Petræa; but Arabia Felix, which is here referred to, had not yet been invaded. The disastrous expedition under Ælius Gallus did not take place till B. C. 25, which was probably after the composition of this Ode. See C. i. 29, Int. India and Arabia are again coupled, Epp. i. 6. 6.

3. Caementis licet occupes] This is explained by C. ii. 18. 20; iii, 1. 35. 4. mare Apulicum,] This would apply to the bay on which Tarentum is situated, and there the Romans had handsome villas. Horace, however, had the other sea more in mind, perhaps with reference to Baiæ in particular, that place being situated on the northern projection of the Sinus Cumanus. 6. Summis verticibus] This has been variously explained. It probably means, when stern Fate has driven her adamantine nails into thy head' (that

is, to kill thee).

8. Non mortis laqueis] Death entangling men in his net is not an uncom mon idea with the poets. The same occurs in the Psalms: "The snares of death compassed me round about" (exvi. 3).

9. Campestres mehus Scythae] See C. i. 19. 10, n.; 35. 9, n. Herod. iv. 46. 12. Immetata] This does not occur elsewhere. Virgil assigns to the golden age this freedom from enclosures (Georg. i. 125, 126). Liberas' means 'com

mon property.'

14. Nec cultura placet] The habits of the Suevi, as described by Cæsar (Bell. Gall. iv. 1), are here assigned to the Geta, who are included with the Scythians. "They had 100 districts (pagi')," says he, “each of which supplied annually 1,000 soldiers, who served a year and were then relieved by others, who in their turn served a year and were relieved. Those who stayed at home cultivated the fields. They had no enclosures, and occupied the same ground only for one year."

15. Defunctumque laboribus] This phrase is applied to death above (C. ii. 18. 38); here it is, and when one has finished his work, a substitute relieves him with an equal share of the toil.'

18. temperat holds her hands from,' 'parcit.'

19. Nec dotata] The wife who brought a large 'dos' with her might have a tendency to rule her husband. Nec fidit' means she does not trust her rich paramour ('nitido,' 'sleck') to shield her with his influence from her husband's anger.

21. Dos est magna parentium]An ample portion for wives is their virtue and that chastity which, living in unbroken bonds, shrinks from any other man (than the husband).'

27. Pater urbium] This is not a title found elsewhere, but is analogous to 'Pater patriae' (C. i. 2. 50, n.). With refrenare licentiam' compare C. iv. 15. 9, sqq. Post-genitis' does not occur elsewhere.

30. quatenus] Forcellini gives other instances of this sense, 'quandoquidem,' since.' See S. i. 1 64, 3 76 The sentiment is repeated and illustrated in the first epistle of the second book, vv 10, sqq.

33. Quid tristes querimoniae] What is the use of complaining so sadly, if crime is to go unpunished?' There were many perhaps who complained, as Horace did, of the state of society, but he says active measures are wanted for the suppression of crime, and these Augustus resorted to, by the enactment of laws regulating expense, marriage, etc. See Epp. ii. 13, n.

35. Quid leges sine moribus] 'But then,' he goes on, laws are of little use, unless the character of the age supports them, for there are vices which the law cannot reach, such as the spirit of avarice,' which he goes on to speak of Tacitus has echoed Horace's words: "Bonae leges minus valent quam boni mores" (Germ. 19). See C. iv. 5. 22, n.

40. Mercatorem] On the 'mercatores,' see C. i. 31 12, n. The enterprise of these men, and the effects their visits had on uncivilized people, are illustrated by the passing notice they get from Cæsar (B. G. i i). Speaking of

the Belgæ, he says, "Of all these the bravest are the Belge, because they are farthest removed from the civilization and refinement of the Provincia (Gallia), and to them the 'mercatores' make less frequent visits than to others, importing those things which tend to make the mind effeminate."

45. Vel nos in Capitolium] He recommends that the rich should take their wealth and offer it to the gods in the Capitol, or throw it into the sea.

46. Quo clamor vocat] Multitudes, he says, would applaud such a sacrifice, and accompany those who made it to the temple.

54. Formandae] Formo' occurs in the same sense, C. i. 10. 2. S. i. 4. 121. Epp. ii. 1. 128. A. P. 307.

Nescit equo rudis] The young are brought up in idle, dissipated habits, and instead of manly exercises they amuse themselves with the childish Greek sports and gambling (see S. ii. 2. 11, n.), while their fathers are employed in making money by fraud.

57. Seu Graeco jubeas trocho] The 'trochus' was a hoop of metal, and it was guided by a rod with a hook at the end, such as boys use now.

58. vetita legibus alea,] There were laws at Rome, as there are with us, against gaming, which practice was nevertheless very prevalent among all classes, in the degenerate times of the republic and the empire. Juvenal complains that young children learnt it from their fathers (xiv 4).

60 Consortem socium] This means the partner whose capital ('sors') was embarked with his own. The Romans held it to be a very serious offence for a man to cheat his partner. Cicero (pro Rosc. Am. c. 40) says, "in rebus minoribus fallere socium turpissimum est." Horace couples the crimes of cheating a partner and a ward in Epp. ii. 1. 123.

62. improbae] This is one of the most difficult words to which to assign its proper meaning. Forcellini gives three or four separate heads with quotations illustrative of each, under any one of which most of the examples in the others might be classed. Orelli has quoted instances (on C. iii. 9. 22) in which it is applied to labor, a jackdaw, a man, a mountain, a tiger, winter, and the Hadriatic Sea. He might have added others, as self-love (S. i. 3. 24), an old woman (S. ii. 5. 84), an angry man (S. ii. 6. 29), etc. It implies 'excess,' and that excess must be expressed according to the subject described. 'Of course, vile wealth increases; still the store falls short, and something's lacking ever'

ODE XX V.

THIS Ode reads at first like an introduction to one on a larger scale in honor of Augustus; but we need not suppose that such a sequel ever was composed. The occasion, to judge by the enthusiasm of the language, may have been the announcement of the taking of Alexandria, B. c. 30.

ARGUMENT. Bacchus, whither dost thou hurry me? In what woods or caves shall I sing of Cæsar added to the gods, a new and noble strain, unheard before?

As the sleepless Euiad looks out from the heights upon the sacred hills and rivers of Thrace, so do I love to wander by the river-side and in the silent grove O thou lord of the Nymphs, no vulgar strain will I sing. I will follow thee, for the danger of thy company is sweet.

2 quae nemora]

The preposition before 'specus' governs both nouns. 'Spec-us' seems to contain the same root as oné-os, the original meaning of which is unknown The derivation of avτpov is equally uncertain. If, there

fore, there is any distinction between them, etymology does not help us to determine it.

5. meditans] Inserere' may be governed by audiar,' or 'meditans,' or both. · Meditari,' which is akin to μederâv, signities to revolve in the mind,' and often expresses the giving utterance to that which the mind has conceivedHere it has the same meaning as Virgil's musam meditaris avena," "me

ditaris arundine musam. 7. Dicam insigne}

Aliquid' or 'carmen' must be supplied. 9. Exsomnis stupet Euias] This name for the attendants on Bacchus, like Euius, his own name (C. i. 18. 9, ii. 11. 17), is derived from evoî (Euoe, C. ii. 19. 7), the bacchanal cry. The Euiad catches inspiration by looking out from the hill-tops upon the haunts of the god, and so the poet turns aside from his wonted path to the river-banks and groves where Bacchus is found. The picture of the Euiad looking out with silent awe, through a moonlight winter's night, upon the quiet plains of Thrace, and drawing inspiration from contemplating the scenes that her deity frequents, is very beautiful.

11. pede barbaro] This refers to the troops of Mænads (Maivádes from μαίνομαι, aς Θυιάδες from θύειν, C. i. 17. 23, n.) celebrating the orgies of

Bacchus.

12. Rhodopen,] This was a lofty chain which formed the western boundary of Thrace proper, and in which the Hebrus took its rise.

ut mihi] The word that usually follows aeque' is 'ac.' But Horace has 'acque ut' (C. i. 16. 7-9), and other writers have 'pariter ut,' 'non minus ut' (Prop. i. 15. 7), 'perinde ut,' which are analogous to 'non secus ut. Of this there seems to be no other instance, but perhaps 'ut' is used in preference to ac,' because that word occurs in the line before.

14. Naradum potens Baccharumque These are the Nymphs mentioned, C ii. 19. 3. The Bacchæ, as distinguished from the Naïades, are the woodnymphs (Dryades).

19. Lenaee,] This is a name of Bacchus derived from Aŋvés, a wine-press 20. tempora pampino.] Compare C. 1v. 8. 33: "Ornatus viridi tempora pampino Liber."

ODE XXVI.

THIS Ode represents a successful gallant's first refusal, and his mortification and wrath at his defeat. It is a purely fanciful composition.

ARGUMENT. - Till now I have fought and won. Now I hang up my arms to Venus. Here, here hang my torches, my bars, and my bow. O thou queen of Cyprus and of Memphis, do but once lay thy rod upon the proud Chloe.

1 idoneus] He means 'till now the women liked me, and my conquests were great and glorious.' The words would be suitable to a youthful lover under the chagrin of a first disappointment. Ovid says love is a warfare, "Militiae species amor est, discedite segnes" (A. A. ii. 233); “Militat omnis amans et habet sua castra Cupido" (Am. i. 9. 1). The arms this lover proposes to hang up in the temple of Venus on the left wall, as being most propitious (but see next Ode, v 15, n.), are the torch that lighted him to his mistress, the crowbar that broke open her door, and the bow and arrows which he carried as emblems of his passion perhaps. For what other purpose he could use them it is not easy to see.

5, marinae] See C. i. 3 1, n.

Cyprum] See C. 29. 60.

10. Memphin] Herodotus (ii. 112) speaks of a temple at Memphis to Ξείνη ̓Αφροδίτη, built by Proteus on the occasion of Paris and Helen being driven upon the coast of Egypt, according to a local legend, which makes Herodotus think that Helen herself was the 'Apodirη in question. As to Sithonia, see C. i. 18. 9.

11. sublimi] lifted high,' that the blow might be the sharper.

ODE XXVII.

THE subject of this Ode appears to be a journey to Greece (v. 19), proposed by a lady of Horace's acquaintance, whom he pretends to deter from her purpose, by reciting the dangers she will have to encounter, and the fate that waits upon female obstinacy, as illustrated by the story of Europa, which story occupies two thirds of the Ode, and puts aside Galatea and her journey. The length of the digression is a way with Horace (as in the story of Regulus, C. iii. 5, and of Hypermnestra, iii. 11), and Pindar took the same liberty with greater freedom.

ARGUMENT. - Let the wicked go on their way with evil omens. I do but pray for thee that the storm may be averted. Be happy, go where thou wilt, and remember me, Galatea. Fear not those idle omens: but see the rising storm: I know the dangers it portends. May they fall upon my enemy rather than on thee. It was thus Europa left her girlish task, and crossed the sea by night, but feared not, till she stood on the shore of Crete. Then she cried out in anguish : "Alas! my father, a daughter's name I have abandoned; love is swallowed up in madness. What an exchange is here! Many deaths do I deserve to die. Am I awake, or is it a dream? Was it better to cross the sea than to gather young flowers at home? O that I might avenge myself on that monster, once too dearly loved! Shame on me that I left my home; shame that I delay to die. Let me go naked among lions and perish by tigers, rather than waste away in a lingering death. Vile girl!' my father cries, why dost thou not die? Here thou mayest hang by thy girdle, or dash thee on the rocks, or into the stormy waves, unless thou wouldst yield thyself a barbarian's slave."" Then came Venus and her son, and laughed mischievously, and said: "Cease thy wrath, when the monster shall come back to give thee thy revenge. What, knowest thou not that thou art the spouse of Jove? Away with sighs. Bear thy noble destiny, for one half the world shall take its name from thee."

1. parrae What this bird was is not determined.

3. Rava decurrens] The meaning of ravus' is not certain. Horace applies it to a wolf or a lion (Epod. xvi. 33), in the latter case imitating perhaps Homer's xapoñoì déovtes (Odyss. xi. 611), for 'ravus' is said to be akin to Xaporos. The wolf is represented as running down from the hills of Lanuvium, because that town was near the Appia Via leading to Brundisium, where Galatea would embark.

6. Si per obliquum] The image of the snake shooting across the road recalls Jacob's prophecy in respect to his son Dan: “Dan shall be a serpent by the way; an adder in the path that biteth the horse's heels, so that his rider shall fall backwards" (Gen. xlix. 17).

7. ego cui timebo] For my part, on behalf of her for whom I am anxious, like a far-seeing augur, before that bird (the crow) which tells of the coming storm shall go back to his stagnant pool, the croaking raven with my prayers

I will call up from the East,' which would be an omen of good weather, and the crow flying to the marsh, of bad. 'Oscines aves' were birds whose omens were taken from their note, as 'praepetes' from their flight.

13. Sis licet felix] There is a tenderness apart from familiarity in these two stanzas, which gives much reality to the Ode.

15. laevus vetet ire picus] The woodpecker was a bird of ill-omen. There was some confusion among the Romans as to the right hand and left in augury, as to which was the propitious side. The confusion may have arisen from the different practice of the Greeks and Romans in taking note of birds, the former facing the north and the latter the south, as is commonly sup posed. But what is confusion to us, was none to a Roman. (C. 26. 5.)

18. Pronus Orion.] Orion sets about the beginning of November. On albus Iapyx,' see C. 3. 4 and 7. 15 of the first book.

21. Hostium uxores] So in C. i. 21. 13, sqq., he prays Apollo to turn away war, famine, and pestilence from his country to her enemies, the Parthians and Britons. Such diversion is common with the poets, as Virgil (Georg. iii. 513), "Di meliora piis erroremque hostibus illum." The Romans used 'pueri' for children of either sex. 'Oriens' is not usually applied to the rising of a wind, as Horace applies it here.

25. Sic et Europe] The story of Europa, the daughter of Agenor and sister of Cadmus, carried off from Phoenicia to Crete by Zeus, under the form of a bull, is told by Ovid, at the end of the second book of the Metamorphoses.

28. Palluit] So 'expalluit' (Epp. i. 3. 10) and 'contremuit' (C. ii. 12.8) are used transitively.

33. centum-Oppidis] See Epod. ix. 29. The description is taken from Homer's Korny ékatóμπodiv (II. ii. 649). Europa's speech is that of one just awake to her real position, after the terror of hier voyage and the departure of her companion; left alone in a strange land, with the consciousness of her folly first coming upon her. She begins distractedly, Father, — alas! I have forfeited a daughter's name, and love hath given place to mad

ness."

37. Unde quo veni?] This implies, not that she was so distracted that she had forgotten whence she had come, but What an exchange have I made! So dear a home for this strange place!' It is all very natural and beautiful. Una mors' is perhaps an imitation of Sophocles (Antig. 308) : οὐχ ὑμιν "Αιδης μοῦνος ἀρκέσει.

38. Vigilansne ploro] Am I awake and weeping for my foul fault, or, free from guilt, doth some vain image mock me, which, taking flight from out the ivory gate, brings me a dream?

41. porta fugiens eburna] Homer (Odyss. xix. 562) describes two gates in the house of Sleep, one of them horn and the other ivory, for the exit of dreams, of which those which came out of the ivory gate were false, those out of the other, true. Virgil has imitated Homer's description, Aen. vi. 894, sqq.

44. Carpere flores?] Ovid makes her put flowers about the animal's neck : "flores ad candida porrigit ora," Met. ii. 861.

49. Impudens liqui] For lack of shame I left my father's house, for lack of shame I hesitate to die,' either because she deserved to die, or because her chastity was in danger. Orcum moror' is equivalent to dubito mori,' like Ovid (Heroid. ix. 146): "Impia quid dubitas Defanira mori"; but it is an unusual form. Seeing nothing but death before her, she prays to be killed at once, rather than die a lingering death by hunger, and go down to Hades robbed of her beauty. This notion is Greek, and from the Greek it is probably imitated. Ere ugly leanness seize my lovely cheeks, and their young victim's blood runs dry, thus in my beauty I would feed the tigers.'