LIBER QUARTUS. CARMEN II. AD IULUM ANTONIUM. Composition variously dated from A. v. c. 738 till 741. This Ode is inscribed to Iulus Antonius, the second son of Mark Antony the Triumvir, by Fulvia. He was born A. U. c. 710, educated by the sister of Augustus, Octavia, whose daughter Marcella he married. At one time he was so highly esteemed by the emperor that he was successively honoured with the priesthood, with the praetorship in the year 741, and in 744 with the consulship, which he held in conjunction with Q. Fabius Maximus Africanus. In A. U. C. 752, he was convicted of the crime of adultery with the Einperor's daughter Julia. She was banished to the island of Pandataria, and Iulus Antonius was compelled to commit suicide by the order of Augustus. The argument of the Ode may be briefly stated thus: Iulus Antonius had requested Horace to celebrate the recent triumph of Augustus over the Sigambri, Usipetes, and Tencteri, in Pindaric poetry. Horace excuses himself from so bold an undertaking on the ground of his inability to cope with the Grecian poet in the higher departments of lyric composition. Laureâ donandus Apollinari, Seu per audaces nova dithyrambos Verba devolvit numerisque fertur manner Lege solutis 10 15 20 continued in a copious flow of language.' 9. Laurea (= lauro) donandus Apollinari, comp. above 3, 30, 15: mihi Delphicâ lauro cinge comam, and below C. 4, 3, 6 sq.: Deliis ornatum foliis ducem. 10-12. Διθύραμβοι, dithyrambs, the first kind of Pindaric poetry-fertur (quasi torrens) numeris solutis lege, 'he is borne onward in lawless measures.' 13-16. referring to the second kind of Pindaric poetry, the IIataves and Yuvot, 'Paeans and Hymns,' in honour of the gods and heroes-deorum sanguinem, in apposition with 'reges' as mythical demigods-justâ morte, by just death, destruction' (for having attempted to violate Hippodamia, the newly-married wife of Pirithous-note the rythmical repetition of cecidit after cecidêre. lic games-quos coelestes Elêa (poetic. Olympica) palma reducit domum, whom the Elean (Olympic) palm brings home exalted to the skies (comp. above C. 1, 1, 5 sq.: Palmaque nobilis Terrarum dominos evehit ad deos, and in this ode, below lines 22 and 23: et vires animumque moresque Aureos educit in astra)-construe: et donat (eos) munere (i. e. carmine, éπivikių) potiore centum signis (= statuis). 21-24. the fourth kind of Pindaric 6 poetry, the Opvou, Laments, funeral songs-juvenemve plorat, poetic. = sive juvenem plorat, raptum flebili sponsae, &c.--flebili, in active sense = lacrimas fundenti, weeping' (comp. below A. P. 123: flebilis Ino)—moresqué Aureos, to be scanned: moresqu'aureos, by Synapheia; and in v. 23: nigroqu' | invidet (hypermetric, verses, comp. above C. 2, 2, 18. 2, 3, 27; 2, 16, 34; 3, 29, 35) -invidet Orco, poetic a morte vindicat, rescues from oblivion.' Multa Dircaeum levat aura cycnum, Grata carpentis thyma per laborem Concines majore poëta plectro Quo nihil majus meliusve terris Fata donavere bonique divi, به انده شود Nec dabunt, quamvis redeant in aurum 31. rivos, Bentl. conj.-36. Sycambros and Sicambros, some Codd 25. Dircaeum cycnum, poetic. for 'Pindarum,' see the Excurs. to this Ode. 27. apis Matinae, of a bee of the mountain Matinus in Apulia, near Veunsia (comp. C. 1, 28, 3; Epod. 16, 28). 28. more modoque, a usual Latin term, 'after the custom and manner.' 30. plurimum belongs to laborem (not to nemus) — uvidi, comp. above C. 3, 29, 6: udum Tibur. 31. Tiburis, see Excurs. to C. 1, 7note the emphatical juxtaposition of operosa and parvus, and the position of the latter at the end of the verse. 33. majore plectro, (belonging to concines) poetic. pleniore sono, in a higher, nobler strain' (comp. Ovid. Met. 10, 150: cecini plectro gravioreGigantas; and the opposite expression above C. 2, 1, 40: quaere modos leviore plectro). 25 30 35 263.2. 40 34. quandoque = quandocumque, 'whenever.' 35. per sacrum clivum, i. e. Sacram Viam, which formed a slight ascent--meritâ fronde, i. e. laureâ. 37. quo, sc. Caesare Augusto. 39. in aurum, poetic. for: to the golden age.' 42. super de (comp. above C. 3, 8, 17: Mitte civiles super urbe curas, and below Carm. Saec. 18; decreta super jugandis feminis)-impetrato, sc. votis nostris obtained' (by our vows). 43. Augusti reditu, there exist coins of the year A.U.C. 738 (= B.C. 16) with the inscription: S. P. Q. R. V. S. PRO. S. ET. RED. AVG., i. e. Senatus Populusque Romanus. Vota suscepta pro salute et reditu Augusti. 44. orbum vacuum, i. e. holidays Tum meae, si quid loquar audiendum, Teque, dum procedit, 'Io triumphe!' Te decem tauri totidemque vaccae, Me tener solvet vitulus, relictâ 45 50 veal Matre qui largis juvenescit herbis au 55 Fronte curvatos imitatus ignes 45. loquor, some Codd., Bentl.-49. tuque, some Codd.-procedis, some Codd.-55. juveniscit, Cod. Bernens. in the courts of justice. 45. audiendum= dignum quod audi atur. 46. bona pars, a good deal, a considerable portion (comp. S. 1, 1, 61: At bona pars hominum decepta cupidine falso, and A. P. 297: bona pars non ungues ponere curat). 49. teque, sc. Triumphe (addressed like a divine being)-dum procedit, sc. Augustus. 53. te, sc. (Iulum) Antonium. 55 and 56. juvenescit in mea vota, i. e. paullatim fit juvencus, ut a me immolatus mea vota solvat, 'grows for (the discharge of) my vows.' 60 57 and 58 construe: (vitulus) imitatus fronte (= cornibus) curvatos ignes Lunae referentis tertium ortum (= cornibus non majoribus quam est figura lunae tertio post interlunium die), 'resembling by (the horns of) his forehead the curved light of the three-days' new moon.' 59. qua notam duxit (in fronte), 'where it bears a spot '-niveus, poetic. with the infin. (like the Greek λevкòs idéolai), 'snow-white to be seen,' i. e. in appearance. 60. cetera, adv., in the rest (of the animal)—fulvus, 'gold-yellow,' 'light red.' EXCURSUS XII. CARM. II. LIB. IV. PINDAR. The Pindar, generally called the Theban, was born in the spring of Olymp. 64, 3 (B.c. 521), in a burgh of Boeotia, called Cynoscephalae, between Thebes and Thespiae. He was the son of Daiphantus, (according to others, of Pagondas, or Scopelinus and Clidice,) and sprung from a family among whom the art of playing the flute was hereditary. He traced his descent from the noble race of the Aegides, who shared in the most ancient migrations and conquests of the Spartans, and was, therefore, nearly connected with the Dorian blood. ancients relate the beautiful myth that in his boyhood he one day lost his way on going to Thespiae (or near Helicon), and that having fallen asleep with fatigue, he found on awaking that a number of bees had dropped their honey on his lips. His father, recognising the talent of his son, sent him to Athens to be instructed by Lasos, who was at that time the greatest master of the poetic art; others are also said to have assisted in his poetical training. The influence exercised by his native town, where musical competitions on the flute and other instruments were frequently held, and where he appeared as the rival of the celebrated female poets, Myrtis and Corinna, after he had been their pupil, must also be taken into account. Corinna is said to have reproached the young poet with the want of myths in his earlier compositions; but afterwards, when he fell into the opposite mistake, to have cautioned him "not to sow from the full bag, but from his hand." He very soon acquired a name and noble friends, by whom he was employed to make festive songs. At the age of twenty, he wrote one of his first odes, the tenth Pythian ode, on a victory gained by the Aleuadae, which has been preserved, and the style of which exhibits somewhat immature taste and power. The epoch of the Persian war coincided with Pindar's manhood, dividing his life into two periods of equal length. The ingenious poet seeing thus, for forty years in quiet independence, the rise of the whole Hellenic nation to political, literary, and religious distinction, could not but be greatly influenced by this stirring movement of all Greece towards power and civilization. Although his poetical education was already finished, and his poetical inspiration had essentially proceeded from the more ancient sources of poetry, especially from the moral traditions of the Dorians, with whom his mind was closely allied, yet the enthusiasm of that age also extended his horizon, and raised his standard of poetical merit to such a degree of perfection as no lyric poet had as yet attained through the influence of single tribes and the tendency of agricultural pursuits. To this he added a perfect knowledge of worldly affairs, as he enjoyed constant intercourse with the society of the most celebrated towns, with princes and noblemen of all countries of Greece, as he was esteemed by some as a friend and benevolent adviser, and highly honoured by the majority of his countrymen as a poet, whose songs were the most worthy accompaniments of the |