‘Nōn tē nūllīūs exercent nūminis īrae;
magna luis commissa: tibi hās miserābilis Orpheus
haudquāquam ob meritum poenās, nī fāta resistant,455
suscitat, et raptā graviter prō coniuge saevit.
Illa quidem, dum tē fugeret per flūmina praeceps,
immānem ante pedēs hydrum moritūra puella
servantem rīpās altā nōn vīdit in herbā.
At chorus aequālis Dryadum clāmōre suprēmōs460
implēvit montēs; flērunt Rhodopēiae arcēs
altaque Pangaea et Rhēsī Māvortia tellūs
atque Getae atque Hebrus et Actias Ōrīthȳīa.
Ipse cavā sōlāns aegrum testūdine amōrem
tē, dulcis coniūnx, tē sōlō in lītore sēcum,465
tē veniente diē, tē dēcēdente canēbat.
notes
Proteus begins to recount Aristaeus’s crime.
Proteus explains that Aristaeus has angered some divinity by committing great crimes (commissa). Namely, Orpheus’s loss of Eurydice, his wife, has left the poet devastated, through no fault of his own. Instead, while fleeing Aristaeus along a riverbank, Orpheus’s wife suffered a fatal snakebite. Her fellow nymphs mourned her death, and Orpheus sat alone day and night singing about his love.
453 nōn…nūllīūs: equivalent to nōnnūllīus, “of some” (AG 326a). The litotes makes this emphatic.
453 nūllīūs: the final “u” is lengthened here at the caesura, often referred to as “lengthening in arsis,” that is, on the upbeat.
453 exercent: “torment.”
454 magna…commissa: these are obviously great crimes that have been committed by Aristaeus.
454-456 Orpheus:Orpheus was traditionally a noted musician and prophet. He hailed from Thrace, the son of a king, Oaegrus, and the Muse Calliope.
454–456 tibi…suscitat = Orpheus, miserābilis haudquāquam ob meritum, suscitat hās poenās tibi, nī fāta resistant.
455 ob meritum:the phrase is terribly difficult to construe. Some take it with tibi (“penalties which you in no way deserve”), but we have just been told that his deeds were magna commissa. Others change ob to ad (“penalties that are not up to what you deserve”). Though a little awkward, it seems best to take ob meritum with Orpheus, “wretched, in no way in accordance with what he deserves” (Thomas).
456 raptā: “stolen” by death, ablative singular feminine, modifying coniuge.
457 illa: Orpheus’s stolen bride, Eurydice, though her name is not given till line 486.
457 dum…fugeret: “while she was fleeing.” dum = “while” with subjunctive begins to appear in Augustan literature (AG 556.N).
457 per flūmina: likely along the banks of the river, not through its waters.
458 ante pedēs: “before her feet.”
458 moritūra: future active participle < morior, morī, mortuus.
460 aequālis: “of the same age.” A chorus is traditionally a group of dancers, so we should imagine here a group of wood nymphs (of marriageable age) dancing together.
460 clāmōre: adjectives and verbs of fullness take an ablative of means (AG 409a).
460-461 suprēmōs…montēs:suprēmōs here is equivalent to summōs, “the tops.”
461-463 flērunt Rhodopēiae…Ōrīthyīa: the following lines list any number of natural of phenomena and individuals that mourn the death of Eurydice. flērunt is a syncopated perfect (AG 181).
Rhodopēiae: The Rhodopes are a mountain range that runs through northern Greece and southern Bulgaria, long inhabited by the Thracians. The last syllable, although a diphthong, is shortened in hiatus.
462 Pangaea: Pangaeum is another mountain in Thrace, where the Olympian gods fought the Titans.
462 Rhēsī Māvortia tellūs: Thrace was customarily thought to be founded by Thrax, son of Mars, so Māvortia both explains Thracian origins and suggests their warlike nature. Rhesus was the king of the Thracians who fought on the side of the Trojans, and whose camp was raided by Odysseus and Diomedes in Iliad 10.
463 Getae: a tribe of northern Thrace.
463 Hebrus: the Maritsa, a river in Thrace (now Bulgaria and Turkey).
463 Actias Ōrīthyīa: “Attic Orithyia;” Actias refers to Attica, the province in which Athens is situated. Acte was an old name for Attica. Orithyia was the daughter of Erechtheus, a mythological king Athens. She was stolen away by the wind Boreas and carried to Thrace. The scansion of this line is tricky, no doubt because of the abundance of proper nouns: there is hiatus after Getae, and a spondaic fifth foot. The first vowel in Hebrus is short, but the “mute + liquid” rule does not apply.
464 ipse: Orpheus.
464 aegrum...amōrem: the direct object of sōlāns; the amōrem is Orpheus’ for his lost wife.
464 cavā … testūdine: the lyre, made originally by Mercury who fixed strings to a tortoise shell (Homeric Hymn to Hermes 25-61). We see that Proteus is now no longer specifically addressing Aristaeus. As vates, he is fully absorbed in his tale, and we feel ourselves to be the audience for the mythological story he weaves.
465 sōlō: the shore might be lonely, but this is likely a transferred epithet, since it is Orpheus who is alone.
465 sēcum: in English we would say he sings to himself.
466 tē veniente diē, tē dēcēdente: veniente diē…dēcēdente <diē> are ablatives absolute, showing the duration of his singing (AG 420). The repetition of tē is an example of anaphora, here a very emphatic repetition. tē, refers to the dulcis coniūnx, Eurydice.
vocabulary
luō luere luī lūtus: pay for, atone for
commissum –ī n.: undertaking; offense, fault, crime
miserābilis –e: deplorable, miserable
Orpheus –eī m.: Orpheus (name)
haudquāquam: by no means, not at all455
meritum meritī n.: what is deserved, what is due
resistō resistere restitī: oppose, resist, stop
suscitō suscitāre suscitāvī suscitātus: stir up
graviter: heavily, strongly
saeviō saevīre saeviī saevitus: rage
praeceps praecipitis: headlong, swift, rushing
immānis immāne: huge, monstrous
hydrus –ī m.: water-serpent
herba herbae f.: grass, herb
chorus –ī m.: group of dancers460
aequālis –e: of the same age
Dryades –um f.: dryads, wood-nymphs
Rhodopēus –a –um: Rhodopeian, of Mt. Rhodope
Pangaea –ōrum n.: Pangaeus, a mountain in Thrace
Rhēsus –ī m.: Rhesus (name)
Māvortius –a –um: of Mars
Getae –ārum m.: Getae, a tribe of Northern Thrace
Hēbrus –ī m.: Hebrus (river)
Actias –adis f.: Attic, Athenian
Ōrīthyia –ae f.: Orithyia (name)
cavus –a –um: hollow
sōlor sōlārī sōlātus sum: console
testūdō –inis f.: tortoise; lyre
dēcēdō dēcēdere dēcessī dēcessus: depart, subside, wane