celeres morari, 'to delay the swift course of rivers.'-15. Immanis aulae, of the horrid court' which Pluto and Proserpine hold in the lower world.-18. The use of ejus here is very remarkable, as the higher poetry is accustomed to eschew this pronoun entirely. For this reason, some have considered the whole stanza as spurious.— 19. Manet ore trilingui, 'flows out of his mouth, which has three tongues.' This is not strictly accurate, for Cerberus has three heads, and consequently three mouths and three tongues, but he has not three tongues in one mouth.-21. Ixion, the king of the Lapithae, who, as a punishment for an attempt upon the honour of Juno, was bound in Tartarus to a wheel which constantly turned round. As to Tityos, see iii. 4, 77.-23. Danai puellas. Danaüs fled with his fifty daughters from Africa to Argos, where he became king. He betrothed his daughters to the fifty sons of his brother Aegyptus; commanding them, however, to murder their husbands on the first night of their marriage. They all obeyed his orders except Hypermnestra, who spared her husband Lynceus. The other daughters were condemned in the lower world to the punishment of constantly pouring water into a vessel full of holes.-26. Construe thus: dolium inane lymphae pereuntis imo fundo, the cask empty of water, because it runs out (perit) at the bottom.' 28. Sera, because they did not begin till after the death of the Danaids.-29. Manent, expectant. 30. Quid potuere majus? 'what greater sin could they commit ?? -33. Una de multis, one of the many; namely, Hypermnestra, who was worthy of being wedded. 34. In perjurum parentem; namely, her father Danaus, who had formerly made = 'Surge, ne longus tibi somnus, unde Quae velut nactae vitulos leaenae Me pater saevis oneret catenis, I, pedes quo te rapiunt et aurae, 40 45 50 peace with his brother Aegyptus. 38. Longus somnus; that is, death. Unde; that is, ab eo, a quo, 'from him from whom thou fearest it not.'-42. Singulos, 'each her own husband.'-47. In extremos agros Numidarum; that is, to the remotest part of Africa.48. Classe for navi.-49. Rapiunt, hurry, bear rapidly away.' 51. The sense is this: if, for sparing thee, I be killed by my father, write upon my tombstone a lament for my death, by which thou wilt show that thou hast been mindful of me. CARMEN XIII. AD FONTEM BANDUSIAE. An ode in praise of the fountain of Bandusia, to which the poet says he intends to-morrow to sacrifice a kid. We know of a fountain of Bandusia some six miles from Venusia, the birthplace of Horace. If this be the fons here extolled, which is at least possible (compare Introduction, p. x.), then the ode must have been written very early, about the year 38 B. C., while Horace was yet residing in his native town, without any settled position in life. O FONS Bandusiae, splendidior vitro, Cui frons turgida cornibus 1. Vitro, than crystal,' as we should say. - -2. Non sine floribus, and also of flowers:' worthy to have flowers brought to thee as offerings. 4. Frons turgida cornibus,' the forehead swelling with 5 10 15 the horns.' The kid has not yet real horns.-5. The more common form of the clause would be, quem frons veneri et proeliis destinat.-8. Suboles gregis, the offspring of the herd.'-9. Atrox hora flagrantis Caniculae. Canicula is the dog-star, during whose season the sun is hottest. Hora is here time, season' generally, and it is called atrox, because it is burdensome, distressingly hot. 10. Nescit tangere, cannot touch;' namely, because thou art shaded by oaks and rocks. - 13. Fies nobilium fontium, 'thou wilt become one of the celebrated fountains,' be renowned like the fountains and caves of the muses. The prophecy has been fulfilled. So long as there is taste in the world, this little poem and the name of Bandusia cannot be forgotten. 14. Cavissaxis, 'the cave among the rocks, with the oak growing over it.' CARMEN XIV. AD POPULUM ROMANUM. ODE on the return of Augustus from the war which he had carried on against the Cantabrians and Asturians. Written in 24 B. C. HERCULIS ritu modo dictus, o plebs, Morte venalem petiisse laurum Victor ab ora. Unico gaudens mulier marito 5 1. Construe thus: Caesar, modo dictus (who was recently said') petiisse laurum venalem morte ritu Herculis. In the year 25 B. C., and during the war, Augustus had fallen into a dangerous illness. It thus appeared as if he were resolved to buy the laurel, victory, even at the price of his life, in the same manner as Hercules had often, in the performance of his celebrated labours, put his life in the most imminent peril.-5. Unico gaudens-marito, who has joy Prodeat justis operata sacris, Virginum matres juvenumque nuper Hic dies vere mihi festus atras I pete unguentum, puer, et coronas Dic et argutae properet Neaerae Lenit albescens animos capillus in her husband alone.' Livia is meant, the all-powerful wife of Augustus.-6. Operata justis sacris (ablative), after bringing to the gods the offerings due, the offerings which she is called upon to make.' Operari, with the dative of the god to whom the offerings are brought, is the ordinary term.-7. Soror clari ducis ; namely, Octavia. Decorae supplice vitta, adorned with the ribbon which suppliants to the gods used to have around their brows and in their hands.' -9. Juvenum nuper sospitum, of the youths recently preserved,' by the emperor's victory in the Spanish campaign.-11. Jam virum expertae is equivalent to nuptae, 'married.'-12. Parcite verbis male ominatis has the same force as favete linguis in iii. 1, 2. Observe the hiatus in male ominatis.-14. Tumultum nec mori per vim, 'war, nor (its consequence) a violent death.'-18. Marsi memorem duelli; that is, a cask stored up during the Marsic or Social War (91-89 B. C.): this wine would consequently be upwards of sixty years old. But Horace doubts whether such wine is to be found; since Spartacus, in the Servile War (73-71), laid waste the part of Italy most flourishing and richest in wine.-19. Si qua, if anywhere,' = sicubi. 20. Testa, jar,' for cadus, amphora vini.—21. Dic-properet, 'tell her to hasten.' The hair is called murreus, because it is anointed with oil of myrrh. Females at this time wore their hair gathered into a knot at the back of the head: hence nodo cohibere.—23. The sense fully expressed is this: if Neaera's surly porter will not allow thee to go in and execute thy commission, do not tarry expostulating with him, but hasten back to me.-25. Albescens capillus is opposed to calidus juventa, age and youth.-28. Consule Planco; that is, in the year 42 B. C., when Horace was twenty-two years old. CARMEN XVI. AD MAECENATEM. DESCRIPTION of the power and destructive influence of gold. The poet resolves to live content with his humble lot. INCLUSAM Danaën turris aënea Nocturnis ab adulteris, Si non Acrisium, virginis abditae Custodem pavidum, Jupiter et Venus Risissent fore enim tutum iter et patens Converso in pretium deo. Aurum per medios ire satellites Et perrumpere amat saxa potentius Demersa exitio; diffidit urbium Portas vir Macedo et subruit aemulos 5 10 15 1. Danaë, the daughter of Acrisius, was, in consequence of a declaration by an oracle that her son should kill his grandfather, kept by her father shut up in a strong tower, that she might never be married. But, as the story goes, Jupiter visited her in the form of a shower of gold. Her son was the hero Perseus. Aenea, 'strong.' Compare iii. 3, 65.-3. Munierant, for the regular munivissent, defendissent. Gram. § 346, 2. — 6. Pavidum, because he feared that his daughter's son would kill him.-7. Fore. The accusative with the infinitive here depends upon an omitted they thought, believed, knew.-8. Converso in pretium deo, 'to the god, if he changed himself into gold,' pretium being thus: =aurum.·' 10. Amat, like the Greek pile, is accustomed.' Potentius ictu fulmineo, more potent than the stroke of a thunderbolt.'-11. Augur Argivus is Amphiaraus of Argos. His wife, Eriphyle, was bribed with a golden bracelet by Polynices, who was raising an army against his brother the king of Thebes, and she persuaded her husband to accompany her brother Adrastus on the expedition, though he knew that he would perish in it. 14. Vir Macedo, Philip, king of Macedonia, father of Alexander the Great. He made himself master of Olynthus, Amphipolis, Potidaea, Pydna, and many other towns, by bribery. It is related of him that he used to say any fortress could be taken into which an ass laden with gold could enter. Aemulos reges, his competitors for the throne of Macedonia, Pausanias, Argaeus, Arrhybas, Chersobleptes, whose under-generals he bribed. --15. Navium-duces, an allusion to the freedman Menas, the most |