EPODES.
EPODE I.
WhenAugustus had determined on the expedition against M. Antonius and Cleopatra, which led to the battle of Actium,B. C.31, he summoned, as we learn from Dion Cassius (50. 11), the leading senators and men of Equestrian rank to meet him at Brundisium, for the benefit of their counsel, and (the historian says) to keep the Equestrians from mischief, and also to show the world the harmony to which he had brought men of all orders at Rome. Mæcenas obeyed this summons, and went to Brundisium, but was sent back by Augustus to watch over the peace of the city and the affairs of Italy. It is very possible that Mæcenas may have had the offer of a command on the expedition against M. Antonius, and that both he and Horace believed he was going on that service, until, on his arrival at Brundisium, Augustus thought fit to send him back to discharge more important duties at Rome. Horace, supposing him to be going, wished to accompany him, but Mæcenas would not allow it (v. 7), which gave occasion for this Epode. It is an affectionate remonstrance against being left behind.
Argument.—Thou art going into the midst of danger, Mæcenas, to share the fortunes of Cæsar. Shall I stay at home at ease, or meet the danger with thee, on whose life my happiness depends? I will go with thee withersoever thou goest. To what end shall I go? As the bird fears less for her young when she is near them, so shall I fear less for thee, if I go with thee, and I go to win thy love, not thy favors. Thy love hath given me enough. I seek not wide lands or fine houses and cattle, and gold to hide or to squander.
1.Liburnis] These were light vessels, that took their name from the ships used by the Liburnians, a piratical tribe on the Illyrian coast. Augustus employed them in his expeditions against Sex. Pompeius, and they were of great use at Actium (C. i. 37. 30). All writers on the battle of Actium describe the ships of M. Antonius and Cleopatra as of enormous size. Like those of the Greeks, which the Romans copied, the Egyptian vessels were fitted with towers (‘propugnacula’), from which the men fought.
4.Subire, — tuo] ‘Tuo periculo,’ ‘meo,’ ‘suo,’ ‘nostro,’ are all common, and ‘periculum’ is used in the ablative case in ‘summo periculo,’ ‘minimo periculo,’ where the ablative is an ablative of cost, and is not to be explained by supplying ‘cum.’
9.mente laturi] This sentence is not complete; ‘ibimus,’ or something of that sort, must be supplied. ‘Shall I, at thy bidding, seek repose, which hath no pleasure if not shared by thee, or go to bear this danger with the heart with which the hardy soldier ought to bear it?’
12.Inhospitalem — Caucasum,] This is repeated from or in C. i. 22. 6.
16.firmus parum?] This is probably taken from the Greek ἄναλκις, which goes commonly with ἀπτόλεμος (as Doering says).
19.Ut assidens] ‘As a bird sitting on her unfledged brood fears the serpent’s stealthy coming more if she leave them, though not likely to help them more if she be near and they before her.’ ‘Relictis’ is the dative. ‘Supposing that’ is a common meaning of ‘ut’ with the subjunctive. ‘Ut adsit,’ followed by ‘praesentibus,’ is rather redundant. But such repetitionsare not uncommon. See Ter. (Adelph. iii. 3. 39): “Non quia ades praesens dico hoc.” Ib. (iv. 5. 34): “Cum hanc sibi videbit praesens praesentem eripi.”
23.militabitur Bellum] This phrase is like “bella pugnata” (C. iii. 19. 4), which expression is repeated, Epp. i. 16. 25. ‘In spem,’ ‘looking to the hope,’ is used where we should say ‘in the hope.’
27.Pecusve Calabris] Flocks of sheep were fed in the plains of Calabria during the cool months of the year, and driven up to the hills of Lucania in the summer. ‘Mutet’ is used for taking in exchange, as in C. i. 17. 2, and elsewhere. The heat of Calabria is referred to in C. i. 31. 5.
29.Neque ut] He says he does not want a villa near Tusculum, where there were many handsome houses, which he thus expresses: ‘Nor that for me a splendid house should touch Circæan walls of Tusculum on the hill.’ The ancient Tusculum was built on the top of the hill of which the modern town, Frascati, is built on the slope. ‘Circaea’ is explained by C. iii. 29. 8, n. ‘Candens’ means shining with marble.
31.Satis superque] This expression occurs again Epod. xvii. 19. The sentiment is repeated C. ii. 18. 12; iii. 16. 38.
33.Chremes] The allusion is to a character in some play of Menander’s.
34.Discinetus] ‘dissolute’; indicating by his slovenly dress his dissipated habits.
EPODE II.
Horace, meaning to write on the praises of the country, put his poem into the shape of a rhapsody by a money-getting usurer, who, after reciting the blessings of a country life, and sighing for the enjoyment of them, resolving to throw up his business, and persuading himself that he desires nothing so much as retirement and a humble life, finds habit too strong for him, and falls back upon the sordid pursuits which, after all, are most congenial to him. Though the greater part of the speech must be admitted to be rather out of keeping with the supposed speaker, yet the picture is very beautiful, and the moral true. In the most sordid minds more genial impulses will sometimes arise; but the beauties of nature and the charms of a peaceful retirement are, like virtue itself, only attractive in the distance and at intervals to the minds that have grown addicted to the pursuit of gain for its own sake. To such minds domestic and innocent pleasures offer no lasting gratification, and the picture of rustic enjoyment on the one hand, and of the jaded but still grasping usurer struggling for a moment against his propensities on the other, affords a wholesome lesson for many.
Argument.—“Happy is the man who lives on his farm, remote from the troubles of the city and the dangers of war and of the sea. He trains his vines, or watches his flocks, or grafts his trees, or stores his honey, or shears his sheep, or brings offerings of fruit to Priapus and Silvanus, or lies in the shade or on the soft grass, where birds are singing and streams are murmuring; or hunts the boar, or lays nets for the birds and hares, and herein forgets the pangs of love. Give me a chaste wife, who shall care for my home and children, milk my goats, prepare my unbought meal, and no dainties shall please me like my country fare, as I sit and watch the kine and oxen and laborers coming home to their rest at even.” So said Alphius, the usurer, and, determining to live in the country, he got in all his money, but soon repented, and put it out to usury again.
4.Solutus omni fenore,] It must be remembered that a usurer is speaking. See Introduction.
9.Ergo] This is an adverb of emphasis, like δή, the use of which it is not easy to define. Here it expresses a feeling of pleasure in the contemplation of the scenes described. In the occupations and amusements that follow, no particular order of seasons is observed, but one recreation after another is mentioned as it occurs.
15.amphoris,] These vessels were used for keeping honey, as well as wine.
16.infirmas] This is no more than an ornamental epithet.
17.Vel cum] ‘Vel’ has here a copulative force, and not a disjunctive, as “Silvius Aeneas pariter pietate vel armis Egregius” (Aen. vi. 769). ‘Et’ would have made the sentence too much of a climax, especially with the exclamation ‘ut gaudet.’
19.gaudet — decerpens] This is after the Greek idiom δρέπων ἥδεται.
21.Priape,] This was one of the inferior order of divinities, only acknowledged as such in later times. He was accordingly treated with contempt sometimes, as in S. i. 8. He presided over gardens, protected flocks, and generally was worshipped in connection with the pursuits of husbandry.
22.Silvane, tutor finium!] Silvanus here only is called the protector of boundaries, which province belonged to the god Terminus. Virgil calls him the god of corn-fields and cattle (Aen. viii. 601); but, as his name implies, he was chiefly connected with woods and plantations.
24.tenaci] This is merely a redundant epithet. Grass, especially short turf grass, which is here meant, binds the soil and tenaciously adheres to it, both of which ideas seem to be included in this word.
25.interim] As we say, ‘the while.’ ‘Altis ripis’ are rocky, overhanging banks.
27.lymphis obstrepunt] ‘Obstrepunt’ is used absolutely, as in C. iii. 30. 10. ‘Lymphis’ is the ablative absolute.
28.Somnos quod invitet] Compare Virg. (Ecl. i. 56): “Saepe levi somnum suadebit inire susurro.”
29.annus] This is used for the season of the year, as in Virgil (Ecl. iii. 57), “formosissimus annus.”
31.Aut trudit acres] The hunters encompassed some large space (generally the foot of a wooded hill) with strong nets, which they gradually drew into a more and more narrow circle, while dogs and beaters with torches were set to drive the beasts into a given spot, where they were attacked and slain; or else they were driven down to the nets, with which they were entangled or stopped, unless they contrived, as they sometimes did, to break through them, which would give occasion for a chase in the open plain (see C. i. 1. 28). Plutarch, in his life of Alexander, speaks of toils twelve miles long. The poets, Latin and Greek, used the feminine gender in speaking of hunting-dogs, as mares are more often mentioned than horses for the race. ‘Amites’ were forked stakes on which the nets were stretched. ‘Plagae’ were the strong nets mentioned above; ‘retia’ were finer ones for birds and fish; ‘retia rara’ were those with wider meshes than fishing-nets, and therefore used only for birds. ‘Edacibus’ represents their depredations on the corn. ‘Laqueo’ may be pronounced as a dissyllable.
39.in partem] ‘on her part.’ The Greeks said ἐν μέρει.
41.Sabina] See C. iii. 6. 37, n. Horace is fond of introducing his Sabine and Apulian friends. See C. iii. 5. 9, n.
42.Pernicis] ‘Pernix’ signifies patient, steadfast, being compounded of ‘per’ and ‘nitor.’ When applied to motion, it comes to mean swift, by the natural consequence of a steady movement of the wings or feet, which accomplishes distance more rapidly than irregular speed.
43.Sacrum vetustis] The fire-place was sacred to the Lares. The wood must be old that it might not smoke, like that which plagued the travellers at Trevicum (S. i. 5. 80). The ‘focus’ was either a fixture of stone or brick, in which case it was synonymous with ‘caminus’ or it was movable and made of bronze, and then it was usually called ‘foculus.’ In either case it was a wide and shallow receptacle for wood or charcoal, the smoke of which found its way out by apertures at the top of the room, or, in some rare instances, by chimneys.
‘Sub,’ with the accusative case, in phrases of time signifies ‘immediately after.’ ‘Sub adventum viri’ is not ‘in anticipation of her husband’s arrival’; but ‘as soon as he has made his appearance,’ weary with his day’s work, she puts wood on the fire and gets up a cheerful blaze. But in the phrases “sub lacrimosa funera” (C. i. 8. 14), “sub ipsum funus” (C. ii. 18. 18), ‘sub’ can only mean close upon, but before the event.
47.horna — dolio] Poor wine of that year, which had not been bottled for keeping, but was drunk direct from the ‘dolium.’ Like the other parts of this description, this is meant to convey the notion of primitive simplicity. The wine of the year is generally drunk now, in and about Rome.
48.inemptus] Georg. iv. 132:—
“seraque revertensNocte domum dapibus mensas onerabat inemptis.”
As to the oysters of the lacus Lucrinus, see S. ii. 4. 32.
50.rhombus] See S. ii. 2. 42, n. The ‘scarus,’ whatever that fish may be (for it is not certain), is said by Pliny to have abounded most in the Carpathian Sea. The storm, therefore, must come from the east that should drive it to the coast of Italy.
51.intonata] This participle occurs nowhere else in extant writers, but it is not likely Horace invented it. It represents the noise of the wind, rather than the thunder of the clouds, as Virgil (Georg. i. 371) says, “Eurique Zephyrique tonat domus.”
53.Afra avis] What bird is meant we cannot tell. The Greeks called them μελεαγρίδας. Martial (iii. 58. 15) speaks of “Numidicae guttatae,” ‘speckled,’ which seems to be the same bird and answers to the appearance of the guinea-fowl. The ‘attagen’ is usually said to be the moor-fowl. Martial says it was one of their most delicious birds (xiii. 61). It is repeatedly mentioned by Aristophanes. Aristotle, in his History of Animals, numbers it among κονιστικοὶ ὄρνιθες, birds which do not fly high.
57.Aut herba lapathi] Both the ‘lapathus’ and the ‘malva’ were gently purgative. See Sat. ii. 4. 29.
59.caesa Terminalibus,] The Terminalia took place in the early spring (23 February), about the time of lambing, and lambs were offered to Terminus, the god who protected boundaries. Plutarch says that sheep rescued from the jaws of the wolf were thought to be better flavored than others. The thrifty would eat them for economy. That is the idea Horace means to convey.
61.ut juvat] See v. 19, “ut gaudet.”
65.vernas, ditis examen domus,] ‘Verna’ was a slave born on the owner’s estate. There was a hearth near which the images of the Lares were placed, in the centre of the ‘atrium,’ the entrance room, and round it the slaves had their supper. ‘Renidentes’ means shining by the light of the fire.
67.fenerator Alphius,] A usurer of this name is mentioned by Columella, as an authority on the subject of bad debts. ‘Redigere’ is the technical word for getting in money out on loan, and ‘ponere’ for putting it out, as καταβάλλειν, βάλλειν, τιθέναι. The settling days at Rome were the Kalends, Nones, and Ides. Horace says that Alphius delivered the foregoing speech when he had made up his mind to turn farmer immediately, and that withthis view he got in all his money on the Ides (the middle of the month), but when the next Kalends came (the first of the month) he could not resist putting it out again.
EPODE III.
Horacehere vents his wrath against some garlic which he had eaten the day before at Mæcenas’s table, and which had disagreed with him. He seems to imply that Mæcenas had played a practical joke upon him, and the whole Epode is full of humor and familiarity.
Argument.—If a man has murdered his father, only make him eat garlic. What poison have I within me? Was a viper’s blood in the mess, or did Canidia tamper with it? Sure with such poison did Medea anoint Jason and his intended bride. Apulia in the dog days never burnt like this, nor the coat on Hercules’s shoulders. If thou dost ever take a fancy to such stuff, Mæcenas, mayst thou ask for a kiss and be refused!
1.Parentis olim] He uses the same illustration in cursing the tree that nearly killed him (C. ii. 13. 6).
3.Edit] The old form of the present subjunctive was ‘edim,’ ‘edis,’ ‘edit.’ It occurs again (Sat. ii. 8. 90). Cicero uses this form, and Plautus frequently.
4.O dura] ‘O the tough bowels of those country folk.’ Horace perhaps remembered Virgil’s line (Ecl. ii. 10):
“Thestylis et rapido fessis messoribus aestuAllia serpyllumque herbas contundit olentes.”
5.praecordiis?] This is sometimes put for the intestines, as in Sat. ii. 4. 26.
6.viperinus — cruor] See C. i. 8. 9.
7.fefellit?] C. iii. 16. 32, n.
8.Canidia] This is one of the few names of which we may be pretty sure that it represents a real person. The Scholiasts on this place, and Sat. i. 8. 24, say that her real name was Gratidia, and that she was a Neapolitan seller of perfumes. She is mentioned always as a witch. In Epod. v. she is the principal person concerned in the murder of the boy; in Epod. xvii. Horace addresses his mock apologies to her. She figures in the scene on the Esquiliae represented in S. i. 8, and is incidentally mentioned in S. ii. 1. 48; 8. 95. It is impossible, from Horace’s poems, to gather the cause of his anger against this woman, or his connection with her.
9.praeter omnes] These words go with ‘mirata est.’ The Argonautae included fifty of the greatest heroes, and among them Hercules, the Dioscuri, Orpheus, Theseus, Nestor, etc. To all the rest Medea preferred Jason, the leader of the party, and married him, and helped him in the performance of his tasks, one of which was the yoking two fire-breathing oxen to a plough, and turning up the soil in which he was to sow the dragon’s teeth.
13.Hoc delibutis,] Horace assigns opposite qualities to the poison in Medea’s hands. It protects Jason and destroys Creusa (or Glauce), daughter of Creon, king of Corinth, whom Jason married, deserting Medea. Her revenge is well known. (See Epod. v. 63.)
14.Serpente fugit alite] After destroying her rival, Medea fled in a chariot drawn by winged serpents.
15.insedit vapor] ‘Vapor’ is equivalent to ‘calor,’ the effect to the cause. ‘Siderum vapor’ is the heat of the dog days. (Compare Epod. xvi. 61.)The arid, unwatered character of Apulia has been noticed before (C. iii. 30. 11).
17.Nec munus humeris] i.e. the garment smeared with the blood of Nessus, given by Deianira to Hercules. She gave it as a love-charm, and it burnt him to death. See Epod. xvii. 31.
20.Jocose] See Introduction.
21.savio opponat tuo] ‘Savium’ means ‘a lip.’
22.sponda] The side of the bed on which the person got in was called ‘sponda,’ the opposite side ‘pluteus.’
EPODE IV.
Allthe positive information we can derive from this Ode in respect to its purport and date is, that it contains a vehement invective against some person of low birth and contemptible character, who gave himself airs and disgusted the people of Rome; he was also a military tribune.
Argument.—I hate thee, thou whipped slave, as the lamb hates the wolf and the wolf the lamb. Be thou never so proud, luck doth not change the breed. See, as thou swaggerest down the road, how they turn and say, “Here is a scoundrel who was flogged till the crier was tired, and now he has his acres, and ambles on his nag, and sits among the Equites, and snaps his fingers at Otho and his law. What is the use of our sending ships to attack the pirates, if such a rascal as this is to be military tribune?”
1.sortito] ‘In virtue of their condition.’ ‘Sors’ is the condition which choice, accident, fate, or nature (as here) has assigned. See notes on C. i. 9. 14. S. i. 1. 1.
3.Hibericis — funibus] These were cords made of ‘spartum,’ usually said to be the Spanish broom. It was made into ropes, especially for ships’ rigging. In the army they flogged with vine twigs.
7.metiente] ‘As thou measurest the Sacred Way.’ ‘Metiri’ is used by the poets in expressing motion of various kinds, with ‘viam,’ ‘iter,’ ‘mare,’ etc. Here it shows the man’s strut and swagger. The Via Sacra was crowded with public buildings, and was a favorite lounge. See S. i. 9. 1.
8.bis trium ulnarum toga,] The Romans of this period used ‘ulna’ as an equivalent for ‘cubitus’, therefore ‘bis trium ulnarum’ must be understood to have reference to the width of the toga, not the length, which was much greater, about three times the height of the wearer from the shoulder to the ground. The effect of so wide a toga would be to give a broad imposing appearance to the man’s person. Compare S. ii. 3. 183. “Latus ut in Circo spatiere.”
9.vertat] This means that the passengers turned to one another, and also turned to look at the coxcomb and point at him.
huc et huc euntium] ‘Huc et huc,’ ‘hinc et hinc’ (Epod. ii. 31, v. 97), are poetical ways of expressing what in prose is expressed with ‘illuc,’ ‘illinc’ in the second place.
11.Sectus] This is supposed to be the language each man holds to his neighbor. The ‘triumviri capitales’ were magistrates of police, and they had the power of summarily punishing slaves. A crier stood by while floggings were going on, and kept proclaiming the offender’s crime. So Plato lays down, in the Laws, that the swindler shall be flogged at the rate of one blow for each drachma, while the crier declares his crime.
13.Arat Falerni] The Falernus ager, in Campania, was covered withvines, but the vineyards were ploughed between the trees, and sown with corn. The Appian road, leading into Campania, would be passed and repassed by this man as he went to and from his estates. ‘Tero’ is equivalent to τρίβω, which is used in the same connection.
15.eques] If the person was a military tribune, he had equestrian rank; and, if of one of the four first legions, he had a seat in the Senate, and wore the ‘latus clavus.’ See S. i. 6. 25. If he had an income of 400,000 sesterces, he could, under the law of L. Roscius Otho (passedB. C.67), take his place in any of the fourteen front rows in the theatre, and laugh at Otho, whose purpose was to keep those seats for persons of birth. See Epp. i. 1. 62.
19.Contra latrones] In the yearB. C.38 Augustus declared war against Sex. Pompeius, who had enlisted in his service pirates and slaves. These Horace alludes to.
20.tribuno militum?] Each legion in the Roman army had six tribunes (the post Horace held under Brutus), who were their principal officers, having each usually about a thousand men under them.
EPODE V.
Thereis much likeness between this singular Ode and part of the eighth Satire of the first book. A scene is represented in which the unfortunate woman Canidia (Epod. iii. 8, n.), satirized by Horace for a succession of years, is the chief actress. She is passionately in love with one Varus, whom she calls an old sinner, but whose heart she is resolved to win. To this end she resorts to magical philters, for the composition of which, in company with three other witches, she gets a boy of good family, strips him naked, and buries him up to his chin in a hole, in order that there, with food put before him, he might wither away in the midst of longing, and so his liver might form, in conjunction with other ingredients, a love-potion, to be administered to the faithless Varus. What could have put such a scene into Horace’s head, it is hard to say.
Argument.—“Tell me, by the gods, by thy children, if Lucina hath ever blessed thee, by this purple toga, which should protect my childhood, tell me what meaneth this horrid scene! Why look ye at me so sternly?” As these words drop from the trembling and naked child, Canidia bids them bring branches from the tombs, a screech-owl’s wing, and eggs steeped in frogs’ blood, poisonous herbs of Thessaly and Hiberia, and bones snatched from the jaws of a hungry bitch, to burn in the magic flames. Sagana meanwhile sprinkles waters of Avernus over the chamber, and Veia digs a pit, where the boy must stand buried to the chin, that his marrow and liver may dry up, and become fit ingredients for the potion. Folia, too, is there, charming stars and moon from the sky. Then Canidia bursts forth, saying: “Night and Diana, avenge me on my enemies. Give me such an ointment to smear the old man with, that the dogs may bark at him as he goes to his vile haunts. But what is this? How did Medea succeed while I fail? I know every herb. I have anointed his bed. I see, I see. Some charm more skilled has set him free. No common potion therefore, no hackneyed spell, will I prepare for thee, Varus: the skies shall sink below the sea if thou burn not with love for me.” Then the boy bursts out into cursing, and says: “The destiny of man is unchangeable. I will curse you, and my curse no sacrifice shall avert. My ghost shall haunt you by night, and tear your flesh, and rob you of sleep. Men shall stone you, and wolves and vultures shall tear your unburied carcases, and my parents shall live to see it.”
1.At, o deorum] ‘At’ is the same word as ‘ad,’ and is not always or usually an adversative particle. It is contained in ‘atque’ and ‘autem,’ neither of which is adversative. So ἀλλά and δέ have not necessarily that force, but are used to open sentences, and carry on the meaning of a discourse. When ‘at’ is used at the opening, it expresses abruptness, and is as though the speaker were only continuing a sentiment previously conceived, but not expressed. It denotes a sudden emotion of the mind, and is employed in sudden transitions of speech. See S. ii. 2. 40, n.
deorum quidquid] Livy uses the same expression more than once (ii. 5, xxiii. 9). See also S. i. 6. 1.
6.veris] In this word a doubt is implied of the woman’s fertility. The charge is retracted in Epod. xvii. 50, sqq. As to Lucina, see C. S. 15, n.
7.purpurae decus] The ‘toga praetexta,’ with a purple stripe, the sign of nobility and of childhood, which should have turned his persecutors from their purpose, but did not. In addition to this toga, children of free parents wore a small round plate of gold (‘bulla’) suspended from their neck. Both were laid aside on the assumption of the ‘toga virilis’ (usually at about fifteen), and the ‘bulla’ was presented as an offering to the Lares. Pliny calls the ‘praetexta’ “majestas pueritiae” (ix. 36). ‘Odia novercalia’ were proverbial. (See Tac. Ann. xii. 2.)
8.Per improbaturum] Compare C. i. 2. 19.
12.Insignibus] That is, his ‘praetexta’ and ‘bulla.’ ‘Impube corpus’ is in apposition with ‘puer.’
14.Thracum] The Thracians are put for any barbarians.
21.Iolcos atque Hiberia] Iolcos was a town of Thessaly, and Hiberia a region east of Colchis and south of the Caucasus, now part of Georgia, which is referred to in C. ii. 20. 20. Elsewhere in Horace, Hiber and Hiberia have reference to Spain.
24.Flammis aduri Colchicis] Flames of Colchis mean magic flames, such as Medea used.
25.expedita] This answers to the description of Canidia herself, given Sat. i. 8. 23:—
“Vidi egomet nigrasuccinctamvadere pallaCanidiam.”
Sagana is there again introduced in her company.
26.Avernales aquas] So Dido, in her pretended magical ceremony, sprinkled “latices simulatos fontis Averni” (Aen. iv. 512).
28.currens aper] As Sagana is represented running about furiously, the rushing of a boar is not a bad simile. It is intelligible to any one who has seen a wild hog bursting from a jungle, and then tumbling along the open plain faster than dog or rider can follow him.
29.nulla — conscientia] Unconscious or careless of the horrible suffering the child was to endure. Though she groaned, it was only with the labor. We are to understand that the transaction was going on, and the grave being dug, in the open court, the ‘impluvium’ or ‘peristylium’ (C. iii. 10. 5, n.). The nature and purpose of the boy’s torture are sufficiently explained in the Introduction.
33.Longo die bis terque] ‘Longo’ belongs to ‘die,’ not to ‘spectaculo.’ On every weary day, food was to be put before him, and changed two or three times, that his soul might yearn for it, like Tantalus, and its longings might be worked into the spell that was to inflame the heart of Varus. ‘Inemori’ is not found anywhere else. The ordinary form is ‘immori.’ ‘Bis terque’ signifies ‘frequently’, ‘bis terve,’ ‘rarely.’
39.Interminato] This word, compounded of ‘inter’ and ‘minor,’ is a stronger way of expressing ‘interdicto,’ ‘forbidden.’ It is the interposition of a threat, instead of a plain command. ‘As soon as his eyeballs, fixed onthe forbidden food, should have wasted.’ Sat. ii. 1. 24: “Ut semel icto Accessit fervor capiti.”
42.Ariminensem Foliam] Folia of Ariminum (an Umbrian town) represents some woman of unnatural lewdness, well known at Naples and its neighborhood, where, Horace means to say, when this story was told, everybody believed she had had a hand in it. This is the most obvious way of explaining the passage, without supposing the scene to be laid at Naples, which it cannot be. See vv. 58 and 100.
43.otiosa] So Ovid calls it “in otia natam Parthenopen” (Met. xv. 711).
45.Quae sidera excantata] This faculty of witches is sufficiently well known. Virg. (Ecl. viii. 69): “Carmina vel caelo possunt deducere Lunam.”
Thessala] C. i. 27. 21.
55.Formidolosis] This is equivalent to ‘horridis,’ as Virg. (Georg. iv. 468), “Caligantem nigra formidine lucum.” The word bears an active and a passive meaning.
57.Senem, quod omnes rideant,] She here prays that the dogs may bark at Varus, as he goes to the brothels of the Suburra, so that all may turn out and laugh at the vile old man, scented with the richest perfumes, such as even she, Canidia, had never made. (See Epod. iii. 8, n.).
58.Suburanae canes] Suburra was the name of that part of the city which lay between the Esquiline and the Viminal. It was very populous and profligate. Propertius (iv. 7. 15) describes it as the resort of thieves, and Martial of prostitutes (vi. 66).
61.Quid accidit?] She wonders why her drugs (which she calls the drugs of Medea, as imitating those) take no effect upon him, when she suddenly breaks out with the exclamation, “Ah! ah! I see; some stronger spell is at work, but I will find one that is stronger than any” (v. 71).
62.Venena Medeae] She speaks as if she had been actually using the drugs of Medea.
63.fugit ulta pellicem,] See Epod. iii. 13.
69.Indormit unctis] She had smeared the couch he slept on with drugs, to make him forget all women but herself. ‘Unctis’ goes with ‘oblivione.’
73.Vare,] Who Varus was, we cannot tell. Some ancient MSS. inscriptions call him ‘Alfius Varus.’
74.caput] See C. i. 24. 2, n.
76.Marsis — vocibus:] That is, by common spells or charms, such as have been learnt from the Marsi, and were usually practised (Epod. xvii. 29). Virgil has (Aen. vii. 758): “Marsis quaesitae in montibus herbae.”
86.Thyesteas preces:] Curses such as Thyestes might have imprecated on the head of Atreus (see C. i. 6. 8, n.). The opening sentence of the boy’s speech is variously interpreted. The words may be translated as they stand: “Witchcraft, or the great powers of right and wrong, cannot change the fate of men”; i.e. nothing can, whether it be good or bad, which interpretation is the least strained, with reference to the collocation of the words. The omission of a connecting particle between ‘venena’ and ‘magnum’ is no argument against this version.
90.Nulla expiatur victima] See C. i. 28. 34.
91. Quin] See next Epod. v. 3, n.
92.Nocturnus occurram Furor] He threatens to haunt them at night by his ghost, in the shape of madness, with sharp claws tearing their faces, and sitting like a nightmare on their breast. ‘Furor’ is nowhere else personified, as far as I am aware. ‘Diris’ means ‘curses.’
94.Quae vis deorum est manium,] The spirits of the dead were, to their surviving kindred, divinities, ‘Dii Manes.’ They had their sacred rites securedthem by the laws (see Cic. de Legg. ii. 9), and their annual festival, Feralia. In the early period of Rome they were identical with the Lares, the deities who protected each homestead, and whose hearth was in every hall. See Epp. ii. 1. 138, n.
100.Esquilinae alites;] On the Campus Esquilinus malefactors of the lower sort were executed, and their bodies left for the vultures and jackalls to devour. Compare Epod. xvii. 58, and S. i. 8. 8, n.
EPODE VI.
Itis impossible to say with certainty who is the person attacked in this Ode. It is some virulent writer. Horace meets him on his own ground, challenging him to attack himself, rather than level his abuse at innocent strangers, who could not defend themselves.
Argument.—Why snarl at innocent strangers, dog, and run away from the wolf? Attack me, if thou darest. I am ever ready to hunt the prey, while thou dost but bark and turn aside to fill thy belly. Beware! for I have lifted my horns, even as Archilochus and Hipponax lifted theirs. If I am attacked, thinkest thou I will stand like a child, and cry?
3.Quin — vertis] ‘Quin’ is in this combination only equivalent to ‘qui’ and a negative, taken interrogatively. ‘Quin vertis’ is a direct question. An instance of ‘quin’ as a direct assertion, which is a conventional secondary usage, occurs in the Epode preceding, v. 91.
6.Amica vis pastoribus,] Lucretius (vi. 1221) speaks of “fida canum vis,” and Virg. (Aen. iv. 132), “odora canum vis.” ‘Vis’ signifies ‘a pack.’ Whatever the Molossian and Laconian dogs were, they were used for hunting, and were loved by shepherds because in packs they destroyed the wolves and beasts of prey. (See Georg. iii. 405, sqq.)
13.Lycambae — Bupalo.] Archilochus, the lyric poet of Paros, attacked Lycambes (a citizen of the island of Thasos, to which Archilochus migrated), who, after promising him his daughter Neobule in marriage, retracted his promise, so sharply that he is said to have hanged himself; and the same fate was supposed to have befallen Bupalus and Athenis, two sculptors, who turned into ridicule the ugly features of Hipponax, the lyric poet of Ephesus, who flourished in the sixth centuryB. C., about 150 years after Archilochus. The daughters of Lycambes were included, as the story goes, in Archilochus’s invectives, and also destroyed themselves. See Epp. i. 19. 25.
16.Inultus ut flebo puer?] The construction is ‘inultus, flebo ut puer.’
EPODE VII.
ThisEpode appears to have been written when some fresh war was breaking out. It may have been the last war between Augustus and M. Antonius, which ended in the battle of Actium and the taking of Alexandria. See Epod. i., Introduction. This is as likely a time as any other, but it is not easy to decide.
Argument.—Whither run ye to arms?—hath not blood enough of Romans been shed? ’T is not to burn the walls of Carthage, or humble the Briton, but that the Parthian may rejoice in seeing Rome fall by her ownhand. The beasts do not war upon their kind. Is it madness, or force irresistible, or wickedness, that drives you? They are dumb: they answer not. ’T is even so: the blood of Remus is visited on the destinies of Rome.
2.conditi?] Swords which were ‘lately sheathed.’
7.Intactus] See C. iii. 24. 1. What Horace means to say is, “The blood that has been spilt in these civil wars has been shed, not for the destruction of Carthage, as in the war that Scipio led, or that the Briton might be led in chains, as he was by Julius Cæsar, but for the destruction of Rome herself.” ‘Intactus’ means ‘untouched,’ till Julius Cæsar invaded them and carried away prisoners, many of whom walked in his triumph. The first time after Cæsar’s expeditions that a Roman army invaded Britain was in the expedition of Claudius,A. D.43.
8.Sacra catenatus via,] See C. iv. 2. 35, n.
12.dispar] This signifies an animal of another species. ‘Feris,’ agreeing with ‘lupis’ and ‘leonibus,’ may be rendered ‘fierce though they be.’
13.vis acrior,] This seems to be an absolute expression (not comparative with ‘furor’), and equivalent to θεοῦ βία, θεοβλάβεια; and it is so explained by Gaius with reference to such a visitation of God as a storm, earthquake, and so forth (Dig. 11. 25. 6). “Vis major, quam Graeci θεοῦ βίαν, id est, vim divinam appellant, non debet conductori damnosa esse.” Horace means some irresistible force.
19.Ut immerentis] ‘Ut’ signifies ‘ever since,’ as C. iv. 4. 42, and elsewhere. Horace here fetches his reasons from a distant source, more fanciful than natural. He wrote more to the purpose afterwards, C. i. 2; ii. 1.
EPODE VIII.
Addressedto a licentious old woman.
EPODE IX.
Thedate of this Ode is not to be mistaken. It was written when the news of Actium was fresh, in September,B. C.31, immediately before the 37th of the first book. It is addressed to Mæcenas, who is called upon to celebrate with a feast at his new house the victory of Augustus, which is described as if by an eyewitness.
Argument.—When shall we drink under thy tall roof, Mæcenas, to Cæsar the conqueror, as late we did when the son of Neptune lost his fleet and fled,—he who threatened us all with the chains his slaves had worn? Will our sons believe it? Romans have sold themselves to serve a woman and her eunuchs, and the luxurious gauze hath fluttered among the standards of war! But their allies deserted to our side, and their ships skulked from the fight. Io Triumphe! bring forth the golden chariot and the sacrifice. So great a conqueror never came from Africa before. The enemy hath changed his purple for mourning, and hath fled to Crete or the Syrtes, or knoweth not whither to fly. Bigger cups, boy,—Chian, or Lesbian, or Cæcuban,—we will drown our old anxieties for Cæsar in wine.
3.sub alta — domo,] This was the house built by Mæcenas on the Campus Esquilinus. See Introduction to S. i. 8.
6.barbarum?] Phrygian, for which this was a common equivalent, as opposed to Grecian. So (Epp. i. 2. 7): “Graecia barbariae lento colliso duello.” Virg. Aen. ii. 504: “Barbarico postes auro spoliisque superbi.” Catull. (lxiv. 265): “Barbaraque horribili stridebat tibia cantu.” See C. i. 1. 32, n. on the plural ‘tibiis,’ and C. iv. 15. 30, n., as to Dorian and Phrygian music.
7.nuper,] This was between five and six years before, when Sextus Pompeius was defeated by Agrippa off Naulochus, on the coast of Sicily,B. C.36, when his fleet was burnt, and he himself obliged to fly to Asia. Horace says he threatened to fasten upon the free citizens those chains which he had taken from the fugitive slaves, who formed a large part of his force. Sextus appears to have boasted that Neptune was his father, and the sea his mother. See Epod. iv. 19.
12.Emancipatus] There is no variation in the MSS. here, but the sense would seem to require ‘mancipatus.’ “‘Mancipatio’ is the form by which a person who was not ‘sui juris’ was transferred to the ‘potestas’ of another, as in the case of adoption. ‘Emancipare’ seems to be the proper term to express the making a person ‘sui juris’ by the act of ‘mancipatio’; but ‘mancipo’ and ‘emancipo’ are often confounded in the MSS.” Here, however, we must take ‘emancipatus’ as the true reading and it can only signify ‘sold into slavery.’ There may be a shade of difference in the meaning of the words, which it is not easy to trace.
13.Fert vallum et arma] ‘Valli’ were stakes, of which every soldier carried one or two for the purpose of defending the ‘agger’ or mound of earth, formed round an encampment or a besieged town. ‘Arma’ includes not only his weapons of offence and defence, but an axe, saw, chain, etc. The accoutrements of a Roman soldier were very heavy, but they had slaves (‘calones’) who helped to carry them. See C. ii. 13. 18, n.
16.conopium] A gauze mosquito curtain.
17.At huc] ‘Huc’ is ‘to our side.’ ‘Frementes’ agrees with ‘equos.’ Horace means to say that part of the enemy’s force deserted to Cæsar. For the expression ‘canentes Caesarem’ compare Virg. (Aen. vii. 698): “Ibant aequati numero regemque canebant.” The Galli were cavalry of Galatia (or Gallogræcia) under Deiotarus their king, and his general (who afterwards succeeded him), Amyntas.
20.sinistrorsum citae.] This is probably a nautical term. The Greeks had an expression πρύμνην κρούσασθαι, ‘to back water.’ Something of that sort, connected with flight, is probably the meaning of ‘sinistrorsum citae.’ Whether Horace exactly states what he had heard, and whether the information was precisely correct, we cannot tell. He wrote while the tidings were fresh, and probably gave only popular reports. The defection of the Galatians is mentioned by Plutarch (Ant. 63). ‘Citae’ is the participle of ‘cieo.’
21.Io Triumphe,] Triumphus is personified, as in C. iv. 2. 49.
aureos Currus] A gilded chariot was used by conquerors in their triumphs. The form of the chariot was that of a round tower. Four horses, which on special occasions were white, were used for drawing the triumphal chariot. Heifers that had not been under the yoke, were offered in sacrifice at the close of the procession. Scipio Africanus Minor triumphed inA. U. C.608 (B. C.146), for the conquest of Carthage, and Marius inB. C.104, for his victories over Jugurtha.
25.cui super Karthaginem] All that is here said about Scipio’s tomb is, that his valor built him one on the ruins of Carthage, which is no more than a repetition of C. iv. 8. 17. Horace is speaking of a tomb of renown, in which Scipio’s memory is enshrined, not his body.
27.Terra marique] There was no land engagement; but all the forces of Antonius, when he deserted them, laid down their arms. ‘Punicum sagum’is called by the Greek writers φοινίκις. The ‘sagum’ was properly the cloak worn by the common soldier on service; but qualified as it is here by ‘punicum,’ ‘purple,’ it can only mean the ‘paludamentum,’ or officer’s military cloak. Horace says the enemy has changed his purple cloak for a black one, in token of mourning and shame for his defeat. It is to be observed, that, though M. Antonius is clearly the person uppermost in the writer’s mind, he only uses the general expressions ‘hostis,’ ‘Romanus’ (v. 11). ‘Mutavit’ signifies, as elsewhere, ‘has taken in exchange.’
29.centum — urbibus] See C. iii. 27. 33, n. ‘Ventis non suis’ means ‘unfavourable winds.’ Ovid (Met. iv. 373): “Vota suos habuere deos.”
33.Capaciores affer] The transition here is as abrupt and expressive as in C. iii. 19. 9.
36.Metire nobis] ‘Metire’ is equivalent to ‘misce,’ because the wine and the water were measured out and mixed in regular proportions, by means of the cyathus (C. iii. 19. 12).
EPODE X.
Mæviuswas an inferior poet of the day, who appears to have employed himself in abusing his betters. He is most popularly known through Virgil’s familiar line, “Qui Bavium non odit amet tua carmina, Maevi” (Ecl. iii. 90). It appears that he went or meditated going to Greece, and Horace took a different leave of him from that he took of his friend Virgil on a like occasion (C. i. 3). He calls him the stinking Mævius, and promises an offering to the tempests if they will sink his ship.
Argument.—Bad luck go with the stinking Mævius. Blow, ye winds, and shatter his ship; no friendly star peep forth in the sky: let him be driven as the Greeks were by Pallas for the crime of Ajax. O how the sailors will sweat! and thou wilt turn deadly pale, and cry like a woman, and fall to thy prayers! Let me only hear the gulls are feasting upon thy carcass, and I will offer a goat and a lamb to the storms.
10.tristis Orion] See C. i. 28. 21, n.
14.Ajacis] The son of Oïleus. The story is, that he was destroyed by Athene, on his return from Troy, for having dragged Cassandra from her altar and violated her. See Virg. Aen. i. 41. Homer tells the story a little differently (Odyss. iv. 499, sqq.). But either account suits Horace’s description.
17.illa] He speaks as though he heard the man crying.
19.Ionius — sinus] The southern part of the Hadriatic was called the Ionian sea, and it is called ‘sinus,’ as the Hadriatic itself is called so in C. iii. 27. 18.
23.immolabitur caper] See Virg. Aen. iii. 120; v. 772. Black animals were usually offered to the Tempests, to deprecate their wrath. The offerings Horace promised are in the way of thanksgiving.
EPODE XI.
Thisis a love poem, probably imitated from the Greek. The poet complains that he is so smitten by the heavy hand of love that he cannot write as he used. Two years before, he says, he had given up Inachia, who preferredricher lovers to himself, but now the young Lyciscus has caught his heart, and nothing but some new love can deliver him from the snare. The poet addresses his friend Pettius, as one who had before been his confidant and adviser (v. 12).
Argument.—Pettius, I am so smitten with the heavy hand of love, who makes me above others his victim, that I cannot write as I used. ’T is two years since I gave up Inachia. Ah! what a by-word I was then! How I sighed in company and poured out my complaints to thee, when wine had opened my heart! “Has the poor man’s wit no chance against the rich man’s purse? My wrath is kindled. I cast my modesty and my sighs to the winds, I will contend with such rivals no more.” Thus did I boast, but my feet carried me still to her cruel door. And now, boasting that I have no woman to fear, Lyciscus has caught my heart, nor can counsel or raillery deliver me, nor aught but some new flame.
1.Petti,] This name is not found elsewhere. It may nevertheless be a real name, though it seems only to be introduced to give an air of reality to the Ode.
3.me praeter omnes expetit] ‘Me’ is governed by ‘expetit,’ not by ‘urere.’ ‘Expetit — urere’ is a Greek construction; ‘quem urat’ is the regular Latin.
4.in pueris] This use of ‘in’ is not very common. It occurs Ov. Met. iv. 234, “Neque enim moderatus in illa Solis amor fuerat.”
6.Inachia] This is another of those names from the Greek which Horace invariably adopts in his merely poetical compositions. See Introduction.
honorem decutit.] This expression is used by Virgil, who either borrowed it from Horace, or from some common original (Georg. ii. 404): “Frigidus et silvis Aquilo decussit honorem.” See C. i. 17. 16: “Ruris honorum opulenta.”
8.Fabula] Epp. i. 13. 9: “Fabula fias.” He means he was the talk of the town. ‘Arguit’ (v. 10) is the preterperfect tense.
11.Contrane] ‘Can it be that the honest genius of the poor man has no influence against gold?’ ‘Ne’ might be omitted, but then it would be a mere exclamation, ‘To think that,’ etc.
12.applorans] This word is not found elsewhere, except in Seneca.
13.inverecundus deus] When Horace means to discourage brawling over wine, he calls Bacchus ‘verecundus’ (C. i. 27. 3). The best works of art represent this god as young and effeminately beautiful, with long hair, like Apollo, as the emblem of eternal youth. It is a coarse modern notion to represent him as a jolly round faced boy, or a drunken sot. This character belongs to Silenus, who is always drunk.
15.Quodsi meis] ‘But now that in my heart is boiling wrath so free that it doth scatter to the winds these thankless remedies that cure not my sad wound, my modesty removed shall cease to strive with rivals not mine equals.’ He means to say, that his wrath has got the better of his love and modesty, and he will cast his complaints and his shyness to the winds, and cease to contend with rivals that are unworthy of him. ‘Fomenta’ means sighs and complainings with which grief is sought to be relieved. ‘Libera bilis’ is like (Epod. iv. 10) “liberrima indignatio.” ‘Imparibus’ signifies his rivals who are beneath him in mind, though his betters in fortune. ‘Desinet certare summotus pudor’ is equivalent to ‘desinam certare summoto pudore.’ ‘Imparibus’ is the dative case. See C. i. 1. 15, n. ‘Inaestuo’ is not used elsewhere, but Horace is free in his use of prepositions in composition, after the manner of the Greeks.
19.palam laudaveram,] ‘Palam’ is used both as an adverb and a preposition. ‘Laudaveram’ is equivalent to ‘jactaveram.’
20.incerto pede] ‘With wavering foot,’ that is, with steps that would go one way, and are forced to go another. The poet represents himself as making fine boasts before his friend, but striving in vain to keep them when he leaves him.
21.non amicos heu mihi postes] Compare “asperas porrectum ante fores” (C. iii. 10. 2), where ‘porrectum’ explains ‘lumbos et infregi latus,’ which means that he wearied his body by lying on the hard ground.
24.mollitie amor] The hiatus in this verse, and the short syllable in v. 26, are explained by the rule, that, the two verses being composed of two separate measures, the last syllable in each is common, and independent of the syllable that follows. The name Lyciscus is probably formed from Lycus, Alcæus’s favorite boy.
26.Libera consilia] ‘Candid counsels,’ opposed to ‘contumeliae graves’; but neither are meant seriously.
28.teretis pueri] ‘Smooth-faced boy.’ See note on C. i. 1. 28. As to ‘longam comam,’ see C. iv. 10. 3, n. ‘Renodantis,’ which some render ‘untying, and allowing to flow upon the shoulders,’ means rather ‘tying up in a knot,’ like a girl.
EPODE XII.
ThisOde is addressed to a licentious woman.
EPODE XIII.
ThisOde is like the ninth of the first book,—a convivial song, written in winter. There can be little doubt of the subject as well as the metre being imitated from the Greek. The reference to Achilles reminds us of C. i. 7, and the allusion to Teucer. There is a fragment of Anacreon which bears some likeness to the opening of this Epode.
Argument.—The tempest is raging, let us make merry, my friends, while we are young, and leave the rest to the gods, who will give us a good turn yet.
Bring ointment and music, as Chiron taught his great pupil, saying, “To Troy thou must go, and not return; while there, drown care in wine and song, which are grief’s pleasant comforters.”
1.contraxit] This word is only to be explained by observing the different aspect of the sky when it is closed in with clouds, and when it is spread out in all its breadth and cloudless. A frowning sky is a notion easily understood, and common to all languages.
2.Jovem;] See C. i. 1. 25; 16. 12. Virgil (Ecl. vii. 60): “Juppiter et laete descendet plurimus imbri.” Georg. ii. 325:—
“Tum pater omnipotens fecundis imbribus aetherConjugis in gremium laetae descendit.”
3.rapiamus, amici, Occasionem de die,] This is explained by C. iii. 8. 27: “Dona praesentis cape laetus horae.” ‘Die’ means the present day as opposed to to-morrow, not, as some take it, ‘from this stormy day.’
4.dumque virent genua] See C. i. 9. 17, n. The strength of an active man lies very much in his legs, and so they are put for his strength, as in the 147th Psalm (v. 10): “He delighteth not in the strength of the horse: hetaketh not pleasure in the legs of a man”: and the knees are a chief part of the legs, therefore γούνατα λύειν is used for κτείνειν. ‘Dum virent genua,’ therefore, means merely ‘while our limbs are strong, and we are young.’ The tottering of the knees is one of the first signs of old age.
5.obducta — fronte] ‘Clouded brow.’ ‘Senectus’ is nowhere else used in this sense of ‘melancholy,’ though ‘senium’ is not uncommonly. ‘Tu’ is the master of the feast (C. i. 4. 18, n.). Sextus Manlius Torquatus was consul,B. C.55, when Horace was born. Compare “O nata mecum consule Manlio” (C. iii. 21. 1).
7.Cetera] See C. i. 9. 9: “Permitto divis cetera.” Either it is a literal version of the Greek ἕτερα, in the sense of ‘adverse,’ or the troubles of the times may be referred to, or generally Horace may mean by ‘cetera,’ all troublesome thoughts opposed to mirth and wine.
8.vice.] The short syllables here and in vv. 10, 14, ‘pectora,’ ‘flumina,’ are explained on v. 24 of the last Ode.
Achaemenio] See C. ii. 12. 21, n. ‘Nardo’ is from ‘nardum,’ not ‘nardus,’ as in Epod. v. 59: “Nardo perunctum quale non perfectius.”
9.fide Cyllenea] The lyre invented by Mercury, born on Mount Cyllene in Arcadia.
11.grandi] Juvenal (vii. 210) describes Achilles as a big boy at school, “Metuens virgae jam grandis Achilles Cantabat patriis in montibus”; but ‘grandis’ has not that meaning here, though some have supposed it has.
Centaurus] Cheiron, the instructor of Achilles and other heroes. Whether Horace took what follows from any story or not, it is impossible to determine, as with the similar episode of Teucer in C. i. 7.
13.frigida] This is an adaptation of Homer’s description (Il. xxii. 151): ἡ δ᾽ ἑτέρη θέρεϊ προρέει εἰκυῖα χαλάζῃ Ἢ χιόνι ψυχρῇ. ‘Domus Assaraci,’ ‘proles Assaraci,’ are common in Virgil. Assaracus was great-grandfather of Æneas. Homer took a more heroic view of the dimensions of the river Scamander, which was μέγας ποταμὸς βαθυδίνης (Il. xx. 73).
15.subtemine] ‘The woof of the web.’ ‘Certo subtemine’ means only by an unalterable destiny. See Catull. 64. 328, &c.: “Currite ducentes subtemina currite fusi.” ‘Mater caerula’ means Thetis.
18.alloquiis.] ‘Alloquiis’ signifies ‘consolations,’ and is in apposition with ‘vino cantuque.’ There is no other instance of ‘alloquium’ being used otherwise than with reference to conversation. But Horace may have followed, after his custom of imitating the Greeks, the use of παραμύθιον, παρηγορία, which were applied, in a derived sense, to anything that gave relief to sorrow.
EPODE XIV.
Theobject of this Ode is to excuse Horace for his indolence in not having finished a poem, or volume of poems, he had long promised (v. 7). He says it is love that has prevented him, and that Mæcenas ought to sympathize with him.
Argument.—Thou killest me, my noble Mæcenas, asking again and again if I have drunk the waters of Lethe. It is love, it is love that keeps back the verses I have promised,—such love as Anacreon wept, in his flowing numbers, for Bathyllus, the Samian. Thou, too, feelest the flame, and if thou art more blessed than I, be thankful. Thou lovest the most beautiful of women: I am in torment for a harlot.
1.imis — sensibus,] So Virgil (Ecl. iii. 54): “Sensibus haec imis (res est non parva) reponas.”
4.traxerim,] This is the earliest instance of this use of ‘traho.’ ‘Duco’ is more common (C. i. 17. 22; iii. 3. 34; iv. 12. 14). Ovid and later writers use ‘traho’ (see Forcell.). The Greeks used σπάω and ἕλκω commonly in this sense. ‘Candide’ seems to signify ‘generous,’ ‘true.’ It is used familiarly.
6.Deus] That is, love.
8.Ad umbilicum adducere.] The several sheets of parchment on which the contents of a book were written were joined together, and at the end of the last was fastened a stick on which the whole was rolled, like our maps; and in the same way, at the ends of this roller, were knobs, which were called ‘cornua’ or ‘umbilici.’ The former word is obvious enough. The latter belongs more properly, perhaps, to the shape that the ends of the roll would take when these knobs were wanting; but it was also applied to the knobs themselves, and so ‘ad umbilicum adducere’ is to bring a volume to the last sheet.
It has been disputed whether ‘carmen’ means a volume or a single poem. ‘Ad umbilicum adducere’ seems to refer to a volume, ‘carmen’ to a single poem; but the former might be taken in a derived sense, ‘ad finem adducere,’ as reasonably as the latter in a collective sense, and I think a single poem is meant. Perhaps it never was finished. Whether ‘olim’ belongs to ‘inceptos’ or ‘promissum’ is open to doubt. In sense it applies to both.
9.Bathyllo] C. ii. 4. 7, n. Anacreon’s verses were full of passionate addresses to boys. The name of Bathyllus does not occur in any of the fragments that have come down to us; but it is mentioned by others besides Horace, and he is known to have been one of Anacreon’s chief favourites. He was a graceful performer on the flute, which accomplishment Anacreon took delight in praising. One of the Odes falsely attributed to Anacreon is addressed εἰς νεώτερον Βάθυλλον· and from that we also learn that he was a Samian, ἢν δ᾽ ἐς Σάμον ποτ᾽ ἔλθῃς Γράφε Φοῖβον ἐκ Βαθύλλου. Anacreon, being driven from his native town, Teos in Ionia, lived many years at Samos, under the protection of Polycrates.
12.Non elaboratum ad pedem.] This means that his style was easy and his rhythm flowing, which is verified by the few fragments that remain. The poems that go by Anacreon’s name are of a later age.
13.Ureris ipse miser:] See Introduction. Terentia, Mæcenas’s wife, is here alluded to.
EPODE XV.
Thisis probably a composition from the Greek. It is addressed to an imaginary Neæra by the poet, in his own person. He complains of her deserting him for a wealthier rival. He bids her remember her vows, and beware of provoking him, lest he leave her for ever. And he pities the man whom she has caught, and warns him that, be he rich and wise as he may, she will soon leave him for another. Horace introduces the same name in a much later Ode (iii. 14. 21), and it is used throughout the third book of Elegies commonly attributed to Tibullus. The Ode is in Ovid’s style, and worthy to have been written by him.
Argument.—Remember that night when the moon was in the sky, and thou didst swear fidelity to me, saying, that so long as the sheep feared thewolf, and storms vexed the winter’s sea, and Apollo’s locks floated in the breeze, our mutual love should last.
Thou shalt rue my firmness, Neæra. Flaccus will bear no rival. Let thy faithlessness drive him to wrath, and he will seek a true heart elsewhere. Let him once learn to hate thy beauty, and he will be its captive no more, when grief shall have settled in his soul. And thou, whosoever thou art, that boastest thyself in my sorrow, be thou rich in flocks and fields, and let Pactolus run gold for thee; be thou wise in the secrets of Pythagoras, and of form more beautiful than Nireus; yet shalt thou weep for her love transferred to another, and my turn to laugh shall come.
2.Inter minora sidera,] ‘Sidus’ properly signifies a collection of stars, a constellation; but here it is equivalent to ‘stella,’ which in its turn appears for ‘sidus’ in C. iii. 29. 19. In C. i. 12. 47 it is also a single star, and the moon is represented as she is here: “Micat inter omnes Julium sidus, velut inter ignes Luna minores.”
3.laesura] ‘Laedere’ is applied to injury by word or deed, to fraud (‘laesa fides’), or slander, or violence done to the person, or damage of any kind. It applies to high-treason, whereby the majesty of the sovereign power is violated, and to perjury, as blaspheming the name of God. Compare Ovid (Heroid. ii. 43):—
“Si de tot laesis sua numina quisque deorumVindicet, in poenas non satis unus eris.”
The offence, however, of lovers’ perjury was not supposed to weigh very heavily (see C. ii. 8. 13, n.). The Dii Magni were twelve in number: Juppiter, Minerva, Juno, Neptune, Venus, Mars, Vulcan, Vesta, Apollo, Diana, Ceres, and Mercury.
4.In verba jurabas mea,] This is the usual way of expressing the oath of obedience taken by soldiers, the words being dictated to the men. Hence the phrases ‘conceptis verbis jurare,’ ‘conceptis verbis pejerare.’ ‘Jurare in verba’ was conventionally applied to any oath of allegiance, and the poet says Neæra swore by the gods eternal devotion to his will. Elsewhere Horace expresses by these words the blind adherence to a particular teacher, declaring that he is “Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri” (Epp. i. 1. 14).
6.Lentis adhaerens brachiis:] ‘Lentissima brachia’ is used in a different sense in S. i. 9. 64. Here ‘lentis’ signifies ‘twining,’ as that which is soft and pliant.
7.Dum pecori lupus] ‘Infestus’ belongs to both clauses, but in the first ‘foret’ must be supplied. There is a slight irregularity in the sentence. As to ‘Orion,’ see C. i. 28. 21.
9.Intonsosque agitaret] Long hair was the mark of youth (C. iv. 10. 2, n.), and Apollo as well as Bacchus (see Epod. xi. 13, n.) was held to be always young. Hence in all ancient representations of Apollo he has long hair, either braided or flowing, in which respect he is frequently compared with Bacchus by the poets. See Ovid (Met. iii. 421), “Et dignos Baccho dignos et Apolline crines.” Hence the expression in the text is almost proverbial, and Neæra’s vow is one of eternal fidelity. Other allusions to Apollo’s hair will be found in C. i. 21. 2, “Intonsum pueri dicite Cynthium”; C. iii. 4. 62, “Qui rore puro Castaliae lavit Crines solutos”; and C. iv. 6. 26, “Phoebe qui Xantho lavis amne crines.”
11.virtute] ‘Virtus’ here signifies moral courage, determination, and firmness. See note on C. S. 58. The name Neæra is formed from νείαιρα, which is used by Homer, and is said to be an irregular comparative of νέος, so that Neæra signifies ‘the younger.’
14.parem,] One who is his match, equally loving and true.
15.Nec semel offensae] ‘Offensus’ is here used as the object of dislike. Horace says, ‘Nor shall his firmness yield to thy beauty, if he hate it once, when settled pain has entered his soul.’
19.licebit] This use of the future tense shows that ‘licet’ and some other words, which are called by the grammarians conjunctions, are in fact only verbs, after which ‘ut’ is understood. ‘Licebit’ is used below (S. ii. 2. 60), and by Ovid (Trist. v. 14. 3), “Detrahat auctori multum fortuna licebit.” The Pactolus, in Lydia, was not the only golden stream of the ancients. The Tagus, Hebrus, Po, and Ganges, all had the same repute. What the secret learning of Pythagoras was, is expressed in the epithet given him, ‘renati.’ His metempsychosis is referred to in C. i. 28. 10. As to Nireus, see C. iii. 20. 15.