40 45 heu nimis longo satiate ludo, quem iuvat clamor galeaeque leves voltus in hostem ; sive mutata iuvenem figura filius Maiae, patiens vocari serus in caelum redeas diuque next strophe shows, but as the father of the race. 37. ludo: the nature of the sport is explained in the picture that follows, which, as a specimen of Horace's skill in graphic portrayal may be compared with II. 1. 17 sqq. See also note on vs. 7. 38. leves: notice the quantity of the penult. 39. acer voltus, the fierce look Marsi: see Intr. 117. The Marsian troops were among the bravest in the Roman army; cf. II. 20. 18, Verg. G. II. 167, and the proverb 'No triumph over the Marsi, nor without them' (Appian B. C. I. 46). If the reading Mauri be adopted, peditis will mean 'unhorsed.' cruentum: the epithet places the scene in the midst of a hot fight at close quarters. 41. sive see 33 n; the apodosis begins with serus 45 and extends to the close of the ode. mutata sc. from that of a god; cf. ales. iuvenem: here the poet gives the first intimation of the thought to which he has been gradually leading us. He indicates who the iuvenis is in vs. 44, but reserves the full revelation of his personality to the very end of the poem. Octavian was at this time about thirty-five years old. 42. ales filius: in agreement with the subject of imitaris. — in terris imitaris, dwellest on earth under the form of. 43. Maiae daughter of the titan Atlas, and mother of Mercury. - vocari: Intr. 94 a. 44. Caesaris ultor: the punishment of his uncle's assassins was avowed by Octavian as one of the chief objects of his career. 47. iniquum, estranged. Aequus and iniquus are regular expressions for the favorable or adverse disposition of a divinity towards men; cf. 28. 28, II. 4. 15. 48. ocior aura keeping in mind the character of the god as ales (42). Observe how, while the language of the last two strophes applies equally well to the god and the man, the human side is gradually brought out more distinctly till fully revealed in the name itself at the end. 50 tollat; hic magnos potius triumphos, hic ames dici pater atque princeps, neu sinas Medos equitare inultos te duce, Caesar. III. Sic te diva potens Cypri, sic fratres Helenae, lucida sidera, 49. triumphos: in allusion probably to the three triumphs which Octavian celebrated on his return from the East in August, B.C. 29. 50. ames: see Intr. 94 c and 119 a. For the combination of an object accusative with a complementary infinitive, cf. 1. 19 sqq.pater here a general expression of reverence, habitually applied to a god (as Bacche pater, 18. 6, Iane pater, Ep. I. 16. 59), and often to a man, as in the phrases pater patriae, pater senatus, pater urbis, etc., and also absolutely (cf. S. II. 1. 12, Ep. I. 6. 54, 7. 37). The formal title of pater patriae was not conferred upon Augustus till many years later, B.C. 2. — princeps: apparently abbreviated originally from princeps senatus (the title given to the senator of highest dignity, who was placed first on the roll by the censors), and used even under the Republic in the sense of princeps civitatis, since the 'first senator' would usually be in fact 'first citizen.' Octavian became princeps senatus in B.C. 28, and from that time on he cherished the title in its shorter form and wider signification as best expressing the character in which he wished to appear to his fellow-citizens. It thus came to be the usual term to designate the civil power of the ruler, imperator expressing his military power; cf. Tac. Ann. I. 1. 3 cuncta discordiis civilibus fessa nomine principis sub imperium accepit. etc. 51. Medos: see 22 n.— - equitare, to ride on their raids. 52. te duce, so long as thou art, - Caesar: the name by which Octavian (as we call him, to avoid ambiguity) was known to his contemporaries from the time of his adoption by Julius Caesar (in his will, B.C. 44), his full name being C. Julius Caesar Octavianus. In B.C. 27 the title Augustus was added, but he was still usually called simply Caesar, as in III. 14.3, Ep. II. 1. 4 etc.; and this name is used by Horace for Julius Caesar in only two places, vs. 44, above, and S. I. 9. 18. III. The third place in the series of odes is given to Vergil, and bears witness to Horace's warm regard for the friend to whom he owed his introduction to Maecenas (S. I. 5. 40 sqq., I. 6. 55; Intr. 20). The occasion is a proposed visit of Vergil to Athens, and in wishing him a safe voyage Horace indulges in some rather extravagant reflections on the temerity of man in braving the dangers of the sea, which is only an instance of the daring torumque regat pater, obstrictis aliis praeter Iapyga,) vis, quae tibi creditum debes Vergilium, finibus Atticis in all things he unds that Provished. The poem of an early effort the odes of this ly worked out on Of the voyage hing further is d not have been B.C. 19, on the h Vergil died, as ng evidence that published before re, 171. on condition that ayer); cf. Ep. I. e putato me tibi, um. The prayer nd the words sic parenthetical, inayer by an expresto the ship, which = appealed to; cf. g. E. 9. 30 sic tua examina taxos, distendant ubera Prop. V. 3. 67. hsic sometimes er, as I. 28. 23 sqq. stance the appeal cal, since the forand the voyager together.- diva i.e. Venus, 'Appo- ποντία (Venus 26. 5 and 9; IV. orship, as a profaring men, was ted by the PhoeCypri: objective ens (Intr. 66 b), the worshippers goddess' control is exercised. The phrase is sometimes used to denote the special province of the divinity, as 5. 15 potenti maris deo (i.e. Neptune); 6. 10 imbellis lyrae musa potens; C. S. 1 silvarum potens Diana. 2. fratres Helenae: Castor and Pollux, whose constellation (Gemini) was believed to have a quieting influence on the sea; cf. 12. 27 sqq., IV. 8. 31 sq. Sailors also told of twin lights, which they attributed to these gods, appearing on the yards of their ships in the darkness of the storm, heralds of good weather (Plin. N. H. II. 101). 3. ventorum pater: Aeolus. regat, guide. 4. obstrictis aliis: cf. Verg. A. I. 52 sqq. Iapyga: so named by the Greeks as blowing from the southeastern extremity of Italy, which they called Iapygia, across the Ionian sea; hence favorable in the present instance. It is the same as the Latin Favonius. 5. creditum debes: a figure borrowed from commercial life: the ship has received Vergil as a depositum, and accordingly is bound to give him up (reddas) in unimpaired condition, at the time and place stipulated. Vergilium, standing in the accusative with reddas, in the place where the amount of the depositum is usually put, and before the caesura of the verse (Intr. 116 b) expresses emphatically the greatness of the ship's responsibility. 6. finibus: best taken as dative, but with reddas only, and not ἀπὸ κοινοῦ; see last note. 10 15 reddas incolumem precor et serves animae dimidium meae. Illi robur et aes triplex circa pectus erat, qui fragilem truci commisit pelago ratem primus, nec timuit praecipitem Africum decertantem Aquilonibus nec tristis Hyadas nec rabiem Noti, quo non arbiter Hadriae maior, tollere seu ponere volt freta. Quem mortis timuit gradum, qui siccis oculis monstra natantia, The 7. reddas, deliver him. prefix red- denotes the reversal of the operation of giving, so far as it affects the recipient,- the giv ing up of what was received, not necessarily restoring it to the first giver; so here and Ep. I. 13. 2 Augusto reddes volumina; cf. also the regular expression for delivering a letter, epistulam reddere. From this it is a short step to the meaning to pay' sc. what is due (debitum 'withheld '). 8. animae dimidium: cf. II. 17. 5. The conception is borrowed from an old Greek defininition of friendship, μία ψυχὴ δύο σ wμaтa EVOLкovoa (Diog. Laert. V. I. 20); cf. Cic. Lael 92 cum amicitiae vis sit in eo ut unus quasi animus fiat ex pluribus. 9. illi, etc., his heart was cased in, etc., i.e. was impenetrable to all impressions of fear. The figure is taken from the heavy armor of the soldier, but it is only a figure, and pectus is the heart; cf. IV. 4. 34. 10. erat: Intr. 77.-fragilem truci Intr. 116 a. praecipitem as coming in sudden squalls (creber procellis, Verg. A. I. 85; protervus, Epod. 16. 22). Africum: see I. 15 n. 13. Aquilonibus, with the blasts of Boreas; see Intr. 57. Aquilo blew from between north and north-east, and his name was derived by some from the resemblance of his violent onset to the swoop of an eagle (Fest. ap. Paul. p. 22). 14. tristis as bringing wet and gloomy weather; cf. tristis Orion, Epod, 10. 10; pluvias Hyadas, Verg. A. III. 516.- Noti: the Greek name corresponding Auster, the South Wind. to 15. quo non arbiter maior (sc. est), than whom no mightier master sways; cf. III. 3. 4. 16. seu see Intr. 119 c. ponere, to allay; cf. 40 n. 17. quem (= qualem; cf. Ep. I. 15. I sq.) mortis gradum, what form of death's approach. For this conception of death cf. vs. 33 and III. 2. 14; Tib. I. 10. 4. 18. siccis oculis: i.e. without being moved to tears. The argument is a fortiori: the man who 20 25 qui vidit mare turbidum et infamis scopulos Acroceraunia? Nequiquam deus abscidit prudens Oceano dissociabili terras, si tamen impiae non tangenda rates transiliunt vada. Audax omnia perpeti gens humana ruit per vetitum nefas. could contemplate these things without profound emotion would of course not be daunted by mere physical danger. The thought in this strophe is not, as in the preceding, of the storm with its perils, which might attract a man of adventurous spirit, but of the awful grandeur of the sea itself, the tremendous force of its waves, and the portentous shapes that people its waters. The man who gazes with indifference on these manifestations of a power immeasurably above all human strength is lacking, not in fear, but in reverence (pietas), and will brave the displeasure of Heaven in other ways. This thought is developed in the remainder of the ode. 20. infamis: from the frequency of shipwrecks there. — scopulos: Intr. 126 c.- Acroceraunia: a long narrow promontory forming the northwestern extremity of Epirus and enclosing the gulf of Oricum. It had to be passed on the voyage to Athens. 21. deus prudens, divine providence. The divine power that rules the world is often expressed by the word deus without further definition (cf. 18. 3, 34. 13, III. 16. 43, 29. 30, Epod. 13. 7, Ep. I. 11. 22, 16. 78), giving evidence of the persistence of a dim conception of a supreme being through the multifarious development of Roman polytheism. See Preller-Jordan, Röm. Myth., I. 48. As a personality, however, this supreme ruler was no other than Jupiter; incomparably more powerful than all other beings in the universe (cf. 12. 13 sqq.) but not the one God. - abscidit, set apart. . . from; cf. Ov. M. I. 22 nam caelo terras et terris abscidit undas. dis 22. prudens: sc. for man's best good. Oceano: Intr. 70.sociabili, incompatible; cf. Tac. Agr. 3 res olim dissociabiles, principatum ac libertatem. The separation of land and water was necessary to make human life possible. 23. impiae: Intr. 124. 24. non tangenda, which they ought not to touch. - transiliunt, course over; suggesting entire freedom from scruple or caution. 25. audax perpeti: Intr. 101 a. - omnia: 'everything' (without exception), hence anything; more forcible than quidlibet (cf. Ep. II. 3. 10 quidlibet audendi) or quidvis (III. 24. 43, Ep. I. 15. 17); cf. holus omne, Ep. I. 5. 2. 26. ruit cf. transiliunt 23 n. per vetitum nefas: i.e. not only through sin, but in the face of an express prohibition. |