are the 'ludi' in which Mars delights, Od. 1. 2. 37. The Furies are represented as stirring up war in Virg. Aen. 7. 324 foll., 12. 845 foll.

18. avidum, a few MSS. read 'avidis'; but even if we want, as we do on Dillenburger's interpretation, a hit at the trader's eagerness for gain, 'avidis' is neither so delicate nor so forcible as avidum,' which means 'greedy as they'; cp. Od. 2. 18. 30 'rapacis Orci,' where the epithet is clearly meant to compare the greediness of death for his prey with the greediness of the rich landlord who is laying field to field.

20. saeva, Od. 1. 19. 1, perhaps with a reminiscence of the Homeric epithet, [ἐπ]αινὴ Περσεφόνεια.

caput fugit. None could die (acc. to Virg. Aen. 4. 698) till Proserpine had cut a lock of hair from his head; the idea being that the dying man was a victim offered to the powers below ('victima Orci,' Od. 2. 3. 24), as it was usual to begin a sacrifice by cutting some hairs from the forehead of the victim and burning them, Virg. Aen. 6. 245. Cp. Eur. Alc. 74, where Θάνατος says, στείχω δ ̓ ἐπ' αὐτὴν ὡς κατάρξωμαι ξίφει· | ἱερὸς γὰρ οὗτος τῶν κατὰ χθονὸς θεῶν | ὅτου τόδ' ἔγχος κρατὸς ἁγνίσῃ τρίχα.

fugit. The perf. tense, as Od. 2. 13. 20 ‘leti vis rapuit rapietque gentes.'

21. devexi Orionis.

Orion's setting is a time proverbial for bad

weather, Od. 3. 27. 18, Epod. 15. 7, Virg. Aen. 7. 719.

comes, Od. 4. 12. I.

22. Illyricis, for the Adriatic generally, as Virg. Aen. 1. 243. 23. at tu answers, perhaps, the emphatic 'te' of v. 1, 'You have lectured me, now hear what I have to say to you.'

ne parce malignus, ‘grudge not churlishly.' He puts it as though avarice could be the only reason for his refusing.

vagae adds a touch, 'surely the sand that drives hither and thither before the wind won't cost you much.' It is time, however, rather than sand, that he doubts his sparing; 'parce dare' as 'parce cavere,' Od. 3. 8. 26.

24. For the hiatus, cp. Epod. 13. 4 Threicio Aquilone'; Virgil's 'Actaeo Aracyntho,' Ecl. 2. 24, &c.

25. sic, i. e. if you do as I ask; see on Od. 1. 3. 1.

quodcunque minabitur, for the personification, cp. Virg. G. 1. 462 'quid cogitet Auster.'

26. fluctibus Hesperiis. Does this mean 'on the other side of Italy when you get round there,' 'may the east wind spend its force on the forests of Apulia as it crosses Italy'? or do the words not necessarily imply that the trader will himself be sailing on the Hesperian waves? The east wind is on an errand of vengeance against the waves of the west, it is dangerous to come in his course. The form of expres

sion is dictated by the love of verbal antithesis, but there is the notion of the wind sweeping, or threatening to sweep, if it be not stayed by Archytas' prayer, from one end of heaven to the other. As the trader is already east of Italy, he would more probably be sailing to the east than, like the 'mercator' of 1. 31. 14, to the Spanish ports outside the Straits. 27. plectantur, in its usual sense not only of being lashed, but of bearing the punishment; may all his vengeance be wreaked on them.' multa merces, 'a rich reward,' i. e. for your humanity.

28. unde potest, I cannot reward you, but there is that which will, the favour of Jove, who (as originally in his function of ¿évios) presides especially over the reciprocal duties of men to one another, and of Neptune the tutelary god of Tarentum, who will remember kindness shown to a citizen of his own. For 'unde' of a person, see on Od. I. 12. 17.

30, 31. Art thou careless of committing a crime that shall bring punishment presently on thine innocent children? May-be even in thine own person the debt of justice and a return of contumely may be in store for thee.'

te natis, to be taken together, 'te' being the ablative, as in 'nate Dea,'' Apolline natus,' &c.: the opposition is to 'te ipsum.' 'Te' has also been taken (as by Nauck) as the subj. of committere.' 'Is it nothing to thee that thou art committing,' &c. Negligis committere' and negligis te committere' are both possible constructions.

33. non linquar, i. e. 'a te.' If thou leavest me my prayers for vengeance will not be unheard.

36. ter, the sacred and complete number; cp. Soph. of Antigone pouring the dust on Polynices' body, χοαῖσι τρισπόνδοισι τὸν νέκυν στέφει, Ant. 430.

ODE XXIX.

'What, Iccius, hankering after the treasures of Arabia, and planning eastern conquests? Have you chosen already your share of the spoil? Who will say again that aught in nature is impossible, when Iccius the scholar sells his library to buy armour and belies the promise of his life?'

Iccius is unknown to us except from this Ode and Epp. 1. 12. In that Epistle, written probably about five years afterwards, he has resumed his peaceful pursuits, if he ever left them, and is engaged as manager of Agrippa's estates in Sicily. We must not take Horace's banter here or his imputation of avaricious motives as serious. Some readers see in the opening lines of the Epistle a hint of restlessness

in Iccius' disposition, but Horace speaks of him as a man of singularly temperate life and a rare example of the possibility of maintaining a pure and lofty taste inter scabiem et contagia lucri.'

In the year 24 B. C. Aelius Gallus made an unsuccessful expedition into Arabia Felix. The Ode will probably have been written when the preparations for it had begun, but these seem to have lasted some time; see on Od. 1. 35. 30.

Line 1. beatis, properly the epithet of the rich man, not of his riches; but it contains a reference to the name of Arabia Felix.

nunc. Dill. points out the emphasis laid on this word. 'What, now, after a lifetime spent in such different pursuits'!

Arabum gazis, Od. 2. 12. 24 ‘plenas Arabum domos'; 3. 24. I 'Intactis opulentior Thesauris Arabum '; Epp. 1. 7. 36' divitiae Arabum.' On the extravagant ideas of the Romans about the wealth and treasures of Arabia, see Dict. Geog. s. v. Sabaei.

3. Sabaeae, the name of the most important city and tribe of S. Arabia, the Zaßá, Sheba,' of 1 Kings 10. I.

4. Medo, a hyperbole, possibly of those who vapoured about the expedition; but it is in Horace's way, cp. Od. 1. 12. 56, 1. 35. 31. We may notice the terms of playful exaggeration in which Iccius' part in the expedition is spoken of. It is he that plans the war, that carries chains ready made for his captives (as Florus, 3. 7, relates that M. Antonius, the father of the Triumvir, did when he attacked Crete): he is to have the pick of the spoil, his Briseis like Achilles, a court page as his cup-bearer.

5. quae virginum barbara, for 'quae virgo barbara' or quae virginum barbararum.' Horace is fond of variations of the kind; cp. Epod. 10. 13 Graia victorum manus'; Sat. 2. 1. 61 'maiorum nequis amicus.' He is speaking of a princess, the bellantis tyranni adulta virgo' of Od. 3. 2. 7.

7. puer ex aula, a page from the court'; Liv. 45. 6 'pueri regii apud Macedonas vocabantur principum liberi ad ministerium regis electi.' The phrase ' ad cyathum stare' occurs in Suet. Jul. 49. Compare Virro's cup-bearer, Flos Asiae,' Juv. 5. 56, and the incultus puer .. non Phryx aut Lycius' of a humbler household, id. 11. 146.

9. doctus, &c., i. e. a high-born boy, an archer like his fathers before him. The purpose is to exalt the value of the page, not, as some editors think, to frighten Iccius.

sagittas tendere. Virgil has the same inversion, ' spicula tendere cornu,' Aen. 9. 606.

: it is

9. Sericas. This illustrates the Mede' or Parthian of v. 4: the whole East that Iccius is going to conquer; see on Od. 1. 12. 56. 10. arduis fontibus. It may be doubted whether this is a dative case like Od. 1. 24. 18, or an abl. absol. on the analogy of 'adverso, secundo, flumine,' up the steep mountains' side.' Notice the antithetical position of the two adjectives arduis pronos.' Eur. Med. 410 ἄνω ποταμῶν ἱερῶν χωροῦσι παγαί, καὶ δίκα καὶ πάντα πάλιν στρέφεται.

13. nobilis. The MSS. are fairly divided between 'nobilis' and 'nobiles,' but it must be remembered that nobilis' may still be the accusative plural. The arrangement of the words is in favour of the genitive, as pairing, after Horace's way, the substantives and epithets. In support of the genitive are quoted Epp. 1. 19. 39 nobilium scriptorum'; Cic. Phil. 5. 5 Phaedri philosophi nobilis.' In support of the accusative, A. P. 258 Acci nobilibus trimetris'; Mart. 7. 97. 8' Turni . . nobilibus libellis'; and A. Gell. 13. 27 Panaetii tribus illis inclytis libris.'

14. Panaeti, the Stoic philosopher and the friend of Scipio Africanus Minor. His great work was a treatise Tepi Tоû Kałńкovтos, which was the basis of Cicero's de Officiis.

Socraticam domum, A. P. 310 'Socraticae chartae,' the writings of Plato, Xenophon, &c. 'Domus' is used for a school of philosophy by Sen. Epp. 29 Idem hoc omnes tibi ex omni domo acclamabunt, Peripatetici, Academici, Stoici, Cynici.' Cp. Cicero's phrase, de Div. 2. 1. 3 Peripateticorum familia,' and Horace himself, Epp. 1. 1. 13 'quo me duce, quo lare, tuter.'

15. Hiberis. Spanish steel was famous, Plin. N. H. 34. 41 and 43. 16. tendis, for 'tendere,' of purpose or effort, with infinitive, cp. Epp. 1. 7. 31, 1. 19. 16, Virg. Aen. 1. 18.

ODE XXX.

'Queen Venus, leave Cyprus and bring thy presence to the shrine which Glycera offers thee, and bring with thee love and grace and youth and wit.

The Ode is a hymn of the kind which the Greeks called Antikol, hymns of invitation; see on Alcman, Fr. 10. Ed. Bergk, Kumpov iμeptàv λιποῖσα καὶ Πάφον περιρρύταν, a line of which we may possibly hear an echo in Sperne dilectam Cypron.'

6

Line 1. Cnidi, in Caria ; Κνίδιοι τιμῶσιν ̓Αφροδίτην μάλιστα, Paus.

1. 1. 3.

Paphi, in Cyprus; Hom.Od. 8. 262 Ἡ δ' ἄρα Κύπρον ἵκανε φιλομμείδης Αφροδίτη Ες Πάφον, ἔνθα δέ οἱ τέμενος βωμός τε θυήεις ; Virg. Αen. I. 415. Tacitus describes the worship of Venus at Paphos, Hist. 2. 2.

2. sperne dilectam, Od. 1. 19. 9 Venus Cyprum deseruit.' So Faunus must leave Lycaeus to visit Horace's Lucretilis; and Apollo, when he would visit Delos, deserit hibernam Lyciam,' Virg. Aen. 4. 143.

4. aedem, temple,' not 'house,' according to the distinction laid down by Bentl. on Epp. 2. 2. 92 between' aedes' in the sing. and in the plur. There is nothing strange in supposing either that a little shrine or 'sacrarium' is dignified with the larger title, or that the whole house is called a temple of the goddess.

5. fervidus, Virg. Aen. 1. 710 Flagrantesque dei [Cupidinis] vultus.' solutis Gratiae zonis, Od. 3. 19. 16 Gratia nudis iuncta sororibus,' cp. 4. 7. 5. Seneca describes the representations of them, de Ben. 13 Tres Gratiae sorores manibus implexis ridentes iuvenes et virgines solutaque et pellucida veste.' The notion seems to be the absence of restraint and of disguise-the grace of nature. They are joined with the nymphs in Od. 4. 7. 5, and in 1. 4. 6.

6. properentque. Dill. has a note (on Od. 2. 7. 25) on Horace's not uncommon practice of joining an enclitic particle to some word other than the one which it logically couples to the preceding clause. In all these cases the word to which it is joined is emphatic and is usually a common element in the two clauses, the verb or adverb which gives their meaning to both, and which is placed in this way between them in order to make us feel their unity. Cp. 'que' in Od. 2. 17. 16, 2. 19. 32, 3. II. 13, C. S. 22, Sat. 1. 4. 115, 1. 6. 43, 44, 2. 1. 68, 2. 3. 130, 157, 182; 'ne' in Sat. 1. 8. 2; 've' in Od. 2. 7. 25, Epod. 2. 50, Sat. I. 2. 63, 2. 3. 139, 180, 242, A. P. 178.

8. Mercurius, as the god of speech and wit. Compare Homer's description of Aphrodite's cestus, Il. 14. 216 ἔνι μὲν φιλότης, ἐν δ ̓ ἵμερος ἐν δ ̓ ὀαριστὺς | πάρφασις ἥ τ' ἔκλεψε νόον πύκα περ φρονεόντων. Orelli quotes Plutarch, Conjugalia Praecepta Praef. οἱ παλαιοὶ τῇ ̓Αφροδίτῃ τὸν Ἑρμῆν συγκαθίδρυσαν, ὡς τῆς περὶ τὸν γάμον ἡδονῆς μάλιστα λόγου δεομένης, τήν τε Πειθὼ καὶ τὰς Χάριτας. There is nothing in the Ode and little in Horace's usual style to support Keller's recent suggestion that Mercurius here is the god of gain, a sting in the tail of the Ode.