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Quod timui mutare modos et carminis artem;
Temperat Archilochi Musam pede mascula Sappho,
Temperat Alcaeus, sed rebus et ordine dispar,
Nec socerum quaerit, quem versibus oblinat atris,
Nec sponsae laqueum famoso carmine nectit.
Hunc ego, non alio dictum prius ore, Latinus
Vulgavi fidicen; juvat immemorata ferentem
Ingenuis oculisque legi manibusque teneri.
Scire velis, mea cur ingratus opuscula lector
Laudet ametque domi, premat extra limen iniquus ?
Non ego ventosae plebis suffragia venor

Impensis coenarum et tritae munere vestis;

Non ego, nobilium scriptorum auditor et ultor,
Grammaticas ambire tribus et pulpita dignor.
Hinc illae lacrimae. 'Spissis indigna theatris
Scripta pudet recitare et nugis addere pondus,'
Si dixi; 'rides,' ait, 'et Jovis auribus ista
Servas; fidis enim manare poëtica mella

Te solum, tibi pulcher.' Ad haec ego naribus uti
Formido, et luctantis acuto ne secer ungui,
'Displicet iste locus' clamo, et diludia posco.

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35

40

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-28. Construe thus: Sappho mascula (of manly courage') temperat Musam pede Archilochi, writes in the same verse as Archilochus.' Temperare regere.-30. This and the following line refer to Lycambes and his daughter. 32. Hunc; namely, Alcaeum. 33. Immemorata, things not before mentioned,' here the lyric poetry of Alcaeus.-36. Premat, cries down.' Iniquus inimicus.-37. Ventosae. See i. 8, 12. What Horace here censures was really done by certain wealthy people who wished to pass for poets. They gave dinners, and read their compositions to their assembled friends, who of course praised them. These are the nobiles scriptores mentioned in line 39, whose ultor, 'punisher,' Horace is, because he writes better poems, and obtains more honour.-40. Tribus, corporations, societies.' The expression 'tribes' is used here intentionally, because the schoolmasters assumed, as it were, a legislative or judicial function, the power of determining the merits of authors, by either introducing their works into the schools or rejecting them.-41. Hinc illae lacrimae, hence comes the censure which makes me weep; a proverbial expression taken from the Andria of Terence, i. 1, 99.-42. Scripta, scil. mea.-43. Ait, some one says.' Jovis auribus ista servas, thinking them too good for mortals. —44. Manare mella, flowest with honey.' The verb is used transitively. Gram. § 249, note 2.-45. Naribus uti: = naso adunco suspendere. See Sat. i. 6, 5, and ii. 8, 64.-46. Luctantis-ungui; that is, that I may not be still more severely handled. 47. Diludia are properly the pauses, breathing-times, which were given to the gladiators between the single

Ludus enim genuit trepidum certamen et iram,
Ira truces inimicitias et funebre bellum.

fights, that they might recover themselves. Hence the sense is: I demand more time to improve my poems.

EPISTOLA XX.

AD LIBRUM SUUM.

THE last epistle of the first book. It is addressed to the book itself, and, in a playful strain, mentions the fate with which it may meet.

VERTUMNUM Janumque, liber, spectare videris,

Scilicet ut prostes Sosiorum pumice mundus.
Odisti claves et grata sigilla pudico;

Paucis ostendi gemis et communia laudas,
Non ita nutritus. Fuge, quo descendere gestis.
Non erit emisso reditus tibi.

Quid miser egi?

Quid volui?' dices, ubi quid te laeserit; et scis
In breve te cogi, quum plenus languet amator.
Quodsi non odio peccantis desipit augur,
Carus eris Romae, donec te deserat aetas;
Contrectatus ubi manibus sordescere vulgi
Coeperis, aut tineas pasces taciturnus inertes,

Aut fugies Uticam, aut vinctus mitteris Ilerdam.

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1. Vertumnus, the god of all change (from verto), and hence of buying and selling. He had a temple in the Forum near the Janus, and its neighbourhood was filled with shops, bookshops among the rest.-2. The brothers Sosii were the principal booksellers in Rome at this time. See Ars Poët., 345. Books, when put up for sale, were made smooth with pumice. Hence pumice mundus.-3. Grata pudico, which are pleasant to a modest book.' Sealing was very commonly used in ancient times in place of the locks which we put on chests and boxes. 4. Gemis is here construed with the mere infinitive, instead of the accusative with the infinitive: thou groanest at being shewn only to a few.'-8. In breve te cogi, 'that thou art rolled up into a small compass,' to be laid by in a chest, from which perhaps the reader, who is plenus (that is, has other and better poems), may never again take thee.-9. Augur; Horace himself.-10. Donec aetas, 'till taste (which alters with time) leaves thee forsaken.'-13. Ilerda, a town in Spain. The Roman literature had begun to spread in the provinces by this time, but books reached them very late; so that what was antiquated at Rome was a novelty in Africa or Spain. Vinctus is packed up' like merchants' wares, or perhaps tied up round other articles,' as we

Ridebit monitor non exauditus, ut ille,

Qui male parentem in rupes protrusit asellum
Iratus: quis enim invitum servare laboret ?
Hoc quoque te manet, ut pueros elementa docentem
Occupet extremis in vicis balba senectus.
Quum tibi sol tepidus plures admoverit aures,
Me libertino natum patre et in tenui re
Majores pennas nido extendisse loqueris,
Ut quantum generi demas, virtutibus addas;
Me primis urbis belli placuisse domique;
Corporis exigui, praecanum, solibus aptum,
Irasci celerem, tamen ut placabilis essem.
Forte meum si quis te percontabitur aevum,
Me quater undenos sciat implevisse Decembres,
Collegam Lepidum quo duxit Lollius anno.

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use brown paper.-14. Monitor; namely, I myself, who have been giving thee advice.-17. This fate, too, awaits thee, that stammering old age shall come upon thee, as thou teachest the boys in the remote streets the A B C. Here the book is completely personified. Compare i. 19, 40. Only the old authors used to be read in schools; in Horace's time, for instance, those who lived before Cicero, in the second century before Christ. The poet saw that his book would become a schoolbook, though not till after the lapse of many years.-19. The sense is: when people read thee in the evening, when the sun is mild, then tell them.-21. Connect majores pennas nido; that is, quam nidus est, than could be expected from the nest in which I was born.-23. Primis = principibus.-24. Horace loved to bask in the sunshine, and hated cold.-28. These were consuls in 21 B. C., consequently Horace was born in December 65 B. C.

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EPISTOLARUM

LIBER SECUNDUS.

EPISTOLA I.

AD AUGUSTUM.

THIS book was written at the urgent request of Augustus, who felt hurt that Horace as yet had addressed none of his poems to him. This first epistle is addressed to the emperor. After a short introduction in praise of Augustus, the poet begins to speak of the state of Roman poetry; he exhorts the emperor to foster it, and concludes with excusing himself for not celebrating the great deeds of Augustus, as his poetry is only suitable for light subjects.

QUUM tot sustineas et tanta negotia solus,
Res Italas armis tuteris, moribus ornes,
Legibus emendes; in publica commoda peccem,
Si longo sermone morer tua tempora, Caesar.
Romulus et Liber pater et cum Castore Pollux,
Post ingentia facta deorum in templa recepti,
Dum terras hominumque colunt genus, aspera bella
Componunt, agros assignant, oppida condunt;
Ploravere suis non respondere favorem

Speratum meritis. Diram qui contudit Hydram
Notaque fatali portenta labore subegit,
Comperit invidiam supremo fine domari.
Urit enim fulgore suo, qui praegravat artes
Infra se positas; extinctus amabitur idem.

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2. Moribus ornes. Augustus was praefectus morum. Compare Carm. iv. 15, 9.-4. Tua tempora; that is, thee who hast to give thy time to the state.-5. Compare Carm. iii. 3, 9, and following.-7. With hominum genus we expect vivunt inter, not colunt, which can refer properly only to terras.-11. Fatali labore. The labours were imposed on Hercules by Fate. The Hydra is a type of discord, to which Augustus had put an end in the Roman state.-12. Supremo fine morte.-13. Artes = virtutes. See Carm. iii. 3, 9. The sense is: he who excels his fellow-men

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Praesenti tibi maturos largimur honores,
Jurandasque tuum per nomen ponimus aras,
Nil oriturum alias, nil ortum tale fatentes.
Sed tuus hic populus sapiens et justus in uno
Te nostris ducibus, te Graiis anteferendo,
Cetera nequaquam simili ratione modoque
Aestimat, et nisi quae terris semota suisque
Temporibus defuncta videt, fastidit et odit,
Sic fautor veterum, ut tabulas peccare vetantes,
Quas bis quinque viri sanxerunt, foedera regum
Vel Gabiis vel cum rigidis aequata Sabinis,
Pontificum libros, annosa volumina vatum
Dictitet Albano Musas in monte locutas.
Si, quia Graecorum sunt antiquissima quaeque
Scripta vel optima, Romani pensantur eadem
Scriptores trutina, non est, quod multa loquamur;
Nil intra est oleam, nil extra est in nuce duri;
Venimus ad summum fortunae; pingimus atque
Psallimus et luctamur Achivis scitius unctis.
Si meliora dies, ut vina, poëmata reddit,

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is the object of their envy and hatred.-15. Praesenti, 'while still alive.' Compare Carm. iii. 5, 2.-16. Jurandas aras, an unusual expression. People swore, touching the altar at the same time. In 23 B. C., when Augustus recovered from a severe illness, 19 B. C., when he returned from the East, and on other occasions, the senate caused public altars to be erected to the gods, on which sacrifices were offered for his welfare. People swore, too, by the name of Augustus; but divine honours were not granted to him so long as he was alive. Neither he nor any other of the good Roman emperors permitted this. 18. Connect sapiens et justus in uno te anteferendo.-21. Terris semota, 'removed from the earth,' hence mortua. Similarly suis temporibus defuncta = ea quae interierunt.-23. Veterum, neuter. Tabulas peccare vetantes, the twelve tables.-25. Aequata: - aequis condicionibus facta, hence ancient;' for, after the power of Rome became great, she never made treaties on equal terms.-26. Pontificum libros, principally the Annales maximi, chronicles kept from the earliest times by the chief pontiffs. They were meagre, and rudely composed, but very useful to historians. Annosa volumina vatum, especially the Sibylline books.-27. The sense is: the Roman people believe these old poems and annals to be beautiful, and written in choice Latin. Horace takes the Alban Mount as the seat of the Latin Muses.-30. Non est quod, then there is no reason why.' The oldest poets in each department among the Greeks were also the best-Homer, Archilochus, Aeschylus, and others. Not so among the Romans.-31. A proverb, used of those who deny manifest truths: for the olive has a hard stone, and the nut a hard shell.— 32. The sense is: with the same justice we might say that the Romans do everything better than the Greeks, and need to learn no more,

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