: Diva, producas subolem, Patrumque Certus undenos decies per annos Vosque veraces cecinisse, Parcæ, Quod semel dictum est, stabilisque rerum Jungite fata. Fertilis frugum pecorisque Tellus Spicea donet Cererem corona: Condito mitis placidusque telo 17. producas. i. e. bring to manhood as (in the epigram quoted on ver. 13.) Poibos deis heav apσενας ηγάγετο. 18. decreta, the Lex Julia, de Maritandis Ordinibus, a law for the regulation of marriages, and the promotion of them. Degrading marriages were made illegal, and the illegality was a bar to receiving legacies; penalties were imposed on celibacy. This law appears to have passed B. c. 18; in A. D. 9 it was amended and added to, in the consulship of M. Papius Mutilus and L. Poppæus Secundus, after which time the title of the law is given commonly as Lex Julia et Papia Poppaa. 6 22. orbis, cycle.' 25. veraces. An allusion to the oracles of the Sibylline books. 26. quod semel dictum est. The proper notion of fatum, i. e. a thing decreed. "Fata sunt quæ divi fantur:" Serv. on Æn. ii. 777. stabilisque terminus. i. e. 'which the determinate issue of events keeps up' (i. e. carries out to completion). Cp. Concordes stabili fatorum numine Parcæ. Virg. Ecl. iv. 47. terminus, a bound or limitation;' hence, a final decision not to be overstepped. So Tépua, Eur. Suppl. 617.: ἁπάντων τέρμ' ἔχοντες αὐτοί (sc. θεοί). Cp. Lucret. i. 78.; Virg. Æn. iv. 23. ter die. i. e. For three days 614., terminus hæret. and nights celebrated by multitudes.'| 31–33. Cp. Epist. 1. i. 135–7. Siderum regina bicornis, audi, Roma si vestrum est opus, Iliæque Cui per ardentem sine fraude Trojam Liberum munivit iter, daturus Dî, probos mores docili juventæ, Romulæ genti date remque prolemque Quæque vos bobus veneratur albis Jam mari terraque manus potentes 37. vestrum opus. i. e. founded under your auspices and your direction. Cp. jussa, ver. 39.; and with that, Virg. Æn. iv. 345. 41. sine fraude. So Carm. 11. xix. 20. 46. senectuti placidæ. "Placida egregie dicitur senectus, quæ sibi placet, prorsus contenta est vitâ et ante actâ et ea quæ etiamnunc ipsi concessa est."-Orelli. I transcribe the note, partly as indicating the emphatic force of the epithets here used, partly as coinciding remarkably with the well-known lines of "The Christian Year: " 35 40 45 50 "Such calm old age as conscience pure, And self-commanding hearts, ensure." 49. quæque veneratur. veneror is here used with the sense and construction of precor, governing a double accusative. Cp. Sat. II. vi. 8.; and Cicer. ad Fam. vi. 7.: qui multa deos venerati sunt contra ejus salutem. Cp. Virg. Æn. iii. 34-36. 51. bellante prior. Virg. Æn. vi. 854. 54. Albanas, Roman,' alluding to the colonisation from Alba. Jam Scythæ responsa petunt, superbi Jam Fides, et Pax, et Honor, Pudorque Priscus, et neglecta redire Virtus Audet: apparetque beata pleno Augur, et fulgente decorus arcu Phoebus, acceptusque novem Camenis, Corporis artus. Si Palatinas videt æquus arces, Remque Romanam Latiumque felix Quæque Aventinum tenet Algidumque, Curet, et votis puerorum amicas 55 60 65 70 Applicet aures. Hæc Jovem sentire, deosque cunctos, Spem bonam certamque domum reporto, Dicere laudes. secures. i. e. the fasces-The 63. Cp. Ov. Met. i. 521., opifer. R. power.' 75 67. lustrum may be an allusion to the recent extension of Augustus's xvii.pooraσía for another five years. 69. Aventinum. Diana had a temple there. 58. priscus. Virg. Æn. vi. 879. 60. copia cornu. Carm. I. 16.; Epist. i. xii. 29. 62. acceptus Camenis. Φοῖβος ἁγήτωρ μελέων. Algidum. Cp. Carm. I. xxi. 6. 70. quindecim viri, the custodiers of the Sibylline books. Feremus; et te vel per Alpium juga, Inhospitalem et Caucasum, Vel occidentis usque ad ultimum sinum EPODE I. Written just before the battle of Actium (cp. Bentley's Chronology). Epode ix. appears to have been composed upon receiving the first news of it. 1. Liburnis. Carm. I. xxxvii. 30. alta propugnacula. The ships in Antony's fleet were of unusual height and size, having as many as 10 banks of oars (Sekhpeis, Plutarch's Life of Antony). Virg., Æn. viii. 692., compares them to floating islands: " Cycladas aut montes, &c." 5. vita si. This seems to be a blending of the two constr. "si superstes mihi eris," and "te superstite." vita sit is found in several good copies, and is not unlikely to be the true reading. Yet the context "si contra" favours the common one. 7. persequemur otium. A phrase used by Cicero, De Off. iii. 1. Roges, tuum labore quid juvem meo Comes minore sum futurus in metu, Qui major absentes habet: Ut assidens implumibus pullis avis Magis relictis; non, ut adsit, auxilî Libenter hoc et omne militabitur Non ut juvencis illigata pluribus Aratra nitantur mea: Pecusve Calabris ante sidus fervidum Lucana mutet pascuis: Nec ut superni villa candens Tusculi Satis superque me benignitas tua Ditavit: haud paravero, Quod aut avarus ut Chremes terra premam, 19. ut avis serpentium. Esch. | mutet, Sept. c. Th. 291.: δράκοντας ὥς τις τέκνων ὑπερδέδοικεν . πελειάς. 21. non ut adsit. Hom. Il A. 116.: “Η δ' (sc. ἔλαφος) εἴπερ τε τύχῃσι μάλα σχεδὸν, οὐ δύναταί σφι χραισμεῖν. 28. militabitur bellum. "Eleganter et nove dictum :" Schol. 25. i. e. not for the sake of gain or gifts. 28. Calabris Lucana mutet. i. e. go from Calabria into Lucania. On see Carm. I. xvii. 2. "Calabris saltibus adjecti Lucani " (Ep. II. ii. 177.) were coveted by cattle-owners as affording them alternations of summer and winter pasturage; the woods and hills of Lucania supplying the first, the mild, soft climate of Calabria the second. 29. Tusculi Circæa monia. See Carm. III. xxix. 8. 31. satis ditavit. Cp. Carm. II xviii. 12. sq., III. xvi. 38. 6 34. discinctus, 'slovenly in dress;' then, careless and dissolute,' opposed to succinctus. |