follows: "Idle, O my country! will be the boast of thy former glories, and the splendour of thy ancient name."

14-20. 14. Pictis puppibus. Besides being graced with the statues of the tutelary deities, the sterns of ancient vessels were likewise embellished with paintings and other ornaments.-15. Nisi debes ventis ludibrium. "Unless thou art doomed to be the sport of the winds." An imitation of the Greek idiom, öpλeiv yedwra.-17. Nuper sollicitum, &c. "Thou who wert lately a source of disquietude and weariness to me, who at present art an object of fond desire and strong apprehension," &c. The expression sollicitum tædium refers to the unquiet feelings which swayed the bosom of the poet during the period of the civil contest, and to the weariness and disgust which the long continuance of those scenes produced in his breast. Under the sway of Augustus, however, his country again becomes the idol of his warmest affections, (desiderium,) and a feeling of strong apprehension (cura non levis) takes possession of him, lest he may again see her involved in the borrors of civil war.--20. Nitentes Cycladas. "The Cyclades conspicuous from afar." The epithet nitentes appears to refer, not so much to the marble contained in most of these islands, as to the circumstance of its appearing along the coasts of many of the group, and rendering them conspicuous objects at a distance.

ODE. 15. This ode is thought to have been composed on the breaking out of the last civil war between Octavianus and Antony. Nereus, the seagod, predicts the ruin of Troy at the very time that Paris bears Helen over the Ægean sea from Sparta. Under the character of Paris, the poet, according to some commentators, intended to represent the infatu ated Antony, whose passion for Cleopatra he foretold would be attended with the same disastrous consequences as that of the Trojan prince for Helen; and under the Grecian heroes, whom Nereus in imagination beholds combined against Ilium, Horace, it has been said, represents the leaders of the party of Augustus.

1-4. 1. Pastor. Paris, whose early life was spent among the shepherds of mount Ida, in consequence of his mother's fearful dream. Sanadon, who is one of those that attach an allegorical meaning to this ode, thinks that the allusion to Antony commences with the very first word of the poem, since Antony was one of the Luperci, or priests of Pan, the god of shepherds.-Traheret. "Was bearing forcibly away." Horace here follows the authority of those writers, who make Helen to have been carried off by Paris against her will. Some commentators, however, consider traheret, in this passage, as equivalent to lenta navigatione circumduceret, since Paris, according to one of the scholiasts and Eustathius, did not go directly from Lacedæmon to Troy, but, in ap prehension of being pursued, sailed to Cyprus, Phoenicia, and Egypt.-Navibus Idais. "In vessels made of the timber of Ida."--3. Ingrato otio. "In an unwelcome calm."-4. Ut caneret fera fata. "That he might foretell their gloomy destinies."

5-12. 5. Mala avi. "Under evil omens."-7. Conjurata tuas rumpere nuptias, &c. "Bound by a common oath to sever the union between thee and thy loved one, and to destroy the ancient kingdom of Priam." The term nuptias is here used, not in its ordinary sense, but with refer

ence to the criminal loves of Paris and Helen.-9. Quantus sudor. "What toil."--10. Quanta funera. "What carnage."--12. Et rabiem parat. "And is kindling up her martial fury." The zeugma in parat, and the air of conciseness which it imparts to the style, are peculiarly striking.

13-19. 13. Veneris præsidio ferox. "Proudly relying on the aid of Venus."-14. Grataque feminis, &c. "And distribute pleasing strains among women on the unmanly lyre." The expression carmina dividere feminis means nothing more than to execute different airs for different females in succession. The allegorical meaning is considered by some as being still kept up in this passage: Antony, according to Plutarch, lived for a time at Samos, with Cleopatra, in the last excesses of luxury, amid the delights of music and song, while all the world around were terrified with apprehensions of a civil war.-16. Thalamo. "In thy bedchamber."-17. Calami spicula Gnossii. Gnossus, or Cnossus, was one of the oldest and most important cities of Crete, situate on the river Ceratus. Hence Gnossius is taken by Synecdoche in the sense of "Cretan." The inhabitants of Crete were famed for their skill in archery.-18. Strepitumque, et celerem sequi Ajacem. "And the din of battle, and Ajax swift in pursuit." The expression celerem sequi is a Græcism for celerem ad sequendum. The Oilean Ajax is here meant. (Hom. Il. 2. 527.)-19. Tamen. This particle is to be referred to quamvis which is implied in serus, i. e. quamvis serus, tamen ...... collines. "Though late in the con flict, still," &c.

21-28. 21. Laertiaden. "The son of Laertes." Ulysses. The Greek form of the patronymic (Λαερτιάδης) comes from Λαέρτιος, for Λαέρτης. (Matthiæ, G. G. vol. 1. p. 130.)-The skill and sagacity of Ulysses were among the chief causes of the downfall of Troy.-22. Pylium Nestora. There were three cities named Pylos, in the Peloponnesus, two in Elis and one in Messenia, and all laid claim to the honour of being Nestor's birth place. Strabo is in favour of the Triphylian Pylos, in the district of Triphylia, in Elis. (Compare Heyne, ad I. 4. 591: 11, 681.)-23. Salaminius Teucer. Teucer, son of Telamon, King of Salamis, and brother of Ajax.-24. Sthenelus. Son of Capaneus, and charioteer of Diomede.-26. Merionen. Charioteer of Idomeneus, King of Crete.28. Tydides melior patre. "The son of Tydeus, in arms superior to his sire." Horace appears to allude to the language of Sthenelus, (II. 4, 405.) in defending himself and Diomede from the reproaches of Agamemnon, when the latter was marshalling his forces after the violation of the truce by Pandarus, and thought that he perceived reluctance to engage on the part of Diomede and his companion. Ημείς τοι πατέρων μέγ ̓ ἀμείνο ves εvxóμεo' εivai, are the words of Sthenelus.

29-35. 29. Quem tu, cervus, &c. "Whom, as a stag, unmindful of its pasture, flees from a wolf seen by it in the opposite extremity of some valley, thou, effeminate one, shalt flee from with deep pantings, not having promised this to thy beloved." Compare Ovid, Her. 16. 356.-33. Iracunda diem, &c.; Literally, "The angry fleet of Achilles shall protract the day of destruction for flium, &c. i. e. the anger of Ach lles, who retired to his fleet, shall protract, &c.-35. Post certas hiemes. destined period of years."

"After a

ODE 16. Horace, in early life, had written some severe verses against a young female. He now retracts his injurious expressions, and lays the blame on the ardent and impetuous feelings of youth. The ode turns principally on the fatal effects of unrestrained anger. An old commen tator informs us that the name of the female was Gratidia, and that she is the same with the Canidia of the Epodes. Acron and Porphyrion call her Tyndaris, whence some have been led to infer, that Gratidia, whom Horace attacked, was the parent, and that, being now in love with her daughter Tyndaris, he endeavours to make his peace with the latter, by giving up his injurious verses to her resentment. Acron, however, farther states, that Horace in his Palinodia imitates Stesichorus, who, having lost his sight as a punishment for an ode against Helen, made subsequently a full recantation, and was cured of his blindness. Now, as Tyndaris was the patronymic appellation of Helen, why may not the Roman poet have merely transferred this name from the Greek original to his own production, without intending to assign it any particular meaning?

2-5. 2. Criminosis iambis. "To my injurious iambics." The iambic measure was originally applied to the purposes of satirical composition.-4. Mari Adriano. The Adriatic is here put for water generally. The ancients were accustomed to cast whatever they detested either into the flames or the water.-5. Non Dindymene, &c. "Nor Cybele, nor the Pythian Apollo, god of prophetic inspiration, so agitate the minds of their priesthood in the secret shrines, Bacchus does not so shake the soul, nor the Corybantes when they strike with redoubled blows on the shrill cymbals, as gloomy anger rages." Understand quatiunt with Corybantes and ira respectively, and observe the expressive force of the zeugma. The idea intended to be conveyed, is, when divested of its poetic attire, simply this: "Nor Cybele, nor Apollo, nor Bacchus, nor the Corybantes, can shake the soul as does the power of anger."-Dindymene. The Goddess Cybele received this name from being worshipped on mount Dindymus, near the city of Pessinus in Galatia, a district of Asia Minor.

6-11. 6. Incola Pythius. The term incola beautifully expresses the prophetic inspiration of the god: "habitans quasi in pectore."-8. Corybantes. Priests of Rhea, or Cybele, who were said to have brought the worship of that goddess from Crete to Phrygia.-9. Noricus ensiș. The iron of Noricum was of an excellent quality, and hence the expression Noricus ensis 13 used to denote the goodness of a sword. Noricum, after its reduction under the Roman sway, corresponded nearly to the modern dutchies of Carinthia and Styria.-11. Savus ignis. "The unsparing lightning" The fire of the skies.-Nec tremendo, &c. " Nor Jove himself, rushing down amid dreadful thunderings." Compare the Greek expression Zeus Karaußárns, applied to Jove hurling his thunderbolts.

13-16. 13. Fertur Prometheus, &c. According to the fable, Prometheus, having exhausted his stock of materials in the formation of other animals, was compelled to take a part from each of them (particu lam undique desectam), and added it to the clay which formed the primitive element of man (principi limo.) Hence the origin of anger, Prometheus having "placed in our breast the wild rage of the lion" (insani leonis vim, i. e. insanam leonis vim).-16. Stomacho. The term stomachus properly denotes the canal through which aliment descends into the stomach: it is then taken to express the upper orifice of the stomach (compare the Greek kapdía), and finally the ventricle in which the food

is digested. Its reference to anger or choler arises from the circumstance of a great number of nerves being situated about the upper orifice of the stomach, which render it very sensible; and from these also proceeds the great sympathy between the stomach, head, and heart. It was on this account Van Helmont thought that the soul had its seat in the upper orifice of the stomach.

17-18. 17. Iræ. "Angry contentions."--Thyesten. Alluding to the horrid story of Atreus and Thyestes.--18. Et altis urbibus, &c. “And have been the primary cause to lofty cities, why, &c." A Græcism, for et ultima stetere causæ cur altæ urbes funditus perirent, &c. "And have been the primary cause why lofty cities have been completely overthrown, &c." The expression altis urbibus is in accordance with the Greek, αἰπὸ πτολίεθρον, πόλις αἰπειὴ. The elegant use of stetere for exstitere or fuere must be noted. It carries with it the accompanying idea of something fixed and certain. Compare Virgil (Æn. 7. 735) "Stant belli

causæ."

20-27. 20. Imprimeretque muris," &c. Alluding to the custom, prevalent among the ancients, of drawing a plough over the ground previously occupied by the walls and buildings of a captured and ruined city.-22. Compesce mentem. "Restrain thy angry feelings."-Pectoris fervor. "The glow of resentment." The poet lays the blame of his injurious effusion on the intemperate feelings of youth.--24. Cleres iambos. "The rapid iambics." The rapidity of this measure rendered it peculiarly fit to give expression to angry feelings.--25. Mitibus mutare tristia. "To exchange bitter taunts for soothing strains." Mitibus, though, when rendered into our idiom, it has the appearance of a dative, is in reality the ablative, as being the instrument of exchange.27. Recantatis opprobriis: "my injurious expressions being recanted.” -Animum. "My peace of mind."

ODE 17. Horace, having in the last ode made his peace with Tyndaris, now invites her to his Sabine farm, where she will find retirement and security from the brutality of Cyrus, who had treated her with unmanly rudeness and cruelty. In order the more certainly to induce an acceptance of his offer, he depicts in attractive colours the salubrious position of his rural retreat, the tranquillity which reigns there, and the favouring protection extended to him by Faunus and the other gods.

1-4. 1. Velox amænum, &c. "Oft times Faunus, in rapid flight, changes mount Lycæus for the fair Lucretilis." Lycao is here the ablative, as denoting the instrument by which the change is made.-Lucretilem. Lucretilis was a mountain in the country of the Sabines, and amid its windings lay the farm of the poet.-2. Lycao. Mount Lyceus was situate in the south western angle of Arcadia, and was sacred to Faunus or Pan.-Faunus. Faunus, the god of shepherds and fields among the Latins, appears to have been identical with the Pan of the Greeks.. 3. Defendit. "Wards off."-4. Pluviosque ventos. And the rainy winds." The poet sufficiently declares the salubrious situation of his Sabine farm, when he speaks of it as being equally sheltered from the fiery heats of summer, and the rain-bearing winds, the sure precursors of disease.

5-17. 5. Arbutos. Compare the note on Ode 1. 1. 21.-6. Thyma. The thyme of the ancients is not our common thyme, but the thymus capitatus, qui Dioscoridis, which now grows in great plenty on the mountains of Greece.-7. Olentis uxores mariti. "The wives of the fetid husband." A periphrasis for capræ.-9. Martiales lupos. Wolves were held sacred to Mars, from their fierce and prædatory nature.-Hæduleœ. The common reading is hædilia, which vitiates the metre, its antepenult being long. By hædulea are meant the young female kids.-10. Utcunque. "Whenever." For quandocunque.-11. Ustica cubantis. "Of the recumbent Ustica." This was a small mountain near the poet's farm.-12. Levia. In the sense of attrita: "worn smooth by the mountain rills."—14. Hic tibi copia, &c. "Here a rich store of rural honours shall flow in to thee, in full abundance, from the bounteous horn of Fortune." Ad plenum is elegantly used for abundanter.-17. In reducta valle. "In a winding vale."Canicula. Certain days in the summer, preceding and ensuing the heliacal rising of Canicula, or "the dog-star," in the morning, were called Dies Caniculares. The ancients believed that this star, rising with the sun, and joining its influence to the fire of that luminary, was the cause of the extraordinary heat which usually prevailed in that season; and accordingly they gave the name of dog-days to about six or eight weeks of the hottest part of summer. This idea originated, as some think, with the Egyptians, and was borrowed from them by the Greeks. The Romans sacrificed a brown dog every year to Canicula, at its rising, to ap pease its rage.

18-21. 18. Fide Teia. "On the Teian lyre," i. e. in Anacreontic strain. Anacreon was born at Teos in Asia Minor.-19. Laborantes in uno. "Striving for one and the same hero," i. e. Ulysses.-20. Vitreamque Circen. "And the beauteous Circe." Vitrea appears to be used here in the sense of formosa, splendida, and to contain a figurative allusion to the brightness and transparency of glass. 21. Innocentis Lesbii. The Lesbian wine, observes Henderson, would seem to have possessed a delicious flavor, for it is said to have deserved the name of ambrosia rather than of wine, and to have been like nectar when old. (Athenæus 1. 22.) Horace terms the Lesbian an innocent or unintoxicating wine; but it was the prevailing opinion among the ancients, that all sweet wines were less injurious to the head, and less apt to cause intoxication, than the strong dry wines. By Pliny, however, the growths of Chios and Thasos are placed before the Lesbian, which, he affirms, had naturally a saltish taste. History of Ancient and Modern Wines, p. 77.

22-27. 22. Duces. "Thou shalt quaff."-23. Semeleius Thyoneus. "Bacchus, offspring of Semele." This deity received the name of Thyoneus, according to the common account, from Thyone, an appellation of Semele. It is more probable, however, that the title in question was derived ånd Toũ bεv, a furendo.-24. Nec metues protervum, &c. "Nor shalt thou, an object of jealous suspicion, fear the rude Cyrus."-25. Male dispari. "Ill fitted to contend with him."-26. Incontinentes. "Rash." "Violent."-27. Coronam. Previous to the introduction of the second course, observes Henderson, the guests were provided with chaplets of leaves or flowers, which they placed on their foreheads or temples, and occasionally, also, on their cups. Perfumes were at the same time offered to such as chose to anoint their face and hands, or have their garlands sprinkled with them. This mode of adorning their persons, which was borrowed from the Asiatic nations, obtained so universally among the Greeks and Romans, that, by almost every author after the time of Ho