Q. HORATII FLACCI CARMINUM

LIBER SECUNDUS.

CARMEN I.

AD ASINIUM POLLIONEM.

MOTUM ex Metello consule civicum,
Bellique causas et vitia et modos,
Ludumque Fortunæ, gravesque
Principum amicitias, et arma

Nondum expiatis uncta cruoribus,
Periculosæ plenum opus aleæ,
Tractas, et incedis per ignes
Suppositos cineri doloso.

ODE I.

Caius Asinius Pollio. See Sat. I. x. 42.; Virg. Ecl. viii. 6-13. Historian, poet, orator, general, founder of the first public library at Rome, Ov. Trist. III. i. 71.

1. motum civicum, the civil wars.' Their origin is traced here to the year of the first Triumvirate, B.C. 60.

2. et vitia et modos, 'the errors and operations of the war;' or, in a wider sense and with a hendiadys, 'unprincipled and ambitious schemes ending in war.' (This interpretation suits the context as well as the temper of Horace, whose regrets are not wont to dwell upon the down

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Paullum severæ Musa tragœdiæ
Desit theatris: mox, ubi publicas
Res ordinaris, grande munus
Cecropio repetes cothurno,

Insigne moestis præsidium reis
Et consulenti Pollio curiæ,

Cui laurus æternos honores
Dalmatico peperit triumpho.

Jam nunc minaci murmure cornuum
Perstringis aures, jam litui strepunt,
Jam fulgor armorum fugaces

Terret equos equitumque vultus.

Audire magnos jam videor duces
Non indecoro pulvere sordidos,
Et cuncta terrarum subacta

Præter atrocem animum Catonis.

Juno, et deorum quisquis amicior
Afris inulta cesserat impotens
Tellure, victorum nepotes
Retulit inferias Jugurtha.

Quis non Latino sanguine pinguior
Campus sepulcris impia prælia

expr. vrò σrod aκáμатоv пûρ is in zle,' as Quintil. x. i. 30.: Fulgor quo Theocr. xi. 51.

mens simul visusque perstringitur. litui. Carm. I. i. 23.

24. Carm. I. xii. 36. Cæsar at Pharsalia, B. c. 48, then in Egypt; in Africa, 46, battle of Thapsus in April; in Spain, 45; B. of Munda, killed in the senate-house, March 15., B. c. 44.

25. Juno, as in Virg. Æn. i. 15. -18.

28. Cp. Jugurthino bello, Epod. ix. 23., B. c. 111-106. 29-36. Epod. vii.

Testatur, auditumque Medis
Hesperia sonitum ruinæ ?

Qui gurges, aut quæ flumina lugubris
Ignara belli? quod mare Dauniæ
Non decoloravere cædes?

Quæ caret ora cruore nostro ?

Sed ne, relictis, Musa procax, jocis,
Ceæ retractes munera næniæ:

Mecum Dionæo sub antro

Quære modos leviore plectro.

CARMEN II.

AD SALLUSTIUM CRISPUM.

NULLUS argento color est avaris
Abdito terris, inimice lamnæ,
Crispe Sallusti, nisi temperato
Splendeat usu.

Vivet extento Proculeius ævo

38. Ceæ næniæ. Carm. Iv. ix. 7. Simonides of Ceos, the great lyric poet, one of the literary circle at the court of Hipparchus (not to be confounded with the Iambic poet of Amorgos).

retractes, go out of your way to treat of mournful subjects.' On re in composition, see note on Carm. I. xxxvii. 24.

Revoco is not only to recall, but to call into a fresh direction, Cæs. B. G. iii. 17. (where see Long's note).

Cp. redemissem, Cic. ad Fam. ii. 16.: 'I would gladly divert to myself.'

procax. .jocis. Cp. Carm. III.

iii. 69.

...

39. Dionæo.. 'in the cave of Venus.' Dione, the name of the mother

335

40

of Venus, is sometimes a synonym for Venus herself.

ODE II.

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Caius Sallustius Crispus, great nephew of the historian.

14. Observe the double opposition:

(a) nullus color, (B) abdito. (a) inimice lamnæ, (B) nisi splendeat.

color, beauty, excellence.'

2. lamnæ, contr. for laminæ, any thin sheet of metal; here perhaps a contemptuous term. Cp. Ov. Fast. i. 208.

5. Proculeius, a model of true liberality, quoted as such in Juv. vii. 94. Caius Proculeius Varro Murena, brother of the Murena who was implicated in Cæpio's con

Notus in fratres animi paterni:
Illum aget penna metuente solvi
Fama superstes.

Latius regnes avidum domando
Spiritum, quam si Libyam remotis
Gadibus jungas, et uterque Pœnus
Serviat uni.

Crescit indulgens sibi dirus hydrops,
Nec sitim pellit, nisi causa morbi
Fugerit venis, et aquosus albo
Corpore languor.

Redditum Cyri solio Phraaten
Dissidens plebi numero beatorum
Eximit Virtus, populumque falsis
Dedocet uti

Vocibus; regnum et diadema tutum
Deferens uni propriamque laurum,
Quisquis ingentes oculo irretorto
Spectat acervos.

spiracy, B. C. 22., and brother of
Terentia, the wife of Mæcenas.
6. notus animi. A similar constr.
in Carm. IV. xiii. 21.

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15

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In consequence of his crimes, many Parthian nobles fled to M. Antony, who marched (B. c. 36) into Parthia, but without any suc cess; and his plans of re-invasion were checked by the civil war between himself and Octavianus. Meanwhile Phraates, provoking a

7. metuente solvi, untiring.' The same class of phrase as cedere nescii, Carm. L. vi. 6. (Culpari metuit, IV. v. 20.; metuentes tingi, Virg. G. i. 246., are phrases not quite analo-revolution, was driven out, and gous perhaps; for they are used of things personified.)

11. jungas, i. e., under your do

minion.

Tiridates, one of the royal family,
was set up. Phraates was restored
by Scythian aid. Tiridates fled to
Augustus with Phraates's youngest
son. This led to treaties, and the

uterque Pœnus. i. e. Spain and
Africa, alluding to the Carthaginian" signa recepta " in B. c. 20.
colonies in Spain.
22. Cp. Epist. I. i. 60.:

13. Cp. Ov. Fast. i. 215.

17. Cyri solio. See above, on Carm. 1. ii. 51. Phraates IV.(Arsaces XV.) succeeded his father Orodes I. (whom he murdered), B. c. 38.

...

pueri ludentes Rex eris aiunt Si recte facies.

propriam. i. e. which none can take away. Ep. 1. ii. 172.

23. irretorto,unaverted' eye, undazzled by the glare.