75 curat et votis puerorum amicas Haec Iovem sentire deosque cunctos EPODON LIBER For a general account of the Epodes and the conditions under which they were written, see Intr. 4. I Addressed to Maecenas in the spring of 31 B.C., when he was about to leave Rome. Antony and Cleopatra had spent the winter of 32-31 B.C. at Patrae, while their fleet of five hundred vessels had remained on guard at Actium. When the spring opened, Octavian summoned the most influential senators and knights to meet him at Brundisium, before he crossed to Epirus to engage in the final struggle. Maecenas naturally was to go with the rest. Dio Cassius, 51, 3, tells us that Maecenas was left in charge of Italy during Octavian's absence, so that it is generally assumed that he was not present at the battle of Actium. On the other hand, an anonymous elegy, regarded by Büche ler as contemporary, speaks of him as actually present cum freta Niliacae texerunt laeta carinae | fortis erat circum, fortis et ante ducem. PLM. 1, 122 ff. However, the evidence is inconclusive; yet it seems clear from Horace's words that at the time he wrote this epode he expected Maecenas to share in the dangers of the coming struggle. He remonstrates with his patron for his readiness to run all risks (1-4); assures him of his own devotion and willingness to share every danger, and of his anxiety, if he be forced to stay behind (5-22); and closes with the protestation that it is not selfish hope of gain that moves him: Maecenas has given him all he can desire (23-34). The last verses bear the emphasis of the epode. Horace's devotion is unselfish. This epode serves as a dedication of the collection to Maecenas. There is a warmth of expression in it that Horace does not employ elsewhere. Metre, 74. Ibis Liburnis inter alta navium, amice, propugnacula, paratus omne Caesaris periculum subire, Maecenas, tuo. Quid nos, quibus te vita si superstite iucunda, si contra, gravis? 1. ibis: you are then really going. Emphatic as feremus v. II. So Tibullus 1, 3, I says in his address to Messala, who left him behind in Corcyra when traveling to the East in 30 B.C., ibitis Aegaeas sine me, Messala, per undas.-Liburnis: in contrast with the alta navium propugnacula lofty battlemented ships-of Antony and Cleopatra. These huge galleons, some of which had as many as nine banks of oars, proved no match for the small swift twobanked Liburnae of Octavian's fleet; the latter, modeled after the vessels used by the Liburnian pirates, in the imperial period formed the chief part of the Roman navy. Antony had felt his ships invincible. According to Dio Cassius 50, 18, he called to his troops, ὁρᾶτε γάρ που καὶ αὐτοὶ καὶ τὸ μέγεθος καὶ τὸ πάχος τῶν ἡμετέρων σκαφών. Cf. also Vergil's description of the battle, A. 8, 691-693 pelago credas innare revolsas Cycladas, aut montis concurrere montibus altos: | tanta mole viri turritis puppibus in stant. 4. tuo: sc. periculo. 5 f. nos: i.e. I and such as I. The plural of modesty, which Horace uses in his lyrics only here and C. 1, 6, 5. 17; 2, 17, 32; 3, 28, 9. While we employ a verb in translating, it is improbable that the Romans were conscious of any ellipsis in such phrases as this. si superstite, etc.: the apparent use of si with the abl. abs. is anomalous. te superstite alone would form a protasis to vita. . iucunda, and we should expect as the alternative, te mortuo (vita) gravis. To avoid the ominous te mortuo, Horace euphemistically says si contra, with which some such verb as vivitur, or, as Porphyrio suggests, sit, is necessary; this construction has its influence on the preceding clause, so that we must regard the entire relative sentence as a condensed form for quibus vita si te superstite (sit), iucunda, si contra (sit), gravis. The ellipsis is somewhat similar to that in v. 8 below, ni tecum simul (persequemur), etc. superstite: superstes here means living on,' elsewhere in the epodes and odes 'out-living, surviving another's death." IO 15 utrumne iussi persequemur otium, an hunc laborem, mente laturi decet vel Occidentis usque ad ultimum sinum Roges tuum labore quid iuvem meo, 7. utrumne: a combination of two interrogatives introduced by Horace, who uses it only here and in S. 2, 3, 251; 6, 73. It is employed by Curtius, Pliny, and other later prose writers. — iussi: sc. a te, at thy bidding. Horace's request to be allowed to accompany Maecenas had already been refused. persequemur otium: give ourselves up to a life of ease. 8. ni tecum: cf. n. on v. 5. 9 f. laborem in contrast to otium v. 7. By a slight zeugma connected with persequemur, whereas the more natural verb with it is fero, which is used in the relative clause immediately following. laturi: ready to bear. Intr. 110. 11 f. feremus: the position and form show Horace's emphatic resolve. Alpium, Caucasum: the Alps and the Caucasus were stock examples of hardships. - inhospitalem Caucasum: repeated C. 1, 22, 6 and adopted by Seneca, Thyest. 1052 quis inhospitalis Caucasi rupem asperam Heniochus habitans? For the position of et, see Intr. 31. 13. sinum: recess, expressing the remoteness of the western sea. Cf. Verg. G. 2, 122 India. . . extremi sinus orbis. 15. roges: equivalent to si roges. — tuum . . . meo: paralleł in form to Caesaris periculum subire, Maecenas, tuo 3 f. 16. imbellis ac firmus parum: cf. the Homeric ἀπτόλεμος καὶ ἄναλκις. Horace laughs at himself for running away at Philippi C. 2, 7, 8 ff. (Intr. p. 11); the sec ond half of his description here probably refers to his poor health -parum: cf. C. 1, 12, 59 and n. to I, 2, 27. 17 f. An appeal to Maecenas' friendship, I do not claim that I can help you, but I beg you, save 20 25 ut adsidens implumibus pullis avis Libenter hoc et omne militabitur aratra nitantur meis pecusve Calabris ante sidus fervidum me from the fears that absence and anxiety bring.'-maior habet : has a stronger hold. 19-22. The comparison of the mother bird who fears for her chicks is old and familiar in literature. Cf. Aesch. Sept. 291 ff. δράκοντας δ ̓ ὥς τις τέκνων | ὑπερδέ δοικεν λεχαίων δυσευνάτορας | πάντρομος πελειάς. 'As a fostering dove fears the snakes, ill mates for her nestlings. Cf. also Mosch. 421 ff. and especially Claudian Rapt. Proserp. 3, 141 ff. sic aestuat ales, quae teneros humili fetus commiserit orno | allatura cibos et plurima cogitat absens, ne gracilem ventus discusserit arbore nidum, ne furtum pateat homini neu praeda colubris. -pullis: dative, more closely connects with timet than with adsidens; (Intr. 100) the latter may be translated attributively with avis. the brooding mother bird, thus expressing the condition rather than the act. 21 f. ut adsit: even if she were with them. non latura: concesHOR. CAR.- - 26 sive, though she could not give. — praesentibus repeating adsit in sense, but added in contrast to relictis. This use of repetition to express the reciprocal relation is common in Latin, and is most clearly seen in such examples as Plaut. Pseud. 1142 tute praesens praesentem vides, or Verg. A. 4, 83 illum absens absentem auditque videtque. 401 24. in spem to further my hope. Cf. C. 1, 7, 8 in Iunonis gratiae : honorem. tuae favor in thy sight. 25 f. non ut, etc.: emphatically placed to deny the possible charge of selfishness. nitantur: the oxen's efforts in dragging the plow, suggesting a heavy, fertile is transferred to the plow soil, Intr. 99. 27 f. Cf. C. 1, 31, 5 non aes-` tuosae grata Calabriae armenta. In the heat of summer the flocks were driven from the rich pastures of low Calabria to the higher lands of Lucania and Samnium. Cf. Varro R. R. 2, 1, 6 |