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Commentary Cons. Phil. Book 2 Metrum 1

Metrum 1

P. continues to describe Fortuna.

Meter: Scazons ("limping" iambic trimeter). The limping effect is produced because the last foot is always a spondee.

line 1
Haec: sc. Fortuna.

line 2
et aestuantis: this is the reading of the manuscripts, but it creates a cum-clause with two verbs in different moods (uerterit . . . fertur). The emendation exaestuantis has proven attractive; on that reading, line 1 is the cum-clause.
Euripi: The narrow churning strait separating the island of Euboea from the Greek mainland.

line 3
dudum: "just now"; adverb with tremendos.

line 6
ultroque: = ultro ("moreover, furthermore") + -que.

line 8
su<ae u>is: "of her power," genitive with ostentum. The letters in brackets are an emendation designed to heal the meter; the manuscripts read simply suis ("to her [followers]"), but the line then has one syllable too few. Other possible emendations include su<biti>s ("by sudden [occurrences]") and <de>monstrat; but cf. Gruber: "The suggested emendations are not satisfactory."

line 9
stratus: < sterno, "lay low."

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