leane in his prefatory comment on the ode. In some inscriptions Vedius Rufus has been named instead of Menas. Ritter maintains the accuracy of this identification, and affirms that it was no other than Vedius Pollio, a Roman knight, who had been originally a freedman, mentioned by Seneca, Pliny, and others.-See Ritter's note. CARM. IV. Lupis et agnis quanta sortito obtigit, Arat Falerni mille fundi jugera 'Cum bis trium ulnarum toga.' According to Macleane, this applies to the width of the toga, not the length, as commonly translated; I follow his interpretation, but it is disputed. Ut ora vertat huc et huc euntium Liberrima indignatio.' I think with Macleane that this appears rather to mean the open indıgnation which made the passengers turn their looks towards him, than turn away in disgust, which is the construction of the scholiasts. Yonge suggests a totally different interpretation: See how a free' (i.e., unreserved, undisguised) 'scorn alters the countenance' (ora vertat) of all who pass along.' The Triumviri Capitales hal the power of inflicting summary chastisement on slaves. When the scourge was inflicted, à public crier stood by and proclaimed the nature of the crime. FF In public shows, despite the law of Otho,1 He takes a foremost place and sits-a knight. What boots the equipment of yon floating bulwarks, Yon vast array of ponderous brazen prores? What! against slaves and pirates launch an army, Which has for officer,-that man-that man!' 1 Fourteen rows in the theatre and amphitheatre, immediately over the orchestra, were by the law of L. Roscius Otho, A.U.C. 686, appropriated to the knights. As the tribunes of the soldiers had equestrian rank, if the person satirised were one of them, he could therefore take his seat in one of the fourteen rows, despite the intention of Otho, which was to reserve the front seats for persons of genuine rank. * The slaves and pirates are supposed to refer to the fleet of Sextus Pompeius. Sedilibusque magnus in primis eques, Quid attinet tot ora navium gravi Rostrata duci pondere Contra latrones atque servilem2 manum, Hoc, hoc tribuno militum? ’ EPODE V. ON THE WITCH CANIDIA. None of Horace's poems excels this in point of powerand the power herein exhibited is of the highest kind; it is power over the passions of pity and terror. The degree of humour admitted is just sufficient to heighten the effect of the more tragic element. The scene is brought before the eye of the reader with a marvellous distinctness. A boy of good birth, as is shown by the toga prætexta and bulla which he wears, has been decoyed or stolen from his home, and carried at night to some house-probably Canidia's. The poem opens with his terrified exclamations, as Canidia and her three associate witches stand around him. He is stripped, buried chin-deep in a pit, and tantalised with the sight of food which he is not permitted to taste, till, thus wasted away, his liver and marrow may form the crowning ingredient of the caldron in which the other materials for a philter have been placed. That it is for an old profligate, whom Canidia 'But O, whatever Power divine in heaven, Lucina brought to light true fleshly children— At, O deorum,' &c. The word 'at,' thus commencing the ode, is significant of the commotion and hurry of the speaker, and also brings the whole scene more vividly before the reader. The poem begins, as it were, in the middle of the boy's address to the witches, omitting what had gone before. Canidia is resolved to charm back to her, that the philter is prepared, adds to the vileness which the poet ascribes to the hag. This epode was probably composed about the same time as the 8th Satire of the First Book, in which Canidia and Sagana are represented seeking the ghastly materials of their witchcraft, and invoking Hecate and Tisiphone in the Esquilinian burial-ground. The poem has little of the graces of expression which characterise Horace's maturer odes, and in one or two passages the construction is faultily obscure; but the grandeur of the whole conception, and the vigour of the execution, need no comment, and compensate for all defects. The scholiasts say that Canidia's real name was Gratidia, and that she was a Neapolitan perfume-vender, That she was ever a mistress of Horace's is a conjecture founded upon no evidence, and nothing extant in Horace justifies the assumption. This poem was written when Horace was young, and he could scarcely have remembered, except in his childhood, Canidia more lovely than he invariably represents her. CARM. V. 'At,' O deorum quidquid in cælo regit 2 Quid iste fert tumultus? aut quid omnium Voltus in unum me truces? Per liberos te, si vocata partubus 'Regit,' not 'regis'-'presides,' not 'presidest.' The boy does not invoke the gods; he is addressing Canidia. exclamation. 3 Here he addresses Canidia. • Ritter, Yonge, and Munro have ‘adfuit." It is but a disordered |