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Lucan 7. 504–5

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

A. Hudson-Williams
Affiliation:
University College of Wales, Aberystwyth

Extract

O. A. W. Dilke (Proc. Class. Assoc. liii [1956], 30 f.) disapproves of the reading uergens advocated by me in C.Q., NS. iv [1954], 188 f., retains uertens of the better manuscripts translating ‘and Fortune did not take long to change the balance of so many weights’, and, citing for the use of diu Sen. Contr. 2. 3. 10 ‘si non impetro ut uiuam, hoc certe impetrem ne diu moriar’, asks ‘How is this not a parallel?’ Others too have not hesitated to ascribe a similar use to diu. The difficulty is that to which I briefly referred in C.Q,., I.e. The adverb diu is appropriate only with verbs representing a continuous or protracted action: e.g. morior may represent such an action, and it does so in Sen., I.e.—the speaker prays for exemption from a protracted death and diu retains its characteristic sense.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 1957

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References

page 112 note 1 Liv. 3.27. ‘puncto saepe temporis maximarum rerum momenta uerti’, which D. compares for the use of uerto, has no relevance here: the meaning is ‘depend on, turn on, a moment of time’; cf. 8. 27. 4 ‘discrimen … rerum suarum in bello Samnitium … uerti’.

page 112 note 2 D. takes tot with pondera, commenting ‘if tot governed rerum, Lucan (as opposed to Virgil) would have written tot rerum’. I see no justification for this statement, nor do I understand the translation ‘the balance of so many weights’.

page 112 note 3 e.g. Haskins, Bourgery-Ponchont, Duff; so too the schol.

page 112 note 4 There is, of course, no objection if the action, though momentary, is repeated a number of times: e.g. Luc. 8. 673 ‘nodosaque frangit ossa diu’, i.e. ‘for long he goes on breaking’.

page 112 note 5 The Thes. s.v. diu 1559. 82 ff. lists several examples of diu used with verbs like morior, cresco, etc., but with no verb like uerto.