ヒュラスの声 : Propertius I. xx

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to offer another point of view to the interpretation of Prop. Ixx 48 'sonitum fecit', a much discussed passage, as sonitus is not the same as 'the human voice' that is the meaning demanded by the context. Commentators are concerned with possible meanings of the word, but more attention is to be paid to the phrase 'rapto corpore', whose position in the verse shows it as if it operated as a medium of the action, and which obtains no adequate comprehension when taken to be instrumental to 'sonitum fecit' or descriptive of Hylas falling into the water. Here it should be supposed that the bringing in of the motif of metamorphosis, which, I think, made the poet choose the word 'sonitus' as fitting for this scene. Propertius presents his Hylas as a beauty and seeker of the water, seeking, without pitcher, not for other heroes, but for himself. And this presentation is designed on above-below schemata throughout the narrative. In the Boreades scene they above and Hylas below are opposed as attackers and defenders with military terms in use, forming a remarkable contrast between the giant and the little, each staying in his own field and remaining in suspense. Contrary to this, the description of the fountain is harmonious in itself, and so on the schema:above and below, things are arranged as mingled altogether, not opposed in two parts. So also with many of the amorous terms and the abundance of water that Hylas seeks. Then comes the climax. Hylas reflects himself in the fountain, a perfect abovebelow schema:symmetry of beauty. And this is taken over by that of Hylas and the nymphs. When the water nymphs stop their chorus, the water becomes deadly still and the surface functions as a mirror without a warp. At this stage the nymphs' appearance seems to be identical with Hylas' reflection on the surface, seeing that the visual is described throughout this scene with stress on Hylas' beauty, that the nymphs are called 'puellae' after being caught by the fire of his 'candor', a word suitable for the brilliancy both of handsome boys and lovely girls, and that to that picture correspond the words 'trahens-traxere' and a proportion of the relating verses to Hylas and nymphs. So when Hylas, drawing the water up, and the nymphs, drawing him down, pull each other, crossing each other at the surface they vanish, Hylas into the mirror of water and the nymphs with his disappearing reflection. After that, there remains nothing but water, no figure of Hylas or the nymphs': that is what 'rapto corpore' means. Hylas turned into water. So 'sonitus', as a phenomenon, may be just a splash, but not caused by his falling. It is the finish of this product, reverberations within readers' hearts who are present at the scene, where the beauty vanishes from sight in dead silence, the silence caused by the water nymphs stopping their chorus.