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ODE VII.

TO POMPEIUS VARUS.

The person addressed in this charming ode must not be confounded with the rich Pompeius Grosphus, to whom the 16th Ode, Book II., is inscribed.

Oh, oft with me, in last extremes of peril,1
Brother in arms, what time our chief was Brutus,—
Who to thy native gods,

To skies Italian and the Roman rights,

Hath thee restored,-chief of my friends, Pompeius?
With whom how oft has loitering day been broken
O'er brimmed cups, our locks

Flower-crowned, and glistening with Arabian balms!

With thee I shared, in field and flight, Philippi ;—
Where, not too bravely, left behind my buckler,2
When Valour's self gave way,

And tongues that threatened loudest licked the dust.

But me swift Mercury3 rapt thro' lines of foemen,
And bore aloft in cloud, secure but trembling;
Thee did the stormy surge

Into the whirl of battle drag once more.

Tempus in ultimum'-'in summum vitæ discrimen' (in extremest
See Catullus, 64, 151- Supremo in tempore;' et v.

danger of life).

169- Extremo tempore sæva fors,' &c.-ORELLI,

2 Relicta non bene parmula;

Cum fracta virtus, et minaces

Turpe solum tetigere mento.'

Horace's modest confession of having left his shield behind him at

Philippi has been very harshly perverted into a proof of cowardice—

CARM. VII.

O sæpe mecum tempus in ultimum1
Deducte, Bruto militiæ duce,
Quis te redonavit Quiritem

Dis patriis Italoque cælo,

Pompei meorum prime sodalium?
Cum quo morantem sæpe diem mero
Fregi coronatus nitentes

Malobathro Syrio capillos.

Tecum Philippos et celerem fugam
Sensi, relicta non bene parmula;
Cum fracta virtus, et minaces
Turpe solum tetigere mento.2

Sed me per hostes Mercurius3 celer
Denso paventem sustulit aëre ;
Te rursus in bellum resorbens
Unda fretis tulit æstuosis.

probably the last accusation to which a soldier who had shared with his friend the extremest dangers of Brutus would be fairly subjected. The accusation derived from his own playful reference is confuted by the lines that immediately follow :-When valour was broken, and those who had most menaced touched ground with their chins-i.e., as Orelli construes it, begged for quarter, than which flight itself was more honourable. In fact, Brutus himself advised flight. We much prefer this interpretation to that which would make Horace sneer at those haughty boasters for being slain. Horace was the last man to sneer at the soldier who fell bravely in battle, while he has specially singled for contempt the soldier who asks for quarter—(Lib. III. Ode v. 1. 36.)

* Mercury was the tutelary god of poets, whom, according to astrologers, his planet still favours. In C. iii. 4, 26, Horace ascribes his preservation, not to Mercury, but to the Muses.

To Jove, then, give the feast thou ow'st his mercy,
And rest the limbs with lengthened warfare wearied
Under my laurel. Come,

Nor spare yon casks:-they were reserved for thee.

Boys, fill the cups-smooth-wide-lipp'd cups of Egypt1—
With lulling Massic that makes Care forgetful;
Shed balms from amplest shells.

Who parsley fresh and myrtle first will wreathe?

Ah! whom will Venus single for our wine-king?
As for myself, I will out-drink a Thracian :

Sweet to go mad with joy

Joy for the friend whom I regain once more!

16 Ciboria,' cups shaped like the pod of the Egyptian bean. superius lato, inferius angusto.'- -ORELLI.

* 'Quem Venus arbitrum dicet bibendi.' throw on the dice, Canis the lowest.

'Ore

Venus was the highest

Ergo obligatam redde Jovi dapem
Longaque fessum militia latus

Depone sub lauru mea, nec

Parce cadis tibi destinatis.

Oblivioso levia Massico

Ciboria1 exple; funde capacibus
Unguenta de conchis. Quis udo
Deproperare apio coronas

Curatve myrto? quem Venus arbitrum
Dicet bibendi? Non ego sanius
Bacchabor Edonis: recepto

Dulce mihi furere est amico.

ODE VII.

TO BARINE.

Some of the MSS., upon what authority is unknown, prefix Julia to Barine. Bentley objects to the name as being neither Greek nor Latin. Orelli shrewdly suggests that there were plenty of gay ladies at Rome who were of other nations besides Greece and Rome. The name, however, is

If for thy vows forsworn the least infliction

very

Came from the gods; were one white tooth less pearl-like,

One very nail less rosy, then, Barine,

I might believe thee.

But in proportion as that head perfidious

Thou doom'st to Orcus, brighter shines thy beauty,

And grows still more the universal theme of

Youthful adorers.

Clearly with thee it prospers to be perjured:
Oaths 'by a mother's urn,' 'night's starry silence,'
'All heaven,' 'the deathless gods,' obtain thee blessings
Only when broken.

At all this treason Venus laughs, then? laugh out
The very nymphs, so truthful, and fierce Cupid,
Sharpening his fiery arrows on a whetstone,

Red with men's heart-blood.

''Simplices Nymphæ'-'ab omni fraude alienæ.'--Orelli.

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