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obliged to set sail back again, and to renew the course that I had deserted. For Jupiter, who usually cleaves the clouds with his gleaming lightning, lately drove his thundering horses and rapid chariot through the clear serene; at which the sluggish earth, and wandering rivers; at which Styx, and the horrid seat of detested Tænarus," and the utmost boundary of Atlas were shaken. The Deity is able to make exchange between the highest and the lowest, and diminishes the exalted, bringing to light the obscure; rapacious fortune, with a shrill whizzing, has borne off the plume from one head, and delights in having placed it on another.

ODE XXXV.51

ΤΟ FORTUNE.

O GODDESS, who presidest over beautiful Antium;"" thou, that art ready to exalt mortal man from the most abject state, or to convert superb triumphs into funerals! Thee the poor countryman solicits with his anxious vows; whosoever

oxu, the perversity of whom Horace now called insanity. Greg. Naz. Invect. Pr. in Julian, p. 79: άσοφος, ἵν' οὕτως ὀνομάσω, σοφία. ORELLI. 48 Diespiter signifies Diei pater, as Jupiter is put for Jovis pater, and Marspiter for Mars pater. SAN.

49 Tænarus, a promontory and seaport town of Peloponnesus, full of thick woods, where the poets feign was a descent to hell, called by Ovid Tænaria Porta, the Tænarian Gate; by Virgil, Tænariæ Fauces, the Tænarian jaws. WATSON.

50 Atlas, a mountain in Mauritania, so high, that the top of it is said to reach to heaven, and bear it up. WATSON.

51

The subject of this ode is perfectly noble, well designed, aud well executed. The versification is flowing and harmonious, the expression bold and sublime.

In the year 719, Augustus was on his march to Britain, but was recalled by a revolt of the Dalmatians. In 727, having ended the civil wars by the defeat of Antony, he again resolved to turn his arms against that island, but was satisfied with an embassy from thence, and a promise of obedience to any conditions which he pleased to impose upon them. These conditions not being well observed, he was determined to make the Britons feel the effects of his displeasure, yet was again obliged to employ the forces of the republic in suppressing an insurrection of the Salassi, Cantabri, and Asturii. SAN.

52

Antium, an ancient city of Italy, the capital of the Volscians, the country of Nero, and a good harbor for shipping. WATSON.

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plows the Carpathian Sea" with the Bithynian" vessel, importunes thee, as mistress of the ocean. Thee the rough Dacian," thee the wandering Scythians, and cities, and nations, and warlike Latium also, and the mothers of barbarian kings, and tyrants clad in purple, fear. Spurn not with destructive foot that column which now stands firm, nor let popular tumult rouse those, who now rest quiet, to arms-to arms—and break the empire. Necessity, thy minister, always marches before thee, holding in her brazen hand huge spikes and wedges; nor is the unyielding clamp absent, nor the melted lead. Thee Hope reverences, and rare Fidelity, robed in a white garment; nor does she refuse to bear thee company," howsoever in wrath thou change thy robe, and abandon the houses of the powerful. But the faithless crowd [of companions], and the perjured harlot draw back. Friends, too faithless to bear equally the yoke of adversity, when casks are exhausted, very dregs and all, fly off. Preserve thou Cæsar, who is meditating an expedition against the Britons, the furthest people in the world, and also the new levy of youths to be dreaded by the Eastern regions," and the Red Sea. Alas! I am ashamed of our scars, and our wickedness, and of brethren. What have we, a hardened age, avoided? What have we in our impiety left unviolated! From what have our youth restrained their hands, out of reverence to the gods? What altars have they spared? O mayest thou forge anew our blunted swords on a different anvil against the Massagetæ and Arabians.

59 The Carpathian Sea, so called from Carpathus, an isle between Rhodes and Crete, which usually retaineth its ancient name. WATSON. 64 Bithynia, a country of Asia the Less, next to Troas, over against Thrace, and, as is supposed, planted by Thracians; whence Xenophon calls it Thracia Asiatica. WATSON.

55 Dacia was a country of Hungary beyond the Danube.

56 Nec comitem abnegat] se, ut Ter. Enn. 2, 3, 84, "facile ut eunucho probes," i. e. te Ovid. A. A. i. 127, “Si qua repugnarat nimium comitemque negarat," se. ORELLI.

57 Eois timendum. In the end of the year 727, Ælius Gallus marched with an army to succeed Cornelius in the government of Egypt, and as he wanted a fleet for his expedition against the Arabians, he ordered a number of ships to be built in the ports of the Red Sea. As this army alarmed all the countries of the East, so the Romans had the greatest expectations that it would revenge all the insults which the republic had received from the Parthians. SAN.

ODE XXXVI.58

THIS is a joyful occasion to sacrifice both with incense and music of the lyre, and the votive blood of a heifer to the gods, the guardians of Numida; who, now returning in safety from the extremest part of Spain, imparts many embraces to his beloved companions, but to none more than his dear Lamia, mindful of his childhood spent under one and the same governor, and of the gown, which they changed at the same time.59 Let not this joyful day be without a Cretan mark of distinction; let us not spare the jar brought forth [from the cellar]; nor, Salian-like, let there be any cessation of feet; nor let the toping Damalis conquer Bassus in the Thracian Amystis; nor let there be roses wanting to the banquet, nor the ever-green parsley, nor the short-lived lily. All the company will fix their dissolving eyes on Damalis; but she, more luxuriant than the wanton ivy, will not be separated from her new lover.

61

ODE XXXVII."*

TO HIS COMPANIONS.

Now, my companions, is the time to carouse, now to beat the ground with a light foot: now is the time that was to deck

58 It is probable that this ode was written in the year 730, when Numida returned with Augustus from the war of Spain, and we may judge with how much tenderness Horace loved his friends, when he celebrated their return with sacrifices, songs, and dances. SAN.

59 Mutatæque simul togœ. At the age of seventeen the Roman youth put on the toga, and were no longer under the tutor's power. The toga was a large mantle worn over the tunica, and different in length, color, and ornaments, according to the fortune or profession of the wearer. SAN. 6o Cressâ ne careat. As chalk was found in great abundance in Crete, the ancients used to say proverbially, a Cretan mark, for any mark of joy and happiness; on the contrary, their unlucky days were said to be marked with black LAMB.

61 Threicia Amystide. This term is Greek, and signifies a custom among the Thracians of drinking a certain measure of wine, without closing the lips, or taking breath. LAMB.

6 At the first announcement of the victory at Actium, Horace en

the couch of the gods with Salian" dainties. Before this, it was impious to produce the old Cæcuban stored up by your ancestors; while the queen, with a contaminated gang of creatures, noisome through distemper, was preparing giddy destruction for the Capitol and the subversion of the empire, being weak enough to hope for any thing, and intoxicated with her prospering fortune. But scarcely a single ship preserved from the flames bated her fury; and Cæsar brought down her mind, inflamed with Egyptian wine, to real fears, close pursuing her in her flight from Italy with his galleys (as the hawk pursues the tender doves, or the nimble hunter the hare in the plains of snowy Æmon), that he might throw into chains this destructive monster [of a woman]; who, seeking a more generous death, neither had an effeminate dread of the sword, nor repaired with her swift ship to hidden shores. She was able also to look upon her palace, lying

65

courages his companions to give free reins to joy and hilarity, yet still to honor and admire the noble spirit and bold resolution of the ill-fated Cleopatra. With the true spirit of a Roman citizen he is silent of his fellow Roman, Antony. The senate, too, had not proclaimed war against him, but against Cleopatra, and Augustus triumphed not ostensibly over his fallen colleague in the triumvirate, but over an Egyptian queen. It was, indeed, his interest, that men should speedily forget that his former friend and relative had been, by him, forced to death, and that in the glare of victory the Romans should be flattered, not alarmed.

The tidings of the death of both were brought to Rome, in the autumn of A. U c. 724, by M. Tullius Cicero, the son of the orator and then Consul Suffectus; and that this is one of the earliest lyric compositions of Horace is probable, as well from its subject as by the irregularity of its composition, such as the synalephe in v. 5, and neglect of the cæsura in vs. 5 and 14. ANTHON.

63 The Salii were priests of Mars, instituted by Numa Pompilius, twelve in number, of the senatorial rank; their number was doubled by Tullus Hostilius. These, armed with a brazen helmet, belt, and breastplate, went through the city with a constant even pace, dancing to the sound of musical instruments. Their solemn processions were very magnificent. Hence the proverb Dapes Saliares, for a grand entertainment.

* Ab ignibus. The fleet of Antony, even after his flight, made such an obstinate resistance, that Augustus was obliged to send for fire from his camp to destroy it.

65 Daret ut catenis. Octavius had given particular directions to Proculeius and Epaphroditus to take Cleopatra alive, that he might make himself master of her treasures, and have the glory of leading her in triumph. Justly sensible of this ignominy, she had reserved a dagger for her last extremities, and when she saw Proculeius enter, she raised it to stab herself, but he dexterously wrenched it from her. LAMB.

in ruins, with a countenance unmoved, and courageous enough to handle exasperated asps, that she might imbibe in her body the deadly poison, being more resolved by having pre-meditated her death: for she was a woman of such greatness of soul, as to scorn to be carried off in haughty triumph, like a private person, by rough Liburnians."

ODE XXXVIII.

TO HIS SERVANT.

Boy, I detest the pomp of the Persians; chaplets, which are woven with the rind of the linden, displease me; give up the search for the place where the latter rose abides. It is my particular desire that you make no laborious addition to the plain myrtle; for myrtle is neither unbecoming you a servant, nor me, while I quaff under this mantling vine.

66 Sævis Liburnis. The poet mentions those vessels, not only because they were particularly serviceable in gaining the victory, but in compli ment to his patron Mæcenas, who commanded that squadron. SAN.

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