Metrum 8

Meter: As clepiad (glyconic compouded with choriamb) alternating with iambic dimeter.

line 3

3: Lines 3-8: The sequence of absurdities points up the folly of looking for happiness in the wrong place.

line 4

uite: < uitis, "vine."

line 5

abditis: < abdo, "hide away"; present tense.

line 6

ditetis: < dito, "enrich."

line 8

Tyrrhena: "Etruscan." The Tyrrhenian Sea lies between Italy and the islands of Corsica and Sardinia.

line 9

quin: "but rather."

line 10

norunt: = nouerunt (< nosco): understand as subject those who pursue these things skillfully.

line 11

quae: with unda.
feracior: < ferax, "fertile, fruitful," modifies unda, takes ablative gemmis and genitive purpurae.

line 13

nec non: "and also."

line 14

echinis: < echinus, "shell-fish."

line 17

quod: antecedent is bonum.
transabiit: < transabeo, "pierce."
polum: here, as often, "the sky."

line 19

Quid: Quid . . . imprecer?: "what curse should I utter?" Deliberative subjunctive.
imprecer: Quid . . . imprecer?: "what curse should I utter?" Deliberative subjunctive.

line 20

Opes honores: = opes et honores; asyndeton.
ambiant: "solicit, seek, strive for"; subjunctive in a clause of wish (i.e., the curse implied in 19).

line 21

falsa: sc. bona.
graui mole: "with great effort/travail."