Charles Simmons, The Metamorphoses of Ovid, Books XIII and XIV

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binominis, as being also called Iulus. He led a colony to Alba after the Trojan rule in Lavinium had lasted thirty years. Cf. Virg. Aen.I. 267-71, Liv.i. III. 3.

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Silvius, casu quodam in silvis natus, is called by Livy the son of Ascanius. The story followed by Virgil ( Aen.VI. 760-6) and Ovid (Fast. iv. 41) makes him son of Aeneas by Lavinia. His birth in the woods happened during Lavinia's flight from the hostility of Ascanius, who consequently retires to Alba. The accession of Silvius to the throne of Alba was explained either by a reconciliation of the half brothers, or by the supersession of Iulus, who is in one account son of Ascanius, by the decision of the people, to whom the question of succession was referred. The name was borne as a surname by the succeeding Alban kings, Liv.i. IV. 8.Ovid omits, as in Fast. iv., Aeneas Silvius, who in Livy precedes Latinus Silvius, and is mentioned in a different order by Virgil ( Aen.VI. 769).

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repetita, ‘revived.’ Bearing the same sceptre as his grandfather Latinus he also bore the same name.

nomina. Cf. 616, 621, xiii.108 n.

612. [clarius subit ecce latino Epitus ex illo est, Can.1 Heinsius introduces from Fast. iv. 43 for ecce Alba the name of the next king to Latinus. At first this seems convincing, as the V. in the Fasti is isque, Latine, tibi pater est. Subit Alba Latinum. But how can ecce have arisen from Alba? All MSS. have ecce. De Mure, the Swiss compiler of the Repertorium Vocabulorum Exquisitorum, in which so much of the Ibis is preserved, has under the word Capys, Capis eciam est proprium nomen cuiusdam regis sicut dicitur in glosa super Ouid Fast quod epithus genuit clarium et quemdam nomine capim clarius genuit caphetum unde idem in iiii et tuus est idem capethe factus auus. From this it seems he thought clarius was a proper name; and so the writer of Can.1, in which over clarius and epitus is written a small p. That it is a proper name is also probable from the variety of spellings, clarius, clarus, darus, cliarus, narus. Sir G. C. Lewis (Credibility of Early Roman Hist. i. p. 358) shows that the name Alba is not found in the list of kings given by the author of the work de origine gentis Romanae, by CassiusD. , Appian, or Bode's Mythographer. It is possible that Clarius or some similar name may in some accounts be substituted for Alba. In other points also the list in Met.xiv. differs from that in Fast. iv. In Fast. Agrippa, not Acrota, follows Tiberinus, and has a son Remulus. In Metamm. Remulus and Acrota are both sons of Tiberinus. Hence I conjecture that the true reading is Clarius (? Clarus) subit, hicque (or perhaps eque) Latino, Epitus ex illo est: ‘Clarius succeeds, and he is the son of Latinus, as Epitus is the son of Clarius.’ The above emendation is, I think, quite in Ovid's manner. R. E.].

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Epytus or Epitus is in Livy replaced by Atys.

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ab illis, ‘after them.’ Cf. xiii.720 n.

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Tusci fluminis, of the Albula, subsequently called from this accident the Tiber. Cf. 328, Virg. Aen.VIII. 331, where a different account is given. The Tiber is frequently thus referred to as ‘the Tuscan stream.’ Cf. Fast. iv. 48, Hor. C. III. vii. 27. Virgil even calls it ‘Lydian,’ in allusion to the traditional origin of the Etruscans, and Ovid, Fast. iii. 524, hails it as advena Tibri. The colour which gave to the river its earlier name, as to the Nar and Liris (cf. 330 n., Sil. Ital. VIII. 402) the epithet sulfureus, was due to the presence in its waters of sulphuretted hydrogen, which precipitated the substance called gesso. This process is still in operation in the sulphureous waters near Tivoli, but has ceased in the Tiber like the precipitation of carbonate of lime, which provided Roman builders with their stores of travertine. The later epithets flavus and fulvus describe the discoloration of the water by a fine micaceous sand. See Burn, Rome and the Campagna, pp. 3, 20.

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[nomina . . . aquae. Cf. Ib.514, nomina des rapidae, uel Tiberinus, aquae. R. E.].

Remulus or Aremulus is in Livy called Romulus, and as in the Fasti succeeds his father Agrippa, Acrota being omitted.

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[Acrota. Can.7 has Agrota m. pr. R. E.].

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imitator fulminis. His offence as described by Aurelius Victor (Origo Gentis Romanae, C. xviii.) is like that of Salmoneus in Virg. Aen.VI. 585-91, tantae superbiae non adversus homines modo, sed etiam deos fuisse traditur, ut praedicaret se superiorem esse ipso Iove; ac tonante caelo militibus imperaret ut telis clypeos quaterent; dictaretque clariorem sonum se facere. But it has been thought that this passage and Fast. iii. 327 are to be explained by supposing an anticipation of Franklin's discovery of the art of conducting lightning. The fate of Remulus was attested as late as the time of Dionysius (contemporary with Ovid) by the still visible remains of his palace at the bottom of the Alban lake, into which he was hurled.

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positus, of burial, as situs in Livy, I. ii. 6.

622. [Palatinus summe loca gentis habebat, Can.7 Can.1 Bod. This passage shows how deep at times is the corruption of the Metamorphoses. It is nearly certain that loca is an error for Proca (Fast. iv. 52), the king who succeeded Aventinus. Proca once corrupted into loca changed summam into summae. So far Heinsius seems rightly to have restored. But Palatinus, which I have found in my three MSS., seems to me more probable than Palatinae, though Heinsius states this to be in M, and Korn's silence perhaps means the same thing. For in the list given by Bode's Mythographer (vol. I. p. 63) Aventinus and Palatinus are respectively tenth and eleventh in the series of kings. R. E.].

summam gentis. Cf. xiii.192 n.

Proca, Latin form of Procas, as Marsya of Marsyas, VI. 400, Aeeta of Aeetes, Her. XII. 29. See Roby, § 475.

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Pomona, the goddess of the fruit of trees. This story of Vertumnus' suit to her is alluded to by Milton, P.l. IX. 394.

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rus. For the emphasis cf. 266 n.

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gravis, ‘laden.’

falce. ‘Under this word were included all kinds of cutting implements of the hook-form, from the scythe to the pruninghook,’ Keightley. Here it is used for pruning and grafting.

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premit, ‘prunes,’ as in Hor. C. I. xxxi. 9, G. I. 157.

spatiantia. Cf. IV. 364 (of the serpent in the eagle's talons), cauda spatiantes implicat alas.

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bibulae, ‘sappy.’ Cf. 368 n. IV. 744, virga recens bibulaque etiamnum viva medulla.

recurvas. Merkel regards this as a gloss upon the true reading retunsas, which strikingly expresses the effect caught by the poet's Sabine eye, that roots recoil and shrivel upon contact with the parched soil. M has repugnans. Recurvos need not mean more than ‘winding,’ ‘sinuous,’ as in II. 252, III. 664. [Repugnans is an error, and not a rare one, for repurgans. I consider it certain that Mr. Huleatt's conj. purgabitur for pugnabitur in Prop.v. IV. 47 is right. R. E.].

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labentibus rivis, canals of irrigation. Cf. Hom. Il.XXI. 257-62, G. I. 106-10, Hor. C. I. vii. 14.

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quoque adds a positive reason, that she is averse to love, to the negative one already given, that she is preoccupied.

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agrestum. The genitive plural, as of caelestis, necessarily loses the i in hexameter verse. The reference of the word here is only to deities, as is shown by what follows, and viriles is simply ‘male,’ or ‘of suitors.’

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praecincti cornua. Cf. xiii.534 n. So of Pan himself, I. 699, pinuque caput praecinctus acuta. Cf. Lucr. IV. 589.

Panes. Cf. xiii.750 n.

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Silvanus, a god presiding over rural life generally, arvorum pecorisque deus ( Virg. Aen.VIII. 601), tutor finium ( Hor. Ep.II. 22). Cf. Virg. Ecl.X. 24: “venit et agresti capitis Silvanus honore, florentis ferulas et grandia lilia quassans.”

641. [poterentur Can.1 potirentur Can.7 Bod. M. As Can.1 is an early MS. this is a signal proof of its importance. It has not admitted an error which has infected even the excellent M and the always considerable Bod., as well as Can.7 R. E.].

sed enim, ‘but for sure.’ Cf. xiii.141 n.

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Vertumnus. ‘The origin and meaning of the worship of Vertumnus are involved in some doubt. The etymology of the word is clear. It is a participial formation from root uert, and is for uerto-menus (“στρεφόμενος”). The suffix reappears in the second plur. passive, e.g. uertimini, and in alumnus, etc. Thus it means ‘turning,’ ‘changing,’ and, as a substantive, a ‘tumbler’ on horseback, a somersault-turner. The god seems chiefly to be a symbol of the revolving seasons and their changing products, and thus appears as a Latin Proteus,’ Postgate on Prop.v. ii., with which the present passage should be compared.

neque, ‘nor yet.’ For this use in contrasts see Lewis and Short, s.v. (D). Mayor on Juv.iii. 103, flet, si lacrimas conspexit amici, nec dolet, quotes Plin. Ep.V. vi. 36, ita occulte temperatur, ut impleat nec redundet.

felicior, more successful in his suit.

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habitu, ‘in the guise.’

duri, ‘sturdy,’ with a suggestion of clumsiness. Cf. Rem. Am. 337, durius incedit? fac inambulet, Amor. II. iv. 23, molliter incedit? motu capit. altera dura est. The same feeling seems to be present in rigida, 647. Cf. also 797 n.

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corbe. Cf. Prop. V. ii. 28, corbis in imposito pondere messor eram. The corbis messoria was a basket of conical or cylindrical shape used in gathering the ears of corn without the straw. It was of large size, similar to that which served as the crow's nest at the mast-head of ships.

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gerens, ‘wearing,’ little more than ‘having’ as in Virg. Aen.VI. 772, umbrata gerunt civili tempora quercu, Fast. II. 299, corpora nuda gerebant.

faeno. Cf. Prop. V. ii. 25, da falcem et torto frontem mihi comprime faeno, iurabis nostra gramina secta manu.

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versasse, ‘to have been tossing,’ just as the same tense is used where in the indicative the imperfect would be used of an act frequently done, Roby § 1370, Madvig, § 408 a.

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stimulos, ‘a goad.’ Cf. xiii.108 n.

rigida. Cf. 643 n.

648. [iurares Can.1 and Bod., iurasses M and Can.7 The difference might reduce itself to iurases and iurares, as the omission of one of two identical consonants is common in early MSS. But the comparative rareness of the pluperfect is strongly in its favour as against the far commoner imperfect. R.E. ].

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frondator, ‘stripper.’ We have properly no corresponding term; ‘vine-dresser’ will not do, because his operations were not confined to clearing the vine itself and the trees in the arbustum on which it was trained, of superfluous leaves, so as to expose the grapes to the sun. The trees generally were stripped, as Keightley says is still the practice in Italy, to provide fodder in summer and autumn when pasturage was scarce. Pliny says that the frondator was required to fill four baskets a day. See Keightley on Ecl.I. 57, Ellis on Cat. LXIV. 41.

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induerat. Roby, § 1553. The verb need not be pressed, as by Gierig and Lewis and Short, to mean that the ladder was ‘put on’ by the head being inserted between the rungs.

scalas, a plural like our ‘steps’ for ‘step-ladder.’ The singular is not classical.

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miles. Cf. Prop. V. ii. 27, arma tuli quondam et, memini, laudabar in illis.

piscator, a variation on Propertius, whose harundo (v. II. 33) is the jointed rod of the bird-catcher, which could be suddenly extended so as to smear the bird to be caught with birdlime: cantu fallitur ales, callida dum tacita crescit harundo manu ( Mart.xiv. 218.）

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denique, ‘in fine.’

multas, emphatic like saepe with predicative force; ‘many were the shapes in which, etc.,’ the preceding instances being now included under a general statement.

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spectatae formae, ‘of her shape beheld,’ ‘of gazing upon her shape.’ Cf. xiii.64 n.

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picta mitra, ‘wimple gaie,’ Golding. Cf. Fast.III. 669, levi mitra canos redimita capillos Fast., IV. 517, simularat anum mitraque capillos presserat. ‘The mitre of the Greek women was formed of a scarf of mixed colours fastened round the head and under the chin.’ Rich.

redimitus tempora. Cf. xiii.534 n.

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per tempora (so Zingerle) ‘over her temples.’ Heinsius first adopted ad tempora.

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cultos, ‘trim,’ showing high cultivation.

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tanto potentior. Such phrases as tanto melior, tanto nequior are frequent in comedy. [Tantoque peritior Can.7 Bod. The V. is omitted in Can.1 This seems a real case of two parallel readings. It is difficult to choose. Laudatae is rather in favour of peritior. The idea in any case is that the admiration (laus) and the oscula that accompanied it, not only would do Pomona no harm, but would increase her skill (peritior) as a gardener, or her rich supply of fruit (potentior). R.E. ].

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laudatae, ‘the complimented maid’ (King).

qualia . . . anus. The warmth of his kisses might have betrayed him. Cf. II. 430, oscula iungit nec moderata satis nec sic a virgine danda, IX. 539, quae, si forte notasti, oscula sentiri non esse sororia possent.

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incurva, ‘bowed,’ with back bent to suit the assumed character.

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autumni, perhaps ‘of autumn fruits,’ in a transferred sense, for which Lewis and Short quote Mart.iii. LVIII. 7, multa fragrat testa senibus autumnis (‘old vintages.’) So ver is used of spring flowers, Mart.ix. XIV. 2, cum breve Cecropiae ver populantur apes. Cf. Milt. P. l. V. 394, ‘all Autumn piled.’

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uvis. However we translate this word, it should be observed that it denotes the cluster and not the single grape, the latter being expressed in Latin by acinus, or by the general term granum. Racemus is the name for the smaller bunches of which the cluster is composed. See Keightley, Flora Virgiliana, s.v. Vitis, Mayor on Juv.xiii. 68, Postgate on Prop.v. II. 13, prima mihi variat liventibus uva racemis. Cf. III. 484, ut variis solet uva racemis ducere purpureum nondum matura colorem. It is curious that while the English ‘grape’ is limited to the berry, the French grappe (properly ‘hook,’ the word being connected with ‘grapple,’ ‘grapnel’) is not limited to the vine, so that the equivalent for uva, which in English is ‘bunch of grapes,’ is in French grappe de raisin. This last word which in French preserves the larger meaning of the Latin racemus, has in English been limited successively to the grape and to the dried grape. See Trench, Select Glossary s.v.

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socia cum vite, ‘with its wedded vine.’ Socius, socialis, and sociatus are particularly common in Ovid in this sense.

probavit,, approved, gazed upon with admiration. Cf. III. 425 (of Narcissus), se cupit imprudens et qui probat ipse probatur.

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caelebs . . . truncus. So Horace (Hor. C. II. xv. 4) calls the plane caelebs, as being unfit for the training of vines. Besides the elm and poplar, the ash, fig and olive were thus used in the arbustum, and even the willow when no better tree could be had. For a description of the method, which is still in use in Italy, see Keightley on Virgil's Georgics, p. 352. Cf. Milton, P. l. V. 215-9: ‘‘they led the vine To wed her elm; she, spoused, about him twines Her marriageable arms, and with her brings Her dower, the adopted clusters, to adorn His barren leaves.’’

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quare peteretur, ‘why he should be wooed.’ Cf. xiii.114 n.

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iuncta, ‘mated.’ Cf. 675. Although the elm is the husband, the gender is regularly thus kept, as with populus, Hor. Epod.II. 10.Cf. Quintil. VIII. iii. 8, maritam ulmum. See however Ellis on Cat. LXII. 54.

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terrae acclinata ‘leaning upon the earth’ instead of its proper support, the elm. There seems to be no clear instance in Ovid of the use of terrae as a locative. See Roby §§ 1168-9. In VII. 578, for terraeque iacentes all MSS. appear to have terra. Ehwald however thinks it is locative here.

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tangeris. Cf. 558 n.

Helene. Her twenty-nine suitors are enumerated by Apollodorus.

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quae . . . movit. Hippodamia or Hippodame, daughter of Atrax and wife of Peirithous, at whose weddingfeast began the battle of the Centaurs and Lapithae. The story is related in XII. 210-535.

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nimium tardantis, the long delay of his return exposing Penelope to the importunities of her suitors, as is related in Odyssey I. This is the conjecture of Riese, for timidi aut audacis of MSS. including Can.1, Can.7, Bod. King translates ‘Ulysses valiant most to craven foes,’ following the reading of Heinsius (from one MS.) timidis audacis, for which cf. X. 643, fortisque fugacibus esto. [This must be, I think, timidi haut audacis: ‘Helen would not have been more solicited by suitors, nor Hippodamia who caused the battle of the Centaurs with the Lapithae, nor Penelope, a woman so full of attractiveness (“πολυμνήστη”) as to make Ulysses seem not so much a bold man for at last reasserting his title to possess her, as a faint-hearted poltroon for not returning to claim her before. R.E. ] This is adopted by Ehwald and approved by S. G. Owen.

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Albanos montes. The story is localised in Latium.

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taedas, the torches of the bridal procession, often put, as here, for marriage. Cf. IV. 60, taedae quoque iure coissent.

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[selige M, elige Can.1 with a space before e, delige Bod., dilige Can.7 The fact of Can.1 having a space before elige shows that the reading was doubtful early. Rarity is again in favour of selige; but on the other hand dilige in Can.7 in the sense of delige ought not to be explained as a medieval mis-spelling. It points to a time when deligere, diligere were as interchangeable as delapsus, dilapsus in the earliest MSS. of Virgil. R. E.]

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[sibi . . . est Can.1, tibi notior ille est Bod., M, tibi notior ille Can.7. Here Can.1 is right against M and Can.7 which both have tibi: it is a reasonable inference that it adds est as rightly. R. E.]

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haec loca sola. [Nec loca magna, Can.4 Can.7 hec loca magna, Bod. The conj. haec loca sola made by several scholars, including Bentley, is not necessary. The sense of the MS. reading is consistent and intelligible. ‘Your present lover is not given to roaming about in quest of chance loves: he does not haunt large farms, where he can make love to the first woman he meets: you, Pomona, are his first and last flame.’ Magna is repeated on purpose. It contrasts the single lover and the singleness of his love with the multitude of lovers and their many loves. R. E.]. Ehwald proposes sed loca sola.

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naturale, ‘native.’

685. Cf. Fast VI. 409, conveniens diversis iste figuris, Prop.v. II. 21: “opportuna mea est cunctis natura figuris in quamcumque voles verte, decorus ero.”

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quid, quod. Cf. xiii.223 n.

amatis idem, you have the same taste, the love of horticulture.

poma. Cf. xiii.812 n.

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primus habet. The first-fruits of every season belonged to Vertumnus. Cf. Prop. V. ii. 11, vertentis fructum praecepimus anni . . . prima mihi variat liventibus uva racemis et coma lactenti spicea fruge tumet.

Primus is to be repeated with tenet.

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cum. For this use of the preposition, equivalent to an ablative of quality or description, see Roby, § 1881, and Munro on Lucr.i. 755.

praesentem, ‘in person.’

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Idalien. Venus, so called from a grove in Cyprus near Idalium sacred to her.

Rhamnusidis, Nemesis. Her temple at Rhamnus near Marathon was visited by Pausanias, who describes the statue said to have been carved by Phidias from a block of Parian marble brought by the Persians to furnish a trophy of their expected victory, (i. XXXIII. 2).

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facta, ‘a history.’

facile possis, ‘you may well.’