Some Observations on Propertius 1. I1

Francis Cairns

doi:10.1017/S0009838800030275

Some Observations on Propertius 1. I1

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 February 2009

Francis Cairns

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Propertius' account of this myth contains two major difficulties of syntax and interpretation:

(a) modo (line 11). When the word modo means ⋯ννοτε μ⋯νand stands in the first of two co-ordinate clauses it requires an answering modo or its equivalent in the second clause. Et and etiam are not satisfactory equivalents. So the necessary second modo—or equivalent—is here absent.

(b) ibat uidere (line 12) is the sole account of Milanion's activities in connection with the hirsutae ferae. As such it appears obscure and abrupt.

Type: Research Article
Information: The Classical Quarterly , Volume 24 , Issue 1 , May 1974 , pp. 94 - 110

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0009838800030275 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © The Classical Association 1974

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^{page 94 note 2} These conclusions are demonstrated by D. R. Shackleton Bailey, Propertiana, 2 f.

^{page 94 note 3} On the interpretation of uidere see id. 3 f.

^{page 94 note 4} f. Phil. xvi (1888), 19 = Collected Papers, i. 40 ff.

^{page 95 note 1} See Enk on Prop. 1. i8.

^{page 95 note 2} See Tib. i. 4. 0 f. and K. F. Smith ad loc.

^{page 96 note 1} Cp. also Callim. Aet. Fr. I to. 51–6 (Pf.) where however πpóxskaTE clarifies the temporal sequence. Cat. 66. 52–4 translates the second clause in this group with cum … obtulit. Further clause-sequences of varying degrees of comparability occur at: Tryphiodor. 668 ff.; Colluth. 201 ff.; Theocr. Id. 24. 63 ff.; Ap. Rhod. 1. 1222 ff.; 2. 607 ff.

^{page 97 note 1} See H. Tränkle, Die Sprachkunst des Properz and die Tradition der lateinischen Dichtersprache, 72

^{page 97 note 2} Already suspected. See e.g. J.-P. Boucher, Études sur Properce,

^{page 98 note 1} 317. Pind. Pyth. 3. 4; 4. 119; Simon. Fr. 58 D. Cp. also Soph. Track. 556, 568 for = Centaur.

^{page 98 note 2} On Alexandrian etymological and glossographical interests see R. Pfeiffer, History of Classical Scholarship, indexes s.vv. etymology, .

^{page 99 note 1} See e.g. E. Norden, Agnostos Theos, frühgriechische dichtung, Diss. Würzbrug, 163 ff., Virg. Aen. 6. 56 ff. and Norden ad 1924, 12 n.8. loc.; H. Meyer, Hymnische Stiletemente in der

^{page 100 note 1} Op. cit. 25 iT.

^{page 100 note 2} C.Q. xliii (1949), 22 f. and Propertiana, 4.

^{page 101 note 1} For the first of these see F. H. Sandbach (C.R. lii [1938], 211 f.). As for the second, Stat. Theb. so. 804, speaks of sacra insania ‘accursed madness’—(see § III); but a Roman reader would have been hard put to take sacra in a pejorative sense here.

^{page 102 note 1} See K.-S. i. 275; L.-H.--S. ii. 38 f.

^{page 102 note 2} e.g. Boucher, op. cit. 350 f.

^{page 102 note 3} See West, D., Reading Horace; The Imagery and Poetry of Lucretius; J.R.S. lix (1969), 40 ff.; Philol. cxiv (1970), 262 ff.Google Scholar

^{page 102 note 4} See e.g. J. von Arnim, Stoicorum Veterum Fragmenta, iii. 102 ff. On literary and philosophic love-madness in relation to Prop. i. i see A. W. Allen, op. cit. 258–64. The fullest Latin exposition of the analogy between strong emotions and illness is Cic. Tusc. Disp. 4, where 68 ff. deal with love. Much useful material on literary madness is collected in A. O'Brien-Moore, Madness in Ancient Literature, Diss. Princeton, 1924.

^{page 103 note 1} See T.L.L., s.vv. furor, insania.

^{page 103 note 2} Epilepsy was for example regarded as a form of madness. See O'Brien-Moore, op. Cit. 20 ff.

^{page 103 note 3} See Allen, op. cit.

^{page 103 note 4} Cp. the three kinds of madness distinguished by Celsus 3.18, where only the most acute is of any long duration.

^{page 103 note 5} See T.L.L., s.v.

^{page 103 note 6} e.g. Arist. Pr. 866A, 23; Hippocr. Apnz. 4–43.

^{page 104 note 1} Notably for example in legal provisions for the cura of furiosi and insani. See W. W. Buckland, A Textbook of Roman Law, 169 f.

^{page 104 note 2} Cf. Celsus. 3. 18. i f.

^{page 104 note 3} See L.-S.-J. s.v.

^{page 104 note 4} See E. R. Dodds, The Greeks and Irrational, 64 ff.

^{page 104 note 5} Cf. Phaedr. 245B, 249D.

^{page 104 note 6} See A. W. Allen, op. cit. 272 ff.; K. F. Smith on Tib. I. 2. 43.

^{page 104 note 7} See below, n. 9, and e.g. R. Poerner, De Curetibus et Corybantibus, Diss. Halle, 1913, 347 ff.

^{page 104 note 8} See O'Brien-Moore, op. cit. t 1 ff.

^{page 104 note 9} e.g. Plaut. Men. 291, 557; Hor. Sat. 2. 3. 164 f.; Fest. p. 234L.

^{page 105 note 1} e.g. Prop. 1. 9. 17; Ov. A.A. I. 729 ff.; Am. 3. 6. 25.

^{page 105 note 2} See O'Brien-Moore, op. cit. 218 ff.

^{page 105 note 3} See Buckland, loc. cit.; Watson, W. A. J., The Law of Persons in the Later Roman Republic, 155Google Scholar

^{page 106 note 1} See T.L.L., s.v. II 3 a, b.

^{page 106 note 2} See Shackleton Bailey, Propertiana, 6.

^{page 106 note 3} Of some interest also is Celsus 3. 23. 7, a description of the ultimate remedies for morbus comitialis, viz. blood-letting by cutting the legs, blood-letting by cutting and cupping at the back of the head, and burning with a hot iron. M.c. could also be compared with love, e.g. Aul. Gel. 19. z; Plut. Mor. 755 D; E.

^{page 106 note 4} 3. 18, 23.

^{page 106 note 5} See Enk on Prop. i. r. 29; Theocr. Id. 14. 53 fr.

^{page 106 note 6} See T.L.L., s.v. furor IIb; Ringeltaube, H., Quaestiones ad yeterum philosophorwm de affectibus doctrinam pertinentes, Diss. Göttingen, 1913, 85.Google Scholar

^{page 107 note 1} Cp. O'Brien-Moore, op. cit. 63 f.

^{page 107 note 2} Propertiana, 8.

^{page 107 note 3} e.g. Boucher, op. cit. 350.

^{page 107 note 4} It may also be relevant that in general—althoug not here—erotic teaching can address itself to unsuccessful lovers who are to learn from the teacher's lack of success. e.g. ‘me legat assidue post haec neglectus amator / et prosint illi cognita nostra mala’ (Prop. 1. 7. 13 f.).

^{page 108 note 1} See my Generic Composition in Greek and Roman Poetry, 194 ff., 202 ff., 210.

^{page 108 note 2} Published in Cramer, Anecd. Paris. iv. 380; Matranga, Anecd. Gr. ii. 693; Bergk, Lys. Gr. Fr. iii. 351 ff. Some brief later remarks on this poem may be found in T. Nissen, ‘Die byzantinischen Anakreonteen’, Sitzungsberichte der Bäyer. Akad. der Wiss., Ph.-hist. Abt. 3. 1940, 66 f., and Anastasi, R., Siculorum Gymnasium, xvi (1963), 193.Google Scholar

^{page 109 note 1} Cp. Horn. Od. 4. 220 ff. Professor A. J. Beattie points out to me that Constantine's poem seems to refer to worship of Helen as a love-goddess. Cp. 1 1. 67 ff. (on the plaiting of wreaths to be hung on plane-trees) with Theocr. Id. 18. 43 f. This is a further hint at the learned Hellenistic source from which this lyric may ultimately derive.

^{page 109 note 2} Cp. Horn. Il. 9. 325.

^{page 110 note 1} Cp. also e.g. Tib. x. 8. 77–8.

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