon and
effluence of the aromatic shrub that sends its breath
afar and balsam with its blended leaf. Nor is there
lacking a slip of mild casia or fragrant acanthus or
the rich dropping tears of frankincense. Thereto
she adds the tender ears ^ of downy spikenard,
joining as its ally the potency of thy myrrh, Pana-
chaea.^ Forthwith in the nest she has furnished
she sets her body that awaits its change — ^^^thered
limbs on a life-gi\-ing couch : thereafter with her
beak she casts the scents on her limbs, around them
and above, being appointed to die in her own funeral./
Then she commends her soul ^ amid the varied
fragrances without a fear for the trustworthiness of
* The usual form is Panchaia, a fabled island east of Arabia,
famous for precious stones and myrrh. Cf. Virg. Georg. II.
139 : Plin. X.H. X. 4.
f This paradoxical idea is introduced by the preceding lines
which picture the bird as laying out her own body, and, by
throwing perfumes on herself, performing a ritual usually
assigned to mourners : immoritura is echoed in 95, corpus
genitali morte peremptum.
9 One of the Christian notes in the poem : cf. 64, hunc
orbem mors uhi regna tenet. With 94 cf. 2 Timothy I. 12,
657
u u
MINOR LATIN POETS
interea corpus genitali morte peremptura
aestuat et flammam parturit ipse calor,
aetherioque procul de lumine concipit ignem :
flagrat et ambustum solvitur in cineres.
quos velut in massam cineres umore coactos
conflat ; et efFectum seminis instar habet.
hinc animal primum sine membris fertur oriri,
sed fertur vermi lacteus esse color :
creverit immensum subito cum tempore certo
seque ovi teretis colligit in speciem,
inde reformatur quali fuit ante figura
et Phoenix ruptis puUulat exuviis :
ac velut agrestes, cum filo ad saxa tenentur,
mutari tineae papilione solent.
non illi cibus est nostro consuetus in orbe
nee cuiquam implumem pascere cura subest ;
ambrosios libat caelesti nectare rores,
stellifero tenues qui cecidere polo,
hos legit, his alitur mediis in odoribus ales,
donee maturam proferat effigiem.
ast ubi primaeva coepit florere iuventa,
evolat ad patrias iam reditura domus.
ante tamen, proprio quicquid de corpore restat,
ossaque vel cineres exuviasque suas,
^^ in more ABC : in morte D, Wernsdorf : in monte E :
umore Ritschl, Baehrens : alii alia.
^"3 it tener in densum duratus Baehrens : alii alia.
107-108 pQ^i iQ2 ponit Baehrens.
^°8 pinnae AB : pennae ceteri : tineae Didacus Cotiar-
ruvias episcopus Segobiensis, teste Thomasio : cf. Ovid, Met.
XV. 372-4.
1"^ concessus 0 : consuetus Baehrens.
^^° in verbis cura subest desinit codex A.
658
PHOENIX
a deposit so great. Meanwhile her body, by birth-
giving death destroyed, is aglow, the very heat pro-
ducing flame and catching fire from the ethereal
light afar : it blazes and when burned dissolves into
ashes. These ashes she welds together, as if they
were concentrated by moisture in a mass, possessing
in the result what takes the place of seed." There-
from, 'tis said, rises a living creature first of all
^^^thout limbs, but this Morm is said to have a
milky colour : when suddenly at the appointed hour
it has grown enormously, gathering into what looks
like a rounded egg, from it she is remoulded in
such shape as she had before, bursting her shell and
springing to life a Phoenix ; 'tis even so that larvae
in the country fastened by their threads ^ to stones
are wont to change into a butterfly. Hers is no
food familiar in this world of ours : 'tis no one's
charge to feed the bird as yet unfledged : she sips
ambrosial dews of heavenly nectar fallen in a fine
shower from the star-bearing sky. Such is her
culling, such her sustenance, encompassed by fragrant
spices until she bring her appearance to maturity.
But when she begins to bloom in the spring-time of
her youth, she flits forth already bent on a return
to her ancestral abodes. Yet ere she goes, she takes
all that remains of what was her own body — bones
or ashes and the shell that was hers — and stores it
' The simile from metallurgy seems violent as applied to a
substance endowed with the seeds of life. With umore coactos
cf. Virg. G. IV. 172-173 ■■^tridentia tingv.nt aera lacu, of dipping
metal in the blacksmith's watertank.
* The passage, like Ovid, Met. XV. 372^, has silkworms in
view. Thomasius thought mxa should be taxa, presumably
in the sense of yew branches, an invention of which Wernsdorf
does not approve.
uu 2
MINOR LATIN POETS
unguine balsameo murraque et ture soluto
condit et in formam conglobat ore pio. ]
quam pedibus gestans contendit Solis ad urbem
inque ara residens ponit in aede sacra,
mirandam sese praestat praebetque videnti :
tantus avi decor est, tantus abundat honor,
principio color est qualis sub sidere caeli
mitia quern corio punica grana tegunt ;
qualis inest foliis, quae fert agreste papaver,
cum pandit vestes Flora rubente polo,
hoc mneri pectusque decens velamine fulget,
hoc caput, hoc cervix summaque terga nitent ;
caudaque porrigitur fulvo distincta metallo,
in cuius maculis purpura mixta rubet ;
alarum pennas lux pingit discolor. Iris
pingere ceu nubes desuper acta solet ;
albicat insignis mixto viridante smaragdo
et puro cornu gemmea cuspis hiat ;
^^^ ortus 0 (e versu 41) : urbem ed. Gryphiandri 1618.
123 vehentes B : vehentis E : videnti vulgo : verendam
Baehre'iis.
124 ubi B : ibi CDE : avi Heinsius.
125-6 principio 0 : puniceus Heinsius : purpureus Burman ■:
praecipuus Baehrens : qualis sub sidere caeli 0 : qualis sub
cortiee laevi Heinsius. qu(a)e croceo BE : qui croceo CD :
quern croceum Heinsiits : quae corio Goetz. legunt 0 : tegunt
Heinsius : quali sunt, sidere Cancri mitia quae corio, Punica,
grana tegunt Baehrens.
128 flore 0 : Flora vulgo. caelo BC : polo B m. 2 : flore
rubente novo Baehrens.
"1 fulvo BC : flavo DE. distenta BC : distincta DE : cf.
vers. 141.
66o
PHOENIX
in balsam oil, myrrh, and frankincense set free,**
rounding it into ball-shape with loving beak. Bear-
ing this in her talons she speeds to the City of the
Sun,^ and perching on the altar sets it in the hallowed
temple. Marvellous is her appearance and the show
she makes to the onlooker : such comeliness has the
bird, so ample a glory. To begin with, her colour
is like the colour which beneath the sunshine of the
sky ripe pomegranates cover under their rind "^ ;
like the colour in the petals of the wild poppy when
Flora displays her garb at the blush of dawn. In
such a dress gleam her shoulders and comely breast :
even so glitter head and neck and surface of the
back, while the tail spreads out variegated with a
metallic yellow, amid whose spots reddens a purple
blend. The wing-feathers are picked out by a con-
trasted sheen, as 'tis the heaven-sent rainbow's way
to illuminate the clouds. The beak is of a fine
white with a dash of emerald green, glittering jewel-
like in its clear horn as it opens. You would take
" i.e. dissolved from the form of roundish tears of gum resin.
* The usual form of the legend, as in Ovid, Mela and Tacitus,
gives Heliopolis as the destination, i.e. a westward instead of
the eastward flight suggested by solis ad ortus of the MSS.
Pliny, S.H. X. 4, has in Solis urhem.
' Thetext of 125-126 is difficult. Wernsdorf reads j>rn?cipjo
cdor est, qualis sub cortice laevi (= levi), mitia quern croceum
punica grana legunt. Baehrens' text is given in the apparatus
criticus. The editors do not consider either reading satisfact-
ory. For qualis followed by the relative cf. Liv. VIII. 39,
acies qualis quae esse in^tructissima potest : Calp. Sic. iv. 160,
talis erit qualis qui . . .
^22 harum inter pennas insigneque desuper iris DE :
clanim Wernsdorf: alarum Bitschl. lux pingit discolor, Iris
Baehrens.
1'* aura 0 : alta s : acta Heinaius, Baehrens.
66i
»
MINOR LATIN POETS
ingentes oculos credas geminos hyacinthos,
quorum de medio lucida flanmia micat ;
aptata est toto capiti radiata corona
Phoebei referens verticis alta decus ;
crura tegunt squamae fulvo distincta metallo,
ast ungues roseo tingit honore color,
effigies inter pavonis mixta figuram
cernitur et pictam Phasidis inter avem.
magnitiem terris Arabum quae gignitur ales
vix aequare potest, seu fera seu sit avis,
non tamen est tarda, ut volucres quae corpore
magno
incessus pigros per grave pondus habent,
sed levis ac velox, regali plena decore :
talis in adspectu se tenet usque hominum.
hue venit Aegyptus tanti ad miracula visus
et raram volucrem turba salutat ovans.
protinus exsculpunt sacrato in marmore formam
et titulo signant remque diemque novo,
contrahit in coetum sese genus omne volantum,
nee praedae memor est ulla nee ulla metus.
alituum stipata choro volat ilia per altum
turbaque prosequitur munere laeta pio.
sed postquam puri pervenit ad aetheris auras,
mox redit ; ilia suis conditur inde locis.
a fortunatae sortis finisque volucrem,
cui de se nasci praestitit ipse deus !
^*' aequataq ; 0 : aptatur Oudendorp : aptata est Ritschl
arquata est Baehrens. noto BD : notho C : nota E
toto Wernsdorf : croceo Klapp : summo vel nitido Ritschl
rutilo Baehrens.
^*^ ad B : at C : a, Is. Vossius : sat Baehrens. filisque
volucTum BC : fatique volucrem edd. vet. : finisque volu-
crem 75. Vossius.
662
PHOENIX
for twin sapphires those great eyes from between
whicli shoots a bright flame. All over the head is
fitted a crown of rays, in lofty likeness to the glory
of the Sun-god's head. Scales cover the legs, which
are variegated with a metallic yellow, but the tint
which colours the claws is a wonderful rose. To
the eye it has a blended semblance between the
peacock's appearance and the rich-hued bird from
Phasis." Its size ^ the winged thing that springs
from the Arabs' lands is scarce able to match,
whether wild animal it be or bird.^ Yet 'tis not
slow like large-sized birds which are of sluggish
movement by reason of their heavy weight, but 'tis
light and swift, filled with a royal grace : such is its
bearing ever to the eyes of men. Egypt draws
nigh to greet the marvel of so great a sight and the
crowd joyfully hails the peerless bird. Straightway
they grave its form on hallowed marble and with a
fresh title mark both the event and the day.'^ Everyi
breed of fowl unites in the assemblage : no bird
has thoughts of prey nor yet of fear. Attended by
a chorus of winged creatures, she flits through the
high air, and the band escorts her, gladdened by
their pious task. But when the company has reached
the breezes of ether unalloyed, it presently returns :
she then ensconces herself in her true haunts. Ah,
bird of happy lot and happy end to whom God's
own vn\\ has granted birth from herself I Female or
" The pheasant.
* niagnitiem is unparalleled.
' cUes is a reference to the ostrich or strouthiocamdos,
which was so called from its camel-like neck, and which might
be considered either land animal or bird.
•^ i.e. in their joy over the periodic return of the Phoenix.
663
MINOR LATIN POETS
femina vel mas haec, seu neutrum, seu sit utrumque,
felix quae veneris foedera nulla colit :
mors illi venus est, sola est in morte voluptas : 1<
ut possit nasci, appetit ante mori.
ipsa sibi proles, suus est pater et suus heres,
nutrix ipsa sui, semper alumna sibi —
ipsa quidem, sed non eadem quia et ipsa nee ipsa est,
aeternam vitam mortis adepta bono. 1'
^*^ sic Heinsius et Wernsdorf : discrepant codices : femina
seu mas est seu neutrum : belua feUx Baehrens.
1** colit 0 : coit Baehrens.
1^' sic i ei Wernsdorf: omiserunt et CD : non <eadem est>
eademque nee ipsa est Baehrens.
664
PHOENIX
male she is, which you will — whether neither or /
both, a happy bird, she regards not any unions of
love : to her, death is love ; and her sole pleasure
lies in death : to win her birth, it is her appetite
first to die. Herself she is her own offspring, her
o^\^l sire and her own heir, herself her own nurse,
her own nurseling evermore — herself indeed, yet
not the same ; because she is both herself and not *
herself, gaining eternal life by the boon of death.
665
AVIANUS
INTRODUCTION
TO THE FABLES OF AVIANUS
In most of the extant MSS. the name of the author
of these forty-two fables is given (in the genitive)
Aviani. Two of our principal MSS. (A and RarvL),
however, have Avieni. If one may judge from
inscriptions, Avianius was a commoner name than
Avianus. Between Avienus and Avienius there is
not enough material on which to form a judge-
ment. Since, however, there is no trace of the
ending ~ii in any of our MSS., we may venture to
limit ourselves to the question of Avianus as against
Avienus.
The suggestion has been made that the writer of
the fables was identical with Rufius Festus Avienus,
author of w^orks entitled Aratea and Descripiio Orbis
Terrae. Chronology agrees, it is true ; but there are
two grave objections: the fables and the Aratea are
poles asunder in style ; and the author of the Aratea
is designated in full in the MSS. Ruji Festl Avieni,
while the prevailing description of the fabulist is
simply Aviani. A more possible suggestion is that
our fabulist was the Avienus who took part in the
symposium described in the Saturnalia which was
A\Titten early in the fifth century by Macrobius
Theodosius. The theory appears more likely, if we
agree that ad Theodosium in the title of the dedi-
669
INTRODUCTION TO
catory letter means Macrobius Theodosius ^ and
neither of the emperors named Theodosius, although
two MSS. {Rawl. and Reg.) have imperatorem in
apposition to Theodosium. Other arguments are
given by Ellis (Proleg. p. xiv) in favour of this
particular Avienus ; but nothing in the way of proof
is forthcoming, and the prevalence of " Aviani "
in the MSS. militates against it. It seems, then,
best to conclude that the fables are the work of an
unknown Avianus, who wrote about a.d. 400 in the
lifetime of Macrobius and dedicated his work to him.
Cannegieter and Lachmann, denying that the
Theodosius of the preface was either of the emperors
or Macrobius, argued that Avianus lived in the
middle of the second century a.d. Cannegieter
based his theory partly on the fact that the preface
omits Julius Titianus (a fabulist of about a.d. 200
mentioned by Ausonius) from the list of Avianus'
predecessors. Therefore, he held, Avianus must
have preceded Titianus. This argument from silence
is demolished by Wernsdorf 's reply that Avianus' list
of fabulists does not profess to be exhaustive. But
Cannegieter (like Lachmann in the following century)
argued from Avianus' style also. The first impres-
sion is that of general metrical correctness marred by
some glaring licences and of a Latinity, partly
Augustan, partly Silver, combined with a number of
violent departures from classical usage. Therefore,
according to Cannegieter and Lachmann, the original
<* This hypothesis, originally propounded by Pithou,
Poemat. Vet. p. 474, has been accepted by many scholars,
including Voss, De Histor. Latinis ii. 9; Wernsdorf, P.L.M.
V. 669; L. Miiller, De Phaedri et Av. Lihellis, 32; Baehrens,
P.L.M. V. 31 ; Unrein, De Aviani Aetate, 60.
6/0
THE FABLES OF AVIANUS
Avianus lived in the second century and wrote in
classical Latin and in correct metre, while school-
masters, rhetoricians, interpolators and copyists are
responsible for the depravations.
Since Lachmann's day, however, the date of
Babrius" the fabulist, whom Avianus mentions and
upon whom (as we shall see) he models a great part
of his work, has been established by Otto Crusius.*
Babrius, we now know, wrote under Severus Alex-
ander (222-235 A.D.) ; and so Avianus must belong
to a subsequent age. Moreover, arguments from
style really support the view that Avianus flourished
about 400 A.D. Many couplets, it may be conceded,
particularly in the '* promythia " and '■ epimythia,"
employed to introduce or conclude some fables, as
we now have them, are quite late additions ; others
can be plausibly emended into classical Latin.
Still, there remain some violations of prosody,^ both
defying emendation and occurring in couplets
which cannot be dismissed as interpolations without
destroying the sense of the fable ; while much of the
late Latin (see Ellis, Proleg. xxx sqq.) is embedded in
the core of a fable, and must therefore come from the
original Avianus. These violations of prosody and
this late Latin prevent us from putting the period of
Avianus earlier than the later part of the fourth
century.
" Valerius Babrius composed two books of fables in Greek
scazons. The dedication of one of his books is to the son of
Severus Alexander. We have in all 137 fables along with
fragments. There is in the Bodleian a Greek prose paraphrase
of many of his fables, including some no longer extant in
Babrius : see W. G. Rutherford, Babrius, London 1883.
* De Babrii Aetate, Leipz. Stud. 11. 238.
'^ Cf. remarks on metre later in Introduction.
671
INTRODUCTION TO
Avianus in his preface or dedicatory letter makes
no claim to be original. He claims that he has
put into elegiac verse 42 fables from the Aesopic
collection — a collection from Avhich Socrates and
Horace °- had draAvn to illustrate moral maxims and
which Phaedrus ^ and Babrius had abridged in their
Latin and Greek iambics respectively. It is strange
that Avianus should mention Phaedrus and Babrius
together in such a way as to suggest he was no more
indebted to one than to the other. The truth is that
he owes practically nothing to Phaedrus and nearly
everj^thing to Babrius. Avianus 2, 5, 9, 34, 37 are
respectively more or less similar in subject-matter
to Phaedrus II. vi, I. xi, V. ii, IV. xxiv, III. vii. In
fable 37 Avianus is as near to Phaedrus as he is to
Babrius and (though a lion has taken the place of a
wolf) Phaedrian influence may be admitted; the
other four Avianus could have composed -without
reading Phaedrus. Fables 2, 9, 34 are much closer
to Babrius than to Phaedrus, and 5, which is not in
our Babrius, is closer to the Aesopic prose version.
As for single lines, apart from Av. xi. 10 and xxxi. 12
(which perhaps are echoes of Phaedrus I. v. 1 and
IV. vi. 13) there is scarcely a trace of indebtedness
to the first-century fabulist. The case is very
different in regard to Babrius.*^ With a few excep-
tions the 42 fables can be traced to a Babrian source-
either to the scazons of Babrius or to the Greek prose
" Cf. notes on the dedicatory letter.
* Phaedrus, of Thracian origin, composed his five books in
Latin iambic senarii. His first two books were written under
Tiberius (14-37 a.d.) ; see J. Wight Duff, Lit. Hist, of Rome in
Silver Age, ^^. 133-154.
' The Greek text of the extant Babrian versions is given
in Ellis' commentary.
672
THE FABLES Ol AVIANUS
paraphrase now in the Bodleian. Probably, if our
Babrius were conriplete, we should be able to account
for all Avianus' fabidae. In most cases Avianus'
version is longer than that of Babrius. Avianus
expands his Babrian material, sometimes to make an
alteration in the story (e.g. 32, 35, 36), but more often
to elaborate the descriptive element with poetical
diction which contains frequent echoes of Virgil or
Ovid. Thus a strained, even grotesque, artificiality
displaces the simple directness of Babrius. For a
forcible instance, one may examine fable 7, which is
based on Babrius lO-i. Here Avianus takes four lines
(3-6) to paraphrase XdOprj klW eSaKve, virtually
repeats in lines 9 and 10 the preceding couplet, and
introduces the Virgilian crepitantia aera, perhaps as a
tardy recognition of ^a\K(.v(Ta<i in Babrius' opening
line. Then the couplet 15-16
" Infelix, quae tanta rapit dementia sensum,
munera pro meritis si cupis ista dari ? "
represents aj TaA.av, rt a-efxvvvri ; and combines a
mock-heroic imitation of Virgil with a colloquial
post-classical use of si cupis for " if you want to make
out that ..." Other expansions, largely descrip-
tive, are observable in most fables where the Babrian
original has survived (e.g. in 14, 18, 34). To such
expansions throughout the fables a very noticeable
contribution is made by Avianus' habit of drawing
poetical phrases freely from Virgil and, to a less
extent, from Ovid. They may be pleasantly pictur-
esque reminiscences like glaucas salices (xxvi. 6) and
querulo ruperat arva sono of the grasshopper (xxxiv.
12) ; " or they may lend a quaint epic turn to the story
« CJ. Virg. Georg. IV. 182; III. 328.
673
XX
INTRODUCTION TO
as in pependit onus (ix. 8), rumpere vocem (xiv. 11,
XXV. 13), surgeiites demoror austros (xvi. 15), generis
fiducia vestri (xxiv. 11);'^ or they may be still more
positively mock-heroic as in circumstetit horror of the
ass in the lion's skin (v. 9) and lacrimis obortis of a
weeping fish (xx. 5).^
Mingled v/ith this poetical language of a pre-
Avianian age we have frequent instances of a
degenerate Latin. These have been collected and
tabulated by Ellis {Proleg. xxxvi sqq.). The use of
niinius for magnus, of tanti for tot, and of datur for
dicitur, are among the most noticeable as far as single
words are concerned. Indirect statement is some-
times introduced by quod or expressed by the sub-
junctive without a conjunction. Que and atque
according to the manuscripts (though emendation
is generally possible) may be used illogically to
connect participles w^ith finite verbs ; and the
gerundive once or twice does the work of a future
participle passive.
To the prosody of Avianus a reference has already
been made. In general, he gives us correct Ovidian
elegiacs. Occasionally, according to the traditional
text, at the end of the first half of a pentameter,
hiatus is admitted or a short syllable takes the place
of a long one (Ellis xxiv-xxv). In most of these
cases the text can be easily emended and Avianus
himself absolved from a metrical fault. Some other
violations of classical prosody (veils iii. 6 ; nolam vii. 8 ;
dispdr xi. 5 ; heres xxxv. 14) cannot be explained
away ; they come from Avianus' own hand and attest
« Cf. Ovid, Her. ix. 98, Rem. Am. 18, Fasti II. 760; Virg.
Aen. II. 129, etc. ; III. 481 ; I. 132.
* Cf. Virg. Aen. II. 559; XI. 41.
674
THE FABLES OF AVIANUS
the decline of metrical strictness at the end of the
fourth century.
There is no trace of Christian influence in the Fables.
Pagan gods and sacrifices are introduced after a pre-
Christian fashion in 4, 8, 14, 22, 23, 32, 36 and 42.
The popularity of Avianus in the schools of the
Middle Ages is attested by accretions, paraphrases,
scholia and quotations. As rhetorical exercises,
promythia or epimythia were composed at the
beginning or end of many fables to point the moral.
A few of these came to be included in the text.
Some epimythia (those contained in the earliest
MSS.), it is likely, come from Avianus himself;
but the four promythia (to fables 5, 7, 8, 34) are
probably the work of a rhetorician, although, being
contained in the tenth century MSS., they are of
an early date. A number of undoubtedly spurious
epimythia (found only in later MSS.) are omitted
in most editions. Froehner prints them separately
in his edition of 1862. Paraphrases were often
made of Avianus. One collection entitled Apologi
Aviani^ is attached to two of the later Paris MSS.
Here the paraphrast usually turns the first half or
more of each fable into prose and ends by copying
the last few lines of Avianus' own version, so that
occasionally his Mork is useful for determining the
text. Alexander Neckam (1157-1217) composed
verse paraphrases, perhaps of the whole of Avianus,
entitling his work Novus Avianus. His versions of
the first six fables are contained in a St. Germain
MS. of the thirteenth century. ** Scholia of varying
* Published by Froehner in his ed. of Avianus 1862.
^ Published by Edclestand du Meril {Poesies Inediles, 260-
267) and afterwards by Froehner, op. cit.
675
X X 2
INTRODUCTION TO
extent and value are included in nearly all MSS. of
Avianus, indicating the assiduity wdth which he was
studied. He is extensively quoted or alluded to by
medieval grammarians and anthologists j*^ and the
fables were to be found in many libraries of the
Middle Ages.^
EDITIONS
H. Cannegieter. Amsterdam, 1731.
J. A. Nodell. Amsterdam, 1787.
K. Lachmann. Berlin, 1845.
W. Froehner. Leipzig, 1862.
E. Baehrens. In Poetae Latijii Minores, Vol. V.
Leipzig. 1883.
R. Ellis. Oxford, 1887.
L. Hervieux. In Fabulistes latins^ iii. Paris, 1894.
RELEVANT WORKS
T. Wopkens. Observationes Criticae. Amsterdam,
1736, VII. ii, pp. 197-253.
J. H. Withof. Encae?iia Critica. 1741.
J. C. Wernsdorf. In P. L. M., V. 2, pp. 663 sqq.
K. Lachmann. De aetate Fl. Aviani. Berlin, 1845 =
Kl. Schriften, II. 51.
E. Baehrens, Miscell. Critica. Groningen, 1878.
K. Schenkl. Ztsckr.f. bsterr. Gymn. xvi. 397.
O. Unrein. De Aviani aetate. Jena, 1885.
Draheim. De Aviani elegis, J.f. Philologie, cxliii. 509.
J. E. B. Mayor. Class. Rev. I. (1887), 188 sqq.
" Manitius, Gesch. der lat. Lit. des Mittelalters, Index, s.v,
Avianus; Philologus LI (1892), 533 sqq.
* G. Becker, Catalogi Bibliothecarum Antiqui, 306.
676
THE FABLES OF AVIAXUS
F. Heidenhain. Zu de?i Apologi Aviarii. Progr.
Strassbiir^, 1894.
Jenkinson. Fables of Avianus, The xicademy, XLV.
(1894), 129.
O. Crusius. De Bahri'i Aeiate, Leipz. Stud., II. 238.
Avian und die sogenannten Apologi Avia7ii,
Philologns LIV. (1895), 474-488.
s.v. Avianus in Pauly-Wissowa, Realencyclop.
SIGLA
(following Ellis in the main)
A = Paris. 8093 : saec. ix.
P = Paris. 13206 : saec. ix.
C = Paris. 5570: saec. ix (Froehner), x (Ellis),
xi (Baehr.).
O = Oxon. Auct. F. 2. 14 : saec. xi.
Rawl. = Oxon. B. N. Rawl. Ill : saec. xi-xii.
X = Oxon. Auct. F. 5. 6 : circ. 1300.
G = Cantab. Trinity, Gale 0. 3. 5 : saec. xii.
Pet^. = Cantab. Peterhouse, 4 (fabulis i-xxii derep-
tis) : saec. xiii-xiv.
Pei^. = Cantab. Peterhouse, 25 (continens Avianum
et Maximianum) : saec. xiii-xiv.
B = Londin. Brit. Mus. Harl. 4967 : saec. xiii.
b = Londin. Brit. Mus. 21, 213 (saepe inter-
polatus) : saec. xiii.
b 2 = Londin. Brit. Mus. A. xxxi (xvii-xxi omissis) :
circ. 1300.
b 3 = Londin. Brit. Mus. 10090 (interpolatus).
T = Trevirensis. 1464 (continens Avianum et
Prudentium) : saec. x.
V = Lugdun. Batav. Vossianus L.Q. 86 : saec. ix.
677
INTRODUCTION TO FABLES OF AVIANUS
W = Lugdun. Batav. Vossianus L.O. 15 : saec. xi.
Ashh. \j= B in Baehrens' ed.] = Ashburnhamensis
(Libri 1813) : saec. xi-xii.
Reg. = Reginensis. 1424 : saec. xi.
L = Laurentianus, Ixviii 24 : saec. xi.
S = Fragmentum Sangallense. 1396 : saec. xi.
K = Fragmentum Karoliruhense (ab Froehnero
adhibitum) : saec. ix.
Cab. = readings reported by Cabeljau from a
" codex vetustissimus " and reprinted by Canne-
gieter in D'Orville's Miscellanea Nova, 1734.
Paraphr. = readings of the paraphrast, author of
the apologi Aviani.
Of the MSS. Baehrens collated the Leyden manu-
scripts V and W, the Treves one, T, the Florence one,
L, and the Ashburnhamensis (his B). G was collated
for Baehrens by H. A. J. Munro. Baehrens cites
the readings of the Paris MSS. P, A, C and of the
Carlsruhe fragment, K, from Froehner's edition.
Ellis based his text largely on a personal examination
of the three Paris codices, those at Oxford, and those
in the British Museum, besides T and S. The most
important MSS. are C, Rawl.. G. B (in Ellis' sigla,
i.e. Harl. 4967), T and ^^
678
FABULAE AVIANI
EPISTULA EIUSDEM AD THEODOSIUM
Dubitanti mihi, Theodosi optime, quoinam litte-
rarum titmlo nostri nominis memoriam mandaremus,
fabularum textus occurrit, quod in his urbane con-
cepta falsitas deceat et non incumbat necessitas ve-
ritatis. nam quis tecum de oratione, quis de poemate
loqueretur, cum in utroque litterarum genere et
Atticos Graeca eruditione superes et Latinitate
Romanes ? huius ergo materiae ducem nobis Aesopum
noveris, qui response Delphici Apollinis monitus
ridicula orsus est, ut legenda fii*maret. verum has pro 1
exemplo fabulas et Socrates divinis operibus indidit
et poemati suo Flaccus aptavit, quod in se sub iocorum
communium specie vitae argumenta contineant.
Titulus : Incipiunt fabulae Aviani poetae : epistola
eiusdem ad Theodosium C : ad imperatorem Theodosium
Reg. : ad Teodosium imperatorem Bawl.
* falsitas codd. : salsitas Baehrens. veritatis codd. :
severitatis Lachmann.
^° legenda codd. : sequenda Lachmann.
" i.e. probably Macrobius Theodosius, author of the
Saturnalia : see Introduction. The tone of the dedication
suits a literary addressee.
* The historical " Aisopos " was a slave in Samos, 6th cent.
B.C., who used beast-stories to convey moral lessons. Later
generations freely ascribed to him a mass of fables, and the
supposed Aesopic fables were collected about 300 B.C. by
68o
THE FABLES OF AVIANUS
DEDICATORY LETTER TO THEODOSIUS «
I WAS in doubt, most excellent Theodosius, to
what class of literature I should entrust the memory
of my name, when the narration of fables occurred to
my mind; because in these, fiction, if gracefully
conceived, is not out of place, and one is not
oppressed by the necessity of adhering to the truth.
Who could speak in your company on oratory or
on poetry ? In both these divisions of literature
you outstrip the Athenians in Greek learning as
well as the Romans in mastery of Latin. My
pioneer in this subject, you must know, is Aesop,*
who on the advice of the Delphic Apollo started
droll stories in order to establish moral maxims.
Such fables by way of example have been intro-
duced by Socrates ^ into his inspired works and fitted
by Horace ^ into his poetry, because under the guise
of j ests of general application they contain illustrations
Demetrius of Phaleron. The authority for Avianus' statement
that Aesop was advised by the Delphic oracle is unknown.
' The reference is to Plato's dialogues {Socraticis sermanibus,
Hor. Od. III. xxi. 9-10) which represent much of Socrates'
teaching. In Plato's Phaedo, 60-61, Socrates says a dream
led him to turn Aesopic fables into verse. Avianus here
refers to apologues in fable style : e.g. of Grasshoppers,
Phaedr. 259; of Plenty and Poverty, Symp. 203; of Prome-
theus and Epimetheus, Protng. 320-321.
^ e.g. the Town Mouse and the Country ^Mouse in Sat. II. vi.
68 1
MINOR LATIN POETS
quas Graecis iambis Babrius repetens in duo volumina
coartavit. Phaedrus etiam partem aliquam quinque
in libellos resolvit. de his ego ad quadraginta et duas
in unum redactas fabulas dedi, quas rudi Latinitate
compositas elegis sum explicare conatus. habes ergo
opus J quo animum oblectes, ingenium exerceas,
sollicitudinem leves totumque vivendi ordinem cautus
agnoscas. loqui vero arbores, feras cum hominibus
gemere, verbis certare volucres, animalia ridere
fecimus, ut pro singulorum necessitatibus vel ab
ipsis <(in)>ammis sententia proferatur. <(vale.)'
I
De Nutrice et Ixfaxte
Rustica deflentem parvum iuraverat olim,
ni taceat, rabido quod foret esca lupo.
credulus banc vocem lupus audiit et manet ipsas
per vigil ante fores, irrita vota gerens.
nam lassata puer nimiae dat membra quieti ;
spem quoque raptoris sustulit inde fami.
^^ ergo plerique : ego OP.
I. ^ iuvaverat Pet.^ : iuraverat cett. codd. : iurgaverat
Froehner secutus Cabellavium.
^ sic Wopkejis: fami {ex -mes corr.) T: famis PVw^W :
fames Vw ^ cum cett.
*• See Introduction and note.
* Ibid.
' Cf. Phaedrus, I. prol. 6-7 guod arbores loquantur non
tantiim ferae, ficlis iocari nos meminerit fabidis, and Babrius,
682
THE FABLES OF AVIANUS
of life. They were taken up by Babrius" in Greek
cholianibies and abridged into two volumes. A
considerable portion also was expanded by Phaedrus ''
to a length of five books. I have compressed forty-
two of these into one book for publication — writing
in unembellished Latin and attempting to set them
forth in elegiacs. You have, therefore, a work to
delight the mind, to exercise the brain, to relieve
anxiety — one that will give you a wary knowledge
of the whole course of life. I have made trees talk,*^
beasts growl in conversation ^\ith men, birds engage
in wordy disputes, and animals laugh, so that to meet
the needs of each individual a maxim may be proffered
even by inanimate things. Farewell.
The Nurse and her Child
Once upon a time when her little boy was crying, a
peasant-woman had sworn that if he were not quiet
he would be given as a tit-bit '^ for a ravenous wolf.
A credulous wolf overheard these words and waited
on guard close in front of the cottage doors, cherishing
hopes in vain. For the child let a deep sleep come
over his weary limbs, and besides deprived the
hungry robber thereby of his expectation. The wolf
praef. 9 i\d\€i Se ttctptj /col to <f>v\\a ttjs irevKris. In Avianus,
pine and bramble argue xLx, and a reed speaks xvi. His
other remarks in this sentence are illustrated by the follow-
ing : tigress challenges hunter xvii ; lion and hunter dispute
xxiv; crane and peacock quarrel xv; fox laughs vi; ant
laughs xxxiv; and among '" inanimate things" a jar speaks
xi ; a statue xxiii and a trumpet xxxix.
"^ quod foret esca replaces the classical accus. and infin.
CJ. XXV. 16.
683
MINOR LATIN POETS
hunc ubi silvarum repetentem lustra suarum
ieiunum coniunx sensit adesse lupa,
" cur " inquit " nullam referens de more rapinam
languida consumptis sic trahis ora genis? "
" ne mireris " ait " deceptum fraude maligna
vix miserum vacua delituisse fuga :
nam quae praeda, rogas, quae spes contingere posset,
iurgia nutricis cum mihi verba darent ? "
haec sibi dicta putet seque hac sciat arte notari,
femineam quisquis credidit esse fidem.
II
De Testudine et Aquila
Pennatis avibus quondam testudo locuta est,
si quis earn volucrum constituisset humi,
protinus e Rubris conchas proferret harenis,
quis pretium nitido cortice baca daret :
indignum, sibimet tardo quod sedula gressu
nil ageret toto proficeretque die.
ast ubi promissis aquilam fallacibus implet,
experta est similem perfida lingua fidem ;
et male mercatis dum quaerit sidera pennis,
occidit infelix alitis ungue fero.
II, 2 voluerem VKm^ : volucrum Am^ cum ceteris codd.
« perficeretque ACOTW Ash. : proficeretque Pet.- G Bawl.
B b b2 Cab.
^° occidit plerique codd. : excidit Baehrens.
« verba darent in the classical sense of tricking. Contrast
ix. 20; xxiv. 10; xxxvii, 2; xxxviii. 6, where the sense is
simply that of speaking.
684
THE FABLES OF AVIANUS
repaired to the lair in his native woods, and his mate,
seeing him arrive famished, said, " Why don't you
bring back the usual prey ? Why are your cheeks
wasted and your jaws so drawn and emaciated? "
"A mean trick took me in," he said; "so don't
be surprised that I have been hard put to it to
skulk pitifully away — with no spoil. WTiat kill, do
you ask, could come my May ? what prospect could
there be, when a scolding nurse befooled me ? " **
Let anyone who believes in a woman's sincerity
reflect that to him these words are spoken and that
it is he whom this lesson censures.
II
The Tortoise and the Eagle
Once a tortoise said to the feathered birds that if
one of the swift fliers could carry her away and set
her safe on the ground ^ she would at once from the
sands of the Erythraean Sea produce shells '^ on
which their bright-crusted pearl conferred a value.
She felt it an outrage that, despite her diligence, her
slow pace prevented her doing anything or making
any progress the whole day. She loaded an eagle
with false promises, but her untruthful tongue found
a broken troth to match her own. While soaring
aloft on the wings whose aid she had bought so ill,
the MTretched tortoise met her death by the bird's
* Line 2 presents difficulties. It has earn for se ; quis
implying the rare masc. gender for volucrum ; and constituisset
involving a latent idea. The alternative volucrem means that
the tortoise asked to be made a bird : this is accepted by
Baehrens, who reads ibi for humi.
* Late Latin for se prolaturam esse conchas.
68s
MINOR LATIN POETS
turn quoque sublimis, cum iam moreretur, in auras
ingemuit votis haec licuisse suis ;
nam dedit exosae post haec documenta quieti
non sine supremo magna labore peti.
sic quicumque nova sublatus laude tumescit,
dat merito poenas, dum meliora cupit.
Ill
De Cancro et Matre Eius
Curva retro cedens dum fert vestigia cancer,
hispida saxosis terga relisit aquis.
hunc genetrix facili cupiens procedere gressu
talibus alloquiis emonuisse datur :
** ne tibi transverso placeant haec devia, nate,
rursus in obliquos neu velis ire pedes,
sed nisu contenta ferens vestigia recto
innocuos proso tramite siste gradus."
cui natus " faciam, si me praecesseris " inquit,
'• rectaque monstrantem certior ipse sequar.
nam stultum nimis est, cum tu pravissima temptes,
alterius censor si vitiosa notes."
^2 licuisse plerique codd. : libuisse Cannegieter.
III. ^ procedere CT : praecedere plerique codd.
* praemonuLsse codd. : emonuisse Ellis.
^2 ut codd. : si Ellis {servans metrum).
686
THE FABLES OF AVIANUS
cruel talons. Then it was that, raised on high,'^ in
the hour of death, she filled the breezes with her
moaning plaint that such had been the answer to
her prayers. For she gave surly sloth a warning for
the future that great achievement is only reached by
the utmost toil.
So anyone elated and puffed up with new-found
glory pays a just penalty in hankering after what is
too high for him.
Ill
The Crab and its Mother
While a crab was walking backwards and tracing
its crooked way, it banged its scaly back in the rocky
pools. Its mother, eager to go forward with step
unhindered, is said to have delivered a warning to
it in such words as these: " Don't go zigzag and
choose these crooked ways, my child, and don't seek
to move backwards and slantwise on your feet.
Step out vigorously with straightforward effort and
plant your footsteps safely in the onward path."
" I will do so," the young crab replied, " if you go
ahead of me ; and, if you show me the correct road,
I will follow the more surely. For it is exceedingly
foolish of you, when you are attempting the most
crooked of courses yourself, to set up as censor and
criticise the faults of another."
" suUimis is emphatic : cf. the appHcation iii 15-16.
sublimes, the variant in several MSiS., goes with auras,
" breezes of heaven."
687
MINOR LATIN POETS
IV
De Vento et Sole
Immitis Boreas placidusque ad sidera Phoebus
iurgia cum magno conseruere love,
quis prior inceptum peragat : mediumque per aequor
carpebat solitum forte viator iter,
convenit banc potius Uti praefigere causam,
pallia nudato decutienda viro.
protinus impulsus ventis circum tonat aether
et gelidus nimias depluit imber aquas :
ille magis lateri duplicem circumdat amictum,
turbida submotos quod trahit aura sinus.
sed tenues radios paulatim increscere Phoebus
iusserat, ut nimio surgeret igne iubar,
donee lassa volens requiescere membra viator
deposita fessus veste sederet humi.
tunc victor docuit praesentia numina Titan,
nullum praemissis vincere posse minis.
De Asino Pelle Leonis Ixduto
[Metiri se quemque decet propriisque iuvari
laudibus, alterius nee bona ferre sibi,
ne detracta gravem faciant miracula risum,
coeperit in solitis cum remanere malis.]
IV. ^ sidera codd. : cetera Lachmann : ludiera Baehrens.
^ aequor C/n^ : orbem cett. codd.
V. * solitis Pet.^ b : solis plerique codd,
688
THE FABLES OF AVIANUS
IV
The Wind and the Sux
Savage Boreas and gentle Phoebus joined strife
in the presence of the stars with great Jupiter, to
decide which should first achieve his task ; and over
the midst of the plain it happened a traveller was
plying his wonted way. They agree to preface
their dispute with this case for trial — to get the
man stripped by tearing off his cloak." Straight-
way with the onset of the wind the sky thunders
around, and the chill rain-storm pours down torrents
of water. The traveller folds his cloak double and
draws it round his sides all the more, because the
tempestuous blast pushes the folds aside and tugs at
them. But Phoebus had bidden his penetrating rays
grow stronger little by little, so that his splendour
might emerge in excessive heat, — until the traveller,
anxious to rest his weary limbs, threw down his
cloak and sat on the ground exhausted. Then in his
triumph the Titan taught the assembled gods ^
that no one can win victory by an advance guard of
threats.
V
The Donkey in the Lion's Skin
[Everyone should take his true measure and be
content with his own merits, and not claim for himself
his neighbour's goods, lest the stripping of the finery
lead to painful ridicule as soon as he is left in posses-
sion of his usual defects.]
" nudato is proleptic. * i.e. the stars and Jupiter.
689
Y Y
MINOR LATIN POETS
Exuvias asinus Gaetuli forte leonis
repperit et spoliis induit ora novis.
aptavitque suis incongrua tegmina membris
et miserum tanto pressit honore caput,
ast ubi terribilis mimo circumstetit horror
pigraque praesumptus venit in ossa vigor,
mitibus ille feris communia pabula calcans
turbabat pavidas per sua rura boves.
rusticus hunc magna postquam deprendit ab aure,
correptum vinclis verberibusque domat ;
et simul abstracto denudans corpora tergo
increpat his miseriun vocibus ille pecus :
** forsitan ignotos imitato murmure fallas ;
at mihi, qui quondam, semper asellus eris."
VI
De Raxa et Vulpe
Edita gurgitibus limoque immersa profundo
et luteis tantum semper arnica vadis,
ad superos coUes herbosaque prata recurrens
mulcebat miseras turgida rana feras,
callida quod posset gravibus succurrere morbis
et vitam ingenio continuare suo ;
nee se Paeonio iactat cessisse magistro,
quamvis perpetuos curet in orbe deos.
5 getuli phrique codd. : defimcti PV,
" mimo Cannegieter : animo phrique codd. : animu Ashb.
VI. ^ limoque W Xevelet : olimque cett. codd.
' P(a)eonio phrique codd. : Paeoni Lachmann.
690
THE FABLES OF AVIANUS
It happened that a donkey discovered a Gaetuhan
lion's skin and clothed his face with the new-found
spoil. To his own limbs he fitted the ill-assorted
covering and burdened his wretched head with trap-
pings so majestic. But when the grim appearance,
awe-inspiring in its mimicry," enveloped him, and
the courage he had assumed in advance entered his
sluggish bones, then, trampling the pasture which
he shared with the tame animals, he drove the scared
cattle in confusion over their fields. The farmer,
after catching him by his long ear, hustled him off and
subdued him by tying him up and thrashing him ;
and as he stripped the stolen skin off his body he
scolded the poor beast ^^-ith these words : " Perhaps
your mimic roar may cheat strangers. To me you
will always be a donkey as before."
VI
The Frog and the Fox
Sprung from pools, immersed in depths of mud, the
constant friend of naught but miry shallows, a dis-
tended frog, revisiting the hills above and the grassy
meadows, sought to comfort the afflicted beasts with
the assurance that her leech-craft could relieve their
sore diseases and her genius could prolong their lives.
Her boast was that she had never been surpassed by
the Paeonian master,^ though he attended the ever-
" ynimo goes with terribilis as an ablative. The reading
animu tempts one to suggest mimum : " when the awful
appearance enveloped this farcical actor" {i.e. the ass). For
the diction cf. Virg. Aen. II. 559, mn . . . circmnstetit horror.
* Paeon was the Master Healer : cf. Rut. Namat. I. 75
Paeoniam art em.
691
YY 2
MINOR LATIN POETS
tunc vulpes pecudum ridens astuta quietem,
verborum vacuam prodidit esse fidem :
" haec dabit aegrotis "inquit" medicamina membris,
pallida caeruleus cui notat ora color? "
VII
De Caxe qui noluit Latrare
[Haud facile est pravis innatiun mentibus ut se
verberibus dignas suppliciove putent.]
Forte canis quondam nullis latratibus horrens
nee patulis primum rictibus ora trahens,
mollia sed pavidae submittens verbera caudae,
concitus audaci vulnera dente dabat.
hunc dominus, ne quern probitas simulata lateret,
iusserat in rabido gutture ferre nolam.
faucibus innexis crepitantia subligat aera,
quae facili motu signa cavenda darent.
haec tamen ille sibi credebat praemia ferri,
et similem turbam despiciebat ovans.
tunc insultantem senior de plebe superbum
aggreditur tali singula voce monens :
" infelix, quae tanta rapit dementia sensum,
munera pro meritis si cupis ista dari ?
^° vacuam codd. : vanam Cannegieter.
VII. 2 muneribus codd. : verberibus Withof : vulneribus
Froehner in not.
^ nolam plerique codd. : molam Vm^W : notam Cab.
^* singula voce codd. : monens plerique codd. : sibila voce
movens Lachmann : voce severa monens Baehrens : cingula
voce moves ? Ellis.
692
THE FABI.ES OF AVIAXUS
lasting gods in turn. Then a cunning vixen, laughing
at the acquiescence of the cattle, disclosed the
futility of giving credence to words : " Is physic,"
she asked, " going to be prescribed for diseased limbs
by this frog, whose pale face is sicklied o'er with a
livid hue? "
VII
The Dog that would not Bark
[Not readily is it the nature of evil dispositions
to believe themselves deserving of stripes and
punishment.]
It happened once there was a dog with no gruff
bark, that did not open its mouth in a wide gape as a
first sign of mischief, but put its soft-wagging tail
in fear beneath it, and then would fly into a fury and
snap recklessly with its teeth. To prevent anyone
being taken unawares by its pretended good character,
its master had made it wear a bell " round its savage
throat. He fastened its neck and tied the tinkling
brass underneath to give signals of warning by its
ready motion. The dog, however, believed this was
worn by it as a reward, and triumphantly began to look
down on the crowd of dogs like itself. Then an older
dog of humble rank accosted the swaggerer in its
exaltation, giving each word of advice ^ after the
following strain: " Wretch, Avhat is this monstrous
madness that steals away your senses, if indeed you
will have it that those rewards are given you for your
" jwlam elsewhere has a long o.
' Ellis' reading is attractive, '" tali cingula voce moves? "
" what, so loud in shaking your collar? "
693
MINOR LATIN POETS
non hoc virtutis decus ostentatur in aere,
nequitiae testem sed geris hide sonum.'
VIII
De Camelo et Iove
[Contentum proprhs sapientem vivere rebus
nee cupere aiterius fabula nostra monet,
indignata cito ne stet Fortuna recursu
atque eadem minuat quae dedit ante rota.]
Corporis immensi fertur pecus isse per auras
et magnum precibus solhcitasse lovem :
turpe nimis cunctis irridendumque videri,
insignes geminis cornibus ire boves,
et solum nulla munitum parte camelum
obieetum cunctis expositumque feris.
luppiter irridens postquam sperata negavit,
insuper et magnae sustulit auris onus.
" vive minor merito, cui sors non sufficit " inquit,
" et tua perpetuum, livide, damna geme."
IX
De Duobus Sociis et Ursa
Montibus ignotis curvisque in vallibus artum
cum socio quidam suscipiebat iter,
VIII. ^ det . . . recursum Baehrens {ex recursu in W).
^ auras plerique codd. : aras b : arva Pet.^ : Afros Withof,
694
THE FABLES OF AVIANUS
deserts ? This is not an ornament of merit displayed
in a brass setting : no, by wearing it you carry a
sound as witness of your bad character."
vni
Jupiter and the Camel
[Our fable counsels a man if he be wise to live
contented with his own property and not to covet
what belongs to another, lest Fortune be angry and
run quickly back to a standstill, and the same wheel
that once bestowed favours end in lessening them.]
The story goes that an animal of vast bulk went
through the air and besought high Jove with
entreaties, saying that everyone thought it a mon-
strous scandal and theme for ridicule that oxen
should strut about in the glory of a pair of horns,
while the camel alone should be undefended in every
quarter, at the mercy of all the animal world and open
to their attacks. Jupiter, mocking the camel, after
refusing the expected boon, went further and relieved
it of the weight of its large ears, saying, " Live
beneath your deserts, as you are not satisfied with
your lot; bewail your loss for ever, you jealous
creature."
IX
The two Companions and the Bear
A man was once journeying along a narrow road
with a companion among unknown hills and in
'^ adridens vel arridens plerique codd. : irridens B Rawl.
Pet.^ : at ridens Cannegieter.
695
MINOR LATIN POETS
securus, cum quodque malum Fortuna tulisset,
robore collato posset uterque pati.
dumque per inceptum vario sermone feruntur,
in mediam praeceps convenit ursa viam.
horum alter facili comprendens robora cursu
in viridi trepidum fronde pependit onus ;
ille trahens nullo iacuit vestigia gressu,
exaniniem fingens, sponte relisus humi.
continue praedam cupiens fera saeva cucurrit
et miserum curvis unguibus ante levat ;
verum ubi concreto riguerunt membra timore
(nam solitus mentis liquerat ossa calor),
tunc olidum credens, quamvis ieiuna, cadaver
deserit et lustris conditur ursa suis.
sed cum securi paulatim in verba redissent,
liberior iusto, qui fuit ante fugax :
" die, sodes, quidnam trepido tibi rettulit ursa ?
nam secreta diu multaque verba dedit."
" magna quidem monuit, tamen haec quoque maxima
iussit,
quae misero semper sunt facienda mihi :
'ne facile alterius repetas consortia,' dixit,
' rursus ab insana ne capiare fera.' "
X
. De Calvo Equite
Calvus eques capiti solitus religasse capillos
atque alias nudo vertice ferre comas,
IX. ^ quodcumque plerique codd. : cum quodque Baehrens.
^ inceptum plerique codd. : incertum T : inseptum Ellis.
^ convenit codd. : en venit Canneg. : convolat Baehrens.
X. ^ religasse PVW Ashb. Bawl. : religare plerique codd.
696
THE FABLES OF AVIANUS
uiiuliiiii; valleys. lie felt safe because, whatever
adversity Fortune might bring, both would be able
to unite their strength and face it. While with
varied conversation they were pursuing the journey
they had started, a she-bear came headlong to
meet them in the middle of the way. One of the
travellers with an easy run grasped an oak branch
and suspended his panic-stricken weight among
the green foliage. The other, without advancing
his course a single step, feigned death, and lay
do^\Tl, throwing himself intentionally on the ground.
At once, eager for the spoil, the savage beast
ran up and, to start with, lifted the poor man in
her crooked claws. But when icy fear stiffened his
limbs (for the usual vital warmth had left his bones),
then the bear, thinking him a rank corpse, abandoned
him in spite of her hunger and vanished into her own
haunts. But after they recovered their nerve and
gradually resumed their talk, the man who before
had run away grew now over-merry and said, " Tell
me, please, what was it the bear told you when you
were trembling there ? She spoke much with you
in a long private talk." " Yes, she gave me important
advice, but laid also this command especially on me,
and I. poor wretch, must always carry it out. ' Be
chary of returning to partnership with another,'
she said, ' lest a rabid beast get hold of you a second
time.' "
X
The Bald Horseman
A bald horseman, accustomed to fasten hair to
his head and wear strange locks on his bare crown,
697
MINOR LATIN POETS
ad Campum nitidis venit conspectus in armis
et facilem frenis flectere coepit equum.
huius ab adverse Boreae spiramina praeflant
ridiculum populo conspiciente caput ;
nam mox deiecto nituit frons nuda galero,
discolor apposita quae fuit ante coma,
ille sagax, tantis quod risus milibus esset,
distulit admota calliditate iocum,
" quid mirum " referens " positos fugisse capillos,
quern prius aequaevae deseruere comae ? "
XI
De Duabus Ollis
Eripiens geminas ripis cedentibus ollas
insanis pariter flumen agebat aquis.
sed diversa duas ars et natura creavit :
aere prior fusa est, altera ficta luto.
dispar erat fragili et solidae concordia motus,
incertumque vagus amnis habebat iter,
ne tamen allisam confringeret, aerea testa
iurabat solidam longius ire viam.
° praeflant Ellis : perfl == ant Ashb. : praestant cett. codd.
^ apposita codd. : ab posita Baehrens.
XI. * facta CX b^ Pet.^ Beg. : ficta pkrique codd.
* vagans B, Ellis : vagus cett. codd.
' elisam codd. : allisam Barth, Baehrens : illisam Schenkl.
* solitam codd. : solidam Ellis : sociam Xerelet. longius
codd. : comminus Canyieg. : urgebat coctam, comminus
Baehrens.
698
THE FABLES OF AVIANUS
came to the Campus " conspicuous in shining armour
and began mana'uvrinc; his nimble horse with the
bridle. The blasts of the North wind driving against
him blew upon the front of his head and made it a
figure of fun in the sight of the people. For soon his
wig flew ofl' and his uncovered forehead shone
brightly, which just before had another hue while
the false hair was fixed on. As the horseman
saw that he was the laughing-stock of so many
thousands, he shrewdly brought cunning to his aid
and turned away the jest from himself. " Why be
surprised," he remarked, " that my assumed locks
have gone, when my natural hair deserted me first ? "
XI
The two Jars
Two jars were once swept away by a river owing to
a collapse of its banks and were being carried down
together in the wild current. Different craftsmanship
and material had created the two ; the first was of
fused bronze, the other of moulded clay. The
brittle and the solid jar kept up an uneven harmony
of progress,^ while the meandering river took its way-
ward course. The bronze jar, however, swore to pursue
its metallic route at a distance from the other lest it
should strike against it and smash it to pieces. The
" i.e. the Campus Martins, the ancient open exercise-
ground of Rome : cf. Hor. Sat. I. vi. 126 fugio Campion
Insumque trigonem.
* dispdr: cf. xxiii. 8, and impdr, xviii. 10. The oxymoron
dispar concordia means that in general the pots kept together,
but irregularly so. Each in turn might drop behind and
afterwards catch up.
699
MINOR LATIN POETS
ilia timens ne quid levibus graviora nocerent,
et quia nulla brevi est cum meliore fides,
" quamvis securam verbis me feceris " inquit,
" non timor ex animo decutiendus erit ;
nam me sive tibi seu te mihi conferat unda,
semper ero ambobus subdita sola malis."
XII
De Rustico et Thesauro
Rustieus impresso molitus vomere terram
thesaurum sulcis prosiluisse videt.
mox indigna animo properante reliquit aratra,
gramina compellens ad meliora boves.
continuo supplex Telluri construit aras,
quae sibi depositas sponte dedisset opes,
hunc Fortuna novis gaudentem provida rebus
admonet, indignam se quoque ture dolens :
" nunc inventa meis non prodis munera templis
atque alios mavis participare decs ;
sed cum surrepto fueris tristissimus auro,
me primam lacrimis sollicitabis inops."
XIII
De Hirco et Tauro
Immensum taurus fugeret cum forte leonem
tutaque desertis quaereret antra viis,
^* subruta sola modis Lachmann.
XII. * semina plerique codd. : gramina Canneg. : fortasse
vimina vel stramina Ellis.
700
THE FABLES Ol AMANUS
clay jar, through fear tliat it might be an instance of
the hght damaged by the heavy, and because weak-
ness has no confidence in deaUngs with the stronger,
said, " Though you reHeve me of anxiety as far as
your promises go, still I cannot shake my mind clear
of fear. For whether the water brings me up against
you or you against me, I shall always be the sole
victim of either disaster."
XII
The Peasant and the Treasure
On breaking up the earth by the impact of his
plough a peasant noticed a treasure-hoard leap into
view from the furrows. Presently with quickened
heart he abandoned the plough, now disesteemed,
and drove his oxen to better pastures. At once with
vows he raised altars in honour of Earth, since she
unasked had given him the wealth entrusted to her.
As he rejoiced in his new estate, Fortune with an eye
to the future gave him a warning ; for she was piqued
that he did not think her also deserving of incense.
" For the moment you neglect to hand over your
treasure-trove to any temple of mine, and prefer to
share it with other gods ; but when the gold is stolen
and you are in the depths of grief, I shall be the first
whom you will tearfully entreat in your beggary."
XIII
The Goat and the Bull
It happened once that a bull was running away
from a mighty lion, seeking by lonely paths for some
701
MINOR LATIN POETS
speluncam reperit, quam tunc hirsutus habebat
Cinyphii ductor qui gregis esse solet.
ast ubi submissa meditantem irrurapere fronte
obvius obliquo terruit ore caper,
tristis abit longaque fugax de valle locutus
(nam timor expulsum iurgia ferre vetat) :
" non te demissis saetosum, putide, barbis,
ilium, qui super est consequiturque, tremo ;
nam si discedat, nosces, stultissime, quantum
discrepet a tauri viribus hircus olens."
XIV
De Simia
luppiter in toto quondam quaesiverat orbe,
munera natorum quis meliora daret.
certatim ad regem currit genus omne ferarum,
permixtumque homini cogitur ire pecus ;
sed nee squamigeri desunt ad iurgia pisces
vel quicquid volucrum purior aura vehit.
inter quos trepidae ducebant pignora matres,
iudicio tanti discutienda dei.
tunc brevis inform em traheret cum simia natum,
ipsum etiam in risum compulit ire lovem.
XIII. 3 repetit C Rawl.m}.
^ post plerique codd. : ast BX Pet.^ b^.
^ longaque plerique codd. : longeque Canneg. : longumque
Ellis. vaUe (vale P) codd. : calle Lachmann.
XIV. * homini codd. : cicur Baehrens.
' inter quos codd. : in tergo Baehrens.
702
THE FABLES OF AVIANUS
safe cavern, when he discovered a cave which was
then occupied by a shaggy goat accustomed to lead
the Cinyphian herd." Thereu})on, when the goat
met him and with sidelong look frightened him out
of his intention to lower his head and burst in, he
went off mournfully and in his flight sent a reply
from the far reaches of the valley (fear forbade him
to quarrel over his rebuff). " It's not you I tremble
at, you stinking creature, with your bristly hair and
trailing beard ; it's that lion — which is still to come
and which follows in my track. If he abandons the
chase, you'll learn, you arrant fool, the difference
between a bull in his strength and a smelly goat,"
XIV
The Monkey
Jupiter had once inquired through the whole
world which animal it was that could present the gift
of the finest offspring. In eager rivalry there
hastened to the king every sort of creature of the
wild, and every beast that has dealings with man was
constrained to come. Nor did the scale-covered fish
fail to contest their claim, or any bird borne on the
clearer air. Among this gathering nervous mothers
led up their progeny to be inspected at the judge-
ment-seat of the powerful god. Just then, as a
dwarfish monkey pulled forward her ugly offspring,
she forced even Jove himself to laugh. But for all her
" The epithet refers to the lonj^-haired goats bred in the
Mauritanian territory washed by the Cinyps.
MINOR LATIN POETS
hanc tamen ante alios rupit turpissima vocem,
dum generis crimen sic abolere cupit :
" luppiter hoc norit, maneat victoria si quern ;
iudicio superest omnibus iste meo."
XV
De Grue et Pavone
Threiciam volucrem fertur lunonius ales
communi sociam conteruisse cibo —
namque inter varias fuerat discordia formas,
magnaque de facili iurgia lite trahunt —
quod sibi multimodo fulgerent membra decore,
caeruleam facerent livida terga gruem ;
et simul erectae circumdans tegmina caudae
sparserat arcatum sursus in astra iubar.
ilia licet nullo pennarum certet honore,
his tamen insultans vocibus usa datur :
" quamvis innumerus plumas variaverit ordo,
mersus humi semper florida terga geris :
ast ego deformi sublimis in aera penna
proxima sideribus numinibusque feror."
^^ haec BX Bawl. : hec A-shb. : hanc cett. codd.
XV. 2 contenuisse P : continuisse vel continuasse cett. codd. :
conripuisse Froehner : commonuisse vel detinuisse vel con-
teruisse Ellis.
' agmina Ellis.
® arcanum codd. : arcatum Barth. rursus codd. : sursus
Lachmann,
704
THE FABLES OF AVIANLS
ugliness the monkey flung out these words before
others could speak, anxious by so doing to remove the
reproach upon her race: " Let Jupiter determine
whether victory is in store for anyone ; to mj> mind
the little monkey before you beats the lot."
XV
The Crane and the Peacock
The story goes that Juno's bird disparaged the
Thracian fowl,^ when she shared their joint feeding-
ground. For a quarrel had arisen involving their
different kinds of beauty and they were protracting
a long argument on a case easy to settle. The pea-
cock contended that the parts of his body gleamed in
manifold loveliness, but that a dingy back gave the
crane a dun colour, and at the word he arrayed about
him the canopy of his uplifted tail and shot an arc of
light upwards to the sky. The crane, though unable
to rival the other in any glory of plumage, is never-
theless said to have used these words in mockery :
" Countless may be the array of colours variegating
your plumage, yet you, the wearer of that gaudy
tail, are for ever kept close to earth. But I soar
aloft into the air on my wing for all its ugliness,
and am wafted nigh to the stars and heavenly
powers."
* i.e. the crane : cf. Ovid, A. A. iii. 182, Thrticiamve gruevi ;
Virg. Aen. X. 265, Strymoniae grues.
705
MINOR LATIN POETS
XVI
De Quercu et Haruxdine
Montibus e summis radicitus eruta quercus
decidit insani turbine victa Noti,
quam tumidis subter decurrens alveus undis
suscipit et fluvio praecipitante rapit.
verum ubi diversis impellitur ardua ripis,
in fragiles calamos grande residit onus,
tunc sic exiguo conectens caespite ramos
nairatur liquidis quod stet harundo vadis :
se quoque tarn vasto necdum consistere trunco,
ast illam tenui cortice ferre minas.
stridula mox blando respondens canna susurro
seque magis tutam debilitate docet.
" tu rabidos " inquit " ventos saevasque procellas
despicis et totis viribus acta ruis.
ast ego surgentes paulatim demoror Austros
et quamvis levibus provida cedo Notis ;
in tua praeruptus se effundit robora nimbus,
motibus aura meis ludificata perit."
haec nos dicta monent magnis obsistere frustra,
paulatimque truces exsuperare minas.
XVI. ^ necdum phrique codd. : rectum C Beg. : rectam
Ellis, consistere plerique codd. : non sistere Ellis. j
1^ offendit codd. praeter X : se effundit Lachnann.
1" frusta b : lustra B : rebus b^ : frustra celt. codd. : fluxa
Ellis.
706
THE FABLES OF AVIANUS
XVI
The Oak and the Reed
An oak was torn up by its roots, a victim of the mad
South Wind's whirhng force, and fell down from the
mountain heiirhts. A river-channel, flowing below
in high spate, took it and bore it off in the headlong
current. But after the tall trunk had been thrust
from bank to bank, its mighty bulk came to rest
among slender reeds. Then it marvelled that a reed,
fastening its stalks in but a tiny tuft, should stand
firm in the flo^ving water; it marvelled that, for all
its massive trunk, even it could not yet" stand
unmoved, while the reed with its slender rind endured
the menaces of nature.^ Presently the creaking
reed, answering with meek whisper, declared that
its weakness increased its safety. "You," it said,
" scorn the ravening winds and cruel tempests, and
fall beneath the onset of their full strength. I keep
in dalliance the gradually rising Auster and, with
an eye to the future, let myself be swayed by Notus,
however light his breath. Against your sti'ength the
rain-storm hurls itself sheer; but, baffled by my
motion, the breeze sinks into nothing."
This teaches us that it is in vain we resist the
mighty and that it is by slow degrees that we
surmount the fury of their menaces.
" necdum. The years in which the truncus had grown tarn
vastus had not vet made it strons enough to resist the storm.
Cf. J. E. B. MaVor, C. R. I. (1887) p. 191.
'' miratur (8) is first followed by quod stel to express indirect
statement, then by two accus. and iufin. clauses (9-10).
707
zz 2
MINOR LATIN POETS
xvn
De ^'ENATORE ET TiGRIDE
Venator iaculis haud irrita vulnera torquens
turbabat trepidas per sua lustra feras.
turn pavidis audax cupiens succurrere tigris
verbere conunoto iussit adesse minax.
ille tamen solito contorquens tela lacerto
" nunc tibi, qualis earn, nuntius iste refert."
et simul emissum transegit vulnere ferrum,
praestrinxitque citos hasta cruenta pedes.
moUiter at fixum traheret cum saucia telum,
a trepida fertur vulpe retenta diu,
nempe quis ille foret, qui talia vulnera ferret,
aut ubinam iaculum delituisset agens.
ilia gemens fractoque loqui vix murmure coepit
(nam solitas voces ira dolorque rapit) :
" nulla quidem medio convenit in aggere forma
quaeque oculis olim sit repetenda meis,
sed cruor et validis in nos directa lacertis
ostendunt aliquem tela fuisse virum."
XVIII
De Quattuor Iuvencis ET Leone
Quattuor immensis quondam per prata iuvencis
fertur amicitiae tanta fuisse fides,
XVII. 2 pavidas BGOX Raul. Ashb. Pet.^ : rapidas L:
rabidas cett. codd. : trepidas Lachmann.
* commoto 0 : commotas plerique codd. minas codd. :
minax Froehner.
* eram plerique codd. : earn Tfn^, Froehner.
^^ dum quis plerioite codd. : quis deus Baehrens : nempe
quis Ellis.
708
THE FABLES OF AVIANUS
XVII
The Hunter and the Tigress
A huntsman who dealt effective wounds with the
javelins he discharged used to drive the wild animals
in terrified confusion through their coverts. Then
a bold tigress, eager to succour the panic-stricken
beasts, lashing with her tail in threatening wise,
bade him come up against her. But he hurled as
usual his missile from his shoulder, saying, " That is
the messenger which in this hour tells you my
prowess as 1 go my way " ; and at that moment the
weapon which he discharged pierced and wounded
her, and the blood-stained shaft grazed her swift feet.
When the wounded tigress was gently drawing forth
the tight-fixed weapon, she is said to have been kept
in converse a long time by a fox asking in dismay,
who was the man that could deal such wounds or
where had he hid himself to shoot his javelin. The
tigress with moans and broken growls found speech
with difficulty ; for rage and pain robbed her of her
usual utterance; " No shape that my sight could
afterwards recall confronted me in the middle of the
road,'' but the blood and the weapon aimed at me by a
powerful arm show that it was some man of might."
xvni
The Four Oxen and the Lion
Once among four huge oxen in the meadows there
existed, as the story goes, so trusty a bond of affection,
" .Servius on Virg. Aen. V. 273, viae deprensits in aggere,
explains agger est media viae eminentia coaggeratis lapidibus
strata : cf. Rut. Namat. I. 39 Aurelius agger = Via Aurelia.
709
MINOR LATIN POETS
ut simul emissos nullus divelleret error,
rursus et e pastu turba rediret amans.
hos quoque collatis inter se cornibus ingens
dicitur in silvis pertimuisse leo,
dum metus oblatam prohibet temptare rapinam
et coniuratos horret adire boves ;
et quamvis audax factisque immanior esset,
tantoriun solus viribus impar erat.
protinus aggreditur pravis insistere verbis,
collisum. cupiens dissociare pecus.
sic postquam dictis animos disiunxit acerbis,
invasit miserum diripuitque gregem.
tunc quidam ex illis " vitam servare quietam
qui cupit, e nostra discere morte potest ;
neve cito admotas verbis fallacibus aures
impleat aut veterem deserat ante fidem."
XIX
De AbIETE AC DUMIS
Horrentes dumos abies pulcherrima risit,
cum facerent formae iurgia magna suae,
indignum referens cum istis certamen haberi,
quos meritis nullus consociaret honor :
" nam mihi deductum surgens in nubila corpus
verticis erectas tollit in astra comas,
puppibus et patulis media cum sede locamur,
in me suspensos explicat aura sinus ;
at tibi deformem quod dant spineta figuram,
despectum cuncti praeteriere viri."
XVIII. * ovans WBX b Pet.^ : amans cett. codd.
^ sed codd. : et vulgo,
^* invasit BX Pet.^ : invadit cett. codd.
XIX. 3 cunctis codd. : cum istis Baehrens : dumis Ellis.
* quos GTOX Beg. Bawl. : quod cett. codd.
710
THE FABLES OF AVIANUS
that on beincr sent from their stalls together no
straying would sunder them, and then again the group
would return from pasture still friends. Now, before
these oxen, with their horns united in line, a mighty-
lion in the forest is said to have quailed, so long as
fear forbade him to make trial of the quarry facing
him, and he shrank from approaching the allied
cattle ; and, though courageous and more savage
in his deeds, he was no match by himself for the
strength of such powerful beasts. Thereupon he
began to urge evil counsels, anxious to divide the
herd by making them quarrel. So after he had sown
disunion AA-ith embittering words, he rushed upon the
poor herd and tore them limb from limb. Then one
of them said, " Anyone who wants to preserve an
untroubled life may learn from our death. Let him
not be in a hurry to suffer a ready ear to be filled with
guile, or to desert over soon an ancient loyalty."
XIX
The Pine and the Bramble Bush
A very lovely pine made mockery of a prickly
bramble bush in a serious dispute touching their
claims to beauty. The pine said it was unfair it
should have to contend with such as no title brought
by merit into its own class. " For my tapering trunk
rises towards the clouds, and rears stanvard the lofty
foliage of my tree-top ; and when I am placed on the
ship's open deck in the centre, the sails unfurled by
the ^^'ind hang upon me. But you — everyone passes
you by with scorn, because your growth of thorns
gives you an ugly appearance." The bramble
711
MINOR LATIN POETS
ille refert : " nunc laeta quidem bona sola fateris
et nostris frueris imperiosa malis ;
sed cum pulchra minax succidet membra securis,
quam velles spinas tunc habuisse meas I "
XX
De Piscatore et Pisce
Piscator solitus praedam suspendere saeta
exigui piscis vile trahebat onus.
sed postquam superas captum perduxit ad auras
atque a\ido fixum vulnus ab ore tulit,
" parce, precor " supplex lacrimis ita dixit obortis ;
" nam quanta ex nostro corpore dona feres ?
nunc me saxosis genetrix fecunda sub antris
fudit et in propriis ludere iussit aquis.
tolle minas, tenerumque tuis sine crescere mensis :
haec tibi me rursum litoris ora dabit :
protinus immensi depastus caerula ponti
pinguior ad calamum sponte recurro tuum."
ille nefas captum referens absolvere piscem,
difficiles queritur casibus esse vices :
" nam miserum est " inquit " praesentem amittere
praedam,
stultius et rursum vota futura sequi."
XX. ^ damna codd. : dona Lachmann.
^* casibus codd. : cassibus Froehner, Baehrens, Ellis.
712
THE FABLES OF AVIANUS
rejoins : " True, now you rejoice and all you profess
is fair, and in your domineering way you take pleasure
in my defects. But in that day when the threatening
axe shall hew your fine limbs, how you would then
wish that you had possessed my thorns! "
XX
The Angler and the Fish
A fisherman who used to catch his prey hanging
on a horsehair line was drawing in a tiny fish of
trumpery weight. But after he had brought his
catch up into the air and the fish had been pierced
with a wound ^ through its hungry mouth, in entreaty
amid starting tears it said, " Have mercy, I pray you ;
for how much gain will you derive from my flesh ?
Just now has a fertile mother spawned me 'neath the
rocky caves, and bidden me disport myself in our
own waters. Banish your fell designs ; I am young ;
let me grow up for your table. This bank of the shore
will give me to you again. In a little time, when I
have fed on the blue waters of the boundless deep,
I shall willingly return the fatter to your rod." The
fisherman, declaring it a crime to let go a fish once
caught, complained that hazards are beset with turns
incalculable: " It is a pity," he said, " to lose the
spoil in hand, and a worse folly to start afresh in
pursuit of future hopes."
« vulnus ferre here means to endure a wound : contrast
XVII. 11, where it means to deal a wound.
MINOR LATIN POETS
XXI
De Alite et Messione
Parvula progeniem terrae mandaverat ales,
qua stabat viridi caespite flava seges.
rusticus banc fragili cupiens decerpere cubno
vicinam supplex forte petebat opem.
sed vox implumes turbavit credita nidos,
suasit et e laribus continuare fugam.
cautior hos remeans prohibet discedere mater :
" nam quid ab externis proficietur? " ait.
ille iterum caris operam mandavit amicis ;
at genetrix rursum tutior inde manet.
sed postquam curvas dominum comprendere falces,
frugibus et veram sensit adesse manum,
" nunc " ait, " o miseri, dilecta relinquite rura,
cum spem de propriis viribus ille petit."
XXII
De Cupido et Invido
luppiter ambiguas hominum praediscere mentes
ad terras Phoebum misit ab arce poli.
tunc duo diversis poscebant numina votis ;
namque alter cupidus, invidus alter erat.
XXI. ^ credula plerique codd. : sedula b : credita Withof :
acredula {in casu vocativo) Ellis.
^ suaserat e X : suaserat et cett. codd. : suasit et e Ellis.
XXII. * invidus codd. {contra metrum) : lividus WitTiof.
" Babrius makes the bird a lark. Gellius, N. A. ii. 29,
who paraphrases the fable from Ennius' trochaic septenarii,
THE FABLES OF AVIANUS
XXI
The Bird and the Reaping of the Corn
A tiny little bird '^ had entrusted her young to the
ground where with its root-stem green stood the
yellow corn-crop. It so happened that a farmer
wanting to cut the corn from its fragile stalk begged
and prayed for a neighbour's help. Now these words,
which the unfledged nestlings believed, struck panic
into them and counselled instant flight from their
home. Their mother was more wary ; on her return
she told them not to go away, saying, " What good will
come from outsiders? " The farmer once more en-
trusted the task to his dear friends ; but the mother
again stayed where she was, all the safer for that
reason. But when she perceived that the owner was
gripping the curved sickle and that his true hand was
near the crops, she said, " Now% my poor dears,
abandon the fields you love so well, now that he seeks
the fulfilment of his hopes from his own powers."
XXII
The Greedy Man and the Jealous Man
Jupiter sent Phoebus to the earth from the citadel
of the sky to discover in advance the doubtful hearts
of mankind. Just then two men were beseeching
the gods to satisfy different desires, for one had a
covetous and the other a jealous nature. The Sun-
describes it as cassita, " helmeted " or " crested." Ellis'
acredula strictl}^ means a nightingale. While the Ennian
moral is explicitly " Do not expect friends to do what you
can do yourself," it is noticeable that Avianus gives no
epimythion.
MINOR LATIN POETS
his sese medium Titan scrutatus utrumque
obtulit et precibus cum peteretur, ait :
" praestant di facilis ; quae namque rogaverit unus,
protinus haec alter congeminata feret."
sed cui longa iecur nequeat satiare cupido,
distulit admotas in nova damna preces,
spem sibi confidens alieno crescere voto
seque ratus solum munera ferre duo.
ille ubi captantem socium sua praemia vidit,
supplicium proprii corporis optat ovans ;
nam petit exstinctus sic lumine degeret uno,
alter ut hoc duplicans vivat utroque carens.
turn sortem sapiens humanam risit Apollo,
invidiaeque malum rettulit ipse lovi,
quae, dum proventis aliorum gaudet iniquis,
laetior infelix et sua damna cupit.
XXIII
De Venditore et Baccho
\^enditor insignem referens de marmore Bacchum
expositum pretio fecerat esse deum.
nobilis hunc quidam funesta in sede sepulcri
mercari cupiens compositurus erat ;
^ confiteretur X : vst peteretur cett. : cum peteretur Ellis :
luppiter aecus Lachmann.
' praestabit C Reg. : praestandi cett. codd. : praestandist
Baehrens : praestant di Ellis, facilis codd. nam quae spera-
verit VW : nam quaeque rogaverit plerique codd. : quae
namque rogaverit Ellis.
^^ ut plerique codd. : sic Ellis.
° Ellis' conjecture and interpretation have been followed,
though facilis is a rare form for the nom. plur. (See Neue,
Formenlehre d. lat. Sprache, II. 1875, pp. 34 sqq.)
716
THE FABLES OF AVIANUS
God, scrutinising both, presented himself as a
mediator between them, and when entreated with
prayers said, " The gods being kind grant fulfilment ; °
for what one of you asks, that shall the other forth-
with receive, doubled. " But the one, whose far-
reaching desires could not satisfy his heart, put off
addressing his prayer — with a surprising loss as the
sequel.^ He was sure the desires of the other would
increase his own prospects, calculating that in his
single person he was thus winning two boons. The
other, when he saw his companion grasping at his
own prizes, gleefully prayed for a punishment to be
inflicted on his own body. For he asked that he
might lose one eye for the rest of his life in order that
the other, doubling this misfortune, might live de-
prived of both. Then Apollo, learning the truth,
smiled at human lot, and v.ith his own lips reported to
Jupiter the curse of jealousy, which, as it rejoices in
other people's untoward fortunes, is unlucky enough
the more gladly to desire its own harm also.
xxni
The Salesman and his Statue of Bacchus '^
A trading craftsman who had fashioned a fine
Bacchus in marble had put up the god for sale. A
nobleman who wanted to buy it intended to place it
in the funereal resting-place containing his tomb.
* i.e. the loss of both his eyes, described later.
'^ The fable is so full of difficulties that Ellis questions its
authenticity. The use of the participles in lines 1 and 4
marks the deterioration of syntax; expositum fecerat esse
cannot be called good Latin; and the obscurity of lines 7-9
led Baehrens to rewrite them with more than usual infelicity.
717
MINOR LATIN POETS
alter adoratis ut ferret numina templis,
redderet et sacro debita vota loco.
" nunc " ait *' ambiguum facies de mercibus omen,
cum spes in pretium munera dispar agit,
et me defunctis seu malis tradere divis,
sive decus busti seu velis esse deum ;
subdita namque tibi est magni reverentia sacri
atque eadem retines funera nostra manu."
convenit hoc illis, quibus est peniiissa potestas,
an prodesse magis seu nocuisse velint.
XXIV
De Venatore et Leone
Certamen longa protractum lite gerebant
venator quondam nobilis atque leo.
hi cum perpetuum cuperent in iurgia finem,
edita continue forte sepulcra vident.
illic docta manus flectentem colla leonem
fecerat in gremio procubuisse viri.
" scilicet affirmas pictura teste superbum
te fieri? exstinctam nam docet esse feram."
ille graves oculos ad inania signa retorquens
infremit et rabido pectore verba dedit :
XXIII. 8 et me licet addere vivis Baehrens.
^^ faLtipleriquecodd. : facti AGO m.pr. b Pet.^: sati P: sacri
Ellis : fani Baehrens.
^* prodesse X : praestare plerique codd.
XXIV. * contigue Baehrens {in not.) : continue codd.
fronte Ellis : forte codd.
' affirmans plerique codd. : affirmas Ellis.
* se codd. : te Ellis.
718
THE FABLES OF AVIANUS
Another wished to present " the god in the temple
where he worshipped and in the hallowed precincts
to fulfil a vow that was owing. " Now," said the
statue, " you will make a puzzling forecast about
your wares, when two far different prospects set a
price upon your work,^ and you will be in doubt
whether you prefer to consign me to the dead or to
the gods, whether you wish me to adorn a tomb or
to be a deity. To your arbitrament is submitted the
reverence of a great religious act ; in your hand also
you hold my death-Marrant." ^
This is applicable to those who have it in their
power to do a good or a bad turn according as they
wish.^^
XXIV
The Hunter and the Lion
A huntsman of renown and a lion were once
engaged in a contest protracted by long dispute.
As they desired to put an end once for all to their
quarrel, they saw on the instant, it so happened, a
lofty tombstone. Thereon a cunning hand had
represented a lion bowing its neck in submission and
prostrate in a man's embrace. " Can you really
assert that the evidence of that work of art makes
you proud? Why, it shows the death of the beast."
The lion, turning downcast eyes to the unreal figures,
growled and in fierceness of heart broke into speech :
" ut ferret depends on mercari ciipiit supplied from mercari
cupiens.
* viunera seems more suitably translated as " result of your
employment " than as " gift."
•= i.e. to make of me a sepulchral ornament.
•* I.e. the salesman had the option of benefiting or injuring
the statue.
719
MINOR LATIN POETS
" irrita te generis subiit fiducia vestri,
artificis testem si cupis esse manum.
quod si nostra novum caperet sollertia sensum,
sculperet ut docili pollice saxa leo,
tunc hominem adspiceres oppressum murmure
magno,
conderet ut rabidis ultima fata genis."
XXV
De Puero et Fure
Flens puer extremam putei consedit ad undam,
vana supervacuis rictibus ora trahens.
callidus hunc laerimis postquam fur vidit obortis,
quaenam tristitiae sit modo causa rogat.
ille sibi abrupti fingens discrimina funis
hac auri queritur desiluisse cadum.
nee mora, sollicitam traxit manus improba vestem :
exutus putei protinus ima petit,
parvulus exiguo circumdans pallia collo
sentibus immersus delituisse datur.
sed post fallaci suscepta pericula voto
tristis ut amissa veste resedit humi,
dicitur his sollers vocem rupisse querellis
et gemitu summos sollicitasse deos :
" perdita, quisquis erit, post haec bene pallia credat,
qui putat in liquidis quod latet urna vadis."
^^ expressum marmore Lachmann.
XXV. * atque plerique codd. : ac C Beg. : hac Froehner.
^® natat vd natet codd. : latet Wight Duff.
** latet implies that the thief ought not to have been fool
enough to be cheated by the boy's story about letting a golden
pitcher drop into the well : he had not paused (wee mora, 7)
720
THE FABLES OF AX'IANUS
" \'ain is the confidence in your human birth that
has entered into you, if you desire to have for a wit-
ness an artist's hand. If oio' ingenuity admitted of
an extra sense, allowing a lion to engrave stones with
skilful touch, then you would behold how the man,
overwhelmed by a loud roar, closed his final destiny
in ravening jaws."
XXV
The Boy and the Thief
A boy sat down in tears at the edge of the water
of a well, deceitfully opening wide his mouth in
groundless blubbering. A smart thief, on seeing him
Avith tears starting from his eyes, asked what was the
cause of his distress now. The boy pretended his
rope had parted in two ; thereby, he sobbed, his
golden pitcher had fallen down the well. At once
the rascal's hand dragged off his hampering garment,
and, when stripped, he made straight for the bottom
of the well. The youngster, so the story has it, put
the cloak round his own little neck, plunged into the
brambles and was lost to sight. But when, after
encountering danger on a deceptive hope, he had
seated himself again on the ground, miserable over
the loss of his cloak, the shrewd knave (so the story
goes) gave utterance to these laments and made
moaning supplication to the high gods: "Hence-
forth let anyone, whoever he be, who thinks a jar
lies hid in clear water," reckon that he has richly
deserved to lose his cloak."
to see if the gold was visible in the water, Natet or natat
implies that anyone who expected a jar to be floating at the
bottom of a well would be served right by losing his cloak.
721
3 A
MINOR LATIN POETS
XXVI
De Capella et Leone
Viderat excelsa pascentem rujDe capellam,
comminus esuriens cum leo ferret iter,
et prior " heus " inquit " praeruptis ardua saxis
linque nee hirsutis pascua quaere iugis ;
sed C}i:isi croceum per prata virentia floreni
et glaucas salices et tliyma grata pete."
ilia gemens " desiste, precor, fallaciter " inquit
" securam placidis instimulare dolis.
vera licet moneas, maiora pericula toUas,
tu tamen his dictis non facis esse fidem :
nam quamvis rectis constet sententia verbis,
suspectam banc rabidus consiliator habet."
XXVII
De Cornice et Urna
Ingentem sitiens cornix adspexerat urnam,
quae minimam fundo continuisset aquam.
banc enisa diu planis efFundere campis,
scilicet ut nimiam pelleret inde sitim,
postquam nulla viam virtus dedit, admovet omnes
indignata nova calliditate dolos ;
nam brevis immersis accrescens sponte lapillis
potandi facilem praebuit unda viam.
XXVI. 8 instimulare h^ et paraphr. : insimulare plerique
codd. : insLauare Cab.
^2 rabidus Ashb. : gravidus cetl. codd. : pravus Baehrens.
habes b^, Lachmann, Ellis : habet cett. codd.
722
THE FABLES OF AVIANUS
XXVI
The Lion and the Goat
A hungry lion while passing near by had spied a she-
goat grazing on a rocky height. He opened conversa-
tion with " Ho, there ! leave these steeps with their
precipitous crags and don't look for pasture on
prickly ridges. No, you should go through the green
meadows in quest of the yellow lucerne-flower and
pale green willow and sweet thyme." *' Please
stop," said the goat with a groan, " your lying-
attempts to rouse me from my security with your
gentle wiles. Though your advice has truth in it,
though you suppress the greater dangers, yet you do
not make me trust what you say. For however correct
your words be and however sound their meaning,
yet a famished counsellor has his meaning under
suspicion."
xxvn
The Crow and the Jar
A thirsty crow had spied a huge jar containing a
very little water at the bottom. Long did the crow
strive to spill this water on the level plain, to banish,
of course, thereby her excessive thirst; but, when
no valiant effort could provide a way, she lost her
temper and M-ith fresh cunning applied all her
crafty devices. She threw pebbles in, and the low
level of water rose naturally and so supplied an
easy way of drinking.
723
3a2
MINOR LATIN POETS
viribus haec docuit quam sit prudentia maior,
qua coeptum cornix explicuisset opus.
XXVIII
De Rustico et Iuvenco
Vincla recusanti dedignantique iuvenco
aspera mordaci subdere colla iugo
rusticus obliqua succidens cornua falce
credidit insanum defremuisse pecus,
cautus et immenso cervicem innectit aratro
(namque erat hie cornu promptior atque pede),
scilicet ut longus prohiberet verbera temo
neve ictus faciles ungula saeva daret.
sed postquam irato detractans vincula collo
inuneritam vacua calce fatigat humum,
continuo eversam pedibus dispergit harenam,
quam j in domini Boreas ora sequentis agat.
tunc hie informi squalentes pulvere crines
discutiens imo pectore victus ait :
" nimirum exemplum naturae derat iniquae,
qua fieri posset quis ratione nocens."
XXVII. ^'^ volucris phrique codd. : comix Ellis {servans
metrum).
XXVIII. ^ bos quom Baehrens : postquam codd.
^" vacuo (masc.) nonnidli codd., Ellis.
^2 quam ferus in domini ora phrique codd. : q. in d. aura
ferens ora Lachmann : q. feriens Boreas ora Withof : q. in d.
Boreas ora Baehrens in not. agat ACPT b : agit celt. codd.
^^ sic codd. : hie Lachmann.
^* cum codd. : quis Baehrens.
724
THE FABLES OF AVIANUS
This fable has proved the superiority of foresight
over stout efforts, as by it the crow accompHshed
the task she had undertaken.
xxvni
The Farmer and his Ox
There once was an ox that chafed at ropes and
shirked submitting its rebelUous neck to the grip of
the yoke. The farmer cut its horns with a knife
used slantwise and thought the frenzied animal had
abated its rage. Carefully he fastened its neck to
the weighty plough (for it was over-ready with horn
and hoof), doubtless so that the long pole might
obstruct any butting and that its cruel hoof might find
it difficult to kick. But when the animal, its neck
angrily struggling against the straps, worried the
inoffensive earth with impotent hoof, its feet at once
churned up the sand broadcast for the North wind
to blow into its master's face as he followed. Then
the farmer, while he shook his locks begrimed
viith unsightly dust, said, in deep discomfiture of
heart, " Truly, I needed an instance of a vicious
temper to show how anyone could contrive to do
mischief." "
" This new instance proved how a low nature, in spite of
all precautions, could work harm.
725
MINOR LATIN POETS
XXIX
De Viatore et Satyro
Horrida congestis cum staret bruma pruinis
cunctaque durato stringeret arva gelu,
haesit in adversa nimborum mole viator ;
perdita nam prohibet semita ferre gradum.
hunc nemorum custos fertur miseratus in antro
exceptum Satyrus continuisse suo.
quern simul adspiciens ruris miratur alumnus
^'imque homini tantam protinus esse pavet ;
nam gelidos artus vitae ut revocaret in usum,
afflatas calido solverat ore manus.
sed cum depulso coepisset frigore laetus
hospitis eximia sedulitate frui,
namque illi agrestem cupiens ostendere vitam
silvarum referens optima quaeque dabat,
obtulit et calido plemrni cratera Lyaeo,
laxet ut infusus frigida membra tepor.
ille ubi ferventem labris contingere testam
horruit, algenti rursus ab ore reflat.
obstipuit duplici monstro perterritus hospes
et pulsum silvis longius ire iubet :
** nolo " ait " ut nostris umquam successerit antris,
tarn diversa duo qui simul ora ferat."
XXIX. 8 protinus codd. : pectoris Lachmann : providus
Froehner.
^° foverat Lachmann : solverat plerique codd.
^^ sed cum codd. : donee Baehrens.
^^ sufflat vel suflat codd. : reflat Schenkl.
726
THE FABLES OF AVIANUS
XXIX
The Traveller and the Satyr
\Mien mid-winter stood bristling with thick frost
and bound every field in hardened ice, a traveller
came to a halt in a heavy barrier of mist ; for the
losing of his path prevented his advance. They say
one of the guardians of the woodland, a Satyr, felt
pity and gave him welcome and shelter in his cave.
This nurseling of the country" looked upon him
wondering the while, and straightway was afearedto
see a mortal possess power so great. For, to bring
back his chilled limbs to the tasks of life, the traveller
had blo^vn into his hands and thawed them with his
warm breath. But it was different when he had
banished the cold and had delightedly begun to enjoy
his host's generous attentions ; since, anxious to show
him how they lived in the country, the Satyr kept
bringing out and serving all the best that the wood-
land yielded; he set before him also a bowl full of
warm wine so that its pervasive heat might loosen
the chilliness of his limbs. The traveller, fearing to
touch the glowing cup ^vith his lips, blew this time
with a cooling breath. His host was alarmed and
astounded at the double miracle, and driving him
from the woods bade him begone still further off.
" I desire no one," he said, " ever to approach my
cave who owns at the same moment two such different
sorts of mouth."
" The Satyr is called ruris alumnus as one of the ape-like
and goat-footed demigods of the forest : c/. Ovid Met. I.
192-3 sunt mihi semidei, sunt rustica numina Xyttiphae,
Faunique Satyrique et monticolae Silvani; ib. VI. 392-3
ruricdae, silvarum numina, Fauni et Satyr i fratres.
727
MINOR LATIN POETS
XXX
De Sue et Illius Domixo
Vastantem segetes et pinguia culta ruentem
liquerat abscisa rusticus aure suem,
ut memor accept! referens monumenta doloris
ulterius teneris parceret ille satis,
rursus in exsculpti deprensus crimine campi
perdidit indultae perfidus auris onus,
nee mora, praedictae segeti caput intulit horrens ;
poena sed insignem congeminata facit.
tunc domini captum mensis dedit ille superbis,
in varias epulas plurima frusta secans.
sed cum consumpti dominus cor quaereret apri,
impatiens fertur quod rapuisse cocus,
rusticus hoc iustam verbo compescuit iram,
affirmans stultum non habuisse suem —
nam cur membrorum demens in damna redisset,
atque uno totiens posset ab hoste capi ?
haec illos descripta monent, qui saepius ausi
numquam peccatis abstinuere manus.
XXX. ° exculpti G : except! cett. codd. : exeerpti Guiet.
' praedictae phrique codd. : praedator Lachmann : praeve-
titae Baehrens.
^ quod 0 Bawl., Pet.^ : sed cett. codd. indignum codd.:
indictum Cab. : insigrnem Lachmann.
728
THE FABLES OF AVIANUS
XXX
The Pig and its Owner
A pig was ruining a farmer's corn and trampling
his fertile fields ; so he cut its ear off and let it go,
hoping that, carrying home a reminder of the pain
suffered, it would remember in future and keep off
the tender crops. It was caught again in the crime of
grubbing up the soil, and for its thieving lost the ear
it had — the one previously spared. Immediately
afterwards it thrust its mutilated ° head into the
aforementioned corn ; but the twice-repeated punish-
ment made it a marked trespasser.^ This time the
farmer, having captured it, gave it for its owner's
sumptuous banquet, cutting a great number of slices
for the various dishes. But when they had been
eating the boar and the owner asked for its heart,
which the ravenous cook is said to have purloined,
then the farmer soothed his reasonable anger with
these words, remarking that the pig was stupid and
never had a heart "^ — for why had it been mad enough
to return j ust to lose parts of its body ? why let itself
be caught so many times by the same enemy ?
This sketch is a warning to those who have ven-
tured too often and never kept their hands off
iniquity.
" Horrens is glossed in the Treves MS. as truncatum.
* If indignum of the MSS. is kept, the sense is tliat the two
previous punishments made this new trespass bj- the pig an
outrage. Nothing, therefore, but death could meet the case.
' The cor was considered the seat of understanding.
729
MINOR LATIN POETS
XXXI
De Mure et Bove
Ingentem fertur mus quondam parvus oberrans
ausus ab exiguo laedere dente bovem.
verum ubi mordaci confecit vulnera rostro,
tutus in anfractus conditur inde suos.
ille licet vasta torvum cervice minetur,
non tamen iratus quern petat esse videt.
tunc indignantem mus hoc sermone fatigans
distulit hostiles calliditate minas :
" non quia magna tibi tribuerunt membra parentes,
viribus elFectum constituere tuis.
disce tamen bre\dbus quae sit fiducia rostris,
ut faciat quicquid parvula turba cupit."
XXXII
De Aratore et Bobus
Haerentem luteo sub gurgite rusticus axem
liquerat et nexos ad iuga tarda boves,
frustra depositis confidens numina votis
ferre suis rebus, cum resideret, opem.
cui rector summis Tirynthius infit ab astris
(nam vocat hunc supplex in sua vota deum) :
XXXI. ' iusto codd. : mus hoc Withof: lusor Ellis.
^^ monstris plerique codd. : membris B : rostris Froehner.
^2 ut W Beg., Pet.^ : et plerique codd. faciat plerique codd. :
facias Pet.^, B m. sec, paraphr.
XXXII. 2 depositLS plerique codd. : dispositis PX Rawl. b^.
" For ab cf. Ovid. 2Iet. viii. 513, invitis correptus ab ignibus
arsit.
73°
THE FABLES OF AVIANUS
XXXI
The Mouse and the Ox
They tell how once upon a time a little mouse
on its wanderings ventured with ^ its tiny teeth
to attack a mighty ox. When its nibbling mouth
finished biting, it thereupon hid safely in its wind-
ing hole. Though the ox made sullen threats with
his Imge neck, yet for all his anger he could not
see that there lived an enemy for him to attack.
Then the mouse dispersed ^ the foe's threats with its
cleverness, bantering the enraged ox with these
words: "Because your parents transmitted strong
limbs to you, it does not follow that they added
efficiency to your strength. Learn, however, the
self-reliance that our tiny mouths possess, and learn
how our pigmy band does whatever it wants."
XXXII
The Ploughman and his Oxen *^
A peasant had left his cart sticking in a muddy pool
and his oxen fastened to a yoke that would not move.
He trusted in vain that thanks to the vows he lodged
the gods would assist his fortunes though he sat idle
himself. From the starry heights he was addressed
by the Lord of Tiryns ^ (for he was one of the gods
whom his entreaties invoked to further his prayers).
' Cf. X. 10.
' This represents De aratore et bobus, Emvl. Other titles
are De rustico et axe, 0, and De pigro Tyrint{h)ium fnistra
orante, C.
** Hercules.
MINOR LATIN POETS
" perge laborantes stimulis agitare iuvencos,
et manibus pigras disce iuvare rotas.
tunc quoque congressum maioraque viribus ausum
fas superos animis conciliare tuis.
disce tamen pigris non flecti numina votis
praesentesque adhibe, cum facis ipse, deos."
XXXIII
De Ansere Ova Aurea Pariexte
Anser erat cuidam pretioso germine feta,
ovaque quae nidis aurea saepe daret.
fixerat banc volucri legem Natura superbae,
ne liceat pariter munera ferre duo.
sed dominus, cupidum sperans vanescere votum,
non tulit exosas in sua lucra moras,
grande ratus pretium volucris de morte referre,
quae tam continue munere dives erat.
postquam nuda minax egit per viscera ferrum
et vacuam solitis fetibus esse videt,
ingemuit tantae deceptus crimine fraudis ;
nam poenam meritis rettulit inde suis.
sic qui cuncta deos uno male tempore poscunt,
iustius his etiam vota diurna negant.
1" animis codd. : athlis Baehrens.
XXXIII. ^ cupidus , . . augescere Wopkens.
732
THE FABLES Ol AMANUS
" Go on and drive your bullocks with the goad
through their difficulties, and learn to aid with your
hands the sluggish wheels. After you have come to
grips and used your strength for greater efforts, then
it is allowable also to win the gods over to your
wishes. Learn, however, that the deities are not
swayed by indolent vows : bring the gods to your help
by acting yourself."
XXXIII
The Goose that laid the Golden Eggs
A man owned a goose teeming with precious off-
spring, one that often laid golden eggs in its nest.
Nature had ordained this rule for the noble bird, that
it should not lay more than one egg at the same
time. But the owner, anticipating the disappearance
of his greedy expectations," could not brook delays,
hateful M'hen his profits were considered ; ^ he thought
to win a handsome prize by killing the bird, rich as it
was in such unfailing bounty. When he plunged his
dread knife into its open ^ breast, and found the bird
empty of the usual eggs, he groaned aloud, tricked
by the iniquity of so gross a fraud ; for thereupon he
ascribed the punishment to his own deserts.
So to those wicked enough to ask the gods for
everything at once, they refuse the more justly even
the prayers of a single day.
" The golden harvest, he feared, was too good to last.
^ He wished more than one golden egg at a time.
"^ nuda = nudata. Ellis explains as " stript of feathers "
to make the opening with more dexterity.
733
MINOR LATIN POETS
XXXIV
De Formica et Cicada
[Quisquis torpentem passus transisse iuventam
nee timuit \dtae providus ante mala,
confectus senio, postquam gravis adfuit aetas,
heu frustra alterius saepe rogabit opem.]
Solibus ereptos hiemi formica labores
distulit et bre\'ibus condidit ante cavis.
verum ubi candentes suscepit terra pruinas
arvaque sub rigido delituere gelu,
pigra nimis tantos non aequans corpore nimbos
in laribus propriis umida grana legit,
discolor banc precibus supplex alimenta rogabat,
quae quondam querulo ruperat arva sono :
se quoque, maturas cum tunderet area messes,
'^-eantibus aestivos explicuisse dies,
parvula tunc ridens sic est affata cicadam
(nam vitam pariter continuare solent) :
" mi quoniam summo substantia parta labore est,
frigoribus mediis otia longa traho ;
at tibi saltandi nunc ultima tempora restant,
cantibus est quoniam vita peracta prior."
XXXIV. ^ pigranimis KTV : pigra nimis phrique codd.
tanto (= tarn parvo) T JRawL, Pet.^ : tantos GCw^.
^^ decolor At/i^KPT : discolor A?^^ Ashb.
734
THE FABLES OF AVIANUS
XXXIV
The Ant and the Grasshopper
[The man that has allowed his youth to go by in
idleness and has not taken anxious precautions
against the ills of life — that man, foredone with years,
will in the presence of burdensome old age often ask
in vain, alas, for a neighbour's help.]
An ant reserved for the ^^•inter the fruits of toil
snatched during sunny hours and stored them
betimes in her tiny hole. But when earth assumed
its white robe of hoar frost and fields lay hid beneath
unyielding ice, then, quite idle and unfit bodily to face
the rain-storms, she picked out the moistened grain
in her own abode. A grasshopper in her varied hues,
who before had cleft the fields with plaintive note,
amid prayers and supplications begged the ant for
food. For her part, she said, when the threshing-
floor was bruising the ripened harvest, she had
worked out the summer days in song. Then ^vith a
laugh the tiny ant thus addressed the grasshopper
(for their wont is to prolong their life equally) " :
" Since my subsistence has been secured by dint of
hardest toil, I draw out long days of ease in the
midst of the frost. But you now have your last days
left for dancing, since your past life was spent in
song." ^
" i.e. continue their life from year to year, as neither dies
in the -winter.
* The ant's ironic gibe is that, as the grasshopper has been
an inveterate singer, she can conclude her days in dancing
with her song as an accompaniment.
735
MINOR LATIN POETS
XXXV
De Simiae Gemellis
Fama est quod geminum profundens simia partum
dividat in varias pignora nata vices ;
namque unum caro genetrix educit amore,
alteriusque odiis exsaturata tumet.
coeperit ut fetam gravior terrere tumultus,
dissimili natos condicione rapit :
dilectum manibus vel pectore gestat amico,
contemptum dorso suscipiente levat.
sed cum lassatis nequeat consistere plantis,
oppositum fugiens sponte remittit onus,
alter at hirsuto circumdans bracchia collo
haeret et invita cum genetrice fugit.
mox quoque dilecti succedit in oscula fratris,
servatus vetulis unicus heres avis.
sic multos neglecta iuvant, atque ordine verso
spes humiles rursus in meliora refert.
XXXVI
De \^itulo et Bove
Pulcher et intacta vitulus cervice resultans
scindentem adsidue viderat arva bovem.
" non pudet heus " inquit " longaevo vincula collo
ferre nee haec positis otia nosse iugis ?
cum mihi subiectas pateat discursus in herbas
et nemorum liceat rursus opaca sequi."
XXXV. 11 ad P : et Pet.^ : ab celt. codd. : at vulgo.
1® fortasse rursus spes humiles Ellis.
XXXVI. * haec positis Ellis : expositis codd.
736
THE FABLES OF AVIANUS
XXXV
The Monkey's Twins
The story goes that a monkey gave birth to twin
offspring and assigned her children each to a different
destiny. One the mother reared in fond affection,
and she rankled with superabundant hatred for the
other. When a perilous attack began to alarm the
mother she hurried her young apes off, meting out
unequal treatment. The favourite she carried in her
paws or her tender bosom ; the despised one she lifted
up and carried on her back. But when she could not
stand upright on her wearied feet, in mid-flight she
gladly let go the one that burdened her in front.
But the other, throwing his arms round his mother's
hairy neck, clung to her and shared her escape
against her will. Besides, he soon succeeded to the
caresses his favoured brother had enjoyed, and
survived to be sole heir to his ancient lineage.
Thus do many come to like what once they slighted ;
and hope, changing the order of things, carries the
lowly back into happier fortune.
XXXVI
The Calf and the Ox
A fine calf, skipping to and fro and never yoked as
yet, had seen an ox busily ploughing the fields.
" You there," he said, " are you not ashamed to
have your aged neck fastened, unable to throw off
the yoke and know the leisure that is mine ? For I
am free to range at will over the low-lying pasture,
and then again I can make for the shade of the
737
3b
MINOR LATIN POETS
at senior, nuUam verbis compulsus in iram,
vertebat solitam vomere fessus humum,
donee deposit© per prata liceret aratro
molliter herboso procubuisse toro.
mox vitulum sacris innexum respicit aris
adniotum cultro comminus ire popae.
" banc tibi " testis ait " dedit indulgentia mortem,
expertem nostri quae facit esse iugi.
proderit ergo graves quamvis perferre labores,
otia quam tenerum mox peritura pati."
est hominum sors ista, magis felicibus ut mors
sit cita, cum miseris vita diurna negat.
XXXVII
De Cane et Leone
Pinguior exhausto canis occurrisse leoni
fertur et insertis verba dedisse iocis.
" nonne vides duplici tendantur ut ilia tergo
luxurietque toris nobile pectus? " ait.
" proximus humanis ducor post otia mensis,
communem capiens largius ore cibum."
^^ sertis Cannegieter.
^3 testis CK Beg. : tristis cett. codd.
^* miseris B m. pr. : miseros cett. codd. negat B b^ m. sec:
regat cett. codd. : necat Ellis.
* The epimythion 17-18 is perhaps spurious, as it partly
contradicts lines 15-16, which may be taken to point the moral
and which advocate endurance.
* verba dare has not necessarily in late Latin the classical
sense of gulling : cf. ix. 20, xxxviii. 6 : contrast i. 14.
738
THE FABLES OF AVTANUS
grove." But the old ox, not at all an^jered by the
words, went on wearily turning the soil as usual with
the share, till he was allowed to drop the plough and
to lie at his ease on a grassy bed in the meadows.
Soon afterwards he saw the calf brought by a leading-
string to the sacrificial altar and coming close to the
knife of the priest's attendant. As he witnessed
this he said, " Such is the death given you by the
forbearance that leaves you free from my yoke. So
then it will be better to endure toil however burden-
some than to experience when young an ease that is
soon to be lost."
This is the lot of mortals ; death comes swift to
the happier ones, while the daily life of the unfortunate
refuses them death. °
XXXVII
The Dog and the Lion
A well-fed dog is said to have met an exhausted
lion and to have addressed ^ him with taunts in his
words: "Don't you see," he said, "how my flanks
dilate under my back's double ridge ^ and my fine
breast has handsome muscles ? When resting-time
has come, I am brought close up to the tables where
men eat, my mouth getting in ample measure the
fare my master shares with me." " But what is that
*■ Heinsius explained duplici tergo as lato tergo, like Virgil's
duplex agitiir per lumhos spina, G. III. 87 (of a horse), where
Servius interprets " aut revera duplex aut lata." The
depression along the back of a horse in good condition gives
the appearance of a double spine. Ellis suggests that tergo
is used of the ridge or projecting surface of the skin covering
the dog's flanks, which is called " double " from inequalities
produced by outstanding muscle or fat.
739
3b2
MINOR LATIN POETS
" sed quod crassa malum circumdat guttura ferrum ?
" ne custodita fas sit abire domo.
at tu magna diu moribundus lustra pererras,
donee se silvis obvia praeda ferat,
perge igitur nostris tua subdere colla catenis,
dum liceat faciles promeruisse dapes."
protinus ille gravem gemuit collectus in iram
atque ferox animi nobile murmur agit.
" vade " ait " et meritis nodum cervicibus infer,
compensentque tuam vincula dura famem ;
at mea cum vacuis libertas redditur antris,
quamvis ieiunus quae libet arva peto.
has illis epulas potius laudare memento,
qui libertatem postposuere gulae."
XXXVIII
De Pisce et Phycide
Dulcibus e stagnis fluvio torrente coactus
aequoreas praeceps piscis obibat aquas,
illic squamigerum despectans improbus agmen
eximium sese nobilitate refert.
non tulit expulsum patrio sub gurgite phycis
verbaque cum salibus asperiora dedit :
" vana laboratis aufer mendacia dictis,
quaeque refutari te quoque teste queant.
XXX\TI. '"^ hos versus post 10 coUocavit Cannegieter, post
12 Schenkl et Baehreyis, post 14 Barth.
' quo Cannegieter : quod codd.
^3 gemitu codd. : gemuit Baehrens.
" coinpescant BX Pet. K Pet. ^
XXXVIII. ^ phycis Cannegieter : phoecis CK : phocas
GLOT Bau-l. Pet.^
740
THE FABLES OF AVIANUS
villainous bit of iron round your brawny throat? "
" That's to prevent my leaving the house I have been
guardinjj. But you for a long time wander through
the wilds dying of hunger, until your victim meets
you in the jungle. Proceed, therefore, to bow your
neck to the chains I wear, till you can earn an easy-
won feast." At once the lion with a growl worked
himself into a violent rage and in haughty spirit
uttered a lordly roar. " Begone," he said, " set
bonds on your neck as it deserves, and may the
galling chains take the place of hunger in your case ;
but when I am restored still free to my solitary den,
famished though I be, I make for any field I please.
Mind you commend such junketing more especially
to those who have sacrificed independence for
gluttony."
XXXVIII
The Fish axd the Lamprey
Driven by the rush of a river out of its fresh pools,
a fish darted headlong to the waters of the sea.
There it arrogantly looked down on the ranks of
scaly fish and averred that its high birth gave it
distinction. A lamprey in its ancestral depths could
not endure the emigre, and spoke "■ to it sharply in
satiric vein. " Away with empty falsehoods from
your affected language ! away with what can be
disproved even on your own evidence ! For I will
" CJ. note on verba dedisse, xxxvii. 2.
* salibua codd. fere omnes contra metrum : sociis G : salsis
Lachmann: ? sannis £'//is : probrisasperiorareZsalibusliberiora
Withof.
741
MINOR LATIN POETS
nam quis eat potior populo spectante probabo,
si pariter captos umida lina trahant.
tunc me nobilior magno mercabitm- emptor,
te simul aere brevi debile vulgus emet."
XXXIX
De Milite Arma C rem ante
Voverat attritus quondam per proelia miles
omnia suppositis ignibus arma dare,
vel quae victori moriens sibi turba dedisset
vel quicquid profugo posset ab hoste capi.
interea votis fors adfuit, et memor arma
coeperat accenso singula ferre rogo.
tunc lituus rauco deflectens murmure culpam
immeritum flammis se docet isse pyrae.
" nulla tuos " inquit " petierunt tela lacertos,
viribus affirmes quae tamen acta meis ;
sed tantum ventis et cantibus arma coegi,
hoc quoque submisso (testor et astra) sono."
ille resultantem flammis crepitantibus addens
" nunc te maior " ait " poena dolorque rapit ;
* erit codd. : eat Baehrens.
XXXIX. ^ esse prius codd. : piis Canneg. : cibum Withof:
in flammis se d. esse pyrae Froehner : isse pyrae Ellis.
^2 resultantem cod.d. : reluctantem ed. vetus.
1* dolorque plerique codd. : eolorque B : calorque Ellis.
742
I
THE FABLES OF AVIANUS
prove to you who passes for better in the eyes of the
people, should a drippins; net catch and land us both
at the same time. In that case a purchaser of high
rank will pay a lot for me, while the feeble rabble will
give but a brass farthing for you."
XXXIX
The Soldier who Burned the Weapons
Once upon a time a soldier worn out in the wars
had vowed to light a fire and devote to it all his arms,
both those yielded to him in his hour of victory by
numbers of dying combatants and aught that could
be taken from the foe in flight. Time passed and
chance favoured his hopes ; so, mindful of his vow,
he kindled a pyre and began bringing his weapons
to it one by one. At that moment a trumpet with a
harsh blare, deprecating all guilt, declared that it went
innocent to the flaming pyre. " Never," it said, •' were
your brawny arms struck by missiles M'hich you could,
by way of plea, assert were hurled by strength of
mine. No, I only mustered the weapons of war with
wind and note, and that only (the stars be my wit-
ness) in a sound subdued." The soldier added the
trumpet to the crackling flames and made it bounce,
saying, ' ' Now a severer punishment " and pain hurries
" " A severer punishment " (Ellis saj^s " an extra severity
of punishment ' ' ) befalls the trumpet ; for, whereas the
weapons only suffer the burning, it suffers first the violence
of being thrown against the weapons and is then destroyed
by fire. This supports resultantem rather than relactaniem,
which otherwise is a good suggestion.
743
MINOR LATIN POETS
nam licet ipse nihil possis temptare nee ausis,
saevior hoc, alios quod facis esse malos."
XL
De Pardo et Vulpe
Distinctus maculis et pulchro pectore pardus
inter consimiles ibat in ora feras ;
sed quia nulla graves variarent terga leones,
protinus his miserum credidit esse genus,
cetera sordenti damnans animalia vultu
solus in exemplum nobilitatis erat.
hunc arguta novo gaudentem vulpis amictu
corripit et vanas approbat esse notas :
** vade " ait " et pictae nimium confide iuventae,
dum mihi consilium pulchrius esse queat,
miremurque magis quos munera mentis adornant,
quam qui corporeis enituere bonis."
XLI
De Imbre et Testa
Impulsus ventis et pressa nube coactus
ruperat hibernis se gravis imber aquis ;
cumque per effusas stagnaret turbine terras,
expositum campis fictile pressit opus :
mobile namque lutum tepidus prius instruit aer,
discat ut admoto rectius igne coqui.
XL. 2 inira CK : in ira A m. pr. : mira P : iiiire GLT
Rawl., Reg. : in arva A m. sec. V m. sec. BX Petrenses : in ora
Ellis : abnuit ire Lachmann.
744
THE FABLES OF AVIANUS
you off. For, thougli you cannot yourself attack at
all or venture on anythinir, you are a more cruel foe
in that you make others dangerous."
XL
The Leopard axd the Fox
A fine-breasted leopard in his dappled glory went
to parade himself among the beasts which were his
compeers. But because the surly lions had no varied
hues upon their back, he straightway formed the
belief that theirs was a sorry tribe. Condemning all
the other animals as mean-looking, he took himself
for the one pattern of noble breed. As he was
rejoicing in the garb of youth, a wily vixen chid him
and showed the uselessness of his markings. " Go,"
said she, "keep your excessive confidence in your
gorgeous youthfulness, so long as I can surpass you in
fine counsel, and so long as we can admire those
adorned by gifts of intellect more than those who
shine in bodily charms."
XLI
The Shower axd the Jar
Impelled by the winds, a heavy rain-storm had
gathered with the pressure of cloud upon cloud and
burst in wintry torrents. And as its whirling deluge
made a lake over the widespread lands, it struck some
potter's work set outside in the fields ; for warm air
shapes the plastic clay beforehand, to train it for
being baked more perfectly when fire is applied.
745
MINOR LATIN POETS
tunc nimbus fragilis perquirit nomina testae.
immemor ilia sui " Amphora dicor " ait ;
" nunc me docta manus rapiente volumina gyro
molliter obliquum iussit habere latus."
" hactenus hac " inquit " liceat constare figura :
nam te subiectam diluet imber aquis."
et simul accepto violentius amne fatiscens
pronior in tenues victa cucurrit aquas,
infelix, quae magna sibi cognomina sumens
ausa pharetratis nubibus ista loqui !
haec poterunt miseros posthac exempla monere,
subdita nobilibus ne sua fata gemant.
XLII
De Lupo et Haedo
Forte lupum melior cursu deluserat haedus,
proxima vicinis dum petit arva casis ;
inde fugam recto tendens in moenia cursu
inter lanigeros adstitit ille greges.
impiger hunc raptor mediamque secutus in urbem
temptat compositis sollicitare dolis :
" nonne vides " inquit, " cunctis ut victima templis
immitem regemens morte cruentet humum ?
quod nisi securo valeas te reddere campo,
ei mihi, vlttata tu quoque fronte cades."
XLI. * nunc codd. : nam edd.
^^ pharetratis codd. : foret tantis Cab., Baehrens : foret
atris Wopkens : fortasse erat iratis Ellis.
^^ ne B : ut cett. codd.
" i.e. conceitedly elated by its beauty as described in 9-10,
it forgets what a frail thing it is.
746
THE FABLES OF AVIANUS
Then the rain-cloud asked the name of the brittle
jar, which, forgetting itself," said, " My name is
Amphora. As you see me now, a craftsman's hand,
by means of the wheel's swift revolutions, has
ordained the gentle slope of my side." " Till now,
but no more," said the other, " think yourself per-
mitted to bear this shape, for rain is about to whelm
you in its waters and wash you away." And there-
upon, taking in the wild rush of the flood, and crack-
ing open, the jar yielded and dashed headlong into
the flowing waters. Ill-fated one, to take a proud
name to itself and venture to speak thus to clouds
which have their quivers in readiness !
This example will serve in future to warn the
wretched not to lament their destiny when it is under
the control of the great.
XLII
The Wolf and the Kid
It happened that a kid, while making for the fields
which lay nearest to some neighbouring huts, had
baflfled a wolf by faster running. Then, directing
his flight straight for the city walls, he came to a halt
among flocks of wool-clad sheep. The beast of prey
was unwearied and, pursuing the kid into the heart
of the town, tried to lure him with studied wiles.
" Do you not see," he said, " how in all the temples
a victim amid repeated groans stains the pitiless
ground with its life-blood r ^ But if you are not able
to return to the safety of the meadow, ah me, you
too will die with the sacrificial fillet round your brow."
* The fable, Ellis points out, belongs to a time when
sacrifices in heathen temples might still take place : cf. the
pagan atmosphere of XXIII and XXXV^I (see also Introd.).
747
MINOR LATIN POETS
ille refert : " modo quam metuis, precor, exue curani
et tecum viles, improbe, tolle minas ;
nam sat erit sacrum divis fudisse cruorem
quam rabido fauces exsaturare lupo."
sic quotiens duplici subeuntur tristia casu,
expedit insignem promeruisse necem.
XLII. ^^ sat erit plerique codd. : satius Withof.
748
THE FABLES OF A VI ANUS
The kid replied, " Just drop, I pray you, the anxiety
which is your dread, and take yourself off and your
trumpery threats too, you rogue. I shall be content
to pour out my blood in a sacrifice to the gods rather
than gorge the throat of a ravenous wolf."
So every time we face disaster of twofold hazard,
it is the noble death which it is expedient to achieve.
•49
RUTILIUS NAMATIANUS
INTRODUCTION
TO RUTILIUS NAMATIANUS
The last of the classical Latin poets, Claudius
Rutilius Namatianus, or (as is quite possibly the
correct order for his name) Rutilius Claudius Nama-
tianus, belonged to a Gallo-Roman family ^ and was
bom late in the fourth century, most likely at
Toulouse. His father, almost certainly the Lachanius
of his poem, and more or less plausibly identified
with different official Claudii of the period, passed
through a distinguished public career and had been
honoured with a statue at Pisa, a visit to which is
described with filial pride. ^ Rutilius held high
appointments under the emperor Honorius, who
reigned a.d. 395-423. We must, however, beware
of being misled by distinctions spuriously thrust
upon him in the title of the Bologna edition ; he
was not a vir coiisularis , though he was a vir claris-
simus ; he had been neither a trihiinus militum nor a
praefectus praetorii, but he had attained to the
influential positions of magisier officiorum ^ and
praefectus urbisJ^ It can be shown that he held the
former office in a.d. 412 and that he immediately
T. 20 " T. 575-596. <= I. 563.
<* I. 157-lCO and 427.
753
3c
INTRODUCTION TO
preceded his friend Albinus ° as prefect of the city
for part of the year a.d. 414.
Educated on the lines of the ancient learning,
Rutilius, as his poem indicates, was a man of literary-
knowledge and taste, an adherent of paganism, and
influenced by Stoic philosophy. The times in
which he lived had brought devastation again and
again into Italy at the hands of northern barbarians.
In A.D. 410, six years before he undertook the journey
back to his native Gaul which makes the subject of
his poem De Reditu Suo,^ Rome had witnessed in a
three days' sack the culmination of the third siege
of the city by Alaric, King of the Visigoths.
That same year men had seen the burial of the
Gothic chief under the diverted waters of the Busento ;
and in 412 Ataulf, the successor of Alaric, had
withdrawn his Goths from Italy into Gaul, whence
he had been forced across the Pyrenees into Spain
to meet his death by assassination in 415. Soon
afterwards, under their King Walia, the Visigoths
concluded peace with Rome ; but years of merciless
ravage had left in Italy and Gaul scenes of depressing
desolation which are reflected in our author's realistic
allusions. '^ The misery of it all touched him closely
as he was planning his route in 416 from the one
devastated country to the other, and so he decided
to coast northwards from the mouth of the Tiber
rather than face the dangerous roads and broken
bridges of Italy. The motive for his journey has
been questioned : it is at least more likely that he
« I. 466-474.
* A slightly more satisfactory title than the alternative
Itinerarium.
• I. 21, 39^2.
754
RUTILIUS NAMATIANUS
may have wished to inspect some property of his own
in Gaul than that his paganism had somehow lost
him favour in Rome."
It was autumn when he started from the city, and
in the extant portion of the poem we can read an
entertaining elegiac journal for two months from
September 22nd to November 21st, a.d. 416/^ when
his second book breaks off at the 68th line after the
arrival at Luna. This was something more elaborate
as a travel-poem than Horace's journey to Brundu-
sium or Ovid's sketch of his voyage in the Tristia
or Statius' send-off to his patron bound for Egypt. "^
We may guess that the composition of the poem
followed not long after the time of the journey ;
but our knowledge of the author and of his fortunes
stops short with the interruption of his work. Only
half-a-dozen lines before the end, as we now have it,
the author had contemplated the continuance of his
narrative. Is the conclusion lost or was it never
written ?
A brief summary will enable us to follow him on
his voyage so far as his poetic record runs. A long
exordium (1-164) is largely a rhetorical eulogy on
" H. Schenkl, Rh. Mus. 66 (1911), pp. 393 sqq., argues that
Rutilius' attacks on Christian monks do not prove his pagan
creed, and it is true that some Christians have censured
monasticism severely. But this is not the whole case.
Rutilius' tone elsewhere seems inconsistent with Christian
belief. Labriolle quite reasonably distinguishes it from that
of a professing Christian like Ausonius, Rev. des etudes latines,
6 (1928), pp. 'SO sqq.
* Carcopino, Rev. des etudes lat., 6, 180 sqq., 1928, argues
for 16th Oct. 417 as the date of the departure from Rome.
Both Helm and Prechac agree in their editions.
"■ Hor. Sal. I. v (partlv suggested by Lucilius' Iter Siculum);
Ovid, Trist. I. x; Stsit.'Sih. III. ii.
755
3c2
INTRODUCTION TO
the majestic greatness of Rome and her gift of
unifying nations. After the start from the city
(165) Rutihus was weather-bound for fifteen days
at Ostia in the harbour of Claudius and Trajan.
When his sailors had once found a fair \vind, the
coasting and mainly daylight voyage began, and,
as related in Book I, lasted six days (or, according
to Vessereau, seven). The first day (217-276)
brings them to Centumcellae, where they spend
the night. On the second day (277-312) they sail
at dawn, pass off the mouth of the Munio and the
pinewoods of Graviscae, sighting Cosa before putting
into Portus Herculis at nightfall. On the thu-d day
(313-348), sailing still earlier, before sunrise, they
coast along Monte Argentario, pass the island of
Igilium (recently a refuge for fugitives from the
Goths), touch, without staying, at the Umbro mouth,
and are forced, when overtaken by night, to bivouac
ashore. The fourth day (349-428) finds them
compelled to take to oars in the morning : and after
sighting Ilva (Elba), whose mines suggest to the
poet the praises of iron, they land in a state of
fatigue before midday at Faleria, where they chance
upon an Osiris fete in progress. Their most un-
pleasant experiences with an extortionate landlord,
a Jew, lead to an outburst against Judaism. Sub-
sequent rowing brings them to Populonia, where they
are rejoiced to get news from Rome. With the
fifth day (429-510) we have the distant view of
Corsica chronicled, and when Capraria rises in sight,
the opportunity is seized for an onslaught on the
monasticism of its inhabitants. The travellers
later reach Volaterrana Vada. A visit is paid to
the villa of a good friend, Albinus, and the processes
756
RUTILIUS NAMATIANUS
of the neighbouring salt-pans are described. The
welcome meeting with Victoriniis, a friend from
Toulouse, compensates for the delay caused by a
gale. During the early part of the sixth day "
(511-540) they find themselves off the dangerous
rocks of Gorgon island, the home of a hermit whom
Rutilius regards as one of a group of misguided
fanatics, more bewitched, he thinks, than the
victims of Circe's enchantments. They next arrive
at the villa Triturrita, built on an artificial causeway
near a harbour protected by a curious barrier of
seaM'eed. Here, in spite of the inducement to
proceed with the voyage in fair weather, an interrup-
tion is made, as Rutilius cannot resist the temptation
to visit his friend Protadius in the neighbouring
town : so Protadius' merits, Pisa itself and the statue
erected there to his own father are in turn touched
upon. This voluntary delay (541-614) is followed
by a compulsory one (615-644) ; for on coming back
to Triturrita, the travellers being storm-stayed have
to occupy their time in a boar-hunt : and for the
moment horn and song appear to be echoed in one
of Rutilius' couplets.^ A long stay is made in this
district. Book I ending in a description of violent
and continued storm.
Book II in its 68 lines narrates only the voyage
from Portus Pisanus to Luna, but it also contains a
description of Italy, a furious invective against the
dead general Stilicho, and an account of the marble
quarries in the Luna district.
" Vessereau makes this the seventh day, as he estimates
that the distance from Popu Ionia to Vada and the visit to
Albinus would need more than a single day. The sixth
day may therefore have been spent at the villa ; bnt the poem
does not clearly indicate this. * 629-630.
757
INTRODUCTION TO
His poem, in some ways the better for those
digressions which make it more than a journal of
travel, exhibits Rutilius as a man with an eye for the
scenery of the Italian coast, interested in the affairs
of the places touched at during his voyage north-
wards, and stirred by warm affection for friends" no
less than by frankly expressed dislike for Jews, Chris-
tian monks and Stilicho. It is pleasant to note his joy
at meeting friends and his regret at parting : it is
an equally human trait that he is a good hater.
His tender Stoic melancholy, coloured rather than
seared by the memory of Rome's recent capture
by the Goths, does not prevent him from cherishing
an optimistic confidence in her recovery, even as in
long-past history she had recovered after the Allia
and Cannae. And so in his encomium upon the
imperial city, sincere enough in feeling and yet in
phrasing more rhetorical than poetic, Rutilius has
uttered the swan-song of Rome.
Nor is it a song unworthy of the classical tradition.
His Latin has a prevailing lucidity which befits his
theme ; and, despite the influence of Virgil and
Ovid, his work, thanks to concentration upon his
own experiences, which are narrated in a vivid and
realistic style, bears a definitely individual mark.
But it is rare for this individual note of his to show
itself in mere linguistic usage such as decessis (if
that be the true reading at I. 313) or the archaistic
propudiosa (I. 388). As to metre, it is true that
amphitheatrum is not a Virgilian ending for a hexa-
meter, nor sollicitudinibus an Ovidian ending for a
pentameter.^ It is true also that Rutilius is too free
" See notes on the translation.
* There are some sixteen exceptions in Rutilius to the
dissyllabic close of a pentameter.
758
RUTILIUS NAMATIANUS
in his employment of spondees. There is, further,
little enjamhement between hexameter and penta-
meter, so that his lines tend to be monotonously
self-contained.** Yet, on the whole his versification
must be called graceful,'' and at times his elegiac
couplets gain greatly in strength by a kind of Pro-
pertian force which Rutilius succeeds in conferring
upon the pentameter,
EDITIONS
J. B. Pius. Editio princeps. Bologna, 1520.
Onuphrius Panvinius. In his Reipiihlicae Romafiae
Commentarii. Venice, 1558.
J. Castalio. Rome, 1582.
C. Barth. Frankfort, 1623.
Th. J. Almeloveen (c. not. variorum). Amsterdam,
1687.
P. Burman. P. L. M. II. pp. 1-184. Leyden,
1731.
C. T. Damm. Brandenburg, 1760.
J. C. Wernsdorf. P. L. M. V. i. pp. 1-202. Alten-
burg, 1788.
A. W. Zumpt. Berlin, 1840.
L. Mueller. Leipzig, 1870.
Itasius Lemniacus (A. v. Reumont). Berlin, 1872.
E. Baehrens. P. L. M. V. pp. 3-30. Leipzig,
1883.
" Usually hexameter and pentameter constitute a unity,
as in I. 65-66, or the second line takes up and completes the
first, as in 1. 91-92, 331-332. Only occasionally does a
sentence run into more than one distich, as in I. 403-408,
519-522.
* The elisions are 61 in 712 lines. There are no elisions
of a long vowel before a short, nor of a monosyllable, nor at
the caesura, nor in the second half of a pentameter.
759
INTRODUCTION TO
J. Vessereau (text, French prose transln. and essays).
Paris, 1904.
C. H. Keene (Eng. verse transln. by G. F. Savage-
Armstrong). London, 1907.
G. Heidrich (introd. and crit. appar.). Vienna,
1911.
V. Ussani. Florence. 1921.
R. Helm. Heidelberg, 1933.
J. Vessereau and F. Prechac (texte etabli et traduit).
Paris, 1933.
RELEVANT WORKS
E. Gibbon. Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
(esp. chaps. xx\dii-xxxi for historical back-
ground).
T. Hodgkin. Italy and her Invaders, Vol. I. Oxford,
1880-1899.
Fr. Mueller. De Rutilio Namatiano stoico, progr.
Soltquellae (= Saltwedel), 1882.
H. Schiller. Geschichte der rom. Kaizerzeit, II.
Gotha, 1887.
P. Monceaux. Les Africains : etude sur la litter.
latine d'Afrique. Paris, 1894.
C. Hosius. Die Textgeschichte des Rutilius, Rh. Mus.
51 (1896), pp. 197-210.
P. Rasi. In CI. Rut. Namatiani lihros adnotationes
metricae. Turin, 1897.
S. Dill. Roman Society in the last Century of the Wn.
Empire. London, 1905.
R. Pichon. Les derniers ecrivains profanes (ch. v,
" un grand fonctionnaire gallo-romain : le poete
Rut. Nam."). Paris, 1906.
H. Schenkl. Ein spdtrbmischer Dichter u. sein Claw
henshekenntnis, Rh. Mus. 66 (1911), pp. 393-416.
760
RUTILIUS NAMATIANUS
P. de Labriolle. Rid. Nam. et les moines in Rev. des
etudes latines.W. pp. 30-41. Paris, 1928.
J. Carcopino. A propos du pohue de Rut. Nam. in
Rev. des etudes latines, VI. pp. 180-200. Paris,
1928.
M. L. W. Laistner. Thought and Letters in JVn.
Europe, a.d. 500-900 (opening chapter on
" Empire and its Invaders "). London, 1931.
E. S. Duckett. Latin Writers of the Fifth Century.
New York, 1931.
SIGLA
V = Codex Vindobonensis 277 (olim 387), qui, post
membranas vetustas Ovidii Halleutica et Grattii
Cynegetica continentes, foliis 84^-93^ saeculi xvi
nostrum carmen habet,
[•f. = the symbol accompanying some of the marginal
corrections in the Vienna MS. : it has been
variously interpreted as fortasse (L. Mueller,
Baehrens),^/ia^ (Hosius), or fuit (Purser).]
B = editio princeps, Bononiae anno 1520 emissa.
R = Codex Romanus : saec. xvi, Romae anno 1891
repertus.
On these three sources of the text, two MSS.
and the editio princeps, a few notes are desirable.
Baehrens in his edition of 1883 based his text upon
the Vienna manuscript (now denoted by V, the colla-
tion of which by Huemer was called c by Baehrens)
and upon Mau's collation of the editio princeps
published by Battista Pio at Bologna in 1520 (here
denoted by B but in Baehrens by b). Since
Baehrens' time a second manuscript, denoted by R,
has become available : it was discovered in the library
761
INTRODUCTION TO
of the Duke of Sermoneta at Rome in 1891. V and
R, both written in the sixteenth century, are in-
directly and independently derived from an arche-
type found at Bobbio in 1494 or 1493. This arche-
type may be conjectured to have been written in
Lombardic characters in the eighth or ninth century ;
but it has been lost since its removal from Bobbio
in 1706. In 1495 Inghiramius, surnamed Phaedrus
of Volaterra, afterwards librarian at the Vatican,
made a copy of it at Bobbio and took it to Rome before
1506. About that time the poet Sannazaro had
brought with him from France to Italy the newly-
discovered Halieutica of Ovid and Cynegetica of
Grattius and of Nemesianus ; and in his enthusiasm
for new works he either acquired or transcribed
Phaedrus' copy of the manuscript. According to
Baehrens and to Vessereau, V is Sannazaro's copy,
though, according to Hosius, the descent of V is
traceable back through Sannazaro and then through
Phaedrus to the codex Bobiensis. The Vienna
MS. is on paper, of the sixteenth century, bound up
at the end of a volume immediately after Ovid's
Halieutica, also on paper and preceded by seven
older manuscripts on vellum of smaller dimensions
than the paper MSS. Among these vellum MSS.
certain lines of Eucheria and another copy of the
Halieutica, -svith Sidonius Apollinaris and Grattius,
have been identified with the actual poems which
Sannazaro brought from France.
The editio princeps published by Battista Pio
at Bologna in 1520 has a value for determining the
text, as it represents Phaedrus' copy according to
Hosius, and thus offers a testimony earlier than
Sannazaro's copy and its derivative V.
762
RUTILIUS NAMATIANUS
R is dated by ^'essereau a quarter of a century
after V, i.e. in 1530, as he holds \^ to be Sannazaro's
copy. Hosius, who collated R in R/i. Mus. (1896),
vol. li, inferred that it was written within 30 or 40
years of the discovery of Rutilius' poem in 1493.°
The corruptions shared by V and R prove their
common descent, but R cannot have come from
Phaedrus' copy (represented in the editio princeps
B), because R sometimes preserves the true reading
in contrast with V and B. On the other hand, a
consensus of V and R virtually establishes a reading
in the lost codex Bobiensis of the eighth century.
" The comparative value of V and R is hard to estimate.
Keene points out that while R has the advantage in I. 178
tenet, 211 curae, 235 largo, 265 lymphas, 461 algam, 552
utranique, V has the superiority in I. 22 viiseranda, 232 Inui,
317 ternis, 573 Elide, II. 62 propositum. R certainly has serious
disfigurements due to one or other of its three hands.
Recently L. Bartoli (Athenaeum ix. 3, 1931), writing on the two
codices, has awarded the palm to the Vienna manuscript.
763
RUTILIUS NAMATIANUS
DE REDITU SUO
LIBER PRIMUS
Velocem potius reditum mirabere, lector,
tarn cito Romuleis posse carere bonis,
quid longum toto Romam venerantibus aevo ?
nil umquam longum est quod sine fine placet,
o quantum et quotiens possum numerare beatos
nasci felici qui meruere solo !
qui Romanorum procerum generosa propago
ingenitum cumulant urbis honore decus !
semina virtutum demissa et tradita caelo
non potuere aliis dignius esse locis.
feiices etiam qui proxima munera primis
sortiti Latias obtinuere domos !
religiosa patet peregrinae Curia laudi,
nee putat externos quos decet esse suos ;
ordinis imperio collegarumque fruuntur
et partem Genii quern venerantur habent :
^ quater Heinsius, Mueller j Baehrens.
" Potius supports the view that the opening of the poem
is lost.
* The poet is to praise Rome at length (3-164). He claims
that nothing .can be tedious in the eulogy of a city which
every age has held in honour — the urbs aeterna calls for
eternal veneration.
764
RUTILIUS NAMATIANUS
A VOYAGE HOME TO GAUL
BOOK I
Rather ° Mill you marvel, reader, that my quick
return journey (to Gaul) can so soon renounce the
blessings of the city of Romulus. \Yhat is too long
for men who spend all time in venerating Rome ? ^
Nothing is ever too long that never fails to
please. How greatly and how often can I count
those blest who have deserved birth in that happy
soil! Those highborn scions of Roman nobility
crown their honourable birth M'ith the lustre of the
Capital ! On no other land could the seeds of \drtues
have been more worthily let fall by heaven's assign-
ment. Happy they too who, \vinning meeds next
to the first, have enjoyed Latin homes ! " The
Senate-house, though fenced with awe, yet stands
open to foreign merit, nor deems those strangers
who are fittingly its own. They share the power
of their colleagues in the senatorial order, and possess
part of the sacred Genius ^ which they revere, even
' i.e. though not born in Rome, like those in 5-6.
^ The Genius is the indwelling spirit of the Roman People,
shared by such provincials as were admitted into the senate.
Their union is compared with the heavenly council under
the presidency of the supreme god (Jupiter is not named).
MINOR LATIN POETS
quale per aetherios mundani verticis axes
concilium summi credimus esse dei.
at mea dilectis fortuna revellitur oris,
indigenamque suum Gallica rura vocant.
ilia quidem longis nimium deformia bellis,
sed quam grata minus, tam miseranda magis.
securos levius crimen contemnere cives :
privatam repetunt publica damna fidem.
praesentes lacrimas tectis debemus avitis :
prodest admonitus saepe dolore labor. >-avor-
nec fas ulterius longas nescire ruinas
quas mora suspensae multiplicavit opis ;
iam tempus laceris post saeva incendia fundis
vel pastorales aedificare casas.
ipsi quin etiam fontes si mittere vocem
ipsaque si possent arbuta nostra loqui,
cessantem iustis poterant urgere querelis
et desideriis addere vela meis.
iam iam laxatis carae complexibus urbis
vincimur et serum vix toleramus iter.
electum pelagus, quoniam terrena viarum
plana madent fluviis, cautibus alta rigent.
postquam Tuscus ager postquamque Aurelius agger,
perpessus Geticas ense vel igne manus,
non silvas domibus, non flumina ponte coercet,
incerto satius credere vela mari.
1' aetherias . . . arces Baehrens.
22 veneranda R : miseranda VB.
3* verba vir doctus apud Wernsdorf : accepit Baehrens.
^' vetabant Baehrens.
766
RUTILIUS NAMATIANUS
as from ethereal pole to pole of the celestial vault
we believe there abideth the council of the Deity
Supreme.
But 'tis my fortune that is plucked back from the
well-loved land ; the fields of Gaul summon home
their native." Disfigured they are by wars im-
measurably long, yet the less their charm, the more
they earn pity. 'Tis a lighter crime to neglect our
countrymen when at their ease : our common
losses call for each man's loyalty. Our presence
and our tears are what we owe to the ancestral
home ; service which grief has prompted ofttimes
helps. 'Tis sin further to overlook the tedious tale
of disasters which the delay of halting aid has multi-
plied : now is the time after cruel fires on ravaged
farms to rebuild, if it be but shepherds' huts. Nay,
if only the very springs could utter words, if only our
very trees ^ could speak, they well might spur my
laggard pace with just complaints and give sails to my
yearning wishes. Now that the dear city slackens
her embrace, my homeland wins, and I can scarce
feel patient with a journey deferred so late.
I have chosen the sea, since roads by land, if on
the level, are flooded by rivers ; if on higher ground,
are beset with rocks. Since Tuscany and since the
Aurelian highway,^ after suffering the outrages of
Goths with fire or sword, can no longer control
forest with homestead or river with bridge, it is
better to entrust my sails to the wayward sea.
" Rutilius feels the call of his ravaged estates in Gaul : see
Introduction.
* nrbuta is not used here in the restricted sense of arbutus.
"^ The Via Aurelia was the road by the coast of Etruria to
the Italian Riviera, Cf. sense of agger in medio in aggere,
Avianus, xvii. 15.
767
MINOR LATIN POETS
crebra relinquendis infigimus oscula portis :
inviti superant limina sacra pedes,
oramus veniam lacrimis et laude litamus,
in quantum fletus currere verba sinit :
" exaudi, regina tui pulcherrima mundi,
inter sidereos Roma recepta polos,
exaudi, genetrix liominum genetrixque deorum,
non procul a caelo per tua templa sumus :
te canimus semperque, sinent dum fata, canemus :
sospes nemo potest immemor esse tui.
obruerint citius scelerata oblivia solem,
quam tuus ex nostro corde recedat honos.
nam solis radiis aequalia munera tendis,
qua circumfusus fluctuat Oceanus.
volvitur ipse tibi, qui continet omnia, Phoebus
eque tuis ortps in tua condit equos.
te non flammigeris Libye tarda vit harenis,
non armata suo reppulit Ursa gelu :
quantum vitalis natura tetendit in axes,
tantum virtuti pervia terra tuae.
fecisti patriam diversis gentibus unam :
profuit iniustis te dominante capi.
dumque offers victis proprii consortia iuris,
urbem fecisti quod prius orbis erat.
" auctores generis Venerem Martemque fatemur,
Aeneadum matrem Romulidumque patrem :
^2 sospes VRB : hospes Cuperus, Baehrens.
^^ ortus VB : ortas R : ortos Castalio.
^^ iniustis VB : inustis R : invitis Juretus, Damm, Mueller,
Baehrens : in victis Castalio : infest is Schroder.
" Baehrens' alteration to nutrix is purely arbitrary, even
in the light of altricem in 146.
768
RUTILILS NAxM ATI ANUS
Repeated kisses I imprint on the gates I have to
leave : un>\'illingly my feet cross the honoured thres-
hold. In tears I beseech pardon (for my departure)
and offer a sacrifice of praise, so far as weeping allows
the words to run :
** Listen, O fairest queen of thy world, Rome,
welcomed amid the starry skies, listen, thou mother "
of men and mother of gods, thanks to thy temples
we are not far from heaven : thee do we chant, and
shall, while destiny allows, for ever chant. None
can be safe if forgetful of thee. Sooner shall guilty
oblivion whelm the sun than the honour due to thee
quit my heart; for thy benefits extend as far as the
sun's rays, where the circling Ocean-flood bounds
the world. For thee the very Sun-God who holdeth
all together ^ doth revolve : his steeds that rise in
thy domains he puts in thy domains to rest. Thee
Africa hath not stayed with scorching sands, nor
hath the Bear, armed with its native cold, repulsed
thee. As far as living nature hath stretched towards
the poles, so far hath earth opened a path for thy
valour. For nations far apart thou hast made a
single fatherland ; under thy dominion captivity hath
meant profit even for those who knew not justice : ^
and by offering to the vanquished a share in thine
own justice, thou hast made a city of what was
erstwhile a world.
" As authors of our race we acknowledge Venus
and Mars — mother of the sons of Aeneas, father of
* Cf. EinsieA. Ed. I. 29-31 and note 6, p. 329 supra.
* iniustis has its point in relation to iuris, 1. 65.
769
3d
MINOR LATIN POETS
mitigat armatas victrix dementia vires,
convenit in mores nomen utrumque tuos :
hinc tibi certandi bona parcendique voluptas :
quos timuit superat, quos superavit amat.
inventrix oleae colitur vinique repertor
et qui primus humo pressit aratra puer ;
aras Paeoniam meruit medicina per artem,
factus et Alcides nobilitate deus :
tu quoque, legiferis mundum complexa triumphis,
foedere communi vivere cuncta facis.
te, dea, te celebrat Romanus ubique recessus
pacificoque gerit libera colla iugo.
omnia perpetuo quae servant sidera motu,
nullum viderunt pulchrius imperium.
quid simile Assyriis conectere contigit armis ?
Medi finitimos condomuere suos ;
magni Parthorum reges Macetumque tyranni
mutua per varias iura dedere vices,
nee tibi nascenti plures animaeque manusque,
sed plus consilii iudiciique fuit.
iustis bellorum causis nee pace superba
nobilis ad summas gloria venit opes,
quod regnas minus est quam quod regnare mereris :
excedis factis grandia fata tuis.
~^ numen Barth, Baehrens.
'* fretus VRB (m marg. factus • f • V) : factus multi editores
cretus Canneg. : fertur Baehrens : fretus it Barth.
*^ perpetuos . . . motus VRB : corr. Baehrens.
^* condomuere Mueller : cum domuere VRB.
" i.e. of the two divinities Venus and Mars.
* The three alluded to are Athene (Minerva), Bacchus, and
Triptolemus.
770
RUTILIUS NAMATIANUS
the scions of Romulus : clemency in victory tempers
armed strength : both names " befit thy character :
hence thy noble pleasure in war and in mercy :
it vanquishes the dreaded foe and cherishes the
vanquished. The goddess who found the olive-
tree is worshipped, the deity too who discovered
wine, and the youth who first drove the ploughshare
in the soil : ^ the healing art through the skill of
the god Paeon ^ won altars : Hercules by his re-
nown was made divine : thou, too, who hast em-
braced the world in triumphs fraught with law,
dost make all things live under a common covenant.
Thee, O goddess, thee every nook of the Roman
dominion celebrates, beneath a peaceful yoke hold-
ing necks unenslaved. The stars, which watch all
things in their unceasing motion, never looked on a
fairer empire. What like unto thy power did it
fall to Assyrian arms to link in one r The Persians
only subdued neighbours of their own. The mighty
Parthian kings and Macedonian monarchs ^ im-
posed laws on each other through varying changes.
It was not that at thy birth thou hadst more souls
and hands : but more prudence and more judgement
were thine. By wars for justifiable cause and by
peace imposed without arrogance thy renowned
glory reached highest wealth. That thou reignest
is less than that thou deservest to reign : thy deeds
surpass thine exalted destiny. To review thy high
' Paeoniam : the Greek adjective is iraiwvios. Rutilius
is not, however, unclassical here; for Ingram {Hermathena
ix. 407) illustrates the use of Paeonius in Virgil, Ovid, and
other poets : cf. Avianus vi. 7, Paeonio magistro.
^ The Seleucid kings of Syria, who succeeded to part of the
empire won by Alexander of Macedon, and whose wars with
Parthia brought sometimes victory, sometimes defeat.
771
3d 2
MINOR LATIN POETS
percensere labor densis decora alta tropaeis ,
ut si quis stellas pernumerare velit ;
confunduntque vagos delubra micantia visus :
ipsos crediderim sic habitare deos.
quid loquar aerio pendentes fornice rivos,
qua vix imbriferas tolleret Iris aquas ?
hos potius dicas crevisse in sidera raontes ;
tale giganteum Graecia laudet opus. ]
intercepta tuis conduntur flumina muris ;
consumunt totos celsa lavacra lacus.
nee minus et propriis celebrantur roscida venis
totaque nativo moenia fonte sonant,
frigidus aestivas hinc temperat halitus auras, ]
innocuamque levat purior unda sitim.
nempe tibi subitus calidarum gurges aquarum
rupit Tarpeias hoste premente vias.
si foret aeternus, casum fortasse putarem :
auxilio fluxit, qui rediturus erat. ]
quid loquar inclusas inter laquearia silvas,
vernula qua vario carmine ludit avis ?
vere tuo numquam mulceri desinit annus ;
deliciasque tuas victa tuetur hiemps.
^® credideris hie Burman. ^"^ externus R.
1^^ inter VRB : subter Baehrens.
^^2 quae VR : qua Ca-stalio. ludat VRB : ludit Panv. :
laudat Baehrens.
" The aqueducts of Rome, massive enough to be called
"Cyclopean" {giganteum opus, 100), like the masonry at
Tiryns or of the Lion Gateway at Mycenae. In the time of
Frontinus, who was curator aquarum a.d. 97-106, there were
nine aqueducts; later, this number was increased.
* The hyperbole means that hardly any rainbow in the sky
could reach the same height as the span of the arches of the
aqueducts. Burman suggested that quo might be clearer
than qua.
772
RUTILIUS NAMATIANUS
honours amid crowded trophies were a task like
endeavouring to reckon up the stars. The gUtterin^
temples dazzle the wandering eyes : I could well
believe such are the dwelling-places of the very gods.
What shall I say of streams suspended on airy
arches," where scarce the Rainbow-Goddess could
raise her showery waters ? ^ You might rather call
them mountains grown up to the sky : such a
structure Greece would praise, as giant-wrought.
Rivers *" diverted are lost sight of within thy walls :
the lofty baths consume whole lakes.'^ No less are
thy dewy meads filled also with their own rivulets,
and all thy walls are a-babble with springs from the
soil. Hence a breath of coolness tempers the summer
air, and the crystal well relieves a harmless thirst.
Nay, once a sudden torrent of waters seething hot
broke forth, when thine enemy ^ trod the roads by
the Capitol : had it lasted for ever, mayhap I had
deemed this mere chance ; but it was to save thee
that it flowed ; for it came only to vanish. Why
speak of woods enclosed amid thy panelled palaces,^
where native birds sport with varied song ? In the
spring that is thine never does the year fail in its
mildness : baffled winter respects thy charms.
<■ e.g. water from the Anio supplied the aqueducts called
Anio Veins and Anio Xovus.
^ celsa refers to the imposing loftiness of the public baths;
locus to such lakes as Alsietinus, Sabatinus (Lago di Bracciano)
and Sublacensis (near Subiaco), from which water was brought
into Rome by aqueducts and stored in large cisterns.
' Legend had it that when Titus Tatius and his Sabines
reached the gate of Janus under the Capitol, the god sent out
boiling water from the earth and discomfited the enemy.
f The reference is to gardens enclosed within colonnades
which had panelled ceilings.
773
MINOR LATIN POETS
" erige crinales lauros.seniuraque sacrati ]
verticis in virides, Roma, refinge comas,
aurea turrigero radient diademata cono,
perpetuosque ignes aureus umbo vomat !
abscondat tristem deleta iniuria casum :
contemptus solidet vulnera clausa dolor. 1
adversis soUenne tuis sperare secunda :
exemplo caeli ditia damna subis.
astrorum flammae renovant occasibus ortus ;
lunam fmiri cernis, ut incipiat.
victoris Brenni non distulit Allia poenam ; 1
Samnis servitio foedera saeva luit ;
post multas Pyrrhum clades superata fugasti ;
flevit successus Hannibal ipse suos :
quae mergi nequeunt nisu maiore resurgunt
exsiliuntque imis altius acta vadis ; 1
utque novas vires fax inclinata resumit.
clarior ex humili sorte superna petis.
porrige victuras Romana in saecula leges,
solaque fatales non vereare colos,
quamvis sedecies denis et mille peractis 1
annus praeterea iam tibi nonus eat.
quae restant nullis obnoxia tempora metis,
dum stabunt terrae, dum polus astra feret !
illud te reparat quod cetera regna resolvit :
ordo renascendi est crescere posse malis. 1
^^^ recinge VRB, Vessereau : refinge Heinsius etfere omnes.
13^ maestis Baehrens.
" Cf. Lucan I. 185-190, where Roma, wearing a mural
crown, appears to Caesar at the Rubicon, turrigero canos
effundens vertice crines.
* Four examples of recovery are cited : (1) the defeat of
Rome at the Allia in 390 B.C. was soon avenged by the death
of Brennus, the Gallic leader; (2) the subjection of the
Samnites compensated for the severe terms imposed by them
774
RUTILIUS NAMATIANUS
" Raise, O Rome, the triumphal laurels which
wreathe thy locks, and refashion the hoary eld of thy
hallowed head to tresses fresh and fair, (iolden let
the diadem flash on thy tower-crowned helmet" ; let
the golden buckler belch forth perpetual hres ! Let
forgetfulness of thy wrongs bury the sadness of mis-
fortune ; let pain disregarded close and heal thy
wounds. Amidst failure it is thy way to hope for
prosperity : after the pattern of the heavens losses
undergone enrich thee. For flaming stars set only
to renew their rising ; thou seest the moon wane to
wax afresh. The Allia did not hinder Brennus'
penalty ; the Samnite paid for a cruel treaty by
slavery ; after many disasters, though defeated,
thou didst put Pyrrhus to flight ; Hannibal himself
was the mourner of his own successes.'^ Things
which cannot be sunk rise again with greater energy,
sped higher in their rebound from lowest depths ;
and, as the torch held downward regains fresh
strength, so from lowly fortune thou dost soar more
radiant aloft. Spread forth the laws that are to last
throughout the ages of Rome : alone thou needst
not dread the distaffs of the Fates, though with a
thousand years and sixteen decades o'erpast, thou
hast besides a ninth year in its course.*^ The span^j-. KUJl,
which doth remain is subject to no bounds, so long '
as earth shall stand firm and heaven uphold the
stars ! That same thing builds thee up which wrecks
all other realms : the law of thy new birth is the
power to thrive upon thine ills.
on the Romans at the Caudine Forks, 321 B.C.; (3) King
Pyrrhus' successes in his invasion changed to disaster at
Beneventum, 275 B.C. ; (4) Hannibal's victories in the Second
Punic War ended in defeat.
<■ The year 1169 of Rome gives the date a.d. 416.
775
MINOR LATIN POETS
" ergo age, sacrilegae tandem cadat hostia gentis :
submittant trepidi perfida colla Getae.
ditia pacatae dent vectigalia terrae :
impleat augustos barbara praeda sinus,
aeternum tibi Rhenus aret, tibi Nilus inundet, 14i
altricemque suani fertilis orbis alat.
quin et fecundas tibi conferat Africa messes,
sole suo dives, sed magis imbre tuo.
interea et Latiis consurgant horrea sulcis,
pinguiaque Hesperio nectare prela fluant. 15(
ipse triumphali redimitus harundine Thybris
Romuleis famulas usibus aptet aquas ;
atque opulenta tibi placidis commercia ripis
devehat hinc ruris, subvehat inde maris.
" pande, precor, gemino placatum Castore pontum; 15i
temperet aequoream dux Cytherea viam,
si non displicui, regerem cum iura Quirini,
si colui sanctos consuluique patres ;
nam quod nulla meum strinxerunt crimina ferrum,
non sit praefecti gloria, sed populi. 16<
sive datur patriis vitam componere terris,
sive oculis umquam restituere meis,
fortunatus agam votoque beatior omni,
semper digneris si meminisse mei."
" For the ancient idea that the north wind brought to
Africa rain-clouds gathered in Italy cf. Stat. Theh. VIII. 411 ;
Lucan, III. 68-70; IX. 420-423. '
' The praj-er is that traffic and trade may revive, now that
Alaric has withdrawn.
'^ The name of either of the twin Dioscuri may do duty for
the other: cf. Hor. Od. III. xxix. 64, geminusque Pollux; in
Catull. iv. 27 both are invoked, but only one named, gernelle
RUTILIUS NAMATIANUS
" Come, then, let an impious raec fall in sacrifice
at last: let the Goths in panic abase their for-
sworn necks. Let lands reduced to peace pay rich
tribute and barbarian booty fill thy majestic lap.
Evermore let the Rhineland plough for thee, for
thee the Nile o'erflow ; and let a teeming world give
nurture to its nurse. Yea, let Africa proffer to thee
her fertile harvests, rich in her own sun, but richer
for thy showers. ° Meanwhile may granaries too
arise to house the furrow-crops of Latium, and with
the nectar of the West may sleek wine-presses flow.
Let Tiber's self, garlanded with triumphal reed,
apply his waters to serve the needs of Romulus'
race, and 'twixt his peaceful banks bear for thee
down-stream the wealthy cargoes of the fields
and up-stream those of the sea.^
" Outstretch, I pray, the level main lulled to rest
'neath Castor and his twin brother ; ^ be our Lady
of Cythera the guide to smooth jay watery path,
if I found favour when I administered Quirinus' laws,^
if to the venerable senators I showed respect and
from them asked advice; for that ne'er a crime
unsheathed my magisterial sword must be the
people's, not the prefect's, boast. '^ Whether 'tis
granted to lay my life to rest in ancestral soil or
whether thou shalt one day be restored to my eyes,
blest shall my life be, lucky beyond all aspiration,
if thou deign always to remember me."
Castor et gemelle Castoris. There was a temple of Castor and
Pollux at Ostia, and one of Venus on the island at the Tiber-
mouth; hence the allusion to Cytherea.
'' Rutilius had been praefeclus urbis in a.d. 414; cf. I. 423-
428; 467-468.
' The absence of capital punishment during Rutilius'
prefecture was a credit to the Roman people.
777
MINOR LATIN POETS
his dictis iter arripimus : comitantur amici : L
dicere non possunt lumina sicca '• vale."
iamque aliis Romani redeuntibus haeret eunti
Rufius, Albini gloria viva patris ;
qui \"olusi antique derivat stemmate nomen
et reges Rutulos teste Marone refert. 1
huius facundae conimissa palatia linguae :
primaevus meruit principis ore loqui.
rexerat ante puer populos pro consule Poenos ;
aequalis Tyriis terror amorque fuit.
sedula promisit summos instantia fasces : 1
si fas est meritis fidere, consul erit.
invitum tristis tandem remeare coegi :
corpore divisos mens tamen una tenet.
tum demum ad naves gradior, qua fronte bicorni
dividuus Tiberis dexteriora secat. 1
laevus inaccessis nuvius vitatur harenis ;
hospitis Aeneae gloria sola manet.
^^^ non possum sicca dicere luce vale nonnulU editores.
^^^ imitantia V : imitatio RB {sic etiam in marg. V, sed
expunctum) : instantia Mueller.
^'* ter et {in marg. tenet • f •) V : tenet R.
18" secat V : petit R.
° Ceionius Rufius Volusianus belonged to an official family
of ancient pedigree. He had been proconsul of Africa with
his headquarters at Carthage (I. 173), and as a youthful
imperial quaestor had performed the duty of reading before the
senate communications from the Emperor (I. 171). Rutilius
expresses his delight over the news of his friend's appointment
to the city prefecture (I. 415-428).
* Rufius Albinus, prefect of the city in a.d. 390, should be
distinguished from the Albinus of I. 466.
RUTILIUS NAMATIAXUS
With these words we take the road: our friends
attend. Eyes cannot tearless say " good-bye."
And now while others wend their way back to Rome,
Rufius," the living glory of his fjither Albinus,^
clings close to me on my way. He draws his name
from the ancient pedigree of \'olusus, citing Rutihan
princes on the witness of \'irgil.'^ To his power of
eloquence was entrusted the imperial palace : in
youth he was the fitting spokesman of the emperor.
Still earlier, a mere stripling, he had governed as
pro-consul the Carthaginian peoples and among the
Tyrian folk inspired dread and love alike. His
zealous energy gave promise of highest office : if it
is permitted to trust desert, a consul he will be. In
the end I sadly forced him to go back reluctant : yet,
though in body severed, one mind keeps us linked.
Then at length I proceed to the ships,'^ where with
twy-horned brow the branching Tiber cleaves his
way to the right.'' The channel onjthe left is avoided
for its unapproachable sands : its one remaining
boast is to have welcomed Aeneas.-^ And now the
' The family claimed descent from the Volusus addressed
bj' Turnus, prince of the Rutuli, in Aeneid XI. 463.
^ There ^vere several boats {cymbae I. 219) used by Rutilius'
company on their coasting voyage northwards : cf. I. 559,
puppibus ergo ytieis.
' About eighteen miles from Rome and some miles from
the sea the Tiber branches so as to form the Isola Sacra (c/.
Aeneid VIII. 727, Bhenusgue bicornis, referring to the two
mouths of the Rhine : the " horn " idea is associated with the
bull-like force of rivers in flood). At the mouth of the left
branch was Ostia, the ancient port of Rome, which in time
became blocked up with silt and sand. On the right branch
harbour-works were undertaken bj' the Emperor Claudius
and improved by Trajan.
^ For Aeneas' landing see Aeneid VII. 29 sqq.
779
MINOR LATIN POETS
et iam nocturnis spatium laxaverat horis
Phoebus Chelariim pallidiore polo,
cunctamiir temptare salum portuque sedemus, 1
nee piget oppositis otia ferre moris,
occidua infido dum saevit gurgite Plias
dumque procellosi temporis ira calet.
respectare iuvat vicinam saepius urbem
et montes visu deficiente sequi, 1
quaque duces oculi grata regione fruuntur,
dum se, quod cupiunt, cernere posse putant.
nee locus ille mihi cognoscitur indice fumo,
qui dominas arces et caput orbis habet
(quamquam signa levis fumi commendat Homerus, 1
dilecto quotiens surgit in astra solo) ;
sed caeli plaga candidior tractusque serenus
signat septenis <:ulmina clara iugis.
illic perpetui soles atque ipse videtur
quern sibi Roma facit purior esse dies. 2<
saepius attonitae resonant Circensibus aures ;
nuntiat accensus plena theatra favor :
pulsato notae redduntur ab aethere voces,
vel quia perveniunt vel quia fingit amor.
188 cadit VRB : calet Mueller : cadet Ussani.
I'l feruntur Baehrens,
° The Scorpion is next to Libra among the signs of the
Zodiac : the sun enters Libra at the autumnal Equinox.
Poets use either Chelae (claws) or Libra (balance) in reference
to this season.
780
RUTILIUS NAMATIANUS
vSun in the paler sky of the Seorpion's Claws had
lengthened the space of the night-watches.'' We
hesitate to make trial of the sea ; we tarry in the haven,
unreluctant to endure idleness amid the delays which
bar our voyage, so long as the setting Pleiad storms
upon the treacherous main, and the anger of the
squally season is hot.* It is a joy to look back many
a time at the city still near, and with scarce availing
sight to trace its hills, and look where the guiding
eyes ^ feast on that dear scene, fancying they can see
what they desire to see. Nor is yonder place, which
holds the imperial citadels and the Morld's capital,
recognised by me in virtue of the smoke which marks
it out (and yet 'tis the signs of light smoke which
Homer '^ praises whensoever it rises starward from
a well-loved land) ; nay rather a fairer tract of sky
and a serene expanse marks the clear summits of
the Seven Hills. There 'tis lasting sunshine : the
very daylight which Rome makes for herself seems
purer than all else. Time and again our spell-
bound ears ring with the noise of the Circus games ; ^
a blaze of cheers proclaims the crowded theatre :
familiar shouts are sent back by the echoing air,
whether it is that they really reach us or that
affection fancies so.
* licadit, 188, is kept in the sense of " subsides," it involves
taking dum as '' while " in 187 and as " until " in 188 (unless
cadit can here mean '' descends " or " swoops " upon the sea).
Calet is accepted from L. Mueller.
* CJ. ocuUqne daces rem credere cogunt, Aetna 189. He can
just make out the hills of Rome, and part of the city he can
see in imagination only, his eyes directing him to where it
should be.
'^ Cf. Odyss. I. 57-59; X. 29-30.
' The Ludi Roinani began in Rutilius' time on 8ept. 21
and 30 fit into the autumnal setting of his voyage.
781
MINOR LATIN POETS
explorata fides pelagi ter quinque diebus,
dum melior lunae se daret aura novae,
turn discessurus studiis urbique remitto
Palladium, generis spemque decusque mei.
facundus iuvenis Gallorum nuper ab arvis
missus Romani discere iura Fori. 2]
ille meae secum dulcissima vincula curae,
filius affectu, stirpe propinquus, habet :
cuius Aremoricas pater Exuperantius oras
nunc postliminium pacis amare docet ;
leges restituit libertatemque reducit 21
et servos famulis non sinit esse suis.
solvimus Aurorae dubio, quo tempore primum
agnosci patitur redditus arva color,
progredimur parvis per litora proxima cymbis,
quorum perfugio crebra pateret humus. 22
aestivos penetrent oneraria carbasa fluctus :
tutior autumnus mobilitate fugae.
Alsia praelegitur tellus, Pyrgique recedunt —
nunc villae grandes, oppida parva prius.
iam Caeretanos demonstrat navita fines : 22
aevo deposuit nomen Agylla vetus.
stringimus <(hinc efFractum) et fluctu et tempore
Castrum :
index semiruti porta vetusta loci.
205 explorata VRB : expectata Schrader.
206 fideret VRB : se daret Heinsius : alii alia {e.g. sideret,
funderet).
21^ cun§ V : cure R.
227 lacnnayn alii aliter suppleverunt : hinc exesum Barth:
hinc efifractum Keene in not. : expugnatum Baehrens.
" Palladius, the last of Rutilius' circle to take leave of him
before his voyage, was a young relative of his who had come
782
RUTILIUS NAMATIANUS
'rhrice five days we watched the trust to he pUiced
in the sea, until a new moon's more favourable breeze
should present itself. Then on the eve of going
I send back to his studies and the city Palladius,
the hope and honour of my race." That eloquent
youth had been sent of late from the lands of the
Gauls to learn the laws of the Roman courts. My
son in affection and kinsman by blood, he holds the
fondest ties of my regard. Even now his father
Exuperantius trains the Armoric sea-board to love
the recovery of peace ; he re-establishes the laws,
brings freedom back and suffers not the inhabitants
to be their servants' slaves.^
In the half-dawn we weigh anchor, at the hour of
day when colour is first restored and lets the fields
grow visible. In little boats we make way along the
nearest shores, so that a beach might always lie
open as refuge for them. Let cargo-ships 'neath
canvas plough through the summer waves : safer
is autumn if we have quickness to escape. The
Alsian land is skirted, and Pyrgi fades into the
distance '^ — to-day large country-houses, in earlier
days small towns. Now the sailor points out the
bounds of Caere : the ancient Agylla has lost its
name through time.'' Next we coast by Castrum,
shattered both by wave and time : an age-worn
gateway marks the half-ruined place. O'er it
from Gaul to study la\r in Rome. His father, Exuperantius,
had restored order to the Armorican regions in Gaul, which
had followed the example of revolt from the empire set by
Britain in a.d. 407.
*• The reference is most probably to a servile insurrection
which Exuperantius checked.
' Alsium, now Palo, was an ancient Etrurian town. Pyrgi,
now Santa Severa, was a seaport for Caere.
•* Caere, now Cervetri, had Agylla as its Greek name.
783
MINOR LATIN POETS
praesidet, exigui formatus imagine saxi,
qui pastorali cornua fronte gerit : 2
multa licet prisciim nomen deleverit aetas,
hoc Inui castrum fama fuisse putat,
seu Pan Tyrrhenis mutavit Maenala silvis
sive sinus patrios incola Faunus init ;
dum renovat largo mortalia semina fetu, 2
fingitur in venerem pro-iOor esse deus.
ad Centumcellas forti defleximus Austro :
tranquilla puppes in statione sedent.
molibus aequoreum concluditur amphitheatrum,
angustosque aditus insula facta tegit ; 2
attollit geminas turres bifidoque meatu
faucibus artatis pandit utrunique latus.
nee posuisse satis laxo navalia portu ;
ne vaga vel tutas ventilet aura rates,
interior medias sinus invitatus in aedes 2
instabilem fixis aera nescit aquis ;
qualis in Euboicis captiva natatibus unda
sustinet alterno bracchia lenta sinu.
nosse iuvat tauri dictas de nomine thermas ;
nee mora difficilis milibus ire tribus. 2
229-230 distichon post 232 posuit Damm.
232 Inui VB : lani R.
235 dumve novat Baehrens. longo V : largo RB. semina
VRB : saecula Mueller.
^^^ difficilis VRB : distantis {sc. thermas) Baehrens.
* Rutilius confuses Castrum Novum in Etruria with
Castrum Inui in Latium : cf. Aen. VI. 775. Init in 234 is
an attempt to explain the name Inuus, here identified with
the Greek Pan or the Latin Faunus.
** For dum causal, assigning a reason, cf. Plant. Trin. 1149-
50 dum vereor sermonem interrumpere, solus sto; and Cic. Ad Att.
784
RUTILIUS NAMATIANUS
stands guard, fasliioiud as a little statue in stone,
the figure of one with horns upon his shepherd's
brow : although long years have blotted out the
earliest name, legend considers this was once
*' Castrum Inui," '^ whether it be that Pan ex-
changed Maenalus for Tuscan woods or that Faunus
comes in to haunt his native dells : since '' he re-
neweth the offspring of mankind \\'ith plenteous
births, the god is represented over-prone to venery.
To Centumcellae *^ we changed our tack before a
strong South wind : our ships find mooring in the calm
roadstead. An amphitheatre of water is there
enclosed by piers, and an artificial island shelters the
narrow entrances ; it rears twin towers and extends
in both directions so as to leave a double approach
with narrow channels. Nor was it enough to con-
struct docks of wide harbourage ; to keep the
vagrant breeze from rocking the craft even when safe
in port, an inner basin has been coaxed into the very
midst of the buildings, and so, with its surface at
rest, it knows naught of the wayward wind, like the
water imprisoned in Cumae's baths ^ which buoys
up the unhurried arms plied by the swimmer in
alternate sweep.
We pay a pleasant visit to the hot springs named
after a bull : '^ the distance of three miles seems no
I. xvi. 2 qui {sc. Horte^isius) dum veritus est . . . nan vidit
illud. . . . Rutilius I. 443 may also be a parallel.
' Now Civita Vecchia. The port was constructed under
Trajan : see the description in Plin. Ep. VI. xxxi. 15-17.
^ Cumae, on the bay of Naples, was partly settled by
Euboeans : cf. Virg. Aen. VI. 2 : Euboicis Cumarum allabitur
oris.
' Aquae or Thermae Taurianae, three miles N. of Civita
Vecchia.
785
3e
MINOR LATIN POETS
non illic gustu latices vitiantur amaro
lymphave fumifico sulphure tincta calet :
purus odor moUisque sapor dubitare lavantem
cogit qua melius parte petantur aquae,
credere si dignum famae. flagrantia taurus
investigato fonte lavacra dedit,
ut solet excussis pugnam praeludere glaebis,
stipite cum rigido cornua prona terit :
sive deus, faciem mentitus et ora iuvenci,
noluit ardentis dona latere soli ; 26
qualis Agenorei rapturus gaudia furti
per freta virgineum sollicitavit onus,
ardua non solos deceant miracula Graios !
auctorem pecudem fons Heliconis habet :
elicitas simili credamus origine lymphas, 2(
Musarum <(ut) latices ungula fodit equi.
haec quoque Pieriis spiracula comparat antris
carmine Messallae nobilitatus ager ;
intrantemque capit discedentemque moratur
postibus affixum dulce poema sacris. 2'
hie est qui primo seriem de consule ducit,
usque ad Publicolas si redeamus avos ;
253 labantem VB, corr. Simler : molisque . . . labentem R.
2^1 tecti Baehrens.
2^3 solos . . . Graios V : solum . . . Grails R.
-^5 en medicas Baehrens. nymphas V et pier. edd. vett. :
lymphas corr. Castalio et sic legitur in R.
26^ ut addidit Damm.
•* i.e. whether for drinking or bathing.
* The bull that unearthed the hot wells may have been a
disguised god, just as, according to the myth, the bull that
carried off to Crete Europa, the daughter of the Phoenician
king Agenor, was reallj- Jupiter.
<^ The fountain Hippocrene on Mount Helicon in Boeotia,
786
RUTILIUS NAMATIANUS
troublesome delay. There the wells are not spoiled
by a brackish flavour, nor is the water coloured and
hot with fuming sulphur : the pure smell and delicate
taste make the bather hesitate for what purpose
the waters should better be used." If the legend
deserves credit, it was a bull that first revealed
these hot baths by tracking out the source, when,
tossing aloft the sods, as is a bull's way to prelude
a fight, he grazed his downbent horns upon a hard
tree-stump : or else a god, counterfeiting an ox-like
shape and visage, would not permit the gift of the
warm soil to lurk unseen ; like the god who, bent
on snatching stolen joys from his theft of Agenor's
daughter, bore across the seas the terror-stricken
maid.'' Not Greeks alone must have the glory of
marvels which o'ertop belief I The fount of Helicon
has for its begetter an animal : '^ let us believe that
through like origin these waters were dra^n forth,
as the steed's hoof dug out the Muses' well. The
land also, blazoned in Messalla's poetry,*^ has these
outlets to vie with the Pierian grots : and his sweet
lines, affixed to the hallowed portals, capture the
eye of him who enters, and makes him linger as he
leaves. This is the man who traces his descent
from the first consul, if we go back as far as his
ancestors the Publicolae : he too with his nod as
sacred to the Muses, was fabled to have been produced by a
stroke of the hoof of the winged horse Pegasus.
** Valerius Messalla, praetorian prefect in a.d. 396, is often
mentioned in the Code of Theodosius. He claimed descent
from Valerius Publicola, who became colleague to Junius
Brutus on the retirement of Tarquinius Collatinus; so that
" primo de consule," 271, is not literally accurate. Sym-
machus (VII. 81-92) addresses letters to him, and Sidonius
Apollinaris admired his intellectual qualities [Carm. 9, 302).
787
3e2
MINOR LATIN POETS
hie et praefecti nutu praetoria rexit.
sed menti et linguae gloria maior inest.
hie doeuit qualem poscat facundia sedem : 211
ut bonus esse velit, quisque disertus erit.
roscida punieeo fulsere crepuscula eaelo :
pandimus obliquo lintea flexa sinu.
paulisper litus fugimus Munione vadosum :
suspeeto trepidant ostia parva salo. 28C
inde Graviscarum fastigia rara videmus,
quas premit aestivae saepe paludis odor ;
sed nemorosa viret densis vieinia lucis,
pineaque extremis fluctuat umbra fretis.
cernimus antiquas nullo custode ruinas 28^
et desolatae moenia foeda Cosae.
ridieulam cladis pudet inter seria causam
promere, sed risum dissimulare piget.
dicuntur eives quondam migrare coacti
muribus infestos deseruisse Lares I 29<
credere maluerim Pygmaeae damna eohortis
et eoniuratos in sua bella grues.
haud procul hinc petitur signatus ab Hereule portus :
vergentem sequitur moUior aura diem.
2'" fulsere VB : luxere R.
" Quintilian repeatedly insists on character as indis-
pensable in an orator : I. proem. 9-10 {qui esse nisi vir bonus
non potest); II. ii. (the whole section); II. xv. 1; XII. i. 1
(is qui a M. C atone jinitur, vir bonus dicendi peritus) : cf. Cic.
de Orat. II. 85.
788
RUTILIUS NAMATIANUS
prefect held praetorian control. Yet greater glory
dwells in his mind and tongue. He has shown what
kind of dwelling-place eloquence demands : each
man's power in oratory will depend on his desire to
be good."
The half-light of dewy morn gleamed from a
purple sky ; we spread our sails bent in curves
slantwise ; and for a time give a wide berth to the
shore which the Munio ^ blocks with shoals : the
narrow river-mouth heaves restlessly with treacherous
surf. Thereafter we sight the scattered housetops
of Graviscae,*^ plagued often with a marshy smell in
summer-time ; and yet the wooded neighbourhood
is green with close-grown groves, and pine-tree
shadows wave o'er the margin of the sea. Then we
descry, all unguarded now, desolate Cosa's ancient
ruins and unsightly walls. ^' 'Tis with a qualm that
I adduce mid serious things the comic reason for its
downfall ; but I am loath to suppress a laugh. The
story runs that once upon a time the townsfolk were
forced to migrate and left their homes behind
because rats infested them! I'd sooner believe in
losses suffered by the Pygmies' infantry ^ and in
cranes leagued solemnly to fight their wars. Not
far from here we make the port which the name
of Hercules distinguishes : a softer breeze follows
^ Xow the Mignone.
*■ Graviscae, the port of Tarquinii, being in the Maremma,
had unhealthy air. Like its pine-groves, this small place
has disappeared.
•* Cosa is now Ansedonia : its harbour was the Portus
Herculis, now Porto Ercole.
' The first mention of Milton's " small infantry warred on
by cranes " is in Homer, Iliad III. 3-6.
789
MINOR LATIN POETS
inter castrorum vestigia sermo retexit 29i
Sardoam Lepido praecipitante fugam ;
litore namque Cosae cognatos depulit hostes
virtutem Catuli Roma secuta ducis.
ille tamen Lepidus peior civilibus armis
qui gessit sociis impia bella tribus, 30<
qui libertatem Mutinensi Marte receptam
obruit auxiliis urbe pavente no vis.
insidias paci moliri tertius ausus
tristibus excepit congrua fata reis.
quartus, Caesareo dum vult irrepere regno, 30i
incesti poenam solvit adulterii.
nunc quoque — sed melius de nostris fama queretur ;
iudex posteritas semina dira notet.
nominibus certos credam decurrere mores ?
moribus an potius nomina certa dari ? 31(
quicquid id est, mirus Latiis annalibus ordo,
quod Lepidum totiens reccidit ense malum.
necdum discussis pelago permittimur umbris :
natus vicino vertice ventus adest.
302 pavente V : gemente R : favente B.
3^3 decessis VRB : discussis Ahneloveen : detersis Heins his.
permittitur VRB : permittimur Castalio.
" Four Lepidi are here alluded to : (1) M. Aemilius Lepidus,
declared a public enemy by the Senate in 77 B.C., was after
his defeat at the Mulvian Bridge pursued by Catulus into
Etruria. He eventually fled from Portus Herculis to Sardinia.
(2) His son, M. Aemilius Lepidus, who had long wavered
790
RUTILIUS NAMATIANUS
declining day. Amid the traces of his camp our
conversation weaves aijain the tale of Lepidus in
headlonii: flight to Sardinia ; ^ for 'twas from Cosa's
shore that Rome, following the lead of valiant
Catulus, drove off the foes of her own blood. Yet
was that Lepidus more a villain, who mid civil strife,
in a confederacy of three, waged impious warfare ;
whose reinforcements — to the city's dread — crushed
the freedom recovered in battle at Mutina. A
third of the name ventured to contrive a plot against
the peace and met a fate that fits luckless de-
fendants. A fourth, aiming at a stealthy inroad on
imperial power, paid the penalty of foul adultery.
To-day also — but of the Lepidi of our day fame
will draw up a better indictment : let posterity be
the judge to brand the ill-omened stock. Am I to
believe that definite characters descend from names
or rather that definite names are given to characters ?
However that be, it is a strange routine in the
chronicles of Latium that misfortune has so often
recurred through the sword of the Lepidi.^
The shades of night as yet are undispelled when
we entrust ourselves to the sea. Born of the neigh-
bouring hill-crest, a breeze befriends us. Mount
between Mark Antony and the Senate, joined forces with
Antony after the battle of ^lutina in 44 B.C. The allusion in
1. 300 is to his membership of the triumvirate with Antony
and Octavian. (3) The triumvir's son plotted in 30 b.c.
to murder Octavian, but was arrested and sent to Octavian,
then in the East, where he was put to death. (4) M. Aemilius
Lepidus was the second husband of Drusilla, Caligula's sister.
He conspired against his imperial brother-in-law, and had
illicit relations with Agrippina and Li villa, two other sisters
of the emperor. He was executed in .\.d. 39.
^ Lepidum : genit. plur. rather than adjectivally with
malum.
791
MINOR LATIN POETS
tenditur in medias mons Argentarius undas
ancipitique iugo caerula curva premit ;
transversos colles bis ternis milibus artat ;
circiiitu ponti ter duodena patet :
qualis per geminos fluctus Ephyreius Isthmos
lonias bimari litore findit aquas.
vix circumvehimur sparsae dispendia rupis,
nee sinuosa gravi cura labore caret :
mutantur totiens vario spiramina flexu :
quae modo profuerant vela repente nocent.
eminus Igilii silvosa cacuniina miror,
quam fraudare nefas laudis honore suae,
haec proprios nuper tutata est insula saltus,
sive loci ingenio seu domini genio,
gurgite cum modico victricibus obstitit armis
tamquani longinquo dissociata mari :
haec multos lacera suscepit ab urbe fugatos,
hie fessis posito certa timore salus.
plurima terreno populaverat aequora bello
contra naturam classe timendus eques :
21' temis VB : denis R.
222 cura VRB : terra Almeloveen, Baekrens.
" Monte Argentario, a rugged peninsular promontory over
20 miles in circuit, has two peaks {ancipiti iugo) — the southern
one above Porto Ercole, and the northern one above Porto S.
Stefano.
* The promontory of Monte Argentario is likened to the
isthmus of Corinth (= Ephyre, frequentlj^ in the poets from
Homer onwards). In strict accuracy, the Ionian sea hes on
one side only of the isthmus, the Aegean being on the other
side.
<= Igilium, now Giglio, was, as an island, reasonably safe
from invasion by the Goths (1. 329), whether in a.d. 408
792
RUTILIUS NAMATIANUS
Argentarius juts out amidst the waves and with two-
fold ridge" contines the bhie waters of its bays,
shortening the road across the hills to twice three
miles, while its extent round by sea is three times
twelve, even as the Corinthian isthmus betwixt twin
floods cleaves the Ionian deep with shores which two
seas wash.^ We just succeed in doubling that long
round of scattered crags, nor are the helmsman's
anxious detours without heavy toil — so often puffs
of wind change with each varying tack : the sails
which helped a moment since are suddenly a drag.
Far off I marvel at Igilium's '^ forest heights : 'twere
sinful to cheat the island ^ of the homage which its
fame deserves. Of late this isle defended its own
glades, whether by natural position or by the
emperor's supernatural powers,^ when, though
severed only by a moderate channel, it bade defiance
to triumphant arms as if isolated by the far-dividing
sea. It welcomed many refugees from mangled
Rome : here might the weary drop their fear and
find sure safety. A cavalry, which against nature's
law spelt terror on shipboard, had harried many a
sea M'ith warfare suited to the land./ It is a miracle
when Alaric advanced to his first siege of Rome or in the
following years. It offered refuge to fugitives from Rome
when the city was sacked by Alaric in a.d. 410 (see 1. 331).
" quam : sc. insulam, though its name Igilium is neuter.
• The alternatives (emphasized by a play on words) are
that the island may have been protected either by the ingenium
(= natura) loci or by the indwelling Genius of Honorius, which
is viewed as a presiding Fortuna guarding the island against
attack.
^ The Gothic cavalrj- was reinforced by that of the Huns
under Alaric's brother-in-law Ataulf. They sailed from island
to island on marauding expeditions.
793
MINOR LATIN POETS
unum mira fides vario discrimine portum 3
tam prope Ronianis, tarn prociil esse Getis.
tangimus Umbronem ; non est ignobile flumen,
quod tuto trepidas excipit ore rates :
tam facilis pronis semper patet alveus undis,
in pontum quotiens saeva procella ruit. 3
hie ego tranquillae volui succedere ripae ;
sed nautas avidos longius ire sequor.
sic festinantem ventusque diesque reliquit :
nee proferre pedem nee revocare licet,
litorea noctis requiem metamur harena : 3
dat vespertinos myrtea silva focos :
parvula subiectis facimus tentoria remis :
transversus subito culmine contus erat.
lux aderat : tonsis progressi stare videmur,
sed cursum prorae terra relicta probat. 3
occurrit Chalybum memorabilis Ilva metallis,
qua nihil uberius Norica glaeba tulit ;
non Biturix largo potior strictura camino,
nee quae Sardonico caespite massa fluit.
plus confert populis ferri fecunda creatrix 3
quam Tartessiaci glarea fulva Tagi.
3^^ pronis om. R.
^^^ festinantem VRB : festinantes Schrader, Baehrens.
352 qua nihil , . . gleba V : qua mihi . . . terra R.
" i.e. at the time of the sack of Rome and of the Gothic
sea-raids.
* metari is the regular verb for laying out a camp.
" Lit. " mines of the Chalybes." The XdXvfies of Pontus
were renowned for their working of steel {xd\v\p).
^ Noricum, between the Danube and the Alps, corresponded
to a great part of Styria and Carinthia and included the
district round Salzburg. Its steel was famed : cf. Hor. Od.
I. xvi. 9-10, Xoricus ensis.
794
RUTILIUS NAMATIANUS
to believe that a '^iIl<Tle haven at crises different °
should be so near the Romans, and for the Goths so
far. We touch at I'nibro's mouth : no inconsiderable
stream, it welcomes panic-stricken barques at a safe
entrance : such easy approach does the river-bed
with its descending current ever offer, as often as a
cruel tempest bursts upon the deep. Here I was
minded to land upon the peaceful shore ; but, as
the mariners were greedy for further progress, I
e'en follow: so, speeding on, I find that with day-
light the breeze has failed : neither forward nor
backward can we make way. So on the sand of the
beach we mark out ^ our resting-place for the night :
a myrtle wood provides our evening fires. We raise
our little tents with oars as props : a pole set cross-
wise helped to form a hastily fashioned roof.
Day came : though pushing on with oars, we seem
to be at a standstill, and yet the receding land proves
the movement of the bow. Across our course lies
Elba, famous for its iron mines : '^ than it Xorican ''
soil has produced no richer yield ; nor is the \\Tought
metal of the Bituriges preferable, though smelted
in great furnaces ; ^ nor the molten mass which pours
from the Sardinian ore./ More good is done to
the world by teeming earth which gives birth to
iron than by the golden gravel washed down by the
Tagus in the distant West;^ for deadly gold is the
' The Bituriges of Gallia Aquitanica have left their name
in Bourges. Strictura, \\Tought metal, implied smelting which
could be carried out where firewood was abundant. Ore from
Ilva (the modern Elba), which was short of fuel, had to be
taken to furnaces on the mainland.
f caespes, lit. the clod or lump containing ore : cf. glaeba,
352.
» From Tartessus in Spain Tartessiacus gets its meaning '-
" Western."
795
MINOR LATIN POETS
materies vitiis aurum letale parandis :
auri caecus amor ducit in omne nefas :
aurea legitimas expiignant munera taedas,
virgineosque sinus aureus imber emit :
auro victa fides munitas decipit urbes :
auri flagitiis ambitus ipse furit.
at contra ferro squalentia rura coluntur ;
ferro vivendi prima reperta via est :
saecula semideum, ferrati nescia Martis,
ferro crudeles sustinuere feras :
humanis manibus non sufficit usus inermis,
si non sint aliae ferrea tela manus.
his mecum pigri solabar taedia venti,
dum resonat variis vile eeleuma modis. 2
lassatum cohibet vicina Faleria cursum,
quamquam vix medium Phoebus haberet iter,
et tum forte hilares per compita rustica pagi
mulcebant sacris pectora fessa iocis :
illo quippe die tandem revocatus Osiris 3
excitat in fruges germina laeta novas,
egressi villam petimus lucoque vagamur :
stagna placent septo deliciosa vado.
^" fatale Burnian : ferale Baehrens.
371 laxatum CastaUo : lassantem Baehrens.
3 '3 fagi VRB : pagi CastaUo.
377 lucoque vagamur V : lutoque vagamus (con/m metrum)
R : petimusque luthoque vagamur B : ludoque vacamus
Wernsdorf.
" The allusion in 1. 360 is to the myth of Danae and in 1. 361
to the bribery employed by Philip of Macedon to capture cities,
the attack on gold by Tiberianus, pp. 560-563 supra.
79C'
RUTILIUS NAMATIANUS
substance that makes vice : blind lust of gold leads
into every crime : golden gifts carry by storm the
troth of wedded brides : a golden shower can buy
the maid's embraces : '^ loyalty sapped by gold
betrays the well-wallcd town : by scandalous mis-
use of gold ambition itself pursues its wild career.
But not so iron : it is with iron that neglected fields
are tilled ; by iron was the first way of living found.
Races of demigods, mIio knew not iron-harnessed
Mars, by iron faced the charge of savage beasts.
For human hands their unarmed use is not enough,
if iron weapons lent not other hands. Such thoughts
of mine beguiled the weariness of a laggard wind,
and all the time in varied notes the boatswain's
trumpery refrain rang out.
The neighbouring Faleria ^ checks our weary
course, though Phoebus scarce had reached his mid
career. That day it happened merry village-bands
along the country cross-roads soothed their jaded
hearts A\'ith festal observances ; it was in truth the
day when, after long time restored, Osiris wakes
the happy seeds to yield fresh produce.'" Landing,
we seek lodging,*^ and stroll within a wood ; we like
the ponds which charm with their shallow enclosed
* It is noAv Falese, or Porto di Faliesi.
' The worship of Osiris, introduced from Egypt in republican
times, passed through vicissitudes of favour and disfavour,
but spread widely through the Roman Empire. A vegetation-
deity and patron of agriculture, Osiris was also a suffering hero
and became god of the dead. The priests of his sister- wife
Isis mourned his death or joyfully celebrated his periodic
resuscitation. Here he gives a fertilizing stimulus to
autumnal sowings.
** Villain here seems to mean an "inn": cf. villkus or
vilicus as "innkeeper," I. 623.
797
MINOR LATIN POETS
ludere lascivos intra vivaria pisces
gurgitis inclusi laxior unda sinit.
sed male pensavit requiem stationis amoenae
hospite conductor durior Antiphate ! '
namque loci querulus curam ludaeus agebat,
humanis animal dissociale cibis :
vexatos frutices, pulsatas imputat algas,
damnaque libatae grandia clamat aquae,
reddimus obscaenae convicia debita genti
quae genitale caput propudiosa metit :
radix stultitiae, cui frigida sabbata cordi,
sed cor frigidius religione sua. 3'
septima quaeque dies turpi damnata veterno,
tamquam lassati mollis imago dei.
cetera mendacis deliramenta catastae
nee puerum in somnis credere posse reor.
atque utinam numquam ludaea subacta fuisset 3'
Pompeii bellis imperiisque Titi !
latius excisae pestis contagia serpunt,
victoresque suos natio victa premit.
adversus surgit Boreas ; sed nos quoque remis
surgere certamus, dum tegit astra dies. 4
proxima securum reserat Populonia litus,
qua naturalem ducit in arva sinum.
3^9 inter VRB : intra Schrader.
3^2 dirior Drakenborch : crudior Mueller.
^9* pueros omnes VB : puer ones R : pueros parvos vel
teneros coniec. Baehrens : pueros et anus Keene in not. :
puerum in somnis A. M. Duff.
^^^ ludea capta R.
396 imperioque B, Baehrens.
" The savage king of the Laestrj^gones devoured one of
Ulysses' men and sank all his ships except that on which
Ulysses sailed {Odyss. X. 114-132).
798
RUTILIUS NAMATIANUS
basin. The spacious waters of the imprisoned flood
permit the playful fish to sport inside these pre-
serves. But we were made to pay dear for the
repose of this delightful haltinij-place by a lessee
who was harsher than Antiphates as host I " For a
crabbed Jew was in chartre of the spot — a creature
that quarrels with sound human food.'' He charges
in our bill for damaging his bushes and hitting the sea-
weed, and bawls about his enormous loss in water
we had sipped. We pay the abuse due to the filthy
race that infamously practises circumcision : a root
of silliness they are : chill Sabbaths are after their
own heart, yet their heart is chillier than their creed.
Each seventh day is condemned to ignoble sloth,
as 'twere an effeminate picture of a god fatigued.*^
The other wild ravings from their lying bazaar
methinks not even a child in his sleep could believe.
And would that Judaea had never been subdued by
Pompey's wars and Titus' military power. '^ The
infection of this plague, though excised, still creeps
abroad the more : and 'tis their own conquerors
that a conquered race keeps down.^
Against us rises a North wind ; but we too strive
with oars to rise, while daylight shrouds the stars.
Close at hand Populonia opens up her safe coast,
where she draws her natural bay well inland. No
* The taboo of the pig as unclean was unintelligible to
Romans, whose cuisine included fifty different ways of
serving swine's flesh.
<■ The reference is to the teaching of the Hebrew scriptures :
e.g. Genesis ii. 2-3; Exodus xx. 9-11, xxxiv. 21.
"* The Maccabean monarchy fell after Pompey's three
months' siege of Jerusalem, 63 b.c. Titus captured Jerusalem
in A.D. 70.
' Cf. Hor. J'jpist. II. i. 156, Graecia capta ferum victorem
cepit.
799
MINOR LATIN POETS
non iilic positas extoUit in aethera moles
luniine nocturne conspicienda Pharos ;
sed speculani validae rupis sortita vetustas, 4C
qua fluctus doniitos arduus urget apex,
castellum geminos hominum fundavit in usus,
praesidium terris indiciumque fretis.
agnosci nequeunt aevi monumenta prioris :
grandia consumpsit moenia tempus edax. 41
sola manent interceptis vestigia muris :
ruderibus latis tecta sepulta iacent.
non indignemur mortalia corpora solvi :
cernimus exemplis oppida posse mori.
laetior hie nostras crebrescit fama per aures : 41.
consiliiun Romam paene redire fuit.
hie praefecturam sacrae cognoscimus urbis
delatam meritis, dulcis amice, tuis.
optarem verum complecti carmine nomen,
sed quosdam refugit regula dura pedes. 42i
cognomen versu f <(veniet), carissime Rufi :
illo te dudum pagina nostra canit.
festa dies pridemque meos dignata Penates
poste coronate vota secunda colat :
*2i cogn. versu veneris VB : cognomen venens {otn. versu
contra metrum) R: Veneri {vocativus) Pith., Bimnan :
cognomen serva, Veneri Barth, Schrader : c. versus servet
Damm : c. versu dederis Mueller : c. versu capitur Baehrens :
c. versu veniet Vessereau : c. v. veneror Helm : c. v. veheris
Prechar.
« At Populonia, an ancient Etruscan town, there was an old
castle instead of a lighthouse like the famous one on the island
of Pharos off Alexandria.
" CJ. in Sulpicius' letter of consolation to Cicero, Ad Fam.
IV. v., nos homunculi indignamur, si quis nostrum interiit . . .
800
RLTILirS XA.MATIANUS
Pharos/' con«;pic'U(>us with iiiiihtly liuht, has piers
built there which rise into the sky; but men long
ago, finding a mighty eiitf to serve as a look-out
where the towering hill-crest overhangs the con-
quered waves, laid the foundations of a castle for
twin services to man — a defence on land and signal-
post for sea. The memorials of an earlier age
cannot be recognised : devouring time has wasted
its mighty battlements away. Traces only remain
now that the walls are lost : under a wide stretch
of rubble lie the buried homes. Let us not chafe
that human frames dissolve : from precedents we
discern that towns can die.^
Here a joyful piece of news spreads as we listen:
it was almost my decision to go back to Rome. Here
do we learn that the prefecture of the Sacred City
has been bestowed upon your merits, beloved friend.
I'd fain include your true name hi my poem: but
the strict law of metre avoids certain feet.*^ Your
cognomen will come in a line,'^ dearest Rufius : by
that name but recently my page has sung your
praise.^ Let a day of festivity, such as years ago
honoured my own home with garlands on the door,
now show respect to hopes fulfilled : / let green
quorum vita hrevior esse debet, cum uno loco tot oppidum cadavera
iacent ?
' Rufius' full name, Ceionius Rufius Volusianus, is inadmis-
sible in elegiacs.
^ The vexed line, 421, whether Veneri is read as dative of
Venus or as vocative of Venerius, offers no sure foundation
for the addition of Venerius to the name of Rufius. Taking
Veneri as vocative, some editors have thought Rutilius
dedicated his poem to " Venerius " Rufius.
' Supra, linos 167-178.
f Rufius' elevation brings back to Rutilius' mind his own
prefecture : cf. I. 157-160.
8oi
MINOR LATIN POETS
exornent virides conimunia gaudia rami : 42
provecta est animae portio magna meae.
sic mihi, sic potius, placeat geminata potestas :
per quem malueram, rursus honore fruor.
currere curamus veils xA.quilone re verso,
cmn primum roseo fulsit Eous equo. 43
incipit obscures ostendere Corsica montes,
nubiferumque caput concolor umbra levat :
sic dubitanda solet gracili vanescere cornu
defessisque oculis luna reperta latet.
haec ponti brevitas auxit mendacia famae : 43
armentale ferunt quippe natasse pecus,
tempore Cyrnaeas quo primum venit in oras
forte secuta vagum femina Corsa bovem.
processu pelagi iam se Capraria tollit ;
squalet lucifugis insula plena viris. 44'
ipsi se monachos Graio cognomine dicunt,
quod soli nuUo vivere teste volunt.
munera Fortunae metuunt, dum damna verentur :
quisquam sponte miser, ne miser esse queat ?
quaenam perversl rabies tam stulta cerebri, 44.
dum mala formides, nee bona posse pati ?
" Cj. 1. 493, nostrae pars maxima mentis, and Hor. Od. I.
ill. 8, animae dimidium meae.
* dubitanda = to be puzzled over, an object of uncertainty :
cf. Virg. Aen. VI. 454, aut videt aut vidisse putat per nuhila
lit nam.
"^ Cyrnos (Kvpuoi), or Corsica, lies about 55 miles off the
mainland. Itasius Lemniacus denies that it could be seen
8o2
RUTILIUS XAMATIANUS
boughs be the decoration for the joy we share : a
great part of mine own hfe " has been advanced
to high pUice. Thus, aye thus to nic let tliis renewal
of office bring pleasure : once again I enjoy dignity
through the one for whom I wished it more.
When the North wind veered, we took pains to
run with sails before the breeze, as soon as the
Morning-star gleamed on his rosy steed. Corsica
begins to show her dim mountains, and, matched
in colour, the mass of shadow makes the cloud-
capped crest look higher still : so 'tis the moon's
way with slender horn to fade leaving us puzzled,''
and e'en though found she yet lies hid for straining
eyes. The short sea-passage here has given support
to a lying legend ; for folk say a herd of cattle swam
across at the time when first it happened that a
woman called Corsa in quest of a stray ox reached
the shores of Cyrnos.*^
As we advance at sea, Capraria now rears itself —
an ill-kept isle full of men who shun the light. Their
own name ^ for themselves is a Greek one, " mona-
choi " (monks), because they wish to dwell alone
with none to see. They fear Fortune's boons, as
they dread her outrages : would anyone, to escape
misery, live of his own choice in misery ? What silly
fanaticism of a distorted brain is it to be unable to
endure even ^ blessings because of your terror of
from Populonia. The stor}- ran that a herdswoman noticed
an ox used to swim the sea and return fatter. This suggested
that there was a fertile island not far away.
** Cognomen is the equivalent of nomen in several Virgilian
passages ; Aen. III. 163; VIII. 48. It is loosely used, supra
I. 421.
' Xec has the force of ne . . . quidem, as in nee puerum, I.
394.
803
3f 2
MINOR LATIN POETS
sive suas repetunt factorum ergastula poenas,
tristia seu nigro viscera felle tument,
sic nimiae bilis morbum adsignavit Homerus
Bellerophonteis sollicitudinibus :
nam iuveni ofFenso saevi post tela doloris
dicitur humanum displicuisse genus.
in Volaterranum, vero Vada nomine, tractum
ingressus dubii tramitis alta lego :
despectat prorae custos clavumque sequentem
dirigit et puppim voce monente regit,
incertas gemina discriminat arbore fauces
defixasque offert limes uterque sudes :
illis proceras mos est adnectere lauros
conspicuas ramis et fruticante coma,
ut praebente algam densi symplegade limi
servet inoifensas semita clara notas.
illic me rapidus consist ere Corus adegit,
qualis silvarum frangere lustra solet.
vix tuti domibus saevos toleravimus imbres :
Albini patuit proxima villa mei.
*^^ fatorum {in marg. factorum • f •) V.
*5® derigit Baehrens.
*^* limus Baehrens.
*^i algam RB : viam V, Baehrens : ulvam Kalinka,
Prechac.
*®3 rabidus Mueller, Baehrens.
<* Ergastula, " prisons for slaves," prob. by metonj-mj- here
for the inmates.
804
RUTILIUS NAMATIANUS
ills ? Whether they are like ])risoiiers " who deinaTid
the appropriate penalties for their deeds, or whether
their melancholy hearts are swollen with black bile,
it was even so that Homer assigned the ailment of
excessive bile as cause of Bellerophon's troubled
soul ; * for it was after the wounds of a cruel sorrow
that men say the stricken youth conceived his loathing
for human kind.
Enterinij on the reijion of \'olaterra, appropriately
called " The Shallows," '^ I thread my way throuoh
the deep part of the treacherous channel. At the
bow the look-out watches the water beneath and
jrives directions to the helm behind, ifuiding the stern
with warning shouts. A boundary on each side
marks the puzzling narrows by a pair of trees, and
presents a line of piles hammered in there : to
these it is the custom to fix tall laurels easy to see
because of their branches and bushy foliage, so
that, although the shifting bank '^ of thick mud shows
its mass of sea -weed, a clear passage may keep the
guiding-signs unstruck. There I was driven to
make a halt by a tearing North-wester of the sort
that is wont to shatter the depths of the woods.
Scarce safe beneath a roof did wc endure the
pitiless rains : the neighbouring country-seat of my
own Albinus was placed at my disposal. Tor my
* Homer in reality does not explain Bellerophon's mis-
anthropy as clue to black bile {u(\ayxo?^ia), though he
describes him as " eating out his heart " (ov dv/xbv KardScov
11. VI. 202). The true reason for his grief was the loss of
his three children.
' The name is preserved in Torre di Vada.
^ The shifting mud-bank is compared with the fabled
Syraplegades of the Euxine, the floating rocks which used
to clash together and rebound.
805
MINOR LATIN POETS
namque meus, quern Roma meo subiunxit honori,
per quem iura meae continuata togae.
non exspectatos pensavit laudibus annos ;
vitae flore puer, sed gravitate senex. 4
mutua germanos iunxit reverentia mores,
et favor alternis crevit amicitiis.
praetulit ille meas, cum vincere posset, habenas ;
at decessoris maior amore fuit.
subiectas villae vacat adspectare salinas ; 4
namque hoc censetur nomine salsa palus,
qua mare terrenis declive canalibus intrat
multifidosque lacus parvula fossa rigat.
ast ubi flagrantes admovit Sirius ignes,
cum pallent herbae, cum sitit omnis ager, 4
tum cataractarum claustris excluditur aequor,
ut fixos latices torrida duret humus,
concipiunt acrem nativa coagula Phoebum,
et gravis aestivo crusta calore coit ;
haud ahter quam cum glacie riget horridus Hister 4
grandiaque adstricto flumine plaustra vehit.
rimetur solitus naturae expendere causas
inque pari dispar fomite quaerat opus :
vincta fluenta gelu concepto sole liquescunt,
et rursus liquidae sole gelantur aquae. 4
^'^ amores Baehrens.
*^' solitas natura VRB : solitus naturae Castalio : solitus
naturam Baehrens.
^8" conspecto VRB et vulgo : concepto Baehrens {cf. 483).
" Albinus succeeded Rutilius as Prefect of the city in
A.D. 414.
* i.e. Albinus had been appointed to high office at a
singularly early age; but, if he fell short of the usual number
of years, he made up for this by his merits.
8o6
RUTILIUS NAMATIANLS
own he was; whom Rome linked to me as successor
in office," in whc^se person my civil jurisdiction
was continued. His merit outweighed years which
had not been waited for : ^ a lad in the bloom of
youth, he had the worth of age. Mutual respect
joined our kindred characters, and regard grew from
the friendship of one for the other. He preferred
that I should hold the reins of power, although he
might have surpassed me : yet his affection for his
predecessor has made him a greater man.
We find time to inspect the salt-pans lying near
the mansion : it is on this score that value is set
upon the salt marsh, where the sea-water, running
down through channels in the land, makes entry,
and a little trench floods the many-parted ponds.
But after the Dog-star has advanced his blazing fires,
Avhen grass turns pale, w^hen all the land is athirst,
then the sea is shut out by the barrier-sluices, so
that the parched ground may solidify the imprisoned
waters. The natural incrustations catch the pene-
trating sun, and in the summer heat the heavy crust
of salt cakes, just as when the wild Danube stiffens
with ice and carries huge wains upon its frost-
bound stream. Let him who is given to weigh
natural causes examine and investigate the different
effect worked in the same material : '^ frost-bound
streams melt on catching the sun, and on the other
hand liquid waters can be hardened ^ in the sun.
"^ fomcs " touchwood " is here " matter," " material," or
" element " ; and virtually " cause " in relation to opus =
"working," " effect." {Cf. note on opus in Aetna, 337, supra
p. 391.)
** i.e. by evaporation salt can be secured from brine.
Compare Lucretius' lines on the baking and the thawing action
of heat, VI. 962-969.
807
MINOR LATIN POETS
o, quam saepe malis generatur origo bonorum !
tempestas dulcem fecit amara moram ;
Victorinus enim, nostrae pars maxima mentis,
congressu explevit mutua vota suo.
errantem Tuscis considere compulit agris 4
et colere externos capta Tolosa Lares,
nee tantum duris nituit sapientia rebus :
pectore non alio prosperiora tulit.
conscius Oceanus virtutum, conscia Thule
et quaecumque ferox arva Britannus arat, t
qua praefectorum vicibus frenata potestas
perpetuum magni faenus amoris habet.
extremum pars ilia quidem discedit in orbem,
sed tamquam media rector in urbe fuit.
plus palmae est illos inter voluisse placere, ^
inter quos minor est displicuisse pudor.
illustris nuper sacrae Comes additus aulae
contempsit summos ruris amore gradus.
hunc ego complexus ventorum adversa fefelli,
dum videor patriae iam mihi parte frui. i
lutea protulerat sudos Aurora iugales :
antemnas tendi litoris aura iubet.
^'2 laus {vel spes) Baehrens. gentLs Barman.
5°^ discessit VRB : discedit Baehrens.
^"^ medio . . . orbe VRB : media . . . urbe 2Iueller,
Baehrens.
" Like Shakespeare's " There is some soul of goodness in
things evil " {King Henry V. Act IV. Sc. i. 1. 4).
* Victorinus, a Gaul like Rutilius (1. 510), had lost his home
in Toulouse owing to its capture by Ataulf, King of the
8o8
RUTILIUS NAMATIANUS
How oft the fount of blcssinijs sprinirs from ills I '*
The hateful weather jirodueed an enjoyable delay ;
for \'ietorinus,^ more than half mv soul, by meeting?
me fulfilled our mutual hopes. The capture of
Tolosa had forced him, a wanderer in the lands of
Etruria, to settle there and dwell in a foreiijn home.
It was not only amid distress that his wisdom shone :
with heart unaltered he could face prosperity.
Well did the Ocean know his merits, well did the
Far North know them, and all the lands the untamed
Briton ploughs, where his self-restrained authority
as a Prefect's deputy '^ has earned him the lasting
interest paid by strong regard. That region is
parted from us far as earth's most distant bound,
but he was its ruler as it might have been in the heart
of Rome. A greater prize it is to have aimed at
popularity with those among whom it is less dis-
credit to be unpopular. Though attached of late
to our revered Court as Right Honourable Count,'^
yet in his passion for country-life he disdained the
highest grades of advancement. Embracing him I
mocked the contrary winds, while I enjoyed already,
methought, a part of my own native land.
Saffron Aurora had brought forward her fair-
weather team : the breeze offshore tells us to haul
Visigoths, in a.d. 41.3 (I. 496). He had been Vicarius for the
Praetorian Prefect of Gaul and as such had exercised authority
in Britain. Though he held the distinction oi Comes lUustris,
he preferred countrj'-life in Etruria to attendance at court.
<^ Vietorinus had been Vicarius Britanniarum: see preced-
ing note.
'' The three classes of Comites lUustres were : (1) in actu
positi, holding office ; (2) vacantcs, on the list for appointment ;
(3) honorarii, merely titular. Vietorinus belonged to the
third class.
809
MINOR LATIN POETS
inconcussa vehit tranquillus aplustria flatus ;
mollia secure vela rudente tremunt.
adsurgit ponti medio circumflua Gorgon 51
inter Pisanum Cyrnaicumque latus.
aversor scopulos, damni monumenta recentis ;
perditus hie vivo funere civis erat.
noster enim nuper iuvenis maioribus amplis,
nee censu inferior coniugiove minor, 52
impulsus furiis homines terrasque reliquit
et turpem latebram credulus exsul adit,
infelix putat illuvie caelestia pasci
seque premit laesis saevior ipse deis.
num, rogo, deterior Circaeis secta venenis? 52
tunc mutabantur corpora, nunc animi.
inde Triturritam petimus : sic villa vocatur,
quae iacet expulsis insula paene fretis.
namque manu iunctis procedit in aequora saxis,
quique domum posuit condidit ante solum. 53'
contiguum stupui portum, quem fama frequentat
Pisarum emporio divitiisque maris,
mira loci facies : pelago pulsantur aperto
inque omnes ventos litora nuda patent ;
non uUus tegitur per bracchia tuta recessus, 53
Aeolias possit qui prohibere minas ;
^^^ conditus Baehrens.
^-2 agit VRB : adit Bunnan : amat Wernsdorf.
^-^ num VB : nuc {sic) R : non Barth.
^-^ latet VRB : iacet Heinsius: -paktetBurTnan: latere A'ee/ie :
late Jluelkr, Baehrens.
532 pulsatur VRB : pulsantur Barth, Baehrens.
" This island, now Gorgona, lies about 22 miles S.W. of
Leghorn. It was long occupied by monks.
* Homer, Odijss. X. 135^05.
8io
RUTILIUS NAMATIANUS
the sail-yards up. Tlie o:entle breath of the wind
carries tlie stern-flttinc^s on without vibration ;
softly flap the sails on rigging free from any strain.
There rises in the midst of the sea the wave-girt
Gorgon " with Pisa and Corsica on either side. I
shun the cliffs, which are memorials of recent
disaster ; here a fellow-countryman met his doom in
a living death. For lately one of our youths of high
descent, with wealth to match, and marriage-
alliance equal to his birth, was impelled by madness
to forsake mankind and the world, and made his
way, a superstitious exile, to a dishonourable hiding-
place. Fancying, poor wretch, that the divine can
be nurtured in unwashen tilth, he was himself to his
own body a crueller tyrant than the offended deities.
Surely, I ask, this sect is not less poAverful than the
drugs of Circe ? ^ In her days men's bodies were
transformed, now 'tis their minds.
From there we make for Triturrita : ^ that is the
name of a residence, a peninsula lying in the wash
of bafiled waves. For it juts out into the sea on
stones which man's hand has put together, and he
who built the house had first to make sure building
ground. I was astonished at the haven close by,
which by report is thronged wath Pisa's merchandise
and sea-borne wealth. The place has a marvellous
appearance. Its shores are buffeted by the open
sea and lie exposed to all the winds : here there are
not sheltering piers to protect any inner harbour-
basin capable of defying the threats of Aeolus.'^
*■ The Villa Triturrita i.s conjccturally placed with the
neighbouring Portus Pisanus (f. ,").'J1, \l. 12) between Leghorn
and the mouth of the Arno, but the coast has been greatly
altered owing to alluvial deposits.
"^ CJ. Virg. Aen. I. 50-91, the Cavern of the Winds.
Sli
MINOR LATIN POETS
sed procera suo praetexitur alga profundo
molliter offensae non nocitura rati,
et tamen insanas cedendo interligat undas
nee sinit ex alto grande volumen agi. 540
tempora navigii clarus reparaverat Eurus ;
sed niihi Protadium visere cura fuit :
quern qui forte velit certis cognoscere signis,
virtutis specimen corde videre putet :
nee magis efficiet siniilem pictura colore 545
quam quae de meritis mixta figura venit.
adspicienda procul certo prudentia vultu,
formaque iustitiae suspicienda micat.
sit fortasse minus, si laudet Gallia civem :
testis Roma sui praesulis esse potest. 550
substituit patriis mediocres Umbria sedes :
virtus fortunam fecit utramque parem.
mens invicta viri pro magnis parva tuetur,
pro parvds animo magna fuere suo.
exiguus regum victores caespes habebat, 555
et Cincinnatos iugera pauca dabant.
haec etiam nobis non inferiora feruntur
vomere Serrani Fabriciique foco.
^•^^ caedendo V, Baekrens : cedendo B : credendo . . .
unda R. interrigat VRB : interligat Castalio : internicat
Baehrens.
^** speciem VRB : specimen Castalio. vidente VRB :
vigente petat Baehrens : petat VB : putat R : videre putet
Heinsiiis.
5»2 utraque V : utictque R,
555 rectores VRB : victores Baehrens.
" Protadius corresponded with Symmachus, from whose
letters we learn that he came from Treves (r/. 549-551). A
8l2
RUTIT.IUS NAMATIANUS
But. friiiging; its own deep-water domain, the tall
sea-weed is like to do no damage to a ship that
strikes it without shoek ; and yet in giving way it
entangles the furious waves and lets no huge roller
surge in from the deep.
A clear South-east wind had brought again the
moment for sailing ; but I was eager to pay a visit
to Protadius : " whoever perchance may wish to
recognise him by sure signs should think in his
heart that he is looking upon a model of goodness :
no painting will ever give a truer portrait of him in
colour than will the image that comes from his
blended excellences. His prudence marked by
steady look is evident even to a distant eye ; the
expression of fair-mindedness shines out, command-
ing respect. This tribute might perhaps be lessened
were it merely that Gaul was praising a fellow-
countryman ; but Rome can bear witness to her
former prefect. Umbria ^ replaced his ancestral
home with but a humble abode : his virtue took
either lot as equal. The man's unvanquished mind
regards small things as great ; for to his spirit great
things once had been but small. A petty farm used
to contain the conquerors of kings, and a few acres
yielded men like Cincinnatus.^ Such contentment
in our view is deemed to fall not short of Serranus'
plough and Fabricius' hearth.^'
learned ofticial, he was the son of an eminent rhetorician
praised by Ausonius for his lectures in Constantinople, Rome
and Bordeaux,
** Either Protadius had some property in Umbria proper,
or •' Umbria " here includes the part of Etruria round Pisa.
•^ For the story see Val. Max. 1V\ iv. 7.
•* Rutilius here echoes Virg. Aen. \'l. .S44.
813
MINOR LATIN POETS
puppibus ergo meis fida in statione locatis
ipse vehor Pisas qua solet ire pedes. o6C
praebet equos, ofFert etiam carpenta tribunus,
ex commilitio carus et ipse niihi,
officiis regerem cum regia tecta magister
armigerasque pii principis excubias.
Alpheae veterem contemplor originis urbem, 565
quam cingunt geminis Arnus et Ausur aquis ;
conum pyramidis coeuntia flumina ducunt :
intratur modico frons patefacta solo ;
sed proprium retinet communi in gurgite nomen,
et pontum solus scilicet Arnus adit. 570
ante diu quam Troiugenas fortuna Penates
Laurentinorum regibus insereret,
Elide deductas suscepit Etruria Pisas,
nominis indicio testificata genus,
hie oblata mihi sancti genitoris imago, 575
Pisani proprio quam posuere foro.
laudibus amissi cogor lacrimare parentis :
fluxerunt madidis gaudia maesta genis.
namque pater quondam Tyrrhenis praefuit arvis,
fascibus et senis credita iura dedit. 580
559 fida VB : tuta R.
5-3 Elide VB : Aulide R.
" The other route would have been by sea to the mouth of
the Arno and then up the river,
^ The tribune had served in the Scholares or Imperial Guard,
who were under the control of Rutilius when Magister
Officiorum at the palace.
•^ Pisa was reputed to have been founded from the Pisa
in Elis, near the river Alpheus {cf. 573-574).
814
RUTILIUS NAMATIANUS
So then 1 moor iiiv ships in the safe anchorage,
and myself drive to Pisa by the road the wayfarer
^oes afoot.'* I get horses and the ofter of carriages
too from a tril)une personally endeared to me through
former comradeship.^ when as Master of Household
Duties I was controller of the palace and of the pious
emperor's armed guard. I scan the ancient city of
Alphean origin/" which the Arno and the Ausur gird
with their twin waters; at their junction the rivers
form the cone of a pyramid : the opening front
offers access on a narrow tongue of land ; '^ but 'tis
the Arno that retains its own name in the united
stream, and in truth the Arno alone arrives at the
sea. Long time ere fortune could enrol the house
of Trojan birth among Laurentum's royal line,*"
Etruria welcomed Pisa as a colony from Elis,
witnessing its origin by the evidence of its name.
Here was shown to me the statue of my revered
father,/ erected by the Pisans in their market-place.
The honour done to my lost parent made me weep :
tears of a saddened joy wet my cheeks with their
flow. For my father once Avas governor of the land
of Tuscany and administered the jurisdiction as-
signed to the six fasces.^ After he had passed
** Those coming up-stream would face the apex of the
triangle formed by the union of the two rivers, and by this
tongue of land those going inland would enter on the opening
" frons," the narrow strip gradually expanding into a broad
front.
* The claim implies that Pisa was founded before Aeneas
arrived in Italy.
f The name of Rutilius' father was Lachanius, I. 595.
' The arva are identical with the proviy\cia of I. 597. Six
fasces were the insignia of the office of Consularis Tusciae
el Umbriae. A consul in Rome had twelve fasces : rf. Laus
Pisonisj 70 {supra, p. 300).
815
MINOR LATIN POETS
narrabat, niemini, niultos eniensus honores
Tuscorum regimen plus placuisse sibi ;
nam neque opum curam, quamvis sit magna, sacrarum
nee ius quaestm-ae grata fuisse magis ;
ipsam, si fas est, postponere praefecturam 5^
pronior in Tuscos non dubitabat amor,
nee fallebatur, tarn carus et ipse probatis :
aeternas grates mutua cm'a canit ;
constantemque sibi pariter mitemque fuisse
insinuant natis qui meminere senes. 5t
ipsum me gradibus non degenerasse parentis
gaudent, et duplici sedulitate fovent.
haec eadem, cum Flaminiae regionibus irem,
splendoris patrii saepe reperta fides :
famam Lachanii veneratur numinis instar 5£
inter terrigenas Lydia tota suos.
grata bonis priscos retinet provincia mores
dignaque rectores semper habere bonos,
qualis nunc Decius, Lucilli nobile pignus,
per Coryti populos arva beata regit. 6C
nee mirum, magni si redditus indole nati
felix tarn simili posteritate pater.
" Rutilius' father had been Count of the Sacred Largesses,
Quaestor, and City Prefect.
* The praefedura here is that of the Cit}^ Prefect, not of
the Praetorian Prefect. Rutilius is apologetic {si fas est)
over the idea of preferring any dignity to the prefecture of
the august city of Rome.
'^ Canit here implies laudatory lines on the base of the statue
rather than actual song.
'^ The regions in mind were Umbrian and Tuscan districts
lying not far ofE the line of the great northern road from
Rome.
* Lydia here means Etruria, which according to one ancient
account was settled from Lydia in Asia Minor.
8l6
RUTILIUS NAMATIANUS
tliroiigh many ortices," he used to tell, I ean recall,
that his £fovernorship of Tuseaiiy had been more to
liis liking- than any : for neither the management of
the Sacred Largesses, important though it he, nor
the authority of a quaestor had brought him more
pleasure. His affection, inclining more towards
the Tuscans, did not hesitate to give an inferior
place, if piety lets it be said, even to his prefecture
in Rome.^ Nor was he mistaken, being an equal
favourite with those whom he esteemed : their
mutual regard inscribes in verse undying gratitude, '^
and old men who can remember him make known
to their sons how firm of purpose he was and at the
same time how kindly. They are glad that I myself
have not fallen off from my parent's honours, and
eagerly give me a warm welcome for his sake and
for my own. Often as I traversed the lands near
the Flaminian Way ^ I have found the same proof of
my father's renown ; the whole of Lydia ^ worships
Lachanius'/ fame like some divinity among the
natives of her soil. A favourite with the good, this
province keeps its old-world ways and deserves
always to have good governors, like Decius, the
noble offspring of Lucillus,^ who among the peoples
of Corytus '' rules o'er these happy lands. Small
wonder it is that the sire, reproduced in the character
of his great son, feels blest in a descendant so like
^ The fact that the name Lachanius does not occur elsewhere
is not enough to justify Burman's substitution of Laecanius.
^ Rutilius is our sole source of information about Decius,
who was Consularis Ttisciae et Umbriae in a.d. 41(5, and about
his father, whose satiric powers are compared to those of
Juvenal and Turnus.
* Corytus or Corythus (now Cortona) is here used for Etruria,
as being one of its ancient towns.
817
3g
MINOR LATIN POETS
huius vulnificis satira ludente Camenis
nee Turnus potior nee luvenalis erit.
restituit vetereni censoria lima pudoreni ; 6(
dumque nialos earpit, praecipit esse bonos.
non olim sacri iustissimus arbiter auri
circimisistentes reppulit Harpyias ? —
Harpyias, quarum diseerpitur unguibus orbis,
quae pede glutineo quod tetigere trahunt, 61
quae luscum faciunt Argum, quae Lyncea caecum,
inter custodes publica furta volant ;
sed non Lucillum Briareia praeda fefellit,
totque simul manibus restitit una manus.
iamque Triturritam Pisaea ex urbe reversus 61
aptabam nitido pendula vela Noto,
cum subitis tectus nimbis insorduit aether ;
sparserunt radios nubila rupta vagos.
substitimus. quis enim sub tempestate maligna
insanituris audeat ire fretis ? 62
otia vicinis terimus navalia silvis,
sectandisque iuvat membra movere feris.
instrumenta parat venandi villicus hospes
atque olidum doctas nosse cubile canes,
funditur insidiis et rara fraude plagarum 62
terribilisque cadit fulmine dentis aper,
603 livente Baehrens.
®^2 custodes VRB (custodum •£• in marg. V). volant
VRB : vorant Baehrens.
" Huius applies to LuciUus, not to his son. Tumus, though
a satirist, succeeded in surviving under Domitian {vet. schoL
on Juvenal I. 20; Martial XI, x, contulit ad saturas ingentia
pectora Turnus). Juvenal belonged to the next generation.
Two lines of Tumus (one unintelligible) are given in Morel,
Fragrn. Poet. Lat. p. 134.
8l8
llUTILirS XA MAT! ANUS
himself. His satire, sportive in its mordant poetry,
neither Turniis nor Juvenal " shall surpass. The
censorious file lias restored old-fashioned modesty :
in attacking: the bad, it teaches to he eood. Did not
that most upriaht dispenser of the Sacred I.argess
repel in his day the Harpies who gathered round it ? ^
— Harpies, whose claws rend asunder the world, their
sticky talons dragging off whatever they touch ;
creatures M'ho make Argus one-eyed and Lynceus
blind ; *■ public thieves,^ they flit among the
guardians ; but their hundred-handed pillaging did
not escape Lucillus. whose single hand checkmated
all their hands together.
And now returning from Pisa's city to Triturrita,
I was setting the hanging sails to a clear Southern
wind, when the skv turned foul under a sudden
pall of rain-clouds ; the cloven rack scattered its
vagrant lightnings. We stopped ; who 'neath a
spiteful storm would dare to go on seas which
threatened madness ? The respite from our voyage
we spend in the neighbouring forests, delighted
to exercise our limbs in the pursuit of game. Our
innkeeper supplies the implements for the chase,
and hounds trained to discover a strongly scented
lair. By means of an ambush and the snare of wide-
meshed nets a boar, though terrifying in the flash
of his tusks, is overthrown and falls — such a one as
* i.e. as Comes Sacrarum Largitionuni, Lucillus balked the
greedy " Harpies " in their designs upon public money.
' Their pccidations are so smart that Argus of the hundred
eyes would seem to have only one eye to watch them with,
while the keen-eyed Lynceus would seem to be blind.
^ publica furta, abstract for concrete, means the plundering
Harpies : custodes means the Catnites Sacrarum Largitionum.
819
3g 2
MINOR LATIN POETS
queni Meleagrei vereantiir adire lacerti,
qui laxet nodos Amphitryoniadae.
turn responsuros persultat bucina colles,
fitque reportando carmine praeda levis.
interea niadidis non desinit Africus alis
continuos picea nube negare dies,
iam matutinis Hyades occasibus udae :
iam latet hiberno conditus imbre Lepus,
exiguum radiis sed magnis fluctibus astrum,
quo madidam nullus navita linquit hunium ;
namque procelloso subiungitur Oarioni
aestiferumque Canem roscida praeda fugit.
vidimus excitis pontum flavescere harenis
atque eructato vertice rura tegi ;
qualiter Oceanus mediis infunditur agris,
destituenda vago cum premit arva salo,
sive alio refluus nostro colliditur orbe
sive corusca suis sidera pascit aquis.
*^° reportando V : reportanda RB : reportanti Casta! io :
reportantum Heinsius, Baehrens.
^^'^ diem Baehrens.
^*^ alto Baehrens.
820
RUTILIUS NAMATIANUS
MclcaiTor" of the strong shoulders might dread
to approaeh, such a one as would slacken the joints
of Hercules. Then mid the echoino- hills leap the
notes of the bugle-horn, and singing makes the booty-
light in carrying back.
Meanwhile the South-west wind on drij^ping wings
fails not by means of pitch-black clouds to deny us
day after day. 'Tis now the season ^ when the
watery Hyades are at their morning setting, and
now the Hare is buried and hidden by the winter's
rain — a constellation of scanty beams but cause of
mighty waves : no sailor puts out from the land
which it has soaked ; for it is closely linked to stormy-
Orion, and the dew-drenched prey flees from the
heat-fraught Dog-star. We saw the sea yellowing
with the disturbance of the sands and pastures
covered with the scum it has belched forth, even as
the Ocean pours into the midst of fields, when under
errant brine it whelms the lands from which it must
ebb ; whether the truth be that back-flowing from
another world '^ it dashes against this world of ours,
or that with its own waters it feeds the twinkling;
stars.
" ileleager, son of Oeneus and Althaea (see II. 53), took
part in the famous Calydonian boar-hunt.
^ A wet and stormy period of tlie j-ear coincides with the
setting of the Hyades in morninc; twilight (late November)
and with the setting of the Hare (early November). The
Hare is near the left foot of Orion, and flees as a " dew-
drenched prey " (638) before the burning Dogs-tar, 8irius.
<■ Alio orbe means the moon. Of the two theories here
suggested regarding the cause of tides, the second refers
to an ancient belief that sun and stars were fed on the waters
of the ocean.
821
MINOR LATIN POETS
LIBER SECUNDUS
Nondum longus erat nee multa volumina passus,
iure suo poterat longior esse liber :
taedia continuo tiniui incessura labori,
simiere ne lector iuge paveret opus,
saepe cibis affert serus fastidia finis,
gratior est modicis haustibus unda siti :
intervalla viae fessis praestare videtur
qui notat inscriptus milia crebra lapis,
partimur trepidum per opuscula bina ruborem,
quern satius fuerat sustinuisse semel.
tandem nimbosa maris obsidione solutis
Pisano portu contigit alta sequi.
arridet placidum radiis crispantibus aequor,
et sulcata levi murmurat unda sono.
incipiunt Appennini devexa videri,
qua fremit aerio monte repulsa Thetis.
Italiam rerum dominam qui cingere visu
et totam pariter cernere mente velit,
inveniet quernae similem procedere frondi,
artatam laterum conveniente sinu.
^ timuit cessura VR (censura Mueller : sessura i.e.
haesura Baehrens in not.) : timui incessura Purser, Keene.
" i.e. the parchment had not been rolled to a great extent
round its stick.
^ One long book might prove too wearisome : hence the
author thinks it advisable to begin a second book. The tone
suggests that Book II either was actually or was intended
to be much longer than it now is.
822
RUTILIIS NAMATIANUS
BOOK 11
My book liad not yet grown too long nor under-
gone many windings of its scroll ; '^ in its own right
it might have been longer : but I feared weariness
would come upon continuous toil — feared lest my
reader should shrink from handling an undivided
work.'' Ofttimes the late-delayed end of a feast
brings distaste for viands : water in moderate
draughts is the more welcome to thirst : the stone
that by its lettering marks the many miles seems to
aftbrd the tired wayfarer some breaks upon the road.
Between two booklets I divide my nervous modesty '^
which it had been better to have faced once only.
Freed at last from the stormy blockade of the sea,
we had the fortune to make for the deep from Pisa's
harbour. Calm smiles the surface of the waters
as the sunbeams glitter : the furrowed wave whispers
with gentle plash. The Apennine slopes heave in
sight where Thetis ^ chafes at her repulse by a wind-
swept promontory.
He who would embrace in his view Italy, the queen
of the world, and form at once a mental picture of
the whole land, will find that she extends in shape
like an oak leaf,*^^ contracted by the converging
indentation of her sides. In length the distance
' i.e. the blushing diffidence of a modest author is spread
over two books instead of one. He ought, he feels, to have
boldly met his qualms of modesty and concentrated on a
single book : he now has to meet them over again.
^ Thetis, as a sea-goddess, is a metonymy for the sea.
Beyond Pisa spurs of the Apennines run out into a lofty
headland.
' Cf. Plin. X.H. III. 43, referring to Italy as folio mazitne
qutrno adsimilata.
823
MINOR LATIN POETS
milia per longum deciens centena teruntur
a Ligurum terris ad freta Sicaniae ;
in iatum variis damnosa anfractibus intrat
Tyrrheni rabies Hadriacique sali.
qua tamen est iuncti maris angustissima tellus, 25
triginta et centum milia sola patet.
diversas medius mons obliquatur in undas, I
qua fert atque refert Phoebus uterque diem :
urget Dalmaticos eoo vertice fluctus
caerulaque occiduis frangit Etrusca iugis. 30
si factum certa mundum ratione fatemur
consiliumque dei machina tanta fuit,
excubiis Latiis praetexuit Appenninum
claustraque montanis vix adeunda viis.
invidiam timuit Natura parumque putavit 35
Arctois Alpes opposuisse minis,
sicut vallavit multis vitalia membris
nee semel inclusit quae pretiosa tulit :
iam turn multiplici meruit munimine cingi
sollicitosque habuit Roma futura deos. 40
quo magis est facinus diri Stilichonis acerbum,
proditor arcani quod fuit imperii.
^* feris Schroder : suis Baehrens : viis VRB.
*- quod VRB : qui vulgo.
" A Roman mile was 143 j-ards less than an English mile,
so that 1000 Roman miles are approximate!}' equal to 918
English miles. This estimate of Italy's length is virtually
that of Pliny, loc. cit. (1020 miles). But the length in a straight
line from the Simplon to Cape Lucca is about 700 miles.
Rutilius, as the phrase milia teruntur shows (c/. ierere viam),
is calculating, like Pliny, by the roads usually travelled.
* In Calabria, which is, however, merely the " toe " of Italy,
the peninsula is only about 20 miles wide ; but Rutilius follows
824
RUTILIUS NAMAIIANUS
by road is one of a thousand miles ° from the Ligurian
territories to the Sicilian straits : on her breadth the
destructive fury of the Tuscan and of the Adriatic
main makes entry in varied winding curves ; but where
the land is narrowest between the neiijriibouring seas
it stretches merely one hundred and thirty miles. '^
The central mountain-chain slopes towards the sun-
dered billows where the rising and the setting Sun-
god brings and withdraws the day : its eastern peaks
beset the Dalmatian waves, and its western spurs
cleave the blue Tuscan waters. If we acknowledge
that the world was made on a definite plan and if
this great fabric was a god's design, then as a pro-
tective fringe for our Latin outposts he wove the
Apennines, barriers scarce approachable by mountain
paths. Nature feared men's jealousy (of Italy)
and thought it scant defence to put the Alps in
Northern invaders' way, just as she has fenced with
many limbs our vital parts and placed more than
one covering around the precious works she has
produced. Even then the Rome that was to be
deserved her encirclement of manifold bulwarks
and had gods who thought anxiously for her.
Wherefore more bitter is the crime of cursed
Stilicho <^ in that he was betrayer of the Empire's
Plinv's estimate of 136 miles from the Adriatic across country
to Ostia {X.H. III. 44).
' For the career of Stilicho, ending with his discrrace and
death in a.d. 408, see Gibbon's Decline and Fall and Hodgkin's
Itali/ and Her Invaders. His victories over Alaric at Pollentia
in 403 and over Radagaisus in 40.5 did not save him from
charges of treasonable collusion with the barbarians. His
ambition incurred relentless enmity. While the prose-writers
Zosimus and Orosius take, like Kutilius, an unfavourable
view of his character, Claudian is emphatic in his praises.
825
MINOR LATIN POETS
Romano generi dum nititur esse superstes,
crudelis summis miscuit ima furor ;
dumque timet quicquid se fecerat ipse timeri,
immisit Latiae barbara tela neci :
visceribus nudis armatum condidit hostem,
illatae f cladis liberiore dolo.
ipsa satellitibus pellitis Roma patebat
et captiva prius quam caperetur erat.
nee tantum Geticis grassatus proditor armis :
ante Sibyllinae fata cremavit opis.
odimus Althaeam consumpti funere torris ;
Nisaeum crinem flere putatur avis,
at Stilicho aeterni fatalia pignora regni
et plenas voluit praecipitare colos.
omnia Tartarei cessent tormenta Neronis ;
consumat Stygias tristior umbra faces,
hie immortalem, mortalem perculit ille ;
hie mundi matrem perculit, ille suam.
*^ illato Baehrens : Iliacae cladis deteriore d. /. S. Reid.
" By letting Alaric enter Italy (II. 46), Stilicho had revealed
the ' ' secret " that the barbarians could invade the empire with
immunity.
* The motive suggested for Stilicho's treachery is that he
intended, by the ruin of the Roman race, to further his own
interests : he counted on outliving the devastation of Italy.
^ The implication is that, though he had made himself
feared through his influence with the Goths, he is now afraid
of them.
^ The phrasing is difficult. If accepted, it seems to mean
that it was safer for Stilicho to employ against Italy a secret
pact with the Goths than a military invasion. But if the
ablat. of comparison usually supphed with liberiore is dis-
pensed with, the sense might be " with the over-bold fraud
of ruin inflicted."
^ Ovid and Claudian apply " pellitus " to the Goths.
826
RUTILIUS NAMATIANUS
secret." As he strove to live longer than the Roman
race,^ his cruel frenzy turned the ^vorld upside down,
and, while fearing that wherein he had made himself
formidable,'^ he let loose the arms of the barbarians
to the death of Latium : he plunged an armed foe
in the naked vitals of the land, his craft being freer
from risk than that of openly inflicted disaster.'^
Even Rome lay exposed to his skin-clad menials ^ —
captive ere she could be captured. Nor was it
only through Gothic arms that the traitor made his
attack : ere this he burned the ftiteful books
which brought the Sibyl's aid./ We hate Althaea
for the death which came of the brand she gave
to the flames ; ^ birds, so the fancy runs, weep for
Nisus' lock.'' But it was Stilicho's will to hurl to
ruin the eternal empire's fate-fraught pledges
and distaffs still charged with destinies. Let every
torment of Nero in Tartarus now halt ; let an even
more miserable ghost consume the Stygian torches.*
Stilicho's victim was immortal, Nero's was mortal;
the one destroyed the world's mother, the other his
■^ Rutilius is the sole authority for the allegation that
Stilicho burned the Sibylline books which the Romans con-
sulted in times of crisis. Their destruction thus preceded
the fall of Rome by only a few years.
" Althaea caused the death of her son Meleager by burning
the magical firebrand on which his life depended : cf. note on
Pentadius I. {Dc Fortuna) 21-22, supra p. 545.
* Sc^dla caused the death of her father Xisus by depriving
him of the purple lock on which his life depended : see the
Ciris in the Appendix Vergiliana : cf. crinem Nisi, Nemes.
Cyn. 44.
* i.e. Stilicho should suffer under the torches of the Furies
even more horrible punishment than that inflicted upon the
matricide Nero in Tartarus.
827
MINOR LATIN POETS
sed deverticulo fuimus fortasse loquaces :
carmine propositum iam repetamus iter,
advehimur celeri candentia moenia lapsu :
nominis est auctor Sole corusca soror.
indigenis superat ridentia lilia saxis,
et levi radiat picta nitore silex.
dives marmoribus tellus, quae luce coloris
provocat Intactas luxuriosa nives.
^2 propositum V : preposito R : proposito B.
828
RUTILIUS NAMATIANUS
But in this digression we have perhaps been
garrulous : let us now resume in verse the voyage
we had set ourselves. On swiftly gliding course
we bear towards white glittering walls : the sister
who draws her radiance from the Sun is the bestower
of the city's name." In the colour of its native
rocks it surpasses smiling lilies, and the stone flashes
bedecked in polished radiance. Rich in marble, it is
a land which, revelling in its white light, challenges
the virgin snows.
" With this alhision to the town of Luna and the brief
glance at its marble quarries, the poem, as we have it, ends
abruptly.
829
INDEX
OF PROPER NOUNS AND ADJECTIVES
The numbers refer to pages of the iMtin text: adj. = adjective.
Acantliis,276
Acaman, 168
Achaemenius, 182
Achaia, 202
Achilles, 308, 414
Acidalius (adj.), 3(i2
Acragas, 202
Acrisius (adj.), 578
Actius(= ApoUo), 124
Adonis, 156, 470, 526
Adriacus (adj.), 490 : see also
" Ha<iriacus "
Aeacus, 364
Aeetes, 130
Aegon, 276
Aegyptus, 662
Aenaria, 398
Aeneadae, 768
Aeneas, 778
Aeneius (adj.), 312
Aeolius (adj.), 154, 810
Aeolus, 656
Aesopus, 680
Aetna, 358, 364, 366, 374, 376, 380,
388, 390, 394, 396, 400, 410, 416
Aetnaeus (adj.), 202, 362, 384, 400.
536
Aetolus (adj.), 168
Africa, 776
Africus (sc. ventus), 262, 820
Agamemnonius (adj.), 328
Agenoreus (adj.). 786
XgyUa,, 782
Alabandius (adj.), 154
Alanus, 446
Albinus, 778, 804: see note h, 778
Alcides, 126, 770
Alcippe, 238
Alcon, 268, 270, 464, 468, 470
Alexis, 250
Allia, 774
Aloides, 128
Alpes, 200, 824
Alphesiboeus, 234
Alpheus (adj.), 814
Alsius (adj.), 782.
Althaea, 826
Altinas (adj.). 162
Amaryllis, 246
Amor (personified), 128, 432, 524,
534, 538, 540, 542
Amphinomus, 418
Amphitryoniades, 820
Amphora (personified), 746
Amyclae, 100
Amyntas, 244, 250, 472, 482
Ancaeus, 156
Antiphat«s, 798
Aonius (adj.), 124, 308, 484
Ap(p)enuinus (sc. mons), 514, 822, 824
ApoUineus (adj.), 308, 634
Apollo, 244, 248, 250, 270, 278,
284, 328, 334, 428, 456, 462, 468,
470, 680, 716 : see also " Ac-
tius," " Castalius," " Cynthius,"
" Phoebus," " Sol," " Titan "
Aquilo, 394, 802
Arabs, plur. Arabes, 488, 656, 662
Arar, 490
Arcadius (adj.), 100
Arctos, 492
Arctous (adj.), 824
Aremoricus, 782
Arethusa, 540
Argentarius (jr. mons), 792
Argo, 130
Argolicus, 300
831
INDEX
Argus, 818
Amus, 814
Assyrius (aJj.), 656, 770
Astacus, 226
Astra^a, 332
Astvlides, 172
Astylus, 270, 274
Athamania. 168
Athenae, 412
Atlantiacus, (adj.), 250
At rides (= Menelaus), 298
Attici, 680
Augustus, 124, 130
(adj.), 250
Aurelius (adj.), 766
Aurora, 130, 132, 432, 652, 782, 808
Ausonius (adj.), 312, 314
Auster, 194, 384, 394, 706, 781
Ausur, 814
Azorus, 168
B
Babrius, 682
BabTlon, 492
Bacoheus (adj.). 248
Bacchus (God of Wine) 126, 332, 358,
426, 466, 468, 472, 486, 502 : see
also " Bromius," "lacchus,"
" Lenaeus," "Liber," " Lvaeus "
(= wine), 618
(statue of), 716
Baetis, 246
BeUerophonteus (adj.), 804
BeUona, 222, 542
Biblis : see " Byblis "
Bisaltes (sc. equus), 202
Biturix (adj.), 794
Boeotius (adj.), 172
Bootes, 380
Boreas, 374, 508, 68S, 698, 724, 79S
Borysthenes, 446
Brennus, 774
Briareius (adj.), 818
Britanni, 166, 426
Britannia, 504
Britannus (sing, noun), 808
(adj.), 168
Bromius (= Bacchus), 254
Brut(t)ius (adj.), 264
Bubastius (adj.), 154
Busiris, 544
Bybliades, 532
Bvblis vel Biblis, 486, 540
Byblos, 526, 530
C
Cadmus, 488
Caeretanus (adj.), 782
Caesar (= Augustus), 120, 122, 130.
134, 136
(= Hadrian), 426
(= Julius), 224
(= Xero), 250, 252, 256
Caesareus (adj.), 254, 300, 326, 330,
446, 790
CaUaecus (adj.), 200
Calliope, 300, 434, 486, 634
CaUirhoe, 236
Calpe, 506
Calpurnius (adj.), 294
Calpus, 294
Calrdonia, 170
Camenae, 238, 246, 818
Camilli, 182
Campus (sc. Martius), 698
Canace, 540
Cancer, 498
Canis (= Dog-star), 820
Canopus, 154
Canthus, 258, 268
Cappadox (adj.), 504
Capraria, 802
Carinus, 492
Carus, 490
Castalius (= Apollo), 484
Castor, 776
Castrum, 782
Cato, 428
Catulus, 790
Caudinus (adj.), 200
Caurinus (adj.), 180
Caurus vel Corns, 192, 804
Cecropius (adj.), 302, 412
Celtae (sc. canes), 166
Centumcellae, 784
Ceraimus, 202
Cerealis (adj.), 500
Ceres (as Com-Goddess), 25 1
(=: food), 188, 498
Chalybes, 794
Chaonius (adj.)? 202
Chaos, 542
Charis, pliir. Charites, 528, 538
Chelae, 780
Chius (adj.), 232
Chrysocome, 550
Cicero, 296
Cincinnati, 812
Cinyphius (adj.), 154, 702
Circaeus (adj.), 810
832
INDEX
Circe, 488
Circciises, 780
C'irrha vd Cyrrba, 202
Cirrhaeus (adj.), 652
dementia (iiersonitied), 222
Clio, 434, 1)34
Cnosis vel (Inosis (= Ariadne), 544
Cole hi, 360
Colchis (= Medea) 130, 414, 488, 540,
542
Conies, 808
Corsa, 802
Corsica, 802
Corns, 804 : see " Caurus "
Corvcius (adj.), 132
Corvdon, 218, 244, 248, 250, 278, 284
Corrtus, 816
Cosa, 788, 790
Cresius (adj.), 252
Creta, 172
Crocale, 226, 230, 232
Cuniae, 398
Cupido (= Cupid), 524, 52C, 528, 532,
534, 538, 538 : see also " Amor "
(= Desire sc. opitm), 650
Curac (personified), 650
Cnreticus (adj.), 252
Curia, 222, 764
Cyaneus (adj.), 130
Cyclopes, 362
Cyclopius (adj.), 526
Cycnus, 488
Cylleneus (adj.), 654
Cynicus, 566
Cynthius (= Apollo), 326
Cynthos, 358
Cypris(= Venus), 432, 526, 530, 534,
536
Cymaeus (adj.), 802
Cymaicus (adj.), 810
CVrrha vel Cirrha, 202
Cyrus, 182
Cythere (= Venus), 524, 538
Cytherea (= Venus), 530^ 776
Daedalus, 544
Dalniaticus (adj.), 824
Danae, 366, 560
Danaus, 486
Daphnis, 234
December, 232
Decius, 816
Delos, 358
MINOR LATIN POETS
Delphicus (adj.), 680
Deo (= Deniotor), 468
Dercylos, 160
Deucalioneus (adj.), 650
Diana, 150, 152, 16(i, 162, 198
Dianius (frtf;.), 176
Dictaeus (adj.), 252
Didon(= Dido), 540
Diogenes, 566
Diomedes, 128
Dione, 468, 558
Dirce, 486
Dis (= Pluto), 158, 342, 364, 376, 540,
560 : see " Pluton "
Ditis(= Dis), 418
Dodone, 358
Donace, 464, 466, 468, 470
Doricus (adj.), 560
Dorylas, 234
Drusus, 134
Drvades, 226, 466, 494
Dryas, 548
E
Echo, 462, 494, 548
Egestas (personified), 650
Eleus (adj.), 200
Elis,814
Emathius (adj.), 124
Encelados, 364
Eous (sc. ventus), 546
(adj.), 124, 164
(= morning-star), 802
Ephyreius (adj.), 792
Erato, 434, 634
Erigone, 412
Eriphyla, 578
Erymanthus, 126
Eryx, 468
Etruria, 814
Etruscus (arfj.), 120, 446, 824: see
aUo "Tuscus," " Tvrrlienus "
Euboicus (adj.), 302, 784
Euhadne vel Evadne, 540
Europa vel Europe, 366
Eurotas, 412
Eurus, 228, 374, 388, 478, 546 812
Eurydice, 542
Euterpe, 434, 634
Erperientia (personified), 102
Exuperantios, 782
Fabricii, 812
Faleria, 796
3h
^32>
INDEX
Falisci, 154
Fames (personified), 650
Fatum, 184
T&wiiQplur.), 470, 474
Faunus, 152, 218, 220, 226, 248, 254,
260, 324, 456, 784
Flaccus (= Horace), 680
Flaminia {sc. via), 816
Flora, 228, 462, 660
Floras, 444
Fortuna (as Goddess), 38, 40, 42, 46,
58, 64, 84, 94, 104, 608, 614, 616,
620, 622, 694, 696, 700, 802
as " luck,' ' passim
Foram, 224, 592, 782
Furiae, 186, 504
Furor (personified), 650
Gaetulus (adj.), 690
Galli, 782
(sc. canes), 168
Gallia, 812
Galiicus (adj.), 766
Ganges, 182
Ganymedeus (adj.), 306
Garganus, 200
Gelonus (adj.), 166, 170
Tienius (sc. Komae), 764
Gerron, 246
Getae, 776, 794
Opticus (adj.), 766, 826
Gigantes, 362, 376
Glauce, 488
Glyceranus, 330
Glympicus (adj.), 172
Gnosis : see " Gnosis ' '
Gnosius vel Cnosius (adj.), 306
Gorgon, 810
Gradivus, 524, 534, 538
Graecia, 182, 302, 504, 772
Graecus (adj.), 680, 682
Graii, 202, 786
Grains (adj), 314, 414, 506, 654, 802
Gratia, 526, 528, 530
Graviscae, 788
H
Hadriacus vel Adriacus (adj.), 490,
824
Haemonius (adj.), 154
Hagnon, 172, 174
Hannibal, 774
Harpyiae, 818
Hebras, 162
Hector, 414
Helice, 156, 380
Helicon, 328, 484, 786
Helle, 544
Heraclitus, 408
Hercules, 788
Herculeus (adj.), 488
Hermus, 562
Hesperius (a<f;.), 776
Hesperos vel Hesperas, 132, 380, 470
Hibenis (adj.), 504
Hippolytus, 544
Hipponius (adj.), 192
Hispanus (adj.), 154, 200
Hister, 806
Homeras, 780, 804
Horatius 314 : see " Flaccus "
Hyades, 820
Hyblaeus (adj.), 248
Hydra, 128
Hyla, 358
Hyrcanus (adj.), 166, 170
lacchus (= Bacchus), 476
lanus, 494
Idaeus (adj.), 128, 152
Idas, 226, 230, 464, 468, 470
IgUiutn, 792
Ignipotens (= Vulcan), 536
Iliacus (adj.), 330
Ilva(= Elba), 794
Indi, 126
India, 656
Inuus, 784
lo, 488
loUas, 236, 242, 248, 276, 478, 480
lonius (adj.), 792
Ira (personified), 650
Iris, 660, 772
Isthmos, 792
Italia, 204, 822
Itys, 546
Iuda«a, 798
ludaeus (= a Jew), 798
luli (plur.), 222
lunonius (adj.), 704
luppiter (as the god Jupiter or Jove\
128, 134, 250, 252, 256, 362, 36 1,
366, 376, 382, 410, 472, 476, 52 1,
542, 688, 694, 702, 704, 714, 716 :
see " Pater ' '
(esp. as sky-god), 262, 390, 416
INDEX
luvenalis, 818
Ixion, 300
Kalcndae, 232
Laoedaemonius (adj.), It'.o, i'.n
Lachanius, 81G
Lailas, 320
I^tdon. 218
Lacrtiades, 298
I>ar, 250
Lares, 200. 788, 8')8
Latialis (adj.), 222
I^tinitas, 080, 082
I.Atium, 154
Latius iadj.\ 152, 704, 770, 790, 824,
820
Latoua, 492
Laurent ini, 814
Lechaeus {adj.), 172
Leda, 360, 544
Leiiaeus(= Bacchus), 472
Leo, 502
Lepidi, 790
liepidus, 790
Lepus, 820
Leuce, 218
Liber (= Bacchus), 190, 364, 428
Libya vel Libye, 482, 504, 510, 708
Lifiycus (adj.), 158
Lisriires, 824
Liizuriiius (adj.), 200
Linus, 458
Livia, 138
LoUius, 120
Lucauia, 102
Lucanus (adj.), 278
• (the poet), 604
Lucifer, 132, 380, 558, 568
Lucillus, 816, 818
Lucina, 334
Luctus (personified), 650
Lyaeus (= Bacchus), 474
—I — (= wine), 720
Lycaeus (adj.), 254
Lvcaones (sc. canes). 160
Lvcidas, 234, 230, 238, 240, 242, 268,
"270, 274, 276, 478
Lycius (adj.), 162
Lycotas, 272, 278, 282
Lycurgus, 412
Lvdia (in Asia Minor), 182
-1— (= Etruria), 816
Lydia (= Omphale), 128
Lynceus, 818
M
Maccr, 602
Macetes (Macedonians), 102, 770
Maecenas, 12(i, 13<t, 134, 136, 312, 314
Maenalides, 332
Maenalius (adj.), 152, 472, 470
Maenala, 781
Maenalus, 100
Maeonides, 328
Maeonius (adj.), 312
Mantua, 33n
Mareoticus(a<//.), 180
Marmaricus (adj.), 482
Maro (Virfril), 778 : see " Verprilius "
Mars (as god), 124, 284, 364, 524, 520,
528, 530, 532, 534, 536, 604, 768, 796
(= war), 166, 2(J0, 222, 790
Martins (adj.), 334, 380
Massica (sc. vina), 196
Mater, Magna (= Tellus), 342, 346,
364
Mauri, 246
Maurusius (adj.), 506
Mavors, 108, 524, 530, 532, 538
Mavortius (adj.), 184
Mazax, 5iJ6
Medi, 770
Medus (sc. canis), 106
Meleagreus (adj.), 820
Mehboeus, 220, 244, 246, 250, 256,
458, 400, 462
Melitensius (ad/.), 190
Melpomene, 434, 634
Menalcas, 244
Meroe, 478, 480, 482, 484
Messal(l)a, 786
Metus (personified), 650
Micon, 258, 276, 472
Mida(s), 324
Minerva, 412
Mmois, 360
Minoius (adj.), 544
Minos, 364
Mnasyllus, 272, 270
Molossus (adj.), 108, 170, 494, 504
Mopsus, 230, 238, 24U, 242, 276, 466,
478
Morbi (personified), 650
Morini, 160
Mors (personified), 620, 636, 050, 654
Munio, 788
Musa, 248
3h2
835
INDEX
Musa (= music or poetry), 560
Musae, 246, 274, 434, 460, 462, 492,
524, 634, 786
Mutinensis (adj.), 790
Mrcale, 484
Mycenae, 200, 328, 488
Myron, 414
Mvrrha, 486, 540
Mystes, 330
N
Xaiades, 466, 494
Naides, 152, 226
Xais (si7ig.), 248, 254
Napaeae (nymphs of the dell), 466
Narcissus, 550
Xasamonia, 200
Xaso(= Ovid), 604
Natura (personified), 528, 576, 614,
622, 652, 732, 824
Xeapolis, 302, 398
Xebrodes, 202
Xecessitas (as goddess), 72, 74, 76
Xemea, 126
Xeptunus, 56, 542
Xereides, 508
Xerelus (adj.), 308
Xereus, 508
Xerinus (adj.), 482
Xero, 826
Xestor, 132, 134
Xestoreus (adj.), 300
Xiliacus (adj.), 124
XUus, 124, 492, 776
Xiobe, 486
Nisaeus (adj.), 826
Xisus, 488
Xoctifer (= Hesperus), 268
Xoricus (adj.), 794
Xotus, 374, 656, 706, 818
Xuma, 222
Xumidae, 200
Xyctilus, 268, 270, 472
Xymphae, 228, 462, 474, 476, 494
Xysa, 474
0
Oarion, 820 : see " Orion ' '
Occasio (personified), 78, 608
Oceanus, 768, 808, 820
Oeagrius (adj.), 458
Ogygius (adj.), 412
Olympus, 128, 198, 250, 310, 312, 362,
654
Orcus, 184
Oreas, plur. Oreades, 254, 494
Orion, 380 : see " Oarion "
Orpheus, 458
Osiris, 796
Ossa, 362
Pactolus, 562
Padus, 488
Paean, 192
Paelignus (adj.), 256
Paeonius (adj.), 690, 770
Palamedes, 514
Palatinus (adj.), 258
Pales, 228, 252, 260, 278, 462, 468
Palladius. 782
(adj.), 544
PaUas, 122, 358, 364, 468
Pan, 254, 456, 458, 470, 472, 476, 784
Panachaea, 656
Pandion, 300
Pannonicus (adj.), 446, 504
Paphia vel Paphie (= Venus), 414, 526
528, 530, 532, 534, 538
Paphius (adj.), 514
Parilia ^= Palilia), 230
Parrhasius (adj.), 252
Part hi, 492, 770
Parthus (adj.), 200
Pas(s)iphae, 538
Pater (= Jupiter), 362, 472, 486
( = unnamed supreme Being), 564
Pax (personified), 222
Pegasus, 566
Pelias(/em. adj.), 308, 546
Pelion, 362
Pellaeus (adj.), 202
Peloras, 124
Peltinum, 514
Penates, 224, 312, 800, 814
Peneus, 200
Pergamos (citadel of Troy), 360, 414
Perses (sc. canis), 166
Persis (= Persia), 492
Petale, 270, 272, 274
Petasos, 274
Petronius (adj.), 170
Phaedra, 540
Phaedrus, 682
Phaethon, 488
Phaethonteus (adj.), 650
Pharius (adj.), 180
Pharos, 800
Phasis, 662
Phatne, 380
836
INDEX
Pherae, 168
Pbilippi, lL'4, 22'J
I'hilomela, 412, 4S8, 546
I'hkgethou, 5(j2
Pblegraeus {adj.), 3G2
Phoebe, 380, 492, 496, 500
Phoebeus (adj.), 308, 462, 662
Pboebus, 122, 124, 202, 250, 258
(= Nero), 308, 326, 328, 358, 458,
468, 470, 498, 502, 526, 534, 536,
538, 634, 652, 654, 688, 714, 768,
780, 796, 806, 824 : see also " Actios,' '
" Apollo," '• e'astalius," " Cyntbiiis,"
" Sol," " Titan"
Phoenice, 654
Pboenii, 652, 654, 658
Phrixus, 544
Phrrges, 414, 544
PhvUis, 23G, 238, 240, 242, 274
Pierides, 124, 328
Pierius (adj.), 160, 314, 358, 786
Pisae, 810, 814
Pisaeus (adj.), 486 (of Pisa in Elis);
818, 822 (of Pisae in Italv)
Pisani, 814
Pisanus (adj.), 810, 822
Piso, 294, 296, 300, 304, 314
Pisones, 296
Plato, 5^6
Plias, 156, 780
Plutou, 542 : see also •• Dis "
Poenus (adj.), 778
Polydorus, 560
Polynmia, 434, 634
Pomona, 228
Ponipeius, 798
Popolonia, 798
Priameius (adj.), 308
Priapus, 232, 468
Procne vel Progue, 540, 542
Prometheus, 566
ProserpLiia, 186, 560
Protadius, 812
Publicolae, 786
Punicus (adj.), 604
Pvgmaeus (adj.), 656, 7SS
Pylius (adj.), 132
Pvrene, 2u<j
Pyriri, 782
Pvrrbus, 774
Quirinus, 776
Quirites, 296
R
Ratio (personified), 150
Rheuus, 490, 776
Roma, 126, 182, 222, 224, 244, 334,
492, 512, 764, 768, 774, 778, 780,
790, 80(1, 806, 812, 824, 826
Romani, 680, 794
Romauus (adj.), 120, 224, 294, 302,
312, 314, 428, 578, 580, 604, 764,
770,774, 782,826
Romuleus (adj.), 222, 492, 764, 776
Romulidae, 768
Ruber (of the Erythraean Sea), 684
RuOus, 778, 800
Rutulus (ad/.), 7 78
S
Sabaei, 164
Sabaeus (adj.), 656
Saetabes, 154
Samnis, 774
Sardi, 482
Sardonicus (adj.), 794
Sardous (adj.), 790
Saturnus, 222, 332, 3S0
Satyri (Satyrs), 152, 226, 474, 476
Satyrus (a Satyr), 726
Scelus (personified), 650
Scylla, 540
Scylleius (adj.), 130
Scythicus (adj.), 426
Semele, 472, 486
Senectus (personified), 650
Seres (sc. canes), 166
Serranus, 182 : plur., 812
Sibylla, 154
SibyUinus (adj.), 826
Sicania, 824
Siculi, 202, 408
Siculus (adj.), 400
Silenus, 474, 476
Silvanus, 152, 228, 468
Simaethus, 406
Sirius, 380, 414, 806
Sithonius (adj.), 482
Socrates, 428, 566, 680
Sol, 650, 652, 660, 828 : see
"Phoebus "
Sparta, 172, 412
Spartanus (adj.), 504
Stilicho, 824, 826
Stimicou, 276, 278
Strj-monius (adj.), 202
Stvgius (atfj.), 186, 364, 560, 562, 826
837
INDEX
Sulla, 334
Sycambri (sc. canes), 1 70
Syene, 200
Syria, 654
Tabumus, 200
Tagus, 794
Tantalidae, 488
Tantalis(= Xiobe), 546
Tantalus, 364
Tarentinus(a<?/.X 232
Tarpeius (adj.), 280, 514, 772
Tartara, 376, 384, 542
Tartareus (adj.), 222, 562, 826
Tartessiacus (adj.), 794
TeUus, 134, 342, 700
Tempeus (adj.), 548
Tereus, 414, 488
Terpsichore, 434, 634
Thaleus (adj.), 276
Thalia, 434, 634
Thamyras, 326
Thebae, 412
Themis, 220
Theodosius, 680
Theseus, 412, 544
Thessalius (adj.), 172
Thessalus (adj.), 200, 298
Thetis, 822
Thisbe, 544
Threicius (adj.), 162, 508, 704
Thule, 808
Thybris, 154, 776 : see" Tiberis "
Thyrsis, 226, 228, 234, 278
Tiberianus, 566, 568
Tiberis, 778: see " Thybris "
Tigris, 490
Timetas, 456
Tirvnthius (adj.), 156, 730
Titan (= .<un-god), 310, 488, 530, 688,
716 : see " Phoebus"
Tithonus, 130
Titus, 798
Titvos, 364
Tityrus, 236, 240, 242, 248, 258, 456,
470
Toletanus (adj.), 184
Tolosa, 808
Trinacria, 192
Trinacrius (adj.), 364
Triton, 386
Tritonis(/i?w. adj.), 502
Triturrita, 810, 818
Troia, 328, 414, 560
Troianus (adj.), 568
Troiugena (adj.), 814
Turnus, 818
Tusci, 154, 816
Tuscus (adj.), 504, 766, 808 : see also
" Etruscus,' ' " Tyrrhenus ' '
Tyrii, 778
Tyrrhenus (adj.), 784, 814, 824 : see
also " Etruscus," " Tuscus ' '
U
Umber (sc. canis), 166
Umbria, 812
Umbricus (adj.), 168
Umbro, 794
Urania rel Uranie, 434, 634
Ursa, 768
Y
Vada, 804
Varius, 314
Yeuus (goddess), 132, 138, 156, 162,
166, 260, 432, 524, 526, 528, 530,
532, 534, 536, 538, 768 : see also
" Cypris," "Cythere," " Cvtherca,"
" Paphie "
■ (love-passion) 22, 54, 178, 464,
480, 534, 614, 618, 664, 784
Vergilius, 312, 602
Vertraha, 170
Tictorinus, 808
Virgo (= Astraea), 122
(= L)iana), 198
Vitalis, 638
Volaterranus (adj.), 804
Volusus, 778
Vulcanus vel Volcanus, 194, 360, 400,
526, 536 : see " Iguipotens "
Yulcanius (adj.), 196
Zephyrus, 546, 560
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