circus, were regularly run around a long low stone structure (called in Latin spina, thorn'). At each end of the spina, stood a detached semi-circular pier surmounted by three columns. This was the meta, to turn which neatly, without slackening speed (cf. fervidis rotis) or making too wide a sweep, required the greatest skill on the part of the driver. 5. palma: to be taken literally; in Horace's day it had long been customary at the Greek and Roman chariot races to present the victor with a palm branch. Roman sculpture abounds in illustrations of this custom. nobilis here in causative sense, of that which makes famous. 6. terrarum dominos: as lords of the earth; dominos is in predicate relation to quos, to be supplied as the direct object of evehit. A similar allusion to the pride of victory in the chariot race occurs iv. 2. 17, quos Elea (= Olympica) domum reducit palma caelestis. 7. hunc dependent upon iurat to be supplied in thought from line 4. mobilium, turba: both words contain a somewhat cynical. reference to the uncertainty of the popular temper. Cicero, pro Murena, 17. 35, speaks in a similar strain of the popular assemblies, comparing them to a sea of conflicting currents. 8. tergeminis honoribus: to triple honors; but honoribus is really ablative of means, i.e. exalt by conferring these honors; the triple honors are the quaestorship, the praetorship, and the consulship. The first two were a necessary preliminary to the third. tollere: the use of the infinitive with certare is chiefly poetical. 9. illum dependent (like hunc in line 7) upon iuvat to be supplied in thought. proprio note the emphasis which rests upon this word. 10. quicquid: i.e. the entire harvest. Libycis Africa was at this time one of the main sources of the Roman grain supply. Horace repeatedly alludes to the fertility of this district, e.g. iii. 16. 31, fertilis Africae; Sat. ii. 3. 87, frumenti quantum metit Africa. 11. findere: note the force of this word; the clods are so hard that they have to be split,' as it were; yet in spite of this the man cannot be lured from his little plot of barren ground; the infinitive with gaudere is poetical. 12. Attalicis condicionibus: the terms of an Attalus, i.e. suel. terms as an Attalus might offer. Attalus had been the name of several kings of Pergamus in Asia Minor. Their wealth, like that of Croesus, was proverbial. 13. demoveas: lit. turn away; but the word is here used in the pregnant sense of turn from his farming and induce to, etc.; one may render by lure. ut secet: to plough; the clause is dependent upon demoveas, which here takes the construction of a verb of persuading. Cypria: Cyprus was famous as a centre of shipbuilding. Note the poet's skill in adding this concrete touch to the picture; the device is repeated in verses 14 and 15 (Myrtoum, Icariis), and is, of course, common in all poetry. 14. Myrtoum: the Myrtoan Sea lay between the Peloponnesus and the Cyclades. It was proverbially stormy. pavidus nauta: as a trembling sailor, in predicate relation to the subject of secet. 15. Icariis fluctibus: the Icarian Sea was another stormy body of water; it lay off the southwest coast of Asia Minor. Legend connected it with the fall of the luckless Icarus; fluctibus is dative; the construction is a Grecism; see Introd. § 36, c, and cf. i. 3. 13, decertantem Aquilonibus. 16. otium et oppidi rura sui: i.e. the quiet of his native town and the peaceful fields around it. 18. pauperiem: simply narrow circumstances,' not 'poverty' as we understand the word. pati: dependent upon indocilis, a poetical construction. See Introd. § 41, c. 19. est qui spernit: for the indicative after est qui, see note on iuvat in line 4 above. Massici: understand vini. The Massic wine, grown on the Mons Massicus in northern Campania, was one of the famous Italian brands. 20. solido de die: the solidus dies was the business day, extending from the early morning to the end of the ninth hour, i.e. about 3 P.M. demere: the infinitive with spernere is a poetic construction. 21. membra: direct object of stratus, which is here used as a middle. B. 175. 2. d ; A. and G. 240. c. N.; G. 338. n. 2. arbuto: the arbutus, or wild strawberry tree, was highly prized for its shade. In the autumn it was conspicuous for its bright red berries. 22. aquae . sacrae the scholiast Porphyrio comments as follows on these words: omnes autem fontes sacri habentur, et ideo 'caput sacrae aquae' ait. lene caput: i.e. the gently murmuring spring. Strictly, of course, it is the spring which is sacred, and the issuing stream which gently murmurs; but the interchange of epithets needs no justification. 23. lituo: for litui sonitu; lituo is probably ablative; B. L. L.1 § 337. The lituus was a curved instrument; the tuba was straight. The former was used in the cavalry, the latter in the infantry. 24. matribus: dative of agency, a construction occurring with some frequency, even in prose, in connection with the perfect passive participle. 25. detestata: here used passively; other instances of perfect passive participles of deponent verbs so used are i. 32. 5, modulate, 'tuned'; Epod. 16. 8, abominatus, detested.' Iove: here equivalent to caelo. Jupiter was originally the god of the sky; hence his functions as thunderer and wielder of the lightning. The root Iov(Indo-European djev-) originally meant ‘sky,' 'light.' Latin dies, 'day,' is the same word; cf. Diespiter (archaic and poetical) = Iupiter. B. L. L. 180. 4. 27. catulis: hounds; dative, like matribus above in line 24. 28. Marsus: poetical for Marsicus. The Marsi inhabited a mountainous district of central Italy, about fifty miles to the east of Rome. aper: the wild boar was highly prized by the Roman epicures, and in consequence was much hunted. 29. me in emphatic position, introducing the climax of the ode, Horace's own aspiration. doctarum frontium: this is practically equivalent to the poet's brow'; doctus was applied to any one who had achieved distinction in philosophy, art, or letters. hederae : poetic plural; the ivy was sacred to Bacchus, one of the patron divinities of poets. 30. dis miscent: the idea is the same as that found above in line 5, palma er hit ad deos; for the case of dis, see note on line 23, lituo. gelidum nemus, etc.: i.e. the cool grove with its bands of nymphs and sat, rs 31. leves: light-footed, lightly tripping. 32. secernunt populo: i.e. distinguish from the people, raise me above the common herd. tibias not the poetic plural; two tibiae were regularly played together; they were fastened to a single mouthpiece, one tibia being held in each hand. : 33. Euterpe the muse of music, including lyric poetry, which was originally composed for singing to a musical accompaniment. In works of art, Euterpe is represented with flutes in her hands. hibet withhold. Polyhymnia: another muse of poetry, often defined as the muse of the sublime hymn.' 1 Bennett's Latin Language. CO 34. Lesboum barbiton: i.e. the lyre of the Lesbian poets, Sappho and Alcaeus (600 B.C.). These were Horace's chief models in the composition of his lyric poems. He imitated not merely their poetic form, but also very largely their themes and their poetic phraseology. tendere: tune, lit. stretch (i.e. the strings); the Introd. § 18. infinitive with refugere is poetical. 35. lyricis vatibus inseris: i.e. acknowledge my claim to rank as a lyric poet. The first meaning of vates apparently was 'seer,' 'soothsayer,' 'prophet.' Virgil and Horace, however, apply it to poets as a loftier and more honorable designation than poeta. Some think that vates originally meant 'poet,'bard,' and that Virgil and Horace simply revived the early usage; but this view is not well supported. Note the poetical employment of the present tense with the force of a future. The subject of inseris is emphatic; we should have expected tu to be expressed. 36. sublimi feriam sidera vertice: i.e. my pride and joy will be complete. ODE II. 1. terris: the dative is best explained as equivalent to in terras. nivis: sow is not unusual in central Italy in the winter months, though it rarely lies long. 2. Pater: i.e. Jupiter. rubente referring to the lightning. 3. sacras arces: probably the two summits of the Capitoline, on which stood temples, one sacred to Juno, the other to Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva in common. 4. terruit, terruit: such repetition of the same word without an intervening conjunction is a favorite device of Horace. 5. gentis: i.e. all the races of the earth. The storm had doubtless been local, but Horace conceives it as widely prevalent. grave ne rediret the clause depends upon the idea of fearing involved in terruit, made to fear,'' inspired with terror.' Note that in poetry words which ordinarily stand first in their clause are frequently 'postponed' (placed after); so here ne; cf. line 7, omne cum; line 9, piscium et. 6. Pyrrhae: wife of Deucalion. According to the myth, all mankind, except Deucalion and Pyrrha, had been destroyed by a flood. They renewed the human race by casting stones behind them; the stones hurled by Deucalion became men; those hurled by Pyrrha became women, nova monstra: explained by the following clauses 7. Proteus: the prophetic old man of the sea'; he tended the seals of Poseidon (Neptune). pecus: i.e. the herd of seals. 8. visere: the use of the infinitive to denote purpose is poetical. 10. columbis: the columba did not ordinarily nest in trees; but Horace was hardly a scientific observer. The 11. superiecto: i.e. spread over the surface of the earth. emphasis of the clause rests upon this word. Note also the interlocked order of the words, superiecto pavidae aequore dammae, a favorite arrangement in Horace. 13. flavom: Horace seems to have followed the earlier spelling in -vos, -vom; -quos, -quom; -uos, -uom, etc. The spellings -vus, -vum; -cus, -cum; -uus, -uum, had become well established in ordinary usage before his day, but poets naturally cling tenaciously to the old style. Cf. B. L. L. § 57. 1. As applied to the Tiber, flavom is a poetical designation for its turbid stream. 14. litore Etrusco: litus is here used for ripa. The Etruscan bank is the right bank of the Tiber. Just at the city the river makes a sharp turn, so that the water, hurled on by the current (and perhaps by the wind), seemed to come directly from the bank opposite the city. 15. deiectum: the supine. monumenta regis: the 'memorial of the king' is the Regia, or official residence of the pontifex maximus, situated at the southeastern end of the Roman Forum. Some remains of its foundations have been brought to light in recent years. The building was called monumenta regis, because it was popularly thought to date from the time of King Numa, whose great interest in the religious ceremonials of his time is well attested in the traditions that cluster about his name. Since the Roman Forum was on low land, the Tiber not infrequently rose high enough to flood the ground on which the Regia stood. Such inundations occur periodically to-day. 16. templaque Vestae: probably we have not here an instance of the poetic plural. There were two temples of Vesta, one called aedes Vestae, the other aedicula Vestae. They were situated adjacent to the Regia. : 17. Iliae Ilia is another name for Rhea Silvia, the mother of Romulus and Remus; according to the common legend, she was thrown by Amulius's order into the Tiber, and the river god came to be looked upon as her spouse. Hence the flood is represented by the poet as intended to avenge the wrongs of Ilia. For another view, see below on querenti. iactat: shows; the dum-clause is explicative of the preceding ire deiectum, i.e. the Tiber advances to hurl down the |