Obrazy na stronie
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but the peculiar form of expression is also due to the fact that Attalus III. had (B.C. 133) bequeathed his property to the Roman people. Laconicas purpuras. Cf. Juv. 8. 101 Spartana chlamys. The shell-fish (see 2. 16. 35 n.) from which the purple dye was made were found on the coast of Laconia; cf. Aesch. Ag. 958. 8. trahunt, 'spin.' The word is used of 'drawing out' the thread (filum) from the ball of material on the distaff (colus), with a view to winding it round the spindle (fusus). honestae, 'of gentle birth'; it would only be the very wealthy or noble who would number persons of gentle birth among their retainers. ingeni benigna vena, 'a rich vein of talent.' ingenium (from in and gigno), 'that which is born in one,' 'natural ability.' For the contracted gen. cf. 1. 6. 12 n. vena is used in the same sense A. P. 409 sine divite vena, where from the epithet it is plain that the metaphor is from a vein of ore. 11. nihil supra deos lacesso, 'for nothing beyond do I importune the gods.' lacesso takes a double acc. from the sense of 'asking' contained in it.

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14. beatus. As frequently, it is difficult to decide between the two meanings 'happy' and 'wealthy'; the word involves both ideas. unicis Sabinis, 'my one dear Sabine farm.' See 1. 17 Intr. It was usual to describe a farm in any district by the name of the people of the district, and Sabinis is the abl. of Sabini. So in Pliny continually in Tuscos='to my Tuscan estate' (see Mayor, Pliny, Ep. 3. 4. p. 67), and cf. 3. 4. 22 in arduos tollor Sabinos 'I climb to my hilly Sabine farm'; Mart. 10. 44.9; Ov. Am. 2. 16. 37; Οv. Fast. 4. 685 Paelignos, natalia rura, petebam. 15. truditur dies die These words are the connecting link between what precedes and what follows: I practise contentment, because I remember that life is short; you, although life is short, still build,' etc. 16. novaeque

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lunae, 'and new moons only wax to wane.' - Martin. The application is obvious, cf. Wisdom v. 13 'Even so we, in like manner, as soon as we were born, began to draw to our end.' Cic., Lucr., Plaut. also use pergo with inf.

17. tu... Note the position of tu; he represents himself as specially addressing some single person. locare is regularly used with an acc. and gerundive of putting anything in the hands of a contractor for carrying out. secanda, 'to be hewn.' 18. sub ipsum funus, 'when on the very borders of the grave'; cf. 1. 8. 14 n. 20. marisque . . . 'and are eager to push forward the shore of the sea that breaks on Baiae, not satisfied with the possession of the unbroken line of coast.' For urgues, see 2. 9. 9, and for Baiae 3.4.24 n. 21. summovere (cf. 2. 16. 10 n.) = 'make to move forward.' 22. continente ripa: either (1) 'the confining shore,' taking continente as part., or (2) the 'unbroken shore,' taking continente as adj. nearly = continuus (from cum and teneo) 'holding together,' the sense being that he is not satisfied until his villa projecting into the sea has broken the hitherto unbroken line of coast. Orelli and Wickham give 'the coast of the mainland,' but without proof except quoting Livy 44. 28 continenti litori. For villas projecting into the sea, cf. 3. 1. 33.

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23. quid quod : lit. 'what (shall I say) of the fact that. ?': the phrase introduces a stronger charge-there is not only extravagance but crime. 24. terminos, 'bound-stones,' set up at the four corners of each plot of ground; they were under the special protection of the venerable god Terminus, and the citizen who moved one was devoted to the gods. See Merivale c. 33, and cf. Deut. xxvii. 17 'Cursed be he that removeth his neighbour's landmark, and all the people shall say, Amen.' 25. clientium: emphatic; the crime was more heinous because committed against those he was bound to protect. The Laws of the Twelve Tables say, Patronus si clienti fraudem fecerit, sacer esto. cliens = 'one who listens' or 'obeys'; cf. κλύω. 26. salis avarus, 'leap in the eagerness of greed.' salis indicates his boldness and eagerness, cf. transiliunt 1. 3. 24. pellitur The natural order of this sentence is considerably altered, on purpose to get the emphatic verb pellitur first, 'forth is driven .' For the whole scene,

cf. Guy Mannering, c. 8, and Meg Merrilies' curse on Ellangowan.

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29. nulla certior tamen, 'and yet no hall awaits its wealthy lord more surely than the appointed end of greedy Death,' i.e. more certainly than the hall you are building does the grave, the appointed end of all men, await you. So Nauck rightly, and finis Orci is simply the common Gk. phrase τέλος θανάτοιο. All editors however agree in saying that fine and destinata though side by side do not go together, and Kiessling, for example, explains 'no hall more certainly awaits its lord than the hall destined for you (aula destinatā) by the end of ravening Orcus, i.e. by the end which Orcus (personified) has appointed for you.' But that in three consecutive words fine destinata aula, the abl. fine is to be separated from the abl. destinata, and made dependent on it (an abl. case being thus forcibly thrust in between certior and its own abl. which ought to follow it closely), and that before aula in the nom. aula in the abl. is to be supplied, seems impossible.

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34. regum. Either actual 'kings,' or, as often, 'great men.' Orci: no doubt Horace is thinking of Charon, but the peculiar form of the expression 'attendant' or rather 'sentinel of Orcus' is to be noticed. The palace (aula) which the rich man is preparing is compared with the place (Orcus) that is prepared for him; he has his 'guards' (satellites), 'attendants, and so has the grave, a grim and incorruptible one (satelles Orci). callidum, 'notwithstanding his cunning.' For this account of Prometheus, see 2. 13. 37 n. 36. auro captus. Cf. 3. 16.9 aurum per medios ire amat, a passage which shows the force of satelles here. hic. Both Orelli and Wickham say 'not Charon but Orcus,' for, they urge, the next lines, and especially the word vocatus, cannot refer to Charon. But (1) to make hic not refer to the main nom. of the preceding sentence, but to a merely qualitative word such as Orci, especially when the last words of the sentence are auro captus in agreement with satelles, is to violate the first principles of speech. If a schoolboy were to say, 'The Head-master's butler wouldn't let me out though well tipped. He is a beast,' according to this theory 'He' would=the Head-master. (2) Those who say that line 40 could not be used of Charon forget that Horace, though no doubt thinking of Charon, has only spoken of satelles Orci, and surely it is the part of a satelles when summoned (vocatus) to hearken (audire, ὑπακούειν). Cf. too coercet accurately used of a 'guard' or 'sentinel.' 37. Tantali genus, i.e. men like Tantalus, such men as the rich man of lines 17-28. From the nature of his punishment it is clear that Tantalus was taken as a type of greedy and grasping characters. 38. hic levare ... 'he too when summoned ay and unsummoned to relieve the poor man whose toils are over, obeys.' functum: 4.15.29 n.

ODE XIX

'I have had a vision of Bacchus teaching his sacred hymns to all his train : spare me, dreadful deity, and grant me to tell of thy kingdom abounding in

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wine and milk and honey, of thy glorified bride, thy victory over thy foes, thy power over nature and overthrow of the rebellious Titans, yea, and even the monsters of the under-world reverencing the symbol of thy strength.'

This Ode is usually accounted a mere imitation of a Gk. dithyramb, but it seems rather the expression of the poet's longing in a period of anarchy and discord for an ideal and idyllic world: this he symbolises under the form of a vision of the reign of Bacchus, the giver of happiness and abundance, the founder of civilisation, and the conqueror of the rebel powers of darkness.

1. Bacchum. See carefully the article Dionysus in Class. Dict. in remotis rupibus: his favourite haunts; cf. Soph. O. T. 1105 ὁ Βακχεῖος θεὸς ναίων ἐπ ̓ ἄκρων ὀρέων. carmina, 'hymns' connected with his worship. 4. acutas: either 'peaked,' 'sharp-pointed,' as they were always represented, or-which is better, considering the emphatic position of the adj. and the fact that it then matches discentes 'pricked up,' i.e. to listen.

5. euhoe = εὐοῖ, a shout used in the festivals of Dionysus; cf. 2. 11. 17. 6. pleno Bacchi pectore, 'my heart filled with (i.e. inspired by) his divinity.' The Gk. Dionysus causes all forms of enthusiasm and excitement : his worshippers become 'intoxicated' (not merely with wine, for this is only one form of 'Bacchic intoxication'); hence he is the special protector of the poet 'his eye in a fine frenzy rolling'; cf. 3. 25.1 quo me, Bacche, rapis tui plenum? 3. 19. 14 attonitus vates. turbidum laetatur, 'tumultuously rejoices,' cf. 1. 22. 23 n. 7. parce. Why he should spare is explained by the words gravi metuende thyrso, for the stroke of the thyrsus caused a frenzy bordering on madness. For the rhythm cf. p. xviii. § 4. 8. thyrso: θύρσος, a wand wreathed in ivy and vine leaves with a pine cone at the top.

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9. Thyiadas: Θυιάδας (from θύω), the female followers of the god. 10. vinique fontem These are all the miraculous gifts of the god, cf. Eur. Bacch. 704. 'Wine,' 'milk,' and 'honey' are well-known types of plenty and abundance, cf. Exod. iii. 8 'a good land and a large a land flowing with milk and honey.' 11. truncis cavis. Bees often hive in hollow trees, cf. Virg. G. 2. 453. 12. iterare: not 'to tell of more than once,' but to 'represent' (i.e. make present once more) in language what has been previously seen with the eyes. 13. beatae : see Class. Dict. s.v. Ariadne. beatae, 'deified.' 14. honorem, 'mark' or 'token of dignity,' i.e. the queenly crown which was given her by Dionysus on their marriage and which became the constellation Corona, cf. Virg. G. 1. 222. Penthěi. From Πένθευς comes Pentheus which forms gen. as if trisyllabic, cf. 1. 6. 7 n. 15. non leni. Litotes, cf. 1. 18. 9 n. 16. Thracis: a Greek adj. Θρᾷξ, Θρακός. For Pentheus and Lycurgus, see Class. Dict.

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17. tu flectis ... 'thou dost make yield to thy sway....' During his Indian travels Dionysus crossed the Orontes and Hydaspes which afforded a passage on dry ground when touched by his thyrsus. The same happened with regard to the Red Sea (mare barbarum). barbarum, 'foreign,' cf. 2. 4. 9 n. 18. uvidus, i.e. 'tipsy,' βεβρεγμένος : cf. 1. 7. 22 n. 19. nodo coerces viperino, 'dost confine in a knot of serpents,' i.e. Bacchus binds up their hair with serpents to amuse himself. 20. Bistonidum, 'the women of the Bistones,' a tribe in Thrace: it is a Greek feminine adj. sine fraude, 'without harm,' 'unharmed.' The use of fraus in this sense is chiefly found in legal documents (cf. SE FRAUDE in the Twelve Tab.) and is somewhat antiquated. A Bacchante with snake-bound hair and thyrsus is represented in Smith's Class. Dict.

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21. tu cum For the battle of the Giants see 3. 4. 49 seq., and Class. Dict. s. v. Gigantes. parentis regna, 'the realms of the great Father,' i.e. heaven the abode of Jupiter. per arduum, 'through the steep sky': Virgil G. 1. 281 describes how they attempted this by piling mountains upon one another, Horace purposely uses a vague phrase. 23. Rhoetum: one of the giants. leonis, because Bacchus assumed this form during the fray; he had also assumed it when taken prisoner by Tyrrhenian pirates.

25. quamquam... The construction is quamquam, choreis et iocis ludoque aptior dictus, pugnae non sat idoneus ferebaris. 26. non sat idoneus, 'not sufficiently well suited,' i.e. 'very ill-suited,' cf. non leni line 15. 27. sed idem, 'but yet'; for idem used where opposite qualities are represented as existing in the same individual, see 2. 10. 16 n. 28. pacis eras mediusque belli, 'thou didst take thy part in peace and war alike'; i.e. Dionysus notwithstanding what was said of him showed that though he enjoyed peace he was ready for war. On the position of que here and line 32, Orelli well remarks that the phrase, if expressed fully, would be pacis eras medius mediusque belli, but that, one medius being omitted for brevity, the phrase is left as in the text. No doubt too convenience as regards scansion has a great influence in poetry on the position which que is allowed to assume. Cf. 1. 30. 6 Gratiae properentque Nymphae, 3. 4. 11 ludo fatigatumque somno, C. S. 22 cantus referatque ludos. For ve in a similar position cf. 2. 7. 25. The idiom is naturally very common in elegiacs, e.g. patriam destituuntque domum. 29. aureo cornu decorum. The horn is a very ancient symbol of strength, vigour, plenty and fertility. Hence the god of wine 'that strengthens man's heart' is represented with horns (see Sandys, Bacchae 920-2). Ovid, A. A. 1. 239, says that under the influence of wine pauper cornua sumit; cf. too 3. 21. 18 tu (i.e. wine) ... addis cornua pauperi, and also for the use of the word 'horn' 1 Samuel ii. 1 'my horn is exalted in the Lord.' Orelli and Kiessling refer to the 'golden drinking-horn' with which, they say, the god is often depicted as 'adorned.' 31. recedentis : with pedes and crura='of you retreating,' 'as you retreated.' The god had gone to Hades to bring back his mother Semele. trilingui ore ought to mean 'a mouth with three tongues,' but='the tongue of each of his three mouths.'

ODE XX

'I, Maecenas, shall never die but shall be changed into a swan whose song shall be heard throughout the world: therefore let none mourn over my cenotaph.'

The Ode is conventional and unnatural: Book 3 also concludes with an Ode which expresses the hope of an immortality of fame, but which affords an admirable contrast to this in force and power. The Ode is an amplification of Ennius' Epitaph on himself, nemo me lacrumis decoret, nec funera fletu | faxit. cur? volito vivus per ora virum, but the epitaph and the Ode show vividly the distinction between what is genuine and what is fantastic in poetry. Plüss takes this to be the situation: the poet is dead; his corpse is on the funeral pyre; Maecenas calls upon his friend (cf. quem vocas line 6) for the last time: in answer the poet's ghost or shade proclaims its transformation, etc.

1. non usitata...'on no ordinary or faltering pinions will I sweep, a bard of double shape, through the bright upper air.' non usitata: partly meaning that lyric poetry had not been attempted in Latin by any before him, partly that the quality of his poetry was of no common stamp; cf. 3. 1. 2 carmina non prius audita. 2. liquidum aethera: the epithet liquidus is applied to aether, either with reference to its being 'translucent' like water, or 'yielding' like all fluids (cf. Milton's 'the buxom air,' where 'buxom,' the German 'beugsam,' means 'yielding'). 4. invidiaque maior, 'and soaring high above envy.'

5. pauperum sanguis parentum, 'the offspring of lowly parents.' The phrase is employed in close connexion with invidia in line 4: Horace was the son of a freedman (libertinus), and the meanness of his birth was a favourite subject for the sneers of those who were jealous (invidi) of his social and poetical success (cf. S. 1. 6. 46). He here adopts the very words in which they had sneered at him in order to make the glory which he was destined to attain greater, by contrast with the position from which he had started. For sanguis cf. 3. 27. 65 regius sanguis; C. S. 50 Anchisae Venerisque sanguis. 6. quem vocas, dilecte Maecenas. The old rendering 'whom thou, O Maecenas, dost call Dear friend' may be dismissed, for dilecte Maecenas must go together, cf. care M. 1. 20.5; candide M. Epod. 14. 5. But the meaning of quem vocas is obscure. (1) Orelli and Kiessling explain 'whom thou dost summon,' i.e. to thy house, company, or the like, but this seems mean and matter-of-fact in the middle of such a rhapsody. (2) Bücheler (accepted in Orelli 4) gives quem vocas, ut ego audiam, clueam, quoniam cliens tuus sum qui in clientela tua sum idemque in amicitiam tuam receptus. (3) May not vocas have a much wider and larger sense, = 'dost summon,' i.e. to poetic endeavour, to the hope of immortality? So taken it gives excellent sense, and the behaviour of Maecenas is forcibly contrasted with that of Horace's detractors -'I, whom many sneer at as lowborn, yes I, whom thy voice (vox, voco) on the contrary, Maecenas, ever urges forward, shall never die': so Wrangham (v. Translations of Horace, selected by C. W. F. Cooper): 'Not I, from humble lineage sprung, | Not I, dear Patron, whom thy tongue | Summons to fame, will fear to die | Or bound by Styx's fetters lie.' (4) If Plüss be right in his opinion as to the Ode, then vocas is used of 'calling on' Horace by name at the funeral pyre and bidding him 'hail and farewell': cf. Cat. 101. 10 frater, ave atque vale; Virg. Aen. 11. 97. 7. obibo: 2.17.3 n.

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9. iam iam He speaks as though he felt his metamorphosis already beginning. residunt cruribus, 'settle down on my ankles.' sido and its compounds (as distinguished from sedeo) express a slow and gradual process of coming into a position of rest. 11. leves. Notice the quantity. Daedaleo notior. So the best MSS. Orelli's old reading ocior involved a hiatus without parallel in Horace; and why should he wish to fly 'more swiftly' than Icarus, though he may wish his flight to be 'more famous'? Of course Icarus (see Class. Dict.) is an unfortunate type of soaring humanity for Horace to select, but in considering passages of this nature a too strict examination of all allusions is only foolish: the writer merely accumulates sonorous and somewhat vague proper names, and trusts that they will have much the same effect on the reader that an old lady once confessed to having experienced from 'that blessed word Mesopotamia' in an otherwise unintelligible sermon. Bentley's conjecture tutior is excellent but improbable. 15. canorus ales, i.e. a swan. Cf. 4. 3. 19 o mutis quoque piscibus | donatura cycni, si libeat, sonum. So Pindar is called Dircaeuт суспит 4. 2. 25, where Kiessling refers to a wild swan (? сусnus musicus of naturalists) which in winter visits Greece from the N. and in its flight utters two trumpet-like notes. It was sacred to Apollo, and in Alexandrine writers is the symbol of poets.

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