Part Fourth

Footnotes

^[1217] The expression, “sinners against their own souls,” in Num. xvi. 38:38—where, however, the LXX. have a very different version—may be compared with this; as likewise Prov. viii. 36.

^[1218] Whether the above be the sense of this most obscure triplet I will not presume to determine. It is at least (I hope) intelligible sense. But that the reader may judge for himself whether he can offer any better, I subjoin the lines, which form a sentence alone, and therefore can be judged of without their context:—

“Tempore sed certo Deus omnia prospectulatus,

Judicat injustos, patiens ubi criminis ætas

Cessandi spatium vis nulla coëgerit iræ.”

^[1219] Comp. Heb. i. 14. It may be as well here to inform the reader once for all that prosody as well as syntax is repeatedly set at defiance in these metrical fragments; and hence, of course, arise some of the chief difficulties in dealing with them.

^[1220] “Divinos;” i.e., apparently “superhuman,” as everything heavenly is.

^[1221] Of hospitality—bread and salt, etc.

^[1222] “Mensa;” but perhaps “mensæ” may be suggested—“the sacred pledges of the board.”

^[1223] “Dispungit,” which is the only verb in the sentence, and refers both to pia pignora and to amicos. I use “quit” in the sense in which we speak of “quitting a debtor,” i.e., giving him his full due; but the two lines are very hard, and present (as in the case of those before quoted) a jumble of words without grammar; “pia pignora mensa Officiisque probis studio dispungit amicos;” which may be somewhat more literally rendered than in our text, thus: “he zealously discharges” (i.e., fulfils) “his sacred pledges” (i.e., the promised hospitality which he had offered them) “with (a generous) board, and discharges” (i.e., fulfils his obligations to) “his friends with honourable courtesies.”

^[1224] Altera =alterna. But the statement differs from Gen. xix. 4.

^[1225] “Istam juventam,” i.e., the two “juvenes” (Gen. 19.31) within.

^[1226] “Fas” =ὅσιον, morally right; distinct from “jus” or “licitum.”

^[1227] i.e., Lot’s race or family, which had come from “Ur of the Chaldees.” See Gen. xi. 26, 27, 28.

^[1228] I use “preventing” in its now unusual sense of “anticipating the arrival of.”

^[1229] Σηγώρ in the LXX., “Zoar” in Eng. ver.

^[1230] “Simul exoritur sol.” But both the LXX. and the Eng. ver. say the sun was risen when Lot entered the city.

^[1231] So Oehler and Migne. But perhaps we may alter the pointing slightly, and read:—

“Down pours a novel shower, sulphur mixt

With blazing flames: the ether seethes: the air

Crackles with liquid exust.”

^[1232] The story of Phaëthon and his fate is told in Ov., Met., ii. 1–399, which may be compared with the present piece. His two sisters were transformed into white poplars, according to some; alders, according to others. See Virg., Æn., x. 190 sqq., Ec., vi. 62 sqq. His half-brother (Cycnus or Cygnus) was turned into a swan: and the scene of these transformations is laid by Ovid on the banks of the Eridanus (the Po). But the fable is variously told; and it has been suggested that the groundwork of it is to be found rather in the still-standing of the sun recorded in Joshua.

^[1233] i.e., as she had been before in the case of Eve. See Gen. iii. 1 sqq.

^[1234] I have hazarded the bold conjecture—which I see others (Pamelius at all events) had hazarded before me—that “feritas” is used by our author as ="fertilitas.” The word, of course, is very incorrectly formed etymologically; but etymology is not our author’s forte apparently. It will also be seen that there is seemingly a gap at this point, or else some enormous mistake, in the mss. An attempt has been made (see Migne) to correct it, but not a very satisfactory one. For the common reading, which gives two lines,

“Occidit illa prior feritas, quam prospiciens Loth

Nullus arat frustra piceas fuligine glebas,” which are evidently entirely unconnected with one another, it is proposed to read,

“Occidit illa prior feritas, quam prospiciens Loth,

Deseruisse pii fertur commercia fratris.

Nullas arat,” etc.

This use of “fratris” in a wide sense may be justified from Gen. xiii. 8 (to which passage, with its immediate context, there seems to be a reference, whether we adopt the proposed correction or no), and similar passages in Holy Writ. But the transition is still abrupt to the “nullus arat,” etc.; and I prefer to leave the passage as it is, without attempting to supply the hiatus.

^[1235] This use of “easely” as a dissyllable is justifiable from Spenser.

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