Obrazy na stronie
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6. Gallica nec lupatis] The best horses were bred in Cisalpine Gaul. Lupata (plur.) is used as a substantive by Virgil (Georg. iii. 208). It was the sharpest kind of bit, so called from the jagged teeth of the wolf, which it resembled. It was also called 'lupus.' The participle is not elsewhere used.

8. Tiberim tangere? Cur olivum] The Romans bathed often in the Tiber, before which, and before their exercises in the Campus Martius, they were wont to rub oil on their limbs. C. iii. 12. 6. S. i. 6. 123; ii. 1. 8.

10. armis] The discus (S. ii. 2. 13) and lance, the violent use of which strained and discolored the arms.

13. Quid latet,] Why is he hiding himself in your house?' as Achilles was hid in a woman's dress, in the palace of Lycomedes, in the island of Scyros, lest he should be carried to Troy; a legend which Homer knew nothing of. Thetis foresaw that the siege of Troy would be fatal to Achilles. In Övid (Met. xiii. 165, sqq.) Ulysses relates the story, and tells how he discovered Achilles and dragged him to the war.

16. Lycias-catervas?] The Lycians assisted the Trojans under the command of Sarpedon and Glaucus.

ODE IX.

THIS is a drinking song for the winter, imitated from an Ode of Alcæus. A party is supposed to be assembled in the city, and one calls upon the master of the feast to bring out his best wine, and make the fire burn bright, that they may banish care and all thought for the future, since youth is the time for innocent enjoyment.

ARGUMENT.

You see how Soracte stands out with snow, and the woods are bending with their burden, and the sharp frost hath frozen the streams. Heap logs on the fire, and draw your best Sabine wine, feast-master, and leave the rest to the gods, at whose bidding the fierce winds are still and the woods have rest. Ask not what is to come; enjoy the present day; let the dance be ours while we are young, the Campus Martius, the promenade, the nightly assignation, and the coy girl that loves to be caught.

1. stet] 'stands out.' This signifies a fixed and prominent appearance. 'Stant lumina flamma' (Aen. vi. 300) may be rendered in the same way. Soracte was one of the Faliscan range of hills, about 2200 feet high and twenty-four miles from Rome. It is now called Monte Tresto, a corruption from San Oreste.' It is seen very clearly from the northern point of the city. Apollo had a temple there: "Summe deum sancti custos Soractis Apollo," Aen. xi. 785.

4. constiterint] have ceased flowing.' See Ov. Tr. v. 10. 1 : "Ut sumus in Ponto ter frigore constitit Ister." 'Acuto,' as applied to cold, corresponds to the oέeia xiv of Pindar, and 'penetrabile frigus' of Virgil. But Horace also applies it to heat (Epp. i. 10. 17): “Cum semel accepit solem furibundus acutum." In English, we say a sharp frost,' but do not use the same word for heat.

7. Deprome quadrimum Sabina,—diota.] The first of these words means here to draw the wine from the 'diota' into the crater or bowl in which it was mixed with water. The diota (so called from its having two handles or ears, Ta) was the same as the 'amphora' (so called for the same reason), 'testa,' or 'cadus,' which were names for the vessels of earthen-ware or glass in which the wine was kept, as we keep it in bottles, after it was drawn from

the 'dolium,' the larger vessel in which it was put to ferment when new. The name of the wine is applied to the vessel containing it here, as in 'Graeca testa' (i. 20. 2); 'Laestrygonia amphora' (iii. 16. 34). Sabine wine was not among the best, nor was it of the worst sort. It was a sweet wine, and probably after four years' keeping was in its prime. Horace calls it elsewhere (C. i. 20. 1) “ vile Sabinum," but that was as compared with Mæcenas's more expensive sorts.

14. Fors] Chance.' Cic. (de Legg. ii. 11) distinguishes Fors' from 'Fortuna' thus: "Fortuna valet in omnes dies; Fors in quo incerti casus significantur magis." 'Fors' and 'Sors' differ as cause and effect. See S. i. 1. 1. Quem dierum cunque' is equivalent to 'quemcunque diem'; 'whatever day chance shall bestow.'

lucro Appone,] set it down to good luck.' Cic. Div. 9. 17: "de lucro prope jam quadriennium novimus," i. e. of good luck and contrary to expectation. Liv. (xi. 8) has the same expression: "De lucro vivere me scito." 'Lucrari' is said of things gained without our own effort, according to Forcellini's explanation.

17. virenti] Epod. 13. 4: "dumque virent genua." The Greeks used yovu x@póv. Virere' is also applied to old age, and we speak commonly of a 'green old age.' "Cruda ac viridis senectus," Tac. Agr. 29.

18. areae] Courts and open places about the temples and in different parts of the town, used as promenades and for games. Any place in a city not built upon,' is the jurists' definition of area.'

24. male pertinaci.] slyly obstinate,' or 'not obstinate,' that is, which does not resist the snatching of the ring; for 'male' may be taken in either sense. See below, C. 17. 25, n.

ODE X.

IN the following Ode, which is a translation or close adaptation of one written by Alcæus, the attributes and legends belonging to Hermes, the Greek divinity, are applied to Mercurius, the Latin, who was properly the god who presided over commerce. Ovid gives much the same account of Mercurius in the fifth book of the Fasti (663, sqq.). His description begins with the same apostrophe as this, ' Clare nepos Atlantis.'

ARGUMENT. — Mercury, thou who in their infancy didst tame the human race by the gifts of speech and the palæstra, of thee will I sing, thou messenger of the gods, thou master of the lyre and prince of thieves. Why, while Apollo was threatening thee for stealing his cows, he turned and laughed to find his quiver gone. By thee Priam passed through the Grecian camp. Thou conductest souls to their last home, thou favorite of the gods above and gods below!

1. nepos Atlantis,] Hermes was the son of Zeus and Maia the daughter of Atlas.

3. Voce formasti] Hermes was looked upon as the herald of the gods, and so as gifted above all others with eloquence; hence he was called λóyios. He was said to have invented the first written language.

decorae More palaestrae,] The practice (exercise) of the graceful palæstra,' so called as giving grace to the limbs. As the inventor and patron of gymnastic exercises, Hermes was called ȧyóvios.

6. lyrae parentem,] Hermes was said, when a child, to have taken the shell of a tortoise and put strings to it, and so to have invented the lyre.

7. Callidum quidquid] All arts of cunning were supposed to have originated with Hermes, who as the god of gain patronized thieving.

9. Te boves olim] Translate in the following order: Olim Apollo, dum Te puerum terret (terrebat) minaci Voce, nisi reddidisses boves per dolum amotas, Risit viduus (spoliatus) pharetra.' Hermès is also said to have stolen when a child some cows of Apollo's. After some time, that god discovered the thief, and when threatening to punish him if he did not restore them, he turned and found his bow and arrows gone; and Horace says he smiled at the expertness of the theft. This story is said to have been first told by Alcæus. Ovid, in the place above mentioned, relates it.

14. Ilio dives Priamus] Horace uses the forms Ilios (feminine) and Ilion (neuter). The story of Priam going through the Grecian camp to beg the body of his son Hector of Achilles, is told by Homer in the 24th book of the Iliad (334, sqq.);

15. Thessalos ignes] The watch-fires of the troops of Achilles.

17. Tu pias laetis] As the conductor of the dead, Hermes was called ψυχοπομπός, and as the bearer of a golden wand, he was named χρυσόῤῥαπις. This wand the Greeks called kηpvкeîov, the Latins 'caduceus.' 20. imis.] That is, Pluto and Proserpine.

ODE XI.

THE swarms of impostors from the East, who pretended to tell fortunes and cast nativities at Rome in the time of the empire, became a public nuisance, and they were expelled and laws passed against them, but without the effect of putting them down. Tacitus (Hist. i. 22) describes them as "Genus hominum infidum, sperantibus fallax, quod in civitate nostra et vetabitur semper et retinebitur." They were becoming numerous in Cicero's time. As might be supposed, they were most successful in engaging the attention of women (Juv. vi. 569, sqq.), and Horace here addresses himself to one of that sex, whom he calls Leuconoë, a name which appears to be equivalent to 'folly.'

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ARGUMENT. Look not into the book of fate, Leuconoë, nor consult the astrologers. How much better to be satisfied, whether we have yet many winters to see, or this be the last! Be wise, strain the wine, think of the shortness of life, and cut your expectations short. Even while we speak, time flies. Live to-day; trust not to-morrow.

1. scire nefas,] 'Nefas' means that which is not permitted by the gods. It does not always signify what is wrong, but sometimes what is impossible for the above reason.

2. Babylonios numeros.] 'The calculations of the Chaldeans.'

6. vina liques,]' strain the wine.' See S. ii. 4. 51, n.

spatio brevi] This means 'cut down distant hopes, and confine them within a narrow compass.'

8. Carpe diem]

Seize the (present) day.'

ODE XII.

THE object of this Ode is to celebrate the popular divinities and heroes of Rome; but the design is so worked out as to draw the chief attention to

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Augustus. The Muse is asked whom she will praise, Jove and his children, or some one of the worthies of Rome, of whom many are mentioned, beginning with Romulus and ending with Augustus, of whom it is declared that he is under the especial care of Jove, and that he holds from him the sceptre of the world: These persons are mentioned without reference to chronological order, and it does not appear why some were chosen rather than others of more or equal note who are omitted.

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ARGUMENT. - Whom wilt thou sing among gods or men, Clio ? Whose name shall the echoes of Pindus or Helicon repeat, or of Hamus, whose woods followed the sweet music of Orpheus? Whom, before the Almighty Father, who knows no equal or second? After him cometh Pallas, and then brave Liber, and the huntress Diana, and Phoebus the archer, and Hercules, and Leda's sons, the horseman and the fighter, before whose star the tempests fly. Then shall it be Romulus, or the peaceful Numa, or proud Tarquin, or Cato, who nobly died? Regulus, and the Scauri, and Paulus, who gave up his great soul to the Carthaginan, gratefully I will sing, and Fabricius and Curius and Camillus, all trained for war in poverty's school. The fame of Marcellus is growing up insensibly, like a tree, and the star of Julius is brighter than all stars. To thee, great Father, is given the care of Cæsar; share with him thy kingdom. Putting Parthians to flight, and subduing the nations of the East, he shall rule the world, as thy vicegerent, with a righteous sway, while thou dost shake Olympus, and hurlest thy bolts on the haunts of impiety.

1. Quem virum] This opening is taken from the beginning of the second Olympic Ode of Pindar :

ἀναξιφόρμιγγες ὕμνοι

τίνα θεόν, τίν ἥρωα, τίνα δ ̓ ἄνδρα κελαδήσομεν ;

2. sumis celebrare,] See C. i. 1. 8, n. Horace invokes the Muses without much discrimination; but Clio is not improperly invoked here, as the Muse of history, to which the names of the worthies recounted belong. Calliope, the Epic Muse, is invoked C. iii. 4. 2; Melpomene, the tragic, is asked for a dirge, i. 24. 3, and is invoked by Horace as his patroness in iv. 3; Euterpe and Polymnia, the proper lyric Muses, occur i. 1. 33. 'Imago' is used absolutely for the echo (for which the Romans had no corresponding term) by Cicero, Tusc. iii. 2: "ea (laus bonorum) virtuti resonat tanquam imago." Virgil gives the full expression, Georg. iv. 50: “ Vocisque offensa resultat imago.' See C. i. 20. 8. Our verse-writers are fond of Horace's epithet, sportive echo.'

5. Heliconis oris] Helico was a range of mountains in Boeotia, and Pindus between Thessaly and Epirus. Both were celebrated as the abodes of the Muses. Hamus was a range on the north of Thrace, and Orpheus was a Thracian. See A. P. 391, 405, n.

9. Arte materna] Orpheus was the son of the Muse Calliope.
15, 16. Qui mare ac terras] Virgil addresses Jove in the same way:
"O qui res hominumque deumque

Aen. i. 230.

Aeternis regis imperiis et fulmine terres.' variisque mundum-horis] 'Mundum' here signifies the sky,' as in Georg. i. 240, and 'horis' has its Greek signification, seasons.'

17. Unde nil majus] 'Unde' occurs several times in Horace as referring to persons. See, among other places, Cicero de Senect. 4, fin., "fore unde discerem neminem."

19. Proximos] This, signifying the next in order without reference to distance, does not contradict what goes before. 'Secundum ' means close proximity. Pallas is said to hold the next place to Jupiter, not

absolutely, but among those 'qui generantur ipso,' and only these are mentioned.

21. Proeliis audax] Horace confounds the Latin divinity Liber with the Greek Dionysus or Bacchus, whose Indian wars and contests with the giants (ii. 19. 21) are here alluded to.

26. Hunc equis, -] S. ii. 1. 26. 29. Defluit saxis agitatus humor,]

The waters that in their fury covered

the rocks flow back to their bed. See C. i. 3. 2, n.

33. Romulum post hos, etc.] The order is, 'dubito utrum prius post hos memorem Romulum, an quietum Pompili regnum,' etc.

34. superbos Tarquini fasces] Tarquinius Priscus is probably referred to, and 'superbos' must in that case be taken in a good sense.

35. Catonis] M. Cato, surnamed Uticensis from the fortress of Utica in Africa, where he died. He put himself to death, rather than fall into the hands of Julius Cæsar, B. C. 46.

37. Scauros] The plural is used for the singular (see S. i. 7. 8, n.), and M. Æmilius Scaurus is meant, who was consul B. c. 115. The story of M. Atilius Regulus, who as consul commanded the Roman army in the first Punic war, and was taken by the Carthaginians, is told in C. iii. 5. L. Æmilius Paullus commanded with Varro, his colleague in the consulship, at the battle of Cannæ, when the Romans were defeated by Hannibal, and Paullus lost his life by refusing to fly when he might have done so. C. Fabricius Luscinus was consul, and commanded in the war with Pyrrhus, B. C. 278, three years after which M. Curius Dentatus was consul and commander in the same war. Both of these consuls were celebrated for the simplicity of their habits, and for rejecting the bribes of the Samnites, in respect to which a notable saying of Curius is related by Cicero (De Senect. c. 16). The older Romans wore their hair and beards long. These heroes are represented as negligent of their appearance. L. Furius Camillus is he who was said to have forced the Gauls to raise the siege of the Capitol,

B. C. 390.

43, 44 Saeva paupertas] Saevus' does not necessarily bear a bad sense, nor is it so used in C. iii. 16 16. Apto cum lare' means 'with a suitable house,' a house of a size proportionate to the small ancestral farm. 45. occulto-aero] By an imperceptible growth,' as Ovid, Met. x. 519: "Labitur occulte fallitque volatilas aetas.” Marcellus was he who took Syracuse in the second Punic war, B. C. 212, and his name stands for all his descendants, and particularly the young Marcellus, who married Julia, the daughter of Augustus, B. C. 25, and died in less than two years after. This allusion makes it probable he was alive when the Ode was written. The star of Julius Cæsar, and the lesser lights of that family, are meant by what follows. By 'Julium sidus' is meant Cæsar himself, at whose death a comet is reported to have appeared, which was supposed to be his spirit translated to the skies. (See Ovid, Met. xv. sub fin.)

53. Ille, seu Parthos] See C. 2. 21, n. The Romans had hopes that Augustus would conquer the Parthians, and redeem the disgrace they had suffered from them, and this is written in anticipation of that event. 'Justo triumpho' is a complete triumph. (See Cic. de Am. c. 20; ad Fam. xv. 6, with Long's notes.)

56. Seras et Indos,] See notes on C. iii. 29. 27 ; iv. 15. 23.

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