Part 7

And yet we Poets are called 'hallowed,' and the care of the Deities; there are some, too, who believe that we possess inspiration. [613] Inexorable Death, forsooth, profanes all that is hallowed; upon all she lays her [614] dusky hands. What availed his father, what, his mother, for Ismarian Orpheus [615] What, with his songs to have lulled the astounded wild beasts? The same father is said, in the lofty woods, to have sung 'Linus! Alas! Linus! Alas! [616] to his reluctant lyre. Add the son of Mæon, [617] too, by whom, as though an everlasting stream, the mouths of the poets are refreshed by the waters of Piëria: him, too, has his last day overwhelmed in black Avernus; his verse alone escapes the all-consuming pile. The fame of the Trojan toils, the work of the Poets is lasting, and the slow web woven [618] again through the stratagem of the night. So shall Nemesis, so Delia, [619] have a lasting name; the one, his recent choice, the other his first love.

What does sacrifice avail thee? [620] Of what use are now the 'sistra' of Egypt? What, lying apart [621] in a forsaken bed? When the cruel Destinies snatch away the good, (pardon the confession) I am tempted to think that there are no Deities. Live piously; pious _though you be_, you shall die; attend the sacred worship; _still_ ruthless Death shall drag the worshipper from the temples to the yawning tomb. [622] Put your trust in the excellence of your verse; see! Tibullus lies prostrate; of so much, there hardly remains _enough_ for a little urn to receive.

And, hallowed Poet, have the flames of the pile consumed thee, and have they not been afraid to feed upon that heart of thine? They could have burned the golden temples of the holy Gods, that have dared a crime so great. She turned away her face, who holds the towers of Eryx; [623] there are some, too, who affirm that she did not withhold her tears. But still, this is better than if the Phæacian land [624] had buried him a stranger, in an ignoble spot. Here, [625] at least, a mother pressed his tearful eyes [626] as he fled, and presented the last gifts [627] to his ashes; here a sister came to share the grief with her wretched mother, tearing her unadorned locks. And with thy relatives, both Nemesis and thy first love [628] joined their kisses; and they left not the pile in solitude. Delia, as she departed, said, "More fortunately was I beloved by thee; so long as I was thy flame, thou didst live." To her said Nemesis: "What dost thou say? Are my sufferings a pain to thee? When dying, he grasped me with his failing hand." [629]

If, however, aught of us remains, but name and spirit, Tibullus will exist in the Elysian vales. Go to meet him, learned Catullus, [630] with thy Calvus, having thy youthful temples bound with ivy. Thou too, Gallus, (if the accusation of the injury of thy friend is false) prodigal of thy blood [631] and of thy life.

Of these, thy shade is the companion; if only there is any shade of the body, polished Tibullus; thou hast swelled the blessed throng. Rest, bones, I pray, in quiet, in the untouched urn; and may the earth prove not heavy for thy ashes.

ELEGY X.

_He complains to Ceres that during her rites he is separated from his mistress._

|The yearly season of the rites of Ceres [632] is come: my mistress lies apart on a solitary couch. Yellow Ceres, having thy floating locks crowned with ears of corn, why dost thou interfere with my pleasures by thy rites? Thee, Goddess, nations speak of as bounteous everywhere: and no one is less unfavorable to the blessings of mankind.

In former times the uncouth peasants did not parch the corn; and the threshing floor was a name unknown on earth. But the oaks, the early oracles, [633] used to bear acorns; these, and the grass of the shooting sod, were the food of men. Ceres was the first to teach the seed to swell in the fields, and with the sickle did she cut her coloured locks; she first forced the bulls to place their necks beneath the yoke; and she with crooked tooth turned up the fallow ground. Can any one believe that she takes delight in the tears of lovers, and is duly propitiated with misery and single-blessedness? Nor yet (although she loves the fruitful fields) is she a coy one; nor lias she a breast devoid of love. The Cretans shall be my witnesses; and the Cretans do not feign everything; the Cretans, a nation proud of having nurtured Jove. [634] There, he who rules the starry citadel of the world, a little child, drank milk with tender lips. There is full confidence in the witness; by its foster-child the witness is recommended I think that Ceres will confess her frailties, so well known.

The Goddess had beheld Iasius [635] at the foot of Cretan Ida, as he pierced the backs of the wild beasts with unerring hand. She beheld, and when her tender marrow caught the flame; on the one side Shame, on the other Love, inflamed her. Shame was conquered by Love; you might see the furrows lying dry, and the crops coming up with a very small proportion of their wheat. [636] When the mattocks stoutly wielded had turned up the land, and the crooked plough had broken the hard earth, and the seed had fallen equally scattered over the wide fields; the hopes of the deceived husbandman were vain.

The Goddess, the guardian of corn, was lingering in the lofty woods; the wreaths of com had fallen from her flowing locks. Crete alone was fertile in its fruitful year; all places, whither the Goddess had betaken herself, were one continued harvest. Ida, the locality itself for groves, grew white with corn, and the wild boar cropped the ears in the woods. The law-giving Minos [637] wished for himself many like years; he wished that the love of Ceres might prove lasting.

Whereas, yellow-haired Goddess, single-blessedness would have been sad to thee; this am I now compelled by thy rites to endure. Why should I be sad, when thy daughter has been found again by thee, and rules over realms, only less than Juno in rank? This festive day calls for both Venus, and songs, and wine. These gifts is it fitting to bear to the ruling Gods.

ELEGY XI.

_He tells his mistress that he cannot help loving her._

|Much and long time have I suffered; by your faults is my patience overcome. Depart from my wearied breast, disgraceful Love. In truth I have now liberated myself, and I have burst my chains; and I am ashamed to have borne what it shamed me not to endure. I have conquered; and Love subdued I have trodden under foot; late have the horns [638] come upon my head. Have patience, and endure, [639] this pain will one day avail thee; often has the bitter potion given refreshment to the sick.

And could I then endure, repulsed so oft from thy doors, to lay a free-born body upon the hard ground? [640] And did I then, like a slave, keep watch before thy street door, for some stranger I know not whom, that you were holding in your embrace? And did I behold it, when the wearied paramour came out of your door, carrying off his jaded and exhausted sides? Still, this is more endurable than the fact that I was beheld by him; [641] may that disgrace be the lot of my foes.

When have I not kept close fastened to your side as you walked, [642] myself your keeper, myself your husband, myself your companion? And, celebrated by me forsooth, did you please the public: my passion was the cause of passion in many. Why mention the base perjuries of your perfidious tongue? and why the Gods forsworn [643] for my destruction? Why the silent nods of young men at banquets, [644] and words concealed in signs arranged _beforehand?_ She was reported to me to be ill; headlong and distracted I ran; I arrived; and, to my rival she was not ill. [645]

Bearing these things, and others on which I am silent, I have oft endured them; find another in my stead, who could put up with these things. Now my ship, crowned with the votive chaplet, listens in safety to the swelling waves of the ocean. Cease to lavish your blandishments and the words which once availed; I am not a fool, as once I was. Love on this side, Hatred on that, are struggling, and are dragging my tender heart in opposite directions; but Love, I think, still gets the better. I will hate, [646] if I can; if not, reluctantly will I love; the bull loves not his yoke; still, that which he hates he bears.

I fly from treachery; your beauty, as I fly, brings me back; I abhor the failings of your morals; your person I love. Thus, I can neither live without you, nor yet with you; and I appear to be unacquainted with my own wishes. I wish that either you were less handsome, or less unprincipled. So beauteous a form does not suit morals so bad. Your actions excite hatred; your beauty demands love. Ah wretched me! she is more potent than her frailties.

O pardon me, by the common rites of our bed, by all the Gods who so often allow themselves to be deceived by you, and by your beauty, equal to a great Divinity with me, and by your eyes, which have captivated my own; whatever you shall be, ever shall you be mine; only do you make choice whether you will wish me to wish as well to love you, or whether I am to love you by compulsion. I would rather spread my sails and use propitious gales; since, though I should refuse, I shall still be forced to love.

ELEGY XII.

_He complains that he has rendered his mistress so celebrated by his verses, as to have thereby raised for himself many rivals._

|What day was that, on which, ye birds of no white hue, you sent forth your ominous notes, ever sad to me in my loves? Or what star must I consider to be the enemy of my destiny? Or what Deities am I to complain of, as waging war against me? She, who but lately [647] was called my own, whom I commenced alone to love, I fear that with many she must be shared by me.

Am I mistaken? Or has she gained fame by my poems? 'Tis so; by my genius has she been made public. And justly; for why have I made proclamation [648] of her charms? Through my fault has the fair been put up for sale. She pleases, and I the procurer; by my guidance is the lover introduced; by my hands has her door been opened. Whether verses are of any use, is matter of doubt; at all events, they have injured me; they have been envious of my happiness. While Thebes, [649] while Troy, while the exploits of Caesar existed; Corinna alone warmed my genius. Would that I had meddled with verses against the will of the Muses; and that Phoebus had deserted the work commenced! And yet, it is not the custom to listen to Poets as witnesses; [650] I would have preferred all weight to be wanting to my words.

Through us, Scylla, who robbed her father of his white hair, bears the raging dogs [651] beneath her thigh and loins. We have given wings to the feet, serpents to the hair; the victorious descendant of Abas [652] is borne upon the winged steed. We, too, have extended Tityus [653] over the vast space, and have formed the three mouths for the dog bristling -with snakes. We have described Enceladus, [654] hurling with his thousand arms; and the heroes captivated by the voice of the two-shaped damsels. [655] In the Ithacan bags [656] have we enclosed the winds of Æolus; the treacherous Tantalus thirsts in the middle of the stream. Of Niobe we have made the rock, of the damsel, the she-bear; the Cecropian [657] bird sings of Odrysian Itys. Jupiter transforms himself, either into a bird, or into gold [658] or, as a bull, with the virgin placed upon him, he cleaves the waves. Why mention Proteus, and the Theban seed, [659] the teeth? Why that there were bulls, which vomited flames from their mouths? Why, charioteer, that thy sisters distil amber tears? [660] Why that they are now Goddesses of the sea, who once were ships? [661] Why that the light of day fled from the hellish banquet [662] of Atreus? And why that the hard stones followed the lyre [663] as it was struck?

The fertile license of the Poets ranges over an immense space; and it ties not its words to the accuracy of history. So, too, ought my mistress to have been deemed to be falsely praised; now is your credulity a mischief to me.

ELEGY XIII.

_He describes the Festival of Juno, as celebrated at Falisci, the native place of his wife._

As my wife was born at Falisci, so fruitful in apples, we repaired to the walls that were conquered, Camillus, by thee. [664] The priestesses were preparing the chaste festival of Juno, with distinguished games, and the heifer of the country. 'Twas a great remuneration for my stay, to be acquainted with the ceremony; although a path, difficult from the ascent, leads the way thither. There stands a grove, ancient, and shaded with numberless trees; look at it, you must confess that a Divinity exists in the spot. An altar receives the prayers, and the votive incense of the pious; an altar made without skill, by ancient hands.

When, from this spot, the pipe has given the signal with its usual note, the yearly procession moves along the covered paths. [665] Snow-white heifers [666] are led, as the crowd applauds, which the Faliscan grass has fed on its own plains; calves, too, not yet threatening with the forehead to inspire fear; and the pig, a smaller victim, from its lowly sty; the leader too, of the flock, with his horns bending back over his hardy temples; the goat alone is odious to the Goddess queen. By her betrayal, discovered in the lofty woods, [667] she is said to have desisted from the flight she had commenced. Even now, by the boys, is she aimed at as a mark; [668] and she is given, as a prize, to the author of her wound. Where the Goddess is to come, the youths and bashful girls sweep the roads before her, with garments [669] as they lie. Their virgin hair is adorned with gold and gems; and the proud mantle conceals their feet, bedecked with gold. After the Grecian manner [670] of their ancestors, clad in white garments, they bear the sacred vessels entrusted to them on their heads, placed beneath. The people hold religious silence, [671] at the moment when the resplendent procession comes up; and she herself follows after her priestesses.

Argive is the appearance of the procession; Agamemnon slain, Halesus [672] fled from both his crime and his father's wealth. And now, an exile, having wandered over both land and sea, he erected lofty walls with prospering hand. He taught his own Falisci the rites of Juno. May they be ever propitious to myself, may they be ever so to her own people.

ELEGY XIV.

_He entreats his mistress, if she will not be constant, at least, to conceal her intrigues from him._

|Beauteous since you are, I do not forbid your being frail; but let it not be a matter of course, that wretched I should know it. Nor does any severity of mine command you to be quite correct; but it only entreats you to try to conceal the truth. She is not culpable, whoever can deny that she has been culpable; and 'tis only the confession of error that makes a woman disgraced. What madness is it to confess in light of day what lies concealed in night? And what you do in secret, to say openly that it is done? The strumpet about to entertain some obscure Roman, first keeps out the public by fastening up the bar. And will you make known your frailties to malicious report? And will you make proof of your own criminality? May your mind be more sound, or, at least, may you imitate the chaste; and although you are not, let me suppose that you are chaste. What you do, still do the same; only deny that you do so; and be not ashamed in public to speak the language of chastity. There is the occasion which demands wantonness; sate it with every delight; far thence be all modesty. Soon as you take your departure thence; away at once with all lasciviousness, and leave your frailties in your chamber=

```Illic nec tunicam tibi sit posuisse rubori,

````Nec femori impositum sustinuisse femur:

```Illic purpureis condatur lingua labellis:

````Inque modos Venerem mille figuret amor;

```Illic nec voces, nec verba juvantia cessent;

````Spondaque lascivâ mobilitate tremat.=

With your garments put on looks that dread accusation; and let modesty disavow improper pursuits. Deceive the public, deceive me, too; in my ignorance, let me be mistaken, and allow me to enjoy my silly credulity.

Why do I so often espy letters sent and received? Why one side and the other [673] tumbled, of your couch? Why do I see your hair disarranged more than happens in sleep, and your neck bearing the marks of teeth? The fading itself alone you do not bring before my eyes; if you hesitate consulting your own reputation, still, spare me. My senses fail me, and I am expiring, oft as you confess your failings; and the drops flow, chilled throughout my limbs. Then do I love you; then, in vain, do I hate what I am forced to love; 673* then I could wish myself to be dead, but together with you.

No enquiries, for my part, will I make, nor will I try to know what you shall attempt to conceal; and to me it shall be the same as a false charge. If, however, you shall be found detected in the midst of your guilt, and if criminality shall be beheld by my eyes; what has been plainly seen, do you deny to have been plainly seen; my own eyes shall give way to your assertions.'Tis an easy conquest for you to vanquish me, who desire to be vanquished. Let your tongue only be mindful to say--"I did not do it!" since it is your lot to conquer with two words; although not by the merit of your cause, still conquer through your judge.

ELEGY X.

_He tells Venus that he now ceases to write Elegies._

|Seek a new Poet, mother of the tender Loves; here the extreme turning-place is grazed [674] by my Elegies, which I, a foster-child of the Pelignian fields, have composed; nor have my sportive lays disgraced me. _Me, I say, who_, if that is aught, am the heir to my rank, [675] even through a long line of ancestors, and not lately made a Knight in the hurly-burly of warfare. Mantua delights in Virgil, Verona in Catullus; I shall be called the glory of the Pelignian race; which its own liberties summon to glorious arms, [676] when trembling Rome dreaded [677] the allied bands. And some stranger will say, as he looks on the walls of the watery Sulmo, which occupy but a few acres of land, "Small as you are, I will call you great, who were able to produce a Poet so great." Beauteous boy, and thou, Amathusian parent [678] of the beauteous boy, raise your golden standard from my fields. The horned [679] Lyæus [680] has struck me with a thyrsus more potent; with mighty steeds must a more extended plain be paced. Unwarlike Elegies, my sportive [681] Muse, farewell; a work destined to survive long after I am dead and gone.----

FOOTNOTES BOOK ONE:

[Footnote 001: Were five books.--Ver. 1. From this it is clear, that the first edition which Ovid gave to the public of his 'Amores' was in five Books; but that on revising his work, he preferred (praetulit) these three books to the former five. It is supposed that he rejected many of those Elegies which were of too free a nature and were likely to embroil him with the authorities, by reason of their licentiousness.]

[Footnote 002: Though it should.--Ver. 3. Burmann has rightly observed, that 'ut jam,' in this line, has exactly the force of 'quamvis,' 'although.']

[Footnote 003: In serious numbers.--Ver. 1. By the 'graves numeri,' he means Heroic or Hexameter verses. It is supposed that he alludes to the battle of the Giants or the Titans, on which subject he had begun to write an heroic poem. In these lines Ovid seems to have had in view the commencement of the first Ode of Anacreon.]

[Footnote 004: Suited to the measure.--Ver. 2. The subject being of a grave character, and, as such, suited to Heroic measure.]

[Footnote 005: Abstracted one foot.--Ver. 4. He says that every second line (as is the case in Heroic verse) had as many feet as the first, namely, six : but that Cupid stole a foot from the Hexameter, and reduced it to a Pentameter, whereby the Poet was forced to recur to the Elegiac measure.]

[Footnote 008: Diminish my energies.--Ver. 18. See the Note to the fourth line.]

[Footnote 009: His quiver loosened.--Ver. 21. The 'pharetra,' or quiver, filled with arrows, was used by most of the nations that excelled in archery, among whom were the Scythians, Persians, Lycians, Thracians, and Cretans. It was made of leather, and was sometimes adorned with gold or painting. It had a lid, and was suspended by a belt from the right shoulder. Its usual position was on the left hip, and it was thus worn by the Scythians and Egyptians. The Cretans, however, wore it behind the back, and Diana, in her statues, is represented as so doing. This must have been the method in which Cupid is intended in the present instance to wear it, as he has to unloose the quiver before he takes out the arrow. Some Commentators, however, would have 'solutâ' to refer simply to the act of opening the quiver.]

[Footnote 010: In six feet.--Ver. 27. He says that he must henceforth write in Hexameters and Pentameters, or, in other words, in the Elegiac measure.]

[Footnote 011: My Muse.--Ver. 30. The Muse addressed by him would be Erato, under whose protection were those Poets whose theme was Love. He bids her wreathe her hair with myrtle, because it was sacred to Venus; while, on the other hand, laurels would be better adapted to the Heroic Muse. The myrtle is said to love the moisture and coolness of the sea-shore.]

[Footnote 014: Thy step-father.--Ver. 24. He calls Mars the step-father of Cupid, in consequence of his intrigue with Venus.]

[Footnote 015: Birds so yoked.--Ver. 26. These are the doves which were sacred to Venus and Cupid. By yoking them to the chariot of Mars, the Poe* wishes to show the skill and power of Cupid.]

[Footnote 016: Io triumphe.--Ver. 25. 'Clamare triumphum,' means 'to shout Io triumphe,' as the procession moves along. Lactantius speaks of a poem called 'the Triumph of Cupid,' in which Jupiter and the other Gods were represented as following him in the triumphal procession.]

[Footnote 017: Thyself with gold.--Ver. 42. The poet Mosehus represents Cupid as having wings of gold.]

[Footnote 018: The Gangetic land.--Ver. 47. He alludes to the Indian triumphs of Bacchus, which extended to the river Ganges.]

[Footnote 019: Thy kinsman Cæsar--Ver. 51. Because Augustus, as the adopted son of Julius Cæsar, was said to be descended from Venus, through the line of Æneas.]

[Footnote 020: Shield the conquered.--Ver. 52. Although Augustus had many faults, it must be admitted that he was, like Julius, a most merciful conqueror, and was generally averse to bloodshed.]

[Footnote 021: Founder of my family. --Ver. 8. See the Life of Ovid prefixed to the Fasti; and the Second Book of the Tristia.]

[Footnote 022: Each of my parents.--Ver. 10. From this it appears that this Elegy was composed during the life-time of both of his parents, and while, probably, he was still dependent on his father.]

[Footnote 023: No rover in affection.--Ver. 15. 'Desuitor,' literally means 'one who leaps off.' The figure is derived from those equestrians who rode upon several horses, or guided several chariots, passing from the one to the other. This sport was very frequently exhibited in the Roman Circus. Among the Romans, the 'desuitor' generally wore a 'pileus,' or cap of felt. The Numidian, Scythian, and Armenian soldiers, were said to have been skilled in the same art.]

[Footnote 024: Of the bird.--Ver. 22. He alludes to Leda and Europa.]

[Footnote 026: The same banquet.--Ver. 1. He says that they are about to meet at 'coena,' at the house of a common friend.]

[Footnote 027: The last meal.--Ver. 2. The 'coena' of the Romans is usually translated by the word 'supper'; but as being the chief meal of the day, and being in general, (at least during the Augustan age) taken at about three o'clock, it really corresponds to our 'dinner.']