Virtute me involvo, probamque Non est meum, si mugiat Africis Tum me biremis praesidio scaphae Aura feret geminusque Pollux. 55 60 =rescribo, 'I pay by bill, I give back.' Compare Epist. i. 7, 34.-55. Virtute mea me involvo, I wrap myself up in mine integrity,' as in a toga. Dying persons used to draw the toga over their head, and thus quietly await the struggle with the last enemy.-56. Sine dote, without any present,' which Fortune gives man as a dowry.-58. Malus, 'the mast,' used here by synecdoche for the ship generally. Compare i. 14, 5.-59. Votis pacisci, to gain peace and rest by vowing presents to the gods should the ship reach the land safely.-62. Biremis here does not mean, as usual, a ship with two banks of oars; but, as we see from scaphae, a small boat impelled by two oars.-63. Aegaeos tumultus, 'the raging storms of the Aegean.'-64. Geminus Pollux. See i. 3, 2, and i. 12, 25. CARMEN XXX. CLOSING poem of the first three books of the odes, in which, as if his productions as a lyrist were here to end, Horace, with a just consciousness of his merits in this department, promises to himself immortality from his odes. EXEGI monumentum aere perennius Quod non imber edax, non Aquilo impotens Annorum series et fuga temporum. 5 1. Aere, than brass; that is, than a statue of brass (aëneo monumento), such as commonly used to be erected to the memory of illustricus men.-2. Situ, than the structure.'-3. Impotens; namely sui, vehemens.-5. Fuga temporum, poetical for tempus fugax.-6. Omnis, utterly.' Hence afterwards multa pars mei, poetical for magna pars mei; namely, my genius, the memory of what my genius has created. -7. Libitinam. Venus Libitina was the goddess of sepulture: at her Crescam laude recens, dum Capitolium 10 15 temple all deaths in Rome were announced, as the births were at that of Juno Lucina. Usque = semper. Postera laude; that is, laude posterorum, by the praise of posterity, which shall cause me to be ever recens, as one who is but just dead.-9. Cum tacita virgine; that is, with the vestal virgins, virgo and pontifex being used collectively. Hence the sense is so long as the Roman priests, accompanied by the vestals, who maintain a solemn silence, go up to the Capitol to offer public sacrifices; that is, so long as Rome, the Eternal City, continues.-10. Construe thus: dicar princeps deduxisse Aeolium carmen ad Italos modos, I shall be celebrated as having been the first to bring over the Aeolian verse to Italian measures; that is, as the first to write in Latin such lyrics as, erewhile, were sung by Sappho and Alcaeus, who composed in the Aeolic dialect of Greek. Aufidus (now Ofanto), a river near Venusia, the birthplace of the poet.-11. As to Daunus, compare i. 22, 14, note. The hero of the country is here named for the country itself; hence the epithet pauper aquae is applied to him, Apulia being deficient in water. Agrestium populorum, genitive dependent on regnavit, according to the Greek construction йexe, xeαTεiv TIVOS.-12. Ex humili potens; that is, humili loco natus, sed potens carminibus.-15. Delphica lauro, with the Delphic laurel,' with the laurel with which Apollo, whose chosen seat is Delphi, crowns poets. Hence the meaning is: grant, O Muse, that I may be universally acknowledged as a true lyric poet.-16. Volens propitia, ' graciously.' = LIBER QUARTUS. CARMEN II. AD IULUM ANTONIUM. In this ode Horace excuses himself for not attempting that lofty kind of lyric poetry which Pindar had cultivated among the Greeks, but contenting himself with imitating the lighter songs of Alcaeus and Sappho. The poem is addressed to Mark Antony's son, Iulus Antonius, who was brought up by Augustus and his sister Octavia. At this time Antonius was held in respect and honour; so much so, indeed, that in the year 10 B. C. he obtained the consulship. Afterwards, however, in 2 B. C., he was discovered to be implicated in a conspiracy against the emperor, and was obliged to kill himself. The ode was written shortly before 13 B.C. PINDARUM quisquis studet aemulari, Nititur pennis vitreo daturus Nomina ponto. Monte decurrens velut amnis, imbres Fervet immensusque ruit profundo Pindarus ore, 5 2. Ceratis ope Daedalea-pennis, on wings which, like those once made by Daedalus, are but artificial, fastened with wax.' An allusion to the well-known story of Daedalus, who, with his son Icarus, flew away from Crete by means of wings which the father had constructed of wax. Icarus, however, the wax of his wings being melted by the sun, fell and was drowned in the sea, which, from his name, was afterwards called the Icarian.-3. Vitreo ponto. Compare i. 17, 20.6. Super notas ripas, 'over its well-known banks,' the banks within which it keeps when not swollen by rains.-7. Profundo ore; that is, grandiloquo, magnifico. The figure of the river is still preserved.— Laurea donandus Apollinari, Seu deos regesve canit, deorum Sive, quos Elea domum reducit Flebili sponsae juvenemve raptum Multa Dircaeum levat aura cycnum, 10 15 20 25 9. Apollinari. See iii. 30, 15.-10. Nova verba devolvit, an allusion to the fact that Pindar, in his dithyrambs, a very sublime kind of lyrics, composed properly only in honour of Bacchus, forms many new words, which, long compounds, are whirled along by his impetuous verse as great rocks are carried down by the force of a torrent. In these poems, too, the measures of his verse are more free, and put together more boldly; hence fertur numeris lege solutis, he rushes along in lawless measures.-13. Deos, hymns to Jupiter of which we have a small fragment-and to other gods. Reges, panegyrics or encomia on ancient kings and heroes, such as Pirithous and Theseus, who were sprung from gods (hence deorum sanguinem, put in apposition to reges), and waged a just war (hence justa morte) against the Centaurs, who had carried off Hippodamia, the bride of Pirithous: such, also, as Bellerophon, who slew the flame-breathing Chimaera (here poetically flamma Chimaerae.) See ii. 17, 13.-17. This refers to the odes which Pindar wrote on the victors in the Olympian, Isthmian, and Nemean games, and some of which were on the horses that were victorious in the races. These are the only poems of Pindar which have come down to us entire. Elea palma, the palm-branch of Elis,' refers indeed only to the games at Olympia, but we must understand the others to be meant as well.-18. Coelestes, beatos, as proud and as happy as the gods. Compare i. 1, 6. Pugilem, victor in the pugilistic contests at Olympia.-21. Juvenemve. Ve supplies the place of sive or seu, which occurs in lines 10, 13, and 17. Hence construe thus: sive plorat juvenem raptum flebili sponsae. This class of poems, of which we have many fragments, is called in Greek pñvos (dirges.)—23. Educit for the more common effert or evehit, raises, extols to the stars.'-25. Dircaeum cycnum. This title is given to Pindar from Dirce, a fountain near Thebes, his native city. Multa aura levat, ‘much air-that is, a strong 6 = Nubium tractus. Ego apis Matinae Grata carpentis thyma per laborem Concines majore poeta plectro Quo nihil majus meliusve terris Nec dabunt, quamvis redeant in aurum Concines laetosque dies et urbis 6 6 breeze-raises him.' We use a similar expression, he takes a vigorous or lofty flight.'-27. Matinae. See i. 28, 3. The district was celebrated for the number of its bees, and the sweetness of its honey.-29. Per laborem plurimum, with great labour,' answering to the operosa carmina in line 31. Hence the meaning is: Pindar composed such sublime poetry by his genius: I, not possessing such lofty genius, work up my odes with labour and care.-33. Majore plectro, the opposite of leviore plectro in ii. 1, 40, and hence equivalent to majore carmine, in a loftier kind of song;' for Iulus Antonius distinguished himself as a writer. He composed an epic, in twelve books, called Diomedea, in imitation of those Greek poets who treated of the whole circle of traditions regarding Troy.-34. Quandoque, when once he.' The Sygambri, a German tribe on the Rhine, Sieg, and Lippe, had in 16 B. C. gained an important victory over the Romans, under M. Lollius. Augustus was desirous to avenge this, and the poet imagines to himself already the triumph which the emperor would celebrate.-35. Per sacrum clivum, not elsewhere mentioned, but undoubtedly a part of the via sacra, along which the triumphal processions used to go up to the Capitol. Merita fronde; namely, lauro.-39. Quamvis-priscum; that is, in Milton's words, even though time were to run back, and fetch the age of gold.' This is truly splendid praise of the mild and happy reign of Augustus.-41. What follows has reference to the approaching happy return of Augustus from travelling through Gaul and Spain, in the year 13 B. C. To celebrate this return both senate and people made the most extensive preparations. Besides public prayers and sacrifices, holidays were proclaimed (laetos dies, festos dies), which were connected with a justitium; that is, a cessation not only of the business in the courts of justice and public offices (which the poet indicates, in line 43, by forum litibus orbum, vacuum), but of business generally. Festal games (publicus ludus urbis, in line 42) were to be celebrated, and Augustus was to have a triumphal procession, to which lines 49 and following refer. Moreover, piety demanded that private persons also, = = |