Dives agris, dives positis in fenore nummis. Et faciunt prope plura dolentibus ex animo, sic Et torquere mero quem perspexisse laborant, 425 430 435 Hoc," aiebat," et hoc :" melius te posse negares Bis terque expertum frustra, delere jubebat 440 Et male tornatos incudi reddere versus. Si defendere delictum quam vertere malles, Nullum ultra verbum aut operam insumebat inanem 422. unctum qui recte ponere possit] See S. i. 445 ever write poetry do not be taken in by flatterers, who have a bad heart under a cunning face.' 438. Quintilio] See S. i. 24, Introduction. But 441. Et male tornatos incudi reddere] The metaphors of the turning lathe and the anvil are common enough for the composition of verses, as Bentley has shown. alleging that the lathe and anvil have no 6. business to be together, he proposes, in the longest of all his notes, and edits with no authority, 'ter natos,' referring to Epp. ii. 1. 233, "incultis qui versibus et male natis." The verse is much better in my opinion as it stands. The lathe was used by the ancients in the polishing and turning of metals as well as of wood and ivory, as Fea shows against Bentley, who affirms that such is not the case. 434. culullis] This the Scholiasts (on C. i. 31. 11) say was the name of earthenware cups used by the pontifices and Vestal Virgins. It was afterwards used generally for drinking-cups. With torquere mero compare Epp. i. 18. 38, "et vino tortus et ira.' 437. animi sub vulpe latentes.] 'If you Traverso calamo signum, ambitiosa recidet In puteum foveamve, licet, "Succurrite," longum Si curet quis opem ferre et demittere funem, Qui scis an prudens huc se projecerit atque Servari nolit?" dicam, Siculique poëtae Dum cupit Empedocles, ardentem frigidus Aetnam 450. Fiet Aristarchus ;] Aristarchus, whose name was proverbial among the ancients as a critic, was born in Samothracia about B.C. 730. He passed the greater part of his life at Alexandria under the patronage of Ptolemaeus Philopator, Epiphanes, and Philometor, the second of whom he educated. 4 au 453. morbus regius ] This, which is otherwise called 'arquatus morbus,' rugo,' and by the Greeks KTEрog, is the jaundice. Celsus says it is so called because the remedies resorted to were chiefly amusements and indulgences to keep up the spirits, such as none but the rich could afford. (See Pliny xxii. 24, § 53.) No disorder depresses the spirits more than jaundice. Here it is supposed to be infectious, which it is not. 454. Aut fanaticus error] Fanaticus' (from 'fanum') was properly applied to the priests of Bellona. See S. ii. 3. 223, n., and Juvenal iv. 123, "fanaticus oestro Percussus, Bellona, tuo." Juvenal also applies it to the priests of Cybele (ii. 112), "crine senex fanaticus albo, Sacrorum antistes." The influence of the moon ('iracunda 450 455 460 465 Diana') in producing mental derangement is one of the earliest fallacies in medicine. The Greeks called persons supposed to be so affected σεληνιακοί. 455. tetigisse timent] The wise avoid him as if he were infectious; fools run after him like children after a crazy man in the streets.' 459. longum Clamet,] This is like Homer's paкpòv ävσɛ (II. iii. 81). 464. Deus immortalis haberi] See Epp. i. 12. 20. There are various marvellous stories told of the death of Empedocles, suited to the character he bore in his life, of a magician, a controller of the elements, &c. "According to the most probable of these discrepant statements, being at last expelled his native city (Agrigentum), he retired to the Peloponnesus, and there brought his marvellous existence to a close. This story is from Timaeus, in whose history Empedocles is frequently mentioned. The statement of his death in Aetna can be traced back to Heraclides Ponticus, a very insufficient authority, and who believed in it" (Ritter, Hist. Anc. Phil. i. 492). 467. Invitum qui servat] See Epp. i. Nec semel hoc fecit, nec si retractus erit jam 20. 15, n. This is apparently a proverb. Seneca has the same (Phoen. 100): “occidere est vetare cupientem mori." The construction of idem occidenti' is Greek, ταὐτὸ τῷ ἀποκτείνοντι. Οrelli observes that this is the only spondaic hexameter in Horace. 469. Fiet homo] He keeps up the allusion to Empedocles, saying that the frenzied poet is as resolved to rush to his fate (that is, into verse) as the philosopher was, and if you save him he will not drop his pretension to inspiration. 470 475 470. Nec satis apparet] The crime for which he has been thus sent mad does not appear; whether it be for fouling his father's grave or setting foot upon polluted ground. Bidental' was a spot struck by lightning, so called from the sacrifice offered upon it for expiation. (See Forcell.) I agree with Orelli in taking moverit' in the sense of violaverit,' as in "Dianae non movenda numina" (Epod. xvii. 3). Some take it to mean the removal of the mark placed on the spot. INDEX I. CARMINUM LYRICORUM. Aeli vetusto nobilis ab Lamo, C. iii. 17. Cur me querelis exanimas tuis, C. ii. 17. Diffugere nives, redeunt jam gramina campis, C. iv. 7. Divis orte bonis, optime Romulae, C. iv. 5. Donarem pateras grataque commodus, C. iv. 8. Donec gratus eram tibi, C. iii. 9. Eheu fugaces, Postume, Postume, C. ii. 14. Exegi monumentum aere perennius, C. iii. 30. Faune Nympharum fugientum amator, C. iii. 18. Festo quid potius die, C. iii. 28. Herculis ritu modo dictus, o plebs, C. iii. 14. Horrida tempestas caelum contraxit et imbres, Epod. xiii. Ibis Liburnis inter alta navium, Epod. i. Icci, beatis nunc Arabum invides, C. i. 29. Ille et nefasto te posuit die, C. ii. 13. Integer vitae scelerisque purus, C. i. 22. Jam jam efficaci do manus scientiae, Epod. xvii. Jam pauca aratro jugera regiae, C. ii. 15. Jam satis terris nivis atque dirae, C. i. 2. Jam veris comites, quae mare temperant, C. iv. 12. Justum et tenacem propositi virum, C. iii. 3. Laudabunt alii claram Rhodon aut Mitylenen, C. i. 7. Lupis et agnis quanta sortito obtigit, Epod. iv. Lydia, dic, per omnes, C. i. 8. Maecenas atavis edite regibus, C. i. 1. Mala soluta navis exit alite, Epod. x. Martiis caelebs quid agam Kalendis, C. iii. 8. Mater saeva Cupidinum, C. i. 19. Mercuri, facunde nepos Atlantis, C. i. 10. |