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25. ausa et. . fortis et. There is no verb understood. These are the grounds of the foregoing statements, the infinitive following 'fortis,' as in 1. 1. 18, &c.

iacentem, metaphorical=‘afflictam ac desolatam,' Orelli. Bentley, at the suggestion of one MS., would read' tacentem.'

26. asperas, 1. 23. 9.

28. combiberet, drink the full draught.' The story of her death by the bite of an asp was, according to Dio (51. 14), due to conjecture. Some KEVτηuaта λeñтά were found on her arm, which were attributed by some to the bite of an asp, by some to a poisoned needle. Suetonius also (Oct. 17) only says 'putabatur.'

29. deliberata, in the sense of Cicero's 'certe statuere ac deliberare,' Verr. 2. I. I.

30. Liburnis, dative. Their will, which she grudged them, is expressed in the infinitive clause. For the Liburnian galleys, see on Epod. 1. 1.

31. privata, 'unqueened.' The nominative is after the Greek idiom. Porph. and Acr. quote Livy for the statement that Cleopatra 'cum de industria ab Augusto in captivitate indulgentius tractaretur identidem dicere solitam fuisse οὐ θριαμβεύσομαι.

ODE XXXVIII.

A slight Ode, expressive of the modest avoidance of pomp and luxury which Horace professes and recommends.

Orelli sees, and doubtless rightly, a meaning in its position at the end of the book, and immediately after the spirited Ode on Cleopatra's death. Cp. the position of Od. 3. 7, and see Introduction to Odes i-iii, § 11. 3, and notes on 2. 1. 37, 3. 3. 69, 3. 5. 55.

Line 1. Persicos, of oriental luxury. Ritter quotes Tac. Ann. 2. 57 Vox quoque eius [sc. Pisonis] audita est in convivio, cum apud regem Nabataeorum coronae aureae magno pondere Caesari et Agrippinae, leves Pisoni et ceteris offerrentur, principis Romani non Parthi regis filio eas epulas dari; abiecitque simul coronam et multa in luxum addidit.'

2. nexae philyra. piλúpa was the Greek name of the lime tree, Lat. tilia'; but it is used in Latin for the fibrous inner bark of that tree (Herod. 4. 67), which was employed, amongst other purposes, in making garlands (Plin. N. H. 16. 25. 14). Ovid calls such garlands 'sutiles,' Fast. 5. 335.

3. quo. Mr. Shilleto (on Thuc. 1. 89) explains this as an instance of attraction and absorption of the antecedent, quo'='eo ubi,' comparing Ter. Adelph. 2. 1. 36 'illuc redi quo occepisti.' It is perhaps better to

take 'sectari' as only a picturesque substitute for 'quaerere' and admitting the same construction, and 'quo locorum' as 'quo loco.' Cicero has 'quo loci'; see Forc. s. v.

4. sera, the time would seem to be autumn.

5. allabores, a word peculiar to Horace='laborando addas.'

6. sedulus, with 'allabores,' busily, anxiously. curo. Bentley conjectures 'cura' (imperative), thinking 'curo' not a sufficiently peremptory way of expressing a wish to a slave ni Saturnalia tunc agebantur.' But the negative really qualifies it, so that it = 'non curo quidquam allabores.'

7. arta, not allowed to throw its arms abroad, but tied close over a trellis, or otherwise, so as to form a bower.

BOOK II.

ODE I.

'Pollio is writing the tale of the civil wars, a difficult and delicate task. We can afford to let even his tragedies wait awhile, till the great and brave orator of the forum and the senate, and the conqueror of Illyria, has given us his history. In our eagerness we seem already to hear the trumpets and see the flashing armour, to hear him reading to us of the fall of chieftains and the conquest of all the world save Cato's stubborn soul. Ay, Jugurtha is avenged now! What land or sea is not red with the blood of our fratricidal wars? these are no themes for you.'

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But stay, my Muse,

There is nothing to fix very definitely the date of the Ode. The expressions of the first two stanzas, nondum expiatis,' 'cineri doloso,' perhaps attract it to the Odes (such as 1. 2 and 14) which dwell more on the troubles from which the State had already escaped than on the new and peaceful order on which it had entered. Augustus is not mentioned. Pollio had not sided with him, and had certainly been a friend of M. Antony. But the Ode expresses, as strongly as Od. 1. 2, that weariness of bloodshed which had induced men to acquiesce in the rule of one.

C. Asinius Pollio, the friend and supporter of Julius Caesar, having passed through the Consulship in B. C. 40 (Virg. E. 4), and won the honours of a triumph for his campaign against the Illyrians (ib. 8. 6-13), withdrew from public life, and, in the subsequent struggle between Antony and Octavius, remained honourably neutral. He was a magnificent patron of literature, and is famous as having established the first public library at Rome out of the spoils of his Illyrian campaign. He was also one of the most accomplished men of the age. Catullus (12. 9) speaks of him in his youth as 'leporum Disertus puer et facetiarum.' He is ranked among the great orators by Quintilian (10. I. 113), Seneca (Epist. 100), and Tacitus (De Or. 38). His

tragedies are spoken of in high terms by Virgil (E. 8. 10 'sola Sophocleo tua carmina digna cothurno') and Horace (Sat. 1. 10. 42). His history of the civil wars, from B. C. 60 to the establishment of Augustus' power, is referred to by Tacitus (Ann. 4. 34), and Suetonius (Jul. Caes. 30). We may notice the skill with which Pollio's various accomplishments are worked incidentally into the Ode.

Line 1. motum, the stir of civil strife; Cicero's word for a tumult or rising, whether of a foreign or a domestic enemy.

ex Metello consule, from the consulship of Q. Caec. Metellus Celer and L. Afranius, B.C. 60, the year of the league between Pompey, Crassus, and Caesar, often called the First Triumvirate.

civicum, Epp. 1. 3. 23, an archaic and, with the exception of the phrase 'civica corona,' almost exclusively poetical form of the more usual civilis.' Cp. 'hosticus' for hostilis,' 3. 2. 6.

&c.

2. vitia, 'crimes.'

modos = 'rationes,' its shifting phases, now on land, now on sea,

3. ludum Fortunae, Od. 3. 29. 50, I. 2. 37.

graves principum amicitias, cp. Lucan 1. 84 Tu causa malorum, Facta tribus dominis communis Roma, nec unquam In turbam missi feralia foedera regni. O male concordes!' &c. It must not be applied to the triumvirate of Octavius, Antony, and Lepidus, of which Horace would not speak in such terms.

5. nondum expiatis, Od. 1. 2. 29.

cruoribus, plural of quantity, 2. 14. 25, Virg. Aen. 4. 687.

6. aleae, of hazards which no prudence can foresee. Horace's object is not to discourage Pollio, but to exalt the value of the difficult task which he is performing.

7. ignes.. doloso, metaphorical, of any dangerous business. Callim. 46. 2 nûp vnd rỹ σmodiŋ, Prop. 1. 5. 5' ignotos vestigia ferre per ignes.' 9. severae, solemn, stately. Cp. Aristotle's epithets of Tragedy and its subjects, σπουδαίος, σεμνός.

11. ordinaris, after the Greek ovvτátteiv, of composition. This is the Scholiast's interpretation; but before Bentley the other commentators took it to mean, according to a common poetical figure, 'tell of the settlement of the State.' Orelli's objection to this seems to be forcible, that it would imply Pollio's approval of Augustus' policy more distinctly than Horace appears to intend.

12. Cecropio cothurno. For the abl. cp. v. 16 Delmatico triumpho,' and 2. 7. 16 'fretis aestuosis,' and see on 1. 6. 2 and 3. 5. 5. The relation is of the nature of those classed together as the 'ablative absolute'; i. e. the adjective is predicative, and it is not the substantive alone, but

the substantive and adjective together which constitute the circumstance which justifies or limits the main statement. Pollio's occupation is a 'lofty calling,' because the 'buskin' which he wears is that of the Attic stage.

14. consulenti, absol. 'in its counsels.' Like 'maestis,' it describes the time at which Pollio's services would be most needed.

Pollio. There seems to be force in the reservation of Pollio's name for this place, when our interest has been roused for the forthcoming history, 'the history written,' Horace would say, 'not by a bystander, but by the great orator, statesman, warrior.' Compare a more evident instance of art in the collocation of a name, in the conclusion of Od. 1. 2.

curiae, 'the senate.' Cp. Od. 3. 5. 7.

16. Delmatico, Virg. E. 8.6 foll. Pollio was sent by Antony against the Parthini, an Illyrian tribe who had espoused the cause of Brutus and Cassius. He defeated them, and took their chief town, Salonae. the ablative, see above on v. 12.

19. fugaces, pred. 'scares them till they would fain fly.'

For

20. equitum voltus; compare with Dill. Plutarch Caes. 45 (in the account of the battle of Pharsalia) οὐ γὰρ ἠνείχοντο τῶν ὑσσῶν (pilorum) ἀναφερομένων οὐδ ̓ ἐτόλμων ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς τὸν σίδηρον ὁρῶντες, ἀλλ ̓ ἀπεστρέφοντο καὶ συνεκαλύπτοντο φειδόμενοι τῶν προσώπων. Ritter sees a definite reference to Caesar's order to his soldiers (Plut. ib.) to strike at the faces' of the Pompeians.

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21. audire.. duces, 'to hear you reading of chiefs,' &c. Ritter, Orelli, and Dill. take it of hearing the voices of the chiefs haranguing or giving command in the battle. Both interpretations are as old as Acron. The latter would suit better with the preceding stanza; but there would be a harsh zeugma in the use of audire,' which, with 'cuncta terrarum subacta,' must mean to hear of'; and although 'non indecoro pulvere sordidos' may refer only to the dust and heat of battle (Od. 1. 6. 14 pulvere Troico Nigrum Merionen'), not to biting the ground in death, yet if 'audire' means 'to hear them speaking,' we should certainly have expected an epithet for duces,' which should appeal to the ear rather than to the eye. Bentley felt this difficulty, and wished to read, in despite of the MSS., 'videre.' The point, which Orelli desiderates in our interpretation of the verse, is possibly given by the fact (recorded by the elder Seneca Controv. 4 Praef.), that 'recitation' by an author of his compositions was a novel practice introduced by Pollio himself.

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23. cuncta terrarum, Od. 4. 4. 76 acuta belli'; 4. 12. 19 'amara curarum'; Madv. § 284. obs. 3 n.

subacta, sc. a Caesare.

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