CARMEN XXXI. In A.U.C. 726 (25th October), Augustus dedicated a temple with a library attached, which he had built in honour of Apollo, on the Palatine hill, to commemorate his victory at Actium (Suet. Octav. 29, Dion Cass. liii. 1). After the ceremonies of the day of dedication were over, we may suppose Horace putting in his own claim to the god's favour in this ode, in which he represents himself as offering a libation (whether in private or at the temple is uncertain), and asking for that which according to Juvenal (x. 356) should be the end of all prayer, mens sana in corpore sano!' ARGUMENT. What asks the poet with his libation of Apollo? not cups, or herds, or gold and ivory, or rich fields. Let those who may prune Calenian vines, and rich merchants drink rich wine out of cups of gold, favourites of heaven, who traverse the deep in safety. My food is the olive, the chicory, and mallow. Let me enjoy what I have, thou son of Lato, sound in body and mind, and let my age pass with honour and the lyre. QUID dedicatum poscit Apollinem Non aestuosae grata Calabriae Armenta, non aurum aut ebur Indicum, Mordet aqua taciturnus amnis. Premant Calena falce quibus dedit Vina Syra reparata merce, Livia, quam caro praestitit illa viro." 5. Calabriae] C. ii. 6. 10; Epod. i. 27 n. [6. ebur Indicum] Indicum' may be merely a poetical ornament. The Roman ivory came from Africa, more probably than from India; but ivory may have come from India also in Horace's time.] 9. Premant] Virgil uses this word in the same sense (Georg. i. 156): "et ruris opaci Falce premes umbras;" and Ovid (Met. xiv. 628) : : "adunca dextera falce 5 10 'Vitem' is governed both by 'premant' and dedit.' Bentley prefers Calenam' to Calena.' But, though the omission of the mark which usually represents the final 'm' is so common that it proves nothing in exceptional cases, yet there is no reason to suppose the copyists of all existing and known MSS. made the omission in this instance. But none read Calenam.' 'Falce,' moreover, is much less otiose (redundant) with the epithet than without; and, notwithstanding Bentley's distinction between fixtures and moveable instruments, the expression Calena falce' is as appropriate as 'praelo Caleno' above (9), or Laes Dis carus ipsis, quippe ter et quater Me cichorea levesque malvae. trygonia amphora,' 'Sabina diota,' 'Graeca testa,' where to the press that makes or the vessel which contains the wine is applied the name of the wine itself. 12. Vina Syra reparata merce] Wine taken in exchange for Syrian goods, which include all the costly merchandize of the East, elsewhere called Tyriae merces.' The seaports of Syria were entrepôts for goods from and for the East.-Though Horace uses many words compounded with 're,' without any perceptible difference of meaning from the simple words, as 'retractare,' 'resecare,' 'resolvere,' 'revincere,' 'renare,' 'remittere," there is the force of bartering in this word, as in avtayopáÇeσbai. (See C. i. 37. 24 n.) 'Mercator' was a dealer in wares, who generally sailed or travelled with his goods into foreign parts to dispose of them. The mention of the Atlantic is out of place immediately after 'Syra merce'-but as usual Horace does not aim at strict accuracy. Aequor Atlanticum' suited his verse. The travelling merchants are often referred to by Horace. See C. i. 1. 16; iii. 24. 40. S. i. 1. 6, 4. 29. Epp. i. 1. 45, 16. 71. [18. et] The conjecture of Lambinus; but the MSS. authority is in favour of ‘at,' which Keller and Ritter have.] CARMEN XXXII. This ode has caused the commentators much trouble. Whether it was meant to be an introduction to some poem Horace wrote or intended to write on one of the events of the day, or what sort of song he was asked for and by whom, are all questions that have been freely discussed. The question turns in the first instance on the word with which the ode begins. The Scholiasts read Poscimur,' on which Acron's comment is 'poscebatur dicta sua edere;' Porphyrion's Exigitur a nobis ut canamus.' But a large number of MSS. have 'Poscimus,' which Bentley adopts after Lambinus and all the older editions. (Cruquius, however, following his Blandinian MS., reads 'Poscimur.') With that reading the ode becomes a mere invocation of the Muse, which would suit any poem or any subject. With Poscimur,' which I have followed most of the modern editors in adopting, there is still no clue whatever to the occasion of the ode, and the Scholiasts' remarks do not help us. I see no grounds for Dillenbr.'s supposi tion that on some important occasion Horace was asked to write a poem, and wrote this short ode to deprecate such a demand, and to show that his muse was not suited to such themes. I have no doubt 'poscimur' is the true reading, and it may mean merely that the poetic'afflatus' was on him. The abruptness of the opening favours that notion. See note on v. 2. ARGUMENT. I am asked to sing. If I have ever composed a song that shall not die, with thee my lyre, come help me to a Latin song-thou whom Alcaeus did first touch, who in the dark field or on the deep still sung of Liber, the Muses, Venus and her son, and Lycus with POSCIMUR. Si quid vacui sub umbra Barbite, carmen, Lesbio primum modulate civi, Liberum et Musas Veneremque et illi O decus Phoebi et dapibus supremi 1. Poscimur] See Introduction.-'um. bra' Bentley changes into 'antro.' He does not quarrel with umbra,' but finding 'antro' in one MS. he embraces it with both his arms: "Non possumus non ambabus ulnis eam amplecti." Cunningham, his foe, is here his only follower I believe, though Bentley proves satisfactorily by twenty quotations that poets do sometimes compose their verses in caves. 2. quod et hunc in annum] It has been disputed whether these words belong to 'lusimus' or to 'carmen.' I take them to belong to the former. Horace seems to mean that he feels impelled to higher strains than he had yet practised, and he calls on his lyre to help him. 'Barbitos' is used as a feminine noun by the early Greek writers. The name of Lycus appears in a fragment of Alcaeus (57 Bergk), quoted by the Scholiast on Pind. Ol. x. 15: οὐκ ἐγὼ Λύκον ἐν Μοΐσαις ἀλέγω. Cicero (de Nat. Deor. i. 28) says, "Naevus in articulo pueri delectat Alcaeum. At est corporis macula naevus: illi tamen lumen videbatur." 5. modulate] See C. i. 1. 24 n. [7. size] 'Sive' must be supplied before 'inter arma.' As to Alcaeus, the Lesbian citizen,' see Herodotus v. 95, and Horace, C. ii. 13. 26.] 10. haerentem] This verb haerere' is used by Horace with a dative as here, and S. i. 10. 49; or with an ablative with 'in,' as S. i. 3. 32; or without in,' as C. i. 2. 9. S. ii. 3. 205. 15. cumque] As 'quandoque' is put for 'quandocumque' (see Index), 'cumque' is put for cumcumque' or 'quumquumque,' which occurs in Lucret. ii. 113: Cumque' belongs to 'vocanti.' [Ritter explains 'cumque' thus: mihi, quicumque sum,' that is, cujuscumque pretii sum;' and he says that 'cumque' as an enclitic cannot refer to what follows it. All the other examples in Horace of cumque are preceded by some form of qui, or by 'quando,' itself a form of 'qui.' Lachmann (Lucre ius v. 311) made the absurd conjecture 'medicumque' for 'mihi cumque.' I think Ritter's explanation is right. The translation is, accept my greeting, such as I am, when I duly invoke thee.' Comp. Virgil, Aen. xi. 97, Salve aeternum mihi, maxime Palla.'] CARMEN XXXIII. The extant elegies properly attributed to Tibullus mention only two mistresses of his, under the names of Delia and Nemesis, and these are the only two that Ovid mentions in the beautiful elegy he wrote on that poet's death (Amor. iii. 9. 31, 55 sqq.). Of the person he calls Delia he was enamoured during the earlier part of his life; of Nemesis during his later years. He died between thirty and forty, about the same time as Virgil. Much has been written to prove that the Glycera of this ode stands for Delia (see particularly Spohn de A. Tibulli vita et carm. p. 50, 96, who believes that Delia, Nemesis, Glycera, Neaera-a name occurring only in the third book, which Tibullus, it is pretty certain, did not write, were all the same woman). Others have identified Glycera with Nemesis, on account of the number and quantity of the syllables being the same, and the epithets Tibullus applies to her, 'avara,' 'rapax,' 'saeva,' 'dura,' which correspond to Horace's immitis.' Dissen is certain that Glycera is neither Delia nor Nemesis, but another mistress otherwise unknown. Orelli is of the same opinion, but adds that those who thus attempt to settle to a nicety the loves of Roman gentlemen, and pretend to know more about them than they have told us, only create a smile among those who have lived long in France or Italy—implying that his countrymen were bad judges of the amusements of their more gallant neighbours. It is not even certain that Tibullus wrote the pitiful elegies Horace speaks of. Glycera is one of Horace's favourite names, and cannot be taken for a real name here or elsewhere. It occurs in Plautus (Mil. Glor. ii. 5. 26) and Martial (xiv. 187). Whether the person had any more reality than the name or the verses, is, I think, doubtful. That Tibullus wrote elegies, that he was not rarely crossed in love, and that he was on some occasion in a desponding humour, are facts sufficient to form a probable foundation for this good-tempered little poem. Whoever goes further than this will find he is out of his depth. Horace was much attached to Tibullus, who was a favourite with his contemporaries. To him was addressed the fourth epistle of the first book. ARGUMENT. Come, Albius, do not be drawling pitiful poetry upon Glycera, because she prefers a younger man to you. Pretty Lycoris loves Cyrus, Cyrus inclines to Pholoë, who admires the vulgar sinner as the she-goat loves the wolf. Such are Love's diversions, bringing opposites under the yoke together. So it happened to me—a tender heart was attached to me, while I could not free myself from the fetters of Myrtale, more cruel than the waves of the Hadriatic. ALBI, ne doleas plus nimio memor 3. cur] Cur,' or 'quur, is formed from qui' (Key's Gr. 316), and has the force of quod' here, as in Epp. i. 8. 10, and in Cicero (Att. iii. 13): "quod me accusas cur hunc meum casum tam graviter feram debes ignoscere." [3. Decantes] This word is here used, as Cicero uses it (Or. ii. 18), in a contemp 5 tuous sense. The Germans compare it with their word hersingen.' It occurs Epp. i. 1. 64.] 5. tenui fronte] A low forehead was considered a beauty, and the women braided their hair accordingly, as appears in some statues, among others in the so-called Isis of the British Museum. The same appears Cyri torret amor, Cyrus in asperam Quam turpi Pholoë peccet adultero. Ipsum me, melior cum peteret Venus, to have been considered an attraction in men. Epp. i. 7.26: “reddes-nigros angusta fronte capillos." Intellectual beauty, as we view it, in men is better described by Pliny, Epist. iii. 6. 2: "rari et cedentes capilli; lata frons." 7. Cyrus in asperam Declinat Pholoën] Heyne, on Tibull. i. 8, has been at pains to show that Horace's Pholoë and the heroine or that elegy are identical; and Broukhusius identifies Cyrus with her lover Marathus. Any one who reads Horace's words with his eyes open will see that he is making names for a case of common occurrence; and whoever reads Tibullus' elegy, will see that he is not pleading for a Cyrus 10 15 such as Horace describes. See C. ii. 5. 14. compede] This word is used twice again by Horace in the singular number: "grata compede vinctum" (C. iv. 11. 24); "nivali compede vinctus" (Epp. i. 3. 3); and once by Tibullus: " Spes etiam valida solatur compede vinctum" (ii. 6. 25). Bentley has quoted several inscriptions to show that Myrtale was a common name among freedwomen. [Curvantis:' see C. iv. 5. 14.] CARMEN XXXIV. If Horace had any serious meaning in this ode, as I think he had, it is to be supposed he wrote it under some impulse of conscience, which told him that he had been too careless of that sovereign power which governs all things. The language, though impulsive, appears genuine ; and whether it was through the phenomenon here mentioned or any other cause that his mind was impressed, he seems to express more than merely poetical feeling; and the power acknowledged is not that conventional Fortune of the next ode, but the Supreme Being who declares his existence by the voice of conscience, through sudden impressions and startling signs, such as under some form or other we may believe Horace was struck with. I believe Baxter was the first from the word 'apicem' (v. 14) to suppose an allusion to the Parthians and the transfer of the power from Phraates to Tiridates, or back from Tiridates to Phraates. This opinion is generally adopted now, and Buttmann has given it his sanction. He says "apex is the peculiar name for the head-dress of the Persian kings; and, just about the time when by the most probable calculation the odes of this book must have been written, a revolution took place in the Parthian empire, the most powerful state in the world next to Rome, whereby Tiridates was dethroned and driven out of the country, and Phraates was re-established in his stead." More weight I think is given to these words than they deserve. Chronologically considered they must be |