Majus parabo, majus infundam tibi Priusque cœlum sidet inferius mari, Tellure porrecta super, Quam non amore sic meo flagres, uti Bitumen atris ignibus.”— Sub hæc puer, jam non, ut ante, mollibus Lenire verbis impias; Sed dubius, unde rumperet silentium, Misit Thyesteas preces: "Venena magnum fas nefasque non valent Convertere humanam vicem. Diris agam vos: dira detestatio Nulla expiatur victima. Quin, ubi perire jussus expiravero, Petamque vultus umbra curvis unguibus, 81. flagres uti, etc. Virg. Ecl. viii. 81. 83. 85. dubius unde, how to break silence. i. e. beginning abruptly, or confusedly, and with multiplied execrations. 86. Thyesteas, such as Thyestes might have uttered.' Cp. Cic. Tusc. i. 44. Exsecratur luculentis sane versibus apud Ennium Thyestes, sqq. See Carm. I. xvi. 17. 87. venena magnum, &c. The great law of Divine justice cannot influence sorceries (i. e. sorcerers) as they can men. Therefore I will entreat no more, but execrate. I will not appeal to you as if you had natural feeling, and could be softened.' So Orelli. But, in this construction, would not valet be more Horatian than valent? Will it not be better (while fol lowing Orelli in the main points) to 90. Cp. Carm. 1. xxviii. 34. Pavore somnos auferam. Vos turba vicatim hinc et hinc saxis petens Contundet obscenas anus. Post insepulta membra different lupi Et Esquilinæ alites Neque hoc parentes, heu mihi superstites, Effugerit spectaculum." 100 CARMEN VI. QUID immerentes hospites vexas, canis, Ignavus adversum lupos ? Quin huc inanes, si potes, vertis minas, Et me remorsurum petis? Nam, qualis aut Molossus, aut fulvus Lacon, Amica vis pastoribus, Agam per altas aure sublata nives, Quæcunque præcedet fera. Tu, quum timenda voce complesti nemus, 99. different, shall tear apart.' 100. Esquilinæ alites. i. e. carrion birds of prey. There was a "miseræ plebi commune sepulcrum" (Sat. 1. viii. 10.) on the Esquiline, whence it is called atras Esquilias," Sat. II. vi. 33. (See the description in Cookesley's Map of Rome, and Index, p. 84.) EPODE 6. 5 10 An invective, directed, according to an old inscription, In Cassium Severum (of whom see Tacit. Ann." iv. 21.); but this is by no means certain. Some contend that Mævius is meant (Cp. Epod. x.), or his fellow-poet Bavius (of whom see Corripit objectam (sc. offam) atque immania terga resolvit," sq. Without metaphor the meaning is, 'your show of fierceness is soon Cave, cave: namque in malos asperrimus Qualis Lycambæ spretus infido gener, An, si quis atro dente me petiverit, 15 CARMEN VII. AD POPULUM ROMANUM. Quo, quo scelesti ruitis? aut cur dexteris Parumne campis atque Neptuno super Non ut superbas invidæ Carthaginis Intactus aut Britannus ut descenderet Sed ut, secundum vota Parthorum, sua Neque hic lupis mos, nec fuit leonibus, 13. gener, Archilochus-of whom see Theocr. Epig. 19. 14. hostis, Hipponax, 8 μovacTоlós, Theocr. Ep. 21. EPODE VII. i. e. be led in 7. descenderet. triumph down the Sacred Way. The captives in a triumph passed along the slope to the forum, at which point the conqueror began "in Capitolium currum flectere," and they This, and the 16th epode, appeal-"in carcerem duci :" Cic. Verr. v. 30. ing against the madness and misery of civil war, were probably written on the occasion of the first discords between Antony and Octavianus and the war of Perusia, in 41 B. C. 3. Carm. 11. i. 33. 5. invidæ. Orelli ep. Sall. Cat. 10. Carthago æmula imperi Romani. (Cp. " sacer clivus" in Carm. IV. ii. 35., and Cookesley's explanation in the Map and Index of Rome, p. 24.) 12. unquam. Nunquam is read in many editions, but it has no authority. feris. They never vent their fury on their own kind, savage as they are.' Furorne cæcus, an rapit vis acrior? Ut immerentis fluxit in terram Remi 15 20 CARMEN VIII. IN ANUM LIBIDINOSAM. ROGARE longo putidam te seculo, Quum sit tibi dens ater, et rugis vetus Podex, velut crudæ bovis. Sed incitat me pectus, et mammæ putres, Equina quales ubera ; Venterque mollis, et femur tumentibus Exile suris additum. Esto beata, funus atque imagines Nec sit marita, quæ rotundioribus Onusta baccis ambulet. Quid? quod libelli Stoici inter sericos Jacere pulvillos amant: 13. furor.. an vis acrior, nearly = ἀτασθαλίη, ει ἄτη. vis acrior seems to be à uoipidía dúvaois, Soph. Ant. 951.; as, ver. 17. acerba fata. 18. scelus, πрάтaрxos ǎтn, Æsch. Ag. 1192.,an ayos or cause of guilt,' inducing successive calamities: πήματα . . . ἐπὶ πήμασι 10 15 οὐδ ̓ ἀπαλλάσσει γενεὰν γένος. See the chorus, Soph. Antig. 585– 598. So sacer (ver. 20.) is èvayhs, i. e. entailing a curse and requiring expiation. 19. ut, as in Carm. iv. iv. 42. Illiterati num minus nervi rigent? Minusve languet fascinum? Quod ut superbo provoces ab inguine, 20 CARMEN IX. AD MECENATEM. QUANDO repostum Cæcubum ad festas dapes, Tecum sub alta, sic Jovi gratum, domo, Beate Mæcenas, bibam, Sonante mixtum tibiis carmen lyra, Hac Dorium, illis barbarum? Ut nuper, actus quum freto Neptunius Minatus Urbi vincla, quæ detraxerat FPODE IX. A triumphant celebration of the victory of Actium. 5. tibiis... lyrâ. (See above on Carm. IV. xv. 30.) The lyre and flutes were commonly used in mutual accompaniment. They are mentioned together in Hom. Il. σ. 495.; Theocr. Epigr. 5.; Pindar, Ol. iii. 8., xi. 93. There is in the British Museum a set of tibiæ with a lyre, which were found together in a tomb at Athens. Pairs of tibiæ were more frequently used than the single instrument. They were distinct, not united in one, but the mouth-pieces were sometimes passed through a band (capistrum). Herodotus (i. 17.), in speaking of the martial music of 5 10 the Lydians, makes mention of συρίγγων, πηκτίδων, and αὐλοῦ γυναικηΐου καὶ ἀνδρηΐου, i. e. (probably) tibiæ sinistræ et dextræ, our "treble" and "tenor." The two tibiæ may have resembled our "hautboy" and "bassoon." (The first is the natural treble of the latter.) (See Cooley's ed. of Larcher's notes on Herod. l. c.) 6. Dorium... Barbarum. The ancient music had three principal modes (i. e. scales of different pitch): the Dorian, Phrygian, and Lydian. Each was one tone higher than the other. The Dorian was the lowest. The Phrygian (here called barbarum) the next. 7. See Merivale, Hist, Rome, vol. iii. ch. 27. (p. 246.). |