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Hostile aratrum exercitus insolens. Compesce mentem: me quoque pectoris Tentavit in dulci juventa

Fervor, et in celeres iambos

Misit furentem; nunc ego mitibus
Mutare quæro tristia; dum mihi
Fias recantatis amica

Opprobriis, animumque reddas.

ODE XVII.

INVITATION TO TYNDARIS.

It is impossible to do more than conjecture whether the person addressed under the feigned name of Tyndaris actually existed or not. There are one or two touches in the poem which seem to individualise her as a creature of the earth-such as the selection of one particular song about the rivalry of Penelope and Circe, which is not a theme especially appropriate to the place of invitation, and may well have been the favourite song of some fair lute-player; and

For Lucretilis oft nimble Faunus exchanges,
So delightful its slopes, his Arcadian Lycæus-
From my she-goats still turning aside

Rainy winds and the scorch of the sun.

the

All in safety the waves of the strong-scented husband
Rove where arbute and thyme lurk in woodlands secreted;
Never green adder daunts them, nor there
Martial wolf from Hædilia descends,

Whilesoever, my Tyndaris, round and about us
Ring the smooth sheeny lime-rocks of sloping Ustica,
And the valleys embosomed below,

With the sweet haunting pipe of the god.

Over me watch the gods with an aspect of favour,
To the gods dear at heart are the muse and my worship.
Here our rich rural honours shall flow

From a brimmed cornucopia to thee.

the reference to the jealous violence of Cyrus looks like an allusion to some incident that had previously occurred. On the one hand, nothing is more likely than that Horace should have known, and invited to his villa, some such accomplished freed-woman as is here addressed. On the other hand, nothing is more consonant to his exquisite art than the invention of attributes and incidents for the purpose of giving the interest of reality to a purely imaginary creation. A compliment to the beauty of the person addressed is insinuated by the name of Tyndaris, 'as if,' says Orelli, 'she were another Helen.'

CARM. XVII.

Velox amonum sæpe Lucretilem
Mutat Lycao Faunus, et igneam
Defendit æstatem capellis

Usque meis pluviosque ventos.

Impune tutum per nemus arbutos
Quærunt latentes et thyma deviæ
Olentis uxores mariti ;

Nec virides metuunt colubras,

Nec Martiales Hædiliæ lupos,
Utcunque dulci, Tyndari, fistula
Valles et Usticæ cubantis
Levia personuere saxa.

Di me tuentur, dis pietas mea
Et Musa cordi est. Hic tibi copia
Manabit ad plenum benigno

Ruris honorum opulenta cornu.

F

Here, within the deep vale, thou shalt shun the red dog-star,
And shalt sing us that tale on the lute-strings of Teos,
How Penelope vied with the Sea's

Crystal Circe, for one human heart;

Safely here shalt thou quaff, under cool leafy shadows,
Sober cups from the innocent vineyards of Lesbos ;
'Tis not here that gay Semele's son'

Shall with Mars his encounters confound;

Dread not here lest pert Cyrus, suspecting thee vilely, Lay rash hands on that form not a match for rude anger, Rend the garland which clings to thy hair,

Or the robe-which deserves no such wrong.

1 Bacchus.

Hic in reducta valle Caniculæ

Vitabis æstus, et fide Teïa

Dices laborantes in uno

Penelopen vitreamque Circen ;

Hic innocentis pocula Lesbi
Duces sub umbra; nec Semeleïus1
Cum Marte confundet Thyoneus
Prælia, nec metues protervum

Suspecta Cyrum, ne male dispari
Incontinentes injiciat manus,

Et scindat hærentem coronam
Crinibus immeritamque vestem.

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