The actual descriptions of the Giants' rebellion in Ovid's surviving
poems are brief (_Met_ I 151-62 & 182-86, _Fast_ V 35-42), but
references to the rebellion are frequent (_Met_ X 150-51, _Fast_ I
307-8, _Fast_ IV 593-94, _Fast_ V 555, _Tr_ II 71, _Tr_ IV vii 17, _EP_
II ii 9-12). The accounts at _Met_ V 319-31 of the flight of some of the
gods to Egypt and at _Fast_ II 459-74 of Venus' flight to the Euphrates
are no doubt derived from Ovid's earlier researches.
=59. ADFECTANTES.= 'Unlawfully seeking to obtain'; compare _Met_ I 151-52
'neue foret terris securior arduus aether, / _adfectasse_ ferunt _regnum
caeleste Gigantas_' and _Fast_ III 439 'ausos _caelum adfectare
Gigantas_'. This sense is found in prose: compare Livy I 50 4 'cui enim
non apparere _adfectare_ eum imperium in Latinos?'. At Livy I 46 2 the
word is used without the conative sense: 'neque ea res Tarquinio spem
_adfectandi_ regni minuit'.
=59. GIGANTAS= _Heinsius_. The manuscripts have GIGANTES, which Lenz,
Wheeler, and André print. In classical Latin poetry, Greek nouns of the
third declension with plural nominatives in _[Greek:-es]_ and plural
accusatives in _[Greek:-as]_ retained these endings. Housman 836-39
gives many instances where metre demonstrates an accusative in
_[Greek:-as]_. In Ovid when such an ending occurs, some manuscripts
commonly offer the normalized _-es_; at _Tr_ II 333, as here, all
manuscripts offer _Gigantes_, again corrected by Heinsius.
Such apparent violations of the rule as _Fast_ I 717 'horreat
AeneadAs et primus et ultimus orbis', _Fast_ III 105-6 'quis tunc aut
HyadAs aut Pliadas Atlanteas / senserat' and Virgil _G_ I 137-38
'nauita tum stellis numeros et nomina fecit, / PleiadAs, HyadAs,
claramque Lycaonis Arcton' are of course no real exceptions, the
lengthening of short closed vowels at the ictus being permitted
(Platnauer 59-62).
=60. AD STYGA NIMBIFERI VINDICIS IGNE DATOS.= 'Hurled to the underworld by
the lightning-bolt of cloud-gathering Jupiter'. This was Jupiter's
first use of the weapon: see _Fast_ III 439-40 'fulmina post ausos
caelum adfectare Gigantas / sumpta Ioui: _primo tempore inermis erat_'.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account