40 45 centum iuvencis, sive mendaci lyra et tu (potes nam) solve me dementia, nec in sepulcris pauperum prudens anus Tibi hospitale pectus et purae manus, 39. mendaci: a telling thrust. This word like sacris v. 6, has a double meaning. His lyre may be mendax in what it has already said or in what it will proclaim. : 40 f. sonare : sound abroad. Cf. C. 2, 13, 26. — tu pudica, tu proba so Catullus in mockery 42, 24 pudica et proba, redde codicillos. - perambulabis: for her virtues Canidia shall be raised to heaven and wander among the other stars. 42-44. Helen's brothers, Castor and Pollux, punished her defamer Stesichorus with blindness (cf. C. 4, 9, 8); his recantation is preserved by Plato, Phaedr. 243 A. οὐκ ἔστ ̓ ἔτυμος λόγος οὗτος | οὐδ ̓ ἔβας ἐν νηυσὶν ἐυσέλμοις, οὐδ ̓ ἵκεο Πέργαμα Τροίας. - vicem: lot. -vati: a bard. Cf. n. to 16, 66. 45. et tu: 'you too have divine power.' For the complimentary potes nam, cf. S. 2, 3, 283 f., ‘ unum me surpite morti! dis etenim fa cile est' orabat. 46-52. At the very climax of the appeal Horace repeats the worst slanders current against Canidia. - o nec paternis, etc.: 'unsullied by disgraceful parents,' implying that Canidia's parentage was dubious. With the phrase, cf. C. 2, 10, 6 obseleti sordes tecti, and Cic. pro Sest. 60 (virtus) neque alienis unquam sordibus obsolescit. 47 f. prudens anus: nor art thou a hag skilled to scatter, etc. The ashes of the poor whose relatives could not protect their tombs were stolen by such witches for their magic rites. novendialis: i.e.just put away. According to Apul. Met. 9, 31 the funeral rites were not ended until the ninth day (nono die completis apud tumulum sollemnibus). They closed apparently with a sacrifice and banquet in honor of the dead. - pulveres : plural, to match sepulcris. 50 55 60 tuusque venter Pactumeius, et tuo impune ut urbem nomine impleris meo? 49. tibi: sc. est. hospitale pectus, etc.: some wish to see here a reference to Ep. 5, but perhaps the sneer should be taken in a general sense. 50-52. tuusque . . . tuo: Intr. 28 c. The charge implied in 5, 5. venter: cf. Livy 1, 34, 3 ignorans nurum ventrem ferre. Pactumeius : a genuine Roman name. utcumque, etc: as often as, implying that Canidia has practiced this deceit more than once; her recovery is so rapid and complete (fortis exsilis) that all the world knows her children are supposititious. 53. Canidia's answer. The poet skillfully makes his victim condemn herself by her threats of vengeance on him, her accuser. 54 f. non saxa, etc.: this line continues the figure, and we may translate, rocks are not . . . when Neptune. Cf. C. 3, 7, 21 scopulis surdior Icari. - nudis: ship wrecked and stripped of all they owned. 56. inultus: emphatic, expressing the gist of her exclamation. -ut: with the subj. in exclamation, —'What, shall you,' etc. Cotyttia: this reference to the sensual orgiastic worship of the Thracian Cotytto is only literary; there is no evidence that it was practiced at Rome. sacrum, etc. : added in explanation of the foregoing. The rites are those of unrestrained passion (liberi Cupidinis). 58. Esquilini, etc.: the interpretation of this is doubtful. It probably means that Canidia in scorn calls him pontifex, i.e. censor and judge of her magic rites, for the part he had presumed to play in representing her and Sagana (S. 1, 8) busy with their foul work among the burial places of the poor on the Esquiline. The pontifices had oversight over all sacra. 65 70 velociusve miscuisse toxicum? Sed tardiora fata te votis manent: ingrata misero vita ducenda est in hoc, 60 f. quid proderit: if I fail now to punish you, what will be the gain?' etc. - Paelignas anus : from whom she had learned sorcery. - velociusve: i.e. in its effect; connect with toxicum. 62. sed tardiora: 'do not imagine that you will quickly meet your doom, as you pray you may; I will bring on you a lingering death with all the pangs a Tantalus ever suffered.' 63. misero for the metre, see Intr. 58. in hoc: to this end; defined in the following verses. 64. usque temporal, ever, constantly. laboribus: the regular expression for the torments of the damned. Cf. v. 24 and C. 2, 13, 38; 14, 19 f. damnatusque longi | Sisyphus Aeolides laboris. 65 ff. Three examples of long continued punishment such as Canidia will inflict on Horace. Vectabor umeris tunc ego inimicis eques, meaeque terra cedet insolentiae. 75 An quae movere cereas imagines, 80 ut ipse nosti curiosus, et polo deripere lunam vocibus possim meis, possim crematos excitare mortuos desiderique temperare pocula, plorem artis in te nil agentis exitus? 74. She will tame him and ride in triumph on his shoulders. In certain children's games the one defeated had to carry the victor about on his back. Cf. Plaut. Asin. 699 vehes pol hodie me. Such scenes were represented in certain terra-cotta groups and in vase paintings. See Schreiber's Atlas, pl. 79, 8; Baumeister no. 836. 75. She will spurn the earth in her pride and mount to the very stars. Cf. v. 41. 76 ff. an introducing an interrogative conclusion. Cf. 6, 15 'or shall I with all my power have to weep over the failures of my art.' Canidia's claims here repeat the account of her practices given in S. 1, 8, 30-41. cereas imagines: ¿.e. puppets representing the person to be affected. They are mentioned in Theoc. 2, 28 and Verg. E. 8, 80; similar images are still used in hoodoo charms. 78. deripere lunam: cf. 5, 45 f. and n. 80 f. desiderique poculum : love philters. Cf. 5, 38 amoris poculum, and n.-plorem : deliberative subjunc. - artis . . . nil agentis: proleptic with exitus, giving the cause of her grief. — in te: abl. in thy case. - exitus: accusative. INDEX TO FIRST LINES Iam iam efficaci, Epod. 17. Iam pauca aratro, 2, 15. Iam veris comites, 4, 12. Ibis liburnis inter alter navium, Epod. 1. Intermissa, Venus, diu, 4, I. Laudabunt alii claram Rhodon, 1, 7. Maecenas atavis, I, I. Natis in usum laetitiae, 1, 27. |