NOTES ON THE ODES. BOOK I. THERE is strong internal evidence that the Odes of this Book were composed within the years B. c. 30-28, and that they were first published in a collective form B. c. 27, with a prefatory dedication to Mæcenas. See the Life of Horace. The term "Ode" was not applied to this species of composition for three centuries after the time of Horace, but we find "Carmen" frequently used as the distinctive appellation of lyric poetry. (11. Ep. ii. 59.) ODE I. The poet, having set forth some of the principal occupations which men in general pursue most eagerly, expresses his own enthusiastic preference for the delights and rewards of poetry, and his anxiety that these, his first lyrical effusions, should win the applause of his friend and patron. Pindar gives a similar picture of the variety of human wishes : Αελλοπόδων μέν τιν' εὐφραίνοισιν ἵππων Τίμια καὶ στέφανοι, τούςδ ̓ ἐν πολυχρύσοις θαλάμοις βιοτά. Σῶς διαστείβων. — Fragm. 139. 1. Atavis. Distant ancestors. The exact meaning of the word may be gathered from a line of Plautus: "Pater, avos, proavos, abavos, atavos, tritavos."-Pers. I. ii. 5. Edite regibus. C. Cilnius Mæcenas preferred to remain in the equestrian order, though claiming descent from Cilnius of Arretium, one of the Lucumones, or chieftains of the twelve nations who formed the ancient Etruscan League. Compare 1. Carm. XX. 25, care Mæcenas eques," and III. Carm. xxxix. 1, "Tyrrhena regum progenies," with the lines of Propertius: 66 "Maecenas eques, Etrusco de sanguine regum, Intra fortunam qui cupis esse tuam." -III. Eleg. ix. 1.] 2. Dulce decus meum. My pleasure and my pride.] 3. Pulyerem Olympicum. The dust in the Olympic course. The fol lowing epigram will assist the memory in connecting the principal games of the Greeks with their respective objects of worship and with their several prizes : Τεσσαρές εἰσιν ἀγῶνες ἀν Ελλάδα, τεσσαρὲς ἱροί· Οἱ δύο μὲν θνητῶν, οἱ δύο δ ̓ ἀθανάτων· Αθλα δὲ τῶν, κότινος, μῆλα, σέλινα, πίτυς. But the Olympic games, though transferred to Jupiter, were originally instituted in honour of Pelops.] 4. Metaque. At the extremity of the stadium or course (here called curriculum) were vúσoal, or pyramidal columns, three in number; and round these the charioteer was obliged to turn. As the distance was run seven times, or twelve according to Pindar, dwdekάyvаμπтоν, it was important to save space by passing as close as possible to the outer edge of these posts or obelisks. See Nestor's directions to Antilochus, Il. xxiii. 340.] 5. Palmaque. Compare Pausanias: Oi dè ay@ves φοίνικος ἔχουσι καὶ οἱ πολλοὶ στέφανον· ἐς δὲ τὴν δεξιάν ἐστι καὶ πανταχοῦ τῷ νικῶντι ἐστιθέμενος φοίνιξ. — vii. 48. This custom will explain III. Carm. xx. 12.] 6. Terrarum dominos. Join this with Deos. The hyperbole will appear less extravagant when we remember how readily the heathen in their foolishness either deified men, or regarded them as gods in reality.] 7. Hunc, One, as illum another. Three classes are here mentioned as equally unwilling to tempt the dangers of the sea; the aspirant to political honours, the busy corn factor of the imperial city, and the contented farmer of his paternal fields. See Tate's Horatius Restitutus, p. 116. Quiritium. A name of doubtful origin. Niebuhr thinks that Quirium may have been that ancient and sacred name of Rome which it was forbidden to divulge.] 8. Tergeminis honoribus. The triple offices of the state. Alluding to the three offices of Curule Edile, Prætor, and Consul. Tergeminus is the same as triplex.] 10. Libycis. The Roman market was principally supplied with corn from Africa and Sicily, to which Tacitus and Claudian add Egypt. The term Libya comprises the coast of Africa along the Egean as far as Egypt.] 11. Gaudentem. The man who delights. See note, line 7.] 12. Attalicis conditionibus. By offers of the wealth of Attalus. Attalus III. the last king of Pergamos, bequeathed his possessions to the Roman people, B. c. 133. His ancestors were remarkable for their costly patronage of the fine arts, whence Propertius "Nec sit in Attalico mors mea nixa toro.". -II. Eleg. xiii. 22.] 13. Cypria. Particular words are here used for general; any vessel, wind, or sea being implied. Yet the isle of Cyprus was famous for its timber and for its commerce, which is coupled with that of Tyre, III. Carm. xxix. 60.] 14. Myrtoum mare. The part of the Ægean between Attica and the Cyclades, extending from the south of Eubœa (Cape Carysto) to the promontory of Malea (Cape St. Angelo), derived its name from Myrtos, a small island near Euboea.] 15. Icariis. The island of Icaria gave a title to the sea between Samos and Delos. Ovid thus glances at the fall of the son of Dædalus : "Transit et Icarium, lapsas ubi perdidit alas Icarus et vastæ nomina fecit aquæ."- Fast. iv. 283.] 16. Africum. The accompanying figure may serve for future references. The s.w. wind, or Sirocco, blew with great violence from the coast of Africa. The N. and N. E., E. and S.E. are often confounded by the ancients, who seldom use any terms on this side, but Aquilo and Boreas for the north, Eurus for the east.] 17. Oppidi rura. The fields of his country town. Some less correctly interpret it "rus in urbe," the retirement of his city villa. (See note, II. Carm. xv. 1.) Bentley, following Acidalius, reads "tuta."] 18. Pauperiem. When not qualified by an epithet, this word in Horace means only privation: thus differing from egestas, which signifies need or indigence.] 19. Massici. Mons Massicus (now Monte Massico), near Sinuessæ in Campania, supplied from its vineyards a wine second only to the prized Falernian. Modern observers think that these were but two varieties of the same wine, which was produced principally at Faustianum (Falciano). Pliny gives the preference to the wines of Campania, the Setine, the Cæcuban, and next to the Surrentine.] 20. Partem demere. Wolf rightly understands by this the taking of an afternoon sleep, which the Romans called meridiari. He quotes Varro: "Diem diffindere insiticio somno." - De Re Rust. ii. 5. Most commentators refer this to the mid-day indulgence of the degenerate Romans, which Juvenal selects as the mark of the corrupt proconsul : sacræ. "Exul ab octava Marius bibit." Sat. i. 49. Solidus dies is the main or business portion of the day.] 22. Aquæ We cannot wonder that the ancient superstition, which worshipped creations of its own imagining, and which, in its darker forms, could deify power, avarice, or crime, should have delighted, under the influence of a more sportive fancy, to people the woods with Dryads, and the rivers and fountains with still fairer tenants: "The water nymphs that in the bottom play'd." MILTON, Comus, 833. We may admire the poetry, while we blame the worship, and rejoice in our own poet, whose inspiration was sought, not by the margin of Aganippe or Pirene, but from "Siloa's brook that flow'd Fast by the oracle of God."-Par. Lost, b. i.] 23. Lituo tubæ. The tuba or trumpet was used by the infantry, the lituus or clarion, by the cavalry. The last was bent at the end, like the augural lituus or divining wand. Ovid describes the form of both instruments “Non tuba directi, non æris cornua flexi.” — Met. i. 98.] 25. Sub Jove. 'Yad Aiós. According to the Stoic doctrine, Jupiter is a personification of the air (æther), and Juno of the earth. Compare Lucretius, i. 251. and Virgil, Georg. ii. 325.] 28. Teretes plagas. The slender meshes; not well wrought, but of fine texture. Marsus aper. The wild boar found good covert in the mountainous and densely wooded region occupied by the Marsi, above the territory of the Sabines.] 29. Me. Bentley and Tate adopt Te for the sake of the antithesis, and on the ground that the bay was the prize of lyric poetry. But the ivy crowns of Bacchus were the meed of all learned brows, and when Augustus formed the Library in the temple of Apollo on Mount Palatine, the statues of the favoured poets were crowned with ivy wreaths. Hence Persius 'Heliconidasque pallidamque Pirenen 66 Illis relinquo, quorum imagines lambunt and Juvenal 31. "Ut dignus venias hederis et imagine macra."-Sat. vii. 29.] 30. Dîs miscent superis. See note, line 6. Gelidum nemus. Perhaps an allusion to his villa at Tibur, the modern Tivoli.] Cum Satyris. See note, line 22. The Fauns and Satyrs were to the Roman lyrist as the Fairies and Brownies to those of a later period. The Satyrs were regarded as uncouth beings, possessing a kind of prescience, and delighting to dance "In arched walks of twilight groves And shadows brown that Sylvan loves." Il Penseroso.] 32. Tibias. See note, Iv. Carm. xv. 30, which will explain the use of the plural.] 33. Euterpe. The Muses, originally perhaps considered as nymphs of the springs, were only the powers of song and memory personified as goddesses. They were reputed daughters of Jupiter and Mnemosyne, that is, of the Deity and of Memory; an interesting mythology if we consider them as types of those pure delights" which tradition told of in Eden. Euterpe, as the Muse of Melody and Music, was represented holding two flutes. Cleio, as the Muse of History, carried the lute or cithara, which was 66 smaller than the lyra or barbiton, and more calculated for middle notes only. Melpomene, the Muse of Tragedy, bore the barbiton, here assigned to Polyhymnia, who is generally the Muse of Eloquence. The pipe belonged to Terpsichore. Polyhymnia. The goddesses of music and of musical expression are here introduced as personifications of the genius of lyric poetry, that imaginative fire which kindles all it touches.] 34. Lesboum. Horace connects the lyre with Alcæus of Mytilene, the inventor of Alcaic measures, and the contemporary and compatriot of Sappho. See I. Carm. xxxii. 3. Barbiton. See note, line 33. An instrument probably of seven strings, invented by Terpander (Pindar in Athen. xiv. p. 625.) or Anacreon.] 35. Vatibus. The Greek masters of lyric song, such as Pindar, Stesichorus, Alcman, Anacreon, Alcæus, and Sappho.] 36. Feriam sidera. Theocritus has a similar rapture: Εἰς οὐρανὸν ἔμμιν ἀλεῦμαι. — Idyll. v. 144.] ODE II. On the Ides of January, B.C. 27, the title of Augustus was bestowed on Octavianus. During the subsequent night, in a thunder-storm, the Tiber overflowed its banks and inundated the lower part of the city. See Dio Cassius, liii. 20. The poet attributes this calamity to the anger of the gods; and, invoking Jupiter to commit the task of expiation to one of the tutelary deities of Rome, adroitly insinuates that Mercury, under the guise of Augustus, is about to exchange the unnatural strife of civil wars for triumphs over foreign enemies. In all this we may observe how consonant it appears to human reason to regard national calamities as judgments for national sins. Nor must we fail to remark the readiness with which the mind of the heathen poet turns to prayer and atonement as the means of safety and deliverance. So manifest are the vestiges of divine truth amid the mazes of human error. Many of the old commentators refer the occasion of this ode to the portents accompanying the death of Julius Cæsar, which are described by Virgil. Georg. i. 464, and they are followed by Franke and modern German critics, who assign its date to B. C. 29. 1. Nivis. Snow is unusual in central.Italy.] 2. Rubente dextera. His red right hand. Virgil: 66 Ipse pater, media nimborum in nocte, corusca As 3. Sacras jaculatus arces. Striking the sacred citadels. though the expression had been jaculando percutiens. Some of the temples in the capitol were struck with lightning. See Cic. de Div. ii. 19.] 6. Sæculum Pyrrhæ. The tradition of the Deluge is preserved, with more than usual clearness, in the fictions which portray the partial deluge ascribed to the time of Ogyges and that of B. C. 1570, in which the Thessalian Deucalion and Pyrrha are the principal actors. Thus Apollodorus gives us the ark; Plutarch, the dove. The legends, as well as the superstitious notions, of the heathen were for the most part based on some traditionary remnant of historic truth, or of divine revelation. For the poetical accounts, |