CARMEN X. HYMNUS AD MERCURIUM. MERCURI, facunde nepos Atlantis, Te canam, magni Jovis et Deorum Te, boves olim nisi reddidisses NOTES. 5 16 We have in this ode all the honourable titles of Mercury. He is represented as fashioning the first race of men, and cultivating their understandings, by the study of sciences most proper to soften their natural fierceness; while he forms their bodies by exercises most capable of giving strength and grace. 1. Mercuri.] The son of Jupiter and Maia the daughter of Atlas. 3. Decore more palastra.] Horace calls the customs and exercises of the palæstræ, decoræ, because they formed the body to ease and gracefulness. 6. Curvæque lyra parentem.] Mercury is called the parent of the lyre, because, having found the shell of a tortoise, with some of the fleshy fibres of that animal remaining, in a dry, extended state, and perceiving that an agreeable sound was emitted, when he drew his fingers over those fibres, he first formed an idea of that kind of music. From hence Testudo signifies a lyre, and lyric poets were particularly stiled viri Mercuriales, as living under the peculiar protection of this deity. 9. Te, boves olim, &c.] When his son Esculapius had been killed by the thunders of Jupiter, for raising the dead to life, Apollo, in his resentment, killed the Cyclops who had made the thunderbolts. Jupiter was incensed at this act of violence, and he banished Apollo from heaven, and deprived him of his dignity. The exiled deity came to Admetus king of Thessaly and hired himself to be one of his shepherds. While in this employment Mercury stole part of his flock; which Apollo discovering, Cui laurus æternos honores Jam nunc minaci murmure cornuum Terret equos, equitumque vultus. Non indecoro pulvere sordidos, Præter atrocem animum Catonis. Quis non Latino sanguine pinguior Qui gurges, aut quæ flumina lugubris Non decoloravere cædes? Quæ caret ora cruore nostro? Sed ne relictis, Musa procax, jocis, NOTES. 16. Dalmatico.] Dalmatia was a part of Illyricum. 15 20 25 30 35 24. Catonis.] Cato Uticensis, so remarkable for his virtue, and the strenuous opposition he made to tyrannny. After the defeat of Pompey, he fortified himself in Utica, where, upon Cæsar's approach, rather than fall into the hands of the conqueror, and survive the ruin of his country, he stabbed himself, after he had read Plato's treatise on the immortality of the soul. 28. Retulit inferias.] An allusion to a custom of the ancients, who sacrificed a number of prisoners upon the tombs of their generals. Jugurtha.] A king of Numidia, who being engaged in war with the Romans, was delivered into the hands of Sylla by Boc chus, his father-in-law, from whom he claimed assistance, was afterwards dragged in chains to adorn the triumph of Marius. and 38. Cea nania.] By Nania the poet intends the goddess who H Quæ nunc oppositis debilitat pumicibus mare Tyrrhenum. Sapias; vina liques; et spatio brevi Spem longam reseces. Dum loquimur, fugerit invida Ætas: carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero. NOTES. 5 5. Pumicibus.] The rocks worn by the waves of the sea, and from that circumstance, somewhat resembling pumice-stone. 6. Vina liques.] The ancients used to filtrate their wines, to render them more soft and smooth. 8. Carpe diem.] Horace compares the days of life to flowers, which are as short in their duration, as they are pleasing to the sense; and advises to pluck them before their bloom and beauty fade. CARMEN XII. AD AUGUSTUM HYMNUS DE LAUDIBUS DEORUM ATQUE HOMINUM. QUEM virum, aut heroa, lyra, vel acri Quem Deum? cujus recinet jocosa Nomen imago, Aut in umbrosis Heliconis oris, Aut super Pindo, gelidove in Hæmo? Orphea silvæ, NOTES. 5 The images of this ode are great and noble, the expressions bold and sublime, the versification chaste and harmonious. The poem opens with the praises of Jupiter, and the gods who are descended from him. The heroes (who are all Romans) are next introduced with the particular strokes, which distinguish their characters, and the praise of Augustus concludes the ode. 2. Clio.] One of the muses, who presided over the praise of illustrious men. 4. Imago.] The Greeks and Latins called echo, the image; and the Hebrews, the daughter of the voice. 5. Umbrosis Heliconis oris.] He names three mountains sacred to Apollo and the muses; Helicon in Boeotia, Pindus in Thessaly, Hæmus in Thrace. 8. Orphea.] The son of Apollo and Calliope, one of the muses; he received a lyre from his father, upon which he is said to have Crescit indulgens sibi dirus hydrops, Corpore languor. Redditum Cyri solio Phraaten, Vocibus; regnum, et diadema tutum NOTES. 15 20 13. Crescit indulgens.] The ancients frequently compared the covetous and ambitious to persons afflicted with the dropsy. Water only irritates the thirst of the one, as honours and riches provoke the insatiable appetite of the other. 17. Phraaten.] A king of the Parthians, who slew his own father Orodes, thirty brothers, and his eldest son. He was expelled the kingdom by his subjects, and afterwards reestablished by the Scythians. Cyri solio.] The Parthians succeeded to the Persian empire, of which Cyrus was the founder: hence the Parthian empire is here called Cyri solium. CARMEN III. AD QUINTUM DELIUM. EQUAM memento rebus in arduis Seu moestus omni tempore vixeris, Seu te in remoto gramine per NOTES. 5 dies 4. Deli.] An historian mentioned by Dion, Plutarch, and Seneea. He was in great favour with Anthony, but deserted him a little before the battle of Actium, and joined Augustus. Festos reclinatum bearis Interiore nota Falerni; Qua pinus ingens albaque populus Lympha fugax trepidare rivo. Huc vina, et unguenta, et nimium breves Dum res, et ætas, et sororum Cedes coëmtis saltibus, et domo, Villaque, flavus quam Tiberis lavit: Cedes; et exstructis in altum Divitiis potietur hæres. Victima nil miserantis Orci. Sors exitura, et nos in æternum NOTES. 10 15 20 25 8. Interiore nota Falerni.] The Romans marked upon every cask the growth and vintage of their wines, and as they were laid in every year, the oldest must have been deepest in the cellar. We may likewise understand some choicer wine, kept for a particular occasion of mirth and pleasure. 15. Sororum.] The Fates, three in number, Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos, daughters of Nox and Erebus. They presided over the birth and life of mankind. 21. Inacho.] The first king of the Argives, who flourished in the times of Abraham and Isaac. 24. Orci.] One of the names of Pluto, the god of the infernal regions. 25. Omnium versatur urna.] As it was customary among the ancients to decide affairs of the utmost consequence by lot, they feigned that the names of all mankind were written upon billets, and thrown into an urn, which was perpetually in motion; and that they, whose billets were first drawn, should die first. 28. Cymba.] The boat in which Charon conducted the souls of the dead over the river Styx and Acheron to the infernal regions. |