Quam pæne furvæ regna Proserpinae, acum, Et judicantem vidimus Eoliis fidibus querentem Sappho puellis de popularibus; Dura fugæ mala, dura belli! Pugnas et exactos tyrannos Densum humeris bibit aure vulgus. Quid mirum ? ubi illis carminibus stupens Aures, et intorti capillis Eumenidum recreantur angues; Quin et Prometheus et Pelopis parens 23. discretas. See Epod. xvi. 63. Cp. Virg. Æn. viii. 670.: secretosque pios. 24. oliis. Sappho and Alcæus were the two great leaders of the Æolian school of lyric poetry, about 600 B. C., cotemporary with Pittacus, who held his power as aiovμvýτns 588-579 B. C. Alcæus's share in the hardships of the civil war is alluded to ver. 27, 28. His fate ("relictâ parmulâ ") is often compared with that of Horace. 30. mirantur is used here with acc. and infin. instead of the simple acc.; so, in Carm. II. ix. 19., cantemus has both constructions following it. 32. densum humeris, 'crowding up.' 34. centiceps bellua. Cerberus. 15 30 335 37. Prometheus. Carm. I. iii. 27. Pelopis parens. Tantalus, of whose punishment see Odyss. X. 582. 38. laborum decipitur, has his sufferings beguiled.' Fallere curam, laborem, is a common phrase; so decipitur labor might be used." This seems to be an instance of the partitive genitive; as the vetus scholiastes explains it, "He has a part of his labours taken from him." Key, in Lat. Gram. 940., says, "Verbs of removal or separation have a gen. in old writers and poetry; so in Horat., abstineto irarum, desine querelarum, and (which just corresponds to this passage), me laborum levas,' Plaut. Rud. 1. iv. 27.; nec sermonis fallebar,' nor was I cheated out of Nec curat Orion leones CARMEN XIV. AD POSTUMUM. EHEU fugaces, Postume, Postume, Afferet, indomitæque Morti. Non, si trecenis, quotquot eunt dies, Compescit unda, scilicet omnibus, Sive inopes erimus coloni. Frustra cruento Marte carebimus Visendus ater flumine languido what they said, Plaut. Epid. II. ii. 55." 32. Orion. Odyss. A. 572. ODE XIV. 5. quotquot eunt dies. i. e. quotidie. 7. ter amplum Geryonem. TOV τρισώματον . • βοτῆρ' Ερυθείας, Eurip. Herc. F. 423. ; forma tricorporis umbræ, Virg. Æn. vi. 289. 11. enaviganda, to be crossed once for all; e in compos. expressing thoroughness, finality. 15. per auctumnos; alluding to the malaria and the sickly season of autumn. So Carm. III. xxiii. 8.; Sat. II. vi. 19; Juv. Sat. x. 221. 18. Danai genus, Carm. III. xi. 23. sqq. Infame, damnatusque longi Linquenda tellus, et domus, et placens Ulla brevem dominum sequetur. CARMEN XV. IN SUI SECULI LUXURIAM. JAM pauca aratro jugera regiæ Stagna lacu platanusque cœlebs 19. damnatus laboris. An unusual construction, but compared by the Scholiast with the common damnatus capitis. 20. Sisyphus. Hom. Od. λ. 593. 23. cupressos. Planted near tombs. See the story in Ov. Met. x. 106 -142.: tristisque deus "lugebere nobis Lugebisque alios aderisque dolentibus "inquit. 24. brevem, 'short-lived.' So Carm. II. iii. 13. ; esp. Carm. i. xxxvi. 16., where it is opposed to vivax. 25. Cæcuba, Carm. 1. xx. 9. dignior, 'more worthy to possess, because using more freely. 27. tinget pavimentum. Shakesp. Timon, A. ii. sc. 2.: "Our vaults have wept with drunken spilth of wine." Cp. Evincet ulmos: tum violaria et Tum spissa ramis laurea fervidos Privatus illis census erat brevis, 5 10 Commune magnum: nulla decempedis 15 5. violaria Porticus excipiebat Arcton; Nec fortuitum spernere cæspitem Templa novo decorare saxo. 7. olivetis. aptly compares Quintil. VIII. iii. The termination -arium or -etum gives nouns a collective meaning. In Greek such nouns end in -wv οι -ώνια, as λav, olivetum; iwvía, violarium; podewv or podwvía, rosetum or rosarium; so devopav, ἀμπελῶν, ἰτεών. 6. myrtus, nom, plur. copia narium. A curious phrase for sweet-smelling flowers. 8. Horace complains that ornamental shrubs and flowers take the place of useful plantations. Orelli 8. |