ii. 49): "Iisdem temporibus deum aedes vetustate aut igni abolitas,

coeptasque ab Augusto dedicavit." The temples he built or completed were three in number, dedicated to Liber, Libera, and Ceres, to Flora, and to Juno. See C. ii. 15. 20. S. ii. 2. 104.

2. _Romane,_] Horace uses the same form again (S. i. 4. 85); and Virgil likewise, "Tu regere imperio populos, Romane, memento" (Aen. vi. 852). Livy often expresses himself so.

6. _Hinc omne_, etc.] 'Hinc' means 'from the power of the gods'; 'huc,' 'to it.'

_principium,_] See note above on C. 4. 41. See Livy (45. 39): "Majores vestri omnium magnarum rerum et principia exorsi ab Dis sunt et finem statuerunt."

9. _Monaeses et Pacori manus_] Pacorus was son of the Parthian king, Orodes (Arsaces XIV.), and appointed by his father to command the army against the Romans in the place of Surenas, who defeated Crassus B.C. 53, and whom Pacorus put to death. He was associated with the renegade Labienus, and overran Syria and a great part of Asia Minor, while M. Antonius was amusing himself with Cleopatra. Monaeses is supposed to be the same as Surenas, the latter being not a name but a title. Horace alludes, perhaps without strict accuracy, to the defeat, first of Crassus, and then of M. Antonius, who was twice defeated, first through his legate, Decidius Saxa, in B.C. 40, by Pacorus, and four years later, when he commanded in person, at which time, however, Pacorus was dead. See Introduction to last Ode.

10. _Non auspicatos_] 'forbidden by the auspices.' This is the usual way of accounting for defeat, by laying it to the neglect of the auspices, which were always taken before a war.

12. _renidet._] Forcellini explains this word by 'gaudere,' 'laetari.' The word is not uncommonly used for smiling, and, as it seems to be only another form of 'niteo,' the lighting up of the face through pleasure is perhaps the origin of this derived sense.

14. _Dacus et Aethiops,_] These were auxiliaries in Antonius's army at Actium, 'Aethiops' standing for Egyptian. Cleopatra supplied the fleet.

20. _In patriam populumque_] These words are those of a common formula.

21. _Motus doceri gaudet Ionicos_] The Ionian was a voluptuous sort of dance, with which the Sicilians in particular were familiar, using it at the festivals of Diana. Dancing-masters were a class of slaves called Pantomimi.

22. _artibus_] 'seductive accomplishments.'

23. _Jam nunc_] The meaning of 'jam nunc' is sufficiently marked in A. P. 43. 'Nunc' is 'now,' and 'jam' gives intensive force to 'nunc.' 'Jam jamque' expresses what is expected every moment. Horace says, directly a girl has grown up, she is trained by lascivious teaching, and turns her thoughts to unchaste pleasures. The expression 'de tenero ungui' is taken from the Greek ἐξ ἁπαλῶν ὀνύχων, which signifies 'from tender years,' when the nails are delicate, and such is the meaning here, but it does not contradict 'matura,' as some suppose: the expression will apply to a girl in the earliest stage of womanhood.

26. _Inter--vina,_] The same form occurs in Epp. i. 7. 28, 'ad vina,' in C. iv. 5. 31.

27. _impermissa_] This word occurs nowhere else. 'Inconcessus' is used by Virgil and Ovid, and Horace uses 'interdicta.'

31. _Hispanae_] Metals appear to have been the chief articles imported from Spain, with red-lead and those stones which were polished into mirrors, whatever stones those may have been.

32. _Dedecorum_] There is no other instance of 'pretiosus' in an active sense, 'one who gives a large price.' 'Magister' was one who had sole charge of a ship. 'Institor' was a shopman. The latter was only an agent, and was usually a slave. The 'magister' might be a degree higher, but he was usually a person who received wages; nevertheless he had means of becoming rich, which the 'institor' could not, except by robbing his employer.

34. _Infecit aequor_] See C. ii. 12. 3, n.; and on 'dirum' see the verse before that. 'Cecidit' is used with some latitude. Their projects were cut short, but not their lives. Pyrrhus was driven from Italy through a defeat he sustained from Curius, the consul, near Beneventum, in B.C. 274, and lost his life two years afterwards, at Argos. Antiochus the Great was defeated by Acilius Glabrio, at Thermopylæ, B.C. 191, and by L. Scipio in Asia the next year. He lost his life in an attempt to plunder a temple in one of his own towns, three years later. Hannibal was defeated by P. Scipio, at Zama, B.C. 202, but lived twenty years after that battle.

38. _Sabellis_] 'Sabelli' was the name given by the Romans to all the tribes which issued from the Sabine stock. The Sabine mountaineers were particularly noted for the simplicity of their habits and the honesty of their characters. Here Horace contrasts them with the Romans of his own day. See Epod. ii. 41; Epp. ii. 1. 25; and compare the description Horace gives of his own neighbors, S. ii. 6. 77; Epp. i. 14. 3.

39, sqq. _severae--fustes,_] 'to cut and carry home fagots, at the bidding of an exacting mother.'

41. _sol ubi_] There are not many poets who could incidentally have expressed in so few words, and so graphically, the hour of evening.

42. _Mutaret_] That is, by lengthening them.

44. _agens_] 'bringing on.' The last stanza is a solemn and comprehensive conclusion to these six stirring and instructive Odes.

ODE VII.

The idea of this graceful Ode is that of a young girl lamenting the absence of her lover, who is gone on a trading voyage to the Euxine. The names, as usual in these compositions, are foreign. Gyges is Lydian. The time is winter. The lover is supposed to be on his voyage home, and detained on the coast of Epirus, whither he had been driven by the southerly winds which prevailed at that season. He is waiting for the spring to return home, and is represented, for Chloe's comfort, as resisting the temptations of his hostess, though she tries to frighten him with stories of women's revenge. There is great simplicity and beauty in this Ode. Whether it is original, or a free copy from the Greek, cannot be determined.

Argument.--Weep not, Asterie; Gyges is faithful, and will return with the spring, a rich man. He has been driven to Oricum, and is weeping with impatience for thee. Chloë, his hostess, is trying to seduce him, and frightens him with stories of rejected women's revenge. But he is deaf to her seductions. Beware in thy turn of Enipeus, thy gallant neighbor. Shut thy doors and listen not to his songs.

2. _Favonii_] See C. i. 4. 1. Favonius, according to Pliny (ii. 47), blew 'ab occasu aequinoctiali,' that is, due west. It would therefore be a favorable wind for a vessel coming down the Adriatic, and not very unfavorable for sailing up the west coast of Italy. It would be in her teeth as she tried to make the Straits of Messina. But Horace's winds are not more studied than his places and persons. The lover is waiting till the weather changes and the winds are mild and favorable. The Favonii are called 'candidi,' as Notus and Iapyx are each called 'albus' (C. i. 7. 15; iii. 27. 19).

3. _Thyna merce_] The Thyni and Bithyni were originally two different peoples of Thrace, who migrated into Asia Minor and displaced the natives. For some time they continued separate, but when Horace wrote, the distinction was not observed, and 'Thyna merx' was Bithynian merchandise (Epp. i. 6. 33). Bithynia, after it became a Roman province, included a great part of Pontus, and so comprised nearly the whole sea coast of Asia Minor, and all the trade along that coast would come under the title of 'Thyna merx.'

4. _fide,_] The genitive. The older forms of genitives of this declension were four, 'es,' 'ei,' 'i,' and 'e.'

5. _Oricum_] This was a town in Epirus, situated at the top of the bay formed by the Acroceraunian promontory. See Aen. x. 136. "Oricia terebintho." The constellation of the goat Amalthea (Capra) rises at the beginning of October.

11. _Dicens ignibus uri,_] 'Ignibus' is used as Ovid uses it (Am. iii. 9. 56), "vixisti dum tuus ignis eram." We may understand C. i. 27. 16, "Non erubescendis adurit Ignibus," in the same way, i.e. the flame put for the person who causes it.

12. _Tentat mille vafer modis._] On 'tentat,' see note on C. iii. 4. 71.

13. _mulier perfida_] Antea or Sthenobæa, wife of Prœtus, king of Argos, fell in love with Bellerophontes, and when he rejected her proposals, she accused him to her husband, as Potiphar's wife accused Joseph.

14. _Falsis impulerit_] 'Impello' is used with the infinitive mood by Tacitus (Ann. xiii. 54; xiv. 60). The common construction is with 'ut,' as (Epp. ii. 2. 51) "impulit audax Ut versus facerem."

17. _Pelea_] Astydamia or Hippolyte, the wife of Acastus, king of Iolcos, out of revenge for his rejection of her, induced her husband to expose Peleus to destruction by wild beasts on Mount Pelion, where he took him to hunt, and left him asleep without his sword. Hippolyte is called 'Magnessam' because Iolcos was in Magnesia. Joseph's virtue has its parallels in Grecian fable.

19. _peccare docentes_] 'inciting to sin.'

20. _Fallax historias movet._] 'Mentionem movere' occurs in Livy; 'cantus movere' in Virgil; 'carmen movere' in Ovid. 'Historias movere' is therefore a legitimate expression, 'brings up,' 'calls to his mind.'

21. _Frustra:_] A complete and very comprehensive sentence. It occurs below (C. 13. 6). Some persons join the word on with the last line, which weakens its force. Icari is the Icarium Mare, that part of the Ægean which washes the coast of Caria. With these words compare Euripides (Med. 28), ὡς δὲ πέτρος ἣ θαλάσσιος κλύδων ἀδούει. (See also Androm. 537, and Epod. xvii. 54, sq.).

25. _flectere equum_] This was to wheel the horse round in a small circle:

"Sive ferocis equi luctantia colla recurvas Exiguo flexos miror in orbe pedes,"

says Phaedra to Hippolytus (Heroid. iv. 79, sq.). Tacitus (Germ. vi.) says the German horses were not taught like the Roman 'variare gyros.'

28. _denatat_] This word in used nowhere else. Compare C. i. 8. 3, sqq.; iii. 12. 7. 'Tusco alveo' is the stream of the Tiber which rises in Etruria.

29. _neque in vias_] This use of 'neque' for 'neve,' in connection with the imperative mood, is confined to the poets.

ODE VIII.

This Ode was composed on the anniversary of Horace's accident with the tree (C. ii. 13). It is addressed to Mæcenas, whom he invites to join him in celebrating the day, which was the 1st of March, B.C. 25, or thereabouts.

Argument.--Wonderest thou, learned friend, what this sacrifice means on the Kalends of March, and I a bachelor? On this day I was delivered from death, and it shall be a holiday. Come, Mæcenas, a hundred cups of my oldest wine to the health of thy friend. Away with anxiety. The Dacian has fallen, the Mede is divided against himself, the Cantabrian is in chains, and the Scythian has unstrung his bow. Be here the private gentleman: never mind the people; enjoy thyself and unbend.

1. _Martiis caelebs_] The Matronalia, or feast of married persons in honor of Juno Lucina, when husbands made presents to their wives, and offered prayers for the continuance of happiness in their married life, was celebrated on the first of March.

2. _acerra thuris_] This is the proper word for a box of frankincense (λιβανωτίς). The derivation is uncertain.

4. _Caespite vivo,_] 'on an altar of green turf.' See C. i. 19. 13.

5. _Docte sermones utriusque linguae?_] These words express a man well read in the literature of Greece and Rome. Elsewhere he addresses his patron as 'Maecenas docte' (Epp. i. 19. 1).

6. _dulces epulas_] A solemn sacrifice was commonly followed by a banquet, at which libations were poured to the god to whom the sacrifice had been offered.

7. _Libero caprum prope funeratus_] This last word is not found in any other writer earlier than Pliny. He and others after him use 'funero' for 'to bury.' Horace here attributes to Liber the deliverance he had before attributed to Mercury, Faunus, and the Muses, successively (see C. ii. 17. 28, n.).

10. _dimovebit_] See C. i. 1. 13, n.

11. _Amphorae fumum_] The amphoræ were kept in the apotheca in the upper part of the house, to which the smoke from the bath had access, as this was thought to hasten the ripening of the wine and to improve its flavor, just as Madeira wine is improved by being kept in a warm temperature. The amphora being lined with pitch or plaster, and the cork being also covered with pitch, the smoke could not penetrate if these were properly attended to. 'Amphorae' is the dative.

12. _Consule Tullo._] L. Volcatius Tullus was consul B.C. 66, the year before Horace was born. This wine, therefore, had probably been in the amphora upwards of forty years. Sulla once treated the Romans with some wine upwards of forty years old (Plut. Sull. c. 35), and this is not an extreme age for some modern wines. Juvenal (S. v. 34) speaks of wine:--

"cujus patriam titulumque senectus Delevit multa veteris fuligine testae."

13. _amici Sospitis_] This is a Greek construction, which occurs again in C. iii. 19. 9, 10. Horace's request may amount to this: 'Pray that my life may be prolonged a hundred years.'

14. _vigiles lucernas Perfer_] In C. iii. 21. 23 we have "vivaeque producent lucernae," where 'vivae' corresponds to 'vigiles' here. Virgil uses 'ferre' uncompounded in Aen. ix. 338: "Aequasset nocti ludum in lucemque tulisset."

17. _Mitte civiles super urbe curas:_] See iii. 29. 25, n.

18. _Daci Cotisonis_] Cotiso was king of the Daci, one of the tribes of the Danube (C. i. 19. 10, n.). About B.C. 25 Augustus sent Lentulus against these tribes. Whether that is alluded to here or not is uncertain.

19. _sibi_] This word is so placed that it may depend on 'infestus,' 'luctuosis,' or 'dissidet.' I prefer the first. The quarrels of the Parthians among themselves are referred to in the Introduction to C. i. 26.

22. _Cantaber_] See C. ii. 6. 2, n.; and as to 'catena,' see C. ii. 13. 18, n.

23. _Scythae_] Some take these to be the Scythians who helped Phraates; others imagine them to be the Geloni and other trans-Danubian tribes. Horace meant no more than generally to say that the enemies of Rome were no longer disturbing her.

26. _Parce privatus_] This may mean, 'Since you have no cause to be anxious about public affairs, do not be too anxious about your own.' 'Not anxious lest in aught the people suffer, spare for thyself excess of carefulness.'

ODE IX.

This is an elegant trifle in the form of a dialogue, showing the process of reconciliation between two lovers, in which the desire for peace appears in the midst of pretended indifference, and mutual jealousy is made the means of reunion. The subject could hardly have been more delicately handled. Whether the treatment of it is original or not, it is impossible to say. It is just such a subject as one might expect to find among the erotic poetry of the Greeks.

Argument.--While thou didst love me better than all the world, no prince was happy as I.

While Lydia was dearest to thee of women, the name of Ilia was not so noble as mine.

Chloe, the sweet singer, is my queen: for her I would gladly die.

Calaïs loves me, and I love him: for him I would gladly die. What if the old love were to unite us again, if Chloe were cast off and turned from my door, and I opened it to Lydia again?

Though Calaïs is handsome, and thou art fickle and passionate as the stormy sea, I would live and die with thee.

1. _Donec_] Equivalent to 'dum.'

2. _potior_] 'more favored.'

4. _Persarum--rege beatior._] A proverbial expression for 'the happiest of men.'

5. _alia_] Some MSS. have 'aliam.' Either construction is correct (see C. ii. 4. 7, n.). On 'multi nominis,' see C. i. 36. 13.

12. _Si parcent animae_] Cic. ad Fam. (xiv. 14): "Vos meae carissimae animae quam saepissime ad me scribite." Since 'metuam' here and 'patiar' below (v. 15) are the present subjunctive, 'parcent,' following those words, should, in strict Latinity, be 'parcant.' But the same construction occurs above (C. iii. 3. 7). Why Chloë should be a Thracian, and Ornytus of Thurii (see S. ii. 8. 20, n.), is not worth questioning.

17. _prisca_] Forcellini gives other instances of this use of 'priscus,' where 'pristinus' is more usual.

18. _jugo cogit_] 'Jugo' is governed by 'cogit,' and 'diductos' stands alone, 'parted though we be.'

19. _excutitur_] The English "cast off" expresses the meaning best.

22. _improbo_] On the meaning of 'improbus' as a word expressing 'excess,' see below (C. iii. 24. 62). Here it means 'violent,' 'furious.'

ODE X.

This is supposed to be sung by a lover under the window of his mistress, who on a cold night refuses him admission. It is what the Greeks called a παρακλαυσίθυρον, such as that supposed one, of which a fragment is given in C. i. 25. This species of serenade was so common among the Greeks, that we may suppose Horace had some poem of the sort in his mind when he wrote this. The thirteenth Ode of the fourth book is nominally connected with this; but as there is no necessity for supposing, nor any likelihood, that Horace wrote this from his own experience, so neither is it likely that he wrote that to taunt in her decline the girl who is supposed to reject his addresses here.

Argument.--Were Scythia thy dwelling-place, Lyce, this inclement night should move thee to pity me. Hear how the wind howls; see how the snow lies freezing. Venus loves not pride: the rope may break and the wheel run back; though nothing bends thee, neither presents, nor prayers, nor these sallow cheeks of mine, nor thy husband's faithlessness, though thou be hard as the oak and cruel as the serpent, yet as a goddess have pity! Flesh and blood will not stand this for ever.

1. _Tanain si biberes,_] This is the way of speaking adopted in C. ii. 20. 20, and iv. 15. 21.

2. _Saevo nupta viro,_] 'wedded to a barbarian husband.'

3. _objicere incolis_] 'thou wouldst grieve to expose me to the north-winds that there have their home.'

5. _nemus_] Shrubs and flowers were sometimes planted round the impluvium of a Roman house, but more largely in the peristylium, which was an open space at the back part of the house, surrounded by colonnades, and, like the impluvium, usually having a cistern or fountain in the middle. 'Remugiat ventis,' 'echoes back to the winds their howling.'

7. _ut glaciet_] It is easy to supply 'vides,' or 'sentis,' or any other word more appropriate than 'audis' to the freezing of the snow. One verb of sense is often made to serve for two or three. 'How Jove with his bright power freezeth the snow as it lies.' 'Jove' is the atmosphere (see C. i. 1. 25, n.). 'Puro' is a good epithet to express a clear frosty night.

10. _Ne currente retro funis eat rota_] 'Lest the wheel turn back and the rope with it,' 'retro' applying to both 'currente' and 'eat.' The metaphor is taken from a rope wound round a cylinder, which being allowed to run back, the rope runs down and the weight or thing attached goes with it. The proverb is applied to a coquette who continues her pride till she loses her power.

12. _Tyrrhenus genuit parens._] Lyce is represented as an Etruscan woman, and being such, her lover says she need not think to imitate the chaste Penelope, to whom it appears the women of Etruria did not in general bear any resemblance.

14. _tinctus viola_] See Argument.

15. _Nec vir_] He says she is not bent from her stubbornness even by her husband's faithlessness, he being engaged with another woman, who is represented as a Pierian, just as Chloe, in the last Ode, was a Thracian, and on the same principle. Nearly all Horace's women of this character are represented as Greeks. 'Curvat' is nowhere else used in this sense.

19. _aquae Caelestis_] He repeats the phrase Epp. ii. 1. 135. 'Hoc latus' is equivalent to 'ego'; the part suffering from the threshold put for the whole person.

ODE XI.

This is an address to the lyre, calling upon it for a song to win the heart of Lyde. The principal subject is the story of the Danaides, who murdered their husbands, but more particularly of the one who spared hers. The punishment of the sisters for their cruelty, and the tenderness of Hypermnestra, are the warning and example by which Lyde is to be won.

The common inscription Ad Mercurium is wrong, and calculated to mislead. The inscription should be Ad Testudinem, if anything; for Mercury disappears after the first two verses. The miracles alluded to, except Amphion's, were those of Orpheus, and of the lyre in his hands, not Mercury's, who is only introduced because he invented the lyre and taught Amphion. The Ode is of the same class as the two last. We have no means of tracing the original, if it is a copy.

Argument.--Mercury, who didst teach Amphion to move stones, and thou, lyre, once dumb, now welcome at feast and festival, tune me a strain to which even Lyde, though she be free as the young colt, must attend. Thou charmest tigers, woods, streams, and hell's bloody sentinel, and Ixion, and Tityos, and the daughters of Danaus. Let Lyde hear of their crime and punishment, and how one was merciful and spared her young husband's life, saying, "Rise up; begone, lest the sleep of death overtake thee. They have sprung upon their prey. My heart is not as their heart. I will do thee no harm. Let my father do with me as he will, yet go thou, while night and love protect thee. Farewell, and when I am gone, engrave a word of sorrow on my tomb."

2. _Amphion_] See Epp. i. 18. 41. A. P. 394, n.

3. _Tuque testudo_] See C. i. 10. 6, n. The 'testudo' or 'cithara' had originally but four strings. Terpander added to it three more, about B.C. 676. The tetrachord was not however banished, though the heptachord was better adapted to more elaborate music (see S. i. 3. 8, n.).

4. _Callida_] 'skilled.'

5. _Nec loquax olim neque grata_] 'Formerly dumb, and powerless to give pleasure.'

10. _exsultim_] This word is not found elsewhere. Other words found in Horace and not elsewhere are 'allaborare,' 'tentator,' 'inaudax,' 'immetata,' 'faustitas,' 'belluosus,' 'applorans,' 'inemori,' 'emetere,' 'laeve,' 'insolabiliter,' 'defingere,' 'vepallidus,' 'emiror,' 'irruptus,' 'aesculetum,' 'ambitiosus,' 'depugis,' 'uvescere,' 'disconvenire,' 'diludium,' 'impariter,' 'delitigo,' 'juvenari,' 'socialiter,' 'iambeus,' 'abstare.' It does not follow, because we have no other examples of these words, that Horace had none.

13. _Tu potes_] See C. i. 12. 7, sqq.

17. _Cerberus, quamvis_] This passage may be compared with C. ii. 13. 33, sqq. 'Furiale,' 'fury-like,' having snakes for hair.

21. _Quin et Ixion_] He was king of the Lapithæ. Having treacherously murdered his father-in-law, Deioneus, he returned the goodness of Zeus, who purified him, by trying to seduce Here, for which Horace calls him rightly 'perfidus Ixion' (A. P. 124), and he was punished by being bound to a wheel perpetually revolving, in Hades. As to Tityos, see C. ii. 14. 8, n. For 'quin et,' see C. ii. 13. 37, n. 'Vultu risit invito' is a happy description. (S. ii. 3. 72, n.)

23. _Danai puellas_] The daughters of Danaus (see C. ii. 14. 18) were punished by having to fill a vessel with a hole in the bottom. They were fifty in number, and married the fifty sons of Ægyptus, their uncle. At the bidding of their father, who was afraid of his nephews, they all murdered their husbands but Hypermnestra, who spared Lynceus. Horace puts a touching speech into her mouth, bidding her young husband rise and fly for his life.

27. _fundo pereuntis imo_] 'escaping by (through) the bottom.'

28. _Seraque fata_] ὑστεροφθόρον δίκην. See note on C. iii. 2. 32.

31. _potuere_] 'they had the heart.' This would be expressed by ἕτλησαν in Greek. In a more familiar passage 'possum' occurs with the same kind of meaning (Epp. i. 5. 1): "Si potes Archiacis conviva recumbere lectis," 'if you can make up your mind.'

37. _Surge, quae dixit_] Ovid has borrowed all but the words of Horace in Hypermnestra's letter to Lynceus, one of the most touching of his poems,--

"Surge age, Belida, de tot modo fratribus unus: Nox tibi ni properas ista perennis erit." (Her. xiv. 73, sq.)

ODE XII.

This Ode represents a girl lamenting to herself over a love she must not indulge. Her name is Neobule, and that of the man she loves is Hebrus, whom she represents as the perfection of beauty and manliness. The Ode appears to have been imitated, if not translated, from one of Alcæus, of which one verse in the same metre is extant.

Argument.--Poor women! we must not love, we must not drown care in wine, or a cruel guardian scolds us to death. Alas, Neobule! thou canst not spin nor work, for love of Hebrus, so beautiful as he bathes in the waters of Tiber, a horseman like Belerophon, unsurpassed in the combat and the race, in piercing the flying deer or catching the lurking boar.

1. _Miserarum est_] 'It is the fate of unhappy women.'

2. _aut_] 'or, if we do.'

3. _Patruae_] Compare (Sat. ii. 3. 88) "ne sis patruus mihi." On the form 'lavere,' see C. ii. 3. 18, n.

4. _qualum_] 'my wool-basket.' The name Neobule is found in a fragment of Archilochus. Hebrus's birthplace is mentioned to give more reality to the person. Lipara, it must be admitted, was an odd place to choose. It was one of the Vulcaniae Insulae, and is still called Lipari.

7. _Simul_] 'Soon as' is an early English equivalent for 'whenever,' and 'simul' bears that sense here. The last syllable of 'Bellerophonte' is long, as from the Greek. Bellerophon was usually represented as leading or riding the winged horse Pegasus, on whose back he conquered Chimæra. See C. i. 27. 24, n.

9. _Neque segni_] The epithet belongs to both substantives: 'never beaten for slothfulness of hand (in boxing) or foot (in running).'

11. _jaculari_] C. i. 2. 3, n.

12. _excipere_] This seems to be a hunting word. See Epp. i. 1. 79.

ODE XIII.

The Ode is an address to a fountain about six miles from Venusia, which has been identified with one still existing, but in a very different state, bare of trees and choked up with dirt. We need only suppose that the name was suggested to Horace by the recollections of his childhood, without imagining him really on the point of offering sacrifice, or being in the neighborhood of his birthplace when he wrote. It has something of the nature of an epigramma or inscription, and is among the choicest of Horace's small pieces.

Argument.--Fair fountain of Bandusia, thou art worthy of my libation and of the kid that shall fall for thee to-morrow, and dye thy cold stream with his blood. Thee the summer's heat pierceth not; cool is thy water to flocks and herds. Thou, too, shalt be placed among the fountains of fame, when I sing of the oak that hangs from the rock whence thy babbling waters spring.

1. _splendidior vitro,_] The use of glass by the ancients was long a matter of dispute, but it is now generally allowed to have been brought by them to great perfection.

6. _Frustra:_] See above (C. iii. 7. 21, n.).

9. _atrox hora Caniculae_] 'the burning season of the dog star.' Canicula is another name for the well-known star of the first magnitude in the head of Canis Major, called by the Greeks Σείριος. It rises in July.

13. _Fies nobilium_] This is a Greek construction, 'unus' having to be supplied. 'Tu quoque,' 'thou too,' as well as the fountains celebrated by the Greek poets.

ODE XIV.

This Ode was composed at the close of the Cantabrian war, B.C. 25, when Augustus's return was expected, or on his return the following year. He was detained by illness at Tarracona. The poet calls upon the citizens to rejoice, and bids the conqueror's wife and sister go forth to offer sacrifice, declaring that he too will keep holiday.

Argument.--Cæsar is returning a conqueror from Spain, O ye people, he who but just went forth like Hercules to the field. Let his chaste wife and sister go forth to offer sacrifice with the matrons, while the young soldiers and their brides stand reverently by. I too will keep holiday; for I am safe while Augustus is lord of the world. Bring flowers, boy, and ointment, and my best old wine, and go bid Neæra come: if the churlish porter refuse thee, come away; I have no mind for strife, though I might not have borne as much in the heyday of my youth.

1. _Herculis ritu_] As Hercules braved death, so did Augustus, and like Hercules he is returning from Spain victorious. Hercules went to Spain to get the oxen of Geryones for Eurystheus, his tenth labor. See C. ii. 14. 7, n.

_o plebs,_] 'Plebs' and 'populus' are used synonymously (C. ii. 2. 18, sq.), and either word stands for the common formula 'populus plebsque Romana.'

2. _Morte venalem_] 'whose price is death.'

5. _Unico gaudens--marito_] A poetical periphrasis for 'chaste.'

6. _justis operata sacris,_] There are other examples of 'operor' in this sense of sacrificing. Ladies of birth appear to have been distinguished on these occasions from freedwomen by a wreath. The persons forming the procession are supposed to be the wife (Livia) and sister (Octavia) of Augustus, and the mothers of the soldiers who had returned and of their young wives, who are represented as looking on reverentially at the thanksgiving sacrifice.

9. _juvenum_] This and 'pueri' both mean the soldiers, as 'virginum' and 'puellae' both mean their wives.

11. _virum expertae,_] This is equivalent to 'nuper virgines nuptae' (C. ii. 8. 22). 'Male ominatis' may be pronounced as one word, as 'maleolens,' 'suaveolens,' &c. The phrase is expressed by εὐφημεῖτε in Greek.

14. _tumultum Nec mori per vim_] 'Tumultus' and 'vis' are well-distinguished terms. 'Tumultus' was a public affair, a sudden outbreak. 'Vis,' 'violence,' was either 'publica' or 'privata,' and the distinction between the two will be found on referring to the article 'Vis' in Smith's Dict. Ant. Horace says he is not afraid of losing his life by any popular insurrection, and so forth, or by the hand of an assassin or private malice.

18. _Marsi memorem duelli,_] The Marsic or Social War continued from B.C. 91 to 89. It was a rising of the Socii, the states of Italy, for the purpose of getting the Roman franchise. The Marsi took a prominent part in the war, which was sometimes called by their name. The Servile War lasted from B.C. 73 to 71. It was an outbreak of the slaves of Italy, who, under Spartacus, himself a slave and gladiator, were formed into a vast army, and traversed the whole country from Rhegium to the Po. Horace speaks contemptuously of Spartacus, but the Romans never had a more able or more successful enemy. The wine Horace wanted would have been at least sixty-five years old. There seems to have been something remarkable in the vintage of that period so as to make it proverbial; for Juvenal, one hundred years afterwards, speaking of the selfish gentleman who keeps his best wine for his own drinking, says,--

"Ipse capillato diffusum consule potat Calcatamque tenet bellis socialibus uvam." (S. v. 30, sq.).

The 'cadus,' 'testa,' and 'amphora,' were all names for the same vessel.

19. _si qua_] 'if in any way.' Supply 'ratione.'

21. _argutae_] 'the sweet singer.'

22. _Myrrheum_] 'perfumed.'

27. _ferrem_] For 'tulissem.'

28. _Consule Planco._] L. Munatius Plancus was consul with M. Aemilius Lepidus, B.C. 42, at which time Horace was in his twenty-third year. He was now forty.

ODE XV.

This Ode combines with the lyric something of the spirit of the Epodes. It professes to address an old woman, Chloris, telling her it is time to put an end to her intrigues, for she is poor and ready to drop into her grave.

Argument.--Put a stop to thy intrigues, for thou art old and poor. What becometh thy daughter becometh not thee, Chloris. She may go and besiege the young men's doors: she is in love, and cannot help it. But do thou go spin; music and flowers and wine are not for thee.

1. _pauperis_] He means to say that a poor man's wife should be thrifty and mind her work, especially if she be old.

6. _Et stellis nebulam_] 'To spread a cloud over those fair stars.' An old woman in a company of girls would be like a cloud in a starry sky.

10. _tympano._] The 'tympanum' was a tambourine, played in all respects as now, and usually by women, who danced as they beat it. As to Thyias, see C. ii. 19. 9.

13. _Te lanae_] See Argument.

14. _Luceriam,_] This was a town of Apulia, now called Lucera, in the neighborhood of which was one of the largest tracts of public pasture-land.

ODE XVI.

Horace here dwells on his favorite theme,--contentment and moderation,--which he is able to illustrate by the example of Mæcenas (v. 20), as well as his own. The mischievous influence of gold is illustrated by the stories of Danae and others, and Horace describes his own contentment with his humble but independent condition.

Argument.--A stout prison and savage watch-dogs might have kept Danae from harm; but Jove and Venus smiled, for they knew that the god need but change himself to gold, and the way would be clear before him. Gold penetrates through guards; gold shall burst rocks; thereby fell the house of Amphiaraus; thereby the Macedonian won cities; thereby stern admirals are ensnared. And as it grows, the desire for more grows too. A high estate I dread. Mæcenas, thou good knight, the more a man denies himself, the more the gods will give him. I fly from the rich to the contented, and am more independent than any poor rich man in the world. My stream, and my little wood, and my trusty field, are a happier portion than all Africa. I have no honey of Calabria, nor wine of Formiæ, nor Gaulish fleece, yet poverty doth not pinch me; and if I wanted more, thou art ready to give it.

My small income will go further by the restricting of my wants, than if I had all Lydia and Phrygia for my own. Who ask much, lack much. It is well with him who has enough.

1. _Inclusam Danaën_] Acrisius, king of Argos, being informed by an oracle that his daughter Danae would bear a son who would kill him, shut her up. But Jupiter found his way to her in a shower of gold, and she became the mother of Perseus who, as predicted, killed his grandfather. The fable of the shower of gold has here its simplest explanation. 'Tristes excubiae' is like Ovid's "tristis custodia servi" (A. A. iii. 601). On the construction with 'munierant' see C. ii. 17. 28, n.

4. _adulteris_] 'lovers.'

7. _fore enim_] This is an elliptical form of the oratio obliqua, in translating which, 'they said,' or 'they knew,' must be supplied. 'Pretium' has reference to the corruption of the guards, the price at which they were bought.

10. _amat_] Used as φιλεῖ, like "consociare amant" (C. ii. 3. 10), and "amet quavis adspergere" (S. i. 4. 87).

11. _concidit auguris Argivi domus_] The story is that of Amphiaraus, who

ὄλετ᾽ ἐν Θήβαισι γυναίων εἵνεκα δώρων (Odyss. xv. 247),

and of his wife Eriphyle,

ἣ χρυσὸν φίλου ἀνδρὸς ἐδέξατο τιμήεντα (Odyss. xi. 327).

Eriphyle, bribed by her brother Polyneices, induced her husband to join the expedition against Thebes, where he fell, leaving an injunction with his sons to put their mother to death, which Alcmæon did, and, like Orestes, was pursued by the Erinnyes of his mother, and was finally put to death in attempting to get possession of the gold necklace with which she had been bribed.

14. _Portas vir Macedo_] Plutarch, in his life of Paulus Æmilius (c. xiii.), says it was Philip's gold, not Philip, that won the cities of Greece. And Cicero (Ad Att. i. 16) repeats a saying attributed to Philip, that he could take any town into which an ass could climb laden with gold. Juvenal, following the general report, calls Philip "callidus emptor Olynthi" (xii. 47).

15. _munera navium Saevos illaqueant duces._] This is supposed to refer to Menas, otherwise called Menodorus, the commander of Sex. Pompeius's fleet, who deserted from him to Augustus, and back to Pompeius, and then to Augustus again. He was rewarded beyond his merits. He was a freedman of Cn. Pompeius, and Suetonius (Octav. 74) states that Augustus made him 'ingenuus.' He is said to be alluded to by Virgil (Aen. vi. 612, sqq.):--

"Quique arma secuti Impia nec veriti dominorum fallere dextras, Inclusi poenam expectant."

See Introduction to Epod. iv. Forcellini quotes only one other instance of 'illaqueo' from Prudentius, and one of the passive participle from Cicero. 'Irretio,' as Orelli says, is the more common word of the same meaning.

18. _Majorumque fames_] 'Majorum' is of the neuter gender, dependent on 'fames,' as in Theocritus (xvi. 65), αἰεὶ δὲ πλεόνων ἔχει ἵμερος αὐτόν. With 'tollere verticem' compare C. i. 18.15; and on 'equitum decus' see C. i. 20. 5, n.

21. _Quanto quisque sibi_] This sentiment approaches as near as possible to the fundamental rule of Christian morals. The accuracy of the picture in the next verses must not be insisted on too closely. It would imply that Horace, a wealthy Epicurean, had thrown up his riches in contempt, and gone over to the ranks of the Stoics. But as Horace never was rich, he could not have acted the deserter on these terms, though he changed his opinions. Horace may sometimes be supposed to put general maxims in the first person, without strict application to himself. 'Nudus' signifies one who has left everything he had behind him. By 'contemptae' he means that the rich man with fine houses had a contempt for his little property.

26. _arat impiger_] Apulia, with the exception of a comparatively small tract which was productive, was occupied with forests or pasture lands, or tracts of barren hills. But Horace likes to speak of his own country with respect (see above, C. 5. 9, n.). The license by which the first syllable in 'arat' is lengthened may be admitted in the cæsural place. 'Occultare,' 'to hoard,' which was commonly done to raise the price. 'Meis' is emphatic, as 'proprio horreo' (i. 1. 9).

29. _Purae rivus aquae_] The small river Digentia is that which Horace alludes to (see Epp. i. 16). On 'certa fides' see C. iii. 1. 30, n. 'Fallit beatior' is a Greek construction, λανθάνει ὀλβιώτερον ὄν. Horace says, 'Mine is a happier lot than his who has all Africa for his possession, though he knows not that it is so.' The construction is like "sensit medios delapsus in hostes" (Aen. ii. 377), for 'se delapsum esse.'

33. _Calabrae--apes_] See C. ii. 6. 14, n.

34. _Laestrygonia--amphora_] This is used like 'Sabina diota,' which was the same sort of vessel (C. i. 9. 7), 'an amphora of Formian wine.' The inhabitants of Formiæ in Latium supposed it to be the same as the Læstrygonia mentioned by Homer (Odyss. x. 81),--

ἑβδομάτῃ δ᾽ ἱκόμεσθα Λάμου αἰπὺ πτολίεθρον, τηλέπυλον Λαιστρυγονίην.

See Introduction to the next Ode, and Ovid (Met. xiv. 233):--

"Inde Lami veterem Laestrygonis, inquit, in urbem Venimus."

'Languescere' means 'to lose its strength by keeping.' The Formian wine is mentioned, C. i. 20. 11. The pasture lands in the basin of the Po ('Gallica pascua') were very extensive and rich.

38. _Nec si plura velim_] Compare Epod. i. 31: "Satis superque me benignitas tua Ditavit." There was a Mygdonia in Mesopotamia, and Bithynia is said to have been called by that name of old. The Mygdonia of Asia Minor (part of Macedonia was also so called) was not very clearly defined. That Horace identifies it with Phrygia appears from C. ii. 12. 22. 'Alyattei' is the genitive of 'Alyatteus,' another form of 'Alyattes' (king of Lydia), as Achilleus -ei of Achilles, Ulixeus -ei of Ulixes. 'Vectigalia' means properly the public revenue, but is here used for a private fortune, not without reason, as he is comparing himself with kings. See S. ii. 2. 100, n.

42. _Multa petentibus_] The same sentiment in different words appears below (C. iii. 24. 63). 'Bene est' occurs again in S. ii. 6. 4, 8. 4. Epp. i. 1. 89. It is familiarly known in the formulas S. V. B. E. V. ('si valeas bene est, valeo'), which the Romans prefixed to their letters.

ODE XVII.

The short Ode, C. i. 26, and this Ode, were addressed to the same person, L. Aelius Lamia (see Introduction to C. i. 26). He was a young man of good birth, being of the Aelia gens, who were plebeians, but of old standing. Like other families, the Lamiæ were, perhaps, glad to trace their origin to a fabulous hero, and believed their founder to be Lamus, mythical king of the Læstrygonians, and builder of Formiæ, whence they must have migrated to Rome (see last Ode, v. 33, n.). Horace had an affection for the young man, Lamia, whose father was a friend of Cicero's, and died rich. It is not improbable that the Ode was written at his house in the country, whether at Formiæ or elsewhere. It is an exhortation to Lamia to make preparations for enjoying a holiday on the next day. The verses have no particular merit, and could have cost Horace little labor. He must have written many such that have never been published, and these two Odes were probably included in the collection out of compliment to Lamia. Lamia had a brother Quintus, who died early, to the great grief of Lucius (see Epp. i. 14. 6). In two passages Juvenal alludes to the Lamiæ as a family of distinction (S. iv. 154, and vi. 385). Tacitus (Ann. vi. 27), mentioning the death of this Lamia, says his 'genus' was 'decorum.'

Argument.--Ælius, ennobled with the blood of Lamus,--for like all the Lamias thou derivest thy birth from him who founded Formiæ and ruled on the banks of the Liris,--a storm is coming; get in the wood while it is dry: to-morrow the servants shall have holiday, and thou wilt do sacrifice to thy genius.

2. _Quando_] The same as 'quoniam,' 'since.'

4. _memores--fastos,_] These were the family records and genealogies, not the Fasti Consulares, in which only this Lamia would appear, and that after Horace wrote. He was consul A.D. 3. The words occur again in C. iv. 14. 4: "Per titulos memoresque fastos." 'Fastos' and 'fastus' (2d and 4th declension) are both found. See Epp. ii. 1. 48, n.

5. _ducis_] What Horace says is nearly as follows: 'Since it is reported the first Lamiæ had their name from Lamus, and the same tradition has come down through their successors in the annals of the family, no doubt you draw your origin from that noble source';--in which there is nothing more than a little jocular irony, which would amuse Lamia, whether it pleased his family pride or not. The poets, both Latin and Greek, often omit the personal pronoun, even when it is wanted for emphasis, as here and in C. i. 1. 35, "Quod si me lyricis vatibus inseris," where Mæcenas is emphatically addressed; and in C. iv. 2. 33.

6. _Formiarum_] See Introduction.

7. _Maricae Litoribus_] This means the coast of Minturnæ on the borders of Latium and Campania, where the nymph Marica, the mother of Latinus, first king of Latium, was worshipped.

8. _Lirim_] See C. i. 31. 7.

9. _Late tyrannus_] 'lord of a wide domain.'

12. _aquae--augur_] See below, C. iii. 27. 10, "Imbrium divina avis imminentum"; and Ovid (Am. ii. 6. 34), "pluviae graculus auctor aquae."

14. _cras Genium mero Curabis_] 'Genium curare' is a phrase not found elsewhere. 'Placare' and 'indulgere' are the usual words. Lamia was going to keep holiday next day, on what occasion does not appear, but as it was usual to offer sacrifice to the Genius on birthdays, it may have been his birthday Lamia was going to keep. As to 'Genius,' see Epp. i. 7. 94.

16. _operum solutis._] This construction, like "desine querelarum" (C. ii. 9. 17), and other expressions there quoted, is similar to the Greek, πόνου λελυμένοις. On these constructions Prof. Key says (L. G. § 940, and note): "Occasionally verbs of removal or separation have a genitive of the 'whence' in old writers and in poetry." "The legal language here, as in so many cases, retained traces of the old construction, as in 'liberare tutelae.'" "Me omnium jam laborum levas" is a like construction quoted by Mr. Key from Plautus.

ODE XVIII.

It was usual to offer sacrifice to Faunus at the beginning of spring, though the Faunalia did not take place till the Nones of December. (See C. i. 4. 11, and i. 17.) This Ode is an invocation to that deity, and is very elegant, especially the picture of rustic security and cheerfulness in the last two stanzas. The confusion of the Greek Pan with the Latin god Faunus has been noticed before.

Argument.--Faunus, come with mercy to my fields, and depart gentle to my young lambs, for I sacrifice and pour libations to thee at the fall of the year. When thy Nones come round, the old altar smokes with incense; the flocks sport in safety, the oxen are at rest, and the village is gay; the wood sheds its leaves, and the clown smites his enemy, the earth, in the dance.

3. _incedas abeasque_] Faunus was not a stationary divinity. He was supposed to come in the spring, and depart after the celebration of his festival in December. From 'parvis alumnis' we may suppose this Ode was written in spring. The word occurs below (C. iii. 23. 7).

5. _Si tener pleno cadit haedus anno,_] 'If a young kid is offered in sacrifice at the end of the year'; when the Faunalia took place. Horace claims the protection of Faunus for his lambs in the spring, on the ground of his due observance of the rites of December, which he then goes on to describe. Horace here makes the wine-cup the companion of Venus, as he made 'Jocus' in C. i. 2. 34. See also C. i. 30. 5, sqq. He uses both forms, 'crater' and 'cratera.' 'Vetus ara' may be an old altar Horace found on his farm when he came into possession of it.

13. _audaces_] 'fearless,' on account of the presence of Faunus.

14. _Spargit--frondes;_] It does not quite appear why the wood should be said to shed its leaves in honor of Faunus: it may be in sorrow for his departure, or as a carpet for him to tread upon, or for his worshippers to dance upon.

16. _Ter_] 'Ter' expresses the triple time of the dance, from which is derived the verb 'tripudiare.' 'Fossor' is put generally, I imagine, for a laboring husbandman, who may be supposed to have no love for the earth that he digs for another.

ODE XIX.

The impetuosity and liveliness of this Ode are remarkable. The occasion for which it was composed was a supper in honor of Murena's installation in the college of augurs. In regard to this person see C. ii. 2 and 10. Telephus is no doubt a fictitious name. It occurs in two other Odes (i. 13 and iv. 11. 21), and efforts have been made to prove the person to be the same in each case. But there is no resemblance. All the names at the end are fictitious.

Argument.--Talk not of Codrus, and Inachus, and Trojan wars: tell us what we may get a cask of Chian for, who will give us bath and house-room, and at what hour we may dine to-day. A cup, boy, to the new moon, another to midnight, and a third to Murena the augur; three and nine, or nine and three; the rapt poet loves the nine; pure, the Graces forbid. Let us be mad: bring music, scatter roses, let old neighbor Lycus and his young ill-sorted partner hear our noise and envy us. Rhode runs after thee, Telephus, with thy beautiful hair and bright face: as for me, I am wasting with love of Glycera.

1. _Quantum distet ab Inacho,_ &c.] The number of years between Inachus, first king of Argos, and Codrus, the last king of Athens, is said to be eight hundred.

3. _genus Aeaci_] The sons of Æacus, king of Ægina, were Telamon, the father of Ajax and Teucer, and Peleus, the father of Achilles.

4. _sacro--sub Ilio:_] This is Homer's epithet, Τροίης ἱερὸν πτολίεθρον.

5. _Chium--cadum_] This is the same form of expression as "Laestrygonia amphora," "Sabina diota"; and the vessels were all the same. On the Chian wine see Sat. ii. 8. 15. The best foreign wines were Thasian, Lesbian, Chian, Sicyonian, Cyprian, and Clazomenian. Only the second and third are mentioned by Horace, who puts them together in Epod. ix. 34. They were mild wines. Lesbian he speaks of as 'innocens' (C. i. 17. 21).

6. _quis aquam temperet ignibus,_] This is equivalent to 'who can give us a bath?' So Cicero, writing to Pætus, with whom he was going to dine (ad Fam. ix. 16, sub fin.), says, "ego tibi unum sumptum afferam quod balneum calfacias oportebit."

8. _Pelignis--frigoribus_] Cold as severe as the Peligni know, who inhabited a high part of the Apennines in the Samnite territory. 'Quota' means at what hour we may sup.

9. _Da lunae propere novae,_] The scene is suddenly shifted to the supper table. On the construction with the genitive, see above (C. iii. 8. 13). 'Lunae novae' means the Kalends, which was a feast day. (Compare iii. 23. 2, "nascente luna.") The months of Numa's calendar being lunar, the association of the new moon with the first day of the month remained after the calendar was altered. A cup for midnight does not appear to have any other meaning than an excuse for another toast. "Dicetur merita Nox quoque naenia," he says below (C. iii. 28. 16).

10. _auguris Murenae:_] See Introduction.

11. _tribus aut novem Miscentur cyathis_] The 'cyathus' was a ladle with which the drink was passed from the mixing bowl to the drinking cup. The ladle was of certain capacity, and twelve 'cyathi' went to the sextarius. Horace therefore says in effect, "Let the wine be mixed in the proportion of three cyathi of wine to nine of water, or of nine of wine to three of water." He says, also, the poet under the inspiration of the Muses likes the stronger proportion, but the Graces (in other words, good breeding and good temper) forbid the wine to be drunk pure, lest it lead to intoxication and strife. 'Tres supra' means the 'three over' the largest proportion of nine, which if added, would make the drink 'merum.' 'Commodis,' fit and proper 'cyathi,' that is, bumpers. 'A proper man' is 'totus teres atque rotundus,' in whom nothing is wanting.

13. _Qui Musas amat_] The Muses are 'impares' as being nine in number. 'Attonitus' is equivalent to ἐμβρόντητος, 'struck from heaven,' that is, inspired.

17. _Nudis_] See C. i. 30. 5.

18. _Insanire juvat:_] This is a repetition of C. ii. 7. 28. Berecyntus was a mountain in Phrygia, where Semele was worshipped. Compare C. iv. 1. 22, sqq.

22. _sparge rosas;_] See Epp. i. 5. 14.

ODE XX.

There can be very little doubt that this Ode is imitated from the Greek. It represents in heroic language a contest between Pyrrhus and a girl not named, for the affections of the handsome Nearchus. The last two stanzas furnish a striking group for a picture. The passion of the jealous girl, as of a lioness robbed of her whelps, and the conscious pride of the beautiful boy are happily painted.

Argument.--As well rob the lioness of her whelps, Pyrrhus. That girl will rush to the rescue of her lover, and, like a coward and thief, thou shalt quit the field after a hard fought battle, in which he shall stand like Nireus or Ganymede, the umpire of the fight.

3. _inaudax_] This word, which is not found elsewhere, is a direct translation of ἄτολμος, 'cowardly.'

5. _per obstantes_] i.e. 'when, like the lioness bursting through a host of huntsmen, she shall rush to the rescue of Nearchus, more beautiful than all (insignem).'

8. _Major an illi._] 'A mighty struggle, whether the prize shall rather come to thee or to her.' If this were expressed in Greek it might run πότερα ἡ λεῖα σοὶ μείζων ἥξει ἢ ἐκείνῃ, where μείζων would be equivalent, not to λείας μεῖζον μέρος, but to μᾶλλον. Probably Horace found μείζων, in the original he copied from, in some such combination as I have supposed. 'Certamen' has no regular government. The construction, however, is quite intelligible without supplying 'est' or 'erit,' as some propose.

11. _Arbiter pugnae_] Nearchus is represented as standing in doubt to which of the combatants he shall yield himself, with bare shoulder, his long perfumed hair floating in the wind, and his naked foot upon the palm of victory, looking like Nireus,

ὃς κάλλιστος ἀνὴρ ὑπὸ Ἴλιον ἦλθεν τῶν ἄλλων Δαναῶν μετ᾽ ἀμύμονα Πηλείωνα (Il. ii. 673),

or like Ganymede. The difference between the perfect 'posuisse' and the present 'recreare,' the one as representing a complete, and the other a continuing action, is here clearly marked. (See C. i. 1. 4, n.) Of 'fertur' it is difficult to fix the exact meaning. It looks like a literal copy, and indicates a composition not flowing from the mind of the writer, and therefore liable to some confusion, though to him it was plain enough.

15. _aquosa Raptus ab Ida_] Ganymede was said to have been the son of Tros, but the legends respecting him differ in every particular. Horace adopts that which supposes Jupiter to have sent his eagle to carry him away from Ida, which range was the source of most of the rivers of Troas, and is therefore called 'aquosa.'

ODE XXI.

M. Valerius Messalla Corvinus was an acquaintance of Horace, probably as early as his residence at Athens, and they were together during the campaigns of Brutus and at the battle of Philippi, after which Messalla took part with M. Antonius, till, in consequence of his proceedings with Cleopatra, he left him and joined Augustus, for whom he fought at Actium, and who always held him in high esteem. After the peace, he took up literary pursuits and oratory, and having a large fortune, he patronized literary men, and Horace, it would seem, in particular. By Horace he is called indiscriminately Messalla (which means 'of Messana') and Corvinus, which name was given to a distinguished member of the Valeria gens three hundred years before Messalla was born.

This Ode is addressed to the 'testa' containing the wine intended to be drunk at a supper to which Messalla had invited himself.

Argument.--Thou amphora, who was filled at my birth, whether thy mission be one of sorrow or joy, of strife or love or sleep, come down for Corvinus would have my better wine. Learned though he be, he will not despise thee, for neither did old Cato. Thou dost soften the inflexible, and open the heart, and bring back hope, and give strength and courage to the humble. Liber, Venus, and the Graces shall keep thee company till the dawn of day.

1. _O nata mecum_] Horace was born B.C. 65, when L. Manlius Torquatus and L. Aurelius Cotta were consuls, in which year the amphora addressed is here said to have been filled. (See above, C. iii. 8. 12, n.) 'Testa,' which signifies properly any earthen vessel, was used to express the 'dolium' as well as the 'amphora.' Here it means the latter. In Epod. xiii. 6, Horace had before referred to this wine. The force of the epithet 'pia' is more easily felt than rendered. 'Gentle' is Francis's translation, and I know no better, for the meaning is to be derived from its connection with 'facilem somnum.'

5. _Quocunque--nomine_] 'on whatever account.' 'Nomen' signifies an entry in an account (see Epp. ii. 1. 105, n.). The derived sense of the word as used here is better illustrated by Cic. de Am. c. 25: "Multis nominibus est hoc vitium notandum," i.e. on many accounts, or in many particulars. 'Lectum' applies to the gathering of the grape from which the wine was made. The word 'descende' is used because the apotheca was in the upper part of the house. (See above, C. iii. 8. 11, n.) For the same cause 'deripe' is used (C. iii. 28. 7). 'Dignus' is used sometimes by the later prose-writers with an infinitive. In Horace's day and by Cicero it was used only with the relative pronoun in construction with a verb. 'Languidiora' corresponds to 'languescit mihi' above (C. iii. 16. 35).

9. _madet_] 'is steeped in.' This word would hardly have been used for 'imbuitur' in this sense on any other occasion.

11. _Narratur et prisci Catonis_] This is the Cato mentioned on C. ii. 15. 11. His being fond of wine is most likely an invention of Horace's.

13. _Tu lene tormentum ingenio_] 'Thou appliest a gentle spur to the usually ungenial temper.' 'Duro ingenio' means the reserved temper whose sympathies and purposes are not easily drawn out, as in Terence (Phorm. iii. 2. 12), "Adeon' ingenio esse duro te atque inexorabili."

14. _sapientium_] This applies to the philosophical and thoughtful (as 'sapientia' is put for philosophy, C. i. 34. 2), who have little to do with mirth till they are brought out of themselves by cheerful company. It is said that in his Odes Horace always uses the termination 'ium' for the genitive plural of nouns ending in 'ens,' and for participles the termination 'tum.' But the instances of either are not numerous enough to determine a rule, and the so-called nouns are usually participles, as 'sapiens' is.

18. _cornua_] That is, strength, and confidence, of which horns were the symbol. See C. ii. 19. 30, n.

19. _Post te_] "Quis post vina gravem militiam aut pauperiem crepat?" (C. i. 18. 5.) As to 'apices,' see C. i. 34. 14.

21. _Te Liber_] He says, 'Thee, Liber, and Venus (if she will be cheerful and come), and the Graces slow to loose the bond that binds them, and the burning lamps, shall protract even until Phœbus on his return puts the stars to flight.' The meaning is, the wine shall go round and the lamps shall burn, with jollity and love (women commonly were of the company on these occasions) and good humor for our companions, till sunrise.

22. _Segnesque nodum solvere_] 'unwilling to be separated.' As Horace represents the Graces, naked, or with loose robes (C. i. 30. 5, n.), 'nodum' cannot signify the zone, as some commentators say. It seems to mean the bond that unites them. They are usually grouped with their arms intertwined. Here they represent good humor, as opposed to brawling.

23. _Vivaeque producent lucernae,_] See C. iii. 8. 14.

ODE XXII.

Horace on some occasion thought fit to dedicate a pine in his garden to Diana, and wrote these two stanzas as an inscription perhaps. The dedication of trees to particular divinities was not uncommon.

Argument.--Diana, who protectest the mountains and woods, and deliverest women in childbirth, to thee I dedicate this pine, and will offer thee the sacrifice of a boar.

1. _Montium--nemorumque,_] See C. i. 21. 5, and C. S. 1. Diana shared with Juno the attributes of Lucina, the divinity that brings children to the birth, as explained on C. S. 13. Diana was 'Diva triformis,' as being Luna in Heaven, Diana on Earth, and Hecate in Hell; whence Virgil speaks of "Tergeminamque Hecaten tria virginis ora Dianae" (Aen. iv. 511), alluding (as Horace does) to the statues of the goddess, with three faces, set up where three roads met, so that she could look down all three at once, from which she was called Trivia.

2. _laborantes utero_] For 'parturientes.'

5. _tua--esto_] 'be sacred to thee.'

6. _Quam per exactos ego laetus annos_] The antecedent to 'quam' is implied in 'tua.' 'Per exactos annos' means 'every year,' as each year is finished.

7. _obliquum meditantis ictum_] This expresses the way in which a boar strikes at an object with one of its projecting tusks, with which a wild hog has not rarely been known, when incautiously pursued, to rip open a horse's belly. See Ovid, Met. viii. 344: "obliquo latrantes dissipat ictu."

ODE XXIII.

Horace, wishing to embody the principle that any offering to heaven is acceptable according to a man's means (see note on v. 20), put it into the form of an address to the plain and pious Phidyle, a person of his own creation, bringing a humble offering to her Lares with doubts as to its acceptance, or lamenting that she could not, for her poverty, offer a worthier sacrifice.

Argument.--My humble Phidyle, lift thy hands to heaven, and bring the Lares but incense, fresh corn, and a sucking-pig, and they shall protect thy vines and fields and lambs. Herds and flocks, fed on Algidus or Alba, are for the pontifices: do thou but crown thy gods with rosemary and myrtle, for it is the clean hand and not the costly sacrifice that comes with acceptance to the altar.

1. _supinas_] The clasping of the hands in prayer does not seem to have been usual with the ancients. 'Supinus' and ὕπτιος contain the same element, and both signify 'upturned.' The 's' in the Latin word corresponds to the aspirate of the Greek, as in 'silva' and ὕλη. As to 'nascente Luna,' see C. iii. 19. 9, n. Phidyle is derived from φείδεσθαι, and means 'thrifty.' The prose form of 'hornus' is 'hornotinus.'

4. _Lares_] These were the Manes or spirits of deceased members of a family, who were worshipped as Penates or household gods (see below, v. 19, and Epp. ii. 2. 209, n.). Their altar was usually in the atrium or entrance-hall. They had libations and prayers offered to them daily at the principal meal, and had especial sacrifices on the Kalends, Nones, and Ides.

5. _Africum_] See C. i. 1. 15.

7. _dulces alumni_] 'Alumnus,' for a lamb, occurs above (C. iii. 18. 4).

8. _Pomifero grave tempus_] 'The deadly time when the year brings round the fruit,' i.e. Autumn (S. ii. 6. 18).

10. _Devota_] In the oak woods of Mount Algidus (in Latium) and the pastures of Alba were fed swine and cattle, especially for sacrifice.

15. _marino Rore_] 'Rosmarinus' is the name of a plant which grows wild in warmer climates than ours. We call it rosemary, after the Latin name, which the ancients supposed to be composed of 'ros' and 'marinum,' 'sea-dew.' It is rather sea-rose, 'rosa marina.'

17. _Immunis aram_] 'If the hand be innocent that touches the altar (not more welcome with sumptuous victim), it appeaseth the angry Penates with pious meal and crackling salt.' 'Immunis' signifies 'pure.' It does not occur elsewhere in this sense without a genitive.

19. _Penates_] The Penates of a family included the Lares, to whom Phidyle is supposed to be sacrificing. But other gods who were supposed to protect households and to promote the peace of families were counted Penates, and among them Jupiter, Juno, and Vesta.

20. _Farre pro et saliente mica_] This means the salted meal offered in sacrifice. The Roman practice and the Greek were different. The οὐλαί and οὐλοχύται were the entire grain of barley mixed with salt. The grain was not pounded by the Greeks; by the Romans it was, and the salt mixed with it. So "Dant fruges manibus salsas" (Aen. xii. 173). Socrates was the first among the ancients, as far as is known, who took the view here given of the gods and their offerings. His opinions are related by Xenophon (Memor. i. 3. 3), and they are confirmed by the highest authority, which tells us, that "if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, not according to that he hath not" (2 Cor. viii. 12).

ODE XXIV.

This Ode is of the same class, and was probably written about the same time as the early ones of the third book, i.e. about A.U.C. 728. It deals with the licentious abuses of the times, and points indirectly to Augustus as the real reformer of them, as in the second Ode of the first book. The variety of images and illustrations in this Ode is very remarkable, and they are particularly well chosen and original. There is none that exhibits Horace's peculiar style more completely than this does.

Argument.--Let a man be as rich and extravagant as he may, yet, when Fate overtakes him, fear and death will seize him. The wandering tribes of the North--with their free plains and toils equally shared, where step-mothers are kind and wives are obedient and chaste, and where crime meets with its reward--are happier than we are. He who would gain a name for future times (for merit is only recognized after death), let him put a check upon the licentiousness of the age. Of what use is it to complain, if crime goes unpunished? Of what use are laws without morals? We are running everywhere in quest of money, urged on by the shame of poverty. If we really repent, let us give our gold to the gods, or cast it into the sea, eradicate the seeds of avarice, and strengthen our minds with nobler pursuits. Our youth are idle: their fathers lay up wealth by fraud: for, let riches increase as they will, they always fall short of men's desires.

1. _Intactis_] Cn. Pompeius, Marcellus, and others, had entered Arabia Petræa; but Arabia Felix, which is here referred to, had not yet been invaded. The disastrous expedition under Ælius Gallus did not take place till B.C. 25, which was probably after the composition of this Ode. See C. i. 29, Int. India and Arabia are again coupled, Epp. i. 6. 6.

3. _Caementis licet occupes_] This is explained by C. ii. 18. 20; iii. 1. 35.

4. _mare Apulicum,_] This would apply to the bay on which Tarentum is situated, and there the Romans had handsome villas. Horace, however, had the other sea more in mind, perhaps with reference to Baiæ in particular, that place being situated on the northern projection of the Sinus Cumanus.

6. _Summis verticibus_] This has been variously explained. It probably means, 'when stern Fate has driven her adamantine nails into thy head' (that is, to kill thee).

8. _Non mortis laqueis_] Death entangling men in his net is not an uncommon idea with the poets. The same occurs in the Psalms: "The snares of death compassed me round about" (cxvi. 3).

9. _Campestres melius Scythae_] See C. i. 19. 10, n.; 35. 9, n. Herod. iv. 46.

12. _Immetata_] This does not occur elsewhere. Virgil assigns to the golden age this freedom from enclosures (Georg. i. 125, 126). 'Liberas' means 'common property.'

14. _Nec cultura placet_] The habits of the Suevi, as described by Cæsar (Bell. Gall. iv. 1), are here assigned to the Getæ, who are included with the Scythians. "They had 100 districts ('pagi')," says he, "each of which supplied annually 1,000 soldiers, who served a year and were then relieved by others, who in their turn served a year and were relieved. Those who stayed at home cultivated the fields. They had no enclosures, and occupied the same ground only for one year."

15. _Defunctumque laboribus_] This phrase is applied to death above (C. ii. 18. 38); here it is, 'and when one has finished his work, a substitute relieves him with an equal share of the toil.'

18. _temperat_] 'holds her hands from,' 'parcit.'

19. _Nec dotata_] The wife who brought a large 'dos' with her might have a tendency to rule her husband. 'Nec fidit' means she does not trust her rich paramour ('nitido,' 'sleek') to shield her with his influence from her husband's anger.

21. _Dos est magna parentium_] 'An ample portion for wives is their virtue and that chastity which, living in unbroken bonds, shrinks from any other man (than the husband).'

27. _Pater urbium_] This is not a title found elsewhere, but is analogous to 'Pater patriae' (C. i. 2. 50, n.). With 'refrenare licentiam' compare C. iv. 15. 9, sqq. 'Post-genitis' does not occur elsewhere.

30. _quatenus_] Forcellini gives other instances of this sense, 'quandoquidem,' 'since.' See S. i. 1. 64, 3. 76. The sentiment is repeated and illustrated in the first epistle of the second book, vv. 10, sqq.

33. _Quid tristes querimoniae_] 'What is the use of complaining so sadly, if crime is to go unpunished?' There were many perhaps who complained, as Horace did, of the state of society, but he says active measures are wanted for the suppression of crime, and these Augustus resorted to, by the enactment of laws regulating expense, marriage, etc. See Epp. ii. 1. 3, n.

35. _Quid leges sine moribus_] 'But then,' he goes on, 'laws are of little use, unless the character of the age supports them, for there are vices which the law cannot reach, such as the spirit of avarice,' which he goes on to speak of. Tacitus has echoed Horace's words: "Bonae leges minus valent quam boni mores" (Germ. 19). See C. iv. 5. 22, n.

40. _Mercatorem_] On the 'mercatores,' see C. i. 31. 12, n. The enterprise of these men, and the effects their visits had on uncivilized people, are illustrated by the passing notice they get from Cæsar (B. G. i. 1). Speaking of the Belgæ, he says, "Of all these the bravest are the Belgæ, because they are farthest removed from the civilization and refinement of the Provincia (Gallia), and to them the 'mercatores' make less frequent visits than to others, importing those things which tend to make the mind effeminate."

45. _Vel nos in Capitolium_] He recommends that the rich should take their wealth and offer it to the gods in the Capitol, or throw it into the sea.

46. _Quo clamor vocat_] Multitudes, he says, would applaud such a sacrifice, and accompany those who made it to the temple.

54. _Formandae_] 'Formo' occurs in the same sense, C. i. 10. 2. S. i. 4. 121. Epp. ii. 1. 128. A. P. 307.

_Nescit equo rudis_] The young are brought up in idle, dissipated habits, and instead of manly exercises they amuse themselves with the childish Greek sports and gambling (see S. ii. 2. 11, n.), while their fathers are employed in making money by fraud.

57. _Seu Graeco jubeas trocho_] The 'trochus' was a hoop of metal, and it was guided by a rod with a hook at the end, such as boys use now.

58. _vetita legibus alea,_] There were laws at Rome, as there are with us, against gaming, which practice was nevertheless very prevalent among all classes, in the degenerate times of the republic and the empire. Juvenal complains that young children learnt it from their fathers (xiv. 4).

60. _Consortem socium_] This means the partner whose capital ('sors') was embarked with his own. The Romans held it to be a very serious offence for a man to cheat his partner. Cicero (pro Rosc. Am. c. 40) says "in rebus minoribus fallere socium turpissimum est." Horace couples the crimes of cheating a partner and a ward in Epp. ii. 1. 123.

62. _improbae_] This is one of the most difficult words to which to assign its proper meaning. Forcellini gives three or four separate heads with quotations illustrative of each, under any one of which most of the examples in the others might be classed. Orelli has quoted instances (on C. iii. 9. 22) in which it is applied to labor, a jackdaw, a man, a mountain, a tiger, winter, and the Hadriatic Sea. He might have added others, as self-love (S. i. 3. 24), an old woman (S. ii. 5. 84), an angry man (S. ii. 6. 29), etc. It implies 'excess,' and that excess must be expressed according to the subject described. 'Of course, vile wealth increases; still the store falls short, and something's lacking ever.'

ODE XXV.

This Ode reads at first like an introduction to one on a larger scale in honor of Augustus; but we need not suppose that such a sequel ever was composed. The occasion, to judge by the enthusiasm of the language, may have been the announcement of the taking of Alexandria, B.C. 30.

Argument.--Bacchus, whither dost thou hurry me? In what woods or caves shall I sing of Cæsar added to the gods, a new and noble strain unheard before?

As the sleepless Euiad looks out from the heights upon the sacred hills and rivers of Thrace, so do I love to wander by the river-side and in the silent grove. O thou lord of the Nymphs, no vulgar strain will I sing. I will follow thee, for the danger of thy company is sweet.

2. _quae nemora_] The preposition before 'specus' governs both nouns. 'Spec-us' seems to contain the same root as σπέ-ος, the original meaning of which is unknown. The derivation of ἄντρον is equally uncertain. If, therefore, there is any distinction between them, etymology does not help us to determine it.

5. _meditans_] 'Inserere' may be governed by 'audiar,' or 'meditans,' or both. 'Meditari,' which is akin to μελετᾶν, signifies 'to revolve in the mind,' and often expresses the giving utterance to that which the mind has conceived. Here it has the same meaning as Virgil's "musam meditaris avena," "meditaris arundine musam."

7. _Dicam insigne_] 'Aliquid' or 'carmen' must be supplied.

9. _Exsomnis stupet Euias_] This name for the attendants on Bacchus, like Euius, his own name (C. i. 18. 9; ii. 11. 17), is derived from εὐοῖ (Euoe, C. ii. 19. 7), the bacchanal cry. The Euiad catches inspiration by looking out from the hill-tops upon the haunts of the god, and so the poet turns aside from his wonted path to the river-banks and groves where Bacchus is found. The picture of the Euiad looking out with silent awe, through a moonlight winter's night, upon the quiet plains of Thrace, and drawing inspiration from contemplating the scenes that her deity frequents, is very beautiful.

11. _pede barbaro_] This refers to the troops of Mænads (Μαινάδες from μαίνομαι, as Θυιάδες from θύειν, C. i. 17. 23, n.) celebrating the orgies of Bacchus.

12. _Rhodopen,_] This was a lofty chain which formed the western boundary of Thrace proper, and in which the Hebrus took its rise.

_ut mihi_] The word that usually follows 'aeque' is 'ac.' But Horace has 'aeque ut' (C. i. 16. 7-9), and other writers have 'pariter ut,' 'non minus ut' (Prop. i. 15. 7), 'perinde ut,' which are analogous to 'non secus ut.' Of this there seems to be no other instance, but perhaps 'ut' is used in preference to 'ac,' because that word occurs in the line before.

14. _Naïadum potens Baccharumque_] These are the Nymphs mentioned, C. ii. 19. 3. The Bacchæ, as distinguished from the Naïades, are the wood-nymphs (Dryades).

19. _Lenaee,_] This is a name of Bacchus derived from ληνός, a wine-press.

20. _tempora pampino._] Compare C. iv. 8. 33: "Ornatus viridi tempora pampino Liber."

ODE XXVI.

This Ode represents a successful gallant's first refusal, and his mortification and wrath at his defeat. It is a purely fanciful composition.

Argument.--Till now I have fought and won. Now I hang up my arms to Venus. Here, here hang my torches, my bars, and my bow. O thou queen of Cyprus and of Memphis, do but once lay thy rod upon the proud Chloe.

1. _idoneus_] He means 'till now the women liked me, and my conquests were great and glorious.' The words would be suitable to a youthful lover under the chagrin of a first disappointment. Ovid says love is a warfare, "Militiae species amor est, discedite segnes" (A. A. ii. 233); "Militat omnis amans et habet sua castra Cupido" (Am. i. 9. 1). The arms this lover proposes to hang up in the temple of Venus on the left wall, as being most propitious (but see next Ode, v. 15, n.), are the torch that lighted him to his mistress, the crowbar that broke open her door, and the bow and arrows which he carried as emblems of his passion perhaps. For what other purpose he could use them it is not easy to see.

5. _marinae_] See C. i. 3. 1, n.

9. _beatam--Cyprum_] See C. 29. 60.

10. _Memphin_] Herodotus (ii. 112) speaks of a temple at Memphis to Ξείνη Ἀφροδίτη, built by Proteus on the occasion of Paris and Helen being driven upon the coast of Egypt, according to a local legend, which makes Herodotus think that Helen herself was the Ἀφροδίτη in question. As to Sithonia, see C. i. 18. 9.

11. _sublimi_] 'lifted high,' that the blow might be the sharper.

ODE XXVII.

The subject of this Ode appears to be a journey to Greece (v. 19), proposed by a lady of Horace's acquaintance, whom he pretends to deter from her purpose, by reciting the dangers she will have to encounter, and the fate that waits upon female obstinacy, as illustrated by the story of Europa, which story occupies two thirds of the Ode, and puts aside Galatea and her journey. The length of the digression is a way with Horace (as in the story of Regulus, C. iii. 5, and of Hypermnestra, iii. 11), and Pindar took the same liberty with greater freedom.

Argument.--Let the wicked go on their way with evil omens. I do but pray for thee that the storm may be averted. Be happy, go where thou wilt, and remember me, Galatea. Fear not those idle omens: but see the rising storm: I know the dangers it portends. May they fall upon my enemy rather than on thee. It was thus Europa left her girlish task, and crossed the sea by night, but feared not, till she stood on the shore of Crete. Then she cried out in anguish: "Alas! my father, a daughter's name I have abandoned; love is swallowed up in madness. What an exchange is here! Many deaths do I deserve to die. Am I awake, or is it a dream? Was it better to cross the sea than to gather young flowers at home? O that I might avenge myself on that monster, once too dearly loved! Shame on me that I left my home; shame that I delay to die. Let me go naked among lions and perish by tigers, rather than waste away in a lingering death. 'Vile girl!' my father cries, 'why dost thou not die? Here thou mayest hang by thy girdle, or dash thee on the rocks, or into the stormy waves, unless thou wouldst yield thyself a barbarian's slave.'" Then came Venus and her son, and laughed mischievously, and said: "Cease thy wrath, when the monster shall come back to give thee thy revenge. What, knowest thou not that thou art the spouse of Jove? Away with sighs. Bear thy noble destiny, for one half the world shall take its name from thee."

1. _parrae_] What this bird was is not determined.

3. _Rava decurrens_] The meaning of 'ravus' is not certain. Horace applies it to a wolf or a lion (Epod. xvi. 33), in the latter case imitating perhaps Homer's χαροποὶ λέοντες (Odyss. xi. 611), for 'ravus' is said to be akin to χαροπός. The wolf is represented as running down from the hills of Lanuvium, because that town was near the Appia Via leading to Brundisium, where Galatea would embark.

6. _Si per obliquum_] The image of the snake shooting across the road recalls Jacob's prophecy in respect to his son Dan: "Dan shall be a serpent by the way; an adder in the path that biteth the horse's heels, so that his rider shall fall backwards" (Gen. xlix. 17).

7. _ego cui timebo_] 'For my part, on behalf of her for whom I am anxious, like a far-seeing augur, before that bird (the crow) which tells of the coming storm shall go back to his stagnant pool, the croaking raven with my prayers I will call up from the East,' which would be an omen of good weather, and the crow flying to the marsh, of bad. 'Oscines aves' were birds whose omens were taken from their note, as 'praepetes' from their flight.

13. _Sis licet felix_] There is a tenderness apart from familiarity in these two stanzas, which gives much reality to the Ode.

15. _laevus vetet ire picus_] The woodpecker was a bird of ill-omen. There was some confusion among the Romans as to the right hand and left in augury, as to which was the propitious side. The confusion may have arisen from the different practice of the Greeks and Romans in taking note of birds, the former facing the north and the latter the south, as is commonly supposed. But what is confusion to us, was none to a Roman. (C. 26. 5.)

18. _Pronus Orion._] Orion sets about the beginning of November. On 'albus Iapyx,' see C. 3. 4 and 7. 15 of the first book.

21. _Hostium uxores_] So in C. i. 21. 13, sqq., he prays Apollo to turn away war, famine, and pestilence from his country to her enemies, the Parthians and Britons. Such diversion is common with the poets, as Virgil (Georg. iii. 513), "Di meliora piis erroremque hostibus illum." The Romans used 'pueri' for children of either sex. 'Oriens' is not usually applied to the rising of a wind, as Horace applies it here.

25. _Sic et Europe_] The story of Europa, the daughter of Agenor and sister of Cadmus, carried off from Phœnicia to Crete by Zeus, under the form of a bull, is told by Ovid, at the end of the second book of the Metamorphoses.

28. _Palluit_] So 'expalluit' (Epp. i. 3. 10) and 'contremuit' (C. ii. 12. 8) are used transitively.

33. _centum--Oppidis_] See Epod. ix. 29. The description is taken from Homer's Κρήτην ἑκατόμπολιν (Il. ii. 649). Europa's speech is that of one just awake to her real position, after the terror of her voyage and the departure of her companion; left alone in a strange land, with the consciousness of her folly first coming upon her. She begins distractedly, 'Father,--alas! I have forfeited a daughter's name, and love hath given place to madness.'

37. _Unde quo veni?_] This implies, not that she was so distracted that she had forgotten whence she had come, but 'What an exchange have I made! So dear a home for this strange place!' It is all very natural and beautiful. 'Una mors' is perhaps an imitation of Sophocles (Antig. 308): οὐχ ὗμιν Ἅιδης μοῦνος ἀρκέσει.

38. _Vigilansne ploro_] 'Am I awake and weeping for my foul fault, or, free from guilt, doth some vain image mock me, which, taking flight from out the ivory gate, brings me a dream?'

41. _porta fugiens eburna_] Homer (Odyss. xix. 562) describes two gates in the house of Sleep, one of them horn and the other ivory, for the exit of dreams, of which those which came out of the ivory gate were false, those out of the other, true. Virgil has imitated Homer's description, Aen. vi. 894, sqq.

44. _Carpere flores?_] Ovid makes her put flowers about the animal's neck: "flores ad candida porrigit ora," Met. ii. 861.

49. _Impudens liqui_] 'For lack of shame I left my father's house, for lack of shame I hesitate to die,' either because she deserved to die, or because her chastity was in danger. 'Orcum moror' is equivalent to 'dubito mori,' like Ovid (Heroid. ix. 146): "Impia quid dubitas Deïanira mori", but it is an unusual form. Seeing nothing but death before her, she prays to be killed at once, rather than die a lingering death by hunger, and go down to Hades robbed of her beauty. This notion is Greek, and from the Greek it is probably imitated. 'Ere ugly leanness seize my lovely cheeks, and their young victim's blood runs dry, thus in my beauty I would feed the tigers.'

60. _Laedere collum_] 'Laedere' corresponds to λωβᾶσθαι in Soph. Ant. 54, πλεκταῖσιν ἀρτάναισι λωβᾶται βίον. Several heroines ended their lives in this unromantic way,--Antigone, Jocasta, Phædra, Amata; and the tragedians have no stronger expression for suffering, than that it is enough to make one hang one's self.

61. _Sive te rupes_] As to 'sive,' see i. 6. 19, n. 'Acuta leto,' 'sharp to kill,' whose sharp edges are fatal.

66. _Aderat querenti_] Venus and Cupid come to laugh her out of her fears, and to teach her the greatness of her destiny.

67. _remisso_] Cupid's bow is unstrung, as the Scholiast says, because it has done its work with Europa.

69. _Abstineto,--irarum_] This is a Greek form, noticed before (C. ii. 9. 17).

71. _invisus_] They speak ironically.

73. _esse nescis:_] This may be 'you know not how to be' (that is, 'to bear yourself as'), or 'you know not that you are.' 'Scire' in this last sense does not usually govern the infinitive mood.

76. _Nomina_] The plural is thus used for the singular in C. iv. 2. 4, and Ovid (Tr. i. 1. 90): "Icarus Icariis nomina fecit aquis." Horace seems to give Europe half the world, and the other parts the rest. He is not speaking with exactness.

ODE XXVIII.

This Ode professes to be written on the day of the Neptunalia. The time is the afternoon, and the poet calls upon Lyde (an imaginary person) to come and drink with him, and sing an amebean address to the divinity of the day and the other gods usually honored on such occasions.

Argument.--Lyde, bring out the best Cæcuban, and take wisdom by storm, for what can I do better on Neptune's holiday? The noon is past, make haste. Let us sing; I of Neptune and the Nereids, you of Latona and Diana; both of us together of Venus;--and we will not forget a song for Night.

2. _reconditum_] This is explained by (C. ii. 3. 8) "Interiore nota Falerni" (see note). 'Strenua' is put instead of the adverb.

4. _Munitaeque adhibe vim sapientiae._] This has something of the heroic in it: 'lay siege to wisdom in her strong-hold.'

7. _horreo_] The 'apotheca' at the top of the house, where the 'amphorae' were kept (C. i. 37. 6; iii. 8. 11, n.).

8. _Bibuli consulis_] M. Calpurnius Bibulus was consul with Julius Cæsar, B.C. 59. See C. iii. 8. 12, n.

9. _Nos cantabimus invicem_] See Argument.

12. _Cynthiae;_] Diana, the Latin form of Artemis, was born, like her brother Apollo, on Mount Cynthus, in the island of Delos. Latona (the Latin name of Λητώ) was their mother, by Zeus.

13. _Cnidon_] See C. i. 30. 1. 'Summo carmine' is the conclusion of their duet, not their last song.

14. _Fulgentes_] See C. i. 14. 19. We do not hear elsewhere of Venus frequenting the Cyclades. As to Paphon, see C. i. 30. 1.

15. _oloribus;_] Compare Ovid (Met. x. 717):

"Vecta levi curru medias Cytheraea per auras Cypron olorinis nondum pervenerat alis."

16. _Dicetur merita Nox_] See C. iii. 19. 10. 'Nenia' is here a sort of lullaby. See Epod. xvii. 29, n.

ODE XXIX.

This is an invitation from the poet to his patron, pressing him to pay him a visit at his farm. He bids him throw off the cares of the state, and live for the enjoyment of the hour. The time is the dog-days. The year is uncertain.

Argument.--Come, Mæcenas, the wine and oil and the flowers are ready. Stay not for ever gazing from a distance at the pleasant fields of Tibur, buried in the magnificence and the uproar, the wealth and the smoke, of the city. The rich man often likes to sup at the poor man's table. The days of drought are come back; the shepherd seeks the shade, the flock seeks the stream, not a breath is on the river-banks: but thou art distracting thyself with imaginary dangers. Heaven has wisely hidden the future from man, and does but smile at his fears. Live for the present; all else is like the stream, that now flows in peace, now is swollen to a flood, and sweeps all with it to the sea. He lives happy who lives to-day, and leaves to-morrow to Heaven, seeing that Jove himself cannot undo what is done.

As to Fortune, she is fickle, and changes from day to day. If she stays with me, I am glad; if she flies, I am resigned. If the storm rages, I have no merchandise to fear for, and can put out into any sea with safety in my little bark.

1. _Tyrrhena regum progenies,_] Compare C. i. 1. 1. 'Verso' is equivalent to 'moveri' in "moveri digna bono die" (C. iii. 21. 6). The 'balanus' was an oleaginous nut of some kind, and is here put for the oil expressed from it.

5. _Eripe te morae;_] 'Morae' is the dative.

6. _Ne semper udum_] 'Udum' is an epithet commonly applied to Tibur, which stood on the banks of the Anio. The town itself was built on the side of a hill (C. iii. 4. 23), but the fields below seem to have been damp (see C. i. 7. 14) from a number of small streams which watered them. It appears that Mæcenas was sighing for the country all the time he was detained at Rome. Telegonus, son of Ulysses and Circe, was the reputed founder of Tusculum and Præneste. One of the legends of the death of Ulysses attributes it to this son. Æsula was probably a town between Præneste and Tibur, but no traces of its site remain, and Pliny says that it no longer existed in his time (iii. 5).

10. _Molem_] This signifies Mæcenas's palace on the Esquiline Hill at Rome. It is mentioned in Epod. ix. 3.

11. _Omitte_] This is the only instance in this book of an iambus at the beginning of the third verse. It occurs four times in the first book, and twice in the second. It does not occur in the fourth.

15. _aulaeis et ostro_] The meaning of 'aulaeis' is explained in Sat. ii. 8. 54. It was usual to spread tapestry to catch any dust that might fall from the ceiling. 'Aulaeis et ostro' may form one subject, or 'ostro' may mean the coverings of the couches. See S. ii. 3. 118, n.

16. _Sollicitam explicuere frontem._] This expression is repeated in Sat. ii. 2. 125: "Explicuit vino contractae seriae frontis." The perfect has the force of the Greek aorist.

17. _Andromedae pater_] Cepheus, a northern star below Ursa Minor, rises at the beginning of July. Procyon, a star of the first magnitude, in the constellation Canis Minor, and called 'Ante Canem' by a literal version of the Greek name, rises about the same time, and the sun enters Leo: see above, C. iii. 13. 8, n. 'Stella' is not commonly put for 'sidus,' the constellation, as it is here.

25. _Tu civitatem_] See Introduction. As to 'regnata,' see C. ii. 6. 11. The Seres represent indefinitely the farthest Eastern nations known to the Romans (see C. i. 12. 56). The Bactrians were formerly part of the Persian empire, and were at this time partly subject to the Parthians and partly to a Scythian race, the Tochari. Bactra was their capital. The meaning of Horace is, that Mæcenas should not trouble himself about improbable dangers.

34. _aequore_] 'Aequore' is equivalent to 'alveo,' the channel of the river. Virgil has "viridesque secant placido aequore silvas" (Aen. viii. 96). The next line describes well the quiet flow of a river.

43. _cras vel atra_] Compare C. ii. 10. 15. On 'diffinget,' see C. i. 35. 39. 'Vexit' is employed unusually for 'avexit.'

49. _Fortuna saevo_] The caprice of Fortune, represented as a coquette transferring her favors from one favorite to another, and delighting to trifle with the happiness of men, is the lowest Epicurean view of life and the world's government. But Horace writes conventionally. He has just assigned to the Father of all the ordering of men's lives.

51. _Transmutat incertos honores,_] Compare C. i. 34. 12, sqq.

53. _si celeres quatit_] Horace uses 'si' where other writers would use 'sin.'

54. _resigno_] This is equivalent to 'rescribo' in a money sense, 'to pay back.' 'Mea virtute me involvo' is a picture of self-satisfaction. The man wraps his cloak of virtue complacently around him, and sits down in contented indifference to the proceedings of Fortune, as if she had nothing to do with him, and unites himself to poverty, as to a bride without a portion.

60. _Cypriae Tyriaeque merces_] Cyprus abounded in copper and other metals, including gold and silver, together with precious stones. It exported wines also and oil. The trade of Phœnicia, which at this time formed part of the Roman province of Syria, was carried on through Sidon more largely than Tyre, which, however, was a port of some consequence under the emperors. Horace is speaking generally, and 'Tyriae merces' answered his purpose as well as any other expression.

62. _biremis--scaphae_] A two-oared boat, ἐλάτης δικώπου. 'Biremis' is not so used elsewhere, but for two banks of oars.

64. _feret_] See above, C. iii. 9. 12, n. 'Geminusque Pollux' is an elliptical way of expressing 'Pollux cum gemino fratre.' See C. i. 3. 2.

ODE XXX.

This Ode appears to have been written as an epilogue to the first three books, as C. i. 1 was the prologue. It expresses the conviction, which time has justified, that, through his Odes, Horace had achieved an immortal name. The same just pride had been shown by poets before him; as by Sappho in a poem of which the first line only has been preserved, μνάσασθαί τινά φαμι καὶ ὕστερον ἀμμέων (16 Bergk); and by Ennius, in the lines (see C. ii. 20. 21, n.),--

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

which words Virgil has made his own (Georg. iii. 9). Propertius (iii. 1), Ovid (Met. xv. 871, sqq.), and Martial (x. 2. 7, sqq.) have all imitated Horace very closely.

Argument.--I have built myself a monument which storms shall not destroy, nor Time himself. I shall not die, but live in freshness of fame so long as the world endures.

It will be said, on the banks of my native river, that I, a humble man made great, was the first to fit the Grecian strain to the lyre of Italy.

Put on the bay that thou hast earned, my Muse.

2. _situ_] This word is nowhere else used in this sense. It here signifies the building, and not the site.

3. _impotens_] This word is equivalent to 'impotens sui,' 'violent,' 'intemperate.' See Epod. xvi. 62.

7. _Libitinam:_] See S. ii. 6. 19, n.

_usque_] In this sense of 'continually,' 'usque' only occurs in poetry and is always joined to a verb. What follows means 'while the Pontifex Maximus shall, on the Ides of every month, go up to the Capitol to offer sacrifice, the Vestal virgins walking silently in the procession,' as they did, and the boys at the same time sang hymns. With a Roman this was equivalent to saying 'for ever.'

10. _Dicar qua violens obstrepit Aufidus_] See Introduction and C. iv. 9. 2, n. 'Violens' is not a common form of 'violentus.' It occurs again Epp. i. 10. 37, and in Persius (Sat. v. 171), "nunc ferus et violens." 'Obstrepere' is used absolutely again, Epod. ii. 27.

11. _Et qua pauper aquae_] 'Pauper' takes a genitive in S. i. 1. 79; ii. 3. 142. As to Daunus, see C. i. 22. 14, n. Apulia was badly watered. Horace calls it elsewhere 'Siticulosa' (Epod. iii. 16, n.).

12. _Regnavit_] This word, though it is used in the passive voice (see last Ode, v. 27), here only has a noun after it. Horace gives it the genitive, in imitation of ἄρχειν. He wrote with his mind full of Greek constructions and words, and took the liberty of using them very freely.

_ex humili potens,_] Horace uses the expression 'potentium vatum' in the eighth Ode of the next book (v. 26). He considered Alcæus and Sappho as his chief models in lyric poetry, which he sums up in the formula 'Aeolium carmen' here and in C. iv. 3. 12. 'Delphica lauro' is the same as 'laurea Apollinari' in the next book (C. iv. 2. 9).

ODES.--BOOK IV.

ODE I.

It is said that Augustus wished Horace to publish another book of Odes, in order that those he had written in honor of Drusus and Tiberius (4, 14) might appear in it. If so, he collected a few written since, and some perhaps before, the publication of the three books, among which was this. He tells us (v. 6) that he was about fifty, which age he attained 10th December, B.C. 15. He professes to deprecate the attacks of Love, now that he is old. The Ode is not unlike one he wrote when he was much younger (i. 19), and it is probable both are imitations from the Greek.

Argument.--Art thou at war with me again, Venus? Spare me, for I am old. Go to the young. Go to Paullus, for he is noble, handsome, clever. Give him the victory, and he will give thee in return a marble statue in a shrine of citron, with incense, music, and dancing, in his home by the Alban lake. I have no longer a heart for love and wine, and yet, Ligurinus, why do I weep and dream of thee?

2. _Rursus bella moves?_] See Introduction.

3. _Non sum qualis eram_] Epp. i. 1. 4. He here calls Cinara good, because she is dead, elsewhere he calls her 'rapax' (Epp. i. 14. 33). It seems likely that this name represents a real person, whether she appears under another name elsewhere or not, and that Horace had an affection for her. In the thirteenth Ode of this book (v. 22) her death is mentioned with feeling, and there is a reality in the references to her in all the places where she is alluded to, which cannot be connected with fiction. She was associated, in all probability, with Horace's early days. Κυνάρα signifies, some say, a wild rose-thorn (κυνόσβατος); κινάρα, an artichoke.

5. _Mater saeva Cupidinum_] Repeated from i. 19. 1. Horace here does not copy himself, I believe, but some Greek original. 'Flectere' is a metaphor taken from the breaking in of a horse.

6. _lustra_] C. ii. 15. 13, n. See Introduction.

9. _in domum_] 'More seasonably shalt thou keep thy revels in the house of Paullus Maximus, drawn by thy beautiful swans.' So Livy (xl. 7), "Quin comissatum ad fratrem imus." Here 'comissabere' is equivalent to 'comissatum ibis,' and therefore the reading 'in domum' is correct. Κωμάσδω ποτὶ τὰν Ἀμαρύλλιδα is an expression of Theocritus just like this (iii. 1). Κώμῳ χρέεσθαι ἐς ἀλλήλους occurs in Herodotus (i. 21). 'Purpureis,' (which signifies beauty without reference to color) savors of the Greek. 'Torrere jecur' is like Theocritus's ὀπτεύμενος ἐξ Ἀφροδίτης (vii. 55).

14. _sollicitis non tacitus reis_] Compare C. ii. 1. 13, where he calls Pollio "Insigne moestis praesidium reis."

15. _centum_] This is a large definite number for an indefinite.

16. _Late signa feret_] The idea corresponds to "militavi non sine gloria" (iii. 26. 2).

17. _Et quandoque_] i.e. 'whenever, with thine aid, his smiles shall beat the rich presents of his rival, he shall set thee up in marble, under a citron roof, by the shore of the Alban lakes,' of which there were two close together, the Albanus (Albano) and Nemorensis (Nemi), and on one of these it appears Fabius had a house. As to Berecyntiæ, compare C. iii. 19. 18. 'Lyrae' and 'tibiae' are in the dative case after 'mixtis.'

22. _Duces thura,_] 'Ducere' is used for drinking, and here for inhaling. It has a great variety of meanings, which the context will generally explain.

28. _ter quatient humum._] See C. iii. 18. 16. On the first few days of March, during the festival of Mars, the Salii, his priests, went in procession through the city singing and dancing, whence they are said to have derived their name. "Jam dederat Saliis (a saltu nomina ducunt)" (Ovid, F. iii. 387). The practice, according to Livy, was instituted by Numa (i. 20), "per urbem ire canentes carmina cum tripudiis sollennique saltatione jussi sunt." See Epp. ii. 1. 86.

30. _spes animi_] 'the fond trust of mutual love.'

35. The last syllable in this line is cut off.

40. _per aquas,_] C. i. 8. 8. He dreams he sees him swimming in the Tiber.

ODE II.

Iulus Antonius was son of M. Antonius the triumvir. He was a man of letters and a poet. In B.C. 17 the Sigambri, with two other German tribes, crossed the Rhine and laid waste part of the Roman territory in Gaul. They defeated the legate Lollius, and this disaster was sufficient to induce Augustus to go in person to Gaul, which he did, and at his approach the Germans withdrew into their own territories, and, giving hostages, obtained peace. The defeat of Lollius had caused great consternation at Rome, and the news of the barbarians' subjection was hailed with proportionate joy. Augustus did not return for two years to Rome, having meanwhile restored order in Germany, Gaul, and Spain; but it is probable this Ode was written in the expectation of his return, and while the news respecting the Sigambri was still fresh, that is to say, about the end of B.C. 16. Augustus's return to Rome was expected long before it took place (see C. 5 of this book). The general impression derived from the Ode is that Antonius had pressed Horace to write a poem in honor of Augustus's victory in the style of Pindar's ἐπινίκια, and that he very wisely declined. At the same time he pays Antonius the compliment of saying that he could celebrate Augustus's victory better than himself.

Argument.--Whoso would rival Pindar must expect the fate of Icarus. His numbers roll like a swollen river. His is the bay, whether he tune the dithyramb or sing of gods and heroes, of victors or of women bereaved. The swan of Dirce soars to the clouds. I am but as a bee, sipping the flowers of Tibur.

Thou, Antonius, shalt sing of the triumphs of Cæsar, greatest and best, and of the holiday rejoicings that hail his return: and I will add my small voice to thine: and we will all sing songs of triumph, and will sacrifice, thou with bulls and cows, I with a young heifer.

2. _Iule,_] Virgil makes this name trisyllabic, after the Greek. Antonius's grandmother on his father's side was Julia, one of the Cæsars, though how related to the dictator is not known.

_ceratis ope Daedalea_] Dædalus, to escape from Crete, is said to have made for himself and Icarus, his son, wings, fastened to their shoulders with wax. Those of Icarus melted, and he fell into the Ægean, part of which was called after him (see C. iii. 7. 21). As to the plural 'nomina,' see C. iii. 27. 76.

10. _nova--Verba_] The 'dithyrambus,' of which word the etymology is uncertain, was a song in honor of Bacchus, and sung at his festivals. It was wild and enthusiastic in its character. 'Nova verba' signifies words coined for the occasion, as was common, and to be expected from the nature of the poetry, of which the metre seemed to a Roman irregular and arbitrary ('lege solutis'). A few fragments remain of dithyrambic poems by Pindar. All his entire poems extant are ἐπινίκια, odes of triumph for victors at the Olympic, Pythian, Nemean, and Isthmian games.

13. _Seu deos regesve_] Among Pindar's works were ὕμνοι, παῖανες, παρθένια, προσόδια, in honor of the gods, and ἐγκώμια, in honor of illustrious men. He may have written on the subject of the victory of Peirithous over the Centaurs (C. i. 18. 8, n.), and that of Bellerophon over the Chimæra (C. i. 27. 24).

17. _Elea_] This applies to the ἐπινίκια above mentioned. The plain of Olympia, on which the Olympic games were celebrated every fourth year, was in Elis, in the Peloponnesus. The chariot race and boxing ('pugilemve equumve') were the most prominent of these games. 'Equum' is put for the rider, as in A. P. 84.

21. _Flebili sponsae_] This has reference to another class of poems, called θρῆνοι, 'dirges for the dead.'

23. _Aureos_] See C. i. 5. 9, n.

25. _Multa Dircaeum_] 'A strong breeze lifts the swan of Dirce,' that is, Pindar who was born at Thebes, near which was the fountain Dirce.

27. _apis Matinae_] See C. ii. 6. 15, n. Mons Matinus was in Apulia. The image here employed is very common. 'Ripas' signifies the banks of the Anio (see C. iii. 25. 13, n.). 'Operosa' describes, perhaps, the process by which nearly all Horace's Odes were produced. No great poet is more artificial, and few more skilled in concealing their art, and giving it the appearance of nature. 'Fingo' corresponds to πλάττω, which word the Greeks used especially with reference to the making of honey. 'Plurimum' belongs to 'laborem.'

33. _Concines_] The pronoun, though emphatic, is omitted, which is not uncommon. (See C. iii. 17. 5.) 'Concines' has particular force, expressing a chant in which many voices are joined.

34. _feroces_] The Sigambri had earned the epithet of 'cruel' by their treatment of the Roman officers, who, having gone to collect their tribute, were taken by them and hanged, which was the beginning of this revolt. See Introduction.

35. _sacrum clivum_] The 'clivus sacer' was a declivity between the Via Sacra and the Forum, down which the triumphal processions passed. A certain number of prisoners were usually kept to walk behind the victor, and when the procession reached a certain point in the Forum, they were carried off to prison and strangled. See Epod. vii. 8.

37. _Quo nihil majus_] This flattery is repeated Epp. ii. 1. 17. The unbounded kindness which Horace received from Augustus merited the word 'melius'; in 'majus' he was not far wrong. 'Divis bonis' is repeated below (C. iv. 5. 1).

43. _Fortis Augusti reditu_] Orelli mentions that there are coins of the year B.C. 16, with the inscription S.P.Q.R.V.S. PRO S. ET RED. AVG. (vota suscepta pro salute et reditu Augusti).

44. _Litibus orbum._] A 'justitium' had been ordered by the senate; that is, a suspension of business, during which the prætor did not hold his courts.

48. _felix_] Whether 'felix' refers to Horace himself, or to the sun, is doubtful.

49. _Teque dum procedis,_] 'Triumphus' is addressed as a divinity, as in Epod. ix. 21, and Horace says, 'As thou marchest, we will shout thus thy name, Io Triumphe! and again, Io Triumphe!'

53. _Te decem tauri_] Iulus was rich. Five or six years after this he was consul.

54. _Me tener solvet vitulus_] So "nos humilem feriemus agnam" (C. ii. 17. 32).

58. _Tertium--ortum,_] 'Its young horns just bent to the form of the moon's crescent when she is three days old.'

59. _duxit_] That is, has contracted or received. 'Traxit' would do equally well, and appears in one MS.

ODE III

The impression produced by the publication of his three books of Odes, which had previously been known only to a few, was such as, no doubt, to silence envy, and to establish Horace in the high position he here asserts as "Romanae fidicen lyrae"; and when, after several years' silence, he produced the Carmen Saeculare in B.C. 17, it was received probably with so much favor as to draw forth this Ode. It has all the appearance of genuine feeling, and shows how much Horace had suffered from the vexatious detractions to which he was at one time subjected. It is an address to the Muse, gratefully attributing to her all his success.

Argument.--He on whom thou lookest at his birth, Melpomene, derives his fame, not from the games, or from triumphs, but from the streams and woods of Tibur, inspiring him with Æolian song.

They have named me the tuner of the Roman lyre, and envy assaults me no longer as it did; and to thee I owe this gift of pleasing, O Muse, who rulest the shell, and art able to give the music of the swan to the voiceless fish, if thou wilt.

3. _labor Isthmius_] The Isthmian games were celebrated every third year, on the Isthmus of Corinth, and were attended, like the Olympian games, by all the Greek states. The games were the same generally at both.

4. _Clarabit_] This word occurs nowhere else in this sense.

6. _Deliis--foliis_] This is another way of expressing 'laurea Apollinari,' 'Delphica lauro' (C. iii. 30. 15).

9. _Ostendet Capitolio:_] The triumphal processions ended at the Capitol, whither the victors went to return thanks to Jove in his temple.

10. _aquae_] The river Anio. He says the waters that flow past Tibur and the leafy groves shall make him glorious with the song of Lesbos, which he practises by the stream and in the grove.

12. _Aeolio carmine_] See C. iii. 30. 13, n.

16. _Et jam dente minus_] See Introduction.

17. _testudinis aureae_] This is Pindar's χρυσέας φόρμιγγος (Pyth. i. 1).

18. _Pieri,_] This singular is not common. Ovid uses it (Fast. iv. 222): "Pieris orsa loqui."

19. _mutis--piscibus_] The Greek ἔλλοπας ἰχθῦς is thus explained by some, but the meaning of that word is doubtful.

23. _Romanae fidicen lyrae,_] In Epp. i. 19. 32, he calls himself "Latinus fidicen." 'Quod spiro' means that I breathe the breath, not of life, but of poetry. Compare C. iv. 6. 29: "Spiritum Phoebus mihi--dedit."

ODE IV.

The history of this Ode is easily made out. The Vindelici were a tribe whose territories lay between the Danube and the Lake of Constanz, comprising the greater part of modern Bavaria and Suabia, and some part of the Tyrol. The Ræti lay to the south of the Vindelici, and reached to Lake Como on the south. These tribes, whom the historians describe as very fierce and warlike, commenced a system of predatory incursions into Cisalpine Gaul, in which they appear to have practised the greatest atrocities. Augustus was at this time (B.C. 16-15) in Transalpine Gaul, and Tiberius was with him. Drusus, his step-son, and younger brother of Tiberius, was Quæstor at Rome, and in his twenty-third year. He was required by Augustus to take the field against the offending tribes, whom he met under the Tridentine Alps and defeated signally. But, though driven from Italy, they continued their attacks upon Gaul, and Tiberius was accordingly sent by Augustus with more troops to his brother's assistance, and they between them effectually humbled the tribes, whose territories were constituted a Roman province under the united name of Rætiæ, Rætia Prima or Proper, and Secunda, which embraced the possessions of the Vindelici: these also comprised several other tribes, of whom Horace particularly mentions the Genauni and Breuni. The whole of this war took place in the spring and summer of the year B.C. 15, and we are led to suppose from C. iv. 14. 34-38, that it was brought to a conclusion in the month of August, on the anniversary of the capture of Alexandria by Augustus in the year 30 (C. i. 37, Introduction). In honor of these victories Horace composed this Ode and the fourteenth of this book, the one more expressly to celebrate the name of Drusus, the other of Tiberius. The two Odes therefore must historically be viewed together, though it seems likely that this Ode was written immediately after the victory of Drusus, while the other was composed two years afterwards, when Augustus returned to Rome.

Argument.--Like the young eagle just darting on its prey, or the young lion fresh from its dam, was Drusus when he met the rude Vindelici, and made them feel what hearts could do trained under the eye of Augustus. The brave give birth to the brave. The steer and the horse have the blood of their sires, and the eagle gives not birth to the dove. But education brings out the seeds of virtue. What Rome owes to the Nerones let the Meturus witness, and the day which saw Hasdrubal defeated, and drove the clouds and the fierce African from Latium. Our strength grew and our gods returned from that day, and Hannibal was forced to cry, "As the deer might pursue the wolf, we are pursuing those we should fly. Like the shorn oak, they gave strength with every blow, as the Hydra or the monsters of Thebes. Sink them in the deep, they rise more glorious than ever, and overthrow their victor in his strength. No more shall I send messengers of victory to Carthage; fallen, fallen are our hopes, and our fortune, for Hasdrubal is gone!"

The hand of a Claudius prospers, for Jove and his own sagacity deliver him from danger.

1. _Qualem_] The apodosis of this long opening (which, however, gains power as it proceeds) is to be found in the seventeenth verse. The best way to render it will be by changing the cases in 'ministrum' and 'juventas': 'as the thunderbolt's winged minister one day by youth and native strength from its nest is driven, and by the breezes of spring is fluttering taught,' etc. Virgil calls the eagle "Jovis armiger" (Aen. v. 255), which Pliny (N. H. x. 3, 4) says is his conventional title.

2. _aves vagas_] 'Vaga,' as an epithet applied to birds, corresponds to the Greek ἠερόφοιτος. Horace follows a legend later than Homer in the story of Ganymede (see C. iii. 20. 16).

5. _Olim_] See C. ii. 10. 17, n. 'Propulit,' 'docuere,' 'demisit,' 'egit,' are used in an aoristic sense.

9. _mox in ovilia_] 'Then on the fold by instinct quick is hurried hostile down, again on the writhing snake is sent by love of food and fight.'

13. _Qualemve laetis_] 'Or as a she-goat, intent on glad pastures, sees the lion's whelp, fresh from his tawny mother's dugs, just weaned,--she by his young tooth soon to die.'

14. _matris ab ubere_] 'Ab,' like ἀπό, is used absolutely; 'fresh from the dugs of his dam, yea, just weaned from the milk of his mother.'

17. _Raetis_] See Introduction.

18. _quibus Mos unde_] All we can gather from these verses is, that the Vindelici carried some species of battle-axe, that the Romans had felt the weight and edge of it, and that the Vindelici were counted a strange, wild race, whose origin and history the Romans professed to know nothing about.

21. _quaerere distuli,_] 'I ask not now,'--the question would be out of place, he means, and some commentators, agreeing with him, have discarded this stanza as an interpolation.

22. _Nec scire fas est_] C. i. 11. 1.

_sed diu_] 'Sed' is commonly used after digressions to recover the thread of the subject.

24. _revictae_] That 're' is added to some verbs without materially changing their meaning, has been shown before (C. i. 31. 12, n.).

25. _quid mens_] The difference between 'mens' and 'indoles' is, that one refers to the head, the other to what we should call the heart, the disposition.

28. _Nerones._] The father of Tiberius and Drusus was Tiberius Claudius Nero, which was also the emperor's name. Drusus was Nero Claudius Drusus. The latter was not born till three months after his mother Livia married Augustus.

29. _Fortes creantur_] It is more than probable that Horace had in his mind the words of Euripides,--

ἐσθλῶν ἀπ᾽ ἀνδρῶν ἐσθλὰ γίγνεσθαι τέκνα, κακῶν δ᾽ ὅμοια τῇ φύσει τῇ τοῦ πατρός (Fr. Alcm. 7).

'Fortibus et bonis' corresponds to the common Greek expression, which it is so difficult to render, καλοῖς κἀγαθοῖς. Those words are in the ablative case. Horace does not refer to the father of these youths, who was a worthless person, but generally to their family, the Claudia gens, among whom were many persons of distinction. They were divided into a patrician and a plebeian branch. To the latter belonged the Marcelli. See C. i. 12. 46, n.

37. _Neronibus_] Claudius Nero, who was of the family of which Tiberius and Drusus came, defeated and slew Hasdrubal, when he was coming to the help of his brother Hannibal, B.C. 207, on the banks of the Metaurus, a river in the north of Italy. Hannibal had been nearly eleven years in Italy, and had met with few reverses, but after his brother's defeat his cause failed, and, though he remained four years longer in Italy, it was far away in the mountains of the south, and the Romans ceased to be harassed by him. Horace, therefore, is accurate here.

38. _Metaurum_] See A. P. 18: "Aut flumen Rhenum." The name is formed into an adjective in both cases.

41. _adorea,_] 'Ador' was a coarse grain called by the Greeks ζειά, but the name was applied to grain in general, and in the form 'adorea' signified the supply of corn given to soldiers after a victory, and hence was used as synonymous with victory itself.

42. _Dirus_] C. ii. 12. 2, n. This is the third time this epithet is applied to Hannibal, whom with reason the Romans held in greater respect than any enemy they ever had, though 'perfidia plus quam Punica' was freely attributed to him. 'Ut,' 'ever since' (Epod. vii. 19). 'Taedas' is not torches but a forest of pines, a conflagration in which is one of the most terrific sights that the eye can witness. 'Equitavit' seems to be taken from Eurip. (Phoen. 209),--

περιῤῥύτων ὑπὲρ ἀκαρπίστων πεδίων Σικελίας Ζεφύρου πνοαῖς ἱππεύσαντος ἐν οὐρανῷ κάλλιστον κελάδημα.

51. _Sectamur ultro_] 'We are pushing on and pursuing those whom to evade and to escape is our noblest triumph.' There is often some difficulty in translating 'ultro.' 'Uls' is an old preposition involving the same root as 'ille,' and signifying 'on the other side of,' opposed to 'eis.' 'Ultro' signifies to a place beyond, as 'ultra' at a place beyond. If 'ultro,' therefore, ever means 'voluntarily,' it is not as involving the root 'vol' of 'volo,' but as implying the forwardness of the agent to do what he is not obliged or asked. With this speech of Hannibal may be compared the words Livy puts into his mouth (xxvii. 51).

54. _Jactata Tuscis aequoribus_] Virgil represents Æneas as having barely rounded the western promontory of Sicily, and entered the Mare Tyrrhenum, when the storm arose that drove him back to the coast of Africa (Aen. i. 67, iii. 705, sqq.). His voyage was prosperous after he left Sicily the second time, according to Virgil's account.

_sacra_] Æneas is said to have brought with him to Rome the fire of Vesta and the images of the 'Penates publici,' who were ever after worshipped at Rome. They were the protectors of the city, as the 'Penates domestici' or 'privati' were of private houses, and like them they were worshipped as Lares. (See C. iii. 23. 19; iv. 4. 19, S. ii. 3. 26, n.)

59. _Per damna,_] See Livy (xxix. 3), "Illis Romanam plebem, illis Latium juventutem praebuisse majorem semper frequentioremque pro tot caesis adolescentibus subolescentem."

62. _Vinci dolentem_] 'Indignant at the thought of being beaten', or 'refusing to be beaten,' as "penna metuente solvi" (C. ii. 2. 7), 'a wing that will not melt.' The destruction of the hydra, a monster with nine heads, each of which, as Hercules knocked it off with his club, was replaced by two new ones, is the second of the labors of that hero.

63. _Colchi_] Jason, when he went for the golden fleece, sowed at Colchis part of the teeth of the dragon which Cadmus had killed, and whose teeth he had sown at Thebes. From both sprung up armed men, to whom Hannibal here likens the Romans. Echion was one of the γηγενεῖς, 'earth-borns,' who helped Cadmus to build Thebes, which is therefore called after him.

66. _integrum_] That is, 'in all his strength,' 'intact,' 'unhurt.'

73. _Claudiae_] See note on v. 29.

76. _acuta belli._] This corresponds to Hom. (Il. iv. 352), ὀξὺν Ἄρηα. The same construction occurs C. iv. 12. 19, "amara curarum." 'Expediunt' means 'carry them through': 'diligence and sagacity carry them through the dangers of war.'

ODE V.

This Ode was written after the German victories celebrated in the last Ode and C. 14, and perhaps sent to Augustus in Gaul B.C. 14. Its professed object is to induce Augustus to hasten his return, and to describe the blessings of his reign. What were the reasons for the emperor's protracted absence, we cannot tell. It was perhaps the policy of Augustus to make his absence felt, and we may believe that the language of Horace, which bears much more the impression of real feeling than of flattery, represented the sentiments of great numbers at Rome, who felt the want of that presiding genius which had brought the city through its long troubles and given it comparative peace. There could not be a more comprehensive picture of security and rest obtained through the influence of one mind than is represented in this Ode, if we except that with which no merely mortal language can compare (Isaiah xi. and lxv.; Micah iv.). The Carmen Seculare contains much that is repeated here. Virgil's description in his fourth Eclogue may be read in connection with this Ode.

Argument.--Too long hast thou left us, our guardian; fulfil thy promise and return as the spring to gladden our hearts. As the mother for her absent son, so does Rome sigh for her Cæsar. Our fields are at peace, the very sea is at rest, our morals are pure, our women are chaste, the law is strong, our enemies are silenced, each man lives in quiet and blesses thy name, as Greece that of Castor or Hercules. Long mayest thou be spared to bless us, is our prayer, both morning and evening.

1. _Divis orte bonis,_] Compare C. iv. 2. 38. 'Custos' is repeated in "custode rerum Caesare" (C. iv. 15. 17). 'Romulus' or 'Romuleus,' 'Dardanus' or 'Dardanius,' are used as the metre requires by the poets.

5. _Lucem_] 'joy.'

7. _it dies_] C. ii. 14. 5, "Quotquot eunt dies."

10. _Carpathii_] The Carpathian Sea is that part of the Ægean which lies between Rhodes and Crete, taking its name from the island Carpathus, which lay half-way between those two islands.

13. _Votis ominibusque et precibus_] 'with vows, and watching the omens, and prayers.'

18. _Nutrit rura_] The repetition of 'rura' is plainly designed. 'The ox wanders in security over the fields, to the fields Ceres gives fertility.' 'Faustitas' is a new name, not elsewhere met with, for 'Felicitas.' Velleius (ii. 89) thus describes the blessings secured by Augustus: "Rediit cultus agris, sacris honos, securitas hominibus, certa cuique rerum suarum possessio."

19. _Pacatum_] This means 'delivered from pirates,' who infested the Mediterranean till Augustus put them down.

20. _Culpari metuit Fides,_] 'men's faith is without reproach.'

22. _Mos et lex_] This is the combination required in C. iii. 24. 35: "Quid leges sine moribus." On the proper distinction between 'mos' and 'lex,' see article 'Jus' in Smith's Dict. Ant.

23. _Lauduntur simili prole puerperae,_] This is a way of expressing chastity derived from the Greeks. Horace is referring in these verses to a law for the suppression of adultery, passed by Augustus, B.C. 17.

24. _Culpam poena premit comes._] 'Crime is followed close by punishment.'

25. _Quis Parthum_] This stanza shows that the enemies mentioned were still objects of uneasiness; but the Parthians were at this time quiet; the most troublesome of the German tribes had been humbled by Augustus or his stepsons, and he was employed in quelling disturbances in Spain.

29. _Condit_] There are many examples of this use of 'condo,' which signifies to bring to an end, and as it were to lay up in store. "Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig-tree, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, all the days of Solomon" (1 Kings iv. 25).

31, 32. _et alteris Te mensis adhibet deum;_] 'and invites thee, as a god, to the second course.'

34. _Laribus_] At the second course, it was usual to offer libations and prayers to the Lares (see C. iii. 23. 4, n.). Dion Cass. (li. 19) says that after the battle of Actium the senate decreed that all men should offer libations to Augustus at private tables as well as in the public feasts, and that his name should be inserted in the hymns of praise as the name of the gods. As to 'pateris' see S. i. 6. 118.

37, 38. _Longas--ferias Praestes Hesperiae!_] 'Mayest thou give to Italy long holidays,' or 'seasons of rejoicing.' See Argument.

39. _dicimus uvidi_] 'Uvidus' is the same word as 'udus,' which is a contracted form. It is not formed from 'uva,' though it here means 'drenched with wine.'

ODE VI.

The appointment of Horace to compose the principal Ode at the Secular Games, B.C. 17, seems to have given him much pleasure, and to have given his mind a new stimulus in favor of ode-writing. To the honor thus conferred upon him we owe, perhaps as much as to Augustus's bidding, this fourth book, of which the third, sixth, eighth, and ninth, all bear marks of the legitimate pride that circumstance awakened. This sixth Ode is a kind of preface to the Secular Ode, and dwells chiefly on the praises of Apollo as having been the slayer of Achilles, and thereby having preserved Æneas to be the founder of the Roman family; and having prayed for and obtained the help of that god for the task he is going to perform, Horace turns, as choragus, to the members of his chorus, consisting of twenty-seven boys and as many girls of noble birth (C. S., Int.), and instructs them in their duty.

Argument.--O thou, the punisher of Niobe and Tityos, and the slayer of Achilles, he who shook the walls of Troy was no match for thee, but fell under thy strength as the pine-tree laid low by the axe, or the cypress by the east wind. He would have taken Troy, not by guile but by cruel force, but that Jove had granted Æneas to thy prayers and those of his dear Venus. O Apollo, support the honor of the Roman Muse. His spirit is upon me: ye virgins and boys, keep time to my song, and sing of Apollo and Diana. O damsel! when a bride, thou shalt look back and say, "When the age brought back its festival, I sang the pleasant song that the poet Horace made."

1. _Dive,_] The purpose of the Ode being to invoke the assistance of Apollo for the composition of the Secular Ode, the invocation is suspended here, and not taken up again till the praises of the god have been sung, as the avenger of crime and the destroyer of Achilles.

_proles Niobea_] The number of Niobe's children is stated variously by different authors. The version best known is that which Achilles gives to Priam, when he is comforting him for Hector (Il. xxiv. 602-617), that she had six sons and as many daughters, and that, because she had boastfully compared the number of her offspring with that of Lato's, who had but Artemis and Apollo, these two shot all her children, who were turned to stone by Zeus. She was afterwards changed to stone herself. Considerable remains of a group of figures, said to be by Scopas (C. 8. 6), representing Niobe and her children, exist in the Gallery at Florence.

_magnae--linguae_] This is a close copy of Ζεὺς γὰρ μεγάλης γλώσσης κόμπους Ὑπερεχθαίρει (Soph. Antig. 127).

2. _Tityos_] See C. ii. 14. 8, n.

3. _altae_] This is an Homeric epithet for Troy, Ἴλιος αἰπεινή.

4. _Phthius Achilles,_] See C. ii. 16. 19, n. The death of Achilles by the hand of Apollo was foretold by Hector (Il. xxii. 358, sqq.), and is stated by Sophocles (Philoct. 334),--

τέθνηκεν ἀνδρὸς οὐδενὸς θεοῦ δ᾽ ὕπο τοξευτός, ὡς λέγουσιν, ἐκ Φοίβου δαμείς.

The common legend assigns it to Paris, but not without Apollo's help (Virg. Aen. vi. 57). The country from which Achilles is said to have come was Phthiotis in Thessaly.

14. _male feriatos_] 'keeping untimely holiday.' The chorus in the Troades of Euripides (541, sqq.) relates how there was singing and dancing and joy in the city for the departure of the Greeks, when the cry of battle was suddenly heard, children clung to their mothers' garments, armed men kept issuing from the horse, and murdered the Trojan youth at the altars and in their beds. See also Virg. Aen. ii. 248.

17. _captis_] This is not a genuine reading, but the true word is lost.

23. _ductos_] Aen. i. 423: "Pars ducere muros." The Greeks would say τοίχους ἐλαύνειν. 'Potiore alite' is 'under better auspices.' As observed before, the auspices were taken when a town was to be built. Here Rome is meant.

25. _Doctor argutae_] Apollo had in later times the title of μουσαγέτης as leader of the Muses' choir and their instructor.

26. _Xantho lavis amne crines,_] See Epod. xv. 9, about Apollo's hair. The river Xanthus here mentioned was in Lycia (see C. iii. 4. 62).

27. _Dauniae_] See C. i. 22. 14, n.

28. _Levis Agyieu_] The Greeks gave this name (ἀγυιεύς) to Apollo, as worshipped in and protecting the streets of cities.

31. _Virginum primae_] The chorus on this great occasion was chosen from noble families, as the passage shows. (See Introduction.) The Lesbian foot was the Sapphic. There is no example of this passive use of 'tutela' earlier than Horace.

36. _Pollicis ictum,_] The beating of time by the motion of the thumb.

38. _Noctilucam,_] This was a name given to Diana as the Moon, which she represented, as Janus (the masculine form of the same name) represented the Sun.

39. _Prosperam frugum_] This and 'docilis modorum' (v. 43) are Greek constructions. The first means 'her who prospers the fruits of the earth,' which Diana would do by bringing round the seasons, for she was 'swift the onward months to roll.'

42. _festas--luces,_] The Secular Games lasted three days and nights.

ODE VII.

It is pretty certain that this Ode is addressed to the same person as the fifth Epistle of the first book. But who Torquatus was, we have no means of deciding. The Ode bears a strong likeness to C. i. 4, and may very likely have been written about the same time, and afterwards inserted here to help out a volume. It contains an exhortation to present enjoyment since Death is certainly at hand for all.

Argument.--The winter is gone, and the spring is returning with its green leaves, its gentler streams, and its Graces. The seasons change and remind us of our end, but the revolving year repairs its losses, while we go to the dust for ever, and we know not when it will be. What thou dost enjoy thyself, is so much taken from thy greedy heir. When thou art dead, Torquatus, thy family, thine eloquence, and thy piety will not restore thee to life, any more than the love of Diana could bring back Hippolytus, or the friendship of Theseus, Peirithous.

3. _Mutat--vices_] 'undergoes its changes.' This is no more than 'subit vices.' 'Vices' is what is termed a cognate accusative. The meaning of the next words is, that the streams, lately swollen by the winter rains or by the first melting of the snow, had subsided and no longer overflowed their banks, but flowed quietly along them. See C. iv. 12. 3. Respecting the Graces, see C. i. 4. 6; 30. 5, n.

13. _Damna--caelestia_] 'Tamen' shows that the changes and deteriorations of the weather and seasons are intended, and 'celeres lunae' are the quick-revolving months.

15. _pius Aeneas_] Horace's purpose is to show that no means are sufficient to bring back the dead, not piety, nor wealth, nor power. There is a similar verse in Epp. i. 6. 27.

19. _amico Quae dederis animo._] 'Whate'er thou givest thine own dear soul.' This seems to be a literal version of φίλῃ ψυχῇ χαρίζεσθαι.

21. _splendida_] 'Judgment august hath passed.' 'Splendida' is an unusual word for such a meaning. As to Minos, see C. ii. 13. 23, n.

26. _Liberat Hippolytum,_] This is in accordance with the legends of Greece respecting Artemis and Hippolytus. She was unable to bring him to life. The Latin poets make Hippolytus return from the dead, being brought to life by the skill of Æsculapius; and Diana, in Ovid's account, takes him and gives him into the care of Egeria, in the woods of Aricia (Met. xv. 543, sqq.). See also Virg. Aen. vii. 765, sqq.

27. _Nec Lethaea valet_] The common story of Theseus and his friend is, that, both having been consigned to their punishment together, Hercules went down and delivered Theseus, leaving Peirithous to his fate. This may be the legend Horace follows: for it may be understood that Theseus pleaded for Peirithous when he was himself returning, but failed to obtain his release.

ODE VIII.

C. Marcius Censorinus, the person to whom this Ode is addressed, was a man of birth and education, a favorite with Augustus, and generally much beloved, according to Velleius, who says of his death (in A.D. 2), "Graviter tulit civitas." Horace pays him the compliment of believing that he would esteem an Ode of his more highly than any costly gifts he could offer, in accordance with the common practice among friends of making each other presents ('strenas') on new-year's day and other festivals. Censorinus was consul the year that Horace died.

Argument.--If I were rich in statues and pictures, I would give such to my friends, and the best to thee, Censorinus. But I have none, and thou desirest not these. What I have I offer,--verses in which thou delightest. No monuments of marble, not their own mighty deeds, could ennoble the Scipiones like the verses of Ennius. Thine own virtues must remain obscure but for the Muse. What would Æacus or Romulus have been without her? She raises men to the skies, as did Hercules, the Tyndaridæ, and Liber.

1. _pateras_] See S. i. 6. 118, n.

_commodus,_] 'liberally.' "Miscentur cyathis pocula commodis" (C. iii. 19. 12) is a like use of the word.

2. _aera_] See S. i. 4. 28, n.

3. _tripodas,_] In the temple of Apollo, at Delphi, was a bronze altar on three legs, called from its form τρίπους. Imitations of this tripod were presented to the victors at the Pythian games. Herodotus mentions their being given at the games of Apollo at Triopium in Cnidus (i. 144).

5. _artium_] 'Artes' as 'works of art' occurs in Epp. i. 6. 17: "Marmor vetus aeraque et artes Suspice." Also in Cic. (de Legg. ii. 2), "antiquorum artibus"; and in Virg. (Aen. v. 359), "clypeum--Didymaonis artes."

6. _Parrhasius_] This painter flourished at Athens with Zeuxis about the end of the Peloponnesian war, B.C. 404. Many of his pictures were to be seen at Rome when Horace wrote. Scopas, the sculptor and architect of Paros, who flourished (also at Athens) about the same time as Parrhasius, is the reputed author of some works that exist to this day; particularly the group referred to on C. 6. 1, which, if not the original, is an ancient copy. The statue set up by Augustus in the temple he built to Apollo (C. S. 33, n.) was also by Scopas, and it appears on Roman coins as Apollo Actius or Palatinus.

_protulit_] 'Proferre,' meaning to 'produce' (as we say) a work of art, is not common. Perhaps it does not occur elsewhere. 'Ponere' is a more common word. See A. P. 34: "Quia ponere totum Nesciet."

15. _fugae_] This is only a way of expressing his hasty departure from Italy at the summons of the Carthaginian senate.

16. _Rejectaeque retrorsum_] This refers to Hannibal's final defeat at Zama, as is shown by the reference to the muse of Ennius ('Calabrae Pierides,' v. 20), which was employed in the praises of the elder Scipio.

17. _Non incendia_] Carthage was destroyed by Scipio Africanus Minor, B.C. 146.

18. _nomen ab Africa Lucratus_] These words refer to Scipio Africanus Minor. In S. ii. 1. 65 he is mentioned in the same way as the man

"qui Duxit ab oppressa meritum Carthagine nomen."

From a strict rendering of Horace's words, therefore, it would seem as if Ennius had written the praises, not only of the elder, but also of the younger Scipio, who burnt Carthage twenty-three years after the death of Ennius. But, with a reader acquainted with the facts, no confusion could arise, and Horace wrote for those who knew them well.

20. _Calabrae Pierides:_] The muse of Calabria, i.e. of Ennius, who was born at Rudiæ, a Calabrian town, B.C. 239. He wrote, as observed above, a poem on the elder Scipio.

25. _Aeacum_] This was a mythical king of Ægina, and much celebrated for his justice. After his death he was made judge in Elysium (C. ii. 13. 23, n.), which, according to the later mythology, was one of the divisions of Tartarus, but which the earlier notions placed in certain blessed islands in the Western Ocean, by the Romans identified with the Azores. (See Epod. xvi, Int.) Horace says it was not only his virtue and the public esteem, but also the poet's praise, that gained Æacus this honor. His praises and those of his family are frequent in Pindar.

29. _Sic Jovis interest_] These heroes are all referred to in C. iii. 3. 9, sqq.

32. _eripiunt aequoribus_] See C. i. 3. 2, n.

33. _Ornatus viridi_] See C. iii. 25. 20.

34. _Liber vota bonos_] This only means, that, by the help of the muse, Liber was made a god, and as such receives and answers the prayers of his worshippers.

ODE IX.

M. Lollius, to whom this Ode is addressed, as we have seen (C. iv. 2, Int.), was defeated by the Sigambri, B.C. 27, which disaster caused a great deal of alarm at Rome, and very probably raised a good many voices against him, and gave an advantage to his enemies. It is not improbable, therefore, that Horace wrote this Ode to meet their attacks, and to console Lollius under his defeat. He declares that his name shall not die, as many noble names have died, for lack of a poet to sing it. He praises him for his sagacity, uprightness, freedom from avarice, and hatred of corruption.

Argument.--Think not that my verses will die: though Homer stands first among poets, Pindar, Simonides, Alcæus, Stesichorus, Anacreon, Sappho,--these all survive. Helen was not the first woman that loved; nor Ilium the only city that has been sacked; nor the heroes of the Iliad all that have fought; but the rest have been forgotten, because they have no poet to sing of them. Buried virtue is little better than buried dulness. I will not, therefore, let thy labors pass unsung, Lollius; thy sagacity and uprightness, thy mind free from avarice and secure from corruption. It is not the possessor of riches that is wealthy, but the man who knows how to use the gifts of Heaven, and to endure poverty, who hates corruption, and is ready to lay down his life for his country or his friends.

1. _Ne forte_] 'Lest perchance you should suppose--remember that, even if Homer stands first, Pindar is not forgotten.' For other examples of 'ne' thus used, see S. ii. 1. 80; Epp. i. 1. 13; 18. 58; ii. 1. 208; A. P. 406.

2. _natus ad Aufidum_] Though Horace says he was born near the Aufidus, Venusia, his native town, was fifteen miles south of that river, on that branch of the Via Appia which leads from Beneventum to Tarentum. The Aufidus (Ofanto) is invariably described by Horace as a boisterous river (see C. iii. 30. 10; iv. 14. 25; S. i. 1. 58). But the character of such streams varies with the season of the year.

7. _Alcaei minaces_] See C. i. 32. 5, n.

8. _Stesichorique graves Camenae:_] The muse of Stesichorus is called 'gravis,' as, though a lyric poet, he chose for his subjects principally those which belonged to Epic poetry, as wars and heroes, and so forth. He was born at Himera in Sicily, about the middle of the seventh century B.C.

12. _Aeoliae--puellae._] Sappho. See C. i. 1. 34.

13. _arsit_] This governs 'crines' as 'mirata' governs the other accusatives. See C. ii. 4. 7, n. Laodamia writes thus to her husband of the charms by which Helen was won:--

"Venerat (Paris) ut fama est multo spectabilis auro, Quique suo Phrygias corpore ferret opes:-- His ego te victam, consors Ledaea, gemellis, Suspicor; haec Danais posse nocere puto" (Ov. Her. 13. 57, sqq.);

and Hecuba upbraids Helen with the same weakness (Eur. Tro. 991):--

ὅν γ᾽ εἰσιδοῦσα βαρβάροις ἐσθήμασι χρυσῷ τε λαμπρὸν ἐξεμαργώθης φρένας.

See C. i. 15. 14.

17. _tela Cydonio_] Teucer is described by Homer as ἄριστος Ἀχαιῶν τοξοσύνῃ (II. xiii. 313). Cydon was a town of Crete, and the Cretans were famous archers. See C. i. 15. 17, n., and compare Virg. Ecl. x. 59: "Torquere Cydonia cornu Spicula."

20. _Idomeneus Sthenelusve_] The first of these led the Cretans, and the other the Argives, in the Trojan war. Deiphobus was Hector's favorite brother (Il. xxii. 233), and was reckoned, next to him, the chief strength of the Trojans.

27. _Urgentur_] So C. i. 24. 5: "Ergo Quinctilium perpetuus sopor Urget?" 'Illacrimabilis' is used in an active sense, C. ii. 14. 6.

29. _Paullum sepultae_] Virtue, if it be left in obscurity, is in no better position than dulness (which signifies generally a gross, unspiritual nature), when that too is buried; one is on a par with the other as far as influence is concerned, for neither exercises any influence at all; and, as far as his reputation goes, a man may as well be buried in stupidity as have his virtues buried in oblivion. There are some well-known verses in Gray's Churchyard Elegy that correspond closely to Horace's.

31. _Chartis_] See S. ii. 3. 2.

_silebo,_] So C. i. 12. 21: "Neque te silebo, Liber."

32. _Totve tuos patiar labores_] These lines seem to have reference to the unpopularity of Lollius in connection with his defeat, which appears to be alluded to in the word 'dubiis' below. He may also have been the object of slander in respect to his personal character, which Horace here warmly defends, but which in after years was much blackened. There seems to be no other way of accounting for the earnestness with which Horace declares his friend's innocence of the vice of avarice, for instance, than to suppose that fault had been laid to his charge, as it was so freely after his death (see Introduction).

33. _carpere lividas_] The plural 'obliviones' is nowhere else used. 'Carpere' is used in the sense of gradually consuming, and has something like that meaning here. 'Lividus' is akin to the Greek πελιδνός, and to the Latin 'luridus' (C. iii. 4. 74, n.). It means 'dark,' and is commonly associated with envy, which connects it with oblivion caused by envy. Horace says dark oblivion shall not swallow up the labors of Lollius with impunity; as if he were his champion, ready to defend him against the attacks of oblivion, his enemy.

34. _Est animus tibi_] 'Rerum prudentia' is a knowledge of the world. "Cato multarum rerum usum habebat" (Cic. de Am. ii. 6) expresses the same kind of experience. 'Rectus' means 'erect,' not stooping or bowed down, as "Fana deos habuere rectos" (C. iv. 4. 48). See also Ennius, quoted by Cicero (De Senect. c. 6): "Quo vobis mentes, rectae quae stare solebant Antehac, dementes sese flexere viai?"

37. _abstinens--pecuniae,_] For similar Grecisms, see C. ii. 9. 17, n.

39. _Consulque non unius anni_] Compare C. iii. 2. 19. Lollius was consul, B.C. 21, but Horace says that an upright 'judex' is always on a level with the highest magistrates, and such ever was Lollius, besieged like others with temptations to corruption, but resisting them all, and so overcoming the enemies who encompassed him, and delivering himself by his virtue from their calumnies.

41. _Judex honestum_] That it should be a matter of great merit and difficulty to maintain the character of an uncorrupt judex, does not say much for the honesty of those who exercised the functions of jurors. The corruption of the senatorian body led to the judicial power being transferred from them to the equites, but they in their turn were found so corrupt that it was given back to the senatores, and afterwards the judices were selected from both orders. See S. i. 4. 123, n.

44. _Explicuit_] 'Through hostile crowds hath carried safe his arms victorious.' 'Explicare' seems to correspond with 'expedire' in C. iv. 4. 76.

52. _Non ille--timidus_] 'He fears disgrace worse than death,--not fearful he to die for his country,' i.e. but he is not fearful. See C. iii. 19. 2. "Codrus pro patria non timidus mori." See also C. iii. 2. 13, n.

ODE X.

Ligurinus is a merely poetical personage, and probably Horace composed this Ode with a Greek original before him or in his mind.

Argument.--Cruel and lovely boy; when the down shall have passed upon thy cheek, and thy flowing locks have fallen, and thy soft complexion vanished, thou shalt look in the glass, and say, "Why did I not, as a boy, feel as I do now; or why, with these feelings, have I not the beauty I had then?"

2. _pluma_] This word corresponds to the Greek πτίλον, used in the sense of the early down upon a boy's cheek. The word is nowhere else used in this sense. Ἄπτιλος was a name given by the Greeks to beardless boys. Boys' hair was allowed to grow till they assumed the 'toga virilis,' when it was cut off, as observed on C. ii. 5. 24. The feathers of a bird are as good a likeness to the down on a young cheek as wool, from which 'lanugo,' the usual word in this sense, is derived.

6. _te speculo videris_] 'Speculo' here, without 'in,' is the ablative of the instrument. 'Alterum' is nowhere else used exactly in this sense, 'mutatum,' and, though the word admits of that use, it is so like the Greek ἕτερον, which is frequently so used, that I think it is a translation of that word. 'Heu' is an exclamation of the poet, not of Ligurinus. What follows is like two lines in Terence (Hec. i. 1. 17, sq.):--

"Eheu me miseram! cur non aut istaec mihi Aetas et forma est aut tibi haec sententia?"

The mirrors of the Romans at this time were only of metal, glass mirrors having been introduced later, and then of an inferior quality.

ODE XI.

This Ode professes to be an invitation to Phyllis to come and sup with Horace on the 15th of April, Mæcenas's birthday. It is possible that the Ode was sent to Mæcenas himself, and was only thrown into the form of an address to Phyllis for poetical convenience.

Argument.--I have a good old amphora of Alban, with parsley and ivy to make thee a crown, Phyllis; silver on my board, and an altar that waits for the sacrifice; the slaves are busy, the fire is burning; come and celebrate the Ides of April, for it is Mæcenas's birthday, more sacred to me than my own. Telephus is matched already, and is no match for thee. The fates of Phaëthon and Bellerophon teach thee to beware of ambition. Come, my last love, with thy sweet voice sing the song I shall teach thee; song shall drive care away.

2. _Albani cadus;_] The wine of the Alban hills was of the better kind; and at Nassidienus's supper it was offered to the chief guest with Falernian (Sat. ii. 8. 16). Pliny (N. H. xiv. 6) places it third among the wines of Italy. Juvenal (v. 33) speaks of Albanian wine, and classes it with Setian, both of great age. The rich glutton drank it, he says, as a corrective of yesterday's debauch.

5. _qua crines religata fulges;_] 'Crowned with which thou art beautiful.'

7. _verbenis_] See C. i. 19. 14, n.

8. _Spargier agno;_] It has been questioned whether the Romans shed blood on birthdays. In the earliest times, perhaps they did not, but the practice was different in Horace's time, as this passage shows. See also Juv. xi. 84.

10. _Cursitant mixtae pueris puellae;_] 'Puellae' is most rarely used for female slaves. The word in use was 'ancillae.'

12. _Vertice fumum._] 'Vertice' is the top of the flame, which 'flickers as it whirls the dark smoke on its crest'; a spiral flame, terminating in a column of smoke. It seems as if Horace were writing with a fire burning before him, and caught the idea as he wrote.

15. _marinae_] C. i. 3. 1. Venus (Ἀφροδίτη) was said to have risen from the sea in the month of April, which was therefore her month, the name of which Macrobius derives from ἀφρός: Varro, more probably, from 'aperio,' as the month that opens the year. The word 'idus' is derived from 'iduare,' which signifies to divide, and this explains 'findit.'

19. _adfluentes Ordinat annos._] 'Reckons each year as it succeeds.'

21. _Telephum,_] Telephus is a favorite name with Horace. For what reason this is the name he chooses for youths whom maidens vainly love, does not appear; but such is the fact. 'Occupavit' signifies 'has pre-occupied' (C. ii. 12. 28).

22. _Non tuae sortis_] This belongs to 'juvenem,' not to 'puella.' 'A youth not of thy condition.' "Si qua voles apte nubere, nube pari" (Ovid, Heroid. ix. 32).

23. _grata Compede_] This is repeated from C. i. 33. 14.

25. _Phaëthon_] The story of Phaëthon getting permission to drive the horses of his father Helios (the sun), setting fire to the earth, and finally killed by lightning and falling into the Eridanus, is told at much length by Ovid (Met. ii. 1-324).

27. _Pegasus_] The story was, that the winged horse of Zeus was given by Athene or Poseidon to Bellerophon (C. i. 27. 24) to help him to kill the Chimæra, and that afterwards Bellerophon tried, with the help of Pegasus, to rise to heaven; but for his presumption he was thrown off.

29. _et ultra_] 'And counting it impious to hope beyond what is allowed, avoid one who is not thy match.'

32. _Finis_] Compare Propert. i. 12. 19:--

"Mi neque amare aliam neque ab hac discedere fas est; Cynthia prima fuit, Cynthia finis erit."

It is not necessary to infer from this, as some do, that Horace was old. However literally the words may be taken, they only mean that he intended to be constant to Phyllis.

34. _condisce modos_] These words correspond very closely to those of C. iv. 6. 43:

"Reddidi carmen docilis modorum Vatis Horati."

ODE XII.

This is written in the form of an invitation to Virgil the poet (though this has been much disputed) to sup with him.

Argument.--The spring is come, the frost is fled, the stream flows gently, the swallow has built her nest, the shepherds are piping to Pan in the fields, and the days of drought have returned, Virgil. Bring me a box of nard, and I will bring thee in return some generous Calenian from Sulpicius's cellar. If my bargain please thee, make haste; lay aside business; and, remembering that thou must die, relax while thou mayest into folly for a time.

1. _temperant_] This is explained by C. i. 3. 16 (see note). The Thracian winds are here the northeast winds of spring.

3. _nec fluvii strepunt_] This explains C. iv. 7. 3. The time is not quite the beginning of spring, when the snows melt and the rivers are swollen, but after they have subsided, which soon takes place.

5. _Nidum ponit,_] The story of Procne, daughter of Pandion, king of Attica (Cecropia), turned into a swallow, is gracefully introduced here to give ornament to a common fact and sign of spring. Horace elsewhere introduces the swallow with the west wind (Epp. i. 7. 13). One version of the story changes Philomela into the swallow, and Procne, the mother of Itys, into the nightingale. Virgil makes Philomela the mother and slayer of Itys (Ecl. vi. 79):--

"Quas illi Philomela dapes, quae dona pararit? Quo cursu deserta petiverit, et quibus ante Infelix sua tecta supervolitaverit alis?"

In short, the legend is more varied than almost any other.

7. _male_] This may go with 'barbaras' to strengthen it, as "rauci male" (S. i. 4. 66), or with 'ulta.'

8. _Regum_] The lust of kings, as exemplified in one of them, Tereus, the Thracian king, who, having married one of the above sisters, concealed her, and married the other, under the pretence that she was dead. The fraud was discovered, and the first wife, whichever of the two it was (see above), murdered her son Itys, and put his limbs before his father as a banquet. The sisters then ran away, and Tereus pursuing them, they were all changed into birds.

9. _Dicunt_] C. iii. 4. 1.

11. _deum_] Pan, who was chiefly worshipped in Arcadia.

14. _Calibus_] See C. i. 20. 9. As to 'ducere,' see C. iii. 3. 34, n.

15. _juvenum nobilium cliens,_] These are said by the Scholiasts to be Augustus and Mæcenas. 'Juvenis' is applied to the former in C. i. 2. 41 (see note).

17. _Nardi parvus onyx_] A pound of 'nard' was worth upwards of 300 denarii, which sum was equivalent to more than 10_l._ sterling. The 'onyx' was another name for alabaster, of which, as we find in the New Testament, as well as here and elsewhere, boxes were made for ointments.

18. _Sulpiciis--horreis,_] These were famous wine-cellars, which originally belonged to one of the Sulpician family, and, according to the Scholiasts, continued to bear the name of Galba, the cognomen of a branch of that gens, in their day. There are inscriptions extant in which mention is made of the 'horrea Galbiana.' Horace, professing to have no good wine of his own, says he will buy a cadus of Calenian. (C. i. 20. 10, n.)

19. _amaraque Curarum_] This is a Greek construction, but not uncommon in Horace, as "acuta belli" (C. iv. 4. 76); "corruptus vanis rerum" (S. ii. 2. 25), "fictis rerum" (S. ii. 8. 83); "vilia rerum" (Epp. i. 17. 21); "abdita rerum" (A. P. 49).

23. _Immunem_] 'for nothing,' as we say. It is equivalent to 'asymbolus' in Terence (Phorm. ii. 2. 25). "Ten' asymbolum venire!" The drone is represented as "immunis sedens aliena ad pabula" (Virg. Georg. iv. 244), and Horace says of himself, "quem scis immunem Cinarae placuisse rapaci" (Ep. i. 14. 33).

25. _studium lucri,_] This looks like a joke, but the point of it is lost.

26. _Nigrorum--ignium_] This epithet is commonly applied to the funeral fires, as (Aen. xi. 186), "subjectis ignibus atris."

ODE XIII.

This Ode has been noticed in the introduction to C. iii. 10. It is not unlike the fifteenth of the same book. It is professedly addressed to an old woman, Lyce, who is trying to keep up her charms. The poet writes as if the gods had answered his prayers by taking away her beauty for the cruelty she had shown him. It is most probably an imitation.

Argument.--My prayers are answered, Lyce. Thou art old, and would captivate still; but love abides only on the fresh cheek, and runs away from the withered trunk, and from thee, with thy black teeth, and wrinkles, and gray hairs. Try and hide thy years with purple and jewels, but the telltale records betray thee. Where is the girl that I loved only next to Cinara?--whom Fate carried off too soon, while it left Lyce to grow old, that her lovers might laugh at her decline.

7. _Chiae_] 'Chia' is a proper name. 'Delia' and 'Lesbia' are formed in the same way.

8. _excubat in genis._] This is a close imitation of Sophocles (Antig. 782):--

Ἔρως ὃς ἐν κτήμασι πίπτεις ὃς ἐν μαλακαῖς παρειαῖς νεάνιδος ἐννυχεύεις.

9. _aridas Quercus,_] This corresponds to C. i. 25. 19, "aridas frondes"; as to 'luridi,' see C. iii. 4. 74, n.

13. _Coae_] These are thin, transparent textures of some sort, from the island of Cos in the Ægean.

14. _clari lapides_] The precious stones of the costlier sort most in use by Roman women were pearls ('margaritae') and emeralds ('smaragdi'). They were chiefly worn in necklaces, and as ear drops and rings; and libertinae distinguished for their beauty could make a great display of jewels received as presents from their admirers.

15. _Notis condita fastis_] 'Buried in the public annals.' Horace means to say, that the days she has seen are all buried, as it were, in the grave of the public annals, and there any one may find them, but she cannot get them back. It is a graphic way of identifying the years, and marking their decease, to point to the record in which each is distinguished by its consuls and its leading events. 'Notis' merely expresses the publicity and notoriety of the record by which the lapse of time is marked. As to 'fasti,' see Epp. ii. 1. 48, n.

18. _illius, illius,_] This word is very emphatic, as in "quantum mutatus ab illo Hectare" (Aen. ii. 274). On 'surpuerat' compare "unum me surpite morti" (Sat. ii. 3. 283); C. i. 36. 8, n; S. i. 5. 79, n. Regarding Cinara, see C. iv. 1. 3, n; and for the form 'nota artium gratarum' compare "notus in fratres animi paterni" (C. ii. 2. 6). 'Et' is redundant, and the sentence is a little irregular: 'What hast thou left of her, of her who breathed but love, who stole me from myself, blest next to Cinara, that fate, too, so familiar in its lovely charms?'

24. _parem--temporibus_] This means that Lyce and the crow go on together getting old and never dying. 'Vetulae' is a contemptuous form of 'annosa,' used elsewhere (C. iii. 17. 13). Martial speaks of an old woman who had survived all the crows (x. 67). She was the daughter (he says) of Pyrrha, and Nestor's step-mother, an old woman when Niobe was a girl, grandmother of Laertes, nurse of Priam, and mother-in-law of Thyestes.

28. _Dilapsam_] This expresses well the crumbling of a burnt-out torch. The idea is very original. There is an intentional contrast in 'fervidi.' 'That burning youths might see with loud laughter the torch's flame crumbling away to ashes.'

ODE XIV.

The circumstances under which this Ode was written, and its probable date, are given in the Introduction to C. 4 of this book, to which the student is referred. The common inscriptions, which make it an address in honor of Augustus, sufficiently describe the spirit of it, though its professed purpose is to celebrate the part that Tiberius took, with Drusus, in the victories over the German tribes. It is probable that, whereas the Ode for Drusus was written soon after his victory, this was not written till Augustus returned from Gaul, two years afterwards.

Argument.--With what honors shall we perpetuate thy virtues, O mightiest of princes, whose strength the insolent Vindelici have felt? With great slaughter Drusus cast them down from their heights, and Tiberius drove them before him, as the south wind drives the waves, or the swollen Aufidus lays waste the corn,--a scathless victory; and thou didst lend thine armies, thy counsels, and thine auspices. 'T was fifteen years from that day when Alexandria opened her gates to thee, that Fortune brought this glory to thine arms. All nations bow down to thee, from the east to the west, from the north to the south, O thou guardian of Italy and Rome!

4. _fastos Aeternet,_] As to 'titulos,' see S. i. 6. 17, n., and for 'fastos,' see Epp. ii. 1. 48, n. 'Aeternare' is a word which had probably become almost obsolete in Horace's time. It is not found in any other author, except in a fragment of Varro. Many words used by Horace, and by no other extant writer, were probably common enough before the age of Cicero. 'Habitabiles oras,' like ἡ οἰκουμένη, so commonly used by Plutarch and the writers of the New Testament, signifies the Roman world.

7. _Quem--didicere--Quid Marte posses._] This construction is not uncommon in Plautus, as (Asin. i. 1. 45), "verum meam uxorem, Libane, scis qualis siet"; and Terence, as (Eun. iv. 3. 15), "Ego illum nescio qui fuerit," and other places. With the Greek poets nothing is more common, as in Sophocles (Trachin. 429):--

πρὸς θεῶν φράσον, φίλη δέσποινα, τόνδε τίς ποτ᾽ ἐστὶν ὁ ξένος;

10. _Genaunos,_] The Genauni were one of the southern tribes of Rætia, lying between the lakes Verbanus (Maggiore) and Larius (Como), in the modern Val d'Agno. The Breuni were a small but warlike tribe, also occupying part of Raetia. The character Horace gives of these tribes is that which is given by all writers of the time. 'Implacidum' is a word not found in any writer earlier than Horace. It is as likely that he made as that he found it: either may be true.

13. _plus vice simplici;_] The literal version would thus be, 'with more than an even exchange,' i.e. of blood, he being 'sine clade victor' (v. 32). As to the construction 'plus vice,' see C. i. 13. 20.

14. _Major Neronum_] Tiberius. See C. iv. 4. 28, n.

17. _Spectandus--Quantis_] This seems imitated from the Greek idiom θαυμαστὸς ὅσοις. 'A noble sight, how in the strife of war he drove with mighty slaughter those hearts devoted to a freeman's death.'

20. _Indomitas prope qualis_] It may be observed, that the fourth verse of the Alcaic stanza is frequently constructed with a noun and its adjective in the first and last place, and corresponding in their last syllables. In this Ode we have vv. 12, 16, 20, 36, 52, answering to this rule or habit. 'Prope' has no particular force. Horace, whose ear was familiar with the language of the Greek tragedians, copied their σχεδόν τι (a common phrase in comparisons) here and in other places. The setting of the Pleiades, at the beginning of November, was reckoned as the commencement of winter; they therefore are said to burst the clouds ('scindere nubes'), which poured down rain upon the earth.

24. _medios per ignes._] 'Ignes' means the flames of war.

25. _tauriformis_] This is taken from the Greek ταυρόμορφος, applied to the Cephissus by Eurip. (Ion, 1261). The only other Italian river that was represented under this form was the Eridanus, of which Virgil says (Georg. iv. 371, sqq.):--

"Et gemina auratus taurino cornua vultu Eridanus, quo non alius per pinguia culta In mare purpureum violentior effluit amnis."

He was therefore represented not only with horns, but with gilded horns. Horace has probably invented this description of his native river, by way of magnifying its importance, and ranking it with the greater streams. Whence this conception of a bull, as representing the form of a river-god, may have arisen, it is not easy to say, but probably from the branching of so many large streams at their mouths, though that would not apply to the Aufidus.

26. _Dauni_] See C. i. 22. 14, n.

28. _meditatur_] See C. iii. 25. 5, n.

31. _metendo_] 'And, mowing down first and hindmost, strewed the earth, a scathless victor.' Horace (like Virgil, Aen. x. 513, "Proxima quaeque metit gladio") gets his word from Homer (II. xi. 67), οἱ δ᾽ ὥστ᾽ ἀμητῆρες ἐναντίοι ἀλλήλοισιν Ὄγμον ἐλαύνωσιν.

32. _sine clade_] See note on v. 13.

33. _te--Praebente divos._] See C. i. 7. 27, n. Augustus had the 'auspicium,' and his step-sons were his 'legati.'

34. _quo die_] See C. i. 37, Introduction, iv. 4, Introduction.

40. _Imperiis decus arrogavit._] 'Claimed for the wars carried on under thy imperium the glory thou didst desire.' What follows is a compendious review of the successes of Augustus, all of which have been noticed in these Odes. Before the present Ode was written, the Cantabri had been finally subdued by Agrippa; the Parthians had restored the standards of Crassus and M. Antonius; the Scythians had sent to ask to be taken into alliance; the distant nations of Asia had done the same (see C. S. 55, sq.); the successes of Lentulus had checked the inroads of the tribes of the Danube (ii. 9. 23); Egypt had long been a tributary province; Armenia (Tigris) had been ceded by the Parthians; Britain, though only threatened, had sent tokens of submission. Augustus was just returned from Gaul and Spain, where he had put down the last efforts of rebellion, having also driven back the German tribes (Sigambri), whose success against Lollius had thrown a stain upon the arms of Rome (see C. 2 of this book, Introduction).

45. _Te fontium qui celat origines_] This applies only to Nilus. The ancient representations of the Nile exhibit him as covering his head with his robe, or with the waters flowing from under his robe; while the Ister is exhibited with his urn in a medal of Trajan, on whose column he is represented as rising out of his stream to do homage to Rome.

47. _belluosus_] This word does not occur elsewhere in any classical writer. It reduces to the form of an adjective 'scatentem belluis' (C. iii. 27. 26). It corresponds to πολυθρέμμων of Æschylus, πολυκήτης of Theocritus, and Homer's μεγακήτης.

49. _Te non paventis funera Galliae_] Caes. de B. G. vi. 14: "In primis hoc volunt persuadere (Druidae) non interire animos sed ab aliis post mortem transire ad alios, atque hoc maxime ad virtutem excitari putant, metu mortis neglecto."

ODE XV.

This Ode appears in early times to have been read as part of the fourteenth; but there can be little doubt the Odes were written separately, though probably about the same time, on the return of Augustus to Rome, B.C. 13. All that is here said of the subjection of the world and the universal peace was said in effect at the close of the fourteenth Ode; but it was natural that if Horace had received the emperor's commands to publish another book of Odes, he should conclude it with one addressed to Augustus himself, reviewing the blessings of his reign, which at this time had been crowned by a series of successes by which universal peace was established.

Argument.--When I would sing of wars, Phœbus checked me with his lyre. Thy reign, O Cæsar, hath brought back our lost honor, with plenty and peace and order, and the means by which our name and strength have become great. Under thy protection we fear no wars at home or abroad; the North and the East obey thy laws, and we with our wives and children will sing of the heroes of old, of Troy, and Anchises, and of Venus's son.

2. _increpuit lyra,_] This is explained by Ovid (A. A. ii. 493):--

"Haec ego cum canerem subito manifestus Apollo Movit inauratae pollice fila lyrae."

'Increpuit lyra' therefore signifies 'checked me by touching the strings of his lyre, and leading me to a strain more fitted to my muse.' The other metaphor is common enough. See Virgil (Georg. ii. 41): "Pelagoque volans da vela patenti."

4. _Tua, Caesar, aetas_] The abruptness with which this is introduced is worth remarking. A longer preface would have weakened the Ode.

5. _Fruges et agris_] This is a repetition of C. iv. 5. 17, sq.

6. _nostro--Jovi_] To the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus.

7. _Derepta_] As the standards were quietly and voluntarily sent to Augustus by Phraates, Horace's language is somewhat exaggerated. The recovery (see C. iii. 5, Introd.) of the standards lost by Crassus was one of the greatest causes of rejoicing that ever happened at Rome. Without it, the restoration effected by Augustus, and of which Horace here gives a compendious picture, would have been wanting in one of its chief features; the honor, as well as the peace, of Rome was restored. These praises are repeated from or in (for we cannot say which was written first) Epp. ii. 1. 251, sqq. See also Epp. i. 18. 56.

9. _Janum Quirini_] If 'Janum Quirini' and not 'Janum Quirinum' be the true reading, Horace assigns to Romulus the building of the temple of Janus, which is usually assigned to Numa. The other would mean 'Janus called Quirinus,' a name given him as Janus of the Quirites. As to the shutting of the temple, see Epp. ii. 1. 255, n.

10. _evaganti_] This nowhere else appears with an accusative case, but 'evadere' and 'exire' are used with an accusative repeatedly. (Compare C. iii. 24. 29.) 'Artes' means those virtues in which the discipline of life is placed, as prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance.

17. _furor Civilis aut vis_] 'Civilis' belongs to 'furor,' and 'vis,' which is a technical word, means here 'personal violence.' 'Ira' applies to foreign quarrels. See C. iii. 14. 14, n.

20. _inimicat_] This is another word which Horace probably found in use by writers of a former day. Later writers have taken it from him. It means 'sets at enmity.' 'Apprecati' (v. 28), 'remixto' (v. 30), are also words first found in Horace.

21. _qui profundum Danubium bibunt_] The German tribes, particularly the Vindelici lately subdued. 'Edicta Julia' can only mean here the laws of Augustus, laid upon them at their conquest, though in its technical sense the word 'edicta' would not apply. The rules of a governor published in his province were his 'edictum,' and these people were not in a province. Horace therefore does not use the word in its legal sense. The Getæ lay towards the mouths of the Danube, while the Daci were situated to the west of them, on the same or south side of the river.

23. _Seres--Tanaïn_] See C. iii. 29. 27, n. The Seres and Indi are not much distinguished by Horace (see C. i. 12. 56), and, when he is referring to the East, their names are generally associated with the Parthians, more for the sake of amplification than with historical or geographical accuracy. The Roman armies had not yet even crossed the Tigris. But when Augustus was in Syria, we are informed by Suetonius, ambassadors came from the far East to ask his protection and alliance.

25. _lucibus_] This word is used for 'diebus' by Ovid (Fast. iii. 397):--

"His etiam conjux apicati cincta Dialis Lucibus impexas debet habere comas."

The singular is more common.

29. _Virtute functos_] This is a concise way of expressing 'virtutis munere functos,' as in Cicero (Tusc. i. 45): "Nemo parum diu vixit qui virtutis perfectae perfecto functus est munere."

_more patrum_] Cic. (Tusc. i. 2) tells us that in the Origines of Cato it is stated that it was the custom of old to sing songs at meals upon the virtues of great men. The practice may have been partially revived in Horace's day. The conclusion of this Ode recalls C. iv. 5. 31, sq.

30. _Lydis_] Plato tells us that the Lydian and Ionian melodies were best suited to delicacy and feasting, the Dorian and Phrygian to war; and Aristotle that the Lydian were most suitable to the tender age of boyhood, as harmonizing the mind and training it to good. There is no particular force, however, here in the word 'Lydis.' As to 'tibiis,' see C. i. 1. 32, n. The pipes used by the Lydians themselves are called by Herodotus (i. 17) αὐλὸς ἀνδρήϊος and αὐλὸς γυναικήϊος, probably as representing the voices of a man and a woman respectively.

31. _Anchisen_] The family of Anchises, the grandfather of Iulus, are mentioned here, because Augustus belonged by adoption to the Julian family, of which Iulus was the reputed founder.

THE SECULAR HYMN.

When Augustus had completed the period of ten years for which the imperial power was at first placed in his hands (B.C. 27-17), he determined to celebrate his successes at home and abroad by an extraordinary festival, and he took as his model the Ludi Tarentini or Taurii, which had in former times been observed as a means of propitiating the infernal deities, Dis and Proserpina, on occasions of great public calamities. It does not appear that this festival ever was held at regular intervals. How, therefore, the name Ludi Seculares arose, is not clear, but, as it was now for the first time given, it was probably convenient to have it believed that the games were no more than the observance of a periodical solemnity. The Quindecimviri were ordered to consult the Sibylline books, and they reported, no doubt as they were desired, that the time was come when this great national festival should be repeated, and the details of it were laid down as from the commands of the oracle in a set of hexameter Greek verses, composed of course for the occasion, and which have been preserved to us by the historian Zosimus.

Horace appears to have been much pleased at being chosen poet-laureate of the occasion (see C. iv. 6, Introd.). The Ode was sung at the most solemn part of the festival, while the emperor was in person offering sacrifice at the second hour of the night, on the river-side, upon three altars, attended by the fifteen men who presided over religious affairs. The chorus consisted of twenty-seven boys and twenty-seven girls of noble birth, well trained no doubt for the occasion (C. iv. 6). The effect must have been very beautiful, and no wonder that the impression on Horace's feelings (for in all probability he was present) was strong and lasting.

Argument.

Apollo and Diana, hear the prayers we offer you in obedience to the Sibyl's commands (1-8).

O Sun, that rulest the day, thou lookest upon nothing mightier than Rome (9-12).

Ilithyia, protect our mothers and children, and prosper our marriage-law that so, in the cycle of years, this our festival may come again (13-24).

And ye, Parcæ, who do prophesy truly, let our future destiny be as the past. Let the earth and air give strength to our flocks and fruits (25-32).

Hide thy weapon, Apollo, and hear thy suppliant boys (33, 34).

Queen of the stars, O Moon, hear thy maidens (35, 36).

Since Rome is your handiwork, and at your bidding Æneas brought his remnant to these shores (37-44).

Ye gods, give virtue to the young and peace to the old, and power and sons and glory to the family of Romulus (45-48).

Grant the prayers of the noble son of Anchises, for his victories shall be tempered with mercy (49-52).

Humbled are the Mede, the proud Scythian, and the Indian (53-56).

Peace, plenty, and all the virtues have returned to our land (57-60).

May Phœbus, the augur, the prince of the bow and of song, the physician who favorably regardeth his Palatine temple and the fortunes of Rome and Latium, ever extend our blessings to another and still happier lustrum (61-68).

May Diana, who inhabiteth the Palatine and Algidus, hear our prayers (69-72).

We, the choir of Phœbus and Diana, will go home believing that our prayers are heard (73-76).

1. _silvarumque potens_] Compare C. iii. 22. 1. 'Lucidum caeli decus' applies to both deities.

5. _Sibyllini_] See Introd. These were oracular books written, it is conjectured, on palm-leaves, in Greek verse, which were kept in the Capitol and consulted on extraordinary occasions. The leaves taken at random were supposed to give the directions required. They were under the care of certain persons, at this time fifteen in number ('quindecimviri,' v. 70), who alone had power to consult them. The books were said originally to have been sold to Tarquinius Superbus by an old woman, and to have been three in number. They were burnt with the Capitol, B.C. 82, but collections of these verses having accumulated in various towns of Italy, they were got together and deposited in the same building, and used as before.

6. _Virgines lectas_] See Introd.

7. _septem placuere colles_] The seven hills of Rome, which were Cœlius, Esquilinus, Viminalis, Quirinalis, Capitolinus, Palatinus, Aventinus.

9. _Alme_] This epithet is to be taken in its proper sense as derived from 'alo.' 'Sun the nurturer.' This stanza is addressed to Phœbus, and was sung perhaps by the boys. The two next, addressed to Diana, may have been taken up by the girls, but this is uncertain.

13. _Rite maturos_] 'O thou whose office it is gently to bring babes to the birth in due season.' 'Rite' means 'according to thy province and functions.' Εἰλειθυία, the Greek name for Hero and Artemis, or more properly in the plural number for their attendants, when presiding at the delivery of women, (which name is said to contain the root of ἐλθεῖν, but that seems doubtful,) is represented by the Latin 'Lucina,' "quae in lucem profert," which title also was given indiscriminately to Juno and Diana. The title 'Genitalis' does not occur elsewhere in this sense, but appears to be a version of the Greek Γενετυλλίς, which was applied to Aphrodite as well as Artemis and her attendants.

17. _producas_] This signifies 'to rear,' as in C. ii. 13. 3.

18. _Prosperes decreta_] In B.C. 18, the year before this Ode was written, a law was passed which, after Augustus, was called "Lex Julia de Maritandis Ordinibus," its object being the regulation and promotion of marriages. It is referred to in the note on C. i. 2. 24.

21. _Certus undenos_] The notion that the Secular Games were celebrated every 110 years, which seems to have been the length of a seculum as measured by the Etruscans, was a fiction invented probably at this time. There is no trace or probability of their having been so celebrated either before or after Augustus. They lasted three days and nights. They were celebrated by Claudius, A.D. 47, and again by Domitian, A.D. 88.

25. _Vosque veraces cecinisse,_] 'Ye too who are true to declare, O Parcæ, that which hath been once decreed, and which the steadfast order of events is confirming' (that is, the power of Rome). The orders of the oracle (see Introduction) directed a special sacrifice of lambs and goats, ποντογόνοις Μοίραις, which was the Greek name of the Parcæ (some writers derived their birth from Oceanus and Ge, the earth). 'Semel' in the sense of 'once for all' (καθάπαξ), is common enough. The Parcæ could not but be true exponents of the decrees ('fata') of Jove, since to them their execution was intrusted. That was their province (see C. ii. 16. 39). There may be some inconsistency in asking them to give good fates to Rome, since they could only execute ministerially 'quod semel dictum est.' But such confusion is common.

33. _Condito mitis placidusque telo_] The boys take up the song for two lines, the girls for two more, and after that they probably join their voices.

On the promontory near Actium there was a statue of Apollo with his bow bent and a fierce aspect, which was an object of terror to the sailors who approached the coast. (See Virg. Aen. iii. 274, sq.) And again on the shield of Æneas (viii. 704) the same figure is represented. To this god Augustus paid his devotions before his battle with M. Antonius, and to him he attributed his success. Accordingly, on his return to Rome, he built a temple to Apollo of Actium on Mons Palatinus (v. 65; C. i. 31; Epp. i. 3. 17), and set up a statue (executed by Scopas, see C. iv. 8. 6, n.) of that god, but in a different character, the bow being laid aside and a lyre substituted for it in one hand, and a plectrum in the other. He was clad also in a long flowing robe. Propertius was present at the dedication of the temple, and gives a description of it (ii. 31); the last object he mentions being the statue of Apollo, as above described. This change of character is what Horace alludes to.

35. _regina bicornis_] In a rilievo on Constantine's arch, Diana, as the moon, is represented in her chariot drawn by two horses, and with a small crescent on her forehead, which is a common way of representing her on gems and medals. In the above group Hesperus is flying in front of her.

37. _Roma si vestrum est opus,_] Æneas tells Dido (Virg. Aen. iv. 345) that it was the oracle of Apollo that bade him seek Italy, and Horace introduces this with good effect, associating Diana with her brother for the occasion. See C. iv. 6. 21, n.

41. _fraude_] C. ii. 19. 20.

42. _Castus_] C. iii. 2. 30, where the correlative term is used: "Neglectus incesto addidit integrum." Aen. vi. 661: "Quique sacerdotes casti."

43. _Liberum munivit iter,_] 'Made a free course,' 'opened the way.' 'Munire' is used commonly in this sense both literally and figuratively. See Livy (xxi. 37, where he is describing Hannibal's passage of the Alps): "Inde ad rupem muniendam per quam unam via esse poterat milites ducti," etc. Cicero (In Verrem, ii. 3. 68), "Existimat easdem vias ad omnium familiaritatem esse munitas."

49. _Quaeque vos bobus veneratur_] 'Veneratur' is equivalent to 'venerando precatur,' and is used transitively here and in S. ii. 2. 124; 6. 8, as well as in other authors. The oracle required that milk-white bulls should be offered by day to Zeus.

51. _bellante prior,_] 'Bellante' is opposed to 'jacentem,' and 'prior' to 'lenis.' 'Mightier than his enemy in the fight, but merciful when he is fallen.' The chorus pray rather for the blessings of peace than the triumphs of war, and therefore praise Augustus's clemency to his conquered enemies, which accorded with the warning of Anchises (Aen. vi. 852, where Virgil plainly had reference to Augustus):--

"Tu regere imperio populos, Romane, memento; Hae tibi erunt artes, pacisque imponere morem, Parcere subjectis, et debellare superbos."

54. _Albanas--secures,_] The Roman fasces, as "Albanique patres" (Aen. i. 7). Ascanius or Iulus, the son of Æneas, according to the legends from which the Romans had their notions of their own history, transferred the seat of his father's kingdom to Alba Longa, and there it continued till Romulus, his descendant, founded a kingdom on the banks of the Tiber, about ten miles from Alba.

55. _responsa_] Replies to their offers of submission and petitions for friendship. This word is used for the replies of the gods, and here perhaps expresses the majesty of Augustus delivering his will as that of a god, like Virgil (Ecl. i. 45): "Hic mihi responsum primus dedit ille petenti." But 'responsum' is also a technical term for the answer of a jurisconsult to a client, or a superior to an inferior, as of the emperor to the governor of a province.

57. _Jam Fides et Pax_] This group occurs nearly in the same combination in C. i. 24. 6. The figures are variously represented on medals, &c. 'Fides' represents honesty, good faith, and is called in the above place 'justitiae soror.' 'Honos' has nothing to do with what we call honor in the sense of honesty ('fides'), but represents Gloria in her good character (for she had a bad, as vainglory, C. i. 18. 15). 'Virtus' is most usually represented in a military character, as Fortitudo; but the name embraced all moral courage and steadfastness in well-doing, with which military courage was closely associated in the mind of a Roman. 'Pudor,' or 'pudicitia,' represents conjugal fidelity. Juvenal speaks of her especially as having left the earth at the close of the reign of Saturn. But all these virtues are said to have left the earth with Astræa at the close of the golden age, and their return is intended to represent the return of that age.

60. _Copia cornu._] Copia, whose horn was most properly the symbol of Fortune (C. i. 17. 14, n.), but was also given to many other divinities, as Fides, Felicitas, Concordia, Honos, &c., was herself represented under the forms of Abundantia and Annona, the latter signifying the supply of corn for consumption in the city.

61. _Augur_] All prophets and augurs were held to be servants of Apollo, and to derive their knowledge from him.

_et fulgente decorus arcu_] This seems to contradict the prayer in v. 33; but the bow of Apollo did not always inspire dread. He is sometimes represented with this unstrung at his back, and the lyre and plectrum in his hands (C. ii. 10. 19); and it is uncertain whether he did not so appear in the statue above referred to.

62. _acceptusque novem Camenis,_] See C. iv. 6. 25, n. In some ancient rilievi and paintings Apollo is represented as seated in the midst of the nine Muses, who are all paying attention to him.

63. _Qui salutari_] Apollo's attribute as the healer is one of the oldest that was attached to him, and is most commonly exhibited in his statues and other representations. It is symbolized by the serpent which always attends the figures of Salus, Æsculapius, and others connected with the healing art. Ovid makes him say:--

"Inventum medicina meum est, opiferque per orbem Dicor, et herbarum subjecta potentia nobis." (Met. i. 521.)

65. _Si Palatinas videt aequus arces,_] See above, v. 33, n. 'Felix' agrees with 'aevum,' and 'videt' governs 'arces,' 'rem,' and 'Latium.' 'May he prolong this happy age to another and another lustrum, and ever to a happier.' It is common with Horace to put an adjective and its substantive at the two extremes of a period.

69. _Quaeque Aventinum_] Diana had a temple on Mons Aventinus and on Algidus (C. i. 21. 6). From this stanza it has been assumed by some that the sacred commissioners (the 'quindecimviri,' see Introd. and v. 5, n.) took part in the singing, which is not very probable. Their number, which was originally two, and was increased to ten about 150 years after the establishment of the Republic, was raised to fifteen either by Sulla or Julius Cæsar.

71. _puerorum_] This includes the whole choir of boys and girls.

74. _reporto,_] The whole choir take up this last stanza, or else the leader does so for them, declaring their confidence that the prayers they have offered have been heard by Jove and all the gods.

75. _Doctus_] C. iv. 6. 43: "docilis modorum Vatis Horati."

EPODES.

EPODE I.

When Augustus had determined on the expedition against M. Antonius and Cleopatra, which led to the battle of Actium, B.C. 31, he summoned, as we learn from Dion Cassius (50. 11), the leading senators and men of Equestrian rank to meet him at Brundisium, for the benefit of their counsel, and (the historian says) to keep the Equestrians from mischief, and also to show the world the harmony to which he had brought men of all orders at Rome. Mæcenas obeyed this summons, and went to Brundisium, but was sent back by Augustus to watch over the peace of the city and the affairs of Italy. It is very possible that Mæcenas may have had the offer of a command on the expedition against M. Antonius, and that both he and Horace believed he was going on that service, until, on his arrival at Brundisium, Augustus thought fit to send him back to discharge more important duties at Rome. Horace, supposing him to be going, wished to accompany him, but Mæcenas would not allow it (v. 7), which gave occasion for this Epode. It is an affectionate remonstrance against being left behind.

Argument.--Thou art going into the midst of danger, Mæcenas, to share the fortunes of Cæsar. Shall I stay at home at ease, or meet the danger with thee, on whose life my happiness depends? I will go with thee withersoever thou goest. To what end shall I go? As the bird fears less for her young when she is near them, so shall I fear less for thee, if I go with thee, and I go to win thy love, not thy favors. Thy love hath given me enough. I seek not wide lands or fine houses and cattle, and gold to hide or to squander.

1. _Liburnis_] These were light vessels, that took their name from the ships used by the Liburnians, a piratical tribe on the Illyrian coast. Augustus employed them in his expeditions against Sex. Pompeius, and they were of great use at Actium (C. i. 37. 30). All writers on the battle of Actium describe the ships of M. Antonius and Cleopatra as of enormous size. Like those of the Greeks, which the Romans copied, the Egyptian vessels were fitted with towers ('propugnacula'), from which the men fought.

4. _Subire,--tuo_] 'Tuo periculo,' 'meo,' 'suo,' 'nostro,' are all common, and 'periculum' is used in the ablative case in 'summo periculo,' 'minimo periculo,' where the ablative is an ablative of cost, and is not to be explained by supplying 'cum.'

9. _mente laturi_] This sentence is not complete; 'ibimus,' or something of that sort, must be supplied. 'Shall I, at thy bidding, seek repose, which hath no pleasure if not shared by thee, or go to bear this danger with the heart with which the hardy soldier ought to bear it?'

12. _Inhospitalem--Caucasum,_] This is repeated from or in C. i. 22. 6.

16. _firmus parum?_] This is probably taken from the Greek ἄναλκις, which goes commonly with ἀπτόλεμος (as Doering says).

19. _Ut assidens_] 'As a bird sitting on her unfledged brood fears the serpent's stealthy coming more if she leave them, though not likely to help them more if she be near and they before her.' 'Relictis' is the dative. 'Supposing that' is a common meaning of 'ut' with the subjunctive. 'Ut adsit,' followed by 'praesentibus,' is rather redundant. But such repetitions are not uncommon. See Ter. (Adelph. iii. 3. 39): "Non quia ades praesens dico hoc." Ib. (iv. 5. 34): "Cum hanc sibi videbit praesens praesentem eripi."

23. _militabitur Bellum_] This phrase is like "bella pugnata" (C. iii. 19. 4), which expression is repeated, Epp. i. 16. 25. 'In spem,' 'looking to the hope,' is used where we should say 'in the hope.'

27. _Pecusve Calabris_] Flocks of sheep were fed in the plains of Calabria during the cool months of the year, and driven up to the hills of Lucania in the summer. 'Mutet' is used for taking in exchange, as in C. i. 17. 2, and elsewhere. The heat of Calabria is referred to in C. i. 31. 5.

29. _Neque ut_] He says he does not want a villa near Tusculum, where there were many handsome houses, which he thus expresses: 'Nor that for me a splendid house should touch Circæan walls of Tusculum on the hill.' The ancient Tusculum was built on the top of the hill of which the modern town, Frascati, is built on the slope. 'Circaea' is explained by C. iii. 29. 8, n. 'Candens' means shining with marble.

31. _Satis superque_] This expression occurs again Epod. xvii. 19. The sentiment is repeated C. ii. 18. 12; iii. 16. 38.

33. _Chremes_] The allusion is to a character in some play of Menander's.

34. _Discinetus_] 'dissolute'; indicating by his slovenly dress his dissipated habits.

EPODE II.

Horace, meaning to write on the praises of the country, put his poem into the shape of a rhapsody by a money-getting usurer, who, after reciting the blessings of a country life, and sighing for the enjoyment of them, resolving to throw up his business, and persuading himself that he desires nothing so much as retirement and a humble life, finds habit too strong for him, and falls back upon the sordid pursuits which, after all, are most congenial to him. Though the greater part of the speech must be admitted to be rather out of keeping with the supposed speaker, yet the picture is very beautiful, and the moral true. In the most sordid minds more genial impulses will sometimes arise; but the beauties of nature and the charms of a peaceful retirement are, like virtue itself, only attractive in the distance and at intervals to the minds that have grown addicted to the pursuit of gain for its own sake. To such minds domestic and innocent pleasures offer no lasting gratification, and the picture of rustic enjoyment on the one hand, and of the jaded but still grasping usurer struggling for a moment against his propensities on the other, affords a wholesome lesson for many.

Argument.--"Happy is the man who lives on his farm, remote from the troubles of the city and the dangers of war and of the sea. He trains his vines, or watches his flocks, or grafts his trees, or stores his honey, or shears his sheep, or brings offerings of fruit to Priapus and Silvanus, or lies in the shade or on the soft grass, where birds are singing and streams are murmuring; or hunts the boar, or lays nets for the birds and hares, and herein forgets the pangs of love. Give me a chaste wife, who shall care for my home and children, milk my goats, prepare my unbought meal, and no dainties shall please me like my country fare, as I sit and watch the kine and oxen and laborers coming home to their rest at even." So said Alphius, the usurer, and, determining to live in the country, he got in all his money, but soon repented, and put it out to usury again.

4. _Solutus omni fenore,_] It must be remembered that a usurer is speaking. See Introduction.

9. _Ergo_] This is an adverb of emphasis, like δή, the use of which it is not easy to define. Here it expresses a feeling of pleasure in the contemplation of the scenes described. In the occupations and amusements that follow, no particular order of seasons is observed, but one recreation after another is mentioned as it occurs.

15. _amphoris,_] These vessels were used for keeping honey, as well as wine.

16. _infirmas_] This is no more than an ornamental epithet.

17. _Vel cum_] 'Vel' has here a copulative force, and not a disjunctive, as "Silvius Aeneas pariter pietate vel armis Egregius" (Aen. vi. 769). 'Et' would have made the sentence too much of a climax, especially with the exclamation 'ut gaudet.'

19. _gaudet--decerpens_] This is after the Greek idiom δρέπων ἥδεται.

21. _Priape,_] This was one of the inferior order of divinities, only acknowledged as such in later times. He was accordingly treated with contempt sometimes, as in S. i. 8. He presided over gardens, protected flocks, and generally was worshipped in connection with the pursuits of husbandry.

22. _Silvane, tutor finium!_] Silvanus here only is called the protector of boundaries, which province belonged to the god Terminus. Virgil calls him the god of corn-fields and cattle (Aen. viii. 601); but, as his name implies, he was chiefly connected with woods and plantations.

24. _tenaci_] This is merely a redundant epithet. Grass, especially short turf grass, which is here meant, binds the soil and tenaciously adheres to it, both of which ideas seem to be included in this word.

25. _interim_] As we say, 'the while.' 'Altis ripis' are rocky, overhanging banks.

27. _lymphis obstrepunt_] 'Obstrepunt' is used absolutely, as in C. iii. 30. 10. 'Lymphis' is the ablative absolute.

28. _Somnos quod invitet_] Compare Virg. (Ecl. i. 56): "Saepe levi somnum suadebit inire susurro."

29. _annus_] This is used for the season of the year, as in Virgil (Ecl. iii. 57), "formosissimus annus."

31. _Aut trudit acres_] The hunters encompassed some large space (generally the foot of a wooded hill) with strong nets, which they gradually drew into a more and more narrow circle, while dogs and beaters with torches were set to drive the beasts into a given spot, where they were attacked and slain; or else they were driven down to the nets, with which they were entangled or stopped, unless they contrived, as they sometimes did, to break through them, which would give occasion for a chase in the open plain (see C. i. 1. 28). Plutarch, in his life of Alexander, speaks of toils twelve miles long. The poets, Latin and Greek, used the feminine gender in speaking of hunting-dogs, as mares are more often mentioned than horses for the race. 'Amites' were forked stakes on which the nets were stretched. 'Plagae' were the strong nets mentioned above; 'retia' were finer ones for birds and fish; 'retia rara' were those with wider meshes than fishing-nets, and therefore used only for birds. 'Edacibus' represents their depredations on the corn. 'Laqueo' may be pronounced as a dissyllable.

39. _in partem_] 'on her part.' The Greeks said ἐν μέρει.

41. _Sabina_] See C. iii. 6. 37, n. Horace is fond of introducing his Sabine and Apulian friends. See C. iii. 5. 9, n.

42. _Pernicis_] 'Pernix' signifies patient, steadfast, being compounded of 'per' and 'nitor.' When applied to motion, it comes to mean swift, by the natural consequence of a steady movement of the wings or feet, which accomplishes distance more rapidly than irregular speed.

43. _Sacrum vetustis_] The fire-place was sacred to the Lares. The wood must be old that it might not smoke, like that which plagued the travellers at Trevicum (S. i. 5. 80). The 'focus' was either a fixture of stone or brick, in which case it was synonymous with 'caminus' or it was movable and made of bronze, and then it was usually called 'foculus.' In either case it was a wide and shallow receptacle for wood or charcoal, the smoke of which found its way out by apertures at the top of the room, or, in some rare instances, by chimneys.

'Sub,' with the accusative case, in phrases of time signifies 'immediately after.' 'Sub adventum viri' is not 'in anticipation of her husband's arrival'; but 'as soon as he has made his appearance,' weary with his day's work, she puts wood on the fire and gets up a cheerful blaze. But in the phrases "sub lacrimosa funera" (C. i. 8. 14), "sub ipsum funus" (C. ii. 18. 18), 'sub' can only mean close upon, but before the event.

47. _horna--dolio_] Poor wine of that year, which had not been bottled for keeping, but was drunk direct from the 'dolium.' Like the other parts of this description, this is meant to convey the notion of primitive simplicity. The wine of the year is generally drunk now, in and about Rome.

48. _inemptus_] Georg. iv. 132:--

"seraque revertens Nocte domum dapibus mensas onerabat inemptis."

As to the oysters of the lacus Lucrinus, see S. ii. 4. 32.

50. _rhombus_] See S. ii. 2. 42, n. The 'scarus,' whatever that fish may be (for it is not certain), is said by Pliny to have abounded most in the Carpathian Sea. The storm, therefore, must come from the east that should drive it to the coast of Italy.

51. _intonata_] This participle occurs nowhere else in extant writers, but it is not likely Horace invented it. It represents the noise of the wind, rather than the thunder of the clouds, as Virgil (Georg. i. 371) says, "Eurique Zephyrique tonat domus."

53. _Afra avis_] What bird is meant we cannot tell. The Greeks called them μελεαγρίδας. Martial (iii. 58. 15) speaks of "Numidicae guttatae," 'speckled,' which seems to be the same bird and answers to the appearance of the guinea-fowl. The 'attagen' is usually said to be the moor-fowl. Martial says it was one of their most delicious birds (xiii. 61). It is repeatedly mentioned by Aristophanes. Aristotle, in his History of Animals, numbers it among κονιστικοὶ ὄρνιθες, birds which do not fly high.

57. _Aut herba lapathi_] Both the 'lapathus' and the 'malva' were gently purgative. See Sat. ii. 4. 29.

59. _caesa Terminalibus,_] The Terminalia took place in the early spring (23 February), about the time of lambing, and lambs were offered to Terminus, the god who protected boundaries. Plutarch says that sheep rescued from the jaws of the wolf were thought to be better flavored than others. The thrifty would eat them for economy. That is the idea Horace means to convey.

61. _ut juvat_] See v. 19, "ut gaudet."

65. _vernas, ditis examen domus,_] 'Verna' was a slave born on the owner's estate. There was a hearth near which the images of the Lares were placed, in the centre of the 'atrium,' the entrance room, and round it the slaves had their supper. 'Renidentes' means shining by the light of the fire.

67. _fenerator Alphius,_] A usurer of this name is mentioned by Columella, as an authority on the subject of bad debts. 'Redigere' is the technical word for getting in money out on loan, and 'ponere' for putting it out, as καταβάλλειν, βάλλειν, τιθέναι. The settling days at Rome were the Kalends, Nones, and Ides. Horace says that Alphius delivered the foregoing speech when he had made up his mind to turn farmer immediately, and that with this view he got in all his money on the Ides (the middle of the month), but when the next Kalends came (the first of the month) he could not resist putting it out again.

EPODE III.

Horace here vents his wrath against some garlic which he had eaten the day before at Mæcenas's table, and which had disagreed with him. He seems to imply that Mæcenas had played a practical joke upon him, and the whole Epode is full of humor and familiarity.

Argument.--If a man has murdered his father, only make him eat garlic. What poison have I within me? Was a viper's blood in the mess, or did Canidia tamper with it? Sure with such poison did Medea anoint Jason and his intended bride. Apulia in the dog days never burnt like this, nor the coat on Hercules's shoulders. If thou dost ever take a fancy to such stuff, Mæcenas, mayst thou ask for a kiss and be refused!

1. _Parentis olim_] He uses the same illustration in cursing the tree that nearly killed him (C. ii. 13. 6).

3. _Edit_] The old form of the present subjunctive was 'edim,' 'edis,' 'edit.' It occurs again (Sat. ii. 8. 90). Cicero uses this form, and Plautus frequently.

4. _O dura_] 'O the tough bowels of those country folk.' Horace perhaps remembered Virgil's line (Ecl. ii. 10):

"Thestylis et rapido fessis messoribus aestu Allia serpyllumque herbas contundit olentes."

5. _praecordiis?_] This is sometimes put for the intestines, as in Sat. ii. 4. 26.

6. _viperinus--cruor_] See C. i. 8. 9.

7. _fefellit?_] C. iii. 16. 32, n.

8. _Canidia_] This is one of the few names of which we may be pretty sure that it represents a real person. The Scholiasts on this place, and Sat. i. 8. 24, say that her real name was Gratidia, and that she was a Neapolitan seller of perfumes. She is mentioned always as a witch. In Epod. v. she is the principal person concerned in the murder of the boy; in Epod. xvii. Horace addresses his mock apologies to her. She figures in the scene on the Esquiliae represented in S. i. 8, and is incidentally mentioned in S. ii. 1. 48; 8. 95. It is impossible, from Horace's poems, to gather the cause of his anger against this woman, or his connection with her.

9. _praeter omnes_] These words go with 'mirata est.' The Argonautae included fifty of the greatest heroes, and among them Hercules, the Dioscuri, Orpheus, Theseus, Nestor, etc. To all the rest Medea preferred Jason, the leader of the party, and married him, and helped him in the performance of his tasks, one of which was the yoking two fire-breathing oxen to a plough, and turning up the soil in which he was to sow the dragon's teeth.

13. _Hoc delibutis,_] Horace assigns opposite qualities to the poison in Medea's hands. It protects Jason and destroys Creusa (or Glauce), daughter of Creon, king of Corinth, whom Jason married, deserting Medea. Her revenge is well known. (See Epod. v. 63.)

14. _Serpente fugit alite_] After destroying her rival, Medea fled in a chariot drawn by winged serpents.

15. _insedit vapor_] 'Vapor' is equivalent to 'calor,' the effect to the cause. 'Siderum vapor' is the heat of the dog days. (Compare Epod. xvi. 61.) The arid, unwatered character of Apulia has been noticed before (C. iii. 30. 11).

17. _Nec munus humeris_] i.e. the garment smeared with the blood of Nessus, given by Deianira to Hercules. She gave it as a love-charm, and it burnt him to death. See Epod. xvii. 31.

20. _Jocose_] See Introduction.

21. _savio opponat tuo_] 'Savium' means 'a lip.'

22. _sponda_] The side of the bed on which the person got in was called 'sponda,' the opposite side 'pluteus.'

EPODE IV.

All the positive information we can derive from this Ode in respect to its purport and date is, that it contains a vehement invective against some person of low birth and contemptible character, who gave himself airs and disgusted the people of Rome; he was also a military tribune.

Argument.--I hate thee, thou whipped slave, as the lamb hates the wolf and the wolf the lamb. Be thou never so proud, luck doth not change the breed. See, as thou swaggerest down the road, how they turn and say, "Here is a scoundrel who was flogged till the crier was tired, and now he has his acres, and ambles on his nag, and sits among the Equites, and snaps his fingers at Otho and his law. What is the use of our sending ships to attack the pirates, if such a rascal as this is to be military tribune?"

1. _sortito_] 'In virtue of their condition.' 'Sors' is the condition which choice, accident, fate, or nature (as here) has assigned. See notes on C. i. 9. 14. S. i. 1. 1.

3. _Hibericis--funibus_] These were cords made of 'spartum,' usually said to be the Spanish broom. It was made into ropes, especially for ships' rigging. In the army they flogged with vine twigs.

7. _metiente_] 'As thou measurest the Sacred Way.' 'Metiri' is used by the poets in expressing motion of various kinds, with 'viam,' 'iter,' 'mare,' etc. Here it shows the man's strut and swagger. The Via Sacra was crowded with public buildings, and was a favorite lounge. See S. i. 9. 1.

8. _bis trium ulnarum toga,_] The Romans of this period used 'ulna' as an equivalent for 'cubitus', therefore 'bis trium ulnarum' must be understood to have reference to the width of the toga, not the length, which was much greater, about three times the height of the wearer from the shoulder to the ground. The effect of so wide a toga would be to give a broad imposing appearance to the man's person. Compare S. ii. 3. 183. "Latus ut in Circo spatiere."

9. _vertat_] This means that the passengers turned to one another, and also turned to look at the coxcomb and point at him.

_huc et huc euntium_] 'Huc et huc,' 'hinc et hinc' (Epod. ii. 31, v. 97), are poetical ways of expressing what in prose is expressed with 'illuc,' 'illinc' in the second place.

11. _Sectus_] This is supposed to be the language each man holds to his neighbor. The 'triumviri capitales' were magistrates of police, and they had the power of summarily punishing slaves. A crier stood by while floggings were going on, and kept proclaiming the offender's crime. So Plato lays down, in the Laws, that the swindler shall be flogged at the rate of one blow for each drachma, while the crier declares his crime.

13. _Arat Falerni_] The Falernus ager, in Campania, was covered with vines, but the vineyards were ploughed between the trees, and sown with corn. The Appian road, leading into Campania, would be passed and repassed by this man as he went to and from his estates. 'Tero' is equivalent to τρίβω, which is used in the same connection.

15. _eques_] If the person was a military tribune, he had equestrian rank; and, if of one of the four first legions, he had a seat in the Senate, and wore the 'latus clavus.' See S. i. 6. 25. If he had an income of 400,000 sesterces, he could, under the law of L. Roscius Otho (passed B.C. 67), take his place in any of the fourteen front rows in the theatre, and laugh at Otho, whose purpose was to keep those seats for persons of birth. See Epp. i. 1. 62.

19. _Contra latrones_] In the year B.C. 38 Augustus declared war against Sex. Pompeius, who had enlisted in his service pirates and slaves. These Horace alludes to.

20. _tribuno militum?_] Each legion in the Roman army had six tribunes (the post Horace held under Brutus), who were their principal officers, having each usually about a thousand men under them.

EPODE V.

There is much likeness between this singular Ode and part of the eighth Satire of the first book. A scene is represented in which the unfortunate woman Canidia (Epod. iii. 8, n.), satirized by Horace for a succession of years, is the chief actress. She is passionately in love with one Varus, whom she calls an old sinner, but whose heart she is resolved to win. To this end she resorts to magical philters, for the composition of which, in company with three other witches, she gets a boy of good family, strips him naked, and buries him up to his chin in a hole, in order that there, with food put before him, he might wither away in the midst of longing, and so his liver might form, in conjunction with other ingredients, a love-potion, to be administered to the faithless Varus. What could have put such a scene into Horace's head, it is hard to say.

Argument.--"Tell me, by the gods, by thy children, if Lucina hath ever blessed thee, by this purple toga, which should protect my childhood, tell me what meaneth this horrid scene! Why look ye at me so sternly?" As these words drop from the trembling and naked child, Canidia bids them bring branches from the tombs, a screech-owl's wing, and eggs steeped in frogs' blood, poisonous herbs of Thessaly and Hiberia, and bones snatched from the jaws of a hungry bitch, to burn in the magic flames. Sagana meanwhile sprinkles waters of Avernus over the chamber, and Veia digs a pit, where the boy must stand buried to the chin, that his marrow and liver may dry up, and become fit ingredients for the potion. Folia, too, is there, charming stars and moon from the sky. Then Canidia bursts forth, saying: "Night and Diana, avenge me on my enemies. Give me such an ointment to smear the old man with, that the dogs may bark at him as he goes to his vile haunts. But what is this? How did Medea succeed while I fail? I know every herb. I have anointed his bed. I see, I see. Some charm more skilled has set him free. No common potion therefore, no hackneyed spell, will I prepare for thee, Varus: the skies shall sink below the sea if thou burn not with love for me." Then the boy bursts out into cursing, and says: "The destiny of man is unchangeable. I will curse you, and my curse no sacrifice shall avert. My ghost shall haunt you by night, and tear your flesh, and rob you of sleep. Men shall stone you, and wolves and vultures shall tear your unburied carcases, and my parents shall live to see it."

1. _At, o deorum_] 'At' is the same word as 'ad,' and is not always or usually an adversative particle. It is contained in 'atque' and 'autem,' neither of which is adversative. So ἀλλά and δέ have not necessarily that force, but are used to open sentences, and carry on the meaning of a discourse. When 'at' is used at the opening, it expresses abruptness, and is as though the speaker were only continuing a sentiment previously conceived, but not expressed. It denotes a sudden emotion of the mind, and is employed in sudden transitions of speech. See S. ii. 2. 40, n.

_deorum quidquid_] Livy uses the same expression more than once (ii. 5, xxiii. 9). See also S. i. 6. 1.

6. _veris_] In this word a doubt is implied of the woman's fertility. The charge is retracted in Epod. xvii. 50, sqq. As to Lucina, see C. S. 15, n.

7. _purpurae decus_] The 'toga praetexta,' with a purple stripe, the sign of nobility and of childhood, which should have turned his persecutors from their purpose, but did not. In addition to this toga, children of free parents wore a small round plate of gold ('bulla') suspended from their neck. Both were laid aside on the assumption of the 'toga virilis' (usually at about fifteen), and the 'bulla' was presented as an offering to the Lares. Pliny calls the 'praetexta' "majestas pueritiae" (ix. 36). 'Odia novercalia' were proverbial. (See Tac. Ann. xii. 2.)

8. _Per improbaturum_] Compare C. i. 2. 19.

12. _Insignibus_] That is, his 'praetexta' and 'bulla.' 'Impube corpus' is in apposition with 'puer.'

14. _Thracum_] The Thracians are put for any barbarians.

21. _Iolcos atque Hiberia_] Iolcos was a town of Thessaly, and Hiberia a region east of Colchis and south of the Caucasus, now part of Georgia, which is referred to in C. ii. 20. 20. Elsewhere in Horace, Hiber and Hiberia have reference to Spain.

24. _Flammis aduri Colchicis_] Flames of Colchis mean magic flames, such as Medea used.

25. _expedita_] This answers to the description of Canidia herself, given Sat. i. 8. 23:--

"Vidi egomet nigra _succinctam_ vadere palla Canidiam."

Sagana is there again introduced in her company.

26. _Avernales aquas_] So Dido, in her pretended magical ceremony, sprinkled "latices simulatos fontis Averni" (Aen. iv. 512).

28. _currens aper_] As Sagana is represented running about furiously, the rushing of a boar is not a bad simile. It is intelligible to any one who has seen a wild hog bursting from a jungle, and then tumbling along the open plain faster than dog or rider can follow him.

29. _nulla--conscientia_] Unconscious or careless of the horrible suffering the child was to endure. Though she groaned, it was only with the labor. We are to understand that the transaction was going on, and the grave being dug, in the open court, the 'impluvium' or 'peristylium' (C. iii. 10. 5, n.). The nature and purpose of the boy's torture are sufficiently explained in the Introduction.

33. _Longo die bis terque_] 'Longo' belongs to 'die,' not to 'spectaculo.' On every weary day, food was to be put before him, and changed two or three times, that his soul might yearn for it, like Tantalus, and its longings might be worked into the spell that was to inflame the heart of Varus. 'Inemori' is not found anywhere else. The ordinary form is 'immori.' 'Bis terque' signifies 'frequently', 'bis terve,' 'rarely.'

39. _Interminato_] This word, compounded of 'inter' and 'minor,' is a stronger way of expressing 'interdicto,' 'forbidden.' It is the interposition of a threat, instead of a plain command. 'As soon as his eyeballs, fixed on the forbidden food, should have wasted.' Sat. ii. 1. 24: "Ut semel icto Accessit fervor capiti."

42. _Ariminensem Foliam_] Folia of Ariminum (an Umbrian town) represents some woman of unnatural lewdness, well known at Naples and its neighborhood, where, Horace means to say, when this story was told, everybody believed she had had a hand in it. This is the most obvious way of explaining the passage, without supposing the scene to be laid at Naples, which it cannot be. See vv. 58 and 100.

43. _otiosa_] So Ovid calls it "in otia natam Parthenopen" (Met. xv. 711).

45. _Quae sidera excantata_] This faculty of witches is sufficiently well known. Virg. (Ecl. viii. 69): "Carmina vel caelo possunt deducere Lunam."

_Thessala_] C. i. 27. 21.

55. _Formidolosis_] This is equivalent to 'horridis,' as Virg. (Georg. iv. 468), "Caligantem nigra formidine lucum." The word bears an active and a passive meaning.

57. _Senem, quod omnes rideant,_] She here prays that the dogs may bark at Varus, as he goes to the brothels of the Suburra, so that all may turn out and laugh at the vile old man, scented with the richest perfumes, such as even she, Canidia, had never made. (See Epod. iii. 8, n.).

58. _Suburanae canes_] Suburra was the name of that part of the city which lay between the Esquiline and the Viminal. It was very populous and profligate. Propertius (iv. 7. 15) describes it as the resort of thieves, and Martial of prostitutes (vi. 66).

61. _Quid accidit?_] She wonders why her drugs (which she calls the drugs of Medea, as imitating those) take no effect upon him, when she suddenly breaks out with the exclamation, "Ah! ah! I see; some stronger spell is at work, but I will find one that is stronger than any" (v. 71).

62. _Venena Medeae_] She speaks as if she had been actually using the drugs of Medea.

63. _fugit ulta pellicem,_] See Epod. iii. 13.

69. _Indormit unctis_] She had smeared the couch he slept on with drugs, to make him forget all women but herself. 'Unctis' goes with 'oblivione.'

73. _Vare,_] Who Varus was, we cannot tell. Some ancient MSS. inscriptions call him 'Alfius Varus.'

74. _caput_] See C. i. 24. 2, n.

76. _Marsis--vocibus:_] That is, by common spells or charms, such as have been learnt from the Marsi, and were usually practised (Epod. xvii. 29). Virgil has (Aen. vii. 758): "Marsis quaesitae in montibus herbae."

86. _Thyesteas preces:_] Curses such as Thyestes might have imprecated on the head of Atreus (see C. i. 6. 8, n.). The opening sentence of the boy's speech is variously interpreted. The words may be translated as they stand: "Witchcraft, or the great powers of right and wrong, cannot change the fate of men"; i.e. nothing can, whether it be good or bad, which interpretation is the least strained, with reference to the collocation of the words. The omission of a connecting particle between 'venena' and 'magnum' is no argument against this version.

90. _Nulla expiatur victima_] See C. i. 28. 34.

91. Quin] See next Epod. v. 3, n.

92. _Nocturnus occurram Furor_] He threatens to haunt them at night by his ghost, in the shape of madness, with sharp claws tearing their faces, and sitting like a nightmare on their breast. 'Furor' is nowhere else personified, as far as I am aware. 'Diris' means 'curses.'

94. _Quae vis deorum est manium,_] The spirits of the dead were, to their surviving kindred, divinities, 'Dii Manes.' They had their sacred rites secured them by the laws (see Cic. de Legg. ii. 9), and their annual festival, Feralia. In the early period of Rome they were identical with the Lares, the deities who protected each homestead, and whose hearth was in every hall. See Epp. ii. 1. 138, n.

100. _Esquilinae alites;_] On the Campus Esquilinus malefactors of the lower sort were executed, and their bodies left for the vultures and jackalls to devour. Compare Epod. xvii. 58, and S. i. 8. 8, n.

EPODE VI.

It is impossible to say with certainty who is the person attacked in this Ode. It is some virulent writer. Horace meets him on his own ground, challenging him to attack himself, rather than level his abuse at innocent strangers, who could not defend themselves.

Argument.--Why snarl at innocent strangers, dog, and run away from the wolf? Attack me, if thou darest. I am ever ready to hunt the prey, while thou dost but bark and turn aside to fill thy belly. Beware! for I have lifted my horns, even as Archilochus and Hipponax lifted theirs. If I am attacked, thinkest thou I will stand like a child, and cry?

3. _Quin--vertis_] 'Quin' is in this combination only equivalent to 'qui' and a negative, taken interrogatively. 'Quin vertis' is a direct question. An instance of 'quin' as a direct assertion, which is a conventional secondary usage, occurs in the Epode preceding, v. 91.

6. _Amica vis pastoribus,_] Lucretius (vi. 1221) speaks of "fida canum vis," and Virg. (Aen. iv. 132), "odora canum vis." 'Vis' signifies 'a pack.' Whatever the Molossian and Laconian dogs were, they were used for hunting, and were loved by shepherds because in packs they destroyed the wolves and beasts of prey. (See Georg. iii. 405, sqq.)

13. _Lycambae--Bupalo._] Archilochus, the lyric poet of Paros, attacked Lycambes (a citizen of the island of Thasos, to which Archilochus migrated), who, after promising him his daughter Neobule in marriage, retracted his promise, so sharply that he is said to have hanged himself; and the same fate was supposed to have befallen Bupalus and Athenis, two sculptors, who turned into ridicule the ugly features of Hipponax, the lyric poet of Ephesus, who flourished in the sixth century B.C., about 150 years after Archilochus. The daughters of Lycambes were included, as the story goes, in Archilochus's invectives, and also destroyed themselves. See Epp. i. 19. 25.

16. _Inultus ut flebo puer?_] The construction is 'inultus, flebo ut puer.'

EPODE VII.

This Epode appears to have been written when some fresh war was breaking out. It may have been the last war between Augustus and M. Antonius, which ended in the battle of Actium and the taking of Alexandria. See Epod. i., Introduction. This is as likely a time as any other, but it is not easy to decide.

Argument.--Whither run ye to arms?--hath not blood enough of Romans been shed? 'T is not to burn the walls of Carthage, or humble the Briton, but that the Parthian may rejoice in seeing Rome fall by her own hand. The beasts do not war upon their kind. Is it madness, or force irresistible, or wickedness, that drives you? They are dumb: they answer not. 'T is even so: the blood of Remus is visited on the destinies of Rome.

2. _conditi?_] Swords which were 'lately sheathed.'

7. _Intactus_] See C. iii. 24. 1. What Horace means to say is, "The blood that has been spilt in these civil wars has been shed, not for the destruction of Carthage, as in the war that Scipio led, or that the Briton might be led in chains, as he was by Julius Cæsar, but for the destruction of Rome herself." 'Intactus' means 'untouched,' till Julius Cæsar invaded them and carried away prisoners, many of whom walked in his triumph. The first time after Cæsar's expeditions that a Roman army invaded Britain was in the expedition of Claudius, A.D. 43.

8. _Sacra catenatus via,_] See C. iv. 2. 35, n.

12. _dispar_] This signifies an animal of another species. 'Feris,' agreeing with 'lupis' and 'leonibus,' may be rendered 'fierce though they be.'

13. _vis acrior,_] This seems to be an absolute expression (not comparative with 'furor'), and equivalent to θεοῦ βία, θεοβλάβεια; and it is so explained by Gaius with reference to such a visitation of God as a storm, earthquake, and so forth (Dig. 11. 25. 6). "Vis major, quam Graeci θεοῦ βίαν, id est, vim divinam appellant, non debet conductori damnosa esse." Horace means some irresistible force.

19. _Ut immerentis_] 'Ut' signifies 'ever since,' as C. iv. 4. 42, and elsewhere. Horace here fetches his reasons from a distant source, more fanciful than natural. He wrote more to the purpose afterwards, C. i. 2; ii. 1.

EPODE VIII.

Addressed to a licentious old woman.

EPODE IX.

The date of this Ode is not to be mistaken. It was written when the news of Actium was fresh, in September, B.C. 31, immediately before the 37th of the first book. It is addressed to Mæcenas, who is called upon to celebrate with a feast at his new house the victory of Augustus, which is described as if by an eyewitness.

Argument.--When shall we drink under thy tall roof, Mæcenas, to Cæsar the conqueror, as late we did when the son of Neptune lost his fleet and fled,--he who threatened us all with the chains his slaves had worn? Will our sons believe it? Romans have sold themselves to serve a woman and her eunuchs, and the luxurious gauze hath fluttered among the standards of war! But their allies deserted to our side, and their ships skulked from the fight. Io Triumphe! bring forth the golden chariot and the sacrifice. So great a conqueror never came from Africa before. The enemy hath changed his purple for mourning, and hath fled to Crete or the Syrtes, or knoweth not whither to fly. Bigger cups, boy,--Chian, or Lesbian, or Cæcuban,--we will drown our old anxieties for Cæsar in wine.

3. _sub alta--domo,_] This was the house built by Mæcenas on the Campus Esquilinus. See Introduction to S. i. 8.

6. _barbarum?_] Phrygian, for which this was a common equivalent, as opposed to Grecian. So (Epp. i. 2. 7): "Graecia barbariae lento colliso duello." Virg. Aen. ii. 504: "Barbarico postes auro spoliisque superbi." Catull. (lxiv. 265): "Barbaraque horribili stridebat tibia cantu." See C. i. 1. 32, n. on the plural 'tibiis,' and C. iv. 15. 30, n., as to Dorian and Phrygian music.

7. _nuper,_] This was between five and six years before, when Sextus Pompeius was defeated by Agrippa off Naulochus, on the coast of Sicily, B.C. 36, when his fleet was burnt, and he himself obliged to fly to Asia. Horace says he threatened to fasten upon the free citizens those chains which he had taken from the fugitive slaves, who formed a large part of his force. Sextus appears to have boasted that Neptune was his father, and the sea his mother. See Epod. iv. 19.

12. _Emancipatus_] There is no variation in the MSS. here, but the sense would seem to require 'mancipatus.' "'Mancipatio' is the form by which a person who was not 'sui juris' was transferred to the 'potestas' of another, as in the case of adoption. 'Emancipare' seems to be the proper term to express the making a person 'sui juris' by the act of 'mancipatio'; but 'mancipo' and 'emancipo' are often confounded in the MSS." Here, however, we must take 'emancipatus' as the true reading and it can only signify 'sold into slavery.' There may be a shade of difference in the meaning of the words, which it is not easy to trace.

13. _Fert vallum et arma_] 'Valli' were stakes, of which every soldier carried one or two for the purpose of defending the 'agger' or mound of earth, formed round an encampment or a besieged town. 'Arma' includes not only his weapons of offence and defence, but an axe, saw, chain, etc. The accoutrements of a Roman soldier were very heavy, but they had slaves ('calones') who helped to carry them. See C. ii. 13. 18, n.

16. _conopium_] A gauze mosquito curtain.

17. _At huc_] 'Huc' is 'to our side.' 'Frementes' agrees with 'equos.' Horace means to say that part of the enemy's force deserted to Cæsar. For the expression 'canentes Caesarem' compare Virg. (Aen. vii. 698): "Ibant aequati numero regemque canebant." The Galli were cavalry of Galatia (or Gallogræcia) under Deiotarus their king, and his general (who afterwards succeeded him), Amyntas.

20. _sinistrorsum citae._] This is probably a nautical term. The Greeks had an expression πρύμνην κρούσασθαι, 'to back water.' Something of that sort, connected with flight, is probably the meaning of 'sinistrorsum citae.' Whether Horace exactly states what he had heard, and whether the information was precisely correct, we cannot tell. He wrote while the tidings were fresh, and probably gave only popular reports. The defection of the Galatians is mentioned by Plutarch (Ant. 63). 'Citae' is the participle of 'cieo.'

21. _Io Triumphe,_] Triumphus is personified, as in C. iv. 2. 49.

_aureos Currus_] A gilded chariot was used by conquerors in their triumphs. The form of the chariot was that of a round tower. Four horses, which on special occasions were white, were used for drawing the triumphal chariot. Heifers that had not been under the yoke, were offered in sacrifice at the close of the procession. Scipio Africanus Minor triumphed in A.U.C. 608 (B.C. 146), for the conquest of Carthage, and Marius in B.C. 104, for his victories over Jugurtha.

25. _cui super Karthaginem_] All that is here said about Scipio's tomb is, that his valor built him one on the ruins of Carthage, which is no more than a repetition of C. iv. 8. 17. Horace is speaking of a tomb of renown, in which Scipio's memory is enshrined, not his body.

27. _Terra marique_] There was no land engagement; but all the forces of Antonius, when he deserted them, laid down their arms. 'Punicum sagum' is called by the Greek writers φοινίκις. The 'sagum' was properly the cloak worn by the common soldier on service; but qualified as it is here by 'punicum,' 'purple,' it can only mean the 'paludamentum,' or officer's military cloak. Horace says the enemy has changed his purple cloak for a black one, in token of mourning and shame for his defeat. It is to be observed, that, though M. Antonius is clearly the person uppermost in the writer's mind, he only uses the general expressions 'hostis,' 'Romanus' (v. 11). 'Mutavit' signifies, as elsewhere, 'has taken in exchange.'

29. _centum--urbibus_] See C. iii. 27. 33, n. 'Ventis non suis' means 'unfavourable winds.' Ovid (Met. iv. 373): "Vota suos habuere deos."

33. _Capaciores affer_] The transition here is as abrupt and expressive as in C. iii. 19. 9.

36. _Metire nobis_] 'Metire' is equivalent to 'misce,' because the wine and the water were measured out and mixed in regular proportions, by means of the cyathus (C. iii. 19. 12).

EPODE X.

Mævius was an inferior poet of the day, who appears to have employed himself in abusing his betters. He is most popularly known through Virgil's familiar line, "Qui Bavium non odit amet tua carmina, Maevi" (Ecl. iii. 90). It appears that he went or meditated going to Greece, and Horace took a different leave of him from that he took of his friend Virgil on a like occasion (C. i. 3). He calls him the stinking Mævius, and promises an offering to the tempests if they will sink his ship.

Argument.--Bad luck go with the stinking Mævius. Blow, ye winds, and shatter his ship; no friendly star peep forth in the sky: let him be driven as the Greeks were by Pallas for the crime of Ajax. O how the sailors will sweat! and thou wilt turn deadly pale, and cry like a woman, and fall to thy prayers! Let me only hear the gulls are feasting upon thy carcass, and I will offer a goat and a lamb to the storms.

10. _tristis Orion_] See C. i. 28. 21, n.

14. _Ajacis_] The son of Oïleus. The story is, that he was destroyed by Athene, on his return from Troy, for having dragged Cassandra from her altar and violated her. See Virg. Aen. i. 41. Homer tells the story a little differently (Odyss. iv. 499, sqq.). But either account suits Horace's description.

17. _illa_] He speaks as though he heard the man crying.

19. _Ionius--sinus_] The southern part of the Hadriatic was called the Ionian sea, and it is called 'sinus,' as the Hadriatic itself is called so in C. iii. 27. 18.

23. _immolabitur caper_] See Virg. Aen. iii. 120; v. 772. Black animals were usually offered to the Tempests, to deprecate their wrath. The offerings Horace promised are in the way of thanksgiving.

EPODE XI.

This is a love poem, probably imitated from the Greek. The poet complains that he is so smitten by the heavy hand of love that he cannot write as he used. Two years before, he says, he had given up Inachia, who preferred richer lovers to himself, but now the young Lyciscus has caught his heart, and nothing but some new love can deliver him from the snare. The poet addresses his friend Pettius, as one who had before been his confidant and adviser (v. 12).

Argument.--Pettius, I am so smitten with the heavy hand of love, who makes me above others his victim, that I cannot write as I used. 'T is two years since I gave up Inachia. Ah! what a by-word I was then! How I sighed in company and poured out my complaints to thee, when wine had opened my heart! "Has the poor man's wit no chance against the rich man's purse? My wrath is kindled. I cast my modesty and my sighs to the winds, I will contend with such rivals no more." Thus did I boast, but my feet carried me still to her cruel door. And now, boasting that I have no woman to fear, Lyciscus has caught my heart, nor can counsel or raillery deliver me, nor aught but some new flame.

1. _Petti,_] This name is not found elsewhere. It may nevertheless be a real name, though it seems only to be introduced to give an air of reality to the Ode.

3. _me praeter omnes expetit_] 'Me' is governed by 'expetit,' not by 'urere.' 'Expetit--urere' is a Greek construction; 'quem urat' is the regular Latin.

4. _in pueris_] This use of 'in' is not very common. It occurs Ov. Met. iv. 234, "Neque enim moderatus in illa Solis amor fuerat."

6. _Inachia_] This is another of those names from the Greek which Horace invariably adopts in his merely poetical compositions. See Introduction.

_honorem decutit._] This expression is used by Virgil, who either borrowed it from Horace, or from some common original (Georg. ii. 404): "Frigidus et silvis Aquilo decussit honorem." See C. i. 17. 16: "Ruris honorum opulenta."

8. _Fabula_] Epp. i. 13. 9: "Fabula fias." He means he was the talk of the town. 'Arguit' (v. 10) is the preterperfect tense.

11. _Contrane_] 'Can it be that the honest genius of the poor man has no influence against gold?' 'Ne' might be omitted, but then it would be a mere exclamation, 'To think that,' etc.

12. _applorans_] This word is not found elsewhere, except in Seneca.

13. _inverecundus deus_] When Horace means to discourage brawling over wine, he calls Bacchus 'verecundus' (C. i. 27. 3). The best works of art represent this god as young and effeminately beautiful, with long hair, like Apollo, as the emblem of eternal youth. It is a coarse modern notion to represent him as a jolly round faced boy, or a drunken sot. This character belongs to Silenus, who is always drunk.

15. _Quodsi meis_] 'But now that in my heart is boiling wrath so free that it doth scatter to the winds these thankless remedies that cure not my sad wound, my modesty removed shall cease to strive with rivals not mine equals.' He means to say, that his wrath has got the better of his love and modesty, and he will cast his complaints and his shyness to the winds, and cease to contend with rivals that are unworthy of him. 'Fomenta' means sighs and complainings with which grief is sought to be relieved. 'Libera bilis' is like (Epod. iv. 10) "liberrima indignatio." 'Imparibus' signifies his rivals who are beneath him in mind, though his betters in fortune. 'Desinet certare summotus pudor' is equivalent to 'desinam certare summoto pudore.' 'Imparibus' is the dative case. See C. i. 1. 15, n. 'Inaestuo' is not used elsewhere, but Horace is free in his use of prepositions in composition, after the manner of the Greeks.

19. _palam laudaveram,_] 'Palam' is used both as an adverb and a preposition. 'Laudaveram' is equivalent to 'jactaveram.'

20. _incerto pede_] 'With wavering foot,' that is, with steps that would go one way, and are forced to go another. The poet represents himself as making fine boasts before his friend, but striving in vain to keep them when he leaves him.

21. _non amicos heu mihi postes_] Compare "asperas porrectum ante fores" (C. iii. 10. 2), where 'porrectum' explains 'lumbos et infregi latus,' which means that he wearied his body by lying on the hard ground.

24. _mollitie amor_] The hiatus in this verse, and the short syllable in