xii. 768:

"Servati ex undis ubi figere dona solebant Laurenti divo, et votas suspendere vestes."

The temples of Isis in particular were thus adorned, after the introduction of her worship into Rome, which was not till quite the latter years of the Republic. She was worshipped in Greece as Πελαγία, and the Romans placed themselves under her protection at sea. Juvenal asks (S. xii. 28): "Pictores quis nescit ab Iside pasci?" There is a little confusion in the sentence; for Horace says, 'the wall shows with its votive picture that he has hung up his clothes to the sea-god.' This may be accounted for if we suppose that he meant to say, 'the wall with its picture shows that he has escaped drowning,' to which the other is equivalent, but expresses more, namely, the hanging up of the clothes.

15. _potenti--maris_] 'Potenti' governs 'maris,' as "potens Cypri," C. i. 3. 1.

ODE VI.

This Ode is addressed to M. Vipsanius Agrippa, the friend and general, and at a later time the son-in-law, of Augustus. It was probably written after the battle of Actium, where Agrippa commanded the fleet of Augustus against M. Antonius. He may have asked Horace to write an ode in his honor, and he declines in a modest way, professing to be unequal to such high exploits, which he places on the same level with those of Homer's heroes.

Argument.--Varius shall sing in Homeric strain of thy victories by sea and land. My humble muse does not sing of these, of the wrath of Achilles, or the wanderings of Ulysses, or the fate of Pelops's house, nor will she disparage thy glories and Cæsar's. Who can fitly sing of Mars, mail-clad,--of Meriones, black with the dust of Troy,--of Diomed, a match for gods? I sing but of feasts, and of the battles of boys and girls.

1. _Scriberis_] See next Ode, v. 1, n. L. Varius Rufus was a distinguished epic and tragic poet frequently mentioned by Horace, with whom he was intimate, and whom he introduced to Mæcenas. He was popular with his contemporaries, and much admired by them. Augustus also had an affection for him (see Epp. ii. 1. 247).

2. _carminis alite,_] 'Alite' is in apposition with 'Vario.' Translate, 'bird of Homeric song.' In prose the ablative of the agent without a preposition is not admissible. But Horace has the same construction, C. iii. 5. 24. S. ii. 1. 84. Epp. i. 1. 94. It is most frequently found in Ovid. Homer is called 'Maeonius' from the fact that Smyrna, a town of Lydia, more anciently called Mæonia, was one of those that claimed to be his birthplace.

3. _Quam rem cunque_] The construction is by attraction. The full expression would be 'scriberis et scribetur omnis res quamcunque.' Agrippa's great successes up to this time had been in the Perusian war against L. Antonius, B.C. 41 (in which he had the principal command under Augustus), in Gaul and Germany, by land; and against Sex. Pompeius and at Actium, by sea.

4. _te duce_] See next Ode, v. 27, n.

5. _neque haec--nec gravem_] This is as if he had said: 'I should not think of singing of these victories, any more than I should of the wrath of Achilles.' Compare C. iii. 5. 27-30:

"Neque amissos colores Lana refert medicata fuco, Nec vera virtus cum semel excidit Curat reponi deterioribus." 'As the stained wool does not recover its lost color, so true virtue once lost will not be restored to the degenerate.' 'Gravem stomachum' is a translation of μῆνιν οὐλομένην (Il. i. 1), and 'cedere nescii' is explained by 'inexorabilis,' A.P. 121. This construction with 'nescius' is not uncommon. Virgil, Aen. xii. 527: "Rumpuntur nescia vinci pectora." Ovid, Ep. ex Pont. ii. 9. 45: "Marte ferox et vinci nescius armis."

7. _duplicis_] διπλοῦς, 'double-minded or double-tongued,' as he is described by Hecuba in Euripides's play of the Trojan Women (v. 285):--

ὃς πάντα τἀκεῖθεν ἐνθάδ᾽ ἀντίπαλ᾽ αὖθις ἐκεῖσε διπτύχῳ γλώσσᾳ φίλα τὰ πρότερ᾽ ἄφιλα τιθέμενος πάντων.

'Ulixeï' is a genitive of the second declension, 'Ulixeus' being an old Latin form of 'Ulysses.'

8. _saevam Pelopis domum_] Alluding to Varius's tragedy Thyestes. Tantalus, the founder of his house, served up his own son Pelops at a feast of the gods. Pelops, restored to life, murdered Œnomaus his father-in-law and his own son Chrysippus (Thucyd. i. 9). Atreus, the son of Pelops, murdered and placed before their father as a meal the children of Thyestes his brother, who had previously seduced the wife of Atreus. Atreus was killed by Ægisthus, his nephew and supposed son, who also seduced the wife of his cousin, Agamemnon (the son of Atreus), who was murdered by the said wife Clytemnestra, and she by her son Orestes, who was pursued to madness by the Erynnyes of his mother: all of which events furnished themes for the Greek tragedians, and were by them varied in their features as suited their purpose, or according to the different legends they followed.

11. _Laudes_] It is said that Varius wrote a panegyric on Augustus, and if so, it is possible Horace means indirectly to refer to it here.

13. _tunica tectum adamantina_] This expresses Homer's epithet χαλκοχίτων.

15. _Merionen_] The charioteer of Idomeneus, king of Crete. 'Pulvere Troico nigrum' is like 'non indecoro pulvere sordidos' (C. ii. 1. 22). With the help of Pallas, Diomed encountered Mars and wounded him (Il. v. 858).

18. _Sectis--acrium_] The order is, 'virginum in juvenes acrium, Sectis tamen unguibus.'

19. _sive quid urimur_] The construction has been noticed before (3. 15), and 'vacuus' occurs in the last Ode (v. 10). See Z. § 385.

20. _Non praeter solitum leves._] 'Trifling, according to my usual practice.'

ODE VII.

Munatius Plancus, who followed Julius Cæsar both in Gaul and in his war with Pompeius, after Cæsar's death attached himself to the republican party, but very soon afterwards joined Augustus; then followed Antonius to the East, and B.C. 32, the year before Actium, joined Augustus again. He was consul in B.C. 42. See C. iii. 14. 27,

"Non ego hoc ferrem, calidus juventa, Consule Planco."

He had a son Munatius, who is probably the person referred to in Epp. i. 3. 31. To which of them this Ode was addressed, if to either, is uncertain. It might have been addressed to any one else, for its only subject is the praise of a quiet life and convivial pleasure, which is supported by a story about Teucer, taken from some source unknown to us. Much of the language and ideas seems to have been copied from the Greek.

Argument.--Let others sing of the noble cities of Greece, and dedicate their lives to the celebration of Athens and all its glories. For my part, I care not for Lacedæmon and Larissa, as for Albunea's cave, the banks of Anio, and the woods and orchards of Tibur. The sky is not always dark, Plancus: drown care in wine, whether in the camp or in the shades of Tibur. As Teucer, though driven from his father's home, bound poplar on his head, and cheered his companions, saying: "Let us follow fortune, my friends, kinder than a father: despair not, while Teucer is your chief; Apollo has promised us another Salamis: drown care in wine, for to-morrow we will seek the deep once more."

1. _Laudabunt_] This future is like 'scriberis' in the last Ode (v. 1), 'others shall if they please.' 'Claram' means 'bright,' with reference to its cloudless skies. 'Bimaris' is an unusual word. It refers to the position of Corinth, which, standing at the south of the isthmus, commanded the shore of the Sinus Corinthiacus, by two long walls reaching from the town to the sea, and had its eastern port Cenchreæ on the Sinus Saronicus.

5. _Sunt quibus_] 'There are those who make it the single business of their lives to tell of chaste Minerva's city in unbroken song, and to gather a branch from every olive to entwine their brow.' A 'perpetuum carmen' is a continuous poem, such as an Epic; and 'a branch from every olive,' or, more literally, an 'olive-branch from every quarter,' means that the various themes connected with the glory of Athens are as olive-trees, from each of which a branch is plucked to bind the poet's brow. The figure is appropriate to the locality, where the olive flourished and was sacred to Minerva (see Herod. v. 8. Soph. Oed. Col. 694, sqq.). We do not know of any poem or poems to which Horace may have alluded, but Athens furnished subjects for the inferior poets of the day.

8. _Plurimus_] This word for 'plurimi' standing alone occurs nowhere else; with a substantive it is not uncommon, as 'Oleaster plurimus,' Georg. ii. 182. 'Plurimus aeger,' Juv. iii. 232. 'In honorem,' for the ablative, is an unusual construction. But Propertius (iv. 6. 13) says, "Caesaris in nomen ducuntur carmina," which is an analogous case. See Hom. Il. iv. 51, where Here says:--

ἦ τοι ἐμοὶ τρεῖς μὲν πολὺ φίλταταί εἰσι πόληες, Ἄργος τε Σπάρτη τε καὶ εὐρυάγυια Μυκήνη.

She had a celebrated temple between Argos and Mycenæ called the Ἡραῖον. Homer (Il. ii. 287) calls Argos ἱππόβατον ('aptum equis'), the plain in which the city was placed being famous for breeding horses.

'Dites Mycenas' is later: Μυκήνας τὰς πολυχρύσους (Soph. Elect. 9). 'Opimae Larissae' is Homeric; Λάρισσα ἐριβώλαξ (Il. ii. 841). There were several towns of this name, and it is uncertain which Homer meant, but probably that in Thessaly. Horace perhaps took his town, with its epithet, without thinking much where it was. But he may have been at all these places while he was in Greece. 'Patiens' is the Spartan's historical character, but also that of Horace's age. Cicero (Tusc. v. 27) says, "Pueri Spartiatae non ingemiscunt verberum dolore laniati. Adolescentium greges Lacedaemone vidimus ipsi, incredibili contentione certantes pugnis, calcibus, unguibus, morsu denique, ut exanimarentur prius quam se victos faterentur." 'Percussit' is generally used with the ablative of the instrument or cause. Standing alone in this way, and in the aoristic perfect, it savors very much of ἔπληξε which is used in the same sense.

12. _Albuneae resonantis_] Albunea, one of the Sibyls worshipped at Tibur, gave her name to a grove and fountain. See Virg. Aen. vii. 81, sqq.

13. _Tiburni lucus_] Tiburnus (or -tus), Catillus, and Coras were the mythical founders of Tibur. See Virg. Aen. vii. 671. The brothers were worshipped and had a grove there. Tiburnus was the tutelar deity of Tibur, as Tiberinus was of the river Tiber, Anienus of the Anio, &c. They are in fact adjectives. Tibur was famous for its orchards. As to 'uda' see C. iii. 29. 6, n. Close to Tibur there is a fall of the Anio, which explains 'praeceps.'

15. _Albus_--_Notus_] This is the λευκόνοτος of the Greeks. We have also 'candidi Favonii' (C. iii. 7. 1) and 'albus Iapyx' (C. iii. 27. 19). In the latter place it represents a treacherous wind. Horace prefers the older forms in 'eo,' as 'deterget,' 'tergere' (S. ii. 2. 24), 'densentur' (C. i. 28. 19).

19. _fulgentia signis_] The standards in front of the 'praetorium,' the commander-in-chief's quarters, were decorated with plates of burnished gold or silver.

21. _Teucer_] Teucer was brother of Ajax, and son of Telamon, king of Salamis, that island on the southern coast of Attica where Themistocles defeated the forces of Xerxes. When he returned from Troy, his father refused to receive him, because he came without his brother, whereupon he went with his followers to Cyprus, and built a city there, which he called after his native place, Salamis. 'Cum fugeret tamen' is an imitation of the Greek καὶ φεύγων ὅμως. But this use of 'tamen' is not uncommon in Cicero. Teucer selected Hercules as his protector, and so wore a crown of poplar, which was sacred to that hero. See Virg. Aen. viii. 276.

25. _Fortuna melior parente_] 'Fortune, kinder than my father.'

27. _duce et auspice_] Horace puts technical distinctions into Teucer's lips, of which he could know nothing. The commander-in-chief of a Roman army had a power called 'imperium' given him, in virtue of which his acts in the war in which he was engaged were done on behalf of the state. He alone had the power of taking the auspices under which the war was carried on. The difference between 'dux' and 'auspex' was the difference between a commander who had the 'imperium' (and therefore the 'auspicium') and one who had not. If an 'imperator' commanded in person, the war was said to be carried on under his 'ductus' as well as his 'auspicia'; otherwise only under his 'auspicia,' his 'legatus' being the 'dux.' Thus Tacitus says (Ann. ii. 41), "recepta signa cum Varo amissa ductu Germanici auspiciis Tiberii." Tiberius as 'imperator' alone had the 'auspicium,' which the emperors rarely delegated to their generals. See last Ode, v. 4. C. iv. 14. 33. Epp. ii. 1. 254. 'Certus' is equivalent to σαφής in εἰ Ζεὺς ἔτι Ζεὺς χὠ Διὸς Φοῖβος σαφής (Oed. Col. 623).

29. _Ambiguam_] Of doubtful name, i.e. liable to be confounded with the old Salamis.

ODE VIII.

This Ode contains an expostulation with a damsel, Lydia, who is supposed to be spoiling by her charms a youth, Sybaris, once distinguished in all manly sports, which he has now forsaken. Sybaris was the name of a Greek town on the Sinus Tarentinus, the inhabitants of which were idle and luxurious. The name, which was proverbial though the town had long been destroyed, is given to this youth by way of representing the character into which he has fallen.

Argument.--Lydia, why art thou spoiling Sybaris thus, so that he shuns all manly exercises? He who was once so active, why does he no longer ride and swim and wrestle, and throw the quoit and javelin in the Campus Martius? Why does he hide himself with thee, like Achilles, in woman's apparel?

3, 4. _apricum campum_] The Campus Martius, where the youth of Rome used to practise manly and warlike exercises.

5. _militaris_] 'as a soldier should.'

6. _Gallica nec lupatis_] The best horses were bred in Cisalpine Gaul. Lupata (plur.) is used as a substantive by Virgil (Georg. iii. 208). It was the sharpest kind of bit, so called from the jagged teeth of the wolf, which it resembled. It was also called 'lupus.' The participle is not elsewhere used.

8. _Tiberim tangere?_ _Cur olivum_] The Romans bathed often in the Tiber, before which, and before their exercises in the Campus Martius, they were wont to rub oil on their limbs. C. iii. 12. 6. S. i. 6. 123; ii. 1. 8.

10. _armis_] The discus (S. ii. 2. 13) and lance, the violent use of which strained and discolored the arms.

13. _Quid latet,_] 'Why is he hiding himself in your house?' as Achilles was hid in a woman's dress, in the palace of Lycomedes, in the island of Scyros, lest he should be carried to Troy; a legend which Homer knew nothing of. Thetis foresaw that the siege of Troy would be fatal to Achilles. In Ovid (Met. xiii. 165, sqq.) Ulysses relates the story, and tells how he discovered Achilles and dragged him to the war.

16. _Lycias_--_catervas?_] The Lycians assisted the Trojans under the command of Sarpedon and Glaucus.

ODE IX.

This is a drinking song for the winter, imitated from an Ode of Alcæus. A party is supposed to be assembled in the city, and one calls upon the master of the feast to bring out his best wine, and make the fire burn bright, that they may banish care and all thought for the future, since youth is the time for innocent enjoyment.

Argument.--You see how Soracte stands out with snow, and the woods are bending with their burden, and the sharp frost hath frozen the streams. Heap logs on the fire, and draw your best Sabine wine, feast-master, and leave the rest to the gods, at whose bidding the fierce winds are still and the woods have rest. Ask not what is to come; enjoy the present day; let the dance be ours while we are young, the Campus Martius, the promenade, the nightly assignation, and the coy girl that loves to be caught.

1. _stet_] 'stands out.' This signifies a fixed and prominent appearance. 'Stant lumina flamma' (Aen. vi. 300) may be rendered in the same way. Soracte was one of the Faliscan range of hills, about 2200 feet high and twenty-four miles from Rome. It is now called Monte Tresto, a corruption from 'San Oreste.' It is seen very clearly from the northern point of the city. Apollo had a temple there: "Summe deum sancti custos Soractis Apollo," Aen. xi. 785.

4. _constiterint_] 'have ceased flowing.' See Ov. Tr. v. 10. 1: "Ut sumus in Ponto ter frigore constitit Ister." 'Acuto,' as applied to cold, corresponds to the ὀξεῖα χιών of Pindar, and 'penetrabile frigus' of Virgil. But Horace also applies it to heat (Epp. i. 10. 17): "Cum semel accepit solem furibundus acutum." In English, we say 'a sharp frost,' but do not use the same word for heat.

7. _Deprome quadrimum Sabina,--diota._] The first of these words means here to draw the wine from the 'diota' into the crater or bowl in which it was mixed with water. The diota (so called from its having two handles or ears, ὦτα) was the same as the 'amphora' (so called for the same reason), 'testa,' or 'cadus,' which were names for the vessels of earthen-ware or glass in which the wine was kept, as we keep it in bottles, after it was drawn from the 'dolium,' the larger vessel in which it was put to ferment when new. The name of the wine is applied to the vessel containing it here, as in 'Graeca testa' (i. 20. 2); 'Laestrygonia amphora' (iii. 16. 34). Sabine wine was not among the best, nor was it of the worst sort. It was a sweet wine, and probably after four years' keeping was in its prime. Horace calls it elsewhere (C. i. 20. 1) "vile Sabinum," but that was as compared with Mæcenas's more expensive sorts.

14. _Fors_] 'Chance.' Cic. (de Legg. ii. 11) distinguishes 'Fors' from 'Fortuna' thus: "Fortuna valet in omnes dies; Fors in quo incerti casus significantur magis." 'Fors' and 'Sors' differ as cause and effect. See S. i. 1. 1. 'Quem dierum cunque' is equivalent to 'quemcunque diem'; 'whatever day chance shall bestow.'

_lucro Appone,_] 'set it down to good luck.' Cic. Div. 9. 17: "de lucro prope jam quadriennium novimus," i.e. of good luck and contrary to expectation. Liv. (xi. 8) has the same expression: "De lucro vivere me scito." 'Lucrari' is said of things gained without our own effort, according to Forcellini's explanation.

17. _virenti_] Epod. 13. 4: "dumque virent genua." The Greeks used γόνυ χλωρόν. 'Virere' is also applied to old age, and we speak commonly of a 'green old age.' "Cruda ac viridis senectus," Tac. Agr. 29.

18. _areae_] Courts and open places about the temples and in different parts of the town, used as promenades and for games. 'Any place in a city not built upon,' is the jurists' definition of 'area.'

24. _male pertinaci._] 'slyly obstinate,' or 'not obstinate,' that is, which does not resist the snatching of the ring; for 'male' may be taken in either sense. See below, C. 17. 25, n.

ODE X.

In the following Ode, which is a translation or close adaptation of one written by Alcæus, the attributes and legends belonging to Hermes, the Greek divinity, are applied to Mercurius, the Latin, who was properly the god who presided over commerce. Ovid gives much the same account of Mercurius in the fifth book of the Fasti (663, sqq.). His description begins with the same apostrophe as this, 'Clare nepos Atlantis.'

Argument.--Mercury, thou who in their infancy didst tame the human race by the gifts of speech and the palæstra, of thee will I sing, thou messenger of the gods, thou master of the lyre and prince of thieves. Why, while Apollo was threatening thee for stealing his cows, he turned and laughed to find his quiver gone. By thee Priam passed through the Grecian camp. Thou conductest souls to their last home, thou favorite of the gods above and gods below!

1. _nepos Atlantis,_] Hermes was the son of Zeus and Maia the daughter of Atlas.

3. _Voce formasti_] Hermes was looked upon as the herald of the gods, and so as gifted above all others with eloquence; hence he was called λόγιος. He was said to have invented the first written language.

_decorae More palaestrae,_] 'The practice (exercise) of the graceful palæstra,' so called as giving grace to the limbs. As the inventor and patron of gymnastic exercises, Hermes was called ἀγώνιος.

6. _lyrae parentem,_] Hermes was said, when a child, to have taken the shell of a tortoise and put strings to it, and so to have invented the lyre.

7. _Callidum quidquid_] All arts of cunning were supposed to have originated with Hermes, who as the god of gain patronized thieving.

9. _Te boves olim_] Translate in the following order: 'Olim Apollo, dum Te puerum terret (terrebat) minaci Voce, nisi reddidisses boves per dolum amotas, Risit viduus (spoliatus) pharetra.' Hermes is also said to have stolen when a child some cows of Apollo's. After some time, that god discovered the thief, and when threatening to punish him if he did not restore them, he turned and found his bow and arrows gone; and Horace says he smiled at the expertness of the theft. This story is said to have been first told by Alcæus. Ovid, in the place above mentioned, relates it.

14. _Ilio dives Priamus_] Horace uses the forms Ilios (feminine) and Ilion (neuter). The story of Priam going through the Grecian camp to beg the body of his son Hector of Achilles, is told by Homer in the 24th book of the Iliad (334, sqq.).

15. _Thessalos ignes_] The watch-fires of the troops of Achilles.

17. _Tu pias laetis_] As the conductor of the dead, Hermes was called ψυχοπομπός, and as the bearer of a golden wand, he was named χρυσόῤῥαπις. This wand the Greeks called κηρυκεῖον, the Latins 'caduceus.'

20. _imis._] That is, Pluto and Proserpine.

ODE XI.

The swarms of impostors from the East, who pretended to tell fortunes and cast nativities at Rome in the time of the empire, became a public nuisance, and they were expelled and laws passed against them, but without the effect of putting them down. Tacitus (Hist. i. 22) describes them as "Genus hominum infidum, sperantibus fallax, quod in civitate nostra et vetabitur semper et retinebitur." They were becoming numerous in Cicero's time. As might be supposed, they were most successful in engaging the attention of women (Juv. vi. 569, sqq.), and Horace here addresses himself to one of that sex, whom he calls Leuconoë, a name which appears to be equivalent to 'folly.'

Argument.--Look not into the book of fate, Leuconoë, nor consult the astrologers. How much better to be satisfied, whether we have yet many winters to see, or this be the last! Be wise, strain the wine, think of the shortness of life, and cut your expectations short. Even while we speak, time flies. Live to-day; trust not to-morrow.

1. _scire nefas,_] 'Nefas' means that which is not permitted by the gods. It does not always signify what is wrong, but sometimes what is impossible for the above reason.

2. _Babylonios numeros._] 'The calculations of the Chaldeans.'

6. _vina liques,_] 'strain the wine.' See S. ii. 4. 51, n.

_spatio brevi_] This means 'cut down distant hopes, and confine them within a narrow compass.'

8. _Carpe diem_] 'Seize the (present) day.'

ODE XII.

The object of this Ode is to celebrate the popular divinities and heroes of Rome; but the design is so worked out as to draw the chief attention to Augustus. The Muse is asked whom she will praise,--Jove and his children, or some one of the worthies of Rome, of whom many are mentioned, beginning with Romulus and ending with Augustus, of whom it is declared that he is under the especial care of Jove, and that he holds from him the sceptre of the world. These persons are mentioned without reference to chronological order, and it does not appear why some were chosen rather than others of more or equal note who are omitted.

Argument.--Whom wilt thou sing among gods or men, Clio? Whose name shall the echoes of Pindus or Helicon repeat, or of Hæmus, whose woods followed the sweet music of Orpheus? Whom, before the Almighty Father, who knows no equal or second? After him cometh Pallas, and then brave Liber, and the huntress Diana, and Phœbus the archer, and Hercules, and Leda's sons, the horseman and the fighter, before whose star the tempests fly. Then shall it be Romulus, or the peaceful Numa, or proud Tarquin, or Cato, who nobly died? Regulus, and the Scauri, and Paulus, who gave up his great soul to the Carthaginian, gratefully I will sing, and Fabricius and Curius and Camillus, all trained for war in poverty's school. The fame of Marcellus is growing up insensibly, like a tree, and the star of Julius is brighter than all stars. To thee, great Father, is given the care of Cæsar; share with him thy kingdom. Putting Parthians to flight, and subduing the nations of the East, he shall rule the world, as thy vicegerent, with a righteous sway, while thou dost shake Olympus, and hurlest thy bolts on the haunts of impiety.

1. _Quem virum_] This opening is taken from the beginning of the second Olympic Ode of Pindar:--

ἀναξιφόρμιγγες ὕμνοι τίνα θεόν, τίν᾽ ἥρωα, τίνα δ᾽ ἄνδρα κελαδήσομεν;

2. _sumis celebrare,_] See C. i. 1. 8, n. Horace invokes the Muses without much discrimination; but Clio is not improperly invoked here, as the Muse of history, to which the names of the worthies recounted belong. Calliope, the Epic Muse, is invoked C. iii. 4. 2; Melpomene, the tragic, is asked for a dirge, i. 24. 3, and is invoked by Horace as his patroness in iv. 3; Euterpe and Polymnia, the proper lyric Muses, occur i. 1. 33. 'Imago' is used absolutely for the echo (for which the Romans had no corresponding term) by Cicero, Tusc. iii. 2: "ea (laus bonorum) virtuti resonat tanquam imago." Virgil gives the full expression, Georg. iv. 50: "Vocisque offensa resultat imago." See C. i. 20. 8. Our verse-writers are fond of Horace's epithet, 'sportive echo.'

5. _Heliconis oris_] Helico was a range of mountains in Bœotia, and Pindus between Thessaly and Epirus. Both were celebrated as the abodes of the Muses. Hæmus was a range on the north of Thrace, and Orpheus was a Thracian. See A. P. 391, 405, n.

9. _Arte materna_] Orpheus was the son of the Muse Calliope.

15, 16. _Qui mare ac terras_] Virgil addresses Jove in the same way:--

"O qui res hominumque deumque Aeternis regis imperiis et fulmine terres."--Aen. i. 230.

_variisque mundum--horis_] 'Mundum' here signifies 'the sky,' as in Georg. i. 240, and 'horis' has its Greek signification,--'seasons.'

17. _Unde nil majus_] 'Unde' occurs several times in Horace as referring to persons. See, among other places, Cicero de Senect. 4, fin., "fore unde discerem neminem."

19. _Proximos_] This, signifying the next in order without reference to distance, does not contradict what goes before. 'Secundum' means close proximity. Pallas is said to hold the next place to Jupiter, not absolutely, but among those 'qui generantur ipso,' and only these are mentioned.

21. _Proeliis audax_] Horace confounds the Latin divinity Liber with the Greek Dionysus or Bacchus, whose Indian wars and contests with the giants (ii. 19. 21) are here alluded to.

26. _Hunc equis,--_] S. ii. 1. 26.

29. _Defluit saxis agitatus humor,_] The waters that in their fury covered the rocks flow back to their bed. See C. i. 3. 2, n.

33. _Romulum post hos_, etc.] The order is, 'dubito utrum prius post hos memorem Romulum, an quietum Pompili regnum,' etc.

34. _superbos Tarquini fasces_] Tarquinius Priscus is probably referred to, and 'superbos' must in that case be taken in a good sense.

35. _Catonis_] M. Cato, surnamed Uticensis from the fortress of Utica in Africa, where he died. He put himself to death, rather than fall into the hands of Julius Cæsar, B.C. 46.

37. _Scauros_] The plural is used for the singular (see S. i. 7. 8, n.), and M. Æmilius Scaurus is meant, who was consul B.C. 115. The story of M. Atilius Regulus, who as consul commanded the Roman army in the first Punic war, and was taken by the Carthaginians, is told in C. iii. 5. L. Æmilius Paullus commanded with Varro, his colleague in the consulship, at the battle of Cannæ, when the Romans were defeated by Hannibal, and Paullus lost his life by refusing to fly when he might have done so. C. Fabricius Luscinus was consul, and commanded in the war with Pyrrhus, B.C. 278, three years after which M. Curius Dentatus was consul and commander in the same war. Both of these consuls were celebrated for the simplicity of their habits, and for rejecting the bribes of the Samnites, in respect to which a notable saying of Curius is related by Cicero (De Senect. c. 16). The older Romans wore their hair and beards long. These heroes are represented as negligent of their appearance. L. Furius Camillus is he who was said to have forced the Gauls to raise the siege of the Capitol, B.C. 390.

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.

This Ode 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.

During the 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, between B.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.

This is 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.

Horace appears 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.

This professes 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 of his 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.

This is 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 sacris Thyas ubi audito stimulant trieterica Baccho Orgia 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.

The hero 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.

This Ode 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.

The year 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 Fuscus was 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.

This appears to be imitated from a poem of Anacreon, of which a fragment has been preserved in Athenæus (ix. p. 396):--

ἀγανωστὶ ἅτε νεβρὸν νεοθηλέα γαλαθηνὸν ὅστ᾽ ἐν ὕλῃς κεροέσσης 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 Varus was 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 vitas Admoneat 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 habit of 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.

This Ode 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.

This Ode 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 year B.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, who was 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. In B.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, in B.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.

This is 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 or _vice 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 is commonly 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 Pythagoras too, 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 idem Dicere 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 century B.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 crinem Abstulerat Stygioque caput damnaverat Orco."

In Eurip. (Alc. 74) Death says in respect to his victim,

στείχω δ᾽ ἐπ᾽ αὐτὴν ὡς κατάρξωμαι ξίφει ἱερὸς γὰρ οὗτος τῶν κατὰ χθονὸς θεῶν ὅτου 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.

In the year B.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 century B.C., and was intimate with the younger Scipio.

15. _loricis Hiberis_] 'Spanish mail.' The steel of Hiberia (Spain) was celebrated.

ODE XXX.

It is 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.

This is 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.

1. _Poscimur._] 'Poscitur a nobis carmen.' This may mean that the poetic afflatus is on him, and he feels called upon to sing.

2. _Si quid vacui_] 'If ever, at my ease under the shade, with thee I have sung aught that shall live this year, yea more.'

4. _Barbite,_] Βάρβιτος is used as a feminine noun by the early Greek writers. The later make it masculine. Here it is masculine, and in C. 1. 34.

5. _Lesbio--civi,_] Alcæus of Mytilene (C. 1. 34, n.). He fought in the civil wars of his native country, and left his arms behind him on the field of battle, in a war with the Athenians in Troas. He was exiled by Pittacus, tyrant of Mytilene, and travelled in different countries, particularly Egypt. Horace says, that in the midst of his battles and wanderings he still found time to sing of wine and love. But he also sang of dangers by sea and land (C. ii. 13. 27), and inspired his countrymen with martial odes ('minaces Camenae,' C. iv. 9. 7).

_modulate_] See C. i. 1. 24, n.

6. _qui ferox bello_, etc.] 'Who, though a fierce warrior, would yet, if he were in the camp, or had moored his sea-tossed bark on the wet shore, sing of Bacchus and the Muses, and Venus and her ever-attendant son.'

10. _haerentem_] This verb 'haerere' is taken by Horace with a dative, as here and S. i. 10. 49; or with an ablative with 'in,' as S. i. 3. 32; or without 'in,' as C. i. 2. 9. S. ii. 3. 205.

11. _Et Lycum_] A young friend of Alcæus, whose name appears in a fragment still extant, οὐκ ἐγὼ Λύκον ἐν Μοΐσαις ἀλέγω.

14. _testudo_] See C. 10. 6, n.

15. _cumque_] As 'quandoque' is put for 'quandocumque,' 'cumque' is put for 'cumcumque' or 'quumquumque,' which occurs in Lucret. ii. 113. 'Cumque' belongs to 'vocanti,' 'whenever I shall invoke thee,' as if it were 'quandocumque vocem.'

ODE XXXIII.

Albius Tibullus, the poet, was a favorite with his contemporaries. To him was addressed the fourth Epistle of the first book, as well as this Ode. He appears on some occasion to have been in bad spirits, and crossed in love, and Horace sent him this little poem, to amuse and cheer him.

Argument.--Come, Albius, do not be drawling pitiful poetry upon Glycera, because she prefers a younger man to you. Pretty Lycoris loves Cyrus, Cyrus inclines to Pholoë, who admires the vulgar sinner as the she-goat loves the wolf. Such are Love's diversions, bringing opposites under the yoke together. So it happened to me,--a tender heart was attached to me, while I could not free myself from the fetters of Myrtale, more impetuous than the waves of the Adriatic.

1. _memor_] 'ever thinking of.'

2. _neu miserabiles_, etc.] 'And do not (always) sing doleful strains, because,' &c.

3. _cur_] 'Cur' or 'quur' is formed from 'qui,' and has the force of 'quod' here, as in Epp. i. 8. 10.

5. _tenui fronte_] A low forehead was considered a beauty, and the women braided their hair accordingly, as is seen in some statues. The same appears to have been considered an attraction in men. Epp. i. 7. 26: "reddes--nigros angusta fronte capillos." Intellectual beauty, as we view it in men, is better described by Pliny, Epist. iii. 6. 2: "rari et cedentes capilli; lata frons."

7. _Cyrus in asperam Declinat Pholoën_] All these are imaginary persons.

8. _Jungentur capreae lupis_] This is a common hyperbole. Epod. xvi. 30: "Novaque monstra junxerit libidine Mirus amor," &c.

9. _adultero._] 'libertine.'

10, 11. _impares--animos_] 'ill-matched persons and dispositions.'

12. _Saevo cum joco_] 'In cruel sport.'

14. _compede_] This word is used twice again by Horace in the singular number: "grata compede vinctum" (C. iv. 11. 24); "nivali compede vinctus" (Epp. i. 3. 3); and once by Tibullus: "Spes etiam valida solatur compede vinctum" (ii. 6. 25). These are the only instances till after the Augustan age. Myrtale was a common name among freedwomen.

16. _Curvantis Calabros sinus._] 'Breaking into bays the coast of Calabria'; that is, indenting the coast of Calabria, and so forming bays. By Calabria, the Romans understood the whole of the peninsula which was called by the Greeks Iapygia or Messapia, washed by the Hadriatic on one side, and the Gulf of Tarentum on the other.

ODE XXXIV.

If we are to take Horace at his word, he was one day startled by the phenomenon of a thunder-clap, or other noise, when the sky was clear; and he appears to have been frightened into considering the error of his ways, which led him to abandon the loose doctrines of Epicurus, by which he had been guided before.

Argument.--Careless of Heaven, I have been wandering in the darkness of an insane creed; I now retrace my steps, awakened by the sign of Jove's chariot dashing through an unclouded sky,--that chariot with which he shakes the earth, the waters, and hell, and the ends of the world. God is strong to bring down the mighty and exalt the low, to take the crown from one and place it on the head of another.

2. _Insanientis sapientiae_] 'A wild philosophy,' the Greek σοφία ἄσοφος. The doctrines of Epicurus are here alluded to. This creed Horace professed, writing in his twenty-eighth year, to hold,

"Deos didici securum agere aevum Nec si quid miri faciat natura, deos id Tristes ex alto caeli demittere tecto."

(Sat. i. 5. 101.) On 'consultus,' which is used like 'jurisconsultus,' see Forcelli.

5. _relictos:_] 'Iterare cursus relictos' signifies to return to the paths he had left; 'iterare' being equivalent to 'repetere.'

_Diespiter,_] It is said that this name was given to Jove as 'diei pater.' 'Dies' is an old form of the genitive. But probably the first two syllables are only a different form of 'Jup-' in 'Juppiter,' and from the same root as Ζεύς.

7. _per purum tonantes_] The phenomenon of thunder heard in a clear sky is frequently alluded to by the ancients, and was held especially ominous. See Virg. Georg. i. 487. Aen. vii. 141, etc.

10. _Taenari_] Taenarum (Matapan) was the most southern promontory of the Peloponnesus, where was a cave, supposed to lead down to Hades.

11. _Atlanteusque finis_] Apparently imitated from Eurip. (Hipp. 3), τερμόνων τ᾽ Ἀτλαντικῶν. The African range Atlas was supposed to be the boundary of the world in that direction.

12. _Valet ima summis_] This language is like the opening of the next Ode. It may be compared with various familiar passages of the sacred Scriptures; as, "He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and exalted them of low degree." (Luke i. 52.) "Promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the Judge; he putteth down one, and setteth up another." (Psalm lxxv. 6, 7.) The sentiment, however, is common. Tacitus seems to have had Horace's words in his mind, when he wrote of the public funeral given to Flavius Sabinus, and the overthrow of Vitellius, that they were "magna documenta instabilis fortunae summaque et ima miscentis" (Hist. iv. 47).

14. _hinc apicem_] 'Apex' signifies properly the tuft (composed of wool wrapped round a stick) or the top of the Flamen's cap. It appears to stand for any covering of the head, and Horace applies it to the royal crown, here and in C. iii. 21. 20. 'Valere' with an infinitive is not used by prose-writers till after the Augustan age.

ODE XXXV.

When Augustus was meditating an expedition against the Britons, and another for the East, Horace commended him to the care of Fortune the Preserver, to whom this Ode is addressed. The design of invading Britain was interrupted by an insurrection of the Salassians, an Alpine people. The goddess Fortuna, under different characters, had many temples at Rome; but her worship was most solemnly maintained, when Horace wrote, at Præneste and at Antium, where she had an oracle, and was worshipped under a double form, as 'prospera' and 'adversa.' Tacitus mentions a temple belonging to an Equestris Fortuna, in which the Equites set up a statue they had vowed for the recovery of Augusta (Ann. iii. 71). She was represented on Roman coins with a double ship's rudder in one hand and a cornucopiæ in the other, which may furnish a clew to the allusions in the second stanza. There are passages which may have been drawn from paintings in the temple at Antium.

Argument.--Queen of Antium, all-powerful to exalt or to debase, the poor tenant cultivator worships thee, and the mariner on the deep. Thou art feared by the savage Dacian and nomad Scythian, by all cities and nations; yea, by proud Latium herself; by royal mothers trembling for their sons, and kings fearing for their crowns. Necessity, with her stern emblems, goes before thee. Hope and Fidelity go with thee, when thou leavest the house of prosperity, while false friends fall away. Preserve Cæsar as he goeth to conquer Britain; preserve the fresh levies destined for the East. It repenteth us of our civil strife and impious crimes. Let the sword be recast, and whetted for the Scythian and the Arab.

1. _Antium,_] A maritime town of Latium, now called Porto d' Anzo. (See Introduction.)

2. _Praesens_] There is no other instance of 'praesens' with an infinitive. 'Praesens' is often used with the signification of 'potens.' In its application to the gods, it expresses their presence as shown by their power. "God is a very present help in trouble." Ps. xlvi. 1. Cicero (Tusc. Disp. i. 12. 28) says of Hercules, "apud Graecos indeque prolapsus ad nos et usque ad Oceanum tantus et tam praesens habetur deus."

4. _funeribus_] The same as 'in funera.'

6. _colonus,_] See C. ii. 14. 12, n.

7, 8. _Bithyna--carina_] A vessel built of the timber of Bithynia.

9. _profugi Scythae_] This is to be explained by the wandering habits of the Scythians. It explains 'campestres Scythae' (C. iii. 24. 9), and corresponds to Σκύθας δ᾽ ἀφίξει νομάδας οἳ πλεκτὰς στέγας Πεδάρσιοι ναίους᾽ ἐπ᾽ εὐκύκλοις ὄχοις (Aesch. P. V. 709). 'Profugus' is repeated in C. iv. 14. 42.

11. _Regumque matres barbarorum_] Orelli quotes the description in the fifth chapter of Judges, ver. 28. "The mother of Sisera looked out at a window, and cried through the lattice, Why is his chariot so long in coming? why tarry the wheels of his chariot?" There are four objects in respect of which Fortune is here said to be invoked,--the seasons, the winds, war, and faction. (See Introduction.) She is said to be an object of reverence to the distant and barbarous nations, as well as the cities and provinces of the Roman world, and Eastern mothers and tyrants fearing for their crowns.

14. _Stantem columnam,_] The figures of Peace, Security, Happiness, and others, are each represented on old monuments as resting on a column. What Horace means is, that tyrants are afraid lest Fortune should overthrow their power, represented figuratively by a standing column.

15. _Ad arma--ad arma_] The repetition of these words suggests the cry of the 'thronging people' ('frequens populus'). 'Cessantes' means the peaceably disposed.

17. _Te semper anteit saeva Necessitas_] The several things that Necessity is here represented as holding, are emblems of tenacity and fixedness of purpose,--the nail, the clamp, and the molten lead: they have nothing to do with torture, as many have supposed. 'Anteit' is to be scanned as a dissyllable.

18. _Clavos trabales_] These were nails of the largest sort, for fastening beams in large houses. There is said to be one in the Museum of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, at Florence, weighing fifty pounds, made of bronze. 'Clavi trabales' had passed into a proverb with the Romans. Compare Cicero (in Verr. Act. ii. 5. 21) "ut hoc beneficium, quemadmodum dicitui, trabali clavo figeret." 'Cunei' were also nails wedge-shaped. On the nails of Fate, see C. iii. 24. 7. The metaphor of molten lead, used for strengthening buildings, is used by Euripides (Androm. 267), καὶ γὰρ εἰ πέριξ σ᾽ ἔχει τηκτὸς μόλυβδος.

21. _Te Spes et albo_] The picture represented in this and the following stanzas, apart from the allegory, is that of a rich man in adversity, going forth from his home, with hope in his breast, and accompanied by a few faithful friends, but deserted by those who only cared for his wealth. In the person of Fortune, therefore, is represented the man who is suffering from her reverses; and in that of Fidelity, the small ('rara') company of his true friends. Fortune is represented in the garments of mourning ('mutata veste'), and Fides in a white veil, emblematic of her purity. With such a veil on their heads, men offered sacrifice to her. She is called by Virgil (Aen. i. 292), 'Cana Fides,' but there it probably means 'aged.' According to Livy (i. 21), Numa established religious rites for Fides.

22. _nec comitem abnegat,_] 'nor refuses herself for thy companion,' as if 'se' were understood.

28. _Ferre jugum pariter dolosi._] 'Too faithless to bear the yoke together with him.' This metaphor is taken from beasts unequally yoked.

29. _Serves iturum_] See Introduction.

_ultimas Orbis Britannos_] "Et penitus toto divisos orbe Britannos" (Virg. Ec. i. 67), "Extremique hominum Morini" (Aen. viii. 727), are like Horace's phrase.

32. _Oceanoque rubro._] The force that was to conquer Arabia (see C. i. 29) was probably at this time preparing.

36. _unde_] 'From what?'

39. _diffingas retusum_] 'Diffingas' is a word met with in no author but Horace, who uses it here and in C. iii. 29. 47: "neque Diffinget infectumque reddet." It means here to break up or unmake, with the purpose of forging it again. 'O I pray thee on new anvil recast the blunted sword for the Scythian and the Arab.' It had been blunted in civil war, and was to be whetted again for the destruction of the barbarians.

40. _Massagetas_] These people are said by Herodotus (i. 204) to have inhabited the great plain east of the Caspian; but the Romans had no distinct knowledge of them, and the name is used for the unknown regions of Northern Asia, like the name of the Scythians.

ODE XXXVI.

Who Numida was, we have no means of knowing. That he was an intimate friend of Horace's appears from this Ode. He was also a great friend of Lamia's (see C. 26 of this book). He appears to have lately returned from the army in Spain, and Horace writes this Ode for the occasion, calling upon Numida's friends to celebrate his return with sacrifice, music, and wine.

Argument.--Let us sacrifice to the guardian gods of Numida, on his safe return from Spain; he is come to embrace his dear friends, but none more heartily than Lamia, in remembrance of their early days. Mark the fair day with a white mark; bring out the wine without stint; cease not the dance; let Bassus out-drink Damalis the drunken; bring the rose, the parsley, the lily, for our feast. Though all eyes shall languish for Damalis, she will cleave only to Numida.

4. _Hesperia_] In the year B.C. 26, Augustus went into Spain to put down an insurrection of the Cantabri. He returned to Rome two years afterwards, and Numida returned with him, or perhaps a little before, since Augustus was detained by sickness (C. iii. 14).

7. _Lamiae,_] See Introduction.

8. _Actae non alio rege puertiae_] 'Rege' may perhaps be put in a familiar way for their schoolmaster; if so, it was Orbilius Pupillus (Epp. ii. 1. 71). But the meaning is not quite certain.

_puertiae_] For 'pueritiae.' Other instances of syncope are 'lamnae,' 'surpuerat,' 'surpite,' 'soldo,' 'caldior,' etc.

9. _Mutataeque simul togae._] They were of the same age, and therefore had taken the 'toga virilis' together. See Epod. v. 7, n.

10. _Cressa ne careat pulchra dies nota,_] The custom of marking fair days with a white stone or mark, and unlucky ones with a black, had passed, if not into practice, into a proverb with the Romans. Hence Persius (ii. 1, sqq.), writing to his friend on his birthday, says:

"Hunc, Macrine, diem numera meliore lapillo, Qui tibi labentes apponit candidus annos."

'Cressa' is the adjective formed from 'creta,' chalk, so called as coming from Cimolus, a small island near Crete.

11. _Neu--amphorae_] 'And let there be no measured use of the wine-jar brought out.'

12. _Neu morem in Salium_] 'Salium' is an adjective like 'Saliaris' in the next Ode. It occurs again in C. iv. 1. 28, where see note.

13. _multi Damalis meri_] 'Damalis, great drinker (as she is).' Such is the expression 'Multi Lydia nominis' (C. iii. 9. 7). Ovid (Met. xiv. 252) has nearly the same words: "Eurylocumque simul, multique Elpenora vini." Who Bassus was, we cannot tell, without knowing more of his friend Numida. Damalis may be anybody,--a woman like Lyde (C. ii. 11. 22), brought into the Ode to make up a scene. The name was common among freedwomen.

14. _Threïcia vincat amystide,_] 'Amystis' was a deep draught, taken without drawing breath or closing the lips (ἀ, μύειν). For Threïcia see i. 27. 2.

17. _putres Deponent oculos,_] 'will fix their languishing eyes.' The Greeks expressed 'putres' by τηκόμενοι.

20. _ambitiosior._] This is the only passage in which the word occurs in this sense of 'clinging,' the nearest to 'ambire' in its primitive meaning.

ODE XXXVII.

The occasion that gave rise to this Ode, and the time therefore of its composition, are sufficiently clear. Intelligence of the deaths of M. Antonius and Cleopatra was brought to Rome in the autumn of B.C. 30, and on this occasion Horace wrote the following Ode, which is directed chiefly against Cleopatra. Horace appears to have started with an ode of Alcæus on the death of Myrsilus in his head. It began,

νῦν χρὴ μεθύσθην καί τινα πρὸς βίαν πίνην ἐπειδὴ κάτθανε Μύρσιλος.

The historical facts referred to may be gathered from Plutarch's Life of M. Antonius.

Argument.--'T is time to drink, to smite the earth, and set out a feast for the gods, my friends. We might not bring down the Cæcuban, while that mad queen with her foul herd was threatening Rome with destruction. But her fury is humbled, her fleet in flames, her drunken heart shook with fear when Cæsar hunted her from Italy, as the hawk pursues the dove or the hunter the hare, to chain the accursed monster; who feared not the sword nor fled to secret hiding-places, but chose to die, rather than submit to be led in triumph by the conqueror.

2. _nunc Saliaribus_] A Saliaric banquet is a rich banquet, fit for the Salii, the priests of Mars. The feasts of the Pontifices were proverbial for profusion. On great occasions, a banquet was set out, in place of a sacrifice, and images of the gods were placed upon couches, as for the purpose of eating. This sort of banquet was called a 'lectisternium.'

3. _pulvinar_] Properly, the cushion of the couch, and so put here for the couch itself.

4. _Tempus erat_] This imperfect tense seems to mean that this was the time that the Fates had intended for such festivities. Ovid (Tr. iv. 8. 24, sq.) has it twice over in this unusual way:--

"Sic igitur tarda vires minuente senecta Me quoque donari jam rude tempus erat; Tempus erat nec me peregrinum ducere caelum Nec siccam Getico fonte levare sitim."

The Greeks used the imperfect ἐχρῆν in the same undefined way. See note on i. 27. 19.

6. _Cellis_] The 'cella' was, properly speaking, a chamber, partly above and partly under ground, in which the 'dolia' were kept. That in which the 'amphorae' were stored was called 'apotheca,' and was in the upper part of the house: hence the terms, 'depromere,' 'deripere,' 'descendere.' 'Capitolio' is equivalent to 'urbi.' See C. iii. 3. 42; iii. 30. 8. 'Imperio' is used for the sovereign power of Rome, as in C. iii. 5. 4.

7. _Regina dementes ruinas_] 'Dementes' is transferred from 'regina' to 'ruinas' as in Virg. (Aen. ii. 576): "Uleisci patriam et sceleratas sumere poenas," where 'sceleratas' expresses the guilt of Helen.

9. _Contaminato cum grege turpium Morbo virorum,_] 'with her filthy herd of men (forsooth) foul with disease.' The corrupt lusts of that class of persons who were most about an Eastern queen, are properly called a disease. 'Virorum' is used ironically. In Epod. ix. 11, Horace complains:--

"Romanus eheu! posteri negabitis Emancipatus foeminae Fert vallum et arma miles, et spadonibus Servire rugosis potest."

10. _impotens Sperare_] 'wild enough to expect anything.' This is a common construction, noticed at C. i. 1. 18. 'Impotens' corresponds to ἀκρατής, and signifies violence, want of self-control. See Epod. xvi. 62.

13. _Vix una sospes navis_] Cleopatra's fleet escaped from the battle of Actium, but M. Antonius saved no more than his own ship, in which he fled to Egypt. From motives of delicacy no allusion is made to M. Antonius throughout the Ode.

14. _Mentemque lymphatam Mareotico_] 'Lymphatus' is equivalent to νυμφόληπτος, 'lympha' and 'nympha' being the same word. Mareotic wine was from the shores of the Lake Mareotis in the neighborhood of Alexandria. 'In veros timores' is opposed to what the Greeks called τὰ κενὰ τοῦ πολέμου. Cleopatra's fleet fled from Actium, before a blow was struck, under the influence of a panic; but Horace chooses to say it was a 'verus timor.' The historical facts are not accurately represented in this Ode. Though it is said that Cleopatra meditated a descent upon Italy, in the event of M. Antonius and herself proving successful at Actium, she fled from that place to Egypt, and never went near Italy, whither Augustus returned after the battle; and it was not till the next year, A.U.C. 724, that he went to Alexandria, and the deaths of M. Antonius and Cleopatra occurred.

20. _Haemoniae,_] This is an ancient name for Thessaly.

24. _reparavit_] Literally, 'took in exchange for her own kingdom shores out of the sight of men.' It is said that Cleopatra contemplated quitting Egypt, to escape from Augustus, and that she transported vessels across the desert to the Red Sea; but they were destroyed by the Arabs, and she abandoned her design. Plut. Ant. c. 69. On the word 'reparavit,' see C. i. 31. 12, n.

25. _jacentem_] On Cleopatra's death, etc., see Plut. Ant. c. 84.

26, 27. _asperas--serpentes_] 'venomous asps.' 'Atrum' is 'deadly.'

29. _Deliberata morte ferocior_] 'Growing bolder, when she had resolved to die.'

30. _Liburnis_] See Epod. i. 1, n.

ODE XXXVIII.

This Ode was probably written as a song, and set to music. There is not much to remark upon it. No great pains are usually bestowed on such matters. Some suppose it to be a translation, others an original composition. It is probably only a good imitation of Anacreon. The time is supposed to be Autumn (v. 4).

Argument.--I hate your Persian finery. Hunt not for the rose, boy; I care only for the myrtle, which equally becomes thee, the servant, and me, thy master.

2. _philyra_] The linden-tree was so called by the Greeks; and its thin inner bark was used for a lining, on which flowers were sewed to form the richer kind of chaplets, called 'sutiles.'

3. _Mitte_] 'forbear,' equivalent to 'omitte.'

5. _allabores_] This is a coined word, and signifies to labor for something more. It corresponds to προσπονεῖν, and occurs again, Epp. viii. 20. The order is, 'curo nihil sedulus allabores simplici myrto,' 'I wish you to take no trouble to add anything,' &c.

7. _sub arta Vite_] 'Arta' signifies 'thick,' 'close-leaved.'

ODES.--BOOK II.

ODE I.

This Ode is addressed to C. Asinius Pollio, the friend and companion in arms of Julius Cæsar. In B.C. 40 he was consul, and in the following year he was sent by M. Antonius against the Parthini, a tribe of Illyricum, and having defeated and subdued them he was allowed a triumph on his return to Rome. He then betook himself to literature, and practising as an orator in the courts of justice, and speaking in the senate. He patronized literary men, built a library, wrote poetry, particularly tragedies, and composed a history of the civil wars, in most of which he had taken an active part. The Ode was written after hearing Pollio recite part of this work, a practice which he is said to have been the first to introduce among literary men at Rome.

Argument.--The civil wars, their causes, their progress, and their fatal results,--a dangerous task is thine, and treacherous is the ground thou art treading.

Leave the tragic Muse for a little while, and thou shalt return to her when thou hast finished the historian's task, O Pollio! advocate, senator, conqueror! Even now I seem to hear the trumpet and the clarion, the flashing of arms, and the voices of chiefs, and the whole world subdued but the stubborn heart of Cato. The gods of Africa have offered his victors' grandsons on the tomb of Jugurtha. What land, what waters, are not stained with our blood? But stay, my Muse, approach not such high themes.

1. _Motum ex Metello consule_] The foundation of the civil wars is here laid in the formation of the (so-called) triumvirate by Cæsar, Pompeius, and Crassus, which took place in the consulship of Q. Caecilius Metellus Celer, and L. Afranius, A.U.C. 694, B.C. 60. But though this was the first great act of aggression on the liberties of Rome, the civil war did not break out till the year A.U.C. 704, B.C. 50, when Cæsar and Pompeius came to their final rupture. Pollio's work was in seventeen books, and probably ended with the battle of Actium.

2. _modos_] The 'plans' pursued by the opposing parties.

4. _Principum amicitias_] The alliance of Cæsar and Pompeius, and the subsequent coalition of M. Antonius and Augustus, more than once broken and renewed, and always maintained at the expense of the people's liberties, and therefore called 'graves,' 'oppressive,' are here principally referred to. See Plutarch, Vit. Caes. c. 13. Pollio was himself the means of reconciling Antonius and Augustus, in the year of his consulship B.C. 40.

5. _Nondum expiatis uncta cruoribus,_] See C. i. 2, Introduction. The 29th verse of that Ode, "Cui dabit partes scelus expiandi," compared with this, makes it probable the two were written about the same time. The plural 'cruoribus' is unusual, and savors of the Greek. So Aesch. Supp. 265: παλαιῶν αἱμάτων μιάσμασιν.

6. _Periculosae plenum opus aleae,_] 'A task full of hazard,' literally, 'full of perilous chance.' Pollio had been faithful to Julius Cæsar, but after his death had sided rather with M. Antonius than Augustus; and therefore, when the latter had succeeded in putting an end to his rival, and had the entire power in his own hands, it was a bold and difficult task that Pollio had undertaken. It does not appear, however, that he involved himself in any difficulty with Augustus, for he lived quietly to a good old age, dying in his eightieth year at his villa at Tusculum, A.U.C. 758, A.D. 4. It is probable that his history was written with impartiality, and that Augustus was not jealous, and could afford to be otherwise. See Tac. Ann. iv. 34. 'Aleae' was the name for dice (see C. iii. 24. 58); here it means 'hazard,' 'risk.'

7. _Incedis per ignes_] 'Thou art treading on ashes that cover a smouldering fire,' like the ashes at the mouth of a volcano, cool on the surface but burning below.

10. _mox ubi publicas Res ordinaris_] 'When you shall have finished your history of public events.' The Greeks used συντάσσειν for writing a book. Plutarch uses σύνταγμα for a book. Ἀνατάξασθαι occurs in the preface to St. Luke's Gospel, and is thus rendered in the Vulgate translation, "Quoniam quidem multi conati sunt ordinare narrationem." It seems that Pollio was writing tragedy at the same time with his history, and the style of the one may have affected the style of the other, so that Horace advises him to lay aside his tragedies, in order that he may do justice to his history. As the theme is delicate, and he is well able to adorn it, he should put aside the only obstacle to its proper accomplishment, viz. his tragedies. They were probably of no great merit. None have survived, and he has no credit for them, except with Horace and Virgil, who were under personal obligations to him. See S. i. 10. 42, and Virg. Ec. viii. 10.

11. _grande munus_] 'Thou shalt put on the Attic cothurnus, and return to thy lofty task.' The 'cothurnus' was a shoe worn by tragic actors, the use and name of which were borrowed by the Romans from the Athenians. It was usually ornamented with purple, and strapped up the leg nearly to the knee. When worn on the stage, it had a thick sole and a high heel, to add to the actor's height. Men of rank wore the 'cothurnus.' Horace speaks figuratively, when he says that Pollio shall put on the 'cothurnus,' meaning that he shall return to writing tragedies (see last note).

16. _Delmatico--triumpho_] See Introduction.

17. _Jam nunc_] See C. iii. 6. 23, n. As to 'cornua' and 'litui,' see C. i. 1. 23, n.

21. _Audire--videor_] 'I seem to myself to hear' (as C. iii. 4. 6), referring to what he had heard Pollio read (see Int.). Cicero uses 'videor' with 'videre' not unfrequently, as (De Am. 12), "videre jam videor populum a senatu disjunctum."

23. _cuncta terrarum subacta_] It is probable that Pollio had given a stirring account of Cæsar's African campaign, in which he himself served, and that his description had made a great impression upon Horace. The victory of Thapsus, B.C. 46, made Cæsar master of the whole Roman world. 'Cuncta terrarum' is equivalent to 'cunctas terras.'

24. _atrocem_] 'stubborn.'

25. _Juno et deorum_] 'Juno and all the gods that favor Africa, who had departed helplessly (i.e. after the Jugurthine war) and left that land unavenged, have offered up as an atonement ('rettulit') the grandsons of those victors, on the grave of Jugurtha.' 'Inferiae' or 'parentalia' were offerings presented by relatives at the tombs of the dead. Ten thousand of the Pompeian army alone fell at the battle of Thapsus. It has been suggested that the Jugurthine, rather than any of the other African wars, is referred to, because Sallust's history had lately come out, and was attracting much attention.

29. _Quis non Latino_] In this and the following stanza Horace amplifies a little. But during the civil wars of Julius Cæsar, Spain, Greece, and Africa were scenes of much bloodshed, and Romans fought against each other at Mutina, at Philippi, and at Actium. That the Parthian had heard the crash of Italy in its fall, is a poetical exaggeration, meaning, in plain prose, that the bitterest enemy of Rome had watched her dissensions, and rejoiced in the prospect of her downfall.

_pinguior_] Comp. Virg. (Georg. i. 491):--

"Nec fuit indignum superis bis sanguine nostro Emathiam et latos Haemi pinguescere campos."

34. _Dauniae_] 'Roman.' See C. i. 22. 14, n; iii. 30. 11; iv. 6. 27.

35. _decoloravere_] 'have deeply dyed.'

38. _Ceae--neniae:_] 'The subjects which belong to the Cean Muse.' 'Nenia' is used in various senses by Horace. As a dirge (C. ii. 20. 21); as a night song (C. iii. 28. 16); as a charm (Epod. xvii. 29); as a song of triumph (Epp. i. 1. 63). Here it stands for the melancholy poetry of Simonides of Ceos, who flourished in the sixth century B.C.

_retractes_] Equivalent to 'tractes.' See note on i. 31. 12.

39. _Dionaeo--antro_] A cave dedicated to Venus, the daughter of Dione.

ODE II.

Horace, meaning to write an Ode on the moderate desire and use of wealth, dedicated it to C. Sallustius Crispus, grand-nephew of the historian, and inheritor of his property. He had previously alluded to him in no terms of praise in Sat. i. 2. 48, but that Satire was written many years before this Ode, and at this time Sallustius was in high favor with Augustus, and possessed of great riches, of which Horace implies that he made a good use.

Argument.--Silver hath no beauty while hid in the earth, Sallustius. Proculeius, for his generosity to his brethren, will live for ever, and the man who rules the spirit of avarice is a greater king than if from Carthage to Gades were all his own. The dropsy grows and grows, till its cause is expelled. Phraates, restored to his throne, is not happy; he only is a king and conqueror who looks on money with indifference.

2. _Abdito terris,_] Sallustius possessed some valuable mines in the Alps, and to this circumstance Horace seems to refer. The character given of Sallustius by Tacitus (Ann. iii. 30) is rather different from Horace's description. Tacitus says he was inclined to luxurious living and fine clothes, different from the practice of the old times. Horace inverts the order of the cognomen and gentilician name, as Tacitus frequently does; as, 'Agrippam Postumum' (Ann. i. 3), and elsewhere. The eleventh Ode of this book is addressed to Quintius Hirpinus, and the names are inverted, as here.

_lamnae_] Ovid (Fast. i. 207):--

"Jura dabat populis posito modo consul aratro Et levis argenti lamina crimen erat."

For examples of syncope, see i. 36. 8, n.

5. _Vivet extento Proculeius aevo_] C. Proculeius is said to have been brother of Licinius Murena, who, with one Fannius Caepio, entered into a conspiracy against the life of Augustus, and was put to death B.C. 22. See C. ii. 10, Int. Who was the other brother of Proculeius is doubtful, and also on what occasion he assisted them. They may have lost their property in the civil wars, as the Scholiasts say. Proculeius was in great favor with Augustus, and was intimate with Mæcenas (who married his sister or cousin, Terentia), and probably with Sallustius. He was alive at this time, and did not die till after Horace. Proculeius was, like Mæcenas, a favorer of letters, and is so referred to by Juvenal (S. vii. 94). "Quis tibi Maecenas quis nunc erit aut Proculeius?"

6. _Notus--animi_] Horace's adaptation of Greek constructions is one of the chief features of his style. He uses 'metuente' here in the same sense as in C. iv. 5. 20, "Culpari metuit Fides": 'wings that refuse to melt,' as Icarius's did. See C. iv. 2. 2.

9. _Latius regnes_] The only king was the sage, according to the Stoics, and the sage kept all his passions under control. See S. i. 3. 125, n., and below, v. 21.

10. _remotis Gadibus_] Gades (Cadiz) was taken poetically for the western limit of the world, so that when Horace would say his friend Septimius was willing to go with him to the ends of the earth, he says 'Septimi Gades aditure mecum' (C. ii. 6. 1). It was originally, like Carthage, a Phœnician settlement, of which there were many in Spain, whence Horace says 'uterque Poenus,' the Phœnicians in Africa and those in Hispania.

17. _Phraaten_] Phraates was restored to the Parthian throne B.C. 25 (C. i. 26, Introd.). It is called the throne of Cyrus, because the Parthians succeeded to the greater part of the Eastern empire founded by Cyrus the Great. See C. i. 2. 21, n.

18. _plebi_] See C. i. 27. 5, n. Observe the elision of the last syllable of this verse by the commencing vowel of the next; and see C. ii. 16. 34, and C. iii. 2. 22.

19. _populumque_, etc.] 'And teaches men not to use wrong names for things.'

22. _propriam_] See S. ii. 2. 129, n.

23. _inretorto_] 'Who does not look with eyes askance (that is, with longing) at vast heaps of gold?' Compare Epp. i. 14. 37. "Non istic obliquo oculo mea commoda quisquam Limat."

ODE III.

The person to whom this Ode is nominally addressed is generally supposed to be Q. Dellius, who, from being a follower, first of Dolabella, and then of Brutus and Cassius, became a devoted adherent of M. Antonius, and his tool, throughout his intrigues with Cleopatra, till shortly before the battle of Actium, when he quarrelled with Cleopatra and joined Augustus, who received him with favor (Plut. Anton. c. 59). Plutarch calls him ἱστορικός. Dellius was called 'desultor bellorum civilium,' in allusion to the 'desultor' of the circus, who rode two horses at the same time. Horace's way of giving a name to his odes has been sufficiently noticed and in this, as in other cases, there is nothing to guide us to the person whose name he uses. The Ode is on his usual commonplaces,--moderation, the enjoyment of the present moment, and the certainty of death.

Argument.--Be sober in prosperity or adversity, in sadness or in mirth. What is the use of the shade and purling stream, if we bring not thither wine and flowers, while circumstances and youth permit and life is our own? Soon thou must give up all to thine heir; rich and noble, or poor and humble, we must all come to one place in the end.

2. _non secus in_] 'Non secus ac' is the more usual phrase, but 'non secus' may stand alone.

6. _remoto gramine_] 'in a secluded grassy spot.'

8. _Interiore nota Falerni._] The cork of the 'amphora' was stamped with the name of the consul in whose year it was filled, or a label with that inscription was fastened to the vessel, and the 'amphorae' being placed in the 'apotheca' as they were filled, the oldest would be the innermost.

9. _Quo pinus ingens_] 'Quo' signifies 'to what purpose,' as 'quo mihi fortunam si non conceditur uti?' (Epp. i. 5. 12).

_albaque populus_] The Greeks had two names for the poplar,--λευκή, which was white, and αἴγειρος, which was dark. Virgil calls the white 'bicolor.' 'Amant,' as in C. iii. 16. 10, is used like the Greek φιλοῦσι 'are wont.' Virgil has a like expression to 'hospitalem' (Georg. iv. 24) "Obviaque hospitiis teneat frondentibus arbor."

11. _obliquo laborat_] 'To what purpose does the flying stream struggle to haste down its winding channel?' The stream is represented as striving to hurry on, in spite of the obstructions offered by its winding banks. As to 'trepidare,' see C. ii. 11. 4. Epp. i. 10. 21.

17. _Cedes coëmptis_] Compare C. 14. 21, sqq. of this book.

18. _lavit,_] Horace uses this form, not 'lavat.'

21. _Inacho_] The name of Inachus, the earliest mythical king of Argos, appears to have been used proverbially, for we have it again in C. iii. 19. 1.

23. _moreris,_] This reminds us of Cicero (de Senect. xxiii.): "Commorandi natura deversorium nobis, non habitandi locum dedit."

25. _cogimur,_] 'We are driven like sheep,' "Tityre coge pecus" (Virg. Ec. iii. 20).

26. _Versatur urna_] Compare C. iii. 1. 16. "Omne capax movet urna nomen." The notion is that of Fate standing with an urn, in which every man's lot is cast. She shakes it, and he whose lot comes out must die. Ovid has imitated this passage (Met. x. 32):--

"Omnia debemur vobis paullumque morati Serius aus citius sedem properamus ad unam. Tendimus huc omnes."

28. _Exilium_] This is put for the place of exile, as (Ov. Fast. vi. 666): "Exilium quodam tempore Tibur erat." The word is only another form of 'exsidium,' from 'ex sedeo.' 'Cumbae' is in the dative case, and is the form usually found in inscriptions for 'cymbae.'

ODE IV.

This amusing Ode represents a gentleman in love with his maid-servant, and jocularly consoles him with examples of heroes who had been in the same condition, and with the assurance that one so faithful must be, like the slaves of the Homeric warriors, the daughter of a royal house. The name Xanthias must be fictitious, and Phoceus indicates that the person was also supposed to be a Phocian. Why Horace, assuming a Greek name for his real or supposed friend, should also make him a Phocian, is needless to inquire. There may have been a significance in it which has passed away or never existed but for the understanding of the person addressed and perhaps a few intimate friends. Xanthias was a name given to slaves, like Geta, Sosius, &c. in the "Frogs" and other plays of Aristophanes.

Horace was born B.C. 65, and he wrote this Ode when he was just finishing his eighth lustre, which would be in December, B.C. 25.

Argument.--Be not ashamed, Xanthias; heroes have loved their maids before thee,--Achilles his Briseis, Ajax his Tecmessa, and Agamemnon his Cassandra. Doubtless your Phyllis is of royal blood: one so faithful and loving and unselfish is no common maiden. Nay, be not jealous of my praises, my eighth lustre is hastening to its close.

2. _Xanthia Phoceu!_] See Introd.

3. _Briseis_] Hippodameia, so called from her father, Briseus, king of Lyrnessus, a town of Troas, taken, with eleven others, by Achilles. He delivered up the spoils for distribution, and got Briseis for his prize (Il. ix. 328, sqq.). Agamemnon took her from him, as a compensation for the loss of his own slave, Chryseis (Il. i. 320, sqq.).

6. _Tecmessae;_] Tecmessa was the daughter of Teleutas, king of Phrygia, who was killed by the Greeks during the Trojan war, and his daughter became the prize of Ajax, the son of Telamon. Homer alludes to her when he speaks of Αἴαντος γέρας (Il. i. 138). Sophocles, in his play of Ajax, represents her as tenderly attached to him.

7. _Arsit--Virgine rapta,_] That is, Cassandra, whom Agamemnon chose, when the spoils of Troy were divided among the Greeks. 'Arsit' is used by Horace three times with an ablative,--here, in C. iii. 9. 5, and in Epod. xiv. 9; and once as a transitive verb (C. iv. 9. 13): "Non sola comptos arsit adulteri crines"; as it is in Virgil's second Eclogue: "Formosum pastor Corydon ardebat Alexin."

10. _Thessalo victore_] Achilles, whose native country was Phthiotis in Thessaly.

_ademptus Hector_] 'the loss of Hector.' This is from the Iliad (xxiv. 243):--

ῥηίτεροι γὰρ μᾶλλον Ἀχαιοῖσιν δὴ ἔσεσθε κείνου τεθνηῶτος ἐναιρέμεν.

13. _Nescias an_] 'You cannot tell but,'--'You may well believe.' All that follows, in this and the next stanza, is good-natured banter. See Introd. As to the phrase 'nescio an,' 'I incline to think it is so,' see Zumpt's Latin Grammar, §§ 354 and 721. On 'beati,' see C. i. 4. 14.

17. _Crede non illam_] 'Believe not that she whom thou lovest is of the villanous herd.'

22. _Fuge_] The same as 'noli,'--'do not.'

23. _Cujus octavum_] See Introd.; and as to 'lustrum,' see C. ii. 15. 13, n.

ODE V.

This Ode professes to be a remonstrance with one who is courting a young girl not yet come to womanhood.

Argument.--That girl is too young for a yoke-fellow; as yet, she is like an unbroken heifer, or an unripe grape. She will come to thee of her own accord, when she is a little older; then will she wax wanton, and seek a mate, and thou wilt love her above coy Pholoe or Chloris or Gyges.

5. _Circa_] The Greeks use περί in this way, 'occupied with.'

7. _Solantis_] This is the poetical word for satisfying hunger or thirst, as Virgil (Georg. i. 159): "Concussaque famem in silvis solabere quercu."

12. _Purpureo varius colore_] 'Erelong, autumn with its varied hues will dye the green grape with purple,' which means, that she will soon be ripe for marriage, as the purple grape is for plucking.

13. _feror Aetas_] Time is compared to a wild horse, as in Ovid (Fast. vi. 772): "fugiunt freno non remorante dies." The words that follow mean, '_she_ will approach the flower of her age, as _you_ recede from it'; which is expressed thus: 'the years which time takes from your life, he will add to hers.' The way of speaking is like that of Deianira, when, comparing her own age and attractions with those of her rival, she says:--

ὁρῶ γὰρ ἥβην τὴν μὲν ἕρπουσαν πρόσω, τὴν δ᾽ αὖ φθίνουσαν.

(Soph. Trach. v. 547, sqq.) It is also explained by those verses in the Epistle to the Pisones:--

"Multa ferunt anni venientes commoda secum, Multa recedentes adimunt."

(v. 175, sq.)

16. _Lalage_] This name is formed from λαλεῖν, "dulce loquentem" (C. i. 22. 24).

20. _Cnidiusve Gyges,_] This name, which is Lydian, Horace employs again (C. iii. 7. 5). This boy is represented as a slave from Cnidus in Caria, and he is said to be so beautiful that, if he were introduced at supper among the girls, the cleverest of the company could not detect him. 'Discrimen obscurum' means a difference hard to see.

24. _ambiguoque vultu._] Ovid expresses the same ambiguity in the case of Atalanta very elegantly (Met. viii. 322):--

"Talis erat cultus; facies quam dicere vere Virgineam in puero puerilem in virgine possis."

Boys let their hair grow till they assumed the 'toga virilis,' about their fifteenth year.

ODE VI.

Of Septimius, to whom this Ode is addressed, we know nothing, except that he was an intimate friend of Horace's, as we gather also from the letter of introduction he gave him to Tiberius (Epp. i. 9). He had a house at Tarentum, where Horace probably paid him one or more visits. Beyond this we know nothing of Septimius.

It was probably on or after a visit to Septimius, that Horace composed the twenty-eighth Ode of the first book; and, probably, with the attractions of Tarentum fresh in his mind, he wrote this Ode. He says that, next to Tibur, it is the place where he would choose to end his days. He says the same in Epp. i. 7. 45.

Argument.--Septimius, I would that I might end my days at Tibur, or, if that be forbidden me, at Tarentum. Above all others I love that spot, with its honey, its olives, its long spring, and mild winter, and grapes on Mount Aulon. On that spot we ought to live together; and there thou shouldst lay my bones, and weep over them.

1. _Septimi, Gades aditure mecum_] That is, 'who art ready to go with me, if need be, to the ends of the earth.' See above C. 2. 10, n.

2. _Cantabrum indoctum_] At any time before B.C. 29, when the Cantabri were first reduced, they could have been called by Horace 'indoctos juga ferre nostra,' even though no attempt had been made to impose that yoke. In 29 they were reduced to subjection; in 26 they broke out again, and in the following year they were finally subdued, though an insurrection had to be put down by Agrippa, some years afterwards (see C. iii. 8. 21; iv. 14. 41. Epp. i. 12. 26). They were one of the fiercest of the tribes of Hispania, and the last that submitted to the Romans. They occupied a part of the north coast, between the mountains and the sea.

3. _Syrtes_] The modern Gulfs of Sydra and Gabis.

5. _Tibur_] Tibur (Tivoli), which was sixteen miles east of Rome, Horace was in the habit of visiting (see C. iii. 4. 23. Epp. i. 7. 45). He here expresses a great affection for it. Some suppose he had a house there, which, as he nowhere mentions it, is improbable.

_Argeo--colono_] Catillus, or his brother Tiburtus (see C. i. 18. 2, n.).

7. _Sit modus lasso_] 'Lasso' may be taken with 'maris,' etc. (as 'fessi rerum,' Aen. i. 178), or absolutely, leaving the genitives to depend on 'modus': or the genitives may depend upon both. It is probable Horace is only speaking generally, meaning that the weary need seek no happier resting place than Tibur, or Tarentum.

10. _pellitis_] This word refers to the practice of covering the sheep with skins, to preserve their wool. The Galæsus (Galaso) flowed through the ager Tarentinus, which was rich in gardens and corn land, as well as in pastures.

11. _regnata_] Similar passives are found in C. iii. 3. 43, "Medis triumphatis"; iii. 19. 4, "Bella pugnata"; Epod. i. 23, "Bellum militabitur"; S. ii. 5. 27, "Res certabitur". 'Regnata' occurs again in C. iii. 29. 27; and Tacitus (Hist. i. 16) speaks of "gentes quae regnantur." The word is not used by prose writers of an earlier age than Tacitus. Phalanthus of Lacedæmon headed a body of youths, called from the circumstances of their birth Partheniæ, in migrating from the Peloponnesus into Italy, where they got possession of Tarentum.

15. _decedunt_] This word is used again in the same sense of 'giving place to' in the second epistle of the second book, v. 213: "decede peritis." The honey of Tarentum or Calabria (iii. 16. 33), and of Matinum (iv. 2. 27) in Italy, of Hybla in Sicily, and of Hymettus in Attica, are those Horace celebrates most. Venafrum (hod. Venafro) the most northern town of Campania was celebrated above all places in Italy for its olives. 'Venafro' is the dative case. See C. i. 1. 15, n.

18. _Aulon_] From the name, we may suppose this was a valley near Tarentum. It gave excellent pasturage to sheep. 'Baccho' depends on 'amicus.'

21. _beatae--arces;_] Rich heights or hills near Tarentum. 'Arx' is akin to ἕρκος, and signifies primarily a fortified place; and fortified places being commonly on heights, 'arx,' in a derived sense, came to mean a hill generally.

23. _favillam_] The practice of burning the dead was not general among the Romans, till towards the end of the republic. Before that, they were usually buried, though burning was known even in old times.

ODE VII.

Pompeius Varus was a companion of Horace's in the army of Brutus, and fought at Philippi, after which it is probable he followed the fortunes first of Sextus Pompeius and afterwards of M. Antonius, and did not return to Rome till the civil war was over. This Ode was written on his return, to welcome him.

Argument.--O Pompeius, my earliest friend and best, with whom I have served and indulged, full many a day, who hath sent thee back to us, a true citizen of Rome? We fought and fled together at Philippi, but while I was carried off by Mercury, the wave drew thee back into the stormy ocean again. Come, then, pay thy vows unto Jove, and lay thy weary limbs under my laurel. Bring wine and ointment and garlands, choose a master of the feast, for I will revel like any Thracian, for joy that my friend hath returned.

1. _tempus in ultimum_] During the two years between his leaving Rome and the battle of Philippi, Brutus went through many hard-fought battles with the native tribes in Macedonia and in Asia Minor, as well as in resisting the assumption of his province by C. Antonius, the triumvir's brother, to whom the Senate had assigned it. 'Tempus in ultimum' does not mean so much to the brink of the grave, as we should say, as into extreme danger or need.

3. _redonavit Quiritem_] This word 'redonare' is peculiar to Horace. He uses it again, C. iii. 3. 33. 'Quiritem' has particular force as 'unshorn of your citizenship.' He had not been 'capite deminutus.' See Aesch. Eum. 757, Ἀργεῖος ἁνὴρ αὖθις. The singular 'Quiris' is not found in prose-writers. It occurs again in Epp. i. 6. 7.

5. _prime sodalium,_] 'Prime' means 'earliest and best.' It is probable that the days Horace enjoyed so much with his friend were spent at Athens when they were both young students. The language does not seem to suit a camp life, especially on such a service as the army of Brutus went through. On 'fregi' see C. i. 1. 20, n.

8. _Malobathro_] Oil produced from an Indian shrub of that name. 'Syrio' is only used in the same extended application in which Ovid uses 'Assyrium' (Amor. ii. 5. 40): "Maeonis Assyrium foemina tinxit ebur." See C. ii. 11. 16.

9. _Philippos et celerem fugam_] 'the rout at Philippi.' We need not take Horace too much at his word. He was not born for a soldier, any more than his friend Iccius (C. i. 29); and he could afford to create a laugh against himself as a ῥίψασπις, a coward who runs away and leaves his shield behind him. He had in mind, no doubt, the misfortune that befell Alcæus, as related by Herodotus (v. 95). See C. i. 32. 5, n. There was nothing disgraceful in the flight from Philippi, which Brutus advised and necessity compelled.

11. _minaces Turpe solum_] All that seems to be meant is, that the bold were struck to the ground.

13. _Mercurius celer Denso--sustulit aëre;_] Poets were 'Mercuriales viri' (C. ii. 17. 29). Horace refers his preservation directly to the Muses in C. iii. 4. 26. He had in mind, no doubt, Paris's rescue by Venus (Il. iii. 381), and Æneas's by Phœbus in a thick cloud (Il. v. 344. Aen. x. 81).

14. _Denso aëre_] 'a cloud.'

15. _resorbens Unda_] Like the wave that, just as the shipwrecked man is struggling to shore, lifts him off his feet and throws him back again. See Introd.

17. _obligatam_] The sacrifice (and feast that followed) which he had vowed, or ought to have vowed if he had not, to Jove.

18. _Longaque--militia_] Pompeius had probably had no rest for more than thirteen years, beginning with the wars of Brutus, A.U.C. 710, and ending with the battle of Actium.

22. _Ciboria_] A drinking cup like the pod of an Egyptian bean, of which this was the name. 'Funde' means 'pour upon your head.' 'Udo' is like the Greek ὑγρῷ, 'supple.' Theocritus (vi. 68) calls it πολύγναμπτον σέλινον.

23. _Unguenta de conchis._] The Romans used fragrant oils and ointments for the hair and body in great quantities, especially at meals, when slaves poured scents on their heads (see C. ii. 11. 15, n. S. ii. 7. 55. Epp. i. 14. 32). 'Concha' was the name of a small liquid measure, but it was also used for different shell-shaped vessels.

24. _Deproperare_] 'to prepare quickly.' 'De,' as in many other instances, is intensive.

25. _Curatve myrto?_] Dillenbr. has given a variety of instances in which the enclitics 'que,' 've,' 'ne' are added to a word other than that which is to be coupled with the preceding word. There are two examples close to each other in C. ii. 19. 28, 32. Dillenbr. says this construction is adopted advisedly, to give force to the particular word to which the enclitic is added, and to strengthen the connection. The truth of this is more apparent in some other cases than in this; but it is true, and worth observing.

_Venus_] This was the highest cast of the dice, as 'canis' was the lowest. See Tacit. Ann. xiii. 15. As to 'arbitrum bibendi,' see above, C. i. 4. 18. 'Dicet' is used in the same sense as by Virgil (Georg. iii. 125): "Quem legere ducem et pecori dixere maritum"; where Servius explains 'dixere' by 'designavere.'

28. _furere_] See C. iii. 19. 18, "Insanire juvat"; Epp. i. 5. 15; both being imitated from Pseudo-Anacreon, θέλω θέλω μανῆναι. The Edoni were a people of Thrace (see C. i. 27. 2).

ODE VIII.

This Ode is probably an imitation from the Greek, or a fancy of the poet's. It professes to be addressed to a faithless woman under the barbarian name Barine, and complains that, in spite of all her perjury, she continues more beautiful and captivating than ever.

Argument.--Barine, if I could see thee punished for thy false vows, I might believe thee again. But the moment after thou hast forsworn thyself, thou art lovelier and more bright than ever. Perjury, then, is profitable; Venus and her train laugh at it. Fresh slaves follow thee, and the old ones cannot leave thy roof; mothers, and stingy fathers, and new-married brides, are afraid of thee.

1. _juris--pejerati_] Equivalent to 'perjurii.' This expression is not found elsewhere. It is formed by analogy from 'jus jurandum.'

2. _nocuisset_] 'impaired your beauty.'

4. _Turpior_] 'plainer,' or 'less attractive.'

9. _opertos_] This word is not used elsewhere for 'sepultos.' There was no more common oath than by the ashes of the dead, and the moon and stars. The poet says it is worth while to swear falsely, if such is the reward.

15. _Semper ardentes_] This seems to be taken from a picture. Moschus (Id. i.) says of the weapons of love, πυρὶ πάντα βέβαπται. 'Semper' belongs to 'ardentes.'

20. _Saepe minati_] 'Though they have often threatened it.'

21. _juvencis,_] This is used as the Greeks would say πώλοις.

22. _Senes parei_] The frugal fathers fear that Barine will lead their sons into extravagance.

23. _Virgines_] Like 'puellae' (C. iii. 14. 10), this word does not belong exclusively to maids.

_tua--Aura_] 'the breeze that sets them towards thee.' 'Popularis aura' (C. iii. 2. 20) is used for the shifting breeze of popular opinion or favor.

ODE IX.

C. Valgius Rufus was a poet of much merit, and appears to have been sad for the loss of a young slave. At a time of public rejoicing (probably at the closing of the temple of Janus, B.C. 24, after the Cantabri had been put down by Augustus, C. ii. 6. 2, n.), Valgius is called upon (as Tibullus was in C. i. 33) to cease from writing mournful verses on his loss, and to turn his thoughts to the praises of Augustus.

Argument.--The rain does not always fall, nor the storms rage, nor the frost continue for ever, Valgius. But _thou_ mournest for Mystes from morning till night. Nestor did not always weep for Antilochus, nor his parents and sisters for Troilus. Cease thy wailings, and let us sing of the triumphs of Augustus.

3. _inaequales_] This epithet is equivalent to 'informes,' 'shapeless,' which is a way of expressing anything that is rough (C. ii. 10. 15). See C. i. 7. 15.

The table-lands of Armenia are intensely cold in winter, and covered with snow and ice. The summers are hot and dry.

7. _Querceta_] The Apulian range Garganus (Monte Gargano) terminated in the bold promontory of the same name, now called Punta di Viesti. It is still clothed with woods, but the forests of Italy are not what they were. See Epp. ii. 1. 202.

9, 10. _Tu--ademptum_] 'But _thou_ art ever dwelling in doleful strains upon the loss of Mystes.'

12. _rapidum_] Any one who has watched the rising of the sun in a cloudless horizon will understand this epithet.

13. _ter aevo functus_] 'who had thrice completed the (usual) age of man.' Cic. (de Senectut. c. 10) says, "Nestor tertiam jam aetatem hominum vivebat." The foundation for the story is found in Homer (Il. i. 250):--

ἤδη δύο μὲν γενεαὶ μερόπων ἀνθρώπων ἐφθίατο--μετὰ δὲ τριτάτοισιν ἄνασσεν.

The duration of an age cannot now be determined.

14. _Antilochum_] Antilochus, the son of Nestor and friend of Achilles, was killed by Memnon (Odyss. iv. 188). He was famed for his beauty and manliness, as well as for his filial piety.

16. _Troïlon_] The death of Troilus, son of Priam and Hecuba, who was killed by Achilles, is related by Virgil (Aen. i. 474), following, not Homer, but some of the Cyclic poets (see A. P. 136, n.), the event having taken place before the time at which the Iliad opens. His sisters were Creusa, Polyxena, Laodice, and Cassandra.

17. _Desine mollium_] A Greek construction, as 'abstineto irarum' (C. iii. 27. 69), 'abstinens pecuniae' (iv. 9. 37). Virgil too (Aen. x. 441) takes the same license, 'tempus desistere pugnae.' 'Damnatus laboris' (C. ii. 14. 19), 'decipitur laborum' (C. ii. 13. 38), 'Ciceris invidit' (S. ii. 6. 84), are other constructions with the genitive borrowed from the Greek.

20. _rigidum Niphaten,_] Niphates was a mountain range east of the Tigris. The name means the snow-mountain. Perhaps a part of it may have been covered with perpetual snow. The arms of Augustus were first carried into Armenia in B.C. 20 (Epp. i. 3, Int.); we must therefore suppose Horace to be speaking of conquests to come, as he does in C. i. 12. 53, sqq.

21. _Medumque flumen_] The Euphrates. 'Flumen' is the subject of 'volvere,' which verb depends on 'Cantemus' (v. 19).

22. _vertices,_] 'Vertex' is perhaps the right word, not 'vortex,' as it is generally spelt when applied to water. Quintilian explains how 'vertex' passed into its applied meanings thus: "Vertex est contorta in se aqua, vel quicquid aliud similiter vertitur. Inde propter flexum capillorum pars est summa capitis, et ex hoc quod est in montibus eminentissimum. Recte inquam dixeris haec omnia vertices; proprie tamen, unde initium est" (viii. 2).

23. _Gelonos_] This was one of the tribes on the north bank of the Danube. 'Intra praescriptum' means within limits that Cæsar should prescribe them.

ODE X.

Licinius Murena, or A. Terentius Varro Murena, as he was called after his adoption by A. Terentius Varro, was apparently a man of restless and ambitious character, and, as we have seen, paid the penalty of his rashness with his life (C. ii. 2. 5). It is very probable that Horace wrote this Ode to his friend to warn him of the tendencies of his disposition, and to recommend to him the virtue of moderation. All else that we learn from Horace's poems respecting Murena is, that he was of the college of augurs (C. iii. 19), and that he had a house at Formiæ, where he received Mæcenas and his party on their way to Brundisium (S. i. 5. 37, sq.).

Argument.--The way to live, Licinius, is neither rashly to tempt nor cowardly to fear the storm. The golden mean secures a man at once from the pinching of poverty and the envy of wealth. The loftiest objects fall soonest and most heavily. In adversity or prosperity the wise man looks for change. Storms come and go. Bad times will not continue for ever. Apollo handles the lyre, as well as the bow. In adversity show thyself brave, in prosperity take in sail.

5. _Auream quisquis_] 'Whoso loves the golden mean (between poverty and immense riches), is safe and free from the squalor of a crazy roof, is sober and free from the envy of a palace.'

6. _obsoleti_] That which has gone out of use, therefore, old and decayed. This word has various applications.

9-12. _ingens--celsae--summos_] These words are emphatic. 'It is the _lofty_ pine that is oftenest shaken by the winds,' and so forth. Translate 'summos montes' 'the _tops_ of mountains.'

14. _Alteram sortem_] The object of 'metuit' and 'sperat.'

15. _Informes hiemes_] This epithet is like 'inaequales' in the last Ode, 'rough,' 'uncouth.' Compare C. iii. 29. 43:--

"Cras vel atra Nube polum Pater occupato Vel sole puro."

17. _olim Sic erit: quondam cithara_] 'Olim,' being derived from the demonstrative pronoun 'illo,' of which the older form is 'ōlo,' or 'ollo,' and which only indicates the remoter object, signifies some time more or less distant, either in the past or future. So likewise 'quondam,' which is akin to 'quum,' an adverb relating to all parts of time, signifies any time not present. Translate here, 'at times.'

Apollo is almost always represented with a bow and arrows, or a lyre, or both. Homer has many epithets describing him with his bow. The ancients believed him to be the punisher of the wicked and the author of all sudden deaths among men, as Diana (Artemis) was among women. He was the god of music, but got his lyre from Mercury (C. i. 21. 12, n).

22. _idem_] 'and yet you.'

23, 24. _Contrahes--vela._] The order is 'Contrahes vela nimium Turgida secundo vento.'

ODE XI.

This Ode is addressed to one Hirpinus, who, if a real person, is quite unknown. The poet bids him cease to trouble himself about distant nations, and put away care, since old age is approaching.

Argument.--Never mind what distant nations are about, nor trouble thyself for the wants of life, which needs but little: youth is going, and age approaching: the flowers and the moon are not always bright: why worry thyself for ever? Let us drink under the shade of yonder tree. Mix wine, boy, and bring Lyde to sing to us.

1. _Quid bellicosus_] As to the Cantabri, see above, 6. 2, and for the Scythians, i. 19. 10. The description of the Scythian, separated from Italy by the Hadriatic, is not geographically accurate, but Horace does not mean to be very definite (see Introduction).

2. _Hirpine Quinti,_] The names are inverted, as in C. ii. 2. 3, "Crispe Sallusti."

3. _remittas_] 'Remitto' has the sense of deferring, here and in other places (as, C. iv. 4. 21, "quaerere distuli").

4. _trepides_] This word, the root or stem of which is 'trep' (τρέπω), signifies to hurry hither and thither. Hence to be eager or anxious, as here and elsewhere. 'Usum aevi' means the wants of life. 'Be not anxious for the wants of a life that asks but little': as Goldsmith says,

"Man wants but little here below, Nor wants that little long."

6. _Levis_] 'smooth,' 'beardless.'

10. _rubens_] This word is not commonly used to express the brilliancy of the moon. It has many different applications, as to the moon (here), to the ripe yellow corn, to the golden waters of Pactolus, to the green fields in spring (Virg. Georg. iv. 306).

11. _minorem_] This, like ἥσσων, signifies 'the victim of' or 'a slave to,' as we should say.

14. _sic temere_] 'Sic' has a force of its own, signifying 'carelessly,' 'just as we please.' The Greek οὕτως, has the same force.

15. _Canos_] Horace, or his friend, or both, had gray hair. He describes himself as prematurely gray, in Epp. i. 20. 24. As to 'odorati,' see above, 7. 22, n.

16. _Assyriaque nardo_] It was not only the poets that confounded Syria and Assyria. Cicero (in Verr. ii. 3. 33) speaks of "reges Persarum ac Syrorum," for the kings of Persia and Assyria. See also Pliny (N. H. v. 12). Horace uses 'Syrio' for an Indian commodity (above, C. 7. 8), "Malobathro Syrio"; and 'Assyrii' for the coast of Syria (C. iii. 4. 32), and 'Assyrius' for any Eastern person (A. P. 118), "Colchus an Assyrius." This confusion is easily accounted for by the title of that great division of Alexander's empire, which embraced the whole of Asia under the dominion of a Syrian monarch.

18. _Quis puer_] He imagines himself at the banquet, and calling to the slaves to bring wine, which the Romans usually drank mixed with water. See C. iii. 19. 11, n.

19. _Restinguet_] 'will temper,' or 'dilute.'

21. _devium_] One who lives out of the way, as (Ov., Heroid. ii. 118) "Et cecinit maestum devia carmen avis." 'Fidicinae' and 'tibicinae,' women who played upon the lyre or the flute, were employed at dinners to entertain the company.

23. _in comptum_] 'In comptum nodum' signifies 'into a plain knot,' without ornament, such as the Lacedæmonian women wore.

ODE XII.

This Ode is addressed to Mæcenas, and, from the language of it, we might suppose he had asked Horace to write something on a higher subject than he was accustomed to. Horace tells him that his lyre is not suited to wars and triumphs, but he loves to sing of the beauty of Licymnia, under which name it is supposed he means Terentia, the wife of Mæcenas. They may at this time have been lately married, but they did not long continue to live happily.

Argument.--Do not ask me with my soft lyre to sing of bloody wars, of centaurs, and of giants: as for the triumphs of Cæsar, Mæcenas, thou couldst tell them better in prose than I can in verse. My task is to sing of the beauty and faithfulness of Licymnia, who graces the dance and sports with the damsels on Diana's holiday. Wouldst thou, for all the wealth of Persia, Phrygia, and Arabia, give a lock of Licymnia's hair, or one of her kisses?

1. _Numantiae,_] The siege of Numantia, in Spain, by the Romans, lasted, like that of Troy, for ten years, when it was finished by Scipio Africanus Minor, who took the city B.C. 133. The bravery with which the Numantines behaved earned them from their enemies the title 'feri,' 'savage.'

2. _dirum Hannibalem,_] This epithet is found three times in this connection. See C. iii. 6. 36; iv. 4. 42.

_Siculum mare_] Alluding to the naval victories of Duilius, Metellus, and Lutatius Catulus, in the first Punic war (see C. iii. 6. 34).

5. _nimium mero_] This use of 'nimium' is common in Tacitus, who also uses it with a genitive, as (Hist. iii. 75), "nimius sermonis erat." Hylæus was a centaur. As to the Lapithæ, see C. i. 18. 8.

7. _Telluris juvenes,_] The Gigantes, who were called γηγενεῖς, 'earth-born,' made war upon Zeus, and were destroyed by him with the help of Hercules, and the bow and arrows given him by Apollo. Horace gives Bacchus the credit of their defeat in C. ii. 19. 21, sqq., and Pallas in C. iii. 4. 57, where Hercules is not mentioned.

_unde_] See C. i. 12. 17.

9. _tuque pedestribus_] 'But you, rather, in prose,' and so forth. The conjunction couples this part of the Ode with the preceding, not with what follows. 'Que,' after negative sentences, has a qualified adversative sense, as, among other instances (C. ii. 20. 3):--

"Neque in terris morabor Longius, invidiaque major Urbes relinquam."

So τε often follows οὔτε, the fact being that every negative proposition may be resolved into an affirmative with a negation. Here the connection is between 'nobis' and 'dices.' Mæcenas was an author, though probably an indifferent one; and Horace may have put off his request that he should write a poetical account of Augustus's achievements, by suggesting that he should write one in prose. It does not follow that Mæcenas ever wrote, or that Horace ever seriously intended to advise his writing. 'Pedestribus' is an adaptation of the Greek πεζὸς λόγος for 'prose,' or 'soluta oratio,' which latter was the usual expression for prose in Horace's time. He uses the word 'pedester' again twice to express a plain style of speech but not for prose as opposed to poetry (S. ii. 6. 17, and A. P. 95). Quintilian uses the word, but expressly as a Grecism. The word 'prosa' or 'prorsa,' as its correct form appears to be, is of later use than the age of Augustus.

11. _ductaque per vias_] This appears to refer to the the triumphs of Augustus noticed in C. i. 2. 49. See also C. iv. 2. 35, n. Epod. vii. 7.

12. _Regum colla minacium._] The same as 'reges minaces.' Their necks are mentioned in allusion to their humbled pride.

13. _dominae_] If by Licymnia is meant Terentia (see Introduction), 'dominae' may stand for wife, as in Virg. (Aen. vi. 397): "Hi Ditis dominam thalamo deducere adorti."

14. _lucidum Fulgentes_] The neuter adjective performs in this and like cases the office of an adverb, which is very common in all languages.

15. _bene mutuis_] 'her faithful heart full of love happy and mutual' (see Introduction).

18. _certare joco_] 'to engage in a contest of wit.'

19. _nitidis_] 'in festive garb.'

20. _Dianae celebris die._] Her festival was held on the ides of August. The dances at her festival were led by ladies of rank (see C. iv. 6. 31. A. P. 232). 'Choris' appear to be private, as opposed to the sacred dances. Dancing was not unusual in private society at this time, even among ladies. Therefore it was not degrading to Terentia, who was probably fond of this amusement. Other words used with 'brachia,' to express dancing, are 'jactare,' 'deducere,' 'ducere,' 'mittere,' 'movere.' The graceful motion of the arms seems to have been one of the chief attractions in dancing, as it is still, wherever it is practised as an art.

The expression 'ferre pedem' is used by Virgil (Georg. i. 11), and 'ludere' (Ec. vi. 27). 'Dianae celebris die' is the day on which the temple of Diana was crowded with worshippers. 'Celebris' and 'creber' are the same word under different forms.

21. _dives Achaemenes,_] Achæmenes was the great-grandfather of Cyrus, the founder of the Persian monarchy, and the Achæmenid dynasty of Persian kings, of which were Darius and Xerxes, took its name from him. His name is used here loosely for those kings, but he was not a king himself, though of a noble family. See C. iii. 1. 44. Epod. xiii. 8.

22. _Phrygiae Mygdonias opes_] See C. iii. 16. 41, n.

23. _Permutare_] See C. i. 17. 2, n. 'Crine' here means a lock of hair.

26. _facili saevitia_] 'with complying cruelty'; that is, a cruelty that is only pretended and is easily overcome.

27. _poscente magis_] 'more than thou who askest them.' 'Occupare' has the force of φθάνειν, 'to be beforehand,' 'to anticipate,'--'sometimes she is the first to snatch.'

ODE XIII.

It is impossible to say with certainty when the accident happened which is referred to in this Ode, but there are reasons for supposing it was when Horace was about forty years old, B.C. 25 or 26. It appears that a tree on his farm fell and nearly struck him. In this Ode he describes the danger he had escaped, and abuses the tree and the man who planted it. A year afterwards, we find him celebrating the anniversary of his escape with a sacrifice to Liber (C. iii. 8. 6), and in the 17th Ode of this book (v. 32) he speaks of offering a lamb to Faunus for his preservation.

The latter part of the Ode is a remarkable instance of Horace's way of digressing into subjects only remotely connected with his principal theme. In speaking of his escape, he is led into a description of the company he should have been brought into if he had been sent so suddenly to Hades, dwelling particularly on Alcæus and Sappho, and the power of their music over the spirits of the dead.

Argument.--Whoever planted thee, thou tree, did so on an evil day, and with impious hand he reared thee. Parricide, guest-murder,--there is no crime he would not commit. No one can provide against all dangers. The sailor fears the sea, and nothing else; the soldier fears his enemy alone; but death comes often from an unexpected source. How nearly was I sent to the regions below, where all the shades wonder, Cerberus listens, the Furies are charmed, and the damned suspend their labors, while Sappho and Alcæus sing.

1. _nefasto_] A 'dies nefastus' was properly one on which, the day being dedicated to religion, it was not lawful for the prætor to hold his court. Ovid thus defines 'dies fasti' and 'nefasti' (Fast. i. 47):--

"Ille nefastus erit per quem tria verba silentur; Fastus erit per quem lege licebit agi";

where the three words alluded to are said to be 'do,' 'dico,' 'addico,' all of them familiar and of common occurrence in Roman civil procedure. Hence the name, which is compounded of 'ne' and 'fari.' And because no secular work but what was necessary could prosper on the days called 'nefasti,' all unlucky days came to bear that name as here, and the word was thence applied to express all that was bad, as C. i. 35. 35. The words may be rendered, "he not only planted thee on an evil day (whoever it was that first planted thee), but with impious hand reared thee." The 'pagus' was Mandela, in a valley of the Sabine hills, where Horace had his farm.

6. _Fregisse cervicem_] This is the ordinary phrase for strangulation. It occurs again Epod. iii. 2. The force of 'penetralia' is, that in the inner part of the house the images of the Penates and the hearth of Vesta were placed, where, if anywhere, the person of a guest should be sacred.

10. _Tractavit,_] This word is sufficient for both substantives. There is no necessity for supplying 'patravit' for 'nefas,' as Orelli says. The word 'tractare' is widely applied.

11. _caducum_] This word signifies 'falling' (iii. 4. 44), 'fallen,' or 'ready to fall.' More generally the last, as here. Virgil has (Aen. vi. 481): "Hic multum fleti ad superos belloque caduci Dardanidae"; where it means 'fallen.'

14. _in horus_] 'from hour to hour.'

_Bosporum_] The form of the Greek βοῦς πόρος requires that the name should be written thus, and not Bosphorum, as it is often spelt. The Phœnicians were proverbial as sailors, and the name is so used here.

17. _celerem fugam_] C. i. 19. 11, n. The defeat of Crassus by the Parthians, B.C. 55, and of M. Antonius, B.C. 36, left a deep and long impression on the Romans.

18, 19. _catenas--et Italum Robur;_] 'the bonds and the prowess of the Roman.' Among the things which the Roman soldier carried to battle with him (an axe, a saw, &c.) was a chain to secure any prisoner he might take. To this Horace probably refers in 'catenas,' and below in C. iii. 8. 22.

21. _furvae regna Proserpinae_] 'Furvus' is an old word signifying 'dark,' and is not different from 'fulvus,' except in usage. It is much used in connection with the infernal deities and their rites. From the same root Festus derives 'furiae,' 'fuligo,' and other words of the same kind. The first syllable in Proserpina is usually long in other writers.

23. _Sedesque discretas piorum_] According to the notions of the ancient poets, the great divisions of Orcus were three: 1st, Erebus, the region of darkness and mourning, but not of torment, which lay on the banks of the Styx, and extended thence over a considerable tract towards the other two; 2d, Tartarus, the place of punishment; and 3d, Elysium, the place of happiness. In the first of these Minos presided, in the second Rhadamanthus, and in the third, Æacus. In the Homeric times Elysium was upon earth in the μακάρων νῆσοι. See Odyss. iv. 563, and the Schol. thereon, and C. iv. 8. 25.

24. _querentem Sappho puellis de popularibus,_] Some of Sappho's poetry, of which fragments remain, is addressed to her young female friends, and complains with jealousy of their transferring their affections to others. Horace alludes to this. The Æolians settled in Lesbos, Sappho's native island (C. i. 1. 34), wherefore her lyre is called Æolian.

26. _plenius_] 'in grander strains.'

27. _Alcaee, plectro dura navis,_] See C. i. 32. 6, n. The 'plectrum' (πλῆκτρον) was a small stick (gilt or ivory or plain wood) with which the strings of the lyre were sometimes struck, instead of with the fingers.

29. _sacro--silentio_] 'Strains worthy of profound (religious) silence.'

30. _Mirantur--dicere;_] 'Admire them both, as they sing'; a Grecism for 'mirantur dicentes.' 'Magis' modifies 'bibit.'

32. _Densum humeris_] This is rather an unusual expression for 'crowded together.'

33. _carminibus_] This is the ablative case, as (S. i. 4. 28) "Stupet Albius aere"; (S. ii. 7. 95) "Vel quum Pausiaca torpes, insane, tabella."

34. _centiceps_] Elsewhere Horace represents Cerberus with three heads, C. ii. 19. 31, and C. iii. 11. 20; in the latter of which places, which greatly resembles this and should be compared with it, he describes him with a hundred snakes guarding his head. Hesiod represents him with fifty heads, but three is the more usual account.

35. _intorti_] 'Anguis' is more commonly feminine than masculine.

36. _Eumenidum_] This name was given to the Erinnyes, as one of better omen than the other names which they bore. It signifies 'the kind-hearted' (εὖ μένος, 'mens'). From Æschylus downwards they were represented in horrid forms and with snakes in their hair, as here. The Romans called them 'Furiae,' and, like the later Greeks, confined their number to three, whose names were Alecto, Megæra, and Tisiphone. See C. i. 28. 17, n.

37. _Quin et_] 'moreover,' or 'nay, even.' 'Quin' represents 'qui' with a negative particle affixed, and is strictly an interrogative, 'why not?' or 'how should it not be so?' but like οὐκοῦν it is used in direct affirmations, as here and in many other places. As to the punishments of Prometheus and Tantalus, see Epod. xvii. 65, sq. Orion the hunter is mentioned below, C. iii. 4. 71.

38. _laborum decipitur_] See ii. 9. 17, n. 'Is beguiled of his sufferings.'

40. _lyncas._] Elsewhere this word is only used in the feminine gender. Homer represents the heroes as following in Elysium the favorite pursuits of their lives on the earth. See Odyss. xi. 571, sqq. and Virgil, Aen. vi. 651, sqq.

ODE XIV.

Who Postumus was, or whether it is a real name, is uncertain. The subject of the Ode is the certainty of death, and it ends with a hint upon the folly of hoarding.

Argument.--Time is slipping away, Postumus, and piety will not retard the approach of age or death. No sacrifices will propitiate Pluto, who keeps even the giants Geryon and Tityos beyond that stream which all must cross, even though we expose not ourselves to the dangers of war, the sea, and climate. Thou must leave home, wife, and all thou hast, and thine heir will squander what thou hast hoarded.

1. _fugaces_] 'fleeting.'

4. _indomitae_] The Greek ἀδάμαστος.

5. _trecenis quotquot eunt dies_] 'three hundred every day.'

6. _illacrimabilem_] Here this word is used in an active sense. It is used passively in C. iv. 9. 26: "Omnes illacrimabiles urgentur." See note on C. i. 3. 32. Compare "Orcus--non exorabilis auro" (Epp. ii. 2. 178).

7. _ter amplum_] 'Ter' expresses the triple form of the monster, "forma tricorporis umbrae" (Aen. vi. 289). He was a mythical king of the island Erytheia (Gades), slain by Hercules (C. iii. 14. 1). Tityos was a giant who, for attempting to violate the goddess Artemis, was killed by Apollo and cast into Tartarus, where vultures devoured his liver (C. iii. 4. 77; iv. 6. 2).

8. _tristi Compescit unda,_] This is Virgil's description (Aen. vi. 438),--

"Tristique palus inamabilis unda Alligat et novies Styx interfusa coercet,"--

which is repeated from Georg. iv. 479. Sophocles (Electra, 137) calls it πάγκοινον λίμναν.

9. _scilicet_] This is in reality a verb, 'you may know,' 'you may be sure.' It is used as an adverb, 'assuredly,' sometimes in a serious sense (as here), sometimes in an ironical.

10. _Quicunque terrae munere vescimur,_] This expresses the words of Homer, ὃς θνητός τ᾽ εἴη καὶ ἔδοι Δημήτερος ἀκτήν (Il. xiii. 322), οἳ ἀρούρης καρπὸν ἔδουσι (Il. vi. 142).

11. _reges_] This is Horace's usual word for the rich, as observed on C. i. 4. 14. 'Colonus' was the lessee of a farm, the owner of which was called 'dominus' in respect to that property. 'Reges,' therefore, are 'domini.' A 'colonus' might be rich and the tenant of a large farm; but Horace refers to the poorer sort here and in C. i. 35. 6. 'Inops' he uses sometimes in an extreme, sometimes in a qualified sense of want, but more generally the latter, as he does 'pauper,' C. i. 1. 18, n. The opposition is between high and low, and the difference is one of position, as in the third Ode of this book (v. 21, sqq.). "The small and great are there, and the servant is free from his master." (Job iii. 19.) This seems to express Horace's meaning.

15. _Frustra per auctumnos nocentem_] See S. ii. 6. 18, n. With 'nocentem' connect 'Corporibus.'

18. _Cocytos_] This was the name of a tributary of the river Acheron in Thesprotia, a part of Epirus. For some reason, these rivers came to be placed in Tartarus, and the Styx was added to them as a third. The language of the text expresses very well the character an infernal stream might be expected to wear.

_Danai genus_] 'the family (or children) of Danaus.' The punishment of the fifty daughters of Danaus is referred to in C. iii. 11.

19. _damnatusque longi_] 'condemned to an endless task.' This follows the Greek construction, καταγνωσθεὶς πόνου, as observed C. ii. 9. 17, n.

20. _Sisyphus Aeolides_] Homer too calls him Σίσυφος Αἰολίδης, and says he was κέρδιστος ἀνδρῶν, 'the most gain-seeking of men' (Il. vi. 153) and Horace calls him 'vafer,' S. ii. 3. 21. His punishment ('longus labor') was to roll a stone up a hill, down which it always rolled again when it was near the top. (See Epod. xvii. 68.) The cause of this punishment was variously stated in different legends.

23. _invisas cupressos_] He calls them 'funebres' in Epod. v. 18. The cypress was commonly planted by tombs.

24. _brevem_] 'Brevis,' is nowhere else used in this sense of 'short-lived.' It corresponds to ὀλιγοχρόνιος and μινυνθάδιος. With this passage compare C. ii. 3. 17, sqq.

25. _Caecuba_] See C. i. 20. 9, n.

_dignior_] This is ironical; the heir would at least know that wealth was made to spend, and so would be a worthier possessor than the man who had hoarded it.

27. _superbo_] The pride of the heir is transferred to the wine. Cicero (Phil. ii. 41) says, "natabant pavimenta mero, madebant parietes." On the pontifical feastings, see C. i. 37. 2, n. As to 'pavimenta,' see notes on S. ii. 4. 83. Epp. i. 10. 19.

ODE XV.

When Augustus had brought the civil wars to an end B.C. 29, he applied himself to the reformation of manners, and Horace probably wrote this and other Odes (ii. 18, iii. 1-6) to promote the reforms of Augustus, perhaps by his desire, or that of Mæcenas. They should be read together, and with C. i. 2. From the reference to the temples in the last stanza, it may be assumed perhaps that this Ode and the sixth of the third book were written about the same time, that is, B.C. 28, when Augustus set himself particularly to restore the public buildings, which had fallen into neglect during the civil wars.

Augustus passed several sumptuary laws to keep down the expensive habits of the rich citizens, regulating in particular the cost of festivals and banquets. But they soon fell into disuse and contempt, as Tiberius, writing to the Senate fifty years afterwards, declared: "Tot a majoribus refertae leges, tot quas divus Augustus tulit, illae oblivione, hae, quod flagitiosius est, contemptu abolitae securiorem luxum fecere." (Tac. Ann. iii. 54). Horace in this Ode complains that the rich are wasting their means on fine houses and luxurious living, contrary to the example of their forefathers, who were content to live in huts while they built handsome temples for the gods.

Argument.--The rich man's palaces and flower-gardens and ponds are occupying all our once fertile land. This was not the way of our ancestors, who had but little while the state was rich, who dwelt in no spacious houses, whom the law bade content themselves with a turf-roofed cottage, and beautify the towns and temples with marble.

1. _Jam pauca aratro_] Tiberius (see Introduction) complained to the Senate that Rome was entirely dependent on the provinces for her corn, and was at the mercy of the winds and waves, which might at any time cut off the supply and reduce the citizens to live on their ornamental woods and country-houses. (Compare Sall. Bell. Cat. 13.) 'Regiae' is used in the same way as 'rex' elsewhere (see C. i. 4. 14). 'Regal piles' are the enormous villas of the rich. 'Jam' means 'soon.'

2. _undique latius_] Cicero (ad Att. i. 18, 19, 20) complains that some of his contemporaries ('piscinarii' he calls them) were so devoted to their fish-ponds ('stagna'), that they cared more for them than for all the interests of the state, as if this might fall and they still keep their playthings: "Ita sunt stulti ut amissa republica piscinas suas fore salvas sperare videantur" (18). Elsewhere he calls them 'piscinarum Tritones' (ii. 9). As to the 'lacus Lucrinus,' see A. P. 63, n.

5. _tum violaria_] This is opposed to 'tum laurea' (v. 9).

6. _Myrtus_] This word is of two declensions. So likewise are 'quercus,' 'laurus,' 'pinus,' 'cornus,' 'ficus.'

_omnis copia narium_] 'Every abundance of sweet smells.' 'Narium' is put for the perfumes of flowers. It is not so used elsewhere.

10. _ictus._] 'Ictus' is used by other poets besides Horace for the fierce rays of the sun. See Ovid, Met. v. 389. Lucretius, ii. 808.

11. _intonsi_] This is equivalent to 'antiqui.' 'Catonis' is M. Porcius Cato, called the Censor from the stern way in which he executed the duties of that office, B.C. 184, doing all he could to put down luxurious and expensive habits.

12. _Auspiciis_] 'Example.'

13. _census_] A man's property was called his 'census' because it was rated by the censors once in five years, and the period was called a 'lustrum,' because, when this duty was finished, the censors performed a lustration, or sacrifice of atonement for the city.

14. _nulla decempedis_] 'Privatis' agrees with 'decempedis.' Horace complains that the private houses of his day had verandahs ('porticus') so large as to be measured by a ten-foot rule. Here they dined in the hot weather, and caught the cool breezes of the north. This practice was called 'coenatio ad Boream.' 'Opacam excipiebat Arcton' is like Virgil's 'Frigus captabis opacum' (Ec. i. 53), where 'the shady coolness' means 'the coolness caused by the shade': and 'opacam Arcton' combines the notions of the north wind and the coolness of the shady side of the house, which was the north side. 'Metata' is again used passively in S. ii. 2. 114, but no other writer so uses the word.

17. _Fortuitum caespitem_] 'The turf that lies at hand,' and so, 'cheap.' This means cottages roofed with turf, as Virgil says (Ec. i. 69), "tuguri congestum culmine caespes." 'Fortuitum' is equivalent to τὸν τυχόντα. Horace alludes to the ruined state of the temples in C. ii. 18. 2.

ODE XVI.

The person to whom this Ode is addressed, Pompeius Grosphus, is said to have been of the equestrian order. He was possessed of large property in Sicily, of which island he was probably a native. On his return, Horace gave him a letter of introduction to his friend Iccius (Epp. i. 12), in which he speaks highly of his worth. He is not to be confounded with the Pompeius of C. ii. 7 (Introduction). He appears, from the latter part of the Ode, to have been in Sicily when it was written. Perhaps he had written Horace a letter which called up the particular train of thought that runs through the Ode, or had qualities which made it applicable to him. The object of the Ode is to reprove the craving for happiness which has been bestowed upon others.

Argument.--The sailor and the savage warrior alike pray for rest, but wealth cannot buy it. Riches and power cannot remove care from the dwelling. The humble alone are free. Why do we aim at so much happiness in this short life, and run away from home? We cannot fly from ourselves and care. We should be cheerful for the present, and not expect perfect happiness. One man lives many days, another has few. I may have opportunities of happiness which are denied to thee; and yet thou hast ample possessions, and I but a humble farm, a breath of the Grecian Muse, and a contempt for the vulgar.

2. _Prensus Aegaeo,_] 'Deprensus' ('overtaken,' 'caught') was a nautical term for a ship overtaken by a storm. The storms of the Ægean are mentioned C. iii. 29. 63. 'Simul' is the same as 'simul ac.'

3. _certa fulgent_] 'shine distinctly.'

5. _Thrace_] For 'Thracia.' See C. iii. 15. 2, n.

10. _Summovet_] This is the proper word to express the lictor's duty of clearing the way. The lictor is called 'consularis,' because the consuls were attended by these officers, as were other high magistrates. As to 'laqueata,' see S. ii. 3. 273, n.

14. _salinum,_] See note on S. i. 3. 13. 'Cupido,' when it refers to the love of money, is always masculine in Horace.

17. _jaculamur_] See C. i. 2. 3, n.

18, 19. _Quid--mutamus_] 'Why do we seek in exchange' for our own?

_Patriae--exsul_] This is another Grecism, πατρίδος φυγάς. Ovid uses the same construction (Met. ix. 409): "Exsul mentisque domusque."

21. _Scandit aeratas_] See C. iii. 1. 37, n. 'Vitiosa' may be rendered 'morbid,' arising from a diseased state of mind. 'Æratas' is 'brazen-beaked.' Like sentiments are found in S. ii. 7. 111-115. Epp. i. 11. 25, sqq.; 14. 12, sq.

25. _quod ultra est_] 'what lies beyond'; that is, 'the future.'

26. _Oderit_] This is a strong way of expressing 'nolit,' 'refuse,' 'avoid.'

29. _cita mors_] See C. iv. 6. 4, n. He was destined to an early death, and therefore calls himself μινυνθάδιος (Il. i. 352).

30. _Tithonum_] Eos (Aurora) obtained for her husband Tithonus the gift of immortality, of which, when old age became too great a burden, he repented, and was taken by her to heaven (see C. i. 28. 8).

31. _Et mihi_] 'and perhaps to me Time shall give some blessing he denies to thee.' He then goes on to compare their respective gifts and means to say that he is as satisfied with his humble condition as Grosphus should be with his riches.

33. _Siculae_] See Introduction.

35. _equa,_] Mares rather than horses were used for racing. Virg. Georg. i. 59: "Eliadum palmas Epiros equarum." As to 'quadriga,' see Epp. i. 11. 29, n.

_bis Afro Murice tinctae_] These garments were called δίβαφα; compare Epod. xii. 21: "Muricibus Tyriis iteratae vellera lanae." The purple dyes most prized were the Tyrian, the Sidonian (Epp. i. 10. 26), the Laconian (C. ii. 18. 8), and African (Epp. ii. 2. 181). The garment dyed with this color was the lacerna, an outer cloak worn over the toga. It was very costly. What these garments gained in appearance by their dye, they lost in savor; for Martial reckons among the worst smelling objects "bis murice vellus inquinatum."

38. _Spiritum Graiae tenuem Camenae_] 'A slight breath of the Grecian Muse,' which is a modest way of describing his talents as a follower of the lyric poets of Greece.

39. _Parca non mendax_] Elsewhere he addresses the Parcae as 'veraces' (C. S. 25). The Parcae, who correspond to the Greek Μοῖραι, were goddesses, whose office it was to execute the decrees of Jove ('fata'), which therefore they knew, and were said sometimes to reveal. They attended men at their birth, and foretold their character and fortunes, and so Horace says Parca gave him the gifts he mentions. The original conception, which Homer adopts, supposed but one Μοῖρα, and Horace uses the singular number. But according to the later notions there were three. See next Ode, v. 16.

_malignum_] 'spiteful,' which Horace says feelingly, for he had suffered from their malice.

ODE XVII.

The last two lines of this Ode, showing that Horace had not yet paid the sacrifice he had vowed to Faunus for his preservation from death, makes it most probable that it was written not long after C. 13 of this book, B.C. 25 or 26. In the same year Mæcenas appears to have recovered from a fever, and to have been received with applause in the theatre on his first appearance after his illness (C. i. 20. 3). But his recovery seems to have been only partial, and it would appear that Horace had to listen to his complaints and apprehensions of death, his fear of which is said to have been great. Horace remonstrates with his friend in an affectionate way about his complaints and apprehensions.

Argument.--Why kill me with thy complaints? I cannot survive thee, Mæcenas; one half of my life being gone, how should the other stay behind? I have sworn to die with thee, and the monsters of hell shall not separate us. Our star is one and the same. The power of Jove rescued thee from the adverse influence of Saturn on that day when thou wert received with acclamations in the theatre, and Faunus at the same time rescued me from death. Offer thy sacrifice and dedicate thy temple, and I will offer my unpretending lamb.

2. _amicum est_] A translation of the Greek φίλον ἐστί, and equivalent to 'placet.'

6. _altera,_] 'I, the other part.' Two definitions of friendship by Pythagoras are worth preserving. One is, σώματα μὲν δύο ψυχή δὲ μία, and the other ἐστὶ γὰρ ὣς φαμεν ὁ φίλος δεύτερος ἐγώ. Erasmus (Adag. Neaera et Charmion) speaks of a custom of the Egyptians, among whom it was usual for persons to bind themselves by an oath each not to survive the other, such persons being called οἱ συναποθνήσκοντες. This, if true, corresponds with Cæsar's account of the Soldurii (B. G. iii. 22).

7. _Nec carus aeque_] 'Carus' requires 'ipsi' to be supplied, as (Epp. i. 3. 29), "Si patriae volumus, si nobis vivere cari." 'Neither so dear' (to myself as you were to me), nor surviving with an entire life. Horace and Mæcenas died the same year, and it has been unreasonably surmised, from this coincidence and the language here used, that Horace hastened his own death in order to accompany his friend. (Compare Epod. i. 5.)

11. _Utcunque_] For 'quandocunque,' 'whenever.'

13. _Chimaerae_] See C. i. 27. 24.

14. _Gyas_] This name is sometimes written Gyges. It belongs to one of the giants who made war upon Zeus.

16. _Justitiae_] Δίκη and the Μοῖραι were daughters of Zeus and Themis, and the former is here introduced as associated with her sisters. See C. 16. 39, n.

17. _Seu Libra_] What Horace thought of astrology may be collected from C. i. 11. He introduces a little of it here to entertain his friend, showing, at the same time, but little care or knowledge of the subject, and rather a contempt for it. He says whatever the constellation may have been under which he was born, whether Libra, Scorpio, or Capricornus, his star no doubt coincided with that of Mæcenas, for that their fortunes were one.

20. _Capricornus_] The sun enters this constellation in the winter. It is therefore charged with the storms that then occur, and is called the tyrant of the western wave, as Notus is called the lord of the Hadriatic (C. i. 3. 15).

23. _refulgens_] Shining in opposition, so as to counteract his influences. Those who were born when Saturn was visible were supposed to be liable to all manner of ills. But the star of Jupiter, if it shone at the same time, would destroy the power of Saturn.

26. _Laetum theatris_] See Introd.

28. _Sustulerat,_] The use of the indicative in hypothetical cases of this kind is not easily reduced to rule; but it seems to correspond to the Greek construction of ἄν with the indicative. When the condition is not fulfilled, or is a negative condition, or implies a negation, then the consequent clause may be expressed by the indicative mood, in the pluperfect tense if the action be a complete action and past, in the perfect if it be present. "Sustulerat si non levasset: sed levavit." Horace's meaning might be thus expressed: "The trunk had killed me, had not Faunus lightened the blow." It should be observed, that in sentences of this character the 'nisi' or 'si' always follows.

Horace was under the particular care of Mercury, the Muses, and Faunus, to each of whom, as well as to Liber (iii. 8. 7), he attributes his preservation on this occasion (C. iii. 4. 27). Faunus or Pan was the son of Hermes or Mercury.

29. _levasset_] 'had averted.'

30. _Reddere victimas_] Mæcenas had vowed an offering, a shrine probably to Apollo, the healer, for his recovery; Horace had vowed a lamb to Faunus (see Introduction).

ODE XVIII.

This Ode, which deals with Horace's favorite subjects, the levelling power of death, and the vanity of wealth, and the schemes of the wealthy, is dedicated to no particular friend. It is like C. iii. 24.

Argument.--No gold in my roof, no marble in my hall, no palace have I, nor female clients to serve me, but I have honesty and understanding and, though I be poor, I am courted by the rich: what more should I ask of the gods or my friend, content with my single Sabine estate? Days are passing on, and, though ready to drop into thy grave, thou art building and stretching thy borders, and tearing up the landmarks of thy client, and driving him from his home. But to what purpose is this? To Hades thou must go in the end: the earth opens to rich and poor; Prometheus the crafty, and Tantalus the proud, they cannot escape; and the poor man finds in death a release from his toils, whether he seek it or not.

2. _lacunar,_] See S. ii. 3. 273, n.

3. _trabes_] 'blocks.' The architrave or base of the entablature resting upon a column is probably meant. The marble from Mount Hymettus in Attica was white. The Numidian, referred to in the next verse, was yellowish.

5. _Attali_] See C. i. 1. 12, n. 'I have not, a stranger heir, taken possession of the palace of Attalus.' The meaning is, 'I have not had the luck to come to an unexpected estate, as the Romans came in for the property of Attalus.'

7. _Laconicas_] See C. 16. 35, n.

8. _honestae--clientae:_] 'respectable dependants,' which may mean the rustic women on a man's farms, the wives of the 'coloni.' This is not the technical sense of 'cliens' or 'clienta,' for which see Smith's Dict. Ant.

10. _Benigna vena_] 'a productive vein.' This metaphor is from a mine.

11. _Me petit_] 'seeks my company.'

14. _unicis Sabinis_] 'my single Sabine estate.' Supply 'praediis.' The farm which Mæcenas gave him in the valley of the Digentia, among the Sabine hills.

16. _interire_] This word seems to be an adaptation of φθίνειν, by which the Greek expressed the latter days of the month.

17. _Tu secanda marmora Locas_] You--i.e. any luxurious old man--'You enter into contracts for the hewing of marble,' to ornament your houses, in the way of pillars, wall-coating, and floors. 'Locare' may be said either of one who receives or of one who pays money: 'locare rem faciendam' or 'utendam,' to let out work to be done, or to let a thing (as a house, &c.) to be used. In the former case the 'locator' pays, in the latter he receives payment. Here the former is meant. The correlative terms are 'redemptor' and 'conductor.' See C. iii. 1. 35, n.

20. _urges Summovere littora,_] Compare with this C. iii. 1. 33, sqq. "Contracta pisces aequora sentiunt." 'Summovere' is to push up or push out farther into the sea by artificial means, and so increase your grounds on which to build. As to 'Baiae,' see Epp. i. 1. 83, n.

22. _ripa._] 'Ripa' is not used for 'littus,' 'the shore of the sea' (as here), so often as 'littus' is used for 'ripa,' 'the bank of a river.'

23. _Quid, quod usque_] 'Quid' and 'quid enim' are commonly used to introduce a fresh instance or illustration of what has been said before, or else they carry on the flow of an argument, or something of that sort. It has been usual to insert a note of interrogation after it in these cases, which only makes an intelligible formula unintelligible.

24. _Revellis agri terminos_] A law of the twelve tables provided against this wrong. "Patronus si clienti fraudem fecerit, sacer esto." Solomon thus exhorts the rich (Prov. xxiii. 10, 11): "Remove not the old landmark, and enter not into the fields of the fatherless; for their Redeemer is mighty, he shall plead with thee."

29. _Nulla certior tamen_] 'There is no dwelling marked out (or defined) which more certainly awaits the wealthy landlord than the bounds of greedy Orcus.' Horace means to say, 'Though you think you may push the boundary of your estate farther and farther, you must go to a home marked out for you, and which you can neither expand nor escape from.' In 'destinata' (agreeing with 'aula') and in 'finis' is contained the notion of prescribed and fixed limits, in which the force of the passage lies.

34. _Regumque pueris,_] C. i. 4. 14, n.

35. _Callidum Promethea_] This story of Prometheus trying to bribe Charon is not found elsewhere.

36. _Hic_] i.e. Orcus, "non exorabilis auro" (Epp. ii. 2. 179).

37. _Tantali Genus_] See C. i. 6. 8, n.

38. _coërcet_] 'confines.'

40. _Vocatus atque non vocatus audit._] Horace's language is bold, coupling 'audit' with 'non vocatus.' 'Functum laboribus,' 'when he has finished his labors,' is derived from the Greek κεκμηκότα.

ODE XIX.

This Ode was perhaps composed at the time of the Liberalia, like the third elegy of the fifth book of Ovid's Tristia. The scene is laid in the woods, and the poet is supposed to come suddenly upon the party, consisting of Bacchus, with his attendant nymphs and the wild creatures of the woods, all attending with admiration to the god as he sings his own achievements. The poet is smitten with terror, which gives place (v. 9) to the inspiration of the divinity, in virtue of which he breaks out into echoes of all he had heard.

Argument.--Among the far hills I saw Bacchus--O wonderful!--reciting, and the Nymphs learning, and the Satyrs all attention. Awe is fresh in my heart; the god is within me, and I am troubled with joy. O spare me, dread Liber! It is past, and I am free to sing of the Bacchanals; of fountains of wine and milk and honey; of Ariadne; of Pentheus, and Lycurgus; how thou tamedst the waters of the East, and dost sport with the Thracian nymphs; how thou hurledst the giant from heaven, and how Cerberus did crouch to thee, and lick thy feet.

1. _Bacchum_] The legends and attributes of Bacchus contained in this Ode are entirely of Greek origin. The Romans had no independent notions of this divinity, whose name Βάκχος, 'the shouter,' is properly no more than an adjunct of Διόνυσος.

2. _docentem--discentes_] These correspond to the terms διδάσκειν and μανθάνειν, as applied to the choragus who trained, and the chorus who learnt their parts in the Greek plays.

3. _Nymphasque_] The Naiades and Dryades (see C. iii. 25. 14). These nymphs were the nurses of Bacchus in his infancy, and are always represented as his companions.

4. _Capripedum Satyrorum_] The Satyrs are usually confounded with the Fauns, Faunus again being confounded with Pan, who was represented with goat's feet like the Satyrs. Lucian describes the Satyrs as being ὀξεῖς τὰ ὦτα, but only describes Pan as having the lower extremities like a goat, τὰ κάτω αἰγὶ ἐοικώς. It is vain, therefore, trying to trace any consistency in the poet's conceptions of these uncouth divinities.

6, 7. _turbidum Laetatur_] 'beats wildly.'

9. _Fas est_] 'the god permits me.' Here the poet is supposed to recover from the terror inspired by the god, and to feel that he is at liberty to repeat what he has heard. 'Fas est' is equivalent to δυνατόν ἐστι. The power as well as the permission of the god is given. C. i. 11. 1, n.

_Thyiadas_] The attendants of Bacchus were so called, from the Greek word θύειν, 'to rave.'

10. _lactis--mella;_] The same attribute that made Dionysus the god of wine also gave him milk and honey as his types. He represented the exuberance of nature, and was therein closely connected with Demeter. Any traveller in the East can tell of honeycombs on the trees as curiously wrought as any in garden-hives. Virgil says (Ec. iv. 30): "Et durae quercus sudabunt roscida mella."

12. _iterare_] This means 'to repeat' what the poet had heard from the god, as he taught the nymphs to praise him.

13. _Fas et_] 'Et' is used by the poets as an enclitic, and put after the word it belongs to, which is not done by the prose-writers.

_beatae conjugis_] i.e. Ariadne, whose crown is one of the constellations, 'corona,' placed in heaven by Bacchus, according to the story recorded in his happy manner by Ovid (Fast. iii. 459-516).

14. _tectaque Penthei_] Pentheus, king of Thebes (Epp. i. 16. 74), having gone out to see the secret orgies of Bacchus, was torn to pieces by the Bacchanals, with his mother Agave at the head of them.

16. _Lycurgi._] See C. i. 18. 8, n.

17. _Tu flectis amnes,_] The Hydaspes and Orontes, which Bacchus is said to have walked over dry-shod.

19. _Nodo coërces_] This is a variation of 'nodo cohibere crinem' (C. iii. 14. 22). 'Bistonidum' means the women of the Bistones, a Thracian tribe. 'Fraus,' in this sense of 'harm,' occurs again, C. S. 41.

21. _Tu, cum parentis_] Horace followed some legend not found by us elsewhere in this description of Bacchus changed into a lion and fighting with the giant Rhœtus. As to the wars of the Giants, see notes on C. ii. 12. 6, and iii. 4. 43, 50.

28. _Pacis eras mediusque belli._] 'You were the same, whether engaged in (in the midst of) peace or war'; _the same_, i.e. as vigorous in war as in the dance or jest.

30. _Cornu decorum,_] Dionysus was called by the Greeks χρυσόκερως, because he was the son of Jupiter Ammon, called the Horned. This symbol of power, common to the Greeks as well as to all the nations of the East (see the Hebrew Scriptures _passim_), was adopted from this divinity by Alexander the Great (who professed to be the brother of Bacchus and son of Ammon) and his successors, who have it represented on their coins. Compare C. iii. 21. 18: "Vires et addis cornua pauperi."

_leniter atterens Caudam,_] There is a notion of tameness and pleasure in this action. 'As you came he gently wagged his tail, as you departed he licked your feet.' 'Ter-' is to turn or wag, and 'adter-' is to wag at or towards.

31. _trilingui Ore_] 'three mouths,' as ἑκατομπόδων Νηρηΐδων signifies the hundred Nereids (Soph. Oed. Col. v. 717). See note on ii. 13. 34.

ODE XX.

This Ode appears to have been written impromptu, in a mock-heroic or but half serious style, in reply to an invitation of Mæcenas (v. 6). The poet says that he whom Mæcenas delights to honor cannot fail to live for ever, and that he already feels his immortality, and that wings have been given him with which he shall soar to heaven, and fly to the farthest corners of the earth.

Argument.--On a fresh, strong wing shall I soar to heaven, far above envy and the world. Whom thou, dear Mæcenas, delightest to honor, Styx hath no power to detain. Even now my plumage is springing, and I am ready to fly away and sing in distant places, and to teach barbarous nations. No wailings for me; away with the empty honors of a tomb.

1, 2. _Non usitata nec tenui--Penna_] 'On no common or mean wing.'

_biformis_] As swan and poet.

4. _invidia major_] Horace was not too good to be maligned, but he could rise above it, which is the meaning of 'major,' κρείσσων. His birth drew contempt upon him while he held a command in Brutus's army, and afterwards when he became intimate with Mæcenas (see Sat. i. 6. 46, sqq.); but those who envied tried as usual to make use of him (see Sat. ii. 6. 47, sqq.). He appears in some measure to have outlived detraction, according to his own words (C. iv. 3. 16):

"Jam dente minus mordeor invido."

6. _quem vocas,_] 'whom thou honored by an invitation.' See Introduction. It was on the strength of such invitations that he affirmed,

"Pauperemque dives Me petit." (C. ii. 18. 10.)

9, 10. _asperae Pelles_] Like the skin on a swan's legs.

11. _Superne,_] As this is formed from 'supernus,' the last syllable would naturally be long; but it is short in Lucretius twice, and the same with 'inferne.'

13. _Daedaleo ocior_] Orelli has collected many examples of hiatus like this from Horace, Virgil, and Ovid. See C. i. 28. 24.

15. _canorus Ales_] The swan. See C. iv. 2. 25, 3. 20. Virgil (Ec. ix. 27) has,

"Vare tuum nomen-- Cantantes sublime ferent ad sidera cycni."

16. _Hyperboreosque campos._] There was a mystery attached to the distant regions of the north, to which Pindar (Pyth. x.) says no man ever found the way by land or sea. They did not however neglect the Muses. They were a happy race, ἀνδρῶν μακάρων ὅμιλος; a sacred family, ἱερὰ γενεά, free from old age, disease, and war. These considerations will explain Horace's meaning.

18. _Marsae cohortis_] The Marsi were one of the hardiest of the Italian tribes, and supplied the best foot-soldiers for the Roman army, which is hence called 'Marsa cohors' (see C. iii. 5. 9).

_Dacus--Geloni,_] See C. i. 19. 10, n. The Daci were not finally subdued till the reign of Trajan.

19. _peritus_] Here the meaning is 'instructed,' as 'juris peritus' is one instructed and skilled in the law. Horace means that barbarous nations will become versed in his writings: 'mei peritus me discet' is perhaps the full sentence. But why he should class those who drank of the waters of the Rhone (of which many Romans drank) with the barbarians mentioned, is not easy to understand.

20. _Hiber_] By Hiber is probably meant the Caucasian people of that name.

_Rhodanique potor._] This mode of expression for the inhabitants of a country, as those who drink of their national river, is repeated twice, C. iii. 10. 1, and C. iv. 15. 21.

21. _inani funere_] That is, a funeral without a corpse. The poet says he shall have taken flight and shall not die. The idea is like that of Ennius in those verses (quoted by Cicero de Senect. c. 20),--

"Nemo me lacrimis decoret nec funera fletu Faxit. Cur? Volito vivu' per ora virum."

22. _Luctusque turpes_] 'disfiguring grief.'

24. _supervacuos_] The prose-writers before Pliny used the form 'supervacaneus.'

ODES.--BOOK III.

ODE I.

This and the five following Odes are generally admitted to be among the finest specimens of Horace's manner. It has been already said (C. ii. 15, Introduction) that they appear all to have been written about the same time with one another and with other Odes, namely, that time when Augustus set himself the task of social reformation, after the close of the civil wars.

The general purport of this Ode is an exhortation to moderate living and desires.

The first stanza is generally understood to have been added as an introduction to the six Odes, viewed as a whole.

Argument.--The worldly I despise, but have new precepts for the young. Kings rule over their people, but are themselves the subjects of Jove. One may be richer, another nobler than his fellows, but all alike must die. No indulgence can get sleep for him who has a sword ever hanging over him, while it disdains not the dwellings of the poor. He who is content with a little, fears not storm or drought. The rich man builds him houses on the very waters, but anxiety follows him, go where he will. If, then, the luxuries of the wealthy cure not grief, why should I build me great houses, or seek to change my lot?

1. _Odi profanum vulgus_] The first stanza is an imitation of the language used by the priests at the mysteries, requiring "the multitude profane," that is, all but the initiated, or those who were to be initiated, to stand aloof. 'Favere linguis,' like εὐφημεῖν, in its first meaning signifies the speaking words of good omen. But it came as commonly to signify total silence, as here. Horace speaks as if he despaired of impressing his precepts on any but the young, and bids the rest stand aside, as incapable of being initiated in the true wisdom of life.

3. _Musarum sacerdos_] Ovid calls himself the same (Amor. iii. 8. 23):--

"Ille ego Musarum purus Phoebique sacerdos."

5. _Regum timendorum_] He begins by saying that even kings, though they are above their people, are themselves inferior to Jove, and goes on to say that, though one man may be richer or nobler than another, all must die; that the rich have no exemption from care, but much more of it than the humble.

7. _triumpho, Cuncta_] There is some abruptness in this, from the absence of 'et.' But it is not wanted. As to the Giants' wars, see C. ii. 12. 6, n., 19. 21; iii. 4. 43, 50.

9. _Est ut_] This is equivalent to ἐστὶν ὡς, 'it may be.' 'Esto' without 'ut' occurs in Sat. i. 6. 19. The meaning of the sentence is, that one man possesses more lands than another.

10. _hic generosior_] 'Generosior' is more noble by birth, as another is more distinguished for his character and deeds, and a third for the number of his clients, of whom it was the pride of the wealthy Romans to have a large body depending on them.

11. _Descendat in Campum_] The Campus Martius was an open space, which afterwards came to be encroached upon by buildings, outside the city walls on the northeast quarter, and on the left bank of the Tiber. The comitia centuriata, at which the election of magistrates took place, were held in the Campus Martius. 'Descendere' is the word used for gladiators going into the arena to fight, and is also applied to the contests for office.

12. _meliorque fama_] For 'famaque melior.'

13. _Contendat,_] 'runs against him.' This verb is used sometimes as a transitive verb for 'petere,' as in Cic. in Verr. (ii. 2. 53), "Hic magistratus a populo summa ambitione contenditur."

16. _Omne capax_] Compare C. ii. 3. 26, and likewise i. 4. 13; ii. 18. 32.

18. _Siculae dapes_] The Sicilians were at one time proverbial for good living. The story alluded to is that of Damocles, told by Cicero (Tusc. Disp. v. 21), who was invited by Dionysius of Syracuse to a feast, and was set in the midst of luxuries, but with a sword hanging by a single hair over his head; by which the king meant him to understand the character of his own happiness, which had excited the admiration of Damocles. Horace says generally, that the rich cannot enjoy their riches, since they have ever a sword, in the shape of danger, hanging over them.

19. _Dulcem elaborabunt saporem,_] 'shall force sweet appetite.'

20. _Non avium_] It is said that Mæcenas sought sleep by the help of distant music. Aviaries were not uncommon in the houses of the rich.

21. _Somnus agrestium_] 'Virorum' depends on 'domos.'

24. _Tempe_] The word is plural,--in Greek τὰ Τέμπη.

27. _Arcturi cadentis--orientis Haedi,_] Arcturus sets early in November. The constellation Auriga, of which the kids (two stars) form a part, rises about the first of October.

29. _verberatae grandine vineae_] See Epp. i. 8. 4: "Grando contuderit vites." 'Mendax fundus' is like "spem mentita seges" (Epp. i. 7. 87), and opposed to "segetis certa fides" (C. iii. 16. 30).

30. _arbore nunc aquas_] Horace says he who is content with a little has never to complain, like the rich, of storms by sea or land, or of the failing of his fruits through rain, heat, or frost, which last he expresses thus: "or his farm disappointing him, when his trees complain one while of the rains, another of the constellation (Sirius) that parches the fields, and again of the cruel frosts."

33. _Contracta pisces aequora sentiunt_] Compare C. ii. 18. 20, and Epp. i. 1. 84.

35. _Caementa demittit redemptor_] Compare C. iii. 24. 3, sq. The walls were faced on either side with stone, and loose stones ('caementa') were thrown in between. 'Frequens--redemptor' means 'many a contractor.' 'Dominus' is the proprietor of the estate. 'Redimere' or 'conducere' was said of one who undertook to perform certain work for a stipulated price, and the person who gave him the work was said 'locare.' See C. ii. 18. 17, n.

36, 37. _terrae Fastidiosus_] 'disdaining the land.'

39. _triremi, et_] The 'aerata triremis' was the rich man's private yacht. The epithet is commonly applied to ships of war, because their rostra were ornamented and strengthened with bronze ('aes'). See C. ii. 16. 21.

41. _Phrygius lapis_] See C. ii. 18. 3, n.

43. _Delenit_] The expression 'purpurarum usus sidere clarior' is uncommon. The first two words, which belong properly to 'purpurarum,' are transferred to 'usus,'--'the enjoyment or possession of purple brighter than a star': which, though 'sidus' should be taken for the sun, as it may be, or a constellation, as it usually is, is rather a singular comparison for purple.

44. _Achaemeniumque costum,_] 'Persian oil.' See C. ii. 12. 21. 'Costum' was an Eastern aromatic shrub. The Greeks called it κόστος, but the name is probably Eastern. It is not the spikenard, as it is generally called.

45. _Cur invidendis_] 'Why should I build a high palace, with a splendid entrance and in the modern style? Why change my Sabine vale for troublesome wealth?' On the construction with 'permutem,' see C. i. 17. 2, n.

ODE II.

The purpose of this Ode is to commend public and social virtue, and the opening shows that it is a continuation of the preceding Ode. It is addressed chiefly to young men, and tells them that military virtue is the parent of contentment.

Argument.--Contentment is to be learned in arms and danger. To die for our country is glorious, and death pursues the coward. Virtue is superior to popular favor or rejection, and opens the way to the skies, and rises above the dull atmosphere of this world. Good faith, too, has its reward, and I would not be the companion of the man who neglects it, lest I share his sure reward.

1. _amice_] 'Amice ferre' is the reverse of the common phrase 'moleste ferre.' 'Let the youth, made strong by active warfare, learn to endure contentedly privations.'

5, 6. _trepidis In rebus._] 'in danger.'

_Ilium ex moenibus_] This picture represents the fears of the Parthian mother and maiden, the danger of their son and lover, and the prowess of the Roman soldier, likened to a fierce lion. Helen, looking out with her damsels from the walls of Troy (Il. iii. 139, sqq.), or Antigone looking from the walls of Thebes (Eurip. Phoen. 88), was perhaps before Horace's mind.

13. _Dulce et decorum est_] In Horace's mind there was a close connection between the virtue of frugal contentment and devotion to one's country. They are associated below (C. iv. 9. 49, sqq.).

14. _persequitur_] This line is a translation from Simonides,--

ὁ δ᾽ αὖ θάνατος κίχε καὶ τὸν φυγόμαχον.

'Persequi' signifies 'to pursue and overtake.' 'Timido' applies to both 'poplitibus' and 'tergo' (see note on C. i. 2. 1).

17. _Virtus repulsae nescia sordidae_] 'Nescia' seems to mean 'unconscious of,' because 'indifferent to' the disgrace of rejection, which, if disgraceful to any, is not so to the virtuous, but to those who reject them.

18. _Intaminatis_] This word is not found elsewhere. Like 'contaminatus,' 'attaminatus,' it is derived from the obsolete word 'tamino,' and contains the root 'tag' of 'tango,' as 'integer' does.

20. _popularis aurae._] 'the (fickle) favor of the people.' This word, which means that the popular judgment is like a shifting breeze, setting now this way, now that, appears in Virgil (Aen. vi. 817):--

"Nimium gaudens popularibus auris."

Compare, for the sentiments, C. iv. 9. 39, sqq.

25. _Est et fideli tuta silentio_]

ἐστὶ καὶ σιγᾶς ἀκίνδυνον γέρας,

which words of Simonides it appears Augustus was acquainted with, and approved. Plutarch tells this story. When Athenodorus was about to leave Augustus's camp, he embraced the emperor, and said, "O Cæsar, whenever thou art wroth, say nothing, do nothing, till thou hast gone over in thy mind the twenty-four letters of the alphabet." Whereupon the emperor took him by the hand, and said, "I have need of thee still"; and he detained him a whole year, saying, "Silence, too, hath its safe reward." Horace's indignation is levelled against the breaking of faith generally, and the divulging of the secrets of Ceres (whose rites, however, it appears, were only attended by women) is only mentioned by way of illustration. Secrecy is a sign of good faith, and not an easy one to practise. There are few moral qualities that can be said to take precedence of it. It is the basis of friendship, as Cicero says, and without it society cannot exist. (Compare S. i. 4. 84, n.) It is probable, if Plutarch's story be true, that Horace had heard Augustus repeat his favorite axiom.

26, etc.] 'I will not suffer the person who has divulged the sacred mysteries of Ceres to be under the same roof, or to sail in the same vessel, with me.'

29. _Solvat phaselon;_] That is, 'de littore,' 'to unmoor.' The precise character of the worship of Ceres at Rome is not easily made out. There were no mysteries among the Romans corresponding to the Eleusinian or any of the other Greek Μυστήρια.

_Diespiter_] See C. i. 34. 5, n. 'Oft doth Jove neglected join the pure with the unclean,' that is, punishes the innocent with the guilty who have offended him. For another example of 'incesto,' see next Ode (v. 19). 'Addidit' and 'deseruit' have the force of the aorist.

32. _Deseruit pede Poena claudo._] The avengers of guilt are called by the Greek tragedians ὑστερόποινοι, ὑστεροφθόροι. 'Pede claudo,' 'of limping foot,' and so, 'slow.'

ODE III.

This Ode commends the virtue of perseverance by the example of heroes who had secured divine honors by it. Juno is introduced as making a long speech to the assembled gods, when it was proposed to admit Romulus among them. This speech is contrived in order to introduce the glory and extent of the Roman empire and the praises of Augustus. It also contains indirect exhortations to abstinence and contentment, and so bears on the general scope of these Odes. It is said that Julius Cæsar meant to transfer the seat of empire to Alexandria in Troas, or to Ilium; and perhaps in Horace's time, among the remedies proposed for the evils of the state, some may have freely spoken of transferring the seat of government to another spot. It is equally probable that the site of Troy, the city of their ancestors and the fountain of their race, may have been fixed upon for that purpose. To meet the spirit of avarice in some, and restlessness in all that would be mixed up with such a notion, seems to have been another purpose of this Ode. The Romans attached much importance to the legend which derived their origin from the Trojans. See S. ii. 5. 63.

Argument.--The upright man and firm no terrors can drive from his purpose. Through this virtue Pollux, Hercules, Augustus, Bacchus, have been translated to the skies. Romulus likewise, at the instance of Juno, who thus addressed the assembled gods: "Ilium hath paid the penalty of its founder's crime. That impious umpire and his foreign strumpet have overthrown it. But his beauty is gone. Priam's perjured house hath fallen; the war our quarrels protracted is at an end. My wrath then I remit. Let Mars have his hated grandson; let him come among us: only let seas roll between Ilium and Rome, and let the exiles reign where they will; let their capitol stand, and the Mede own their sway; but let the tomb of Priam and of Paris be the lair of beasts. From Gades to the Nile let her be feared, but let her learn to despise the gold that lies buried in the ground. Let her stretch her arms to the limits of the earth, to the stormy North and the fiery East, but let her not dare to rebuild the walls of Troy. On an evil day would she rise again: thrice let her rise, thrice should she fall by the power of Jove's sister and spouse." But hold, my Muse, nor bring down such themes, to the sportive lyre.

1. _Justum_] i.e. "qui jus servat."

2. _jubentium,_] This is the technical word for the passing of a law by the people. "Jubetisne Quirites?" was the way of putting the question. Other instances of 'jubere' with the accusative are S. ii. 3. 141, 5. 70. Epp. ii. 2. 63.

3. _instantis_] 'menacing.'

5. _Dux inquieti turbidus Hadriae,_] Compare C. ii. 17. 19, and i. 3. 15. This assemblage of terrible objects is heterogeneous enough, but the seventh and eighth verses present a fine picture. 'Though the arch (of heaven) break and fall on (him), the wreck will strike a fearless man.' 'Orbis' is used for the sky, as the Greek poets used κύκλος with or without οὐρανοῦ.

6. _fulminantis_] This is a word not used by prose-writers of Horace's day. The same may be said of 'triumphatis' (v. 43).

7. _illabatur_] The regular construction would be with the future, as the future follows in 'ferient.' 'Illabatur' should have 'feriant' in prose. See below, C. 9. 12, n.

9. _arte_] 'quality' or 'virtue.'

10. _Enisus_] This means struggling forward with earnestness, which is the force of 'e.' Compare C. iv. 8. 29. Epp. ii. 1. 5, sq.

12. _Purpureo bibit ore nectar._] See note on Epp. ii. 1. 15. The epithet 'purpureo' is applied to 'ore' in its sense of 'lips.'

16. _Martis equis_] This appears to have been the genuine old legend of the disappearance of Romulus. See Ovid, Met. xiv. 820, sqq. Fast. ii. 495, sq. See note on Epod. xvi. 13.

17. _Gratum elocuta_] See Introd.

19. _incestusque_] See C. 2. 30.

21. _ex quo_] 'ever since.' This signifies that the fall of Troy was determined from the time of Laomedon's crime, and that the crime of Paris and Helen caused its accomplishment. 'Destituo' with an ablative is unusual. In the Iliad (xxi. 441, sqq.) Poseidon relates how he built the walls of Troy, while Apollo kept sheep for Laomedon, father of Priam, and how they were cheated of their pay and dismissed with threats, when their work was done. The same king cheated Hercules out of some horses he had promised him, and he lost his life for his pains. Juno and Minerva had their own quarrel with Troy for the judgment of Paris, which gave Venus the prize of beauty; but Juno here makes out a different case against the city.

23. _damnatum_] Agreeing with 'Ilion' (v.18). The feminine form 'Ilios' occurs elsewhere (Epod. xiv. 14).

25. _adulterae_] It is doubtful whether Horace meant that for the dative or genitive case, that is, whether it goes with 'splendet' or 'hospes.'

28. _refringit,_] Equivalent to 'repellit.'

29. _ductum_] 'Ducere' and 'trahere' are sometimes used for 'producere' and 'protrahere.'

32. _Troica_] There is much scorn in Juno's language, as in the words 'mulier peregrina,' 'Troica sacerdos,' 'fatalis incestusque judex,' 'exsules.' 'Invisum nepotem' was Romulus, her grandson through Mars. 'Troica sacerdos' was Rea Silvia, or Ilia, the Vestal virgin, daughter of Numitor, and descended from Æneas.

33. _redonabo;_] This word occurs only here and above (ii. 7. 3).

34. _ducere nectaris_] 'Ducere' is common in this sense of 'quaffing.' So the Greeks used ἕλκειν and σπᾷν. They both occur in one verse of Euripides (Cycl. 417),

Ἔσπασέν τ᾽ ἄμυστιν ἑλκύσας.

35. _quietus Ordinibus--deorum._] This savors of the Epicureanism Horace had learned in early life: "Deos didici securum agere aevum" (S. i. 5. 101).

"Scilicet is superis labor est, ea cura quietos Sollicitat." (Aen. iv. 379.)

37. _Dum longus inter_] See Introd.

38. _exsules_] The Romans.

40. _Priami--busto_] Priam had no tomb, according to Virgil's account (Aen. ii. 557), but Horace assumes that he had one. No greater affront could be supposed than is here desired. Electra represents Ægisthus as leaping on her father's grave intoxicated with wine (Eurip. Elect. 326, sq.). Compare Epod. xvi. 10, sqq., and Il. iv. 177.

42. _inultae_] 'unmolested.' 'Capitolium'; see C. i. 2. 3, n.

48. _rigat arva Nilus,_] The connection between the two stanzas is this 'Let Rome extend her arms as she will,--to the ends of the earth, to the pillars of Hercules, to the Nile,--only let her not, as her possessions increase, learn to prize gold above virtue'; which is thus expressed, 'Only be she stronger by despising the gold that yet lies hid, and is better placed when concealed in the earth, than by gathering it for man's use with hand that plunders all that is sacred.' 'Humanos in usus' is opposed to 'divinos' implied in 'sacrum.'

53. _Quicunque mundo terminus obstitit,_] 'Whatever boundary presents itself to the world.'

54. _tangat_] 'reach.'

58. _ne nimium pii_] She supposes the Romans to make it a reason for rebuilding Troy, that it was a pious duty they owed to their ancestors. See Introduction.

61. _alite lugubri_] The auspices were usually taken before the building of a town.

64. _Conjuge me Jovis et sorore._] Both Horace and Virgil (Aen. i. 46) get this combination from Homer (Il. xvi. 432):

Ἥρην δὲ προσέειπε κασιγνήτην ἄλοχόν τε.

65. _Ter si resurgat_] Three is often used for an indefinite number, as here. See Georg. i. 281; iv. 384. Ovid, Met. x. 452; also below, C. 4. 79, "trecentae catenae."

_murus aëneus_] Horace is partial to this epithet. See Epp. i. 1. 60. C. 9. 18. C. 16. 1. It means no more, in this derived use, than strength and stability. 'Aëneus' is never used as a word of three syllables.

66. _Auctore Phoebo,_] Virgil has "Troiae Cynthius auctor" (G. iii. 36). See note on v. 21.

70. _pervicax_] 'bold.'

72. _Magna modis tenuare parvis_] 'To degrade lofty themes by your humble strains.'

ODE IV.

Pursuing his purpose, Horace here commends the power of wisdom and learning in subduing brute force and violent passions, which he illustrates by a fabulous story about himself when he was an infant, and by the protection he has always received from the Muses, by the love Augustus bore them, and by the destruction of the giants when they attacked the skies, which the poet attributes to Minerva, the goddess, of wisdom.

Argument.--Come down, Calliope, and sing a lofty strain. Is it a dream, or am I wandering in the Muses' grove? I was a child, and, tired with play, I lay down to sleep on the Apulian hills. There doves made me a covering of leaves, and I slept safe, and men might well wonder how the gods were present with me. Yours am I, ye Muses, on the Sabine hills, at Tibur, at Præneste, or at Baiæ. Because I love your fountains and your choir, I perished not when the battle was turned, nor by the accursed tree, nor in the Sicilian waters. Be ye with me, and I will visit the mad Bosporus, the sands of the East, the savage Briton, the Concan, the Geloni, and the Tanais, unharmed. Ye refresh Augustus when he brings back his weary troops from the war. Mild are your counsels, and in peace is your delight. We know how that bold giant band struck terror into the heart of Jove; but what was their strength against the ægis of Pallas? 'T was that which drove them back, though Vulcan too, and Juno, and Apollo with his bow, were there. Brute force falls, self-destroyed: the gods detest violence, but tempered strength they promote: let Gyas be my witness, Orion the seducer, Earth mourning for her sons, Ætna with its ever-burning and unconsuming flame, the vulture of Tityus, and the chains of Peirithous.

2. _longum_] This seems to mean a sustained and stately song. Calliope was generally called the Muse of Epic poetry.

3. _acuta_] 'clear,' 'musical.'

4. _fidibus citharaque_] By hendiadys for 'citharae fidibus.'

6. _pios Errare per lucos_] The woods are called 'pios,' as sacred to the Muses.

9. _fabulosae_] This word belongs to 'palumbes,' the 'storied doves,' as "fabulosus Hydaspes" (C. i. 22. 8). The range of the Apennines that bore the name 'Vultur' was partly in Apulia and partly in Lucania. It is still called Monte Vulture. Venusia, Horace's birthplace, was near the boundary of those provinces, whence he calls Apulia his nurse, though elsewhere (S. ii. 1. 34) he says it is doubtful whether he was an Apulian or a Lucanian. Doves, which were sacred to Venus, have their part in sundry tales. Here Horace intimates they were sent to cover him with laurel and myrtle, in token of his future fame, and that he owed his safety to the Muses (see Introduction).

9, 10. _Apulo--Apuliae_] The quantity of the first two syllables in these words differs, thus: 'Āpūlo'--'Ăpūliae.' Such variations in proper names are not unusual in the Latin poets. The word 'Sicanus' is used as three different feet. 'Italus' has the first syllable long or short, and so with other names.

11. _Ludo fatigatumque somno_] It is clear that some other word, like 'oppressum,' must be understood for 'somno.' It is a translation of καμάτῳ ἀδδηκότες ἠδὲ καὶ ὕπνῳ (Il. x. 98). Acherontia, Bantia, and Forentum were neighboring towns, and still retain their names under the forms Acerenza, Vanci, Forenza. Stories, such as Horace has here invented for himself, are told of Stesichorus, Pindar, Æschylus, Plato.

17. _Ut--Dormirem_] This is connected with 'mirum'; 'how I slept.'

22. _Tollor_] Ovid uses the word in this sense (Met. vii. 779). The Sabine hills were part of the Apennines, which Horace had to climb when he went to his farm. 'Seu' is understood after 'vester.' The epithet 'liquidae,' applied to Baiæ, has reference to the clearness and purity of the atmosphere.

23. _Praeneste seu Tibur_] See Epp. i. 2. 2, n., as to 'Praeneste,' and C. ii. 6. 5, n., as to 'Tibur,' which rose from the plain on the right bank of the Anio, on the side of a hill, from which it is called 'supinum.'

25. _Vestris--fontibus_] All retired streams and shady groves were held sacred to the Muses (v. 6). Parnassus had its fountain, Castalia; and Helicon two, Hippocrene and Aganippe.

26. _Philippis_] See C. ii. 7. 9.

28. _Nec Sicula Palinurus unda._] Horace's escape from shipwreck off Cape Palinurus is nowhere else related; and it is doubtful when it happened. 'Sicula unda' for the Tuscan Sea is an unusual limitation. It must not be confounded with Mare Siculum, which was on the other side of Sicily. Palinurus was on the western coast of Lucania. It retains its name as Capo di Palinuro.

32. _Littoris Assyrii_] The Syrian coast. See note on C. ii. 11. 16.

33. _Visam Britannos_] The stories of the human sacrifices of the ancient Britons are too authentic to be doubted. See Tacitus (Ann. xiv. 30). Virgil (Georg. iii. 463) relates of the Geloni (C. i. 19. 10), that they used to eat cheese dipped in horse's blood. Whether the Concani, who were a Cantabrian tribe, did the same, is doubtful. Horace, perhaps, got his idea from Virgil.

36. _Scythicum--amnem._] The Tanais.

38. _addidit_] In the year B.C. 25, after the conquest of the Salassi, a people of the Gaulish Alps, Augustus assigned their territory to some of the prætorian troops, and there they built Augusta Prætoria (Aosta), and about the same time there were assigned to others lands in Lusitania on which they built Augusta Emerita (Merida). 'Additis' is used in a like case by Tacitus (Ann. xiii. 31): "Coloniae Capua atque Nuceria additis veteranis firmatae sunt."

40. _Pierio recreatis antro_] Suetonius, in his Life of Augustus (84, 85), relates that he followed literary pursuits with great zeal, and dabbled in poetry. He could not have had much time for such pursuits when this Ode was written, but he may have said enough to let it be seen that he desired leisure to follow them. As to 'Pierio,' see A. P. 405.

41. _Vos lene consilium_] The penultimate vowel coalesces with the next, as in 'principium' (iii. 6. 6), 'Alfenius' (S. i. 3. 130), 'Nasidieni' (S. ii. 8. 1). So Virgil says (Aen. i. 73): "Connūbio jungam stabili." 'Ye give peaceful counsel, and rejoice in giving it, because ye are gentle ('almae'),' is the meaning of the words, which are to be taken generally.

43. _Titanus immanemque turmam_] The wars of the Titanes (with Uranus), the Gigantes, the Aloïdæ, Typhon, or Typhoëus (with Zeus), are all mixed up together in the description which follows. Virgil has given a description (Georg. i. 279, sqq.) where the Titans (Cœus and Iapetus), Typhon, and the Aloïdæ are brought together with little distinction. But neither Horace nor Virgil was writing a mythological history, and in this description of Horace there is great power.

44. _caduco_] 'swift-descending,' as καταιβάτης in Æschylus.

45. _terram inertem,_] Elsewhere we have 'bruta tellus' in the same sense, 'the dull, motionless earth' (C. i. 34. 9).

46. _regna tristia_] 'the gloomy realms' (of Pluto).

50. _Fidens juventus horrida_] This appears to be an imitation of Homer's χείρεσσι πεποιθότες (Il. xii. 135). 'Horrida juventus' means the Gigantes, a family different from the Titanes, and younger.

51. _Fratresque tendentes_] The brothers Horace speaks of were Otus and Ephialtes, the sons of Aloëus, whose exploit of piling Pelion on Ossa in their attack upon Olympus (Olympus, Ossa, and Pelion formed a continuous range, running down the coast of Thessaly), is first mentioned by Homer (Odyss. xi. 314). See Virg. (Georg. i. 280),--

"Et conjuratos caelum rescindere fratres, Ter sunt conati imponere Pelio Ossam Scilicet, atque Ossae frondosum imponere Olympum,"

where 'frondosum' explains Horace's 'opaco.' Ovid inverts the order, and puts Pelion uppermost, as Horace does:--

"Ignibus Ossa novis et Pelion altior Ossa Arsit." (Fast. iii. 441.)

In the fifth book of the Fasti (v. 35, sqq.), he attributes to the hundred-handed giants (v. 69) the exploit which the oldest legend assigns to the Aloidæ. These variations are only worth noticing as they help to show that the Romans set little value by these stories, and only used them as ornaments of poetry; and to prevent students from wasting their time in attempting to reconcile statements which are not reconcilable--Typhoëus (Τυφωεύς) warred with Zeus on his own account. He belonged neither to the Titanes nor the Gigantes. Mimas and Rhœtus were of the Gigantes. Porphyrion and Enceladus were of the same family.

57. _sonantem Palladis aegida_] The 'aegis' was the skin of the goat Amalthea, the nurse of Zeus, and is said to have been worn by him first in these wars with the Gigantes. It is occasionally found in ancient representations of Jupiter, but more commonly of Minerva. To account for the epithet 'sohantem,' we must understand that the 'aegis' was taken to represent, not only the goat-skin folded over the breast, but also a shield (Il. xv. 229, sqq.), and a metal breastplate, either of which it may signify here. Homer represents both Apollo and Pallas as wearing their father's 'aegis.'

58. _avidus_] This means 'avidus pugnae,' as in Virg. (Aen. xii. 430), "Ille avidus pugnae suras incluserat auro." Tacitus puts the word absolutely (Ann. i. 57), "Caesar avidas legiones quatuor in cuneos dispertit." In enumerating the principal gods who assisted Zeus in the battle, Horace means to say that, although they were present, it was Pallas to whom the victory was mainly owing. See Introduction. 'Hinc--hinc'; 'in one place--in another.'

59. _matrona Juno_] The Greek Here was commonly represented naked, or partly so. The Roman Juno was always clad as a matron from head to foot. Her favorite character was Juno Matrona or Romana, which meant the same thing. Her introduction, therefore, under this title, is meant as a compliment to Rome.

61. _Qui rore puro_] The description of Apollo combines his various places of abode. Castalia was a fountain on Parnassus. 'Lyciae dumeta' are woods about Patara, a town in Lycia, where Apollo passed six months of the year, as he passed the other six at Delos, which place Horace means by 'natalem silvam,' i.e. the woods on Mount Cynthus. See Herod. i. 182.

66. _temperatam_] 'governed and regulated' (by reason).

67. _idem_] 'and yet they.' 'Vires' signifies 'brute force.'

69. _Gyas_] See note on C. ii. 17. 14. He belonged to another family consisting of three brothers, Gyas, Cottus, and Briareus or Ægæon, distinguished from the rest by having each of them a hundred arms. Most accounts represent these brothers as helping Zeus. Horace follows a different legend, and so does Virgil (Aen. x. 565, sqq.).

70. _integrae_] 'Integer' is equivalent to 'intactus,' and involves the same root (see above, C. iii. 2. 18, n).

71. _Tentator Orion_] 'Tentator' is not elsewhere used for a seducer. It is taken from the Greek πειράν. The story of Orion is told in a variety of ways. Here it is that he tried to seduce Artemis, and that she shot him with an arrow. He is referred to above (C. ii. 13. 39) as pursuing his favorite sport in Hades.

73. _Terra_] All the monsters above mentioned, except the Aloïdæ, were said to be the children of Γαῖα, the Earth, and Uranus, whence they were called γηγενεῖς (C. ii. 12. 6).

74. _luridum_] This word is perhaps a contraction of 'livoridus,' and akin to 'lividus,' and so to the Greek πελιδνός (see C. iv. 9. 33). It signifies dismal, dark, and so forth.

75. _nec peredit_] 'Nor does the fire ever consume' the mountain, and so liberate the giant placed under it. The offender on whom Ætna was laid is variously said to have been Typhon or Typhoëus, Enceladus, and Briareus. Which version Horace adopted does not appear.

78. _nequitiae additus_] 'Nequitiae' may mean 'propter nequitiam' by a Greek construction, or it may be put for 'nequam,' the crime for the criminal. As to Tityos and Pirithous, see C. ii. 14. 8, and C. iv. 7. 28.

79. _amatorem_] Supply 'Proserpinae.' Understand 'trecentae' as representing any large number, as we would say 'a thousand.'

ODE V.

In the year B.C. 53, M. Licinius Crassus, as consul, with the province of Syria, marched an army into Mesopotamia against the Parthians. He sustained a disastrous defeat at the hands of Surenas, the Parthian general, and lost his own life, with 20,000 men killed and 10,000 prisoners, besides several eagles. Again, in the year B.C. 36, M. Antonius attacked the Parthians, and was obliged to retreat with great loss.

There would seem to have been generally prevalent at Rome a feeling of soreness and impatience under the disgrace, so long unredeemed, of these reverses; and this feeling it appears to be Horace's purpose in this Ode to allay, and to discourage any hope or desire for the return of the Parthian prisoners. This desire Horace seems to impute to a degenerate spirit, and the story of Regulus is introduced apparently to call back men's minds to the feeling of a former generation.

The standards and many of the prisoners were restored by Phraates, B.C. 20, as an act of conciliation towards Augustus, and their recovery was proclaimed as a triumph, and recorded upon coins with the inscription "Signis receptis." This fiction is repeated in C. iv. 15. 6. Epp. i. 12. 27; 18. 56.

Argument.--Jove is in heaven; Augustus shall be a god upon earth when he hath subdued the Briton and the Persian. What! can a Roman forget his glorious home and live a slave with the Mede? 'T was not thus Regulus acted, when he saw the ruin a coward's example would hang on those who should come after him; and he cried, "I have seen our standards hung on Punic walls; our freemen bound; their gates unbarred; their fields all tilled. Ye do but add ruin to shame: but virtue, like the former fair color of dyed wool, can never be restored. When the freed hind fights its captor, the prisoner released shall cope again with his foe, he who has cried for mercy and made peace for himself on the battle-field." Then, though he knew the cruel fate which was in store for him, he parted from his wife, his children, and his friends, and went away as calmly as a man would go to Venafrum or Tarentum, to enjoy repose after concluding his labors in the city.

1. _Caelo Tonantem_] 'Regnare' goes with 'caelo,' and 'Tonantem' is absolute. Jupiter Tonans had a temple on Mons Capitolinus. 'Credidimus' has the force of the aorist. 'Praesens' means 'praesens in terris,' as opposed to 'caelo.'

3. _adjectis_] This means 'when he shall have added.' Horace's object seems to be to divert men's attention from the Parthian prisoners and past defeat to new objects of hope and ambition, under the guidance of Augustus. (See Introduction.)

4. _gravibus_] This epithet is applied to the Parthians before (C. i. 2. 22).

5. _Milesne Crassi_] It was about twenty-eight years since the disastrous campaign of Crassus. Orelli says Horace does not allude to M. Antonius's losses in the same quarter eighteen years afterwards, partly because it would have been indelicate towards Augustus, and partly because of his affection for his son, L. Antonius.

_conjuge barbara--maritus_] 'married to a barbarian wife.' 'Vixit' is emphatic, since they married to save their lives. (Aen. viii. 688.) The disgrace lay in their intermarrying with those who not only had not 'connubium' with Rome, but were her enemies.

7. _Pro curia inversique mores!_] 'Pro' expresses vehemence varying in kind according to circumstances. It is followed by the nominative or accusative. In the common exclamation, "Pro deum hominumque fidem!" the accusative is always used. The Curia (called Hostilia, because it was said to have been built by Tullus Hostilius) was the senate-house, and the exclamation in the text is, "Alas for our senate and our altered manners!"

8. _in armis_] The Roman prisoners may have served in the Parthian armies.

9. _Marsus et Apulus,_] See C. ii. 20. 18, n. It does not appear that the Apulians were particularly good soldiers, but the states of Italy all furnished troops ('socii'), and the Roman army is here referred to. Perhaps Horace added the Apulians to the Marsi through affection for his native state.

10. _Anciliorum_] This genitive, from 'ancile,' is anomalous. Forcellini points out a similar irregularity in 'Saturnaliorum,' and Orelli adds 'sponsaliorum.' The 'ancilia' were twelve shields, of which, according to tradition, eleven were made by order of Numa after the pattern of one that was found in his house, and was supposed to have come down from heaven. It was prophesied, that while the 'ancile' was preserved, Rome should survive. The 'ancilia' were kept by the priests of Mars (Salii) in his temple. By 'togae' is meant his citizenship, since none but Roman citizens wore the toga. Horace collects the most distinguished objects of a Roman's reverence, his name, his citizenship ('togae'), the shield of Mars, only to be lost, and the fire of Vesta, only to be extinguished, when Rome should perish.

12. _Incolumi Jove_] That is, 'while the Capitol is safe,' which was Jove's temple.

15. _exemplo trahentis_] Horace means to say, that Regulus had foreseen the danger to posterity of a precedent which should sanction the purchase of life upon dishonorable terms. 'This the far-seeing mind of Regulus guarded against, when he refused to agree to dishonorable conditions, and drew from such a precedent a presage of ruin upon generations to come.'

17. _Si non periret_, etc.] 'If the prisoners were not left to die unpitied.'

18. _Captiva pubes._] In the year B.C. 256, during the first Punic war, M. Atilius Regulus, being consul, invaded Africa, and after many successes, taking many towns and laying waste the country, he was terribly defeated and taken prisoner with 500 others. After he had been five years a prisoner, the Carthaginians sent him to Rome to negotiate peace, which, at his own instigation, was refused. He returned, and according to the general account was put to death, it is said with torture, but that may be an invention.

22. _tergo_] Dative, for 'in tergum.'

23. _Portasque non clausas_] 'the gates (of Carthage) wide open.' The same image of security appears in A. P. 199: "Et apertis otia portis." No attempt was made to carry the war into Africa after Regulus's defeat, though it lasted fourteen years longer.

24. _Marte_] Equivalent to 'a militibus nostris.' This belongs to 'populata.' See C. i. 6. 2, n.

25. _repensus_] This word is not used in this sense of 'redeemed' elsewhere. On 'scilicet,' see C. ii. 14. 9.

26. _Flagitio additis Damnum:_] Horace says, 'Ye are adding mischief to disgrace'; and from what follows it would seem that the mischief would arise from having among them again those who had sunk so low. The disgrace had already been incurred, in the surrender of the Roman troops.

27. _neque amissos_] See C. i. 6. 5, n., as to this way of speaking.

28. _fuco,_] See Epp. i. 10. 27, n.

30. _reponi deterioribus._] This has sometimes been translated as if Horace meant that true virtue would not suffer itself to be replaced by false, or virtue of a lower sort. I rather think he means that true virtue, when it has once been lost, does not care to be restored to the degenerate. Horace does not seem to consider that he is making Regulus speak bitter things against himself. The argument of Regulus is not worth much, and is an invention of Horace's. There is an opposite statement in Virgil (Aen. ii. 367):--

"Quondam etiam victis redit in praecordia virtus."

37. _Hic unde vitam_] 'He (i.e. the coward) not considering to what he ought to owe his life (i.e. to his own sword, "una salus victis," Aen.