Ipse ego, nam memini, Trojani tempore belli, Cognovi clypeum, laevae gestamina nostrae, 20. Fugit. Aoristic use of the Perfect; that is, the perfect is here used as the Greek aorist is frequently used, expressing something that is of ordinary occurrence. See Z. 590; and comp. Kühner's G. Gr. ◊ 256, 4, b. No head does cruel Proserpine spare. Dillenb. explains thus: nemo tam gravis, quem Proserpina, i. e. mors, fugerit, timuerit, ad quem non accesserit. 21. Orionis. See n. Epod. 10, 10. - - 22. Illyricis. Properly of Illyria, on the opposite coast, in relation to Apulia; but here the expression applies to the whole Hadriatic.. -25. Sic; so; i. e. in case you listen to my words; sic expresses here, as it often does, the condition on which a wish or a prayer is made to depend. - 26. Hesperiis; of Italy; so called, in reference to Greece. -27. Plectantur. May the woods of Venusium suffer. Plecti, literally to be punished. The wish expressed is, that the fury of the storm may be spent upon the forests of Venusium, and the mariner escape all peril. 28. Unde; refers to Jove Neptunoque, and is ex quibus. Comp. n. O. i., 12, 17. -30. Negligis. Do you think lightly of committing-? On account of the immense importance attached to the rites of sepulture, it was esteemed a sacred duty to inter a body which might be found unburied. The neglect of this duty was thought to involve a fearful retribution. Fors et; perhaps also ;=fortasse etiam, as in Virg. Aen. 11, 50. Debita-superbae. A just retribution and like contemptuous returns. 35. Licebit-curras; you will be allowed to, i. e. you may run on. On the construction, see A. & S. § 262, R. 4; Z. § 624; and comp. n. O. i., 7, 1. 31. 32. ODE XXIX. On the occasion of a contemplated expedition into Arabia Felix, Iccius, a friend of the poet, seems to have been allured by the tempting prospects of gaining riches and renown, and to have abandoned the calm pursuits of philosophy for the stern business of war. In this ode, the poet rallies his friend, in a tone of pleasant irony, on this sudden and singular change in his life. This expedition was ordered by Augustus, B. c. 29; and was made by Aelius Gallus, then prefect of Egypt, B. c. 24.-See Schmitz's Hist. Rome, chap. 41. 1. Beatus-gazis. Beatus is often used for dives, pretiosus. The Arabians were proverbially rich. Comp. O. iii., 24, 1.- -3. Sabaeae. a very rich province of Arabia Felix, whose capital was Saba. -5. Quae virginum barbara. In prose it would be, quae virgo barbara. 7. Puer ex aula; i. e. regia. The expression is equivalent to puer regius. What royal page. In all these questions the irony of the poet is manifest. Now that you, the quondam philosopher, turn yourself to feats of valor, the hitherto unconquered Sabaeans and Parthians must at length yield to Roman arms. Like another Achilles, you shall bear away the beauteous daughter of some eastern prince, and a page from his halls to be your cup-bearer. - 9. Sericas. The Seres (see n. O. i., 12, 56), like all the eastern nations, were celebrated for skill in archery. Sagittas tendere, a bold expression for arcum tendere. So Virg. Aen. 5, 508, telumque tetendit. -12. Montibus. Dative case. Poetic for ad montes. 14. Panaeti. Panaetius was a Stoic philosopher of Rhodes, a contemporary and intimate friend of Scipio Africanus the younger, and of Laelius. Socraticam domum. The school of Socrates; the writings of Plato, Xenophon, etc. -15. Loricis Hiberis. On the construction, see n. O. i., 16, 25. From the superior quality of the metal, the Spanish cuirasses were preferred to all others. ODE XXX. Venus is invoked and invited to abandon for a while her loved Cyprus, and to honor with her presence the home of Glycera. 1. Cnidi Paphique. Cnidus, a city in Caria, where was the celebrated statue of Venus by Praxiteles. Paphos, in Cyprus, the fabled spot to which Venus was wafted, after having risen from the sea near Cythera.-- 4. Aedem. Used poetically for aedes.- -6. Gratiae. Comp. O. i., 4, 6. "The 'zone unbound' indicates a graceful negligence."Osborne, ODE XXXI. After the victory at Actium, Caesar Octavianus dedicated to Apollo a temple on the Palatine; the same in which was deposited the Palatine library. At a time of such general rejoicing, while so many are indulging extravagant hopes and wishes, the poet draws nigh the sacred shrine, and asks for what he deems the best of all blessings, health of body and of mind. The petition is substantially the same as that in Juvenal, Sat. 10, 356, Orandum est, ut sit mens sana in corpore sano. 1. Dedicatum Apollinem. The English idiom here differs from the Latin; one can say in Latin, as in English, dedicate a temple to a god, aedem deo dedicare; and also deum aede dedicare, or simply, as here, deum dedicare. So Cic. de Nat. Deor. 2, 33, Ut Fides, ut mens, quas―dedicatas videmus; and Ovid, Fast. 6, 637, Te quoque magnifica, Concordia, dedicat aede Livia. -2. Patera; a round dish, like our plate or sau cer. It was used in connection with sacrifices, especially for libations. Novum. New wine was always used in libations. -4. Segetes. I give from Orelli the reading of the MSS., opimae-feraces. But segetes, though meaning primarily the sown fields, yet certainly means here the crops, the fields of standing corn. Not rich Sardinia's fertile crops. ano. 8. Mordet. In like manner, radere and terere are elegantly used of rivers, to express the gradual, silent action of the water in washing away the banks. The Liris was a river of Campania, now the Garigli-9. Premant. Premere for putare, to prune. Calena refers to Cales, in Campania, and is here transferred from the vine itself to the hook, with which it was pruned. The acc. vitem here depends both upon premant and dedit. -12. Vina-merce; the wine he has taken in exchange for his Syrian imports. Spices and perfumes were brought from India and Arabia to Syria, and thence to Rome.-Leves malvae. Light mallows; easy of digestion. So in Epist. 2, 58, gravi malvae salubres corpori. -17. Frui paratis, etc. The petition is twofold, viz. 1, et valido mihi el, precor, integra cum mente, paratis frui; 2, degere senectam, nec turpem nec cithara carentem; the infinitives depend upon dones. ODE XXXII. In this little ode, written, as appears from the first word, at the request of some friend, the poet seems to illustrate his own office as a poet, the character of his poetry, and the delight which it afforded himself; it was his to illustrate, in his native tongue, the lyric measures of Greece; like Alcaeus, who even in the midst of war, sang ever of Venus and Bacchus, he too was given only to the lighter and more sportive themes of song; and Joetry was the solace of all his toils, and the companion of his daily life. 4. Barbite. Here, as in O. i., 1, 34 (where see note), Horace purposely uses a word of Greek origin. By its contrast with the word Latinum, the meaning of the poet is more distinctly expressed. - -5. Lesbio civi. Alcaeus, who flourished about 600 B. C. Civi is dat. depending upon modulate, which is here used passively. -6. Ferox bello. Alcaeus took an active part in the struggles of his countrymen against the Athenians, and also against the tyrannical rulers of his native land. With ferox must be supplied in translation although, corresponding to tamen. Inter arma; whether in the midst of arms; the first sive is omitted. 7. Sive, etc. Or whether he had fastened, etc.; i. e. whether in the camp, or resting in some harbor, after a toilsome voyage. -10. Illi haerentem. Haerere is generally construed with the abl. either alone or with in, but sometimes with the dat. Dillenb. gives the usage of Horace with this verb, as follows: with the dative, Sat. i., 10, 49; with abl. and in, Sat. i., 3, 32; or the abl. alone, O. i., 2, 9; Sat. ii., 3, 205. 15. Cunque. Means the same as quoque tempore, or quandocunque, and is to be joined with vocanti. See Z. 128; also Freund's Lex., and Hand, Turs. 2, p. 174. ODE XXXIII. This ode is addressed to Albius Tibullus, the elegiac poet, whom Horace endeavors to console for the faithlessness of his Glycera. 1. Plus nimio. Dillenb. refers to other expressions which Horace uses to express what is excessive; plus aequo, Sat. i., 3, 52; Epist. i., 2, 29; i., 18, 10; plus justo, O. iii., 7, 24.· 3. Cur. Used here in the sense of quod or propterea quod. So also it occurs with verbs expressive of anger (see Epist. i., 8, 9) and wonder, and with verbs of accusing. Comp. Hand, Turs. 2, p. 177; cited by Orelli. 5. Tenui fronte. With the ancient artists and poets, a narrow forehead was a mark of beauty. Thus Horace again in Epist. i., 7, 26, nigros angusta fronte capillos; and Martial, iv., 41, 9, Frons brevis-sit. 7. Prius. Sooner. ODE XXXIV.. Startled by the phenomenon of thunder in a cloudless sky, the poet recants the Epicurean doctrines he had once confessed (Sat. i., 5, 101), that the gods take no active concern in the affairs of the world; and he now avows a belief in their presence and superintending providence. 2. Insanientis sapientiae. A mad philosophy; literally an insane wisdom, an oxymoron, common both in Latin and in Greek.· 5. Diespiter. An old name for Jupiter; Dies (old form of the genitive) pater. Varro, Ling. Lat. 5, 66, cited by Dillenb.—7. Per purum tonantes. Such an event was naturally accounted a prodigy. Comp. Virg. Georg. 1, 487; Aen. 8, 527. -9. Bruta. Immovable. In O. iii., 4, 45, Horace has terram inertem. So Virg. Aen. 10, 102, terra immobilis; and Seneca, Thyest. 1020, immota tellus. · -10. Taenari. A promontory in Laconia, where there was a cave, through which, according to ancient tradition, was a descent to the infernal regions. Comp. Virg. Georg. 4, 467. -14. Apicem. The apex, properly a piece of olive-wood, worn by the flamines on the top of the head, came to be applied to the pileus, or priestly tiara (see Dict. Antiqq. p. 67). Here it means a crown. 15. Stridore; rustling, i. e. of the wings, for Fortune was represented as winged.- 16. Sustulit-posuisse. See n. O. i., 1, 4, on collegisse. ODE XXXV. The poet invokes Fortune as an all-powerful goddess (1-4); whose favor all solicit, whose frown all fear (5-16); who controls, however, the affairs of men, not by a blind caprice, but by sure and unchangeable laws (17-20); whom Hope and Fidelity ever attend and honor (21-28); he implores her to preserve Augustus in his distant expeditions, and to save the state from ruinous and detestable civil wars (29-end). It will be seen that it is not the Greek Túxn whom the poet invokes; a capricious, arbitrary deity, such as is described in the preceding ode, and in ode 29th of Book Third; but the Fortuna of the ancient Italians, as she was conceived of and worshipped at Antium, Praeneste, and other Latin towns. The ode was probably written B. c. 27, the year in which Augustus ordered the Arabian expedition, referred to in introduction to ode 29th; and in which, too, Augustus is said to have meditated an invasion of Britain. 1. Antium. The capital of the Volsci, in Latium, where was a celebrated temple of Fortuna; its site was near the modern Porto d'Anzo. 2. Praesens. Used in the sense of potens, able. Dillenb. refers in illustration, to O. iii., 5, 2; Sat. ii., 3, 68; Epist. ii., 1, 134; also Cic. Tusc. i., 12, 28. - -4. Funeribus. Abl. instead of in funera; a singular construction, of which we have only one other instance, in Ars. P. 226; perhaps used by the poet, on account of the resemblance in meaning to the verb mutare. -6. Ruris colonus. Ruris depends upon colonus, not, as some have it, upon dominam; its place is conclusive on this point. But colonus does not simply mean husbandman (agricola or rusticus), but one hired to cultivate the soil, a tenant.-Comp. O. ii., 14, 12; Sat. ii., 2, 115; and see Dict. Antiqq., Praedium. 7. Bithyna. This word, in particular, was used, perhaps, on account of the commerce between Bithynia and Rome; or because the ship was made of timber from Bithynia. - 8. Carpathium. See n. O. iv., 5, 9. - -9. Profugi. Wandering; in allusion to the nomadic habits of the Scythians. Comp. O. iii., 24, 9. -14. Stantem columnam. Stans columna is metaphorical for a firm and secure government. The words neu populus, etc., illustrate what has gone before, showing the way in which the peace of the state may be invaded; and the repetition of ad arma brings, as it were, to our ears the repeated shouts of a tumultuous assemblage of people. -17. Saeva Necessitas.. All the objects which Horace here brings together in this description of Necessity, are emblematic of strength and firmness, and thus illustrate her invincible might. Herder very happily conjectured, that the poet's description was suggested by some painting or statue of Necessity, which was in the temple at Antium. 21. Te spes, etc. In describing Hope and Fidelity, as the never-failing companions of Fortune, the poet means to teach, that the unfortunate are not quite abandoned by Hope, nor by faithful friends, rare though they be. Albo panno; as an emblem of candor and inno |