Commentary Cons. Phil. Book 3 Metrum 1
In nature, beautiful things are easier to appreciate against a background of adversity. (Thus, we infer, true happiness will be more clearly seen after its opposite has been delineated in 3P1-3P8.)Meter: Meiuric ("mouse-tailed") dactylic tetrameter. The term "mouse-tailed" characterizes the substitution of u - for - - at the verse's end.
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ingenuum: ingenuum . . . agrum: in its context, the phrase suggests a field not recently cultivated and hence fruitful; ingenuus can mean "freeborn," and the expression perhaps parallels English "virgin soil," suggesting land that has not previously fallen under the sway of a master.
agrum: ingenuum . . . agrum: in its context, the phrase suggests a field not recently cultivated and hence fruitful; ingenuus can mean "freeborn," and the expression perhaps parallels English "virgin soil," suggesting land that has not previously fallen under the sway of a master.
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fruticibus: < frutex, "bush, shrub."
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rubos: < rubus, "bramble bush."
filicemque: < filix, "fern."
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noua: final syllable short, hence nominative.
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Dulcior: Dulcior . . . mage: double comparatives are not uncommon in later Latin.
apium: apium . . . labor: literally, "the labor of bees," i.e., "honey."
mage: Dulcior . . . mage: double comparatives are not uncommon in later Latin.
labor: apium . . . labor: literally, "the labor of bees," i.e., "honey."
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ut: "when."
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prius: adverb modifying incipe.
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colla iugo: cf. 2M7.7.
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Uera: sc. bona.
subierint: < subeo, "come in secretly, steal in"; future perfect.