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Q. HORATI FLACCI EPISTVLAE. 



THE EPISTLES OF HORACE. 



«9- 



Q. HORATI FLACCI EPISTVLAE. 



THE 



EPISTLES OF HORACE 



EDITED WITH NOTES 



AUGUSTUS S. WILKINS, Litt.D., LL.D., 

PROFBSSOR OP LATIN IN OWSNS COLLEGB, MANCHBSTBR ; 
CXAMINBR IN CLASSICS TO THB UNIVBRSITY OP LONDON. 




Uonlron : 
MACMILLAN AND CO. 

AND NEW YORK. 
1888 

\Tht Righi of Translaiwn is reserved.l 






First EdUion printed^ 1885. 
Reprinted 1886, 1888. 






COLLEGAE SPEC1'ATISSIM0 

DE ACADEMIA NOSTRA MANCVNIENSI 

EGREGIE MERITO 

ADAVLFO GVILELMO WARD, 

LITTBRARVM LBGVMQVB DOCTORI, 

QVI MIHI SEDECIM HIS ANNIS 

AVXILIVM DOCTRINAM CONSILIVM PETENTI 

NVNQVAM DEFVIT 

D.D.D. 



(• iJNTVr,RSlTY j ■ 



PREFACE. 



The need of a new edition of Horace's 
Epistles with Engtish notes will not be denied 
hy any one, who knows what important contri- 
butions to the criticism of this work are still 
inaccessible to English readers. The difficulty 
of the task has made itself more and more felt 
during every year which has been spent upon 
the preparation of the present edition. 1 will 
only say that, had not the excellent notes of 
Mr Yonge been constructed on a different scale 
from those here offered, or had there been any 
hope of the early appearance of Mr Wickham's 
long-promised second volume, the present work 
would not have been undertaken. 

The notes to the present edition may seem 
to some too fuU and lengthy. For this fulness 
there are three main reasons. (i) There are Latin 
and Greek authors, whose works may properly 
be provided with brief dogmatic notes, suited to 
students who are not ripe fdr critical discussions. 



viii PREFACE. 

Horace, at least in his Epistles, does not appear 
to me to be among this number. I do not think 
that these can be read with profit by one who is 
not prepared at least to follow the arguments 
which have been advanced to support different 
interpretations, and to understand why the pre- 
ference is to be given to one rather than to 
another. Besides, much may be learnt from 
critics like Bentley, even when thelr conclusions 
are not accepted. I have therefore thought it 
necessary to give not only decisions but also 
discussions on almost every point of difficulty. 
(2) Parallel passages have usually been tran- 
scribed, and not merely referred to, School-boys 
will never, more advanced students will very 
rarely, look up references: yet these furnish a 
most valuable part of a commentary: and space 
is of less importance than time under the present 
conditions of classical learning. I may remark 
that with v^ry few exceptions every passage 
quoted has been transcribed from the original 
context. This adds immensely to the labour of 
an editor: but it is necessary if he is to be more 
than a compiler. In this ^yay many false refer- 
ences, handed down from one edition to another, 
have been removed; many traditional parallels 
have been found tp be illegitimate, when taken 
as they stand in their surroundings, {3) The 
Epistles abound in references to persons, places, 
customs and the like. In such cases I have 



FREFACE. ix 

usually endeavoured to give sufficient informa- 
lioh to explain the language of the text, leaving 
further details to be sought in the ordinary 
books of reference. But as a rule no statement 
has been made without a reference to one of the 
best and most recent authorities to support it. 
These are intended as a protection to the reader, 
not as an additional burden. Few students 
have escaped the annoyance of finding in notes 
statements which they are quite unable to verify, 
and which often are only repetitions of current 
errors. Much attention has been given to ques- 
tions of orthography and etymology. There is 
so much bad spelling and false philology to be 
found in text-books of wide circulation, that it 
seems worth while even to intrude upon the 
student sbunder views, as occasion offers: and 
hints and references are not always thrown away, 
even upon the teacher. A reference to Mr R6by*s 
excellent grammars has often removed the need 
for a fuUer note upon constructions. 

For reasons stdted in the Introduction, there 
is no complete critical commentafy. But the 
variations of some of the principal editors are 
noted at the foot of the text. Bentley^s readings 
have been given as a tribute to his unrivalled 
eminence as a scholar : Munro's as representing 
the soundest critical judgment which' has been 
brought to bear upon Horace. The readings 
of Orelli*s third edition may be regarded as 



X .FREFACE, 

those oF Ihe text most widely curreht, although 
in many cases they are inferior to those of the 
sixth (minor) edition just issued by Hirschfelder. 
Kelier*s dedsions are those of a scholar inti- 
mately acquainted with the MS. and other 
authorities . for the text of Horace, but not al- 
ways using them on sound critiical principles. 

The editions, which I have found of most 
service, are those of Bentiey, Orelii, Dillen- 
burger, Ritter, Krjjger and Schiitz, with Keller*s 
Epilegomena, and Conington's verse translation: 
but others have been consiilted, as occasion has 
offered. For Acron and Porphyrion I have 
used Hauthars edition : for the Scholiast of 
Cruquius the edition of 1597, kindly lent me by 
Chancellor Christie. I have rarely mentioned 
Macleane, except to differ from him. This 
^makes it the more imperative a duty to acknow- 
ledge the service, which in spite of serious de- 
ficiencies in accuracy and in scholarship, and 
views in many respects now antiquated, his 
vigorous' common sense and manly judgment 
have rendered to the study of Horace in Eng- 
land. In 1853 his work was in some respects 
as much before the time as in 1885 it is be- 
hind it. 

Two of our most distinguished scholars, 
Professor Arthur Palmer, ahd Mr J. S. Reid, 
have done me the favour of revising the proof 
sheets. Their more important contributions 



PREFACE, xi 

appear with their names attached : but I am 
further indebted to them for minor suggestions 
and corrections, which could not be so acknow- 
ledged. They are of course not xesponsible for 
anything that appears here, but I trust that 
their kind revision has not left any serious errors. 
That ali such should have been avoided is 
hardly to be expected, where almost every line 
of the commentary gives opportunity for a slip 
in facts or in judgment. 



Manchester, 



ADDENDA. 



Ep. I. I, 19. Dr Maguire in Hermathena No. xi. p. 336 
says: 'the iirst clause is Epicurean — I make the world suit me: 
the second is Stoic — I make myself suit the world, the end of the 
Stoic* This is a more correct view. 

Ep. I. 7, 31. foras is used in Plaut. Rud. 170 for *out' of a 
boat. 

Ep. I. 10, 48. Dr Maguire (1. c.) *tortum is not twisted in 
strands, but strained by the pull taut. Cp. tortos incidcre funes 
(Verg. A. IV. 575) as the ^hips were riding at anchor.* 

Ep. 1. 13, 4. Prof. Nettleship in the Academy (Oct. 17, 1885) 
su^ests that ne sis \& z, standing exception to the general rule 
that ne^ with the 2 pres. subj. is not used in an imperative sense. 
We have nefueris in i. 6, 40. 

Ep. i. 14, 6. pietas is often used by Ovid in the Tristia and 
Pontic Epistles for the loyal devotion of friends. I cannot 
accept Mr Verrall's ingenious argument as proving that Lamia 
was the name of the steward (Studies in Horace^ pp. 126 ff.)* 

Ep. I. 20, 24. The compounds oiprae are well discussed by 
P. Langen {Plaut, Krit, p. 244). 

Ep. II. I, 47. It would have been more exact to say that 
acervus = <r<ap6s : aupeiTTjs = acervalis argumentatio. 

Ars Poet. 128. communis is not identical with volgaris in 
rhetoric : cp. Cic. de Invent. i. 26 volgare est quod in plures 
causas potest accommodari^ ut convenire videatur: commune quod 
nihilo minus in hanc quam in contrariam partem causae potest 
convenire (quoted by Nettleship l.c). 

Ars Poet. 172. Prof. Nettleship most appositely quotes 
Seneca Epist, 32, 4 O quando illud videbis tempus quo scies 
tempus ad te non pertinerel quo tranquillus placidusque eris 
et crctstini negligenSy et in summa tui satietate! Vis scire quid 
sitf quodfaciat homines avidosfuturi? Nemo sibi contigit* 



r^vjsz 



INTRODUCTION. 

§ I. Dafe ofthe Epistles, 

That the First Book of the Epistles of Horace was 
published as a whole seems to be shown by the 
introductory character of Ep. i. and still more plainly 
by the language of Ep. xx. Such a course would be, 
as Bentley proved, quite in accofdance with the prac- 
tice of Horace himself, and of contemporary poets. 
The date of publication appears at first sight to be 
given precisely by the closing lines of the last Epistle. 

Forte meum si quis te percontabitur aevum» 
me quater undenos sciat implevisse Decembres, 
coUegam Lepidum quo duxit Lollius anno. 

Lollius was consul in b.c. 21, and the other con- 
sulship, at first intended for Augustus himself, was 
ultimately fiUed up by the appointment of Aemilius 
Lepidus. Hence it woul4 seem as if we might with 
confidence assume that Ep. xx., which is plainly 
intended as an epilogue to the whole collection, was 
written in that year, or at all events that Horace's last 



xiv INTRODUCTION, 

preceding birthday fell in that year, and that therefore 
no letter in this book can have a later date. But it 
must be noticed that (i) Horace's purpose would be as 
well served if he employed to indicate his age a date 
removed by several years from the actual date of pub- 
lication: (2) Horace may have wished to bring in in- 
cidentally a compliment to his friend Lollius (cp. Carm. 
iv. 9, and Ep.i. 2, i note): (3) the consiils of the next 
two or three years do not appear to have been men 
of mark, and in some cases, at least, there would have 
been metrical difRculties in introduc&ig their names. 
Hence there is nothing to preclude us from looking 
further fqr indications of the date of publication. Now 
in Ep. i. 12, 26—28 we have 

Cantaber Agrippae, Claudi virtute Neronis. 
Anneniu^ cecidit: ius imperiumque Prahates 
Caesaris accepit genibus minor. 

This is a clear reference to the successful issue of 
the campaign of Agrippa against the Cantabrians in 
R.c. 20, and of the *promenade inforce' of Tiberius 
Claudius, the step-son of Augustus, which in th^ same 
year resulted in the.restoration of Tigranes to the 
throne of Armenia, and in thecessioa of thestandstrds 
won from Grassus by the Parthians. The same blood- 
less triumph of Rome is again referred to in Ep. i* tS, 
5S> 56, where we find mention of tjie dux 

qui templis I^urthorum sigiia refigit 
nunc, et si quid abest Italis adiudicat armis. 

These twa letters then must have been written itt' 



INTRODUCTION. xv 

B.C. 20. Is there anything to pbint to ai later date 
than this? In the Epistles themselves there s^ems ta 
be nothing. It is a very doubtful conjecture which 
i\nds ip Ep. i. 17, 33 — 35 a jeference to thetriumph? 
of Augustus apd Agrippa in b.c 19. But we have 
also to take into consideration the relation of the 
Episjles to the< Odes. It seems pretty well established 
that the first three books of the Odes were published 
together, before any of the Episdes; indeed, the lan- 
guage whlch Horace uses in Ep. i. i, and the refer- 
ence to imitators in Ep. i. 19, alike force us to tlie 
assumption of a toLerably long interval between the 
publication of the Odes and that of the Epistles. Now 
the date of the publication of Odes i. — iii. does not 
admit of exact determination^ There are arguments 
which seem to poiut very strongly to.B.a 24 or 23: 
there are others which have been considered to point 
ta B.C 19 (cp. Wickham's Introductian to the Odes, 
Christ^s FastQrum Horatianorum EpicrisiSj Kirchner's 
Quaestiones Horatianae^ arid Franke^s Fasti Horatiam), 
But pn the whole the evidence fbr the earlier year 
decidedly prepondierates. It . is therefore . probable 
that we may assume B.c. 20, or at the latest b.c. 19, as 
the date of the publication of the' first book of the 
Epistles*. ; 

1 If we ane to accept Mr Vefran*^ very irigenious, but not 
very convincing argument for the poblication of Odes i. — iii. 
in B.c. 19, it is not necessary perhaps to alter^the ^ate.of the 
pubjication of the Epistles ; but it would affect the interpretatioh 
of two er three pas^es ih them. 



xvi INTRODUCTION, 

Of the mdividual epistles, Ep. i. 13 was evidently i 
contemporaneous with the publication of Odes 1. — ^iii. ( 
Of the others all those whose date can be assigned 
with any certainty, appear to belong to b.c. 20. But 
it is probable that Horace was engaged with this slyle 
of composition more or less at various times during 
the five years b.c. 24—20, that is to say from the 
fortieth to the fort}'-fifth year of his age. 

The conclusions to which we are thus brought are 
practically the same as those maintained by Franke, 
and supported by the weighty approval of Lachmann. 
Bentley in his preface assigned a sh*ghtly later date, 
and needlessly limited the time of composition to two 
years (b.c 20—19); Ritter holding that Odes i — iii. 
were published in b.C. 19 is compelled to postpone 
the publication of the first Book of the Epistles to 
B.C. 18. 

The time of the publication of the Second Book 
and of the Ars Foetica is open to more doubt. 
But the dates of composition, which on the whole 
seem most probable, are for Ep. ii. i about b.c. 13, 
for Ep. ii. 2 about b.c. 19, and for the Ars Foetica^ 
B.C. 20 or 19. The reasons which lead us to these 
conclusions will be found in the Introductions to 
the several Epistles. If they are sound, Book II. 
was published in b.c. 13, and the Ars may have 
been issued earlier and separately. 

The view, which till recently has been the most 
generally accepted, assigns Ep. ii. i, 2 to a period 



INTROnUCTION. xvii 

after bx. 13, and regards the Ars Poetica as unfinished, 
and nojt publisbed by Horace himseUl 



§ 2. The Composition ofthe Epistles. 

Born in bx. 65, Horace was studying at Athens 
at the time of the death of Caesar in b.c. 44. 
He joined Brutus, and was made military tribune, 
thusi occasionally at least taking the command of a 
legion. In b.c. 43 he appears to have been with 
Brutus in Asia (Sat. i. 7, j8): in B.a 42 he took part, 
though not a very distinguished part, in the battle of 
Philippi. His return to Rome probably foUowed in 
the next year; but some time must be supposed to 
have elapsed before his talents can have won for him 
the friendship of Vergil and Yarius, and warranted 
them in introducing him to Maecenas. After the first 
introduction, nine months passed before Maecenas 
admitted him to his circle (Sat. i 6, 61). Hence we 
cannot well assign to this an earlier date than b.c 39. 
With this date correspond the indications of Satire i. 

5, apparently to bei ascribed to b.c. 37, and of Sat ii. 

6, 40, written, as it seems, in b*c. 31, when the friend- 
ship had already lasted seven or eight years. In the 
latter year Horace was already in possession of his 
Sabine estate: there is no clear evidence to show 
when he received it, but apparently it was not long 
before this time. During the time covered by the 
Satires (about b.c. 40 — 30) Horace does not appear 

w. H. ^ 



xviii INTRODUCTION. 

at all on terms of intimacy with Augustns — at diis 
time Caesar Octavianus. References to him are but 
sbght ; and there is still a tone of antagonism, if not 
to Augustus himself, at least to his favourite poets and 
musicians. Maecenas is always spoken of in language 
of grateful affection, but the poet evidently minimises 
the character of their intimacy, and takes great pains 
to show that he aimed at no influence over his politics 
or patronage» He writes as a dependent, although 
at the same time, as one who meant to bear as little 
as possible of the restraints or the burdens of depen- 
dence. But during the period in which the first 
three books of the Odes were produced (b.c. 31 — 24) 
Horace takes a decidedly higher position. He feels 
that his poetical powers are recognised. He must 
have been conscious that, like Vergil in his way, he 
was welcomed by the Emperor as contributing from 
the side of literature to that revival of conservative 
and religious feeling, to which so much of the policy 
of Augustus was directed. At the same time he must 
have been brought more frequently into immediate 
personal relations with Augustus, though probably 
these still fell far short of intimacy. But the lyrical 
genius of Horace, exquisite as it was in the finish of 
his art, was far from spontaneous, or copious. When 
he had wedded the songs of Greece to the Latin lyre, 
and had given to the world his perfect adaptations 
or imitations of Sappho and Alcaeus, clothing in lan- 
guage of unequalled felicity his commonplace re- 



INTRODUCTION. xix 

flexiods on a narrow range of topics, there was no 
inspiration to prompt him to further utterance. Hence 
the comparative silence of the following years. His 
earlier illusions had left him. Love had never been 
for him more than a pastime, suited to the years of 
youthful passion, but imbecoming to his maturer man- 
hood. In wine he had a genuine but a quiet enjoy- 
ment, with no Anacreontic enthusiasm to make him 
its iyrist. The military triumphs of the Empire were 
not inspiring, although when die odi was made 
upon him, he succeeded in celebrating them in odes 
which rise to the requisite loftiness of tone. His 
real interest at this time doubtless lay^ as he tells us 
himself, in the study of philosophy. But with him 
it was no passion for the attainment df speculative 
truth whieh prompted hirtl. He felt the unsatisfying 
nature of his hfe; he was vexed at the constant 
weakness of will which led him often into the failings 
and vices, of which there was no keener critic than 
himself, and he set himself to try to discover in 
the precepts of the philosophers the secret which 
might deUver from 'the random weight of chance 
desires.* 

We can see how his nature mellowed and ripened 
in the search. He was far from finding all that he 
desired; and sometimes half jestingly, sometimes (as 
in £p. L 8) in all sad seriousness he confesses that 
his quest has been a failure. But the quiet reading 
and reflexion of those days at the Sabine farm 

b2 



XX INTRODUCTION. 

have left deep traces on his later writings, and have 
done not a little to lend them their inexhaustible 
chann. 

The Epistles are generally recognised as the most 
attractiye portion of the works of Horace. In their 
form, if they do not attain to the finished art of the 
better odes, there is a negligent grace which is hardly 
less rare, and certainly not less delightfuL The verse, 
which even in the Satires is a vast improvement on 
the jolting hexameters of Lucilius, and which there, 
though it never rises so. high as the best of Lucretius, 
never fialls so low as his worst, has here achieved 
an easier flow. The diction has discarded the few 
archaisms and vulgarisms still to. be found in the 
Satires, aiid is as pure a specimen of urbanitas as 
the comedies of Terence, and the lighter letters of 
Cicero. As to. the substance, Horace shows here 
more than anywhere that he belongs to that most 
delightful class of writers,. who can be egotistic with- 
out ever becoming wearisome or offensive. As he 
says himself of Lucilius : 

ille velut fidis arcana sodalibus olim 
credebat libris, neque si male cesserat umquam 
decurrens alio, neque si bene: quo fit ut omnis 
votiva pateat veluti descripta tabella 
vita senis. 

And what a charming character it is which is thus 
revealed to us ! Not without serious faults of temper 
and self-indulgence. Measured by any high standard 
of lofty aim or strenuous endeavour Horace often 



lNTRO£>VCTIOIf. lcxi 

fiEdls short of the ideaL But how frank h'e is, hbw 
courteous, how kiiidly I How happily he adapts his 
tone to the character And position of those whom he 
is addressing I He never falls intb the vice of preach- 
ing at his friends. It is but rarely that he begins 
with moral disquisitiotis : he rather allows himself t6 
pass. into them from some personal confession or 
reflexion» The ripe results of his bbserVation of men 
and manners are not given forth pedantically> but in 
a tone of friendly confidence, often accompanied by 
a little gentle irony^ The poliemical literary criticism 
of the Satiresy as a rule sound enough, but some^ 
times harrow and unsympath^tic, and often ^ forth 
in a manner which must have gained him many 
enemies, is entirely wanting in the ist B6ok of the 
Epistles : and appears only in t modified form in the 
Second. 

Hbrace was not the first to employ epistles in 
verse as a form of literature. In Greece the earliest 
satirist Archilochus^ is said to have practised this 
among other forms of composition. In b.c 146 a 
certain Mummius, probably the brother of L. Mum- 
mius, the general in- command, wrote home from 
Corinth, epistoias versicuiis facetis adfamiiiares tnissas 
{Cic ad Att xiiL 6, 4). Lucilius undoubtedly often 
used the epistolary form in his satires, though the 
traces which remain of it are but slight. It may be 
noticed tob that letter-writing was a branch of literature 
which had reached high perfection at this time. We 



xxii INTRODUCTION. 

can form a clear conception of the standard generally 
reached from the numerous letters of Cicero's firiends, 
included in the Epistolae ad Famtliares, The literary 
finish of many of them is such that it would have 
been no very great step to take, even without pre- 
cedent, for Horace to give a metrical form to such 
occasional letters of daily life as £p. i, 8, 9 or 13. 

The name of sermones given by Horace himself 
to the Epistles (Ep. ii. i, 250) as well as to the Satires 
(E^. i 4, i) fitly describes the conversational tone 
maintained throughout. Here too his style and 
thoughts are sermoni propiora (Sat. L 4, 42). The 
various epistles diflfer of course very widely in the 
degree of elaboration, as in the nature of their 
themes. But everywhete we find a complete absence 
of rhetoric Horace's horror of public recitations did 
him good service in preserving him firom the faults 
into which the practice kd most of his contemporsries 
and foUowers, with results fatal to the freshness and 
simplicity of later Latin poetry. He avoids, it is 
true, the fluent negligence of his predecessors : but 
he escapes equally the strained epigram and con« 
torted rhetoric of hi§ successors. For combined ease 
and finish there is no Latin poet worthy to be placed 
beside him, and he well deserves the place which he 
has ever held close to the exemplaria Graeca^ which 
he studied so lovingly. 

His rhythm and metre fitly answer to the gen^al 
tone of his work. Less cunning and subtle in their 



INTRODUCTION. xxiii 

hanhonies tHan the exquisite verses of Vergil, his lines 
have an easy grace of thetr own, not marred by an 
occasional grateful negligence. The wonderful variety 
of effects to which the dactylic hexameter lends itself 
— not less ductile in the hands of a master than our 
own blank verse, and with even greater possibilities 
of vaned music within its compass— had been shown 
fdready both on Greek and on Latin soil. But it is 
not too much to say that the full range cA its capacity 
would have remained unknown, if Horace had not 
written his Epistles. 

§ 3. The Text of the Epistles. 

The textual criticism of the Epistles affords many 
problems not easy of solution. There is no extant 
MS. which holds an unquestioned place of paramount 
authority, and which gives us a sure starting-point, 
like the Ambrosian palimpsest (where it is legible) 
fbr Hautus, or the Codex Bembinus for Terence. 
The oldest MSS. are by no means so ancient or so 
accurate as those of Vergil. Even in the best of 
them there are many evident errors, and the most 
conservative critic cannot always avoid deserting their 
authority in favbur of conjecture. What is of even 
more importance, it is by no means easy to deter- 
mine tbeir mutual relations, or to construct a table 
of their various lines of descent from the archetype. 

An attempt to divide them into classes — the first 
«tep towards a scientific treatment of their evidence^ 



XXIV INTRODUCTION. 

has been made by Keller and Holder, the laborious 
editors of the most complete conspectus of MS. read- 
ings as yet in existence* The main lines of their 
dassification may be stated thus. 

Class I. includes a group of MSS. which seem to 
be free from systematic alterations, although their 
common source may have been less good than that 
of the other. groups. 

The chief representatives of this class are, for the 
Epistles^ 

A Parisinus 7900 a (saec. x), 

a Avenionis (i.e. of Avignon), now Ambro- 

sianus O 136 (saec. x). 
y Parisinus 7975 (saec. xi). 
E Emmerammensis, now Monacensis 14685 
(saec. xii). 
This class comes for the most part from Germany. 

Class II. includes those MSS. which give indica- 
tions of being derivedfrom the 'Mavortianrecension', 
especially in the Odes, but also in the Satires and 
Epistles. About the middle of the sixth century, a 
recension of the text of Horace was undertaken by 
Vettius Agorius Mavortius, cqpsul a. d. 527. This 
recension, as Keller thinks, was based upon a MS. 
of great excellence, but ahready markcKi by some 
distinctive readings, and many others were introduced 
by its reviser, ingenious and plausible in themselves, 
but not from the pen of Hoxace. Hence he argues 



JNTRODUCTION. xxv 

that little weight is to be given to the readings of 
this class, where they diflfer from those of both the 
others. 

To this class Keller and Holder assign 
B Bemensis 363, probably the oldest of all 
extant MSS. of Horace, written by an Irish 
monk in the eighth or ninth century, as 
is proved by some Irish glosses in the 
margin^ Unfortunately it ends at Sat. \, 
134, thus including the Ars Poetka (ex- 
cept vv. 440—476), but omitting all the 
Epistles. 
V the vetus codex Blandinius (see below). 
g the codex Gothanus, apparently derived from 
V, and giving all the Epistles^ but not the 
Ars Foetka (saec. xv). 
C Monacensis 14685, closely Agreeing with B, 
and hence only available for the Ars 
Foetka. 

Class III. derived from ^ rery carelessly written 
original, and marked by all kinds of errors, but with 
traces of a good tradition, and as a rule very good 
in orthography. 

To this class belong 

^ Parisinus 7974 (saec. x). 

^ Parisinus 7971 (saec x). The assumed com- 

mon source of these two is denoted F, 
1 Leidensis Sat. 28 (saec. x). 



XXVI INTRODUCTIOK 

\ Parisinud 7972 (saec x): these two are com- 

bined as X'. 
8 Graevianus (Harley MSS. in British Mnseum 

2725): (saec. ix — ^x). 
z Leidensis Vossianus 21 (saec xii). These 

two = 8'. 
c Einsidlen^s 361 (saec x). 
There are also two important MSS. which Keller 
generally denotes as the Rtt family : 

R Romanus (Vaticanus reginae Chrisrinae 1 703) 

of saec. ix or x. 
ir Parisinus 103 10 (saec. x— xi), wi^ which 

goes 
L Lipsiensis (saec. x), to give the readings of 

an assimied tr\ 

This third class Keller traces for the most part to 
Lorraine. 

On the basis of this classification Keller lays down 
the principle that the agreement of any two classes in a 
reading is to weigh very heavily as against the reading 
of the third ; and he confirms his position by a tabular 
statement from which it would appear that out of 623 
variations, in 582 cases two classes agree in the right 
reading, in 41 they agree in the wrong one. 

Unfortunately this system of classification, pro- 
mising as it appears, has by no means met with the 
unanimous approval of recent scholars. In the first 
place Keller is compelled to admit that the lines of 



INTRODUCTION. xxvii 

demarcation cannot always be drawn very definitely. 
Many MSS. vary between two or even three classes, 
^and there is not a single MS> which can be regarded 
as always a faithful representative of the class to 
which he assigns it. Thus A and E often give the 
readings of Class II. rather than Class I., while F 
sometimes falls into Class I., and the Rir family con- 
stantly wavers between them. An even more serious 
objection is taken to the estimate which Keller forms 
of Class II., and to the weight which he gives to V. 
In an edition of Horace, published in 1578, Jacobus 
Cruquius, professor at Bruges, frequently quoted the 
readings of four MSS., which he said he had coUated 
in the Benedictine monastery at Blankenburgh (Mons 
Blandinius) near Gheiit, but which were shortly after- 
wards (before the publication dL his edition) destroyed 
by fire during the civil wars. These MSS. were 
thought by Cruquius to be about 700 years old ; and 
mrald therefore beiong to the ninth century : one, 
known as vetusHsslmus, he considered to be decidedly 
older, perhaps by 200 years. The reading of these 
MSS. differs in many places from the received text, 
and it has always been a moot point among scholars 
what weight is to be attached to them. Bentley set 
a very high value upon their evidence, especially 
where the vetustissimus was expressly quoted. His 
doctnne on this point, as on Horatian criticism gene- 
rally, is accepted by the *Berlin school', represehted 
by Lacbmann» Meineke, Haupt and Lucian Miiller. 



xkviii iNTRODUCTIOIf. 

On tli6 othet hattd Kdler and Holder place these 
MSS. along with £ in the interpolated class, and 
consequently rate them comparativeiy low. Keller's 
arguments are set forth in his Epilegomeiia, pp. 8oa 
— 803 : they haVe been replied to by Dillenburger, 
Mewes and most fuUy by Hoehn in a dissertation 
published at Jena in 1883 (pp. 55). Th« tonclusion, 
to which a careful consideration of the readings of V 
in the Epistles has brought me, is given more than 
once in the notes, and is identical with that which 
Professor Palmcr expresses in the Preface to his 
edition of the Satires (p. xxxi) : * I am disposed to 
regard this famous codex as an interpolated descend- 
ant of a better archetype than that from which the 
Horatian MSS. are descended.' At th« same time, 
it seems to be evident that its antiquity was over- 
stated by Cruquius, and that, as it was written in 
minuscules, it could not hav^ been earlier than the 
tenth eentury. 

With regard to the Epistles Hoehn*s conclusion 
is that in Book I. out of 117 record^d readings, 80 
are certainly right, 19 wtong, 18 doubtful: in Book II. 
of 38, 22 are right, 5 wrong, 11 doubtful; in the Ars 
Foetica of 32^ 23 are right, i wrong, 8 doubtful. 
These figures may be on some points open to ques- 
tion ; in particular, some of the readings not^d as 
doubtful are either almost certainly right, or point to 
the true reading. But the general result is to show 
how much better V stands such a test than any 



INTROt)UCTIOK xxix 

extant MS. could,; and, at th^ same time to prove 
how little any one MS. can be taken as the basis of 
our text. 

The text given in the present edition is on the 
whole a conseryative one, foUowing as a rule the evi- 
dence of the best MSS.: bu,t this course has not 
been adopted because I have any great faith in the 
trustworthiness of o^r traditional text, but only be- 
cause it seem& the safest course not to print any 
conjectural emendation, except where the reading of 
the MSS. is plainjy indefensible, and where a con- 
jecture approaches to, certainty. If I have erred 
here, I have enred with one of the safest of guides, 
Dr H. A. J. Munro, who writes: *I feel sure that 
many passages yet need alteration, though I am not 
satisfied with any that has been proposed.' 



( TTN.IVERSITY 



^^CALIfOR^ 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 



AGE OF 
B.C. HORACE. 

31 34 C. Julius Caesar Octavianus III. and M. Valerius 
Messalla Corvinus consuls. Battle of Actium. 

30 35 Death of Antonius and Cleopatra. Octavianus 
winters at Samos. 

^9 36 Octavianus retums to Rome, and triumphs on 
Aug. 6th, 7th, 8th. The temple of Janus is 
closed. 

28 37 The temple of Apollo on the Palatine is dedicated. 

27 38 Ti. Caesar takes the toga virilis (aet. xv). Octa- 
vianus receives the title Augustus: and leaves 
Rome for Gaul and Spain. 

26 39 Augustus enters on his eighth consulship at Tar- 
raco. War against the Cantabri and Astures. 

25 40 Augustus continues the war against the Cantabri 
and Astures, but falls sick at Tarraco. His 
lieutenants subdue these tribes, and A. Teren- 
tius Varro destroys the Salassi. Augusta Eme- 
rita (Merida) and Augusta Praetoria (Aosta) 
founded. The temple of Janus closed. 

24 41 Augustus retums to Rome in January. An allar 
is erected to Fortuna Salutaris. The Cantabri 
and Astures rebel, and are defeated by L. 
Aemilius. 

23 42 Augustus lays down his eleventh consulship, and 
receives imferium proconsularc and tribunicia 



xxxii CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 

AGEOP 
B.C. HORACE. 

potestas perpetua, Augustus is cured of a dan- 
gerous illness by Antonius Musa. M. Mar- 
cellus dies. Ti. Caesar quaestor. 

2% 43 The conspiraqr of Fannius Caepio and Licinius 
Murena is detected and punished. Augustus 
goes to Sicily. 

21 44 Lollius consul. Augustus dedines the other con- 
sulship. After some delay and disturbances at 
Rome Lepidus is elected consul. M. Agrippa 
marries Julia. Augustus winters at Samos. 

20 45 Augustus visits Asia and Syria. Prahates king 
of the Parthians sends back the prisoners and 
standards taken from Crassus. Tigranes is re- 
stored to the kingdom of Armenia by Tiberius. 
Agrippa finally subdues the Cantabri. Au- 
gustus again winters at Samos. 

19 46 Augustus retums to Rome on Oct. 12. An altar 
is erected to Fortuna Redux. Death of Vergil. 

18 47 'Lex.^vHiiaideniaritandisardinibus» Tiberius gover- 
nor of GauL 

17 48 Ludi Saeculares. .Agrippa leaves for the East. 

16 49 Defeat of LoIIius by German tribes. Tiberius 
(praetor) accompanies Augustus to Gaul. 

15 50 Augustus in Gaul. Tiberius and his brother 
Drusus defeat the Raeti and Vindelici. Peace 
made with the Germans. 

14 51 Defeat of the Pannonians. 

13 53 Tiberius consul. Augustus retums from Gaul to 
Rome on July ^th. Altar erected to Pax. Dra- 
sus left in charge of Gaul. Agrippa returas 
from the £ast 

12 53 Augustus becomes Pontifex Maximus. Death of 
Agrippa. Tiberius, govemor of Illjrricum, de- 
feats the Pannonians. Drusus sails down the 
Rhine, subdues the Frisians and defeats the 
Chauci* 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. xxxiii 

AGEOF 
B.C. HORACE. 

II 54 Tiberius marries Julia, and carries on war witli the 

Dalmatians and Pannonians. Drusus erects forts 

in Germany, and retums to Rome to take the 

praetorship. 
lo 55 Augustus visits Lugdunum (Lyons). An altar 

erected to him there on July i, Tiberius and 

Drusus carry on war. 
9 56 Augustus retums to Ronie on Jan. 30. Tiberius 

has an ovatio for his successes. Drusus dies 

from an accident. 
8 57 Tiberius govemor of Gaul. Death of Maecenas, 

and of Horace on Nov. 27, a few days before 

he had completed his 57th year. 



W. H. 



<j 



a=Kener*s ist class. a, a" divided evidence of this class. 
/3= „ 2nd class. /3', /3" „ „ „ 

7= „ 3rd class. 7, 7" „ „ „ 

. «, all MSS. tii the great majority of good MSS. S" some 

MSS. 
B=Bentley: 0=Orelli. 
K=Keller2: M=Munro. 



Q. HORATI FLACCI 
EPISTULARUM 

LIBER PRIMUS. 



Prima dicte rplhi, surnma dicende Camena, 
spectatum" satLs et^ donatum Jam rude quaeris, 
Maecenas, iterum antiquo me'includere ludo. 
Non eadem est aetas, non mens. Veianius, armis 
Herculis aii postem fixis, latet abditus agro, 5, 

ne populum extrema toliehs exoret harena. 
Est mihi purgataria crebro qui prfsonet aurem, 
'solve senescentem matuire sanus equijm, ne u^ 
peccet ad extremum ridendus et ilia ducat.' 
Nunc itaque et versu^ et cetera ludicra pono: 10 
quid verum atque decens curo et rogo et omnis in 

hoc sum: ^/ • 
condo et compono quae mox de^rgjjifiiSiljpssim. 
Ac ne forte roges quo me duce, quo Jai$ .tuter, 
nullius a ddictus iurare in verha magistri 
quo me cumque rapirlEenipestas deferor hpspes. 15 
Nunc agilis fio et mersor civilibus undis, 

L — (S. exoret apy'i exomety', 14, addictus ffyi 

adductus oj5", 16. mersor w': versor Aldus, Obbarius etc. 



4 HORATI EPISTULARUM [L 17— 

virtutis verae custos rigidusque satelles, 

nunc in Aristippi furtim praecepta relabor 

et mihi res non me rebus subiungere conor. 

Ut nox longa ^uibus mentitur amica diesque 20 

longa videtur opus debentibus, ut piger annus 

pupillis quos dura premit custodia matrum, 

sic mihi tarda fluunt ingrataque te|npora quae spem v^ 

consiliumque morantur agendi navjter id quod ^ 

aeque pauperibus prodest, locupletibus aeque, 25 

aeque neglectum, pueris senibusque nocebit. 

Restat ut his ego me ipse regam solerque elementis.^ 

Non possis oculo qua^tum contendere Lynceus, 

non tamen idcirco contemnas lippus inungui; 

nec, quia desperes invicti membra Glyconis, 30 

nodosa corpus nolis prohibere cheragra. 

Est quadam prodire tehus, si non datur ultra. 

Fervet avaritia miseroque cupidine pectus: 

sunt verba et voces quibus hunc lenire dolorem 

p^ssis et magnam morbi deponere partem. 35 

Laudis amore tilmes: sunt certa piacula quae te 

ter |)ura lecto pote^nt recreare libellOi 

Invidus, iracundus, iners, vinodt;^, a^atpr, 

nemo adeo ferus est ut non mitescere possit, 

si modo culiurae patientem commodet aurem. 40 

Virtus est vitium fugere et sapientia prima ^ 

stultitia caruisse. \Vides, quae maxima credis 

esse*mala, exigi;um censum turpemque repidsam, 

quanto devites animi capitisqua labore; 

inpiger extremos cuiris mercator ad Indos, " 45 

^8. oculo tJ OKM : oculos B. 3«. quadam o'PY OKMB : 
quodam a"p'y'\ 



I. 73] LIBER I. 5 

per mare pauperiem fugiens, per saxa, per ignisj^ i 
ne cures ea, quae stulte miraris. et optas, 
discere et audire et meliori ciredere non visf *" 
Quis circum pagos et circum compita pugnax 
magna coronari conte^anat Olympia, cui spe», ^"5^ 
cui sit condicio;. dulcis sine pulvere palmae? 

Vilius argentum est auro^ virtutibus aurum. 

*0 cives, cives, qua,erenda pectmia primum est; 
virtiis post nummos:' haeclanus summus ab imo ^^ 
prodofet, haec recirfunt iuvenes dictata senesque 55 
laevo suspensi loculos tabulamque lacerto. 
Est animus tibi, sunt mores,-^est lingua fidesque, 
sed quadripgentis sex septem milia desimt: 
f plebs eris. At pueri ludentes *rex eris* aiunt, 
*si recte facies.' Hic murus aeneus esto, 60 

nil conscire sibi, nuUa pallescere culpa. 
Roscia, dic sodes, melior lex an puerorum est ' — 
ynenia^quae regnum recte facientibus offert, 
I 'H-maribus Curiis et decantata Camillis? 

Isne tibi melius suadet qui, rem facias, rem, ^65 
si possis, recte, si non, quocumque mbdo rem, — . 
ut propius spectes lacrimosa poemata Pupi, 
an qui Fortunae te responsare superbae 
liberum et erectum praesens hortatur et aptat? 
Quodsi me populus Romamis forte roget cur ''70 
iion ut porticibus sic iudiciis fruar isdem, 
nec sequar aut fugiam quae diligit ipse vel odit, 
oiim quod volpes aegroto cauta leoni 

48. disccre o/5 : dicere 7. 56. hunc versum hdbeni codices 
offints. 58. miliaw, desuni afi'/ KM : desintyB, 72. 
aut afi: et^^ac y. 73. vvlpes y : vulpes a^y". 



6 HORATJ EFISTULARUM [I. 74— 

respbndit referam: 'quia me vestigia terrent, 
omnia te adversum.spectantia, nuUa retrorsum.' 75 
Belua multorum es capitum. Nam quid sequar aiU 

quem? 
pars hominum gestit conducere publica; sunt qui 
frustis et pomis viduas venentur avaras, 
excipiantque senes ques in vivaria mittant; 
multis occulto crescit res fenore. Verum 80 

esto aliis alios rebus studiisque teneri: 
idem eadem possunt horam durare probantes? 
*Nullus in orbe sinus Baiis praelucet amoenis ' 
si dixit dives, lacus et mare, sentit amorem 
festinantis eri: cui si vitiosa libido 85 

fecerit auspicium, cras ferramenta Tea^um 
tolletis, fabri. Lectus genialis in aula est: 
nil ait esse prius, itielius nil caelibe vita: 
si non est, iurat bene solis esse maritis. 
Quo teneam voltus mutantgm Protea, nodo ?" 90 
Quid pauper? ride: mutat cenacula, lectos, 
balnea, tonsores, conducto navigio aeque 
nauseat ac locuples quem ducit priva triremis. 
Si curatus inaequali tonsore oapillos 
occurro, rid^s; siforte subucula pexae 95 

trita subest tunicae vel si toga dissidet impar, 
rides: quid, mea cum pugnat sententia secum, 
quod petiit spemit, repetit quod nuper omisit, 
aestuat et vitae discoHvenit ordine toto, 
diruit,^ aedificat, mutat quadrata rotundis? 100 



78. frustis c/ K : crusfis BMO. 85. eri «'. 95. 

cccurri «/ KM ; occurro B. 97. secum a^' : mecum 7". 



11. isO LIBER I. 7 

Insanire putas Bo}lemnia me neque rides, 
nec medici credis nec curatoris egere 
a praetore dati^ rerum tutela mearum 
cum sis et prave sectum stomacheris ob unguem * 
de te pendentis, te respicientis amicL 105 

Ad summam, sapiene uno minor est love, dives, 
liber, honoratus, pulcher, rex denique regum, 
praecipue sanus, nisi cum pituita molesta est. 



II. 

Troiani belli scriptorem, Maxime Lolli, 
dum tu declamas Romae, Praeneste relegi: 
qui quid sit pulc];irum, quid turjte, quidutile, quid non, 
planius ac melius Chrysippo et Crantore dicit. 
Cilr ita crediderim, nisi quid te distinet, audl 5 
Faljula, qua- Paridis propter narratur amorem 
Graecia barbariae lento 'coUisa duello, 
stultorum regum et populorum continet aestus. 
Antenor censet.belli/praecjdere causam. 
Quid Paris? Ut salvus regnet vivatque beatus, 10 
cogi posse negat Nestor componere litis 
inter Peliden festinat et inter Atriden : 
hunc amor, ira quidem communiter urit utrumque. 
Quicquid delir^t r^esjj)lectuntiu: Achivi. 
"Setfitionei dolis, scelere atque libidine et ira 15 

loi. sollemnia ta' • 105. respicientis ta i suspicientis 'B, 
II. — I* Maxime KM : maxitne O etc 4. planius o/3 

KM ! plenius 7/3. 5. disHnet aV K : dOinet o"/3 M. a 
aestus ap KM : aestum 7. 10. quida^ KM : quodyB, 



8 HORATI EPISTULARUM [11. i6— 

Iliacos intra murosipeccatnr |et extra* 

Rursus quid virtus et quid sapientia possit, 

utile proposuit nobis exemplar Ulixen, 

qui domitor Troiae multorum providus urbis 

et mores hominum ihspexit latumque per aequor, 20 

dum sibi, dum sodis reditum parat, aspera multa 

pertulit, adversis rerum immersabilis undis. 

Sirenum voces et Circae pocula* upsti : 

quae si cum sociis stultus cupidus(^ue bibisset, 

sub domina meretrice fuisset turpis et excors, 25 

vixisset canis inmundus vel amica liito sus. ^ 

Nos nuiberus sumus et fruges consumere nati, 

sponsi Penelopae nebulones, Alcinoique 

in cute curanda plus aequo operata iuventus, 

cui pulchrum fuit in medios dormire dies et ^-^30 

ad strepitum citharae cessatum ducere curam. 

Ut iugulent hominem surgunt de nocte latrones : 

ut te ipsum serves non expergisceris ? Atqui 

si Doles sanus, curres hydropicus^ et ni — 

posces ante diem librum cum lumine, si non -35 

intendes animum studiis et rebus honestis, 

invidia vel amore vigil torquebere. Nam cur ^ 

quae laedunt oculum festinas demere, siquid 

est animum dilfers curandi tempUs in annum? 

Dimidium facti qui coepit habet: sapere aude: 40 

incipe. Qui recte vivendi prorogat horam, 



18. Ulixen ayi Ulixemfi, «3. CircaeT, 31. ces- 
satum KMO : cessantem S" B. curam a^y KMO : somnum 
/3" VB. 32. hominem S" BKM : homines O. 34. noies S". 
curres aj5 : cures y. 38. oculum a'Py BOKM : octtlos a". 

41, qui recte vivendi'^' BOMK (?) : vivendi qui recte apy'. 



11. 68.] LIBER L ' '_ — 9 

nisticus exspectat dum defluatramnis^at ille 

labitur et labetur in omne volubilis aevum. 

Quaeritur argentum puerisque* beata creandis 

uxor et incultae pacanfur vom^re silvae. 45 

Quod satis est cui contingit, nihil amplius optet - 

Non domus et fundus, non aeris acervus et auri 

aegroto domini deduxit corpore febris, 

non animo curas: valeat possessor oportet, 

si comportatis rebus bene cogitat uti. 50 

Qui cupit aut metuit, iuvat illum sic domus et res - 

ut lippum pictae tabulae, foment)ji podagram, 

auric^las dtharae collecta sorde dolentis. 

Sincerum est nisi vas, quodcumque infunflis acescit. 

Speme voluptales: nocet empta dolore voluptas. 55 

Semper avarus' eget : certum voto pete finem. 

Invidus alterius macrescit rebus opimis : 

invidia Siculi non invenere tyranni 

maius tormentum. Qui non moderabitur irae, 

infectum volet esse dolor quod suaserit et mpns, 60 

dum poenas odio per vim festinat inulto. 

Ira furor brevis est: animum rege; qui nisi paret, 

imperat : hunc frenis, hunc tu compesce catena. 

Fingit equunv. tenera docilem ceryice magister 

ire viam qua monstret eques: yenaticus, ex quo ()$' 

tempore cervinam pellem latravit in aula, 

militat in silvis catul|is. Nunc adhjbe.puro 

pectore verba puer, nunc te melioribus ofTer. 

46. conHngitaP'/^OKMi contigitisV, 48. febrisi^ 
fd>re5 prf : febrem o. 52. podagram w' KOM : podagrum B. 
59. iraeoJpr/i iram*/*, 63. catena ay\ catenis p, 65. 
gua BOKM : ^iuim (a\ 



10 HORATI EPISTULARUM [II. 69— 

Quo semel est imbuta recens servabit- odorem 
testa diu. Quodsi cessa^ aut strenuus anteis, 70 
nec tardum opperior nec praecedentibus insto. 



IIL 

luli Flore, quibus terrarum militet oris 
Claudius Augusti privignus, scire laboro. 
Thracane vos Hebrusque nivali compede vinctus, 
an freta vicinas inter currentia turres, 
an pingues Asiae campi coUesque morantur? 5 

Quid studiosa cohors operum struit ? Hoc quoque curo. 
Quis sibi res gestas Augusti scribere sumit? 
Bella quis et paces longum diffundit in aevum? 
Quid Titius, Romana brevi venturus in ora? 
Pindarici fontis qui non expalluit haustus, 10 

fastidire lacus et rivos ausus apertos. 
Ut valet? Utmeminit nostri? Fidibusne Latinis 
Thebanos aptare modos studet auspice Musa, 
an tragica desaevit et ampuUatur.in arte? 
Quid mihi Celsus agit? monitus multumque mo- 
nendus, 15 

privatas ut quaerat opes et tangere, vitet 
scripta Paktinus quaecumque recepit Apollo, 
ne, si fflrte suarrepetitum venerit olim 
grex avium plumas, moveat comicula risum 
furtivis nudata coloribus. Ipse quid audes? .20 
Quae circumvolitas agilis thyma? Non tibi parvum 
ingenium, non incultum est et turpiter hirtum: 

III.— 4, turrfs r OKM: Urras VB. «a. d a^y' 

BOKM: necy". 



IV. 9.] LIBER L II 

seu linguam causis acuis, seu dvica iura 
respondece paras, seu condis amabile cannen, 
prima feres hederae victricis pra^mia. Quodsi 25 
frigida curarum fomenta relinquere posses, 
quo te ^elestis ^apientia duceret, ires. 
Hoc opus, hoc studium parvi properemus et amph', 
si patriae volumus, si nobis vivere carL 
Debes hoc etiam rescrib^re, sit tibi curae 30 

quantae conveniat Munatius. An male sarta 
gratia nequiquam coit et rescinditur, ac vos ^ 
seu caHdus sanguis seu rerum inscitia vexat 
indomita cervice feros? Ubicumque locorum 
vivitis, indigni fratemum rumpere foedus, 35 

pascitur in vestrum reditum votiva iuvenca. 



IV. 

Albi, nostrorum sermonum candide iudex, 
quid nunc te dicam facere in regione Pedana? 
Scribere quod Cassi Parmensis opuscula vincat, 
an tacitum silvas inter reptare salubris, 
#dirantem quicquid dignum sapiente bonoque est? 5 
Non tu corpus eras sine pectpre: di tibi formam, 
di tibi divitias dederunt artemque fruendi. 
Quid voveat dulci nutricula maius alumno, 
qui sapere et fari possit quae sentiat, et cui 

30. ji/«'KM: «BO. 3«. a^rBKM: atO, 33. 
seu — seu BOKM : heu — fuu 5". 

IV. — 5. bonoque ap^ : bonumque 7". 6. eras w. 7 
dederurU 07 BOKM : dederant j3. 9. qui a'y BOKM : quatn 



1 2 HORA TI EPISTULAR UM- R V. 

c/v--' . . 

^atia, fama, valetudo contingat abunde, lo 

et mundus victus, non deficiente crumena? 
Inter spem curamque, timores inter et iras 
omnem crede diem tibi diluxisse supremum: 
grata superveniet quae non sperabitur ^ora. 
Me pinguem et nitidum bene curata cute tises, 15 
cum ridere voles, Epicuri de grege porc um. /- 



Si potes Archiacis conviva recumbere lectis 
nec modica cenare times holus omne p^tella, 
supremo te sole domi, Torquate, manebo. 
Vina bibes iterum Tauro diflfusa palustris 
inter Minturnas Sinuessanumque Petrinum. 5 

Si melius quid habes, 'arcessej vel imperium fer. "^ 
landudum splendet focus et tibi munda supellex. 
,Mitte levis spes et certamina divitiarUm 
et Moschi causam: cras nato Caesare festus 
dat veniam somnumque diesj impune licebit 10 
aestivam sermone benigno tendere noctem. 
Quo mihi fortunam, si non conceditur uti? 
Parcus ob heredis curam nimiumque severus 
adsidet insano. Potare et spargere flores 
incipiam patiarque vel inconsultus haberL . 15 

Quid non ebrietas dissignat? Operta recludit, 

11. et mundus aP'^ i et modus ei -^' x etdomusefB, cru- 
mena p BOM : crumina ay K. 

• V. — 6. jt w. II. aestivam o/ BOK : festivam M Meineke. 
12. quo ^\ quid. fortunam a'py BOK : fortuna a"/3" M. 
16. dissiptat codd. opt. KM : designc^ BO. 



VI. 9] LIBER I. 13 

spes iubet esse ratas, ad proelia trudit inertem, 
sollicitis animis onus eximit, addocet artis. 
Fecundi caliqes quem non feccre disertum? 
contracta quem non in paupei;tate solutum? 20 

Haec ego procurare et idoneus imperor et non ^ 
invitus, ne turpe toral, ne sordida mappa 
corruget naris, ne non et 6antharus et lanx 
ostendat^ tibi te, ne fidos inter amicos 
sit qui jdicta foras eliminet, ut coeat par — 25 

iungaturque parl Butram tibi Septiciun^que 
et nisi cena prior potiorque puejla Sabinum 
detinet adsumam, Locus est et^^pluribus umbris: 
sed nimis arta premunt olidae convivia caprae. -- 
Tu quotus esse velis rescribe et rebus omissis 30 
atria servantem posticb falle clientem. 



VI. 

Nil admirari prope res est una^^ Numici, 
solaque quae possit facere et servare beatum. 
Hunc solem et stellas et decedentia certis 
tempora momentis sunt qui formidine nuUa 
•imbuti spectent. Quid censes munera terrae? 5 
quid maris extremos Arabas ditantis et Ipdos? 
ludicra quid/ plausus et amici dbna Quiritis? 
quo spectanda modo, quo sensu credis et ore? 
Qui timet his adversa, fere miratur eodem 

17. inertem py BOKM : inermem apf\ 19. fecundi 
o^jS^y BOKM : /kwi^i a"/3' y. 26. Butram..,Septiciumque 
S" BOKM : Brutum Septimiumque, 28. adsumam BOKM : 
ad summam ta. 



14 HORATI EPISTULARUM [VI. lo— 

quo cupiens pacto: pavor est utrobique molestus, lo 

improvisa simul species exterret utrumque. 

Gaudeat an doleat, cupiat metuatne, quid ad^ rem, u^ 

si, quicquid vidit inelius peiusque sna spe, ' ' 

defixis oculis animoque et corpore torpet? 

Insani sapiens nomen fenit, aequus iniqui, 15 

ultra quam satis est virtutem si petat ips^. 

I nunc, argentum^ et marmor vetus aeraque et artis 

su^gige^cum gemmis Tyrios mirare colores; 

gaude quod spectant oculi te mille loquentem; 

navus mane forum et vespertinus petejectum, 20 

ne plus frumenti dotalibus emetat agris 

Mutus et (ind^um, quod sit peioribus ortus) 

hic tibi sit potius quam tu mirabilis illi. 

Quicquid sub terra est, in apricum proferet aetas, 

defodiet condetque nitentia. Cum bene notum 25 

porticus Agrippae et via te conspexerit Appi, 

ire tamen restat Numa quo devenit et Ancus. 

Si latus aut renes morbo tdmptantiu: acuto, 

quaere fugam morbi. Vis recte viyere: quis non? -^ 

Si virtus hoc una potest dare, fortis omissis 30 , 

^z age deliciis. Virtutem verba putas et ^ /^ 

lucum ligna: cave pe portus occupft alter, 

ne Cibyratica, ne Bithyna negotia perdas; 

mille talenta rotundentur, totidem altera, porro et -^'" 

tertia succedant, et quae pars quadrat acervum. 35 

VI. — II. exttrretiax extemat Jsicobaus. 13. pHusve T 
BOK : peiusque M. 16. petat r BOKM : peUt a. 20. 

navus r OKM : gnavus B. ««. Mutus et r BOKM : Mu- 
cius. 31. putas (a OK: putes BM. et ia' BOKM : «/. 
35. quadrata^ OYiMx quadretp'yB. 



VI. 62.] LIBER L 15 

Scilicet uxorem cum dote fi^emque et amicos 

et genus et forajam rfegina Pecunia donat 

ac bene nummatum decofat Suadela Venusque. 

Mancipiis locuple» eget aeris Cappadocum rex: c- 

ne fueris hic tu. Chlamydes LucuUus, ut aiunt, 40 

si posset centum scaenae praebere rogatus, 

*qui possum tot?' ait: *tamen et quaeram et quot 

habebo 
mittam' Post paullo scribit sibi milia quinque 
esse domi chlamydum; partem vel toJJeret omnis. 
Exilis dpmus est ubi non et muka supersunt 45^^ 
et dominum fallunt et prosunt furibus. Ergo 
si res sola potest facere et servare beatum, 
hoc primus repetas opus, hoc postrenjius omittas. 
Si foftunatum species et gratia praestat, 
mercemur servum qui dictet nomina, laeyum 50 
qui fodicet latus et cogat trans ponder^i dextram 
porrigere: *hic multum in Fabia valet, ille Velina; 
cui libet hic fa^ci? dabit eripietqiie turule 
cui volet.inportunus ebur/ Frater, pater adde; 
' ut cuique est aetas, ita quemque facetus adopta. 55 

Si bene qui cenat bene vivit, lucet, eamus 
_ipo ducit gulaj^ piscemur, venemur, iit olim 
• Gargilius, qui mane plagas, venabula, servos, 
diflfertum transire forum populumque iubpbat, 
unus ut^e multis populo spectante referret 60 , 

emptum mulus aprum. Crudi "tumidique lavemur, / 
quid deceat quid non obliti, Caerit^' cera ^ 

4$, primus ap BOKM : prtmunt 7. 5a laevum BOKM : 
saeoum r. 51. fodicet T BOKM : fodiut. 53. hic a^Y 
OKM: MV^B. 59. populumqucuQYLUiCajrji^umSJieB' 




i6 HORATI EPISTULARUM [VI. 63— 

digni, remigium vitiosum Ithacensis Ulixi, 

cui potior patria fuit interdict^ voluptas. 

Si, Mimnermus uti censet, sine amore iocisque 65 

nil est iucundum, vivas in amore iodsque. 

Vive, vale. Siquid novisti rectius istis, 

candidus imperti; si non, his utere mecum. 



VII. • 

Quinque dies tibi pollicitus me rure futurum, 
Sextilem totum mendax desideror. Atqui, 
si me vivere vis sanum recteque valentem, 
quam mihi das aegro, dabis aegrotare timenti, 
Maecenas, veniam, dum ficus prima calorque 5 

dissignatorem decorat lictoribus atris, 
dum pueris omnis pater et matercula pallet, 
officiosaque sedulitas et opella forensis 
adducit febris et testamenta resignat 
Quodsi bruma nivis Albanis illinet agris, 10 

ad mare descendet vates tuus et sibi parcet 
contractusque leget: te, dulcis amice, reviset 
cum zephyris, si concedes, et hirundine prima. 
Non quo more piris Vesci Calaber iubet hospes 
tu me fecisti locupletem. *Vescere sodes.' 15 

* lam satis est.' * At tu quantum vis tolle.' * Benigne.* 
*Non invisa feres pueris munuscula parvis.' 
*Tam teneor dono quam si dimittar onustus.* 

64. patria ajSy BOKM : patriae 7". 68. si non T 

BOM: «m/K. 

VII.— 2. atqui p BOKM : atque ap''y. 6. dissipta- 
torem KM : designatorem BO. 



VII. 45.] LIBER L ' 17 

'Ut libet: haec porcis hodie comedenda relinques.* 
Prodigus et stultus donat quae spemit et odit: 20 
haec seges ingratos tulit et feret omnibus annis. 
Vir bonus et sapiens dignis ait esse paratus: 
nec tamen ignorat quid distent aera lupinis. 
Dignum praestabo me etiam pro laude merentis. 
Quodsi me noles usquam discedere, r edde s 25 

forte latus, nigros angusta fronte capillos, 
reddes dulce loqui, reddes ridere decorum et '^ 
inter vina fugam Cinsffae maerere protervae. 
Forte per angustam tenuis volpecula rimam 
repserat in cumeram frumenti, pastaque rursus 30 
ire foras pleno tendebat corpore frustra. 
Cui mustela procul *si vis* ait *eflfugere istinc, 
macra cavum repetes artunfi, quem macra subisti.' 
Hac ego si compellor imagine, cuncta resigno; 
nec somnum plebis laudo satur altilium, neo<r^ 35 
otia divitiis Arabum liberrima muto. 
Saepe verecundum laudasti, rexque paterque 
audisti coram, nec verbo pardus absens: 
inspice si possum donata reponere laetus. 
Haud male Telemachus, proles patientis Ulixi, 40 
*non est aptus equis Ithace locus, ut neque planis 
porrectus spatiis nec multae prodigus herbae: 
Atiide, magis apta tibi tua dona relinquam.' 
Parvum parva decent: mihi iam non regia Roma, 
sed vacuum Tibur placet aut inbelle Tarentum. 45 

19. relinques r BOKM : relinquis. «a. paratus a'Py 

BOKM : paraium o!'^. 39. volpecula w : niiedula B. 34. 
compdlor S" \ compellar. 40. patienHsS'i sapiintis, Ulixi 
a'§f M : Ulixei 7 OB. 41. Ithace r KOBM : Ithacae. 

W.H. 2 



i8 HORATI EPISTULARUM [VIL 46— 

Strenuus et fortis causisque Philippus agendis 

darus, ab officiis octavam circiter horam 

dum redit atque foro nimium distare Carinas 

iam grandis natu queritur, conspexit, ut aiunt, 

adrasum quendam vacua tonsoris in umbra 50 

cultello proprios purgantem leniter unguis. 

'Demetri' (puer hic non laeve iussa Philippi 

accipiebat), *abi, quaere et refer, unde domo, quis, - 

cuius fortunae, quo sit patre quove patrono.' 

It, redit et narrat, Volteium nomine Menam, 55 

praeconem, tenui censu, sine crimine, notum 

et properare loco et cessare et quaerere et uti, y 

gaudentem parvisque sodalibus et lare certo ^y^ 

et ludis et post decisa negotia campo. 

'Scitari libet ex ipso quodcumque refers: dic "~^6o 

ad cenam veniat' Non sane credere Mena, 

mirari secum tacitus. Quid multa? 'Benigne' 

respondet *Neget ille mihi?' *Negat improbus et te < 

neglegit aut horret* Volteium mane Philippus 

vilia vendentem tunicato scruta popello 65 

occupat et salvere iubet prior. Ille Philippo 

excusare laborem et mercennaria vincla, 

quod non mane domum venisset, denique quod non 

providisset eum. 'Sic ignovisse putato 

me tibi, si cenas hodie mecum.' *Ut libet' *Ergo 70 

post nonam venies: nunc i, rem strenuus auge.' i^ 

Ut ventum ad cenam est, dicenda tacenda locutus 



50. adrasum 0/ : abrasum, 51. purgantem o/ : resecan- 
tem Mavort. 56. notum a/ : natum B. 58. certo w' : 

eurioB. 63. neget fi'y BOKM : negat a^. 67. mercen- 
naria w' KM : mercenaria BO. 



VII. 98.] LIBER I. 19 

tandem dormitum dimittitur. Hic ubi saepe 
occultum visus decurrere piscis ad hamum, 
mane cliens et iam certus conviva, iubetur 75 

rura suburbana indictis comes ire Latinis. 
Inpositus mannis arvum caelumque Sabinum 
non cessat laudare. -Videt ridetque Philippus, 
et sibi dum requiem, dum risus undique quaerit, 
dum septem donat sestertia, mutua septem 80 

promittit, persuadet uti mercetur agellum. 
Mercatur. Ne te longis ambagibus ultra 
quam satis est morer, ex nitido fit rusticus atque 
sulcos et vineta crepat mera, praeparat ulmos, 
inmoritur studiis et amore senescit habendi. 85 

Verum ubi oves fiirto, morbo periere capellae, 
spem mentita seges, bos est enectus arando, 
oflfensus damnis media de nocte caballum 
arripit iratusque Philippi tendit ad aedis. 
Quem simul adspexit scabrum intonsumque Phi- 
lippus, 90 

*durus' ait, *Voltei, nimis attentusque videris 
esse mihi.' *Pol me miserum, patrone, vocares, 
si velles* inquit *verum mihi ponere nomen. 
Quod te per genium dextramque deosque Penatis 
obsecro et obtestor, vitae me redde priori.' 95 

Qui semel adspexit quantum dimissa petitis 
praestent, matiure redeat repetatque relicta. 
Metiri se quemque suo modulo ac pede verum est. 

93. /a»^/a/3 BOMK : dicerey, 96. semel BOMK: 

nmul o/. 



20 HORATI EPISTULARUM [VIII. I- 



VIII. 

Celso gaudere et bene^rem gerere Albinovano 
Musa rogata refer, ;2(Jmiti scribaeque Neronis. 
Si quaeret quid agam, dic multa et pulchragcninantem 
vivere nec recte nec ^uaviter : haud quia ^ando 
contuderit vitis oleamque momorderit aestus, 5 

nec quia longinquis armentum aegrotet in agris; 
sed quia mente minus validus quam corpore toto 
nil audire velim, nil discere, quod levet aegrum; 
fidis offendar medicis, irascar amicis, 
cur mefunesto properent turc^re^-veterao ; 10 

quae nocuere.sequar, fugiam quae profore credam; 
Romae Tibur amem ventosus, Tibure Romam. 
Post haec, ut valeat, quo pacto rem gerat et*se,j;;^ 
ut placeat iuveni percontare utque cohortL l^ 
Si dicet 'recte^ primum gaudere, subinde 15 

praeceptum auriculis hoc instillare memfento, 
*ut tu fortunam, sic nos te, Celse, feremus.' 



VIIII. 

Septimius, Claudi, nimiruflrintellegit unus, 
quanti me facias. Nam cum rbgkt^et prece cogit 
scilicet iit tibi se laudare )5t tradere coner, 
dignum mente domoque legentis honesta Neronis; 

VIII,— 3. qtuuret S"&OWL\ quaerit S'* 5. oleamqm 
ci/OMK: oleamveB, 1«. ventosus S"QOllLllii venturus 

vet. Bl. 14. percontare o/. 

IX. — I. inteUegit o/. 



X. i6.] LIBER I. 21 

^ munere cum fungi propioris c enset amici; 5 

quid possim videt ac nbvit me yaldius ipso. 
Multa quidem dixi cur excusatus abirem; 
sed timui mea\tne f^nxi^se minora putarer, 
dissunuIatJfr opis propriae,' mihi commodus uni. 
Sic ego, mai(5ris fugiens opprobria culpae, 10 

V-.*^*^frontis ad urbanae descendi praemia. Quodsi 
depositum laudas ob amici iussa pudorem, 
scribe tui gfegis hunc et fortem crede bonumque. 



X. 

Urbis amatorem Fuscum salvere iubemuS 
ruris amatores. Hac in re salicet una 
multum dissimiles, at cetera paene gemelH, 
fratemis animis, quidqujd negat alter, et alter, 
adnjiimus pariter: vetuli notique columbi, 5 

tu nidum servas, ego laudo ruris amo^ni 
nvos et musco curcunvlita saxa nemusque. 
Qui<l/quaeris? vivcr^t yegno, simul ista reliqui 
quae vos ad caelum fertis rumore secundo, 
utque sacerdotis fugitivus liba recuso, 10 

panprigeo" iam mellitis potiore placentis. 
Vivere naturae si convenienter oportet 
ponendaeque domo quaerendane$t area primum, 
novistine locum potiorem ^rure beato? 
Est ubi plus tepeant hiemes, ubi gratior aura 15 
leniat et rabiem canis "et momenta leonis, 

X.--5. at BOMK ! ad n/. 9. ferHs «' BOK : efferiis v. 
M. 13. ponendaeque ta' BOMK: ponendaque V Sauppe. 



22 HORATI EPISTULARUM [X. 17— 

cum semel accepit solem furibundus acutum? 
£st ubi divellat somnos mmus invida cura? 

IDeterius Libycis olet aut nitet herba lapillis? 
Purior in vicis ^qu^ tendit rumpere plumbum, 20 
quam quae per proiium trepidat cum murmure rivum? 
Nempe^ter varias nutritur silva columnas, 
laudaturque domuslongos quae prospicit agros. 
\ Nat\uraiir^xpeires fiirca^^ tam^n usque recurret 
et mkM pemimpet furtim fasti^ia victrix. 25 

Noh qtii Srdonio" contendere callidus ostro 
nesat Aquinatem potantia vellera ^puiQ, 
certius accipiet damnum propiusve meduUis 
quam qui non poteritjfvero. distinguere falsum. 
Quem res plus nimio delectavere secundae, 30 

mutatae^quatient Siquid mihibere, pones - A 
invitiis. Fug^, magni : licet sub paupere tecto 
reges et regum mXS: praecurrei^T^unicos, 
Cervus equiim pugna melidrjcommunibus herbis 
pellebat, donec mlnor Tn cerfamine longo 35 

imploravit opes hominis|j frenumque recepit 
Sed postquam victo ridens discessit ab hoste> 
non equitem dorso, non frenum depulit ore. 
Sic qui pauperiem yentus! potiore metallis^ ,' 
libertate caret, dommuin y^^t Inprobus atque 40 
serviet aetemum, quia plarvo nesciet ufi. 
X^ui non conveniet sua res, ut calc^iis o^, 
si pede maior erit, su*bvertet, sT riimor, uret 



18. dwellatpy^BOmii depettai apf\ 94. expaies iJ 

BMK: expellas O. «5. fasHdia T ^OWLx fastigia T: 
uestigia r StaUbaum. 37. victo ridens M: victor vitHens 
«OK: violensvicto'^ 40. vehetiaYMx tfekitBO. 



XL i8.] LIBER L 23 

Laetus sorte tua\vives sapienter, Aristi; 
nec me dumttes ihcasffgatvwn; n^bi plura 45 

cogCTe quam satis est ac non cessare videbor. 
Imperat aut servit coUecta pecunia cuique, 
tortuip dign^ sftiui potius quam ducere funem. 
Haec tibi dictabam post fanum putre Vacunae, 
excepto quod non simul esses, cetera laetus. 50 



Quid fibl visa Chios, BuUati, notaque Lesbos, 
quid concinna Samos, quid Croesi regia Sardis, 
Zmyma quid et ColCphon? Maiora minorave fama, 
cunctane prae campcT et Tiberino flumine sordent? 
An venit in votuiff Att&licis ex urbibus una, 5 

an Lebedum laudas odio maris atque viarum? 
*Scis Lebedus quid sit Gabiis deSBrfeor atque 
Fidenis vicus: tamen illic vivere vellem, 
oblitusque meorj^ili^^bliviscendus et iilis, 
Neptunum procul e terra spectare furentem.' 10 
Sed neque qui Capua Roinam petit, imbre lutoque 
adspersus, volet in caupona* vivere ;' nec qui — 
frigiTs £,^ng|^, fumos et balnea laudat 
ut fortunatam plene praestantia vitam; 
nec sr te validus iactaverit Auster in alto, 15 

idcirco navem trans Aegaeum mare vendas. 
IncJJlumi Rh^dos et Mj^ilene pulchi^ facit quod 
gaenl&la solstitio, campestr)^ nivalibus auris, 

XI. — 3. Sardis ta BOMK : Sardes» 3. Zmyma w' MK : 
Smyma BO. minorave u' OMK : minoram B. 17. HAo* 
dos »': Rhodus* 



24 HORATI EPISTULARUM [XL 19— 

per brumam Tiberis, Sextili mense cgnainus. 
Dum licet ac voltum servat Fortuna benignum 20 
Romae laudetur Samos"5t ChYos^ et Rhifdos absens. 
Tu quamcumque deus tibi fortunayfflt horam 
grata sume manu, neu dulcia dilfer in annum; 
ut, quocumque loco fueris, vixisse libenter 
te dicas. Nam si raticTlBt prudentia curas, 25 

non locus eflfusi late maris arbiter' aufert, ^ 
caelum, non animifin, mutant^m trans mare currunt. 
Streniia nos exercet in^tia; navibus atque 
quadrigis petimus bene vivere. Quod petis hic est, 
est Ulubris, animus si te non deficit aequus. 30 



XII. 

Fructibus Agrippae Siculis, quos coUigis, Icci, 

si recte frueris, n on est ut copia maior 

ab l8ve donari possit tibL Tolle querellas : 

pauper enim non est cui rerum suppetit usus. 

Si ventri bene, si* lateri est pedibusque tuis, nil —5 

divitiae poterunt regales addere maius. 

Si forte in medio positorum abstemius herbis. 

vivis et urtica, sic vives pfotinus ut te .--- 

cpnfestim liquidus Fortunae rivus inauret, 

vel quia naturam mutare pecunia nescit, 10 

vel quia cuncta putas una virtute minora. 

Miramur si Deinbcnff pecus edit agellos 

cultaque, dum peregre t^ animus sine corpore velox ; 

43. nmwx nec, 

XII. — 3. ab Icfue w, quereUas (a' MK: querelas BO. 
8. protinus w : protenus B. 



XIIL 10.] LIBER L 25 

cum ta-inter scabiem tantaHonet contagia lucri 
nil parviim sapias et adhn^ sublimia cures, 15 

quae mare conpescant causae, quid temperet annum, 
stellae sponte sua iussaene vagentur et errent, 
quid premat obscurum lunae, quid proferat orbem, 
i quid velit et possit rerum concordia discors, 
Empedocles anl Stert&yum .deliret acumen. 20 

Verum seu piscis seu p^amm et caep^ trucidas, 
utere Pompeio GrosphiJpit, siqmd pfctet, ultro 
def5: nil Grosphus ntsi verunfTMrabit et aequum. 
Vilis apucoJ^^iir^st^annSna, boms ubl quid d^ei^. 
Ne ^imen ignores quo sit Romana loco res, c— 25 
Cantaber Agrippae, Claudi virtute Neronis 
Amienius cecidit; ius imperiumque Prahates 
Caesaris accepit genibus minor; aurea fruges 
Italiae pleno defundit Copia cornu. 



XIII. 

Ut prJ(ficiscentem docui te saepe diuque, 

Augusto reddes signatX volumina, Vini, 

si validus, si laetus Ibit, si denique poscet; 

ne studio nostri pecces odiumque libellis 

^edulup inportes opera vehemente minister. 5 

Si te ioVdi meae gravis uret sardna chartae, 

abicito potius quam quo perfefre iuberis U 

ditellas ferus igj^pg^? Asinaeque patemum 

cognomCh^ertas in risupanst fabula fias. 

Virfbus uteris per cliyos, fiumina, lamgs. v 10 

«7. PrahaUs uf K: Pkrahates M: Phraates BO. «9. 
^>w^VrBOKM: defudit. 



26 HORATI EPISTULARUM [XIII. ii— 

Victor propositi simul ac perveneris illuc, 
sic positum servabis onus, ne forte sub ala 
fasdculum portes libroru^ut rusticus agnum, 
ut vinosa glomus furtivae Pyrria lanae, 
iit cum pill&lo soleas conviva tribulis. ^ 15 

Ne volgo narres te sudavisse ferendo 
carmina quae possint oculos aurisque morari 
Caesaris. Oratus multa prece, niterp porro. , 
Vade, vale; cave ne titubes mandataque tongas. 



XIV.' 

Vilice silA^rum et mihi me reddentis agellii 
quem tu fastuHs KabiWum quinque focis et ^ 
quinque bonos solitum Variam dimittere patres, ^, 
certemus, spinaS animoil^^o fortius an tu ^ 
evellas agrO et melidr slt HJiratius an res. 5 

Me quamvis llmiae pietas et cura moratur, 
fratrem maerentis, rapto de fratre dolentis 
insolabiliter, tkmen istuc mens ^nimusque 
fert et amat spatiis obstantia rumpere claustra. 
Rure^go viventem, tu dicis in urbe beatuin. 10 
Cui placet alterius, sili mmirum e$t ^o sors. ^ 
Stultiis i3(terque loctgartlHneritum causadu: inique: . 
in culp^r^t animus, qui se non effiigit umquam. 
Tu mediastuiys tic&a prfec6 rurd petebas, 
nunc urb^ ^ ludos et balnea vilicus optas: 15 

XIII. — 14. glomus uf i glonm. Pyrriata, 15. pUUolo 
J KM : pUeolo BO. 16. ne J OKM : neu B. 

XIV.— I. VUUe o/ OKM: VillUe B. 9. amat <at 

ovefB» 




XIV. 44] LIBER L 

me constare inihi scis et discedere tristem* 
quandocumque trahunt. invisa negotia Romam. 
Non eadem miramur: eo disconvenit inter 
meque et te. Nam quae deserta et inhospita tesg^a 
credis, amoena vocat mecum qui sentit, et odit 20 
qua6 tu pulchra putas. VFomix tibi et uncta popina 

'fiicutiunj; urbis desiderium,- video, et.quod 

^igulus iste - feret piper et tus ocius uva, 
nec vicina subest vinum praebere tabema 
quae possit tibi, n<^ meretrix tibicina, cuius 25 

ad strepitum salias terrae gravis: et tamen urgues 
iam pridem non tacta ligonibus arva bovemque 
disiunctum curas et strictis frondibus exples: 
addit opus pigro rivus, si decidit ipiber,' 
multa v^plpi^ docendus aprico parcere praf6.\ 30 

Nunc age, quid nostrum concentum dividat audi. 
Quem tenues decuere togae nitidique capilli, 
quem scis inmtoem Cinarae placuisse rapad, 
quem bibulum liquidi media de luce Falemi, 
cena brevis iuvat et prope rivum somnus,in herba. 35 
Nec lusisse .pudet, sed non incidere ludum, 
Non isticoJ>liquo oculo mea cbmmoda quisquam 
limat, non odio^ obscufo morsuque ven^nat: 
rident vicini glaebas et saxa moventem. 
Cum servis urbana diaria rodere mavis; 40 

homm tu in numemm voto i^is: invidet usum 
lignomm et pecoris tibi calo argutus et hortL 
Optat ephippia bos, piger optat arare caballus. 
Quam scit uterque, libens, censebo, exerceat artem. 

19. iesqua w BKM : tesca O. 33. tus J BKM : thus O. 
39« glaebas KM: glebas w' BO. 40. diatia d \ cibaria 
Mavort. 



28 HORATI EPISTULARUM [XV. i— 



XV. .A 



supervacuas Antonius, ettamen illis 
.at invisum, geliaa cum perluor unda » / 



Quae sit hiemps Veliae, quod caelum, Vala, Salerni, 

quorum hominum regio et qualis via (nam mihi Baias 

Musa 

me facit 

per medium frigus. Sane murteta relinqui ^ 5 

dictaque cessantem nervis elidere morbum 

sulpura contemni vicus gemit, invidus aegris 

qui caput et stomachum supponere fontibus audent 

Clusinis Gabiosque petunt et frigida rura. 

Mutandus locus est et deversoria nota 10 

praeteragendus equus. *Quo tendis? Non mihi 

Cumas 
est iter aut Baias' laeva stomachosus habena 
dicet eques: sed equis frenato est auris in ore); 
maior utrum populum frumenti copia pascat; 
collectosne bibant imbris puteosne perennis 15 

iugis aquae (nam vina nihil moror illius orae. 
Rure meo possum quidvis perferre iJatique^ 
ad mare cum veni, generosum et lene requiro, 
quod curas abigat, quod cum spe divite manet 
in venas animumque meum, quod verba ministret, 20 
quod me Lucanae luvenem commendet amicae); 
tractus uter pluris lepores, uter educet apros; 
utra magis piscis et echinos aequora celent, 
pinguis ut inde domum possim Phaeaxque reverti, 

XV.— I. hiemps u/ M: hums BOK. 5. muneta «'. 
7. stdpura KM : sulpkura O : sulfura B. 10. deversoria 
ST BOKM : dwersoria. 13. eguis BM : e^ui vl OK. 16. 
j«jw ojS'^ BOKM : dulcis p'. 



XVI. 2.] LIBER I. 29 

scribere te nobis, tibi nos accredere par est — 25 
Maenius, ut rebus maternis atque patemis 
fortite^ absumptis urbanus coepit haberi 
scurra, vagus, non qui certum praesepe teneret, 
inpransus non qui civem dinosceret hoste, 
quaelibet in quemvis opprobria fingere saevus, 30 
pernicies et tempestas barathrumque macelH, 
quicqUid quaesierat, ventri donabat avaro. 
Hic ubi nequitiae fautoribus et timidis nil 
aut paullum abstulerat, patinas cenabat omasi, 
vilis et agninae, tribus ursis quod satis esset; 35 
sdlicet ut ventres lamna candente nepotum - ^ 
dicefet urendos correctus Bestius: idem ^ 

quidquid erat nactus praedae maioris, ubi omne 
verterat in fumum et cinerem, *non hercule miror' 
aiebat *si qui comedunt bona, cum sit obeso 40 
nil melius turdo, nil volva pulchrius ampla.' 
Nimirum hic ego sum. Nam tuta et parvola laudo, 
cum res deficiunt, satis inter vilia fortis : 
verum ubi quid melius contingit et unctius, idem 
vos sapere et solos aio bene vivere, quorum 45 
conspicitur nitidis fundata pecunia villis. 

XVL 

Ne perconteris fundus meus, optime Quincti, 
arvo pascat erum ari bacis opulentet olivae, 

3«. donahat aj3'7 OKM : donarat j8" : donaret B. 37. 
correctus S" K : correptus S" : corrector BOM. 38. quicquid 
ft/OKM: siquidB. 

XVI.— I. Quincti v. KM : Quinti td BO. «. erum afi 

KM: 7 Aerum BO. dacis «' OKM : daccis B. 



30 HORATJ EPISTULARUM [XVI. 3— 

pomisne an pratis an amicta vitibus ulmo, 
scribetiu: tibi forma loquaciter et situs agri. 
Continui montes, ni dissocientur opaca 5 

valle, sed ut veniens dextrum latus aspiciat sol, ^ 
laevum discedens cumi fugiente vaporet. 
Temperiem laudes. Quid, si rubicunda benigni 
coma vepres et pruna ferant? si quercus et ilex 
multa fruge pecus, multa dominum iuvet umbra ? 10 
Dicas adductum propius frondere Tarentum. 
Fons etiam rivo dare nomen idoneus, ut nec 
frigidior Thracam nec purior ambiat Hebrus, 
infirmo capiti fluit utilis, utilis alvo. 
Hae latebrae dulces etiam, si credis, amoenae 13 
incolumem tibi me praestant Septembribus horis. 
Tu recte vivis si curas esse quod audis. 
lactamus iam pridem omnis te Roma beatum : 
sed vereor ne cui de te plus quam tibi credas, 
neve putes alium sapiente bonoque beatum, 20 

neu, si te populus sanum recteque valentem 
dictitet, occultam febrem sub tempus edendi 
dissimules, donec manibus tremor incidat unctis. 
Stultorum incurata pudor malus ulcera celat 
Siquis bella tibi terra pugnata marique 25 

dicat et his verbis vacuas permulceat auris, 
*tene magis salvum populus velit an populum tu, — 
servet in ambiguo qui consulit et tibi et urbi 

3. an pratis /3 BM : et pratis 07 OK. 5. ni y BOM : 

si 0/3 K. 7. discedens w' OK : descendens S" i decedens BM. 

8. henigni d BOKM : benignae, 9. ferant — itevet w OKM : 
ferunt—iuvat B. si Py BOKM : et o. 14. utiiis, utilis 

<a' BOKM : a/>tus et utilis, 15. etiam si credis w OKM : et 

{iam si credis) B. aa. febrem « BKM : febrim O. 



XVI. 54] LIBER L 31 

luppiter,' Augusti laudes agnoscere possis: 
cum pateris sapiens emendatusque vocari, 30 

respondesne tuo, dic sodes, nomine? *Nempe 
vir tonus et prudens dici delector ego ac tu.'- — 
Qui dedit hoc hodie, cras, si volet, auferet, ut si . 
detulerit fascis indigno, detrahet idem. 

* Pone, meum est * inquit : pono tristisque recedo. 35 
Idem si clamet furem, neget esse pudicum, 
contendat laqueo collum pressisse patemum, 
mordear opprobriis falsis mutemque colores? 
Falsus honor iuvat et mendax infamia terret 
quem nisi mendosum et medicandum? Vir bonus 

est quis? 40 

* Qui consulta patrum, qui leges iuraque servat, 
quo multae magnaeque secantur iudice lites, 
quo res sponsore et quo causae teste tenentur.' 
Sed videt hunc omnis domus et vicinia tota 
introrsum turpem, speciosum pelle decora. 45 
*Nec furtum feci nec fugi' si mihi dicat 

servus, *Habes pretium, loris non ureris' aio. 

* Non hominem occidL' Non pasces in cruce corvos. 
*Sum bonus et frugi.* Renuit negitatque Sabellus. 
Cautus enim metuit foveam lupus accipiterque 50 
suspectos laqueos et opertum miluus hamum. 
OdSunt pecy^are bqni virtutis amore. 

Tu nihil admittes in te formidine poenae: 
sit spes fallendi, miscebis sacra profanis. 

30. paUris a'y BOKM : poteris o" : cupias /3. 40. me' 
dUandum a/ BOKM : mendacem* 43. res sponsore VBOKM : 
responsore o/. 45. inirorsum o/9 OK : introrsus BM : hunc 
prorsus. 46. dicat w' OK : dicit BM. 49. negitatgue a/3 
BOKM: nfgatatquey. 



32 HORATI EPISTULARUM [XVI. 55-^ 

Nam de mille fabae modiis cum surripis unum, 55 
damnudf^t, non facinus, mihi pacto lenius isto. 
Vir bonus, omne forum quem spectat et omne tri- 

bunal, v^ ., - _ _i 

quandocumque delos*vel' porco fvel bove placat, 
*Iane pater' claire, clare cum dixit *Apollo,' 
labra movet metuens audiri *pulchra Lavema, 60 
da mihi fall?re, da iusto sanctoque videri, 
noctem peccStis et fraudibus obice nubem.* 
Qui melior servo, qui liberior sit avarus, ^^ 
in triviis fixum cum se dShaitdt ib assem, 
non video. Nam qui^cupiet, metuet quiiquej/porro 65 
qui metuens ^vet, liber mihi non erit umquam. 
Perdidit arml', locum virtutis deseruit, qui — . 
semper in augenda festmalJl^t obruitur re. ' — 
Vendere cum possis captivijaipBipcrd^re noli: 
serviet utiliter: sine pascat durus arfetque, X70 
naviget^ac mediis hiemet mercator in undis, 
annonae prosil, portet frumenta penusque. 
Vir bonus et sapiens audebit dicere 'Pentheu, 
rector Thebarum, quid me perferre patique 
indignum coges?' *Admiam bona.* *Nempe p^cus, ;^^w-, 

lectos, argentum. ToUas lic^t' *In mamcis et 
compedibus saevo te sub cusfod^ tenebo.' 
*Ipse deus, simul atque volam, me solvet' Opinor 
hoc sentit, *moriar.' Mors ultima Gnea ferjjBr^t 

61. iusto sanctoque S" BOKM: iustum sanctumque r. 
66. vivet b/ OKM : vivit B. ja. penusque vf BOKM : 
J>enumque, 



XVIL 26.] LIB. I. EFIST. XVII. 33 



XVII. 

Quamvis, ScaevX//^tS per fe tibi consulis et scis ^-* 
quo tandem pacto d^c)^at maioribus uti, 
disce, dcfcendilfs adhucllquae censet aimculus,!lut si 
caecus iter monstrare velit; tamen adspice siquid 
^ — -et nos quod curesliproprium fecisse loquamur. 5 
Si te gratl qiKesllet primam somnus )n horam 
delectat, si te pulvis strepitusque rotarum, 
si laedit cauponX, Ffeentin)rar^e iubebo. 
Nam neque divitibus contingunt gaudia solis, 
nec yvSt inale, qui natus m6nensque fefellit. 10 
Si prodesse tuis paulloque bl^nignius ipsum 
te tractare voles, accedes siccus ad unctum. 
*Si pranderet holus patienter, regibus uti 



noll^t Aristippus.' ' *Si sciret regibus uti, 
fastidiret h&lus qui me notat/ Utnus horum 15 
verba probes et facta doce,flvel ium^r audi 
cur sit Aristippi^'potior sententla. Namque ('. 

mordacem Cynicum sic eludebat, ut aiunt: 
^Scurror egcripse mihi, populo tu: rectius hoc et ^ 
splendidxus miilternest. Equus ut me portet, alat 
rex, ^ ^ 20 

officium facio: tu poscis vilia, verum 
dante minor, quamvis fers te^^nulHus egentem.* 
Omnis Aristippum decuit color et status et res, 
temptantem maiora, fere praesentibus aequum. 
Contra, quem duplici panno patientia velat, 25 

mirabor, vitae via si conversa decebit 

XVIL— 8. laeditpQKUi tJ laedetB. ' «i. viliarerum 
BOM : vilia, verum uf : vilia, verumr r K. 

W H. 3 



34 HOEATI EPrSTtTLARVM. [XVII. 2^— 

Alter purpureum non exspectabit amictum, 
quidlibet indutus celebeirima per loca vadet^ 
personamque feret non inconcinnus utramque: 
alter ^fileti textam cane peius^et angui 30 

vitabit chlamydem; morietur frigore si non ^ 
rettuleris pannum. Refer -et sine vivat inqptus. 
Res gerer^Net captos ostendere civibus hostig, 
attingit-solium ibvis^et caelestia temptat 
Principibus placuisse^'viris non ultima laus est ^35 
Non cuivis homini contingit adire Corinthum. 
Sedit qui timuit' ne non succederet: «sto. — '^ 

Quid? qui pervemt, featne vurihter? Atqui 
hic est aut nusquam quod quaerimus, Hic onus 

horret, 
ut parvis animis et parvo corpore maius: 40 

hic subit et perfert Aut virtus nomen inanest, 
aut decus et pretium^'recte petit experiens vir. — 
Coram rege^ sua de paupertate tacentes 
plus poscente ferent Distat sumasne pudenter 
an rapias: atqui rerum' caput hoc erat, hic fons. 45 
* Indotata mihi soror est,' paupercula mater, 
et fundus nec vendibilis nec pascere firmus* 
qui dicit, clamat *victum date.'^ Succinit alter 
*et mihirdividuo findetur munere quadra. 
Sed tacitus pasci ' si posset corvusj' haberet 50 

plus dapiset rixae multo minus invidiaeque. 
Bruhdisium comes aut Surrentum ductus amoenura 
qui queritur^ salebras et acerbum frigu^ et imbris, 
aut cistjw&^^firactam "fet subducta viatica plorat, 
nota refert mer^tricis acumina, saepe catellam, 55 

50. HHgui Priscian BM : dn^e d OK. 43. sua ^M : 
suoviQDL. 



XVIIL 19.] LIB. I. EPJST. XVIII. js 

^epe peiiscelideQa raptam sibi flemis, uti mdx .-* 

nulla fiides damnis rerisque ddoribus adsk. 
Nec semel imisus triviis attollere curat / 
fracto cnire plamim. Licet ilH pktrima/maneC 
lacrima, per sanctum iuratus dicat OsiriQaL^^^ ^ 60 
^creditp, no(ft ludo: crudeles, tollifte claudum:* 
*quaere peregrinum* -vkinia rauca leclamat. 




XVIIt 

Si bene te novi, metues^ liberrime Lolli, 
scurrantis speciem praebere, prolessus amicum. 
Ut matrbna i?aeretrici"dispS' erit atque 
j^ . discolor, infido scurrae' distabit amicus. 

Est huic diversum ^tio^vitium prope maius;, ,5 

asperitas agrestis et inconcinna gravisque, 
quae se commendat tonsa cute, dentibus atris, 
dum volt libertas dici mera veraque virtus. 
Virtus est medium vitiorum et utrimque reductum. 
Alter in obsequium plus aequo pfbniis^, et imi 10 
derisor lecti, sic nutvun divitis horret, 
sic iterat voces et verba cadentia tollit, 
ut puerum saevo credas dictata magistro 
reddere''vel partis mimum tractare secimdas : 
alter rixatur de lana saepe caprina, 15 

propugnat nugis armatus : * scilicet ut non — 
sit mihi prima fides et vere quod placet ut non "^ 
acnter elatrem? pretium aetas altera sordet' 
Ambigitur quid enim? Castor sciat an Docilis plus; ^ 

X VIII.— 15. njrtffwr w BOM : rMTtf/^TT Muret K. capAna^ 
aB. 19. Dociiis <a BK: Dolichos OM. 

3—2 



36 HORATI EPISTULARUM. [XVIII. 

Brundisium Mmua melius via ducat an AppL 20 
Quem damnosa Venus, quem praeceps alea nudat, 
gloria quem supra vires et vestit et unguit, 
quem tenet argenti sitis importuna famesque, 
quem paupertatis pudor et fuga, dives amicus, 
saepe decem vitiis instructior, odit et horret, 25 
aut, si non odit, regit ac velutl pia mater 
plus quam se sapere^t virtutibus esse priorem 
volt et ait prbpe veri; *meae (contendere noli) 
stultitiam patiuntur opes: tibi parvola res est — 
Arta decet sanum comitem toga: desine mecum 30 
certare*'TButrapelus cuicumque nocere volebat, 
vestimenta dabat pretiosa: ^beatus enim iam ^ 
cum pulchris tunicis' sumet n^va consilia et spes, 
dormiet in lucem, scorto postponet honestum 
officium, nummos alienos pascet, ad imum 35 

Thraex eritaut holitoris aget mercede caballum.' 
Arcanum neque tu scrutaberis ilhus umquam, 
commissumque teges et vino tortus et ira. 
Nec tua laudabis studiii, kut aliena reprendes, 
nec, cum venari volet ille, pbemata panges. 40 

Gratia sic fratrum geminorum AiqpHronis atque 
Zethi dissiluit, donec suspecta Severo 
conticuit lyra. _ Fratemis cessisse putatur 
moribus Amphion: tu ce^i potentis amici 
lenibus imperiis, quotiensque educet in agros 45 
Aetolis onerata plagis iumenta canesque, 
surge et inhumanae senium depone Camenae, 

36. Thraex^YM*, Thrax iJ 0\ Tkrex^ 37. illhis 
V BOKM: tdlius api*. 46. Aetolis i/ BOKM: Aeoliis 
Mein. 



XVIII. 76.] LIB. I. EPIST. XVIII 37 

cenes ut pariter pulmenta laboribus empta; 

Romanis soliemne viris opus, utile famae 

vitaequjer^t membris; praesertim cum valeas et 50 

vel cursu superare canem vel viribus aprum 

possis; adde virilia: quod speciosius arma 

non est qui tractet : scis quo clamore coronae 

proelia susrineas campestria; denique saevam 

militiam puer et Cantabrica bella tulistt 55 

sub duce qui templis Pacrtliorum sigqA refigit 

nunc, et siquid abest Itaiis adiudicat armis. 

Ac ne te retrahas et inexcusabiKs absis, 

quamvis nil extra numerum fecisse modumque / 

curas, interdum nugaris rure p ft tda o : "* 60 

partitur lintres exercitus; Actia pugna 

te duce per pueros hostili more refertur; 

adversarius est frater, lacus Hadria; donec 

alterutrum velox victoria fronde coronet 

Consentire suis studiis qui crediderit te, —' 65 

fautor utroque tuum laudabit poUice ludunu 

Protinus ut moneam (siquid monitoris eges tu), 

quid de quoque viro et cui dicas, saepe videto. 

Percontatorem fugito: nam garrulus idemst, 

nec retinent patulae commissa fideliter aures, 70 

et semel emissum volat inrevocabile verbum* 

Non ancilla tuum iecur ulceret ulla. puerve 

intra marmoreum venerandi limen amici, 

ne 'dominus pueri pulchri caraeve puellae 

munere te parvo beet aut incommodus angat. 75 

Qualem commendes etiam atque etiam adspice, ne mox /^ 

56. refigU <y BOKM: refixiU 58. absis <a OKM: 

aisUs B. 61. • lyntresT K : lifUres r BOM. 



ja HORATI EFTSTUZARUM. [XVIIL 77— 

incutiant aliena tibi peccata pudorem. 

Fallimur et quosidam non di^um tradimus; ergo 

quem sua culpa preme^ deceptus omitte tueri, 

ut penitua aotum si temptent crimina, serves So^ X 

tuterisque tuo fidentem praesidio t qui 

dente Thconino eum ckrciMiuroditur, ecquid 

ad te pos^ pauUo Tentura pericula sentis? 

oam tua res aghur, pories com proximus ardety 

et neglecta solcjat incendia ^unere vires« 85 

Dulcis inei;piertL5 cultura potentis amict: 

expertus metuit Tu^ diUQ tua aaTia in alto eak, 

hoc age, ne xauAata retrocsum te ferat aura. 

Oderunt hilarem triste9 tristemque iocosi, 

sedatum celerea^ agilem goavumque remissi^ 90 

[potores bibuK media de nocte; Falemi] 

oderunt porrecta negantaem poculat quamvis 

noctumos iur^ te formidaie tepores% 

Deme superciHo nubem: plcrumque modestus 

occupat obsGuri q^eeiem, tacitumus acerbi. 9^5 

Inter cuncta leges et percontabere doctos» 

qua radooe queas traducere leniter aevuTOi. 

num te semper inops agitet ve»etque cupidoy 

n^m pavor et renuD mediocciter utibttm spes^ 

virtutem doctrina paret naturane donet» loo 

quid minuat curas, quid te ttbi reddat amicwDD, 

quid pure tranquiilet, honos an dulce luceUum 

an secretum iter et faltentis semita vitae^ 



80. #fe»OKM': tWB, 9r. fidmUm %^ OYiM. i fident^ 
B. 90. navumqm fJ OK,yLi gnavumque^Q, 91. potores 
— RJemi, non habent codices meHoris notae. 93. tepons fJ 
BKM: vaporesO. 



XIX. ly.] Z/vR /. -e/y^/l XIX. 3.9 

Me quotien^ reficit gelidus Digentia rivus, 
quem Mandela Ijibit; rogosus frigore pagus» 105 
quid sentire^utas, quid credis, araice, precaxi? 
'Sit mihi quod nu»c est, etiam miuus, ut mihi viyam 
quod superest aevi> siquid superesse volunt di: 
sit bona librorum et provis^^e frugis iu annum 
copia, neu fluit^ui dubiae spe peudulus horae. ^xq 
Sed satis est orare loveip^ quae pouit et aufert, 
det vitam, del: ppesi a^quum mi apimuin ip^ parabo.' , 



XIX. 

Prisco si cr^dis, Maecenas docte, Cfatioo, 
nulla placere diu nec vivere carmina possunt 
quae scribuntur aquae potoribus. Ut male.JsaiK)s 
adscripsit Liber satyris faunisque }jbeto% 
vina fere dulces oluerunt mane Cameratek 5 

Laudibus arguitur vini Tinosus Homerus: 
Ennius ipse pat^ numquaip nisi potu» ad anna 
prosiluit dicendi. 'Forum putealque Ijboniii 
mandabo siccis, adimam cant^e severis.* 
Hoc simul edixi, hon cessavere poetae 10 

noctumo certarenaero, putete diurna 
Quid? siquis voltu tcnrvo ferus et pede nudo 
^sexiguaeque togae simulet textore Catonem, 
virtutemne repraesentet inoresque Catonfe? 
Rupit larbitam Timagenis aemufti lingua, 15 

107. ut S- YLx ei S" OBM. 110. nm «/OBKMi m. 
III. quae pomt S' lHx quiponitTllLi guae d<mat S" OYi, 
XIX.— 10, .«^jTw^-yBOBaSI: <^wlfa» 



40 HORATI EPISTULARUM. [XIX. i6— 

dum studet urbanus tenditque disertus haberL 

Cecipit exemplar vitiis* imit9.bile. Quodsi 

pallerem casu, biberent exsangue cuminum. 

O imitatores, servum pecus, ut mihi saepe 

bilem, saepe iocum vestri movere tumultusl 20 

Libera per vacuum posui vestigia princeps, 

non aliena meo pressi pede, ' Qui sibi fidet, 

dux reget ^amen. Parios ego primus iambps 

ostendi Latio, numeros animosque secutus 

Archilochi, non res^ et agentia verba Lycanjiben. 25 

Ac ne me foliis ideo brevioribus omes 

quod timui mutare modps et carminis artem, ^ 

temperat Archilochi musam pede mascula Sappho, 

temperat Alcaeus, sed rebus et ordine disp^, 

nec soc6rum quaerit quem versibus oblinat atris, 30 

nec sponsae laqueum famoso carmine nectit 

Hunc ego, non alio dictunt prius ore, Latinus ^ 

volgavi fidicen. luvat immemorata ferentem 

ingenuis ocuHsque legi manibusque teneri. 

Scire velis, mea cur ingratus opuscula lector 35 

laudet ametque domi, premat extra limen iniquus: 

non ego, ventosae plebis sufiragia venor 

impensis cenarum et trita^ munere vestis, 

non ego nobilium scriptorura auditor et ultor a> 

grammaticas ambire tribus et pulpita dignor. 40 

Hinc illae lacrimae. 'Spissis indigna theatris 

scripta pudet recitare et nugis addere pondus' 

si dixi, *rides* ait *et lovis auribus ista 

servas: fidis enim manare poetica mella 

te solum, tibi pmcher.' Ad haec ego naribus uti45 

11. JidU—regU BOM : fidet—rega d K. 



XX. 19.] LIB. I. EFIST. XX. 41 

fonnido etj luctantis acuto ne seoer^ungui, 
*displicet iste locus'clamo et ailjiSia posco. 
Ludus enim genuit trepidum certamen et iram, 
ira trucis iniinicitias et funebre bellum. 



%■ 



XX. /v/^'<C* 



Vertumnum lanumqiie, libe!^ spectare videris, 

sdlicet ut prostes Sosiorum pumice muniius. 

Odisti clavis ''et grata sigilla pudico, 

paucis ostendi^gfetni^^t communia laudas, 

non ita nutritus. Fttg^ quo descendere gestis: 5 

non erit emisso^ reditus tibi. *Quid miser egi? 

qtiid volui?' dices ubi quid te laeserit; et scis • 

in brive te cogl*cum plenus l^^et a,mator. 
■ quodsi non bdip^eccantisf desij^t augijr, /. . 
carus eris Rpmae donec te deserat aetas: 10 

contrectatus ubi m^nibus sordesc^re volgi 
coeperis, aut '^eas ^^asces tacitumus inertis 
aut fiigies Utic^iOlkt vinctus mitteris Ilerdam. 
Ridebit monitor non exauditus, ut ille 
qui male parentQiir^ rupis protrusit asellum 15 
iratus: quis enim invitum servare laboret? 
hoc quoque te manet, ut pueros plementa docentem 
occupet\\extremis in vicis''balba senectus. 
Cum tibi sol tepidus pluris admoverit auris, 

46. ungui ta. 

XX. — I. Vertumnum ap BOM: Vortumnum 7K. 5. 
iescendere vf BOKM : discederc. 7. quid ta' BKM : quis O. 
la deserat c^ OKM : deserit B. 13. viftctus vf BOKM : 
unctus. 



44 HORATI EPISTVLARUM. [XX. 20. 

me libiertino natmn^patr<!>t in teftiri re, ^ zo, 
maioi;^ pennas^igjfpi^teodisse loqueris, 
ut qusmtuna ^g^J^i denws, yirtutibus ^A^y 
me pnmis urbii/ beUi j^lacujsae domique, 
corporis exigui, pr^ca^um, solibus aptum, 
irasci celerem,! tamen ut placabilis essem. 2S 

Fortd' meum si<quis te percontabitur aevum, 
mequater undenos^^sciat inplevisse Decembris, ' ^ 
collegam Lipidum quo dixit LoUiu» anno. ^ 

a8. iy^itv>miA\ iixUYi^ 



Q, HQRATI FLACCI 
EPISTULARUM 

LIBER SECUNDUS. 

I. 

Cum tot sustineas et tanta negotia solus, 
res Italas armis tuteris, moribus omes, 
legibus emendes, in publica commoda peccem, 
si longo sermone morer tua tempora, Caesar. 
Romulus et Liber pater et cum Castore Pollux, ^ 5 
post ingentia facta deorum in templa recepti, 
dran terras hominnmque colunt genus, aspera bella 
componunt, agros adsignajit, oppida condunt, 
ploravere suis non respondere favorem 
speratum meritis. Diram qui contudit hydram 10 
notaque fatali portenta labore subegit, 
■ 'comperit invidiam supremo 'fine domari. 
Urit enim fulgore suo qui praegravat artis « '^'m 
infra se positas : extinctus amabitur idem. 
Praesenti tibi maiuros largimur honores 15 

iurandasque tuum per numen ponimus aras, 
nil onturum alias, nil ortum tale fatentes. 

1.-6^ facta «QMK : fata B, x6. nunien r BMK : 
nomen rO, 



44 HORATI EPISTULARUM [I. i8— 

Sed tuus hic populus, sapiens et iustus in uno 

te nostris ducibus, te Grais anteferendo, 

cetera nequaquam simili ratione modoque 20 

aestimaty et nisi quae terris semota suisque 

temporibus defuncta videt, fastidit et odit, 

sic fautor veterum, ut tabulas peccare vetantis 

quas bis quinque viri sanxerunt, foedera regum 

vel Gabiis vel cum rigidis aequata Sabinis, 25 

pontificum libros, annosa volumina vatum 

dictitet Albano Musas in monte locutas. 

Si, quia Graiorum sunt antiquissima quaeque 

scripta vel optima, Romani pensantur eadem 

scriptores trutina, non est quod multa loquamiu* : 30 

nil intra est olea, nil extra est in nuce duri, 

venimus ad summum fortunae, pingimus atque 

psallimus et luctamur Achivis doctius unctis. 

Si meliora dies, ut vina, poemata reddit, 

sdre velim, chartis pretium quotus adroget annus. 35 

Scriptor abhinc annos centum qui decidit, inter 

perfectos veteresque referri debet an inter 

vilis atque novos? Excludat iurgia finis. 

*Est vetus atque probus centum qui perficit annos.' 

Quid qui deperiit minor uno mense vel anno, 40 

inter quos referendus erit? Veteresne poetas, 

an quos et praesens et postera respuat aetas? 

*Iste quidem veteres inter ponetur honeste, 

qui vel mense brevi vel toto est iunior anno.* 

Utor permisso, caudaeque pilos ut equinae 45 

paullatim vello et demo unum, demo etiam unum, 

18. hic w'OMK : hoc B. 28. Grawrum /3BM : Graeco- 
rum 07OK. 31. olea BK : oUam wOM. 46. etiam 

o^OK : it iUm ^BM. 



I. 75-] ^v LIBER II. 45 

dum cadat ^usus r^tiou^ ruentis acervi, '^ 

qui redit in fastos et virtutem aestimat annis 

miraturque nihil nisi quod Libitina sacravit ^ 

Ennius et sapiens et fortis et alter Homerus, 50 

ut critid dicunt, leviter curare videtur 

quo promissa cadant et somnia Pythagore^^-^ 

Naevius in manibus non est et mentibus haeret 

paene recens ? A^eo sanctum est vetus omne poema. 

As^higitui. quotiens uter utro sit prior, aufert ^5 

Pacuvius dpcti famam senis, Accius alti, 

dicitur Afrani toga convenisse Menandro, 

Plautus ad exemplar Siculi properare Epicharmi, 

vincere Caecilius gravitate, Terentius arte, 

Hos edisdt et hos arto stipata theatro 60 

spectat Roma potens; habet hos numeratque poetas 

ad nostrum tempus livi scriptoris ab aevo. 

Interdum volgus rectum videt; est ubi peccat. 

Si veteres ita miratur laudatque poetas 

ut nihil anteferat, nihil ilhs comparet, errat. 65 

Si quaedam nimis antique, si pleraque dure 

dicere credit eos, ignav^ multa fatetur, 

et sapit et mecum facit et love iudicat aequo. 

Non equidem insector delendave carmina Livi 

esse reor, memini quae i^agpsum mihi parvo 70 

Orbilium dictare: sed emendata videri 

pulchraque et exactis minimum distantia miror. 

Inter quae verbum emicuit si forte decorum, 

si versus pauUo condnnior unus et alter, 

iniuste totum dudt venditque poema. 75 

67. credit i^OMK : cedit B. 69. Livi ta'OUK : Laevi 
B. 75. vmdiique o/OMK : venitque B, 



4<5 HORAn EMSTtJLARUM [t 76— 

Indignor quicquam repr^eft^, «cm qoia ms&e 
conpo^itum mlepkieve putetur, sed quia titsper, 
nec veniam antiqtds, ^d 'honorem et pramia posci. 
Recte necne <3rocum floresqtie perambulet Attiie 
fabula si dubitem, tlament periisse pudorem J8d 
cuncti paene paJtres, ea cum reprehendere coner 
quae gravis Aesopus, quae doctus Roscitrs egit; 
vel qttia nil rectum, toisi <piod placuit' sibi, diicuwt, 
vel quia turpe putatit parere minoribus ^t quae 
imberbes didicere senes pgidenda fateri. 85 

lam Saliarfc Numae carmen qui laudat et illud 
/quod mecum ignoraSt) solus volt scire videri, 
ingeniis non il!e fevet plauditque sepuhis, 
nostra sed inpugnat, nos nostraque lividus odit. 
Quodsi tam Graecis tiovitas invisa fuisset — 90 

quam nebis, quid nunc esset vetus aut quid haberftt 
quod legeret tereretque viririm publicus usus? 
Ut primum positis nugai^i Graecia bellis 
coepit et in vitibin fortuba labier' aequa, 
nunc athletamm studiis, nunc arsit equorum, 95 
marmoris aut eboris fabrps aut aeris amavi^ 
suspendit picta voltum mentemque tabella, 
nunc tibicinibus, nunc est gavisa tr^oedis] 
sub nntrice puella velut si luderet infans, 
quod cupide petiit, mature plena reliquit 100 

Hoc paces habuere bonae ventique secundi 102 
Romae dulce diu fuit et soUemne reclusa 
mane domo vigilare, clienti gromere iura, 
cautos nominibus rectis expendere nummos, 105 

85. imberies «OK : imberbi BM. 90. Graecis wOMK : 
Graiis B. 105. cautos (^MK : scriptos B. 



I. t3i.] IISSR II. 47 

maiores audiffc, ittinwi dicere, per qua^ 
crescere res posset, minui damtiosa iibido. 
Quid placet tmt 6&6 «st, qttod tion tntitsdDae 

crtdas? 101 

Mutavit mentetti pbptilttfe tetis ^ ^tatet ttttO 
scribencB sttidio, pttciri patresque 'sevfeti 
fronde<:Oftias vincti tenant et <:attni*ia ffictaiit. tio 
"Tpse ego, qui ndlos ttje adfirmo 'sctibiBre verstis, 
invenioi: Patthis iflendador «t prius orto 
sole vigil calamnm et <*tartas fet scrinia posco. 
Navem agw« igaartts nftvts timet, habrotonum aegi*o 
non audet nid qui dididt daw, quod medicomm est 1 1 5 
promittimt medid, tradtaiit fabrilfet. fabri : - 1 

scribimus indocti doctique poemata paisstm. 
Hic error tamen et levis haec insania qaaritas 
virtutes habeat sit <:oHige. Vatis avarus 
non temere lest atiimus: versus amat, hoc studet 
unum; 120 

detrimenta, fugas «er^orum, incfendk ridet; 
non fraudem socio puertyve incogitat tiUam 
pupillo; vivit «iliquis et pane setundo, 
militiae quamquam piger et malus, titilis arbi, 
si das hoc, parvis quoque rebus magna iuvari. 125 
Os tenerum pueri balbumque poeta figurat, 
torquet ab obscaenis iam nunc sermonibus aurem, 
mox etiam pectus praeceptis format amicis, 
asperitatis et invidiae corrector et irae, 
recte facta refert, orientia tempora notis 130 

instruit exemplis, inopem solatur et aegrum. 



109. pueri(a*XM.Ki'puerique'%. 114. navem S^^VIK 
namm 5"0. 

/ '' OF Tri^ ^^r \ 



48 HORATJ EPISTULARUM [I. 132— 

Castis cum pueris ignara puella maiiti 
disceiist unde preces, vatem ni musa dedisset? 
Poscit opem chorus et praesentia numina sentit, 
caelestis implorat aquas docta prece blanduS| 135 
avertit morbos, metuenda pericula pellit, 
impetrat et pacem et locupletem frugibus annum. 
Carmine di superi placantur, carmine manes, 
/ Agricolae prisci, fortes parvoque beati, 
/ condita post frumenta levantes tempore festo 140 
corpus et ipsum animum spe finis dura ferentem 
cum sociis operum pueris et coniuge fida| 
Tellurem porco, Silvanum lacte piabant, 
floribus et vino GeniUm memorem brevis aevL 
Fescennina per hunc inventa licentia morem 145 
versibus altemis 4>pprobria rustica fiidit, 
libertasque recurrentis accepta per annos 
lusit amabiliter, donec iam saevus apertam 
in rabiem coepit verti iocus et per honestas 
ire domos impune minax. Doluere cruento 150 
dente lacessiti: fuit intactis quoque cura 
condicione super communi: quin etiam lex 
poenaque lata malo quae nollet carmine quemquam 
describl Vertere modum, formidine fusjis 
ad bene dicendum delectandumque redactL 155 
Graecia capta ferum victorem cepit et artis 
intulit agresti Latio. Sic horridus ille 
defluxit numerus Saturnius et grave virus 
munditiae pepulere: sed in longum tamen aevum 
manserunt hodieque manent vestigia ruris. 160 

Serus enim Graecis admovit acumina chartis 
et post Punica bella quietus quaerere coepit 
145. invmta cuOMK : i$wecta B. 



L 190.] LIBER II. 49 

quid Sophocles et Thespis et Aeschylus utile ferrent. 
Temptavit quoque rem, si digne vertere posset, 
et placuit sibi natura sublimis et acer: 165 

nam spirat tragicum satis et feliciter audet, 
sed turpem putat inscite metuitque lituram. 
Creditur, ex medio quia res arcessit, habere 
sudoris minimum, sed habet comoedia tanto 
plus oneris quanto veniae minus. Adspice Flautus 170 
quo pacto partis tutetur amantis eph^bi, 
ut patris attenti, lenonis ut insidiosi, 
quantus sit Dossennus edacibus in parasitis^ 
quam non adstricto percurrat pulpita socco. 
Gestit enim nummum in loculos demittere, post hoc 175 
securus cadat an recto stet fabtda talo. 
Quem tulit ad scaenam ventoso gloria curru, 
exanimat lentus spectator, sedulus inflat: 
sic leve, sic parvmn est, animum quod laudis avarum 
subruit aut reficit ^leat res ludicra, si me 180 
palma negata maqimi, donata reducit opimum. 
Saepe etiam audacem fugat hoc terretque poetam, 
quod numero plures, virtute et honore minores, 
indocti stolidique et depugnare parati 
si discordet eques, media inter carmina poscunt 185* 
aut ursum aut pugiles : his nam plebecula gaudet. 
Verum equitis quoque iam migravit ab aure voluptas 
omnis ad incertos oculos et gaudia vana. 
Quattuor aut phiris aulaea premuntur in horas, 
dum fugiunt equitum turmae peditumque catervae; 190 

167. imcite rOMK : inscitus B : in scriptis r. 180. 

aut fc/OMK : ctc B. 186. gaudet ojSBMK : plaudet 

7 : plaudit O. 187. equitis «OMK : equiti B. 188. 

incertos aOMK : ingratos B. 

W. H. 4 



56 HORATI EPISTULARUM [I. 191— 

mox trahitur manibus regum fortuna retortis, 

esseda festinant, pilenta, petorrita, naves, 

captivum portatur ebur, captiva Corinthus. 

Si foret in terris, rideret Democritus, seu 

diverisum confusa genus panthera camelo 195 

sive elephans albus volgi converteret ora; 

spectaret populum ludis attentius ipsis 

ut sibi praebentem nimio spectacula plura; ^ 

scriptores autem narrare putaret asello 

fabellam surdo. Nam quae pervincere voces 200 

evaluere.sohum, referunt quem nostra theatra? 

Garganum mugire putes nemus aut mare Tuscum, 

tanto cum strepitu ludi spectantur et artes 

divitiaeque peregrinae: quibus oblituj actor 

cum stetit in scaena, concurrit dextera laevae. 205 

Dixit adhuc aliquid? Nil sane. Quid placet ergo? 

Lana Tarentino violas imitata veneno. 

Ac ne forte putes me, quae facere ipse recusem, 

cum recte tractent alii, laudare maligne : 

ille per extentum funem mihi posse ^'idetur 210 

ire poeta, meum qui pectus io^it^r angit, 

inritat, mulcet, falsis terroribus implet 

ut magus, et modo me Thebis, modo ponit Athenis. 

Verum age et his, qui se lectori cj^edere malunt 

quam spectatoris fastidia ferre superbi, 215 

curam redde brevem, si miinus Apolline dignum 

vis complere Hbris et vatibus addere calcar, 

ut studio maiore petant Hehcona virentem. 

196. cmverteret «'OMK : converierit B. 198. 

nimio o/3MK : mimo 7BO. ai6. redde wOMK : 

impende B. 



L 246.] LIBER JL 5t 

Multa quidem nobis facimus mala saepe poetae 

(ut vineta egomet caedam mea), cum tibi librum 220 

soUicito damus aut fesso; i^ laedimur, unum ?^ 

siquis amicorum est ausus reprehendere versum; 

cum loca iam recitata revolvimus inrevocati; 

cum lamentamur non adparere labores ^ 

nostros et tenui deducta poemata filo; 225 

cum speramus eo rem venturam ut, simul atque 

carmina rescieris nos fingere, commodus ultro 

arcessas et egere vetes et scribere cogas. 

Sed tamen est operae pretium cognoscere qualis^ 

aedituos habeat belli spectata domique 230 

virtus, indigno non committenda poetae. 

Gratus Alexandro regi magno fuit ille 

Choerilus, incultis qui versibus et male natis 

rettulit ajcceptos, regale nomisma, Philippos. 

Sed veluti tractata notam labemque remittunt 235 

atramenta, fere scriptores carmine foedo 

splendida facta linunt. Idem rex ille, poema 

qui tam ridiculum • tam care prodigus emit, 

edicto vetuit nequis se praeter Apellen 

pingeret aut ahus Lysippo duceret aera 240 

fortis Alexandri voltum simulantia. Quodsi / ' 

iudicium subtile videndis artibus illud 

ad hbros et ad haec Musarum dona vocares, 

Boeotum in crasso iurares aere nfltnm ^ 

At neque dedecorant tua de se iudicia atque 245 

munera quae multa dantis cum laude tulerunt 

«23. reprehendere w'OMK : reprendere B. 133. Choe- 
rilus 0/30M : Choerilos yBK. 240. dttceret wOMK : 

cuderet B. 

4—2 



52 HORATI EPISTULARUM [I. 247— 

dilecti tibi Vergilius Variusque poetae, 
nec magis expressi voltus per aenea signa 
quam per vatis opus mores animique virorum 
clarorum apparent. Nec sermones ego mallem 250 
repentis per humum quam res componere gestas, 
terrarumque situs et flumina dicere et arces 
montibus impositas et barbara regna tuisque 
auspiciis totum confecta duella per orbem 
claustraque custodem pads cohibentia lanum 255 
et formidatam Parthis te principe Romam, 
si quantum cuperem possem quoque : sed neque 

parvum 
carmen maiestas recipit tua nec meus audet 
rem temptare pudor quam vires ferre recusent. 
Sedulitas autemfstulte quem diligitjurguet, 260 

praecipue cum se numeris commendat et arte: 
disdt enim citius meminitque libentius illud 
quod quis deridet quam quod probat et veneratur. 
Nil moror officium quod me gravat ac neque ficto 
in peius voltu proponi cereus usquam 265 

nec prave factis decorari versibus opto, 
ne rubeam pingui donatus munere et una 
cum scriptore meo capsa porrectus operta 
deferar in vicum vendentem tus et odores 
et piper et quicquid chartis amicitur ineptis. 270 

«68. opcfia «'BMK : aperta O. 



II. 25-1 LIBER II. 53 



II. 

Flore, bono claroque fidelis amice Neroni, 

siquh forte velit puerum tibi. vendere natum 

Tibure vel Gabiis et tecum sic agat, *hic et 

candidus et talos a vertice pulcher ad imos 

fiet eritque tuus nummorum milibus octo, 5 

vema ministeriis ad nutus aptus erilis, 

litterulis Graeds imbutus, idoneus arti 

cuilibet, argilla quidvis imitaberis uda; 

quin etiam canet indoctum sed dulce bibenti. 

Multa fidem promissa levant ubi plenius aequo 10 

laudat venalis qui volt extrudere merces. 

Res urguet me nuUa; meo sum pauper in aere. 

Nemo hoc mangonum faceret tibi : non temere a me 

quivis ferret idem. Semel hic cessavit et, ut fit, 

in scalis latuit metuens pendentis habenae: 15 

des nummos, excepta m'hil te si fuga laedit;' 

ille ferat pretium poenae securus, opinor. 

Prudens emisti vitiosum; dicta tibi est lex: 

insequeris tamen hunc et lite moraris iniqua. 

Diid me pigrum proficiscenti tibi, dixi 20 

talibus officiis prope mancum, ne mea saevus 

iurgares ad te quod epistula nulla rediret 

Quid tum profeci, mecum facientia iura 

si tamen attemptas? Quereris super hoc etiam, quod 

exspectata tibi non mittam carmina mendax. 25 

8. imitaberis o^BOMK ! imitabUur y : imitabimur 7". 
16. laedit y^lli \ Idedat dOYi* 72. rediret iaO^lK : 

veniret B. 



54 HORATT EJPISTULARUM [It. 26— 

Luculli miles coUecta viatica multis 
aerumnis, lassus dum noctu stertit, ad assem 
perdiderat : post hoc vehemens lupus, et sibi et hosti 
iratus pariter, ieiunis dentibus acer, 
praesidium regale loco deiecit, ut aiunt, 30 

summe munito et multarum divite rerum. 
Clarus ob id factum donis omatur honestis, 
accipit et bis dena super sestertia nummum. 
Forte sub ^hoc tempus castellum evertere praetor 
n escio qu od cupiens hortari coepit eundem 35 

verbis quae timido quoque possent addere mentem: 
*I, bone, qud virtus tua te votat, i pede fausto, 
grandia laturus meritorum praemia. Quid stas ?* 
Post haec ille catus, quantumvis rusticus, *ibit, 
ibit eo quo vis qui zonam perdidit' inquit. 40 

Romae nutriri mihi contigit atque doceri 
iratus Grais quantum nocuisset Achilles. 
Adiecere bonae paullo plus artis Athenae, 
scihcet ut vellem curvo dinoscere rectum 
atque inter silvas Academi quaerere verum. 45 

Dura sed emovere loco me tempora grato 
civilisque rudem belli tulit aestus in arma 
Caesaris Augusti non responsura lacertis. 
Unde simul primum me dimisere Philippi, 
decisis humilem pennis inopemque paterni 50 

et laris etifundi paupertas impulit audax 
ut versus facerem : sed quod non desit habentem 
quae poterunt umquam satis expurgare cicutae, 
ni melius dormire putem quam sciibeze Teisas? 
Singula de nobis anni praedantur euntes; 55 

44. v^lem ojSOK : possim i : possem ^"BM. 



II. 83.] LIBER JL 55 

eripu<a*e iocos, Venerem, convivia, ludum; 

tendunt extorquere poemata: quid faciaja vis? 

Denique non omnes eadem mirantur amantque : 

carmine tu gaudes, hic delectatur tambis, 

ille Bioneis sermonibus et sale nigro. 

Tres mihi convivae prope dissentire vtSentur, 

poscentes vario multum -diversa palato. 

Quid dem? Quid non dem? Renuis tu, quod iubet 

alter; 
quod petis, id sane est invisum acidumque duobus. 
Praeter ^sctera me Romaene poemata censes 65 
scribare posse inter tot curas totque labores? 
Hic sponsum vocat, hic auditum scripta, relictis 
omnibus officiis: cubat hic in coUe Quirini, 
hic extremo in Aventino, visendus uterque : 
intervalla vides humane commoda. *Verum 70 
purae sunt plateae, nihil ut meditantibus obstet' 
Festinat calidus muhs geruHsque redemptor, 
torquet nunc lapidem nunc ingens machina tignum, 
tristia robustis luctantur funera plaustris, 
hac rabiosa fugit canis, hac lutulenta ruit sus: 75 
i nunc et versus tecum meditare canoros. 
Scriptorum chorus omnis amat nemus et fugit urbem, 
rite cliens Bacchi somno gaudentis et umbra: 
tu me inter strepitus noctumos atque diurnos 
vis canere et contracta sequi vestigia vatum ? 80 
Ingenium, sibi quod vacuas desumpsit Athenas 
et studiis annos septem dedit insenuitque 
libris et cu^ statua tacitumius exit 

70. hutnane wBOM : haut sane K. 77. urbeni 

a/30MK ! ufUs 7B. 80. contracta rOMK : con- 

tacta w' : nm tacta B. 



56 HORATI EPISTULARUM [II. 84— 

plerumque et risu populum quatit: hic ego rerum 
fluctibus in mediis et tempestatibus urbis 85 

verba lyrae motura sonum conectere digner? 
tFrater erat Romae consulti rhetor, ut alter 
alterius sermone meros audiret honores, 
Gracchus ut hic illi, foret huic ut Mucius ille. 
\^ Qui minus argutqs vexat furor iste poetas? 96 

Carmina compono, hic elegos. Mirabile visu 
caelatumque novem Musis opus ! Adspice primum 
quanto cum fastu, quanto molimine. circum 
spectemus vacuam Romanis vatibus aedem : 
mox etiam, si forte vacas, sequere et procul audi, 95 
quid ferat et qua re sibi nectat uterque coronam. 
Caedimur et totidem plagis consumimus hostem 
lento Samnites ad lumina prima duello. 
Discedo Alcaeus puncto illius; ille meo quis? 
Quis nisi Callimachus ? Si plus adposcere visus, 100 
fit Mimnermus et optivo cognomine crescit. 
Multa fero, ut placem genus irritabile vatum, 
cum scribo et supplex populi suflfragia capto: 
idem finitis studiis et mente recepta 
obturem patulas inpune legentibus auris. 105 

Ridentur mala qui componunt carmina; verum 
gaudent scribentes et se venerantur et ultro, 
si taceas, laudant quicquid scripsere beati. 
At qui legitimum cupiet fecisse poema, 
cum tabulis animum censoris sumet honesti; iio 
audebit quaecumque parum splendoris habebunt 
et sine pondere erunt et honore indigna ferentur 
\erba movere loco, quamvis invita recedant 

89. huicMU BOMK : hic illi v. 



11. 143.] LIBERfJL 57 

et versentur adhuc intra penetralia Vestae; 

obscurata diu populo bonus eruet atque 115 

proferet in lucem sgeciosa vocabula rerum, 

quae priscis memorata Catonibus atque Cethegis 

nunc ^tus informis premit et deserta vetustas; 

adsciscet nova, quae genitor produxerit usus. 

Vemens et liquidus puroque simillimus amni 120 

fundet opes Latiumque beabit divite lingua; 

luxuriantia compescet, nimis aspera sano 

levabit cultu, virtute carentia toUet, 

ludentis speciem dabit et torquebitur, ut qui , 

nunc Satyrum, nunc agrestem Cyclopa movetur, 125 

Praetulerim scriptor delirus inersque videri, 

dum mea delectent mala me vel denique fallant, 

quam sapere et ringi? Fuit haud ignobilis Argis 

qui se credebat miros audire tragoedos 

in vacuo laetus sessor plausorque theatro; 130 

cetera qui vitae servaret munia recto 

more, bonus sane vicinus, amabilis hospes, 

comis in uxorem, posset qui ignoscere servis 

et signo laeso non insanire lagoenae, 

posset qui rupem et puteum vitare patentem. 135 

Hic ubi cognatorum opibus curisque refectus 

expulit elleboro morbum bilemque meraco 

et redit ad sese, *pol me occidistis, amici, 

non servastis' ait, *cui sic extorta voluptas 

et demptus per vim mentis gratissimus error.' 140 

Nimii;um sapere est abiectis utile nugis, 

et tempestivum pueris concedere ludum, 

ac non verba sequi fidibus modulanda Latinis, 

J14. iWraBOM : interfaYL 



58 HORATI EPISTULARUM [II. 144— 

sed verae mlinerosque modosque ediscere vitae. 

Quocirca mecum loquor haec tacitusque recordor: 145 

si tibi nulla sitim finiret copia lymphae, 

narrares medicis : quod quanto plura parasti 

tanto plura cupis, nulline faterier audes? 

Si volnus tibi monstrata radice vel herba 

non fieret levius, fiigeres radice vel herba 150 

proficiente nihil curarier: audieras, cui^ 

rejn di donaarent, illi decedere prayam 

stultitiam, et cum sis nihilo sapientior ex quo 

plenior es, tamen uteris monitoribus isdem? 

At si divitiae prudentem reddere possent, 155 

si cupidum timidumque minus te, nempe ruberes, 

viveret in terris te siquis avarior uno. 

Si proprium est quod quis libra mercatus et aere^t, 

quaedam, si credis consultis, mancipat usus, 

qui te pascit ager, tuus est, et vilicus Orbi, i6o 

cum segetes occat tibi mox firumenta datuias, 

te dominum sentit Das nummos, aodpis uvam, 

pullos, ova, cadum temeti. Nempe modo isto 

paullatim mercaris agrum, fortasse tiecentis 

aut etiam supra nammorum milibtis emptum. 165 

Quid re£»t, vivas numerato nuper an olim? 

Einptor Aricini quondam Veientis et arvi 

emptum cenat holus, quamvis aliter putat; emptis 

sub noctem gelidam lignis calefactat aemim: 

sed vocat usque suum, qua populus adsita certis 170 

limitibus vicina refugit iurgiaj-tamquam ^^* 

sit proprium quicquam, puncto quod mobilis horae 

151. donarent w'OMK : donarint B. ' ' 
161. daiuras V7BOM : daturus a/3K. 



11. 199] LIBER II. 59 

nunc prece, nunc pretio, nunc vi, nunc morte 

suprema 
permutet dominos et cedat in altera iura. 
Sic quia perpetuus nulli datur usus et heres 175 
heredem alterius velut unda supervenit undam, 
quid ^ci prosimt aut horrea, quidve Calabris 
saltibu s^adiecti Lucani, si metit Orcus 
giandia cum parvis, non exorabilis auro? 
Gemmas, marmor, ebur, Tyrrhena sigilla, tabellas, 180 
argentum, vestis Gaetulo -murice tinctas, X ? 

sunt qui non habeant, est qui non curat habere. 
Cur alter fratrum cessare et ludere et ungui 
praeferat Herodis palmetis pinguibus, alter 
dives et importunus ad umbram lucis ab ortu 185 
silvestrem flammis et ferro mitiget agrum, 
scit Genius, hatale comes qui temperat astrum, 
naturae deus humanae, mortalis in (unum 
quodque caput) voltu mutabilis, albus fet ater. 
XJtar et ex modico quantum res poscet acervo 190 
tollam, nec metuam quid de me iudicet heres, 
quod non plura datis invenerit: et tamen idem 
^ ^ire volam, quantum simpkx hilarisque nepoti 
' discrepet et quantum discordet parcus avaro. 
Distat enim, spargas ti^a prodigus an neque 

sumptum o^'^^ 195 

in^^tus facias neque plura pajare labores, 
ac potius, puer ut festis quinquatrib^s oliiB, 
exiguo gratoque fruaris tempois laptim. 
EsQperies Bmiumda domus procul absit : ego utrum 

175. sic quia S^OMK i si quia iif. 176. alterius 

a/OMK : alternisB, 199. dotnus procul absit dOlHYi : 

procul proctU absit B. 



6o HORATI EPISTULARUM. [11. 200. 

nave ferar magna an parva, ferar unus et idem. 200 

Non agimur tumidis velis aguilpne secundo, 

non tamen adversis aetatem ducimus austris, 

viribus, ingenio, specie, virtute, loco, re 

extremi primorum, extremis usque priores. 

Non es avarus: abi. Quid? cetera iam simul isto 205 

cum vitio fugere? Caret tibi pectus inani 

ambitione? Caret mortis formidine et ^a?j^ 

Somnia, terrorcs magicos, miracula, ^agas, 

noctumos lelnures portentaque Thessala rides? 

Natalis grate numeras? Ignoscis amicis? 210 

Lenior et melior fis accedente senecta? 

Quid te exempta levat spinis de pluribus una? 

Vivere si recte nescis, decede peritis. 

Lusisti satis, edisti satis atque bibisti: . 

tempus abire tibi est, ne potum largius aequo 215 ^ 

rideat et pulset lasciva decentius aetas. /j 

3J2. /^o/rBO : iuvat wKM,, 



Q. HORATI FLACCI 

DE ARTE POETICA . ./^ 



LIBER, ^ 



Humano capiti cenricem pictor equinam 
iungere si velit^^et variaS inducere plpmas 
undique coUatis membris, ut turpiter atrum 
desinat in piscem mulier formosa supeme, 
specta|iiiff^missi risi^m teneatis amici? 5 

Credite, Pisones, ' isti t^bulae 'fJJre librum 
persimilen^' cuiu^ velut aegri somnia vanae 
fipg^ntur ipeaes, ut nec pes nec caput uni 
reddSflfa- tormae. Pictorifeiis "atque poetis 
quidhbet audendi' semper fuit aequa potestas. 10 
Scimus,"et hanc veniam petimusque damusque vi- 

cissim ; 
sed non ut placidis coeant inmitia, non ut 
serpentes avibus geminentur, tigribus agni. 
Inceptis gravibus jplerumqu^f >t magna professis 
purpureus, kte qui splendeat, unus et alter 15 

adsuitur pannus/' cum lucus et ara Dianae 
et properanris aquae''per amoenos ainbitua agros, 
aut flumen Rhenum aut pluvius describitur arcus. 
Sed nunc non erat his locus. £t fortasse cupressum 



i 



r , 



\ 



\'62 Q, HORATI FLACCI [20— 

^ scis simulare : quid hoc, si fractis ^atat exspes 20 
navibu6 aere dato qui pingitur? Ampliora coepit 
institui; currente rotlT clir urc^us exit? 
Denique''sit quidvi^ simplex cfum^^tax^ et unum. 
Maxima pars vatum, pater et iuvenes patre digni, 



decipimur specie recti: brevis esse laboro, ^ 25 
obscurus fi^; sectantem'levia'nervi <^//^''^^/t A^ 
deficiunt animique ; professus grandia turget ; 
serpit humi tutus nimiurti timidusque procellae;^'T^ ^. 
qui variare cupit rem prodigialiter unam, 
delphipum silvis appingit, fluptib^s aprum. 30 

""In vitium diicit cul^e fuga^si caret arte. 
Aemilium circa ludum^faber imus^ et unguis • ' ^ 
exgiimet et moUis imitabitur aere capillos, 
infelix operis summa, quia poneretotum 
nesciet. Hunc ego me, si quid componere curem, 35 
non magis essevelim quam naso vivere pravo, . 
spectandum nigris oculis nigroque capillo^ 



Sumite materiam vestris, qui scribitis, aequam 
viribus, et versate diu quid ferre recusent, 
quid valeant umeri. Cui lecta potenter erit res, 40 
nec facundia deseret hunc nec lu^dus ordo. 
Ordinis haec virtus erit et veni^s^^aut ego fallor, 
ut iam nunc dicat iam nunc defcentia dici, 
pleraque diflferat et praesens in ^^"^^ ^^^^* 
'In verbis etiam tenuis cautusque ^^^^^^7/ 4$ 
hoc amet, hoc spernat promissi carminis auctor. 45 
Dixeris egregie notum sicallida verbum 
reddiderit iunctura novum. Si forte necesse est 
indiciis monstrare recentibus abdita rerum, 

«6. levia wOKM : lenia B. 32. imus W. unus 

BOKM. ' -46 — 45 ordinc inv^rso «O. . T, . 



76,] DE ARTE FOETICA. 6^ 

fingere cinctutis non exaudita Cethegis ^o 
continget, dabiturque licentia sumpta pudenter ; M 
et nova fictaque nuper habebunt verba fidem si 
Graeco fonte cadent, parce detorta.>< Quid aiy:em * 
Caecilio Plautoque dabit Romanus ' aoepciptum 
Vergilio . Varioque ? Ego cur, acquirere pauca 55 
si possum, invideor, cum lingua Catonis et Enni 
sermonem patrium ditaverit et nova rerum 
nomina protulerit? Licuit semperque licebit 
signatum praesenle pota producere nomen. 
Ut silvae foliis ^jiospiutantur in annos, 6o 
prima cadunt, ita verborum vetus interit aetas, 
et iuvenum ritu florent modo nata vigentque. 
Debemur morti nos nostraque; sjve receptus 
terra Neptunus classes aquilqnibus arcet, 
refgis opus, sterilisve diu palus aptaque remis 65 
vicirias ui^bes alit et grave sentit aratrum, 
seu cursum mutavit iniquum frugibus amnis 
doctus iter melius; mortalia facta peribunt, 
nedum^^sermonum stet honos et gratia viva^ 
Multa renascentun quae iam cecidere, cadentque 70 
quae nunc sunt in honore vocabula, si volet usus, 
quem penes arbitrium est et ius et norma loquendL 
Res gestae regumque ducumque et tristia bella\^ 
quo scribi possent numero monstravit Homerus. 
Versibus impariter iunctis querimonia primum, 75 
post etiam inclusa est vori sententia compos: ^ . 

52. Jictaque taO^yi: fdctaque "B, 59. producere 

J OKM : procudere B. nomen wOKM : nummum B. 60. 
sUvae foiUs pronos wOKM : sUvis foliaprivos B. 65. steri- 

lisve ^BOK: sierilisque r'M. diu palus wOM j palus diu 
Yi\ palusprius^Q. 68. factaia'OYM\ cuncta^Q. 



64 C HORATI FLACCI [77— 

quis tamen exiguos elegos emiserit auctor, ^^J^^"^ ' '7 
grammatici certant et adhuc sub iudice U/ est 
Archilochum proprio rabies armavit iambo; 
hunc socd cepere pedem grandesque cothumi, 80 
alternis aptum sermonibus et popularis 
vincentem strepitus et natum rebus agendis^ 
Musa dedit fidibus divos puerosque deorum 
et pugilem victorem et equum certamine primum 
et iuvenum curas et libera vina referre. 85 

Descriptas servare vices operumque colores 
cur ego si nequeo ignoroque, poeta salutor? 
Cur nescire pudens prave quam discere malo? 
Versibus exponi tragicis res comica non vult; 
indignatur item privatis ac prope socco 90 

dignis carminibus narrari cena Thyestae. 
Singula quaeque locum teneant sortita decentem. 
Interdum tamen et vocem comoedia tollit, 
iratusque Chremes tumido delitigat ore; 
et tragicus plerumque dolet sermone pedestri. 95 
Telephus et Peleus, cum pauper et exsul uterque 
proidt ampxillas et sesquipedaUa verba, 
si curat oor spectantis tetigisse querella. .^ 

c «Non satis est pulchpa^se poemata ; dulcw sunto 
et quocunque volent' animum auditoris agunto. i^« 
Ut ridentibus arrident, ita flentibus adsimt 
humani vultus:. si vis me flere dolenduaorbst 
primuflTHpsi tibi: tum tua m6 infortunia laedent, 
Telephe vel Peleu; male si mandata loqueris 
aut dormitabo aut ridebo. Tristia maestum 105 
vultum verba decent, iratum pleim minarum, 

91. decentem ^ (cum BL vet. Bem.) BM : deunUr rOK. 
loi. adsunt wOKM,: adflent^. 



136.] DE ARTE POETICA. - :_: ^^s 

ludentem lasciva, severum seria dictu. 
Format enim natura prius nos intus ad omnem 
fortunarum hkbiitum; iuvat aut impellit ad iram 
aut ad humum maerore gravi deducit et angit; iio 
post effert animi motus interprete linguaJ^ 
Si diceixtis erunt fortunjs abs/ona dicta 
Romani toUent equites peditesque cachinnum. 
Intererit muhum divusne loq^atur an heros, 
maturu§ne senex an adhuc florente iuventa 115 

fervidus, et matrona potens an sedula nutrix, 
mercatome vagus cultorne virentis agelli, 
Colchus an Assyrius, Thebis nutritus an Argis. 
Aut famam sequere aut sibi convenientia finge. 
Scriptor honoratum si forte reponis Achillem, 120 
' impiger, iracuijdus, inexorabilis, acer, 
' V^^^^ ^SSS^ ^^^ natsqnaihil non arroget amiis. 
fiSit Medeajerox invictaque, flebilis Ino, 
perfidus Ixion, lo vaga, tristis Orestes. 
^^^*Si quid inexgeUmn scaenae committis et audes 125 
personam formare novam, servetur ad imum 
qualis ab incepto processerit, et sib} constet. 
Difficile est proprie communia dicere; tuque 
rectius Ilidcum carmen deducis in actus, 
quam %\ proferres ignota indictaque primus. 130 
Publica materies privati iuris erit, si 
noncirca vilem patulumque moraberis orbem, 
nec verbum verbo curabis reddere fidus 
interpres, nec desilies imitator in artum, 
unde pedem proferre pudor vetet aut operis lex. 135 
Nec sic incipies ut scriptor cyclicus olim : 

114. divtisne ta^Ol^M., 120. honoraium taOYii ffo- 

mercum BM. 136. cydicus w'OKM : cyclius B. 

W. H. 5 



66 Q. HORATI FLACCI [137— 

*FortuiIam Priami cantabo et nobile bellum.' 
Quid dignum tanto feret hic pr omisso r hiatu? 
Pal^turient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. 
Quanfo*rectius hic qui nil molitur inepte: 140 

* Dic mihi, Musa, virum itaptae post tempora Troiae 
qui mores hominum.multorum vidit et urbes.' 
Non fumum ex fulgpre sed ex fumo dare lucem 
cogitat, ut specidsa d gmn c miracula promat, <^H-tf ^A/^vk 
Antiphaten Scyllamque et cum Cyclope Charyfedim. ^ 
Nec reditum Diomedis ab intfijitu Meleagri, 146 
nec gemino bellum Troianum orditur ab ovo; 
semper ad eventum festinat et in medias res 
non secus ac notas auditorem rapit, et quae 
desperat tractata nitescere posse relinquit; 150 

atque ita mentitur, sic veris falsa remiscet, 
primo ne medium, medio ne discrepet imum^^^jl^ 
Tu quid ego et populus mecum desideret audi*: 
Si plosoris eges aulae^ ii^anentis et usque 
sessuri donec cantor *Vos plaudite' dicat,. 155 

aetatis cuiusque notandi sunt tibi mores, 
mobilibusque decor naturis dandus et annis. 
Reddere qui voces iam scit puer et pede certo 
signat humum, gestit paribus colludere^ et iram 
coUigit ac ponit tfemere^nB^t mutatur in horas.) 160 
Imberbus iuvenis tandem custode remoto 
gaudet equis canibusquer et aprici gramine campi, 
cereus in vitium flecti, monitoribus asper, 
utilium tardus provisor, prodigus aeris, 

139« parturient wYix pariuriunt 'BOM. 141. tempora 

wOK: momia BM. 154. phsoris ap^KM: plausoris /3"0: 

fautoHs B. 157. naturis wOKM : maturis B. 161. 

imberbus dfi (Bh \ti.) BOM: imberbis d'^"Y^ 



194.] DE ARTE FOETICA. 67 

sublimis cupidusqu^t amata relinquere pemix. 165 

'^onversis ?tudiis aetas animusque virilis 
quaerit opes ^tt amicitias, inservit honori, 
commisisse cavet quod mox mutare laboret. 
Multa senem circumveniunt incommoda, vel quod 
quaerit et inventTs miser abstinet ac tlmet uti, 170 "^ 
vel quod res omnes timide gelideque ministrat, 
dilator, spe Tongus, iners, avidusque futuri, 
difficilis, querulus, laudator temporis acti 
se puero, castigator censorque minorum. 
Multa ferunt anrii venientes commoda secum, 175 
multa recedentes adimunt; ne forte seniles 
mandentur iuveni partes pueroque viriles. / 
Semper in adiunctis aevoque morabimur aptis. 
Aut agitur res in scaenis aut acta refertur. 
Segniiis irritant animos demissa per aurem, 180 

quara quae sunt oculis subiecta fidelibus, et quae 
ipsfe sibTtradit spectator: non tamen intus 
digna geri promes in scaenam, multaque tolles 
ex oculis quae mox narret facundia praesens, 
ne pueros coram populo Medeaf trucidet, 185 

aut humana plklam coquat exta nefarius Atreus, 
^aut in avem Procne vertatur, Cadmus in anguem. 
Quodcunquenjstendis mihi sig incredulus odi.^ 
Neve minor neu sit quinto prpductior actu 

I fabula, quae posci vult et spectanda reponi; 190 _ 
nec deus intersit nisi dignus vindice nodus ^ * 
inciderit; nec quarta loqui persona labore t^ 
Actoris partis chdriis officiumque virile 
defendat^ neu quid medios intercinat actus 

17«. spe longus. . .avidusque wOKM : spe lentus, . .pamdusque 
B. 190. spectanda a/3K : spectata 7BOM. 

5—2 



68 <2' HORATI FLACCI [195— 

quod non proposito condiicat et haereat apte. 195 
IUe bonis 16^eaiqSe et consiliettir amice, 
et regat iratos ^t amet peccare timentis ; » 

ille dapes laudet mensae brevis. ille salubrem 
iustitiam kgesque et apertis'otia portis; 
ille^^egaTcommissaMeosque precetur et oret, 200 
ut redeat miseris, abeat fortuna superbis. 
Tibia non ut nunc' ^richalco vinc^a^ jtubaeque 
aemula, sed tenuis simplexque fdrainine pauco / 
adspirar^ ct adesse choris' erat utilis atque 
nondum spissa nimis complere sedilia Jiatu ; 205 
quo sane populus numerabilis iitpote parvus 
et frugi castusque verecundusque coibat 
Postquam coepit agros extendere victor et urbes 
latior amplecti murus vinoque diumo 
placari Genius^^ festis impune diebus, 210 

accessit numerisque modisque licentia maior; 
indoctus quid enim sapere t liberque laborum 
rusticus urbano confusus, turpis honesto ? 
Sic priscae motumque et luxuriem addidit arti 
tibicen traxitque vagus per pulpita vestem; 215 

sic etiam fidibus voces crevere severis, 
et tulit eloquium insolitum facundia praeceps, 
utiliumque sagax rerum et divina futuri 
sortilegis non discr^puit sent^ntia Delphis. 
/Carmine qui tragico vilem certavit ob hircum, 220 
mox etiam~agrestes satyros ^nudavit, et asperr*^^^ 
incolumi gravitate iocum temptavit^ eo quoA 
illecebns erat et gratU novitate morandus. 

197. ^eccare timentis (oM: pacare tumentis BO: pacare 
timetUislL, 101. vincta <aOKM: iunctaB, «03. pauco 
o^SBOKM : parvo y. «09. /atior «OKM : laxior B. 



ijI^ 



255.] DJE AlfTE FOETICA. 69 

spectator, functusque sacris et potus et exlex. ^ 

Venim ita risores, Ita eommTndare (TicaQ^s^^ 225 

conveniet satyros, ita vertere seria ludo, 

ne quicunque deus, quicunque adhibebitur heros, 

regali conspectus in auro nuper et ostro, 

migret in obscuras humili sermone tabernas, 

aut^dum vitat humum nubes et inania captet 230 

lE^tire leves indigna tragoedia versus, 

ut festis matrona moveri iussa diebus, ^^ ,.e 

intererit satyris pauTum pudibunda protervis. 

Non egcTinomatanBt dommaSifla nomina solum 

verbaque, Pisones, satyrorum scriptor amabo; 235 

nec sic enitar tragico diflferre colori 

ut nihil intersit Davusne loquatur et audax 

Pjrthias emuncto lucrata Simone talentum, 

an custos famulusque dei Silenus alumni. 

Ex noto fictum carmen sequar, ut sibi quivis 240 

speret idem, siidet multum^ frustraque laboret 

ausus idem: tantum series iuncturaque pollet, 

tantum de medio ^umptis accedit honoris. 

Silvis deducti caveiant^^me iudice^ Fauni, 

ne velut innati trivii^ ac paene forenses 245 

aut nimium teneris iuvepentur versibus unquam, 

aut immunda crepent ignominiosaque dicta; 

offenduntur enim quibus est equus et pater et res, 

nec, si quid fricti ciceris probat et nucis emptor, 

aequis accipiunt animis donantve corona. 250 

Syllaba longa'/brevi subiectS'^ vocatur iambus, 

pes citus; unde^tiam trimetris accrescere iussit 

nom^n lambeis, cum senos redderet ictus 

primus ad extremum similis sibi. Non ita pridem, 

tardior ut paulo graviorque veniret ad aures, 255 



70 Q. HORATI FLACCI [256— 

spondeos stibilis in iura patema recepit 
^commodus et patiens, non ut de sede secunda 
cederet aut quarta socialiter. Hic et in Acci 
nobilibus trimetris apparet rarus, et Enni 
in scaenam missos cum magno pondere versus 260 
aut operae celeris nimium curaque carentis 
/aut ignoratae premit artis crimine turpi. 
"^on quivis videt immodulato poemata ludex, 
et data Romanis venia est indigna poetjgj ^ 

Idcircone vager scribamque licenter? an omnes 265 
visuros p^ccata putem mea, tutus et intra 
spem veniae cautus? Vitavi demque culpam, 
non laudem merui. Vos exempTaria Graeca 
nocturna versate manu, versate diuma. 
At vestri proavi Plautinos et numeros et 270 

laudavere sales, nimium patienter utrumque, 
ne dicam stulte, mirati, si modo cgo et vos 
scimus inurbanum lepido seponere dicto 

legitimumque sonum digitis callemus et ainre^ 

Ignotum tragicae genus invenisse camenae 275 

dicitur et plaustris vexisse poemata Thespis, 
quae canerent agerentque pemncti faedbus ora.V 
Post hunc perepnae pallaeque repertor nonestae 
Aeschylus et modicis mstravit pulpita iignigW^ 
et docuit magnumque loqui nitique cothurab* 2§o 
Successit vetus his comoedia, non sine multa 
laude; sed in vitium libertas excidit et vim 
dignam lege regi; lex est accepta chomsque 
turpiter obticuit sublato iure nocendL 
Nil intemptatum nostri liquere poetae, 285 

260. missos cum magno wOKM: missus magno cum B- 
365. an wOKM : «/ B. 177. quae wOKM : qui B. 



3i6.] DE A^TE FOETICA. 71 

nec minimum «neruere decus vestigia Graeca 
ausi deserere et celebrare domestica facta, 
vel qui praetextas vel qui docuere togatas. 
Nec virtute foret clarisve potentius armis 
quam lingua Latiumj. sjj|pn ofFenderet unum 290 
quemque poetarum nmgp labor et mora. Vos, o 
Pompilius sanguis, carmen reprehendite quod non 
multa dies et multa litura^^oefc^it atque 

v>6raesectum decies non cjfeugavit ad unguem. 
Ingenmm misera quia fortunatius arte 295 

credit et excludit sanos Helicone poetas 

_ Democritus, bona pars non unguis ppnere curat, 

. non barbam, secreta petit loca, balnea vitat. ^^->^i 
^^jLyyjM Ngjiciscetur enim pretium nomenque poetae, 

si tribus Anticyris capiit insanabile nunquam, .^qo 
tonsori Licmo commiserit. O ^o laevus, ^ 
qui purgor bilem sub verni temporis horam 1 
Non alius faceret meliora poemata. Verum 

n/ nil tanti est. Eigo fungaxjdce cotis, acutum 

reddere quae femim valet exsprs ipsa secandi; 305 
munus et officium nil scribens ipse docebo, 
unde parentur opes, quid alat formetque poetam; 
quid deceat, quid non; quo virtus, quo ferat error. 
Scribendi ^te sapere, est et principium et fonsr^ 
rem tibi Socraticae poterunt ostendere chartae, 310^ 
verbaque provisam rem non invita sequentur. 

> Qui didicit^patriae quid debeat et^quid amicis, 
'-quo sit amore parens,^quo frater amandus et hospes, 
^quod sit c^scripti, ^uod iudicis officium, quae 
partes in bellum missi ducis, ille profecto 315 

reddere personae scit convenientia cuique. 
^ ^94«^ praesectum Bl. vet. Bem. BM: perfectuni rOK. 



72 Q. HORATI FLACCI [317— 

Respicere ea^nipl^ vitae moramque iubebo 
doctum imitatqrem et.vivas hinc ducere voces. 
Interdum speciosa loas morataque-recte V 
fabula nullius veneris, sine pondere et arte, 320 
valdius oblectat populum^melmsque moratur 



quam versus mopes rerum nuga^qiie canorae. 
Grais ingenium, Grais dedit ore rotundo 
musa loqui, praefer laudem nuUTus avaris. 
Romani pueri longis rationibus assem 325 

discunt in partes*'centum diducere. *Dicat 
filius Albini: si de quincunce remota est 

V uncia, quidsuperat? Poteras dixisse.' 'Triens.' *EuI 
rem poteris servare tuam. ^Redit uncia, quid fit?' 
*Semis.' An haec animos aerug<r et cura peculi 330 
^ cum semel imbuerit, speramus carmina gjigi 

, posse linendi c^dr^Ttpt levi servanda cupr^so ? 
Aut prbdesse volunt aut delectarje poetae, 
aut simul et iucuncferferiSonea aicere vitae. 
Quidquid praecipies esto brevis, ut cito dicta 335 
percipiant animi dodles teneantque fideles; 
omne supeixacuum pleno de pectore manat 
Ficta voluptatis causa smt proxima veris, 
nec quodcunque veht poscat sibi fabula credi, 
neu pransae Lamiae vivum puenifnVctrahat alvo. 340 
Centuriae senioram agitant expertia frugis, 
celsi praetereunt austera poemata Ramnes: 
omne tulit punctum qui miscuit utile dulci, 

326. dicatiaOiYM.'. dicasB. 348. superat? uOYMi 

superetB. poteras a pyOYi:^: poterat d"R. 330. an 

Bl. vet. Bern. BM : at rOK. 335. quicquid o/BKM : 

quidquidO. 339. «^ovBKM: nec pO, velit apyii 

volet 7BOK, 



373-] ^^ ARTE POETICA, 73 

lectorem delectando pariterque uionendo. 
Hic meret aeraliber Sosiis; hic^et mare transit 345 
et longum noto scriptori prorqgat aeyum. , 

Sunt delicta tamen quibus ignovisse velimus;'/c "^^^^* 
nam neque chorda sonum reddit quem vult manus et 

poscentique gfavem persaepe remittit acutum ; 
nec semper feriet quodcunque minabitur arcus. 350 
Verum ubi plu^ nitent in carmine, non ego paucis 
offendar maculis, quas aut incuria fudit 
aut humana parum cavit natura. ^Quid ergo est? 
Ut scriptor si peccat idem Ubrarius. usqiie," * !^ 
quamvis est monitus, venia caret; ut citharoedus 355 
ridetur, chorda qui semper oberrat eadem: 
sic mihi qui multum cessat fit Choerilus ille, 
quen\ bis terve bonum cum risu miror; et idem 
indignor quandoque bonus dormitat Homerus. . ' 
Verum operi longo fas est oSrepere somnurnT 360 
Ut pictura poesis : erit ^uae si propius stes 
te capiat magi^ et quaedam si longius abstes. 
Haec amat jojwscurum, volet haec sub luce videri,^ 
iudicis argutiAi quae non formidat acumen }^' ' 
haec placuit semel, haec deciens repetita placebit. 365 
O maior iuvenum, quamvis et voce paterna ' 
fingeris ad rectum et per te sapis, hoc tibi dictum 
tolle memor, certis medium et tolerabile rebus 
recte concedi. Consultus luris et actor 
causarum mediocris abest virtiye diserti ^^^ 370 
Messallae nec scit quamlim Cascellius Aulus, 
sed tamen in pretio est : mediocribus esse poetis . 
non homines, non di, non concessere columnae. 
358. terve rBOM : ter^ue r K. 






74 C HORATI FLACCI [374— 

Ut gratas inter mensas symphonia discors ^-l^-^ 



et crassum unguentum et Sardo cum mellen^apa|ver 
oflfendunt, poterat duci quia cena sine istis: 376 
sic animis natum inventumque poema iuvandis, 
si paulum summo decessit, vergit ad imum. 
Ludere qui nescit, campestribus abstinet armis, 
indoctusque pilae discive trochive quiescitj^ 380 
ne spissae risum toUant impune teonae : ' 
qui nescit versus tamen audet fingere. Quidni? 
Liber et ingenuus,^ praesertim census equestiem 
summam nummorum vitioque remotus ab omni^x^ 
Tu nihil invita dices faciesve Minerva ; 385 

id tibi iudicium est, ea meDS. Si quid tamen olim 
scripseris in Maed <lescendat iudids aiures 
dt patris ej^ nostras, ^ionumque^prematur in annum, 
menibranis intus positis :. delere licebit 
quod non edideris; nescit vox missa reverti. 390 
Silvestres homines sacer interpresque deorum 
caedibus et victu foedo <leterruit Orpheus, 
dictus ob hoc lenire tigris rabidosque leones. 
Dictus et Amphion, Thebanae conditor urbis, 
saxa movere sono t«tudmis et prece blanda 395 
ducere quo vellet. Fuit hae6v sapientia quondam, 
publica privatis secemere, sacra. profanis, ^ 
concubitu prohibere vago, dare iura maritis, 
oppida moliri, leges incidere ligno;^ ' '^ " 
sic honor et nomen divinis vatibus atque 400 

carminibus venit Post hos insignis Homerus 
Tyrtaeusque mares animos in Martia bella 
versibus exacuit; dictae per carmina sortes; ^ 
et vitae monsTrata via est; et gjratia regum ^ 

394. urbis pyKM. : ards aBO. 



434] J^E ARTE POETICA. 75 

Pieriis temptata modis; ludusque repertus 405 

et longorum operum fini$: ne forte pudori 
sit tibi Musa lyrae Sotfers et cantor ApoUo. 
Natura fieret laudabile carmen an arte 
quaesijtum e^: e^p.nec studium sine divite vena 
nei n^ quia prosit^^video ingenium; alterius sic 410 
altera poscit d^em res et coniurat amice. 
Qui studet optatam cursu contingere metam 
multa tulit fecitque puer, sudavit et alsit/ 
abstinuit venere et vino; qui Pythia cantat 
tibicen didicit prius extimuitque magistru m. 415 
Nunc satis est dixisse : /Ego mira poemata pango ; v 
occupet extremilrlffiSDiS; 'mihi turpe relinqui est 
et quod non didici sane nescire fateri.' _ -^ 
Ut praerfo, ad merces turbam qui cogit einendas, 
adsentatbres iubet ad lucrum ire poeta 420 

dives agris, dives positis in faenore nummis. 
Si vero est unctum qui recte poaece possit ^ 
et jspondere levlpro paupere et eripere atris 
litibus implicitum, mirabor si sciet inter 
noscere mendacem verumque beatus amicum. 425 
Tu seu donaris seu quid donare voles cui, 
nolito ad versus tibi factos duce^e plenum 
laetitiae; clamabit 6nim ^pulchre! benel recte 1* 
Pallescet super his, etiam stillabit amicis 
ex oculis ra%m, saliet, tundet pede terram. 430 
Ut qui conducti plorant in funere dicunt 
et faciunt prope plura dolentibus ex animo, sic 
deri§or vero plus laudatore movetur. . 
Reges dicuntur multis urgere cuUUis 

410. prosit wK : possit BOM. 416. nunc wlC: n€€ 

BOM. iwifBern. 423. atrisu/OKM: artisB, 



76 Q. HORATI FLACCI [435— 

\^ ^ 

et torquere mero quem perspexisse laborent, ^ 435 

an sit amicitia dignus: si carmina condes^ 

nunquam te fallant animi sub \4l5e latentes. 

Quintilio si quid recitares, ^Corrige sodes 

hoc,' aiebat, *et hoc:' melius te posse negares 



♦-^ 



f^ 



bis terque ^xpertum frustra, delere iubebat^r* 440 
et male tofnatbs mcudi reddere versus. t* . ^ 
Si defendere delictum quam vertere malles, 
nullum ultra verbum aut operam insumebat inanem 
quin sine rivali teque et tua sohis amares. 
Vir bonus et prudens yers^s reprehendet inertes, 445 
culpabit duros, incomptisadhnet atrum 
transverso ^tateo signum, ambitiosa recidet 
omamenta, parum cl^ji^ lucem d^e coget, 
arguet ambigue dictum, mutanda notabit, 
fiet Aristarchus; nondicet: *Cur ego amicum 450 
ofFendam in nugis?' Hae nugae seria ducent 
in mala derisum semel exceptumque sinistre. 
Ut mala quem i^cabies aut morbus regius urget ^ 
aut fanaticus error et iracunda Diana, 
vesaniim tetigisse timent fugiuntque po3tam 455 
qui sapiunt; agitant pueri incautique sequuntur. 
Hic, dum sublimis versus ructatur et eyrat, 
si veluti merulis intentus decidit kucepS^ '^ 
in puteum foveamve,' licet, * Succurrite,' longum 
clamet, *Io civesT non sit qui toUere curet 460 
Si curet quis opem ferre et demittere funem, 
* Qui scis an prudens huc se proiecerit atque 
servari noHt?' dicam, Sicuhque poetae 

435. laborent ap: laborant 7BOKM. 441. tomatos 

wOKM: ter natos B. 450. non ^BOM: nec r^K. 

461. proUcerit r^OM: deucerit r"K. 



476.] DE ARTE POETICA. 77 

narrabo interittim. Deus immortalis h^beri 

dui n cupit Empedocles, ardentem Ingidus Aetnam 

insiluit Sit ius liceatque perire poetis: 466 

invitum^.qui servat idem facit occidenti. 

Nec se&lel hoc fecit, nec si retractus erit iam 

fiet homo et ponet famosae mortis amorem. 

Nec satis apparet cur versus factitet, utrum 470 

minxerit in patrio^cineres, an triste bidental •* 

moverit incestus : jfcerte furit ac velut ursus 

obiectos caveaer^Sluit si frangi^re clatro$, 

indoctum doctumque fugat recitator acerbus; 

quem vero arripuit tenet occiditque legendo, 475 

non missura cutem, nisi plena cruoris, hirudo.' 



473. clatros wK: dathros BOM. 



Z I 



NOTES. 



TTNIVERSITT 



NOTES. 



BOOK I. EPISTLE L 

Maecenas, as is plain from the opening words of this 
Epistle, had urged Horace to resume the composition of Jyric 
verse. If any special occasion for this advice is to be sought, 
it may probably be found in the joumey of Augustus to the East 
in B.c. 21, followed by the expedition of Tiberius {o Armenia, 
and the restoration of the Roman standards taken by Crassus 
(cp. Ep. XII. 26). It would have been natural for Maecenas 
to wish that his friend and/r^/<^(/should not lose the opportunity 
thus supplied for a panegyric on the Emperor and nis policy. 
Horace here expresses the reasons which had led him to devote 
himself for the future rather to the study of philosophy; differing 
from the mass of mankind who value wealth above virtue, he 
declares that it is only in the pursuit of the latter that true 
. happiness is to be found. 

1 — 19. You would fain^ Mcucenas, press me into servict 
agcun^ but I have received my discharge; an old soldier may well 
be allmved to hang up his arms and rest^ forfear ofa brsctk-down 
at last, I am laying aside all trifling pursuits^ and storing up 
provision ofwisdom^ following no special school, but borne along 
wherever the breeze may take me^ 

1. prlma — Camena. 'Theme of myearliest Muse^ and des- 
tmed theme of my latefet *: Camena^ one of the Italtan ^oddesses 
of song /earlier form Casmena 6x Carmena (Varro de L. Lat. 
VII. 26) from \Jkcts * sing % a rare instance of s lost without 
lengthening in compensation (Roby § 193), but cp. Cdmillus, 
probably from the same root, Vanicek p. 150], cannot cover auy 
reference to the satires, which were merely sermones, Either the 

fhrase is a conventional expression of high esteem ; cp. Hom. 
1. IX. 97 iv <rol fikv XiJ^w, aio S* ap^ofiou, imitated by Theognis 
I — 4 (Bergk) <a fiya, Artrdvs vUj Aids W/coj, ovirore aeio \fyfopua.i, 
dpx^/A€Vos ovd* dvoiravdfieyoSt iXS! alel vpiOTOv ak koX vararo» 
iv re iU<roL<riv deUru)' and by Theocritus XVII. i iK Aibs <ipx<*>' 
ixe<rda kuI is Ala Xi^ere, Moi<rai : cp. Verg. Ecl. viii. 11: a te 
(Pollio) principium, tibi desinet : or possibly the reference is to 

W. H. 6 



82 HORATI EPISTULAE. 

the epodes, dedicated to Maecenas, as Horace*s first efFort in 
lyrics, by the poem placed first when they were published (so 
Ritter). 

8unima=ultima as in Carm. iii. 28, 13, Verg. Aen, 11. 324, 
a usage for which supremtis is more common both in prose and 
verse. 

2. spectatnm * approved ' : the technical term, stamped on 
the tessera (prize medal) which a gladiator received, after dis- 
tinguishing himself in the arena. A large number of these 
tesserae have been discovered : * Ex osse eboreve sunt omnes, 
exiguae molis, ansatae et ad gestandum appendendumve aptae, 
formae longiusculae quadratae excepta unica recentissima sex 
iaterum. Singulis lateribus singuli versus inscripti sunt, ut a quo 
incipias arbitrarium sit.* Mommsen Corp. Inscr. Lat. i. p. 195. 
Mommsen was inclined, for various reasons, to doubt the current 
opinion that these were presented at the close of a successful 
fight, but there is some fresh support for this view in the recent 
discovery of a bronze tablet recording a presentation probably of 
this kind : cp. Corp. II. 4963, (where it is figured), Wilmanns 
Ex. Inscr. Lat. 11. p. 239. Ritschl has discussed the tesserae 
very fully and supported the old view in Opusc. iv. 572 fF. 
Cp. Friedlander Sitteng. 11' 510. It is to be noticed that some 
have the word spectavit (never spectatus) in fuU : of these six are 
now known to exist (cp. Ephem. Epigr. iii. 161, 203; Garruccl 
Syll. p. 651 and Tav. ii. 7). Mommsen thinks that speciavit va&y 
mean * took his place as a spectator,* no longer in the arena. 

donatuin lam rude * already discharged * : the rudis was the 
wooden foil with which gladiators praptised Liv. xxvi. 51,4; and 
hence a rudis was presented to a veteran as a sign that he was 
no longer to take part in serious encounters. Cp. Suet. Calig. 32 
Murmillonem e ludo rudibus secum batuentem et sponte prostratum 
confodit ferrea sica ; and for the applied meaning Cic. Phil. 11. 
29, 74 tam bonus gladiator rudem tam cito? Ovid. Am. II. 9, 20 
deposito poscitur ense rudisy Trist. IV. 8, 24 me quoque donari iatn 
rude temptis eraty with Mayor on Juv. vii. 171 ergo sibi dabit 
ipse rudem, Hence rudiarii^diroTa^dfJi^vot, Gloss. Labb. : cp. 
Suet. Tib. 7 (quoted below). 

8. antlquo in itsmore strict sense, * in which I served of old ': 
cp. Luc. VI. 721 invisaque claustra timentem carceris antiqui. 
ludo * the training school ' ludus gladiatoriusy cp. Caes. de BelL 
Civ. I. 14 gladiatores quos ibi Caesar in ludo habebat» Includera 
after quaeris a usage confined to poetry (e. g. Sat. I. 9, 8, Carm. 
III. 4, 39, and later prose, e.g. Tac. Germ. 2; Roby § 1344). 
Draeger's refercnce (ii. 301) to Cic. de Invent. II. 26, 77 is not 
in accordance with the best texts there : cp. Weidner ad loc. 

4. meuB 'desires' Carm. iv. 10, 7. Velanius: Porphyrion 



Bk. I. Ep. I.] NOTE& 83 

writes nobUis ^ladiaiar post multas palmas consecratis Herculi 
Fundano armts tandem in agellum se coniulit: there seems to be 
no positive evidence that gladiators were regarded as under the 
protection of Hercules; but this god would be as naturally 
selected by a gladiator, as the nymphs by a fisherman Anth. Paf. 
II. 494 or Hermes by a hunter ib. i. 923. A soldier.similarly in 
Anth. Pal. i. 241 says: 5^|at /t, 'H/xi/cXets, * Kpx'^(yTpi.rov Up6v 
ottXw, o<l>pa irori ^earai' watrrcbSa K€K\ifUva yripa\4a reXiBoifU. 
Cp. Carm. iii» 16» 11. As the temple of Hercules at Fundi was 
well known, it does not follow, as Ritter thinks that the a^er must 
have been in its neighbourhood : the term is here quite general, 
.*in the country.* For the case cp. Roby § 1174, S. G. § 489. 

6. eztrema liarena, i.e. at the outside edge of the circus, 
under the podium^ where the more distinguished spectators had 
their seats. Acron tells us, though possibly without any authority 
beyond that of this passage, that gladiators who were suing for 
their discharge (petituri rudem) used to betake themselves to the 
edge of the arena that they might the more readily jjrevail upon 
the people by their down-cast looks, a phrase singularly at 
variance with what we leam elsewhere of the pride wnich they 
took in their profession. Cp. Friedlander Sitteng. ii* p. 363. Most 
modem editors accept this view, but it is open to grave objection. 
Veianius, Horace says, hung up his arms in the temple of Her- 
cules, and retired to the country, abandoning altogether his pro- 
fession. Why ? That he might not have so frequently to implore 
the people to request his master to give him his dischai^e ? But 
he must have received his discharge already, if It was possible for 
him to retire. Why then continue to beg for it ? But we know 
from Suet. Tib. 7 {munus gladiatorium dedit^ rudiariis quibus- 
dam revocatis atutoramento centenum milium) that veterans who 
had received their discharge were sometimes induced to re-appear 
on special occasions. Veianius.after his discharge, retired al- 
together that he might not after so many victories, break down 
and be compelled again and again to appeal as a defeated com- 
batant for the mercy of the spectators. The desire that mercy 
should be shown to a defeated gladiator was expressed by turning 
down the tnumbs (Plin. xxviii. 2, 5 pollicesy cum faveamuSy 
premere etiam proverbio iubemun cp. Ep. i. 18, 66y Juv. iii. 36 
with Mayor's note). The illustration thus becomes more closely 
parallel with the metaphor of the race-horse which foUows. 

As exoro has in itself always the meaning * to prevail upon \ 
we must here press the imperfect force of the present * attempt to 
prevail upon* : Roby § 1454, 3, S.G. § 591. 

7.' inirsratam, *well rinsed,' for which purpose vinegar was 
sometimes used, as we learn from Pers. v. 86. qul: for the 
* inner voice ' cp. ib. V, 96 stcU contra ratio et secretam gannit in 
aurem, 

6—2 



34 HORATI EFISTULAE. 

personet, with an acc. here, as in Cic. Ep. Fam. vi. i8, 
I. Verg. Aen. vi. 417: but absolutely in Sat. 11. 6, 115. 

8. 8aiiU8=si sapis. 

9. peccet *break down'. illa ducat 'strain his panting 
flanks': ilia ducere is the same as ilia tmdereva Verg. G. iii. 
506 (not, as Macleane, the reverse): cp, Aen. ix. 413 longis 
singultibm ilia pulsat : Plin. N. H. xxvi. 6, 15 iumentis,,.non 
tussientibus modo sed ilia qtioque trahentibus: all these phrases 
mean * to become broken-winded.' 

10. Itaque, not found in the second place in a sentence in 
prose before Livy. Cp. Hand Turs. iii. 509, Kiihnast Liv. Synt. 

P» 318. ^ f /^, ^^ ^ « ;_ 

ludicra *toys', i. e. trifles (Ep. i. 6, 7), but not, as Macleane,/- 
*follies', 'pono =deponOj as sometimes even in Cicero, e.g. de 
Orat. III. 12, 46, de Off. iii. 10, 43 ; Tusc. I. 11, 24 (Kiihner), 
and often, especially with arma, in Liv}'. 

11. qnld vemm sc. sit, a rare omission in prose : cp. Cic 
de Off. I. 43, 152 (Holden). Madvig § 4V9 a, obs. For verum — 
*right' rd rpiiroy: cp. Ep. I. 12, 24; Sat. II. 3, 312: idne est 
verum Ter. Andr. 629. It is not so much speculative as moral 
truth of which Horace is in quest. 

onmls In lioc Bum * I am wholly absorbed in this ' : cp. Sat. 
j. 9, 2 totus in illis, 

12. condo et compono * I store np and arrange', so as tobe 
able to produce at once, like a good condus promus. 

13. ne f orte roges : Roby § 1662, S.G. § 690; Ep. 11. i, 
208 ac ne forte putes. Although Maecenas was doubtless aware 
of Horace's independent position, this is not a sufficient reason 
to suppose that there is here a change of subject to the reader in 
general. 

quo...tuter 'who is my leader, and what the home in which 
Ifindshelter'. 

dux=head of a school : Quint. v. 13, 59 duos^diversarum 
sectarum quasi duces, The terms domus and familui were often 
used of a philosophic school (e.g. de Orat. I. 10, 42, III. 16, 21) : 
hence the transition to lar^ properly the household god, is natural. 

14. addictus, at least as strongly supported by MS. authority 
as adductus^ and unquestionably the right reading here; for the 
metaphor of the gladiatorial school is still retained : cp. Petron. 
117 «rf, vinciri verberari ferroque necari, et quicquid aliud 
Eumolpus iussisset: tamquam legitimi gladiatores domino corpora 
animasque religiossime addicimus: Quint III. i, 22 neque me 
cuiusquam sectae velut quadam superstitiofte imbutus addixi; Cic. 
Tusc. II. 2, 5; Hor. Sat. II. 7, 59. The term was not.under- 



Bk. I. Ep. I.] NOTES. 85 

stood by the copyists, who therefore r^arded addueius as the 
easier reading. Addiciusy properly of an insolvent debtor, ad- 
judged by tbe praetor as the slave of his creditor, is here used in 
a rdSexive sense *not binding myself to swear obedience to any 
master*. The infinitive is like that in Ep. i. 2, 27. Magister 
Samnitium is used of the trainer of gladiators in Cic. de Orat. iii. 
«3, 86. lurare In verba, cp. Epod. xv. 4 in verba iurabas mea^ 
literally • you swore adhesion to the formula which I dictated.* 

16. quo...camque : the same tmesis occurs in Carm. i. 7, 25 ; 
Veig. Aen. ii. 709; Cic. Tusc. ii. 5, 15; with the pronoun in 
de Orat. iii. 16, 60. 

deferor : Cic. Acad. il. 3, 8 ad quamcunque sunt disciplinam 
quasi tempestate delati, 

16. agllis = irpaKTiK6s, i.e.' I adopt the doctrines of the Stoics, 
which make it a duty to take an active part in civic life. * If 
virtue does not consist in idle contemplation, but in action, how 
dare the wise man lose the opportunity of promoting good and 
repressing evil by taking part in political life * ? (Zeller, Stoics and 
Epicureans p. 320 E. T.). Later Stoics however advised philo- 
sophers not to intermeddle at all in civil matters (ib. p. 323). 

flo : Lachmann on Lucret. iii. 374 has shown how rare it is 
for the second of two long vowels to be elided. Cp. Kennedy 
P. S. G. § 256—2. 

18. Arlstlppi: Cic. Acad. II. 42 alii voluptatem finem 
honorum esse voluerunti quorum princeps Aristippus Cyrenaicus, 
Aristippus who regarded the bodily gratification of the moment 
as the highest pleasure represents a lower stage of the philo- 
sophy of mere enjoyment than Epiciurus himself. Cp. Zeller 
Socratic Schools p. 295 E. T. 

19. mlM re8...conor; i.e. I endeavour to subdue all events 
and circumstances to my own enjoyment, and not to become a 
slave to circumstances. Cp. £p. i. 17, 23 (note). 

20 — ^26. I pass mytime in weariness and impatience until I 
can cUtain to that virtue which alone blesses rich andpoor cUike, 

20. qulbu^ menUtur amlca * whose love proves jade ' (Mar- 
tin). 

21. opus debentibus^operariis *those who are bound to 
jgive their service ', e. g. maid-servants with their daily task of 
spinning, or day-labourers : not (as some) * those who work for 
debt*. 

22. cnstodla *charge' i.e. general oversight, to be dis- 
tinguished from the legal guardianship (tutela)^ which was never 
assigned to the mother, for women were themselves always under 
MeJa, so that strictly speaking no one could hold the position of 
pupillus to his mother. 



S6 HORATI EFISTULAE. 

28. 8pem...morantar 'delay the fulfilment of my hope': 
cp. Liv. XXIII. 14 si spem morareniur. 

24. navlter was the reading of the archetjrpe (Keller), and 
should not be replaced by the more archaic gnaviter. , The MS. 
evidence for the more archaic forms of spelling in Horace is, as 
a rule, very slight. He seems however to have preferred 
gnatus as the substantive form, to distinguish it from ther 
participle natus, cp. Keller Epilog. on Serm. i. i, 83. 

25. aeque, ae<iae repeated for the sake of emphasis by 
anaphora to show that there is absolutely.no exception. Cp. 
Tac. Agric. 15 aeque discordiam praepositorum, aeque concordiam 
subiectis exitiosam. The more usual iconstruction is aeque...at' 
que ox et, . . 

26. nefirleetam * while its neglect ', a participle in agreement 
for an abstract noun with the genitive, like capta urbs * the capture 
of the city ', and the like, so common in Livy. 

27 — 32. If I cannot attain to perfection^ I can still put into 
prcutice the elementary knowledge wkich I possess, 

27. restat, i.e. in spite of the hindrances which I meet with 
in my attempts at progress. 

elementa=0TO(X£^ci rov \&yov of Zeno, the Kipiai Bo^au of 
Epicurus (Zeller p. 408), general ethical principles. 

28. posels. Roby § 1 551, S.G. ^ 650. ooolo : oculos, adopted 
by Bentley, who proves that both constructioiis «re legitin>ate (cp. 
Cic. p. Lig. 3, o quantum potero voce contendam)^ for tlie <piaij3t 
reason that Hprace was acciistomed to anoint both his eyes witb 
salve (Sat. i. 5 30), has much less MS. authority. 

Lynceos, one of the Argonauts, famed for his keen sight, 
Keiyov yap hrix^^ovita» Tosmov yiver o^vTaTOV 6fMfW. (Pind. Nem« 
X, 62): cp. Aristoph. Plut. 410 §lKhrciv .t^vrtpw rov AvTir^ci»* 
Valerius Maximus (i. 8, 14) says ne illius quidem parvae admi' 
rationis octUi^ quem constat tam certa acie luminum usum esse^ 
ut a Lilybaeo portum Karthaginiensium egredientes classes intue- 
retur : there is no authority for assuming with • Macleane (fol- 
lowed by Martin) that his name was Lynceus; Pliny H. N. vir. 
85, on the authority of Varro, says that it was Strabo. Cp. Cic. 
Acad. II. 25, 81. 

29. Inonsral, much better established here than inungi, 

SO. desperes. Roby, § 1740, S. G. § 740. 

Olyconis, shown bv Lessing first (Werke vili. 526) from 
a Greek epigram (Anth^ Pal. vii. 693 rXjJ/fw»», rh Uepyafjniivbv 
*A<ridi k\4os,^6 wapLfiaxfav KcpavpoSy 6 wKar^ irSdas, 6 Kaivos 
"AtXoj, at r dviKarot x^P« ippovri ic.t.X.) to have been a 



Bk. I. Ep. 1] NOTES. Bi 

hmoas atHlete contemporarjr with the poet. This quite dis- 
poses of the notion that there may be a reference to the Farnese 
Hercules, the work of the sculptor Glycon. The reading Mi- 
lonis mentioned by Acron, is simply the substitution of a more 
familiar name« Cp. Arrian Epict. Diss. I. 2, 37 ovbk yd^ MfXwi/ 
iffOfKU, Kol Suuat ovK *&fi€\<a rov (rc^/uaros* ovb^ Kpoitfos, Kal ovk 
dfi€\(S rijs Krqaeiot' ov5* dirXtDs dXXov rivbs ttjs imficXtlas, di& 
T^ 4iir6yv<iMra' tQv &Kp<aPf d^nffrdfjieSa, 

81. corpuB prohlbere cheragra. For the construction of 
J>roAidere=-*gaaid* cp. Cic. de Off. ir. 12, 41 cum prohibent 
iniuria tenuiores (with Holden's note) : Carm. i. 27, 4 Bacckum 
prohibete rixis : similarly with arcere Ep. i. 8, 10. noiAosa, gout 
produces chalk-stones in the fingers, as with Milton, who in his 
later years was *pale but not cadaverous, his hands and fingers 
gouty and with chalk-stones ' : cp. Sat. ii. 7, 15 postquam 
illi iusta cheragra contudit articulos, 

82. qiiadain...teiiii8, formed like hactenus^ eatenus etc» 
introduced by Cruquius from the Bland. Vet. and defended by 
Bentley ^^nst the earlier reading quoctam which has equal 
MS. authority, but is only a copyist's correction. quadamtenus 
is used repeatedlv by Pliny the Elder : the other form would 
hot be good Latm, tenus never being employed with an adverb 
of direction, Roby § 2164. I see no reason to suppose that? 
Horace is speaking with any irony here. 

88 — 40. The curefor all diseases of the mind is to befound 
tH the magic spells ofphilosophy. 

88. fenret *is fevered*. For the mood cp. Roby § 1553, 
S. G. §651. Horace appears to have been especially struck by 
the greed for money in his own time, and refers to this with 
great frequency: Sat. i. 4, 26, II. 3. 82; Ep. II. i, iio, ii. 2, 
148, &c. cupldine always masculine in Horace, never in Vergil: 
Ovid*s practice varies : cp. Neue Formenlehrey i. 655. 

84. verlMk et roces, 'spells and strains', the former ap- 
parently magic formulae, (Verg. G. il. 129 miscueruntque herbas 
et non innoxia verba) the latter incantations, so that Horace 
inverts the order of Euripides (Hipp. 478) elal» 5* ^iry^ai koI 
X^oc deXKTTffnoi' <f><Lirqa€Tai tl TTJffSe <f>dpfiaKoy pwrov, The term 
voces however probably also includes instrumental as well as 
vocal music (cp. Sat. l. 3, 8, Ep. i. 2, 23, A. P. 216), to both 
forms of whicti great efficacy was ascribed in alla^ring pain ; e. g. 
Gcll. n'. 13 proditum esty ischiaci cum maxime doleant^ tum si 
modulis lenibus tibicen incinat^ minui dolores, 

85. morl)!, the ird^ot of the Stoics. 

86. certa piacula, ' spedfic remedies ' : as antiquissimo tem- 
pore morbi cut iram deorum immortalium referebantur (Cels. 
Pracf. i), the remedies provided by philosophy are spoken of as 



88 HORATI EPISTULAE. 

* propiliatory offerings ' : cp. Cann. i. «8, 34. These * remedies * 
arc the precepts contained in the books of the philosophers, which 
must be read through thrice, after previous purification. The 
magic efficacy of the number three is often referred to, e.g. 
Theocr. 43, ^j r/)is iiroaThSuf Kal rpls raSe, Torvta, (fxayuf, 
Tibull. I. a, 54 /^ cane, ter dictis despue carminibus, Hor. Carm. 
I. 28, 36, Sat. II. I, 7. Libdlus probably keeps up thc allusion 
in piacula, and is not without a reference to the boK)ks of magic 
charms, though it denotes primarily the writings of philosophers. 
88. amator, * licentious *. Cic. Tusc. iv. la, a; aliud cst 
amcUorem esse, aliud amantem, 

40. cnltaraa, Tusc. 11. 5, 13 ut ager quamvis fertilis sine 
cuUura fructuosus esse non potest : sic sine doctrina animus... 
cultura autem animi philosophia est. 

41 — 62. At any rate the first step in a virtuous life can be 
iaken, Even this would free you from the toils which many 
undergo, ihough ihey would escape ihem if ihey knew the irue 
value ofthings, 

41. Tlrtiu, sc. prima : cp. Quint. vili. 3,41 prima virtus 
est vitio carere. 

42. TldeB. Horace has now quite passed away from Mae- 
cenas, and is addressing the reader, as often. 

48. repiilsaiiL At this time the elections were nominally left 
in the hands of the people (Suet. Oct. 40 comiiiorum pristinum 
ius reduxit), although Augustus reserved to himself the right of 
nominating half the magistrates, and of exercising a veto upon 
unworthy candidates. Cp. Merivale c. XLIV. (v. 230). 

44. anlxiil oapltisque, * of mind and body ' : caput seems 
to be used somewhat generally for the body, but it is difficult 
to find an exact parallel. 

46. per mare, etc. proverbial expre&sions, not to be pressed 
in detail, cp. Sat. Ii. 3, 56, Solon Fragm. xiii. (Bergk) 43 
tf-Tevdei 5* SSXodiv &\\oi* b yuh jcard worrov dXareu 4v vifvch^ 
Xpi^w otKade Kipdos ayeiv IxBvocvr, <W/to«n ^pevficvos apya" 
Xioiaiv, <f>€i5(a\riv ^x^s ovdefdav 04fi€vos. 

47. ne cnres = * ut non-cures *. 

48. meUorl, £p. 1. 1, 68. 

49. drcnm pafiros 'who goes the round of the villages*: 
cp. Sat. I. 6, 82 circum doctores aderat : Cic p. Quinct. 0, 25 
Naevius pueros circum amicos dimittit. 

oompita, * cross-ways *, where spectators might easily collect, 
especially (but not only) at the festivals known as Paganalia and 
Compitalia, the former in January, the latter about the same 
time (Marquardt Rom. Staatsverw. iii. 193, 197). The scholiast 



Bk. I. Ep. I.] NOTES. 89 

on Persius iv. a8, writes compita sunt loca in qttadrvviis^ qttasi 
turresy ubi sacrificia^ finita agri cultura, rustici celebrabant, 

00. magna, the famous games at £lis. There were other 
less celebrated Ol^nnpic games in Greece. coroiiaxl Oljnnpia. 
A Greek construction, <rT€(payova-6ai *0\vfiTia * to be crowned as 
victor in the Olympian games '. 

51. Bine iralyere^d/roi^tW. Plin. N. H. xxxv. 11 Alci- 
tnackus pinxit Dexippum^ qui pancratio Olympia citra pulveris 
tactum, quod vocant oKovirlf vicit. Miiton, Areopagitica^ p. 18 
(Hales), 'the race, where that immortal garland is to be run 
for not without dust and heat '. 

62. Horace throws out somewhat abruptlv a philosophic 
common-place, and then goes on to point out how it is practi> 
cally denied by the conduct of most men. 

53 — 69. All Rome is full of lessons of self seeking, and a 
man is measured by wkat he has^ but even ihe boys know that 
this is not the true standard; and we are conscious thcU the pursuit 
ofvirttu is worthier than that ofmoney, 

51. lannB Bnmmus al> Imo, a difficult phrase. Horace (Sat. 
II. 3, 18) speaks of a medius lanus at which a man*s fortune 
was wrecked : and Cicero (de Off. ii. ^4, 87) of those who sit 
ad medium lanum^ plying their business as bankers &c. In 
Phil. VI. 5, 15 he makes mention of a statue erected Z. An- 
tonio a medio lano patrono^ and adds Itane f lanus medius in 
Z. Antonii clientela est? Quis unquam in illo lano inventus 
est^ qui Z. Antonio mille nummumferret expensum f It is clear 
therefore that medius lanus was equivalent to our 'Change; but 
it is not certain what the precise meaning of Janus was. Becker 
(Rom. Alt I. p. 3^6), foUowed by Mr Burn (Rome and the Cam- 
pagna, p. 105) supposes that three or more lani stood at various 
points along the north-east side of the Forum, similar to the 
lanus Quadrifrons which still stands in the Forum Boarium, 
constructed of four archways, joined in a square, with an attica 
or a chamber above them. He thinks that the bankers spoken 
of by Horace and Cicero transacted their business partly in 
these chambers, and partly below under the archways. It has 
even been suggested that the foundations of the medius lanus 
have been discovered. But the scholiast of Cruquius says 'lanus 
autem hic platea dicitur, ubi mercatores et feneratores sortis 
causa convenire solebant'; and certainly lanus is often used 
in the sense of an arcade or passage, rather than an arch. 
Hence Dr Dyer in Dict. Geogr. 11. 774 b conjectures that 
lanus was the name applied to the street at the north side of 
the forum, a view supported at some length by Mr Nicholls in 
his *Roman Forum*, p. 240 ff. If this view be correct (and 
it has the support of Bentley), we must translate * the whole 



9D HORAtl EPISTULAE. 

Janus, from the top to the bottom *. We may notice however t, 
passage in Livy XLI. 27 et forum porHcibus tabemisqtie clauden-^ 
dutn et Janos tres faciendosy whicfa somewhat supports Becker*s 
theory: the name of the tovvn in question is lost, the passage 
being much mutilated ; but it is possible that the constructions 
described were in imitation of those at Rome : they were cer- 
tainly not at Rome, as Mr King (on Phil. VI. 5) supposes. For 
the phrase summus ab imo—^ixom the top to the bottom', cp. 
.Ovid Ib. 181 lugeribusque novem qui [Tityos] summus distat ab 
^imo. 

55. prpdocet = * palam docet '- * holds forth,* or perhaps rather 
*docendo praeit *: the word is only found here; in vpodidcurKeiv 
the preposition sometimes seems to retain very little force; 
terdocet retained by Macleane has extremely little authority, jwt 
being found in any good MS. 

56. laeyo...lacerto, a line repeated from SaLt. 6, 74 and 
rejected by many recent editors. But it is iiwn^ in all MSS., 
and may perhaps be defended as heightenmg the irony : old and 
young all repeat the same lesson, like a pack of school-boys, on 
their way to schooL— suspfiBiL loculOB, Roby § 11 26, S.G.§ 471. 

57. 58. These two lines are inverted in the earlier editions, 
and in most good MSS. The usual order is due to Cruquius, 
and is warmly defended by Bentley, whose authority has pre- 
vailed with most recent editors. I feel by no means sure that 

I Ritter is not right in preferring the other order, which is far 
better established, and which gives a Horatian abruptness. The 
reading si for sed is weakly supported ; so is Bentley's desint for 
desunt. 

57. est, cp. 1. 33. lingiia < a ready tongue '. fldes either 
* credit *, that is, a respectable position in money matters, though 
not quite up to the standard for a knight (cp. Ep. i. 6, 36), 
or perhaps better * loyalty * to your friends, to be connected 
closely with lingua, and hence not, as Orelli thinks, tautologous 
after mores, 

58. quadrliigentls, sc. milibus sestertium, to the 400,000 ses- 
terces fixed as the rating of the equites by the lex iudiciaria of C. 
Gracchus. There was a census equester from the earliest times 
(Liv. V. 7), but its amount is a matter of conjecture only (Becker 
R. A. II. I, 150). 

sex septem : for the asyndeton cp. Ter. £un. 331 ^ix mensi' 
bus sex septem. Cic. ad Att. x, 8, 6 sex septem diebus. It does 
not seem to occur with any other numerals; but cp. ter quaUr. 

59. plelMi, not in its legal sense, but in the general mean- 
ing a Mow fellow.* So Hom. II. Xll. «13 hr^ikov ihrtu^ on 
which Hesych. comments drjfi^ijp, Kollhfa Tiov iroXXwy: cp. Sat. i. 



Bk. I. Ep. I.] NOTES. 91 

8, 10; Ep. I. 19, 37. Cicero apparently never uses it either in 
this general 3ense, nor of kn individual. 

rex eris gl recte fiudes : Isidor. Or. viii. 3, 4 gives the ful! 
trochaic tetrameter : r^x erisy si rkte facies, si non facies ndn 
eris, The meaning is plainly * if you play well, we will make 
you our king* : an ambiguous meaning of recte^ which Horace 
turns to his own purpose. Conington*s *deal fairly, youngster, 
and we'll crownyou king' seems to miss the point. Fair play 
alone is not enough for distinction in games. g 

60. lilo: Roby§ 1068. 

61. nll consdre slbl, * to be conscious of no guilt ' : the use 
of sibi after an hnperative is somewhat like that in Cic. d^ Nat. 
D. I. 30, 84 sibi displicere, ib. 44, 122 utilitatum suarum, where 
the subject is indefinite, although in the one case the second 
person, in the other the first has preceded. 

62. Bo8Cla...lex: L. Roscius Otho, trib. pl. in B.c. 67, 
carried a law that the first fourteen rows of the cavea at the 
theatre, next to the orchestra which was occupied by the senators, 
should be reserved for the equites : the law was very unpopular, 
and in B.c. 63 Roscius was hissed in the theatre (Plut. Cic. 13), 
but the people were pacified by Cicero, and Roscio theatralis 
auctori legis ignoverunt, notatasque se [sc. tribus^ discrimine sedis 
aequo animo tulerunt (Plin. N. H. vii. 30). Cp. luv. iii. 
153 — 159 ^exeat^y inquit, * si pudor est, et de pulvino surgat 
equestri, cuius res legi non sumcit...sic libitum vano, qui nos 
distinxity Othoni^ (with Mayors notes). 

sodes ' please * : there is no reason to doubt the eYp Ja nario n 
of the word given by Cic. Orat. 45, 154 ^ Hktmterverha iungebant^ 
«f 'SDf6tes^n»«tnidcs, ^/n^si^s' : si audes is found in Plaut. Trin. 
a44,.and audeo^avidus sum originally. For o as the popular 
pronunciation of au cp. Roby § 250* The notion that it is the 
vocative of a substantive=^^€t€ (cp. Froehde in Kuhn's Ztsch. 
XII. 159), is sufficiently disproved by dic sodes, pater in Ter. Ad. 
643; i;^6ios has its Latin cognate in sodalis Curt. Princ. £t. i. p. 
312. Key's derivatioh from si voles (L. G. § 1361^.) mtist be 
wrong (1) because of the tense which is evidently present, (2) 
because while d often becomes /, / does not pass into d (Roby 
§ 174, 4), except in very rare instances (Corssen Ausspr. i'' 224; 
Nachtr. 274, 276). 

63. . nenla * ditty * or * jingle' : there is nothing here about * a 
sort of a song of triumph * as Macleane thinks. 'fiie form naenia 
has but slight authority. 

64. Cnrlis especially Curius Dentatus, the conqueror of 
Pyrrhus. For the plural cp. note on Cic. de Orat. i. 48, 211. 
deoantata • ever on the lips of '. Cic. de Orat. 11. 32, 140. 

65. ftuslas, jussive subjunctive in quasi-dependence on a 
repeated suadet: Roby § 1606, S.G. § 672. 



92 HORATI EPISTULAE. 

rem 'money/ 

67. propliu, L e. from one of the fourteen rows. lacrlmosa 
* tear-drawing * : cp. lacrimoso fumo in Sat. i. 5, 80. 

Papl, a poet of the time of whom nothing is known, not even 
that he was popular, as Martin says. The scholiasts quote an 
epigram as composed by him, which is far more probably due to 
some * goodnatured friend ' : JUbunt amici et bene noti mortem 
pieam, nampi^lus in me vivo lacrimatust satis. 

68. respoxiBare liberam et erectum * to stand up boldly, 
like a free man, and defy *, cp. Cic. de Orat. i. 40, 184 erectum 
et celsum^ and Sat. Ii. 4, 18, il. 7, 85, 105. 

69. praeBenB, standing by your side to help you, Ep. 11. i, 
»34- 

70 — ^93. / have leamt that the vie7vs commonly follorwed lead 
only to ruin : and besides, men vary so much in the means they 
ctdopty and even are capricious in the objects they pursue. 

71. porticLlmB, the long covered colonnades, used lai^ely 
for resort in the heat of the day, or in wet weather. They were 
frequently wide and long enough to drive in : cp. Mart. i. 12, 
5 — 8 (of the villa of the orator Regulus), Ilic rudis aestivas prae- 
stabat porticus umbras, heu quam paene novum porticus ausa 
nefas ! nam subito collapsa ruit, cum mole sub illa gestatus biiugis 
Regulus esset equis: luv. vii. 178 — i^balnea sescentis et pluris 
porticuSy in qua gestetur dominus^ quotiens pluit — anne serenum 
exspectet spargatque luto iumenta receniif The Campus Martius 
under the Emperor became * a forest of marble colonnades and 
porticoes * (Burn's Rome, p. 300). iudicllB * opinions.* 

73. quod yolpe8...re8poiulit : the fable is known to us 
from Babrius ciii., but Porphjnion says *Luciliana sunt haec.* 
Cp. L. Miiller's Lucihi reliq. p. 126. 

76. belua multomm capitum : Plat. Rep. ix. 588 Btiplov 
woikIXov Kcd To\vK€<pd\ov : Shakspere Coriol. iv. i, i *the beast 
with many heads butts me away.* Scott *Thou many-headed 
monster thing * (Lady of the Lake, V. 30). 

77. conducere pul>lica ' to take state-contracts *, not merely 
the coUectors of the taxes but all quisfaci/e est aedem conducere^ 
fluminay portus^ siccandam eluviemy,portandum ad busta cadaver 
(Juv. III. 30). 

Bunt qui...yenentur, i.e. the captatores^ who made it their 
business to secure legacies, by currying favour with the un- 
married and the childless. Horace satirises this class in Sat. Ii. 5. 

78. fruBtiB et pomiB * tit-bits and fruit *, instances of the atten- 
tions {pfficia) or as Tacitus Germ, xx. calls them orbitatis pretia^ 
which were usual in such cases : cp. Mayor on luv. iii. 129, v. 98. 
All MSS. of any value have frustis : the crustis of most recent 



Bk. I. Ep. I.] NOTES. gz 

editors seems to be simply an attempt at emendation. Bnt cp. 
Sat. I. I, 25. 

▼IdtLas includes the unwedded, as well as the widowed : cp. 
Liv. I. 46, 7 se rectius viduam et illum cculibem futurum fuisse^ 
where viduam acts as the feminine oF caelibem, [The tempting 
derivation of the word from vi * apart * and dhavas * husband ' 
must now be abandoned (Curt. Princ. i. 46) : the root is vidh *to 
be empty, lacking ', occurring also in ijf^eoj : cp, V^nicek p. 966.] 

79. excLpiaiLt^ahunting term, as in Carm. iii. 12, 1 2. YiYaxla 
* preserves ', where animals were kept and fattened : Plin. viii. 
52, 211 says of wild hosLTsvivaiia eorum cetei'arumque silvestrium 
primus togati generis invenit Fulvius Lippicus^ in Tarquiniensi 
feras pascere instituit: nec diu imitatores defuere Z. Luculluset Q, 
Hortensius: sothat the custom had not long been introduced in 
the time of Horace. In Sat. il. 5, 44 the cetaria are fish-ponds : 
a meaning which is possible, but not so probable for vivaria 
here. 

80. occulto * secret *, as being either higher than that legally 
allowed, or derived from loans to minors, who were protected by 
the lex Plaetoria, Possibly, however, as Prof. Palmer suggcsts, 
the reference may be rather to the unnoticed growth of interest : 
cp. Carm. i. 12, 45 occulto aevo^ and Ar. Nub. 1286 ifiroppiovTos 
Tov xp^vov. 

81. esto 'granted that*, a common phrase with Horace, 
which generally indicates a transition from that which may be 
conceded for argument's sake to another point which cannot be 
conceded. 

82. Idem nom. plur. durare intrans. 

83. sinus * retreat ', not * bay '. Baiae was a favourite resort of 
the wealthy Romans : cp. Beckfirls-Xi^us, sc. vii. * AU writers 
making mention of it concur in this eulogy '. 

84. lacuB sc. Lucrinus (Carm. ii. 15, 3), mare sc. Tuscum. 
The rich man who has taken a fancy lo Baiae at once begins build- 
ing out into the lake or the sea the substructions for a splendid 
villa: cp. Carm. iii, i, 33—36,11. 18, 17 — 22. Baiae itself was 
at least two miles from the lake, but the whole coast was covered 
with vilias, and the name was not strictly limited ; in fact there 
was no distidCt town of Baiae. Cp. Dict, Geogr, 

85. eri here, as always in Plautus and Terence and in Cic. 
de Rep. i. 41 according to the palimpsest, much better established 
Xh2ua,heri (Ritschl, Opusc. II. 409): this is however no decisive 
reason against regarding the h as etymologically justified : cp. 
Curt. Princ. I. 246 ; Corssen Ausspr. I^ 468 ; and on the other 
hand Brugman in Kuhn's Ztsch. xxiii. 95 ; and see note on de 
Orat. I. 21, 98. Yitiosa libido * morbid caprice ', 



94 HORATI EPISTULAE. 

86. fecerlfe anspiciiim ' has lent its sanction ' : the auspidum 
was properly the indication of the will of heaven : hence there is an 
intentional oxymoron in the juxtaposition of libido and auspicium, 
the thought being like that in Verg. Aen. ix. 185 an sua cuique 
deus fit dira cupido? The auspicium never suggested an action 
(cp. Mommsen Rom. Staatsrecht* ; i. p. 73 ff.), but only indicated 
approval or disapproval : hence * has prompted him ' would not 
be an adequate rendering. The fact that he wishes for a thing is 
a sufficient proof to him that it is right for him to have it. 

Teanuin sc. Sidicinum, an inland town of Campania, about 
30 miles from Baiae, where it was now his whim to have a villa. 
There was another Teanum in Apulia. Acron's notion that 
Teanum * abundans optimis fabris ' was the home to which the 
workmen were suddenly bidden to retum, is not probable. 

87. toUetlB, perhaps future for imperative (Roby § 1589, 
S. G. § 665 (^)), but it is at least as probable that the words are 
used by Horace himself, not put into the mouth of the erus. 
This view is taken in the text. 

lectUB genlaUs * a marriage-couch *, sacred to the Genius of 
the family, where he provided that the house should never be 
without offspring. Cp. Preller Rom. Myth. p. 69. 

aula, properly * front-court ', here=a/raOT *hall*, where the 
lectus genialis was placed, opposite the door (hence called adver* 
sus Propert. V. 11, 85, Laberius in Gell. xvi. 9). 

88. priuB * preferable *, a meaning for which Cicero would 
have used antiquius, e. g. quod honestius^ id mihiest antiquius (ad 
Att. VII. 3): cp. Vell. II. 52, 4 neque priusy neque antiquius 
quidquam habuit quam, etc. 

caelibe : cp. Quint. i. 6, 36 ingenioseque visus est Gavius 
caelibes dicere veluti caelites, ^uod onere gravissimo vacent, 
idque Graeco argumento iuvit : TiWiovs enim eadem de causa dici 
adfirmcUf a theory which Quintilian justly includes Simong fiifedis- 
sima ludibria, The word seems to admit of etymologic^ expla- 
nation as *lpng alone ' : cp. Vanicek p. 156. 

89. bene esse, * it is well with *. — 

90. Protea. Sat. 11. 3, 71. Hom. Odyss. iv. 455. 

91. cenacula *garrets*: Varro de L. Uk. v. 162 uhi 
fenabanty cenaculum vocitabant: posteaquam in superiore parte 
cenitare coeperunt, superioris domus universa cenacula dicta, 
The word is never used in its original sense of * dining-room '. Cp. 
Mayor on luv. X. 18. 

lectos, *his seats,*, apparently in the tavem which he 
frequents for his meals : he does not possess lectos of his own, 
any more than balnea^ But cp. Ep. i. 16, 76. 



Bk. I. Ep. I.] NOTES. 95 

92. condncto xiaylglo nausaat : he hires a boat, and goes 
to sea for a change, though he gets sea-sick there just as much 
as the rich man. 

94 — 105. This inconsistency is so universal that you do not 
noiice it in me, althottgh you ridicule me for any carelessness in 
dress, 

94. Inaeqiiall tonsore. An ablative of attendant circum- 
stances (Roby § 1240), *when the barber cut awry*: cp. luv. i. 13 
ussiduo ruptae lectore columnae with Munro's note in Mayor's 
edition, and Prof. Maguire in Journ. Phil. iii. 232. 

95. sabucnla, * a shirt*, of linen or cotton, says Orelli, but 
^ there is no authority for this earlier than the third century a. d. 

{Marquardt Rom. Privatalt. II. 97). Cp. Varro in Non. p. 
542, «3 posteaquam binas tunicas habere coeperunt, instituerunt 
vocare subuculam et indusium* Sub-wcula contains the same 
*root u as ind-u-o^ ex-u-o, 

pezae, properly 'combed*, hence *with the nap on, fresh*: 
cp. Mart. II. 58, I pexatus pulcre rides mea, Zoilcy trita. 

96. dissidet Impar *sits awry, and does not fit'. rldes : 
Maecenas was himself noted for dandyism, whence the scholiasts 
(probably wrongly) identify him with Maltinus in Sat. i. 2, 26. 
What foUows shews that Horace is now directly addressing 
Maecenas, not the reader. • 

99. aestnat *is as changeful as the sea*. Cp. £p. Jac. 
I. 6 o yap 5mKpiv6fJL€vos iotKc kM5ojvi 6a\a(r<rrjs dv€iJLij;o/jL^P(fi Kal 
jinn.^oixiv(^, * Sways to and fro, as if on ocean tost ' (Martin). 

dlsconyenit, 'is out of joint,' only here and at i. 14, 18 in 
classical Latin. 

100. dlmit, aediflcat. In Sat. 11. 3, 107 Horace makes 
one of the charges brought against him by Damasippus to be 
based on.his love for building. 

mntat qnadrata rotondis, doubtless a proverbial expres- 
sion : *turn round to s<juare and square again to round ' (Pope). 
The varying construction of muto allows us to regard the ro- 
tunda as either taken or given in exchange. Sat. 11. 7, 109. 

lOL insanire soUemnia me, 'that my madness is but the 
tiniversal one*, an accusative of extent, Roby § 1094, S. G. 
§ 461. The Stoics regarded the wise man as alone truly sane : 
Sat II. 3, 44 quem mala stultitia et quemcunque inscitia veri 
caecum agit^ insanum Chrysippi porticus et grex autumat, Haec 
populosy haec magnos formula reges excepio sapiente tenet. 

102. cnratoris, the guardian appointed by the praetor by an 
interdictum (Sat. Ii. 3, 217) to look after a lunatic: the charge 



96 HORATI EFISTULAE. 

woald naturaUy fiall to the*near relatives; qx Cic. de Inv. ii. 148 
/ex esi: si furiosus escii, adgnaium gtniiliumque in eo pecuniaque 
eius poiesias esio (xil. Tabb. v. 7 Schoell) : but if there was no 
tiUor legiiimus the praetor would appoinL Cp. Juv. xiv. «88 
curatoris egei qui navem mercibus implet adsummum lalus with 
Mayor's note. 

103. ^ tat^la, not in its l^al sense, but not withont a refer- 
ence to it, • though you charge yourself with my fortunes '• 

lOi. nngnwm. The Romans were accustomed to have their 
nails carefiilly trimmed by the barber (cp. Ep. i. 7, 51), and * an 
ill-cut nail' would imply either n^lect or incompetence on 
his part 

106. respleleiitis. Bentley objects that respicere is always 
used of the r^ard that a superior has for an inferior (cp. Ps. 
cxxxviii. 6, *Though the LoRD be high, yet hath he respect 
unto the lowly*), and therefore accepts the conjecture of Hein- 
sius, suspicieniisy which is certainly far more usual in the sense 
here required. But cp. Caesar, B. C. i, i sin Caesarem respicianf 
cUqtu eius graiiam sequaniur, ui superioribus fecerini iemporibus, 
It is not, as Macleane says, much stronger than our * respect ', 
but has a different connotation, implying rather r^;ard for one's 
wishes, or interests. Cp. Ter. Haut. 70 nuUum remiiiis iem-' 
pus, neque ie respicis, 'jrou don't consider yourself '. 

106 — 109. 77ie viriuous man is indeed as blesi as ihe Sioics 
deem him, excepi when his digesiion iroubies him, Horace here, 
as elsewhere, gives a humorous tum at the close to the aigu- 
ment, which he has been seriously propounding. 

106. ad gnininain. Cic. de Off. i. 41, ad summam, ne agam 
de singulis: Sat i. 3, 137 ne longum faciam : luv. iii. 79 in 
summa, non Maurus erat etc, So often in Pliny : cp. Mayor on 
Ep. III. 4, 8. 

nno mlnor love. Senec. Prov. i. 5 bonus ipse iempore ianium 
a Deo differi, Sen. Ep. 73, 1 3 luppiierquo aniecedii virum bonum ? 
diuiius bonus esi, Cic. de Nat. D. li. 61, 153 Tfiia beaia par 
ei similis deorum, nulla alia re nisi immorialitcUe^ quae nihil 
adbeate vivendum pertinei, cedens caelesiibus, 

.divea. Sat. i. 3, 124 si dives, qui sapiens ^, 'he is abso- 
lutely rich, since he who has a right view of everything has 
everything in his intellectual treasury. Sen. Benef. vii. 3, 2 ; 
6. 3, 8, i ' (Zeller, Sioics, p. 270). Cp. Cic. Acad. Ii. 44, 
13Q» and Parad. 6 ort /xovos d <ro<p6s ir\ov<noi, 

107. liber. * The wise man only is free, because he only 
uses his will to control himselF (Zefter, I.c). Cic. Parad. 5 
oTt n&voi 6 aoipos iXeOdepoi koI xas &(pp<ay doGXou 



Bk. I. Ep. II.] NOTES. 97 

lionoratiis=adf honores evectus: *the wise only know how 
to obey, and they also only know how to govem* (Zeller). 
pnloher, *he only is beautiful, because only virtue is beautiful 
aad attractive* (Zeller). rex regum, Sat. 1..3, 136, Lucilius 
(quoted here by Porphyrion) In mundo sapicns haec ontnia 
kabebit: formosus^ dives^ liber^ rex solus vocetur, 

108. pitulta (trisyllabic, pitwUa; CatuUus xxiii. 17 has 
jni&ita nasi; but L. Muller (de Re Metr. p. 258) argues that we 
must pronounce here, and in Sat. ii. 2, 76 pUHlta^ on the ground 
that in Horace there is no instance of synizesis with u^ but only 
with 1. Cp. Roby § 92. The derivation given in Quint. L 6, 30 
^quia petet vitam^^ absurd as it is in itself rather points to I. 
. Muller similarly ^hsaXiovi^ fortuttus in luv. XIII. 255. Cp. Mayor 
€ui loc), the phlegm produced by the inflammation of any mucous 
membrane : hence probably here, as in Sat. 1. c of a disordered 
stomach ; so also in Cato's prescription for an emetic, R. R. 156, 4. 
Orelli's quotations from Arrian's Epictetus l. 6, ii. 16, 13, &c. 
ifnply however that the existence of catarrh was an objection 
brought by some against the perfection of nature as taught by 
the Stoics, answered by pointing to the provision nature h^d 
made for the removal of it : hence the meaning may be * except 
when a cold in the head troubles you '• 

EPISTLE II. 

This epistle is addressed to LoUius Maximus, probably the 
elder son of M. LoUius, to whom Carm. iv. 9 was afterwards 
addressed. The date of the Epistle is not certain. The 
eighteenth epistle of this book is also addressed to the same 
Lollius, and we leam from that (v. 55) that he had served under 
Augustus in the Cantabrian war of B.c. 25 — 24. It is not 
improbable that after serving (as ptter) in that war, he retumed 
to Rome, and took up again the practice of declamation, just 
as Cicero did after his service in the Social War. In that case 
B.c. 23 would be a plausible date to assign ; but the use of 
puer in v. 68 is not inconsistent with a date a year or two 
later. The practice of rhetoric under teachers was often carried 
on long after the years of manhood had been reached. Cicero 
was studying under Molo at the age of twenty-eight. The 
date of Ep. xviii. is fixed by v. 56 at B.c. ao, and tlmt appears 
10 be certainly later than the present one. 



/ Aa7Je been reading through Homer again, and find 
him a better teacher than all the philosophers, 

1. Hazinie, unquestionably the cognomen of Lollius : a 
P. Lollius Maximus occurs, though at a later date, in Gruter's 
loscr. 638. 2, and mctxime cannot be explained, either as 

W. H. 7 



98 HORATI EPISTULAE. 

•clcJer*, An impossiMe tneaning, or (with Mlideane) fts a 
'familiar, half jocular' mode of address» The usual order is 
niTerted as in Crispe Sallnsti, Carm. II. «, 3 : Hirpine Quinti 
Carm. ii. 11, a. Cp. Ov. PotiU li. 8, a, iii. 5, 6, Maxitiu 
CoUa, 

a. de<flama8. lloby § 1458, S. C g 595. FraenMe, abl. 
•IWays ifl ^, except once in Propertius (iil. [II.] 3«, 3), Roby 
f 440, § 1170: cp. Neue Formenlehre, i. 232. Praeneste was 
a favourite retreat for Horaot, espedally in summer (Carm. ili. 
4, iifrigidufn Praemste), but there is no reason to suppose that 
he had a viUa here, as has been asserted. 

4. planliu is supported by better authority than //i?»mr ; . 
besides, Chrysippus is said to have written 750 books, and the 
commentarii of Crantor extended to 30,000 lines (Diog. Laert. IV. 
24), so that plenius would be a sin^arlv ill-chosen term. Chry- 
sippus, *the second founder of Stoicism' {d fAvj y^ w Xpvirtinroi, 
ovK B» ^v !Sro^), who boasted that he had furnished the proofs of 
the doctrines supplied to him by Cleanthes, was noted for his dry 
and obscure style (Cic. de Orat. I. 11, 50 : Zeller Stoics 45 — ^48): 
Crantor was said to have been the first to expound the writings 
of Plato, and Cicero warmly praises his work on Sorrow (ire^ 
•KkvQwi) : he assisted Polemo, the fourth head of the Academy, 
and in Academta vel imprimisfuit noinlis (Cic. Tusc. III. 6, la). 

0. dlstinet was undoubtedly (according to Keller) the reading 
of th6 archetype : detinet (adopted by many recent editors) only 
a correction 01 the corrupt destinet^ wliich is found in some MSS. 
Orelli*s dicttim, that detinet is used of an agreeable hindrance, 
distinU of an unpleasant one, will not bear examination, though 
the latter is commonly thus used: e.g. Carm. iv. 5, is.^It is 
not certain whether crediderim would have b^n credidi *I 
formed thi^ opinlon * (Roby § 1450) or crediderim (Roby S 15^) 
in direct speech : probably the former. 

6 — ^16. Homer has given us in the Tliad a picture of the 
suffering caused by the folly jind thepassions ofkings andnations, 

T. l»rl>arlae,^.e. Phrygia; cp. Verg. Aen. ii. 504 barbarieo 
postes auro spoliisque superbi^ with the note of Servius ad loe. 
iroi /*i7''EXXi;i' pap^pot. Ennius in Cic. Tusc. i. 35, 85 adstantt 
ope barbarica, The Phrygian language was closely related to 
the Greek (Curt. Hist. of Greece i. 35, 75; Fick Spracheinheit 
Europas pp. 409 ff.), bat probably not more closely^ than the 
Latin, a connexion which did not prevent the Greeks from 
speaking of the Romans as barbari (cp. Plaut. Asin. prol. lo, 
Trin. prol. 19), and Italy as barbaria (Poen. iii. 2, 21). Homer 
in the Iliad nowhere represents the Trojans as unintelligible to 
the Greeks, and uses ptipfiap6ipwvoi only of the Carians (ii. 867), 



Bk. I. Ep. II.] NOTES. 99 

bat no argument can be fairly drawn firom tliis (q>. Gladstone 
yuventus Mundi p. 452). Dionysius (Antiq. Rom. I. 61, 153) 
says oTt hh koX rb tQv Tpifoov fdpos 'BXXiywicov iv toTs fiaKurTa ^v 
4k IIcXoirovF^ow T(yr€ (apfirifi^ay, etprjrcu itJh koX ^lXXoct Tcci 
iraXcu, Xex^i7<r€Tat W /cai Tpos ifiov • 5t' oXiywi' : but his account 
does not include the Phrygians, and is based on the legendary 
history of Dardanus. 

dnello, the earlier form of dellum, which is derived from it, as 
^ from duis &c. (Roby § 76, Corssen Ausspr. I^. 124 — 5): 
Horace uses this form in Ep. 11. i, 254, 11. 2» 98; Carm. iii. 5, 
38, III. 14, 18, i\r. 15, 8. Here, as elsewhere, he seems in- 
tentionally to adopt a mock heroic tone. 

S. aMtUB * fiery passions', (Sat. i. s, iio), not, I think, here 
with any reference to the tide, but with a force more directlv 
derived from the primary meaning of the word (root idM * bum , 
. as in aestas, aXOia &c. Curt. I. 310). Cp. £p. I. 8, 5. 

9. Antenor, Liv. i. i Ameas Antmorque pacis reddmdae 

fue Helenae semper auctores fuerant : cp. Hom. II. vii. 350 
euT di7€T*, *A.pr)idiiv 'BXA^iyv KaX kt^ipmO* &/jl ainry 5(Jojjl€v *At pel- 
dyffuf aryetv, 

oenset praeeldere : censeo here has the construction of iudeo, 
which is very rare with the active in^mtive, except in Columella : 
for a similar construction with the passive, where the gerundive 
might have been expected, cp. Liv. 11. 5, i ^ donis regiis, quae 
reddi antc censuerant, with Drakenboich's note, Kiihnast, p. 20^ 
«47- 

10. Qnld Parls ? just like qutdpauperf (Ep. 1. 1. 91). The 
reading of Bentley * Quod Paris, ut salvus regnet vivatque beatus, 
cc^ 'posse n^t \ is supported only by inferior MSS. and has 
little to recommend iL Cp. II. vii. 362 avTiKpids ^ drotfnjfu, 
yvvaxKa /liv o^k aTodwrof, For the omission of se hQfortposse cp. 
Ver^. Aen. iii. 20l ipse diem noctetnque negat discemere caelo, 
Roby § 1346. 

11. Nestor, Hom. IL i. 254 f., ix. 96 f. 

13. lnte|r...lnter, repeated as in Sat. I. 7, ir, Inter Heciora 
Priamiden ammosum atque inter AchUlem ira fuU capitalis: 
Bentley there (as here) attacks the reading, but it is well supported 
by Cicero's practice with interesse, e. g. de Fin. i. 9, 30, de Am. 
25» 95» Livy x. 7 has the repetition with certatum, — Pellden : 
the acc termination -en in the accusative of patronymicsis every- 
where much better established than the form in •em^ and is 
oftcn necessary to the metre as in Sat. i. 7, 11. Cp. Neue 
Formenlehre i. 57 ; Roby § 473, S. G. § 150. In feminine names 

7—2 



100 HORATI EFIS.TULAE. 

Horace uses the Greek form inthe Odes, the Latin in the Satires 
and Epistles, except perhaps in Sat. ii. 5, 8i, 

13. liimc, Agamemnon, not Achilles, as some have sup- 
posed. The aflfection of Achilles is not noticed in the first book 
of the Iliad, to which Horace is here referring, but in IX. 342 «t 
KoL t)f<a TTfiv iK dvfjLov <pi\€ov (cp. Carm. II. 4, 3). On the other 
hand Agamemnon says in l. 113 koX ydp fta KKvTatfiPTJiTTpris 
Tpo^4^ov\a. urlt /fires ', a term as appUcable to love (Sat i. 9, 
66) as to rage. 

X4. qulcquld, Roby § 1094, S. G. § 461. plectuntur, Sat. 
II. 7, 105 tgr^o plector *I pay for it with my back \ The word 
is often used of undeserved or vicarious punishment : cp. Ov. 
Her. xi.iio. a/ miser admisso plectitur ille meol (with Palmei*s 
note). 

15. sedlttone, as in the case of Thersites II. II. 115 ff. 
dolis, Pandarus iv. 134 ff. 

Bcelere perhaps especially referring to Paris, Ubldlne including 
not only the passion of Paris for Helen, but also the tyranuous 
caprice of Agamemnon. 

17 — 26. The Odyssey on thejother hand shows us the value of 
courage and self-control, 

19. qul domitor...undl8, an imitation of the first five lines 
of the Odyssey : cp. A. P. 141. 

prOYldus, a very inadequate substitute for TdKvfiriT», 

21. dum parat, line 2, * in trying to secure \ apifvpLepos : the 
attempt was unsuccessful in the case of the socii, 

23. Sirennm Yoces Odyss. xii. 39 ff., 154 — 200. — Clrcae 
pocola Odyss. x. 136 ff. 

24. stultns cupidusque, * in foolish greed': Odysseus did drink 
of Circe's cup, but only after he had been supplied by Hermes 
with a prophylactic antidote (Od. x. 318). 

26. meretrlce, a strong term intentionally chosen for emphasis 
*a harlotmistress'. Though Circe is undoubtedly a type of sensual 
pleasure, there is nothing in the legend attaching to her which 
justifies so strong a term. 

tnrpis *in hideous form', i.e. transformed into the shape 
of a brute (Carm. il. 8, 4; Sat. i. 3, 100). 

excort • void of reason ' (Sat. ii. 3, 67). For cor as the seat 
of the real&ft cp. Cic. Tusc. I. 9, 18, de Orat, i. 45, 198 (note). 
Here Horace (as in Epod. 17, 17) differs from Homer, who says 



Bk. I. Ep. II.] NOTES. lot 

of the comrades of Odysseus (Od. x. lyfj oL 9k avwf ijukv ix^p 
jce^aXdf tfxinniv re TpixciS re Kcd di/iaSf avrap vovs tjv ifiiredoSf 

(tfS TO TOpOS T€p. 

27 — 31. JVg are not like OdysseuSy but like the wooers qf 
Penelope or the Phaeacian nobles, hzy and worthless, 

27. niuneraB * but ciphers *, apparently a Grecism : cp. 
£ur. Heracl. 997 ovk dpidfiov dXV irrjTvfxcos dvSp tvra, Troad. 
476 iyeivdfiTjv TiKva, ovk dptdfiov dWtaSf dXX' virfpTdTovs ^pvywv. 
Ar. Nub. 1203 dpiOfihs Tpo^ar d\\<as dfKpopTfs vtvirfapAvoi. 
Conington well brings out the meaning *Just fit for counting 
roughly in the mass '• 

firngres ooiurameTe natl, perhaps a humorous application of 
the Homeric ^poTol ot dpovprjs Kapirov idovaw (II. VI. 142) : for 
the construction (which is confinedto poetry) cp. Roby § 1363, 
S.G.§54o(3). 

28. 8ponsl=/r^a 'wooers': the desired relation is simi- 
larly anticipated in Epod. 6, 13 Lycambae spretus infido gener 
(cp. Verg. Aen. 11. 344), Verg. Aen. IV. 35 aegram nulli quon- 
dam flexere mariti, So in Ter. Andr. 792 socer=sponsae pater, 

nelralones Mosel' Sat. i. i, 104, i. ^, 11, The close imi- 
tation in Ausonius (Epist. ix. 13 — 15 Nam mihi non saliare 
epulum^ non cena dapalis^ qualem Penelopae nebulonum mensa 
procorum Alcinoique habuit 'nitidae cutis uncta iuventus) shows 
that the word here goes with sponsi, 

Aldnoi inventns : cp. Hom. Od. viii. 248 — 9 aUX 3* rfplv Sals 
Tt tt>CKrf Kidapis re x^^P^ ^* etpiaTd t i^rffioi.^ Xo€Tpd re Bepfid /ccU 
wvai. 

29*. In cnte cnranda : so in Sat. 11. 5, i*j pelliculam curare 
is used of living at ease : cp. Ep. i. 4, 15;. Juv. xi. 203 nostra 
bibat vemum contracta cuticula solem, 

operata * busied ', an oxymoron. 

80. pnlclimm=«caX(^i', honestum, 'glorious'» 

31. ceBgatnm dncere cnram. This is a testing passage for 
the value of the so-called * V-princip*, i.e. the paramount im- 
portance of the Blandinian MSS. and the other MSS. which supply 
a Mavortian reading. While other MSS. give curam^ this class 
has somnum, ' Now this difference cannot be due to an error of 
transcription on either side: it must point to a distirict recension. 
"Which represents the more genuine tradition ? If we accept 
somnum, this necessitates a correction of cessatum, We can 
understand 'to prevail on care to cease* (cessatum being then 
a supine)f hvX.cessatum somnum^ h meaningless: Bentley sug- 



I02 HORATI EPISTULAE, 

gests ctssanlem : ' to bring on the sleep that Ss slow to come \ 
But why is sleep represented as * slow to oome ' ? Acron'8 
note on ad strepitum * quia adhibemus sonitum citharac ac lyrae, 
ut facilius sopiamur' is a clear proof that he read somnum. Cp. 
Carm. III. i, 20 nm avium citharaeque cantus somnum reducent, 
It is a strong argument too that we need the mention of some 
act, which is blameworthy, whereas to relieve one's cares by 
song can hardly be so considered (cp. Carm. iv. 11, 35). 
Besides, the transition is then more abrupt to what foUows, 
which is an appeal against undue indulgence in sleep. Hence 
there is much probability in Munro's recreatum ducere somnum 
(Journal of Philology ix. 217) * to bring on (or to lengthen) re- 
newed sleep *. He defends this reading against the charge of 
tautolc^ after V. 30 by pointing out that dormire is properly * to 
keep one's bed *. The argument that euram is very awkward 
after curanda^ used in a different sense, appears to me to point 
rather to its being the genuine reading; as this awkwardness 
would be more likely to strike a eritic, and to suggest an attempt 
at emendation, than to be introduced gratuitously. Cp. note on 
Ep. I. 7, 96. With Munro I have printed the current reading, 
but with much doubt. 

82 — 43. Jf men will not practise self^enicU to preserve their 
healthy bodily and menialj they will suffer for it. But they care 
less for the lcUter than for tke former, and are always postponing 
the effort to live aright, 

82. homliiem, unqnestionably to be preferred to homina^ 
not only because of the MS. evidence in its favour, but because 
hominem occidere was the usual phrase ft)C * to commit murder ' : 
cp. Ovid. Amor. iii. 8, 21 — iforsitan et quotiens kominemiugulc^ 
veritf ille indicet: hocfassas tan^s, avare^ manus^ Cp^ £p. I. 
16, 48. 

de nocte * ere night is gone *: cp. Ter. Adelph. 840 rus crcu 
cumfilio cum primo luci ibd hinc, Ve nocte censeo. 

latrones ' bandits '. 

88. e]q[>ergl8cerl8, in the first place literally, but not without 
a more general reference: * won't you wake up?' For the tense 
cp. Roby § 1461, S. G. § 597. 

atqul : the vet. Bland. here agrees with the inferior MSS. 
in reading atque^ a veiy common corruption : cp. Fleckeisen, 
Krit. Misc. p. 35. 

84. neles sc currere : the authority for nolis is very slight. 
The connexion of thought is misscd by Orelli : Horace does not 
imply that men never omit proper bodily exercise, because they 
know that they wiU become diseased if they do : but says that 



Bk. I. Ep. II.] NOTES. los 

if they n^Iect it in health, they wiU be forced to take to it as a 
remedy: and in the same way, if men prefer indolent ease to 
the study of philosophy, they will lose iheir rest from the dis- 
quieting pain caused by jealousy or love. Porphyrio ri^htly ex- 
plains * si non propter philosophiam vigilaveris, propter mvidiam 
et amorem dormire non poteris.* curest though defended by 
Bentley, has no good MS. authority, a»d is quite needless. 
]iy<lropi<ni8, cp. Celsus iil ai hydropicus muUum ambulandum^ 
currendum aliquando esU 

85. poBoes Ubnnii, as Horace himself may have done, for in 
Sat. I, 6. i2%ad quartam iacco refers only to hjs reclining on his 
Uctus lucukratoriuSt his * easy chair in his study* 33 we should say, 
as we lee firom the foUowing words lecto aut scripto quod me ta^i" 
tmm iuvet* 

86. studllB et rebuB lionestis, probably not a hendiadysc 
but studiis=i' $tudies' as jn Ep, ij, ?. S2, gatu i. ip. ai. The 
case is dative, not ablative* 

87. Nam ♦ why 1 ' a partide expresang surprise or indi^ation. 
Cp. Plaut. Aul. 43 nam cur me verberas, Ter. Andr. 6ia nam 
quid dicam patrif So in Greek rl yhp KaKOv iToiijffep ; (Luke xxiii. 
21). In such cases the force is the same as that of Ihe interroga- 
tive with nam Buffixed, and some MSS. here have cumam, 

33# oculmn, not, as Bentley supposed, supported by the bett 
MSS. but stiU to be preferre4 to oculos as the neater expression. 

fe8tinas...durer8, the omission of the copula is usual in the 
case of two contrasted qucstiops. 

89. est anlmnm: cp. Hom. n. vi. 201 BcXXe/w^tfwTJ... 
oKaro Sv dvfdv Kari^iav, translated bv Cic. Tusc. III. 26, 63 
i/sesuum coredens: Aesch. Ag. J03 rrjv evfiopopov 4ifiiyq,\^riv, 

40. dlinldliim...lial)et. There is a Greek proverb, of un- 
certain origin dpx^ ^ «'©* '/Ifuav vavr^s : cp. Soph. Frag. 715 fpygv 
$i vavTos rjv rij dpxvrai icaX<5s, koX rds TfXewdf eUbs M oGrws 
ixciv, our own * weU bcgun i« half done*. 

andA *have courage' : Verg. Aen. VIII. 364 Aude, hospes, 
contemnere epes, Ep. ii. a. 148. 

42. Tastlims exspectat 'is like the clown waiting' t deflnat 
Roby § 1664, S. G. § $92. \defiuit preferred by Hand, Turs. 
II. 341 is found in none of Keller*s MSS. and could hardly 5t%nd.] 
This seems to be a reference to a fable of a rustic waiting by the 
banks of a river until all the water had run by: but as no trace 
of sooh a fable has been discovered elsewhere, it may be only in- 
vented by Horace for this passage* Whether Juvenal's rusticus 



I04 HORATI EPISTULAE. 

expecias (xilr. 25) is a reminiscence of this seems to be doubtful: 
cp. Mayor ad loc* 

43. In omne YOlablUs aevun, like Tennyson's brook * But I 
go on for ever*. The rapid rhythm seems to be intentionali/ 
significant. 

44 — 54. Men aim at securing the good things oflife^ hut no 
ivorldly possessions can give hecUth of body or of mind, and thae 
are both neededfor enjoyment, 

44. argentxixn 'money' as in Sat. I. i, 86, li. 6, 10; Ep. i. 
18, 23, a meaning common in Plautus (e.g. Trin. 418 nequaquam 
argenti rcUio comparet tamen)y Juvenal and late prose, but not 
found in good prose. A more, common meaning is that of 
* silver-plate ', as in Ep. I. 6, 17; 16, 76; Sat l. 4, 2S; Carm. 
IV. II, 6. 

beata * rich*, Catm. 1. 4, 14* ili. 7, 3 ; Sat. Ii. 8, i, as oXjSio? 
is used for ir\o{j<nos in Homer. pueris creandiB * to bear chil- 
dren'. We are told by Gellius (iv. 3) that Sp. Carvilius divorced 
a wife to whom he was warmly attached, because she bore him 
no children, regarding this as a religious duty quod iurare acenso- 
ribus coactus erat, uxorem se liberum quaerundum gratia hcdn» 
turum: cp. Plaut. Aul. 145 quod tibi sempiternum salutare sit^ 
libtris procreandis...volo te uxorem domum ducere, Suet. lul. 52 
says that Caesar contemplated the proposal of a law ut uxores 
liberorum quaerendorum causa quas et quot vellet dticere licerett 
From the language of August. de Civ. D. xiv. 1 8 this seems to have 
been used as the legal phrase in marriage contracts. There is of 
course an intentional irony in the use of beata in this connexion, 
as if a rich wife were needed to bear ofifspring. 

45. pacantnr * are brought into subjection* like barbarous 
lands, subdued by the Roman arms i cp. Ov. Ep. Pont. i. 2, 109 
pacatius arvum, We might speak of the *struggle' of the 
pioneers of civilization with the forests of the backwoods. So 
Herod. I. 126 roy x<^/>oy i^rjfjLepCyrcu, 

46. contlngit, pres. as in Ep. i. 4, 10, from the continuous 
result produced : a misunderstanding of this force has led to the 
reading contigit is in the Bland. vet., inserted however per 
lituram: for qualifications of the statement sometimes made 
that contingit is only used of good things cp. Cic. in Cat. i. 7, 16 
(note), or Mavor on Cic. Phil. IL § 7. optet, jussive. Roby 
§1596, S.G. §668. 

48. dednxit, the perfect of repeated actions ; in prindpal 
sentences only employed in Augustan poets and later writers : 
Roby § 1479, S.G. § 608, 2 (</). 



Bk. I. Ep. 11.] NOTES. los 

50. cogltat * means', often so used by Cicero in his speeches, 
as well as in lighter prose and verse. 

61. 8lc: i.e. no more than. 

62. tabnla being properly a planlc, sometimes has picta 
added, when it is used in the sense of 'picture', as in Plaut. 
Men. 144 tabulam pictam in pariete, Ter. £un. 584, bat more 
commonly the epithet is omitted. 

fomenta : evidently the parallelism with paintings and music 
re(}uires that this should denote something which is a source of 
enjoymentto the healthy, but not to the diseased. Hence any 
reference to medicinal applications, such as is assumed by 
Macleane, for instance, is quite out of place. Diintzer has shown 
by a quotation from Seneca (de Provid. IV. 9 Qtum specularia 
setnperab qfflaiu vindicarunt, cuius pedes inter fomenta subinde 
mutata tepuerunt^ cuius cenationes subditus et parietibus circum^ 
fusus calor temperavit^ hunc levis aura non sine periculo stringei) 
that warm wrappings for the feet, analogous to our foot-muffs, 
were regarded asa luxury : but a man suffering from the gout in 
his feet would get little pleasure from them. Bexi.i\ey*%podagrum 
for podagram has but slight authority, and the change from the 
sufferer to the disease is pleasing rather than otherwise. 

64. sinceniin in the primary sense of the word *clean' [the 
derivation given in Lewis and Short is not quite exact : cp. 
Corssen i*. 376]. The connexlon of the thought seems to be: 
an unhealthy body or mind spoils everything, just as a foul 
vessel turns any contents sour. Then Horace goes on to wain 
Lollius ^ainst various diseases of the mind. 

66—71. Pleasure is not worth the pain it brings: greed is 
never^ satisfied: envy is the worst of torments: anger is short-lived 
madnesSf and isfollowed by regret; it must be mastered^ and that 
when one isyoungy and the task is easy^ and the gain enduring, 

66. ▼oto dat. cp. Sat. I. i, 92, io6« 

67. alterlns never even in iambic verse has the I (cp. Plaut. 
Capt. 303), but this occurs once (in cretics) in Ter. Andr. 6a^, 
and in Enn. Sat. vi. p. 158 Vahl. Cp. RitscWs Opusc. Ii. 694 
and Cic. de Orat. iil. 47, 183, which shows that Ulius was a 
dactyl in the ordinary pronunciation of his own time, 

68. Sicnli tyranni, proverbially cruel, especially Phalaris of 
Agrigentum, the Dionysii and Agathocles at Syracuse. Cp. Cic. 
in Verr. v. 56 145 tulit illa quondam insula (Sicilia) multos et 
crudeles tyrannos, Juv. vi. 486 Sicula non mitior aula, 

69. irae: moderor in classical Latin with tsX^^curb^ with 
zcz, ^ovcmt direct. 



io6 HORATI EFISTULAM. 

60.^ Snfeetum TcOfit mm : Menand. p«^94,7 <^o»(f U afiyil;6' 
fievos dfdpcjiros xoiet, rav$' varepw \dfim om rnMpriinipfU doior 
'indignation', the sting of a wrong suffered, as often* 
like OvpLot *wrath': Carm. i. i6, '22; Verg. Aen. ii. 519. 

61. odlp ioiiUto, dativey *for his unslaked thirst for ven- 
geauce', 

festlnat 'is eager to exact^ qs. Carm. Ii. 7, %/^ depropirmri 
...coronas^ lli. «4, 61 ptcuniamfropcr^t: Verg. Aeu. iv, ^75- 

62. Blsi paret, imperat : ' aut servus est aut dominus : nihil 
enim est tertinm*, Bentl. Cp. Plaut. Trin. 310 tu si animum 
vicisH potius quam animus te, est quod gaudeas, 

68. tn : Carm. i. 9, 16. compesce, a word of Teiydoubtfal 
origin: either (i) from eon and pasco (Roby I. 253), or (2) from 
compesy or (3) for com-perC'SCO, from xooi parc to fasten, Corssen l'* 
608, ii. 283, 411« 

6^ tenera cervioe, descriptivc abUtive: Roby § 1232, 
S. G. S 50«. 

60. Ire yiam qna : qua has the support of onljr a few MSS. 
and those not the best : but it is rightly preferwd by most recent 
editors since Bentley, as the reading most Ukely to have been 
corrupted : cp. Verg. Aen, I. 418 corripuere viam inUrea, gu^ 
semita monstrat ; Georg, in, *i*i primus et ir(viam\ Liv. XX^ii, 
1 1 pedites (iubet), qua aux monstraret viam irc In«the last pas* 
sage there is the same doubt as here, whether viam is govemed 
by ire or monstrat^ in Livy the latter seems the more probable, 
but here the rhythm, and the parallels from Vergil point to the 
former. monstret has far more authority than the old reading 
monstrai, 

Yenaticn8...catnln8 : the position of eatulus may perhaps bo 
explained by taking ven,ss^\i meant for hunting', rather than as 
a simple epithet. But the form of the sentence is somewhat 
awkward. Wc should have expected rather: 'the hound is 
trained to bark at the stuffed stag s hide in the yard, before it be^ 
gins its service in the woods'. latravlt with acc, also in Epod. 
5. 58. anla *court-yard* as in Homer often (e.c. II. iv. 433)» 
lor the usual Latin cohors or cors (cp. de Orat. n» 05, 263, note), 
not as in £p. i. i, 87. 

67, adl^HMy as we have elsewhere (Carm. 11. 13, Z7)pugnas 
,..biHt aure vulgus. Propert. iii. 6, 8 incipe, suspensis aurHms 
ista bibam and the likc There is no need to doiive the moU* 
phor from dyeing. 

68. meiioribns masc. cp. £p. i. i, 48. 



BL I. Ep. IIJ.] NOTES. 107 

69. Isilmta, not ' saturated ' but 'tinged' for the first time : 
cp. Cic. de Orat. ii. 39, 1^1 (note). Quint. i. i, 5 natura tena- 
cissimi sumus eorum, quae rudibus annis ^ercepimus, ut sapor^ 
quo nova imbuaSf durat. 

70. quodsl oessas, etc. Horace seems to be here expressing 
his real sentiments in favour of moderation, but in a humorous 
half-serious fashion. * I have said my say : if you lag behind 
in the race, or are fired with an enthusiasm, which carries you on 
ahead of all others, in neither case can you expect my company ; 
I go on the even tenor of my way, waiting for no one, and tread- 
ing on no one's heels.' The happy tum thus given to the con- 
clusion will not escape the notice of any one, who is not con- 
tented with the explanation that Horace *gets rather prosy 
sometimes, and thinks it is time to stop '. aatels : Carm. I. 35, 
17, disyllabicprobablyby elision rather than synaeresis : Kennedy 
P. S. G. p. 514, *ita semper poetae Ausonio priores.' X- Miiller. 
Ind, 

EPISTLK ni. 

The date of this Epistle is clearly fixed by line i, to B.C, ao. 
Julius Florus, to whom it is addressed, was one of the comites of 
Tiberius Claudius in his mission to the East, when he was 
sent by Augustus to place Tigranes on the throne of Armenia 
in the room of Artaxias, who had been murdered by his 
own subjects (Merivale IV. 175, last ed.). According to Por- 
phyrio, Florus wrote satires, * among them some selected from 
Ennius, Lucilius and Varro ', by which is meant doubtless that he 
re-wrote some of the poems of tHese earlier authors, adopting 
them to the taste of his own day, much as Pope and Drydcn 
re-wrote Chaucer^s tales. The secxnid Epistle of Book ii. is also 
addressed to him.— This epistle gives us a pleasant conception of 
the literary tastes of the young nobles whom Tiberius had 
gathered round him in his suite (cp. Ep. ix. 4), and a charming 
picture of the relations of Horace, now in his 45th year, with the 
younger aspirants to poetic fame» in its tooe of kindly ad- 
monition. 



I want news qf Tiberius, Are you in Thrace^ at the 
Hellesponty or cUready in Asia ? 

■ 1. qullms terramm otls, like Verg. Aen. i. 3^1 quibus orbis 
in ori$ with thc notion of * on what distant shores . milltet 'is 
serving' i.e. is with his army. Tiberius was accompanied on 
this expedition by a considerable force to secure respect, but 
fought no battles. 

$. prlvlg]»» 'step-son': Tiberius ym not adopted by 



io8 HORATI EPISTULAE. 

Augiistus tintil A.D. 3, after the death of hi« grand-children 
Gaius and Lucius Caesar, the sons of Julia. 

lalK>ro, stronger than cupio: Sat. IL 8, 19 nosse laboro. 

S. Thraoa, a poetical form (=ep^) used also Ep. 1. 15, 13 
and by Verg. Aen. xii. 335. Ribbeck and Kennedy there read 
Thraecat and Keller here with one MS. has Threca : the latter 
cannot well be right. Cp. Fleckeisen Fiinfzig Artikel^ p. 30. 
Servius on Verg. l. c. sajrs that Cicero used Thracam in the de 
Rep., but the MS. (Ii. 4, 9) has the later form Thraciam: cp. 
Lachmann on Lucr. v. 30, Ellis on CatuUus, i v, 8. In the Odes 
(11. 16, 5, III. 25, 1 1) Horace according to his custom uses the 
Greek form ThrcLce^ so does Ovid, Fast. v. 357, Pont, iv. 5, 5. 

Hebnui, proverbially cold: Carm. i. a5, «o; Ep. I. 16, 13. 
Dr Schmitz in Dict. Geogr. says it is still sometimes frozen over, 
The snow often lies thick on the Balkans in winter, but I can find 
no other modem authority for the freezing of the Hebrus iny 
more than the Danube, which was firozen in the days of Ovid^s 
banishment (Trist. Iii. 10, 31 — a). 

4. freta,the Hellespont: cnrrentla; in consequence of the 
large rivers which flow into the Euxine, there is always a strong 
current outwards in the Hellespont Cf. Lucret. v. 507, where 
Munro quotes Shakspere's Othello ill. 3, Uike to the Pontic sea^ 
whose icy current and compulsive course neW feds retiring ebb^ 
but keep due on to the Propontic and the Hellespont^ tnrres of 
Sestos and Abydos. The tower of Hero at Sestos is often 
mentioned, and Strabo XIII. 22, speaks of rr^^pyov rtyd Kar* 
ianiKpb r^s Si7<rrov, (in Lucan IX. 955 Heroas lacrimoso litore 
turrest the plural seems to be merely a poetical variation), but 
we need not seek for authority for so natural a phrase. Bentley 
adopts terras from the Bland. vet. : this seems to be one of the 
numerous instances in which that MS. bears the mark of an 
ingenious critical recension, rather than a genuine tradition. 
Cp. Introd. 

6 — 20. Tell me ioo whai is being written fyyou. Who is 
attempting historyi Is Titius still writing Odes, or trying his 
hand at tragedy? Does Celsus remember the wamings he has 
receivedto be more original in his poetry f 

«. cohors 'suite*. Mommsen (Hermes rv. 110 ff.) writes 
* comites are the attendants selected by the Emperor for a parti- 
cular journey, amici the persons admitted by the Emperor at 
a reception, especially his more intimate acquaintances. Thus 
every comes is an amicus^ but by no means every amicus also 
a comes. — Cohors amicorum—comites expeditionis cuiusdam. — The 
political suite of the Emperor on a joumey are generally described 



Bk. L Ep. III.] NOTES. 109 

as comites: on the other hand cahors amkorum is more com- 
monly used of those who accompany princes and govemors.* 
Cp. also Rom, Staatsrecht ii'' 806-7. — ^Join <l^* operum * what 
sort of works ' ; quac scripta componit SchoL CUTO = scire laboro. 

7. nunlt : * chooses *, as in A. P. 38 : the infinitive is comple- 
mentary, cp. Carm. I. 12, i quem virum.,.sumis celebrare with 
Wickham's Append. ii. i, Roby § 1362, S. G. § 540. 

8. paces, * times of peace'. Others interpret 'deeds in time 
of peace ', a meaning which is not sufficiently supported by 
£p. II. I, 102. 

9. Tltius may possibly have been a son of M. Titius, the 
consul suffectus in the year of the battle at Actium, where 
he held a high command. The account given by the scholiasts 
does not add much to our knowledge : Acron says that he tried 
to transfer the profound thought and eloquence of Pindar into 
Latin, and wrote tragedies and lyrics, of little value : Porphjnrion 
adds that he was very leamed. AU this may well be derived 
from the text. The Comm. Cruq. says that his name was Titius 
Septimius, and that there was a remarkable monument to him 
below Aricia : the first part of this statement cannot be right, for 
we have no instance as early as this of the combination of two 
gentile names, like Titius and Septimius. Cp. note on £p. i. 
9, I. Horace does not appear to be *deriding* him, but com- 
bines with the expression 6f his belief that Rome * would hear of 
lum beforelong*, a gentle waming against too high-flown a style. 

YentiiraB in ora : cp. Prop. iv. 9, 32 venies tu quoque in ora 
virum; Verg. G. ni. 9 victorque virum volitare per ora, bor- 
rowed doubtless from tne phrase in the epitaph written by Ennius 
for himself volito vivus per ora virum (Cic. Tusc. I. 15, 34). It 
is quite perverse to assume that the phrase has a bad meaning 
here, as in Catull. XL. 5. 

10. ezpallult liaustus, Roby § 1123, S. G. § 469. Cp. 
Carm. Iii. 27, 28; i. 37, 23; 11. 10, 3 &c. 

11. apertos, accessible to all, a metaphorical expression for 
the easier styles of poetry. The contrast is between the fresh 
natural springs of Pindar's poetry, and the artificial tanks {lacus^ 
Sat. I, 4, 37) and streamlets {fivos^ cp. Munro in Joura. Phil. IX. 
ai3) from which all could without trouble draw. ¥ or fons 
opposed to riTJus cp. Cic. de Orat. ii. 39, 162; Acad. I. 2, 8, 
ut ea afontibus potius hauriant quam rivulos consecteniur, 

12. nt : Sat. 11. 8, i. 

13. Thebanos, i. e. of Pindar « the Theban eagle '. ansplce : 
Carm. I. 7, 27. The auspex is primarily the official who declares 



iio HORATI EPTSTULAE. 

the will of heavcn with regard to A contemplated net, i. e. tbe 
auguri unless the passage from the Odes is an exception, it 
is never used of the man under whose auspices anjrthing is done 
(cp. Bentley ad lac,)f but of the deity who sends favourable signs: 
Verg. Aen. iil. 20, vi. 45, Ov. Fast i. 615. In the case of 
the nuptiarum auspices (Cic. de Div. i. 16, 28, cp. Marquardt 
Rom. Alt. V. 45 — o, Mayor on Juv. X. 336) we have the mean- 
ing of * director,' * SUperintendent ', derived from the primary 
sense. 

14. dMaevlt 'does he WOrk his rage out* Roby § 19 19, S. G. 
§ 813 {d). 

amptiilatiir, *dash On his colours,' a metaphor derived not, 
I think, from the shape of the ampulla^ but from its use to hold 
pigments : cp. Cic. ad Att. i. 14, 3 nosti illas Xvikv&ous *you know 
how I put the paint on there'; cp. Plin. Ep. i. 2, 4: so \7jKudt' 
fctj' in later Greek. Callimachus called tragedy Xrfiaideios Moi/a-a 
(Frag. 319). There is no connexion whatever (as Orelli sup- 
poses) with the gibe in Arist. Ran. i«o8 sq. on \7jKvdiov airijih 
Xc<rev, which tums solely on the rhythm. The more usual inter- 
pretation, however, of ampullari is * to swell ', assuming that 
the reference is to the round belly of the ampulla: cp. A. P. 97. 

15. mihl, Roby § 1150, S. G. § 473. Cp. Abbott's Grammar 
of Shakspere § 320. Morris's Historical Outlines § 147. 

Celsns, probably the same as Celsus Albinovanus, to whom 
Ep. Vlll. of this book is addressed. 

16. prlyatas opes * stores of his own ', avoiding too close 
an imitation of the classic writers who had already found their 
place in the public library. Here too Horace is only giviiig a 
kindly waming, and is not, as some have supposed, gravely 
6ensuring Celsus for plagiarism. 

17. Palatinus ▲pollo. In b. c. 28 Augustus had built a temple 
on the Palatine to Apollo in commemoration of his victory at 
Actium (Dio Cass. LIII. i) : and addidit porticus cum bibluh 
thecc^ Latina Graecaque (Suet. Aug. 29.) This buiMing was 
close behind the palace of Augustus, so that when the emperor 
was in ill-health, the senate was summoned to assemble there 
(Suet. I. c. Cp. Boissier Promtnades ArcfUologiques p. 70). 
Mr Bum (Rome, p. 175) says *the cloisters which surrounded 
the temple united it with the famous Greek and Latin library ' : 
but it seems rather that the porticus contained the libraries, 
and not a distinct building, of which there is no trace. It is 
plain, too, from inscriptions in which they are mentioned se- 
parately, that the Greek artd the Latin Libraries were quite 
distinct, e.g.in the famous columbarium discovered in 1852 



Bk. I. Ep. III.] JVOTES. III 

(Wllittaiitis Ex» Inscr. Lat pp. 115 ff.) we find tW6 sons de- 
scribed as both a bybliothece Latina Apoilinis (WUinannft No. 
389)) anothcr as ab bybliotheee Graeca Umpli ApolUnis (ib. 
401); and we fiad mention also of a Ti* Clatidius Aleibiades 
tnag, a bybliotheca Latina ApolHnis item scriba ab epistuHs Lat* 
in No» 'it^, The splendid colomns, doors aad statues of the 
*aurea porticus* are desciibed by Propert. Iil. 39. For the 
busts of authors which adomed it cp. Tac. Ann. Ii. 83. 

rwMpit * has taken under his charge '| so that they may not 
be tottcbed with impimity. 

19. oomicala. Horace departs from the familiar Aesopian 
fable (Babr. 73, Phaedr. l. 3) in two ways, by substituting a crow 
for z.gracidus * jackdaw *, or possibly * jay *, and by representing 
the feathers as dropped by various birds, each one of whom 
comes to reclaim his own. Strictly speaking, corvus is the 
generic name, incltiding^ all the various species from the raven 
\c0rvus eorajp) and the carrion crow {corvus corone) down to the 
jackdaw {corvus monedula), while camix is the rook, or fin 
modem zoology) the hooded crow (corvus comix), But the 
Words are often used loosely (cp. Keightley Nbtes on Vergil, Exc. 
VI.), and perhaps Horace means by comicula (which is only nsed 
here) the jackdaw. Graculus Aesopi was proverbial (Tert adv. 
Val. 12) ; and Lucian Apol. 4 says ct X^kyoih <re rhv KoKoihv 
aKXoTpiois TTipois dyoXKeaOM, The comparison and the maln 
tbou^t are blended into one, as in Ep. i. t, a ; 2, 43 : we may 
tfa&^c lit^rally, or ' lest he be like a jackdaw, raising a lai^h , 

20. colorlbii8 ' plumis variorum colorum * SchoL 

2U>— 29. Whatareyou attempting yoursetff You have ahiltty 
enough to Tvin distinction in either oreUory^ knu or poetryy ifyou 
would put aside lowor ainis^ and remember your duty to your 
€<mntry, 

an. agflltf to OrelK appears to convey the notion of ver- 
tetility : I think it is simply studio indrfesso, as Ritter says. 
tliyina : as Horace eompares himself to a bee, gathering honejr 
from the blossoms of the thyme (Carm. iv. 3, 47), for saports 
praecipui tnella reddit thymus (Colum. IX. 4, 6). So Sophocles 
was caIled'AT^ij fUXiooa: cp. too Plato lon 534 A \4yov<n...yap 
irfM 'flfjLOs ol voirfToi, ori dwd Kprjvuv fi€\tpp&r(aVf iK "HLovoQv kiJxcjv 
rwCsv KoX vatrQv dpeirdfjievoi rafiikrf iffuv (pepovatv (Sovep al fiiktrrai 
ical avToi ovrta verSfievoL, 

S2. Itlrtnxn * rough ' as the result of neglect, the metaphor 
being derived from land overgrown with weeds : we should say 
rath^ * unpolished '• The epithet hirtus appUed by Velleias (11. 



IJ2 HORATJ EPISTULAE. 

1 1) to C. Maritis is tbe equivalent of incultis moribus in Sall. Jug. 
B5, 59 : hence as Bentley saw, et, not nec, is the right reading. 
It has also far better authority. In good prose an adverb of 
quality, as distinguished from one of degree, is not used with an 
^djective, as here, and in A. P. 3 turpiter cUrum^ Carm. iii. 11, 35 
splendidc mendax. Cp. Kiihner li. p. 597. Nagelsbach StU« 
p. «39- 

23. aculs, a metaphor derived from sharpening^a weapon, 
Cic. Brut. 97, 331 tH illuc (in forum) veneras unus, qui non 
linguam modo acuisses exercitatione dicendi &c.; de Orat. III. 30, 
121 non enim solum acuenda nobis neque procudenda lingua est, 
So ^^€11' ^XwraoM, The reference is to the practice of declam^- 
tion £p. 1. 1, a. 

dyica lura reBpondere : the phrase in prose is ius civile rc' 
spondere (Plin. Ep. vi. 15), cp. de Orat. i. 45, 198. For 
respondere with an acc *to put forward in a reply,* disputare *to 
put forward in discussion,* cp. Reid on Cic. Acad. ll. 29, 93. 
civicus is a poetical form for civilis (cp. Carm. II. i, i, III. 24, »6), 
like hosticus (Carm. iii. 2, 6) for hostilis; it is not used by Cicero, 
except in the technical phrase civica corona (pro Pianc 30, 72; 
in Pis. 3, 6). 

24. amablle 'charming*, with no direct reference to amatoiy 
poetry, though doubtless including this. 

26. hederae, the victor's wreath is made of ivy, because that 
plant is sacred to Bacchus, by whom poets are inspired. Cp. 
Carm. I. i, 29 doctarum hederae praemiafrontium, Verg. Ecl, 
VII. 25. Prop. V. I, 61 Ennius hirsuta cingat sua dicta corona: 
mi folia ex hedera porrige, Bacche^ tua. Pindar calls Bacchus 
KiaaodiTav debv (Frag. 45, 9), and Kur<ro<p6poy Ol. II. 50. 

26. frlglda cnTamm fomenta. There are two chief diffi- 
culties here, the force of frigida^ and the case of curarum. 
Fomenta being medical applications, are they intended to relieve 
the curae^ or do they consist in the curaei Is the genitive one 
of the object (Roby § 1312, S. G. § 525), or of material (Roby 
§ 1304, S. G. § 523)? It seems to me that the curae^ the pur- 
suit of petty ambition and the love of money, are what Horacjft 
wishes Celsus to abandon, as hindering him in attaining the 
blessings which philosophy (sapientia) alone can giye. In that 
case, the fomenta must consist in the curae, Frigida will then 
have its full natural meaning as * chilling ', the cares are repre- 
sented as chilling appliances which kill all generous warmth of 
spirit. No difficulty arises from the fact that fomenfa primarily 
meant warm applications, for the word had acquired a more 
general meaning, so that the medical writer Comelius Celsus 
can speak of both warm and cold, both diy and ^^tfommta* > 



Bk. I. Ep. III.] NOTES. 113 

Suetonius (Aug. 81) s^ys that Angustus quia calida fotnenta non 
proderant^frigidis curari coactus auctore Antonio Musa. The same 
cold-water bandages which would reduce inflammation might 
naturally be regarded as chilling a healthy glow. If curarum 
is the objective genitive, we must give to fomenta the meaning 
of *remedies*, (as in Cic. Tusc. 11. 24, 59 haec sunt solcu:ia<, 
haec fomenta summorum dolorum: cp. Epod. xi. 17 ingratafo- 
nun4a vulnusnil malum levaniia), and translate^;^'</<2 *feeble', 
•powerless ', as in Ov. Pont iv. 2, 45 quid nisi Pierides, solacia 
frigida, restat? But this leaves it too obscure what is meant 
by *the unavailing remedies against cares' which Florus is to 
abandon. Orelli's way of taking curarum as a genitive of origin, 
fomenta arising from cares, leaves the origin and application of 
the term fomenta quite unexplained. The dictionaries based on 
Freund translate * nourishment *, i.e. all that feeds your cares, 
an unexampled meaning, though supported slightly by the use 
of the word for *fuel' according to Serv. on Verg. Aen. i. 176. 
Macleane szys fomenta are here glory and such like rewards, 
which I do not understand. 

27. caelestis, which elevates one above such low earthly 
cares. Irea. Roby § 1530 (^), S. G. § 638. 

28. opiui, the task assigned {fpyov), stndlixm the chosen 
pursuit [irpoalpeffis). So Ritter : OrelU's practical and theoretical 
pursuit of wisdom is less probable. parvl et ampli, small and 
great alike can devote themselves to wisdom. prppei^eniiis, £p. 
I. 2, 61. 

29. nobis cari, cp. £p. i. 18, ioi« carus Is not so much 
•beloved ', as * highly esteemed *. 

30 — 36. Zet me know if you are on good terms now with 
Munatius. You ought to be friends, and I shall be glad to see 
you both safe back again» 

30. 8it has much more authority than si: Bentley has shewn 
that either would stand by itself (cp. Ep. i. 7, 39; Roby § 1755, 
S. G. § 747); but sit requires a full stop after Munatius, anda 
note of interrogation at the end of the sentence beginning an 
malCf so that this may be a direct question, With Bentley's 
cst, which has no authority, I do not see how to account for 
conveniat. Macleane's full-stop at rescinditur is positively bad 
grammar ; if si can be used where we might have expected an 
with the subjunctive, yet there is no instance in which this is 
followed by an. 

81. male sarta gratia, a metaphor from the sewing up of a 
wound, which, if it does not heal, will break open again : sarcire 
is the technical term for surgical sewing, as in Cels. vii. 8 : coire 
for joining so asto heal up, Cels. viii. 10 ; potest ea ratione et 

W. H. 8 



1 14 HORA TI EFISTULAE. 

os coire et volnus sanescere: cp. Ov. Trist. IV. 4, 41 Neve retrac- 
tando nondum coeuntia rumpam Tmlnera, 

82.^ refidnditiir, Petron. 113 credo veriiusy ne inter intiia 
coeuntis gratiae cicairicem rescinderet. Cic Lael. «i, 76 amicitiae 
sunt dissuendae magis quam discindendae, ac, much better than 
fl/, which Orelli reads, putting ? at rescinditur. The translation 
is ' You must write me word of this too, whether you make as 
much of Munatius as you should. Or does your mutual regard, 
like an ill-sewn wound, join to no purpose, and break open 
again, and does some cause — ^be it your hot blood, or your 
ignorance of the world— chafe you, wild as you are with your 
untamed necks? ' This, one woiild think, is sufficiently * regular 
and natural \ 

83. reniin lnscltla is ' ignorance of the world ' in general, 
rather than * misunderstanding of the facts ' in any particular 
instance, as Orelii takes it. Cp. de Orat. I. 22, 99 (note); 
Caes. B. G. .1. 44 non se tam imperitum esse rerum ut non 
sciret. Nagelsbach Stil. p. 59. 

85. IniUgiil— mmpere. Cp. A. P. 231, Roby § 1361, S. G. 
540 (9) * 'twere shame to break the ties, which made you once 
swom brethren^ind allies' Conington. 

86. ln ▼estmm reditum, evidently, from your Eastem cam- 
paign, cp. Carm. i. 36. Some absurdly take it of their recon- 
ciliation ' reditum in gratiam '. 

EPISTLE IV. 

Albius Tibullus the poet was tea or twelve years younger 
than Horace; he died shortly after Vergil (b.c. 19) when still 
iuvenis (Epi^. Bom. Mars. in Baehr^ns* Tibullus p. 88), a 
term which is just, but only just, reconcileable with the sup- 
position (Crattwell Rom. Lit. p. 299) that lie was bom about 
the same time as Horace (b.c. 65), but which points more 
naturally to a later date, indicated still more plamly by the 
obiit adolescens of the life in Baehrens, l.c. Ovid (Trist. ii. 463) 
tells us that he was known as a poet only after Augustus became 
princepSy i.e. after B.C. a8. His ancestral estate at Pedum 
(between Tibur and Praeneste in Latium) had been reduced 
from what it once had been (cp. El. i. i, ip — 20), perhaps in 
consequence of the confiscations of B.c. 42, though 01 this there 
is no positive evidence. He speaks of himself as poor, an ex- 
pression which, in view of line 7 of this epistle, may be ex- 
plained either by poetic modesty, or by tne hypothesis of a 
subsequent addition to his property by the favour of Messala, 
his patron, The tone of the two (genuine) extant books of bis 



BLLEp. IV.] NOTES. 115 

el^[ies confinns the impiession of liis character which we derive 
from the language of Horace. He appears as a gentle, tender, 
somewhat melancholy soul, marked more by genuineness of 
natural feeling than by learning or force of expression. Carm. 
I. 33 is also addressed to him. The date of the Epistle cannot 
be precisely determined: there is no reason to suppose that it 
immediately followed the publication of the Satires, none of 
which are probably later than B. c. 30, and the tone is not that 
which would be adopted in addressing a very young man. It 
may therefore be safely placed within the limits assigned to thc 
Epistles generally, B.c. 24 — 30. At the same time the absence 
of all reference to the odes points to a date not long, if at all, after 
their publication. Ritter ingeniously endeavours to fix the date 
to the beginning of B.a 20; he argues that Augustus read the 
Satires of Horace for the first time after his retum from A§ia 
in September B.c. 19, when he made his well-known complaint 
that the poet had made no mention of his intercourse with the 
emperor, that Ep. xiii. was a reply to this complaint, and that 
it was written in B.c. 18. But TibuUus could not have been a 
critic of his satires before they were published. There are too 
many weak links in this chain for us to trust to it. Another 
mdependent argument, that in the winter of B.c. 21 — 20 he 
went down to Velia or Salemum to get fat (Ep. i. 15, 24), and 
that here he is represented as having achieved his purpose 
(1. 15) does not carry complete conviction. 

1 — 16. Areyou wriiing anythingy Tibullus^ or quietly living 
a Tvise man^s ii/e? You have all the blessings that heart could 
wish, Live as if each day were to be your last; and come and 
see me, whenyou want amusement. 

1. ■ermoniim : 'Satires' : there is no reason to include any 
epistles here, although they seem to be included in Ep. 11. i, 256. 
candlde: 'fair^ not necessarily favourable, but unprejudiced; 
opposed to niger^ ^^ we find the word used in Sat. i. 4, 85. 

2. Pedana: the town of Pedum seems to have disappeared 
even in the time of Horace; it is not mentioned by Strabo 
and Pliny (iii. 69, 30) ranks the Pedani among the Latin peoples 
who inieriere sine vestigiis, 

8. Ca8si...opiiscii]a: 'Hic aliquot generibus stilum exercuit, 
inter quae opera elegiaca et epigrammata eius laudantur. Hic 
cst qm in partibus Cassi et Bruti tribunus militum cum Horatio 
militavit, quibus victis Athenis se contulit. Q. Varus ab Augusto 
missus, ut eum interficeret, studentem repperit, et perempto co 
scrinium cum libris tulit* Acron. Cp. Velleius li. 87 ultimus 
auiem ex interfectoribus Caesaris Parmensis Cassius morte poenas 
dedit^ ut dedercU primus Trebonius. This was after the battle of 

8—2 



ii6 HORATI EPISTULAE. 

Actium, although from Acron*s note it would appear that he did 
not understand it so, for Cassius served both with Sex. Pompeius 
and with Antonius against Augustus. The letter in Cic. Ep. 
Fam. XII. 13 is perhaps from this Cassius (Drumann 11. 161 — 163), 
but cp. Ramsayin Dict Biog. I. 627^. He is to be carefully 
distinguished from the Cassius Etruscus of Sat. I. iO| 6i| 
although the Scholiasts all confuse them. 

For opuscnla of literary works cp. Ep. I. 19, 35. It is used 
in the same way by Cic. Parad. 5. 

4. Inter reptare : many MSS. write these as one word. But 
MS. evidence on such a point is worth little, and the word is 
quite unknown elsewhere. Cp. Carm. iii. 15, 5; iii. 27, 51; 
Sat. l. 6, 58 — 59; Epist. 11. 2, 93 — 945 A. P. 425 ittternoscere. 

reptare 'stroir : the frequently asserted identity of repo and 
serpo is more than doubtftil: the meaning differs, serpo never 
being used of men, except metaphorically (A. P. 28), and repo 
often, and the phonetic process assumed is supported only by the 
doubtful parallel oirete (Curt. I. 330, 441). 

BalubrlB Ep. 11. 2, 77. TibuUus says of himself (iv. 13, 9 
Epigr. i. Baehrens, p. 84) sic ego secretis possum bene vivere 
si/vis, qua nulla humano sit via trita pede* 

6. eras : Many commentators take as =f(pvs: 'nascenti tibi 
non solum corpus sed etiam pectus eximium datum est.' Ritter, 
which is hardly a possible force for the tense. Others explain 
*semper quamdiu te cognovi*. It is simplest to say *you used 
not to be , when we were together, which certainly does not 
imply (as Macleane says) a doubt whether he is so still. Prof. 
Palmer adds "Prop. i. 13. 34: JVon alio limine dignus eras : 
eras^es but stronger, *you are not and never were'. I think 
the idiom is the same as in quanta laborabas Charybdi^ 

pectore, not, as Macleane says, for the' *intellect', but the 
*soul*, including of course the mental faculties, but denoting 
especially the emotional side. In his own quotation from 
Quintilian (x. 7, 15) pectus est quod disertos facit, et vis mentis, 
the context makes this quite clear: habenda in oculis^ in adfectus 
recipienda: pectus est enim etc.,..ideoque imperitis quoqtte^ si modo 
sunt aliquo adfectu concitcUi, verba non desunt, Cp. the famous 
sajring of Augustine ^ pectus facit theologum\ So in Ov. Met. 
XIII. 290 rudis et sine pectore miles *a rough and soulless soldier' : 
Her. XVI. 20^—2 huncine tu speres hominem sine pectore dotes 
posse satis formae, Tyndari, nosse tuae ? where it is a man with- 
out a soul for beauty. Often we may best translate *heart', 
e.g. de Orat. iii. 30, 121. There are however instances where 
the intellectual part seems the more prominent : e.g. Sat II. 4, 



Bk. I. Ep. IV.] NOTES. ny 

90; Ov. Met. XIII. 326, 369; Prop.iii.(lv) 5, 8 ilUparum cauti 
pectoris egit opus. 

7. ■ dederunt: Sat. 1. 10, 45 ; Corssen i*. 612 ; Neue Formm* 
Uhre^ II*. 392. Roby § 577, S. G. § 274. Here, as usually with 
this quantity (cp. Wagner on Verg. Georg. iv. 393), some MSS. 
have the pluperfect. 

8. quid voveat, &c. 'what greater boon could a nurse 
implore for her dear foster-child, if he could*, &c. The carlier 
editors made a muddle of this passage, by reading (with very 
slight authority) qtiam for qui^ supposing the expression of a 
comparison to be needed after maius: this involved the further 
change oiet cui into utque^ and the insertion of «/ after/arj, all 
quite gratuitous changes. The suppressed comparison is *than 
he abready enjoys, supposing that he*, &c. 

9. Bapere et fiarl * to think aright and to utter his thoughts '; 
cp. Pericles in Thuc. 11. 60 oiih^vh^ ^(ruv otofiai ehau, yvCovai re 
rd diovra Kal ipfirjveuffai, tadra. The aflfection of a foster-mother 
is proverbial : the wisdom of her prayers is doubted by Pereius 
II. 39, and Seneca Ep. 60 (quoted there by Casaubon). possit 
Roby § 1680, S. G. § 704. 

10. contingat £p. i. 2, 46. 

11. mnndus *decent* : Sat. il. 2, 65 mundus erit qui [qua?] 
non offendat sordibus: victns may be tenuis^ yet not sordidus (ib. v. 
53); cp. Ep. II. 2, 199. Carm. ii. 10, 5 ff. Com. Nep. Att. 13, 5 
omni diiigentia munditiam non affluentiam affectabat, Some MSS. 
have et modus et which is only a corruption of mOdus: but on 
tlie strength of this Bentley prints et domus et. cnunena: Juv. 
XI. 38 quis enim te dejiciente crumena et crescente gula manet 
exitus. 

12. inter...ira8 *in the midst of*, not felt by TibuUus 
himself especially, as some have supposed, but marking human 
life generally. Cp. note on Ep. i. o, 12. 

13. dilnzisse, etc. *that every day which breaks is your 
last*: dilucesco is less common than illucesco^ but cp. Cic. Cat. 
Iii. 3, 6 : the former describes the light as breaking through 
the clouds, the latter as shining upon the earth. 

14. grata. Ter. Phorm. 251 quidquid praeter spem evenietf 
omne id deputabo esse in lucro, Plut. de Tranq. An. 16 6 rrfi 
aOpiov "fKKFTa dedfievoSt (Ss ^rjfftv '£ir£/covpos, ^dtora irpdjeiffi wpbs 
T^v aifpiov. 

15. me, sc. I have observed the Epicurean tule, which I 
give you, as you will find, when you come and see me. i^ngniem : 
Suet. Vit. Hor. habitu corporis brevis fuit atque obesus^ even 



ii8 HORATI EPISTULAE. 

before his winter at Velia dr Salemum. nltldtuii 'sleek^ Sat* 
II. 2, 128. bene corata eate 'in fine condition', £p. i. 3, 29. 
\ Roby § 1466; S. G. § 602 *you must come and see*. 



16. yoles: it is better to place a comma aiter this, so that 
porcum is in apposition to me^ not the object of ridere, grege» 
the usual term for a philosophic school : cp. de Orat l. 10, 42 ; 
Sat. II. 3 f 44; but here used to lightcn the metaphor mporcum. 
Cicero (in Pis. 16, 37) addresses Piso as Epicure noster^ ex hara 
producte^ non ex schoia. The character of Epicurus himself was 
not open to the charge of undue indulgence in sensual |)leasures. 
Cp. Aelian Var. Hist. iv. 13, 'Epicurus the Gargettian ciied 
aloud and said "To whom a little is not enough, notbing is 
enough. Give me a barley-cake and water, and I am ready to 
vie even with Zeus in happiness." ' 



EPISTLE V. 

The Torquatus who is here addressed is doubtless the one 
addressed in Carm. iv. 7, 23, where Horace mentions his 
eloquence, a suitable compliment for an advocate (1. 31). But 
it is difficult to identify him -with any one of the names 
known to history. There was a L. Manlius Torquatus, consul 
in the year of Horace's birth: his son was killed in Africa 
in B.c. 48 (Cic. Brut. 76, 265; Bell. Afric. 96), but he may 
have left a son of about the same s^ as Horace : this how- 
ever is pure conjecture. The A. Torquatus, iidiom Atticus 
aided after the battle of Philippi (Com. Nep. Att. c 30., 
cp. c. XV) is mentioned in the latter place so as to suggest that 
he was considerably older than Horace. Some have suggested 
C. Nonius Asprenas, on whom Augustus conferred the sumame 
Torquatus with the right to wear a gold chain, out of sympathy 
for an accident which he had met with in the *Trojan game , 
(so Dict. Biog.) ; but if young enough to have taken part in the 
Trojan game when revived by Augustus (not apparently before 
B.c. 28), he is not likely to have been so intimate with Horace. 
It is best to assume that he was some Manlius Torquatus, not 
otherwise known. There is nothing to determine the date of 
the Epistle, unless we accept Ritter's interpretation of 1. 9, which 
would place it definitely in the summer of B. c. 20: but it roust 
have been written at least a year or two, probably somewhat 
more, after the second consulship of Statilius Taums in B. c. 26. 
Horace invites the busy and weaithy advocate to a simple dinner 
with him, if he can put up with the plain fare, which he will 
furnish. 

1 — 6. Ifyou can put up with my humble home aud /an, I 



Bk. L Ep. V.] NOTES. 119 

skall txpect you to dintur this evming. I will give you the best 
vnne I hccue^ and all shaU be ready, 

1. Archlacls, so called from the maker ArcTiias (cp. Phidiacus 
from PhidiaSj Fausiacus from Pausias), a *faber lectorius* at 
Rome. His couches were evidently not luxurious ; Porphyrion says 
they were short; to which Acron adds that the maker was short 
too, on the principle, I suppose, of Dr Johnson*s parody, * Whb 
drives fat oxen, should himself be fat*. — ^The old reading 
archdicis involves a false quantity, and rests upon no authority 
worth considering. — ^recnmbere, as in Carm. iii. 3, 11 and else- 
where, for the more usual accumbere, 

2. cenare : coenare is a barbarism : the archetype certainly 
read holTUi, not olus, omne generally explained as 'all sorts 
of *, not, of course, mixed in a salad, as Macleane supposes; but 
equivalent to *any kind that may be served up*. Cp. Fabri on 
Liv. XXII. 41, 6 castraplena omnis fortunae publicae privataeque 
relinquit, But it is better to take it as *nothing but : as in Cic 
de Nat. D. II. 21, 56 omnis ordo 'nothing but order* : cp. Halm 
on Cic. Cat. iii. % 5. So xas is sometimes used in Greek : cp. 
Dobree's note on Dem. F. L. § 83 in ShilIeto*s edition (not. 
crit.). For holus as Horace^s fare, cp. Sat. li. i, 74; 2, 117; 
^» 64 f 7» 30; £p* I* 17) 15* patella dim. from patina^ as 
femella from femina^ lame/la from lamina ; Roby § 869. 

8. sapremo sole *at sunset* (cp. primo sole Ov. Met. ix. 
03; medio sole Phaedr. iii. 19, 8), later than was usual, the ninth 
hour being that generally cnosen for dinner (Ep. i. 7, 70—71; 
Mart. IV. 8, 6). A late dinner would be, according to the 
Roman notions, a modest one ; just as a banquet which began 
early was supposed to be a luxurious one (cp. Sat. Ii. 8, 3). 
Torquatus would also have time to finish his business, as in 
Sat II. 7, 33 Maecenas is too busy to dine before the lamps are 
lit. Cp. Juv. I. 49 extd ab octava Marius bibit (with Mayor's 
note). 

4. itemm sc. consule. T. Statilius Taurus was consul (along 
with Augustus) for a second time in b. c. 26 ; he was one of the 
most eminent men of his time at Rome, and had been consul 
(suffectus) for the first time in B.c. 37. In B.c. 36 he command- 
ed a fleet against Sex. Pompeius in Sicily; in B.c. 34 he received 
a triumph for successes in Africa; at Actium in B.c. 31 he 
commanded the land forces of Augustus; and in B.c. 29 he 
defeated the Cantabri and other Spanish tribes. In B. c. 16 he 
was left in charge of Rome and Italy during the absence of the 
Emperor, with the title of praefectus urbi. — iterum \s the word 
always used of a second consulship: Gellius (x. i) reports an amus- 
ing perplexity on the part of Pompeius, as to whether he should 



120 HORATI EPISTULAE. : . 

use in an inscription terfio or tertium; the opinions of his friends 
being divided, on the advice of Cicero he wrote tert. as found in 
Corp.I. L, I. 61.5. Tertiutn^ etc. are always written by Livy. 

, diffosa * racked off* from the dolium or cask into the amphora 
or jar, which was then sealed up and labelled with the date of 
the year. Some MSS. have defusa^ which means * poured out', 
from the crater or mixing bowl into the cups. (Sat. ii. 2, 58.) 
Cp. Cic. de Fin. Ii. 8. 23. 

paliistrls : the ground round Mintumae on the Appian way, 
near the mouth of the Liris in Latium was very marshy. It was 
in these marshes that Marius attempted to conceal himself in 
B.C* 88. 

5. Mlntunias. The Roman colonies at Mintumae and at 
Sinuessa (more than nine miles to the south) were founded at the 
same time in B. c. 296 (Liv. x. 21) and were * coloniaemaritimae', 
with the right of Roman citizens : the two are often mentioned 
together. ; The famous Mons Massicus overlooked Sinuessa, but 
ihe wine grown in the plain was not of a first-rate qusdity: 
£p. Mart, XIII. \\\ de Sinuessanis venerunt Mctssica prelis: 
condita quo quaeris consule? nullus ercU, The Comm. Craq. says 
* Petrinus mons est Sinuessanae civitati imminens, vel ager Sin- 
uessae vicinus': if the former, the wine may have been, as Ritter 
suggests, a superior kind of Sinuessan, a Bergwein, which view 
however is hardly consistent with the inter. The Falemus ager 
was close to Sinuessa, but rather to the east than to the north. 

6. arcesse : cp. Roby i. p. 240. Journal of Philology vi. 
278 ff. The form accerscy whether of different origin or not, was 
undoubtedly in frequent use, especially in later times : it is quite 
.absurd for Macleane to speak of it as a * corraption of the MSS. * 
Here the word has its less common meaning *send', one as 
legitimately derived from the primary force * make to approach', 
as the more usual *fetch*, which is here quite out of place. 

imperitim fer * put up with my directions'. Horace tepre- 
sents himself as the dominus convivii (Gell. xiii. 11), for whom, 
according to Acron, the term rex was sometimes used. This is 
a usage to be distinguished from that in Carm. I. 4, 18 nec regna 
vini sortiere ta/is. 

7—15. Lay aside ail your cares, To-morrow is a holiday^ 
and 'so we will be merry to-night, 

7. splendet, Roby § 1460, S. G. § 596: not of the brightness of 
the fire, which would not be lit in summer, but of the cleansing 
of the hearth or rather brazier, and the images of the Lares. 

8. leyis : if MS. authority is to weigh with us at all, we must 
adopt this form here, uot leves* 



Bk. I. Ep.V.] NOTES. 12 x 

oettamlna divttianim ' the struggle For wealth' (for the gen. 
obj. cp. Livy i. 17 certamen regni et cupidoy Roby § 1318, S.G. 
§ 525 (^))» possibly of the clients of Torquatus, for the lex Cincia 
as confirmed by a senatusconsultum of the time of Augustus 
(Dio Cass. Liv. 18) forbade an advocate to receive anyfee under 
pain of refunding four times the amount : and in any case no re- 
proach to the invited guest, as some have strangely supposed. 

9. Moschl, according to Porphyrion a famous rhetorician of 
Pergamum, who was accused of poisoning, and in whose trial 
the most eminent orators of the day were engaged. 

nato Caesare: Ritter takes this to be the birth of a Caesar, 
i. e. of Gaius, the eldest son of Julia and M. Agrippa, the first 
grandchild of Augustus, who was born about midsummer B. c. 
20; cp. Dio LIV. 8 KaX 1) 'louX/a tov VoXop dvofjLaaOivTa ireKet 
povOvffla ri tis tois yevedXioLS avTov d.t5ios idodr}. koI toOto ixkv ix 
rlnfj^ifffMTos iyivero. This reraoves all difficulty as to aestivam. 
But was it possible for a Roman under Augustus to understand 
any one but the Emperor himself, when the name Caesar was 
used without qualification? It is used in 32 other passages by 
Horace, and in only two, Sat. i. 9, 18, Carm. I. 2, 44, where the 
context removes all possibility of doubt, it refers to Julius Caesar. 
Hence it is hardly possible for us to understand the word here, 
as some have done, with that reference, although this assumption 
would equally remove the difficulty, Julius having been born on 
July i2th (Kal. Amit. in C. I. L. Vol. i. 396). The birthday of 
Augustus fell on Sept. 23 (a. d. ix. Kal. Oct.), and was observed 
as a holiday : cp. Suet. Oct. LVli equites komani natalem eius 
sponte atque consensu biduo semper celebrarunt. No doubt the 
term aestivam could be applied with strict accuracy to any night 
before the autumnal equinox, though it might not seem the most 
natutal epithet ; but a difficulty is presented from the fact that 
Horace (cp. Ep. i. 7, 5 ; 16, 16) and most of his friends would 
not be likely to be in Rome at all during the unhealthy month of 
September (cp. Juv. vi. 517 metuique iubet Septembris et Austri 
adventumt and Mayor on Juv. iv. 56). Meineke (foUowed by 
Haupt and Munro) attempted to remove the difficulty by reading 
festivam: but (i) if this is the genuine reading, it is impossible to 
understand how it should have been retained only in one or two 
quite worthless MSS. : (2) it is very clumsy, so soon eSiex festus 
in 1. 9; and (3) ihQ Vf0x6. festivus does not occur in any dassic 
poet, but is especially suited to comedy. Hence L. Miiller 
simply marks the word as corrupt. No really satisfactory solution 
of the difficulty seems to have been discovered. It is possible, 
as Mr Reid suggests, that the poem is a mere fancy piece, not 
necessarily in close relation to actual facts. 

10. sonmumqae, i. e. to sleep lale mto the day, not of the 



122 HORATI EPISTULAE. 

noon-day siesta. dles : if the birthday of Angostus is meant, this 
is marked in the Calendars as ^P, a sign which, as Mommsen 
(C. I. Lat. I. 367) has shown, denotes the day as a dUs feriatus^ 
on which no business was to be done. Hence Torquatus would 
not have to appear in the law-courts. 

12. quo mlM fortnnam : the MSS. are pretty equally 
divided between this reading zxA fortuna: Munro says (Introd. 
p. 32) that ' all the best MSS. ' have the latter, and Ritter seems 
to agree: but Keller stoutly denies this, and thinks that the 
balance tums the other way. Unfortunately the usage of the 
language does not give us much help in dcciding between the 
two. The accusalive occurs in Ovid Am. iii. 4, 41 qtio Hbi for- 
mosam, si non nisi casta placebai f and in ii. 19, 7 quo mihi for- 
tunam^ quae minquam fallere curet? Phaedr. iii. 18, 9 quo mi^ 
inquit^ mutam speciem^ si vincor sono. In these cases it might be 
argued, as here, that the difference between fortuna 2caA. fortund 
(the way of writing the accusative in many MSS.) is so slight 
that MS. evidence is of little value. But that the accusative is 
legitimate is put beyond a doubt by Ov. Amor. iii. 7, 49 quo 
mihi fortunae tantum f Met. XIII. 103 quo tamen haec Ithaco f 
and by Cato Distich. 4, 16 quo tibi dk/itiast si semper pauper 
abundasJ Cp. Ar. Lysistr. 193 ttol \€VKiaf tiTTov ; and Markland's 
note on Stat. Silv. i. 2, 188. On the other hand, that the abla- 
tive is also legitimate has been made very probable by Conington 
in his defence of the MS. reading quo nunc certamine tanio? in 
Aen. IV. 98, although there even Kennedy accepts the conjecture 
certamina tanta, On the whole, as the accusative is the more 
certainly established construction, and has plenty of authority 
here, it is safer to read fortunam, The accusative is govemed 
by some verb understood, though what particular verb is to be 
supplied was probably not distinctly conceived (cp. Roby 
§§ II 28, 1441 : §. G. § 472, 583). For quo, which is certainl^ 
not to be regarded with Orelli as a form of the old dative quot, 
cp. Sat. 1. 6, 24 and Roby 11. p. xxx note. fortnnam=* wealth', 
a meaning in which the plural is much more common in 
classical I^tin. 

18. ob heredls ooram : cp. Carm. iv. 7, 19. The bittemess 
with which the prospect of wealth passing to an heir was viewed, 
was naturally increased by the childlessness so common at this time 
at Rome. Augustus, ^Uiecenas, Horace and Vergil all left no 
son. Cp. Pind. Ol. XI. 88 iwcl tXoOtoj \ax^v woifUpaiiraKTOv 
d\\6r/>coy BvcurKoyn ffTvyepwraros, 

14. ad8ldet=' is next door to ', the metaphor being probably 
derived firom the seats in the theatre, where those of the same 
social position were ranged together. The word seems to be used 
mowhere else in this sense. 



Bk. I. Ep. V.] NOTES. 123 

' 10. Tel Inooiuniltiui < a madman, if you will * : q>. Carm. IL 
7> 28; III. 19, 18 ; IV. 12, «8. 

16—20. Wine has wonderful power to open the heart^ to raise 
ihe spirits and to qwcken the wits. 

16. dlBRlgnat, unquestionably the right reading, though 
Macleane does not even notice it, both as beingbetter supported, 
and as the rarer word, and so more likely to be corrupted. Dis- 
signare is properly *to break the seal', hence *to open': 
it is rig^tly explained by * aperit*, in Porph)rrion's note. Prof. 
Nettleship {youmal 0/ Philologyy X. 206-8) is of opinion that 
the word had acquired the further meaning of * cum nota et igno- 
minia aliquid facere*, to perform any startling or violent act, any 
act which upsets the existing order of things : ' and this', he adds, 
* is exactly the sense required in thc line of Horace, Of what 
miracle is not intoxication capableV Cp. Plaut. Most. 413, Ter» 
Adeli^. 87, in both of which places dissign, should probably be 
read. operta ' the secrets of the heart'. Sat. L 4, 89 vercuc aperit 
praecordia Liber: cp. Ep. I. 18, 38; A. P. 434: Plat Symp. 
317 E e^ /U17 TpvTov flkv rb Xeyofxevw olpoi dyev re valSw koI juerd 
waidw iiv oXi/^s. Compare the proverbs in vino veriicu and 
oboi KoX vaiBci oKriOeii, 

Inertem, *coward* (Cic. Cat. Ii. 5, 10) common in the 
language of the camp as contrasted with strenuus miles : cp. Ep. 
1. 1 1, a8, and Tac. Hist. i. 46, iners pro strenuo : hence much 
better than inertnemy the point bcing the inspiriting power of 
¥rine, not the foUies which it can cause. Our * Dutch courage *. 

17. spes: cp. Ar. Eth. Nic. III. 8, 13 oXX* o\ yuh dvdpeioL dii, 
TiL rfmetfif/Uva dxtppaXioit ol 8k S16. ro oicffOai KpeLrrws eZr<u tad 
firjdkv dpTLvadetv, roiovrov W ir<noD<ri koX ol fieSvffK^fJievoi * eviXxidei 
ykp ylyvovrax. 

18. addocet, only here and in Cic. Cluent. 37, 104 addocti 
iudicesy the ad being mtensive, or denoting increase and progress. 
Roby §§ 1833—4. 

19. fecimdl, *teeming' like our own 'flowing bowl*: or 
perhaps *pregnant*, like our *preffnant wit': there is no need 
to force the meanin|; of * inspiring" (but cp. Ov. Met. iv. 697) : 
the reading facundt, which has a good^ deal of support, would 
lead to an intolerable tautology with disertos, 

20. contracta ' cramped '. 

Sl — 81. Iwill take care that all is in good order^ and that 
the guests are well ohoseny so let nothing keep you away. 

21. Imperor 'I charge myself *, apparently with the reflexive 
force of the passive : but cp. Munro on Lucret. ii. 156. Ilorace 



124 HORATI EPISTULAE. 

has similarly tnvideor in A. P. 56. The idiom is a colloquial one*. 
I Ihink Orelli is wrong in supposing idonms as well as imper$r 
to be connected with procurare, 

22. tnrpe^wom and faded. toral, 'coverlet ' placed upon 
the toriy as in Petron. 40 advenerunt ministri ac toralia propostu- 
runt toris: cp. Sat. il, 4, 84. For the form cp. capital^ cervical, 
Roby § 424. 

23. coiraget narls * make you tum up your nose ' in dis- 
gust. Quint. XI. 3, 80 names this among other movements of 
the nose and lips which he considers indecorous. 

ne non...ostendat ' that...fail not to show you *. 

25. ellmlnet * carry abroad ', a word used in the early poets in a 
literal sense, and here in a somewhat more exteuded application : 
cp. Pomponius in Non. p. 38 vos istic manete : eliminabo extra 
aedes coniugem^ and other dramatists there quoted, and Quint. 
VIII. 3, 31 nam memini iuvenis adtnodum inter Pomponium et 
Senecam etiam praefationibus esse tractaiuman * gradus eliminai* 
in tragoedia dici oportuisset, The force of the English derivative 
seems to be due to mathematicians of a later age. Cp. the 
quotation in Mart. i. 27, 7 (probably from some drinking song) 

26. inngatnrque parl: for as Seneca (Ep. xix.) says, ante 
conspiciendum cum quibus edas et bibas^ quam quid edas et bibas, 
Butram...Septlcliimque, quite unknown persons, although the 
names are found elsewhere, the former in an inscription (of 
doubtful genuineness), the latter several times both in inscriptions 
and in literature. Beutley first restored the trae forms for the 
corrupt Brutum...Septimiumque. Orelli is too hard upon them 
in comparing them wiih Mulvius et scurrae of Sat. 11. 7, 36; 
they were plainly friends of Torquatus. 

27. cena prior, ' an earlier engagement ' : potlorque puella * a 
girl whom he prefers * : -que appears here to have the force of 
coupling altematives, which are regarded as both acting to pre- 
vent his presence, though not together : hence it is virtually dis- 
junctive, as in Verg. Georg. ii. 87, 139, 312, iii. 12 1 (Conington), 
and often in Lucretius (cp. Munro's index) : the engagement is 
not necessarily to the puella<t though it may be. Martin rightly 
renders * unless he be engaged el^where or flirting with some 
girl whom he prefers to any company *. 

28. adsumam, * I will have S. too * : it is a striking proof of 
the mechanical and careless way in which our MSS. were copied, 
that Keller quotes only one as having this, the unquestionably 
correct reading : all his others have ad summamt o' some cor- 
ruption of that reading. 



Bk. I. Ep. VI.] NOTES. 125 

ninlnris *guests whom you may bring': the wnhrae were 
guests not invited by the host, but brought by an invited guest, 
as Maecenas brought Vibidius and Balatro to the dinner given 
by Nasidienus (Sat. ii. 8, 22). Conington*s rendering *and 
each might bring a friend or two as well' is misleading: the 
number of umbrae could not be more than four, if the party was 
not to exceed the approved limit of nine, three on each couch : be- 
sides the remark was only addressed to Torquatus, not to the 
others. 

29. premimt 'annoy*. caprae=^/rf«j.* f<r/^ is similarly 
used by Catull. LXix. 5, Lxxi. i, and by Ov. A. A. in. 193: 
the feminine form only here, though certainly not, as Orelli sup- 
poses from any feeling of delicacy, which however desirable ac- 
cording to our notions, is not likely to have occurred to Horace. 

80. qiiotiiB esse Tells, * how large you would like the party to 
be': * name your number * (Con.) : cp. Mart. xiv. 2\T dic quotus 
et quanti cupias cenare, Quotus asks a question, the answer to 
which is to be given by an ordinal : hence we may compare the 
Greek phrase ipkdri Tpeff^evrifjs ficKaros avros : I have found no 
exact parallel in Latin, but * how many days ago ? * {quotus iam 
dies) answered by tertius iam dies est, is somewhat analogous. 
Cp. Ep. II. I, 35. 

31. poBtico ' the back-door ' such as has been found in many 
Pompeian houses. Senec. de Brev. Vit. 14, 4 says quam multi 
per refertum clientibus atrium prodire vitabunt et per obscuros 
aedium culitus profugient.^lsSl^ *give the slip to *. 

EPISTLE VI. 

Nothing is known of the Numicius, to whom this Epistle 
is addressed, and his name is only introduced to keep up the 
epistolary form, for nothing tums upon it. Nor is there any hint 
to assist us in determining the date : it may have been written at 
any time within the limits between which Horace seems to have 
practised this style of composition. The general purpose of the 
Epistle is to recommend a philosophic calm as the true way of 
r^arding the various objects of human desire; But from v. 31 ^ 
to the end Horace adopts a tone of strong irony, urging Nu- 
micius, if he will not accept this theory of life, to pursue with 
resolute energy whatever end he may choose to propose to 
himself. 

1 — 8. TTie happy man is he who caresfor nothing over-much* 
Some can gaze unmoved even on the grand phenomena of the 
heavens, How do you think that we ought tofeel with regard to 
wealth and honour f 



126 HORATI EFISTULAE. 

1. nll admirarl corresponds to Tenn^rson^s ' wise indiffeience 
of the wise *, the dTapa^ia of the Epicureans, for apud Epicurum 
duo bona sunt, ex quibus summum illud beaiumque componitur, 
utcorpus siite doloresit^ animus sine perturbatione\^e.xitC2k^^, 66 j 
45), the drradeia of the Stoics, to whom all emotions were for- 
bidden (Cic. Acad. ii. 43, 135), except in the modified form of 
euird^ctcu (Zeller, Stoics, pp. 253, 391). The admirari would 
naturally bring along with it the optart and expetere^ with which 
it is often conjoined; e.g. Cic. de OfF. i. 20, 66, where one of 
the marks of a ^fortis animus et magnus ' is cum persuasum est 
nihil homifiem nisi quod honestum decorumque sit aut admirari 
aut optare aut expetere oportere, 

3. litinc *yon'. 

4. moxnentlB ^courses*, the r/Mnr^ of Epicurus in Diog. 
Laert. X. 76, notof time, as in Sat. i. i. 7. Cp. Ep. i. 10, 16. 

formldlne 'dread ', i.e. superstitious alarm. 

5. Imlmti: cp. Ep. l. 2, 69 (note), and Cic. de Fin. i. 18, 60 
superstitiOy qua qui est imbuius, quietus esse nunquam potest : 
hence translate * without a touch of dread *. spectent : the in- 
dicative has very little authority and is quite indefensible. 

quld merely introduces the question, as in Cic. de Off. il. 7, 25 
quid censemus superiorem illum Dionysium^ quo cruciatu timoris 
angi solitum ? de Orat. I. 1 7, 79 quid censes^ si ad alicuius inge- 
nium vel maius illa^ qtM€ ego non attigi^ accesserint, qualem illum 
et quantum oratorem futurum? pro Rosc. 17, 4^ quid censes 
hunc ipsum Sex, Roscium, ^o studio et quo intelligentia esse in 
rusticis rebus ? Macleane*s mterpretation * what do you suppose 
they think * &c. is quite baseless. 

7. ladicra quld, plaiumB, etc. This line has been punctuated 
and explained in at least five different ways : (i) ludicra quid, 
plausus, ludicra being then translated * games ' : the objections 
to this are (a) that although the singular is often so used, 
there is no authority for the plural; but cp. Madvig on Cic. 
de Fin. I. 20, 69: \b) that with et foUowing, another copula 
is needed before plausus: {c) that, if the games are regarded 
from the stand-point of the giver, they are not naturally an 
object of admiration ; if from the spectator*s point of view, there 
is an abruptness in passing on to the prizes ot ambition. (2) lu- 
dicra quid plausus, plausus being the genitive after ludicra * the 
toys of applause ', i. e. * worthless applause *, like vilia rerum, 
strata viarum etc. Then line 7 refers to the prizes of ambition, 
as munera. . . Indos to those of covetousness. But (a) plausus is not 
a word which Ifends itself naturally to this genitival construction : 
(ff) it is not likely that Horace, in asking a question as to the 
value to be set upon these things, would imply his own opinion 



Bk. I. Ep. VI.] NOTES. 127 

of their worthlessness in the. very form of the question. (3) ludi- 
cra ? quid plausus^ connecting ludicra with maris. This is open 
to the last objection ; and besides munera maris is a far more 
natural expression than ludicra maris, (4) ludicra quid, plaUsuSj 
where plausus is the acc. plur. in apposition to ludicra, ' This 
involves the same prejudging of the question : perhaps too the 
plural, though sometimes used, is less natural than the singular. 
(5) Keller ^s „,Indos? Ludicra, Quid plausus &c., ludicra 
being then the answer of Numicius. This is very abrupt, and 
would naturaUy imply a similar answer after v. 8. (4) seems 
open to fewest objections. 

doiia, sc. honares et imperia; cp. Carm. 1. 1, 7. 

<2iilxltiB, coUective, as so often in Livy, but apparently not 
elsewhere before his time : cp. Drager Hist. Synt. 1.3; Kiihnast 
Liv. Synt. 63 : cp. Tac Germ. 37 non Samnisy non Poeni, 

8. qii0...modo * id est, quo iudicio, qua spe ', Comm. Cruq., 
not merely a tmesis for quomodo which always has the fiiml 
vowel shortened. 

9 — ^16. Tke fear of loss or suffering is not less disturhing 
than tht greed for gain or honour^ and they are aJtke in their 
effects: virtue herseff shotdd nqt bepursued to an extreme, 

9. fere *as a rule', cp. Caes. B. G. iii. iS fere libenter 
homines id quod volunt, credunt. — ^mlratiir &c. * over esteems 
them in the same way as he who craves \ For mirari in this 
sense of cadng about, with some feeling of dread, cp. Luc. 11. 28 
necdum est Ule dolor^ sed iam metus; incubat amens, miraturque 
malum, 

10. pavor *the excitement': (cp. Cic. Tusc. IV. 8, 19 
pavorem^ metum mentem loco moventem) the 6641^0^ or ^/cirXiy^ts 
which is inconsistent with real happiness. Cp. Verg. Aen. v. 
137 exsultantiaque haurit corda pavor pulsans (Georg. III. 105) of 
the excitement of a race.— utroW<iue * in either case *. This 
word does not contain the same element as ubique, but is formed 
by adding the suffix -bique to the stem utro-', utrubique is only a 
late and corrupt form, although supported by fair authority here. 
Cp. Corssen Nachtr. p. 27. Hence correct Roby i. § 525, S. G. 
§ 111, 

11. vlti£al=simul ac Roby § 1717, S. G. § 721, not as 
Kriiger, an 2i6.ytrb=pariter, speoleB, *appearance* of any object 
of fear or desire. 

exterret, *flutters' with i^^Qpavor which it excites. Jacobs, 
Lect. Ven. p. 157, conjectures externat (i.e. exstematy formed 
on tiie analogy of consternat), which is approved by Lachmann 



1 28 HORA TI EFISTULAE. 

on Lucret. IV, 102« (where he similarly reads extemantur for 
exterrmtur^ *are scared*), Haupt, etc. The word is found 
twice in CatuUus (lxiv. 71, 165) and three times in Ovid 
(Met. I. 641, XI. 77, Ibis 432) in just the sense here required, 
and therefore is not 'unclassical' as Keller says. But exterret 
may be defended by Verg. Aen. xi. 806 fugit ante omnes exter» 
ritus Arruns laetitia mixtoque metu (cp. G. III. 434), Lucr. ir. 
1040 novitate exterriius ipsa. 

12. gaudeat, etc, *whether he rejoices*, etc, not as Keller 
takes it, with a colon at metuatne, the jussive subjunctive. *This 
classification of the emotions under four heads originated with the 
Stoics, but in Horace's time had become a commonplace. Cp. 
Verg. Aen. vi. 733 hinc metuunt cupiuntgue, dolent gaudentque, 
quoted by Augustme de^ Civ. D. xiv. ^ as a Stoic echo. Cp. 
Plat. Phaed. 83 B ri^ovQv jcal kiridufinav koX Xvttujv koX <p6p(av* 
J. S. R. 

13. spe, *expectation', with the ambiguous meaning shown 
also in pavor and exterret, This is more common with the verb 
spero (cp. Verg. Aen. I. 543, II. 658, etc.) than with the sub- 
stantive ; but cp. Sall. Jug. Lxxxviii. i contra spem suam lae- 
tissimis animis excipitur^ Cat, XX. 13 fnala res^ spes multo 
asperior with Kritz's note. 

14. deflzlB ocnllB, * You stare, look blank, grow numb from 
toptotoe'. Con. 

16. ultra quam satls est. There is no reason to suppose 
(with Macleane) that Horace is speaking either ironically or 
*with an unusual fit of enthusiasm*. The need of moderation in 
pursuit even of virtue is a commonplace with philosophers: cpw 
Cic. pro Mur. 30, 63 nostri illi a Platone et Aristotele, moderaii 
homines ei temperati aiunt...omnes virtutes mediocritate quadam 
esse temperaias. Cic. Tusc. iv. 25, 55 studia veloptimarum rerum 
sedata tamen et tranquilla esse debent. ib. IV. 29, 62 etiam si vir^ 
tutis vehemeniior appetitus sit, eadem est omnibus ad deterrendum 
adhibenda oratio, 

17 — 27. Set your heart on the treasures of art^ onfame and 
on wealth^ if you will: but remember thatyou will soon have to 
abandon all* 

17. 1 nimc, 'go now', an ironical imperative to do something 
which under the circumstances is impossible, or at least not to be 
expected, usually foUowed by et^ as in Ep. ii. 2, 76. Cp. Pers. 
IV. 19 i nunc...sufla^ where Jahn remarks *irridentis vel expro* 
brantis formula', and gives many other examples, 

arsrentam, here *plate', as m Sat. I. 4, 28, Juv. i. 76, etc. ; not 
*money'. artis, * works of art *, cp. Carm. iv. 8, 5 divite me 



Bk. I. Ep. VI.] NOTES. 129 

scilicet artium quas aut Parrhasius protulit aut Scopcts, So in 
Soph. O. C. 472 KpaTr}p4i clciv aydpoi ei^x^tpoi t^x^tj, 

18. susplce, opp. of despice, colores, 'dyes*, i.e. vestes 
purpureas. 

19. loquentem, very rarely used, as the context requires that 
we should understand it here, of public speaking; which is almost 
always dicere^ opposed to conversational talk {loqui) : cp. Cic. 
Orat. 32, 113 ?tec idem loqui est quod dicere: de Orat. III. lo, 38 
neque enim conamur docere eum dicere, qui loqui nesciat. So 
Eupolis (Dem. 8) said of Phaeax \aKfvif dpttf-ros, dSworciraros 
X^ycuf (Meineke Com. ii. 461). 

20. nayiiB. Bentley prints gnavus^ which has however but 
little support from the MSS. From Cicero's words (Orat. 47, 158) 
noti. eranty et navi et nari, quibus cum in praeponi oporteret^ dulcius 
Tfisum est ignoti ignavi ignari dicere quam ut veritas postulabat^ 
it might seem that the forms with g were unknown to him. But 
gnavus is often found in good Ciceronian MSS. and is admitted 
by the best editors (e.g. Halm in de Imp. Pomp. 7, 18): narus 
seems nowhere to occur, nor is gtwtus actually found except in 
the grammarians. It is very doubtful whether gnavus is from the 
same root as^ar«j, the meaning beingentirely different (Corssen 
I. 83) : but cp. Curt. Gr. Etym. i. 220. forum for business pur- 
poses, as in Ep. i. 19, 8, not (as Lewis and Short take it there) 
for legal or political pursuits : cp. cedere foro=io become bank- 
rupt, and de Imp. Pomp. 7, 19 hasc ratio pecuniarum...quae in 

foro versatur, vespertlnus, Roby § 1017, S. G. § 452. 

21. dotalllms, coming to him through his wife, and therefore 
not due either to inheritance, or to his own energy and business 
skill. emetat, only found here. 

22. Mutus, probably the name of a real person, known to 
Horace*s readers. Orelli remarks that Horace, though often 
borrowing his types of character from Lucilius, does not limit 
himself to them. Mutus is found as a cognomen on an inscrip- 
tion, quoted by Bentley, who restored the true reading for the 
vulgate, MuciuSf indignum, 

Indlgnum, an exclamation, as in Ov. Met. v. 37 nisi post 
cUtaria Fhineus isset^ et {indignum!) scelerato profuit ara, Am. 
I. 6, I lanitory indignum, dura religate catena. So malum, 
mirum, nefas, etc. Macleane's indignum quod sity is much less 
good. quod slt, Roby § 1740, S. G. § 740. 

24. quicquid, etc. Cp. Soph. Aj. 646 airav^* o fiaKpbi 
K&yaplBfirjTOi xP^vos tpvei r' d8ri\a Kal <pavivTa Kp6irreraL, In 
apricnm, *to the light of day'=m apertum; if the word be, as is 

W. H. 9 



130 HORATt EPISTULAE. 

tommonly supposed, contracted from aperi-cu-s it is used here, 
but apparently here only, in its primary sense (Roby § 774). 

36. porticiu Agrippat, erected by M, Vipsanius Agrippa in 
honour of Neptune, and adorned with paintings of the exploits of 
the Argonauts ; hence called porticus Vipsania^ or Neptuni, or 
Argonautarum (Juv. VI. 153). It was thrown open to the public 
in B.c. 45 (Dio Cass. Liii. 27) and would naturally be a fashion- 
able lounge. Cp. Burn's Rome, p. 332. 

*vla Appi, the regina viaruniy as Statius Silv. ii. «, 1« calls 
it, led to Capua and afterwards to Brundisium, and would often 
be crowded by Roman nobles travelling to their villas in Cam- 
pania, or to Greece and the East. 

27. Numa and AncoB are joined, as being the two most 
popular of the early kings; cp. Ennius* line adopted by Lucret. 
iii* 1025 lumina sis [^suis] oculis etiam bonus Ancu* reliquit^ 
and Carm. iv. 7, 14. 

28 — 35. If you are sufferingj seek the remedy. So^ if virttte 
is the true path to a happy life, aim at securing this. If wealth, 
then doyour utmost to grow rich. 

29. vlB, a direct statement for a hypothetical one. Roby 
§ 1553. S.G.§ 651. 

recte *aright\ here equal to beate^ not in a moral sense, as in 
Ep. I. 2, 41. 

30. vlrtos ima, as the Stoics taught. 

31. lioc agre *attend to this alone': a phrase borrowed 
apparently from the formula with which an official at a sacrifice 

. called for reverent attention from the bye-standers : cp. Sat. ii. 
3, 152 ; Lucret. I. 42 nam neque nos agere hoc patriai tempore 
iniquo possumus. deliCiiB = voluptatibus. 

putas has much more support in the MSS., and is much 
better suited to the preceding visy than Bentley's/w/^x, which he 
thinks *mollius et verecundius*. 

verba *mere words* ; cp. the last words of Brutus in Dio 
XLVII. 49 w tX^MO'' dperrff \6yos ap ij(r$'' iyv 54 ffe iui ipyov 
^Kovv ad S* d/)' idobXcvcs rbxQ* 

82. lucum ligna * a sacred grove but logs \ portns occQpdt 

*reaches the port before you', and so anticipates you in the 
market ; not as in Carm. I. 14, 2. 

88. Cibyra was in the extreme south of Phrygia on the bor- 
ders of I-,ycia : its position has been identified by inscriptions found 
on the spot (Spratt's Lycia i. 256) ; it 'does not seem veiy fevour- 



Bk. I. Ep. VT.] NOTES. 131 

able for commerce, for it is neither on the sea, nor on a great 
road. We may conclude however that probably the grain of the 
valley of the Indus (a tributary of the Calbis), and the wood and 
iron of Cib^rra might fumish articles of conimerce» Iron ore is 
plentiful in the Cibyratis'. G. L. in the Dict. Geogr. Bitliynla 
had some important ports, and large navigable rivers, which 
brought down the produce of the interior, especially timber and 
marble: cp. Carm. i. 35, 7 ; iii. 7, 3. 

84. rottuidentiit * be rounded off, an expression not else- 
where used, but Petron. 76 has uno cursu centies sestertium 
corrotundavi. — altera a second set of talents, as numerous, 
totidem being equivalent to mille talenta : cp. CatuU. 5, 8 dasia 
millef deinde centum^ dein mille altera^ dein secunda centum. 
Verg. EcL iii. 71 aurea fncUa decem misi: cras altera mittam, 

pOrro et : et is omitted by some good MSS. but is probably 
right. 

35. qtiadrat is better supported than quadret, which seems to 
be a careless assimilation to the preceding subjunctives : *the part 
which squares the heap* is a periphrasis for a fourth thousand. 

86 — 48. Wealth ofcourse hrings many blessings in its train, 
and a rich man is better off than a king ; so if this is ^our goal^ 
push on towards it stoutly, 

86. fldemqae * credit'; not however, as Orelli says, solely in 
money matters. Juv. iii. 143 quantum quisque sua nummorum 
servat in arca^ tantum habet etfidei (with Mayor^s note). 

87. reglna Peconia 'queen cash' : Juv. i. 111 tnter nos 
satutissima divitiarum maiestas^ etsi funesta Pecunia templo non- 
dum habitas. It is doubtful whether the references in Arnobius 
and Augustine (quoted by Mayor ad loc.) to a dea Tecunia havc 
any better basis than such jests as these, although we must not 
forget the very common tendency of the Romans to deify 
personifications. Cp. Mommsen i. 173. 

88. Snadela^IIe^^ci;, also called Suada by Ennius in Cic. 
Brut. 15, 59 ut quam deam in Pericli labris scripsit Eupolis 
sessitavisset huius hic medullam nostrum oratorem fuisse dixerit, 
For Peitho as an attendant on Aphrodite cp. Preller Rom. Myth. 
337- 

89. Cappadociun rex, Archelaus : Cicero says of his prede- 
cessor Ariobarzanes in ad Att. vi. 1,3 nullum aerariumy nullum 
vectigal habet...nihil illo regno spoliatius, nihil rege egentiuSy and 
ad Att. VI. 3, 5 erat rex perpauper, The Cappadocian slaves 
were regarded as of little value : cp. Pers. vi. 77 ; Mart. x. 76, 3: 
Cic. post Red. 6, 14 Cappadocem modo abreptum degrege venalium 
diceres. 

g—2 



-13^ HORATI EPISTULAE, 

40. nt alunt 'as the story goes', £p. i. 7, 49 ; 17, 18, etc: 

41. 81 poBset, Roby § 1754, S. G. § 748. 

Bcaenae, the only legitimate form : cp. Corssen i. 325, Roby 
S 259. Plutarch LucuU. c. 39 tells the story thus : * When a 
praetor, with great expense and pains, was preparing a spectacle 
for the people, and asked him to lend him some purple robes for 
the performers in a chorus, he told him he would go home and 
see, and if he had got any, would let him have them : and thenext 
day asking how many he wanted, and being told that a hundred 
would suffice, bade him take twice as many : on which the poet 
Horace observes, that a house is but a poor one, where the valu- 
ables unseen and unthought of do not exceed all those that meet 
the eye'. 

42. qul, Roby § 379, S. G. § 206. The chlamys, being a 
Greek garment, would not naturally be found in large numbers 
in a Roman house. 

44. toUeret, Roby § 1783, S. G. § 765 ; the subject is the 
giver of the show, who had made the request. 

46. &llnnt=Xav^dm. faribnB *pilferers*: Orelli thinks 
the slaves in particular: cp. Verg. Ecl. Iii. 16 quid domini 
faciant^ audent cum talia fures? but in neither passage is this 
meaning necessary: see Kennedy ad loc, 

48. repetas *retum with each new day to*. 

49 — 56. If the honours of the state are what you desire^ thcti 
busily canvassfor them, 

49. spedes 'state', especially of a ms^strate : Tac. Aim. 
IV. 6 sua consulibusy sua praetoribus species, 

50. qnl dlctet nomlna, the so-called nomenclator, who ac- 
companied a candidate on his canvass, in order to whispertohim 
the names of influential citizens whom he might meet. Cp. 'Cic. 
pro Mur. 36, 77 quid quod habes nomenclatorem ? in eo quidem 

fallis et decipisy nam si nomine appellari abs te cives tuos honeUum 
esty turpe est eos notiores esse servo tuo quam tibi, In B.C. 7« 
when Cato was standing for the military tribuneship, the employ- 
ment of nomenclatores was forbidden by law, though the law was 
rarely obeyed. Nine years later it had been repealed or was 
regarded as obsolete, even by Cato. Cp. Plutarch, Cat. 8. 

51. fodicet, 'nudge': the nomenclator.is of course on the 
outside of the path, his master having the wall to his right : 
cp. Sat. II. 5, 17. For the action cp. Ter. Hec. 465 La. dic 
iussisse te, Ph. noii fodere, iussi. Roby § 062 is probably right 
in assigning to fodicare a frequentative, ratner than an intensive 
(Macleane) or diminutive force. Almost all MSS. have saeztttni 



Bk. I. Ep. VI.] NOTES. 133 

or sevum for iaevum, whence Ritter repeats serviimy a conjecture 
which has deservedly found but little support : saevum though. 
admitted by some editors is not defensible. 

OQgat, * press ', with enerpy. trans pondera, a veiy dilBcuIt 
pbrase. The old interpreters explained it as referring to stepping- 
stones placed in the road : thus Comm. Cruq. pondera lapides 
qui per vias in opera dantur (read porriguniur) aut [qui per] 
latera viarum positi altiores [suntl, Gesner explained ultra 
aequilibrium corporis cum periculo cadendiy comparing Ov. Met. 
I. 13 nec circumfuso pendebat in aere tellus ponderibus tibrata 
suis: Lucret. 11. 218, vi. 574, Lucan i. 57, a view which, 
though ignored by Macleane, has received the weighty support 
of Lachmann (on Lucret. p. 381), Haupt (on Ov. Met. i. 13) 
and Ritter, as well as Conington: *at risk of tumbling down*. 
Orelli takes it of the weights on the counter of a shop, support- 
ing his interpretation by the picture of a shop at Pompeii, and 
Keller warmly approves : but is it possible to understand so im- 
portant a limiting notion as * of the shop ' ? Others interpret 
pondera of obstacles generallv. The old view has recently been 
advocated by T. Mommsen [Fleckeisen^s Jahrb. 1874, p. 466 ff.), 
Nissen (Pompeian, Stud, p. 566), and Kriiger. Overbeck Pom- 
peii^ p. 56 describes the broader streets as having three such 
stepping stones (Fig. 19), the narrower, one. It is admitted 
that there is no evidence, except in the scholiasts, that these were 
called pondera: but in face of the difficulties still attaching to 
Gesner s interpretation (and especially to the force which it 
requires us to give to trani)^ it is perhaps best to follow the 
earlier view, which must have been based upon some traditional 
authority, seeing how little there is in the words themselves to 
suggest it. The picture thus suggested is that of a candidate 
in thc cumbrous whitened toga, pressed by his attendant to 
buiry across the street in order to shake hands with an in< 
fluential elector on the path opposite. The street was usually 
narrow, in Pompeii never more than about «4 feet broad, and 
often only nine or ten, inclusive of the paths (margines), but the 
latter were as a rule much raised. 

52. Fabla, sc, tribu, one of the original countiy-tribes. 
Vdlina, one of the two added latest, in B.c. 341. Both are 
frequently mentioned in inscriptions. 

58. blc, sc. a third man. Bentley read tV, which has much 
less authority, and would necesfwirily refer back to ille. — cul 
dare Ubet. The forms of free election were allowed to remain 
doring the time of Augustus, who himself took part in the 
canvassing (cp. Suet. Oct. XL. comitiorum ius pristinum 
reduxit), and the elections of b.c. 19 gave rise to serious dis- 
turbances: it was only Tiberius who made the sanctlbn of the 



134 HORATI EPISTULAE. 

comitia merely fonnal : cf, Tac. Ann. i. 15, and Merivale Hist. 
o. XLIV. (td init, 

54. cnmle ebiir, sc. the sella curuiis, a distinction enjoyed 
by the curule aediles, praetors, and consuls. iaportanuB, *nith- 
lessly*: cp. Cic in Cat. iv. 6, 12 (note). 

J?5. fiujetuB^blande et comiter, * politely*, apparently a col- 
loquial usage : cp^ Ter. Heaut. $21 mulier eommociaj fac^a haec 
meretrix, adopti^ : Spartianus says of the emperox Didius 
Julianus (c. 4) senatum et equestrem ordinem in palatium vevi- 
entem admisit^ atqne unumqiiemqne^ ut erat aeiaSy vel pa^rem v<i, 
JUium vel parentem affatus blandissime est. 



If good dining is good livingi then be off to t^e 
market betimes^ to secure its choicest daintiesy and take Gargilius 
foryour model, ^ 

66. iQcet, ' day has dawned ', i.e. it is time to be o^ ifi 
quest of dainties. 

5T. piBeeniiiF, vmiemur. « Let us go off for ^h and game ' : 
but only, as Gargilius did, to the market-place. This seems 
better than to take the words of literal fishing and hunting, which 
are not necessary for the life of an epicure. 

8$. QargUlug, probably a character in the satires of Lu* 
cilius. The name is not a fictitious one, but occurs in uk- 
scriptions. 

69. differtum Kmin populumqne ^forum diffkrtum po^Ja^ 
as in Sat. i. 5, ^fbrttm Af^ differtum nautis, Bentley took 
objection to the repetition of pf^lum and populo, aacl to 
differtum applied to populum for wlucli ^mjertum wouM be 
more usual; and therefore very confidently Tcmi -tampum for 
populum. But the repetition may be defended l^ the iiiifWt i* 
laid upon the presence of the peopie as spectators: and tlie 
use of differtum by a zeugma, like that in £p. 11. i, 159 Itje 
poenaque lata: cp. A. P. 443. Besides it has been pointed out 
that though the forum was crowded in the moming, the eampu» 
was not much frequented till the aftemoon. And even in the 
contracted forms tne similarity between catApum and populua^ 
is not great enough to make the conjecture probable. 

60. unu8...e mi(Itl8, *one of all the train*, as in Verg. Aen. 
V. 644, not here in the proverbial sense, found e.g. in Sat. i. 9, 71« 
Cic. Tusc I. 9, 17 (KUhner), &c. 

61. GnidU8» properly 'jraw* (connected with eruose, Kp4atf 

etc. Vanicek p. 174)» is applied alike to undlgest^ food, and 
(as here) to the eater who has not yet digested it. Jndulgeace 
In a hot bath too soon after dinner is censured as a mark of 



Bk, I. Ep. VII.] NOTES. I3S 

a glutton by Juv. i. i^a and Pers. iii. 98. From the numerous 
references coUected by Mayor, it seems to have been regarded 
as a means of hastening digestlon, though one dangerous to 
health. 

62. Oaerlte tim,^CaeritibMS tabulis, Madvig (RBm. Verf. 
I. 409) considers that it is impossible to explain the reason 
why the lists of the cives sine suffragio were called the tabulae 
Caeritufn» Gellius xvi. 13 asserts that the inhabitants of 
Caere were made mumcipes sine suffragU iure because they 
took charge of the Roman sacra at the time of the Gallic 
invasion (cp. Liv. v. 40): and that the name was afterwards 
applied versa vice to those whom the censors degraded and 
deprived of their votes. There is some reason to suppose that 
what was ori^nally a mark of honour for the Caerites became 
a badge of inferiority, after they had been defeated in an attempt 
to throw off their connexion with Rome (cp. Madvig, op. cit. 
p. 46). 

68. reflpJffiimi ; cp. £p. i. a, 94 ff. Ultil : the form UUxei 
is almost equally well supported here. Cp. Roby § 48». S. G. 
§ 160. 

6^ iBterdlcta YOluptaSi i.e. the slaughtering of the saered 
cattle Qf the Sun-god : Hom. Od. ). 8, xii, 340 ff. 

65. MinmemiTis, an el^;iac poet of Colophon, contempo- 
raiy with Solon: a fragment is preserved in Stobaeus (Frag. 
I. Bergk) T^f 5^ /3foy, ri Si Teprvow &r€p XP^^V^ *Ji^poUrris\ 
r€$»al7f¥ 0T9 /JLOi i^fjKh-i ravra fi4\oi. Propertius (i, 9, 11) says 
of hJLm^us in amore valet Mimnermi versus Homero^ 

66. I«tl8, *than what you have now before you *. Cp. Isocr. 
ad Nlcod. 1 1, XP^S toTi flp7iiu.4poiSj rj ^rtt jSeXr/b; rovrvv. oaBdidua, 
' frankly *. al non. Keller reads with some good MSS. xi niL 



EPISTLE VII. 

The date of this Epistle has been given by Ritter as the 
autumn of H.c. 21. He argnes from £p. i. 2, 2 that Horace 
was at this time at Praeneste, within view of the Alban hills 
(v. 10), and was intending to go down to Velia or Salernum 
for the winter (Ep« i. 15). In this year also Augustus left 
Sicily for the East, and sent Agrippa (now married to Julia) 
to take charge of home affairs ; hence Maecenas was relieved 0/ 
his more important public duties, and would have been all the 
more at leisure to enjoy the society of Horace, so that he com- 
plained of his absence. But there are too many conjectural 
iink$ in this chain of argument to enable us to accept it with 



13^ HORATl EPISTULAE. 

tionfidence. It is by no means certain that Ep. Ii. is to be 
assigned to B.c. 21. Horace was doubtless often at Praeneste, 
and perhaps spent more winters than one by the sea. Franke 
with not less probability assigns both this epistle and Ep. ii. 
to B.c. 23. Sir T. Martin well remarks: *This Epistle will 
always rank among the most valued of Horace's poems. It 
shows the man in his most attractive aspect, — ^simple, frank, 
afTectionate, tactical, manly, and independent. No one can 
read it without feeling that dear as Maecenas was to Horace, 
and deeply grateful to him as he was for his generosity, and 
for the friendly spirit vdthout which generosity itself would 
have been odious to the poet, not even for him would Horace 
forego a tittle of that freedom of thought and action which he 
deemed to be essential, not less for his self-respect than for his 
personal happiness \ 

1 — 13. / hme stayed away from Rome much longer than 
I toldyou I should: but I am sureyou will excuse me, Maecenas, 
for I am afraid to be in town at sueh an imhealthy season, I 
intend togo down to the seaforthe winter^ but Ishall be back again 
with you in the spring, 

1. qulnque dies; 'five days or so*, a coUoquial phrase, for 
any short period; cp. Sat. i. 3, 16 quinque diebus nil erat in 
loculis, 

mre : this form for the locative ruri occurs again in Kp. 
I. 14, 10, twice in Ovid and twice in TibuUus. In Plaut. 
Trin. 166 it is found in the MSS. though Ritschl reads ruri 
(cp. Cas. I. 2a), and Madvig leaves it in Liv. vil. 5, 9, xxxviii. 
53, 8. "With an epithet the form rure is always used. Cp. 
Kiihner 11. 354. Roby § 1168, 1170. There is nothing to 
fix the meaning here to Praeneste, as Ritter supposes, or to 
Tibur, as others have argued from v. 45. Horace may probably 
refer rather to his Sabine farm. 

2. SextUem : this month received the name * August ' in 
B.c. 8 (Dion. Cass. LV. 6), cp. Merivale IV. 255. 

deBlderoT: Roby, § 1460; S. G. § 596. atqui : most MSS. 
have fallen into the very common error of substituting aique^ 

8. Baxmm recteque valentem, *free from disease, and in 
sound health* as in Ep. i. 16, 21. Cp. Cic. Acad. 11. 7, i^ 
si ^sensus^l et sani sunt ac valentes, The reading of some inferior 
MSS. recteque videre valentem is due solely to the wish to fiU 
up the gap left by the accidental omission of sanum ; Bentley^s 
suggestion recteque vigere valentem is needless. 

4. muii das aegro, not (as Macleane) * you let me go. 



Bk. I. Ep. VII.] NOTES. m 

because I was sick *, but * you are ready to give me, if I am 
sick '* 

5. flciis prlma : the fig ripens towards the end of August 
and the beginning of September; cp. Carm. Iii. 23, Z pomtfero 
grave tempm anno, There were also early spring figs, formed 
even beforethe leaves (cp. Plin. xv. 18, 71 sunt praeterea eaedem 
serotinae et praecoces^ bifercte^ alba ac nigra^ cum messe vinde- 
miaque maturescentes ; XVI. 26, 113; Meyer on Matth. xxi. 19, 
Trench Miracles, p. 451), but these are of course not referred 
to here. 

6. dlssignatorem : this form is the only one recognized 
by good MSS. and by inscriptions. Cp. Ep. I. 5, 16. The 
dissignator was the man who marshalled the funeral procession, 
not the dominus funeris of Cic. de Leg. Ii. 24, 61 dominusqne 

funeris utaiur cucenso atque lictoribus (as Macleane says), but 
one of his accensi (cp. Marquardt Privatalt. i. 357 note). Acron 
says here designcUores dicuntur qui ad locum \? lucum] Libitinae 
in funere praestanti conducuntur^ ut defuncti cum honore ef 

ferantur, The name was also given to the officials who assigned 
places in the theatre: cp. Plaut. Poen. prol. i%..,neu lictor 
verbum aui virgae muttianty neu dissigncUor praeter os obam- 
bulety neu sessum du^ccCt, dum histrio in scaena siet^ whence it 
is clear that the lictor is here used generally for * attendant *, 
with no reference to magistrates, as Ritter supposes: cp. Lip- 
sius ad loc. 

7. pneils : cp. Mart. x. 62, la aestcUe pueri si valent^ satis 
discunt, 

8. offlclosa 'in showing attentions': for officia in the sense of 
the duties of civility due from clients and from citizens generally 
see Mayor on Juv. iii. 126. The term would include the mom- 
ing salutatioy the deductio in forum^ visits to the sick, attendance 
at weddings, funerals, or when the toga virilis was assumed, 
and the like. 

opella *petty business': cp. Ep. 11. a. 67. The word occurs 
only here and in Lucr. I. 11 14. 

9. testamenta reslgziat 'unseals wills', i.e. causes deaths. 
A will was usually written on tabltts of wood or wax; a senatus- 

• consultum (of the time of Nero, Suet. Ner. 17) enacted that they 
were to be tied up with a triple thread, and then wax was to be 
put over the thread and sealed by the testator, and also by wit- 
nesses. When sealed a will was deposited with some friend, or 
in a temple, or with tbe Vestal virgins. After the testator's 
death as many of the witnesses as possible were collected, and 
after they had acknowledged their seals, the thread was broken, 
and the will read. Cp. Huschke Jurispr. Ante-Just. p. 538.- 



138 HORATI EPISTULAE. 

10. AlbanlB: the snow would Batarftlly lie on the Albaxx hiUs. 
earlier than on the plain of the Campagna. bruina for winter 
generally, as in Carnv. iv. 7, 12; Ep. i. ii, i^ and often. For 
the greater frequency of frost and snow in ancient times than at 
present in the same latitudes cp. Ep. i. 3, 3. quod sl: cp. Verg, 
Aen. V. 64, praeterea si nona diem mortalibus almum Aurora 
extulerit: Catull. xiv. 17 si luxerit *come dawn' (EUis). So 
we find often dicam...si prius dixero: Cic» Acad. ii, ap, 64, de 
Off. II. 6, 22, Plaut. Capt. 248, etc. 

11. vates tuus, i.e. the humble friend whom you honour 
with the exalted title of *bard*: cp. Carm. i. i, 35 quodsi me 
lyricis vatibus inseres^ II. 6, 24 vatis amici etc. L. Miiller Dc 
Re Metrica p. 65 ff. shows how this old-fashioned name fell 
into contempt in the early Latin poetry, and regalned aU its 
earlier honour with Vergii (e.g. Ecl. ix. 34). Cp. Munro on 
Lucret. i, 102 : £p. 11. i, 2$, 

12. cpntnfltuf *huddled up^, iinKeinnpwt as in Lucian 
Saturn. 9, 9 i'iriK€Kwp&r€t..,afi<f>l ri^y Kdfuwov. Others take it as 
*in retirement*: cp. Verg. MoreL 77 fuis enim contractior Utof 
Senec de Tranq. An. 9 habitare contractius; others again com- 
pare veHs contrcutis^ and translate * quietly*. 

18. lilrundine : the return of the swallow was prQverbially 
the sign that spring had arrived: cp. Ov. Fast. II. 853 vens 
praenuntia venit hirundo : Cic. ad Att. x. 2 XaXaveucra iam 
adest: Anth. Pal. II. 279 o irX6os ufpaios. Kot yap XaXa^evtra 
XfSid^ ijdTf fJt4M-p\(iUC€v x^ X«/»^«« Z^0v/aoj: Ar. E<^. 419 ^pa r^a, 
X€\i.S(Lv, Hesiod represents the song of the nightmgafe as com* 
mencing after the rising of Arcturus, 1.«. sixty days after die 
winter solstice (Op, et Ci. 568). 

14 — 94. You have not enriched me^ eu ihe boordiiMs guestSy 
with whctt had no valueforhim, This wouUMmve been a nahiral 
reasonfor ingraHtude* Butyem, mkSe ready to satisfy the wants 
of those wha ^eteme M, kmno the vcUue of your gifts, and I will 
tmetyou w^rthily* 

14. Calaber: the name is chosen only to make the story 
raore vivid. There seems to be no evidence that pears were 
espccially ahundant in Calabria. 

10. benlgne, ^I'm inuch obliged*, a polite phrase for re- 
fusing the offer (cp. v. 62), like icaXb)s, jcdXXtora and the like in 
Greek (Ar. Ran. 503 ff.). 

19. reUnquea has mueh^inore support than relinquis. 
dO. fper^it et odlt, * does not value and in fact dislikes*. 
29. alt etae para.tns, a Greek construction, found first ap« 



Bk. I. Ep. VII.] JSrOTES. 139 

parently in Plaut. Asin. 634 quas...Dicd>ulw ipsi daturus dixit : 
cp. CatuU. IV. I Phaselus tlle...ait fuisse navium celerrimus: 
cp. Carm. III. 37, 73 uxor invicti Javis esse nesas. Plaut. Pers. 
431, 643 has omitto iratus esse. Roby § 1350. dl^^xils *for the 
worthy*, i.e. to meet their needs. 

23. luplnlB used to represent money on the atage, or for 
CQunters in games: cp, Plaut. Poen. iii. 2, 20 Ag. a^^e^ inspi- 
cite: durum est, Co. profecto^ spectatores^ comicum : macerato hoc 
pingues fiunt auro in barbaria boves, They are still so used in 
Italy. 

24. dic^nuin pro laade * worthy in accordance with the re- 
nown*; Munro on Luc|:et, v. i {quis potis esf dignum polleuti 
pectore carmen condere pro rerum maiestaie) quotes instances of 
dignus pro from Ter. Hec. 209, Cic. Div. in Caec, i^ ^'i 
(where nowever Baiter rejects dignum), Sall, Cat. Li. 8. But 
Mr J. S. Reid has convinced ipe that the passage in Lucretius 
does not exhibit this construction, dignum going with pectore, 
and prp maiestate being parallel to pro meritis just below. 
Lauae is the pralse which Maecenas receives, not that which he 
gives : Martin's version, though neat, is in this respect nuslead* 
mg, *For me, *twill be my aim myself to raise, even to the 
flattering level of your praise*. Cp. A. P. 282, Cic. de Qwt, 
IX. 73i 296, Juv, VIII. 74. 

merentis, sc bene merentis, *my benefactor*. Verg. Aen. 
VI. 664 quique sui memores alios fecere merendo; Prop. V. 11, 
loi sim digna merendo. Ov. Pont. ii. 2. 96 laurea deeteta me- 
renti, So very often in inscriptions, e.g. Wihnanns, 1382^ 1389, 
1398. 

25 — 28. But the service I can render must he proportiQnal 
to my pcwers, and I am Hotyoung as / Qnee was» 

25. Qsqnam, with a verb of motion, abo in Sat. 11. 7, 30, i. 
Xj 37 : qtsQquam and nequoquam are not common after Terence. 



fteque enim scientia modo constet Qrator...s(difoce, lateret fffvnlutt . 
nlgro8 :^ Horace describes himsejf as praeccmus (Ep. i. w» ?4) : 
at this time he could not have been more than 45 at most. A 
frons angusta or tenuis (Carm. l. 35, 5) or brevis (Mart. iv. 42, 
9), i.e. one on which the hair hung down low, was regarded as a 
beauty : Pliny describes the statue of an old man as having rari 
$t ceckntes capilli, latafrons (Ep. iii. 6, 2). 

27. loqni=Td XaXctv Roby § 1344, ^. G. $ $34, my plea- 
£ant voice and laugh, the tears I shed'. Con, 

28. Olnarae, perhaps the only one of the women^s nauies 
9(ientioned by Horace, which points to a real attachment on his 



I40 HORATl EFISTULAE, 

part: cp. Carm. iv. i, 3 Sonae Ctnara€y iv. 13, ai, Cinarae 
brevis annosfata dederunt: Ep. i. 14, 33. 

29 — 36. If I am attacked as being Uke the fox which could 
not escape from the com-bin in which it hcut eaten its fill^ I will 
give you back everything: I am sincere in my preference of a 
simple tife, andprefer myfreedom to boundless wealth, 

29. volpecula : Bentley protests against this reading with 
more than his usual energy. He calls upon fox-hunters, farmers 
and men of science to bear witness that a fox could not eat com 
if he were never so hungry: he has not the teeth to do it with. 
Besides no fox however lean could creep through a crevice in a 
comcjar, unless it was large enough to let all the corn out. 
Again how could a fox, a creature haunting the woods, have got 

' into a house at all, or have been content to remain within doors 
long enough to be positively fattened in the com-jar? Besides 
St Jerome expressly mentions a mouse in referring to the fable 
by Aesop from which this is borrowed. Hence he confidently 
restores nitedula *a shrew-mouse* for the present volpecuta. 
Many recent editors, and both Conington and Martin in their 
translations, have followed him; but the soundest verdict has 
been given by Munro (Introd. p. xxiv.), * Bentley's famous nite- 
dula for volpecula deserves all praise: it is brilliant; is what 
Horace ought to have written: — but I sadly fear did not write, 
riot from ignorance probably, but because he had in his thoughts 
some old-world fable, whose foxes were not as our foxes*. We 
might almost retort upon Lachmann, who strongly supports 
Bentley (on I^ucret. Iii. 1014), ^^ his own words 'vocabulum 
Horatio restitutum qui [non] accipiunt rationem et genera fabel- 
lamm ignorant'. Keller aptly remarks that the list of animals 
appearing in fables is a strictly limited one, that the fox often 
plays a part inconsistent with its natural habits, and finally that 
a weasel would be more likely to eat a mouse than to give it 
good advice ! It may be noticed that the weasel (70X17) was 
often tamed and kept in Greek and Rx>man houses on purpose 
to keep down the mice, the cat being comparatively rare, indeed 
not commonly used as a domestic animal until the third or fourth 
century A. D. Cp. Academy Vol. x., p. 317, Houghton's Natural 
History ofthe AncientSf pp. 40—50. 

30. cumeram; cp. Sat. i. 1.53, where Acron notes 'c. 
dicimus vas ingens vimineum, in quo fmmenta conduntur...sive 
cumerae dicuntur vasa fictilia similia doliis, ubi fmmentum suum 
reponebant agricolae*. pasta, the participle of the reflexive 
form pascor, used actively. S. G. § 567. 

81. foras * out *— of the cora-bin or of the house? The word 
is in the vast maiority of instances used of coming out of a 
house; but occasionally (e.g. Caes. B. C. ii. 11, 4: 14, i) of a 



Bk. I. Ep. VII.] NOTES. 141 

town: hence the more indeBnite meaning seems legitimate even 
in classical Latin: it is common in later Latin. — pleno, not 
necessarily as Bentley argued, of a fattened, but rather of a dis- 
tended body: cp. Aesop, iXdiyinj^ i^oyKu>0€iaa rijv yaaHpa; so 
Babr. Ixxxvi. 

82. procol *hard by^ cp. Sat. Ii. 6, 105, Verg. EcL VI. 16, 
Geo. IV. 424, Ter. Hec. 607 gttem cum istoc scrmonem habueris, 
procul hinc stans accepi, 

83. cavum, for a mouse's hole in Sat. II. 6, 116. 

84. compellor *assailed', Sat. II. 3, 297 ne compellarer iniU- 
tus: cp. Cic. Phil. III. 7, 17 Q. Ciceronem compellat edicto, nec 
sentit amens commendationem esse compellationem suam. resigno 
•I transfer back to )rou': Fest. p. 281 M. resignart antiqui dice- 
bant pro rescribere, and Hor. Sat. II. 3, 76 dictantis quod tu 
nunquam rescribere possis. 

85. satTir altilliim, i.e, only when I have myself had my 
fill of dainties. Carm. iii. 16, 21 — 44 is the best commentary 
on this passage. 

87 — 45. You know that I have always been modest and grate- 
ful: but I will gladly give back your gifts whichy if purchased at 
ihe cost of my indepmdence^ would be as unfitfor me to receivCf as 
horses werefor Telemachus. 

87. verecondiim, 1. e. my modesty in not pushing my own 
claims, although, Horace goes on to add, I have always fully 
acknowledged my debts to you, both in your presence, and in 
your absence. 

rex: *patron', as in Ep. i. 17, 20 and 43. Juv. i. 136, 
V. 14, 161 (with Mayor's note). 

38. audlstl, *you have been addressed ', Ep. I. 16, 17, 
Sat. II. 6, 20: the Greek aKo\)€i.v^ imitated by Milton P. L. iii. 7 
* or hear^st thou rather pure ethereal stream '. 

8». Bi possuin: Roby § 1755, S. G. § 747. reponere=re- 
signare. 

^ 40. Telemachus : Hom. Od. iv. 601 tTirouj 5' e/j ^ieaKtjv 
WK d^ofjLac, 605—7 ^ f *lQdK-Q oHr dp dpbfioi evpies oHre ti 
Xei/M^. alylpoTos Kal fiaWov itrqparos liriropoTOio. ov ydp tis 
vtfiia» IrinJXaroj ou3* evXeifMup. patientis, supported by much 
better MSS. than sapientis, and confirmed by Homer's epithets 
roXvrXas, To\vT\i^fi(av, Ta\aalfppuy, 

42. spatiifl, i.q. ffrddiov, "Dox. airddiov (cp. Curt. Et. I. 
337) * couises' : Verg. G. i. 513, Ep. i. 14, 9, etc. 

48. Atzlde: cp. Sat. 11. 3, 187 Atridd.vetas curf Roby 



142 HORATI EPISTULAE. 

§ 473, S. G. § r5o. tlW seems to go equalljr witli apfa and 
reUnqnam. 

44. regla of Rome as the princeps urbiufn (Carm. IV. 3, 
13), the domina (Carm, iv. 14, 44), not merely "* magnificent ' 
as in Carm. 11. 15, 1. 

46. vacnum: q). Ep. ti. 4, 81 quod vacuas desumpsit Atke- 
nas: *quiet', free from disturbance, not 'desolate* as vacuae 
Acerrae in Verg. G. ii. ««5. 

Imbelle, * peaceful * : in Sat ii. 4, 34 the epithet molU applied 
to Tarentum has reference to its reputation for efifeminate luxury, 
whicfa can hardly be denoted faere. 

46 — 98, A story will shaw how ill-suited gifis often bring^ 
rum te the recipient, 

46. Fhillppiis, L. Marcius (cons. B. c. pt), an orator distin- 
guisfaed for his energy and biting wit. Cp. Cic. de Orat. iil. i, 
4 homini et vehemmti et diserio et imprimis forti ad resistendum^ 
Philippo: Brut. 47, 173 (there was in Philippus) summa liber^ 
tas in oratione^ multae facetuxe:,.An altercando cum cUiquo 
aculeo et maledicto facetus* He was an adherent of Sulla in the 
civil wars. ftirtts refers to his boldness in oratory, not in war, 
in which he won no distinction. Cp. Liv. xxi. 4 ubi quid 
fortiter et strenue agendum esset. 

octavam drciter horam, i.e. between t and 1 p.m. (not, 
as Orelli, between 2 and 3). Philippus had had a long moming's 
work: Martial (iv. 8) sa^rs in quintam varios extendit Roma 
labores : sexta quies lassis^ septima finis erit. After the work 
of the day followed exercise and the bath: it was only the 
unemployed who could dine as early as the eighth hour: cp. 
Ep* !• 5» 3. and see below v. 71. 

48. Carlnas, a quarter (vicus) lying chiefly in the ^th regi^f 
of Rome, on that part of the Esquiline Mount, towards the 
West or South-West, which in earlier times was called the 
M. Oppius, above the Subura. Some said tfaat its name was 
derived from the fact that viewed from the Palatine it bore some 
resemblance to the keel of a ship {carina), others that it 
was called so from naval decorations. The Sacra Via com- 
menced at the Streniae sacellum in the Carinae, and Philippus 
would have gone along this road from the Forum to his house. 
The Carinae was a fashionable quarter (cp. Verg. viii. 361 
lautis...Carinis) where Q Cicero had a house, and also Pom- 
peius, Tiberius, and others. nlmtnm dlBtare : the farthest part 
of tfae Carinae can faardly have been more than half a miie 
from the Forum. 

49. u« alimt, * as the story goes ', Ep. i. 6, 40; 17, r8. 



Bk. L Ep. VII.] NOTES. 143 

M. adzMratn : all Keller^i MSS. have this fonn, not tibta' 
sum, which is not only badly supported but incorrect, for h^mo 
adraditttry barba airaditttr : ad is here intensive (Roby, § 1834, 
S. G. § 801) 'closely shaven', but as a man who has just beoi 
^iaven is closely shaven, we may take it, if we please, here 
as=r«v#M rasum with Orelli, without seeking (with Yonge) 
for any precise parallel. The word seems to apply to the beard 
only, not, as some take it, to the head, comparing £p. i. 18, 7 
where the connexion is quite different. 

umlyra, *booth', as in Greek (r«rt<l for ffKr^vfi. The booth 
was empty, because the busier customers had been trimmed 
earlier in the day ; the man was sitting, leisurely paring his own 
nails, a duty generally undertaken by the barber (cp. Plaut. 
Aul. 310 qmn ipse pridem tonsor unguis dempserat, collegit^ 
omnia abstulit praesegmina^ Mart iii. 74), and his comfortable 
repose attracted the interest of Philippus. There is nothing 
to show (as Macleane supposes) that *he was jealous, and 
resolved to spoil his independence, if he could ' : v. 74 certainly 
does not prove this. 

62. non laeYe=ov ffKoimi the adverbial form is not found 
elsewhere. Demetrius was the xxsMdl pedisequus of Philippus. 

53. nnde domo, *where he comesfrom*. Cp. Verg. viii. 
114 unde domo—vbdev olKodcp. Orelli says the word is fre- 
quently used in inscriptions to denote the town from which a 
man comes. 

64. quoYe patrono : a freedman had no father, in the eyes 
of the law, but his place was taken to a certain extent by his 
patronus. In the account brought back by Demetrius the men- 
tion of the name Menas (a Greek name contracted from Menodo- 
rusj like Hermas for Hermodorus, Demas for Demodorus (?) etc. 
cp. Moulton's Winer p. 128, Lightfoot on Coloss. iv. 12, 15) 
sufficed to show that he was a freedman; hence no further 
answer is given to this question, for Volteius must have been his 
patron. 

55. Volteinm : several of this-^<?wj are mentioned in history, 
and the name occurs on a Pompeian inscription, No. 1782 of 
the Corp. Inscr. Lat. Vol. iv.: esse is understood, and the fol- 
lowing accusatives are in apposition. 

56. inraeconem: v. 65 shows that he was not an ofBcial 
herald, but an auctioneer: cp. A. P. 419: Cic. de Nat. Deor. 
ill. 34, 84 hatc per praecontm vendidit. Mayor on Juv. vii. 6. 

slne crimine : for a preposition with its case serving as an 
adjective cp. Ov. Am. i. 3, 13 sine crimine mores^ Trist. iv» 10, 



-144 HORATI EFISTULAE. 

71 sine crimine convunx^ Cic. de Orat l. «3, 105 loqucLcitcUem 
Hne usu (note). 

notum properare *well known for working with energy': 
for the constniction cp. Sil. Ital. xii. 330 Delius avertet pro- 
piora pericula vates Troianos notus semper minuisse labores» 
This is an instance of Horace*s free use of the infinitive (cp. 
Ritter on Carm. i. i, 18 or Wickham's Appendix ii.) and is 
better than Orelli's interpretation, which places a comma after 
notum and takes it absoluiely. Bentley inclines, though with 
doubt, to the reading sine crimine natum, but, besides having 
very shght MS. support, this is ill suited to a freedman sifie 
patre. — loco *at the right time*, not quite (as Yonge) ^rav tvxv> 
but rather iy Kcupf. Cp. Carm. IV. 12, 28, Ter. Ad. 216, Roby 
§1172, S. G. §488. 

cessare *taking holiday*: cessare otiari et iucunde vivere 
Comm. Cniq. Ep. i. 10, 46, ii. 2, 183 &c. 

68. parvis *humble' like himself,— lare certo 'ahouse of 
his.own'; he is not like Maenius in Ep. i. 15, 28. Bentley's 
suggestion curto would be redundant after tenui censu. 

69. ludls: sc. scaenicis et circensibus: these were held only 
on days of general holiday, so the limitation post decisa negotia 
is not needed in this case. 

campo, sc. Martio: Carm. i. 8, 4, Sat ii. 6, 49, Ep. i. 
II, 4. The usual time for exercise in the campus was the eighth 
hour: the amusements there practised were running, jumping, 
wrestling, boxing, spear-throwing, riding, swimming in the 
Tiber, and ballplaying. 

60. Bdtarl, a good instance of the reflexive deponent *to 
make myself informed', Roby, § 734, 14 19: the word is not 
used in good prose. 

61. non sane = ob toi^v, but in both cases the question has 
been raised whether the negative is strengthened or weakened 
by the added particle. The former seems to be the case : cp. 
Cope's Gorgias App. ii,, Cic. de Orat. ii; i, 5 (note), de Off. 
II. 2, 5 haudsane intellego: Ep. ii. i, 106, Sat. il. 3, 138. Hence 
we must reject Orelli's vix as an equivalent, 

62. benigne : cp. r. 16. 

63. neget, *is he to refuse me?* Roby S. G. § 674. 
ImprobUB *the impudent fellow', from the point of view of 
Demetrius. We need not, with Orelli, try to weaken the force 
of the epithet by referring to our coUoquial use of words like 
*wretch , or 'rascal'. 

64. mane, * next morning '. 



"3TTT ^ 
Bk. I. Ep. Vn.] NOTES. V, ^ - - . , ~ , ^M 

66. tiuloato: the cumhrous tc^ was seldom wom hj the 
poorer dasses at Rome, except on ceremonial occasions. Tac. 
Dial. 7 volgus imperitum et tunicatus hic populus. Augustus 
was annoyed at the disuse of the national dress, and forbade the 
citizens to appear in the forum or circus without the toga 
<Suet. Aug. 40). In the country it was still less used: Juv. 
III. 171 pars magna Italiae est...in quo nemo togam sumit 
nisi mortuus (cp. Mayor'8 note); Mart. X. 47, 5 toga rara; 
51. 6 tunicata quies. 

Bcralia, * odds and ends *, the connexion commonly asserted 
with the equivalent Greek ypvri} is doubtful: cp. Vani^ek 
p. 210 and 1121. Scruiator : scruta :: chiffonier : chiffon* 

66. occupat= 0^0^61, comes upon him before he sees him. 
pirior: the inferior would naturally be the first to offer a salu- 
tation; cp. Mart. iii. 05, i nunquam dicis *av£\ sed reddisy 
Ncuvole^ semper.,.cur hoc expectes a me, rogo^ Naevole^ dicas^ 
namputo, nec melior^ Naevole, nec prior es* 

67. esciisare *began pleading...as his reason'. Cic Phil. 
IX. 4, 8 excusare morbum. 

mercexmaria : all good MSS. here (as usually) give the nn^ 
where the first « represents the assimilated d of merced^ the 
second a suffix -on: cp. Roby § 942, i. The meaning therefore 
cannot be (as Macleane says), *the bonds of buying and selling*, 
which would involve no merces, but his salaried duties, *hireling 
bonds': cp. Sat. i. 6, 86 sipraeco parvas,.,mercedes sequerer» 

68. domTim yeniBset, for the morning salutatio, which 
would be expected firom an inferior after the compliment of sucl^ 
an invitation, 

6». proTldisset: cp. Plaut Asin. 447 non hercle te provide- 
rem: quaeso ne vitio vortas ; Ter. Andr. 183 erus est^ nequepro- 
videram. Bic.si 'on condi^ion that* Roby § 1571. 

70. ut libet ' as you please ', i.e. if you wish it. 

72. diceiida...tacenday i.e. whatever came into his head, 
with no suggestion of blame, as in Demosth. de Cor. § 157 kcI 
^o^s ^cL Kol dpprjra dvopLa^tav» There is a similar asyndeton in 
fanda nefanda (CatuII. LXIV. 405); cp. Cic. Tusc. V. 39, 114, 
where there is a series of sudi contrasts. In Pers. IV. 5 the 
phrase is used quite differently : see Gildersleeve's note or Con- 
ington. 

73. dlmittitur 'is allowed to go home.' OreIli's notion 
that Mena needed a kindly hint that it was time for him to go is 

, not required. Like all the compounds of mitto^ dimitto often 
* means to allow to go, rather than to send. 

W. H. 10 



146 HORATI EPISTULAE. • 

74. ^wnOdsosai^opertum in £p. 1. 16, 51. plMlf: the par- 
ticle of comparison is omitted, and the metaphor is incorporated 
with ths mam dause, as often: cp. £p. 1. 1, 3. 

75- certns 'regular', one who could be relied upon : Bent- 
ley*s sucgestion of serusy as in Sat. ii. 8, 33, * commg in at a 
moment^notice to fiU up a gap', is quite needless. 

76. mra, * estates*, has the construction of rus : cp. Verg. 
Aen. I. 2, Lavinaque venit litora, 

IndlctU Latinls. The feriae Latinae were not statae but 
comeptivae^ Le. were held at a time fixed each year by the con- 
suls, ahd proclaimed by z:praeco, Until they had held this fes- 
tival on the Alban Mount, the consuls were not allowed to 
leave Rome (Liv. xxi. 63). The festival was made the occasion 
for a general holiday, and was always accompanied by a iusti* 
(ium,- ^o that Philippus had no legal business to keep him in 
the city. Mommsen Hist. i. 41 — 42» 

77« impofdtas maimlB, not ' on horseback^ in which case 
the plural (which some editors hav& explained as for uni ex 
mannis) would barely be justifiable; but in the carriage drawn 
by manni, as in Carm. iii. 17, 7. Orelli quotes Ov. Pont. III. 
4, 100 Jilius et iunctisy ut prius^ ibit eguis, where however iunctis 
determines the meaning of the phrase more clearly : as in Verg. 
Aen. XII. 736 cum prima in prodia iunctos conscendebat equos. 
In Verg. Aen. ix. 777 (quoted by Lewis and Shprt for the-use of 
equi for a chariot) there is nothing to point to the singular force. 
But cp. Ov. Her. II. 80 in^ue capistrcUis tigribus alta sedet of the 
car of Bacchus drawn by tigers. Homer has often firiroi in this 
sense, e.g. II. v. 13, tw ij^v d<f> XirTouVf 46 tviruv imprjiroiJkepoift 
X. 330 /ct^ /ctijy ro(S Ixxouruf wrip ixoxvoenu dtXXot. 

mamil 'were small Gallic horses [*cobsT famous for svnA- 
ness and evidently in great demand at Rome for use in hamess.* 
Munro on Lucret. III. 1063 currit agens mannos ad tnllam praeci- 
pitantes: cp. Ov. Am. ii. 16, 49 rapientibus esseda mannis ; but 
they were also used for riding; cp. Auson. Ep. viii. 7 vei cele- 
rem mannum vel ruptum terga veredum conscendas^ propere dum- 
modo iam venias^ though apparently only in an emergency. I 
cannot find the authority on which Forcellini (followed by Orelli) 
defines a mannus as 'animal ex equo et asina natum*. 

Sablnimi : the shortness of the holiday (six days) preyented 
Philippus from visiting any of the sea-side retreats in Campania. 
arvmn caelnmque, i.e. the fertility of the soil, and the pleasant 
climate. Probably the praeco had rarely been able to leave 
Rome ; for as a rule a Sabine farm was not much valued : cp. • 
Carm. 11, 18, 14 and Ellis on Catull. XLiv. 2. 



Bk. L Ep. VII.] NOTES. 147 

79. reqviem 'recreation' (Cic. de Am. 15, 51). xlsiis 
'amusement' (Sat, ii. 3, 107). nndlqae *from any source'» 
qaoquo^ modo. 

diu&...doiiat *by giving him*: dum is used with an inten- 
tional n^igenee in tviro slightly varying senses. septem ees- 
tertla^ at thls time wortfa about ^^'^o. 

88. nlttdo 'trim townsman': Martin 'dapper cit*. 

84. Oepat, cp. Sat. I. 3, 13, reges atque tetrarchos^ omnia 
tnagna^ loquens : *has nothing but furrows and vineyards on his 
lips'.' Cp. Carm. i. 18, 5; Cic. de Orat il. 12, 94 (note); Cic. 
ad Att. IX. 13, I mera scelera loquuntur. 

praeparat nlmos, i.e. for vines, which were trained to grow 
up them, as still in Italy : cp. Carm. II. 15, ^ plcUanusque caelebs 
(whicfa could not be used for this purpose, becaiise of its broad 
and shady leaves) evincat ulmos: £pod. II. 10, adulta viiium 
propagine alteu maritai populos : Verg. Georg. IL 361 summas^u» 
sequi tabulata per ulmos, Here Mena is represented as pruning 
the tabulata or tiers of branches by removing intermediate 
boughs and superfluous twigs. *The trees were planted in rows, 
forty feet asunder, if the land between them was tiUed for com 
(as was usually the case), otherwise twenty feet; the distance 
between the trees in the row was to be twenty feet. The trees 
as they grew were to be pruned, so that the first seven or eight 
fect of their stem might be free from branches. Above that 
beight the branches on each side were to be formed into tabtdata 
or stories, three feet asunder, and not in the same plane, on 
which the vines might be trained. The vine was to be planted a 
Ibot and a half from the tree. Colum. v. 7, de Arb. 16, Plin. 
XVII. «3 [199-^03]' Keightley on Vergirs Georgics p. 351. 
Pliny adds nobilia vind non nisi in arbustis gigni and sexto anno 
maritantur. 

86. etndilB dat. as. in Quinct. IX. 3, 73 immori legationi. 
Ep. II. 1, 82. 

87. mentita: Carm. iii. i, ^o fundus mendax^ iii. t6, 30 
segetis certa fides; Sil. Ital. vii. 160 of the Failernian district 
ttofes ea et nunquam tellus mtntita colono. 

enectos: Priscian ix. 6, 34 quotes this line ai>d compares 
Livy (xxi. ^i) fame frigore^ illuvie squalore enecti and Cic. Tusc. 
I. 5, 10 enectus siti Tantalus (in a quotation from an unknown 
poet), adding * sed proprie necatus ferro, nectus vero alia vi per- 
emptus dicitiu:*. Neue (Formenlehre ii. 554) gives other in- 
stances of enectus but quotes only Pliny for enecatus, Ritter's 
notice that Mena worked his ox to death in trying to make up 
for his losses is a little farfetched : it is simpler to suppose that 
the soil of tfae farm was stony. 

10 — 2 



148 HORATI EPISTULAE. 

88. media de nocte: Rob^ § 1911, S. G. § 813 {dy, he will 
not wait for the daylight before he carries out his impatient 
resolve. calMtllimi, usually of a riding horse, as in Sat. i. 6, 59, 
Ep. I. 14, 43, Juv. X, 60 (cp. III. 1x8), but here probably of a 
cart-horse, as in £p. 1. 18, 30. Mena is not likely to have kept a 
*cob', as some render it. 

91. dnnui = duripatims laboris ; cp. £p. 1. 1 6, 70. attetiu 
jid rem (Ter. Ad. 834): cp. Sat» ii. 6, 8a asper et attentus 
quaesitis* 

92. pol: £p. II. 9» 138. This expression was used both 
by men and women (Gell. XI. 6, Macrob. i. 12, 28) though the- 
latter preferred as a rule mecastor^ probably because of the 
resemblance in sound to castum and castitas (Preller, Rom* 
Myth. p. 653), Terence never uses this form, but in Plautus 
jt is common. 

'' 98. poiiere=imponere: cp. Sat. l. 3, 41 isti errori nomen 
nnrtus posuisset honestum : so TiBivai 6yofM, The inferior MSS. 
give dicere, which is an explanatory gloss. Cp. Plaut. Pers. 
IV. 4, 25 nunc et illum miserum et me miseram aequom est 
nominarier, 

94. qupd, Roby § 2214, S. G. § 871, 5. Cp. Verg. Aen. 
II. 141 quod te per superos...oro with Conington's note: ib. 
VI. 363. Ter. Andr. 289 quod ego per hanc te dextram oro 
ct genium tuom (Wagnerj. For the genius or tutelary spirit 
cp. Ep. II. 2, 187, and see Preller, Rom. Myth. p. 567: *the 
genius as such is always good, and the source of the good 
gifts and hours which brighten the life of the individual man, 
and also the source of his physical and mentai health, in a 
word, his good spirit: hence the oaths and conjurings by one's 
own genius or that of another, in which latter case along with 
the genius of a friend, his right hand, i.e. his honour, his eyes, 
i.e. the light of his body, or his Penates, i.e. the sanctities of 
his house and home, are often named \ 

96, qui semel aspezlt. Horace, after his fashion, sums 
up the lesson of the foregoing story in brief. The reading semel 
appears to be found only in the cod, Mart, of Cruquius: all 
other MSS. have the meaningless simulj which has come in 
from v. 90. It is possible that aspexit is due to a like blunder 
on the part of a copyist : in any case it is an awkward repetition, 
especially as the word is used in a somewhat different sense. 
But cp. circumdata in Sat. i. 4, 96, 99, accedere, Sat. Ii. 3, 
'49» I54» Keller conjectured, but has now withdrawn, agncvit, 
Cp. Ep. I. 17, 4. 

98. Tenmi, «right % Sat. 11. 3, «la, £p. i. n, 13. So often 



Bk. I. Ep. VIII.] NOTES. 149 

in Livy. pede: apparently only a variation o£ the idea in 
modiUo^ ' foot-rule '• 



EPISTLE VIII. 

This Epistle was written in B. c. 20, and is addressed to the 
Celsus Albinovanus who is mentioned in £p. i. 5, 15 as one 
of tbe suite accompanying Tiberius in his expedition to Armenia. 
It may possibly have been sent at the same time as £p. iii. 
The tone is curiously self-reproachful^ it is not likely to have 
been adopted by Horace simply in order to relieve his own 
Teelings: such a view would be inconsistent with the relations 
which seem to have existed between Horace and Celsus, who 
was probably young enough to have been his son. It is more 
likely assumed to prepare for, and at the same time to soften, the 
kindly waming to a friend whose pride in his advancement at 
court seemed to require a check. 

1 — ^13. Bear my greetings^ Muse, to Celsus^ and ifhe asks of 
tne^ tell him that I am but ill content with my aum temper^ sloth 
andjickleness, 

1. gaudere et bene rem gerere, * greeting and good wishes ' 
TzxaXp€af KoX ev xpaTrewi cp. Plaut. Trin. 772 — 3 salutem ei 
nuntiet verbis patris: illum iene gerere rem et valere et vvvere. 
Perhaps there is here a reference also to his duties as secretary 
(scriba) : ' wishes for his success in his new office \ AlliiiiOTaiio: 
an instanee of an agnomen added to a cognomeny as in the 
case of the poet Pedo Albinovanus: the origin of the name is 
obscure; Ritter sug^ests Albium Intimalium (now Ventimiglia) 
in Liguria as a possible place of origin. The name was borne 
by a r, Tullius sixty years before this in the civil wars (Appian, 
B.c. I. 63), and by a M. Tullius contemporary with Cicero 
(ad Quint. Fr. il. 3, 5). 

2. rogata, sc. a me 'at my request*. refer 'bear', as 
often with mandata etc, where re has the meaning not of 
*back*, but of execution of a duty; cp. the similar use of i.Tro' 
didwfu; there is no reason to suppose this letter an answer to one 
from Celsus. oomitl: Mommsen (Hermes^ iv. p. 122) argues that 
eomes is used here merely as 'companion on a joumey', not tech- 
nically, as in £p. i. 3, 6. In v. 14 cohorti denotes the suite. 

8. quid agam: cp. Ov. Trist. i. i, 17 si quis quid agum 
forte requircU erit, vrvere me dices, salvum tamen esse negabis, 

mnlta et pultihra minaiitem, ' in spite of many fine pro- 
mises', not limited to literary work, but extending to the 
conduct of life generally. For the phrase see Sat. 11. 3, 9. 



iSo HORATI EPISTULAE. 

4. grandb: Cann. iil. i, ap non vtrberiUai grandim 

vineae. 

5. <^Ieamye: supported by good MSS. against the vulgate 
oUamquCy which Bentley first ' expelled. Either would stand, 
but the former is better. aestHB, Carm. i. 17, 18. momorderlt, 
Sat. II. tS, 45. 

6. longlXKiiiiB. Cattle were driven from farms in the moun- 
tains to the * distant ' pastures of Apulia and Lucania in the 
summer-time, as is still the custom. Cp. Epod. i. 37, 18, Carm. 
I- 3'. 5- 

8. Telim, reported reason afler dic» 

10. cnr, *because*: Carm. I. 33,- 3 neu decanies etegos eur 
tibi iunior laesa praeniteat Jide: Cic. ad Att. III. 13, 2 me saepe 
accusas, cur hunc nteum casum tam graviter feram : so in Ver. 
m. 7, 16 primum illtid reprehendo et accuso^ cur in re tam 
vetere quicquam noin feceris, In all these instances ^asking 
why * perhaps givcs the true force better. 

areere : the construction is as in Ep. I. i, 31, A. P. 64. 

12. Tentosas, *fickle ^ the wind*. Ep. i. 19, 37. Eyen 
Bentley does not attempt to defend thc reading of thevet. 
Bland. venturus, though supported by some of his own older 
MSS., as ajgainst the express testimony of Servius on Aen. iv. 
124, which is older than any of our MSS. It is evidently only 
the correction of a grammarian who thought that Tibure must 
mean *from Tibur*; and is another indication that in some 
places at all events the famous Blandiaian MSS. give us a 
clever recension, rather than a genuine tradition. 

nbar : Horace frequently represents himself as staymg «t 
Tibur; and Suetonius (Vit. Horat.X says vixit plurimum in 
secessu ruris sui Sabini aut Tiburtini^ domnsque eius ostenditur 
circa. Tiburni luculum^ I think it quite impossible with Orelli 
to Utoderstand such passages as Carm. IV. q, 30 — 31, iv. 3, 10 
as referring to Horace's Sabine farm, which must nave been at 
least \i miles from Tibur (cp. also Carm. iil. 4, «r — 14): 
Carm. Ii. 18, 14 would at most prove that seven or eight years 
before the date of this epistle he had only one estate in the 
country, and (especially if we accept Madvig's interpretation of 
scUis as abl. of satc^ would not tell at all against his owner^p 
of a domus elseWherei which would not bring him any income. 
Ritter's notion that a house at Tibur was given to Horace by 
Augustus as a reward for the carmen saeculart in B.c. 17 is 
ihp^enious, but has little support. I do not see why we should 
reject the clear testimony of Suetonius: Horace does not de- 
scribe his house at Rome any more than that at Tibur, but 



Bk. I. Ep. IX.] NOTE& 151 

na one doubts that he possessed on6. Itseems bfettfer to jJunc- 
tuate after tlian before ventosut% in spite of'Ritter's pleading for 
the latter. 

^ 1» — ^17. Tf all is weU with him, bid him hear his fortune 
vdsely, ifhe wishes tg retain our regard, 

18. Tem gearat et se, *he prospers in his duties and ia 
himselT. 

14. Sarenl, at this time 23 years of age. ut, cp. Ep. i. 

16. snbinde *theh'/ not as in Sat. il. 5, 103 'from time to 
time'. The word is often used in both senses by Liyy : cp. viii. 
27, I aliud subinde bellum with IX. 16, 4 itaque subinde exsecun- 
tur legati: cp. Kiihnast Liv. Synt. p. 357 : but is not used by 
any earlier author. 

17. ut tu, etc. The tendency to vanity, which seems to 
have exposed Celsus to the danger of publishing poems with 
little originality in them (Ep. I. 3, 15), here called for a friendly 
waming, strangely miiiunder^tood by some editor^, who have 
found in it a serious censure. 



EPISTLE IX, 

Septimius, on whose behalf this charming letter of introduc- 
tion was addressed tb Tiberius Claudius, was undoubtedly the 
firiend who is greeted with so much afTection in Carm. U. 6. 
The Comm. Crua. says that his name was Titius Septimiusj and 
identifies hini witn the Titius of Ep. i. 3, 9. This is highly im- 
probable, for the combination of two gentile names was at this 
fime unknown. There is no other reason, besides this assumed 
identity, to supj)ose that the occasion of this letter was the expe- 
dition of Tibenus to the East ; and the omission of the nam^ of 
Septimius in Ep. i. 3 makes it improbable; domo (v. .i.) ^nd 
gregis (v. 13) point rather to ah introduction of the usual kmd. 
There b nothing to determine the date, except that it islikely 
to have been before rather than after B.c. 20. 

1 — ^18. Septimius ofcourse knows better than 1 do, Claudius, 
what influence I have with you. I have tried to excuse myself 
but Iwouid rather appear forward than selflshy and therefore I 
venture to introduce him toyou as worthy of your friendship, 

1. atmirum 'of course', used by Horace ironically in Sat 
!!• if 106; but not in Sat. ii. 3, 120, Ep. i. 14, 11 ; 15, 42, ii. 
2, 141. (L. and S. are misleading here.) Lucretius and Cicero 
seem always to use the word seriously : Livy and Tacitus have 



152 HORATI EFISTULAE. 

the iromcal force. Cp. Hand Tursell. iv. 203 ff. vniui 'is 
the only map who^ not quite * better than all others' as in Sat 
II. 6, 57 and often with superlatives. 

8. scUloet *you must know', i.e. just fancy! Sat. Ii. % 
140. tradttra *introduce', as in Sat i. 9, 47 hunc hominem si 
velles tradere: Ep. I. 18, 78; Cic. ad Fam. vii. 17, 2 sic eiU 
eommendavi et tradidi^ ut gravissime diligentissimeque potui. 

4. mente *judgment', i.e. approvaL Heronls *of a man 
like NeroS more emphatic than tt*a, 

legentis bonesta: cp. Tac. Ann. vi. 51 of Tiberlus egregius 
vita famaque^ quoad privatus vel in imperio sub Augusto 
fuit, Ep. I. 3, 6. The discretion of Tiberius was so con- 
spicuous at an early age that he was called 6 vpeafiirrnsi cp. 
Philo Leg. ad Caium § 26: vpds rb a-efiuoTepSp re Kcd aiffTijporc' 
po» axi^ov iK vpiiyrtii i/Xiic/as iviKXLvCoi etxcv, Horace shows 
admirable tact in the manner in which he adapts his kn- 
guage at once to the elevated tastes and the reserved temper 
of Tiberius. 

lionesta 'all that is vhluous': cp. Sat. I. 6, 63 qui turpi 
secernis honestum: the expression is somewhat more general, 
and therefore more compUmentary, than if the masculine had 
been used, as in Sat L 6, 51 cautum dignos adsumere: cp. 
Carm. i. 34, 14 insignem attenuat deus, obscura promens, We 
find however prima virorum (Luer. i. 86 'a harsh expression' 
Munro), summa ducum Atrides (Ov. Am. i. 9, 37). 

6. valdlns 'better*, A. P. 321 valdius oblectat, 

8. mea mlnora, i.e. my influence as less than it really was. 

9. disslmillator, like the etptav who ioKct dpveurBai rd vrap' 
XOVTCL rj iXdma voUlv (Ar. Eth. IV. 3). 

opla * power', as in Verg. Aen. I. 601 non opis est nostrae, 

commodns ' willing to oblige'. 

10. maiorls oalpae, i.e. selfishness. 

11. frontis nrDanae, the cool assurance of a man accus- 
tomed to society (Ep. i. 15, 27), as opposed to the pudor rusti- 
tus (cp. Cic. ad Fam. v. 12, i deterruit pudor quidamj>aene 
subrusiicus), frons never (like os^ e.g. Cic. de Orat. I. 38, 175) 
carries in itself the meaning of boldness or impudence, but 
derives this force from the adjective: cp. Carm. ii. 5, 15 pro- 
terva fronte: Quint. ii. 4, 16 mverecunda frons, praemia^ not 
'prizes* but *privileges' or advantages. Cic. Tusc. v. 7^ 10 
Xerxes refertus omnibus praemiis donisque fortunae: descendi 
' I have made up my mind to avail myself ' with a certain Botion 



Bk. LEp.X.] NOTES. 153 

of reluctnnce ! Cic. ad Fam. viii. 8, 9 aiteram utram a'd condi- 
cionem descendere volt Caesar; Liv. xxiil. 14, 3 cui ultimum 
prope desperatae reipublicae auxilium.,.descendit ; Verg. Aen. V. 
782 preces descendere in omnes, Hence there is no reference what- 
ever to the arena (as Macleane supposes), as though it could be 
regarded as the summit of impudence for Horace to introduce a 
firiend. 

12. deposltnm laiidas pudorem * yon praise me for putting 
my blushes by'. 

18. tni gregls 'as one of your company*, not ^cohors 
•fittite', but much more general. Cp. Cic. de Orat. ii. 6a, «53 
gregales : ad Fam. Vll. 33, i gregalibus illiSt quibus te piaudente 
vigilamus amissis. For the gen. cp. Carm. iil. 13, 13 Jies 
nobilium tu quoque foHtium, Madvig § 384, obs. 3 quotes Cic. 
pro Caec. 35, 103 Ariminenses^ quos quis ignorat duodecim colo- 
niarum fuisse? Cp. Roby § 1290. S. G. § 520. 

Costem txmimiqiie. a conventional phrase of commendation 
like JcaXor Kdya$6if * true-hearted worthy man': cp. Sat. Ii. 
5, 102. 



EPISTLE X. 

Aristius Fuscos was an intimate friend of Horace, addressed 
by him in Carm. i. 22, and mentioned also in Sat. i. 9, 61 ; 10, 
83, in the former case as playing a mischievous joke upon him, 
in the latter among other friends as cptimus, Some MSS. here 
have the heading Ad Aristium Fuscum Grammaticum^ and 
Acron on Sat. I. 9, 61 says hic fuit grammaticus illius temporis 
doctissimus: here he says he was a writer of tragedies, while 
Porphyrion calls him a write^ of comedies. There is mention 
also oiAristii Fusci grammatici liber ad Asinium Pollionem (cp. 
Orelli ad Sat. 1. 1.). It is clear that he was a literary man, and 
from this epistle it appears that he did not share Horace*s love 
for the countrv and its pursuits. There is nothing to determine 
the date of this epistle, but it may well come within the limits 
assigned to the others in this book, i.e. between B.C. 33 and 
B.C. ao. 

1 — ^ll. Greeting to my friend Fuscus^ so like me in every- 
thingf except that heis a l&ver ofthe toram^ I ofthe country ; for 
Ican now only enjoy a simple life, 

1. taliemiis, plund for the singular, as so commonly in 
Cicero : it is less common to have a plural substantive : but cp. 
Cic. ad Att. I. i, 3 excurremus legctti ad Pisonem: Roby § 3398, 
Si G. § 904. 



154 HORATI EPISTULAJ^. 

8. disslmnes : to take this (with Kri^er) as ' nnlike Him% 
still referring to Horace alone, wfaile gemelli \s a true plural, 
is very harsh. It is much better to punctuate more foUy at 
aniaiortSn 

at cetera has not so much support from the better MSS. as 
ad cetera; but the latter is so evidently the grammatical correc-^ 
tion of a cop^dst, who did not see the construction of ceterd (*as 
to all other things', as below in 1. 50; cp. Carm. iv. 1, 60; 
Verg. Aen. iii. 594 at cetera Graius) that all good recent editors: 
have without hesitation adopted it.. The >punctuation of these 
lines is very uncertain. Bentley has amatores ;,„dissimiles :.,^->. 
animis :—pariter: columhi^ Orelh amatores,„,dissimiles^.,janimis 
.« .pariter. . .columbi, Munro again amatores, . . dissimUeSy . . . animis^ 
.^^pariter:...columbiy Kriiger amatores^,,.dissimiles:...animis...^ 
pariter.,.coiumbi: Keller agrees with Munro*s view, which is vir- 
tually the same as Bentley^ It is clearly better (i) to connect 
dissimiles with gemelli rather than cunatores, (2) to take columbi 
With nidum setvas rather than adnuimus, Orelli unnatuially refers 
adnuimus io the actioQ of the pigeons rostra amaftiissi$ne eonsg^ ' 
renteSf which was called columbari, Translate * A lover of tbe, 
country, I send my greeting to Fuscus, a lover of the «ty. In 
this one matter, to be sure, much unlike, but in «H else all but 
twins, with the hearts of brothers; whatever one denies, ttie 
other denies too» and we.assent. alike: we are like a pair of 
pigeons Ibng attached and well koown to each other, but you 
keep your nest, I praise &c,' 

paane, a much better orthography than pene, which Munro 
prints here, apparently only by oversight. Cp. .Carm. ii. 13, 
31 ; Sat. I. 1, loi; 5^ 72; Ellendt on Cic. de Orat i. 3, lo. 
C. I. L. I. 1009» 

6. ▼etull: Fuscus appears on intimate terms with Horace 
in Sat. I. 9, which must have been written about 15 years before 

this epistle. 

7. droumlita 'overspread': the unusual expression for »V- 
cumdata seems intended to suggest the smooth softness of tlie 
moss. , 

8. quld qaaeTlB? *in short', a very common phrase, espe- 
cially in Cicero's letters, when a writer drops details and makes 
a general statement : cp. Cic. ad Att. ii. i, 2 with Bo6t*s note. 
It is not quite as Orelli says *uItro tibi omnia dicam': but rather 
* why ask about each point?' The rendering in the Globe edi- 
tion * do you ask "whi^? * is a very curious slip. 

regno ' I feel myself a king*. 

9. effertis; the authority for this form is toa strong to 



Bk. I. Ep. X.] r- NOTES. 155 

allow us to reject it, with s<Hiie good editors, as simply a gloss 
on fertis ; and the rhythm, which would be decisive in Vergil, 
carries far less weight in Horace. Cp. Cic. £p. IX. 14. i t€ 
summis laudibus ad caelunt ixtulerunt» 

mmore secimdo *with loud applause', lit. *with approving 
cries*. The phrase seems to have been a poetical commbn- 
place: Macrobius (Sat. vi. i, 37) in iUustration of Verg. Aen. 
VIII. 90 ergo iter inceptum peragunt rumore secundo quotes from 
Sueius [of uncertain date] redeunt referunt rumore petita secundo; 
and Nonius (p. 444, 2) adds to the line from Vergil one from 
Ennius (Annal. yii.) populi rutnore secundo, and an example in 
prose from Fenestella, a later contemporary of Livy. Cp. Cic. 
de Div. I. 16, 29; Tac. Ann. Iii. 29. 

10. Uba/cakes* made of flour and milk or oil (Athen. lif. 
1*5 f. rXajcoOT kK ^dXaicTos iTpitop re Kcd fUXirot ^i» 'Pw/jtatoi \i^oy 
KdKoviri), and often spread with honey. Cato de R. Rust. 
LXXV. directs that they should J)e made of. pounded cheese, fine 
fiour,'and lui egg. - For the placenta {which is here identtcal 
with the lihum) he gives much more elaborate directions in 
c. Lxxvi. Placenta is a curious instance of a Greek loan-word 
(wXaKocPTCL acc.) transformed by popular etjrmology at an early 
stagc: cp. Hehn'Kulturpflanzen' p. 493, Mommseni. 206; libum 
is identical virith our ioaf and has lost an initial c, as that has 
lost an h (A. S. hldf) ; cp. Corssen Nachtr. p. 36. The priesfs 
slave ran away, because he .was tired of being fed on the 
sacrificial cakes. 

11. pane egeo: Horace has the ablative also in Carm. i. 22, 1 ; 
but the genitive eight times : in four other instances the word is 
used absolutely. Cicero has the ablative frequently, the geni- 
tive only in two doubtful instances (ad Att. vii. 22, 2 cp. Boot; 
ad Fam. IX. 3, i); Plautus, Sallust, Livy (twice; iHit JDore 
mwffly the ■hhiriwj, «ari iater «riteg ittve the geaitivc. 

IS— 21. ; There is ntt^ace better than the country for leading 
a life of simple c^nformtty with nature: thejclimate is sq milSj 
the herbage. sofragrant, the water sopure» . . 

13. coaTenlenter natnrae ; t.e. if we ar« to take the rule <^ 
the Stoics as our miide, which makes it the summum bonum 
ofwXoyou/iiuuts T^ ipvaei tv^i- this Cicero (de Off. iii. 3, 13) ex- 
plains to mean cum virtute congruere semper, cetera autem^ quae 
sfcundum naturam essent, ita legercj si ea virtuti non repug- 
narent. But probably Horace used the phrase in a looser 
fashion. 

18. pon^daaqiie domo : it is apparently only the rarity of the 
form doma for the dative — ^Neue Formenlehre i. 520 quotes it 



156 HORATI EPISTULAE, 

only from Cato (three time$) and an inscription — which.has led 
to the reading potundaque in the vet. Bland,^ although Neue 
thlnks the abktive .may possibly be defended by Tac. Ann. iii. 
19 is finis fuit ulciscenaa Germanici morte^ XIV. 4 prosequitur 
abeuntem artius oculis et pectori Aaerens, srve explenda stmula- 
tione seu etc. But this construction is too unnatural to be forced 
upon Horace without overwhelming authority, which there cer- 
tainly is not here. The thought is compressed, and, if expanded, 
would run somewhat thus, * and if the first thing to be done is to 
choose the suitable sphere, as you would first choose the site if 
you were building a house*. 

16. tepeant; of course the winters are not milder in the 
country than in town ; but Horace is thinking of his own country* 
hpuse, sheltered by hills from the colder winds. 

16. rabiem Oanls: the dog-star rises on July 20th, but 
hecomes visible only on July a6th. The sun enters the constel- 
lation Leo on July 23rd. 

momeiita: perhaps best taken as in Ep. t. 6, 4 of 'motions*, 
i.e. the celestial movements which bring the Sun near to thc 
Lion, which his keen rays are represented as stinging into a 
fury, thus causing intense heat. Others translate *time' during 
which Leo is passing, * infiuence ' or * attacks *. Conington rendeiS 
*Or when the Lion feels in every vein, The sun*s sharp thrill, 
and maddens with the pain*. Momentum means sometimes a 
motion, sometimes a moving force. 

18. 6iYiXLBLX=adrumpat. This is better than the v. L de- 
pel/at, both as better supported on the whole, and as a less 
obvious reading. Cp. Verg. G. III. 530 somnos ahrumpit cura : 
Ov. Am. II. 10, 19 amor somnos abrumpat. 

19. <det: the mosaic pavements, so well known to ns from 
the remains of Roman viUas (cp. Becker Gallus ii. 145 — 151), 
were often sprinkled with perfumes. libycto; the Numidian 
marble is often mentioned: e. g. Carm. il. 18, 4: cp. Plin. 
H. N. xxxvi. 8, 6. 

laplllls : 1000 distinct pieces of coloured marble have becn 
counted in a single square foot of one of the mosaics at Pompeii 
(Becker p. 249). 

20. vlds 'quarters' or 'streets' of the city. jAnmlnim: in 
the time of Horace water was brought into Rome by five or six 
large aqueducts (afterwards increased to fourteen), each supply- 
ing one large reservoir {castel/um). Sometimes leaden pipes 
ifistutae or tubultS were used instead of or within the water- 
channel (specus) ot the aqueduct ; but more co^monly they were 
employed to distribute the water from the castettum to the public 



Bk. L Ep. X.] NOTES, 157 

pools and fountains {lacus et salimtes)^ from' which water was 
fetched for domestic purposes (cp. Sat. i. 4, 37), or afterwards to 
castella pHvcUa, Cp. Martinus de Aquaeductibus Urbis Romae^ 
Becker Rom. Alt. i. pp. 701 — 708, or the excellent article on 
Aquaeductus by P. S. in the Dict. Ant. 

22 — 26. Even those who live in towns endeavour to imttat^ 
the charms o/the country : so powerful is nature, 

22. nempe *whyS quoting something which is universally 
admitted: cp. Sat. i. 10, i. Roby § 517, S.G. § 218. vailai 
*variegated', referring to the diversified colours of the marble, 
the marmor maculosum of Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 5; cp. Sen. 
Thyest. 646 immane tectum^ cuius auratat trabes variis columncu 
nobiles maculis ferunt^ Epist. 115, 8 nos [delectant] ingentiuti} 
maculae columnarum. Becker Gallus i. 36 mentions six difierent 
kinds of variegated marble in fashion at Rome, Numidian, 
Phrygian (or Synnadic), Taenarian, Laconian, Thessalian, and 
CarjTstian, 

lilTa, the nemus inter pulchra satum tecta of Carm. III. 10, 5 ; 
at the back of a Roman house there was very commonly a 
garden surrounded by a colonnade {peristylium) ; to this some 
have given the special name viridarium^ but it seems very doubt j 
ful whether the word was so restricted. Cp. Suet. Tib. Lx', 
Cic ad Att. 11. 3, 2 (where the viridaria are seen through the 
windows of the house), Petron. c. IX, etc. The silva belonging 
to the house of Atticus on the Quirinal (Com. Nepos Att. xiii. 2), 
to which Orelli refers, does not appear to have been within the 
building. 

23. quae proflpidt agros : it appears from Carm. iii. 29, 5 
that the town-house of Maecenas on the Esquiline had a view 
over the plain as far as Tibur and Tusculum. 

2^ ezpelles is found 'in all MSS. of any critical value* 
(Keller), and was shown by Bentley to be the true reading: 
Macleane does not notice it, even as a variant ! The tense seems 
to carry here the notion of an incomplete action, i. e. a fruitless 
endeavour. For the metaphor here used for violent and contu- 
melious ejection, cp. Catull. CV. 2 Musae furcillis praecipitem 
eiciunty where Eliis quotes diKpdis uBeTy from Ar. Pax 638 and 
Cic. ad Att. xvi. 2, ^furciUa extrudimur» 

25. mala fSEurtidia *perverse daintiness', fartim £p. 1. 1, 18. 

26 — 88. A knowledge of the truth^ indifference to fortune^ 
and contentment with a little are the true esseniials to happiness, 

26. ndonlo, etc. The very expensive true T^rrian or Sidonian 
pnrple was imitated by a dye extracted from a kind of lichen or 



158 HORATI EFISTULA^. 

litmus (now called archil or cudbear) : cp. Quint. xii. lo, 75 ut 
iana tincia fuco citra purpuras [i.e. without any admixture of 
the genuine purple] placet; at si contuleris Tyriae lacemaey 
conspectu melutris o&nuitur, ui Ovidius [Rem. Am. 707] ait, 
Aquinum was at this time a large and flourishing city, but there 
is nowhere else any reference to its dye-works. For purpura^ 
cp. Mayor's fuU note on Juv. i. 17. The stem of Sidon is 
always Sidon-, except once in Silius, but d is often found for 
metrical reasons in the adjective. oallidiui *as a connoisseur', 
Sat. II. 7, loi. ostro dative. 

88. propinsve medullli 'closer to his heart*, le. one 
which he will feel more deeply : propiiisye has far more support 
than propiusqucy and was rightly restored by Bentley : Macleane 
writes *I prefer -que'. 

80. pluB nlmio *quite too much', lit. mucb more than they 
should : nimio is the abl. of measure, and is used in the sense so 
common in comedy, = multo, So not only in a letter by Antonius 
(Cic. ad Att. x. 8, a) but five or six times in livy, e.g. i. «, 3 
tum nimio plus quam satis tutum esset accolis rem Iroianam 
crescere ratus^ II. 37, 4 nimio plus quam vellem nostrorum 
ingenia sunt mobilia, It is somewhat conversational, but cp. 
Carm. I. 18, 15; 33, i. 

81. QTiatieiit : Carm. iii. 3, 4 mente quatil solida. poaes, 
as in Sat. Ii. 3, i6ponendum aequo animoy £p. l. i, 10; 16, 35, 
Carm. iii. 10, 9. 

88. reges *princes*, i.e. the wealthy, as in Sat. 1. 1, 86, not, 
I think, as Orelli takes it, with a reference to the Stoic paradox. 

84. cervus equum : this familiar story is said to have been 
invented by Stesichorus, in order to wam the people of Himera 
not to place themselves in the power of Phalaris (Arist. Rhet. 
II. «o, 5). Bentley on Phalaris i. p. 106 oddly prefers the 
authority of Conon *a writer in Julius Caesar's time who gives 
Gelon as the name of the tyrant: but cp. Cope's note on 
Aristotle. 

86. mlnor = ^twv, as melior^ Kpelrruip, 

86. opes *help', so more commonly in the singular. 

87. Ticto ridens : I have followed L. Miiller and Munro in 
admitting this conjecture into the text, although Bentley's'words 
perhaps remain the fittest commentary; *illud victor violensm. 
mendo cubare facile sentio 5 medicinam tamen polliceri vix 
audeo'. Violens can hardly bear the sense which Ritter assigns 
to it *qui vim sive exitium hosti tulit'; still less can it express 
(as Mad^ne thinks) the struggle with which the horse won hi^ 



Bk.L Ep. X.] NOTES. 159 

victQry, 6f 'wbich the fable has no trace; and as Bentley shows 
no epithet to tnctar is really wanted. Haupt's victo ridem is an 
ideal emendation so far as the ductus litterarum goes, and 
answers to the phrase in Phaedrus (iv. 3» 5) where a like fable is 
told of the horse and the boar, quem dorso livans, it in Aosiem 
faetus» The horse may doubtless be permitted to laugh as a 
sign of triumph in fable. Bentley had already suggested victo, 
and the addition of the r is still more easily explained if the next 
ivord b^an with that letter. 

89. ° metaUls : a considerable portion of the Roman vectigaU^ 
was derived from mines in the provinces. Those in Italy were 
forbidden by a decree of the senate to be worked. Cp. Dict. Ant. 
p. 1184 b, Plin. N. H. XXXIII. 78. 

. 40. ^ improbiu 'in his greed : ' Tdhet has a great predominance 
of authority in its favour, and is not to be rejected for vehif 
sUnply on the ground of the preceding caret, nor need we regard 
it as assimilated to the following subjunctives. 

42. oUm of any indeiinite time, as in Sat. I. Xf 95 «/ pueris 
olim dant crustula blandi doctores, Plaut. Mil. a clarior pecm 
solis radii esse olim quam sudumst solent. 

43. uret *will galP, Ep. i. 13, 6; Prop. iv. (v.) 3, 23 num 
feneros urit lorica lacertos? so uri *to smart* in Sat. ii. 7, 58; 
Ep. i. 16, 47. As in Ep. i. i, 2; 7, 74, etc. the main thought 
and the comparison are blended in the form of the expression. 
If a man has a fortune too large for his position and needs, he 
will be led into extravagance and so ruined ; if he has too small 
a one, he will be pinched. 

44. laetns *if you are well pleased with your lot': Tlyes is 
the future after an expression, equivalent to a hypothetical clause, 
analogous to the subjunctives in Roby § 1534; but dlmlttes 
is equivalent to an imperative, Roby § 1589, S. G. § 665 (^). 

40. plnra cogrere, the last reproach, one would think, to 
which Horace was open. 



Ep. il 7, 57. 

. 48. tortam dlgna 8e<tnl...fimem: the general meaning of 
the metaphor is plain enough: its exact reference has been much 
disputed. Various commentators have thought of a prisoner led 
by his captor, an animal led to sacrifice, a rope wound round a 
windlass, a tow-rope, the *tug of war', or even of a dance (cp./i^ 
inter eas restim ductans scUtabis, Ter. Ad. 752, Spengel). As 
tortus h& a standing epithet of a rope (Verg. Aen. IV. 575; 
Ov. Mct. III. 679; Catull. LXiv. 235, Pers. v. 146), no special 
force need be assigned to it here : hence the first or second view 



i6o HORATI EPISTULAE. 

15 the simplest. Mr Reid writes : 'perhaps the line should be 
explained by Prop. iv (v) 3, «i digmor obliquofunem qui torqueat 
Ocnoy cutemusque tuam pascat^ cudle^ famem, Ocnus, etemally 
twisting the rope for the donkey to eat, was a favorite subject 
with painters, and even a remote allusion to it would be easily 
caught. In this case Horace has strongly personified pecunia, 
and says in efiect that it oftener represents tbe imperious donkey, 
which swallows up the labours of Ocnus, than the patient Ocnus 
who serves the donkey. This view is not free from objections, 
but every other interpretation leaves torium quite otiose • 

49. diotalMm, the epbtolary past imperfect, used from the 
point of view of the recipient, Roby § 1468, S. G. § 604. putre 
'crumbling': an inscription has been found referring to the 
restoration of this very temple, vetus]/a/^ dilapsamy by Vespasian ; 
and the ruins of the temple have been discovered by F. Belli ; 
cp. Bullet» delV Inst. 1857, p. 151 ff. 

Vaounae, the name of a Sabine |;oddess very variously 
identified. Acron quotes Varro as identifying her with Victoria 
et ea maxime hi gaudent quisapientia vincunt: but Comm. Cruq. 
quotes the same passage from Varro as showing that she was 
Minerva quod ea maxime hi gaudentt qui sapietUiae vacant. 
Others compared her with Bellona, Diana, Ceres or Venus, so 
little did her attributes suit any goddess in particular. The fact 
that Vespasian in restoring her temple dedicated it to Victoria 
proves that this identification became the official one. But 
doubtless Horace is here playing on an assumed connexion o£ 
her name with vacare^ as the patron goddess of holidays. 
Preller (Rom. Myth. p. 360) believes that it is derived rather 
from vacuOi and that it refers to her patronage of the drainage so 
necessary for the swampy land near Reate, where was her princi- 
pal temple (cp. Ov. Fast. vi. 301, Merkel)» 

00. excepto, Roby § 1250, S. G. § 505. esses, Roby § 1744, 
S. G. § 740. 2. cetera, Roby § 1102, S. G. § 46«. 



EPISTLE XI, 

Xothing is known of the BuUatius to whom this Epistle is 
addressed. There is no reason to assume (with Ritter) that he 
must have visited Asia in the train of Augustus, when he made 
his tour in the East in B.c. 21 — 19. Hence there is nothing 
whatever to determine the date of the letter. 

1 — 6. What did you think of the famous cities of Asiat 
Have they no charm in your eyes in comparison with Romef Or 
are you^^nchanted vrith one of the towns in Pergamus t Or arf 



BL I. Ep. XI.] NOTES. i6i 

you 50 tired of travelUng that you are contented with any quiet 
resting-placel 

1. Quld tlbl vlsa * what did you think of ?* Orelli needlessly 
supposes a confusion between quid tibi videtur de...? and qualis 
tibi videtur? Cp. Ter. Eun. 373 sed quid videtur hoc tibi 
mancipium? Cic. ad Fam. ix. ai. i quid tibi videor in epistulis? 

2. condzma *handsome*, apparently from the fine buildings 
which adomed it, especially the famous temple of Juno : con- 
cinnus usually carries the meaning of neatness and regularity, 
and therefore cannot mean (as Ritter says) grata et apta ad 
habitandum, Augustus spent two winters there, B.c. 31 — 30, 
and B.c. 30 — 29. 

regla ' royal seat' : Sardis is nom. plur. al Sdp^ets. 

3. Zmyma : no good MSS. give the form Smyma^ either 
here or in Cicero (cp. de Rep. i. 8, 13, pro Balb. 11, 28, Phil. xi. 
2,5). The views of the grammarians ar« discussed by Mr EUis, 
CcUullu^ p. 344. Cp. Munro on Lucret. iv. 1126. 

mlnoraye &ina: a much-disputed passage. The MS. evi- 
dence seems decidedly in favour of minorave^ not minorane, 
Keller warmly supports the former, reading_/a;«a^ and takes it 
as a poetical equivalent for et cetera^ interpreting * what did you 
think of the other towns, whether greater or less in repute?* 
e.g. Ephesus, Miletus, Pergamum, etc. Munro has the same 
reading, without comment. Tt is not possible to translate * were 
they greater or less than their reputation?' for -ve is never used 
in disjunctive questions, where two altematives are contrasted. 
(Cases like Verg. Aen. x. 93 aut ego tela dedi, fovive Cupidine 
belta? are quite different,) If this is to be the meaning, it is 
necessary to read minorane fama ? But it is better with Dillen- 
burger to place a comma after minorave fama^ translating *are 
all, whether greater or less than their reputation, of little account 
in your eyes compared with ? * etc. 

4. Bordent ? Some editors print a comma here, instead of 
beginning a fresh question with an venit : the point is not of 
much importance, but it is perhaps better if we read minorave^ 
to make the first question end at sordent, There is no gram- 
matical objection to -ne, an, an, introducing three alteraatives. 

campo, at once the finest part of Rome, since the erection of 
stately buildings there by Agrippa and others, and the scene of 
its most fashionable life. 

5. An Tenlt, etc. *or have you set your heart upon one of 
the cities of Attalus as your home?' e.g. Pergamum, ApoUonia, 
T-hyatira. ^ ^ 

W. H. * II 



lOi HORATI EPISTULAE. 

6. Leliediizn, a small town on the sea between Smyma and 
Colophon. odlo marls, cp. Carm. ii. 6, 7 lasso maris et viarum; 
Tac Ann. Ii. 14 taedio viarum ac maris ; Cic. ad Fam. xvi. 4, i 
non dubito quin, quoad plane valeas^ te neque navigationi neque 
viae committas, 

7 — 10. These lines are marked in the codd. Bland. as a dia- 
logue between BuUatius and Horace, thus : Bull. Scis...sitf 
HoR. Gabiis...vicus. BULL. tamen...furentem, We need not 
assign Gabiis...vicus to Horace : but it is very probable that the 
whole passage is to be r^^rded as spoken by Bullatius. There 
is a close parallel in Ep. i. 16, 41 — 43, where the answer of a 
supposed interlocutor is similarly brought in without any intro- 
ductory word, and Horace demurs ^ith a sentence beginning 
with sed, We get additional point in line 26, if we suppose the 
reference there to be to Lebedus. This view has the support of 
Haupt and other good recent editors. Sir T. Martin supposes 
that BuUatius had expressed himself to this eficct in some letter 
to Horace : this is hardly necessary. The idea may have been 
drawn from his character. Lebedus is a desolate place, but I should 
be gladto livc there in retirement, watching the ragingsea, 

7. Oalills : cp. Juv. vi. 56, x. loo, where Gabii and Fidenae 
are coupled as unimportant places. Of Gabii, Dionys. Hal. 
Ant. R. IV. 53 says vvv tikv ovKin ffVPOiKOVfUvri ira<ra, v\^v oca 
fUprj traydoKe^eraL /card Trjv obov [i.e. the road to Praeneste] 
rcJre 5e vokvwdpuiros Kal et tis aWrj fJLeyaXrj. 

8. Tidenifl: Verg. Aen. vi. 773 shortens the first syllable, 
urbemque Fidenam, Juvenal 1. c. like Prop. iv. (v) i, 36 length- 
ens it. 

voUem. Roby § 1536, S. G. § 644. 

0. oblltiu, *my friends forgetting, by my friends forgot,' 
Con. and Martin; a version imitated from Pope's imitation of 
Hcrace, Eloisa to Abelard, 207 : 

*How happy is the blameless Vestal's lot, 
The world forgetting, by the world forgot.* 

11. lutoque. Some commentators have gravely doubted 
whether there was mud in the Appian Way. LuciUus (Frag. 
88 Lachm.) seems to have found some : omne iter est hoc labosum 
atque lutosum, The road was at this time strewn with gravel 
(^/flr^fl) instead of «7(f;c. Wilmanns, no. 935. 

11—16. Nay^ but what may begood enough for a time, will 
not satisfy one always, 

12. oaapona. The metaphor of an inn was commonly 
employed by the philosophers of the time, e.g, Arrian Epict. 



Bk. I. Ep. XL] NOTES. 163 

II. 23, 36. Dean Alford had inscribed on his tomb Dever- 

SORIUM VIATORIS HlEROSOLYMAM PROFICISCENTIS. 

13. trUsoA cOlleglt, * has got thoroughly chilled * : cp. Verg. 
Georg. III. 337 ubi sitim collegerit hora : so in Ov. Met. v. 446 
the inferior MSS. have sitim collegerat, though there the better 
have conceperat. It is more common to ^Xi6.frigus contrahere, 

fnznoB, used in Sat. i. 4, 37 as a place of public resort, 
though not, as the dictionaries based on Freund have it, as * a 
warming-place*; apparently Xh.Q furni were public bake-houses 
(Juv. VII. 4), and Horace means to say that when a man has got 
very cold, he will go anywhere where he can be well warmed, 
without meaning to stay there. 

17 — ^21. The pleasure resorts of the East do not suit one who 
is in sound health, 

17. Incoluml fadt [id] quod, ' is to a healthy man what.' 
Editors generally quote as parallel the use oi facei'e with the 
dative for *to svdt', as in Prop. iv. (11 1) 1, 20 non faciet capiti 
dura corona meo^ or more commonly with ad^ as in Ov. Am. i. 
2, 16 frena minus sentit quisquis ad arma facit, Her. vi. 128 
Medeae faciunt ad scelus omne manus. But in this construction 
an object is never expressed or (as here) implied. 

18. paennla, a rough wooUen or leather cloak wom in 
rainy weather: cp. Juv. v. 79 cum...mvltostillaretpaentda nimbo^ 
vrith Mayor's note. The Greek form ^atvoXiyj is perhaps only an 
attempt at assimilation from the better-established ^cXoi^i/s : cp. 
Tisch. and W. H. on 2 Tim. iv. 13. Nothing is known of the 
derivation of the word in either language. 

campeBtre, i. q. subUgaculum, a light apron, originally wom 
under the toga in the place of the tunic, a custom retained by 
candidates for office, and by some old-fashioned people (cp. on 
A. P. 5p), but more commonly retained only as the sole garment 
wora in the exercises of the Campus. Lewis and Short are mis- 
leading in supposing it to have been generaJly wom in hot 
weather in place of the tunic. Cp. Marquardt R'6m. Privatalt. 
11. 159 with the references there. 

19. Tiberls, in summer it was customary to bathe in the 
Tiber : Carm. iii, 12, 6, Sat. ll. i, 8. 

oaminiu [whence our chimney^ Fr. chiminie^ through cami- 
natdl a fixed * stove', as compared with the moveable foculus or 
brazier. Chimneys do not appear to have been common in 
South Italy, and few have been fbund at Pompeii except in baths 
and bake-houses, but in Rome and in Northem Italy they were 
doubtless frequently in use. Cp. Overbeck Pompeii^ p. 340, and 
hence correct Becker Gallus^ 11. 269. 

II — 2 



164 HORATI EPISTULAE. . 

20. voltum *look', expression : cp. Conington on Verg. 
Ecl. I. 64, and Ov. Trist. I. 5, 27 dum ittvat et voltu ridet 
Fortuna sereno, 

21. laudetur: cp. Verg. Georg. 11. 413 laudato ingentia 
rura^ exiguum colito with Conington's note. 

' 22 — 30. Enjoy then thankfully and without delay any happt- 
ness that Heaven may grant you^ and never mind where you are 
living, That does not secure happiness; it is not a change ofplace 
but a tranquil mind which makes one happy, 

22. fortnnaTerlt, * has made a happy one *, so used by Cicero 
(in his Epistles) and Livy. 

23. In annmn, of an indefinite time, as in Ep. i. 2, 38. 

24. te Tlzlsse Ubenter * that you have enjoyed your life'. 

26. arblter 'that commands', quite like our own idiom. 
Lebedus stands qulte out into the sea, and commands a view of 
the Caystrian gulf. 

27. non ftTilTnnm mutant : cp. Aesch. in Ctes. § 78 ou 70/9 
-rhv rpoiroVi dWd tov t^tov fiovov fieTTjiKKa^ev, Cp. Ep. 1. 14, la, 
Carm. 11. 16, 19E 

28. Strenua Inertla, an c^v/jLcapov : * ever-busy idlers that 
we are*, Martin. Cp. Senec. de Tranq. 12. 2 inquieta inertia^ 
de Brev. 11, 3 desidiosa occupatio. 

exercet * torments '. 

29. bene vlvere. Roby, § 1344, S. G. § 534. 

80. niubrls, called vacuas by Juv. x. 102. It was a dull 
village in the Pomptine marshes. 

EPISTLE XII. 

In Carm. i. 2Q Iccius is represented as about to jbin the 
expedition of Aelius Gallus against the Arabs (b.c. 25), and 
Horace makes merry over his abandonment of philosophical 
studies for military aspirations. From this Epistle, written 
about five years later (v. 26), we leara that he had been placed 
in charge of the Sicilian estates of Agrippa, and that he was 
now acting as his agent (procurator), a position with which, 
Horace tells him, he ought to be well content. Agrippa had doubt- 
less received land in Sicily in acknowledgement of his services in 
the war against Sextus Pompeius (b.c. 36), po.ssibly also when he 
was summoned to Sicily to marry the emperor's daughter Julia 
(b.c. 22). This letter seems to be an answer to one from Iccius, 
in which he appears to have lamented that the claims of his 
duties left him little leisure for his studies. Commentators have 



BL -I. Ep. XII.] NOTES. 165 

busied theniselves xnuch with the character of Iccius. It is 
evident that he was not as well satisfied with his post as Horace 
thought that he ought to have been : but apparently only because 
he would gladly have had more time for philosophy. There is 
nothing to stamp him as either miser or misanthrope. Pompeius 
Grosphus, whom Horace here introduces to his friend, was a 
lich Sicilian knight (Carm. Ii. 16, 33—36): it is a plausible 
conjecture that he was the son or grandson of a Sicilian Greek 
Eubulidas, surnamed Grosphus, of high character and great 
wealth (Cic. in Verr. ii. 3, 23, 56), who may have received the 
franchise through Cn. Pompeius, and so have taken his name. 

1 — 6. You need pray for no greater blessings^ Iccius^ than 
are within your reach already» With health^ a compeience is all 
that is to be desired. 

1. fructilms *revenues', lit. produce: so Liv. xxi. 7 in 
tantas creverant opes seu maritimis seu terrestribus fructibus seu 
etc. 

2. recte, not *wisely*, or *with discretion*, but *aright', as 
you are entitled to. 

non est nt=ouic ?<rrti' ^twj: cp. Carm. Iii. i, 9 est ui viro vir 
latius ordinet arbusta sulcis ; Lucr. V. 147 illiid item non esi ut 
possis credere: 

3. T611e qnerellas *a truce to murmuring', Con. 

4. rerom nsns *the right to enjoy things', as coritrasted 
with the actual ownership: cp. Ep. Ii. 1, 158 ff. suppetit *is 
sufl5ciently supplied* : cp. Cic. de Orat. Iii. 35, 142 cui res non 
suppeicU, 

6 — 6. Taken from Theognis v. 719 X^bv rot irXouroCo-ti' oTt;^ 
Tokb^ &frfvp6i i<rTiv...KaX y Toi hiovTa vapeoTLv yatrrpi tc koX 
TXevpais koI voalv a^pa vadetv, Cp. Plutarch Solon, c. i. 

laterl: Ep. i. 7, 26. It is better to regard this as referring 
to health, than (with Schiitz)* to food and clothing. 

7 — 11. A man who is accusiomed io livc simply^ will noi 
change his habits^ i/he grows wealihy, 

7. In medio posltomm 'what is within your reach* : cp. 
Sat. I. 2, 108 iransvolcU in medio posita ei fugientia captai, 
Cic. de Orat. I. 3, 1.2 (pote). There is no reference here, as 
Macleane supposes, to the use oi ponere for *to place upon the 
table*, as in Sat. ii. 2, 23. The genitive is govemed hy abste- 
mius: cp. Plin. xxii. 24, 11-5 muHeres vim absiemiae: Roby 
§ 1336, S. G. § 530. 

litnrte simpl^ generalizes, and shows that Hotace is not speak- 
ing of Iccius in'particular, but is assiiming a casct 



i66 HORATI EPISTULAE. 

8. nrtica *nettles', according to Plin. xxi. 55, 15 and 
Celsus II. 20 a common article of food among the poor, as indeed 
they are still. Sea-urchins {urtica marina) are a delicacy, and 
cannot be meant here. 

8lc Ylyes protiniis *you will go on to live in the same way\ 
Ut *even if, Roby § 1706; S. G. § 714 (d). 

9. Fortunae rlvus, apparently a somewhat inaccurate remi- 
niscence of the story of Midas, who by bathing in the Pactolus 
transferred to that river his fatal gift of turning all that he 
touched to gold. Cp. Ov. Met. xi. 142 — 5 rex iussae succedit 
aquae: vis aurea tinxit flumen et humano de corpore cessit in 
amnem. Nunc quoque iam veteris percepto semine venae arva 
rigenty auro mcLdidis pallentia glaebis, But Prop. I. 14, 11 tum 
mihi Pactoli veniunt sub tecta Uquores^ shows how proverbiai 
the reference had become. For the derivation of confestixii 
cp. Roby I. p. iio note. It is not certain, however, that 
there was not a form of the root fed as well as fend^ to which 
this group ,of words might be referred: cp. Vanicek p. 392. 

10. yel qiila...yel qula : i.e. if a man*s previous abstemious- 
ness was due to a love of economy, this will not be changed with 
his fortune ; or if it was due to a contempt for pleasure in com- 
parison with virtue, this will be equally unchanged» 

11. cnncta, as the Stoics would teach. 

12 —20. You have shvwu much greater wisdom than Demo- 
critus in not neglecting your duUes^ and yet coniinuing your 
interest in philosophy. 

12. mlramnr *we wonder', not in admiration, brt cather 
in astonishment that a philosopher should be so abstracted, 
although it is much more astonishing that you with all your 
business cares should find leisure for such profound enquiries. 

pecns edlt acrellos: cp. Cic. de Fin. v. 29, 87 Democritus.,, 
ut quam minime animus a cogitationibus abduceretur^ patri- 
monium neglexiti agros deseruit incultos, 2^11er doubts even the 
statement that he neglected his property, much more the exag- 
gerated stories connected with it. Cp. Pre-Socratic Philosophy 
II. 213 note. 

13. peregre est *was roaming'. 

14. cum tu *and that though you*. Inter *surrounded by', 
cp. Ep. I. 4, 12. 

scablem et contagla lucrl *contagious itching for pelf*. 
Iccius must have been frequently brought into contact with 
naen whose hearts were set upon making money, but was not 
carried away by their example. 



Bk. L Ep. XII.] NOTES. 167 

15. nil parvnm: cp. Thuc. vii. 87, 4 ov^h 6\lyo» is ov8h 
KaKO7ra07j<TayT€S. adhuc * still, as of old '. SUbliinla = toL fiericopa, 
caelestiuy themes such as those mentioned in the following lines. 

16. quae mare conpescant causae : cp. Verg. Georg. 11. 479 
qua vi niaria alta tumescant obicibus ruptis rursusque in se tpsa 
residant, 

qnid temperet annum, i.e. causes the various seasons: cp. 
Carm. I. 12, 15 qui mare ac terras variisque mundum temperat 
horis, 

17. sponte as the Epicureans would maintain: lussae as 
the Stoics held, who believed in a controlling Deity. Vergirs 
pcUantesque polo stellas (Aen. IX. 21) is not parallel, for the 
reference thepe is to a miraculous phenomenon ; but cp. Cic. de 
Rep. I. 14, 7.1 earum quinque stellarum quae errantes et quasi 
va^ nominareniur, Hence the stellae here are the planets, 
^ough Cic. de Nat. De. 11. 20, 51 denies that they can properly 
be called errantes, 

18. premat obscnrum *hides in darkness': obscurum is 
predicative. The reference is to the phases of the moon, not to 
eclipses. 

19. quld Tellt et possit *what is the purpose, and what the 
effects of...* 

concordla dlscors, an oxymoron: cp. Ep. i. 11, 28. Cp. 
Senec. Nat. Quaest. vii. 27, 3 non vides quam contraria inter se 
elementa sint? Gravia et levia sunt^ frigida et calida^ umida et 
sicca. Tota huius mundi concordia ex discordibus constat. The 
doctrine of Empedocles was (Diog. Laert. viil. 76) ffToix^ia fikv 
ehfai T^rrapa, TrOp, v8u)p, yrjvj dipa, <pL\iav re j ffvyKplveTai Kal 
veiKos <J> 8iaKpiv€TaL. Cp. Reid on Cic. Lael. 7, 24; and Plato 
Soph. p. 242 E: *Ionian, and more recently Sicilian muses 
speak of a one and many, which are held together by enmity 
and friendship, ever parting, ever meeting' (Jowett's Introducticn 
Vol. iii^. p. 395). 

20. Stertinius is mentioned in Sat. 11. 3, 33, and called 
sapientum octavus (ib. 296). The Scholiasts say that he wrote 
220 books on the Stoic philosophy. Nothing else is known of 
him. The name is made without change into an adjective, as is 
usual with proper names : cp. lex Julia, via Appia etc, and very 
commonly in poetry, though Madvig § 189, 11 limits this to *a 
man's public or political works and undertakings ' : so Kuhner 
I. p. 672. Cp. Carm. iv. 12, 18 Sulpiciis,..horreis, Translate 
*whether E. or the shrewdness of Stertinius dotes'. 

21 — 24. WJiatever your views on philosophy, it will be 
worth your while to make afriend of Grosphus» 



x68 HORATI EPISTULAE. 

21. sen plscis sen, etc. le. whatever the simple fare that 
you are living on, for simple I know it is. Fish is not, I think, 
mentioned here as a delicacy, as in Sat. il. ^, 120; 4, 37, £p. i. 
15» 23« there is usually something in the context to point to that 
suggestion, where it is found; and the thought sive laute sive 
parce vivis (Comm. Cruq.) is out of place in connexion with the 
philosophic Iccius. In trucidas there is a reference to the 
Pythagorean doctrine of metempsychosis, accepted by Empe- 
docles : cp. Hieronym. ad lovin. ii. p. 331 probabi) non 
Empedoclis et Pythagorae nos dogma sectariy qui propter /ucTeyii- 
yl/&Xf^<rLv omne quod movetur et viz/it edendum non putant^ et 
eiusdem criminis reos arbitrantur, qui abietem quercumque 
sucdderint, cuius parricidae sunt et verufici. ' Whatever the lives 
which you are sacrificing for your food, whether those of fishes, 
or only those of leeks and onions,' i.e. whether you foUow 
Empedocles in believing that even vegetables have souls, or do 
not. Jlitter objects that we do not hear elsewhere that the 
Pythagoreans abstained from leeks and onions. Horace does 
not imply that they did, but only that in eating them they thought 
they were destro)dng living beings. They would haye had little 
enough to live on, if they had abstained from everything which 
involved the death of either animal or vegetable. His own 
notion that Horace is asking Iccius to employ Grosphus in 
catching fish and gathering onions as part of thtfructm Agrippae 
is not hkely to ^nd many supporters. 

22. ntere *make a friend of*. Ep. i. 17, 2. 

ultro involves a slight oxjrmoron after *si quid petet*, for it 
properly means *unasked'. Here we may translate *readily*. 

23. ▼emm 'right*, Ep. i. 7, 98. Cp. Milton Par, L, iv. 
750. 

24. vUis est annona ' the price is low* : Horace derives this 
expression from Xen. Mem. II. 10, 4 vdv hk Sid rd vpdyfMTa 
eifbtvordTovi ioTi ipiXovs dyadoift KTtjffaffdcu, but whereas Socrat^ 
there means to say *the times are so bad, that a small service is 
enough to secure a man's friendship*, Horace's thought seems 
to be rather that when a good man is in want, his demands are 
not likely to be exorbitant, and hence it will not cost much to 
secure his friendship. 

26 — 29. / can send you news from Rome ofvictories in tht 
West and Ecut, and ofan excellent harvest, 

26. ne lgnore8...1oco res : for the accidental Leonine verse, 
produced by the assonance of these two phrases, cp. Ep. I. 14, 7; 
Wagner on Verg. Georg. 1. 157; Aen. IX. 634 transigit, /, verbis 
viriutem illude superbis, where the rhythm is perhaps intentional. 
Ov. Met. XIII. 378 Si Troiae fatis aliquid restare putatis is 



Bk. I. Ep. Xn.] NOTES, 169 

probably spurious. For the construction cp. Ep. 1. 1, 13 ; 18, 58 ; 
19, 26; 58; II. I, 208. 

26. Cantaber : Dio Cass. LIV. i i roiJs re iv r^ vfKLKlq. irairras 
6\lyov diiipdeipi xal roiii Xotiroi)? rd re dfrXa a^ctXcro Koi i$ tcl iredla 
ix rQp ipvfjLvuy KaTe^i^ffev. This was in B.C. ao, although the 
campaign was not dosed till B.c. 19. Cp. Merivale iv. 120. 

27. Armenliis. The submission of Armenia to Tiberiiis had 
been a bloodless one. Cp. Tac. Ann. ii. 3. At the request of 
the Armenians Augustus had sent to them Tigranes, a prince 
who had been living in exile at Rome, to take the place of a 
king whom they had dethroned and murdered. For the various 
coins of Augustus, bearing the legend Armenia Capta, cp. 
Mommsen Morf. Ancyr. p. 77. Orelli refers also to one having 
a figure of Armenia on bended knee, but I have not been able to 
verSy his reference. 

PraliateB is the spelling of the better MSS. : Phraates has 
much less authority, both here and in Carm. Ii. 2, 17. The 
Mon. Ancyr. v. 54, Vi. 1,4 has Phrates, 

28. firenibiui TO&sixx—supplex: genibus is to be referred to 
Prahates *inferior by his (bended) knees*, i.e. thus testifjdng his 
humbled position, not, as apparently Orelli, at the knees of 
Caesar. There is something of exaggeration here too, although 
Tacitus (Ann. Ii. i)says ciincta venerantitifn officia ad Atigustum 
verterat, and in the Mon. Ancjrr. (p. 84 Momms.) Augustus says 
Parthos trium exercituum Romanorum spolia et signa redctere mihi 
supplicesque amicitiam populi Roman i petere coeg i. Horace refers. 
to these surrendered standards again in Ep. i. 18, 56 ; Carm. IV. 
15» 6; Ovid in Trist. Ii. 227 and Fast. vi. 465. 

29. deftindit: the present seems to point to the time of 
writing as that of late siunmer in B.c. 20. The perfect defudit 
has less support, and is due to a wrong assimilation to cecidit and 
accepit: dtpfundit or diffudit have but slight authority and are 
not 80 suitable in meaning here. It is needless to suppose with 
Ritter that thisletter was written in the summer of B.c. 19. There 
would have been time enough for news of the successes in Spain 
and .the East in B.c. 20 to reach Rome before the end of the 
summer: and Ep. l. 3, 3 does not necessarily imply that it was 
winter when Horace wrote that letter. 



I70 HORATI EPISTULAE. 



EPISTLE XIII. 

This letter is nominally addressed to a certain Vinius, who 
has been charged with the delivery of some of Horace's poems 
to Augustus. From the jest in v. 8 it is clear that his cognomen 
was Asina, or perhaps (as Porphyrion calls him) Asella; the 
more usual form of the name being however Asellus (e.g. 
Claudius Asellus in Cic. de Orat. ii. 64, 258, Annius Asellus 
in Cic. in Verr. Act. Ii. i, 41, 104). Acron calls him C. Vinius 
Fronto, giving Asella as his father's cognomen. From his 
possession of three names it is clear that he was not a slave : on 
the other hand the tone, which Horace adopts in addressing 
him, shows that he was not, as some have supposed, a friend of 
the Emperor. It is a plausible conjecture, although nothing 
more than a conjecture, which finds in him one of the five 

I yeomen farmers on Horace's Sabine estate (Ep. i. 14, 3). The* 
real purpose of the letter was doubtless to indicate to Augustus 

^that Horace had no intention to thrust his trifles upon him, 
when not in the humour for them. It has been generally 
assumed that the volumina contained the first three books of tbe 
Odes. If this was the case, we must assume that this Kpistle 
was considerably earlier than Epist. i, the first Itxies of which 
cannot have been written immediately after the publication of 
the first important coUection of Horace's Ivrics. There is 
nothing in this letter which tells against Franke s (very generally 
accepted) view, that the first three books of the Odes were 
published togcther in B. c. 23. Nor on the other hand is there 
tmyihing in it inconsistent with Christ's belief that they were 
not published before B.c. 20. This question must be decided 
by other considerations, mainly by the interpretation of Carm. i. 3, 
and II. 9. Cp. Wickham's Introduction. — Augustus was absent 
from Italy from the latter part of B.c. 11 until October B. c. 19. 
It has been generally assumed that Horace sent Vinius from his 
Sabine villa to Augustus at Rome. If so, the date assigned by 
Christ becomes untenable. But he argues with some force thpt 
as Horace's publishers, the Sosii, were at Rome, it is much 
more probable that a copy of his poems was sent from the 
capital to Augustus when he was still abroad. Certainly the 
language of v. 10 is almost too exaggerated to be humorous, if 
applied to the five and twenty miles or so of excellent road (the 
via Valeria and via Ttburtina) which lay between Varia and 
Rome. Ritter supposes the date to have been the early part of 
B.c. 18, which is probably too late. Cp. Introduction. — There 
is little to be said in favour of the view, which some have 
adopted, that the Satires were the volumina sent at this time to 
Augustus. The Satires were probably completed by B.c. 30; 



Bk. I. Ep. XIII.] NOTES. 171 

and they must have been familiar to Augustus long before any 
date plausibly assigned to any one of the Epistles. For the 
story told by Suetonius which Ritter here presses into his service 
see the Introduction to Ep. ii. i. 

1 — 9. Give my volumes^ Vtmus, to Augusius, if youfind he 
is in the huniourfor them^ but do not annoy him by obtrusiveness, 
If the burden is too much for you, drop it rather than deliver it 
clumsily, 

2. reddes : Ep. i. 10, 44 (note). Vinl : the MS. evidence 
is in favour of Vinniy but inscriptions have Vinius, and this form 
is the one used by Tacitus (Hist. i. i) and Suetonius (Galba xiv.) 
for Galba's colleague in the consulship. . 

3. Talldiui : Augustus was always a valetudinarian (Suet. 
Aug. LXXXi. graves et periculosas valeiudines per omnem viiam 
aliquot expertus esi), and had several serious iUnesses at this 
time of his life. Cp. Sat. Ii. i, 18 nisi dextro iempore Flacci 
verba per attentam non ibunt Caesaris aurem ; Ov. Trist. i. i. 92 
si poieris [sc. liber] vacuo iradi^ si cuncta videbis mitia^ si vires 
fregerit ira suas. 

4. ne i>ecces : Sat. 11. 3, 88 ne sis patruus mihi shows that 
this may be taken as a negative imperative ; but it may quite 
as well be regarded as final. Cp. Roby § 1600 (note), S. G. § 668. 

5. sedulus *officious* : cp. Ep. 11. i, 260, Sat. i. 5. 71. 

opera yehemente * by your impetuous zeal '. 

ei nret *galls', Ep. i. 10, 43. sardna : the quantity of the 
i is to be accounted for by the fact that sarcio has also the shorter 
stem sarC'.^ 

«kATtae: ' In CaiuUus' days t^ RfmaTis med. txAj papyms, 
never parchment, for a regular liber or volumen. Books made 
up like ours and written on parchment seem to have come into 
use about Martial's time.' Munro on Catullus p. 53. 

7. perferre like abicito has for its object sarcinam^ not 
cliiellas, as Ritter takes it. To quo supply the antecedent ibi, 
to go with Inpingas * dash down '. 

8. feros * wildly ', like an unbroken animal. 

9. folmla *the talk of the town': cp. Epod. xi. % fabula 
quaniafui, 

10 — 19. Push on io Rome: but dorCi carry my book like a 
clown, a drunken slave-girl^ or a humble guest ; nor iell every 
one thatyou are on your way io Caesar, Take good care ofit, 

10. lamas : * lacunas maiores, continentes aquam pluviam 
sea caelestem, airb tov Xaifiov, quae ingluvies est et vorago viarum 



172 HORATI EPISTULAE. 

seu fossae fluviorum. Hinc quoque dictae sunt Lamiae pueroram 
voratrices. Ennius : silvarum saltus^ latebras lamasque lutoias* 
Comm. Cniq. The derivation which he suggests is of course 
absurd : Idma is for lac-ma (cp. liina for luc-na, exdmen for 
exag-men^ limus for lic-mus), while L&mia (A. P. 340) == Khiua. 
is akin to Aa/AU/sdy *greedy . From the fact that the word is 
found nowhere else (except in Festus) until it reappears in the 
Romance languages (cp. Diez Romance Dtctionary (ed. Donkin) 

J). ^(id ; and Dante Inf. XX. 99 non molto ha corso^ che ti^ova una 
ama)t it seems to have belonged to the popular dialect. * Push 
on stoutly over hills, streams and bogs.* If Horace is really 
referring to the road between his Sabine estate and Rome, these 
words are a ludicrous exaggeration, hardly to be defended by the 
plea that the expression may have been proverbial. 

11. Vlctor proposlti *achieving your purpose ', iyKparris tov 
axoTov Or. * But when youVe quell^ the perils of the road * Con. 

12. Blc...ne A. P. 153. Roby § 1650. S. G. § 684. 

13. rostlciui agiiiim: Mmaginem ridiculam propter con- 
tinuas bestiolae motus et curam hominis ne in solum desiiiat, ne 
ab ipso fortasse laedatur.' Or. 

14. srlomus has the support of the best MSS. Glomos, 
though the usual reading before Bentley, has but slight support, 
and is not Latin : globos has still less. Lucret. i. 360 has in 
lanae glomere, but th^ derivatives are always gldmero etc. 

Pyirla or the corrupted Pirria is the reading of all MSS. 
coUated by Keller. Most editors have adopted the form PyrrhiOy 
but as Lachmann (on Lucret. p. 408) first remarked 'neque 
Graecae neque Romanae femina^ nomen est\ Macleane explains 
it as *formed from Pyrrha, the name of a town in Lesbos, like 
Lesbia, Delia etc* But the adjective from P)rrrha is Pyrrhias 
(Ov. Her. xv. 15), while Lesbius^ Delius^ &c., are common. 
The name of a male slave, Pyrria^ in the Andria of Terence 
seems a corruption of Tlvppias, which occurs in Aristophanes 
and elsewhere, and is derived from irvppos, *red'. The Scho- 
liasts tell us that Pyrria was the pame of an ancilia in a 
play by Titinius, who stole a ball of wool, but being drunk 
at the time, carried it so clumsily that she was easily detected. 
As Titinius wrote comoediae togaiae it is probable that the girl 
was an Italian, in which case her name may well have been 
Purria^ the form found in the MSS. being then a corruption 
like Sylla for Sulla* Porphyrion actually has Purria, and P. 
Purreius is found on an inscription. L. Miiller, Meineke and 
others simply mark the word as corrupt. 

15. pilleolo, a much better form ihdJipileolo: cp. Fleckeisen, 
Fiinfzig Art, 15. Ali good MSS.. give it here. 



BL I. Ep. XIII.] NOTES. 173 

trilmlls properly means a man of the same tribe, and perhaps 
it is best taken so here, the notion being that a wealthy man at 
Rome has invited to dinner a poor member of the same tribe, 
living in the country, doubtless with a view to his vote and 
f interestk But as the tribus came to be used in contrast with the 
equiUs and the Senate (cp. Mart. Viii. 15, 3 dat populus^ dat 
grcUus gques, dat tura Senatus, et ditant Laiias tertia dona tribus) 
so tribulis acquired the meaning of plebeian i cp. Mart. IX. 50, 
7 of a toga nunc anus et tremulo vix accipienda tribuliy ib. 58, 8. 
Hence it is possible that this may be the meaning here : but we 
have no evidence of this force of the word in the time of Horace. 
The humble guest comes bringing under his arm the dress-shoes 
(soleae) in which he would be expected to appear in the dining- 
room, although he would put them ofF when he took his place at 
table (Sat. ii. 8, 77), and thefelt cap which he wouldneed whenhe 
went home at night. He cannot afford to come in a litter, nor 
even to have a slave to attend upon him. 

16. Ne seems to have far more support than Bentley's neu 
or L. Muller's nec and there is something not unpleasant in the 
abruptness, even if we retain the semi-colon at Caesaris. The 
stress lies on the last word. Vinius is not to tell everybody that 
the reason why he is in such hot haste is that he is on his way 
to Augustus. 

narres, tvidently imperative here. Cp. 1. 4. 

18. nltere porro, ^push on\ Horace humorously supposes 
that people will come crowding round his messenger, eager to 
know what he has brought. Bentley (without remark, and 
Orelli supposes, by accident) printed nitere, porro^ and this read- 
ing has been adopted by some editors ; but nitere seems to 
require an adverb much more than vade^ and the rhythm is 
certainly against the pause after the fifth foot. "Poxporro of place, 
not time, cp. Liv. i. 7, 6 agereporro armentum occepit ; ix. 2, 8 
si ire porro pergas. 

19. caye, scanned, as so often in Plautus and Terence, cdv^: 
, cp. Sat. II. 3, 38, 177 ; 5, 75; the pronunciation cauM not on 

the whole so probable, though apparently supported by the story 
in Cic. de Div. 11. 40, 84. Persius (i. io8) has vid^. 

tital)e8, often used, like our 'trip*, of blundering generally 
(cp. Ter. Haut. 361 verum illa nequid titubet^ and Plaut. Pseud. 
939 at vide ne titubes^ Mil. 248, 946 &c.), but here still keeping 
up the jest of v. 10 : if an ass were to stumble and fall, he might 
smash his load, if fragile, as Horace represents his poetry to be. 
At the same time, as Orelli points out, we find the phrases 
focdus^ fidem^ iura or leges frangere. 



174 HORATI EPISTULAE. 



EPISTLE XIV. 

This letter, though nominally addressed to Horace*s farm- ' 
bailiff, may be regarded as really an apology for his love for the 
country, intended for his friends at Rome. It thus takes up the 
theme of Ep. x. and of the earlier part of Ep. VII., while it is 
the reverse of Sat. ii. 7. Whether the bailiff deserved all the 
hard things here said of him is a question which has been asked, 
but cannot be answered. Horace may have been intending to 
give an example of the class of bailiffs, against whom Columella 
utters his waming (i. 8, i) : praemoneo ne vilicum ex eo genere 
sei-vorum^ qui corpore placueruntf insHtuamus: ne ex eo quidem 
ordiney qui urbanas ac delicdtas artes exercuerit, Socors et somni- 
culosum genus id mancipiorum^ otiis, campis^ circo^ theatris, aleae^ 
popinae, lupanaribus consuetum, nunquam non easdem imptias 
somniat (quoted by Orelli). There is no indication of the date. 

1 — 5. Come^ bailiff^ let us see whether you or I best do our 
duty. 

1. VUlce : the form invariably found in good MSS. and in- 
scriptions. Lachmann on Lucret. l. 331 showed that / not U 
was used between a iong i and a short one : so milley but milia, 
villa, but vilicus: cp. Roby § 177. The zn/icusyras the head 
slave on a farm, whose duty it was to look after the proper dis- 
charge of all farm works ; Cato de Re Rust. CXLII. vitici officia 
quae sunt, quae dominus praecepit, ea omnia quae in fundo fieri 
oportet, quaeque emi pararique oportet, eadem uti curet faciatque 
moneo, dominoque dicto audiens sit, Cato gives in c. ii. a very 
amusing account of the way in which a good economist will call 
his vUicus to a strict account for any neglect or deficiency. 

mllil me reddentls, 'that makes me my own master again% 
i. e. where I can live as I please, without being distracted by the 
endless claims made upon me at Rome. Cp. Sat. il. 6, 23 — 3^, 
60 ff. The woods on Horace's Sabine estate are mentioned in 
Carm. lll. 16, 29 silvaque iugerum paucorum, and in Ep. i. 
16, 9. 

2. babltatimi quinqaie fods, 'though it fumishes a home 
for five families*. Horace in Sat. 11. 7, 118 speaks of his 
familia rustica as consisting of eight operae (^hands*). Hence 

Ritter presses the force of the past participle, thinking the mean- 
ing to be that whereas five free coloni formerly worked the estate, 
now eight slaves tilled it. But the lack of a present participle 
passive in Latin often leads to the use of the perfect participle, 
where a present would have been more natural (e.g. Liv. xxx. 



Bk. I. Ep. XIV.] NOTES. 175 

30 sperata vicioria) : hence we may fairly translate by the present. 
Horace wishes to indicate that his estate, though small, is no 
contemptible one, and it is more to the purpose to refer to its 
present tenants than to its past occupiers. The eight operae 
doubtless tilled the *home-farm' under the vilicus, The patres 
were probably free coloni (Carm. i. 35, 6 pauper ruris colonus : 
II. 14, 12 sive inopes erimus coloni\ who tilled the rest of the 
estate, paying to Horace as the dominus either a fixed rent, or 
as so often now in Italy, a portion of the produce. In the 
former case they would be said ad pecuniam nutneratam con- 
ducere, in the latter they were called partiarii^ i. e. m^tayers. 
Cp. Dig. XIX. 2, 25, § 6. Others, less plausibly, suppose them 
to have been free hired labourers, under the direction of the 
tfilicus. Sir T. Martin, for instance (Life of Horace, p. Ixxiv.), 
says *the farm gave employment to five families of free coloni, 
who were under the superintendence of a bailiff : and the poet's 
domestic establishment was composed of eight slaves*. His 
version is inconsistent with this view, but not, I think, less in- 
correct : — 

*That small domain which, though you hold it cheap, 
Sufficed of old five families to keep, 
And into Varia sent, in days gone by, 
Five worthy heads of houses.' 

Conington's rendering, 

'Which though ye snifF at it, could once support 
Five hearths and send five statesmen to the court' 

migbt be misleading to one not familiar with the provincial use of 
'statesman* for a small landholder (cp. Halliweirs Dict. s. v.). 
He evidently regards Xh&pcUres as Horace's predecessors in the 
ownership of the estate. 

focis *households' : cp. Herod. I. 176 al Bk dydujKovTa laTiai 
avTCU irvxw TfiviKodTa iKdrifiiovffou, Kal ovT<a irepieyivovTO, 

3. Varlam, a town on the Anio, eight miles above Tibur, on 
the via Valeria, just where the valley of the Digentia, in which 
Horace's estate lay, joined that of the Anio. The patres probably 
went there to market, and for local elections etc. It is now 
called Vicovaro, 

4. splnas used of vices or lesser failings in Ep. II. 2. 212. 
Cp. also Sat. i. 3, 34 — 37. * Let us see which can. root out the 
thoms the more stoutly, I from my breast, or you from the land.' 

0. reB=fundus. 



176 HORATI EPISTULAE. 

6 — 10. We differ very widely in our vicivs of torwn and country 
life, 

6. Lainiae pletas et cnra *Lamia's love and trouble' : this 
cannot mean, as some have taken it, 'my love for Lamia' : pietas 
seems never to be used with an objective genitive, and it is 
doubtful whether it could denote an affection not based upon any 
natural ties, such as exist in the case of parents or kinsmen. 
L. Aelius Lamia is the man to whom Carm. Iii. 17 is addressed, 
and who is also mentioned in Carm. I. ^6, 8. He was of a 
noble and wealthy plebeian family (cp. Juv. iv. 154, vi. 384, Tac. 
Ann. VI. 27), and attained the consulship in a.d. 3. He held 
high office under Tiberius, and was honoured with a public 
funeral when he died in a.d. 33. The name of Q. Aelius Lamia 
occurs on a coin of this date, and this appears to be the brother 
here referred to. Lucius must have been the elder brother, as 
he bore his father's praenomen, but he must himself have been 
young at this time, for we cannot date this epistle less than 
about fifty-five years before his death, and as he was appointed 
praefectus urbi in A.D. 32 he cannot have attained extreme old 
age, though Tacitus speaks of his vivida senectus. The date of 
Carm. i. 26 is uncertain, but is probably as early as B.C. 30. 

moratnr has much more authority than moretur. Qitamvis 
is followed by the indic. also in Ep. i. 17, 1 and 22; 18, 59; 
Sat. I. 3> 129, II. 2, 29; 5, 15; Carm. i. 28, 11, iii. 7, 25; 10, 
13; A. P. 3^5; by the subjunctive only in Carm. iii. 11, 17, iv. 
2, 39; 6, o: Ep. I. 18, 92, II. 2, 113 (where see notes) t^e 
word is twice used adverbially. Vergil uses it only twice with 
the indic. (Ecl. iii. 84, Aen. 542), but often with the subjunctive, 
once at least adverbially (Aen. VII. 492). Livy frequently uses 
it adverbially, twice with the indic. (11. 40, 7; xxxiii. 19, 2), 
never with the subjunctive. Ovid often has the indicative. So 
have Celsus and Nepos, both prose writers, probably contem- 
poraries of Horace. 

7. xnaerentis — dolentls: the assonance is doubtless acci- 
dental: cp. note on Ep. i. 12, 25. Maereo is to express grief, 
doleo is to feel it : cp. Cic. ad Att. xii. 28, 2 maerorem minui, 
dolorem nec potui^ nec, sipossem, vellem. 

8. insolabUlter, a airo^ Xeyo^evop. About 80 of these have 
been noted in the works of Horace. Istnc *where you are now', 
i.e. to the woods and fields. mens animusqae ^vous koX 0vfwi: 
*mens meliora intellegit, animus adesse cupit*, Ritter, *my judg- 
ment and my heart*. 

9. fert *would fain hurryme': amat *would gladly*: cp. 
Carm. iii. p, 24 tea^m vivere amem. Bentley's conjecture avet 
is thus needless. 



Bk.LEp.XrV.] NOTES. f77 

spatlis, £p. J. 7, 41. ' elanstni siint caxceres et est tratislatSo ab 
equis circensibus facta ' : Porph. The bars in front of the carceres. 
or stalls, in whidi the chariots and hoises wereposted, kept them 
from fhe coiirse, until the signal was given* The calx was not, 
as Macleane says, the line from which they started, but that 
which marked the goal, and hence it is often contrasted with 
earctresy e.g. Cic. de Sen. ^3, 83 nec vero vdim quasi decurso 
Sjpatio ad carceres a caXce revocari, 

10. mre. Ep. i. 7, i (note) : •you praise the townsman*s, 
I the rustlc's state' Con. I do not see why we may not take it 
tiius : but Kriiger contend^ this would have required' mvmtes, 
as in Sat. i. i, 12, and with Ritter regsCrds the phrase as a 
brachylogy for ego te viventem^rure^ tu tne wuentem in. urbe 
becUum dicis. Carm. iv% o, 45 non possidentem .madta vocaveris 
recte beatum supports the former view. 

U— 17. Thefamlt ismftin tJuplaa. Yim areJickU, but I 
am amsisterU, 

U. aimlniin *of coarse' eanries with it no irony here; cp. 
Ep. I. 9, I (note). 

13. nterque. Although Horace passed in v. il fi-om the 
^ase of his baUiff and himself to a general reflexion, he still has 
in his mind the position of two men wishingtoexchange stations. 
We may retain the indefiniteness of *either* in translation. 
■taltiiB *Tn his folly^. Inineiltiim Mnnocent*: Carm. i. 17, aS^ 
immeritam...vestem: Sat. ii. 3, 7 immeritus...pafies, 

• IS. M efltiglt: Carm. II. 16, lopcUriae quis exsul se quoqui 
fiigitf 

14. medlastiniis * drudge', one who was placed in medio, at 
every ODe's beck and call. The Scfaoliasts (f(dlowed by Roby 
i 840) suppose some connexion with Sarrv^ and limit the use to 
town-slaves; but the word may be used of any kind of drudge: 
cp. Columella i. 9, 3 mediastinus qucdiscunqtu status potest esse^ 
dummodo perpetiendo labori sii idoneus, LuciL ap. Nonium, 
p. 143 (1. 418 Lachm.) vilicum Aristocratem, mediastinum atque 
bu^Uum. Astu wsLS not indeed unknown to archaic Latin : but 
it seems more probable tfaat i}ut word was formed after the analoey 
of clandestinusy where, if -des- was originally^ -as Corssen i^ 463 
thinks, the stem of dies, all consdousness ot its origin had long 
been lost. Orelli's derivation of mesquin from this word is 
^rroneous: cp. Diez, Etym. Dict. Profl Palmer suggests that 
mediastinus — vicsLTius, a middle man, whostands between the 
slave and his labour. 

tadta prece: cp. £p. i. 16, 60, Pers. v. 1S4 labra moves 
ittcitus. 

16. conitaie : his character was changed then since Sat. 11. 
7.^81 

W. H. 12 



178 HORATI EPJSTULAE. 

IS— 80. You care only for the lew tensml pleasures of the 
town; and haie hard work. 

18. miramnr, Ep. i. 6, 9. dlsconyenlt, £p. 1. 1, 99« 

19. tesqvi^ *wilds% The scholiasts say that this was a 
Sabine word; it seems to have no extant cognates, except perhaps 
in the Sanskrit tuk'k\hq (phonetically equivident to iuska) * empty\ 
Cp. Vanicek p. 315. Lucan Phars. vi.41 has salttis nemorosaque, 
tesca: otherwise the word is found only in archaic writers. Tesca 
ijs coupled with templum in the augurial formula quoted by Varro, 
h, L. vii. 8. Horace probably uses a colloquial term suitable to 
the supposed speaker. 

00. amoena: £p. i« 16, 15. 

' Sl. fornlx 'brothel*, originally an arched vault: Juv. in. 
156, XI. 171. 

lincta 'greasy'. Orelli prefersthe explanation of the Comm. 
Cmq. 'nidore redolens, et optimis cibis plena*; because Horace 
elsewhere uses the word in the sense ot *luxurious* or frich*: 
£p. I. 15, 44; 17, la. But here some cont^mpt is evidently 
implied: cp. Sjit. 11, 2, 6? quaecunque immundis feruent allata 
popinis, The popina *cook-shop' was a place of low resort: the 
form of the word points probably to a Campanian, not a Crreek 
origin, as Lewis and Short suppose. It would regularly corre» 
spond in Oscan to a Latin co^uina, only found in late writers, 
Cp. Curtius Gr. Etym. ll. 65. 

28. Incntlnnt *iaspire'; more commonly with metum, ti» 
morem and the like: but cp. Lucret l. 19 omnibus incutiem 
blandum per pectora amorem. 

28. angnlns Iste, a contemptuous term used by the vilicus, 
as we might say * hole and comer*. Pepper and frankincinse of 
course did not grow in Italy at all; Horace nowhere speaks of 
wine as produced on his own estate (cp. Ep. i. 16, Carm. 11. 18, 
1:4) : the z4ie Sabinum of Carm. i. 20 may have been bought in 
the dolium and only bottled by Horace. This is better than^to 
assume that the wine, good enough to put before Maecenas, did 
QOt deserve to be called wine ia Uie opinion of the tnlicus, 

jiYB.=:quam tevam, AU the good Mss. of Horace give ius, 
wherever the word occurs : hence we cannot with Orelli defend 
thus, on the strength of two inscriptions of the time of Augustus, 
which have thurarU, 

24. tabema. The viHa of Horace was some three or foor 
iniles from the nearest high road, which might be expected to be 
supplied with iabernde diversoriae, Orelli quotes from Varro de 
Re Rust. I. 2, 13 si ager secundum viam et opportunus vicUoribus 
locuSf aedificandae taSemae diversoriae, qucu sunt» . fructuosae» 



Bk. I. Ep. XJV.] NOTES, 179 

26. 8ferei»ltiim <8tndns't aot, as Orelli takes it, *caiitum 
crepitantem atque absonum*: cp. £p. i. 2, 31, and Carm. iv, 
3, 1$ duUem quae strepitum^ Puriy Umperas* 

terrae gravlB * with lumbenng tread*, lit. 'a heavy burden 
to the earth*» 

et tamen, Le. and yet, though you can get no diversions as 
you complain, yoQ have to work hard. Conington takes it some- 
what differeBtlys 'AnJl yet methinks you've plenty onyour 
hands*» 

27. iampridem, taken by some editors to imply a reproach 
to the vilicus who ought to have seen to these fields long before: 
but it may also mean that the land had been long neglected 
when it came into the hands of Horace. 

28. strlctlB fronditnu: Verg. £cL 9, 60 hu: uH densas 
agricolae stringunt frondes. TniS was done when the herbage 
was parched, in the summer and autumn. Cp. Columelhi vi. 3 
a quo tempore (Kalendis Juliis) in Kalendas Novembres tota 
aestate et deinde autumno satientur fronde, exides : Verg. 
Georg. III. 431 ingluviem explet. 

29. xiviui, the Digentia (£pi. I. 18, 104) : pigro, i.e. if you 
have nothing else to do« 

80« doeendns : cp. A. P. 67 amnis doctus iter melius» 

81 — 89. / once liked a gay town-life : now I care only for 
the quiet oftke couniry, 

81. nostrom concentnm divldat 'breaks up our harmony*. 

82. tenaef...tQgae, opposed to crassae (Sat. i. 3, 15), were 
wom by men who cared about their dress. They do not seem 
identical wilh the togae rasae of Mart. ii, 85, which were only 
wom in the summer; still less with the syntheses (as Ritter 
says), for these are expressly contrasted with the toga in Mart. 
VI. 24; but were of a finer stuff than the ordinary toga. Cp. 
Becker Gallus iii* 4o6. 

nltidi, i.e. with perfumed oils» not only at banquets» but in 
some cases all day long: cp. Cic. in Cat. II. 10, 11 pexo capillo 
nitidoSf pro Sest 8, 18 unguentis affluens^ calamistrata coma, 
Ov. A. A. III. 443 nec coma vosfallcU liquido nitidissima nardo^ 
,„nec toga deciptat filo ienuissima, 

88. fwtmiTiAni <though I brought no gift^: cp. Carm. Iii. 
23, 17 immunis aram si tetigit manus, iv. 12, 12 non ego te 
meis immunem m^itor tingere poculis. Cinarae : £p. i. 7, 28. 

84« liq^nidi 'dear', Le. strained through a colum^ or other- 
wise refined: cp. Sat U. 4, 51—^8» Mart. xii. 6ob pallere...ut 

12 2 



i8o HORATI EPISTULAE. 

iiqmdump&tet Aktuda mermm^ turhida iolHcit» trttHmiitert Cai- 
euka sMccd, Thii process was necessary for the stronger wineB, 
so that the epithet is not out of place hert> as Ritter tMnks. 

36. lllcldete'*to cut short'. Verg. Ecl. 9, I4 novcu inci- 
dere lites. There is a kind of zeugma, puderet beiiTg understood 
vrith incidere. 

' No shame t deem it to have had my ^port « 
The shame had been in firolics not cut short*. pON. 

88. Uziiat £rom lima 'a file*, hence 'to diminish' or *dis- 
parage*. But Lachmann on Lucret. iii. 11 (p. 143) justly 
pointed out that Horace here intends a play upon the phrase 
limis ofcuUs^obliquo oculo 'askance'^ and compares the Plautine 
dolum dolare (Mil. 938). 

monni<iUjd : cp. Cann. IV. ^ 16 iam dente minus mordeor 
invido, 

TenenaA. 'nov«, id tst/kscinai* Comm< Cniq. Horace seems 
to have been jthe first to Mse the word in a metaphorical sense. 
it occurs with its literal force in Lucret vi. Sso. 

89l zldeBt: doubtless good-humouredly, but Horace's figure 
and habits must have unfitted him for active exercise. Hence 
Dill. is hardly right in his note * non ob imperitiam poetae, sed 
quod elegantiorem hominem his laboribus exerceri vid^ et 
mirantur\ 

glaeba and gicda seem equally well auth^ticated fbrms, but 
the former is the earlier; so too caef>e and ce^. Cp. Ribbeck 
\ProL Verg. p. 414, Brambacb HUlfso. s. v. 

Madvig (Advers. Crit. II. 61) argues thal the slo^ should 
foUow servis not moventem. The emphasis, he says, lies upott 
urhanay which must therefore be brought into prominence, and 
cum servis is out of place in the second sentence, for the vilicus 
would be in the company of slaves quite as much in the countiy 
as in the town. But a vilicus would not be allowanced in the 
country. Besides, as Keller justly points out, horum then be- 
comes unintelligible. The juxtaposition of sertds and uriana^ 
though not quite a hypallage, naturally suggests to the mind tbe 
notion of town-slaves, which korum takes up. 

40 — M. You would fain change your placti tkough others 
envy you. Every one should be contented with what he is mosi 
fitfor. 

40. dlaria : one or two MSS. have cibaria as a gloss, and 
this has displaced the true reading in some other MSS. Keller 
thinks it was an innov&tion of MaTortiua. rodm^ ''maiich', 
suggests poor and Umited fare. 



Bk. I. Ep. Xy.] NOTES. i8t 

41. luffiun Toto rnls: <you would fein hasten to |oin Uieir 
nnmber*. 



i lignoram : Nonius p. 164 quotes from Pomponius the 
Atellan poet, longe ab urbe vilicaH, guo erus rarenter venit^ 
mm viluari sed dominairi est mm sentmiia^ 

43. oalo is properly a soIdier's servant, and so Ritter takes 
it here, supposing that fhe cah envies the vilicus his enjoyment 
of what he nimself cannot get in the camp. But the word came 
to mean, not only a groom in general (Sat. i. 6, 103), but any 
low servant, or drudge (Sat. i. 1, 44: Senec £p. cx. 17 lectica 
formosis imposUa ealouibus) i hence it is better to regard it as 

s= mediastinus. 

az:sratiiB *shrewd* as in Sat. l, iq, 40, A. P. 364; the man 
is sharp enough to know where he would be better off. Mac- 
leane's suggested alternative *noisy* is quite out of place: 
besides, when applied by Horace to persons with reference to 
the voice, it is always a term of praise: cp. Carm, Iii. 14, 21» 
IV. 6, «5, Ep. II. a, 90. 

48. plgtr goes best with caballus ; it ia not only laziness 
which makes one dissatisfied with his condition; and the ox 
would have had a more active life, if he could have taken the 
place of the horse. The rhythm points in the same direction, 
but not very cogently: cp. Ep. i. 5, 7 : 6, 48; II. i, 75. Many 
editors take it as going with both substantives. 

44. quam adt etc. The line of Aristophanes (Vesp. 1431) 
Ipdoi rti liv iKOffTOi eldelri rexyv^ had passed into a proverb, as 
we see from Cic. Tusc. i. 18, 41 dene enim illo proverbio Graeco 
praecipitur: quam quisgue norit artem^ in hac se fxerceat* 



EPISTLE XV. 

This Epistle must have been written after the famous 
physician Antonius Musa had brought the cold-water treatment 
mto fashion by his cure of Augustus in the year b.c. -23 ; and 

Srobably not long after, although the arguments by which 
itter attempts to fix the date as the autumn of b.c. 21 are 
more ingenious than convincing. Horace writes to a friend, who 
is called in the MSS. inscriptions C. Numonius Vala, to tell him 
that he cannot spend the coming winter, as he had previously 
done; at Baiae, and to make enquiries about Velia and Salemum. 
He humorously compares himself to a certain Maenius who 
liked to have the best of fare, when he could get it, but put up 
readily with plain dishes, when nothing better offer^d. 



iSi HORATI EPISTULAE. 

1 — 20L You must tell me all about the climatey the food, the 
water, the game and fish of Velia and Salemum; for my doctor 
tells me I may no longer winter at JBaiae^ much as the fiace 
grumbles at my desertion, 

1. Blt (like pascat in v. 14, Ubaat in v. 15, edaoet in v. «ly 
and celent in v. 23) depends upon scribere in line 25, The 
involved structure of these lines, with their two long parentheses» 
is intended to preserve the negiigent tone of a familiar letter. 

Yeliae, a town of Lucania originally founded by the 
Phocaeans, when driven out of Corsica, where they had for a 
time found a home aftea: the destruction of Phocaea, about 
B.c. 540. Its Greek name was 'TAiy or 'EX^a. It was a 
prosperous commercial town, ajid was noted for its excellent 
climate, so that Aemilius PauUus, the conqueror of Perseus, was 
sent there by his physicians when suffering from a troublesome 
disease (Plut. Aem. c. xxxv). The soil in the neighbourhood 
according to Strabo. (Yi. p- «54) was poor (v. 14), and hence 
the inhabitants lived largely by fisheries (v. %%). Not long 
after its foundation it became the seat of the famous Eleatic 
school (Xenophanes, Parmenides, Zeno). Salernum was a 
Campanian town delightfiilly situated on the north shore of the 
modem gulf of Salemo. It was of much importance in the 
Middle Ages, when it belonged to the Normans, and afterwards 
to the Hohenstaufen, and the House of Anjou, and was the seat 
of the greatest medical school in Europe* Some modem au* 
thorities (e.g. Swinburne, Travels in the Two Sicilies, iii. 185) 
consider it unhealthy because it is screened firom the north, and 
exposed to the south wind, wMch brings up *most pemicious 
miasma.' from the plain stretching to the south, ttMRaid Paestum. 
The totm stil^ has a population of over 20,000. 

2. Tla : Horace would travel firom Capua as far as Salemum 
by the excellent via Popiliay a branch of the via Appia: he could 
get on to Paestum (about half way to Velia) by a fair branch 
road; but there seems to have been no Roman rpad for the rest 
of the way. 



Ep. I. I, 83, The epithet liquidae applied to it in 
Carm. III. 4, 34 shows that the air of Baiae was noted for its 
cleamess: Cicero however (Ep. Fam. ix. 12) speaks as if there 
were some at any rate whom it did not suit: gratulor Bctiis 
nostris, siquidem^ ut scribisy salubres repente factae sunt : nisi 
forte t£ amant et tUd adsentantury et tamdiu dum tu cuUs sunt 
oblitae sui, In any case Horace's physician had forbidden him 
to go there, as he had usually done in the winter. 

8. Antonlus Husa, a freedman physician, had cured 
Augustus in B.C. 23 of a serious Uver complaint by the cold- 



Bk. L Ep. XV.] NOTES. X83 

water treatment (Suet Oct. Lxxxi) stnd by a (i»e lise of lettuces 
(Plin. N. H. XIX. 8, 38). He now recomn>ended the former to 
Horace, who therefore had no need to re^ert to the vapourbaths 
over the solphur sprmgs at Baiae. 

tamen, although it is M;usa's £Milt, not mine. 

4. giOida: Plin. H. N. xxix. i, 5 mentions a certain Charmis 
of Massilia, 'whojrigida tHam hibemis algoribus lavari persuasU. 
Mersit aegros in laats, Videbamus senes consulares usque in 
vstentationem ri^tes, 

ciim= *»ow that'. 

ff. fiiiirteta : Celsus ni.' 1 7 siccus cator est et arenae calicUu^ 
ei laconid^ et clibani, et quarundam naturalium sudationum ubi 
a terra profustis calidus vapor aedificio jncluditur^ sicut super 
Baias in murtetis habemus. Vitruv. Ii. 6 also describes the 
buildings erected over the natural jets of sulphurous vapour. 

6. ceBsantem 'chronic', lingering. nervlB : apparently these 
vapour baths were especially efficacious in cases of muscular 
rheumatism. 

^dere * to drive out', a technical medical term : cf. Cels. II. 15 
gestatio utilissima est.,.eis quibus lentae morborum reliquiae 
remanenty neque aliter eliauntur. Baiae is represented as 
bearing a grudge against invalids who have courage to follow 
Musa's severe regime. 

8. capnt : Celsus recommends the douche for strengthening 
the head and stomach : I. 4 capiti nihil aequeprodest atque aqua 
frigida: itaque is, cui hoc infirmum est^ per aestatem idbenelargo 
canali quotidie debet aliquamdiu subicere: IV. 5 qui stomachi 
resolutione laborant^ his perfundi frigida, atque in eadem natare^ 
canalibus eiusdem subicere etiam stomachum ipsum,„consistere in 
frigidis medicatisquefontibus...scUutare est, 

9. Cliudnls : at Clusium itself there do not appear tohavebeen 
any springs of note; and the place itself was imhealthy, because 
of the miasma arising from the marshes produced by the over- 
flowing of the Clanis (Tac. Ann. I. 79), until these were drained 
by the grand-dukes of the house of Lorraine. At S. Casciano de 
Bagni, about twelve miles to the south of Clusium, there are 
ha&s of ancient date, and it has been suggested (Dennis Cities 
of Etruria ii. j). 291) that Horace may have been referring to 
these. There is no important town nearer to these than 
Clusium. But perhaps Horace's language does not require any- 
thing more than the ordinary springs, not wanting in the hilly 
country round Clusium itself. It luis been suggested that the 
baths (mentioned by TibuU. ili. 5, i vos tenet Etruscis manat 
quaefontibus unda, unda sub aestivum non adeunda canem)-jQa,y 



i84 HORATl EPISTULAE. 

haye beta tbose ~ at Cluskim : bat as He^me jtistly obsenres 
^habuit autem et olim et nunc Etruria aquas salubres pluribus 
locis'. Besides those were dearif hot baths, while the springs 
at Clusium were cold. 

Gabios: £p. i* ii, 7: Strabo t, ^ h Zk r^ irtHifi ro^y 
'ApiufP. dti^eitn koX rd "AXpovXa icaXoi^em ^u vSara ^xfi^ ^^^ 
iroXX(3y irrjy<av, vpos voiKCkas vocovs Kal vLvovai Ktd iyKoOrifAiiws 
^(6»^^ In Juv. VII. 4 cum iam celebres noti^ue pottae bcUneolum 
Gabiis donducere tehtptarent Prof. Mayor thmks the point to bc 
that in so small a place but little custom could be expected. 
But there are indications that owing to its- cold baths it to some 
extent recovered its prosperity : cf. Burn'$ Rome and the Cam- 
pagna p. 38^. 

10. nota, 9C. equo. The horse wanted to tum down to the 
right, as usual, where the road branched ofT, and led througfa 
Cumae to Baiae. This was apparently at Capua: the via 
Domitianay which led straight nrom Sinuessa to Cumae along 
the coast, was made by the Emperor Domitian (Stat Silv.iv. 3): 
Orelli is' misleading here. 

12. «tomaohosiift Iiabena ' pullinjg angrily at the rein ' : hahena 
is the ablative of instrument; 'venting ms anger with*. Habena 
is strictly a single strap or rein; hence usually in the plural of a 
bridle. 

18. sed, i.e. but it is no good saying anything, for &c. 

eqials: the sii^gular equiy according to Keller, has more 
authority : but Bentley seems right in regarding this clause as a 
general reflexion, in which case the dative, as he has shown, 
is the case required; equi must then be regarded as wrongly 
assimilated to eqrns, 

14. pomilam, not an uncommon expression for the inhabi- 
tants of a municipium: cp. Wilmanns Ex, Inscr. Lat. 1194, 
laipa, 1804, 1809, &c., where we have S. P. Q. T. of Tibur. 

15. oollect08...1mbre8, i.e. in tanks (tactis), 

16. iugls might seem redundant after peremilfl : hence some 
editors have read dulcis^ the reading of the vet. Bland. and a few 
other MSS. But, as Bentley saw, dulcis is here out of place; 
rain-water is not less dulcis, i.e. not more salt or bitter, than 
spring-water. We have therefore here another instance of aU 
attempt at emendation in the vet. Bland., which though at first 
aight attractive, will not bear examination. The pleonasm is not 
onensive or unparalleled : cp. £p. i. 7, 41, Cic. de Or. iii. 48, 184 
perennis etprofluens. Bentley quotes ftom Amobius perpetuaeet 
iugescalamitates: iugiter etperpetuo is a law-term, and DoederieiA 
(Sy% !• xo) thinks that itsge and perenne auspicium are die 



Bk.1. Ep.Xy,] NOTES. 185 

flRme» m ^pite of Cic. de Div. n. $5» 77 and Senrias on 
Verg. Aen. iii. 537. Bnigman (Curt. Stud. IV. 148) r^;ards 
ifigis *living' applied to water as quite a different word from 
iugis *constant . lugis may be used either of the watec 
(Cic. de Div. il. 13, 31 aquae iuns colore) or of the spring 
(de Div. I. 50, 113 ktmstam aquam ae iugi puteo; de Nat. D. il« 
9, 25 ex puteis iugibus aquam calidam trahi: cp. Sat. Ii. 6, 9 
iugis aquaefons» Cp. Roby § 784. 

nlbfl moror *I don't care about*: cp. Plaut. Trin. 497 nil 
ego istos moror faeceos mores^ with Brix's note ; and ib. 337. 
Horace knew that the wine was indifFerent, and was therefore 
prepared to take his own supply with him. The wine of 
Surrentum, not far from Salernum, was a thin light wine, 
recommended to convalescents (Plin. H. N. xiv. 8), called by 
Tiberius generosum acetum and by Caligula nobilis vappa^ though 
Persius speaks of it as lene (iii. 93) : Horace (Sat. ii. 4, 55) 
seems to regard it ^ requiring to be mixed with strong Falemian, 
before it was good to drink. 

17. QTildvls *anything', not *any kind of wine', which 
would necessarily have been quodvis^ as Heinsius pointed out. 

19. cnm ipe dlvlte: cp. Ep. i. 5, 17. 

81. invieiiem, L e. as thou^ I were young again. Lncaaae 
shows that Horace is now thmking of Velia, not of Salernum. 

32. aproB : Lucanian boars are mentioned in Sat !!• 3, 334; 
8, 6. Cp. Mayor on Juv. i. 140 — 141, v. 116. 

eduoet; cp. Ov. Pont I. lo» 9 quod mare, quod tellusy 
adpone^ quod educat aer, 

83. ecblnos 'sea-urphins': Sat. il. 4, 33 Miseno oriuntur 
echini; Juv. IV. 143 semel CLspecti litus dicebat echini: Plin. Ep. i. 
159 3 ostrea^ vuivas, echincu, as the dainties at a banquet. 
Athenaeus iii. 41 says * Echini if eaten with vinegar and honey, 
parsley and mint, are sweet and easy of digestion'. 

84. Fbaeaz, i.e. like one of the courtiers of Alcinous: 
Ep. I. «, 38. 

25. acoredere, a rare word, used however by Plaut. Asin. 
&io, 845; Lucret. iii. 856 and Clc. ad Att. vi. 1, 3. In Plautus 
the preposition seems to have no especial force, in Lucretius the 
£orce is *to believe this too'; in Cicero (z/wr accredens) and here 
ad seems to be intensive *fully believe *. 

26 — 46. Maenius of old liked to get the daintiist fare he 
couldy by the exercise of his wit; but if at any time his gluttony 
was reduced to satisfy itself on plain coarsefood, he was a merciless 



x86 HORATI EFISTULAE. 

censurer of eficttres. I am Uke him^ cmdfidly appteeiate anhfort 
when I can getit. 

26. Many MSS. and some old editions begin a new epistle 
here, failing to notice the connexion between this sketch of 
Maenius the glutton, and Horace's humorous expression of his 
intention to Uve on the best fare that he can get. For the rapid 
transition cp. £p. I. 7, 14) and 46. 

MaenlUB,- a character attacked also by Lucilius» and mentioned 
in Sat. I. 3, 21, perhaps also in Sat. I. i, lor (but cp. Ritter ad 
loc). Porphyrion says * qui de personb Horatianis scripserunt, 
aiunt Maenium scurrilitate notissimum Romae '. He was said 
to have prayed aloud in the Capitol on the Kalends of January 
that he might owe 400,000 sesterces, explaining his prayer to 
one who asked him the meaning of it, by saying that he owed 
at the time 800,000. Some have supposed, but without good 
groundsy that he was the Pantolabus of Sat. I. 8, 11. 

27. forfelter 'in a spirited fashion'; ironical, Uke Peok 
VI. a.i hic bona dente grcaidia magnanimus peragU puer. 

nrlMiiiis (Ep' I. 9, 11) is best connected with wtnrt^ as inr 
Plaut. Most. 15 /M urbanus vero scurra, deUdae popliy rus mihi 
tu obiectasf From Plaut Trin. aoa ttrbani assidui civei^ quos 
scurras vocant, we see that sc$/rra had not quite the same sense 
as in Horace, but meant lather ' lounger ', ' gossip '. In CatuU. 
XXII. a the uriaetus equals the scurra of v. n, a *wit*, quite 
in a good sense, a meaning which is found even in Cicero (pro 
Quinct 3. II nam negue parum facetus scurra Sex, Naevius 
neque inhumanus praeco est unquam esistimatus), although from 
de Orat ii. 60, 247 it appears that the bad sense was b^nning 
to be predominant. Hor. Sat. I. 5, 52 shows the change 
complete ; scurra ^pmrasitus * spunger *. 

28. praesepe <crib', cp. Plaut Curc «27 tormenio non 
retineri potuit ferreo quin reciperet se huc esum ad praesepim 
suam : so £ur. Eurysth. fr. 6 yv ns otxovp Tkovo-iouf ixQ <pamjir, 

29. InpranfniB, i. e. if he had had no meal that day : the 
prandium was the first substantial meal of the day, usuaUy taken 
at.midday. 

clvem...li08te 'friend from foe' : the earUer meaning of the 
word /5tfj/jj=*foreigner* (Cic. de Off. I. n, 37; Varro L. L. 
V. 3 tum eo verbo dicebant peregrinum) had become obsolete by 
the time of Horace, and should not be thrust upon him here; 
cp. Plaut. Trin. 101 hostisnc an civis comedis, parvi pendere, 
The form dignoscere has no support here : the word occurs first 
in Horace (cp. £p. il. 2, 44), then in Ovid ; in prose in Colu- 
meUa and Pliny. Cp. Brambach Hiilfsb, p. 34. 



Bk. I. Ep. XV.] NOTES. 187 

80. vaevne flngere : similar infinitives after adjectives, called 
prolative or complementary infin. by Kennedy and Wickham, 
occur in Ep. i. i, 14 ; a, 64 ; 7» 57 ; 16, 12 5 17, 47 ; A. P. 163, 
165, 204 ; in the Satires in i. 4, 8, la ; il. 3, 313 ; 7, 85 ; 8, 24 ; 
and no less than «4 times in the Odes. They form a marked 
feature in the style of Horace* 

81. penilcle8...niaoelll Hhe niin, and storm and abyss of the 
market', because he burst down upon it, carrying havoc with 
him, and swept oflF everything into his insatiable maw. Cp. Plaut. 
Capt. 903, 911. For Uie barathrum at Athen3 see Dr Hager in 
Joum. Phil. VIII. 11, The word is used somewhat diflferently 
in Sat. II. 3, 166, but cp.Plaut. Curc. laa age ecfunde koc\ym}xm\ 
cito in harathrum. macellum seems to have denoted originally 
a slaughter-house, thence a meat-market, but it came to be 
applied to a market for all kinds of provisions : cp, Varro L. L* 
V. 147, Bonatus o«Ter. Eun. 155, Curt. Gr. Etym. i. 407. 

82. donabat will stand very well as the main verb of the 
sentence. Bentley's conjecture donaret leaves Maenius without 
any proper construction ; and the reading donarat of the vet 
Bland. and other important MSS. on wluich it is based seems 
only an assimilation to ^aesierat, 

83. neqiiltiae 'hiswicked wit*. 

80. tUIb is evidently needed with agnlnae more than with 
[like *tripe* a Keltic word] which was always a cheap 
coarse food ; there are many instances in the Satires of ^ in the 
second place in its clause: e.g. I. 3, 54; 6, 11; 10, 71 etc. 
Plautus (Capt. 816) complains of the butchers who sold kmb 
dear : apparently he expected hk ta h& t^naK^ It is nowhere 

86. lamna, contracted for lamina [better spelt iammina], 
as in Carm. il. 2, a. Torture by the application of red-hot 
plates of metal is often mentioned, e.g. in Plaut. As. 543 ad' 
versum stetimus lamminas crucesque c<mipedesque^ wrvos^ catenaSf 
carcerem^ numellctSypedicaSy boicLS^ impctcforesque acerrumos gnaros* 
que nostritergi: Lucret. Iii. 1017, verbera^ carnifices, robur^ pix, 
lammina^ taedaey Cic. in Verr. v. 63, 163 cum ignes ardentesque 
lamminae ceterique cruciatus admovebantur, 

nt dlceret: the man's coarse gluttony is humorously re- 
presented as entitling him to censure severely epicures, and 
spendthrifts. 

nepotmn, Epod. i, 34: Sat. I. 4, 49 (nepos Jilius) \ 8, 11; 
Sat II. I, 53; 3, 225 ; Ep. II. 2, 193. The word is also common 
in Cicero in this sense, but not apparently elsewhere. 



i88 HORATI EPJSTULAE. 

87. Beitliis is introdticed klso hy Persius vi. 37, but 90 as 
to add nothing to wh&t we can gather ftom this passage. He 
was evidentiy an cxtravagant liyer so long as his means hekl 
out, and afterwards an unsparing critic of extravagance. The 
character may very probably have been derived from Lucilius. 
All the MSS. have either correotns or comptus: the latter 
appears to give no good sepse; but the former may, I think, 
weil be interpreted * hke Bestius afler his reformation '. Lambinus 
asserted that he had found 'in antiquissimo codiceV^rr^tr/^, and 
this reading, though probably only a conjecture, has been adopted 
by many subsequent editors. Bentley warmly defends it, quotin^, 
with his usual readiness, several passages in which corrector is 
used for * critic * or * censor *, and assuming that Bestius was a 
proverbially severe censor. As the reading found in all known 
MSS. jrields a sufficiently good sense, I nave followed Ritter 
-and Keller in retaining it. — Maaniiui is of course the subject of 
dlooret, and Bestiiui is in apposition, as 1h Vell. Pat. 11. 18 
Mi^kridat€S,*.odto in Romcmos HanmbaU 

89. ferUrat In fOmTim, a proverbial expression for 'con- 
fiumed ' : we need not enquire what particular metaphor was in 
the mind of Horace. 

mlTor— fd: Roby § 1757, S. G. § 747. Cp. BwpA^ et. 

41. turdo: Sat. 11. 2, 74; 5, 10. ▼olva: the mairix of a 
jow was and still is considered a great delicacy in Italy. It was 
prepared with spices and vinegar, and eaten as a relish with 
wine : Athen. III. 50 ifiirbfOPTi di ffw. 4>9p4T(if rotovdt Tpayiuu^ 
yaaTipa irai /A^r/)ai' i<f>$i)v 66$, iv r« Kvlibft^ h r ^et ^ptfiei icoi 
cCKipl^^ ifA^epawaajf, It was more costly than any other kind of 
meat commonly eaten, as Keller shows from DiocIetian's edict 
of A. D. 301 dc pretUs venalium (c. iv. 3 ed. Mommsen). ProC 
Palmer quotes very happily Alexis (Meineke Com. Graec. 
p. 738 ed. min.) \nt\p xorpdj pk» iroj r« avoBwitaKW BiKei^^vrkp 
di fnirpas KaXfafAedm Kapapos i^Oiis tffm Tpoaeh' <2y aXXi#f 
«nro^orcu'. 

43. lilc : cp. Ep. I. 6, 40. It is of course the pronoun, 
although Macleane by comparing ivTavd* elfil seems to take it as 
the adverb. In Ter. Andr. 310 tu si hic sis aliter sentias, hic^ 
ego^ not in hoc loco: cp. Spengers note ad loc, 

M. unctliis 'richer' of food, as in £p. i. 17, 13 of persons. 
Cp. Mart. V. 44, 7 unctior cena, 

46. fondata 'based upon*, not quite *invested in': ^ 
meaning seems to be that no man is in this case considered wise 
and fortunate, unless aU can see from his handsome marble 
{nitidis) villas how firm is the basis on which his financial 
prosperity rests. Cp. Cic. p. C. Rab. Post. I. i fortunas Jundatas 



Bk. I. Ep. XVL] NOTES. 189 

aiqmi dpHmi consHtutas. The wealthier Komans possessed a 
surprismg number of countiy seats. Ciceio was neTer acconnted 
a veiy rich man ; but be had iburteen or fifteen, dgfat of them 
of considejmble size and beaoty. ( Watson Sekct EpistUs^ p* > > 7«) 



EPISTLE XVI. 

The tone adopled in w. 17 flf. of this Epistle makes it pretty 
clcar that the Quinctius,. to whom it is addressed, was a maft 
younger than Horace. The eleventh Ode of the second book is 
addressed to a Quinctius Hirpinus; and it has been argued 
from the mention of cani captlH in v. 15 of that Ode that thSs 
Quincti^s must have been at least a^ old as Horace. But it is 
probable that the reference there is only to the poet himself, 
and thal the levis iuventus of v. 6 is more applkable to his 
friend. There is therefore nothing to prevent us from supposing 
that the Ode and the Epistle are addressed to the same man. 
He appears to hare ahready attaitied conspicuous success in his 
ambitious career; and may with some probability be identified 
with T. Quinctius Crispinus, the consul of B.C. 9. (The sur- 
name Hirpinus of Carm. II. 11 presents difiicuUies as yet 
unsolved: cp. Wckham's Introduction.) Chronology, as well 
as his character as optimus^ prevents us from identif^dng him 
linth the worthless T. Quinctius Crispinus, praetor in A.D. a: 
but Orelli thinks £hat he may have been his father. The Epistle 
cannot have been written before B.c «7, whea Octavianus 
receiTed the title of Augustus (v. 29) ; as Horace was in posses- 
sion of his Sabine estate by B.c. 33, and as Quinctius at this 
time knew very little about it, this goes to show that the friend- 
ship between Horace and himsglf was not of long standing. 
There is nothing to fix the date more precisely. 

1 — 16. /««7/ tell ym ali ahout my Sabine estate^ Quinctius, 
ihat yau tnay not have the trouble of asking me asto its produce. 
It lies in a shady valley: the cHmate is good^ trees abundant, and 
the stream as cool and clear as the Hebrus, This dear and 
charming retrecct keeps me in health even in autumn* 

Im M, not imperatire, but dependent on scribetur (v. 4). 
Qalneti, the form found on coins of the Augustan time: the 
great majority of MSS. have QuinH, but some (inchiding the 
vet. Bland.) have retained the earlier form. 

2. azTO, properly land prepared for com, but not yet sown: 
cp. Vairo R. R. i. 39, i seges dicitur quod aratum satum est; 
arvumf quod aratum necdum satum est: but the word is com- 
monfy used for oorn-land generally. Mr Simcox {Hist, Hom, 



190 HORATI EPISTULAE. 

Lit, I. 309) says: * We see that most (?) of his iriends thottght 
more of the value of his fann than of its beauty» and turaed first 
to the question whether it grew com or oil, beoause there was a 
profit to be got out of oil, while com could not be depeaded 
upon for more than a living'* This last statement is correct 
(cp. Mommsen HisU II. 375, 6), but it may be doubted whe* 
ther the fact was in the mind 01 Quinctius. The various alter- 
natives are not, strictly speaking, mutually exclusive: tiie 
orchard was sown like any com-field, and where the vine was 
trained on living trees, com was cultivated in the intervals 
between them (Mommsen 11. 364 note). 

iMUds, here, as always (Ribbeck ProU. Verg. p. 391), better 
^tablished than baccis, 

opnlentet, a rare word, found for the first time here. 

8. an pratlfl. Keller strenuously, but not successfiilly, 
defends the reading et proHs^ which would join two substan- 
tives, not more closely connected than any other two in the 
list. Bentley restored an from the vet. Bland« and other good 
MSS. 

amlcta : Ep. I. 7, 84 (note). I cannot think, with Macleane, 
that these two lines are * to be understood as a description,' and 
that Horace is recounting the difierent productions of his farm. 
H. puts aside the question as to the productiveness of his estate, 
and dwells in preference on its natural charms. 

4. fomia *nature* or 'character*: Varro R» R. I. 6, i 
formae cum duo genera sint^ una, quam natura dat, altera^ 
quam sationes imponunt etc. 

loqnaciter, i.e. with all the fulness of a proud owner. The 
taiost recent descriptions of theestate are to be found in Martin*s 
• Horace (Vol. ii. p. 233), and in the Antiquarian Magazine for 
June 1883: cp. also the account in WXmzTi^ Life of Horcu:e (p. 
loi), and that reprinted in Martin^s Horace (Ancient Classics for 
English Readers) pp. 70 — 71 from the Pall MaU Gazette, The 
main point at issue is whether the farm lay on an elevated pla- 
teau near Rocca Giovane (as Rosa thinks), or on the right bank 
of the Digentia, two or three miles further up the valley, opposite 
to the village of Licenza. The latter view is far more probable. 

6. continni montes, not quite, as Conington, *in long con* 
tinuous lines the mountains run*: there are no marked moun- 
tain chains in this part of the Sabine territory, but rather a 
broad continuous mass, broken only by the valley of the 
Digentia, running from north to south. The most conspicnons 
of these mountains is the Monte Gennaro (4163 ft.), rising high 
above the rest as seen from the plain of the Campagnaj this 



Bk. LEp. XVI] NOTES. 191 

was probably Horace^s Lucretilis, thoogh some have found thi^ 
in the Monte Corngnaleto» above Rocca Giovane. 

nl *except that*: with oc^tinnl we must understand sunt; 
a general statement is made, and then a qualiEcation is intro- 
duced, which modifies it (Roby § 1574, S. G. § 654). The fuU 
expression of the thought would be *the mass of the hills is 
nnbroken, at least it would be, supposing they were not to be 
parted by* etc. Keller argues strongly in favour of the reading 
si, which is found in some MSS., and which he supposes 
(though apparently without sufficient reason) to be implied in 
Porphyrion^s interpretation. He urges that the reading ni 
implies that the estate cmsisted mainly of a mass of mountains, 
.and Schiitz admits this; but I cannot see that this necessarily 
follows. Even if it is too much to say with Kruger that we 
■must supply as predicate * are in the neighbourhood, surroimd 
my estate ', there is no great ambiguity in beginning the descrip- 
tion by saying 'the mountains are unbroken'; Quinctius knew 
that Horace lived in a mountainous district. Keller takes fd 
oontlnui montes dlssocientur as the protasis^ and landes as the 
apodosis, which produces a cumbrous sentence, not in Horace*s 
style. Besides this strains the meaning of continui, which he 
interprets as 'separated only by a narrow valley'. He seems 
also to be wrong in his view of the nature of the valley. He 
T^;ards it as running east and west, so as to be protected by the 
mountains on the one hand ftom the north wind, on the other 
from the noonday sun and the scirocco. But the valley of the 
l^igentia runs nearbr du6 north and south; and this is clearly 
implied in w. 5 — 6. dextrmn must be used, just as we use 
'right bank' of a river, for that part which is on the right hand 
6f one following the course of the stream. Thus the rising sun 
shines on the slopes of the hills to the west of the river, which 
£u:e the east; and the setting sun shines in the same way on 
the slopes to the east. Kriiger thinks that the tnlla must be 
r^rded as facing the north, so that its right (eastem) wall 
would catch the rising sun, but there is nothing to suggest the 
▼ilLa as the standpoint Some maps appear to.mark a small 
valley branchii^ off from the valley of the Digentia, and running 
east and west, just where the villa of Horace is placed by Rosa 
(so Miiller in Smith*s Atlas and Piale*s Pianta della Campagna 
Komana) ; but this is not well dehned, and is several hundreds of 
feet above the course of the stream. Hence it seems more pro- 
iMible that Horace is referring to the main valley. 

Bed nt, limiting: the valley is on the whole shady, but yet 
such that the sun shines upon one side of it in the moming, 
upon the other in the evening. 

T* dlMedmui has better authori^ than the old reading 



192 HORATI EPISTULAE. 

descmtUns* Behtley read<^Irra/ififx, qnoting in support Veig. EcL 
II. 67, Georg. J. 31«, IV. 466, and Ep. I. 6, 3 ; but it is not 
pecessaxy to depart from the MSS. 

▼aporet mav mean simply * warms * as often in Lucretius vdpor 
means 'heat' (cp. v. 1 131) ; but peihaps it is better to interpret 
«rith Orelli 'tepido vapore obducat'« 

8. quia, Bl fiBraiit, sc. dicas, The subj. pres. does not bere 
saggest that the hypothesis is merdy imaginary, but ftrant Is 
attracted into the mood oidicas: 'if you were to leam this, you 
would say *, &c Bentley reads ferunt and istiHit, which would 
be necessary if diccLs did not follow, suggesting the same fonn to 
be supplied afler quid, Macleane's comma atter umbra^ instead 
of a note of interrogation, makes the construction unintelligible. 
Prof. Palmer believes the true reading to be quid quod here and 
ouod for si in v. 9 : quod then fell out ader quid in v. 8, «nd 
before quercus in v. 9. Sevend good MSS. omit si and have et 
in V. 9, and some have quodsi here, which facts seem to point to 
some corruption. Certainly quid si as it stands here, seems 
xjuite unparalleled. In that case, we must of course Te&dfirunt, 

benlffnl has better authority, and is more poetical than 
henigru: some MSS. have denignae: Lucretius IV. 60 usee 
Vi^ris as a feminine, and Priscian (v. 8, 43) says that the gender 
was common with 'vetustissimi'; but Vergil (Georg. III. 444« 
Aen. VIII. 645) and Columella treat it as masculine. Munro 
thicJcs that the evidence points to the feminine here (note on 
Lucret. L c) though he prmts ienigni. Cp. benignus ager Ov. 
Am. I. 10, 56. 

0. veprM 'bushes*: ttsually thom-bttshes, as in Veng. 
Ceorg. III. 444 hirsuti ucuerunt corpora vepres; but not neces- 
sarily, aot apparently here, for although the sloe-tree {firuM$ts 
spinosa) has thoms, the wild dierry (comus mascuid^ has not. A 
senatus consultum in Front. Ai^uaed. 119 has arbores^ vites^ 
nepres^ sentes, The wild cherry is indigenous in Italy, althoi^;h 
the dierry proper was only introduced in Cicero's time. For 
sloes cp. Plin. N. H. xv. 13, 44 pruna silvesiria uHqui nasci 
certumest* 

10. tnge, here equivalent to glandtbusy but in Cic Or. 9, 
30 of com contrasted with acoms : nt inventis frugibus glanat 
vescantur. 

11. Tarentun: the charms of Tarentum are snng of in 
Carm. ii. 6, 9 — 20, where Horace places it next to Tibnr. 
Lenormant (JLa Grande-Grice i. 20) writes of the little village of 
Citrezze near Tarentum, with its little chapel of S. Maria di 
Galeso: *la beaut^ des eaux, et l*ombrage des arbres touffhs, 
creeiit une seosation de &alcbetir dosu le cfaaraie* sous ce glimat 



Bk. LEp. XVI.] NOTES. X93 

ardent, ne saurait se d^crire'. Hence De Chaupy (quoted by 
Macleane) is hardly justified in sayiag that the valley of Licenza 
now not only equals but infinitely surpasses the verdure of 
Tarentum. 

13. fons, identified by the scholiasts with the fons Bandu- 
siae of Carm. iii, 13, i : but it is not even certain that the latter 
was not in Apulia. The name of this spring must have been 
the same as that of the stream, i.e. Digentia (£p. i. x8, 104). 

daxe idonens, a Greek construction : cp, £p. i. 2, 27 (note). 

13. fiigldlor: £p. i. 3, 3 (note). ambiat *flows winding 
through*, not *flows around*. We should say rather *so that 
Hebnis is not cooler or clearer in its winding course through 
Thrace*. 

14, oapitl...alTO : £p. I. 15, 8 (note), 

ntilis, ntilis : the repetition is not out of keeping with the 
negligent style of a familiar letter, and is supported by a great 
preponderance of authority. Either from a deliberate correction 
or irom the loss of one of the words (actually occurring in one 
MS.), some MSS. read aptus et utilis* 

16. dnloes 'deartome', amoena,e 'charminginthemselves', 
objectively. Bentley read et (iam si credis\ * and, if you believe 
it, now that you have heard my account', and several good 
editors have foUowed him. But there is sufficient distinction 
between diilces and amoenae in meaning, to bear the weight of the 
etiam 'and even'. Mr Reid thinks aJl attempts to explain si 
credis unsatisfactory, and suggests that Horace may have written 
the very common si quderis: cp. Lucil. 1006 (Lachm.) sermone 
bono, et^ si quaeri*y libenter^ Thjs does not touch th« difficulty 
as to the force of amoenae, 

16. ttM, ethic dative, showing that the health of Horace 
was a matter of interest to Quinctius. Septemtorlbns lioiia: cp. 
Ep. i. 7, 5 fif., Sat» II. 6, 19. 

17 — ^24. You are universally accounted a happy man: but 
dofCt irust thejudgment of others in this: for they may not know 
your.vfsak pointSy and no one is really happy but thegood, 

17. qnod andis 'what you are said to be' : Sat. 11. 3, 298 ; 
6, 2o; £p. I. 7» 3^* Cp» Xen. Mem. 11. 6, 39 oXXa avvToinaTdrri 
re Kal datfxiKeffrdrrf #ccU Ka\\L<mi q8os, w Kpiro^ovKc, S riSj^ fioiSKjf 
SoKctv ayaOds elyaiy rovro koI yeviffdai dyaOhv Teipcurdaif translated 
by Cic. Off. II. 12, 43. 

18. iaetamns 'we have been speaking of*, without any 
notion of boasting: there may perhaps be, as Ritter thinks, a 

W. H, 13 



194 HORATI EPISTULAE. . . 

suggestion of thoughtlessness in the laiiguage. • Cp. ConmgtoQ 
on Verg. Aen. i. 102. For the construction with omnis Komd 
cp. Carm, IV. a, 50 iton semel dicemus *io iriuntphe'* civitas 
omnis, 

19. plus qYiam tlbl : Acron well compares for the thought 
Pers. I. 7 nec te quaesiveris extra» 

20. aliiim Bapiente : alius has the construction of a compara- 
tive also in Ep. Ii. i, 240 alius Lysippo, and in Sat. ii. 3, 208* 
species aUas veris* Cp. Cic. ad Fam. xi. 2 (in a letter written by 
Brutus) nec quicquam cUiud libertate communi quaesivisse: Roby 
§ 1268, S. G. § 513. Cp. Xen. Mlem. iv. 4, 25 aXXa rwr StKoiw»'. 

21. Banum : the metaphor, as is frequently the case in these 
epistles, is made the main proposition. We should saj rather 
*and act like a man who should conceal a disease* etc. 

22. Bul) *up to' : Mr Roby (§ 2120) admits for sub with acc. 
of time only themeaning *just after''^: but usage and the origin 
of the construction alike seem to point to *towards, just before* 
as a force quite as legitimate. Cp. Sat. i. i, 10; ll. i, 9; 7, 35, 
109 ; and Pahner^s notes on the Satires, p. 380. 

23. tremor : cp. Pers. iii. 160 ff. Some editors suppose that 
the sick man disguises his fever untjl dinner-time that he may 
not have to sacrifice his meal, others that he may spare the feel- 
ings of his guests ( !) : but Horace appears to mean simply that 
a vice not cured may break out at the most inconvenient times. 

imctiB, food was commonly taken in the fingers, forks being 
unknown except for kitchen purposes, and spoons little nsed: 
cp. Ov. A. A. III. 755 carpe cibos digitis» 

24. pudor malos * a false shame \ 

26—31. Praise only suited to Augustus you would refuse to 
take to yourself* Why take creditfor wisdom and virtue ? 

26. tibi with pngnata, not with dicat: the latter construc- 
tion, defended by Schiitz, requires us to give to' dicat the meaning 
adsignet^ which is without authority. The scholiasts however 
take tibi=in tuum honorem, 

26. Yaoiuui 'open' to fiattery, called by Persius iv. 50 
bibulas, 

27 — 28. tene — luppiter, a quotation, according to the scho- 
liasts, from ih^ panegyricus Augusti by L. Varius, the tragic poet. 

80. pateris seems to be the best supported reading: poteris 
of some MSS. is only a corruption, and cupias of others a gloss 
upon it. For the construction, which is a Grecism, cp. Carm. 
I» 2> ^zpcUiens vocari Caesaris ultor; and Ep. i. 5, 15, 



Bk. I. Ep. XVI.] NOTES. 195 

' ^ 81 — 40. ThepUasure ruUuraUy derivsdfrom a reptUcUimfor 
virtue rests on no sure basis : and unfounded praise is as worthless 
as groundless blame, 

31. lodes: Ep. 1. 1, 62 (note). respondesne : Schiitz argues 
that "ne must here, as in £p. I. 1 7, 38, and as so often in Plautus 
and Terence, — in Cicero only in ifideine etc— have the force 
of nonne^ the fact being assumed that it is so. This seems to be 
right, cumpateris being *in aliowing yourself to be ' etc. (Roby § 
.1729, S. G. § 731). The metaphor is derived from a levy or a 
census, where the citizen answers, when he hears his own name 
called. Cp. Liv. III. 41 edicitur dilectus: iuniores ad nomina 
respondent, 

nempe admits the justice of the implied assertion : 'to be sure 
I do, for' etc. 

33. qnl sc. populus. 

84. indlgno sc. cui deferantur fasces, detraliet has some- 
what better support than detrahit, The illustration is not very 
suitable : for the abrogatio imperii, although theoretically pos- 
sible, was exceedingly rare. Cp. Mommsen Hom, Staatsr. i^ 
6o6---^09. 

80. "poTiib—depone: Carm. iii. 2, 19 nec sumit aut ponH 
secures arbitrio popularis aurae» The object oiponeAst as Bentley 
saw, hoCf i.e. nomen viri boni et prudentis; the intervening men- 
tion of the fasces, being thrown in parenthetically by way of 
comparison, is no sufficient objection to this view, as Schiitz 
aigues. If we iaiktfasces as the object, we are compelled to give 
a forced meaning to meun, 'it is my prerogative to give and to 
take away offices* : besidesi we lose the contrast between tristis 
and delector, 

pono : Horace uses the first person here only in order to 
av<Hd the apparent invidiousness of the second. The fact that 
he himself never stood for any office conferred by popular 
election, thus does not at all come into the question. 

86. idem. Bentley argued that this must be of the first 
person, connecting it with mordear^ and putting a full stop, not 
a note of interrc^tion, at colores, His notion of the drift of the 
passage is :— if I am elated by praise which I do not deserve, I 
should also be stung by charges however groundless. He rightly 
sees that the falsus honor and the mendax infamia afiect the 
same man. But Horace's point seems rather to be that as false 
chargeswould not affect the man, in whose position he is iat the 
mcmient placing himself, so an unfounded reputation for virtue 
ought not to delight hinu Hence idem is best taken with 
damotr <^ ^popiuius^ 

13—2 



196 HORATl EPI^TULAE. 

furem sc. me esse. imdieiiiii, always in a sense more restricted 
than our 'chaste', of freedom from the worst forms of vice. 

37. laqiieo cdUTun pressisse patemiim, used for the extreme 
of villany in Carm. II. 13, 5 illum et parentis crediderim sui 
fregisse cervicem^ £pod. III, i farentis olim si quis impia matiu 
senile guttur /regerit, 

88. ooloreB, much better supported than colorem, Bentley 
admitted that the singular was much more common (cp. Cann. 
!• 13» 5; IV. 13, 17), but held that the plural could be explained 
of the colour coming and going, the man tuming red, then pale, 
then red again. And this is probably right. He quotes Prop. 
'• 15» Z9, 9^^^ ^^ cogebat multos pcUlere colores ? — ^the force of which 
Schiitz in vain endeavours to impair — and Lucian £un. 11 
xofrotof rpf is fivpla rpairSfieyos x/>(^M<iTa. So too Piato Lys. 32) 
B xavrodaxd rjiplei x/>(>>AMira. Browning's *cheek that changes 
to all kinds of white* is a dose parallel to the phrase in Pn>- 
pertius. 

40. medicandTim is unquestionably the right reading, being 
supported alike by the weight of MS. authority, and by the 
requirements of the sense. The old reading mendacem still 
retained by Kriiger, involves a false antithesis : for there is no 
reason why mendax infamia should terrify mendaces especially. 
The genesis of this blunder is made clear by the various readings 
in the inferior MSS.: a copyist's slip must have given mendican- 
dum by assimilation to mendax and mendosum^ and from this 
came by conjectural correction mendacem and mmdicum. A 
mendosus requires curatio; he is conscious of serious faults, 
though not those which a mendax infamia ascribes to him. 

41 — 46. The popular judgment ofa man is often erroneouSy 
being basedon mere extemal correctness ofconduct, 

41. qul&erTat. The definition of the *good man*isthat 
which would be given by the popular judgment, one having in 
view only external rectitude of conduct, and a good reputation. 
But Horace shows that these may go along with grave moral 
defects, known to all who are famili^ with Uie man, as he really 
is. Schiitz well reminds us of the Pharisees of the Gospels. 

consnlta patrum : i.e. the man is a bonus in Cicero's sense of 
the word, a good Conservative, notinclined to make light of thc 
authorities. 

leges Imuiae: leges are the positive enactraents or 'statutes' 
of the comitia centuriata, with which the plebiscita of the comitia 
tributa came to be practically identical: ius is *Iaw* in its 
widest sense, iura being either the various comj>onent parts of 



Bk. L Ep. XVI.] NOTES. 197 

iuSj or *rules of law*, legal provisions, either contained in the 
XII. tables, or added by the praetors, Cp. Dict. Ant. s.v. lus: 
and Gaius l. 2 constant_ autem iura populi Romani ex legibus^. 
plebis consultiSf constitutionibus principum, edictis eorum qui ius 
edicendi habent^ responsis prudentium, 

42. iudice: in private suits a single iudex decided questions 
of fact, after a praetor had put the case into the proper form for 
hearing, and settled any question of law involved. . Cp. Gaius 
IV. 39—43- 

43. res sponsore. All MSS. except the vet. Bland. have 
responsore^ which Ritter in vain endeavours to defend. Bentley 
showed convincingly that responsor is never used for qui iura 
respondet^ and that if it was, the word Would be out of place 
here, for a good man is not required to be a learned la^wyer. 
But sponsor is the regular word for one who stands as surety, 
and thus secures a man his property. Cp. Com, Nep. Att. 9 
ipsi autem Fulviae tanta diligentia officium suum praestitit^ ut 
nullum stiterit vadimonium sine AtticOy sponsor omnium rerum 
fuerit. Bentley well quotes Pers. v. 78 — 81 as giving all the 

three characters here mentioned by Horace : verierit hunc domi- 
nus? momento turbinis exit Marcus Dama. Fapae! Marco 
spondente recusas credere tu nummos? Marco sub iudice 
palles ? Marcus dixit : itd est, adsigna, Marce^ tdbellas^ 

causae: the form caussa (like cassus and diTnssiones) was 
used, according to Quint. i. 7, 20, in the autographs of Cicero 
and Vergil; but it has no authority here, though Bentley 
adopts it. 

44. Ticliila, the people of the same quarter or vicus : Sat. 
II. 5, 106, Ep. I. 17, 62. 

46. intronnun is supported by much better authority than 
introrsus, which Bentley prefers for the sake of edJ)hony : some 
inferior MSS. have hunc prorsus. 

46 — 66. A man may possess some merits without possessing 
allt and he may be k(pt from sin only by thefear ofdetection, 

46. dicat: dicit which would be more regular has very little 
authority. 

47. lozls non ureris: cp. Epod. iv. 3 Ibericis peruste 
funibus. 

49. . 'bonus et frugi: *bonus servus honesta sequitur, frugi. 
dominoutilia'. Ritter. 

nesitatque is unquestionably right, although mapy good 
MSS. have carelessly enough negat atque* It is very doubtful 



198 HORATl EFISTULAE. 

whether negiiat^ Whicli ii foiund not only in Plautus, Lucretius 
dnd Sallust, but also in Cicero, is intended here to have any 
archaistic tinge, as some have supposed. 

SaMlns : Porph^nrion says this means Horace himself, add* 
ing *sed in hoc nomine est quaedam facies integritatis. Ver- 
giUus [Aen. viii. 638] Curibusque severis\ Horace is then 
speaking in his character as a Sabine land-owner *a plain Sabine 
hke myself '. Lachmann however says (on Lucret. iii. 1034) 
*Apuli sunt huic (Lucilio) pro importunis ac petulantibus, ut 
Hbratio pro simplice Sabellus'. The meaning is then * a man 
who speaKS his mind'. The term is a little out of place here: 
one does not see why great frankness was needed to dispose of 
a slave's assumptions. 

50. foyeam «the pitfall*: A. P. 459. Cicero Phil. iv. 5, 
II compares Antonius to an immanis tetraque belua quae in 
faveam ittcidit, 

61. opertnm sc. esca : cp. £p. i. 7, 74 occultum ad ha- 
mum. 

miluns, a dactyl, as in Epod. xvi. 32, and always in Plautus 
and Phaedrus. Cp. Wagner on Plaut. Aul. 314, Lachmann on 
Lucret. vi. 552, Bentley on Phaedr. i. 31, i. The trochaic 
scansioil appears first in rers. IV. i6. The form milvius is very 
late. The *kite-fish* is mentioned by Pliny Nat Hist. ix. 26, 
82 along with the hirundo as a fl)dng fish. (In Ov. Hal. 95 
the best editors nqw read iulV) Orelli calls it *piscis rapax ex 
doradum genere*, but what these dorades are, I cannot discover. 
The flying gumard is now called by zoologists dactylopteruSy 
the trigto hirundo being the sapphirine gumard: the milvus 
may perhaps be the coryphaena^ a fish which changes its coloois 
very beautifuUy in dying; this is not the case with the truc 
dolphin, whidi is really a mammal, like the porpoise. 

63. tn is anybody, not Qumctius in particular nor the slave 
addressed. — ^in te added because of the indefinitencss of ailtfl: 
with a more definite object like scelus^ dedecus^ facinus and the 
like, it would not have been used. 

64. 8it, jussive: cp. Mart. viil. 56, 5 sint Maecenates, 
non deerunt, Flacce^ Marones, mlBcebis, *you wlll make no 
difierence between*: cp. A. P. 397. 

66. ^ unnm, sc. modium : the suggested reading unam 
would involve a ridiculous exaggeration. The reading of the 
text was that familiar to Augustine (quofed by K^lier) who has 
« de invumeris milibus frumentorum amittat unum modium 
(de Mendac. xii). 



Bk. I. Ep. XVL] NOTES. 199 

66. non fadnTUi: Horace is not, as Orelli supposes, speak- 
ing as a Stoic, and adopttng the paradox that all sins are equal, 
which he ridicules in Sat. i. 3, 96. Nor is he, as Ritter thinks, 
making the master discourse like a Stoic to his slave ; but he 
simply asserts that if the extent of the pilfering is limited only 
by the fear of detection, this does not affect the character of the 
act, a view iaa. which there is nothing paradoxical. 

57 — «2. One who is virtuous to outward appearance tnay 
cherish evil desires in secret» 

Cl* omne formn, not, as Macleane seems to suppose, all 
ihe /orat but like omnis domus in v. 44, *the whole forum*. 
At the date of this Epistle S^aitforum Augusti was probably not 
fimshed, for ^e know from the story in Macrob. Sat. ii. 4 that 
Augustus was jnuch dissatisfied with its slow progress.- The 
temple of Mars Ultor, which formed part of it, was not dedi- 
cated until B.C. 2, although part of the forum was opened before 
this date (Suet. Aug. xxix). Hence only the/orum Romanum 
and the small /orum yulium were in use at this time. There 
were several tribunalia in the forum, but the *vir bonus* would 
only attract the eyes of those around the one, at which he hap- 
pened to be acting at the time as iudex. 

68. vel porco vel bove. According to the rules of the 
pontifis an ox was the proper animal to sacrifjce to Juppiter, 
Neptune, Mars, or to Apollo: a pig to Juno Lucina, Ceres, 
Bona Dea, and Silvanus. Cp. Marquardt Rom* Staatsverw. iii. 
168. But doubtless the victims varied with the means of the 
$acrificer. 

69. dlare : Martial (i. 39, 6) quotes among the signs of a 
good man ni/iil arcano qui roget ore deos ; and the rule of 
Pjrthagoras (quoted by Clem. Alex. Strom. iv. 26, 173) was 
pi^rh. <p(av7js eiix^adai., This passage of Horace'is imitated by 
Pers. II. 3 — 16; and in Ovid Fast. v. 675 — 690 a merchant is 
represented as coming to the fountain of Mercury near the 
Capene gate, in order to get the god's pardon for his deceit in 
the past, and his aid for similar tricks in the future. Conington 
(on Persius 1. c.) says *Horace apparently merely means that 
while the worshipper asks the gods for one thing his bent is set 
on another/: but this view is hardly reconcileable with the 
language of the text. 

60. Lavema, the Roman equivalent to our Saint Nicholas : 
cp. Shakspere, Henry /K, Part I., Act ii., Sc. i : * If they meet 
not with Saint Nicholas' clerks, I'll give thee this neck*. Schol. 
Cruq. derives the name from Jc^tere, because thieves, he says, 
were once called laterniones and laverniones (cp. Gadshiirs words 



200 HORATI EPISTULAE. . . 

in Shakspere, l.c., 'we have tliie receipt of fem-seed, we walk 
invisible*), a derivation accepted by Donaldson on the strength of 
the more than doubtful identity of Lavinus and LcUinus, Acron 
connects the word with lcevare^ thleves being called lavatores^ I 
suppose, because they *clean out* travellers. But the only legi- 
timate derivation is from the root lu or lau *to gain*, found in 
diro-Xai5-&;, Xiyts, lucrum^ latro^ etc. (Curt. Gr, Etym. No. 536). 
Amobius iv. 24 says of Laverna, cum Mercurio simul fraudibus 
fraesidet furtivis, Preller, Rom, Myth, p. ai8 (cp. p. 459) con- 
siders Laverna a bye-form of Lara (the Dea Muta and Mater 
Larum\ a goddess of the dark and silent under-world, and hence 
the patroness of thieves (as St Nicholas is said to have actquired 
his functions from a confusion with *01d Nick'), but this does 
not account satisfactorily for the form of the word. 

•61. 4la with inf.| as dones ia Carm. i. 31, 17. 

losto Banctoqiie restored by Bentley from the vet. Bland. and 
other good MSS. for the old reading iustum sanctumque^ which 
Is only a copyist's alteration : cp. Sat. i. i, 19 atqui licet esse 
leaiis^ J. 6, 25 Jierique tribuno, Cp. Roby § 1357, S. G. 
§.537 W- 

62. oblce : the form ohiice is found in no good MS. here, or 
in Carm. ui. 10, 3. Roby § 144. 

«3—72. One who is a slave to his haser passions is no free 
man, but should be treated as a cowardly prisoner of war^ and set 
to some useful toil. 

63. qnl *how*: Ep. I. 6, 42; Sat. II. 2, 19; 3, 241, 260» 
«75»3"»etc. 

64. In trlvlls flxom : repeated by Pers. v. iii inque luto 
fixum possis transcendere nummum, where the scholiast says that 
it was a common joke with boys at Rome to solder a coin to the 
pavement {assem in silice plumbatum infigere) in order to ridi- 
cule those who stooped to pick it up, crymg * try again ! ' Schiitz 
considers this a forced explanation, and takes fixum as * stick- 
ing', somewhat as in Sat. II. 3, 294. The exag^erated phraseof 
Petronius c. XLIII. db asse crevit et paratus fuit quadrantem de 
stercore mordicus tollere rather points to this view. 

66. mlM * in my eyes' Roby § 1148, S. G. § 477. 

67. perdidit axma, i.e. is a ^/^ourxis, a coward who has 
flung away his arms. Bentley showed that this phrase was qoite 
the correct one : ^prodere enim signa publica recte dixeris: pri- 
vata cuiusque arma nonitem : sed traderearma^^oicere^ abicere^ 
amittere^ perdere\ Cp. Plaut. Epid. 55 (Goetz) eil me perdidit. 
quis? ille qtd arma pei-didit^ 



BL L Ep. XVI.] mVES. 201 

69. captlTiiiil : i. e. a man who is absorbed in the pursuit of 
raoney, is not worthy of tbe name of a free man : treat him as a 
captive, and let him do the work for which be is fit. Lehrs 
objects that the passage is out of place here, and that v. 73 fol- 
lows V. 68 better, if the intervening lines are omitted. But they 
add a touch of scorn to Horace's treatment of the man who 
* makes haste to be rich', and are in his best style. 

70. dnnu 'unsparingly*, Ep. I. 7, 91. 

72. aniLonae proslt, i. e. let him serve to keep down the 
price of com, by bringing in plenty from abroad. For the effect 
of imported com on agriculture in Italy, cp. Mommsen, HisU 
III. 77. 

penasqae : this neuter form is quoted from Horace by 
Servius and Priscian: some inferior MSS. bave pmum: Roby 
§ 398, S. G. § 121. Cp. Cic. de Nat De. il. 27, 68 est omne, 
quo vescuntur homines, penus. 

78 — 79. A truly good man will maintatn his fearless inde* 
pendmce. An admirably vivid and dramatic adaptation of Eur. 
Bacch. 4^2 — 498. Dionysus, in the guise of a young Lydian 
stranger is brought before Pentheus, king of Thebes, charged 
with mtrodudng the Bacchic orgies among the Theban women. 
Students of contemporary literature will remember how happily 
this passage is used by Cardinal Newman {History of my Re» 
ligious Opinions^ p, 294). 

74. paUque: Epu i. 15, 17. Cic Tusc.il 7, i^ paiietur, 
perferet, non succumbei, 

76. Indlgnum: cp. v. 34. bona, in Euripides the long 
tresses and the thyrsus, bome in honour of the god. 

76. lectos, the most valuable part of the fumiture of the 
house. Ep. I. 1,91. Cp. Cic. Parad. l, S neque ego unquam 
botia perdidisse dicam^ si quispecus aut supellectilem amiserit» * 

argentmn : Ep. i. 6, 17. 

In maiilclit : elpicTcuffi r (v^op ffQfia cop 4>v\d^ofi€p» Eur. 

79. lioo lentit : dn Eur. the delivery is brought about by a 
miraculous shaking of the palace of Pentheus (v. 605), but Horace 
interprets to suit his own purpose. 

morlar : cp. Sen. de Prov. 6, 7 ante omnia cavi {deus)^ ne 
quid vos teneret invUos: patet exitus: si pugnare non vultis^ licet 
fugere. 

Unea, the ealx or winning line (our * tape') at the end of a 
race-course : i.q. ypaii.fxy)\ cp. Eur. Antig. fr. 13 ^ir' dKpdy iJKOfiep 
ypafifii^p KaKcov. Electr. 953 f. vplp dp t4\os ypafxfijis UrjTai Kal 
xipas Kdfi.fjj piov^ 



202 HORA TT EPISTULAE. 



EPISTLE XVII. 

This Epistle contains advice to a certain Scaeva, as to the 
course which should be adopted to secure and to pro6t by the 
favour of the great. Nothing is known or conjectured with 
probability of the man to whom it was addressed. The scholiasts 
say thathis name was LoUius Scaeva, and that he was a Roman 
knight. This notionis based upon th6 assumption that this 
Epistle and the next are addressed to the same man, which is 
demonstrably false. The cognomen Scaeva is found at this 
period in use with the Junian and Cassian gentes^ but there b no 
evidence to connect Horace's friend with either of them. Nor 
is there any indication of itsxlate, unless indeed we may assume 
that in writing v. 33 Horace had in his mind the triumph of 
Augustus in B.c. 29. But in any case the Epistle must have been 
written after that date. Some critics have found grievous fault 
with the tone which Horace here adopts. But it does not comc 
to much more than this, that a cynic's life is not necessaiily the 
best, and that modesty is the best policy : no very dcgrading 
doctrine, if not ideally elevated. 

1 — 6. / wUl give you some advice, &aeva, as your elder, 
though I know you do not needit, 

1. comralls. Ep. i. 14^ 6 ^te). 

2. tandexn : Horkel's conjecture tenuem is very ingenious, 
and has been actaatly adopted hy Meineke : but it is not neces* 
sary. No parallel seems to have been ^ulduced for the use of 
toMdem in dependent-questions : hvX there is no reason why it 
should not be retained from the direct interrogation ; and 
although it usually denotes some slight impatience on the part of 
the speaker, this is often so slight as to be hardly perceptible. 

. uti * to associate with * = xpv<f^- 

3. dooendns adhuc evidently goes with amicuius: it would 
be quite superfluous, if referred to Scaeva. The diminutive has 
the force of • your humble friend \ 

4. adsplce, Biquld: Roby § 1754, S. G. § 748. 

5. caxeB=veiis, For the perf. inf. cp. A. P. 98, Sat. I. 2, 
28, II. 3, 187; the construction is archaic and poetic, not in 
Cicero or Caesar : Drager, J/ist, Synt. § 128. 

6 — 12. Choose the line of life which has most attroLctims for 
you. There is much to he saidfor a life of retirement, as wellas 
for one of seifadvancement. 

6. prlmam In horam : the client would have to be up and 
out before sunrise, in order that he might greet his patron be- 



Bk. I. Ep. XVIi.] NOTES. 203 

times : cp. Mart. iv, 8, i prima scUutantes atque altera conterit 
hora, 

8. laedit : most MSS. have laedet, wbich is only a careless 
assimilation to iubebo, — ^Ferentlniixa, a lonelyplaceinthe Hemi- 
can country, according to the Schol. Cruq. municipium viae Labu 
canae ad xhnii lapidem, The town is often mentioned by Livy: 
Horace evidently speaks of it as a proverbially quiet place, 
although the extant remains show that it was a considerable 
town. There is no mention of it in history after B.c. 21 j, so that 
it may have been a decaying place in the time of Horace. It 
must be distinguished both from an Etruscan towa of the same 
name (Tac. Hist. 11. 50) which some however have supposed to 
be intended here, and from the Ferentinae lucus (Liv. i. 50), ad 
caput Ferentinum (Liv. II. 38) which was at Marino, near Alba 
Lionga. Cp. Dict. Gec^r. 

10. fefeUlt *has passed unnoticed'=XAi7^€i». Cp. Ep. i. 
18, 103. The word is used with an accusative of the person in 
Carm. III. 16, 32, and Epod. iii. 7, without one in Liv. xxii. 33, 
I speculator Cartkaginieftsium, qui per biennium fefellerctt^ 
Romcu deprehensus^ who often has it in both constructions ; cp. 
Fabri on Liv. xxi. 48, 5. Ovid's line (Trist. iil. 4, 25) crede 
mihi bene qui latuit^ bene inxit has become proverbial: both 
Horace and he seem to have borrowed the tnought from the 
saying ascribed to Epicurus \aJde fii<aaait criticized by Plutarch 
in his treatise el KoKios etpriTtu rd Xdde pidiTas, 

11. prodeise tnls : cp. v. 46, which can hardly however 
have a direct reference to Scaeva, as Schiitz supposes. 

12. Biccus, not quite, as in Ep. I. 19, o, Carm. I. 18, 3, iv. 
5f 39> Sat. II. 3, 281, 'sober*, but rather •hungry' as in Sat. 11. 
2, 14; cp:fauifibus siccis bf hungry wolves in Verg. Aen. ii. 388. 
Macleane's quotation of iirl ^poiai from Theocr. i. 31 is nat 
really parallel. 

ad nnctnm: Comm. CnK|. «scplains 'pauper et tenuis ad 
ofMilentmi et locupletem', and this view has found miich sup- 
port. But it is very doubtful whether in any of the passages 
where unctus is applied to persons, it can have this force. On 
the other hand unctum is used several times for *a rich meal' : 
. cp. A. P. 422, and Pers. vi. 16 cenare sine uncto: so Ep. i. 15, 
44 melius et unctius, Hence it is better to take the word here 
too as a neuter. 

13 — 42. A life such as Aristippus led is pleasant and profitable 
(13 — iT^^fits a man for any position (23 — 32), and is no dis- 
honour (33—42). 

13. 8l pranderet liolns: ^prandere iuscinias in Sat. 11. 3, 



204 HORATI EPISTULAE. 

1^5 ; the story is told by Diog. Laert. II. 8, 68 TapioPTCL vvr^ 
OMTOV (AplaTiinrov) Xaxova 'wXuvwp Atoy^vTit (<rK(i)\f/€ koI ipyifflVf 
el TavTa (fiades irpofftp^peaOaii ovk av Tvpdvvwv av\ds iOepdireves. 
6 di Kol aVf etirevt elwep '§5eit dvdpwrois ofuKetv, ovk B» \dxava 
hrXwes. patienter «contentedly*. regllras, the words of Diog. 
Laert. show that we need not take this in the more general 
meaning of *the wealthy ', as in Sat. 1. 1, 86 : the reference is in 
the first place to Dionysius the elder, at whose court Aristippus 
spent some time ^Lucian Paras. 33). Orelli thinks thBt pramfgre 
is used instead of cenare here, because holus was better suited to 
the light dijeHner than to the more substantial dinner; butcp. 
£p. II. 1, 168 emptum cenat holuSy of one who is certainly not 
poor. Besides it would weaken the point to say *if you could 
make your lighter meal ofT vegetables' : if the difference is to be 
pressed, surely the main meal of the day ought to have becn 
mentioned. Ritter rather daringly suggests that the Gr«ek is 
incorrectly recorded by Diog. Laert. and that a pun may have 
been intended: el dpi<rT(pri * AptcTiinros \dxava k.t.X. But the 
aor. ind. is the right tense, not the pres. opt. Hence we must 
be content with supposing that Aristippus passed Diogenes in 
the moming, when the latter was washing vegetables for his 
prandium. The modem Italian prandio or pranzo is *dinner* 
as opposed to colazione *breakfast*, but the word seems never 
to be used so in good Latin. 

14. 8l sdret reglbus uti : Orelli reminds us of the saying of 
Epicurus (Diog. Laert. X. 121) kqX iMvapxw €v Kgup<p OepavevaoA 

TOV ffO(p6v, 

15. ntrliu : Horace has illHiis alwa^rs with the exception of 
Sat. I. 10, 67, and so a/terfus, utrius, utrfusque, ulUus, untus 
(but untus in Carm. iv. 9, 390, nulltus (but nullius in v. 23, and 
in I. r, 14). For Cicero's practice cp. De Orat. III. 47, 183 
(note). 

18. eludebat 'parried': the reading illudebat has little 
authority and is xmsuited to the passage, in which there is no 
mockery. 

19. mlU *for my own profit*. lioo *this conduct of raine*, 
not referring to the latter of the two altematives, but to that 
which is nearer to the thought of the speaker. Cp. Sat. II. 2, 

20. equusutme portet: Bentley first showed clearlythat 
this goes with officiumfacioy not as previous editors had taken it 
with«r/. The phrase was a proverbial one in Greek : Ixiros pje 
fipeif /Sao-iXei^s /jlc Tpiipei : cp. Diogen. Paroem. v. 3 r, where it 
is explained as the answer of a certain Corraeus in service under 
Philip, when his mother begged him to ask for his discharge. 



Bk. I. Ep. XVII.] NOTES. 205 

21. offldiim fiudo : * I pay my court ' : for qfficia in this sense 
qp. Ep. I. 7, 8 (note). 

vUla, Teraxu : this is the reading of the Scholiast, supported 
by all MSS. of any critical value, and is rightly adopted by the 
best modem editors, as Ritter, Schiitz and Keller, Munro being 
the only important exception: vilia rerum might be defended 
by Jicta rerum Sat. 11. 8, 83, vana rerum Sat. II. 3, 35, abdita 
rerum A. P. 49, amara curarum Carm. IV. 12, 19 etc: cp. 
Munro on Lucr. i. 315 strata viarum, But on the other hand 
Horace is fond of ending a line with verum: cp. Sat. i. 2, 92, 
Ep. I. 1, 80, II. 2, 70 (where some MSS. have rerum^ as here, 
against the sense), 106, A. P. 303 : hence there is no reason for 
departing from the great preponderance of authority. The best 
MSS. have simply verum ; some have verum es^ which is more 
likely to be a grammatical correction, and this is a case where 
the harder reading is to be preferred. The construction appa- 
rently is *tu poscb vilia, verum poscis dante minor*, i.e. but in 
making your demand you place yourself in a position of infe- 
riority to the bestower. 

22. ferfl *you boast*; Verg. Aen. v. 373 qui se Bebrycia 
veniens de gente ferebat, 

nnllius is masculine: neminis occurs in Plaut. Capt. 761 
(Brix), but fell out of use before the time of Cicero. 

23. COlor: *form of life': Sat. 11. i, 60 quisquis erit vitae 
color, 

24. temptantexn *aiming at'. praesentibus aequum: cp. 
Carm. III. 29, 33 quod adest, memento componere aequus» prae- 
sentibus appears to be the dative of the neuter plural, ^equal to 
the circumstances of the moment'; although Klotz (Dict,) takes 
it as ablative, and some translators foUow him, rendering 'con- 
tent with his present*lot*. But is there any paraUel to this use 
of cuquus? The commentators as a rule ignore the difficuhy. 
fere E^. I. 6, 9 (note). Diog. Laert. ii. 8, 66, says of Aristippus 
^ Ikomos iipfjLOffaaOai Kal r6v(fi koX XP^^V i^^ Tpo<r(air(fi K(d vwrav 
vepiffToaof dpfLodUas xnroKplvaaOaix' dib koI vapa Au)vv(rl(fi tu>v 
oKXwv eidoKlfiti fiSXkov iel rb vpo<nr€<rbv e0 SiaTidifievos. 

26. duplid panno, the SiirXots of the Cynics, a large cloak 
(abolla) also called rpli^^av, wom dbubled to serve at once as a 
XiT(av (tunica) and.xXa/M/t (pallium), Cp. Mayoron Juv. iii. 
115 audi facinus maioris abollae: Diog. Laert. vi. 22 Tpl^(ava 
diT\(a<ras vpiOTos, Kard Tivas 8id, r6 dvdyKTfv fx^^^ "^ai iveiiSeiy 
a{fT(pi TTipav Te iKOfd<raTo. Hence Diogenes is caJled by Cercidas 
(Diog. Laert. VI. 76) 6 fiaKTpo<p6paSt SivXoelfjMroSt aWepipfxTKas, 
The words of Diog. Laert. make it plain that we must under- 
Stand duplici literallyy not, as some have taken it, *coarse\ 



2o6 HORATJ EPISTULAE. 

imimo 'rag', /kiicor, is used contemptaoosly. patisiiftl&a 

Kafyrcpla *endurance*, ]ike ^tim^^r above. 

27. alter sc. Aristippus. Cp. Diog. L. il. 8, 67 di6 wore 
^Tparwpaf ol di HKdTOtpa wpds auTdp eliretp' ool fMvtp S^Sorat koI 
X^afivSa <t>op€Uf koX paKOS. Plut. de fort. et virt. Alex. I. 8 
'AploTixTTOP Oavnd^own t6p Zwicpari/ajr, ort koI Tplftwvi \iTtf koX 
l&iKrjolq, x^a/A^^ XP^M^'^^^ ^^ dpxpoTipiap iTi^pei t6 effoxVf^'^' 

29. non lnoondimus <not disagreeably': cp. Sat. i. 3, 50; 
£p. I. 18, 6. 

ntnunqiie Le. of the richly dressed man, or of the ill-dad 
one. 

80. Mlletl: for the purples of Miletus cp. Verg. Georg. iii. 
306 quannns Milesia tnagno vellera mutentur Tyrias incocta 
colores. As a rule it is the wool of Miletus, not its dye, which 
is celebrated: cp. Ar. Lys. 729, Ran. 541, Theocr. xv. 125 
etc. 



et angni: Priscian quotes this line as a proof that 
Horace used angui as the ablative; but Keller says that all the 
best MSS. have angue. The dog and the snake were both 
regarded as animals of evil omen : cp. Ter. Phorm. 705 monstra 
evenerunt mihi : introiit in aedis ater alienus canis, anguis in 
impluvium decidit de tegulis. Plaut. Merc. iv. 4, ai (uxorem) 
dixeras te odisse aeque atque anguis. There is not likely to be 
any reference to KVPtKhs^ as Schlitz supposes. peins TitaUt is a 
less natural expression than peius timet of Carm. iv. 9, 50. 
The scholiasts tell a story, which perhaps has no other basis 
than the words of Horace in the text: aiunt Aristippum^ inui- 
tato LHogene ad balnea dedisse operam ut omnes prius egrede- 
rentur, ipsiusque pal/ium induissct eique reliquisse purpureum; 
quod Diogenes induere cum nollet^ suum repetiit. Tum Art- 
stippus increpavit Cynicum famae servientem^ qui algere mallet 
quam conspici in veste purfurea. Serenus in Stob. Flor. v. 46 
tells a better story of ^stippus and Plato : Aiop6oios 'AploTiiT' 
Top iweidtp dToOifiePOP Tbp Tpl§<apa Top<l>vpovp IfjLdTiop Tepipa» 
TJodcUt Kal Teiodels iKcTpos rd at>rd koI Il\dT<apa xetety 1^0 v. 6 
di i<l>rj * oifK cb' Svpaifirp^ OriKvp ipSOp<u <rro\i/fP.' Kal *ApLoriTTOs* 
ToO adTov, i<pri, i<FTl ToirfroO' * Kod ydp ip ^cLKxevfuioiP ovo* rj yt 
ofSxt>p<ap oi iia<f>daprffO€T<u\ The quotations are from Euripides 
Bacchae 836, and 317 — 8. 

88. rei gerere: there may well be a p^eneral reference here 
to the successes of Augustus, but there is probably no direct 
allusion to his triumph of B.c. 29. 

8^ oaeieetla temi»tat, i.e. is the way to scale tlie sky. 



Bk. I. Ep. Xyil.] NOTES. 207 

Cp. Carm. iii. 1, 21 mrtfts recludens Unmeriiis mori caeium 
negata temptat iter via, 

36. non cniyis etc. *it is not the lot of every one to be 
able to visit Corinth': i. e. every one has not the means to 
indulge in the pleasures provided so. abundantly, but at so high 
a price, at Corinth. According to the testimony of Gellius 
(i. 8, 4), Strabo (viii. 6, 20), the scholiasts here, and the Greek 
jfkiroemiographit the proverb oit irwrbi dv8pbs is KdpivOov (aO* 6 
irXovs originated in the exorbitant demands made by Lais and 
other notorious courtesans of the place, on those who sought 
their favours. But the context shows that this origin had been 
almost if not entirely forgotten, or Horace could not have used 
it thus of the prizes due to preeminent virtue. Still less can 
there be any reference, as Erasmus after Suidas thought, to the 
dangerous entrance to the harbour. The old notion that coh' 
tingere was only used of good fortune has long been discarded. 
Cp. note on Cic. Cat. i. 7, 16, Mayor on Phil. Ii. 7, 17, Reid on 
LaeL 2, 8. 

37. sedlt * renounces the attempt'; like KaBrjffOcu of remain- 
ing inactive. Cp. Ter. Ad. 672 an sedere oporiuit domi tam 
grandem virginem., wbere Donatus remarks ^ sedere proprie 
ignavae cessationis est': Verg. Georg. 11 1. 455 meliora deos 
sedet omina poscens. Cic. Sest. 15, ^^isdem consulibus sedentiinis 
(Holden). Mr Reid thinks however that the contrast with 
penrenli requires that sedit should have rather the meaning 

* takes a low place * : a force common enough in the literal sense, 
as in Lucret. v. 474 depressa sederent, The perfects are 

* gnomic ', as in Ep. I. 2, 48 (note), A.P. 343. 

non Buocederet, impersonally 'things should not go well 
with him' : as in Ter. Andr. 670 hac non successit ; alia adgre- 
diemur via, Sometimes succedo is used with res^ or inceptumy as 
the subject, but apparently never like our *succeed' with a 
person as the nominative. For this, procedere may be used, e.g. 
Sall. Cat. I. • 

esto * very good ' : cp. Ep. i. 81 (note). 

38. fedtne = nonne fecitf as so often in Plautus and 
Terence. So meministine in Cic. Cat. i. 3, 7. 

89.. hlc, i.e. in the answer which we give to this question. 

qnod qnaerlmnB: cp. Reid on Cic. Lael. 18, 65, de Fin. iii. 
8, 29, V. 12, 34. 

42. ezperiens 'enterprising': Cic. pro Cluent. 8. 23, A, 
Aurius vir fortis et experiens : in Verr. iii. 21, 53 homo navus 
et indusiriusy experientissimus \ac diligentissimusl araton 

OF THF 

tTNIVERSITY 



2o8 HORATl EFISTULAE. 

recte peUt *is right in seeking*. 

43 — 62. One who is paying court to a great man should 
ahstain from (i) direct begging (43 — 51), and more indirect 
attempts to extract money (51— -02)^ or reai causes of complcUnt 
will not meet with attention, 

43. Bua bas far less authority than suo; but Bentley and 
Lachmann (Lucret. p. 238) seem right in preferring the former. 
Keller and Schiitz think an epithet is more required with resre, 
used in the transferred sense of *patron*, than v/ixh paupertaU, 
which can stand alone, the limitation, which of course is neces- 
sary, being then supplied by the context. Cp. Plaut. Stich. 
454 tam confido^ quam potis^ meum me optenturum regem ridi' 
culis logis. But it is certainly more pointed to say *those who 
say nothing before a patron of their own poverty': and the 
great probabiHty that sua would be assimilated to rege by tran- 
scribers, influenced, it may be, by the caesura, outweighs in 
this case the MS. evidence. 

46. atqnl etc. *but this was the main point, this the sourcc 
of your conduct*: erat not, as Macleane, *this is the point I 
was coming to'; but *the point which we had in view', in vv. 
II, 12, viz. to get as much as possible out of your patroh. 

46. indotata : to allow a sister to marry without a proper 
dowry, was regarded as a great dl^ace : cp. Plaut. Trin. 089 
ne mi hanc famam differant^ me gtrmanam meam sororem in 
concubinatum tibi si sine dote dem, dedisse magis quam in mcUri- 
monium, quis me improbior perhibeatur esse? haec famigeratio 
te honestety me conlutulentet^ si sine dote duxeris, 

47. neo yendibills *not saleable' i.e. I can iind no pur- 
chaser for it: there is no need to suppose, with some editors, 
that there was any legal obstacle to the sale. 

pascere flrmnB: another of Horace's favourite infinitives 
after an adjective: cp. Ep. I. 15, 30 (note). firmus=*ssS^\ 
* trustworthy '. 

48. Bacdnit * chimes in', like anolher of a troop of beggars, 
joining in the cry. 

49. *et miliir It is best with Porphyrion, Keller, Schiitz 
and Kriiger to take these words alone, as the cry. of the second 
beggar. Otherwise the future flndetnr must be explained as 
equivalent to an iroperative, which is too strong even for the 
mendici impudentia, which Orelli finds here. Translate *the 
cake will be divided, and the gift parted between you*. Horace 
means * if you beg so shamelessly, you will attract the attention 
of others, and so you will have to share with them, what other- 
wise you might have kept all to yourself *. 



Bk. I. Ep. XVII.] NOTES. 209 

quadra, not, I think, *the morser, but as in Verg. Aen. vii. 
115 J cp' Mayor on Juv. V, 1 and Athen. iii. p. T14 c (quoted 
there) aproi;s...oi;s *P(tf/uir<M Ko6/>(iroi;s \kyovaw, 

50. oorviis : the reference cannot be to the familiar fable pf 
the crow and the fox (Phaedr. i. 13, Babr. Lxxvii), as Schiitz 
thinks: in that there is no rixa, no invidia. Horace must 
either have had an inaccurate remembrance of the story, or have 
been thinking of quite a different one, in which the crow by the 
noise which it made over some booty which it had discovered 
attracted others to claim a share in it. 

52. Bnmdisliim might be visited by the patron for busi- 
ness or on state-affairs, as by Maecenas : cp. Sat. I. 5. Sur- 
rentum for pleasure: it was especially famous for its mild and 
salubrious climate, Stat. Silv. II. «, Sil. Ital. V. 466 Zephyro 
Surrentum molle salubri, ^^ 

53. 2XX€tiSdJi~asperitates itineris Acron. So used by Man. 
IX. 58, 5 guae Flaminiam secant salebrae, The roads to Brun' 
disium and lurrentum were among the best in Italy. 

65. reftrt 'repeats' ^e. imitates: cp. £p. I. 18, 62, Tac. 
Ann. I. 26iasdem artes Drusum rettuiisse: Cic. Cluent. 31, 86 
te illud ideffi.„nunc vettulisse demiror, 

catellam, evidently here a diminutive of catena^ not of 
catulusj as some have taken it; comparing Mart. i. iio; Iii. 82, 
19; XIV. 198, Prop. iii. (iv.) 3, 55, Juv. VI. 654. The chain 
is a more natural accompaniment of the periscelis than the 
favourite dog, and besides can be more easily replaced by the 
lover's generosity, which is to be awakened by the complaint. 

68. trivliB, chosen by the impostor as the scene of his acci- 
dent, because there would there be most passers-by. 

69. planimi: a Greek word (cp. £v. Matth. xxvii. 63 
iKcivos v\dvQt etirev iri ^wv), used also by Cic. Cluent. 26, 72 
t//e planus improbissimus. It is better to have a full stop after 
planum^ rather than a comma, as some editors have» 

60. dlcat: an asyndeton: «though he says*. OBirim: the 
worship of the Eg)rptian deities was at this time much on the 
increase at Rome, so that Augustus (Dio Cass. LIII. 2) did not 
allow their rites within the city. Cp. Boissier Religion Romaine 
I. 334 ff., Marquardt Handb. iii. 71. The people looked upon 
them with great awe (Val. Max. i. 3, 3); and hence the oath 
oi the impostor. To suppose, as most editors do, that the 
man was himself an Egyptian, and swore by his country's 
deities, would be to assume that his distress was not only in 
this instance genuine, but also bore the evident stamp of 
genuineness. 

; W. H. 14 



8IO HORATI EPISTULAE. 

ei. toOm; A. P. 460. 

62. peregrlnmn : i.e. one who does not know your tricks. 

xttuca: Porph. says 'ad ravim\ i.e. 'till they are hoarse', 
wbfch has found much support. But it b not easy to see why 
the neighbours should bawl so long at the impostor, as to ruin 
their voices over him. The word more probably denotes ooly 
the harsh dissonant cries of the mocking crowd. 



EPISTLE XVIII. 

This epistle is in some MSS. and by the scholiasts taken as a 
continuation of the precedin^. one» and the latter even speak of 
* Lollius Scaeva *. Ihe only justification for this is that at first 
sight the main theme, the manner in which an inferior should 
associate with a superior in rank and wealth, appears to be the 
same. in both. But a little consideration shows that the position 
of LoUius is very different from that of Scaeva. The latter is 
evidently of narrow means, and probably of humble origin : his 
pbject in courtipg a patron is to obtain a decent livelihood : the 
former is in possession of an ancestral estate (v. 6q) with a lake 
on it large enough to be made the scene of a sham sea-fight, 
represented bv two fleets of boats manned by numerous slaves. 
The date is nxed by w. 55 — 57 to B.c. «o: it is therefore ex- 
ceedingly improb^ble that the epistle was addressed, as the 
scholiasts say and as Ritter believes, to the Lollius who was 
consul in B.c. 21 (£p. i. 20, 28) : but it may probably have been 
addressed to his son. LoUia Paulina the wife of Caligula, was 
the daughter of M. Lollius consularis according to Tac. Ann. 
XII. I. Pliny N. H. IX. 35, 118 speaks of her as the grand- 
daughter of the consul of B. c. 2 1. This latter statement is quite 
in iSirmony with chronology, for she was married to Caligula, 
her second husband in A. D. 38, and in A. D. 49 was put forward 
as a candidate for the hand of Claudius : hence she can hardly 
have been born before A. D. 10. The account given by Tacitus 
is reconcileable with that of Pliny only on the assumption that 
the son of M. Lollius the consul of B.c. 21 was YivoistM canstU 
suffectus^ though his name does not appear in the Fasti, and 
hence we cannot determine the date. If the reading mcLxime is 
right in Ep. ii. i, the father of LoUius must have been the man 
to whom the two epistles were addressed ; for it was the custom 
of the eldest son to bear his £ather's praenomen. If we read there. 
MaximCi the identification remains probable, although there is 
not the sarae evidence for it. 

Bentley on y., 37 ^ssumes that the powerfiil friend whom 
LolUus courted was Tiberius : but if this had been the case, it is 



Bk. I. Ep. XVni.] NOTES. 2ii 

hard to suppose that there would have been no reference in 
vv. 55 — 57 to the fact that Tiberius was in the East at the same 
time as Augustus. Besides, the elder Lollius was a bitter enetny 
oi Tiberius (Suet. Tib. xii.; Tac. Ann. iii. 48). Ritter thinks 
that the epithets venerandus (v. 73) and potem (v. 86) prove that 
it must have been some member of the imperial house, and that 
Tiberius and Agrippa are both excluded by the fact that they 
were absent at this time from Rome, while Augustus is plainly 
not intended: hence he assumes that Claudius Drusus, the younger 
brotber of Tiberius, at this time 18 years of age, must be referred 
to. It is better to leave the question undetermined. 

The tone of the epistle has been severely censured by some 
editors : e.g. by Macleane. But the key to it seems to be found 
in the epithet liberrime of v. i. This means more than *of an 
ingenuous disposition*, as Macleane renders it. Taken in con- 
nexion with v. 5 ff., it plainly denotes an outspoken frankness, in 
danger of passing into offensive rudeness. Horace blames in the 
tnost explicit language all unworthy servility, and points out the 
dangers and vexations of a court-life very frankly. But seeing 
that his young friend is embarked upon it, he gives him the 
advice which his temperament seemed most to require. That a 
jnan who is thrown into the society of one superior to himself in 
social station should not offend him by persistently obtruding his 
own opinions on matters of trifling importance, by displaying his 
pwn vices and follies, by prying into secrets, and betraying them, 
by finding fault with his friend's tastes and pursuits, by incon- 
tinent loquacity, and by introducing to him unworthy acquain- 
tances, is surely nothing * very d^ading ' and is far removed from 
refined servility. 

1 — ^9. A true friendj Lollius, will not stoop to play the 
parasite : but it is almost a worsefault^ if he becomes boorish and 
rude, Virtue lies in the mean, 

2. Bcnirantis £p. i. 17, 19 : specleiii £p. 11. 3, 124, pro- 
fessiui sc. te : in Carm. I. 35, 23 nec comitem abnegat the con- 
struction is doubtful : some understanding se (in which case it 
woidd be parallel to this passage), others te^ others again tibu 
Cp. Page, Ritter (or Schiitz), and Wickham ad loc, Perhaps 
however we may take amicum as directly govemed by professus^ 
like agere amicum, mentiri iuvenem (Mart. ili. 43, i). 

8. meretrid : the long vowel in the second syllable is very 
rare: but this passage shows that Roby l. 94 (note), S. G. p. 16 
(note) is not right in saying that it is never found. 

4. dlscolor : prostitutes were required to wear a dark toga, 
^omen divorced for adultery a white one, while matrons of good 
character wore the white stola (Comm. Cruq. on Sat. i. 3, 63 : 

14 — 2 



212 HORATI EFISTULAE. . 

cp. Juv. II. 68, MartJ ii. 39, vi. 64, 4; Becker Gallus iii. 64-5): 
and some have found a reference to that practice here. But it is 
mdre probable that discolor is used as in Pers. v. 32 Mille ho» 
minum species et rerum discolor usus, merely for *diflferent*, Cp. 
vitae color in Ep. i. 17, 23, Sat. ii. i, 60. 

distaMt with dative as in Carm. iv. 9, 20 paulum sepuliae 
distat inertiae celata virtus : these instances show what the con- 
struction is in Ep. I. 7, 23; II. i, 72. So the dative follows 
dissidens in Carm. II. 2, 18; differt in Sat. I. 4, 48, A.P. 236: 
discrepat Carm. I. 27, 5; Sat. I. 6, 92, II. 3, 108; Ep. Ii. 2, 
193 ; A. P. 152,219. Some of these cases might be explained as 
ablatives, but others cannct, and none need be so taken. 

6. diYennm etc. Translate 'the opposite to this £aivilt is 
abnost a greater fault'. 

6. Inconciniia: Ep. i. 17, 29. 

7. commendat, not for commendare vult, but with a certai^ 
irony. 

tonsa cute *with hair clipped to the skin*, the sign of an un- 
skilful barber, as intonsum was of one who put on old-fashioned 
ways. There is no need to change the reading here to guae cute 
se intonsa commendaty as Doederlein suggests. But strictly 
speaking tondere was used of cutting short per pectinem * over a 
comb' (cp. Plaut. Capt. 265) and radere of shaving close (cp. 
Mart. II. 27, 5 non tondet, inquam, quid igiturfacit? radit). In 
Mart. XI. 11, 3 the tonsus minister is opposed to the comatus 
afterwards in fashion : so in x. 98, 8 we have praesta de grege 
sordidaqtie villa tonsos horridulos...filios subulci. Cp. Conington 
or Jahn on Pers. III. 54, where detonsa iuventus is the term ap- 
plied to students of Stoicism. 

8. dici mera : the reading before Bentley was mera dtci: 
but it is very inelegant to have the fourth foot composed of a 
single word, and that a spondee. The rhythm however is not 
uncommon in Lucretius, and occurs at least oncc in Vergil Aen. 
VII. 625, where there is a pause after the pyrrhich. dnm yolt: 
cp. Ep. I. 19, 16. 

9. medinm (^iiiaov n) vltionmi: cp. Aristotle^s definition, 
Eth. Nic. II. 6. %criv ^ a.p^Tr) l^ts irpooupeTiKrif iv fiea&rrfTi owra 
ry irpbs iiyuas^.iJLea&Tiis 5^ 5vo KaKiwv, ttjs fikv KaO* vTepfioKi^p rr/s 
dk KaT^ AXct^tJ'. So Cic. de Off. I. 25, 89 nunquam enim^ 
iratus qui accedet cut poenam mediocritatem illam tenebit, qutu est 
inter nimium et parum^ quae placet Peripateticis : cp. Brut, 40, 
149; Carm. il. 10, 5 auream mediocritcUem. 

10 — 20. One man obsequiously catches up hispatron^s words^ 
■while anothir wrangles about the merest trifies. 



Bk. I. Ep. XVIII.] NOTE& ai3 

lO. imileotl: the.tablem&Romandining-roomhadcoaches 
On three sides of it : the imus lecius was the couch on the left-hand 
of one standing on the fourth side, and lookingiowards the table. 
This couch was generally assigned to the scurrae^ if there were 
any in the party: in Sat. ii. 8 it is occupied by the host with a 
scurra on either hand. The derisor^ while flouting at others 
would be servile towards the patron: Porphyrion takes it as 
*eonim derisor qui in imo lecto accumbunt', a man who jeers at 
the humbler guests: but this is not likely to be right. Nor is 
SchUtz right in taking itni lecti as an attribute to ctlter. It is 
perhaps not necessary with Kriiger to suppose ut omitted, as in 
Ep. I. 2, 42; 6, 63: the first man is not compared to but is a 
derisor^ whose place is on the lowest couch. 

12. tolllt: i.e. he calls attention to words that drop from 
his patron's lips, and might otherwise pass unnoticed. Cp. A.P.. 
368. 

14. reddere : cp. Cic. de Nat. Deor. I. 26, 72 ista a vohis 
qtuLsi dictata redduntur: Ep. I. I, 55. The dative maglstro 
seems to depend upon reddere, not on dictata. 

partis secandas: in the mimes the rdle of the actor who 
played the second part seems to have been to follow the lead of 
Uie chief actor, and to imitate him in word and gesture, with 
perhaps something of caricature. Suetonius (Calig. LVII.) tells 
a curious story : cumin Laureolo mimo [Mayor on Juv. VIII. 187] 
in quo cutor proripiens se ruina sanguinem vomit, plures secun- 
darum certatim experimentum artis darerU^ cruore scaena adun- 
cUivit, 

16. rixatrir. The difficulty of this passage seems to me to 
have been exaggerated by many commentators, who propose. all 
kinds of emendations. Keller e. g. takes objection to the asyn- 
deton between rixatur?sA propugnat^ to the obscure construction 
of nugis between propugnat and armatus, to the late Latinity 
of the construction of propugnare with the dative, and to the 
meaning 'furious' which he thinks must be attached to armcUus, 
None of these seem to me serious difficulties. As^mdeton is by 
no means unexampled in Horace ; nugis is clearly connected by 
the context m\h propugncU ; the construction of propugnat with 
the dative is perfectly natural, even if it does not actually occur 
in any good writer ; and armcUus here has its usual sense. The 
rendering *takes up arms and fights in defence of trifles* is quite 
iegitimate and appropriate. Muretus removed the asjmdeton by 
reading rixator (accepted by Keller and Kriiger), but this is not 
found before Quintilian (xi. i. 29). The vet, Bland has rixcUuSy 
for which, as Bentley also pointed out, rixans would certainly 
Jiave been required. Bentley's own correction, to read caprina 
et is .clumsy. Ribbeck ingeniously but needlessly r^s^ds animatus 



214 HORATt EPl&TUtAE. " 

foi armatus, comparing Accins V. 508 ed. Ribb. ut nune^ cum 
animatus iero, satis armatus sum. Schtitr takes propugnat 
absolutely, and joins nugis armoHts: *he mamtains his owh 
view, with no other weapons than nonsense', ^ich seems very 
harsh. The conjecture of Withof, which Keller approves, pro 
fugno *instead of a fist* is perhaps the worst that has been 
suggested. 

d9 lana caprlna: most commentators take this as a pro- 
verbial expression for something non-existent, and quote as 
parallel Lucian Hermotim. § 71 (p. 818) irayTcs, ws ^xos e/a-exy, 
if^pi hvov (FKiais /idxwTai ol ^iXoo-o^ouires. Surely an ass has a 
shadow! (Cp. Ar. Vesp. 191, where the scholiast explains the 
origin of the proverb.) Porphyrion shows better judgment : *de 
villo ut quidam dicunt, caprorum, pilos non setam dicens esse, 
sed lanam'; He is ready to come to blows on the question 
whether goats* hair, used for weaving into cloth (cilicium : cp^ 
cOmmentators on Acts xviii. 3, or Farrar*s Saint Faul i. 13), is 
properly to be called wool or not. According to the Roman 
jurists it was. Cp. Heumann Handlex, s. v. In Ar. Ran. 186 
however we have ^s ^vqx) troKas as equivalent to Utopia : cp. 
the commentators there. For rixa of an interchange of blows 
cp. Tac. Hist. i. 64 iurgia primum, mox rixa: Cic. de Orat. 
II. 59, 240 (note), Mayor on Juv. XV. 52; lii. 288. 

16. sdlleflttiftothinkthat': Horaceisfondofthisphrase, 
using it five times in tlie Epistles, but nowhere quite in this 
sense. Cp. Sat. il. 5. 18 utne tegam spmvtlkunae leUust But 
perhaps, as scilicet is very rare in interrogative sentenccs, -^pe 
should read idlloet : nt, i.e. * to be snre 1 tfae notion that &c '• 

17. non 8lt mUii prixna fldes ' I should not be believed 
before every one else'. vere, with idaoet, not with eiatrem» 
which is already provided with acriter. 

18. Bordet: Ep. l. 11, 4. Ritter and others put a comma at 
elatrem, not a note of interrc^tion, thinking that ut non sit 
and ut non elatrem both depend on sordet^ in the sense of *on 
the condition that *, but this is very awkward. The abruptness 
of the text is much more pointed. * I would not care to have 
my life over again at that price*. 

19. DoeillB has much more authority than any other Ibrm, 
is recognized by the scholiast, and is found elsewhere as tbe 
name of a freedman. Dolichos ' Long * would be suitable enough 
as the name of a gkdiator, \i it had more authority. The md 
commentators were divided in opinion, according to Porphyrion, 
as to whether Castor and Docilis were actors or gladiators ; but 
as they seem to be matched, the latter is the more probable. 



Bk. I. Ep. XVIil.] NOTES. \ ii3 

20. UbMicl Tia: this road is mjentiDned again m Cic. ad 
Att. IX. 6 : cohortesqw sex, quae Albae fuissent^ ad Curium 
Minu^ia transisse, Now by comparii^ Caes. B. C. i. 24, wherd 
tbe same fact is mentioned, with c 15 of the same book, it is 
clear that the cohorts were not at Alba Longa, but at Alba on 
the Fucine I^ke. Hence Macleane has quite a wrong conception 
of this road when he speaks of it as running between the via 
Latina and the via Appia, about half-way Ixtween Tusculum 
and Aricia. Indeed a glance at the map will show that there i^ 
no room for a high road between the via Latina, which runs 
along one side of the Mons Albanus and the via Appia, which 
passes. under the other. The via Minuda/amst therefore have 
been either another name for the via Valeria, whlch led through 
Tibur to Alba and Corfinium, and so on to the sca at Aternum, 
or perhaps more probably for a part of it. From Strabo (vl. 
p. 283) we learn that there were two roads from Beneventum to 
Brundisium, one, the Appian road, passing through Tarentum, 
and better adapted for carriages, the other adapted only for 
mules, passing through Herdonia; Canusium and Egnatia. The 
latter was that taken by Maecenas and his suite on the journey 
described by Horace in Sat. i. 5. Mr Bunbury {Dict. Geog. ii. 
iiSiaythinki it *n6t improbable' that this was the Via Minucia: 
Schiitz (on Hor. Sat. i. 5, 77) states the same view positively; 
Prof. Palmer suggests that the road from Beneventum to Canu- 
sium was a cross-road connecting the two great roads. This 
last view is the only one which I can reconcile with the words 
of Cicero taken in connexion with Caesar's account. The nature 
df the ^ountry does not admit of a road straight from Alba to 
Beneventum, and there is no indication of such a road in the 
Itineraries. The statement of some editors that the Via Minucia 
was constructed by Ti. Minucius the consul of B. c. 305 (Liv; 
IX. 44) seems to rest on no authority, and is withdrawn by Orelli 
in his later editions. 

21—36. A richfriend will not tolerate vicey gambling^ vanity^ 
or ostentation in one beneath him^ emn though he is by no means 
free fromfaults himself; and the wish to make a s/ww-may lecul 
to ruin, 

21. damnoBa: 'ruinous', 'partim ut £p. 11. i, 107 damnosa 
libidOy quia amicae amatores emungunt, partim quia corpus ipsum 
enervant. Ov. ex Pont. i. 10, 33 Tnres adimit Veneris damnosa 
voluptas^ Or. 

praeoeps ' fatal \ Pers. v. 57 : hunc alea decoquit, Ule in 
Venerem putris, 

22. glorla 'vanity': wvo^o^io^ which leads a man to spend 
too much on drcss and perfumes. 



ai6 HORATI MPISTULAE. 

SU). aigenti \ if this be talcen as denoting money, there is 
tautology in the next line ; besides the character here described 
is one who is reproved not for greed of money, but for wishing 
to make as much display as a far richer man. Hence Schiitz 
takes argentum as *plate', as in Ep. i. 6, 17; 16, 76; ii. «, 181; 
Carm. iv. 1 1, 6, Sat. i. 4, 98. ftiga (v. 24) is then the attempt to 
avoid a reputation for poverty, rather than poverly itself. But it 
is difficuk to resist the force of the parallel auri sacra fames and 
the like, which point to the the meaning * money \ 

Importima 'insatiate*: cp. Palmer on Sat. 11. 5, 96. 

25. decem vltils liiBtnictior cannot be ' fumished with ten 
times as many defects * as Macleane ind others translate : decm 
is merely a definite number chosen for the sake of vividness, 
instead of the indefinite ^many', as we might use *a dozen'. 
Orelli well compares Tlaut. Merc. 345 (Goetz) ita animi decm 
in pectore incerti ceriant, Cp. A. P. 365. The ablative is that 
of measure afler a comparative. 

26. regit * schools him *• 

28. prope Tera ' pretty nearly true'« £p. i. 6, i. oonten- 
^x^—certare of v. 31- 

30. arta — ^toga Va toga of little breadth*. The toga seems 
unquestionably to have been of an oval form [cp. Rein in Beckei^s 
Gailus' iii. 143], but folded, as a rule, along the greater axis 
of the ellipse. Hence in wearing it the breadth would be mea- 
sured from the shoulders downwards ; and a toga, if to(f broad, 
would be either inclined to trail, or would be necessarily arranged 
in too elaborate folds. In £pod. IV. 8 Horace speaks of an 
bstentatious fellow Sacram metiente viam cum bis trium ulna- 
rum toga, Orelli is quite right in explaining this as * toga quae 
propter longitudinem ad imos talos demissa metiatur viam, id 
est, eam semper taiigat et radat^ although Macleane, from not 
understanding the way in which a toga was arranged, rejects 
this view. For Sat ii. 3, 183 cp. Palmer*s note ad loc. 

eoml^m—c/ientepi, There is no reference to a journey. 

31. EatrapeltiB, a name given to P. Volumnius, a Roman 
knight, to whom Cicero addressed twp of the letters in his col- 
lectioTi ad Fami/iares (vii. 32, and 33), on account of his polished 
wit. Cp. Ar. Rhet. 11. 12, 16 koI <piKoy4\brr€S [ol vioi\* 5io xal 
edrpdireXoc rj ydp eitTpairOda vtTatZevixivti v^pis icri», From 
Eth. Nic. II. 7, 13 and iv. 8, 10, it is seen that eirrpaTeXLa was 
regarded by him as the just mean between fiufMKoxiO' *buf- 
foonery* and d^poiWa, the * boorishness * which is deficient as 
regards to i}5w rb ir Tatdi^, There is a very interesting discussion 



Bk. L Ep. XVIII.] NOTES. Hij 

of the history of the word, and the stages by Which' it reaches 
the bad meaning found in Eph. v. 4 (fxijh^ dyofiaiiaOw iv itfiiv... 
/i<apo\oyia tj ci>T/)OTe\£a [*jesting' R. V.], ri ovk dvnKovra) in 
Trench's Synonyms p. ii8f. He adds justly *there is certainly 
nothing particiUarly amiable in the story which Horace here 
tells\ 

cnicnmqiie = ji ^/. 

82. 'beatufl etc. ' haec cogitabat vel dicere solebat Eutrapelus* 
Schol. 

34. inluoem: cp. Ep. i. 17, 6. 

lionestiim offldiim, not, I think, as in Ep. I. 17, ir, of the 
attentions due to his patron, though some good editors take it 
so, but more generally. 

35. nnmmoB alienos pa^cet 'he will let his debts grow*, 
especially by the dvaroKiffiJLOi, by which the interest due was 
added to the principal, as often now by usurers renewing bills. 

ad Imnm, 'iinally', a rare Hse of the phrase, for which ad 
extremum and ad posiremum are more usual. In A. P. 126 ad 
imum — * to the last *• 

86. Thraex erit, i.e. he will tum gladiator, the last resource 
of the fast young Roman nobleman: cp. Juv. xi. i — 23. Tliraez 
seems the best form to adopt here, although found in only one 
or two good MSS. But Orelli's canon, that Thraex or Threx 
is the form used in Latin to denote a kind of gladiator, Thrax 
fbr a Thracian, does not hold good always. 

87 — 38. Do not be inquisitivey but keep secrets entrusted to you, 

87. illiUB: the old reading was ullius, which Bentley first 
rejected as out of place here; it is evidenlly only due to a false 
assimilation to unqua^n, But the preponderance of MS. au- 
thority fdr ullius is so great that Keller thinks it must have been 
an error in the archetype. lUius refers to the potens (v. 44) and 
venerandus (v. 73) amicus, whoever he may have been, who 
appears as ille in v. 40. The counsel here given is nearly iden- 
tical with that of vv. 62 — 7 1 5 and it comes in with a certain 
abruptness after what has been said of the extravagant and 
self-indulgent dependent. Hence Lehrs places vv. 72 — 75 imme- 
diately after v. 36, a course which makes the connexion more 
natural, and supplies in dominus a natural reference for illius, 
Schiitz, accepting this transposition, further places vv. 6^—71 
after v. 38, and thereby brings v. 68 into very suitable juxta- 
position with v. 76. There can be no doubt, I think, that this 
greatly improves the sequence of the thought, and in a writer 



2i8 HORATl EPISTVLAE. 

like Lucretim might be accepted with Kttle hesitation. Whether 
it is legitimate in Horace is a question which depends upon tbe 
vicw taken of the general soundness of the traditional text. 

38. tartiu : cp. Carm. iii. ii, 13 /m [sc. merum] Une tor- 
mentum ingenio admoves plerumque duro: A. P. 435 torquere 
mero. 

Ira : surely the irritation felt by Lollius, if ever his patron 
treated him with harshness or injustice, though some take it of 
angry threats used by those who wish to leam the secret. • 

39 — 66. Do noi obtrude your own pursuitsj or disparoffe and 
aTxnd those of your patron. You are weil able ta disttnguish 
yourself in hunting or the games, 

89. allena, here those of the patroa. 

41. AmpliioniB. Euripidfis in his Antiope introduced Am- 
phion and Zethus the two «ons of Antiope as at variance on the 
value of music, and in an extant fragment (188 Dind.) Zethus 
remonstrates wkh his brother : dX\* iiipl tiBov' Tavacu /leXtfidiop, 
•KoKepimf V cOtMvoiay daKW tomvt* deiSe Koi db^it ^wciWf 
^xdiTTUjVy ApQv yrjPf Tot,/JUftoiS iiriffTaT(2v, dX^ois tA KOfirffd TttCr'. 
d<p€U <TO<fA(Tiw.Ta.i <?^ <av k€voi<tiv iyKaToiK7J<r€is Sojxois. The story 
was familiar to Roman readers from the Antiopa of Pacuvius, 
perhaps the inost famous and admired of his plays (cp. Sellar's 
Jioman Poets of the Republic, p. 136, Ribbeck*s Romische 
Tragbdie, pp. 281 — 301) : Cicero speaks of Zethus in Pacuyius. 
as almost declaring war upon philosophy (de Orat. il. 37, 155), 
and of Amphion *qui, vituperata musica, sapientiam laudet' 
(de Inv. I. 50, 94: cp. ad Herenn. Ii. 27, 43, de Rep. i. 18, 
30). Ritter points out that in works of art Zethus is ^ometimes 
represented as a shepherd, sometimes as a hunter. ■ 

gratia — diSBiliiit < the friendship was severed '• 

42. suspeeta, as leading to efieminacy. seTero : Prop. nr. 
(11 1.) 15, 29 et durum Zethum et lacrimis Amphiona mollem, 

46. Aetolis, a ' literary ' epithet, recalling the famous Caly- 
donian hunt. For the signi6cance of such epithets cp. Sellar's 
Vergil, p. 235 f. The reading AeolHs first su|rgested as a 
conjecture by Ulitius (Vliet), has since been found m an inferior 
MS., and has been adopted by Meineke and other good editcMrs. 
It is explained as a reference to the very fine but strong nets 
made 01 the flax grown near Cumae (Plin. H. N. XIX. 1, 10), 
a colony from Cyme in Aeolia. So Gratius (C)m. 35) has 
Aeoliae de valle Sibyllae, But Bentley justly remarked that it 
was impossible for Horace to have used such a far-fetched ex- 



Bk. I, Ep. XVili:] NOTES. ir^ 

pression ^especially in epistolary style), when Cumartis vtGs^X^ 
have suited the metre equally well. 

47. seninm * gloom ' or * moroseness ' : so Pers. i. 26 has 
m pdllor semumque! of poets, «gid Sen. Hipp. 917 morwn 
senium iriste, In Epod. 13, 5 obducta solvatur fronte senectuSt 
senectus is used in just the same way. • 

tnTnimaTiae * discourteous ', not as a perpetual epithet, but 
only under the circumstances. 

48. pailter, i.e. like your patron. ya^xnsio\A—pulmentaria 
in Sat. II. 2, 20, a passage hke this in its general drift: the 
word is contracted for pulpamentum (Cic. Tusc v. 32, 90 
pulpamentum fames) and has nothing to do with puls, as some 
have fancied. Puls * porridge' is the simplest and most ordinary 
fare of the labourer (Plaut. Most. 815), pulmentum or pulpa- 
mentum a tit-bit pr savoury morsel, eaten with bread=^^o>'. 

49. BOllemne opus, in apposition to the preceding clause, 
not an independent proposition. Hunting is called Romana mi- 
Utia in Sat. 11. 2, lo. 

63. ooronae *the ring' of spectators, as in A. P. 381. 
Cp. Mart VII. 72, 9 sic palmam tidi..,unctae det favor arbiter 
coronae, 

64. proeUa campestrla, the fencing matches and shnilar 
amusements of the Campus ^f artius. 

66. Cantalirlca bella, i^ iaB.c. 27 — 25 when Augustus 
ms hMiBeif in Spain. Dio Liii. 25 — 29; Merivale, iv. 114 
—119. 

66. reflgit * is taking down' : Carm l. 28, 1 1 clipeo — rejixoi. 
In B. c. 20 Phraates, king of the Parthians, made a treaty with 
Augustus, promising among other things to restore the standards 
taken from Crassus at the battle of Carrhae : cp. £p. i. 12, 27 
(note). The perfect refixity which was found in most editions 
before Bentley's, has very slight authority. 

67. armlB. Bentley suggested, but did not print, arvis, 
arguing that there was no other nation besides the Parthians 
from whom arms were or could be reclaimed, and showing that 
cuiiudicare was the technical term for assigning disputed estates 
to one of the claimants. But (i) armis is abl. not dat., (2) 
arois *arable land' cannot be used in the general sense of 
finibus, except in a more poetical style than Horace is here 
employing, e.g. in Ovid, where it is common. 

68. ac — nugaxlB. The clause ne — absis is parenthetical, 
and suggests, not the purpose of the principal action, but the 
reason of mentioning it^ Roby^ i€6a, S> G. § 69^ 



220 HORATI EPISTULAE. 

alNdff: on Bentley*s conjepture abstes Orelli passes the jast 
judgment: 'coniecturis vel maxime supervacaneis adnumerari 
debet*. 

63. quamTla — curas: £p. i« 17, i; cp. Palmer on Sat 
II. 2, 30. 

fedsse: Roby § 1371,8. G. § 541 (b). 

extra nii]nenim=ira/3clTdi' /Sv^Aidv {jov piou): extra modum 
=xap^ fUXos, *out of time and tune *. 

60. rure : Roby § 1170: S. G. § 486. 

61. exerdtnB, ' your forces ', i.e. of slaves. Actla pvgna : 
Verg. Aen. viii. 675 Actia bella and elsewhere : the more 
regular form Actiacus is used by Ovid. Met. xiii. 715, xv. 
166, and in prose. 

62. liostlll more, i.e. quasi re vera hostes inter vos essetis. 

63. lacos, Le. the lake on your father*s estate. 

64. Telox, ' swift ' as being winged, in accordance with the 
usual representation of Nike or Victbria in works of art. There 
is probably no reference,. as Ritter thinks, to the rapidity with 
which the battle of Actium was gained. Cp. Sat. I. 1,8. 

66. ntroqne pollice : cp. Plin. H. N. xxviii. 1, i$pollices, 
cumfcpveamusj premere etiam proverbio iubemur. The opposite 
to this is pollicem vertere: cp. Juv. iii. 36 verso pollice volgi^ 
cum libety occidunt populariter. It is not quite clear what 
gesture is denoted by the twb expressioris. Mayor on Juv. l.c. 
writes *those who wished the death of a conquered gladiator 
tumed {vertebantf convertebani) their thumbis towards their 
breasts, as a signal to his opponent to stab him : those who 
wished him to be spared tumed their thumbs downwards (/r^- 
mebant), as a signal for dropping the sword *. But others take 
premere as * to close * : so Ritter and Schiitz, and if I mistake 
not, Georges in his Lexicon {' den Daumen einschlagen ') : 
L. and S. have the vague phrase *to close down': White 'to 
pressdown*. In Prop. iii. (iv.) 10, 14 et nitidas presso pollice 
finge comaSf the phrase evidently means simply * pressing your 
thumb upon them '. The versus pollex is also called in/estus 
(Quint. XI. 3, 119), and from App. Met. ii. c. ai (Hild.) 
it is plain that this means *upturned': porrigit dexteram^ et 
ad instar oratorum confirmat articulum ; dttobusque infimis con- 
clusis digitisj ceteros eminentes porrigit^ et infesto pollice cle- 
nienter subringenSf infit, 

67 — 85. Be careful of your words: avoid curious questions: 
do not allow yoursetf to be enamoured of any of your patrotC\ 



Bk. I. Ep. XVIII.] NOTES. 221 

household: be cauHous in introductionsy and do not attempt to 
de/end the unworthy» 

68. de quoque, perhaps best taken with Bentley 2&-=et de 
quo : Porphyrio rightly says that there are three questions quid 
dicas^ de quo dicas, cui dicas, So Cic. in Pis. 31, 75 tu quid, tu 
apud quosy tu de quo dicas, intellegis? It is however quite 
l^timate to take quoque as the ablative of quisqtte, although the 
expression is not to be explained with Orelli and others as for 
quid de quocunque-^^/nm^ dicas: rather it implies that in each 
individual case care is to be used, Cp. Madvig's De Finlbus, 
Excursus VI. p. 836 note. 

71. emissiun *let slip': A. P. 390 nescitvox missa reverti. 
I doubt whether the generally assumed reference to an arrow 
allows sufficiently for the idea of carelessness here involved. Cp. 
Menander Frajp;. 607 Meini oIjt ix x^P^^ /jLedivra Kafyrepas (sic 
Cobet) Tdffov j>q.ov KaToox^ty, ovr* carb yXiocrorjs X&yop, 

72. non — ^nlla, to be taken closely iogether =nulla, For 
the question of non with imperatives cp. J. E. Nixon in the 
Joumal of PhUology vii. 54 — 59: Pabner on Sat. 11. 5, 91 : 
ibrager Hist, Synt, i. 286, 

iecur: frequently regarded as the seat of the emotions: cp. 
Carm. i. 13, 4 meupi fervens difficili bile tumet iecur^ ib. 25, 15 
iecur ulcerosum, Sat. I. 9, (i(i meum iecur urere bilis. 

75. beet ant — angat : if the patron grants your request, he 
will think that he has discharged all obligations, though his gift 
is really of little value: if he is churlish and refuses you, this wili 
cause you pain. There was a story to the effect that Vergil 
received from Maecenas a favourite slave named Alexander, and 
from PoUio another named Cebes. Cp. Ribbeck Narr. p. xxxi. 

78. quondam *at times:' op. Carm. 11. 10, 18 quondam 
cithara tacentem suscitat Musam: Sat. II. 2, 82 hic tamen ad 
inelius poterit transcurrere quondam, Verg. Aen. II. 367 quondam 
etiam victis redit in praecordia virtus: cp. vl. 877. In Cic. ad 
Fam. II. 16, 2 quoted by L. and S. for this meaning of ^//^«^«w, 
we must certainly render *of old': in de Div. I. 43, 98 quid 
cum saepe lapidum^ sanguinis non nunquam, terrae interdum^ 
quondam etiam lactis ivtber dejluxit the climax not less plainly 
points to *once* as the meaning. Hence it is doubtful whether 
this usage is found in Cicero. Cp. the similar use of olim, 

tnuUmiu 'introduce*. £p. I. 9, 3. 

79. premet : * crushes ', with a stronger force than in Ep. I. 
19, 36 : so often in Tacitus : cp. Boettich^ Lex, Tac, s. v. 



222 HORATI EPISTULAE. 

80. ut— 0et7M. If yoa have been deceived and have intro- 
duced a man who proves unworthy, do notattempt to stand by 
him, in order that ^ou may not exhaust your influence, but may 
preserve it unimpaired for the protection of one whom you know 
well, and who looks to you for help, when assailed by calumny. 
Bentley*s conjectures at zxAfidenter are quite superfluous. 

82. dente Theonlno : the scholiasts tell us that Theon was a 
very witty and abusive freedman, who so offiended his patron by 
his bitter jests that he was turned out of his house, and had a 
farthing left to him that he might buy a rope and hang himself. 
Nothing further is known of him, and even this is not very trust- 
worthy. 

olrpnnirodltar : cp. Sat. i. 4, 81 absentem qui rodit amicum, 

ecqnld sentlfl * do you feel at all?* i.e. * don't you feel?' 

84. tna res agltnr : cp. Juv. iii. 198—200. 

86 — 95. Itisa hard task to retain thefavour ofthe pawerfvlt 
foryou must alwaysfall in with their humours, 

87. metnet is perhaps a little better supported than metuit, 

88. hoc age 'give all your mind to it': Ep. I. 6, 31 (note), 
Ter. And. 186, 415. 

91. The spuriousness of this line does not admit of a ques- 
tion. It is not found in anv of the good MSS., and contains two 
inexplicable difficulties : (i) bibuli potores is, as Bentley saw, little 
better Xh^n potantes potores, while to connect bibuli with Falemi 
is to do reckless violence to the meaning of the word : (2) media 
de nocte could only mean *as early as midnight': cp. Ep. I. 2, 
52; 14, 34. It is evident thatsome copyist (not before the xith 
century) feeling the need of a subject to oderunt introduced 
potores and then attempted to make up the line by a clumsy 
adaptation of £p. I. 14, 34 quem bibulum liquidi media de luce 
FcUemi. The subject to oderunt may be derived from porrecta 
pocula^ i. e. porrigentes pocula, It unquestionably makes a neater 
line to retain potores and omit oderunt, as is done by Meineke, 
llaupt, L. Miiiler, Kriiger and Schiitz. But I cannot see how 
we can be justified in rejecting a word which is found in ali 
our good MSS. and retaining one which appears first in the 
inferior ones. How are we to conceive of tne history of the 
line, 1f the true reading potores was ousted for centuries by ode- 
runt^ and then suddenly reappeared, bringing with it a spurious 
ending to the line? It is quite astounding to find Macleane say- 
ing in face of the evidence against it *the verse must remain till 
a better can be found \ Any editor of the xixth ccntuiy could 



Bk.LEp.XVin.] NOTES, 223 

mtike upi a line, that Horace might possibly have writt^n, whkh 
is more than can be said for this blundering product of the .xith. 

98. tepores has far more authority than vapores, and the 
nature of the evidence in favour of the former is such as to 
exclude altogether Orelli's notion that it may be a gloss on 
vapores, Macleane stands, I think, quite aloneamong recent 
editors in foliowing Orelli. It is true, however, that tepor 
generally denotes a mild warmth (cp. Lucret. ii. 857 calidum 
tepidumqne vaporetn *heat moderate or violent' Munro), and the 
earliest instance quoted for the meaning of *feverishness' is from 
Ammianus xix. 4, 2 tepore febrium arescunt, 

noetamoB undoubtedly suggested the unlucky media de nocte 
to the medieval copyist. 

inret, not simply due to the preceding quamvis^ but hypo- 
thetical (cp. Ep. 11. 2, 113), as Palmer notices on Sat. 11. 2, 30. 

94. ntilyem, a common metaphor, which we may retain in 
translation: 'banish thecloudfromyourbrow'. Cp. Soph. Ant. 
528 i»c0e\i7 3* oiftpviair vT€p alftardep ftkBoi alaxypei: Eur. Hipp. 
173 arvyvbp 5'6<f>pv<ap pk^ot at^^ayerai: Shakspere Ant. and Cleop. 
III. 2, 52 * Will Caesar weep? He has a cloud in 's face'. Con- 
ington's version *unknit your brow' reminds us of Taming of the 
Shrew v. 2, *unknit that unkind, threatening brow*. 

95. ot)BCiirl=*mysterious' Kpvyj/ipovs. The modesty which ' 
prompts to reserve often makes a man a]3pear to be disguising 
nis thoughts witli a view to deceive. Cp. Cic. de 0£F. iii. 13, 57: 
Aoc autem celandigenus...non aperti^ non simplicis^ non ingenui^ 
non iusti^ non viri bom (est), versuti potius^ obscuri, astuti^fal- 
lacis^ malitiosi, callidi^ veteratoris^ vafri. 

96 — 108. Whatever you do^ study philosophy, which alofu 
can giveyou the secret ofahappy life. 

96. leges: Roby § 1466: S. G. §602, *you must study for 
yourself...(to leam) how' &c. 

98. Num-^nun : Bentley's ne — w, retained from the early 
editions (perhaps only by oversight) has practically no authority. 
Ritter and Schlitz join semper inops * never to be satisfied ' : it 
seems better to r^ard agltet as a jussive subjunctive retained 
from the direct question [Roby § 1012, S.G. § 674 (^)] and to 
translate 'whether you are always to be tormented by a craving 
that is unsatisfied'. There is no need for study and instruction 
before a man can learn whether he is tormented: his desire is to 
knuw whether he will ever escape from his torment. Orelli is 
nearly right with his *]ium te lucri et potentiae cupiditas^ cui 



i^24 HORATI EPISTVJLAE 

semper deest aliquid et quae nunquam expleatur, agitare de* 
beat*. We arrive however at much the same meaning if wecon- 
sider that the direct question would have been agUatne me smfery 
with the present used for the future. 

99. mediocrlter utlllTim : *things indifferent' 'quae Stoici 
ddidiffopa vocabant* Or. Cp. Cic. de Fin. III. i6, 53 quoniam 
autem omne^ quod est honum^ primum locum tenere dicimus, 
necesse est^ nec bonum esse nec malum hoc^ quod praeposUum 
(irpmfyfjLivov) vel praecipuum nominamus : idque ita definimus, 
quod sit indifferens (aSid^opoi») cum aestimatione mediocri. These 
d^idipopa include in the Stoical theory all things generally con- 
sidered good by men, with the exception of virtue, which is the 
summum bonum, 

100. doctrlna : the familiar inquiryof the philosophers: cp. 
|*lat. Menp ad inii, ?x^*J M<>* ^lvilvt w l^mpaTes, apa didaKTif 
17 dper-q ; ij oit didaicTov d\\' curKrjrSv ; rj oiVc dcricrjTOP ovre 
naOrp-ov, d\\a <f>v<T€i irapayLyverai roU dvdptoTroit tj oXXy TOfl 
TpoTtp. Similarly in the Protagoras, Socrates argues against the 
view of Protagoras that virtue can be tau^ht, though in the 
course of the discussion he affirms that virtue is knowledge 
^which is the most teachable of all things*. Cic. Part. Or. 04 
quonampacto virtus pariatur, noUurane an ratione an usu* 

101. qvld te tlbi reddat amiciun, another reminiscence of 
Plato: cp. de Rep. X. 621 c. diKaioavvrjv fieriL ipp^vrjcreon vojni 
rpoirtp iirirrjdevffofiev, Iva koX rjfuy avrois <pi\ot. wfiev Kal TOtf 
deois, 

102. pvae^sincere *what gives you untroubled calm*. 

honos, public honours, especially office, which is often in- 
consistent with money-making. Hence Schiitz*s proposal to read 
ac for an would really injure the sense. There are three alteraa« 
tives suggested : but Aonos cannot be for Aonestas, as some have 
taken it, for there is no contrast between virtue and a retired 
life. 

lnceUum : a remembrance of this line, or of Sat. ii. 5, 83 
tecum partita lucellum would have enlightened those persons who 
were puzzled by Mr Lowe's proposed motto for the match-tax 
stamp, ex iucc lucellum, The word is used also by Cicera 

103* ftllentiB: £p. 1. 17, 10. 

104 — ^112. In my own quiet country-home, my prayers an 
only for competence and independence, Contentment I wUlprO' 
videfor myself ifjovegives me life and prospertty. 



Bk. I. Ep. XVIII.] NOTES, 






106. ' Mandela; cp. Mr Justice Lawson's words in the Antij 
larian Magazine for June 1883, p. 289 i *The river Licenza, 
orace^s Digentia, flows through the bottom of the valley far 

beneath iis [at Vico Varo], a limpid stream, speeding to jcin the 
Anio, On the opposite side of the river, situate upon a lofty 
eminence, is a village now called Cantalupo Bardella, whicu 
is Horace's Mandela, described by him as *rugosus frigore 
pagus* from its lofty position. We may well fency Horace, 
as he ambled along this road, observing the villagers coming 
down the hill to draw their supplies of water from the Digentia 
flowing at its base'. 

107. ut ^nilil vlYam : the old reading was »/, which Keller 
defends, acceptiijg the interpretation of Porphyrioh *provided 
that'. Bentley rejected this, partly because *omnes libri paullo 
vetustiores' have et^ partly because he doubted this use of w/, 
when not foUowed by tament and almost all recent editors have 
foUowed him. But the clear preponderance of the best MSS. is 
in favour of ut (unless we attach overwheUuing weight to the 
vet. Bland.), and I cannot but think that internal evidence as 
strongly supports it. Mihi is emphatic; *for myself ', and not 
for the vain demands of frivolous society. ^ Reading et, we must 
take the two wish^s as ind^pendent : * May I liate as much as I 
now have or even less, and may I live to myself, for all of life 
'that yet remains", if it is .the wiU of the gods that aught should 
yet remain'. Is it good sense for a man .to wish to have what 
he now has, or even less, without adding the conditions on which 
he is willing to be content with less — ^in Horace's case the re- 
tention of his independence ? As to the usage of «/, how does 
this passage differ from Cic. ad Fam. IX. 6, 4 libenter omnibus 
oninis opes cottcesserim, «/ (=if only) mihi licedi vi nnlla inter- 
pellante isto modo vivere: or from Tusc. ii. 6, 16 quam turpi- 
tudinem non pertulerit «/ ( = if only) effugiat dolorem ? Mr Reid 
thinks that the fact that Horace corrects himself in w. iii — 112, 
and says he ought to a^k the g^ods only for external things, and 
to guarantee himself that he will deal with them aright, shows 
that he had previously prayed for a right irame of mind. -But 
ihis he does in V. iio. 

109. Iflyromm: cp. Sat. 11. 3, 11, where Horace takes out a 
collection of Greek poets to his retirement in the country. 

UO. neti introduces a further wish ; hence much betterthan 
ncy which has little support. * Nor make my life one flutter of 
suspense' Con. Cp. aestuat Ep. I. i, 99; natcU Sat. ii. 7, 7, 

111. sed, far better, as Bentley well showed, than the old 
reading hctec, *quidonat et qucce donat et quiponit et quae pontt 
paf ibus fere singula testimoniis comprobantur ' BehtL The Blan- 

W. H. 15 



226 HORATI EFISTULAE, 

dinian MSS. (among others) have quiponit, but qui has been very 
generally recognized as due only to a false assimilation to lovis, 
It is almost necessary to have a limiting object to orare, 

ponlt is so very commonly used by Horace in the sense of 
May down* (Carm. iii. 3, 19; 10, 9; IV. la, 25; Sat. ii. 3, 16; 
Ep. I. I, 10; 10, 31 j 16, 35; A.P. 469) that it is difficult to 
believe that he used the word here in the sense of *bestow'. 
The confusion between D and P is one of the most common in 
tmcial MSS. The passage in Carm. i. 34, 14 f. hinc apicm 
rapax Fortuna cum stridore acuto sustulit^ hic posuisse gaudet^ 
which decided Bentley, after some hesitation, to accept/pi»^, is 
not closely parallel, for there the action is more vividly pictured 
than here. On the other hand, if ponit had come by simple 
corruption from donat we should have expected to find the 
intermediate stage ponctt (found in one MS.) more widely 
diffused ; and if ponit was the original reading. donat would bc 
an almost inevitable gloss. Hence it is perhaps best on the 
whole to retain ponit* [**I take the word to have the meta- 
phorical sense corresponding to its literal use of banquets (Sat. 
II. 2, 33; 4, 14; 6, 04; 8, 91). Jupiter *sets before' us things 
as his guests»" J. S^ R* This is supported by the simikr ose of 
au/ert^ 

112. det Tltam : cp. Ov. Pont. 11. i, 53 di tibi dent annosl 
a te nam cetera sumes : Trist. v, 11, i^nec vitam nec opes nec ius 
mihi cvvis ademit. 

mi: it is noteworthy that almost all MSS. have the unmetrical 
mihi: so often even the best have a genitive in •ii, where tbe 
metre requires i. 



EPISTLE XIX, 

This Epistle recalls the tone of Satires iv. and x. in Book 
I. The epistolary form is more completely than elsewhere ia 
this book a mere form; but it is natural that Horace's scon 
of his imitators and rejoinder to his critics should be addressed 
in the first instance to his patron Maecenas. The letter cannot 
be earlier than the publication of Ihe first three books of thc 
Odes: otherwise there is nothing to fix its date. It is evidently 
separated by a considerable interval from Carm. iv. 3, wheii 
envious carping criticism had been silenced by the general 
recognition of the poet's merits: Romae principis urbium dig- 
natur suboles inter amabiles vatum ponere me choros^ et ioM 
dente minus mordeor inindo» • 



BLI.Ep.XIX.]; NOTES. 227 

1—20. Cratinus of old^ Maecenas^ held that poems destined 
to immortality were always inspired by wine ; and from the 
earliest days poets havt been topers. I said that the sober were 
better fitted for business than poetry : and since then my imitators 
have been always drinking^ But more is needed for successful 
rivalry, than an aping ofdress and looks, 

!• docte : cp. Cann. Iil. 8, 5 docte sermones utriusque linguae, 

Cratlno : the fondness of Cratinus for wine was made the 
subject of many jests among his contemporaries. Aristophanes 
in the Peace (700 — 703) says that he died of grief at seeing a 
jar fuU of wine smashed in an invasion of the Lacedaemonians, 
a joke which gains instead of losing point, if we accept the 
statement of the Schol. on Ar. Av. 521 that he was living at 
*the time. Cp. also Schol. on £q. 400 <as...fUdvffov dia^dWei 
rbv Kparivov. He adds that in his play of the UvTlpn Cratinus 
represented himself as lawfully married to KwyuySfa, who wished 
to leave him, and to bring an action against him for neglect, 
because he had deserted her for M^drj. Athenaeus (ii. 9 p. 149 
Schweigh.) has preserved an epigram on him by Nicaenetus, 
ohbs TOi xo-pt-evTi iriKei Tax^ tinros &Mdf* vbtap bk irlvwv ovdiv 
dv TiKoi <ro<f>6v, TavT* iXeyev, Ai6vwr€f Kal iirveev ovx Ms daKov 
Kparivos, aXX^ rojrrbs (odudei tLOov, 

2. placere dln go together, for viv^re ileeds no adverb: 
Carm. iv, 9, 11 vivuntque commissi calores Aeoliae fidibus 
puellae, 

3. potorlbus : Schiitz takes this as an ablative, like textore 
in'v. 13. I think it is unquestionably a dative (Roby § 1146, 
S. G. § 476) ; and cannot. see why a construction found twice 
at least in Vergil (Aen. i. 440 neque cernitur ulli^ iii. ig^^mcUis 
habitantur moenia Graiis)^ and severd times in Ovid (Her. 
IX. 46 ; Fast. 11. 61, iii. 108, 325, v. iio, 303; Trist. v. 10. 37 
etc.) should be pronounced by Mr Page on Carm. i. 6, 2 * quite 
inadmissible* in Horace: Madvig allows fton uni aut alteri 
miltti...audiuntur in Liv. V. 6, 14, and quaerentibus utrinque 
ratio initur in Liv. i. 23, 10, though in xxii. 34, 8 he cor- 
rects to contemni a patribus desierint. For apparent instances in 
Cicero (e. g. De Am. 11, 38) cp. Madvig on de Fin. i. 4, 11. 
Here direct agency is denoted: in v. 13 /dar/^r^indicates rather 
the instrumentality, * by the help of ' or * thanks to '. Both these 
cases differ materially from those in which the ablative of the 
substantive b accompanied by an adjective, for which cp. note 
on £p. I. I, 94. 

ut *ever since*, Roby § 17 19, S. G. § 723. The Muses 
drank at first only from springs like Castalia and Hippocrene : 
bat since the days when Bacchus enrolled (' (anquam in legionem 

15—2 



^28 HORATI EPISTULAE. . 

suam : nam hoc verbum militare est * Porph.) the frenzied poets 
among his troop of foUowers, they too have borne the traces of 
their nightly potations. Lambinus and Bentley placed a full 
stop 2XpoetaSf and a comma after sanoSt taking ui as sl particle 
of comparlson, but this is clearly less good. 

male denotes either the deficiency of what is good or the 
excess of what is bad, like the prefix ve--: cp. vesanus, vggrandis 
on the one hand, and vepallidus on the other (Sat. i. 2, 129): 
so male pertinax Carm. I. 9, 24, tndle dispar ib. 17, 25; but 
male fidus (Verg. Aen. il. 23), male gratus (Oy, Her. vii. 37) 
etc. Cp. Sat. I. 3, 45, and 48. The inspired frenzy of poets 
has been a commonplace at least since the days of Democritus. 
Cp. Cic. Div. I. 37, 80 negat sine furore Democritus quemquoM 
poetam magnum esse posse^ quod idem dicit Plato (Phaeor. 245 a). 
Cp. A. P. 295, Sat. II. 3, 322. 

4. satyrls foiinlsque : the Satyrs were always r^^arded as 
attendants of Bacchus : cp. Carm. II. 19, 4. The Fauns are 
here introduced as typifying the earliest Italian poetry: cp. 
Ennius in Cic. Brut. 19, 71 versibus quos olim Fauni vatesque 
canebant^ and Mompasen Hist, i. 230: *the earliest chant in 
the view of the Romans, was that which the leaves sang to 
themselves in the green solitude of the forest. The whispcrs 
and pipings of the * favourable spirit * (Fatmus from favere) in 
the grove were repeated to men by the singer {vates\f or by the 
songstress {casmenay carmenta) who had the gift of listening to 
him, with the accompaniment of the pipe, and in rhythmically 
measured language {casmen^ afterwards carmen, from canere) \ 

5. ftre * as a rule ': £p. i. 6, 9. 

6. laudibUB vlnl, i.e. by the epithets which he applies to 
it, /ieXtT^SiJj, fi€\L<l>p<ay, ^5u7roro$, eirfivwp, fuvo€i.Krti : cp. also 
II. VI. 261 oMSpl bk KtKfiiiiwTt jUvos fUya otvos ai^i, YiDOSOB 
= vimsus fuisse. 

7. pater, a term of respect for the father of Roman poetry ; 
cp. pater Chrysippus in Sat. I. 3, 126. Prop. iii. 2, Unde 
pater sitiens Ennius ante bibit: and Plato's varTjp rfficip Uap- 
fievLdrjs. There may also be a reference to the fact that he lived 
in days of old (cp. senis of Lucilius in Sat. ii. i, 34), but not, as 
Ritter supposes, to the age which he reached. Eimius said of 
himself nunquam poetor, nisi sipodager, 

8. prosUult * sprang forth \ as if eager to take part himself 
in the wars of which he was singing. Yet *he celebrates the 
heroism of brave endurance, rather than of chivalrous daring : 
the fortitude that, in the long run, wins success, and saves the 
State, rather than the impetuous valour which achieves a barxen 



Bk. I. Ep. XIX.] NQTES, ^n 

glory* Sellar, Roman Poets ofthe Republk^ p. 113. The wars 
on which he dwelt most fuUy in his Annals were that with 
Pyrrhus, the Second Punic war, the Macedonian» the Aetoliaa 
and the Istrian wars. 

8 — ^9. fomm— seyerlB. Cp. CatuU. v. 1 rumoresque senum 
severiorum. The question intp whose mouth Horace puts these " 
words depends upon the reading in v. 10. The old reading 
edixit has been again defended by Schiitz, who ai^es that 
ZJber is to be taken as the subject. *The knowledge of Roman 
conditions cannot surprise us in a (God, especially as he is in- 
tyoduced under his Latin name; and to lay stress upon the 
anachronism destroys the jesting tone of the passage*. But 
even if we allow this, the whole context shows that Horace is 
ridiculing his own slavish imitators, not the poets who fell in 
with the ordinance of their patron deity. Bentley rightly saw that 
pallerem in v. 18 made this quite clear. The attempts that have 
been made to find a subject in Cratinus or Ennius are still less 
successfuL The puteal Libonis — ^a low eircular wall built round 
a spot in the forum, which had been struck by lightning, 
between the Temple of Castor and that of Vesta (cp. Marucchi 
DescHzione del Foro Romano Roma 1883 p, 65), by Scribonius 
Libo, possibly the aedile of b.c. 193, but more probably the trib. pl. 
bf B.c. 149 — was certainly not known to Cratinus, and probably 
not to Ennius. Hence it is much better to accept the reading 
edixiy which has good MS. authority. The word is used with a 
certain mock solemnity *I laid down this law', as in Sat. 11. 2, 51 ; 
3, 227, with a reference to the praetor's edict. Perhaps it is 
better with Bentley to suppose that Horace had expressed this 
Opinicn *inter convictores than to press passages like Carm. i. 
18, 3 ; III. 35 and Ep. i. 5, 16 — 20, the last of which, at any rate, 
would hardly be in general circulation by this time. 

The Scholiasts here and on Sat. ii. 6, 35 tell us that the 
praetor's tribunal was set up at the puteal Libonis : but Mr Palmer 
rightly points out that in neither of these passages, nor yet in 
Pers. IV. 49 (where cp. Conington*s note) is there any reference 
to legal business. It is better to take it simply as *the Exchange', 
where business men, and especially money-lenders meet Cp. 
Cic. pro Sest. .8, i8 alter,..puteali et foeneratorum gregibus 
inflatus, The question. whether there were not two or even 
more puteals in the Forum is one not easy to decide : cp. Dict, 
Biogr. II. 780 A (where there is an engraving of a coin with a 
representation of the /. Libonis) : Bum's Rome and the Cam" 
pagna p. 86 : Nichors Roman Forum p. 129. If however the 
Scholiasts here and on Pers. iv, 49 are right in saying that the 
p, Libonis was near the Fabian arch, it can hardly hiave been 
identical wkh the puteal of Attus Navius in the Comitium (Cic. 
lle Div. j, .i7j 33; Liv. \, 36: Dionys. iii. 71) where his fkmous 



230 JIORATJr EFISTULAE. 

whetstone and razor were buried. In any case the former was 
the more famous by far, so that it could be named by Cicero and 
Persius without any qualifying epithet. 

9. siccis: cp. Carm. i. i8, 3 siccis omnia nam dura deui 
proposuU* 

11. noctnrno — dlnmo. This line curiously resembles in 
rhythm A. P. 269 Noctuma versate manu^ versate diuma; it 
has even been supposed to contain a parod^dng reference to it, 
which is just possible, if we accept with Prof. Nettieship the 
earliest date assigned to the Ars Poetica. For olere v. 5 
Horace substitutes the stronger word putere: cp. Mart. I. «9 
Ilesterno foetere mero qui credit Acerram, fallitur: in lucem 
semper Acerra bibit, The epithet diurno is not however quite 
correctly attached here to the wine : the meaning is *they stink 
all day of the wine which they vie with each other in drinking at 
night , not, as in Martial, that they sit up drinking into the next 
day. Cp. Carm. iv« i» 31 nec certare iuvat mero 'to join the 
drinking bout' Page* 

12. pede nudo: Plutarch sa^rs of Cato of Utica (c. vi) 
iroX\diC(S dfVToSip-os koX dx^TUiP els rb drjfioaiop irpoiet, fier* &purrop, 
and in c. i. speaks of the firm and immoveable expression of his 
face. Some have thought that Horace is referring here rather to 
the elder Cato, doubting whether he would have ventured to 
choose Caesar's bitter enemy as his type of virtue, and reminding 
us that the younger was himself only an imitator of the elder. 
But Carm. i. la, 35 Catonis nobile letum seems answerenou^ 
to the first : to the second we may reply that it is far more in 
harmony with the context to understand a contemporary as the 
object of imitation, than one who had died more than a centuiy 
before. Cp. Mommsen Hist, iv. 156. * A strange caricature of 
his ancestor...he evenformed aschool,and there were individuals 
— it is true they were but a few — who in their tum copied and 
caricatured afresh the living pattem of a philosopher*. Cic. ad 
Att. II. I, 10 speaks of Servilius as Catonis aemulcttor, and often 
mentions Favonius, who we leam from Dio xxxviii. 7 was 
called the *ape of Cato': Mommsen applies to the latter the 
hardiy less uncivil phrase of Cato's Sancho (iv. 315). Cp. thc 
proverb * cucuUus non fadt monachum *. 

13. textore, if taken as a kind of instrumental ablative (see 
on V. 3) needs no correction. 

15. rapit 'mined': many editors suppose that larbitas 
strained himself till he burst, in the attempt to rival TiniageDes 
in loudness of voice and fluency of speech ; but this is quite 
inconsistent with urbanus, It seems rather that he brdught 
liimself into trouble by imitating the bitter wit of Timagenes* 



Bk. L Ep. XIX.] NOTES. 2^1 

Krtiger well compares Val. Flacc. v. 341 lumina rwnpert fldu 
with Ov. A. A. I. 129 lacrimis corrumpere ocellos* Conington^s 
rendering 

The wretched Moor, who matched himself in wit 
With keen Timagenes, in sunder split 

is based upon the story given by Acron: 'cum Timagenem 
philosophom post convivium et inter pocula declamantem vellet 
imitari et non posset, invidia quodammodo discerptus est', 
thoi^^h he seems lightly to reject the notion that rupit means 
5imply rupit invidia. Any notion of envious rivahy seems out 
of keeping with the next line. 

larlxitam : the Scholiasts tell us ihat this man was a Mau- 
retanian, named Cordus — possibly the same as the Codrus of 
Verg. Eicl. vii. 16 invidia rumpantur ut ilia Codra — ^who was 
nicknamed larbitas from larbas, the king of the Gaetulians who 
appears in the Aeneid (iv. 196). Timagenes was a rhetoriciai^ 
of Alexandria, who was brought as a prisoner to Rome by 
A. Gabinius in B.c. 55, and was at first employed as a cook, and 
a litter-bearer, but was afterwards ransomed by Faustus Sulla. 
He opened a school of rhetoric, and met with much success, 
acquiring the favour of* Augustus. But afterwards he offended 
the emperor by some bitter jests upon his wife and family, and 
was compelled to retire to the estate of Asinius PoUio at 
Tusculum. 

17. vitlls with ImltahUe, not, as Schiitz sa^rs, with decipit^ 
which can well stand alone. Cp. Juv. xiv. 40 quoniam dociles 
imitandis turpibus ac pravis omnes sumus. In the context he 
refers to Brutus and Cato. 

18. pallerem can only mean 'if I were pale' which I am 
tiot. Conington's 'should my colour fail' is rather misieading. 
Horace describes himself as sun-bumt in £p. i. ao, 24. . 

ezsangne camlnnm : cp. Plin. H. N. xx. 14, 57 : omne 
(cuminum) pallorem bibentibus gignit. Ita certe ferunt Porcii 
LcUronis clari inter magistros dicendi ctssectatores similitudinem 
coloris studiis contracti imitatos, Persius as usual imitates 
Horace in \mpallentis grana cumini (v. 56). Exsanguis does 
not appear tobe used again in this sense of 'causing paleness' 
before Claudian (in Ruf. il. 130 exsanguis Rujinum perculit 
horror) ; but Persius Prol. 4 has pallidam Pirenen in the same 
sense : and so Propert. v. [iv.] 7, 30 cum insidiis pallrda vina bibi, 
The practice of drinking vinegar to make the face look pale and 
interesting has not been unknown in later days. 

19. servnm: *hoc novum et fortius quam servile', Ritter. 
Ovid has serva manus (Fast. VJ. 558) and serva aqua (Am. I. 6, 



232 HORATI EPISTULAE. 

16). The wdrd is not, as L. and S. say, akin to Germ. schwer 
*heavy*, but from root SER *bind* Curt. EU 355, or possibly 
from root sar 'protect', a derivation whichhas the advantageof 
conneoting it with servare. 

20. bilem i.e. wrath, Sat i. 9, 66, 11. 3, 141^ timraltiui 
*the coil you make'^ Con. 

21 — 84. I am no slamsh imitaior myself. Like my Greek 
predecessors, I have maintained my own originality, in spiie of 
my dd>t to them, 

21. per yaonnm < on ground unclaimed by others ', a legal 
term. Gaius 11. 5 1« 

22. pro88l: Lucr. IIL 3 inque tuis nunc ficta [i.q. fixa] 
pedum pono pressis vestigia signis, 

23. resret ezamen : ' imitatus r^em apinm se sequentium 
ducem * Porph. Keller says that fidet and reget have much 
more authority ihBn fidit and regit, As the vet. Biand. here sup- 
ports the bulk of his MSS. I have followed him with little hed- 
tation. The corruption appears to have begun with regeif to 
which fidet was afterwards assimilated. Ritter reads yfe&V— 
reget, 

, PaxlOB: Archilochus was bom at Paros,.though he liveda 
roving life. Though not strictly speaking the inventor of the 
iambic metre (Mahaffy Greek Litcrature i. 157) he was the first 
to use it largely in literature. But he also employed the el^ac 
verse, introduced shortly before his time by Callinus. 

prlmus : Catullus had previously employed iambic trimetets 
(to say nothing of the dramatic poets) ; but Horace in his Epodes 
had bieen the first to imitate the more complex 'Erydo^. For 
Epodes I. — ^x. he used the metre in which most of the extant 
fragments of the Epodes of Archilochus are written * metrum lam- 
bicum. Senarium Quatemarium': of, the Archilochium II" 
(Epod. Xlii.) and III'» (Epod. xi.), the Pythiambicum I» (Epod. 
XIV.) and II"* (Epod. xv. and xvi.), and the Alcmanium (Epod. 
XII.) we seem to have no specimen preserved from Archilochus. 
The Archilochium IV" (cp. Archil. fr. 103) is used in Carm. I^ 
4: the Archilochium I" (cp. Archil. fr. 85) in Od. iv. 7, whidi 
in spite of its position is probably an early production. It is 
probable however that Horace in every case had a Greek example 
before him : cp. Bentley*s note on Epode XI. 

24. anlmos * spirit '• 

25. agentla ^which pursued': when Lycambes of Puos 
refiised to give his youngest daughter Neobule to Archilochus, 
ashe had p^omised to do, the ktter assaiied him with such 



Bk. I. Ep. XiX.] NOTES. 23i 

bitter verses that Belianged himself. Cp. Epod. vi. 13. agiiare 
is more common in this sense. 

26. breylorllms * humbler ' or * scantier *, not, as some have 
taken it, *less enduring', like breve lilium (Carm. I. 36, 16), 
nitnium breves flores amoenae rosae (ib. 11. 3, 14). Horace is 
axguing in defence of his own originality. It is true, he says, 
that I imitated the metres of Archilochus : but so did Sappho 
and Alcaeus, and no one accuses them of plagiarism, for their 
themes and style are altogether different: and so are mine. 
Bentley in one of his most convincing notes first brought out 
dearly the connexion and interpretation of this passage, which 
had very commonly been misunderstood. Even now Ritter sup- 
poses that Horace draws a distinction between his Epodes and 
his Odes : but this ruins the sequence of the thought. ne — omes 
Roby §, i66o, S. G. § 690. 

27. artexn, 'technique.' 

38. temperat — Sappho: 'masculhie Sappho moulds her 
Muse by the measure of Archilochus * : temperare is the regular 
word for giving artistic shape to a composition, especially of 
^usic: cp. Prop. il. 34 ( = ili. 26), 80: talefacis carmen^ docta 
testudine quale Cynthius impositis temperat articulis, Carm. i v; 
3, 18 ^ testudinis aureae dulcem quat strepitum^ Pieri^ temperas, 
pedei is not * foot * but * measure , -denoting the whole Une, as in 
Carm. IV. 6, 35 Lesbium servate pedem : A. P. 81. 



k is.a term of praise, not of blame, as the Scholiasts 
jtrsmgely suppose. 

29. ordtne, best understood with' Bentley of the arrangement 
of the various lines used by Archilochus in a strophe : e.g. the 
Arc^Uochus minor (arboribusque comae) was coupled by Alcaeus 
with a dactylic hexameter (Hor. Od. iv. 7), by Archilochus him- 
self with an iambic trimeter (Frag. 104). 

80^ neo^oaerlt. The difference between Alcaeus, at any 
ratey and Archilochus as to their themes was hardly so great as 
we might imagine from these passages. Alcaeus seems to have 
attacked Pittacus with no less bitterness than Archilochus showed 
to Lycambes, though on political as much as on personal grounds. 
'We can discover also * the same enjoyment of love artd wine, of 
rambling about the world, and of adventure ' (Mahaffy, Greek 
Ziterature i. ^. 181). Sappho's poetryon the other hand was 
idmost entirely confined to the passion of love. atrls: cp. 
Epod. 6, 15 atro dente: so niger in Sat i. 4., 85. 

81. fkmoio * libellous ' : Sat. 11. i, 68 : famosa epigrammata 
ifk Suet. Caes. 73; famosi libelli in Tac. Ann. r. 72. The ear- 
^Uest iiistance m which the word has a neutral mQaning, if nqt 



234 HORATI EPISTULAE. 

a positively good one is in A. P. 469 'mnch talked of *• Even 
in Tacitus it has hardly acquired the meaning of ' renowned ' : 
cp. Hist. IIL 38, ai^d Heraeus on Hist. I. 10. 

82. himo, unquestionably Alcaeus. Archilochus was not 
included among the lyric poets, strictly speaking. Catullus and 
perhaps Calvus had alr^y used the Sapphic metre; but no 
one as yet the metre of Alcaeus. Cp. Carm. Ili* 30, 13 dicar,,. 
princeps Aeolium carmen ad Italos deduxisse modos: Carm. !• 
32i5; IV. 9, 3. 

84. Ingennis 'gentle*, not, as Porph. says, claiming a moral 
superiority over his predecessors, Archilochus and Lucuius (who 
is altogether out ot the question), who had indulged in great 
license of language; but contrasted with the ventosa pl3)s of 
V. 37. The aucSence for whom Horace wrote was one of 
'gentlemen', such as those named in Sat. I. 10, 81 — 90. Con* 
ington happily renders • 

Well may the bard feel proud, whose pen supplics 
Unhackneyed strains to gentle hands and eyes» 

85—41. lam disparaged tn ptiblic though ttked in private^ 
because I iake no unworthy steps to secure a^^ause* 

85. opiiBOiila : £p. i. 4, 3. 

86. premat *disparages\ A. P. «62* Verg. Aen. xi. 40« 
ne cessa„.extollere viris geniis bis victae, contra premere arma 
Latini: Quintil. XII. 10, 14 praecipue presserunt eum (M* Tol- 
lium), qui videri Atticorum imitatores cupiebant* Tadtus often 
uses th« word in this sense. 

87. Tentosae : £p. i. 8, i^. 

pleblB does not seem to be limited, as OrelH says, to tbe 
poetae et grammatici infimi ordinis: it naturally reters to all 
who could be gathered to listen to a recitation. For recitations 
at Rome cp. the exhaustive note of Prof. Mayor on Juv. iii* 9* 

88. impensls cenanun : the numerous instances of feasts 
given to the people by those who would gain their favour are 
collected by Madvig Vetfassung etc. 11. 363. 

trltae : cp. Pers. I. 54 scis comitem horridulum irita donari 
iacerna : Mart. XII. ja, 4 iritae praemia certa iogae, 

89. nobllinm: is this ironical or not? If it is, we mnst 
take it thus: * I never listen to these illustrious writers, and r^ 
taliate upon them by reciting my own poems, and therefore I 
have no need to stoop to court the critics**. But it seems better, 
as there is no indication of irony in the context, and nothiog 
pointing to poetasters rather than to critics as in hU thooghtSi to 



Bk. I. Ep. XIX.] NOTES. ^zs 

take it as seriously meant, and as referring to Pollio, Vergil, 
Varius and others of the circle round Maecenas : ultor is then an. 
expression of kindly humour, and not of bitterness, as in Juv. 1. 1 
* I who listen only to writers of name and fame, and retaliate 
upon them, do not deign to court etc' Bentl. argues that 
Horace did not recite his own poems : but the very passage to 
which he refers, shows the conditions on which he did : Sat. i. 4, 
73 nec recito cuiquam nisi amicis, idque coactus, non ubivis 
coramve quibuslibet. The *Globe* version: *I will not lower 
myself by listening to and defending grand writers, so as to 
curry favour* etc. is impossible. 

40. graimnaticas : Porph. takes tribtiB to refer to the 
crowds of scholars, pulpita * chairs ' to the teachers. But as the 
metaphor is evidently that of a candidate courting the sufTrages 
of the Roman tribes at an election, and as the gramifiarians 
themselves, rather than their pupils, would be the voters, it is 
better to take grainmaticas=grammaticorum, and ptQpita as a 
touch to add graphic force, rather than as introducing a distinct 
class. tribus has probably a touch of contempt in it, like our 
own *tribe* and i^^vKov, Tht pui^tum was properly the plat- 
form of the stage (Ep. 11. r, 174, A. P. ^15, 274), but here it is 
transferred to the dais on which tbe teacher*s chair {cathedrd Sat. 
I. 10, 91) would be placed. 

41. liiiic illae lacrimae. In the Andria of Terence old 
Simo tells how his son Pamphilus shed tears at the funeral of 
a neighbour of theirs named Chrysis. At first the father took 
it to be a sign of his son's aflfectionate character, that he was 
so much touched by the death of a mere acquaintance. But it 
tumed out that Chrysis had left a charming sister: and when 
the old man saw her (v. 125) percussit ilico animum, Atat^ 
hoc illud est^ hifu: illae lacrimae, haec illast misericordia., The 
phrase became proverbial, and was used as here even when there 
was no question of actual tears. Cp. Cic. pro Cael. 35, 61 sm 
autem iam iam suberat spmultas, exstincta erat consuetudoy disci" 
dium exstiteraty hinc illae lacrimag nimirum et haec causa est om^ 
nium horum scderum atque criminum, 

41 — 49. My critics ridicuie my modesty as affected^ but I will 
not cross swords with them, and so I decline a cotnbcU, which could 
only lead to illfeeling, 

tbeatrls, evidently not the public theatres, but private halls 
nsed for recitations. These were lent by rich patrons to poets 
and rhetoricians : cp. Mayor on Juv. vii. 40. 

splBSis * thronged' : cp. A. P. 205 spissa sedilia, 

42. migis, in humble disparagement of his own slight pro- 
ductions: cp. Sat. 1.91«» with Palmer's note^ 



23^ HORATI EPISTULAi:, 

43. rldes *you are laughing at ua '. alt * says one* Pers. T. 
40 rides^ ait. JuV. ix. 63 itnprobus es cum poscisy ait : inquit is 
more common (cp. Sat. i. 4, 79; 3, 126; ii. a, 99), aiohtmg 
rarelyused where the speaker*s words are directly quoted: but 
cp. Cic. Orat. ii, 36. Verg. however has the construction 
several times. 

ljayla=Augustt, Horace never directly applies this name to 
the Emperor, as Ovid does without scruple : and in the mouth 
of his critics it perhaps carries something of a sneer. 

44. manare with a quasi-transitive force, like ^etV. 

45. tlM *in your own eyes*. naribus titl *to sneer at 
them openly *. Cp. Sat. i. 6, 5 naso suspendis adunco: 11. 8, 64 
BcUatro suspendens omnia naso. £p. i. 5, 23. 

46. acato — ^ungrui : cp. Carm. 1. 6, 18 proelia virginum sectis 
in iuvenes unguibus acrium. Horace implies that the malice of 
his opponents is such that they will stoop to any kind of attack. 
Scratching however was a recognised method of cariTing on 
combats at Sparta. Cp. Cic. Tusc. v. 27, 77. Pausan. ili. 
i4f 8. 

• 47. late loeaB * the place you have chosen ' : iste has much 
more authority here than tV^, and is better in itself. 

* dllndla dicuntur tempora, quae gladiatoribus conceduntur, 
ut intra dies quinque pugnent ' — Acron. The word occurs no- 
where else. 

48. ludus plays upon diludia: *I call for a respite of the 
struggle, for a struggle though only in sport' etc, 

ganult: gnomic aorist, Ep. i. 2, 46 note. trepidum *ex' 
cited'. 



EPISTLE XX. 

This Epistle is evidently intended as the epilogue to the 
First Book. It has been supposed that the reference in w. 
27 — 28 fixes beyond dispute the date of the publication of th^ 
book : but cp. Introduction. The book is humorously addressed 
as though it were a young slave, eager to fescape from the safe 
retirement of his master s house, to see the great city, and to 
find himself lovers there, while he is ignorant of the daD^ers that 
await him, and the risk of desertion and neglect, when return 
will be impossible. The special interest . for us lies in the lines 
which give s6 graphic a sketch bf Horace^s personal appearance 
and character. — Ovid in Trist. i. i addresses his own book in 
very similar language. Cp. Mart. 1. 3» . - • • « ' 



BL I. Ep. 1^] N0TJE:S. 237 

1 — 8. You will not stay ntodestly at home, my book? Tken 
he off; butyou wUl be sorryfor it, 

1. VertnTnnnin. Vertumnus seems to have been originally 
the god of the annus vertens, i. e. both of the spring and of the 
autumn, but especially of the latter "wdth its rich stores of fruit : 
cp. Colum. X. 308 mercibus et vernis dives Vertumnus abundet: 
Propert. IV. 2, ii seu quia vertentis fructurh praecepimus anni, 
Vertumni rursus creditur esse sacrum, Perhaps it was only 
from the significance of his name that he was credited with the 
power of changing himself into any form that he pleased. His 
temple was in the Vicus Tuscus, one of the busiest streets in 
Rome, full of ali kinds of shops, and also of houses of ill repute. 
This circumstance may have contributed to the further explana- 
tion of his name as the deus invertendarum rerum, id est merca^ 
turae (Asconius in Verr. II. i, 154, p. 199). Propertius (iv. a) 
has a charming poem upon him : and Ovid Met xiv. 613 ff. tells 
how he won the love of Pomona. Cp. Preller R'6m, Myth, p. 
397—9. 

lailitm : a temple of Janus was at the bottom of the Argile- 
tum, which was not, . as Macleane says, a street leading out of 
the Vicus Tuscus, but on the opposite side of the Forum (Burn*s 
Rome p. 79), near the Subura, also i. disreputable quarter. 
There ire references in Martial to the bobk-shops in the Argile- 
tum (i. 3, I ; 117, 9). Porph. says * lanus quoque similiter vicus 
est*. Cp. Ep. I. I, 54 note. 

spectaxe * to have your eyes upon ', with wistful longing. So 
apparently in Verg. Ecl. iii. 48 « ^ vitulum spectas, 

2. BcUioet ' of course ' ironically, giving the reason in the 
book*s mind. 

pTOStes *be offered for sale', not without a double entendre. 

SOBioniin, probably brothers, freedmen of the family of the 
Sosii, possibly of the C. Sosius praetor in B.c. 49. They are 
mentioned as booksellers also in A. P. 345. In the Greek 
writers who mention C. Sosius (Plutarch, Dio and Josephus) the 
name is written with u : if this is correct, and not due simply to 
assimilation to 'Liixrideoi and the like, we must assume synizesis 
of the i in both passages of Horace. 

pninloe : * after the volumen was completed and rolled up, 
both ends Kii the closed roll were smoothed and polished with 
pumice* Munro Criticism^ of Catullus p. 54, against Ellis's 
commentary pn CatuII. xxii. 8 pumice omnia aequata: cp. 
CatuU. I. 1 — a quqi dono lepidum novum libellum arido modo 
piimice expoiitumf Ov. Trist. i. i, 11 nec fragili geminae po- 
Uantur pumice frontes. Mart. viii. 72, i nondtun muriceculius 



23S HORATI EPISTULAE. 

aridoque tnorsu pumicis aridi politui. Macleane is wrong liere 
first in speaking of parchment roUs, instead of papyrus, and 
secondly in supposing that the outside skin was polished with 
pumice: the parchment {membrand) used as the wrapper of the 
papyrus roll was stained purple or safTron. TibulL lil. i, 9 
•lutea sed niveum. involvat membrana Itbellum, fumex et canas 
' tondeat ante comas, 

• 8. (dayeB : books not offered for sale were kept m locked 
and sometimes sealed cases {scrinia) or chests {armarii), usually 
of cedar to keep off moths. Cp. Mart. I. 66, 5—8 secreta quaere 
carmina et rudes curas quas novit unus scrinioque signcUas cus- 
todit ipse virginis pater chartae, quae trita duro non inhorruit 
mentOy where an unpublished poem is compared to a young girl, 
as here to a boy. Menander speaks of keeping a wife not only 
barred, but even sealed up: tfarts ^ /xoxXots kcuL 5tA a-tppayifffua-a» 
<rc&^c da/iapra, Spav tl di) SokQv ao<^p, fMTOLOs i(TTi Kal <ppov(a» 
oifSkv <t>poy€i, Cp. Aristoph. Thesmoph. 4IJ. — 428. Store-cham- 
bers were often sealed, both in Greece (Aristoph. Lys. 1199) - 
and at Rome, Plaut. Cas. II. i, i obsigncUe cellas, re/erte anulm 
CLdme, 

4. paucls : Sat. I. 4, 73. ostendl gemls : for the constmc- 
tion cp. Ep. I. 15, 7. communls *what is open to ali*: com- 
munis locus was a euphemiism for a house of iU-fame. 

6. ftxfife, explained by schol. Cruq. 'devita conspectum 
hominum, ne redeas deterior*. Schiitz defends this interpreta- 
tion, denying that fugere can mean simply ' to hurry ofT, but 
Senec. Epist. 108, 25 nunquam Vergilius dies dicit ire, sed 
fugere, quod currendi genus concitatissimum est is surely a 
sufficient defence (cp. Verg. Aen. v. 740) : and we may further 
note that the book is represented as running away from its 
master's house. The asyndeton in non erlt reditas is slightly 
in favour of SchUtz*s view : it is a little more natural to regsird 
the appended clause as giving the reason for what has been said, 
than as a caution to be borne in mind, translating * for there 
wili be* rather than 'but remember there will be'. But on 
the other hand, as this is a valedictory address, and as Horace 
in vv. 19 ff. gives his book a commission to discharge, it seems 
quite necessary that he should express somewhere his assent, 
however reluctantly, to its departure. 

descendere : Bentley arguing against the current readii^ 
discedere (which has only the slightest MS. authority, if any) 
shows by a large collection of passages, that descendere was the 
regular word for going down into the Forum, 

6. emlsso: Ep. i. 18, 71. 



Bk. I. Ep. XX.] NOTES. 239 

T. QHld T<aul? Verg, EcL 11. 58 hatj heu! quid volui 
misero tnihii 

ulil qiild : the great preponderance of MS. authority is here 
in favour of quid^ and Kelier admits that it must have been 
found in the archetype, though he is inclined to think it aa 
error for quis^ whicb Yonge, Ritter, Schiitz, Kriiger, L. Miiller 
and Orelli all retain. It is certainly more natural to have qms^ 
referring to amator: but perhaps quid may be defended of an 
iu;t, rather than a thing. 

laeseiit still keeps up the double reference : cp. Ov. Her, 
y, 103 nulla reparabilis arU laesa pudiciiia est, 

8. In lireye te cogl: applied to the book this means *that 
you are roUed up and replaced in your case'; in its reference to 
the young slave it means * that you are brought into sad straits '• 
Cp. Ter. Haut. 669 hae re in angustum oppido nunc meae 
(Oguntur copiae, 

pleiiiis 'sated'. 

9 — ^18. You may Be liked well enough when you are young, 
hut the time will come when you will be neglected^ or sent out of 
the country ; and a dismcU old age awaits you, 

9. qiiod8l...aii£nur *if the prophet [i.e. Horace] does not 
lose his foresight in his vexation with the offender'. 

10. deserat, the reading of the archetype, may well be 
defended, as expressing the anticipation in the mind of Horace 
that it will be so. Cp. A. P. 155 sessuri donec cantor,,,dicat, 
Bentley allows deserit to stand in his text without remark, but 
this is barely possible, and has little authority. Cp. £p. i. 18, 
61, Roby § 1604, S. G. § 692. deseret would stand, but it has 
very little support in MSS. Perhaps we should see here an 
early instance of the construction so familiar in Tacitus (Drager 
Hist, Synt. 11. 585) where donec is regularly used with the sub- 
junctive without any suggestion of either expectation or purpose. 

aetas, *youth*, rarely so used, unless the context clearly 
points to this meaning: in most, if not all the passages quoted 
as parallel, e.g. Ter. Andr. 54, 286, *time of life* is a better 
translation: but Cic. de Off. ii. 13, 45 tua aetas incidit in id 
bellum is a clear instance of this force. So Copa in Greek and 
. aetatula in Plautus. For iniens aeias cp. Halm on Cic* de 
Imp. Pomp. § 2. 

11. Bordescere, * to lose your bloom *• 

12. tlneas: cp. Sat. 11. 3, ti8 cuistragula vestis^ blattarum 
actinearum epulae, putrescat in arca: Ov. Pont. i.,i, 72 conditus 
ut Uneae carpitur ore liber^ 



240 HORATI EPISTULAE. 

inert6i,<'barbarous* in the earlier sense of the word : q). 
Cic de Fin. ii. 34, 115 {drtes) quiSus carebant inertes a maia- 
ribus nominantur, So Kriiger and Schiitz take the word, so 
that we hav6 an anticipation of Juvenal*s (iii. 207) divina opici 
rodebant carmina muris., Others render * sluggish*, but then the 
epithet, though not unsuitable, is somewhat otiose. 

13. ftifiriM of your own accord to find kindlier treatment 
in the provinces, where what was out of date at Rome, might be 
regarded as a welcome novelty : mlttetrlB by the bookseljber. 
Yinctus * tied up ' as a parcel of goods : Bentley completely 
disposed of the" earlier reading unctus, There is still a referenc^ 
to the fate wbich might befali a slave who had fallen into habtts 
of vice. Cp. Liv. xxv. «. Africa and Spain were at a.later 
time famous seats of Latin learning. — In A. P. 345 Horace 
mentions as a sign of a good book that it was sent into the 
provinces : so Mart. xii. 3. So npw-a-days the booV-markets 
6f the colonies are supplied both with populax; novelties, and 
with * remainders '. 

14. monltor, sc. Horace himself. ut ilie etc. The source 
of this allusion is not known to us. There seems to have been 
some story of a donkey-driver, who could not get his ass away 
from the edge of a precipice and so, losing his temper, gave 
him a push which sent him over. 

15. rupes * cliffs * as in Caes. B. G. ii. 29 oppidum egregie 
natura munitum cum ex omnibus in circuitu partibus altissimas 
rupes despectusque haberet, 

16. Bervare: cp. A. P. 467 imntum qui servaty idemfacU 
occidenti, 

IS. occupet *should come upon you*: Tibull. i. 10, 40 
quem...occupat in parva pigra senecta casa. The language is 
still that which might be used alike of a book and a boy i 
'stammering age shall find you teaching boys their letters in 
distant (and therefore low) quarters of the town*. In Sat. 
11. 3, 274 it is said of an old man cum bcUbaferis annoso verbd 
poUato-t but in a somewhat different sense: there bcUba verba 
are * lisping words of love '. In Juvenal*s time Horace was already 
used as a school-book (vii. 226 cum totus decolor esset Ftcucus 
€t haereret nigro ptUigo Maroni: cp. Mayor's note), though in 
Sat. i. 10, 75 he by no means desires such a fate for himselt. 

19 — ^28. When you can get an audience, tell them of my 
humble birth, and the Javour I havefound with the great^ of my 
looks, my temper^ and my age, 

19. 801 tepidus. Very diflerent interpretations have beeij 
given of this phrase. In the first place is tepidus here opposed 



Bk. I. Ep. XX.] NOTES. 241 

to *hot' or to *cold'? As the word properly denotes a mild 
warmth, it is found sometimes in one sense, sometimes in the 
. other, but the former is much the more common : cp. however 
Ep. I. 18, 93. In Carm. il. 6, 17 tepidasque praehet luppiter 
brumas ana Sat. II. 3, 10 ^i vacuum tepido cepisset viliula tecto^ 
the notion suggested is that of a comfortable warmth : in Sat. I. 
3, 81 tepidum ius is *sauce half-cold\ The same force attaches 
to tepeo in Sat l. 4, 30 (sol) quo vespertina tepet regio, and in Ep. 
I. 10, 15 est ubi plus tepeant hiemes: and apparently also in 
Carm. I. 4, 20 where tepebunt is a weaker word than the pre- 
ceding calet, Hence we must decidedly reject Macleane's 'heat 
of the day' and Conington's *summer aftemoons', and find 
some time when the sun has already lost something of its heat. 
Orelli argues for the time towards evening^ quoting Mart. iv. 8, 
7 hora W)ellorum decima est^ Eupheme^ meorum : (we may add 
Mart. X. 19, 18 seras tutior tbis ad lacernas, Haec hora est tua^ 
cum furit Lyaeus, cum regnat rosa^ cum madent capilli,) sup- 

gosing that Horace's *benevoli lectores', after scattering to their 
ouses for dinner, would gather again to listen to his book re- 
citing the poems it contained. But Martial is intentionaily dis- 
paraging his own epigrams, when he: represents them as only fit 
for the after-dinner amusement of revellers, and tliere is no 
reason to suppose that evening was the time usually chosen for 
public recitations. If we accept this interpretation of sol tepidus 
it is better to think, with Kriiger, of the loiterers round the shop 
of the Sosii, who would be more numerous in the evening than 
at any other time : cp. Horace's description of his own practice 
in Sat i. 6, 113. There is plenty of authority for this use of sol 
as marking a part of the day : cp. Sat. i. 4, 30: Sat. i. 6, 125: 
Sat. II. 4, 23. But others suppose that Horace is still regarding 
his book as a schoolmaster ; and that sol tepidus refers to the 
cooler days after the holidays (Sat. i. 6, 75, with Palmer's note), 
when the schools would be full a^in ; or, as some again say, 
to the milder weather after the spring holidays. In that case he 
would be giving a gloomy prophecy that few but schoolboys 
would read his poems. This is barely in keeping with the tone 
of the foUowing part of the letter, which is much better fitted 
to be addressed to the general public than to boys using the 
poems as a first reading-book. The scholiasts were fairly 
puzzled by the line, and write sheer nonsense. Comm. Cruq. 
has * cmn plures coeperint te legere et audire : secundum morem 
librariorum loquitur, qui circa quartam vel quintam horam 
dictata pueris praebere consueverunt, quo tempore sunt tracfa» 
biHores*, Another has *tunc enim dictata accipiunt pueri, cum 
beneficio solis cera facilius deletur*. But why in either casc 
plures f Another explains sol tepidus as popularis favor, Per- 
naps the simplest explanation after all is Ritter's, who takes 
it to mean *when the weather is neither too hot nor too cold 

W. H. 16 



24^ HORATI EPISTULAE, 

for yoa to have a good audience*. Tho conjecture sal lepidus 
has been made and even approved ! Meineke assumed a loss of 
some lines after v. i8 in which a link was supplied (ib. v. 71). 
There seems to be a reference back to v. 4. 

20. lilMrtiiio patra: Sat. i. 6, 45--5. In t«iiiil t%i his 
father was macro paupcr agtllo, 

21. jdnnas and pennas : Lewis and Short well state the re- 
lation of these two forms, on which others, e. g. White, are less 
satisfactory. Here the balance seems to turn in favour of the 
former. 

nl<lo with malorM 'too great for my nest to hold '. Cp. Sat. 
II* 3> 310 corpore maiorem: Carm. II. 11, 11 aetertUs minorem 
consiliis, 

28. belll...domlqae: the rhythm of the line is certainly in 
favour of the interpretation, wluch connects these words with 
Jflacuisse rather than with primis. But is it possible to suppose 
that Horace should have ventured to assert that his muitary 
exploits won him favour with the primi urhis, even admitting 
that he would have placed Brutus and Cassius in this position? 
We need not take his humorous phrase in Carm. ii. 7, 10 relicia 
non bene parmula as a seriously intended confession of cowardice; 
but neither is there any reason to suppose that he particularly 
distinguished himself. Besides Augustus, PoUio, Munatius 
Plancus, Messala and others were distinguished in war as well as 
in peace. 

2ft. oorporiB ezifflil sc. esse: 'short* not slight: cp. Suet. 
Vit. Hor. habitu corporisfuit brevis atque obestts, qualis et a semet 
ipso in satiris describitur et ab Augusto hac epistula.., Vereri au- 
tem mihi videris^ ne maiores libeUi tui sint^ quam ipse es. Sed si 
tibi statura dest, corpusculum non dest^ etc. If in scUiris does 
not refer hy a slip of memory to this passage, Suetonius was 
thinking of Sat. 11. 3, 309 aedificas^ hoc est^ longos imitaris, 
db imo ad summum totus moduli bipedalisy where the latter 
clause is of course only a simile, though it gains in point from 
Horace's short stature. 

praeoannm 'grey before my time '. So the scholl. explain the 
word. In ahnost every other instance in which prcu is com* 
pounded with an adjective, the force is siraply intensive, e.g. 
praecUius^ praecalidus, praecelsus^ pfratceler^ etc. ; and it is as a 
rule only when compounded with verbs that/m^ has the meaning 
of *before-hand*; hence Schiitz (after Plewes) maintains that tfae 
meaning must be *verygrey '. But the formation oi praematurus 
differs in no way from tluit oi praecanusy and that oipraecox^ prae- 
sagus, praenuntius veiy slightly, So we may rcst content with 



Bk. I. Ep. XX.] NOTES. 243 

the traditional explanation. Cp. Roby Vol. i. pp. 381, 384. 
Mr Palmer suggests that the meaning may be *greyin front', 
comparing di.vb KpoTaxfxa^ r€\6/i€<r0a xdirres yijpaKioi» Horace 
speaks in Carm. Ii. 11, 14 of himself and Hirpinus as rosa canos 
odorati capillos: the date of this ode cannot be fixed precisely, 
hut it was written at latest three or four years before this epistle. 
In B.C. 24 (Carm. iii. 14, 25) he is alhescens. 

wdOUbm aptam 'fond of sunning myself. This is the 
reading of all MSS. and of the scholiasts, and may, I think, be 
defended. Keller quotes Ov. Met. iii. 596 portus puppibus 
aptosy which is not very similar, nor is Lucret. vi. 901 huc 
accedit uti non omnia quae iaciuntur corpora cumque ab rebus^ 
eodem praedita sensu atque eodem pacto rebus sint omnibus apta, 
which he regards as completely analogous, for apta is there 
*adapted to affect* rather than *fitted to enjoy'. Sat. ii. 5, 45 
aptus amicis is really a closer parallel ; so is Sat. l. 3, 29 aptus 
acutis naribus *fitted to meet': the word is rather a favourite 
one with Horace, occurring 14 times. Cp. Juv. vii. 58 cupidus 
siioarum aptusque bibendis fontibus Aonidum, Mr Reid com- 
pares Ov. Met. xiv. 25 CircCy neque enim flammis habet aptius 
tdla talibus ingenium^ and thinks that it is simply an inverted 
way of saying that the sun was suited to Horace's constitution, 
a case of hypallage in fact; so Met. i. 681 aptam pastoribus 
umbram. But few passages in Horace have given occasion for 
more numerous attempts at emendation, for the most part very 
infelicitous. Kruger {Anhang p. 375 — 6) mentions seven such 
attempts (besides Herbst's solibus ustum^ which he himself 
adopts), and Schutz adds one more, sollicitatum (!). It seems to 
me that there are more serious objections against one and all 
of the proposed readings than against the text of the MSS. 

For the practice of sunning one's self {apricatio) cp. Plin. Ep. 
III. 5, 10 (of the elder Pliny) aestate, si quid otii^ iacebat in 
tole.post solem plerumque frigida lavabatur. ib. vi. 16, 5 
usus ille sole, m^xfrigida, III. i, 8 (of Spurinna) in sole, si caret 
vento, ambulat nudus, The usual place for this was the helio- 
caminus *sun-oven' built on purpose. Cp. Mayor on Juv. xi. 
303, and Pers. V. 179 aprici senes, 

26. Irasd celerem: Horace's quick temper may possibly 
be referred to in Carm. Iii. 9, 22 improbo iracundior Hadria ; 
and more directly in Sat. ii. 7, 35. It is exaggerated in Sat. 
II' 3» 333 non dico horrendam rdbiem» 

27. Decembres : Suetonius gives the date of Horace's birth 
as sexto idus Decembris. The year of his birth is fixed by Carm. 
m. 21, I ^ nata mecum consule Manlio, and by Epod. 13, 6 
tu vina Torquato move consule pressa meo to the consulship of 
L. Manlius Torquatus and L. Aurelius Cotta in B.C. 65, a date 
which Suetonius also gives. 

16—2 



244 HORATI EFISTULAE. 

28. dlxlt has no authority worth considenng. duxit was 
unquestionably the reading of the archet^rpe. On the other hand 
coUegam dicere is the regular technical term for the ' nomination ' 
of a consul after his election by a coUeague who for any reason 
had been previonsiy elected (cp. Mommsen Rom, Staatsr. i\ 
«09). The question then arises whether it is more probable that 
Horace should have emplo^ed a phrase nowhere else found, 
and extremely hard to explam by the usage of the language, or 
that an error of one slight stroke should have crept into the 
archetype. When we consider passages like £pod. i, 15; 4, 8 ; 
Sat. I. o, 102; 10, 86; Epist. i. 5, 28; 7, 96, to take ouly cases 
where the archetype was unquestionably corrupt, we cannot, I 
think, hesitate which way we should decide. Porph. explains 
duxit by sortUus est ' quia sortem dud dicimus ' : but there was 
no question of thc lot in the election of consuls: Ritter not 
much more happily says 'respicit eiusmodi munera, ad quae 
agenda simul progressi sunt consules, ut alter ab altero duce- 
retur '. Obbarius explains ' took as his companion ', a meaning 
found only where there is some reference to a joumey. OrelU 
says ' veluti praecedms Lollius post se quasi comitem aliquanto 
tardiorem duxit Lepidum'. Macleane calls this * far-fetched *, 
but has nothing to suggesf. Some have even compared uxorem 
ducerel For the circumstances cp. Introduction. 



BOOK II. 



EPISTLE I, 

We have seen already from the First Book that the order in 
which the Epistles were arranged for publication is not the. 
same as that of the dates of their composition. As in publish- 
ing the first three books of the Odes, the Epodes, the first book 
of the Satires, and the first book of the Epistles, Horace placed 
at the beginning a poem addressed to his patron Maecenas, so he 
may have wished to give the first place in this second book to an 
Epistle addressed to Augustus, although this may not have been 
the earliest to be written. We have therefore to look for other 
indications of its date. Ritter thinks that he has found two 
such. On the kalends of August in B.c. 12 an altar was 
dedicated at Lugdunum to Augustus: cp. Suet. Claud. ii: 
Claudius natusesi...Kal. Aug. Luguduni^ eoipso die quo pHmum 
ara ibi Augusto dedicata est: Liv. Epit. cxxxviii. ara divi 
Caesaris ad confluentem Araris et Rhodani dedicata : Dio Cass. 
LIV. 32 'jrpo^daei Trji ioprijs ijv koX vvv irepi rhv toO A^oi5<rrow 
^iapJbv iy Aovy5o6v(p TeXoOcri: Strabo IV. 3, 2 r6 re lepbv t6 a»'^- 
deixO^ inrb rdvTcav koiv^ tiov Ta\aT(av Kal<rapi T(fi 'Le^affT^ vpb 
toOttis XSpvToi TTJs ir6\ews [sc. Lugdunum] M rj <rvfipo\y tQv 
TOTapAov, To this aUar Ritter finds a reference in v. 16. But the 
language seems too general to be so limited in its reference. It 
denotes a habit rather than a single act. In B.a 19 an aUar 
to Fortuna Redux was decreed in honour of Augustus by the 
Senate (Mon. Anc)n:. c. 11): if any special reference is in- 
tended, it is more likely that this is intended. But Sueto- 
nius ( Aug. c. LIX. ) says provinciarum pleraeque super templa 
et aras ludos quoque quinquennales paene oppidatim consti- 
tuerunt; and although this refers doubtless mainly to a later 
portion of his reign, the custom may have begun early. Hence 
no conclusion can safely be drawn from the phrase in v. 16. 

Another argument has been drawn/rom v. 255. Dio Cass. 
(liv. 36) tells how in the winter of B.c. 11 — 10 the Senate 
decreed that the temple of Janus should be closed ; but this 



246 HORATI EFISTULAE. 

decree was not carried into effect in consequence of an inroad of 
the Dacians and a rising of the Dalmatians, followed by a 
campaign under Drusus in Germany. Ritter argues from this 
that the Epistle must have been finished before the news of 
these fresh wars had reached Rome, when it was still expected 
that the temple of Janus would be closed. But the temple of 
Janus was closed three times during the reign of Augustus 
(Suet. Aug. XXII., Mon. Ancyr. ii. 45). The first time was in 
B.c. 29, after his return from Egypt; the second in B.c. -25, at 
the close of the first Cantabrian war. The date of the third 
closing cannot be determined. Orosius (vi. 22) assigns it to 
the year of Christ*s birth, a tradition apparently accepted by 
Milton {Hymn on the Nativity, stanza iv.): this rests on very 
slight authority, but Mommsen (on Mon. Ancyr. p. 32) is not 
disinclined to accept it as approximately true. In any case the 
reference in v. 255 is too general to admit of being pressed. 

Morevalid arguments have been adducedby Vahlcn {MomUs- 
berichte der Berliner Akademie 1878, pp. 688 ff.). In v. iii 
Horace refers to his resumption of a form of poetical com- 
position which he had formally renounced. This can only mean 
lyric poetry. Now the Carmen Saeculare was written in B.c. 
17, and most if not all of the Odes in the Fourth Book between 
B.c. 17 and B.C. 13. There appear to be references to some of 
these in vy. 252 ff. (e.g. to v. 25 ff., xiv. 11, 29, 33, xv. 6, 9), 
or at least to the themes of which they treat. Hence the Episde 
can hardly have been written before B.C. 13. In this year 
Augustus returned to Rome after an absence of three yeais in 
Gaul, and remained in Rome until B.C. 10. 

Suetonius (vit. Horat.) tells us that Augustus post sermones 
quosdam lectos complained that there was no mention made of 
himself, and said to the poet ircLsci me tibi scito, quod nom tm 
plerisque eiusmodi scriptis mecum potissimum loquaris, An 
vererist ne apud posteros infame tibi sit, qmd videaris familiaris 
nobis esse? In this way expressit eclogam ad se cuius initium 
est : Cum tot sustineas^ etc. Ritter thinks that Suetonius was 
mistaken in supposing that this Epistle was the one written by 
Horace in answer to the remonstrances of Augustus; and aigues 
that it must have been Ep. I. 13. His reasons for this view are 
(i) that this was written too long after the publication of the 
Satires, and (2) that Augustus in acknowled^ng the receipt of 
Horace's libellus complains of it as being as short as the poet 
was himself: pertulit ad me Dionysius libellum tuum^ quem 
egOy ut excusantem^ quantuluscunque est, boni consulo. Vereri 
autem mihi videris^ ne maiores libelli tui sint, quam ipse es, Sed 
si tibi statura dest, corpu^culum non dest, Itaque licebit in sex- 
tariolo scribas: quo circuitus voluminis tui sit o^icwS^o-raros, 
sicut est ventriculi tui. f t may be replied to the first of thesc 
objections that Sermones is by no means necessarily limitcd to 



BL 11. Ep. I.] NOTES. 247 

Satires: in this very Epistle (v. «50) it evidently includes the 
Epistles. Hence if, as we shall eee reason to believe, the second 
and third Epistle of this book (the latter the so-called Ars 
Foetka) were written before the first, they may well have been 
the Sermones mentioned by Suetonius. The answer to the 
second is that Horace himself in v. 4 apologises for the brevity of 
this poem, and the sportive protest of Augustus is a reply to 
this apology. Hence there is no valid reason for rejecting the 
express testimony of Suetonius. Mommsen {Her/nes xv. 105) 
believes that the Epistles of the first book are the sermones 
quidam, and that, though they must, as he admits, have been 
published some time previously, the slightness of the acquaint- 
ance between Horace and the Emperor before the publication of 
the Carmen Saeculare prevented the latter from having any 
knowledge of them. It seems to me very doubtful whether 
Mommsen is right in limiting the intimacy of Augustus with 
Horace so completely to the last few years of his life. 

This Epiistle has always been a favourite one. It contains a 
great deal of shrewd criticism with some of those happy auto- 
bic^^phical touches, which Horace knew so well how to throw 
in. Mommsen indeed (Hermes xv. 103) calls these three 
Epistles ' the most graceful and delightful works in all Roman 
literature '. 

1 — 4. With all the claims upon your time^ Caesar^ I should 
he unpatriotic, iflwere to address you at length» 

1. Btiliu : Augustus did not lose the support of Agrippa 
until B.c. 13, but since B.c. 17 he had been in the East, retum- 
ing to Rome this year, about the same time as Augustus re- 
tumed firom Gaul. But Horace is speaking of the responsibility 
of empire 5 and with a natural license. 

2. xnoTlbiu. The position which Augustus assumed as a 
'saviour of society* and reformer of morals is often dwelt upon 
by the poets of his time, and is admirably describedby M. Gaston 
Boissier in his ReligionJiomaine, vol. I. 07 — 108. Cp. Mommsen, 
Staatsr. ii^. 686 note i. With moribus the scholiast rightly sup- 
plies suis not tuis: for the combination of mores and leges 
cp. Carm\ iii, 24, 35 quidleges sine moribus vanae projiciunt) 

4. xaorer tna tempora ' waste your time' : just a$ we have 
in Ep. I. 13, 17 oculos auresque morari^ 'to make eyes and ears 
dwell upon a thing', so here the tempora^ the time which 
Augustus had at his command for important business, is repre- 
sented as in danger of being taken up with Horace's poetry. 
The plural tempora in prose always seems to carry with it some- 
thing of the force of Koxpoi *opportunities* for doing anything, 
not merely the lapse of time: thus often = *crisis*, *emergen- 
cies*. 



248 HORATI EFISTULAE, 

5 — ^17. 77te tnost Ulustrious heroes have notfound recognition^ 
while on earth^ hecause of envy, You alone receive due honours 
while still with us, 

6. Idl)er pater here, as often, has the history of the Greek 
Dionysus simply transferred to him. 'The noti^n of his being 
a protector of the vine was easily extended to that of his being 
the protector of trees in general. This character is still further 
developed in the notion of his being the promoter of civilization, 
a law-giver, and a lover of peace (Eurip. Bacch. 420; Strabo x. 
p. 468 ; Diod. IV. 4) *, Dict Biog. Augustus is similarly com- 
pared to the deified heroes in Carm. i. n, aa, 25 ff., 33 ; iii. 3, 
9; IV. 5, 35 f. There is a remarkable parallel (probably a 
reminiscence) in Quint. Curt. viii. 5 Hercutemetpairem Liberum 
et cum Polluce Castorem novo numini {Alexandro) cessuros esse 
iactabant: and further on ne Herculem quidem etfatrem Liberum 
prius dicat deos, quam zncissent secum znventium invidiam, 

6. templa, apparently in its earlier wide sense 'quarters*: 
cp. Ennius in Varro de Ling. Lat vii. § 6 (Muller) unus erit 
quem tu tolles in caerula eaeli templa ; and again (ib.) o ntagna 
templa caelitum commixta stellis sptendidis, 

7. oolunt, connected by a sort of zeugma with terrxis and 
genus, With the former it would more naturally mean * dwell 
on ', but from its connexion with the latter, it acquires a kind of 
reflected force of *caring for'» Cp. Verg. EicL iil. 60 ab love 
principium ...ille colit terras, 

8. aerroB artrtgnaat, i.e. institute property in Itand. Sat. i. 
3, 105. llie technical force of the word comes out in the ofEcial 
designation of the tresviri agris dandis assigtumdis, Cf. C. I. L. 
I* 5B3 with Mommsen's note, and the epitaph of M. Livius 
Drusus, ib. p. 379 vii. 

10. oontadlt, because according to the story the hvdra's 
heads were bruised by the club of Hercules, Carm. iv. 4, 61 f. 

11. fatall *assigned by the fates', Carm. Iii. 3, iq fcUalis 
incestusque iudex, The twelve kibours enjoined upon Hercules 
by Eurystheus were made obligatory by the cunning of Juno, 
who had induced Juppiter to swear that the descendant of 
Perseus bom first on that day should rule the other. 

12. anpremo, £p. i. i, i (note), 11. 9, 173, *onlyby his last 
end*. 

13. nrlt *pains' here the eyes: used of thirst (Sat. i. 1, 
114), gall (Sat. I. 9, ^d), of a shoe (Ep. i. 10, 43), a burden 
(Ep. I. 13, 6), and of blows (Ep. i. 16, 47, Sat. ii. 7, 58). 

arti8=^irtri7d6v/iara, *qualities\ almost identical with vir- 
tutes: cp. Carm. iii. 3, 9 ^if arte Pollux et vagus Hercules 
enisus arces cUtigit igneas. 



Bk. 11. Ep. I.] NOTES. 249. 

15. praesenU 'while still with us'; as contrasted with 
the demi-gods who received honours only after their deaths. 
Augustus is the one exception to the rule Virtutem incolumem 
odimus. But Mommsen rightly takes this also as a proof that 
this Epistle cannot have been written before the retum of 
Augustus to Rome in B.c. 13. It would be otherwise incon- 
ceivable that the poet who wrote abes iam nimium diu (Carm. 
IV. 5, 2) should throughout make no reference whatever to his 
absence, it he was now spending his second or third year in 
Gaul. 

16. inxaiidas aras : iurare^ like ivofuf^ai. (Ar. Nub. 1237 
iiTiafjiwvs To^ dcovs), dirofivi^at (ib. 1232 kcU Tavr ^^eXiJtrets 
aaroftofrai fioi Toirs 6€o6s;)—c^, Zei)s dfiv^ficvos (ib, 1241) — takes 
an accusative of that by which one swears (Verg. Aen. xii. 
197 terram, mare, "Hdera iuro) : hence it can be used in the 
passive. 

niunen has in its favour not only the vet. Bland. but also 
the excellent MS. R, although the majority of MSS. have 
nomen: the former was restored to the text by Bentley, and has 
since received the support of many good editors. Kriiger and 
Schiitz still prefer nomen; but the regular phrase was either 
iurare per numen or iurare in nomen, Suet. Calig. 24 has 
pernumen Drusillae deieravit: and in Tac. Ann. i. 73 all good 
recent editors have adopted the correction of Freinsheim violatum 
periurio numen Augustiy though the MS. has nomen, Cp. Ov. 
Her. IX. 371, xiii. 159, Pont. i. 10, 42. Servius too who 
quotes these lines on Verg. Ecl. I. 7 and Georg. I. 24 has 
(according to the best MSS.) numen^ and adds * sic Lucanus de 
Nerone [Phars. i. 63] sed mihi iam numen *. Mommsen holds 
that this phrase cannot refer either to the altar to Fortuna redux 
dedicated when Augustus retumed to Rome in B. c. 19, or to 
that of Pax Augusta of July B. c. 13, because neither of these 
deities could have found a place in oaths. It must refer, he 
holds, to the invocation of the genius Augusti between luppiter 
optimus maximus and the Di Penates, which was part of the 
remodelling of the worship of the Lares Compitales, This appears 
to have been due to a decree of the senate, passed during the 
Emperor's absence, although not fully carried out until a later 
date. Cp. Carm. IV. 5, 34 Laribus tuum miscet numen, Cp. 
Corp. I. Lat. II. 172 si sciens fallo fefellerove, tum meliberosque 
meos lupiter optimus maximus ac divus Augustus ceterique omnes 
di immortales expertem patrta incolumitate fortunisque omnibus 
faciant (found at Aritium vetus in Lusitania). 

18—27. But in other respects the Romans now scom con- 
temporary merit, and are blindly particU to what is ancient, 

18. tutt8 Mc *this people of thine', i.e. the Roman people, 
so devoted to thee. Bentley, after quoting instances of hic 



2SO HORATr EFISTULAE. 

mms, iiie tuus etc, decides to read hoe on very slight anthority, 
joining in hoc uno: but then, as Ribbeck has shown, the next 
line becomes quite superfluous, for unum is sufficiently explained 
by 15 — 17. It b possible however that uno is masc. , taken with 
/^ 

21. miiB temporllnui <the measure of life assigned to them'. 
The epithet which would more properly belong to the authors 
is transferred to their works. 

23. Tetemm, neuter, not masculine, as is shown by cetera, 
BMnota and defunota. Cp. Tac. Ann. 11. 88 vetera extoUimus 
recentium incuriosi, tabulas, the laws of the Twelve Tables, 
carried by the decemvirs. 

25. ae<nuita 'made on equal terms', a probably unexampled 
force of the word, which leads Mr Reid to conjecture that we 
should read aequa icta; but the transference of meaning is hardly 
too bold for Horace : to GaliiiB we must supply cum from the 
following clause. Dionysius Halic. (iv. 58) says that he saw in 
the temple of Ze^ tIo-tioj on the Quiriaal a treaty made by Tar- 
quinius Superbus with Gabii, wxitten on the hide of the ox slain 
at the ratification of the treaty. Cp. Niebuhr Hist. i. 512. For 
treaties with the Sabktes cp. ib. pp. 231, 561. 

26. pontifleum libros, properly the books containing the 
laws of ritual and worship (Cic. de Orat. I. 4^, 193, Macrob. 
Sat. I. 13, 3 1), but probably including also tne annales pon- 
tificum or annales maximu Cp. Cic. de Orat. ii. 13, 53 
(note), where Cicero speaks of the entire absence qf ornament 
in their style. Cp. Teuffel, Rom, Lit, §§ 63, 66, 

volnmina ▼atnm: 'veteres libros Marcii vatis aut Sibyllae': 
the oracles of the Sibyl were written in Greek ; but there were 
current at Rome certain Carmina Marciana in Satumian verse, 
ascribed to a prophetic Marcius (as Livy xxv. 13, and Pliny 
H. N. VII. 33 say), or to two brothers of the name according 
to Cic. de Div. I. 40, 80, which foretold the defeat of Cannae, 
and enjoined games in nonour of ApoIIo. The date of these is 
imknown, but cp. Weissenbom on Livy l.c. 

27. Albano in monte: 'quia Egeria n^rmpha dicebator 
loqui cum Numa Pompilio in Albano monte * Acron. This legend 
does not appear elsewhere in quite the same form; but Ritter 
labours hard to show that it is ec^uivalent to that which places 
the grove of Egeria at Aricia, which was not indeed on, but at 
the foot of the Alban mount. Cp. Ov. Met. XV. 487, Servius 
on Verg. Aen. vii. 763 eductum Egeriae lucis, Ov.Fast. iii. 
361 — 3. He is however clearly wrong in supposing this grove 
at Aricia to be that mentioned in Juv. iii. 17, which was 
close to the Capene gate at Rome, sixteen miles away. Bum 



Bk. II. Ep. I.] NOTES. ^51 

writes (Rome and the Campagna,, p. ai8) *The wbrship o£ 
Egeria was probably indigenous to the grove of Diana at Aricia, 
where we find that there was a shrine and fountain of Egeria; 
whence it may have been transferred by Numa (?) to the valley 
and fountain outside the Porta Capena.* Egeria was one of the 
Camenae, and while we read of the Vallis E^eriae, the grove 
with the temple in it is spoken of as the Lucus Camenarum 
(Becker Rom. Alterth. i. 513 — 515). If therefore the Camenae 
were worshipped at Aricia, it would be natural enough to speak 
of them as uttering their primitive puetry on the mountain which 
rose above their grove, especially for those who remembered the 
muse-haunted Hehcon and Parnassus. We may compare Quintil. 
X. I, 99 in comoedia maxime claudicamus^ licet Varro Musas, 
Aeli Stilonis sententia, Flautino dicat sermone locuturas fuisse^ 
si Laiine loqui vellent, 

28 — 33. // ts absurd to argue tkat becoMse the oldest Greek 
writers are the besty it is so also at Rome, 

28. Gi^orTtm: so Bentley with the vet. Bland. and some 
few other MSS. Most MSS. have Graecorum. 

aAtlqiiiBsiJiia (lafteqae points to the oldest writings as a class 
as better than later works, whereas antiquissimum quodque 
would have indicated that their merit was in each case in 
proportion to the antiquity. Madvig Gramm. § 495 points out 
that in the older and good writers the plural usage is confined 
to the neuter. But Plaut. Men. 571 has uti quique sunt optumi: 
Most. 155 optumi quique expetebant a me doctrinam siH: Cic. 
Lael. 10, 34 in optimis quibusque houoris eertamen; de Off. 
u. 21, 'jt^ Uges et proximae qttaeque duriores (where Reid corrects 
praxima) : Livy i. 9, 8 proximi quique» But it is only in Justin 
and Florus that this usage becomes conimon. 

29. pexxsaiitnr, very rarely used in this primary sense of 
'weigh', and not in its derived meaning of *repay' by any 
writer earlier than Horace. 

30. trntlna (Sat. i. 3, 'j2)=TpvTaj'y (the first syllable of 
which is long) ; so machina = fAVX^^^t hvicmsL= pvKdvrj. Cf. Roby 
§ 239- 

31. olea, Beritley's correction for oleam of almost all MSS. 
has met with very general acceptance. It seems impossible to 
suppose that intra is a preposition, while extra is so evidently an 
adverb. It is necessary then to supply in to govem o/ea from 
the following in nuce, precisely as cum above in vel Gabiis 
vel cum Sabinis: so in Carm. Iii. 15, i quae nemora aut quos 
agorin specus the in has to be anticipated: cp. Verg. Aen. vi. 
693 quas ego te terras tt quanta per acquora vectum accipio. 



252 HORATI EPISTULAE. 

In £p. I. 4, i6 which Orelli adduces to defend the MS. 
reading, extra is just as much a preposition as intra: and 
similarly in Liv. xxxi. i\ intra eatn (portam) extraque, Schiitz 
says that intra oleatn conveys the just meaning, wRereas extra 
muem would mean not 'on the outside of the nut * but * apart 
from it' and that therefore the construction was necessarily 
changed. I think Bentley's emendation a great improvement. 
The sense is : if we are to be led astray by comparing things which 
though alike in some respects differ in others, like Greek and 
Roman literature, then we may as well argue that an olive has 
no stone because a nut has none, or a nut no shell because an 
olive has not. We may go on to say that there is nothing lacking 
to our perfect success, even in painting, in music, or in athletics. 

82. foitanae: Schiitz (after Lehrs) objects to this word; 
and says that it was a very poor compliment to Augustus for 
Horace to regard it as absurd to suppose that the Romans had 
reached the height of fortune under him. He suggests aiiturae^ 
though in good Latin this word never has the meaning which 
would be required here of the result of cultivation, but only the 
process (cp. JEp. 1. i, 40). Ribbeck despairs of the line, unless 
ne is allowed to transpose it to after 107. 1 do not see any fatal 
objection to the traditional interpretation, as above, though cer- 
tainly the logic is neither clear nor. good. Porph)rrion oddly 
takes it of poetry, *sed hoc intellegi quam a se dici maluit.' 

piiiglxnus : the four main branches of a liberal education 
among the Greeks were ypdfiimTa^ yvfivourTiKifi, fiov(riKi/i and (as 
some added) ypa(fnKri. Literature is here omitted, perhaps be- 
cause the superiority of contemporary Greeks was not so clear 
in this as in the other three. Painting, music and athletics were 
alike despised by the Romans until the da^rs of the Empire. 

34 — 49. /t is quite impossible to draw anyfixed line between 
the old and the new, 

34. Tina: Pindar praises old wine and new poems (OL ix. 
48 atv€i di irdKaibv fiiv otvov, Avdea 5* vfivwv vctaT^ptav), 

35. qaotOB : the answer would have been expressed by an 
ordinal. 

a^lrogfet: we might be content with the meaning *claims' 
here and in A. P. 122, while that is clearly the force of the word 
in Sat. II. 4, 35; but in Carm. iv. 14, 40 that rendering is less 
ssitisfaiCtory :/ortuna...optatumperactis imperiis decus adrogovit. 
Mr Page there suggests a possible connexion with the force of 
prorogo *^rant in extension', so that adrogo would be *grant in 
addition' just as abrogo means 'to take away' originally by a 
proposal addressed to the people, so adrogo may mean simply to 
*add to*. OreIli's notion that the meaning here is derived from 
the formal cuirogatio or adoption in the comitia is not probable. 



Bk. 11. Ep. I.] NOTES. 253 

86. daddit 'has dropped og'' like falling leaves : cp. Plaut. 
Trin. 544 solsHtiali morbo deciduni, 

8g. flnis 'limit*, not, as Acron says, definition. 

43. respnat, the reading of the best MSS., is at the same 
time, as Bentley showed, the only tense which will suit both 
praesens and postera, Earlier editions had either respuit or 
respuet, In the preceding line Bentley proposed to replace 
poetas by probosque^ a suggestion which certainly improves the 
*concinnity ' of the passage, but is not needful. For the rhyming 
of the two \mespoetas...aetasy which was one of his objections to 
the reading of the MSS., cp. A. P. 99-100, 176-7; Verg. 
Aen. I. 319-320, 625-6; III. 656-7 : Gossrau {Aipp, Je /fexametro 
Virgilii) quotes eleven more instances from the Aeneid. Most 
of these seem to be purely accidental, like those in Horace : but 
in the more archaic poets there are traces of an intentional use of 
rhjnne (cp. Ennius in Cic. Tusc i. 35, 85) and in a later age 
Eustathius expresses his admiration of Hom. II. xxii. 383-4. 

43. lioneste 'with honour', i.e. he will not disgrace those 
among whom he is ranked. 

46. candae pllos : it ispossible that there is a reference here 
(as the editors generally suppose) to the story told by Plutarch 
of Sertorius, how **when he had called all his army together, he 
caused two horses to be brought into the field, one an oid feeble 
lean animal, the other a lusty, strong horse, with a remarkably 
thick and iong tail. Near the lean one he placed a tall strong 
man, and near the strong young horse a weak despicable looking 
fellow : smd at a sign given, the strong man took hold of the 
weak horse's tail with both his hands, and drew it to him with 
his whole force, as if he would puU it off ; the other, the weak 
man, in the mean time set to work to pluck off hair by hair from 
the great horse's tail : the former of course effected nothing, while 
the latter had soon removed the whole tail: whereupon Sertorius 
said : * You see, fellow-soldiers, that perseverance is more prevail- 
ing than violence, and that many things, which cannot be 
overcome when they are together, jdeld themselves up when 
taken little by little'" (Clough's Plutarch, iii. 400). But as 
Ilorace is not teaching'a moral lesson here, but simply illustra- 
ting a logical process, 1 see very little reason to suppose that this 
story was in his mind at all. The hairs in a tail may veiy well 
have been a current example in the schools, like the grains in a 
heap. llie fallacy of the <f>6.\aKpQi invented by Eubulides is a 
somewhat similar instance. 

46. etiam seems to be supported by the majority of good 
MSS., and is strongly comfirmed by the imitation in Pers. vi. 58 
adde etiam unum, unum eiiam; it means 'still', as in its com- 



254 HORATI EPISTULAE. 

mon use with comparatives. ' Bentley with some good MSS. 
read et item^ comparing Ter. Andr. 77 sedpostquam anntis accessit^ 
pretium polliccns^ unus et item alter : Lucret. iv. 553 asperitas 
autem vocis fit ab asperitate principiorum^ et item lezfor levore 
creatur: add Ter. Adelph. 230 mulieres complures et item hinc 
alia quaeporto Cyprum, But etiam may certainly stand, 

47. oadat elusuB *foiled and overthrown', a metaphor from 
a gladiator. raentlB acerTl *the diminishing heap\ in Greek 
awpeLTfjs *quam, si necesse sit, Latino verbo liceat acervolem 
appellare' (Cic. de Div. 11. 4, 1 1). The nature of it is expUdned 
by Cic. Acad. Ii. 16, 49 capiiosissimo genere interrogationis utun- 
tur, quodgenus minime in philosophia probari soiety cum cUiquid 
minuiatim etgradatim additur aut demitur. Soritas hoc vocant^ 
quia acervum efficiunt uno additograno. Cp. also ii. 39, 93 with 
Reid's note. Chrysippus met the difl&culty by refusing to answer 
some time before his questioner reached the critical point: he 
was so troubled by the sophism that Persius humorously calls it 
his own, VI. 80 inventus^ Chrysippe^ tuifinUor acervi. We must 
carefully disdnguish the sorites as a logical trick playing upon the 
meaning of the word *heap' (<ra;p6s) from the similarly named 
but wholly different *chain-argument' {kettenschluss)^ in which 
the predicate of each c^ a string or 'heap' of premisses is the 
subject of the next Cp. Jevons Lo^ p. 156, or Thomson^s 
Laws of Thoughti p. 199. Forcellini s. v. confuses them: the 
definition in the dictionaries based on Freund 'a sophism 
formed by accumulation' does not really suit either. Some 
editors say that the argument which proceeded by way of addi- 
tion was called the struens acervus^ that which went on gradually 
diminishing was called the ruens aeerzms, I cannot discover tbe 
aut|iority for this statement. 

48. redlt In &8tOB *goes back upon the annals*. 

49. IdUtina : an ancient Italian goddess, originally of gardens 
and of pleasure generally, called also Lubentina (from lubet, lu- 
bido, etc). Afterwards she came to be r^rded as the goddess 
of burial, by a transition strange to us, but not unexampled in 
Italy, where the Sabine Feronia is compared both with Flora 
and with Persephone, and in Greece where Aphrodite sometiroes 
is represented as Persephone: cf. Preller J^om. Myth. p. 387, 
Griech. Myth, i. p. 275. Servius TuIIius is said to have or- 
dained that in every case of death a piece of money should bc 
contributed to her chest ; and biers and other necessaries for 
funerals were kept in her grove {^ucus Libitinac) on the EsquiKne, 
and let out on hire. Here too the undertakers (Libitinarii) had 
their quarters. Cp. Carm. III. 30, 6; Sat. II. 6, i9;Mart. X. 
97; Liv. XL. 19, 3 pestilentia ,.tania erat, ut Libitina ad Jwtera 
vix sufficeret (Madvig) : XLI. ai, 6 netiberorum quidcm funerUms 
LUntina sufficiebat. 



Bk. 11. Ep. I.] NOTES. 255 

60 — 64. Thtre is a cmventimal, style Qflaudation ofour older 
poets now current^ which secures them getural approval, 

60. Ennlm is caMt^fortis mainly because of the brave spirit 
in which he sung of the battles of Rome. Cp. Ep. i. 19, 7. At 
the same time he served with distinction among the Messapian 
allies of Rome in the second Punic War. Prof. Sellar in his ad- 
mirable study of Ennius says : * This actual service in a great war 
left its impress oh the work done by Ennius. Fragments both of 
his tragedies and his Annals prove how thoroughly he understood 
and appreciated the best qualities of the soldierly character. 
This fellowship in hardship and danger fitted him to become the 
national poet of a race of soldiers' {Roman PoetSy p. 67). But 
to compare him with Homer is to put him to a test which he 
cannot be expected to stand : ib. p. 102. 

61. lenter eanxt^securus esse Porph. Bentley, with 
his usnal masterly insight, saw that Porph. had hit the mark by 
interpreting : * Ennius is now sure of his harvest of fame, about 
which he had previously been anxious, and so cares little for the 
promises of his Pythagorean dreams*. Horace is here setting 
forth the high reputation which the older poets were enjoying in 
his own day, not criticising them from his own point of view, and 
censuring Ennius for carelessness, as some editors have wrongly 
supposed. — Bergk has shewn that Horace probably takes Varro 
as his type of the critici, several df the judgments here passed 
closely agreeing with those of Varro in various works. 

62. <iuo cadaat ' what becomes oi\ 

somnla: Cic. Acad. 11. 16, 51 (Ennius) cum somniavit, ita 
narravii *visus Homerus adessepoeta\ This was at the begii)- 
ning of his Annals, as we leam ft-om the scholiast on Pers. vi. 10 
cor iudet hoc Enni^ posiquam destertuit esse Maeonides Quintus 
pavone ex PythagoreOy rendered by Conington * so says Ennius' 
brain, when he had been roused from dreaming himself Maeo- 
nides Quintus developed out of Pythagoras' peacock*. The 
scholiast explains this by saying that the soul of Ennius ha^ 
passed through five stages, a peacock, Euphorbus fcp. Carm. i. 
«8, 10), Homer, Pythagoras, Ennius ; and Porphyrion here says 
Mn principio Annalium suorum somnis se scnpsit admonitum, 
quoa secnndnm Pythagorae dogma anima Homeri in suum corpus 
venisset.* I cannot find any authority, except in this passage, 
for the statement that Homer s soul passed into Ennius : certainly 
Cicero (1. c.) says nothing about it, as Conington's note on Pers. 
Prol. 3 asserts ; and in Lucret. i. 116 — n6 we have simply the 
statement that Ennius taught the doctrine of metempsychosis, 
and that Homer appeared to him * pouring out briny tears*, and 
revealed to him tne nature of the universe, a vision which Mr 
Sellar thinks evidently suggested the dream in which Hector 



256 HORATI EPISTULAE. 

appeared to Aeneas (p. 109). The line tnetnini me fieri pavum 
(Ann. V. 15 Vahl.) refers apparently only to Ennius tumself. 
Tertuilian gives the order as Euphorbos, Pythagoras, Homer, a 
peacock by a bold anachronism. Mommsen's words ' Tlie re- 
roarkable vision, with which the poem (of the Annals) opens, tells 
in good Pythagorean style how the soul now inhabiting Quintus 
Ennius had previously been domiciled in Homer and still earlier 
in a peacock ', seem based on the language of Persius, which 
may only be a distorted expression of the satirist ; cp. Conington's 
note. Conington here renders 

' nor cares how he redeems 
the gorgeous promise of his peacock dreams*. 
68. non= nonne, as in Carm. iii. 20, i Hon videsy and oflen 
elsewhere. Bentley first gave the true meaning to this passage, by 
making it interrogative, ' Did I say that Ennius is now sure of 
his place? Why even Naevius, so much more archaic a writer, is 
still always in our hands, and familiar to us, as if he were almost 
one of our own time*. Naevius served in the First Punic War, 
and therefore could not have been bom later than about B.c. 360: 
he died about B.C. 200.^ (Cicero Brut. 15, 60 says in B.c. 104, 
but there is reason to believe that he lived at least three or four 
years longer: cp. Mommsen HisU 11. 437 note.) Ennius was 
born B.c. 239, and died B.c. 169, so that Cic. Tusc. i. i, ^makes 
a slip in speaking of him as older than Naevius, unless, as is pro- 
bable, the words there used are due to an inaccurate mai^nal 
gloss. In any case the poetry of Naevius was decidedly more 
archaic than that of Ennius. 

55 — 62. Even when the early writers are set against each other^ 
the question is only which has the more striking merits^ not whai 
are the faults of each; and the fashiondble critics think they can 
be IdbeUed by appropriate epithets in each ccue» 

55. aufert * carries off* as his special distinction. 

56. PacHTliu (b.c. 119 — 129), the sister's son of Ennius. 
The extant fragments of his tragedies (about 400 lines), admirably 
discussed by Prof. Sellar, and more in detail by Kibbeck {Romische 
Tragodie, pp. «16-339) ^^ ^o^ enable us to determine precisely 
why the epithet of doctus is given to him, though they * bear evi- 
dence to his moral strength and worth, and to the majily fervour, 
as well as the gentle humanity of his temperament '. It is pro- 
bably because of his wide acquaintance with Greek literature : 
but we need not be concemed to maintain the justice of the epi- 
thet. 

Aodiu (B.c. i7o~about b.c. 90): oratorical fervour and pas- 
sionate energy are conspicuous in his fragments (cp. Sellar, pp. 
146-7). Quintilian says (x. i, 97) virium Attio plus trihdtur^ 



Bk. II. Ep. L] NOTES. 257 

Paoivtum videri doctiorem^ qui esse docti ad/ectant, votunt, The 
form Attius seems to be tbe one found in tbe best MSS. of 
Quintilian (cp. Halm) : on the other hand no MS. wbatever has 
that form here, and on Cic. de Orat. iii. 7, 27 EUendt says *a 
}ibris standum^ qui, quod sciam, ubique fere tt ignorant*. Cp. 
Teuffel Hom, Lit, § 119, i *The equally well-attested forms 
Attius and Accius may be owing to a dialectical difTerence [?]. 
In the Imperial period, the form with tt gained the ascendancy, 
and the Greelcs always wrote "ArTtos*. It is singular that the 
evidence should be so divided, seeing how j:are it is to find^t 
and // confused in early authorities. Cp. Roby l*. p. Lii, 
Corssen Aussprache i. 50 — 67, li. 1003. Both in Horace and in 
Quintilian a few MSS. have Actius, Ribbeck in his Fragmenta 
Tragicorum (1871) adopted the form Attius, but in his Hdm. 
Trag, (1875) he always has Accius, 

Both Pacuvius and Accius attained to a g^eat age, but pro- 
bably senis means only * writer ^af the olden time ' heire, -as in 
Sat. II. I, 34, of Lucilius. 

67. Afiranitogra: ^bene/tT^/.togatasenimscripsitAfranins^ 
Porph. The togatae were comedies, depicting Roman or Italian 
characters ahd manners, as opposed to the palliatae^ comedies 
like those of Plautus and Terence derived from Greek sources, 
and retaining Greek dramcUis personae, L. Afranius was the 
chief writer of togatae, born aboiit B.c. 150: his plays were of a 
very immoral character (cp. Quintil. X. I, 100 ; Auson. Epigr, 
LXXi. 4), but in style they attained to 5omething of the eleganc^ 
of Terence. He freely borrowed from Menander, as well as from 
other writers (cp. Macrob. Sat. vi. i, 4 Afranius togatarum 
scriptor...non inverecunde respondens arguentihus quod plura 
sumpsisset a Menandro * Fateor*^ inquit * sumpsi non ab illo modo^ 
sed ut quisque habuit conveniret quod mihi, quod me non posse 
meliusfcLcere credidiy etiam a Latino^) and the critics pronounced 
tfaat his style was worthy of his tnodel. 

68. adezemplarEpicliarmi: Orellijustlysaysthatitis very 
difficult to determine the exact meaning of this line, because we 
have not the means of comparing Plautus with Epicharmus, of 
whose comedies we have few considerable fragments preserved. 
He thinks XhdX properare=ad eventum festinare (A. P. 148), and 
that it refers t© the rapid progress of the action of the plays. So 
tooTeuffel §97, 2. Schiitz understands it of rapidity of produc- 
tion. Mahaffy says that * it seems only to apply to the easy flow 
of the dialogue* {Greek Lit, l, p. 403) ; but Sellar is more nearlj^ 
right in extending it ta *the extreme vivacity and rapidity of 
gesture, dialc^e, declamation and recitativ^, by which his scenes 
were characterised ' (Roman PoetSy p. 194). It nmst always be 
remembei-ed, though many critics seem to forget this, that Horace 
is not giving his ownopinions, but those which were commonly cur- 

W. H. 17 



258 HORATJ EFISTULAE. 

rent. Epicharmus was bom in Cos about B.c. 540, bnt was 
brought as an infant to Megara in Sicily, and enjoyed much repu- 
tation at the court of Hiero in Syracu^e about 2i.c. 490. He is 
said to have reached a great age. . 

69. CaecUiUB Statius, an insubrian Gaul bybirth, flourished 
at Rome at the same time as Ennius, dying one year after him in 
B.c. 168. He was placed at the head of all the Roman comic 
poets by Volcatius Sedigitus (a critic quoted by A. Gellius XV. 
^4) Caecilio palmam siatm dandam comico, Plautus secundus 
facile exsuperat ceteros^ etc. while Terence only comes sixth in 
his list. He is often quoted by Cicero, who however censures 
his bad style (Brut. 74, 258, ad Att. vii. 3, 10), and was distin- 
guished especially for skill in the management of his plots. 
Nonius (p. 374) qttotes Varro as saying In argumentis CaecUius 
poscit palmam^ in ethesi Terentius^ in sermonibus Plautus, His 
gruvitas seems to have been shown in his sententious maxims 
(Sellar, p. 202). The *art\of Terence appears in the carefiil 
finish of his style. Cp. Caesar's lines quoted by Sueton. Vit 
Terent., where he calls him dimidicUe Menander andpuri sermo- 
nis amator, 

60. arto 'thronged', too narrow for the numbers: cp. 
spissis...tkeatris in Ep. I. ip, 41. There however the theaira 
are the private recitation-halls ; here they are the public theatres, 
of whicn there w6re three permanent ones in Rome at this time, 
one built by Cn. Pompeius in B.c. 55 near the Circus Flaminius, 
one built by Augustus in honour of Marcellus (not finished 
however until B. c. 11), important remains of which are still stand- 
ing near the Tarpeian Hill, and a third built by Comelius 
Balbus between the other two. It had previously been the 
custom to perform plays in temporary wooden theatres, often of 
great magnificence. 

61. potens, so mighty, and yet so wanting in critical dis- 
cerament. The strange lack of great dramatists or poets of any 
kind in the half century preceding Lucretius and CatuUus seems 
due partly to the * separation in taste and sympathy between the 
higher classes and the mass of the people * (Sellar, p. 265) which 
made literature the amusement of a narrow circle, and partly to 
the disturbed political conditions of the time. The continued 
popularity of the old tragedians may be ascribed to the extent to 
which they represented some of the best features in the old 
Roman character (ib. p. 151). 

62. Idvi: Livius Andronicus, who in B.C «40 first brought 
upon the stage a Latin translation of a Greek tragedy. 

63 — 75. A sound critic must admit that tkese early writers 
have many defects ofarchaisnit karshness^ and cardessntss* Afew 



Bk. 11. Ep. I.] NOTES, 259 

^appy pkrases or lines must not lead us io regard a whole poem as 
perfect, 

63. est nbl= l<rrtir tre, * at times ' : hence peccat, not peccet^ 
which has very slight authority, is the right mood. Cp. Ep. II. 
3, 182, Sat. I. 4, i^ Roby § 1687. 

66. xfleraqne * much ', not * the greater part * ; the meaning 
here found is more common in later Latin than in Cicero, if 
indeed it is found at all in his writings. 

67. oredit: Bentley fights hard for cedtt, but admits that 
£redU may stand, and it is supported by ali MSS. of any import- 
ance. 

68. meeiun fadt 'supports my view', £p. 11. a, 13. Ioto 
aeqno *with the favour of Heaven', i. e. in his sound senses. Cp. 
Sat. II. 7, 14 iniquis Vertumnis^ ii. 3, 8 dis iratis. Iniquus 
meaning *unfavourable*, its opposite aequus comes to mean not 
merely *impartial* but *favourable*: Verg. Aen. VI. 12^ pauci 
quos aequus amavit luppiier; and so often. 

69. delendave: -ve has much more authority here than 
-que, and was rightly restored by Bentley. Schiitz objects that 
dilenda esse reor does not differ sufficiently in meaning from 
insectbr to make a disjunctive particle legitimate ; but the differ- 
ence, though npt great, is enough to admit of the disjunctive. 

Idvl: Bentley argued warmly against this reading, contending 
that the works of Livius Andronicus were too antiqualed and 
' " rUHgh for any one to maintain that they were exactis minimum 
distantia : hence he eagerly accepted the reading of some MSS., 
including most 6f Keller's first class, Laevi, But Laevhni, the 
writer of ipwroTaiypia, was not at all fit to be placed in^the 
hands of school-boys : besides, he was probably a contemporary 
of Cicero, and * attracted a certain interest only by his com- 
plicated measures and affected phraseology' (Mommsen, Hist. 
IV. 589: cp. Teuffel, /^om. Lit. § 138, 5). The poems of Livius 
not unnaturally took their place in a study of the development of 
Roman literature. 

70. plagosnm : the word does not appear to be used else* 
where in this active sense : it is found in Appuleius in the sense 
of * rauch-beaten *. We may compare the use of nodosus, ap- 
plied to a usurer in Sat. ii. 3, 69, to gout in Ep. i. i, 31, Ov. 
Pont. I. 3, 13; but to a vine-stick in Juv. viii. 247. The 
primary force of -osus *abounding in' lends itself to either 
ttsage. 

71. Oilxlliimi, one of the masters at Rome, to whoselessons 
Horace was taken by his father (Sat. i. 6, 76 — 82). According 
to Suetonius (de Gramm. 9) he was a native of Beneventum 

17-2 



25o HORATI EFISTULAE, 

who, aftcr s^rylngfor a timein tbe army, taught for several years 
in his native town, and came to Rome wheu Bfty years of age in 
the consulship of Cicero (B.c. 63), where he taught maiore fama 
quam emolumento» He died in poverty when nearly a hundred 
yeats of age. Suet. quotes for his severity towards his pupils 
this passage, and a line written by Domitius Marsus (a younger 
contemporary of Horace, who wrote epigrams), si quos Orbilius 
ferula scuticaque cecidit, If Suetonius*s dates are to be trusted, 
he had only very recently died, when this epistle was written. 
dictare, Roby § 1372, S. G. § 543 (4). It is hardly a legitimate 
inference from this phrase that * boys wrote, in part at least, their 
own schoolbooks, as books were rare and costJy ' (see Church*s 
Roman Life, p. 7), and that Orbilius ' was accustomed to enforce 
good writing and spelling with many blows*. £p. I. 18, 13 and 
I, 55 show that the purpose of the dictation was that pupils 
might learn by heart. Cf. Cic. Nat D. i. 26, 72, de Fin. iv. 4, 
10, Mayor on Juv. v. 121. Nor were books very costly at 
Rome : at least in Martial*s time the cost of MS. books was 
evenless than that of well-printed books now. Cp. £p. xiii. 3 
where he. says that his whole book of Xenia will leave a profit 
to the publishers if sold for two sesterces. Doubtless copies of 
Livius were somewhat scarce. 

72. ezactlB 'perfectly finished*, properly of works of art. 
Cp. Ov. Met. l. ^o^forma hcminis,.,sed uti de marmore coepto^ 
non exacta scUis, 

74. oondnnlor *better-tumed*: the word is properly used 
of regular beauty. Ep. i. 11, 2, 

76. dndt 'carries off': but it is not quite clear what the 
metaphor is. Bentley thinks it might perhaps be derived from 
the notion of a handsome slave, set at the head of a row offered 
for sale : but he recognizes the objections to this view, and in- 
clines rather to take it as ' deceives ', with poema as the nomi- 
native : it is then necessary to read venit for vendit with one 
MS. Schiitz understands Livius as the subject, and takes 
ducit (with some other editors) as 'produces as a spedmen': 
this is very doubtful. It is best to carry on versus as the sub- 
ject, and to take ducit=trahit, *brings after it', either, as 
Orelli says, into quarters to which it would not otherwise make 
its way, or into the favour of the purchaser. The phrase ducere 
familiam (Cic. de Fin. IV. 16, 48, ad Fam. Vii. 5 accedit quod 
familiam ducit in iure civilt) * to be the first,* might lead us to 
regard the phrase here as an extension of that usage. 

76 — 89. // makes me indignant to hear the new hiamid^ 
hecause it is new^ the old honotired, solely because it is old, 
Honest criticism of the earlier writers is forbidden owing to self 
sujicience, falsepride, and Ul-will towards contemporaries* 



BL 11. Ep. I,] NOTES. 261 

f6. <iiilO(iiiain : used where we might have expected a/i- 
quid, because lndlgnoP=/^^ rton possum^ and is thus virtually 
negative. Cp. Madvig Gr. § 494 b, and note 011 Cic. Cat. I. 3, o 
quamdiu quisquam erit...vives, 

roprehendl: Keller asserts that the contracted form reprendi^ 
preferred here and in w. 81, aia by some editors, does not 
occur befpre the middle of the tenth century A.D., and that the 
archetype certainly had reprehendi. Mr Munro thinks that 
Horace *perhaps always wrote reprendere for reprehendere of 
MSS. ias twice he certainly did*. But it is to be noticed that in 
both these cases (Sat. 11. 10, 55, Ep. I. 18, 39) rifprend- has the 
short vowel. 



'coarsely': crassa Minerva in Sat. II. 1, 3 'home- 
spun mother wit*. The opposite is tenui Jjlo in v. 215. Cic. 
ad Fam. IX. i^, 3 calls his speech for Deiotarus munusculum 
levidense crasso filo. 

77. pntetnr: Roby § 1744, S. G. § 740, 3. The subjunctive 
does not depend here upon the non qtiod, as contrasted with the 
sed quia^ but it is equally to be understood after the latter, as 
expressing the alleged reason for the censure. 

79. orocnm: flowers were strewn upon the stage, and 
saffron jflice sprinkled upon it, for the sake of the fragrance: 
cp. Lucr. II. 416 et cum sccuna croco Cilici perfusa recens est : 
Ov. Art. Am. i. 104 nec fuerant liquido pulpita rubra croco : 
Plin. N. H. XXI. 6, 33 vino mire congruit [crocum], praecipue 
dulcit tritum ad theatra replenda : Sall. Hist. II. 39 croco sparsa 
humus. The masculine form is generally used for the plant, 
the neuter for the expressed juice ; hence the word here is pro- 
bably neuter: but the distinction is not always observed. 

Attae. T. Quinctius Atta was a writer of comoediae togatae, 
^ho died according to Jerome on Euseb. Chron. in B.C. 78. His 
ft*agments (cp. Ribbeck Com. Lat. pp. 160 — 164) abound in 
archaisms, but are vigorous in style. Cp. Teuffel Jiom. Lit. 
§ 130. The cognomen is explained by Fest. s. v. p. 13 (Mtiller) 
as proper to those quipropter vitium crurum aut pedum plantis 
insistunt et attingiint magis terram quam ambulanfy notdiffering 
therefore muchfrom Plautus. Some have not unnaturally supposed 
that there is a reference to this in perambulat; but undoubtedly 
the primary meaning of this is explained aright by Acron : tn 
scenam recepta est, ubi flores sparguntur. Porphyrion has a 
curious notion that it refers to the undue length at which in a 
play called Matertera he went through the names of the various 
kinds of flowers. 

ai. patret * elders ' as in V. 109. 



262 HORATI EPISTULAE. 

88. 4^WS especially distinguished for tragedy; Boseliii 
equally eminent in both; hence graTl8-=*impressive*, doctni 
*skilfur. Cic. often speaks of both: cp. de Orat i. a8, 119, 
30; 61, 258; pro Sest. 57, lai; 58, 123, etc. The former of 
these great actors was living in B.c. 55, the latter died in B.cl 
62. Ihe best accoimt of them is given by Ribbeck, Hom, 
Tragbdie^ pp. 671 — 675. 

80. ImbiBrbi is probably the reading of the vet. Bland. : at 
least Cruq. has that form here and on A. P. i6i quotes the vet. 
Bland. as his authority for imberbus, Hence most good editors 
have adopted it here, though Keller prefers imherbes^ found in all 
his MSS. Lucil. 977 (Lachm.) has imberbi androgynL Cp. 
Neue, Formenl, ii. 88. 

perdeada : the only instance in classical Latin of a finite 
passiye form ^rom perdo is in Sat. ii. 6, 59, but perditus of 
course is com^on: and perdundus occurs in Sall. Cat. XLVi. 2. 

86. iBm=iam vero, 'in fact'. Sallare carmen : the chants 
(axamenia) of the Salii or priests of Mars, instituted according 
to Livy I. 20 by Numa, had become almost unintelligible even 
to the priests tnemselves by the time of Quintilian (l. 6, 40 
Saliorum camiina vix sacerdotibm suis satis inteUecta)'. for thc 
extant fragments cp. Wordsworth's Fragmsnts and iypecimens^ 
pp. 564-6. 

89. Uvldus *in his envy*: Sat l. 4, 93 Hvidus etmordax 

vidcor tibi? ^ 

90 — 102. Thi GreekSf whofurnish our models^ nemr skmKd 
this jealousy of what was new: ihey gladly welcomed all fresh 
forms ofarif turning readilyfrom one to another, 

90. qnodsl : Roby § «209 (<f), S. G. § 871, 5. 

92. tereret ' thumb': vlrltiiii 'each for himseir. pidflieiui 
«siui, i.(][. populus, dum utitur. *To be read and thumbed by 
the pubhc, as they severally enjoy \i\ 

98. posltis bellls. At what date was this? It is evident 
that Horace is thinking mainly of Athens, and doubtless the 
great outburst of Athenian art and literature followed upon the 
close of the Persian Wars: cp. Aristot. Pol. v. 6, p. 1341 'As 
the increase of wealth afforded them better opportunities of 
leisure and quickened the moral aspirations of their souls, the 
result was, even before the Persian wars, and still more after 
them in the full flush of their achievements, that they essayed 
every kind of education, drawing no line anywhere, but making 
experiments in all directions. Thus the use of the flute among 
other things was introduced into the educational curriculum" 
(translaled by Welldon, p. 242). Hence almost all editors bave 



Bk. 11. Ep. I.] NOTES. 263 

assutned that this is the period meant. But Schiitz objects (i) 
that art and literature had reached a high development before 
thb date : (a) that after tbts time, when all arts were at their 
height, the Greeks canied on fierce wars with each other. He 
therefore lays stress on nugari and viiium as indicating blame, 
not sufficiently accounted iox by the manner in which the more 
rigid Romans were accustomed to regard thtf accomplishments in 
whicli thc Greeks excelled ; and considers that * wars were laid 
aside' only after Greece lost her independence, and a *kindly 
fortune' preserved her from dvil strife by the peace which Rome 
imposed upon her subjects. In support of this view it may be 
urged that Horace is not speaking of the excellence attained by 
Greece in various departments of art, but only of the capricious- 
ness with which, like a spoilt child, she turned from one amuse- 
ment to another. But it is hard to believe that fortuna aequa 
can refer to the time of the national degradation of Greece, and 
not to the prosperity and vigorous national life which followed 
the repulse of the barbarians. And though Horace is not giving 
unquaiified praise to the pursuits of the Greeks, he is certainly 
commending the versatility which led them to try so many form? 
of mental activity, and so caused the production of the new 
works, which in his day had become the ancient models. Schutz's 
view seems to me inconsistentwith w. 90—92, and therefore to 
be rejected in favour of the current explanation. nngarl is com- 
monly used of amusements, which are not directedby any serious 
puipose: cp. Sat, 11. i, 73; i. 9, 2; Ep. i. i8, 60; 11. 2, 141. 

M. Tltiiiin, which has been attacked by some critics, need 
not denote more than an undue devotion to pleasure, inconsistent 
with the rigour of earlier manners. laliler * drift*. Horace uses 
this archaic form of the inBnitive also in Sat. i. 2, 35, 78, 104 ; 
II. 3, «4; 8, 67 : Ep. II. 2, 148, 151. Vergil has the form six 
times : it is common in Catullus and Lucretius, but occurs only 
occasionally in later poets. There is one instance in the Odes, 
Carm. iv. 1 1, 8. For the origin of the inflexion cp. Corssen iiV 
478—9. Roby§6i5. 

95. athletamm, mainly in the great national games. Cp. 
Carm. IV. 2, 18 ; 3, 4, for the combination/ftrg^...^^««j. 

96. marmoris aut eboris : the chief sculptors in marble or 
ivory (and gold) flourished at Athens : but the leading school of 
workers in bronze was at Sicyon and Argos. The earliest bronze 
statues are referred to Samos, the earliest marble ones to Chios : 
cp. Overbeck Grifch, Plast* pp. 69—72. 

97. raipendlt ' let eyes and thoughts dwell in rapt attention' : 
cp. Sat. II. 7, 95—97. 

98. tiliicinibiur may refer to dithyrambs (Miiller, Greek Ut. 
II. p. 77 ff.) itt which the music took a prominent place, and 



264 HORATI EPISTULAE. 

tannot denote, as Lambinus supposed, comedies, for tihicines 
were employed as much for tragedies as for comedies. Cp. 
Ribbeck Rom, Trag. p. 14. But perhaps it is, as Orelli thinks, 
only an instance of the species put for the genus, and so denotes 
music generally. 

100. reliqtilt : tfie subject is Graecia^ not, as some have sup- 
posed, puella, 

lOL This line is evidently out of place, as it stands, and 
breaks the connexion of the thought : which is * When wars were 
over, Greece took to various forms of art, tuming readily firom 
one to another. This was the result of peace and prosperity 
there. At Rome tastes in old days were different . Hence 
Lachmann suggested that it should be placed after v. 107 (cp. 
Lucret. p. 37) : then mutabile is taken up very naturally by muta- 
vit in V. 108, as vidit by videre in Carm. iv. 4, 16, 17 ; and we 
have a suitable introduction to the sketch of the changed tastes 
at Rome. 

102. paces ' times of peace' as in £p. i. 3, 8 : cp. Lucret. v. 
1 1 30 ventorum f>aces. 

103 — 117. At Rome mm were in old days taken up wholly 
with practical duties : but now everyone takes to writing^ even I 
myself^ who had renounced it; and though for all other pursuits 
some knowiedge is required^ no one thinks himself too ignorctnt td 
makeverses* 

103. «lla. Horace paints more in detail the early customs 
of Rome, whereas he had been content to hint at the warlike 
activity of the Greeks in the phrase posUis bellis, 

0bllemne = 'consuetudineusitatum*, Comm. Cruq. redliua 
does not acquire the meaning of our ' recluse * until late Latin. 

104. mane : cp. Sat. i. i, 10 sub galli cantum consultor ubi 
ostiapuisat: Cic. pro Mur. 9, 2a vigi/as tu^ Suipici, de nocte ut 
tuis consultoribus respondecu. Hence promere gives the reasoa 
for the Ylgilare : * to be up betimes with open house, and to give 
legal advice to clients' : promere, because legal rules and 
methods of procedure were long kept as the exclusive property of 
the patricians: cp. Cic. pro Mur. 11, 25, de Orat. i. 41, 186 
(note). 

105. eautOB * secured ', the technical term in law, as Bentley 
showed by many examples, though. he needlessly preferred the 
reading scriptos, which has very slight, or more probably no MS. 
authbrity. Cp* Dig. L. 13, i si cui cautum est honorarium 
videamus an petere possit. The reading reetlB is betteir sup- 
ported than certis^ though both are technically used in this sense. 
nomlna is used for *debtors* also in Sat. i. a, 16, muchas w^ 



Bk. II. Ep. I.] NOT£S. 265 

miglit speak of a 'good name* on a* bill. Cp. Cic. ad Fam. v. 
6y 2 ut bonum nomen extsHmer ; ad Att. v. ai nam aut bono 
nomine- centesimis contentus erat; aut non bono quaternas cen* 
tesimas sperabat : in Verr. v. 7. 17 clamare ille...pecuniam sibi esse 
in nominibus; numeratam [cash] in praesentia non habere, Trans- 
late *to lend out money secured by good names\ 

106. malores andire goes with per quae, etc. by a slight 
zeugma, as well as mlnori dicere : *,to leam from elders and to' 
teach a junibr Ihe means by which*, &c; 

107. danmosa, cp. Ep. i. 18,21 damnosa Venus, Therefer- 
ence is here only to the injury which self-indulgence may cause 
to one's fortune. 

108. calet * is fired ' : Orelli quotes Lucian's description of 
the people of Abdera (de conscr. hist. 1) as seized with a fever 
(iri;/)€r4>) for tragedy. Cp. Juv» vil. 51 insanabile scribendi 
cacoethes, 

109. pnerlqne : so Cruquius read, without however quoting 
his authority. Horace never makes the first syllable in patres 
long except in arsis: Vergil always haspatres preceded by -que, 
except in Aen. VII. 1^6 perfetuis soliti patres considere mensis, 
where the long vowel occurs in thesis, Keller objects that there 
is a certain climax in patres here; but the expression is more 
forcible if we take it as *young and old alike'. 

110. fronde oomas vinctl. The garlands, which were 
almost a necessary item for the comissatio after dinner, were 
made of flowers, especially violets and roses, and leaves, such as 
ivy, myrtle, and parsley, were only used when flowers could not 
be procured (cp. Carm. i. 4> 9; 3^». '5 » 38, 5? "• 7. ^5; iv. 
ii> 3)» or when simplicity was desired : but here the diners 
assume the poet's bays. Cp. Becker Gallu^ iii. 315 — 314. 

dictant * dictate', the verses being composed ex tempore^ and 
thepoet desiririg that every word should be taken down by the 
guests. Cp. Sat. I. 4, 10. 

111. nnlloB vennui : cp. Ep. i. i, 10. The reference is of 
course only to lyric verse. 

112. FartUs mendacior: if there was any truth in the 
charge implied in this compariSori, the Parthians miist have de- 
generated much from the Persians : aUx^(yfw ykp avToiai t6 ^ev- 
deffffai vevofUffTai (Herod. I. 138): iratdeCovffi dk roi>s ireudas Tpia' 
/lovwoy IxxfVfiP Kal To^evetK Kal dXrjOlj^effOat (ib. 136). Porphyrion 
here says 'bene Parthis, qui perfidi sunt, et qui Romanos duces 
firauclibus saepe deceperunt', and Acron refers especially to their 
attacks upon Crassus. Certainly the death of CyasSufi hims(^ 



266 HORATI EPISTULAE. 

was diie to a treacherous abuse of tbe forms of negotiation (Meri- 
vale II. as). But charges of faithlessness have been always 
brought against a dreaded enemy with or without reason from 
the time of the perfidiaplus quam Punica which Livy ascribes to 
Hannibal (XXL 4, 9) to Napoleon's perfide Albion, Cp. infidi 
Persae in Carm. IV. 15, 23. This passage must have been writ- 
ten after B.c. 17 when Horace retumed for a while to lyric 
poctry. 

prlaf orto sole, not like the old Romans, to give ad- 
vice to their clients, but to begin cumposing. This is not neces- 
sarily inconsistent with ad quartam iaceo of Sat. i. 6, 121, for 
there he is not represented as sleeping, but as reading and writ- 
ing in his lectulus, 

118. scrliilA are cases of books, which he might wish to refier 
to. Sat. I. I, 110. 

114. liabrotoiiiim ' southemwood * or 'Pootic wormwood* 
(Munro on Lucr. iv. 115), is mentioned.^bewhere as a useful 
medicine. Plin. xxi. 92, 160 ususelft^ [habrotoni], sedmaior 
semini etd excaifaciendumt ida^ nervis utile, tussi, orthopnoeae, 
convulsist rupiisj lumHst mrinae angustiis, 

115. 4pod medlcoram est. Bentley not unnaturally found 
iaaak with the tautology involved in the mention of physicians, after 
qui didictt dare: and suggested melicorum—melici. But the pas- 
sages which he quotes do not suffioe to show that melicus can bc 
used as equivalent to musicus: in Lucret. v. 334 organici melicos 
peperere sonores the word means merely * tuneful ', and in Plin. 
vii. 24, 89 a Simonide melico it means *a lyric poet', not a 
musician. It would be better to allow the repetition to stand, 
than to remove it by such an uncertain conjecture. But, as Prof. 
Palmer has pointed out to me, medici is often used in the sense 
of *surgeons' rather than *physicians*, e.g. Plaut. Men. 885. 

117. Indoctl docttque 'unskilled and skilled alike*: doctus 
like ao4>bi is a common epithet of a poet : cp. Carm. I. i, 99 
with Wickham^s note. 

118 — ^188. Yet the Un*e of poetry has its practical advatttages : 
poets escape many vices ; they help to train the young io znrtue, and 
aid in the worship ofthegods, 

119. Bic ooUiffe: Sat. 11. 1, $1 sic coUige mecum, VTvnam : 
so Ovid A. A. III. 541 nec nos amlntio nec amor nos tangit ha^ 
bendi, Pope's imitation is 

* And rarely Av*rice taints the tmielul mind'. 

120. Bon temere 'not lightly*, Sat. 11. 1, 116, Epist. 11. 3, 
13, A. P. i6o. 



Bk. 11. Ep. I.] NOTES. 267 

hoo BtndQt : this construction of studeo and similar verbs is 
only found with neuter pronouns or adjectives like omnia, Roby 
§ 1094. For Plaut. Mil. 1437 cp. Tyrreirs note. 

122. BodO 'partner', Carm. iii. -24, 60. Cp. Cic. pro 
Rosc. Am. 40 in rebus minoribus fallere socium turpissimum est, 
A provision of the XII Tables made this a capital ofTence in 
the case of a ^itnV, patronus si clienti fraudem fecerit^ sacer esto* 
Condemnation in an action pro socio involved infamia (Gaius iv. 
182). lncogltat is a air. Xe^. Horace is fond of new compounds 
of/«; cp. Epod. 3, 18; 5, 31, 34; II, 15, &c. 

123. pnplllo: £p. I. I, 21. 

sUiqnls * pulse*: the word is used by Verg. (Georg. i. 74) for 
the pod of le^men: Juvenal xi. 58 and Pers. iii. 55 have it in 
the same general sense as here. 

seciindo, not made oisiligo (Juv. v, 70, with Mayor's note), 
but secundarius panis^ such as Augustus preferred (Suet. Aug. 
76). 

124. mUitiae: genitive denoting that in point of which the 
adjective is used: Roby § 1320, S. G. § 526. Cp. Sat, i. lo, 21 
seri studiorum etc. Others less correctly take it as the locative, 
or (with Orelli) as the dative. In Tac. Ann. iii. 48 (quoted by 
Orelli) imfiger militicu et acnbtis ministeriis the last three words 

fo not with impigery but with a following adeptus, Cp. Tac. 
list. I. 87 urbafuu militiae impiger: so Hist. II. 5 acer militiae; 
lil, 43 sirenuus militiae, Draeger Syntax des Tac, fi 71 a. 

125. il du: ie. if jrou aUow dud Hie state can be served by 
"flie more rethring virtues, which the poet teaches. 

120. Mlmm: of old age in Ep. i. 20, 18. 

127. oteoenii: a better established spelling than obscaenis 
{obscoenis being altogether wrong: but cp. Corssen i.* 328) : the 
first element is clearly obs- as in obs-olesco, os-tendo etc. Corssen 
refers the second part to coenum 'mud* (cp. in-quin-are) and so 
apparently Curtius I. 343: others consider the root to be the 
same as in scaevus, referring to Festus p. 201 cum apud antiquos 
omnesfere obscaena dicta sinty quae mali omims habebantur, 

tam Biino : before the time comes when he will have to apply 
such lessons, i.e. 'in earliest youth*. Cp. Propert. iv. (v.) 11, 93 
discite venturam iam nunc sentire senectam ; A. P. 43 ut iam nunc 
dicat iam nunc ( = at once) debentia dici, 

180. oriontiAtampora: explainedby Porphyrion 'propK^nens 
exempla multa eflicit, ut orientia tempora, hoc est venientia, 
cuios modi futura sint, aestimemus et instruamus ex ante gestis'. 
But this is hardly a iegitimate meaning of instruere tempora. 



268 HORATI EPISTULAK 

Better 'the successive generations* with Orelli, or simply *the 
rising g.*, as in Vell. Ii. 99, 1 orientium iuvmum ingenia. Veig. 
Aen. VII. 5 1 primaque oriens erfpta iuventa est, 

131. aagmm *sick at heart* asoften in Cicero. 

132. cnxn puerls pnella: unquestionably a reference to the 
choirs of youths and maidens for whom Horace had written the 
Carmen Saeculare. In Carm l. 21 we have a similar, but briefer 
hymn. Livy xxvii. 37 describes how a chorus of twenty-seven 
maidens sang hymns composed for them by Livius Andronicus, 
as they went in procession through the city, in honour of Juno 
Kegina. 

134. praesentiA nnmlna ' the favour of the gods '. For 
^aesens •propitious* cp. Ep. I. i, 69: Cic. in Cat. II. 9, 19 
(note). 

136. caelestls a^nas: Carm. Saec. 31, 32 nutriant fetus et 
aquae salubres et lovis aurae, The same expression is used for 
rain in Carm. Iil. 10, 10. 

docta *taught' by the poet : as in Carm. Saec. 75. Uandns: 
Carm. iv. i, 8 blandae iuvenum preces ; III. 23, 18 non sump- 
tuosa blandior hostia ; i. 24, 13 Threicio blandius Orpheo. The 
notion is that of winning favour by entreaty. 

138. manes *the gods of the lower world'; not the shades 
of the departed : cp. Verg. Aen. xii. 646 vos mihi manes este 
boniy quoniam superis aversa voluntas: similarly in Georg. iv. 505 
(of Orpheus) quo fletu manes, qua numina voce moveretf The 
word meaning originally *the good ones* (Preller J^om. Myth. 
pp. 73, 455, Curt. Gr, Etym. i. 408), it is applied primarily to 
the spirits of ancestors, worshipped as still powerful fqr ^jod 
oyer the fortunes of their descendants, and then to all the deities 
of the lower world, among whom these came to be reckoned. 

139 — 160. Poetry had its rise ivith us in the rustic merry^ 
makings of harvest^ and the jests bandied to and froy at first 
innocenty but afterwards growing scurrilous. Then this rough 
style ofverse was checked by law; but it was only acquaintance 
with the literature of Greece which banished the earlier coarseness. 

139. fortes *stout fellows* = ad laborem validi ac seduli: 
Schol. So Sat. II. 2, iififortem colonum: Verg. Georg. 11. 472 
paiiens operum exiguoqtu adsueta iuventus of the inhabitants of the 
country. 

:140. condlta poft fimmenta: so Arist. Nic. Eth. viii. 9, 5 
finds the source of the earliest festivals in harvest>homes, when 
men met together rt/Lid$ d7r(»i/ioPTes tois $toTs, Kal avrols <UaT«^ 
tf-cts iroplp)trres fi€0* "hSoyfjs, 



Bk. 11. Ep. I,] NOTES. 269 

141. fereittam: the tense denotes what was usual, not the 
state at the particular time: *which was wont to bear toil in the 
hope of respite*. 

142. puerlB et conliige, in apposition to bocIIb openim ; the 
wife and children are the partners of his toils, slavery being 
regarded as unknown in those good old days. Bentiey rightly 
rejected the et, which earlier editors had htiox^ paeris : cp. Sat. 
II. 2, 115, and 128. 

143. TellTirem: Varro R. R. i. i, 4 invokes the gods who 
are agricolarum duces: primuin...Jovem et Tellurem: secundo 
Solem et Lunam:...teriio Cercrem et Liberum:...quarto Robigum 
ac Flaram:...item Minermm €t Vtnerem:...nec non etiam Lym- 
pham et Bonum Eventum, Roughly carved altars to Silvanus 
are not uncommon in museums : several such have been found ih 
England, one of which records the slaying of a great wild boar 
which had deBed eariier hunters. 

porco: Cato R. R. 134 ^ys priusquam messim facieSf porcaih 
praecidaneam hoc ntodo fieri oportet. Cereri [porca praecidaned] 
porcofemina^ &c. (The repeated Words are bracketed by Keil 
after Pontedera.) It is dear thcrefore \\i^\.porcus may be epicene, 
and it should be taken so here, as Tellus was joined with Cefes 
in the sacrifice: cp. Varro ap. Non. M. p. 163 heredi porca prac' 
cidanea suscipienda Telluri et Cereri: Serv. on Verg. G. I. ix* 
But there is no need with Lambinus, and L. Miiller to read/m-a. 
Horace has the masculine form in Carm. iii. 17, 15 ; Sat. II. 3^ 
165; and £p. i. 16, 58 ; the feminine in Carm. iii. 23, 4. 

lacte: milkisoffered to Priapus in Verg. Ecl. VII. 33. pla- 
tmsoX—piecolebant^ or morcexdiCtly pium {i.e.propitium)faciebant. 

144. Oenlimi: Ep. i. 7, 94 (note): A. P. 209. memorem; 
the genius, remembering how brief is the life of the man, with 
whom his own is bound up, desires to be merry.as.longashe 

146. F^soeimlBa Ucentla. Livy (vii. 2) in describing the 
origin of dramatic representations at Rome says Vemaculis artifi^ 
cibuSt quia ister Tusco verbo ludio vocabatur^ ttomen histrioniSus 
inditum : qui non^sicut ante^ Fescennim versu similem incomposi- 
tum temere ac rudem altemis iaciebant, sed impletas modis saturas 
descripto iam ad tibicinem cantu motuque congruenti peragebant, 
The original Fesc6nnine verses therefore consbted of a rude and 
extempore exchange of repartees. Paul. Diac. (p. 85 Mtill.) says: 
Fescetinini tfersust qui canebantur in nuptiisy ex urbe Fescennina 
dicuntur allati, sive ideo dicti^ quia fascinum putabantur arcere. 
There was an Etruscan town Fescennia or Fescennium on- the 
Tiber, near Falerii (Plin. iii. 5, 52, Verg. Aen. vii. 695), and 
the unquestioned connexion of the Ateilan plays with Atdla in 



270 HORATI EPISTULAE. 

Campania seems to lend some snpport to this local origin of the 
•term. But- on the whole the second explanation is to be pre- 
ferred, though not quite in the form given (from Festns) by 
Paulus : fascinum denotes primarily the evil eye, but as this 
was supposed to be averted by the use of an obscene symbol, 
fascinum came to be a synonym for the symbol itself. As the 
effects of the evil eye were especially to be dreaded in marriage 
Ihe chanting of ohscene verses was considered anessential part of 
the nuptial ceremony, and it was almost solely in this connexion 
that the Fescennine verses survived in the later days of the 
Republic. Cp. Catull. LXi. iione diu ictceat procax Fescennina 
iocatio (so Munro: Fascennina locutio Ellis): Sen. Med. ii^ festa 
diccuc fundcU convicia Fescenninus : and see Munro's Criticisms 
and Elucidations of CatulluSy pp. 76 — 78. The abusive songs, 
however, by which soldiers tried to avert the frowns of Fortunc 
from a general during his triumph, were of the same nature, and 
the term was occasionally used of scurrilous verses of any kind : 
cp. Macrob. II. 4, 21 temporibus triumviraUibus Pollio cum Fes- 
cenninos in eum Augustus scripsisset^ ait at ego taceo, non est 
enim facile in eum scribere qui potest praescribere, ib. iii. 14, 9 
Cato senatorem non ignobilem spatiatorem et Fescenninum vocaU 
Cp. Nettleship in Joum, PhiL xi. 190. 

lnTenta. Bentley, on the ground of the assumed Etmscan 
origin of these verses, read invecta, objecting at the same timc 
to the phrase invenire licentiam. But the foreign origin is 
exceedingly doubtful : it is impossible (with TeufFel, Pom. Lit. 
§ 5) to combine the two derivations of the term FescenmnuSt 
and the form which the word takes is due probably only to a 
popular etymology, like that which has given us yerusaUm 
artichoke for girasole (Max MUlIer Lectures ii. 368), while, as 
Schiitz justly says, it is difficult to see what other word Horace 
could have used foF invenire. Besides, the custom of rustic merry- 
making, such as is described by Verg. Georg. ii. 385 — 39«, 
would more naturally give rise at home to thisSnterchangc of 
sportive and licentious abuse, than lead to its importation from 
aoroad. We have specimens of this.rustic abuse in Theocrit. 
Id. IV. V. viii. X., Verg. Ecl. iil. 

147. accepta 'handed down', from one year to another, 
as the time of harvest came round. This is perhaps better than 
Orelli's * welcome *, which would however be a perfectly l^timate 
sense. 

148. amaUllter * in friendly iashion'. iam saeviui 'now 
growing savage'. 

149. ooeplt vertl : it is not necessary (with Schiitz) to defend 
this construction, by pointing to the middle force of vertL 
Although in classical prose coeptus sum is as a rule used with a 



Bk. 11. Ep. I.] NOTES. 271 

passive infinitive, Tacitus regularly uses coept: we find in Lucret. 
II. 614 coepisse creari: Ov, Met. Iil. 106 coepere tnoveri: creari 
^nasci (cp. Munro), and moveri^-se movcre: bufc cp. Ep. i. 
15, 27, A. P. 21. 

150; ixnpnne mlxiax 'assailing with impunity', becanse no 
law as yet checked excess. There can be no reference here, 
as Schiiiz thinks, to the Fescennine verses sung at marriages, 
for these were never discouraged, eveu in the most refined times. 
craento * that drew blood*. 

162. snper. This use of super for de is not found in good 

{)rose between Cato super tali re, and Livy, except in Cicero's 
etters (e.g. ad Att. X. 8, 10 sed hac super re nimis)^ where he 
often adopts the more conversational style of the comedians. 
From Plautus five instances are quoted. Cp. Drager, HisL 
Synt, § 300. 

lex : the first law enacted as to mala carmina was that passed 
by the decemvirs in the Twelve Tables : cp. Cic. de Rep. i v. 
10, 12 nostrcu XII tahulae cum perpaucas res capite sanxissent^ 
in his hanc quoque sanciendam putaverunt^ si quis occentavisset 
sive cartnen condidissetf quod infamiam faceret flagitiumve alteri, 
There was in the time of Horace a further lex Cornelia^ passed 
by SuUa in B.c. 81, de iniuriis, which included libellous pub- 
lications. As the punishment was capitCt it seems thdX fustis 
refers to the old punishment of ihi&fustuarium or cudgelling to 
death. 

158. lata. The phrase ferre legem meant properly only to 
•bring forward* a law, not to carry it, which is perferre: Cic. 
Comel. Fragm. 13 (Baiter) est utique ius vetandi, cum lex 
feratur^ quamdiu non perfertur^ quoted by the dictionaries as 
establishing this difference, has no authority, because the reading 
given is only due to conjecture (cp. Ascon. p. 70 Orell.) : but 
cp. ib. 14 nec gravius incipere ferre, quam perferre: Liv. 11. 
56, 9 aut hic.moriar^ aut perferam legem: xxxiii. 46, 6 legem 
extemplo promuJgavit pertuiitque : xxxvi. i, 4 patres rogationem 
ad popuium ferri iusserUnt...si ea perlata rogatto essety tumK.rem 
integram ad senatum referrent, P, Comelius eam rogationem 
pertulit, But when there was no need to distinguish sharply 
between the proposal of a law and the passing of it, ferre was 
occasionaliy used for the latter; cp. Cic. Com. Frag. 11 (the 
senate declares) qucu lex lata esse dicatur, ea non videri populum 
teneri: ib. 9 Cottae legem...anno post quam lata est a fratre eius 
(alnvgatamy, Cic. pro Sest. 25, 55 legum multitudinem cum 
earum^ quae latae sunt, tum vero^ qtme promulgcUae fuerunt ; 
ad Att I. 14, 5 Senatus...decernebat ut ante qtiam rogatio lata 
essety ne quid ageretur: and often. In such cases it is perhaps 
best to translate *put to the vote *. In the jurists^rr^ seems to 



272 HORATI EPISTULA£. 

mean simj^ly *to enact*, so lcUae sanctiones^ etc. The dictionaries 
do not treat this usage satisfactorily, and fail to recc^ise its 
exteQsion. Here lata is connected properly with Itx^ and by 
zeugma wvx^apoena: we may translate * enacted'» 

' 164. descrlM : cp. Sat. I. 4, 3 si quis erat dignus descrihi^ 
quod ntalus eu: fur^ quod moechus foreL So often in Cicero for 
depicting the bad features in a character: cp. Reid's note onpro 
Sulla 29, 82. 

yertere modum 'changed their tone'. Ritter assumes that 
ihere is here a definite reference to the substitution after the 
decemviral legislation of more innocent jesting, such as the 
Atellane plays and the exodia^ for the earlier political lampoons. 
But there is no reason to believe that Horace is speaking with 
historical accuracy : the varioUs stages, which iivy (vil. a) 
sketches, were all long after the time of the decemvirs. The 
supervision of the authortties over public literary efibrts seems 
to have been severe and continuous (cp. Mommsen Hist, i. 
474), and the result not simply what Horace here describes 
(ib. II. 43a 'the restrictions thus stringently and laboriously 
imposed by custom and police on Roman poetry stifled its very 
breath*). 

166. bene, opposed to male^ of the raoral tone, not the 
artistic quality of the writing. 

166. Qraeda capta, again a certain historical laxity. Greece 
cannot be said to have been subdued before the capture of 
Corinth in B.c. 146: but Greek literature was familiar to the 
educated at Rome, and the Greek dramas brought upon the 
stage in the form of translations and adaptations more than half 
a century earlier by Naevius, Ennius, and Plautns. It is very 
doubtful whether we can, with Ritter, force the phrase into 
harmony with history by understanding Graecia to denote the 
Greek cities in Italy and Sicily. Horace is doubtless looking 
rather at the general fact that Greece though conquered in arms 
prov^ victorious in ietters than at the precise chronological 
sequence. 

168. numenu Satnmiiui : its general character is well de- 
scribed by Macaulay in the Introduction to his Lays of Anciemt 
Rome» The fullest recent discussion, with a collection of all 
extant Satumian verses, is that by L. Havet De ScUumio LaH" 
norum Versu (Paris, 1880, pp. 517). The metre appears to 
have been used very rarely aiter the time of Naevius. There are 
however some rude instances in sepulchral inscriptions, e.g. 
C. I. R. 34. Hermann, Ep. Doctr. Metr. P. 214 thinks tfaat 
they were used by Varro in his Satires, but this is very donbtfuL 
The typical mstance is Dabtint maitlm MetHH \ NaMS po^tae: 



Bk. II. Ep. L] NOTES. 273 

but the nmnerotis irregularities, whichare admissible, fully justify 
Horaee*s epithet of horridus, Cp. Wordsworth*s Specinuns 
P- 39^- 

deflnzlt 'passed out of use*. graT» Tlrot *the noisome 
venom': virus is any offensive fluid; the word is sometimes 
used metaphorically, as in Cic. Lael. 23, '87 apud quem evomet 
virus acerbiiatis suae : sometimes il means simply * stench *, as 
in Lucret. Ii. 853, and perhaps in VI. 805. 

159. mniulltlae ^elegance'. The verse and diction of 
Ennius, though rough in themselves, were polished as compared 
with the poetry of Livius and Naevius. 

160. Ii0(lle<|ae 'and even yet*, in the Fescennine vecses 
and the Atellan plays. 

161 — ^176. The Romans were late in taJdng to the drama: 
for tragedy they have sufficient elevaiion and passion, but lack 
painstaking finish, Their comedy^ which they think easier^ theugh 
failure here is more inexcusable^ is ruined by haste in produc- 
tion^ due to greed, 

161. seras refers to ferus victor, Le. the Romans. Ritter 
thinks that the sense requires Ihat this should refer to some 
individual writer who came comparatively late in the line of 
Roman poets, and taking Punica bella to include the Third, finds 
this writer in Accius, who in his Libri Didascalion seems to have 
made a iearned study of the Greek tragedians, as well as his 
Latin predecessors (Teuffel, Rom, Lit, § 119, 7)» The lines 165 
— 167 apply sufficiently well to Accius, bnt temptavit rem cannot 
surely be referred to any individual, except to the first who 
wrote tragedies in Latin. It is better therefore to regard the 
whole passage as denoting the general characteristics of the 
Roman dramatists : serus will then mean *late in the history of 
the city*. [It is almost impossible to believe that vv. 160—7 
were not wiritten with reference to some person. Ennius, 
Pacuvius or Accius must have been taken as a specimen of 
the Roman tragic writers, just as Plautus is taken as a specimen 
of the comic writers. The words serus enim etc. apply very 
well to Ennius, who was probably not free from military service 
till afler he was 35 years of age. The sense of temptavit rtm is 
strictly limited by digne: the person (whoever he be) tried 
whether he might not worthiiy render what had before been 
rendered unworthily, I cannot think the text right as it 
stands. J. s. R.] Perhaps chartis disguises some corruption. 

162. poit Pimioa Mla. The Third Punic War is not 
here included, as of less importance than the other two. Aulus 
Gellius XVII. II, 45 quotes from Porcius Licinus (fior. B.C. 
100) Foenico bello secundo Musa pinnato gradu intulit se belii- 

W. H. 18 



274 HORATI EPISTULAE. 

cosani in Romuli gentem fcram, This is somewhat more accu- 
rate thaa Horace, for *even during the Second Punic War 
dramatic performances went on unintemiptedlv, inasmuch as mpst 
of Naevius* works and one holf of Plautus literary exertions 
(though perhaps the less fertile half) fall into the time of this 
war' (Teuffel, Rom, Lit* l. p. 104). But perhaps it is better (with 
Schiitz) to connect quietus closely with post Punica bella^ *en- 
joymg peace after the close of the Punic wars*, 

163. Tliespls, the traditional founder of the Attic tragedy : 
cp, A. P. 276. Horace here neglects the chronological order, as 
in Sat. I. 4, I Eupolis atque Cratinus Arisiophanesque poetae, 
Eurlpides could not have been brought into an hexameter verse, 
at any rate in the nominative case. 

164. temptaylt rem 'made the attempt': rem is not, as 
some editors suppose, the object of vertere^ attracted out of its 
place ; the construction is like that in Liv. i. 57, 2 temptata res 
estf si capi Ardea posset, ii, 35, 4 temptata res esty si disicere rem 
possent. 

yertere *translate*, without an object expressed. 

165. plaQUlt 8lbL Prof. Sellar admirably brings out in his 
Roman Poets of the Repuhlic^ chap. v., the reasons for the satis- 
faction found by the Romans in the drama: cp. especially p. 
151 ; * The popularity and power of Roman tragedy, during the 
century preceding the downfall of the Republic, are to be 
attributed chiefly to its didactic and oratorical force, to the 
Roman bearing of the persons represented, to the ethical and 
occasionally the political cast of the sentiments expressed by 
them, and to the plain and vigorous style in which they are 
enunciated '. We have fragments more or less important from 
jr^ tragedies of this period, covering 285 pages in Ribbeck's 
edition. 

166. spirat traglcnm satis ' has suflicient tr^ic inspira- 
tion ' : cp. Carm. iv. 3, 24 quod spiro et placeo, si placeo, tuum 
est: for the construction cp, Roby § 1096-7, S4G. § 461. Stat. 
Silv, V, 3i 12 altum spirans» 

feUdter audet refers apparently to the boldness of the 
language, especially in Pacuvius and Accius. Cp. A. P. 56 ff. 

167. ImKdte : the vet. Bland. with some inferior MSS. has 
in scriptis, but with inscitiae as a correction. Bentley reads 
inscitusy on the strength of Horace's preference for an adjective 
rather than an adverb in such cases, pointing out at the same 
time that this accounts better for in scrtptis : but these arguments 
do not warrant us in departing from the MSS. inscitia, 'want 
of skill', is not so strong a term as inscientia^ *ignorance': cp. 
Cic de Orat. i. 22, 99 (note). 



Bk. 11. Ep. L] NOTES. 275 

litnrain: cp. A. P. 292 — 4. Caecina in Cic. Ep. Fam. 
VI. 7, I mendum scripturae litura tollitur: Sat. i. 10, 72 saepe 
stilum vertaSf iterum quac digna legi sint scrifturus, Cp. 
Pope's imitation 

•Even copious Dryden wanted or forgot 
The last and greatest art, the art to blot', 
We may remember also, in Ben Jonson*s Discoveriesy the qriticism 
on Sbakspere : "I remember the players often mentioned it as 
an honour to S. that ii;i his writings, whatsoever h^ penned, he 
never blotted out a line. My answer hath been, •Would he 
had blotted out a thousand*." 

168. ez medlo ^from daily life '. 

arcesslt : some of the best MSS. here have accersit. For 
a discussion of the relation of the two forms or words cp. 
JourncUof Philology, VI. 278 ff. The vet. Bland. has accessit ; 
but it is clearly better to take res as acc. plur. rather than nom. 
sing. : the perfect tense is out of place ; and if res is the subject 
of accessit^ it must also be taken as the subject of creditur^yci' 
stead of comoedia ; but the latter gives a much more satisfactory 
sense. 

170. yeidae * indulgence' : even uneducated spectators can 
see the absurdities of unnatural comedies. 

171. quo pacto *in what a fashion'. Is this intended for 
blame or praise ? Editors are divided in their judgment. Acron 
leaves the ambiguity: Porph, has quam indecenter^ incongrue: 
and so Conington renders 

*What ill-sustained affairs 
Are his close fathers and his love-sick heirs'.' 
Lambinus on the other hand argued that as Horace in A. P, 270 ff. 
blames his rough metre and coarse wit, there would be little left, 
if he did not allow him even the credit of vigorous character- 
painting : and Schutz points out that in criticizing Roman tragedy 
Horace first recognizes merit, then addsblame, and that the blame 
in the case of Plautus comes in clearly in v, 174, But Horace is 
here pointing out that comedy, though thought to be easy, is 
really difficult, and it is not unnatural that he should at once give 
proofs of his position. That the criticism is hardly warranted, 
and that Plautus really shows much power in his vivid sketches 
of character, is not reason enough for us to reject an interpreta- 
tion which would show that Horace judged a popular favourite 
too severely. Hence the expression * Look at the way in which 
Plautus sustains, &c* may fairly be regarded as implying 
censure. 

ephelil: properly a youth between 18 and 20 years of age. 
Cp. Ter. Andr. 51 postquatn excessit ex ephebis: Eun. 824 iste 

18—2 



276 HORATI EPISTULAE. 

ephebus, The word is used by Cicero in its strict sense, de Nat 
D. I. 28, 79 Athenis cum tssem^ e gregibtis epheborum etc., but 
not apparentlyby Plautus. Thcre is an interesting account of 
the Ephebi in Capes* University Life (U Athens : cp. Hermann, 
Gk AU, I. § 176. 

172. Attentl: £p. i. 7, 91. 

173. DoflBennni: Aiellanarum scriptor^ Comm. Cruq. 
This is probably only a guess, and an unlucky one, which hi^ 
misled many editors. The evidence for the existence of such 
a writer iS very slight and untrustworthy, and it seems quite 
clear that Horace is speaking throughout of Plautus. Dossennus 
was a standing character in the Atellan plays. Varro de Ling. 
Lat. VII. 95 says: dictum mandier a mandendo, unde manducari^ 
a quo in Atellanis ad obsenum vocant Manducum^ where Milller 
corrects (Addend. p. 303) the corrupt words to Dossenum, 
Ritschl (Parerg. Praef. p. xiii.) at the suggestion of Bergk, on 
the strength of this, interprets the present passage * quantus ipse 
scurra sit in scurris parasitis describendis ', pointing out that 
Horace here touches upon the four kading characters of the 
fabula palUata, but censures Plautus especially for his treatment 
of the fourth. Suetonius Galb. 13, after describing the niggardli- 
ness of Galba, adds quare culventus eius non perinde gratus 
fuit : idque proximo spectaculo apparuit : siquidem AteUanis 
notissimum canticum exorsis Venit ione simus a villa, cuftcti 
simul spectatores consentiente voce reliquam partem retulerunt 
ac saepius versu repetito egerunt, Here the corrupt words have 
been corrected by Lachmann to Venit Dorsennus^ though Roth 
prefers to read with Casaubon, Onesimus^ which is certainiy much 
nearer to the MSS. The point evidently lies in the avaricious 
character of the man named, whoever he may have been. Teuffel, 
Kom, Lit. § 9, 3 says * Dossennus (dorsum) is a cunning sharper, 
the dottore * : I do not know that there is any other basis for 
this view than the conjecture as to the derivation of his name 
(*haud dubie a dorsi gibbere dicta ' Ritschl), the hum|>-backed 
man being regarded as wise, as we see from Aesop. From the 
name Manducus it seems more probable that Dossennus was 
a glutton, ' quae persona magnis malis et crepitantibus dentibus 
insignis in pompa Circensium ludorum ducl solebat ' (Miiller on 
Varro, 1. c) : and this is the view taken by Prof. Nettleship in a 
paper read before the Oxford Philological Sodety. Ritschl 
however prefers to regard the name as used here quite generaUy 
for a buffoon, without reference to the special features of the part. 
Festus, p. 364 M. quotes from an Atellan play by Novius called 
Duo Dosseni, Cp. Ribbeck, Fragm. Com. p. 257 and «74. 
Plin. N. H. XIV. 13, 92 says sed Fabius Dossennus his versibm 
decemit, etc. It is possible that this writer got his name from 
the character, which he may have resembled, or played well (so 



BLII. Ep, I.] NOTES. 277 

MUller, Addend. p. 303) : but Bergk's view that Fal^us is not a 
poet at all, but a learned lawyer (Ritschl, Parerg, Praef. xiii.) 
is quite consistent with the context in Pliny (cp. ib. p. 105). 
Finally Senec. £p. Lxxxix. 6 quotes an inscnption on the tomb 
of Dosseunus ^hospes resiste et sophiam Dossenni lege\ a quota* 
tion which certainfy raises more difficulties than it removes. 

The view taken by Ritschl of this passage can hardly be 
said to be certain, in face of the corrupt state of our scanty 
authorities; but it is at least more plausible than any other 
interpretation as yet put forward. Orelli ignores it, Schiitz 
disputes it, but Ritter, Dillenbiirger and (with more hesitation) 
Kriiger accept it. 

174. qiiain non adstiloto sooco ' with how loose a sock * : 
the soccus (Kprjirls) or *slipper' of comedy is contrasted with the 
cothumus \KhBopvoi) or * buskin * of tragedy in A. P. 80. Cp. 
Millon*s * If Jonson's learned sock be on'. 

175. locnlos, properly any sort of a casket or satchel (cp. 
£p. I. I, 56), used of a purse or money-box, also in Sat. i. ^, 
i7f II' 3» '46» 3Jid by Juvenal i. 89, etc. (cp. Mayor's note). 
The charge here brought against Plautus *may very probably bfe 
true, and is by no means to his discredit ' (Sellar, Roman Foets, 
p. 164: the context is weJl worth reading). The play-wright sold 
his play to the magistrate who gave the shows at which they 
were acted. Terence is said to have received 8000 sesterces for 
his £unuchus, more than any play had produced before. 

176. cadat * fails', for which Aristotle uses hcriimw (Poet, 
17» I ; «8, 5 ; 30, 5). 

Btet *holds its own', i. e. succeeds: cp. Ter. Hecyr. 15 
partim sum earum exactus^ partim vix steti; Cic. Orat. 38, 98 
magnus orator..,si semel consnteriti nunquam cculet. 

reeto talo *steadily*; borrowed from the Greek, e.g. Pind. 
Isthm. VI. 13 6p6Q iaraffas M <r^pj), and imitated by Pers. v, 
104 recto invere talo. * This criticism is to a great extent true', 
Sellar 1. c. Not that Plautus was without a natural pride in the 
success oif some of his plays, but * his delight was that of a vigOr- 
ous creator, not of a painstaking artist \ 

177 — 207. A dramatic writer is dependent upon his audience; 
and very often upon the baser part of them, Even the bttter 
educated carefor little now but spectacle, 

177. fiTlorla *fame\ as opposed to the desire of making 
money. 

Tontoso * airy ', not without a suggestion of the ^ckleness of 
fame; cp. Ep. i. 8, 12; 19, 37. 



278 HORATI EPISTULAE. 

178. le&tnil * indifferent ', * irresponsive ' ; cp. leniissima bra£' 
chia in Sat. l. 9, 64. 

Inflat * inspires ', almost equivalent to reficit below. There 
does not seem to be any suggestion of pride here, any more than 
in Cic. in Pis. 36, 89 cum tibi spe falsa...animos rumor in- 
Jlasset, 

180. AUt : Bentley^s ac has very slight authority, and is not 
needed. 

▼aleat * no more of ! ' or * good-bye to * : re« lndlcra, i. e. 
the drama. So we have partes ludicras sustinuerunt in Suet. 
Ner. II, and qui artem ludicram faciunt is a jurist*s term for 
actors. 

181. macmiii— opimiiiii, with a humorous exaggeration for 
* depressed ' and * triumphant *. 

182. audaoem, i.e. the poet who is bold enough to run 
the risk of failure from popular indifference. 

184. depugnare, stronger than Orelli's manus intentare : 
rather * to fight it out '. 

186. eques: the knights, i.e. the wealthier and bettef 
educated part of the audience (cp. note on Ep. i. i, 62), would 
naturally differ in their tastes from the mass of the spectaturs. 
Cp. Sat. I. 10, 76 satis esi equitem mihi plaudere, ut audaXf 
contemptis aliis^ explosa Arhuscula dixit, A. P. 113, 248. 

medla Inter cannlna : Terence (Hecyr. Prol. i. i — 5, and 
II, 25 — 34) pathetically coikiplains that the first time his Uecyra 
was acted the audience went off to see a rope-dancer, and tbc 
second time they deserted him in order to get good places at a 
gladiatorial show. carmen is used of a tragedy in A. P. 220, 
and includes dramatic poetry in v. ^, Cp. Tac. Ann. xi. 13 
is carmina scaenae dabat. 

186. vrsum : bears were brought in to fight with mastiffs 
(molosst) : forty bears were baited in the circus at the games 
given by the aediles in B.c. 169 (Liv. XLiv. 18): one hundred 
at the games in B.c. 61 (Plin. H. N. viii. 36, 131). Sometimes 
tame t«ars were shown (Mart. i. 105, 5). 

pngUes 'boxers', were a favourite sight with Augustus: 
Suet. Oct. XLV. spectavit studiosissime pugiles^ et niaxinu 
Latinos. 

gandet : so the vet. Bland. and other good MSS. The first 
letter having become obliterated in some copies, plaudet was 
written by conjecture, and appears in many MSS. The tense 
being evidently wrong, subsequent copyists vfxot^ plaudit^ which 
is found only in inferior MSS. Orelli's pleading for piaudit is 
very weak. 



Bk. II. Ep. I.] NOTES, 279 

ple1)eciila, used by Cic. only in a4 Att. i. 16, ri« Pers. iv. 6 
as usual imitates Horace. Suet. Vesp. xviii. puts the word 
into the mouth of Vespasian : simret se plebeculam pascere, with a 
notion of contempt, and perhaps also as a specimen of the rough 
language of the low-born emperor. 

187. equltis : Bentley reads equitiy which is perhaps a more 
usual construction. but not to be thrust upon Horace against the 
MSS. 

188. InoertOS *wandering*, turning restlessly from one 
object lo another, and therefore not caring to give the fixed 
atteation needed for a drama, not accompanied by much spec- 
tacular display. .Bentley's emendation ingratos has deservedly 
found little approval. 

189. aulaea, from avXa^a, derived according to Servius on 
Verg. Georg. iii. 25, *ab aula Attali in qua primum inventa 
sunt vela ingentia*. It is more probable that the word meant 
originaJly the portihre of a hall. In the theatre the curtain was 
dropped at the beginning of the performance below the level of 
the stage, and raised at the conclusion. Cp. Verg. G. 1. c. ; 
Ov. Met. iii. \\i sic ubi tolluntur festis aulaea theatns: Cic. prd 
Cael. 27, 65 deinde scabilla concrepant : aulaeum tollitur, i. e. 
all is over. AU MSS. here have atttea^ which Keller is inclined 
to think Horace may have written. But the confusion between 
ae and e came in as early as the fir^t century after Christ, and 
it is better to follow the true orthography, 

premimtTir * are kept down *• 

190. ftigiunt 'are fl^ringacross the stage*, with nonotion of 
flight, as Orelli supposes. Cicero writing to Marius (Ep. Fam. 
VII. I, 2) says qud quidem apparatu non dubito quin animo 
aequissimo carueris : quid enim delectationis habent sexcenti muli 
in Clytaemnestra aut in Equo Troiano creterrarum tria milia 
aut armatura varia peditatus et equitatus in aliqua pugna? 
quae popularem admirationem habuerunt^ delcctationem tibi 
Hullam attulissent, 

191. regiiiiifortana=reges infortunati. 

192. esseda *chariots', light open two-wheeled carriages, 
said to have been used first by the Belgae (Caes. B. G. iv. 33, 
V. 16) and employed by the Britons as war-chariots. 

pllenta *carriages', covered two-wheeled vehicles, easily 
swinging (and thiis connected with pilum the * swung ' or hurled 
weapon, Vanicek, Dict. p. 1184) and used for ladies ('quibus 
vehuntur reginae captivae', Acron), and for religious proces- 



28o HORA TI EPISTULAE. 

petoxtlta ' waggons '» foar<*wheeled carriajg;es, used especially, 
according' to Acron and Porphyrion here, for slaves. Cp. Palmer 
on Sat, I. 6, io6. Essedum 2caA petorriium are probably both 
Keltic words» but cp. Fcst. p. aoo petoritum et Gallicum vehi- 
culum esset et nomen eius dictum esse existimant a numero iiii 
rotarum: alii Osce^ quod hi quoque petora quattuor vocant. 

nayefl, either the rostra of captured ships^ or perhaps eren 
ships themselves, drawn in a triumphal procession by means of 
machinery. We have no detailed description of a triumphus 
navatis (cp. Liv. xxxvii. 69, xlii. 30, XLV. 41), but the coins 
stmck by Q. Fabius in commemoration of his triumph for a 
victory at sea bear ihe image of a quadriga with Jupiter in it, 
and under the horses a ship^s beak. Cf. Marquardt, Rom. 
Staatsv, ii. 570. 

198. ebvr, i. e. statues of ivory and gold : Livy speaks of 
tusks carried in procession in the triumph over Antiochus (xxxvii. 
59 tulit in triumpho.,.ebumeos dentes MCCXXXI) but these 
would not be suited for a display on the stage. 

CorlnthHB, not restricted to vessels of Corinthian bronze, 
as Acron seems to imply, though doubtless including tKese, but 
all the spoils of Corinth, and also probably a painting of the 
city. So Porphyrion : * quia imagines eius oppidi fabricantur, ut 
in triumphali pompa transire possint *. Cp. Cic. in Pis. 35, 60 
quid tandem habet iste currus ? quid vincti ante atrrum duces f 
quid simulacra oppidgrum ? quid aurum t quid argentum 1 
TibuU. II. 5, 115 «/ Messallinum celebrem cum praemia belti 
ante suos currus oppida victaferet. Li v. xxvi. 21,7 cum simu/curo 
eaptarum Syracusctrum, Cic. Philipp. viii. 6, 18 : de Qff. 11. 
8, 28 portari in triumpho Mctssiliam vidimus : and many simihu' 
passages. Even images of rivers or river-gods were carried in 
triumph : cp.Tac. Ann. ii. 41 vecta spolia^ captivi^ simulacra mon- 
tium^ fluminum, proeiiorum. Ov. Pont. ill. 4, 103» Hist. iv. 

194. DemoorltHB, the laughing philosopher: cp. Mayor on 
Juv. X. 28 : Cic. de Orat. li. 58, 235 (note): Sen. de Ira li. 10, 5 
Democritum aiunt nunquam sine risu in publico ftdsse. Pope in 
his Iinitation takes the same example, but a philosopher, wnose 
laughter was less easily raised, would have been more to the 
point. 

195. dlvenimi geniM, the accusative retained after a passive 
verb, not simply the so-called Greek accusative of respect, as in 
Verg. Aen. iii. 428 Delphinum caudas utero commissa luporum, 
Roby § 1126, S. G. § 471. Orelli, not so well, takes genus as 
the nom. in apposition to panthera, *A panther mingled in its 
unlike nature with a camer, i.e. the giraffe or camelopard J cp. 



Bk. 11. Ep. L| NOTES. 281 

Plin. N. H. VIII. 18, 17 Cdmelopardalis dictaforis Caesaris Cir» 
censibus ludis (B. c. 46) primutn visa Romae* 

196. 01eplian8 albns : white elephants are proverbially very 
rare, being really albinoes. Even the famous white elephants 
of Siam seem to be really of a slate colour. Cp. * Daily News * 
for Jan. 31, 1884. The form in -ans is that best supported 
here, though doubtless the n was not pronounced: but cp. 
Brambach Lat, Ortkogr, p. 267, Roby § 495, S. G. § 166. — 
Bentley's converterit has very slight support, and would hardly 
be defensible, if it had more. 

197. ludis ip8l8=quam ludos ipsos: Sat. I. i, 97 se non 
unquamservo melius vestiret: Verg. Aen. i. 15 quam lunofertur 
terris magis omnibus unam coluisse, This usage with an adverb 
seems limited to poets: cp. Kuhner Gramm, 11. 976. 

198. nlmio appears to have decidedly more authority than 
the vulgate mimo^ the vet. Bland. being here supported by some 
of Keller's best MSS. It is also the reading which is apparently, 
though not really, the harder, for it is doubtful whether mimus 
can be used, as Orelli says, *pro.quovis histrione', and it is not 
easy to see why Horace should not have used the plural for the 
actors on the stage. Yox plus nimio cp. note on Ep. i. 10, 30. 

199. asello snrdo : Horace has packed two proverbial ex- 
pressions into one, for the sake of greater emphasis : cp. Ter. 
Haut. 111 ne ille hauscit quam mihi nunc surdo narret fabulam^ 
and Zenob. V. 42 &'v rtj ?Xc7€ fjLvdov 6 5k rd, ch-a iKlveL ' els 
djfaiff6rj<fLay ri,vQv ii vapoifda ctfyrjrai, 

202. Gargantmi : Cann. 11. 9, 6 aquilonibus quercda Gargani 
laborant, The forests of Garganus have now almost entirely 
disappeared» as is also the case very largely in the Apennines. 

203. ludl, a term equally applicable to the ludi scaenici and 
to the ludi circenses, so that we need not suppose with Orelli 
any reference to the latter. artes 'works of art' : Ep. i. 6, 17. 

204. oUitUB 'bedizened*; Mr Yonge compares Milton's 
'besmeared with gold ' in Par. L. v. 356. The word is used in 
the sense of *overloaded' in ad Her. iv. 11, 16 si crebrcte 
conlocabuntur [exomationes], oblitam reddent orationem; Cic. 
Bmt 13, 51 eloquentia.^.ita peregrinaia est tota Asia, ut se 
exfernis oblineret moribus : so that Eckstein's conjecture obsitus^ 
though neat, is needless. 

206. sane emphasizing nil: 'not a word'. Cic. de Orat. 11. 
I, 5 (note). 

207. veneno *drug*, i.e. dye. The purple (murex) of Ta- 
rentum was considered second only to that of Tyre (Plin. ix. 39, 



282 HORATI EPISTULA^:^ ^ ^ 

63). * At tlfe spot called Fontanella is the Monte di Chfocciold 
[snail-shells], a hill entirely formed of the shells used in making 
the purpk dye'. Hare Southern Italy, p. 332. The wool of 
Tarentum was also famous : cp. Carm. il. 6, 10. For the ques- 
tion as to the nature and colour of the Roman viola^ cp. notes 
on Verg. Ecl. 11. 47, Hor. Carm. Iil. 10, 14 (Page and Wickham). 

208 — 213. lam not speaking from any disinclination to tke 
theatre: a great dramatic poet seems to nu a true magician. 

208. ne putes : Roby § 1660, S. G. § 690. 

209. me laudare mallgne *■ that I am niggardly in my praise '. 

210. pef eztentum fimem...lre, a proverbial expression for 
anything difficult: cp. Arrian Epict. III. 12, 2 hvcKoK^v icri koI 
ro iirl axoiviov TrepnroTeXv* koX oi jxovov biaKo\ov, dXXa Kal iinKiv' 
dvvov. per is thepreposition usually cfmployed tb denote motion 
over, as in Carm. II. i, 7 incedis per ignes *on the thin crust 
of ashes beneath which the lava is glowing *. 

211. inaniter *by illusions*, i.e. without any real causefer 
it all. [Exactly so used in Cic. Acad. ii. 11, 34 cum sit in 
certumy vere inaniterque moveatur; ib. 15, 47 cum ammi inanitet 
moveantur eodem modo rebus eis, quae nullae sint ut eis qucu 
sint, where Cic. is representing thfi mtvoirafieia or Sicuceros 
iXKVfffMS of Sextus: cp. de Fin. T". i, 3 me quidem...spea'es 
quaedam commovit, inamier ^Ucet, sed commavit tamen : Tusc. 
IV. 6, 13 cum inaniitr et effuse animus exsultat, tum illa laetitia 
gestiens vd ttimia dici potest, quam ita definiunt, sine Yaiione 
ammi elationem. J. S. R.] 

214 — 218. Let other poets too hdve a share in your patronage 

214. et liis Uo these too': et is not used after age as a 
simple copulative, but always has the force of *also* : cp. Kiihner 
on Cic. Tusc. iii. 13, 28, and Mayor on Nat. Deor. i. 30, 83. 

215. fa^diaferre: cp. Verg. Ecl. 11. 14 Amaryllidis...su' 
perba pati fastidia, Buperbi *fastidious' as in Sat. 11. 2, 109; 6, 
87. 

216. redde *give' as due, not *give back*: this force is 
common with reddere: e.g. Carm. 11. 7, 17 obligatam redde lovi 
dapem, II. 17, 30 reddere victimas...memento ; it is found also 
with reponerCy repetere, reposcere, &c. , and is a slight extension of 
the meaning of *restoration to a supposed normal state': Roby 
§ 2102. So airo^ihovai, etc. are used. Bentley's reading impende^ 
the gloss of a worthless MS., is quite needless. 

mnntiB ApoUine dignnm, Ep, i. 3, 17 (note). 

218. Helicona : Helicon was regarded as the hoine of the' 
Muses as early as the time of Hesiod (Theog. i), who in early 
youth is said to have tended sheep on it, and Pindar (Isth. Vli. 



Bk. 11. Ep. I.] NOTES. 283 

57): and on it there was a grove sacred to them, described fully 
by Pausanias. The eastem or Boeotian side on which this lay 
abounded in springs, woods and fertile valleys, herein sharply 
contrasting with the savage wildness of Cithaeron. Cp. Words- 
worth's Greece^ pp. 258 fF. 

219 — 228. That we do not enjoy this tnore ofien^ is due to our 
cwn tntrusiveness, susceptibility^ and vanity, 

220. ut Tlneta caedam mea, evidently a proverbial expres- 
sion, though not found elsewhere. But cp. Tibull. I. 2, 100 quid 
messis uris acerba tuas? Horace good-humouredly includes 
himself in the number of the pestering poetasters, though no one 
could have been more free from the faults which he here de- 
scribes, than he was himself. 

228. loca, used, for metrical convenience, for locos *pas- 
sages', the form always used in prose in this sense. Conversely 
loci is occasionally used in poetry (Lucr. iv. 509 : Verg, Aen. i. 
306, II. 28, etc). once in Livy (v. 35, i) and often in Tacitus in 
the sense of *places* for loca. Cp. Neue Formenlehre i* 542 — 3. 

inrevocatl ' though not encored * : for the *scenic' use of revo^ 
carcy cp. Holden on Cic. pro Sest. 56, 120: Reid on pro Arch. 
8, 18 : Liv. VII. 2 Livius...cum saepius revocatus vocem obtudisset. 
Ov. Ara. III. 2, 73 sed enim revocate^ QuiriteSt et date iactatis 
Ufidique signa tojfis. 

225. tenul deducta lllo *fine-spun'. For the metaphor cp. 
Sat. I. 10, 44 fifrte epos acer ut nemo Varius ducit: Sat. ii. 1,3 
putat...mille die versus deduci posse. For Jilum see Reid on 
Cic. Lael. 7, 25 alitid quodddm Jilum orationis tucte^ and Cic. de 
Ocat. II. 22, 93 erant paullo uberiore ^fih. Tninfihrtr 'tiiattlre 
toil and fine woricman^np spent trpon our poems is not noticed *. 

227. commodHB *obligingly': Ciixm*iv, ^yxdonarempateras 
grcUc^ue commodus, Censorine^ meis aera sodcUibus. 

228. egere Tetes 'bid us want no longer'. 

229 — 244. But after all great merits should be celebrated by 
great poets. Alexander was a ridiculously bcul judge of verse, 
though a sound critic of art, 

229. est operae pretliim 'it is worth while*, a phrase of 
transition: cp. Sat. I. 2, 37, ii. 4, 63. Ennius has ^audire est 
operae pretiumy procedere recte qui rem Romanam^ Latiumque 
augescere voltis\ quoted by the Schol. on Sat. i. 2, 37. Opera& 
b of course genitive, but in est operae it is dat., cp. Roby § 1283. 

280. aedltno» 'temple-keepers*, i^w«ropovf. Merit is p>er- 
sonified as a goddess, whose shrine is kept by the poets who sing 
ber praises. 



284 HORATI EFISTULAE. 

233. Cnioerllai. There were three well-known poets of tliis 
name. (i) Choerilus of Athens, one of the earliest tragic poets, 
who produced many plays between b.c. 523 and B.c. 483: (2) C. 
of Samos» the composer of an epic poem on the Persian wars, a 
younger contemporary and friend of Herodotus : (3) C. of lasos, 
also an epic poet, but of a very inferior kind, who foUowed 
Alexander to Asia. This last is the one here meant : in A. P. 
357 he is taken as the type of a poet who sometimes * deviates 
into ' excellence. Acron here says that he had only seven good 
lines in his poem on the exploits of Alexander, for ea(£ of 
which he received a gold piece. On A. P. 357 he adds that 
Alexander had bargained to give him this reward, on condition 
that the bard should receive a blow for every bad verse, and 
that he died of the blows. The king is reported to have said 
malU se ThersUen Homeri esse quam Choenli Achillem^ which 
does not look as if he was so bad a judge of poetry as Horace 
represents him to have been. Alexander was not only the pupil 
of Aristotle, but also himself an enthusiastic student of Homer : 
possibly, as' Schiitz thinks, Horace's low estimate of his critical 
powers was simply due to the fact that^jthere was no good 
poem extant of whicb he was the theme. 

Incnltla et xnale natla <rough and misbegotten' : versihus is 
dative,as in Ovid, Trist. Ii^ 10 acceptum refero versibUs esse nocens, 

234. rettQlit acceptos 'set down to the credit of * : acceptum 
referre is the regular phiase for to enter on the receipt side of 
accounts, opposed to expensum ferre : cp. Cic. Phil. ii. 16, 40 
ego enim amplius sestertium ducentiens acceptum hereditatibus 
rettuli. 

regrale. The right of coining gold was always reserved to 
themselves by the kings of Macedon, as by the kings of Persia 
and afterwards by the Romans : while subject states and dis- 
tricts were often permitted to coin silvcr (cp. Gardner's Gredt 
Coins^ p. 26): and there may probably be a reference to this 
here : cp. our sovereign,, ahd Sapci/coy, which is apparently derived 
not from Darius, |tf»rfrom the Persian dard, * king *. The coins 
of Philip hs^i^n one side a head of Ares, on the other a chariot, 
not as some editors say the king's head (Gardner, p. 188). There 
is no ihstance of a realistic portrait of an earlier time than 
Alexander (ib. p. 175). 

nomlsma; this is the earliest instance in which this purely 
Greek word occurs in Latin: Martial has it several times. 

Fliillppos : the Philippus or Philippeus (with or without num- 
mus) was a gold piece, coinedby Philip H. of Macedon to repiace 
the Persian darics, which had up to his time been the gold 
coinage most widely current in Greece, probably as a preparation 



Bk. II. Ep. I.] NOTES. 285 

for his great scheme of conquest (Mommsen, liem. Munvw» 
p. 51). Five of them were equal to the mina (cp. Plaut. Rud. 
1314): the average weight of those extant is 8*6 grammes 
(Hultzsch, Metrologie^ p. 342-5). If estimated by the present 
value of the amount of gold they contain, their value is about 
£\, 3J. (id,\ but if moasured by their relation to the drachma 
(20 times 9f</.)» ^^ value is nearly identical with that of the 
French napolion or twenty-franc piece, i.e. about i6j. yi, The 
relation qf silver to gold was generally taken as i to 10, though 
we find it varying between this proportion and i to ii\\ now it 
is normally i to 15^. (Cp. Hultzsch, Metrologie^^ p. 240, and 
Tabell. xvi.) 

236. Botain labemque 'mark and blot*. remlttimt <pro- 
duce': Sat. 11. 4, 69: 8, 53. 

286. atramenta includes writing-ink, painter's black, black- 
ing for boots, and in short all kindg of dark fluids. 

289. edloto : cp. Plin. N. H. Vll. 37, 125 idem hic imperator 
edixitf ne quis ipsum alius quam Apelles pingeret^ guam Pyrg»- 
teles sculpereiy quam Lysippus ex aere duceret. But as there 
were representations of the king by other artists we can only 
uaderstand this to mean either that Alexander gave commissions 
hiniself to no others, or that he never sat to any one else. Cp. 
Overbeck, Griechische Plcutil^y II. qi. 

ApeUen: cp; £p. l. 2, 12 (note). Apelles painted Alexander 
as bearing the thunderbolt (Plutarch, Alex. 4). 

240. lyalppo : for the case cp. £p. I. 16, 20 (note). The 
advance in statuary made by Lysippus is thus described by Pliny 
XXXIV. 8, igplurimum trclditur contulisse capillum exprimendo, 
capita minora faciendo^ qttam antiqui, corpora graciliora sicciora- 
que, per quae proceritas signorum maior videretur, He limited 
nimsdf to bronze casting, and never worked in marble. 
Propert. iv. (iii) 9, 9 says ^oria Lysippi est animosa ejffingere 
sigtuu 

dooeret : Bentley defends the conjecture of Lambinus cu- 
deret^ arguing that diicere cannot be applied to the metal itself, 
but only, as in Pliny I. c. and elsewhere, to that which is formed 
out of the metal. But cudere would be an improper term to 
use of work which was cast, not hamraered. The extension of 
the usage of ducere seems quite legitimate, and may be defended 
(with Schlitz) by phrases like ducerefilum for ducerefilo carmen : 
in Ep. l. 6, 17 aera is used for signa ex aere/acta, 

242. anbtUe *exact*: Pliny (H. N. xxxv. 10, 85) gives a 
very diflferent account of AIexander*s critical faculty : Alexandro 
Magno frequenier in offici*iam ventitanii..,imperite multa dis- 
serenti [Apelles] silentium comiter suadebcU^ rideri eum dicens a 
pueris, qui colores tererent. 



286 HORAtl EPISTULAE. 

Tidendis artilmB: Schlitz is perhaps right in taking the case 
to be the dative ; but he is not correct in saying that with the 
ablative in would have been required; Drager ii*. 84^, 850 
gives many instances in which the gerundive is used m the 
ablative, much as here : videre is used with an extended force = 
visu aestiniare or videndo diiudicare. " If however we accept 
Overbeck's view that Alexander*s restriction only extended to 
his own commissions, we may perhaps interpret videre as * pro- 
vide*: cp. Cic. de Orat. iii. i, 1 (note), ad Att. V. i, 3, and 
Munro on Carm. i. 20^ 10. 

244. Boeotnni, gen. plur., Roby § 365, S. G. § 115, not acc. 
sing., as some have supposed. The duli, heavy air of Boeotia is 
often contrasted with that enjoyed by the Athenians, who were a&i 
5tA XafJLirpoTdTov palvoPTesd^pm al04pos (Eur. Med. 829): cp. Cic. 
Fat. 4, 7 Aihenis tenue caelum, ex quo acutiores etiam putantur 
Attici : crassum Thebis^ itaque pingues Thebani : de Nat. D. II. 
6, ij ut ob eam ipsam causanit quod ftiam quibusdam regiontbus 
atque urbibus contingere videmus^ hebetiora ut sint hominum 
ingenia propter caeli pleniorem naturam^ hoc idem generi hutnano 
evenerit, etc, where Prof. Mayor quotes Strabo (li. 3, p. 10« ff.) 
as attacking Posidonius for maintaining this doctrine: w ydp 
ipv(T€i *A0rjvaxoi {ikv <f>i\D\ofyoi., AaKe8atfi6vioL di ov Kal ol iyyvrepb) 
Qrjpatoi, dXXA fjidWov idei, So Juvenal X. 50 quotes Democritus 
as a proof summos posse viros et magna exempla daturos ver* 
vecum in patria crassoque sub aere nasci : cp. Mayor's note for 
other instances of the influence of climate on the mental and 
moral character. *Instead of the pure and transparent atmospherc, 
which is one of the chief characteristics of the Attic chmate, 
the air of Boeotia is thick and heavy in consequence of the 
vapours arising from the valleys and lakes*. Dict. Ge<^. i. 
414 a. Cp. '^oxAs9foM's Athens and Attica,i^. 241. Pindar, 
01. VI. 152 speaks jestingly of the proverbial Bocarr/a ur, and 
Cratinus called the Boeotians Ivo^oiurroL For the tense of 
iurares cp. Sat. I. 3, 4, Madvig § 247, 2, Roby § 1532, 

246 — 250. You have shonon yourself a betterjudge in the case 
of Vergil and Varius, 

246. dedeoorant: the subjects Vexgllliifl Tarliuqiie are 

transferred, as often, to the relative clause. 

246. mnnera, i.e. the gifts which the poets had received 
from Augustus: Acron here says that each had already received 
from him 1,000,000 sesterces. There is no other authority for this 
sum; but at his death in B.C. 19 — some years before the date of 
this Epistle — Vergirs fortune is said to have amounted to 
10,000,000 sesterces, mostly if not entirely due to the bounty of 
patrons. Varius was apparently older than Vergil, but survived 
nim and was one of his literary executors: there is nothing to 



Bk. 11. Ep. I.] JSrOTES, ' 

show whether he was alive or not at this lirm^n niiliil^pririi i 
his epic poetry (Sat. i. lo, 44) ; but his most famous work was 
his tragedy of Thyestes, which Quintilian (x. i, 98) ranks with 
the Greek master-pieces. 

mnlta daxitla cnin laude: i.e. all men warmly praise such 
judicious liberality, instead of laughing at it, as in the case of 
Alexander and Choerilus. Ritter oddly thinks that the words 
refer to the lively gratitude of the recipients. 

247. Verglllas: cp. Palmer on Sat. i. 5, 40 *the weight of 
MSS. and scholiasts 01 Horace here and elsewhere is mostly on 
the side of Virgilius: but these cannot be set against the 
Medicean and other early MSS. of Virgil : see Wagner Orthogr, 
Verg, p. 479*. Add Ritschl Optisc, ii. 779 ff. 

248. expFessi 'reproduced ' : the metaphor is taken from 
plastic figures in clay or wax, and then becomes more general, 
and is used of imitation generally : cp. Cic. de Orat. iii. 12, 47 
vitia imitatione ex aliquo expressa: pro Arch. 6, 14 multas nobis 
imagines fortissimorum virorum expressas scriptores Graeci et 
Latini reliquerunt, 

aenea : both in Vergil and in Horace much better established 
than aheneay which, as Mommsen has shewn (Hermes i. 467), is 
not found in inscriptions to denote the bronze tablet used as a 
military diploma, before A.D. 134, 

250 — 270. / would myself glcully sing ofyour deeds^ if I had 
the power^ and did notfear to bring my august theme into ridicule 
as well as ntyself 

250. sermones here includes both Satires and Epistles, not 
merely the former, as Acron says. The style of the Epistles, 
though somewhat more careful than that of the Satires, is essen- 
tially the sermo quotidianus ; cp. Palmer's Freface to the Satires 
p. XXIII. and ad Her. iii. 13, 23 sermo est oratio remissa et 

finitima quotidianae locutioni. Conington renders: 

Nor is it choice (ah, would that choice were all!) 
Makes my duU Muse in prose-Iike numbers crawl. 

So in Sat. 11. 6, 17 Horace speaks of his musa pedestris. Pro- 

pertius il. i, 17 — 42 similarly ascribes his love-poetry to his 

incapacity for loftier strains. 

251. res componere gestas, i.e, to write a historical epic 
poem. 

252. aroes montUms Imposltas, stormed by the Roman 
armies: cp. Carm. iv. 14, 11 arces Alpibus impositas, 

253. ttilff ansplcUs : Augustus from B.c. 23 onwards held a 
^r^tXidX J>roconsulare imperium over the whole empire, and 



288 HORATI EPISTULAE. 

even in the senatorial provinces he had an imperiwn tnaius^ which 
made their governors formally subordinate to him. Hence the 
*iustus triumphus' could no longer be enjoyed by successful 
generals, who were only serving under his auspices, not under their 
own. During the earlier part of his rule, he sometimes allowed 
a triumph, but afterwards (apparently after B.c. 15: cp. Fumeaux 
on Tac Ann. I. 72) this honour was reserved to members of the 
imperial house. Cp. Suet. Aug. xxxviii. nee parcior in bdlica 
virtute honoranda^ super triginta ducibus iustos triumphos et ali^ 
quanto plurihus triumphalia omamenta decemenda atraint; and 
c. XXI. domuit partim ductu partim auspiciis suis Cantabriam, 
Aquitaniam^ Pannoniam^ Dafmatiam cum Ilfyrico omni; item 
Raetiam et Vindelicos ac Saiassos. 

255. Xantiiii: cp. Introduction to this Epistle. 

256. Partbls: Carm. Saec. 53 iam mari t&raqtte manus 
potentes Medus Alhanasque timet secures: Sat. il. 5, 6a iuvettis 
Parthis horrendus: Ep. i. 12, 27. 

257. oaperem, attracted into the tense ofpossem. 

258. redpit 'admits oV. Cp. Suet. Aug. lxxxix ingenia 
saeadi sui omnibus modis fovit : recitantes^ et benigne et patienter 
audivitf nec tantum carmina et historicu^ sed et oraiionfs et dicUo^ 
gos. Componi tamen aHquid de se nisi serio et a praestantissimis 
offendebatur, adftu>nebatque praetores, ne paterentur nomen suum 
commissionibus ['prize declamations *] obsolefieri. The term 
maiestas was properly applied to the people as a whole, but evcn 
Cic. in Pis. 11, 24 uses it of a consul, magjta maiestcts consulis: 
in Phaedr. II. 5, 22 tum sic iocata est tanta mcuestas ducis the 
term is not so much used as a title, as in accordance with Phae- 
drus's well-known preference for abstract words. 

259. ferre reonsent: cp. A. P. 39 quidferre recusent^ quid 
valeant umeri, 

260. etiilte, quem dillgit, urgraet : this punctuation, adopted 
by Bentley and most recent editors, is undoubtedly better than 
that which connects stulte with diligit. This would be very 
inappropriate, if referred to Angustus. 

262. diBCit, sc. aliquiSf to be supplied from the quis in ihe 
relative clause. 

264. nil moror: Horaoe puts himself fbr the moment in the 
place of the emperor : * I care nothing — and therefore I am sure 
that you do not . 

<MttQm= sedulitas above. 

llcto in peiHB YOltu: cp. Plin. Ep. v. 10 pictores pu/chram 
absolutamque formam raro nisi in peius effingunt. Adian has 



Bk. II. Ep. I.] NOTES. ^9 

a curious story (V. H. IV, 4), * I hear that there is a law at 
Thebes enjoining all artists, and painters, and scnlptors, to 
improve upon their subjects in representing them. The law 
threatens with a penalty those who in sculpture or painting 
represent them as uglier than they are * (roty e/s r6 xecp^y irore ti 
TrXdacunp fj ypdrl/cur^. There is of course no reference here to 
intentional caricature. 

265. proponl ceretiB 'to be exposed as a waxen image': 
i.e. to have a caricatured j)ortrait of myself offered for sale. It 
was customary to make the imagims of deceased ancestors of 
wax (Plin. H. N. xxxv. 2, 6 expressi cera voUus singulis dis- 
ponebantur armariis)\ and the art may naturally have been 
transferred to living persons of celebrity. Sometimes these were 
made by means of a plaster cast taken from the face of the 
subject. Cp. Marquardt R'6m. Privatalt, i. 246. There is a 
very life-like wax mask to be seen in the Museum at Naples 
(Mus. Borbon. xv. 54) which was found in a tomb at Cumae: 
it still has traces of paint upon the face, Cp« Daremberg 
and Saglio's Dict. fig. 1291. 

267. pingni *stupid* : Sat ii. 6, 14. 

tina cnin scriptore meo : Horace does not seem to mean 
more than *! should be involved in the disgrace which will 
come upon the poet who makes me his theme, when his worth- 
less poem is sent off to be used for waste paper*. The sug- 
gestion that he may mean *bust and poem alike would be 
discarded as rubbish' does not seem so good. 

268. oapsa, properly a book-case (Sat^ i. 4, la), here hu- 
morously put for a bier. 

porrectns, stretched out at length like a corpse. operta is 
the reading of all MSS. of any importance, and may well be 
defended. Sometimes a corpse was carried out to burial on an 
open couch or bier {lectus, feretrum\ sometimes in a coffin 
(capulus) carried on a frame (sandapila\ cp. Marquardt Frivat- 
alt, I. 360 ; and the latter was the more usual vrith the poorer 
classes; Becker, Qallus^ iii. 364. Many recent editors prefer 
apertay which Orelli thinks denotes more contempt: but the 
reverse is the case, if we are to accept the analogy of fimerals. 

269. Ylcnm, probably the vicus Tuscus of Sat ii. 3, 228. 

270. qnicqnld: Pers. I. 43 adds mackerel: nec scombros 
metuentia carmina nec tus; which he gets from CatulL xcv. 7 
Volusi annales..daxas scombris saepe dabunt tunicas. Our 
modem equivalent is to be found in the trunk-makers and 
pastry-cooks. Cp. Martial vi. 60, 7 Quam multi tineas pascunt 
blattasque diserti^ et redimunt soli carmina docta coqui, ili. 2, 4 
ne.,Juris piperisque sis cucuUus. 

W. H. 19 



EPISTLE II. 



The Florus of tbis epistle is the Julias Flonis to whom 
Horace addressed the third epistle of the first book. Now, as 
then, he appears attached to the suite of Tiberius Nero. But 
while the date of the fonner epistle admits of being determined 
precisely, it is less easy to fix the date of the present. Almost 
every year between B. c. lo and the death of Horace witnessed 
some campaign or joumey into the provinces on the part of 
Tiberius, on any one of which Florus may have accompanted 
him. There are only two considerations which help us to 
decide. (i) Horace speaks very strongly of his entire aban- 
donment oicannina^ i.e. lyric poetry. 'Diis exdudes the period 
of the composition of the Carmen SaectUare and the odes of 
the fourth book, i.e. B.c. 17 — 13. (2) The phrase accedente 
senecia (v. aii) may have a reference to his own position at the 
time. If so, this inclines us to go down as late as B.c. 12, 
when Tiberius, after holding the consulship in B.C. 13, was 
govemor of Illyricum, and quelled a revolt among the Pan- 
nonian tribes. But as Horace speaks of himself zspraecanus in 
B.c. 10 (Ep. I. oo, 24); and as Crassus in Cic de Orat. 11. 
4, 15 calls himself senex when only in his fiftieth year, we need 
not iay much stress on this. The really decisive quesiion is 
whether it was possible for Horace, aftcr the *Indian summer' 
of his lyrical productiveness to retum to the same position of 
renunciation which he had taken up before it. Vahlen argues 
that this was not possible, and therefore assigns the present 
epistle to B.c. 18, when he thinks that Tiberius was absent in 
Gallia Comata. But Mommsen shows that this absence fell in 
B.c. 16, a date excluded by considerations previously noticed. 
He therefore ascribes the letter to B.c. 19, in the autumn of 
which year Tiberius returaed with Augustus to Rome from the 
East. Schiitz foUows Vahlen: Ritter and Lucian Miiller adopt 
the later date, Ritter even placing it as late as B.c. 10. The 
balance of evidence seems decidedly to incline in favour of the 
earlier date. There is a great similarity of tone between this 
epistle and the first of the first book. In both Horace pleads 
that increasing years have left him no taste or power for lyric 
poetry; and make it a duty for him to study philosophy. Here 
ne lays stress also on the hindrances arising from city life, and 



Bk. 11. Ep. II.] NOTES, 291 

bis disgust at the ' mutual admiration ' cliques of ccmtemporary 
versifiers. 

1 — ^24. If you were to huy a slave^ FloruSy hnowing well 
hisfaultSy you would have no right to complain ofthe vendor, 

1. tKMio: cp. £p. I. 9, 4 (note)» and Fumeaux's excellent 
study of the character of Tiberius in his edition of the Annals 
of Tacitus, Introd. c. viii. 

tiaroque refers to the high birth and position of Tiberius, 
if we accept the earlierdate for the epistle: if we take the later 
date, it carries also a reference to his military exploits. Cp. 
Carm. IV. 4. 

8. Tlbure (for the form cp. £p. I. 8, t% note) vel OabilB 
shows that the boy was of Latin birth, not one of the less 
valuable slaves, imported from the £ast. 

4. eandldus 'fair* of complexion, as in Sat I. «, 133, not 
/uscus^ like Hydaspes in Sat. 11. 8, 14; or perhaps *without 
blemish*. It would be out of place to refer it here to his moral 
qualities. 

talos ad Imos : a proverbial expression t cp. Cic. pro Rosc. 
C. 7, 10 nonne ab imis unguibus usqm ad verticem summum ex 
fraudCy fallaciis^ ntendaciis constare totus videturt 

5. flet erltque, mere tautology on the part of the fluent 
slave-dealer with an imitation of legal surplusage : there can be 
no suggestion, as SchUtz supposes, in erity that the boy will not 
run away. 

nuxmnoram mililnui octe, about ;f 70, a very low price for 
a slave with any attractions and accomplishments. The servi 
litterati of Calvisius Sabinus cost 100,000 sesterces each (Seneca 
Ep. XXVII. 7). The value of slaves at Rome naturally ranged 
within very wide limits (cp. Wallon, Histoire de rEsclavage^ II. 
159 — 174) : Cato the Censor never gave more than 1500 drachmas 
(about £fi4^ for any slave (Plut. Cat. i), and in his censorship 
required that a slave under twenty years of age, who had been 
purchased for 10,000 asses (about ^^30) or more, should be as- 
sessed at ten times the price paid for him, on which assessment 
he then laid a triple tax in order to discourage this form of 
extravagance (Liv. xxxix. 44). Martial on the other hand 
(i. 59, I, II. 63, i) speaks of young slaves as sold for 100,000 
sesterces (nearly £^QO). Perhaps from ^^50 to ^^^^o may be 
taken as an average price for an ordinary siave : Davus in Sat. 
II' 7» 43 speaks of himself as bought for 500 drachmae: i.e. 
about £%o, [Under the Republic. a thousand sesterces were 

19 — 2 



'292 HORATI EFISTULAE. 

worth about £^. 17X., under the Empire they were worth about 
£*]. \6s, yi. : but our authorities do not enable us to determine 
the date of the change. Mommsen ascribes it to about B.C. 15.] 

6. Tenia, a slave bred at home, and therefore fit for do- 
mestic duties, not mere field-work. 

mlxilsterlis, dat. with aptus, ad nataB 'at the beck': 
cp. Cic. Or. 8, 24 ad eorum arbitrium et nuium totos se fingunt ; 
and for the pliual ad Fam. xii. i regios omnes nutus tuemur, 

7. litterulls Imbatos *with some slight knowledge of 
letters': imbutus of itself carries a depreciatory, not an in- 
tensive force, as Ritter says: cp. Ep. i. «, 69 (note), and Cic 
Tusc. I. 7, 14 o,n tu dialecticis ne imbutus quidem €s: Suet. de 
Gramm. 4 apud maiores, ait OrbUius, <;um familia alicuius 
venalis produceretur^ non temere quem litteratum in titulo, sed 
litteratorem inscribi solitum esse^ quasi non petfectum litteris, 
sed imbutum, The diminutive litterulis adds to the disparaging 
tone: Schiitz indeed denies that it can refer to the extent of the 
knowledge, only to the nature of the subject. But it does not 
matter much whether we say e.g. *elementary lessons in 
chemistry', or *lessons in elementary chemistry*. Cp. Cic 
Att. VII. 2, 8 Chrysippum vero^ quem ego propter litterularum 
nescio quid libenter vidi, in honore habui^ discedere a puerol 

artl cuillbet: an educated slave might be used as a reader 
[anagnostes)y copyist (librariusy scriba) or amanuensis (serzms 
ab epistoHs), Cp. Ter. Eun. 472 ff. en eunuchum tibi, quam 
liberalifcuie, quam CLdate integra ! ..fac periclum in litteris^fac 
in palaestray in musicis: quat liberum scire aequomst aduleS' 
centem soUeriem dabo. 

8. imitaberis, the reading of all the best MSS. has been 
altered into imitabitur by some copyists, who did not understand 
the figure of speech, and therefore fancied, oddly enough, that 
the boy was being praised for skill in modelling. Acron rightly 
explains id est, tanti ingenii est utflectas eum quo velis tamquam 
argillam udam. Pers. iii. 23 has udum et molle lutum es of one 
still capable of training. For the construction cp. A. P. 33. 

9. indoctum * in an untrained fashion' : Roby § 1096, S. G. 
§ 461. bibenti, when a man would be less critical. 'Tne dealer 
does not lay too much stress upon his slave's accomplishments, 
for fear of leading the purchaser to think that there must be 
serious faults to account for his being offered so cheap. 

10. levant : leviorem faciunt^ minuunt Comm. Cmq. 

11. eztrudere, quite equivalent to our *push off^. Thc 
Blandinian MSS. wiUi Keller's third class have excludere, which 
Cruquius wishes to read: 'excluduntur enim quae daustris 



Bk. 11. Ep. 11] NOTES. 293 

exemta venui proponuntur ', an interpretation whicli is as faulty 
as the language in which it is suggested. Keller quotes Ter. 
Hec. 173, Plaut. Mil. 977 (but see Tyrreirs note), Asin. 586, as 
instances in which exclttdo appears as a false reading for ex* 
trudo. 

12. meo In aere, sd Cic. ih Verr. iv. 6, 11 has hominem 
video non modo in aere alieno nullo^ sed in suis nummis multis 
esse ac semper fuisse. pauper often denotes not poverty but 
means slender yet suf&cient, as contrasted with indigus or egens, 
Cp. Ep. I. 10, 32. 

18. mangonimi, 'the slave-deal^rs'. The derivation of the 
word nmngo (which the dictionaries based on Freund by an over- 
sight say is post-Augustan)> from fidyyavov * a charm or philtre', 
commonly given is incorrect. The words may be ultimately 
akin ; but the meanings diverge too widely to adrait of direct 
derivation. It can hardly be doubted that mango is identical 
with our -monger (A.-S. mangere *a dealer'), Germ. -menger, 
from mangian * to trafi&c', and ultimately from mang^a. mixture'. 
The use of mangonico^ etc. with the notion of * to deck out, set 
off' is later, and seems to be derived from the practice of the 
mangoneSf and not vice versa. 

non temere : £p. 11. t, 110. 1 would not do this for every- 
body. 

14. cessayity * shirked his work* : cp. cessator Sat. li. 7, 
100. 

nt flt 'as usual*, as boys will do: cp. Cic Verr. Act. II. ii. 
33, 56 queriy ut jit^ incipiunt, > 

16. In Bcalis latnlt: the wooden staircase in the comer of 
the house (so always at Pompeii) fumished the most natural tem- 
porary hiding-place : cp. Cic. pro Mil. 15, 40 cumse ille [Clodius] 
fugicns in scalarum latebras abdidisset: Phii. II. 9, 2 1 nisi se ille 
in scalcu tabemae libraricte coniecisset: Cic. pro Com. frag. 50 
correpsit in scalas (quoted by Schol. vet. on Juven. VII. 118). 

pendentiB not to be connected with in scalis, as is done by 
Acron, though he inconsistently adds (in Hauthars text) et in 
medid domo ad timorem incutiendum habena pendebatt which is 
doubtless correct. The whip {Jiabena—lorum^ as in Verg. Aen. 
VII. 380 of the whip used by a boy to lash his top) was hung up 
in some conspicuous part of the house. 

16. des nnmmos, there are three possible ways of taking 
this phrase: (i) as a hypothetical subjunctive in apodosis to Jt' 
velit^ (2) as a conditional subjunctive withotit si expressed (Roby 
§ 1552. S. G. § 650, I. {a) : cp. Sat. 11. 3, 57) : (3) as a jussive 
subjunctive, In the first two cases the speech of the vendor ends 



294 HORATI EPISTULAE. 

at kabenae : in the last, it goes on the end of v. i6. The dedsion 
between these interpretations depends mainlj on the reading 
adopted as the last word in the line. The great majority of MSS. 
have laedat^ but the vet, Bland, has laedit, If we adopt the 
latter, with Bentley, Meineke, Munro, Ritter, Haupt, and 
L. Miiller, it seems best to take des as jussive, and as said by 
the vendor : * let me have the money, if the fact which I have 
mentioned, that he once ran away, does not trouble you '. (Cp. 
Roby § 1575, S. G. § 657 (^j.) It is however quite possible, with 
Schiitz, to render * should you give him the money, assuming that 
you are not troubled *, &c. (Roby § 1569, S. G. § 653), *then he 
would carry off his prize'. He argues that this is made necessary 
by the fact that the vendor who is desiring to minimize the slave'8 
offence, would not retum to it again, and use such a hard word 
about it as fuga^ when he had already said enough about it to 
satisfy the requirements of the law. There is something in this 
aigument, but it is hardly strong enough to make us force upon 
Horace so awkward a construction, as that which is involved in 
sn^^x>sing three conditional clauses, in successive subordination 
{st quis velit — (si) des — si laedit), to precede our apodosis. If we 
read taedat, it is then almost necessary to accept the first view, 
and to put the line into the mouth of Horace * you would give 
him the money, supposing you were not to be troubled', &c. 
ferat is then added by asyndeton, as a second apodosis. The 
great probability that /aedit, if the original reading, would have 
been assimilated by copyists to the neighbouring subjunctives is 
enough to make us decide in its favour. 

«zoepta : cp. Sat. 11. 3, «85 mentem, nisi litigtosusy exciperet 
dominuSf cum venderet: Gell. iv. 3, i iu edicto aedilium curulium, 
qua parte de mancipiis vendundis cautum esty scriptum sicjuit: 
titulus servorum singulorum utei scriptus sit, coerato, ita utei in^ 
tellegi recte possit^ quid morbi vitiive qmiqtte sit, quisfugUivus 
errove noxave solutus non sit, 

17. poenae securas : * without any fear of a penalty ' for 
selling a slave without giving due notice of his defects. Roby 
§ 1310 ; S. G. § 516. 

18. pradens 'with your eyes open', deliberately. A. P. 
461. Sat. I. 10, 88, II. 5, 58. 

lez, the conditions of sale, not (as Schlitz) the state of the law. 
est in some MSS. is placed before tibi^ in others after tiH, in 
others at the end of the line, in others it is omitted altogether. 
Probably the original reading was tibist; and the est was written 
over it, and afterwards introduced in various places (Keller). 
Schiitz has shown that it could not well beomittedherey betwcen 
two verbs each in the second person. 



Bk. 11. Ep. II.] NOTES. ?9S 

19. ln8aqiMrl8=d((tfms. moraxls 'aimoy', as In Cic^ in 
Verr. II. 78, 191 guid moraris? It is impossible with Ritter to 
put vv. 18 — 19 into the mouth of the vendor, and to suppose 
hunc^iTovTwi^^ vcit\ Horace only uses the indicative in place 
of the subjunctive for vividness. 

21. tallbiis oflidls, i.e. such friendly attentions as you are 
now demanding from me. The case is probably dative *of work 
contemplated* (Roby § 1156, S. G. § 481) as White takes it, 
jaither tnan abl. as in L. and S. 

mancnm : Sat. 11. 7, 88. 



is curiously out of place : still it is too bold to take it 
with Mr Yonge as neut. plur. for me^roitfUw. Pronouns are 
often attracted towards the beginning of a sentence. 

22. lurgftrM: 'scold': cp. note on v. 171. 

redtret r much better in itself, and far better supported than 
venirety which Bentley (silently and perhaps by oversight) retains 
from the older editions. Florus expecteci a letter from Horace 
in answer to his own. Cp. Ep. I. 13, a. 

23. tnm, i. e. at the time when I told you this. 

mecnm fadenUa : £p. il i, 68. 

24 — ^25. You €omplain too that I do not send you the poems 
which I promised, > 

24. attemptas * assail ', try to upset. snper hoo ' besides' s 
<id hoc^ perhaps ablative here (cp. Sat. ii. 6, 3; 7, 88), although 
in prose it would certainly have been accusative. It is less good 
to take it s&=^de hoc, as in £p. ii. i, 153, A. P. 439, Carm. 
Saec. 18. 

26 — 64. A soldier who had fought hravdy when poor would 
not do the same when enriched, So I was once compeUedy afler 
I had left Athens and taken part in the civil war, to take to poetry 
as a means of getting a living, But now that I have a competence^ 
I should be mad indeed not toprefer rest to writing, 

26.« Lnenlll, in the war with Mithridates B.c. 74—67. The 
reason why this story is told here is given in v. 53. Porph^rrion 
calls the man Valerianus, which is not a proper name, but denotes 
that he was one of the soldiers who had belonged to the army in 
Asia, commanded by Valerius Flaccus in B.c. 85, and afterwards 
by Fimbria, whom they deserted in favour of Sulla. They are 
mentionedunder this name also by Sallust, Hist. Iii. 36 (Dietsch), 
41 (Kritz). Cp. Mommsen Hist. iii. 306, 311. 

Tlatloa, properly 'travelling money' [whence the usage in 
the Church for tiie ^dministration of the Eucharistinpreparation 



296 HORATI EFISTULAE. 

for the last joumey], tlien a soIdier's private stock of monej, 
his savings, as here, and in Tac. Hist. I. 57, 5, Suet. Caes. 

LXVIII. 

27. ad assem, quite equivalent to our to a penny ' : cp. ad 
unum, Verg. Aen. V. 687, and often. 

28. Tehdmeiu: this form is given here in all MSS., but the 
same is the case in v. 1 20 where the metre makes vemens necessary. 
Lachmann on Lucret. 11. 1024 {nam tibivetnenternova res molitur 
ad auris accedere) shows that vehemens is not necessarily an ana- 
paest anywhere before a letter of Marcus Aurelius to Fronto 
(P* 53)) that in Lucretius lii. 152, 482 and vi. 517 there is good 
authority for vemens, and that even Cicero uses vemens: cp. Boot 
on ad Att. viii. 5, i» Probal;>ly vemens is right here too. 

lapus, another instance of the use of metaphor for simile, 
which is so common in Horace. £p. i. i, 2; 2, 42; 7, 74; 
10, A%. [Perhaps a camp word in this application: c^. Liv. 
iii. 06, 3 occaecatos lupos intestina rabie occasionem opprimendi 
esse: Ov. Trist. I. 2, 17 e^tus instructus perterrita moenia lustrcU 
more lupi, j. s. R.] 

80. praesidliim, 'garrison', ^povpdy not tppovptop, which is 
denoted by tocus summe munitus (Schutz), 

81. remm : cp. Carm. iv. 8, 5 divite artium. 

82. donlB honestiB, 'gifls of honour', such as the corona 
muralisi the Aasta pura, phalerae^ torques aureae^ etc. The vet. 
Bland. has opimisy which one editor (Stallbaum), but probably 
only one, has ventured to adopt. It b a clear instance of the 
tendency to arbitrary alterations, which appears so perplexingly 
in this famous MS. by the side of preaous indications of Uie 
genuine tradition. 

88. Buper, 'in addition^ adverbial. Iiis dena 8e8tertl&, 
about £1 70. nnmmnm, not veiy commonly used after sestertia, 
denotes here *in cash*. 

94. snb hoc tempns: Ep. I. 16, 22 (note). praetor here in 
its original sense, as * general : cTpa-niybi is the regular Greek re- 
presentative of the word, even when used of ih&prcutor urbanus. 

86. mentem, * resolution ' : it would be hard to find a passage 
in prose, where mens so nearly approaches to the force of animus, 
or rather animi: cp. Verg. Aen. Xli. 609 demittunt mentes^ for 
which the phrase etsewhere used is apparently always demittere 
animum, 

89. catns, 'sharp*, a word said by Varro L. L. vii. 46 to be 
Sabine^ and used several times by Ennius, but only once by 



Bk. II. Ep. II.] NOTES. 297 

Cicero, and then with an apology: cp. de Leg. I. 16, j^f^ prudens., 
et^ ut ita dicam^ catus. Horace has it in Cann. Iil. 12, 10, catus 
iacularu Cp. Reid on Cic. Acad. ii. 50, 97. 

40. zonaxn : for the custom of carrying money in a belt cp. 
the passage from a speech by Gaius Gracchus, preserved in Gell. 
XV. la, cum Romam ^ofectus sum^ zonas^ quas plenas argenti 
extuliy eas ex provincia inancs rettuli, This practice does not 
seem to be mentioned in classical Greek [Xen. Anab. I. 4, 9 
quoted by Mr Yonge is not an instance] : but cp. Matth. x. j), 
/*i) Krq<n^a0e "Xp^xshv jxijd^ dpyvpov p.yjbk xa^f ©'' c^y Tctj ^(uva^ vfjLwv. 
So Livy XXXIII. 29, 4 ncgotiandi ferme causa argentum in zonis 
habentes commeatibus erant, In Plaut. Trin. 86a sector zonarius 
is a *cut-purse*. 

41. ccmtiglt: £p. I. ^, 46 (note). 

42. Achllles: cp. Quint l. 8, 5 optime institutum est ut ah 
Homero atque Vergilio lectio inciperet: Plin. Ep. il. 14, 3 in foro 
pueros a centumviralibus causis auspicari ut ab liomero in scholis, 

43. bonae agreeing with Atbenae *kind', almost equivalent 
to grato below. Others, not so well, connect the word with 
artlB, comparing Tac. Ann. i. 3, 4 Agrippam rudem^ bonarum 
artium» 

44. T^em: the MSS. yary here between vellem, possim, and 
possem: but Keller seems to be right in saying that the first has 
the most authority, while the hSt (though preferred by many 
good recent editors) has the least. With veLlemy ut must be taken 
as consecutive *so that it was my desire', i.e. *and inspired me 
with the wish' : with possem^ ut would probably be final *that it 
might be in my power*. 

reotiun carries with it the mathematical sense of a 'right* 
line, as well as the moral sense; and hence is opposed to curvus: 
so praivus originally means *crooked*, and our *wrong* is what 
is * wrung * aside or perverted. Skeat qnotes from Wyclif * wrung 
nose* for *crooked nose'. Persius IV. 12 again imitates Horace: 
rectum discemis, ubi inter curva subit^ vel cum fallit pede regula 
varo. 

dignoscere^ retained by many editors, is quite without au- 
thority. 

46. sUvas Academi : cp. Eupolis frag. 31 Mein. kv evffKtoit 
ipbtMUTi» 'AKadrjfjLov 0€w, whence Diog. Laert. iii. 7, calls it 
yvfivdffiov Tpo&trreiov a\ff^€S. The enclosure sacred to the hero 
Academus lay about three-quarters of a mile outside the walls of 
Athens on the road which ran through the Outer Ceramicus to 
Colonus. Its olive groves and . plane-trees were famou$: they 



298 HORATI EFISTULAE. 

were planted by Cimon, for *the Academy, which was before 
a bare, dry and dirty spot, he converted into a well-watered 
grove, with shady alleys to walk in, and open courses for races' 
(Plutarch Cimon c. 13). SuUa in his siege of Athens is said to 
hare cut down the trees, but they must have been replanted by 
this time. Plato had been wont to teach there, a custom followed 
by his successors. Cp. Cic. de Fin. v. i, a vmit enim miki Pla- 
tonis in mentem^ quem accepimus primum kic disputare soUtum: 
cuius etiam illi propinqui hortuli non memoriam solum miki 
afferuntf sed ipsum videntur in conspectu meo ponere, Hic Spew- 
sippusy kic Xenocrates^ kic eius auditor Polemo: cuius illa ipsa 
sessiofuit quam videmus. When Horace was at Athens the head 
of the Academic school was Theomnestus, whose lectures Brutns 
attended after the murder of Caesar (Plut. Brut. XXI v.). The 
expression however seems to be here a general one for the study 
of philosophy : Horace nowhere shows any special attachment 
to the Academic doctrines : he professes himself rather a foUower 
of Epicunis, though occasionaUy attracted to Stoic views of life 
and the universe. 

46. dnra tempora, i.e. the struggles between the murderers 
and the avengers of Caesar. Morere 'tore me away*. Brutus 
induced Horace to foUow him into Asia: cp. Sat. I. 7, 18; 
6,48. 

47. dtlllBqae : the order is civilisque aestus [l. 9, 8] tulit 
me rudem belli in arma non responsura etc. 

48. CaesarlB Angustl : so united onlv here by Horace : VergU 
has the title twice, Aen. vi. 793, vm. 078. 

responrara *fated to prove a match for', with something 
of the ironical humour which always marks Horace's references 
to his mUitary experience. Cp. Sat. ii. 7, 85 responsare cupidi- 
nibus^ ib. 103, ii. 4, 18, a usage apparently confined to Horace. 

49. vsaAib-ab armis, Blmvl primnm: a rare combination, 
rejected by Gronovius and Drakehborch on Liv. vi. i, 6 interim 
Q. Fabio simul primum magistratu abiit^ dies dicta est, and pro- 
nounced *everywhere suspicious' by Draeger ffist. Synt. il. 573; 
but sufficiently estabHshed by this passage. Simul ac primum is 
used by Cic. in Verr. Act. Ii. i. 13, 34, and by Suet. Caes. xxx., 
Nero XLili. Horace did not, Uke Pompeius Varus and other of 
his friends, join the forces of Sextus Pompeius and continue the 
struggle, but gave up arms at once. 

60. inopem: Horace*s father^s estate had evidently been 
confiscated after the victory of the triumvirs. 

61. paupertas: it was perhaps with the proceeds, direct or 
indirect, of these early verses (which Ritter wrongly Umits to 



Bk. II. Ep. II.] NOTES. 299 

l^nrics) that Horace bought himself the clerkship in the Quaestois* 
office, which put him out of the reach of absolute want, before 
he secured the patronage of Maecenas. These poems probably 
included some of the earlier epodes and satires, * which have no 
value, except as showing how badly even Horace could write' 
(Martin), and more of the same kind which have happily been 
lost But Horace is of course humorously exaggerating in his 
suggestion that the greater part of his poetry had been produced 
under the stress of poverty. He had received his Sabine estate 
by about B.c. 34, and probably all his works, except the first 
book of Satires, were published after this date. Cp. Theocrit. 
XXL I d xcvia,...fiJova rds t^x^^^ iyelpcu Hirschfelder argues 
that, as there is no sufficient evidence that the booksellers paid 
authors for their works (cp. Marquardt /^om. Privatali.^ p. 805), 
Horace can only mean that * nihil ab eis quos impugnavisset sibi 
eripiposse videbat^ and that thus he attacked without fear. But 
this view is hardly consistent with impulit. 

62. qnod non 6.e8it = quod satis sit: habentem=»<^»f, cum 
habeo. 

63. dcata *hemlock' was used as a febrifuge: cp. Plin. 
H. N. XXV. 13, 95 cicutae semini et foliis refrigeratoria vis. 
There is no need to suppose with the Schol. that cicuta is here 
put loosely for elleborus: the plants are cjuite unlike, and the 
medicinal use of hemlock, denied by Lambmus, is common even 
yet. Persius, as usual, imitates in v. 144 — 5 calido sub pectore 
fncLSCula bilis intumuitt quod non extinxerit uma cicutae. For 
the plural *doses of hemlock' cp. Kiihner Ausf. Gr. 11. 51—55, 
60. S. G. § 99 (r). potenmt— nl putem Koby § 1574, S. G. 
§ 654, a. 

66 — 67. TTien agam, Tmik mtfyttfth my poeticcU powers have 
hftme, 

65. annl: cp. Verg. Ecl. ix. 51 omnia fert cutas, animum 
quoque. Or. quotes from [Plat.] Epinom. 976 A 5<rwi' Capax... 
Xiit^VTOJL rrjv rtav ^(f(av <pA<n.v. 

enntea *as they go* : Carm. 11. 14, 5 quotquot eunt die^. Ov. 
A. A. III. 62 ludite: eunt anni morefiuentis aquae. 

66. iocos: Ep. I. 7, 26 — a8. 

67. quld fadam vIb 7 'what am I to do?* i.e. how am I to 
resist them ? with something of the impatience of the French qtie 
voulez-vous? Roby § 1606. S. G. § 672. 

68 — M. Thirdlyy tastes vary so much, that I cannot please 
every one, 

69. carmlne : Ep. i. 3, 34. lamblB, i.e. such as the epodes: 
I. 19, 33. Cp. Nettleship in Joum, Phil. xii. 55, note i. 



300 HORATI EPISTULAE. 

60. Biotiiels. Bion tbe Borysthenite, a teacher of philosophy 
at Athens towards the end of the fourth century and the be- 
ginning of the third, a pupil of the Academy, Crates, Theo- 
phrastus, but especially Theodorus the Cyrenaic (called the 
Atheist), was more distinguished as a wit than as a philo- 
sopher. Diog. Laert. iv. 46 — 57. Acron says in libro^ quem 
edidit^ mordacissimis salibus ea, quae apud poetas sunt ita 
laceramt, ut ne Homero quidem parcerety which is in harmony 
with the words of Diogenes ed^vi^s ^v koX irafHfidT}<rcu...Kod oXcuf 
Kcd /Mva-iKrjjf koX ycwfjLerplav 6UiraA^v. Cic. Tusc. Disp. III. 26, 
62 gives an example of his coarse wit as directed against 
Agamemnon : in quo facetum illud Bionis^ perinde stultissimum 
regem in luctu capiUum sibi evellerey quasi calvitio maerar 
levaretur, Among other sharp sayings ascribed to him is n^v 
^Xapyvplav ixrfrp6vo\iv To^rrii KaKLas elvot, which may be the 
source of i Tim. 6, lo. The Bion, No. 7 in JDict» Biog, is 
undoubtedly to be identified with the Borysthenite, though there 
distinguished from him. Bermonibns, ' satires ' : Horace's satires 
have with one exception little or nothing of the cynical profligacy 
which seems to have marked the writings of Bion. 

sale nigro, 'coarse wit': black salt would be at once 
stronger and less refined than the purified condiment Cp. 
Sat. 11.4, 74: I. 10,3. 

61. tres, the smallest number of guests, who could form 
a party: cp. Gell. xiii. 11, « \M, Varro in satiris Menippeis'] 
dicit convivarum numerum incipere oportere a Gratiarum numero 
et progredi ad Musarum. But even in so small a number there 
would be differences of tastes. prope=/5rr<i *I might almost 
say*. 

62. xnnltiim : £p. i. 10, 5 multum dissimiles, 

63. reniiiB tti, q.aod : Bentley read renuis quod tu, but the 
change in the leading subject is rather agreeable than otherwise. 

64. sane, not concessive, as Orelli, but intensive with In- 
TlBTim: cp. V. 133 below, ii. i, 206. addTmi keeps up the 
metaphor of the feast, and seems especially to refer to wine. 

66 — 80. Fourthly, the distrctctions of life in Rome are so 
great that it is impossible to compose. 

65. praeter, *beyond', rather than 'beside': cp. Reid on 
Cic. pro SuU. 3, 7. 

67. Bponflnm; *to stand security', Sat. ii. 6, 23 Romae 
sponsorem me rapis. Ep. i. i6, 43. 

aadltam scrlpta: the nuisance of recitations soon became 
aknost intolerable at Rome: cp. Cic. Att. ii. 'a, a coniurasse 



Bk. II. Ep. II.] NOTES. 301 

fnallem quam resiiiisse coniurationi^ si illum mihl audiendum 
Jmtassem: Ep. i. 19, 39. Mayor on Juv. iii. 9. 

68. cubat, *lies sick'. Sat. I. 9, 18 trans Tiberim longe 
cuhat is: (where Palmer quotes Ov. Her. xx. 164 kaec cudat, ille 
valet)t II. 3, 289 maier ait pueri menses iam quinque cubantis, 
The Quirinal was at the extreme N.E., the Aventine quite at 
theS.W. ofthecity. 

70. Iminane *prorsus ut ^irteticcGs* Or. i.e. ^^probe^ admodum; 
and no fatal objection lies against this force of the word. hu- 
manus like dvdpdirufos (cp. Dem. in Mid. 527 A.v6pwrlv7i Kal 
/lerpLa ffKrjil/ts) often means *reasonable' : so Cic. Phil. xiii. 17, 
36 moderaie aut humane, Cp. ad Att. xiii. 52, a homines visi 
sumus * we showed ourselves reasonable beings '. Many editors 
have hesitated to accept it. Ribbeck conjectures (very badly) 
homini uni, as if two men would have found the distance 
shorter! Frohlich suggested haud sane^ which has naturally 
met with much approval. If we suppose that HAVTSANE 
became by the obliteration of two letters H V I A NE the ccr- 
rection to HVM ANE must have foUowed as a matter of course, 
There is also strong confirmation from Terence, whom Horace 
seems to have known by heart, in Adelph. 783 edepol com- 
missatorem haud sane commodum. But the parallel of ^irtetKcSs 
is too close to allow us to say with confidence against all MS. 
evidence that Horace could not have used humane, We do 
not gain much by assuming with Schiitz that humane points to 
a man as the measure of the copvenience, *convenient for one 
who is but a poor human being'. This is an equallyunexampled 
use, and destroys the parallelism. Another plausible suggestion 
is that of Jeep (in Kriiger*s Anhang) insan^e commoda, comparing 
Plaut. Mil. 24 insane bene (but there A has insanum), 

▼enim. *Yes but you say', introducing an objection, with 
the force which at enim so often has in prose. Verum assents, 
but introduces a qualification: cp. Kiihner li. 686. 

71. plAteae is marked pl&iea in the dictionaries based on 
Freund and in Georges, with this passage and Catull. XV. 7 
noted as excej)tional instances of the short penultimate. But it 
is short also in Plaut. Trin. B^o sed quis hic est qui in plateam 
ingreditur (an anapaestic dimeter), Ter. Andr. 796, Eun. 344, 
1064, Phorm. 215, Adelph. 574, 582. I can find no instance of 
the long penultimate, which might have been expected from the 
derivation of the word from irXaTcta, (cp. Philem. Frag. 55 Mein. 
rrpf vXaTeiaif <roL fu6v(fi radrTiv ir€TroiriK€v 6 /SatrtXews;) earlier than 
Prudentius Perist. iv. 71 Christus in totis habitat plateis ; and 
Auson. Ep. X. 22. We have a parallel to the shortening in 
balinlfum from ^aXaveiov chorSa^ gynaechim, etc, (Roby § 229), 
Macleane says *it suits Horace to shorten it\ 



302 HORATI EFISTULAE. 

pvanSt 'dear'; i.e. free from obstructions : cp. Ov. Met. 
III. yog purus ab arboribus^ spectabilis undique campusi Liv. 
XXIV. 14, 6 puro ac paienti campo, 

72. caUdQS, 'in hot haste*; cp. Sat. I. 3, 53: Cann. iii. 
14, 17, where however the meaning is rather *impetuous'. 
reddmptor, 'a contractor' for buildings, as in Carm. iii. i, 35 
huc frequens caementa demittit redemptor cum famulis. mnllB 
gerollsqad, instrumental ablatives, indicating how the con- 
tractor showed his impetuosity. It is quite illegitimate to say 
with Macleane that *cum is omitted* : Kriiger compares military 
expressions such as ingenti exercitu^ omnibus copiis^ quadrato 
agminei but the addition of the epithet makes all the difference 
(Roby § i«34); equis virisque in Cic. de OfF. iii. 33, 116 is 
evidently proverbial (cp. Holden's note). The geruUj *porters' 
are the same as the /amuli of the passage in Uie Odes. The 
word does not appear to be used elsewhere in quite so general 
a meaning. 

73. macblaa, apparently *a crane* which 'swings* {torquef^ 
stones or beams needed for building, properly called tolUno^ 
but sometimes by a metaphor like our own, ciconia, cp. yipajnts. 

74. robnstlB, i.e. built for heavy loads, not quite as Orelfi 
*magnis largumque spatium occupantibus', Sat. i. 6. 42 si 
plostra ducenta concurrantque foro tria funera, The form flos- 
trum was the more vulgar one, therefore it is admitted only in 
the Satires, while the evidence of MSS. in the Odes and Epistles 
is in favour oi plaustrum, Cp. Suet. Vesp. 22 Mestium Florum 
consularem^ cuimonitus ab eo^ i>\a.ustTRpotius quam plostra, dicenda, 
postero die Flaurum salutavit, The use of wneeled vehicles 
was fbrbidden in Rome until ten hours after sunrise, except in 
the case of those employed in connexion with public buildings, 
temples, etc. (as probably here and in Juv. iii. 214), of market- 

. carts leaving the city, and of certain privileged persons. Cp. 
Marquardt, Rom, FrivcUait, II. 319 flf. Friedlander, Siiteng, 
l, ch. I. App. 3. 

75. fnglt; Galen noticed among the signs of madness in a 
dog t6 oXo^ws Tp^x^iVi which is still regarded as an indication of 
ircnzy ifurit, the reading of some inferior MSS. would be need- 
less after rabiosa, 

76. 1 nimc : Ep. i. 6, 17, note. 

77. Bcrlptonim, of poets especially, as in Ep. II. i, 36 and 

elsewhere. 

nrbem : the great preponderance of MS. authority is in 
favour of the singular here. Many recent editors have preferred 
the plural, on the ground that the singular after what has gone 



Bk. II. Ep. 11] NOTES. 303 

before cotQd only be understood of Rome. This would certainly 
be the case, if netnus^ used in a generic sense, had not come 
between : but the parallelism justifies us, I think, in following 
the best MSS. Cp. Juv. vii. 57, Ov. Trist I. i, 41, for the 
commonplace of the poet's love of retirement. 

78. Tlte dlens Bacdii 'in loyal allegiance to Bacchus'. 
nV^=*as is fit*. Cp. Carm. 11. 19, iii. «5. 

79. BtrepltiiB : Carm. iii. 29, iifumum et opes strepitumque 
Romae, The continual noise at Rome is one of its worst terrors, 
as palnted by Juv. Sat. iil. 

80. contracta: the vet, Bland,\zA cantata^ evidently only a 
correction for the reading of the great majority of yi^^.contacta^ 
which is clearly indefensible, as Bentley showed. He argues him- 
self in favour of non tcuta^ but contracta which he rejects contume- 
liously (* quasi vero poetae, quo nobiliores, non eo maiora et clariora 
vestigia post se relinquant'), really comes to much the same 
thing : paths whieh few have trodden, and which therefore oflfer 
no broad beaten track. Conington rightly has 

*Tread where they tread, and make their footsteps out', 

[contrctcta does not give the right contrast to strepitus. Possibly 
catcUa is a corruption oipacata, j. s. R.] 

81 — 86. Retirement from tke world makes a man ridiculous 
even in a quiet town like Athens: and kow can I veniure to 
pursue my studies at Rome ? 

The connexion of these lines with the context is not very clear, 
and the thought not logically developed. Hence some have re- 
jected them as spurious. But the drift seems to be somewhat as 
follows. Life in Rome, as we have seen, is ill adapted for poetic 
composition. But if a man grows old in studious retirement, he 
unfits himself for practical life. I do not choose to retire from 
Bociety and make myself a laughingstock, a course which is needful 
for true inspiration: nor, on the other hand, can I write here. 
Hence expect no more lyrics from me. Some critics have oddly 
enough supposedthat Horace must himself bethe ingenium^ and 
have thence arg^ed that he must have lived seven years at Athens. 
That he is not is shown clearly by the contrast with ego^ and not 
less by A^ i.e. at Rome. Plat. Theaet. 174 has an amusing 
sketch ofHne philosopher, how *on every occasion, private as. 
well as public, when he appears in a law-court, or in any place 
in which he has to speak of things which are at his feet and 
before his eyes, he is the jest, not only of Thracian handmaids 
but of the general herd, tumbling into wells and every sort of 
disaster through his inexperience. His awkwardness is fearful, 
andgives the impression of imbecility* (Jowett rv. 334). Jacobs* 



304 HORATI EFISTULAE. 

interpretation, apprOved by Orelli, *even those who have given 
years to quiet study sometimes fail to secure success as popular 
poets, and how can I satisfy myself with what I can produce 
amidst all this ' gives a less satisfactory connexion of thought. 

81. 8iU deBumpslt *has chosen as his home', Tacoas: Ep. 
^» 7» 45 vacuutn Tibur^ 

83. curis 'studies', kmTirfifinijaLTo^ especially philosophy. 

stattiatacitamius : cp. Sat ii. 5, 40 infantes statuas: Ludan 
Imag. I. dxcu^f <^^ <ca2 r(av dySpi^iTuy dKivrfr6T€pov dro^oyet. 

exit 'tums out*, not Qecessarily at Athens, as some have ex- 
plained, but still less at Rome, as Orelli says, which is at variance 
with the contrast in hic. 

86. digner, not quite = congr, a reading found in some MSS., 
but rather *am I to think myself fit for this task, and so set my 
heart upon achieving it? ' A rhetorical question of this kind is 
usually not introduced in Latin by thc *and*, which would be 
natural in English. 

87 — ^105. Fifthlyy mutual admiration has reached such a ptich 
kere^ that I canfind nofavour unless I am willingto hunwurand 
flatter every one in my turn, btU if I refuse to write^ I can live at 
my ease, 

87. frater...nt alter. This line can hardly be genuine, as 
it stands. All attempts to explain frater...ut sis=tam fratemo 
animo ut^ and to defend the expression by Sat. i. it 95 quidam.., 
dives ut metiretur nummos [where however the true reading is pro- 
bably quitam] or Sat. i. 7, 13 irafuitcapiialis^ ut ultimadivideret 
mors (cp. Sat. il. 7, 10), break down utterly : y^io/^ is not an 
adjective of quality with which an adverb of d^ee can be easily 
understood. Nor is the *Glohe' rendering legitimate: *There 
were two brothers at Rome:— their compact was that the one 
etc' Bentley, who well explained (against Heinsius) the con- 
nexion of the passage with the general line of thought in the 
epistle, admitted that the text as it stood was indefensible, and 
added ' magni sane emerim interpretem, qui locum hunc expedire 
possit*. His own suggestion (though not regarded by him as 
certain enough to be placed in tiie text) was Pactus erat Romae 
consulto rhetor *a rhetorician at Rome had bargained vrith a 
lawyer' : a construction which he illustrates with his usual fiilness. 
Meineke thought that a line must have been lost, owing to the 
copyist^s eye falling on two similar syllables recurring; and would 
read 

Frater erat Romae consulti rhetor, ut[erque 
alterius laudum sic admirator utj alter 
alterius etc. 



Bk. 11. Ep. n.} NOTES. 305 

In this reading the thrice repeated €ilter is far from d^nt, 
and the combination uterque cdterius very dubious Latin. Keller 
removes the latter difficulty, but increases the former by substi- 
tuting et alter for uterque, But, as Bentley saw, there is no point 
in making the two men brothers (as there is in v. 183), and the 
corruption is likely to be in the word frater, SchUtz suggests 
fautor^ which goes far to remove the difficulty. It is a favourite 
word with Horace in very similar expressions: cp. Sat. i. 10, 1 
tam Lucilifautor: Ep. ii. i, 13 sicfautor veterum : Ep. I. 15, 33 
nequitiae fautoribus: Ep. I. 18, 06 fautor laudaMt: and the 
meaning of the substantive allows it to take or to dispense with 
an adverb, as much as an adjective could. That there was 
mutual patronage may well be left to b'e understood from the 
context. [Prof. Palmer suggests auctor erat consulto, a reading 
which restores a good classic^ phrase': *a xhetorician proposed 
toalawyer*.] 

88. meros honores ^nothing but compliments': cp. Ep. i. 
7, 84, Cic. de Orat. ii. 22, 94 (note): Catull. xiii. 8 contra c^- 
cipies meros amoresy quoted by Orelli, is nat really parallel : cp. 
Eilis ad loc 

89. Gracchus, undoubtedly Gaius, who is praised by Cicero 
Brut. 33, 126 as a greater orator than his elder brother Tiberius; 
eloquentia quidem ftescio an habuisset parem neminem* Bentley 
suggested as a correction Crassusy i.e. L. Licinius Crassus, the 
fcimous orator, who takes a leading part in Cicero's three books 
De Oratore. Cicero (Brut. 39, 145) describes how a case was 
argued on the one side by Crassus, and on the other by his friend 
and coUeague in the consulship L. Mucius Scaevola the Pontifex 
ut eloquentium iuris peritissimus Crassus^ iuris peritorum elo- 
quentissimus Scaevola putaretur (cp. De Orat. I. 39, 180 note). 
Hence the line of Horace would gain in point by the substitution of 
Crassus for Gracchus: but this is not a sufficient reason to induce 
us to abandon the MSS. If Horace had any particular Muciiis 
in view, it was probably the colleague of Crassus; but several 
other members of the family were distinguished for their legal 
learning, especially P. Mucius Scaevola Pont. Max. (ihe father 
of the coUeague of Crassus, consul himself in B.c. 133) and Q; 
Mucius Scaevola Augur (the father-in-law of Crassus, consul 
B.c. 117). Hence perhaps we should translate *so that the one 
was a Gracchus, the other a Mnciiis'« 

foret liiilc nt KqcIus me : ^/known MSS. have hic ut Mucius 
illU but as early as 1516 this was corrected into the now all but 
universally received huic ille. It is plainly impossible to believe 
that Horace should have written ut hic illi Gracchus foret^ hic 
illi Mucius. Keller adduces examples of hic-hic, but none where 
ille is also used in the passage. This line must therefore be re- 

W. H. 20 



3o6 HORATI EPISTULAE. 

g^ded as one of the instances in which the archetype was clearljr 
y corrupt. Even Macleane, who holds that it is inexcusable to 
desert the MSS., does not attempt to defend their unanimoas 
evidence here. 

90. qiil mlniui *in what way less?* Sat. ii. 3, 311 qui ridi^ 
culus minusillo? ib. 7, 96 qui peccas minus atqtu ego? Translate 
* And are our tuneful poets less troubled by this madness?' Qui 
minus is merely a rhetorical question, and does not at all mean 
quo modo JUut minust Bentley's conjecture versat for vexat is 
needless; this absurd 'mutual admiration' based upon vanity is 
not really, as he thinks, a matter of pleasure in the long run, 
rather than annoyance. 

91. carmlna compono 'I am a writer of lyrics' ; though for 
the time being Horace had abandoned this form of composition, 
he speaks of it as his most distinctive style. 

mc, probably Propertius, who deligfated to be rcgarded as the 
Roman Callimachus (v. 100: cf. Propert. v. i, 63 — 64). If 
chronology forbids us to regard him as the bore of Sat. i. 9 
(cf. Palmer's edition, p. 219), written about B.c. 35,hehad pro- 
bably published most of his elegies before the date of this epistle. 
*The charge of belonging to a clique of mutual admirers might 
with a sliow of fairness be brought against one who, amongst 
other instances of exaggeration, compared his friend Ponticus to 
Homer (i. 7, 3 — ^4). The expression caelatum novem Musis 
opus is not more extravagant than manv in Propertius. V, 96 
is probably a hit at P.'s frequent use of the mctaphor with re- 
ference to himself. Again fcLstu and molimine just hit the im- 
pression which the style and perhaps the bearing of P. would 
make upon an unfavourable observer. V. 94 is a clear allusion 
to P.'s exultation at the reception of his poems into the Palatine 
library: see iv. i, 38 and note. Even Romanis has its sting: 
I. 7, 11, Lastly, I trust that it is not fanciful to see in the two 
words cufposcere and optivus^ which are each only found in one 
other passage in Latin, a travesty of P.'s love of archaisms.' 
(Prof. Postgate's Introduction to his Select Ele^s of Propertius 
pp. xxxiii-iv). 

mlrabilo vlBa caelatcimiiao novem MnaiB oirasl an admiring 
exclamation not, I think, used by the author of his own work, 
as most editors take it, but of mutual compliment, as seems to 
be required by the context. Bentley objected (i) that visu 
could only be used of extemal appearance, which is out of thc 
question here : (2) that caelaium Musis could only mean *adomed 
with figures of Muses* (as in Ov. Met. XIII. iio caelatus ima- 
gine mundif ib. 684 longo caelaverat argummto), Hence he 
wished to |jovem these words by circum spectemus, taking them 
in apposition to aedem, If they are interpreted of a book he 



Bk. 11. Ep. n.] NOTES. 307 

argaes that it is necessary, if of a temple it is at least an im- 
provement to read for caelcUum sctcraiunu But we may reply, 
-without pressing the fact that visus is used for any kind of 
appearance, (i) that mirabile visu had become a stereotyped 
compound expression for *admirable', (3) that the construction 
of caelo with the ablative does not exclude an entirely difierent 
construction with the dative of the agent. Cp. Ep. ii. i, 17. 
noTem : all the Muses must have had a hand in such an exquisite 
work of art I 

93. fasta *airs' : molimine 'importance', the bearing of a 
man ^qui magna molitur'. ciream-spectemiui : so Sat. i. 3, 
61 — 3 inter-esti Sat. ii. 3, 117 — 8 unde-ocioginta, A. P. 434 — 5 
inter-noscere. Here the rh^rthmical effect is perhaps intended 
to suggest the slow important look. 

94. Tatil>iui dat. *free to receive the works of. 

aedem, the temple of Apollo on the Pakitine, with its 
annexed libraries. Ep. l. 3, 17. Porph)rrion is wrong in ex- 
plaining (a note which he gives also on Sat. i. 10, 38) 'aedem 
' Musarum in qua poetae recitabant': the recitations follow in 
V. 95. But there seem to have been statues of the Muses in the 
temple of Apollo and public recitations were given there, at 
least in later times : cp. Mayor on Juv. Vii. 37. 

96. eeqaere, i.e. to the place of recitation, whatever it might 
have been, not necessarily to the temple. procol 'hard by', 
Sat. II. 6, 105, Verg. Ecl. VI. 16. Schiitz not so well interprets 
'at a distance*, so as to slip away, if you feel inclined. 

96. ferat *brings' as his contribution to the recitation* qoa 
ro i. e. what the grounds are, on which, etc. 

97. cae<limar...Samiiite8, Liv. ix. 40 Romani ad honorem 
deum insignibus armis hostium usi sunt: Campani ab superbia 
et odio Samnitium gladiatores (guod spectaculum inter epulas erat) 
eo ornatu armarunt : Samnitiumque nomine compellaverunt, Sil. 
Ital. XI. 51 quin etiam exhilarare viris convbvia caede mos olim^ 
et miscere e^lis spectacula dira certantum ferro, Athen. iv. 
39 Kafiirapuy riyes wapa roL <rvfnr6<na fioyojj.axoO(n, The brutal 
custom of these gladiatorial combats doubtless spread from 
Capua to Rome under the /ater Empire : but I have found no 
passage which bears out Macleane*s statement * among the amuse- 
ments that rich men had at their dinners were gladiators who 
fought with blunt weapons' (cp. Becker Gallus^ iil. 261 — 3). 
If tnis were so, he could hardly be right in translating ad prima 
lumina *till the Ughts came in*. The after-dinner amusement 
would not begin until the lights were lit (cp. Sat. ii. 7, 33 sub 
lumina prima): and if there is any reference to a sham-fight 
for the amusement of a dinner-party, it is necessary to translate 

20 — 2 



3o8 HORATI EFTSTULAK 

.'when lights are first lit*. But I doubt whether it tneans more 
than *like well-matched gladiators, whose protracted struggle 
lasts till the darkness of evening puts an end to it '. Horace 
humorously represents the stock of poems which they bring aikl 
altemately inflict upon each other, drawing out mutual compli- 
ments, but really inflicting painful weariness, as inexhaustible. 
Pers. IV. 43 caedimus htqtu vicem praebemus crura sagittis 
imitates the turn of the expression, but in a different coa- 
nexion. 

99. dlBCedo * I come off ' from the contest, as In Sat. i. 7, 17. 
Prof. Palmer suggests that this use corresponds to the laudatory 
abi of V. 205. iioaeiui £p. i. 19, 39; Carm. 11. 13, 36 fll 

pxmcto *vote'. When by the Lex Gabinia of b.c. 139 the 
ballot had been introduced in the election of magistrates, it was 
the custom for the voting-tablets to be distributed by rogatores: 
these were theti marked by the voters, and placed in cistae^ 
from which they were takcn out and sorted by diribitorts. That 
these then reported the results to.certain custodes, who (as 
Macleane says) were *appoilited to take the votes and prick off 
th^ number given for each candidate', is a very doubtfiil in<' 
ference from Cic. in Pis. 15, 36 vos rogatores, vos diritniores, v&s 
custodes fuisse tabularum, It is more probable that the diri- 
bitores reported directly to the presiding magistrate, who declared 
the election ; and that Cicero simply means that the Senators 
showed such interest in his case that they took charge aflerwanjis 
of the voting-tablets for fear of fraud. The passage in the text 
shows plainiy that the punctum cannot have been used merely 
to record a vote already given. On the other hand, the voting- 
tablet itself was probably given out blank, and marked by the 
voter with the initials of the candidate for whom he vdted : at 
least this seems the only explanation of the phrase of Cicero de 
Dom. 43, 112 postea quam intellexit posse se...a L. Pisone con- 
sule praetorem renuntiari, si modo eadem prima litera competito- 
rem habuisset aliquem, a condition which would have left an 
opening for fraud. We must then suppose (with Prof. Ramsay 
Rom, Ant. p. 109) that the term punctum for a vote was re- 
tained from the days of viva voce voting, when the rogatores 
would ask each voter, as he passed along the pontes for whom 
he voted, and record the answer by pricking a tablet. So we 
still retain the term *polIing booth even under the ballot. 
Punctum is used for *vote* similarly in A. P. 343, Cic. pro 
Planc. 32, 53 non nullas [tribus tulerunt] punctis paene totidem, 
pro Mur. 34, 72 recordor quantum...punctorum nobis detraxerint 
(where Long misunderstands the meaning of the words of Festus 
s. V. suffragatores : cp. Miiller's note). 

100. adpoBoere * to demand in addition ', only found else- 
where in Ter. Haut. 838. See Postgate'6 icmark above. 



Bk.ILEp. U.] JVOTJSS. 309 

191. Iftiim^nliiui: cp. Ep. I. 6, 65. AUhoog^b Callimachas 
(flor. B.c. 260 — 240) was ranked by some critics (e. g. Quintilian 
X. I, 58 cuim princeps habetur Cailimachust with Mayor's note) 
as the first of elegiac poets, Horace seems. to have agreed with 
Ovid, Am. i. 15, 14 quamvis ingenio non valety arte vatet, In 
any case Mimnermus (flor. B.c. 640—600) was the first to use 
elegiac verse for love poetry (cp. Prop. i. 9, 11 plus in amore 
valet Mimnermi versus Homero)^ and it was naturally a higher 
compliment to give to an erotic poet the name of the founder of 
his style of poetry, than that of one who was not especially dis- 
tinguished in this department, and who had devoted himself also 
to so many branches of literature, prose as well as verse. 

o^^yo =adoptivo, adscito Porph. The word is properly a 
l^[al term : Gaius i. 154 vocantur autem hi qui nominatim testa- 
mento tutores dantur, dcttivi; qui ex optione sumuntur, optivi, 
Hence it means 'any which he may choose*. Macleane is not 
exact in rendering ' desired', nor is there any reason to suppose 
this only a later use. The tutoris optio was sometimes given to 
a woman by the will of her husband or father (Liv. xxxix. 19, 5). 
In the time of Claudius women above the age of puberty were 
released from the guardianship of their agnates, which had been 
ordained by the Twelve Tables, and allowed to choose their 
own tutor (Gaius i. 157) and in the Lex municipii Salpensae 
(circ. A.D. 81) c. 23 the itis tutoris optandi is spoken of as no new 
thing. The word is much more likely to be an archaism. 

crescit * is glorified'. 

103 — ^106. So long as I am myself composing, and ara a 
candidate for popularity, I have to put up with much : but as 
soon as I retum to my senses, I can stop my ears when poets 
rccite, and fear no revenge on their part. Keller ha& a mark of 
interrc^ation at auris^ which is not so good. 

Orelli argues that the rhythm of the verse requires us to take 
Inpime with leffentibiu, understanding that the poetasters can 
thenceforward recite without any fear of retaliation on the part 
of Horace (as in Juv. i. i — 3). But the context requires us rather 
to regard Horace as now able to do what he dared not do before. 

104. stadils 'ambition^ not as in v. 82. mente recepta 
cp. A. P. 296. 

105. obtorem: Roby § 1534, S. G. § 642. 

106 — ^128. Bad poets^ though ridiculed^ are delighted with 
their own productions, But good poetry requires rigoroHS self- 
criticisnt^ with a careful treatment of the diction ; and ease in 
writing comes only oflaborious training* . . 



310 HORATI EPISTULAE. 

107. serlbenteB 'while they are writing*, i.e. in the mere 
act of doing so. Cp. Catull. xxii. 15 nequt idem unqtiam aeqtu 
est beaius ac poema cum scribii. 

108. 8i taoeas, laudant, i. e. it is their hahit to praise their 
compositions, and they would do so, even if you should say 
nothing about them. Cp. Mayor on Juv. X. 141, Roby § 1574, 
S. G. § 654. t>eati goes with latulani rather than with scripsere, or 
clse there would be a tautology after gaudeni scriienies, 

109. legitlmiim 'according to the rules of ark; A. P. 374. 
feciBBe, not dopUmas as Orelli says, but used becaose the result 
rather than the process is the object of desire. So in Ep. i. 1 7, 5. 
Cp. Roby § 1374, S. G. § 541 (b), 

110. cnm talnilie 'along with his tablets', Le. when he 
b^ins to write. Wax tablets were used for the first rough draft, 
which might need correction (cp. Sat. I. 10, 73 saepe siilum ver- 
tas) ; then the fair copy was made upon paper. These tablets 
for notes wereoften csW&d pugillares (Plin. Ep. i. 6, i ; iil. 5, 15) 
or simply cerae, I doubt much whether there is any iiKoyiaj as 
Orelli supposes, pla^dng upon the iabulae censoriae, But in the 
following lines words are used, which certainly point to the cen- 
sor's functions : Bplendor is a word especially applied to the ordo 
equesier (e.g. Cic de Fin. ii. 18, 58 eques komanus splendidus, 
pro Sext. Rosc. 48, 140 ^tftustrem splendorem) ; and loco movere 
recalls iribu vurvere» 

honesti *conscientious*, one who will act loya11y«siiBtf iads 
him. 

Ul. andeUt *he willresolve* V. 148. £p. i. 2, 40. qnae- 
ciunqne sc. verba. 

112. ferentnr *will be current* when published. So Keller 
and Schiitz, quoting Lucil. xxx. 4M. (=906 L.) ei sola ex 
muliis nunc nosira poemaia ferri, Others *will be judged*, 
comparing Verg. Aen. vi. 823 uicunque fereni ea facia minores, 
Orelli, less probably, takes the metaphor as that of a river * quae 
rapido cursu fertur*, cp. Sat. l. 4, 11 fluerei luiuUnius, 

The future fereniur though it has but slight MS. authority is 
clearly necessary: Ritter almost alone retains the reading of 
the best MSS, /eruniur. 

113. invita keeps up the personification of the verba which 
has been suggested by the metaphor of the censor, and perhaps 
too by honore indigna. 

114. yertentnr intra penetralia Veitae: Schiitz (after 
Porph.: * id est, domi*) takes this to mean simply the privacy of 
the poet's own house, from which the poems are not yet sent 



Bk. 11. Ep. 11.] NOTES. 311 

forth by publication; and ftccounts.for the unusual expression by 
saying that the poet k regarded as the keeper of a shrine. He 
thinks the point to be that the poet is to exercise a severe criti- 
cism upon his writings before entrusting them to the general 
judgment. But it is doubtful whether pefietralia Vestae could 
thus be ia»ed of a private house, even though there was usually an 
altajr io Vesta on the hearth. Besides this separates the words too 
iBach in thought from invita recedant; it is better to render 

• although they may be reluctant to retire, and may still cling to 
the sanctuary of Vesta's fane '. In the temple of Vesta there 
were certain mysterious objects, accessible only to the Vestals 
and the PontifTs, and carefuUy kept from the eyes of the multi- 
tude : they were kept in the penus interior or penetrale of the 
temple, shut up in earthen vessels, and were regarded as the 
pignora imperii (Liv. xxvi. 27, Ovid, Fast. vi. 359, 439). The - 
iriost famous among these was the Palladium: but there were 
also other divine figures (especially of the Penates) and mystic 
emblems. (Preller, R'6m, Myth. p. 543). Keller interprets 

* although they may be phrases hallowed by antiquity, which it 
seems profanation to touch'. Macleane's paraphrase * the verses 
though they may be expunged, still are kept in the author's desk, 
because he has a regard for them and cannot make up his mind 
to destroy them ' is quite impossible. OrelU thinks the point to 
be * although you may plead that, as they are not yet published 
you need not be so severe with them '. The only difficulty in the 
way of the interpretation proposed above (which does not differ 
much from Ritter's) is that there is no positive evidence that the 
temple of Vesta had the privileges of an asylum. But the notion 
of a sacred protection was always associated with the Vestal 
Virgins: if they met a condemned criminal in the street he was 
set free; and their intercession carried the greatest weight, 
(Preller, p. 540). Hence it is not too much to assume that those 
in danger might have recourse to the temple for at least tempo- 
rary protection. So Conington, 

* And cling and cling like suppliant to a shrine'. 

115. popQlo : the rh^rthm and the sense alike require this to 
be connected with obBCOTata, not with boniu, which can well 
stand alone, nor with eraet, which would make the taste of the 

' people, which Horace elsewhere scoms, that which he desires to 
gratify. 

116. spedosa *brilliant' or ^beautiful', opposed to verba 
quae parum splendoris habent, Cp. Quint. i. 5, 3 licetenim dica- 
mus aliquod proprium, speciosumy sublime, 

117. Cethegls: M. Comelius Cethegus (consul B.c. 104) is 
mentioned by Cic. Brut. 15, 57 as the nrst quem extetet dequo 
sit memoriae proditum eloquentem fuisse, et ita esse habitum. 



312 HORATI EPISTULAE. 

Ennius praised his snamloquem 0s (Annal. 'ix. 30^) and said hc 
was called ^ftos delibatus populi Swtdaequt nudulla. Cato cen- 
sorius was consul in B.c. 19^. The plural denotes * men like C: 
cp. Cic. de Orat. i. 48, iri (note), Cope on Afist. Rhet II. 31, 3. 
Bentley on Lucan i» 317. 

118. 8itii8, properly 'neglect*, Metting alone', hence the 
result of neglect, *mould', ' rust*, *squalor'. Cp. Verg. Aen. 
VII. 440 victa situ,.,senectus^ Georg. i. 71 et segnem patiere situ 
durescere campum, Seneca, in the very interesting Epistle (vi. 
6) in which he points out how many words used by Vergil had 
become obsolete in his own time, says (§ 5) id ago...ut hoc in- 
iellegas quantum apud Ennium et Accium verborum situs oc- 
cupaverit, cum apud hunc quoque, qui cotidie exctUitur^ aliqua 
nobis subducta sint, 

InfOTmls 'unseemly'. Horace himself indulges but rarely 
m archaisms, whether of vocabulary or inflexion, and these are 
much more common- in his earlier writings than in his later ones. 
(Walz, Des Variatiotts de la langue d* Horace pp. 41 — 59.) Cicero 
de Orat. iii. 38, 153 allows an occasional useof unfamiliar {inusi- 
kUa) language to the orator : inusitaia sunt prisca fere ac vetus' 
tate ab usu cotidiani sermonis iam diu intermissa, quae sunt 
poetarum licentiae liberiora quam nostrae, 

119. noTa * newly coined* words. 

Quintilian (vill. 3, 14) says verbis propriis digmtatem dat 
antiquitas: namque et sanctiorem et magis admirabilem faciunt 
orationem^ quibus non quilibet fuerit usuruSj eoque omamento 
acerrimi iudicii P. Vergilius unice est usus. Cic. I.c. novantur 
autem vtrba quae ab eo qui dicit ipso gignuntur ac fiunt^ vel con- 
iungendis verbis, ut hctec [expectorare, versutiloquae] : sed scupe 
vel sine coniunctione verba novantur ut ille senius desertus^ 
«/ digenitales, ut bacarum ubertate incurveseere, 

Walz {op. cit. pp. 59 — 77) after excluding all words, not 
found elsewhere, but apparently technical, or for other rea- 
sons not to be assigned to Horace himself, gives a list of 130, 
or about one in every 60 lines ; a proportion less than that occur- 
ring in Vergil who has about one in every 40 lines. He justly 
concludes that the originality of the style of Horace is due 
mainly to the skill with which he used the existing stores of the 
language: as Quintilian says (x. i, 96) Horatius varius figuris et 
verbisfelicissime audax. 

118118, personified as in A. P. 71, and spoken of here as a 
* begetter' of new words, while there it is the despot who decides 
npon their fate. Orelli supposes that there is a brachylogy : the 
poet coins words, which meet with so much approval and such 
wride adoption, that they seem to have been m, use firom the 



Bk. 11. Ep. II. J NOTES. 313 

carliest stages of the language. It is difficult to find this in the 
text ; Pope s imitation is based upon a similar interpretation 
(* For use will father what*s begot by sensc*). The fact is that 
Horace is not speaking here of coining new terms, so much as 
adopting and so stamping with his sanction those which have 
but lately become current, and are not yet recognized as classical. 
Hence adBCiscet which is used of admitting strangers to the 
franchise, or recruits into a legion. It is impossible to resist the 
force of the parallel passage in A. P. 70—73, or we might be 
tempted to give to usus tbe force of * his needs', as in Sat. i. 3, 
103 armis^ quae post fabticaverat usus, 

*New phrases, in the worW of books unknown, 
So use but father them, he makes his own.* Con. 

120. ▼emens : cp. note on r. 38. The poet must have the 
swift strong rush of a fuU stream, without losing cleamess and 
purity of style. Cicero Brut. 79, 274 says of M. Calidius: pri- 
tnum ita Jmra erat [oratio], ut nihil liquidius, ita likere Jluebat, 
ut nusquam adhaeresceret, 

121. t>ealiit, a favourite word with Horace (Ep. i. 18, 75 ; 
Carm. ii. 3, 7, iv. 8, 19), but not often used elsewhere, except 
in the comic poets. It may perhaps be reckoned (as by Walz) 
among his archaisms. 

122. luznriaiitia, sc. verba, of a redundancy in style, com- 
pared' to the rank growth of trees not duly pruned. Tlie meta- 
phorical reference is confirmed, not, as Schiitz thinks, disproved 
by compescet: cp. Verg. Georg. 11. 370 ramos compesce fluentis : 
ib. I. 112 luxuriem segetum tenera depascit in herba: Cic. de 
Orat. 11. 23, 96 luxuries stilo depascenda est (i.e. must be kept 
down by the practice of writing) ; Quintil. x. 4, i luxuriantia 
adstringere...duplicis operae, 

sano, i.e. one w^hich does not emasculate : cp. A. P. 26. 

123. Tlrtate, not *merit', but rather *energy, vigour'. 
The other faults can be set right : this admits of nothing but 
complete excision. 

*But show no mercy to an empty line'. Pope. 
, Orelli, overlooking this, thinks that there would be a tautology 
after compescet^ and would translate tollet *will raise', i.e. add 
force to. His first quotation from Quintilian is garbled: for the 
second, iv. 2, 61 supra modum setollens oratio would have been 
more to the point. But it is not likely that Horace would have 
used a term so likely to be misunderstood. Cp. Plaut. Asin. 
783 ergo^ ut iubes^ toliam^ i.e. *I will strike it out*. The codd. 
Bland. and some other MSS. have calentia. To defend this, and 
interpret tollet of a father *tanquam infantem natum, ut nutriat 
educatque' is the blindest partisanship. 



SI4 HORATI EFISTULAE. 

IM. ludentli, <of one in sport*» not *of an actor': «t 
toraoebittir, *and yet he will exert himself to the utmost^ 
As the proverb has it, *easy writing makes hard reading', so 
a writer to seem at his ease, must put forth all his powers. One 
of the most striking illustrations is Addison's style, which 
attained its consummate ease only after the most careful revision. 
Pope has again caught the point admirably; 

But ease in writing flows from art, not chance, 
As those move easiest who have leam*d to dance. 
The apparent ease of motion of the trained dancer is due only 
to long continued effort. 

125. 8atynim...moyetiir: Roby § iiio {a\ S. G. § 469. 
The Satyr would dance lightly,the Cyclops heavily and clunmly: 
cp. Carm. i. i, 31 nympharumqtu leves cum Satyris ck^: 
Sat. I. 5, 63 pastorem saltaret uti Cyclopa rogabat: Verg. EcL 
V. 73 saltantis Satyros imitabitur» 

126 — 140. A man who is lahouristg ttnder a delusum may 
be a very happy man^ and it is mit ahoays kind to dispel it, 

126. praetnlerlm.. Jtegl. Horace has been throughout this 
Epistle attenu)tiiig to prove to Florus why he must expect no 
poems fhm nim. Here he argues that as great exertions are 
neoessary to success, lejeu ne vaut pas la chandelU» There are 
some people who are blissfully unconscious of the worthlessness 
of their own productions, and live in a pleasing state of self- 
satisfaction. This he confesses, with some irony, to be the 
happier state. But it is over for him now. He is like a man 
who has been cured of an agreeable delusion, and restored to 
the hard realities of life. He knows he cannot write good poetry 
without an effort, and it is not worth his while to make it. It 
is plain therefore that Horace is speaking of himself, and not 
of some one else, as Macleane says; and that there is no need of 
a note of interrogation at ringi^ as Kriiger and others print. 
Forthe mood and tense cp. Roby § 1540, S. G. § 644 {b). 

128. rlngl, *to be worried*: cp. Ter. Phorm. 341 dum 
tibifit quod placeatf ille ringitur: ringi (Macleane's ringere b 
non-existent) is to show the teeth, used of an angry dc^. Here 
the meaning is to be vexed Mrith a sense of failure, not generally 
(as Schutz) of the morose gloom (senium) of the philosopher* 

liand ignobllii ; quidam may be understood from the relative 
in the next line. Pseud.-Arist. Mir. Ausc. § 30 tells the same 
story of a man at Abydos: Aelian has a similar one of an 
Athenian Thrasyllus, wno fancied that all the ships sailing into 
the Peiraeus belonged to him, until his brother got him cured. 

Argls: the Romans changed "Apyos into Argi on the anal<^ 
of names like De/phi, Feii, Gabiit etc, and perhaps misonder* 



Bk. II. Ep. 11.] NOTES. 315 

standing the termination as an acc. plur. No other form but 
Argis is found for the dat. and abl. ; the genitive does not occur : 
the accusative Argos is usually masc. plur. (perhaps always in the 
historians) as in Vcrg. Aen. ii. 95 patrios ad Argos: but occa- 
sionally neuter, as in Carm. I. 7, 9 aptum dicit equis Argos 
(so in Ovid, but not in Verg.). Cp. Neue i^ 477, 629. 

130. sessor, 'sitting regularly*. Cp. Juv. xiv. 86 (Mayor). 

133. ignoscere servlB : a reluctaace to do this is treated as 
a sign of insanity in Sat. l. 3, 80 ff. 

134. slgno lagoenae: wine fiasks were always sealed up: 
cp. Mart. IX. 87, 7 nunc signat tneus anulus lagoenam, Q. 
Cicero tells Tiro (Cic. Ep. Fam. xvi. 26, 2) that his mother 
used to seal up even the empty ones ne dicerentur inanes fuisse^ 
quae furtim essent exsiccaiae, Lagoena and lagona are both 
legitimate forms, but not lagena: the first has the best support 
here, the second in Juvenal. Cp. Fleckeisen FUnfzig Artikel 20. 

135. mpem : Sat. 11. 3, 56—60; A. P. 459. 

136. opilms, Orelli says would have been ope in prose. It 
is doubtful whether even in verse the two can be thus inter- 
changed. In Carm. iii. 3, 28 Hectoreis opibus is 'by the might 
of H.': in Ep. i. 10, 36 perhaps *resources* is a better rendering 
than *aid*. Cp. Cic. ad Att. ix. 16 Caesar iam opes measy non 
tU superioribus litteris^ opem expectat, 

137. ezpiilit : cp. Catull. XLiv. 7 expuli (?) tussim: TibulL^^ 
IV. 4, I Huc ades et tenerae morbos expelLe Jatdltie» 

^gkttmtm w "iiwtch %ettcr estabTished both for Horace 
and for Vergil (Georg. iii. 451 Ribb.), than helleboro, Elle- 
borus, for which the pure Latin word was veratrum (Lucret. 
IV. 640, Pers. i. 51), though a poison if taken unduly, was a 
favourite remedy for insanity. The best grew at Anticyra: 
cp. A. P. 300 (note). Sat. 11. 83 nescio an Anticyram ratio 
illis [avaris] destinet omnem, Persius as usual overstrains the 
expression : Anticyras melior sorbere meracas, 

tiilemque: bile, especially when black (^Aatj^a X0X17), was 
considered to cause frenzy or melancholy. Cp. Plaut. Amph. 
720 — I atra bili percita est, Nulla res tam aelirantis homines 
concinnat cito; Capt. 590 atra bilis agitat hominem: Cic. Tusc. 
D. III. 5, II quem nos furorem^ fJLe\ayxo\lav illi vocant, Sir 
A. Grant on Ar. Eth. Nic. vii. 7, 8 rightly says *With the 
moderns the term melancholy is restricted to the cold and 
dejected mood : while the ancients much more commonlyapplied 
the term /AcXayxo^*''^^? to denote warmth, passion, and eccen- 
tricity of genius: cp. Ar. Probl. XI. 38 ro r% i/^avTafflq. cucoXovdeiv 
raxim rb fie\ayxo\iK6y etvai i<nLv\ Prior {Alma 210 — 11) 
has the older sense of the word: *Just as the melancholic eye 



3i6 JIORATI EPISTULAE. 

Sees fleets and armies in/the sky *: but I have found no other 
instance In English. / 

188. pol: Ep. I. 7, d2. 

140. gratlsslmas : tie Abydene in Fseud.-Aristot. l.c. sald 
iKeivoy avTifi rbv XP^"^^ ijfiffTa ^e^iQadoi. 

141 — ^IM. Sixthly^ ^nd in all sobemess) ike right occupaiion 
for a inan ofmyyears is to care less about harmony in virses, and 
more about a true harmony oflife. 

141. sapere, i.e. to devote one's self to philosophy, not as in 
V. 128 of a knowledge of the laws of poetry^ nngls are the lu- 
dicra oiEp, i. i, 10. 

142. iraArli primarily with concedere, but supplied again 
after tampestiynBi, *to give up to boys thesport which isseason- 
able for them': £p. 1. 14, 36. 

1«. seqnl *to try to find' : A. P. 240 carmen sequar. fldl- 
tms : cp. Carm. I V. 9, 4 verba loquor socianda chordis, ITie case is 
abl. as we see from Verg. Ecl. x. 51 carmina pasioris Siculi mo- 
derdbor avena; the lyre plays the tune, by which the rhythm of 
the verse is regulated. Mihi may be understood as the agent. 
Orelli quotes Hand TurseU. I. 475 to show that ac non is used 
rather than et non where the meaning is *and therefore not*. 
Sat. 11. 3, 135. Ep. I. 10, 46. 

144. nnmerosqne modosqne: Ep. i. 18, 59. Cp. Plat. 
Prot. 326 B Tos yd^ h ptos tov avdpwwov €^v$fdas re koX evap- 
fuxrriat decrcu. 

145 — ^154 J/ence I set myself io refleci upon the true cure for 
the common disease ofavarice. 

146. lymphae: used iot the water of a spring in Carm. 11. 
3, 12 > II, 20; III. II, 26; 13, 16; Sat I. 5, 24 (as in Lucret. 
Verg. and Ovid): for the water-njrmphs ib. r. ^7. LVMPHIEIS 
corresponding to NTM^AIS appears in a bilingual inscription 
in the Naples Museum (C. I. L. 1238, Ritschl P. L. M. LXXII. D, 
Garnicci 1670). It is probable that the change from N into L 
was due to a Greek dialect, not to the adoption of the word into 
Latin. Cp. Curt. Gr, Etym. Ii. 45. diumpais in the Oscan 
tablet of Agnone (il. 9) seems to h^ — Nymphis. 

titim: Carm. II. 3, 13 crescit indulgens sibi dirus hydrops, 
nec sitim pellit, Dropsy is oftcn accompanied by thirst, which 
must be resisted, as much as possible. 

147. qnod * seeing that *, not directly dependent Xip<mfaterier 
(Ep. II. I, 94). Horace retums so frequently to the vice of 
avarice that it is clear that he considered it one of the most 
common failings of his time: cp. Ep. i. i, 53. 



Bk. II. Ep. 11] NOTES. 317 

149. moBStrata 'prescribed'« Verg. Aen. iv. 636 mon- 
straia piacula: Georg. iv: 549 monstratas arus: Juv. x, 363 
monstro quod ipse tibi possis dare: Gronov. on Sen. de Ben. IV. 
38 medicina etiam sceleratis opem monstrat, 

151. cnrarler *to be treated', of course not *to be cured' is 
L. and S. render. In most of the cases to which they assign the 
meaning *cure*, it is much better to translate *tend or *treat*. 
Even in Liv. XXI. 8, i sometimes quoted as a clear instance of the 
meaning *cure' the other rendering is quite as legitimate. cor- 
pora curare is Livy's regular phrase for *to take food'. Cp. 
Drakenborch on Liv. xxi. 54, 1. 

aadleras, from the talk of people in general, who are apt to 
think that wealth means happiness. £p. i. i, 53. 

152. donarent: so all MSS. in accordance with the princi- 
ple that even in stating a general truth, the tense of the verb on 
which another depends determines the sequence. Cp. Cic. de 
Off. 11. I, I quem ad modum ojfficia ducerenturab honestatc.saiis 
explicaium arbitrifr (with Holden's note). Roby § 1508. S. G. 
§ 620. Hence Bentley's donarint^ which he introduced by con- 
jecture, adding *ita loquuntur qui pure scribunt* is indefensible. 

16%. pieidcir ^ditior: Carm. 11. *r2, 34 plenas Arabum 
domos. 

155 — 179. Ifwealth mcuieyou wise^ you ought to devoteyour- 
sdf to this, But really all you can secure is the enjoyment of 
what you need, WkMt is commonly regarded as ownership gives 
no more pleasure to the temporary proprietor than is derived from 
the use of the produce by any one who can b^y it: and no one can 
really own anything in perpetuity, 

156. nempe *of course', often ironically, but not so here or 
below V. 163: cp. nimirutfi above: so Sat. i. 10, i; 11. 3, 307; 
7, 80, 107. 

158. Ifbra et aere. Gaius i. 119 tlius describes the process: 
Est autem mancipcUio...imaginaria quaedam venditio: quod et 
tpsum ius proprium civium Romanorum est; eaque res ita agitur. 
Adhtbitis tton minus quam qiiinque testibus civibus Romanis pu- 
beribuSi et praeterea alio eiusdem cotuiicionis qui libram aerieam 
teneai^ qui appellcUur libripensy is qui mancipio accipiat rem^ aes 
tenens ita dicit: hunc ego hominem ex iure Quiritium meum esse 
aio, isque mihi emptus est hoc aere aeneaque libra : deinde aere 
percutit libram, ictque aes dat ei a quo mancipio accipit^ quasi 
pretii loco. The articles sold by mancipation were slaves, oxen, 
horses, mules and asses, and landed property in Italy. The coin 
or ingot was of bronze, because in the early days that metal was 
alone used ibr coinage: tfae balance was employed because all 
money was originally weighed out by the purchaser (Gaius ib. 

§ I33>. 



3i8 HORATI EPISTULAE. 

meroatiis — est: the perfect is better supported, and tnudi 
better suited to the sense than mercatur^ the reading of Orelli 
and Macleane. 

159. oonBHltli as in v. 87. maiiclpat 'makes yoar property*. 
Strictly speaking mancipare could be used only of the transfer- 
ence of chattels by the formal mancipatio just described. But 
uninterrupted enjoyment {ususy usucapio) of moveable property 
for one year, of immoveable for two years gave a legal title, in 
the case of res mancipi and res nec mancipi alike; and this is 
here loosely described by the term mancipare, The word is used 
by Tacitus (Hist. Ii. 71) for *give up to* — luxu et saginae manci- 
patus emptusque [nol in Cic. de Sen. 11, 38: cp. Reid's note], 
but nowhere else quite as here. The line of thought is * If not 
merely purchase, but also continuous enjoyment makes property 
your own, then there is no advantage in the ownership of a large 
estate : you enjoy it just as much S you can purchase enough of 
its produce to supply your needs*. Cp. Cic ad Fam. vii. 30 id 
cuiusque est proprium^ quo quisque fruitur cttquc utitur, 

160. Qrbiiui is quite unknown. 

161. daturas has been preferred by most editors since 
Bentley to the alternative reading daturus, Keller has retumed 
to the latter on the strength of what he considers the better MSS. 
But the codd. Bland. and other good MSS. have daturas, and the 
word seems to go better with the 'corn-fields* (seffetes) than with 
the bailiff : cp. Verg. Georg. ii. 440, 510, 

163. temeti, an old word used by Plautus, and by Cato ac- 
cording to Plin. Xiv. 13, 90 Cato ideo propinqtws feminis osculum 
dare [scripsit], ut scirent an temetum olerent, Hoc tum vino nomen 
eraty unde et temulentia appellcUa. Abstemius is also akin : cp. 
Gell. X. 23, I aetatem abstemias egisse^ hoc est vino semper, quod 
temetum prisca lingua appellabatur^ dbstinuisse; and as the root 
seems to denote comusion and darkness, we may connect temere 
and tenebrae. The passage in Cic. (de Rep. iv. 6) cited by 
Nonius is virtually a quotation from the old law. Cp. Juv. 
XV. «5. 

modo isto: Lachmann (on Lucret, p. 197) wished to read 
modo sto in order to avoid the elision of an iambus in an acute 
syllable, quite correctly, so far as the pronunciation goes; bat 
there is not a trace in the MSS. here of this spelling. 

164. mercaris. The purchaser of the estate has to pay the 
price down, while a man who buys the produce secures aU the 
advantage of it, and has only to pay by instalments. But, as 
Schiitz notices, Horace seems to forget that after the ftill value 
of Uie lafid had been paid in these instalments, the purchaser of 



Bk. II. Ep. II.] NOTES. 319 

Ihe produce would still have to go on paying for all that he 
wanted. trecentlB xnilLbaB nmmnoniiii, i.e. about ;f 2400. 

166. nnmerato, not in the technical sense of *ready money' 
(cp. Ep. II. I, 105 note), as the dictionaries based on Freund 
say, for then thp^onstruction becomes inexplicable, but *by what 
you have paid down*. Ybu must pay in any case, says Horace; 
the only question is whether you have just paid, or paid long 
ago. Here olim=qaondam of the next line. Cp. vivere rapto 
in Verg. Aen. vii. 749, and often in Livy, e.g. vii. 25, 13. 
Mr Yonge rightly says that the stress lies on the participle, not, 
as would be required in our idiom, on the finite verb: hence 
vivas numerato—numeraveris* Cp. A. P. 104 (note), Sat. ii, 
2, 32. 

167. emptor qnondam go together, 'a man who bought of 
old*, as late tyrannus in Carm. iii. 17, 9: eri semper lenitas m 
Ter. And. 175 : nequeenim ignari sumus ante malorum {tCov irplv 
KaK(2v) in Verg. Aen. i. 198. But the great preponderance of 
MS. authority is in favour not of qnondam, but of quoniam; and 
Keller warmly defends this reading, placing a comma at olim, 
and the note of interrogation at aenum. His arguments are 
(i) that the position of quondam makes its grammatical connexion 
somewhat obscure; and (2) that quondam is not found with a 
substantive until later Latin. The objections to quoniam are 
(i) that it is rather a prosaic word, found only in the Satires 
(i. 6, 22; II. 3, 201; 4, 25; 6, 52) though used by Vergil and 
other poets: (2) that it is much more in the style of Horace 
to have a short rhetorical question, followed by an example, 
than a long argumentative question, such as the retention of 
quoniam would involve. A rhetorical question does not well- 
admit of the addition of the reasons, which determine the 
answer. Besides, with a question ending at aennm, sed fol- 
lows very awkwardly. The place which quoniam would take in 
the line might be defended on the plea of metrical convenience. 
But as quondam and ^uoniam would be represented in the MSS. 
by almost indistinguishable abbreviations, their evidence need 
not go for much : and the former clearly makes the better con- 
struction. 

Aridni VelentiB et arvl : suburbana praedia at Aricia or Veii 
would be of more value than those at a distance from Rome. 
Cp. Tac. Ann. xiv. 53 per haec suburbana incedit, Veii had 
been lying in ruins since its capture by Camillus (B.C. 396), and 
its land had been divided among the soldiers of Julius Caesar in 
B.C. 45. These formed a small colony, which was dispersed 
during the wars of the triumvirs, and Propertius iv. (v.) 10, 29 
in a poem probably written about the time of this epistle speaks 
i)f the land within its walls as given up to herdsmeaAndasapers. 



320 HORATI EFISTULAE. . 

Towards the end of the reign of Augustus a Mumcipium Au- 
gustum Veiens was established on the <^d site, and contiaued to 
exist at least for three or four centuries. Isola Farnese does not, 
as Orelli says, mark the site of Veii, but is separated from it by 
a deep ravine. Cp. Dennis, Cities and Cemeteries qf Etruria 
l' I — ^43. For Aricia cp. Sat. i. 5, i. 

168. emptiixii is the emphatic word:. 'if a man has bought 
land of old...the vegetables on which he dines are bought: 
bought too are the logs*, etc. f 

169. Btfb noctem gives an instance where 'towards' is a 
better rendering than *just after* : *as the chill of night comes 
on*. Cp. Sat. II. I, 9; 7, 109; Epod. II. 44. Vcrg. Georg. L 
«II usque sub extremum brumae intractabilis imbrem, 

170. Bunm, i. e. 'he calls all (the land) his own*: luqae... 
qoa *as far as the spot where*: adalta not simply 'planted*, 
as Servius explains in Verg. Aen. vi. 603, ad being virtually 
redundant, as in adsimilis. The word is used in Varro R. R. 1. 
16 and 26 for *planted near*: vitis adsita ad holus. An old 
grammarian (Agroec. p. 2274 P.) explains adsita arbor estf cui 
incolumi aliud quod sustineat adiungitur, Horatius *qua popu- 
lus adsita surgit\ quippe qtii vitibus maritata sit, But this 
meaning is, when found, only derived from the context, as in 
Catull. LXI. 102, velut adsitas vitis implicat arbores; and is here 
out of place. The poplar is here not used for the support of 
vines, but only to mark the boimdaries, as the beeches in Vei^. 
Ecl. IX. 9 usque ad aquam, et veteres^ iam fracta cacumina, 

fagos, 

171. limltibas. The Umites were properly strips or balks 
of land, left uncultivated in order to mark the boundaries of 
estates and used as highways. Niebuhr Hist, Rom, Vol. II., 
App. I. and II. describes very fiilly the Roman practice of limi- 
tatio: the use of the word limes is also admirably discussed by 
Dr Hort in Camb, Jottrn. of Phil, for 1857, p. 350 ff. in ex- 
plaining Tac. Ann. i. 50 limitem scindit. The case may be 
either dative or ablative of place. Schiitz less probably takes it 
as an ablative of instrument : but the limites were certi before 
the tree was planted. Cp. "^&Lg, Aen. Xli. 898 (saxuu^ limes 
agro positusy litem ut discemeret agris, 

refoglt: both the word and the tense have caused much diffi- 
culty to the critics. Bentley adopts the reading of some inferior 
MSS. refigUi which he takes as equivalent to resohnt^ withoat 
however supporting the meaning by any parallel iostance, 
Others have suggested refligit^ refutat^ or refringit: the last 
of which is the b^t, if any conjecture is needed. But it is not 
too bold a metaphor to speak of the tree as itself avoidin^ thc 



BL 11. Ep. II.] NOTES. 321 

quarrels, which it enables the owner to avoid. So Varro, in 
speaking of this very custom of planting trees to mark boun- 
daries, says (R. R. i. 15) praeterea sine saeptis fines praedii 
saticnibus notis arborum tutiores fiunt, nefamiliae rixentur cum 
vicinis, ac limites ex litibus iudicem quaerant, Serunt ctlii 
circum pinos.,.alii cupressos ., .cUii ulmos (Cicero pro Caec. 8, 22 
a.dds olives). In Ter. Andr. 766 recte ego semperfugi has nupticu 
' I have always tried to avoid* is said not by the bride or bride- 
groom, but by the father of the latter. The perfect tense may 
be used as in Verg. Aen. Ii. 12 quanquam animus meminisse 
horretf luctuque refugit as expressing *the instantaneous and 
instinctive action of the feeling' (Con.): or may be aoristic, as in 
Ep. I. 19, 48, *has been known to avoid*:* cp. Carm. i. 28, 20. 
Cp. Aen. X. 804, Georg. i. 330 where fugU is used in descrip- 
tion, of an instantaneous effect. 

▼lclna lurgla *differences with the neighbours*: so Soph. 
Ant. 793 j^et/cos ^(/uoufioy. Bentley says 'iurgia sunt lites*, But 
the two ane not quite synonymous. Cp. Nonius p. 430 iurgium 
et lis hanc habent distantiam. lurgium levior res est: si quidem 
inter benevolos aut propinquos dissensio vel concertatio iurgium 
dicitur: inter inimicos dissensio lis appellatur, M. Tullius de 
Rep, lib, iii. : ^admiror nec rerum solum, sed verborum etiam 
eiegantiam,^ Si iurgant, inquit, Benevolorum concertatio non 
lis inimicorum iurgium dicitur*^ Et in sequenti: *iurgare 
igitur lex putat vicinos^ non litigare*. But in the legal phraseo- 
logy of de Legg. ii. 8, ig feriis iurgia amovento he uses the 
word in its archaic sense of *actions at law* generally. The 
word is derived from ius^ but is not a compound of ago: cp. 
Ritschl, Op. II. 427. Cp. Ep. II. I, 38. 

172. Blt. Roby § 1580: S.G. § 660. The pres. subj. is 
used in such sentences, unless there is historic sequence, even 
though the hypothesis is not one viewed as possible. For the 
sentiment cp. Sat. Ii. 2, 129—133. 

pimcto : cp. Sat. i. i, 7 horae momento, where Palmer shows 
that the phrases are not synonymous, but that punctum expresses 
a much briefer period of time than momentum, Punctum tem- 
poris is by far the most usual expression, but Lucret. IV. 201 has 
puncto diei. 

178. nimo preoe, nimo pretlo : with intentional alliteration, 
cp. Ov. Fast. II. 805 instat amans hostis precibus pretioque 
minisque: necprece nec pretio nec movet ilU minis. 

morte Buprema *by death which doses all'. Cp. Ep. n. i, 
12 : 1. 16, 79 : so ultima mors in Sat. I. 7, 13. 

174. In altera lTira=t» alterius iura^ i,t, potestatem* Cp. 
Verg." Georg. iv, 37 utraque vis (sc. frigoris et (^oris) ; Aen. iv. 

W. H. 21 



J22 HORATI EPISTULAE. 

357 testor utrumque caput^ and otker mstances quoted by Munro 
on Lucret. Ii. 433. See Reid on Cic' Acad. I. s, 5 utramque 
vim, 

175. Blc qiila: Keller holds that the archetype here had 
Hi but admits that sic is a necessary correction. 

176. alterias is somewhat redundant, being really implied 
in hercdem : but Bentley does not much improve matters with 
his altemis: for the passage which he quotes from Lactantius 
does not suffice'to show ^t cUtemis can be used of r^;ulat 
progression, not of change backwards and forwards. Por- 
phyrion^s explanation ' ut fluctus super se invicem veniunt ' does 
not necessanly imply that he read altemis, 

177* TiQl rustici ; Acron explains vUlae^ but the word 
conveys more than that: rather ^estates*, or as Mr Yonge 
suggests 'numors'. Cp. Cic ad Att. i. 4 Crassum divitiis 
supero^ atque omnium vicos et prata contemno (where Boot is 
clearly verong in taking vicos to be landed property ia the city) : 
ad Fam. xiv. i, 5 scribis te vicum vendituram. In £p. i. 
II, 8: 15, 7 (grouped with this passage and that last quoted 
in the dictionaries based on Freund) the meaning is quite 
different 

CalabrlB...LucaAl: flocks of sheep were pastured in the 
plains of Calabria or Apulia during the winter, and driven up 
mto the hills of Lucania or Samniimi for the summer. Cp. 
Epod. I. 37, pecusve Calabris anie sidus fervidum Luccma 
mutet pciscuis: Varro R. R. 11. i, 16 itaqtie gre^ ovium longe 
abiguntur ex Apulia in Samnium aestivatum: li. i, 9 mtiii 
greges %n Apulia hibernabant, qui in Reatinis montibus aestivc^ 
bant, Cp. Carm. I. ^ii 5 non aestuosae grata Calabriae armenta. 
A similar practice is stiU observed in Spain for the Merino 
sheep. 

178. metlt: Orcus is the true reaper after all; 'est trans- 
latio a segete ac messoribus*, Porph. 

180 — ^189. Some men value highly what others care nothing 
fir* Even brothers have strangely different tastes^ and the recuon 
for this is mysterious, 

180. Tyirlieiia slgilla, little bronze statuettes of deities, of 
which numbers are still preserved in museums. Porph^rrion 
says apud Tuscos primos ItcUiae signa de marmore processerunt: 
but marble has been already mentioned ; besides, these would 



venerantes, These were often carried about attached to the 
person, like Louis XI's little leaden images of the saints. 



Bk.IL Ep. 11] NOTES. 323 

181. axgentiim, here clearly <plate*: cp. Ep. i. 1, 44 
•(note). Gaetalo: 'Afro, ac per hoc Mauro : significat enim 
porpuram Girbitanem* Porph. The geographer Pomponius 
Mem III. II says Nigritarum Gaettdarumque passim vagantium 
ru litora quidem infecunda sunt purpura et murice efiicacissimis 
adtingendum. The island of Girba (modemjerbah) orMeninx, 
as it was earlier called, lies to the south-east of the Lesser S^nrtis. 
The Lotophagi were said to have lived there : but it was not 
near the territory occupied in historic times hy the Gaetulianst 
who extended to the sea only to the S.W. of Mauretania. (At 
the same time we may notice that Juvenal XI v. 278 — 9 places 
the Gaetula aequora to the east of Calpe, and that Strabo (xvii. 
p. 819) makes the Gaetulians extend as far as the Syrtes.) It 
was here mainly that the purple fish was found (Phn. v. i, 12 
cum eifori ciiro silvae exquirantur omnes scopuli Gaetuli muricibus 
purpuris: vi. 31, 201 nec Mauretaniae insularum certicr fama 
est: paucas modo constat esse ex adverso Autololum a Jtiba re- 
pertcuy in quibus Gaetulicam purpuram tinguere instituerat: 
IX. 36, 127 Tyri praecipuus hic Asiae^ Meninge A/ricae et 
Gaetulo litore oceani^ in Laconica Europae. Porphyrion is 
therefore in error in supposing that Hotace puts Gaetulian 
for Girbitan purple : the former was the more famous of the 
two. Cp. Carm. ii. 16, 35 te bis Afro murice tinctae vestiunt 
ianae, 

182. onrat : the indic. is much better established here than 
the subj. But if Horace had meant, as most editors say 'the 
wise man') could he have used the indicative? Orelli*s ex- 
planation *quia certum est, indicativo utitur» cum illud suntqui 
non habeant a casu tantum pendeat *, is not satisfactory. The 
poet rather denotes himself: *I know one at least who does 
not care to have*. So Conington rightly takes it, and 
Dr Kennedy in the P. S. G. p. 456. Cp. Roby §§ 1680, 1681. 
S. G. §§ 703, 704. 

188. cessare: Ep. i. ^, 31; 7» 57» Brothers unlike in cha- 
racter and tastes are common enou^ in history and in fiction : 
but probably Horace was most familiar with the pairs who 
appear in the Adelphi and the Hautontimorumenos of Terence. 

184. Eerodls, i.e. Herod the Great who reigned B.c. 
39 — ^4. The most famous palmgroves, according to Pliny, N. H. 
v. 14, 70 were near Jericho: Hiericuntem pcdmetis consifam^ 
fontiifus riguam. Strabo XVI. 2, 41 says of Jericho ivravda 5* iarl» 
Q tpoufiicuiVf fiefuyfiiyrjy ^a^F Kal aXXrjy ilXrjv ijfMpov Kal cHKapirw, 
frkeova^v Sk rf <l>oivuci, ivl firJKos OTaSluv iKarbv didji^vTOS arras 
Kol ficffTos KaToiKiwv' ((TTi 6* avToO Kal pa^lXciov koL 6 tov ^aKffdfiov 
vapdZeuros. Tacitus too (Hist. v. 6) speaks of the paimetis 
proceriias et decor in Judaea. . 



324 HORATI EPISTULAE. 

plngnllms, 'rich* i.e. productive, as oflen of soil: e.g. Ep. 
!• 3» 5» Verg. Georg. i. 14 pinguia dumeta^ ibt iv. 1 18 pinguis 
hortoSf etc. Schiitz says *productive of rich palm-oil', and the 
*Globe* version has *unctuous*. I cannot nnd any authority 
for supposing that palm-oil was known to the ancients: Pliny 
s^s nothing about it in describing die palms (N. H. xiil. 
20—50), and the palms of Jericho were certainly date-pahns. 
Ritter oddly says * ubi pinguia unguenta parantur delicatis ho- 
minibus iucunda*, 

186. Importimiui, 'merciless', both to others and to himself. 
Cp. Ep. I. 6, 54 (note), Palmer on Sat II. 5 — 96. 

186. xnitlget, *reclaims*, cp. pacantur in Ep. i. 9, 45. 
This passage is rather against the notion of Lachmann on 
Lucret. v. 1203 that pacare there refers to the expulsion crf 
wild beasts. flaimnls: *Palladius directs that when land is 
covered with trees, a distinction must be made between that 
which is naturally good ancl that which is poor, as from the 
former the timber should be merely removed, and the land 
ploughed up {votnere—Usafi)\ whereas in the latter it should be 
bumed, in order that the soil may be enriched with the ashes 
left behind*. (Daubeny, Roman Husbandry^ p. 94.) 

187. Genlus: Ep. 11. i, 144 (note). natale...a8tnim. 
Horace tells us (Sat. i. 6, 114) that he was fond of standing by 
the astrologers in the Circus, and listening to their predictions, 
without any great faith in them: in Carm. Ii. 17, 17 — 22 he 
uses the language of astrology merely as poetical omament, and 
in a manner which shows his own indifierence to it ; in Carm. 
I. II he condemns it as an idle superstition. Persius, as usual, 
imitates the language of Horace, and Uke him does not profess 
to know what his own horoscope is (v. 45 — 51). After the time 
of Horace, astrology received a considerable impulse at Rome 
from the patronage of Tiberius: cp. Tac. Ann. Ii. 27, 2; 32, 5; 
VI. 20, 3, and Hist. I. 22, 2 ntathemati€is...genus hominum.,. 
quod in civitate nostra et vetabitur semper et retinebitur. Cp« 
Mayor on Juv. x. 94. 

temperat 'controls': Pers. 1. c. has the same word, but in 
a different sense : quod nu tibi temperat astrum *a star which 
fuses me with you*. 

188. mortalls : viewed in itself, and as a part of the divinity 
which rules the universe, the genius is immortal, as Apuleius 
says (de deo Socr. c. 15) is deus^ qui est animus suus cuique, 
quamquam sit immorialis^ tamen quodammodo cum homine gig' 
nitur, £ut as regards the individual (In unum quodque eaput) 
it is mortal, and on the death of the man to whom it is attached, 
it retums into the universal soul of the vorld. Of the Stoics 



Bk. 11. Ep. II.] NOTES. 325 

some believed that all souls existed independently until the end 
of the world's course, when they would be resolved into the 
Divine Being, others that only the souls of the wise retained 
for a time this independent existence. The Epicureans held 
that the soul was dispersed immediately upon death from the 
fineness of its atomic composition. Cp. Zeller, Stoics and 
EpicureanSt pp. 217, 454. Marc. AureL iv. 21. The theory 
of the re-absorption of the soul into the sum tbtal of being has 
been defended in more recent times. Cp. Archer-Hind's Intro- 
duction to Plato's Phaedo, p. 18. The notion that the genius 
of the individual is but a part of the World-soul explains how 
it can be regarded as * controlling the natal star \ 

189. albiu et ater 'fair and gloomy' according as men 
are fortunate (evbaiiiovei) or unfortunate (/ca^oSaf/toj^cs) : albus 
is properly a duU white, as ater is a gloomy black, while can- 
didtis denotes a bright white : hence albus is used of the paleness 
of disease (Carm. 11. 2, 15, Epod. 7, 15), but also in Carm. 
I. 12, 27 of a star of good omen. But albus and ater are often 
coupled, cp. Cic. Phil. 11. 16, 41 albus aterne fueris ignorans: 
Catull. xciii. 2 nec scire utrum sisalbus an cUer homo, 

190 — 204. For my own part, I believe tJwt the pleasures of 
life should be enjoyedy but with moderation; and therefore my 
wishesure limited, 

190. ntar, best taken absolutely, 'I will enjoy what I 
have ', not, as Schiitz, either understanding genioy or anticipating 
modico acervo, Cp. Pers. vi. 22 utar ego^ utar, with the context. 

ex xnodico acervo : the miser in Sat. 1. 1. 51 defends himself 
by the plea at suave est ex magno tollere acervo, res *the 
occasion'. 

191. lieres: Ep. i. 5, 13. Horace had no natural heirs, 
and ultimately left his property by a verbal dedaration to 
Augustus, cum urgente vi valetudinis non sufficeret ad obsignandas 
testamenti tabulas (Suet. Vit. Horat.). ^ 

192. datis, i.e. than what he may actually have received. 

198. volam *it will be my wish*. The future is occasioned 
by the preceding futures tollam and metuam: otherwise the 
preseht would be more natural. slmplex, *unsuspicious* or 
•frank'. nepotl, *spendthrift* as Ep. i. 15, 36 (note): for the 
case cp. £p. i. 18, 4 (nole). 

195. neqne. . .neqne, * without being. . .yet you do not, etc* 

197. ac potins: our idiom is *but rather': cp. Cic. de 
Orat. II. 18, 74 (note). 



326 HORATI EPISTULAE. 

Qillii^<iu&trflm8, the 'spring holida^rs', which were observed 
not only in schools, but as general festivities, from March 19 
to March 13. Ovid (Fast. ili. 809, 810 fiunt sacra Minervae^ 
nomina qwu tuncHs quinque diebus habent) derives the name 
from the fact that the holiday extended over five da^rs: but 
Festus (p. 154 M,), by quoting forms like Triatrus, Sexatms, 
etc. shows that the word was applied originally only to the 
first day of the festival, and that it denotes the fifth day after 
the Ides. Cp. Mayor on Juv. x. 115 totis Quinquatribus optat, 
olim, £p. I. 3, x8. 

199. doxniiB. Bentley attacked this reading, as inconsistent 
with the metaiShor of a ship in the next line. One MS. of no 
great excellence repeats procul which Bentley gladly accepted. 
But this repetition, though common enough in passages of eamest 
and impressive diction (e.g. Verg. Aen. VI. 258 proctd o procul 
este prifani: Ov. Fast. II. 623, Metam. viii. 589 etc.) is not 
well suited to the quiet tone of Horace here. Some MSS. of 
the third class omit dotnus and absit (not, as Bentley supposed, 
domus only): but this is clearly due to an accident, and does 
not justify the suspicion of Orelli and others that the genuine 
word has been lost, and that domus is due only to conjecture. 
Meineke approved the conjecture modot but in Horace we 
always find mSdS^^zxA that only after dum or su This difficulty 
is avoided by Jeep*s conjecture, adopted by Kriiger, tnodo ut 
procuL No satisfactory substitute for domus has been proposed, 
and the word is in itself not indefensible, although Macleane 
says 'it has no meaning here*. There is nothing metaphorical 
in this line, and consequently no clashing of metaphors. We 
may fairly assume, with Ritter, that pauperies immunda domus 
represents pauperies immundae domus (cp. Carm. lii. i, 42): 
Horace goes back in thought to the costly ornaments of the 
house mentioned in vv. 180 — 182, and-says that all these may 
well be spared : provided the straitened means are not such as 
to produce sordid surroundings, a man's lodging makes no 
more difference to himself than the size of a ship would, in 
which he might happen to be sailing. 

.ntram — ^an. This is at first sight a startling substitution of 
the dependent double interrogative for the altemative hypo- 
thesis sive^sive. But it is to be explained by supposing that 
some expression like nihil distat was present to the mind of 
Horace, for which he afterwards substituted ferar unus et idem. 
Hand (Tursell. i. 302) quotes Ov. Rem. Am. 797 Daunius an 
Libycis bulbus tibi missus ab oris^ an veniat Megaris^ noxius 
omnis erit^ where the explanation is similar. In Fast. Jii. 779 
Ovid uses an as parallel to sivc.sive^ where we have a transition 
from altemative hypotheses to a direct question. This leads 
the way to the interchange of the two, as in Tac. Ann. xi. 26 



Bk. II. Ep. 11.] NOTE& 327 

swe — an ratus: xiv. 59 sive^^eu^an, and to their complete . 
confusion in later Latin : cp. Drager Hist SynL II. 466. 

201. non agimnr, concessive, * we are not driven on, it is 
true*: cp. Ep. i. i, 33; 6, 29. 

aqnilone Menndo: the strong north wind, even if favour- 
able, might swell the sails to a dangerous extent: hence 
it is here used of perilous prosperity. The aquilo is clarus in 
Verg« <y. l. 460, and in G. iii. 196, 7 scatters the arida nuHIa^ 
while it is siccus in Lucan IV. 50. Elsewhere it brings storms 
and snow, but rarely rain: hence the derivation from aqua is to 
be rejected without hesitation, in favour of that from aquilus 
*dark' (VaniSek, p. 13). Cp. Carm. II. lo^ 23 contrahes vento 
nimium secundo turgida vela, 

202. aetatem dndmns *we drag out our life*. Epod. 
17, 63 ingrata misero vita ducenda est, anstrls: the south wind 
is usually regarded as stormy (turbidusy Carm. iii. 3, 4), rainy 
(umidus, Verg. G. I. 462, pluvius, Ov. Met. I. 66), and cold 
(frigidiASy Verg. G. iv. 261, hibemus^ Tib. I. i, 47) : cp. Verg. 
Aen. V. 696 imber„.densisque nigerrimm austris, But cp. Verg. 
III. 60, V. 764. 

203. vlrtnte: SchUtz, who renders 'excellent capacities', 
and denies that a man can have too much virtue, has forgotten 
Ep. I. 6, 15 — 16. loeo, 'position*. 

204. eztremi...prlore8: cp. Ep. i. 2, 70—71. nsqne, 
*ever*; A. P. 154, 354 and often. 

205 — 216. But true Tvisdom consists in avoiding not onfy 
avarice^ but also all other distracting passions andfears^ and in 
renouncing the pieasures of life^ when you can no longer enj«y 
them in accordance with the rules ofvirtue, 

205. non 68: again concessive. Horace is not addressing 
Florus, but any reader; cp. Ep. i, i, 28. ahl, *very good*, a 
colloquial use: cp. Plaut. Asin. 704 em sic: abi, laudo: Ter, 
Adelph. 564 laudo: Ctesipho, patrissas: abi^ virum te iudico» 

206. fogere: the codd. Bland. and other good MSS. have 
fuge: rite'caret which Bentley in his Curae novissimae (ii. p. 

172 Zang.) approves in the form fug£ rite. Caret^ etc. But 
there is at least as much authority for the text, which seems to 
have been altered only because the copyists did not understand 
the perfect tense, or, perhaps, as Keller thinks, from a mis- 
understood correction of an unmetrical^^^^rMH/. 

inanl: Ep. 11. i, 2x1 (note). 

207. ira, sc. mortis: for the sense cp. Lucret. iii. 1045 tu 



328 HORATI EPISTULAE. 

vero duHtahis et indigndbere obire? For ira * rage* followed by 
a genitive of that which occasions it cp. Liv. i. 5 ob iram praedcte 
amissae: XXI. 1 ob iram interfecti dominu *Anger* would not 
come in naturally before w. 210, aii. The conjecture dirae 
for et ira is worse than needless. 

208. teirores maglcos must be taken together. Some 
editors separate by a comma, taking magicos to be *wizards*, 
but this usage is doubtful, and terrores is too general to stand by 
itselfhere. 

sagas : cp. Cic. de Div. I. 31, 65 sagire enim sentire acufe 
est: ex quo sagae anus^ quia multa scire volunt^ et sagaces 
dicti canes. From the notion of prophetic power that of witch- 
craft was easily developed: cp. Carm. i. 27, 11, 

209. lemures : Porphyrion explains ' umbras vagantes 
hominum ante diem mortuorum et ideo metuendos : et putant 
lemures esse dictos quasi Remulos a Remo, cuius occisi umbras 
frater Romulus cum placare vellet, Lemuria instituit, id est, 
Parentalia quae mense Maio per triduum celebrari solebant'. 
The derivation iis of course erroneous : the origin of the word is 
uncertain, but it has been suggested (cp. Vani£ek, p. 169) that 
it may be connected with clemens^ meaning *kindly : cp. manes 
Ep. 11. I, 138 (note). The Lemures were usually identified 
with the larvae, spirits who in consequence either of wicked 
lives-or of a violent death were doomed to restless roamings 
about the world at night; while the lares were the spirits of the 
good departed ones. But sometimes the term lemures was used 
to include both larvae and lares (Preller Rdm. Myth? p. 499). 
The festival of the Lemuria, at which they were honoured for 
three nights (on May ^th, iith and i3th), is described by Ovid 
Fast. V. 419 — 492. The connexion with Remus is simply due 
to * popular et)anology*, 

Thessala : the Thessalian witches were said to draw down 
the moon and the stars from heaven: cp. Epod. 5, 45 — ^46: 
Plat. Gorg. 513 A tAs t^v <reXi}i»iji' Kadaipo^aas tAj QeTrdKiSas: 
Plin. N. H. XXX. I, 2 Menander Thessatam cognominavit fabu-- 
lam, complexam ambages feminarum detrahentium luf^m ; Ari- 
stoph. Nub. 749 7wat>fa tpap/j^aKid* el vpiaficpos BerraX^ koBI- 
\oi.fU v^KTtap r^v aeXiiyrjv, 

210. grate ntimeraB : ' quod non faciunt nimium timidi 
ad senectutem et mortem; quia ex natalibus multis obitum iam 
propinquum perhorrescunt* Porph. Cp. Mart. X. 23, i — 4 iam 
numerat placicb felix Antonius aevo quindeciens cu:tas Primus 
OlympiadaSi praeteritosque dies et totos respicit annos, nec metuit 
Lethes iampropioris aqitas. Cp. Pers. II. I, 2. 



Bk. 11. Ep. 11.] NOTES. 329 

• 

212. levat is much more pointed than ittvat^ and is adopted 
by most good recent editors since Bentley, though it has not 
much MS. authority. Cruquius quotes it from three codd. 
Bland. Cp. Epod. ii, 17; 20; Carm. Saec. 63; Sat. ii. 3, 
393 ; £p. I. 8, 8. splnis : £p. i. 14, 4. 

218. recte *aright*, i.e. in accordance with virtue: so 
rectum = KaTbpBufM, 

decede perltls 'make way for those who have leamt the 
lesson^i peritis is dat. as in Verg. Ecl. viii. 88 serae decedere 
nocti, Cp. Lucr. iv. 962 agedum gnatis concede. 

214. lnsistl: 'ludere ubi cum verbis edendi bibendique 
consociatur, semper amoris ludum denotat, ut in Graeco iroifct»', 
iffOleiv, vlyeiy* (Ritter); cp. Carm. III. 12, i amori dare tudum, 
Festus (p. II M.) quotes from Livius Andronicus affatim edi, 
bibif lusiy probably a mistranslation of Hom. Od. xv. 372. 
(Mommsen II. 420: but cp. Wordsworth, Fragments and Spe- 
cimens, p. 569.) So Arrian Exped. Alex. ii. 5, 5 translates the 
epitaph on Sardanapallus (from the Assyrian) <ri> 5^, c5 ^ivcy 
iffOie Kcd vtvt Koi iratfe, ujs rJXXa tA dvOpunriva oiiK 6vra tovtov 
S^ta, while Plutarch de Fort. Alex. II. p. 336 C. has ^<r^te, irive, 
d<f>podi(ria^' raXKa dk oiS4v. 

210. ablre as from a banquet, or the comissatio which 
followed. Cp. Sat i. i, 119 ; and Lucret. iii. 938. 

216. lasclva decentliu *that may more becomingly make 
merry *, cp. A. P. 106 : the reading licentius has very slight sup- 
port, and only comes from Carm. I, 19, 3 et lasciva Licentia. 

pnlaet 'drive you out'. 



ARS POETICA. 



The place now generally assigned to the Epistola ad Pisones^ 
as the third epistle of the second book, rests upon no andent 
authorit^. In the MSS. it always appears, detached from the 
other epistles, either after the Fourth Book of the Odes^ cor «ftcr 
the Carmen Saeculare. H. Stephanus first placed k at die 
end of his edition : and Cruquius set the fashioo, which has 
recently been revived, of denoting it as £^nstolanmi Lib. Ii. 
Ep. III. The editors, who have given ift this position, seem to 
have been led to do so by their vicw as to the date of its pro- 
duction. It has been commonly supposed to be the latest of 
the works of Horaoe; and the want ot structural completeness, 
which it undoabtedly displays, if regarded as a poetical treatise 
'on die Art of Poetry', has been considered as a proof that it 
"was never finished, and probably was not published by the poet 
himself. This theory has been further confirmed by the assump- 
tion made as to the identity of the Pisonesy to whom the epistle 
was addressed. Porphyrion begins his commentary with the 
words : hunc librum^ qui inscribitur de arte poetica^ cui Lucium 
Pisonem^ qui postea urbis custosfuit, eiusque liberos misit; nam et 
ipse Piso poeta fuit et studiorum libercUium antistes» This Ludus 
Piso was the son of the enemy of Cicero: he was bom B. c. 48, 
and was consul in B. c. 15. After some years* absence in Pam- 
phylia and Thrace he retumed to Rome in B.c. 11, and was 
granted the insignia of triumph for his victories o^r the Bessl 
(Tac. Ann. VI. 10). Under Tiberius he was praefectus urbit an 
office which he held for twenty years, according to Tadtus (cp. 
Furneaux on Tac. Ann. vi. 11, 5), dyingin A. D. 3« at the age of 
80. Now it is just possible that this Piso had two sons, old 
enough to be addressed as iuvenes, before the death of Horace 
in B.c. 8, and Borghesi believes that he has discovered evidence 
that one of them was consul suffectus in A.D. 7, in which case 
he must have been bom not later than B. C. 16 (Mommsen Pom. 
StacUsv. I.* 553 note 4). But it is only by straining probabilities 
to the utmost, that we can bring these young Pisos into con- 
nexion with Horace; and die difficuUy thus arising makes us 



NOTES. 331 

inclined to look for other indications of an earlier date, which 
^ould show that the statement of Porphjnion is erroneous. 
These indications have been put together in an exeellent paper 
by A. Michaelis {Commentationes in koftorgm ITuodori Momm" 
seniy Berlin 1877, pp. 420 — 433), and supplemented by Prof. 
Nettleship in the Joumal of Philology, Vol. xii. pp. 43—61. 

(i) P. (not, as commonly given, Spurius: cp. Jordan in 
Hernus viii. 89 f.) Maecius Tarpa is mentioned in v. 387 as a 
critic whose judgment would be of value to a young composer. 
Now in B.c. 55 Maecius was entrusted by Pompeius with the 
superintendence of the plays and other spectacles, which were 
to be produced in the stone theatre, Tvhich he had just built. 
It is indeed conceivable that at that time he was not more than 
30 years of age, and that in b. c. 8 he was still living at the age 
of 77 ; but it is much easier to understand the reference, if it 
was made some ten or twelve years earlier. Horace mentions 
him as a critic of plays in Sat. I. 10, 38, but the date of this is 
probably about B.c. 35. 

(2) In V. 371 Aulus Cascellius is mentioned as a type of a 
leamed lawyer, in connexion with Messalla, who is a t^rpe of 
eloquence. The language used indicates that both were living, 
and certainly Messalla was. But Cascellius was already famous 
in B. c. 56 ; and although he reached old age, it is barely pos- 
sible that he was living in B.c. 8. (Macrob. ii. 6, i, Val. Max. 

VI. 2, 13.) 

(3) On the other hand in v. 438 Quintilius Varus is spoken 
of in a manner which implies that he was dead at the time. 
But the terms of the reference suggest that he had been known 
to the young Pisos, and was not long dead. Now Eusebius ^ 
J^ome^s translation) assigns his death io s. C ^ (c^ Carm. I. 
24, 5), and there is no reason to doubt tlus statement. 

(4) The reference to Vergil and Varius in v. 55 is much 
more appropriate, if we suppose them both to be living, or at 
any rate, if we suppose the Aeneid to have been very recently 
published. Horace is evidently contending for a right which 
was disputed by the critics of his time, and in the thick of the 
battie: he is defending the school to which he himself, as well 
as Vergil and Varius, was attached against criticisms like those 
of Agrippa (Suet. Vit. Verg. 44 : cp. Nettleship in Conington's 
Vergii, Vol. 1.* p. xxix.). But in the latest years of his life the 
*Augustan* school of poetry had already won a decisive victory, 
and its le^ding writers were recognized as classic models. There 
was no longer need for the warm and strenuous pleading for 
that freedom in dealing with language, which was now gene- 
rally conceded : it was sufficient to assert it quietly in the tone 
ofEp. II. 2, iisfr. 

(5) Horace's tone in speaking of himself points to the earlier 
rather than to the later date. There is no reference to his advanc* 



332 ARS POETICA. 

ing years, as e.g. in Ep. ii. 2, 55 f. * There is nothirig of the ait 
of a man who is weary and feels that his work is done' (Nettle- 
ship). It is true that in v. 306 he says that he is now writing 
nothing himself ; but this expression may be referred just as 
well to that period of inactivity which followed the publication 
of Odes I» — III., and to which Horace refers in £p. I. I, as to 
that which marked the latest years of his life. 

(6) The metrical structure of the Epistola ad Pisones has 
been carefully examined by Haupt and Michaelis, without lead- 
ing to any very definite conclusion. But in some points it stands 
midway between the First and the Second Book of the Epistles. 

<7) Prof. Nettleship has remarked that the Rhine (v. 18) 
would not be a welcome theme for poets or their patron after 
the defeat of LoUius on its banks in B. c. 16. (Tac. Ann. I. 10.) 
On the other hand we must not forget the brilhant campaigns ot 
Drusus in BwC. 12, 11, and 9. 

(8) The arguments for thetraditionaldatedrawnfrom v. 63 ff. 
break down upon a more correct interpretation of that passage, 
for which see notes in loc. 

(9) It is noteworthy that there is no trace of intimacy with 
Augustus in this epistle. His name is not even mentioned. Now 
Horace was probably in very close relations with the emperor 
after his retum to Rome from the East in B.c. 19. 

All indications therefore agree in pointing to a time not far 
removed from the date of the First Book of the Epistles, i. e. 
about B. c. 30, as the date for the composition of the Epistola 
ad Pisones, But this date is quite incompatible with the identi- 
iication of the Pisos given by Porphyrion. It only reniains 
then that we should regard this as an unlucky guess of the 
scholiast, or rather of the unknown authority on whom he drew ; 
and see what other Pisos are available. The name was a very 
common one in Rome at this time, and no little care is required 
in reading Cicero or Tacitus to keep its various bearers distinct. 
But one of the most eminent was Gnaeus Calpumius Piso, the 
consul of B. c. 23. He had fought against Caesar in Afhca, and 
had afterwards joined Brutus and Cassius. After the amnesty 
which foUowed the battle of Philippi, he had kept aloof from 
public life, until Augustus urged him to accept the consolship. 
He was probably some ten or twelve years older than Horace. 
His eldest son Gnaeus was consul in B. c. 7 and must therefore 
have been born not later than B. c. 40. But another fact enables 
us to determine the date of his birth more precisely. At his 
death in A. D. 20 he could appeal to Tibenus per quinque ei 
quadraginta annorum obsequiumy whence it appears thiat he 
must have entered upon public life not later than B. c 26. 
We must therefore place his birth in B. c. 44, so that at the 
death of Qumctilius he was in his twentieth year. This Piso 
plays an important part in the earlier years of the reign of 



NOTES, 333 

Tiberius, and was accused of hastening the death of Germanicus. 
(Cp. Tac. Ann. ii. 43, 55, 57. 69—81, iii. i— 18.) liis younger 
brother Lucius was consul in B. c. i, and must therefore have 
been bom not later than B. c. 34, while it is probable that he 
may have been bom some years earlier. If these are the Pisos 
addressed in this epistle, we have in the case of the father, as in 
that of Messalla Corvinus (Carm. lii. 21, 7), Sestius Quirinus 
(Carm. I. 4, 14), Pompeius Varas (Carm. 11. 7), and Torquatus 
(Carm. iv. 7), an instance of the loyalty with which Horace 
clung to the friends who had gone through with him the cam- 
paign of Phiiippi. 

The title * Ars Poetica', or *De Arte Poetica Liber', is found 
in almost all MSS. Quintiiian viii. 3, 60 writes id tale est tnon- 
sirum, quale Horatius in prima parte libri de arte pottica. ^n^rit: 
and in the Epist. ad Tryph. 2 (prefixed to his Institutio) says 
usus Horatii consilio, qui in arte poetica suadet, ne praecipitetur 
editiOf nonumque prematur in annum, Later grammarians regu- 
larly use the same title, and it is employed aiso by Porph^rrion 
and the so-called Acron. There is no evidence that it comes 
from Horace himself ; it was probably invented by an early 
editor, and it is not very suitable to the contents of the epistle, 
suggesting, as it does, a regularity and completeness of treatment 
to which the poem makes no claim, and which indeed seems to 
be intentionally avoided. But a name which has been so long 
in use cannot be abandoned without inconvenience; and it may 
be accepted on the authority of tradition, provided we do not 
allow it to mislead us as to the real character of the epistle. 

Porph)nion adds to the words previously quoted in quem 
librum congessit praecepta Neoptolemi tov Jlaptavov non quidem 
omnia, sed eminentissima, Much difficulty has been found in 
accepting this statement. Ritter altogether rejects it; *Nam 
Horatium sua hausisse ex poeta recente et parum cognito, qualis 
fuit Neoptolemus grammaticus et Alexandrinorum studiis imbutus 
(cp. Meinekii Analecta Alexandr. p. 375), credat Judaeus Apella*. 
But it is not likely to have been a mere invention, and the case 
is quite unlike that which we have just bcen considering, where 
there was probably a confusion between twc persons of the same 
name. Michaelis in his early dissertation de Auctoribus quos 
Horatius in libro de Arte Poetica seaUus esse videtur (Kiel 1857), 
argued that Horace could have borrowed very little from Neo- 
ptolemus, 6rst because Horace is above all other poets of his 
time free from the influences of the Alexandrian school, with its 
pedantic eradition and tortuous diction, and secondly because he 
seems to have had in view in respect of metre mainly the practice 
of his countrymen, and because his references to the early history 
of the Greek drama are too confused and inaccurate to have been 
derived from an Alexandrian scholar. The first of these ob- 
jections is sufficiently met by Prof. Nettleship*s reply that there 



334 ^^-5 FOETICA. 

is no reason for ascribing to the criticism of Alexandria the cha- 
racteristics of its poetry: on die contrary * from one point of view 
the de Arte Poetica seems to bear an Alexandrian stamp : it con- 
tains the neatly-formulated critidsm of a refined, intelligent and 
weli-trained scholar, not that of a philosopher whose eye is set 
upon great things*. The second is met, at least in part, by his 
valuable suggestion that Horaceis sometimes translatmg or para- 
phrasing his Greek original, sometimes adding his own comments 
m the way of limitation, expansion or illustration from con- 
temporary life and thought. With this qualification, there is no 
reason why we should not accept the statement of Porphyrion. 
It is not necessary to assume that Horace borrowed from no 
other sources : but Michaelis has sufficiently disproved the theories 
which would derive a large part of this epistle from Democritus, 
Crito, Plato (in his Phaedrus), or Aristotle. From Varro he may 
have obtained something, but we have no means of determining 
how much. 

The epistle is certainly not a complete * Art of Poetry '. Some 
important branches of the subject are omitted altogether : others 
are discussed with a fuhiess quite disproportionate to their im- 
portance. It is sometimes dimcult to trace the sequence of the 
remarks; and digressions and repetitions appear to abound. 
Many attempts have been made to remedy a disorder, which 
was supposed to have originated either in the unskilfulness of 
those wno published, after Horace's death, the fragmentary 
drafts of a poem, to which his own revision would have given 
unity and completeness, or else in the poet's own * habitual in- 
dolence, which prevented his ever producing a complete work of 
any length* (Macleane). But such attempts have had no real 
basis to go upon : they have rarely satisfied any but their pro- 
pounders : and each suggested rearrangement has been declared 
by later critics to make matters only worse. It has been too 
commonly overlooked that very probably Horace intentionally 
avoided in this, as in other epistles, the appearance of a formsil 
regularity of treatment. The epistle, like the Satura^ from 
which it originated, was of tbe nature of a familiar chat, rather 
than a set treatise, and precisely marked divisions and sub- 
divhions were quite foreign to its nature. Still with the help 
of Prof. Nettleship's valuable suggestion as to the relation of the 
poem to its Greek source, we may find in it traces of an orderly 
tbough not strictly systematic arrangement of subjects. 

The epistle may be divided into three main sections. In the 
first (i — 72) the poet is enjoined to look to the unity of his style 
and conception, and to avoid all that is out of keeping. In the 
second (73 — 288) these general principles are applied to the 
various kinds of poetry, and especially to the drama, which is 
discussed at length. In the third (289 — 476) the manifold re- 
quisites for a successful cultivation of poetry are dwelt upon, aiKi 



. NOTES. li'!, 

the young Pisos are wamcd of the difficulties which suirourid 
the poet who is not fitted by learning, genius, and painstaking 
labour for his high vocation. The further development of these 
general divisions must be reserved for the running analysis. But 
one point calls for further remark, in the space which is given to - 
the criticism of the drama. While only 24 lines are assigned- 
to epic poetry, no less than 170 are devoted to dramatic poetry^ 
For this various reasons have been given. It has been suggested 
that Horace himself, who was certainly not without dramatic 
power, may have contemplated writing for the stage, at the time 
when his somewhat scanty fountain of lyrical inspiration seemed 
to be running dry. Others have found the explanation in the 
h^rpothesis that the young Pisos had shown tendencies in that 
direction. But without denying the possibility of either of these 
suppositions, it may be suggest^ that Horace has rather in view 
the awakened interest in the drama, prevalent in his own day, 
and among his own set. In the generation of Cicero dramatic 
literature had fallen out of favour; and though Quintus Cicero 
was proud of having written four tragedies in sixteen days, the 
rapidity of the production shows how little it was regarded as a 
serious pursuit But of Horace's contemporaries some of those 
of hi^hest mark had devoted themselves to tragedy. Asinius 
Pollio, Varius, and Ovid, all won high distinction in this branch 
of literature, and althbugh Augustus had the good sense to cancel 
his own tragedy of Ajax, the fact that he had written it shows 
the direction which die current was taking. It is probable that 
Horace, in devoting so much attention to the criticism of the 
drama, did so in recognition of the prevalent literary tastes, and 
with the wish to influence them in the direction of profounder 
study of the true classical models. 

1 — 87. The first requiHte for a work of art is harmony and 
proportion between thevarious parts, which alone can secureunity* 
"rorph^nrion says primum praeceptum est irepl ttjs dKoKovOiaSf i.e. 
consistency in dealing with the several portions {w, i — 9). Prof. 
Nettleship suggests that the praeceptum of Neoptolemus is trans- 
lated or paraphrased in w. i — 5, and that 6—9 form Horace*s 
comment. In painting the neglect of organic unity results in a 
ridiculous monster : the efifect is not less absurd in poetry. 

1. hiimaiio— eqiiinain: the inverted order (chiasmus) adds 
emphasis. For creatures 'ex alienigenis membris compacta* cp. 
Lucret. v. 878 fif. Perhaps we may suppose Horace to be thinking 
especially of a centaur, a haipy and Scylla. 

2. veUt, Roby § 638. 

Inducere 'penicillo adiungere' Comm. Cruq., which Orelli 
adopts. But Acron is more correct with his imponere*]a.y on*, a^ 
Or. s quotation shows : Plin. H. N. xxxv. 6, 26 sipurpuramfacere 



J^ 



336 AJ^S POETICA. ^j^^ 

maluni (pictores), caeruleum sublinunt, mox purpurissum exovo 
inducunt, Bendey objected to plutnas as denoting only the 
feathers covering the body, not the wing-feathers, which he 
thought the context required. The distinction though usually 
•is not always observed, and is not in question here: the 
jnonstrous form is represented as having the body of a bird, which 
would be covered "with p/umae. 

8. nzLdlque coUatls memtnls, probably the dative ailer 
inducere, not the abl. abs. (as Orelli thinks), for the indirect 
object Siiter inducere can hardly be spared : sic is understood irom 
the following «/, as in v. 8 etc. *and to spread feathers of 
varied hues over limbs brought together from sdl sides in such a 
way that ' &c. Ritter places a comma at plumas, understand- 
ing inducere simply of the horse's neck (with et ei understood), 
and taking collcUis membris as abl. abs. This leaves the body 
undescribed. 

tnrplter atnim go together, as in Ep. i. 3, 11 turpiter 
hirtum: ^Xram-foedum ^hideous': Ep. ii. a, 189. 

4. in plBoem *in beluam marinam, i.e. pistricem' Acron, 
whence some have read atram.,.in pristim: cp. Verg. Aen. m. 
427 postrema immani corpore pistrix of Scylla, X. «ix inpristim 
desinit alvus of Triton. [For the fonft of thc word cp. 
Nettleship on Aen. iii, 427.] But the general term i& at least 
as good as the more specific one, if not TOtter. / . 

5. spectatum * to a private view *, of course thesupihe. 

7. aegxl seems to have rather more authority than a^gris 
which KeUer defends, and it is a better parallel to cuius. Taiiae 
'unreal*. Cp. £p. II. i, 3 10 (note). 

8. flngentur is required after/^r^, by the sequence of tenses» 
tifinguntur, 

Bpedes *fancies': vanae speciesy as Schiitz points out, are not 
in themselves blameworthy in a work of imagmation : only they 
must not be inconsistent, like the dreams of a man suffering 
from fever. 

nec pes neo capnt, a metaphor suggested by the compariscm 
with a picture. Cp. Plaut. Asin. 739 nec caput nec pes sermom 
adparet. Capt. 614 garriet quoi neque pes lim^uam neque caput 
compareat. Cic. ad Fam. vii. 31, a tuas res ita contractas, tU, 
quemadmodum scridis, nec caput necpedes, 

nni proleptic : ita ut unafiat, 

9. reddatnr 'is adapted to^ *Natura remm dcU, poeta 
riddit ut debitum' Or. 



no 



NOTES. 337 

pietorlbiifl...pote8ta8: the objection of a critic {subjectio\ 
as Acron says, or as Prof. Nettleship prefers to regard it, another 
dictum quoted from the Greek, to which Horace supplies the 
necessary qualification. 

10. aequa : Acron interprets this as 'equal*. The connexion 
then is : *poets have just as much licence of unrestricted imagina- 
tion as painters have : but we have seen that there are limits in 
the one case; therefore there must be also in the other*. Orelli 
and Schiitz reject this interpretation, preferring to translate 
'reasonable', as in aequum ius etc. But *a reasonable power of 
unlimited licence* is a contradiction in terms, not to be defended 
by saying that quidlibet is an intentional exaggeration, corrected 
m the next line. 

11. petlmus quasi poetae, damTis quasi critici. Acron. 

12. coeant: cp. Ep^ i. 5, 35 ut coeat par iungaturque 
paru, 

13. gemlnentnr *arepaired'» 

14. IxLCeptls =: * plans '. 

15. pnrpureuB *brilliant* : for the wide sense in which this 
word is used cp. the commentators on Carm. iii. 15, 15, iv. i, 
10 or Verg. Aen. vi. 641. Orelli thinks there is a reference to 
the latus clavus which^bordered the toga praetexta, or to the 
flounce {instita)f sometimes attached to the stola, This hardly 
suits the context: the panni are not attached as appendages 
to the body of the work, but incorporated here and there 
in it. 

16. InctiB et^ara. This and the following instances are 
probably taken^dm contemporary poets, but we cannot identily 
any of them. 

18. Bhennm, an adjective, as Carm. iv. 4, 38 Metaurum 
flumen : Tac. Hist. IV. 11 mare Oceanum, 

19. nnno ' at the moment *. 

erat» from the point of view of the reader, who goes back to 
the time of writing the poem. 

cnpreBsnm. The scholiasts tell a story of a bad painter, 
who could paint nothing but a cypress. A shipwrecked man 
requested him to paint a picture of his disaster, that he might, 
according to the custom, carry it about, and get alms Quv. xiv. 
301 mersa rate naufragus assem dum rogat et picta se tempestate 
tuetur). The painter asked if he did not want a cypress intro* 
duced ; which gave rise to a Greek proverb /atJ ti koX Kvirapi<r<rov 
6i\€is; applied to one who wishesto introduce omaments out of 
place. 

W. H. 22 



338 ARS POETICA. 

21. OOtfplt InitUiil: q). Ep. ii. i, 149 (hofe). The ui^ceus 
or * pitcher *, though not necessarily smaUer than th^ amphora^ 
was so as a rule : and the sentence gains in point if we suppose 
that to a vessel of the size of an amphora, the shape of an urceut 
waa given ; at any rate, it was something very dififerent. rota, 
of course the potter's wheel: cp. Senec. Ep. xc. 31 Ancuharsis, 
iHquit, invenit rotam figuli, cuius circuitu vasa formantur, But 
it is mentioned by Homer II. xviii. 600. exlt : cp. Pers. i. 45 
non egOt cum scribOi siforte quid aptius exit, quando hctec rara cevis 
est, si quid tamen aptius exit^ laudari nutuam. 

23. qnldTls, a reading restored by Bentley for the vulgate 
quod vis : the latter has the support of almost all MSS., and 
would mean quod instituis: but this is very frigid, and Ritter is 
the only recent editor who defends it. 

dumtaxat * provided only it be\ Cp. Reid on Cic. Lael. 
§ 53. Bimplez, Le. constituting a single and uniform whole. 

24 — 31. Prof. Nettleship takes these lines to be again a para- 
phrase of the Greek original, with Horace's comment in vv. 
32 — 37. The desire to avoid a fault must be directed by know- 
ledgCy or the opposite fault is incurred, 

26. Bpede rectl ' by our idea of what is right' : species is not 
here in a bad sense, a mere phantom : cp. Quint. viii. 3, 56 
KaK6^\w vocatur ^uicquid est ultra virtutem, quoties ingenium 
iudicio caret et specte bonifallitur: omnium in eloquentia vitiorum 
pessimum, The word is often used in Cicero with the meaning 
of ^general notion * = Idia. 

26. leTla * smoothness *, ti/p XeLOTrrra of the rhetoricians, to 
which vigour and energy (dtLv^Ttii) was in danger of being sacri- 
ficed. Bentley preferred ienia, which has very slight authority : 
the passage from Cic. Brut. 48, 177 sunt eius aliquot orationes ex 
quibus.,.lenitas eius sine nervis conspicipotest, adduced in support 
of this reading, tells really rather against it. We do not want 
quite a repetition of the same idea, but a slight variation, as in 
brevis, )( obscurus, A man who aims at an excellence is in 
danger of falling into a fault, closely connected with it : but 
lenia would denote not an excellence, but a fault. Keller points 
out that as the archetype was undoubtedly written in capitals, 
the difference between the two words is not so slight as it is in 
MSS. written in small letters. 

nerTl: cp. Cic. Brut. 31, 111 quis Aristotde nervosiort 
Quint. viii. proem. 18 resistam iis, qui omissa rerum, qui nervi 
sunt in causis, diligentia quodam inani circa voces studio senescunt. 
In good Latin nervus, like reupor, always denotes sinews or 
tendons (literal or metaphorical) : cp* Celsus viii. i nervi qnos 



I^OTES. 339 

rivovrat Gratci appellantf but sometimes appears to mclude 
also what we call ' nerves ' : see Mayor*s note on Cic. Nat. 
Deor. II. 55, 136. Galen (bom a.d. 130) was tiie first to limit 
9€vpo9 to tbe meaning ' nerve ', in its present sense. 

27. auixnl 'spirit*. pxt>fe88ii8 gnmdia: cp. Quint. x. 2, 16 
pUrumqw (imitatores) declinant in peius et proxima virtutibus 
vitia comprehendunt Jiuntqtu pro grandibus tumidi, 

28. serplt liiiml. Horace mixes the metaphors of one who 
fears to soar and so creeps along the ground, and of a sailor 
who hugs the shore in his dread of a storm. Cp. Carm. 11. 10, 
I ff, Perhaps there is a reference Xopedestris oratio. 

29. prodigiallter occurs in good Latin only here and in 
Colum. III. 3, 3. In Plaut, Amph. 732 prodigialis luppiter is 
the god who sends marvels. Hence the word seems to mean 
' so as to produce a marvellous efFect *. Kriiger and Keller (in 
his smaller edition) adopt Jeep's punctuation and interpretation 
qui variare cupit^ rem prodigialittr unam^ * he who desires to 
give variety paints — a marvelof unity— a dolphin in the woods* 
etc, referring to Madvig on Cic. de Fin. ii. 23, 75 rem videlicet 
difficilem et obscuram, But it is doubtful whether variare can 
thus be separated from rem; and there seems no reason to depart 
from the natural rendering: * he who wishes to lend variety to 
one and tbe same subject so as to introduce a marvel '. This 
Keller now admits. Perhaps it is better to take unam as 
merely denoting 'one and the same*, rather than as 'simple'. 

80. delphinum: the Greek SeX^^y or aeX^^s becomes 
usually delphinus in Latin, as i\€<pas becomes elephantus ; but 
Ovid has twice delphiu as the nom. (found occasionally |n other 
poets), and five times delphina as the acc. sing. : Vergil (once— 
Aen. VIII. 673) and Ovid (three times) have delphines as nom. 
sing., and Vergil (Ecl. viii. 56) has delphinas as acc. plur. Ovid 
has the abl. delphine in Met. XI. 237, and the gen. plur. delphi- 
num is found thrice in Vergil and once in Propertius. But these 
Greek forms are entirely confined to poetry : cp* Cic. de Nat. D. 
^* 27» 77» Neue, Formenlehre i.^ 322. 

82. AemninTn ludum, according to Porph. a gladuitorial 
scbool near the Forum, built by an Aemilius Lepidus, who can- 
not now be identified with any one of the many who bore tbat 
name at or about this time. 

imns was confessedly the reading of the archet^rpe, but 
Bentley^s conjecture unus has Ibund almost universal acceptation ; 
not only those editors who usually foUow him, but even those who 
set least value on his judgment admit it. Macleane says * there 
can be no doubt that it is the true reading ', and Keller * after 
weighing the whole question a hundred times, unuf appears to 

22 — 2 



340 ARS POETICA. 

me the more correct'. But I cannot but think that Ritter, 
Kriiger and Schiitz are right in defending imus, It is not 
necessary to accept Porph.'s explanation * hoc est, in angulo 
ludi tabemam.habentem' though ,it may well be founded on a 
genuine tradition, as the details which he adds (see below) are 
not likely to be mere invention ; while Adron's interpretatlon of 
the word as a proper name is the last refuge of a despairing 
commentator^ But I do not see why imus should not have the 
natural force of *the lowest in rank , i.e. the poorest, or most 
unskilful. Bentley had of course no difficulty in showing that 
unus\& often used of preeminent excellence (cp. Sat. i. lo, 42; 
II. 3, 24; 6,. 57) ; but why is it necessary to suppose that Horace 
had in view a particular craftsman, who was distinguished for 
his skill in details, but failed in his works as a whole? It is 
surely legitimate to say * the poorest Smith who lives by the Aemi- 
lian school will represent you nails, and imitate waving hair in 
bronze': and if so, there is no reason to depart from the MSS. 
Jordan {HermeSy Vol. IX. 416 ff.) shows that probably around 
the outer walls of the ludus there were taberncu^ let out to fabri 
by the builder or lessee of the school : he thinks that the last of 
these facing the main. street was tenanted by the faber in ques- 
tion under the sign of a figure of Polycletus, which gave rise to 
the name by which (according to Porph.) the ludus was after- 
wards known, when turned into a bath {quod nutic Polycleti 
balineum est), If it is not legitimate to take the expression as a 
general one, and some particular craftsman is denoted, this view 
seeins defensible. 

•Fix on some casual sculptor, he shall know 
How to give nails their sharpness, hair its flow'. Con. 
Orelli seems wrong in regarding elaborate accuracy in the re- 
presentation of the hair as a great merit in a sculptor. After 
the path had once been pointed out (according to Pliny N. H. 
XXXIV. 8, 19 by Pythagoras of Rhegium: but cp. Overbeck, 
Cesch. d. Griech, Plasiiky p. 183), it was not hard to follow it. 

83. molllB *waving*, as often in Vergil, e.g. Ecl. iii. 45 
molli acanthoy applied to hair by Tibull. I. 8, 9 quid tibi nunc 
mollis prodest coluisse capillos ? 

84. Infelix operls Bumma ' failing in his work as a whole ': 
summa may be best taken as the ablative of the part concemed 
(Roby § iiio, S. G. § 497) : Bentley puts a comma after operis, 
whtch is then the genitive of the part concerned (Roby § 1320, 
S. G. § 526), a construction which is legitimate enough in itsel^ 
but here leaves summa to stand by itself very awkwardly. 

ponere 'represent*, often used of plastic art, as in Carm. iv. 
8, 8 sollers nunc hominem ponerCt nunc deum: so componere in 
the next line. 



NOTES. 341 

me ease Tellxn : cp. Cic. in Cat. i. 4 cupio me esse cUmentem, 
with note. 

86. pravo, cp. Ep. 11. «, 44 (note). 

87* vswAiiSiSxjn.—dignum qui specter: cp. Carm. i. 3), 11 
Lycum nigris oculis nigroque crine decorum. 

88 — 41. The subject chosen must be within thepoe^s powers. 

88. ae(iiiain=/ar^/v, 'not too much forV 

39. Tenate *consider*. Or. thinks that the metaphor is 
taken from porters, who * onera manibus versant, antequam in 
humeros tollant *, but it is too common to need such an explana- 
tion : cp. Plaut. Trin. 223 multas res simitu in meo corde vorso. 
fexre recoBent, £p. 11. i, 258. 

40. potenter=«cara to Svvaroi' *in accordance with his 
powers'. So Porph., and this view has been generally adopted. 
But the word occurs nowhere else in anything likethis sense, any 
more than fiwarws by which Ritter renders it: Schiitz quotes 
(from Forcellini) Quint. xii. 10, 72 ut dicat utiliter^ etad efficien' 
dum quod intendit potenter^ which is clearly not parallel. May 
not the meaning be rather *with self-restraint*, asopposedto the 
common force of impotens and impotenter? So Cic. Tusc. Disp. 
I. 3, 6 hominis est intemperanter abutentis et otio et litterisy 
and Acad. i. i, 2 intemperantis enim esse arbitror scribere quod 
occultari velit, [I think the sense is *he who spends all his powers 
on the choice', i.e. * who uses every effort to choose aright *. J. S. R.] 

41. focnndia: cp. Cato's golden rule for an orator ^rem 
tene, verba scquentur\ 

42—44. The virtue of arrangement lies in a choice of what 
has to be said at the time, 

42. ordlnis, repeated by anaphora, as the subject-matter of 
this and the next two lines. The general rule irc/>i t^s cvTa^/as 
(Porph.) is given in brief, for the detailed precepts depend 
entirely on the nature of the matter dealt with. 

yenns * charm *, v. 320. 

ant egro flallor * or else I am quite mistaken', i.q. ni fcdlor, 
Cp. Ov. Met. I. 607 aut egofallort aut ego laedor: Liv. praef. aut 
me amor siiscepti negotii fcUHt, aut^ etc. The reading of many 
inferior MSS. haud or haut is not an indication of the original 
identity of the two words, as some have thought (cp. Donaldson*s 
Latin Grammar^ p. 194) : the notion of a connexion between 
the two words is now abandoned by all scholars (cp. Corssen 
Ausspr, II. p. 595) : but is due simply to a misunderstanding of 
the phrase. 



342 ARS POETICA. 

43. iam niinc, 'at once', 'at this very time% £p. Ii. i, 
127, Carm. ii. i, 17; iii. 6, 23: the pioper arrangement is 
secured by not saying anything which is not immediately neces- 
sary to the clear comprehension of the harrative or the sentiinent. 
Bentley argues that iam nunc — iam nunc can only mean * al one 
time — ^at another time', quoting Pers. v. no iam nunc astringas, 
iam nunc granaria laxes? where it certainly has this meaning. 
He therefore takes away the comma after dici. But the sense 
which results * to s^y sometimes [evefything], and sometimes to 
postpone much that ought to be said', is so poor that we cannot 
possibly accept it. 

M. pleraqne 'much* as in Ep. 11. i, 66 (note) : so pUrum- 
que * often' in Ep. I. 18, 94, and above in v. 14. 

dlfferat expresses rather the purpose of the poet, omittal his 
action : hence there is no tautology. 

46—45. Bentley first transposed these two lines, so that h&c 
— hoc means * one word — another word' ; many of the best recent 
editors have followed him, and his reasoning seems to be irre- 
sistibly cogent. No error is raore common in MSS. than the 
omission of a verse, which afterwards is restored to a wrong 
place : and hoc — hoc seems ahnost ioexplicable, if referred to the 
topic of order. It is extremely otiose to say that the composer of 
a poem long promised is to make a selection of his subject- 
matter. Schutz attempts to defend the traditional order, but 
with little success. His argument that diccUy differat and omittcU 
need auctor as a subject is not strong : the subject is easily 
supplied from hunc of v. 41 : and the change to the second per- 
son dixeris is not harsh, and does not require the introduction of 
a new theme, 

45 — 69. Familiar ivords cLcquire freshness in a new connexion ; 
and new words may be coincd with discretion, 

46. teniilB, here a word of praise, not blame=^/t/i>, 
XcttJs. Cp. Carm. II. 16, 38 spiritum Graiaetenuem Camenae, 

serendls 'connecting*, suggesting both the avoidance of 
hiatus, tod awkWard juSttaposition, and also fresh syntactic com- 
binations. 

47. callldA Innotara : Orelli quotes as instances from Horace 
himself splendide mendax^ insanieniis sapientiae consultusy 
animae magnae prodigus. Prof. Nettleship happily refers to the 
charge brought against Vergil by Agrippa that he had been 
subomed by Maecenas to in^t a new kind of affectation, which 
consisted in an unusual employ^nent of ordinary words, and was 
therefore difficult of detection (Sueton. XLiv. novae cacozeiiae 



NOTES. 343 

repertorem^ nan tumidae nec exiHs, sed ex eommunibus verbis 
mtque ideo latentis) ; and quotes phrases like recens caede, tela 
exit^ tendit iter velis (Conington*s Vergil, Vol. I> pp. xxix. — 
xxxiii.). 

itmotora cannot refer, as some have supposed, either to com- 
position, or to metaphor. 

49. lxL(llcli8=:<n7McZott. * Indicia verba appellavit : philo* 
sophi enim dicunt indicandarum rerum causa inventas esse voces.' 
Porph. Perhaps this use of indicium is intended as a case of 
ccUlida iunctura, 

al>dita rerom *new conceptions*, not previously brought to 
view. The great majority of MSS. read rerum ety which was 
omitted (silently) by Bentley, and which almost all editors recog- 
nize as indefensible. There is a similar erroneous addition in 
Ep. II. I, 73. 

60. ci2iotatl8=^»} cinctu induebantur, The cinctus was a 
broad waistband, or loin-cloth, wom by the old Romans instead 
of the tunica under the toga, and by the vounger men in their 
exercises in the Campus, whence it was aiso called campestre. 
The younger Cato wore it in accordance with the ancient practice 
(Ascon. p. 30, 9 Or. Cato praetor iudicium, quia aestate agebatur^ . 
sine tunica exercuit^ campestri sub toga cinctus)^ and Porph. here 
says : omnes enim Cethegi unutn morem servaverunt Romae.., 
nunquam enim tunica usi sunt : ideo cinctutos eos dixit quoniam 
cinctus est genus tunicae infra pectus flptatae. As the arms and 
breast were left bare Lucan ii. 543 speaks of exsertique manus 
vesana Cethegi ; and Sil. Ital. VIII. 587 has ipse umero exsertus 
gentili moreparentum difficili gaudebat equo. This must be dis- 
tinguished from the cinctus Gabinus, which Was the old way of 
wearing the toga in time of war. Cp. Marquardt, Rom. PrivatcUt. 
II. 159, 167. Several figures wearing the cinctus are represented 
in Daremberg and Saglio's Dictionnaire des Antiquith, p. 11 73. 

61. oontlnsret * you will be allowed ' : not very commonly 
used so without the dative expressed, as in £p. i. 17, 36, 
II. 1. 41. 

puAfftAmt=iCum pudorcy i.e. 'with moderatioh'. 

62. fietaqne : Bentley wished to change this into factaquct 
because oifingere in v. 50, but the repetition is pleasii^ rather 
than otherwise. The phrase facere novum verbum is good 
enough in itself : cp. Cic. Orat 62, aii with Sandys* note. 

baliebimt fidem 'will find acceptance' or *credit'. The 
limitation is at first sight by no means clear. Why shonld 
newly-coined words find favour only if they come falling like, 



344 ARS. POETICA. 

streams from a Greek source? Is Greek alone the lawful foun- 
tain-head of a new vocabulary? Lehrs supposed a line to be 
k>st, closing with atU si^ so as to supply the missing altemative. 
But Schiitz appears to interpret more correctly by pointing out 
that two ways of supplying what is lacking are touched upon in 
W. 45 — 53 : (i) by a skilful connexion which adds new force to 
current words: (2) by new words coined to express new ideas. 
The second cannot be supplied from the stores of the Latin lan- 
guage, or this method comes to coincide with the first (as e. g. 
when •booking* is used to describe the purchase of railway 
tickets): hence it must be met from the Greek. It is hardly 
possible, with Orelli, to suppose that Graeco fonte cadere means 
simply to be constructed on a Greek model, and refers to com- 
pounds such as ceniimanus (iKaT6yx€tpos)t or phrases like aurum 
vesiibus illiium {xPVffdiracrToijt or Cicero's inJoleniia for dirddeia, 
Madvig*s ei si {Adv. Crit. II. 62) is attractive, but not necessary. 

paxce detorta ' deducia cum parsimonia\ Or. 'a little altered 
in form', i.e. modified so as to have the form of genuine Latin 
words, like amphora from dfnpopcvsi placenia from irXaicoOs, etc. 
But this is not consistent with his interpretation of Graeco fonte, 
Cp. Cato as quoted by Priscian IX. p. 487 H. Marrucini vocan- 
iur, de Marso detorsum nomen, 

68. qnld antdxn is used in introducing a statement which 
removes an objection which might have been made to a previous 
statement : * why indeed ?' 

64. dabit...ademptnm: 'grant to...and refusetoV.*: the 
thought might have been more exactly expressed by daium — 
adimet, Some copyists, not understanding that the reference is 
to the critics of Horace's own time, changed dabit into dedii^ 
quite needlessly. These critics allowed a free use of words 
borrowed from Greek to the old dramatists ; why refuse it to 
contemporary poets ? Vergil was attacked for his use of Greek 
words : cp. the quotations irom Macrobius in Conington*s Vergil, 
Vol. I.* p. xxxiii. Among the words censured are dius^ daedala, 
irieterica^,(hqreasy hyalus, Cp. Cic. de Fin. III. 4, 15 si Zenoni 
licuit cum rem aliquam invenissei inusiiatam^ inaudiium quoque 
ei rei nomen imponercy cur non licecU.Caioni? where Cato Minor 
is meant, not as Schiitz says, by an oversight, Cato Censorius. 

66. Varioqne : Varius is connected with Vergil also in Ep. 
II. 1, 247. Some MSS. have VaroqtiCy as in Verg. Ecl. ix. 35. 
For the freedom with which Plautus adopts Greek words in a 
Latinized form cp. Sellar, Roman Poets of the Republic^ p. 165, 
or EncycL Brii. XIV. 331 b, 

66. InTldeor for the more usual invidetur mihi = 4>$opo0/iai : 
cp. imperor Ep. l. 5, 21, credor Ov. Trist. lll. 10, 35. Priscian 



NOTES. . 345 

in commfenting upon this (xviii. i8, 158) comparles £p. I. 14, 41 
invidet usum, but the acc. of the thing grudged, though not found 
in Cicero, occurs in livy, Vergil (£cl. vii. 58, Aen. viii. 509), 
and Ovid. 

Catonls : the modemised form in which his only important 
extant treatise De Re Rustica has come down to us precludes us 
firom ascertaining in what way he enriched the Latin language. 
Ennius did very much to fix the literary pronunciation of Latin, 
and to determine its vocabulary. 

69. producere nomen : Bentley on very slight authority read 
procudere and (on none) nummum, which Ribbeck adopts as 
necessary. But procudere is really tautologous after signatum: 
we need both * to coin' and * to utter' 5 and the metaphor being 
sufficiently expressed in these words nomen is required for its 
application. The metaphor of coinage applied to language is a 
very common one : cp. Q^^i^^t. I, 6, 3 utendum plane sermone ut 
nummo^ cui publicaforma est, 

praesente nota *with the current stamp'. Plin. N. H. 
XXXIII. 3, 13 signatum est (aes) nota pecudum, Acron explains 
notamine praesentis temporis, 

60 — 72. All mortal things are doomedto change andtoperish ; 
and so too words, 

60. folllB is an abl. of instrument ' by means of their leaves', 
i.e. by the growth of new leaves, while the earlier ones fall off 
[or 'parted from their leaves* bn the analogy of mutari civitate 
(Aes. Salp. c. xxil.; Cic. Balb. 31), mutari Jinibus (Liv. v. 46, 
11), mutari voluntate (Cic. ad Fam. v. ai, i). In all these cases 
the abl. is strictly one of respect, but the notion of severance comes 
in. J. S. R.]. The sUva corresponds to the cutcUf the /otia to the 
individual verba, Bentley printed sitvis/olia, supposing that/otid 
could he lengthened before pr-, which would be unparalleled in 
Horace. The quotation in the grammarian Diomedes p. 394 P. ut 
/otia in silvis is probably due only to a slip of memory, for it is 
hard to see how it should have been altered mto the reading of all 
MSS. if genuine. He also ingeniously suggested privos for pronos, 
comparing Lucret. V. 274 privas mutatttr in horas and 733 inque 
dies privosy with the explanation of Paulus p. iiSHl, privos pri- 
vasque antiqui dicebant pro singulis, and Gell. x. 20, 4 veteres 
priva dixerunt, quae nos singula dicimus, But in annos stands 
very well by itself for * each year* as Carm. il. 13, 14 in horas = 
* every hour* : and there is no reason to ascribe an archaism to 
Horace here. That Gellius supports his statement by a quotation 
from Lucilius is, as Schiitz notices, an indication that he did not 
find the word in Horace. Acron well ^x^iaMx^ pronos as declives 
et cito labentes, instabiles, volubiles, Orelli rejects this explana- 
tion, and interprets 'ad finem vergentes* : but the birth of new 



346 ARS POETICA. 

leaves is snggested as much as the loss of old ones. It is doubt- 
ftil howevcr whether foiiis can mean by itself *by the growth of 
new leaves \ even with the antithesis of prima cadunt : the pas- 
sages quoted by Vahlen (on Aristot. Poetik^ p. 88) by no means 
sufhce to establish this. A mediaeval commentary para{^rases 
primai scilicet^ folia, cadunt, nava succrescunt, ita vetus aetcu 
verborum, id est, verba in vetere aetate inventa intereunt, et modo 
nata...florent, Hence Prof. Nettleship {JoumcU of PhiloUgy^ 
XII. 51) suggests that the line originally ra.n prima cadMmiy nova 
succrescunt ; vetusinterit aetas: the words ita verhmmm having 
been originally a gloss upon aetas: and this he (inds confirmed 
by a passage in Terome which runs {cum) edia venerit genercUio 
primisque cadenttbus foliis virens sikta succreverit, Lehrs had 
already suggested the loss of aliae after v. 6oin which succrescunt 
occurred. The only di£icnlty as to accepting Nettleship's inge- 
nious suggestion is the doubt whether verborum can be spared. 
— The metaphor is doubtless suggested by Homer, H. VI. 146 — 9 
tHai «-«p ^iJXXwi' ^«'c^, TOiiy bk koL cufdpc^y, ^vWa rd fUv r aye/ios 
Xa/Aadts x^^h AXVa di vXi; r^Xe^cMra ^vec, tapot d* ilckyLyKrax 
wprri' <ai oLvbpwp yeveif rj ftiv ^jJei ^ 8' airoXiT^et — a passage which 
has found many other echoes in literature. 

68. debemnr: cp. Simonides frag. 122 Bergk dav&np Torrcs 
d<f>€t\6pt.€da, Ov. Met. X. 32 omnia debemur vobis (dis inferis). 

slve receptns etc. The westem coast of Italy was very 
deficient in good harbours (though not so bad as the eastem, but 
cp. Cic. de Orat. iii. 19, 69). Hence at the time when Sextus 
Pompeius was threatening Rome with a strong fleet, Agrippa, 
the admiral of Augustus, found it necessary to constmct an arti- 
ficial port. On the coast of Campania, between Misenum and 
Puteoli, there were two small lakes, the Avemus and the Lucri- 
nus, separated from each other by a strip of land about a mile in 
Iwreadth, while the latter, the outer lake, was divided from the 
sea by a narrow belt of sand or -shingle. It seems that the sea 
occasionally broke through this, and that Julius Caesar accord- 
ingly had it strengthened, in order that the fish-preserves Qf the 
Lucrine lake might not be disturbed. Agrippa now further 
strengthened this barrier by facing it with stone, but pierced it 
with a channel to admit ships, and also connected the two lakes 
by a canal, so as to form a safe and capacious harbour, called 
the Portus Julius. Vergil (Georg. 11. 161 — 164) speaks of tWs 
work as one of the glories of Italy. But though the Lacus 
4-veraus was of great depth, the Lucrinus was &t a shallow 
lagoon ; so that the operation was not permanently successfu], 
and even in the time of Strabo the harbour was practically aban- 
doned. Merivale (iii. 361) seems to be in error in ascribing its 
abandonment to the construction of a harbour at the mouth of 
the Tiber by Octavius; for the portus Augusti near Ostia, 



NOTES. 347 

though planned by Julius Caesar, was, aocording to the best 
authorities, conunenced only by Claudius (cp. Boissier, FronU' 
nades Archiotogiques^ p. 269; Burn, Rome and the Campagna^ 
p. 370). But whether there is any reference here to this work, 
as is almost universally assumed, is very doubtful : see on v. 67 
below. 

64. arcet, here with the acc. of the thing defended, and the 
abl. of that from which it is defended. In prose it is more 
common to have the acc. of the thing kept off, and the ablative 
(with ab) of that from which it is kept off. 

65. regls opns : Meineke thinks the singular here inde- 
fensible, holding that it could only mean * the work of one who 
was a king', a title always rejected by Augustus, as by Julius: 
and therefore suggests regium cpus, like regiae motes in Carm. ii. 
15, 1. The suggestion has found much favour: and I am by no 
means sure that the vulgate can be defended. Cp. Theocr. I. 32 
'^wo. ri OeQv daLSaXfjid. 

palUB diu. The MSS. read diu palus: Bentley first ob- 
j,ected to the unparalleled shortening of patHs, and suggested 
patus prius : Gesner's patus diu^ in which the long vowel is not 
elided but shortened in hiatus, has in its favour si mi amas of 
Sat. I. 9, 38 and Vergil Ecl. viii. 108 an qut ataant, Aen. vi. 
507 // amice, [Ovid Met. i. 155 A&0 Ossam, and iii. 501 
vaU^ vak i$»fitU M Edu^ are no more parallel than Verg. Georg. 
1. 281 and Ecl. iii. 70 firom which they are copied ; and in 
Propert. IV. (iii.) 11, 17 Omphatein tantum Palmer ingeniously 
reads yardanis in tantum^ The hiatus is common in Lucretius 
and Catullus : cp. Munro on Lucr. ii. 404 and Lachm. Comm, 
p. 1 76. Although we cannot very confidently ascribe it to Ho- 
race here, especially as the instances apparenlly similar shorten 
the vowel in the first not the second thesis, it is less improbable 
than the shortening of the final syllablo of patHs, to which no 
sort of parallel can be adduced. Hence the best recent editors 
admit it. But I am by no means sure that Bentiey^ s patus prius 
is not a safer correction. PRIV would easily become DIV. 
Or if it dropped out after patus, diu might be inserted to make 
out the line. Macleane entirely misunderstands Quint. i. 7, 3 
which in no way * shows that later poets had followed Horace''s 
licence*. Both Servius and Priscian had the reading of the 
MSS. and remark upon the shortened final syllable, but quote 
no other instance of it. 

Bterillsve, though it has not much more authority than st^» 
lisque, is clearly the better reading. 

The scholiasts explain this to refer to the draining of the 
"Pomptine marshes by Augustus : Pomptinas patudes Augustus 
exsicvavit et hatntahites reddidit iniecto aggere tapidum et terrae. 



j 



348 ARS POETICA. 

But altHough Julius Caesar intended to attempt this work (Suet. 
Jul. XLiv.), and perhaps^et with some partial success, reclaim- 
ing some land which Antonius proposed to divide among the 
poorer citizens (Dio. XLV. 9), there is no evidence that it was 
carried out by Augustus : and Mr Long {Notes on Plutarch Caes. 
LViii.) points out some engineering difficulties which would 
make the complete fulfilment of the task almost impossible. 

67. seu cimiim mntavlt amniB. Porphyrion says * Tiberim 
intellegamus : hunc enim Agrippa derivavit, qua nunc vadit : 
antea per Velabrum fluebat , and similar notes are given by 
Acron and Comm. Cruq. But the Velabrum was drain^l by the 
Cloaca Maxima in the time of the kings, and the Tiber never 
flowed through it. Suet. Aug. xxx. says ctd coerce^idcu inun- 
dationes alveum Tiberis laxavit ac repurgavity completum olim 
ruderibus et aedificiorum prolapsionibus coartatum : but of this 
we have no further details. For the inundations of the Tiber 
cp. Carm. i. 2, 13 — 20: hutjrugibus shows that in this place 
the damage done to the city cannot have been prominent in the 
mind of Horace. But the three iiistances of great works of men 
here mentioned as perishing are strikingly parallel to what Plut. 
Caes. LVIII. says of the schemes of Julius Caesar: *He had also 
a design of diverting the Tiber, and carrjring it by a deep chan- 
nel directly from Rome to Circeii, and so into the sea near Tar- 
radna, that there might be a safe and easy passage for all mer- 
chants who traded to Rome. Besides this he intended to drain 
all the marshes by Pomentium and Setia, aiid gain ground 
enough from the water to employ many thousands of men in 
tillage. He proposed further to make great mounds on the 
shore nearest Rome, to hinder the sea from breaking in upon 
the land, to clear the coast at Ostia of all th^ hidden rocks and 
shoals that made it unsafe for shipping, and to form ports and 
harbours fit to receive the large number of vessels that would 
frequent them. These things were designed without being car- 
ried into effect*. Now it seems pretty clear that the draining of 
the Pomptine marshes was never carried out to an extent sufl5- 
cient to justify Horace's language, if taken strictly. There is 
great probability therefore in the view of Preller {/4u/sdtse, 
P' 515 ff.) that Horace has in view throughout the designs of 
Julius rather than any works actually executed by Augustus. It 
would be a very doubtfol compliment to the reigning emperor to 
take great engineering operations of his as instances of works 
doomed to pass away ; whereas it would be natural for him to 
speak thus of gigantic schemes commenced a quarter of a cen- 
tury before and never completely carried out. We must there- 
fore suppose Horace to be using a kind of poetic anticipation, 
'assummg the great dictator's plans to have been achieved, 
still they are destined to fail in the long run *. So Nettleship l.c. 
p. 52 note. 



NOTES. 349 

68. fEUSta is not often used for opera, perhaps never in 
prose : but Ovid Her. x. 60 has non hominum video, non ego 
facta boumf where the last words translate ipya ^oQv : so that 
£entley's substitution of cuncta is needless. 

69. nednin— stet, I^oby § 1658, S. G. § 688. Key's notion 
(Z. G. § 1^28), that existumes is omitted for the sake of brevity, 
will not stand examination. But in cases like the present Mr 
Roby's way of stating the usage needs to be modified or rather 
inverted : the 'greater event', i.e. the perishing of all works of 
men, is rhetorically regarded as having for its purpose the pre- 
vention of the *less event', the continued currency of words. 

sermoniun, a very rare, perhaps unparalleled use of the plural, 
for *style' or 'language*. Carm. Iii. 8, 5 docte sermones utrius- 
que linguae is quite different, if the usual interpretation is correct. 

70. nrnlta renascentnr: archaisms were much affected by 
the writers of the second century after Christ, such as Fronto, 
A. Gellius, and Apuleius. Our own time has similarly wit- 

- nessed a great revival of archaic words in poetry. 

72. *ar1]ltrlum quod statuimus nulla causa allata; Ins 
facultas quam ceteri ultro agnoscunt: norma regula a nobis 
praescjipta cui ceteri-^obtemperant' Orell. penes personifies 
HSOB ^in whose hands^ Cp. £p. ii. 9, 119. 

73^309. In this second main section of the poem Horace 
applies his general principles to the treatment of different kinds 
of poetry, passing from one to the other with little formality, 
but dwelling maimy upon the drama. 

73—85. llomerfirst wrote hexameters ; then followed elegiac 
verse of uncertain origin : iambics were invented by Archilochus 
for his lampoons, and adopted both by comedy and tragedy, Lyric 
verse is fitted for hymns^ for odes 0/ victory^ and for songs about 
love and wine, 

74. Homems : the invention of the hexameter was ascribed 
to the Delphic priests, and it is no improbable conjecture that 
the earliest epic poetry— which in any case must have existed 
for centuries before th6,IJiad- assumed its present form — was of 
purely religious origin. Cp. Mahaffy's Greek Liierature, I. pp. 
15 — 17« The hexameter arose, as may be seen from the im- 
portance of the caesura, froma combination of two short lines, 
the first normally ->^w | -x.^»* | —^ the second the same in struc- 
ture but wifli an anacrusis, and an added syllable at the end 
- I -w>^ I — ^x.^ I - II -, From this the pentameter was formed 
by the omission of the added elemenib in the second half. Thus 
the char^ter of the verse was entirely changed. Cp. Cole- 
ridge's versidn of Schiller's lines : 

Jn the hexameier rises the fountairCs silvery column : 
In the pentameter aye falling in melody back» 



350 AliS POETICA. 

76. impajriter, one of Horace*s ara^ XeV^/icya. itfterl- 
monia, i.e. elegy. Horace seems to allude to the traditional 
derivation of ^70f from % I X^civ *to say ah me', a derivation 
quite impossible for sdentific etymology. As the word denoted 
primarily a plaintive tune played on the Fhrygian pipe, it is 
probably of Phrygian origin (Mahatfy, i. p. 157). The Phry- 
gian adXi^o-ts became widely familiar in Greece in connexion 
with the worship of Dionysus and the Phrygian Mother of thc 
Gods, espedally through the compositions of Olympus: and 
there is reason to believe that it was especially used in laments 
over the dead : cp. Plutarch, de el c, xxi. d at)X^s b^^k koI vpiorp/ 
M\iiiia€ (fxayrjy i<p* Ifiefyroiffiv d^etytUf rbv bk TrpCrrov xpopov 
eZXxero 7rp6s rd wivOrit Kod njv irepl Tavra 'KeiToupylap ov fidka 
l^vTipjov ovJ^ <paidpd,v etxeVi cTr' ipXx^'"! iravTdiraxnv, But it was 
Callinus of Ephesus (circ. B.c. 665) who first wrote verses in 
elegiac metre, to be sung to the accompaniment of the pipe. 
(Bergk, Gr, Littcraturgesch. II. 125 flf.) His poems were not of 
a religious character, but adapted for ordinary social intercourse. 
The only important fragment which we possess (some twenty 
lines) was intended to stir up his countrymen to greater energy 
in their struggle with the Magnetes (Bergk, ib, pp. 178 — 180). 
Archilochus somewhat later used the same metre as a vehicle 
for the expression of the most varied emotions, introdudng 
many references to his personal history. Tyrtaeus (circ. B.C 
600 — 580) foUowed more closely in the steps of Callinus, dealing 
in his ^vvoyXa with the internal disorders and extemal dangers 
of Lacedaemon. Mimnermus of Colophon ^drc. B.c. 575) wrote 
mainly , but not exclusively, love-poems, and hence is often regarded 
as the inventor of the erotic elegy (cp. Ep. ii. 2, 100), here denoted 
by Yotl Bententia compos *the feelings of one who has gained 
his prayer', i.e. of a successful lover. The *sweet and tender* 
character traditionally ascribed to the poetry of Mimnermus is 
not, in the opinion of Bergk {ib. Ii. ^62), justified by * the vigor- 
ous and manly tone' in which he expresses even sorrowful emo- 
tions : but a large proportion of the extant fragments consist of 
querimoniae ovcr the approach of old age. His love for the 
flute-girl Nanno, who rejected him, was not voti compos. In- 
deed successful love is rarely a theme for elegiac verse : hence 
Michaelis prefers to understand the words here of the epigram. 

77. ezignos refers mainly to the slighter and less dignified 
diaracter of elegiacs as compared with hexameters, as Ovid 
(Am. II. I, 21) calls them leves : but it may allude also to the 
more confined metrical structure. Cp. Tennyson's *tiny poem'. 

78. grammatici *our teachers', i. e. professors of litexa- 
ture, as in Ep. I. 19, 40. The origin of tne doubt may have 
arisen from the fact that there was nothing plaintive or moamful 
in the stirting * elegies* of Callinus. 



NOTES. 351 

79. Arehilocbiun: £p. i. 19, 33—25 (notes). lambo: the 
word icLfi^s is undoubtedly derived from IdTTot * to fling * (Curt. 
Etym^ 537, E. T. ii. 154), and denotes originally a flii^;ing, or 
a yerse flung at another, whence lafi^li^w 'to lampoon'. When 
Aristotle Poet. V. 6 says of Crates xpioTos ijp^ep &4>4fi€Pos rrjs 
lafi^iKTfs I84as Ka06\ou voieiif \6yovs Kal pL^Bovs hc refers to thc 
change from the mere abuse of the earliest stages to a regular 
comedy. 

80. socoi, Ep. II. I, 174. Comedy is mentioned before 
tragedy, though later in origin,. or at any rate, later in reaching 
literary development, perhaps as being more akin in subject to 
the satire of Archilochus. Mr Mahaffy thinks that we cannot 
say what metre was used by Thespis, for the recitations with 
which he separated the choral parts of the earliest tragedies 
(I. 234): but as the next tragic poet Phrynichus used iambic 
trimeters, while it is expressly said that he was the first to 
introduce trochaic tetrameters in tragedy, although nothing of 
the kind is said about his use of iambics, it is pretty clear that 
the latter raust have been used by Thespis. Yet Aristotle Poetics 
IV. 18 says To re p4rpov iK reTpapLirpov lofJL^eTov iyiveTo, as 
though the earliest tragedies had been in tetrameters : cp. Rhet. 
III. I. 9 (below). Four or five iambic lines, ascribed to Susarion, 
the reputed introducer of comedy into Athens from Megara, are 
preserved, but they are not genuine. Comedy can hardly be 
said to have taken literary form before the time of Cratinus, 
and he used iambics largely, though not exclusively. Bergk 
however (G. Z. III. 107) thinks that the use of iambics was 
even earlier in comedy than in tragedy. Undoubtedly the 
reason for the choice of this metre is that given by Horace, 
that it comes nearest to the ordinary rhythm of prose. Cp. 
Arist. Rhet. III. 8, 4 6 5* lap.^os a&r-fj iffriv rj \i^is ij tQv iroWCiv* 
dio pjaXicrra TrdvTiav T<av pArpwv lafM^eia (pdiyyovrai \iyovT€s, So 
in III. I, 9 he speaks of tragic poets who ix nSv Terpapirptav 
els rb lap,psiov p.€TipTj<rav did rb T<p \6y(p toOto twv pirpcav bpouo- 
rarov eZi^cu rCv dWojv, and in the Poetics IV. 18 he says /xoXto-ra 
ydp \€KTiKbv Tuv pirpuv t6 lafjL^eTov iarc (rrjfieTov 8i rovrov* 
irXetirrtt ydp lafi^ela \iyopxv iv rj bLoKiKTtp TJ irpbs dW-fjXovs*, 
a remark repeated by Cic. Orat. 56, 189: cp. Cic. de Orat. III. 
47» 182. 

ootunil. AU MSS. have cotumi here and everywliere in 
Horace, and, as Keller says (Epil. on Carm. Ii. i, 12), in every 
author who has been carefully collated. Cp. e.g. Riese praef. 
Ovid. I. p. xiii. Certainly all MSS. give it so in Quintil. X. i, 
68 and in Propert. il. (lll.) 34, 41, while Nettleship adopts it in 
Veigil, e.g. Ecl, viii. 104. There is therefore no reason to doubt 
that this form for KoOopvoi had established itself in popular 
usage. But cp. Ribbeck Proll. in Verg. p. 424, where he shows 
that the evidence is divided. 



352 ARS POETICA. 

81. poinilarls 8trei>ltni, the murmur which alwa^rs rises 
from any large assembly, and drowns everything but the clearest 
and most marked elocution. The frequent recurrence of the 
ictus in iambic rhythm makes it sharper and more easily audible 
th^ a metre which contains more short syllables. Cp. Cic. de 
Orat. III. 47, 183 (note). 

82. natnin rebiui agendis * suited by their nature to action*. 
So Arist. Poet. XXiv. 10 ro 6i lafipiKbv xal TerpdfieTpop KurrfriKci, 
t6 (ikv dpxv^TiKOp, t6 W irpaKTiKov, 

83. fldlbTia, dat. *to the lyre*. The object of dedit is 
referre: cp. Roby S. G. § 534, and v. 323 dedit—loquu The 
two main divisions of lyric (or more properly tnelic) poetiy 
were (i) the Dorian, or choric poetry, beginning with Terpander 
of Lesbos, who flourished at Sparta B.c. 670 — 640, and in- 
cluding Alcman, Thaletas, Arion, Stesichorus, Ibycus, and most 
famous of all Simonides and Pindar: this was public, choral, 
and elaborate in rhythm, and its subjects were religious or 
national, including the glory of victors in the games : (2) the 
Aeolic, of which Alcaeus, Sappho and Anacreon were the chief 
representatives and in which personal emotionS were expressed 
in simpler metrical forms. To the former Horace refers in w. 
83, 84, to the latter in v. 85. 

86. libera vlna *the freedom of wine', practically equivalent 
to * the wine which frees men * from their cares (Ep. i. 5, 16 f.); 
or else, as Orelli takes it, of the free speech of those who have 
drunk much wine (cp. Sat. i. 4, 89; ii. 8, 37). 

86 — ^118. Not only must the right diction (45 — 72) and the 
fitting metre (73 — 86) be chosen, but also the proper tone and 
style must be maintained. Horace here be^ns to deal especially 
with dramatic poetry, which he keeps in view almost exclusively 
up to V. 294. One who cannot keep up the right tone in treaUng 
his characters does not deserve the natne of poet, Tragedy and 
comedy have each their appropriate style, though someiimes they 
seem to pass into each otner, A successful play must touch the 
feelings of the audience^ and for this language well adapted to 
the position and character of the personages must be employed, 

86. deflcrlptaB ' marked out ', assigned to tragedy and comedy 
respectively. Biicheler would read here against sdl MSS. dts- 
criptas * apportioned '. For the difference betweeu the words 
cp. Cic. de Sen. 2, 5; and 17, 59 with Reid*s notes. 

TloeB seems never to mean 'parts*, the translation often 
given to it here. Comparing Carm. iv. 7, 3 muiat terra vices 
we see that vices may denote the states into which a thing passes 
by change, as well as the changes themselves. Here it is * the 
diflferences*. opernmqne oolores is added to explain vices: cp. 



NOTES. 353 

V. 336, and Sat. II. z» 60 vUae coior. We must say 'style' ox 
• tone '. 

88. pudens prave * from a false shame '. 

90. prlYatis, i.e. suited to daily life: a shocking tragedy in 
the life of a king ought not to be described in verse suited to 
the ordinary affairs of a simple citizen. 

91. oena lliyeBtae: the story of Thyestes, tricked by his 
brother Atreus into eating the flesh of his own two sons, is told 
by Aeschylus Agam. 151 7—1536 (cp. Soph. Aj. 1204), and was 
made the subject of a tragedy by Varius, the friencl of Horace, 
which according to Quintilian x. i, 98 cuUibet Graecarum coni' 
parari potest. coena is a barbarism: fleckeisen, Funfzig Artikel 

10. 

-^ ii. This line has been transposed to after v. 98 by L. Muller, 
and rejected by Lehrs and Ribbeck. Certainly it rather breaks 
the connexion of the thought, and could well be" spared, but it 
may be defended as a generalising remark introduced by Horace, 
to bear out what he said in v. 86: quaeque then refers not to 
tragedy and comedy, which is hardly possible grammatically 
(though occasionally quisque is used where uterque would be 
more correct), but to all kinds of poetry. deoentem is the reading 
of the Bland. vet. and the excellent Beme MS. restored by 
Bentley, and adopted by the best editors since. The construction 
then is singula suum quaeque locum teneant, (quoniam) sortita 
{sunt locuffTj decentem. Schiitz and Keller defend decenter^ con- 
nectii^ it with teneant. 

93. et oomoedla 'even comedy*, as well as tragedy, 

94. Cliremes, a name borne by old men in the Andria, 
Phormio, Hautontimorumenus of Terence, and by a young man 
in the Eunuchus. The reference here is probably to the severe 
language of Chremes in Haut. v. 4. Horace uses the word of 
a miser in Epod. I. 33, borrowihg it from some unknown 
comedy. Perhaps the name was applied to old men from a 
belief in the absurd old et^nnology * a xp^fjLXTeffBou screare, quia 
senes screare solent '. It is really connected with xp^f^-^t^ * to 
snort*, SLndgrim etc. (Fick, fVtdA i. 582, Curt. Gr. £t, l. 250) ; 
the Chremes of the Eunuchus is an ' adulescens rusticus '• 

ddlitl^t only found here. de- is intensive. 

90. plemmqne *often ' as in v. 14. traglons *in a tragedy*, 
like Davus comicus in Sat. ii. 5, 91 : cp. Cic. in Pis. 20, 47 
tragico illo Oreste et Athamante dementufrem : Caec. ap. Cic. 
Lael. 36, 99 comicos stultos senes. sermoile pedestrl : cp. Carm. Ii. 
12, 9 tuque pedestribus dices historiis proelia: Sat. II. 6, 17 quid 
prius Ulustrem satiris mtisaque pedestrii Quintil, x. i, 81 mul* 

W. H. 23 



354 ARS POETICA. 

iurh enim supra prosam oraMonem\ quam pedesirgm Graecivocdnt, 
surgit [Plato]. Photius quotes from Aristoph. [Fr. 713 D.] iravaa( 
fie\(^8ova' dXXA xe^Tj fioi <ppaurov: and Plato Soph. «37 A has 
iref? T€ w5c iKdffTore \4y<ap Kal fieTd, fuhptav. This use of the 
word is very common in later Greek. 

96. Teleplms was the son of Hercules by Auge, daughter of 
the king of Tegea. At his birth he was exposed on Mount 
Parthenius, and his mother fled for refuge to Teuthras, king of 
Mysia, who being childless adopted her as his daughter. M^hen 
Telephus was grown up, he went forth in search of his mother, 
and arrived at Mysia, at a time when Idas was endeavouring to 
expel Teuthras from his throne. Telephus having defeated Idas 
was offered by Teuthras the hand of Auge, and the successidn 
to the throne: but their relationship was discovered before tbe 
marriage took place. When the Greeks were on their way to 
Troy, felephus was king of Mysia, and being married to a 
daughter (or sister) of Priam he drove them back, but stumbling 
over a vine, he was wounded by Achilles. The wound could 
not be cured until in pitiful guise he went to Agamemnon, and 
monitu Clytaemnestrae Orestem infantem de cunabulis rapuit, 
minitans se eum occisurum, nisi sibi Achivi mederentur (Hygin. 
Fab. ci.). Achilles was prevailed upon to cure him with the 
rust of the spear which had inflicted the wound. Plays were 
written upon this story by Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, 
Agathon, Ennius and Accius. Sophocles in his *TeIephus or 
the Mysians ' (cp. Frag. 358 — 368, 510 D.) dealt with the former 
part of the legend : but Euripides, in a play of which we have 
some 30 fragments preserved, mainly through the scholiast*s 
notes on' the merciless parodies by Aristophanes (cp. Fragm. 
697^727 Dind.), treated the latter part, representing Teiephus 
in the greatest misery. For the plays of Ennius and Accius 
based upon this cp. Ribbeck Rom, Trag. pp. 104 f., 344 f. 

Peleus was banished from Aegina by his father Aeacus for 
the murder of his half-brother Phocus, and fled to Phthia, where 
he was received and purified by Eurytion, who gave him his 
daughter Antigone in marriage, and a third of his kingdom. In 
the hunt of 3ie Calydonian boar Peleus killed Eurytion by 
accident, and fled to lolcus, where he was again purified by 
Acastus. Here Astydameia [or Hippolyte Carm. iii. 7, 18], 
wife of Acastus, fell in love with him, and when her love was 
rejected, accused him to Acastus, as Hippolytus and Bellerophon 
were accused uhder like circumstances. Acastus in revenge left 
him asleep on Mt Pelion, after taking away his sword, that he 
might be a prey to the beasts. Peleus on awakening was attacked 
by Centaurs, but saved by Chiron. Then foUowed his famous 
marriage with Thetis. Afterwards Peleus gathering an army be- 
sieged Acastus in lolcus, and slew Astydameia. For the nuraerous. 



; NOTES, 355 

variations in the legend cp. Dict. Biog, s.v. Sophocles in his 
Peleus seems to have represented him as expelled by Archander 
and Architeles sons of Acastus (Frag. 434 — 442 D.), Euripides as 
banished by Acastus (Frag. 620—626 D.). But as Isocr. Evag. 
192^ speaks of him as Kwrik iroXXoi>s oXXoi/s Kivh{nfov% eddoKifxi^as, 
we cannot say what part of his life of varied adventure was 
especially in the mind of Horace. 

97. proidt *throws aside*: proiicit is quite indefensible, in 
spite of the ai^uments of Prof. J. B. Mayor in Cic. de Nat. D. 
Vol. I. p. Ixvi. Cp. Munro on Lucr. I. 34, Brambach Hiilfsh. 
§ 20, II. 

ampnllas, Ep. i. 3, 14 (note): sesqiiipedalla, polysyllables, 
such as those much in favour with the early Latin dramatists. 
Gellius XIX. 7 quotes from Laevius foedifragusy pudoricolor^ 
trisaeclisenex, dulcioriloquus and others. Pacuvius wrote Nerei 
repandirostrum incurvicervicum pecus, Crates (quoted by Athen. 
X. 418 c) speaks of liny Tpnri^xv OerTaXiKUfs TeTfMii^va, i.e. cut 
into big pieces, such as the Thessalian gluttons loved. 

98. 8i carat cor : the neglect of the caesura is intentional, 
to imitate the carelessness of artistic form in 6ne feeling deeply. 
,Cp. Pers. I. 91 gui. me volet incurvasse querella; and for the 
perf. infin. Ep. I, 17, 5 note. The evidence of the best MSS. in 
Horace (cp. Keller Epil. on Carm. II. 9, 18), in Vergil (Ribbeck, 
ProII. 429) and Ovid (Merkel, Praef. II. p. viii.), is uniformly in 
favour of qnerella, not querela. Cp. Lachmann on Lucret. 
p. 204, Munro on Lucr. i. 39. Brambach, Za/. Orthogr.-p, 259, 
defends qtierela on the authority of the grammarians. 

99. pulchra ' fine' when judiged by the Canons of art : dulcia 
'charming* to the feelings-ahd hearts of the readers. Gesner 
quotes the French saying : La beauti est pour Vespritf la douceur 
est pour le cosur. BentGy's conjecture/«ra is unfortunate. He 
shows with his usual leaming that pura verba denbtes plaini 
simplelanguage (cp. Sat. i. 4, 54), butdoes not prove XhoXpulchra 
is here out of place. On the contrary. his quotations from Sat. i. 
10, 6 and Ep. 11. i, 72 bear out the meaning here assigned 
toit. 

101. adsunt (or ctssunt, Roby 1. p. 49 note) is the reading 
of the MSS. supported by Acron's *in praesto sunt*. Bentley 
eagerly accepted what some earlier scholars had suggested» 
adjient^ supporting it by a quotation of some anonymous gramma- 
rian, doubtless made from memory. But the three-fold repeti- 
tion oi flere would be far from elegant, and the antithesis would 
l)e disagreeably forced, with this readmg. For adesse ' to support ' 
with help and sympathy cp. v. I04, Ep. i. 17, 57: so often in 
Cic. and Livy. Halm reads in Tac. Hist. Iil. 55 vulgus aderat 
(MS. haberat) in the sense of *responded to *. 

23—2 



356 ARS POETICA. 

102. dolendnni est: Acron here quotes *illad Ciceronis 
ardeat oratoTy si vult iudicem incendere\ apparently an inaccu- 
rate reminiscence of Cic de Orat. II. 45, 189, 190. Porphyrion 
quotes a story of Demosthenes declining to plead the cause of a 
man who said he had been beaten, because he told the story with- 
out any emotion, and- only undertaking the case when the man 
repeated the tale of his wrongs ibr the thiid time, with tears of 
indignation. 

104. xnale mandata go together, and are an ipstance of the 
idiom noticed on Ep. 11. 2, 166, where the participle really 
expresses the main proposition : * if the words which you utter 
are ill assigned to you*, i.e. unsuited to yotnr position and 
emotions. 

105. maestnm * dejected', almost always of an outward 
expression of grief : hence dolor and tnaeror are cpntrasted in 
Cic. Ep. Att. XII. 28, Phil. XI. I. Cp. Doederlein-5>». Iii. 234. 

107. lasciva ' sportiye *, with no evil connotation. The word 
is used ten times by ^prace, a^nd never in a distinctly bad sense : 
cp. Ep. II. 2, 216. 

seyerum serla : ^ inter serius et severus hoc discriminis est, 
ut prius fere semper dicitur de rebus, posterius de hominibus*. 
Ruhnken on Ter. Eun, iii. 3, 7 (513)—^ velle agere mecum 
rem seriam, ^ 

109. iUYat 'gladdens', rare in this sense as a personal verb; 
and perhaps only here with a person not a thing as the subject : 
cp. Carm. I. i, 23 muUos castra iuvant, 

babitumse^ti' or ^XW^ 'condition** 

111. motUB probably never, even in poetry, used without 
animi for * emotion*. 

interprete Ungua, *by the agency of the tongue*. The 
origin of the word is veiy doubtful: cp. Curtius, Gr, Etym^ 
p. 660. 

113. equites peditesque, 'one and all* from the highest to 
the lowest. Bentley objects (i) that the phrase is never used to 
cover the whole people, except with a distinctly militajy refer- 
ence, or as in Liv. I. 44 edixit ut omnes cives /domani, equites 
peditesque^ in suis quisque centuriis in campo Martio adessent : 
(2) that Horace professes elsewhere to care only for the judgment 
of the educated (cp. Sat. I. 10, 'j6scUisestequitemmihipiaudere): 
and therefore bids us read equitesque patresque * librariorum populo 
valere iusso'. This reading receives some support from Mart. 
XIV. 120, where the phrase is used of the educated as opposed to 
the unleamed : Qttamvis me ligulam dicant equitesque patresque^ 



NOTES. 357 

dicor ah indoctis linguld grammaticis. But here the expression is 
more forcible, if ail the audience is supposed to laugh at the 
incongruity of language, and there is nothing unnatural in the 
phrase, used with a certain tone of sportiveness. 

oa,ch1iiinnn 'est verbum secundum tvoyjiTwwXo.v fictum a 
sono risus*. Acron. 

114. diTusiie an lierot : this reading (or, what is perhaps 
to be preferred, divosne) has the support of by far the most and 
the best MSS. But the contrast between a god and a hero is 
not as great as we might think that the context requires : hence 
many emendations have been proposed. Erasmus cleverly 
suggested divesne — an Irus (the be^ar of the Odyssey), Landinus 
Davusne — herusne^ approved by Peerlkamp, Lambinus Dainisne 
— Erosne: but the Davus of a few inferior MSS. is doubtless due 
only to an untimely remembrance of v. 237 : and there is a very 
strong objection to it in the fact that, as Orelli pomts out, 
Horace is iiere dealing solely with tragedy, where a comic slave 
is quite out of place. And unquestionabiy where the gods appear 
in tragedy (as in the Eumenides, the Ajax, the Hippolytus and 
elsewhere) their tone is calmer and more dignified than that of 
human characters, however heroic. 

115. matnrasne Benez: cp. maturosque patres Carm. iv. 
4. 55- 

116. matrona potenii, reproduced in Juv. I. 69 of a woman 
of high rank, like Clodia. 

sednla nntriz, such as the garrulous gossip of the Choe- 

Ehorae, whose language (vv. 734 — 765) would ili suit a lady of 
igh degree. The nurse who narrates the fate of Deianeira in 
the Trachiniae is not gamilous. 

117. mercator ▼afirns, a part assumed as a disguise by the 
attendant of Odysseus in the Philoctetes 542 ff. 

cnltor, like the oxnovfrih^ Mvktjpcuos in the Electra of Euri- 
pides. 

ylrentis : there is almost equal authority for vigentis, but the 
use of this word as an epithet of agelli would be quite un* 
exampled. 

118. Ocdclins, a 6erce barbarian, like Aeetes: Assyilns, 
soft and effeminate, like Xerxes in the Persae. The worfi 
* Assyrian * was used with greaj.iatitude by the Latin poets, for 
any Oriental: cp. Carm. ii. fi, 16; lii. 4, 32 litoris Assyrii 
viator: Verg. Ecl. IV. 25, Georg. ii. 465: Lucan vill. 292^/ 
/otus Assyrias alter noctesque diesque vertit, 

TbeblB : the Thebans were often represented as rude, lawless 
and overbearing, e.g. Creon in the Aiitigone and Oed. Colon., 



358 ARS POETJCA. 

Eteocles in the Sept. Theb. and the Phoenissae. Of the stupidity 
commonly ascribed to them (Ep. II. i, 244) there is, I think, no 
trace in tragedy. Argis (Ep. 11. 2, 128 uote) : the Argives are 
contrasted with the Thebans, probably because of the prominence 
of the legends, dealing with the struggle between them, in the 
tragic cycle. If Agamemnon is the typical Argive, the character 
is one of proud dignity. 

119 — 180. Either follow the common story foryour plot^ or 
invent a consistent one for yourself. The foifiier is often the 
easier task. 

119. aat...flxig6. This line would perhaps be more in place 
after 124 : for fiemia *the current tradition * refers more naturally 
to the plot of the play, which is dealt with in 125 — 135, than to 
the character of each individual. 

120. Bcrlptor *when writing', not a vocative, as many 
editors, including Bentley, prefet to take it. It is almost neces- 
sary to define reponis. 

bonoratuin : this use of the word for Mllustrious* [cp. Ep. i. 
I, 107 note] is so rare, and seems so otiose in itself here, that 
Bentley boldly replaced it by Homereum: and this has been 
accepted by some of the best modem editors. But it is a 
form found nowhere else, hence L. Miiller prefers Bentley's 
altemative Homeriacum, which is supported by the analogy 
of Hellespontiacus, Tartessiacus, etc. The adjective iil prose 
is Homericus, and this, as Schiitz shows, is only used where 
there is a reference to a particular passage in Homer: e.g. 
Cic. de Leg. I. i, 2 Homtricus UHxes DeU se proceram et 
teneram palmam vidisse dixit, i.e. * Ulysses in Homer (Od. 
VI. 162) said that he had seen', etc. The epithet honora' 
tum may be best defended, by bringing out its full meaning : 
* when in the receipt of his due honours* : where he complains 
that he is aTlfiTjTos as in II. I. 644, or is lamenting over Patroclus, 
the epithets of v. 121 are less suitable to him. Still in Cic. de 
Leg. I. n, 32 it is used simply as contrasted with inglorius. For 
Cic. Orat. 9, 32 see Sandys ad loc. [I thihk Hbrace may have 
written inoratum in the sense of inexorabilem: cp. Prop. v. 11, 4 
non exorato stant adamante viae. J. S. R.] 

122. armls dative, as in Ep. 11. i* 35, Carm. iv. 14, 40. 

123. Ino the wife of Athamas, king of Thebes, fled from her 
maddened husband, carrying with her her two sons Learchus and 
Melicertes. Athamas seized the former and tore him to pieces : 
Ino flung herself into the sea with the latter, and they were 
changed, the mother into the sea-goddess Leucothea, the son into 
Palaemon. Cp. Ovid Met. IV. 416—541 : Hom. Od. v. 333 ff. 
The woes of Ino ('lyoOs &xyi) became proverbial, and * she was 



■( JNIVERSITY ) 



madfe especially by Euripides a trae ideal of sorrow*, Preller, 
Gr, Myth, i. 473 note. The schol. on Aristoph. Vesp. 141 3 says 
darfyaye bk "EvpiirLdrjs Hjv *Iy<a (axpav inro ^tjs KaKOvaOelas, Cp. 
Eur. Frag. 402 — 427 D. x 

124. perfidus Izlon: the faithlessness af Ixion was shown 
by his conduct to his father-in-law Eioneua to whom he had 
promised many presents. When he came tivplaim them Ixion 
prepared a trench full of hot ashes, lightly cc^ered over, into 
which Eioneus fell and was destroyed. Ixion thus became 
according to Aeschylus (Eum. 441) and Pindar (Pyth. 11. 21 ff.) 
the first murderer of a kinsman, and was seized with a frenzy, 
which ceased only when he Was purified from his guilt by Zeus. 
The treachery with which he repaid the god, and the punish- 
ment inflicted upon him, are known to all. Cp. Carm. iii. 1 1, 
21. Aeschylus wrote a tragedy upon his story, Fragm. 86 — 
90 D. : cp. Nauck, Tra£^, Gr, Frag, p. 22. 

lo vagr& : her wanderings are described in the Prometheus 
of Aeschylus. 

Oreetes was tiistls during his exile after the murder of his 
mother, as in Aesch.'s Eumenides, and Eur.*s Orestes and Iph. 
Taur. 

126. ad Imom ' to the last' as in v. 152. 

128. dlfflcile est proprie coznmunla dlcere. Acron ex- 
plains communla as * intacta, non ante dicta', adding that when 
a theme has been once treated by any one, it is proprium^ no 
longer open to all. In this view communla is identical with 
inexpertum of v. 125 and ignota ifulictaque of v. 130. Orelli, 
with many recent editors, extends the meaning of communia^ so 
as to cover all general and abstract notions, such as anger, cru- 
elty, cowardice and the like ; and takes proprie dicere= *to give 
a concrete character to*, i.e. to embody in consistent and vivid 
pictures of individuals. This interpretation altogether ignores 
the correspondence between communia and publica materies on 
the one hand, and proprie and privati iuris on the other ; but 
the parallelism is too close to be accidental. A meaning which 
lies on the surface may after all be the right one. Horace has 
just been saying : * If you choose a subject not previously treated 
dramatically, you must take care to be consistent in the por- 
traiture of your characters*. Now he seems to add: *But this 
is comparatively easy : the difficulty arises when you endeavour 
to treat familiar themes in a distiuctive and individual manner. 
You are selecting a theme from the Iliad : then you are wise to 
confine yourself to simply throwing Homer's poem into dramatic 
shape, instead of attempting an originality of handling, which 
would probably lead you into inconsistencies*. If this view of 



36o ARS POETICA. 

the drift of the passage is tenable, then ooxmnuiila will retain its 
usual meaning in xhQtoxic^-volgaria (cp. KOLvti, 6v6/jLaTa=iv /jJaifi 
KeLfjicva Emest. Lsx. Techn, p. 183); and will be identical with 
publica materies^ not as *what is open to all', but as *what is 
familiar to all'. Translate then with Conington (p. 199 note), 
* It is hard to treat hackneyed subjects with originality *. This 
interpretation is found (among others) in the Schol. Cruq. The 
first view has the weighty support of Prof. Nettleship {youm. 
Phil, XII. 52 note), but I think the third is on the whole the 
best. There is a discussion of the passage in Boswell*s Life of 
Johnsotty c. XXX. 

15^ dd4uei8...profeTre8 : the tense and mood of these two 
YcriJs require us to suppose that Piso was already engaged upon 
a tragedy based upon the Iliad, and are hardly consistent with 
Nettleship's view that Horace is referring here solely to epic 
poetry. It is not legitimate to say, with Ritter, that deducis 
would in prose have been deducas, The metaphor is the fami- 
liar one from spinning; cp. Ep. II. i, 225: hence the reading 
diducis of some MSS. is out of place. Aristotle (Poet. 23) says 
that the Iliad and the Odyssey fumish material for one or at 
most two tragedies each, while several could be made from 
Cyclic poems such as the Little Iliad or the Cypria. But cp. 
Mahaffy, Gr, Lit. i, 83. 

131. pnUica materies, according to Orelli*s view of this 
passage, the store of mythic and epic stories, from which all 

. might draw at will. But it is better to take it as *themes 
already handled*, which can be made all a poet's own, by origi- 
nality of treatment. Orelli's own example of the story of 
Electra, as treated by Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, is a 
very good one, but less applicable to his own view, than to that 
here preferred. Cp. Miiton*s name * sad Electra's poet ', which 
shows how he thought that Euripides had appropriated the 
theme. 

132. Tllem pataliimque orbem *the cheap and easy round' 
of the mode of treatment previously adopted. A familiar theme 
may be so treated that the situations which it produces may be 
viewed in a different light, and the reflexions {sententiae) sug- 
gested may be quite fresh. Of this there is a splendid example 
in Browning's Balaustion^s Adventure, I do not think that 
Schiitz is right in referring orbis to a set of familiar stories, for 
which Ritter reminds us that kj^kXos was the technical name; 
and certainly Orelli's quotations of ra iciJkXv from Arbtotle*s 
Khetoric are quite misleading, and his rendering * round-about 
phrases' highly improbable. 

133. yerbo yerlmm reddere. The earlier Roman dramatists , 
often did little more than translate very closely their Greek ori- 



NOTES. _. 361 

ginals. Ennius e.g. tiranslates almost liter^iliy Eur. Med. 502 ff« 
in his Medea, frag. x. Ribbeck* 

184. desilles In artnxil * ^lange into a place where yon will 
be cramped*. A writer who begins by copying too closely a 
Greek original either in treatment, or in diction, will soon find 
that he is as it Were working in fetters. Mr Yonge reminds us 
of Aesop*s fable of the goat in the well: but orbis suggests 
rather the noticn of a horse running a race. Cp. Cic. Acad. 11. 
35, 113 cUfn stt campus in quo exsultare possit oratio^ cur eam 
iantas in angustias,..compillemus? 

135. pudor. The copyist will either be ashamed to aban« 
don a method which he has once adopted ; or if not, he will 
find that it is impossible to deviate from the line which he has 
taken up, without failing into incongruity. 

, 186. neo— InclpleB. Horace appears to pass here, by one 
ofhis rapid transitions so common in this epistle, from the 
drama to the epos, to which indeed the cautions of the last five 
lines are almost as applicable as to the drama itself. 

(^cllcUB : Bentley adopted Ihe form cycUna from some infe- 
rior MSS., but KifKkioi is never used in Greek in the sense for 
which KVKkiKoi is the regular term, except once, atid then pro- 
bably for euphony. The *CycIic poets* were those epic poets, 
who probably after the Iliad and the Odyssey had assumed their 
present form, wrote upon various legends, more or less closely 
connected viith the Theban and Trojan wars. They did not, as 
has been erroneously supposed, intentionally write a cycle of 
poems ; but the grammarians pUt together by their aid a cycle 
of legends. Their position and works have been exhaustively 
discussed by Welcker in his Epischer Cyclus: there is a full 
account of them in Mure*s Literature of Antient Greece^ VoL li., 
and a briefer one in Mahaffy's Greek Literature^ Vol. I. pp. 85 
— 89. The most noteworthy were Stasinus, Arctinus, Lesches, 
Agias and Eugammus. The poet, tb whonii Horace here refers, 
\)3& not been identified. Perhaps indeed he had no particulair 
writer in view, but is censuring the lack of simplicity in the 
school as a whole. In that case iiii!isn.=icUiquando. The line, it 
is to be noted, contains nothing in itself too high-flown, as some 
have thought. Hence Peerlkamp thinks that the blame of Ho- 
race is directed to the extravagant language which hc supposes 
to have followed it, and which would have been recalled to the 
Pisos by his citation of the opening line. In that case, it would 
be very odd that Horace should have omitted just that which he 
thinks open to censure. But the line, though not extravagant 
in itself, contrasts Unfavourably with the modest and unassuming 
tone of Homer*s introduction. It has been noticed that the 
first book of the Iliad is entirely without similes. 



362 ARS POETJCA. 

138. feret 'produce': lUatu«mouthing'. 

139. paxtnrlent is the reading supported by the evidence 
of all Keller's MSS. of any value, and by citations of Probus, 
Servius and Jerome. Bentley justly urged ihat verbs in -uriOf 
*quae meditativa recte vocant grammatici', have even in the pre- 
sent a future force: ^parturio perinde est ac si dicas, meditor 
parerg, inibi est ut pariam\ He therefore contends that partu- 
rient cannot stand: ^hoc est, olim meditabuntur parere: quando 
erit, obsecro, ut mus iste nascatur?' and reads parturiunt, 
which many good editors have accepted. His argument would 
be sound, if we gave to parturient simply a future force ; but it 
may fairly be de&nded, as parallel to incipies of v. 136 * if you 
do begin so, it will be a case of '^Mountains in labOur, and out 
comes a mouse"'. This is perhaps better than to forsake the 
MSS. and assume that parturiunt has been carelessly assimi- 
lated to nastetur, Nonius p. 479 M. quotes esuribo from Pom- 
ponius and Nonius, and Ter. Haut. 981 has tsurituros, — ^The 
-expression was proverbial. AthenaeuS xiv. 6, p. 616 </, sajrs 
that Tachos,.the king of Egjrpt, insulted Agesilaus, who was of 
smajl stature, by quoting (judipey 6pos, Zc(>s S* iipo^elrOf rb 6* ^e- 

K€P flVP, 

141. dio — Tirbes. Horace gives a tompressed rendering of 
the first three lines of the Odyssey (cp. Ep. i, 2, 19) : 

*Ap5pa fioi (weire, MoD(ra, xoXiJT/wirov, os fi6\a iroXXd 
irXayxOrji ^xci Tpolrjs Upbv TrroXleBpop hrepae, 
voXkwp 5* dvOpunriJp tSep aorea Kal poop iyp<a, 

tempora may be defended by Troiana tempora iestatus of 
Carm. I. 28, 11, and Ov. Met. XI, 757 Priamusque nozHssima 
Troiae iempora soriitus, Bentley read with some inferior MSS. 
moenia, suggesting also funera : the latter would be the better, 
but no change is needed. 

144. oogltat *his plan is': spedosa mlracnla 'striking 
marvels*. 

145. Antlpliaten, the king of the Laestrygonian cannibals 
Odyss. X. 100 ff. SQyllamque, separated rather awkwardly 
from CliaxylMllm, with which Scylla is coupled in Od. xii. 87 ff. 
as usually, by the mention of the Cyclops, whom Od^rsseos 
encounters in Odyss. IX. 160 ff. Hence Bentley sug^ested CJlr- 
camque, which, like so many of his emendations, is perhaps 
what Horace ought to have written, and certainly what he did 
nbt write. 

146. redltun — ordltar, a compressed expression for 'nor 
does he act like the writer who began etc' Homer of course 
himself says nothing about the retum of Diomede. The scho- 



mTES. 363 

liasts say that Antimachus, in relating the relum of Diomede, 
began with the history of Meleager, the brother of his fathej 
Tydeus, and filled twenty-four books before he even got as far 
as the campaign of the Seven against Thebes, in which Tydeus 
fell. But as the Thebais of Antimachus — a poem, which though 
not generally popular, won for its writer in the judgment of 
some critics a place next to Homer (cp. Quintil. X. i, 53 with 
Mayor's note) — can barely have touched upon the return of 
Diomede from the Trojan War, there is probably some error in 
the tradition. Welcker Ep. Cyclus p. 103 supposes the refer- 
ence here to be to the. return of Diomede to Aetolia after the 
campaign of the Epigoni against Thebes. But it is hardly pos- 
sible to understand the * reditus D.* of anything but his more 
famous return from Troy (cp. Verg. Aen. viii. 9, xi. 226 etc). 
Hence it is better to suppose that there is no reference to Anti- 
machus or his Thebais at all, but to some Cyclic poem, now 
unknown, belonging to the legendary cycle of the "^otTroL 

147. gemlno — ab ovo, i.e. from the birth of Helen. Servius 
on Verg. iii. 338 says Ledam luppiter m cygnum mutcUus gravi- 
dam fecit^ quae ovum peperisse dicitur^ unde ncUi sunt Helenay 
Castor et Pollux. Horace here follows another form of the story, 
according to which Castor and Pollux were born from one egg 
(cp. Sat. II. I, 26 ovo prognatus eodem); Helen from another. It 
is possible that gemino ovo means 'the two eggs' : cp. Cic. p. Sest. 
38, 82 gemini nominis errore *from a mistake caused by his having 
two names', Verg. Aen. I. 274 geminam prolem, lii. iii^gemino 
murOf IV. 470 geminum solem. 

148. ad eventum festinat 'goes straight on to the crisis ' 
without undue digressions, or losing the thread of his narrative. 

In medlas rea : as in Odyss. i. it tvd^ SKKoi iihv irdvTes, otroi 
(f)vyov alirvv oXedpov of/cot iaav etc. So the Iliad begins with a 
scene in the tenth year of the siege; and Vergil plunges into 
the midst of his narrative (Aen. i. 34) with the words: vix e 
conspectu Siculae telluris in aittim vela dabant laeti etc. Prof. 
Nettleship {Vergil and his Ancient Critics in Conington*s 
Vergil I.* p. xxxvi.) happily suggests that this passage in Horace 
is intended as a defence of Vergil against contemporary obtrec' 
tatores *nescientes hanc esse artem poeticam, ut a mediis inci- 
pientes per narrationem prima reddamus * (Servius on Aen. p. 4 
Thilo). Cp. Cic. ad Att. I. 16, i respondebo tibi vaTepov 
irpoTepov, *0fir}pLKU3s, Quint. VII. 10, ir ubi ab initiis incipiendum, 
ubi more Homerico e mediis vel ultimis ? 

161. mentitnr 'uses fiction': cp. Aristot. Poet. 25 5«5t5ox« 
^k fAd\i<TTa '^Ofxrjpoi Kal ToifS aXKovs ^ffevdij X^yet»' us dei. ita — ne : 
cp. Ep. I, 13, 12. 



364 ARS POETICA. 

162. diiorepet : Cic. de Fin. v. 38, 83 respondent extretna 
primis^ media utrisque^ omnia omnidus. 

153 — 178. 7%e characters of the drama are to he handledin 
accordance with ihe tendencies oftheir several times oflife* 

163. tn, as general as in v. 119, 128, etc. The line is 
somewhat weak, and could well be spared, or transferred to 
after 155, as Peerlkamp suggests; but we have seen frequently 
that a certain tone of negligence was intentionally preserved by 
Horace in this epistie. 

164. plaosoxls: Bentley attacked this reading of the MSS. 
and scholiasts, on the ground that it would be intolerable with 
flaudite so soon foUowing. But his svLggtstAon fautoris is no 
improvement. A fautor or claqueur would be sure to stay to 
the end. A dramatist desires, not the patient attention of 
personal friends, or hired applauders, but the genuine interest of 
the general audience. Meineke and Peerlkamp read for si 
plausoris^ spectatorisy and SchUtz*s arguments do not convince 
me that this would not be far better, if we ventured to desert 
the MSS. But plausor need not be limited to a paid claqueur^ 
as Schiitz seems to think ; it may denote one who persistently 
applauds (£p. 11. 2, 130): and applause was not confined to 
the end of the piay, as we see from many references in Cicero. 

aulaea: £p. 11. i, 189 note. 

165. cantor: in the best MSS. of the Trinummus of 
Plautus and of all the plays of Terence, the characters are 
denoted not by initial letters, but by Greek capitals, and when 
the same actor took two parts, the same letter was prefixed to 
each (Ritschl, Praef. Trin. p. Iv.). To the ^ord plaudite, with 
which a Latin comedy always closes, is prefixed w. Bentley 
supposed that this was ^ corruption for CA, i.e. cantor (on 
Ter. Andr. v. 6, 17): but this is inconsistent with the use of the 
other Greek letters (cp. Ritschl, ProU. Trin. p. xxx.). Now the 
word cantor may take one of two meanings, whence much con- 
fusion has crept into our authorities : for canere is used both of 
playing on the flute, and of singing with the voice. In a 
Roman play, as Ritschl first clearly showed, Ihere were three 
kinds of delivery, (i) recitation, (2) tecitative, and (3) Ijrric 
song. The first was proper to i^mbic diverbia^ unaccompanied 
by the flute: the second to iambic or trochaic septenarians, 
accompanied by the flute (and included in the term cantica) 
(cp. Cic. Tusc. I. 44, 107 cum tam bonos sepCmarios fundat ad 
tibiam); the last to the Ijric monologues, which were always 
sung, and which were cantica proper. Livy vii. 2 tells us that 
Livius Andronicus, havingbeen encored in these last until he lost 
his voice, introduced the custom of having a young slave, standing 



NOTES. 365 

near the flute-player, to sing the cantica, ifvhile the actor accom- 
panied him with appropriate gestures. — Now Bentley assumed that 
the cantor was the flute-playcr, and that * cantoris erat depositis 
ex ore tibiis plaudite insonare '. Hermann on the other hand 
Opmc, I. 302) argues that the cantor and the histrio were one 
and the same, quoting Cic de Sen. 19, 70 ncque enim histrioni^ 
utplaceatt peragenda fabula est^ niodo in quocumque fuerit actu 
probetur; neque sapientibus usque ad *piaudite^ veniendum est: and 
Quintil. VI. i, 52 tunc est commovendum theatrum cum ventum 
est ad ipsum itlud, quo veteres tragoediae comoediaeque cltiduntur, 
plodite. The passage in Cic. only means that a good actor 
need not be vexed, if he has to leave the stage before applause 
is formally challenged, by himself or some one else : the 
passage in Quintil. .says. nothing on the present point. I 
believe that the cantor was neither the flute-player, nor an 
ordinary actor, but the singer to whom the cantica had been 
committed throughout The usual books of reference are not 
clear on this point. That cc^ntor may mean *actor ' simply has 
been argued from Cic. p. Sest. 55, 118 nam cum ageretur togata^ 
caterva tota clarissima concentatione in ore impuri hominis 
imminens contionata est.,.Sedebat exanimatus ; et isy qui antea 
cantorum convicio contiones celebrare suas solebat^ caniorum ip- 
sorum vpcibus eiciebatur, On this passage Mommsen, Rom. 
Gesch, III. 307, after speaking of the profes§ional demagogues, 
and their paid applauders, goea on to say: *the well-trained 
throats (Gurgeln) of the staflf of the theatres were a coveted 
article for these standing thunderings* (a passage oddly mis- 
translated by Dr Dickson, E. T. iv. 295, and by Dr Holden 
ad loc); and this, he says, is the meaning of the passage in 
Cicero. He had been accustomed to hire strong voices from 
the theatre to applaud him : now these voices were used to tum 
him into ridicule. But the narrative is too obscure for us to be 
able to determine what kind of cantores these were, and how they 
came to be all singing together in a comoedia togata, I find no 
other passage in which^d5«/br appears to mean *actor' : Suet. Calig. 
LVii. is certainly not one. Cp. note on Cic. de Orat. i. 60, 244. 

167. naturls : so all MSS. Bentley^s maturis has found some 
favour; it gives at first sight an excelient antithesis to mobilibus^ 
while naturae are not happily described as mobiles (cp. Ep. 1. 10, 
24), and the trajection of et is quite in Horace's way. But a^fter 
all maturus does not afFord the best contrast to mobilis: and 
mobilibus naturis et annis may be taken as a hendiadys 'natures 
that change with years*. 

168. reddere Yoces 'reply in words^ not 'repeat words' 
(as Or. and Schiitz) heard from the mother or the nurse : cp. 
Verg. Aen. i. 409 veras audire et reddere voces^ and Catull, 
LXiv. 166 nec missas audire qneunt nec reddere voces^ 



§66 ARS POETICA. 

pede signat hniHTim^impriikut vestigiis suis. Acron. 

169. colludere, in this sense only here. Cic. has the word 
in the sense of *to act in coUusion*. 

Iram coUigit: so Verg. Aen. ix. 63 has collccta rabies edmdu 
Ov. Met. I. 234 colligit os rabiem, Peerikamp quotes a number 
of passages in which colligere iram or iras is used of one *qui, 
sumpto aliquo tempore, canssas irascendi omnes, unde potest, 
repetit et meditatur, ac tandem iram omnem, ita coUectam, 
effundit*: e.g. Lucr. i. 723, Lucan i. 207, 11. 33. Hence with 
one old edition he reads concipit, This might have been a more 
natural expression, but there is no imperative reason to desert 
theMSS. 

leo. ponit: £p. I. 16, 35 note. matatur : Roby, S. G. 
S566. 

In bonui : Sat. 11. 7, 10 vixit inaequalisy clavum ut mutaret 
in horcts, 

161. Imberlms : so vet. Bland, Cp. Ep. 11. i, 85 note. 

. cnBtode, sc. the paedagogus, whose office Horace's father himself 
discharged for his son : Sat. i. 4, 118, i. 6, 81. 

162. campl sc. Martii : Carm. i. 8, 3, £p. i. 18, 54. 

163. cerens flectl, like leviora tolti Carm. ii. 4, ir. **The 
adjectives are only more or less coloured forms oi faciliSf and 
the construction arises from the conversion of the impersonal 
•facile.est hunc flectere' into a personal *hic facilis est flecti'." 
Wickham *Odes* App. ii. 2, Roby § 1361,^. G. § 54^ The 
characters here assigned to youths, to men in mature life, and to 
old men follow closely those of Aristotle Rhet. II. la, from whom 
they were probably borrowed; thus cereus flecti=€viiiTa§o\os, 

164. utlllnm tardns proTlsor, prodlgns aerls: Ar. ^tXo- 
XpritiaTOi dk ijKicTa 5td Tb fi^i/prus ivdelas T€T€ipcur6ai, 

166. Bn'bllml8=jLte7aX6^uX*'5* Ar. Kal <fn\6Tifioi fi4p eUri, 
fjLuWov Si ipi\6viK0i. inrepoxv^ ydp^ imdvfieT ij vc^rnft. ij Si vIkji 
vvepox^fi Tis, **The 4>i\oTifila of youth seems to be representcd by 
Horace's cupidus ' desirous *, that is of honour or glory, not of 
course of money, covetous or avaricious. ** Cope ad loc. 

amata relinqnere pemiz: Ar. Kal aiplKopoi irpbs r&s ^t- 
dvfJkias' Kal a<p6dpa fiiv iTiSvfiovct, tox^wj ^ irouwrcu. 

167. Inservlt bonorl: Ar. <fn\oTifi€iTai wpbs dWovs, *Tie 
devotes himself to securing honour*: cp. Cic de Fin. II. 35, 117 
aduiescentes quos suis commodis inservituros arlntrabimur. Cic. 
de Off. II. I, ^ honoribus inservire is quite diflferent and means 
* to devote myself to the discharge of my public duties in high 
office*. In Ep. Fam. xvi. 17 the word is used of * taking care* of 
one's health. (In Tac. Ann. xiil. 8 it is due only to conjecture.) 



: NOTES: 367. 

168. COxmnlBisse : y. 98 note. moT=:j^osfM, as Servius notes 
on Georg. i. 24, quoting Carm. III. 6, 47 fftox daturos progeniem 
vitiosioretn, The explanation post^ written over tnoXy has given 
rise in some inferior MSS. to the reading permutare^ probably 
from a misimderstanding of the abbreviation/'/nif/ar^. 

169. vel — vel *both — and*, used where both reasons might 
be correctly all^ed. Cic. de Orat. I. i, 3 note. 

170. qnaerlt : cp. £p. i. 7, 57 : Ar. 1. c. irp^s rh avii^ipov 
^S^i¥ (ol wpeap&repoi)^ dXX 06 wpbs rb Kd\6Vf fMKKov ^ dei, dia t6 
iplXavToi civan,...oiiT hriOvinfnKoL oihe TrpaKTLKoL icoTa tos iTn$vfiLaSt 
dXXd jcard rb KdpSos, 'Aristotle as well as Horace confines him- 
self ahnost exclusively to the delineation of the unfavourable 
side of the character of old age, suppressing its .redeeming 
features.* Cope ad loc. 

171« gellde : Ar. KaTft/nrYfidpot ydp c/tf^CF, 61 S^ (p4oi) Beppuol, 
(Scre TpowSowolriKe rbyrjpas ry SeiXLg,' koX yap 6 ^jSof Kara^^Ls ris. 

172. ipe longiu: Aristotle describes old men as dv<ri\-^ 
TiSas, i.e. slow to form hopes, and this seems to be the meaning 
required here. But can spe longus bear that meaning ? There 
is no other instance of the phrase : but spes longa is used several 
times by Horace to denote *a far-reaching hope*, a hope which 
requires much time for its fulfilment, cp* Carm. i. 4» 15 vitae 
summabrevis sfem nos vetat incohare longam: ib. I. 1 1, 6 spatio 
brevi spem longam reseces. But the hopes of old men are 
necessarily short in their anticipations, and so spe longus seems 
to give just the wrong meaning. Hence Bentley read spe 
lentuSf which he took to mean *sIow to conceive hopes'. But it 
is very doubtful whether this could mean anything but * tenacious 
of hope*, and hence it amounts to the same thing as spe longus 
in his interpretation of the latter. The MS. reading may how- 
ever lawfuUy bear the meaning *hoIding long to his hopes', 
that is to say, not expecting the speedy ful£lment of them, as a 
young man does, and therefore not pushing on strenuously (iners) 
to realise them. Much as Horace borrows here from Aristotle, 
it is not necessary to suppose tbat he foUows him in every point : 
Cic. Fam. II. 16, 6 has recordor desperationes eorum^ qui senes 
erant adulescente me: eos ego foriasse nunc imitor et utor aetaiis 
vitio: but this only shows the possibility, not the necessity of a 
similar idea in Horace. Orelli and L. S. retain the explanation 
of Forcellini *tardus et difficilis ad sperandum*, without meeting 
the grave difficulties raised by Bentley. 

avldTUUiae lUturl ife a not less difficult expression : Bentley, 
to make Horace reproduce Ar.'s koX SeCKoX KaX irian-a irpo<pO' 
^ijfTiKoLf read, on quite worthless authority, pavidusque : but the 
poet has in view rather.icai 0tX6^awt koL pkKi.<na iiri tJ reXevTaLqL 



368 ARS POETICA. 

'ifi^p^t dih. rh ToO Mptos €tvat rrf» eiriOvfdctP' xal ov Sk ipKieUf 
To&rov ft&Kurra iTridvfiown. Hence the meaning is * eager for 
longer life *. Cp. Soph. Frag. Acris. 64 D toD f^i' ydp o^Sels 
w$ 6 yrjpdaKtop ip^. So Acron rightly explains it. But again we 
must confess that the expression is unparalleled, and hardly in 
keeping with Horace*s frequent use oifuturum elsewhere, 

173. dUficillB * cross-grained *, Sat. n. 5, 90 difficilem et moro» 
sum. 

qaeniliu: Ar. Rhet. 11, 13, 15 tB&f ddvpriKol elffw koI odK 
edTpcLTreXoi oidi <f>i\oyi\oioi, 

laudator temporls actl: ib. § 12 diaTcXodai ydp tcI yevofieva 
}JyovT€s' dpafufonjCKdfxevoi yiip •^8ovTai% lake Nestor in Homer. 

174. minonim : £p. 11. i, 84. 

176. miilta...adlmimt: ^anni venire dicuntur ad quadra,- 
gesimum sextum usque annum, inde Mreisim accedente senecta'. 
Comm. Cruq. This phrase, like that in Sophocles, from which 
it was possibly borrowed (Trach. 547 6p<a ykp ij^nv ttjp /Up 
ipTOvffOP vp6<r<a, Trjp di tpdipovffop), 'supposes an dKfii/ij a definite 
point to which life ascends and from which it descends'-: cp. 
Wickham's note on Carm. 11. 5, 14, a passage which, as he 
justly points out, is not realiy parallel. The French say C/n 
hcmme 9ur son retour, Cp, Tennyson*s Miller^s Daughter: 

There*s somewhat flows to us in life, 
But more is taken quite away. 

Schiitz prefers a second explanation given by Acron, according 
to which all years that lie before us are called venientes^ and 
those which are past are recedentes. The old man has few years 
before him, and therefore cannot expect so many commoda as the 
young man. Conington renders 

Years as they come, bring blessings in their train: 
Years as they go, take blessings back again. 

This is ambiguous, but points in the direction of Schutz^s 
view. 

176. ne forte, etc. You must remember this, lest you should 
assign the characters wrongly. Schiitz connects this with mora-' 
bimur^ not with adimunt: and certainly the connexion of thought 
with V. 178 is closer than with v. 175. For the rh^rme cp. v. 99 
note. 

178. aevo goes with adtonctis as well as with aptls. Tbe 
adiuncta are according to Acron qucLe bene haereant et congruant 
a^/a/j;=attributes, tA KaB' ahTb. ovfi^ePriK&ra, or *necessary 
accidents'. Cp. Miirs Logic i. 7, § 8, and Cic. Acad. I. 5, ar 
quae beatae vitae adiuncta sunt^ *things inseparable from a 



NOTES. 369 

happy life*. [Orelli*s rd wapoKflfiem has no classical authority, 
though often used in text-books of logic.] 

Apfa indicates that the connexion denoted by adiuncta is a 
natural one. The transposition [hyperbaton) of -que is common 
enough in Horace, e.g. Sat. i. 6, 44 comua quod vincatquc tubas, 
II' 3» 130, etc: aevum is used for *time of life* in Ep. I. 20, 26 
and in Verg. G. ili. 100 animos aevumque notabis^ as elsewhere: 
morari may well be used for *to dwell with care upon *. Hence 
none of Ribbeck's reasons for rejecting this line has any cogent 
force. Ther6 is a good deal of authority here for morabitur: but 
it is so awkward to supply scriptor^ that we must regard this 
reading as simply an oversight, perhaps due to agitur, 

179 — 188. Things seen on the stage impress the audiencCt 
more than things reported: but there are some scenes not Jit to 
be represented in action* 

179. in Bcaenli : the plural, used also in Verg. Aen. i. 429, 
IV. 471 scaenis agitat,us Orestes^ seems to refer to the various 
occasions on which a play would be acted ; * in theatres ' : it is 
apparently never used of a single stage. The form scenis is 
quite indefensible : cp. Ribbeck Prol, Verg, p. 387. Corssen 
i." 335. 

acta refertnr, as in the Greek tragedies by an aT^eXof from a 
distance or an k^6rfi€Ko% from the house before which the scene 
waslaid. 

180. fl^^nliiB: cp. Cic. de Orat. III. 41, 16^ facilius adea, 
quae visa, quam ad illa quae audita sunt^ mentis octUi feruntur : 
and more fully in ii. 87, 357. Peerlkamp would transpose 
demissa and subieda^ quoting several passages in which demtttere 
is used for *rem alte in animum mittere *, or subicere for *leviter 
suggerere *. But these meanings do not necessarily attach to 
the words, and there is no objection to saying 'things which 
pass into the mind through the ears', or *which are brought 
before theeyes*. For subiecta=vTOK€iii€va cp. Reid on Acad. 
I. 8, 31. For the eyesight as compared with the other senses 
cp. ib. II. 7, 20. 

181. fldelUms: cp. Herod. i. 8 wro. ydip Tvyxdy^i dpOpith- 
TTOiotP ibrra carLOT&repa 6<p6a\fji.(2v, 

182. Ipse trftdit: *ipse mihi trado quod video; at alter 
mihi tradit quod narrat*. Acron. 

183. digna gerl: Sat. I. 3, 24 dignusque notari (with 
Palmer's note): l. 4, 3 dignus describi. promes: £p. i. i, 87 
^ote). 

184. facnndia praesens ' the eloquence of one who is now 
on the stage* : this is better than to take it of one who witnessed 

W. H. 24 



370 ARS P0E77CA. 

the deed, as many editors do, icitpraesens is naturally contrasted 
with ex oculis* 

185. ne restored by Bentley for nec, whiefa seems to bave 
no authority. It is &a f»^, not ^i^, as he rightly takes it. In the 
Medea of Euripides, the cries of the children, as they are being 
murdered behind thescenes, are heard by the audience (vr. 1171, 
1377): the chorus tells Jason of their fate (v. 1309), and then 
Medea appears in a chariot drawn by dragons, with the bodies 
of the children (v, 1317). In Seneca's play, in spite of the 
rule of Horace, the murder took place on the stage. 

186. Atreiui: cp. V. 91. 

187. Ftocne, according to the Greek form of the story, was 
changed into a nightingale, Philomela, her sister, into a swallow : 
the Romans generally made Philomela the nightingale, and Pro- 
cne the swallow, perhaps wrongly connecting the name of the 
former with /aAoj. Cp. Wagner and Conington on Verg. Ecl. 
VI. 78— p. The legend is most fully given by Ovid Met, vi. 
412—670, and best discussed by Preller Gr, Myih, 11. 140 — 144. 

Cadxniui in angnem: cp. M. Amold Empedocles on Etna: 
And there, they say, two bright and aged snakes, 
"Who once were Cadmus and Harmonia, 
Bask in the glens or oa the warm sea-shore, 
In breathless quiet, after all their ills. 
Cp. Eur. Bacch. 1330^^. *In another play Eur. actually repre- 
sented on the stage the commencement of the change, as is shewn 
by the foUowing somewhat ludicrous lines, fragm. 921, of/uoc, 
dpdK<i)v /JLOi ylyverai r6 7* ^jjucv riKvoVt irepiTXdKijOt rf Xoct^ 
Tttrpf. Cp. Ovid Met. IV. 584, and Milton P. Z. IX. 505.' 
(Sandys ad loc.) 

188. incrednliiB refers to v. 187, not so much to 185 — 6. 
189 — ^192. A play must he ofdue length^ and the intervention 

ofa deity must not be needlessly employed, . 

189. qninto aotn: for quam quintum actum, the acc. being 
an acc. of extent after productior^^longior. Greek tragedies were 
divided into ^TewASta with a Tp6\oyos and an f^oSoi, divided 
by choric songs (cp. Aristot. Poet. c. xii. [perhaps an interpola- 
tion]) ; but the number of the en-ciMia was not alwajrs the same. 
Inthe Oedipus Tyrannus for instance there are six *episodes*, 
with five ffTdaifia and a vdpo^os (cp. Jebb's edition, p. 8) ; in 
the Oedipus Coloneus there are five. The establishment of the 
rule requiring three acts {nam tragoedia in tria dividitur, <x- 
pectationemt gesta, exitum: Donat. on Ter. Adelph. iii. i), or 
including the prologue and the epilogue five, has been assigned 
to Varro (cp. Ribbeck I^om. Trag. p. 642). It was quite un- 
known to the comic dramatists ; the division of each of the plays 



NOTES. 371 

of Plautus and Terence into five acts is due only to the gTam«- 
marians, and is often very unskilfiilly made (cp. Lorenz Einlei" 
tung sur Mostellariay p. 17); perhaps it is due only to this dic- 
tum in Horace. The modem division into acts dates from the 
edition of J. B. Pius, Milan, 1500 fF. (Teuflfel, Rom, LiU § 86). 
But Donatus/m^. Ter, Adelph, says kaec etiam ut cetera huius- 
cemodi poemata quinque cutus habeat necesse est choris divisos a 
Graecis poetis, quos etsi retinendi causa iam inconditos spectcUores 
minime distingiiunt Latini comici...tamen a doctis veteribus dis- 
creti atque disiuncti sunt, Still there were no doubt pauses in 
the action of most, if not of all plays ; and these were filled up 
by the music of the flute-player. Cp. Plaut. Pseud. 574 R. (at 
the end of Act I.) TibUen vos interea hic delectaverit, So pro- 
bably at the end of Acts I.III.and IV. of the Mostellaria the stage 
was left empty, but not at the end of Act II. — Cicero evidently 
knew only the division into three acts: cp. ad Quint. fr. I. i, lo, 
46 illud te ad extremum et oro et hortor, ut tanquam poetae boni 
et actores industrU solent, sic tu in extrema parte et conclusione 
muneris ac negotii tui diligentissimus sis^ ut hic tertius annus 
imperii tui tanquam tertius actus perfectissimus et ornatissimus 
fuisse Tndentur, In de Sen. 19, 70 modo in quocunquefuerit actu 
probetur he seems to use actus loosely for *scene'. — The justice 
of the rule has been often, and not without reason disputed : and 
some of the greatest modem playwrights, especially among the 
French, prefer the division into three acts. 

190. spectata has certainly less authority than Bpectanda 
(especially as the old Beme MS. has exspectanda), but it seems 
to be required by the sense. In Sat l. 10, 39 where spectanda 
is certainly right, many MSS. have spectata^ but here the con- 
verse conmsion seems to have taken place. There is a tautology 
in *to be brought forward once more to be seen*, which there is 
not in *after it has once been seen, to be brought out again*. 
[Why not take reponi as *to be laid aside*? spectanda will then 
come in ; ita reponi ut spectanda sit: i.e. the play may still hope 
for some more performances. J. s. R.] 

191. neo denB lntersit, ex mnchina^ as the proverbial ex- 
pression has it. According to Pollux IV. 128 ii firjxo^ ^f<w>5 
8€iian;<n Kal rjpm roi>f iv iApi..,KaX «cetrat icard r^v dpiffrepiLy "jrdpo- 
80V, inrkp Trju CKipfrpf r6 u^oj. Plat. Cratyl. p. 425 D says dffvep 
ol TpaytpdoToioLf iTciiw rt diropwciyf iwl ras p,7fxaydLS Kara^poj- 
yovai 6€oi>s aXpopres, and similarly Cic. de Nat. D. i. 20, 53 «/ 
tragici poetae, cum expiicare argumenti exitum non potestis, con- 
fugitis ad deum. Aristotle (Poet. XV. 11) says <l>avep6v Stl koL 
rds Xu<rets tCov iwdtav i^ aiiTov det tov fiiiOov ffVfipaLveWf koI fifj 
Chxep iv T^ lilTidei^ drb fivxo-^V^' But no deity appears in the 
Medea. In the nine plays of Euripides where the deus ex ma- 
ehina appeais, 'the distinct purpose is to bring the action to a 

24 — 2 



372 ARS POETICA. 

peaceful close, and calm the minds excited and disturbed with 
the calamities, and still more the apparent injustices, suffered bj 
theactors' (Mahaffy ^«n^tVi^fj, p. iii), In the Philoctetes of 
Sophocles the appearance of Heracles ex machina is needful in 
order that the struggle between two human wills, neither of 
which could yield without an inconsistency fatal to the dramatic 
picture, might be terminated by an expression of the divine will. 
In some at least of the plays of Euripides there is also * dignos 
vindice nodus*, an entanglement that calls for a deliverer. 

192. qiiarta...per80na. Tra^edy began with a dialogue 
between a single actor and the lcader of the chorus ; Aeschylus 
introduced asecond actor, Sophocles a third (Arist. Poet. iv. i6 
icai t6 t€ tQv inroKfHTwv t\^6os i^ Ms els 8vo vpChos AftfxwXof 
4iyoL'y€...Tp€is di icoi ffKTjvoypa^ap 2o^oic\^), employed also by 
Aeschylus in his later plays, i.e. in the trilogy of the Orestea 
(probably not in the Prometheus). These three actors formed a 
troop, and one troop was assigned by the archon to an approved 
dramatist. If it was necessary for some words to be said by a 
fourth character, when the three actors werealreadyonthestage, 
these were spoken by one of the chorus as a TapturKriviwf or 
TrapaxopriyTffia (cp. Theatre of the Greeks^ p. «68). It has been 
supposed that the Oedipus Coloneus required a fourth actor, but 
there is no difficulty in supposing that the part of Theseus was 
divided between the second and the third actors, the former 
taking all except w. 886 — 1043, and that in the latter part of 
the play the few words spoken by Ismene were treated as a xa- 
paffK'{\vi.ov (cp. Campbell^s Sophocles i.^ p. 384, or Schneidewin*s 
Einleitung ad fin.). In the Andromache of Euripides 545 ff. 
while Andromache, her young son Molossus and Menelaus are 
still upon the stage, Peleus enters: but the speeches assigned to 
Molossus are few and brief, and were probably spoken for him by 
one of the chorus concealed. In the Choephori of Aeschylus the 
three lines (900 — 902) which form the whole part of Pylades, 
were spoken by the actor who was also the o//c^$, as the Schol. 
says Xva /atJ S' X^w<rtj'. Hence there is no real exception to this 
law in the Greek tragedians. Of course mute characters were 
freely introduced. 

loqni laboret 'push in his words' so as to distract the atten- 
tion of the spectator, or better 'show anxiety to speak*. 

193 — 201. Thepart ofthe chorus in tragedy, 

193. aotorlsparii8...defeiLdat: the chorus should not stand 
outside the action of the piece, and simply fill up the intervab 
between the scenes with songs slightly, if at all, connected with the 
plot(^/i/36Xt)Lia) as often in Euripides andespecially in Agathon, but 
shculd take as direct a part in it as an actor does. We must not Umit 
thisi as some have done, to the case mentioned ia the preceding 



NOTES, ^ 37^ 

line, where a fburth speaker is required. Cp. Sopli. O. T. «76flf. 
It is a mistake also to suppose that a chorus was not introduced 
in Roman tragedies : it not merely sang its songs between the 
scenes, but took part in the action {cp. Kibbeck liom. Trag, pp. 
637 — 9). But as the orchestra was fitted up with seats in the 
Roman theatre, the chorus must have taken aplace upon the stage, 
and thus been more closely connected with the action than in 
Greek tragedy. Aristotle says (Poet. xviii. 19) koX rhv x^9^v hk 
ipa SeT VTroXa^eTv tQv vvoKpiTtav Kal fjubpiov ^Xvai. tov Skou xal 
ffwayuvl^iffBaif nrj wrvep irap* BvpiTldy aXX' wffirep vapd 2o<pO' 
kXet, In Seneca's tragedies the choruses are qulte unconnected 
with the plot. For Sophocles cp. Campbell^ SophocUs c. xiii. 

194. interciiiat followed by the accusative without a pre- 
position as in Carm. i. 14, 19 interfusa nitentis aequora Cycladas, 
This construction of a compound verb becomes very common in 
Tacitus: e.g. Ann. II. ^flumen Visurgis Romanos Cheruscosque 
interfluebat (so Hist. Iii. 5), III. 23 qui cognitionem intervcne' 
rant: Drager Hist, Synt, l, 350. 

196. bonli foyeat: the chorns almost invariably expresses 
the view of right-minded spectators. 

197. pecoaxe tlmentls is the> reading of almost all MSS. 
Bentley objected to it, because (i) if equivalent to boni, it is 
otiose 2S\.tx faveat bonis : (2) Ep. I. 16, 52 seems to indicate that 
those who avoid sinning from fear are *servilia ingenia*, un- 
deserving of any favour. (3) amet is not the word H. would 
have chosen. Hence, on very slight authority, he read pacare 
tumentis, and this reading has been adopted by some good 
edttors, e.g. Meineke, Haupt, and L. Miiller. It has been 
argued that tumentis is at least as tautologous after iratos as the 
MS. reading after bonis^ and that amet pacare is by no means a 
natural expression for pacet, The former objection Bentley anti- 
cipated by pointing out that iumidus is used for the result not 
only of anger, but also of grief (Cic. Tusc. iii. 12, 26; 31, 76), 
to which Orelli adds pride, comparing Sat. ii. 3, 2\^purum est 
mtio tibit cum tumidum est cor? Doederlein warmly defends 
and Keller accepts pacare timerUis; which Bentley suggests as 
an alternative, comparing Senec. Ep. Lix. nil stultitia pacatum 
habei: tam supeme ilii metus est^ quam infra, On the whole 
there is (as Munro says) no sufhcient reason for departing from 
the MSS., though Bentley's reading gives what Horace might well 
have written. The chorus should show their affection for heroes 
or heroines, who though tempted to commit a sin shrink from 
doing so. . We may perhaps with Ritter take bonis as nearly 
equal iofortibus^ those who feel no temptation to go wrong. 

198. mensae toeTlB, i.e. of a table on which there is a cena 
brevis Ep. i. 14, 35. 



374 ^^S: FOETJCA. 

Balnlnrom lustltUuii 'the blessings of justice' : so taken the 
epithet is not out of place, as Peerlkamp thinks. 

199. apertls portlB: cp. Carm. Iii. 5, 23 portasque non 
clausas* 

200. tegat eommlBia, as in Sophodes Electr. 469, Philoct 
391, Eur. Uippol. 711, Elect. 271, etc. 

oret : Peerlkamp*s suggestion to take Fortunam out of the 
dependent sentente as the object, is tempting, but leaves dtosqtu 
precetur too indefinite. 

202—219. The vtusic, which accompanied the chorus, under- 
went grecU changes as luxury increased, and the language of the 
chorus became more omate. 

202. tlbla : the old Phrygian pipe was made originally of 
a reed {aiikhi KaXdfxivot as Pollux x. 153 caals it), as we see from 
the Rimiliar story of its invention by Athena. The goddess 
threw it away, finding that its use disfigured the features, and it 
was taken up by Marsyas, who appears in legend and in many 
works of art as the champion of flute-playing, as against the lyre- 
music of ApoUo. Cp. Plin. H. N. xvi. 36, 160 ca/amus vero 
alius totus concavus, quem vocant syringiam, utUissimus fistulis, 
Afterwards the wood of the box, the lotus, and the cedar, bored 
(terebrato buxo Ov. Fast. VI. 697) and pierced with holes was used 
for the purpose. This was subsequently enlarged so as to gain 
a greater range and fulness of sound, almost equal to that of a 
trumpet, and strengthened with bands of metal. (Ivory or bone 
was used for the material of the pipe : cp. Verg. G. ii. 1Q3, 
Propert. iv. (v.) 6, 8, Plin. H. N. xvi. 35, 172 nunc sacrificae 
Tuscorum e buxo, ludicrae vero e loto ossibusgue asininis et argento 
fiunt, but not for bands: hence correct Dict. Ant, p. 1130^.) 
OrelU, after Fea, siipposes that these large pipes were made in 
pieces, and that the metal bands were used m order to put the 
pieces together : this is possible, but not proved. 

orieiialco, a kind of yellow copper or natural brass quod prae» 
cipuam bonitatem admirationemque diu obtinuit nec reperitur 
longo iam tempore effeta tellure (Plin. If . N. xxxiv. «, 1). The 
Greeks called it bpelxoKKOi (Hes. Scut. 122, Hom. Hymn. Ven. 
9): the word is common in Plautus in the form aurichaicum (e.g. 
Mil. 658 (Tyrrell), Pseud. 688, Curc. 202) and seems to be usai 
vaguely for a precious metal, though in Curc. 1. c. it is distinguished 
from aurum, Verg. Aen. xii. 87 has alboque orlfchalco, where thc 
force of the epithet is doubtfiil: cp. Conington ad loc. Cic. de 
Off. III. 23, 92 speaks of it as only worth one-thousandth part 
of the value of gold: cp. Holden's note. 

Tlnota has much more authority than Bentley*s iuncta: and 



NOTES. \ 375 

Verg. Ecl. il. ^i calattios cera coniungere plures^ and Ecl. III. 25 
fistula ccra iuncta refer to a very diSerent musical instrument. 

tulMieqae aemula : the lengthening of the tibia by means of 
the brass vincturae would tend to make it as powerful as a 
trumpet. 

203. tennls of sound *thin, weak*. panoo, very rare in the 
singular: but Gell. XX. i, 31 has Iniuricts factas xxv assibus 
sanxcrunt, Non omnino omnes iniurias aere isto pauco diluerunt: 
Bell. Afric. LXVII. 2 pauco tritici numero: Vitruv. I. i, 6 paucam 
manum, The word is similarly used by Appuleius, and there- 
fore seems to have belonged in this usage to the sermo plebeius. 
parvo, found in some MSS. is clearly an attempt at correction. 

foramlne: 'Varro ait...quattuor foraminum fuisse tibias apud 
antiquos, et se ipsum ait in templo Marsyae vidisse tibias quattuor 
foraminum. Quare quatema tantum foramina antiquae tibiae 
habuerunt: alii dicunt, non plus quam tria* Acron. The tibiae 
pares in the British Museum (found at Athens) are about 15 inches 
long, and have five holes at the top and one undemeath. Those 
represented in pictures found at Pompeii (e.g. Musie de Naples^ 
Vol. III. 35, and 154) are about twice that length, but have not 
the holes clearly marked. 

204. adBplraresdrvi^avXe?!' 'to give the note to*. adesse 
*accompany*. 

206. quo = in quae, numerabllls ' easily counted ' : Horace 
was the first to use the word, which is probably derived from the 
similar use of eiapWfirjros, as in Plat. Symp. 179 c. voWup iroWd 
Kal KoXd. ipyaoafiiptay eiapLBfvfiTOis ^ Ti(ny fdoffav tovto yipas ol 
eeoL Cp. Theocr. XVI. 87 dpiOfiaToi^s dirb voWQy, sane not 
with numercUiitis, but *of course*. Schiitz takes away the comma 
after parvus, that ntpote may go with the adjectives of y. 207, 
holding that the reason why the people came in small numbers 
to the theatre was not only because they were few, but also 
because they were virtuous and temperate. But these latter 
qualities would make them content with simple music, not keep 
them away from the theatre altogether : this abstinence was no 
virtue in the eyes of the ancient world. Or. rightly says that 
castus verecundusque have reference to the religious feelings of 
the audience. 

208. nrbes appears in all MSS. with one unimportant ex- 
ception. Bentley adopted (in silence) the reading of some earlier 
editors urbem, and Schiitz follows him, arguing that the reference 
can only be to Rome, as in the preceding lines. But there is no 
reason to doubt that Greece was in the mind of Horace quite as 
much as Rome, if not more so, for there was apparently no great 
change in the music or dictibn of the choras at Rpme. The ejc» 



376 ARS FOETICA. 

pression is a loose one for 'as cities grew* : strictly speaking the 
circuit of the Roman wall was never altered between the time of 
Servius Tullius, and that of Aurelian, a period of more than 
800 years. It is not easy to recall any Greek town, of which 
the expression is quite accurate, although Syracuse had new 
quarters added to it by Gelo. The Long Walls of Athens were 
not built to include a growing population, but for military 
reasons. 

209. latior Bentley held could only mean 'thicker', and 
hence he read laxiort quoting with his usual leaming instances 
in which the latter word is used in the sense here required. 
But lattts exactly equals our * broad \ which could be used here 
without any danger of misleading the reader. 

dlumo : to drink wine by day was rcgarded as excessive self- 
indulgence in the earlier times. Cp. Pahner on Sat. ii. 8, ^(U 
medio potare die, Very little wine was drunk, as a rule, during 
the meal : the comissaiio was quite distinct, and often at another 
place: cp. Liv. XL. 7, 5 quin comissatum adfratrem imust 

210. plaeazl Geniai, a Latin idiom (cp. £p. 11. i, 143, 
Carm. Iil. 17, 15 curabis Genium\ but this does not show that 
Horace is necessarily thinking only of Rome. 

impune: 'non contradicente aut l^e aut moribus* Acron, 
*with no fear of blame or punishment'. 

211. nnmiiisqiia modisqne : £p. ii^ 1, 144. 

212. la])omm : Verg. Aen. x. 154 liberafatiy Lucan VI. 301 
libera legum Roma^ a construction imitating that of ^Xei^epos. 
Horace has (Carm. III. 17, 16) cum famulis operum solutis^ and 
(Sat II. 2, 119) operum vacuo, 

218. toxpiM honesto : spedal seats in the theatre (the orchestra) 
were not assigned even to senators before B.c. 194: cp. Liv. 
XXXIV. 54 : for the lex Roscia cp. Ep. I. i, 62. For the special 
seats assigned to bankrupts (decoctores) cp. Cic. Phil. 11. x8, 44. 

214. sic 'quia indoctus erat populus' Acron. motam 
Orelli takes of the quickening of the time, and also of dandng 
adapted to this : the former has been already indicated in v. ai i, 
and the latter only seems to be here denoted. 

Inxnriem^wanton gestures', indulged iu by the piper as he 
moved backwards and forwards over £e stage in his long robe 
(Ep. II. I, 207). 

21«. Tooes 'notes*. severis: the music of the harp was 
always regarded as much graver and less passionate than that of 
the flute, and therefore was the only music allowed by Plato in 
hii ideal State. ^ 



NOTES. 377 

b: according to the current story the harp had but 
four strings at first, and this number was increased to seven by 
Terpander (flor. B.c. 670—640), and to ten (or eleven, cp. Dict. 
Biog, III. 1148^) by Timotheus (fl. 420 — 380): cp. Muller's 
Greek JUL II. 76. But the first part of this statement seems very 
doubtful: Bergk Gr, LU, h. laa, aii, Mahaffy Gr, Lit, 1. 168. 

217. tullt 'produced*, Le. brought along with it, as in Verg. 
Aen. X. *i^i fidem latura vetustas, praeceps *bold', *daring°: 
cp. Quint. XII. 10, 73 vitiosum et corruptum dicendi genus,,,, 

. quod praecipitia pro sublimibus habet, Plin. Ep. IX. 26, 1 debet 
^drator saepe accedere ctd praeceps: nam plerumque altis et excelsis 
adicLcent abrupta, eloqulum, a poetical form for eloquentia^ used 
by' Verg. Aen. XI. 383 tona cloquio^ luv. X. 1 14, and in later 
prose. — ^The abruptness of the transition from the music to the 
diction of the chorus, led Ribbeck to consider this and the foUow- 
ing line spurious : but it is not out of place to note the change in 
language as welL 

218. sai^az 'skilled in', with the genitive, as in Columell. i. 
praef. aa sagacissimus rerum naturae. dlTlna, cp. Carm. Iil. 
37, 10 imbrium divina cevis, 

219. sortllegls : divination by sortest strictly speaking, was 
not practised at Delphi, although it was at Dodona (cp. Cic. de 
Div. I. 34, 76), and especially in Italy at Praeneste and Antium : 
cp. Mommsen, Hist, i, 187 n. : but the term was commonly ex- 
tended to any utterance of an oracle, as in Verg. Aen. iv. 346 
Lyciae sortes^ Ov. Met. iii. 130 Phoebeis sortibus^ Cic. de Div. 11. 
50, 115, where the word sors is used of the answer sent from 
Delphi to Croesus. 

non discrepnit Delpliis, with a compressed comparison, for 
sententia Delphorum: expressions like *that of ' are avoided in 
Latin, either by such compression or by the repetition of the 
substantive. Cp. Cic. de Orat. I. 4, 15 (note), Mayor on luv. 
III. 74, Holden on Cic. de Off. I. a«, 76. 

220 — 224. The saiyric drama developed out oftragedy^ and 
was intended to amuse the spectators towards the close ofthe day, 

220. Tllem ob blream. Although the derivation of rpay^pSla 
from rpdyos *a he-goat*, because this was the prize offered for 
success in it, is now abandoned by the best authorities, who derive 
the word rather from the goat-like appearance of the chorus, 
who were dressed as satyrs (cp. Bergk Gr, Lit, lu. 12 — 13, 
Donaldson Theatre ofthe Greeks"^ p. 68), it was that generally 
adopted by the ancients ; and there is no doubt as to the fact 
that a goat was regularly offered in sacrifice to Bacchus (cp. 
Verg. Georg. ii. 380), and that this goat was assigned as the 
prize to the leader of the victorious chorus. 



378 ARS POETICA. 

221. mox «feiam: Orelli (after Hand Turs. iii. 656) renders 
•forthwith too*, in order to avoid the apparent ^iscrepancy with 
Aristotle Poet. IV. 17 5td t^ Ik ffarvpiKov fierapaXei^f which 
represent satyric drama as older than tragedy. If there is a 
contradiction, this is but a lame way of removing it. But tfae 
fact seems to.be that while tragedy originated in the song of a 
band of satyrs, — as Aristotle implies — and hence kx a time 
tragedy and the satyrical drama were identical, as it developed, 
it came to be far removed from them, and the chorus was dif- 
ferently constituted ; until Pratinas of Phlius, a contemporary 
of Aeschylns, restored the chorus of satyrs, and wrote plays for 
them, which Were the beginning of a newsatyric drama (Donald- 
son I.c.p. 69, Bergk lii. 261). 

The length at which Horace discusses the satyric drama, 
which is commonly supposed to have been quite unknown to 
Roman literature, and took but a subordinate place even in 
Greek, seems to require some explanation. It has been sug- 
gested that one of the Pisos, or perhaps even Horace himself 
had had thoughts of naturalizing it at Rome, where the comic 
drama at this time stood in much need of something to revive it. 
But Prof. Nettleship has given some reasons from Diomedes 
(p. 490 K.) to think that the Romans had a satyric drama. 
Vv. 220 — 224 he regards as a translation from the Greek critic, 
whom Horace is using throughout, vv. 225 — 250 as his own ex- 
pansion and correction. 

nadayit. It is not unusual for a poet to be represented as 
doing himself an action, the doing of which he descnbes: so Sat. 
I. 10, 36 Alpinus iugulat Memnona^ i.e. describes how Memnon 
was slain, Verg. Ecl. vi. ^SPasipkaen niveisolaturamore itwenciy 
i.e. tells how P. solaced herself, and often. But here we have a 
bold extension of this usage. Peerlkamp objects that the sat^rrs 
were always nudiy i.e. clad only lightly m skins, and that nuda' 
vit is therefore out of place : but Horace is doubtless thinking 
rather of the chorus, who were made to throw oflf their usual dress, 
and appear as satyrs. Cp. Munro*s critical note on Lucr. v. 971 
where nuda dabant is now read for the nudabant of the MSS* 

_ asper 'roughly', 'coarsely*. 

222. Incoluml gravitate *without any sacrifice of dignity*, 
sc. of the tragic characters who were introduced at the same 
time; — there is nothing comic in the character of Odysseus in the 
Cyclops of Euripides: nor apparently in that of Herakles in the 
Syleus (cp. Bergk Gr, Lit, iii. 242) — 

*and tried 
If grave and gay could flourish side by side^ (Con.): 
or perhaps rather * without sacri6cing his own dignity as a tragic 
poet*. llurd's view that it means *bidding farewell to serioos- 



NOTES. . 379 

ness' is ingenious : and he defends it by Carin. iil. 5^x2 incolumi 
love et urbe Romay and Mart. v. 10, 7 Ennius est lectus salvo tibi, 
Roma, Marone; but in the former passage this meaning is very 
improbable, while in the latter the point of the epigram ab- 
soliitely requires that we should interpret *during the life-time 
of Vergil*. It is not more possible for incolumis to bear this 
sense (although even Mr Yonge admits it) than it would be for 
us to say that a man was faring well, to indicate that some one 
had said 'farewell' to him. 

temptayit, the form best supported crthographically seems 
to be due to an early popular confusion with contemptus, etc. 
Et^mtiologically the form should be tento, as a frequentative from 
tendo, Cp. Roby § 964. Corssen i.^ 123. 

223. morandiui: 'spectator grata erat novitate retinendus, 
qui veniebat post sacrificia iam pransus, iam potus*. Acron. 

224. itmotiiBqiie sacriB: Dramatic representations at ^^ 
Dionysiac festivals began very early in the morning (cp. Arist. 
Av. 784 ff., Aesch. in Ctes. p. 467, Dem. in Mid. p. 538) : it is 
commonly said that tbe satyric dramas were exhibited towards 
the evening : this is quite inconsistent with the prevalent doctrine 
as to the production of plays in tetralogies, unless, indeed^ each 
poet had a whole day to himself, as Bergk {Gr, Ul. iii. p. 34) 
thinks; but considering the slight support Wiiich that doctrine 
has (cp. Joumal of Philolojgy vii. 179—392) this is not a serious 
objection. Bergk holds (Gr. Lit. iii. 19 fF.) that originally 
comedies only were produced at the Lenaea, and tragedies at 
the Great Dionysia, but that at a later time the comedies were 
preceded by tragedies, and the tragedies by comedies, so in- 
terpreting the law quoted by Demosthenes in Mid. p. 518. If 
this is correct, at least at the Great Dionysia, the satyric dramas 
may have been played towards the evening, when they no longer 
formed part of a tetralogy (if they ever did). That they fre- 
quently were played independently is clear from the statement 
of Suidas tbat Pratinas wrote fiftyplays, of which thirtytwowere 
satyric. — ^We do not know when the sacrifices, with which a 
banquet was always associated, were offered : perhaps during the 
interval for the second or later &pi<TTov (Bergk iii. p. 31), which 
may have come between the tragedies and the satyric dramas. 
At the Dionysia it was considered the duty of all loyal wor- 
shippeirs of the deity to drink freely, *and reeling own the mighty 
wine-god's power* (Becker Charicles, p. 178). Cp. Plato Leg. vi. 
775 viv^of hh €ls fiidrpf oihre aWoOi vov Tpireiy vKriv iv tous toO t6v 
civov 86vTos 6€ou ioprais» 

ezlex, i.e. ready to defy all laws, with no reference to any 
special enactment. . 



38o AHS POETICA. 

226 — H^, But in the satyric dramd care musi be taken that 
the language is not low^ or on the other hatid bombastic, 

226. lta...ne, less common than ita.,.ut\ but cp. v. 151. 
commendare, i.e. to try to win the favour of the audience for 
the satyrs, by putting jests into their mouths. 

226. serla Ritter seems to be right in taking of the grave 
language of the heroic characters in the satyric drama, lodo of 
the jests of the chorus of sat^rrs: 'to pass from grave to gay '. 

228. nnper, not necessarily in a tragedy performed on the 
same day, though, as Ritter says, when this was the case, it 
would give additional point to the waming : nuper is used with 
great latitude of meaning. 

229. mlgret In talMmas * should descend to dingy hovels *, 
i.e. use the language common in such places : tabemae usually 
denotes booths or workshops, as in Cic. in Cat. iv. 8, 17, Acad. 
II. 47, 144, and very rarely (without any qualifying adjective) 
tavems ; so there is no need to take it so here, as Macleane does, 
or to suppose that obscuras indicates that they were underground. 
C^.pauperum tabemas in Carm. I. 4, 13. 

230. vitat would more regularly have been vitet (which is 
found in a few inferior ^SS.) in a sentence subordinate to captet: 
but dum is so constantly used with the pres. indic that the con- 
struction is retained here even against the rule. ♦ 

nulMset inanla, i.e. high-flown, empty verbiage, especially 
out of keeping with the general tone of tne drama. 

231. effatire indigna: for the infinitive cp. Ep. i. 3, 35; 
Sat. I. 4, 3 dignus describu Roby § 1361, S. G. § 540 (2). For 

futis and cognate words cp. Curt. Gr. Et, I. p. 252. 

232. moverl £p. 11. 2, 125: 'sunt enim quaedam sacra, in 
quibus saltant matronae, sicut in sacris Matris deum* Acron. 
This refers doubtless to theHilaria on March 25th : cp. Marquardt 
lidfn, St. III. 357. So too of Licymnia (probably intended for 
Terentia, the wife of Maecenas) in Carm. ii. 12, 17 quam nec 
ferre pedem dedecuit chorisj nec certare ioco^ nec dare bracchia 
ludentem nitidis virginibus sacro Dianae celebris die. For the 
way in which dancing was generally regarded cp. Sall. Cat xxv. 
Sempronia...saltare elegantius quam necesse est probaCj where 
Cook quotes Servius on Verg. Georg. i. 350 saltationem aptam 
religioni nec ex ulla arte venientem. 

234 — 243. 77ie language of the satyric dranta is io be some- 
thingbetween that oftragedy and that qfcomedy. 

284. dominantla, a translation, probably used first by 
Horace, of the Greek ic(;pca *proper'. Cope Introductim ic 



NOTES. 581 

AristotUs Rhetoric p. 382 (note) writes *ic&ptop {Sppfta) is the 
**proper " word by which any object is designated, and [which is] 
commonly employed to denote it. It is therefore opposed to all 
the other kinds of words : to all figurative, foreign, archaic, or 
in any way "uncommon" words...any words whichstrike us as 
strange or unusual'. Cicero de Orat. III. 37, 149 contrasts 
^opria verba with metaphorical {quae transferuntur) and newly 
introduced or coined {quae novamus etfacimus ipsi) expressions. 
Cp. Orator 34, 80, Quint. viii. 3, 24 (propria, Jictat translata) 
Arist. Rhet. Iil. 2, 2. 

nomlna. . .Yerba : 6v6fiara., .^-fm.aTa^ 'nouns and verbs * covered 
with Plato the whole of language (cp. Cratyl. 431 B \6701 ^ip 
irovj (os iyf/jutf ij ro&nop [prjfAdrwp koI dpofidrufv] ^6p6€ffLs iariv : 
cp. 425 a): and though Aristotle added the (ri^vdecr/ios and the 
Stoics completed the *parts of speech*, the names of the two 
chief classes were often used in the same wide sense, as here. 
Cp. Sat. I. 3, 103 donec verba quibus voces sensusque notarent, 
nominaque invenere, But cp. Palmer there. 

236. Batyroriun scrlptor, i.e. if I were to write satyric 
dramas : the Greek critics denote these sometimes by the word 
adrvpoi: e.g. Demetr. de Eloc. 169 (Rhet. Gr. IX. 76 Walz) 
oii^ ydp iTivoT^treiev dv ris rpayt^hiav iraL^ovffaVt ivei ffdrvpov 
ypdf€t dvrl rpay(pdLas. Horace means to say that he would not 
confine himself strictly to the plainest language, and avoid so 
completely the elevated tone of tragedy as to reduce his semi- 
divine characters to the level of slaves in comedy. 

236. differre with dat. as in Sat. i. 4, 48 nisi quodpede certo 
^ert sermoni^ sermo merus: cp. v. 152; Ep. II. 2, 193 : colorl 
£p. I. I7f 23. 

237. Davns, a common slave's name, said to be from Aao;, a 
Dacian, the older name of this tribe having been Aaot, according 
to Strabo vii. 304. Thc name occurs in the Andria of Terence; 
— Forcellini and the dictionaries based on Freund say also in 
Plautus, but this is an error : no character in Plautus bears the 
name; it occurs only in Amphitr. 361 as a jest. Cp. Sat. i. 10, 
40, and II. 5, 91 where the name is typical, as here, and ii. 7, 2 
where it is ascribed to a slave belonging to Horace. 

et andaz : a striking instance of the value of the vet. Bland. 
and the oldest Beme MS. when in agreement. These (and 
the Munich MS. C, which comes from the same source as the 
Beme MS.) alone have eti all other MSS. have the evidently 
erroneous an. 

2S8. Fsrtbias, not the ancilla in the Eunuchus of Terence, 
but according to Acron a girl in a comedy of Lucilius, who 
cheated her master out of a talent As Lucilius is not known 



382 AI^S POETICA. 

to have written any comedies, it is probable that, with Orellfi» 
we should substitute the name of Caecilius. Cp. Ribbeck Conu 
Lai, Frag, p. 8i. 

emuncto, a coarse expression, chosen intentionally to illus- 
trate the style tpo low for the sat^rric drama : * chiselled *. 
Terence once (Phorm. 682 emunxi argmto senes) puts it into the 
mouth of a slave, Plautus has the phrase more frequently : cp. 
Epid. 494 qui me emjtnxisH mucidum minumipreti: Most. 11 08 
Th. dedisti verba, Tr. qui tandem t Th. J>robe med emunxti, 
Cruquius took the metaphor to be one of *mllking', but the 
context in the last passage, and the use of the Greek dxofi&rreof 
(cp. Menand. Fragm. 482 yiptav direfUfAVKT &$\ios) make it clear 
that this is not the case. £entley's emendation, according to which 
this word is read in Caecilius ap. Cic. Lael. 36, 99, is not to be 
accepted, as e.g. in Long's text. 

Slmone, a rich old man, probably the master of Pythias. 

239. SUenus, the oldest of the satyrs, and their leader 
(cp. Eur. Cyclops), though riotous and fond of wine, was yet 
always represented as fuU of knowledge and wisdom, so that 
Vergil can not unsuitably put into his mouth a philosophical 
exposition of the origin of the universe and the early history of 
man (Ecl. VI. 31 if.). Similarly when captured by Midas he is 
said to have taught him profound secrets as to the nature of 
things and the future. Cp. Cic Tusc. i. 48, 1 14 ; and Diod. Sic. 
IV. 4 <f>affl di Kal vatdayuryb» Kcd Tpo<f>4a <rvv4w€<r0at. Karh, rdj 
ffTpareLas a&rt} [Aiofuery] SeiXi^y^p, elarjyriri^p Kot dMffKoXop 
yip6fupo» Twif Ka\\i<rT<i)v. iwiTridevfidTcjPy kclL fi£y<i\a <rvfi^d\' 
"kc^rOai tQ Aiovi&<r(p Trpbs dpcn/iv t€ k<iI d6^<xp, Evidently it was 
not proper to put into his mouth the language of a low and 
knavish slave. 

240. ex noto flctiuu caimen sequar. Ilorace has been 
speaking hitherto only of the langtmge of the satyric drama, and 
tothis he retums in v. 244: hence most editors explain carmen 
as genus dicendi *a style of verse', defending this meaning by 
carminibus in v. 90. Thsxi fictum is *artistically composed , 
and ex noto *out of familiar materials'. SchUtz doubts whether 
carmen can fairly bear this meaning, and holds that the scholiasts 
are right in taking it to refer to the substance of the poem. In 
that case the verses must be out of place here : they must either 
be transposed to after v. 250, or else (as Schiitz suggests) find a 
place somewhere in the passage w. 125 — 135, or be rejected 
altogether with Ribbeck. They are too good in themselves for 
us readily to accept the last alternative, and carmen may, I 
think, fairly refer to the style. 

seqnar *I will aim at*: Ep. 11. 2, 143. 



' NOTES. 383 

241. sadet, V. 413, Sat. i. 10, 28 exsudet causas, Orelli 
well quotes Pascal Pensies i. 3 Les meilleurs livres sont ceux 
que chaque lecteur croit quil aurait pufaire: and Wieland says 
thatthese lines contain *one of the greatest mysteries of art, 
which Horace could blab very confidently, without fearing that 
he was betraying anything to the a/Au^ots*. But the mystery 
has no special re^rence to the satyric drama. 

242. serlet: cp. v. 46 in verMs serendis^ iimotiira v. 48. 
The parallelism gives strong support to those who take carmen 
to refer to the language, not to the substance. 

243. de xnedlo BHinptis : cp. Cic. Or. 49, 163 verba legenda 
sunt...non ut poetae exquisita ad sonum sed sumpta de medio: 
cp. de Orat. I. 3, 11 in medio posita, iii. 45, 177 iacentia sustu- 
limus e medio, Quint. V. 7, 31 verbis quam maxime ex medio 
sumptisy utt qui rogatur, intellegat, aut ne intellegere se neget. 
This phrase too may be used of the matter, but is more naturaily 
taken of the language. 

244—260. If the Fauns use the language of the Streets^ the 
hetter cIclss ofthe audience will be offended, 

244. deducti sc. in scaenam: so Acron rightly explains it. 
Fauni, virtually the same as the Satyrs, thougl;i corresponding 
more exactly to the JlaviffKoiy who along with the Satyrs attended 
upon Bacchus. Cp. Ep. i. 19, 4. 

246. ne Yelut innatl triyiis : the Fauns are not to speak as 
if they were natives of tlie city, and so fall into one of the two 
opposite vices of language, affected sentimentality, and disgrace- 
ful coarseness. It has been supposed that innati triviis and 
forenses are opposed to each other, the former denoting the 
vulgar rabble, the latter the more educated men, who could take 
part in the business of the law-courts ; in that case there would 
be a chiasmusj the former referring especially to v. 247, the 
latter to v. 246. But there is no sufficient authority for the force 
so assigned to forensis, and ac would require to be replaced by 
aut, *Bom in the streets and almost dwellfers in the forum* is 
simply a phrase for townspeople. But there is probably also a 
reminiscence of the Greek feeling against spending too much 
time in the 070/»; cp. dyopiuoi, TrepiTptpifia ayopai etc. (Act. Ap. 
XVII. 5: Plat. Protag. 347 e: Liv. subrostrani)* Cp. factio 
forensism Liv, ix. 40, 13.' 

246. iaYenentnr, a word coined doubtless by Horace, oti 
the analogy of augurari, auspicari, interpretari, velitari etc. 
(Roby § 961), to represent peavieveadai or pLeipaKieve<r0ai. The 
word might denote the spirit and vehemence of youth, as when 
Aristotle Rhet. III. 11, 16 says eltrl di vvep^oy^ fieipaKuideis' 
VfpodpdTrp-a yap diKowriy, But the context shows that it is used. 



384 AES FOETICA. 

as in the passages quoted by Eraesti Lex, Techn» s.v. piupa- 
Kiiodei to denote 'afTectatio concinnitatis a gravitate virili 
aliena *, tenerls, often used of amatory lasciviousness, as Cic in 
Pis. 36, 89 cum tuis teneris scUtatoribus^ and perhaps in Pers. 
I- 35- 

247. orepeilt:-£p. i. 7, 84. dlcta ^jests^ as so often in 
Cic. de Orat. ii., e.g. 54, 321 (note). 

248. qnilnui est eqaus, i.e. tbe wbole class of equites^ wbo 
had a census of more than 400,000 sesterces, not of course only 
tbe equites equo puhlico^ the 18 centuries iuniorum: tbe ex- 
pression is loose, but intelligible. 

pater: only ingenui born in wedlock had a legal father, 
hence slaves and freedmen are excluded: cp. Liv. x. 8, 10 
patricios primo essefactos...quipatrem ciere possent, id est, nihil 
iUtra quam ingenuos. But there is no reference t;o .patricians 
here, as Ritter thinks. 

res, i.e. substantial citizens. 

249. frlcti dcerls, still a common article of food in Italy 
{cecio fritto) : cp. Plaut. Baccb. 763; in Plaut. Poen. 323 we 
bave triticum et frictcu nuces^ which shows tliat fricti goes also 
witb nucis, Nux includes, and probably bere specially denotes 
'cbestnuts', castaneae nuces of Verg. Ecl. II. 52. Martial speaks 
of dcer as tbe cbeapest kind of food, l. 104, IQ cuse cicer tepidum 
constat, Tbe A^Atoy Kvafj.oTp(6^ of Aristoph. Eq. 41 refers not 
only to bis favourite diet of beans. but also to the uSe of them in 
the ballot. 

260. aeqiii8...ani]iilB *with favour', as in Verg. Aen. iv. 
372 haec oculis Pater aspicit aequisy VI. 129 quos aequus amavit 
luppiter^ and often. Orelii wrongly ignores this use. 

261 — ^274. The iambic metre used in tragedy must be handled 
with great care^ and the Greek models, not the rough Latin 
tragedians are to be imitated, 

261. iamlHUi v. 7^ (note). Tbe elementary character of 
tbe information here given is probably intended as a modest 
introduction to tbe advice which Horace thougbt it needfiil to 
give to tbe Pisones, who may bave sbown tendencies to negli- 
gence in tbe matter of metre. 

262. 'imde...ia]iil)ei8. Porphyrion expkins tbe connexion 
thus : 'Omnes versus tragici trimetri appellantur. Quaeri autem 
solet cur trimetri appellentur, cum senos accipiant pedes. Quo- 
niam sdlicet tanto brevitas est pedum, ut iuncturae binos cooi- 
plectantur pedes'. This explanation seems to justify us in 
keeping to the MSS., wbicb have no variation, except that a 
,few have accedere for accrescere^ which is doubtless only a gloss. 



NOTES. 3^5 

* Because of this rapid character it (the iambus) bade the name 
*trimeter* attach itself to the iambic lines, although, etc/ For 
the veiy common attraction of irimetris into the case of iambeis^ 
cp. Sat. n. 3, 47 qui tibi nomen insano imposuere. Roby § 1059, 
S. G. § 441 {b) : accrescere denotes the gradual adhesion of the 
name to that which is not properly denoted thereby. — But a 
conjecture of Ribbeck^s which substitutes momen for nomen has 
recently found much approval. He holds that Horace is here 
describing three stages in the history of the iambic line : (i ) when, 
as with the iambographers, the line usually, though not always 
consisted of pure iambi v. 254 : (2) when, as in the Greek 
dramatists, the pace was moderated, and spondees might be 
found in the first, third and fifth places, v. 355: (3) when, as in 
the Roman dramatists, spondees were sometimes found in every 
foot but the last. He interprets them *Hence even to the 
iambic verses (^a/*j3€ta) of the iambographers which are to be 
measured as trimeters, has the iambus so to say done violence, 
by forcing upon it a quickened pace in excess of its natural 
rapidity, by repeating six times the same foot*. Momen^ con- 
tracted for movimen is either that which causes motion, or that 
which is moved, or simply motion. The word is fairly common 
in Lucretius, e.g. vi. 474 e salso momine ponti, and was else- 
where restored by Scaliger by a tolerably certain conjecture for 
nomen : e.g. Manil. i. 34 mominaque et cursus signorum^ Aetna 
313 spiritusinflahit momen languentibus aere^ on whichcp.Munro*s 
note. This conjecture and the interpretation therewith con- 
nected were accepted by Keller in his editio minor of 1878, 
but in the Epilegomena (i88o) he retums to the MS. text. 
Kriiger ^® {Anhang p. 384) also approves. Schiitz on the other 
hand rejects it : and I think rightly. The point to be explained 
is why a verse consisting of six feet should be called a trimeter 
verse : and RibbecVs conjecture goes no way towards explaining 
this. Nor is it easy to see to what previous stage of the verse 
the iambus added a quickened pace, even if we assume, which 
is far from certain, that a line with six beats in it is more rapid 
than one with three. Finally the more frequent occurrence of 
pure iambic lines in writers like Archilochus, Simonides of 
Amorgos and Hipponax, is by no means established by their 
extant fragments: it rests solely on the testimony of grsun- 
marians, which perhaps means no more than this, that the 
iambographer sometimes wrote poems in pure iambics, as we 
know was done by Catullus (iv. xxiv.) and Horace. 

264. primuB ad extremiixn : cp. £p. i. i, 54 (note). noa 
ita prldem. These words present a very grave difficulty, for in 
the earliest iambics known, written 600 years before this time, 
spondees are found frequently in the uneven places. Cp. Archil. 
£r. 22 Bergk*: KoXik ovt lofipwv ovre TepTrwXiwv lUXeu Various 

W. H. 25 



386 AES POETICA. 

attempts have been made to remove the historical inaccarac^. 
Some have suggested that non ita pridem might mean ' not long 
after', a notion quite without support. Others have assumed that 
the reference is only to Latin iambic verse, as written in the time 
6f Horace, but then it is not less incorrect as a historical state- 
ment. Ribbeck suspects a lacuna, containing some such words 
as *it was not long ago that [the iambus appeared in this form 
here and there with us: but with the Greeks etc.]: and Schtitz 
fears a serious corruption. But the difficulty is best solved by 
supposing, with Orelli, that Horace is giving, not a historically 
exact, but rather an ideal sketch of the development of tbe verse» 
describing its various stages as they ought to have been in theory, 
rather than as he had reason to Imow that they had been. 
lambic lines ought to have been originally pure, and afterwards 
to have admitted spondees. Mr Reid ingeniously suggests that 
we should read non ita: pridem etc^ *Not so: long ago* as in 
Verg. Aen. ii. 583. But there a question precedes. 

266. patema: Ribbeck cannot get quite clear about the 
ancestry of the iambus, and therefore prefers with C. F. Her- 
mann the conjecture of a certain Dutchman, alterna, This is 
to miss the sportive tone of the whole passage, in which the 
iambus is made to give orders, to welcome, to be obliging and 
long-suffering, and to act in friendly fashion. A foot that can 
do all this, may surely be allowed *hereditary rights*. — Horace 
omits to mention the last place, to which of course the isunbus 
also held tenaciously. Peerlkamp has thought it necessary to 
remedy this omission, by reading sextavcy sed for socialiter, 
This last word is another of the ciTra^ Xe^dl/ieva which are so 
common in this Epistle. It means 'admitting into partner- 
ship*. Perhaps a comma should be placed at quarta, so that 
non...quarta may be parenthetical. 

258. llio sc. iambus, not, as some have taken it, as an 
adverb. nobllibus 'famous', here ironical. Horace means that 
. the iambus appeared so rarely that they were hardly deserving 
to be called iambic trimeters ; in some of the extant fragments 
there are lines which consist wholly of spondees, with the excep- 
tion of the last foot. But L. MUller Ennius p. 243 denies thiat 
this censure is on the whole justiiied. 

260. ocun magno : this position of the words, for which 
Vergil would certainly have written magno cum^ along with the 
spondaic character of the line produces a rhythm whidi imitates 
the sense. 

^ 262. promlt, sc. iambus, or rather its rare appearance : cp. 
Liv. III. 13, I premebat reum praeter volgatam invidiam crimen 
unum. 



NOTES. 387 

263. non qniylSi Cicero judges more favourably the per- 
ceptioh of a popular audience : cp. de Orat. iil. 50, 196 at in 
his \numeris et inodis\ sipaulum modo offensum est^ theatra tota 
reclamant, 

264. et...poetla 'and indulgence is granted to Roman poets, 
which poets ought not to need'. Peerlkamp, thinking that this 
line and the preceding one contain an objection made to 
Horace's too great strictness, to which he replies in the foUowing 
line, reads nec data, etc. and Schiitz niuch approves. But the 
lines are just as well taken as a concession inade by Horace: 
*I admit that etc* poetis is strictly the dative, but requires to 
be understood again as an ablative after indigna, 

,^--^'266. Tager *am I to move uncheckedby law?* an: Bentley 
adopted the reading ut, which has very slight authority, carrying 
on the question, and interpreting : 'All the audience do not 
notice faults, and those who do, excuse them. Am I therefore 
deliberately to depart from the rules of art, and write carelessly, 
feeling sure that 1 shall be safe, in my caution within the limits 
of the indulgence granted, even though I should suppose that 
every one will see my faults'. This makes good sense: but it 
is not necessary to depart from the MSS. It is equally good to 
interpret: *Or an^ I to assume that all will notice my faults, 
and therefore avoid them, cautiously keeping within the sphere 
in which I mayhope for indulgence?* The latter is the altema- 
tive to be chosen: but Horace immediately goes on to say that 
this is not enough ofitself. The Greek models showthat more 
than a mere avoidance of fJEiults is needed for excellence. Ribbeck 
puts the mark of interrogation at mea, and joins tutus...cautus 
with vitavii this would be an improvement, if it were not for 
the awkwardness of denique coming so late in the sentence. 
Orelli's view ' Or falling intb the opposite error, am I to suppose 
that all will see my faults, but none the less consider myself 
safe from ceiisure provided I take care that no verses which 
are too rough or absolutely unmetrical drop from rae constantly?* 
does not bring out sufficiently the coiitrast of the two altematives : 
the latter in his interpretation is merely equivalent to scribere 
licenter, In this case he could hardly be said vitavisse culpam, 
For tutus 'cautious* cp. v. 28. 

26a TOS sc. Pisones. 

269. noctuma...dlania. There is a curious resemblance 
in the form of the verse to Ep. I. 19, i i. 

( 270. ▼estrl, the r^dinfiL^of all MSS. of any importance, 

ana as Bentley showed, much better in itself than nostri, which 

would be out of place in the mouth of a freedman like Horace, 

Flautlnos: for Horace's opinion of Plautus, cp. £p. u. i, 

170 ffi 

25 — 2 



388 AJ^S PQETICA. 

274. digttls : the fingeTS were ^sed, not only to count the 
feet, but to mark the ictus: cf. Carm. IV. 6, 35 pollicis ictum: 
Quintil. IX. 4, 51 tempora etiam animo metiuntur et pedum et 
digitorum ictu intervalla signant quihusdqm notis. 

(275 — ^284. Thespis is said to have been the inventer of tragedy^ 
and Aeschylus to have improved it, Comedy followed, and wcu 
highly approvedf until its license had to be checked^iy law. 

276. Tliespls (flor. B.C. 556) was imdo\;btedly the inventoi 
of tragedy ; all our authorities agree upon this,. But Horace has 
strangely mixed up the origin, of tragedy with that of comedy. 
The bands of revellers (/cw/aoi) who. went about the country irapik 
Tots ^AdrjvoUois M &iJia^w Kad-fiixejfoi. and iffKWTrrov dWi^Xovs koX 
iXoidopovPTo TToWd (Schol. on Lucian Zeifs Tf)ay<p56s VI. p. 388), 
developed into the Qld Comedy : and *it is clearenough that the 
waggon of Thespis cannot well consist with ^he festal choir of the 
Dionysia: in fact this old coadi, which has been<fetched from 
Horace only, must be shoved back again into the lumber-room' 
(Gruppe Ariadne, p. 122). Horace's account is equally incon- 
sistent *with the poetical requirements of the Athenian public 
trained by the enlightened policies of Solon and Peisistratus' 
(Mahaffy <7r. Lit, l. 234). Thespis com,posed his dramas *for 
city feasts and (or an educat^ audience\ He acted himself ; 
but whether he was the leader of the chorus, and only delivered 
a kind of epic recitations betwe^n the choric songs, as Mahaffy 
holds, or held a dramatic dialogue with the leader of the chorus, 
as is the more usual opinion, is a point which our authorities do 
not enable us to determine with certainty. Bergk {Gr, Lit, li. 
257) distinguishes the *choir-master* from the *choir-leader', 
and thinks that at first the former delivered the speeches, and 
that afterwards there was sometimes a dialogue between the two. 

277. oanerent agerentque is rather a loose expression, see- 
ing that there was only one actor, the rest being merely singers. 
Bentley*s conjecture of qui for quae is very attractive, and has 
been accepted by Ribbeck, L. Miiller and Schiitz. 

pemnctl faecibus ora: this was limited to comedy, where 
the actors are said, according to a somewhat doubtful story, 
to have smeared their faces with the wine-lees of the new 
vintage (rpiJ^), and hence to have got their name rpvytfiSoL This 
word is rather contemptuous and is never used of tragedians, cp. 
Bentley on Phalaris i. p. 342 ff. (ed. Dyce). 

278. personae : there is no reason (with Macleane and Rib- 
beck /^om, Trag, p. 661) to reject the derivation of this word 
from personarcy quoted from Gavius Bassus bv Gellius V. 7 : cp. 
Corssen i.« 482 — 3, Vanicek, p. 1217. It is possible that the 
di^i^e of quantity may have been effected by a popailar assimila- 
tion to wpdffunrow. The mask was not invent^ in order to 



mTES. 389 

strengthen the soand of the voice, although it seems to have had 
this eifect: but neither was it invented by the Romans, so the 
argument drawn from this falls to the ground. It was undoubt- 
edlv introduced by Thespis to enable the reciter to assume 
di&rent parts. Horace here ascribes to Aeschylus inventions 
which must have been made long before his time, probably in 
consequence of his reputation as an improver of scenic properties 
generally. Cp. Suidas : Aicrxi^Xoy eupe irpotrwircta Sctyd koL xp(^/ui(ri 
K€XPifff*^ycL ^x^^ "^^^^ TpayiKoCSf Kal rcus dp^vXaiSy rats KaXovjjLi- 
VMS ift^dTaiSf K€xpv<^Oai, On the Roman stage the mask was 
first used (according to Donatus) by Minucius Prothymus about 
B.c. 120 — 100. Others say that Roscius first used it. Ribbeck 
{/iom. Trag, p. 661) suggests that Minucius may have been the 
director of the troupe in which Roscius acted. As the orchestra 
was seated for spectators at Rome, they were brought much 
nearer to the actors than in Greece, and the innovation was dis- 
liked (Cic. de Orat. III. 59, 321 senes.^.personcUum ne Roscium 
quidem magno opere laudabant), although the fire in the actor's 
eyes was still visible (ib. ii. 46, 193). Aesopus seems to have 
acted, at least sometimes, without a mask (Cic. de Div. i. 37, 80 
vidi.,.in Aesopo tantum ardorem vultuum atque tnotuum^ etc). 
honeitae, 'handsome' Vez^. Georg. 11. 392. 

279. pnlpita, in Greek dKpi fias:^ cp. Plat. Symp. 194 B 
dpapalvovTos iwl Thv dKpL^avTa fjL€Td tujv inroKpvrQv, 

280. magnimKiae loqni is explained by Macleane 'to arti- 
culate loudly', on the ground that *there is nothing about style 
here '. But in face of the frequent references in Aristophanes to 
the lofty elevated style of Aeschylus, it is hardly possible to 
suppose that there is no allusion to it There is of course a 
natural connexion between a loud utterance and high-flown dic- 
tion: cp. Arist. Ran. 823 ^pvx^/J-^os ^ci jnniaTa yop.<f>oTrayTJf 
and 1004 dXX' (S irpwTos t(2v 'EWrjvuv Trvpy^oaas l>7itiaTa o"6/Avd koX 
KoapL-fiaas TpayiKbv \jjpov «.t.X. For niti c abl. cp. Reid on 
Acad. II. 14, 44, Roby § i226, 

281. lilB, sc. Thespis and Aeschylus : Susarion, the reputed 
founder of the Attic comedy, was at least as early as Thespis : 
but *comedy did not attract attention at first because it was not 
a serious pursuit. Thus the archon did not assign a chorus to 
the comic poets till Iate...but it was not until it had attained to 
some degree of form that its poets were recorded * (Arist Poet. 
c. V.). Chionides is called the first writer of the old comedy 
xpwraycavurnis t^s dpxoXas KUfupBlas Suid.) : Magnes was nearly 
contemporary ; next to whom came Cratinus (born B.c. 519), the 
real originator of political comedy (cp. Mahaffy Gr, Lit, l. 424). 
We do not know of any victory that he gained earlier than 
B.c. 452, which was shortly after the death o? Aeschylus. 



590 AES POETICA, 

282. exddlt, not as Schiitz ex laudty but rather as Orelli 
puts it, 'rappTjaia impetu quodam suo delapsa est in petulantiam*. 
^X' denotes the change from a previous state, but it is not neces- 
sary that what this state was should be indicated in the context. 

283. lege: Suidas s.v. 'AvTifiaxos says idoKci ovtos \fn^<f>uTfia 
veroiriKivai fx^ deiv KiafupdcTv i^ 6v6fiaTos : this was in B.C. 440 ; 
but the law was repealed three years afterwards. The law 
passed by Syracosius (B.c. 415) seems to have been solely to 
restrict comic writers from taking as their subject the profanation 
of the mysteries. Cp. Meineke Com, Gr, Fr, II. 949. The 
oligarchs of B.c. 411 seem to haye silenced political comedy by 
terror not by law. 

284. turplter must go with obticult; the disgrace lay in 
the fact that the qutrageous violenc^ pf the chorus had brpught 
upon it the restraint of the law. 

285 — 294. Versatilify and talent are by no tneans wanting to 
the Romanpoets: they have even shown originality in the dramas 
takenfrom their national history; they might rival the Greeks if 
they were not so deficient in patient finish, 

288. praetextas. On the analogy of togata and palliata 
this word, which is derived from the toga praetexta wom by 
magistrates at Rome, ought to be praetextata^ and this form is 
that usual in the grammarians. £ut Asinius Pollio in writing to 
Cicero (Ep. x. 32, 3 and 5) twice uses praetexta: so does the 
writer of the ancient life of Persius, ascribed to Suetonius, 
scripsit etiam Flaccus in pueritia praetextam: and Paulus p. a«3 
M. \i2c& praetextae appellantur quae res gestcLS Romanortim habent 
scriptaSf where Miiller calls this form the more correct. The 
fabula praetextata was first written by Naevius, who composed 
two on the early history of Rome, Lupus and Romutus—the 
latter possibly the earliest source of the familiar legend — and one 
Clastidium, on contemporary history, all three of great merit, 
accordingto Ribbeck: cp. Rbm, Trag, pp. 63 — 75. Two/ra^- 
textae are ascribed to Ennius, one to Pacuvius, and two to 
Accius. For the comoedia iogata of Afranius and others, cp. Ep. 
II. I, 57 (note). 

290. unain qaem(iae: cp. Ep. 11. 1, 188 (note). Orelli 
thinks that by *a malicious irony' Horace is here illustrating the 
carelessness which he censures: but no such explanation suits 
the parallel instances. 

292. Fompilias sangais, the nominative for the vocative in 
solemn address as in Carm. I. 2, 43 almae filius Maiae: Livy 
has not only audi tu, populus Albanus (i. 24, 7), but even ^i^^MVi 
poniifex publicus populi Romani (viii. 9, 4) : cp. too Verg. Aen. 
viii. 77, Ov. Heroid. xiv. 73 : hence it is needless to resort to 



NOTES. 391 

any explanation such as Orelli's 'non vocantis, sed declarantis 
esse videtur'. Cases like v. 301 o ego laevtis^ Sat. ii. 2, 107 
magnus posthac inimicis risus, II. 7, 69 toties servus and the like 
are entirely different. Persius simply copies Horace in l. 61 
vos o patricius sanguis. Cp. KUhner Ausf. Gramm, i. p. 182. 
Acconiing to Plutarch Num. xxi. Numa Pompilius had four 
sons, Pompus, Pinus, Calpus, and Mamercus, from whom the 
Pomponii, Pinarii, Calpumii, and Mamercii were respectively 
descended. The real origin of the name Calpumius is quite 
unknown : PompUius is formed from a SabeUian pompe corre- 
sponding to the Latin quinque: cp. Corssen i.^ 116. 

293. dles *time* and therefore femmine (Roby § 337, S. G. 
§ 106), not singular for pluraL ooercuit *pruned.' 

294. praeseetam : this is a case in which the con)bined evi- 
dence of the Bland. vet. and the oldest Berne MS. force us to 
adopt a reading which at hrst sight is less attractive than the 
yvi\%;3XQ per/ectum. The latter would agree with quod and must 
be taken as proleptic after castigavit *to perfection'. But if this 
reading is genuine it is hard to see how the much rarer word 
praesectum should have got into our oldest authorities. Besides 
it is somewhat tautologous with ad unguem. Workers in wood 
or stone were accustomed to test the finish of their work by 
passing the nail over it: cp. Columell. xi. 2, 13 materies si 
roborea est^ ad uno fabro dolari ad unguem debet: Apul. de Deo 
Socr. Prol. p. 106 Hild. non lapidem afferam — leviter ex omnibus 
oris ad unguem coaequatum, [Similarly Verg. Georg. 11. 277 
uses in unguem quadret for 'exactly tally*.] Persius at once 
imitates and explains in i. 64 ut per leve severos effundatiunctura 
unguis; and Hor&ce has Sat i. 5, 32 ad unguem factus homo. 
Now it is a common experience that the nail is more sensitive to 
irregularities, when it has just been pared ; and this is the mean- 
ing suggested by praesectum: it does not imply, as Keller, 
Sdiiitz and others imagine, that the nails were cut away as 
hindrances; this meaning would, it is true, be inconsistent with 
the use of the idiom, but it is not required by the participle. 
Hence praesectum is really better in itself, as well as better sup- 
ported than perfectum, It is commonly said that this Latin 
idiom is Imitated from the Greek d% divuxa, but it is doubtful 
whether the Greek phrase has always reference to the same 
usage: in the saying ascribed to Polycletus xa^«TwraToy elveu 
rh ipyo»i orav iv twxi. 6 myXos yLyvriTM the meaning seems to be 
rather that the task is most difficult when the minutest details 
have to be reproduced in the clay model : cp. Overbeck Gesch, 
d. Gr. Plasiik i.^ 355. See however Wyttenbach's note on 
Plutarch MorcUiay p. 86 A. 

296 — 808. This careful polishing is quite inconsistent with 
the notion that poetry is produced ifp a kind of inspired frenzy. J 



\. 



392 ARS FOETICA. 

would rather kecp my sanity as a crUk^ and teach cthers^ with- 
out attempting verse myself. 

296. exdudlt sanos: cp. Cic de Div. i. 37, 80 negat sine 
furore Democritus quemquam poetam magnum esse posse, quod 
idem dicit Plctto (sc. Phaedr. 245 A os 5* ai» c&^ci; navLai Movawif 
ivl iroiviTiKiLs d^fpas dtpiicrjTai, ireiadels wj dpa ^k rixyv^ Uayos 
frotTp-^s i<r6fJL€vos, dreX^s a&ros re koX 17 rroltiois vvo ttjs tw fjMivo- 
fiivuju 71 Tov iTwtppovovvTos '^(/^aviadfi : cp. Thompson's note) : and 
similarly in de Orat. Ii. 46, 194 (see note there). According to 
Diog. Laert. ix. 7, 48 Democritus wrote a book on poetry, in 
which something like Plato's words may have been found. Cp. 
Cic. pro Arch. 8, 18 accefiimus...poetam...quasi divino quodam 
spiritu inflari Q) Sat. II. 7, 117. 

297. l)ona pars, just like our *a good part', *a good many' : 
so in Carm. iv. 2, 46 meae vocis bona pars, Sat. i. i, 61 bona 
pars hominum: Lucret. V. 1025 has bona magnaque pars ; so 
Ter. Eun. 123: Cicero has it in his dialogues (de Orat. Ii. 3, 14) 
not in his speeches. It strikes one as a somewhat coUoquial 
usage : hence the phrase in the Odes may not be really parallel, 
though Wickham takes it so. non unguls ponere, i.e. n^Iects 
personal appearance, cp. Ep. i. 7, 50 (note). Schiitz quotes 
Tatian's description of the Cynics (adv. Graecos, p. 87) m/iAip 
ivtet/JLivoi TruywvoTpo^ovffLv ovvxas Orjf^bjv v€pi<f>ipovT€S. 

298. 1)arbam, properly ue mark of a philosopher (Sat. II. 
3, 35 sapientem pascere barbam), but allowed to grow by all who 
were careless of their appearance. The public baths were great 
centres for social reunion. 

299. nandscetnr : the indeBnite subject 'a man* is supplied 
rather awkwardly after bona pars: hence Ribbeck suggesjs to 
read qui for si, a good conjecture, if any was needed. ^ 

800. Antlcyris : hellebore grew abundantly at Ant^cyra in 
Phocis, a town on a small peninsula, to the east of the Crisaean 
Gulf. It was not far removed from Cirrha, but I doubt the con- 
nexion between the names which Prof. Palmer assumes (on Sat. 
II. 3, 82). Many persons came to reside there for medical treat- 
ment (ib. 166). There was another Anticyra on the Spercheius 
at the head of the Maliac Gulf, and it is asserted (but only on 
the late authority of Stephanus) that hellebore grew there too, 
and that the natives professed to have cured Heracles of his 
madness. An attempt has been made (sanctioned even in the 
Dict. Geogr. and in Kiepert's maps) to discover a third Anticyra 
to suit this passage by straining an expression in Livy XX VL 26, 
in which Anticyra is said to be in Locris: but even the text 
there is doubtful, and the words brevis navigatio a Naupacto est 
are interpreted by the immediately subsequent addition that the 
town was attacked on the third day. Strabo's language too by 



NOTES. 393 

no means requites us to assume the existence of a third homo- 
nymous town. The words of Horace here are evidently used 
loosely. If a commentator came across the phrase *Ten Karls- 
bads would not cure you', he would hardly think necessary to 
determine the geographical position of all the ten. 

301. tonsorl Uclno. According to Acron and Schol. Cruq. 
Licinus was a barber, who was made a senator by Caesar because 
of his enmity to Pompeius. There was a Licinus who was a 
Gaul, taken prisoner by Caesar, and made his dispensator: he 
was afterwards emancipAted and high in favour with Augustus, 
who made him procurator of Gaul in B.c. i6 and 15. There he 
acquired great wealth, which became proVerbial : cp. Per& li. 36, 
Juv. I. 109 ego possideo plus Fallante et Licinis (with Mayor'5 
note) ; xlv. 305 praedives Licinus: Sen. Ep. cxx. 20 quorum 
nomina cum Crasso Licinoque numerantur, On him was written 
the excellent epigram (commonly but wrongly ascribed to Varro 
Atacinus), quoted here by the scholiasts: Marmoreo tumulo 
Licinus tacetj at Cato nulio^ Pompiius parvo: quis putet esse deos? 
The good reply to this couplet is modem : cp. Madv. Opusc, ii. 
pp. 202 — ^4 ; and hence correct Simcox Lat. Lit. i, 247. — It is 
commonly assumed that Licinus, the wealthy freedman, was the 
barber of the text. The evidence in favour of this is simply that 
the scholiasts quote as written of the latter the epigram upon the 
fonner. It is extremely doubtful whether Horace would have 
allowed himself this contemptuous reference to the former pro- 
fession of one high in favour with Augustus: and even if we 
accept the later date assigned to this work, there is no trace of a 
loss of this favour, such as Orelli is obliged to assume. Ritter 
needlessly assumes three of the name. The simplest way is to 
reject altogether the story of the scholiasts, that the barber be- 
came a senator» along with the absurd reason for it. So Dict. 
Biogr. 

o ego laevnB : *how stupid I am.* 

802. pixrgor will stand very well; purgtr^ which Peerlkamp 
proposes, would have been more usual ; but it is only found in 
two unimportant MSS. Cp. Seneca quoted by Roby § 1683 
nunquam, inquit Cornelia^ nonfelicem me dicam^ quae Gracchos 
peperi, The verb is here used strictly in a middle sense, like 
KaOcUpofiai, hence bllem is not exactly a Greek accusative, as 
Orelli calls it; cp. Roby § 1102, 1126— 7, S. G. § 462, 471. 

Bab...hora2a 'in the season of spring': cp. Carm. i. 12, 16 
variis horis, We might well translate here *as the season of 
springcomeson': cp. £p. i. 16) 22 (note), IL 2, 169^ Zumpt 
§ 319, and Capes on LiV. xxi. 2, i (oddly mlsinterpreted in L. 
and S.). Celsus 11. 13 sajrs that hellebore, which was a strong 
purgative, is best taken in spring; and Porph. here has omnes 



394 ARS POETICA. 

vemo iempore purgationem sumunty quod vocatur icaOafynK^Pf a 
custom by no means unknown to anxious mothers nowadays. 
303. faceret, sc. if I did not take a purgative in spring. 

804. nU tantl est : either (i) *it is not at all worth while', 
where ni/=oi5iv, a strong negative, or (2) 'nothing is worth 
such a cost *, i. e. even the reputation of a poet is not worth the 
loss of one*s reason. The force of the phrase in Cic. ad Att. II. 
13, 2 and V. 8, 3 supports the previous view. Cp. Madv. 
Gramm. § 294 obs. 5, Opusc. ii. 188 flf. Roby § 1193, S. G. §494. 

cotis: so Isocrates, when asked why he taught others to 
speak but never spoke himself, replied koX aX axbvai ainal yikv 
T€ii€lv oi> dOvdPTait rbv Sk alS^pQv d^id koI rfirjTLKbi' iroioiMnv 
(Ps.-Plut, Fit, X. Orat. 4). 

306. mxinuB et offlcliim, sc. scribendi, to be understood 
from nll Bcrlbens : of tbe two words offldiun is the stronger, as 
carrying with it the idea of moral obligation, 

807. opes, *stores' of material: formet 'moulds*; v. 108, 
126, Ep. II. I, 128. The derivation of the wovd/orma from the 
root dAar *to hold in*, whence also /rertum etc. (Curt. Princ. 
I. 319) shows that *mould* is the primary meaning of the word : 
if we take it to be from^r *strike' ^with Fick A^. XX. 173), 
it exactly=Tuiros, Hence there is no va-repov irporepqy a$ Peerl- 
kamp supposes, 

808. 'rtrtug, i.e. a true knowledge x>f the canons of the 
poeticart: dperri, 

809. Here begins the third main division of the poem» and 
Ihe rest of it is but an expansion qf the ideas of w. 3P7— 8. 

809 — 822 {unde parentur opes) . Tlu/irst requisite/or writing 
is sound judgment and wide knowledge o/human character^ which 
can best be gained by a study 0/ philosophy: and this will win 
/avour/or aplay, 

recte sapere, *a sound judgm^nt and oorrect knowledge' 
of the matter to be dealt wiih, as it is clear from the context. 
Orelli goes too far in giving the woyd a general meaning : * recte 
cogitare atque iudicare de omnibus rebus\ 

810. rem, i.e. especially the facts of human nature and cha- 
racter. Socraticae : besides Plato and Xenophon, Horace pro- 
bably was thinking also of the writings of Aeschines (cp> Zeller, 
Socratesy p. 208, E. T.), aud perhaps Antisthenes : whelher he 
included the later Academics and Stoics, as Schiitz thinks, is 
very doubtful. For other pupils of Socrates who wrote cp. Reid 
on Cic. Acad. II. 23, 74. 

811. ▼erba4ue...8equentnr: cp. Cic. de Orat. if. 34» 146 



NOTES, 395 

(note), III. 31, 1^5 rerum enim copia verhorum copiam gignit; 
Cato's rule rem tene^ verba sequentur; and the saying of Asinius 
PoUio, quoted here by Porphyrion male hercle eveniat verbis 
nisi rem sequantur, Acron reminds us how Menander used to 
Say that he had finished a play as soo^ as he had settled the 
plot, even if he had not written a line. 

312. qnid 4eibeat, ^his duties towards' etc. not, of course, 
with any special reference to himself, but generally what duties 
are owed by men. Hence it is needless with PeQrlkamp to 
change the second quid into quis. 

814. oonscrlpti, ^asenator'. Paul. D. p. 41 M. conscripti 
dicebantur^ qui ex equestri ordine patribus adscribebantur^ ut 
numerus senatorum expleretur, Livy, ii. i, 10 says deinde 
[senatus].../^n/fw numerum primoribus equestris grcubis lectis 
ad ccc summam explevit^ traditumque indefertur^ uf in senatum 
vocarentur, qui patres quique conscripti essent: conscriptos, vide- 
licet novum in senatum, appellabant lectos. Festus, p. 254 M. 
says that 164 plebeians were thus added to the senate. Ac- 
cording to this story, which has b?en generally accepted, the 
familiar phrase/a/r^j conscripti is f or patres et conscripti. It is 
quite clear that Livy and Festus are in error in supposing the 
newly added senators to have been plebeians: it is absurd to 
suppose that at ^ time when the plebeians were admitted to no 
magistracy, they should have constituted ^ majority of the 
goveming council (cp. Madvig F^r/, u, Verw. i. 125, Herzog 
GescA. d. R. Staatsv. i. 130). But it is further probable that, 
in spite of the credence given to it by some of the best autho- 
rities, e.g. Becker, Mommsen, Lange, and Madvig, the story, 
and with it the current explanatipn o( thtvthr^sepatres conscripti, 
is to be rejected altogether. Conscripti is a very doubtful equi- 
valent for adlecti^ and that patres meant the patrician senators 
alone cannot be r^arded as established, in spite of Mommsen's 
arguments in Rorn. Forsch. i. 218 ff. Hence Ihne R'6m. Gesch. 
I. 1 16 [E. T. 137—8] and Willems, I^ Shtat l. 38—64, Droit 
Romain pp. 187—^ maintain thaX patres conscripti means simply 
*the fathers (patricians) who are on the roir. Thus we can 
understand Cic. Phil. xiii. 13, 28 mutamt catceos^ pater con- 
scriptus factus est. Conscriptiis alone occurs only here. The 
strongest argument for the cnrrent view is drawn from the 
quotation in Festus, p. 254 * qui patres qui conscriptV vocati 
sunt in curiam^ which Motnmsen, Rom. Forsch. I. 254 (note) 
regards as reproducing the forma| summons of the herald in the 
forum. 

Indidft: Sat. i. 4, 123 (note). 

316. partes: £p. 11. i, 171. 

818. TlTas TOces, *language faithful to life': cp. Plat 



\ 

396 AI^S POETICA. 

Phaedr. 476 A Xovrti' ^(avro. iroi tpLilnrxov, w 6 '/^pap.fUpos efJwXor 
oM ri XiyoiTO dmalbn» veras, preferred by Lambinus, has yery 
slight authority and is only a gloss. 

819. flpedosa lods : loci has two chief meanitigs in rhetoric : 
(i) •common-places', i.e. passages of abstract exposition or 
discussion, which can be introduced in any place where they 
may suit the context, but which are not limited to any particular 
occasion: (i) *topics* or *sources* from which arguments may 
be derived, or *heads* under which they may be arranged. The 
word is very common in Cicero's rhetorical writings in both 
senses: cp. note on Cic. de Orat. i. 13, 56, where the locideal 
with such subjects as the gods, piety, friendship, justice, and die 
like. In Quintilian's time the former meaning was the more 
usual, and he'sometimes fbllows it, e.g. vii. i, 41 plerique,,, 
contenti sunt locis speciosis modo vel nihil ad probaiionem con- 
ferentibus: but sometimes he retums to the other meaning, v. 
lo, 20 locos appello non ut vulgo nunc intelleguntur^ in luxuriam 
tt adulterium et similia, sed sedes argumentorum in quibus lateni, 
^x quibus sunt petenda, It is generally assumed that the first 
meaning is that employed in this passage, 'a play striking from 
its brilliant passages*. Curiously enough Porph. gives exactly 
the opposite interpretation *colligit saepe magis placuisse fabu- 
lam, quae nudis narraretur verbis, ^uoniam res spectatorem 
delectarent, quam quae locis communibus explicaretur'. If he 
had our text, he must have taken yennu inopes renim=/^' 
communes^ the latter phrase having acquired by his time some- 
thing of that notion of triteness and feebleness which attaches 
to our own 'common-place remark*, but not to a *common- 
place book*. But Schiitz argues strongly for the second meaning 
xA locus here, in the sense of the psychological principles from 
which the poet*s sketches of character are to be drawn. Then 
morataqae recte does not add a quite distinct idea, but develops 
the first. * Sometimes a play, if it is vivid in its way of dealing 
with characters, and paints thetti aright, even though it has no 
grace (Ep. i.'^, 38), from its lack of weighty and artistic language, 
gives more pleasure to the people, and keeps their attention 
better than lines which have no substance and melodious trifles'. 
SchUtz takes as an.example those characters in Shakspere which 
are jdways life-like, even when there is something repugnant to 
our taste in the language which they use. Certainly if a plav 
has at once brilliant passages and true pictures of character, it 
is hard to see how it can be nullius veneris sine pondere et arte, 
Ritter oddly interprets of the scenery of the poem. It would be 
quite possible to understand merely *in places*. Many inferior 
MSS. have iocis, 

823. OralB : so all MSS. here: cp. Ep. il. i, 90. fxn 
rotimdo, the aro/Mi ffTpoyyvXov of the Greeks, denoted a 



irOTES, 397 

smooth, easy style of utterance, &o that Dionys. Hal. de vi 
Demosth. 19 uses <rrpi}yyi^\ri \4^is as opposed to fMKpd and 
irXaTcta of * well-rounded * periods» and ascribes to Lysias (Jud. 
Lys. 6) 71 avffTpiipovffa ra vo^fiara koX <rTpoyyiL>\(as iK<p4pov<ra Xi^is. 
The style of Lysias is neariy the exact opposite of what some 
people mean when they talk of speaking ore rotundo, Co- 
nington's *ready wit and rounded phrase ' will do. 

326. inpartes centum: the language is here not intended 
to be exact ; the duodecimal, not the decimal method of subdi- 
vision was always used at Romje. The as was divided into 12 
unciae^ the uncia again into 4 sicilici^ or 34 scripiula oxscripula; 
sometimes even the scripulu{in was divided into 1 simpliai each 
•y^ of an as. From scrupulus (a small scrupus) comes 
scruple: the explanation of the by-form jfni]^/»///»? is not clear. 
Probably it is a translation of 7p(£/i/wt, which came to coalesce 
with scrupulus, Cp. Roby I. p. 447 f. S. G. § 189, Hultsch 
Gr, u. Rom, Metrol^ p. 145. 

dicat : Bentley's conjecture dicas is quite unnecessary. Cp. 
Carm. i. 27, 10 diccU Opunticu frater Megillae, Acron says 
that Albinus was a usurer. This is probably only a guess. 

327. qxdnciince : cp. Roby 1. q. 

328. superat: so most MSS.: one or two have superest, 
one superet which Bentley accepted: but the indicative lends 
liveliness to the dialogue: Roby § 1761, S. G. § 751. Supero 
not supersum seems to be the technical word in such a case. 

poteras is the reading of most MSS» ; a few have poterat. 
Bentley adopts this, taking it as placed in the mouth, not of the 
supposed teacher but of Horace himself, as a part of the nar- 
rative: poterat dixisse, Triens, This is fairly good, but a need- 
less departure firom the MSS. The past impf. is best explained 
as an expression of some slight impatience: *you might have 
told me by this time'; not as simply for the pres. (with Keller, 
&c.), comparing Sat. II. i, 16, for there too we have *an imper- 
fect of neglected duty* as Prof. Palmer calls it. Nor is it *yoU' 
used to know* (as Macleane says), which ignores the force of the 
perf. inf. Cp. Roby § 1535, S. G. § 643. 

eu=ci5 often used by the comic poets in approval. Cp. Brix 
on Plaut. Mil. 394. 

829. redit *is added * sc. to the quincunx : k denotes the op- 
posite of the previous action, not merely its reversal. flt 'is tne 
amount*, a technical term: cp. the tabula Veleias in Bruns' 
Fontes\ p. 201. 

330. an: all Keller's MSS. read cui, which is indefensible in 
itselfi but points to at: on the other haiid the Bland, vet, and B 



398 AI^S POETICA, 

with a few others have an^ and their authority if enough to make 
us accept it, as it is at least as good: Roby § 2255, S. G. § 888. 
Macleane seems to think it a conjecture of Bentley*s. 

aerago used in Sat. I. 4, loi of the canker of malice, here 
denotes the canker of avarice. Properly it is the rust upon 
copper coin. In Apul. Met. I. 21 aerugini semper intentus it 
seems to be used as a contemptuous expression for money, but 
that is not a sufficient reason why we should take it so here, as 
Hildebrand {ad loc.) contends. 

88L Bperamus has more authority than speremus; as Bentley 
says *utrumque probum est, ut nescias utrum utri praeferendum 
sit*. So Cicero often has censemus and arbUramur, 

832—366 {guid deceat^ quid non). A poet must he hriefy not 
extravagantt and neither empty nor too severe. Some slips may 
be pardoned; and apoem mttst be judged as a whole; and wUh 
regard to its generat style, 

332. cedro, the resinous exudation of the cedrus or juniper- 
tree, was used to preserve books from decay: it was smeared on 
the unwritten side of the roU: cp. Vitruv. il. 9, 13 ^ cedro 
oleum^ quod cedrium dicitur^ nascitur^ quo reliquae res unctcUt uH 
etiam libri^ a tineis et a carie non laeduntur, Ov. Trist. 11 1. i, 
13 quod neque sum cedro flavus nec pumice Uvis, Hence Pers. 
I. 42 has cedro digna locutus, cupresBO: cp. Schol. Cruq. *cu- 
pressus autem est cedri species, unde confici solent capsulae, in 
quibus reponebantur scripta poetarum contra tineas.* • The lines 
333 — 4 may be from the Greek: the comment then will be 
w. 335—3^5- 

835. "brevls : tlorace is himself one of the first masters of 
the terse speech that sticks. 

838. dooileB and fldeleB are predicates and may be translated 
best by adverbs. 

337. 0]nne...manat: Bentley suspected this to be a line 
foisted in by the mohks, like many single hexameters in Juvenal. 
His suspicions are groundless here. 

339. ne is the reading of most MSS. restored by Bentley for 
nec: it is here final, not imperative. vellt has the support of 
tiie better MSS. and I do Hot see why we should not retain it: 
many of the best editors prefer volet, 

840. Lamiae. According to a Lib^ran legend Lamia "«(ras a 
beautiful queen beloved by Zeus, but bereft of all her children 
by Hera, whereupon she retired into a lonely cavem iii the midst 
of wild rocks, and there became a treacherous and greedy 
monster devouring the children of others from spite: cp. 
Aristoph. Pac. 758, Vesp. 1035, 1177; Verrall Studia tn 



NOTES. 399 

Horaee^ p. lai, Preller Gr. MytK i. 484. The name is doubt- 
less derived from \<i.\w% *maw*, with which is connected 
Xd/uasxacr/Aara. In Apul. Met. I. 17, V. 11 the word is simply 
one of abuse = * old witches'. The vampire Lamia, who appears 
in Keats's poem, is of later origln. eztraliat, i. e. descril^ how 
it isdrawn: cp. 221 (note). 

' 841. centnrlae Benlomm, consisting, in each division of the 
Servian classitication, of those who were over 45 years of age. 
These older men cared nothing for plays which had no useful 
lessons in them. 

842. Ramnes, the first of the three original centuries of 
knights, the other two being Tities and Luceres (Liv. i. 13), 
Much difl&culty has been found in understanding why Ramnes 
should be used here to denote the younger part of the audience. 
But the term seems only to have been used of the knights equo 
publicOj who served as cavalry, not of those who belonged to the 
ordo equester by virtue of their census ; and the period of service 
for cavalry was limited to ten campaigns, so that all these equites 
would be under 30. Hence Q. Cicero de pet. cons. 8, 33 de- 
scribes themas illa adulescentulorum aetas, Liv. II. 13 disproceres 
iuventutis, while he makes Perseus speak of them as equites 
seminarium senatus (XLii. 61). There is no special reason why 
Ramnes should have been chosen, rather than one of the other 
centuries. Cp. Madvig Verf, u. Verw, i. 161 — a. cel8l= 
'haughty*, whether we take it as an epithet, or as an adverbial 
predicate with praeterennt, cp. Liv. vii. 16 celsi et feroces in 
proelium vadunt, and Cic. de Orat. l. 40, 184 (note). 

843. pnnctnm: £p. 11. 2, 99 (note). 

845. Soslls: £p. I. 26, 2. The question has been raised 
whether an author received anything directly from his publisher ; 
it seems clear that he did, at least in the time of Seneca (de 
Benev. VII. 6) and Martial (xi. 108): cp. Becker Gallu^ 11. 
389 f. If the demand was good, the publisher would be able to 
make a good profit: Mart. xiv. 154 (on Lucan) stmt quidam qui 
tne dicunt non essepoetam; sed qui me vendit^ inbliopola putat, 

mare translt : here just in the opposite sense to £p. i. 20, 
13 (cp. note). Martial was read in Gaul, Spain and Britain, and 
complains that he gets no profit from his British readers (xi. 3, 
6). Pliny Ep. ix. 11 is delighted to find that his works have a 
good sale at Lugdunum. 

846. longnm prorogat ' extends to a distant day *, proleptic : 
as Soph. Trach. 679 /ac^^i'' c/crei^w X670V. Schiitz connects 
longum noto *known to distant parts*, not so well. 

847. ignovlBBe: v. 98 (note). Just as the string of a lyre 
may give the wrong note, or a bow miss its mark, so a man can- 
not always produce the result at which he aims. 



400 ARS POETICA. 

350. quodcimique mlnaUtiir, sc ferin: Madvig {Adv, 
Crit, I. p. 68) writes *neque enim Horatium a. p. 350 scripsisse, 
(^uod omnes toties legimus...(in quo durissime ita auditur infini- 
tivus, ut adiiciatur etiam se: quadcunque se percussurum 
esse minabitur; nam minari aliquid longe aliud est), hoc, 
inquam, eum non scripsisse ostendunt codices, in quibus est, 
fide quidem dignis omnibus, quocunque, hoc est, quoicun- 
que.* Theconfusion between quod or quo (from quoi) and 
cui is a common one in MSS. (cp. Madvig Emend. Liv?^ 
P» 350, Roby II. p. xxxiii.). But Madvig is in error in sup- 
posing that quocunque has good MS. authority here: it ap- 
pears in none of the MSS. collated by Keller or by Ritter, and 
the only trace of it which I have been able to discover is in the 
inferior Berlin cod. 269 quoted by Schiitz. Hence it is perhaps 
better to keep to the unusual construction which is not unintelli- 
gible, rather than to depart from the MSS. minor is a stronger 
expression ioxj)eto, 

352. offendar, fut. ind. rather than pres. subj. aut...aut: 
it would seem at first that there is not sufficient distinction 
between the sources of error for the strongly disjunctive par- 
ticles: but incoria appears to refer to faults arising simply Kom 
carelessness, parum cavlt to those due to the difficulties of the 
task, against which sufficient care%had not been taken. 

353. quld ergo eat? *How stands the case then?' Bentley 
restored the est^ which earlier editors had omitted, asserting 
that quid ergo alone is used only when it is a kind of rhetorical 
introduction to a following question ; * what then?*. It is doubt- 
ful whether this dlctum would bear examination, except for 
Cicero. Cp. Reid on Cic. Acad. I. 4, 13. 

354. scrlptor llbrarius, 'a copying derk', a slave setto this 
employment by his owner in order to produce books either for 
his own library or for sale. Cp. Marquardt R'6m» PrivcUalt, l. 
P. 157. 

355. qnamvifl *however much': for the construction cp. 
Ep. I. 16, 6; 17, I, 22. 

[et] citliaroedus : Bentley read ut^ which is good in itself, but 
has very slight authority. 

356. xldetur : Roby §1421. 

857. multum cessat, 'often neglects his duty': Ep. ii. 2, 
14. Qioerilus, Ep. 11. i, ^32^ 

358. Ws terve, *twice, or even thrice', whereas bis ierque 
(v. 440) is *twice, ay and thrice:* the former ^rar^i?, the latter = 
saepe: cp. Bentley on Epod. v. 33, where he rightly restored 
bis terque, Here most MSS. have bis terque, which Keller and 
Schiitz retain, attempting without much success to combat 
Bentley*s distinction. 



NOTES, 401 

859. q^JUlCLotiVLB—guandocuft^ue: cp. Roby § 9290, S. G. 
§119. domiltat, the only frequentative from a verb of the 
fourth conjugation, and hence with 1, except sciiari, Roby § 964. 
The Greek ^[rammarians and philosophers delighted to discover 
inconsistencies and errors in Homer, most of all Zoilus, known 
as '0/ii7/)OM(£<7Tt^. Lucilius (vv. 439 — 442 Lachm.) censured the 
extravagance of the story of Polyphemus. Ribbeck, holding 
that the current text gives just the wrong meaning, reads in- 
digner with a mark of interrogation at Bomerus, and cU idem 
for et idem, This is attractive ; for the ordinanr reading seems 
to be quite inconsistent with w. 351 — 21 it Horace is not 
offended by a few faults, why should he be indignant at occa- 
sional nodding? But in this somewhat loose writing Horace 
appears to have shifted his point of view. *If a poet commits 
but few faults, these can be overlooked. If he is always blunder- 
ing, we ridicule him, even when to our astonishment he occa- 
sionally goes right. But if he is to be judged by a higher stand- 
ard, then he must expect us to be annoyed at his slips. But 
after all he ought to be pardoned even for them, if his task is a 
long one.* So the vulgate may be allowed to stand. 

^ 860. operl lon^ro: so the large majority of good MSS. 
Some have opere in UmgOy which would have required fuii: 
besides the personification of the work is pleasing rather than 
otherwise, though Ribbeck holds that Bentley has by no means 
proved that a work can sleep. 

861. ui^ctnra poesifl. The comparison of a painting to 
a picture wasSqaade by Simonides : Zifuavldris tt^v fikv ^(oypa- 
<pLap volrjffi» cruifi^wrav irpoirayopedei, ttiV bk ir oi fiffiv ^(aypa<t>lav 
\aKmiaav (Plut. de^glor. Ath. 3), repeated in ad Herenn. iv. «8, 
y^poema loquens puttH^a^ pictura tcu^itum poema debet esse, The 
, misleading character ofthis utterance of *the Greek Voltaire* 
* Lessing has brought out^ell in the Vorrede to his Laocoon. 
But here, as Orelli well poiiH^ out, the reference is only to the 
extemal aspects of the two kinds of art, not to their points of 
internal resemblance. 

C^ 862. abstes: a dir. Xey. Keller thinks that the reading 
aptes of the good MS. B points to the spelling apstes, 

^ 864. aigatuin acnmeii : Reid on Cic. Acad. i. 2, 7 points 
^ out how often argute is joined with acute in Cic. 

_ 866 — 884 {quo virtus, quo ferat error). Mediocrity is per- 
mittedin things necessaiyy not in things which are produced only 
to gvue pleasure* Hence no one should write poetty without the 
requisite skill, 

868. toUe: Ep. i. 18, 13. certls, not the same as quibus- 
dam, but defining more precisely. Cicero de Orat. 1. 16, 118 

W. H. 26 






402 ARS POETICA. 

explains why we are such severe critics of diose arts which cxist 
only to give us pleasure» and which miss their end altogether if 
they fail to do so. 

r870. mediooriSi the only adjective with stem in -cri which 
regularly retains -w in the nom. sing. masc. Neue FonnenL ii. 
lo. dlsertl, strictly speaking not so strong as *eIoquent' (cp. 
Cic. Brut. 5, iS M. Antonitts...diserios ati se vidisse multos^ 
eloauentem omnino neminem), but here practically equivalent 
toit. 

yjl 371. KMiaUae. M. Valerius Messalla Corvinus, the patron 
^of Tibullus (circ. B.c 65 — ^A.D. a), and perhaps known to Horace 
at Athens, won high distinction as lieutenant to Cassius at 
Philippi. Afterwai^s he attached himself to Antonius, but in 
B. c. 36 he joined Octavian, and in B. c. 31 he was consul and 
commanded the centre of the fleet at Actium. Of his eloquence 
Tacitus Dial. 18 says Cicerone mitior Corvinus et dulcior et in 
verbis magis elaboratus (cp. c. ai ad fin.): Quintil. x. i, 113 
At Messalla nitidus et candidus et quodam modo praeferens in 
dicendo nobilitatem suam, viribus minor [quam Asinius]. He 
and Asinius Pollio are commonly coupled as the last of the older 
group of orators (Quint. X. i, 22^). There is a very good notice 
of him in Smith's Dict. Biog. no. 8. Cp. Carm. iii. «i, Sat. 
l. 10, 29. 

J( CaaceUius, an eminent lawyer, distinguished however not 

so much for his leaming (Dig. i. tit. II. a, 45 Trebatius peritior 
CascelliOf Cascellius Trebatio eloquentior fuisse dicitur^ Ofilius 
utroque doctior) as for his wit and boldness (Macrob. 11. 6, i 
iuris consultus urbanitatis mirae libertatisque: cp. Val. Max. 
VI. 2, 12 vir iuris civilis scientia clarus, quam periculose con- 
iumax!), It was not this Cascellius to whom Scaevola the 
augur used to refer clients who consulted him on praediatorian . 
law (Cic. p. Balb. 20, 45, Val. Max. vin. 12, i), for Scaevola 
died shortly after B. c. 88, by which time Cascellius cannot 
have gained any reputation : besides Mr Reid (on Cic. 1. c.) has 
shown that Valerius was mistaken in supposing that the Cas- 
cellius of Cicero's story was a lawyer at all. He may have 
been the father of the lawyer. Cp. Introd. The evidence which 
connects Cascellius with B. c. 50 is the story told by Macrobius 
(1. c), that he was consulted \yf a client at the time when 
Vatinius was giving a gladiatorial show, probably in the year 
when he was candidate lor the praetorship. 

piv^ 372, in pretlo est: *has his value.' [This is a r^Iar 
phrase of persons or things which not holding the hig^est place, 
are yet ot some value. Cf. Plaut. Asin. I. i, 46 tu primus 
sentis: nos tainen inpretio sumus: Poen. I. 2, ii*j primum prima 
salva sis et secunda tu secundo salve in pretio: tertia sqlve extra 



NOTES. . 403 

pr^ium: Volcat. Sed. ap. A. Gell. xv. 34 Naevius pretio in 
Urtiost, A. P.] medloaniras: Roby, § 1557, S. G. § 557 {f). 



n 



878. mQn liomiiieBi non di: some MSS. invert these clauses, 
)Ut columnae comes in much better as an anti-climax with the 
order in the text: the word is itself a burlesque exaggeration 
of the usual term pilae (Sat. i. 4, 71) for the posts in tront of 
the booksellers* shops. Cp. Palmer's note there. We may 
translate *counters*. 

() 874. 83rmplionia is any kind of orchestral or choral music : 
sopueri symphoniaci (Cic. p. Mil. «i, 55) are singing-boys: but 
the oxymoron is doubtless intentionaL Cicero often speaks of 
the symphonia as an accompaniment of banquets. Cp. Senec 
£p. 54 in comissaHonibus nostris plus eantorum est^ quam in 
theatris olim spectatorum fitit, Becker, Gallu^ iil. «61. 

JQ 876. crasBom: thickness was generally considered a fault 
• in the perfumed unguent^ supplied by the hosts at a dinner 
(Carm. il. 3, 13, 7, i-^ funde capacibus unguenta de conchis^ iii. 
14, 7. Catullus XIII. II says he can fumish nothing but the 
perfiime: there Ellis quotes Xen. Symp. Ii. 3 ri wVf d koL 
fuipw TLt rjfiuf itf&yKoi, tva koX evtadiq, i<mu)fie0a\), Cp. Flia. 
N. H. xiii. T, 2 omnia unguenta acutiora fiunt costOy amomo,,, 
crassiora myrrho: ib. 3, 4 quosdam crassitudo maxime delectat^ 
spissum appellantes, linique iam, non solum perfiundi unguentis 
gaudent, 

^ Sardo m^e : Porph. says * Corsicum et Sardum mel pessimi 
saporis est*: this was in consequence of the bitter plants (Verg. 
Ecl. VII. 41 ego Sardoniis videar tibi amarior herbis) and the 
yews (ib. ix. 30 sic tua Cymaeas fugiant examina taxos) which 
grew there in abundance, and made it asperrimum (Plin. N. H. 
XXX. 4, 10). Cp. Ov. Am. l. 13, 9 quam (ceram)puto de longae 
collectum flore cicutae melle sub infami Corsica misit apis, 

J) papaver: cp. Plin. N. H. xix. 53, 168 papaver candidum, 
euius semen tostum in secunda mensa cum melle apud antiquos 
dabatur, The Spartans in Sphacteria were supplied with fiiiKW 
;ic/<€XfrM/iAn7, to allay hunger. Cp. Kriiger on Thuc. iv. 26. 

878. dncl oena, like aetatem ducimus (Ep.. 11. s, 301), vita 
ducenda est (Epod. 17, 63) etc. 

/'\^ 877. natnm, v. 83. Snventnm, v. 405. 

0^^878. deoesslt has 'fallen short of: discessit, adopted by 
Lambinus, has very slight authority. panlnm: so all MSS. 
here, the cod. Veron, of Livy (Mommsen p. 169), and the best 
MSS. of Cicero: even in Plautus (e.g. Epid. 238, Curc. 123) 
and in Lucretius the older form paullus nowhere appears in 

26 — 2 



(f- 



V 



404 ARS POETICA. 

our MSS.; hence paulum is rightly retained by Munro, e.g. 
I. 410, in spite of Lachmann on iii. 1014. Augustus wrote 
paulo in the Mon. Ancyr. iii. «i, and so the MSS. have ii^ 
Verg. Ecl. iv. i. On the other hand Paullus is the form of 
the proper name on coins and inscriptions, though MSS. are 
divided. Cp. Sat. i. 6, 41. The word is not direcily connected 
with paucus (as Roby, § 868, says) but is more probably for 
paurulus, Cp. Corssen ii' 531 — a. 

O TeiKit ad imimi, 'approaches the lowest' : i.e. is little bctter 
than the worst. 

-J^ 379. armls, not, as Orelli, such as are mentioned in the 
next line, but *weapons* for sham fights: cp. Ep. i. 18, 54. 

/V\ 880, pllae: indoctus nowhere else is followed by the gen. 
but cp. sollers lyrae in v. 407, Roby § 1 320, S. G. § 526. Cp. 
Sat. II. ij II seupila velox...seu te discus agit. For the various 
kinds of ball-play cp. Marquardt* Rom, Privatalt. il. 420 — ^425, 
or Primer of Rom. Ant. p. 37. The ball and quoit were held 
in high esteem, but the hoop (trochus) was rather despised: 
cp. Carm. iii. 24, 57, Ov. Trist. 11. 480, iii. 12, 22, Art. Am. 
III. 383 sunt illis (sc. viris) celeresque pilae iaculumque trochique 
armcujue et in gyros ire cocutus equus, The hoop was set with 
rattling rings : cedat ut argutis obTna turba trochis (Mart. XIV. 
169). 
V 381. spUnae: Ep. i. 19, 41, and v. 205. impime=/»m^i7. 
ooronae: £p. 1. 18, 53. 

382. TerBTUi. It is better not to place a comma ^^r versus^ 
as Bentley does: nescio does not govem versus, T^^rather 
fingere repeated. ^r 

888. llber, opposed to servus, IngenaTUi opposed to hber- 
tinus. Understand esty not, as Orelli, sum\ for to quidni we 
supply audeat not dudeam. 

cenaii8...fnuimiam, cp. Cic. p. Flacc. 32, 80 voluisti magnum 
agri modum censeri.^ .cum te audisset servos suos esse censum. Roby 
§1127 sajrs this is the only other instance of this construction of 
censeor. Gell. VII. 13, i has classici dicebantury qui cxxv. milia 
aeris ampliusve censi erant^ but this is later than Roby's limits. 
The construction with abl. is more common, and from this use 
comes the very frequent meaning in later writers *to be valued or 
distinguished for*: e.g. Mart. I. 61, 3 censetur Apona Lvvio suo 
tellus: the accusative construction seems to have given rise to the 
curious use in Ovid, Ep. Pont. i. 2, 137 hanc.dilectam estintfir 
comites Marcia censa suas. For the equestrian census cp. £p. 
I. I, 57» 

884. Tltio, interpreted by Acron as v. corporis, hence qui 
sanus est. But that is not to the point here : it means only * there 



NOTES. 405 

is nothing against him * : cp. Ep. i. 7, 56. The inapprbpriate- 
ness of thie plea makes any reply on tiie part of Horace super- 
flttous. 

886 — 890. Even if you are well qualified to write do not be 
in haste io publish, 

885. tu, sc. maior Pisonum: dlceB *will, I am sure, say'. 
inTlta Minerva, explained by Cic. de Off. i. 31, iio neque enim 
atiimt naiurae repugnare nec quicquam sequi^ quod assequi non 
queas, ex quo magis emergit^ quale sit decorum illud, idio quia 
nihil decet inviia Miverva, ut aiunt^ id esi adversante et repug- 
nante naiura, Minerva, the goddess of the mental powers,— 
the name being akin to mens—C2imt to stand for them by met- 
onymy, as Ceres for com, Bacchus for wine, and Juppiter for 
the sky (if this be the true explanation of the usage). Cp. Sat. 
II. a, 3 crassa Minerva^ Cic. de Am. 5, i^pingui Minerva, 

386. Id^ludlcLiun 'such is your judgment', a construction 
more common witi the relative. 

oUm *at any time*. 

387. Uaed: cp. Introd. Bentley restored the true form of 
the name* 

888. noniimqae...in annnm. It can hardly be doubted 
that (as Philargyrius on Verg. Ecl. ix. 35 says) there is a direct 
reference to the Smyma of C. Helvius Cinna : cp. Catull. xcv. 
1-2 Smyrna mei Cinnae nonam posi denique messem quam 
coepia esi nonamque ediia post hiemem: Quint. X. 4, 4 Cinnae 
Smyrnam novem annis accepimus faciam, In his case the long 
elaboration seems to have led to obscurity; but Vergil greatly 
admired "him (Ecl. IX. 35). Cp. TeufTel I^om, Lii, § 210, 2-3. 
But Horace seems to refer not so much to the time spent upon 
the composition, as to the interval to be allowed to lapse be- 
tween its completion and publication, and so Quintilian takes it 
in his dedicatory letter to Tryphon: quibus componendis...paulo 
plus quam biennium...impendi:...usus deinde Hoi'aii consUiOy 
qui in arte poetica suadet, ne praecipiietur editio. . .dabam iis oiium^ 
ut refrigerato inveniionis amore diligenter repeiitos tamquam lector 
perpenderem» 

889. membranls 'the parchments*. Usually membrana 
denotes the parchment case or wrapping of the papyras roU, 
which formed the liber: cp. EUis on CatuU. xxil. 7, with Munro 
on Caiullus p. 53 (quoted on Ep. i. 13, 6); but that meaning is 
out of the question here. Schtitz thinks that this passage proves 
that parchment was sometimes used for the rough draft of a poem : 
but this is unlikely in itself, as parchment was ve0_fixg;OTsiye, 
and besides it spoils the point, which come^^e^JI^^^^^^J^ 
suppose that, even after the fair copy had hren ma4^ ^ljft^oem ^\ 

TINIVERSITT ' 



4o6 . AJ^S POETICA. 

was to be put aside for nine years. Cp; t^alnier on Sat. il. 3, 4 
si raro scribes^ «1/ toto non qtmter anno membranam poscas, 
Probably at this time the author*s own copy was made on dttrable 
parchment» and copies for sale on the cheaper piapyrus. Cp. ' 
becker Gallus* 11. 372. Birt, in his careful discussion of the use 
of parchment in I)as antike Buchwisen^ thinks that parchment 
was used for the first sketch, because writing could be cleaned 
oflf it, better than oflf charta of papyrus. Cp. pp. 56 flf. 

890. ne8Clt...rey6rtt: £p. 1. 18, 71. 

891 — 407. Thepower of poetry is shewn by the stories of Or- 
pheus and Amphion: it latd thejoundcttions of civUization: and 
men were roused to war and taught wisdom by its strcUns, 

891. BilYestres, i.e. when 'wild in woods the noble savage 
ran*. Sat. i. 3, 99 flT. 

saoer = sacerdos Threicius of Verg. Aen. vi. 645. In- 
terpres: Eur. Rhes. 936 fivorrtplup re tcok aToppiJTUiP 0ardf 
idei^cif 'O/>0€(^. * Orpheus, the son of tfie Muses, was a singer 
inspired equally by ApoUo and by Dionysus* E. Curtius ^ist, ii. 
78. Plato Protag. 316 D mentions him with Musaeus as having 
introduced TeXerds koX xp^A^^^as, but in Rep. li. 364 E he 
attacks the mendicsjnt prophets who *produce a host of books 
written by Musaeus and Orpheus, who were children of the 
Moon and of the Muses — that is what they say — ^accordin^ to 
which they perform their ritual*. Aristotle doubted the genumc- 
ness of the poems current under ihe name of Orpheus (de An. i. 
5, 15), and, if Cicero de Nat. Deor. l. 38, 107 reports him cor- 
rectly, even his existence. The Orphica now extai^ WBt mainly 
later than the Christian era. Cp. K. O. MuJler 6r. Lit, 1. 
25, and Bergk Gr, Lit, i. 392 — ^401. ^^' 

892. eaedlbus: Aristoph. Ran. 1032 *O/!)0ei&j pjkv *ihp reXe- 
ras &* ijfuv KariSei^e <l>6v(av r' drix^oBai. 

898. tlgrli: the beasts appear foUowing Orpheos first in 
Eur. Bacch. 564 iv reus *0\vfiTov BaXdfiats, iv0a tot* 'Op^cdf 
Ki$apli;iav ^^ayev divdpea M.o^ffaitj iivvay€w Oiipat dypiiras, In 
Eur. Iph. AuL 12 11 {cp. Med. 543), we have only the stones, as 
in Carm. i. 6, 7; 24, 13 we have the trees: but in Aesch. Ag, 
1630 ijye irarr* aTb ^Boyy^s X^-P^ ^^ thc accounts of the my- 
thologers the beasts became prominent. 

rabidosqae : this reading is supported by many of the best 
MSS. including Bland, vet, and Bem,, and is therefore to be ac- 
cepted. Keller from his point of view thinks that the scale tnms 
decidediy in favour of rapidos, That rapidus may toean 'fierce* 
is suflKciently proved by Vergirs use of the word of heat (Ed. n, 
10: cp. Conington*s note), of the sun (Georg. I. 92), of fire 
(Gcorg. IV, 263) and of the dog-star (ib. 425). But here thcre 



NOTES. 407 

is no need to intiodace it: and Imire strongl^ confinns rabidos. 
In Lucret. IV. 712 rabidileones^ v. 89« rabuiis canihus^i}xt MSS. 
have rapidi and rapidis^ altered the former by Wakefield, the 
latter iJjr Bentley, with the approval of Lachmann (*debebat 
scii^ leones rapidos Latine dici non posse ') and Munro. I doubt, 
■rith Conington, whether Lachmann does not go too far, though 
of course he only means * in the sense of ravening*. Keller 
quotes rapidique leonis from Lucan vi. 337, but Weber and 
Weise both have rahidique^ though (as usual) MSS. are divided.. 

894. nrblB has much more authority (including Bland. vei, 
and Bern,) than arcis, and it is hard to see why Bentley ignored 
it; still more why Orelli and Haupt should have preferred 
the latter: the arx Thebana was founded by Cadmus, hence 
called Cadmea, while according to Pausanias (ix. 5, i — 3) Am- 
phion and Zethus built the lower city. But the chronological 
relation between Cadmus and the two brothers is given dmer- 
ently in different authorities : cp. Grote History of GreecCy Part l, 
c. xiv. It is curious that Homer knows nothing of Cadmus: 
in the Odyssey (xi. 26I) Amphion and Zethus build the walls of 
Thebes. *The story about the lyre of Amphion is not noticed in 
Homer, butit was narrated in the ancient hn\ » Ed/oahnTVyWhich 
Pausanias had read : the wild beasts as well as the stones were 
obedient to his strains (Paus. IX. 5, 4). Pherecydes also re- 
lated it (frag. 103 Didot)' Grote 1. c. Cp. Carm. iii. ir, 3 
movit Amphion lapides canendo: £p« L 18, 41. 

896. Uanda: £p. 11. i, 135. 

896. sapientta, predicate, with the infinitives in apposition. 

397. puUlca, etc. Horace foUows the division of the 
Roman law : cp. Gaius II. 3 sumnta itaque rerum divisio in duos 
articulos diducitur: nam aliae sunt divini iuris, aliae humani. 
Divini iuris sunt vduti res scurcu et religiosae, 10. Hae autem 
quae humani iuris sunt aut pub/icae sunt autprivatae. 

398. concaMtu 78^0= the venerem incertam of Sat. i. 3, 
109. The £picurean conception of the early history of man 
upon the earth, which Horace has in view here, is given fully in 
Lucret. v. 925 — 1457. On much of it Darwin*s Descent of Man 
fumishes an interesting commentary. mailtls *the wedded*. 
Dig. XXIV. I, 52 inter maritos nihil agitur, Apul. Met viil. « 
soboli novorum maritorum, The use here shows that it is not 
solely 'post-classical' as L. and S. say. But coniuges is more 
common in this sense : cp. Catull. LXI. «37 boni coniuges, LXVi. 
80 unanimis coniugibus, 

899. llgno: 'aereis enim tabulis antiqui non sunt usi, sed 
Foboreis. In has incidebant l^es, unde adhuc Athenis legum 
tabulae ^Qyei vocantur* Porph. They were also called Kvppas : 



4o8 ARS POETICA. 

for the difference between the two cp. Lidd. and Sc. s. v., Plut. 
Solon c. XXV. (Vol. i. p. 193 Clough). Dionysius says that the 
Twelve Tables were first engraved on bronze ((TTi^oif x^lKkm : 
so Mommsen i. p. ^90)» but other authorities say ivory (Pom- 
ponius in Dig. i. 2, 2, cp. Niebuhr HisU ii. 316 note): and 
Amold {^HisU i. 256 note) thinks that Livy's simple tabulae (iii. 
34) points to wood. 

400. Blc: i.e. as civilization grew. TatilmB: Horace is 
thinking of mythical poets like Linus, Orpheus, Musaeus. 

bondr: in v. 69 Horace uses honos: honos is far more com- 
mon in Cicero and Livy than honor and is the only form used by 
Vergil. Horace, Ovid, Tacitus and the later poets use the two 
forms indiscriminately. Even Plautus varies, if we may trust 
the MSS.: cp. Trin. 663 and 697 with Ritschrs note. Note that 
the s is never retained, except in iambic words : arbos is on a 
different footing. Cp. Neue FormenL l. 169, Lachmann on 
Lucret. VI. 1260. 

401. Inslgnls, not an epithet of Homems, but *gaining 
fame after these '. 

402. T3n:taen8, an Athenian sent to the aid of the Spartans, 
when hard pressed by the war with the revolted Messenians. 
The legends about him varygreatly: Bergk (Gr. Lit. 11. 247) 
fixes his date at B.c. 640: others less correctly assign it to 
B.c. 683. Cp. Grote Hist» Pt. 11. c. 7. We have about 120 
lines of his elegiac poetry, containing exhortations to valour, 
and smaller fragments of his ifjLparripiaj anapaestic marching 
songs. His poetry was highly prized at Sparta, and sung in 
time of war: on the strength of it Leonidas pronounced him 
ayadbs viwv ^uxAs alKdXKciv, Cp. Bergk Gr. Lit. II. 244— 258, 
Foet. Lyr. Gr? 393 — 405. Quintilian, x. i, 56 says quid? 
Horatius frustra Tyriaeum Homero subiungiti where Mayor 
quotes passages from Dio Chrys. in which the two names are 
coupled. But Crates the philosopher maintained that passages 
like Hom. II. xv. 496 ff. were more rousing than anything in 
Tyrtaeus. mares, £p. i. i, 64. 

403. ezacnlt: Bentley oi\ Carm. i. 24, 8 shows by many 
instances how regularly Horace uses a singular verb with 
several subjects if all, or at least the nearest one, are singular. 
Cp. Wickham on Carm. i. 3, 10 ; Bentley on Sat. i. 6, 131. 

Bortes: v. 219 (note), Mommsen Hist. i. 187 (note). The 
oracles of Delphi, of Bakis and of the Sibyl are probably 
cspecially intended. *A strange coincidence! that from that 
Delphian valley whence, as the legend ran, had sounded the 
first of all hexameters {^v/uupipere irrepd r* olufvol Ktipov re fU' 
Xt<r<rat)...should issue in unknown fashion the last fragment of 



NOTES. 409 

Greek poetry which has moved the hearts of men, the last 
Greek hexameters which retain the ancient cadence, the ma- 
jestic melancholy flow'. Hellenica p. 489. 

4M. vltae monstrata Tla est, by the gnomic poets, 
Solon, Theognis, Phocylides: Mahaffy GV. Lit. i. 175, 187 ff. 
Bergk Gr. Lit. 11. 296, 332. 

gratla regnm; Pindar, Simonides and Bacchylides were 
patronised by Hiero and Thero, Anacreon by Polycrates of 
Samos. *The rise and prevalence of tyrants in Greece, and 
their desire of spreading culture about them, created a demand, 
and a comfortable prospect for professional court poets'. Ma- 
haflFjr i. p. 206. 

406. FierllB: by the time of Horace this had become a 
merely conventional literary epithet of the Muses: but its earlier 
usage (Hesiod Op. i MoD<7(u llLepiTiOeVt doidiai jcXefoMrcu, Sappho 
ii-ag. 4 Pp6du>v rwv ix IlLcpias) is of much importance as pointing 
to an early school of Greek poetry in that part of Thessaly 
about Mt. Olympus. Cp. Geddes Homeric Question pp. 25, 241. 

ludus 'festivals': cp. £p. 11. i, 140 ff. Acron refers this 
to the lyre, Orelli to the dramatic representations at the Dio- 
nysia to icor d^poiJj in December, which marked the close of 
the year's toil: both unduly limit the meaning. But Acron 
is right in taking et...flnl8 as a quasi-adjectivd addition, *to 
finish their long toils '• 

406. ne...slt, not imperative, but final: '(this I say) lest' 
etc. So take Carm. 11. 4, i n^ sit ancillcu tibi amor pudori.., 
priu5...movity and IV. 9, i neforte credas etc, Cp. Ep. I. i, 13. 

407. BoUerB : so all good MSS. here, and usually : solers is 
nowhere admissible. 

408 — 418. Not only ncUural ability^ but aiso trained skiU 
is needfulfor success in poetry, 

408. natiira...an arte: a theme often discussed. Pindar 
was perhaps the first to lay stress on the great importance of 
01;^, as compared with fieXirrj: cp. Olymp. II. 86 (155) cotpds 
6 ToWk el5CiJS <pvq,' fMdovres 8i Xd^poi ^077X0^^0-^9, KOpaKcs 
uSf axpavra yapiierov Aibs vpbs Spvixa Oeiov^ where Dr Fennell 
finds a reference to Simonides and Bacchylides: Prof. Jebb 
doubts whether Simonides can be included {yotirnal of Hellenic 
Studies, III. p. 162). So Olymp. ix. 100 (152) rb U <f>v^ 
Kpdriarov awoM' iroXKol di didakraTs dvOpwjruv dperaU K\i6s cupoy- 
<roi' S^adaij avev d^ $€ov aeffiyafUvov ov aKaidrepov Xf^VM-^ 
fKaarov. But in 01. XI. 20 he admits Oiri^ais di kc <f>i^vr dptr^. 
Naturally Horace's solution of the question — that both natural 
gifts and training are needed — is the one generally accepted: 
cp. Plat. Phaedr. 269 D el pAv <rot virdpx^t <pv<r€i firp-opuc^ elvai. 



4IO ARS FOETICA. 

iaei ^up iKKoyifJLoSf TpoaXapd» hrum/ffirpf koX iueKirifw, Ckero 
in his de Oratore often expresses his opinion that the first 
requisite for the orator is natural capacity (e.g. i. 25, \\i sic 
senHOf naturam primufn atque ingenium ad dicendum vim ad- 
ferre maximam) but that he must also be omnibus eis artibusy 
quae sunt libero dignae^ perpolitus (§ 72): and p. Arch. 7, 15 
he says: e^ multos homines excellenti animo ac virtute fuisst et 
sine doctnna, naturae ipsius habitu prope divino, per se ipsos et 
moderatos et graves fuisse fcUeor, Etiam illud adiungo, saepius 
ad laudem atque virtuteni ncUuram sine doctrina quam sine 
natura valuisse doctrinam. Atque idem ego hoc contendo^ cum 
ad naturam eximiam et illustrem accesserit ratio quaedam con^ 
formatioque doctrinae^ tum illud nescio quid prcuclarum ac singU' 
lare solere existere. Cp. Ovid Trist. il. 424 Enntuf ingenio 
maximus, arte rudis: and Am. i. 15, 14 quamvis ingenio non 
valet, arte valet^ of Callimachus. Quintil. L Fcooem. 26 illud 
tamen in primis testandum est, nihil praeapia atque artes valere, 
nisi adiuvante natura, 

409. yena : in Carm. Il« j8, 10 Horace claims for himself 
ingeni henigna vena; tiie metaphor is from mining: cp. Cic. 
de Nat. Deor. u. 39, 98 adde etiam reconditcu auri argentique 
venas^ and ib. 60, 151. ^X^^ is used in the same way. 

410. proBit is supported by all MSS. of any value, and may 
I think, be defended: Quint. v. 10, 121 has non magis hoc sat 
est quam palaestram didicisse, nisi corpus exercitationCy continen* 
tiat cilns, ante omnia natura iuvetur, sicut contra ne illa quidem 
satis sine arte profuerint, Bentley read possit, and this reading 
has been very generally adopted: *qutd possit, ri d^ytur* itf, 
quid laudabile, quid egregium pariat. At quid prosit, rl Si^ 
ibifteXoT, minus est humiliusque, quamquod poscit senlentia'. Of 
course, the two words are often confused in MSS.; but this 
only makes the fact that possit appears in one or two inferior 
copies (and in John of Salisbury's quotation) tell more against it, 
than if it were found in none. Bentley similarly prefers possuni 
to prosunt in Carm. I. 26, 10 nil sine te mei prosunt honores. 
Many editors (e.g. Munro, L. Miiller, Hirschfelder, Schiitz, etc.) 
follow him here, but not there. The cases seem to me closely 
parallel. 

rade *untrained*, not as Acron 'stultum'. fllo 'to such a 
degree*. 

411. conlurat: cp. Carm. i. 15, 7 Graecia coniurata tuas 
rumpere nuptias, Cicero never uses the word except in the 
bad sense *to conspire'; but Vergil and Livy have it simply for 
*band together': cp. Ter. Hec. 198 quae haec est coniuratiof 
utin omnes mulieres eadem aeque studeant nolintque omniat 

412. metain, properly denoting the two tuming-j)Osts in 
ihe Circus : hence the word acquires two distinct meanings (i) 



NOTES. 4" 

taming-post, (i) goal. The former is far the more cbmmon; 
e.g. in Verg. Aen. v. 159 metamque tenebat (cp. 129 viridem 
frondentiex iUce ntetam) means 'lie was jast at the point where 
he had to tum round*: Conington apprehends the meaning, but 
repeatedly oses the term *goal to denote this point : surely this 
is not legitimate; the 'goal' was the portus altus of v. 343, hj 
reaching which the race was won. L. and S. are dearly wrong 
in taking the meta here as the winning-post Cp. Carm. I. i, 4 
nutaque fervidis tvitata rotis, Cic. pro CaeL 31, 75 m hoc flexu 
quast aetatisfama adulesuntis paulum haesit ad metas. But the 
word is frequently used metaphorically in the sense of a limit: 
Verg. Aen. i. 278 kis ego nec metas rerum nec temporapono: iii. 
714 longarum haec meta viarum, In Ovid Art. Am. Ii. 727 ad 
metam properate simul the word is used metaphorically in its 
literal meaning, as in Trist. i. 9, i detur inoffenso vitae tibi tan- 
gere metam: in iv. 8, 35 the plural is used, apparently in the 
sense of •goal*: nec procul a metis^ quas paene tmere videbar, 
curriculo gravis est facta ruina meo, I can find no passage in 
prose in which meta is used for *goal* except Varro ll L. viii. 
16, 31 siquis duplicem putat esse summam^ ad qucts metcu naturae 
sit perveniendum in usu; the regular word is codx; Ep. I. 14, 9. 
Gr. if<rTXi7^=starting-point, not goal, as Rutherford says on 
Phrynichus p. 146. Cp. Plat. Phaedr. 254 E There is a striking 
parallel in the use of Kafiimjp for *goal': cp. Cope on Ar. Rhet. 
III. 9, 1 iirl Tois KafivTTJpoiy iK\6orraA» 

418. imer *when a boy': sudavit et alBlt *has borae heat 
and cold' : the tense is the true perfect, not the gnomic arMMm- 
tic perfect. 

414. Fytbia cantat 'pli^s jt tiie Pythlan games * ; the con- 
f liw^tkM i ts like tbat of Ep. I. i , 50 coronari Olympia ; cp. saepe, . . 
Olympia vicit £nn. in Cic. de Sen. 5, 14. At the Pythian games 
one oif the chief contests was in the vbfioi HvOucoi, a description 
in music of the fight of ApoUo with the Python, including a song 
of victory and a dirge over the monster. This was introduced 
by Olympus (MUIler Greek Lit, i, 109), but was not limited to 
the pipe; the Ivre was also used (Curtius Hist, 11. 83, Bergk 
Gr, Ltt, II. 127). The victor at the first three Pythian contests, 
after they passed into the hands of the Amphict^rons (b.c. 590), 
was Pacadas (Miiller, p. 215). 

416. nimo is the reading of all our older authorities, and is 
quite defensible : *nowadays men think it enough to say*. Bent- 
ley contended that the contrast was not between the present time 
and the past, but between athletes and poets; and therefore 
read on very slight authority nect which has been very generally 
accepted. But surely this is to force too strictly logical an expres- 
sion upon Horace. There is no lack of clearaess in saying 
*athletes and musicians have to prepare themselves with mucb 



412 ARS POETICA. 

self-denial for their public appearances, but nowadays men are 
satisfied with saying that they would account it a disgrace not to 
be able to write poetry, even though thcy have ncver studied the 
art*. Wtter, Schutz, Keller, Kriiger, Dillenbiirger and others 
retain nunc^ the Scholiasts knew no other reading, and Conington 
evidently adopts it for his translation. If any correction were 
needed, I should prefer Jeep*s huic to Bentley s nec. 

417. occupet eztremom ■cables 'deuce take the hind- 
most': according to Porphyrion 'hoc ex lusu puerorum sustulit, 
qui ludentes solent dicere : quisquis ad me novissimus venerit, 
habeat scabiem*. L. Muller has rearranged the line, so as to 
make a trochaic tetrameter catalectic, like that quoted in £p. i. 
I» 59 1 hdbeat scabum qulsquis ad me vinerit nmdssimus, Acron 
describes the game somewhat difierently. 

418. sane, not 'modestly' (more sani hominis), nor yet 'cer- 
tainly' (=utique Or.), but *altogether*, like sane sapis often in 
Plautus. 

419 — 462. Thejudgment offtaiterers must not be acceptedy but 
a rich poet can hardly tell truefriends from false ones, Quinti^ 
lius was an honest critic; and a gpod man will never conceal his 
friend^s errorsfrom him. 

420, ad lucmm 'to make their profit out of him'. Acrier 
endeavours to attract purchasers by promising them good bar- 
gains; a rich man, who writes verse, attracts an audience of 
flatterers by the hope that they will gain something. Hence 
v. 421 is not superfluous, as Schiitz thinks, but necessary to the 
meaning. It is repeated from Sat. i. a, 13 in a different con- 
nexion, just as Ep. i. i, 56 is repeated from Sat. i. 6, 74, and 
Sat. i. 4, 92 from Sat. i. 3, 37, though the last instance is not 
quite panulel. The satirists are fuli of instances in which a 
dinner was the reward for listening to the host's poetry: e.g. 
Mart. iii. I haec tibi^ non alia, est ad cenam causa vocandi^ versi* 
culos recites ut, Ligurine^ tuos; etc. r cp. II. 27, Iil. 45, VII. 42, 
IX. 14. 

422. Bi Yero est: vero does not here introduce a climax, as 
Schiitz thinks, but is simply adversative: a rich poet can get 
plenty of admirers, but I shall be surprised, if he can tell a true 
friend from a dcceiver. 

Qnotam: £p. i. 15, 44. ponere *serve up*: Sat. 11. 1, 33; 
4, 14; 6, 645 8, 91; Pers. I. 53 calidum scis ponere sumen, 

423. levl 'oflittle crediV ^levifide: the word has no refer- 
cnce here to moral character. But as this use is rare of persons, 
and Vi^&pauperxs very seldom accompanied.bv an epithet, Geel 
has ingeniously conjectured velit, Words Iwe modo and domit 
are frequently confused. Cp. Plaut. Most. 432 (Sonn,=4i7 



NOTES. 413 

Lor.), Cic. de Orat. ii. 13, 54 (note). atrii *gloomy*, like 
atr(u curae Carm. iv. 11, 35. Bentley's suggcstion artis suits 
ImpUcltiim, but is quite needless. 

424. mlrabor : £p. i. 17, 26. inter noscere: cp. £p. 11. 2, 
93 (note): Sat. i. 2, 63 quidinter \ est...? 

425. beatUB *for all his fancied happiness '. 

427. tibl fSftCtOB : £p. I. 6, 25. The ethic dative tibi ducere, 
which Schiitz prefers, would \t.^vtfacto5 too isolated. 

428. pnltihre, etc: cp. Mart. II. 27 Laudantem Selium cenae 
cum retia tendit cucipe^ sive legas^ sive patronus agas: *effecte! 
graviteri citol nequiterl eugel beateV Hoc volui, Facta est 
iam tibi cena; tace. 

409. superliiB: £p. 11. i, 152 (note): his seems to denote 
*one set of lines', i.e. those intended to inspire terror. But Sat. 
II. 6, 3 would warrant us in taking it here as 'moreover', though 
this would not be lawful in prose. 

430. ealiet: admiration was expressed by rising; Mart. x. 
10, 9 saepius assurgam recitanti carmina? Cp. Reid on Cic. 
de Am. 7, 34 stantes plaudebant, The parasite over-does his 
delight: Quint. II. 2, 9 fl/ nunc proni atque succincti ad omnem 
clausulam non exsurgunt modo^ verum etiam excurrunt^ et cum 
indecora exsultatione conclamant. Cp. Pers. I. 81 Trossulus 
exultat tibiper subsellia levis, 

431. conducti : in the earlier times of the republic women 
{praejicae) were hired to sing a dirge over the departed one, in 
accordance with a custom which seems to have been almost uni- 
versal in the ancient world ; cp. the commentators on Eccles. xii. 
5, St Matth. ix. 23. Becker Gallu^ iii. 360 thinks that these 
women are here intended, and that the masc. is to be defended, 
as denoting a class. Cp. Nonius p. 145 M. nenia^ ineptum 
et inconditum carmen^ quod conducta muliery quae praefica dice- 
rdur^ his quibus propinqui non essent (this is an erroneous limita- 
tion) mortuis exhiberet, Paulus, p. 213, gives a similar defini- 
tion, and quotes from Naevius haec quidem hercle^ opinoryprcufica 
est^ sic mortuum collaudat. Varro (ap. Non. p. 60 M.) says hctec 
mulier vociiata olim praefica usque ad Poenicum bellum : but the 
name is used by Plautus Truc. ii. 6, 14, and even by Lucilius 
(xxil. frag. I M. vv. 808-9 Lachm.) mercede quae conductae flent 
alieno in funere praeficae multo et capillos scindunt et clamant 
magis; and even if the name fell out of use, that is not sufficient 
reason to suppose that the custom died out, with Marquardt 
Rom, Privatalt, i. p. 358 : at any rate the nenia was r^larly 
sung by boys and men, as at the funeral of Pertinax (Dio 
LXXIV. 4). Porphyrion has *Alexandriae obolis conducuntur, 
qui mortuos fleant, et hoc tam valide faciunt, ut ab igno- 



414 ARS POETICA. 

rantibus [a cognatts?] illonun fuisse credantur, qui effenmtur. 
Hi ergo vocantur Oprtfifff^oU If Alexandriae is not corrupt, this 
looks as if he knew nothing of the custom at Rome. Keiler 
says that therc were * Spitalerinnen * in Ulm till far into the 
present century who *howled' for pay at fiinerals. 

488. derlBor : £p. i. i8, ii. plus, more usual than magis 
with verbs of emotion. 

484. reges ' princes', i. e. wealthy men, as in Sat. i. 9, 86 
regibtts kic mos est, Sat II. i, 45 ejmlis regum. Still it mayhave 
its usual force here. 

enUllls: Keller on Carm. I. 31, 11 — ^the only other place 
where this word is found — shows that the evidence is strongly in 
favour of this form as against cultUlis : the derivation is uncer- 
tain, but the word is probably akin to culigna^KvKixwi (Fest. 
p. 51), and it certainly has nothing to do with cullem, as Acron 
says. 

485. torquere : Ep. i. 13, 38. The story of Tiberius, quoted 
by Orelli, is of very doubtful applicability. perspezlMe : v, 98. 

laborent seems to be on the whole better supported than 
laborant ; Bentley says * sane quid modus subiunctivus hic faciat, 
non video', and most recent editors ^even Keller) follow him. 
But surely the relative clause is subobhque. If the construction 
had been * dicunt reges etc. *, the subjunctive would have been 
almost necessary ; as it is, it is at least legitimate. 

486. aa 'to see whether*: in such cases an affirmative 
answer is suggested : cp. Zumpt § 354, v. 463. oondeB : Ep. i. 
3» «4- 

487. «ub YOlpe. In Aesop's fable of the fox and the crow, 
the fox plays the part of a crafty flatterer bent upon securing 
something for himself, and so here is used for the adsentator of 
V. 430 ff. It is quite needless to say, with many editors, that 
*fox* is here used for *fox*s skin*, or to try to bring in the skin 
by bold emendations : e. g. Peerlkampsuggestsy^^M/^^amk^ 
pelle latentes, Ribbeck volpes sub pelle kUentes, as if there were 
several foxes in one skin ! Pers. v. 116 forces the note as usual, 
fronte politus astutam vapido servas inpectore volpem. 

438. Qnlntlllo : Quintilius Varus of Cremona, wbose death 
in B.c. 34 Horace laments in Carm. i. 14, where he ascribes to 
him incorrupta fides nudaque veritas : he is probably the Varus 
of Epod. V. and Carm. i. 18, and was also a firiend of Vergil, 
who ifisigfii concordia et fcmUiariiate usus est Quintili Tuccac 
et Variy but he must not be confused with Varius or with Vei^*s 
Alfenus Varus : alebat shows that he was dead at this time. 
Bodes: Ep. 1. 1, 63 (note). redtares, frequentative : Roby § 17 16, 
S. G. § 730 (though he omits si: but cp. Kiihner 11. § »14, 5: 



r 

NOTES. " 415 

Madvig § 359, Liv. III. 36, 8 si quis collegam appellassa^ ita dis- 
cedebat^ &c.). Sat. i. 3, 4 is not parallel, because the verb in the 
apodosis is also in the subjunctive, which makes the sentence a 
pure hypothesis. 

439. negaxes: Roby § 1552, S. G. § 650^ 

i40. blsterqiie : v. 358. 

441. toniatOB : Bentley argues at great length that thougli 
the anvil and the lathe can each be metaphoricaily applied to 
ve^es, they cannot be applied at the same time, and also that 
tomatus like limatus could only be used of something properiy 
finished, so that it admits of no adverb. He suggests ter natos (a 
most unlucky conjecture), * if they have thrice come out bad verses ', 
comparing Ep. ii. i, 233. A thrice-repeated birth is at least 
as odd as the combined metaphors. That \h& tomus was used of 
metal has been shown by several passages quoted by Fea. If the 
finishing tool has been thrice applied without success, the mis- 
shapen thing must be placed upon the anvil and hammered up, so 
that a new start may be made ; but not (as Orelli thinks) with a 
new lump of metal, which is against reddere. Some editors have 
adopted 4he conjecture formatosy which is weak. Cp. Ovid 
Trist. I. 7, 29 ablatum mediis opus est incudibus itlud(sc, Meta- 
morphoses), defuit et scriptis ultimaiima meis: Propert. III. 31, 
43 incipe iam angusto versus includere torno. diroropveveiv is 
common in the same sense. 

442. yertere 'to change' (Ep. if 25, 39) with a slight zeugma, 
delictiim being the faulty line. Ifiis is better than to say with 
Orelli that there is a reference to the phrase stilum vertere, or 
with Schiitz, that it is for avertere *to remove it*. 

444. qTiln=*to hinder you from*: cp. Sat. il. 3, 42 nil 
verbipereas quinfortiter addam, Roby § 1646, S. G. § 082. 8lne 
rlTall : cp. Cic. ad Quint. Fr. iii. 8, 4 ^ (U^ quam ineptus^ quam 
se ipse amans sine rivali. 

445. Tlr iNmiui et pmdeiui: Ep. i. 7^ 22 ; 16, 32. inertee 
*weak*, the virtute carentia of Ep. 11. 2, 123. 

446. fSicomvitiM=incu/tis of Ep. 11. i, 233. atrum, both 
'black* in colour and also *gloomy* as being a sign of condem- 
nation; so Pers. iv. 13 nigrum vitio praefigere theta *to obelize 
wrong with a staring black mark * (Con.). 

447. signam, the obelus — , which was made with a cross 
stroke of the pen, to signiiv condemnation : cp. Lucian XL. 2^ 6 
Tcl v6Ba, iiri<ni/ATivdfAevo5 nop ivQv iv ry irapaypa<f>y rtav d^ekQjv. 
A X was similarly used, and that may perhaps be rather intended 
here; but one MS. has obelum as a gloss. 

tranflTeno cannot be the same as versOy as some take it. 



4i6 ARS POETICA. 

93xML\loiaA^superfluai according to the scholiasts like luxuri- 
antia of Ep. Ii. a, lai: perhaps rather * pretentious * ; cp. 
Quint. I. 2, 27 si ambitiosis utilia praeferet : Xll. 10, 40 affectatio 
€t ambitiosa in loquendo iactatttia, 

448. pamin daTlB. Horace like Vergil is singularly free 
from the affected obscurity of the imitators of the Alexandrian 
literature. Cp. Nettleship's Life of Vergil pp. xxii., xxiii. Sueton. 
vit. Hor. p. 298 Roth. 

449. azigiMt 'will point out': the meaning of *censure' as 
appHed to things seems to be somewhat later. 

460. Azistarohiu, the great Alexandrian critic, who did so 
much to establish the text of Homer in the middle of the second 
century B.c. His merits were first shown by the publication of 
the Venctian Scholia on Homer by Villoison in 1788. They 
have been discussed best by F. A. Wolf in his famous Prol^omena, 
by Lehrs de Aristarchi Studiis Homericis (ed. 3, 1882J, and by 
Pierron in his edition of the Iliad. There is no reason to suppose 
that he was unduly severe, though he was strict in his critical 
principles. Pope {Dunciad IV. 203) calls Bentley *that awful 
Aristarch *, in a passage which does infinite injustice to one who 
was among the freshest and most vigorous of writers, as well as 
in the foremost rank of our scholars. Cicero ad Att. 1. 14, 5 meis 
orationibuSi quarum tu Aristarchus es. 

461. niigae Urifling faults\ 

462. derlsnin exceptomqae slnlstre *flattered and treated 
uncandidly*, as Mr Yonge rightly takes it. 

463 — 476. A poet is as dangerous as a man with an infectious 
disease : if hegets hold of you^ he will bore you io death with his 
recitations, 

468. morbns reglos: Celsus iii. a^derives this name for 
the jaundice from the costly remedies which had to be applied, 
which were only within the reach of the wealthy {reges) : per 
omne tempus utendum est exercitatione, frictione,.,lecto ctiam tt 
conclavi cultiore, lusu, ioco, ludis, lascima^ per quae mens 
exhilaretur^ ob quae regius morbus dictus videtur, Pliny says 
(xxii. 24, 114) Varro regium cognominatum arquatorum morbum 
tradit^ quoniam mulso atretur^ which, I suppose, comes to much 
the same thing. The other name for it m^bus arquatus is still 
more obscure: the explanation of Cclsus that it is so called 
because the yellowish tinge caused by it reminds one of the 
colour of the rainbow {arcus cae/estis) is not very satisfactory. 
Jaundice is not at all contagious: perhaps the notion that it was 
arose from the depression of spirits caused by it. 

464. fiknatioaa error, properly a frenzy inspired by (thc 



Jl 



NOTES. 417. 

"■ oriental) Bellona: cp. Juv. iv. 133 ut fanaticus oestro percussusy 
^: Bellona, tuo divinaU with Mayor's note: here it is evidently 
^ 'lunacy': for Iracimda IMana is an explanatory addition, not, as 

Schiitz thinks, a difTerent kind of disorder. Acron here has 
ree ^fanaticum errorem pati dicuntur, qui a fanis percutiuntur, id 
an est qui l^nnphatico agitantur. Sicut lunaticum aut morbosum, 
)D. ita insanum poetam iugiunt sapientes*. This use of the word 

lunaticus is not common before the Vulgate. Diana, though not 

strictly the same as Luna, was often identified with her, as by 
^ CatuU. XXXIV. 15, 16 tu potens irivia et notho es dicta lumine 

Luna: cp. Carm. iv. 6, 38. 
so 465. Yesamun: Ribbeck prints vaesanus in Vergil: but 

D(l there is not much authority for that form here. 

466. agltaiit *tease': cp. Sat. I. 3, 133 vellunt tibi barbam 
'^ lascivi pueri, 

u 467. sabUxnls 'with head in air', nom. sing. A misunder- 

^ standing has ied to the reading sublimes in some MSS. 

3I nictatiir, a rather coarse expression : but the word may have 

% undergone a change like that of ipe&YOficu in Hellenistic Greek: 

lo cp. S. Matt. xiii. 35 ipev^ofJLai KeKpvfi/ndva dxo KaTapoXrjs with 

2S Carr's note, and Lobeck on Phrynichus p. 63. 

469. in pateum : cp. Ep. 11. 2, 133. The story of Thales 
who fell into a well as he was looking up at the stars, is referred 
to by Plato Theaet. 174 A. 

longnin 'aloud', so that the sound goes £ir; imitated from 
Homer's jxaKpop dvoep, II. iii. 81. 

460. non Bit, not imperative, as Kriiger and others (cp. Sat. 
II. 5, 91 noH etiam sileas), which is inconsistent with the context; 
nor yet *coniunctivus pro futuro positus* as Hand says, but the 
hypothetical subjunctive, rather loosely used after decidit, t<fllore : 
cp. Ep. I. 17, 61. 

461. Bi cnret: most MSS. have sic, a good instance of the 
carelessness which is often found towards the end of a work. 
The editions before Bentiey had for the most part si quis curet 
against the MSS. Bentiey corrected, calling attention to the 
practice of Horace, when a word is repeated, not to allow the 
accent to fall in the same place; tollere cilret, si curJt quis, 
Keightley has collected a number of instances from Greek and 
Latin, and from various modem languages, in a note on Milton's 
Zycidas v. 165 weep nS more^ ivoful shepherds, weep no mdre ; 
e.g. Soph. Phil. 104 1 rioaxtQ^, Tiaaa6*' dXXd ry xp^P(p votL Cp. 
also Lachmazm on Propert. p. iii, and Hermann Opusc. Ii. 
283 ff. 

demittere is of course the right form, but most MSS. have 
dimittere* 

W. H. 27 



4i8 AliS POETICA, 

462. qni sdB aa : cp. v. 436. Plaut. Most. 58 qui scis an 
tibi istuc prius tveniat quam tnihif Roby § 1764. pnideiui 
*deliberately\ 

Xnroleeexlt seems to have quite as xnuch authority as deiecerit 
which Keller and Schiitz prefer : * ideo hic praeferendum proiece- 
rit^ quia proicere animam, proicere se, quae in bonis scriptoribus 
sae{>e occurrunt, ubique habent significationem voluntarii discri- 
minis deque eo dicuntur, qui servari aut nolit aut desperet', 
Bentl. Keller's argument that deiecerit is better after decidit and 
demittere seems to me to point the other way. 

46a. SioaUque poetao. The accounts of the death of Empe- 
docles varied : the best authenticated is that after an active poli- 
tical life in Agrigentum he was compelled to leave it and retire to 
the Peloponnesus, where he died (probably about B.c. 432) : his 
followers seem afterwards to have invented in his honour a myth 
that he had disappeared m^^teriously at a sacrificial banquet ; 
while his enemies accounted for his disappearance by s^ing that 
he had thrown himself down the crater of Etna, in the hope that 
he might be considered to have been carried to heaven, but that 
the trick was discovered when one of his bronze sandals was cast 
up by the volcano. Others said that he had been killed by a fall 
from a chariot, that he had hanged himself, or that he had been 
drowned by accident : cp. Diog. Laert VIIL 63 ff. Zeller, Gr. 
PhiL \? 500 (note). Mr Matthew Amold in his splendid poera 
'Empedocles on £tna' accounts for the suicide as that of one 
who was * dead to life and joy* from brooding over the problems 
of human life and destiny. 

464. dens : cp. Emped. frag. x^P^i kyCS^^iiiuv deosdfippo' 
roj, oifKiTi BvTiToi. Empedocles was a strong believer in metem- 
psychosis, and this may have been distorted into the basis of such 
a charge. 

466. ^ frlgldaB, explained by Acron as stultus : * Empedocles 
enim dicebat tarda ingenia frigido circa praecordia sanguine 
impediri*. His own line is aZ/Mi yh.p difBpuirois irepucdpdiov iaTi 
v6rifjLa, from which, as Conington remarks on Verg. Georg. 11. 484, 
the statement of Acron is at any rate a natural inference. But 
the reference is too obscure to have been intended by Horace 
here. frigldus is rather 'in cold blood*: Schutz objects that it 
ought rather to have the opposite meaning *chilled with terror*, 
and that a man cannot do such a deed in cold blood, a criticism 
supported by Mr AmoId's * Zeap and roar^ tkou sea of fire / My 
soulglows to meetyou! Ere itfiag^ ere the mists of despondency 
and gloom Rush over it again^ Receive me! save met Still, 
helped out by the antithesis — ^itself very frigid, if it were not in 
jest — with ardentem^ it may bear this meaning. It is better at 
any rate than Schutz's, 'because he was cold*. 



NOTES. 419 

467. Idem ocddenti: cp. Lucret. iii. 1038 eadem aliis 
sopitu* quietest (Homerus), IV. 11 74 eadem facit„,omnia turpi 
* she does, in all things, the same as the ugly woman', Roby 
§ I [42. Seneca Phoen. 100 occidere est vetare cupientem morij an 
exaggerated imitation, for Horace only means that in each case 
violence is done to the wishes of the person concemed. This is 
the only spondaic hexameter in Horace* 

468. iam 'at once' with ilet. 

469. famosae 'notorpus'; Ep. i. 19, 32. 

470. cur, i.e. what sin he bas committed, in consequence of 
which the gods have sent upon him this frenzy. 

471. liidental : when a place was struck with lightning, it 
was the castom condere/u/men, with a sacrifice of sheep (didentes), 
and to enclose the spot with a wall. Another derivation quod 
bis fulmine percussutjtest is evidently wrong, thoueh Acron 
prefers it. Cp. PersT^. 07 evitandumque didentaT vfith the 
scholiast's note, and Juv. vi. 587. 

478. valiilt, common in poetry ioxpotuit * has succeeded in 
bursting'. Roby § 1454, S. G. § 591, 2. 

datros, the only form justified by MSS. and inscriptions. 
The word is an early iierivative from kkxiOpa (used by Cato 
R. R. 4), and hence foUows the rule for Latin words. Cp. 
Cic. Or. 48, 160, with Sandys* note, and Roby§ 133. 

476. non mi88iira...liirndo Mike a leech, which will not let 
;o* : the simile passes into a metaphor, as.often in Horace : cp. 
p. I. a, 43. 



€ 



INDEX TO THE NOTES. 



abi, ii 2, 205 

abiative, i i, 94 

Academus, ii 2, 45 

Accius, ii I, 56 

accredo, i 15, 25 

acervus, ii r, 47 

Actia pugna, i 18, 61 

actus, A. P. 189 

addictus, i i, 14 

admirari nil, i 6, i 

adrasus, i 7, 50 

adrogo, ii 1, 35 

adsidet, i 5, 14 

adsitus, ii 2, r^o 

Aemilius ludus, A. P. 32 

aequatus, ii i, 25 

aequus, c. dat. i 17, 24: A. P. 

10 
aere, in meo, ii 2, 12 
aerugo, A. P. 330 
Aesopus, ii 1, 82 
aestivus, i 5, 10 
aestus, i 2, 8 
aetas, i 20, 10 
Aetolis, i i8, 46 
Afranius, ii i, 57 
agilis, i i, 16; 3, 21 
agnina, i 15, 35 
Agrippae porticus, i 6, 26 
aio, c. noro. and inf. i 7, 32 
Albanus, i 7, 10; ii i, 27 
Albinovanus, i 8, i 
albus, ii 2, 189 
alius, with abl. i 16, 20; ii 1,240 



alterius, i 2, 57 
amoenus, i 16, r^ 
Amphion, i 18, 40 
ampulla, A. P. 97 
ampullari, i 3, 14 
Ancus, i 6, 27 
Antenor, i 2, o 
Anticyra, A. P. 300 
Antimachus, A. P. 146 
Antonius Musa, i 15, 3 
Apelles, ii i, 239 
Apollo Palatinus, i 3, 17 ; ii 2, 

94 
Appi via, i 6, 26 
apricus, i 6, 24 (cp. Verrairs 

SiUdies in Borace, p. 1 43) 
aptus solibus, i 20, 24 
Aquilo, ii 2, 201 
Aquinum, i 10, 26 
arbiter, i 11, 26 
arceo, A. P. 64 
arcesso, i 5, 6; ii i, 167 
Archiacus, i 5, i 
• Archilochus, i 19, 23 
argentum, i 2, 44; 6, 17; 18, 

23 
Argi, ii 2, 128 
argutus, i 14, 42 
Aristarchus, A. P. 450 
Aristippus, i r, 18; 17, 13 
Aristius, i 10 (intr.) 
Armenius, i 12, 27 
artes, ii i, 13 
artus, i 18, 30 



27- 



422 



INDEX TO THE NOTES. 



arvum, i i6, i 

Asella, i 13 (introd.) 

Ass)n:ius, A. P. 118 

astrum, ii 2, 187 

ater, ii 2, 189; A. P. 3; 446 

Atrides, i 7, 42 

Atta, ii I, 79 

audire, i7, 38; 16, 17 

Augustus (his health), i 13, 3; 

(his policy), ii i, a 
aula,i I, 87; a, 65 
aulaea, ii i, 189 
auspex, i3, 13 
auspicia, ii i, 253 
auspicium facere, i i, 86 
austri, ii 2, 202 
avidus futuri, A.P. 172 

Baiae, i i, 83; 15, 2 

barathrum, i 15, 31 

barbaria, i.e. Phrygia, i 2, 7 

beatus, i 2, 44 

benigne, i 7, 16, 6a 

Bestius, i 15, 37 

bidental, A. P. 471 

bilis, ii 2, 137 

Bion, ii 2, 60 

Bithynus, i 6, 33 

Blandinian MSS. : readings of, 

i«» 31» 33» 46; 3.4; 8, 12; 

10, 13; II, 7; 16, I, 3, 43; 

18, 15: ii I, 198: ii 2, II, 

«8; 16, 33, 80, 1-23, 206 
Boeoti, ii i, 244 
books, i 13, 6; (locked up), 

20, 3; (exported), 20, 13 
Brundusium, i 17, 52 
Builatius, i II (intr.) 
burial, ii i, 268 

caballus, i 7, 88 
Cadmus, A. P. 187, 394 
Caecilius, ii i, 59 
caelebs, i i, 88 
Caerite cera, i 6, 64 
Caesar Augustus, ii 2, 48 
Caesar*s birthday, i 5, lo 



Calaber, i 7, 14 

calo, i 14^ 42 

camena, i i, i 

can^nus, i 11, 19 

campestre, i 11, 18 

campus, i 7, 59; 11, 4 

canis, i 10, 16 

Cantaber, i 12, 26 

Cantabrica, i 18, 55 

cantor, A. P. 155 

Cappadoces, i 6, 39 

capra, i 5, 29 

Carinae, i 7, 48 

Cascellius, A. P. 371 

Cassius, i 4, 3 

catella, i 17, 55 

Cato, i 19, 12; ii 2, 116 

catus, ii 2, 39 

caupona, i 11, 12 

cautus, ii i, 105 

cave, i 13, 19 

cedrus, A. P. 332 

Celsus, i 3, 15; 8, I 

cenacula, i i, 91 

censeo, c. inf. i 2, 9 

census, c. acc. A. P. 383 

cereus^ii i, 265, c. inf. A. P. 

163 
cessare, i 7, 56; ii 2, 14, 183 
Cethegi, ii 2, 117 
cheragra, i i, 31 
chiasmus, A. P. i 
Choerilus, ii i, 233; A. P. 357 
chorus, A. P. 193 
Chremes, A. P. 94 
Cibyra, i 6, 33 
cicer, A. P. 249 
•cicuta, ii 2, 53 
Cinara, i 7, 28 ; 14, 33 
cinctutus, A. P. 50 
civicus, i 3, 23 
clatri, A. P. 473 
claustra, i 14, 9 
Clusium, i 15, 9 
cohors, i 3, 6 
<:olumnae, A. P. 373 
communia, A. P. 128 
comparison, a particle omitted. 



INDEX TO THE NOTES. 



4^3 



i I, «; 2, 42; 3, 19; 7, 74; 

10, 43; ii 2, 28; A. P. 474 
compesco, i 2, 63 
compita, i i* 49 
concinnus, i 11, 2 
conducti, A. P. 431 
confestim, i i^i 
conscriptus, A. r. 314 
contractus, i 7, 12 
Corinthus, i 17, 36; ii i, 193 
comicula, i 3i 19 
corona, i 18, 53; A. P. 381 
coronari, c. acc i ii 50 
correctus, i 15, 37 
corvus, i 17, 50 
cotumi, A. P. 80 
Cratinus, i 18, i 
crepo, i7, 84; A. P. 247 
crocus, ii i, 79 
crudus, i 6, 61 
cubare, ii 2, 68 
cumera, i 7, 30 
cuminum, i 19, 18 
cupido, masc^ i i» 33 
curari, ii 2, 151 
curator, i i, 101 
Curii, i I, 64 
custodia, i i, 22 
cyclicus, A. P. 136 

dancing, A. P. 232 
dative of agent, i 18, 3 
Davus, A. P. 237 
delphis, A. P. 30 
Democritus, i 12, 12; ii i, 194 
detortus, A. P. 52 
dicere coUegam, i 20, 28 
<lif!usus, i 5) 4 
dignus, c. inf. A. P. 183 
dilucesco, i 4, 13 
•diludia, i 19, 47 
discolor, i 18, 4 
tlissignare, i 5, 16 
dissignator, i 7, 6 
distare, c. dat. i 18, 4 
Docilis, i 18, 19 
dominantia, A. P. 234 
domo (dat.), i 10, 13 



dormitat, A. P. 359 
Dossennus, ii i, 173 
ducere, ii 1, 75 ; (ilia) i i, 8 
duellum, i 2, 

ebur curule, i 6, 54 
echini, i 15, 23 
egeo, c. abl. i 10, 11 
eiections, i i, 43; 6, 53 
elegiac verse, A. P. 75 
elementa, i i, 27 
elimino, i 5, 25 
elms, used for vines, i 7, 84 
Empedocles, A. P. 463 
emungere, A. P. 238 
enectus, i 7, 87 
Ennius, i ip, 7; ii i, 50 fE 
Ephebus, ii i, 171 
Epicharmus, ii i, 58 
Epicurus, i 4, 16 
-drunt, in perf. ind. i 4, 7 
esseda, ii i, 192 
EutrapeluSj i 18, 31 
experiens, i 17, 42 
exterret, i 6, 1 1 

Fabia (tribus), i 6, 52 
facetus, i 6, 55 
faliere, i 17, 10 
famosus, i 19, 31 ; A. P. 469 
fanaticus, A. P. 454 
fatalis, ii i, 11 
Fauni, i 19, 4; A. P. 244 
fecundus, i 5, 19 
Ferentinum, i 17, 8 
feriae Latinae, i 7, 76 
ferre legem, ii i, 153 
Fescenninus, ii i, I45 
ficus, i 7, 5 
Fidenae, i ii, 8 
, filum, ii I, 225 
firmus, c. inf. i 17, 47 
foci, i 14, 2 
fodico, i 6, 51 
fomenta, i 2, 52 ; 3, 26 
forensis, A. P. 245 
forma, A. P. 307 
forum, i 16, 57 



424 



INDEX TO THE NOTES. 



frictus, A. P. 249 
frigidus, A. P. 465 
frigus coUigere, i ii, 13 
frons, i 9, 1 1 
frusta, i I, 78 
funem sequi, i 10, 48 
fures, i 6, 46 
fumi, i II, 19 
Fuscus, i 10 (ihtrod.) 

Gabii, i 11, 75 15, 9 
Gaetulus, ii 2, 181 
Garjgilius, i 6, 58 
genius, i 7, 94 ; ii i, 144'» *» ^87 
goat, sacrificed to Bacchus, A. 

P. 120 
Gracchus, ii 3, 89 
grammatici, A. P. 78 
grex, i 9, 13 

habenae, i 15, 11 
Hebrus, i 3, 2 
Helicon, ii i, 218 
Herodes, ii 2, 184 
hexameter, A. P. 74 
hirtus, i 3, 22 
hirundo, i 7, 13 
hoc age, i 6, 31 
honor, A. P. 400 
honoratus, A. P. 120 
hostis, i 15, 29 
humane, ii 2, 70 

iambus, A. P. 79, 252 f. 

larbitas, i 19, 15 

Iccius, i 12 (intr.) 

idem, c. dat. A. P. 467 

imbutus, i 2, 69 ; 6, 5 ; ii 2, 7 

imperor, i 5, 2 1 

importunus, i 6, 54 

improbus, i 7, 63 

imum, ad, i 18, 35; A..P. 126 

imus, A. P. 32 

imus lectus, i 18, 10 

in medio, i 12, 7 

inaniter, ii i, 211 

incolumis, A. P. 222 

indignum! i 6, 22 



indoctus, c. gen., A. P. 380 
inducere, A. P. 2 
infectus=undone, i 2, 60 
infinitive, substantival, i 8, i 
Ino, A. P. 123 
inservire, A. P. 167 
intercino, A. P. 194 
invideor, A. P. 56 
lo, A. P. 124 
Ixion, A. P. 124 

iam nunc, A. P. 43 

lanus, i i, 54; 20, i 

iecur, i 18, 7« 

iudex, i 16, 42 

iugis, i 15, 16 

lulius Florus, i 3 (introd.) ; ii 

2 (do.) 
iurandus, ii i, 16 
iurgia, ii 2, 171 
iuvenari, A. P. 246 

laeve, i 7, 52 

lama, i 13, 10 

Lamia, i 16, 6; A. P. 340 

lamna, i 15, 36 

lana caprina, i 18, 15 

lascivus, A. P. 107 

latus, i 7, 26 

Lavema, i 16, 60 

laws against comedy, A. P. 28^ 

Lebedus, i 11, 6 

lecti, i I, 91; 16, 76 

leges and iura, i 16, 41 

lemures, ii 2, 209 

Leonine verse, i 12, 25 

liber, c. gen. A. P. 212 

Liber, ii i, 5 

Libitina, ii i, 49 

librarius, A. P. 354 

libum, i 10, 10 

Licinus, A. P. 301 

limare, i 14, 38 

limites, ii 2, 171 

linea, i 16, 79 

litterulae, ii 2, 7 

Livius, ii i, 62 

loca, ii r, 223 



INDEX TO THE NOTES. 



425 



Lollius, i 1 (introd.) 
longus (spe), A. P. 172 
loqui, i 6, 19 
Lucanus, i 15, 31 
ludere, ii % 214 
ludicra, i i, 10; 6, 7 
lupini, i 7, 23 
lupus, ii 2, 28 
lympha, ii 2, 146 
Lynceus, i i, 28 

Maenius, i 15, 26 

inaereo, i 14, 7 

male, i 18, 3 

mancipatio, ii 2, 158 

mancipo, ii 2, 159 

Mandela, i 18, 105 

manes, ii i, 138 

mango, ii 2, 13 

manni, i 7, 77 

mariti, A. P. 398 

Maximus, i 2, i 

mediastinus, i 14, 14 

Menas, i 7, 54 

Messalla, A. P. 370 

meta, A. P. 412 

metalla, i 10, 39 

metempsychosis, i 12, 21 

miluus, i 16, 51 

Mimnermus, i 6, 65 ; ii 2, loi 

Minerva (invita), A. P. 385 

Minturnae, i 5, 5 

Minuci via, i 18, 20 

mirari, i 6, 9 

mollis, A. P. 33 

momenta, i 6, 4; 10, 16 

mdratus, A. P. 319 

moror nihil, i 15, 16; tempora, 

ii I, 4 
Moschus, i 5* 9 
Mucius, ii 2, 89 
mundus, i 4, ii 
murteta, i 15, 5 
Mutus, i 6, 22 

Naevius, ii it 53 
nebulones, i 2, 28 
nedum, A, P. 69 



nempe, 1 10, 22 

nenia, i i, 63; A. P. 431 

nepos, i 15, 36; ii 2, 193 

nervi, A. P. 26 

Nestor, i 2, 11 

nimio plus, i 10, 30 

nimirum, i 9, i; 14, 11; 15, 

42 ; ii 2, 141 
nitor, A. P. 280 
nomina, A. P. 234 
notus, c. inf. i 7, 56 
nudare, A. P. 221 
numen, ii i, 16 
numerato, ii 2, 166 
Numicius, i 6 (introd.) 

obscenus, ii i, 127 
occupo, i 7, 66 
officiosus, i 7, 8 
olim, i 10, 42 
Olympia, i i, 50 
omne holus, i 5, 2 
opella, i 7, 8 
opes, i 10, 36; ii 2, 136 
optivus, ii 2, loi 
ora, venturus in, i 3, 9 
Orbiiius, ii i, 71 
orichalcum, A. P. 202 
orientia tempora, ii i, 130 
Orpheus, A. P. 391 
Orthography: — 

aeneus, ii i, 248 

baca, i 16, 2 

causa, i 16, 43 

cenare, i 5, 2; A. P. 91 

coturnus, A. P. 80 

culilli, A. P. 434 

descriptus, A. P. 86 

elleborus, ii 2, 137 

eri, i i, 85 

holus, i 5, 2 

lagoena, ii 2, 134 

mercennarius, i 7i 67 

naviter, i i, 24 

navus, i 6, 20 

nenia, i i, 63 

obice, i 16, 02 

paulus, A. P. 378 



426 



INDEX TO THE NOTES. 



pilleolus, i 13, 15 
Prahates, i n, 37 
proicit, A. P. 97 
querella, A. P. 98 
scaena, i 6, 41; A. P. 179 
soUers, A. P. 407 
tempto, A. P. 121 
tus, i 14, «3 
vilicus, i 14, I 
Osiris, i 17, 60 

Pacuvius, ii i, 56 

paenula, i ii, 18 

palus, A. P. 65 

pannus, i 17, 25; A. P. 15 

Parthi, ii i, 112, 256 

parturio, A. P. 139 

paucus, A. P. 303 

pavor, i 6, 10 

pectus, i 4, 6 

recunia regina, i 6, 37 

Pedum, i 4, 2 

Peleus, A. P. 96 

Peliden, i 2, 12 

penetralia Vestae, ii 2, 114 

penus, i 16, 72 

perfect, of repeated action, i 

«. 48 
persona, A. P. 278 
personare, c. acc. i i, 7 
petorrita, ii 1, 192 
pexus, i I, 95 
Phaeax, i 15, 24 
Philippi, ii I, 234 
Philippus, i 7, 46 
piacula, i i, 36 
Pierius, A. P. 405 
pila, A. P. 380 
pilenta, ii i, 192 
pipes for water, i 10, 20 
pituita. i I, 108 
plagosus, ii i, 70 
planius, i 2, 4 
planus, i 17, 59 
platea, ii 2, 71 
plausor (see plosor) 
plaustrum, ii 2, 74 
Plautus, ii i, 58, 171 



plebecula, ii i, 186 

plosor, A. P. 154 

pol, i7,92 

pollex, 1 18, 60 

rompilius, A. P. 292 

pondera (trans.), i 0, 51 

pono, i I, 10; 7, 93; 16, 35; 

18, III ; A. P. 34, 422 
pontificum libri, ii i, 26 
popina, i 14, 21 
porcus, ii 1, 143 
porticus, i I, 71 
Portus lulius, A. P. 63 
posticum, i 5, 31 
potenter, A. P. 40 
praecanus, i 20, 24 
praeco, i 7, 56 
Praeneste (abl.), i 2, 2 
praesectus, A. P. 294 
praesens, i i, 69 
praetexta, A. P. 288 
prandere, c. acc. i 17, 13 
premere, i 19, 36 
Procne, A. P. 187 
procul, i 7, 32 
prodigialiter, A P. 29 
Propertius, ii 2, 9I 
Proteus, i I, 90 
prudens, ii 2, 18; A. P. 462 
pulmenta, i 18, 48 
pumice, i 20, 2 
punctum, ii 2, 99, 172 
Pupius, i I, 67 
purple, i 10, 26; 17, 30; ii r, 

207 
purpureus, A. P. 15 
Purria (not Pyrrhia), i 13, 14 
puteal, i 19, 9 
putre, i 10, 49 
Pythia, A. P. 414 
Pythias, A. P. 238 

quadam...tenus, i i, 32 
quadra, i 17, 4^ 
quaeris, c. inf. 11,3 
quamvis, c. ind. i 14,6; 17, i; 

quarta persona, A; P.- 192 



JNDEX TO THE NOTES. 



427 



Quinctius, i 16 (introd.) 
Quinquatrus, ii 2, 197 
Quintilius Varas, A. P. 438 
quisque, ii I, 28 
quo mihi, c. acc. i 5, 1 2 
quondam, i 18, 78 
quotus, i5, 30; ii i, 35 

rabidus, A. P. 393 
Ramnes, A. P. 343 
reddere, ii i, 216 
regius morbus, A. P. 453 
reprehendo, ii i| 76 
reptare, i 4, 4 
repulsa, i i, 43 
respicere, 1 1, 105 
responsare, i i, 68 
rex, i 7, 37 ; A. P. 434 
rhyming lines, ii i, 42 
ringi, ii 2, 128 
rixari, i 18, 15 
Roscia lex, i i, 62 
ructari, A. P. 457 
rudis, i i, 2 
rure (loc.), i 7, i 

Sabellus, i 16, 49 
Sabinum, i 16, 4 
saga, ii 2, 208 
sal, ii 2, 60 
salebrae, i i7f 53 
Salemum, i 15, i 
Saliare carmen, ii i, 86 
Samnites, ii 2, 97 
sane, ii 2, 64, 13» 
sapere, ^4,9 
Sardum mel, A. P. 375 
sartagratia, i 3, 31 
Saturnius, ii i, 158 
Scaeva, i 18 (introd.) 
scalae, ii 2, 15 
scitari, i 7, 60 
scrinia, ii i, 113 
scruta, i 7, 65 
scurra, i 15, 27 
secundus, i 10, 9 
securus, c. gen. ii 2, 17 
sedere, i 17, 37 



senium, i 18, 47 

September, i 16, 16 

Septimius, i 9 (introd.) 

Sextilis, i 7, 2 

siccus, i 17, 12 

Sidonius, i 10, 26 

sigilla, ii 2, 180 

Silenus, A. P. 239 

siliquae, ii I, 123 

silva (in a town), i 10, 23 

Silvanus, ii i, 143 

sincerus, i 2, 54 

sit omitted, i i, 10 

situs, ii 2, 118 

slaves, their value, ii 2, 6 

socius, ii I, 122 

Socraticae chartae, A. P. 310 

sodes, i I, 62; 16, 31 

sortes, A. P. 219, 403 

Sosii, i 20, 2 ; A. P. 345 

spatia, i 7, 42 

species, A. P. 25 

speciosus, ii 2, 116; A.P. 144, 

319 
spectatus, i i, a 
spes, i 6, 13 
sponsi, i 2, 28 
sponsor, i 16, 43 
sponsum, ii 2, 67 
Stertinius, i 12, 20 
stringere frondes, i 14, 28 
Suadela, i 6, 38 
sub, c. acc. i 16, 22 ; ii 2, 169; 

A.P. 302 
subinde, i 8, 15 
subucula, i I) 95 
succedere, i 17^ 37 
summa=ultima, i i, i 
super, ii i, 152; 2, 24; A. P. 

429 
supremo sole =s at sunset, 1 

5, 3 
sjrmphonia, A. P. 374 

tabema, i 14, 24 ; A. P. 229 
tabulae, ii 2, iio 
talus rectus, ii i, 1 76 
tanti est, A. P. 304 



428 



JNDEX TO THE NOTES. 



Tarentum, i i6, ii 

Taunis (Statilius), i 5, 4 

Teanum, i i, 86 

Telemachus, i 7, 40 

Telephus, A. P. 96 

Tellus, ii i, 143 

temetum, ii 2, 163 

templa, ii i, 6 

tempora, ii i, 4 

tenuis, A. P. 46 ; t. toga, i 14,32 

tepidus sol, i 20, 19 

tepor, i 18, 93 

tesqua, i 14, 19 

tessera, i i, 2 

testamenta, i 7, 9 

theatra, ii i, 60 

Thebanus, i 3» 13 

Thespis, A. P. 276 

Thessalian witches, ii 2, 209 

Thraca, i^, 3; 16, 13 

Thraex, i 1 8, 36 

Tiber (diverted), A. P. 67 

Tiberius, i 9, 4 

tibia, A. P. 202 

TibuUus, i 4 (introd.) 

Tibur, i 8, 12 

Titius, i 3, 9 

toga, i 18, 30 

tonsus, i 18, 7 

tornatus, A. P. 441 

Torquatus, i 5 (introd.) 

tradere, i 9, 3 

tragicus, A. P. 95 

tribulis, i 13, 15 

trutina, ii i} 30 

tunicatus, i 7, 65 

lyrtaeus, A. P. 402 

Ulixes, i 6, 63 
Ulubrae, i 11, 30 
umbra, i 7, 50 
umbrae, i 5, 28 



unctus, i 15, 44; 17» n 
urit, i 2, 13; uret, i 10, 43; 

13,6: cp. i 16,47; ii I, 13 
urtica, i 12, 8 
usus, ii 2, 119 
uti, *to associate with', i 

17, 2 
utrobique, i 6, 10 
utrum...an, ii 2, 199 

Vacuna, i 10, 49 

Vala, i 15 (introd.) 

Valerianus, ii 2, 26 

vanus, A. P. 7 

vaporo, i 16, 6 

Varia, i I4, 3 

Varius, ii i, 246 

vates, i 7, 1 1 ; ii I, 26 

vehemens, ii 2, 28, 120 

Veianius, i i, 4 

Veii, ii 2, 167 

Velia, i 15, I 

Velina (tribus), i 6, 5« 

venientes anni, A. P. 175 

vepris (its gender), i 16, 8, 9 

Vergilius, ii i, 245, 247 

Vertumnus, i 20, i 

verum, i 7, 98; 12, 23; 17, 

21 
viatica, ii 2, 26 
vicus, ii 2, 177 
viduus, i I, 78 
villas, i i.f j 'A 
Vinius, i 12 (iutrod.) 
vivaria, i i, 7y 
voces, i I, 34 
volpecula, i 7, 29 
volva, i 15, 4I 

Zethus, i 18, 40 
Zmyrna, i 11, 3 
zona, ii 2, 40 



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