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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, O 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, as here, and "fidem mutatosque Deos" (C. i. 5. 6), "poplitibus timidoque 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 damae cervique fugaces."

11. superjecto] Terris' may be understood. Virgil uses the word (Aen. xi. 625), "Scopulisque superjacit undam."

13. flavum] This common epithet of the Tiber arose out of the quantity of sand washed down in its stream. Aen. vii. 31: "Vorticibus rapidis et 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:

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Hic locus exiguus, qui sustinet atria Vestae,
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 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 Sassanidæ, 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 Cæsar 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.'

Æneas 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. 1. 138 : "Carmine Di superi placantur carmine Manes."

31. Nube cundentes humeros amictus] So Homer describes him, εἱμένος ὤμοιϊν νεφέλην (Ιl. xv. 308). Virg. (Aen. viii. 720): "candentis lumine Phoebi." 'Humeros' is the Greek accusative: 'your bright shoulders veiled in a cloud.'

32. Augur Applied to Apollo as the deliverer of oracles and god of divination.

33. Sive] See i. 3. 12, n. 'Erycina ridens' corresponds to φιλομμείδης ̓Αφροδίτη. Venus is called Erycina, from Mount Eryx in Sicily, where she had a temple. Ἵμερος and "Έρως (two forms of Love) were the sons of Venus. 'Jocus' is an invention of Horace's. Apollo is appealed to as the steadfast friend of Troy, and, according to his flatterers, the father of Augustus; Venus, as the mother of Æneas and of the Julian family; and Mars, as the father of Romulus. Mercury (the son of Jove and Maia), as above stated (v. 29), is selected as the representative of Augustus, because he is the messenger of peace.

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." 38. leves, Polished' or 'burnished.'

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

Ne prohibete."

See C. iii. 14. 9; Epp. i. 8. 14; and S. ii. 5. 62, where the word is again applied to Augustus.

'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.'

43. Filius] Is the nominative used for the vocative. - 'Patiens vocari,' a Grecism. "Patiarque vel inconsultus haberi" (Epp. i. 5. 15). "Cum 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,
Accedat caelo."

Sce 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 celebrate, 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.

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 :

"Roma parentem,

Roma patrem patriae Ciceronem libera dixit," where 'libera' seems to mean that the Senate were no longer free agents when Augustus took the name. See C. iii. 24. 27, n.

princeps,] Tac. Ann.i.1: "Cuncta discordiis civilibus fessa principis sub imperium accepit." In the Senate there was always one person who was called 'princeps senatus,' chosen at their own discretion by the censors. It was nominally as such that Augustus took the title of 'princeps' rather than 'rex,' which was odious to the Romans. He and his successors are more often styled 'princeps' than 'imperator' by the historians. The latter title, from which emperor' is derived, they had in virtue of the 'imperium,' for an explanation of which term see Smith's Dict. Ant.

51. Medos equitare inultos,] That is, the Parthians. See above, v. 21, n. 52. Te duce, Caesar.] The name of Cæsar is introduced abruptly where that of Mercury might be expected. This abruptness increases the effect.

ODE III..

THIS Ode is addressed to the ship that was carrying Virgil the poet on some occasion to Greece. His constitution was weak, and he probably made several voyages for the sake of his health. He went, and only returned to die in B. c. 19, but this ode was written before then. It is taken up with reproaches against him who first invented navigation, and a lament for the presumption of mankind.

ARGUMENT. - We commit to thee Virgil, O thou ship! deliver him safe on the shores of Attica, and preserve him whom I love as my life; and may the skies and winds prosper thee. Hard and rash was the man who first tempted the sea and defied the winds. In what shape should he fear the approach of death, who unmoved could look on the monsters of the deep, and the swelling waves, and dangerous rocks? In vain did God separate lands, if man is to leap over the forbidden waters. So doth he ever rush-into sin. Prometheus brought fire into the world, and with that theft came all manner of diseases; Dædalus soared on wings, and Hercules burst into hell. Deterred by nothing, we would climb heaven itself; and our guilt suffers not Jove to lay aside his bolts.

1. Sic] 'Sic' in this place amounts to no more than 'utinam' in a strong form, as ὡς does in Greek. There are other passages where 'sic' follows the prayer on which it depends, as C. i. 28. 25 :

particulam dare :

marked, and an opposite But such is not the case

"Ne parce malignus arenae Sic quodcunque minabitur Eurus," where the condition and its consequence are clearly wish is implied if the condition be not fulfilled. here; first Horace says, 'May the stars and winds prosper thee,' and then goes on, 'O ship, deliver thy trust in safety.'

'Potens,' like its kindred word πότνια, is used with a genitive after it. Venus (a Latin divinity) is confounded by the poets with the Greek Aphrodite, who, from her supposed origin, was imagined to have power over the sea; hence Horace calls her 'marina' (C. iii. 26. 5; iv. 11. 15). She had the titles εὐπλοία, λιμένιας, had temples built for her in harbors, and is represented on coins with a rudder, shell, and dolphin. Her principal temples were at Idalium and Paphos in Cyprus, in the island of Cythera off the Peloponnesus, Eryx (C. 2. 33) and Cnidus in Caria.

2. Sic fratres Helenae] Castor and Pollux had among other titles that of ἀρωγόναυται, ‘sailor-helpers.' The appellation 'lucida sidera' is supposed to be derived from certain meteoric appearances after storms, which the ancients supposed to indicate the presence of Castor and Pollux. Similar phenomena are still called by the Italian sailors the fire of St. Elmo, a corruption (it is believed) from Helena, sister of Castor and Pollux. Compare Eurip. Helen. 1495, sqq., and C. iv. 8. 31.

3. pater, Æolus is steward of the winds in Homer (Odyss. x. 21), king in Virgil, and father here.

4. praeter lapyga:] The Iapygian or northwest wind, so called from Iapygia in Apulia, whence it blows down the Adriatic, was favorable for a voyage from Brundisium, where Virgil would embark for Greece.

6. finibus Atticis) 'Deliver him safe on the shores of Attica'; 'finibus' being the ablative case. 'Reddere' is the word for delivering a letter.

8. animae dimidium meae.] See C. ii. 17. 5. The definition of a friend ἥμισυ τῆς ψυχῆς is attributed to Pythagoras.

9. Illi robur et aes triplex] This too is an imitation of the Greek, as Aesch. Prom. 242 : σιδηρόφρων τε κἀκ πέτρας εἰργασμένος. We are to understand a man whose heart is hard, as if cased in oak and a triple coat

of bronze.

13. Aquilonibus] The dative, depending on 'decertantem.' 14. tristes Hyadas,] These were three stars in the head of Taurus, whose name (derived from veiv, to rain) explains the epithet 'tristes,' 'dull,' 'unhappy.'

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15. arbiter] This may be rendered 'tyrant.' 'Notus' is called 'dux turbidus Hadriae' (C. iii. 3. 5). 'Ponere freta' is like Virg. (Aen. i. 66), placide straverunt aequora venti"; and Soph. Aj. 674: δεινῶν δ ̓ ἄημα πνευμάτων ἐκοίμισε στένοντα πόντον. 'Sive' is omitted before 'tollere,' as the Greeks frequently omitted eἴre in the first clause. This is common in Horace.

17. gradum] This is not 'degree,' but 'step.' It must be rendered in some such way as this: 'in what shape should he fear the approach of death.'

18. siccis oculis ξηροῖς ἀκλαύστοις ὄμμασιν (Aesch. S. c. Theb. 696). The ancients were less exact in ascribing the proper signs to emotion, or they wept less sparingly than men do now. Cæsar, describing the effect of fear on his men, says, "Hi neque vultum fingere neque interdum lacrimas tenere potuerunt" (B. G. i. 39); and Ovid (Met. xi. 539), describing sailors in a storm, says:

"Non tenet hic lacrimas: stupet hic: vocat ille beatos
Funera quos maneant":

It was enough to make them weep, to think that their bodies could not meet with burial. 'Sicci occuli' are fitting accompaniments of a heart so hard as this venturous discoverer is said to have had.

20. Acroceraunia?] 'Ceraunii montes' was the ancient name for the range of mountains that runs down the coast of Epirus, the northern extremity of which was the promontory called 'Acroceraunia.' The navigation in the neighborhood of this promontory appears to have been dangerous. Vessels going from Italy to Greece were liable to be driven upon it, which accounts for its mention here.

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22. dissociabili] Used actively, as penetrabile telum" (Aen. x. 48), "genitabilis aura Favoni" (Lucret. i. 11), and in Horace 'amabilem' (C. i. 5. 10), 'illacrimabilem' (ii. 14. 6), which is used passively C. iv. 9. 26. Tacitus uses 'dissociabilis' passively (Agr. 3), "res olim dissociabiles miscucrit principatum et libertatem." Prudens' is 'providens,' foreseeing the evil to come.

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