- Auctor; Mars,

the gods, when propitious; like the Gr. exißλéww. the founder of the Roman nation.- -37. Ludo; i. e. war, the sport of Mars. 39. Mauri peditis. The reading Marsi is conjectural. The expression Mauri peditis is equivalent (as Dillenburger gives it) to Mauri equo dejecti, the unhorsed or dismounted Mauretanian. The image is that of a Mauretanian thrown from his horse, and turning with fierce look on his bloody foe. Livy also uses pedites for dismounted cavalry, as in B. vii., 8.- -41. Juvenem; Octavianus, who was now nearly forty years of age. The word juvenis might be used of any one between twenty and forty. An adolescens was, strictly speaking, younger than a juvenis; the former word being used of persons, between fifteen and thirty. But the usage, in respect to both these words, was not uniformly observed, even by the best prose writers.- -42. Ales. Join with filius Maiae; it alludes to the winged sandals, talaria, and cap. petasus, with which the ancient artists and poets clothed Mercury. 46. Triumphos. The year, in which this ode was written, was signalized by the three-fold triumph of Octavianus, in honor of his victories over the Pannonians, the Dalmatians, and over Antony and Cleopatra.

50. Pater atque princeps. Augustus received the title of princeps senatus B. C. 27; but it was not till B. c. 1, that the title of pater patriae was conferred upon him. 51. Medos. See above, n. on 1. 22. The chief strength of the Parthians lay in their cavalry, who made frequent incursions (equitare) into Syria.

ODE III.

In this ode, Horace, having first charged the ship, in which his friend Virgil had embarked for Athens, to bear its precious freight in safety to the place of destination, dwells with a poet's kindled imagination upon the daring of those who first braved the perils of the sea, and thence passes to general illustrations of the presumptuous boldness of the human race.

We learn from Virgil's Life, written by Donatus, that that poet, in the year of Rome 735, went to Greece with the intention of remaining abroad three years, but that, on his arrival at Athens, meeting with Augustus, who was going back to Rome from the East, he determined to return with him; and that while on his way home he was taken ill, and finally died at Brundusium, on the 22d day of September.

1. Sie, etc. Sic, in forms of petition, implies some condition, and is-hac conditione, thus: if-on condition that-you do so or so, may this or that befall you. Here the condition is found in the last two lines of the passage, reddas—et serves, etc. The force of the construction will appear, in translation, by beginning with Navis-meae, and ending with Sic-Iapyga. Potens Cypri. Venus; see n. O. i., 30, 1.

-2. Fratres Helenae. Castor and Pollux, who were regarded as the

protectors of ships in tempests, and for their services thought to be translated to the stars. Hence their connection, in poetry, with the constellation of the Gemini. Comp. O. i., 12, 25; ib. iv., 8, 31. 3. Ventorum-pater. Aeolus. · -4. Praeter Iapyga. The Iapyx, the W.N.W. wind of the Greeks, the same as the Latin Favonius; a favorable wind to any one sailing from Italy to Greece. 6. Finibus. The caesura of the line manifestly connects this word with reddas. Dillenburger, however, contends that the poet puts the word purposely between the two verbs, that it may depend alike upon each. 13. Aquilonibus. See n. O. i., 1, 15. - -14. Tristes Hyadas. Seven stars, called Hyades, from w, to rain, because their setting was a presage of rainy weather; hence, too, the epithet tristes. The Mythology makes them the seven sisters of Hyas, who died of a broken heart from the loss of their brother, and were transferred to the heavens, and made weeping stars. 18. Siccis; i. e. free of tears, "undimmed;" expressing a want of emotion. Orelli compares Aeschylus, Sept. c. Theb. 698, ξηροῖς ἀκλαύστοις ὄμμασι.- -20. Acroceraunia. A high ridge of rocks, between Macedonia and Epirus. 22. Dissociabili. A view of the ocean, not merely poetic, but quite natural and necessary with the ancients, who had so limited means of navigation; but modern science has made the ocean, as Osborne on this passage well remarks, "the most available means of human intercourse.", -27. Iapeti genus. Prometheus, for the story of whom see Class. Dict.—33. Corripuit gradum. "A traditionary vestige of the longevity of the antediluvian period, and of the fact recorded in Scripture, that the duration of human life has been considerably shortened." Osborne.

ODE IV.

This ode is occasioned by the return of Spring, which awakes man and all nature to new life (1-8); which summons us to cheerful and joyous scenes (9-12); while yet we do well to remember that the whole life of man is at best one brief spring, soon to be closed by death (13-20).

1. Solvitur. Our word dissolve retains the meaning of solvere. Osborne happily quotes from Thomson's Spring:

"Forth fly the tepid airs, and unconfined,
Unbinding earth."

Winter, on the other hand, is called acer, stern, because it binds up the earth in its icy fetters.- - Favoni. See n. O. i., 3, 4. -2. Trahunt. In the spring, the ships which had been hauled up on shore for the

winter were drawn down (deducere is the regular word) upon rollers, here called machinae. Horace prefers the more special word trahere, drag down. -4. Canis-pruinis. The hoar-frost. Canus means gray. ish-white, in distinction from albus, simple white, and from candidus, shining white. 5. Cytherea. From the island Cythera. — 6. Decentes. Comely." Nuttall. 8. Vulcanus. In allusion to the coming thunder-storms of spring, the poet represents Vulcan as busy with his workmen, the Cyclopes, at the laborious forges. -9. Nitidum -flore. Horace here refers to festive occasions, at which the Romans were wont to dress their heads with garlands and costly perfumes. The myrtle was sacred to Venus; and besides, as an evergreen, was a favorite plant for chaplets.-See Becker's Gallus, Excursus ii. to Scere x.

-14. Regum. Horace is fond of the word reges in the sense of divites. Dillenburger refers to O. ii., 14, 11; ii., 18, 34; Sat. i., 2, 86; ii., 2, 45; and Epist. i., 10, 33; Ars. P. 434. -15. Longam. Means here distant; a hope that looks far into the future.- 16. Jam. Soon.. Fabulae. This is nom. plural, not gen. sing.;=fabulosi. Dillenburger aptly cites Persius, v., 152, cinis et Manes et fabula fies; and a similar expression of Horace, O. iv., 7, 16, pulvis et umbra sumus.-The word is thus used in the sense of unsubstantial, unreal; Osborne translates, visionary. It does not mean fabulous or fabled, though in this latter sense we have fabulosus in O. i., 22, 7; and O. iii., 4, 9. - -17. Exilis. Not empty, as Leverett has it, but needy; or, as Freund translates, joyless, a meaning which agrees well with what immediately follows. Exilis is thus used in Epist. i., 6, 45: Exilis domus est, ubi non et multa supersunt. 18. Regna vini. At the banquets, a president or master of the feast, magister convivii, in Greek σvμñoσlapxos, was chosen by a throw of the dice (talis).—See Becker's Gallus, p. 143, n. 3, and Dict. Antiqq. p. 939; and compare with this passage, O. ii., 7, 25.

ODE V.

The inconstant Pyrrha is compared with the changeful sea. Her new admirer, now so full of fond trust and joy, the poet sportively represents as hastening on to a sad shipwreck, from which he himself has just barely escaped.

Multa in rosa. The

1. Gracilis puer. "Slender youth." Milton. allusion here is not to a garland of roses, but a bed of roses, as is plainly shown by the word mulla. Literally, on many a rose, or, as Milton has it, on roses.-So Seneca, in Epist. xxxvi., 9, in rosa jacere.——— 2. Urget. "Courts." Milton.- -5. Simplex munditiis. "Plain in thy neatness;" as Milton has admirably translated these words.

-6. Fidem mutatos

que Deos, for mutatam fidem mutatosque deos. Deos, i. e. Venus and Cupid, who, though now so propitious, will soon abandon him, along with the good faith of his mistress. The most literal translation is here the best; "of faith and changed gods complain.”. 8. Emirabitur. This is the sole instance of the use of the word emirari. It is the strongest possible expression for wonder, to be amazed at,-as Dillenb. says, mirari ad mortem.-Dillenb. gives here the following list of awa λeyóμeva, occurring in Horace: irruptus, O. i., 13, 18; aesculetum, ib. 22, 14; allaborare, ib. 38, 5; tentator, O. iii., 4, 71; exsultim, ib. 11, 10; inaudax, ib. 20, 3; immetata, ib. 24, 12; Faustitas, O. iv., 5, 18; belluosus, ib. 14, 47; applorans, Epod. 11, 12; inemori, Epod. 5, 34; prodocere, Epist. i., 1, 55; emetere, ib. 6, 21; laeve, ib. 7, 52; insolabiliter, ib. 14, 8; depygis, Sat. i., 2, 93; vepallidus, ib. 129.- 9. Aurea. "All gold." Milton. 13. Tabula votiva. Sailors, on escape from shipwreck, were wont to hang up in the temple of Neptune, a tablet or picture, representing their peril and rescue, and also the garments they wore at the time. Horace alludes to this custom in Ars. P. 20.

ODE VI.

Written in honor of M. Vipsanius Agrippa. With exquisite tact, the poet sings in elaborate lyric strains the praises of Agrippa and Augustus, ranking them with the heroes of Homeric verse, while all the while he affects to decline the task, as one that is suited only to the dignity of the epic muse, and to the genius of a Varius.

1. Vario. L. Varius was an epic and tragic poet, and a friend of Horace, and also of Virgil, in connection with whom Horace frequently mentions him. See Sat. i., 6, 55, and Ars. P. 55. He also wrote a poem on the death of Caesar, and a panegyric of Augustus. With Plotius Tucca, he was directed by Augustus to revise the Aeneid, after the death of Virgil. With the exception of a few verses, his writings have perished. — -2. Maeonii carminis alite. Meaning an epic poet, as the word Maeonian or Lydian refers to Smyrna, one of the seven cities that contended for the honor of giving birth to Homer.-Alite is the reading of the MSS; a construction, of which there are a few other instances in Horace: Sat..ii., 1, 84; Epist. i., 1, 94. - -3. Quam rem cunque. Horace frequently separates in this manner the parts of a compound word. The construction is by attraction equivalent to scriberis— et scribetur omnis res, quam miles, etc.· 5. Agrippa. Agrippa, both in civil and military life, was one of the most distinguished men of his time. But the best and most enduring monuments of his fame are the public works and buildings which he constructed; among the former may be here mentioned three of the Roman Aqueducts, and the Julian

Harbor; and among the latter, the Pantheon, which he erected in his third consulship, and which still stands, to bear witness to his taste and public spirit.- -6-8. Pelidae stomachum, the subject of the Iliad; cursus duplicis Ulixei, that of the Odyssey. The poet means to profess himself unequal to an epic task. Saevam Pelopis domum illustrates tragic poetry, as the calamities and cruelties of the family of Pelops formed a fruitful and common theme for ancient tragedies. For instance, the murder of Agamemnon; the murder of the children of Thyestes by Atreus, referred to by Horace, Ars. P. 91, coena Thyestae; and others like these. -7. Ulixei; gen. of second declension. See Z. § 52, 4.-9. Grandia. Lofty themes; i. e. in general, those of epic and tragic poetry.-13. Tunica-adamantina; the Homeric xaλKоXiTWV. 15. Merionen. Meriones was the charioteer of Idomeneus, described in II. xiii., 528. — 16. Tydiden. The Homeric hero Diomed, who wounded Venus and Mars, as it is related in Iliad v., 335, and 858. 18. Sectis, etc. Join the words thus: virginum in juvenes acrium sectis (tamen) unguibus.-Orelli. In contrast with the martial names and scenes of the preceding stanza, the poet playfully mentions these bloodless, harmless frays, as the fit themes of lyric verse.-On the adverbial use of quid, see Z. ý 385. — 20. Non praeter solitum leves. "No more inconstant than is our wont."-Osborne.

ODE VII.

L. Munatius Plancus, who had abandoned Antony for Octavianus, had now incurre the suspicion and displeasure of the latter, and therefore deemed it prudent to retire fron Italy. Horace addresses to him this ode, to lighten his sadness, at the prospect of an exile from home and country.

Dillenburger divides the ode into three parts. In the first (1-10) the poet cheerfully concedes to others the honor of celebrating the charms of their favorite foreign cities; in the second (11-21), to dissuade Plancus from leaving Italy, he expresses his own prefer. ence for the banks of the Anio and the groves of Tibur as a far more charming retreat than any of the cities and islands of Greece; and finally (22 to end) exhorts his friend to a cheerful endurance of his ill-fortune, by setting before him the example of the exile Teucer.

1. Laudabunt. The future here seems to have a concessive force. May praise. Claram; renowned; for its commerce, as well as for the cultivation of philosophy and the liberal arts, and especially of eloquence; and no less celebrated for its delicious climate. Mitylenen. A city on the island of Lesbos, which Cicero thus describes: et natura et situ et descriptione aedificiorum et pulchritudine in primis nobilis; De Lege Agr. 2, 16. – -2. Bimaris; the Sinus Corinthiacus and Sinus Saronicus, the modern Gulf of Lepanto, and Gulf of Engia.· -7. Undi