CARMEN IX. AD MAECENATEM, AN expression of joy at the first news of the victory at Actium (September 2, 31 B. C.) Particular details regarding this victory and the flight of Antony to Egypt had not yet reached Rome. It was only known that the routed fleet had steered in the direction of Crete. QUANDO repostum Caecubum ad festas dapes Tecum sub alta, sic Jovi gratum, domo, Sonante mixtum tibiis carmen lyra, Ut nuper, actus cum freto Neptunius Minatus urbi vincla, quae detraxerat Romanus, eheu, posteri negabitis, Emancipatus feminae Fert vallum et arma miles et spadonibus Servire rugosis potest, Interque signa turpe militaria Sol adspicit conopium. 10 15 1. Quando Caecubum bibam; that is, when wilt thou hold a banquet in honour of this happy event?' The Caecuban was a good wine, but excelled by the Campanian, the Falernian, and the Massic. Greek wines much drunk at Rome were the Chian, Lesbian, and Coan.-5. The lyre, a genuine Greek instrument, was used at first to accompany the singing of hymns composed in the Doric dialect. The flute, originally Phrygian, was considered as foreign, especially the double flute, dextra et sinistra, bas and treble, which a player blew at the same time. -7. That is, as we once celebrated a feast when Sextus Pompeius, who had called himself in his pride a son of Neptune, was defeated in the Sicilian Straits, and fled. The affair referred to occurred in the year 36 B. C; so that nuper is not limited to a very recent period. Pompeius had strengthened the crews of his vessels by taking in runaway slaves.-11. Antony degraded the Roman soldiers still more, by making them serve Cleopatra. This reproach on Antony is founded on the fact that he married Cleopatra, and wished her to be acknowledged and honoured by his Roman friends and soldiers as his lawful wife.-16. Conopium, a fly-net,' a bed-curtain made of close network, to keep off the troublesome flies and mosquitoes from Cleopatra and the now Ad hoc frementes verterunt bis mille equos Io Triumphe, tu moraris aureos lo Triumphe, nec Jugurthino parem Neque Africanum, cui super Carthaginem Terra marique victus hostis Punico Lugubre mutavit sagum. Ventis iturus non suis, Aut ille centum nobilem Cretam urbibus 30 Exercitatas aut petit Syrtes Noto, Aut fertur incerto mari. Capaciores affer huc, puer, scyphos Vel quod fluentum nauseam coërceat, Curam metumque Caesaris rerum juvat 35 effeminate Antony.-17. Ad hoc, at this sight.' We have adopted Bentley's correction of the common reading adhuc, which gives no suitable sense.-18. By Galli are meant Gallo-Graeci or Galatae, who served with Antony as auxiliaries, but who deserted to Octavianus before the decisive battle.- 20. Sinistrorsum citae, quick to the left; that is, ready to flee quickly away towards the left. The left here is the direction of Peloponnesus and Asia. — 21. Io triumphe, etc., a question of amazement, why delayest thou?' The triumph is personified, and the sense without the figure is: why is the triumph not immediately celebrated? - 23. Parem. Neither Marius nor Scipio Africanus is equal to Caesar Octavianus, whose triumph is approaching.-30. Non suis ventis, with unfavourable winds.' The mention of Crete's hundred cities is an allusion to the Homeric description. In reality, however, the island had sunk very much in importance. - 31. Exercitatas Noto, tossed by the south wind.'-35. Fluentem nauseam, literally, loose loathing;' that is, a disgust at the wine, all the nerves being, as it were, loosened, unbraced. The Caecuban remedies this squeamishness, being a pungent wine, not sweet like the wines of Greece. CARMEN X. IN MAEVIUM POËTAM. A VERY bitter malediction on the poetaster Maevius, a common foe and backbiter of all the young and rising poets of the time, particularly Virgil and Horace. Virgil sneers at him in Eclogue iii. 90; and Horace in this poem wishes that he may be wrecked in a voyage to Greece on which he was entering, and moreover vows a thank-offering to the gods should Maevius perish. 2. Olentem, ill-smelling,' probably because he was of an unhealthy, corpulent habit of body, as seems to be indicated in line 21.-4. Auster, Eurus, and Aquilo, the south, east, and north winds are invoked to destroy the ship.-11. An allusion to a very severe storm, in which Ajax, son of Oileus, when returning victorious from Troy, was destroyed by Pallas, in her anger at his maltreatment of Cassandra. His death is mentioned by Homer in the Odyssey, iv. 502, and by Virgil in the Aeneid, i. 39.-21. Quodsi introduces the concluding sentence: if then.... I shall sacrifice a goat and a lamb.' An address on a dull winter day to the poet's friends, in which he calls upon them to enjoy life; confirming his advice by the example of Achilles, who had been represented by tradition as the most perfect of all the Greeks, and yet as the shortest-lived. HORRIDA tempestas coelum contraxit, et imbres- Nobilis ut grandi cecinit Centaurus alumno: 5 10 1. Deducunt Jovem. The expression Jupiter descendit, indicating that the atmosphere has become thick and heavy, that rain or snow has begun to fall, is more common. -5. Obductasenectus, 'let moroseness be rubbed off (unbound) from the (therewith) clouded brow. Senectus used (senium is more common in this sense) for the bad peculiarity of age, morositas, tristitia.-6. Horace was born in the consulship of L. Manlius Torquatus, 65 R. c.; and he often mentions the wine of this year, which, either from a sentimental feeling, or because the vintage of that year was remarkably good, he causes to be brought out as a treat on speeial joyous occasions. Compare Carm. iii. 21, 1. Italian wines were kept up by the Romans to a great age, but this is not done now.-8. Achaemenio, properly Persian,' here used for Asiatic' generally, or for Assyrian; this root, which gave the most valuable perfume, being particularly abundant in Assyria.-9. Fide Cyllenea, with the lyre of Mercury,' who was born on Mount Cyllene in Arcadia. He invented the cithara (also called chelys, testudo), the strings of which were drawn across a circular hollow frame; origin. ally, according to tradition, a tortoise-shell, whence the name. Apollo's instrument, the phormina, was of a somewhat different construction; in it the strings ran upwards from a sounding-board to a cross-piece between two horns. The name lyra, however, is common to both.-11. Grandi, 'when grown a man.' The person alluded to is Achilles, whose tutor was the centaur Chiron. -- 13. Unde tibi reditum certo subtemine Parcae , 15 Assaracus, son of Tros. Hence his 'land' is the Troad.-15. Certo subtemine, with sure thread;' that is, in the fixed duration of thy life.-17. Vino-alloquiis, by wine and song, the sweet solaces of ugly (deforming) sorrow.' CARMEN XVI. AD POPULUM ROMANUM. A PLAY of fancy. The poet calls upon the Romans to emigrate ALTERA jam teritur bellis civilibus aetas, 1. Altera aetas may mean either a second age (period of time),' or a second generation (of men.)' We understand it here in the latter sense. so that the poet says the war between Caesar and Pompey swept away one generation, and now another is being extirpated (rubbed off) by the wars of the triumvirs. Taking this sense, there is no necessity for us to think of the particular time estimated for the |