CARMEN X. IN MAEVIUM POËTAM. A VERY bitter malediction on the poetaster Maevius, a common foe and backbiter of all the young and rising poets of the time, particularly Virgil and Horace. Virgil sneers at him in Eclogue iii. 90; and Horace in this poem wishes that he may be wrecked in a voyage to Greece on which he was entering, and moreover vows a thank-offering to the gods should Maevius perish. 2. Olentem, ill-smelling,' probably because he was of an unhealthy, corpulent habit of body, as seems to be indicated in line 21.-4. Auster, Eurus, and Aquilo, the south, east, and north winds are invoked to destroy the ship.-11. An allusion to a very severe storm, in which Ajax, son of Oileus, when returning victorious from Troy, was destroyed by Pallas, in her anger at his maltreatment of Cassandra. His death is mentioned by Homer in the Odyssey, iv. 502, and by Virgil in the Aeneid, i. 39.-21. Quodsi introduces the concluding sentence: 'if then.. I shall sacrifice a goat and a lamb.' An address on a dull winter day to the poet's friends, in which he calls upon them to enjoy life; confirming his advice by the example of Achilles, who had been represented by tradition as the most perfect of all the Greeks, and yet as the shortest-lived. HORRIDA tempestas coelum contraxit, et imbres Nobilis ut grandi cecinit Centaurus alumno; 5 10 1. Deducunt Jovem. The expression Jupiter descendit, indicating that the atmosphere has become thick and heavy, that rain or snow has begun to fall, is more common.-5. Obducta-senectus, 'let moroseness be rubbed off (unbound) from the (therewith) clouded brow. Senectus used (senium is more common in this sense) for the bad peculiarity of age, morositas, tristitia.-6. Horace was born in the consulship of L. Manlius Torquatus, 65 B. c.; and he often mentions the wine of this year, which, either from a sentimental feeling, or because the vintage of that year was remarkably good, he causes to be brought out as a treat on special joyous occasions. Compare Carm. iii. 21, 1. Italian wines were kept up by the Romans to a great age, but this is not done now. -8. Achaemenio, properly Persian,' here used for Asiatic' generally, or for Assyrian;' this root, which gave the most valuable perfume, being particularly abundant in Assyria.-9. Fide Cyl. lenea, with the lyre of Mercury,' who was born on Mount Cyllene in Arcadia. He invented the cithara (also called chelys, testudo), the strings of which were drawn across a circular hollow frame; originally, according to tradition, a tortoise-shell, whence the name. Apollo's instrument, the phorminx, was of a somewhat different construction; in it the strings ran upwards from a sounding-board to a cross-piece between two horns. The name lyra, however, is common to both.-11. Grandi, when grown a man.' The person alluded to is Achilles, whose tutor was the centaur Chiron. - 13. Unde tibi reditum certo subtemine Parcae 15 Assaracus, son of Tros. Hence his 'land' is the Troad.-15. Certo subtemine, with sure thread;' that is, in the fixed duration of thy life.-17. Vino-alloquiis, by wine and song, the sweet solaces of ugly (deforming) sorrow.' CARMEN XVI. AD POPULUM ROMANUM. A PLAY of fancy. The poet calls upon the Romans to emigrate from Italy, where civil war is constantly breaking out anew, to the islands of the blest. These islands on the west coast of Africa, now the Canaries, were famed throughout all antiquity for their salubrious climate, their existence and nature, however, being treated more as poetical fancies than realities. Even the most ancient Greeks had an undefined and vague knowledge of them, and the poets described them as the happy abode of the spirits of men. The Roman general, Sertorius, having found himself unable to make head in Spain against Pompey, intended to retire with his followers to the happy islands; but of actual settlements, or of the foundation of any towns on them by the Romans, there is no record. The neglect of the Romans, to discover and make use of the islands on the African coast is surprising, and can only be accounted for by the fact, that there was still land enough, thinly peopled, on the continent of Europe, to receive any surplus population of Italy. This poem seems to be one of Horace's earliest, and to refer not to the Actian war, but rather to the hostilities between the Caesarian and Antonian parties on the occasion of the settlement of the legions in Italy, by which many cities lost their property. ALTERA jam teritur bellis civilibus aetas, 1. Altera aetas may mean either a second age (period of time),' or a second generation (of men.)' We understand it here in the latter sense, so that the poet says the war between Caesar and Pompey swept away one generation, and now another is being extirpated (rubbed off) by the wars of the triumvirs. Taking this sense, there is no necessity for us to think of the particular time estimated for the Quam neque finitimi valuerunt perdere Marsi Aemula nec virtus Capuae, nec Spartacus acer 5 Nec fera caerulea domuit Germania pube Ferisque rursus occupabitur solum. 10 Barbarus heu cineres insistet victor, et urbem Eques sonante verberabit ungula, Quaeque carent ventis et solibus ossa Quirini, Nefas videre, dissipabit insolens. Forte quid expediat communiter aut melior pars 15 Nulla sit hac potior sententia, Phocaeorum Agros atque lares patrios, habitandaque fana Ire pedes quocunque ferent, quocunque per undas Sic placet, an melius quis habet suadere? Secunda Ratem occupare quid moramur alite? Sed juremus in haec: simul imis saxa renarint Neu conversa domum pigeat dare lintea, quando In mare seu celsus procurrerit Apenninus, 30 continuance of a generation, thirty or thirty-three years; still less that we should think of the war between Marius and Sulla, as betweeen Sulla and Caesar there was a period of peace and prosperity. 6. The Allobroges, a warlike tribe of the Gauls, between the Rhone and the Isère, often alarmed the Romans by their proneness to throw off the yoke whenever intestine troubles at Rome seemed to afford a favourable opportunity.-7. Caerulea, blue-eyed.'-8. Parentibus, here 'mothers.'-9. Impia aetas devoti sanguinis, 'a godless race, whose blood is accursed, doomed to perish.-12. Horsemen will ride over the spots where once noble mansions stood a sign of destruction and desolation.-15. Aut melior pars. Out of quaeritis supply vos omnes, you, or the better part of you.' Carere ut careamus. Gram. 375, note 3.-17. The story of the emigration of the Phocaeans in Asia Minor, from detestation of the Persian tyranny, will be found in Herodotus, i. 165. 23. Secunda alite bono omine. -26. Ne sit nefas. The ordinary mode of expression would be nefas esse, or ut nefas sit redire, priusquam saxa renarint. In the same way, afterwards, we should expect ut tum demum in patriam redeamus, cum Padus, etc.-28. Matinus was a hill in Calabria. - 30. A somewhat overcopious detail of monstros Mirus amor, juvet ut tigres subsidere cervis, Credula nec flavos timeant armenta leones, Ametque salsa levis hircus aequora. Haec et quae poterunt reditus abscindere dulces 35 Aut pars indocili melior grege; mollis et exspes Vos quibus est virtus, muliebrem tollite luctum, 40 Nos manet Oceanus circumvagus: arva, beata Reddit ubi Cererem tellus inarata quotannis Germinat et nunquam fallentis termes olivae, Mella cava manant ex ilice, montibus altis Nulla nocent pecori contagia, nullius astri 45 50 55 60 We must 36 ities which are to happen before the emigrants' return. remember that the poet was young when he wrote this epode. Exsecrata; that is postquam execrationibus haec fixa et inviolata constituimus. - 40. Etrusca litora; that is, push out first from Ostia, then sail along the Italian, Gallic, and Spanish coasts, till you reach and pass the Pillars of Hercules. 43. Cererem,corn.' The poet describes at some length how the earth, in the happy islands, brings forth without tillage abundant crops - a state of things which is found nowhere, and which would only do man harm. 46. Pulla, 'dark-coloured;' that is, ripe. 52. Alta, the ground seeming to rise, as the reptiles creep forth.-56. Utrumque; that is, both the overabundance of rain and the drought.-57. The ship Argo has never come to these happy islands, nor has Medea with her accursed arts been here to blast the bounties of nature. 59. Torquere cornua, to turn the sail-yards.'-61. Astri; as Sirius in our Italian - |