43, 44.Saeva paupertas] ‘Saevus’ does not necessarily bear a bad sense, nor is it so used in C. iii. 16. 16. ‘Apto cum lare’ means ‘with a suitable house,’—a house of a size proportionate to the small ancestral farm.
45.occulto — aevo] ‘By an imperceptible growth,’ as Ovid, Met. x. 519: “Labitur occulte fallitque volatilas aetas.” Marcellus was he who took Syracuse in the second Punic war,B. C.212, and his name stands for all his descendants, and particularly the young Marcellus, who married Julia, the daughter of Augustus,B. C.25, and died in less than two years after. This allusion makes it probable he was alive when the Ode was written. The star of Julius Cæsar, and the lesser lights of that family, are meant by what follows. By ‘Julium sidus’ is meant Cæsar himself, at whose death a comet is reported to have appeared, which was supposed to be his spirit translated to the skies. (See Ovid, Met. xv. sub fin.)
53.Ille, seu Parthos] See C. 2. 21, n. The Romans had hopes that Augustus would conquer the Parthians, and redeem the disgrace they had suffered from them, and this is written in anticipation of that event. ‘Justo triumpho’ is a complete triumph. (See Cic. de Am. c. 20, ad Fam. xv. 6, with Long’s notes.)
56.Seras et Indos,] See notes on C. iii. 29. 27; iv. 15. 23.
ODE XIII.
ThisOde expresses a lover’s jealousy, being addressed to his mistress, Lydia, who is supposed to be coquetting with a youth named Telephus.
Argument.—Lydia, while thou art praising Telephus’s neck, Telephus’s arms, oh! my heart is ready to burst. My mind tosses about; my color comes and goes; and the tear stealing down my cheek tells of the slow fire that burns within. It galls me when his rough hands hurt thy shoulders, or his teeth leave their mark on thy lips: think not he will be constant who could hurt that nectared mouth. How happy they whom love binds fast, to the day of their death!
2.cerea Telephi] ‘Cerea’ means ‘white as wax.’ The Romans wore their necks and arms bare, the tunic being cut so as to expose the throat and upper part of the chest, and having no sleeves.
4.difficili bile] ‘Jealousy.’ The Romans expressed anger by ‘splendida’ or ‘vitrea bilis,’ and melancholy by ‘atra bilis’ (μελαγχολία).
6.manet,] The lengthening of a short syllable in such positions is not uncommon. So C. ii. 13. 16: “Caeca timet aliunde fata.”
12.memorem] ‘lasting’; which will long tell the tale of his violence.
13.Non, — Speres] This more emphatic negative is used not uncommonly in prohibitive sentences, instead of ‘ne,’ as “non — sileas,” S. ii. 5. 91; “non ulceret,” Ep. i. 18. 72; “non sit qui tollere curet,” A. P. 460.
16.Quinta parte sui nectaris imbuit.] Some of the Greek poets had notions about the relative sweetness of nectar and honey which Horace has here imitated, and “quinta parte sui nectaris” probably means honey.
18.irrupta] This word is not found elsewhere.
20.Suprema citius] This construction for ‘citius quam suprema’ only occurs once again in Horace, in “plus vice simplici” (C. iv. 14. 13).
ODE XIV.
Duringthe troubles in Mitylene, his native city, Alcæus wrote an Ode, of which this seems to be a close imitation. It was written most probably during the civil wars, that is, betweenB. C.41 and 30 (when Horace returned to Rome). The state is likened to a ship drifting out to sea with its rigging crippled, and in danger of destruction.
Argument.—Thou art drifting again to sea, thou ship; oh! haste, and make for the harbor; oars lost, mast split, yards crippled, and rigging gone, how canst thou weather the storm? Thy sails are torn, thy gods are gone, and, noble hull though thou be, there is no strength in thy beauty. If thou be not fated to destruction, avoid the rocks, thou who wert but late my grief, and art now my anxious care.
6.sine funibus] ‘deprived of her rigging.’ Some understand it to mean ‘without girding ropes,’ referring to St. Luke’s description of their undergirding the ship in which St. Paul was being conveyed to Rome (Acts xxvii. 16).
10.Non di,] “Accipit et pictos puppis adunca deos” (Ov. Heroid. xvi. 112). There was usually a niche in the stern of a ship where the image of the tutelary god was kept.
11, 12.Pontica pinus,] The best ship timber came from Pontus. ‘Pinus’ is in apposition with the subject of ‘Jactes,’ and ‘nobilis’ agrees with ‘Silvae.’
15.nisi — Debes ludibrium,] i.e. ‘if thou be not fated to destruction.’
17.Nuper sollicitum] Taking the Ode as an address to the state, we can only understand Horace to mean, that while he was attached to Brutus, or before he had received pardon, he had no other feelings than fear for his own safety and disgust with the state of the country; but now, under Augustus, he watches its fate with the affection and anxiety of a friend. The order is, ‘(Tu) quae nuper eras mihi sollicitum taedium (et quae) Nunc (es) desiderium curaque non levis, Vites aequora Interfusa (inter) nitentes Cycladas.’
19.nitentes] This is like ‘fulgentes’ (C. iii. 28. 14), shining, as cliffs will do in the sun. The Cyclades abound in white marble.
ODE XV.
Thisis probably an early composition of Horace, made up of materials from the Greek, and written merely to exercise his pen.
Argument.—Paris is carrying off Helen, when Nereus causes a calm, and thus prophesies their fate: With dark omen art thou carrying home her whom Greece hath sworn to recover. Alas for the sweating horse and rider, and the deaths thou art bringing upon Troy! Pallas prepareth her arms and her fury. Under Venus’s shelter, comb thy locks and strike thy lyre, and hide thyself in thy chamber; but it shall not avail thee. Seest thou not Laertes’s son, Nestor of Pylos, Teucer of Salamis, and Sthenelus the fighter and bold charioteer? Merion too, and the son of Tydeus, from whom thou shalt flee panting, as the stag fleeth from the wolf,—thou, who didst boast better things to thy fair one? Achilles’s wrath may put off the evil day, but the fire of the Greek shall consume the homes of Troy.
2.Helenen] Horace uses the Greek inflections in his odes, and the Latin in his iambic verses, satires, and epistles (Bentley). This might be expected, especially when, as in this instance, the imitation of Greek writers is obvious.
5.Nereus] He is made to speak, because the sea-gods were endowed with the gift of prophecy. ‘Mala avi’ is like ‘alite lugubri,’ C. iii. 3. 61; “mala alite,” Epod. x. 1.
7.Conjurata — rumpere] This is a legitimate prose construction. “Conjuravere patriam incendere” (Sal. Cat. 52. 24. See Liv. 22. 38). ‘Rumpere’ governs ‘regnum’ as well as ‘nuptias,’ though for its sense it ought only to belong to ‘nuptias.’
11.aegida] The ‘aegis’ was properly the skin of the goat Amalthea, the nurse of Zeus, which he used as a shield or as a breastplate (see C. iii. 4. 57), where it is worn, as here, by Pallas. The word is not confined in use to the original meaning, but is taken for a metal shield or breastplate worn by Zeus, Pallas, or Apollo. It had a Gorgon’s head upon it.
13.Veneris praesidio] See Hom. Il. iii. 44, and on v. 16 see Il. iii. 380; vi. 321. Horace’s description of Paris is drawn, not from Homer, who makes him brave, but from later writers who altered the Homeric characters. See Heyne, Exc. i. Aen. ii. See also Aen. iv. 215, sqq.
14.Pectes caesariem] See C. iv. 9. 13.
15.divides;] ‘Dividere carmina’ is perhaps to sing and play alternately.
17.Cnosii] Cnossus or Cnosus or Gnosus was the principal city of Crete. See C. iv. 9. 17, n.
19.Ajacem;] The son of Oileus. Homer calls him Ὀϊλῆος ταχὺς Aἴας (Il. ii. 527).
24.Teucer et] In this verse and in v. 36 Horace has introduced a trochee in the first foot, contrary to his own custom, but in accordance with the practice of the Greeks. ‘Sciens pugnae’ is Homer’s πολέμου εὖ εἰδώς, and ‘Tydides melior patre’ is taken from Sthenelus’s vaunt, Il. iv. 405: ἡμεῖς τοι πατέρων μέγ᾽ ἀμείνονες εὐχόμεθ᾽ εἶναι.
31.Sublimi — anhelitu] ‘Panting heavily,’ as the fleeing stag, with its head raised in the air.
32.tuae.] C. i. 25. 7.
33.diem] For ‘diem supremam.’ In this form the expression is like the Hebrew, which we meet with frequently in the Scriptures: “Remember the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem” (Ps. cxxxvii. 7), and “they that come after him shall be astonished at his day, as they that went before were affrighted” (Job xviii. 20). The word which expresses the wrath of Achilles is applied to his fleet.
ODE XVI.
Horaceappears to have written some severe verses against some woman or other, and this seems to be written in mock penitence for that offence. He represents the evils of anger, and begs her to destroy his verses and forgive him.
Argument.—Lovely daughter of a lovely mother, destroy those abusive verses how thou wilt. Cybele, Apollo, Liber, agitate not their votaries’ hearts as anger does, which is stopped neither by sword, nor by waves, nor by fire, nor by the falling of the skies themselves. When Prometheus was bidden to take a part from every animal to give to man, he implanted in our hearts the lion’s fury. Wrath laid Thyestes low, and hath brought proud cities to the dust. Be appeased. In the sweet season of youth I was tempted by hot blood to write those rash verses. I would now lay aside all unkindness, if thou wilt but let me recall my libel, and give me back thy heart.
2.criminosis] ‘abusive.’
5.Dindymene,] Cybele, the mother of the gods, so called from Mount Dindymus, in Galatia, where she had a temple. Her priests were called Galli (from this locality) and Corybantes. Her rites were celebrated by these priests in a very mad fashion, as were those of Bacchus.
9.Noricus] The best steel for sword-blades came from Noricum, on the Danube.
13.Fertur Prometheus,] This story is not found elsewhere. ‘Principi limo,’ ‘the prime clay,’ corresponds to πρῶτον ἄρχον πηλόν in Soph. Frag. (432 Dind.), καὶ πρῶτον ἄρχον πηλὸν ὀργάζειν χεροῖν. It means the clay before the soul was put into it.
18.ultimae Stetere causae] Liv. vii. c. 1. “Ea ultima fuit causa cur bellum Tiburti populo indiceretur.” The final or proximate cause: that which immediately leads to a thing. See Virg. Aen. vii. 553: “Stant causae belli.”
24.celeres] A. P. 251: “iambus pes citus.” The quality of the measure is mentioned as some palliation, perhaps, of the severity of the verses.
ODE XVII.
Thisprofesses to be an invitation to a woman named Tyndaris to visit Horace at his farm. He promises her peace and plenty, and security from the jealousy of her husband or lover, Cyrus.
Argument.—Tyndaris, often doth Pan leave Lycæus to visit Lucretilis, protecting my flocks from sun and wind; my goats go unharmed, and fear not snake or wolf, when his sweet pipe sounds in the vale of Ustica. The gods love me for my piety and my muse. Here Plenty awaits thee; here shalt thou retire from the heat, and sing of the loves of Penelope and Circe for Ulysses. Here shalt thou quaff mild Lesbian wine in the shade, nor shall strife be mingled with the cup, nor shalt thou fear lest the jealous Cyrus lay his violent hand upon thee.
1.Lucretilem] ‘Mons Lucretilis’ is identified with the lofty mountain (or range) called Monte Gennaro, that overhangs the valley of the Licenza,—Horace’s Digentia (Epp. i. 18. 104),—in which his estate lay. Ustica was probably the name of a spot on the slope of the hills, and ‘cubantis’ in that case means ‘sloping.’
2.Mutat Lycaeo Faunus] Faunus is put for Pan (C. i. iv. 11, n.), who had his principal temple on Mount Lycæus in Arcadia.—The construction with ‘muto,’ ‘permuto,’ by which the remoter object becomes the nearer, is not peculiar to Horace, but it will be found to occur several times in his works. Virg. Georg. i. 8: “Chaoniam pingui glandem mutavit arista.” Ἀλλάσσειν, ἀμείβειν also admit of this double construction, sometimes the thing given in exchange being in the accusative, sometimes the thing taken.
3.capellis] The dative.
7.Olentis uxores mariti,] ‘the she-goats.’ See Georg. iii. 125, “Quem legere ducem et pecori dixere maritum.”
9.Nec Martiales Haediliae lupos,] ‘Haediliae’ was perhaps the name of one of the Sabine hills.
10.fistula] This instrument corresponded nearly to the Greek syrinx, and to what we call the Pandean pipe.
14.Hic tibi copia] The order of the words is ‘hic copia opulenta ruris honorum manabit ad plenum tibi benigno cornu.’ ‘Here Plenty, rich in the glories of the country, shall pour herself out for thee abundantly from her generous horn.’ ‘Ad plenum’ occurs in the same sense, Georg. ii. 244. The ‘cornu copiae,’ so common in ancient works of art as a horn filled with fruit and flowers, was a symbol belonging properly to the goddess Fortuna, to whom it is said to have been presented by Hercules, who won it from the river-god, Achelous. It was the horn of Amalthea, the goat-nurse of Zeus, who gave it such virtue that it was always filled with anything the owner wished. (See C. S. 60.)
18.fide Teïa] The lyre of Anacreon, who was born at Teos on the coast of Ionia. ‘Laborantes in uno’ means in love with the same person, that is, Ulysses. Circe was the daughter of a sea-nymph, Perse, and was herself reckoned among the sea-goddesses. Hence, perhaps, the epithet ‘vitrea,’ ‘glassy,’ which applies properly to the sea, is given to Circe, just as ‘caerula’ is applied to Thetis in Epod. xiii. 16, and ‘virides’ to the sea-gods in Ov. Tr. i. 2. 59: “Pro superi viridesque Dei quibus aequora curae.”
21.Lesbii] This is one of three Aegean wines mentioned by Horace, the others being from Cos and Chios. Lesbian was a mild wine.
22.Semeleïus — Thyoneus] Bacchus is here called by both the names ofhis mother, Semele, who was also named Thyone, from θύειν, ‘to be frenzied,’ from which the Bacchanals were called Thyades.
25.male dispari] ‘By no means his match’. ‘Male’ is sometimes used as a negative, as S. ii. 3. 137, “male tutae mentis,” and sometimes to strengthen a word, as here and S. i. 3. 31, “male laxus calceus.”
28.immeritam vestem.] ‘your innocent robe.’
ODE XVIII.
Thisis a translation or close imitation of an ode of Alcæus in the same metre, one verse of which is almost literally translated in the first verse of this Ode, μηθὲν ἄλλο φυτεύσῃς πρότερον δένδρεον ἀμπέλω. It professes to be addressed to a friend who is making a plantation near his house at Tibur. The friend’s name is Varus, and that was the cognomen of Quinctilius, whose death is lamented in C. 24 of this book. But whether this is the person intended or not it is impossible to say, and it does not signify, since the scene is most probably imaginary. Varus is advised to plant the vine before all other trees, since wine, if used in moderation, drives care away, though if abused its attendants are strife, self-love, vainglory, and broken faith.
Argument.—The vine is the first tree thou shouldst plant, Varus, by the walls of Tibur. Hardships are only for the sober; wine drives away all cares. Who speaks of battles and poverty, rather than of Bacchus and Venus, when he is under the influence of wine? But that no man exceed, let him think of the bloody frays of the Centaurs and Lapithæ, and of the Thracians, over their cups, when the appetite confounds right and wrong. I’ll not rouse thee unbidden, beautiful Bassareus, nor drag thy mysteries from their secret places. Silence the horn and drum, whose followers are vainglory and broken faith.
2.Tiburis et moenia Catili.] See C. i. 7. 13, n. Horace shortens the penultimate syllable of Catillus’s name for the sake of the metre, and the same liberty is taken with the name of Porsenna, Epod. xvi. 4.
4.aliter] By any other means than wine, which is not expressed, but sufficiently implied in ‘siccis.’
6.te potius,] A verb must be understood more suitable than ‘crepat,’ which is equivalent to ‘croaks,’ or something of that sort. ‘Laudat’ or ‘canit’ may be supplied.
8.super mero] ‘over their wine,’ that is, while they were drinking. ‘Super’ with the ablative generally means ‘about,’ ‘on behalf of,’ or ‘concerning,’ a thing; but it is also used to express time, as in Aen. ix. 61 we have ‘nocte super media.’ The story is, that at the marriage-feast of Peirithous, king of the Lapithæ, the Centaurs, being guests, attempted in their drunkenness to carry off the bride, Hippodamia, and the other women present, which led to a battle, in which the Centaurs were beaten.
9.Sithoniis non levis Euius,] The Sithonians were a people of Thrace, on the borders of the Euxine. Bacchus was angry with the Thracians, and visited habitual drunkenness upon them, because their king, Lycurgus, forbade the cultivation of the vine. See C. i. 27. 1, sq.
10.Cum fas atque nefas] ‘Cum’ refers to ‘super mero.’ ‘When the greedy of wine distinguish between right and wrong by the slender line of their lusts,’ that is, the slender distinction that lust so inflamed can draw.‘Avidus’ is used absolutely for ‘avidus pugnae,’ C. iii. 4. 58, as here it means ‘avidi vini.’
12.quatiam,] This is explained by Aen. iv. 301:—
“Qualis commotis excita sacrisThyas ubi audito stimulant trieterica BacchoOrgia nocturnusque vocat clamore Cithaeron,”
‘I will not rouse thee against thy will, nor drag to light thy mysteries, hidden in leaves.’ There were sacred things contained in small chests, ‘cistae,’ which were carried in the processions at the Dionysia, covered with the leaves of vine and ivy. Bassareus was a title of Bacchus, of which the origin is uncertain. It is said to be derived from βασσαρίς, the fox-skin worn by the Bacchanals.
16.Arcanique Fides prodiga,] ‘The faith which betrays secrets.’ See C. iii. 21. 16. Epod. xi. 14. S. i. 4. 89. Epp. i. 5. 16.
ODE XIX.
Thehero of this Ode, whoever he may be, says that, though he had meant to put away love from his heart, Glycera’s charms have taken such hold upon him, that he can no longer sing of grave subjects, which are nothing to him, but must build an altar, and offer sacrifice to propitiate the goddess of love.
Argument.—The mother of love, Semele’s son, and wantonness recall my heart to love, which I thought I had put away for ever. I burn for Glycera, fairer than marble, and the mischievous face so dangerous to look upon. With all her strength hath Venus come upon me, and bids me sing no more of idle themes,—the Scythian and the Parthian. Build me an altar, slaves; bring boughs and incense and wine, for I would soften the goddess with a victim.
1.Mater saeva Cupidinum] This verse occurs again C. iv. 1. 5. The multiplication of the forms of ἔρως was derived from the Greeks by the Romans.
3.Licentia] This is the same impersonation as the Greek Ὕβρις.
8.lubricus] Forcellini derives this from the verb ‘labor.’ ‘Vultus lubricus adspici’ is a face dangerous to look upon, as slippery ground is dangerous to tread upon.
10.Scythas] Under this name Horace, with the historians of this period, understood all nations on and beyond the Tanais, as well as those on the north of the Danube, as the Geloni, Getæ, Daci, with one or more of whom the Romans were at this time perpetually at war. See Virg. Georg. iii. 31: “Fidentemque fuga Parthum versisque sagittis”; and C. ii. 13. 17: “Miles sagittas et celerem fugam Parthi.”
11.versis — equis] The Parthians are described as in the habit of pretending to fly in battle, and, as the enemy pursued, shooting their arrows or throwing their darts at them from horseback.
12.quae nihil attinent.] They were nothing to a man in love.
13.vivum — caespitem,] This rude sort of altar was enjoined upon the Israelites in the wilderness in preference to any other (Exod. xx. 24). The word ‘verbena’ was used for any boughs employed for crowning the altar or for sacred purposes. ‘Verb,’ and ‘herb’ in ‘herba,’ are the same root.
16.veniet] That is, Venus will come. When sacrifice was offered to Venus, the blood of the victim was not allowed to stain the altar (Tac. Hist. ii. 3).
ODE XX.
ThisOde informs Mæcenas of the wine he will get when he comes to sup with Horace, who had it appears invited him.
Argument.—You shall have some poor Sabine, Mæcenas, bottled at that time when the echoes of the Vatican resounded your praises. You drink Cæcuban and Calenian, but the vines of Falernum and Formiæ are not for me.
1.Vile potabis modicis Sabinum Cantharis] It has been said before (C. 9. 7, n.) that Sabine wine was none of the worst; but it was cheap and poor compared with the best, to which Mæcenas was used, and this probably had not had the benefit of keeping. Horace commends it, therefore, by referring to the circumstances under which it was bottled (as we should say)—The most ordinary kind of earthen-ware jug was called ‘cantharus,’ supposed to be the name of its inventor. Horace had tried to improve his wine by putting it into a ‘testa’ or ‘amphora,’ which had contained some of the rich wine of the Ægean.
3.levi,] The cork of the ‘testa’ was covered with pitch or gypsum after the wine was put into it, and this Horace says he did with his own hand. He would at the same time seal it with his own seal, and attach to it a label with the date, and he could so vouch for its being the wine he speaks of. And when he says he did it with his own hand, he means also to show the pains he had taken to celebrate Mæcenas’s recovery. ‘Condere’ and ‘diffundere’ were the words used for putting the wine into the ‘amphora.’ (C. 9. 7, n.)
5.Care Maecenas eques,] Mæcenas was content with the equestrian rank, and would take no higher; hence the frequent repetition of the title ‘eques,’ by Horace and others. (See C. iii. 16. 20.) It appears that Mæcenas recovered from a bad attack of fever the same year that Horace was nearly killed by the falling of a tree, and the first time he went to the theatre after his recovery the people received him with applause. The circumstance is referred to again in C. ii. 17. 22, sqq.
7.Vaticani Montis imago.] The theatre must have been that of Pompeius, which was opposite to the Vatican hill, on the left bank of the river, the hill being on the right or Etruscan bank, which gives propriety to the words ‘paterni fluminis ripae.’ The second syllable of Vaticanus is long in Martial and Juvenal. On ‘imago’ see above, C. 12. 3, n.
10.Tu bibes] The future has here the same signification as above, C. 6. 1, 7. 1. ‘You may drink, if you please, the richer wines. I have none such.’ ‘Caecubum’ was the finest sort of wine in Horace’s time. It was grown in the ‘Caecubus ager,’ in Latium, at the head of the bay of Amyclæ. The Calenian was from Cales (now Calvi) in Campania. Close by Cales was the ‘Falernus ager,’ which produced several varieties of the best quality. The hills about Formiæ on the Appia Via (see S. i. 5. 37, n.) produced a good wine.
ODE XXI.
Theyear after Augustus returned to Rome from the taking of Alexandria, that is,B. C.28, he dedicated a temple to Apollo on the Palatine hill (C. i. 31), and instituted quinquennial games in honor of Apollo and Diana, and called them the ‘Ludi Actiaci.’ This or some like festival seems to have suggested these verses, in which a chorus of boys and girls are called upon to sing the praises of Diana and Apollo, and Latona, their mother.
Argument.—Sing, ye damsels, of Diana, sing, ye youths, of Apollo, and Latona, dear to Jove; of Diana, who rejoices in the streams and woods of Algidus, or Erymanthus, or Cragus. Praise ye no less Tempe and Delos, Apollo’s birthplace, and the shoulder that is graced with the quiver and the lyre,—that in answer to your prayer he may turn the griefs of war, famine, and plague from Rome and her prince upon the heads of her enemies.
2.Intonsum] ‘Ever-youthful,’ the Greek ἀκερσεκόμης.
6.Algido] Algidus was the name of a mountain in Latium, sacred to Diana (C. S. 69), so called from its cold temperature. It is elsewhere called ‘nivalis’ (iii. 23. 9). Cragus in Lycia and Erymanthus in Arcadia were mountains on which the goddess was supposed to hunt.
9.Vos Tempe] Tempe is mentioned because there Apollo purified himself after slaying the serpent Pytho.
12.Fraterna] Invented by Mercury (C. 10. 6).
13.Hic bellum lacrimosum,] Apollo was especially ἀλεξίκακος, ‘the averter of evil,’ particularly in respect of Augustus, his reputed son. ‘Lacrimosum’ corresponds to the δακρυόεις πόλεμος of Homer, and ‘lacrimabile bellum’ of Virgil.
15.Persas] The Parthians. See C. 2. 21, n.
ODE XXII.
Aristius Fuscuswas an intimate friend of Horace, and the wag whom he represents as playing him false on the Sacra Via (S. i. 9. 61). Horace and he were
“paene gemelli,Fraternis animis; quicquid negat alter, et alter;Adnuimus pariter; vetuli notique columbi” (Epp. i. 10).
We know nothing more of him except that he is said to have been a writer of plays and a grammarian.
Fuscus, as usual, has not much to do with the Ode, which relates how a wolf fled from the poet as he was walking in the woods on his own estate, making verses on Lalage; showing that an honest man is always safe.
Argument.—An honest man, Fuscus, may go unarmed along the burning shores of Africa, over the wild Caucasus, or to the fabulous East. As I wandered careless in the woods, singing of my Lalage, a wolf, such as Apulia and Africa rear not, met me and fled! Set me in the cold and stormy North, or in the burning and uninhabited tropic, still will I love my smiling, prattling Lalage.
1.Integer vitae scelerisque purus] These are Grecisms, but not peculiar to Horace. Virgil, for instance, has ‘animi maturus Aletes’ (Aen. ix. 246);‘integer aevi’ (Aen. ix. 255); ‘amens animi’ (Aen. iv. 203); ‘praestans animi juvenis’ (Aen. xii. 19). Compare Ἁγνὰς μέν, ὦ παῖ, χεῖρας αἵματος φέρεις (Eurip. Hipp. 316). The more usual prose form with the ablative occurs S. ii. 3. 213: “purum est vitio tibi quum tumidum est cor?”
2.Mauris] The same as ‘Mauretanicis.’
5.per Syrtes iter aestuosas] That is, along the burning coast that borders on the Syrtes. ‘Aestuosus’ is used again in this sense in C. i. 31. 5.
6.inhospitalem] Caucasus has the same epithet applied to it again, Epod. i. 12, and Aesch. (P. V. 20) calls it ἁπάνθρωπον πάγον.
7.fabulosus] On the Hydaspes, one of the tributaries of the Indus, Alexander the Great gained his victory over Porus. India was known to the Greeks and Romans chiefly through the Greek historians of Alexander’s campaigns, and the stories of merchants, which were often marvellous and false. The Hydaspes is now the Vitasta, in the Punjab.
11.curis — expeditis,] Like ‘solvo,’ ‘expedio’ admits of two constructions. See Catull. 31. 7, “O quid solutis est beatius curis?” But there is also “solvite corde metum, Teucri,” Aen. i. 562. Horace says (C. iii. 24. 8): “non animum metu Non mortis laqueis expedies caput.” It is common in this measure for the middle and last syllables to have the same sound. Besides this verse there will be found six instances in this one Ode, vv. 3, 9, 14, 17, 18, 22.
14.Daunias] This is properly an adjective, but here a substantive ἡ Δαυνιάς. Daunia is the ancient name of Apulia, or more properly the northern part of that which the Romans called Apulia. It was said to have been derived from Daunus, a native king, the father-in-law of Diomed (C. ii. 1. 34; iii. 30. 11; iv. 14. 26). In C. iv. 6. 27, Daunia is put for the whole of Italy. ‘Militaris’ means ‘famous for soldiers.’ We do not hear that the Apulians were particularly warlike. They were Horace’s own countrymen.
aesculetis,] This word is not found elsewhere. The slopes of the Apennines which run down into the plain of Apulia were thickly wooded.
15.Jubae tellus] Juba, the son of Hiempsal, was king of Numidia. His son, by favor of Augustus, was restored to that kingdom, but afterwards received in exchange for it Mauritania and parts of Gætulia. It is uncertain which of the two kings Horace had in mind, or whether he means generally the northern parts of Africa, which were famous for lions. See next Ode, v. 10.
17.pigris] ‘dull,’ that is, unfruitful. ‘Piger’ is here equivalent to the Greek ἀργός.
20.urget] ‘lies heavily upon.’
22.domibus negata] ‘uninhabitable.’
ODE XXIII.
Thisappears to be imitated from a poem of Anacreon, of which a fragment has been preserved in Athenæus (ix. p. 396):—
ἀγανωστὶἅτε νεβρὸν νεοθηλέα γαλαθηνὸν ὅστ᾽ ἐν ὕλῃςκεροέσσης ἀπολειφθεὶς ὑπὸ μητρὸς ἐπτοήθη.
Argument.—Thou fliest from me, Chloe, as a fawn that has lost its dam, and trembles at every breeze. I follow not as a wild beast, to tear thee. O cease from following thy mother, for ’t is time to follow after man.
1.hinnuleo] The same as ‘hinnulo.’
4.Aurarum et silüae metu.] Virg. (Aen. ii. 728): “Nunc omnes terrent aurae, sonus excitat omnis Suspensum.” ‘Silüae’ = ‘silvae.’
12.Tempestiva — viro.] Aen. vii. 53: “Jam matura viro, jam plenis nubilis annis.” ‘Tempestiva’ means ‘of a suitable age,’ old enough.
ODE XXIV.
Quinctilius Varuswas born at Cremona, and was a neighbor and friend of Virgil, through whom it is probable Horace made his acquaintance. He is referred to in the Epistle to the Pisones, v. 438, sqq., as a discerning critic. He died young,B. C.24, and this Ode is intended to console Virgil for the loss of his friend.
Argument.—What bounds shall be set to our grief for one so dear? Teach us a mournful strain, Melpomene. Can it be that Quinctilius, whose like Modesty, Justice, Fidelity, and Truth shall not behold again, is gone to his everlasting rest? Many good men mourn for him, but none more truly than thou, Virgil. ’T was not for this thou didst commit him to the care of Heaven. But in vain thou dost ask him back. The lyre of Orpheus could not bring him to life again. ’T is hard to bear, but patience makes that lighter which no power can change.
2.capitis?] The Greek and Latin poets use the head for the whole person, especially when affection is meant to be expressed.
3.Melpomene,] See C. i. 12. 2, n.
5.Ergo] From the Greek ἔργῳ ‘indeed,’ ‘can it be?’
6.Pudor et Justitiae soror — Fides] These personages are associated again C. S. 57. Cicero (De Off. i. 7) says: “Fundamentum autem justitiae est fides, id est dictorum conventorumque constantia et veritas.”
8.inveniet.] It is Horace’s usual but not invariable practice to have the verb in the singular number after several substantives, as here.
11.Tu frustra pius heu non ita creditum] ‘It is vain, alas! that with pious prayers thou dost ask the gods to restore Quinctilius, whom thou didst intrust to their keeping, but not on these terms’ (i.e. that they should take him away).
13.Quodsi] Horace never uses ‘sin,’ which Virgil uses as often and in the same way as Horace uses ‘quodsi,’ ‘but if.’
15.imagini,] ‘Imago’ (‘spectre,’ ‘shade’) was that unsubstantial body in which the soul was supposed to dwell after death, called by the Greeks εἴδωλον. Such were the forms which Æneas saw:—
“Et ni docta comes tenues sine corpore vitasAdmoneat volitare cava sub imagine formae,Irruat, et frustra ferro diverberet umbras.”—Aen. vi. 292, sqq.
16.virga] The caduceus.
17.Non lenis precibus fata recludere] This Greek construction has been noticed before (1. 18). The expression ‘fata recludere’ seems to mean ‘to open the door of hell when Fate has closed it.’
18.Nigro compulerit — gregi.] ‘Has gathered to the dark crowd.’ The dative is only admissible in poetry. It is like S. ii. 5. 49: “Si quis casus pueram egerit Orco,” for ‘ad Orcum.’ As to ‘virga,’ and ‘Mercurius’ as conductor of the dead, see C. 10. 17, n.
19.Durum: sed levius] Donatus says that Virgil was much in the habitof commending this virtue of patience, saying that the hardest fortunes might be overcome by a wise endurance of them. Therefore, says, Fabricius, Horace consoles Virgil with his own philosophy.
20.nefas.] ‘impossible.’ See C. 11. 1.
ODE XXV.
ThisOde is addressed to a woman whose beauty has faded, and who, the poet says, must pay the penalty of her former pride, by seeing herself neglected in her old age.
Argument.—Thy windows are no longer assailed and thy slumbers broken by saucy youths; thy door turns no more on its hinges; the serenade is silent. Now ’t is thy turn, in some lone alley, on a dark night, with the winter wind blowing, and thy heart on fire with lust, to cry for lovers, and complain that young blood goes after the tender plant, and bids the old leaves go float upon the Hebrus.
2.Ictibus] Throwing of stones.
3.amat] ‘it cleaves to,’ as ‘littus ama’ (Aen. v. 163). ‘Multum’ in this sense is rather a favorite expression with Horace, as ‘multum demissus homo,’ S. i. 3. 57; ‘multum celer,’ S. ii. 3. 147.
7.Me tuo] ‘While I, thy lover, am pining through the tedious nights.’ The possessive pronoun is used thus abruptly once before (i. 15. 32), “non hoc pollicitus tuae”, and Ov. Remed. Am. 492: “Frigidior glacie fac videare tuae.” The words are supposed to be those of a serenade, or lover’s song, sung under her windows. Such a serenade is C. iii. 10.
10.angiportu,] An alley, or narrow passage. It is compounded of a root ‘ang-’, which appears in ‘angustus,’ and ‘portus,’ which word was not, according to Festus, confined to a harbor for ships, but also meant a house.
11.Thracio bacchante] While the north-wind blows more bitterly than ever, in the intervals of the moon, that is, in dark nights when the moon does not shine.
14.furiare] This word we do not meet with before Horace.
18.pulla] This word, which means ‘dark,’ belongs to ‘myrto.’ Young beauties are compared to the fresh ivy and dark myrtle, while the faded old woman is likened to withered leaves which are tossed to the winds, to carry if they please to the cold and distant waters of the Hebrus, in Thrace. This expression is like that at the beginning of the next Ode.
ODE XXVI.
ThisOde is an invocation of the Muse, praying her to do honor to Lamia, respecting whom see C. iii. 17. It would appear that, at the time it was written, the affairs of the Parthians were occupying a good deal of attention at Rome, since Horace speaks of himself as the only one who gave no heed to them. The circumstances that may be supposed to be referred to are to be gathered from the following account. In the yearB. C.30, Phraates (Arsaces XV.) being on the Parthian throne, and having by his cruelties made himself obnoxious to his subjects, Tiridates, likewise one of the family of Arsacidæ, was set up as a rival to Phraates, but was defeated in his attempt to dethrone him, and fled for protection that same year to Augustus, whowas then in Syria after the death of M. Antonius. Shortly afterwards, however, the Parthians succeeded in getting rid of their king, and Tiridates was called to the throne. InB. C.25, Phraates, having obtained assistance from the Scythians, returned and recovered his kingdom, and Tiridates fled to Augustus once more for protection. He was then in Spain. The assembling of the Scythian force, and the alarm of Tiridates, are evidently referred to here, and the two seem to be associated. It is natural to infer, therefore, that it was just before Tiridates fled from his kingdom, inB. C.25, that the Ode was composed.
Argument.—As the friend of the Muses should, I toss care to the winds, and mind not, as every one else does, the alarms of Tiridates. Sweet Muse, weave a garland for my Lamia. All my honors, without thee, are naught; him shouldst thou with thy sisters consecrate with the lyre.
1.Musis amicus] See C. iii. 4. 25: “Vestris amicum fontibus et choris.”
2.Tradam protervis] See the last note on C. 25.
3.quis] This is the dative case, and refers to the terror implied in Tiridates and his party by the approach of the Scythians. See Introduction.
6.integris] ‘pure.’
9.Pimplea] ‘Muse’; derived from Pimplea, a mountain of Thrace, in which was a fountain called by the same name, and sacred to the Muses.
10.fidibus novis,] ‘Lyric strains new’ to the Romans,—unknown, till introduced by Horace.
ODE XXVII.
Thisis a convivial Ode, in which the poet supposes himself at table with a noisy drinking party. He bids them put away brawls, and when they call upon him to join them, he makes it a condition that a young man of the party, whose looks betray that he is in love, shall tell him the name of his mistress. The youth whispers it in his ear, and the poet breaks out into compassion for his hopeless situation. The Ode is said to be imitated from Anacreon.
Argument.—Let barbarous Thracians fight over their wine. Stop your unhallowed noises, my friends, and let each lie quietly on his couch. What, am I to join you? Then let that boy tell me who has got his heart. Will he not? Then I drink not. Whoever it is, thou hast no cause to be ashamed. Here, whisper it in my ear.—Ah! poor boy, into what a Charybdis hast thou been drawn! What witch, what god, shall deliver thee! Pegasus himself could not do it.
1.Natis — laetitiae] ‘Intended by nature for purposes of merriment.’
2.Thracum] See C. 18. 9, n.
3.verecundum] In Epod. xi. 13 he is called ‘inverecundum,’ but the cases are different.
4.prohibete] ‘Prohibere’ and ‘arcere’ are used with the accusative of the person and the ablative of the thing orvice versa. The latter is the more usual construction. (See Epp. i. 1. 31; 8. 10. A. P. 64.)
5.Vino et lucernis] In prose these datives would be expressed by the ablative with ‘a.’ The same construction is found in ‘dissidens plebi,’ C. ii. 2. 18; “medio ne discrepet imum,” A. P. 152.
acinaces] This word, which signifies the Persian scymitar, or short sword, appears to have been introduced into Greece after the Persian wars. It iscommonly used by Herodotus. Horace seems to have been the first Latin writer who employed it.—Horace says quarrelling is vastly unsuited to those jovial meetings which are kept up to a late hour,—‘vino et lucernis.’ The Romans sat down to table seldom later than three or four o’clock, and commonly continued there till past midnight.
6.Immane quantum] This form is imitated from the Greek: οὐράνιον ὅσον, θαυμαστὸν ὅσον, ἀμύθητον ὅσον, θαυμαστὰ ἡλίκα, ἀμήχανον ὅσον,—phrases commonly met with in the Greek writers. The same expression occurs in Tacitus and Sallust, and ‘mirum quantum,’ ‘nimium quantum,’ are used by Cicero, and Livy (ii. 1, fin.). The indicative mood is right, ‘immane quantum’ being merely an expletive.
8.cubito — presso] ‘with elbow rested’ on the cushion of the couch.
10.Opuntiae] The birthplace of Megilla (the Locrian Opus) is added, as Buttmann remarks, only “to give the poem a fresher look of individuality.” The same remark will apply in other instances, as, “Xanthia Phoceu,” C. ii. 4. 2.
13.Cessat voluntas?] ‘Are you reluctant’ to confess? The young man is shy, and will not tell at first; when he does, Horace is supposed to break out with ‘Ah miser,’ etc.
19.laborabas] Orelli may be right in saying the imperfect refers to the time when the question was put. But I am not sure that some finer sense of the imperfect tense is not to be traced in this word, as in “Tempus erat dapibus, sodales” (C. i. 37. 4, where see note).
Charybdi,] This whirlpool, which still exists near Messina, was the terror of ancient navigators. It is taken here to represent the dangerous position of the youth, through his love for some famous beauty and coquette.
21.Thessalis] The Thessalians were famous for witchcraft. See Epod. v. 45.
24.Pegasus expediet Chimaera.] Bellerophon, being ordered by the king of Lycia to destroy the monster Chimæra, is said to have done so with the help of the winged horse Pegasus. This part of the story is later than Homer (see Il. vi. 179, sqq.). Chimæra was a mountain in Lycia, from which flames were always issuing. The spot has been identified, and this phenomenon is still visible. The ancients described it, from some fanciful conception, as a female monster, with the head of a lion, the waist of a goat, and the tail of a serpent. (See Aen. vi. 288.)
ODE XXVIII.
Septimius, one of Horace’s most intimate friends, had a villa at Tarentum (C. ii. 6), where it is likely Horace on some occasion, if not often, paid him a visit. He may have seen a body cast on shore at that place, where the scene of this Ode appears to be laid. The spirit of a shipwrecked man is introduced, moralizing upon death and asking for burial. His reflections take the form, in the first instance, of an address to Archytas, the philosopher, whose name was associated with the place; and he joins with him other worthies, whose wisdom and greatness had not saved them from the common lot of all. Then, seeing a seafaring man passing by, he calls upon him to cast dust upon his unburied body, in order that he may have rest.
Argument.—Even thee, thou measurer of earth and sea, thou counter of the sands, Archytas, how small a portion of earth contains thee now! It profits thee not to have searched the air and traversed the heavens, since thou wert to die. So Tantalus, Tithonus, and Minos have died, and Pythagorastoo, with all his learning, hath gone down once more to the grave. But so it is: all must die alike; some to make sport for Mars, some swallowed up in the deep: old and young go crowding to the grave: none escape: I, too, have perished in the waters. But grudge me not, thou mariner, a handful of earth: so may the storm spend itself on the woods, while thou art safe, and thy merchandise increases. Is it a small matter with thee to bring ruin on thy children? Yea, perhaps retribution awaits thyself: my curses will be heard, and then no atonement shall deliver thee. ’T is but the work of a moment,—thrice cast earth upon me, and hasten on.
1.Te maris et terrae] ‘Te’ is emphatic, ‘even thee,’ as the abruptness of the opening requires. ἄμμον μετρεῖν, κύματα μετρεῖν were proverbial expressions for lost labor. See Georg. ii. 104, sqq.:—
“Neque enim numero comprendere refert;Quem qui scire velit, Libyci velit aequoris idemDicere quam multae Zephyro turbentur arenae.”
Archimedes wrote a work, ὁ ψαμμίτης, in which he computed the grains of sand on the shores of Sicily, and it may be alluded to here. There is no reason to suppose that Archytas ever attempted to solve any such problem.
2.Archyta,] Archytas was a native of Tarentum, born towards the end of the fifth centuryB. C.He was for a long time the leading man in that city, the power and consequence of which he was the means of extending. He was a celebrated philosopher and mathematician. It would seem, from this passage, that there was a legend to the effect that Archytas was buried on the shore under the promontory of Matinum, running out from the range called Mons Garganus, in Apulia. Possibly, a tomb was shown there as his. That Archytas was shipwrecked on a voyage down the Adriatic, (which is the general opinion,) cannot be proved from this Ode.
3.parva — Munera,] ‘a small portion.’ ‘Munus’ seems to contain the same element as μοῖρα. It is not properly equivalent to ‘donum.’
7.Pelopis genitor,] See C. 6. 8, n.
8.Tithonus] He was the husband of Aurora, carried by her into heaven, on her golden chariot (Eur. Tro. 852).
9.Minos] Called by Hom. (Odyss. xix. 149) Διὸς μεγάλου ὀαριστής, the grandson of him who became judge in Hades.
10.Panthoiden] The story alluded to is that of Pythagoras, who, to prove his doctrine of metempsychosis, declared that he had been Euphorbus, the son of Panthous, who fell in the Trojan war. In support of which he claimed as his own a shield hung up in the temple of Juno at Argos, which, when taken down, proved to have the name of Euphorbus engraved on it.
11.quamvis] “Tacitus and the later writers use ‘quamvis’ with an indicative, and,vice versa, ‘quanquam’ with a subjunctive.” (Key’s Gram. 1227, b. note.) The prose-writers of Horace’s time would not use ‘quamvis’ with an indicative; and he uses the subjunctive where the case is strictly hypothetical, as C. iv. 2. 39, or where it suits the metre, as C. iv. 6. 7.
quamvis clipeo] ‘although, by taking down the shield, and testifying to the season of the Trojan war, he proved that he had surrendered nothing but his sinews and his skin to death.’
14.Judice te] Archytas professed to follow the doctrines of Pythagoras.
non sordidus auctor Naturae verique.] i.e. ‘no mean teacher of truth, physical and moral,’ or, as we should say, ‘no mean authority’ on such subjects. ‘Auctor’ is one whose evidence may be relied upon.
17.Furiae] This name represents the Greek notion of the Erinnyes, as Ποῖναι, or Ἀραί, the divinities which executed vengeance on the guilty, and in that character stirred up strife, as here represented. So Virgil (Aen. iv.610) calls them ‘Dirae ultrices.’ See also Aen. vii. 324, and xii. 845-852. ‘Spectacula’ corresponds to ‘ludo’ in C. i. 2. 37. ‘Avarum’ is repeated C. iii. 29. 61.
19.densentur] ‘Densere’ occurs in Lucretius, Virgil, and Tacitus. Livy has only ‘densare.’
20.Proserpina fugit.] The perfect has the aoristic sense here. The allusion is explained by Virg. Aen. iv. 698:—
“Nondum illi (Didoni) flavum Proserpina vertice crinemAbstulerat Stygioque caput damnaverat Orco.”
In Eurip. (Alc. 74) Death says in respect to his victim,
In Eurip. (Alc. 74) Death says in respect to his victim,
στείχω δ᾽ ἐπ᾽ αὐτὴν ὡς κατάρξωμαι ξίφειἱερὸς γὰρ οὗτος τῶν κατὰ χθονὸς θεῶνὅτου τόδ᾽ ἔγχος κρατὸς ἁγνίσῃ τρίχα.
The general practice in commencing a sacrifice (κατάρχεσθαι τῶν ἱερῶν) was to cut off the forelock of the victim.
21.devexi — Orionis] Orion sets about the beginning of November, a bad time for sailors. C. iii. 27. 18. Epod. xv. 7. Virg. Aen. vii. 712.
22.Illyricis — undis.] The waters of the Hadriatic, which wash the coast of Illyricum.
23.At tu, nauta,] ‘Nauta’ is not properly a common sailor, but ‘navicularius,’ a shipmaster. Such a person may be supposed to be passing, and the shade to appeal to him.
24.capiti inhumato] Other hiatuses occur, C. ii. 20. 13; iii. 14. 11. Epod. v. 100; xiii. 3.
25.sic] See note on i. 3. 1.
26.Venusinae] See C. iii. 4. 9, n.; iv. 9. 2, n. The ghost prays that the east wind may spend its force on the forests of the Apennines, before it reaches the Etruscan Sea, where the sailor may be supposed to be voyaging.
29.custode Tarenti.] Taras, the founder of Tarentum, was a son of Neptune, who is represented on Tarentine coins as the tutelary deity of the place.
30.Negligis — fraudem committere?] ‘Art thou careless of doing a wrong which shall presently fall upon thine innocent sons?’ ‘Postmodo’ belongs to ‘nocituram,’ and ‘te’ is dependent on ‘natis.’ ‘Modo’ limits ‘post’ to a short time.
32.vicesque superbae] ‘stern retribution.’
33.precibus] ‘curses.’ See Epod. v. 86. S. ii. 6. 30.
36.Injecto ter pulvere] The number three is so familiar in all ceremonies of a religious nature, that we need not be surprised to find it here. The watchman, speaking of the corpse of Polyneices, says, λεπτὴ δ᾽ ἄγος φεύγοντος ὣς ἐπὴν κόνις (Sop. Ant. 256). The chief object in respect to the burial of the dead was that the face should be covered (Cic. de Legg. ii. 22). The expiation required by the Roman law for neglect of this duty to the dead, was a sow, and the person neglecting it was said ‘porcam contrahere.’
ODE XXIX.
Inthe yearB. C.24 an army was sent into Arabia Felix by Augustus, under Ælius Gallus, who was governor of Egypt. The force chiefly consisted of troops stationed in that province, but the prospect of wealth which the expedition held out, from the indefinite knowledge then possessed of the country, attracted young men at Rome, and induced, it would seem, Iccius,a man of studious habits, to join it. The expedition was attended with nothing but disaster, and the greater part of the force perished. But Iccius survived, and we find Horace writing to him a few years later as Agrippa’s steward in Sicily (Epp. i. 12). Beyond this, nothing is known of Iccius. The Ode is a piece of good-tempered, jocular irony, of which the point lies in the man of books going forth as a conqueror to subdue fierce nations, untamed before, and to return laden with the spoils of the East. Later times have seen young and chivalrous men hastening to an El Dorado in expectation of wealth and distinction, and finding nothing but disappointment, and such appears to have been the case on the occasion of this expedition into Arabia.
Argument.—What, Iccius, after all, dost thou grudge the Arabs their wealth, and prepare chains for the princes of Sabæa and the fierce Mede? Which of the fair barbarians dost thou mean to bring home for thy bed, or what royal page for thy table? Sure, rivers shall flow back to their mountains, and the Tiber turn again, if Iccius can desert his books to put on the breastplate.
1.nunc] This word expresses surprise: ‘what now, to belie all expectations, and abandon all your pursuits!’
3.Sabaeae] The Romans had possession of parts of Arabia Petræa, but not of Arabia Felix. Hence Horace says, “Intactis opulentior Thesauris Arabum” (C. iii. 24. 1). It may have been reported that the army would proceed against the Parthians, after the Arabs were conquered, or, as is more probable, the ‘horrible Mede’ is only introduced to heighten the coloring of the picture in a jocular way.
5.Quae — virginum — barbara] A very uncommon construction for ‘quae virgo barbara’ or ‘quae virginum barbararum.’ There is humor in the question, as if Iccius had only to choose for himself some royal damsel, whose betrothed he was to slay with his own hand, and an Eastern page of great beauty, brought from his native wilds to wait upon one of the princes of this happy land. If Horace mixes up Tartars (Sericas) and Parthians, it only makes the picture more absurd.
Puer — ex aula] ‘A royal page.’ Boys whose office it was to pour out the wine, are called in inscriptions ‘pueri a cyatho’ or ‘ad cyathum,’ or ‘ab argento potorio,’ ‘ad argentum potorium,’ ‘a potione,’ and so forth.
9.sagittas tendere] For ‘arcum tendere.’ Virgil also says (Aen. ix. 606), “spicula tendere cornu,” and (Aen. v. 508) “pariterque oculos telumque tetendit.”
11.Pronos relabi posse rivos] The phrase ἄνω ποταμῶν became a proverb from Euripides (Med. 410): ἄνω ποταμῶν ἱερῶν χωροῦσι παγαί.
12.Montibus] The dative.
14.Socraticam et domum] Socrates’s school, as Plato, Xenophon, &c. Cicero speaks of the “familia Peripateticorum” (Div. ii. 1); and Horace supposes himself to be asked “quo me duce, quo Lare tuter” (Epp. i. 1. 13). Panætius was a philosopher of Rhodes, from whom Cicero appears to have gathered the substance of his work De Officiis. He professed the doctrines of the Stoics, but seems to have qualified them with opinions derived from the writings of Plato, and others of the Socratic school, which accounts for their being mentioned in connection with his name. He flourished in the second centuryB. C., and was intimate with the younger Scipio.
15.loricis Hiberis] ‘Spanish mail.’ The steel of Hiberia (Spain) was celebrated.
ODE XXX.
Itis not improbable that the main incident of this Ode, that of a lady sacrificing or dedicating a little chapel to Venus, is taken from life; but there is a fragment of one of Alcman’s poems, running Κύπρον ἱμερτὰν λιποῖσα καὶ Πάφον περίῤῥυτον, which appears to have been imitated in the first two verses.
Argument.—Royal Venus, leave thy beloved Cyprus, and come, dwell in Glycera’s temple. Let Love come with thee, and the Graces and Nymphs, and Youth, who is unlovely without thee, and Mercury too.
1.Cnidi Paphique,] See C. 3. 1, n.
4.aedem.] The humblest houses had their little chapel, set apart for an image.
5.solutis Gratiae zonis] The oldest painters and sculptors represented the Graces clothed; afterwards it became the fashion to represent them naked; but the latest practice lay between the two, and they were painted and sculptured with loose, transparent drapery. Horace varies in his descriptions. See C. i. 4. 6; iii. 19. 16; iv. 7. 6.
7.Et parum comis sine te Juventas] Cupid (‘fervidus puer’) or several Cupids (C. 19. 1), Youth (Ἥβη), Hermes, the god of eloquence, Persuasion (Πειθώ), and the Graces, were the principal companions of Venus, according to the notions of the Greeks. The nymphs of the woods, or of the hills, were likewise usually represented as her companions. (See C. iv. 6.)
ODE XXXI.
In B. C.28 (25th October), Augustus dedicated a temple, with a library attached, which he had built in honor of Apollo, on the Palatine Hill, to commemorate his victory at Actium. After the ceremonies of the day of dedication were over, we may suppose Horace putting in his own claim to the god’s favor in this Ode, in which he represents himself as offering a libation (whether in private or at the temple is uncertain) and asking for that which, according to Juvenal (x. 356), should be the end of all prayer, ‘mens sana in corpore sano!’
Argument.—What asks the poet of Apollo? Not cups, or herbs, or gold and ivory, or rich fields. Let those who may prune Calenian vines, and rich merchants drink rich wine out of cups of gold, favorites of heaven, who traverse the deep in safety. My food is the olive, the chicory, and the mallow. Let me enjoy what I have, thou son of Lato, sound in body and mind, and let my age pass with honor and the lyre.
1.dedicatum] This word is applied to the god as well as his temple. So Cic. de N. D. ii. 33, says, “ut Fides ut Mens quas in Capitolio dedicatas vidimus proxime a M. Aemilio Scauro.”
2.novum] Libations were made with wine of the current year.
4.Sardiniae] This island supplied much of the corn consumed at Rome. ‘Ferax’ is properly applied to the soil which produces; here it is said of the produce itself, and means ‘abundant.’
5.Calabriae] Where flocks were pastured in the winter season. C. ii. 6. 10. Epod. i. 27, n.
7.Liris] This river, now called Garigliano, took its rise near the Lacus Fucinus, in the country of the Æqui, and, passing through the richest part of Latium, emptied itself below Minturnæ into the sea (S. i. 5. 40, n.). The upper part of the stream is much broken by waterfalls. Horace’s description applies only to the lower part, where, having left the Apennines and joined the Trerus (Sacco), it flows quietly through the cultivated lands of Latium.
9.Premant] Virgil uses this word in the same sense (Georg. i. 157): “et ruris opaci Falce premes umbras”; and Ovid (Met. xiv. 629). ‘Calena’ is transferred from the vine to the knife, as in ‘Sabina diota’ (9. 7), ‘Laestrygonia amphora’ (iii. 16. 34), ‘Graeca testa’ (i. 20. 2), where to the press that makes or the vessel which contains the wine is applied the name of the wine itself. As to Calenian wine, see C. 20. 10, n.
12.Vina Syra reparata merce,] Wine taken in exchange for Syrian goods, which includes all the costly merchandise of the East; elsewhere called ‘Tyriae merces.’ The seaports of Syria were entrepôts for goods from and for the East, and were frequented by a vast number of ships from all parts.—Horace uses many words compounded with ‘re’ without any perceptible difference of meaning from the simple words, as ‘retractare,’ ‘resecare,’ ‘resolvere,’ ‘revincere,’ ‘renare,’ ‘remittere.’ But there is the force of bartering in this word, as in ἀνταγοράζεσθαι. (See C. i. 37. 24, n.) ‘Mercator’ was a dealer in wares who generally sailed or travelled into foreign parts. The ‘mercatores’ were an enterprising class, and penetrated into barbarous and distant countries and dangerous seas. The mention of the Atlantic is a little out of place, immediately after ‘Syra merce’; but, as usual, Horace writes generally, and does not aim at strict accuracy. ‘Aequor Atlanticum’ suited his verse. The travelling merchants are often referred to by Horace. See C. i. 1. 15; iii. 24. 40; S. i. 1. 6, 4. 29. Epp. i. 1. 45, 16. 71, and elsewhere.
16.leves] ‘Setting lightly’ on the stomach.
17.Frui paratis,etc.] The order is, ‘Precor (ut) dones mihi, et valido .... et integra Cum mente, frui paratis.’ ‘Latoë’ (Λατῷε); ‘O son of Lato,’ or Latona.
ODE XXXII.
Thisis an address of the poet to his lyre, calling upon it to help him now and whenever he shall require its aid.
Argument.—I am asked to sing. If I have ever composed a song that shall not die, with thee, my lyre, come, help me to a Latin song,—thou whom Alcæus did first touch, who, in the field or on the deep, still sung of Liber, the Muses, Venus and her son and Lycus, with dark eyes and hair. Thou glory of Phœbus, welcome at the table of the gods, thou consoler of my toils, help me whenever I shall invoke thee.