In message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Neven Jovanovic <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes >Dear Mantovanae and Mantovani, > >Reading Eclogue 6 I have come to the vv. 62-3: >_tum Phaethontiadas musco circumdat amarae > corticis atque solo proceras erigit alnos_. > >Why should the bark be bitter? The commentaries I consulted (old Latin one >based on Heyne, and German Tusculum edition, and Klingner) raise no >question about it. Servius ad loc. notes on _amarae_: _et est epitheton >naturale_. >On the contrary, my students suggested that _amarae_ can be taken >metaphorically -- standing for the pain which torments the Phaethon's >sisters. > >What do the other commentators say (unfortunately, I have no Clausen at >hand)? What seems to me even more important -- how would you read these >verses?
Not only is this bark bitter, but so is the celery in l. 68 (apio . . . amaro): Unde epitheton?, asked the admirable La Cerda, or so Clausen reports; for his part Clausen refers to line 47: a uirgo infelix, quae te dementia cepit, which as Deutero-Servius points out alludes to 'Caluus in Io: a uirgo infelix, herbis pasceris amaris and suggests that Vergil had _amarus_ on the brain: 'Twice below, as if thinking of "herbis pasceris amaris", V. uses the adjective _amarus_ (62, 68)'. Calvus' line was also imitated by Ovid, _Met._ 1. 632-4, where once more the subject is Io, frondibus arboreis et amara pascitur herba, proque toro terrae non semper gramen habenti incubat infelix. > >_Musco_ also bothers me; the picture seems somewhat clumsy, not >substantial enough. > Isn't the point that the bark exudes the musk, i.e. the amber? (Cf. Ovid,_Met._ 2. 344-66 for a fuller account.) Leofranc *_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_* Leofranc Holford-Strevens 67 St Bernard's Road usque adeone Oxford scire MEVM nihil est, nisi ME scire hoc sciat alter? OX2 6EJ tel. +44 (0)1865 552808(home)/267865(work) fax +44 (0)1865 512237 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (home) [EMAIL PROTECTED] (work) *_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_* ----------------------------------------------------------------------- To leave the Mantovano mailing list at any time, do NOT hit reply. Instead, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message "unsubscribe mantovano" in the body (omitting the quotation marks). You can also unsubscribe at http://virgil.org/mantovano/mantovano.htm#unsub
