45 50 55 vel sole puro non tamen inritum quod fugiens semel hora vexit.' nunc mihi, nunc alii benigna. Laudo manentem: si celeris quatit pennas, resigno quae dedit et mea virtute me involvo probamque pauperiem sine dote quaero. Non est meum, si mugiat Africis malus procellis, ad miseras preces 45 ff. inritum: void. diffinget: change. - infectum reddet: destroy. fugiens: in its flight. 49 ff. cf. Dryden's famous paraphrase, 'Fortune that with malicious joy Does Man, her slave, oppress, Proud of her office to destroy, Is seldom pleased to bless: Still various, and inconstant still, But with an inclination to be ill, Promotes, degrades, delights in strife, | And makes a lottery of life. I can enjoy her while she's kind; | But when she dances in the wind, | And shakes her wings and will not stay, | I puff the prostitute away: | The little or the much she gave, is quickly resigned, Content with poverty my soul I arm, | And virtue, though in rags, will keep me warm.' - 49 ff. laeta: rejoicing in. ludum: cf. 2, 1, 3. - ludere: Intr. 108. - transmutat honores: cf. I, 34, 14 ff. 52. mihi: Horace here lapses into his common habit of using himself as a concrete illustration of the principle (here of independence) he has been urging. 54 ff. pennas: Fortune is always winged; cf. 1, 34, 15. — resigno: I yield back; apparently a book-keeping term to carry to the other side of the account,'' to credit back.'- me involvo: his honor is his only cloak. Cf. Plato's proposal for his ideal state Rep. 5, 457 Α. ἀρετὴν ἀντὶ ἱματίων ἀμφι σονται (ai yuvaîkes). quaero as a lover his bride. 57. non est meum: colloquial, it's not my way. Cf. Plaut. Asin. 60 decurrere et votis pacisci, ne Cypriae Tyriaeque merces 190 AR. non meum est. CL. nec 59 f. votis pacisci: ironically said of the common bargain' prayer. Cypriae Tyriaeque : concrete for Oriental.' 61 ff. avaro . . . mari: a common personification; cf. 1, 28, 18. biremis two-oared skiff. The 30 point is that a tiny boat will save a man from the storms of life if only he possess a soul content within itself. -aura: the breeze, contrasted with Africis procellis. - geminus Pollux: Castor and Pollux, who will secure him the favoring breeze and a safe voyage. For the Dioscuri as protectors of sailors, see 1, 3, 2 and n. In the prologue to the three books of odes Horace expresses the modest hope that Maecenas will count him a lyric poet; in the epilogue he triumphantly declares that he has built a monument of verse that will outlast bronze and unnumbered time itself. He boasts that his fame shall grow when he is dead, and that so long as Rome shall last, men shall say that he was the first to transplant Aeolian verse to Italy. So let the Muse place the laurel crown upon his brow. It is little wonder that when Horace surveyed the substantial body of lyric verse which he was about to intrust to the world, he felt a natural pride in his accomplishment. This feeling was undoubtedly increased by the thought of his humble origin and by the memory of his early struggles for recognition and of the envious scorn he had aroused among the noble poetasters of his day. Of this last, however, there is no hint in this ode. Horace now knew that his fame was secure. He was the first Roman to write a large amount of lyric poetry, and his odes had already received the favorable judgment of the best critics in Rome. If to our modern taste he seems too frank in expression, we must remember that antiquity apparently took no such offense, for he had many predecessors, and later poets did not hesitate to speak with equal boldness. Metre, only 1, I and here, 53. 5 Exegi monumentum aere perennius regalique situ pyramidum altius, quod non imber edax, non Aquilo impotens possit diruere aut innumerabilis annorum series et fuga temporum. 1 ff. exegi: emphasizing the completion of the work. Horace may have had in mind Pindar's boast, P. 6, 7 f. ἑτοιμος ὕμνων θησαυρὸς . . . τετείχισται . . . [ τὸν ούτε χειμέριος ὄμβρος ἐπακτος ἐλθὼν ἐριβρόμου νεφέλας, στρατὸς ἀμείλιχος, οὔτ ̓ ἄνεμος ἐς μυχοὺς ἁλὸς ἄξοισι παμφύρῳ χεράδει | τυπτόμε Vov. 'A ready treasury of song has now been built. . . . neither winter storm, coming fiercely from the thunder cloud, a grim host, nor wind-blast shall carry it to the secret recesses of the sea, beaten by the sweeping rubble.' Cf. also Ovid's imitation of Horace in the epilogue to the Metamorphoses, iamque opus exegi quod nec Iovis ira nec ignis nec poterit ferrum nec edax abolere vetustas, etc. 2 ff. situ: pile.- pyramidum : the lofty pyramids have naturally been a measure of man's supremest accomplishment in both ancient and more modern times.- quod : such that, etc.-edax: frequently applied to time, e.g. Anth. Lat. 1167.46 M. quae non tempus edax, non rapit ira lovis. Claud. Carm. min. 34, 5 aetatis spatium non tenuavit edax.-impotens: powerless to harm, not weak,' as in 1, 37, 10. - fuga: cf. 2, 14, 1 fugaces anni; 3, 29, 48. 6 f. non omnis moriar, etc.: cf. Ovid's imitations Am. I, 15, 42 parsque mei multa superstes erit ; Met. 15,875 f. parte tamen meliore mei super alta perennis | astra ferar. Libitina: the goddess at whose temple all the requirements for funerals were rented out and where the registry of deaths was kept. Therefore by metonymy, 'the rites of death." 1Ο 15 scandet cum tacita virgine pontifex, the Capitol as the most significant 9. scandet, etc.: we do not know whether Horace refers to any regular procession; it is most probable that he mentions the Vestal Virgin and Pontifex simply as representatives of two ancient institutions. a Greek construction.. 13 f. princeps: Horace ignores Catullus. Aeolium: cf. 1, I. 34 and n.; 2, 13, 24. — Italos: since the conquest of Italy, equivalent to Latinos. deduxisse: composed; apparently a metaphor taken from spinning. Cf. Epist 2. 1, 225 tenui deducta poemata filo, and our common ‘spin,' ' to run on at length,' to relate.' - modos: strains. Horace's claim to eminence is that he has been the pioneer in writing lyric poetry after the manner of the best of the Greeks. 14 ff. sume superbiam: i.e. 'as is thy right, for thou, goddess, hast inspired all my song.' Cf. the acknowledgment 4, 3, 24 quod spiro et placeo, si placeo tuum (Pieri) est. — Delphica: cf. 4, 2.9. laurea Apollinari.—volens: graciously; with propitius a common formula in prayers. So Livy 1. 16, 3 precibus exposcunt uti volens propitius suam semper sospitet progeniem. - Melpomene: cf. n. to I, I, 33. LIBER QVARTVS I Ten years after the publication of what he had regarded as the definitive edition of his lyric poems, Horace gathered into a fourth book some occasional odes written at the request of Augustus, and certain other poems. See Intr. 9. At the head of the collection he placed some light verses reminiscent of his earlier service as a poet of love, and intended to remind the reader that this was still his proper field. In these verses he protests that at fifty his days of love are over, and that Venus should spare him. Young Paulus Maximus, the noble, comely, and eloquent, will do the goddess larger service and pay her greater honor. For himself, he no longer finds delight in maid or boy, in hope for love returned, in sport with wine and flowers. And yet, what means this tear! The unexpected turn at v. 33 is similar to that in 3, 26, 11 f. Paulus Maximus is introduced by Horace, partly to compliment his young friend, and partly to secure a foil for himself and his ten lustra. The ode was probably written but a short time before the publication of the book, i.e. about 14-13 B.C. Metre, 71. Intermissa, Venus, diu rursus bella moves? Parce, precor, precor. Non sum qualis eram bonae sub regno Cinarae. 1f. intermissa: naturally placed first, referring to the ten years in which his lyre had not sung of love.bella: cf. v. 16 below, and 3, 26, 2 and n. parce, etc. : frequently imitated by later poets; cf. e.g. Ovid Trist. 2, 179 parce precor fulmenque tuum, fera tela, Desine, dulcium. reconde; 5, 2, 53; Mart. 7, 68, 2 parce precor socero. 4 f. sub regno: sway; cf. 3, 9, 9 me nunc Thessa Chloe regit. Cinarae: apparently the only one among all of Horace's loves who had a real existence. Between her and the poet there seems to |