Conditum levi; datus in theatro Cum tibi plausus, Care Mæcenas eques; ut paterni Cæcubum, et prælo domitam Caleno Tu bibes uvam: mea nec Falernæ Temperant vites, neque Pocula colles. Formiani NOTES. 5 10 sels, and as they sent from Greece to Italy none but of the most exquisite kinds, the poet says, he had racked his Sabine wine into a Grecian cask, that he might correct the bad qualities of it: 3. Levi.] When the ancients filled their casks, they closed them with wax, pitch, gum, or plaster; and, although the Sabine wine was by no means worthy of so much care, yet as Mæcenas at that time had received some remarkable applause in the theatre, the poet preserved on his vessels the remembrance of a day so glorious to his patron. 5. Paterni fluminis.] It seems as if Horace could not find a more glorious epithet for the Tiber than the river of Mecenas ancestors. They came originally from Etruria, where the Tiber has its source. 7. Vaticani montis.] One of the seven hills upon which Rome was built. 9. Cacubum.] A town of Campania in Italy, near the bay of Cajeta, famous for the excellence of its wines. Caleno.] Cales was a town of Campania. 10. Falerna.] Falernus was a fertile mountain and plain of Campania, upon which grew the most luxuriant and fruitful vines. 11. Formiani colles.] The Formian hills were in the neighbourhood of Formiæ, a maritime town of Campania. They produced excellent wines. E Aures, et intorti capillis Eumenidum recreantur angues. Nec curat Orion leones, Aut timidos agitare lyncas. NOTES. 35 36. Eumenidum.] The Furies, Alecto, Tisiphone, and Megæra. They were generally represented with a grim and frightful aspect, with a black and bloody garment, and serpents wreathing round their heads. 37. Prometheus.] Prometheus, the son of Japetus, and father of Deucalion, formed a statue of clay in the likeness of man. In order to give it life, he climbed into heaven, by the assistance of Minerva, and stole fire from the chariot of the sun, by means of which he animated his statue. By way of punishment for this sacrilege, he was bound on mount Caucasus, where a vulture continually fed upon his liver, which, to perpetuate his torment, grew again as fast as devoured. Pelopis parens.] Tantalus. See Book. I. Ode XXVIII. v. 7. 39. Nec curat Orion leones.] Orion who loved hunting while living, is here described pursuing the same sport, after death. The ancients believed, that the ghosts of the departed retained the same passions, as those with which they were animated upon earth. CARMEN XIV. AD POSTUMUMJ EHEU! fugaces, Postume, Postume, Afferet, indomitæque morti. Non, si trecenis, quotquot eunt dies, Amice, places illacrymabilem Plutona tauris; qui ter amplum Geryonen Tityonque tristi NOTES. 5 7. Plutona.] A son of Saturn and Ops, God of the infernal regions. 8. Geryonen. Son of Chrysaor and Callirho, who, because he governed three islands on the coast of Spain, was said to have three bodies. Tityon.] Tityus, a celebrated giant, son of Tena, of such an CARMEN XXII. AD ARISTIUM FUSCUM. INTEGER vitæ, scelerisque purus Sive per Syrtes iter æstuosas, Namque me silva lupus in Sabina, Quale portentum neque militaris Nec Jubæ tellus generat, leonum Arida nutrix. NOTES. 5 10 15 3. Venenatis sagittis.] The Africans were obliged to poison their arrows, to defend themselves from the wild beasts, with which their country was infested. This poison was a mixture of viper's and human blood, and Pliny tells us it was incurable. 4. Fusce.] A distinguished poet and orator, and an intimate friend of Horace. 5. Syrtes astuosas.] The burning sands of Libya. 6. Inhospitalem Caucasum.] A very high and very celebrated mountain of Asia. It is called inhospitalem, because always covered with snow. 7. Fabulosus Hydaspes,] Hydaspes was the name of two rivers in Asia; one in Media, the other in India. The poet here alludes to that of India, which he calls fabulosus, because there are several strange stories told of it, such as that it abounds with golden sands, pearls, and precious stones. 10. Ultra terminum.] Scil. solita deambulationis. 13. Militaris Daunia.] A part of Apulia, called militaris from the skill of its inhabitants in the arts of war. 15. Juba tellus.] The country of Mauritania, of which Juba was Absumet heres Cæcuba dignior NOTES. 25 26. Mero tinget pavimentum superbus.] In this strophe the poet recommends to Postumus a cheerful and open manner of living, by assuring him, that his heir, more worthy of his fortune, by knowing how to enjoy it, shall, in his pride and prodigality, profusely stain the floor with his richest wines. 28. Pontificum potiore canis] These words may bear three different constructions; that this wine was of greater price, than whole feasts of the pontiffs; that it might be better employed in those feasts; or, thirdly, that it was more excellent than what was drank at such entertainments. JAM CARMEN XV. pauca aratro jugera regiæ Stagna lacu; platanusque cœlebs Tum spissa ramis laurea fervidos NOTES. 5 10 The poet, in this ode, opposes the magnificence and expense of the present Romans, in their buildings, plantations, and gardens, to the simplicity and frugality of their ancestors, by whom the public edifices, and temples of the Gods, were thought the noblest monuments of true grandeur, as well as of piety. 3. Lucrino lacu.] This was a lake of Campania, not far from the lake Avernus. 4. Platanusque cælebs.] He calls the Plane-tree calebs, in opposition to the Elm, which is often joined with the vine. 11. Intonsi Catonis.] Marcus Portius was of Tusculum, in the Cantus, Melpomene, cui liquidam pater Ergo Quintilium perpetuus sopor Quod si Threicio blandius Orpheo NOTES. 5 10 15 3. Melpomene.] One of the muses, who first composed tragedies; and therefore Horace properly addresses himself to her for assistance in writing a funeral elegy on Quintilius. Pater.] Jupiter, the father of the muses. 5. Ergo Quintilium.] Quintilius, to whom this amiable character is given, is mentioned in the art of poetry with all the honour that can be given to a critic of sincerity and candour. As Virgil was in a particular manner anxious for his poetical reputation, he must have been sensibly afflicted by the loss of so valuable and useful a friend. This concern, this tenderness, the poet hath expressed by the word pius. 11. Non ita creditum.] Not entrusted to us on such terms, but by nature destined to the grave. 13. Threïcio Orpheo.] A poet of Thrace. See ode XII. v. 8. 15. Vana imagini.] The Theology of the ancients taught, that ♦ when a man was dead, his soul or the spiritual part of him went to heaven; that his body continued in the earth; and his image, or shadow, went to the lower regions. The image was a corporeal part of the soul, a kind of subtile body, with which it was clothed. Species corporea quæ non potest tangi, sicut ventus. Virgil has expressed it, Tenuem sine corpore vitam, cava sub imagine forma. 17. Non lenis precibus.] Inexorable, that cannot be prevailed upon. |