NOTES.

ODE I.

This ode is introductory: in it Horace dedicates his lyrical compositions to Maecenas.

'Many and various are the pursuits and aims of men to which they cling tenaciously, glory, wealth, ease, war, sport: I, with the help of heaven, long to be a lyric poet, and if you, Maecenas, consider me one, I shall have attained the height of my ambition.'

1. Maecenas] C. Cilnius Maecenas, 'sprung from a royal lineage,' was of Etrurian origin, his ancestors being Lucumones or chieftains at Arretium. He was the patron and protector (praesidium) not only of Horace but of Virgil, who also addresses him as O decus, o famae merito pars maxima nostrae, Georg. 2. 40. His name continually recurs in Horace, and a knowledge of the principal facts of his life is essential.

atavis] The order is pater, avus, proavus, abavus, atavus, tritavus.

3, 4. sunt quos...iuvat] Literally, 'There are (those) whom it delights,' i.e. some take a pleasure in...' Sunt qui may be followed by either the subjunctive or indicative; when it takes the subj. it means 'There are (men) of such a (character) that ;' when the indicative, it is much more definite, and the two words almost coalesce into a single pronoun='some.' Cf. the Greek use of eσT of, which is declined all through as if a single word.

4. collegisse] The phrase 'to have collected Olympic dust ' needs no explanation when we consider the cloud of dust the

chariots would raise in the arena, and how thickly it would cover the competitors. The perfect is used intentionally: men delight not merely in doing, but in having done a feat.

5. palma] A wreath of wild olive (xóTwos) was the prize at Olympia, but a branch of palm was also carried by victors in all the games. The Romans introduced the practice in 290 B.C. and the use of the word is very common as synonymous with victory.' In Christian times the palm is a sign of those who have won the prize of martyrdom.

6. terrarum dominos] Either agreeing with deos, or acc. after evehit. In the former case it is difficult to see why the gods are specially spoken of as 'lords of earth,' in fact the words seem unnecessary, the phrase evehit ad deos being complete without them; in the latter we must translate 'exalts to heaven (as though they had become, or as thinking themselves) lords of the world."

7, 9. hunc...illum] Governed by a verb to be supplied from the general sense of juvat and evehit, e.g. it delights, it makes proud.

Of late years many scholars have advocated an entirely fresh translation of this difficult passage. They place a full stop after nobilis, make terrarum dominos the direct acc. after evehit, and hunc and illum in apposition to it, the collective word dominos being thus split up into its individual components. Terrarum dominos in this case means the Romans in opposition to the Greeks already mentioned. Translate: 'The lords of the world it exalts to heaven, one if...another if...' The awkward stop after nobilis at the end of the first line of the second stanza is a great objection to this view.

8. tergeminis honoribus] 'triple magistracies,' i.e. the curule aedileship, praetorship and consulship, the three great offices which were the object of Roman ambition.

10. Libycis] The corn-land of Italy which was continually decreasing owing to the increase of parks, vineyards, oliveyards, and pasture-lands, was yearly becoming more and more inadequate to supply the requirements of Rome, which depended largely for its supplies on Libya, Egypt, and Sicily, much as England now becomes yearly more dependent on America.

12. Attalicis condicionibus] Terms such as an Attalus could offer.' The wealth of these kings of Pergamus was pro

verbial; Pliny relates that Attalus II. made a bid of 100 talents for a single picture. The use of condicio is very classical. The word should always be spelt with a c: it is not from condo, as deditio is from dedo, but from cum and dic the root of dico, δείκνυμι, &c. We give to both condicio and conditio the same sound'sh,' and hence the confusion of spelling. The Romans would have pronounced the former with a k, the latter with a t sound.

13. dimoveas] Notice the use of the 2nd person sing. in an indefinite sense='any one.' We should say here no one would ever move..."

Cypria] Cyprus from its situation held an important position in regard to the traffic of the Mediterranean, hence Cyprian barks' would be well known.

13-15. Cypria-Myrtoum-Icariis-Africum] Notice very carefully Horace's singular fondness for specializing general words such as 'ship,' 'sea,' 'waves,' 'wind,' by giving to each a local epithet: the effect is to give definiteness and reality. Numerous instances occur in almost every ode.

14. pavidus] Trembling because of his inexperience, which would make him exaggerate the dangers. Orelli says 'pavidus, frequens nautarum èπileтov;' but this is not so: the epithet is not a mere standard epithet for sailors, the point is that the man is afraid because he is not a sailor but a landsman. The epithets of Horace are never idle; no writer more carefully attaches a definite use to each. It is sufficient to point to the careful use of fervidis, nobilis, mobilium, proprio, patrios in the first few lines of the ode.

18. indocilis pati] See 3. 25 and note.

pauperiem] 'humble circumstances.' Pauperies is very far removed from egestas 'beggary;' it expresses the condition in which Horace himself was, or perhaps rather from which he had risen. In Od. 3. 16. 37 he describes himself as not wealthy, but free from importuna pauperies, that is to say, he was pauper, in humble circumstances, but not to such an extent as to be importuned or harassed by them.

20. partem solido demere de die] Solidus, connected with solus, los, that which is whole, entire: hence dies solidus, that part of the day which should not be broken into, the working part of the day. Cf. Sen. Ep. 83, hodiernus dies

solidus est; nemo ex illo mihi quidquam eripuit. The next two lines shew that the reference is to taking a long siesta at

noon.

22. stratus membra] 'his limbs stretched.'

lene caput]the gentle source.' The water flows gently and soothes him to sleep.

23. lituo tubae] The tuba was used by the infantry, the lituus by the cavalry. Lucan, 1. 237, stridor lituum clangorque tubarum, the shriek of horns and braying of trumpets,' illustrates their sound: their shape is compared by Ovid, Met. I. 98, Non tuba directi, non aeris cornua flexi.

25. detestata] 'abhorred.' Though the verb is deponent the participle has a passive sense. This is the case with many deponent verbs, e.g. abominatus, modulatus, meditatus.

sub Iove frigido] 'beneath the cold heaven.' Jupiter is the god of the bright sky, and sub Jove is sub divo or sub dio, Od. 3. 2. 5. This is clear from the etymology, Jupiter being = Diupater, and Diu being from the Sanscrit root DIV (whence divus, dies, Zevs, Aids or AiFos, &c.) which indicates brightness. Cf. too Diespiter, Od. 1. 34. 5 and 3. 2. 29.

28. teretes] Teres (from tero) 'rubbed,' 'smooth,' round,' then generally of anything of which the form is good, shapely. So here the cords are not rough or loosely put together, but shapely and strong.

29. me] Notice the pronoun put first to indicate the transition from the pursuits of other men to that which Horace makes the object of his ambition.

hederae] Ivy was sacred to Bacchus, and in consequence, he being the god of inspiration, the symbol of poets. So Virgil, Ecl. 7. 25, Pastores hedera crescentem ornate poetam.

32. secernunt populo] So Od. 3.1. 1, Odi profanum vulgus et arceo. The poet by his inspirations is separated from the vulgar throng to whom the world of imagination is unknown, but he is only so when the Muses are favourable, 'if neither does Euterpe restrain the pipes nor Polyhymnia shrink from tuning the Lesbian lyre.'

tibias] Plural, because two pipes, one of a higher the other of a lower pitch, were usually employed; see illustration in Smith's Dict. Ant.