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PROPERTIUS

BEING THE FIRST BOOK OF HIS ELEGIES

DONE INTO ENGLISH VERSE

BY

SEYMOUR GREIG TREMENHEERE

ONE OF H.M. INSPECTORS OF SCHOOLS

ISLantwn
MACMILLAN AND CO., Limited

NEW YORK : THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
1899

All rights reserved

TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE

SCHOLARS will pardon an attempt, however
bald, to render into English these exquisite
love-poems. The difficulty of the task, suffici-
ently great in itself, is much increased by the
disturbed condition of the text, which has often
been worse confounded by the " emendations "
of editors more ready to " correct " than patient
to understand. I have followed as nearly as
possible the version of the Naples MS. (kindly
consulted for me by Mr. A. J. C. Dowding, late
Scholar of New College, Oxford), the copy
which seems on the whole to deserve more
respect than any other. Even when the text
is not in doubt, its interpretation is often

vi CYNTHIA

extremely obscure. Propertius writes with a
Shakesperian freedom, nay audacity, of expres-
sion which often staggers the mere grammarian,
while his abrupt transitions demand the most
intimate sympathy as well as the most patient
study. The path of his thoughts is like the
path of a lightning flash. They travel in one
general direction easy enough to determine, but
with unexpected turns and acute deflexions
which it is hard to follow. Such an author
must needs be open to variety of interpretation,
and I make no apology, therefore, for venturing
in several passages to differ from the views of
even such a scholar as Paley, to whom the'
English student of Propertius owes so much.

Then come the difficulties of versification.
The metre I have chosen appears to me the
nearest in genius to that of the original.
Distichs we must have if the elegiac character
is to be preserved, but to my ear the ten-
syllable line has too heroic a ring. The shorter
couplets have the disadvantage of necessitating

TRANSLATORS PREFACE vii

great compression, for into their sixteen
syllables has to be packed the sense which in
the Latin occupies some twenty-eight. Only
twice have I felt compelled to expand a Latin
couplet into four lines. Yet I hope I have not
often missed out any material element of the
poet's thought. In the distichs of Propertius,
as in the Psalms of David, there is frequently
to be observed an antiphonal character ; the
ideas of the hexameter being repeated in a
more or less varied form in the pentameter.
This feature not only aids the process of com-
pression, but often supplies a valuable key to
correct interpretation. I shall be satisfied if
the reader considers that, supposing my lines
were the original, the Latin of Propertius is a
just rendering of them. That is the criterion
which I have applied to myself. Of the beauty
and variety of his cadences I lament my in-
ability to convey any idea.

A few notes, in explanation or justification
of readings or renderings, will be found at the

viii CYNTHIA

end of the volume. The references there given
apply to the arrangement of the poems as given
in Paley's 2nd edition, 1872.

An asterisk in the margin indicates the
existence of a note.

INTRODUCTION

Sextus Aurelius Propertius was born at
Asisi in Umbria about the year 50 B.C. He
came of a good, though not distinguished,
family which had at one time been well-to-do.
But that incident in the struggle between
Octavius and Antony known as the Perusian
War (B.C. 41) robbed him at once of his father
and his paternal estate, and he was still quite
a young man when he lost his mother also.

Most of the MSS. call him " The Sailor."
Such may conceivably have been his occupa-
tion, and some faint colour is lent to the
supposition both by the inferences which one
or two passages in his writings suggest, and
by the frequency with which he employs

x CYNTHIA

nautical similes and metaphors. It seems
more probable, however, that he was intended
for the law. But he did not practise. Averse
to a military life, he was essentially a viveur,
a man-about-town, who, as he naively confesses,
was unable to resist a pretty face in street or
theatre, and he had hardly emerged from boy-
hood ere he contracted with one Lycinna an
intimacy which, however, appealed only to the
lower elements of his nature.

Beyond these meagre facts, all that we
know of his biography may be summed up in
name of the woman who inspired him.
Cynthia was indeed his " life," as he frequently
calls her. Her real name is said to have
been Hostia, and it has been conjectured that
she was the grand -daughter of the poet
Hostius. Her lover describes her as a woman
of taste and refinement, who could sing, play
the lyre, and embroider, and who was herself
a poetess. She was tall and graceful, and
possessed a fine figure, pretty hands with taper

INTRODUCTION xi

fingers, a fair complexion, auburn hair, and
dark eyes. But she had a temper, and was
extravagantly fond of dress and finery. Pro-
pertius had not much to offer her beyond his
devotion and his verses. These she accepted
and occasionally rewarded, but she could not
live on them. Indeed, it would seem that
during the greater part of the five years that
their connexion lasted, Cynthia was living
under the protection of a succession of wealthy
men, and that her meetings with Propertius
were more or less clandestine. The shifts and
restraints which these conditions imposed
galled him far more than any feeling of
jealousy. Her infidelities to him he constantly
expresses himself as ready to condone, and it
is certain that he himself did not remain
constant to her, although his affections were
much more deeply engaged than hers : — //
aimait, elle se laissait aimer.

Such conditions were not conducive to a
life of serenity for him, and in fact the winds

xii CYNTHIA

of passion played upon his sensitive soul from
every quarter of the compass. The man
suffered, but the poet gained, as he himself
admits (i. 7. 9) : —

Hie mihi conteritur vitae modus, haec mea fama est.

Hence the wide range of feeling and the degree
of self- revelation which his poems exhibit.

There is much to attract us in the character
of the man — he was so gentle under provoca-
tion, so tender in appeal, so delicate in compli-
ment, and so genial in humour. But one
gathers that neither Cynthia nor Lycinna found
him open-handed, nor can one admire the
vanity which persuaded him that Cynthia was
sufficiently rewarded by being made the subject
of his verse. The final rupture of their rela-
tions, never continuous for long, seems to have
been due much more to injured vanity than to
outraged love.

Such are the impressions left by a study of
his poems as a whole. Here, however, we have

INTRODUCTION xiii

only his First Book, to which in most of the
MSS. the title " Cynthia " is prefixed. In his
later writings there mingles with his music a
tone of bitterness which dies away only to swell
out again into a strain of indignant reproach,
and, finally, of contemptuous malediction of the
woman he had once so tenderly worshipped : —

Quantus in exiguo tempore fugit amor !

CYNTHIA

ELEGIA I

Cynthia prima suis miserum me cepit ocellis,

Contactum nullis ante cupidinibus.
Turn mihi constantis deiecit lumina fastus,

Et caput impositis pressit Amor pedibus,
Donee me docuit castas odisse puellas 5

Improbus, et nullo vivere consilio.
Et mihi iam toto furor hie non deficit anno,

Quum tamen adversos cogor habere deos.
Milanion nullos fugiendo, Tulle, labores

Saevitiam durae contudit Iasidos. 10

Nam modo Partheniis amens errabat in antris,

I bat et hirsutas ille videre feras ;
Ille etiam Hylaei percussus vulnere rami

Saucius Arcadiis rupibus ingemuit.
Ergo velocem potuit domuisse puellam ; 15

Tantum in amore preces et benefacta valent.

ELEGY I

Unscathed was I by Cupid's dart
Till Cynthia's eyes enslaved my heart ;
Then staring down my brave conceit,
Love trampled me beneath his feet,"
And taught me in his naughty school
To hate a prude and play the fool.
Now, spite a whole delirious year,
Still, Tullus, are the gods austere !
Milanion task on task went through
Wild Atalanta to subdue : — 9
'Mid wildering caverns groped his way,
Made bristling monsters stand at bay,
And, by Hylaeus bludgeoned well,
Lay groaning on the Arcadian fell.
'T was thus he tamed that girl of speed
By wooing word and doughty deed.

4 CYNTHIA

In me tardus Amor non ullas cogitat artes,

Nee meminit notas, ut prius, ire vias.
At vos, deductae quibus est fallacia Lunae,

Et labor in magicis sacra piare focis, 20

En agedum, dominae mentem convertite nostrae,

Et facite ilia meo palleat ore magis.
Tunc ego crediderim vobis, et sidera et amnes

Posse Cytainis ducere carminibus.
Et vos, qui sero lapsum revocatis, amici, 25

Quaerite non sani pectoris auxilia.
Fortiter et ferrum, saevos patiemur et ignes ;

Sit modo libertas, quae velit ira, loqui.
Ferte per extremas gentes, et ferte per undas,

Qua non ulla meum femina norit iter. 30

Vos remanete, quibus facili deus adnuit aure,

Sitis et in tuto semper amore pares.
In me nostra Venus noctes exercet amaras,

Et nullo vacuus tempore defit amor.
*Hoc,moneo,vitatemalum. Suaquemquemoretur

Cura, neque adsueto mutet amore locum. 36
Quod si quis monitis tardas adverterit aures,

Heu referet quanto verba dolore mea !

CYNTHIA 5

On me dull Love no antics plays,

And quite forgets his good old ways.

Ye hags, who charm to earth the moon,

*And o'er Medean cauldrons croon,

Come, beldams, make my mistress meek

And turn her paler than my cheek !

You and your spells I '11 then esteem

And own your power o'er star and stream.

Ye friends, whose warning comes too late,

Find my sick heart some opiate.

Let cautery burn, let scalpel flay,

If but my wrath may have its say !

Send me o'er leagues of land or sea

Where woman cannot follow me !

Bide as ye are, ye happy pairs !

Love on in peace ! Heaven hears your prayers.

My goddess works me ceaseless spites,

And idle love leads galling nights.

Beware my fate ! To one be true,

Nor change the old love for a new.

To this advice lend timely ears,

Or ye shall reck my rede with tears !

ELEGIA II

QUID iuvat ornato procedere, vita, capillo,

Et tenues Coa veste movere sinus ?
Aut quid Orontea crines perfundere myrrha,

Teque peregrinis vendere muneribus,
Naturaeque decus mercato perdere cultu, 5

Nee sinere in propriis membra nitere bonis?
Crede mihi, non ulla tuae est medicina figurae :

Nudus Amor formae non amat artificem.
Adspice, quos submittat humus formosa colores,

*Et veniant hederae sponte sua melius, 10
Surgat et in solis formosius arbutus antris,

Et sciat indociles currere lympha vias.
*Litora nativis per se ardent picta lapillis,

Et volucres nulla dulcius arte canunt.
Non sic Leucippis succendit Castora Phoebe, 15

Pollucem cultu non Hilai'ra soror,

ELEGY II

Life of my life, why court applause
In fluttering folds of Coan gauze,
With Syrian scent on plaits and curls
And all the gauds of foreign girls ?
Why mar the charms your person bears
And dazzle by a huckster's wares ?
Your looks, believe me, need no spice :
Love, nude himself, hates artifice.
*What beauties e'er with Nature's vied ? —
Wild ivy, meadows gaily pied,
Lone dells with beauteous berries fraught,
Clear streams that find their way untaught,
Bright shores with native gems self-strewn,
And birds that never learnt a tune !
'Twas not their toilets that did win
Leucippus' daughters each her Twin :

8 CYNTHIA

Non, Idae et cupido quondam discordia Phoebo,

Eueni patriis filia litoribus,
Nee Phrygium falso traxit candore maritum

Avecta externis Hippodamia rotis : 20

Sed facies aderat nullis obnoxia gemmis,

Qualis Apelleis est color in tabulis.
Non illis studium vulgo conquirere amantes ;

I His ampla satis forma pudicitia.
Non ego nunc vereor, ne sim tibi vilior istis ; 25

Uni si qua placet, culta puella sat est ;
Quum tibi praesertim Phoebus sua carmina
donet,

Aoniamque libens Calliopea lyram :
Unica nee desit iucundis gratia verbis,

Omnia quaeque Venus, quaeque Minerva
probat 30

His tu semper eris nostrae gratissima vitae,

Taedia dum miserae sint tibi luxuriae.

CYNTHIA

It was not for a powdered face

That Pelops came so far to race ;

Nor Idas with Apollo vied

To bear Marpessa off a bride.

These beauties, innocent of gem,

Fresh as Apelles painted them,

Drew lovers by their modest air,

Not sought them in the public square.

You've many beaux (who pleases one

Is spruce enough), but I fear none.

For you are chief of Phoebus' choir,

Vicegerent of the epic lyre,

Mistress of Poesy's graceful art

And all that charms both mind and heart.

Hence my life's idol must you be,

Would you but tire of finery.

ELEGIA III

Qualis Thesea iacuit cedente carina

Languida desertis Gnosia litoribus,
Qualis et accubuit primo Cephei'a somno,

Libera iam duris cotibus Andromede,
Nee minus assiduis Edonis fessa choreis 5

Qualis in herboso concidit Apidano,
Talis visa mihi mollem spirare quietem

Cynthia, non certis nixa caput manibus,
Ebria quum multo traherem vestigia Baccho,

Et quaterent sera nocte facem pueri. 10

Hanc ego, nondum etiam sensus deperditus
omnes,

Molliter impresso conor adire toro.
Et, quamvis duplici correptum ardore iuberent

Hac Amor, hac Liber, durus uterque deus,
Subiecto leviter positam ten tare lacerto, 15

Osculaque admota sumere et arma manu :

ELEGY III

As Crete's princess unconscious lay
When truant Theseus sailed away ;
As, freed at last from rock and chain,
Andromede slept once again ;
Or as some Thracian Maenad sank
Spent on Enipeus' grassy bank ;
Such calm did Cynthia breathe, I wist,
With head unstably poised on wrist,
When home I staggered late at night
Behind the link-boy's flickering light.
I with what sense I still possessed
Make for her couch so lightly pressed,
Inflamed alike by love and wine —
Hard masters both — with rash design
My arm beneath her waist to slip
And open fire with hand and lip.

12 CYNTHIA

Non tamen ausus eram dominae turbare quietem,

Expertae metuens iurgia saevitiae :
Sed sic intentis haerebam fixus ocellis,

Argus ut ignotis cornibus Inachidos. 20

Et modo solvebam nostra de fronte corollas,

Ponebamque tuis, Cynthia, temporibus :
Et modo gaudebam lapsos formare capillos,

Nunc furtiva cavis poma dabam manibus,
Omniaque ingrato largibar munera somno, 25

Munera de prono saepe voluta sinu.
Et quoties raro duxti suspiria motu,

Obstupui vano credulus auspicio,
Ne qua tibi insolitos portarent visa timores,

Neve quis invitam cogeret esse suam : 30

Donee diversas percurrens luna fenestras,

*Luna moraturis sedula luminibus,
Compositos levibus radiis patefecit ocellos.

Sic ait, in molli fixa toro cubitum :
" Tandem te nostro referens iniuria lecto 35

*Alterius clausis expulit e foribus ?
Namque ubi longa meae consumsti tempora noctis,

Languidus exactis, hei mihi, sideribus ?

CYNTHIA 13

But, of her temper wisely ware,

Disturb her rest I did not dare :

But stood and stared, as Argus gazed

At Io's startling horns amazed.

My garlands now 'gan I untwine

And decked your temples, Cynthia mine :

Now fondly smoothed a tress that strayed,

Fruits in your palms now slyly laid.

Ungrateful sleep ! Give all I could,

Roll from your lap my presents would !

And when a little sigh you heaved,

I gasped by groundless dread deceived —

Your dreams did some strange terror fill ?

Or did some villain force your will ?

Anon through the crossed lattice shone

A moonbeam, loth to hurry on ;

At whose light touch her lids unclosed

And, arm on dinted pillow posed,

" At last!" quoth she. "What! shown the street

By some girl else whom you ill-treat?

Where did you thus the stars outstay,

And yawn, alas ! my night away ?

14 CYNTHIA

O utinam tales perducas, improbe, noctes,

Me miseram quales semper habere iubes ! 40
Nam modo purpureo fallebam stamine somnum,

Rursus et Orpheae carmine, fessa, lyrae ;
Interdum leviter mecum deserta querebar

Externo longas saepe in amore moras,
Dum me iucundis lapsam sopor impulit alis. 45

Ilia fuit lacrimis ultima cura meis."

CYNTHIA 15

Wretch ! May such evenings weary you
As 't is your wont to doom me to !
With broidery now I cheated sleep,
Now played my lyre, awake to keep ;
Now dumbly mourned my lonely lot,
For stranger arms so oft forgot.
That was the burden of my woe
Till downy slumber laid me low ! "

ELEGIA IV

Quid mihi tarn multas laudando, Basse, puellas

Mutatum domina cogis abire mea ?
Quid me non pateris, vitae quodcunque sequetur,

Hoc magis adsueto ducere servitio ?
Tu licet Antiopae formam Nyctei'dos, et tu 5

Spartanam referas laudibus Hermionen,
Et quascunque tulit formosi temporis aetas :

Cynthia non illas nomen habere sinet ;
Nedum, si levibus fuerit collata figuris,

Inferior duro iudice turpis eat. 10

Haec sed forma mei pars est extrema furoris ;

Sunt maiora, quibus, Basse, perire iuvat :
*Ingenuus color, et multis decus artibus, et quae

Gaudia sub tacita ducere veste libet :
Quo magis et nostros contendis solvere amores,

Hoc magis accepta fallit uterque fide. 16

ELEGY IV

NOT all your belles, for all you say,
Can make me from my mistress stray !
Then let me, friend, what life remains
Pass in these more familiar chains.
Were Nycteus' shapely girl your toast,
Or rare Hermione, Sparta's boast,
The choicest flowers of Beauty's reign
With Cynthia must compete in vain !
What common rival then to her
Could the austerest judge prefer ?
But, witching as her outlines are,
She's weapons, Bassus, deadlier far.
What natural bloom ! What talents rare !
What passions make her robe their lair !
To part us labour as you will,
Our mutual pledges foil you still.
C

1 8 CYNTHIA

Non impune feres : sciet hoc insana puella,

Et tibi non tacitis vocibus hostis erit :
Nee tibi me post haec committet Cynthia, nee te

Quaeret : erit tanti criminis ilia memor ; 2.0
Et te circum omnes alias irata puellas

Differet : heu nullo limine cams eris.
Nullas ilia suis contemnet fletibus aras,

Et quicunque sacer, qualis, ubique, lapis.
Non ullo gravius tentatur Cynthia damno, 25

Quam sibi quum rapto cessat amore deus :
Praecipue nostri. Maneat sic semper, adoro :

Nee quidquam ex ilia, quod querar, inveniam.

CYNTHIA 19

Beware ! Your conduct soon she '11 learn,
And with loud taunts upon you turn,
With lasting wrath the offence beshrew,
Cut you, and make me cut you too,
Your name in every boudoir jeer —
Then who '11 rejoice your knock to hear ?
At every shrine she'll make her plaint,
To every little wayside saint.
No graver wound can Cynthia prove
Than passion's pause or loss of love,
Mine above all. God grant that she
Change never, nor displeasure me !

ELEGIA V

In VIDE, tu tandem voces compesce molestas,

Et sine nos cursu, quo sumus, ire pares.
Quid tibi vis, insane ? meos sentire furores ?

Infelix, properas ultima nosse mala,
Et miser ignotos vestigia ferre per ignes, 5

Et bibere e tota toxica Thessalil.
*Non est ilia vagis similis collata puellis :

Molliter irasci non solet ilia tibi.
Quod si forte tuis non est contraria votis,

At tibi curarum millia quanta dabit ! 10

Non tibi iam somnos, non ilia relinquet ocellos :

*Illa feros animis adligat una viros.
Ah mea contemtus quoties ad limina curres,

Quum tibi singultu fortia verba cadent,
Et tremulus moestis orietur fletibus horror, 15

Et timor informem ducet in ore notam,

ELEGY V

PEACE, envious babbler ! By your will

I '11 run in double harness still.

Poor fool ! What would you ? Rave like me,

And rush on abject misery?

Tread the volcano's hidden brink,

And all Thessalia's poisons drink ?

She's not like fickle wenches, vexed

One moment and benign the next.

Say that she not resents your prayers,

Yet will she cause you countless cares.

Nor sleep nor sight she '11 leave you then :

Her temper cows the wildest men.

How oft her flouts will drive you here,

Your features all distort with fear,

While weeping fits bring ghastly throbs

And brave words sink away in sobs !

22 CYNTHIA

Et quaecunque voles fugient tibi verba querenti,

Nee poteris, qui sis aut ubi, nosse miser.
Turn grave servitium nostrae cogere puellae

Discere, et exclusum quid sit abire domum : 20
Nee iam pallorem toties mirabere nostrum,

Aut cur sim toto corpore nullus ego.
Nee tibi nobilitas poterit succurrere amanti :

Nescit Amor priscis cedere imaginibus.
*Quod si parva tuae dederis vestigia culpae, 25

Quam cito de tanto nomine rumor eris !
Non ego turn potero solatia ferre roganti,

Quum mihi nulla mei sit medicina mali :
Sed pariter miseri socio cogemur amore

Alter in alterius mutua flere sinu. 30

Quare, quid possit mea Cynthia,. desine, Galle,

Quaerere : non impune ilia rogata venit.

CYNTHIA 23

You '11 strive to speak and lose the clue
And know not where you are, nor who !
Then you '11 be taught by thraldom hard
What 't is to find her wicket barred,
And cease to wonder why I 'm wan
And all my body's substance gone.
Nor will high birth your courtship speed :
Love bow to pedigree indeed !
Let your presumption be but guessed
And your great name is scandal's jest !
Then, Gallus, bid not me appease
Who cannot cure my own disease.
We by one common love distressed
Must weep upon each other's breast.
Cease then my Cynthia's power to try : —
None wooes her with impunity !

ELEGIA VI

NON ego nunc Hadriae vereor mare noscere
tecum,

Tulle, neque Aegaeo ducere vela salo :
Cum quo Rhipaeos possim conscendere montes,

Ulteriusque domos vadere Memnonias :
Sed me complexae remorantur verba puellae, 5

Mutatoque graves saepe colore preces.
Ilia mihi totis argutat noctibus ignes,

Et queritur nullos esse relicta deos ;
Ilia meam mihi se iam denegat ; ilia minatur,

*Quae solet irato tristis arnica viro. 10

His ego non horam possum durare querelis.

Ah pereat, si quis lentus amare potest !
An mihi sit tanti, doctas cognoscere Athenas,

Atque Asiae veteres cernere divitias,
Ut mihi deducta faciat convicia puppi 15

*Cynthia, et insanis ora notet manibus,

ELEGY VI

Nay, think not, Tullus, that I fear
With you o'er neighbouring seas to steer.
With you I 'd scale Rhipaean steeps,
Or tramp to Memnon's far-off keeps.
A girl her arms around me throws,
Pleads while her colour comes and goes,
Whole nights makes shrill with passionate cry,-
" Deserted ! " " Are there gods on high ? "—
Withholds her favours ; breathes her ban
As women will to sting a man.
Ah ! one such hour for me 's enough :
Perish the heart of sterner stuff !
To view the seat of Grecian lore
And Asia's rich old towns explore
Would cost too dear, if Cynthia rail
And scratch my face before I sail,

26 CYNTHIA

*Osculaque opposito dicat sibi debita vento,

Et nihil infido durius esse viro ?
Tu patrui meritas conare anteire secures,

Et vetera oblitis iura refer sociis : 20

Nam tua non aetas unquam cessavit Amori,

Semper at armatae cura fuit patriae.
Et tibi non unquam nostros puer iste labores

Adferat, et lacrimis omnia nota meis.
Me sine, quern semper voluit fortuna iacere, 25

Hanc animam extremae reddere nequitiae.
Multi longinquo periere in amore libenter,

In quorum numero me quoque terra tegat.
Non ego sum laudi, non natus idoneus armis :

Hanc me militiam fata subire volunt. 30

At tu, seu mollis qua tendit Ionia, seu qua

Lydia Pactoli tingit arata liquor,
Seu pedibus terras, seu pontum carpere remis

Ibis, et accepti pars eris imperii :
Turn tibi si qua mei veniet non immemor hora, 35

Vivere me duro sidere certus eris.

CYNTHIA 27

And say, if we by calms be pinned,

" Defaulters cannot raise the wind :

Unpaid is still her kisses' loan,

And faithless men have hearts of stone ! "

Do you, whose youth our country's foes

Claimed, and for love left no repose,

To eclipse your honoured uncle strive,

And law in lawless towns revive.

You may that urchin Cupid spare

My hardships and my secret care !

For humbler parts by nature cast,

I '11 live an idler to the last ;

And be it said my dust above

" He was of those who live to love."

For court or camp unfitted quite,

I 'm born to be a carpet knight.

But you must speed o'er field and firth

And help to rule a grateful earth,

Be it where soft Ionia lies

Or Lydian lands Pactolus dyes.

Should thought of me then cross your mind,

Be sure my stars are still unkind !

ELEGIA VII

DUM tibi Cadmeae dicuntur, Pontice, Thebae,

Armaque fraternae tristia militiae,
Atque, ita sim felix, primo contendis Homero, —

Sint modo fata tuis mollia carminibus, —
Nos, ut consuemus, nostros agitamus amores, 5

Atque aliquid duram quaerimus in dominam.
Nee tantum ingenio, quantum servire dolori

Cogor, et aetatis tempora dura queri.
Hie mihi conteritur vitae modus, haec mea
fama est,

Hinc cupio nomen carminis ire mei. 10

Me laudent doctae solum placuisse puellae,

Pontice, et iniustas saepe tulisse minas.
Me legat assidue post haec neglectus amator,

Et prosint illi cognita nostra mala.
Te quoque si certo puer hie concusserit arcu, 15

*(Quod nolim nostros eviolasse deos !)

ELEGY VII

You, Ponticus, Thebes' legend tell,
The brothers' feud, the battles fell —
Old Homer's rival, bless my soul,
Should Time deal kindly with your scroll !
I still on love themes ply my art
And seek to melt my mistress' heart.
Thrall more to grief than nature's bent,
Youth's sorrows I perforce lament,
These mar my life, these make my name,
These promise me a poet's fame,
As sole delight of Learning's queen,
As butt in many a stormy scene,
As text conned o'er by love-lorn swains : —
Ah ! may they profit by my pains !
Should you be mark for Love's sure bow —
(May friendly gods forbid that blow) —

30 CYNTHIA

Longe castra tibi, longe miser agmina septem

*Flebis in aeterno surda iacere situ ;
Et frustra cupies mollem componere versum,

Nee tibi subiiciet carmina serus Amor. 20
Turn me non humilem mirabere saepe poetam ;

Tunc ego Romanis praeferar ingeniis ;
Nee poterunt iuvenes nostro reticere sepulcro :

Ardoris nostri magne poeta, iaces.
Tu cave nostra tuo contemnas carmina fastu. 25

Saepe venit magno foenore tardus Amor.

CYNTHIA 31

Your camps and captains seven, alas !

Will into silent limbo pass.

In vain you '11 tune the softer lyre ;

Love long despised will not inspire.

This " lesser poet " then you '11 rate

As Rome's sublimest laureate.

Youth at my tomb shall sigh unmanned,

" Ah ! Heart of hearts ! Ah ! Poet grand ! "

Then, haughty sir, scorn not my lay,

The last to love has most to pay !

ELEGIA' VIII

Tune igitur demens, nee te mea cura moratur ?

An tibi sum gelida vilior Illyri&?
Et tibi iam tanti, quicunque est, iste videtur,

Ut sine me vento quolibet ire velis ?
Tune audire potes vesani murmura ponti 5

Fortis, et in dura nave iacere potes ?
Tu pedibus teneris positas fulcire pruinas?

Tu potes insolitas, Cynthia, ferre nives ?
0 utinam hibernae duplicentur tempora brumae,

Et sit iners tardis navita Vergiliis ! 10

Nee tibi Tyrrhena solvatur funis arena,

*Neve inimica meas elevet aura preces :
Atque ego non videam tales subsidere ventos,

Quum tibi provectas auferet unda rates,
Et me defixum vacua patiatur in ora 15

Crudelem infesta saepe vocare manu.

ELEGY VIII

So, madcap, all my love you prize
Cheaper than cold Illyria's skies ?
Fair wind or foul, you '11 sail from me
With your new flame — whoe'er he be ?
Is yours the spirit that can brave
The hard bunk and the howling wave ?
Your delicate feet tread fields of hoar
And snows they never felt before ?
Oh ! twice its term may winter drag,
And seamen lounge while Pleiads lag !
Kind storms, keep Cynthia moored in bay,
Nor lull and waft my prayers away !
Rage on, when out her bark shall stand,
That, rooted on the desolate strand,
I long may scowl upon her track
And wave the heartless creature back !
D

34 CYNTHIA

Sed quocunque modo de me, periura, mereris,

Sit Galatea tuae non aliena viae :
Ut te felici praevecta Ceraunia remo

Accipiat placidis Oricos aequoribus. 20

Nam me non ullae poterunt corrumpere taedae,

Quin ego, vita, tuo limine vera querar.
Nee me deficiet nautas rogitare citatos :

Dicite, quo portu clausa puella mea est ?
Et dicam, licet Atraciis considat in oris, 25

Et licet Eleis, ilia futura mea est.
*Hic erit ! hie iurata manet ! Rumpantur iniqui !

Vicimus ! Assiduas non tulit ilia preces.
Falsa licet cupidus deponat gaudia livor :

Destitit ire novas Cynthia nostra vias. 30

Illi carus ego, et per me carissima Roma

Dicitur, et sine me dulcia regna negat.
Ilia vel angusto mecum requiescere lecto,

Et quocunque modo maluit esse mea,
Quam sibi dotatae regnum vetus Hippodamiae,

Et quas Elis opes ante pararat equis. 36

Quamvis magna daret, quamvis maiora daturus,

Non tamen ilia meos fugit avara sinus.

CYNTHIA 35

But no ! Whate'er your falsehood's meed,

May mermaid hands your oarage speed,

And hie you where Ceraunian ness

Guards Oricos from storm and stress !

Constant and spotless, I '11 tell o'er

My just plaints, darling, at your door.

I '11 pester every bustling tar

To tell me in what port you are.

I '11 say, though she to Atrax roam

Or Elis, here shall be her home : —

Nay, is ! For traitor is she none.

Down with my foes ! I 've wooed and won !

Lewd Envy's hopes must be resigned :

Strange lands are not to Cynthia's mind,

She loves me, and, for my sake, Rome *

More than fair countries far from home.

A truckle bed she'd liefer share

And be mine own, come foul, come fair,

Than take for dower the wealth that erst

From Pisa's royal stud was pursed.

Rich fee, nor pledge of richer fee,

Has bribed her from my arms to flee.

36 CYNTHIA

Hanc ego non auro, non Indis flectere conchis,

Sed potui blandi carminis obsequio. 40

Sunt igitur Musae, neque amanti tardus Apollo,

Quis ego fretus amo : Cynthia rara mea est.
Nunc mihi summa licet contingere sidera plantis :

Sive dies seu nox venerit, ilia mea est ;
Nee mihi rivalis certos subducet amores. 45

Ista meam norit gloria canitiem.

CYNTHIA 37

The heart that pearls nor gold could sway
Bends to the homage of my lay !
The Muses myths ? Apollo slow-
To aid the love that trusts him ? No !
She 's mine ! My joy no bounds confine.
By day, by night, rare Cynthia's mine !
And none shall steal her love away,
Be this my boast till I grow grey !

ELEGIA IX

DlCEBAM tibi venturos, irrisor, amores,

Nee tibi perpetuo libera verba fore.
Ecce iaces, supplexque venis ad iura puellae,

Et tibi nunc quovis imperat empta modo.
Non me Chaoniae vincant in amore columbae 5

Dicere, quos iuvenes quaeque puella domet.
Me dolor et lacrimae merito fecere peritum :

Atque utinam posito dicar amore rudis !
Quid tibi nunc misero prodest grave ducere
carmen,

Aut Amphioniae moenia flere lyrae ? 10

Plus in amore valet Mimnermi versus Homero :

Carmina mansuetus lenia quaerit Amor.
I, quaeso, et tristes istos compone libellos,

Et cane, quod quaevis nosse puella velit.
*Quid si non esset facilis tibi copia ? Nunc tu 15

Insanus medio flumine quaeris aquam.

ELEGY IX

I TOLD you Love would come and gag
Your mocking tongue so prone to brag !
Lo ! you are down, and quarter crave,
A woman's spoil, a slave girl's slave !
Dodona's doves have not more sooth
To tell what maid will tame what youth
Than I, so sorely schooled — Ah me !
Would I were ignorant and heartfree !
What vails you now in solemn tones
To sing Amphion's conjured stones ?
Not Homer, but Mimnermus reigns
When gentle Love craves tender strains.
Come, pigeon-hole your epic drear,
And sing what every lass would hear f
What if your heart were parched ? Immersed
In passion's flood you know not thirst.

40 CYNTHIA

Necdum etiam palles, vero nee tangeris igni ;

Haec est venturi prima favilla mali.
Tunc magis Armenias cupies accedere tigres,

Et magis infernae vincula nosse rotae, 20

Quam pueri toties arcum sentire medullis,

Et nihil iratae posse negare tuae.
Nullus Amor cuiquam faciles ita praebuit alas,

Ut non alterna presserit ille manu.
Nee te decipiat, quod sit satis ilia parata ; 25

*Acrius ilia subit, Pontice, si qua tua est.
Quippe ubi non liceat vacuos seducere ocellos,

Nee vigilare alio nomine, cedat Amor ?
Qui non ante patet, donee manus attigit ossa.

Quisquis es, assiduas ah fuge blanditias. 30
Illis et silices et possunt cedere quercus :

Nedum tu possis, spiritus iste levis.
*Quare, si pudor est, quam primum errata fatere :

Dicere, quo pereas, saepe in amore levat.

CYNTHIA 4

You 've colour yet, your blood 's lukewarm,

Your fever's still in latent form.

Ere long a tigress you would track

Or gladlier roll Ixion's rack,

Than, pricked by Cupid through and through,

A froward damsel's bidding do.

Love flies the heart with slackened skein

Only to pluck it back again.

Nor blindly trust in her good-will :

At home a wench is deadlier still.

Will love, that fills your gaze all day

And haunts your sleepless nights, give way ?—

Love that strikes home ere it be guessed ?

From subtle powers that never rest

Flee ! They of stocks and stones make grist.

Can a mere breath like man resist ?

Then shrive you quick, if shame endure,

A love confessed is oft Love's cure !

ELEGIA X

O IUCUNDA quies, primo quum testis amori

Adfueram vestris consciusin lacrimis !
O noctem meminisse mihi iucunda voluptas !

O quoties votis ilia vocanda meis !
Quum te complexa morientem, Galle, puella 5

Vidimus, et longa ducere verba mora.
Quamvis labentes premeret mihi somnus ocellos,

Et mediis coelo Luna ruberet equis,
Non tamen a vestro potui secedere lusu :

Tantus in alternis vocibus ardor erat. 10

Sed quoniam non es veritus concredere nobis,

Accipe commissae munera laetitiae.
Non solum vestros didici reticere dolores :

Est quiddam in nobis maius, amice, fide.
Possum ego di versos iterum coniungere amantes,

Et dominae tardas possum aperire fores : 16

ELEGY X

Sweet night, when I your callow love,
Your maudlin tears stood witness of!

0 night, how sweet to ponder o'er !
How welcome, could it come once more !
When, Gallus, stuttering and agasp,
You languished in the damsel's clasp !
Though sleep upon my eyelids weighed,
And Luna blushed in mid parade,

Yet could I not your dalliance miss,
Your warm exchange of murmured bliss.
But since you dared confide to me
Your rapturous moments, here's your fee.
Your love-throes, friend, could I betray ?

1 've learnt to keep a secret : nay,
Estranged affections to restore,
To ope the lady's stubborn door,

44 CYNTHIA

Et possum alterius curas sanare recentes,

Nee levis in verbis est medicina meis.
Cynthia me docuit semper quaecunque petenda

Quaeque cavenda forent: non nihil egit Amor.
Tu cave, ne tristi cupias pugnare puellae, 21

Neve superba loqui, neve tacere diu :
Neu, si quid petiit, ingrata fronte negaris,

Neu tibi pro vano verba benigna cadant.
Irritata venit, quando contemnitur ilia ; 25

Nee meminit iustas ponere laesa minas.
At quo sis humilis magis et subiectus Amori,

Hoc magis effecto saepe fruare bono.
Is poterit felix una remanere puella,

Qui nunquam vacuo pectore liber erit 30

CYNTHIA 45

And staunch the lover's bleeding heart

With potent words of healing art.

I too have loved ! T was Cynthia taught

What should be shunned, what might be sought.

When woman sulks, be slow to wig ;

Talk not too little — nor too big.

Ne'er say her nay with knitted brows,

Nor treat as feigned her tender vows.

Slights madden, and when justly stung

A woman never curbs her tongue.

The humbler slave you are to Love,

The sweeter will your guerdon prove.

One woman's love will keep him blest

Whose heart no freedom knows, no rest !

ELEGIA XI

ECQUID te mediis cessantem, Cynthia, Baiis,

Qua iacet Herculeis semita litoribus,
Et modo Thesproti mirantem subdita regno

Proxima Misenis aequora nobilibus,
Nostri cura subit memores ah ducere noctes ? 5

Ecquis in extremo restat amore locus ?
An te nescio quis simulatis ignibus hostis

Sustulit e nostris, Cynthia, carminibus ?
Atque utinam mage te remis confisa minutis

Parvula Lucrina cymba moretur aqua : 10
Aut teneat clausam tenui Teuthrantis in unda

Alternae facilis cedere lympha manu :
Quam vacei alterius blandos audire susurros

Molliter in tacito litore compositam ;
Ut solet amoto labi custode puella 15

Perfida, communes nee meminisse deos ;

ELEGY XI

At Baiae, Cynthia, while at ease,

Where runs the dyke of Hercules : —

Grand wave-washed bluffs on either hand,

Misenum and Thesprotus' land —

Does thought of me e'er banish sleep ?

Your heart for me one corner keep ?

Or have some villain's glowing lies

Outlawed you from my elegies ?

Better in tiny skiff to play

With tiny oars on Lucrine bay,

Or, penned in Teuthras' bath, to scud

With rhythmic stroke through yielding flood ;

Than, idly couched in quiet cove,

Hear whispered tale of rival love !

Thus many a lass whose lad 's away

Forgets her home and goes astray.

48 CYNTHIA

Non quia perspecta non es mihi cognita fama,

Sed quod in hac omnis parte timetur amor.
Ignosces igitur, si quid tibi triste libelli

Attulerint nostri : culpa timoris erit. 20

*An mihi non maior carae custodia matris,

Aut sine te vitae cura sit ulla meae ?
Tu mihi sola domus, tu, Cynthia, sola parentes,

Omnia tu nostrae tempora laetitiae.
Seu tristis veniam, seu contra laetus amicis, 25

Quidquid ero, dicam, Cynthia causa fuit.
Tu modo quamprimum corruptas desere Baias :

Multis ista dabunt litora discidium.
Litora, quae fuerant castis inimica puellis.

Ah pereant Baiae, crimen amoris, aquae ! 30

CYNTHIA 49

You're well reputed. True, but there
The least flirtation well may scare.
If ought offensive, then, I 've writ,
You '11 blame my fears and pardon it.
Must I a mother dear forsake,
Or lose you and my life's whole stake ?
To me you 're home and parents too,
All seasons of delight are you !
Gay let friends find me or subdued,
I '11 say 't is Cynthia rules my mood.
But speed from Baiae's taint, Oh ! speed !
Those shores will many a quarrel breed.
The chaste have ever been their prey :
Oh ! bane of love ! Oh ! cursed bay !

ELEGIA XII

Quid mihi desidiae non cessas fingere crimen,

Quod faciat nobis conscia Roma moram ?
Tam multa ilia meo divisa est millia lecto,

Quanta Hypanis Veneto dissidet Eridano ;
Nee mihi consuetos amplexu nutrit amores 5

Cynthia, nee nostra dulcis in aure sonat.
Olim gratus eram ; non illo tempore cuiquam

Contigit, ut simili posset amare fide.
Invidiae fuimus. Num me deus obruit? an quae

Lecta Prometheis dividit herba iugis ? 10

Non sum ego, qui fueram : mutat via longapuellas.

Quantus in exiguo tempore fugit amor!
Nunc primum longas solus cognoscere noctes

Cogor, et ipse meis auribus esse gravis.
Felix, qui potuit praesenti flere puellae ; 15

Nonnihil adspersis gaudet Amor lacrimis :

ELEGY XII

STILL branding me as " stay-at-home,"

Tied by a girl to guilty Rome ?

Her bed from mine divided is

As far as Po from Hypanis.

Love feeds not now in Cynthia's arms,

Not now my ear her whisper charms.

She loved me once — Oh ! lot divine !

Was ever trustful heart like mine ?

Is't Nemesis has damned me thus,

Or love-bane culled on Caucasus ?

New scenes, new whims ! How changed is she

How quick that passionate love to flee !

Now, newly doomed to spend alone

Long nights, with none to hear me groan,

I envy him who weeps beside

His lady — tears are Cupid's pride —

52 CYNTHIA

Aut si despectus potuit mutare calores ;

Sunt quoque translato gaudia servitio.
Mi neque amare aliam neque ab hac desistere
fas est :

Cynthia prima fuit, Cynthia finis erit. 20

CYNTHIA 53

Or takes his wrongs to warmer arms :
For changed allegiance, too, has charms.
Nor solace nor escape for me !
First Cynthia was, and last must be !

ELEGIA XIII

Tu, quod saepe soles, nostro laetabere casu,

Galle, quod abrepto solus amore vacem.
At non ipse tuas imitabor, perfide, voces :

Fallere te nunquam, Galle, puella velit !
Dum tibi deceptis augetur fama puellis, 5

Certus et in nullo quaeris amore moram,
Perditus in quadam tardis pallescere curis

*Incipis, et primo lapsus adire gradu.
Haec erit illarum contemti poena doloris :

Multarum miseras exiget una vices. 10

Haec tibi vulgares istos compescet amores :

Nee nova quaerendo semper amicus eris.
Haec ego non rumore malo, non augure doctus ;

Vidi ego : me, quaeso, teste negare potes ?
Vidi ego te toto vinctum languescere collo, 15

Et flere iniectis, Galle, diu manibus ;

ELEGY XIII

My lonely plight, my ravished love,
Gallus, your wonted mirth will move.
Unkindness shall not be my cue ;
May never girl prove false to you !
'Mid growing fame for girls betrayed
And scorn of all affection staid,
At last you blanch with love of one !
You stagger ere the first bout's done !
To her the avenging shall belong
Of many a victim's ruthless wrong.
She will those roving fancies check,
Or fresh adventures be your wreck.
No gossip this, no guess astute :
What I have seen can you dispute ?
Clasping and clasped, half-strangled, I
Have seen you, Gallus, weep and sigh,

56 CYNTHIA

*Et cupere optatis animam deponere verbis,

Et quae deinde meus celat, amice, pudor.
Non ego complexus potui diducere vestros :

Tantus erat demens inter utrosque furor. 20.
Non sic Haemonio Salmonida mixtus Enipeo

Taenarius facili pressit amore deus :
Nee sic coelestem flagrans amor Herculis Heben

Sensit in Oetaeis gaudia prima iugis.
Una dies omnes potuit praecurrere amantes : 25

Nam tibi non tepidas subdidit ilia faces :
Nee tibi praeteritos passa est succedere fastus,

Nee sinet abduci : te tuus ardor aget.
Nee mirum, quum sit love digna et proxima
Ledae,

Et Ledae partu, gratior una tribus. 30

Ilia sit Inachiis et blandior heroinis,

Ilia suis verbis cogat amare Iovem.
Tu vero, quoniam semel es periturus amore,

Utere : non alio limine dignus eras.
Quae tibi sit felix, quoniam novus incidit error ; 35

Et quodcunque voles, una sit ista tibi.

CYNTHIA 57

And strive for words to tell your tale,
And then — but let us draw the veil !
I could not tear your arms apart,
So mad a passion fired each heart !
Not Neptune in Enipeus' guise
Clasped Salmonis in readier wise ;
Nor Hercules on iEta's crest
A happier Hebe first possessed !
Champion of lovers in one stride !
The flames she's lit have thawed your pride.
Her will shall curb, your passion spur :
'T were strange indeed to stray from her !
" Next Leda and her progeny,
\ove's fittest mate ! — more winsome she !
No heroine of Greece more sweet !
She 'd coax the devil to her feet ! "
Hard hit for once, in earnest woo !
Here is a chamber worthy you !
And, since a new intrigue inspires,
May she prove all your heart desires !

ELEGIA XIV

Tu licet abiectus Tiberina molliter unda

Lesbia Mentoreo vina bibas opere,
Et modo tarn celeres mireris currere lintres,

Et modo tarn tardas funibus ire rates ;
Et nemus omne satas intendat vertice silvas, 5

Urgetur quantis Caucasus arboribus :
Non tamen ista meo valeant contendere amori ;

Nescit Amor magnis cedere divitiis.
Nam sive optatam mecum trahit ilia quietem,

Seu facili totum ducit amore diem : 10

Turn mihi Pactoli veniunt sub tecta liquores,

Et legitur rubris gemma sub aequoribus :
Turn mihi cessuros spondent mea gaudia reges :

Quae maneant, dum me fata perire volent !
Nam quis divitiis adverso gaudet Amore ? 15

Nulla mihi tristi praemia sint Venere.

ELEGY XIV

You, Tullus, in your cosy bower,
'Mid parklands set with trees that tower
Like Asian jungles — you may sup
Your Lesbian from your Mentor cup,
And watch in turn from Tiber's marge
The scudding skiff, the crawling barge ;
Yet is your lot no match for mine ;
Wealth must to Love the palm resign.
For when with me she dreams away
Sweet nights, or toys the livelong day,
My home with gold Pactolus laves
And gems are gleaned from Indian waves !
Then, happy heart, o'er kings you reign.
Reign on, till fate my death ordain !
Who cares for Wealth, with Love at strife ?
If Venus frown, I prize not life.

60 CYNTHIA

Ilia potest magnas heroum infringere vires ;

Ilia etiam duris mentibus esse dolor :
Ilia neque Arabium metuit transcendere limen,

Nee timet ostrino, Tulle, subire toro, 20

Et miserum toto iuvenem versare cubili :

Quid relevant variis serica textilibus ?
Quae mihi dum placata aderit, non ulla verebor

Regna, nee Alcinoi munera despicere.

CYNTHIA 6 1

She can o'erpower the stalwart prince,
She makes the hardiest peasant wince ;
She dares to scale with stealthy tread
The onyx stair, the inlaid bed,
And make young Dives toss and fret
Despite his damask coverlet.
Let her but smile, and I '11 not care
One jot for king or millionaire !

ELEGIA XV

SAEPE ego multa tuae levitatis dura timebam,

Hac tamen excepta, Cynthia, perfidia.
Adspice me quanto rapiat Fortuna periclo :

Tu tamen in nostro lenta timore venis ;
Et potes hesternos manibus componere crines, 5

Et longa faciem quaerere desidia,
Nee minus eois pectus variare lapillis,

Ut formosa novo quae parat ire viro.
At non sic Ithaci digressu mota Calypso

Desertis olim fleverat aequoribus. 10

Multos ilia dies incomtis moesta capillis

Sederat, iniusto multa locuta salo ;
Et, quamvis nunquam posthac visura, dolebat

Ilia tamen, longae conscia laetitiae.
Alphesiboea suos ulta est pro coniuge fratres, 15

Sanguinis et cari vincula rupit Amor.

ELEGY XV

MUCH have I feared your giddy flights,
But, Cynthia, not this slight of slights !
Fate thrusts me into jeopardy,
Yet come you not to comfort me,
But dally at your glass and preen
The tangled locks of yestere'en :
Nay, prank your breast with jewels too
Like beauty bent on conquest new !
Far other, when Ulysses sailed,
By the lone wave Calypso wailed.
Day after day unkempt sat she
And communed with the cruel sea,
While memory fond again lived o'er
Those happy years to come no more.
Alcmaeon's widow, breaking through
The ties of blood, her brothers slew.

64 CYNTHIA

Nec sic Aesoniden rapientibus anxia ventis

Hypsipyle vacuo constitit in thalamo :
Hypsipyle nullos post illos sensit amores,

Ut semel Haemonio tabuit hospitio. 20

Coniugis Euadne miseros elata per ignes

Occidit, Argivae fama pudicitiae.
Quarum nulla tuos potuit convertere mores,

Tu quoque uti fieres nobilis historia.
Desine iam revocare tuis periuria verbis, 25

Cynthia, et oblitos parce movere deos ;
Audax, ah nimium nostro dolitura periclo,

Si quid forte tibi durius incident !
Multa prius vasto labentur flumina ponto,

Annus et inversas duxerit ante vices, 30

Quam tua sub nostro mutetur pectore cura ;

Sis quodcunque voles, non aliena tamen.
*Quam tibi ne viles isti videantur ocelli,

Per quos saepe mihi credita perfidia est !
Hos tu iurabas, si quid mentita fuisses, 35

Ut tibi suppositis exciderent manibus :
Et contra magnum potes hos attollere Solem,

Nec tremis admissae conscia nequitiae?

CYNTHIA 6$

Hypsipyle, when Jason fled,
Hung brooding o'er the vacant bed.
Her heart the ^Emonian guest had slain :
Hypsipyle ne'er loved again !
Evadne, type of modest pride,
Lay on her husband's pyre and died !
Your heart these vailed not to reclaim
Nor add you to the scroll of fame.
Hush, Cynthia, hush ! No more protest ;
Give the forgiving Gods some rest !
Rash girl ! Should trouble fall on you,
My parlous plight you 'd dearly rue.
Up from the deep shall rivers glide,
Backward the year its changes guide,
Ere love of you my heart resign :
Be what you will, you must be mine !
How cheap must you account those eyes,
Sponsors to all your perfidies, —
Eyes that you prayed, to seal your oath,
Might drop out, had you broken troth !
These dare you raise to heaven's bright vault
Without a tremor for your fault ?
F

66 CYNTHIA

Quis te cogebat multos pallere colores,

Et fletum invitis ducere luminibus ? 40

Queis ego nunc pereo, similes moniturus amantes,
O nullis tutum credere blanditiis !

CYNTHIA 67

Who made you pale all deathly hues,
Or weep with eyes that did not choose ?
Eyes fatal still ! Oh ! foolish hearts,
Beware coquettes and all their arts !

ELEGIA XVI

Quae fueram magnis olim patefacta triumphis,

Ianua Tarpeiae nota pudicitiae,
Cuius inaurati celebrarunt limina currus,

Captorum lacrimis humida supplicibus ;
Nunc ego, nocturnis potorum saucia rixis, 5

Pulsata indignis saepe queror manibus ;
Et mihi non desunt turpes pendere corollae

Semper, et, exclusi signa, iacere faces.
Nee possum infames dominae defendere noctes,

Nobilis obscoenis tradita carminibus. 10

Nee tamen ilia suae revocatur parcere famae,

Turpior et secli vivere luxuria.
Has inter gravibus cogor deflere querelis

Supplicis ah longis tristior excubiis.
Ille meos nunquam patitur requiescere postes 15
Arguta referens carmina blanditia :

ELEGY XVI

Vestal Tarpeia's far-famed door,
Flung wide when pageants passed of yore,
Whose steps, with captives' tears bedewed,
Long lines of gilded chariots viewed,
I now am thumped by scurvy hands
And drunken brawls of midnight bands,
While barred-out suitors strew my porch
With faded wreath and dying torch !
Can I, by ribald rhymes disgraced,
My mistress shield from nights debased,
When, heedless of decorum, she
Outdoes the age in laxity ?
I can but mourn with sadder air
Than that belated gallant there
Who squalls away my lintel's peace
With serenades that never cease : —

7o

CYNTHIA

" Ianua, vel domina penitus crudelior ipsa,

Quid mihi tarn duris clausa taces foribus ?
Cur nunquam reserata meos admittis amores,

Nescia furtivas reddere mota preces ? 20

Nullane finis erit nostro concessa dolori ?

Tristis et in tepido limine somnus erit ?
Me mediae noctes, me sidera prona iacentem,

Frigidaque eoo me dolet aura gelu.
Tu sola humanos nunquam miserata dolores 25

Respondes tacitis mutua cardinibus.
O utinam traiecta cava mea vocula rima

Percussas dominae vertat in auriculas !
Sit licet et saxo patientior ilia Sicano,

Sit licet et ferro durior et chalybe : 30

Non tamen ilia suos poterit compescere ocellos

Surget et invitis spiritus in lacrimis.
Nunc iacet alterius felici nixa lacerto ;

At mea nocturno verba cadunt Zephyro.
Sed tu sola mei, tu maxima causa doloris, 35

Victa meis nunquam, ianua, muneribus.
Te non ulla meae laesit petulantia linguae,

*Quae solet irato dicere turba ioco :

CYNTHIA 71

" More cruel far than she you guard,

Oh ! door morose and mutely barred,

Why have you ne'er unlocked, and been

My confidential go-between ?

Must I for ever fare thus ill

And mope the night on this cold sill ?

Midnight, prone stars, and dawn's frore air

Compassionate me as I lie there.

You only, strange to pity's twinge,

Respond with irresponsive hinge !

Oh ! that some chink my voice would steer

Through to my lady's startled ear !

Firm though she be as Etna's rock,

Harder than steel or iron block,

Yet an o'ermastering sigh will rise

'Mid tears that dim rebellious eyes.

In happier arms she 's nestling there,

While I waste words on midnight air !

Yours is the fault, and only yours,

Most incorruptible of doors !

Why keep me, hoarse with tales of wrong,

Tramping the pavement all night long ?

72 CYNTHIA

Ut me tarn longa raucum patiare querela

Sollicitas trivio pervigilare moras. 40

At tibi saepe novo deduxi carmina versu,

Osculaque impressis nixa dedi gradibus.
Ante tuos quoties verti me, perfida, postes,

Debitaque occultis vota tuli manibus ! "
Haec ille, et si quae miseri novistis amantes, 45

Et matutinis obstrepit alitibus.
*Sic ego nunc dominae vitiis, et semper amantis

Fletibus, aeterna differor invidia.

CYNTHIA 73

I never breathed one hasty word
Of banter, like the common herd,
But rhymed you many a quaint conceit
And kissed obeisance at your feet,
Before your jambs the sentry played,
And promised fees discreetly paid."
With all your lore, ye Romeos,
The morning cock he thus outcrows,
And puling buck and peccant dame
Now put me to perpetual shame !

ELEGIA XVII

Et merito, quoniam potui fugisse puellam,

Nunc ego desertas adloquor alcyonas.
*Nec mihi Cassiope solito visura carinam est,

Omniaque ingrato litore vota cadunt.
Quin etiam absenti prosunt tibi, Cynthia, venti ; 5

Adspice, quam saevas increpet aura minas.
Nullane placatae veniet Fortuna procellae?

Haeccine parva meum funus arena teget ?
Tu tamen in melius saevas converte querelas ;

Sat tibi sit poenae nox et iniqua vada. 10
An poteris siccis mea fata reponere ocellis ?

Ossaque nulla tuo nostra tenere sinu ?
Ah pereat, quicunque rates et vela paravit

Primus, et invito gurgite fecit iter.
Nonne fuit levius dominae pervincere mores, 15

(Quamvis dura, tamen rara puella fuit)

ELEGY XVII

And richly served ! From her I broke,
And the lone halcyons now invoke !
Corfu my customed keel will miss :
All prayer is vain on coasts like this.
E'en the fierce blast that howls its ban
Is absent Cynthia's partisan !
Will no kind spirit lull the storm ?
Must yonder sand-spit shroud my form ?
Oh ! soften, Cynthia ! Let this night,
These cruel reefs content thy spite.
What ! not a tear ? My death forget ?
And next thy heart no relic set ?
A plague on him who first o'erpassed
The unwilling flood with sail and mast !
'T were better Cynthia's moods to dare
(Unkind she^s> but Oh ! how rare !)

76 CYNTHIA

Quam sic ignotis circumdata litora silvis

Cernere, et optatos quaerere Tyndaridas ?
Illic si qua meum sepelissent fata dolorem,

Ultimus et posito staret amore lapis, 20

Ilia meo caros donasset funere crines,

Molliter et tenera poneret ossa rosa :
Ilia meum extremo clamasset pulvere nomen,

Turn mihi non ullo pondere terra foret.
At vos aequoreae formosa Doride natae, 25

Candida felici solvite vela choro.
Si quando vestras labens Amor attigit undas,

Mansuetis socio parcite litoribus.

CYNTHIA 77

Than scan strange forests fringed with froth

And long to see the Twins flash forth.

Had buried love and sorrow found

Memorial stone on native ground,

Her cherished locks my grave had dowered,

Her hand soft rose-leaves on me showered,

Her lips, when dust and dust unite,

Had sobbed my name, and earth lain light !

Ye sea-maids, of fair Doris bred,

Come, happy band, my canvas spread !

If Love e'er glided down to you,

Oh ! land me safe, who serve him too !

ELEGIA XVIII

HAEC certe deserta loca, et taciturna querenti,

Et vacuum Zephyri possidet aura nemus.
Hie licet occultos proferre impune dolores,

Si modo sola queant saxa tenere fidem.
Unde tuos primum repetam, mea Cynthia, fastus ?

Quod mihi das flendi, Cynthia, principium ? 6
Qui modo felices inter numerabar amantes,

Nunc in amore tuo cogor habere notam.
Quid tantum merui ? quae te mihi crimina
mutant ?

An nova tristitiae causa puella tuae ? 10

Sic mihi te referas levis, ut non altera nostro

Limine formosos intulit ulla pedes.
Quamvis multa tibi dolor hie meus aspera debet,

Non ita saeva tamen venerit ira mea,
Ut tibi sim merito semper furor, et tua flendo 15

Lumina deiectis turpia sint lacrimis.

ELEGY XVIII

In this discreet and leafy spot,

Where Zephyr reigns and man is not,

If rocks can keep a secret, here

To ease my heart I need not fear.

How, Cynthia, did your scorn begin ?

Whence have my woes their origin ?

Once amid happy lovers placed,

I in your heart am now disgraced !

What crime so heavy a sentence draws ?

Another girl ? Is that the cause ?

Back to me, then ! Trip back ! Save yours

No pretty foot has passed my doors.

I owe you grudge for this rebuff,

Yet is my wrath not mad enough

Your fury to deserve for years

And spoil your eyes with floods of tears.

80 CYNTHIA

An quia parva damus mutato signa colore,

Et non ulla meo clamat in ore fides ?
Vos eritis testes, si quos habet arbor amores,

Fagus, et Arcadio pinus arnica deo. 20

Ah quoties teneras resonant mea verba sub
umbras,

Scribitur et vestris Cynthia corticibus !
An tua quod peperit nobis iniuria curas,

Quae solum tacitis cognita sunt foribus ?
Omnia consuevi timidus perferre superbae 25

Iussa, neque arguto facta dolore queri.
Pro quo, divini fontes, et frigida rupes,

Et datur inculto tramite dura quies,
Et quodcunque meae possunt narrare querelae,

Cogor ad argutas dicere solus aves. 30

Sedqualiscunque es, resonent mihi Cynthia silvae,

Nee deserta tuo nomine saxa vacent.

CYNTHIA 81

Or is 't that love is not avowed
By pallid cheek and protest loud ?
Witness, if tree can feel like man,
O beech, O pine beloved of Pan,
How oft your mossy shades acclaim,
Your carven boles bear Cynthia's name !
Or may I not my wrongs deplore —
Things I but whisper to your door ?
Humbly I 've done your bidding proud,
Nor dared to blame your deeds aloud.
And my reward ? The haunted well,
The wayside couch, the frozen fell ;
And, would I on my woes descant,
Some twittering bird for confidant !
But — kind or curst — let forests cry
" Cynthia ! " and lonesome crags reply !

ELEGIA XIX

NON ego nunc tristes vereor, mea Cynthia, Manes,

Nee moror extremo debita fata rogo ;
Sed, ne forte tuo careat mihi funus amore,

Hie timor est ipsis durior exsequiis.
Non adeo leviter nostris puer haesit ocellis, 5

Ut meus oblito pulvis amore vacet.
IlHc Phylacides iucundae coniugis heros

Non potuit caecis immemor esse locis ;
Sed cupidus falsis attingere gaudia palmis

Thessalis antiquam venerat umbra domum. 10
Illic, quidquid ero, semper tua dicar imago :

Traiicit et fati litora magnus amor.
Illic formosae veniant chorus heroinae,

Quas dedit Argivis Dardana praeda viris :
Quarum nulla tua fuerit mihi, Cynthia, forma 15

*Gratior. Et Tellus hoc ita iusta sinat ;

ELEGY XIX

DEATH, Cynthia, I no longer heed,
Nor grudge the final pyre its meed ;
But lest thou cease to love me dead,
That more than death itself I dread.
Mine eyes have Cupid limed so fast,
Love's memory in my dust shall last.
Phylacides, 'mid realms of night
Still yearning for Jiis heart's delight,
In phantom arms to clasp her clomb
Back to his old Thessalian home.
Since love so mighty travelleth
Even across the gulf of death,
There, hap what may, as Cynthia's own
My spirit ever shall be known.
Though Troy's princesses gather there,
Of Grecian swords the booty fair,
None, Cynthia, shall my heart enchant
As thou : and nether Justice grant

84 CYNTHIA

Quamvis te longae remorentur fata senectae,

Cara tamen lacrimis ossa futura meis :
Quae tu viva mea possis sentire favilla !

Turn mihi non ullo mors sit amara loco. 20
Quam vereor, ne te contemto, Cynthia, busto

Abstrahat heu ! nostro pulvere iniquus Amor,
Cogat et invitam lacrimas siccare cadentes !

Fleetitur assiduis certa puella minis.
Quare, dum licet, inter nos laetemur amantes : 2£

Non satis est ullo tempore longus amor.

CYNTHIA 85

That as — (God keep thee long, long years !)—
Thy darling dust would draw my tears,
My memory so thy heart may wring :
Where then, O Death, would be thy sting?
God grant no tyrant force thee, dear, —
(The truest girl may yield to fear) —
To slight my tomb, my memory shun,
And dry the tears that fain would run !
Then join we now in loving sport,
For Love is long and Time is short !

ELEGIA XX

Hoc pro continuo te, Galle, monemus amore,

Id tibi ne vacuo defluat ex animo :
Saepe imprudenti fortuna occurrit amanti.

*Crudelis Minyis dixerit Ascanius.
Est tibi non infra speciem, non nomine dispar 5

Thiodamanteo proximus ardor Hylae.
*Hunc tu, sive leges umbrosae flumina Silae,

Sive Aniena tuos tinxerit unda pedes,
Sive Gigantea spatiabere litoris ora,

Sive ubicunque vago fluminis hospitio, 10

Nympharum semper cupidas defende rapinas :

(Non minor Ausoniis est amor Adryasin,)
*Ne tibi sit, duros montes et frigida saxa,

Galle, neque expertos semper adire lacus,
Quae miser ignotis error perpessus in oris 15

Herculis indomito fleverat Ascanio.

ELEGY XX

Long friendship, Gallus, bids me say,
Lest the hard lesson leak away,
*That Minyans learnt at Ascan's pool,
" Unwary Love is Fortune's fool ! "
You have a Hylas you adore
Fair as his namesake was of yore.
Whether the Giant's Shore you pace,
Or wooded Sila's streamlets trace,
Or spray your feet by Anio's rill —
Guest of what mazy burn you will —
Guard him from brigand Nymphs' caress
Italian Dryads love no less.
Else, Gallus, may you evermore
Search fell and tarn and freezing tor,
Sad as Alcides' wanderings drear
And bootless moans by Ascan's mere !

88 CYNTHIA

Namque ferunt olim Pagasae navalibus Argo

Egressam longe Phasidos isse viam :
Et iam praeteritis labentem Athamantidos undis

Mysorum scopulis adplicuisse ratem. 20

Hie manus heroum, placidis ut constitit oris,

Mollia composita litora fronde tegit.
At comes invicti iuvenis processerat ultra,

Raram sepositi quaerere fontis aquam.
Hunc duo sectati fratres, Aquilonia proles, 25

Hunc super et Zetes, hunc super et Calais,
*Oscula suspensis instabant carpere palmis,

Oscula et alterna ferre supina fuga.
I lie sub extrema pendens secluditur ala,

Et volucres ramo submovet insidias. 30

Iam Pandioniae cessit genus Orithyiae :

*Ah dolor ! ibat Hylas, ibat Hamadryasin.
Hie erat Arganthi Pegae sub vertice montis

Grata domus Nymphis humida Thyniasin,
Quam supra nullae pendebant debita curae 35

Roscida desertis poma sub arboribus,
Et circum irriguo surgebant lilia prato

Candida purpureis mixta papaveribus ;

CYNTHIA 89

For Argo, Phpds bound, they say,
From Pagasae had made good way,
And, Hellespont now glided past,
By Mysian cliffs the boat made fast.
Here, safe ashore, the hero crew
With beds of leaves the shingle strew,
While fared the Conqueror's page to bring
Scarce water from some distant spring.
Him Calais followed hard upon,
And Zetes, Boreas' other son,
Now poised, now flitting to and fro
To snatch a kiss or one bestow.
Cowering at wing's length, staggering back
He cudgels off their fleet attack.
Then fled Pandion's kin. The boy
Went on, alack ! to Dryads' joy.
Here Pegae neath Arganthus' dome
Was Thynian Naiads' favourite home,
Roofed by sequestered trees festooned
With dewy fruits though all unpruned,
And gardened with lush meadows bright
With poppies red and lilies white.

90 CYNTHIA

Quae modo decerpens tenero pueriliter ungui,

Proposito florem praetulit officio ; 40

Et modo formosis incumbens nescius undis

Errorem blandis tardat imaginibus.
Tandem haurire parat demissis flumina palmis

Innixus dextro plena trahens humero :
Cuius ut accensae Dryades candore puellae 45

Miratae solitos destituere choros,
Prolapsum leviter facili traxere liquore :

Turn sonitum rapto corpore fecit Hylas.
Cui procul Alcides iterat responsa : sed illi

Nomen ab extremis fontibus aura refert 50
His, o Galle, tuos monitis servabis amores,

Formosum Nymphis credere visus Hylan.

CYNTHIA 91

Now culling these ('tis boyhood's way)
He shirked his errand for his play ;
Now o'er the watery mirror leans
And idles o'er its fairy scenes.
At length full draughts 'gan he to draw
With lowered hands. The Dryads saw
The snow-white arm on which he leant.
Their dance stopped ; hot their pulses went.
He slips. Beneath the yielding wave
They drag him. Then a cry he gave.
Alcides calls and calls. Far springs
Return the name on Echo's wings !
Gallus, be warned. Of Nymphs beware,
Or lose your love, your Hylas fair !

ELEGIA XXI

Tu, qui consortem properas evadere casum,

Miles, ab Etruscis saucius aggeribus,
Quid nostro gemitu turgentia lumina torques ?

Pars ego sum vestrae proxima militiae.
*Sic te servato ut possint gaudere parentes,

Nee soror acta tuis sentiat e lacrimis,
Galium, per medios ereptum Caesaris enses,

Effugere ignotas non potuisse manus,
Et quaecunque super dispersa invenerit ossa

Montibus Etruscis, haec sciat esse mea. g

ELEGY XXI

You, who to shun your comrades' fate

Fly bleeding from Perusia's gate,

Why roll aside eyes big with fear ?

Your brother in arms lies groaning here !

Must parents blush at your return ?

Must sister from your tears discern

That Gallus 'scaped Imperial swords

Only to fall by nameless hordes,

And, should she on lone Apennine

Some bones find scattered, know them mine ?

ELEGIA XXII

QUALIS, et unde genus, qui sint mihi, Tulle, penates,

Quaeris pro nostra semper amicitia.
Si Perusina tibi patriae sunt nota sepulcra,

Italiae duris funera temporibus,
Quum Romana suos egit discordia cives : — 5

Sit mihi praecipue, pulvis Etrusca, dolor.
Tu proiecta mei perpessa es membra propinqui,

Tu nullo miseri contegis ossa solo : —
Proxima supposito contingens Umbria campo

Me genuit, terris fertilis uberibus. 10

ELEGY XXII

YOUR friendship, Tullus, asks anent
My home, my station, my descent.
Know you the graves Perusia filled
With Roman kith by Romans killed,
In those sad days of civil broil — ?
(What grief like mine, thou Tuscan soil,
That saw'st my mangled kinsman thrown
To rot unburied limb and bone !) —
Where Umbria lifts her fertile earth
O'er bordering plain, I had my birth.

NOTES

Elegy I

20. * Medean ' I get from verse 24.

35, 36. hoc . . . malum, ' the misery I am now
suffering.' cura, 'the object of affection.' He is
thinking of Lycinna, who was not so difficile) cf. iv.
IS- 6-

Elegy II

9. I have gathered into this line all the com-
paratives which follow.

10. Some read ut without authority. A relative
adverb is easily supplied from quos. This is quite
Propertian.

13. The Naples MS. gives persuadent. Scaliger's
correction per se dent would be acceptable, did it not
necessitate the change of nativis lapillis into nativos
iapi/los, and that of canunt into canant. Picta, too,
seems rather nerveless when bereft of its adverbial
H

98 CYNTHIA

adjunct nativis lapillis. Hence I have ventured
(for once) upon a conjecture of my own. The
reading of the Groningen MS. collucent supports by
its sense per se ardent, and may have been substituted
for the latter by some one who considered the rhythm
harsh. The objection that per se and nativis are
tautological appears to me to have little force. The
poet intends to convey that neither the beach nor
the pebbles on it owe any of their beauty to art.
But even if some slight redundancy be detected in
the expression, many similar instances might be
quoted, such as notas and ut prius (i. i. 18), dodo
and nota (iii. 24. 20), fracto and rumpere (iv. 11. 4),
etc. I may add, in further support of my conjecture,
that I think there is some reason to suppose that
parts, at least, of the Naples MS. were written from
dictation and not transcribed, and that in corrupt
passages the source of errors must often be sought
in deceptions of the ear, not in failures of the eye.
If so, per se ardent may easily have been mistaken
for persuadent.

Elegy III

32. Paley's interpretation, 'lighting upon eyes
that would have slept on,' appears to me unsatis-
factory. The repetition of the word luna shows,
I think, that in this line the poet's thoughts are

NOTES 99

for the moment diverted from Cynthia to dwell upon
the moon. I understand luminibus therefore of the
moon's rays; cf. iv. 20. 14 longius in primo^
Luna, morare toro. In iv. 20. 12 moraturae is used
as it is here, ' that want to linger on.'

36. alterius, taken objectively, gives, I think,
the stronger and more appropriate sense. 'You
seem to treat all women badly,' says Cynthia, 'and
your conduct has roused one of them to turn you
out of her house. Otherwise you would not have
returned to me even at this late hour.'

Elegy IV

13. multis decus artibus, 'the distinction she
has gained in many accomplishments'; cf. i. 2. 27-30
and iv. 20. 7.

Elegy V

7. vagis : the difference between Cynthia and
vagae piiellae is explained, I think, by the next line,
and therefore I understand vagis in a moral not a
physical sense.

12. animis should be connected with adligat,
'by her passionate outbreaks.' To construe it with
feros introduces a tautology and leaves viros rather
otiose.

ioo CYNTHIA

25. tuae . . . CUlpae: not 'your evil practices*
generally, which would not have repelled Cynthia,
but 'your presumption in venturing to pay your
addresses to her.'

Elegy VI

10. irato I take proleptically.

16. ora: not sua ora, but mea ora\ cf. v. 8. 64
and iv. 16. 10.

17. opposito has a double sense, as in Catullus
xxvi. 2, 'contrary' and 'in pawn.' Paley has missed
the pun, and renders sibi debita as if it were a se
debita. The wind being contrary, Cynthia declares
that kisses are due to her, and that is why the wind
has had to be pawned. Her lover, she hints, is
out of credit both with her and with the clerk of
the weather.

Elegy VII

16. nostros, 'our allies.' The context naturally
suggests military language. The substitution of
evoluisse for the MSS. reading eviolasse appears to
me perfectly wanton. Nostros deos cannot be under-
stood as referring to the Fates, who, moreover, were
not gods. After the previous line what could be
more appropriate than the idea of violent injury ?

NOTES 101

1 8. surda in a passive sense, 'no one will
listen to your epic ' while me legat assidue (verse 13).

Elegy VIII

12-15. aura, wind light enough to allow ships to
proceed, not too strong — not tales verity which would
cause the ship to labour along slowly and so give
him an opportunity of expostulating with her.

27. A striking example of Propertius' abrupt
transitions of thought. His imagination carries
him away. First he pictures Cynthia as gone {quo
portu clausa puella mea est) ; then as returning {futura
mea est, hie erit); lastly he finds it impossible to
believe she will go at all {hie manet, vicimus).

Elegy IX

15. Hertzberg, followed by Paley, strangely mis-
interprets this passage. copia is 'the means of
satisfying your desires'; cf. iii. 11. 24 and iii. 25. 44.
Facilis copia and medio flumine quaeris aquam explain
each other.

26. si qua tua est, fif she is one of your own
household.'

33. si pudor est, 'if you have any sense of
decency left ' ; cf. iii. 3. 18.

io2 CYNTHIA

Elegy XI

21. I have restored the reading of the best MSS.,
from which I see no reason to depart. Non is to be.
taken with motor in the sense of multo minor, just as
non nunquam means 'very often.' 'Is this,' says
Propertius, ' the alternative before me, either to cease
watching over my dear mother in order to watch over
you, or, if I continue to guard my mother, to lose you ?
In the latter case, what should I care for life ? '

Elegy XIII

8. I can see no justification for altering adire,
which all the good MSS. give. ' Hitherto,' says the
poet, ' you have never felt a wound. Now you have
an opponent who has brought you to your knees at
the very first assault.' lapsus adis, 'you attack and
are defeated,' as elata occidit, ' she died and was buried,'
i. 15. 21.

17. verbis: the text of the MSS. is supported
and explained by i. 10. 6, which refers to the same
incident, labris has no respectable authority, and
gives to the verse a hackneyed turn quite foreign to
Propertius' genius.

NOTES 103

Elegy XV

33. The MSS. give quam tibi ne ( = vat), which
makes excellent sense, though possibly ne may be an
error for vae.

Elegy XVI

38. The MSS. have quae solet irato dicere tota loco.
The reading in the text is that adopted by Hertzberg
from the emendations of Pucci and Kuinoel. On the
occasion of a real marriage the guests sang ribald
songs outside the bridal - chamber door; cf. Claud.
Fesc. iv. 30 : —

Ducant pervigiles carmina tibiae
Permissisque iocis turba licentior
Exsultet tetricis libera legibus.

In the present case it was a favoured lover who was
in the house, and the badinage of his rivals on the
wrong side of the door would naturally be spiteful
{irato ioco).

47. I cannot help suspecting that Propertius means
to connect, by an intentional Graecism, semper with
fletibuS) tols ael Barcpvoi?. Similar expressions are,
pro nostra semper amicitia, i. 22. 2 ; parvo saepe liquore,
in. 17. 16; and longas saepe in amore moras, i. 3. 44.

io4 CYNTHIA

Elegy XVII

3. Cassiope : not the star, but a port in the NE.
of Corcyra. The southern extremity of the island
was supposed to be a favourite resort of the Nereids
referred to in verse 25. See Wordsworth's Greece,
p. 346 (ed. 1859).

Elegy XIX

16-20. The ordinary interpretation of this very
obscure passage, 'may the nether powers be just
enough to allow me to prefer you to any other beauty,'
seems to me extremely feeble. I understand hoc to
mean ' what follows.' The justice he asks for is that,
should he die before Cynthia, he may be lamented by
her as sincerely as he would lament Cynthia, should
he survive her. But, in his present mood, he is too
delicate to allude to Cynthia's death more distinctly
than by expressing a hope that she may live to a good
old age. ' Although I pray you may enjoy long life,
yet (in the contrary event) I should ever weep over
your ashes. If you, in case of your surviving me,
can feel the same tender regard for my memory, then
the state of death will have no bitterness for me.'

NOTES 105

Elegy XX

4. I have ventured to Anglicise Ascanius on the
model of Tarquin, Vergil, etc.

7-1 1. Hertzberg makes unnecessary difficulties
about this passage. I do not believe that Propertius
is making any reference to boating or swimming.
He simply means, * Be on your guard whenever you
go near water.' tinxerit pedes refers to the falls of
the Anio. Hertzberg objects to Sitae on the ground
that 'the mention of such an out-of-the-way place
would be little to the purpose,' but it is precisely
because it was an out-of-the-way place that it would
be likely to be haunted by nymphs.

The vast preponderance of MSS. authority is in
favour of hunc . . . cupidas rapinas. They are so far
separated that the anacoluthon is almost natural.
Critics too precise to excuse such slips would doubt-
less insist on correcting Byron's famous solecism
' There let him lay ' into * There let him stay ' !

13, 14. Hertzberg, followed by Paley, reads : —

Ne tibi sit — durum ! — montes et frigida saxa,
Galle, neque experto semper adire lacus.

This is durum indeed, and robs the couplet of the
pretty trick to which Propertius is so partial of deck-
ing each noun with an appropriate adjective. Is it
probable that a poet, who wrote i. 16. 23-24 and
I

io6 CYNTHIA

i. 1 8. 27-28, would here name three physical features
and endow only one of them with an epithet ? All
the MSS. agree in expertos (neque expertos = et non-
expertosy cf. ii. 3. 6 and iii. 20. 52), and therefore an
attribute for montes seems inevitable. The Naples MS.
has ne tibi sint duri monies, etc. Hence the correction
of Lipsius given in the text seems scarcely doubtful.

As to quae (line 15) a general antecedent in apposi-
tion with the foregoing idea is to be supplied as in
i. 16. 38 and i. 18. 24.

27-30. In this extremely difficult passage the poet
seems to be describing a picture. If so, there can be no
movement, no succession of images, but a momentary
situation. The two brothers are, I think, said to be
both doing what in reality they did between them, i.e.
the one hovered overhead while the other flitted to and
fro, skimming the ground, and, as he passed Hylas,
twisting his head and neck upwards so as to reach the
boy from below {oscula supina), much in the attitude
of the birds on a willow-pattern plate. The lad bends
backwards till almost ready to fall (pendens) in his
effort to avoid the danger, which is so near him that
the tip of his assailant's wing overshadows him. All
the MSS. agree in palmis, which I understand as
remigio alarum. The poet may have thought the
word peculiarly appropriate, as he is speaking of a
winged being in human form, oscula ferre can, I

NOTES 107

think, only mean 'to bestow kisses,' as it certainly
does in iii. 9. 18, especially as it seems contrasted here
with oscula carpere. For the sense I have given to
alterna cf. i. 9. 24, i. n. 12, iii. 3. 7, and iv. 12. 28.
sub extrema a/a I cannot believe means 'under his
very arm-pit,' both because the attitude would be
extremely inartistic, and because the context renders
the use of a/a in this sense forced and unnatural.

32. The reading given in the text is Scaliger's
conjecture from the MSS. amadrias hinc. One feels
inclined to suggest amor Dryasin, ' to be the Dryads'
darling.' The line seems to require something of the
sort to balance its first half, but I can find nothing
else to support the suggestion.

Elegy XXI

5, 6. A striking instance of the havoc which hasty
'emendators' have wrought. They have cut out ut
and altered nee into haec, completely perverting the
sense. According to them the elegy represents a
mortally wounded partisan of Antony imploring a
comrade to save — himself ! And they are obliged to
understand parentes of the fugitives' parents and soror
of the dying man's sister ! The reading of the MSS.
enshrines quite a pathetic little story. ' What ! ' says
the helpless soldier, 'are you so panic-stricken as to

io8 CYNTHIA

think only of your own safety and to leave me, one of
your own comrades, to die here without an effort to
rescue me? Do not purchase your own safety by
conduct which will make it impossible for your parents
to welcome you with joy.' sic . . . ut, ' only on such
conditions that,' cf. i. 18. n. If we compare this
passage with i. 22. 6-8 and v. 1. 127-28, there can, I
think, be little doubt that Propertius is here referring
to the actual circumstances under which his own
father met his death in the Perusian war. The use of
the pseudonym ' Gallus,' and the general vagueness of
the allusions to the event, are explained by his fear of
giving offence to the triumphant faction which his
family had opposed.

THE END

Printed by R. & R. Clark, Limited, Edinburgh

PROPERTIUS, SEXTUS.

PA

Cynthia. ( Tremenheere tr.) ,K5 •

G7