CARMEN IX. AD MECENATEM. QUANDO repostum Cæcubum ad festas dapes, Victore lætus Cæsare, Tecum sub alta (sic Jovi gratum) domo, Beate Mæcenas, bibam, Sonante mistum tibns carmen lyra, Hac Dorium, illis Barbarum? Minatus urbi vinca, quæ detraxerat Romanus, (eheu! posteri negabitis) Fert vallum et arma, miles; et spadonibus Servire rugosis potest: NOTES. 5 10 Before the general battle of Actium, there were several small engagements both by sea and land, between some parties of both armies, in which the troops of Octavius had always the advantage. At last the two fleets sailed, and all the forces prepared for a decisive action. Cleopatra, alarmed by the danger, immediately fled, when Antony, meditating a secure retreat, and abandoning to his generals the glory and hazard of the battle, followed her. When this first success was known at Rome, anxiety was instantly changed into hope; fortune seemed to have declared for Octavius, and a detail of complete victory was every hour expected. Horace impatient to show his joy, wrote instantly to Mecenas, who was then at Actium with Octavius, and who commanded the Liburnian fleet in that action. 7. Neptunius dux.] Horace does not here speak of Antony, but of the younger Pompey, who, glorying that his father had been sovereign of the seas, would pass for the son of Neptune, and wore a robe of the colour of that element. 10. Servis amicus perfidis.] Pompey received all the slaves, who would enter into his service; and the desertion was so great throughout Italy, that the Vestals offered sacrifices and prayers to prevent the continuance of it. Z Sol aspicit conopeum. Ad hoc frementes verterunt bis mille equos Galli, Canentes Cæsarem; Hostiliumque navium portu latent Puppes sinistrorsum citæ. Io triumphe! tu moraris aureos Io triumphe! nec Jugurthino parem Thought hous Bello reportasti ducem; Neque Africano, cui super Carthaginem Virtus sepulchrum condidit. Terra marique victus hostis, Punico Aut ille centum nobilem Cretam urbibus Lugubre mutavit s Ventis iturus non suis, Exercitatas aut petit Syrtes Noto, Aut fertur incerto mari. Capaciores affer huc, puer, scyphos, Et Chia vina, aut Lesbia; Vel, quod fluentem nauseam coërceat, Curam, metumque Cæsaris rerum, juvat NOTES. 15 20 25 30 35 16. Conopeum.] This was a kind of tent or pavilion, which the ladies made use of in Egypt, to guard them from the gnats, with which that country is infested, by reason of the morasses made by the Nile. 20. Sinistrorsum cita.] That is, towards Egypt and Alexandria; for when one looks from the port of Actium towards the sea, Italy is upon the right, and Egypt upon the left hand. 21. Io triumphe.] Horace addresses his prayers to triumph as to a god. 34. Chia aut Lesbia.] From the islands of Chios and Lesbos, in the Egæan sea. CARMEN X. IN MEVIUM. MALA soluta navis exit alite out Ferens olentem latus, Ut horridis utrumque Auster, memento, fluctibus. Niger rudentes Eurus, inverso mari, Insurgat Aquilo, quantus altis montibus Nec sidus atrá nocte amicum appareat, Quietiore nec feratur æquore Quam Graia victorum manus; Cum Pallas usto vertit iram ab Ilio 10 O, quantus instat navitis sudor tuis, 15 tion Et illa non virilis ejulatio, Preces et aversum ad Jovem, Ionius udo cum remugiens sinus Opima quod si præda curvo litore NOTES. 20 Mævius appears to have been one of those persons, who are brought upon the stage of the world by nature, to be the sport of fame. The two greatest poets of the Augustan age have handed him down to posterity. His name has passed into a proverb, which joins, in one idea, a wretched versifier and a sloven. 14. In impiam Ajacis ratem.] This Ajax was the son of Oileus, king of the Locrians. He debauched Cassandra in the temple of Pallas, and thereby raised the anger of that goddess, not only against himself, but the whole Grecian fleet. 21. Opima prada.] We may conclude from this expression, that Mævius was very fat. CARMEN XI. omitted. CARMEN XII. omitted. CARMEN XIII. AD AMICOS. + HORRIDA tempestas cœlum contraxit; et imbres Et decet, obducta solvatur fronte senectus. Cætera orquato move consule pressa meo. Cætera mitte loqui. Deus hæc fortasse benigna Levare diris pectora solicitudinibus: NOTES. 5 10 1. Cælum contraxit.] When the clouds are collected, the sky seems contracted. When they disperse, it appears open and expanded. Such is the force of the verb contrahere. 2. Imbres nivesque deducunt Jovem.] In order rightly to understand this passage, we need only to call to mind that Jupiter is the same with the air, and that the ancients considered rain as nothing else but a certain modification of the air. 3. Threicio Aquilone sonant.] Horace calls the north-wind Thracian, because Thrace was regarded as the habitation of the winds, and because it came directly from Thrace, which was situated north of Rome. 6. Consule meo.] Horace was born under the consulship of L. Manlius Torquatus and L. Aurelius Cotta. The Romans marked their wine with the name of whoever was consul when it was put up. 7. Catera.] Every thing that does not encourage good humour, every thing that can disturb our pleasures. 8. Achæmenia.] Brought from Persia, of which Achæmenes was king. 9. Fide Cyllenia.] So called from Mercury, the inventor of it, who was born upon Cyllene, a mountain of Arcadia. Nobilis ut grandi cecinit Centaurus alumno: Illic omne malum, V dulcibus levato, Deformis ægrimontiæ dulcibus alloquiis. NOTES. سلا 15 11. Nobilis Centaurus.] Chiron was the tutor of Achilles, whom Homer calls the justest of the Centaurs. This reputation for justice was the reason that almost all the great princes of antiquity were committed to his care for their education, as Hercules, Jason, Æneas, &c. 13. Assaraci.] The son of Tros, and father of Capys, who reigned in Phrygia. 17. Illic omne malum vino.] Horace has taken this from the Iliad, where Achilles is represented solacing himself with wine, and singing the great actions of heroes on his harp. CARMEN XIV. omitted. CARMEN XV. omitted. ALTERA CARMEN XVI. AD POPULUM ROMANUM. ALTERA jam teritur bellis civilibus ætas: Suis et ipsa Roma viribus ruit. NOTES. Horace proposes to the Romans a desertion of their country, which the wrath of the gods seemed to have delivered up to be torn by intestine wars, and a retreat into the fortunate islands, where the gods promised them a life more peaceful and happy. 1. Bellis civilibus.] The civil wars between Marius and Sylla, which began in 666, were never completely extinguished until |