Quantis fatigaret ruinis Indomitas prope qualis undas Exercet Auster, Pleïadum choro Mittere equum medios per ignes. Sic tauriformis volvitur Aufidus, Ut barbarorum Claudius agmina Te copias, te consilium et tuos Et vacuam patefecit aulam, 19. fatigarat and fatigarit, some Codd.-20. indomitus, Cod. Turic.-24. per enses, Bentl. conj.-28. minitatur, some Codd. morti liberae, i. e. to die a free man, in freedom. 22. impiger (sc. major Neronum), poetic. with the infin. (vexare and mittere). 24. per medios ignes, poetic. = per medium ardorem, 'through the thickest of the fight.' 6 25. tauriformis, i. e. taurino, cornuto capite, bull-formed,' a usual epithet of rivers, derived from the roaring sound of their waters (comp. Hom. II. 21, 237 of the river Scamandros: μeμvKшs ηÚTE Taûρos, and Eurip. Ion. 1261: Ω ταυρόμορφον όμμα Κηφισοῦ πατρός, comp. also Virg. G. 4, 371: Et gemina auratus taurino cornua vultu Eridanus, and A. 8, 77: Corniger Hesperidum Fluvius regnator aquarum). 28. meditatur, poetic. = jam paratus M est ad inundandos agros, 'threatens the cultivated fields with a frightful deluge.' 30. ferrata = tecta loricis ferreis, 'clad in iron cuirasses -diruit, poetic. disjecit, dispersit. 31. metendo, like the Greek ȧuav, by mowing down' (in the battlefield). 32. sine clade, sc. suorum militum. 33. sq. te (Augusto) praebente divos, i. e. tuis auspiciis. 34. quo die, poetic. in general = eodem fere tempore recurrente, 'about the same day' fifteen years ago = lustro tertio in line 37; namely, Alexandria was taken in B. C. 30, and the Vindelici conquered in B. C. 15. 36. vacuam, sc. in consequence of the death of Cleopatra. Fortuna lustro prospera tertio Te Cantaber non ante domabilis Medusque et Indus, te profugus Scythes Miratur, o tutela praesens Te, fontium qui celat origines, Obstrepit Oceanus Britannis, Te non paventis funera Galliae 40 45 50 46. Hister, some Codd.-49. non paventes...Galliae (nomin. plur.), some Codd., Bentl.-51. Sycambri and Sicambri, some Codd. (as above C. 4, 2, 36). 38. reddidit rursus praebuit. 39. sq. peractis imperiis, poetic. = bellicis et tuis et ducum tuorum expeditionibus ad finem perductis. 40. arrogavit: addidit (novam gloriam), has conferred upon,'' has contributed.' 42. profugus, comp. above C. 1, 35, 9: te profugi Scythae...metuunt, and C. 3, 24, 9 sq. Campestres Scythae, Quorum plaustra vagas rite trahunt domos. เ 43. praesens, visible,” ἐπιφανής, (comp. C. 3, 5, 2: praesens divus habebitur Augustus). 44. dominae, sc. orbis terrarum. 45. fontium, &c. cujus fontes adhuc ignoti sunt (comp. Lucan. 10, 295: Nili Arcanum natura caput non prodidit ulli). 49. non paventis funera (mortem), poetic. =fortissimus, that knows no fear of death, brave.' 50. durae patientissimae laborum bellicorum, remarkable for patient endurance under the toils of war'audit tibi paret,' obeys.' 52. compositis, poetic. 'being laid aside.' = depositis, CARMEN XV. CAESARIS AUGUSTI LAUDES. Variously dated from A. U. c. 741 to 744. In this poem, which may be regarded as the epilogue of all his odes, Horace extols Augustus personally as the author of peace and security, as the reformer of public morals, the restorer of all the liberal arts, as the patron of the poetic art in particular, and as the reviver of national prosperity in all its forms. PHOEBUS volentem proelia me loqui Fruges et agris retulit uberes, Janum Quirini clausit, et ordinem Et veteres revocavit artes, CARM. 15.-7. direpta, some Codd. = Carm. 15.-1. proelia, sc. commissa ab Augusto,' the exploits'-loqui, like dicere (see above C. 1, 21, 1 and 2) = canere, praedicare, to sing of.' 2. increpuit lyrâ, poetic. lyrâ plectro tactâ admonuit, vetuit ne hoc facerem, admonished, prevented me by a stroke of his lyre' (comp. Virg. Ecl. 6, 3: Quum canerem reges et proelia, Cynthius aurem Vellit, et admonuit, &c.) 5 10 standards which had been lost in the defeats of Crassus and others, and were now restored by the Parthians themselves to Augustus. 9. Janum Quirini, poetic. for Janum Quirinum; the temple of Janus was closed for the third time since it had been built (by King Numa), in B. C. 29 (the first time by Numa, the second time after the first Punic war, in B. C. 235); (comp. below Ep. 2, 1, 254 sq.: Totum confecta duella per orbem Claustra que custodem pacis cohibentia Janum). 12. artes virtutes (prudentiam, fortitudinem, justitiam, temperantiam, the four cardinal virtues of the Romans). Per quas Latinum nomen et Italae Custode rerum Caesare non furor Et miseras inimicat urbes. Non, qui profundum Danubium bibunt, Non Tanain prope flumen orti. Nosque et profestis lucibus et sacris Cum prole matronisque nostris Virtute functos more patrum duces Trojamque et Anchisen et almae 15. ortum, some Codd., Bentl.-18. eximet, some Codd.-23. infidique and perfidique, some Codd. 15. porrecta, poetic. dilatata, propagata, 'extended.' 16. ab Hesperio cubili, poetic. = ab occasu Solis, 'from his western couch.' 18. vis, sc. bellica-exiget= expellet, exturbabit, 'will drive away.' 19. ira, sc. bellica. 20. inimicat, poetic. reddit inimicas inter se. 21. qui Danubium bibunt, i. e. Vindelici, Pannonii (comp. above C. 2, 20, 20: Iber Rhodanique potor). 24. orti prope Tanain, i. e. Scythae. 25. lucibus, poetic. = diebus. 26. jocosi, the same epithet of Liber above C. 3, 21, 15. 15 20 25 30 29. virtute functos, poetic. (in analogy with vitâ functus, or ter aevo functus, above C. 2, 9, 13), those who have performed noble deeds. 30. construe: (canemus) carmine remixto (=permixto) Lydis tibiis; as with the rare verb remiscere, comp. below A. P.: Atque ita mentitur, sic veris falsa remiscet - Lydis tibiis, as used espec. in supplications. 32. Progeniem Veneris, i. e. the Julian race (descending from Aeneas, the son of Venus). The "Carmen Seculare" was composed by Horace, in accordance with the command of Augustus, as a hymn in praise of Apollo and Diana, to be sung by a chorus of youths and maidens at the celebration of the Secular Games. In the year of Rome 727, Octavianus was invested by the senate with imperial authority for ten years, and received the designation of Augustus. At the close of this first term to which his sovereignty had been prolonged, in the year of Rome 737, after peace and order had been completely established throughout the Roman dominions, the emperor resolved to celebrate the Secular Games, as the exact period appointed for this festival was then said to have arrived. The origin, the object, the nature, and the history of the Ludi Seculares, are fully discussed and explained in the Excursus appended to this ode. Meanwhile it may suffice to observe that the dates assigned to their institution vary from A. U. C. 245 to A. U. C. 298; that their primary object was to avert national calamities, and procure national blessings; that if the name Seculares be held to determine the point, they must have been celebrated at the expiry of each period either of 100 or of 110 years, but that they were not known by this name till the time of Augustus; that during the existence of the republic they had been only thrice celebrated under the names of Ludi Tarentini, Terentini, or Taurii, and not after any prescribed interval; and lastly, that during the empire they had been celebrated six times, in disregard of any such rule, as the following enumeration will show: 1. By Augustus, A. U. c. 737. 2. By Claudius, A. U. C. 800. 5. By Philip, A. U. c. 1000. 6. By Honorius, A. U. C. 1157. The motive of Augustus in reviving this ancient festival was obviously a political one-to commemorate his own services to the state; and, in particular, to recommend to the Romans the Julian law "De Maritandis Ordinibus," which imposed penalties on celibacy, and held out inducements to marriage. By his order the Quindecimviri consulted the Sibylline books, and, in accordance with directions therein contained, prescribed both the year and the mode in which the games were to be celebrated. The festival occurred in summer, and lasted for three days and three nights; and among the ceremonies prescribed for the occasion was the singing of a hymn in honour of Apollo and Diana, which a chorus of boys and girls—aμpılaλeîs, patrimi and matrimi, children of parents who were both alive at the time-chanted in the Temple of Apollo, on the Palatine |