X TO ARISTIUS FUSCUS ACCORDING to the scholiasts, Aristius Fuscus, to whom this letter is addressed, was a dramatic writer and a scholar. He appears in the list of Horace's literary friends given in Sat. i. 10. 83, figures in an amusing rôle in Sat. i. 9. 61 ff., and is best known as the man to whom the famous Integer vitae ode (Carm. i. 22) is dedicated. The Epistle is a rhapsody upon the simplicity and charm of country life addressed to a cultivated man of the town. In the country Horace is perfectly content, save for the fact that his friend is elsewhere. X. Urbis amatorem Fuscum salvere iubemus ruris amatores. hac in re scilicet una multum dissimiles, at1 cetera paene gemelli fraternis animis (quidquid2 negat alter, et alter) adnuimus pariter vetuli notique columbi.3 Tu nidum servas; ego laudo ruris amoeni rivos et musco circumlita saxa nemusque. quid quaeris? vivo et regno, simul ista reliqui quae vos ad caelum effertis1 rumore secundo, utque sacerdotis fugitivus liba recuso; pane egeo iam mellitis potiore placentis. Vivere Naturae si5 convenienter oportet, ponendaeque domo quaerenda est area primum, novistine locum potiorem rure beato? est ubi plus tepeant hiemes, ubi gratior aura leniat et rabiem Canis et momenta Leonis, cum semel accepit Solem furibundus acutum ? est ubi divellat somnos minus invida Cura ? deterius Libycis olet aut nitet herba lapillis ? 2 si quid E. 1 at VE: ad a, II. 3 vetulis notisque columbis V (corrected). Lambinus had conjectured the same reading, columbis being governed by pariter. 4 effertis V: fertis MSS. sic py. • ponendaque one Bland. ' depellat a. 10 15 a The slave in a priest's household was fed so much on sacrificial cakes that he ran away to get plain fare. EPISTLE X To Fuscus, lover of the city, I, a lover of the country, send greetings. In this one point, to be sure, we differ much, but being in all else much like twins with the hearts of brothers-if one says no," the 66 66 "" other says no too-we nod a common assent like a couple of old familiar doves. 6 You keep the nest; I praise the lovely country's brooks, its grove and moss-grown rocks. In short: I live and reign, as soon as I have left behind what you townsmen with shouts of applause extol to the skies. Like the priest's runaway slave, I loathe sweet wafers; 'tis bread I want, and now prefer to honeyed cakes." 12 If" to live agreeably to Nature" is our duty, and first we must choose a site for building our house, do you know any place to be preferred to the blissful country? Is there any where winters are milder, where a more grateful breeze tempers the Dog-star's fury and the Lion's onset, when once in frenzy he has caught the sun's piercing shafts ? Is there any where envious Care less distracts our slumber? Is the grass poorer in fragrance or beauty than Libyan ὁ ὁμολογουμένως τῇ φύσει ζῆν: one of the Stoic rules of life. с • The Dog-star rises July 20, becoming visible on July 26. The sun enters Leo July 23. The constellation is compared to a lion roused to fury when wounded with arrows. 20 purior in vicis aqua tendit rumpere plumbum, quam quae per pronum trepidat cum murmure rivum? nempe inter varias nutritur silva columnas, laudaturque domus longos quae prospicit agros. Naturam expelles1 furca, tamen usque recurret, et mala perrumpet furtim fastidia2 victrix. Non, qui Sidonio contendere callidus ostro nescit Aquinatem potantia vellera fucum, certius accipiet damnum propiusve3 medullis, quam qui non poterit vero distinguere falsum. quem res plus nimio delectavere secundae, mutatae quatient. si quid mirabere, pones invitus. fuge magna: licet sub paupere tecto reges et regum vita praecurrere amicos. Cervus equum pugna melior communibus herbis pellebat, donec minor in certamine longo imploravit opes hominis frenumque recepit; sed postquam victor violens1 discessit ab hoste, non equitem dorso, non frenum depulit ore. sic qui pauperiem veritus potiore metallis libertate caret, dominum vehet5 improbus atque serviet aeternum, quia parvo nesciet uti. cui non conveniet sua res, ut calceus olim, si pede maior erit, subvertet, si minor, uret. 1 expellas early editions. fastigia a, II: vestigia V. 2 3 25 30 35 40 a i.e. the costly pavements of the great Roman houses. bi.e. the marble columns of different colours which formed the colonnade surrounding the peristyle or inner court of a |