Propertius 4.3 cum annotationibus

[Patricio]

Propertius was a poet in a way that Ovid never was: Ovid was basically a storyteller. There’s a lot in this elegy, often eliptical, but some of it familiar to us now, like that unwanted geography lesson folks get with family serving overseas.

The text is from Loeb (1990). The notes are mine, but borrow much from Phillipus Silvius, the editor of the Delphini edition, with whom I also sometimes disagree; word definitions are from Forcellini, Lexicon Totius Latinitatis.

Si erravi, me ducite, quaeso, in viam rectam.

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Propertius 4.3
Epistula Arethusae ad Lycotam, maritum suum militem in extremis finibus stipendia merentem

Haec Arethusa suo mittit mandata Lycotae—
cum totiens absis, si potes esse meus.
Si qua tamen tibi lecturo pars oblita derit,
haec erit e lacrimis facta litura meis;
aut si qua incerto fallet te littera tractu,
signa meae dextrae iam morientis erunt.
Te modo viderunt intentos Bactra per arcus, (1)
te modo munito Persicus hostis equo,
hibernique Getae, pictoque Britannia curru,
tūnsus et Ēōā dēcolor Indus aquā. (2)

Haecne marīta fidēs et pacta haec praemia nuptae
cum rudis urgentī bracchia victa dedī?
Quae mihi dēductae fax ōmen praetulit, illa
traxit ab everso lumina nigra rogo:
et Stygio sum sparsa lacu, nec recta capillis
vitta datast, nupsi non comitante deo.

Omnibus heu portis pendent mea noxia vota,
texitur haec castris quarta lacerna tuis. (3)
Occidat, immeritā quī carpsit ab arbore vallum,
et struxit querulas rauca per ossa tubas, (4)
dignior obliquo funem qui torqueat Ocno—
aeternusque tuam pascat, aselle, famem! (5)

Dīc mihi, num tenerōs ūrit lōrīca lacertōs?
Num gravis imbellēs atterit hasta manūs?
Haec noceant potius, quam dentibus ulla puella
det mihi plorandas per tua colla notas.
Diceris et macie vultum tenuasse, sed opto
ē dēsīderiō sit color iste meō.

At mihi cum noctēs induxit vesper amārās,
sī qua relicta iacent, ōsculor arma tua;
tum queror in tōtō nōn sīdere pallia lectō, (6)
lucis et auctores non dare carmen aves.
Craugidos et catulae vox est mihi grata querentis.
Illa tui partem vindicat una toro. (7)

Noctibus hibernis castrensia pensa laboro
et Tyria in chlamydas vellera secta suō; (8)
et discō, quā parte fluat vincendus Araxēs, (9)
quot sine aquā Parthus mīlia currat equus.
Cōgor et ē tabulā pictōs ēdiscere mundōs,
qualis et haec docti sit positura dei, (10)
quae tellus sit lenta gelu, quae putris ab aestu,
ventus in Italiam qui bene vela ferat.
Assidet una soror; curis et pallida nutrix
peierat hībernī temporis esse morās. (11)

Fēlix Hippolytē! Nūdā tulit arma papillā
et texit galeā barbara molle caput.
Romanis utinam patuissent castra puellis!
Essem militiae sarcina fida tuae,
nec me tardarent Scythiae iuga, cum Pater altas
astrictam in glaciem frigore vertit aquas.

Omnis amor magnus, sed adempto coniuge maior.
Hanc Venus, ut vivat, ventilat ipsa facem.
Nam mihi quo Poenis nunc purpura fulgeat ostris,
crystallusque meās ornet aquōsa manūs? (12)

Omnia surda tacent, rarisque assueta kalendis
vix aperit clausos una puella Lares. (13)
Flore sacella tego, verbenis compita velo,
et crepat ad veteres herba Sabina focos. (14)
Sīve in fīnitimō gemuit stāns noctua tignō,
seu voluit tangī parca lucerna merō, (15)
illa diēs hōrnīs caedem dēnūntiat agnīs,
succinctique calent ad nova lucra popae. (16)

Ne, precor, ascensis tanti sit gloria Bactris,
raptave odōrātō carbasa līna ducī,
plumbea cum tortae sparguntur pondera fundae
subdolus et versis increpat arcus equis. (17)
Sed (tua sīc, domitīs Parthae tellūris alumnīs,
pūra triumphantēs hasta sequātur equōs) (18)
incorrupta meī cōnservā foedera lectī!
Hāc ego tē sōlā lēge redisse velim:
armaque cum tulero portae votiva Capenae,
subscribam, SALVO GRATA PUELLA TUO.


1 Bactra, Bactrōrum = urbs Bactriānae regiōnis prīmāria

2 tundō, tundere, tutudī, tūnsum / tūsum = repetītīs ictibus caedō, pulsō, verberō, percutiō

3 lacerna = Vestis exterior quae togae superinduēbātur, vel tunicae sine illā; habēbatque ūsum contrā pluviās ac frīgus, ac tum domō cum mīlitiae adhibēbātur ā Rōmānīs. Dīxit sē iam trēs lacernās mīlitārēs coniugī suō mīsisse, et quārtum sē texere, quae etiam ipsa trānsmittātur ad ūsum mīlitiae et castrōrum. Cōnfer Fāstōs 2.745-746:
Mittenda est dominō (nunc, nunc properāte puellae)
quamprīmum nostrā facta lacerna manū.

4 vallum, vallī = Mūnītiō mīlitāris, quā inclūduntur castra aut oppida obsessa, ex caespide et aggestā terrā et crēbrīs vallīs seu pālīs īnfīxīs, fossā praeductā; ā “vallus” = pālus, sudis. “Strūxit querulās rauca per ossa tubās.” Significat Propertius ōlim osseās fuisse tubās, quae posteā ex aere cōnstrūctae sunt.

5 Ille fuit occidī dignior quam Ocnus. Ocnus vir quīdam apud īnferōs quī fūnem perpetuō torquet, astante asellō, quī quantum ille torsisset, statim perrōderet.

6 pallia = strāgula

7 Craugis catulae nōmen. Illa sōla sibi assūmit partem lectī quam tū nūper assūmēbās.

8 chlamys χλαμύς = Vestis mīlitāris aperta, quae thōrācī superinduitur, fībulā ad cervīcem vel in dexterō humerō connexa. Māteria chlamydis fuit lāna, color nātīvus ipsīus lānae. Color etiam purpurae, et aurī intextī ōrnāmenta in chlamydibus nōn rārō leguntur. Suō, suere, suī, sūtum.

9 Araxēs Ἀράξης = flūmen ex Armeniae montibus in Caspium mare īnfluēns

10 Cōgor ē tabulā et pictōs mundos ēdiscere, et quālis sit haec positūra doctī deī, i.e., deus sapiēns orbem terrārum quemadmodum ōrdinâsset et collocâsset; positūra, positūrae (fēm.); doctī deī = genetīvus subiectīvus

11 peierō = periūrō. Nūtrīx dīcit Lycōtam in Bactriā tantum morārī quia hībernō tempore vēla dare nōn potuisset, nec quia mortuus sit, aut cum puellā aliquā manēre mālit.

12 crystallus, crystallī (fem.)

13 puella = ipsa Arethūsa. Solitum erat Kalendīs dōna offerre Laribus familiāribus. Cum Arethūsa, Lycōtā absente, domī sola maneat, tempus eī tardē fluit, adeō ut sentiat Kalendās rāras ēvenientēs. Ob tristitiam rītūs domesticōs vix perficere potest.

14 sacellum = fānum, dēlūbrum, i.e., locus parvus Deō cōnsecrātus cum ārā; compitum = locus ubi plūrēs viae competunt, hoc est, cōnfluunt, sīve bivium illud sit, sīve trivium, sīve quadrivium; herba Sabīna = iūniperus; cōnfer Fāstōs 1.343-344:
Āra dabat fūmōs, herbīs contenta Sabīnīs,
et nōn exiguō laurus adusta sonō.

15 Veterēs crēdēbant flammam sternentem aut spuentem aut scintillantem portenta praebēre, sīve secunda sīve adversa. Cum ita occurrisset, vīnum in lucernam affundere solēbant, ut flamma resurgeret. Cōnfer Hērōides 19.151-154 (Hērō Lēandrō):
Sternuit ēn lūmen!—positō nam scrībimus illō—
sternuit et nōbīs prospera signa dedit.
Ecce, merum nūtrīx faustōs īnstīllat in ignēs,
“Crās”que, “erimus plūrēs,” inquit, et ipsa bibit.
et Hērōides 13.109-114 (Lāodamīa Prōtesilāō):
Sed tua cūr nōbīs pallēns occurrit imāgō?
Cūr venit ā labrīs multa querēla tuīs?
Excutior somnō simulācraque noctis adōrō,
nūlla caret fūmō Thessalis āra meō;
tūra damus lacrimamque super, quā sparsa relūcet,
ut solet adfūsō surgere flamma merō.

16 hōrnīs agnīs = agnīs huius annī; dēnūntiō = nūntiō, significō, indicō ex ōrdine et fōrmālī quādam ratiōne; popa, popae (masc.) = sacrificiōrum minister, quī victimās ad ārās alligābāt ac malleō pulsābat, priusquam sacerdōs eās cultrō iugulābat.

17 Precor nē tam magnō pretiō stet glōria quam obtinēbis cum ascenderis moenia Bactrōrom, vel tam magnō pretiō stet līna carbasea, spolia rapta dē odōrātō duce Bactriānō, i.e., precor nē tū, studiōsus glōriae et spoliōrum bellī, moriāris. Glōria et spolia quae comminus obtinēbis nihil valēbunt sī ēminus moriēris.

18 Vidē Servium ad Aenēida 6.760: “pūra hasta,” id est, sine ferrō, nam hoc fuit praemium apud maiōrēs eius quī tunc prīmum vīcisset in proeliō.

[Patricio]

Google Groups has automatically removed all my five-space indentations to indicate pentameter lines in the couplets, which makes this all much harder to read. I apologize for that.

--Patricio

[Ed Cryer]

That’s a poem very rich in language. It reminded me of John Keats; oh, and
also Catullus’

Multās per gentēs et multa per aequora vectus
adveniō hās miserās, frāter, ad īnferiās

BTW, your original posting arrived here in the UK into Newstap on an iPad,
fully intact. It was only when quoted in your second that it became
mangled.

Another thought. The Catullus poem is a masterpiece of brevity; the
Propertius one is (hhhmmm) highly adorned.

--
Ed

[Patricio]

On Saturday, May 29, 2021 at 8:35:26 PM UTC-4, Patricio wrote:

With a little more thought I realize there’s no need to imagine bone trumpets here. I knew this when I first read these lines, but I let myself be swayed by the professors—always a mistake.

Tubae were blown both in battle and at funerals; both are well attested. From the preceding line you would think that the reference here must be to war trumpets, but that doesn’t fit how they are described: plaintive among rough, grating bones.

What’s going on is that Arethusa starts out with a bit of poetic logic: “Damn him who [first] took a stake from an innocent tree [to use in fortifications]”; then was searching for a second example and lit upon a military tuba, and this immediately reminded her of funerals, so she conflated the two images. And this, of course, is perfect. What is war but death on a grand scale? A battlefield is just a cemetery in the first stage of its evolution.

So I have to amend my note to something like:

Pereat quī [prīmum] ex arbore innocentī vallum dēcerpsit [ad mūnītiōnēs mīlitārēs cōnstruendās], et quī [prīmum] fabricāvit tubās querulās inter rauca ossa [cantās]. Arethūsa mente suā metū afflictā cōnfundit tubās mīlitārēs cum tubīs fūnebribus, locum proeliī cum locō sepeliendī.

One thing I’ve learned reading Roman elegies is always to ask what these people are afraid of—because whatever they say, that’s what they’re really talking about. Here it’s obvious: Arethusa is afraid that her husband will be killed in battle and she will be left alone.

--Patricio

[Btraven]

Thanks for this. Very difficult reading but worthwhile. I read it six or eight times and even with the help of the notes and macrons, I finally had to resort to a translation. The tone of the poems is very redolent of the Heroides, so much so that it might have been part of Ovid's inspiration (chronology permitting). Also, since its composition is post-Cynthian, it may not be possible to ascribe any heart-felt pining away for Lycotas by the fictional Arethusa except in Propertius' fantasies and in spite of that easy line "Omnis amor magnus, sed adempto coniuge maior. " [Absence makes the heart grow fonder.] Would she even know where he was (Britain, India, Tomis, Afghanistan?), considering the expense and speed of Augustus' embryonic postal service?

I don't know whether aromatic hydrocarbons in laurel and juniper would cause loud burning but it seems unlikely that a drop of wine on a lamp wick would cause a flare. Does any of you know? I guess alcohol would vaporize and be much more flammable in spite of the much more abundant water.

The only error I noticed was 'caespidem' for 'caespitem.' At least I suppose it's an error, since L and S doesn't mention it as as a spelling variant. It seems to be a conflation of cuspis and caespes. One of the few occurences I found was in Stanislaui Poloni version of the Sherlock Holmes story "Silver Blaze." Stanislaus used to post to the Grex until he passed away at a relatively young age last Christmas:

http://ephemeris.alcuinus.net/holmesiaca.php?id=216

valete