Lesbio primum modulate civi, Liberum et Musas Veneremque et illi O decus Phoebi et dapibus supremi 5 10 15 CARMEN XXXIV. AD SE IPSUM. Horace, having witnessed a violent thunder-storm in a cloudless atmosphere, reproaches himself for having neglected the worship of the gods, and adopted the philosophy of Epicurus, which excluded divine agency, and referred everything to merely natural or secondary causes. (See Lucretius de Rerum Naturâ vi. 245-248.) After stating that he felt himself compelled to return to the popular 8. navem, some Codd., Bentl.-15. mihi, cuique, salve, Bentl. conj. 5. modulate (vocat. partic. in pass. sense) Lesbio civi (active dat. = a cive), 'played upon, struck by the Lesbian citizen' (i. e. Alcaeus). 6. ferox bello, Alcaeus gallantly fought against the Athenians and the tyrants of his country, Myrsilus and Pittacus, see the Excurs. to C. 2, 13. 7. religârat, a nautical term, 'had fastened, moored to the shore' (comp. Virg. A. 7, 105: Quum Laomedontia pubes Gramineo ripae religavit ab aggere classem). 8. navim, poetic. for the usual form navem. 9. illi, i. e. Veneri. 10. puerum, i. e. Cupid (comp. C. 1. 30, 5: fervidus puer). 11. nigris oculis nigroque crine, the same qualities praised below A. P. 37: spectandum nigris oculis nigroque capillo. 13. dapibus, &c., thus the lyre is called dairòs èraípy in Hom. Hymn. in Mercur. 31; comp. also Hom. IL, 1, 602 sq.: (Θεοὶ) Δαίνυντ', οὐδέ τι θυμὸς ἐδεύετο δαιτὸς ἐΐσης, Οὐ μὲν φόρμιγγος Teρikaλλéos, îv ëx' 'Aπóλλv; and below C. 3, 11, 6: (Testudo) et Divitum mensis et amica templis. 14. testudo, see Excurs. IV. to C. 1, 1. 15. cumque, belonging to vocanti rite |(=caste, pie)=quandocumque, 'whenever,' i. e. as often (as I duly, piously invoke thee). belief of a superintending Providence, and describing the appalling of effect the storm, he concludes with an observation tending to show that the Deity manifests his power as well in the changes of the moral, as in the phenomena of the physical world. PARCUS deorum cultor et infrequens, Consultus erro, nunc retrorsum Cogor relictos: namque Diespiter, Plerumque, per purum tonantes Quo bruta tellus et vaga flumina, Mutare et insignem attenuat deus, Obscura promens; hinc apicem rapax Sustulit, hic posuisse gaudet. CARM. 34.-5. relectos, Bentl.-13. insigne, Bentl.-16. hinc, some Codd. 6 Carm. 34.-1. parcus (= exigua sacrificia afferens) et infrequens cultor, a sparing and infrequent worshipper.' 2 and 3. consultus sapientiae insanientis, prop. versed in unwise wisdom,' a beautiful Oxymoron, for a follower of the Epicurean philosophy' (comp. below Ep. 1, 11, 28: strenua inertia, and ib. 1, 12, 19: rerum concordia discors.); sapientiae consultus, a free imitation of the usual expression juris consultus. 3. retrorsum vela dare, &c. poetic. for 'to return' (to the first faith). 5. Diespiter, old collateral form of Jupiter, and corresponding to Zevs TаThρ, as the form Jupiter itself is contracted from Jovis-pater (Jovispiter, Jouspiter, Juppiter). 6. igni corusco, i, e. fulmine. 5 10 15 CARMEN XXXV. AD FORTUNAM. An ode addressed to Fortune, in which the poet describes her great and universal power, and invokes her favour in behalf of the Roman armies one division of which was on the point of setting out against the Britons, the other against the nations of the East. O DIVA, gratum quae regis Antium, Vertere funeribus triumphos, Te pauper ambit sollicitâ prece Te Dacus asper, te profugi Scythae, Injurioso ne pede proruas Stantem columnam, neu populus frequens 5 10 no property of his own, but cultivated another man's land (comp. below C. 2, 14, 11: Sive reges, sive inopes erimus coloni, and S. 2, 2, 114: Videas metato in agello cum pecore et gnatis fortem mercede colonum). 7. Bithyna, i. e. made of Bithynian wood-lacessit, poetic. 'excites, moves,' i. e.navigates.' 9. profugi, poetic. = nomades, 'wandering' (comp. below C. 3, 24, 9 sq.: campestres Scythae, quorum plaustra vagas rite trahunt domos). 10. ferox, in good sense animosum, bellicosum, bold, spirited, courageous.' 13. injurioso, 'hurtful, destructive.' 14. stantem columnam, poetic. image CARMINUM, CARM. XXXV. LIB. I. Te semper anteit saeva Necessitas, Uncus abest liquidumque plumbum. Te Spes et albo rara Fides colit Veste domos inimica linquis. At vulgus infidum et meretrix retro Ferre jugum pariter dolosi. Serves iturum Caesarem in ultimos Partibus Oceanoque rubro. CARM. 35.-14. fremens, Bentl. conj.-17. serva, some Codd.-24. inimica vertis. Tum volgus, Bentl. conj.-29. ultimos, Oro, Britannos, Bentl. conj. ='the standing, firm pillar,' i. e. their present firm, flourishing prosperityneu populus, &c. construe: neu populus frequens (=turba seditiosa, 'the thronging populace') concitet cessantes (=quietos cives, 'peaceful citizens') ad arma, ad arma, frangatque imperium. 17. anteit, two syllables: as antēītNecessitas, the goddess of Necessity, represented with large spikes, wedges, a clamp, and molten lead; see the Excurs. to this Ode. 26. cadis cum faece siccatis, i. e. after having enjoyed the greatest hospitality; for the word siccatis comp. above C. 1, 31, 11: mercator exsiccet culullis vina. 28. dolosi (poetic. with the infin.) ferre jugum pariter (sc. cum hospite misero), 'faithless to bear calamity with him.' 29. serves, sc. tu, Fortuna-ultimos orbis, 'the furthest people in the world;' the same epithet is applied to the Britanni and Britannia by the poet Catullus (11, 11 and 29); comp. also Virg. Ecl. 1, 67: et penitus toto divisos orbe Britannos, and Tac. Agr. 30: Britannos terrarum ac libertatis extremos. 30 and 31. recens examen, poetic. 'the recent levy,''the young warriors.' Eheu! cicatricum et sceleris pudet Liquimus? Unde manum juventus 35 ever. EXCURSUS VIII. CARM. XXXV. LIB. I. FORTUNA. The goddess Fortuna was worshipped by the Romans from the remotest period, and to much greater extent than Túxn was by the Greeks. This worship is said to have been instituted in Rome by Ancus Martius and Servius Tullius. There is a myth that the goddess, on entering Rome, took off her wings and shoes, and laid aside her ever-turning ball, thereby showing her intention to stay there for Servius Tullius built two temples for her worship in the Forum Boarium, and on the Tiber. Other temples also were erected to the same goddess, under the names of Fortuna Publica, Fortuna Privata, Fortuna Muliebris. The temple of the last is said to have been built when Coriolanus raised the siege of Rome, at the entreaty of his wife and mother. From her various qualities, she was also called Conservatrix, Bona, Blanda, Redux, Obsequens, Bonae Spei, Averrunca, Equestris, Plebeja, &c. There was at Rome a sanctuary even of Fortuna hujusce diei, in which Paulus Aemilius dedicated a statue to Minerva.2 Out of Rome, Fortuna was worshipped chiefly in Antium and Praeneste. In both towns two sister-goddesses-Fortunae, called also Praenestinae Sorores, and Fortunae Victrices Antiates-had two temples, in which oracles were given by lots. This accounts for the epithet veridicae sorores, which Martial applies to the two goddesses of Antium. Fortuna was generally represented with a rudder in her right hand and a cornucopia in her left. For this reason, in the present ode the husbandman and sailor especially implore her protection: Liv. 2, 40. Te pauper ambit sollicitâ prece Ruris colonus, te dominam aequoris, 2 Plin. 34, 8, 19, § 54. |