Metrum 2

Meter: Hemiepes + adonic with diaeresis.

line 1

praecipiti: "steep, dangerous."

line 2

relicta: ablative.

line 4

flatibus: ablative of means < flatus, "wind."
aucta: < augeo; modifies cura (line 5).

line 5

in immensum: "to immense (size)."

line 6

Hic: i.e. , Boethius.

line 7

in aetherios ire meatus: "to follow the courses of heavenly bodies."

line 10

recursus: accusative plural, "returns, recurrent courses"; with vagos, which alludes to the Greek word for the planets, "wanderers."

line 12

comprensam: = comprehensam, "grasped, understood"; sc. stellam. B. translated a Greek treatise by Ptolemy on astronomy and perhaps wrote one of his own in Latin, in which he would have explained how the movements of the planets could be reduced to mathematical calculations.

line 13

unde: unde . . . sollicitent: indirect question introduced by causas (13); similarly, quis uoluat (15), cur . . . surgat (16-17), quid . . . temperet (18), and quis dedit (20).

line 14

sollicitent: unde . . . sollicitent: indirect question introduced by causas (13); similarly, quis uoluat (15), cur . . . surgat (16-17), quid . . . temperet (18), and quis dedit (20).

line 15

quis: = qui. Quis uoluat: indirect question introduced by causas (13); similarly, cur . . . surgat (16-17), quid . . . temperet (18), quis dedit (20) and unde . . . sollicitent (13-14).
uoluat: indirect question introduced by causas (13); similarly, cur . . . surgat (16-17), quid . . . temperet (18), quis dedit (20) and unde . . . sollicitent (13-14).

line 16

cur: cur . . . surgat: indirect question introduced by causas (13); similarly, quid . . . temperet (18), quis dedit (20), unde . . . sollicitent (13-14) and quis uoluat (15).

line 17

surgat: cur . . . surgat: indirect question introduced by causas (13); similarly, quid . . . temperet (18), quis dedit (20), unde . . . sollicitent (13-14) and quis uoluat (15).
casurum: < cado, "fall, set."

line 18

quid: quid . . . temperet: indirect question introduced by causas (13); similarly, quis dedit (20), unde . . . sollicitent (13-14), quis uoluat (15) and cur . . . surgat (16-17).
temperet: quid . . . temperet: indirect question introduced by causas (13); similarly, quis dedit (20), unde . . . sollicitent (13-14), quis uoluat (15) and cur . . . surgat (16-17).

line 20

quis: indirect question introduced by causas (13); similarly, unde . . . sollicitent (13-14), quis uoluat (15), cur . . . surgat (16-17) and quid . . . temperet (18).
dedit: indicative in place of subjunctive, to fit the meter (cf. Gruber). Quis dedit: indirect question introduced by causas (13); similarly, unde . . . sollicitent (13-14), quis uoluat (15), cur . . . surgat (16-17) and quid . . . temperet (18).
ut: ut . . . uuis: substantive result clause, after dedit.

line 21

influat: "flow, abound with."
uuis: ut . . . uuis: substantive result clause, after dedit.

line 22

rimari solitus: sc. est; governs indirect questions of lines 13-21.
latentis: genitive, modifies naturae.

line 23

reddere: here, "declare, report."

line 25

pressus grauibus colla catenis: "pressed around the neck with chains." colla is neuter plural accusative of respect with the participle pressus; this is a Greek construction.