Odes; a translation and an exposition by E.R. Garnsey

THE ODES OF HORACE

A TRANSLATION AND AN EXPOSITION

Quod curse ad opera Nostri intellegenda insumptge specimen, in
memoriam Caroli Badham gratissimam, ego, viri illius, et animo
et ingenio prsestantissimi, olim discipulus, dare volebam.

SYDNEY, ipsis Non. Dec. MCMVI.

h*

THE

ODES OF HORACE

A TRANSLATION

AND

AN EXPOSITION

BY

E. R. GARNSEY, B.A.

LONDON

SWAN SONNENSCHEIN & CO. LIM.

25 HIGH STREET, BLOOMSBURY, W.C.

1907

pfl

608073

PREFATORY NOTE

MY grateful thanks are due to T. Butler, Esq., and to
Dr F. A. Todd, respectively Professor of Latin and
Classical Lecturer in the University of Sydney, for their
interest in this work, and for the help their criticisms
have afforded ; also to J. Lee Pulling, Esq., of the Staff
of the Church of England Grammar School, North
Sydney, for his readiness at all times to give me the
benefit of his scholarship in the discussion of various
points arising in this inquiry. It need hardly be said
that these acknowledgments do not imply participation
in any heresies against the canon of traditional criticism
for which I may be thought responsible.

In conclusion I desire to acknowledge the courtesy
of Dr A. W. Verrall (Fellow of Trinity College, Cam-
bridge) in explaining by correspondence some points
with reference to his book on Horace about which I
was anxious for information.

CONTENTS

PAGE

INTRODUCTION ...... i

LIFE OF HORACE, BY SUETONIUS . . . . 73

ODES —

BOOK I. AND NOTES . . . -75

BOOK II. do. . . . .120

BOOK III. do. ..... 148

BOOK IV. — SPECIAL INTRODUCTION . . . 197

BOOK IV. AND NOTES .... 200

APPENDIX I. — NOTES ON THE CATALECTA VERGILII, Nos.

III., IV., V. . . . . . .224

APPENDIX II. — NOTES ON PERSIUS 228

THE ODES OF HORACE

INTRODUCTION

i . THE object of this work is to present the results of an investiga-
tion into the major problems that confront the reader of the
Odes of Horace. As a convenient frame for the volume, a literal
translation of the text is given, but although it appears, for a
reason hereafter indicated, in a form of blank verse (lege solutus),
it pretends to be no more than a mere transcript into English
of the sense, as I read it, of the original poems : to suggest their
literary grace is no part of its design.

2. On the interpretation of the Three Books, and their supple-
ment the Fourth, modern research has thrown, directly and
indirectly, some new light, of which a part will be found in this
Introduction, and the notes to the several odes, in conjunction
with some original criticism and propositions.

3. The work with which the discussion will be most largely
concerned is Dr A. W. Verrall's Studies in Horace (Macmillan,
1884). Quite apart from the question of assent to that eminent
scholar's conclusions, his book is most valuable as a lesson in
the proper method in which the interpretation of an ancient
author should be essayed. The best interpreter is he who can
mentally detach himself from his own times, and put himself
in imagination in the place of his author. To do this with success
in the case of Horace requires more historical knowledge, and a
greater acquaintance with his personal surroundings and the
events of his life, than are now accessible to us, and hence there
is room for error, and we must expect divergence of opinion ;
but the principle is sound, and the data that we do possess supply
large and interesting results.

4. In support of these remarks a quotation from Professor
Nettleship's article on Moritz Haupt (Essays in Latin Literature,
p. 19) may usefully be given -. — " Textual criticism is one great
branch of classical philology : the other is interpretation. On
interpretation Haupt had three main principles derived mainly
from Hermann's precept and practice . . . which he set out in the
form of paradoxes. The first was, ' Do not translate ; trans-
lation is the death of understanding.' The second was, ' Use no
technical terms of grammar.' The third was, ' Understand your
author not logically but psychologically.' None of these rules,
of course, were to be taken literally. With regard to trans-
lation Haupt meant apparently that although it was a good

2 THE ODES OF HORACE

exercise for enabling a schoolboy to master the construction of
sentences, it was no help to the riper student towards the real
understanding of an ancient author. This must be won by patient
study and analysis of the language. ' The first stage is to learn
to translate ; the second, to see that translation is impossible.'
I am not sure that I ... realise . . . the full extent of Haupt's
meaning on this point ; but I suppose that he intended to protest
against the idea that a ready translation, without previous
analysis of the meaning of the words, is always a sign that the
passage is understood. . . .

" The second rule was a protest against the use of technical
terms . . . without sufficient analysis of the individual case to
which they are applied. . . .

" The third requires a somewhat fuller explanation. ' Under-
stand your author not logically but psychologically ' was another
way of saying, ' explain your author historically, remember his
times and circumstances.' In other words remember that a
Greek writer did not think even the same thought precisely as a
Roman writer would have done, still less as a modern Englishman
or German would do : every nation has its nuances of thought
as well as language ; the language is the form or body in which
those nuances live and have their being. One cannot dwell
long on these points without lapsing into commonplace ; but it
would not be untrue to say that the need of the historical spirit
in interpretation has only recently begun to obtain general
recognition."

5. Dr VerralTs treatment of Horace is psychologic, and the
defect of a great deal of the voluminous criticism of that author
by editors, often of high scholastic abilities, is that it is not.

The last sentence of the passage quoted explains how it is that
after so much interest in Horace's works, there is yet room for
new discoveries and further elucidation, but the remarks on
translation are of a kind to make the citation of them here seem
somewhat maladroit. This impression, however, ought not, I
think, to outlast an intelligent consideration of Haupt's dictum,
and Professor Nettleship's explanation. For it is obvious that
we must learn to translate, and it is also obvious that everyone
cannot be a ripe scholar, though he may have the capacity and
the wish to learn the nature of the ancient writer's contribution
to literature. However impossible perfect translation, some must
make shift with the nearest equivalent.

6. No one is better able to grasp the point of Haupt's paradox
than he who tries to translate the Odes of Horace. Their effect
as poems is inseparable from themselves, and it is possible to
translate them in a manner which may give their actual meaning
very little chance of survival. To select out of several alternative
renderings the one which really conveys the purport of the original
is sometimes a question of the utmost nicety. Their substance
may be moulded into verse in another language, but never can

INTRODUCTION 3

be straitened to strict rules of prosody and rhyme without
frequent departures from the text. In so far as these departures'
are made, the quality of translation is lost, and paraphrase soon
leads us out of the true region of the poet's thought.

7. The foregoing remarks are concerned chiefly with the diffi-
culties of rendering sense, but a few words may be added on the
question of form. In good metrical translations, with the usual
accompaniment of rhyme, such as those of Conington and
Calverley, a certain correspondence of effect is always aimed at ;
as for instance, in the arrangement of pauses, preservation of
balance, suggestion of alliteration, etc. : still, ingenuities of this
kind hardly do more than emphasise the vital diiference of the
original from the derived pieces: They mark progressions in art,
but the line on which they move, like an asymptote to a curve,
can never meet that which it approaches.

Translations of poems, though not in verse, may however be
poetical, as the Scriptures show us. Prose need not be prosaic,
and its rhythms are more elastic than those of prosody, while it
is unburdened by metrical exigencies. If it loses correspondence
in form, it may gain in accuracy and completeness. To this
class belong some of the versions of Horace already extant in
English.

8. The present rendering, in metre but without rhyme or a
set scheme of prosody, differs in method from either of those above
mentioned. It is not an attempt to imitate the form, or suggest
the " flavour " of the original. The style was merely adopted
because on the whole it seemed to admit of a closer rendering
than was possible even in prose. The reader will see that adher-
ence to the " nuance " of thought agreeable to the Latin mind, has
often been preferred to the course of making a change to something
more congenial to the English ear. The desire for fidelity has
been the cause of this, and the risk of uncouthness has been faced
in preference to any conscious disturbance of the sense.

9. Many passages occur in the original which are open to more
than one construction. The " peculiar habit '-'- mentioned by
Conington as common to Vergil and Sophocles of " hinting at
two or three modes of expression while actually employing one,"
is by no means confined to those authors. It is also a distinct
feature of Horace's style, but whether it is capable of reproduction,
is doubtful. Professor Conington thought that it could only be
done, in the cases cited by him, by another Vergil or Sophocles,
but even supposing (for the sake of argument merely) that this
is putting the case too high, it is clear that its accomplishment is
feasible only on an appreciation of the author's precise intend-
ment, or his precise attitude towards his subject. At the
present time this cannot be assumed of the whole of Horace's
lyrics, but criticism may advance further than it has yet gone, and
a patient examination of the language and the topics is the course
most likely to lead to that desired end.

4 THE ODES OF HORACE

The remark of Suetonius that obscurity is no feature of Horace's
style is true as regards grammatical construction only. His in^-
most thought is not always explicitly revealed. The two things
are not at all inconsistent : we have a similar example of them in
Euripides (see Paley's Preface). Sometimes the doubt as to
the poet's exact meaning arises from our loss of the clue to the
allusion, sometimes it is a result of his deliberate intention. Where
any such doubt exists, we should recognise the need for care in
our judgment of his work.

10. All Horace's writings are in verse, but he himself divides
them into two classes, and only claims the distinction of " poetry "
for one. The Satires and Epistles he calls " Sermones " (dis-
courses), in which though the form is metrical, the language is that
of prose : his lyrics constitute the other class. By far the most
interesting of these are the four books of Odes, of which the first
three were given to the world some years before the fourth.
Concerning the origin of Book IV. we have some definite informa-
tion. It was compiled at the request of Augustus who had asked
Horace to commemorate the exploits of his step-sons, Tiberius
and Drusus. The commission was carried out in a way that is
instructive. The " State " Odes do not stand alone ; they are set
among others, with an eye to the general effect. The poet takes
advantage of the occasion to return to the topics treated in his
former work, and thus, in a way, makes his Fourth Book assume
the position of a sequel to the first three. It shows signs of careful
arrangement, as Mr Wickham notices.

Now in the light of this explicit information as to the main
purpose of the latest book, we may feel justified in supposing that
the principles of art employed in shaping it may possibly appear
in analogous works by the same hand.

1 1 . To decide whether the Three Books, on reading them as a
whole, present to us a work " teres atque rotundus," having a
system and a theme, is a question of evidence, internal in the
Odes themselves, external in the historic records of the times and
topics concerned. This evidence is not as ample as could be
wished, but at what there is, it is worth while to look closely,
for the problem is one of the greatest literary interest, and it may
be that progress will be made by resubmitting to inquiry many
points usually regarded as settled, or at least, treated by some
editors as if they were unlikely to yield any results to renewed
examination. It is possible that this attitude of mind makes for
the perpetuation of certain errors in interpretation that are
capable of being corrected.

12. Whether the Three Books form a work meant to be read
thus — an ordered and progressive work, the motive of which is
recoverable, will, therefore, be considered in this Introduction ;
but before going further, a few words on their probable mode of
publication will be advisable. The Romans gave their literary
productions to the world occasionally on parchment, but more

INTRODUCTION 5

commonly on paper rolls which were exposed for sale. The prices
were low, and it is improbable that the author received much (if
any) profit from the proceeds. The servants of the booksellers
multiplied the copies. Literary labours were not unproductive,
but the rewards came from other sources. Patrons valued highly
the fame and notice they gained from the connection of their names
with popular books, and Horace's benefactor and friend, Maecenas,
was the prince of all such men. Besides this, the great value of
letters as an educational factor in politics was fully recognised.

13. Publication was also made by recitation. Horace himself
alludes to this practice, and tells us that he only followed it to
the extent of reciting in private to his friends. It will be seen
therefore that a piece, such as a satire or an ode, might become
known through recitation or private circulation first, and then by
its inclusion in a book, published perhaps long after its compos-
tion (cf. e.g. IV. 12).

14. In his playful address to the first collection of Epistles,
Horace twits his book for its longing glance at the stall of the
booksellers, and says, " You object to being shown only to a few
people, and wish for a larger circulation ; I did not imbue you
with such sentiments, and you will come to see that I was right. "

From this and other expressions in the Odes, Satires and
Epistles, we infer that Horace held the opinion that literature in
the hands of those not qualified to read it, not only lost value, but
became positively mischievous (see II. 13, 29, II. 16, 39, III. i,
i, and Sat. I. 4). We may suppose him then in this attitude ; for
some reasons he wished to publish his lyrics, for others he would
have preferred to limit the circle of his hearers to those chosen
by himself : for the sake of enlarging the scope of his message,
and for the perpetuation of his fame, he resorts to publication, but
he tells us plainly enough that it influences his style. He hates
the outer crowd, and he keeps it at arm's length (see Appendix II.).
It will not be out of place to quote here Professor Sellar's words
on the publication of the Odes (Roman Poets of the Augustan
Age : Horace, p. 141, 2nd. Ed.). " It is uncertain whether any
of the Odes were in any way published at the time of their com-
position. And if so, what was the mode of their publication. ... It
is natural to suppose that the Odes addressed to individuals should
have been sent to them, and should thus have obtained some
currency before they were published collectively. It is possible
also that there may have been some partial publication of some
collection of his Odes before the completion of the three books.
But the Epilogue, when compared with the Prologue, shows that
these three books were finally published as a collective whole, and
were so regarded by the poet. They were so arranged also as to
give a different character to each of the three books, and to make
them representative of the earlier, middle and mature period of
his lyrical activity.'1

There is no evidence, either internal or external, of any such

6 THE ODES OF HORACE

partial publication as is here mentioned and, considering the de-
duction which Professor Sellar makes from the words of the
Epilogue and the Prologue, partial publication becomes very im-
probable. The last sentence of our quotation from Professor
Sellar's work is true in fact, but if it means that the several odes
are arranged — speaking generally — to indicate any order of com-
position, we dissent from it. We believe this to be the true view :
— that the appearance of odes written in Horace's earlier manner
in the first book, is rather a consequence of the scheme of arrange-
ment than the cause of it. The valuable remark made by so high
an authority as Sellar, that the Odes were regarded by the poet
as a " collective whole '- should not pass unnoticed. It implies a
vital principle of interpretation, too much overlooked in the past,
and neglected at the cost of critical and interpretative error.

15. The chief features of Horace's style to which we wish to call
attention are its poetic symbolism, its " irony,'' in the Greek
sense, its allusiveness, and that quality which is so often
described, in Petronius' words, as his " curiosa felicitas." The
charm of his form has never failed to impress ; the depth of his
matter has not been so widely perceived ; for one reason, because
Horace's surface is a perfect thing in itself (where corruption has
not crept in), and there is often no hint to the casual reader of
the second current of thought that may be running under it.
I believe Horace to have written for two audiences, the world
generally, and his own intimates. His message to the latter is
much more interesting than that which he gives to the former,
but it is masked. He expresses himself in generalities, intending
that the particular application shall be made by those who hold
the necessary clue to his meaning, but that the outer crowd
whom he dislikes, shall not have anything too explicitly from his
lips. To write, in the time of Horace, of contemporary events
and persons was as delicate a proceeding as walking on ashes with
the fires below them still alive, as he himself says. The period
was one of the greatest crises in history. The old landmarks were
shifting. Republican Rome, able first to resist then to master the
world, had outgrown its constitution. The senatorial oligarchy,
into which the wider republicanism of theory had developed, had
been recognised since the days of the Gracchi as an oppression.
For a century it had contrived to resist reform and to crush
reformers, but it grew feebler with each attack. Julius Caesar at
last dealt it a death's blow, only however to receive his own. Now
the time was come for the final revolution, consummated under
Augustus.

Horace, though his youthful sympathies linked him with the
party of Brutus, soon came to see that their cause was hopeless,
and that the best thing for the Roman people was to accept the
inevitable, and submit to a single ruler. Thus only could peace
and a happy modus vivendi for the general mass of the citizens be
obtained.

INTRODUCTION 7

1 6. He was no doubt settled in this view by his intercourse with
Maecenas, who was not only his protector, but his closest friend^
This friendship was brought about by Vergil (cf. Sat; I. 6, 55).
Maecenas and Vergil are the two men with whom, in Horace's own
words, he " divides his soul " (I. 3, 8, II. 17, 5). Their aims
and objects were apparently in complete accord. Maecenas was
probably the auther of the policy adopted by Augustus, and
practically his prime minister for many years, and Horace's
political creed was the same with that of his patron. It was also
Vergil's, and each poet employed his literary talents to the full in
its support. One has only to study Horace's political and social
pieces, and to read the ^Eneid in its allegorical significance, to see
that the lesson of the epic is on a parallel with that of the Odes.
I find this shortly, and well explained in the Vita Vergilii prefixed
to the Parisian Edition of Heyne's Vergil (1824), from which the
following extract is taken. Speaking of the ^Eneid, and of the
Civil War, the author says : — " Augustus gained control of affairs
without a rival, but not without envy : he was no longer assailed
by open hostility but by underhand means ; conspiracies against
his life broke out, and the liberty of Rome, now lying at the point
of death, but, like a strong man, breathing menace with its last
gasp, was wrestling with the conqueror. It was Vergil's purpose
to calm these heated feelings, and so gently to handle the Roman
mind, sore as it was and enfeebled by recent injury, that sub-
mission should be made to the rule of Augustus with equanimity.

" And his intention was not only to influence the hearts of the
Romans to love their Princeps, but he also desired to impress on
his mind those virtues which make a ruler most acceptable —
Augustus being placed in an exalted and critical position, and
being surrounded on one side by hatred, and on the other by
flattery, had a double danger before him with regard respectively
to those opposed and those subservient to him ; lest through
resentment he should be driven to cruelty by the former, and by
the latter to arrogance through demoralisation of his character.
That the Princeps might take no injury from either cause, Vergil
applied himself to the excision of those defects which are commonly
found in connection with newly acquired power, viz : — pride,
forgetfulness of self and of the gods, rancorous party spirit, and
bitter remembrance of wrongs.

" Accordingly the poet, not thinking of his own glory alone, but
as the servant of the people and the prince, made this the under-
lying sentiment of his poem : — first, that the gods always preserve
those whom they charge with the initiation of great achievements
— in order that he might thus quell hostility to the prince ; and
secondly, that they generally bring disaster upon tyrants and
those who rule without mercy — in order that Augustus might be
conspicuous for his clemency to the Romans, and for his mastery
of himself in the exercise of unlimited power."-

17. The fifty-second book of Dio Cassius, which deals with B.C.

8 THE ODES OF HORACE

29, not long before Octavian took the title of Augustus, consists
of a report of speeches, by Agrippa and Maecenas respectively, to
Augustus on the expediency of his assumption of supreme power.
We do not know what authority Dio is following, and the report
must be largely concocted, but it is evident that the speeches sum
up general opinions on the point sufficiently close to the period
to be of value, and if we may suppose that a f autor of imperialism
and an opponent of it might then respectively have represented
the views of different parties in the way reported, it matters
little whether the historian's circumstantiality is accurate. To
quote a remark of Mr Edmund Gosse, " tradition, if it does not
give us truth of fact, gives us what is often at least as valuable,
truth of impression." In the biographical memoranda compiled
by Donatus, Vergil is mentioned as a sort of referee in the dis-
cussion ; * a natural imagination considering his position in the
Emperor's favour, and in literature.

The momentous step is opposed by Agrippa and advocated by
Maecenas in these speeches, and the arguments adduced have
special interest for the student of Horace. The precepts of
morality and of public policy in his works are paralleled in the
oration put into the mouth of Maecenas. Space forbids more than
a glance at this, but as an example it may be mentioned that
measures for good government are recommended which may
enable honour to be conferred on the worthy without exciting
envy, and the bad to be visited with punishment without civil
disturbance (cf. notes on III. 24, and references infra) ; by which
also the Roman people may enjoy their property free from in-
ternal strife, and without cause for alarm from wars abroad.

1 8. A second illustration may be useful as a hint to the true
meaning of Horace's apotheosis of Augustus which, in modern
times, has often been attributed solely to the desire to flatter.
This is too narrow a view — Horace's motives may have been politic,
but they were not those of the fawner — all the facts show that
he was personally punctilious in asserting his independence.
Within certain bounds he claimed the right to freedom of thought
and action, but circumstances had forced on him the belief that
the man who could was the man who should, and, Augustus
being that man, he did not scruple to proclaim his power as a
gift from Heaven.

Horace's use of the names of the gods as controllers of affairs,
is everywhere symbolic, and in addition to the mythic family
group of heaven, he, with Cicero and Vergil (see Sellar, Vergil,
p. 332), makes a great deal of those supernatural abstractions
connected in the Roman mind with the names Fata, Fors or

1 That Dio was following a tradition in his report, is clear from the
fact that the debate is mentioned by Suetonius in the Life of Augustus,
as well as in the Donatian compilation, in which modern critics believe
that some fragments of Suetonius' lost Life of Vergil are preserved.
Concerning its proper use by the historian and critic, see Sellar' s
Horace, and Firth's Augustus Caesar.

INTRODUCTION 9

Fortuna, Necessitas, etc., which point to a conception of powers
outside humanity of a spiritual rather than an anthropomorphic^
kind. What we should call his " religion '•* was based on this
conception, and his belief was that the morale of his race depended
on its general recognition. So far as the order and government
of the State was concerned, Augustus was the earthly embodiment
of these powers. Madmen like Caligula or Nero were unknown
monstrosities of the future, and Augustus, however stern his
methods in the early days of his fight for supremacy, was a
blessing to Rome while he lived. He accepted divine honours
for a precisely similar reason with that for which Vergil and
Horace attributed them to him, viz. because the assumption
would increase his useful influence over his subjects.

In his speech Maecenas is reported to have urged Augustus not
to erect temples and images of himself in gold and silver, but to
build them up in men's minds, that no man was ever transformed
into a god by the votes of other men, but that if he were to rule
with justice, the whole world would be his temple and all men
his image, for in their hearts his honour would have its dwelling-
place. The true way to immortality was to worship the gods in
the manner of his fathers, and to see that his people did the same
(see Dio, LII. 15, 35)-

19. All of which shows that the editor of Maecenas' oration was
taking his cue from history, as he has faithfuly represented the
Emperor's actual policy. Augustus had no objection to be
deified in men's hearts, and none to the cultus of himself per se.
He allowed it at once in the provinces (see Mommsen, Provinces
of the Empire, p. 345) but he was characteristically cautious
about its introduction into Italy. There he stood forth as the
champion of the traditional faith, and attached great importance
to the influence of that faith on the Roman character, and, in spite
of his assumption of a title which indicated that he was above
other men, he at first kept his " divinity " and his humanity
distinct, and forbade direct worship of himself, until long after
he had acquired supreme power. The works of both Vergil and
Horace do more than support this position, they favour the
advance upon it that was actually made. The ^Eneid established
the divine pedigree of the Julian race, and Horace has several
references to it (cf. inter alia, IV. 5,1, IV. 15, 32), and in such
passages as III. 3, n, III. 5, 2, IV. 5, 31, he recognises the
peculiar divinity of the monarch ; but it does not follow that
the authors were solely prompted by a desire to flatter Augustus
—their object may rather have been, appreciating as they did the
benefit of his rule, to spur him, and to " educate " the people.

The Emperor is likened in the Odes, first to " Maia's gentle
son," twice at least to Apollo, and afterwards to Jove, and it
is probable that he is also contemplated in a reference to the
exploits of Bacchus in II. 19, etc. Dr Verrall infers that the
" Delius et Patareus Apollo " of III. 4, 64, is" an allusion to

io THE ODES OF HORACE

Tiberius as the prosecutor of the conspirators in an assassination
plot directed against Augustus, of which we shall hear more here-
after.

20. In the light of these facts, it is not surprising that the first
three Odes in the Three Books are addressed respectively to
Maecenas, Augustus and Vergil. The collection itself, we are told
in the epilogue, is a monumentum, that is, a work to preserve
the remembrance of something, which the author inscribes to
Maecenas, and lays as a tribute at the feet of Melpomene, the Muse
of Tragedy, the mistress of those impelled to sing the songs of
grief (III. 30, I. 24).

21. That Horace is one of the immortals none deny. That his
carmina — attention is here confined to the Three Books — are
anything more than detached lyrics, written at different times and
on various subjects, few admit ; while the notion that the term
" tragic '•'- is a suitable description of them seems to many com-
mentators so untenable that they tell us that Horace makes no
discrimination between the names of the Muses. To apply a
remark of Dr VerralTs, criticism of the latter kind is only a bad
way of saying that we do not understand our author. If there
was one thing that Horace did not do, it was to use names or
words ineptly, and his meaning in his invocation of the Muses is
generally transparent : for instance, when referring to the art
of writing lyrics, he mentions Euterpe and Polyhymnia (I. i) ; in
a historical poem he appeals to Clio (the Muse of Panegyric, and
of History, I. 12); in a pathetic one, the lament for Quintilius,
to Melpomene (I. 24) ; in the ode where the note of sublimity is
longest sustained, one of that great group which seems to form
the apex or crown of the structure before us (regalique situ
pyramidum altius\ he invites Calliope, the Muses' queen, to
descend from heaven to his aid (III. 4).

22. This point is fully treated by Dr Verrall in the first essay
of his book, to which the reader is referred. Those who argue
against it must face the risk of transforming Horace, one of the
greatest artists in expression known to literature, into an early
example of the " Laura Matilda " school, satirised by an English
namesake of his own in the Rejected Addresses. The conclusion
that because Horace speaks of Augustus as typifying different
deities he therefore makes no distinction between the gods, is
not drawn by anyone, but it would be quite as reasonable as that
deduced from his references to the Muses. It is our business
therefore to find out what function the Muse of Tragedy has here,
and the invocation of her (referred to again in the Fourth Book)
leads us to look for subjects that inspire grief, pity and awe.

" Pathos and sublimity,"- says Dr Verrall, " and before all,
pathos, are the gifts of Melpomene, and if Horace is occasionally
sublime, it is a commonplace of Horatian criticism that he is not
usually pathetic."

Whether this verdict is correct is certainly an interesting

INTRODUCTION n

problem, though on first impression it would seem impossible
that in an author so well thumbed as Horace any quality of his*'
work could have escaped notice ; but the answer to this may be
contained in Professor Nettleship's statement quoted above, that
the " need of the historical spirit in interpretation has only
recently begun to obtain general recognition." x

23. Had the true date of the publication of the Three Books to
the world not been left in doubt, it is probable that the obscurity
in which Horace has deliberately veiled much of his poetic inten-
tion would have long ago been pierced ; but that date has not
been given to us, and efforts to discover it have led to the general
acceptance of the year A.U.C. 731, or B.C. 23, as the right one.
To an open mind the arguments for this date are not only un-
convincing but are severally answerable. The commonest of all
is the " Marcellus " argument. Marcellus, the Emperor's nephew,
son-in-law, and presumptive heir, died in B.C. 23, and it is con-
tended that the reference to the Marcelli, and the star or constella-
tion of the Julian line, in I. 12, points to him being alive when
that Ode was written, and also alive when the collection of the
Three Books was given to the world. The two things are quite
distinct, and no one is absolutely forced to deny that Marcellus
was not dead when Horace first penned the lines, but to press on
to the conclusion that the whole collection cannot be later than
B.C. 23 because he would not have given them to the world in their
original form if, in the interval between the writing and the final
collection, Marcellus had died, is at best only an assumption.

The poem would be known to Maecenas and to the intimate
friends to whom Horace was wont to recite, and almost certainly
to the Emperor. Why should it be altered ? Readers of the
Book would understand the position, and it would not be true,
or complimentary to Augustus, to say that because one of its
afnnitive lights was gone the whole Julian constellation had
ceased to shine.

24. This argument will hold even if we regard the Three Books
as a collection without plan or order. If, on the other hand, we
find evidence of systematic arrangement, part of which is that
the public or national odes follow historic chronology, then for
the bearing of that fact on the interpretation of this passage due
allowance must be made. If we see reason to conclude that I. 12
commemorates the battle of Naulochus in B.C. 36, its date in the
historic sequence would fall long before the marriage of Marcellus
with Julia — in fact, when the young bridegroom was about five
years old. It is obvious therefore that if Augustus' triumph at
Naulochus is in any way connected with I. 12, and also if the

1 For an examination of the question whether definite provinces
and functions are assigned by Roman poets to the various Muses,
see the treatise De Musis in Carminibus poetarum Romanorum
commemoratis (lenae. Typis Nevenhahni 1903) by Dr F. A. Todd,
of Sydney and Jena Universities.

12 THE ODES OF HORACE

mention of the name Marcellus in close collocation with the Julian
constellation is accounted for by the relation in which the young
scion of that stock once stood to the Emperor, as by common
consent it is, then the composition of the Ode, or at any rate the
form in which it was published, is of a much later date than
B.C. 36. The reasons for the association of the poem with Nau-
lochus will be referred to subsequently. Assuming it for the
moment, the consequence is important in this respect, that it
shows us that the odes containing references to contemporaneous
history are not necessarily to be regarded as having been written
at or near the time of happening of those events. When engaged
in the composition of a poem, Horace may have been separated
by a long interval from the events he alludes to therein. This is so
obvious that it would be hardly worth mentioning were there
not so much confusion on the matter in the commentaries. It is
often assumed that when we perceive the drift of Horace's allusions
to historic events which occurred in his lifetime, we have all the
necessary data for saying when a particular ode was written.
The fact that we have not has a large effect on the proper inter-
pretation of the poet's meaning.

25. As to the bearing of stanza twelve on the date of publica-
tion of the Three Books, the following extracts from Verrall's
Studies in Horace may be given. He says (p. 96) " The descrip-
tion of the glories of the name of Marcellus ' growing like a tree
whose time is hid ' is carefully worded so as to admit an ominous
interpretation. . . . The juxtaposition of Marcellus and Julius
foreshadows of course the subsequent marriage which like
our own ' Marriage of the Roses ' furthered the union of the two
great parties (M. Claudius Marcellus, the grandfather of Augustus'
son-in-law, had been one of the most prominent of the constitu-
tional party in the Civil War between Julius Caesar and Pompeius),
but was dissolved, with all the hopes which rested on it, by the hand
of death before the collection was published." And at p. 60 : — "I
take this opportunity of touching on the absence from the Odes
of any reference to the death of Marcellus. From this and the
occurrence of the name in I. 12, 46, it has been argued that the
Odes were completed before 23. Of course if this Essay has any
meaning this is no more possible than that Samson Agonistes, for
example, was published before the Restoration, or the Divina
Commedia before the exile of Dante. Assuming the later date
(B.C. 20-19), is there anything surprising in the treatment of
Marcellus ? As for the supposed difficulty of I. 12, 46 I confess
that I can see nothing in it. It is an allusion of the vaguest kind.
Among names and families great in Roman History occurs that
of Marcellus. The direct reference is not to the young heir, but
to his great ancestors, especially the victor of Syracuse. Cf.
Prop. IV. 1 8, 33, and see Pliiss, Hor. Stud, p. 106. No doubt
the juxtaposition of the names Marcellus and Julius has signifi-
cance, but the ostensible date of the poem is long before the death.

INTRODUCTION 13

In a poem on the prospects of Rome, assuming to date from that
time, some notice of the heir was almost necessary ; the lighter*'
the touch the better, and Horace's touch is the lightest possible.
Why the subject is not taken up again, why there is in Book III. no
' dirge ' such as Mr Wickham thinks might be expected from the
author of I. 24, is a more interesting question, but like most
literary questions of this negative kind admits no certain answer.
Perhaps the simplest and truest would be that Horace did not
think he could do better than Vergil and Propertius, and did not
care to do worse. And another consideration — Vergil was,
certainly after 29, the personal friend and intimate of the im-
perial family : Propertius had at least no Philippi in his past ;
Horace, it must be again observed, rather avoided the friendship
of Augustus, even when (after the Odes and first Book of Epistles)
it was almost forced upon him, and lived in connection with a
party whose devotion to the Emperor (so far as it existed) was
purely political. Before 19 Marcellus' place had been supplied,
in the political sense, by the birth of Augustus' grandson (see III.
25). Under all these circumstances a ' golden silence ' is far from
inexplicable. And on the other hand, we might surely ask with
at least equal force, how, if the Odes were published at a time
when Marcellus was the ' cynosure ' of every eye — how it is that
the allusion of I. 1 2, 46 is all that Horace gives him ? "

26. On this subject we may also ask permission to quote from
the learned writer's remarks on III. 14 (p. 161, ibid.}, which
concerns the Emperor's return to Rome, in B.C. 24, from the
Cantabrian war. " Why no word of the Emperor's daughter and
his sister's son ? It was said before that the silence of the
Odes on this subject (if we except one faint allusion) has been
made an argument for placing the publication before Marcellus'
death. Arguments from silence are commonly double-edged, and
this one is sharp on the wrong side. Marcellus and Julia were
married in 25, Agrippa filling the place of the absent father at the
festivities in Rome. What could induce anyone describing the
meeting of the family in the next year, and publishing that de-
scription before Marcellus' death, to omit the chief figures of the
picture ; or if it was to be done, why make the absence so
conspicuous by introducing the bridegroom's mother, the soror clari
ducis, who appears here only in the work ? The first three stanzas
seemed planned to force the name of Marcellus upon the lips, yet
it does not come. But the ' mute shadow ' is there, one of the
many ghosts which flit in the polished chambers of the Odes."

27. This criticism of the position of those who claim to date
the Three Books before 23 on account of their treatment of
Marcellus, sufficiently reveals the inadequacy of that considera-
tion as a guide to us. The last extract from Dr Verrall's work
contains an argument against their contention which is quite as
strong as anything that can be put forward in favour of it, and
the safest conclusion is that if we cannot discover the date of

14 THE ODES OF HORACE

publication without reference to I. 12, 46, we cannot use that
passage as supplying material for any certain answer to the
question ; £/. footnote to § 78, infra.

28. A second argument cited in support of the view that B.C.
23 is the latest year possible for the publication of the Three
Books, brings us into the region of the " tragedy," of which we
are in search.

The relations existing between Horace and Maecenas have been
already described. Remembrance of them must never leave the
mind of the interpreter of the Three Books, for they seem to be
the psychologic key to their meaning. The poet has not left us
without means of ascertaining them, and a study of his expres-
sions shows that his feelings for his patron were those not only
of respect and gratitude, but also of that personal attachment
and sympathy which far transcends friendship, and of which the
poetic temperament is peculiarly susceptible.

29. Maecenas, though holding no formal office, was a man of
affairs, for long in the closest confidence of the Emperor, and
entrusted by him with the most delicate and difficult com-
missions ; who from the outset of Augustus' career had worked
loyally in his service, becoming in all but name a minister of
State in charge of home affairs, and acting as the Emperor's vice-
gerent at Rome during his absences. His only peer in the earlier
esteem of Augustus was Agrippa, whose talents found better
scope in the ordeals of war than in administration.

30. Now when history tells us that shortly after the death of
Marcellus, society at Rome was convulsed by the discovery of a
plot to assassinate Augustus ; tells us too that Licinius Murena,
one of the men denounced as a conspirator and publicly pro-
secuted by Tiberius, the Emperor's youthful step-son (Suet.
Tib. 8) was a near relative (either brother or first cousin) of the
wife of the great minister ; that the latter had not been the
discoverer of the nefarious plan, but had received information of
it from the Emperor himself ; that he had imparted to his wife
his knowledge of what he should have regarded as the most
inviolable of State secrets ; that in consequence of this betrayal
of trust Murena seems to have learned his danger and fled, though
he was afterwards captured and executed ; and that the indis-
cretion of Maecenas caused him to lose the confidence of his
master : it is natural to look for allusions to events of such serious
importance in a book of poems dedicated to Maecenas by his
closest friend. Not to find them, considering the genre of the
Odes, would be so significant that it would be a fair argument to
say that the publication must have preceded the plot.

31. It is said : but one answer is that we do find in the Three
Books a possible reflection of the position, both on a general
view and an examination in detail. By prologue and epilogue
they are linked in closest association with Maecenas, and if, while
reading the collection as a whole, we direct our thoughts to his

INTRODUCTION 15

plight after the injury to the confidence formerly subsisting
between him and the Emperor, we shall find that his poet-friend *
has written most appropriately to the occasion. The scope of
Horace's lyrical work, here collected and moulded into formal
shape as a monumentum, was not limited to doing this, but it
may be fairly argued, from the evidence internal and external,
that it came ultimately to embrace it. The reader who consults
the notes to the translations of the several odes infra, will find
many passages which may be taken to refer to the situation
created by the events of B.C. 22, the concatenation of which is a
trait so remarkable that it would appear to exclude any theory
of mere accident. Later on in this Introduction he will also
find corroborative evidence derived from other sources than
the Odes themselves.

32. Horace's allusions, as would be expected in so delicate a
case, are carefully worded. His sympathies would certainly be
with Maecenas. It is probable that he thought the Emperor's
treatment of him undeserved. It is possible that he knew that
Murena, though he had given Augustus just cause of resentment,
was not guilty of the precise crime that was charged publicly
against him, as will be explained below. But he was a man of
the soundest sense. His whole career, and the whole tenor of
his writings, show that where his head and his heart were at
variance, sentiment was suppressed in favour of reason. If it
was his wish to defend Maecenas, he would be likely to walk
circumspectly lest the cause of his patron should be injured by
his advocacy. If it was his desire to console him, he would be
astute not to use words that might give offence to the ruler, of
whose authority they were both supporters. His vehicle, too,
was poetry not rhetoric, or the narrative of history, which
would demand more explicitness.

It should be remembered that there was no manifestation
immediately, so far as we know, of any change in Augustus'
feelings towards Maecenas. Having no formal office to lose, he
could really fall from a footing of the highest influence with the
Emperor without a public disclosure of the fact.

Attention was directed to the matter in B.C. 16, when on the
revival of the office, Statilius Taurus was appointed Prefect of
the City. The " tale-makers "- of the period (AoyoTrotoi), according
to Dio, were then concerned to find the reason why Maecenas had
not been appointed to this office, and, after the manner of such
people, discovered that there was an estrangement between
Augustus and Maecenas on account of adultery between the Em-
peror and the wife of the minister. Suetonius, however, says
nothing about this, which is almost sufficient to disprove it.
He does say in general terms that Augustus' friends did not deny
that he had been guilty of adultery. But as Verrall remarks :
" After this anyone who has studied the • Lives of the Caesars '
might wager that if there was specific proof against Terentia,

16 THE ODES OF HORACE

Suetonius could not find it. For earlier scandals about Octavian
he cites his authority — the Letters of Antonius ! " It happens,
however, that Suetonius has preserved a remark of the Emperor
which throws fuller light on the point : he says he sometimes
expressed his regret that Maecenas had not command over his
tongue — a statement justified in terms by the allegation that he
had betrayed to his wife the secret of the discovery of this parti-
cular plot. (Suet. Aug. 66.)

33. This gives us the far more probable reason for the loss of
the sovereign's confidence. As Verrall points out, "Maecenas'
real importance as a counsellor was a question not of status but
of confidence, and the breach of confidence occurred in 22." That
the estrangement and the establishment of the prefecture of the
city were not connected, is proved by the fact that the office had
been first created in B.C. 25, and Messalla Corvinus appointed,
who, however, relinquished it immediately as " unconstitu-
tional " (incivilis). From a sentence in Tacitus we see that
Maecenas unquestionably lost the favour of his master, and that
the person who really stepped into his shoes was that rich and
luxurious, but able, Sallustius Crispus whom Horace had years
before mentioned — with no compliment — in a Satire (I. 2, 48),
and to whom he addressed Ode II. 2 — though the sting in the
latter is probably not meant for Sallustius. It is greatly to be
regretted that though Tacitus indicates the time when Sallustius
became the depository of the Emperor's confidence, and the agent
of his secret business in succession to Maecenas, he has used a
word susceptible of two interpretations. The word is " in-
columis." " While Maecenas was ' incolumis,' "• says Tacitus,
" Sallustius was next to him, but soon the chief on whom the
secrets of the Emperor reposed." What does Tacitus mean by
" incolumis " ? The point is important because it may be a key
to the interpretation of III. 29. (See that Ode, and footnote to

§5i.)

34. Now though such authorities as Messrs Church and Brodribb
translate " incolumi Mcecenati "• as " while Maecenas lived "
(Annals, 3, 30), it is a question whether this is correct: "In-
columis " is not primarily a synonym of " vivus," and the anti-
thesis of it may not only be " mortuus " but " damnatus," as we
may see from Cicero, pro Cluentio, chap. 4 : " quis est qui dubitare
debeat contra damnatum et mortuum, pro incolumi et vivo
dicere," — see Professor Ramsey's note on the passage in his edition ;
cf. ibid. chap. 9, where the word is similarly used in antithesis
with " condemnatus." The sense of " incolumi Maecenati "• is
probably " before the fall of Maecenas from power," and it is
highly likely that that fall dated from the time when Augustus
found out, as he himself declared, that Maecenas' " taciturnitas "
(power of holding his tongue), was not absolutely to be trusted.
That Maecenas did decline in the favour of his master is proved by
Tacitus' comparison of the respective fates of Maecenas under

INTRODUCTION 17

Augustus, and of Sallustius Crispus in his old age under Tiberius.
The following extract is from Messrs Church and Brodribb's
translation. " Though his (Sallustius') road to preferment was
easy he chose to emulate Maecenas, and without rising to a
Senator's rank, he surpassed in power many who had won triumphs
and consulships. He was a contrast to the manners of antiquity
in his elegance and refinement, and in the sumptuousness of his
wealth he was almost a voluptuary. But beneath all this was a
vigorous mind, equal to the greatest labours, the more active in
proportion as he made a show of sloth and apathy — and so while
Maecenas lived (before the fall of Maecenas ?) he stood next in
favour to him, and was afterwards the chief depository of imperial
secrets, and accessory to the murder of Postumus Agrippa, till in
advanced age he retained the shadow rather than the substance
of the Emperor's friendship. The same too had happened to
Maecenas, so rarely is it the destiny of power to be lasting, or
perhaps a sense of weariness steals over (satias capif) princes when
they have bestowed everything, or over favourites, when there is
nothing left them to desire."

The last sentence seems to make the true meaning of " inco-
lumis " quite clear. 1

35. With the exception of the name of the informer, one
Castricius, the historical records left to us mention only two of
the conspirators in this political plot, Fannius Caepio the ring-
leader, and L. Licinius Varro Murena, the " brother " of Maecenas'
wife.

Reference to the commentators will show that the exact name
of the conspirator whom Dio calls " Licinius Murena " ; Velleius,
" Lucius " ; and Suetonius, "Varro Murena " ; has been the subject
of controversy, but it cannot be contradicted that he stood to
Maecenas in the affinity mentioned above, and this is really the
chief point. An inquiry into his history, will be found in Dr
Verrall's Studies in Horace, together with some highly interesting
deductions from the facts made with rare critical acumen. Proof
to the point of demonstration is unhappily beyond our reach in
many of the problems that it raises, but Dr Verrall's treatment
of the case has not been refuted,. and until it is shown to be wrong,

1 On this see also Cic. pro Archia, ch. 5 : " Gabinii quamdiu in-
columis fuit levitas post damnationem calamitas omnem tabularum
fidem resignasset." " Gabinius' carelessness lasted while he was
' incolumis,' after his conviction the fact of his fall would have spoiled
the reliability of the Registers." See Long's note on the passage,
Vol. III. p. 217. " Halm remarks that the opposition of calamitas
and incolumis shows that the word was formed by a popular corrup-
tion from calamitas." " The old grammarians define a calamitas
to be a fall of hail or tempest which damages the crops (Forcellini,
calamitas), and, after their fashion, they derived the word from
' culmus,' because the culmus was injured, which is absurd in every
way." (Long, on In Verrem, Act. II. ch. 98.) However erroneous
philologically, this throws light on the ancient associations of these
words.

1 8 THE ODES OF HORACE

or some valid grounds given for suspecting its truth, a position in
conflict with it cannot be said to be established, although private
opinion, trained to assume that 23 B.C. is the date of publication
of the Three Books, may incline towards it.

36. The point has been raised by Professor Nettleship that the
conspirator was not Lucius Licinius, but Aulus Terentius, Murena,
who was Consul for a short time in B.C. 2 3, and that the plot occurred
during his tenure of office, but this is not only in conflict with the
language and chronology of both Dio and Velleius, but has to
encounter the serious objection that although this particular
assassination plot is alluded to by many ancient writers, and is
treated at some length by Dio, there is no sign or hint that one
of the Consuls of the year in which it occurred was concerned in it.

As Aulus died in 23, he is out of the running for any event
occurring in 22, to which year the plot is assigned definitely by
Dio, and inferentially by Velleius, who says it was about three
years before the plot of Egnatius, which occurred in 19. The
" sensation " it caused was very great, but it is probable that we
should have heard much more of it had the most prominent man
amongst those accused of the crime — an absconder tried and
condemned in his absence — occupied so high an office as the
Consulate, and that at a time when Augustus had just thought fit
to lay it down (see infra § 44 and foil.).

37. Who, then, was this L. Licinius Varro Murena ? Dr
Verrall comes to the conclusion that he was the Murena who, years
before, had offered his house at Formiae to Maecenas and Horace
on the occasion of the journey described in Sat. 1.5, and that he is
one with the Licinius of II. 10, and with Murena, the Augur, of
III. 19, and also with the " Tu " (Thou) addressed in II. 18, whose
luxury, extravagance and greed are the subject of such stern re-
monstrance. (See the notes to those Odes.) " Brother " of
Maecenas' wife, and also brother of Proculeius, for whose love
towards him that valued friend and servant of Augustus was
declared by Horace (II. 2, 5) to have made his memory immortal,
he at least came from an environment not likely to produce a
treacherous foe to the Emperor, though that gives no assurance
that he was not one. We have no definite information as to his
age. We know that he had had experience of riches and poverty,
having somehow had losses through the Civil War, and we also
see from the Odes that he must have been rich during the last years
of his life. His holding of the non-political office of Augur, is
cited by Dr Verrall to support this, but that argument is not
really necessary. He also may have been a Senator, and he
was certainly an advocate, facts respectively implying wealth
and position. Up to the time immediately preceding the con-
spiracy, he had not been suspected of political disaffection by the
monarchical party, but he had indulged in a certain insolence or
extravagance of speech, through which he had made enemies,
and through which he had even come into collision with the Em-

INTRODUCTION 19

peror himself, as will appear later on. He seems to have been of
a blustering and violent character. From the name Varro, by
which he is sometimes called, and a number of allusive expressions
in Horace, Dr Verrall propounds the theory that the access of
wealth which he acquired some time during the last eight years of
his life, may have been derived from his succeeding to the whole
or part of the estates and fortune of M. Terentius Varro, the writer
and antiquary, one of the richest men in Italy, who died about the
year B.C. 28. More will be heard of this hereafter (cf. II. 18, n.} :
that in B.C. 22, he was rich, prominent, in some quarters unpopular,
and of close affinity to Maecenas, is certain. The point is so
important, and Murena's character and fate so vital to the inter-
pretation of the Odes as a collection (a monumentum), that an
extract from Dio. dealing with the year B.C. 22, is here put before
the reader, that he may have an opportunity of forming his own
judgments from the words of the most ancient historian from
whom we have a connected account of the period. I begin rather
far back, for the purpose of making elucidations on points, not
immediately connected with Murena, referred to, either in this
Introduction, or the notes to the translations.1

38. Dio Cassius, Bk. LIV. ch. i, dealing with A.U.C. 732,
B.C. 22. "In the succeeding year, when M. Marcellus and L.
Arruntius were Consuls, there was again a flood in the Tiber, and
the city became navigable, and many places were struck by
lightning, including the statues in the Pantheon where the spear
was dashed from the hand of the Augustus. As the Romans
were of the opinion that the pestilence and famine from which
they were suffering (for there was plague throughout the whole
of Italy, so that no one cultivated the land, and it would appear
that the same conditions prevailed abroad) was caused solely by
the fact that they no longer had Augustus as Consul, they desired
that he should assume the dictatorship. So, shutting the Senators
in their house, they forced them, by threats of burning it down,
to carry a resolution to this effect. After which they went to
Augustus with twenty-four lictors, and asked that he should be
proclaimed Dictator, and that a procurator of food supply should
be appointed as was done in the time of Pompeius. Whereupon
Augustus, having no other course open to him, acceded to the
latter proposal, and ordered that two of those who during the

1 A learned and acute critic to whom my thanks are due for help,
has here put in a word about the danger of relying on Dio. It is season-
able, no doubt, but I would point out that when Dio relates simple
facts, which there is no reason aliunde to suspect or dispute, his
account is received by all historians. If it were not, large excisions
would have to be made from modern histories of Rome. The valid
cause of complaint against Dio and other ancient historians is that
expressed by Mommsen in the Introduction to the " Provinces," viz.
that they so often tell us what is immaterial, and omit what the modern
writer more earnestly desires to know, and not that there is no truth
at all in them. Cf. Cic. Orat. Ed. Long. IT. p. 403.

20 THE ODES OF HORACE

preceding five years had held office as Praetor should be com-
missioned yearly to arrange for a general food supply. But he
refused the dictatorship, and since he could not, by argument, or
request, or in any other way, induce the people to refrain from
pressing it on him, he rent his clothes ; thus wisely, while he had
power and authority greater than that of a Dictator, guarding
himself from the envy and hatred that the title would excite."
(This envy would of course proceed from the aristocratic, but
anti-imperial party. Vide infra.}

(2) " His action was similar when it was desired to make him
perpetual Censor, for he refused this honour and appointed others,
viz. Paulus ^Emilius Lepidus and L. Munatius Plancus, a brother
of that Plancus who in former times had been proscribed, and the
very Lepidus who had been under sentence of death. ..." (The
rest of this chapter may be summarised.) It tells us that the
appointment of these men was unsatisfactory, and then mentions
certain regulations as to public games, measures for the extin-
guishment of fires in the city, and rules as to the participation by
members of senatorial and knightly families in public dances, etc.,
instituted by Augustus.

(3) " In these matters Augustus assumed both the style and
title of legislator and autocrat, in others he acted as if his status
was merely that of a private citizen, and appeared in court in
support of his friends. On the indictment of one M. Primus for
having made war on Odrisae while Prefect of Macedonia, the
accused first said that he had acted on the orders of Augustus,
and then that it was on the orders of Marcellus ; whereupon
Augustus, of his own accord, came to the court, and on being
asked by the Praetor whether he had given Primus any such
order, he denied it. Then Licinius Murena, who was counsel for
Primus, after a wanton exhibition of insolence in questioning
Augustus, inquired who had summoned him, and what had
brought him there. To which Augustus simply answered, ' The
common weal.' He was so commended for this by the sensible
and well-affected that authority was given to him to convene the
Senate to take a vote, whenever he chose. But some of his
opponents still disdained him ; and in fact not a few voted for
the acquittal of Primus, and others formed a conspiracy against
the Emperor's life. Of this Fannius Caepio was the ringleader,
but others were implicated, and Murena was denounced as being
in the plot, perhaps justly, but perhaps on a false accusation
because he had used before all alike an unrestrained and blatant
mode of speech. The accused did not abide their trial, and
accordingly judgment was given against them in their absence as
fugitives from justice ; and shortly afterwards they were executed.
Neither Proculeius, the brother of Murena, nor his sister's husband,
Maecenas, although then holding the first place in the favour of
Augustus, was able to be of any assistance to him ; and since some
members of the tribunal had absolved even these men, Augustus

INTRODUCTION 21

made a law that not even a secret ballot should be taken in trials /
in absence of absconders, and that the accused, in such cases,
should stand as unanimously condemned. That he had made
this decree from motives of public policy, and not in any spirit
of anger, he showed very clearly ; for though Caepio's father freed
one of two slaves who had fled with his son, because he had tried
to protect his master after he had been condemned to death, while
he caused the other, who had betrayed him, to be led through the
forum to crucifixion, with a placard on him stating the reason of
his death, Augustus did not resent it ; and if the Emperor had not
ordered sacrifices to be voted and performed as if for a great
victory, the animosity of those who were offended at what had
been done would soon have subsided."

39. To understand so much as concerns us in this account, and
to appreciate its effect on the interpretation of the Odes, the
reader should review the position. Julius Caesar by a coup d'ttat
had subverted the Republic more than twenty years previously.
In revenge he had been assassinated, leaving Octavian, a youth
of nineteen, his heir. At this time Octavian (whom it will be
more convenient to call Augustus) did not — to use Mr Wickham's
phrase — fill the whole horizon of politics. M. Antonius, Julius
Caesar's colleague in his fifth consulship, stood forth much more
prominently as the probable " avenger of Caesar," but his de-
meanour soon brought the young Augustus as well as the Senate
into opposition with him, and he was defeated at Mutina by
forces led by the new Consuls, Hirtius and Pansa (who both lost
their lives in the battle), and by Augustus. The latter, had he
wished it, might have crushed Antonius then, but the time was
not yet. Antonius was less his enemy than the senatorial party
with whom for the nonce he was acting. Accordingly he made
an arrangement with Antonius and Lepidus, who had seven
legions behind him, for the famous Triumvirate, which was
ratified by a law of the people. The consequence of this was the
crushing of the power of the senatorians ; by the proscriptions, in
Rome ; abroad, by the campaign ending with the two battles at
Philippi, which saw the last of Brutus and Cassius. The Roman
Empire was then divided among the triumvirs, Antonius
taking the East, Augustus, the West, Lepidus, Africa. Thanks
to Agrippa (cf. I. 6 and I. 12) the mastery of the western seas
was secured to Augustus in B.C. 36, by the defeat of Sextus
Pompeius at Naulochus, and the food supply of Rome was assured.
Lepidus immediately afterwards was reduced to impotence, and
the times ripened for the inevitable struggle between Augustus
and Antonius. It came in B.C. 31, when, at the battle of Actium,
Antonius and Cleopatra were defeated. The surrender of Alex-
andria followed (I. 35 and 37) and Augustus stood forth as con-
queror, never again to be assailed in open war by his own race.
Having the good will of the army and the commonalty, he was
secure from all danger except insidious hostility among the

22 THE ODES OF HORACE

remnant of the old senatorial party, with whom he earnestly tried
from henceforth to live in peace.

40. In the year B.C. 30 one plot against his life was formed by
the younger Lepidus, the only result of which was to confer glory
on Maecenas. The plan was to assassinate the Emperor on his
return from Egypt, after the final subjugation and death of
Antonius and Cleopatra. Maecenas, who was in charge of Rome,
detected and crushed this conspiracy quietly and effectively, and
we hear of no more attempts of a like nature until that related
by Dio in the chapter given above, which, however, was followed
within three years by another, and that again by more. The
reason of this outbreak of disaffection to the Emperor after an
interval of eight years, can only be found by considering the
history of these years, which form a period of great importance
to the student of the Odes.

41. After the establishment of the sole power of Augustus, the
next question was the use to be made of it. Before returning to
Rome from Egypt he made a progress through the East " settling "
affairs in Asia Minor, including the affairs of Parthia, " rewarding
his allies and dispossessing his enemies.'' In January 29 B.C.
the temple of Janus was closed, and later in the year Augustus
returned to Rome, and celebrated his memorable threefold
triumphs (see note to I. 2 and II. 9). He was greeted with
acclaim as the saviour of the State. The remainder of 29 and the
whole of 28, when Augustus in his sixth consulship had Agrippa
as colleague, were spent in the work of restoring order. Irregular
enactments of the Triumvirate, made to meet special necessities,
were cancelled, and the difficult and protracted task of settling
on the land the veterans, both from his own and Antonius' armies,
was begun. There were large disbandments, but twenty-five
legions were kept in arms.

During this time the future of Rome was decided. The tra-
dition followed by Dio gives us in the dramatic form of speeches
(§§ 17-19) i*1 a set discussion, arguments and considerations that
must have strongly exercised the mind of Augustus and his
counsellors, and by the end of 28 we find that he had resolved
upon his course. On January ist, 27, when he and his colleague
were re-elected Consuls for the year, he laid down his extra-
ordinary authority, and " transferred the Commonwealth from
his government to the arbitrament of the Senate and people "
(Monument-Ancy. Lat. VI. 14) ; receiving back, " unquestionably
in accordance with his own intentions, . . . the more essential
powers " (Pelham, Outlines Roman Hist. p. 368), viz. consular
power for ten years, the command in chief of all forces, sole power
of levying troops, and of making peace or war, and concluding
treaties : the provinces were divided between him and the Senate,
the title of Augustus was conferred on him, and precedence as
Princeps was granted to him over other holders of magisterial
authority.

INTRODUCTION 23

The Republic was thus officially -" restored,"- and Augustus was
described as the champion of the liberty of the Roman people.
The old machinery was set going, but " for the general public,
the essence of the matter lay in the recognition by law of the
supremacy of Caesar, and in the establishment not of a republic,
but a personal government " (Pelham, Outlines, 369).

42. The title " Augustus " was the one conspicuous novelty
and, as Dr Verrall says, was for some time the only imperial thing
in the Empire. (As to the occurrence of the full style " Caesar
Augustus " in the Three Books, and the significance of its posi-
tion ; see II. 9.) Such was the notable " concordat 1J between
the Princeps and the Republic, of B.C. 27. It followed the con-
stitution in outline, while it really reduced the State to the sub-
jection of one man. Augustus took credit for accepting no office
" contrary to the usage of our forefathers "• (Mon. Anc.). As
Merivale says (Fall Rom. Rep. ch. 17): "The fate of Caesar
warned his successor to look more carefully to the foundations of
his sovereignty," and it seems a most probable view that the final
cast of the Prefatory Ode, 1.2, was influenced by the terms of this
settlement of January B.C. 27. (Cf. especially, the last stanza.)

43. Augustus immediately turned his attention to the provinces,
and was afterwards in Spain on the business of the Cantabrian
war, from which he returned victorious (but not with a peace that
lasted) in B.C. 24. This circumstance will also be found noticed
in the Odes (III. 14). He was received with great rejoicing by
the populace, intensified because he was not only restored to them
as a conqueror but also as the survivor from a dangerous illness
at Tarraco. Affairs at Rome seem to have been quiet. Maecenas
was without doubt entrusted with the chief control and Horace
indicates this in III. 8,1 though it should be noticed that it was
during this absence of Augustus that the first attempt was made to
establish a formal prefecture of the city to which Messalla Corvinus,
was appointed, an attempt not renewed upon his hasty retreat from
a position which he described as " incivilis " (note, III. 8, 17),
until B.C. 16, when the position was given to Statilius (ante § 32).

44. The " settlement " of January B.C. 27 lasted for a few
months longer than four years, and then some important changes
were made. Early in B.C. 23, Augustus, whose colleague as
Consul was A. Terentius Murena (C.I.L. i, 441), who died in
office (see Verrall, Studies, p. 82), laid down his eleventh — and
ninth successive — consulship, and nominated as Coss. suffecti,
L. Sestius and Gn. Calpurnius Piso, the former (cf. I. 4, notes)
being a man who was notorious for piously cultivating the
memory of Brutus and Cassius. What were his reasons for this
step ? So far as we can see it was a wholly unnecessary reopening
of difficult questions already satisfactorily settled.

1 The date of the fall of King Cotiso (III. 8) is lost, but the reference
to the Dacians is appropriate as Augustus had lately sent successful
expeditions to the Danube (see Mommsen, Provinces, I, 11-13).

24 THE ODES OF HORACE

45. Before going into these, it will be well to state the nature
of the changes. The following account of them is abridged from
Mr Pelham's Outlines of Roman History, p. 371. On June 27th,
B.C. 23, Augustus laid down the consulship. The imperium
granted to him for ten years in B.C. 27 he still retained ; but he
now held it only " pro-consule," like the ordinary governor of a
province, and it therefore ceased to be valid within the city.
His renunciation of the consulship entailed also the loss both of
precedence over all other magistrates, which a Consul enjoyed,
and of the Consul's rights of convening the Senate, and of holding
assemblies of the people — it struck, in short, at the very root
of that administrative unity which was essential to the good
government of the Empire, and threatened to reintroduce the
dual control, which had worked such evils before, of Consuls and
Senate at home, and powerful pro-consuls abroad. In Rome
and Italy the liveliest anxiety was excited by the prospect that
Caesar would no longer visibly reign over them, and one extra-
ordinary office after another was pressed on him. All were
refused as unconstitutional ; but by a series of enactments, what
Augustus lost was gradually restored to him : — (i) He was allowed
to retain his imperium in Rome, on an equality with the other
Consuls ; (2) He was granted equal rights with the Consuls of
convening the Senate and introducing business (this was in B.C.
23 and 22, Dio, LIII. 32, and LIV. 3), and of issuing edicts. In
B.C. 19 (Dio, LIV. 10) he was placed on a level in outward rank
with the Consuls, with lictors assigned to him, and an official seat
between the Consuls. It is also clear that he came to possess the
power of nominating candidates for election to office, but there
is no record that this was formally given to him, and it is only
proved by the subsequent practice of himself and Tiberius. Now
these respective restorations of power were not simultaneous, and
it is by no means clear that they were made in accordance with
Augustus' own intentions, as had been the case in B.C. 27 when
he " gave back the Republic."

That " surrender " was a necessity for the maintenance of any
show of a constitutional position. It was made in fulfilment of
a promise, but was in effect nullified immediately, so far as the
rehabilitation of the Republic was concerned, by explicit pro-
visions. But the settlement of 23 was a purely gratuitous act on
the part of Augustus, and an act which, however it might gratify
the aristocrats and senatorians, was entirely displeasing to the
populace (see Dio, LIV. i, translated supra). It was in fact the
populace who insisted on the first steps of its subsequent undoing ;
the prolongation of the Emperor's life, and the course of events
that immediately followed, were responsible for the rest.

46. Again we ask what was in the mind of Augustus when in 23
he spontaneously divested himself of powers which he was
afterwards forced into resuming? Why did he wish to exchange
consular power for pro-consular which deprived him of constitu-

INTRODUCTION 25

tional authority within the precincts of Rome — the pomoerium ?
And why did he appoint an arch-republican as his own immediate
successor in the consulship ? He whose nose would lead him to
smell out a selfish scheme in these proceedings is surely on a false
scent. Augustus already had powers which made him absolute.
The settlement of 23 was no means of gaining anything more,1
but an attempt — futile as it turned out, but that was not the
Emperor's fault — gradually to strip himself of some of his burden,
and to restore to his collegiate magistrates, more especially to the
Consuls, something of their old constitutional authority ; see III.
4, 37. He failed to do this. The will of the people prevailed, since
he found that the reward of his generosity among the upper classes
was the reappearance of turbulence in magisterial elections, and the
risk of civil war renewed. The existence of sympathy with would-
be assassins like Caepio in 22, or Egnatius in 19, showed him con-
clusively that he could not afford to relax his control of affairs in
the presence of the seething ambitions of the great Roman families.

47. The answer to our question then, may be found in the facts
and circumstances of the times, and the following note upon them
by Dr Verrall, may usefully be quoted.

" For many years past, since Maecenas had detected and crushed
the conspiracy of the younger Lepidus, no attempt, as far as we
know, had been made upon the Emperor's life, and Augustus was
provided with the best shield against assassins in the person of
the young Marcellus, heir to the blood of the Julii. . . . When we
consider what was the prospect at this time (B.C. 24) and what
was the actual sequel, it is not surprising but highly significant to
find that the autobiography of Augustus concluded here, being
continued ' as far as the Cantabrian war, and no further' (Suet.
Aug. 85). At the close of that war, warned by the sickness which
had confined him to his bed at Tarraco for the greater part of the
campaign, he had notified, as it were, his retirement to the func-
tions of peace by the foundation and title of Augusta Emerita
(Merida).'-1 (Note : As a fact he never again took part in actual

1 The fact that Augustus, on relinquishing his consular imperium,
acquired at the same time the tribunician power for life has not been
forgotten. The tribunician power was one of veto ; in his hands it
formed, as Dr Verrall indicates, a good security. It would enable
him to reassume control if necessary. One gets rather weary of the
references to Augustus' political "hypocrisy" in some histories. It
seems never to be remembered that Augustus, from the moment he
decided to claim his inheritance under Julius Caesar's will, had no
alternative but to fight for power — to see that he got and kept it —
for on those terms only was his life for a moment safe. Having ac-
quired power, he used it well. It was his fate to be the only Roman
able to restore peace and order to his country, with its obsolete con-
stitution and rotten government, but it seems often to be accounted
to him as a fault. In consequence, we have him presented to us by
more than one historian as sincere in his religious ardour, but an arch-
hypocrite whenever he touched politics. It would be possible to
concoct a " Life " of Mr Gladstone presenting similar contradictions —
but would it be true, or just ?

26 THE ODES OF HORACE

war, though he was at the scene of war both in the East and in
Germany.)

" He might well hope that under the government of himself or
his most probable successor the celebration of the birthdays of
Brutus and Cassius in the houses of great noblemen holding office
by his appointment would soon become as harmless a ceremony
as the wearing of the •• royal oak ? by subjects of King George the
III. . . .

" Under these auspices was drawn the settlement between the
republican past and the imperial present, from which the new time
may in one sense be said to begin. The one feeling from which op-
position was to be feared was the restlessness of the aristocratic
families deprived of the natural prey of their ambition, the re-
publican offices and especially the consulship. To the public at
large these offices were perfectly indifferent ; indeed for many
reasons, political and superstitious, they would have felt more
comfortable if Augustus would have made himself sole Consul or
Dictator at once (Dio, 54, i). Not so the representatives of the
old senatorial families. To them it seemed the natural object of
life to become one of the two co-equal magistrates of the common-
wealth, and a Rome in which only one man could be Consul in
each year, and that with a • colleague • who was also general-
issimo of the army from year to year without intermission, was not
at all a Rome to their mind." (Studies in Horace, p. 13.)

48. In fact Augustus, apprehensive probably of his health, and
certainly regarding himself as " emeritus " in warfare, seems to
have thought the time had come when he might seek repose.
The enthusiasm in Rome at his return, accompanied, as no doubt
it was, by a careful concealment of the disaffection that was still
lingering among the nobles, may have been the cause of making
him too sanguine as to the safety of such a course, either for him-
self or for the State generally. Whether this be the true reason
of his action or not,1 he did divest himself for a time of some of his
authority, and withdrew from his long-continued tenure of consul-
ship, leaving the office to be competed for as in former times,
merely taking security (as Verrall says) for the proper exercise of
the office, by the general veto conferred on him under the
name of the " tribunician power," and the right to consult the
Senate.

49. His hope, it may be assumed, was to placate the aristocratic
families, but this was speedily disappointed. The immediate re-
sult of his retirement was a renewal of keen competition for office,
to the point of riot and bloodshed (Dio, LIV. 6, 10), a fact which

1 Cf. Dio, LIV. 6 and 10, in which Augustus is said to have rebuked
the Senate for its incapacity to keep the peace in Rome without his
actual presence. See Mr Firth's Augustus, p. 197, on the incident.
Consider also that it was at this time that he proposed to marry his
daughter to Proculeius, a mere knight, and not engaged in politics —
a project apparently with an anti-dynastic aim. Tac. Ann. 4, 40. See
also Seneca, De Brev. Vit., Bk. I. ch. vi.

INTRODUCTION 27

may explain lines 7-8 of the prologue to the Odes, as Dr Verrall is
the first to point out. If this preface was published in or before''
23, this reference to elections to the three great civil offices would
have been for an imperialist like Horace exceedingly maladroit,
because for several years there had been no real elections at all,
as Augustus had controlled the appointments, but after 23, when
their character changed back to something resembling the " gladia-
torial canvasses " of the late Republic, they might well be alluded
to in the terms Horace has used (cf. I. 1,7, III. 2, 20 : on the
nature of the consular elections in B.C. 22, see Bury's History of
Rome, p. 51, ed. of 1900).

50. Dr Verrall thinks that the death of Marcellus in B.C. 23,
deprived Augustus of his best shield against the dagger of the
assassin. It is true that the heir designate was highly popular,
and would have had the certain support of the commonalty had
the Emperor succumbed to either of his two illnesses, or been
otherwise removed, and this consideration perhaps had something
to do with the outward acquiescence of the malcontents in the
Senate in things existing between Actium and the year 23. But
in addition it should be remembered that time may have done
much to stiffen their resolution, and to nerve them once more to the
hazardous experiment of a bid for the reality instead of the sem-
blance of power (see Bury, ibid. p. 60). And here the policy of
Augustus towards placation would help them, as would also his
scrupulous care to avoid all appearance of constitutional change.
His retirement from the consulship gave to the Senators a pretext
for asserting themselves, and although the majority of their care-
fully packed house was, as Dio says, " sensible," the other side, the
evilly-disposed who still " disdained " him, were there represented
— no doubt deliberately retained with the hope of conciliation.

Augustus had been successful in assuming the control of affairs.
His influence had been predominant in the West for thirteen years
before B.C. 23. Since Actium he had had no rival to challenge his
authority to dictate to the whole Empire, and in Rome itself all
spirit of resistance to him had been kept under the surface for so
long that he seems to have thought it either dead, or so unim-
portant that the time was come when he could assert that the
" felicissimus status," as it is called by Velleius, i.e. the happy
condition, had arrived, when it was possible to treat all Roman
citizens alike with confidence.1

1 That Augustus regarded himself as having established a permanent
"status" in 23 is confirmed by Suetonius (Aug. 28) who, when
mentioning that he twice considered the question of restoring the
Republic (in B.C. 27 and 23), quotes from an imperial edict as follows
" That I be may permitted to set the Republic safe and sound in its seat
is my wish, and to reap the reward of that achievement which I look
for, viz. that I may be described as the man to whom the establish-
ment of that most desirable condition is due (auctor optimi status),
and that when I die, I may take with me the hope that the foundations
of the Republic which I have laid will remain firm in their place."

28 THE ODES OF HORACE

51. He was promptly undeceived. The sequel of the arrange-
ment of B.C. 23 was a crop of assassination plots, and a renewal
of civil disturbance requiring stern repression. The anticipated
happy period of peace led to a peace only maintained by frequent
recourse to the " laqueus " of the executioner (Tac. Ann. I. 10).
And this condition of things began from the moment of the
Emperor's giving once more to the Senate a pretext for inde-
pendent activity. The more minute the examination of the
decade B.C. 30-20, the more convinced must the interpreter of
the Odes become that, had they been published before 23, the tone
of their allusions to the internal condition of Rome would have
been very different. They reflect unmistakably the situation to
which the events of 23 and 22 gave rise, and if they were brought
into their final shape as constituents of Horace's " Monument
more lasting than bronze " before it had occurred, then Horace
was wonderfully prophetic. That the poet was himself an avatar
of Apollo, with the future in his ken, is much more improbable
than that the flimsy arguments on which the year 23 is supported
for the issue of the Three Books are unsound.1

52. It will be remembered that we have already mentioned two
of these : (i) the " Marcellus " argument, (2) the supposed absence
of any explicit allusion to the seditious attempt on Augustus' life
for which the brother-in-law of his minister, Maecenas, suffered
the death penalty. In dealing with the latter we have been led
into a review of history for the purpose of considering the counter-
claim that the events of the years 23-22 are reflected in the Three
Books, and have materially influenced their tone. But this
second argument generates a third which we may now consider.
It is said that if the issue of the Three Books was after the con-
spiracy, Odes II. 10 and III. 19, could not possibly, considering

1 The following allusions to events later than B.C. 23 may be noted
now, others will be perceived later :

( i ) Throwing open the consulship and other curule offices once more
to free election, I. i, 7-8, III. 2, 19-20. (2) Reappearance of sedition
and civil strife in consequence, necessity of stern repression by the
Emperor of " impious slaughter " and " civil madness " arising from
a lawlessness " still untamed," III. 24. (3) Allusions to the divulging
of the " secret " ; by Maecenas to his wife ; by her to Murena —
relations of Maecenas and Terentia (Licymnia) first shown, II. 12 ;
express allusion to the secret, III. 2, 25. (4) The whole of III. 4,
which concerns the events of 25-22 — see Dr Verrall's analysis, Studies,
p. 58 — the battle of the Titans against Jove symbolising the coming
outbreak of sedition against Augustus after his return from Spain,
and the settlement of his soldiers in Augusta Emerita. (5) References
to Maecenas' position : in III. 8, shortly before the conspiracy, he is
represented as having control of State affairs. In III. 29, after it,
similar language is used, but in conjunction with expressions very
strange for a statesman in full power to hear — happiness swept away ;
Fortune shifting her favours ; the consciousness of innocence ; the
right to look back on past happiness ; etc. They are put as coming
from the poet, but it was Maecenas who had cause to reflect on them
though no outward sign was given of his altered relations with the
Emperor (see notes).

INTRODUCTION 29

the relation of Horace to Maecenas, and of the latter to Murena,
have been published in their present form. Ode II. 10 is an ex- /
hortation to Murena to observe the golden mean, concluding with
the paradox of danger even from a favourable breeze — the idea
is that of Nemesis following on too much prosperity. The whole
Ode exactly fits in with what we know of Murena's circumstances
and disposition. This may have been written at the time when
Murena's arrogance and self-assertion were making him un-
popular " with all alike." Would it not have been cruel to pub-
lish it to the world after he had paid for his madness with his life ?
This is the argument. But it must be remembered that he had
been condemned as a would-be assassin of the Emperor. Now
in such a position, however sorely grieved Maecenas may have
been for Murena's sake, however doubtful — if he was doubtful —
of his guilt, he would have only one course open to him, that is to
make clear that in the face of a crime of such a kind, private feel-
ings could not be allowed to interfere with duty. As events had
turned out, he had laid himself open to the displeasure of his
master by a breach of trust. He might well feel it incumbent on
him to prove that this was not a sign that he had faltered in his
loyalty. The consideration of Horace would be for Maecenas
more than for Murena ; he would wish to see his benefactor and
friend restored to favour, and one way in which this could be
furthered was by showing that as between poet and patron there
was no mistake about their disapproval of Murena's courses. He
had been warned against the faults of his character, but in vain.
We shall see later on the importance of this. There was reason,
as we have heard from Dio, to doubt Murena's complicity in the
particular plot formed by Caepio, and it may be that though both
the Emperor, Maecenas, and Horace, knew that he was innocent
of this, the two last named knew also his real crimes, the real
cause of his denunciation, and the reason for the Emperor's im-
placability. This is another important point which we hope to
make clear as we proceed.

53. Ode III. 19 however presents further difficulties. It cannot
be regarded merely as an indication that Horace and Maecenas had
no hesitation in making their attitude clear to the world and its
ruler, and had no reason to be silent on the point. It is generally
read (after a considerable struggle with its parts) as a poem com-
memorating in a friendly way the election of Murena to the
Augurate. If this were the true purpose of the Ode, it would
offer a serious objection to its inclusion in the collection after his
execution. But Dr Verrall points out by a full analysis of
the language and bearing of the allusions, that this may be a
misconception. The scene is one of riot and extravagance, an
orgy in fact, deep drinking, wild music, women and malicious
mischief. There is no hint of Horace's actual presence, and he
interprets it as a moral lesson conveyed by a picture of a festive
supper at Murena's own house at Reate, probably given to cele-

30 THE ODES OF HORACE

brate the announcement brought to him by some friends, of his
appointment to the Senate, and perhaps also to the Augurate.
He reads it as the lesson of a great occasion treated not as it
should be, but with drunkenness, prodigality, and " the ' insane '
luxury against which the readers of the Odes are so often warned.'1
Thus viewed, III. 19 may fall into line with II. 10 as before ex-
plained, and provide an answer to the argument.1

54. Another argument for the 23 date is drawn from the opening
lines of the first Epistle. These are a reply by Horace to Maecenas
who has asked for more work in the style of the Odes. In Messrs
Lee and Lonsdale's translation they are thus rendered. " You
Maecenas who were the subject of my earliest lay, who shall be the
subject of my latest, would fain shut me up in the old training
school, though a gladiator publicly approved enough, and already
presented with the wand of freedom. My age is not the same ;
no more is my inclination. . . . There is one whose voice is
ringing in my unobstructed ear : ' sensibly set free betimes
the horse that is growing old, lest he laughably fail in the
end, and strain his panting flanks.' So now I lay down verses
and every other toy ; what is true and becoming I study and
inquire and am all absorbed in this ; I amass and arrange
my stores, so that afterwards I may be able to bring them
forth."

The first book of the Epistles is supposed to have been pub-
lished in the year B.C. 19 or 18, hence it is argued, Horace's words
would not be apposite unless an interval of some years had elapsed
between it and the issue of the Three Books. The postulate is
unnecessarily large. The excuse is quite playful, as Horace in
19 was only in his forty-sixth year, and, so far as artistic per-
fection is concerned, was at the height of his powers. The
Carmen Saeculare, and the Fourth Book (with some notable ex-
ceptions) may not show the spontaneity of old, but they are
formally faultless, and contain some exquisite poetry, and they
were yet to come.

In B.C. 19, want of " inclination " was, no doubt, a reality with
Horace. He himself tells us that he did not write easily in his
" poetic " vein, and to this must be added the consideration that
he was blest (from our point of view) with a literary conscience
than which none other before him or since has been more sensitive.
Art and workmanship of the best were the only kinds that Horace
would consent to exhibit, and it may well be that the labour in-
volved in arranging, connecting and polishing his lyrical work,
with an eye to unity, as a great memorial of his times, was so
severe as to bring to his lips the plea •' non eadem est aetas,
non mens," when the request for more poems was made. This
is perhaps the real purport of his words, and if so, they do not

1 I here confine myself to Dr Verrall's elucidation of III. 19. For
further developments as to the subject of Murena's banquet, and its
connection with his offence against the Emperor, see infra.

INTRODUCTION 31

require any long interval between the time of their utterance and
the issue of the Three Books. (Cf. III. 26, «.)

55. The rest of the extract is indeed all against such an interval.
" So now I lay down my verses and other toys/' he says, using the
present tense, as if the action were simultaneous with the writing
of the Epistle, which may very well have been called forth by a
remonstrance from Maecenas to the possible announcement by
Horace that his lately published work had brought his " poetical "
labour to a close. The word (ludicra) translated " toys "- has
no precise equivalent in English ; it is a metaphor from the ludi,
i.e. games, or public shows, and perhaps means " my sporting on
that stage " ; it is in the same vein of irony as the last stanza of
the solemn Ode III. 3, which it is Horace's pleasure to represent as
the production of a " jocund " lute. It should be remembered
that form of composition had great significance for Greeks and
Romans. Particular classes of subjects were associated with
specific metres. From the lyric Muses one might expect passion
in the form of personal sentiment, every possible variety of love
theme, light or serious, or Bacchic rhapsody, but they were not
supposed to supply heroic enthusiasm, or to touch the subjects of
the epic. Horace accordingly is found frequently to apologise
for the intrusion of a lyrist into domains that do not properly
belong to his instrument, and has recourse to this expedient,
sometimes as an artistic relief from tension, sometimes perhaps
as a convenient means of escape from pressure as to the serious
meaning of his words (see II. i). The original of the last clause
quoted is " Condo et compono quae mox depromere possim,"
and I hardly think the rendering above has the exact nuance re-
quired. Compono when used of literary pursuits, is much more
probably equivalent to our " compose "• -1 and mox suggests
quickness of sequence, not merely an indefinite " afterwards " ;
the compound depromere is not very common, but promo is fre-
quent enough in the sense of " bring forth,"- " bring to the light,"
etc. The translation therefore, " I conceive and compose things
which I may bring to light at once," conveys the intention of
the words, and the point may be this — <f my poems have involved
much labour, henceforth I shall deal only in a class of com-
position that can be quickly written." It is possible that in the
Three Books he had himself been doing the " dangerous work "•
which he represents C. Asinius Pollio as undertaking (cf. II. i),
and treading on the treacherous ashes still with the living fires
below, and this also he purposes to abandon.

56. Further, though it is not desirable to press the point too
closely, the expression " donatum iam rude " seems more con-

1 Cf. " Carmina compono," Epist. II. 2, 91. Even with regard to
Condo, translated by L. and L. " I amass," and by Wickham " I am
storing," there may be a misleading alteration of the metaphor : cf.
Propertius, El: II. i, 14: "Tune vero longas condimus Iliadas,"
where condimus means " I conceive " : Milton's word, " to build the
lofty rhyme," may bring us nearer to Horace's meaning.

32 THE ODES OF HORACE

sistent with a short than with a long interval between the Epistle
and the Poems. The Three Books themselves are the " rudis,"
or wand given to the gladiator who has earned his repose. Would
it not have been more natural to couple iam with pridem or dudum
if the rudis had been presented three or four years previously ? It
will be said that " antiquo " in the next line implies this, but there
is room for doubt whether Horace really intended it to do so,
for antiquus is the commonest word for " old," and antiquo ludo,
" the old game," would mean about as much as the same phrase
in English. Besides, Horace had been writing foJ many years,
chiefly, as is most probable, for the benefit of the circle of Maecenas,
and the word by no means concludes the point of a long interval,
or necessarily refers to the interval at all (cf. III. 26, n.).

57. There is no need therefore, in my opinion, to regard the
lines under discussion as an obstacle to accepting a later date
than B.C. 23 for the publication of the complete collection. If
the first book of the Epistles was collected, and published at some
time in the year 19 or 18, there is really no valid reason why it
should not have been preceded by the Three Books a few months
earlier. To contend the opposite presses parts of the above-
quoted lines too hard, and refuses the inferences from the re-
mainder.

58. The next point in connection with the date we are dis-
cussing arises from I. 3. This poem is addressed to the ship which
at the moment of recitation is supposed to be carrying Vergil to
Attica. We know that Vergil made a journey to Greece in the
last year of his life, and we know of no other. As Vergil died
shortly after his return in B.C. 19, the commentators who support
B.C. 23 for the issue of the Three Books, are forced to imagine an
earlier unknown journey, or to regard I. 3 as an added supplement.
The latter proposition may be dismissed as purely hypothetical,
without any valid argument to support it. The former is quite
possible, but not probable. The biography of the poet left to us
by Donatus is, as Mr Long says, founded undoubtedly on good
materials though not a critical performance. If, as Professor
Nettleship supposed, Vergil did not finish the Georgics circa
B.C. 30, without a visit to Greece, it is odd that a fact so important
is not mentioned. It is not however impossible or without pre-
cedent— we have no information from Suetonius of Horace's
voyage when his life was endangered through Palinurus in the
Sicilian Sea, but that may have occurred during his early travels,
or it may have been on some short trip without much moment to
the circumstantial, with none to the literary, history of his life.
In the case of Vergil, to pass by an early visit to Greece without
mention would be paralleled by a " life " of an English poet with
the omission of the fact that he had a University education.
That Vergil visited Greece in the last year of his life we know, if
we know anything at all from the source from which we derive the
whole of our biographical information concerning him. Donatus

INTRODUCTION 33

says that this was his fifty-second year, but that is inconsistent
with his own chronology. According to him, Vergil was born
A.U.C. 684, on the Ides of October, Gn. Pompeius Magnus and
M. Licinius Crassus being Consuls ; he died on the 2ist September
7 3 5, the Consuls again being mentioned, and agreeing with those
named by Dio. It will be seen, therefore, that Vergil would not
enter his fifty-second year till October 735 ; but the error is not im-
portant to us, for Donatus is clearly dealing with the last year of
Vergil's life. Taking it thus, we get the Ides of October 734, or
B.C. 20, as the anterior terminal date possible for Vergil's start
upon his voyage. Now the end of this year of 20 may well be the
true date of issue of the Three Books, and it is not at all unlikely
that Vergil wintered in Greece, just as Augustus, with whom
he returned from Athens in the summer of 735, wintered at Samos,
and that I. 3 was in time to take its place, virtually as part of the
preface to the collection, after the respective addresses to Maecenas
and the Emperor.1

59. A difficulty has been felt in respect of this Ode by eminent
critics which Mr Wickham states. After saying (very truly) that
it is not an ode which seems very likely to have been inserted
after publication, he continues, " Given to the world in Vergil's
lifetime it seems playful and affectionate, but it would seem cold
and irrelevant to be published after his early death and in a
volume in which it was the sole (sic, in spite of I. 24) record of
their friendship. Franke felt the difficulty so much that he pro-
posed to read Quintilium for Vergilium, etc." But considering that
Vergil did not die till the 2ist September 19, after his return from
Greece, and that the Ode is written any time after mid-October 20,
the difficulty is unsubstantial — the assumption that the piece must
in the circumstances have been published after Vergil's death is
gratuitous, for nearly a full year may have been to wait.

60. If we look at I. 3 itself, we shall see that the latter half of
it may certainly be read as suitable for introducing a series of
poems dealing with disturbed times in Rome. The allusions are,
as always with Horace, left for interpretation to the reader's
intelligence, but the point of the solemn reflections on mortal pre-
sumption would probably be clear enough to the cultured Roman
world. Mr Wickham thinks that the tirade against sea-travel is
" in part playful " ; but surely, if so, the joke is very grim. The
fear felt by Romans for the sea was genuine, and the " presump-
tion " of man in quitting terra firma was an idea strong in Horace's
mind as it was also in Pliny's (cf. Nat. Hist. XIX. 3-6). Where
any jesting spirit appears in Horace's references to Death,
Audacity, Folly, etc., and in the use of such solemn terms as
vetitum nefas, " crime forbidden by Heaven/' and Necessitas,

1 Professor Sellar (Horace, p. 142, 2nd ed.) states that Vergil
went to Attica in the spring of B.C. 19, but gives no authority. And
I have sought vainly for any basis for this explicitness as to the time
of his departure : see also footnote to § 78.

c

34 THE ODES OF HORACE

" inevitable fate," is hard to see. Elsewhere in the book the
thunderbolts of the wrathful Jove are used as analogues of earthly
punishments meted out by the hand of power, and the presump-
tion that " assails heaven " is denounced. (III. 4, 42, etc.)

61. Let the reader pause and reflect for a moment, bringing be-
fore his mind the situation in Rome in the year B.C. 20, the cir-
cumstances, characters, sympathies and relations of the four men,
Augustus, Maecenas, Vergil and Horace, and then imagine what
would be the effect of the poem when recited or read. Would it
seem a "playful" good-bye compliment and nothing more ? Is
it not manifest that the poet speaking is prepared to find a re-
sponse to his words of solemn warning ? Is it not also clear that
these serious reflections are very maladroit if meant to be taken
literally, and can be saved from that objection only by the possi-
bility of a larger significance ? And if he allow this to be so,
then let him ask to what events in contemporary history can this
larger significance most appropriately be referred.

62. If this Ode does not refer to a voyage in B.C. 20-19, it clearly
becomes useless for chronological purposes, but it may be as well
to point out that the assumption which commentators are so
willing to make of an earlier voyage by Vergil, in no way certifies
to B.C. 23 as the correct date of issue, and leaves untouched the
difficulties caused by the allusions in the Three Books seeming to
point to a condition of affairs in Rome that did not obtain till
after that year.

63. The arguments on which the acceptance of B.C. 23 as the
date of publication rests have now been reviewed, and, putting the
case at the lowest, they may be said to be inadequate to prove
the proposition in support of which they are adduced.

The importance of a miscalculation in this respect is well ex-
pressed by Dr Verrall (Studies, p. 26) : " Literary chronology has
seldom so vital an interest. It signifies little, for instance,
whether the Odes came out before or after the year 20. The
success of Augustus and Tiberius in cajoling or terrifying the
Parthians had no particular effect on Horace, or Maecenas, or their
private and political friends, and, except in some allusions to the
East and to the glories of Caesar, a collection of poems dedicated
by Horace to Maecenas would be much the same whether issued
in 19 or 21. But if Horace was a lyrical poet at all, if the Odes
were meant to reach the feelings of the patron, the person ad-
dressed, or the general reader, the question ' before or after the
year 22 ? ' goes to the essence of the work." This is indisputable.
If we exclude from consideration all events subsequent to B.C. 23
without positive assurance of our right to do so, we shall certainly
run the risk of wholly misjudging our author. Horace's topics
are actual and local. The Odes reflect the life, the circumstances,
the character of his age. Therefore if it be true that his monu-
mentum is to be read as a whole, though it is composed of materials
of diverse kinds, that it is built on a plan, shows signs of order and

INTRODUCTION 35

a definite purpose, the discernment of which may be assisted by
history, then an apparatus criticus which would disregard its-
symmetry, which would examine minutely the bricks but never
survey the edifice, which would refer allusions to the wrong times
and events, and would miss the chronological scheme, is clearly a
useless instrument for interpretation, and unsound as a base for
any estimate of the poet's powers.

64. Great as is Horace's reputation for his style, and freely as
his elegance is recognised, it is a question whether he has received
in modern times full justice for his higher poetical qualities.1
The mental attitude which induces critics to describe portions
of his work as " artificial," " trite," " cold," " incohesive," et
cetera, may be based on misconceptions. To take the exact
shade of meaning of the language of poetry surely requires that
the critic shall know the point of view from which his author
speaks — for instance, it will be contended later that there is
passim in Horace much sarcasm which is frequently read as if it
was meant in sober earnestness : analogously, the warmth and
feeling of a poem may seem to fade away entirely when knowledge
of its true motive is lost ; and further, the emotions raised by
hearing of some stirring event or mishap are but a pale reflex of
those which actual experience excites, and words that touch the
heart of one who has " felt " may not impress him who has merely
" heard."

These considerations show the need, for the understanding of
an ancient author, of a restoration of the spirit of his time — of
that psychologic process, on which Haupt insists — and it is mani-
fest that no such restoration can be made unless we have a true
insight into the facts. To assume certainty where there is none
is a dangerous course.2 Where there is room for error there must
be the utmost caution, and the most patient examination. This
does not imply a timid reluctance to use our powers of imagination ;
without imagination we can do nothing at all in the 'way of inter-
pretation ; its proper lesson is against unwarranted dogmatism.

65. The genius of Horace was truly original. To imitate good
models in his age was regarded not as plagiarism, but as a canon of
style, and when we find that an Ode so absolutely " topical " in
its interest as I. 37 (the thanksgiving for Cleopatra's fall) is an
adaptation from the Greek, and that one model supplies two

1 " It may happen . . . that a great work of imagination sometimes
presents such difficulties to the ordinary understanding, that, although
its power and beauty are instinctively recognised by succeeding genera-
tions of men, the main thoughts which have inspired it and which
are the real strength of its author are not clearly grasped, and criticism,
favourable or unfavourable, lingers over details with praise, blame, ex-
planation, or apology, while it misses the great intention which lies
beneath and is the foundation of the whole." (Nettleship, on the
^Eneid : not less true of the Three Books.)

2 To state in an edition of the Odes for school use that B.C. 23 may
be considered " certain " as the date of issue for the Three Books is
unjustifiable.

36 THE ODES OF HORACE

distinct Odes (I. 4 and IV. 7), we perceive that the formal imita-
tion did not exclude substantial originality. It was a genius
that may be called unique, for whatever preceded the Odes of
Horace in Greek, there has been nothing like them since. Are
they, as they so often seem to be regarded, a miscellaneous olla
podrida of casual verses on amatory and convivial subjects, or a
sculptured memorial, through the story which they tell, of a
momentous crisis, in a great historical epoch ?

66. In effect, as finally shaped, they inculcate a definite code
of morality, though it has to be admitted that Horace's moral
system is purely opportunist, and therefore incomplete,' The
dangers from one side he sees clearly, but the limitation of his view
becomes apparent from his evident conviction that the civilised
life he knew could continue under the political conditions ob-
taining. The good behaviour of the governed is the chief thing
that society requires, in his opinion. Considering his time, and
with the example of Augustus before him, this is intelligible
enough, but it lowers our estimate of the philosophic reach of
his mind. He lived under a ruler of a disposition so exceptional
that with every increase of power, his greater and better qualities
continued to be revealed ; than whom no autocrat, perhaps, has
emerged from his trying ordeal with more merited commendation.
That the equilibrium was unstable, and permanence impossible,
Horace gives no hint, and our estimate of him as a sage may be
lowered in consequence. His lessons of good conduct, con-~\
veyed with the perfect art of which he was master, are inspired '
by his convictions in favour of the imperial ideal of Augustus,
Maecenas and Vergil, and spring possibly from no higher
motive, but this is only to say that he was the product of his
time, and took short rather than long views : III. 29, 29-33.

67! Speaking of the Three Books, Dr Verrall says, " In actual
theme it is ' An Ode of Fortune,' a descant in various moods upon
the perishing pleasures, the certain, and often sudden death of
man — touched with something of tragedy by the awful story, so
near to Horace and his readers, of which the outline is so power-
fully dashed in. What the fall of Antonius is to the Hymn to the
Queen of Antium (I. 35), that the fall of Murena is to the entire
work." There is light and shade in the Three Books because they
present a general view of life, and the poet never forgets his art to
assume the functions of a preacher pure and simple. Fraught,
as I conceive, with serious intention, they yet give an admirable
lesson to the one who would use imaginative literature with a
" purpose,"- of the way in which this may be done without
offence to art.

68. Dr Verrall's summing up of his essay on their chronology is
as follows : — " The period covered by the Three Books extends
over about twenty years from B.C. 40-20. The cardinal epoch is
the close of the Civil Wars marked by the end of Book I. The
political poems of Book I. describe the phases of the decade 40-30,

INTRODUCTION 37

and present Caesar as the coming saviour of the state. In the,,
second decade two dates are marked, the constitution of the
monarchy, notified by the assumption of the title of Augustus,
and the close of the Cantabrian war, the two leading dates in the
period as represented by the historians. The first, the date of
transition, is placed in Book II., otherwise chiefly of a personal and
non-political character. Book III. is the book of the monarchy,
the separation of it from the second serving chiefly to throw Into
prominence the six Imperial Odes. Into this frame are fitted
in their appropriate places the poems on the story of Murena, the
quasi-political addresses to Maecenas as minister for Augustus
(III. 8 and III. 29) and a poem (III. 24) on the social and political
state of Rome at the time of the final collection." The reader
who bears in mind the facts on which this theory is based, will
find his path smoothed for the interpretation of the Odes, and his
estimate of the poet's powers perhaps raised. All trace of
Horace's so-called " artificiality " and " coldness " disappears
(from some minds at least) on the realisation of the fact that his
words are not prompted by a desire to give utterance to vague
generalities, but are the expression of real feeling, called forth by
his relations to particular persons and the happening of specific
events.

69. The probable reference to actual history in the first Ode of
the collection has already been noticed (§ 49) ; on the second,
addressed to Augustus, there is more to be said. Mr Wickham
writes of this piece that it is one which seems to challenge us
to find its date by the definiteness of its historical allusions, but
which on examination baffles the attempt. Before giving any
theory as to the meaning of the poem and of its form, it will be
well to note that the word date, when applied to any ode, is
ambiguous. It may mean three things — (i) Date of composition ;
(2) Date of the contemporary events alluded to in it ; (3) Date of
publication. Mr Wickham' s use of the term may have reference
to either of the first two, but probably contemplates No. i. Dr
Verrall, uses it with exclusive regard to No. 2 ; i.e. to the internal
or ostensible date at which the lyrist is supposed to speak, and
this is the course we shall follow. The date of composition may
be regarded by the interpreter as irrelevant on a collective review.
In making his collection for the world's eye Horace takes care
that the historical events of which he treats are in order, and he
distributes the Private Odes in such a way as, without offence to
this principle, to enhance the general artistic effect of his whole
diorama. The Private Odes, when they have a date, are not neces-
sarily placed in chronological order, their position was no doubt
determined, where it is at variance with that order, by some other
consideration ; but the National Odes which are precisely " dated,"
in the sense of No. 2, are all chronological.

70. When we know the date of any events to which Horace
may allude we shall speak of that as the date of the ode, but it

38 THE ODES OF HORACE

does not follow at all that we shall be speaking of the date of its
composition. The important thing for us to mark in this con-
nection is what effect the Ode would produce at the time when the
collection was given to the world. When therefore, and in what
precise form, I. 2 was written, and published by recitation or
otherwise, we cannot tell, but we are in danger of mistaking the
poet's intention if we separate it for the purposes of interpretation
from the forefront of the collection — the monumentum — in which
it is included. Thoughts on the assassination of Julius Caesar
may have called it forth before the plot for the assassination of
his successor occurred to create a parallel, and invest it with new
point and interest. We are unable to say whether or not this
was so ; but we can see, if such was the fact, how his early poem
aided the poet in his ultimate design. Regarding it, therefore,
in this way, and assuming that the Three Books were published
after the year B.C. 22 in which Caepio's plot occurred, and civil
disturbance reappeared, our imagination, assisted by history,
will enable us to appreciate the effect that the piece would then
have in Rome.

The reference to the assassination of Julius Caesar is as clear as
anything can be, and marks the starting-point of the historical
sweep of the Three Books. Mars, who is the god of War, not of
fratricidal strife, is represented as slighting his descendants be-
cause of their long " show " of slaughter which is not entitled to
the honourable name of " war," and Augustus is hailed as the
coming avenger of Caesar. It may here parenthetically be men-
tioned that the notes of date in the last stanza refer probably to
the years B.C. 29 and 28, when the triumphs for Actium were
celebrated, and the title of Princeps was formally conferred on
Augustus. Pater was used as a description of him long before it
also was formally conferred in B.C. 2. The Ode might well have
been conceived circa B.C. 28 and 27. " Pater " is a natural
" anticipation," " Princeps " one rather too explicit for the poet
to make. The indication that the Civil Wars had been going on
for some time, and that Octavian had emerged into full light as
the " avenger," shows clearly the largeness of the period which
the ode really covers. But viewed after B.C. 22, as a com-
memoration of former events lately paralleled in Rome, its effect
would be impressive. The correspondences are so remarkable as
to suggest the thought that they can hardly be accidental. For
observe, it is not merely in the recurrence of the design to over-
throw the monarchy that the points of resemblance are found, but
in all the attendant circumstances. Rome in B.C. 22 might with
point be reminded of the fear of a former generation against the
return of the dread day of Pyrrha. The lightnings and thunders,
were there, Jove with his thunderbolts striking the spear from
Augustus' sculptured hand, and so terrifying the city that the
people importuned him to assume extended powers : the inunda-
tion of the river, represented as the uxorious husband of Ilia, the

INTRODUCTION 39

Mother of Rome, who hastes to avenge her exaggerated wrongs,
despite the will of Heaven ; the younger generation /
hearing that citizens had sharpened a sword that had been better
used against the Persian (not yet subdued in B.C. 22). Truly,
whenever it was originally conceived, this Ode would create a
profound impression in the light of the events of 22, when the
" populus " again had occasion to call on a God to save the
Emperor from downfall. What would be their thoughts on read-
ing the concluding prayer for his safety, the prayer that through
" our " wickedness no " breath " should whirl him away before
his time, knowing that the sword of the assassin had lately been
making ready to repeat the crime wrought on his predecessor ?

If I. 2 was edited for publication after the year 22, the events
of that year may perhaps account for Mr Wickham's difficulty
that though its historical illusions seem so definite, they baffle
attempts to fix them. Mr Wickham himself notices that Horace
is the only writer to mention a flood in the Tiber as one of the
phenomena attendant on the death of Julius Caesar, though floods
in other rivers were recorded. The inundation was so severe in
22 that the city " became navigable " (see § 38).

From any point of view the parallel is very interesting to note.
Can it have been so complete without design ? May not the old
have been deliberately tinged with the colour of the new ?

71 . Ode I. 3 has been considered in §§ 58-61 , and of I. 4, in which
Sestius is significantly bidden not to hope for too much (see notes)
it is sufficient to say that the man to whom it is addressed is the
very cherisher of the memory of Brutus to whom, with
Piso as colleague, Augustus confidingly handed over the consul-
ship in B.C. 23 (§ 44). Is this again accident, and does accident
also account for the fact that the framework of this Ode has been
used by Horace in the Fourth Book in a poem which seems to
refer back to the case of Murena (IV. 7), the man who died be-
cause he was supposed to have been trying to realise the hope of
ridding Rome of its second great Caesar ?

72. Ode I. 6 introduces Agrippa, the " rough man of modest
origin " of the kind to whom Rome owed so much, as Horace
mentions in I. 12. Note that the coming struggle at sea is fore-
shadowed in the first stanza.

Ode I. 12. "Thanksgiving for the triumph of the national
cause " in the defeat by Augustus and Agrippa of the fleet of
Sextus Pompeius, " the first and only Roman (as Merivale says)
who sought to extort the sceptre of the Commonwealth by his
maritime supremacy." The great sea victory of Naulochus, and
the frustration of the subsequent attempt by Sextus " once more
to raise the standard of rebellion," and also, probably, of the
feeble effort made by Lepidus at this time to assert himself in
opposition to Augustus, are marked and commemorated in this
fine poem, for which the Muse of History is invoked ; period B.C. 36.

Ode I. 14. An allegory, typifying renewed danger to the ship

40 THE ODES OF HORACE

of State. The danger that was not averted until the defeat of
Antonius and Cleopatra at Actium.

73 . Ode 1.15. It hardly requires a scholiast to tell us that this is
an allusion to the adulterous connection, in lands across the seas,
of Antonius now Emperor of the East (the husband of Octavia,
Augustus' sister) with Cleopatra. Antonius had lately left
Octavia and had renewed his intimacy with Cleopatra, publicly
acknowledging their children and calling them the sun and the
moon " to the amazement of his Roman brothers in arms "
(Merivale), and plunging into luxury and dissipation himself,
while his paramour kept steadily in view " her policy of ex-
torting from him the command of the regions which her ancestors
had most devoutly coveted." A profligate " Paris," in the
hands of a shrewd and designing " Helen," both of whom might
well listen to their " fortunes " told in these terms by the son of
Oceanus and Terra. The period of I. 14 and I. 15 is between
Naulochus and Actium, for though Antonius abandoned Octavia
shortly before 36, there was no sign of rupture between him and
Augustus till afterwards.

74. Ode I. 35. The Hymn to Fortuna, Queen of Antium, a
town which the Antonii specially revered. Dr Verrall, following
Pliiss, explains this Ode in substance as follows : — Its point is the
fall of Antonius, 31-30. In the presence of the mysterious power
which strikes down princes in their pride, and standing as it
were between the Ages, the national poet humbles himself for the
wickedness and folly of the Civil Wars and implores protection for
the new generation and for Caesar, that the arms of Rome, so long
turned against herself, may be carried victoriously against her
enemies from East to West. The coming fall of Antonius is the
tacit thought, and is treated in this solemn way because, though
it must be brought about, it is no subject for exultation.

75. I. 37. Actium and after. The battle was fought on the
2nd September B.C. 31, the death of Antonius and Cleopatra did
not take place till September in the following year. The whole
period is included.

Mr Wickham's description of the Ode as " A song of triumph
written when the news reached Rome in September B.C. 30 " of
the death of Antonius and Cleopatra, assumes more than we
know. We cannot possibly tell that it was then written : Horace
has two EpodeSi viz. I. and IX., dealing with Actium, and it is
noticeable that the Ode has parallels in expression with them. It
was a habit of Horace to return on his former traces (as may
be seen by examining the correlations of the Fourth Book with
the Three), and it is at least a possible theory that the Epodes may
be the contemporary poems, and the Ode a later production con-
structed for its present place. As the climax of the first book, it
fixes deep the terminus of the Civil Wars (Verrall, Studies, p. 93).!

1 For comment on odes not included in this introductory review,
the reader is referred to the notes. I hold that the Murena story is

INTRODUCTION 41

76. Ode II. i. The intention of I. 37 as a chronological land-
mark cannot be missed on reviewing the opening of the second ,/
book. The time is come when an author may write the whole
history of the Civil Wars. " Could there be a better way of
denoting, if such was the poet's intention, that the division be-
tween these books is a historical symbol, and stands
for the great landmark of all recollections, the boundary between
the Wars and the Peace ? But further, this limit is marked by
another noticeable change. The earliest public badge of the new
monarchy was the title of Augustus, assumed at the beginning
of the year 27. ... This title does not occur in the First Book of
the Odes, though several poems are occupied with the praises
and fortunes of Ccssar. It is introduced for the first time, and
with emphasis, in the Second Book (II. 9). ... The formal con-
junction here of the name and title is unique ; afterwards either
is used — the name generally, the title twice in the specially
Imperial Odes, III. 1-6." (Verrall.) After Actium, Augustus
was in Asia, and on his return he celebrated his triumphs. This
was in B.C. 29 ; the title of Augustus was not conferred formally
till the end of 28, but both the triumph and the title seem to be
alluded to in II. 9.

77. Ode III. 8 is the next " dated >? ode which we can claim
to place. The Emperor in 27-25 was engaged personally in cor-
recting, or " taming," the somewhat incorrigible Cantabrians in
Spain, and it is his return from there to Rome — a journey delayed
through ill-health — that is the subject probably of III. 14. There
had also been war with the Dacian tribes on the left bank of the
lower Danube in 27, against whom M. Crassus was sent by
Augustus as his legate. The Roman Army was victorious, but
without lasting effect, as the Dacians continued afterwards to
harass the province of Mcesia. Ode III. 8 alludes to both these
campaigns. The Cantabrian was an old enemy. In II. 6 he is
not yet taught to bear our yoke, in II. 1 1 he is plotting, in III. 8
he is tamed. He rebelled again however, and was not finally
subjugated until Agrippa was sent against him in 20-19, but the
course of the books seems to indicate that III. 8 has reference to
the victory of Augustus in B.C. 25.

78. The other notes of date throughout the Third Book are less
explicit. The references to the East can be shown to be not
inconsistent with the general chronological arrangement of the
work, though they do not help us much in determining specific
points. The six " Imperial " Odes at the opening of the Third

unfolded side by side with events of larger historical importance. It
is begun in the prologue, the group 8-n is concerned with it ; inter
alia, it reappears in 18, 20, 27, 28, 36, etc. ; the second book is almost
exclusively occupied with it ; in 2 and 10 Murena is expressly referred
to, in others he is variously addressed. The death of Varro (Postumus),
and the succession of Murena to his estate, are commemorated in II.
14 and 15 ; 18 is concerned with the use to which his wealth was put ;
thence we pass to the third book, and the end of his career (see infra).

42 THE ODES OF HORACE

Book are not precisely dated, as we use the term, though they are
full of allusions to contemporary events, on which point we shall
have something to say presently. Neither is Ode 24 so dated,
but that it is a picture of a phase of affairs in Rome after B.C. 23,
lines 25 and the following indicate.1 If the invocation of the man
who desired the proud title of Father of Cities to quell disorder,
and not to shrink from harsh measures for securing the common
safety, and the rest of the Ode, stood alone, they would tell us
little, but considering their environment they tell us much.

79. If there were serious disturbances in Rome after B.C. 23-22,
and if the Odes deal with current events, and display a system of
historical chronology, and if the collection was published at no
very great interval after B.C. 22, then III. 24 justifies our in-
ferences, for it is in the position we should expect, and is couched
in terms which lie well in the mouth of a man who was alive to
the Emperor's danger from assassins, and who dreaded the re-
currence of Civil War, and believed that the absolute rule of
Augustus was the State's only safeguard against it. The other
allusions tending to confirm the scheme of chronology here
maintained are numerous, but only the most striking can be
mentioned — as has already been said, there is no real necessity
in the non-historical pieces for observing chronological order at
all. It may be disregarded for the sake of artistic effect, or other
consideration.

80. The six Imperial Odes, which form the apex of Horace's
structure (III. 1-6) have been the subject of an immense amount of
criticism and commentary. They present a unique feature in
the work in their unusual length, their serious cast of thought so
long sustained, and in the fact that all are in the same metre.
The solemn roll of the alcaic stanza is heard eighty-four times in
succession, but in groups that show signs of careful adjustment of
the balance.

In these Odes Horace has risen to a height he nowhere else
attains. They contain the essence of the Three Books, and they
exemplify the style which he has deliberately selected for the
conveyance of his message to the world.

81. That style like his metres had been known to the Greeks
before him : it is known to ourselves now, and valued as much
by the modern as by the ancient world. Its note is irony, the
use of language in which the " significance is larger than the
words." What the French call the double entendre, though
that phrase has for us a suggestion of vulgarity, is akin to
it. Horace has examples of the double entendre, a habit of ex-
pression which depends for its effect entirely on the percep-

1 Professor Sellar's vacillation here shows up the weakness of the
B.C. 23 position. On p. 32 (Horace, 2nd ed.) he declares in favour
of publication in 23 ; on p. 147 — after reading Verrall — he discovers
a " bias of probability " in favour of 22 : that if 22 be right, the " Mar-
cellus " argument, that sheet-anchor of 23, is swept away, he omits
to point out.

INTRODUCTION 43

tion of the duplicity. The hearer of a two-edged statement,
whose penetration does not reach beyond the first and obvious
application, is at a loss to understand the sensation it creates.
Viewed from one aspect only, speech of this kind is generally
platitudinous, and Horace has been in the past pronounced
" trite," and " cold," and his thought " commonplace ll and
" obvious." Some readers — even occasionally those whose
linguistic scholarship is highest — maintain that his words are
savourless. His poems interest them as verbal mosaics, with a
beauty of finish that no others in their own language can match,
but from which depth or sincerity of feeling is absent. The
question is whether the poet or the critic is responsible for this.
In the appreciation of poetry the reader has to meet the author
half way. Consider what it is that produces sententiousness and
platitude. Is it not precisely those qualities which were con-
spicuous by absence from Horace's mind : — poverty of imagina-
tion and language, lack of power to form independent opinions,
want of wit and humour, dullness, laziness ? Horace was an
example to the contrary in respect of all these things. Even
when he imitated he followed, so far as we can judge, the course
pursued by other great lights, and impressed the products with
an originality of his own ; his imagination was powerful and
strong, and not less so because it was that of a sane man, noticeable
for the even balance of his mind ; of his own language he was
master, with a superlative gift for expression and with a special
faculty of elevating homely words to the higher uses of the poet
(see Ep. ad Pisones, " It is well " — he says in effect — " if by a
new combination you give freshness to a trite phrase." Mr
Wickham deserves the thanks of Horatian readers for the ex-
amples noted by him of this achievement in the poet's
lyrics). No man whose thought was not powerful could ever have
acquired the clarity of Horace's style ; confused language results
from confused thought, and though Horace is sometimes dark, he
is never confused. He will not be accused by anyone of a lack
of either wit or humour, or of dullness, or of laziness, considering
his care in conforming to prosodic rules which were held in almost
sacred regard. Horace had a meaning and he has conveyed it,
but often in a style that conceals the pregnancy of his words : —
for the supreme example, cf. III. 4, passim.

82. The reason therefore why Horace sometimes appears
" cold " in his manner, and " trite " in his thought, which is very
much the same thing as saying that he is sententious and prone
to platitude, is because the full content of his words is not
measured. Sometimes of course it is irrecoverable, but our lack
of information should not be counted as blame to the poet. That
is precisely the fault of what Haupt calls the " logical," as opposed
to the " psychological," consideration of an author (see § 4).

In respect of those Odes that receive censure for their want of
coherence, their digressions and their excrescences, I believe that

44 THE ODES OF HORACE

the fault lies in semblance rather than reality. To a modern
reader it seems that connection is wanting : it was not so to more
ancient readers. How many of those who speak of Horace's
" curiosa felicitas " remember that the author of that phrase em-
ployed it while praising him as a writer against whom these par-
ticular charges could not be brought ? If our association of ideas
was the same with that of the poet and his circle, and our grasp of
his meaning complete, the reasons for his sudden transitions of
thought would doubtless be clear enough. See on this, Stallbaum
(Hor. Ed. Ster. p. L.) : he, after curtly dismissing an absurd critic
who pronounced Horace's lyrics to be the forgery of some utterly
stupid monk of the darkest age, mentions several viri docti, who
accuse the poet of this vice of inconsequence : he also quotes a
confession of Markland — remarkable for its penetration as well as
its candour — that scarcely one of Horace's Odes was intelligible
to him, and he notices the criticisms of the slashing Peerlkamp,
who wished to expunge as spurious one-fifth part of the Odes on
account of " awkward repetitions," " faulty connections," " ex-
treme obscurity," and faults of similar kinds. Stallbaum replies
that adherence to rules proper for strict dialectic is not to be
asked from a poet. But though this is a fair retort, it is not a
complete answer. It leaves the difficulties largely untouched.
Consider, for instance, Od. III. 17 ; Peerlkamp says at once,
" spurious " : Stallbaum does not help us ; but nevertheless this
poem bears the unmistakable stamp of Horatian style, and may
now at least be read — even though the interpretation be not
accepted — as the very reverse of an ineptitude. The set of Odes
now under consideration affords other examples. History, as
Verrall shows, supplies the reason for the sudden leap from the
glory of Augustus to the shame of the soldier of Crassus (III. 5),
and other striking instances will be noticed presently.1

83. These six Ode's then, whose form and place proclaim their
importance to the scheme of the work, require all our attention.
Dr Verrall notes that they are not precisely dated, and this is
true, but there is an allusion in one of them (III. 4, 37) to the
settlement by Caesar of his tired cohorts in towns, followed by a
touch which makes its reference to the close of B.C. 25 and the
following events practically certain. "In 25 " (says Dr Verrall)

1 If it be objected that the theory of the Odes here advocated presses
too much work into the years immediately succeeding B.C. 23, and leaves
those preceding them too barren, I reply, that it demands no im-
possibility, and that the difficulty is slight in comparison with its
alternatives. The clues supplied' by Verrall and — correctly or in-
correctly— developed here, enable us to trace allusions, to mark points
of connection, and to interpret the major part of the work on such
a principle of unity as the author's words require. How far with
truth, is a question determinable, to some extent at least, by the
effect produced. If unintelligibility, and the grounds for the critical
censure mentioned above, are thereby removed, and mere metrical
ingenuity is visibly transformed into genuine poetic achievement, the
strong presumption is against such a result being accidental.

INTRODUCTION 45

" Caesar was dangerously ill at Tarraco : during his illness his
lieutenants finished (for this time) the Cantabrian war, and sub-
dued the Salassi of the Graian Alps : both conquests were followed
by the foundation of colonies for the veterans, Augusta Praetori-
anorum and Augusta Emerita, the name of the Spanish foundation
indicating . . . the feeling of the Emperor that his military
career was at an end. Under the care of his physician, Antonius
Musa, he recovered and returned to Rome in 24. Early in 23 he
had a more severe illness and made preparations for death.
Musa however was again successful. ... In the autumn of the
same year Marcellus . . . died and the conspiracy of Caepio and
Murena followed within a few months. It would be impossible to
put a ' learned ' allusion to these events in the style which the
Roman poets borrowed from Alexandria .... more neatly than
Horace has done it. The Muses were the patrons of the healing
art as well as of all the arts, and especially favourable it might be
supposed to their namesake — if indeed his remarkable name was
not rather due to his skill. In a single stanza Horace combines
with it the foundation of the two cities Augusta Praetorianorum
(cohortes) and Augusta Emerita (Caesarem altum finire quaerentem
labores) and finally the ' Pierian cave ' with its memories of the
Thessalian Chiron, teacher of ^Esculapius and the mythical be-
ginnings of medicine. The Muses saved the life of Horace and the
life of Augustus ; ' Ye give the (physician's) soothing counsel,
and rejoice in the gift. (But there were those who hated the
felicissimus status — see § 50 — Woe to those who rejoiced not !)
We know how Jove's thunderbolt destroyed the unduteous
Titans ' and so we pass to the conspirators."

84. In this way the difficult transition of thought in this Ode,
which has caused so much perplexity to critics, is explained. The
key is found in the events of 25-22. The gratitude of Horace to
the Muses for their guardianship connects itself with the over-
throw of the Titans without any appearance of irrelevance if we
admit that this is the point of the poem, and are not led astray by
harking back to the defunct Antonius. This Ode therefore, the
central one of the collection, its importance marked by the dedi-
cation to the Queen of the Muses, has for its themes the poet, and
his heavenly commission and the frustrated attempt in B.C. 22
to subvert the monarchy.

85. Remembering Maecenas' relations with Horace, Augustus,
and Murena, the bearing of the others becomes evident. They
begin (III. i) with an intimation that the world contains a class of
people with whom the poet wishes to have naught to do. Only
those who will take his words in seemly manner are the subject
of his address (javete linguis}. He does not speak for the " carp-
ing " or the " malignant " crowd — them he repulses or baffles —
but he speaks to the ep/>/ooi/€s, " the sensible," and proclaims
himself the teacher of the rising generation. He had assumed
this position as a mission from heaven long before Augustus

46 THE ODES OF HORACE

ratified his claim by choosing him as his laureate for the Secular
games (I. 2 : III. i) and the precepts he wishes to inculcate are
here discernible. The example of Murena furnishes him with one
text which appears in the first Ode of the series. These references
to riches which bring no happiness are no sententious generalities.
We have mentioned that the " Tu " of II. 1 8 is in all probability
Murena : the allusion to the new moon, coupled with the same
thing in III. 19, the mention of Attains, which is traced by Dr
Verrall to the connection between Murena and the Varro whose
name he bore, and whose " unknown heir " he probably was, all
point to this : and one of the subjects of expostulation with this
" Tu " is the grasping spirit he shows in adding to his landed
estate at the expense of the sea. It is not by accident that the
" lord " with whom mount fears and threats, who is interested
in a contract to build a sea wall which shall increase his posses-
sions, is brought so prominently on the scene in III. i, 33-40, and
neither is it by accident that his rise suggests the thought that
black care departs not from the armoured ships and sits behind
the knight. Reference to Maecenas' status as a knight is frequent
in the Odes (we know that his choice to remain one was a subject
of surprise to his contemporaries) and therefore, in the circum-
stances, there is no undue strain in assigning to the general words
a particular application, rather, the association of ideas is inevit-
able. When we come to read Book IV. however, and find there
that these " atrae curse " reappear in an ode the point of which
is the celebration of Maecenas' birthday, it is difficult to entertain
further doubts, especially since the tenor of the words supports
another inference already drawn from II. 13, viz. that one of
the poet's objects in writing was to alleviate by the power of song
his sorely stricken friend. As for the reference to Murena, it may
be fairly placed beyond doubt, and the proof comes from no
other than M. Terentius Varro himself. This evidence was
only discovered after much work had been done in the
present research, and the passage I am about to cite, in my
case, has the effect of a discovery that looks like confirming
what had previously been suspected. The suspicion was that the
ninth stanza in which a " lord with dry land not content " is
mentioned, was an express allusion to Murena, and connected
with him through II. 18, 20. The work that this lord is engaged
in, by means of a contractor and " hands," is making a marine
fish pond — not to our minds a discreditable operation, but if we
examine the De Re Rustica (Bk. III. 3) we shall see how it was
regarded by the old-fashioned Roman. The chapter begins on
the subject of warrens or hare preserves (leporaria\ " Of old,"
says Varro, " nothing but hares were preserved in them, now they
contain wild boars and wild goats kept for sport " : then he turns
to fish ponds, and remarks that whereas once these were exclus-
ively of fresh water for keeping coarse fish, now the epicure would
as soon have a preserve of frogs, and will not allow such fish to

INTRODUCTION 47

be worthy of the name, and he continues, " Thus our age, in the
same luxurious way in which it has enlarged warrens, has ex-
tended fish ponds to the sea, and has reinclosed multitudes of fish
from the deep. Have not Sergius Orata and Licinius Murena
been sued for this very thing ? And who from their notoriety
has not heard of the fishponds of Philippus, Hortensius, arid the
Luculli ? " Varro wrote this work in B.C. 36, for the guidance of
Fundania his wife, whom he expected to predecease (II. 14, 21).
The suing of this Licinius Murena had therefore been
before that. If he is Maecenas' brother-in-law, and the Murena
of the Odes, who in 37 was owner of a house at Formiae (Sat.
I. 5, 38), the incident may have occurred before the adversity
fell upon him in which Proculeius came to his aid (II. 2) : if the
reference is to some other member of the family (perhaps his
father) we know that this branch of the Licinian gens was fond
of following in the footsteps of its ancestors, especially in
those things for which it was censured by others : e.g. Cicero's
client had been reproached for his fondness for dancing, and
Horace takes the trouble to insert in II. 12, 17 an adroit justifica-
tion for the indulgence of Maecenas' wife in the same exercise.
But most probably Varro is alluding to the man with whom we
are concerned, and the fact would in no way oppose, but would
strongly confirm the theory of the Odes as a monumentum
" exacted " from the elements which the poet found at hand. On
this point at least, the extension of luxuries, Horace, as the bard
of the Three Books, was as conservative as the author of the De
Re Rustica, and when we find him, so deeply concerned as he is
with the career of a Licinius Murena, censuring a particular mani-
festation of the luxurious spirit which has been explicitly connected
with a man of the same name by Varro, we are justified in adding
this fact to the mass of evidence intrinsic and extrinsic for the
identification of the person referred to in this particular place.
And of course, if we are right in supposing that Licinius Murena
is contemplated in III. i, it carries us further and adds proba-
bility to our view of the consequences — in the domain of interpre-
tation— that necessarily follow. It will, for instance, fortify us
in the opinion that the person who is mentioned as " grief-
stricken " in stanza n, whom Phrygian stone and Achaemenian
attar cannot comfort, but whose " black care " (IV. n, 35) song
may alleviate is, as we had conceived from II. 12 and 13, no other
than Maecenas. It takes us in fact from the region of generalities
into that of the particular, in our consideration of the poetic
intent of this great group of Odes.

86. The second of the series begins with a note often struck in
Horace (1.8, etc.) regarding the education of young men — through
severe discipline let them prepare for war with Rome's alien foes.
This is the force of the allusion to the Parthians, and the beautiful
line " Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori," implies a contrast
between death in civil and foreign war — a point rarelv in the

48 THE ODES OF HORACE

minds of those who quote it. Then " virtue/' with a probable
reference to the Emperor, is presented in two aspects, and im-
mediately we come " with great abruptness," as Verrall says,
upon the remark that " faithful silence "• is sure of its reward,
and in connection with which are mentioned the mysteries of
Ceres, to the Romans (according to Verrall) a natural symbol of
the Confarreatio (i.e. Marriage), but said by Wickham to be sig-
nificant of secrets generally, and later on we have the statement
that Jupiter when slighted often confounds the innocent with the
guilty, but that it is rare to find retribution, with lame foot, giving
up pursuit of an offender. In view of what has been related con-
cerning the events surrounding the detection of Murena's plot,
and the parts played by Maecenas, and his wife to whom he
divulged the secret, with their consequences, it becomes extremely
probable that these words bear on this subject. If they do not
the coincidence is remarkable, and not the less because the allusion
is both obvious and obscure. Dr Verrall thinks this obscurity
intentional, and that the betrayal of the Cereris sacrum points
rather to the offence of the wife than the offence of the husband,
and also that the complaint that " Jupiter " often confounds
the innocent and the guilty could not do anything but good,
while the generality and loose construction of the poem
have the result most desirable in a case of extreme delicacy
of saving the writer from responsibility for any meaning in
particular.

87. The last stanza probably relates to the after history of the
plot. Upon denunciation the alleged conspirators quailed, and
fled, not daring to stand their trial. Punishment however pursued
them — or some of them — and the wealthy lord running from his
" bought up " glades, and the houses he had built while forgetting
his tomb, was captured and executed.

88. The third Ode opens with the well-known lines on the up-
right man holding with tenacity to his purpose. It is morally
certain that they reflect Horace's thoughts on some specific event,
though what that was is undefined. The expression
" civium ardor prava iubentium " indicates influence brought to
bear on those invested with executive powers, and is probably a
generalisation from some instance of this kind of pressure within
Horace's own purview. If in existence before the year 22, they
might well occur to the mind of Augustus when the citizens were
pressing upon his acceptance one extraordinary office after an-
other (see Pelham, supra § 45, Dio, LIV. i, § 38) all of which he
refused : and it may be remarked that after Maecenas ceased to
be " incolumis " (§§ 32-34), and when the countenance of the
master under whom he served no longer smiled on him, the next
few lines would again furnish very significant reading for him.
The explanation of this may of course be that elasticity is the note
of a good aphorism, but it has been pointed out already (§§31,51,
70) that a greater number of Horace's expressions exhibit a power

INTRODUCTION 49

to stretch beyond the year 6.0.23 than is consistent with a theory
of mere coincidence.

89. After these words we find Augustus imagined in the calm
hierarchy of the gods, and this is followed by the queen of heaven's
description of the terms on which a new " Ilion " may exist.
Modern critics (Pliiss, Sellar, Page) reject the theory that Horace
was seriously wrarning the Romans against resettlement in the
Troad, and the law of destiny laid down by Juno for Quirites, not
to try to rebuild the " Troy " their fathers knew, is held to indi-
cate that there have been two Troys both of which have fallen :
the Troy from which ^neas came and the Troy of republican
Rome for which has been substituted an Empire ruled by a god.
It is the second Troy that is not to be rebuilt. The old order has
changed ; live in the new and try not vainly to restore the
old. Fanatic folly of that kind, leading to internal strife, will
bring the race to destruction at the hands of foreign foes. (Cf.

90. We have already considered the next Ode (§§ 83, 84) and only
wish to note that the interpretation of the Gigantomachia is
helped by the last poem in which Augustus' apotheosis is spoken
of as assured, whether in the present or the future — for the tense
of the verb is disputed.

91. Ode III. 5. Augustus' deity will be perceived not only by
his own generation but by futurity : the poem is a lesson on the
traditional ethics of war which Rome has to a large extent lost,1
but which she must restore and foster. The following Ode has
also a preceptual aim, but its subject is the revival of the religious
spirit of their fathers and the morality of ancient life. (Cf. end of
§18.)

92. This concludes the great series of odes connected by their
uniformity of metre. Their solemn tone is relieved by the graceful
verses to Asterie, and an invitation to Maecenas to relinquish
temporarily his cares of office and celebrate an anniversary with
a cheerful and quiet dinner. Then this is followed by the lovers'
(or conjugal) dispute and reconciliation, that by a picture of life
of which there is no sign that Horace approves, and concerning a
class of persons against whom he has recently declaimed, viz.
those who disregard the sanctity of the marriage bond. Ode III.
10 might be entitled " A Wife's Temptation," and is an illustra-
tion of that life which Horace has so earnestly exhorted Rome to
abandon in III. 6. After this comes the address to Lyde which
contains the story of the Danaid maid who alone recognised her
duty as a wife and refused to slay her husband even at her father's
bidding, and next, the short poem to Neobule, which deals with
the love of a wayward girl.

93. With the exception of the address to Maecenas, which as
we have seen before marks a date, all these odes are concerned with
what in modern times would be called the " sex " question,
chiefly from the point of the woman's duty towards the man.

D

50 THE ODES OF HORACE

The verses to Asterie, considered apart from environment, have a
perfect charm from which nothing is wanting, but, complete as
they are, they really carry on the thought of the ode before them,
and thus seem to link themselves to the scheme of the whole work.
In III. 6 we have before us a contemptible husband and a vile wife
whose immoralities portend the ruin of society. The lines to
Asterie are no less didactic. The maid is exhorted to be faithful
to her lover whose troth is being kept, with a suggestion that the
warning is necessary, although she is now weeping at his absence.
The young Asterie must take heed of the dangers that beset her,
and be true to the love that inspires her. Wifely duty seems
to be the burden of this group of songs, and the elevation
of family life to the ideal of purity which it was one of
Augustus' chief desires to realise. They might be called the
Social Odes.

94. The next Ode, III. 14, which again marks a date, does not
break the train of thought. It is instructive, because it throws
into relief the difference between the modern and the ancient view
of the sex question. It has been read as though in a space of
twenty-eight lines Horace was doubling the parts of a moralist
and a rake. But a verdict of this kind is unjust. To explain why
at full length would require an essay on ancient views of morals
from this side. It should be remembered that the crime in Roman
eyes was a breach of the marriage bond — " moechus " was the
worst term of reproach for a man — but the institution of the
" Pierian dames/' to which class no doubt the songstress Neaera
belonged, was recognised, and association with them was sharply
distinguished from conduct which defiled the marriage couch.
Views on the point have altered, but that is no reason for expect-
ing a man to be in advance of his age. Besides this, the true
lesson from Horace's Ode is that growing age deprives one of the
tastes and attractions of youth. He thinks he ought to rejoice
with the rest and determines to have Nesera in to sing for him, and
then in effect ends by declaring that he does not care whether she
comes or not, though in his young days, in the year of Plancus,
and of Philippi, — the subtle suggestion of more than one kind of
change in himself is thoroughly Horatian — it would have been
different.1

95. Ode III. 15 is a reproof again to a class of wife whom
Augustus — and Horace as the poet of the Three Books — wished
to improve out of existence, and after administering this, he
makes the love of riches the ostensible subject of a very suggestive
poem to Maecenas (III. 16, notes). Murena's banquet follows in

1 The words " Consule Planco " may be used in proof of the asser-
tion about Horace's style made in § 81, and elsewhere. They are
so well adapted for general use that they have become proverbial,
with the mere sense of "in former times," but to Augustus
and Maecenas and to Horace himself and to those of his day " Consule
Planco " would have a far deeper significance, especially when read
with the context ; cf. III. 28, 8.

INTRODUCTION 51

III. 19 (see § 53 and notes to the Ode) and to that succeeds a most
interesting poem, specially worthy of study because it seems to
indicate the real cause of offence which Lucius Murena had given
to Augustus, and the true reason for his condemnation. The
meaning of the ode has escaped Dr Verrall's acuteness, which has
so far been our chief guide in interpretation, but though he
abandons this poem as one of which the key is lost, he has really
supplied us as it were with the wax impression of one that will
unlock its secret. His careful observation has caused him to
notice that in the Odes which concern Murena, the allusions are not
to the Titans who warred against the gods, but to characters of
mythology who were punished for insolence towards them, and in
commenting on III. 4 vv. 69-80 he points out that the two last
stanzas " introduce rather abruptly examples of the dangers of
lust," which he regards as possible allusions to supposed projects
with respect to Julia who became disposable by the death of
Marcellus. Now, through the mythology of its names, an ex-
amination of III. 20 fortifies this theory in a striking way, and
serves to explain parts of the preceding Ode. We know from
Tacitus (Ann. 4, 39, 40) that Augustus seriously thought of giving
her to Murena's brother, Proculeius, but for reasons of State con-
ferred her hand on Agrippa in B.C. 21. Proculeius was a
man who lived in retirement, his brother to judge by all we can
glean, one who refused to go into the shade (II. 2, notes) a man of
overweening presumption, and one who would acknowledge no
superior (III. 12, notes). It is not impossible therefore that what
Augustus thought of for Proculeius, Murena desired for himself,
and that in his presumptuous determination to compass his object
at all costs lay his unforgivable sin, and that this is signified in
III. 20. That Ode — to state results first — I understand to say
this : — " Do you not see, Murena, you who imagine that you are
a descendant of y£acus (Pyrrhus) the risk you run in touching the
whelps of a savage lioness ? You will soon lose your present
boldness and flee, when through obstructing bands of young men
she will go in search of her illustrious ruler, who is new to his
throne (Nearchus : Augustus) — an important conflict, truly, to
whomsoever the spoil may fall ! In the meantime, while you
sharpen arrows and she whets formidable teeth, a certain beautiful
youth (Tiberius) is standing by, coolly taking his ease, and him
you will find to be the real decider of the fight."- (Cf. notes to
III. 20.)

96. In support of this interpretation I must ask the reader's
attention to the nineteenth chapter of Suetonius' Life of Augustus
of which I append a literal translation.

" After this he (sc. Augustus) put down revolts and the begin-
nings of revolutions, and several conspiracies discovered through
information before they matured (invalescerent) some at one time,
some at another : — of Lepidus the younger, next of Varro Murena
and Fannius Caepio, soon afterwards of Marcus Egnatius, then of

52 THE ODES OF HORACE

Plautus Rufus and of Lucius Paulus, his own granddaughter's
husband ; and besides these, of Lucius Audacius (or Audasius)
a man accused of forgery, and not sound in age or body (neque
aetate neque corpore integri) in like manner of Asinius Epicardus
(or Epidacus, Epicadius, etc.) a half-breed of the Parthian race
(so the MSS.) lastly of Telephus, a woman's slave, a nomenclator,
for not even from the lowest rank of men did he lack conspiracy
and danger. Audacius and Epicardus had designed to spirit
away his daughter Julia and Agrippa his grandson (nepotem) to
the armies, from the islands in which they were confined : Tele-
phus, as if supreme power was owed to him by Fate, to attack
both Augustus himself and the Senate. Once even a minion
(Lixa : lit. an army scullion or sutler, then a follower in a bad
sense, one of the ' black guards ' in fact) having eluded the
janitors, was caught near his bed-chamber at night with a hunting
knife in his girdle : whether he was out of his mind or feigned
madness is uncertain, for nothing could be extracted by the
torture."

97. The first thing to notice is that the list of conspiracies is in
two parts : it opens with an enumeration in correct chronological
order of five historic plots, the dates and particulars of which are
recorded with more or less detail by other writers. Then we
come on a very extraordinary series, mentioned by no one else,
and introduced by words which as to time are vague.1

If, however, Suetonius really wrote " nepotem ex insulis quibus
continebantur," he must have thought that at least one of the
plots occurred after the banishment of Agrippa Postumus to Plan-
asia (an island off Corsica) circa A.D. 6.

Now the very manner in which Suetonius mentions this second
string of conspiracies, excites a suspicion that he was himself
rather hazy about them. As set forth first, he would seem to
be recording three separate projects, first of Lucius Audacius,
then of Asinius Epicardus, then of Telephus : but immediately
afterwards he returns to Audacius and Epicardus and speaks in
a way that is passive to the inference that they were fellow-con-
spirators with a conjoint design of rescuing Julia and Agrippa
Postumus. The language used, however, gives no positive assur-
ance of this : their plots may have been distinct. If we assume
that they were not, we face an inaccuracy at once : Julia and her
son were never simultaneously confined in islands. The former
spent five years (B.C. 2 — A.D. 3) at Pandateria (near the Campanian
coast) and was then removed to Rhegium on the mainland.
Agrippa Postumus was not banished until after A.D. 6 to Planasia,
where he remained till his murder in A.D. 14. In association with
this second reference to Audacius and Epicardus, Suetonius re-
introduces Telephus, with the simple but startling statement that

1 Editors take the words " ad extremum " before the mention of
Telephus, to refer to the order of narration : see reference to Cinna's
plot infra.

INTRODUCTION 53

his design was to attack Augustus himself and the Senate — a con-
siderable undertaking for one man, but " Telephus " apparently
was a man obsessed by some strange idea of destiny, une
tete montee in fact, — tollens vacuum plus nimio Gloria verticem.

(I. 18, 15.)

Then in conclusion we have the story of the " lixa," armed with
a hunting knife, who like the gold mentioned by Horace, had a
fancy for going through the midst of sentries for nefarious pur-
poses.

On any view, this is an extraordinary piece of writing, and if it
really gives us true information of three or four different con-
spiracies with which Augustus had to cope, it is surprising that
such a number of them could have occurred without eliciting
remark from other writers, since the topics are precisely of the
kind that " unscientific " historians love most. In this place
then Suetonius cannot be commended for lucidity. He is gener-
ally clear enough : can any reason be suggested for. the exception ?
The first is interpolation ; but no one to my knowledge has ever
seen reason to regard the latter half of this chapter as spurious,
and it is obvious that any such theory must create greater diffi-
culties than it removes. The second is corruption ; it is certain
that some has crept in, but when we examine the framework of
the chapter we see that this consideration will not dispose of the
matter. We must look further ; Suetonius himself does not
appear to have understood the authority from which he derived
the information, but though so confused in his account of these
plots, his belief in them is manifest. His exceptionally favourable
position with regard to documents in the imperial archives is well
known. He was secretary and Magister epistolarum to Hadrian
(117-138), and thus had the opportunity of seeing many im-
portant documents relating to the Emperors. His biographies
prove that he had access to many of Augustus' papers, and to
other documents of that time (see Life of Horace, infra}. What
then is more reasonable than the inference that the information
in the latter part of the chapter under review is derived from
some such source ? In Seneca's De dementia (I. 9), Li via, wife
of Augustus, is represented as recounting a list of the plotters
against her husband : after giving several she breaks off, saying
that there were others, but for shame at their " audacity "• she
cannot bring herself to mention their names. Some of these
thus omitted by Livia we know to have been concerned with Julia,
and we perceive that those mentioned were all men whose treasons
(at least officially) were of a purely political character. Now
considering that Suetonius did not write without authority, it is
not unreasonable to suppose that he may have found a record
of the doings of some of these unmentionable plotters, with their
identity disguised under pseudonyms, and that what he gives us
is his reading of it. However this may be, the value to us of
Suetonius' statements is that they open a possibility for running

54 THE ODES OF HORACE

down the quarry that we have been following in our examination
of the Three Books, viz. the real cause of Lucius Licinius Varro
Murena's execution — the real reason of the doubt of his guilt for
the political offence for which he was tried — the real reason why
Tiberius, a member of the imperial family, prosecuted and pro-
cured the conviction of a brother-in-law of the Emperor's most
devoted servant and ardent political supporter. For consider
the names and language, both of Suetonius and Horace, and the
facts : — In Suetonius is a Lucius Audacius plotting to snatch
away Julia. In Horace (III. 19) is a Lucius who has proved his
audacity on Augustus himself (§ 38) found indulging at a memor-
able banquet in some " madness " which one " Lycus " and a lady
at his side who is thought by the revellers to be no fit mate for
him, is concerned to hear. In the following poem a scion (by his
name) of the stock of ^Eacus — of which mention is made in III. 19
by one " Telephus," who is not only acting as a sort of literary
" nomenclator " but is also a " ladies' man •' — is described as a
ravisher of the whelps of a lioness with whom he is about to engage
in a great battle which shall somehow involve the loss and dis-
appearance of a Nearchus (New-ruler) and in which he will be
discomfited despite his supporters, and rendered " unaudacious,'2
" inaudax " (the unique negative form of course indicating his
previous audacity) while in some strange way a long-haired youth
of conspicuous beauty, who at the time of speaking is taking his
ease, is to be the real decider of the conflict. If in the circum-
stances the whelps of the lioness are not the line of lulus ;
Nearchus, Augustus ; and Tiberius the beautiful stripling ; the
accidental creation of such a parallel is astounding. (Cf. the notes
to III. 19 and 20.)

98. From evidence totally unconnected with Suetonius, Dr
Verrall has inferred that Murena's proceedings in B.C. 22, which
culminated in his execution as a public traitor and an intending
assassin of Augustus, may have been connected with some project
about the disposal of Julia's hand in marriage. On consulting
history we have also seen that Augustus had about this time a
plan of marrying her to Gaius Proculeius Varro Murena, the
brother of Lucius, and that this he abandoned on the grounds
stated by Tiberius himself (Tac. Ann. 4, 39, 40) that it would
raise a private citizen to an elevation too great for him, and so
gave her to Agrippa — a fine soldier and sailor, but otherwise
something of a " boor," a Boeotian, a " Lycus "• in fact, and no
fit mate (in the opinion of some presumptuous arrogance) for one
of the wittiest and most attractive women of her time. Before
this marriage comes off, we find Lucius Murena incurring the
implacable resentment of the Emperor, and being prosecuted by
Tiberius on a charge of complicity in Caepio's plot, and executed.
From this imbroglio come disastrous consequences for Maecenas,
the addressee of these lyrics into which may be read an allegorical
presentment of the whole story, and in which we find one •• Tele-

INTRODUCTION 55

phus " figuring largely, a man with the same designation as the
overweening individual in Suetonius, who was ready for Augustus
and the whole Senate. Though there is much room for different
explanations here on points of detail, the correspondences be-
tween Horace's story, told in terms of poetry, and the biographer's,
told in such a way as to suggest that he knew little about the
persons he was mentioning, can escape no one, and the sole ob-
stacle to connection is the vague reference to the date involved by
the mention of an island in regard to Julia, and the plot about
Agrippa Postumus, for which apparently Asinius Epicardus was
responsible. From the fact that when L. Audacius (with or
without Epicardus) plotted to ravish Julia, she was in an island,
it is clear that if the text be accurate, no such design could have
been formed before B.C. 2. If therefore Suetonius believed this,
the words " Agrippam nepotem ex insulis quibus continebantur "
may be authentic. On the other hand, for " Agrippam nepotem "
what Suetonius wrote may have been " Agrippae nuptam "• or
" nupturam/' to which the other words have been added as a
gloss, after the right word had been read as nepotem. Or there
is another alternative : as Epicardus, unlike L. Audacius and
Telephus, does not seem to be traceable in Horace (considering
the Parthian who fears an Italian dungeon, and chains, in II. 13,
1 8 he may nevertheless be there) his plot may have been a
separate one, and really concerned with Agrippa Postumus.
There is nothing in the language of Suetonius to prevent this con-
struction, and his meaning would then be this : — L. Audacius
plotted to carry off Julia, his daughter : Epicardus to carry off
his grandson Agrippa to the army (one MS. has the singular, but
the majority the plural as translated) and then again the words
about the islands may be a gloss, or an alteration of "ex insula
qua continebatur," " from the island where he (sc. Postumus)
was confined."-

99. However, I do not think the latter alternative at all prob-
able, for on this question of a plot about Agrippa Postumus, an-
other consideration arises extraneously. The historical facts, as
generally accepted, are that the last person who formed a con-
spiracy of any sort in Augustus' reign was Gn. Cornelius Cinna.
We have this information from Seneca, who gives his praenomen
as Lucius (De Clem. I. 9), and from Dio (LIV. 14-22). The plot
of Cinna, who was forgiven and raised to the consulship, occurred
in A.D. 3, before Agrippa Postumus had assumed the toga, and at
least three years before he was banished. If Suetonius is cor-
rectly transcribed, he is thus in conflict with both those writers;
Seneca wrote about fifty years before Suetonius, Dio about a
century after him. The error (if any) of Seneca therefore in
saying that Cinna's plot was the last in the reign, might be ex-
plained by the consideration that Suetonius had some informa-
tion that his predecessor knew not of, and a similar reason might
also account for the omission of these particulars from the works

56 THE ODES OF HORACE

of Velleius and Taxitus. Dio must have read Suetonius, but the
reason why he omits them it is futile to inquire : it may be that
his history being cast in the form of a chronological record from
year to year, he would not know where to place them (especially
if Suetonius wrote " Agrippae nuptam ") but yet the fact that he
follows Seneca as to Cinna's plot being the last in time, would
seem to show that he at least did not regard what he found in
Suetonius as contradicting that assertion. This therefore seems
to me to form some argument — slight in itself — but accumulating
force when everything else is taken into consideration, that there
have been alterations in Suetonius' text later than Dio, making
the plot of Epicardus appear to concern Agrippa Postumus.
Suetonius' unluminous narrative inclines one to think that he is
really dealing with a single conspiracy, though he may be taken
to be enumerating more, and I believe that the words which con-
nect any part of it with Agrippa Postumus are either the result of
error, or are not authentic. One is not however forced to take
one's stand on this since Epicardus' plot may be separated from
its surroundings without violence to the construction, and
" Audacius " be left with Julia, and " Telephus "- with the
Emperor and the Senate.

The appended story of the " lixa " does not seem to me opposed
to this theory of unity. It reads as if Suetonius found it where
he found the rest, and did not quite know where to place it re-
latively to the others. We may, I think, feel confident that the
words " for not even from the lowest rank of men did he lack
•conspiracy and danger," give us the explanation formed in his
own mind of the obscurity of the matters he was recording. For
him " Telephus " could certainly be no Roman — as a real name it
was only possible for a slave : Epicardus he found described as a
Parthian half-breed, and then on the scene comes this " lixa " who
looks very like the agent of someone else. Accordingly he tells
the story in such a way as to leave it doubtful whether he is talking
of several matters or not : but probably the reader of Horace who
comes to the conclusion that the Three Books were not published
in B.C. 23, and who examines them carefully in the light of M arena's
and Maecenas' history, will have acquired insight enough to see
that Suetonius' record of Lucius " Audacius " and " Telephus >!
with their designs on Julia, Augustus and the Senate, may con-
tain useful material — despite the confusion about " Agrippam
nepotem " for recovering the tragic story that underlies the
Odes.

100. On a further consideration of details we find that L.
Audacius is described by Suetonius as " neque aetate neque cor-
pore integri," which would imply that he was advanced in years
and either diseased or deformed. On this point there may be one
hint in II. 2, 13, but in addition Suetonius, in another place (De
Grammat, 9), has preserved for us the explicit information that
a Varro Murena who was prominent in Augustus' reign, and who

INTRODUCTION 57

was an advocate (§ 38), was a " gibber," that is, a hunchback,
a thing inconsistent with beauty but not with strength or force of/
character, and further, Seneca has preserved a bitter rhetorical
complaint of Maecenas that someone has " put the hunchback's
hump on to him" (see II. 2, 13, note), to which I can attach
no meaning unless it be that Maecenas was suffering for Murena's
sins.

Another matter is that he is stated by Suetonius to have been
accused of forgery (falsarum tabularum YBUS}. This crime con-
sisted of any fraudulent alteration of documents such as records
of debt, and especially of wills. Now. if the " Tu " of II. 18 is
Murena, we know that there was a surprise about his succession
to an inheritance (" ignotus heres Attali," unknown, unrecog-
nised or unexpected, heir of an Attains ; cf. infra, § 101) and later
we shall find it not at all improbable that L. Murena may have
added forgery to his other crimes, and that in the fact that it was
known to have been unjustly acquired may lie .the true explana-
tion of Horace's stern tone of reproach on the subject of his wealth.
But before proceeding further with this, we will conclude what is
to be said about the Telephus of Suetonius. The description of
him in the Delphine text is "mulieris servi nomenculatoris,"
which I translate, " a woman's slave, a nomenclator," the latter
word meaning a name-prompter. The readings however vary :
one MS. has "militis" for "mulieris," which I regard as a
mere error. Others have " mulieris servi cui nomen circula-
toris " ; that the passage is corrupt is certain, but when we re-
member that Telephus, the only named person besides Murena at
the banquet in III. 19, seems to be the man who is reciting the
names of Greek kings, and the pedigree of the house of ^Eacus,
ancestor of Achilles (cf. IV. 6), the rebellious spirit whose quarrel
with the king of men caused epic woe, we see that the alterations
have not been sufficient to destroy the traces of possible connec-
tion between the Telephus of Suetonius and him of Horace, and
we ought to regard the chapter under review as a potential guide
to the interpretation of the nineteenth and twentieth Odes of the
Third Book. See infra, §§ 105, 116 ; etc.1

1 In compiling his Lives, Suetonius avowedly inserted both fact
and fiction ; that he disbelieved a story was to him no reason for
omitting it, cf. Claud, i, Galba 12. His concern was to avoid the
charge of omitting anything. It is seldom that he himself appraises
the credibility of his stories, but the reader can generally see which
must rest on fact, and which are likely to be the offspring of scandalous
imagination. His method accounts for his contradictions. These
are numerous in respect of the character of Augustus, of whom how-
ever two things interesting to us are related which are probably true.
The first is that he bore the death of relations more patiently than
their disgrace (Aug. 65) ; the second, that deformed persons were
held by him in especial abhorrence as being of evil omen (ibid. 83).
The Emperor's sensitiveness on the point ot family honour explains
much that we find concerning the Murena imbroglio in Horace and
elsewhere.

58 THE ODES OF HORACE

101. Dr Verrall has shown that there is small room for doubt
that the " Tu " of II. 18, the " heir " to Attalus, is Lucius Varro
Murena, and if so it would not be surprising to hear that his
brother Proculeius Varro Murena had a legacy by the same will.
In fact it would be natural to find that their respective shares were
approximately equal. What then ? Simply that we do hear
from an independent source of an inheritance which a Proculeius
— a most uncommon name — shared with another man, but it
happens to be in the proportion of one-twelfth to Proculeius and
eleven-twelfths to his more fortunate co-legatee, who is styled
" Gillo," which means a vessel for " tempering " or cooling wines
in.

The classical reader will not need to be told that I am re-
ferring to the first Satire of Juvenal, to which I would invite his
attention, for if it chance that through following out the investiga-
tion initiated by Dr Verrall, we have really got closer to the mean-
ing of the Three Books, and to the way in which they were meant
to be understood by the cognoscenti, it seems to me that the
interpretation of that Satire may in some places be assisted, and
that we may discover in it also a valuable commentary on the
Odes of Horace.

" Am I to hear only and not write ? " asks Juvenal, " the
Theseid of Codrus (or Cordus), ' dramas with the scene laid at
Rome ' (toga tas), and elegies, and shall the mighty Telephus occupy
a whole day without reproach, or the voluminous Orestes ? "
Even among these titles of literary works current in the first
century, there are names to arrest our attention, but we build
nothing on that. Any doubt whether Juvenal had Horace's
writings in his mind when he framed the list of examples of vice
and folly which impelled him to satirise them (using the method
and style of Lucilius, i.e. the hexameter, see vv. 19-20) is removed
by himself in v. 51 ; " Am I not to take it that these themes are
worthy of the lamp of Venusium ? " Holding this in mind, and
in the light of our investigations, we may attach a more definite
meaning to several of Juvenal's allusions than was perhaps pos-
sible before, and may trace some of his illustrations to their
source, and we shall find them, not in the Saturae of Horace, but
in the Three Books. " The same themes," says Juvenal, " may
be looked for from the greatest poet and the least." Horace
would of course be one of the former : after these, <l unknown
tragedies " (Mayor), the " Theseid," " Telephus " and the
" Orestes," comes the preliminary announcement that the house
of no man is better known to its owner than the " grove of Mars "
and the •" cave of Vulcan near to the yEolian rocks " are to
Juvenal. " Lucus Martis " is reasonably taken to be a poetical
expression for Rome (see Mayor), the city that sprang from his
association with Rhea Sylva ; but where was the cave of Vulcan,
and how should Juvenal's acquaintance with it serve as an
apologia for writing stinging satire ? It was at Hiera, one of the

INTRODUCTION 59

JEolian islands near Sicily, of which Lipara was the chief, and
among which was the volcano Stromboli, the Cyclops' workshop',
which in order to forge the thunderbolts Vulcan makes to glow
(Odes I. 4, 1. 3, 40), and the mention of Lipara also recalls III. 12,
for it was from thence that " Hebrus," the hunter and dashing
hero generally, came to disturb the composure of Neobule, and to
demonstrate the suitability of the adjective Liparaeus to the Ionic,
a minor metre. What Juvenal seems to mean is, "I know my
Horace as a man knows his own house. "• If his understanding of
the poet was so complete, let us see if he can help us who have
not his advantage. After these words we find an allusion to
ghosts suffering under the judgments of JEacus (II. 13, 22), and
to Monychus, one of the centaurs (I. 18, 8, II. 12, 5, III. 4, 80, etc.),
hurling trees, and to a furtive theft, with the statement that
the plane-trees in Maecenas' old garden on the Esquiline — then in
the possession of Fronto — " shout " their witness to the meaning
of it all. Then, as a further excuse for writing, Juvenal adds,
" I also have given advice to a ' Sulla/ that if he would sleep
soundly he must retire into private life." We need say no more
on this than that Sulla's chief work, so far as Rome itself was con-
cerned, was the " constitution " he fashioned for it, and the reputa-
tion of Maecenas, the man to whom Horace tendered similar advice
(III. 10 and 29), rested mainly among the ancients on the part he
took in framing the " constitution " established by Augustus.
(Dio, LII. 14-40, § 17 and foil.) Among the examples given of
persons open to censure we discover those who earn their be-
quests by night, in which the above-mentioned remark is made
concerning " Gillo's " eleven-twelfths of the estate and Pro-
culeius' beggarly one-twelfth.1

In these lines occurs a phrase " in cselum quos evehit,-4 directly
imitated from the prologue to the Odes, and if we think for a
moment on the strange circumstance that Proculeius' co-legatee
should be described as " a wine-cooler " (Gillo), the lines from the
Ode addressed to " Telephus " (III. 19) and commemorating
Murena's banquet will recur to the mind, " Quis aquam temperet
ignibus, Quo praebente domum etc. . . . taces." "Who is
to mix the water with the fires of the wine, who finds the
house, you say not " — the name required being, as we take
it, L. Murena, brother of Proculeius, and host or governor of
that feast.

Then with a glance at a contemporary case of flagrant spolia-
tion and a miscarriage of justice, Juvenal asks the rhetorical
question about the lamp of Venusium, as if to say, " Is there not
here room for another Horace ? Shall I stay my hand from

1 The interpreter who assumes that Proculeius and Gillo must
designate the persons who traffic with the rich harridan — and them
only — will not have considered the question in all its bearings, and
will be in danger of overlooking Juvenal's characteristic habit of
placing old and contemporary allusions in juxtaposition,

60 THE ODES OF HORACE

wielding the lash, etc. ? " passing on to a further enumeration of
malpractices that call for attack.

These considerations seem sufficient to prove the contention
that the themes which Juvenal associates with the Horatian lamp
are those which we believe to be the themes of the Three Books,
but there is yet another passage recurring to the question of the
forged will. (The reader will not have forgotten Lucius Audacius
falsarum tabularum reus.} Lines 63-68 may be turned thus :
" Does not one wish, even in the centre of the cross-roads, to fill
large sized note-books when, on the necks of six slaves, in full
view in his chair, is carried in close imitation of the recumbent
Maecenas, the sealer of a forged will who had made himself a man
of wealth and splendour by a tablet or two and a moistened seal ? "•
What can be plainer than the association of these ideas in the
light of what we find in Horace, Suetonius, and the facts we can
collect from history ? We seem to have a glimpse into Juvenal's
reading of Horace's work under the form of a plea for imitating
him, and we find it supporting the position arrived at through an
examination of Dr Verrall's main thesis that the " tragedy of the
Three Books is the career of Murena and its effect on the fortunes
of Maecenas." The inquiry thus opened is much too large to be
finished off-hand, and I cannot now discuss other possible refer-
ences in Juvenal to the same theme, though I believe them to
exist.

102. One exception, however, must be made : In Sat. III.
vv. 203-211 we read : — Lectus erat Codro Procula minor urceoli
sex / ornamentum abaci : nee non et parvulus infra / cantharus
et recubans sub eodem marmore Chiron : / iamque vetus Graecos
servabat cista libellos / et divina Opici rodebant carmina mures /
Nil habuit Codrus : quis enim negat ? Et tamen illud / perdidit
infelix totum nihil : ultimus autem / aerumnae est cumulus, quod
nudum et frusta rogantem / nemo cibo nemo hospitio tectoque
iuvabit." Here the name " Codrus " reappears with an un-
explainable phrase " Procula minor.'- What " Codrus '•'• may
imply is not easy of decision. In Horace (III. 19) the term is a
name, a symbol. Here it clearly represents a man. The question
is, are there any points of connection between the writings of
the two poets ? No answer can be returned until we have arrived
at the meaning of these lines, and that is a problem to which I
would ask scholars of higher philological attainments than myself,
and with access to better libraries than an Australian city affords,
to direct their attention. The current interpretation takes Codrus
merely as a pauper who if burnt out finds no helping hand, while
the rich Asturicus, under similar calamity, gets abundant sym-
pathy : but this is by no means self-evident, and it is a strange
pauper whose house contains such articles of luxury as marble
sideboards, a statue of Chiron, Greek vases, etc., even though they
are his all. I think if all preconception were removed from the
mind, and a close scrutiny of the language instituted, something

INTRODUCTION 61

would come of it. The inquiry might well begin on the word
" procula." It is generally taken to be a proper noun. Is thi^
correct ? In the dictionaries will be found the locution " pro-
culiunt," a term of divining law, said to mean " they promise,"
or "they promulgate." Can "procula" (cf. procul} be a sub-
stantival form of this verb's root, or the relic of such a thing, re-
ferring to prophecy, destiny or the future (the thing afar) as de-
clared by divination ? For observe, we are in the thick of the
paraphernalia and the language of sortilege, etc. Here is the aba-
cus, the calculating board (cf. the Numeros Babylonios of I. u),
here is the cantharus (cf. the same word in I. 20 and note on v. 2),
not only a Greek vase but also the sacred beetle, the distinguish-
ing mark of Apis, deity of Egypt, the land of magic : Chiron, the
Merlin of the ancients, uncle and tutor of Achilles, and in this cate-
gory perhaps the urceoli, the little jugs, for holding lots, etc., had
their appointed place. (The root of this word is said to be the
same with that of urna, cf. Sat I. 9, 30 : Od. II: 3, 25, III. i, 16.)
Divina carmina are certainly applicable to Sibylline or oracular
verses. It is not impossible, considering the " Augur " Murena
of III. 19, the " house of the Argive Augur perished through
greed," III. 16, n, and Suetonius' " Telephus," possessed with
an insane idea of what Fate " owed " him, that " Quantum distet
ab Inacho Codrus " may yet receive some elucidation from this
passage, for it may turn out that " procula minor " means " less
than was prognosticated," and that " lectus " does not contem-
plate the sleeping couch of " Codrus," but that as sortilegus is
the fortune-teller, so " lectus " (noscatur a sociis} has something
to do with the process of divination also, and that " ornamentum "
is the arrangement — " set out " is, I believe, the technical term —
of the " board," with the abacus, the scarabaeus, the Chiron, and
the little urns, all in proper order. Point too would thus be given
to the chest which seems to have held Greek (divining) books,
and to the Oscan, the native Italian mice x — who had no con-
nection with Greek kings, but who used to gnaw the lying oracles
like so much rubbish. Even if my suspicion about Procula is
ill-founded, the connection of this passage with sorcery and magic
when once pointed out cannot be neglected, and it seems to damage
the traditional interpretations which fluctuate between Procula
as the wife of " Codrus," or a dwarf of the period. It is rather
too whimsical to imagine that this pauper, with his marble side-
board, Chiron, etc., had a bed in which his wife was unable to keep
her toes covered, but though I may be right in saying that the
current interpretations are unconvincing, I freely admit that more
explanation is wanted before this passage can be fixed as an
allusion to Horace and L. Murena. Coupled with the language
of the first Satire, however, there are grounds for suspecting that

1 Mythological experts may be interested in these Opic or Oscan
Mice : see " Apollo and the Mouse," in Custom and Myth, by Mr
Andrew Lang.

62 THE ODES OF HORACE

it is, and that " Codrus " may be a name derived from the actors
in that story.

103. Juvenal and Suetonius therefore seem to me to offer clues
to the interpretation of Horace, the perception of whose methods
may perhaps result in elucidating the meaning of other Latin poets.
I conceive that this will be its effect on parts of Ovid l and
Persius, and upon certain of the Catalecta ascribed to Vergil :
see Appendices I. and II. ; and perhaps on some of Martial's
allusions.

If this be so, we may gradually be able to reconstruct the inner
history of portions of Augustus' reign — more especially of the
important years following B.C. 23. We may also be able to under-
stand the Emperor's character better than before, and to get a
clearer insight into his motives in his second attempt to restore
the Republic (§ 44 and foil.), an attempt which he himself
sanguinely regarded as the inauguration of a new peace, a feli-
cissimus status, but which, as Tacitus indicates, resolved itself
into a peace that could only be described as " bloody," on account
of the immediate reappearance of sedition and the " rabies
civica " manifesting itself in response to conflicting ambitions :
we may also be enabled to understand on what very convincing
grounds he perceived, as Tiberius told Sejanus long afterwards,
that marriage with Julia must raise a private citizen to an im-
mense height above others, and that it was too late to indulge in
anti-dynastic dreams for the Csesarean house, or to try to reduce
it to the level of other Roman families.

104. It will be evident from these later lights on the subject
that though Verrall's main theories are supported, his explana-
tion of details may require modification. Granting that we can
perceive clearly that the Odes are allegorical (for which we have
Quintilian's and the scholiasts' authority), we are not yet in a
position to denominate the particular point and bearing of each
allusion, nor have we a complete key to Horace's nomenclature.
The fact emerges that the same man appears under different
names in different places, but our want of precise information of
the details of Murena's doings, and of the men described in Horace
as " iuvenes " with whom he was associated (III. 20), prevents
us from assuming certainty with regard to all the persons or
incidents of the drama. Our difficulty exists to a large degree
because Horace intended it to do so. The named persons in the
Odes who seem to typify Murena include Sybaris (I. 8), Pyrrhus
(III. 20), Telephus (I. 13, etc. vide esp. III. 19, «.), the person ad-
dressed in II. 3 (in the oldest Blandinian MS., " Gelli," in others,
" Delli," probably in the original, " Gillo ") — Grosphus, " the
arrow" (II. 16), Hebrus Liparaeus (III. 12), and others; by

1 In the Metamorphoses I. the banquet of Lycaon (? Licinius) may
be instanced as a problem likely thus to have some light thrown upon
it. Its mythology seems appropriate for the allegorical treatment
of Murena's story. Cf. note on Hirpinus and the Sorani, II. u.

INTRODUCTION 63

mythological reference he seems to appear as Achilles (II. 16,
IV. 6), Pirithous, the lover (III. 4), Gyas (II. 17, III. 4), and'
possibly more. The elderly Hirpinus Quintius we also find to be
addressed in terms similar to those used when referring to Murena
(cf. II. u). What inconsistencies occur in the allusions to these
persons may be explicable if we remember that there can be no
doubt that Horace is often speaking ironically, and saying exactly
the opposite of what he means. If Murena was advancing in
years in B.C. 22 (he was the owner of a house at Formiae in B.C. 37,
I. Sat. 5, 38) and a hunchback showing the effects of excesses in
drink (cf. II. 2, 13), one can understand the ironical point of refer-
ences to the beauty of Hebrus, and the description of that splendid
fellow generally (III. 12, w.).

105. By piecing our information together, I think we can
reasonably infer that the following contains some of the points
in his story. He had early losses of property. His brother
Proculeius come to his aid. Afterwards he acquired great wealth
by inheritance : a suspicion fell upon him, but at what time we
cannot say, that he had himself forged or altered the will, which
was probably that of M. Terentius Varro : this fraud was greatly
to the detriment of Proculeius : L. Murena made a bad use of his
riches, and showed himself arrogant and presumptuous, and
possibly his excess in wine undermined his health. Insolent in
speech, he was a coward at heart. He conceived the design of
abducting Julia, and, defying the Emperor, Agrippa, and the
Senate, of raising himself to power. He was superstitious, and
resorted to augury, divination and magic, he had pride in the
nobility of his descent which he seems to have traced to the ancient
mythologic heroes of Greece : he probably believed in the Pytha-
gorean doctrine of reincarnation, cf. I. 28, n.} and was obsessed
with strange ideas of his destiny as revealed by sortilege : with
these mad notions in his head he rushed on ruin. His banquet
denotes the climax of his career in so far as it was prosperous ;
whatever led up to or happened at that entertainment, it marks
the beginning of the end : his designs came to the ear of Augustus :
whether their coincidence in time with the plot of Caepio was
purely accidental or not cannot be declared : to avoid scandal in
connection with Julia's name — it would have been the first — he
was denounced as a political plotter : the person (Castricius)
who informed against him declared himself to have been a fellow-
conspirator, and the protection of this man's life was made a
special and unique object of care by the imperial family (Suet.
Aug. 56, Tib. 8. It is mentioned as the only case in which
Augustus caused a prosecution to be dropped). Maecenas was
informed of his guilt, and divulged the secret to his wife, Murena's
sister. Murena got wind of his danger and fled, was prosecuted
by Tiberius in his absence, condemned, captured and executed ;
and Maecenas lost the first place in the counsels of Augustus. On
this framework, so far as Murena is concerned, we may hope to

64 THE ODES OF HORACE

trace the bearings of Horace's allusions in his " monumentum "
or memorial.

106. A small part of the task thus opened for those who are
inclined for one of the most interesting investigations that litera-
ture can offer, will be found in the notes to the several Odes. The
story is not confined to them by any means. It crops out in other
places, in the Epistles especially, the fifth and sixteenth of the
first book being conspicuous instances. In the latter, I take it,
a good part of Murena's history is introduced.

If it should surprise anyone to find that there is so much that
seems new to be found in Horace, it may be well to point out that
since B.C. 23 was generally accepted as the date of publication of
the Three Books, criticism and commentary have been building
on a false foundation. As that theory took shape as a canon
about seventy years ago, it has deflected two generations of
scholarship from the right path, and it was during those genera-
tions that the value of the historic method was perceived, and
any attempts at understanding a classical author in the way that
Haupt describes as psychologic began seriously to be made. The
truly surprising point is that Dr Verrall's acute inquiries and
learned investigation of the subject, have not yet had the results
predicted for them by the scholar who reviewed the Studies in
Horace in The Edinburgh Review in 1885, of materially influencing
the current views of Horace, and of the history of this particular
time. To Dr Verrall is due the credit of perceiving the vital part
the career of Lucius Murena plays in the interpretation of the
Odes. With that one fact as a guide, most of the hidden chambers
of Horace's monumentum reveal themselves to view. Our author
himself uses the Pyramids as illustrations of his work. We may
continue the analogy, for we are like explorers who, though the
exterior of a great one has long been familiar to us, are only now
discovering the secret chambers concealed within it. So cunning,
so felicitous, is the art with which they are set that it would be
rash at any time to say we had detected them all, or to attempt
finally to sum them up. but of the nature of the discovery there can
be little doubt (cf. infra, § 118).

107. The Odes in the Three Books are not separate units, but
links in a chain of allegory so skilfully forged that in the whole
range of extant literature we find nothing to compare with it.
Horace has beaten the Alexandrians at their own game with the
aid of his Muses. In the events of his time he has found material
for a song of Titans at war with heaven, presumptuous mortals
offering insult to " Jove," and of the Nemesis on such daring, and
he has sung it in the first place for the purpose of lightening the
torments of an innocent sufferer for the crimes of others, in the
second for that of reading to Rome the lesson it needed to learn.
He clokes his allegory, and speaks of " jocund lutes " and experi-
ments in Greek metres, but the scope of this a reader may rightly
appreciate who will explore the secrets of " Vulcan's cave " where

INTRODUCTION 65

the thunderbolts were forged for the hand of wrathful " Jove.1*,
Passing on from these considerations, which arise out of Odes 19
and 20 of this book, we come to III. 24, in which Murena's death
seems to be commemorated, while the loss by Maecenas of his
master's confidence, though without sign of open disgrace, is
accountable for the tenor of III. 29.

1 08. The remainder of the book the reader must follow for
himself. It is, as Dr Verrall says, the book of the monarchy. It
reflects the policy of Augustus, and it contains the denouement of
the tragic story in which Horace's patron and friend, to whom the
whole work is dedicated, unhappily figured. The notes and
references given with the several translations will direct the reader
to the various arguments in favour of this position.

109. The considerations for the elucidation of the Three Books
which it was desired to submit have now been indicated. What
in this Introduction is given in outline, will often be found here-
after worked out in more detail with a full record of the connec-
tions between the different parts of the work. To sum up, it
may be said that the Odes as a collection have a historical frame-
work : they are intended to present a picture of the times, a pic-
ture that not only enshrines a tragic story but enforces a moral
lesson. Their general ethic is that which the Emperor desired to
establish. Their politics are imperialist on the highest ground,
viz. divine right, but though this is so, they imply that they are
the result of reasoned conviction rather than sentiment. Horace
was a convert without any of the qualities that make the term
" turncoat " a reproach. It is long before his heart follows where
his head directs, and he is always true to his old friends (II. 7).

no. The work as a whole is indeed a memorial of his greatest
friendship. It is inscribed to the man whose love was Horace's
glory, on whom calamity, rendered no lighter because it was not
to be blurted out to everyone, had laid so heavy a hand. Maecenas
was himself an author, and one of the books he wrote had the
suggestive title of " Prometheus," that very son of lapetus of
whom Vergil is reminded in I. 3, who was condemned to be for
ever gnawed at heart by a vulture for his offence against the
majesty of Zeus. This book is lost, unfortunately for those whom
Horace's poetry attracts, and who would wish to know its full
import, as may be gathered from an extract of an epistle by
Seneca (19) of which I transcribe Dr Verrall's translation :
" Suppose you allow your fortunes to grow yet higher : every ad-
vance will be an addition to your fear. I have a mind to quote
you here what Maecenas said speaking truth upon the rack ' ipsa
enim altitudo attonat summa.' If you ask for the reference it
is in the book entitled ' Prometheus ' : by ' attonat ' he means
' attonita habet ' i.e. (the very height) ' exposes to the thunder.'
Now would you accept any power whatsoever at the price of so
intoxicated a style ? Maecenas was a man of genius and would
have been a fine specimen of Roman eloquence had not prosperity

66 THE ODES OF HORACE

impaired his vigour — I should say his virility — this is how you
will end unless you at once ' pull in your sails,' unless you ' hug
the shore,' as he wished he had done when it was too late." " It
cannot be by accident " (continues Dr Verrall) " that these selec-
tions from Maecenas' ' Prometheus ' reproduce not merely the
metaphors but the words of the warning given by Horace to
Murena (II. 10, premendo litus : feriuntque summos fulgura
montes : contrahes vela :). Horace intended a contrast between
Murena and Maecenas. The self-accusing minister saw but too
much resemblance and repented that he had not practised or even
exaggerated the caution recommended by the poet."

in. This passage gives us a glimpse into the mind of Maecenas
which is very valuable, slight as it is (another is elsewhere afforded,
see II. 2, n.\ It was the work of 22 that brought Jove's thunder
down upon his uplifted head, that fashioned the rack whose
tortures wrung from him the bitter truth which he found enunci-
ated in the poem addressed to the man whose conduct had so dis-
astrously reacted upon himself. On the assumption that Horace,
the divided half of his soul, in whom if any emotion was strong it
was his love for his friend, published after his fall, it is not surprising
to find that he did not spare the cause of this tragedy, but gave
forth the poems in which his faults may be discerned — a man
publicly condemned perhaps for a crime he did not commit, but
a reckless spirit who greedily made his own desires his criterion
of right and wrong, and who only received his deserts, though
unfortunately his ruin involved the happiness of others —

" Cui dabit partes scelus expiandi
Jupiter ? "

Horace asks at the beginning of the book : a question that might
well be re-echoed by Maecenas in his time of trial and distress,
and which he seems to have answered in the way we should ex-
pect (see II. 2, 13, n.~). There are numerous Odes, especially in
Books II. and III., which contain expressions that would remind
Maecenas after this great crisis, of the circumstances surrounding
it. If Horace shaped and edited his collection before the events
of 22, he compiled by accident a work quite extraordinary in
the quantity of food for thought it was ready to supply to the man
to whom it was addressed — an accident utterly unparalleled in
literature — and considering that the required assumption is based
on inconclusive grounds, and that it introduces confusion and ob-
scurity where otherwise there is order, significance and point, one
may be excused for refusing to make it.

112. The matter may be summed up thus; Horace was a
prophet after the event. He was not a copious writer in this
poetic style, but out of his lyrical work, some of which was perhaps
at hand and adaptable, but most of which was composed expressly
for it, he fashioned or " exacted >? the memorial which he desired
to set up in honour of his friend, and as a witness of his own poetic

INTRODUCTION 67

power. Through this he conveyed to his world the message!
which he desired to deliver. Whether he omitted to include in
his collection other experiments in Greek metres that he may
have made and recited to his intimate friends, we cannot say:
We may be sure that the sacred regard in which he held his art
would prevent him from publishing anything that fell short of
his high-set standard, or would be, as Petronius says, an " ex-
crescence " to mar his " felicity."

113. In spite of the gaps in our record of the times, there are
very few Odes in the Three Books which seem to be out of the pic-
ture. Of the majority one can " feel " the ground for inclusion,
even if one is unable always to be certain as to the precise intent
or point. As Horace in publishing may be taken to have had
three objects, patriotic, political and personal, respectively, as
to one of which he was often deliberately obscure : and con-
sidering that nearly two thousand years have passed since he
wrote, and that our information is defective in detail, it is sur-
prising that we can follow him as closely as seems to be possible.

1 14. A few words remain to be said here of the Fourth Book.
If the tone of the first Three denotes a time of crisis, that of the
last is equally unmistakable for one of security. The national
dangers so acutely feared are past. The prospect for the future
is fair. The policy of Augustus has been successful. There is
specific reference to many of the old subjects of complaint, but
now the poet's function is to call attention to the absence of all
their attendant evils. Civil strife is over : Rome is at her proper
work of subduing foreign foes, and has abandoned the practice of
self-slaughter : family life is become pure. If the picture is a
little too rosy, we must remember that this book is composed in
response to an imperial commission.

115. Horace takes his readers much more into his confidence
now, and shows himself in his own proper person with a freedom
that is not to be found in the Three Books. The strange features
of his "amatory" Odes in the earlier collection have often been
observed, and many comparisons have been drawn between
Horace and other poets who have treated erotic subjects, to his
great disadvantage. The truth is that there is no basis for such
comparisons. The standpoints of the contrasted writers are
quite different, and so is the impulse which led them to write. I
question whether there is a single Ode in the Three Books — in spite
of their ironical claim to be concerned with " light " topics — that
is intended to show us the poet in love. The poems addressed to
female names are seldom meant as records of his personal experi-
ences ; as Dr Verrall points out, they mutually exclude each other,
Their real object must be otherwise explained. The mention of
the name Myrtale in I. 33 seems to be an exception. Horace
appears to be speaking of himself in that place, and to be giving
us the reason why he did not marry. The hint is conveyed in an
unobtrusive way, but it is direct enough, and it is not impossible

68 THE ODES OF HORACE

that a bachelor, who not snly advocated marriage but put himself
forward to expound its ethic, should wish to explain his own
celibacy. The poem deals with a common phenomenon, the
unhappy marriage. Albius is consoled by the reminder that he
may have had a happy escape in not linking himself indissolubly
with Glycera : that reflection ought to soften his present grief :
"I," says the poet, " might have been married once, but I was
held by the pleasing fetters of Myrtale." The inference is that
Myrtale was not desirable as a wife to one in Horace's position
though he might be willing to make her his mistress. Marriage
was the higher estate, and its obligations once assumed were to be
respected, but happy marriages were not for everyone (I. 13, 17).
The son of a freedman, himself associating with the proudest
families, might easily discover this.

When historic examination, brings into clearer relief the vaison
d'Hre of 'the Three Books, and enables us to understand the atti-
tude of the author to his work, we at once see that the poems
which have " love " for their apparent subjects are quantities in-
commensurable with the outpourings of passion of Catullus and
Propertius. Between the moral censor, or the poet whose pur-
pose is in any way didactic, and the self-centred love elegist there
is a difference in kind not merely in degree : but the State poet,
commissioned to write gratulatory odes, may bring himself into
the picture without hesitation so long as he is cheerful and does
not offend contemporary taste.

1 1 6. However, in some places we find a return to the symbolism
that pervades the Three Books. The sixth poem has always been
a puzzle to critics. It purports to be " a sort of prelude to the
Carmen Saeculare " : "a poetical expression of the pride of the
poet in his selection to write the Hymn " (Wickham. The C.S.
was composed in B.C. 17). But why is " Achilles " brought on the
scene in such a strange way — dragged on, as it were, without any
manifest reason ? Dr Verrall is the only expositor I know who
has provided anything like a real answer. It was of course con-
jectural, but since it gave point to the poem it is of great interest
to the student. It is not possible to extract his full discussion of
the Ode, but his result is as follows : — The poet has seized an
opportunity to say what he hardly dared hint at in his former
book — that a certain person, viz. Murena, here typified by the son
of ^Eacus who fought beneath the walls of Sacred Ilium, though
both arrogant and inhumane, and though as an enemy to
" Apollo/'- he had used a magna lingua (insolence) for which
he had paid dear, nevertheless was an honourable enemy, and not,
as the senatorial judges had decided, a treacherous assassin.
Like the pine which courts the winds was his overtopping great-
ness (II. 10) ; like the pine or cypress he fell, and the towers that
shook at his spear were but symbols of his own overthrow before
a mightier than he. It should be remembered that Tiberius had
acted as prosecutor of Caepio and Murena, and it was his victories

INTRODUCTION 69

against the Rseti that were being celebrated in the book. The
Raeti were in the habit of putting to death all the males of their
conquered foes, including unborn babes whose sex they professed
to ascertain by magic. This cruelty is used to give Horace's
conception of the character of his " Achilles." The Ode therefore
is not a prelude to the Carmen Saeculare, for between that and the
death of " Achilles " there is no connection at all, but between
the " retrospective defence of Murena and the writing of the
Carmen Saeculare there is a connection and a very significant one.
To the success of the vates Horatius as a poet of the Roman
nation in the Carmen Saeculare, as much as the fame of his Three
Books, might be attributed the request or injunction of the
Emperor that he should bend his powers to the praise of Tiberius.
In no way, therefore, could he better dignify his compliance than
by thus conjoining the renown of ' Apollo ' vindex magnae linguae
(the avenger of a boasting tongue) with an allusion to the Raetian
war, with his own dignity as author of the Carmen, and above all
with an emphatic declaration that treachery was not in the char-
acter of ' Achilles.' If the result is not very artistic, the im-
mediate object was something more important even than art to
the ' honour of the Daunian Muse/ it was to be shown that Phoebus
had given the poet not only ' art ' but ' spirit '• " (II. 6). (Stud, in
Hor. p. 82.)

Such is Dr VerralTs explanation. Personally I think it re-
quires modification. It implies that Horace had some sympathy
with Murena as a man, however much he might disapprove of his
conduct. There is no trace of this in the Three Books, and
clearly, if Murena was the villain that we imagine, it is quite im-
possible that Horace should wish to vindicate his " honour."-
That the references to " magna lingua," and Apollo's vengeance
on it, and to " Achilles," connect this Ode with Murena, I have not
the smallest doubt, but the theory of Horace's object in writing
advanced by Dr Verrall I think untenable. The explanation of
the Ode may be this : — in publishing the Three Books in which
Murena's offence is indicated (albeit in allegory), Horace was
treading on a very fragile crust of ash indeed. He was running
the risk of opening the fires of imperial wrath by divulging what
Augustus regarded as an outrage on the honour of his family too
shameful to be mentioned ; he was at the same time showing a
passionate sympathy with Maecenas, whom the Emperor, though
he did not care to proclaim it, had deposed from the first place in
his counsels : he was, in fact, inviting the prurient vulgus, who
greedily drink in the tales of exiled potentates (II. 13), to make
awkward inquiries. On my reading of III. 27, Horace was quite
aware of this, and there asked Augustus to pardon him. It is
not impossible that IV. 6 recurs to the same theme — " ' Achilles J
was an impudent, but a real and a cruel, foe to ' Troy ' : venge-
ance such as Phoebus took on the insolence of Niobe was wreaked
on him : the Daunian Muse who told his story is mine, yet I ask

70 THE ODES OF HORACE

and receive the protection of Phoebus " ; between this and the
selection of Horace to write the Carmen Saeculare, there is an
appropriate connection, for to that he can point in support of his
claim.

117. The modification of view with regard to Horace's lyrical
work to which criticism seems thus to be leading, is altogether
pleasant, and is possibly only bare justice. It may be that to
know all is to forgive all, and that some hasty judgment upon
those " things " in Horace which we " would glaflly miss " in
them requires correction. The fact certainly emerges that upon
the theory of the Odes enunciated here the passages which cause
the greatest offence to modern ears are precisely those where
Horace's conscience was most excited in the cause of morality.
As to his character, there is now a distinct tendency to recognise
its better side as against a previous habit of regarding him as a
mere pleasure-loving lounger through life (cf. Sellar's mono-
graph). It was common to describe him as an " Epicurean " at
a time when that term had hardly any other connotation than that
of self-indulgence. It is true that Horace was a disciple of Epi-
curus, but he took his teaching from the fountain-head. The
following is his master's conception of the " wise man," and the
known facts of Horace's life show that in him we might find an
example of almost every clause. " The injuries which come to
men either through hatred or envy or pride, the wise man will
conquer by reason. He will acknowledge the power of feelings
and passions, but will not thereby be hindered in his wisdom.
Even though he be tortured, he is yet happy, albeit that at times
in his torture he will moan and groan. It is the wise man only
who can feel affection for his friends, whether present or absent.
He will not punish his servants, but will be compassionate and
pardon those who are worthy. No wise man will fall in love, nor
believe that Eros is heaven-sent. Nor will he be a good orator.
At times a sage will marry and beget children ; at times, if circum-
stances be adverse, he will not marry and will try and dissuade
others. He will neither cherish wrath in drunkenness, nor will
he engage in politics, nor become a tyrant, nor yet flatter.
Neither will he beg. Even though bereft of eyes the wise man will
still have a hold on life. He will feel grief : he will think about
property, he will provide for the future. He will be fond of a
country life, and bear a stout heart against fortune. Only so far
will he think of repute amongst men that he be not contemned.
More than others he will feel delight at the theatre. It is only the
wise man who will have a right opinion on music and poetry :
yet the sage lives poems and does not make them. Money he will
make, yet only in wisdom, if he be in want. He will court a
monarch at the proper moment. He will humour a man in order
to correct him. He will found a school, but not to gain crowds of
scholars. He will give his opinion freely and never be at a loss :
in his dreams he will be true to himself. And sometimes he

INTRODUCTION 71

will die for his friend." (Hellenica : Art. Epicurus : W. L.
Courtney.) /

The reader should bear in mind that in the philosophy of
Epicurus, theology had no point of contact with ethics. The two
things were regarded as distinct, and from Epicurean theology,
which was quite opposed to Roman ideas of religion, Horace, as
the poet of the Three Books, expressly dissociates himself in I. 34.

1 1 8. In conclusion we may advert to an objection likely to be
made to the interpretation of the Odes given here. It will be
said that if these hypotheses have substance a direct confirma-
tion ought to be found in the scholiasts, but the conditions do not
require this. There are no works extant of the earlier grammatical
and scholastic interpreters of Horace. The names of three re-
main, viz. C. ^Emilius, I. Modestus, and Terentius Scaurus,
some traces of whose writings doubtless are preserved by Acron.
We have two later scholiasts in Helenius Acron and Porphyrion,
but the former seems to have lived in the sixth century, and the
latter at some unknown time afterwards. Five hundred and
fifty years probably separated the earlier of these men from the
publication of the Odes, and, further, on their texts we can place
small reliance. They are, as Stallbaum says, corrupt, inter-
polated, and contaminated by annotations of later grammarians,
forming in fact centos of a kind that renders it difficult to separate
the genuine from the false. The Cruquian scholia are a legacy
from the Middle Ages. It is clear that in these circumstances we
perceive ample opportunity for the loss of an abundance of
Horatian allusions, and also for the incorporation of an abundance
of fallacious explanation. The fact that Horace's works soon be-
came a school-book would not prevent such losses. Instruction
in syntax, in a general review of the career of historic persons, and
in the original stories connected with mythologic names, without
regard to their particular point in a given place, would be the
natural staple of grammatical and scholastic commentaries, be-
tween which and refined literary criticism there is a distinction:

It is obvious, both from the state of the texts of the scholiasts,
and an estimate of their critical methods, that any help in the
deeper — or as Haupt calls it, the psychologic — study of the author
is only to be accepted from them with caution. Hence in this
volume I have made it my aim rather to examine the literature
nearer to Horace, and to mark its effect on the interpretation of
the Odes, than to review the scholia. An idea of the scholiasts'
inability to perceive the value of the historic method may be
gained from the fact that they do not preserve the date of issue
of Horace's several works, and, as I have explained above, the
erroneous antedating of the Three Books in modern times is one
of the chief causes why the full importance of Murena's career
in their interpretation was not observed until Dr Verrall pointed
it out. Upon a consideration of the history of that man, and upon
recognising that mythological names are used allegorically by

72 THE ODES OF HORACE

Horace, the interpretation put forward in this book follows
naturally without the use of any strained or perverse ingenuity.

The study of the question was begun without any predilection
in favour of Dr Verrall's thesis, and simply with the desire to do
what I could find done nowhere else, i.e. to test it. Such develop-
ments as it has received at my hands may be said to have come of
themselves. To my mind the allusions to Horace made by
Juvenal in his first satire show that he found in the Odes the
same themes with those here asserted (supra, §§ 101-2) and I
think that a perusal of the remainder of Horace's works will also
show that the conduct of his patron's exuberant and aggressive
brother-in-law has frequently prompted the thoughts to which
poetic expression is given. Murena's superstition was not the off-
spring of a day, and his character and actions, as would be ex-
pected, have supplied many a saw or instance for Horace's enuncia-
tion in works issued both before and after the Three Books. I
have elsewhere mentioned Epist. I. 5 and 16, both of which they
elucidate, and the reader should study the second book of Satires,
and some of the Epodes, in the light of the knowledge we have of
this man. One striking passage in Sat II. 3 has been shortly con-
sidered in App. II.

LIFE OF HORACE

BY SUETONIUS

QUINTUS HORATIUS FLACCUS was born at Venusium, and his
father, according to his own story, was a freedman and a clerk of
auctions [but in reality, as is believed, a salter, since in a dispute
some man cast this reproach at him : " How often have I seen
your father wiping his elbow ? "]

Roused to action by M. Brutus, and under his leadership, he
served as military tribune in the fighting at Philippi. After the
defeat of his side, he was granted a pardon, and purchased a
Quaestor's clerkship. But having been introduced, first to
Maecenas, and then to Augustus, he held no unimportant place
in their friendship. The extent of Maecenas' love for him is
sufficiently shown by the following epigram : " If I do not love
you more than my own vitals, Horace, may you see your friend

leaner than a " [text doubtful], and much more by this

commendation of him to Augustus in his last provisions made
before death : — " Remember Horatius Flaccus as you would me."
Augustus offered him a private secretaryship, as appears from
this which he wrote to Maecenas : — " Up till now I have been
able to cope with my correspondence with friends, but, being
very busy and in weak health, I wish to rob you of Horace.
He will therefore come from that parasitic table of yours to this
palace, and help us in writing letters." Yet when Horace refused
this offer, he neither showed any annoyance, nor ceased to press
his friendship upon him. Letters exist from which, to show
that this was so, I have made a few extracts : " Assume the
right to anything to which you would be entitled as a member
of my household ; for this reason, that I was desirous that such
should be your relationship with me, if only your health had
permitted it." And again : — " Of the nature of my regard for
you, you will be able to hear from Septimius, for it chanced that
in his presence there was mention of you by me : and even if you
in your pride have rejected our friendship, we do not reciprocate
in turn."

Often too he jokingly called him " most charming of mannikins,"
and other things, and more than once rewarded him with liberality.
He had so high an opinion of the quality of his compositions,
and of their immortality, that he commanded the composition
not only of the Secular Hymn, but also of the poetical work on
the victory in Vindelicia of his s tensons , JTiberi n « _- nfl Druyi s ^

73

74 THE ODES OF HORACE

and thus caused Horace after a long interval to add to the Three
Books of Odes, a Fourth. After reading his Sermones also, he
complained in these terms that they contained no mention of
himself : — " I would have you know that I am annoyed because,
in this class of writing generally, you do not specially converse
with me : are you afraid that it may be a reproach to you among
posterity if you show that you were a personal friend of mine ? "
Accordingly Horace wrote the piece which begins : " Cum tot
sustineas, et tanta negotia solus " (Epist. II. i).

In figure Horace was short and stout, as described by himself
in the Satires, and by Augustus in this letter : " Dionysius has
brought me your booklet, which, without blaming you for its
brevity, and short as it is, I take in good part. You seem to me
to be afraid of your books being bigger than yourself. However,
if you lack height, you do not lack girth, so you may write on a
pint pot, and thus make the circumference of your volume of a
size to match your waist."- [Note. — "On a pint pot'-' refers to
the roller round which Roman volumes were folded.]

Horace lived chiefly in the seclusion of the Sabine country or
at Tibur. A house of his is pointed out near the Tiburtine grove.
There have come to my hands some elegies bearing his name,
and also a letter in prose purporting to recommend himself to
Maecenas, but I regard both as spurious : for the elegies are
commonplace, and even the letter is obscure, a fault from which
he was most free. He was born on the sixth of the Ides of
December in the consulship of L. Cotta and L. Torquatus [B.C. 65]
and died on the fifth of the Kalends of December [27th November]
in that of C. Marcius Censorinus and C. Asinius Gallus, after his
nine and fiftieth year. [According to the historians this should
be his fifty-seventh year, as the two men named were Consuls in
B.C. 8.]

He named Augustus as his heir in the presence of witnesses,
for through the sudden onset of his illness he was unable to sign
the tablets of his will.

His place of burial was on the far side of the Esquiline, near
the tumulus of Maecenas.

BOOK 1

TO MAECENAS

s, sprung from grandsires who were kings,
O both safeguard, and glory dear to me :
There are whom it delights to have up-whirled
Olympic dust upon the course, and lap-post grazed
With glowing wheels, and palm ennobling lift 5

Lords of the earth unto the gods —
One, if the tumult of inconstant citizens
Strive to upraise him to the threefold honours :
Another, if he has stored in his own grange
All that is swept from Libyan threshing floors. 10

Him who with mattock loves to cleave ancestral fields.
By terms of Attains one ne'er may tempt away,
So that, a frightened seaman, he shall plough,
With bark of Cyprus, the Myrtoan sea.

Fearful of Africus struggling with waves 15

Icarian, the merchant lauds the rural ease
Of his own town : quickly his shattered craft
Refits : indocile he to suffer poverty.
There is who scorns not cups of Massic old,
Or part of midmost day to steal, at times 20

With limbs reclined beneath a green arbute,
At times by hallowed streamlet's tranquil source.
Many find j oy in camp and clang of trump
And bugle blended, and in war which mothers hate.
Lingers beneath the frigid sky the hunter, 25

Unmindful of his youthful bride, if there be viewed
By trusty hounds a doe, or if a boar
Of Marsia hath burst the well-wove nets.
Me ivies, guerdon of adept brows, do raise
Among the gods above ; me the cool grove, 30

And flitting choirs of Satyrs and of nymphs,
Distinguish from the mass, if but Euterpe hold
Not back her pipes, and Polyhymnia
Do not refuse to string the Lesbian lute.
Wherefore, if with the lyric bards thou'lt give me place, 3 5
I shall with crest uplifted strike the stars.

75

76 THE ODES OF HORACE

This Ode has been considered in the Intr. § 48, etc. By re-
membering that the collection is laid at Maecenas' feet, and
includes the story of Murena, we find the clue to the poet's subtl 3r
meanings. This poem has by some been interpreted as a casv.al
composition to which the first and last couplets were added in
order that it might stand as a preface. The internal evidence of
the Odes shows that such a theory must lead the reader utterly
astray. The prologue contains exactly what we should expect
from an artist so scrupulous as Horace. It is a true introduction,
in which the principal themes afterwards elaborated are men-
tioned. Like the overture of a modern opera, it gives us the
" motives " of the symphonic whole. Its opening lines show
what Maecenas was to Horace (cf. Suet. Life, ante,, p. 73,
II. 17, II. 20, 6, etc.). Then it passes to the political aspects
dealt with in the work. We have shown in the Introduction that
these are mainly the conditions arising after Augustus Vaid down the
consulship in B.C. 23, when civil strife reappeared in Rome, and
competition for the magistracies again led to disorder and blood-
shed. It is no accident therefore that prompts this allusion to
contests for the tergeminis honoribus — the three great offices of
Curule ^Edile, Praetor, and Consul.

After this we are brought to the subject of wealth, with ex-
pressions that show from what follows that the case of Lucius
Licinius Varro Murena is contemplated. From v. 9 to v. 29
we find matter applicable to him. His career (and its effect on
the fortunes of Maecenas) is the intimate theme of the work, no-
where openly divulged, but always supplying point and meaning.
The notes to the following Odes in the first book, 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 1 1,
13, 1 8, 20, 25, 27, and to these of Books II. and III. passim will
enable the reader to trace the various allusions : e.g. to Libyan
threshing floors, Attalus, the merchant tempting the sea to supply
luxuries to rich men, the love of wine and ease, soldiering, hunting,
etc. — all in Odes which point to Murena.

Then the poet turns to himself and explains his locus standi in
high company. Marked out by the Muses, he may concern him-
self with the doings of the great, even of those who are more than
mortal — pointing to the emperor. This claim, solemnly made at
the outset, enables us to appreciate at their true worth his occa-
sional denials of seriousness, made for convenience sake, and also
of statements that his title to fame lies in successful experiment in
Greek metres. In the successful adaptation of Greek allegory to
Italian song it does lie, but Horace had good reason for not being
too explicit on this point. Cf. III. 27. On the Muses invoked,
see note to v. 32.

In conclusion, he recurs to Maecenas with a hint that explains
the style of the Three Books : " It is for you I sing, you who will
understand : your approval is all I want." Cf. II. 13, III. i,
IV. 1 1, etc.

The key to the Three Books lies in reading them as a whole,
and in tracing the connections between the poems, and also in
interpreting their mythological allusions through the recorded
fects of history. The testimony to the truth of this is sufficiently
contained in themselves, but directly the case is examined ample
corroboration appears extraneously.

i . Reges : Kings, often equivalent to high society : Maecenas
was of royal Etruscan ^tock.

BOOK i] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES 77

2. Dulce decus meum : Meum is emphatic, and dulce, qua
Horace, is objective : to have Maecenas' love is his glory. Cf. II.
20, 6, and Prop. II. i, 73.

3-10. Curricula : the course, rather than the car, cf. Cic. Pro.
Arch, n, 38. Pulv. Olymp. : The highest arena. The whole
passage is symbolic. If Horace had only the Olympic games in
mind, the usual step at Deos leaves the next four lines to be sup-
plied with a verb very awkwardly from iuvat : by taking the
reference to Olympia allegorically, and meta and palma as signify-
ing the crises and prizes of life, hinc and ilium fall into place as
class divisions of quos iuvat, cf. III. i, n. Terrarum dominos
does not imply sovereign power, but means the great ones of the
earth. I would punctuate only a comma at deos : to separate
meta and palma from evehit by a pause after nobilis, makes the
verses harsh, and the expression awkward. Evehit ad deos :
cf. Juvenal, Sat. i, and note Intr. § 101. Turba : tumult, the
contending crowd.

Toilers : we have no one word in English with the double mean-
ing of raising and destroying in toller e.

10. Libyan threshing floors : III. 16.

12. Attalic. condit : II. 18, 5.

19. Est qui : probably foreshadows II. n, q.v.

20. Solido de die : prosaically, " working hours." Cf. De R. R.
of Varro, I. 2.

28. Teretes : without gaps ; reference to hunting appears again
in III. 12, and elsewhere.

29. Doctarum : more than " learned " ; there is the idea of
mysterious endowment ; cf. wizard from wise.

30. Dis superis : symbolical ; he explains how the bird from
the small nest (Ep. I. 20, 20) comes into the regions where the
eagles fly : cf. Cic. Ad Att. II. 9 and 19, also Phil. II. 42.

32. Euterpe, Polyhymnia : indicate the style of the work. In
the epilogue Melpomene — the Muse of tragedy — is asked to crown
his labours. This fact does not justify the conclusion that Horace
selects his Muses at random, but puts us on inquiry as to his mean-
ing. Intr. §§ 21, 22. Euterpe's province was in short song of a
light kind, love subjects, etc. Polyhymnia seems to have had a
special connection with gesture and with ji-vOoi, legendary lore:
We have no reason to suppose that Horace's Lesbian models were
specially concerned with fivOoi, and therefore Horace may be
intending to say that he invokes her aid in a style with which she
has not previously been identified (II. 20, i). Although this is
not quite the usual interpretation, when we examine the use he
has made of myth and fable, we shall see that there are grounds
for accepting it ; cf. Ciris, 55 ; Auson. Id. XX. 7.

35. Vatibus ; Prophet and poet. We have no one word.

II
TO AUGUSTUS C^SAR

BY now enough of deadly hail and snow
Hath the great father sent on earth,
Smiting with red right hand our sacred heights,
The city he hath terrified :

78 THE ODES OF HORACE

Terrified nations too, lest there should be return 5

Of that dire age of Pyrrha mourning portents strange,
When Proteus led his whole drove on

To visit mountains high,
And tribe of fishes clung to elm-tree top,
Which unto doves had been a perch 10

Well-known, and timid deer

Swam the encroaching flood.
We have seen yellow Tiber — backward hurled
Its waves with violence from Tuscan strand —
Rush to o'erthrow a monarch's monument, 15

And Vesta's fane :
Boasting itself avenger of Ilia,
Too loud in her complaint, the river fond,
Against the will of Jove, bursts bounds

And floods its leftward bank. 20

Our youth, made fewer by their parents' sin,
Will hear that citizens have edged a sword
Through which 'twere better Persians stout should die,

Will hear of broils.

On whom then of the gods may a people call 25

To aid the fortunes of the falling state ?
With what prayer should the holy virgins Vesta ply

Less heedful of their psalms ?
To whom will Jupiter assign the task

Of expiating guilt ? O, come at last, we pray, 30

Veiling thy dazzling shoulders in a cloud,

Apollo, the augurer.

Or thou, if such thy will, O smiling Erycina,
Round whom flit Joy and Love :
Or thou, O Founder, if on a race forgotten and its sons 35

Thou turn thine eye again,

Alas ! now cloyed with our too lengthy show of strife ;
For 'tis the battle-shout and gleaming helms that gladden

thee
And the fierce gaze of Maurian legionary

On bleeding foe. 40

Or thou, winged child of gentle Maia,
If, changed to likeness of a youth on earth,
Thyself thou suffer to be called

Avenger of a Caesar.

xCate be the time for thy return to heaven, and long 45

/ May thou be happy with the people of Quirinus :
And through our crimes may no untimely gale

Snatch thee from us in enmity.
Here, rather, be thy joy in mighty triumphs,
| Here to be called Father and First ; and let 50

- ^To riding of the Medes pass unavenged

While thou commandest, Caesar.

BOOK i] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES 79

Intr. §§ 38-39, § 69 and foil. This Ode hails Octavius as
the avenger of Julius Caesar. The date of its composition has
been the subject of much controversy. In the general Intro-
duction we have shown that its difficulties are perhaps lessened
if we adopt the principles of interpretation there explained.
From this point of view the date of publication is the one of most
moment. If the Odes as a collection were first given to the world
shortly after a formidable plot for the assassination of Augustus
had been frustrated, the Ode would gain much in its effect.
History shows that the circumstances attendant on the second
plot have a marked resemblance to the illustrations used in this
Ode. The storms, the floods, the lightning strokes, the civil
violence and strife, were all as representative of the time when
the unsuccessful plan was formed against Augustus as they were
of the accomplished deed wrought on Julius. The words used
often suit the later occasion better than the earlier one, and it is
in part this fact which has so baffled criticism. In the concluding
lines there is a clear allusion to the possibility of Augustus' life
being cut short prematurely, conveyed by the expression of a hope
against it happening, and this is followed by a note of date which
shows that the piece was probably composed after B.C. 29-28.
The allusion to the death of Julius Caesar marks the historical
starting-point of the Odes, and the hopes expressed by the poet
for the future are those which pervade the entire collection. He
pictures Augustus as the incarnation of a god, and mentions those
of the gods whose divine functions most closely touched the
policies and aims of Augustus.

i -20. Natural phenomena such as are here recorded were
paralleled in Rome in B.C. 22. No writer except Horace connects
a flood in the Tiber with the death of Julius, though Dio and
Virgil speak of one in the River Po.
3. Dextera : See Intr. § 38.

5. Refers to Deucalion's flood. Pyrrha was his wife.
13. We have seen, etc : The effect of the following lines would
be enhanced by perusal after the events of B.C. 22 when new
avengers of Ilia's (Rome's) fancied wrongs had arisen and
threatened the Empire letting men again hear of the sharpening of
a sword that should have been reserved for Parthians.

Nimium querenti : the sense of wrong is morbid. The uxorious
river would be equally applicable to the party of Brutus, and to
the later irreconcilables who still " disdained " (KaTcu}>pov€iv)
Augustus.

28. Vesta : the tutelary of Rome's destinies.

31. Nube : cloud, a reference to the human shape he is to take.
Notice the deities ; between Apollo and Augustus there was a
notorious connection : Venus was the legendary ancestress of the
lulii : Mars, who loves real war, is I tome's founder (cf. lucus
Martis, Intr. § 101); the son of Maia. Mercury the intermediary
between earth and heaven : both the policy and character of
Augustus are suggested by this selection.

32. Augur : the true, contrast the false in III. 19.

35. Show of strife : ludo is ironical, : . " false " war, comparable
only with gladiators' combats : real in death and destruction, but
suicide rather than war.

39. " Maurian " is probably a mis-copying of " Marsian."
47. Iniquum odor aura : Metrical considerations mark these

8o THE ODES OF HORACE

words with emphasis. Before an initial vowel, um unelided is
seldom found at the end of the preceding line. The effect is to
weight " iniquum," after which a Roman must have paused to
defeat the tendency to say " iniqu' ocior," which would not satisfy
the metre. Iniquum is not easy to translate ; perhaps this para-
phrase gives the sense — " may no perverse hostility of ours raise
a storm to snatch thee from us before thy time," although iniquum
is adjective to te : cf. II. 10, 4, n.

49. Magnos triumphos : those after Actium ; a touch which
shows that this was a prophecy after the event, as is also " Pater
atque Princeps." Augustus was designated Princeps in B.C. 27 ;
though often called Pater Patriae, this title was not formally con-
ferred till B.C. 2.

Ill
TO VERGILIUS

So may our goddess, queen of Cypru$,
So may the brothers of Helen, brilliant st&rs,

And the father of the winds, all quelled
Except lapyx, steer thee, O ship, /

Which boldest Vergil in thy trust [ 5

That thou render him safe (such is my^prayer)

To shores of Attica, and thus preserve
The half of my own soul.

Oh, oak and triply-folded bronze/
Had that man round his heart who yentured first 10

His frail bark on the angry deep£
Nor feared swift Africus wrestling with northern blasts,

Nor the grim Hyades, nor Notes' rage,
Chief arbiter of Hadria's moods,

Raising or making fall its swell ; at will. 15

What death impending did he fear;

Who with dry eyes watched nionsters swimming,
And saw the surg'.ng main, and thy

Detested cliff t, Acroceraunia ? 1
In vain hath a foreseeing god cleft lands 20

Asunder by Ocoan's severing stream,
If o'er forbidden waters impious barks

Still speed their way.
Bold to dare all, the 'human race

Runs through the crime proscribed by heaven : 25

Thus bold, he, gotten of lapetus,

Through evil fraud brought fire to man :
After that fire was flched

From its ethereal home, disease,
And a new company of fevers, 30

BOOK i] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES 81

Lay like an incubus upon the earth,
And doom of distant death, aforetime slow,

Quickened its step.
The void air Daedalus essayed

On wings not given to man : 35

The might of Hercules through Acheron burst.

Nothing for mortals is too high.
The very heavens with folly we assail,

And through our guilt we suffer not
That Jove should lay aside his wrathful bolts. 40

Intr. §§ 58 and foil. The arguments are there reviewed for
assigning this Ode to the voyage to Greece which Vergil made in
the last year of his life, at some time after mid-October B.C. 20.
Horace's description of his fellow-poet as the " half of his soul,"
becomes significant when we remember why the ^Eneid was
written (Intr. § 16). Vergil was Horace's fellow literary worker
in supporting the cause and policy of Augustus. The closest bond
of friendship linked together the patron Maecenas, and the two
poets. Horace describes his feeling towards Maecenas in similar
terms in II. 17, $ and Maecenas returned his affection (Suet. Life,
supra, II. 20, 6, etc.).

The Ode prima facie would be so singularly unhappy in its sug-
gestions to a man starting on a voyage, that more than a doubt
is raised whether the poet would ever have written it if there
had been any chance of its being taken literally. I do not think
with Mr Wickham that this " tirade against sea travel is in part,"
or at all, " playful," but that in sea travel Horace found a text
for enforcing a desired moral. The most noticeable feature of the
poem is its earnestness, and the solemnity of its tone. It is
inconceivable that this would have been imparted had Horace
thought that his friend would read his words as implying that he
himself was guilty of presumption, and an impious trespasser on
forbidden seas : he knew that the literal would be lost in the
allegorical.

17. Dry eyes : see Wickham's note : Tears in weak natures are
a natural accompaniment of terror, but Horace's thought here is on
subjects that inspire grief as well as fear.

27. Audax lapeti genus : This reference to Prometheus is
interesting, knowing as we do that " Prometheus " was the title
of a book in which Maecenas " spoke truth upon the rack " about
himself, after his fall in B.C. 22. • If anyone knew Maecenas' mind
it was Horace, and perhaps the Prometheus was in writing at the
time of the composition of this Ode. (Intr. § no, II. 2, 13 n.}

Maecenas lost the confidence of Augustus for an act which
might well find an analogue in the crime of Prometheus (Intr.
§ 28, and foil.). The Titan, who otherwise was faithful to the
gods, secretly gave the sacred fire to mortals.

37. We may be sure that this and the following lines are no mere
generalities : contemporary readers would recognise the crime
or folly spoken of.

82 THE ODES OF HORACE

IV

TO SESTIUS

SHARP winter melts, with pleasing change, to Spring and Zephyr,

And hauling are the pulleys on dry keels.
The flock no longer revels in the stalls, or in his fire the hind :

Beneath hoar frosts the meadows whiten not :
Cythera's Venus now leads forth her choirs under the hanging
moon, 5

And comely Graces, linked with nymphs,
Strike with alternate foot the earth, and glowing Vulcan

Makes the great forges of the Cyclops flame.
Now it beseems to wreathe the glossy head with myrtle green,

Or flower which the loosened earth brings forth, 10

And now to Faunus it beseems to sacrifice in shady groves,

Be it a lamb he ask, — or with a kid if more desired.
Pale death with foot impartial strikes at the huts of paupers and

Kings' towers : O Sestius blest, life's short span bids us not
Begin long hope. Soon upon thee will press 15

Night and the fabled shades, and the bare house
Of Pluto : where when thou comest, thou shalt win with dice

No rule of wine, admire no dainty Lycidas,
Who now is dear to all our youths, and soon

Will rouse love's fire among the maids. 20

See Intr. §§ 44 and 71. Of Sestius, the subject of this Ode,
we know that he was an ally of M. Brutus, and notorious for the
respect he paid to his memory, preserving an image of him in his
house, and treating it with continued honours. Professor Bury
describes him and his colleague as irreconcilables, ready, if an
opportunity occurred, to restore the Republic. When Augustus
resolved to give up the consulship, which he had held eleven
times altogether, and for nine years in succession, he allowed
the appointment of Sestius to the vacancy. This was probably
in pursuance of that policy of placation of the senatorians which
he was then bent on effecting. For the consequences, see the
Intr. § 44, and foil.

The description of the oncoming of spring, and of the religious
celebration appropriate thereto, is abruptly followed by a refer-
ence to death. It looks as if line 14 is the real burden of the poem:

14. Blest ; beatus generally refers to good fortune through
riches; cf. II. 2, 18.

15. Spem : the poet does not enlighten us as to the nature of
the long hope presumably cherished : it was probably of restoring
the Republic.

1 6. lam te, etc : this expression indicates that Sestius was
either advanced in years or ill when the Ode was written. The
poem is probably adapted from the Greek : the metre is Ar-
chilochian (see Wickham). 'Horace has used the same thoughts
in framing IV. 7.

BOOK i] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES 83

TO PYRRHA

'MiD many a rose, what slender youth bedrenched
With liquid odours, wooes you, Pyrrha,
Within a pleasant grot ? For whom

Do you braid your yellow hair with art
That apes simplicity ? Ah fie ! how oft 5

Shall he bewail your faith, and changed gods,
And upon seas enrumed with

Black winds astonied gaze ?
Who now enjoys you credulous all gold,
Whose hope conceives you ever free and fond, 10

In ignorance of your fickle airs !
Misfortunate they on whom,
Untried, you shine ! A sacred wall
By votive tablet indicates that I

Have hung wet garments to the god 1 5

Who dominates the sea.

Cf. Milton's translation of this Ode. Pyrrha means " golden-
haired " ; Horace's use of names should be carefully studied.
His intention may often be gathered from them, though not in
this case perhaps.

4. With art, etc. : This is a freer rendering than here usually
admitted. Milton has " plain in thy neatness " : Wickham,
" So trim, so simple." Concealed art is implied — simplicity, but
very carefully studied ; cf. II. 8, 14.

5. Bewail your faith : i.e. the change in it.
9. This line is from Milton.

12. Miseri-nites : any English version of these words seems
poor : Milton has " Hapless they, to whom thou untried seem'st
fair."

13. A sacred wall, etc. : the wider purpose of the Ode seems to
be conveyed by these words. It was customary for men escaped
from shipwreck to hang garments in Neptune's temple as votive
offerings. There may be a hint here that to show the poet in
love is not the object of the collection.

VI

TO AGRIPPA

BY Varius, bird of Maeonian song, you shall be written
Brave and a victor over foes, as to each deed
Which a proud soldiery achieves

Under your lead with ships or horse.

84 THE ODES OF HORACE

We, O Agrippa, do not attempt to sing these themes, —
Neither the heavy wrath of Peleus' son implacable,
Nor voyagings o'er sea of guileful Ulysses,

Nor Pelops' savage house,

Small we, they great ; while shame and the Muse
Who rules th' unwarlike lyre, forbid that I
Impoverish, by default of wit, the fame

Of peerless Caesar and yourself.
For who can worthily treat Mars clothed with mail
Of adamant, or Meriones, black with the dust
Of Troy, or Tydeus' son, an equal match,

By aid of Pallas, for the gods ?
We sing of banquets, we the strife of maidens fierce
Against young men — with nails cut short ;
Heart-whole, or whether we burn at all,

Not overstepping custom, we are light.

The poet explains to Agrippa why his exploits have not a larger
place in his work. But for this man, and perhaps for Maecenas, the
power of the Emperor would never have been established. Agrippa
brought to Augustus' aid the military genius which he required
but had not in himself. He was great both by land and sea.
The defeat of Sextus Pompeius at Naulochus was due to him, and
also the crowning triumph of Actium, and in B.C. 20, he crushed
the Cantabrians in Spain, which the Emperor himself had tried
and failed to do in 25. The poem introduces for the first time the
" pose " of Horace as being concerned only with light themes,
an attitude the more natural to an ancient writer of lyrics, with
whom the form of the verse adopted had a much more definite
association than would be the case in a modern language. In a
later Ode, I. 12, which celebrates the victory at Naulochus (B.C.
36) Agrippa is called to mind though not mentioned by name.
He was a man of modest origin and blunt manners. Horace does
not say so, but the mention of Curius and Camillus, would at
once suggest the living example of their class.

Peleus' son, i.e. Achilles : for the significance of this reference
in an ode to Agrippa, cf. the considerations raised by III. 19, and
20. The irony of the last stanza, with its clever duplicity of mean-
ing, should not be overlooked : a banquet plays a very important
part in Horace's story.

VII
TO L. MUNATIUS PLANCUS

OTHERS will laud the famous Rhodes or Mitylene,
Ephesus, or the walls of Corinth 'twixt two seas,

Or Thebes, illustrious through Bacchus, through Apollo, Delphi,
Or Tempe of Thessalia.

I

BOOK i] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES 85

Some are whose one task is to sing in endless song 5

The city of Virgin Pallas,
And on their brow to set the olive plucked on every side.-

Many an one in Juno's honour
Will chant of Argos good for horses, and of rich Mycenae.

Me neither disciplined Laconia, 10

Nor bounteous Larissa's fields, have so impressed

As the home of echoing Albunea,
The headlong Anio, and Tibur's grove, and orchards moist

From sluices' mobile streams.
As the white Notus often sweeps the clouds from darkened sky, 1 5

And breeds not constant showers,
So do thou wisely recollect to put an end to sorrow,

And to the toils of life with soothing wine,
O Plancus, whether the camp with standards all ablaze,

Be holding thee, or whether the dense shade 20

Of thine own Tibur thee shall hold. Tho' Teucef from his father

And Salamis would flee, 'tis said he bound
His brows, moist with Lyaeus, with a poplar wreath, and spake

Thus to his sorrowing friends : —
" Whithersoever fate, more than a father kind, will bear us, 25

We will go, O comrades.
Let nothing be despaired of under Teucer's lead and auspices —

For Apollo, who fails not, hath promised
That on new soil shall be a Salamis to double this.

O brave men, often worse things ye with me 30

Have borne, now drive with wine your cares away,

To-morrow we will sail the wide sea once again. '••

Lucius Munatius Plancus was Consul in B.C. 42, the year of
Philippi (III. 14, 28). He was a man of notoriety, and not liked
by the imperialists although he came over to Augustus' side, and
was a supporter of his authority before he died. He had been a
traitor to causes. Before Mutina (Intr. § 39) he was operating
with Decimus Brutus against Antonius. Afterwards he changed
sides, but took as little part in the Perusinian war as possible.
On its failure he fled to Athens (B.C. 40). Thence he returned with
Antonius, afterwards going back with him to the East. Antonius
gave him the province of Asia, but Plancus abandoned it on the
invasion of the Parthians under T. Labienus, and took refuge in
the islands. In B.C. 35 he governed Syria for Antonius, and fell
into some disgrace for plundering it. However, he remained at
the Egyptian court, and plunged into its dissipations. Fore-
seeing the fall of Antonius, he returned to Rome in B.C. 32, and
ingratiated himself with Augustus. He revealed the contents of
Antonius' will to the Emperor and the Senate. It was found that
Cleopatra's son Caesario, was recognised as the child of Julius, and
that, judging by his dispositions, Antonius intended to reduce
Rome to a dependency of Egypt. This revelation was the
proximate cause of the hostilities. War was formally declared
against Cleopatra, but the struggle was of course between Augustus
and Antonius. After the triumph of Actium, it was on the

86 THE ODES OF HORACE

suggestion of Plancus that the title of " Augustus " was conferred.
Plancus' fortune was large, and, perhaps shrewdly perceiving the
way to the Emperor's favour, he used some of it in building a
temple. He died in B.C. 12. Whether Augustus' favourable re-
ception of him in 32 was merely politic, cannot be said with cer-
tainty : the probabilities point in that way. Plancus was made
Censor in 22, but was found wanting (Intr. § 38). Horace seems
to be speaking in a mocking strain here : the advice to drown cares
in drink must be sarcastic : it is in ill accord with his ideal of
soldierly duty elsewhere displayed (see infra, v. 17, w.) and the
comparison with Teucer seems satirical. One cannot fix with
certainty upon a voyage of Plancus for which Teucer's would
serve as an analogy, but circa 35-36 he was on military service,
and did sail the seas more than once.

i -i 2. The point of these names of cities is not clear : Rhodes
and Mitylene were common resorts for exiles from Rome : Cic.
Ad Fam. 14, 7, and ibid. 7, 3.

7. This is a reference to the belief that the olive first grew at
Athens, and was supposed to have been brought to Italy by the
founder of the Licinian gens. Varro, calls it Olea Liciniana. The
key of the Ode may really lie here : if Licinius Murena's madness,
which brought him into collision with Augustus, arose from his
belief in his descent from Greek kings, it is highly probable. The
olive grew everywhere, yet foolish people claimed it for their own
special honour.

12. Albunea : one of the Sibyls, worshipped at Tibur.

14. Mobilibus rivis : sluices into which the water could be ad-
mitted at will. The remains of irrigation channels still exist in
the neighbourhood.

17. This satirical advice to a man in camp recalls Cicero's joke
in his letter to Trebatius (Ad Fam. VII. 12) " Pansa has let me
know that you are turned Epicurean. What a splendid camp
yours must be ! What would you have done if I had sent you to
Tarentum instead of Samarobriva ? " This Trebatius was
Horace's friend of Sat. II. i. For another view of Horace on
soldierly duty, see next Ode, and III. 2.

21. Teucer : The authority for this speech of Teucer (if any) is
unknown.

VIII
TO LYDIA

LYDIA, tell by all the gods I pray thee,
Why thou should'st hasten Sybaris to ruin with thy love ?

Why does he hate the plain
Exposed who patient was of dust and sun ?

Why rides no more among
His soldier fellows, checks no more his Gallic steed

With wolf-toothed bit ?
Why fears to touch the yellow Tiber-wave ? Why shuns

The oil than viper's blood

BOOK i] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES 87

More cautiousty ? No longer showing arms by weapons bruised, iy

Who often for the disc,
Oft for the dart sped o'er the mark, won fame ?

Why lurks apart as people tell
Of sea nymph Thetis' son, when Troy's sad doom

Was near, lest manly dress 15

Should hurry him to Lycian hosts, and death ?

The ostensible purpose of this Ode is moral. Contrast its
soldierly ethic with that of the preceding piece. The youth of
the day were giving themselves to luxury, and neglecting the
manly exercises useful as training for war. This was a tendency
that Augustus was anxious to counteract (cf. III. 2 and 6, etc.).
Horace in these matters is always on his side.

The fact reveals itself on a thorough examination of the bearings
of the Three Books that in this Ode we may have an allusion to
Murena as a self-indulgent young man, being corrupted by a
woman. The reader who studies the Introduction and the later
notes, will be better able to appreciate the force of this argument,
and the full irony of this particular comparison with Achilles.
The developments in Murena' s character are quite consistent
with this beginning which marks an early tendency to luxury.
If this be the true view, an easy and natural explanation is pro-
vided for the subsequent Odes to " Lydia," I. 13 and I. 25. In
I. 13, Sybaris, who appears under the familiar and significant
name of Telephus (cf. III. 19, notes) is still in her toils, but when
we reach I. 25, we see that the poet has grounds for prophesying
that his mistress will sink at last to degradation. Traditional
interpretation may have been visiting on the poet the sins of his
" villain," in the view it has taken of his relations with " Lydia."

10. C/..I. i, 24.

14. Thetis' son : Achilles, cf. Ovid, Met. 13, 162.

IX

TO THALIARCHUS

You see how stands Soracte, white with its depth of snow,
Nor longer may its burdened trees sustain
The weight, and how the rivers' flow

Has been arrested by the sharp set frost;

Dissolve the cold by piling freely logs 5

Upon the hearth : more lavishly give forth
The wine — the four-year-old —

O Thaliarchus, from its Sabine ewer.-
Leave to the gods all else, for soon as they

Have laid the strife 'twixt winds and surging sea ; 10

No more the cypresses are buffeted,

No more the ancient mountain-ash.

88 THE ODES OF HORACE

What is to be to-morrow do not ask : appraise
As gain the course of days Fortune will yield :

Being but yet a youth, contemn 1 5

Neither the sweets of love nor of the dance,
While from your bloom crabbed greyness holds aloof.
Now let the Campus and the city squares,

And whispers low, be sought at nightfall,

On the appointed hour of tryst ; 20

And now the fascinating laugh from some recess
Secluded, the bewrayer of a maid

In hiding, and the pledge snatched off
An arm or finger ill retaining it.

Thaliarchus : A Greek name meaning " governor of the feast,"-
see Wickham's note and II. n. The Ode illustrates the con-
ditions of a self-indulgent existence : keep warm, drink good
wine, and take no care for the morrow : your destiny is in higher
hands than your own ; suit your pleasures to your age. Dr
Verrall has called attention to the suggestion of chronological
sequence in the Odes by the succession of the seasons : I. 4 is in
spring, I. 5 passes to summer with its roses, etc., I. 7 to autumn
and the winds of Notus (cf. III. 7, 5 and Epod. IX. 13). The
extent of time covered by Book I. (several years) is too great for
the series to be complete, but the effect is obtained.

Soracte : A mountain of Etruria, about twenty-six miles north
of Rome. For its possible relation to the Murena motive, with
which the philosophy of the Ode is in accord, see II. 1 1 . This Ode
is imitated from one of Alcaeus.

For its significance as forming one of a series with I. 8, 9, 10, 1 1,
see notes to I. n.

X

TO MERCURIUS

MERCURIUS, Atlas' grandson eloquent,
Who the rude mien of first-born men
Didst mould by skill of word, and habit

Of comely exercise,

Thee I would sing : herald of mighty Jove and of the gods, 5
Inventor of the bended lyre, with art endowed
To get whatever thee should please

By playful theft !

Of old, when but a boy, Apollo, frightening thee
With threatening voice if thou shouldst not restore 10

The oxen lifted by craft, smiled when he found

His quiver also gone.
So, likewise, wealthy Priam, led by thee,

BOOK i] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES 89

When Ilion was left, escaped the proud

Atridae, and Thessalian fires, 15

And hostile camp at Troy.
Thou placest spirits of the blest in blissful seats,
With golden staff thou marshallest the shadowy host,
For thou art welcome both to gods

Of heaven and hell. 20

This Ode is also an imitation from Alcaeus. Horace's adapta-
tions were certainly infused with his own genius, for I. 12, and
I. 37, two of the most unlikely media for anything approaching
plagiarism, are introduced by expressions from Greek poets.
Aulus Gellius says of Vergil's borrowings from Theocritus that he
seldom took without showing his genius and taste. It does not
need the survival of Alcaeus' and Sappho's works to prove the
same of Horace. This Ode to Mercury, with its special reference
to his function as the god of thieves, is no meaningless production,
and in a constituent of the Three Books the reason why theft is
alluded to is perhaps not irrecoverable ; see notes to the next Ode.

XI
TO LEUCONOE

TRY not to learn, Leuconoe (to know's forbid), the end for me, for

thee,

That gods would give. With Babylonish figures meddle not.
Whatever shall be, how much better is it to bear that !
Whether Jove hath granted thee more winters, whether this the

last
Which breaks the force of the Etrurian sea on stones against

it set, 5

Be wise, rack off thy wines, and cut thy long hopes down
To suit a short span . While we are talking envious time steals on :
Catch to-day's joy and give the morrow but a minimum of trust.

This poem contains a variant of the advice to " Thaliarchus "
in I. 9. It has generally been taken for granted that Leuconoe
is the pseudonym of some superstitious arnica of Horace. The
possibility that this is a correct interpretation is remote, though
its plausibility may have been felt by the poet to have its con-
venience. The 9th, loth and nth Odes are in close connection,
each brings out a salient feature in the Murena story that is to
follow, viz. the feast (III. 19), the theft (II. 2 and 3), the mis-
chievous superstition (ibid. III. 17, etc.). The name Leuconoe
must be examined, like all the other non-historic names in the
Odes, for its meaning : this is " white mind " or " thought,"
and the analogy between it and the Xevical <j>pe'ves of Pindar,
Pyth. 4, (94, has often been noticed. Wickham rightly says

90 THE ODES OF HORACE

that in Pindar the words do not imply the " simplicity "-
towards which commentators are of course predisposed, but
" malignity," or, as Mr Myers translates, " evil thoughts." No
careful student of the Ode of Pindar, who follows Horace, will fail
to observe how closely its thought associates with much that we
find in the Three Books. Considering the allusion to it that may
be contained in the name Leuconoe, and its own burden (the
descent of Arkesilas from Euphemos, after a long series of genera-
tions prophetically announced — cf. III. 17 and 19) we can see
why, in a book treating Murena's career in allegory, we are justi-
fied in regarding it as a guide to the poet's intention. It should
also be noted that Leuconoe is very close in sound to Lyconoe,
or wolf-mind, a possible word play not to be missed by the initi-
ated reader making contact with I. 9 (see note on Hirpinus, II.
1 1), and also with the preceding Ode in which property gained by
theft is alluded to, and with the references passim to rapacity and
fierceness : cf. II. n ; I. 18 ; II. 10 ; II. 18, etc. Murena was
suspected of acquiring dishonestly a large inheritance (Intr.
§ 100 and foil.). We hold that that circumstance is alluded to in
II. 2, and 3, and that in the last-mentioned Ode the forger is
called Gillo (a nickname associated with wine) and we believe
that he also had strange superstitions about his genealogy and
his destiny. In this poem the reader will notice that Evil Mind,
cf. III. 4, 67, is advised to enjoy wine, and to take life as it
comes, without regard to occult calculations. (Intr. § 102.)

5. Oppositis : this word is also important. Dr Verrall, with
his usual acuteness, finds a note of date in it. He says " The
place of I. 1 1, shows that there is real sense in the words seu . . . .
Tyrrhenum. With what truth or point can it be said of winter
in general that it breaks the power of the sea with frail stones
set against it ? But the winter of B.C. 37-36 literally did this,
for Agrippa had just completed the great breakwater of the
Portus Julius (cf. Georg. II. 161) a work which largely contributed
to his momentous victory in the following autumn. I. 1 1 is there-
fore the natural preface to I. 12 "- (Stud, in Hor. p. 113). This is
ben tvovato, and points to Horace's extreme cleverness in his
presentation. We now see that I. n may also be part of the
preparation for the private and tragic theme of the Three Books,
and to note that the pumex oppositus may contain a second
allusion. The " riches built out into the deep " (II. 3, 19), and
the masonries (III. i, 35) of the lord who is not content with
dry land (II. 18, 20) and who, like a lictored magistrate, bids the
sea " stand off," as Jove is said to do to the winters or storms of
II. 10, — cf. v. 4 of this Ode, — are probably not unconnected with
these " pumices oppositi " — that is, with the expensive and un-
popular luxuries of marine fish ponds, for the building of which,
as Varro tells us, a person of the name of Licinius Murena had
been sued at law, Intr. § 85.

The reader may gather what kind of information consultants of
Babylonish magic might be expected to receive in The First of
Empires, by W. St C. Boscawen, pp. 270, 279, 329, etc.

BOOK i] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES 91

XII '

TO CLIO

WHAT man or hero on the lyre or piercing pipe,

0 Clio, art thou about to hymn ?
What god ? Whose name shall blithe

Resounding Echo sing,

By Helicon's umbrageous banks, 5

Or over Pindus, or on Haemus cold,
Whence woods incontinently followed

The voice of Orpheus,
Able, by art maternal to arrest

The river's cataracts, and the rapid winds, 10

And by allurement oaks to lead that heard

His tuneful strings ?

What shall I sing before time-honoured praise
Unto the Father who governs all for gods and men,
The lands and seas, the universe 1 5

Of time and change ?

Of whom none is begotten greater than himself,
To whom none living is peer or even second,
Though Pallas hath won the honour

Of nearest place. 20

Of thee too will I speak, O Liber, bold in fight ;
And thee, O virgin, foe to savage beasts ;
And thee, O Phoebus, to be held in awe

For thy sure arrow.

Alcides will I sing, and Leda's boys, 25

One famed for victory by his steeds,
And one for boxing ; on the flashing forth

Of whose bright star to mariners,
The troubled swell flows down from off the rocks,
And gales abate, clouds flee, and on the deep 30

The menacing wave subsides,

For such their will.
Then Romulus — whom after these to tell of first

1 doubt — or Numa's peaceful reign,

Or haughty ensigns of Tarquinius, 35

Or Cato's noble death :

Regulus and the Scauri, and Paulus, prodigal
Of a great soul when Punic arms prevailed,
Thankful I will recall in hymn sublime ;

Fabricius too ; 40

Both him and Curius with unkempt locks,
As e'en Camillus, cruel poverty,
And small ancestral farm, with home to match, '

Urged to good work in war :

92 THE ODES OF HORACE

Grows like a tree with age obscured 45

Marcellus' fame, and among all there shines
The Julian constellation, like the moon

Among the lesser fires.
Father and guardian of the human race,
Offspring of Saturn, to thee was given the charge 50

Of mighty Caesar by the Fates ; thou shalt be king

With Caesar next to thee.
Whether the Parthians threatening Latium
Conquered he drive in triumph just, or whether
Seres and Indians bordering close upon 55

The Orient shore ;

The wide world he shall rule with justice — under thee.
Thou with thy heavy car shakest Olympus,
And thou at groves intolerably profane

Wilt launch the hostile bolts. 60

Intr. §§ 23-27, and § 72. That the defeat of S. Pompeius at
Naulochus is the subject of this Ode seems certain. By this
victory Augustus gained the sovereignty of the West, and the
way was prepared for his final supremacy of the world. The
Ode opens with a line from Pindar's Olymp. 2. Dr Verrall's
analysis is as follows : — " The poet asks the historic Muse to whom
the honours of the day are due and answers himself that they are
due, first to the gods and demigods who hate and punish disorder
(to show which their names and emblems are taken from the
typical defeat of the giants) in whose hands is the rule of seas and
storms : and secondly, to all the illustrious men without dis-
tinction (he is in doubt whom to choose first in v. 33) who have
helped to build up Rome, and whose memories are to be the
common inheritance of the reformed nation : to the warlike
founder and to the peaceful founder, to the representatives of
stern government and indomitable liberty, to the patriots of all
times (the Caesarean hymnist does not omit even the peculiarly
' optimate ' name of Scaurus) to the name of Marcellus (though
held by the last representative of the senatorial regime) as well
as to that of Julius (under whom the democracy was victorious :
all that is good in the Roman past triumphs in the triumph of
Caesar), and Caesar (here the poet glances at the impieties of Sextus
and Antonius) will not forget that he rules under god."

2. Clio : the Muse of History and Panegyric.

5. Helicon, Pindus, Haemus : resorts of the Muses in Bceotia,
Thessaly and Thrace, respectively.

20-24. The perception of the reference here to the victory of
Jove over the giants by Verrall is acute : on Pallas, see III.
4, 33 : on Liber, II. 19 : on Apollo and Diana, III. 4.

41. Curius and Camillus, I. 6, n.

45. Marcelli: Wickham says: "So the glory of the house,
dating at least from the captor of Syracuse — B.C. 212 — is now
culminating in the young Marcellus," Intr. §§ 23-27, and §§
69, 70.

BOOK i] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES 93

XIII
TO LYDIA

WHEN you, O Lydia, praise
The rosy neck of Telephus, the waxen arms

Of Telephus — Ah, my spleen
Raging is swollen with irrepressible gall.

My reason fails> my colour stays 5

Inconstant in its place, and stealthily

The tear glides on my cheeks, and shows
How I am wracked by slow deep-seated fires.

I burn if wanton broils
Have stained with wine your shoulders white, 10

Or with his tooth the raging lad
Hath pressed a tell-tale mark upon your lips.

If to good purpose you hear me,
You will not look for steadfastness from one

Who rudely wounds delicious mouths, 1 5

Which Venus with quintessence of her nectar steeps.

Thrice happy, and even more, are they
Whom an unbroken bond unites, whose love,

Estranged by no unhappy plaints,
Will not relax before their latest day. 20

The last four lines of this Ode might be regarded as earning
its title to inclusion. " Love is a great force for good and evil ;
when it leads to the lifelong happiness of man and woman its
blessedness is revealed." Hardly the sentiment of a cynical and
selfish debauchee.

The name Telephus seems here to designate a man whose
attractions influence women greatly ; cf. III. 19, 26 n., and IV.
ii. 23, and the consideration of the name in Intr. § 96 and foil.,
cf. also I. 8. The man intended may be Murena, and the Lydia
here the same woman with her of I. 8 and I. 25. Line 14 has
special point if I. 25 is a sequel to this Ode.

3. Spleen : Literally the liver, the seat of hot passion. The
reader will understand the Ode better if he has no prejudice in
favour of jealousy as the cause of the lyrist's outburst. Thoout
four lines are inconsistent with that, unless he means* Teletra.
will not marry you, but I will." Now the Roman of Auguace.
time did not marry with women of Lydia' s presumed class ;he
I. 33 and Intr. § 115.

XIV
TO THE STATE, ADDRESSED AS A SHIP

O SHIP, shall new waves bear thee back
To sea ? What dost thou ? Boldly make
The port ! Dost thou not see how bare
Thy side of oarage, and

94 THE ODES OF HORACE

Thy mast how shattered by swift Africus, 5

Thy yards that groan, and how thy garboard
Without ropes can scarce

Withstand a more imperious main ?
Thy sails are not intact, thou hast no gods
Whom, urged by danger •, thou may'st still invoke. 10

Although of Pontic pine,

And child of sylvan haunt far-famed^
Futilely boastest thou both race and name ;
In hour of fear no sailor trusts

In painted poops. Beware lest thou 15

Be debtor to the winds for sport.
Lately to me an anxious weariness
Who wast, now a regret and no light care,
Avoid the seas that flow

Among the shining Cyclades. 20

Quintilian describes this Ode as an allegory : the ship being
the State, the sea the Civil Wars, the port peace and safety. There
has been much controversy as to the time to which it refers, but
it clearly suits the period when the rupture between Antonius and
Augustus was looming ahead. The important part the sea plays
in this portion of the Three Books should be noticed ; on the
assumption that they give a historical reflection this is natural.
Dr Verrall says (Stud, in Hor. p. 96) " The existence and accepta-
tion among the ancients of the allegorical view is in itself an in-
dication that the order of the poems was to them significant.
Given this principle, it is easy enough to arrive at the perception
that the poem has a date and is a political allegory, without it,
not so." It might be urged that the last stanza contains inherent
evidence of allegory. It satisfies the symbolic idea much better
than the literal, considering that Horace's early sympathies had
been with the Republic.

2. Fortiter : Strongly allegorical ; nothing must be allowed to
stand in the way of safety.

6. Antennae, etc. : These images are found in a fragment of
Alcaeus.

7 1 . Pontica : The pines of Pontus were renowned : the epithet
vnv^1 simply imply excellence : the use of " Gaetulian " for
and A'-6/' in m 2O> is a parallel case of the metonymous use of a

2 'epithet.

'

XV

THE PROPHECY OF NEREUS

WHEN the false swain was carrying on the wave
His hostess Helen in Idaean ship,

Nereus, with calm unwelcome, stilled the rapid winds,
That he might chant their dreadful doom.

BOOK i] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES 95

" Thou'rt leading home, with evil omen, one 5

Whom Greece will seek again with many a soldier,
In league to rend thy nuptial ties,

And Priam's ancient realm.

Woe, Woe ! What sweat is there for horses, what
For men ! What death upon the Dardan race 10

Thou bring'st ! Now Pallas gets her ready with

Helm, shield and chariots, and her wrath.
'Tis vain that bold in Venus' guardianship
Thy locks thou combest, and on unwarlike lute
Dost pick out melodies to women dear — 15

Vainly too thou wilt shun
The spears and points of Gnossian shafts,
Foes to the couch, and battles' din, and Ajax quick
In chase — thou yet in the end, ah woe ! shalt roll

Adulterous locks in dust. 20

Seest thou not, behind, Laertes' son, the bane
Of thine own race, Nestor the Pylian,
Teucer of Salamis, and Sthenelus skilled in fight —

Or, if necessity there be

To take to horse, no tardy charioteer — 25

Undaunted all press on thee ? Meriones
Thou too shalt know, and lo, in rage to find thee burns

Tydides, greater than his sire.
Whom, as a hart flees from a wolf seen far
Across the vale, oblivious of its pasture, thou, 30

Coward ! shalt flee with gaspings deep, although

Not this thy promise to thy love.
Achilles' angry fleet will but postpone
The day of Ilion, and Phrygian wives ;
After appointed winters an Achaean flame 35

Shall burn the homes of Troy.

Intr. § 73. After the death of his first wife, Fulvia, Antonius
married Octavia, sister of Augustus, in B.C. 40. The first asso-
ciation with Cleopatra had occurred a short time previously. On ac-
quiring the rule of the East, Antonius left Rome, and took up his
residence in Athens with Octavia. After living with her for about
three years, he left her and resumed his intimacy with Cleopatra.
His wife attempted to rejoin him, but he forbade her to advance.
He was then in Asia with Cleopatra, intending to make war on the
Parthians. Octavia obeyed, but asked if she should send on some
resents to him. Her rival, to frustrate her influence, feigned illness,
id induced Antonius to go with her to Alexandria. He abandoned
ais military project, and yielded himself up to a life of pleasure.
This was in B.C. 35. Octavia returned to Rome, and in B.C. 31,
Antonius sent her a letter of divorcement. The adulterous
connection of Antonius with Cleopatra is probably the reason
why Horace relates this legend here. In the analogue, the
Romans play the part of the Greeks, and the kingdom of the
Ptolemies represents that of Priam. The thirteenth line is very ex-

96 THE ODES OF HORACE

press! ve. When, in Cilicia, Antonius first met Cleopatra, whom
he was waiting to call to account for helping the assassins of
Julius Caesar, he is said to have exclaimed at the sight of her
charms, " It is Venus herself." He at once fell under the spell
which, though intermitted, was never entirely shaken off. His
own death in Cleopatra's arms, and the end of his extravagant
schemes may be forecast in the last stanza but one. As this
Ode is placed before that dealing with Actium and the death of
Cleopatra, I. 37 (covering a year) the journey from Asia to Alex-
andria above referred to may be meant ; especially as the coming
of the "Greeks" is in the future: see note to I. 17, 19. The
scholiasts recognise the Ode as an allegory.

XVI

O DAUGHTER, lovelier than a lovely mother,
Make of those libellous iambics any end
You please, albeit in the flames,

Or in the Hadriatic, if you wish.

Neither Dindymene, nor Pythian at his shrine, 5

So thrills the mind of his priests as anger dire,
Nor Liber eke, nor Corybants as they

Double the clash of strident shawms,
Which neither Noric sword doth warn away,
Nor sea that wrecks the ships, 10

Nor raging fire, nor Jupiter himself
Descending in appalling storm.
Prometheus, so 'tis said, had need to add
To the primordial clay traits widely culled,

And did implant within our breast 15

The violence of the raging lion.
Anger laid low in overwhelming ruin
Thyestes, and has been the ultimate cause
Why lofty cities perished utterly,

Why an exulting host should mark 20

The wall's line with an hostile plough.
Restrain your mind : me also in sweet youth
Hath rage in heart possessed,

And unto swift iambics sent

In frenzy ; now the harshness I am fain 25

Myself to change for smooth, while you,

The insult thus withdrawn, may be my friend,
And give me back your heart.

This is an apology for and retractation of some harsh words
previously expressed, which we cannot identify in any of
Horace's extant works (see Wickham's note). It might perhaps
here be brought into line of connection by the assumption that it

BOOK I] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES 97

is intended to mark the different character of the Three Books
from the Epodes, but there are serious objections to this hypo-
thesis. The weight of the poem seems to lie in the references
to anger, and the devastating elements of iron, sea, fire, and the
wrath of heaven. Anger is the most prominent, and the allusion
to the downfall of cities through it, and to the mythic Thyestes,
of the house of Tantalus and Pelops, who was fed on the flesh
of his own children by his brother Atreus, whom he slew, and
who attempted to slay him, may have more to say to the point
of the poem than the form of its setting. Regarded chrono-
logically, the Ode is placed during the progress of the internecine
strife which ended with Actium. It accords with the time at
or about which Horace's material prosperity was assured by the
gift of the Sabine farm (I. 20). It is a question therefore worth
considering whether the opening lines have not an entirely
symbolic intendment — whether the " mother " and her " fairer
daughter " may rot typify political causes, the old republican
ideal, which the poet in his youth favoured, cf I. 14, 17, and the
new order with which he had by now definitely- thrown in his
lot. As in I. 3, the developments of the ostensible theme over-
weight it to such an extent that they may be reasonably regarded
as carrying the real burden of the poem : cf. also IV. 6 and IV.
ii. The traditional criticism pronounces them to be mock
heroics : and it analogously holds the solemn warnings of I. 3
to be playfulness, and but weakly explains the intrusion of
" Achilles " into IV. 6 : but is it right to accuse Horace of such
lumbering wit ? Is it consonant with what we find elsewhere ?
Are we in short at the right point of view ? There is only one
answer to such questions for one who reads the Three Books as a
whole ; whatever may be the real meaning, Horace is not here
indulging in a joke.

17. Anger ; III. 3, 30 ; Pugncs ; I. 2, 23, the cades of III. 24,
26 and II. i, 35, etc., internal strife.

Thyestes, son of Pelops and grandson of Tantalus. For refer-
ences to Tantalus, I. 28, 7, II. 13, 37, II. 18, 37, cf. also Epod. 17,
65, Sat. I. i, 68 : for other references to the house of Pelops:
1.6, 8, Epist. I. 2, 12,1.7,43.

23. Compesce mentem : restrain your mind ; assuage the old
bitterness. Considered as a work for public reading, these words
are probably the pith of the poem. The reference to Noric steel
would have a living force from M. Crassus' expedition in B.C. 27,
till after the campaigns of Tiberius and Drusus commemorated
in Bk. IV.

XVII
TO TYNDARIS

LOVELY Lucretilis doth Faunus oft,
By swift flight change with Mount Lycaeus, and
Defends alway my goats

From fiery summer and from rainy winds.

98 THE ODES OF HORACE

With safety through the grove the roaming wives 5

Of their rank spouse are seeking thyme,

And hidden strawberry plants, and fear
No vipers green or wolves of Mars
That haunt Haedilia, whene'er,

O Tyndaris, with his dulcet flute 10

The valleys and the slippery rocks

Of sloping Ustica resound.
The gods protect me : with the gods my feeling
And my Muse are in accord. Hence plenty, rich

With foison of the field, shall flow 15

To the full for you from bounteous horn ;
Here, in a vale retired, Canicula's heat
You shall escape, and to your Teian lute shall sing
Of glassy Circe and Penelope

In travail of a love for the same man. 20
Of harmless Lesbian cups you here shall quaff
In the shade, and Thyoneus, Semele's son,

Shall not confound his part in strife

With Mars : and from suspicion free

You shall not fear lest forward Cyrus lay 25

Incontinent hands on you, so little his match,

And chaplet catching in your tresses tear,
And your all unoffending dress.

A pastoral : The land is " Arcady," but the references are
clearly in consonance with the Murena story, and also that of
Antonius (cf. Intr. § 67).

1. Lucretilis ; A Sabine mountain.

2. Mount Lycaeus : A mountain in Arcadia.

9. Haedilia, supposed to be a local name. There is a reluctance
among editors to accept Bentley's conjecture, " haeduleae,"
" kidlings " ; cf. Inuleus, I. 23, i, which may be right, and
would translate " and the kidlings fear no wolves of Mars."

10. Tyndaris ; one of the names of Helen. The reason of its
use here is not clear.

19. Circe and Penelope ; the unreality of the picture makes safe
the mention of the names of Penelope, the faithful wife, and of
Circe, the false enchantress, whose struggle in their love for the
same man is to be the subject of her song. The juxtaposition
of this poem with the previous Ode seems in itself sufficient to
explain these names. To have referred, however, too explicitly
to Octavia, the Emperor's sister and Antonius' wife, and the
distressing position she was placed in by her husband's association
with Cleopatra, the temptress, would have been too hazardous.
They therefore have this setting of unreality : cf. I. 15.

22. Thyoneus, Bacchus : The observation that the god of wine
and conviviality shall not be confused with the god of war is
intelligible in the light of our theory of I. 27 and III. 19, and the
references to Murena's design throughout the Three Books.
There is a distinction between harmless Lesbian cups and the
strong Falernian of I. 20, I. 27, and II. 3, 8.

BOOK i] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES 99

XVIII
TO VARUS

O VARUS, plant no tree before the sacred vine

In the soft soil of Tibur, by the ramparts of Catillus.

For hard is everything that God has set to men athirst,

And by no other means do gnawing cares disperse.

Who, after wine, grumbles at toilsome war or poverty ? 5

Who rather hails not thee, Sire Bacchus, or thee, fair Venus ?

But lest one should exceed the dues of temperate Liber,

The strife of Centaurs against Lapithae over wine

Gives warning, gives warning Evius' severity to Sithonians,

When, greedy, they distinguish right from wrong 10

By the unsound criterion of their lusts.

Not I, fair Bassareus, will rouse thee 'gainst thy will, nor bring

To light what's hid by divers leaves. Silence the cruel drums,

And Berecyntian horn, the sure accompaniment

Of blind Self-love, and Pride raising too high a fatuous head, 1 5

And Confidence, clearer than glass, that flings its secret to the world;

We have no certain knowledge of Varus, and do not know if he
is the subject of I. 24. The moral of the poem is high : Use not
abuse is its motto. Of the self-love, and the vaunting spirit
that raises high its fatuous head, Horace has occasion to treat
later on, and this Ode becomes useful to the interpreter as elucidat-
ing subsequent words. The expression of sentiment here has the
effect of an enunciation of a general principle proved afterwards
by a particular case : see v. 13, n., 6-8, cf. I. 27, 3, n.

8. Lapithae : See II. 12, III. 4, 80, III. 20, IV. 7, 28.

9. For parallel with Find. Pyth. II., see IV. 2. Exiguo : " de-
fective," cf. I. 28, 3.

12. A reference to the style of reserve found throughout the
work.

13. Cruel drums : Berecyntian horn : these things are here
said to be found in accompaniment with certain objectionable
qualities in human nature. They are afterwards (III. 19) men-
tioned in connection with a named man who had all these traits,
which were responsible for his ruin. The fact is significant, and
supports the theory of the work discussed in the Introduction.

1 6. So the traditional interpretation : this is perhaps one of
the places where Horace uses duplicity : the words may imply
an unbounded credulity in the occult : for arcanum in this sense,
see Epod. 5, 52.

XIX

THE cruel mother of the Cupids,
The son of Theban Semele, and my

Own fancy's freedom,
Bid me recall to mind loves past and gone;

ioo THE ODES OF HORACE

Me radiance of Glycera burns, 5

More dazzling than the glow of Parian marble :

Burns me her charming waywardness,
And glance too dangerous to be looked upon.

Venus herself hath quitted Cyprus,
And swooping full on me, forbids me sing the Scyth, 10

And Parthian, bold in heart although
His horse be turned, and things that matter not.

Here, boys, come place for me
The living turf, and here the sacred boughs,

And incense with a bowl of last year's wine : 1 5

More kindly will she come after a victim's blood is shed.

This poem instances the power of love : there is significance
in the reference to the religious ceremonial. Horace was a
supporter of Augustus' efforts to secure at least formal observance
of the old religious customs ; cf. Intr., and III. 6, n.

i. The Ode is a correlative of III. 26, and the invocation of
Venus portends the same as that of IV. i, q.v.

XX

TO MAECENAS

FROM moderate goblets thou shalt quaff
Plain Sabine, which, stored in its Greek jar,
Myself did seal, when in the theatre

Applause to thee

Was given, dear knight, Maecenas, so that the banks 5
Of thine ancestral stream, at the same time
With sportive echo from the Vatican mount,

Returned the praise. —
Ihe Caecuban and grape by press

Of Cales crushed, Thou seest — 10

Falernian vines temper no cups of mine,

Nor hills of Formiae.

Maecenas gave the Sabine farm to Horace circa B.C. 33. Re-
garded chronologically with the historic Odes, that date suits this
position, but that the composition was much later the following
notes tend to prove.

Verrall observes that I. 17, I. 20, and I. 22 are rural idylls.
They seem to be connected also with the principal theme of the
Books as a whole.

The difficulty in the Ode lies in the words tu bibes, V. 10. Dr
Verrall's conjecture of " invides " was at first attractive, and
may be right ; it does not spoil my argument that the Ode con-
templates Murena, but I hold that Tit must stand, and that bibes

BOOK i] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES 101

may, though possibly the right word is vides, as Munro, arguing
from the meaningless " bides," in one MS., has opined. However,.,
I should construe vides naturally as " thou lookest upon," and
not be forced to the reading " thou providest," with Munro, the
objection to which is that it would be most ungracious in Horace
as an address to the giver of the farm ; and tantamount to saying,
" You have not enabled me to treat my guests as you would
yourself." I am inclined to think that the " Tu " of the third
stanza is not Maecenas at all. The Ode has three verses : the
first brings in Horace, the second is concerned with Maecenas, and
the last turns to a third person, " Tu." This " Tu " has a liking
for the precious Caecuban, the wine worthy of a hundred keys,
like the " worthier heir " of Postumus, II. 14. He is probably
the same man as that " heir," and the " Tu " reappears in
II. 18, the man who " tempers " the wine in III. 19, the man
whose home was in Telepylus Laestrygonia, I mean Formiae — as
Cicero says (cf. III. 16)— the Gillo or " wine-cooler " of Juvenal
(cf, II. 3), who was so fortunate as to obtain eleven-twelfths of
the estate while Proculeius had but one-twelfth (Juv. Sat. I.
Intr. § 101, II. 2) — our bold friend, the Lucius Audacius of
Suetonius (Intr. § 96), who was accused of forgery. " Tu,"- then,
we take to be another reference to Murena. He will have
Caecuban, but luxurious vintages with the taint of Formian
suggestion — about as pleasant for Maecenas as the view of the
hills of Telegonus, the parricide (III. 29, 8)— shall temper no
draught that Horace will offer. The Ode should be read and
compared with III. 16. See also Epist. I. 5, 4, to " Torquatus "
(Murena ?). Not only is there nothing casual in this collection,
but hardly any touch or allusion that is isolated. The corre-
lations that emerge on examination render much easier the task
of elucidation, when once the author's plan is perceived. For
this foreshadowing the story of Murena long before the occurrence
of its events, it is easy to conceive many reasons, but not to
decide peremptorily on any to the exclusion of others. So far
as historic chronology is marked in it, the first book extends
from the death of Julius Caesar to Actium, but, the historic and
the non-historic Odes are governed by different rules as to position,
cf. Intr. § 69. Horace did not intend the casual reader to under-
stand him as would Maecenas or Augustus, who were in possession
of knowledge that had been most carefully concealed from the
public. He is purposely ambiguous here, and this explains the
apparent awkwardness of the last stanza, but it seems a con-
vincing explanation when the work is read as a whole.

i. Modicis cantharis : there is a special point in adjective and
noun : the cantharus was a Greek vessel : but also a thing con-
nected with Egyptian divination ; the scarabaeus, or beetle-
shaped mark, that signified the presence of the god Apis ; images
of it were one of the commonest constituents of a magician's
paraphernalia : and used as charms in every Egyptian grave.
Murena drank immoderately from the well-springs of magic and
sorcery : Intr. §§ 102, 105, III. 19, n., etc.

4. Applause : II. 13, II. 17.

9. Caecuban : Like Falernian, this was one of the Campanian
wines, cf. Mart. XIII. in, 113, 115.

10. Cales : I. 31, 9.

11. Formian: III. 16, 34, III. 17.

102 THE ODES OF HORACE

XXI

YOUNG maidens, sing Diana !
Boys, sing ye to unrazored Cynthius,
And to Latona deeply loved
By sovereign Jupiter !

Ye maids, to her who joys in streams and tressed groves, 5
Be they aloft on frigid Algidus,

Or in the gloomy woods of Erymanth,

Or Cragus green !

Ye youths, with equal praise extol Tempe and Delos,
Apollo's birthplace, and his shoulder decked 10

With quiver, and with lyre,

His brother's gift !

He shall drive far calamitous war and famine fell,
And plague, from people and their prince —

Caesar — away to Parths and Britons, 15

By your prayer influenced.

There have been many attempts to connect this Ode with
history. They only bring out the fact that if it was written for
any particular celebration we have lost the connection. Orelli's
remark, that the poem is not of sufficient weight for festival use,
is full of good sense. No such use was probably contemplated
for it. It inculcates the revival of religious observance desired
by the Emperor. Horace tells us that one of his objects is to
educate the rising generation (III. i). This is an express as-
sumption of his part. The explicit reference to difficulties that
beset Augustus for many years after Actium, is significant ;
Intr. § 38.

The poem, considering the deities mentioned, and its general
sentiment, may be read as prefatory to the later Murena episodes.
It is in the same strain with I. 31 and 32, q.v.

XXII
TO FUSCUS

THE man blameless in life, and free
From sin, will need no Moorish javelins,
Or bow, or quiver with a load, Fuscus,

Of poisoned arrows :

Whether about to make his way through Syrtes hot,
Or through inhospitable Caucasus,
Or through those regions which the storied stream

Hydaspes laves.
'Tis so, for in a Sabine wood a wolf,

BOOK i] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTtES

While I am singing of my Lalage, and stray e inserted in the
Beyond my bound — wi th thoughts of care dismilSe, cf. note to I

From me unarmed : — here lies in the'

A monster, such as not warlike Daunia hytas Ode ; see

Rears in its wide-spread groves of oak,
Not land of Juba breeds, that arid nurse se of hei\ name

Of lions. usin£ relev*nt

™ employment of

Place me m those torpid steppes, iminate between

Where summer's breath restores no tree to li. theme we find
That side of the world which mists oppress, » pathos in the

And evil sky : ion to her (III.

Place me beneath the chariot of a sun threnody, but

Too close, in lands where none may make a hoVgPresentmS
And Lalage of winsome laugh I'll love, Sg> etc'> IL

And winsome word. ^ thou

such

A poem with a pastoral setting, cf. I. 17, I. 20. To read were
Ode as if Horace was thinking of a flesh and blood " mistrtQ On
is absurd. Verrall describes it as a poem of love " in the s
sense that the bergeries of porcelain are pictures of love," buook
it not more than that ? We may read a meaning into fe •
mention of the man blameless in life and free from sin, of th
man also of javelins and arrows (III. 20, 9), and into the allusio
to the wolf (I. n, II. n) which precipitately flees from an u
armed man, that has not been brought into prominence. (
the irony of Epist. I. 16.

3. Fuscus : cf. Epist. I. 10, and Sat. I. 9. We know nothi*
of him except from Horace : the scholiasts describe him as c
writer — of tragedy (Acron) : of comedy (Porphyrion).

XXIII
TO CHLOE

You shun me, Chloe, like a fawn,
Seeking its timid dam in pathless mountains
With vain affright

At breezes and the woods —

For if the approach of Spring hath shivered through 5
The quivering leaves, or greenish*" lizards stir
The bramble-bush, so trembles it

In heart and knees.

But hold ! For I do not, like tigress fierce,
. Or lion of Gaetulia, pursue to rend : — 10

At last your mother leave,
Ripe for a man to woo.

Supposed to be imitated from Anacreon. Chloe means the
tender shoot of a plant.

THE ODES OF HORACE

102

horruit, etc. : There is great controversy whether

pproach, should not be ad ventum, to the breeze :

ing, be amended to vepris, gen. of vepres, a bramble,

I " for whether it (the fawn) hath trembled at the

YOUNG r quivering in the breeze, or whether green lizards

Boys si£he thorn -bush, both in its heart and limbs it

' ^ou)." Dillenburger, and other German editors,

aiendments which seem to give the better sense.

the Ode in the light of the theories here advanced

Ye maids I^ ancj 2Oj one feejs that in this early, and to

Be they ; casual, address to a young maiden, general ex-

Oused that foreshadow similar ones pointed after-

:e directness : cf. the savage Gaetulian lion in v. 10,

Ye yor 2> and the adjective " tempestiva," repeated in a

./potation in III. 19, 27. The continual recurrence of

" ^res is the testis locupletissimus to unity, and to our

Horace's " curiosa felicitas" is not merely verbal, but

co in having produced a work, which he tells us is to be

and regarded as a whole ; that is, in fact, free from those

escences for the absence of which he received Petronius'

mendation. Cf. II. 5, n.

rm

an XXIV

ren

is 1 TO MELPOMENE

for

WHAT shame or limit can there be to our regret
For one so dear ? Teach me thy songs of grief,
Melpomene, on whom thy father with the harp,

Bestowed a melting voice.

Does then perpetual sleep oppress Quintilius ? 5

For whom, will Self-respect, and Faith inviolate,
Sister of Justice ; for whom, will naked Truth,

Find any peer ?

By many good men mourned he dies,

But deeplier mourned by none than thee, O Vergil ! 10

Quintilius — not lent for this — thou askest of the gods.

Alas ! Thy piety is vain.

What though thou wert to modulate with mor,e
Than Thracian Orpheus' charm, the lyre which trees had heard,
The blood would not return to the empty shade 1 5

Which once with his grim staff Mercurius,
Not gracious to requests to alter fate,
Hath driven in company with his gloomy throng.
?Tis hard : but yet by patience lighter grows

What it is impious to amend. 20

This Quintilius is probably the man mentioned in the Ars
Poet. 438. If the Chronicon of Eusebius is correct, his death

BOOK i] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES 105

occurred in B.C. 24, and this would be a late Ode inserted in the
first book. Is is quite possible that this is the case, cf. note to I.
29, Intr. § 69, etc. The reason why it is placed here lies in the *
last two stanzas ; it is a preparation for the Archytas Ode ; see
note to v. 20 infra.

3. Melpomene : the Muse of tragedy. The use of her name
here, coupled with Horace's discernible habit of using relevant
words, disposes of the criticism induced by the employment of
the name elsewhere, that the poet does not discriminate between
the Muses (Intr. § 21). Where pathos is the theme we find
Melpomene invoked, and he who would deny the pathos in the
whole work, must account for its solemn inscription to her (III.
30). Wickham points out that this is not a mere threnody, but
a consolation. In this respect it may be regarded as representing
in little the chief idea of the Three Books. (Intr. § 89, etc., II.

13, *0

ii. Quintilius thou claimest, etc. : " Pious, alas in vain, thou
demandest back from the gods Quintilius, not entrusted on such
terms." The expression probably means that the gods were
the lenders of Quintilius, and had not entrusted him to Vergil on
the terms of restoring him for the asking.

20. Impious to mend : An indication of the view Horace took
of the belief that the dead returned, or could be restored to life ;
cf. I. 28, n., etc;

XXV
TO LYDIA

MORE sparing of reiterated knocks

Upon your casements closed, the wanton blades

Deprive you not of sleep : its frame

Loves now that door

That erstwhile used to move with ease 5

Its hinge : now less and less the cry you hear,
" Lydia, sleep'st thou while your own pines

The live-long night ? "
Grown old, 'twill be your turn to weep
Betrayers' scorn, neglected in some lonely nook, 10

While Thracian blasts hold revel at

The dark of moon.
When burning passion and desire,
Such as is wont to madden horse's dams,
Shall rage about your fevered breast, 15

Not without plaint

Because light-hearted youth rejoices more
In growing ivy, and myrtle darkly green,
While withered leaves to Hebrus, winter's mate,

It dedicates. 20

io6 THE ODES OF HORACE

To regard this as personal invective is to disregard the whole
aspect of the Three Books in which the poet's amatory history
is obtruded very sparingly (I. 33). Verrall says, " It is not easy
to find in the Three Books a single poem painting licentious
passion in its gay and attractive aspect to set against those which
make it terrible, ugly or ridiculous."

Read at large, it contains a moral warning. For our view of
it, cf. I. 8, I. 13.

7. Your own : literally, " while thy ' me ' is pining."

19. Bentley's reading " Euro " is a " logical " emendation of
a misunderstood " Hebro " ; just as modern editors favour
" fecundi calices " in Epist. I. 5, 19, because they do not see the
point of " facundi " (cf. IV. 7, 23), and, thinking it clashes with
" disertum," " correct " their already correct MSS. For the signi-
ficance of Hebrus, cf. III. 12, n.

XXVI
ON LAMIA

THE Muse's favourite, I may leave grief and fear
To wanton winds to bear to Cretan sea,
Peculiar in my unconcern by whom

The king of frozen lands beneath the pole is feared,
Or what strikes terror into Teridates. 5

O thou, who revellest in virgin founts,
Twine thou the sunshine flowers,

Twine thou a coronal for Lamia mine,
Sweet one of Pimpla ! For without thine aid
My praises come to naught. Him with the novel strings, 10
Him to immortalise with Lesbian quill,

Doth well become thy sisters and thyself.

Because Lamia was the cognomen of a Roman family, some
of the members of which were contemporary with Horace, it has
been assumed that the Lamia here and in Ode III. 17 and
Epist. I. 14, is one of them. Dr Verrall shows that this is not
so (Stud, in Hor. p. 120). To connect this Lamia with the ^Elius
who was long afterwards Consul is guesswork, and leads to
confusion. Dr Verrall' s result after a long inquiry is that the
name of the vilicus or steward on Horace's farm was Lamia, and
that III. 17 is addressed to him and contains a joke on his name.
The reason why it is made is clearer now that Murena's history
has been more fully investigated. Cf. notes III. 17. The person
addressed in this Ode is conceivably the same slave, with whom
Horace seems to have been on affectionate terms, and the irony
of this poem will become apparent from the same reference.
Lamia, the slave, is quite as worthy of the Muses' song, as persons
of much more prominence. Considered with III. 17 and Murena's
story, a meaning for this piece becomes discernible, cf. also note

BOOK i] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES 107

to v. i . The Ode's position near the other Sabine idylls is appro-
priate (I. 20).

i. Grief, fear, and Cretan sea : cf. this with III. 27, notes.

5. Teridaten : A reference to the struggle for the Persian
throne that is too vague for evidence of date. In the year B.C.
33 Teridates, the usurper, who for a time dethroned Prahates,
the " legitimate," is in terror. In II. 2, after the year 30, Pra-
hates is on his throne again. In this respect Horace agrees with
the account given by Dio. For the further light thrown by
modern research, see Stud, in Hor. p. 116.

9. Pimplea : A fountain near Mount Olympus, sacred to the
Muses.

10. The novel strings : III. 25, 7, the lyrical mode which he
was utilising in allegory.

XXVII

To fight with tankards formed for an aid to joy,
Is Thracian. Avaunt, barbarity !

And Bacchus, to whom excess is shame,

Preserve from sanguinary brawls.

With wine and lights how ill consorts 5

A Medic scimitar. Repress

The impious clamour, friends, and stay

Reclined upon your bended arm.
Wish you that I too share the strong Falernian ?
Let brother of Megilla the Opuntian, 10

Tell to what wound he has been treated,

And from what dart he dies.

Falters his will ? I do not drink on other terms.
What passion rules thee burns not with a flame

Of which thou ought 'st to be ashamed. Through love 1 5

Quite honourable thou'rt finding way
To sin. Come, then, to safe ears trust
Thy trouble. O unhappy one ! In what
A Charybdis thou hast been labouring,

O youth of nobler ardour capable ! 20

What witch, what adept, can by venom-lore
Of Thessaly free thee ? Can even a god ?
Scarcely will Pegasus deliver thee

Ent oiled by that Chimaera, triple in form.

[The appended notes are left as they were made at an early
stage of this investigation. My present view is that the Ode
does adumbrate the banquet of III. 19, and probably hints at
details which Horace chose to omit from the poem in which
Murena is named : its place in the environment of the Antonius
and Cleopatra poems, which also deal with a crisis through which
the State and the Emperor successfully passed, may be accounted

io8 THE ODES OF HORACE

for on grounds similar to those which caused Horace to use
allegory and not direct narration for his story.]

" A supper degenerating into a drunken brawl " (Wickham).
It is easy to translate the ode so as to give sense to the words :
to understand them is quite another matter. Most probably we
have here a surface with a strong undercurrent of meaning :
Who is the speaker ? Who is the brother of Megilla of Opus ?
Ritter connects him with Xanthias of Phocis (II. 4) — not im-
probable, but what follows ? What has happened to him ? Is
he dying of love only ? If so, what has the question of the
speaker's drinking strong Falernian to do with that, and why
is it tacked on to reproaches against Medic scimitars at a banquet ?
Is the youth who is worthy of a better love, Megilla' s brother or a
third person ? And is the threefold Chimsera from which
Pegasus may not loose him, love or something else ? Charybdis,
the whirlpool, was often used to symbolise a rapacious mistress,
— was in fact proverbial : but that does not settle the question
whether in speaking of love, Horace's words are allegorical or not.
For another reference to the Chimaera, see II. 17, 13, to Pegasus
IV. ii. There are two other Odes connected with banquets,
which may be considered with this one, I. 36 and III. 19. Is this
a foreshadowing of III. 19 ?

3. Bacchus : cf. I. 18, 6-8. The clear parallel in v. 3 connects
these Odes, and the reference to the Lapithae may be enlightening,
cf. II. 12.

1 6. Sin through an honourable love ? Murena's project of
marriage with Julia.

XXVIII

NAUGHT but trifling tribute of some grains of dust,

Archytas, measurer of earth and sea,
And countless sand, restrains you here, hard by the Matine shore :

Of no avail is it to you that you essayed
To climb to airy palaces, and sped in spirit o'er 5

The arch of heaven, to you, destined to die.
Even the Sire of Pelops fell, the god's own guest,

And Tithon, lifted high in air,
And Minos unto whom Jove's secrets were revealed :

And Tartarus holds the son of Panthus, sent 10

Again to Orcus, though — as his unfixed shield declared —

A witness of the times of Troy, naught gave
He unto gloomy death save thews and skin,

In your opinion no mean master he
Of truth and nature. But for all one night awaits, 15

Once must the day of death be trod.
The Furies give up some as sport to wild-eyed Mars : —

To mariners the greedy sea is death : —
Of old and young the mingled funerals crowd : —

And ruthless Proserpine omits not one. 20

BOOK i] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES 109

Notus, swift comrade of Orion bending low,

Hath plunged me in Illyrian waves.
But do not you, O Mariner, unkindly grudge

Unto my head and bones all uninterred
A pinch of sand : So, whatsoever Eurus threatens 25

Unto Hesperia's waves, Venusian woods
May punished be, while you are safe, and great reward,

Which kindly Jove can give, shall flow for you
From him, and Neptune of Tarentum guardian.

Are you remiss, thus working harm that afterwards 30

Will evil bring upon your guiltless children ? While

Perchance due punishment and contumely
Wait you in turn ? Not with mere prayers for vengeance

Shall 1 be left, and you no expiation shall absolve.
Although you haste, the stopping is not long, 35

The dust thrice sprinkled, you may speed away.

The principal thought of this poem, that one night waits for
all, the night of death, is entirely appropriate in a collection
inspired by the tragic Muse, and the sentiments have parallels
throughout the work.

Again I believe the significance of the poem to be found in
the story of Murena. At the opening a sailor is speaking to
the unburied corpse of Archytas, a celebrated mathematician
and philosopher of the Pythagorean school, which believed in
the migration or reincarnation of souls. This, I think, is the
main point. Here we probably have, in the vague terms of poetry,
the explanation of Murena's genealogical researches, and the
reason why there was talk of the distances between Inachus and
Codrus, etc. (III. 19), and perhaps why the thunderstruck bard
hesitates to complete the calculation from king to king, down to
the latest one to whom fate "• owed " the sovereignty of the
world (Intr. § 95 and foil.). Here we may perhaps perceive to
whom Juvenal is alluding when he talks of " Codrus " (Intr.
§ 103) the " pauper " who had much magical paraphernalia, but
yet nothing at all. If Murena thought himself the reincarnation
of Inachus, Codrus, etc., as Pythagoras was fabled to be Euphor-
bus, son of Panthus, returned to earth, a very great deal is
accounted for. Though Archytas the calculator essayed to reach
the heavens, and rode in spirit round the arc, he, like the
person addressed in Ode II. 3, was destined to die — moritums
— and had to crave a handful of dust to enable his shade to proceed
to its proper place. This adds pregnancy to Horace's insistence
on the theme of death, and the impossibility of escape from
Orcus ; it may not only point to loss of life, but to a loss of it
for ever, cf. I. 24, n.

There has been much controversy on the division of the speeches
in this Ode. Archytas' shade seems to have begun his reply at
v. 21.

3. Exigui : Naught but, etc : the want of a little dust : the
idea of " lacking " is contained in exigum. (Cf. I. 18, 9.) ' Rightly
or wrongly, the Romans connected it with egeo.
\;. The sire of Pelops ; Tantalus; II. 13, II. 18.

no THE ODES OF HORACE

10. The son of Panthus : Euphorbus who fought at Troy :
Pythagoras was fabled to be his reincarnation, and to have
proved this by recognising Euphorbus' shield.

15. Note the point of semel — once for all, and only once. Cf.
Mors ultima linea rerum est, in Ep. I. 16, 79, which I conceive to
be addressed to Murena, see Ode II. n, note.

XXIX

TO ICCIUS

Iccius, rich treasures of the Arabs now you eye
With envy, and equip for hot campaign
Against Sabaean kings not heretofore

Subdued, and for the dreadful Mede

Link chains ? Who of the native girls shall be 5

Your slave, when you have slain her promised spouse ?
What page-boy of the Court with scented locks,

Is to be stationed at your cup,
Though taught to strain the Seric arrows
On his father's bow ? Who will deny 10

That torrent-streams can run up lofty mounts,

And Tiber be reversed,
Since your famed volumes of Pansetius,
Bought far and wide, and the Socratic school,

To'change for an Iberian cuirass 15

You haste, who promised such superior^ things ?

An Iccius, presumably this man, was living on Agrippa's
property in Sicily in B.C. 19, cf. Epist. I. 12. If this expedition
to Arabia was that under ^Elius Gallus in B.C. 24, we clearly have
here a late Ode inserted in the first book. On the principle of the
order upheld by me (Intr. § 69) this does not create a difficulty,
as the allusion to history is indefinite, and the Ode falls into the
class which I describe as " private." Dr Verrall holds that there
is no need to connect it with the expedition mentioned, but rather
to that against Antonius and Cleopatra which resulted in Actium
and the conquest of the East, cf. I. 35, 30. The point does not
strike me as important, because I conceive the purpose of the
poem to be that indicated below : — Iccius seems to have been
a bookish stoic, but fretful at his lack of riches, and Horace, while
enjoying a " dig " at a philosopher whose precept and practice
are in ill accord, appears to be "• casually '-'• preparing — in regard
to his general scheme of compilation — for a more important
reference to the " Auri sacra fames " later on ; cf. II. 2, etc.

BOOK i] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES in

XXX

INVOCATION OF VENUS

O VENUS, queen of Gnidos and of Paphos,
Desert dear Cyprus, and to the comely shrine,
Of Glycera, calling thee with incense plentiful,

Transport thyself —

And may there haste with thee thy eager boy,
Graces whose zones are loosed, and nymphs,
Youth, who without thee has too little charm,

And Mercury.

An invocatory hymn on " Glycera's " marriage, of the kind
called K\T]TIKOS in Greek (cf. III. 22). It is an injustice to the
lady to label her " hetaira " or " arnica." The poem proves that she
is to be a bride. The extract quoted by Orelli from Plutarch's
Praecepta conjugalia, shows that the conjunction of Venus,
Mercury and the Graces, symbolised marriage ; others in the
retinue were Peitho or Persuasion, Eros, and Hebe (Youth).

For the significance of the Ode in this place see I. 33.

XXXI

TO APOLLO

WHAT from Apollo on his dedication asks
A bard ? What prays he, pouring from the bowl
New liquor ? Not the cornfields rich

Of bountiful Sardinia :

Not goodly herds of scorched Calabria, 5

Not gold or Indian ivory,

Not lands which Liris, silent stream,

With quiet water frets.

With the curved blade of Gales let them prune
To whom fate gave the vine : from cups of gold 10

Let the rich trader drain his wine.

Purchased with Syrian merchandise.
Dear to the very gods since thrice and four times
Yearly visits 'he the Atlantic main

In safety. Olives nourish me, 15

And succories, and mallows light.
Grant me in health to relish what I have
In store, Lattna's son, with mind I pray,
Unclouded — and to pass an eld

Not base, nor of my harp deprived. 20

ii2 THE ODES OF HORACE

This Ode is generally supposed to celebrate the dedication of
the Temple of Apollo with its library, built on the Palatine by
Augustus in B.C. 28 in memory of Actium. Verrall points out
that the selection is arbitrary, and apart from the place of the
poem, demons trably inappropriate. There is no reference to
the Emperor, to Actium, to the Palatine, or to any of the topics
proper to the supposed occasion (contrast Propertius' poem on
the subject El. III. 23).

This poem is correlated by its commencement with the next
one. Here the poet considers the proper demand to be made of
the god : in I. 32, the demand by the god from the poet.

i. Dedicatum : literally from our dedicated Apollo. We speak
of the place or object as dedicated, the Romans applied the word
also to the deity.

6. Cf. II. 18, i.

7. Liris : now Garigliano, cf. III. 17, etc. The stream of
Formiae.

9. Galena falce. Cf. I. 20, 10. The last two touches are both
Murena references ; their association with the Indian ivory of v.
6 tends to show that II. 17 is rightly construed in connection with
him, and it becomes very doubtful, on considering the three
together, whether the " Apollo of the dedication " is concerned
at all with any building : see notes to next Ode. The wealth of
Murena, says Horace, I do not ask from Apollo, my prayer is of
quite another kind : cf. III. 24, etc.

XXXII

TO HIS LUTE

WE are required : If idle in the shade with thee
Aught I have played, to live for this year or for more,
Now come again, utter a Latin lay,

0 lute of many strings,

First modulated by the Lesbian citizen, 5

Who bold in war, yet sang betwixt the fights,
Or, if he moored his storm-tossed ships

By oozy beach,

Of Liber and the Muses, Venus and the boy
Unto her ever clinging, of Lycus too, 10

By his black eyes made beautiful,

And his black hair.
Thou glory of Apollo, welcome shell,
Even at the banquetings of Jove supreme,
Labour's sweet solace, greet me whene'er 15

1 duly oall on thee.

See notes to preceding Odv\ Not only /are these two Odes
correlated by their commencements but also by their endings.
In each is a reference to the instrument for which the poet writes.

BOOK i] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES 113

In the first, Horace prays that his senses may remain unimpaired,
and that his old age may not lack power of song. In the second,
he asks that his " shell "• may never fail him. The wish to write
a Latin lay, worthy of Apollo, may be connected, as some think,
with the opening of some building, possibly the first national
library in Rome established by Pollio out of the spoil of his
Dalmatian campaign (II. i, 15) circa B.C. 33. As the Odes were
published long after Pollio's and the Emperor's later tribute to
Apollo, these pieces would serve to show Horace's general sentiments
on the matter, and the whole collection might then be regarded
as the response to the demand which the god makes of the poet.

Personally I agree with Verrall that the answer to the demand
is the Three Books, and I think that the position of this Ode at
the end of the first book may be explained by the fact that it
is in one sense introductory. After II. i, we are in the heart
of Murena's story, the chief motive of the work. Odes II. 19
and 20 are correspondingly introductory to the third book, but
with the note much raised.

Cf. this Ode with IV. i, and see notes thereto.

5. Lesbio civi : Alcseus. IV. i, 33, n.

14. Testudo : Shell, the lyre, from the mode of its invention.

XXXIII
TO ALBIUS

ALBIUS, grieve not too much in memory

Of Glycera harsh and crude, and sing no mournful lays

Because a junior is eclipsing thee,

And broken is her faith.

Lycoris famed for her low brow, a love 5

For Cyrus fires : off Cyrus swerves
To prudish Pholoe : but ewes shall mate

With the Apulian wolves,
Ere Pholoe sin with base adulterer.

Such things doth Venus will : whom it delights 10

To send beneath the brazen yokes in cruel sport

Persons and tempers incompatible.
Myself, when Venus gave me a kindlier call,
Was held in pleasant chain by slave-born Myrtale,
More grasping she than Hadria hollowing out 1 5

The inlets of Calabria.

The Albius of this Ode is usually assumed to be Tibullus, the
poet ; whether this be correct or not, the name Glycera, repeated
from I. 30, impels us to compare the two poems. In I. 30, we
have two stanzas from which we gather that " Glycera,'1 the
sweet one, is a bride. In this piece Albius is offered as a solace
for his loss of Glycera some reflections on the risks of ill-assorted
marriages. He has had a disappointment, the sweet one has
H

ii4 THE ODES OF HORACE

left a bitter taste through her preference for a younger rival.
The presumption is natural that both poems refer to the same
Glycera, and that she has not only preferred the junior but has
actually married him ? The cenea juga, yokes of brass, beneath
which Venus, the goddess of love and marriage, delights to send
persons who afterwards find out that they do not suit one another,
can only have one meaning (Carm. Saec. 17). That it does refer
to wedlock is shown by the illustrations of Cyrus, Lycoris and
Pholoe : the word " declinat " indicates that Cyrus is yoked to
Lycoris : it implies a breaking away from a previous connection
(Cic. De Orat. 2, 38) and the other words point to a breach of
the marriage bond.

The Ode is noticeable for Horace's reference to himself in a
way that shows he is giving a little of his own history, and to do
this is, I believe, the purpose of the poem. The last stanza
contains the one allusion to love in the first compilation of his
Odes that can only be taken as personal to the poet. " I once had
a chance to marry, but my connection with a freed-woman,
Myrtale, prevented me from taking it." The conclusion of
which is, "I too am a sufferer from the cruel caprice of Venus,
but my case is slightly different : she offered me a good match,
but at a time when I was loath to accept it ; I regret it now, for
Myrtale was shrewish and greedy." See Verrall, Stud, in Hor. p.
152, and Intr. § 115.

1. Plus nimio : more than too much, cf. I. 18, 15.

2. Immitis : unripe and so, sour : both meanings are wanted
but cannot be rendered by one word.

6. Asperam : untranslatable "at once uncomplimentary to
Pholoe's person and complimentary to her virtue " (Verrall).

XXXIV

A GRUDGING and unfrequent worshipper of the gods,
When versed in an unsound philosophy

I strayed, now I am forced to back my sails,

And trace the courses o'er again

That I had left. For lo, Diespiter, 5

Most often riving clouds with flashing fire,
Hath driven through the void

His thundering steeds and flying car :
Whereat the stolid earth and wandering streams,
Whereat Styx, and grim seat of hated Tsenarus, 10

And the Atlantean boundary, do quake.

The lowest for the highest God can change ;
He minishes the famous, bringing forth
Obscurity to light. Fell-swooping Fortune,

With rustling sharp, hence tears, 15

There joys to place, a diadem.

A sequel to Ode 33, and a preface to Odes 35 and 37. We have
seen that the poet has lifted the veil from his private life in the

BOOK i] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES 115

last Ode. Here he is also personal. It looks as if he were, by a
touch or two, vindicating his life and opinions. His attitude
towards religion is now dealt with. Philosophy is not all-sufficing.
There is a power above the human mind for which it will not
account. In so far as it denies the existence of this power,
philosophy is madness, not wisdom. There is such a thing as
fate or destiny independent of ourselves. The theory of Epi-
curus, to whose school Horace elsewhere declares himself to
belong, was that the gods did not interpose in mundane affairs ;
but as to the nature of Horace's Epicureanism, cf. Intr. § 117.

5. Diespiter, an archaic and solemn name of Jupiter.

12. Cf. The Magnificat, and the close parallel in Find. Pyth.
II., and see notes to IV. 2.

1 6. Diadem : The tiara of Eastern kings, and also the cap of the
Roman flamens, was called apex. The use of the word may
probably point to the extravagant ambitions of Antonius which
were a menace to Augustus and Rome, more serious than the
later insane presumptions of Murena (cf. II. 2, 21).

XXXV

TO FORTUNA

GODDESS, who rulest pleasant Antium,
At hand, either to lift mortality

From bottommost degree, or turn

Proud triumphs into obsequies,

The humble tiller of the soil solicits thee 5

With anxious prayer : So, mistress of the deep,
Doth one who with Bithynian keel

Challenges the Carpathian main.
Of thee the Dacian rude, the nomad Scythians,
Cities and peoples, Latium in its pride, 10

Of thee, mothers of alien kings,

And purple despots, stand in awe,
Lest thou o'er topple with injurious foot
The standing column, lest an assembling populace

" To arms "• may urge the loiterers, " To arms ! 15

And let the empire crash ! "
Before thee always marches stern Necessity,
Bearing in hand of iron, girder bolts

And wedges : neither is ruthless hook

Not there nor molten lead. 20

Thee Hope reveres and rare Fidelity,
Veiled in white robe, who parts not company with thee,
Although, with change of garb, in wrath

Thou leavest lordly homes.

But faithless crowd and harlot false draw back, 25

And friends disperse when kegs are drained

ii6 THE ODES OF HORACE

To the lees, deceitful in their pledge
To share the burden of the yoke.
Keep Caesar safe about to go to Britain,
Terminus of the world, and this new band of youths, 30
A cause for fear to regions of the dawn,

And to the Ocean red !

Alas for scars, for sin, for brothers, there is shame
To us ! From what have we, heart-hardened age,

Refrained ? Left what impiety 35

Untouched ? Whence hath our youth
Through fear of gods withheld its hand ? What altars
Hath it spared ? Oh would that on new forge
Thou may recast our steel made blunt

Against the Arabs and the Massage ts ! 40

That the tacit thought of this hymn to Fortuna is the fall of
Antonius is the conclusion of such Horatian commentators as
Dr Verrall and Pliiss (Intr. § 74). The great Roman so soon to
end ingloriously a career unworthy in its end of the nobler qualities
he possessed, is not expressly named, but it is the goddess whose
temple was the chief feature of the town of his race, who is im-
plored to prevent his contemplated designs. The nature of the
connection between Antium and the family of Antonius is not
accurately known, but that it gave rise to feelings of reverence in
that family improved by the facts collected by Verrall (Stud, in
Hor. p. 97).

We must remember that this Ode was published many years
after the death of Antonius, that the sister of the Emperor had
been his faithful wife, and was still alive, that his children occupied
high places in society and at the court (IV. 2), and above all that
he was no common enemy, but one of the greatest of Romans —
a brother — against whom brothers were compelled to take up
arms. So strong was this feeling, that Augustus expressly
refrained from declaring war or triumphing against him, and
named Cleopatra as the enemy. His fall was no subject for
exultation, and Horace treats it with delicacy.

2. Pvcesens : cf. III. 5, 2, where Horace uses the word in a
sense exactly equivalent to the " Emanuel "- of Scripture.

1 3 . Ne would perhaps be taken more correctly as a prohibition :
the pres. subj. is no obstacle, II. i, 37.

14-16. Stantem columnam ; imperium : the new constitution.

17. These illustrations are from sculptures on the temples of
Fortune (III. i, 14, III. 24, 5).

29-30. Britannos : A design of Augustus to visit Britain was
well known.

33. Alas: the language is almost broken : the guilt of fratricidal
strife is condemned, cf. III. 2, 13.

35. Cf. III. 6.

BOOK i] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES 117

XXXVI

WITH incense and with strings, and dues
Of steerlings' blood, ?tis pleasure to placate

The guardian gods of Numida,
Who now, safe back from far Hesperia,

Distributes many a kiss 5

Among his comrades dear : yet more to none

Than to sweev. Lamia, remembering
Their childhood spent in the same tutelage,

The gown together changed.
Let not the gladsome day lack Cretan mark : 10

No stint be to the jar brought forth :
In Salian manner be for feet no rest :

Deep drinking Damalis must not
Win victory from Bassus by the Thracian draught :

Be neither wanting roses to the feast, 15

Nor parsley evergreen, nor lily brief.

On Damalis all will set
Their languishing eyes ; but Damalis will not

From her new lover parted be.
Than spreading ivy clinging closelier. 20

This Ode contemplates a scene not precisely comparable with
any other in the Three Books (cf. I. 27 and III. 19). The Lamia
is certainly not Horace's vilicus, and is hardly likely to be any
member of the Lilian gens (cf. I. 26, III. 17). The meaning of
Lamia is a vampire, of Numida, a wanderer, of Damalis, a heifer,
of Bassus perhaps "deep" (but cf. Battos of Find. Pyth. IV.,
who would probably be one of Murena's supposed ancestors
— cf. I. ii — and note the possible irony of a comparison between
a drinking contest with a woman and that for which Battos'
descendant Arkesilas was praised). The use of these names
renders it almost certain that the identity of the actors in the
drama is concealed. Contrast it with the picture of I. 38, and
the relative positions of the two Odes become significant. Cf.
Verrall, Stud, in Hor. p. 129.

Any critic who carefully weighs the whole evidence of the
Three Books will hesitate before pronouncing that the tone of
rejoicing in this Ode is prompted by sympathy on the part of the
poet.

It may be remarked that the ironical contrast which we suppose
to be implied in the reference to the Thracian Amystis, may have
been suggested by the final scene in the Acharnians, a play which
helps our efforts at interpretation on another point, viz. the
significance of the name Telephus, see III. 19, 26, notes.

n8 THE ODES OF HORACE

XXXVII
ACTIUM, AND THE FALL OF CLEOPATRA

Now ?tis to drink : now with free foot
To smite the ground : for now is come the time
That was to deck the couches of the gods

With Salian viands, comrades !

Ere this 'twas sacrilege to draw the Caecuban 5

From the ancestral bins, while for the Capitol

Mad schemes of ruin, and for the Empire doom,

Was compassing that queen,
With her contaminate herd

Of men made vile by maiming — weak 10

Enough to hope for anything, and with

Good fortune drunk * But scarce one ship saved from
The fires lowered her frenzy. Caesar brought
Her mind, inflamed with wine of Marea, back

To terrors real, pressing with 15

His oars upon her as she fled
From Italy (like hawk on tender doves
Or speedy hunter on a hare

O'er snowy Haemonia's plains)

That he to chains might give 20

The monstrous-birth of Fate. But she, seeking to die
More honourably, unwomanlike cast forth
Fear of the sword, and did not make

For hidden shores with her swift fleet,

But dared to view her palace lying low, 25

With eye unblurred, and courage had

To handle angry asps, that through her flesh
She might drink in the venom black : —
The more defiant as she pondered death : —
A woman not humbled, nay, disdaining to be brought 30
By cruel Liburnians

To grace, unqueened, a triumph proud.

Intr. § 75. The " curtain " of the first act in Horace's tragedy.
The time covered is from the battle of Actium till the death of
Cleopatra, twelve months afterwards.

2. The Salii were priests of Mars.

10. Maiming : literally, by disease : a reference to the eunuchs
of eastern courts.

12. But scarce one ship, etc., i.e. : This fact brought her to her
senses,

21. But she, etc : notice that with this short pause only we
are taken from the battle to the death of Cleopatra.

BOOK i] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES 119

XXXVIII
TO HIS SLAVE

BOY, I detest elaborate Persian state :
Chaplets, with linden-fibre bound, displease :
Cease searching in what places late

The rose is lingering.
To simple myrtle trouble to add naught
With sedulous care : not thee, a servitor,
Doth myrtle misbeseem, nor me while drinking

?Neath an arboured vine.

Horace does not end his book with the loud tone of triumph
heard in the preceding Ode ; but, in accordance with the canons
of Greek art, brings it to a close with this quiet picture and
reflection. The thought he desired to inspire was probably this :
" Rome had a fortunate escape from eastern domination.
Oriental luxury is not a mode of life for our example/' The
reference to traders and merchants impiously tempting the sea,
which occurs several times in the Odes, has the same moral point.
Cf. I. i, II. 18.

BOOK II
i

TO G. ASINIUS POLLIO

THE civil rising since Metellus' consulate,
The cause of war, its crimes and scope,

The play of Fortune, and the pacts of chiefs,

Pregnant with woe, and arms

Besmeared with blood, unexpiated yet, 5

Work full of perilous hazard,

You touch, and walk o'er fires suppressed

Beneath a treacherous crust of ash.
For a brief space your Muse of Tragedy severe may leave
The theatres. Soon, when you have shaped state history, 10
Your lofty theme you will resume

In the Cecropian style,

Pollio, illustrious aid to wretched men accused,
And to a Senate seeking counsel ;

For whom the bay brought forth eternal honours 1 5

Through triumph o'er Dalmatia.
Even now, with murmuring din of horns, you rive
Our ears : now sound the trumpets, now the flash
Of arms lends terror to the horse that flees,

And to the horseman's glance. 20

Of mighty leaders now I seem to hear,
By no dishonourable dust defiled,

And everything on earth subdued,

Save only Cato's stubborn heart.

Juno, and each of the friendlier gods to Africa, 25

Had impotently left the land all unavenged —
The conquerors' sons she brought again
As sacrifices to Jugurtha's shade.
What field, enriched by Latium's own blood,
Doth not bear witness, through its graves, 30

Of impious battles, and the crash

Of western downfall heard by Medes ?
What whirlpool, or what rivers, of our dolorous war
Are ignorant ? What sea hath Daunian slaughter

Not incarnadined ? 35

What shore lacks gore of ours ?

120

BOOK n] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES 121

But Muse of rapid speech, with pleasantries renounced,
Do not resume the burden of a Cean threnody !
Within Dione's grot with me

Seek melodies of lighter quill. 40

G. Asinius Pollio was a distinguished soldier, politician, orator,
poet and historian of the Augustan age. He was a friend of
Horace and Vergil. His early sympathies were strongly
Caesarean. He had been advanced by Julius Caesar, and was one
of the negotiators in arranging the business of the triumvirate.
At that time he was associated with Antonius, and was by him
sent on a military expedition to Dalmatia for which he triumphed.
After this he withdrew from politics. He declined to join
Augustus against Antonius, pleading their old friendship, an
excuse which the Emperor accepted. His History, alluded to in
the Ode, was of the Civil War from B.C. 60 to B.C. 30. Pollio was
a patron of literature as well as an author, and built the first
library in Rome (See I. 31 and I. 32) in B.C. 33. The Ode has no
precise date, but it clearly indicates the beginning of a new era :
see Intr. § 76.

12. Cecropian : Lit. " with Cecropian buskin '-'- : Attic tragedy
is alluded to.

25. Juno : note that the gods are impotent against fate but
they exact revenge on its instruments.

II
TO SALLUSTIUS CRISPUS

THERE is no colour in silver hid within
The miserly earth, Crispus Sallustius,
Thou foe to bullion, if by temperate use

It shine not fair.

To an extended age shall Proculeius live, 5

Known for a fatherly spirit to his brothers,
Him on a wing afraid to droop shall Fame

Bear, and outlive.

By taming a grasping spirit thou wilt reign
More widely than if Libya to Gades far 10

Thou add, and each Phoenician be

Slave to a single man.
Dropsy, indulgent to itself, increases sore,
And does not banish thirst unless the cause of ill
Flee from the veins, and from the pallid frame 1 5

The languor of its flow.
Virtue, in disagreement with the mass,
Excludes Prahates, back on Cyrus' throne,
From the number of the happy, and teaches folk

To use not words 20

122 THE ODES OF HORACE

Of error : kingship and diadem secure
And worthy bay, assigning unto him alone
Who looks with eye not backward -stained
On mighty hoards.

Intr. §§ 30, 35, 95 and foil., and Appendix I. Though several
of the Odes of the first book seem to contribute to the story of
Murena, this is the first in which there is an unveiled allusion
to him, for he was the brother to whom Proculeius acted the part
of the good father.

"jThis poem is addressed to Sallustius Crispus, the man who
succeeded Maecenas in the counsels of Augustus, and was for
many years an intimate friend of Tiberius (Intr. § 33). Sallustius
was rich and luxurious, but a man of ability : the first stanza
therefore credits him with qualities to which he had a poor title :
considering Horace's relations with Maecenas, it would be hardly
possible to suppose that it was not sarcastic, if the moralising
was being read as a special lesson for him, but on this see infra,
and the notes to the next Ode.

Gaius Proculeius Varro Murena was the brother of Terentia
(the wife of Maecenas) and of L. Murena. He was intimate with
Augustus, and acted as envoy between him and Cleopatra in
Alexandria (Plut. Ant.). Augustus thought of giving Julia to
him in marriage after Marcellus' death (Tac. Ann. 4, 40).

At some unknown date he committed suicide by taking poison
(Plin. N. H. XXXVI. 59). Quintilian tells of his having had some
words with an "heir •'- of a tenor not unlike those between King
Henry IV. and Prince Hal (Shaks. Hen. IV. Act IV. Sc. 4).
This heir is described as a son by Quintilian (Inst. Bk: 9, Ch. 3).

In the absence of full details of the relations between Sallustius
and Horace, and the secret history of Murena's accusation and
conviction, in which Tiberius was prosecutor and his friend
Sallustius may have played his part, nothing absolutely certain,
but much fair inference, can be gathered from this abrupt col-
location of his name with Proculeius. We know that Proculeius
was alive and was unable to save his brother in B.C. 22 (Intr.
§ 38). Knowledge of the date of his death would be very welcome.
It is not at all improbable that he was dead when Horace wrote
this Ode, and that " extento aevo " may refer to the memory of
men. The phrase fama super stes " surviving fame "• seems to
support this. The Ode should be carefully compared with the
next one.

2. The uncommon word lamna, here translated " bullion,'1
means gilding foil : cf. II. 18, 2, a reference to gilded ceilings,
the acme of ostentatious luxury at the time.

5. Vivet ; shall live : balanced by the moriture in v. 4 of the
next Ode.

6. Fratres, see Wickham's note : the plural does not necessarily
imply that there was more than one brother : History tells us
only of Lucius, but the sixth century scholiasts, Acron and Por-
phyrion, mention another whom they call Scipio. Wickham
says " Scipio has been ingeniously altered by Estre to Caepio, the
name of the person who suffered death with Murena for a con-
spiracy against Augustus in B.C. 22. There is no reason however
from any other authority to suppose the two were brothers.''

BOOK ii] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES

123

Very much misplaced ingenuity, for it is quite clear from Dio
that they were not brothers. Caepio's father was alive at thei,
time, and there is no hint of an attempt on the part of Maecenas
and Proculeius to save anyone but Murena. All the recorded
facts are against such a supposition. The scholiasts' notion
may be a relic of some tradition on the bearing of the Caepio-
Murena execution on the interpretation of the Odes.

9. By taming, etc. Probable point : — as you and Tiberius
have tamed the spirit of Proculeius' brother ; a foreshadowing
of what follows.

13. Dropsy : Intr. § 104 : Suetonius describes Lucius Audacius
as " unsound in body." On our showing that Audacius may be
Murena, the reference to dropsy might be regarded as a note of
explanation, but we have no record of his suffering from this
disease, and we chance to have a record of what seems a definite
deformity. A story is told by Suetonius (De Gram. 9) of Orbilius,
the teacher of Horace, who died at an advanced age, as follows : —
Orbilius interrogatus a Varrone diverse partis advocate, quidnam
ageret et quo artificio uteretur. " Gibber osos se de sole in umbram
transferre " respondit, quod Murena gibber erat : — That is : that
when Orbilius was once questioned by Varro, the advocate, as
to his calling and the vocation he followed, Orbilius made the
cutting reply, that he " put hunchbacks from the sunlight into
the shade " ; because Murena was a hunchback

Now this Varro Murena can hardly be anyone but our friend
who was, as we know, an advocate (Intr. § 38), and who is else-
where described by Suetonius by these two names, and when he
asked the question, he was clearly a prominent man, for the
anecdote is given as an instance of Orbilius' freedom of speech
with social leaders. This possibility of Murena's deformity will
also explain the outburst of extravagant emotion of Maecenas
which is quoted by Seneca (Ep. 101) "Make me powerless in
the hand, powerless in the foot, powerless in the thigh : add to
me the hunchback's swelling : shatter my smooth teeth : while life
is left it is well : sustain that in me even if I suffer the agony of
the cross " : — Debilem facito manu, / debilem pede} coxa : / Tuber
adstrue gibberum : / Lubricos quote denies. I Vita dum super est bene
est : I Hanc mihi, vel acuta / si sedeam cruce, sustine./ Whether this
is a quotation from the Prometheus (Intr. § no) we are not told,
but the reference to the " tuber gibberum '* by Maecenas is re-
markable. The extract reads like a bitter reflection on the
treatment he had received from Augustus after the Murena
debacle. It would appear as. if one Richard Plantagenet in the
fifteenth century A.D. had perhaps a more plausible claim to regard
himself as a reincarnation of Licinius Murena than the latter for
assuming to be the avatar of Inachus, Achilles or Codrus (III. 12 n.}.

17. Prahates is pictured as restored to the throne from which
he had been driven by Teridates (I. 26). This note of date would
indicate to a contemporary reader the time at which the lyrist
is supposed to speak. It is no guide to us as to the actual date
of composition:

23. These words clearly contain a sting, but the barb is more
likely for Murena than for Sallustius ; Intr. § 100, and next Ode.
The words " kingship," " secure diadem," and " worthy bay,"
may be allusions to Murena's ambition : the " eye on the gold,"
to his fraud : cf. note on v. 9.-

124 THE ODES OF HORACE

III
TO

AN even mind remember to preserve
In arduous times, conversely, in the good
One tinctured with no overweening joy,

For you will die (Gillo) +

Whether you live at all times sad, 5

Or whether on distant lawn reclined

Through days of feast you are made glorious

From inmost cellar of Falernian.
Where the giant pine and silver poplar love
To blend with boughs an hospitable shade, 10

And where the fleeing water frets

To ripple o'er a crooked course,

Hither bid bring the wines and oils and lovely blooms
Of roses too short-lived, while age,

And means, and the dim webs, 15

Of the Sisters three allow.
You will depart from bought up glades,
From mansion and estate which yellow Tiber laves :
You will depart ; your heir will take

Your wealth built in the deep. 20

It matters not that you be rich and sprung
From ancient Inachus, or that of lowest birth,
And poor, you dwell beneath the open sky,

Victim of Orcus pitying none.

We all are driven alike. The lot of all 25

Is tossed within the urn, later^ sooner,

To come forth and place us in the boat
Hieing to eternal banishment.

The problem offered by this Ode is to arrive at the correct
reading of the name in the first stanza. When once the connec-
tion of Murena's story with the plan of the Three Books is allowed,
the reader can have no doubt that this moralising looks towards
him. The words of warning, however, lose their force under the
cover of an address to a third person. The name Dellius has a
long tradition with this Ode, for the sixth century scholiasts read
" Belli." However the eldest, and best, Blandinian MS. had
" Gelli," and in my opinion this gives a glimpse of the truth.
One can see no reason for drawing the turn-coat Dellius, or L.
Gellius Poplicola, into the Murena - Maecenas - Augustus story,
and neither of these men seems to be mentioned elsewhere in
Horace, whereas the contrary will be found of almost every other
historic person named in the Three Books. The suggestion that
I have to make may seem startling and overbold, but if I am right
in my interpretation of v. 40 of Juvenal, Sat. i, it has more

I

BOOK n] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES 125

justification than the majority of accepted emendations. /I
believe the original reading to be Gillo, and that II. 2 and II. 3
are a pair of poems adding point to the story (which here begins
in earnest to be unfolded) by illustrating the different disposi-
tions of the brothers, Proculeius and L. Licinius Murena. " Ah,
well," says Juvenal, " Proculeius receives one-twelfth and Gillo
eleven- twelfths, every man has his deserts you see," an ironical
reflection from so deep a student of Horace which, considering
the other allusions to the Three Books pointed out in Intr. § 101,
may well suggest, in the light of other discoveries, that Horace
did not write " Gelli " or " Delli " in this place, but that he did
write " Gillo " " the wine-cooler," and that some reader, who
had not Juvenal's understanding of the meaning, has altered the
name. In all likelihood this poem is the place whence Juvenal
derived this " Gillo," whom he contrasts with Proculeius — the
man, Murena, who tempers the fires of the wine in III. 19. If
so, II. 2 and II. 3 must be read together. They will illustrate
many facts elsewhere gathered. Both of course would be written
after Murena's execution, perhaps after the suicide of Proculeius
had added to their appropriateness as constituents of a memorial
inspired by Melpomene. It will now be seen why I noted in the
notes to II. 2 that " lamnae " might refer to the gilded ceiling
(II. 1 8) in the palace to which Murena entered as an ignotus
heres, and why the allusion to the covetous look on up-heaped
gold may more nearly concern him than Sallustius.

The parallels and allusions common to this Ode and those
expressly referring to Murena are patent ; cf. II. 10, III. 19, etc.

17. Coemptis : bought up : For the reproach in this, cf. II.

15, notes. For the point as to the leaving these things, cf. III.
19, 26, n.

1 8. Flavus quant) etc. See VerralTs Essay on these words.
Stud, in Hor. p. 124. He remarks the suggestion of danger they
contain, an effect that would not occur to a reader without
imaginative projection into the times : see Intr. § 4, cf. also Ap-
pendix I.

22. Inachus : this coupling of the descent from Inachus with
riches, etc., points directly to Murena, and links the Ode with
III. 19.

24. Orcus : cf. III. 4, 75 and notes, also I. 28, Orcus does not
allow men to return to earth as you think, the banishment is
eternal.

26. Urna : A glance at Murena's reliance on sortilege : III. i,

16, Intr. § 102.

IV
TO XANTHIAS PHOCEUS

LET not thy love of a bond-maid be shame to thee,
O Xanthias Phoceus ! Ere his rage broke forth
A slave, Briseis, by her beauty fair as snow,
Achilles moved.

126 ,THE ODES OF HORACE

Moved Ajax, born of Telamon, her lord, 5

The beauty of Tecmessa, a captive girl,
The son of Atreus glowed in mid-triumph for

A ravished virgin,
When the barbarian squadrons fell
Before a conqueror from Thessaly, and Hector lost 10
Gave to the war-worn Greeks a Pergamos

More easy to be razed.

Thou know'st not if, their son-in-law, the parents rich
Of auburn Phyllis may not be thy pride ?
Royal surely her descending, and she mourns 1 5

O'er household gods unkind ?
Think not that she, by thee beloved, is of
The tainted crowd : that one so true, and so
Indifferent to gain, could have been born

Of mother shame-worthy. 20

Her arms and face, and well-turned limbs,
I honestly praise. Put off suspicion of one
Whose age has hastened on to close

Its lustrum eighth.

Xanthias of Phocis : Xanthias means golden or yellow, and is
an equivalent from the Greek of the flavcs applied to Phyllis. It
is perhaps a variant of the names Telephus and Pyrrhus (III. 19,
etc., and III. 20). That the Ode is the mere piece of pleasantry
generally supposed is very doubtful. Wickham notes the
sarcasm in the qualities attributed to Phyllis, and there is
certainly not less in the comparison of the man with Achilles and
Ajax. Phocis was celebrated for its war single-handed against
the other constituents of the Amphictyonic confederacy, who
had the aid of Philip of Macedon. Parnassus and Delphi were
both in this country, the men of which were distinguished for
their courage. If in the latter half of the poem Horace is speaking
in propria persona, he places it as if written circa December B.C.
25, when he would complete his fortieth year, but too much
preciseness must not be expected. See Page's note.

15. Her descending : cf. Shakspere, Pericles, Act V. Sc. i. C/.
notes on I. 27.

NOT yet on burdened neck hath she the strength
To bear a yoke, not yet to share

The offices of mate, nor of a bull,

Rushing on amorousness, to thole the weight,
Your heifer's heart is in the greening plains, 5

Assuaging now oppressive heat in streams,

Now fain to sport with steerlings

BOOK n] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES 129

Now therefore pay to Jove the bounden feast, <

And lay thy side, worn out with service long,
Beneath my laurel bush, nor spare

The jars reserved for thee. 20

With the oblivion-giving Massic fill to brim
The polished cups. Pour from capacious shells
The scents. Who sees to speeding coronals

Of parsley lush or myrtle ?

Whom will the •" Venus " name as arbiter 25

Of drinking-rule ? Oh, not more soberly
Than Edons I shall revel ! to have

My friend restored to me is joy delirious.

The sincerity of this Ode is manifest. Our only knowledge of
this Pompeius is from Horace, but that he was a real person is
clear. It is not probable that he is the " Grosphus " of II. 16 ; as
to the Pompeius Grosphus of Epist. I. 12, 22, the case is doubtful.
Horace was about twenty-three years old at the time of Philippi,
where he was a tribune in Brutus' army. The tone in which he
speaks of his part in the battle is clearly influenced by later
history, •" the poor little shield I left there" is rather a deprecia-
tion of youthful error than a confession of cowardice. The poem's
main link of connection with the Three Books as a whole is in
v. 21, see n., infra.

3. Quiritem : a very significant word, meaning that the rebel
has regained his citizenship. The answer to the question in the
first sentence is of course " Augustus."

1 1 . Virtue : a reference to Brutus' dying words : cf. Wickham's
note.

12. Joled : an old word meaning to strike the head against
anything; it is used as an equivalent for tetigere mento.

21. Oblivion-giving: the point of the poem; recognise that
the past is dead ; a lesson intimately connected with the main
themes of the Three Books.

25. Venus : the name for the highest throw with the dice.

27. Edons : i.e. than Bacchanals, from Mount Edon in Thrace,
a seat of Bacchus-worship ; cf. Ovid, Met. n, 69.

VIII
TO BARINE

IF any punishment for your perjured oath
Had e'er, Barine, touched the quick,
Or spoiled your beauty to the extent

Of one lost tooth, one nail,

I might believe. But you, as soon as you have pledged
Your faithless head with vows, flash forth
More lovely far, and forward stand professed

A favourite of young men.

130 THE ODES OF HORACE

It helps you to swear falsely by

Your mother's inurned ashes, by silent signs io

Of nightj with the whole heaven, and by the gods

Immune from chilly death.
True, Venus smiles at this herself, smile too
The guileless nymphs, and cruel Cupid,
Alway sharpening glowing darts on whetstone 15

Stained with blood.

And more, our flower of youth grows all for you,
Grows up enslavement new. Yet their precursors
Quit not their wicked charmer's roof,

Though threatening oft. 20

Our matrons fear you for their young,
And fathers, foes to riot, and lately wedded brides,
Distressed lest your alluring air delay

Their husbands'- home return.

The matchless elegance of this reproach to " Barine " has
perhaps caused the fact that it is a reproach to be rather too
much overlooked. As to Horace's use of such names or addresses
as Barine, Asterie, " wife of Ibycus," Damalis, etc., see Verrall,
Wickham, and the modern commentators. We may safely
conclude that they are never meaningless, though unable always
to explain them with certainty. The old-fashioned habit of
reading Horace's personal history into such poems as this is
responsible for much error. See Verrall, Stud, in Hor. Essay VI.

14. Simplices : guileless, but perhaps a little less so than they
are thought ; cf. I. 5, 5.

IX

TO T. VALGIUS RUFUS

NOT always do the rains pour from the clouds
On twilled fields, or do the ruffling storms
Harass the Caspian sea for ever,

And in Armenia's shores,
Friend Valgius, ice stands not motionless
Through all the months : or under Aquilo
Do oak woods of Garganus strain,

Or ash-trees bear their widowhood of leaves.
With mournful mood thou harpest ever
On Mystes lost, and from thee io

Thy passion sinks, neither at Hesper's rise,

Nor when he flees before the hastening sun.
But that old man whose age spanned lifetimes three,
Wailed not for loved Antilochus through all his years ;

His parents, and the Phrygian maids, 1 5

His sisters, did not mourn
Young Troilus without end. Desist at last

BOOK ii] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES 131

From weak repinings : and rather let us sing the new
Trophies of Caesar, the August ;

And of Niphates frozen stiff, 20

The Median river added to our conquered states
To roll more humble tides, and the Gelonians,
Riding within the bounds prescribed,
On narrowed plains.

T. Valgius Rufus was a poet and a member of the circle of
Maecenas. See Sat. I. 10 where he is mentioned as one of the
men of culture for whose approbation Horace cares, cf. vv. 80-88.
Valgius was probably Consul in B.C. 12. The notes of date in
the last stanza have been much discussed. In Intr. § 76, the
significance of the words Augusti Caesaris has been indicated.
This is the only occasion in the Odes where both name and title
occur together. Caesar became the " August" in January B.C.
27. The allusions to Asiatic conquests have been referred to
two distinct periods (i) Caesar's " settlement " of Parthian and
other Eastern affairs, soon after Cleopatra's death (see the
Histories, and cf. IV. 14, 34), and (2) the events of the year B.C.
20, when the lost standards of Crassus were restored. The
former is in our view the correct reference. Horace's words
re-echo a passage in the Georgics, 3, 30, etc., written in B.C. 29.
Considering that contemporary history explains their insertion
in Vergil's poem, commentators reasonably reject the forced
theory that they are an addition made by Vergil shortly before
his death in B.C. 19. The same historical events explain Horace's
allusions, and there is no need to regard them as a disturbance
of the chronological outline. The first Ode in this book speaks
of the Civil Wars as finished, here we have a reference to the
trophies by which the Emperor's victories were marked, and to
the assumption of the new title.

i. Hispidos : i.e. ruffled; for "twilled,-' cf. Shakspere, Temp.
Act IV. Sc. i, " twilled brims "- : the idea here is of the surface
dried in ridges after rain.

10. Mystes, a Greek word meaning " initiated," hence, one
old enough to witness the rites at the mysteries. Initiation was
>art of a Greek youth's education.

14. Antilochus : Nestor, and his son Antilochus, who was
killed while defending his father : this allusion, and the one
to Troilus, would point to "Mystes "• as a son of Valgius, and the
use of the Greek term, indicating the age of the boy, is not against
it. Pindar, Pyth. 6, relates the story of Antilochus.

X

TO LICINIUS

LICINIUS, better wilt thou live by neither urging
Alway out to sea, nor, while on guard ' gainst storms
Thou shudderest, by pressing an evil shore
Too close.

i3 2 THE ODES OF HORACE

Whoever courts a golden mean is safe 5

To escape the squalor of a mouldered roof,
And shrewd to escape a palace that may

Be grudged to him.

Most often is the tall pine rocked by winds,
High turrets fall with greatest crash, 10

And ?tis the loftiest mounts that lightnings

Strike.

A mind well balanced hopes for the opposite lot
When times are adverse, when they are favourable,
Fears it. Ill-looking winters Jove brings back, 15

And eke

Removes them. Not if things go badly now,
For long will it be so. Apollo sometimes wakes
The silent Muse within his lyre, nor always bends

His bow. 20

In straitened circumstances spirited
And brave appear. With wisdom thou
Wilt likewise shorten sail that bellies to

A gale too favourable.

This Ode is the first to mention Lucius Licinius Varro Murena
by one of his names, cf. Intr. §§ 52, 95, and foil., etc. Two
conditions of life are contemplated, a moderate competence and
great wealth. The former has its compensations, the latter its
dangers. We know that Murena passed from the one through
poverty to the other. The time at which the lyrist speaks is
before the favourable breeze had brought him fortune. Of course
the composition was later : see Wickham's note. Since we have
grounds for suspicions that the " favourable breeze " was con-
trived by Murena himself with the help of a " small tablet or two
and a moistened seal " (Intr. § 101), the irony of the first stanza
becomes apparent, and iniquum untranslatable. The first line
is a reference to his " audacity," the later ones to the fact that
his dread of poverty leads him to fraud (iniquum, in the sense
of "unfair") and to danger (ditto, in the sense of "hostile"):
it is not the first time we have met the same word with a double
entendre (I. 2, 47). The palace that arouses a feeling of envy
connects with II. 18, and other references link the Ode with II.
3, and consequently with II. 2, and numerous others passim.
One who has not been accustomed to read the Three Books as a
whole should note how, after the close of the Civil War with Book
I., the second book becomes the nidus for the development of the
pathetic and personal element of Horace's work. After Murena
is unmistakably introduced the tone is gloomy and ominous.
For the association of this Ode with Maecenas, cf. Intr. § 1 10.

7. Aula invidenda ; cf. III. I, 45.

15. A mind, etc. : II. 3.

17. Removes ; submovere : the regular word for the act of
lictors in causing bystanders to stand aside, cf. I. n, II. 18, 21.

20. Apollo keeps, etc : III. 4, 64, n.

22. With wisdom, etc. : the exact opposite of the course really
pursued.

BOOK ii] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES 133

XI
TO QUINTIUS HIRPINUS

WHAT the Cantabrian, prone to war, intends,
Or Scythian, separate, with Hadria interposed,
Forbear to ask, Hirpinus Quintius,

And fret not to provide

For life requiring little. Retreating flees 5

Smooth-rounded youthfulness and bloom,
When withered greyness drives away

Light-hearted loves and easy sleep.
Not always is the glory of spring flowers the same ;
The reddening moon shines not with single phase. 10
Why weary out the mind incapable

Of planning for all time ?

Why not, either beneath a lofty plane, or 'neath
This pine reclining, thus unblushingly,

And with hoar locks rose-scented, drink 15

While yet we may, with Syrian nard
Anointed ? Evius disperses gnawing cares,
What lad will quicklier slake the fire
In cups of hot Falernian,

With water running by ? 20

Who will entice from home the truant harlot Lyde ?
Come, bid her hasten with an ivory lyre,
Her hair bound back in comely knot,
After the manner of Laconia.

Of Quintius Hirpinus we are without information. The tone
of the Ode is in harmony with those concerned with Murena.
The Quintius of Epist. I. 16 seems to be the same man. There
are passages in that epistle which gain unmistakable point on our
view of Murena' s character and offences if we read it as addressed
to him by a pseudonym, cf. esp. vv. 57-62 : the " good " man
of the courts and forum who prays the goddess of thieves that he
may not be found out : that he may have a reputation of justice
and sanctity : that night may cloke his evil deeds and clouds
conceal his fraud : and why does Horace moralise to " Quintius "
on the fact that he who covets shall also fear, and that whoso
has fear in his life is not to be considered a free man ? Why does
he refer to myths which he has used in the Odes such as the story
of Pentheus (II. 19, 14) and to the Bacchanals the inciters to
frenzy (I. 16, 8) with the conclusion that after all Death is the
end of everything (I. 28, II. 3, •;.) ?

There are some facts emerg' ,.^ from the name Hirpinus which
also seem worthy of consideration. Hirpus, from which it
comes, means a wolf. The Hirpini, or wolf-folk, seem to have
been an ancient Sabine clan who with cruel rites worshipped
the infernal gods on Mount Soracte. It is related that they

i34 THE ODES OF HORACE

had been ordered by oracles to live like wolves on prey (Serv.
ad J£n. XI. 784). Now in the first book of the Metamorphoses
the giver of the banquet, which seems to connect itself by
allusion to some plot against Augustus, is Lycaon, noted for
ferocity, who was turned by Jupiter into a wolf. Thus Ovid's
allegory and Horace's quite possibly refer to the same subject,
and under the names Hirpinus and Lycaon we may have L.
Licinius Murena reappearing. If so, this Ode would settle the
question that in spite of this being likened to " Achilles "• and
" Pyrrhus " (which were probably comparisons of his own choice)
Murena was not a young man in B.C. 22 (cf. Intr. § 100). The
Hirpini, from their connection with Soracte, were called Sorani,
and hence we may doubt whether Ode I. 9 which introduces the
self-indulgent " Thaliarchus " — the governor of a feast — is the
mere prettiness generally supposed.

It may more reasonably be taken to adumbrate the story
of the sequel in one department, as the fourth Ode, to Sestius,
does in another. The reader will do well to examine the allusions
to wolves and beasts of prey throughout the work : cf. I. 22,
I. 23, I. 17, III. 18, etc.

Notice that Lyde here is described by the most offensive
term possible. In Juvenal we read of a notorious person called
" gross Lyde with her box of medicaments," i.e. witch's oils,
etc., Sat. II. 141 ; in Catalecta V. (see App. I.) the " fat bedfellow "
of the witchcraft-loving Lucius is cast in his teeth : there is prob-
ably a connection between the three : cf. III. n, n.

XII
TO MAECENAS

DESIRE not that long wars of fierce Numantia,
Or doughty Hannibal, or the Sicilian sea,
Purple with Punic blood, be set

To the soft measures of the lute,

Or savage Lapithae, Hylaeus all too deep 5

In wine, the sons of earth subdued by hand
Of Hercules, whence danger shook

The shining house of ancient Saturn
To its base. You in the narra'ave of prose
Will better tell the wars of Caesar, 10

Maecenas, and the necks of menacing kings

Led through the streets.
My Muse hath willed that of Licymnia,
Our lady, I should oing sweet songs, —
Her brightly shining eyes, and heart 15

All faithful to responsive love.
Her it has neither misbeseemed to give the foot
To dances, nor in mirth's fray to share, nor to link arms
In sport with gay-dressed maids upon

Diana's crowded holiday. 20

BOOK ii] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES 135

Would you for all that rich Achaemenes possessed, f

Or wealth Mygdonian of fertile Phrygia,

Or plenished homes of Araby, wish one tress

Of your Licymnia to change ? —

When she inclines her neck to glowing kisses, 25

Or with a gentle cruelty denies those she
Would joy in more if by the asker snatched,

Which sometimes she makes haste to snatch.

The position of this Ode, following II. 10 and n, is important,
and also that it proposes Maecenas as the author of a work on
" the battles " of Caesar, and of "reges "- (as to the double mean-
ing, see I. i, i, II. 14, n) who threatened him, and who had been
led to execution through the streets, or in triumph. What battles
are indicated ? From the first stanza they would seem to be of
the Cantabrian war, or of general history, but in the second, as
if to hint at allegory by mention of its material, there is the
familiar reference to fights of Lapithae (I. 18, 8) and of " giants "-
against the ancient home of Saturn (II. 19, 22, III. 4, 50). The
poet then introduces Licymnia as the better subject for his own
compositions, i.e. Licinia, Terentia, the wife of Maecenas, and
Murena's sister. He describes her charm, her wit, and love of
dancing — traditional in the Murena family (Cic. Pro. Mur. 6),
her influence over her husband, and her " bene mutuis fidum
pectus amoribus," a phrase susceptible of more than one meaning :
e.g. her heart faithful to its love that is returned, or her heart
trusted in by love (felt for her, and) which she returns : -for ftdus
in the second sense, cf. Livy I. n.

In the story of the Lapithae we find that at the marriage of
Pirithous, their king, the Centaurs were guests. One while
drunken insulted Hippodamia, the bride, and a fight followed.
It was supposed to have been excited by Mars who was offended
at being the only god uninvited to the feast. The Centaurs were
repulsed. Hercules afterwards was with the Centaurs, but a
dispute arising, he attacked them and slew so many that the
others fled to Chiron. Hercules followed, and unintentionally
slew Chiron ; he was so enraged at this that he put all the re-
maining Centaurs to death. Hylaeus was one of the Centaurs ;
Vergil, Georg. 2, 427, says he was killed by Bacchus in the fight
with the Lapithae. Rtmetus or Rhrecus was, according to some,
also a Centaur : Horace gives, him a similar fate with that of
Vergil's Hylaeus, but clashes him among the giants who attacked
heaven (II. 19, 23, III. 4, 55). This story of lust and blood
over a marriage feast is not so likely, as some editors think, to
be a reference to the later career of Antonius as a foreglance
towards the story of Murena that is to follow (III. 19 and III. 20,
n.\ cf. also III. 4, 80, and for the story of Pirithous, Theseus and
Proserpine, IV. 7, 27.

The symbolism underlying the attempt of the young giants
has been treated in the Intr. § 83. It offers an analogue of a battle
that put Cae^ftr in great danger, cf. Sellar, Horace, p. 162, 2nd ed.

Maecenas A s an author, Intr. § 98, II. 2, 13, n. As to his wife's
part in the s y of Murena, see Intr. §§ 30 and 68.

136 THE ODES OF HORACE

XIII
TO A TREE

HE planted thee on an ill-omened day,
And with a sacrilegious hand, whoever first
Grew thee, O tree, to be a bane

To children's children, and the country's shame.
I could believe that he had broken his father's neck, 5
And stained his inmost chambers with
The midnight blood of a guest :

Venoms of Colchis, and whate'er
Of wickedness is anywhere conceived,
That man had handled, who set in my field 10

You, wretched log, you, fain to fall

Upon your unoffending master's head.
What each man should avoid, is never quite
Guarded against from hour to hour. The Punic seaman
Shudders at Bosphorus, but has no fear 15

Further of unseen fate elsewhere.

The soldier dreads the Parthian's bolts and rapid flight ;
The Parthian, chains and an Italian dungeon :
But 'tis the stroke of death all unforeseen

That takes and will take men. 20

How nearly did I see the realms
Of gloomy Proserpine, and ^Eacus giving judgment,
The seats of the blessed set apart,

And Sappho, with ^Eolian strings,

Complaining of the girls of her own race, 25

And thee, Alcaeus, sounding with golden quill
More loudly, a sailor's hardships,

Hardships malign of banishment, hardships of war.
The shades admire both singing what befits
The holy hush. But through its ear 30

More eagerly doth the dense shouldering crowd

Drink tales of quarrels and banished potentates.
What wonder ? When, gaping at their refrains,
The hundred-headed monster droops his ears,

And vipers twisted in the locks 35

Of the Eumenides take rest ;
Prometheus too, and Pelops' sire, are cheated
By the sweet sound out of their travail,
Nor cares Orion to disturb

Lions or timorous lynxes. 40

n

Horace's life was endangered by the fall of a tr°r : we do not
know when, but he uses the incident as a link between himself
and his patron (II. 17, 21). The danger of Maecenas is generally

BOOK ii] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES 137

supposed to have been from illness, after which his appearance
in the theatre was greeted with applause. This may be so, but
that it does not explain all the language of II. 17 is evident;
cf. also I. 20.

The course in which Horace's thought runs in the latter half
of this Ode should be carefully considered. After the risks of
life, and especially of the unforeseen, he mentions the Vulgus
— the crowd that jostles and gapes to hear the disputes of the
mighty and the downfall of the great, and — quite casually, of
course — Prometheus is again mentioned, the son of lapetus
after whom Maecenas named the book in which he " wrote truth
upon the rack- (Intr. § no, I. 3, II. 18, 35), and also Pelops'
sire — Tantalus — who in the midst of water could never get a
drop to drink (I. 28, II. 18, 37) and Orion (III. 4, 71) : three men
suffering the tortures of hell for offences against the gods. They
are doing — what ? Being cheated out of the remembrance of
their travail for a moment by sweet sounds (cf. III. n, IV. u,
35). The poet of these Odes is perhaps using. his art to similar
end for the friend to whom they are dedicated (III. i, 41), but
he does not blurt this out to the vulgar herd. (Intr. § 14, §§ 30-
34, § 85, and II. 16, 40, III. i, i. App. I.)

8. Venoms of Colchis : cf. I. 27.

XIV

tfewoi TO POSTUMUS

.irom whic

ousts. HL\ Postumus, Postumus, the fleeing years
in the De y, and duteousness does not give pause
soil "macer) wrinkles, or to hasting age,
is precisely i Or death unconquerable.

i\ct even if on each day that goes, 5

^ O friend, you favour with three hundred bulls
Pluto inexorable, who holds

Geryon triply huge, and Tityos,
Beneath a bitter flood, which verily must
By all who eat the bread of earth 10

Be sailed, whether we princes be,
Or starveling country-hinds.
In vain shall we be free from bloody war,
And from the broken waves of raucous Hadria,

In vain shall we through autumns fear 15

Auster, our bodies' enemy,
Our visit we must make to black Cocytus,
Wandering with languid flow, to Danaid race
111 famed, to Sisyphus, son of ^Eolus,

Doomed to a lengthy toil. 20

irth must be left, and home and darling wife,
nd of those trees you cherish none

138 THE ODES OF HORACE

Except the hated cypresses will be

In company with their master of a day.
An heir more worthy shall consume the Caecuban 25
Kept by a hundred keys, and drench

The pavement with the lordly wine,
More fit for banquets of the priests.

Postumus was the cognomen of a Roman gens, but no con-
temporary of Horace can be identified with the addressee of this
Ode. The general opinion is that it is here a pseudonym. If
Verrall's conclusion that Licinius Varro Murena inherited the
fortune of M. Terentius Varro is correct (Intr. § 37), it is probable
that the latter is Postumus. The word would suit him, for
Varro, who died circa B.C. 29, was the last survivor of a genera-
tion of culture and action in which Julius Caesar and Cicero were
leading lights. Varro was immensely rich, and a deep scholar
and voluminous author. He compiled, circa B.C. 36, a book on
agriculture to which Vergil was indebted in composing the
Georgics, and which no student of the Odes can believe that
Horace had not read. (Intr. § 85.) This Ode purports to be
addressed to an old man (Varro was eighty in B.C. 36) who may
if he choose, sacrifice 300 bulls daily : a cultivator of trees, who
is about to leave to a "• worthier " heir his hoarded Caecuban
(I. 20, n.}. The points which Horace selects for mention are all
significant, and an heir is not out of sight for long (II. 15, II. 18,
5). On this theory, the allusion to the misuse of the precious
wine is intelligible. In the picture of the banquet in which he
is described as an Augur, Murena is represented : actually
wasting in an orgy the substance that might better 1 ^ced

a pontiff's board. The condemnation of private luxuigment, -•'»
must always be associated with a second idea, whethe
or not — viz. that it was the duty of the rich to
on public objects. The support of the wealthy was .'
to the success of Augustus. (II. 15, 17.) .r

8. Geryon and Tityos : Geryon was slain by Hercules : 'lit
was the subject of the vengeance of Zeus or Apollo for insole
to Leto (III. 41, 77, III. n, 21, IV. 6, 2). . wa?

1 1 . Reges : A common sense of reges in the plural is ' e
great," I. i, i, II. 12, 12.

18-20. Danai genus: cf. III. n. The punishment 04 he
daughters of Danaus consisted in trying to fill a vessel from •
the water ever escaped : of Sisyphus, to roll uphill a stone w
always fell again from the top — tasks never to be completed

XV

FEW acres for the plough the regal piles
Will leave : pools will be seen spread out

On all sides wider than the Lucrine lake : ve G
The plane companionless in hi

Will oust the elms ; then violet beds, '?ent 5

BOOK ii] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES 139

And myrtle, and all the nosegay mass, /

Will sprinkle scent on olive groves,

Productive for their former lord :
Then matted laurel with its branches will exclude
The burning rays. Not so was it ordained by policy 10
Of Romulus, or of unshaven Cato, or

By rule of men of old.
Their private revenues were small,
The public great : no portico,

Measured by ten-foot lengths, for private folk, 1 5

Would face the shady north.
And custom would not let them scorn
The chance-found sod, bidding them decorate
Towns at the common cost,

And temples of the gods with new-dressed stone. 20

If the theory advanced in the notes to the preceding Ode is
'correct, the heir has come into his inheritance, and is exchanging
the useful for the ornamental (for Roman sentiment on this,
see Verrall, Stud, in Hor. p. 35). He is throwing land out of culti-
vation to make lakes, and for agriculture is substituting the
luxury of flowers. The persistent acquirement by the rich of
huge landed estates, and the consequent disappearance of the
small free farmers, the backbone of old Rome, was the problem
in Italy from times before the Gracchi downwards (see the
Histories : for the first appearance of Agrarian problems, see
Pelham, Outlines, p. 5). It is this fact which adds a sting
to the words " coemptis saltibus," bought-up glades, in II. 3, 17,
from which the rich owner must depart, like the peasants he
ousts. Horti, gardens, and violaria, are mentioned by Varro
in the De Re Rustica as undesirable because they make the
soil "macer" or poor, and the fact that the moral of this Ode
is precisely in point with the extract from that work given in
the Intr. § 85, is one of the reasons which prompt the suggestion,
made also on other grounds, that the author is -'- Postumus,"
and his " heir '-' is Murena.

XVI
TO GROSPHUS

REST from the gods craves he in mid-^gean
Caught when black clouds have hid
The moon, and no stars beam

A guide for mariners.

Thrace, furious though it be in war, craves rest, 5

Rest crave the Medes with quiver dight,
O Grosphus, which may not be bought with gems,

With purple, or with gold.
For neither treasuries, nor Consul's lictor,
Disperse the wretched tumults of the mind, 10

Nor cares that flit round panelled roofs.

140 THE ODES OF HORACE

Life passes well on scanty means for him

For whom ancestral salt-box shines on frugal board,

And whom no fear or sordid lust

Deprives of easy sleep. 15

Why then do we, with our short life,
Aim boldly at so much ? Why change to regions warmed
By other suns ? What exile from his fatherland

Has also fled from self ?

Care bred by vice boards brazen ships, 20

And does not leave the troops of knights,
Speedier than stags, and speedier

Than Eurus driving storms.
A heart at the moment joyful should abhor
To fret o'er what's beyond, and bitter hap 25

Should soothe with quiet smile : nothing is good

From every point.

A quick death took Achilles famed afar,
Long dotage wore Tithonus out,
And time perchance to me may offer what 30

It has denied to you.
Round thee a hundred flocks and kine
Of Sicily low, for thee the chariot-broken mare
Neighs loud, wools doubly dyed

With Afric's purple shell 35

Clothe thee. To me small fields,
And the fine spirit of the Grecian Muse,
The Fate not false hath given, and power

To spurn the carping crowd.

This poem to " Grosphus " (the arrow, cf. III. 20, 9) is well
placed. It is a reiteration of the thoughts to be found passim
in the second book, and especially in these Odes following the
introduction of Murena's name. " Rest is a blessing, but unpur-
chasable : neither wealth nor political advancement quell the
tumults of the mind, and Care flits about the roofs panelled and
gilded though they be. Fear and longing banish sleep : why
crave so much ? Care too is on the brazen-beaked ships (cf.
Epist. I. i, 93) and among the troops of knights (III. i, 40).
Fret not for the future. Death takes young and old ; Achilles
as well as Tithonus. You are rich, I poor ; but I have the spirit
of the Greek Muse and scorn the crowd." As to the spintum
GraicB Camena, cf. IV. 6 and Intr. § 116. For admissible senses
of spiritus, see the dictionaries.

10. Disperse :II. 18,22. III. 1,3 6, the mention of the emblems
of sovereignty are probably a reference to Murena's ambition.

30. Achilles, Tithonus : Achilles and other members of the
race of JEacus are elsewhere used to typify Murena (III. 19, III.
20, IV. 6). The conjunction here, close to II. 14, of Achilles with
the aged Tithonus suggests a contrast between Murena and Varro.
Murena was, we believe, rather too old for the part of Achilles
(II. u, Intr. § 100) but compared with Varro, who was about

BOOK ii] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES 141

ninety when he died, death might be spoken of as coming to hini
prematurely. Besides, the irony would be increased if the choice
of the name was Murena's own.

34. Wools doubly dyed : II. 18, 8.

The suggestions throughout this Ode are pregnant with meaning
not openly professed ; cf. v. 17, the resort to other countries is
perhaps an allusion to Murena's notion of Greek lineage, and the
strong insistence on the desirability of " otium," to the turbulence
of his character.

XVII
TO MAECENAS

WHY take all heart from me by thy complaints ?
'Tis not agreeable to the gods or me
For thee to die first, O Maecenas,

My fortune's pillar and signal pride.

Ah ! if a too quick stroke take thee, 5

The half of my own soul, why should I stay, its fellow
Not equally loved, a relict incomplete ?

That day will bring to each of us
Disaster. I have not sworn an oath

To break it. We shall go, we shall go, 10

Whenever thou wilt lead the way, comrades,

Prepared to face our final journeying.
Me shall no fiery Chimaera blast
— Not even if hundred- handed Gyas rise again —

Tear ever from thee. Such is the will 15

Of overruling justice and the Fates.
Albeit Libra, albeit the dreadful Scorpion —
That powerfuller influence at my hour of birth —
Cast eye on me, albeit Capricorn —

Lord of Hesperian wave — 20

The star of each of us agrees
In wondrous way. Thee did Jove's guardianship,
Outshining impious. Saturn,

Snatch from him, and delayed the wings
Of swooping fate, when, in the theatre, 25

The crowded people thrice thundered a sound of joy :
The fall of tree trunk on my head

Had killed me if Faunus with his right hand
Had broken not the blow, the guardian
Of Mercury's men. Remember thou to give 30

Victims and votive shrine,

An humble ewe-lamb I will slay.

Maecenas was a valetudinarian, but such people contemplate
death as little as healthier men. This Ode reads as if Maecenas

142 THE ODES OF HORACE

was really wishing to die. We may guess the reason (II. 2, 13, %.);
The Ode itself has no particular note of date for us, as the theatre
incident cannot be placed (I. 20).

5. Mece partem animce : Maecenas and Vergil divide Horace's
soul, I. 3, Intr. § 16.

13. Chimaera : I. 27 : the literal meaning of the words is " the
breath, or influence, of a fiery Chimaera " — an unreal monster —
a delusion fraught with danger. The stanza may mean " I can
judge you with justice, no dissension caused by ' giants/ i.e.
rebels, pursuing a vain object will break our friendship." If so,
the poem was assuredly edited after the breach between Augustus
and Maecenas. The continual coincidence of these ideas cannot
be neglected.

14. This hundred -handed Gyas reappears in III. 4, 69 ; to decline
to connect them is surely to be blind.

17. Libra : These astrological references are prompted prob-
ably by Murena's known faith in such things.

29. Mercurialium : There was a college for the cult of Mercu-
rius in Rome. Its foundation is mentioned by Livy, II. 21, 27.
The Mercuriales in later times formed a society ; Cic. Ad Quint.
Fr. 2, 5 ; the subject is obscure.

XVIII

No Ivory,
Or golden groinings, glisten in my house :

Hymettan beams
Press not on columns hewn in farthest Africa :

I took possession of 5

No palace of an Attalus, an unknown heir :

For me retainers,
Gentle of birth, weave no Laconian purples :

But honour, and liberal vein
Of genius is mine, and poor as I am, the rich 10

Seek me. For naught beyond
Solicit I the gods. My friend in power I ask

For no more profuse gifts,
Endowed enough with my one Sabine farm.

Day is pressed on by day, 1 5

And the new moons go forward to their wane.

You bargain for carved marbles
Upon the very stroke of doom, and build your houses

But forget your grave :
And of the sea, at Baiae roaring, you compel 20

The coast line to move back —
Not rich enough with its retaining strand.

What more ? Do you tear down
Anon the adjacent landmarks of the field, and overleap

The boundaries of your clients 25

BOOK n] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES 143

In your greed ? Outcast are man and wife, f

In bosom carrying
Their wretched children and their household gods.

And yet no hall awaits
The wealthy lord more certainly than that 30

Delimited by the term
Of grasping Orcus. Why press on ? Impartial earth

Is opened for the pauper and
The sons of kings. The satellite of Orcus

Was not enticed by gold 35

To ferry shrewd Prometheus back. He prisons still

The haughty Tantalus, and race
Of Tantalus. He listens, whether invoked

Or not invoked, to soothe
The poor man when acquitted of his tasks. 40

The reader should mark two features in this Ode — its stern
tone of remonstrance, and the omission of the name of the person
addressed. He is not however unindicated. " What Horace
says of himself in the first fourteen lines is obviously to be under-
stood by contraries of the unknown : the antithesis is the scope
of the poem, enforced by the emphatic * mea,' ' mihi,' ' tu.'
Horace has no golden roof and marble columns. ' Tu ' builds
incessantly, invading the sea, and, what is worse, expelling the
poor to enlarge the palace, which after all he must quit for the
tomb. Horace has not entered suddenly upon a princely resi-
dence by the bequest of a stranger. ' Tu ' then has ; and this
in itself is evident that ' Tu ' is no mere ' dives aliquis ' but
ascertainable. Originals answering such a description must in
any society be so few that to rebuke them as a class would be to
court an offensive misapplication. Now whoever else there may
have been in Rome who might be fixed on as the ' ignotus heres
Attali ' (unknown heir of Attalus) there was one whom inquiry
could scarcely miss, and that was the successor of M. Varro "
(Verrall, Studies in Hor. p. 51). The following is abridged from the
same work : — The Attalus of the parallel is the Pergamene.
Attalus Philometor, king of a book-buying dynasty who made
the Roman people the heir to his realm — a fit type for the great
librarian and landowner whose distinctions were immense wealth
and prodigious scholarship. But there is a closer analogy. In
his work De Re Rustica, Varro gives a list of previous writers
on the same subject, and in the forefront of the list stands the
very Attalus of the allusion. " If this severe address to the
heir of Attalus had not been intended for the successor to Varro's
wandering wealth, that successor might justly have resented the
equivocation." On these grounds (inter alia) Dr Verrall holds
the "Tu" of this Ode to be Murena, the man who became
suddenly rich through a favouring gale, who occupied a prominent
position in Rome from which he descended to the executioner's
laqueus, with a fall that had dire consequences for Maecenas.
In his particular case are to be found Horace's reasons for his
bitter reflections on the abuse of wealth, a fact which invests
them with an interest that they lack entirely so long as they

144 THE ODES OF HORACE

are interpreted as general moralisings. There is further evidence,
also from the De Re Rustica (not noticed by Dr Verrall), which
serves to connect Licinius Murena with the person here addressed.
A man of that name is mentioned as having been sued for en-
croaching on the sea for the purpose of building marine fish ponds,
the very course " Tu " has been pursuing at Baia?. In conjunc-
tion with the facts above noted this passes the bounds of mere
equivocation (Intr. § 37 and foil., § 85, I. n, n., III. i, 33-40).
The Ode is clearly connected in subject with II. 14 and 15. The
" worthier heir " of Postumus is showing himself a bad citizen,
and exhibiting objectionable traits in relation to the policy of
Augustus. Considering his fate, he is reminded that he forgets
to build his tomb with a significance that is grim. Further the
metre — Hipponactean — should be remarked. It is unique in
Horace. Metrical form had far more specific association for the
ancients than for us. This, invented by Hipponax of Ephesus,
implied, like the iambics of Archilochus (I. 16), censure, reproach,
or satire. The fact that the Ode is the one example of the style
in the collection, differentiates it from the others in a marked
manner. III. 12 is similarly distinguished.

5. Attalus : this reference is forecast in I. i, 12.

12. Potentem : Friend in power ; Maecenas ; for the gift of
the Sabine farm, cf. I. 20.

1 6. New moons : according to Verrall an allusion to the badge
of the senator, III. 19, IV. 7, 13, Intr. § 53, etc.

20. At Baiae : see supra : the encroachment on the sea is
cited by Varro as an illustration of the growing tendency to
luxury, and as impious against Neptune, De Re Rus. III. ch. 3.

22. Submovere : see II. 16, 10, III. i, 36.

31. See Wickham's note : the metaphor from tracing a plan
in conjunction with the idea of destiny is not transferable.

35. Again we have a reference to Prometheus and to Tantalus,
cf. II. 13, n.

Satelles Orci : Charon, ferryman of the Styx ; whose gold
was unavailing, and for what particular transgression, can only
be surmised. In regard to the symbolism of words addressed
to Murena which Maecenas seems to have applied to himself,
see Intr. § no.

XIX

BACCHUS 'mid distant rocks I s?w,

— Posterity believe me — teaching songs

To listening nymphs, and pointed ears

Of Satyrs with the feet of goats.

Evoe ! My mind is thrilled with new-felt awe, 5

And joys tumultuously in my breast

With Bacchus full. Evoe ! Spare, Liber, spare I

Thou with thy mighty thyrsus terrible !
'Tis meet for me of overbearing Thyiades,
And fount of wine, and streamlets flush with milk, 10

BOOK ii] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES 145

To sing, and sing again of honey <

Dripping from hollow trunks.
'-Tis meet to sing the glory added to the stars
Of thy blest consort, and of the house of Pentheus,

Thrown down with no light fall, 15

And of the Thracian Lycurgus' doom.
Thou swayest rivers and barbarian sea,
Thou, dewy god, on peaks remote,

Bindest in snaky knots without deceit

The locks of thy Bistonides : 20

Thou, when the impious cohort of the Giants
Climbed to thy father's kingdom o'er the steep,
Repelledst Rhoetus with thy lion's nails

And terrible fangs.

Though, sung as more inclined to dance, 25

And jests and sport, thou wast accounted one
But ill equipped for fight, yet thou alike

Of peace and war the centre wast.
Thee Cerberus, guiltless of harm, beheld
Adorned with golden horn, and gently wagging his tail, 30
And as thou wast retiring, touched,

With triple tongue, thy feet and legs.

This " dithyramb " should be read with the following Ode. Its
purpose is probably to impress the reader with a solemn sense
of the poet's inspiration. He is not listening to a mere mortal's
words, but to those of the god. These two Odes have an effect
both retrospective and prospective. They awake conviction of
the prophetic import of the preceding poems, and they prepare
for the flight of the poet's genius to the apex of his work, the
great opening Odes of Book III. They create the atmosphere to
which the words " favete linguis " are appropriate — the " sacred
silence " of II. 13.

The mythologic references are again instructive. The crime
of Pentheus was the refusal to recognise the divinity of Bacchus.
He was king of Thebes, and when the women were to celebrate
the rites of the god, he ordered Bacchus to be seized. The prison
doors refused to remain shut on deity, and Pentheus in anger
ordered the destruction of the Bacchanals. This was not effected
as Bacchus inspired Pentheus with a desire to witness the rites.
The king hid himself to do this, but was discovered and torn to
pieces by his women subjects. Lycurgus' fate was for an offence
somewhat similar. He was a king of Thrace who abolished the
worship of Bacchus, for which he was punished with madness by
the gods. He put his son to death and, mistaking his own legs
for vine branches, he cut them off. Without defining too
particularly the proper application of these stories here, it may be
noticed that Bacchus is represented as a divinity who shall make
the land flow with milk and honey, and a divinity who played his
part in the repulse of the giants assailing heaven, and that those
who refused to recognise his godhead (I. 18, 7), suffered dreadful
deaths. Thus at least a possibilty of connection emerges, though

146 THE ODES OF HORACE

we cannot be sure of setting all the links in the chain in proper
order, and though for some the proper place is doubtful, as e.g.
the reference to Cerberus, the only suggestion as to which that
seems plausible, is that the three-headed monster symbolises some
enemy of Augustus who cowered before him.

8. Thyrsus : a stalk ; insignia of Bacchus : to speak of its
onlaying was a way of saying that the subject was •' possessed,"
by the god.

9. Thyiades ; Bacchanals : pervicaces, probably " irresistible."
cf. Epod. 17, 14.

20. Bistonides ; the allusion is to the women of Thrace, the
Bacchae.

22. Giants, III. 4, 49, etc.

29. In the midst, etc. cf. I. 12, 21,

XX

ON wing unwonted but not weak shall 1
Be borne, a poet twain in guise, through liquid air :
Longer I shall not tarry upon earth,

But one too great for envy I shall leave
Cities of men, Not I " of humble parents born,'! 5

Not I whom thou, Maecenas, callest " dear,"-
Shall pass away, or be

Held under by the Stygian wave.

Now, now, the skin upon my legs is shrivelling rough,
To a white bird I am transformed 10

Above, and o'er my fingers,

And o'er my shoulders, springs a downy fledge.
Now I shall visit as a bird of song,
More famed than Icarus through his father Daedalus,

The shores of sounding Bosphorus, 15

Gaetulian Syrtes, and Hyperborean plains.
Of me Colchian, and Dacian who conceals
His fear of Marsian cohort, and, farthest of all,
Gelonians shall know ; of me the schooled

Iberian shall learn, and drinker of the Rhone: 20
Be dirges. absent from my empty funeral,
And ugly signs of mourning and laments :
Repress the cry of wailing, and omit
Superfluous honourings of my tomb.

Cf. notes to the preceding poem. Observe that the Ode is
addressed to Maecenas. Lines 5-7, which Wickham regards as
the point of the poem, are paralleled in other places (I. i, 2, II.
n). They carry the thought back to the prologue, both in the
mention of Maecenas' love and in the expression that a humble
mortal has achieved immortality. The gift of the Muses has
brought him to the presence of the gods.

BOOK ii] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES 147

There is significance in the opening words. Horace's theme/
was new, and his treatment of it original, though his models were
known (cf. III. 27, n.}-

The metamorphosis of the poet can only be saved from very
uncharacteristic absurdity by regarding it as a serious claim to
be speaking under the inspiration of the Muses : cf. the opening
lines of the next Ode, III. i : that he was marked from infancy
with the divine impress, see III. 4, cf. also IV. 6, and notes.

BOOK III
I

I HATE the outer crowd, and I repel them ;
Offend not with your tongue. Unheard before
The songs that I, the Muses' priest,

Am singing unto boys and maids.

Of kings whom their own flocks must hold in awe, 5

The sovereignty, though they themselves be kings, belongs
To Jove, famed for his triumph over giants,

Directing all things by his nod.
It haps that one man wider than another plants
His trees in rows ; that here a candidate 10

Of nobler birth comes down into the Field ;

That one makes better fight through moral force
And name ; that one has greater following
Of clients : — but Doom, with equal law,

Wins high and humblest, 15

The ample urn shakes every name.
For him above whose impious neck
The sword hangs drawn, Sicilian feasts
Will not express a savour sweet,

And songs of bird and harp, 20

Will lull him not to sleep. Yet placid sleep
Does not abhor the lowly homes
Of rustic folk, or shady bank,

Or Tempe by the Zephyrs stirred.

The man who craves what is enough, 25

Neither doth heaving sea entice,

Nor savage onset of Arcturus setting,

Nor rising Haedus,
Nor vineyards flogged with hail,

Nor farm deceitful, since its tree 30

Blames now the rains, now stare

Scorching the fields, now winters harsh.
The fishes feel restricted seas
Since barrages are cast into the deep :

Here many a factor with his men lets down 35

Cemented masses ; for the lord
Is scornful of dry land : but Fear and Warnings
Mount to the same place as the lord, and gloomy Care
Departs not from the brazen ship,

148

BOOK in] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES 149

t

And sits behind the knight. 40

So if to one grief-stricken nor Phrygian stone,
Nor use of purples brighter than a star,
Nor the Falernian vine,

Nor Achaemenian attar, bring relief,

Why should I build in the new mode 45

A lofty courtyard pillared with envy, why
Exchange my Sabine vale

For riches more laborious ?

See discussion of this and following five Odes in Intr. § 80, and
foil. They will be seen to focus much of the thought of the
work, and to develop the meaning of the allusions made in
other places. Especially do they tend to reveal the poet's
intention in dedicating his book to Maecenas under the inspiration
of the tragic Muse, and to define his attitude as a political and
social reformer on the lines of the Emperor's ideal. They contain
continual references to these two subjects. Horace's frequent
reiterations in the Three Books of similar thoughts is sometimes
attributed to poverty of invention, but when the passages are
examined, the truer view emerges that they reveal to us the
main themes of his work, which is no more a pasticcio than is
Tennyson's In Memoriam. The parallels between this Ode and
the prologue to the whole work call for special remark.

I.I hate, etc., profanum : beyond the pale ; cf. malignum, II.
16, 39, and II. 13, 30, n. Arceo ; repel, baffle, the reference is
to the style of writing, see App. II., etc.

2. Favete linguis : Assume the attitude proper to the occasion ;
cf. Sacrum silentium ; II. 13, 29, and II. 19, n.

3. Sacerdos : Priest, a solemn claim of the poet's divine mission
to teach the rising generation, cf. I. 21.

7. Giganteo : For the symbolism of the battle with the giants,
cf. III. 4, etc.

ii. Campum : The arena, cf. Pulverem Olympicum, I. i, 3.
As to the importance of the political arena after B.C. 23, see Intr.
§§ 47-49, etc.

14. Necessitas : Doom, Fate. The overruler even of gods.
At Praeneste near Tusculum, where Varro had a villa, to which
doubtless his " heir " succeeded (cf. III. 29, 8, n.), there was
a temple and oracle of Fortune, where lots, used for divination,
were drawn from a chest, hence note the following lines ; also

I, 34, 14, II. 3, 26, III. 24, 5, where the stroke of Doom has fallen.
20. Songs of bird or harp : II. 13, notes.

25. The first line of this stanza shows that the last two con-
template Murena's astrological observations.

33. Barrages : An explicit reference to Murena. Intr. § 85,
and II. 1 8, notes.

36. The meaning is fixed by II. 18, 22.

39. Brazen ships; knight: cf. II. 16, 21-22, IV. n, 26, Intr.
§§ 3O'34> 85 ; cf. Lucret. II. vv. 20-21 and 34-35.

41-4. Phrygian stone, Achaemenian attar ; both these marks
of wealth have been previously associated with the name of
Maecenas in II. 12 : the house pillared with envy, with Murena,

II. 10, 7.

150 THE ODES OF HORACE

II

GLADLY to bear privation strait

Let the strong boy on active service learn,

And let the horseman harry with the spear,

For which he is feared, the Parthian bold,
And pass his life beneath the open sky, 5

'Mid stirring scenes. May, watching him
From hostile battlements, the dame

Of warring despot, and the full-grown girl,
Sigh, " Ah ! " lest the princely bridegroom, yet
A novice in the ranks, provoke a lion 10

Dangerous to rouse, whom rage bloodthirsty

Drives to the slaughter's midst.
Tis sweet and honourable to die for fatherland ;
Death follows even the man who flees,

And of unwarlike youth 15

Spares not the loins and recreant back.
Virtue that knows not base defeat
Shines with untarnished honours,

Nor takes nor lays aside the Consul's axe

Upon decision by the popular whim. 20

Virtue that opens heaven to those not due for death
Essays a journey by a path proscribed,
And spurns the common crowd,

And the dank earth, with flying wing.

Also there is for faithful silence sure reward — 25

I will ban one who would divulge
The rite of sacred Ceres

From the same roof, or that he launch
A fragile craft with me. Often Diespiter,
Slighted, has joined the blameless with the guilty : 30

Rarely has punishment with halting step

Quitted pursuit of the offender going before.

See Intr. §§ 80 and foil. i. On the discipline of youth, see I. 8 :
that a Roman's taste for war should be gratified on foreign foes,
cf. I. 8, 22, 1. 35, 40, etc.

13. To die for fatherland : Distinction is between civil and
foreign war, cf. I. 2, 22.

19. Virtue, etc. ; A reference to the action of Augustus, cf. Intr.
§ 38, and III. 24, 31.

21. This stanza also seems to refer to the Emperor. That the
whole of this poem is connected with the " Tragedy " is self-
evident, if there is any basis for the theory of Dr Verrall.

24. Ceres : Refers probably to marriage, through the con-
farreatio : Dr Verrall takes this as a direct allusion to the betrayed
secret, see Intr. § 86.

32. Wickham notes that Horace is the only poet to describe
punishment as lame, cf. Intr. § 87, and III. 24.

BOOK in] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES 151

III

THE upright man holding his purpose fast,
No heat of citizens enjoining wrongful acts,
No overbearing despot's countenance,

Shakes from his firm-set mind, nor Auster,
Wild pilot of unresting Hadria, 5

Nor mighty hand of levin-hurling Jove :
If broken falls the orb of heaven,

Its wreck will strike him undismayed.
By this endowment Pollux, and roving Hercules,
Through toil attained the fiery citadels, 10

'Mongst whom Augustus lying drinks
The nectar with his crimson lip.
Through this deservedly, O Father Bacchus,
Thy tigers, drawing the yoke with untamed neck,

Up-bore thee ; through this Quirinus, 1 5

With steeds of Mars, fled Acheron,
When Juno spake acceptably to gods
In council : — " Ilion, Ilion,
A fateful judge corrupt,

And a foreign woman have turned thee 20

To dust, from that time when Laomedon
Defrauded gods of the agreed reward,

Thou wast condemned to me and to Minerva chaste,

Together with thy people and false chief.
No longer shines the guest notorious 25

Of the Laconian adulteress,

And Priam's perjured house no longer beats
Achaean warriors back by Hector's might.
The war, protracted by our feuds,

Hath sunk ; forthwith my heavy wrath, 30

And hated child of my own child,

Whom Trojan priestess bore, to Mars
I will yield up. I will allow him
To approach the shining seats> and quaff

The nectar's juice, and be enrolled among 35

The ranks serene of gods.
So that a long sea rage 'twixt Ilion
And Rome, let the exiles reign

In all prosperity in any place :

So that on tomb of Priam and of Paris 40

Kine tread, and beasts of prey unharmed
There shelter whelps, the Capitol may stand
Resplendent, and proud Rome may give

Laws to the Medes o'er whom she triumphs.
Held far and wide in awe, let her name spread 45

152 THE ODES OF HORACE

To farthest shores, where central stream
Europe divides from Africa,

Where flooding Nile waters the tillage lands :
Rather resolved to spurn the gold unwon
— And so, when earth conceals it, better placed — 50

Than to the use of man to press it,

With hand that tears at every sacred thing.
Whatever bound is set unto the world,
It she shall reach by arms, joying to see

The region where the fires their revels hold, 55

And where the mists and rainy dews.
But by this law I speak the destinies
Of warrior citizens, that they, fanatical,

And confident through wealth, aim not the roofs

To re-erect of their ancestral Troy : 60

The fate of Troy, resurgent under auspice dire,
Will be repeated through a melancholy fall.
Myself, the sister and the wife of Jove,

Being leader of the conquering hosts.
If thrice the brazen wall should rise 65

By Phoebus' aid, thrice shall it perish, by

My Argives felled, thrice shall the captive wife

Deplore the loss of spouse and sons."
These themes consort not with a jocund lute :
Whither, O Muse> dost go ? Desist, O wilful one, 70
To quote the speech of gods,

And minish what is great by puny strains.

Cf. Intr. § 80, and foil. It may be remarked of the opening of
this Ode (as well as of parts of the others of the series) that a
perusal of it by the Emperor and Maecenas would arouse very
different thoughts in their respective minds, but in each case
thoughts that Horace would desire to suggest.

The point of Juno's speech as we take it, will be found in the
Intr. §§ 88-89.

IV

DESCEND from heaven, and come, upon the pipe,
Sing a long melody, O Queen Calliope,

If thou prefer, with high-pitched note,

Or, to the strings and harp of Phoebus.
Heard ye ? Or does delightful rapture sport 5

With me ? I seem to hear,

And roam through hallowed groves

Which lovely streams and airs pervade.
Me on Apulian Vultur, but beyond
The boundary of (Apulia) my nursery, 10

BOOK in] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES 153

With play fatigued and sleepfulness, /

Doves of romance did cover, when a boy,
With new-grown leaves, to be a wonder unto all
Who dwell in lofty Acherontia's nest,

And glades of Bantia, and rich 15

Tilled land of low Forentum,
That in my person safe from vipers black,
And bears, I slept ; that I should feel

Impress of sacred laurel and myrtle heaped —

A babe infused by Heaven with fortitude. 20

Yours, O Camenae, yours, I rise, on Sabine steeps,
Or if to me Praeneste cold,
Or sloping Tibur,

Or watery Baise, yield their charm.

Not me, a lover of your founts and choirs, 25

Did line of battle, backward hurled at Philippi,
Destroy, or the accursed tree,

Or Palinurus in Sicilian wave.
Whenever you are with me, willingly

The raging Bosphorus, a sailor, I 30

Will tempt, and burning sands

Of Syria's coast, a traveller by land : —
Will visit Britons, savage unto guests,
And Concan, revelling in horse's blood,

Visit Geloni quiver-girt, 35

And Scythian river — all unharmed.
To Caesar high, seeking to end his labours,
When he has planted in their towns
His war-worn cohorts, ye

Refreshment grant within Pierian grot. 40

Ye, succouring, both give counsel sweet
And at the gift rejoice. We know

How impious Titans and the Giant host

He dashed with falling thunder-bolt,
Who sways the sluggish earth and windy sea, 45

And cities, and the gloomy realms :

And hosts of gods and mortals rules
Alone, with righteous command^
A mighty terror into Jove had struck,
That dire array of youth, confident in their strength 50
Those brethren, striving Pelion to impose

Upon Olympus deep in shade.

But what could stalwart Mimas and Typhceus do ?
Or what Porphyrion with threatening stance,

What Rlicetus, and Enceladus, 55

The daring hurler of up-rooted trees,
Rushing against the ringing shield
Of Pallas ? ilere stood, all eagerness,

154 THE ODES OF HORACE

Vulcan, and Matron Juno, and he

Who from his shoulder ne'er will lay the bow, 6c
Who in the crystal dew of Castaly laves
His loosened locks, of Lycia who holds
The thickets and his natal wood,
Apollo, Delian and Patarene.

Force void of counsel falls by its own weight : 65

But force restrained the very gods bear on
To greater : so they hate the power

That stirreth every disobedience in the mind.
A witness of my words is Gyas,

The hundred-handed, and Orion, ill-famed 70

Assailant of Diana chaste,

By virgin dart subdued;
Earth, laid upon these monsters of her own,
Grieves, and bewails her progeny sent

To lurid Orcus by a bolt : but the quick fire 75

Consumes not JEtna, on it superimposed ;
Leaves not the liver of incontinent Tityos
The bird assigned to him, as guardian o'er
His infamy ; three hundred fetters hold

Pirithous the lover down. 80

Cf. Intr. § 80 and foil. Horace again speaks in this poem,
which may be regarded in one sense as the culmination of the
work, as the inspired priest of the Muses (III. i, II. 19) whose
divine gift separates him from others (I. i, 29) and brings him to
the region of the highest. He invokes Calliope, queen of the
Muses, notwithstanding the express statement at the close of the
last Ode (cf. II. i, 36) that the themes of his lute are " jocund."
The gist of the Three Books is to be found here.

10. Beyond the boundary : This is a translation of the Vulgate :
Apuliae is certainly a false reading, perhaps introduced by the
same hand that " corrected " publicum in III. 24, 4 to Apulicum.
See Wickham for the older emendations proposed : a striking one
of more recent date is " limina pergulae," " beyond the boundary
of the hut which bred me," by Professor A. E. Housman.

20. Cf. Shakspere : Temp. Act I. Sc. 2, " Infused with a forti-
tude from heaven."

23. Praeneste : cf. III. i, 14, n. Tibur and Baiae : the connect-
ion of Horace, Maecenas and Murena with these places should be
remembered : for Baiae see II. 18, 20. Horace here claims the
protection of the Muses : his statement that they will hold him
safe may be a politic hint to the Emperor, cf. III. 27. Intr. § 1 16.

37. To Caesar high : See Intr. § 83, etc.

42. We know, etc. : Intr. §§ 83-84, III. T, 7, and next note.
r 64. Apollo : In this allegory Verrall holes that Caesar is Jove,
the conspirators the Giants, and Tiberius, who was prosecutor
at their trial, is Apollo. Of the heavenly family it will be seen
mention is made of the sire, the wife, a daughter and two sons :
this selection answers to the state of the imperial family in B.C. 22,
and in that year only : Augustus, Livis, Julia, Tiberius and

BOOK m] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES 155

Drusus. Before 22 Marcellus would require representation,
" after 22 Julia must have brought in Agrippa/-! Stud, in Hor. p. 62:
Tiberius was playfully likened to Apollo by Augustus himself
(Suet. Tib. 21, arid cf. 68, 70, cf. also III. 20, notes). As to the
objection of critics that the description " who from his shoulders
will never lay the bow,"- does not suit the moment of battle,
Verrall says, " If we compare it with the promise to Murena in

II. TO (viz. that Apollo keeps his bow not always bent) which
like the rest of the poem is not only a promise but a warning, we
shall see that it is adapted not to the parable, but to the inter-
pretation. Speaking as *'/ before 22, Horace reminds the dis-
affected that though Apollo is not always bending his bow, yet
from his shoulders he wul never lay it."

68-80. Gyas, Pirithous : This introduction of the king of the
Lapithae recalls II. 12. It was there remarked that the later
story of Antonius had been associated with the mythology : Page
on this passage again refers to Antonius, but Verrall, most reason-
ably, thinks that from Caepio and Murena back to him is too long
a spring. He says, " It is perhaps more likely that there is some
allusion to supposed projects on the part of the conspirators with
respect to Julia, who became disposable on the death of Marcellus."
The later conspiracies were certainly connected with Julia's
amours. The Julian blood was an object of superstitious rever-
ence in Rome, especially among the populace, and for Julia's
husband there would be great possibilities. Our view of the
matter is discussed in the Intr. §§ 95 and foil., and see notes to

III. 19, III. 20.

The structure of the latter part of the Ode becomes clear on close
examination. The references to the political plot extend no
further than v. 64. After that, the project of Murena is dealt
with to the close. It is introduced by the significant dictum that
violence uncontrolled by reason fails, and that the gods hate men
of evil design, and as a witness the cases of Gyges or Gyas, Orion,
Tityos and Pirithous are cited. Their bearing is unmistakable :
Orion's lustful assault upon Diana is expressly mentioned. Tityos
and Pirithous suffered for similar crimes. Gyas was a giant who
fought against heaven, but his name has a second point very con-
venient for the poet's purpose. Gyges or Gyas was the founder of
the dynasty of Lydian kings of which Alyatteus and his son Croesus
were the best known (Herod. I. 6, 14, cf. Odes II. 12, III. 16).
Their wealth was proverbial and sufficiently accounts, though
perhaps not exhaustively, for Horace's use of the name in con-
nection with Murena : cf. II. 17, 14. When we find Ovid (Fasti,

IV. 59 0 making Ceres say in her complaint to Jove at the rape of
Proserpine (the intended victim of Pirithous) that her daughter
was disgraced by a husband who had gained her by theft, and that
that was not the proper way of acquiring a son-in-law, and adding
the following argument, " In what respect if Gyas had been your
conqueror should I have been worse oft" than I am now, though
you are master of heaven?" the illustration makes it prob-
able that he is referring to secret history rather than to mytho-
logy.

71. Orion : cf. II. 13, 39, and note the significance the above
interpretation gives to the words there used. It is a foreglance
to the Pyrrhus of III. 20 who does disturb lions.

73. Monsters : Deformed births : if our Varro Murena really

156 THE ODES OF HORACE

was crooked or hunchbacked (cf. II. 2, 13, n.} the pointedness of
the word is clear.

77. Tityos : II. 14, 8 : III. u, 21 : IV. 6, 2,

80. Pirithous : IV. 7, 28, n.

JOVE for his thundering, we have believed
To rule in heaven. Though yet with us, Augustus will
Be held divine, with Britons

Brought beneath his sway, and Parthians dire.-
Has soldier of Crassus passed his life, 5

A dastard husband with a foreign mate ?

And in the lands of foes — and fathers-in-law ! —

(Oh, Senate, Oh, perverted morals !) with Mede
For king, have Marsian and Apulian grown old,
Of shields, of name, of garb, oblivious, 10

And of eternal Vesta, albeit Jove

Is safe, and Rome a city still ?
On guard 'gainst this had been the prophet mind
Of Regulus, dissenting from conditions base,

Since he by his example would 15

Be bringing ruin on a coming age,
Had not our captured youth been left to die
Unpitied. " Standards hung in Punic shrines,
And weapons from our soldiers snatched

Without blood-shedding, I " he said, 20

" Have seen : have seen the arms of citizens
Pinioned behind a back once free,
And gates not shut, and fields,

Ravaged by our own Mars, in tilth.

Think ye a man bought back with gold 25

Will come more keen ? To infamy ye

Add loss, for wool once steeped in dye

Does not regain lost hues.
So real valour, when it once departs,

Cares not to be restored to men unworthier. 30

If a doe, extricated from close toils,

Fights, that man will be brave

Who has put himself in pledge to treacherous foes :
And in a second war, will crush the Pceni, he

Who, unresisting felt the thongs on arms, 35

Behind him bound, and dreaded death.
He, knowing not whence he should win his life,
Hath mingled peace with war. O shame !
O Carthage great, raised higher

By dastard fall of Italy ! " 40

'Tis said the kiss of his pure wife, his children small,

BOOK in] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES 157

He put away from him as one /

Under attaint, and sternly fixed

His manly gaze upon the ground,

Until by counsel never given elsewhere, 45

He, th' author of it, should convince

The wavering fathers : then, through sorrowing friends,

Went forth in haste, an exile without peer.
Yet he knew what a barbarous torturer for him
Was compassing : but notwithstanding, put aside 50

His kin who barred his way,

The people hindering his return,
As if a suit had been adjudged,
And he would leave a client's long-drawn cause,

Making towards Venaf rum's fields^, 55

Or for Tarentum, the Laconian town.

See Intr. § 80 and foil. Verrall says of this Ode : " Upon or
shortly after the suppression of Caepio, the Emperor dedicated the
temple of Jupiter Tonans, a votive offering for a narrow escape
from a thunderstorm in Spain (Dio, LIV. 4, Suet. Aug. 29). Upon
such an occasion of thanksgiving the quite recent escape could
scarcely be forgotten : in Horace, at all events, the parallel be-
tween the thunderer and his servant on earth, immediately follow-
ing the allegory of the Titans slain by the bolt ever ready to fall
(cf. I. 2, 3, 1. 3, 37, III. 4, 44), suggests the connection in a manner
not to be mistaken. After this rite followed almost immediately
the departure of Augustus for the visitation of the East, the
object and termination of which was the recovery of the lost
standards of Carrhae (Dio, LIV. 6). The complaints of many
critics against the transition from faith in the Thunderer to the
ignominy of the ' miles Crassi,' might have been modified had
they observed that the thoughts of the poet are following in out-
line the events of the past " (Stud, in Hor. p. 62). From the con-
spiracy, the poet turns to the desired reform in the Roman
character.

3. Briton and Persian : The names, apart from the specially
suitable mention of the latter, were used generally to mark the
bounds of the Empire : see I. 21, 15.

37. Peace with war, etc. : i.e. in. war life ought only to be pre-
served by the sword, not by bargaining.

42. Capitis minor : cut off from society by loss of citizenship.

48. Egregius : without peer, cf. III. 25, 4.

VI

FOR your sires' sins, O Roman, you will pay umed 10

Though innocent, until you have restored
The temples, and the falling houses c

And images befouledJbe \£ooty , drove
Because you bear yourse]£ quicken an Lh
Hence all inception, hjte 15

158 THE ODES OF HORACE

The gods, neglected, have given many woes

Unto Hesperia the sore -distressed.
Now twice Monaeses and Pacorus band

Have beaten inauspicious onsets back 10

Of ours, and smile to add

A trophy to their necklets bare.
A city given up to civil strife,
Dacian and JEihiop almost have destroyed,

This, formidable for his fleet, 15

That, better with his missile shafts.
Our age, fertile in crime, did first defile
The nuptial couch, the family and the home,
And, from this fount derived,

Disaster flowed on land and race. 20

The maiden ripe rejoices to be taught
Ionic dances, and is formed by arts ;
And even now reflects on loves

Dishonourable, from time of tender age.
Soon she looks out for younger paramours 25

Over her husband's wine, and makes no choice
On whom by stealth she may confer

Illicit favours when the lights are gone :
But, beckoned, rises there before her husband,
And not without his knowledge, whether a factor calls 30
Or master of a Spanish ship,

The buyer at high prices of her shame.
Not sprung from parents such as these
Our youth that tinged the sea with Punic blood,

Slew Pyrrhus and great Antiochus, 35

And the dire Hannibal :
But manly scions of a farmer soldiery,
Trained with the Sabine hoes to turn the glebe,
And at the bidding of a mother strict,

To carry logs cut down, 40

What time the sun changed shadows of the hills,
And from tired oxen took the yokes,
Bringing the friendly hour

With his departing car.

What is there time the spoiler has not marred ? 45

Our parents' age, worse than our grandsires',
Bore us more wicked, quickly to produce
whA generati°n Yet more vile.

Bel
TT_ ^nra..zntr and foil. Augustus' policy of reform had two

V1IJg ; ; the restoration of religion, and of the sancti-
Hath mingled ^ With regard to the latter he was quite

Carthage usbarj rc^^rives rear good children. With-

By dastft p fall of Itatc/a penetralia, the blessed en-

'Tis said the kiss ot his pure wife, it. in the past and might still

BOOK in] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES 159

come, sons fit to do honour to Rome, could not exist (IV. 4, 26).
If men and women refused to take and fulfil the responsibilities^
of marriage, the race was doomed.

As for the former, he might have known that revivification of
the dry bones was impossible. It was hopeless to try and imbue
the Roman world with the feelings of their forefathers towards
their gods. Julius Caesar himself had shown this by his cairn
refusal to allow superstition to balk him. However, Augustus
did try, and insisted on formal observances with stringency : and,
oddly enough, his sincerity in this respect has not been doubted,
even by those who regard him politically as an arch-hypocrite.

The Ode shows Horace as a supporter of his policy. Celibate
as he was (I. 33), his utterances prove that he held the estate of
marriage as the highest and best (I. 13, 18). There is not a hint
in his works that any breach of its sanctity was directly contri-
buted to by him, and there is much condemnation of those in
opposite case. Horace's views are not here optimistic on the
social question, but they could not be stronger. In the Fourth
Book he represents things in quite a different light, cf. Intr. § 114,
and Spec. Intr. to Bk. IV.

8. Hesperiae : The west, i.e. Italy : the rhythm of the line gives
great emphasis to the epithet.

9. Monaeses and Pacorus : The allusion is to the defeat re-
spectively of Crassus' and Antonius' armies : see the Histories,
Dio, XLVIII. 24, XLIX. 24. Unsanctioned : i.e. contrary to
divine will.

14. Dacus and ^Ethiops : referring to the struggle with Cleo-
patra and Antonius who had Dacian troops, cf. I. 35, 9.

35. Pyrrhus : King of Epirus, invaded Rome, B.C. 280, de-
feated by Curius and Fabricius, cf. I. 12.

VII
ASTERIE

WHY weep, Asterie, for him whom Zephyrs fair,
In early springtime, will restore to thee,

Enriched with Thynian merchandise,

A youth of constant faith,

Thy Gyges ? Driven by Notus unto Oricum, 5

After Capella's raging stars, chill nights,

Not without many tears,

Sleepless he spends.

And yet an envoy of his longing hostess,
Saying that Chloe sighs, and hapless is consumed 10

By thine own fires, astutely tempts

Him in a thousand ways : —
How treacherous woman by false charges drove
Proetus, the credulous, to quicken death

For the over-chaste 15

I6o THE ODES OF HORACE

Bellerophon, he tells :

Relates of Peleus almost given to Tartarus,
When, continent, he fled Magnessan Hippolyte ;
And warns him guilefully

By tales that teach to sin : 20

In vain : for deafer than the cliffs of Icarus,
The words he hears, as yet heart-whole. But lor thyself
Be cautious lest Enipeus, thy neighbour, prove

More charming than is right.

Although none other with skill to turn a horse 25

Is equally observed on Mars's turf,
And no one else with equal speed,

Swims down the Tuscan stream,
Close house when night is young, and on the streets
Do not look down at song of plaintive pipe, 30

And though he often call thee hard,
Remain intractable.

This and several Odes following (Intr. § 92, etc.) may certainly
be regarded as dealing with reform on the social side. The youth
here is a faithful lover. The girl is tempted and is warned. The
name Enipeus is allegorical and supports this theory. It was that
of a river in the Peloponnesus of which Tyro, daughter of Sal-
moneus, King of Elis, became enamoured : as she frequented its
banks Neptune took the shape of the river-god and won her love.
If Horace had a real case in his mind, the selection of the name
Enipeus might be due to Asterie's youthfulness — she is a tiro or
novice, and perhaps likely to swerve from her loyalty to Gyges.

Verrall notes that the chronological outline, suspended in the
Six Odes, which are lifted above the transitory scene, having no
precise marks of date or address, is here resumed. The fact is
shown by the reference to early spring in the second line. " From
this time to the banquet of Murena the calendar is followed with
increasing closeness," III. 8 is March ; III. 10 November (the
Aquilones) ; III. 12 round again to the season of III. 7, the
athletic season when bathing is a noticeable feat ; III. 13 and 15
to summer ; III. 16 to harvest ; III. 17 to autumn ; III. 18 to
December ; III. 19 to the nova luna, the commencement of the
year (Stud, in Hor. p. 1 10).

VIII
TO MAECENAS

WHAT on the Martian Kalends I, a bachelor, do,
What mean the flowers, and bowls with incense filled,
The coal deposited on living turf.

You wonder, you,

Familiar with the lore of either tongue !
I had vowed sweet viands and a he-goat white

BOOK in] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES 161

To Liber when by the stroke of tree f

Brought near my grave —
This day, a feast with the returning year,
Will move the cork secured with pitch 10

From jar set up to drink the smoke

In Tullus' consulate.

Of ladlefuls/ Maecenas, take a hundred to
Your friend preserved, and keep the lamps
Watching till dawn : be far from here 15

All noise and wrath.
Relinquish cares politic for the State ;
The host of Dacian Cotiso is fallen,
The Mede, a danger to himself, distracted is

By grievous strife : 20

A slave is our old foe of Spanish shores,
The Cantabri, subdued by a late chain :
Scythians, with bow relaxed, now contemplate

Retirement from the steppes.

Carelessly, like a man in private life, refrain 25

From guarding over-much lest people suffer aught :
Accept with joy the gifts of the present hour,

And let grave matters be.

Intr. § 43, etc. From this Ode we see that Horace's escape from
the falling tree was on the ist March, but of what year is un-
certain. This is not necessarily a commemoration of the first
anniversary. (Cf. II. 13 and 17.) The Ode is "dated" by his-
torical allusions ; Cotiso has fallen ; the Mede is torn by faction,
and the Cantabrian tamed by a tardy chain. The last fact is the
most useful. Augustus retired from the Cantabrian war in the
spring of B.C. 25, and arrived in Rome, after his illness at Tarraco,
in 24, claiming to have subdued the enemy. The Cantabri re-
volted again, and were only finally conquered by Agrippa in
B.C. 19. The complexion of affairs in the East in 25 suits these
other allusions, but would not apply in 19. (Epist. I. 12, 26.)
The March intended to be marked is almost certainly that of 25 ^
see Verrall, Stud, in Hor. p. 103. The Emperor's return to Rome
is celebrated in III. 14. Maecenas here is in charge of affairs
(v. 25). The difference in tone between this Ode and III. 29,
where Horace again mentions Maecenas' connection with the State,
has been considered in the Introduction.

5. Familiar with, etc. : Versed in Greek and Latin, and the
lore, religious and otherwise, of each.

15. Be far, etc. A contrast is here drawn; cf. I. 27 and I. 36,
III. 19, III. 21.

26. Privatus : Out of office. The word is in point with Augus-
tus'- absence : Maecenas was always technically " out of office,"
except when made vicegerent while the Emperor was away from
Rome.

162 THE ODES OF HORACE

IX

THE MAN

WHILE I was dear to you,
And no more favoured swain folded his arms

About your snowy neck,
I flourished happier than Persia's king.

LYDIA

While you were fired with greater love 5

For no one else, and Lydia was not after Chloe,

I, Lydia, great of name,
Flourished more bright than Roman Ilia.

THE MAN

Me Thracian Chloe ruleth now,
Learned in sweet songs, and skilful on the harp : 10

For whom I will not fear to die,
If fate will spare my heart surviving me.

LYDIA

With brand he feels himself
Calais, son of Ornithus of Thuriumj burns me :

For whom I will endure death — twice, 15

If fate will spare my boy surviving me.

THE MAN

But how if former love return,
And link us parted, with a brazen yoke :

If Chloe fair be shaken off,
And doors be opened wide to off-cast Lydia ? 20

LYDIA

Though he is brighter than a star,
You, lighter than a cork, and quicker

In temper than that wicked Hadria,
With you I'd love to live, with you I'd gladly die.

Intr. § 92. To read this poem as if it was a record of a liaison of
the poet's is to court misunderstanding. It is a lover's quarrel,
and if any meaning is to be given to " Rome's Ilia " they are
wedded lovers. Ilia in the Roman calendar was " the type of
matronhood, and as she was at first the victim of unjust persecu-
tion, and afterwards the wife of a uxorious husband " her fame
should be wifely fame, and Lydia's presumably a matrimonial
quarrel. Ergo, Horace is not speaking in person. (From
Verrall.) Given this key, the art which has so cunningly juxta-
posed these words may be seen to lack the " falsity " with which
it has been charged.

BOOK in] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES 163

TO LYCE

IF you remotest Tanais had to drink,

Lyce, a wild man's wife, yet sorry would you be

To expose me, stretched before your cruel doors,

To the north winds there rife.

You hear with what a roar your gate, with what 5

The grove planted within your handsome court,
Re-echo to the winds : How Jove, with cloudless influence,

Ices the drifted snows.

Abandon the disdain abhorrent unto Venus,
Lest with a whirling wheel your rope run back, 10

Not a Penelope, to suitors harsh,

Fathered in you your Tyrrhene sire.
Oh, though not gifts or prayers make you swerve,
Or pallor of your lovers violet-tinged,
Or that your husband is hard hit by dame 15

Pierian ; unto your suppliants

Be merciful, O you, not softer than unbending oak,
Or milder in your spirit than Moorish snakes !
This side will not be always prone to bear

Your threshold or the rain from heaven. 20

Intr. § 92. In this " serenade " we are not justified in taking
the spokesman to be Horace. It is a phase of the social questions
treated in this part of the work. In III. 7, Enipeus was ready to
supplant Gyges : here the speaker is a more objectionable person,
a would-be maechus tempting a wife, and urging the wrongs she
is suffering from her husband as an excuse for her own trans-
gression. Lyce's opinion seems to be that two wrongs would not
make a right. Her sense of wifely duty is strict and sound, and
perhaps this is the conclusion that the poet wishes us to draw.
There may be good wives with bad husbands, but to expect a
class of good husbands where the wives are bad, is to ask too
much of human nature. This thought seems to have a distinct
bearing on Odes 6, 7, 9, 10, n, 12, and 15 of this book.

15. Pieria : an epithet of the Muses. The hetairae were often
accomplished women.

XI
TO MERCURIUS

MERCURIUS ! — for at thy tutorship Amphion,
Easy to teach, moved stones by singing — and thou,
O shell, that clever art to sound

Sicil- With seven

(

i I

164 THE ODES OF HORACE

Of old not speaking much, or liked, but now 5

Welcome at rich men's tables and in fanes !
Sing strains to which Lyde may bend

Her obstinate ears,

Who, like a filly three years old, in spacious fields
Sports friskily, and shrinks from being touched, 10

Not knowing nuptial joys, and young as yet

For a lusty mate.

Thou tigers as companions and woods
May'st lead, and stay the rapid streams :
Yielded to thy allurement the uncouth 15

Doorkeeper of the hall,

Cerberus, although a hundred snakes do guard
His fury-like head, and fetid breath
And blood flows from his mouth

Of triple tongue, 20

Nay, but Ixion and Tityos smiled with face
Unwilling : Dry for a short space stood
The urn, whilst thou didst soothe the daughters

Of Danaus with welcome song —

Let Lyde hear the virgins' crime and punishment 25

Well known, and of the vessel void,
Through water from the bottom flowing away,

And of the doom at last
Which waits for sin even in Orcus.

Impious — for what more heinous could they ? — 30

Impious, they could destroy their bridegrooms with

Relentless steel.

One, out of all their number, worthy
Of nuptial torch, was to her forsworn parent
Nobly false, and for all time a maid 35

In honour held.

Who said to her young husband : — " Rise, arise,
Lest a long sleep be given to thee from whence
Thou fearest it not, and cheat thy father-in-law,

And sisters stained with crime : 40

Who, as 'twere lionesses that have found
Some steers rend, Alas ! each her own. I, tenderer
Than they, will neither strike thee nor will hold

Thee behind bars.

Me would my father load with cruel chains, 45

Because in mercy I spared my hapless spouse,
Or me to farthest regions of Numidia he may

Convey with ships.

Go, whither sails and breezes hurry thee,
While night and Venus aid, 50

With omen favouring, go ; and on my tomb

Carve a memorial elegy.'1

BOOK in] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES 165

Intr. § 92, etc. It has been asked what is the moral of this
story : to which Verrall makes the retort, " Why should so
beautiful a poem have one ? "- From a purely aesthetic point
there is perhaps no need, but the first question admits a more
definite answer. The purpose of the Ode in the collection may be
gathered from its place. See the list of associated poems in the
previous note. Getting rid of objectionable husbands was a
crime from which the women of Rome were not free, and with
this thought in the mind, the Danaids may be turned to moral
account. Scenes from the myth alluded to here were sculptured
on the temple of Apollo Palatinus (Propertius, III. 23).

13. The reason for the references in these three stanzas to
monsters of mythology, Cerberus (II. 19) Ixion and Tityos (II. 14,
III. 4, IV. 6), which Horace elsewhere connects with the Murena
story, is not obvious as regards allegorical point. The proper
inference from this fact I conceive to be that the full purport of
the Ode has not revealed itself. For the reference to song lighten-
ing the torments of hell, cf. II. 13, III. i, IV. i-i, and Intr. § 85.
If we had Maecenas' book " Prometheus," we might be able to see
Horace's point more clearly; cf. II. 18, 34. The way in which he
speaks of Lyde in the earlier verses, gives me a strong impression
of sarcasm. Lyde has obstinate ears, and requires, to reach the
emotional side of her, music of stone-moving power, to say nothing
of the tigers, and Cerberus ! Her comparison with a filly, and her
nuptial aptitude, are not couched in the most delicate terms, and
may possibly be irony at its height. If this thought is well
prompted, " gross Lyde with her medicinal box " (see II. u, «.)
may be on the scene again.

XII

TO NEOBULE

IT is the lot of unhappy girls, either to make no play with love
And not to wash away cares with mellow wine : or to go out of

their mind
Fearing the lash of an uncle's tongue. Thy basket is Cytherea's

winged boy,

O Neobule, taking away. The beauty of Hebrus of Lipara,
When in the Tiber's waves he bathes anointed shoulders, is

taking away

Th} webs and the love of Minerva's assiduous art.
He han Bellerophon himself is a rider better, and conquered not
Eithjr through tardy fist or foot. Dexterous too
At shooting bucks, as they flee through the open in startled herd,
And speedy in taking the lurking boar out of the covert deep.

Mere than half this poem, which is unique in its metre, is con-
cerned to describe Hebrus of Lipara, i.e. Lipari, one of the ^Eolian
Isles, near Sicily. In so far as this is not ironical, he is rich, hand-

166 THE ODES OF HORACE

some, bold, a fine horseman and a hunter. Hebrus, like Enipeus,
was the name of a Greek river. It was in Thrace, and was sup-
posed to run over sands of gold. I reject the theory that the name
is meaningless, and merely chosen to fit the metre. The converse
is more likely to have something in it. When we note this strange
collocation of " Liparaeus " with a Thracian river it puts us on
inquiry, and we find straightway allusions to help us. At Lipara
were the forges of Vulcan mentioned by Horace (I. 4) which
Juvenal knew so well (Intr. § 101), and when we remember the
man for whom Sicilian banquets — proverbial for luxuriousness —
could have no flavour because of the impending sword, we have
grounds for identifying him with the man of supposed
Greek descent to whose wealth there is such frequent reference in
the Odes. " Hebrus -'• has fascinated Neobule and diverted her
thoughts from maidenly tasks. He has made her impatient of
restraint, and inspired her with a wish for dissipation. As for
Neobule, the name is that of the daughter of one Lycambes, and
it suggests a story, well known to Horace (Epod. 6, 13, Epist. I.
19, 23), in which Archilochus, the Parian inventor of iambics,
figures (cf. Ars. Poet. 79). Lycambes had promised Neobule to
Archilochus, but broke his word, and conferred her on a richer
suitor, whereupon the poet's raging iambics caused both father
and daughter to commit suicide. Archilochus himself, though
Seivbs Xcyciv (cf. III. 19, 26, n.\ was a debauchee and a coward
at heart.

At this stage of our inquiry into Horatian allegory, when so
much of its meaning looks like revealing itself, it would be dis-
ingenuous to ignore some obvious suggestions contained in this
Ode simply because they present difficulties. The time is past
when efforts at interpretation, such as are here made, may be
declined. There has been a surprising silence over Dr Verr all's
illuminating criticism, but no one after its appearance may build
as if the old foundations were intact. (It has clearly influenced
Sellar's later work, but has not apparently induced him to pursue
thoroughly the lines of investigation opened by it.) What
follows is offered as possibly containing elements for interpreta-
tion. Hebrus may be Murena. With this thought in our minds,
we can hardly help asking if Neobule may indicate Julia. The
considerations to which III. 20, read in the light of what may be
found elsewhere (Intr. § 95, etc.), gives rise, prompt this question at
once. But we see that against an answer in the affirmative stands
the position of the Ode, which chronologically is before the return
of Augustus from Spain in B.C. 24, and hence within the period
of her married life with Marcellus. Frankly recognising this
difficulty, let us mention the obvious suggestions that seem to be
made by the poet. Neobule, after being promised to Archilochus,
was given to a richer suitor. When Marcellus died, Julia, after
being thought of as a possible wife for a member of the M ena
family, was given to a greater manj Agrippa. The proposec Con-
sort (Proculeius : see Tac. Ann. 4, 40, Intr. 95) seems to have
made no objection, but he had a brother of greater family pride,
and a less accommodating spirit, and trouble arose through him.
Archilochus, as the story goes, lashed father and daughter with
stinging reproach. Lucius Murena stands forth in history as
conspicuous for the insolence of his speech, and one specific in-
stance of this is given in a collision between himself and Augustus

BOOK in] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES 167

(Intr. § 38, the text is, OVK eiriTTJStia dirop'piA|/avTos, i.e. " shoothig
forth " — sc. at Augustus — " words more violent than was neces-
sary " : and later on, as a reason why Murena was thought to be
wrongfully accused of complicity in Caepio's plot, J€ir€i8^ KO.I
aKpcrru) Kal KaraKopei -TrappT]cri<j -irpbs iravras 6p.ofo>s 'CXP^TO : — " since he
made use of unrestrained and freely indulged licence of tongue
towards all."

Archilochus though great as a poet, was of bad moral reputa-
tion, and when the clash of arms came, he fled. Murena, who if
not a poet, had a sufficient supply of invective at command, was
likewise a profligate — probably a scoundrel — and with all his
" audacity '-'• and the display of magncB linguce for which " Apollo "•
exacted due vengeance (IV. 6), when the crisis came he ran away,
as Horace says he will (III. 20, 3 : cf. Dio, LIV. 3, Intr. § 38).

Neobule who fears the lash of an uncle's tongue, seemingly a
proverbial expression — see Sat. II. 3, 88 — is a young woman with
an inclination towards the delights of love and wine, on whom a
training in feminine duties has palled : Julia became notorious
for her profligacy, but had been most carefully educated in the
faus^a penetralia of the Emperor's unpretentious home.

"We think therefore that this Ode, marked like II. 18 by a metre
which distinguishes it from all others in the collection, may concern
tne great theme of the work, the story of that Cave of Vulcan in
the yEolian Isles which Juvenal had unriddled (Intr. § 101), where
avenging bolts were forged for use by gods whose honour was
insulted by audacious mortals. The reason of its position, rela-
tively to others of the series, is one that might be divined if we
had all the secret history of this time to guide us. We have seen
that the real Murena, so far from having the conspicuous physical
advantages of " Hebrus," was probably a hunchback (II. 2, 13, w.).
The deformity is not always an obstacle to favour with women —
one of the distinctions of Horace's " Telephus," III. 19, 26, n. — as
is proved by the case of Richard III., but it may account for
Augustus' exultation over the death of Murena (Intr. § 38), which
could only be expressed by sacrifices as if for a great victory,
since one can easily conceive that the idea of an alliance between
his daughter and a deformed and half-mad individual of shady
reputation, was an " audacity '-' from which he had thankfully
escaped, and a subject afterwards too loathsome to be openly
spoken of. It is not unlikely that the hatred of Augustus for
dwarfs and " monsters," mentioned by Suetonius, dated from his
collision with Murena (Intr. § 100). The Ode is perhaps deliber-
ately misplaced.

XIII
TO THE FOUNT OF BANDUSIA

O FOUNT of Bandusia, more bright than glass,
Worthy of mellow wine, not lacking flowers,

To-morrow thou shalt be presented with a kid

Whose poll, swelling with its first horns,
Marks him for battles and for Love in vain :

168 THE ODES OF HORACE

For the child of the gambolling flock
Shall in thine honour tinge

Thy runnels cool with ruby blood.
Flaming Canicula's fierce hour cannot
Touch thee, a pleasing chill thou offerest 10

To oxen weary with the share,

And to the roving herd :
And thou also shalt be of the famous founts,
With me to sing the holm oak poised above

The hollow rocks from which 15

Thy babbling rills leap down.

The fount is supposed to have been on Horace's farm (Epist. I.
1 6, 12). The sacrifice of a kid implies that the season is spring,
and the reference to the heat in the next stanza is an anticipation.
The deity honoured would probably be Venus, and the time mid-
April.

XIV

TO THE ROMANS

O PEOPLE, Caesar lately said like Hercules

To have sought the bay whose price is death,

His household gods reseeks, victorious

From Spanish shore —

Let wife, rejoicing in her spouse alone, 5

Go forth, her task fulfilling to the righteous gods,
And sister also of our glorious leader, and,

With suppliant wreath

Bedight, the mothers of maids and of young men
Lately from peril preserved. Ye, boys, and girls 10
To wedlock new, refrain from words

Of ill import.

This day, in truth a festival to me,
Shall banish gloomy cares. I shall not fear revolt,
Or death by violence, while Caesar holds 15

Possession of the world.
Go, search for unguent, boy, and coronals,
And jar remembering the Marsian war,
If any vessel can have slipped the eye

Of roving Spartacus : 20

And bid the tuneful- voiced Neaera haste
To bind her myrrhine hair into a knot :
If there be stoppage through the hated janitor —

Begone ! —

The grizzling hair swages the mind 25

That hankers after love's disputes and strife,
This would I not have borne, hot in my youth,

In Plancus' consulate.

BOOK in] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES 169

Intr. § 94. Addressed to the people on the occasion of Augustus'
first return to the city in the character of acknowledged sovereign.
The progress of the year has been marked by the seasons (III. 7).
We are now in late April or May B.C. 24 (Dio, LIII. 28), shortly
before the time when Augustus celebrated his victory over the
Cantabri (III. 8).

Verrall (Stud, in Hor. p. 157) considers this Ode from two points
of view (i) as personal to Horace, (2) as though the lyrist was not
to be identified with himself : — against the latter the last stanza
seems to me to be decisive (IV. 1 1, n.}.

5. Unico : some take the word to mean " peerless."

6. Operata : do her duty by sacrifice : the participle has the
force of present time.

ii. Words of ill import : III. I, 2, II. 13, 29.

1 8. Marsian : the Social war, B.C. 90-88.

19. Spartacus : leader in the Servile war, B.C. 73-71.

28. Plancus (I. 7): Consul in B.C. 42, the year of Philippi. As
Horace there fought against Augustus, the allusion to his hot
youth invites attention to other changes than those of age :
of. II. 7.

XV

TO THE WIFE OF IBYCUS

WIFE of a poverty-stricken Ibycus,

Put thou at last a limit to thy wickedness,
And tasks notorious.

Cease nearer to a not untimely grave,
To sport ?mongst girls. 5

And on bright stars to cast a cloud.
If aught suits Pholoe, Chloris,

It also suits not thee. With more excuse
Thy daughter storms the homes

Of youths, like Thyiad stirred by beaten drum. 10
A love for Nothus makes

Her sport like a she-goat at play :
Thee rather fleeces shorn

At famed Luceria beseem, not harps,
Not crimson flower of rose, 15

Not, in old age, the wine-jars drunk to the dregs.

Intr. § 95. The Ode strikes at an offence against bonos mores,
and may be connected with the series extending from III. 6.

It is probably placed after III. 14 to give a suggestion of the
passage of time through the mention of the roses of summer. We
obtain no hint of Horace's meaning through the Greek names here
used, but " Ibycus " must have had so definite an association with
the poet of Rhegium that it is justifiable to prefix an article. It
would be as clear to the educated Roman as the description of
someone as " a Goethe " or " a Petrarch )J would be to us.

i;o THE ODES OF HORACE

" Pauperis " may refer to a lack of the endowments in which
the original Ibycus was rich, rather than to a lack of more material
possessions.

Nothus (like Thaliarchus, I. 9) is an instance of the invention of
a Greek name by Horace ; its Latin equivalent would be Spurius,
see Wickham, quoting Meineke, ad loc. Though we may not
understand them, it is childish to suppose that such inventions
were meaningless, or, if we admit the contrary, to assume the
right to criticise the poet as if we were in full possession of his
intention. Horace was no trifling dilettante with a cacoethes
scribendi, but a person (like Vergil) who wrote because he had some-
thing to say.

XVI
TO MAECENAS

FOR prisoned Danae a brazen tower,

And doors of oak, and surly watch of wakeful dogs,

Had been sufficient garrison against

Nocturnal paramours,

Had Jove and Venus laughed not at Acrisius, 5

The timorous keeper of the hidden maid,
Seeing that there would be a safe and open path

Before the god turned to a bribe.
Gold loves to go through the midst of sentinels,
And more effectually than lightning's stroke 10

To cleave the rocks. The Argive Augur's house

Fell plunged in ruin
By pelf. The man of Macedon
Burst open gates of cities, and rival kings
O'erturned by gifts. Gifts are a snare 15

For captains fierce of ships.

Care follows growing wealth, and thirst for more.
I have been right to shrink from lifting up
My head conspicuous afar, Maecenas,

Glory of the knights. 20

As each shall more deny himself, so more
Will he have from gods. Naked, I seek the camp
Of those coveting naught, and, a deserter, I rejoice

To leave the side of the rich,

Lord of a paltry estate, distinguished more 25

Than if, wealthless amid great wealth,
I should be said to hoard within my barns whate'er

The busy Apulian grows.
A river of pure water, and wood of acres few,
And in my crop sure faith, are better in lot 30

Than his (he knows it not) who glitters in a command

Of fertile Africa

BOOK in] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES 171

Although Calabrian bees no honey bring, *

And Bacchus mellows not in Laestrygonian jar

For me, and though in Gaulish pastures grow 35

No fleeces rich,

Still, absent is oppressive poverty,

And thou, if I wished more, would'st not refuse to give.
Better may I extend my puny revenues

By lessening desire, 40

Than if the realm of Alyatteus with Mygdon's plains
I hold in one. Those seeking much lack much —
JTis well for him to whom the Lord, with sparing hand,

Has given what is enough.

In this address to Maecenas, made as we approach the crisis of
Murena's tragic career (III. 19, 20, 24) most of the allusions are
traceable. The elaborate insistence on the power of gold, its
temptations and disadvantages, and upon moderation, are no
mere repetitions, but a rhetorical adversion to much that has gone
before (I. i, II. 10, II. 15, II. 18, etc.) to bring it into the reader's
mind again. The poet says, " I have been right to shrink from
lifting up a far conspicuous head, O Maecenas, glory of the knights."
Murena had not followed this course. He had shown himself an
example of the vain-glory which raises its empty head too high
(I. 18, 15) only to descend to the executioner's strangling knot.
Murena had riches ; for him Bacchus did mellow in Laestrygonian
jar (Formian, cf. I. 20, etc.) ; for him all the resources of the Empire
were open, and when we remember how his career affected
Maecenas, the motive of this Ode, as of so many more, becomes in-
telligible. Maecenas also was opulent, but leaving his side is not
what Horace contemplates. Maecenas was the adornment of his
order ; Murena, however wealthy, a disgrace to society. But
with the lord mount fear and threats, and the tragedy of it all
is that the consequences of wrong-doing are not confined to
the culprit. Care sits behind the knight ; Jove confounds the
innocent with the guilty, and the "gibber's" hump is shifted
on to another's shoulder (cf. II. 2, 13, n.\ "I have been right,
etc.," is therefore nothing else than to say delicately " You
have been right " : a similar device is used in III. 29 (Intr.
§§ iio-iii).

1 1 . The Argive Augur's house fell plunged in ruin by greed of
gold ; and the house of Murena fell likewise. The Argive augur
was Amphiaraus. It had been prophesied that if he went against
Thebes he would be killed. He tried to avoid the call to the siege.
His wife Eriphyle was bribed by the present of a necklace to tell
where he was. Amphiaraus proceeded to Thebes, but ordered his
sons to slay Eriphyle on news of his death. Amphiaraus was
swallowed up by the earth, and Eriphyle was afterwards slain by
her son Alcmaeon. Amphiaraus was a king of Argos, and in all
probability figured in the family tree of Murena (III. 19). He
was a son of Oicleus, who was a son of Antiphates, King of the
Laestrygones (cf. v. 34, and notes to III. 17) and a grandson of
Melampus, the seer — hence the name "Augur" given to Amphi-
araus. For the significance of augury, etc., in reference to Murena,
see Intr. § 95 and foil, and III. 19, notes.

172 THE ODES OF HORACE

14. Vir Macedo, Philip, father of Alexander the Great : see
Cic. ad Att. 16.

26. Wealthless amid great wealth : cf. Nil habuit Codrus, quis
enim negat ? etc. Juv. III. 208, Intr. § 102.

31. Imperio : a man of splendour through his possessions in
Africa ; cf. I. i, 10, and see Wickham's note.

34. Laestrygonian : That is, of Formiae — the home of Murena,
Sat. I. 5, 38. Cf. Cic. ad Att. 2, 13. " But if you come to this
Telepylus Laestrygonia (I mean Formiae) what an uproar the people
make."- Lamos, the mythic founder of Formiae, was, like Anti-
phates, a king of the Laestrygones.

XVII

TO "^LIUS"

, ennobled through the Lamos of old time —
Since hence they trace both the earlier ones
Called Lamia, and all the line

Of sons' sons down the recording calendars —
From that same founder you derive descent,
Who is said to have been the first to hold
The walls of Formiae,

And Liris brimming o'er Marica's shores,
A lord of wide domain — to-morrow a storm
By Eurus sent, will strew the grove

With many leaves, with useless kelp the shore ;

Unless of rain the aged carrion-crow
As augur fail. While you are able stack
Dry wood. With wine to-morrow, and a two-month pig,
You will indulge your genius,

Together with the servants freed from toil.

Cf. notes to I. 26. The main clue to this Ode has been dis-
covered by Dr Verrall. The ^Elii were " nobiles." Some of them
took the cognomen of Lamia, thereby perhaps commemorating
descent from Lamos, mythic king of the Laestrygones, and sup-
posed founder of Formiae (Odyss. 10, 81, and cf. III. 16). Horace
writes, " y£lius, the records say that you are descended from
Lamos, there will be a storm to-morrow, therefore get in dry wood
for the holiday feast at which you will eat pork with the servants."
On the hypothesis that a real ^Elius is addressed, no point can be
assigned to this, but if we see grounds to suppose that it was meant
for a Lamia who was not an JElius, a possibility of understanding
it arises. Horace believed in no pedigrees from mythic kings, but
Telephus and Murena, a person also intimately connected with
Laestrygonian Formiae, apparently did, and with most unfortunate
consequences for them and others (Intr. § 95, and foil.). Cf. notes
to the preceding Ode.

The first two stanzas read like an ironical statement and are

BOOK in] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES 173

one. Lamia was Horace's steward or bailiff, and ode I. 26
and Epist. I. 14 are addressed to him. A proof of Haupt's para-
dox that translation may be the death of understanding is
adducible from this Epistle (Intr. § 4). The false but ready trans-
lation of one word — moratur — has obscured the meaning of the
Epistle, and has probably been the cause of the long delay in the
elucidation of the Ode. See Verrall's masterly analysis, Stud, in
Hor. p. 126. The Epistle is from Horace to Lamia at a time when
the latter is mourning the loss of a brother, which is the circum-
stance that makes the discussion somewhat malapropos, and
makes Horace pause for a moment before urging on the steward
the argument he proposes : it was probably written to cheer up
the retainer in his grief, and, like the Odes themselves, may be
taken to exhibit the kindliness of Horace. The introduction of
the JElii into the Epistle brings as much confusion upon its inter-
pretation as the non-recognition that the " 1EH " of this Ode is
ironical, imports here.

Dr Verrall's explanation of this Ode's position is given at p. 141
of his book. Mr Wickham says, " Probably the stormy weather,
if not actually allegorical is used to enforce a moral beyond that
which appears on the surface." This is quite true. A storm is
impending on Marica's shore below Formiae (III. 16) and on the
head of the wealthy lord — who did believe in mythic ancestry —
a storm of ruin was about to break. This " manner of suiting the
changes of external scene to those of the internal thought is
characteristic of the Odes," and is one of our surest bases of inter-
pretation. The adroit method of showing by a comparison be-
tween the servant Lamia and the prehistoric Lamos Horace's
sense of the absurdity of Murena's delusions as to his lineage (II. 3,
III. 19), is yet another instance of his felicity.

5. Read duds, not the conjectural ducit. Ferunt in the second
line is generally rendered " they tell."- If this is right, I believe
the sense to be, " ^Elius, a noble through Lamos — for since the
tradition is that the older Lamias and their whole line, down to
the recording fasti, took their name from him who, etc., so also do
you."

12. The mention of an aged crow as an augur, and the possi-
bility of its forecast failing, are additional felicities which if acci-
dental are strange, cf. III. 19, etc.

XVIII
TO FAUNUS

FAUNUS, lover of the fleeing nymphs,
Through my bounds and sunny fields
Pass gently, and depart to my

Small nurselings kind,
If a young kid falls with the full year,
And plentiful wines be absent not
From Venus' mate, the bowl, and the old altar smoke

With bounteous fragrance.

174 THE ODES OF HORACE

Upon the grassy plain the whole herd sports,

What time December's Nones return for thee ; 10

The feasting village idles in the meads,

With ox at rest :

The wolf is roaming amid lambs grown bold ;
For thee the forest scatters rustic leaves ;
It is the ditcher's joy thrice with his foot 15

To smite the hated earth.

This Ode, keeping in our minds the scene of Horace's farm to
which we are brought by the one preceding, has several points of
connection with the one following it. Prominent is the note of
date, or rather season. We are approaching the end of the year,
a time of conviviality. This is clearly marked, and the rural deity
is reminded that in winter the wood scatters its rustic leaves for
him, a thought which is perhaps intended to call attention to the
case of Murena and his friends in the next Ode, who with insane
prodigality, in the delirium of their exultation, are scattering roses
by handfuls. Horace could have chosen no better way to suggest
extravagance. It was for this that flowers were substituted for
the useful crops of agriculture (II. 15) — for wanton waste. The
expense of roses in winter would be enormous. See Verrall, Studies
in Hor. Essay II.

The possible double point in the thirteenth line should not be
overlooked. Cf. II. n, n.

XIX

MURENA'S BANQUET

How far removed from Inachus

Is Codrus, not afraid to die for fatherland,
You tell, and race of ^Eacus,

And battles fought at sacred Ilion :
But at what price we buy the jar 5

Of Chian, who is to mix the water with its fires,
Who finds the house, and when of chills

Pelignian I may be rid — you leave unsaid.
Charge instantly for the new moon !

Charge for midnight ! Charge for Murena, boy, lo
The Augur ! By ladlef uls

Of three or nine let cups be mixed at will —
The awestruck seer who loves

Odd-numbered Muses, calls for three times three —
The Grace, with her nude sisters linked, 15

Fearful of quarrellings, forbids that one
Should take of more than three.

'-Tis joy to lose one's wits ! Why cease the blasts

BOOK in] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES 175

Of Berecyntian pipe ?

Why hangs the whistle with the silent lyre ? 20

I hate the hands that spare ;

Scatter the roses ; let envious Lycus hear
The furious din, and her beside

The old man, no fit mate for Lycus.
You, Telephus, resplendent with 25

Your clustering hair, you, like the radiant Hesperus,
Rhode — of suitable age — is seeking ;

Me a deep love consumes for Glycera mine.

See Intr. §§ 52-53, 95 and foil., and Appendix I. In the former
of these sections we have given a bare outline of Dr Verrall's views
on this Ode, but the reader should study his analysis in full. Dr
Verrall's criticism is most valuable for its demolition of every
previous attempt to explain the poem, but with all deference
seems to me to suffer because his inductions were made on an in-
complete collection of the ascertainable facts. His theory is
rounded off and perhaps prematurely so, for further examination
seems to cast doubt on some of his inferences. We have got an
outline of Murena's history, and it supplies us with explanations
of much of this poem, but we still lack definite information on
material points. All has not been told us — probably with very
good reason, considering the sensitiveness of the Emperor on the
honour of his family — and we can only infer what precisely led up
to this banquet, or what was the cause of the delirious exultation
there indulged in. Dr Verrall conceives the event celebrated in
the poem to be the reception or reassumption by Murena of a sena-
torial peerage, because he sees a reference to the Senate in the
words novce luncB (to the new moon, the senatorial badge). Now
the evidence that Murena was ever a senator is weak : the con-
clusion that he was an official Augur may even be wrong, although
he has that description in this poem, and although the belief that
it was a true description is used by Dr Verrall in proof of the fact
of his wealth. Later investigations, enabling us to discern the
meaning of so much of the Three Books, and to trace therein the
allusions to this man's career, quite rid us of the need of that argu-
ment to show that Licinius or Murena, or " Grosphus/1 or
" Quintius Hirpinus," or " Gelli," i.e. " Gillo," or •' Gyas," or
the heir of Attalus, or " Hebrus of Lipara," or " Telephus,"- etc.,
was rich — and rich with ill-gotten gains of which he made bad use.

We may perceive through the material we have why Murena
might be hailed as " Augur " — the diviner of the future — in this
poem, without necessarily being a member of the sacred college :
see the Intr. § 95 and foil. Murena's resort to augury had con-
vinced him that he was of high lineage, and specially marked out
by fate for supreme advancement, and this is reflected in the Odes.
It is a consideration which explains names and references (cf. I. 9,
I. ii,II.3,II. 1 1, III. 16, III. 17, etc.) with an accumulating force
when the work is read as a whole. It is the keynote to the refer-
ence to Inachus and Codrus, and the race of y£acus, in the present
Ode. Murena regarded himself as having the blood of both in
his veins — perhaps of being a reincarnation of one or other of
them (I. 28, II. 3, v. 21). The calculation of the interval between

176 THE ODES OF HORACE

Inachus and Codrus is only half the problem for solution ; the
name which the computer hesitates to utter has probably some-
thing to do with the other branch — " From Inachus to Codrus,
from Codrus to — Murena ! "• and then comes the delirious joy,
and the mad exultation, the call for frenzied music, and the
bidding of " Lycus," and the woman at his side who is no fit mate
for him, to hear the riot (see infra}. Divination, astrology, etc.,
are associated with this exordium, and the significance of the fact
can be used in interpretation without recourse to theories or
details not revealed by the poet, or preserved aliunde.

The season is the vov|u|v£a or new year, the depth of winter, the
time midnight, the house Murena's own (quo prcebente domum,
cf. Sat. I. 5, 38) whether, as Dr Verrall thinks, at Reate to the
N.E. of the Pelignian hills or not, is unnecessary to decide.
" Pelignian chills " can be understood without that. The Peligni
were a tribe who dealt in the arts of magic (Epod. 17, 60) and it is
not impossible that before this outburst of joy " Telephus " and
company were engaged in astrological observation for the answer
of the heavens to their impious 'questionings (cf. I. n, Epist. i, 16,
28). " Pelignian "• chills may mean those induced by Pelignian
operations on a winter's night.

The point I wish to make on this Ode is that although particu-
larity of detail is not always within reach, the general intention
can be ascertained. It marks the height to which Murena's
madness led him. There are now good grounds for assuming
that this " madness "- was the project of marriage with Julia, and
the accession of Murena to the highest position in Rome, or in the
world (II. 2,21, Epist. I. 16, 28). To work his will he was prepared
— in advance — to defy Augustus and the Senate. The health to
the new moon might thus acquire double point — a sincere toast
from the banqueters on a favourable sign from heaven, and one
of another kind to the senatorial order which the audacious Lucius
was ready to sweep out of his way.

This scene then marks the climax of Murena's career in so far
as it was prosperous. The advice of Horace given in II. 10, to
shorten sail to a gale too favourable was unaccepted, and ruin
followed. The design on Julia, treated in allegory in the suc-
ceeding poem, was frustrated by his denunciation on a political
charge. History tells us that so far from proving by deed the
audacity of spirit exhibited in his speech, he fled from justice, and
was afterwards captured and executed (III. 20, III. 24) and that
the unusual step was taken by the Emperor of public thanksgiving
to the gods therefor, as if for a great victory (Dio, Intr. § 38). It is
possible that II. 3, vv. 17-24, are a forecast of his plight as a
fugitive, and that if the passage of Juvenal quoted in Intr. § 102
refers to this story, it explains why he described " Codrus "- as a
beggar (but see III. 16, 26 and note). On this view it will be seen
that " Telephus " and Murena may be the same person ; the
obscurity being intentional ; cf. v. 26, n.

i . Inachus : A son of Oceanus and Tethys, the mother of all
the rivers. He was the first king of Argos. We can perhaps see
why Murena, with his name of a fish, regarded him as an ancestor,
and why Horace should choose the name of a river in one place to
typify him, III. 12.

3. Race of yEacus, Intr. § 105, III. 20, n.} IV. 6, etc. . Murena's
own conception of his lineage.

BOOK in] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES 177

5 . Quo : at what price ; for conclusive reasons against regard-,'
ing this feast as a symbola, see Verrall, Stud, in Hor. p. 38.

8. Peligni : see supra, their home was the Sabine mountains.

9. LuncB novce : see infra, v. 26, n ; and Verrall, Stud, in Hor.
p. 54 ; II. 18 ; IV. 7, 13.

10. Auguris : see supra : the word has great irony of effect,
even if unintentional.

13. Musas : This reference to the nine Muses and the three
Graces connects with M. Varro, who used the same method of
indicating number in respect of the guests for a banquet ; his rule
was that they should not be more than the Muses nor fewer than
the Graces. To apply the illustration to the drinking rule (cf. II.
7, 25, and Diet, of Antiq.) was more characteristic of his " heir,"
the Thaliarchus of this feast (I. 9).

1 8. Berecyntice : The pipes that roused the votaries of Cybele
to frenzy ; cf. I. 18, 8.

22. Sparge rosas : see III. iS, n.

23. Lycus : A son of Neptune and King of Bceotia, who married
his niece. Vicina seni : the woman at the side of an elderly man,
and no fit mate for him. We believe that the persons referred to
are Julia and Agrippa, who, though he became her husband, was
one year older than her father ; see next Ode.

26. Telephus : Wickham's remark on this name is that it is
one habitually used by Horace for a man with attractive power
on women. This is true, and ought to suggest a connection be-
tween the poems in which it occurs. But we can go further ;
investigation will show that in the meaning of " Telephus "
much of the arcana of the Odes is contained. The word means
" shining afar," and from the terms used here we see that it may
have parallel point with the Xanthias (blooming) of II. 4, the
Pyrrhus (golden-haired) of III. 20, the Hebrus Liparaeus (Liparean
golden stream) of III. 12, etc. — Note the double pun in " of
Lipara " (cf. Intr. § 101) and Xnrapos, unctus or nitidus, III. 19,
25, and II. n, 15-17.

The mythological accounts of Telephus vary in detail. He was
a son of Hercules and Auge, daughter of Lycaon, or Aleus, King
of Tegea in Arcadia. Through services rendered to Teuthras,
King of Mysia, he obtained the hand of his daughter, and suc-
ceeded him on his throne. He is also represented as the husband
of a daughter of Priam. This latter circumstance brought him
into conflict with the Greeks, who wished to traverse Mysia on
their way to Troy. In resisting them the feet of Telephus were
entangled in a vine, which Bacchus miraculously caused to spring
up, and he fell to the spear of Achilles. Though his Grecian birth
was discovered, he refused to side with the invaders, and, dis-
possessed of his kingdom, wandered, wounded and miserable, to
consult an oracle. Having been told that the inflicter of his
injury alone could cure him, he applied to Achilles, by whom his
wound was healed. His story was used in tragedies by Euripides,
by Ennius and Attius (A. P. v. 96) the Latin versions being appar-
ently mere translations. In support of my hypothesis that
" Telephus " is a pseudonym for Murena, selected by Horace,
and recognisable in his circle, I would refer to Euripides (I think
the pseudonym is on a different footing from the names drawn
from the lineage of yEacus ; that connection was probably im-
agined by Murena himself). The Telephus of Euripides was one

178 THE ODES OF HORACE

of a tetralogy, viz. the Cretan women, Alcmseon at Psophis,
Telephus, and, in lieu of the conventional satyric play, the Alcestis.
The fragments that remain of the first three are not enough in
themselves to give us a notion of the several dramas. The motive
of the Cressae is quite lost ; the story of Alcmaeon at Psophis is
known, but not the actual treatment of it by Euripides. In one
respect it presents a situation parallel with that of the Telephus.
Alcmaeon, a son of the Argive Augur, Amphiaraus, the mention of
whom in III. 16 is so significantly referable to the case of Murena,
was also a king, pauper et exsul, wandering in distress after his
act of matricide ; see Dindorf, Frag. Eurip. Oxon. 1846. The
link of connection between these associated plays is unknown. It.
was probably an idea, and not impossibly that of the vicissitudes
of life, and their various issues. Different sets of persons are dealt
with but, as to the last three, persons between whose circum-
stances a relation is apparent. Alcmaeon, who had lost his king-
dom, suffered a violent death ; Telephus, after his destitution and
exile, was cured of his wound and restored ; Alcestis, who had
devoted herself to the endless exile of death, was rescued by
Heracles ; on some thread of this sort the dramas seem to be
strung. The Telephus was brought prominently into notice by
Aristophanes' satire. The great scene of the Acharnians — a play
which in another place has supplied Horace with an illustration
(cf. I. 36) — is devoted to him. Telephus is there derisively cited
as Euripides' ideal character in tragedy (an ousted king exciting
pity by his physical and other woes). Aristophanes' ridicule is
for the dramatist's art, as a modern critic sometimes becomes
caustic on the melodramatic heroine and her snowstorm, but his
presentation of the character, and general treatment of the case,
are admirable for Horace's purpose, if that was to satirise Murena
and any wild claim of his to sovereignty. Aristophanes' hero,
Dicaeopolis, wishes to pose as Telephus in order to give proper
tongue to the situation in which he finds himself. Telephus, he
says, is a " terror to talk " (8€iv6s Xfyeiv) and can use words as
weapons (piHiarfois o-Ki(xa\£tc«.v). In this respect Murena would
compare with him very well. If we then pass to the speech itself,
we see that the speaker's subject is war and strife caused by the
kidnapping of women. There is a reference to the god of the
Lenaea, to attend on whom, says Horace enigmatically, involves
so much risk (III. 25, 19) and it is very apposite, for it is used to
explain the style of the speech. At this Lenaean festival, the mock
Telephus says, I may talk openly because no strangers are present :
and he then proceeds to denounce the wickedness of going to war
over the abduction of women.

We can perhaps see here the association of ideas in Horace's
mind that induced him to employ this name, and if we turn to the
other Odes in which it occurs, we see it undisturbed. In IV. n,
where " Phyllis " is warned of the dangers of unequal matches,
and is told that Telephus is not present, but held bound (? like
Pirithous, the lover) by another mistress, the point of the connec-
tion and of the irony becomes apparent. These considerations
also tend to show that the Telephus of Horace and of Suetonius
(Intr. § 96) are one and the same. The Telephus of Suetonius
believed that Fate " owed " him the sovereignty of the world, and
plotted against Augustus. The Murena-Telephus of Horace was
also a superstitious person who acted similarly in circumstances

BOOK in] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES 179

of which the correspondences have been pointed out. The original
Telephus was however tripped up by Bacchus : so also hi^
Horatian analogue, who was fond of the cups which probably held
most of his distinctive " audacity/' and would loosen his already
loose tongue ; fond too of the drums and Berecynthian horns, the
accompaniments of blind self-love, and empty-headed pride, and
of that Fides which has " a window in its mind," and flings its
secret to the world (I. 18). Murena's braggart insolence was
exhibited "to all alike " • Dio, cf. Intr. § 38. Of him Horace
often speaks in bitterest irony, saying precisely the opposite of
his real meaning, and) this fact must be allowed for in interpreta-
tion.

Such irony appears in the word " tempestiva," in v. 27. In
B.C. 22, Murena could not have been very young, and hence prob-
ably comes the point of the sarcasms of II. 1 1 . The self -supposed
descendant or reincarnation of Achilles, Inachus, Codrus, etc.,
in his own estimation, was a fit mate for anyone, to whom the
humbly born and boorish Agrippa ought not to be preferred.

No theory of mere accident or coincidence will suffice to account
for the far-reaching results of construing the name Telephus in
this way. To anyone who will take the trouble to follow them,
they must carry conviction. The only one we need mention here
is the reduction of the Odes from a perplexing jumble of beautiful
elements to an exquisite mosaic of interrelated allegory and
felicitous allusion.

XX

TO PYRRHUS

You do not see at what great risk you take
Whelps, Pyrrhus, from a Gaetulian lioness :
An unaudacious ravisher, you will flee

Soon from the stubborn fight :

When through the hosts of youths barring her way, 5
She goes demanding back her famed Nearchus —
A mighty conflict, whether it yields to you

Or her the larger spoil.

Meantime — while you draw forth swift shafts,
She sharpens formidable teeth — 10

The strife's decider, it is said, has placed

Beneath his naked foot
The palm, and in a gentle breeze relieves
His shoulders swept by scented locks —
One such as Nireus was, or he 15

From watery Ida snatched.

Intr. § 95 and foil. That this Ode is symbolic is certain. Its
position next after Murena's banquet is worthy of note, and may
supply us with a clue, for though Verrall confesses himself un-

i8o THE ODES OF HORACE

able to see its point, there is good reason to believe that it eluci-
dates III. 19, and bears with a strong confirming influence on
his main theories. It yields this result on the application of an
obvious principle, viz. an examination of the purport of the
names used by Horace. The name which suggests a particular
(J.V00S or legend may suffice for a full revelation of the allegory,
or it may only offer us to-day the elements of a hypothesis.
The use of myth in this way was thoroughly in accord with
the spirit of Athenian tragedy, but not perhaps of lyrical work.
Now to what legends do the names of Nearchus and Pyrrhus
direct our attention ? The former, of which the meaning is a
new ruler — not, as will be seen, an insignificant fact — recalls the
story of Zeno of Elea (Velia) in Italy, a philosopher and disciple
of Parmenides, who is credited with having attempted to rid his
country of a tyrant named Nearchus. His plot being discovered,
he was put to the torture to make him reveal the names of his
accomplices, but he cut off his tongue to prevent himself from
doing so and, it is added, flung it in the face of the tyrant.
Whether in all this there would be possible points of connection
with the career of Murena, the reader may judge for himself. With
regard to Pyrrhus the case is still more remarkable. Through
that name we are immediately brought into contact with the
genus JEaci of III. 19, and the " Achilles," of IV. 6 and elsewhere.
Pyrrhus means golden-haired, and was the name of a son of
Achilles — otherwise Neoptolemus. Calchas the seer, after
Achilles' death, declared that the towers of Troy would not fall
until Pyrrhus arrived at the siege. He was accordingly sum-
moned, and in the final onslaught on Troy distinguished himself
by his daring, and also by the ferocious cruelty of his temper
(IV. 6, 17), dragging Priam from sanctuary, and ruthlessly slaying
him and other members of the royal house, and taking Andro-
mache captive. On the theory that " Achilles "• and " genus
^Eaci,"- where they occur in the Odes in poems referable to
Murena, are symbolic names for him, there emerges an easy con-
nection for Nearchus (the new ruler) and the latter-day Pyrrhus
which, if we had more detail of the projects really in Murena's
mind, we should be able to fit exactly into place. It is likely
that the disposal of Julia's hand was connected with those pro-
jects. The time of the Ode is after the death of Marcellus in 23,
and before the death of Murena in 22, which we take to be noted
in III. 24. The remarrying of Julia was then an important
matter. Augustus actually thought of allying her to Proculeius
Murena, the brother of our hero, an unambitious man not engaged
in politics (Tac. Ann. 4, 39, 40). This proposal was not carried
out, and she became the wife of Agrippa for reasons of State.
Now it is possible that these facts explain both this Ode and the
reference in the preceding one to the lady who is " vicina seni,"
and " a strange mate for ' Lycus ' " (III. 19, 23, ».). The refer-
ence to Boeotia, the home of the most rude of the Greeks, is
striking, considering that Agrippa was a blunt, rough fighter by
land and sea (I. 6), a typical " Boeotian " and also, seeing that
Lycus was a son of Neptune, and Agrippa the recipient of the
unusual honour of a naval crown, the reference is more pointed
still. It may be that Lucius Murena, dazzled by the prospect of
an imperial alliance with his family, resolved, when he found that
Augustus had abandoned it, that it should after all come about,

BOOK in] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES

181

even if Julia had to be got in the way in which Pyrrhus obtained1'
Andromache. It is possible that this was part of the mad
schemes of the banquet pictured in III. 19 ; it is possible that
this memorable banquet is the one referred to by Ovid in Met. I.,
and that Murena is there symbolised by the name of Lycaon,
whose designs, coupled with his wolf-like ferocity, caused such
consternation to Augustus and the Senate.

It is further possible and likely that these momentous schemes
are the topic of III. 20. The Gaetulian lioness, i.e. one as savage
as those of Gaetulia, is probably Rome, excited with jealousy for
its whelps, the sacred line of lulus, and for the safety of its
" Nearchus," its new ruler, Augustus : while the arbiter of the
fight, the man who checkmated Murena and his mad schemes by
prosecuting him before the Senate as an accomplice of Caepio —
whether quite " accurately "- or not was doubtful, but at least so
effectively as, without compromising the honour of the Caesarean
name, to fasten the strangling knot (laqueus} round his neck — is
Tiberius, the friend of the Muses (Suet. Tib. 21, 68, 70, and see
Verrall's note thereon, Stud. p. 61) remarkable in youth for his
beauty, and his long hair, and his love of art (Pliny, N. H. 34, 19),
the young Apollo of Delos and Patara —

Qui rore puro Castaliae lavit

Crines solutos — etc., III. 4, vv. 61, 64.

Such is the interpretation, pieced together from many hints
in Horace and from other writers, which I venture to propound
for this poem. On this view it becomes one of the most important
links in the chain, and confirms the conjecture which Dr Verrall
had been induced to make, without reference to it, that some pro-
ject with regard to Julia's hand in marriage might be the key to
the mystery of Murena's denunciation and execution. The refer-
ences to Pirithous, III. 4, 80, IV. 7, 28, and II. 12, 5, and I. 18, 8
support this.

XXI

TO A WINE-JAR

O BORN with me when Manlius was consul,
Whether lamentations, mirth, dispute,
Mad loves or facile sleep,

You bring, O wine-jar blest,
Deserving, in whatever name you guard
The Massic choice, to be disturbed on a good day,
Come down, Corvinus bids

Me serve the mellower wine.
Not he, although he drips with lore
Socratic, will with a shudder pass you by :
?Tis said the virtue of old Cato even
Grew often warm with wine.

10

182 THE ODES OF HORACE

You ply a gentle strain upon the mind

That's hard by wont. You, through Lyaeus gay,

Reveal the secret project of the wise, 1 5

And their solicitudes.
Hope you restore to anxious minds,
And firmness, and exalt the poor man's horn,
Who dreads not after thee the angry crests

Of kings, or soldiers' arms. 20

Liber, and Venus if she comes with joy,
And Graces, slow to loosen their embrace,

And living lamps will lengthen out your time,
Until returning Phrebus routs the stars.

Addressed in form to a wine-jar, this Ode commemorates the
poet's friendship with Messalla Corvinus, a comrade in arms at
Philippi who had become reconciled to Augustus, and had fought
for him at Actium. He said to the Emperor that he had been on
the right side on each occasion — a statement very valuable to the
historian as showing the trend of public opinion among some of
Rome's leading citizens through these eventful times. He was
a patron of literature. The Ode, placed next to the description
of Murena's mad revel, gains significance by a comparison.
Horace's views are broad and sane. It is not pleasure that is
wrong but excess. A former school of critics systematically put
the worst construction on any reference to " Venus "- in Horace's
works, or even to the mere mention of a woman's name. Elabor-
ate schemes of the course of Horace's amours have been formu-
lated, but not with success. The Three Books are no record of
such things, and whatever Horace's private standard of morality
may have been, the critic who does not recognise his high moral
purpose here is blind to a fact that cannot be overlooked without
error. Mention in this place of "Venus" implies no impro-
priety. The entertainment contemplated is a decent and sober
one, not unfit for the presence of ladies. As Dr Verrall amusingly
says, " There is nothing in the piece that Wordsworth might
not have written in expectation of a visit from Mr and Mrs
Southey." So far from gloating over the prospect of a debauch,
Horace's intention was probably to draw a contrast between
comely conviviality and licence.

XXII
TO DIANA

O VIRGIN, keeper of the mounts aud groves,
Who hearkenest to women in their travail
When triply called, and rescuest them from death,

Goddess, whose forms are three !
Thine be the pine that overhangs my cot,
To which I gladly as the years conclude
Would give the blood of a boar just thinking of

His sidelong thrust.

BOOK in] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES

183

Horace promises a votive offering to the goddess who preside^
over child-birth, the triply named Luna, Diana, Hecate. It is in
accord with his manner to prepare in one piece for another, I. 30
for instance is a preface to I. 33, and there are others similarly
correlated. This Ode may possibly be taken to give a clue to
III. 25, but on this view, which is Dr Verrall's, its position is
rather early chronologically, for Julia did not marry Agrippa till
B.C. 21, and we are still in the year before that, cf. III. 24.

XXIII

TO PHIDYLE

IF thou hast raised uplifted hands to heaven
At the moon's birth, O rustic Phidyle ;

With incense if thou hast appeased thy gods,

And this year's fruit, and gluttonous sow,
Not pestilent Africus will thy fecund vine
Feel, and thy crops no blighting rust,
Thy younglings dear no heavy time

When the year brings forth fruit —
For though a victim vowed for sacrifice
Which now on snowy Algidus is pasturing,

Among the oaks and holms, or growing fat
On Alba's sward, shall from its throat
Dye pontiff's axe, there is no need that thou
Should'st ply with many slaughterings of sheep,
While thou dost crown thy little gods

With rosemary and myrtle frail.
If an exempted hand hath touched the shrine,
Not greater through a costly victim were its charm,
It has assuaged untoward household gods
With holy spell and crackling salt.

10

20

This beautiful Ode is a good index to the real nature of the poet.
The feelings that inspired it can only be such as are worthy of
admiration — reverence and sympathy, the willingness to praise
what is admirable even though found in the humble and the poor.
Sincerity is transparent throughout. It is no formal expression
of the right thing to say, but is suffused with genuine feeling. No
man who was merely a careless pleasure-lover, only anxious, for
sybaritic reasons, to be on good terms with life, could have
written it. There is not a sign that the author is posing : the
sentiment is expressed with reserve, and is free from sentiment-
ality. It ought to raise the question whether one's whole view
of the Three Books must not take some colour from it. Can an
interpretation be sound which would allow the poet here to be
singing as a psalmist, and in II. 14 or in I. 36 as a debauchee ?
An impartial study of all the elements of the question can only

I84 THE ODES OF HORACE

lead to one conclusion. Attention to such considerations gives
us, at least, our best hope of perceiving the author's standpoint.
The striking contrast between this Ode and the one which follows
is an effect too conspicuous to escape notice.

2. The new moon thus associated with religious observance,
must mark the season of the new year, vovp/rjvCa. It applies more
fitly to the beginning of the religious year in March, than of the
civil, in January, thus carrying on the time from III. 19. Phidyle :
that is " thrifty," a housewife of the class from which sprang
Rome's strength, her soldier -farmers, III. 6, 37, etc.

17. Immunis : i.e. "exempt from a service or charge" (IV. 12,
23, Epist. I. 14, 33). Its force here is not merely " without a
gift." Mr Wickham's acute remark that the doctrine of the
stanza is " that the gods do not look for costly offerings from
humble worshippers,'1 really lays much of the critical dust raised
over it. The sense is clear when once the meaning of " immunis "
is grasped. Besides the grammatical objection, it is evident
that " manus immunis " does not contemplate the " hand of
innocency " generally, from the fact that hostia continues the
thoughts on sacrificial slaughter just mentioned in connection
with Phidyle.

20. Far : Mr Page seems clearly right in saying that far and
mica, " mola salsa,"- point to the act of worship : they must not
be confounded with any idea of the offering itself in a cheap form.

XXIV

BE it that you more opulent
Than untouched treasuries of Arabs and rich India,

Appropriate with your masonry
The whole Tyrrhene, even sea of common right, —

If dire Necessity 5

Fixes her adamantine nails upon the highest crests,

Not mind from fear,
Not head from snares of death, shall you unloose.

The Scythians on the steppes,
Whose wains, after their manner, draw their wandering homes, 10

Live better, and Getians
Austere, to whom unmeted acres yield

Free store of fruits and grain,
Whom tillage pleases not for longer than a year,

And one acquit of toil 15

Another upon equal terms in turn relieves.

There woman without guile
Attends the wants of motherless step-children,

Dowried wife rules not
Her husband or with sleek adulterer pledges faith. 20

An ample dowry is
Their parents' virtue, chasteness that shrinks from another man

— Vows being inviolate —

BOOK in] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES 185

And heaven's mandate against sin whose wage is death.

Oh, whosoever wills 25

To put down impious massacres and madness in the state,

If he would seek to have
" Father of Cities " graven on his statues, let him be bold

To curb the untamed lawlessness,
And be a light unto posterity. How, Ah, 'tis sin ! 30

Safe-standing valiance we hate !
Swept from our sight we seek it, envious.

What use in sad complaints,
If crime be cut not at the root by punishment ?

What profit in laws, futile 35

Without morality, if neither the part of the world

Shut in by fervent heats,
Nor its side upon the north wind bordering close,

And snows upon the ground
Hard frozen, daunt the trader ? If sailors shrewd 40

Vanquish the fearful main ?
And poverty, a dire disgrace, commands us both to do

And suffer anything,
And leaves the path of lofty righteousness ?

Either into the Capitol, 45

Whither the shout and throng of partisans enjoins,

Or in the nearest sea,
Let us ourselves cast gems, and stones, and useless gold,

Source of the worst of ills,
If there be true repentance for our sins. 50

Of baleful lust
The rudiments must be erased : too flaccid minds

By practice more severe
Must shapen be. The well-born boy has not the skill,

Untrained, to sit his horse, 55

And is afraid to hunt : but better versed in play,

If one bid with the Grecian hoop,
Or give the choice to dice proscribed by law,

And this because his father's faith
Forsworn deceives his partner-colleague and his guest, 60

And for a worthless heir
Hurries a fortune quick. In truth, wealth grows

Beyond all bounds ; but yet
To an estate is always lacking something to round it off.

Intr. §§ 78-79, 107. It is probable that the first eight lines of
this Ode give the last episode in the story of Murena ; the million-
aire, the encroacher on the sea, the man who, diviner of the future
though he be, forgets Nemesis (Dira necessitas} is not in the end
able to extricate his head from the laqueus, the " bowstring " of
the executioner. Murena was put to death in the early part of
B.C. 22. To this he has come, and his wealth and presumption

186 THE ODES OF HORACE

have led to his ruin. This thought causes the poet to make his
reflections more general, and brings them into line with portions
of the Six Odes (cf. III. 6). For the sake of moral health the
State must revert to the simplicity of former times. If wealth is
sapping the national character, away with it. Has Rome been
brought to such a pass that Scythians and Getae may be held up
to her as examples ? Then let the strong man be up and doing.
Querulous whining will not mend matters. There must be stern
measures of repression. Authority must insist on obedience.
Despite the meagreness of the hints we have of the sequel to the
Caepio-Murena plot, we shall probably be right in taking Horace
here to be reading the Emperor a " straighter ?? lesson than any-
thing of the kind he had previously ventured. It is as if he had
said, " You have found these men guilty of treason ; they have
died for their crime ; it is well, but matters cannot rest there.
Treasonable plots are the outward sign of internal mischief ; find
the roots of the canker, and extirpate it. If you have ' virtus,*
strength in your consciousness of right, which men admire though
they hate it in action, prove that you deserve the title which we
give you ; severity is necessary in a father if he would have un-
spoiled children ; it must be applied to the nation, unless want of
principle and discipline, the insolence of wealth, and the enerva-
tion of luxury, are to be our ruin " ; cf. III. 2. The Ode is valuable
to the historian as an indication of the political condition of Rome
after Augustus' attempt to "restore" the Republic in B.C. 23.
Intr. §§44 and foil.

4. Common unto all : The reading " publicum '-• here followed
is that of the oldest known MS., V. Bland.

6. The crowning heights : See Wickham, Fate is a builder too,
and may take the completion of the work into her own hands.

9. Scythians : Horace seems to be applying to these people
Julius Caesar's account of the Suevi. Among the Suevi the war-
riors of one year were the agriculturists of the next, and so on.
Fidelity to marriage vows was a feature of the Germans (Caes.
Bell. Gall. 4, i).

23. Vows : i.e. marriage which death alone should end, I. 13, 17.

31. Valiance ; virtus : cf. Epist. II. i, vv. 10-14.

35. What profit, etc. : The point is in the reference to morals
and poverty : the merchant is the feeder of luxury : the daring
of the sailor is of the wrong kind. It is false morality to regard
poverty as a disgrace. Poverty that stimulates is better than
wealth that destroys.

50. Baleful lust : Conington.

52. Erased : the metaphor is from expunging writing from
tablets.

60. Hospitem : The person to whom the duty of help and
•hospitality is owed : not impossible that this line is pointed
through the contrast between the respective ideas of Proculeius
and his brother on the subject.

BOOK in] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES 187

/

»xxv

TO BACCHUS

WHITHER art taking me, O Bacchus, filled
With thee ? Into what groves or caverns am I swiftly born

With a new mind ? Within what grots
Shall I be heard rehearsing how to set

Among the stars and at Jove's council-board 5

The endless glory of a Csesar without peer.

A thing of note, new and as yet unsung
By other lips, I'll sing. Just so on mountain-peaks

The Eviad unsleeping stands amazed,
Forth looking over Hebrus, and on Thrace agleam 10

With snow, and Rhodope betrod
By foot barbarian, as in my wandering

To me it is delightful to admire
The banks and solitary groves. O lord of Naiads,

And Bacchanals of strength 15

To overthrow by hand the ash-trees tall,

No trifle, naught in humble strain,
No mortal thing I'll sing. Sweet is the hazard, O thou

Of the Lenaea, to attend the god
Who wreathes his temples with the tendril green. 20

This " dithyramb " has had many hard words for its supposed
" falsetto " — to introduce Augustus as a theme new, not only to
the mouth of this poet but to the mouth of all poets, is considered
inept, especially as it is done at the end of a book which deals
largely with his praises. This ineptness seems to me to be largely
an effect produced by the traditional course of regarding the Odes
as a collection of disconnected poems. Verse 8 should perhaps
be read in the light of Epist. I. 19, 32. The " newness " if re-
ferred to Horace's use of lyrics as a vehicle for allegory would be-
come intelligible.

However, the theory of Dr Verrall, though it cannot be con-
sidered unassailable, may have substance. He argues that the
" unique Caesar " is not Augustus, but that the Ode is a pendant
to III. 22 in which the prayer of the lyrist was offered to the god-
dess of child-birth, and celebrates the arrival in the world of a new
member of the Julian line in the person of the infant son of Julia
and Agrippa. As Bacchus is the god of infancy and infant
nurture, he uses that fact to support his view. Stud, in Hor. p. 1 15.

This theory would involve composition not earlier than B.C. 20.
Disregarding either of these theories of the Ode, I cannot see that
Horace is necessarily to be taken as indicating that the glory of
Caesar is the point of novelty. That may be something by which
the glory of Caesar shall be reflected, e.g. the overthrow of op-
ponents, and the final establishment of his power.

The concluding lines indicating risk to the poet may be inter-
preted through III. 27, cf. notes. Concerning the Lenaea, cf. III.

188 THE ODES OF HORACE

19, 26, n. The Ode should be considered and construed with II.
19. Taken as a constituent of a connected work, it may be re-
lieved of the objections which critics urge against it. One
eminent editor dubs it " a mere study," and with all deference,
such gratuitous assumptions seem to me to strike at the root of
sound criticism, they would never have been made had we followed
Horace's own directions, and read systematically his work as a
whole : cf. Intr. §§ 11-14, III. 15, n.

XXVI

LATELY I lived a proper squire of dames,
And fought not without honour : now
My weapons, and my harp discharged

From warfare, this wall shall receive,
That guards the left side of our seaborn Venus. 5

Here, here, lay down the gleaming brands,
The crowbars and the bows,

That menaced the obstructing doors.
O goddess, who possessest blissful Cyprus,
And Memphis, which is free from Thracian snow, 10

O queen, with lash aloft

Touch Chloe once the arrogant.

Compare this Ode with 1.5. In taking farewell of his readers,
Horace speaks as a conventional writer of lyrics. The " pose "
which he has elsewhere assumed, reappears (cf. I. 6, 20 ; II. i, 37 ;
III. 3, 69. The Ode makes a show of justifying the language of
those references. See also the opening lines of the Fourth Book.

This piece may be read as a useful commentary on the lines in
Epist. I. i, which are by some taken as an argument in favour of
B.C. 23 as the date of publication of the Three Books. Horace
is here saying the same thing as he there expresses in the words
" versus (i.e. versus ludicvos) et cetera ludicra pono," " I am
giving up writing in this style." I am reminded on this point (if
I may quote from a private communication) by Dr Verrall, that
Horace does not mean that he is giving up writing altogether,
because he is actually engaged then in publishing a literary work
of the kind he intends to continue ; and if the reference is to the
style only, the postulate of a long interval between Odes and
Epistles is not required. Intr. §§ 54-57, and notes to last Ode.

XXVII
TO GALATEA

MAY omen of a jay's re-echoing note,
May pregnant bitch, and grey wolf running down
From a Lanuvian field, or heavy vixen,
Herald the impious,

BOOK in] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES 189

And may a serpent break the appointed route, 5 (

If, like an arrow shot athwart, it hath

Struck fear into their jennets. I, a prophetic seer

For her, my care,

Before the bird reseeks the stagnant fens,
That presages impending rains, will rouse 10

With prayer a rook, whose songs speak sooth,

From the sun's rising.

May you be fortunate where you wish it most.
And live, O Galatea, in memory of me :
And may no sinister pie, or wandering crow, 15

Forbid your going.

But see with what excitement throbs Orion
As he sets. I know what the dark gulf
Of Hadria is, and how even fair

lapyx may offend. 20

Let wives and children of our enemies
Feel the blind tumults of arising Auster, and
The groaning of the gloomy sea, and strands

With the shock quaking.

Thus too Europa trusted her snowy side 25

To the deceitful bull, and, bold as she was,
Paled at the deep with monsters seething,

And wiles encompassing —
Lately engaged with flowers in the meads,
A fashioner of chaplets due to the Nymphs, 30

In the half-light of night she saw naught else

Save stars and waves.

And when she came to Crete whose might is in
Its hundred towns, she cried, " My father, Oh !
Lost name of daughter ! My duty, Oh ! 35

Vanquished by madness,

Wrhence, whither, am I come ? Light punishment
For virgins' sins is death alone : am I awake
Wailing a wicked deed ? Or, free from guilt,

Does empty phantasy 40

Mock me, that fleeing from the ivory gate,
Brings on a dream ? Was it a better lot
To go across long waves, or cull

The new-blown flowers ?

If to me, angered now, the infamous steer 45

One gave, with steel to hack it I should try,
And break the horns of the monster but lately

Much beloved.

Shameless I left my father's household gods,
Shameless from Orcus I delay. O of the gods 50

If any hearest this, would that among lions

I naked roamed :

190 THE ODES OF HORACE

Before the hideous shrinking of decay

Seize on my comely cheeks, and the blood leaves

Their tender prey, I, fair, do ask to be 55

For tigers food.

' O base Europa,' urges my sire though far away,
' Why hesitate to die ? Thou canst from this ash-tree
And with thy zone — wise to accompany thee —

By hanging break thy neck : 60

Or if the crags and rocks pointed with death,
Attract thee, come then, trust thyself
To the whirling storm, unless thou dost prefer

To card a master's wool,

Thou of king's blood, and as his concubine, 65

Be handed to the mercy of a foreign queen.' "
Sly-smiling Venus at her plaint had stood

And, with his bow unstrung,

Her son. Soon, when she had played enough, " Refrain,"
She said, " from wrath and heated quarrellings, 70

Since unto thee the hated bull will yield

His horns to rend,

Thou knowest not that to Jove unconquered thou
Art spouse. Repress thy sobs. Learn well to bear
A mighty destiny : a quarter of the world 75

Shall take thy name."

See Wickham's summary and notes. This Ode, which seems
to stand alone in the series, may perhaps reveal a glimpse of its
meaning through the name Galatea. It is slight, and the inter-
pretation below is not put higher than possibility. Allegorical
writing was a feature of Grecian style : the use of words with a
shade of meaning apparently less than the writer intended
(cipwveCa) and the narration of a true story under the guise of
a fictitious one (dXXTryopfo.) had delighted Greek audiences long
before Vergil and Horace charmed the Latin ear with them, and
an example of the kind appears in the Cyclops or Galatea, of
Philoxenus, a dithyrambic poet of Cythera. We know the legend
by the name of Acis and Galatea (Ovid, Met. 13, 750) ; in the
original, the lover of the nymph was Ulysses. The origin of this
story was attributed to an episode in the life of Philoxenus, and
was said to symbolise the following events. While living in
Sicily, at the court of Dionysius (circa 400 B.C.), the poet was dis-
covered in a liaison with a favourite of the tyrant, and for this
was condemned to work in some quarries. In the poem, the lover
represents Philoxenus, Galatea is the lady, and the Cyclops,
who hurled stones against his rival, is Dionysius. Whether this
is the true basis of the poem or not, it is certain that Philoxenus
wrote a work called Cyclops or Galatea, and that it was regarded
as an allegory with a virovofo, or hidden meaning under its out-
ward form. This is the first point.

Looking further we find that Dionysius was a poetaster, and
desired the applause of Philoxenus for his efforts. One story says
that he submitted some verses to Philoxenus with a request that

BOOK in] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES 191

he should suggest improvements. The uncompromising artist'
replied that he would recommend a black line through every word.
Another version of the story is that Dionysius hinted that the
poet would be set free if he were to praise the tyrant's writings,
and that Philoxenus, after hearing them recited, turned to his
guards and bade them take him back to the quarries, whereupon
Dionysius, respecting his manliness in preserving the honesty of
his speech, ordered his release. Our second point lies in the fact
that this tradition was probably known to the cultured world in
Rome. If Horace wished to hint that he too had written some-
thing allegorical, he might allegorise this by describing it as his
" Galatea " : the choice of the name being prompted by these
stories of Philoxenus and Dionysius. Supposing Galatea setting
forth on a journey across the Hadriatic to typify the despatch of
his own book, a subtle inference might be drawn from the analogy
of something the poet would never dream of saying openly (cf. I.
1 8, 12) or even of hinting at broadly — an inference, for instance,
that if his sovereign found in the book things not altogether to his
taste yet integrity of speech was preferable to assentation.

The Three Books, read as a whole in the light of history, give us
grounds for thinking that in one respect Horace was taking a side
against the Emperor — the side of Maecenas. There would be a
difference of opinion as to the heinousness of his offence in con-
nection with the memorable betrayal of confidence (Intr. § 28
and foil.) there was probably difference of opinion as to the wisdom
of Augustus' own action after the execution of the conspirators
which may reflect itself in III. 24 (vv. 25 and foil.) : and Horace
may here, with a non-committal and safe vagueness, be vindicating
his right to his own opinion. There was also the serious risk of
offence in publishing, even in allegory, poems concerning the
recent outrage on the honour of the imperial family. Supposing
that he felt himself safe from any dangerous resentment of his
sovereign as to the latter, the step would not lack adroitness,
since it would confirm the sincerity of his frequent praises of
Augustus.

I take it therefore that in the exordium to this poem, Horace is
asking for an auspicious start for his book on its journey. It is
not an impious book (qua the Emperor that is of course seditious)
because with " impiety " Horace has no sympathy, and its author
is about to ask a good omen for it from the East. In the years
B.C. 20 and 19 Augustus spent a considerable time in the East,
and Horace despatched a volume of his works — most probably
the Three Books — to him by one Vinius Asella (Epist. I. 13 : see
Sellar) and another by Dionysius (see Suet. Life, supra, p. 73).
On this reading special point may be discerned in several ex-
pressions in the first six stanzas. The story of Europa follows :
it is not necessary, or perhaps from the poet's view desirable,
that it should carry on the hidden thought of the opening too
closely. It is possible, however, to imagine a connection, which
would be wanted for the benefit of Augustus, and it may be this :
Europa was distressed with anxiety, fear and self-reproach, here
am I in a similar position : she was joyfully relieved, and her
name made immortal, my lot may be similar : I shall be assured
that I have not committed an offence, and the poems will make
my name famous (cf. extract from Augustus' letter to Horace (Life,
Suet, supra} showing that there was question between them as to

192 THE ODES OF HORACE

the way in which the poems impressed the Emperor): C/. notes to
the next Ode.

2. Grey wolf : cf. II. n.

3. Lanuvium : a town on the Appian Way : would be passed by
a traveller from Rome to a southern Adriatic port. It also seems
to have been the real place of origin of the Murena family : Cic.
Pro. Mur. 40.

13. May you be fortunate where you wish it most ; i.e. with the
Emperor.

14. Memor : In III. n, 51, Horace uses this word in the active
sense as " that which reminds of " ; the possibility of the double
application would help the allegory, c/. III. 17, 4, 1. 13, 12.

19. In II. 20 the first region which Horace says he will visit is
the shores of the Bosphorus. Vinius Asella may have taken there
the first copy of the book.

20. lapyx : I. 3.

25. According to Pindar, Europa was a daughter of Tityos, but
according to others, of Agenor, King of Phoenicia, and Telephassa,
a feminine form of Telephus, the interpretation of which name
would resolve many questions arising out of these poems.

64. Domince : pellex : the concubine of the lord, slave of his
wife.

XXVIII
TO LYDE

WHAT better can I do
On Neptune's festal day ? My bustling Lyde, draw

The cellared Caecuban.
And force 'gainst fortified discretion ply.

The noon is on the wane 5

You see, and yet, as though the flying day would stand,

You hesitate to seize the jar
Of Consul Bibulus, lingering in the store —

I, in my turn, will chant
Of Neptune and the green locks of Nereids, 10

Thou with the bended lyre
Shalt answering sing Latona and swift Cynthia's darts :

In final song of her who holds
Gnidos and glittering Cyclades, and visit makes

To Paphos with linked swans : 15

Night also shall be hymned with well-earned lullaby.

This Ode appears to me to support the theory enunciated in the
notes to the preceding one. It indicates that on Neptune's day
Horace has made up his mind to take a bold course, and speed
his book on its way to Augustus across the sea, and as it goes he
will mark the importance of the occasion with the most precious
of all vintages. The toasts to be drunk are as significant as those

BOOK in] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES 193

of Murena's banquet (III. 19), first Neptune, god of the sea, and
his ministering sprites, the Nereids : then Latona and the darts
of Cynthia : what this means can be gathered from Horace's
other references to insults offered to the gods and the venge-
ance exacted for them. The case of Latona and Niobe is after-
wards mentioned in IV. 6, and in the Three Books there are several
allusions to similar topics, cf. Tityos, II. 14, Pirithous, III. 4,
IV. 7, etc., and others. Horace seems to hint at a risk which
compels him to decide between discretion and boldness. This
risk is of committing an offence such as that which invoked the
avenging darts of Cynthia. He desires to disclaim any intention
of offending. The reference to Venus connects the subject with
Augustus, through his ancestry, and the association of locality is
in point, considering that the Emperor spent portions of the year
during B.C. 20 and 19 in the region of the Greek islands. Nep-
tune's feast was in July, in which month Augustus returned to
Rome from Samos in B.C. 19. The " lullaby " to Night is probably
an allusion to the close of the poet's labours : note its epithet
" merit a " and compare it with the " meritis " ' of III. 30, 15.
Nenia, in its first significance, is a dirge, but it was also used for
lullabies and such songs.

7. Bibulus : i.e of the time of Julius Caesar's first consulate,
the beginning of the new era when the Republic was over- thrown.
Bibulus was powerless against Julius ; Murena, a wine-bibber,
equally so against Augustus. Horace's punning use of the name,
coupled with its associations as above, is only another instance
of his " felicity." At the end of the book our thoughts are thus
directed back to the starting-point in I. 2. The invitation in the
Ode is of course only a poetic device, and it is not necessary to
suppose that Horace waited for the Neptunalia to frame it.

XXIX

TO MAECENAS

O TYRRHENE scion of royalty, for thee
In jar as yet untilted, mellow wine,

With bloom of roses, O Maecenas, and

Pressed balsam for thy hair,

Has long been by me. Rid thee of all delays. 5

Do not for ever fix thy gaze on Tibur moist,
And sloping fields of ^Esula,

And heights of Telegon, the father-slayer.
Leave ease-destroying plenty, and

The pile that nears the lofty clouds : 10

Cease to admire the smoke, and wealth,

And din of opulent Rome.
Full oft are changes pleasing to the rich,
And fair repasts under the roof of the poor,

Without embroideries or purples, 15

Have smoothed a worried brow.

194 THE ODES OF HORACE

Now bright the father of Andromeda
Displays his hidden fire ; Procyon rages,
And the Lion's furious star,

As the sun brings back days of drought. 20

The weary shepherd with his languid flock,
Seeks shade and rivulet, and copse
Of shock Silvanus, and without

The wandering breezes is the silent bank.
Thou hast in charge what thing beseems the State, 25

And, anxious for the City's sake, thou fearest

What Seres, and Bactria, where Cyrus reigned,

Design, and Tanais faction-torn.
With wisdom God enshrouds in murky night
The issue of the time to come, and laughs 30

S~ If mortal man inordinately fret.

Remember with composure to adjust
What is at hand. The rest is borne along
As is a river, now in mean channel calmly

Down gliding to the Tuscan sea, 35

Now rolling rounded stones,
Stumps torn away> and kine and homes
Together, and not without the roar

Of mountains and of neighbouring wood^

When a fierce downpour fills 40

Quiet waterways with rage. That man will be
Master of self, and pass in joy, who daily may

Declare " I have lived '-' : to-morrow let the Father

Encompass heaven, or with black cloud,
Or sunshine clear : still that which is behind 45

He will not render void, nor forge anew,

Nor make as though undone,

Whate'er the flying hour has once removed.
Fortune, rejoicing in her cruel ploy,

Persistent aye to play her insolent game, 50

Changes her honours insecure, —

Now to me now to another kind.
I praise her biding, but if she shakes
Quick wings, I render back her gifts,

And wrap me in my worth, and, unendowed, 55

Betake me unto honest poverty.
'Tis not for me, if the mast creaks
At Afric's storms, to rush to piteous prayers,
And strike a bargain through my vows,

That wares of Cyprus and of Tyre 60

May add no riches to the greedy sea —
Then with the safeguard of a two-oared skiff,
Me through ^gaea's tumults will the breeze,

And Pollux and his twin, convey unharmed.

BOOK in] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES 195

See Verrall, Stud, in Hor., Essay II. The significance of this
poem becomes clear on the theory of Horace's work here sup-
ported (Intr. § 33, etc.). Horace bids his patron come to him,
and leave his own home with its view of the heights of Telegonus,
the parricide. One naturally asks why this allusion is made with
such extraordinary emphasis. The answer is that parricidium
means any treasonable murder. The heights are those of Tus-
culum where Varro had a villa. On the Sabine farm Maecenas
would not be in sight of places recalling his troubles to mind.
Clearly he is in trouble, else why mention the worried brow, why
the reflection that mortals over-anxious as to the future are objects
of ridicule to the gods, why the whole tenor of the poem ? (see
III. 16).

We know that after Maecenas had betrayed the " secret " (Intr.
§ 30) he lost the confidence of his master, we also know that no
outward sign of the changed relations seems to have been observed
by the world till six years later : we have seen how Horace deals
with the story, and that being so, we know what he means when
he uses these words to his patron. Addresses -to men high in
place and power are not often cast in this strain, but there is little
difficulty in finding the explanation for the present exception.
At no time during the course of Maecenas' association with the
Emperor could they have any point except after the fatal year
of B.C. 22. The events which then occurred would rouse in Horace
the strongest emotions of sympathy. Others may excel him in
the poetry of love, none have done so in that of friendship. To
his striking comparison of the Three Books with Tennyson's
In Memoriam, Dr Verrall might have added that both works
are inspired by friendship in ex eel sis. Different though they are,
each resembles the other in being the memorial of the personal
attachment of a man to a man. Horace tells us that he com-
posed but little, and that with difficulty : sympathy with his
benefactor supplied the necessary stimulus. Had Maecenas'
career ended in calm prosperity, we should have had no rnonu-
mentum from Horace's pen perhaps, but some poems answering
more truly to what he has professed to give us — a casual collec-
tion of experiments in Greek metres : as it is, we have a memorial
more sublime than the Pyramids, which reveals to us the true place
of Horace in the literature of the world.

i . Regum progenies : cf. I, I .

3. Roses : the time is summer, cf. III. 19.

10. Molem : probably Maecenas' mansion (Intr. § 101) where
were planted the plane-trees, afterwards the property of Fronto,
which bore such eloquent testimony to Juvenal.

Full oft, etc. : Epist. I. n, vv. 26 and foil. esp.

25. Thou hast in charge : cf. III. 8, Maecenas ostensibly re-
tained his position in Augustus' favour ; the latter part of the
poem reflects the change in his circumstances. The foreign
references to the East suit B.C. 20 : see the Histories.

33. Cf. II. 3, 18.

45. The point of this reference to the past is obvious when the
real date of the poem is perceived.

50. Cruel ploy : her exultation in thwarting the over-confi-
dence of mortals.

51. Honores : used specially of political distinction. Osten-
sibly Horace is thinking of himself, but he has previously said

196 THE ODES OF HORACE

that the honours granted by the Muses are eternal. He was not
in political life. It is clear that " to me " is the same here as " to
thee." We know that Maecenas applied the poet's own words to
his case ; Intr. § 1 10, and see II. 18,35, n.

55. In my own worth : i.e. " you know the extent of your fault.
Let the consciousness of that be your solace."

XXX

I HAVE wrought out a monument more durable than bronze,

And higher than the regal structure of the Pyramids,

Which not corroding rain, nor blustering Aquilo

May overthrow, or the innumerable

Series of years, and flight of time. 5

Not wholly shall I die : of me great part

Shall escape Libitina. Ever shall I grow new

In the praises of posterity, while the high priest

Ascends the Capitol with the mute virgin —

I shall be sung as one who, risen high 10

From low estate where violent Aufidus resounds,

And where the Daunian, stinted in water, reigned

O'er rustic folk, did first implant th' yEolic lay

Among Italian measures. Take the pride,

Won by thy merits, and for me be pleased 1 5

With Delphic bay, Melpomene, to wreathe my head.

Intr. § 14, etc. The opening words of this Ode, in conjunction
with the prologue, show, as Professor Sellar observes, that the
Three Books were intended by the poet to be read as a whole.

They are a memorial, not a collection made at haphazard. The
reader will know what we regard as the links of connection between
the parts. A great deal more is done here than the mere implanta-
tion of the JEolic lay among the strains of Italy. If it were not so,
the subscription to Melpomene would be quite inappropriate.
The work is dedicated to Maecenas whose name opens it, and whose
sorrows are the subject of its penultimate piece. That the latter
fact explains the appeal to Melpomene is not an unreasonable
suggestion. Love for his friend is the emotion that has led to
this achievement, and it is through him whose love was the poet's
glory, that he will be placed among the bards who have won im-
mortal bays ; I. i, 35.

i . Monumentum : A thing to preserve the memory of some-
thing.

13. Princeps : first : this is strictly true in the case of some
^Eolic metres only. Catullus had imitated before him. Horace
first introduced the Alcaic, and the allegoric use of a series of
connected lyrics.

14. Implanted : Deducere is the regular word for founding a
colony.

BOOK IV

SPECIAL INTRODUCTION

IN this book written to commemorate the military exploits of
Tiberius and Drusus, there are five State Odes : — the second to
lulus Antonius : the fourth, in praise of Drusus' campaign against
the Vindelici, in B.C. 15 : the fifth, to the Emperor, at the time
absent from Rome : the fourteenth, celebrating the victories of
Tiberius and ascribing them to Augustus' auspices : and the
fifteenth, a final panegyric on the Emperor.

In the disposition of these design is clear, and the same remark
may be made of the other Odes in the book (Gen. Intr. § 10).
The first opens with a conventional reference to the form of
composition. Lyrical poetry being most largely concerned with
erotics, the first mention is of Venus who is represented as im-
pelling the poet to action. That she was the legendary ancestress
of the ruler at whose " command " the work was compiled of
course adds significance to the invocation. Opportunity is taken
to pay a compliment to Paulus Maximus, about whom we have
little information except that he was Consul (probably) in B.C. n.
The second Ode is a further development of the same theme : —
though lyrics are not generally written on epic subjects, one poet
has set them high, but whoso tries to rival Pindar, etc., the re-
mainder of the piece being made the vehicle for compliments, this
time to lulus Antonius as well as to the Emperor.

When the Fourth Book was published, lulus, the son of M.
Antonius and Fulvia, was in favour. He was the step-son of
Augustus' sister, and had been brought up by her. In B.C 10
he was made Consul, but was afterwards executed for crim. con.
with Julia, and for treasonable conspiracy. He apparently
attempted epics, and Horace suggests that his Muse would be the
better one for the purpose in hand in a way that recalls some words
in I. 6.

The following Ode is interesting in that it reasserts the right of
Melpomene to claim the Three Books. It should be closely com-
pared with I. i, II. 20, III. 30, for with them it has the relation of
a sequel. The conclusion of Professor Sellar, that the prologue
and epilogue to the Three Books indicate an intention that the
work should be read as a whole, is confirmed by IV. 3.

As has been said, the fourth Ode deals with the feats of the
younger of the princes, and the fifth is an encomium on the
Emperor in the form of a request for his return. It also stands
197

198 THE ODES OF HORACE

in sequel with the Three Books. The reforms there desired are
now spoken of as consummated : prosperity reigns, Italy and
the surrounding seas have peace, homes are chaste and — guilt
does not go unpunished (III. 2, 31, III. 24, 25-3-4).

The questions raised by the sixth Ode are dealt with elsewhere
(Gen. Intr. § 116, etc., and notes to the Ode).

The beautiful address to " Torquatus " is quite in the tone of
the Three Books, and reminds us of them by its allusions, mytho-
logic and otherwise (cf. the notes). The main point of the eighth
is the power of literature : " poetry," says Horace (carmine?),
" I can give, and can tell the value of the gift," and the ninth con-
tinues in the same strain. The study of the Three Books is
greatly assisted by the consideration of the Odes here grouped
together, as will be seen from the notes. The eleventh Ode is in
form an invitation to " Phyllis" the last of the poet's " loves. "
Her presence and her musical accomplishments (cf. Neaera, III.
14) are to add to the gaiety on celebrating Maecenas' birthday.
The shadow which we know to have been cast on Maecenas' career
has not been removed (cf. the last line) and the words addressed
to Phyllis on the ominously-named Telephus, on the presumption
of Phaethon and Bellerophon, coupled with the advice to aim at
what is becoming, and not to indulge in hopes of marriage above
one's rank, may be read as supporting very strongly the theories
that arise out of III. 20, and the deductions from the chapter of
Suetonius discussed in the Gen. Intr. § 96 and foil.

The next Ode (12) is lighter, and is dealt with in the notes :
the thirteenth, considered as an address to an individual, offends
modern sense of good taste, but, in spite of its personal note, I
doubt if we understand it.

One point brought out by Dr Verrall may be here noticed : viz.
that one of the differences between the Three Books and their
supplement is that all the autobiographical references in the
former occur in pieces addressed to historic persons. This is
perhaps slightly overstated. In the main, however, it is true,
and Horace certainly does not keep his personality in the back-
ground in Book IV. as he does in the Three Books. His tone is
more natural, and the voice is that of the man himself, not of the
priest of the Muses speaking, at times, under the influence of a
divine inspiration, and giving his title to announce that it is divine
(I. 1,29,111.4, 1-35, etc.).

Number fourteen serves as a tribute to the elder Nero — Tiberius :
in form it is an ascription of the recent victories to the influence of
Augustus. The last poem to Augustus himself, is short but
significant. Following the third and fifth, it again represents that
the reform of society has been effected. The poet puts into both
the Odes addressed to the Emperor in this book touches connecting
his art more cordially with the service of Caesar than in the earlier
work. Dr Verrall thinks that this points to the healing of old
scars. There are certainly grounds for the theory that Horace,

BOOK iv] SPECIAL INTRODUCTION 199

with all his belief in Augustus as the saviour of society, and the,
nation's only bulwark against anarchy, was no personal courtier,
but punctilious rather in showing his independence. He refused
to enter the Emperor's service, the tardy epistle addressed to the
monarch had to be asked for, with an expostulation against
Horace's presumed fear of exhibiting himself to the world as his
familiar friend — little ironies of this kind are not uttered without
substrata of truth — and both the Carmen Saeculare and the Fourth
Book were commanded. In the occult hints that Horace's works
are thought to contain of their differences of opinion, the language
used is not of a kind to give offence, and the position is generally
handled with address, but to regard Horace and Vergil, as some
writers seem to do, as nothing but fawning sycophants or " courtly
flatterers " is wholly to misunderstand the men and the times.

From the memorials that we have of Horace's life, meagre as
they are in detail, it appears as if he cherished towards the end a
warmer personal regard for the Emperor. That the latter courted
him, the quotations from his letters given by Suetonius show
(see supra}. It should be observed that the first set of letters
directly addressed to Horace were written after the refusal of
the secretarial office, for they are proofs that Augustus was not
thereby angered. We also see that one of Horace's publications
— a short one — was sent by the hands of Dionysius to the Emperor,
who is careful to say that he takes it in good part. This may have
been written in respect of the first or second book of the Epistles,
or possibly of the Fourth Book itself, if that was completed before
Augustus' return to Rome in B.C. 13.

The date of publication of the Fourth Book is generally placed
by critics in B.C. 14 or 13. The stronger presumption is that this
is correc^ but it is not absolutely certain. Some commentators
declare for B.C. 10, on account of the allusion to the closing of the
temple of Janus (circa B.C. 10), but as that closing was the third
in the reign, and the reference is in general terms, the premiss
is not large enough for the conclusion.

As to the note of date in IV. i by reference to Horace's age, it
may be said that it helps us hardly at all. His tenth lustrum closed
on the 8th December 15, which is too close to those campaigns
to make it probable as an indication of the completion of the book.
Its purpose may be rather to mark the starting-point, as the refer-
ence to the death of Julius Caesar seems to do in the Three Books
(I. 2). Affairs in Gaul, Germany and Spain, causing the absence
of Augustus and his step-sons from Rome, were not sufficiently
settled to allow their return till July B.C. 13. The book purports
to be in writing during the Emperor's absence (IV. 2 and 5) but
the successful results were known before completion. If it was
published before B.C. 13, Augustus' command for it must have
been sent from abroad.

BOOK IV

ODE I
TO VENUS

0 VENUS, long suspended wars

Again thou stirrest. Prithee, prithee, hold thy hand,

1 am not as I was

In good Cinara's reign. Cease cruel mother

Of sweet Cupids to constrain 5

One hardened now, and nearing lustres ten,
Unto thy soft commands. Depart
Whither the gentle prayers of youths call thee anon.

Winged to the house
Of Paulus Maximus by resplendent swans, 10

More opportune will be
Thy revel, if thou seek to fire a proper heart.

For noble in his birth and mien,
And eloquent of speech for anxious men accused,

And a youth of an hundred arts, 15

Far will he bear the standards of thy war,

And when prevailing o'er
The great gifts of a rival, he exults,

In marble hard by Alba's lake,
He will set up thyself beneath a roof of citron wood. 20

There incense plenteous
Thou shalt inhale, and by mixed songs of lyre

And Berecyntian pipe
Be gladdened, not without the flute.

There, twice in the day, 25

Boys and young maids, belauding thy divinity,

With gleaming foot
In Salian mode shall triply smite the ground.

Me neither woman
Nor lad, nor the fond hope of mutual love, 30

Nor part in wine-bout, now delights,
Nor with fresh flowers to wreathe my brows.

But why, alas, O Ligurinus, why
Does the rare teardrop flow upon my cheeks ?

Why does the facile tongue 35

200

BOOK iv] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES 201

Falter between the words with ill-becoming silence ? /

By night in dreams
I sometimes hold thee clasped, sometimes

Pursue thee flying o'er the grass
Of Mars' field, or, obdurate one, through purling streams. 40

See Sp. Intr. Bk. IV. 4. Cinara : Seemingly the first of Horace's
mistresses. Cf. IV. 13, Epist. I. 7, 28, I. 14, 33.

22. Berecyntian (III. 19, etc.) : Horace does not object to
joy, even frenzied joy, at time of religious or national festivity ;
see I. 37.

23. Ligurinus : IV. 10. The subject introduced by this name
may be dismissed in a few words. It was viewed in the same
light as other irregular connection. Freely talked about but a
scandal if indulged in openly. The manner in which the practice
was used as a reproach — often slanderous — is significant, and
instructive. Catullus (XVI.) strongly protested against a charge
of personal indulgence because he mentioned the vice freely in
his verse (cf. Mart. Ep. XI. 15, 13). Horace's Greek models had
long before familiarised the topic, and this fact probably explains
its introduction, so strange to our ideas, in a prefatory Ode like
the present. If we look back at I. 32, this becomes clear. That
poem is on a parallel with this one. There a demand had been
made for a Latin lay, whereupon Horace immediately pays a
tribute of admiration to Alcaeus, his model, whose subjects were
Bacchus, Venus, and his favourite Lycus. With such things the
lyre of the Lesbian is there identified. Now again the poet is
" commanded," and again Alcaeus is remembered. Though un-
named, a tribute is paid to his Muse in the cast of the thoughts,
which are clearly similar to those that produced I. 32. Venus'
influence is the motive force, and the Lycus — here Ligurinus —
whose beauty so inspired the older poet, is introduced. Since
the days of I. 32, time has fled and made the follower too old to
be an ideal writer in the style, and this is indicated throughout
the poem (cf. IV. 10). Had Alcaeus never celebrated Lycus of
the dark eyes and hair, we should probably not have heard any-
thing from Horace of " Ligurinus." The poetic intention is
perhaps to represent the wistful glance which age casts on its
waning powers. The poet who finds his Muse difficult and
refractory (IV. i, 4-7) reflects with sorrow that his prayer to
retain his power over the lyre has not been granted in full (I. 31,
17-20). The instant reality has given place to the fitful dream.
(There is but small philological objection to regarding " Ligurinus "
as a representative of "Lycus," at a distance — the diminutive
form expressing the higher title of the master : the Romans
associated the letters C and G in their theories of derivation, cf.
cervus from gero, etc. Varro, De Ling. Lat.) Had it been the
habit of Roman poets to make regarding themselves a personal
revelation such as Horace is commonly (but erroneously) supposed
to be making here, there would be no sting left in many of the
bitterest invectives of Catullus, Martial and others, but it was
not. " Ligurinus/' like " Phyllis " (IV. 1 1 ), etc., is pure apparatus
lyricus.

202 THE ODES OF HORACE

II

TO IULUS ^USTTONIUS

WHOEVER wills to rival Pindar effort makes,
lulus, with a wing wax-fastened by resource
Of Daedalus, destined to give his name

To glassy sea.

Like stream from mount descending which the rains 5

Have fed too amply for its well-marked banks,
Immeasurable Pindar surges and sweeps along

With deep-toned voice.
Worthy to gain the laurel of Apollo,

Whether in daring dithyrambs he rolls 10

Forth novel words, and on is borne by numbers

Freed from rule :

Or whether gods he chaunts, or kings of gods
Begot, through whom, by death deserved,
The Centaurs fell, fell too the terrible 15

Chimaera's flame :

Or whether those whom the Elean palm
Leads home, upraised to heaven, boxer or steed,
He sings (and thus rewards with mightier meed

Than a hundred statues) 20

Or whether he mourns a youth snatched from his weeping bride,
And lifts' his prowess, soul, and morals golden,
Up to the stars, and of his prize

Cheats Orcus black.

A copious breeze uplifts the swan of Dirce, 25

Antonius, as often as he speeds
To lofty regions of the clouds, I in the mode

And manner of Matine bee,
Rifling the pleasant thyme with utmost toil,
About the grove and banks of dewy Tibur, I, 30

A lesser poet, fashion odes

With laboured art.
Thou, bard of greater quill, shalt sing
Of Caesar when, bedecked with leaf well won,
He o'er the sacred slope will drag 35

Sygambri fierce :

Than whom none greater or better in the world
The Fates and the good gods have given
Or will give, though the times return

To pristine gold. 4°

And thou shalt sing the days of joy,
The city's public games upon return,
Asked for and gained, of brave Augustus, and
The forum void of suits.

BOOK iv] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES 203

Then, if I may say aught worthy to be heard, 4^

The fulness of my voice shall help, and I will sing,
" O glorious day, O worthy to be praised ! •'• in bliss

At Caesar home restored.

And, as thou marchest, " lo Triumphe," thee
We will hail not once alone ; " lo Triumphe," 50

The whole state, and incense we will give

To gods benign.

Ten bulls and heifers of like number, thee
Will quit : me a young steer that has left its dam,
And now is flourishing 'mid lush herbage for 55

Fulfilment of my vows,

Whose head is like the curved fires of the moon
When she returns with her third rise,
Snowy is he to view where he has ta'en a mark,

But the rest tawny. 60

Sp. Intr. Bk. IV. i. " Pindar was a lyrist who used his instru-
ment for grand subjects, but few can imitate him " ; the usual
allusion by way of excuse for diverting the lyric style from more
accustomed courses. In Pindar there is a reference to the slay-
ing of the Chimaera by Bellerophon : Olymp. XIII. 90. The
slaughter of the Centaurs by kings begot of gods is not mentioned
in any extant work, but the origin of the Centaurs is, Pyth. II. 42,
an ode whose sentiments might serve as a commentary on the
main themes of the Three Books. It has constant parallels of
Horace's expressions.

17. Elean : Olympian. Cf. I. I.

25. Swan of Dirce : Theban, Pindar.

36. Sygambri : Sp. Intr. IV. 14, 52, n. Words clearly antici-
patory.

43. Return of Augustus : Either of two returns may be
meant. In B.C. 13 or in B.C. 10, Dio, LIV. 25 and 36. The prob-
abilities are in favour of the former. This book was in writing
during his absence, IV. 5. Before the return in 13, Augustus had
been absent for more than two years.

49. As thou marchest : See Wickham.

£%

TO MELPOMENE

HIM, O Melpomene, on whom at birth

Thou shalt have looked but once with eye serene,
No Isthmian struggle shall glorify

As pugilist, no mettled steed
Shall draw, in an Achaean car,

Victorious, no warlike feat,
Shall show to the Capitol, a leader dight

With leaves of Delos, since he quelled

204 THE ODES OF HORACE

The boastful threats of kings.

But waters such as flow o'er fruitful Tibur, 10

And the dense-matted tresses of the groves,

Shall make him famous through the TEolic lay.
The sons of Rome, of cities first,

Now deign to give me place
Among the choir of poets to be prized, 15

And now I am bitten less by envy's tooth.
O Muse Pierian, that orderest

The sweet vibration of the golden shell,
O one to give even to fishes dumb —

If such thy will — the music of the swan, 20

All this is of thy boon that I

Am marked by finger of the passers-by
As minstrel of Rome's lyre —

That I inspire and please (if I do please) is all through thee.

Sp. Intr. Bk. IV. The parallels between this Ode and I. i,
really marking it as a sequel, are noted by Wickham. For the
meaning of its inscription to Melpomene, see Gen. Intr. § 20 and
foil. ; and II. 20, III. 30. It has an important bearing on
the interpretation of Horace's " poetry " (carmina). It is an
explicit reference to himself, and not only that but a comparison
between himself and one of the heroes of this second volume —
Tiberius. Triumphs are reserved for those who conquer in
battle ; with leaves of Delos (III. 4), he shall be dight who quells
the boastful threats of kings (a reference to Murena and Caepio :
see note onreges, II. 14, n, etc.). I am a poet, my title to honour
is through the favour of Melpomene. C/. notes to IV. 8, in which
we believe Horace again to bring himself into comparison with
Tiberius.

IV
ON CLAUDIUS DRUSUS NERO

LIKE the winged minister of the thunderbolt—
By king of gods given kingship over roving birds,
Since Jupiter had tried his loyalty

On golden Ganymede —

Whom long ago youth and race vigour drave, 5

All ignorant of labour from the nest :

To whom, still timorous, spring breezes

(Storm clouds now dispersed) gave lessons
In facing unaccustomed tasks : when soon
His rapid swoop let down an enemy 10

Upon the folds, and love of feast and fight

Anon impelled him 'gainst opposing dragons :

BOOK iv] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES 205

Or as a lion but lately driven from

His tawny mother's milk, off from the teat, (

Which an ewe bent on pastures fair hath viewed, 15

Itself about to fall by virgin tooth : —
Thus did Vindelici view Drusus carrying war
Against the Raetan alps : — concerning whom
I have forborne to question whence

Their custom came of arming the right hand 20
With Amazonian axe — for us to know
All things is not heaven's will. Howbeit, hordes,
For long time conquerors far and wide,

When vanquished by the tactics of a youth,
Perceived what mind and character well trained 25

In precincts favourable to heaven could do,

And what the fatherly spirit of Augustus was

To boys of Nero's blood.

Brave men are procreated by the brave and good,
There lives in cattle, in horses lives, the virtue 30

Of their sires, and eagles fierce

Had not begot th' unwarlike dove.
Yet discipline improves the insown force,
And proper training steels the mind :

Where'er the moral forces fail, 35

Crime puts its stain on things by nature good.
What thou, O Rome, to Neros owest witness is
The river of Metaurus, and Hasdrubal

Defeated, and that day, made glorious

By scattering gloom from Latium, 40

Which first did smile with kindly fruits of victory,
When the dread African was wont to ride
Through cities of Italy, like a flame

Through pines, or Eurus through Sicilian waves,
Thereafter, with successful enterprise, 45

The Roman manhood ever prospered, and the fanes,
Despoiled by impious sack of Carthaginians,

Had their divinities replaced.
At last outspoke perfidious Hannibal : —
" As stags a prey to ravening wolves, 50

Of our own will we follow those

Whom to elude and to escape is palmary triumph.
This valiant race which brought from Ilion burnt
Its sacred relics tossed on Tuscan waves,

Its children and its aged fathers, 55

To the Ausonian cities,

Like holm-tree lopped by tempered battle-axe
On Algidus, where the dark leaf grows thick,
'Mid loss, 'mid slaughter, from the very steel

Draws strength and courage. 6b

Cleft through the body not more resolutely grew

206 THE ODES OF HORACE

Hydra 'gainst Hercules, who grieved to be o'ercome.
A greater prodigy not Colchians

Or Echionian Thebes have raised.

Plunge it in the deep, and finer it comes forth : 65

Grip it, with great acclaim 'twill throw
The unbeaten conqueror, and wage

Battles to give wives cause for talk.
To Carthage I may now not send

Exulting messengers. Fallen, fallen is 70

All hope and fortune of our name

With Hasdrubal cut off."

Naught will the hand of Claudian race fail to effect,
For it both Jove's propitious influence guards,

And wise discretion extricates 75

From warfare's sharp ordeals.

Sp. Intr. Bk. IV. The style of this elaborate official Ode, with
its long-drawn opening similes, is quite different from the usual
manner of Horace, and shows that there was some substance in
his protestations of the unfitness of his lyric Muse for epic subjects.
The versification is perfect, but apart from the fine " Hannibal "
episode, the effect seems forced.

This first campaign was against the Raeti who dwelt in the
Tridentine alps, by Drusus, in order to prevent incursions into
Italy. Shut in on this side, they, with other tribes, tried to
break into Gaul, and this attempt was frustrated by Tiberius
and Drusus. Augustus was at this time in Gaul ; cf. next Ode.

For a possible explanation of the abrupt parenthesis in vv.
18-22, see notes on IV. 6, 17, IV. 14, 10

29. Cf. Eurip. Alcmaeon at Corinth, Frag. *O irai Kptovros, ws
a\T)0£s V dpa €<r0Xa>v air* dvSpwv €<r0\d •yC<yvc<r0ai TCKva.

V

TO AUGUSTUS

O THOU, arisen through good gods, best guardian of the race

Of Romulus, thine absence now is all too long :

Since to the Fathers' sacred council thou didst promise

Returning prompt — return.

Restore its light, good leader, to thy fatherland, 5

For when thy face beams like the face of Spring,
Upon the people, gailier speeds the day,

And better shine the suns.

As a mother when the south wind, with jealous blast
Across the surface of Carpathian sea, 10

Delays her son, and keeps him longer than a year

From his dear home,
With vows, and omens, and with prayers, calls him,

BOOK iv] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES 207

And does not turn her face from the curving shore,

So — struck with loyal yearnings — asks 15

The fatherland for Caesar.
For the ox in safety roams the fields among :
The fields doth Ceres fertilise, and genial Prosperity :
Our sailors flit o'er seas of warfare rid,

To be blameworthy Honour dreads. 20

The chaste home is not tainted with adulteries ;
Morals and law have vanquished that defiling sin ;
Mothers take honour by their child's resemblances ;

Punishment presses close on guilt.

Who would fear Parthian ? Who the Scythian cold ? 25

Or who the brood that rugged Germany begets,
While Caesar is secure ? Who to the wars of wild Iberia

Would give a thought ?

Each man lays up his store of days on his own hills,
And gives the vine his widowed trees to wife, 30

Hence to his wine returns with joy, and treats as god

Thyself at his board's second course ;
Plies thee with many a prayer, and thee with wine
From chalice poured ; thy deity with his household gods
Commingles, following the steps of Greece in mind 35

Of Castor and great Hercules.
Good leader, mayst thou to Hesperia grant
Long holidays. Dry in the morn we say it, with the day
Unbroke ; we say it in our cups, what time the sun

Beneath the ocean is. 40

Sp. Intr. Bk. IV. Augustus, with Tiberius, left Rome in B.C.
1 6 for Gaul, where Lollius (IV. 9) had been defeated by the
Sygambri. The enemy did not wait for him, but retired into
their own country. The Emperor stayed in Gaul settling affairs.
The following year was occupied by the Raetian and Vindelician
campaigns, and Augustus did not return to Rome till the middle
of B.C. 13. This Ode and No. 2 purport to be written during the
latter part of his absence.-

30. And gives, etc. Cf. II. 15, 4.

34. Thy deity : Augustus at first forbade the direct worship
of himself in Italy, but Horace had given him an apotheosis in
III. 4. See Gen. Intr. § 18.

VI
TO APOLLO

O GOD, whom progeny of Niobe knew as the avenger
Of a big tongue, and Tityos the ravisher,
And he who all but vanquished lofty Troy,
Phthian Achjjles,

208 THE ODES OF HORACE

Surpassing others, but no match for thee, 5

Though he, the son of Thetis of the sea,
In fight with formidable spear would shake

Dardanian towers :

He, like a pine-tree struck with biting steel,
Or cypress buffeted by Eurus' blast 10

Fell headlong, and laid down his neck

In Trojan dust :

He, shut up in a horse that falsely claimed
Minerva's sanctity, would lay no trap for Troy,
Feasting in evil hour, and Priam's hall 15

In dances revelling :

But, open foe to those he seized — alas, what sin !
Infants who could not speak he would have burned
In Grecian flames — even the babe still hid

Within its mother's womb — 20

Had not, by words of thee and gentle Venus won,
The father of the gods assigned to be
A portion to Jineas, walls set up

With mightier auspices.

Phoebus the lyrist, tuneful Thalia's teacher, 25

Who in the stream of Xanthus lav'st thy locks,
Of Daunian Camena guard the honour,

Agyieus, smooth of face !
Phoebus the inspiration, Phoebus the art
Of song hath given to me and name of poet. 30

O flower of maids and boys, who spring

From fathers of renown,

Wards of the Delian goddess, who with her bow
Arrests the flight of lynxes and of stags,
Observe the Lesbian measure and 35

My finger's beat.

All meetly singing of Latona's son,
Meetly night's luminary with waxing torch,
Friendly to fruits and swift to roll

Declining months — 40

Wedded soon one will say : — " I to the gods
Rendered a welcome hymn as time brought back
The festal days, trained in the measures of

The bard Horatius."

Gen. Intr. § 116, where this important Ode is discussed. Dr
Verrall's view that it contains a reference to the crime for which
Murena suffered seems certain, and an examination of the allu-
sions to mythology does not offer any obstacle to that interpreta-
tion.

i. Niobe was the daughter of Tantalus : she offended Latona
by boasting herself as mother of a greater number of children.
Apollo and Diana to avenge this insolence slew Niobe's children.
IV. 8 and JT\ 2», n.

BOOK iv] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES 209

2. Tityos : a giant, the son of Zeus and Terra. He offered
violence to Latona and was killed by her children. According
to Pindar (Pyth. IV.), he was the father of Europa (see III. 27, ri).
Cf. also II. 14, 8, III. 4, 77, III. n, 21.

17. Infants, etc : An allusion to the habits of the Raeti and
Vindelici of slaying unborn male infants whose sex they pro-
fessed to discover by magic. Cf. IV. 14, 10, n. The strange
parenthesis, IV. 4, 18-22, refers to the same thing ; the Amazonian
axe denotes one specially hostile to males. For the connection
between this and Murena, and the writing of the Carmen Saeculare
cf. Intr. § 1 1 6. Murena was a man who did try to know more
than heaven's will permits, and was deceived and led on to his
ruin in consequence, Gen. Intr. § 95 and foil.

25-26. Cf. III. i, 14.

VII

TO TORgUATUS

THE snows have fled : new verdure to the fields returns,

And tresses to the trees :
Earth's varying seasons change, and streams subsiding pass

Within their banks.
The" Grace, with nymphs and sisters twin, now dares unclad 5

To lead the dances.
Against immortal hopes the year gives warning, and the hour

Which steals the cheering day.
Cold mellows to the Zephyrs : summer treads on the heel of spring,

Itself to pass away 10

When fruitful autumn yields its crops, and torpid winter

Quickly then returns.
Still, rapid moving moons repair the heavenly losses :

We, when we fall
Whither the good ^Eneas fell, Tullus and Ancus rich, 15

Are dust and shadow.
Who knoweth if the gods above may add to-morrow's time

To this day's count ?
All that thou givest to thy soul's delighting will escape

An heir's greedy hands. 20

When once thou'rt dead, and Minos o'er thee shall have made

August decision,
Not, O Torquatus, not thy birth, or flow of word, not piety,

Will reinstate thee.
For neither doth Diana free the chaste Hippolytus 25

From gloom below :
Nor Lethe's chains has Theseus strength to break

From loved Pirithous.

Cf. I. 4, and see Intr. § 71. Of this "Torquatus" nothing
certain is known. Horace has addressed Epist. I. 5 to a similar

210 THE ODES OF HORACE

name : it has several correspondences with this Ode and several
touches connecting it with Murena. The association of ideas in
the word is one honoured with a torques or necklace, and because
G. Nonius Asprenas, who had injured himself in the Ludus Troiae,
had been so adorned by Augustus, and granted the name as a
cognomen, he has been suggested as the person here addressed
(Suet. Aug. 43) and the assumption has also been made that the
old Torquati of the Manlian gens were extinct. The latter is
probable, the former possible on the theory that Horace's poetry
is casual and unconnected, but the reader who traces the re-
ferences to Murena in the other Odes of this book cannot refrain
from calling his case to mind here, and there may be more in the
allusion to the " necklace "- than appears on the surface. It is
not impossible, for example, that it refers to the laqueus or
strangling knot of III. 24. 8, or perhaps to the ropes round the
necks of menacing " kings " led through the streets (II. 12, 12,
IV. 3, 9). This idea cannot justly be called fanciful when we
examine the language of the poem, and mark the respective
correlations between it and one of the Odes expressly concerned
with Murena's career (III. 19), and between others of which there
is the highest probability for asserting the same thing (II. 12,
II. 18, etc.).

9. Summer treads, etc: II. 18, 15.

13. Moons : II. 18. 16, III. 19. 9. The line shows that the
whole of this reference to nature and the course of the seasons is
symbolic, cf. vv. 3 and 4 with I. 2, 13-20.

19. On the subject of heirs, cf. II. 14, II. 15, II. 18, etc.

23. Torquatus : For another place where a descriptive adjective
may have been used. cf. the " Postumus ?J of II. 14. If this is
a backward glance at the career of Murena, birth and eloquence
(facundia, flow of speech, cf. the facundi — not fecundi — calices
of Ep. I. 5. 19, and Od. I. 25, n.) are appositely mentioned, and
pietas would acquire its classical but untranslatable significance
of " duty arising out of the family bond."- Dio tells us (Intr.
§ 38) that the efforts of neither Maecenas nor Proculeius could save
their relative's life. On this point, that the epithet Torquatus
may be descriptive, it is worth noting that a late writer, Hierony-
mus, mentions that the diminutive " murenula " was a word of
common speech for a necklace.

28. Pirithous : King of the Lapithee, cf. III. 4, 80, II. 12, 5
and I. 1 8, 8. He attempted to carry off Proserpine. Theseus
aided him. Both were confined in Orcus for the crime, "but when
Theseus was set free by Hercules, all his love could not free
Pirithous also," (Wickham, cf. his note), see III. 20 : on what we
take that Ode to reveal, the point becomes manifest, cf. III. 4, 80.

VIII
TO CENSORINUS

I WOULD give bowls appropriately and bronze
Acceptable, O Censorinus, to my friends,
I would give tripods, meed of stalwart Greeks :
And thou shouldst not receive the worst

BOOK iv] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES 211

Of tributes were I rich in artistry 5^

Which Scopas or Parrhasius hath produced,

The former skilled in stone, the other

In liquid colours to present now man now god.

Of these I have no store : not unto thee

Is fortune or taste lacking in such delights. 10

Thou joyest in songs : and songs I can

Confer, and tell the value of the gift.

Not marbles graven with signs for public eye,

Through which the breath of life returns

To good commanders after death, not hasty flights 15

And threats of Hannibal on his own head recoiled,

Not fires of impious Carthage at his hands,

Who home returned enriched with name

From Africa subdued, show forth his praise

More clearly than Calabria's Pierides : 20

Neither, if books be dumb, for what thou hast done

So well wilt thou receive reward. What would the son

Of Mars and Ilia be, if as a bar

To honours due to Romulus stood grudging reticence.

Goodness and popularity, and the voice 25

Of mighty poets have enshrined y£acus, snatched

From Stygian waves, among the fortunate isles.

The Muse forbids a man worthy of praise to die :

To him the Muse grants heaven's beatitude : even so

The strenuous Hercules hath place at Jove's 30

Much coveted feasts. The Tyndarids' bright stars

Snatch from the seas the storm-tossed barks :

Liber, his temples decked with verdant vine,

Leads on the vows of men to issues good.

Censorinus is universally assumed to be a real name. G.
Marcus Censorinus was Consul with G. Asinius Gallus in B.C. 8,
and Velleius mentions a man of that name in terms of approval,
which is equivalent to saying that he was a good imperialist
(Veil. Pat. II. 102). We have no explicit grounds for connecting
the Ode with any actual Censorinus, and the address may possibly
be pseudonymous. To my mind the probability is that it is a
symbol behind which can be detected the personality of Tiberius
— the young Censor, the man who at a very important crisis purged
the Senate and Rome of some undesirable characters, Fannius
Caepio and Lucius Murena among them. The language of the
Ode seems to indicate this. " Censorinus " was clearly a lover
of art, and of the works of Scopas and Parrhasius especially.
No reader of Pliny and Suetonius will forget their references to
this trait in Tiberius (Pliny, N. H. XXXIV. 19, XXXV. 36 :
Parrhasius' works said to be specially liked by him, Suet. Tib.
44). The mention of Scopas' name, too, is instructive when we
inquire what works of this eminent sculptor are known to have
been in Rome at the time. First of all was the Apollo Palatinus
himself, in the temple and library built by Augustus to com-

212 THE ODES OF HORACE

memorate Actium : then one which in Pliny's time was in the
shrine of Gn. Domitius, a statue more admired than any other,
of Neptune, Thetis and Achilles surrounded by Nereids sitting on
dolphins, whales and hippocampi, Tritons, a figure of Phorcus
(a son of Neptune) and saw-fishes, and many other marine animals,
all wrought by the same hand — a magnificent work, even if it had
taken him his whole life (says Pliny). In addition to these, there
was in the temple of Apollo Sosianus, a group of Niobe and her
children dying — Dive quern proles Niobcea magncz vindicem
linguce, etc., IV. 6, i — under the arrows of Apollo and Cynthia,
launched in vengeance for their mother's wrongs (III. 28, 12)
and there were also others, a Mars and Venus, etc. The subjects
of all these are significant, the second and third being so specially
in point with Horace's allusions that the mention of this sculptor's
name is almost sufficient to prove the source which prompted
them. " You rejoice in songs," says Horace (cf. Suet. Tib. 68,
70) " which I can give, and of them I can better estimate the
value " (IV. 6, 25).

I read the Ode therefore, as a commendation to Tiberius for his
part in the drama round which the Three Books are written ;
enigmatically expressed for the same reasons that caused them to
be so. It seems to me to support my argument that Dr Verrall
is not at quite the right point of view in his explanation of IV.
6 (Intr. § 116). I have no space to discuss the question of inter-
polation raised by this Ode. See the Editors.

IX
TO M. LOLLIUS

Do not by any chance believe those words will die
The which I, born beside far-sounding Aufidus,
With art not widely practised ere my time,
Speak for th' accompaniment of strings.
If Homer of Maeonia holds the prior place, 5

The Muse of Pindar and of Ceos, the Muse
Defiant in Alcaeus, in Stesichorus

Grand, hides not its light.

Neither whate'er of old Anacreon gave in sport
Has time destroyed : breathes to this day the love, 10

And living is the warmth imparted

To the lute, of the ^olian girl :—
Not sole to glow for a paramour's combed locks,
In wonder at his vesture flecked with gold,

His regal bearing and his suite, 15

Was Helen of Laconia : —
Not first was Teucer to fit arrows
To bow of Cydon : Ilion's discomfiture

Was not unique : it was not only huge

BOOK iv] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES 213

Idomeneus and Sthenelus who fought 2CV

In battles worthy of the Muse's song :
Neither was valiant Hector, nor Deiphobus bold,
The first to suffer grievous wounds

For modest wives, and children's sake —
Prior to Agamemnon lived many who were brave, 25

But all unwept, unknown,

In endless night are plunged because

They lack a bard divine.

But little is the space between entombed inaction
And valour hid from sight. I will not through 30

My silence leave you unhonoured in my works,

And all your many feats I'll not endure
Envious oblivion, Lollius, to cavil at
And go scot-free. A mind you have

Discreet in action and well poised 35

In times of crisis and success,

That vengeance wreaks on grasping fraud, and holds
Aloof from lucre drawing all things to itself, —
And is a Consul, not for a single year,

But ever, when like a good and faithful judge, 40
It has set honour over interest,
Has with high glance rejected bribes of evil men,
And threaded through opposing hosts

A way to victory for its arms.

Not for his great possessions would you rightly call 45
One " rich " ; more rightly he assumes
The style of " rich " who has the wit
To use god's gifts with wisdom.
And can endure harsh penury ;

Who fears dishonour worse than death ; 50

Not such an one would shrink from laying down
His life for friends beloved, or fatherland.

The information that we have of M. Lollius is summarised in
Smith's Biog. Diet. He is mentioned by Horace as Consul with
Lepidus in B.C. 21, Epist. I. 20, 28. Epist. I. 2, is addressed also
to a Lollius. Horace's high opinion of him is manifest, for the
Ode is sincere, and written as a fervid vindication. The reason
in this case can only be conjectured. This Lollius, in B.C. 16,
was in command of the army in Gaul, fighting Sygambri and
Usipetes on the Rhine. After some successes, he suffered a defeat.

Augustus hastened to the scene, but the enemy had retired.
Drusus, and afterwards Tiberius, were engaged for many years
in subduing these tribes (IV. 14, 52). The moral effect of Lollius1
defeat was of more importance than the actual loss. It seems
not to have affected the favour of Augustus towards Lollius,
for he was afterwards appointed tutor to the young Gaius Caesar,
and his adviser in the East, but it is clear that Horace's address
is occasioned by the manifestation of some enmity towards him.
The almost passionate defence of him made here is not for any

2i4 THE ODES OF HORACE

military blunder, but is against charges of avarice and corrup-
tion.

Now if we could rely implicitly on the statements of Velleius
and Pliny, we should believe that similar charges were sub-
stantiated against Lollius, when he was with Gaius Caesar, in B.C.
2. The latter says he accepted gifts from Eastern kings, and
the former describes him as avaricious and corrupt, and a pre-
tender to virtue while really guilty of every kind of vice (II. 97,
102). In Velleius the admission of an appearance of virtue,
coupled with a general charge of hypocrisy, at once puts the
experienced reader of an annalist so exceedingly partial in his
judgments of character upon inquiry. As the Claudian heir to
Augustus was the black sheep of Tacitus, so he was the darling
of Velleius. No man with whom Tiberius had fault to find could
expect to fare well at Velleius' hands, and the meaning of the
above statement may be that nothing definite could be proved
against Lollius. According to Tacitus (Ann. III. 48) Tiberius
himself charged Lollius with encouraging Gaius in perversity
and quarrelsomeness : cf. also Suet. Tib. 48. Lollius therefore,
trusted by Augustus, seems to have incurred the displeasure of
Tiberius in B.C. 2 : we know nothing of their relations in B.C. 15,
but we here see that Lollius had his enemies even then, and that
the nature of their complaint against him was similar to the
subsequent charges.

(i.) It is possible that the discrepant views on Lollius' character,
clearly prevailing when Horace wrote, may have had their origin
in dynastic antagonisms. Maecenas, Horace, and probably Lollius,
were Julian in their political sympathies : considering Livia's long
cherished and ultimately successful ambition for her son, there
may have been a Claudian party as early as this. One of them had
supplanted Maecenas in the confidence of Augustus — viz. Sallustius
Crispus, the man who took it upon himself to sign the order for
the killing of Agrippa Postumus, the last male of the main Julian
stock. Such a state of things might account for the tone of this
Ode, but, without knowing by whom in Rome the accusations
were made, no decision can be arrived at. Lollius committed sui-
cide in consequence of the charges afterwards brought against him.

(2.) It is also possible, and more probable considering the
dates, that the enmity to Lollius was connected with the old
story of the Caepio-Murena conspiracy and trial. The gist of
the poem does not lie in the introductory stanzas on the force
of forgetfulness ; those are perhaps akin to the legal fictions
formerly used to bring the real issues before a Court. This
appears on examining vv. 30-34. The elaborate preparation is
not quite perfect, for we see that though Horace, to suit his
preface, talks of rescuing Lollius from " oblivion," his real pur-
pose is to vindicate his honesty. He shows this in verse 33 by
the use in connection with " envious oblivion " of the words
'* impune," " scot-free," and " carpere "• to carp at or slander
(in the sense of belittling his title to credit) whereby a confusion,
or rather a non-sequitur, is created, explicable perhaps by the
perception that " oblivion " is not the real subject of Horace's
indignation, but the men with whom his integrity has brought
him into hatred. The close of the Ode has a marked resemblance
to the one addressed to Sallustius Crispus (II. 2) which refers to
Murena. It may be that Lollius was one of the judges of that

BOOK iv] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES 215

hero and his alleged accomplices, and that there had been attempts
at bribery which had failed, for as Lollius was Consul in B.C. 2i6
the chances are that in the preceding year he was Praetor, and
hence the proper magistrate to preside at trials for " maiestas.'2
3. Aries : rather " artifice •'• than art : not a general reference
to the writing of lyrics, but special to the use Horace had found
for them.

X

TO LIGURINUS

O THOU who still hast power, through gift of Venus, to be cruel,
When to thy pride shall come the unwelcome down,
And fallen are the tresses which now on thy shoulders stream,
And that complexion still superior to the bloom of crimson rose,
Has changed and altered what was Ligurinus to a hirsute mask, 5
Oft as thou lookest in a mirror on thy different self thou'lt cry,
" Ah, me ! the will I have to-day why was it not the same in youth,
Or why with these emotions come not back my cheeks unmarred ? '-'•

This poem is probably a reference (e converse'} to the poet's
own age, and his declining powers.

The tenor of the thoughts is similar to that of the first Ode in
the book. For his choice of " Ligurinus " as an addressee, note
the considerations mentioned in IV. i, 33.

XI

TO PHYLLIS

THERE is by me a jar full of Albanian wine
Just topping its ninth year : there is, O Phyllis,
In my garden parsley for twining coronals,

Of ivy too great wealth,

With which if you do wreathe your hair, 5

All radiant you will be. The house is gay with plate :
The shrine festooned with holy vervain, hails with joy

Sprinklings from immolated lamb.
Speeds the whole band of slaves : hither
And thither flit the boys and girls together : 10

The flames are flickering as they whirl

Aloft the dusky smoke.

For you to know to what joys you are called —
'Tis that the Ides are to be kept by you,

216 THE ODES OF HORACE

The day by which April is cleft in twain, 15

The month of sea-born Venus :
Rightly a solemn day to me, and almost holier
Than that of my own birth, because
From its outshining my Maecenas counts

The onflowing years. 20

Telephus whom you are looking for, a youth
Not of your rank, is captured by
A mistress rich and gay, who holds him bound

With pleasing chain.

Phaethon's burning frightens covetous hopes, 25

And winged Pegasus, intolerant of
Bellerophon, his earth-born rider, affords

A weighty lesson always

To aim at what becomes you, and by holding it
As wrong to hope for more than is allowed, 30

To keep aloof from an unequal match,

Then come, last of my loves,
From henceforth shall my heart not warm
To other woman, learn the melodies
To reproduce them with your darling voice. Through song 35

Black cares will be made less.

Mr Wickham most justly says : " The point of the poem seems
to lie, not in the invitation to Phyllis, which is only an incident
in the holiday keeping, but in the occasion, Maecenas' birthday."

If the Odes had always been read in this spirit they would
be interpreted very differently. This is the only poem in this
book in which Maecenas is mentioned. Now if there is anything
in our theory of the Three Books, and if our claim to trace allu-
sions in the Fourth to topics previously treated is good, we should
certainly expect to find some such allusions in this poem to
Maecenas. As will be seen they are not far to seek. " Phyllis,"
the last of the author's lyrical " loves," is bidden to a festivity
which shall not be a failure through any lack of cordiality on the
host's part. This he says first, and then comes the very signi-
ficant information " Telephus (III. 19, «.) whom you are looking
for is not here : another has him in a pleasing chain, a mistress
rich and gay (!) " after which there is some moralising on such
"audacious" characters as Phaethon, and Bellerophon (III. 12,
7) and on the wisdom of always aiming at what is becoming in
that state of life to which it shall have pleased Providence to call
one, and of avoiding unequal marriages. Cf. III. 20 and Intr.
§ 95 and foil.) with a reference in conclusion to black cares,
the significance of which has been already pointed out (cf. Intr.
§ 85, etc.).

The meaning of everything becomes patent at once ; the point
of the mythology clear, and the poem a living record of Horace's
sympathy with his friend and patron. If this is accident, it is
one of the most curious anywhere to be found. Dr Verrall.
taking " finis amorum " literally, remarks that this combining
of a date with a real invitation to Phyllis is peculiar to the Fourth

BOOK iv] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES 217

Book. This I think not quite correct : on my reading, III. 14
is a precise parallel. " Phyllis •' is part of the lyrical machinery
here as " Neaera "is there.

25. Phaethon : An exuberant character, with whom Venus fell
in love. He was said to be the son of Phcebus, but Epaphus, to
check his pride, denied this. To discover the truth, Phaethon
visited the palace of the sun. Phcebus acknowledged him, and
swore to grant him any favour. Phaethon asked to be allowed
to drive his chariot, and obtained his wish, but with such
threatened disaster to earth and heaven, that Jove had to end
his mad career with a thunderbolt ; cf. I. 3, 40.

27. Bellerophon, Pegasus : The latter was the famous winged
horse, sprung from Medusa's blood. It was lent to Bellerophon
to slay the Chimaera. When the task was accomplished, Pegasus
dislodged Bellerophon because, though a mortal, he tried to fly to
heaven. Pegasus was set by Jove among the constellations.

XII
TO VERGILIUS

SPRING'S comrades now, those wafts of breath from Thrace
Which calm the sea, extend the sails : the meads
Are no more stiff with frost, the streams, unswollen

By winter's snow, have ceased to roar :

Building her nest is that unfortunate bird, 5

Who sadly wails for Itys — everlasting shame
To Cecrops' house because she vilely 'venged

The barbarous lusts of kings :
On the soft sward the keepers of fat flocks,
They say, sing songs unto the pipe, 10

And charm the god whose pleasure is in kine,

And Arcady's dark hills :

The season has brought thirst, Vergilius, but if
You wish to quaff the flow of Liber crushed at Cales,
As the client of some aristocratic blades, 15

You'll buy your wine with nard.
A tiny case of nard will yield a jar
That sleeps now in Sulpicius' cellars, big enough
To give new hopes, and able to wash out

The bitterness of care. 20

If to these joys you haste be speedy with
Your wherewithal to buy. I do not mean
To steep you in my liquor gratis, like

A dives with a well-stored house.

But put aside delays and hankering for gain, 25

And, mindful while you can be of mirk fires,
Mingle a little folly with your plans :

*Tis pleasant in its place to play the fool;

218 THE ODES OF HORACE

Bentley, distrusting the false inferences of the scholiasts, re-
jected their notion that this Ode was addressed to any " oil
merchant." Vergilius in Horace is more likely to mean Vergil
than anyone else. The "oil merchant " theory seems to be due
to a misapprehension of the point. Catullus had long before
this familiarised the story of the stingy man who proposed to get
up a dinner-party by contribution (Symbola) to which he would
bring the unguent, if the others provided the wines and viands —
the cigarettes, in return for the Champagne and oysters, etc.
Horace writes to Vergil : -'If you are making for the delights of
a dinner in good company, you will be welcomed on condition
that you contribute — the cigarettes ! " thus, by a witty inversion
of an old story, suggesting the delight his noble friends (of course,
a joke) will have in seeing him again. The Ode is playful, and in
answer to Wickham's inquiry when such words can have been
addressed to Vergil, I say in the year B.C. 19, when he was in
Greece, from which country he returned in the summer, only to
die, cf. Stanza i : " the breezes from Thrace are blowing,"- " winter
is past," " do not you see there, near the home of Cecrops, that
Procne is building her nest ? they say that there are signs in
Arcady of returning summer " : " the thirsty season is come,
and if, Vergil, you are speeding back to the delights of a symposium
with a certain select circle, come with all haste, we will admit you
at the cost of — the nard," and so on. Vergil's " plan " in going
to Greece was the completion of the ^Eneid. The word " con-
siliis " probably refers to this, and " studium lucri" also may be
understood as a joking allusion to the great reward Vergil's poetry
had already brought him, and playfully representing that its
composition was prompted by such considerations (Epist. II. i,
246) — but see infra. The last line clearly fixes the shade of
colour of the Ode. This explanation also relieves proper as and
velox veni, in vv. 21-22, of their apparent redundancy. Horace
may have heard of Vergil's expected return. On this theory
the Ode would have been too late, even if thought suitable, for
inclusion in the Three Books, but as a jeu d 'esprit between poets,
it might well be given to the world several years after Vergil's
death, in a book of which the tone is generally light and happy.
It may thus be read as an adroit compliment : probably written
as a welcome home, and intended to cheer the heart of a sick
friend. " We have a wine to put new life into you,'1 etc., v. 19.
Cf. Intr. §§ 58-62.

23. Gratis : immunis. Cf. Merry Wives of Windsor : Act II.
sc. 2 : "Thinkest thou I'll endanger my soul gratis."

This Ode, I believe, after further consideration, points to the
fact that Vergil was acquainted with the unprofessed purport of .
the Three Books. In III. 19, a price for the vintage that flowed
so lavishly is mentioned, though what precisely it was is not
revealed. At anyrate, Murena's clients and supporters (also
iuvenes, cf. III. 20) got their wine, but not, we may be sure, for
anything so simple or innocent as a casket of nard. " Studium
lucri "- may be a reference to their expectations of profiting by
the success of Murena's plot. This mention of the name Sul-
picius is in favour of these hypotheses ; the notion that it
indicates a wine merchant rests on no evidence ; it was, how-
ever, closely associated with the family of Murena — and
in enmity, for a bearer of it had been the accuser of the

BOOK iv] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES 219

L. Licinius M. who was Cicero's client, and probably the father
of our L. Licinius Varro M. See Verrall, quoting Drumanii',
etc., Stud, in Hor. p. 16.

XIII
TO LYCE

LYCE, the gods have heard my prayers, the gods
Have heard them, Lyce. Become a crone
Your wish is to seem fair,

Shameless you sport and drink,

And, in your cups, rouse sluggish Cupid 5

With quavering song. Upon the lovely cheeks
Of Chia, blooming maid, and skilled

In harping, he is wakeful,
For churlishly he flieth past the sapless oaks,
And you avoids, since yellow teeth 10

Disfigure you, and wrinkles, and
The snows upon your head.
Nor Coan purples now bring back to you,
Nor gleaming gems, old times which once,

Stored in the records of the past, 1 5

The fleeting day hath closed.
Whither has fled your charm ? Whither alas,
Your colour, whither your graceful mien ? What have you left
Of her, of her, who did breathe loves,

Who snatched me from myself ? 20

Fair after Cinara you were, and famed,
Your face had arts to please. But upon Cinara
Brief years the Fates bestowed who had

In store for Lyce a long life,

Equal to that of withered carrion-crow, 25

So that the hot young blades with many a laugh,
Might mark her torch

To cinders fallen away.

" It seems to refer to Ode III. 10," says Orelli ; but beyond
the name Lyce there is absolutely no resemblance. The Lyce
of III. 10 is a wife who refuses to breakfher marriage vow : the
heroine of this is represented as a woman whose early profligacies
are meeting with the usual reward. The conjunction of her
name with Cinara (IV. i) suggests that, if a real person, she has
been an early mistress of Horace. This fact again serves to
differentiate her from Lyce of III. 10. Horace in Sat. I. 2 and
II. 7 denies that he has ever been guilty of adultery, and there
is nothing inconsistent with this denial elsewhere, but much to

220 THE ODES OF HORACE

show that such conduct was opposed to his principles. See
Verrall, Stud, in Hor. p. 170.

The only safe course at present is to regard this " Lyce " as
an unsolved problem.

XIV
IN PRAISE OF TIBERIUS CLAUDIUS NERO

WHAT care of Fathers or Quirites in full gifts
Of honours can for all time perpetuate

Thy virtues, O Augustus, through inscriptions

And calendars of records ?

O thou, wherever shines the sun on habitable shores, 5

Of princes greatest ! Of whom Vindelici,
Unused to Latin law, but lately learned

What thou couldst do in war.
For Drusus, with thy soldiery,

Did fiercely overthrow Genaunians, restless tribe, 10

The mobile Breuni, and their strongholds set

On terrible Alps,

With more than mere retaliatory stroke.
The elder of the Neros soon engaged

In stubborn fight, and with auspicious signs 15

Repelled the barbarous Raeti ;
Worthy to watch is he in an assault at arms,
To note with what destruction he would visit
Hearts pledged to liberty or death,

Eager, almost as if 'twere Auster 20

Driving wild billows when the dance of Pleiads rends
The clouds, to harass hostile squadrons, and to urge
His "panting charger through

The midst of fires.

Just so is bull-like Aufidus rolled on, 25

Which floweth o'er Apulian Daunus' realms,
When roused to rage and meditating

A dreadful deluge for tilled fields :
As Claudius was who overthrew with mighty shock
The iron ranks of the barbarians, and mowing 30

Them down from foremost unto last,

Bestrewed the ground, a conqueror without loss,
Through thee supplying troops, strategic plan,
And thy divinities. For from that day,

When Alexandria, suppliant, for thee 35

Flung wide her ports and empty halls,
On the third lustre, Fortune favouring

BOOK iv] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES 221

Rendered successful issues to the war,

And praise for thy campaigns fulfilled,

And glory coveted, assigned. 40

Thee the Cantabrian, unconquerable before,
The Mede, the Indian, and the nomad Scyth,
Look to with awe, O thou, the present

Bulwark of Italy and sovereign Rome.

To thee both Nile, the sources of his flow 45

Who hides, and Ister and rapid Tigris,

To thee the monster-teeming ocean, which

To far-off Britons roars,
Hearken, and land of rude Iberia, and Gaul,
Untrembling at the thought of death : 50

To thee Sygambri, who delight in blood,
Obeisance make with arms laid down.

Sp. Intr. to Bk. IV., and notes to the State Odes.- Fifteen years
(three lustra) after suppliant Alexandria opened its ports, brings
us to B.C. 15, the year of the Raetan campaign. Its double phase,
and the parts played in it by the Emperor and his step-sons, and
the general picture of State affairs are tersely but correctly
sketched.

i . Fathers : The Senate ; Quirites ; the citizens generally, cf.

IL 7, 3-

7. Legis : law or custom, v. 10, n.

8. Vindelici : These, with the Raeti, were tribes of the Triden-
tine Alps.

10. Genauni, Breuni : tribes of Vindelicia. It is related of
the former by Strabo IV. that they slew all males captured in
war, even infants in their mothers' wombs, whose sex they be-
lieved it possible to learn by divination. Dio (LEV. 22) says the
same thing of the Raeti. This barbarity was viewed with horror
in Rome, and if not the only cause of the war, was doubtless the
reason why it was prosecuted with the utmost severity, and
explains the poetic exultation over the infliction of a blow that
was more than a mere retaliation for the injuries from the raids
(v. 13 : vv. 31-32). This practice may possibly be alluded to in
IV. 6, 19, and in IV. 4, 18-22. The names of the Genauni and
Breuni appear on the inscription mentioned below, v. 52, n.

41. Cantaber, cf. III. 8, etc.

52. Sygambri : The repulse of Lollius by this German tribe in
B.C. 1 6 caused Augustus to go to Gaul. They dwelt on the east
side of the Rhine. After the Vindelician campaign the Rhine
was given to the charge of Drusus. Upon his death in B.C. 9,
Tiberius took over the command. The Sygambri were reduced
to sue for peace in B.C. 8, but the negotiations were broken off,
and a last battle was fought in which they were severely defeated.
Tiberius then left the country. The Sygambri were not unable to
hold their own against Roman troops until Drusus began to win
battles against them.

In his Natural History, Pliny quotes an inscription set up to
celebrate the victory over the Alpine tribes by Tiberius and
Drusus : the names of forty-five peoples appear, or forty-eight,

222 THE ODES OF HORACE

if the four tribes of the Vindelici are counted separately. They
do not include the Sygambri, Usipetes, or any of the Rhenish
nations subsequently subdued.

XV

TO AUGUSTUS

PHCEBUS when I desired to sing of battles
And conquered cities, crashed at me with his lyre,
Lest I should trust my little sails

Upon the Tyrrhene main. Thine age,

O Caesar, hath brought back to the fields 5

Rich harvests, and to our Jove restored

The standards torn from boastful pillars

Of the Parthians, and closed
The Janus of the Quirinal, exempt from war,
And hath imposed due order as a curb 10

On spreading lawlessness, rid us of sin,
And called back ancient practices,
Through which the Latin name and power
Of Italy grew, and the renown

And majesty of its empire reached 15

To sunrise from its western resting-place.
With Caesar guardian of our weal, no violence
Nor civil madness shall dispel our ease,
No rage which forges swords and fills

Unhappy cities with hostility. 20

The drinkers of the Danube deep will not infringe
The Julian laws, the Getae will not,
Or Seres or perfidious Persians,

Or those beside the river Tanais born.

And we at light of day both lay and holy, 25

Between oblations unto joyous Liber,
With children and our matrons,

Invoking first the gods befittingly,
Will chaunt as was the custom of our sires,
In a strain blended with the Lydian flutes, 30

Of leaders quit of valorous deeds, of Troy,
Anchises, and of fostering Venus' line.

With Horatian terseness this Ode is the last word on all the
national topics treated in the four books. Caesar's rule was
supported by Horace in days when its establishment was any-
thing but assured. Now that it has been established he represents
his previous forecasts as fulfilled in fact. Prosperity reigns,
dishonour to the Roman name is wiped out, foreign war has

BOOK iv] TRANSLATIONS AND NOTES 223

ceased, and internal revolt has been quelled. Here especially we^
come in contact with the Three Books (III. 24, etc.). The poet
indicates that not only have the people done their duty in sub-
mitting to Caesar, but that he has done his in repressing the
lawless among them — a glance at the troubled years of B.C. 23
and after. His eye then sweeps round the world-wide Empire
now at peace, and following a thought previously expressed as to
the return of the race to ancient tradition, he ends with an allus-
ion to restored worship of the gods, making special mention of
the divine ancestress of the Julian line.

10. Lawlessness, cf. III. 24, 29. The parallels in this and follow-
ing lines are noticeable.

12. Ancient practices ; cf. III. 5 and 6.

17. While Caesar guards ; I. 2, 52, etc.

1 8. Civil madness ; III. 24, 26. Otium : n, 16, I.

19. Anger : I. 16, 7. Swords : I. 2, 21; Cities : III. 24, 27.
22. Julian laws : Those of Augustus.

APPENDIX I

NOTES ON THE CATALECTA

THE Catalecta are undoubtedly a product of the Augustan Age,
and, from their early ascription to Vergil, it is probable that,
whether all were penned by him or not, they had their origin
in the circle of Maecenas. I believe that the point of several of
them becomes clear when we realise the effect that the character
and actions of Lucius Licinius Varro Murena had in shaping the
poetry composed in that neighbourhood, and I have reviewed three
in support of my opinion. Those selected do not exhaust the
number of these squibs and parodies which seem to refer to
Murena, but consideration of the others must be reserved.

CATALECTA, NO. Ill

O father-in-law, fortunate (rich, blest) neither for thyself nor
for the other ; and thou, son-in-law, the night-bird, the addle-
head !

Under the influence of thy madness, thine, fie ! shall a girl
of such a sort depart into the country ?

Ah, me ! How that verse applies everywhere ! Father-in-
law, son-in-law, you have brought all to ruin.

A parody on Catullus XXIX. : the fact that v. 5 of No. V.
(translated infra) has a parallel in the same poem, would indicate
that these three of the Catalecta are by the same hand, and are
aimed at the same man — one who bears the name Lucius. The
allusions here all point to Lucius Murena, and the lines appear to
be a derisive squib on his design of marrying Julia in defiance of
Augustus.

Noctuine : night-bird : This perhaps is explained by the
reference in Juvenal to Proculeius and Gillo (see Intr. § 101) or
otherwise by Murena's dealing at night with astrology and
sorcery.

Putidum caput : Fits in with our view of the " Telephus " of
Suetonius, and our explanation of " Lucius Audacius " " un-
sound in age as well as body," who conceived the mad idea of
eloping with Julia (Intr. § 96 and foil.).

Talis : of such a sort, i.e. of the Csesarean house : Murena, a
descendant, or, as he thought, a reincarnation of ancient Greek
heroes, no doubt considered himself quite worthy of alliance

224

APPENDIX I 225

with the Julian line, and more worthy than Agrippa (see/
Od. III. 19, n.'). Those who knew him, including Horace, had
a different opinion. The inclusion of Augustus in the satire of
the last line is perhaps explained by the historic facts that shortly
after B.C. 23 he did contemplate giving Julia in marriage to
Proculeius, the brother of Lucius Murena, and that Maecenas told
him that the only possible match for her was Agrippa. Tiberius
tells us that he came to see the sense of this afterwards (Tac. Ann.
4, 39, 40).

CATALECTA, NO. IV.

Proud night-bird, addle-head !

The girl is given to thee whom thou art seeking, she is given.

She is given, proud night-bird, whom thou art seeking.
But oh, proud night-bird, thou dost not see that daughters two
Atilius has, two, and this and the other are given to thee.

Assemble now, assemble ! The night -bird proud weds, as befits
him, lo ! the hernia.

Thalassio, Thalassio, Thalassio.

These verses are clearly on the same subject as No. III. The
author supposes Murena' s wishes granted. Then he looks to the
end of his career which was strangulation by the laqueus (cf.
Intr. § 38, Od. III. 24, n.}. The lines were, of course, not written
for Murena to read, but for those who were offended at his mad
presumption.

The point of the name Atilius, which must refer to Augustus if
our theory be right, may be that the Atilii, of whom the Regulus
celebrated in Od. III. 5 was one, were proverbial types of old
Roman simplicity and rigour. Precisely those whom Augustus,
both by precept and example, held up as models to his own
generation. The plainness of Augustus' life was almost osten-
tatious. He wore cloth woven by his wife ; he studiously avoided
pomp, and, though an autocrat, posed as a private citizen, and
Murena is the only man in history who, in the latter respect, took
him at his word, asking him in open court by what right he
interposed in the administration of justice (Dio, LIV. i, Intr.
§ 38). An account of the austerity of the Atilii, the Cincinnati,
etc., is given by Val. Max. IV. c. 5-6, the class of men who went
from the plough to the Dictatorship, and back again. History
shows that after B.C. 23 Augustus seriously tried to rid himself
of the burden of power, but found it impossible (Intr. § 46, etc.).

Superbe : points to the vain- glory such as is condemned in Od.
I. 1 8, in conjunction with other characteristics found in Lucius
Murena.

Noctuine : Murena's magical investigations would largely take
place under cover of night, his Cotytto rites (Catal. V. 19, see infra)
his observations leading to Pelignian chills (cf. Od. III. 19, n, etc.).
See note to Cat. No. III. infra.

Adeste : assemble : The author projects his imagination to
the marriage ceremony, and it appears that of Atilius' two

226 THE ODES OF HORACE

daughters the one whom Noctuinus actually marries is not Julia
but hernia, a rupture or strangulation of the bowels, a gross
word-play in connection with marriage, finding its point in the
fact of his death by the strangling knot (laqueus}.
Thalassio : The wedding-cry : uttered in mockery.

CATALECTA, NO. V

Thou thinkest that I am supine because unable as of old to
traverse the deep waters of the sea, or to bear severe cold, or
to endure heat, or to accompany a conqueror in war. But there
is force unto me still in anger and the old-time rage, and the
tongue with which I may be at your side. By the disgraceful
comradeship of a debauched sister, oh, why dost thou rouse
me ? Why, shameless one, abhorrent unto Caesar ? But let
thy thefts (underhand villainies) be told, and, patrimony having
been swallowed, the parsimony of late in a brother, or the f eastings
held by a boy with men, and haunches moist through sleep, and
that suddenly, to one not recking, the sudden shout arose aloft,
Thalassio, Thalassio. Why hast thou grown pale, O woman?
Do jests hurt ? or dost thou recognise thy deeds ? Thou shalt
not call me through thy lovely Cotytto rites to idle witchcrafts,
nor afterwards, when what was on the altars has been taken, shall
I see thee move thy loins. . . . Nor (hear thee) call by yellow
Tiber men smelling of the sea, where the ships driven up stand in
the shoals, held by the fine mud, weltering in the shallow water :
Nor into the kitchen wilt thou bring an oily feast for the cross-
road rites, or foul banquets, stuffed with which as with slimy
waters, thou returnest to thy fat bed-fellow, and, O learned one,
loose thy aestuantes pantices, and continuously lick her mouth
with kisses.

Now injure me, now attack me, if thou can'st do anything. I
even add thy name — abominable Lucius, have thy resources
left thee, and do thy molars gnash with hunger ? I shall see
thee in possession of nothing but brothers who do naught for
thee, and an angry Jove, and a rent belly, and the feet of a
ruptured spitfire swollen through want.

The Lucius to whom this abuse is directed has obviously many
of the marks of Murena. In line 6 I read "quis adsim" with
Weber, rather than "qua dixim" with Ribbeck : every MS. has
adsim. V. 15 is corrupt, and likewise v. 21, but in the former case
enough is preserved to show the author's drift ; see note below.

7. Contubevnium sororis : notwithstanding the sexual sugges-
tion, the point of this may lie in the unauthorised divulgence by
Terentia to her brother of the information imparted to her by
Maecenas.

9. Impudice . . . Ccesavi : Supports the view of Augustus' shame
over this matter as a blot on. the Julian honour; the emphatic

APPENDIX I 227

reference to Caesar implies much more than his mere disapproba-/
tion as guardian of public morals.

10. Furta : thefts : a significant word, in conjunction with
what follows, if it is true that Lucius Murena defrauded his brother
Proculeius of a large portion of an inheritance.

11-12. Patrimonio : This reference to the dissipated patrimony
and to a brother, seems to be in close association with the circum-
stances considered in Odes II. 2 and 3, cf. notes. Proculeius
helped Murena in former times and was repaid, we believe, with
the basest ingratitude. See note below on fratres ignavos.

15. The sudden shout of Thalassio : there is some corruption
in the text, but " inscio " in connection with this cry is significant.
As Murena stood forth as the ignotus heres of Od. II. 18, in respect
of an inheritance, so, if he succeeded in a design of abducting
Julia, his marriage shout might be supposed to fall on ears that
had no thought of its coming.

19. Cotytto rites : magical incantations, the epithet pulcra
of course ironical.

23. Flavum propter Thybrim : by yellow Tiber : a phrase
paralleled in the Odes in similar associations, II. 3. The following
references to sailors and ships agree with the like allusions in the
Odes to the sailors and traffickers for luxury, in passages contem-
plating Murena ; and the references to gluttony^ put here in a
most offensive form, may correspond with the more elegant con-
demnations of excesses, by Horace.

30. Uxor : not necessarily a wife.

31. Docte : No need to alter this vocative. There is a special
point of irony in addressing Murena, the delver into ancient
magical, and perhaps Pythagorean, lore as " learned one "• ; cf.
supra, Nos. III. and IV. " putidum caput."

35. Abominable : This line seems to be imitated from Catullus
XXIX. 5 ; cf. note to No. III. supra.

Lucius : the ostentatious announcement of a real name and
the name itself do not contradict our interpretation.

"Have thy resources left thee ? " This reference to loss of
means, bringing force into the comparison of this man with
" Telephus,"- and perhaps with the " Codrus '-• of Juvenal (Sat.
III. 203, cf. Intr. § 102) probably relates to the circumstances
of Murena after his flight ; when the " lord " had in fact to
depart from his " bought-up glades " (Od. II. 3, 17) and found that
Retribution did not quit pursuit of an offender (Od. III. 2, 32).

36. Genuini : back teeth : to break one's teeth on anyone was
used metaphorically to indicate vituperation (cf. Pers. I. 115)
an exercise in which Murena's tongue was ready : perhaps this
fact prompts the author to mention here their less usual ex-
perience of rattling through cold and hunger. Cf Juvejial, Sat.
III. 212, " Quod nudum (sc. Codrum, and see Intr. § 102) et frusta
rogantem, nemo cibo, nemo hospitio, tectoque iuvabit."- Cf. also
the last line of this poem.

37. The four concluding lines point to a final condition of
destitution. The point of ignavos fratres, " brothers who are
inactive," I believe to lie in the fact that Proculeius in earlier
days had been exceptionally active in helping Murena (cf. Od. II.
2), but the latter's conduct had precluded all hope of a repetition
of such activity.

APPENDIX II

NOTES ON PERSIUS

I BELIEVE that there are in Persius expressions which point to a
recognition of the Murena motive in Horace. As in the case of
Juvenal space forbids a complete analysis at present for the
purpose of illustrating this, but an appeal to him on one point
of primary importance, viz. the theory of the style in which I
conceive Horace to have written the Odes (Intr. § 15) is desirable.
The manner of Persius is a not unnatural development of that
of Horace. Neither is in the least degree naive, but the younger
poet is, in the usual course of literary evolution, several removes
further from naivete* than the elder. While both are pregnant
and subtle, Persius is in addition extremely elliptical, and evinces
no more sympathy with the reader who prefers an author to ex-
press his thought fully than Mr Browning, or the Mr Rudyard
Kipling of later days. " Hobbs hints blue/'- '-' who fished the
Murex up ? " would be quite as much in his style as in that of
the author of • ' Sordello," and other modern literary perplexities.
Horace, with all his terseness, is seldom elliptical, and habitually
gives a cloke of superficial meaning to his words, even when their
real intention is least clearly expressed. In Sat. I. Persius has
these lines : —

Secuit Lucilius urbem,

Te Lupe, te Muti, et genuinum fregit in illis.
Omne vafer vitium ridenti Flaccus amico
Tangit : et admissus circum praecordia ludit,
Callidus excusso populum suspendere naso.
Men' mutire nefas, nee clam, nee cum scrobe ? Nusquam.
Hie tamen infodiam. Vidi, vidi ipse, libelle,
Auriculas asini quis non habet ? Hoc ego opertum ;
Hoc ridere meum, tarn nil, nulla tibi vendo
Iliade.

" Lucilius lashed the town with its Lupuses and Mutiuses, and
gnashed his teeth upon them. Flaccus, the artist, puts his finger
on every fault of his laughing friend, and, having once got in,
sports round his heart, clever at suspending the populace on a
dilated nostril (i.e. contemptuously using a style which mystifies).
Is it then a crime for me to veil my speech, may I not be secret,
or whisper into a ditch ? Nowhere. Well, at anyrate, I will

228

APPENDIX II 229

bury something here. I have seen, I myself have seen it, my'
booklet. The ears of an ass, who has them not ? This secret,
this laughing-stock of my own, bagatelle though it is, I sell not
to you for any Iliad. "

Now this reference to the story of Midas, to the whispered
secret, the suggestion in the question " Men'- mutire nefas ? Zi and
the pointed contrast of his own case with Horace's, accurately
accord with what is contended concerning the existence of a
hyponoia or hidden meaning in the writings of Horace, and serves
to explain the precise significance of the phrase " excusso populum
suspendere naso." These words afford a good illustration of
Nettleship's remark that every nation has its nuances of thought
as well as of language. With them we connote, and to a certain
extent correctly, the thought of a sneer, but this association of
ideas is not co-extensive with the full suggestion to a Roman
of " suspendere naso." Balatro, for instance, when described as
suspendens omnia naso (Hor. Sat. II. 8, 64), uses words by no
means adequately summed up as " sneering,"- but better as
exhibiting ironical humour. Again, though " you do not sneer
at me," will pass as a translation of " nee naso suspendis adunco "
(Hor. Sat. I. 6, 5), it is obvious that this does not measure the
full content of the words ; and the difference of nuance is again
seen. Besides the idea of superciliousness, the phrase implies
that Maecenas does not treat Horace as a person unworthy of
confidence. What Horace does to the " populus " is exactly the
contrary.

Thirdly ; in Quintilian we find the word " suspensa " as applied
to style, indicating reserve — suspensa et dubitans oratio, Inst:
10, 7, 22. In that passage Quintilian is certainly not commend-
ing the young Orator to begin in a hesitating or stuttering manner,
but in such a way as to excite curiosity as to what is to follow :
by keeping back something at first, he is to enhance the effect
of the full explanation to be given subsequently.

Suspense or reserve of this kind, so far as the general reader
was concerned, and a habit of veiling his language (mutire}
appears, therefore, to be considered by Persius as a Horatian
trait, and this is an additional argument in favour of our inter-
pretation of his style as indicated in such words as " Odi pro-
fanum vulgus et arceo," etc.

While on this passage, a word may be added upon the proper
interpretation of " ridenti amico " " his laughing friend." I do
not profess to decide this, but I point out that its seemingly
obvious sense — viz. that although Horace is satirising his friend,
he is doing it so elegantly as to excite a smile rather than indigna-
tion— is not necessarily the true sense.

Ridens may here mean " exulting," as it clearly does in Od.
IV. i, 1 8, and may refer to the attitude of the friend which pro-
voked Horace's satire (Graece, his V/?/HS) not to his demeanour in
listening to it ; and this seems probable, for when Horace, whether

2 30 THE ODES OF HORACE

in his Iambi (cf. the Epodes) or in his Sermones, does apply the
lash to vitia of various kinds, his art is as often displayed in the
severity of his strokes as in the delicate finesse with which they
are administered.

If we look into the matter a little deeper, we shall see a potential
source of Persius' reference. Murena's superstitions had been
alluded to by Horace in works published before the Odes (cf.
Intr. § 1 18). In the third Sat. Bk. II. (issued circa B.C. 28) there is
a mysterious passage on the subject (cf. v. 75 and foil.) in which
• ' Perillus," of the too addled brain (putidius cerebrum, cf. putidum
caput, Cat. III. and IV. App. I.) is mentioned as dictating things
one would be unable to write down, and this is followed by some
advice to those who are under the influence of evil ambition,
avarice, luxuriousness, calamitous superstition, or other mental
disease. Immediately preceding this passage is a reference to
money transactions, and to a slippery " Proteus," and to some-
one described as "laughing (ridentem} with the jaws of others,"
a phrase which has never been explained satisfactorily, but which
by association with Murena may become intelligible. Perhaps it
was this same " laugher " whom Persius had in mind.

The Murenaic allusions traceable in Horace, in other places
besides the Odes, will, if possible, be made the subject of a
supplementary work.

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