NOTES. BOOK I. ODE 1. THIS ode is supposed to have been written by Horace, after the completion of some of his works, as a dedication of them to Mæcenas, his patron and friend. The poet describes with much felicity the different views of men with respect to happiness, and portrays some of their ruling passions. In conclusion, he compliments Mæcenas on his taste for the fine arts, and his love of learning, by intimating that he shall not consider his own claims to rank with the lyric poets established, without the sanction of his judgment. 1. Atavis edite regibus: 'descended from regal ancestors.' Mæcenas, so long distinguished as the favorite of Augustus, and still more so for the protection and encouragement which he afforded to men of learning and of genius, was descended from the ancient kings of Etruria or Tuscany. To him, says Mr. Sanadon, the present world is in a great measure indebted for all the wit and learning of the Augustan age; and even at this day the name of Macenas is a title not unworthy of persons of the noblest character, who know, like him, how to animate the spirit of emulation among writers by their favor and generosity. 2. O et præsidium: with much propriety Horace addresses him as his guardian and delightful honor; since Mæcenas not only procured his pardon from Augustus, for fighting against him with Brutus and the republicans at Philippi, but even brought him into peculiar favor with that illustrious personage. 6. Dominos: this word must be referred to deos; and is not the object of evehit, as some have supposed, applying it to the Ro mans. 7. Hunc sc. juvat ; i. e. one ambitious of political distinction. 8. Tergeminis tollere honoribus: to raise him to the highest honors.' The word tergeminis is probably used in reference to the three highest grades of office among the Romans, viz. the ædileship, the prætorship, and the consulship. 9. Illum sc. juvat; i. e. another, whose ruling passion is wealth. 10. Quidquid...areis: all the grain that is collected from Lybian threshing-floors.' Lybia was a part of Africa particularly fertile in grain. 12. Attalicis conditionibus: 'by the wealth of Attǎlus;' who was king of Pergamus, and immensely rich. Having no children, he made the commonwealth of Rome his heir. 13. Nunquam dimoveas: you can never induce.'-Trabe Cypriâ: 'in a vessel of Cyprus.' This epithet is used because Cyprus was at that time so distinguished for its commerce. 14. Myrtoum: The Myrtōan sea is a part of the Ægéan, so called from the island Myrtus. 20. Solido... die: i. e. to break in upon the hours of the day usually devoted to labor, and indulge in drinking at his ease. 24. Matribus detestata: abhorred by mothers;' because they are deprived of their sons by war. 25. Sub Jove frigido: by remaining all night 'in the cold air,' the huntsman shows the strength of his ruling passion. 28. Teretes: 'well wrought.' 29. Me: Wakefield and some others think that the whole tenor of the ode requires Te in this place, as referring to the poet's patron Mæcenas, and have substituted that word: but the manuscripts do not authorize this change. The meaning probably is, the ivy crowns, bestowed as the reward of learned men, (or of successful poets,) delight me above all things. 34. Lesboüm: Horace calls the lyre 'Lesbian,' because Alcæus, the most eminent of the lyric poets, and some others, belonged to Lesbos. For an explanation of the kind of verse used in this and the subsequent odes, the student is referred to the metrical key. ODE II. The early commentators were no doubt in an error in supposing this ode to have been written in compliment to Octavius upon the prodigies which appeared soon after the assassination of his uncle Julius Cæsar; for at that time Horace was at Athens, and he afterwards espoused the cause of Brutus; and it is hardly probable, while enlisted under his banners, that the poet would have addressed a prayer for the preservation of Octavius, or invoked vengeance upon his own party. The following historical facts, mentioned by Dion Cassius, explain several passages in the ode, and give a much more natural occasion for writing it. Octavius received the surname of Augustus on the 17th of January, in the year of Rome 727; and on the night following there was a very uncommon inundation of the Tiber. A short time before this, Octavius had addressed the senate, and intima*ed his intention of resigning the supreme power. He said his ob ject in assuming it was to avenge the death of Cæsar, and to free Rome from the calamities under which it was suffering. The poet therefore avails himself of these incidents to address Augustus, as the tutelary divinity of Rome; and, after complimenting him very delicately under the character of Mercury, exhorts him to cherish the blessings of peace at home, and to defend the Roman people from foreign foes. 6. Sæculum Pyrrha: Pyrrha was the wife of Deucalion, king of Thessaly, in whose time the deluge came. Pyrrha may well be thought to have complained of 'strange prodigies,' which the Romans were apprehensive were about to be renewed. 13. Flavum ... undis: Our word 'yellow' but poorly expresses the meaning of flavus, when applied to the Tiber at, or near to Rome. This river is there deep, rapid, and exceedingly turbid, from the quantities of sand and loam usually blended with its water; especially after rains, which give it a tawny or muddy color; its appearance is extremely unpoetic, and anything but 'yellow.' About the first of January, 1830, the Tiber rose fourteen feet in twenty-four hours; and when it subsided, the alluvial deposits along the stone steps of the quay in Rome were from six to eight inches deep. The predominant color of these deposits was nearly that of half-dried clay; and this is the prevailing color of the Tiber at Rome.-Retortis: 'being driven back.' The Tiber flows into the Tuscan sea, but in this instance, being driven up by a violent tempest against its current, already swollen by rains and snow, it seemed to roll backwards.-Littore Etrusco: from the shore of the Tuscan sea.' 15. Monumenta regis: i. e. the monument of Numa Pompilius. 17. Ilia: the construction is, dum amnis uxorius jactat Ilia, nimiùm querenti, se fore ultorem necis Cæsaris et vagus labitur ripá sinistra, Jove non probante. Ilia, called also Rhea Silvia, was the mother of Romulus. She was thrown by Amulius into the Tiber, or rather into the Anio, near where it empties into the Tiber, which is therefore called her husband, and made to avenge her wrongs. Ilia may be said to have carried her complaints concerning the death of Cæsar too far; since they brought such destruction upon Rome; which Jupiter, as its tutelary divinity, did not approve. Doering considers nimium an adjective, agreeing with ultorem ; "nimium non ad querenti, sed ad ultorem referendum esse puto; nimius enim fuit ultor Tiberis, sive modum in ulciscendo uxoris suæ dolore excessit, dum tantam ruinam Romæ ædificiis moliebatur." This certainly appears very consistent. Rome was chiefly built on the left or eastern bank of the Tiber, sinistra ripâ, which, being somewhat lower than the other, was peculiarly exposed to the inundation. 23. Vitio parentûm: i. e. the youth would be few in number in consequence of the civil wars in which their fathers engaged. 27. Minùs audientem: Vesta was displeased with the Romans, on account of the death of Cæsar, and of the civil wars in which they engaged. 36. Auctor: i. e. Mars, who, as the father of Romulus, was considered the founder of the Roman nation. 41. Sive mutatâ ... Maia: 'or if, having changed thy form, winged son of fair Maïa, thou assumest that of a youthful hero on earth.' The compliments here paid to Augustus are the more delicate for being addressed to Mercury, and for the concealment of the real object of them to the very last, when the ode terminates with the name of Cæsar. ODE III. Horace and Virgil were closely united by the bonds of affection and friendship, as well as by similarity of taste and kindred pursuits. This ode was written on the embarkation of Virgil for Athens, where he expected to meet the emperor, on his return from Asia. Virgil had intended to accompany Augustus in his eastern expedition, but was prevented by ill health. He, however, met him at Athens, but he was soon after taken ill at Megara, and brought back to Italy at his own request, and landed at Brundusium; where he died a few days after. So that this was in fact Horace's farewell address to his friend. He expresses great interest and feeling on the occasion; and even goes so far as to execrate the invention of ships, and to call the art of navigation impious, as violating the intention of the gods. 2. Fratres Helěna: Castor and Pollux, sons of Leda. 3. Ventorum... pater: i. e. Æõlus, whom Homer represents as confining the winds in a bag, and Virgil as confining them in a cave. 4. Iapyga: The lapyx was a westerly wind, and the most favorable for those sailing from Italy to Athens. It was so called from lapyges, the inhabitants of Apulia, from which this wind blew towards Athens. 7. Reddas: sc. ut. This passage may be rendered thus: 'O ship, that owest to the shores of Attica Virgil, intrusted to thee, I pray that the queen of Cyprus, the bright stars, Castor and Pollux, and the sovereign of the winds, restraining all but the Iapyx, may so direct you, that you may deliver him in safety.' 14. Hyadas: The Hyades are a constellation at the head of the Bull, commonly known by the name of the Seven Stars. They are called tristes, because their rising and setting are frequently attended with rain. 18. Monstra natantia: 'the hideous monsters of the deep swimming around him.' The ancients feared above all things a death which deprived them of a burial; as in that case they were not permitted to pass the Styx, and be at rest, for a hundred years. 20. Acroceraunia: from azoor, 'the summit,' and xɛgavròs, ‘thunder'; a high promontory in Epirus, between the Adriatic and the Ionian sea, whose summit was often struck with thunder; called infames, because Augustus came near being shipwrecked there. 26. Nefas: 'O impious!' This pointing was adopted by Didot to avoid the flatness of joining vetitum with nefas, in the usual way. 27. Iapeti genus: i. e. Prometheus. See Class. Dict. 32. Semoti... gradum: 'and the necessity of death, before slow, and at a distance, quickened its step.' ODE IV. In the first part of this ode the poet describes the joy and beauty of returning spring. He proceeds to exhort his friend Sextius to seize the pleasures that offer themselves, and, according to the philosophy of the Epicureans, he reminds him of the shortness of life, as a motive for enjoying present gratifications. 5. Cytherea choros ducit Venus: this refers to the feasts of Venus, which were celebrated by young women with dances and hymns in honor of the goddess. They began on the first of April, 'by the light of the moon,' imminente lunâ, and continued three nights successively. 11. Immolare: so deeply were the ancient heathens impressed with the idea of the goodness of some overruling power, manifested in the return of the seasons, that they offered stated sacrifices in gratitude for this proof of continued care. 18. Non regna... talis: you will not choose a king of the feast by a cast of the dice.' This refers to the practice of choosing some one to preside over them at their feasts, whom they were all bound to obey, and obliged to drink as he directed. This person was styled 'king,' and was chosen by throwing the dice, which had on their different sides the figures of Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Apollo, Venus, and Diana. He who first threw a Venus presided. ODE V. Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa was a distinguished general, and so much esteemed by Augustus, that he gave him his daughter Julia in marriage. Agrippa wished his achievements to be celebrated by Horace, who, while he excuses himself from the more laborious and responsible task of writing a formal poem, ingeniously pays him the most flattering compliment. He intimates that Agrippa's martial glory deserves the strains of a loftier genius than his own; that his was the lyric muse, and fit only for light or trifling subjects; but that Varius, gifted with the sublimest inspirations of the epic muse, would sing his praises in strains worthy of the subject. Most commentators have thought this ode mercly an excuse O Horace for not doing that which he had no disposition to do. But the fulness of the praises bestowed renders this conjecture superfluous. It is probably only an instance, among many, of his artfuily performing what he pretends to decline doing |