Minor Latin poets; with introductions and English translations

INTRODUCTION TOas in pependit onus (ix. 8), rumpere vocem (xiv. 11,XXV. 13), surgeiites demoror austros (xvi. 15), generisfiducia vestri (xxiv. 11);'^ or they may be still morepositively mock-heroic as in circumstetit horror of theass in the lion's skin (v. 9) and lacrimis obortis of aweeping fish (xx. 5).^Mingled v/ith this poetical language of a pre-Avianian age we have frequent instances of adegenerate Latin. These have been collected andtabulated by Ellis {Proleg. xxxvi sqq.). The use ofniinius for magnus, of tanti for tot, and of datur fordicitur, are among the most noticeable as far as singlewords are concerned. Indirect statement is sometimesintroduced by quod or expressed by the subjunctivewithout a conjunction. Que and atqueaccording to the manuscripts (though emendationis generally possible) may be used illogically toconnect participles w^ith finite verbs ; and thegerundive once or twice does the work of a futureparticiple passive.To the prosody of Avianus a reference has alreadybeen made. In general, he gives us correct Ovidianelegiacs. Occasionally, according to the traditionaltext, at the end of the first half of a pentameter,hiatus is admitted or a short syllable takes the placeof a long one (Ellis xxiv-xxv). In most of thesecases the text can be easily emended and Avianushimself absolved from a metrical fault. Some otherviolations of classical prosody (veils iii. 6 ; nolam vii. 8 ;dispdr xi. 5 ; heres xxxv. 14) cannot be explainedaway ; they come from Avianus' own hand and attest« Cf. Ovid, Her. ix. 98, Rem. Am. 18, Fasti II. 760; Virg.Aen. II. 129, etc. ; III. 481 ; I. 132.* Cf. Virg. Aen. II. 559; XI. 41.674