ODE XXVI. TO L. ELIUS LAMIA. Horace addresses this same Lamia again, Lib. III. Ode xviii. Lamia must have been very young when this ode was written, the date of which is to be guessed from the reference to Tiridates and the Parthian disturbances. Assuming with Orelli, Macleane, and others, that it was composed A. U. C. 729, just before Tiridates fled from his kingdom, Lamia survived fifty-seven years, dying A. U. c. 786 (Tac. Ann. vi. 27). I, the friend of the Muses, all fear and all sorrow Whatever king reigns at the Pole Whatever the cause that appals Tiridates. Muse, thou sweetener of Life, haunting hill-tops Pimpleian, Whose delight is in founts ever pure, Weave the blooms opened most to the sun O weave for the brows of my Lamia the garland : Heard at Lesbos; but new be its strings. CARM XXVI. Musis amicus, tristitiam et metus Quid Tiridaten terreat, unice Necte meo Lamiæ coronam, Pimplea dulcis! Nil sine te mei Prosunt honores: hunc fidibus novis, Hunc Lesbio sacrare plectro Teque tuasque decet sorores. ODE XXVII. TO BOON COMPANIONS. In this poem, as in others of a convivial nature, Horace transports himself as it were into the midst of the company, and imparts an air of reality to an imaginary scene, so that it seems as if actually an impromptu. Brawl and fight over cups which were born but for pleasure1 Is the custom in Thrace. Out on manners barbaric, Do not put modest Bacchus to shame By the scandal of bloody affrays. In what strange want of keeping with wine-cups and lustres Are the dirks of the Mede. Hush that infamous clamour, Be quiet! Companions! seats-seats! Lean in peace on prest elbows again! Do you wish me to share a Falernian so doughty? What, refuse? tut! I drink on no other condition, Must be always high-bred and refined. Nay, thy secret is safe in these faithful ears whispered, Thou, so worthy less dismal a flame! O what witch or, with potions Thessalian, what wizard— Nay, what god could avail from such coils to release thee? From that triple Chimæra's embrace Scarce could Pegasus carry thee off. Natis in usum lætitiæ scyphis.' Natis' born,' as if made by nature, and destined exclusively for that purpose.—ORELLI. CARM XXVII. Natis in usum lætitiæ scyphis Pugnare Thracum est: tollite barbarum Morem, verecundumque Bacchum Sanguineis prohibete rixis! Vino et lucernis Medus acinaces Et cubito remanete presso! Voltis severi me quoque sumere Cessat voluntas? Non alia bibam Mercede. Quæ te cunque domat Venus, Non erubescendis adurit Ignibus, ingenuoque semper Amore peccas. Quidquid habes, age, Depone tutis auribus. Ah miser, Quæ saga, quis te solvere Thessalis Pegasus expediet Chimæra. ODE XXVIII. ARCHYTAS. No ode in Horace has been more subjected than this one to the erudite ingenuity of conflicting commentators; nor are the questions at issue ever likely to find a solution in which all critics will be contented to agree. The earlier commentators took for granted that the ode was composed as a dialogue between the ghost of Archytas and a voyager. The voyager, landing on the shore of Matinus, finds there the unburied bones of Archytas, and indulges in a sarcastic soliloquy, which ends either at verse 6, verse 16, verse 20, or, as Macleane was once of opinion, in the middle of verse 15 'Sed omnes una manet nox,' Two other theories have been started, by both of which Archytas is got rid of altogether. According to the first theory, the moralising voyager continues his reflections over the grave of the great geometrician, till (whether at verse 15, 16, or 20) the ghost, not of Archytas, but of another, whose bones are bleaching on the sand, rises up, accosts him, and prays to be sprinkled with the dust that may serve for burial and fit him for the Styx. The second theory, favoured by Macleane, and supported by Mr. Long, dispenses not only with Archytas, but with the notion of dialogue. According to this conjecture, the whole poem is assigned to the ghost of a shipwrecked and unburied man, who moralises over Archytas and the certainty of death, &c., till, seeing a living sailor approach, he asks for burial. This supposition, the simplest in itself, and sanctioned by great critical authorities, appears to be gaining a more gene |