CARMEN XXIX.

AD MECENATEM.

TYRRHENA regum progenies, tibi
Non ante verso lene merum cado,
Cum flore, Mæcenas, rosarum, et
Pressa tuis balanus capillis

Jam dudum apud me est. Eripe te mora; 5

Ne

semper udum Tibur, et Æsulæ

Declive contempleris arvum, et

Telegoni juga parricidæ.

Fastidiosam desere copiam et

Molem propinquam nubibus arduis ;

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Omitte mirari beatæ

Fumum et opes strepitumque Romæ.

Plerumque gratæ divitibus vices,

Mundæque parvo sub lare pauperum

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Cœnæ, sine aulæis et ostro,

Sollicitam explicuere frontem.

Jam clarus occultum Andromeda pater
Ostendit ignem: jam Procyon furit
Et stella vesani Leonis,
Sole dies referente siccos.

20

Circæa monia. Epod. i. 30. 10. molem, Mæcenas's house, which was on the Esquiline. It was remarkable for a tower of unusual height; its commanding view is implied, ver. 7.

16. explicuere,' can smooth.' Gr. ἐκτάνυσαι.

ούτε παρειάων ἐκτανύσεις ῥυτίδας. Lucil. Epigr. in Anth. 17. Andromeda pater, Cepheus. The rising of these stars is in July.

Jam pastor umbras cum grege languido
Rivumque fessus quærit, et horridi
Dumeta Silvani: caretque

Ripa vagis taciturna ventis.

Tu civitatem quis deceat status
Curas, et Urbi sollicitus times,
Quid Seres et regnata Cyro
Bactra parent Tanaisque discors.
Prudens futuri temporis exitum
Caliginosa nocte premit deus,
Ridetque, si mortalis ultra

Fas trepidat. Quod adest memento
Componere æquus; cetera fluminis
Ritu feruntur, nunc medio alveo
Cum pace delabentis Etruscum

In mare, nunc lapides adesos,

Stirpesque raptas, et pecus et domos
Volventis una, non sine montium

Clamore vicinæque silvæ,

Quum fera diluvies quietos

Irritat amnes.

Ille potens sui

Lætusque deget, cui licet in diem
Dixisse, "Vixi: cras vel atra
Nube polum Pater occupato

27. Seres. Carm. 1. xii. 56. regnata Cyro. See note on Carm. 1. ii. 22.

The sense of the stanza is: You, at this period of relaxation, are unceasing in your care for the public peace, and the foreign relations of the state. But look not too forward; make sure of (quod adest) the present.'

33. fluminis ritu, &c. See Gray, Progress of Poesy, st. 1., an imita

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30

35

40

42. in diem, at the close of every day;' not vixi in diem.

43. vixi. Cp. Martial, Ep. v. 58: Cras te victurum, cras dicis, Postume, semper:

Dic mihi cras istud, Postume, quando venit?

*

*

Cras vives hodie jam vivere, Pos-
tume, serum est;
Ille sapit quisquis, Postume,

"Vel sole puro: non tamen irritum,
Quodcunque retro est, efficiet: neque
Diffinget infectumque reddet,

Quod fugiens semel hora vexit."

Fortuna sævo læta negotio, et
Ludum insolentem ludere pertinax,
Transmutat incertos honores,

Nunc mihi, nunc alii benigna.

Laudo manentem: si celeres quatit
Pennas, resigno quæ dedit, et mea
Virtute me involvo, probamque
Pauperiem sine dote quæro.

Non est meum, si mugiat Africis
Malus procellis, ad miseras preces
Decurrere; et votis pacisci,
Ne Cypriæ Tyriæque merces

Addant avaro divitias mari.
Tum me, biremis præsidio scaphæ
Tutum, per Ægæos tumultus
Aura feret geminusque Pollux.

59. votis pacisci, 'to make a bargain in prayer with the gods.' Cp. prece poscis emaci, Pers. Sat. ii. 3.

62. biremis præsidio scaphæ. Biremis here used, not of a bireme (i. e. a ship with two banks of oars), but of a two-oared boat, in which, if the ship is wrecked, the passenger may escape.

The sense is, even in the wreck of my fortunes I shall be unhurt.' 64. geminus Pollux. Carm. I. iii. 2.

CARMEN XXX.

EXEGI monumentum ære perennius,
Regalique situ pyramidum altius;

Quod non imber edax, non Aquilo impotens
Possit diruere, aut innumerabilis
Annorum series et fuga temporum.

Non omnis moriar, multaque pars mei
Vitabit Libitinam. Usque ego postera
Crescam laude recens, dum Capitolium
Scandet cum tacita Virgine pontifex.
Dicar, qua violens obstrepit Aufidus,
Et qua pauper aquæ Daunus agrestium
Regnavit populorum, ex humili potens,
Princeps Æolium carmen ad Italos
Deduxisse modos. Sume superbiam

Quæsitam meritis, et mihi Delphica
Lauro cinge volens, Melpomene, comam.

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10

15

tacitâ virgine, the Vestal vir

gins.

de10. dicar qua violens . . duxisse. i. e. it will be the boast of my countrymen (the Apulians), that I first adapted the poetry of Æolia (see Carm. 1. i. 34.) to Italian

measures.

11. Daunus, the ancient legendary king of Apulia.

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pauper aquæ. So Epod. iii. 16. 12. ex humili potens, raised from obscurity to fame.'

16. volens. Ex formulâ publicâ

Dum domus Æneæ Capitoli immo-"volens propitius:" Gesn. (as in

bile saxum

Accolet.

Liv. vii. 26.).

Q. HORATII FLACCI CARMINUM

LIBER QUARTUS.

CARMEN I.

AD VENEREM.

INTERMISSA, Venus, diu

Rursus bella moves? Parce, precor, precor.

Non sum, qualis eram bonæ

Sub regno Cinaræ. Desine, dulcium

Mater sæva Cupidinum,

Circa lustra decem flectere mollibus

Jam durum imperiis. Abi,

Quo blandæ juvenum te revocant preces.
Tempestivius in domum

Paulli, purpureis ales oloribus,

ODE I.

4. Cinare, a real person apparently, mentioned again, Carm. iv. xiii. 21.

bonæ. Explained by Orelli from Tibull. II. iv. 45.:

bona quæ nec avara ... Cp. Epist. I. xiv. 33.

5. Carm. 1. xix. 1. 6. circa lustra decem, at 50 years old.' In Carm. 11. iv. 24., Horace marks his 40th year by a similar phrase.

Olympias is sometimes used as lustrum: Ov. Ex P. 1v. vi. 5., quinquennis Olympias;

and Trist. IV. x. 96.,

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