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Omitte mirari beatae

Fumum et opes strepitumque Romae.
Plerumque gratae divitibus vices
Mundaeque parvo sub lare pauperum
Coenae sine aulaeis et ostro

Sollicitam explicuere frontem.

Jam clarus occultum Andromedae pater
Ostendit ignem, jam Procyon furit

Et stella vesani Leonis,

Sole dies referente siccos;

Jam pastor umbras cum grege languido

Rivumque fessus quaerit et horridi
Dumeta Silvani, caretque

Ripa vagis taciturna ventis.

Tu civitatem quis deceat status,
Curas et urbi sollicitus times,
Quid Seres et regnata Cyro
Bactra parent Tanaisque discors.
Prudens futuri temporis exitum
Caliginosa nocte premit deus,

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designedly killed his father.-11. Beatae Romae, of wealthy Rome,' for this is generally the sense of beatus.-13. Vices, 'change.' -14. Sub lare sub tecto, the god for that which he protects.-16. Sollicitam explicuere frontem, unwrinkle, smooth the anxious brow;' that is, generally, drive away care and trouble. The perfect is here used in an aorist sense, of that which commonly happens.-17. The sense is this: summer is already come, the season when residence in the country is delightful. In the beginning of July the star named after Cepheus, the father of Andromeda, rises; then the Procyon (Latin Antecanis), one of the stars in the constellation of Orion; soon after it the dogstar (Canicula) itself; and finally, the star of the Lion makes its appearance, which is called here vesanus, because it brings the greatest heat.-20. Referente, bringing back every year.' -21. Pastor-quaerit is to be understood generally of all shepherds, but more particularly of those who tended the extensive flocks which, during the winter, fed in the plains of Apulia and Calabria, but in the summer were taken up to the hills of Lucania.-22. Horridi, 'rough, shaggy,' for he is represented with the hairy feet of the goat.-25. It does not appear that Horace alludes here to the praefectura urbis, which Maecenas held in the year 30 B. C., during the absence of Augustus from the city. He would have indicated it more distinctly. We have here simply a general description of political employments.-27. Regnala Cyro, once reigned over by Cyrus,' which once belonged to the great Persian empire. As to the construction of regnare, see ii. 6, 12, note.-28. Tanais is used here for the Scythians on its banks, and their neighbours the Parthians.-29. Prudens, not without

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Ridetque, si mortalis ultra

Fas trepidat. Quod adest, memento
Componere aequus: cetera fluminis
Ritu feruntur, nunc medio alveo
Cum pace delabentis Etruscum
In mare, nunc lapides adesos

Stirpesque raptas et pecus et domos
Volventis una non sine montium
Clamore vicinaeque silvae,
Cum fera diluvies quietos
Irritat amnes. Ille potens sui
Laetusque deget, cui licet in diem
Dixisse Vixi;' cras vel atra
Nube polum pater occupato

Vel sole puro; non tamen irritum
Quodcunque retro est, efficiet, neque
Diffinget infectumque reddet
Quod fugiens semel hora vexit.
Fortuna, saevo laeta negotio et
Ludum insolentem ludere pertinax,
Transmutat incertos honores,
Nunc mihi nunc alii benigna.

Laudo manentem; si celeres quatit
Pennas, resigno quae dedit, et mea
Virtute me involvo, probamque

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purpose.'-31. Ultra fas, 'beyond what he is permitted to know, beyond what the gods have allowed him,' for this is fas. Trepidat =curat_timet. -32. Quod adest, the present, and that which immediately follows it; the things of to-day and to-morrow. -33. Aequus, with equity, justice; the adjective for the adverb, which would have been used in prose. Fluminis; namely, the Tiber, from which the whole of the following comparison is taken. —35. Cum pace = placide, quiete, peacefully, calmly.'-40. Dilu vies, a flood.' When the melting of the snow on the mountains has swelled the tributaries of the Tiber, Anio, Nar, and Clanis, which commonly flow peacefully along, then the Tiber also becomes an impetuous torrent.-41. Potens sui, master of himself,' so that he keeps his passions under subjection.-42. In diem, for every day.'44. Polum, as frequently, the sky' generally.— 47. Diffinget, change the form of, alter.'-49. Laeta saevo negotio, who rejoices in her cruel employment;' namely, impoverishing the wealthy and humbling the proud.-50. Ludere, depending, according to a Greek construction, on pertinax, obstinate to play; that is, in playing.'-53. Celeres pennas. Compare i. 34, 15.-54. Resigno, a term taken from the Roman money-dealings, rescribo, I pay by bill, I give back.' Compare Epist. i. 7, 34.55. Virtute mea me involvo, I wrap myself up in mine integrity,' as in a toga. Dying persons used to draw the toga over their head,

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and thus quietly await the struggle with the last enemy. - 56. Sine dote, without any present,' which Fortune gives man as a dowry.58. Malus, the mast,' used here by synecdoche for the ship generally. Compare i. 14, 5.-59. Volis pacisci, to gain peace and rest by vowing presents to the gods should the ship reach the land safely. -62. Biremis here does not mean, as usual, a ship with two banks of oars; but, as we see from scaphae, a small boat impelled by two oars.-63. Aegaeos tumultus, the raging storms of the Aegean.'64. Geminus Pollux. See i. 3, 2, and i. 12, 25.

CARMEN XXX.

CLOSING poem of the first three books of the odes, in which, as if his productions as a lyrist were here to end, Horace, with a just consciousness of his merits in this department, promises to himself immortality from his odes.

EXEGI monumentum aere perennius
Regalique situ pyramidum altius,

Quod non imber edax, non Aquilo impotens
Possit diruere aut innumerabilis

Annorum series et fuga temporum.
Non omnis moriar, multaque pars mei
Vitabit Libitinam: usque ego postera
Crescam laude recens, dum Capitolium

1. Aere, than brass;' that is, than a statue of brass (aeneo monumento), such as commonly used to be erected to the memory of illus. trious men. - -2. Situ, than the structure.'-3. Impotens; namely, sui, = vehemens.-5. Fuga temporum, poetical for tempus fugax.— 6. Omnis, utterly.' Hence afterwards multa pars mei, poetical for magna pars mei; namely, my genius, the memory of what my genius has created.-7. Libitinam. Venus Libitina was the goddess of sepulture at her temple all deaths in Rome were announced, as the births were at that of Juno Lucina. Usque = semper. Postera laude; that is, laude posterorum, by the praise of posterity, which shall cause me to be ever recens, as one who is but just dead.

Scandet cum tacita virgine pontifex.
Dicar, qua violens obstrepit Aufidus,
Et qua pauper aquae Daunus agrestium
Regnavit populorum, ex humili potens,
Princeps Aeolium carmen ad Italos
Deduxisse modos. Sume superbiam
Quaesitam meritis et mihi Delphica
Lauro cinge volens, Melpomene, comam.

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9. Cum tacita virgine; that is, with the vestal virgins, virgo and pontifex being used collectively. Hence the sense is: so long as the Roman priests, accompanied by the vestals, who maintain a solemn silence, go up to the Capitol to offer public sacrifices; that is, so long as Rome, the Eternal City, continues.-10. Construe thus: dicar princeps deduxisse Aeolium carmen ad Italos modos, ' I shall be celebrated as having been the first to bring over the Aeolian verse to Italian measures; that is, as the first to write in Latin such lyrics as, erewhile, were sung by Sappho and Alcaeus, who composed in the Aeolic dialect of Greek. Aufidus (now Ofanto), a river near Venusia, the birthplace of the poet.-11. As to Daunus, compare i. 22, 14, note. The hero of the country is here named for the country itself; hence the epithet pauper aquae is applied to him, Apulia being deficient in water. Agrestium populorum, genitive dependent on regnavit, according to the Greek construction apxev, κρατεῖν τινος. - 12. Ex humili potens; that is, humili loco natus, sed potens carminibus.-15. Delphi calauro, with the Delphic laurel,' with the laurel with which Apollo, whose chosen seat is Delphi, crowns poets. Hence the meaning is: grant, O Muse, that I may be universally acknowledged as a true lyric poet.-16. Volens = propitia, graciously.'

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LIBER QUARTUS.

CARMEN II.

AD IULUM ANTONIUM.

In this ode Horace excuses himself for not attempting that lofty kind of lyric poetry which Pindar had cultivated among the Greeks, but contenting himself with imitating the lighter songs of Alcaeus and Sappho. The poem is addressed to Mark Antony's son, Iulus Antonius, who was brought up by Augustus and his sister Octavia. At this time Antonius was held in respect and honour; so much so, indeed, that in the year 10 B. C., he obtained the consulship. Afterwards, however, in 2 B. C., he was discovered to be implicated in a conspiracy against the emperor, and was obliged to kill himself. The ode was written shortly before 13 B. C.

PINDARUM quisquis studet aemulari,
Iule, ceratis ope Daedalea

Nititur pennis vitreo daturus

Nomina ponto.

Monte decurrens velut amnis, imbres

Quem super notas aluere ripas,

Fervet immensusque ruit profundo

Pindarus ore,

Laurea donandus Apollinari,

Seu per audaces nova dithyrambos

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2. Ceratis ope Daedalea-pennis, on wings which, like those once made by Daedalus, are but artificial, fastened with wax.' An allusion to the well-known story of Daedalus, who, with his son Icarus, flew away from Crete by means of wings which the father had constructed of wax. Icarus, however, the wax of his wings being melted by the sun, fell and was drowned in the sea, which, from his name, was afterwards called the Icarian.-3. Vitreo ponto. Compare i. 17, 20.-6. Super notas ripas, over its well-known banks,' the banks within which it keeps when not swollen by rains. -7. Profundo ore; that is, grandiloquo, magnifico. The figure of the river is still preserved.-9. Apollinari. See iii. 30, 15.- 10. Nova verba devolvit, an allusion to the fact that Pindar, in his dithy

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