60. Laedere collum]

Laedere' corresponds to Awẞâoba in Soph. Ant. 54, πλεκταῖσιν ἀρτάναισι λωβᾶται βίον. Several heroines ended their lives in this unromantic way, - Antigone, Jocasta, Phædra, Amata; and the tragedians have no stronger expression for suffering, than that it is enough to make one hang one's self.

61. Sive te rupes] As to 'sive,' see i. 6. 19, n. kill,' whose sharp edges are fatal.

Acuta leto,' 'sharp to

66. Aderat querenti] Venus and Cupid come to laugh her out of her fears, and to teach her the greatness of her destiny.

67. remisso] Cupid's bow is unstrung, as the Scholiast says, because it has done its work with Europa..

69. Abstineto, irarum] This is a Greek form, noticed before (C. ii. 9. 17).

71. invisus] They speak ironically.

73. esse nescis:] This may be you know not how to be' (that is, 'to bear yourself as '), or you know not that you are.' 'Scire' in this last sense does not usually govern the infinitive mood.

76. Nomina] The plural is thus used for the singular in C. iv. 2. 4, and Ovid (Tr. i. 1.90): "Icarus Icariis nomina fecit aquis." Horace seems to give Europe half the world, and the other parts the rest. He is not speaking with exactness.

ODE XXVIII.

THIS Ode professes to be written on the day of the Neptunalia. The time is the afternoon, and the poet calls upon Lyde (an imaginary person) to come and drink with him, and sing an amebean address to the divinity of the day and the other gods usually honored on such occasions.

ARGUMENT.Lyde, bring out the best Cæcuban, and take wisdom by storm, for what can I do better on Neptune's holiday? The noon is past, make haste. Let us sing; I of Neptune and the Nereids, you of Latona and Diana; both of us together of Venus ; — and we will not forget a song for Night.

2. reconditum] This is explained by (C. ii. 3. 8) "Interiore nota Falerni” (see note). Strenua' is put instead of the adverb.

4. Munitaeque adhibe vim sapientiae.] This has something of the heroic in it: lay siege to wisdom in her strong-hold.'

7. horreo] The apotheca' at the top of the house, where the 'amphorae ' were kept (C. i. 37. 6; iii. 8. 11, n.).

8. Bibuli consulis] M. Calpurnius Bibulus was consul with Julius Cæsar, B. C. 59. See C. iii. 8. 12, n.

9. Nos cantabimus invicem] See Argument.

12. Cynthiae;] Diana, the Latin form of Artemis, was born, like her brother Apollo, on Mount Cynthus, in the island of Delos. Latona (the Latin name of Aŋró) was their mother, by Zeus.

13. Cnidon] See C. i. 30. 1. Summo carmine' is the conclusion of their duet, not their last song.

14. Fulgentes] See C. i. 14. 19. We do not hear elsewhere of Venus frequenting the Cyclades. As to Paphon, see C. i. 30. 1.

15. oloribus; Compare Ovid (Met. x. 717):

"Vecta levi curru medias Cytheraca per auras
Cypron olorinis nondum pervenerat alis."

16. Dicetur merita Nox] See C. iii. 19. 10. lullaby. See Epod. xvii. 29, n.

ODE XXIX.

'Nenia' is here a sort of

THIS is an invitation from the poet to his patron, pressing him to pay him a visit at his farm. He bids him throw off the cares of the state, and The time is the dog-days. The year is live for the enjoyment of the hour. uncertain.

ARGUMENT. Come, Mæcenas, the wine and oil and the flowers are ready. Stay not for ever gazing from a distance at the pleasant fields of Tibur, buried in the magnificence and the uproar, the wealth and the smoke, of the city. The rich man often likes to sup at the poor man's table. The days of drought are come back; the shepherd seeks the shade, the flock seeks the stream, not a breath is on the river-banks: but thou art distracting thyself with imaginary dangers. Heaven has wisely hidden the future from man, and does but smile at his fears. Live for the present; all else is like the stream, that now flows in peace, now is swollen to a flood, and sweeps all with it to the sea. He lives happy who lives to-day, and leaves to-morrow to Heaven, seeing that Jove himself cannot undo what is done.,

As to Fortune, she is fickle, and changes from day to day. If she stays with me, I am glad; if she flies, I am resigned. If the storm rages, I have no merchandise to fear for, and can put out into any sea with safety in my little bark.

1. Tyrrhena regum progenies,] Compare C. i. 1. 1. ‘Verso' is equivalent to moveri' in "moveri digna bono die" (C. iii. 21. 6). The balanus' was an oleaginous nut of some kind, and is here put for the oil expressed from it.

5. Eripe te morae ;] 'Morae' is the dative.

6. Ne semper udum] Udum' is an epithet commonly applied to Tibur, which stood on the banks of the Anio. The town itself was built on the side of a hill (C. iii. 4. 23), but the fields below seem to have been damp (see C. i. 7. 14) from a number of small streams which watered them. It appears that Maecenas was sighing for the country all the time he was detained at Rome. Telegonus, son of Ulysses and Circe, was the reputed founder of Tusculum and Præneste. One of the legends of the death of Ulysses attributes it to this son. Esula was probably a town between Præneste and Tibur, but no traces of its site remain, and Pliny says that it no longer existed in his time (iii. 5).

10. Molem] This signifies Maecenas's palace on the Esquiline Hill at Rome. It is mentioned in Epod. ix. 3.

11. Omitte This is the only instance in this book of an iambus at the beginning of the third verse. It occurs four times in the first book, and twice in the second. It does not occur in the fourth.

15. aulaeis et ostro] The meaning of 'aulacis' is explained in Sat. ii. 8. 54. It was usual to spread tapestry to catch any dust that might fall from the ceiling. 'Aulacis et ostro' may form one subject, or ostro' may mean the coverings of the couches. See S. ii. 3. 118, n.

125: "

16. Sollicitam explicuere frontem.] This expression is repeated in Sat. ii. 2. Explicuit vino contractae scriae frontis." The perfect has the force of the Greek aorist.

17. Andromedue pater] at the beginning of July.

Cepheus, a northern star below Ursa Minor, rises
Procyon, a star of the first magnitude, in the con-

stellation Canis Minor, and called Ante Canem' by a literal version of the Greek name, rises about the same time, and the sun enters Leo: see above, C. iii. 13. 8, n. 'Stella' is not commonly put for 'sidus,' the constellation,

as it is here.

25. Tu civitatem] See Introduction. As to regnata,' see C. ii. 6. 11. The Scres represent indefinitely the farthest Eastern nations known to the Romans (see C. i. 12. 56). The Bactrians were formerly part of the Persian empire, and were at this time partly subject to the Parthians and partly to a Scythian race, the Tochari. Bactra was their capital. The meaning of Horace is, that Mæcenas should not trouble himself about improbable dangers.

34. aequore] Aequore' ' is equivalent to alveo,' the channel of the river. Virgil has "viridesque secant placido acquore silvas" (Aen. viii. 96). The next line describes well the quiet flow of a river.

43. cras vel atra] Compare C. ii. 10. 15. On 'diffinget,' see C. i. 35. 39. Vexit' is employed unusually for 'avexit.'

49. Fortuna saevo] The caprice of Fortune, represented as a coquette transferring her favors from one favorite to another, and delighting to trifle with the happiness of men, is the lowest Epicurean view of life and the world's government. But Horace writes conventionally. He has just assigned to the Father of all the ordering of men's lives.

51. Transmutat incertos honores,] Compare C. i. 34. 12, sqq.

53. si celeres quatit] Horace uses 'si' where other writers would use 'sin.' 54. resigno] This is equivalent to rescribo' in a money sense, to pay back.' 'Mea virtute me involvo' is a picture of self-satisfaction. The man wraps his cloak of virtue complacently around him, and sits down in contented indifference to the proceedings of Fortune, as if she had nothing to do with him, and unites himself to poverty, as to a bride without a portion.

60. Cypriae Tyriaeque merces] Cyprus abounded in copper and other metals, including gold and silver, together with precious stones. It exported wines also and oil. The trade of Phoenicia, which at this time formed part of the Roman province of Syria, was carried on through Sidon more largely than Tyre, which, however, was a port of some consequence under the emperors. Horace is speaking generally, and Tyriae merces' answered his purpose as well as any other expression.

62. biremis — scaphae] A two-oared boat, éλárŋs dikónov. 'Biremis' is not so used elsewhere, but for two banks of oars.

64. feret] See above, C. iii. 9. 12, n. Geminusque Pollux' is an elliptical way of expressing Pollux cum gemino fratre.' Sce C. i. 3. 2.

ODE XXX.

THIS Ode appears to have been written as an epilogue to the first three books, as C. i. I was the prologue. It expresses the conviction, which time has justified, that, through his Odes, Horace had achieved an immortal name. The same just pride had been shown by poets before him; as by Sappho, in a poem of which the first line only has been preserved, μváσaoðaí Tivá pau kai vσTepov appéwv (16 Bergk); and by Ennius, in the lines (see ('. ii. 20. 21, n.),

Nemo me lacrimis decoret nec funera fletu

Faxit. Cur? volito vivu' per ora virum,"

which words Virgil has made his own (Georg. iii. 9). Propertius (iii. 1), Ovid (Met. xv. 871, sqq.), and Martial (x. 2. 7, sqq.) have all imitated Horace very closely.

ARGUMENT. I have built myself a monument which storms shall not destroy, nor Time himself. I shall not die, but live in freshness of fame so long as the world endures.

It will be said, on the banks of my native river, that I, a humble man made great, was the first to fit the Grecian strain to the lyre of Italy.

Put on the bay that thou hast earned, my Muse.

2. situ] This word is nowhere else used in this sense. It here signifies the building, and not the site.

3. impotens] This word is equivalent to 'impotens sui,' 'violent,' ' intemperate. See Epod. xvi. 62.

7. Libitinam:] See S. ii. 6. 19, n.

usque] In this sense of continually,' 'usque' only occurs in poetry, and is always joined to a verb. What follows means while the Pontifex Maximus shall, on the Ides of every month, go up to the Capitol to offer sacrifice, the Vestal virgins walking silently in the procession,' as they did, and the boys at the same time sang hymns. With a Roman this was equivalent to saying

for ever.'

10. Dicar qua violens obstrepit Aufidus] See Introduction and C. iv. 9. 2, n. "Violens' is not a common form of violentus.' It occurs again Epp. i. 10. 37, and in Persius (Sat. v. 171), Obstrepere' is 'nunc ferus et violens." used absolutely again, Epod. ii. 27.

11. Et qua pauper aquae] Pauper' takes a genitive in S. i. 1. 79 ; ii. 3. 142. As to Daunus, see C. i. 22. 14, n. Apulia was badly watered. Horace calls it elsewhere Siticulosa' (Epod. iii. 16, n.).

12. Regnavit] This word, though it is used in the passive voice (see last Ode, v. 27), here only has a noun after it. Horace gives it the genitive, in imitation of apxew. He wrote with his mind full of Greek constructions and words, and took the liberty of using them very freely.

ex humili potens,] Horace uses the expression potentium vatum' in the eighth Ode of the next book (v. 26). He considered Alcæus and Sappho as his chief models in lyric poetry, which he sums up in the formula 'Acolium carmen' here and in C. iv. 3. 12. Delphica lauro' is the same as ‘laurea Apollinari' in the next book (C. iv. 2. 9).

ODES.-BOOK IV.

ODE I.

It is said that Augustus wished Horace to publish another book of Odes, in order that those he had written in honor of Drusus and Tiberius (4, 14) might appear in it. If so, he collected a few written since, and some perhaps He tells before, the publication of the three books, among which was this. us (v. 6) that he was about fifty, which age he attained 10th December, B. C. 15. He professes to deprecate the attacks of Love, now that he is old. The Ode is not unlike one he wrote when he was much younger (i. 19), and it is probable both are imitations from the Greek.

ARGUMENT. Art thou at war with me again, Venus? Spare me, for I am old. Go to the young. Go to Paullus, for he is noble, handsome, clever.

Give him the victory, and he will give thee in return a marble statue in a shrine of citron, with incense, music, and dancing, in his home by the Alban lake. I have no longer a heart for love and wine, and yet, Ligurinus, why do I weep and dream of thee?

2. Rursus bella moves?] See Introduction.

3. Non sum qualis eram] Epp. i. 1. 4. He here calls Cinara good, because she is dead; elsewhere he calls her rapax' (Epp. i. 14. 33). It seems likely that this name represents a real person, whether she appears under another name elsewhere or not, and that Horace had an affection for her. In the thirteenth Ode of this book (v. 22) her death is mentioned with feeling, and there is a reality in the references to her in all the places where she is alluded to, which cannot be connected with fiction. She was associated, in all probability with Horace's early days. Kvvápa signifies, some say, a wild rose-thorn (kuvóoßaros); Kivápa, an artichoke.

5. Mater saeva Cupidinum] Repeated from i. 19. 1. Horace here does not copy himself, I believe, but some Greek original. 'Flectere' is a metaphor taken from the breaking in of a horse. 6. lustra] C. ii. 15. 13, n.

See Introduction.

9. in domum] More seasonably shalt thou keep thy revels in the house of Paullus Maximus, drawn by thy beautiful swans.' So Livy (xl. 7), "Quin comissatum ad fratrem imus." Here comissabere' is equivalent to 'comissatum ibis,' and therefore the reading ‘in domum' is correct. Kwμáodw ποτὶ τὴν ̓Αμαρύλλιδα is an expression of Theocritus just like this (iii. 1). Koμg xpéeσbai és áλλýλous occurs in Herodotus (i. 21). 'Purpureis,' (which signifies beauty without reference to color) savors of the Greek. Torrere jecur' is like Theocritus's oπтevμevos ¿§ 'Appodíτns (vii. 55). 14. sollicitis non tacitus reis] Compare C. ii. 1. 13, where he calls Pollio Insigne moestis praesidium reis."

15. centum] This is a large definite number for an indefinite.

16. Late signa feret] The idea corresponds to "militavi non sine gloria" (iii. 26. 2).

17. Et quandoque] i. e. 'whenever, with thine aid, his smiles shall beat the rich presents of his rival, he shall set thee up in marble, under a citron roof, by the shore of the Alban lakes,' of which there were two close together, the Albanus (Albano) and Nemorensis (Nemi), and on one of these it appears Fabius had a house. As to Berecyntiæ, compare C. iii. 19. 18. rae' and 'tibiae' are in the dative case after mixtis.'

Ly

22. Duces thura,] 'Ducere' is used for drinking, and here for inhaling. It has a great variety of meanings, which the context will generally explain. 28. ter quatient humum.] See C. iii. 18. 16. On the first few days of March, during the festival of Mars, the Salii, his priests, went in procession through the city singing and dancing, whence they are said to have derived Jam dederat Saliis (a saltu nomina ducunt)" (Ovid, F. iii. 387). The practice, according to Livy, was instituted by Numa (i. 20), “per urbem ire canentes carmina cum tripudiis sollennique saltatione jussi sunt." See Epp. ii. 1. 86.

their name.

30. spes animi the fond trust of mutual love.'

35. The last syllable in this line is cut off.

40. per aquas, C. i. 8. 8. He dreams he sees him swimming in the Tiber.