Soracte stans?-3. Laborantes. The trees tremble and bend under their burden of snow. -4. Constiterint acuto. Sharp, keen,' is a standing epithet for cold. Frost contracts; hence constiterint; and hence also, in the following line, dissolve, as the opposite of constiterint. 5. Super foco, a poetical construction, for which a prose writer would have said super focum. Zumpt, $320.-7. Deprome quadrimum Sabina -merum diota, take liberally from the Sabine jar wine which is four years old.' Diota was a two-handed jar (diwrov) from which the goblets were filled. It is called Sabine, because the wine it contained was Sabine, a bad sort: hence in Carm. i. 20, 1, the poet styles it vile Sabinum. Horace knows, however, that his friend's wine has been improved by keeping, since it is quadrimum, of the vintage of four years ago." In Epode 2, 47, the peasant is said to drink wine of the same year; and in Carm. i. 19, 15, Horace, in making a libation to Venus, is content with wine two years old (bimum.)-9. Simul=simul ac, as soon as.'-10. Stravere (sedarunt) ventos. Sternere is properly used in reference to the waves of the sea, 'to smooth:' hence, poetically, also of the winds, which raise the billows.-13. Fuge quaerere, used poetically for noli quaerere, as in ii. 4, 22.-14. Fors - Fortuna. Quemcunque, divided as in 6, 3, and 7, 25. - Lucro appone, consider as gain,' gain to which you have properly no claim, but which is simply and entirely a gift of Fortune.-16. Tu is inserted merely to make up the line, and is consequently not to be translated.-17. Virenti=florenti, said of one in the vigour of youth or early manhood.-18. The poet speaks of three pleasures pursued by the Roman youth: first, the Campus, scil. Martius, the exercises of which have been touched upon in the previous ode; secondly, areae, open squares, where the young people used to meet and saunter and gossip; and lastly, intercourse with the fair sex.-20. Composita hora, at an hour agreed upon.' Repe tantur, let these different modes of amusement be practised repeat Nunc et latentis proditor intimo edly, often.'-21-24. Description of a merry game of 'hide-and-seek.' The sentence consists of two parts, corresponding to the two parts of the game, and connected by et-que. The girl hides, but betrays herself by laughing. When the seeker discovers her, he takes from her a forfeit or pledge, either a bracelet (pignus dereptum lacertis), or a ring (pignus dereptum digito), which she teasingly refuses to give (hence digito male pertinaci.) Construe thus: nunc et gratus risus, proditor ab intimo angulo puellae latentis; that is, qui prodit. puellam latentem. To risus pignusque, supply from line 20 repetantur, or some verb of similar meaning. CARMEN X. AD MERCURIUM. A HYMN to Mercury. This, like the preceding ode, is in imitation of a Greek poem by Alcaeus. MERCURI, facunde nepos Atlantis, More palaestrae, Te canam magni Jovis et deorum 5 1. Nepos Atlantis. Maia, the mother of Mercury by Jupiter, was a daughter of Atlas.-2. Mercury's first merit. He has given man language and eloquence. Feros cultus, wild way of life: the plural is poetic. Recentum, 'newly created.'-3. Catus, an old Sabine word, seldom used in later times, equivalent to prudens, sapiens.— 4. More palaestrae. Mercury presided over wrestling-schools, and over physical training generally. The palaestra is called decora, because it gives man a graceful carriage. The young Romans exercised themselves in the palaestra with the same view as young people now practise dancing; namely, to give ease and elegance to their motions. 5-6. Mercury is described as the messenger of the gods, and the inventor of the lyre. Et deorum; that is, et ceterorum deorum, a mode of speaking pretty common both in Greek and Latin. Curvae lyrae: Mercury, as the tradition ran, formed the lyre out of the crooked shell of a tortoise, by fitting strings to it.7. Mercury was the god also of gain made by raft and cunning. Callidum condere, a Greek construction for Te, boves olim nisi reddidisses Quin et Atridas duce te superbos Tu pias laetis animas reponis 10 15 20 callidum condendi. Placuit is to be taken in its proper sense, 'whatever has pleased him, taken his fancy' = quidquid adamavit. -9. Two instances of Mercury's cunning are cited. The tradition in reference to the former of these is, that on the very day on which he was born he stole fifty oxen from Apollo; and, at the moment when the god was uttering dire threats against him, contrived to take away his quiver from his shoulder. Upon discovering this second theft, Apollo was forced to laugh at the dexterity of the little fellow. The construction is as follows: Olim Apollo, dum te puerum terret minaci voce, nisi reddidisses boves per dolum amotas, risit viduus (spoliatus, or cum privatus esset) pharetra.-13. The second instance of Mercury's craft. By the command of Jupiter he conducted Priam, king of Troy, who wished to redeem from Achilles the body of his son Hector, safely through the midst of the Grecian camp, unobserved by the two Atridae A gamemnon and Menelaus.-15. Thessalos ignes, the watch-fires of the Thessalians; to which nation belonged especially the Myrmidones, the companions of Achilles. Iniqua Trojae = inimica Trojanis.-17. Mercury's last duty. With his golden roda present from Apollo - he guides the souls of the dead to the lower world. Laetis sedibus, the place of the blessed,' Elysium.-18. Levem; that is, bodiless the shades.-20. Imis=inferis; namely, Pluto and Proserpine. * i CARMEN XI. AD LEUCONOEN, THIS poem is addressed to a female, whom Horace calls by the fictitious name of Leuconoë. She was addicted to the study of astrology, by means of which she endeavoured to ascertain the duration of her own life, and of the lives of her friends and enemies. The author in this poem attempts to dissuade her from the practice of the art; an art which in his time was in great repute, but was afterwards prohibited under severe penalties. Tu ne quaesieris (scire nefas), quem mihi, quem tibi Quae nunc oppositis debilitat pumicibus mare = = 5 1. Ne quaesieris, noli quaerere, a negative command. Gram. $369. Scire nefas, scil. est, to know it is a crime against heaven;' the gods having thought it right to keep the knowledge from man. This is implied in nefas.-2. Babylonios numeros,the calculations of the Babylonians; that is, of the Chaldeans, who came from Babylon, and practised astrology.-3. Ut melius, quanto melius est.-4. Ultimam, supply hanc.-5. Pumicibus, the cliffs on which the waves beat, and which they are said debilitare. The word properly means the same as its English derivative, pumice. stone;' and the name is here applied to rocks cracked and crumbling from the action of the water, and thus resembling pumice. -6. Vina liques. The Romans, before drinking wine, used to filter it through a linen cloth, and thus free it from impurities. The poet's meaning here is simply, that Leuconoë should give herself up to pleasure and wine. Spatio brevi spem longam reseces, Cut off (take away) the long hope from the short space of life.' Spatio brevi is, therefore, the dative.-7. Dum loquimur, whilst we are talking,' whilst I am giving you this admonition. Invida aetas; time is called envious, because it curtails our pleasures.-8. Carpe diem. Carpere here expresses activity in enjoying, 'seize, grasp, make the most of this day;' enjoy thyself so long as life and opportunity permit. CARMEN XII. AD AUGUSTUM. SUBLIME eulogium on Augustus, written about the year 24 B. C., when Augustus was in undisputed possession of the government, and had just added another prop to his power by uniting in marriage his daughter Julia to his nephew M. Marcellus. The poet flatters him after a truly sublime fashion; mentioning first the gods, then the heroes of Roman history, concluding with a prayer to Jupiter for prosperity and a happy reign to the emperor. QUEM Virum aut heroa lyra vel acri Aut in umbrosis Heliconis oris, Arte materna rapidos morantem Quid prius dicam solitis parentis 10 1. Acri tibia, the shrill-sounding flute,' a standing epithet for this instrument.-2. Sumis celebrare, Clio, a poetical mode of expression, taken from the Greek. In prose it would be sumis celebrandum, 'dost thou take up or choose to celebrate.' Clio was the muse of history, and is purposely named here. The poet intends to write a panegyric on a historical personage.-3. Jocoso-imago; namely, the echo, for which the Romans had no particular name, and which they therefore frequently called imago vocis. It is called jocosa, because it mocks the traveller, and plays with him.-5, 6. These three mountains, Helicon in Boeotia, Pindus in Thessaly, and Haemus in Thrace, were the chief seats of the muses. Thrace was also the native country of the most ancient Greek poets, particularly, Orpheus; hence, in line 7, unde, &c.-7. Vocalem, used in a parti cipial sense, canentem. Temere, involuntarily, without knowing why. To insecutae supply sunt. 9. Materna, of his mother;" namely, the muse Calliope.-11. Blandum-ducere, able by coax. ing and delighting to draw after him.' Auritas, said properly of one who has long or large ears, here simply 'attentive, listening.' -13. Solitis parentis laudibus; that is, quam solitas laudes parentis deorum et hominum; namely, Jupiter, with whose praises the ancient |