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 To skies Italian and the Roman rights, Hath thee restored,-chief of my friends, Pompeius? Flower-crowned, and glistening with Arabian balms! With thee I shared, in field and flight, Philippi ;— And tongues that threatened loudest licked the dust. But me swift Mercury3 rapt thro' lines of foemen, Into the whirl of battle drag once more. Tempus in ultimum'-'in summum vitæ discrimen' (in extremest 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 Dis patriis Italoque cælo, Pompei meorum prime sodalium? Malobathro Syrio capillos. Tecum Philippos et celerem fugam Sed me per hostes Mercurius3 celer 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, Nor spare yon casks:-they were reserved for thee. Boys, fill the cups-smooth-wide-lipp'd cups of Egypt1— Who parsley fresh and myrtle first will wreathe? Ah! whom will Venus single for our wine-king? 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 Depone sub lauru mea, nec Parce cadis tibi destinatis. Oblivioso levia Massico Ciboria1 exple; funde capacibus Curatve myrto? quem Venus arbitrum 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: At all this treason Venus laughs, then? laugh out Red with men's heart-blood. ''Simplices Nymphæ'-'ab omni fraude alienæ.'--Orelli. |