CARMEN IV.

AD L. SESTIUM.

SOLVITUR acris hiems grata vice veris et Favonî,
Trahuntque siccas machinæ carinas.

Ac neque jam stabulis gaudet pecus, aut arator igni ;
Nec prata canis albicant pruinis.

Jam Cytherea choros ducit Venus, imminente Luna,
Junctæque Nymphis Gratiæ decentes

Alterno terram quatiunt pede, dum graves Cyclopum
Vulcanus ardens urit officinas.

Nunc decet aut viridi nitidum caput impedire myrto,

Aut flore, terræ quem ferunt solutæ.

Nunc et in umbrosis Fauno decet immolare lucis,
Seu poscat agna, sive malit hædo.

Pallida Mors æquo pulsat pede pauperum tabernas
Regumque turres. O beate Sesti,

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Vitæ summa brevis spem nos vetat inchoare longam. 15
Jam te premet nox, fabulæque Manes,

Et domus exilis Plutonia: quo simul mearis,
Nec regna vini sortiere talis,

mature it.' So Carm. xi. 7.: Spatio brevi spem longam reseces, i. e., Since time is so short, curtail your schemes. Comp. Carm. 11. xvi. 17. The old man is desc. Ars Poet. 172., as spe longus.

16. fabulæ. Subst. in apposition to Manes.

17. exilis, meagre, thin;' hence, as άuevηvós, unsubstantial death:" Shakesp. Romeo and Juliet, A. 5, Sc. 3. Virg. Æn. vi. 269. :

domos Ditis vacuas et inania regna. 18. When you have once gone thither, you shall no more take part in feasts.'

regna vini, i. e. the post of rex or arbiter bibendi, Carm. II. vii. 25.; president of the feast.

Nec tenerum Lycidan mirabere, quo calet juventus
Nunc omnis, et mox virgines tepebunt.

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Simplex munditiis? Heu! quoties fidem
Mutatosque Deos flebit, et aspera
Nigris æquora ventis

Emirabitur insolens,`

Qui nunc te fruitur credulus aurea;

Qui semper vacuam, semper amabilem
Sperat, nescius auræ

Fallacis. Miseri, quibus

Intentata nites! Me tabula sacer

Votiva paries indicat uvida

Suspendisse potenti
Vestimenta maris Deo.

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10. vacuam, 'disengaged, ready to receive him.' Nearly as Epist. II. ii. 94. Comp. Carm. 1. vi. 19.

13. sqq. I have experienced and escaped the snare; and, like a shipwrecked mariner, have hung up the tokens of my escape in Neptune's temple.'

For this practice, see on Ars Poet. 20.; cf. Virg. Æn. xii. 769.

16. maris, gov. by potenti, as Carm. 1. iii. 1., potens Cypri., and 1. vi. 10., lyræ potens.

CARMEN VI.

AD AGRIPPAM.

SCRIBERIS Vario fortis et hostium
Victor Mæonii carminis alite,

Quam rem cunque ferox navibus aut equis
Miles, te duce, gesserit.

Nos, Agrippa, neque hæc dicere, nec gravem
Pelidæ stomachum cedere nescii,

Nec cursus duplicis per mare Ulixei,
Nec sævam Pelopis domum

Conamur, tenues grandia: dum pudor
Imbellisque lyræ Musa potens vetat
Laudes egregii Cæsaris et tuas
Culpa deterere ingenî.

Quis Martem tunica tectum adamantina
Digne scripserit? aut pulvere Troïo
Nigrum Merionen? aut ope Palladis
Tydiden Superis parem?

ODE VI.
Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa. The
First General and Minister of the
Emperor; also his son-in-law.

1. Vario M. c. alite, i. e. the great Epic poet. Cp. Sat. 1. x. 43. Scriberis a Vario might have been expected; but the omission gives it the construction of the abl. absolute; i. e., cum Varius sit insignis poeta. So Orell.

...

3. navibus equis, by sea or land.

5. neque haec.. nec gravem. i. e. 'Achievements such as yours are a subject for Epic or Tragic poetry; as those of Achilles, Ulysses, and the destinies of the house of Pelops.' Orell. supposes an allusion, in ver. 8., to Varius's play of Thyestes.

6. nescii. Virg. Æn. xi. 527.: nescia vinci pectora.

7. duplicis,crafty.' οὐ διπλοῦς πέφυκ ̓ ἀνήρ, Eur. Rhe. 395., in converse sign., simplex.

Sine fraude dolisque innocuum simplex. Ov. Met. xv. 121. 9. Cp. Carm. III. iii. 69.; Epist. 11. i. 257.

11. Cp. Ov. Trist. ii. 335.

13. adamantina; again Carm. III. xxiv. 5. Adamas (fr. daμáw), something unconquerable, the hardest iron or steel.

tunica tect. ad., 'in his shirt of mail,' a transl. of the Homeric χαλκεοθώρηξ, χαλκοχίτων. 15. Merionen, See Hom. Il. 0. 264, v. 528.

16. Tydiden. Hom. Il. n. 335.,

Nos convivia, nos prælia virginum
Sectis in juvenes unguibus acrium
Cantamus, vacui, sive quid urimur,
Non præter solitum leves.

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CARMEN VII.

AD MUNATIUM PLANCUM.

LAUDABUNT alii claram Rhodon, aut Mytilenen;
Aut Epheson, bimarisve Corinthi

Moenia, vel Baccho Thebas, vel Apolline Delphos
Insignes, aut Thessala Tempe.

Sunt quibus unum opus est, intactæ Palladis arces
Carmine perpetuo celebrare, et

Undique decerptam fronti præponere olivam.
Plurimus, in Junonis honorem,

Aptum dicet equis Argos, ditesque Mycenas.
Me nec tam patiens Lacedæmon,

and 855. his combat with Venus
and Mars.

19. vacui. Sive understood, as in Carm. 1. iii. 16.

20. non præter, i. e. more solito.

ODE VII.

1. Rhodon aut Mytilenen. Mentioned together again in Epist. 1. ii. 17. as unattractive, "incolumi," i. e. to any but an invalid: Gesn. cf. Cic. Fam. iv. 7. and vii. 3., to show that they were a favourite resort of exiles.

2. Ephesus, Ayasaluk. bimaris Cor. Sinopos, Eur. Troad. 1097.; ἀμφιθάλασσος, Pind. Οl. vii. 33., between the Sinus Corinthiacus and Saronicus.

3. Soph. Antig. 153. On6as ἐλελίχθων Βάκχιος. Apolline Delphos. Eur. Ion, 5.: Δελφῶν τήνδε γῆν ἵν ̓ ὄμφαλον

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μέσον καθίζων Φοῖβος ὑμνῳδεῖ

βροτοῖς.

4. Tempe. Eur. Troad. 214.: τὰν Πηνειοῦ σεμνὰν χώραν κρηπίδ' Οὐλύμπου καλλίστων, where also, vv. 218, 219. (as may be implied here inunum opus est'), the first place is given to Attica: Onoéws Zabéar xúpav...

5. The pride of others is in a set poem to celebrate Athens (or Attica), and to gain an olive-wreath from every part of it, i. e. from every legend to gain poetic fame.

7. fronti. Carm. I. i. 29. 8. Pind. Nem. x. 2.: "Hpas dŵμa Θεοπρεπές; comp. Hom. Il. δ. 51, 52.

9. aptum equis: iπTÓGотоν, Hom. Il. B. 287.

Mycenas dites: πολυχρύσους, Hom. Il. n. 180., and Soph. Elect. 9. 10. patiens Lacedaemon: Pueri

Nec tam Larissa percussit campus opimæ,
Quam domus Albuneæ resonantis,
Et præceps Anio, ac Tiburni lucus, et uda

Mobilibus pomaria rivis.

Albus ut obscuro deterget nubila cœlo
Sæpe Notus, neque parturit imbres

Perpetuo sic tu sapiens finire memento

Tristitiam vitæque labores

Molli, Plance, mero, seu te fulgentia signis

Castra tenent, seu densa tenebit

Quum fugeret, tamen uda Lyæo

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Tiburis umbra tui. Teucer Salamina patremque

Tempora populea fertur vinxisse corona,

Sic tristes affatus amicos:

Quo nos cunque feret melior Fortuna parente,

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Ibimus, o socii comitesque,

Nil desperandum Teucro duce et auspice Teucro;
Certus enim promisit Apollo

Ambiguam tellure nova Salamina futuram.

O fortes, pejoraque passi

...

30

la-expressive of the white fleecy clouds which accompany westerly or N.W. winds.

Spartiatæ non ingemiscunt
niati: Cic. Tusc. v. 27.
11. percussit, 'charms.'
Larissa opimæ, épi6wλaкa, Hom.
II. B. 841.

12. Albuneæ. The Sibyl Albunea had a temple, grove, and well sacred to her, close to Tibur.

13. Anio, Teverone.

lucus. i. e. Tibur (Tivoli, 20 miles from Rome, Mart. iv. lvii. 4.). Not all these places of legendary or historic fame equal it in the poet's eyes cf. Carm. 11. vi. 5.

Tiburnus, with his brothers (Carm. I. xviii. 2.; Virg. Æn. vii. 671.), founded it.

15. albus. See Il. A. 306.: Zéφυρος νέφεα στυφελίξῃ ̓Αργέσταο

21. Teucer. See his exile and its reasons anticipated in Soph. Ajax. 1006-1019. Eurip. Hel. 90, Cf. Virg. Æn. i. 620.

28. Eurip. Hel. 148.:
Κύπρον οὗ μ' ἐθέσπισεν
οἰκεῖν Απόλλων ὄνομα νησιωτικὸν
Σαλαμῖνα θέμενον.

29. i. e. that the new Salamis shall so rival the old as to make it doubtful, in mentioning the name, which is meant. Cf. prolem ambiguam, Virg. Æn. iii. 180.

30. Cf. Odyss. e. 223.: hồn yàp μáλa móλλ' čπаboν, imitated in Sat. 11. v. 21. ; Virg. Æn. i. 199.,