30. Mileti. The woollens of Miletus, in Ionia, were in high repute, Comp. Virg. Georg. 3, 306. -32. Refer. The story was, that Aristippus wore home from the bath the coarse cloak of Diogenes, leaving his own in its place, and that the Cynic preferred to freeze with cold rather than appear in public in a purple robe. 33. Res gerere; i. e. res magnas in bellis. -35. Placuisse. See n. above on 1. 5. 36. Non. cuivis, etc. An old proverb from the Greek, used for any difficult enterprise, which originally expressed the difficulties and expense attending a voyage to Corinth. The commentators refer to Strabo, viii., 6. 20.39. Hic; refers to fecit viriliter. On this,-namely, a course of manly action, what we are now discussing entirely depends. -—————41. Virtus; means here manly excellence. -42. Experiens. Enterprising. - 45. Hoc; i. e. to gain some substantial advantage. 50. Haberet plus dapis. He would not, by his greedy noise, have gathered others about him.. 52. Ductus; i. e. by a patron. 55. Refert. Acts over again.

57. Veris. Like the fable of the boy, who cheated the people by crying Wolf! when no wolf was near, and at last, when the cry was a real one, was the victim of his own trick.

EPISTLE XVIII.

This Epistle is addressed to the same Lollius, to whom Horace inscribed the First Epistle of this Book. See the Introduction to that Epistle.

The piece is a brief but comprehensive manual of rules and maxims on the art of living with the great.

Complimenting Lollius upon his free and independent spirit (1-4), the poet mentions certain things to be avoided, viz., rudeness (5-9), gross flattery (10-14), a fondness for controversy (15-20), and vices of character, such as licentiousness, gaming, ostentation, avarice (21-36). He then warns him, neither curiously to pry into secrets, nor divulge them when intrusted to him (37-38), not to fail in adapting himself to the cherished tastes and pursuits of his patron (39-67); not to speak of others incautiously (68-71); not to be imprudent in recommending or defending people (76-85). He exhorts him, finally, to the study of the character of his patron (86-95), and of philosophy, which alone can guide him in discerning and holding to what is truly good (96-103), and closes the Epistle by enumerating, in the form of a prayer, his own most cherished thoughts and wishes.

10.

4. Discolor. Unlike; not merely in the color of her dress, but in her whole appearance. · -4. Seurrae. Dative case. See A. & S. ( 224, Rem. 3.7. Tonsa; means here close-cut, which was a mark of rude manners. Such a style was called caput ad cutem tondere. Dillenb. Iml-lecti. See n. Sat. ii., 8, 20. - - 14. Partes-secundas. Comp. Sat. i., 9, 46. 15. Lana-caprina. Proverbial for a thing of no consequence. 16. Scilicet, etc. The language of such a self-confident disputant. The expressions ut non, etc., are elliptical; e. g. To think

that, &c.—or, Is it possible that? Thus: Is it possible, forsooth, that the chief reliance is not to be put in me, &c.?-18. Pretium, etc. Still the words of such a vain talker. Literally, another life, as the price, is of no value; i. e. the price of not boldly uttering my sentiments; even such recompense were worthless for the loss of independence.― 19. Castor-Dolichos. The names of gladiators. — 20. Brundusium, etc. The connection of the Appian Way with Brundusium is sufficiently explained in Introd. to Sat. i., 5. The Minucian, built by Tiberius Minucius Augurinus, lay, on the route from Rome, to the left of the Appian, and went through the hilly country of the Marsians and the Samnites. 25. Decem. Indefinite for many. "Ten times as bad" (Keightley) as is such a rich patron, he will tolerate no such vices in an humble friend. - ·31. Eutrapelus; évτpáñeλos, from τpéxw, versatilis, facetus, a name given to P. Volumnius, a Roman knight, on account of his wit and versatility. -32. Dabat. Customary action. Was wont to give. -Beatis enim, etc. So reasoned Eutrapelus. By such means he could in the end easiest ruin any one. 38. Tortus. See n. O. iii., 21, 13. -41. Amphionis. See n. O. iii., 11, 2. His brother Lethus was described by the poets as a simple shepherd; hence in 1. 42, the epithet severo; and hence their disagreement growing out of a want of sympathy. The particular point of illustration here is in 1. 43, in Amphion's accommodating himself to the prejudices of his brother. 46. Aetolis. Aetolia was the country of the hunter Meleager, and the scene of the famous Calydonian hunt. See Class. Dict. -52. Speciosius; i. e. than yourself. He turns aside for a moment to dwell upon the accomplishments and military services of Lollius. 53. Coronae. Of the ring. Comp. A. P. 381.- -54. Campestria. Of the Campus Martius. See n. O. i., 8, 4.- -55. Cantabrica. With the Cantabri. See Introd. to O. ii., 6. 56. Parthorum. See n. O. iii., 5, 6. - -57. Abest. Is distant. The sense is, that the fate even of the most distant people is settled by Roman arms.

-61. Partitur, etc. Illustrative of nugaris in preceding line. He bids him sometimes get up a sham sea-fight. Let the scene be the battle of Actium, you being Augustus and your brother being Antony, your fish-pond be (lacus) the Hadriatic, boats your war-galleys, and the youth of the neighborhood the soldiers. The Romans were fond of such mock sea-fights. -66. Pollice. See n. Epist. i., 1, 6.- -71. Semel emissum. In reference to publication, Horace has a similar expression in A. P. 390. — 80. Ut penitus notum-serves. In order that you may save one who is thoroughly known; i. e. by leaving one to his fate, who has turned out ill, you will have the more power to protect those who are accused unjustly. Some Edd. make ut sicut or quemadmodum; but ut in that sense would require a future, and could not be followed by the subjunctive. 82. Theonino. Of Theon; some person of bad

eminence as a slanderer.

=

-87. Tu dam, etc. This metaphorical precept, borrowed from the sea, belongs to what immediately precedes, viz. dulcis-metuit. Experience will teach one to beware lest he lose the hard-earned favor of his patron.- -90. Potores, etc. The words bibuli-Oderunt are wanting in some MSS. But the words and the construction are illustrated by the passage in Epist. i., 14, 34, bibulumFalerni. Bibuli is equivalent to avidi; de media nocte "per mediae noctis tempus;" Hand. Turs. vol. ii., p. 205 (cited by Orelli). Vapores. Just as we, too, speak of the heating effect of wine; fumes. 99. Rerum mediocriter utiliam. The àdiapopa of the Stoics, which Cicero, de Fin. iii., 16, calls indifferentia; such as honors, property, and the like." Dillenb. -103. Fallentis. Used as fefellit in Epist. i., 17, 10. A vita fallens is a retired, unobtrusive life.—So Juvenal, Sat. x., 364:

"Semita certe

Tranquillae per virtutem patet unica vitae."

93.

104. Digentia. The cool mountain stream which flowed through the valley, in which lay the poet's farm. See n. Epist. i., 16, 5.105. Mandela. This place, now called Bardella, stood on a height, just at the entrance, from the south, of the valley of the Digentia. -10%. Mihi; for myself; i. e. in my own way, untrammelled and independent. 109. Bona librorum. With this wish, so characteristic of a scholar, or the companionship of books, compare the poet's words in Sat. ii., 6, 60. 109. In annum; for a year; just enough to make me secure against a single bad season. -111. Sed, etc. The poet thus limits the wish expressed in the preceding line, reminding himself that it is only outward blessings that he need ask for, and that an even mind he can secure by moderation and self-culture.

EPISTLE XIX.

In this, one of the most finished of these Epistles, Horace ridicules those petty poets of his time, who were at once his envious critics and his servile imitators. He describes with infinite humor the absurd follies to which they were ever liable, through their stupid and servile imitation (1-20); and shows, in contrast, the freedom and independence which he has himself maintained, while following in the footsteps of Grecian poets (21-34). Finally, he reveals the real cause for his being decried in public by those who secretly admire his poetry, viz. his own indifference to the applause of the whole tribe of small poets and critics, and his contempt of the low arts by which such applause is won (35-49).

1. Prisco-Cratino; i. e. Cratinus, one of the poets of the prisca comoedia, or Old Comedy, of the Greeks. See n. Sat. i., 4, 1. — 3. Potoribus.

This may be the abl. ; see note, O. i., 6, 2. But it would be in accordance with a wider usage, to consider it the dative, for the abl. with a or ab. — Ut ; = = ex quo, from the time that, ever since; i. e. from the earliest origin of poetry. See n. O. iv., 4, 42. Male sanos; = vesanos, mad; because under the influence of the frenzy of poetic inspiration. See n. O. iii., 4, 4; and comp. the passage in Ars. P. 295, seqq. 4. Satyris Faunis; i. e. admitted to his train as his constant companions, just as a consul would enroll soldiers in his army. Adscribere is a military word. 6. Laudibus. In his epithets for wine, e. g. vývwp, čuppwv, μexioρwv, and many others, expressive of its gladdening influence. 7. Pater. So called from his antiquity, being, as it were, the father of Latin poetry. See n. O. iv., 8, 23. -8. Puteal Libonis. See n. Sat. i., 6, 35.- 10. Hoe simul edixi, etc. No sooner have I, as a poetical praetor, uttered this edict, i. e. advanced such sentiments as these, than forthwith all turn to hard drinking, as if it were really essential to a genuine poet. Comp. the sentiment in the passage above quoted, Ars. P. 295. seqq.-13. Textore. A free construction, as it is a kind of abl. of the instrument, although it is a person; by the help of the weaver of, &c. It may be, as Dillenburger suggests, with something of humor, that it is said: e. g. and thanks to the weaver of his short toga, or, as we might say, thanks to his tailor. -14. Virtutemne, etc. An admirable illustration of the blind imitation the poet had just been censuring. Just as if such a coarse fellow resembled Cato in character, by merely aping his external peculiarities! It is Cato Minor or Ulicensis, whose noble severity of manners and character the poet here alludes to. 15. Rupit, etc. Timagenes was a celebrated Alexandrian rhetorician who was brought to Rome as a slave, and patronized in his profession by Augustus, and afterwards by Asinius Pollio. Iarbita was some obscure Mauretanian (so named from Iarbas, the king of Mauretania), who vainly strove to emulate the fame of Timagenes. Many explain rupit by the story that he came to a violent end by overstraining in his declamation. But I prefer to take it as a figurative word, expressing the utter failure of his miserable imitation. Cicero has a parallel expression in Ad. Famil. vii., 1, 14: Dirupi paene me in judicio Galli. 18. Cuminum. So Pliny, Hist. Nat. xx., 14: omne cuminum pallorem bibentibus gignit. -21. Libera, etc. For the turn of the poet's thought, see Introd. Per vacuum. On a vacant walk; i. e. of Roman literature, viz., Lyric poetry. It was a literary path hitherto untrodden by Roman poets. 23. Examen. The metaphor is taken from the swarming of bees. 23. Parios. Archilochus was a native of Paros. 25. Agentia ;= agitantia or persequentia; that drove Lycambes, i. e. to hang himself. See n. Epod. vi., 13. The poet contends that he imitated only in the form of his poems, in the metres he used. —- 28. Mascula Sappho. "The masculine genius of Sappho." Osborne. Horace

-

pleads in his own defence, the example of Alcaeus and Sappho. They too used the measures of Archilochus, without detriment to their originality. 30. Socerum. Still alluding to Lycambes, as one of the subjects of Archilochus. and the Introd. to that Ode. 33. Ingenuis. Comp. the passage in Sat. i., 10, 81-87. 37. Plebis. The rabble of small poets and critics, whom he calls ventosae, because they were fickle as the wind. Impensis coenarum. Comp. the passage in A. P. 419 seqq. Nobilium. Ironical, as in Sat. ii., 3, 243; Ars. P. 259. - - Ultor. said in irony. One who listened to the public readings of poems, and then paid back in kind, by reading his own, was said ulcisci, to be ultor. So Juvenal, in the first line of Sat. i.:

32. Latinus Fidicen. Comp. O. iv., 3, 23;

"Semper ego auditor tantum? nunquamne reponam?"

-38.

-39.

Also

40. Tribus. The cliques or sets, the quasi tribus of the literary critics. Horace has in view the whole system of means and appliances, by which fame was gotten up, and, as it were, vended in the small literary circles of the metropolis. -Pulpita; the stage or cathedra, in the halls, where rhetoricians lectured, and poets and other writers read their works. -41. Hine illae lacrimae. An expression from the Andria of Terence (i., 1, 99) which had passed into a proverb. The poet means: hence those tears of vexation and anger over me and my poetry; this is the secret of all this enmity. 43. Jovis; i. e. Augusti. Comp. Sat. ii., 6, 52. -45. Naribus uti. Like the expression in Sat. i., 6, 6, on which see note. 47. Iste locus; e. the place where you wish me to read my poems. The poet means to intimate, that he is glad to excuse himself on any pretence from all intercourse with such people.— Diludia. A respite of time. The word is used properly of the interval of five days, granted to the gladiators, between the times of their appearance in the arena.

EPISTLE XX

In this delightful little piece, Horace takes leave of the First Book of his Epistles which he pleasantly describes as all too hasty to get forth into the world. He predicts the varied humble fates which await it, and then intrusts it with a description, for its well-disposed readers, of the person and character of its author.

1. Vertumnum Janumque. Vertumnus, the god of changes (see n. Sat. ii., 7, 14), was associated with buying and selling. There was an image of the god set up in the Vicus Tuscus (see n. Sat. ii., 3, 228); near by were the Jani. See n. Epist. i., 1, 54. The two words, then, denote