Quanquam festinas, non est mora longa; licebit, 35 Injecto ter pulvere, curras. NOTES. 36. Injecto ter pulvere.] It was sufficient for all the rites of sepulture, that dust should be thrice thrown upon an unburied body. CARMEN XXIX. AD ICCIUM. ICCI, beatis nunc Arabum invides Regibus; horribilique Medo Nectis catenas. Quæ tibi virginum, Ad cyathum statuetur unctis, NOTES. 5 In the year 729 Augustus sent an army against the Arabians. The expedition was unsuccessful by an unusual sickness among the soldiers. Horace, with a good deal of pleasantry, ridicules Iccius for leaving the quiet and easy study of philosophy to pursue the dangers and fatigues of war, while he supposes him to meditate some mighty proofs of his courage, and to subdue all Arabia in his first campaign. 1. Arabum.] Arabia is a country of Asia, between Judea and Egypt. It is divided into three parts; Arabia the stony, Arabia the desert, and Arabia the happy. A country full of spices, rich perfumes and other treasures. 3. Sabaa.] The chief city of Arabia Felix, famous for frankincense and myrrh. Several parts of Arabia had been conquered by the Romans, but they had not yet extended their conquests as far as Saba. 5. Nectis catenas.] The poet alludes to a custom among the Roman soldiers of carrying with them to battle, chains and ropes, to tie their prisoners. 8. Ad cyathum statuetur.] Shall be cup-bearer. Disjecta non levi ruina, Tu flectis amnes, tu mare barbarum: Bistonidum sine fraude crines. Unguibus, horribilique mala. Quanquam, choreis aptior et jocis Pacis eras mediusque belli. NOTES. 15 20 25 30 16. Lycurgi.] This Lycurgus was king of Thrace, who seeing his subjects go to the highest excess of drinking, that he might prevent it, ordered the vines all over his kingdom to be cut down. This brought upon him the anger of Bacchus, who rendered him so furious, that he killed his own son Dryas; after which his subjects rising up in rebellion, put him to death in the most cruel torments. 20. Bistonidum.] The Bistones were a people of Thrace, so called from a lake of that name. The women also in Thrace, who performed the rites of Bacchus, were called Bistonides. 23. Leonis unguibus.] The ancients tell us, that in the war against the giants, Bacchus assumed the shape of a lion. 29. Te vidit insons Cerberus.] When Bacchus descended inte the lower regions, to bring from thence his mother Semele, or, as others relate, his wife Ariadne, the monster Cerberus was so sensible of his divinity that he fawned upon him and paid him marks of adoration. 30. Cornu.] Various are the opinions why Bacchus is thus pictured with horns; whether they were imagined a mark of power and divinity: whether they rose from a custom of drinking out of horns, or from his having first ploughed with bullocks. CARMEN XX. AD MECENATEM. NON usitata, nec tenui ferar Penna, biformis, per liquidum æthera, Longius; invidiaque major, Urbes relinquam. Non ego pauperum Sanguis parentum, non ego, quem vocas Nec Stygia cohibebor unda. Jam jam residunt cruribus asperæ Jam, Dædaleo ocior Icaro, Ales, Hyperboreosque campos. Me Colchus, et, qui dissimulat metum Discet Iber, Rhodanique potor. NOTES. 5 10 15 20 Horace promises himself immortal fame from his verses. 1. Non usitata.] A poet without wings is a poet without genius. This unusual flight of Horace alludes to his imitation of the Grecian lyrick writers, and the next line represents him in the beginning of this metamorphosis, half man and half bird. 14. Gementis littora Bospori.] Horace calls the Bosphorus murmuring, on account of the noise which its waters make when agitated by the wind in that narrow strait. 17. Qui dissimulat metum.] Dacier remarks that the poet here means the Parthians, and thus regularly names six different nations, as it were, in opposition to each other; Colchians and Parthians; Dacians and Scythians; Spaniards and Gauls. 20. Peritus Iber.] In the time of Augustus, learning and the sciences flourished in Spain, whither they were carried from Asia, and where the Roman colonies contributed greatly to their encouragement. Absint inani funere næniæ, NOTES. 21. Absint inani funere naniæ.] Horace collects in this strophe, the principal ceremonies which the Romans used in their funerals. A person played on the flute some melancholy airs, and sang the praises of the deceased; the mourners filled the air with sighs and groans; then frequently called upon the dead by name, and gave him their last farewell. They made aspersions, burned odours, and concluded the ceremony with an entertainment. Q. HORATII FLACCI CARMINUM LIBER III. CARMEN I. ODI profanum vulgus, et arceo. Virginibus puerisque canto. Regum timendorum in proprios greges, Reges in ipsos imperium est Jovis, Clari giganteo triumpho, Cuncta supercilio moventis. Est, ut viro vir latius ordinet Omne capax movet urna nomen. NOTES. 5 10 15 Horace teaches us, that true happiness can only be found in a contented and frugal enjoyment of the blessings we possess. 2. Favete linguis.] This was a phrase used at the public sacrifices, to engage the silence and attention of the people. 11. Descendat in campum.] The field of Mars, where the popular assemblies were held for elections, was in the lowest ground of Rome; from whence the poet uses the word descendat. 17. Districtus ensis.] Horace here alludes to the story of Dionysius the tyrant, who hung over the head of Damocles the philosopher a drawn sword, suspended by a single hair, while he was |