'pestilens,' 'protervus.' He uses the phrase 'Africae procellae' (C. iii. 23. 5) to signify the storms for which this wind was proverbial. 'Luctari,' certare, decertare,' 'contendere,' are used by the poets with the dative case, instead of the ablative with 'cum,' after the manner of the Greek μάχεσθαί τινι. 16. otium et oppidi Laudat rura sui;] He commends the peaceful fields about his native town; for otium et rura' may be taken as one subject. 18. indocilis - pati.] Examples of this Greek construction for ad patiendum' are very numerous. To go no further than this book, we have audax perpeti,'' blandum dicere,'' nobilem superare,' 'impotens sperare,'' callidum condere,'' doctus tendere,' 'praesens tollere,' 'ferre dolosi.' 'Pauperies,' 'paupertas,' pauper,' are not usually by Horace taken to signify privation,' or anything beyond a humble estate, as, among many other instances, meo sum pauper agello" (Epp. ii. 2. 12). Probamque pauperiem sine dote quaero" (C. iii. 29. 56). Paupertas,' 'inopia,' 'egestas,' is the climax given by Seneca (de Tranq. Animi, 8). 19. Est qui] See above, v. 3. This is the only instance in which est qui' is followed by the indicative where the person is not expressed or clearly understood. Horace may have had some one in his mind, and the description would apply to many of his friends, or to himself. Massici] The wine grown on Mons Massicus in Campania was of delicate flavor. See S. ii. 4. 54. 20. solido demere de die] That is, to interrupt the hours of business. So (C. ii. 7. 6) "morantem saepe diem mero fregi." 'Solidus' signifies that which has no vacant part or space; and hence solidus dies' comes to signify the business hours, or occupied part of the day. The solidus dies' ended at the hour of dinner, which with industrious persons was the ninth in summer and tenth in winter. The luxurious dined earlier, the busy sometimes later. The commencement of the day varied with the habits of different people. 21. viridi] This is not an idle epithet, which Horace never uses. The arbutus is an evergreen, which is expressed by 'viridi.' 22. caput] This is used for the mouth as well as the spring of a river. Virg. Georg. iv. 319, "Tristis ad extremi sacrum caput astitit amnis." Caes. (B. G. iv. 10) says of the Rhine, " multis capitibus in Oceanum influit." Here it is the spring. Shrines were usually built at the fountain-head of streams, dedicated to the nymphs that protected them, which explains 6 sacrae. 23. lituo tubae] The 'lituns' was curved in shape and sharp in tone, and used by the cavalry: tuba,' as its name indicates, was straight and of deep tone, and used by the infantry. "Non tuba directi, non aeris cornua flexi" (Ov. Met. i. 98). The 'lituus' is said to have been in shape a mean between the tuba' and the cornu'; not so straight as the one, nor so twisted as the other. See C. ii. 1. 17. 24. bellaque matribus Detestata.] 'Detestatus' is nowhere else used passively, except by the law-writers, who use it for one convicted by evidence: 'modulatus" (Č. i. 32. 5), 'metatus' (ii. 15. 15), are likewise instances of deponent participles used passively. 25. sub Jove] The atmosphere, and so the sky. Epod. iii. 2: "Nivesque deducunt Jovem." The Latin writers represented the atmosphere by Jupiter, the Greeks by Hera. 26. tenerae] This word occurs frequently in Ilorace in the sense of 'young.' See C. 5. 19 (tenerum Lycidam). 28. teretes] This word may be rendered smooth and round.' It has always more or less closely one of these meanings, or both. It contains the same root as 'tero,' 'tornus,' reípw, and its cognate words, and its meaning is got from the notion of rubbing and polishing. Horace applies it to a woman's ankles, a smooth-faced boy, the cords of a net, and a faultless man. It is applied by Ovid (Fast. ii. 320) to a girdle, and by Virgil (Aen. xi. 579) to the thong of a sling; where, as here, it represents the exact twisting of a cord. 'Plagae' were nets of thick rope with which the woods were surrounded to catch the larger beasts as they were driven out by dogs and beaters. (Epod. ii. 32. Epp. i. 6. 58; 18. 46.) Marsus for Marsicus, as Medus for Medicus, is the only form Horace uses. The country of the Marsi, cast of Rome, Umbria, and Lucania were all famous for boars, being abundant in acorns, on which they fed and grew fat. Laurentian boars were also celebrated. See S. ii. 3. 234; 4. 41. 43. 29. Me doctarum hederae praemia frontium] The ivy, which was sacred to Bacchus, made a fit and usual garland for a lyric poet. "Doctarum frontium" is the proper description of poets, who by the Greeks were called σοφοί. 30. me gelidum nemus] This is an imaginary scene, in which Horace supposes himself wandering in cool groves, surrounded with dancing bands of wood-nymphs (Dryads and Hamadryads) and satyrs, and listening to the flute of Euterpe, and the lyre of Lesbos struck by Polyhymnia. Tibia' was a sort of flageolet. When it is used in the plural (as here, C. iv. 15. 30, Epod. ix. 5), it has reference to two of these instruments played by one person. Their pitch was different, the low-pitched tibia being called 'dextra,' because it was held in the right hand, and the high-pitched sinistra,' because it was held in the left. Euterpe, the Muse, was said to have invented the tibia,' and she especially presided over music. Polyhymnia, or Polymnia, another Muse, invented the lyre. 34. Lesboum-barbiton.] The lyre of Sappho and Alcæus, who were natives of Mytilene in the island of Lesbos, and flourished at the same time, about the end of the seventh century B. C. (C. 32. 5.) 35. Quod si Although the personal pronoun'tu' is emphatic in this sentence, it is omitted, as is often the case in poetry, where no opposition of persons is intended. —‘Lyricis' is less common than 'melicis,' to describe the lyric poets of Greece. Lyricis] The most celebrated of the lyric poets of Greece were Pindar, Alcæus, Sappho, Stesichorus, Ilycus, Bacchylides, Simonides, Alcmeon, and Anacreon. ODE II. THIS Оde seems to have been written on the return of Augustus to Rome, after the taking of Alexandria, when the civil wars were brought to a close and the temple of Janus was shut, B. C. 29. Horace here urges Augustus to take upon himself the task of reducing to order the elements of the state, which so many years of civil war had thrown into confusion, and he does so in the following manner. He refers to the prodigies at Julius Cæsar's death, as evidences of the divine wrath for the guilt of the civil wars. He then invokes one god after another to come and restore the state, and finally fixes upon Mercury, whom he entreats to take upon himself the form of a man, and not to leave the earth till he has accomplished his mission and conquered the enemies of Rome. The man whose form Mercury is to take is Augustus. If this Ode is read with C. ii. 15, and the others mentioned in the introduction to that Ode, the feeling with which Horace entered into the mission of Augustus as the reformer will be better understood. ODES. - BOOK I. ARGUMENT.-Portents enough hath Jove sent upon the earth, making it afraid lest a new deluge were coming, as the Tiber rolled back from its mouth, threatening destruction to the city, the unauthorized avenger of Ilia. Our sons shall hear that citizens have whetted for each other the steel that should have smitten the enemy. What god shall we invoke to help us? What prayers shall move Vesta to pity? To whom shall Jove assign the task of wiping out our guilt? Come thou, Apollo; or thou, smiling Venus, with mirth and love thy companions; or thou, Mars, our founder, who hast too long sported with war; or do thou, son of Maia, put on the form of a man, and let us call thee the avenger of Cæsar; nor let our sins drive thee too soon away; here take thy triumphs; be thou our father and prince, and suffer not the Mede to go unpunished, whilst thou art our chief, Ó Cæsar. 1. Jam satis-] These are the prodigies which are said to have followed the death of Julius Cæsar. They are related also by Virgil (Georg. i. 466489), which description Horace may have had in his mind. See also Ovid, Met. xv. 782 sqq. dirae] It is very common in Horace (though not peculiar to him) to find an epithet attached to the latter of two substantives, while it belongs to both, fidem mutatosque Deos" (C. i. 5. 6), "poplitibus timidoque as here, and tergo" (C. iii. 2. 16), and many other places. Horace uses this construction so frequently that it may be looked upon as a feature in his style; and he often uses it with effect. 2, 3. rubente Dextera] With his right hand, glowing with the light of the thunderbolt which it grasped. arces] The sacred buildings on the Capitoline Hill. They were called collectively Capitolium or Arx (from their position), Arx Capitolii, and sometimes" Arx et Capitolium." (Livy, v. 39, &c.) They embraced the three temples of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, Juno, and Minerva, of Jupiter Feretrius, and of Terminus. Horace uses 'jaculari' three times, and always with an accusative. Other writers use it absolutely. See C. ii. 16. 17; iii. 12. 9. 6. nova monstra] The prodigies alluded to are those enumerated in the following verses; namely, the occupation of the mountains by sea animals, of the waters by the deer, and the trees by the fishes. 7. pecus] The herds of Neptune, or the larger sea animals, fabulous or otherwise, which were said to be under the charge of Proteus. The deluge of Deucalion, the husband of Pyrrha, and its causes, are described at length by Ovid (Met. i. 125 - 347). 10. columbis,] The proper name for a wood-pigeon is 'palumbus,' or '-ba,' or '-bes'; but 'columbus,' '-ba,' are the generic terms for pigeons. 'Damae' is both masculine and feminine. Georg. iii. 539: "timidi damac cervique fugaces." 11. superjecto] Terris' may be understood. Virgil uses the word (Aen. xi. 625), "Scopulisque superjacit undam." Vorticibus rapidis et Aen. vii. 31: " 13. flavum] This common epithet of the Tiber arose out of the quantity of sand washed down in its stream. multa flavus arena." By 'vidimus' Horace means that his generation had seen the prodigies he refers to, as Virgil says of the eruptions of Ætna: 'Quoties Cyclopum effervere in agros Vidimus undantem ruptis fornacibus Aetnam."— Aen. i. 471. 13, 14. retortis Littore Etrusco violenter undis] "its waters driven violently back from the shore of the Etruscan sea," into which the Tiber emptied itself. It is said that the overflowings of the Tiber are still by the common people accounted for by the violence of the sea driving back the stream. They were always held to be ominous, and many such are mentioned in Livy and other writers. 15. monumenta regis] This signifies the palace of Numa adjoining the temple of Vesta, hence called atrium regium' (Liv. xxvi. 27), as forming a kind of 'atrium' to the temple. Ovid (Fasti, vi. 263) thus alludes to this building : "Hic locus exiguus, qui sustinet atria Vestac, Tunc erat intonsi regia magna Numae." 17. Iliae―ultorem,] Tiber is represented as taking upon himself, without the sanction of Jove, and in consequence of Ilia's complaints, to avenge the death of Julius Cæsar, the descendant of Iulus, her ancestor. Ilia, or Rea Silvia, the mother of Romulus and Remus, is variously reported to have been married to the Tiber and the Anio, because into one of those streams she was thrown by order of Amulius. Jove may be supposed to have disapproved the presumption of the river-god, because he had reserved the task of expiation for other hands and happier means. One of the chief purposes professed by Augustus was the avenging of his adoptive father's death, and his enemies made this a handle against him. 21. cives acuisse ferrum] 'Inter se' or 'in semetipsos' may be understood. 'Audiet acuisse' does not mean 'shall hear them sharpen,' but shall hear of their having sharpened.' Horace is not predicting what is to be, but lamenting what has been. 22. Quo-perirent,] By which it were better that the hostile Parthians should die.' Persians, Medes, and Parthians are names freely interchanged by Horace. The Parthian empire, at the time Horace wrote, extended nearly from the Indus to the Roman province of Syria; and the Parthians were in the habit of making incursions into that province, which fact is referred to in the last stanza of this Ode. Although the name of Augustus, assisted by their own disputes, did something towards keeping them in check, they were held by the Romans to be their most formidable enemies. Augustus meditated, but never carried out, war with the Parthians; and the Romans never till the reign of Trajan gained any successes against them. Their empire was broken up, and succeeded by the Persian kingdom of the Sassanida, during the reign of Alexander Severus, A.D. 226.-Perirent' would in prose be 'perituri forent.' 24. Rara juventus.] 'Our children thinned by the crimes of their fathers.' It took years of peace and the enactment of stringent marriage-laws to restore the population of Rome, which was thinned not only by bloodshed, but by indifference to marriage and laxity of morals. 25. Quem vocet divum] Vesta was the tutelary goddess of Rome. See Virg. Georg. i. 499, sqq. "Dii patrii Indigetes, et Romule, Vestaque mater, Quae Tuscum Tiberim et Romana palatia servas." She is represented as turning a deaf ear to the prayers of her virgins, because Caesar as Pontifex Maximus had particular charge of her temple and rites. On vocet, see Z. 29. scelus] The guilt of the civil wars and of Cæsar's death, which, as Horace implies in what follows, was to be expiated by Augustus in the character of Mercury, the messenger of peace. - 'Partes' means 'office,' 'duty.' Encas was said to have preserved the fire of Vesta and brought her to Rome. 'Carmina' (hymns') is opposed to 'prece' as a set formula to other prayers. Carmen' has that meaning in respect to legal or any other formal documents. Liv. i. 26: "Lex horrendi carminis." Epp. ii. I. 138: "Carmine Di superi placantur carmine Manes." 31. Nube candentes humeros amictus] So Homer describes him, eiμéros poiïv vepédŋy (Il. xv. 308). Virg. (Aen. viii. 720): "candentis lumine ODES. Phoebi." Humeros' is the Greek accusative: 'your bright shoulders veiled in a cloud.' 33. Sive] See i. 3. 12, n. Erycina ridens' corresponds to piloμueidŋs 36. Respicis] You regard.' Cic. (de Legg. ii. 11) proposes the title 'Fortuna respiciens,' which he explains by ad opem ferendam,' for a temple of Fortune. 37. ludo,] See C. i. 28. 17: "Dant alios Furiae torvo spectacula Marti." 39. Mauri peditis] Translate in the following order: 'et Vultus Mauri peditis Acer in cruentum hostem.' The force of peditis' here appears to be that the rider has had his horse killed under him, or has dismounted to attack his enemy hand to hand, or in consequence of a wound. See S. ii. 1. 13: "Aut labentis equo describit vulnera Parthi." The troops of Mauritania were chiefly cavalry. There is a particular meaning in the reference to them rather than to any other troops. 41. juvenem] So Augustus is called, though he was forty years old at this time. So Virg. (Georg. i. 500): — "Hunc saltem everso juvenen succurrere saeclo See C. iii. 14. 9; Epp. i. 8. 14; and S. ii. 5. 62, where the word is again 6 Juvenis' and adolescens' were used for any age between 'pueritia' and senectus.' Cicero speaks of himself as 'adolescens' at the time he put down Catiline's conspiracy, when he was forty-four years old, and as 'senex when he delivered his 2d Philippic, at which time he was sixty-two. 42. Ales] Agreeing with Filius.' 'Patiens vocari,' (Epp. i. 5. 15). 43. Filius] Is the nominative used for the vocative. a Grecism. "Patiarque vel inconsultus haberi " pateris sapiens emendatusque vocari" (Epp. i. 16. 30). 45. Serus in caelum redeas] Ovid, Met. xv. 868, sqq.:· "Tarda sit illa dies et nostro serior aevo Qua caput Augustum, quem temperat orbe relicto, "Cum See also Trist. v. 2. 47. The adjective for the adverb is common in respect of time. The instances in Horace are very numerous. 49. triumphos,] Augustus had just celebrated, or was just about to cele brate, three triumphs on three successive days, for his victories, (1.) over the Gauls, Pannonians, and Dalmatians, (2.) at Actium, and (3.) at Alexandria. Triumphos' is governed by 'ames,' as 'pocula' is governed by spernit' (i. 1. 19); in both which cases we have an accusative case and an infinitive mood governed by the same verb. 6 50. pater] The title of 'pater patriae' was not assumed by Augustus till A.U.C. 752. It was the highest title of honor that could be conferred on a citizen, and was first given by the Senate to Cicero (the army had formerly bestowed it on Camillus), on the occasion of his suppressing Catiline's conspiracy. Juv. viii. 243:21* |