where the first dum means while, and the second means so long.dum innupta manet, dum cara suis est,
Cat. lxii. 45. 3
[16]
Old writers are full of such usages. At the
[p. 453]
beginning of the Eunuchus1 of Terence we have quid
igitur faciam, while another comic poet says ain
tandem leno?2 Catullus in his Epithalamium writes:
1 Eun. I. i. 1. “What shall I do then?”
2 The poet is unknown. “Do you agree then, you pimp?” The figure in this and the preceding instance lies in the idiomatic use of igitur and tandem.
3 “While she remains unwed, so long is she dear to her own.” Such is Quintilian's interpretation. The line, however, runs sic virgo, dum intacta (MSS. of Catullus), etc., and is most naturally interpreted: “Even so (i.e. like to a perfect blossom) is the maiden, while she remains unblemished and dear to her own.”
Quintilian. With An English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1922.
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