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- 43. Saevadura. Apto cum lare, 'with a suitable house;' that is, a house suitable for a poor man, who himself cultivated the small piece of ground that he inherited from his forefathers. -45. Velut arbor occulto aevo, like a tree whose growth is not observed;' that is, gradually. Marcellus was at this time in his seventeenth year, and had just begun to gain honour by his conduct in official posts. 47. Julium sidus; that is, Augustus: the force of the expression is, Julius (C. Julius Caesar Octavianus Augustus) gleaming like a star.' The connection of the thoughts is, 'the fame of Marcellus is growing gradually, but that of Augustus is already most brilliant.' Ignes - minores = stellas minores.- 50. Orte Saturno, son of Saturn;' namely, Jupiter. Compare line 13.-51. Tu secundo Caesare regnes, 'reign with Caesar next below thee.' In prose we should say, 'let Caesar rule next to thee.' -54. Egerit justo triumpho. The triumph over the Parthians, whose territory extended close to the Roman dominions (hence Latio imminentes), is called 'just,' because they had before by stratagem conquered M. Crassus and M. Antonius, and almost annihilated their armies. This was the main cause why Augustus, from the very beginning of his reign, meditated a campaign against the Parthians. 55. Subjectos Orientis orae subjacentes, situated or living under the sky of the East:' ora here is 'tract or quarter of heaven.' About the year 24 B. C., Augustus sent his lieutenantgeneral, Aelius Gallus, on an expedition into Arabia Felix. Its results were very trifling; in fact, it was a failure.-57. Te minor, inferior to thee, next to thee, under thee.' Aequus, merciful and just.' 58-60. The idea is this: 'as Augustus rules justly on earth, so do thou reign in heaven by thy thunder, which makes known thy power; and by thy lightning, by which thou punishest such as offend thee.' Properly, the order should have been inverted: as thou rulest in heaven, so may Augustus rule on earth.'-58. Gravicurru. According to the descriptions of the ancient poets, what men call thunder is the noise of the wheels of Jupiter's heavy chariot, as he drives

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Tu parum castis inimica mittes
Fulmina lucis.

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through the heavens.-59. Parum castis inimica-lucis. Lightning often strikes trees; such trees, according to the superstitious notions of the ancients, as have been defiled or profaned by some crime. For this reason, every object struck by lightning had to be purified by numerous religious ceremonies, and the wrath of Jupiter to be appeased by a sacrifice.

CARMEN XIV.

AD REMPUBLICAM.

THIS ode, as Quintilian (Instit. Orat. viii. 6, 44) has observed, is allegorical. Under the figure of a ship, which, after being much shattered in previous storms, puts out into the wild sea again, the poet describes the Roman state, which, after having come through so many civil wars, seemed likely to be again plunged into great confusion, in consequence of the quarrel between Octavianus and Antony in 32 B. C. The idea of representing a state under the figure of a ship is borrowed from the Greek lyrists, who made much use of this metaphor.

O NAVIS, referent in mare te novi

Fluctus? O! quid agis? Fortiter occupa
Portum. Nonne vides, ut

Nudum remigio latus,

Et malus celeri saucius Africo

Antennaeque gemant, ac sine funibus

Vix durare carinae

Possint imperiosius

Aequor? Non tibi sunt integra lintea,

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1. Referent, shall new billows carry thee back?'-3. Nonne vides ut-gemant, dost thou not perceive how they groan?'-4. Nudum remigio latus. The author is thinking of a trireme, a ship of war; the main strength of which lay in its oars, just as now steam-vessels depend for motion principally on their engines. In a concussion with an enemy's ship, the great matter was to strip off the opponent's oars, which was effected by drawing in one's own oars, and passing close to his side before he had time to take in his. For this reason, the state, shattered by intestine commotions, is here compared to a ship deprived of its oars.-5. Saucius; properly, 'wounded;' here, loosened, made to totter.' The mast (mālus) is treated as if it were a soldier.-6. Sine funibus, 'without cables;' that is, 'without anchors.' If thou dost not ride at anchor, and remain in harbour, thou canst not weather the storm. Notice the plural cari

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nae, used poetically for the whole ship.-10. Non di. An allusion to Augustus. He was the deus who had saved the vessel of the state after the death of Caesar, when it seemed on the eve of destruction. But now, if he died, who was to rescue the ship, since he would leave no son behind him?-11. Pontica pinus. Pontus, formerly an independent kingdom, was celebrated for its forests, which furnished the best wood for ship-building: hence, in the next line, silva-nobilis. Pontica pinus is therefore a ship built of the pine-wood of Pontus.'-13. Genus et nomen. The author attributes to the ship the same origin and fame which the city of Rome had. Thou boastest of thy origin, since Mars and Romulus were thy builders, and of the fame (nomen) which thou hast acquired; but these bring thee no help now (inutile est.)-14. Pictis-puppibus. The Romans used to paint their ships (for puppis stands as pars pro toto, for the whole ship) with stripes of different colours. By timidus navita, Horace means himself. He had been 'out,' as the English phrase goes, in the civil war after Caesar's death, and knew and feared the troubled sea of revolution. 15. Nisi debes ludibrium ventis, 'unless thou owest sport to the winds;' that is, 'unless, by the decree of fate, thou art doomed (bound) to make sport for the winds by becoming a wreck.'-17. Nuper, 'lately;' namely, at the time of the battle of Philippi, when the state-that is, the consideration of state affairs, politics-caused me much anxiety and disquietude, but at the same time also disgust and weariness. Supply, as the verb to line 17, fuisti, and to line 18, es.-20. Vites aequora interfusa (inter) nitentes Cycladas, avoid the seas which roll between the glittering Cyclades; that is, generally, seas full of rocks, on which thou mayest be wrecked.

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CARMEN XV.

NEREI VATICINIUM DE EXCIDIO TROJAE.

A PLAY of Horace's fancy, written, as it appears, without any particular reference to the state of the empire; though some have supposed it to contain an allusion to Antony, who was ruined by his love to Cleopatra, as Paris was by his to Helen.

PASTOR Cum traheret per freta navibus
Idaeis Helenen perfidus hospitam,
Ingrato celeres obruit otio

Ventos, ut caneret fera

Nereus fata: 'Mala ducis avi domum,

Quam multo repetet Graecia milite,

Conjurata tuas rumpere nuptias

Et regnum Priami vetus.

Heu! heu! Quantus equis, quantus adest viris

Sudor! Quanta moves funera Dardanae

Genti! Jam Galeam Pallas et aegida

Currusque et rabiem parat.

Nequicquam, Veneris praesidio ferox,
Pectes caesariem grataque feminis

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1. Construe thus: cum pastor (namely, Priam's son Paris, who, when tending his father's sheep, had given the well-known decision regarding the beauty of the three goddesses, Venus, Minerva, and Juno) perfidus (because he had violated the laws of hospitality towards Menelaus, king of Sparta) Helenen hospitam traheret per freta (was carrying over the sea') Idaeis navibus,in Idaean ships;' that is, ships built of the wood which grew on Mount Ida, near Troy.-3. Ingrato, because the winds love to rage, and roam, and rouse the sea.5. Nereus, a sea-god, who presided especially over the Aegean. He possessed the gift of prophecy; and when he saw Paris fleeing with Helen, he uttered the prediction which Horace proceeds to give, announcing the dire fate (fera fata) that awaited Troy. Mala avi = malo omine, omens being taken principally from the flight of birds.—7. Conjurata — rumpere, poetical for quae uni versa juravit sé rupturam esse.-10. Funera cladem, destruction.' Dardana gens means the Trojans, so called from Dardanus, one of their ancient kings.-11. Pallas, the enemy of the Trojans, is already preparing her helmet, her shield (the aegis, in the centre of which was the frightful head of Medusa), and her chariot, and the wild ferocity of war is rising in her bosom. 13. Ferox confisus, 'trusting.' Venus was the constant friend of the Trojans.→→

Imbelli cithara carmina divides;
Nequicquam thalamo graves

Hastas et calami spicula Cnosii
Vitabis strepitumque et celerem sequi
Ajacem. Tamen heu serus adulteros
Cultus pulvere collines.

Non Laertiaden, exitium tuae

Genti, non Pylium Nestora respicis?
Urgent impavidi te Salaminius
Teucer, te Sthenelus sciens

Pugnae, sive opus est imperitare equis,

Non auriga piger. Merionen quoque
Nosces. Ecce furit te reperire atrox
Tydides melior patre,

Quem tu, cervus uti vallis in altera

Visum parte lupum graminis immemor,
Sublimi fugies mollis anhelitu,
Non hoc pollicitus tuae.

Iracunda diem proferet Ilio

Matronisque Phrygum classis Achillei;

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15. Divides, as in i. 36, 6, is to be connected with feminis. We can carmina dividere even to a single person, by singing to her at different times.-16. Thalamo. An allusion to Homer's Iliad, iii. 381, where it is related that on one occasion, when Paris was fighting and hard-pressed, Venus concealed him in a cloud, and took him home to his chamber.-17. Calami spicula Cnosii. Cnosos was a town in Crete, whose inhabitants were famed during all antiquity as archers.-18. Strepitum, the noise of war.' Celerem sequi Ajacem this construction is Greek-swift in pursuit.' The younger Ajax, the son of Oileus, is meant; his standing epithet in Homer being swift.'-19. Tamen, in spite of all this, in spite of the protection of Venus; and although thou avoidest the battle, yet, &c. Serus, a poetical construction for sero.-21. The poet enume. rates some of the chief heroes who fought against Troy; mention ing first Ulysses, son of Laertes, whose craftiness it was which de vised the wooden horse, the ultimate means of the taking of the city; next Nestor, from Pylos in Peloponnesus, famed for his elo. quence; then Teucer, from Salamis (compare i. 7, 21); Sthenelus, charioteer of Diomedes, and his companion in arms; Meriones, companion of Idomeneus of Crete; and lastly, Diomedes, son of Tydeus.-22. Non-respicis, 'dost thou not think of?'-25. Sive

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vel si, or, if, &c., also a good charioteer.'-27. Reperire. The infinitive, according to the Greek usage, instead of ut reperiat. 28. Melior=fortior. Compare Iliad, iv. 405.-29. In altera parte vallis visum. The stag forgets the pasture and flees, as soon as it sees a wolf on the other side of the valley.-31. Sublimi anhelitu, 'with a deep-fetched breath;' that is, panting heavily. -32. Tuae; namely, uxori Helenae, to whom Paris had boasted of his strength and valour. See Homer, Iliad, iv. 430.-33. Iracunda-classis Achillei. As Achilles and his companions (here

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