CARMEN III. AD MAECENATEM. THE poet imprecates curses on garlic in a style of playful exaggeration. It had been presented to him at the table of Maecenas, probably by the special direction of the host, who wished to derive a little amusement from the exhibition of Horace's aversion to the vegetable. PARENTIS olim si quis impia manu Edit cicutis allium nocentius. O dura messorum ilia ! Quid hoc veneni saevit in praecordiis ? Num viperinus his cruor 5 3. Edit, 'let him eat,' antique for edat. Gram. § 146, 4.-8. Canidia, a woman whom Horace accused of practising the magic art. See Epodes 5 and 17.-9. A mythological allusion. Such was the poison with which Medea anointed Jason when he was about to bind a yoke on the fire-breathing bulls. Ut, here = ubi, postquam.-13. 'She (Medea) having avenged herself on her rival by gifts soaked in this (such a poison as this), fled away by means of her winged serpents.' The pellex was Glauce or Creüsa, daughter of Creon, king of Corinth.-15. Vapor siderum, vapoury (noxious) heat of the sun.'-17. Munus, "the present;' namely, the garment which Deïanira gave to her husband Hercules, in order to secure his constancy, but which, being steeped in the poisoned blood of the Centaur Nessus, caused the hero excruciating torment.-19. The poet jocularly denounces a punishment on Maecenas if he ever again causes him such suffering. Jocose Maecenas, precor Manum puella savio opponat tuo, 20 20 CARMEN IV. IN MENAM. AN effusion of indignation against a man who, during the confusion of the civil wars, had raised himself by base means from the lowest station to rank and wealth; and now in Rome, by his haughty demeanour, excited the wrath of the well-disposed part of the community. The poet does not name him; but the superscriptions in MSS., which were probably introduced by early commentators, are partly In Vedium Rufum, partly In Menam. This latter personage is often mentioned in the narrative of the events of this time by Dion Cassius. He was a freedman of Sextus Pompeius, and commanded a part of his fleet, but during the war deserted to Octavianus. The rewards and distinctions which Octavianus bestowed on Menas excited the indignation of honourable men, especially of such as, like Horace, harboured a secret liking for the leaders of the republican partyBrutus, Cassius, Domitius, and Sextus Pompeius. Compare Carm. iii. 16, 15. LUPIS et agnis quanta sortito obtigit, Licet superbus ambules pecunia, Ut ora vertat huc et huc euntium Sectus flagellis hic triumviralibus 5 10 3. Hibericis peruste funibus, smarting from Spanish ropes,' urere being often used of a thing which produces a smarting pain, such as whipping. Spanish ropes' here are ropes made of the tough kind of broom called spartum, which was particularly abundant in Spain.8. Bis trium. The sense is clear: the upstart measures that is, stalks along the most frequented street in Rome dressed in a toga of six ells in width.-11. By the scourges of the tresviri (or triumviri) capitales; that is, by the scourges applied by order of these men, who formed a sort of police court for trying offenders of the lowest Praeconis ad fastidium, Arat Falerni mille fundi jugera, Et Appiam mannis terit, Sedilibusque magnus in primis eques 15 Quid attinet tot ora navium gravi Rostrata duci pondere Contra latrones atque servilem manum, 20 The class of the community. The public crier stood by him whilst he was being scourged, and proclaimed his crime and his punishment. He was punished so frequently that the crier became disgusted with the constant bawling.-16. With contempt of Otho.' L. Roscius Otho, in his tribuneship, 67 B. C., passed a law that the fourteen benches immediately behind the orchestra in the theatre should be set apart for the equites, and ordained expressly that this order should be open only to men inheriting free birth from the third generation. person to whom the poem is addressed did not answer this condition, but, disregarding it, had obtained admission into the order, and all the rights of free birth, by the special appointment of some one in power, probably Caesar Octavianus.-17. The sense is: where is the use of carrying on a naval war against robbers and slaves (such as Octavianus waged in the years 38-36 B. C. with Sextus Pompeius), if this man, a man who has himself been a slave and a pirate, is commander of the fleet? CARMEN V. IN CANIDIAM VENEFICAM. AN extremely bitter attack on a woman called Canidia, whose real name, according to the statement of an ancient scholiast, was Gratidia, who carried on a trade in perfumery at Naples. She is accused here, in Epode 17, and Satires, i. 8, 23, of practising magic to gain and keep lovers, and even of killing a boy to obtain materials for the manufacture of love-potions. The boy himself is introduced at the beginning and end of the poem imprecating and denouncing curses. 'AT o deorum quidquid in coelo regit Terras et humanum genus, Quid iste fert tumultus? et quid omnium 1. At has here an imploring force: Oh, pray what does this uproar mean?' The boy destined to be the victim of Canidia's cruelty is Per liberos te, si vocata partubus Per hoc inane purpurae decus precor, Petita ferro belua?' Ut haec trementi questus ore constitit Impube corpus, quale posset impia Et uncta turpis ova ranae sanguine Herbasque, quas Iolcos atque Hiberia Et ossa ab ore rapta jejunae canis At expedita Sagana per totam domum Horret capillis ut marinus asperis Abacta nulla Veia conscientia the speaker.-5. Si-affuit; that is, if thou hast really born children. Lucina or Juno Lucina was the goddess who gave help in childbirth.-7. The distinction of the purple stripe on his tunic, which was worn by freeborn boys, does not protect him from the cruelty of the wicked woman.-17. The magic burnt-offering consisted of the wood of the wild fig-tree and the cypress, on which are laid the eggs and feathers of an owl, smeared with the blood of a toad; also magical herbs and gnawed bones. These herbs are said to come from Thessaly and Hiberia, a Caucasian district: a poetical fancy, founded on the fame of the Colchian poisoner Medea, and of the inhabitants of Thessaly, particularly the women. In addition to all this which we have mentioned, the marrow and the liver of the poor tortured boy are required, and by this horrid sacrifice Canidia intends to bring back the affections of Varus, her faithless lover.-26. Avernales, from Lake Avernus,' which among the Roman poets takes to a great extent the place of Acheron, the river of the lower world.-29. Veia, the second assistant of Canidia, has been engaged in the meantime in digging a hole in the ground, in which the boy, buried up to the chin, is to be starved to death. Provisions are to be placed near him, and changed occasionally, for the purpose of rendering his hunger the keener. · Ligonibus duris humum Longo die bis terque mutatae dapis Cum promineret ore quantum extant aqua Suspensa mento corpora : Exusta uti medulla et aridum jecur Non defuisse masculae libidinis Ariminensem Foliam, Et otiosa credidit Neapolis Et omne vicinum oppidum, Quae sidera excantata voce Thessala 45 Hic irresectum saeva dente livido Canidia rodens pollicem Quid dixit aut quid tacuit? O rebus meis 50 Nox et Diana, quae silentium regis, Arcana cum fiunt sacra, Nunc, nunc adeste, nunc in hostiles domos Iram atque numen vertite. 36. Suspensa mento. A person swimming, having only his head above water, seems to hang by his chin.-37. Exusta, dried up' by the unsatisfied longing for food. Other readings, exesta, exsucta, are bad, as they express the destruction of the liver, whilst it was to form an ingredient in the love-potion.-39. Interminato, passively, from the deponent interminari, here = interdicto, negato, prohibited, withheld.' -45. Sidera lunamque, the stars and the moon.' Commonly only the moon is put under the control of witches, who were supposed to draw it down, thus causing the darkness at an eclipse.-58. Latrent allatrent. Canidia wishes that the dogs may bark long and loudly at old Varus when he goes to court any one but herself. Suburra, a |