Quam male inaequales veniunt ad aratra iuvenci, Vir mihi semper abest, et coniuge notior hospes, 31. Ferentem libri quidam. 35. Domi G, unde Heins. corr. domi viduae. 38. Terna per ossa P (ap. Jahn.). Cerno per ora G. Corr. Heins. multi libri habent haesuros cerno per ossa quam lect. longe pessimam revocavit Jahn. Esuros multi, et ita Heins. subtle distinction: it was a fact that she 29. Just as ill-matched bullocks take badly to the plough, so a lowly wife is oppressed by a high-born husband.' 31. Non honor est sed onus species laesura ferentes.] The state that will injure those who bear it is not an honour, but a burden.' There is an untranslateable play on Taρovoμaría in the words 'onus' and 'honor:' Cicero several times puns on the words onerati' and'honorati.' 32. Si qua voles apte nubere nube pari.] Cf. Callimachus Epigr. i. 16, from which passage Ovid has borrowed this, as Ernesti remarked. derstood in this clause also. 35. Operata.] 'Operari' is generally used of offering up sacrifices, like odav. Cf. Hor. Od. III. xiv. 6, 'Prodeat iustis operata sacris.' Here it is used of offering up prayers as a religious duty. For 'pudicis,' cf. vi. 73, 'adde preces castas.' 36 Ne vir ab hoste cadat.] Cf. Met. 192, Magna feres tacitas solacia mortis ad umbras, A tanto cecidisse viro.' Ovid uses 'a' or 'ab' with the ablative, not only with the agent after passive verbs, but even after adjectives and intransitive verbs, as here. Vid. ad x. 138. 37, 38. 'I keep tossing among serpents, boars, and lions, and dogs ready to fasten on one with triple mouths.' Jactor' is used with reference to the sleepless nights she spent tossing about as she thought of the horrid monsters her husband was engaged with. The Lernaean Hydra, the Erymanthian boar, the Nemeaean lion, and Cerberus, are referred to. There seems to be no sufficient reason for following Heinsius in changing 'haesuros' to Esuros.' See a passage in Met. i. 535, where a dog is described pursuing a hare: Alter, inhaesuro similis iam iamque tenere Sperat,' ix. 5. Lennep defends the use of 'per' in the construction, Esuros terna per ora,' by Lucian Hermot. c. 74, ἤσθιε διὰ τριῶν στο párov a defence which, of course, applies equally to 'haesuros.' Me pecudum fibrae simulacraque inania somni Sentitur nobis, iraque longa deae. Haec mihi ferre parum? Peregrinos addis amores, Et mater de te quaelibet esse potest. Non ego Partheniis temeratam vallibus Augen, Qui lassas in se saepe retorquet aquas, 40 45 50 55 53. Referentur P referetur G. Edd. ante Heins. refertur (adv. metro) aut defertur Heins. protulit praefertur e suis codd. 55. Maeandros ter totiens erratur in isdem P. Ma eandros totiens qui terris errat in isdem G: corr. Heins. 56. Lassas P G, lapsas vulg. M It is in the last sense the word is used here. 46. Sentitur.] Sentire aliquoties significat magno suo damno aliquid experiri,' Ruhnken, who quotes Sen. Oed. 471, Regna securigeri Bacchum sensere Lycurgi Petron. 139, Iunonem Pelias sensit.' 49-54. I do not intend to speak of your amours with Auge, Astydamia, and the fifty daughters of Thespius: I will content myself with mentioning one recent case only that of Omphale." Auge was daughter of Aleus, King of Arcadia, mother of Telephus, by Hercules. Astydamia was daughter of Amyntor, and granddaughter of Ormenus: she bore Ctesippus to Hercules. The fifty daughters of Thespius, son of Theutras, bore fifty sons to Hercules. Lamus was son of Hercules, by the Lydian Queen Omphale, concerning whom, vide Class Dict Vidit in Herculeo suspensa monilia collo Et solidis gemmas opposuisse toris ? Edidit, unde humerus tegmina laevus habet. Non tibi succurrit crudi Diomedis imago, Huic victor victo nempe pudendus eras. 60 65 70 58. Illo PG collo, unus Heins. Lenn. Eleganter sane. 66. Dedecuisse pudet PG. Corr. Heins. qui haec scripsit "codd. nonnulli putes : certe puduit jam praecesserat. Rem. Am. 410: Et nihil est quod se dedecuisse putant." Nec facile explicanda est constructio verborum 'incingi dedecuisse pudet.' 70. Quaerendi signum post h. v. habent M. et Iahn. quod jure damnat Loers. 56. The river Maeander, famous for its winding course, rose in southern Phrygia, and formed the boundary between Lydia aud Caria, till it fell into the Icarian sea. The reading 'lassas' is defended by Burmann against 'lapsas' by Met. i. 582, Moxque amnes alii, qui qua tulit impetus illos, In mare deducunt fessas erroribus undas; and by Lucan, v. 466, Neuter (amnis) longo se gurgite lassat.' 59. Non puduit.] 'Were you not ashamed to confine your strong arms with golden bracelets, and to place jewels on your brawny muscles?' I prefer the interrogative form here, as it occurs twice below, 75, 89. 61. Nempe.]Verily.' This word is not ironical here, but denotes, as it sometimes does, strong affirmation. 'These were the very arms that slew the Nemean lion.' Cf. iv. 144, Hiscere nempe tibi terra roganda fuit,' and 70, infra. 63. Mitra.] The turban was looked upon by the Romans as characteristic of the Phrygians and Lydians. Servius ad Aen. ix. 616, 'Mitra proprie Lydorum fuit.' Cf. Juv. iii. 66. 64. Populus alba.] Cf. Theoc. ii. 121, κρατὶ ὁ ἔχων λεύκαν Ηρακλέος ἱερὸν ovos. Virg. Ecl. vii. 61, Populus Alcidae gratissima,' where Conington: 'The story was, that Leuce was a nymph beloved by Pluto, who caused a white poplar to grow up in the shades after her death; and that Hercules, on his way from the infernal regions, made himself a garland from its leaves.' 67. Diomedes, King of Thrace, who fed his horses on human flesh; Busiris, King of Egypt, and son of Poseidon, who sacrificed all foreigners that visited Egypt; and Antaeus, a Libyan giant and wrestler, son of Earth, who remained invincible as long as he was in contact with his mother Earth, were all slain by Hercules. 70. Nempe.] See note on v. 61, supra. Merkel and Jahn point this verse interrogatively; but I do not think the sense is thereby improved. Detrahat Antaeus duro redimicula collo, Diceris, et dominae pertimuisse minas. Aequaque formosae pensa rependis erae ? A! quoties, digitis dum torques stamina duris, 78. Pro formosae codd. nonnulli habent: famosae. 75 80 81-84. Scribit M: "vss. 81, 83, in margine P a ma.. sec. adiciuntur: vetus aliquis librarius in libro qui pentametros non reductos haberet describendo aberravit in hexametro 82 a voce dominae in v. 74, adjecti deinde ante aetatem G codicis duo hexametri duobus pentametris." Argute ille quidem: sed discrepat recensio Iahni, qui scribit: "totum distichon (81, 82), una cum sequenti (83, 84), a textu cod. Put. abest et in margine tantum legitur." Incertus igitur de scriptura P nolo conjecturam facere. Credo tamen Dominae pertimuisse minas' in ambobus versibus (74, 82), sana esse nullo modo posse. Sed in priore loco spuria magis quam in posteriore, ut M placet, mihi videntur: nam postulabantur in 74, verba qualia in Am. II. ii. 226, leguntur: Inter Ioniacas calathum tenuisse puellas creditur et lanas excoluisse rudes, potius quam dominae pertimuisse minas. 83. Pompas immania semina laudum P ma. sec. 77. Hercules' hands were so big and clumsy that the threads he spun were coarse, 'crassa.' 'Deduco,' used of drawing the thread out of the 'glomus,' which was wound round the colus,' or 'distaff,' by means of the 'fusus,' or 'spindle.' This was set spinning round to form the stamina,' or 'threads,' vss. 79, 80. The 'fusi' were delicate in make, and often got broken by the hands of Hercules, which were too strong.' ་ 81, 83. Vid. Ad. Crit. Verse 83, as it stands in the text, or in the margin of P, is an absurd piece of patchwork, more like the despairing effort of a modern schoolboy to complete his verses than Ovid's style. 'Praeconia,' and 'pompae,' and 'triumphus,' were favourite expressions of Ovid, no doubt, and well known as such to the composer, whoever he was: but the poet would not have given us such emblazonry all in one line. Besides 'praeconia narrare' is not Latin: 'praeconia facere,' is the usual and Ovidian expression. Vid. xvi. 139. Am. III. xii. 9. Pont. I. i. 55, etc., nor indeed would 'to narrate a proclamation' be English. The reading of P by a later hand. Eximiis pompis immania semina laudum' is equally bad. Scilicet immanes elisos faucibus hydros Infantem caudis involuisse manum : Non hominum pingues caede tacentur equae: Geryones, quamvis in tribus unus erat : Quique inter laevumque latus laevumque lacertum 86. Caudis P G. Cunis, al. Nodis Heins. 85 90 95 100 6 85, 86. Namely that throttled serpents had wound their tails round your infant hand.' The fable of the serpents sent by Juno to destroy Hercules in his cradle is given by Theocritus Idyll. xxiv. The 30th line of that Idyll, quoted by Lennep, seems to me to support caudis' against cunis, or nodis : τώ δ' αὖτε σπείραισιν ἑλισσέσθην περὶ παῖδα. Cf. also. Met. v. 361, where, of a serpent struggling with an eagle it is said, alligat, et cauda spatiantes implicat alas,' a passage also quoted by Lennep, who, however, gives the preference to the reading 'cunis,' on the ground that sollennis' in hac historia est mentio cunarum.' Cf. Met. ix. 67, Cunarum labor est angues superare mearum.' 'Elisa,' is regularly used of strangling, squeezing to death. Cf. Met. ix. 197, His elisa iacet pestis Nemeaea 6 lacertis.' Hence 'elidere collum' was substituted by Bentley for laedere collum,' Hor. Od. III. xxvii. 60. 87. The range of Erymanthus was in the north-east, and Tegea was in the south-west of Arcadia, so Tegeeus must be used generally for Arcadian.' The hiatus in cupressifero' is repeated in 131, 133, and 141 infra. These were evidently considered elegances rather than licenses. Cf. viii. 71, note. 88. Laedat.] Dints the ground.' Cf. Juv. iii. 272,quanto percussum pondere signent Et laedant silicem.' 96. Dives ab ipsa suis.] Cf. Art. iii. 668, indicio prodor ab ipse meo,' and thus repeatedly. 97. Antaeus, who had to be held in air by Hercules, to prevent his touching his mother Earth. |