COMMENT ARY ON THE CYNEGETICA

CYNEGETICON LIBER: None of the titles or colophons in the manu­ scripts includes the words fiber or libri, but it is most probable that Cynegeti­ con is a neuter plural genitive, like Georgicon. Henriksson (Griechische Buchertitel in der romischen Literatur, Annales Acad. Scient. Fennicae, Ser. B., Tom. 102.1, Helsinki 1956) lists as titles the following words in - tK6v: EtcmycoytK6v, 'OfornoptK6v, Ilpom:µ1tnK6v, 'Y1toyvcocrnK6v, 'Y1to­ µvT]crttK6v, which are all apparently in the accusative, but as Richmond (The Halieutica ascribed to Ovid, London 1962, p. 25) points out, either these may not be book-titles, or it is not possible to be sure whether the nominative was masculine or neuter. Ellipses of liber or libri occur in the title to book three of the Georgics in Veronensis XL (38) (CLA IV 498) and in the title to the Cynegetica of Grattius in Ambrosianus S. 81. Satyricon is no doubt another example of ellipse, see W. Heraeus, Kleine Schriften, Heidelberg 1937, p. 109. Whether we are to understand fiber or fibri here is another question. Hincmar of Reims tells us (Migne PL vol. 126, p. 383) "et lectione puer scholarius in libro qui inscribitur Kynegeticon Carthaginensis Aurelii didici." fiber seems not to have been used in the Classical period to designate the whole of a work unless that work comprised only one book, the plural being used when the work consisted of several books, but from the fifth century on, fiber does appear to be used of a work of more than one volume, cf. Sidon. epist. 5.2.1 fibrum de statu animae tribus uoluminibus inlustrem Mamertus Claudianus ... comere et excolere curauit, and Hincmar's words therefore gives us no clue as to whether he had one book, or more than one book, before him. In the absence of any firm evidence on this point, therefore, I have understood fiber. For the possible original length of the poem, see my note on u. 325.

1. cano : Gronovius, followed by Damste (" Ad Nemesiani Cynegetica," Mnem. 53 (1925), 307), conjectures cane, and the latter objects to cano on the ground that the plural pandimus (u. 3) is incongruous so soon after a singular verb, but neither comments on the fact that mihi follows pandimus in u. 3, nor that sequimur is followed by mecum at uu. 98f. Wernsdorf, who rejects the conjecture "neque enim KUVT]ywia tota est uenatio, nee mille eius uiae possunt dici" - an unconvincing argument - attributes the passage from singular to plural to "poetico furore" and Luiselli (" 11 proemio del 'Cynegeti­ con' di Olimpio Nemesiano ", SIFC 30 (1958), 79) says that it underlines the "crescendo" of enthusiasm which pervades Nern. 's proemium. This may be so, but as Burman points out, the alternation between singular and plural occurs 162 COMMENTARY elsewhere in Latin where no particular significance can be attached to its use, e.g. Cic. Fam. 5.14.2; Prop. l.7.5f. and see K-S 1, p. 88f. Also, it is very difficult to believe that Nern. is not echoing the first line of the Aeneid here, and possibly also Grattius u. l. For the short final -o see my note on 3. l 8.

1-2. ...-que ... / ... -que: As at u. 200, the first -que connects the two verbs and the second, the two nouns. For this use of -que ... -que see H. Christensen ("Que - que bei dem romischen Hexametrikern (bis etwa 500 n. Chr.)" ALL 15 (1908), 188). 3. pandimus: Barth would have us believe that his German edition reads Pan tuus. Ulitius comments "ego juramento illius non majorem fidem habeo, quam Atopiensi & Utopiensi isti Editioni, ex qua nobis iterum hoc nugamenti profert." Aonio: Literally "Boeotian", used here in the sense of "belonging to the Muses," as at Catullus 61.28; Ovid E.P. 4.2.47; Stat. Situ. 1.4.20; 12.220 etc.

5. Castaliusque: Pithoeus proposed Castaliique, but Castalius is found use·d absolutely of Apollo also at Ennod. Carm. 2.109.2. alumno: Ulitius conjectures alumnus, but the expression Castalius ... alumnus would imply that Apollo was born or brought up there, which would be false. Apollo is connected with the Castalian spring because, according to one account, the nymph Castalia threw herself into a spring subsequently named after her when pursued by him. The poet is referred to as nursling of the Muses at Palladas Anth. Pall. 10.52.2; Ausonius 399.4 etc. 10-11. ire ... /imperat: The use of the infinitive with impero is mainly post­ Augustan and poetic, see TLL 1 585 36f. Its use here with the active infinitive and without a noun or pronoun in the dative is rare, but it is also found at Prop. 4.8.85 and Lucan 4.34. For further examples see K-S 1, p. 682. 12.: Pithoeus restored this line to its rightful place, although the asterisk against this line in the second Aldine edition where it appears after u. 24 shows that Logus was aware that the line was not in its proper place. (se): The reason for the presence of se before ostendat in the second Aldine edition is uncertain, but it may have been inserted to give sense to the line when it appeared detached from its original context, with cursus being taken as nominative singular instead of accusative plural. Ulitius and Johnson attribute the conjecture to Steyner, but it originates with Logus.

13. obuia: Duff is surely wrong to translate obuia as "come to meet us." obuia here is more probably an epithet describing the goddess and her willingness to help the poet in his work, cf. Pliny epist. l.10.2 est obuius et expositus p/enusque humanitate ( Euphrates philosophus). Martial (4.31.8) de­ scribes Calliope as pia.