Curtis C. Bushnell

“ To the poet's instructed vision aether opens and earth becomes transparent. 18-24. Inspired by Odyssey, 6. 42-45. Cf. Tennyson, Lucretius:
The Gods, who haunt
The lucid interspace of world and world,
Where never creeps a cloud, or moves a wind,
Nor ever falls the least white star of snow,
Nor ever lowest roll of thunder moans,
Nor sound of human sorrow mounts to mar
Their sacred everlasting calm!
and his description of the
island-valley of Avilion,
Where falls not hail, or rain, or any snow,
Nor ever wind blows loudly
in the Passing of Arthur. ”

“ He served with the rank of centurion in the Roman army in Sardinia and attached himself to Cato the Censor. In 204 he came to Rome, where he lived modestly, supporting himself by teaching Greek and by his writings. There he became an intimate friend of the great Scipio. The most famous of his works are the tragedies, written on Greek models, and the Annals, a long epic poem in eighteen books, whose subject is the history of Rome from the earliest times to Ennius' own day. We have fragments of about twenty-five of the tragedies. ”

“ Quis deus hanc, Musae, quis nobis extudit artem? Unde nova ingressus hominum experientia cepit? Pastor Aristaeus fugiens Peneia Tempe, amissis, ut fama, apibus morboque fameque, tristis ad extremi sacrum caput adstitit amnis, 5 multa querens, atque hac adfatus voce parentem: mater, Cyrene mater, quae gurgitis huius ima tenes, quid me praeclara stirpe deorum— si modo, quem perhibes, pater est Thymbraeus Apollo— invisum fatis genuisti? aut quo tibi nostri 10 pulsus amor? quid me caelum sperare iubebas? ”

“ Language (treating the poet's most striking deviations from standard prose usage) ; The Metres.
The Introduction to the Satires and Epistles is equally exhaustive, and
treats of the Life and Works of Horace; The Development of the Roman
Satire; The Dramatic and Literary Satire; The Schools of Ennius and
Lucilius; General Characteristics of the Satires; The Style of the
Satires; Colloquial Language of the Satires; The Metres.
In both volumes the commentary is eminently judicious, telling the student all he needs to know, but never more than he will understand and appreciate. ”

“ Vergil, Georgics, 2. 490-492.
He...died
Chief poet on the Tiber-side.
Mrs. Browning, Vision of Poets.
This doctrine of Lucretius, though antagonistic to the popular religion, is not atheistic or pantheistic; it is not definite enough to be theistic. It is rather the twilight between an old and a new faith.— Sellar, Roman Poets of the Republic, p. 355.
The joy and glory of his art come second in his mind to his passionate love of truth, and the deep moral purport of what he believes to be the one true message for mankind. The human race lies fettered by superstition and ignorance ”

“ When I consider that Lucan died at twenty-six, I cannot help ranking him among the most extraordinary men that ever lived.— Macaulay.
The whole production (the Pharsalia) is youthful and unripe, but indicative of genuine power.—Teuffel, Schwabe, and Warr, History of Roman Literature, vol. 2, p. 78.
Lucan was born in Spain; was taken early to Rome; was carefully educated; wrote much; and was much admired; but was disliked by Nero, who forbade him to publish poems or recite them, and finally put him to death on the charge of complicity in the conspiracy of Piso. ”

“ Catullus has taken this name from the legend of Tereus (see Harper's Classical Dictionary, 'Tereus') , while he has followed the myth as it appears in Odyssey, 19. 518 ff., where the plaintive song of the nightingale is represented as the lamentation of Aedon for her child Itylus, whom before her transformation into the nightingale 'she slew unwittingly with the bronze.' 15. haec expressa carmina Battiadae: these verses translated from Callimachus. Callimachus of Cyrene, 'the son of Battus,' was a Greek poet of the Alexandrine school. ”

“ Gods exist, but have little to do with the world. On the ethical side contentment, self-control, obedience, humility, are earnestly enjoined.
The style abounds in archaism, alliteration, and assonance. The frequent use of new compounds is a noticeable peculiarity of the diction.
Jerome states that the wife of Lucretius gave him a love-philtre which took away his reason so that, after composing in his lucid intervals several books, which were afterward corrected by Cicero, he died by his own hand. ”

“ With the exception of c. 61, it is in his shorter poems that Catullus achieves his greatest success. The poet does not handle dactylic measures quite easily; on the other hand, he is masterly in the lighter lyrical forms. The harmony of substance and form, the refinement and transparent clearness of the thoughts, are incomparable, as are the grace, strength, and warmth of feeling in the shorter pieces. ”

“ The wind is the rear-guard of the marching files of billows formed as the main wave enters an indentation in the shore. As the wave divides, all the secondary waves pursue the original direction, but the outer ones are retarded, as compared with the middle ones, and seem to fall back. ”

“ The plural expresses the aversion on each occasion. 19. thalamo sub: in the deep river's chamber. Sub governs thalamo, but follows it. Cyrene, as daughter of the river-god Peneus, dwells in subterranean chambers at the source of that stream. She is at this time in the thalamo described in 60 ff. Aristaeus enters through the river, thought of as emerging from the earth a full-grown stream, the waters arching over his head to admit him. He passes beneath the earth where he sees groves and lakes, and rivers which are presently to issue as the various streams of the upper world. ”

“ For the literature see Julian, p. 294.
In the ritual the Dies Irae is used for All Souls' Day and for requiem masses. The most famous musical setting is by Mozart.
Daniel says of this hymn, 'Each word is a peal of thunder.' Trench says, 'The triple rhyme has been likened to blow following blow of the hammer on the anvil.'
Goethe introduces the Dies Irae into a scene of the first part of Faust; the remorse of Gretchen becomes overwhelming as she hears the hymn pealing through the cathedral, the culmination corning with the repetition of the words Quid sum miser tunc, dicturus? ”

“ Plato, Timaeus, 24-25, says that beyond and surrounding the Atlantic there is a vast continent, between which and the western coast of Europe and of Libya are a number of islands, of which Atlantis before its submergence was the largest. Strabo, 1. 4. 6, says it is quite possible that in the temperate zone there may be not only the island that forms the world as known to his contemporaries, but two such or even more, especially near the circle of latitude which is drawn through Athens and the Atlantic Ocean. ”

“ Grotius quotes Hierocles: 'God hath not upon earth a place more truly his than the pure heart,' and the Pythian oracle: 'I joy in reverent mortals even as in Olympus.' Superos...ultra: Why further do we seek the gods? Iuppiter...moveris: All that you see, and all your feelings, that is Jupiter.—Haskins. Cf. Seneca, De Beneftciis, 4. 8: Quocumque te flexeris, ibi ilium videbis occurrentem tibi: nihil ab illo vacat, opus suum ipse implet. 22. Servata fide: true to his word. 23. populis: dative, to the multitude, i.e. of Orientals waiting to consult the oracle. ”

“ Rhodope and Pangaeus are mountains, the Getae a tribe, Hebrus a river,—all in Thrace. Athenian Orithyia, daughter of Erechtheus, king of Athens, was carried by Boreas to Thrace, where she bore Calais and Zetes. As a nymph of the country she is interested in the fate of the Thracian Orpheus and Eurydice. 153. Taenarias: a cavern on the promontory of Taenarus in Laconia was fabled to be the entrance of the infernal regions. 157. Erebi: Greek [Greek: Erebos] , a place of darkness, i.e. the lower world. 159 ff. Cf. Aeneid 6. 309-312. 161 ff. Cf. Aeneid 6. 306-308. 165 ff. Cf. Aeneid 6. ”

“ Erotion's hair was the light flaxen of the Teutonic type. 9. Paesti: a city in Lucania, celebrated for its twice-blowing roses,— Vergil, Georgics, 4. 119, biferi rosaria Paesti. 10. Atticarum cerarum: Attica—and particularly Mt. Hymettus—was famous for its honey. 11. Martial several times refers to the agreeable odor of amber when warmed by holding or rubbing with the hand. 13. sciurus: derived from Greek [Greek: skia] and [Greek: oura] , lit. 'the shadow-tail.' Our word 'squirrel' comes through the Late Latin diminutive forms, scuriolus, squirolus, squirelus. ”

“ Lucretius teaches that, since the gods do not govern the world, all rites of worship are needless, and, since the soul is mortal, punishment after death is not to be feared. Cf. Tennyson, Lucretius:
My golden (cf. aurea, Selection 2. 12) work in which I told a truth
That stays the rolling Ixionian wheel,
And numbs the Fury's ringlet-snake and plucks
The mortal soul from out immortal hell.
Religio is probably derived from the root lig, meaning to bind. The Roman felt his religion to be a fetter upon him. 14. contingens: o'erlaying, a compound of tango.—Munro. ”

“ Cato, proceeding by land from the neighborhood of Cyrene toward Numidia, and coming to the temple of Jupiter Ammon,—geographically misplaced by Lucan,—is advised by Labienus to consult the god concerning the outcome of the war and the nature of virtue. The selection gives his reply. 1. mente gerebat: of. Seneca, Epistula 4. 12 (41) . 1, 2. 'God is near you, is with you, is within you. I have this to say, Lucilius: a sacred spirit has his abode within us.' 3. ”

“ Neale.
26. The heavenly throng compose thy fabric and Christ is thy precious stone; i.e. each believer is a stone built into the structure of the heavenly city of which Christ, the 'living stone, elect and precious,' is the foundation. ”

“ Ever molded by the lips of man.
Tennyson, To Vergil.
Vergil, as the author of the Bucolics and the Aeneid, is already known to the student. The Georgics were composed after the former and before the latter, since they were begun in 36 B.C. and finished in 29 B.C. Hesiod's Works and Days supplied a partial model, and the influence of Lucretius was powerful. The poet shows an intense enthusiasm for his subject, which Mr. Merivale asserts to be the Glorification of Labor. ”

“ A coin was often put in the mouth of the dead to pay Charon's fee. 80. Spatium: i.e. how high the roofs are. Cicero describes Rome as 'suspended in the air.' Some of the houses were 100 feet in height. 83. silicem: even the volcanic stone which forms the pavement of the street is broken. 85 ff. quot patent vigiles fenestrae: this may be punningly rendered,—as many as there are windows up.—Peck and Arrowsmith, Roman Life, etc. ”

“ Magna luis commissa: tibi has miserabilis Orpheus 140 haud quaquam ob meritum poenas, ni Fata resistant, suscitat, et rapta graviter pro coniuge saevit. Illa quidem, dum te fugeret per flumina praeceps, inmanem ante pedes hydrum moritura puella servantem ripas alta non vidit in herba. 145 At chorus aequalis Dryadum clamore supremos inplerunt montis; flerunt Rhodopeiae arces, altaque Pangaea, et Rhesi Mavortia tellus, atque Getae, atque Hebrus, et Actias Orithyia. Ipse, cava solans aegrum testudine amorem, 150 te, dulcis coniunx, te solo in litore secum, te veniente die, te decedente canebat. ”

“ Quantum valerent inter homines litterae, dixi superius: quantus nunc illis honos a superis sit tributus, tradam memoriae. Simonides idem ille, de quo rettuli, victori laudem cuidam pyctae ut scriberet, 5 certo conductus pretio secretum petit. Exigua cum frenaret materia impetum, usus poetae more est et licentia atque interposuit gemina Ledae pignera, auctoritatem similis referens gloriae. 10 Opus adprobavit; sed mercedis tertiam accepit partem. Cum relicuam posceret: illi, inquit, reddent, quorum sunt laudis duae. Verum, ut ne irate te dimissum censeas, ad cenam mihi promitte ”

“ Tacet omne pecus volucresque feraeque et simulant fessos curvata cacumina somnos, nec trucibus fluviis idem sonus, occidit horror 5 aequoris et terris maria adclinata quiescunt. Septima iam rediens Phoebe mihi respicit aegras stare genas, totidem Oetaeae Paphiaeque revisunt lampades et totiens nostros Tithonia questus praeterit et gelido spargit miserata flagello. 10 Unde ego sufficiam? Non sunt mihi lumina mille, quae sacer alterna tantum statione tenebat Argus et haud unquam vigilabat corpore toto. At nunc, heu, si aliquis ultro te, Somne, repellit, inde veni! ”

“ Cf. qui e vita emigravit, Cicero, De Legibus, 2. 48. 49. Temetipsum: Thine own self. An emphatic -met is suffixed to Te.
'JESUS, THE VERY THOUGHT OF THEE.' The author is probably St. Bernard, the abbot of Clairvaux and the great preacher of the Second Crusade. Few men in Christendom have ever exercised a personal influence equal to his.
These quartrains are selected from a hymn composed of fifty such, and familiar to English-speaking Christians from Caswall's translation, Jesus, the very Thought of Thee, and Ray Palmer's Jesus, Thou Joy of Loving Hearts. ”

“ There is so much noise at night that the poor man cannot sleep,
50-78. While he finds the streets dangerous both by day
79-88. And by night.
Quis timet aut timuit gelida Praeneste ruinam, aut positis nemorosa inter iuga Volsiniis, aut simplicibus Gabiis, aut proni Tiburis arce? Nos urbem colimus tenui tibicine fultam magna parte sui; nam sic labentibus obstat 5 vilicus et veteris rimae cum texit hiatum securos pendente iubet dormire ruina. Vivendum est illic ubi nulla incendia, nulli nocte metus. Iam poscit aquam, iam frivola transfert Ucalegon, tabulata tibi iam tertia fumant: 10 tu nescis ”

“ The reference is to a Roman custom by which the suppliant approached with the statue on his right; after praying, he turned to the right so as to face it and then prostrated himself. 17. vota: votive tablets. 18 ff. It is true piety, not to perform these rites, but to possess a tranquil mind, and this is difficult, for the grandeur and terror of nature are almost overwhelming. ”