From curculio@glasscity.net Sun Mar  5 18:16:43 2000
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From: "Michael Hendry" <curculio@glasscity.net>
To: <classics@u.washington.edu>
References: <v03007800b4e8a0ea182f@[10.80.1.53]>
Subject: Re: The Eternal Rabbit
Date: Sun, 5 Mar 2000 21:23:22 -0500
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There is an even closer connection between *lepos, leporis* and *lepus,
leporis*, and it is classically-attested.  Here is Martial 5.29:

    Si quando leporem mittis mihi, Gellia, dicis:
       "Formonsus septem, Marce, diebus eris."
    Si non derides, si uerum, lux mea, narras,
       edisti numquam, Gellia, tu leporem.

I don't have any commentators to hand, but they say that eating hare was
supposed to make one beautful.  It's hard to see how the epigram could make
sense any other way.  Howell's Aris & Phillips commentary on Book V would be
the place to go for parallels.

Also, a rabbit (cuniculus) is not quite the same thing as a hare (lepus),
which makes some of DL's connections even more fanciful than they would be
otherwise.

Michael Hendry
Bowling Green State University
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