Devota non extinxit arbos, Nec Sicula Palinurus unda. Utcunque mecum vos eritis, libcns Littoris Assyrii, viator. Visam Britannos hospitibus feros, Et Scythicum, inviolatus, amnem, Vos lene consilium et datis, et dato Qui terram inertem, qui mare temperat NOTES. 30 40 45 manner for his preservation. His flight at the battle of Philippi, his escape from being crushed by the fall of a tree, and his pre servation from shipwreck. 28. Palinurus.] A promontory, so called from a pilot of Æneas who was lost there. 32. Littoris Assyrii.] Assyria, properly speaking, is an inland country, and far distant from the sea; it is therefore by the poet used for Syria, which extends itself along the shore as far as Babylon. Such liberties are usual to the poets. 33. Hospitibus feros.] Upon the authority of Acron, the com mentators believe that the Britons sacrificed strangers to the gods; and Torrentius tells us, that in his time they were rather malevolent than cruel to foreigners, but that such a disposition must be expected in a people separated from the whole world. 34. Latum equino sanguine Concanum.] The Concani were a people of Spain, who lived chiefly on milk mixed with horses' blood. 35. Gelonos.] A people of Scythia. 36. Scythicum Amnem.] The commentators here understand the Tanais, but the poet seems rather to speak of the Caspian Divosque, mortalesque turmas Sed quid Typhous, et validus Mimas, Contra sonantem Palladis ægida 50 55 Vulcanus, hinc matrona Juno, et Nunquam humeris positurus arcum, 60 Qui rore puro Castaliæ lavit Crines solutos, qui Lyciæ tenet Dumeta, natalemque silvam, Vis consili expers mole ruit sua: Vim temperatam Dî quoque provehunt Omne nefas animo moventes. NOTES. 65 70 sea, which is also called Scythicus sinus. The Látins, in imitation of the Greeks, make use of the word amnis instead of mare. 52. Pelion imposuisse Olympo.] Pelion and Olympus are two mountains of Thessaly. Apollodorus writes, that they put Ossa upon Olympus, and Pelion upon Ossa. Virgil just the contrary, that they put Ossa upon Pelion, and Olympus upon Ossa. 53. Typhæus.] Typhoeus, Mimas, Porphyrion, Rhœtus, Enceladus, were giants. 61. Castalia.] A fountain of mount Parnassus, consecrated to the muses. 64. Delius et Patareus Apollo.] Apollo is called Delius from the island of Delos where he was born, and Patareus from Patara a town in Lycia where he had a famous oracle. 69. Gyas.] Or Gyges, a son of Cœlus and Terra, represented as having fifty heads and an hundred hands. Tentator Orion Dianæ, Virginea domitus sagitta. Injecta monstris Terra dolet suis, NOTES. 75 80 71. Tentator Orion.] Orion was the son of Terra, or Neptune and Euryale. Diana killed him with her arrows. 73. Injecta monstris terra dolet suis.] Horace here introduces the earth as a person lamenting the overthrow of her own children, and that she herself was become the principal instrument; because that in the war of the Giants, Minerva flung Sicily upon Enceladus; Neptune cast a part of the isle of Cos upon Polybates, and Othus was overwhelmed by the isle of Crete. In a word, the ancients believed, that in all those places whence fire and smoke issued forth, some Giant was interred. 77. Incontinentis nec Tityi jecur.] Tityus designing to offer violence to Latona, was slain by Apollo. Two vultures are said to be perpetually gnawing his liver in the lower regions. 79. Amatorem trecenta Pirithoum.] He was the son of Ixion. His friend Theseus accompanied him to the lower regions, to assist him in forcing thence Proserpine with whom he had fallen in love; but Pluto, forwarned of their design, retained them prisoners, and put them in chains. CARMEN V. COLO tonantem credidimus Jovem NOTES. 3. Adjectis Britannis.] Strabo informs us, that the princes of Britain gained the friendship of Augustus by their embassies and N Milesne Crassi conjuge barbara Sub rege Medo Marsus et Appulus, Oblitus, æternæque Vestæ, Incolumi Jove et urbe Roma? NOTES. 5 10 submission. They carried their presents into the capitol, and made the Roman people masters of their whole island. Thus, although the Romans never triumphed for the conquest of Britain, yet Augustus was considered as having subdued it. 5. Milesne Crassi.] The poet paints the defeat of Crassus, and the cowardice of the Romans in these vivid colours, that he may raise the glory of Augustus, who, by subduing the Parthians, had effaced that ignominy, which for so many years had covered the Roman name. 6. Conjuge barbara turpis maritus.] It was a double infamy to a Roman soldier to marry a foreign woman, and by such an alliance to confound the blood of Rome with that of her enemies. 9. Marsus et Appulus.] The Marsians and Appulians were esteemed the bravest of the Roman soldiers. 10. Anciliorum.] Were oval shields or bucklers, carried by the priests of Mars in their sacred processions or dances. One of them was said to have fallen from heaven in the reign of Numa, and upon the preservation of it the safety of the empire was supposed to depend: Numa, therefore, ordered eleven others of the same size and form to be made, that it might be difficult to distinguish the true one, if any attempt should be made to carry it away. They were kept in the temple of Mars. 11. Eternæque vesta.] Ancient Mythology acknowledges two goddesses of this name; the one the mother, the other the daughter of Saturn. The first was the same with the earth, and is sometimes called Cybele, and sometimes Pales; the second was fire. It is of this last that Horace speaks here. She had a temple at Rome, her priestesses were all under a vow to preserve their virginity, and were called vestal virgins; they had the care of the sacred and eternal fire, which they were obliged to keep perpetually burning, to denote that Vesta always saw to the preservation of the empire. 13. Reguli.] Attilius Regulus, being taken prisoner by the Carthaginians, was sent to Rome, upon his parole, to treat of an Fœdis, et exemplo trahenti Militibus sine cæde, dixit, Derepta vidi: vidi ego civium Auro repensus scilicet acrior Lana refert medicata fuco; 15 20 25 Nec vera virtus, cum semel excidit, Curat reponi deterioribus. 30 Si pugnat extricata densis Cerva plagis, erit ille fortis, Sensit iners, timuitque mortem. Fertur pudicæ conjugis osculum, NOTES. 35 40 exchange of prisoners; but knowing how disadvantageous this would be to the Romans, he earnestly dissuaded the senate from it; and, with an unparalleled greatness of soul, withstood the importunities of his nearest relations, and returned again to Carthage, though he was not ignorant of the tortures that were there preparing for him. 20. Sine cade.] Regulus could not blame the soldiers for being made prisoners, since he was himself in the same condition; but he reproaches them for having lost their liberty without attempting to defend themselves. 42. Capitis minor.] The construction is minor diminutione, vel 10323A |