Piscium et summâ genus haesit ulmo, Aequore damae. Vidimus flavum Tiberim retortis Litore Etrusco violenter undis Ire dejectum monumenta regis 15 7. Proteus, the sea-god in the service of Neptune, whose sea-calves he kept. 9. construe: et (quum) genus piscium haesit (in) summâ ulmo;—et poetic., like an enclitic, is very often put after the vword which it ought to introduce (comp. below verse 18; 39; 1, 12, 11; 1, 31, 10; 1, 37, 8 al.) 11. superjecto, i. e. tegente omnia, * poured over the earth.' 13. flavum Tiberim, * the yellow Tiber '—(yellow from the great quantity of sand which it carries along with it) —undis (i. e. aquis fluminis) violenter *retortis (a mari) litore Etrusco, * when the waves (i. e. the waters of the Tiber) were violently driven back (by the swollen sea) from the Etruscan shore ' (upon the Roman side of the river). 15. dejectum, supine, * to demolish'— *monumenta regis, i. e. the memorial (palace, Regia) of King Numa, joined with the temple of Vesta, and both situated on the Sacra Via, at the foot of the Palatine hill (comp. below S. 1, 9, 35: Ventum erat ad Vestae). 17. Iliae, i. e. to Rea Silvia, mother of Romulus, and therefore ancestress of Julius Caesar, and, according to Horace, the wife of the river-god Tiberis, hence in v. 20: uarorius amnis, ' obsequious to his wife's will '—nimium querenti, i. e. inordinately complaining of the murder of Julius Caesar, her descendant. 18 and 19. sinistrâ labitur ripâ, i.e.*overflows his left bank'—Jove non probante, against the will of Jupiter ' (the protector of Rome and her sacred buildings). 19 and 20. u- rorius, the word divided to suit the kind of verse, (thus in the foll., C. 2, 16, 7 sq.: ve-nale; S. 2, 8, 117 sq.: unde-octoginta; Ep. 2, 2,93 sq.: circum-spectemus; Ep. 2, 2, 188 sq.: unumquodque; A. P. 290 sq.: unum-quemque; and A. P. 424 sq.: inter-noscere). 21, &c. construe : audiet juventus, rara (=imminuta) vitio parentum ('posterity thinned, reduced in numbers by the guilt of the fathers'), cives acuisse, .ferrum, quo, &c. 22. graves Persae, (poet. for Parthi, the formidable Parthians. Audiet pugnas vitio parentum Rara juventus. Quem vocet divùm populus ruentis Imperi rebus? Virgines sanctae minus audientem Cui dabit partes scelus expiandi Jupiter? Nube candentes humeros amictus, Augur Apollo; Sive tu mavis, Erycina ridens, Sive neglectum genus et nepotes Heu nimis longo satiate ludo, Vultus in hostem; 25 Erece qua fatigent Tandem venias, precamur, 30 35 40 39. Marsi, Cod. and Bentl. 25. vocet rebus (dative) imperì (i. e. tmperii) = invocet ut succurrat imperio. 26. prece, poetic. also, in sing. of * prayer'—fatigent, expressively = assiduis precibus exorent, * by what assiduous prayers shall they importune Vesta ?' 27. virgines sanctae, i. e. Vestales— Vestam minus audientem (= aversantem), carmina (= preces), * Vesta unwilling to attend to their prayers' (on account of the murder of Cesar). 32. augur, as god of prophecy, comp. below Carm. Saec. 61 : Augur,...Phoebus, and Virg. A. 4, 376: Nunc augur Apollo, Nunc Lyciae sortes, &c. 34. quam circum = circum quam by Amastrophe (comp. below C. 2, 16, 33: te circum, and C. 3, 3, 11: quos inter). 86. respicis, look wpon, i. e. * have a care for, regard, are mindful of' (comp. the epithet respiciens of the goddess Fortuna; and Virg. Ecl. 1, 28: Libertas, quae sera, tamen respexit inertem) —auctor, i. e. Mars, as progenitor of the Romam race. 37. ludo, sc. bellico. 38. juvat, the sing. of the verb with several subjects, if each or one of them is in the sing. (comp. below C. 1, 3, 1, sq.: Sic te diva potens Cypri, Sic fratres Helenae...Ventorumque regat pater ; C. 1, 4, 16: Jam te premet nox fabulaeque Manes; C. 1, 6, 9, sq.: Dum pudor imbellisque lyrae Musa potens vetat; C. 1, 35, 21: Te Spes et albo rara fides colit; and many other passages)—léves = politae, * burnished.' 39 and 40. construe: et vultus Mauri peditis acer, in cruentum (=cruore aspersum) hostem (i. e. Romanum). Tollat. Hic magnos potius triumphos, Neu sinas Medos equitare inultos, CARMEN III. AD NAVEM VIRGILII ATHENAS PROFECTURI. Horace wishes a prosperous voyage to the ship in which his friend Virgil had embarked for Athens; expresses his astonishment at the boldness of the first navigators, and inveighs against human rashness in general, of which remarkable instances are furnished in the history of Prometheus, Daedalus, and Her Obstrictis aliis praeter Iäpyga, • * Debes Virgilium, finibus Atticis, Et serves animae dimidium meae. irca pectus erat, qui fragilem truci 10 Commisit pelago ratem Decertantem Aquilonibus, VW Quo non arbiter Hadriae 15 Major, tollere seu ponere vult freta. Qui siccis oculis monstra natantia, Infames scopulos, Acroceraunia? 20 Nequiquam deus abscidit Pollux, the Dioscuri, the tutelary stars of mariners. 3. Ventorum pater, i. e. Aeolus—regat, * lead, direct thee ' (a ship); as to the singul., see above note to C. 1, 2, 38. 5 and 6. tibi creditum, &c., “ thou owest him who is entrusted or lent, as it were, to thee.' 8. dimidium animae meae, expressive of heartfelt fondness. 9. illi, &c., meaning of the sentence: that man must have armed his breast against all fear, who first entrusted his Jife to a frail raft—robur, poetic. = clipeus roboreus, ' an oak-wood shield '— aes tripleae, poetic. — lorica ex triplici aeris laminâ conserta, * a cuirass, corslet of triple brass.' 10. truci = minitanti pericula, * ferocious, menacing.' 13. decertantem = acriter pugnantem; comp. below C. 1, 9, 11: ventos deproeliantes—Aquilonibus, dative poetic. Perrupit Acheronta Herculeus labor. Coelum ipsum petimus stultitiâ, neque Iracunda Jovem ponere fulmina. 40 CARMEN IV. The poet describes the return ofSpring, and urges his friend Sextiusto enjoy the festivities of the season by arguments drawn from the shortness of human life. SoLVITUR acris hiems gratâ vice veris et Favoni, y. Ac neque jam stabulis gaudet pecus aut arator igni, 36. perrupitque, Cod. Bern. secundus.—37. arduum, some edd. 27. note the expressive repetition of audaae (from v. 25) — Iapeti genus (= filius), i. e. Prometheus. 32. construe: et prius tarda necessitas semoti leti corripuit gradum, verbally: * and the formerly slow necessity of far removed death quickened its pace.' 34. ea pertus, sc. est, * attempted.' 86. perrupit, the final syllable lengthened by the arsis — Herculeus labor, poetic. * the toiling Hercules' (he went down to the infernal regions in order to fetch Cerberus to the earth). 40. ponere = deponere, 'to lay dowm, put away, leave off.' Carm. 4.—1. solvitur, poetic. * is melting away ' — gratâ vice, * by the agreeable change.' 2. trahuntque, &c. i. e. machines (levers and rollers) drag down to the sea the ships which, in the beginning of the winter, were drawn up on land, and stood on the dry beach till the beginning of spring. |