XVII.

IONIC À MINORE.

luu--luu--luu

Miserarum est, neque amori dare ludum, neque dulci, &c.

This metre is named from the foot so called

B. iii. Ode 11.

It occurs

only in Ode 12, Book III. It is best arranged as consisting of single recurring lines, each containing four ionic à minore feet.

NOTES.

BOOK I.

ODE I.-METRE I.

TO MECENAS.

HORACE, upon publishing the first three books of his Odes, addresses the first Ode to his illustrious patron Mæcenas. In it, after graphically describing the irresistible power which the natural inclinations exercise over men in determining their course in life, he says of himself, that his happiness consists in his fame and pursuits as a poet; that his poet's crown gives him place even among the gods; while the woods which he loves, with all their sacred influences and inspirations, separate and distinguish him from the mass of men; and he closes the Ode by saying, that if, in the judgement of his patron, he should be ranked in the number of lyric poets, the utmost height of his ambition would be attained by him.

1. The family of the Cilnii, to which Mecenas (Caius Cilnius Mæcenas) belonged, had been at one time very powerful in Etruria ; many of its members having been Lucumones, or kings of Etruria.3-6. Horace first notices those whose great object was to carry off the prize at the Olympic contests, the chariot-race, &c. Such was the estimation in which the victors at the great games of Greece were held, that we find Pindar warning them not to exalt themselves abore the gods; and Cicero says, that a victory at the Olympic games was thought more of in Greece than a triumph was by the Romans. Pro Flacc. c. 13.-3. Curriculo = curru; so used also by Cic. and Tac.-4. Jurat; in prose it would be jucet. In Latin, the phrase sunt, qui, &c., has the meaning of " there are persons of a disposition, &c. to do so and so, sunt homines tales, ut faciant;" hence sunt qui is usually followed by the subjunctive: but the best writers, when speaking of what is certain, and of constant occurrence, use the indicative.' 0. 5. The feat of skill in the chariot-race was so to pass round the goal (meta) that was at each end of the course, as neither to run foul of it, nor wide of it: the charioteer's aim was eritare, just to clear it; each race consisted of several courses.-6. Constr. ad

deos, terrarum dominos. Lucian speaks of one of the victors at these games as loóleos.-7. Hunc (jurat). H. now speaks of the ambitious man. Mobilium, fickle.-8. By terg. hon. understand the three high offices of the Republic: those of Curule Ædile, Prætor, and Consul. -9. Illum (jurat). Here the lover of money is spoken of, one realizing large sums by importing corn.-10. Africa (Libya), but more especially Egypt and Sicily, were the great granaries of the Eternal City. Verritur, graphically for colligitur; so in the Satires: Tu pisces ex æquore verris.-11-14. Those who are attached to a country life are now noticed. The Attali, kings of Pergamus, and particularly the second of that name, surnamed Philadelphus, spared no expense in collecting books and works of art: hence "Attalus-terms,” conditiones Attalica, became proverbial for very large sums of money. -13. Dimoveas (implying movement from one place, or state, to another) rather than demoreas. Trabe Cypria, lit. a ship built of wood from the island of Cyprus; simply, a merchant-man. Poetical effect is sometimes produced by the use of the species for the genus; e. g. trabes Cypria, Myrtoum mare, Icarii fluctus, are used severally for any ship, sea, &c.-14. Myrtoum mare; a part of the Egean sea, so called from the island of Myrtus, near Euboea (now Negropont), and dangerous for vessels. Paridus; as being at sea for the first time.— 15-18. The attachment of the merchant-mariner to a sea-faring life, notwithstanding all its dangers, is now described.-15. Africus (Gr. A); a violent south wester. The Icarian Sea is part of the Egean, lying between the islands of Samos and Icaria.-16. Mercator; is used only of merchants of large capital, trading beyond seas.-18. Pauperiem; by pauperies (and paupertas) understand the want of the superfluities, but not of the actual necessaries of life (egestas, penuria). Thus Tibullus: "Me mea paupertas vitæ traducat inerti ?" 19-22. The poet here notices those who lead a life of ease and self-enjoyment.-19. Massici (rini); a famous wine from the grape of Mount Massicus, a chain of hills separating Campania from Latium.-20. Solidus dies; the day to all purposes, or, the main or business part of the day; i. e. from morning till about our four o'clock; he who sat down to table before that time-de

solido die partem demebat. 21. Sembra stratus = membra strata habens.-23. Lituus (the clarion) was in use with the cavalry of an army; tuba (the trumpet), with the infantry. The signal for engaging (classicum) was given by both these instruments at once.— 25. Sub Jove (= sub dio), in the open air.-28. Marsus aper. Wild boars were numerous in the mountainous country of the Marsi. Teretes, made of eren-twisted cord.-29. Crowns of ivy (which was sacred to Bacchus), as well as of laurel, were worn by poets; the festive character of song being thereby implied.-33. Si neque, &c.; "if the Muses smile upon me.' The Muse Euterpe was said to have invented the flute; Polyhymnia, the lyre.-34. The lyre of Lesbos, because the best lyric poets, Terpander, Alcæus, and Sappho, were Lesbians.-36. Sublimi, &c., I shall lift my head to the heavens (in pride and joy). So sidera vertice tangam. Ovid; and in Gr. Tỹ κεφαλῇ ψαύειν τοῦ οὐρανοῦ.

ODE II.-METRE VI.

To AUGUSTUS.

THOUGH at first a partisan of Brutus, Horace came at last to the conclusion, that Augustus only could save his country from the grievous consequences of the civil war. The hopes of the poet, or rather those of the people at large, are the subject-matter of this Ode. After noticing various portents by which the displeasure of heaven had manifested itself; and depicting the afflicted condition of the state, the poet exclaims: "To which of the gods will the office be assigned of expiating our sin (the murder of Cæsar)? Will Apollo undertake it? or Venus? or Mars? or Mercury? Even thou, O Mercury, who art at this moment among us, under the form of a young hero (Augustus), the avenger of Cæsar. Oh! defer for a long time, defer thy return to heaven; part not yet with the titles, which a grateful people has bestowed upon thee, and the power which thou holdest.for the benefit of Rome."

1. Nivis; of very rare occurrence in the neighbourhood of Rome. -2. Pater (simply) = Jupiter. Pater was used with the name of any of the Dii Majores, when they were addressed in prayer. Rubente; red with the reflected glare of the thunderbolt, which it wielded.-3. The temples on the hills.-5. Terruit urbem ne = ita ut timerent, ne.. .-6. Pyrrha; the wife of Deucalion; the poet here alludes to Deucalion's flood. C. D. Monstrum is used of an event, as well as of an animal.-7. Proteus was said to tend the sea-flocks (seals, &c.) of Neptune; see Virg. G. iv.-8. Visere = (Gr.) ut viserent.10. Columbæ, wood-pigeons (prop. palumbes), genus for species.-11. Superjecto, spread over the face of the land.-13. Flavus; the usual epithet for the Tiber, from the sandy colour of its waters; multa flavus arena, En. vii. 31. Retortis undis &c. At the present day the inundations of the Tiber are attributed to the action of the sea, driving its waters inland from its mouth (littore Etrusco).-15. Dejectum; the supine. Monumenta; not the tomb, but the palace of king Numa (regia Numa,sts simply regia), situated at the foot of the Palatine hill, and close to the temple of Vesta.-17. Ilia,i.e. (poet.) Rhea Silvia, the mother of Romulus. H. alludes to her here as the wife of the Tiber; other writers speak of her as the wife of the Anio. Ennius relates that she was cast into the Tiber by the order of Amulius. She is here supposed by H. to be instigating her husband (the Tiber) to avenge Julius Cæsar's death, who was descended from her. -18. Sinistra ripa; on which Rome was situated.-20. Uxorius, too indulgent to his wife. Note in uxorius the continuation of the third line into the Adonic; and see O. ii. 15. n. 7.-21-24. These lines refer to the civil wars which ensued upon the assassination of Cæsar. Audiet c. a. f. (contra cives.)-22. Perso; the Parthians; vengeance had not yet been taken for the defeat of Crassus near Carrhæ. C. D. H., 1. 51, urges this duty upon Augustus.-27. Minus audientem; b

PART I.

Vesta, the tutelary divinity of Rome, thus shows her deep displeasure at the deed done upon Cæsar, its pontifex maximus. Ovid represents her thus speaking of the bloody deed: " Ne dubita, meus ille fuit, meus ille sacerdos, Sacrilego telis me petiere_manus." F. iii. 699.-28. Carmina, forms of prayer.-29. Partes, the office.-31. Humeros amictus humeros amictos habens. - 32. Augur; as god of oracles. — 33. Erycina, Venus; so called from her celebrated temple on Mount Eryx, now San-Guiliano, in Sicily. She is here invoked as the mother of Æneas, whose son Iulus was one of the ancestors of Romulus, and of the Julian family (gens Julia). Ridens, piλoμμεidns. Hom.-34. Circum volat, for circumcolat (as circum mugiunt. O. ii. 15. 33), on account of the cæsura.-36. Auctor (generis); i. e. Mars, the father of Romulus.-37. Ludo (bellico).-38-40. These lines form a pendant to the description of Venus and her attendants at l. 34.-39. The Mauri or Numidæ were celebrated horsemen so that the idea of horseman was necessarily associated with the word Maurus, or Numida. Therefore by Mauri peditis must be understood a Numidian, who has been dismounted, and is fighting on foot.-39. Cruentum, blood-stained, bleeding. It is very probable that H. alludes here to some painting-well known at least to Augustus--the subject of which was a dismounted Moor furiously attacking his Roman foe.41. Juvenem Augustus; the term juvenis is used of the man, no longer puer, nor yet senex: Augustus was about forty at the date of this Ode.—42. Ales; an epithet peculiar to Mercury, from his winged cap and heels. 47. Iniquum displeased at. 48. Ocior, too swiftlycoming for our wishes.-50. Pater is here an expression of that general feeling which at a later period obtained for Augustus the formal title of Pater patriæ. The title of Princeps had been already bestowed upon him A. U. 726, when he entered upon his sixth consulship.-51. Medos; the Parthians. See n. 22.

ODE III.-METRE II.

TO A SHIP BOUND FOR ATHENS, WITH VIRGIL ON BOARD. VIRGIL embarked for Athens about A. U. 732; or, as others think, A.U. 735. Horace first addresses the vessel in which his dear friend had embarked, recommending him specially to its care. He then breaks off into expressions of marvel at the man, who first ventured to face the terrors of the great deep; and at the lawless boldness of man generally. The very barriers, he says, which the gods themselves have set to the progress of man, stay him not; nothing is too difficult for him, nothing sacred enough to restrain him; the regions of heaven above, the regions of hell below, alike testify to his reckless daring; and bring down the red thunderbolts of Jove upon our heads.

1. Constr. O navis, quæ &c., reddas (eum) inc. fin. Att. . . . . . sic Diva C. regat te &c. so be the powers of the sea propitious to thee. "Sic