171 to 189 ← 190 to 211→ 212 to 222
190 Quis timet aut timuit gelida Praeneste ruinam
- Quis timet | aut timu|it ge|lida | Praeneste | ruinam
- bro this line breaks so many scansion rules
- Praeneste locative?
191 aut positis nemorosa inter iuga Volsiniis aut
- aut posi|tis nemo|ros(a) in|ter iuga | Volsini|is aut
- woah this line is so symmetrical
192 simplicibus Gabiis aut proni Tiburis arce?
193 nos urbem colimus tenui tibicine fultam
- omg finally an example of explicitly stating the subject pronoun for emphasis
194 magna parte sui; nam sic labentibus obstat
- magnā
- magna parte sui ASK what is going on sob. what ablative is this. what does sui refer to.
195 vilicus et, veteris rimae cum texit hiatum,
196 securos pendente iubet dormire ruina.
197 vivendum est illic, ubi nulla incendia, nulli
198 nocte metus. iam poscit aquam, iam frivola transfert
199 Ucalegon, tabulata tibi iam tertia fumant:
- tibi dative of person concerned, from commentary
200 tu nescis; nam si gradibus trepidatur ab imis,
201 ultimus ardebit quem tegula sola tuetur
- ūltĭmŭs | ārdē|bīt quēm | tēgŭlă | sōlă tŭ|ētur
202 a pluvia, molles ubi reddunt ova columbae.
- ā plŭvĭ|ā, mōl|lēs ŭbĭ | rēddūnt | ōvă cŏ|lūmbae.
- reddo ere can mean "to give something as due or expected" = "duly give" ("duly" means "in a correct (or appropriate) manner or time")
203 lectus erat Cordo Procula minor, urceoli sex
- lēctŭs ĕ|rāt Cōr|dō Prŏcŭ|lā mĭnŏr, | ūrcĕŏ|lī sex
204 ornamentum abaci, nec non et parvulus infra
- ornamentum in apposition with urceoli
- nec non = necnon - an emphatic affirmation, "and assuredly"
205 cantharus et recubans sub eodem marmore Chiron,
206 iamque vetus Graecos servabat cista libellos
207 et divina opici rodebant carmina mures.
208 nil habuit Cordus, quis enim negat? et tamen illud
209 perdidit infelix totum nihil. ultimus autem
210 aerumnae cumulus, quod nudum et frusta rogantem
- [illum] nudum et frusta rogantum ← the object of iuvabit in the next line
211 nemo cibo, nemo hospitio tectoque iuvabit.
Who, in the cold water in Praeneste, fears, or feared, the house collapsing
or in Volsinius, placed between shaded ridges, or
in simple Gabius, or in the inclined citadel of Tibur?
We inhabit a city (Rome) propped up by thin pillars
with a large part its own; for like this the estate-overseer obstructs with the falling (things)
and joins together (fixes?) the clefts of the old cracks,
he orders the (residents) to sleep untroubled, with collapse dangling.
It must be lived over there, where [there is] no fire, no
worries during the night. Now Ucalegon calls for water, now he carries his trifles across,
now the third storey of yours (lit. concerning you) is smoking:
you don't know; for if the alarm is raised (lit. if it is agitated) from the bottommost steps,
the highest will burn, which the roof-tiles alone guard
from rain, where the soft doves duly give their eggs.
Cordus' bed is smaller than Procula, six small water jugs
decorate the square board, and certainly the tiny drinking-pot below [it]
and Chiron reclining below the same marble,
and the now-old basket saved small Greek books
and the stupid mice gnawed on excellent poetry.
Cordus had nothing, for who denies it? And however that thing (the fire?)
destroyed the whole unlucky nothing. But the final
cumulation of hardship, because a man, exposed and asking for a little bit
no one will help him with food, no one with a residence and roof.