Dellius, to whom this Ode is addressed, is generally supposed to have been a Quintus Dellius, who was notorious for being a man of all political parties in turn. He was an adherent of Brutus and Cassius, then of Antony, and shortly before the battle of Actium he joined Augustus, with whom he appears to have been on terms of intimate friendship. He was to some extent a man of letters, and wrote a history of Antony's Parthian expedition, in which he himself commanded a part of the Roman army. He was well known to Maecenas, but probably was not one of Horace's intimate friends. The poet in this Ode recommends a tranquil enjoyment of the pleasures of life, since, whatever be our condition, whether we are rich or poor, noble or lowborn, we must all be deprived of them by death. AEQUAM memento rebus in arduis Seu maestus omni tempore vixeris, Interiore nota Falerni. Quo pinus ingens albaque populus Huc vina et unguenta et nimium brevis Cedes coëmptis saltibus, et domo, Divesne prisco natus ab Inacho, 5 ΙΟ 15 20 Omnes eodem cogimur; omnium Sors exitura, et nos in aeternum Exsilium impositura cumbae.1 25 XIII. [III. 29.] Horace, in this Ode, invites his friend and patron Maecenas to tear himself away from the cares of public life, and pay him a visit at his Sabine farm. Come, he says, the wine and flowers are ready; leave the bustle and smoke of Rome, and enjoy the humble fare of my poor table, which will be a pleasant change to you. The heat is intense; the days of drought are come; the shepherd and his flock seek the shade and the cool stream, whilst thou art full of anxieties for the safety of the State. A wise providence has hidden the future from man; live, therefore, for the present; all else is like the river which now peacefully glides along, now rushes to the sea in a furious torrent. Fortune is uncertain, and changes from day to day. I am glad when she stays with me; if she flies from me, I am resigned, and cheerfully accept poverty. The tone of the Ode is thoroughly Epicurean. TYRRHENA regum progenies, tibi Jam dudum apud me est. Eripe te morae, Fastidiosam desere copiam et Molem propinquam nubibus arduis ; Fumum et opes strepitumque Romae. Plerumque gratae divitibus vices, 1 cymbae. 5 ΙΟ חו 15 2 coenae. Jam clarus occultum Andromedae pater Sole dies referente siccos. Jam pastor umbras cum grege languido Ripa vagis taciturna ventis. Tu civitatem quis deceat status 20 25 Componere aequus ; cetera fluminis Fas trepidat. Quod adest memento Ritu feruntur, nunc medio alveo In mare, nunc lapides adesos Stirpesque raptas, et pecus et domos Volventis una, non sine montium Irritat amnes. Ille potens sui Laetusque deget, cui licet in diem 'Vel sole puro : non tamen irritum, Quod fugiens semel hora vexit.' Transmutat incertos honores, 35 40 45 50 Laudo manentem: si celeres quatit Ne Cypriae Tyriaeque merces 55 60 XIV. [tt. 14.] Horace dwells in this Ode on the shortness of life and the certainty of death. No sacrifices, he says, will appease the stern Pluto, and though we may escape the perils of war or of the sea, we must still finally cross the dark stream, and leave all that is most dear to us. One of the most beautiful of the elegies of Propertius (iii. 12), is addressed to Postumus, who was then starting on the disastrous expedition led by Aelius Gallus against the Arabians, but it is wholly uncertain whether the present Ode refers to the same person. EHEU fugaces, Postume, Postume, Afferet indomitaeque Morti. Non, si trecenis quotquot eunt dies, Plutona tauris : qui ter amplum Compescit unda, scilicet omnibus, Sive inopes erimus coloni. 5 Frustra cruento Marte carebimus Visendus ater flumine languido Sisyphus Aeolides laboris. Linquenda tellus, et domus, et placens Úlla brevem dominum sequetur. Absumet heres Caecuba dignior 15 20 25 The luxury and extravagance of the rich were among the most crying evils of the age, and Augustus, after the civil wars were over, tried by various laws to keep them down. There was an insane passion for building mansions on a hitherto unheard of scale. This is the subject of the present Ode. The palaces of the rich, says Horace, are usurping all our best and most fertile lands. Our ancestors, with a truer patriotism, were content with a turf-roofed cottage, and thought only of beautifying the towns and temples of the gods with marble. JAM pauca aratro jugera regiae Stagna lacu platanusque caclebs Evincet ulmos: tum violaria et Myrtus et omnis copia narium, Spargent olivetis odorem Fertilibus domino priori; 1 coenis. 5 |