C. i. 6. This metre consists of three Asclepiadean verses, such as C. 1, and a Glyconean, as in C. 3. In C. i. 15. 24 and 36 a trochee occurs in the first foot (see note). The other Odes are i. 24, 33; ii. 12; iii. 10, 16; iv. 5, 12. C. i. 7. This measure takes its name from Alcman, the lyric poet of Sparta. It consists of two verses, of which the first is a complete hexameter, and the second is made up of the four last feet of an hexameter. To this belong C. i. 28, and Epod. xii. C. i. 8. There is no other Ode in this metre, which also consists of two verses. The first consists of a dactyl and two trochees, or a trochee and spondee, CICI! This takes its name from Aristophanes. The second is a verse, of which the first half consists of two trochees and a dactyl, with a long syllable added, and the second half is the first reversed, thus: Horace always has a spondee in the second place. C. i. 9. This is the ordinary Alcaic metre, in which each stanza consists of four verses. The first two are divided thus: though Horace usually substitutes a spondee for the second trochee, the only exception being iii. 5. 17. The caesura usually falls after the fifth syllable, to which rule exceptions will be found in C. i. 16. 21, 37; 5, 14; ii. 17. 21; iv. 14. 17. This caesura the Greeks did not observe. The first syllable of the verse is more commonly long than short. It is usual to look upon the first part of the verse as iambic, and to divide it thus: But I have no doubt it is trochaic. The third verse is also trochaic, consisting of a syllable (usually long) followed by four trochees, a spondee being substituted by Horace for the second trochee. The fourth verse consists of two dactyls and two trochees. C. i. 11. This is an Asclepiadean metre, rather peculiar. The division to which we are guided by the ear seems to separate each verse into three parts, as follows: This classes it with the ἀσυνάρτητοι. Those who resort to the division by choriambi destroy the natural rhythm. To this belong i. 18; iv. 10. C. ii. 18. -This Ode stands alone. The metre has its name from Hipponax of Ephesus. The first verse consists of three trochees, followed by a single syllable, long or short: The second of five trochees preceded by such a syllable: C. iii. 12. This Ode is also unlike any other. It is usual to divide it into feet called Ionic Minor ( _ _ ), of which the two first verses contain four each, and the third contains two. Respecting this metre, see Bentley's note. It would seem that Horace, imitating the subject of an Ode of Alcaeus (see Introduction), tried the metre also. The Greek, as usual, has a much finer effect than the imitation. C. iv. 7. This metre takes its name from Archilochus, and consists of an hexameter verse, followed by a verse which is the latter half of a pentameter. There are no other Odes in this measure. Epod. i.-x.- The first ten Epodes are in the same metre, consisting of alternate trimeter and dimeter iambic verses. They admit spondees only in the uneven places. An anapaest is once introduced in ii. 35. Epod. xi. This is one of the variations of the iambic introduced by Archilochus. The first verse is a trimeter iambic. The second is ἀσυνάρτητος, consisting of the last half of a pentameter followed by a dimeter iambic. This accounts for the short syllable in the middle of vv. 6, 10, 26, and the hiatus in vv. 14, 24. Bentley has a note on this metre which may be consulted. Epod. xiii. This metre consists of an hexameter verse, with one made up, as Epod. xi., of a dimeter iambic and half a pentameter, the difference being that these parts are here reversed. Epod. xiv., xv. -These are composed of an hexameter followed by a dimeter iambic. Epod. xvi. This consists of an hexameter verse, followed by a pure iambic verse. Epod. xvii. This consists entirely of trimeter iambic verses, being the only Ode that does so. The rule laid down by Meineke, and adopted by many editors, which affirms that the Odes which consist of single lines, or lines in alternate measure, are to be divided into stanzas of four verses, appears to me too doubtful to be adopted. WHETHER this ode is an introduction to one book or three is a question that has been discussed and must be matter of opinion. I think it probable that the three first books were published together, with this as a preface; and if the chronological arrangement I have adopted (see Introduction) be correct it was written A.U.C. 730; but there is no internal evidence to lead to that conclusion. Bentley was of opinion that each book was produced separately. It is a graceful dedication to Maecenas of a work, the composition of which had occupied and amused the poet at intervals for some years. It was probably at his patron's instigation that he arranged his fugitive pieces and put them forth in this collected form. There is a mixture of real affection with the usual dedicatory flattery in this ode, the leading idea of which, as in most cases, Horace probably borrowed from the Greek. There is a fragment of Pindar (201 Bergk), preserved in Sextus Empiricus, which with others Horace may have had in mind, and it will account for the somewhat incongruous allusion to the Olympic games in the beginning of this ode. It is the only way of explaining the allusion to an almost obsolete practice, to bear in mind that this was the chief theme of Pindar's poetry. The fragment runs thus: ἀελλοπόδων μέν τιν' εὐφραίνουσιν ἵππων τίμια καὶ στέφανοι· τοὺς δ ̓ ἐν πολυχρύσοις θαλάμοις βιοτά· A fragment of Archilochus (33 Bergk), from Clemens Alexandrinus, runs : But the sentiment is common enough, and with the exception of the first illustration caeca," &c. ARGUMENT. Maecenas, my protector, my pride, in whom I delight, various are the aims of men. The Greek seeks glory from the race; the lords of the world are supremely happy, one in the honours of the state, the other in his well-filled barns. The farmer will not B plough the seas; the merchant is restless on land. One man loves his ease and his wine; another the camp and the din of war; while the huntsman braves all weathers for his sport. My glory is in the ivy crown, my delight to retire to the groves with the nymphs and the satyrs, where my muse breathes the flute or strikes the lyre. Placed by thee among the lyric choir I shall lift my head to the skies. MAECENAS atavis edite regibus O et praesidium et dulce decus meum, Terrarum dominos evehit ad Deos, 1. atavis] A noun substantive, signifying properly an ancestor in the fifth degree, thus: pater,' 'avus,' 'proavus,' 'abavus,' 'atavus;' compounded of 'ad' and 'avus,' and corresponding to 'adnepos' in the descending scale. Maecenas belonged to the family of Cilnii, formerly Lucumones or princes of Etruria, who up to a late period possessed influence in the Etrurian town of Arretium, whence they were expelled by their own citizens B.с. 300. See Liv. x. 3. Compare Propert. iii. 9. 1: "Maecenas, eques Etrusco de sanguine regum." Martial, xii. 4. 2: "Maecenas atavis regibus ortus eques." See also C. iii. 29. 1. S. i. 6. 1, sqq. Virgil (G. ii. 40) addresses Maecenas in the same affectionate terms: "O decus, o famae merito pars maxima nostrae, Maecenas;" and Propertius, ii. 1. 73: "Maecenas nostrae pars invidiosa juventae, Et vitae et morti gloria justa meae." 5 commentators are divided on the subject. I see no way of deciding the controversy, since either sense will suit the passage, and both were in common use (see Forcell.). Because the Olympic games had not yet ceased to be celebrated after a fashion, Orelli thinks Horace may be writing from his own recollection, having been a spectator. But he is more likely, as suggested above, to have had Pindar in his mind than his own recollection of the faded horse-races. 4. Collegisse] Young verse-writers are sometimes misled in their use of the perfect for the present tense. It can only be so used to express a complete action, or an action frequently repeated, not a continuing course of action; according to the force of the Greek aorist. The best illustration of what follows is in the Iliad (xxiii. 338, sqq.), where Nestor thus instructs his son Antilochus: ἐν νύσσῃ δέ τοι ἵππος ἀριστερὸς ἔγ ὡς ἄν τοι πλήμνη γε δοάσσεται ἄκρον ἱκέσθαι κύκλου ποιητοῖο λίθου δ ̓ ἀλέασθαι ἐπαυ- See also Ov. Am. iii. 2. 11: 3. Sunt quos] ἔστιν οὕς, which Greek construction has been more closely followed by Propertius, iii. 9. 17: "Est quibus Eleae concurrit palma quadrigae." The indicative is used with 'sunt,' or 'est qui,' when particular persons are alluded to, as here the Greeks in opposition to the Romans. So Epp. ii. 2. 182: "Argentum-sunt qui non Nunc stringam metas interiore rota." habeant, est qui non curat habere," where 6. Terrarum dominos] I understand this by the latter is distinctly indicated the wise to signify the Romans, with a tinge of This distinction may be observed, irony. Mart. xiv. 124, calls them "Romanos more or less evidently, in every passage of rerum dominos," as Virgil had done before Horace, where the words occur (see Index, (Aen. i. 282). Plutarch also (Tib. Grac. ix.) 'qui'), unless 'est qui' below (v. 19) be makes Gracchus say of the Roman Plebs, an exception. It is not impossible, that ὑπὲρ ἀλλοτρίας τρυφῆς καὶ πλούτου πολεthere he may mean an allusion to some μοῦσι καὶ ἀποθνήσκουσι, κύριοι τῆς οἰκουparticular person in a good-humoured way. μένης εἶναι λεγόμενοι, μίαν δὲ βῶλον ἰδίαν 3. curriculo] This may mean either οὐκ ἔχοντες. Martial (viii. 2) calls Domithe chariot (formed from 'curro,' as 'vehi- tian culum' from 'veho') or the course, and the man. "Terrarum domino deoque rerum," Hunc si mobilium turba Quiritium and Rome herself (xii. 8. 1): "Terrarum dea gentiumque." The punctuation and construction of this passage have been a subject of much discussion. After much consideration I have adopted the solution of the difficulty first suggested, I believe, by Rutgersius, and have put a full stop after 'nobilis.' Graevius took the same view. For his strictures therefore upon this reading Bentley has an account to settle with his friend, whose opinion he probably did not know, for he does not mention him. His objections are that 'palma' cannot be separated from 'evehit' with out violence to the construction, which is only begging the question; and that "palmaque nobilis," standing by itself, is "jejunum, et aridum, et omni venere spoliatum," which is a matter of taste likely to be prejudiced by the habit of joining the two verses, with which the ear of most readers is familiar. His third objection is that 'evehit' cannot be used impersonally, which I deny; it may be so used just as well as in our own language we may say: "It exalts a man to the gods-one if his ambition is gratified, another if his avarice." Bentley's last objection is the worst of all: "How can a man be said to be exalted to Heaven by having his barns full? I was not aware the road was so easy." If Bentley had written his notes in English, the greater part of them would only have raised a smile. This argument is a fair specimen of his criticism. He settles the question by changing 'evehit' into 'evehere,' which he makes dependent on 'nobilis;' whereby he thinks to get rid of the difficulty of making 'hune' and 'illum' to depend on 'juvat.' But even with this unauthorized correction (which Orelli describes sufficiently when he says "nemo recepit"), that construction is very harsh, as any body will see who tries to construe the passage upon this hypothesis. But it is the one generally received now, though 'evehit' is retained. Mr. Tate strongly urges the construction of 'hunc' and 'illum' with 'dimoveas,' which he says is as old at least as Glareanus (a contemporary of Fabricius and the Stephens), but which, in fact, was the construction adopted by Acron and Cruquius' Scholiast, who calls it "zeugma ab inferiori." But it is a sufficient answer to this, that there could be no reason why the man who Terrarum dominos quam colis ipse Deos." Others apply these words to the competitors, because they were usually kings or nobles: others render 'exalts them to the gods as lords of the world,' i. e. 'as if they were.' I believe I have stated all the opinions of any weight upon this passage. The reader will judge whether the reading I have followed does not give the simplest solution of the difficulty. Bentley is very ably refuted by Cunningham, Animadv. c. 15. 8. tergeminis] This refers to the three curule magistracies, those of the curule aedile, praetor, and consul. Though the quaestorship was the first step in the line of promotion, it is not included, because it was not a curule office. Not seeing that 'tergeminus' here signifies no more than 'triplex,' some have supposed the quaestorship, the tribuneship, and censorship to be included. But 'geminus' is used in this combination with cardinal numbers frequently. So Virgil (Aen. vi. 287) calls Briareus centumgeminus,' and Catullus (xi. 7) the Nile 'septemgeminus,' and Lucret. (v. 28) speaks of "tripectora tergemini vis Geryonai;" but the most unequivocal instance of this use of the word occurs in Paulus (Dig. 50. 16. 137): "Ter enixa videtur etiam quae trigeminos pepererit,” which passage has been pointed out to me by Mr. Long. "Tollere honoribus" is not, as some take it, " tollere ad honores:" 'honoribus' is the ablative case, as (C. i. 21): Vos Tempe totidem tollite laudibus." Sall. Jug. 49: "ut quemque-pecunia aut honore extulerat." Tac. Ann. i. 3: "Clandium Marcellum pontificatu et curuli aedilitate-M. Agrippam geminatis consulatibus extulit." the Greek idiom, use for convenience and Certat-tollere] The poets, following conciseness this construction of the infinitive with verbs which in prose would require 'ut' with the subjunctive, or a supine, or 'ad' with a gerund, or some other construction. In the next ode we have "egit visere;" in the 12th, "sumis celebrare;" in the 26th, "tradam portare," and so on. Dillenbr. B 2 |