For Reference: Sellar, Roman Poets of the Republic (Oxford, 1889), chapter 4; the collections of the fragments by Vahlen (Leipzig, 1854) and by Muller (St. Petersburg, 1885).
Metres: Dactylic Hexameter, B. 368; A. & G. 615: Selections 1-5.
Trochaic Septenarius, B. 366, 2; A. & G. 620: Selections 6, 7. Elegiac
Stanza, B. 368, 369; A. & G. 616: Selection 8.
1. 'Lines of tender regret and true hero-worship.'—Sellar. Cf. Livy, 1. 16. 2, 3. Prose translation in Sellar, Roman Poets of the Republic, p. 110. 3. qualem…genuerunt: How great a guardian of our country did the gods create in thee!—Sellar. 4. O pater, o genitor: pater is a title of respect, genitor the actual parent. sanguen: an ante-classic neuter collateral form of sanguis. 5. intra luminis oras: within the realms of light (Sellar), a favorite expression with later poets.
2. 'Sentiments truly regal and worthy of the race of the Aeacidae.' Cicero, De Officiis, 1. 12.
This is Pyrrhus' reply to Fabricius and other envoys sent to negotiate for the ransom of the Roman prisoners after the battle of Heraclea, 280 B.C.
Prose translation and fine comment in Sellar, Roman Poets of the
Republic, p. 99.
1. dederitis: perfect subjunctive in a prohibition. 2. nec cauponantes bellum: not making petty traffic of war. 3. vitam: accusative of specification. 5. accipe: to Fabricius, while ducite (1. 8) is to all the envoys. 7. eorundem: scanned as three syllables. 8. volentibus…dis: under favor of the great gods.—Sellar. Final s in volentibus as in vivus (Selection 8. 2) is neglected in scanning.
4. These lines were often quoted. They are imitated by Vergil, Aeneid, 6. 845-846:
Tu Maximus ille es,
unus qui nobis cunctando restituis rem.
Prose translation in Sellar, Roman Poets of the Republic, p. 106.