ODE XXX. The poet confidently predicts his enduring fame as the first and greatest of the lyric bards of Rome. The sentiment which pervades the ode has been similarly expressed by other Latin poets; in some instances evidently in imitation of Horace. In Ovid, in particular, there are several parallel passages. Most striking are the concluding lines of the Metamorphoses: Jamque opus exegi, quod nec Jovis ira, nec ignes, Also in Amor, xii., 15, 7: Mantua Virgilio gaudet, Verona Catullo: Metam. xv., 871, seqq. See also Amor, iii., 15, 19; and De Arte Am. iii., 339.-So Propertius, ii., 5, 56: Carmina erunt formae tot monumenta tuae ; Aut illis flamma aut imber subducet honores And Martial, x., 2, 8, and 12: -Et meliore tui parte superstes eris. Solaque non norunt haec monumenta mori. Comp. also Virg. Georg. iii., 8; and Ennius, quoted above, in notes on O. ii., 20. 1. Aere. Brazen statues and inscriptions. - 2. Altius. The largest of the Egyptian pyramids were above 400 feet in height. 3. Impotens. Furious;= Sui non potens, vehementer furens. 6. Non omnis. Not all. The poet associates himself with his undying works. They are a part of himself, and he shares their immortality. -7. Libitinam. The In her temple at goddess of funerals; here by metonymy, for death. Rome was kept a register of deaths, where was paid a small sum for the registration of the names. Here was sold every thing necessary for a funeral, and near by dwelt the undertakers (Libitinarii).—See Dict. Antiqq., Funus; and comp. Sat. ii., 6, 19; Epist. ii., 1, 49. 8. Dum Capitolium. So long as the pontiff shall ascend the Capitol, i. e. in sempiternum, for ever; since, with the Roman, the Vestal worship and all the rites of the national faith were to share the eternal destinies of the City. The Roman believed that the duration of his City and its proud Capitol was bounded only by the duration of time itself. His creed on this head is well expressed by what Byron says of the Coliseum: "While stands the Coliseum, Rome shall stand! When falls the Coliseum, Rome shall fall; And when Rome falls-the world."-Childe Harold, c. iv. With which compare Gibbon's Decline, ch. 71, n. 52. And the issue has more than answered to the proud prophecy of the poet. Long since has that monthly procession ceased to ascend the Capitol, long since the Vestal flame gone out upon the altar; the Temple itself has crumbled to dust, and ancient Rome is in ruins; but, in the immortal verse of Horace, yet live and will live for ever the solemn Vestal worship, and all the glories of the great City.-Comp. O. iii., 5, 11; and Virg. Aen. 9, 448; Ovid, Trist. iii., 7, 51.- -10. Dicar, etc. Dicar must be joined with princeps-modos, and not directly with qua violens, etc. Orelli adopts the order of Acron, which is as follows: Dicar princeps Aeolium carmen ad Italos modos deduxisse (ibi natus), ubi Aufidus obstrepit, et qua -populorum, ex humili potens. I shall be celebrated as the poet, who was the first to bring down, etc. -Aufidus. Venusium, the poet's birthplace, was on the Aufidus. Comp. O. iv., 9, 2.— 11. Daunus. The name of a legendary king of Apulia, whence the country was called Daunia. Compare O. i., 22, 14. Pauper aquae alludes to the summer droughts in Apulia.· 12. Regnavit populorum. A Greek construction, ήρξε λαῶν. See A. & S. 220, 2. - - Ex humili potens. Horace often refers to his humble origin. Comp. O. ii., 20, 5; Sat. i., 6, 45, 46; Epist. i., 20, 20. 13. Princeps. Horace claims the merit of first using in Latin the lyric measures (modos) of the Greek poets, referring in Aeolium, to Alcaeus and Sappho. - BOOK IV. ODE I. Ir appears from the Life of Horace by Suetonius, that this Book was published at the request of Augustus. It contains some noble odes, in honor of the deeds of Augustus and some of the members of his family; and besides these, there are are some effusions of an amatory character. To the last belongs the present ode, which was written about the year 14 B. C., when the poet was fifty years of age. Horace complains in playful strain, that in advancing age he is vexed with new desires by the cruel goddess of love; and, deprecating her sway, bids her turn to a more youthful and a more worthy subject. The theme is similar to that in Ode 19 of Book First, of which compare the introduction. 6. 4. Cinarae. Comp. O. iv., 13, 22; Epist. i., 7, 28; i., 14, 33.Decem lustra; fifty years; one about fifty years old. Comp. n. O. ii., 4, 24. The language, flectere, mollibus, durum, is borrowed from the management of horses. -9. Tempestivius. More fitly. Domum, the acc. of place, on account of ales oloribus, as well as comissabere.- - 10. Paulli. Probably the son of Paullus Fabius Maximus, now about twenty years old; to whom Ovid addressed some of his Epistles. Parpureis. Poetic for bright, glittering. See n. O. iii., 3, 12; comp. Virg. Aen. 1, 590, lumenque juventae purpureum. 12. Jecur. With the ancients, the seat of love, and of all the passions. Dillenburger makes torrere dependent upon both quaeris and idoneum ; si quaeris torrere jecur, quod idoneum sit ad torrendum.". 14. Reis. Compare the address to Pollio, O. ii., 1, 13.- -16. Militiae. Comp. O. iii., 26, 2. 18. Muneribus;=quam munera, as it depends upon the comparative potentior. Paullus is superior to his rich and liberal rival. Lacus. Besides the Lacus Albanus, there were three other and smaller ones near by. Hence the plural. Paullus probably had a villa in the neighborhood. -20. Citrea. The African citrus, a kind of cypress. See Dict. Antiqq. under Mensa, and Becker's Gallus, p. 22. 22. Berecyntiae. See n. O. iii., 19, 20. Tibiae; dative, depends upon mixtis, as in Epoa. 9, 5. Miscere occurs usually with the abl.; but also with the dative, sometimes even in prose. See A. & S. 224, R. 3. The poet promises here an accompaniment, uniting the lyre, the tibia, and the fistula. Carminibus means modis, strains. Comp. O. iv., 15, 30. -19. 24. Fistula. The Greek syrinx, invented by Pan. It was made of seven pipes, joined with wax.-See Dict. Antiqq., Syrinx. -28. Sali um. See n. O. i., 36, 12. and comp. O. iii., 12, 7. -39. Gramina Martii. Sec n. O. i., 8, 4; ODE II. This ode was occasioned by the victories won by Augustus, B. c. 15, over the German tribes, and especially the Sygambri, on the right bank of the Rhine. In anticipation of his expected return, Horace was probably requested by lulus to sing in a Pindaric ode these new triumphs of the emperor. As in the Sixth Ode of the First Book, so here too. the poet pleads the humble character of his own Muse, and defers to Antonius himselí the ofty task. The task however he nobly executes, in the very act of declining it, and in the ode which he writes, confers a new "honor" upon Augustus, "better than a hundred statues;" Iulus Antonius was the son of Mark Antony and Fulvia; he married the daughter of Octavia. The ode was probably written in the beginning of the year 14 B. C 3. Vitreo ponto. To the glassy deep. Osborne compares Milton, in Comus: "Glassy, cool, translucent wave." -Daturus nomi The poet, who 5. Am Comp. O. iii., 13, 1; Virg. Aen. 7, 759, vitrea—unda. na. Icarus, whose fall gave a name to the Icarian sea. would rival Pindar, is destined to like failure and disgrace. nis. A common figure, like the metaphors flumen orationis, flumen in genii, torrens oratio, and others. Cicero, Orat. 12, 39, comparing Herodotus and Thucydides, says: Alter-quasi sedatus amnis fluit; alter incitatior fertur. 6. Notas; consuetas, accustomed.- -7. Immensus; unconfined, transcending the ordinary limits of poetic license. Os with rotundum, magnum, is often used of language. Here in connection with amnis, it seems, as Orelli remarks, to point, in the comparison, to the mouth of the river, where its deepest waters pour into the sea. lian mentions Pindar's beatissimam rerum verborumque copiam. foams, and rolls on, unconfined, with his mighty depth of expression." Osborne. Garve gives well profundo ore by mit tiefem Wortstrom. 9. Donandus. Worthy of being presented. In the following lines, 11-24, the poet mentions or indicates four principal species of lyric verse, in all of which Pindar was pre-eminent. 10. Dithyrambos. The Dithyrambus was a song in honor of Bacchus, of a bold and free character, in respect both to its language and measure. Of this kind of verse, written by Pindar, there is extant but a single fragment. Nova QuintiPindar verba. Particularly compound words, of many syllables, in forming which Pindar indulged the utmost license. 12. Lege solutis. So described, because in the dithyramb, the poet was not confined to any particular, regularly recurring measures, but wrote at will in every variety. In the word fertur Horace still keeps up the comparison of a river. 13. Deos-canit. The second kind of lyrics; Paeans, in honor of gods, demi-gods, and heroes, such as Theseus and Pirithous, who conquered the Centaurs, and Bellerophon, who killed the fire-breathing Chimaera. -17. Sive quos. The third kind, Epinicia, èπivíkιa, in honor of the victors at the public games, especially the Olympic.—Elea. See note, O. i., 1, 3; also on caelestes comp. in same ode, line 6. - - 19. Signis. The statues, erected to the honor of victors, at Olympia. 21. Flebili. Alluding to the fourth class of lyric poems, pôvoι, Threni, the dirges. -23. Mores aureos. Translate literally; golden morals. 25. Dircaeum--cycnum. Dircaeum, from the fountain of Dirce, near Thebes, the native city of Pindar. On cycnum compare the introduction to 20th Ode of Book Second. - Multa; i. e. magna, vehemens; a strong breeze. -27. Apis. In this image of the swan and of the bee, Horace seems to ascribe genius to Pindar, and only talent to himself; he compares the sublime poetry flowing out, as it were, spontaneously from the one, with the verses wrought out by the other only with laborious effort. Matinae. Mons Matinus, in Apulia, famous for its excellent honey.—32. Fingo. The regular expression used for the labors of the bee; fingere mel, flavos, like the Greek TλάTTE. All these expressions illustrate the curiosa felicitas of Horace; carpentis, laborem plurimum, operosa carmina fingo.. 33. Majore-plectro. Plectrum, the staff, or quill, with which the lyre was struck; here metaphorical; of higher strain. Iulus Antonius is said to have written an epic in twelve books, descriptive of the fortunes of Diomed. 34. Quandoque. For quandocunque, whenever; comp. preceding ode, 1. 17. 35. Per sacrum clivam. The Sacer Clivus was the Clivus of the Sacra Via, the steep Clivus, leading from the top of the Velian ridge which joins on to the Palatine (and on which now stands the Arch of Titus), down to the southeastern angle of the Forum. The ancient pavement of this part of the Sacred Way is still visible. Along this Clivus passed the triumphal processions on their way to the capitol. The Sacer Clivus is sometimes confounded with the Clivus Capitolinus, which was the ascent leading from the other extremity of the Sacred Way up the Capitoline hill. To the Sacer Clivus Horace also alludes in Epod. 7, 7: -Ut descenderet Sacra catenatus via and Martial, 1, 70: Inde sacro veneranda petes Palatia clivo.— |