ODE I. METRE 1.

This first Ode was probably intended as a dedicatory piece, accompanying the first three books of the Carmina-Ode was not in use for two or three centuries after Horace. The subject, briefly, is-Every one has his ruling passion, or favourite pursuit-the Author's is poetry.

1. Macenas.] Not Mecenas, or Mecœnas; the true orthography is ascertained by inscriptions on marbles, and the usage of Greek writers.

Atavis.] Generally for-ancestors. Strictly, Atavus is the fifth ancestor; he stands in the same relation to proavus, as proavus to pater. The precise order, genealogically, appears in Plautus, Pers. i. 2. 5.

Pater, avus, proavus, abavus, atavus, tritavus. Edite regibus.] In Od. iii. 29. 1. Horace describes Maecenas as Tyrrhena regum progenies. The Tyrrhenians, or Etrurians, consisted, like the Achæans and the Ionians, of twelve distinct communities, confederated for common purposes, with each its own chief, called a Lucumo. Some ancestor of Mæcenas held this office, and the sycophancy of dependents supplied the rest. It was, besides, the current language of flattery to speak of great men as kings. Horace, in his Satires, furnishes proof of this, direct or indirect. But Mecenas himself was a Roman knight, and piqued himself on the refusal of senatorial rank. For a considerable time he was præfect, or military commander of the city; and

O Mæcenas, orte à majori bus proceribus, ô et meum columen, et cara mea gloria; sunt plerique qui decurrentes gaudent conspergi pulvere Olympico, et quos meta

a confidential minister of Augustus, apparently, to the close of life-better known, however, for his luxurious and convivial prepensities, and love of literature, or at least of literary men, than for his military or political talents. He was the patron of Virgil, Horace, and Propertius, and of others whose works have perished, and their names with them.

2. Dulce decus meum.] Dulce expresses his pleasure in the friendship, and decus his sense of the honour done him by his distinguished friend.

3. Sunt quos.] Some are devoted to gymnastics, others to agriculture, commerce, luxury, war, hunting, &c.

Curriculo.] The word is used loosely for the car, the race, and the race-ground. Here specifically for the race-ground-in stadio.

Olympicum.] The Olympic games were celebrated at Elis, in the Peloponnesus, in honour of Hercules, every fourth year, and were attended by vast crowds from every part of Greece and her colonies. The institution, or re-institution of these games, B. C. 776, constituted the most memorable epoch of the Greeks. They dated by Olympiads. Victory in the chariot races was one of the first objects of ambition among the higher ranks; it entitled the hero to personal distinctions and political privileges, and was as much coveted among Greeks, as a triumph among Romans.

4. Meta.] A small pyramidal obelisk, placed at the end of the stadion, opposite the starting-post, for the purpose of indi

B

congessit in suum granarium

timidus findat navi Cypriâ

cating the point where the competitors were to turn. The stadion was of an oblong form, in length 600 feet.

Fervidis evitata rotis.] by the glowing wheels. proved the driver's skill.

The meta cleared Of course the turn The closer and finer he could cut the turning-post, the less ground he lost, while the shock of contact with it, was ruin. Nestor's advice to his son, Iliad, will be readily remembered. The race was generally seven times round, though Pindar speaks of δωδεκάγναμπτον τέρμα. Palmaque nobilis.] The palm, a branch of the palm-an emblem of victory, used for victory itself.

The

6. Terrarum dominos.] The elder critics applied these words to the Romans-more modern ones generally to the Deos. demands of the context conflict with the first, and the construction of the sentence with the last, to say nothing of the poverty of the expression when coupled with the Gods. All interpreters regard the four lines as referring to the same party, whereas it should seem there were in the writer's view two parties and two results. In this way-It is delightful to many to have contended in the Olympic games, where no actual glory was gained, while victory lifts even kings and princes (terrarum dominos) to the Gods. Horace had probably Pindar's heroes in his thoughts. The reader of Pindar will have little difficulty in identifying the terrarum dominos with royal and princely conquerors. Philip of Macedon considered his Olympic victories among his greatest felicities.

7. Hunc.] Understand juvat, or evehit ad Deos, or both.

Mobilium.] Expresses the caprice of the people -the levity with which they were swayed in the disposal of their suffrages.

Quiritium.] Romulus, after his death and apotheosis, or reception among the Gods, was called, for some reason not well understood, Quirinus; and the Romans themselves, probably from the same cause, whatever it was, Quirites. Niebuhr suggests an old Sabine town, on the Quirinal Hill, of the name of Quirium.

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8. Tergeminis honoribus.] The dative after tollere, instead of ad tergeminos honores. Tergeminus originally expressed "three at a birth;" but by the cotemporaries of Horace was freely used in the sense, more frequently demanded, of triple, but still confined to preeminent cases. "The three highest offices of the state" probably conveys the full meaning, and points specifically to the curule offices of Edile, Prætor, and Consul. Had Horace meant highest honours vaguely, he could readily have found a more general term.

9. Illum.] Supply, again, juvat, or evehit ad Deos, or both.

10. Quidquid.] All the corn grown in Africa.

Libycis.] Of Africa, as the country most productive of corn. Rome depended upon importations mainly from Africa.

Verritur.] Literally-is swept up from the open places (areis) where the corn was threshed and winnowed.

11. Gaudentem.] The man who delightsyou would not remove-you would not with the wealth of Attalus induce the man who loves to cultivate his paternal acres, to quit them for the perils of the sea.

Sarculo.] The sarculum is properly a hoe or a rake. Surrire, the root, is to clean the ground, and clear it of weeds. Findere is strictly applicable only to the plough or spade; but Pliny, lib. xviii. c. 19. speaks of the sarculum being used to turn up the soil, instead of the plough or spade, on hills and stony lands, where neither could be used with advantage. In these cases a tool of more weight, probably, was employed than the common

sarculum.

12. Attalicis.] Attalus was the opulent king of Pergamus, who bequeathed his wealth and his sovereignty to the Romans. Flor. iii. 12. The epithet Attalicus became synonymous with rich and splendid. Propertius, lib. ii. 13. 22.

13. Trabe Cypriá.] A vessel trading to Cyprus. In Od. iii. 29. 60. Tyrian and Cyprian merchandize are classed together, as equally distinguished.