1. Occasion of the Ode: In the year 29 B.C., Augustus celebrated a triple triumph commemorative of his victories at Actium, in Egypt, and in Pannonia. Maecenas seems at that time to have called upon Horace to commemorate these achievements in lyric verse, a task which the poet declined on the ground that history was ill suited to the lyric Muse. As compensation for his refusal, however, he describes the charms of Maecenas's wife Terentia, here designated by the pseudonym Licymnia.

2. Outline of the Poem:

a) No one would choose lyric poetry to describe events of history or of mythologic legend, 1-8;

b) Let prose be the vehicle of celebrating Augustus's glory, and do thou, not I, Maecenas, essay the task, 9-12;

c) As for me, let me rather sing the praises of thy consort Licymnia, her lustrous eyes, her true heart, and her winsome ways, 13-28.

3. Time: Between 29 and 24 B. C.

4. Metre Third Asclepiadean. Introd. § 47.

Nolis longa ferae bella Numantiae
Nec durum Hannibalem nec Siculum mare
Poeno purpureum sanguine mollibus
Aptari citharae modis,

1. Occasion of the Poem: On the 1st of March, 30 B.C., Horace had narrowly escaped death by the fall of a tree on his Sabine estate.

2. Outline of the Poem:

a) 'Twas on an ill-omened day that thou wast planted, O tree; and with a sacrilegious hand wast thou reared, 1–12;

b) Man never realizes the unseen dangers that threaten from every side, 13-20;

c) How narrowly did I escape passing to the realms of Proserpine, where Sappho and Alcaeus charm the shades with the music of their lyres, 21-40.

3. Time: Probably 30 B.C.

4. Metre: Alcaic. Introd. § 43.

The ode falls into two distinct parts, the first on the uncertainty of human existence, the second on the glory of poetry.

Ille et nefasto te posuit die,

Quicumque primum, et sacrilega manu

Produxit, arbos, in nepotum

Perniciem opprobriumque pagi.

Illum et parentis crediderim sui
Fregisse cervicem et penetralia
Sparsisse nocturno cruore

Hospitis; ille venena Colcha

Et quicquid usquam concipitur nefas
Tractavit, agro qui statuit meo
Te, triste lignum, te caducum

In domini caput immerentis.

Quid quisque vitet, numquam homini satis
Cautum est in horas: navita Bosphorum
Poenus perhorrescit neque ultra

Caeca timet aliunde fata;

Miles sagittas et celerem fugam
Parthi, catenas Parthus et Italum
Robur; sed improvisa leti
Vis rapuit rapietque gentis.

Quam paene furvae regna Proserpinae
Et iudicantem vidimus Aeacum

Sedesque discriptas piorum et
Aeoliis fidibus querentem

Sappho puellis de popularibus
Et te sonantem plenius aureo,
Alcaee, plectro dura navis,
Dura fugae mala, dura belli.

Utrumque sacro digna silentio
Mirantur umbrae dicere; sed magis

Pugnas et exactos tyrannos

Densum umeris bibit aure volgus.

Quid mirum, ubi illis carminibus stupens
Demittit atras belua centiceps

Auris, et intorti capillis

Eumenidum recreantur angues?

Quin et Prometheus et Pelopis parens
Dulci laborum decipitur sono,

Nec curat Orion leones

Aut timidos agitare lyncas.

XIV.

DEATH INEVITABLE.

1. Outline of the Poem:

a) Nothing, Postumus, avails to withstand the approach of death; not goodness, nor sacrifices, nor lofty station, 1–12;

b) In vain do we evade the dangers of this life, war, shipwreck, and disease; death's dark night is the final doom of all,

13-20;

c) The joys of this life,

- lands, homes, family, -are ours only to be renounced, and handed over to worthier successors, 21-28.

2. Time: Uncertain; probably about 30 B.C.

3. Metre Alcaic. Introd. § 43.

Eheu fugaces, Postume, Postume,
Labuntur anni, nec pietas moram
Rugis et instanti senectae

Adferet indomitaeque morti;

Non, si trecenis, quotquot eunt dies,
Amice, places inlacrimabilem

Plutona tauris, qui ter amplum
Geryonen Tity onque tristi

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