Scilicet ut possem curvo dignoscere rectum, nempe ut possim pravum ab honesto distinguere, ac veritatem indagare in nemore Academi. Sed infortunata tem pora abstraxerunt me loco jucundo, et civiles fluctus militiæ imperitum appulerunt ad exercitum nequaquam parem viribus Augusti Cæsaris. Unde statim ut Philippi me exalis, spoliatumque domo et bonis emerunt abjectum amputatis paternis; audax inopia adegit carmina componere. Nunc au Quæ poterunt unquam satis expurgare cicutæ, tem possidens quantum sufficit, Ni melius dormire putem quam scribere versus ? Singula de nobis anni prædantur euntes; 55 vis? quibus pharmacis unquam curari possim, si satius non duce rem quiescere, quàm versus condere? Ætas defluens omnia paulatim aufert à nobis: jam eripuit jocos, amores, convivia, facetias conatur et abstrahere facultatem poëticam: quid jubes Denique non omnes eadem mirantur amantque: ut agam? Denique non omniCarmine tu gaudes, hic delectatur iambis; bus eadem placent. Tu verIlle Bioneis sermonibus et sale nigro. 60 sus lyricos amas, ille iambicos. Tres mihi convivæ prope dissentire videntur, mordacibus. Et quidem tres NOTES. 44. Scilicet, &c.] To distinguish right from wrong, and search for truth in the groves of Academus-to study philosophy in the school of the academics. Curvo-rectum.] The metaphor is taken from geometrical lines. 45. Academi.] The Academia (so named from the hero, Academus, Diog. Laert. iii. 7.) or Gymnasium, in which Plato once lectured, was a grove, or park, near the city. 46. Dura, &c.] But unhappy times forced me to abandon that agreeable residence. 47. Civilisque.] And the tide of civil war bore me into the midst of an army, which was not capable of resisting the strength of Cæsar. In arma.] I. e. taken up by Brutus and Cassius against Octavius and Antony. Ho Rudem belli.] Young, and entirely without experience-had seen no service. race was, nevertheless, made at once a Tribune in the legions of Brutus. Sat. i. 6. 48. 48. Responsura.] Sat. ii. 7. 85. 49. Unde, &c.] From which service, or war. Simul primum, &c.] When the defeat of Brutus at Philippi, &c. Od. ii. 7. 10. 50. Decisis pennis.] With my wings clipped-my ambitious hopes cut down. Inopemque.] Stript of my paternal property. He was in the proscription lists of the triumvirate. 51 Audax, &c.] Which makes people dare, or attempt what they would not, without the stimulus, dream of. Hic gaudet satiris et dicteriis convivæ raro idem appetunt, 52. Sed, quod, &c.] But what cicute will ever cure me of the madness of poetry, now that I have enough for my wants, if I do not prefer sleeping to scribbling. Quod non desit, &c.] As much as leaves nothing wanting-i. e. as is sufficient. 53. Cicuta.] Hemlock-like helleboreregarded among the Romans, as a specific for the cure of madness. 55. Singula, &c.] Horace gives further reasons for abandoning poetry-his age, and consequent change of feelings-the conflicting tastes of his friends-the interruptions of Rome, &c. Singula.] One after another. Nobis anni.] Ep. i. 1. 4. Od. iv. 1. 3. Virg. Ecl. ix. 51. Euntes.] Never stopping. Ep. ad Pis. 176. 57. Tendunt extorquere.] Wrench from me my poetical powers. Quid faciam vis?] What do you wish me to do what sort of poetry to write?-i. e. on the supposition, I am inclined to write. 59. Carmine.] Lyrics. Horace separates Iambics from Lyrics in Ep. i. 19. 23. 60. Bioneis.] Such severe or bitter satires as Bion of the Borysthenes wrote-who, according to Diog. Laertes, spared neither Gods nor men. Nigro.] As ater, in the same sense, Ep. i. 19. 3. 61. Tres mihi, &c.] You are like three guests, no two of whom are pleased with the same thing. quin diversa longè dissimili gus- Poscentes vario multum diversa palato. tu volunt. Quid tribuam? quid Quid dem? quid non dem? Renuis tu, quod negem? Tu recusas quod alius petit. Quod cupis, illud ama jubet alter; rum et grave duobus videbitur. Quod petis, id sane est invisum acidumque Præterea numquid putas me duobus. 64 tot inter solicitudines et moles- Præter cetera me Romæne poëmata censes tias? Hic rogat ut pro se spon- Scribere posse, inter tot curas totque labores ? deam: ille ut audiam quæ com- Hic sponsum vocat, hic auditum scripta, relictis posuit, dimissis quibuscumque officiis; alter habitat in colle Quirinali, alter in ultimo Aven- Omnibus officiis; cubat hic in colle Quirini, tino: ambos adire oportet: Hic extremo in Aventino, visendus uterque ; vacuæ sunt viæ, ut nihil cogi- Intervalla vides humane commoda. cernis loca satis distantia. At Verum tabundum impediat. Imò oc- Puræ sunt plateæ, nihil ut meditantibus obcurrit operum conductor cum stet. 71 mulis et bajulis properans; machina lapidem aut trabem in- Festinat calidus mulis gerulisque redemtor; gentem attollit: pompa funebris Torquet nunc lapidem, nunc ingens machina decertat cum magnis plaustris: tignum ; cœnosus discurrit. Age modò, illac rabiosa canis, istâc porcus Tristia robustis luctantur funera plaustris; 74 versus optimos animo finge. Hac rabiosa fugit canis, hac lutulenta ruit sus: Verùm scriptor omnis petit soli- I nunc, et versus tecum meditare canoros. tudinem, urbesque vitat, jure cliens Bacchi quietem et otium Scriptorum chorus omnis amat nemus et fugit urbes, amantis. Tu verò me jubes mediis in tumultibus noctis ac Rite cliens Bacchi, somno gaudentis et umbrâ: diei Lyrica scribere, et poëta- Tu me inter strepitus nocturnos atque diur rum ardua studia consectari ? Ingeniosus quispiam Athenis tranquillis addictus nos 79 Vis canere et contracta sequi vestigia vatum? NOTES. 65. Præter.] Besides-or like inter cuncta Mulis.] Supply cum. in Ep. i. 18. 96. beyond every other reason. 67. Hic sponsum, &c.] One summons me to give security for him in the Courts, (Sat. ii. 6. 23.) another to listen to his verses-to the neglect of every other duty. 68. Cubat.] Confined to his bed. Sat. i. 9. 18. 69. Visendus, &c.] Both must be called upon-one on the Quirinal, the other on the Aventine. 70. Intervalla, &c.] You see how obligingly convenient the distance is. Humane, &c.] Ascribing, thus sportively, a kind consideration on the part of these places thus remotely situated with respect to each other. Verum puræ.] But the streets are freethere is nothing to prevent poets, while walking through them, from meditating their verses, &c. 72. Festinat, &c.] Why there is some builder, &c. Horace replies to the suggestion, that a poet might make verses in the streets. Calidus.] In heat and bustle - eager to get on with his loads, &c. Od. iii. 1. 35. Gerulis.] Workmen-carrying their tools and materials. 73. Torquet, &c.] Twists up over your head-a crane-wheel here winds up a great stone, and there a great piece of timber, &c. Od. iii. 10. 10. 74. Tristia, &c.] Funeral processions encountering waggons block up the road. Sat. i. 6.42. Robustis.] Great heavy waggons. Canoros.] Tuneful—amidst this uproar. 5. 10. Ep. i. 79. Tu, &c.] And yet you, who should know better, wish me, amidst the tumults, day and night, of Rome, to make verses, &c. 80. Contracta.] Traces, which are not to be found in the public streets of the city, but in the secluded retreats of the country. 81. Vacuas.] Where is none of the bustle of business-a place adapted to the calm pursuits of literature. Ep. i. 7. 45. Et studiis annos septem dedit, insenuitque Libris et curis, statuâ taciturnius exit Plerumque, et risu populum quatit; hîc ego rerum Fluctibus in mediis et tempestatibus urbis 85 Verba lyræ motura sonum connectere digner? Frater erat Romæ consulti rhetor, ut alter Alterius sermone meros audiret honores, Gracchus ut hic illi foret, huic ut Mucius ille. Quî minus argutos vexat furor iste poëtas? 90 Carmina compono, hic elegos, mirabile visu Cælatumque novem Musis opus! Aspice primum, Quanto cum fastu, quanto molimine circumSpectemus vacuam Romanis vatibus ædem! Mox etiam, si forte vacas, sequere, et procul audi, 95 Quid ferat, et quare sibi nectat uterque coro nam. Cædimur, et totidem plagis consumimus hostem, Lento Samnites ad lumina prima duello. ibique septem per annos studiis operatus, sedulæ librorum incumbens lectioni, prodit inter dum taciturnior quàm statua, et populo ludibrium exhibet. Er gone hic ego inter agitationes ac strepitus civitatis animum inducam meum aptare voces lyrâ canendas? Insuper et alia quæ deterreant accipe: Rhetor quidem erat Romæ frater jurisperiti, qui alter alterius perpetuas laudes audiebant. Hic illi quasi Gracchus, ille huic tanquam Mucius prædicabatur. Nihilò certè mi nùs insania ista detinet poëtas loquaces? Odas ego scribo, hic elegias, opus admirandum et à novem Musiselaboratum. Animadverte primò quantâ cum arrogantiâ et anxietate contemplemur Apollinis templum Romanis poëtis destitutum. Deinde, si per otium licet, assectare quoque, et eminus ausculta quid quisque asserat, et cur sibi lau ream attribuat. Conficimur, totidemque vulneribus afficimus adversarium, lentâ pugnâ usque Discedo Alcæus puncto illius: ille meo quis? ad vesperam, quasi Samnites. NOTES. 82. Insenuitque.] And grown old—or spent his time, till he looks prematurely old, in reading and meditation. Ep. i. 7. 85. 83. Exit.] Becomes-ends. Ep. ad Pis. 22. 84. Et risu.] And makes every body shake with laughter, at the sight of a man so silent and absorbed.-People may study as much as they please at Athens-at Rome it is impracticable. 85. Fluctibus, &c.] Tossed like the sea in a storm. 86. Verba lyræ, &c.] Od. ii. 12. 4; iv. 9. 4. Digner, &c.] Can I think writing lyrics an occupation for Rome? 87. Frater, &c.] Horace here abruptly, as he often does, and without obvious connection, starts another cause, which averts him from poetry-the egregious vanity of the poets, and their gross flattery of each other. Frater erat, &c.] There were two friends at Rome, one a lawyer, the other an orator, (or a rhetorician, i. e. a teacher of oratory.) The lawyer called his brother a Gracchus ; and the orator returned the compliment by styling the lawyer a Mucius. So it is with the poets, &c. Frater.] Not by birth, but friendship. Ep. i. 3. 35. 88. Meros honores.] Nothing but compliments and courtesies. 89. Gracchus.] Cicero speaks of Tiberius Gracchus as eminent for his eloquence. Brut. 7. Illius sententiâ sum Alcæus : ille meâ quis erit? Mucius.] Q. Mucius Scævola-a distinguished name among Roman lawyers. 90. Qui minus, &c.] Does not the same fury-folly possess the poets-i. e. of extolling one another to the skies? 36. Argutos.] As olor argutus. Virg. Ecl. ix. 92. Cælatumque.] A work carved or cut by the nine Muses themselves! In Ep. ad Pis. 442. verses are tornati. 93. Molimine.] The self-importance of the poet. With what an air of importance we, &c. 94. Vacuam.] Open to receive the Roman poets. Edem.] The Palatine library attached to the temple of Apollo. Sat. i. 10. 38. 95. Sequere, &c.] Follow us to the library, &c. 96. Quid ferat.] recites-and why it is for the other. What each produces, or that each binds a wreath 97. Cædimur, &c.] We give each other stroke for stroke-like Samnite gladiators, who fight through the long day till dusk—an eternal reciprocation of compliments. 98. Samnites.] A class of gladiators named, apparently, from the use of Samnite weapons. Sat. ii. 6. 44. Ad prima lumina.] Till dusk-when people lit their lamps. Sat. ii. 7. 33. 99. Puncto illius, &c.] By his vote or suffrage, &c. The suffrages at elections in the quis, nisi Callimachus? Si quid Quis nisi Callimachus? si plus apposcere amplius petere videatur, dicetur visus, Mimnermus, et exornabitur vo 100 cabulo quod optaverit. Multa Fit Mimnermus, et optivo cognomine crescit. quidem perfero, ne irritem Poë- Multa fero, ut placem genus irritabile vatum, tas, ut plurimùm iracundos, Quum scribo, et supplex populi suffragia capto: quando quidpiam compono, et vulgi approbationem enixis pre- Idem, finitis studiis, et mente receptâ, cibus flagito: at post finita stu- Obturem patulas impune legentibus aures. 105 dia cùm ad memet redii, ipse Ridentur mala qui componunt carmina: ve aures occludam antè apertas te merè recitantibus. Deridentur applaudunt, ac felices venditant rum qui scribunt inconcinnos versus, Gaudent scribentes, et se venerantur, et ultro, sed auctores ipsi sibi placent et Si taceas, laudant, quicquid scripsere, beati. à te non At qui legitimum cupiet fecisse poëma, 109 laudentur. Verùm quisquis car- Cuin tabulis animum censoris sumet honesti; men exactum scribere voluerit, Audebit, quæcunque parum splendoris habeis cum chartâ accipiet animum quod composuerunt, si à te non boni critici: quæ dictiones mi bunt, nùs aptæ et pulchræ judicabun- Et sine pondere erunt, et honore indigna fetur, ultrò expunget, etsi relucrentur, tantes amoveantur, et adhuc in clusæ sint in Vesta sacrario: Verba movere loco, quamvis invita recedant, solers adhibebit splendidas re- Et versentur adhuc intra penetralia Vestæ. rum appellationes, ac diu po- Obscurata diu populo bonus eruet, atque 115 pulo ignotas producet quas Proferet in lucem speciosa vocabula rerum, olim Catones et Cethegi usurpârunt, Quæ, priscis memorata Catonibus atque Ce thegis, NOTES. the censor erases the unworthy names he finds the rolls of the senators and knights. 111. Audebit.] He will not hesitate-will have courage enough. Parum splendoris.] What has no splendour or dignity-no elegance suited to the occasion. Like the knight who is no longer able to maintain the splendour becoming his rank, and whose horse was accordingly taken from him by the censor. 112. Sine pondere.] As versus gravitate minores. Sat. i. 10. 54. 113. Movere loco.] Still with allusion to the censor-who expelled from the senate honore indignos. Quamvis, &c.] Although they retire with reluctance, and still lurk in the poet's study, as if protected in the shrine or sanctuary of Vesta. 115. Obscurata, &c.] And as the good writer, or poet, will thus reject words which, though in common use, have ceased to be elegant or decorous-so will he revive, &c. Bonus.] As being thus equitable. Obscurata diu, &c.] He will rescue from oblivion, and bring into light, for the use of the nation, to whom they have long been strangers, good old words, which, though employed by the Catos and the Cethegi, disuse and neglect have long suppressed. 116. Speciosa.] Singularly significant — expressive. Ep. ad Pis. 319. 117. Catonibus.] Cato, the censor, 519 Nunc situs informis premit et deserta vetustas: nunc autem deformat turpis Fundet opes, Latiumque beabit divite linguâ; tabit Latium: redundantia co- ërcebit, duriora scitè expoliet, inertibus vim addet: quasi ludens circumagetur, velut qui Ludentis speciem dabit, et torquebitur, ut qui modò Satyrum, modò rudem Nunc Satyrum, nunc agrestem Cyclopa mo- Cyclopem motu simulat. Ego vetur. 125 certè malim haberi poëta vesa Prætulerim scriptor delirus inersque videri, fallant, nus et insulsus, dummodo placeant mihi, vel etiam ignota sint vitia mea; quam bene scribere et animo cruciari. Argis Quam sapere, et ringi. Fuit haud ignobilis fuit quidam non plebeius, qui Argis, Qui se credebat miros audire tragœdos, 134 credebat se audire tragœdos excellentes in vacuo theatro sedens et applaudens: cæterùm hones tæ vitæ officia non omittebat, probus omnino vicinus, benignus hospes, bonus erga conjugem, mitis in servos, nec supra modum excandescens si fractum inveniret lagenæ sigillum: denique rupem vel puteum facilè Ille affinium curâ Posset qui rupem et puteum vitare patentem. devitabat. NOTES. 603 U. C.; and priscus, because he was distinguished for his adherence to ancient habits, &c. Cethegis.] Cethegus was consul 548 U. C. whom Ennius, as recorded by Cicero, styled Suadela medulla. Brut. 15. 118. Situs informis.] Like lands neglected -deprived of the beauty which cultivation gives. 119. Adsciscet, &c.] Will adopt. Nova.] I. e. new in books-such as usus (quem penes, &c. Ep. ad Pis. 71.) has already produced-such as the occasions of business and of social intercourse have brought into colloquial use. 120. Vehemens.] The word is in accommodation with the stream, which is vehemens (strong) when it flows with a full body of water. Vehemens.] An anapest-unless the two short syllables are pronounced as one long one. Catull. 50. 21. Liquidus.] Not lutulentus, like Lucilius. Sat. i. 4. 11. 121. Opes.] Riches-abundance, both of idea and phrase. Ep. ad Pis. 307. 122. Luxuriantia.] He will cut away the superfluous as the pruner does the luxuriance of his vines. Sano cultu.] He will soften-sweeten what is harsh as the gardener improves wild fruits by skilful grafting. 123. Virtute carentia.] What have lost their vigour, or original powers. Tollet.] Sat. i. 4. 11. 124. Ludentis.] He will be like a Mime in the theatre-will twist and turn, as he who dances now like a Satyr, and now like a Cyclops-expressive of the versatility and grace with which the good writer works up his materials. Sat. i. 5. 63. 125. Movetur.] Dances, as Ep. ad Pis. 232. 126. Prætulerim, &c.] I would rather be thought-you, perhaps, or somebody will say, with reference to line 106-a fool, provided my own bad verses delighted me, or at least that I did not know they were bad, than play the philosopher, and growl. I would rather be Or the Argive like the man of Argos, &c. story may be told by Horace thus-You, then, would rather be like the man of Argos, &c. 128. Ringi.] Like dogs when they are angry, and show their teeth-snarl at the follies of man, and write satires. 129. Qui se credebat, &c.] Who sat in the empty theatre, and believed himself listening to admirable tragedies, &c. 131. Servaret, &c.] A man who discharged the ordinary duties of life correctly-perfectly sane in all other respects. Observantissimus aqui. Virg. En. ii. 427. 134. Signo læso, &c.] Not fly into a fury if the carved or embossed figures on a lagena were broken by the carelessness of a slave. |