Ovid, Heroides 7.87-102
Nec mihi mēns dubia est, quīn tē tua nūmina damnent.
per mare, per terrās septima iactat hiemps.
flūctibus ēiectum tūtā statiōne recēpī
vixque bene audītō nōmine rēgna dedī. 90
hīs tamen officiīs utinam contenta fuissem,
et mihi concubitūs fāma sepulta foret!
illa diēs nocuit, quā nōs dēclīve sub antrum
caeruleus subitīs conpulit imber aquīs.
audieram vōcem; nymphās ululāsse putāvī— 95
Eumenidēs fātī signa dedēre meī!
Exige, laese pudor, poenās! violātaque lectī
[iūra nec ad cinerēs fāma retenta meōs, 97a
vōsque, meī mānēs, animaeque cinisque Sychaeī] 97b
ad quās, mē miseram, plēna pudōris eō.
est mihi marmoreā sacrātus in aede Sychaeus—
oppositae frondēs velleraque alba tegunt. 100
hinc ego mē sēnsī nōtō quater ōre citārī;
ipse sonō tenuī dīxit “Elissa, venī!”
87 quīn…damnent: quīn regularly introduces a clause of what is (or is not, as in this case) doubted by the speaker after words or phrases expressing hestitation, doubt or uncertainty (AG 558a), “(but) that.”
tua nūmina: i.e., the Penatēs; both tē and tua nūmina could be accusative but only one can be nominative: why and why?
88 septima…hiemps: if 7 winters, then how many years? See, poetry is not hard!
iactat: understand tē (87) as its object.
89 ēiectum: (tē).
flūctibus… tūtā statiōne: the prefix of ē-iectum creates an expectation for an ablative of separation. Do you think this is more likely flūctibus or tūtā statiōne? What kind of ablative is other?
vixque bene audītō nōmine: ablative absolute, all the more emphatic because it spans the strong mid-verse break.
91 utinam…fuissem: optative or wishing subjunctive, “would that I had…”
92 mihi: a dative of reference—also known as the dative of (dis)advantage (AG 376); is Dido saying that sexual intercourse (concubitūs) was an officium?
concubitūs: “our lying together” (you know what that means); a fourth declension genitive.
illa diēs: diēs is feminine when it refers to a holiday or other special day (although not all authors adhere to this distinction, especially in later Latin).
93-96 Mention of their lovemaking leads Dido to recount their first encounter in the fateful cave (Aeneid 4.160–72).
95 ululā(vi)sse: syncopated perfect infinitive.
96 In Aeneid 4.167, Juno and Tellus signal (dant signum) Dido’s marriage; here Dido reinterprets the signs (correctly) as harbingers of her destruction.
97 Exige, laese pudor, poenās: recalls the language of lines 58-59.
97a-b most manuscripts omits these lines but as noted critic A.E. Housman observed, “if the lines are an interpolation, its ingenuity is amazing” (1897). Since they do contribute to the logical flow of the passage, they have been preserved here.
97b Sychaeī: Sychaeus was Dido’s husband; after he was murdered by Dido’s brother Pygamlion, she fled Tyre and established Carthage.
98 ad quās: the antecedent is the complex of mānēs, animae, and cinis in the proceeding line, although only animae is feminine.
99 sacrātus…Sychaeus: i.e., an effigy or image of Sychaeus in his shrine.
100 tegunt: the fronds and woolen threads cover the shrine.
101 nōtō…ōre: i.e., by the voice of Sychaeus.
102 venī: note the length of the stem; this is not the perfect, vēnī, but which form?
Interrogata: what duties does a host owe a guest in antiquity? in the present?
