ceremonial character of the poem, composed, not to be studied in the closet, but to be chanted before a vast concourse in the open air. Horace's unfailing tact recognized that the austere simplicity of Roman ritualistic language was more consonant with the dignity of the occasion, than any elaborate prettiness of phrase, or imitation of the splendid lyric diction of the Greeks that it was in his power to achieve.

The sapphics are finished with the utmost care. Notable is the frequent lilt of the feminine caesura, ll. 1, 14, 15, 18, 19, 35, 39, etc.

The poem was sung on the third and last day of the festival before the temple of Apollo on the Palatine. Sacrificioque perfecto pueri [X]XVII quibus denuntiatum erat patrimi et matrimi [whose fathers and mothers were still living] et puellae totidem carmen cecinerunt; eodemque modo in Capitolio. The natural meaning of the last words is that the rendering of the ode was repeated on the Capitol. There has been some idle debate as to whether the repetition was prearranged or an encore. Mommsen chooses to suppose that the ode was sung as the procession moved from the Palatine to the Capitol and back; and exercises his ingenuity in determining the precise point at which each group of stanzas was chanted. The distribution of the strophes between the youths, the maidens, and the ensemble has been endlessly debated.

1. Phoebe: Actian and Palatine Apollo, the patron deity of the emperor and the empire, is fittingly invoked first. Cf. 1. 31. 1. n.; 1. 21; 3. 4. 60 sqq. - silvarum potens: cf. 1. 21. 5. n.; 1. 3. 1. n.

2. caeli decus: as sun and moon, cf. 9, 36; Verg. Aen. 9. 405, Astrorum decus et nemorum Latonia custos; Sen. Hippol. 408. 2-3. colendi . . culti: a worshipful fullness of expression. Cf. Ov. Met. 8. 350, si te coluique coloque; ibid. 726; Odes 4. 2. 38, donavere dabunt; Epp. 1. 1. 1., prima dicte mihi summaque dicende Camena.

...

5. quo with dicere (8). -Sibyllini: cf. Harper's Class. Dict. s. v. Sibyllae. The old collections which Tarquin was said to have bought of the Sibyl were burned with the Capitol, B.C. 83. Augustus as Pontifex, B.C. 12, deposited a revised collection in the temple of Apollo Palatinus. The extant collections are late forgeries. The

thirty-seven Greek hexameter verses prescribing the order of the ceremonies preserved in Zosimus were compiled or invented by the scholars who organized the festival for Augustus. They fix the saeculum as 110 years (see 1. 21), and an attempt was made to show that this period had been observed four times. Claudius, however, adopting 100 years, repeated the celebration in A.D. 47, and 41 years later Domitian again summoned the people to the spectacle, 'which no living man had seen or would ever see again.'

6. lectas . .

4. 6. 31.

castos: both epithets felt with each noun. Cf.

7. dis the guardian deities generally, deoîs Toxiοúxois. — septem: Verg. Georg. 2. 535; Martial, 4. 64. 11, septem dominos videre montes; Macaulay, Regillus, 38, Hail to the hill-tops seven.' placuere: were and still are dear. Cf. 3. 4. 24, 4. 12. 12 ; Propert. 4. 10. 64, Haec di condiderunt, haec di quoque moenia servant. 9-10. Alme: cf. 4. 7. 7. Sol: Φοῖβος ̓Απόλλων | ὥστε καὶ ἠέλιος κικλήσκεται, the Orac. 16. curru

44. n.

celas: cf. 3. 6.

Also Mayor on Cic. Nat. Deor. 2. 19. 49; Jebb on Soph.

Ajax, 674.

10. alius et idem: similarly Catullus, 62. 34-35, of Venus, identical as morning star and evening star.

12. visere: sc. in thy course; but cf. 1. 2. 8. n.—maius: cf. Verg. Aen. 7. 602, maxima rerum | Roma; Goethe, Elegien XV., 'Hohe Sonne du weilst und du beschauest dein Rom. | Grösseres sahest du nichts und wirst nichts grösseres sehen, | Wie es dein Priester Horaz in der Entzückung versprach.'

13-14. rite: fulfilling thine office. - aperire . . . lenis: cf. 1. 24. 17. n.; lenis is included in the prayer (cf. fertilis 29, and 3. 2. 2) and is felt again with the imperative tuere.

14. Ilithyia: the birth goddess identified with Juno Lucina (15); cf. Lex. and Class. Dict. s. v. According to the inscription, consecrated cakes were offered, Deis Ilythyis, on the second night. Cf. Οrac. 9, Ειλειθυίας ἀρέσασθαι | παιδοτόκους.

15-16. sive... seu: the scrupulous care of the ancient religion to propitiate the god by the apt epithet is reflected in this usage of the poets. Cf. Aesch. Ag. 160; Catull. 34. 21, sis quocumque tibi placet | sancta nomine; Milt. P. L. 3. 7, or hear'st thou rather,' etc.; Sat. 2. 6. 20, Seu Iane libentius audis.

16. Genitalis: only here as name; perhaps imitation of reveτυλλίς.

17-20. Pure prose. - producas: rear, as κουροτρόφος. Cf. 2. 13. 3. — subolem : 4. 3. 14; 3. 13. 8. -patrum . . . decreta: the lex Iulia de maritandis ordinibus, B.c. 18, encouraged marriage and imposed pains and penalties on celibacy. Horace, a bachelor of fifty, celebrates it with a somewhat artificial ardor. Cf. Merivale, 4. 39, Chap. 33; Suet. Aug. 34; Livy, Epit. 59; Dio. 54. 16. Cf. 3. 6.

18. super: cf. Lex. s. v. II. B. 2. b.

20. lege marita: so Propert. 5. 11. 33, facibus maritis, the torch of marriage.

21-24. 'That so this festival may not fail (certus) to be kept by joyous throngs at each returning saeculum of 110 years' is the meaning.

22. orbis cycle. — referatque: cf. 1. 30. 6. n. 24. frequentes: with ludos.

by position the main idea.

Certus and frequentes emphasize

25. veraces: cf. 2. 16. 39. n.; Catull. 64. 306; Arnold, Mycerinus, Fell this dread voice from lips that cannot lie, | Stern sentence of the Powers of Destiny.' - cecinisse: an extreme case of complementary inf. with adjectives. — Parcae: 2. 17. 16. n.; 2. 3. 15. n. The sacrifices of the first night were to them. Cf. the Orac. 9, ἱερὰ . . . Μοίραις ἄρνας τε καὶ αἶγας. The Moerae were originally birth-goddesses. Cf. Pind. Nem. 7. 1; Arnold's He does well too who keeps the clue the mild | Birth-goddess and the austere Fates first gave.'

26. quod semel dictumst = fatum (cf. 3. 3. 57-58. n.), in this case the manifest destiny of Rome.' Cf. Verg. Aen. 1. 257, manent immota tuorum fata tibi, etc. - semel : cf. 4. 3. 1; 1. 24. 16. n.

26-27. rerum terminus: cf. Verg. Aen. 4. 614, hic terminus haeret. The phrase suggests the god Terminus whose refusal to yield to Jupiter was taken as an omen of the stability of Roman power. Livy, 1. 55; Ov. Fast. 2. 667.

27. servet sudden, somewhat illogical transition to prayer that the fate be accomplished. Servat is also read. —peractis : 4. 14. 39.

frugum

29. fertilis frugum: so Livy, 5. 34. 2, Gallia hominumque fertilis fuit. Cf. 4. 6. 39; and, for the blessings invoked, cf. Aesch. Suppl. 689-692; Eumen. 924-926, 938 sqq.; Psalms 94. 13. — tellus: a black sow was offered to Terra Mater on the third night.

30. spicea corona: cf. Δηοῖ τῇ σταχυοστεφάνῳ, Anth. Pal. 6. 104. 8; Cf. Tibull. 1. 1. 15, flava Ceres tibi sit nostro de rure corona | Spicea. (At the Ambarvalia, see Pater, Marius, Chap. I.) Cf. Warton, First of April, Fancy . . sees Ceres grasp her crown of corn | And Plenty load her ample horn'; Hamlet, 5. 2, 'As Peace should still her wheaten garland wear.'

31-32. cf. Catull. 62. 41, (flos) quem mulcent aurae, firmat sol, educat imber. - Iovis : cf. 1. 1. 25. n.; Epode 2. 29.- fetus: i.e. crops.

33-34. condito . . . telo . . . Apollo: not showering the shafts of pestilence as in Homer, Il. 1. 45 sqq., but gracious and benign as represented in his Palatine temple. Cf. 2. 10. 19; 3. 4. 60.

35. siderum regina: cf. 1. 12. 47. n. bicornis: cf. 4. 2. 57; Anth. Pal. 5. 123, δικέρως Σελήνη; ibid. 5. 16, χρυσοκέρως ; Milt. P. L. 1, Astoreth, whom the Phoenicians call'd | Astarte, queen of heaven, with crescent horns.'

6

37-44. si: cf. 3. 18. 5. If, as the Aeneid had recently brought home to every Roman, the world-empire of Rome was a divine dispensation, the gods should cherish their own handiwork. 38. litus Etruscum: i.e. Lavinia litora. (their way to).

- tenuere : won

39. iussa pars: and if it was by divine command that a part of them. Cf. Verg. Aen. 4. 346, Italiam Lyciae iussere capessere sortes.pars: i.e. the companions of Aeneas; apposition with

turmae.

41. per ardentem: cf. Verg. Aen. 7. 296, mediosque per ignes invenere viam. — sine fraude: cf. 2. 19. 20. n.

42. castus: i.e. pius.

mihi, Epode 5. 101.

Cf. incestus, 3. 2. 30.- patriae : SO

43. munivit cf. Lex. s. v. munire, II. B.; Lucret. 5. 102. daturus cf. 2. 3. 4. n.

:

44. plura relictis: Rome is more than Troy. Cf. Propert. 5. 1. 87, Dicam, Troia cades, et Troica Roma resurges.

45-46. docili and placidae are proleptic.

47. Romulae: cf. 4. 5. 1. n.; 1. 15. 10, Dardanae. lemque: hypermetron - the cup runs over.

pro

49. quaeque: object of veneratur, construed as verb of asking. Cf. Sat. 2. 6. 8; Cic. Fam. 6. 7. 2.-bobus . . . albis: white bulls were sacrificed by Augustus and Agrippa to Jupiter Capitolinus on the first day, white cows to Juno Regina on the second. Cf. the Orac. 12. For white bulls as victims, cf. Verg. Aen. 2. 146; Macaulay, Horatius, 7; Capys, 29; Epode 9. 22.

50. Anchisae: 4. 15. 31. -sanguis: 4. 2. 14.

51-52. Perhaps meant as a quotation of the famous parcere subjectis, etc. (Verg. Aen. 6. 853). With the following, cf. Aen. 6. 792. With iam, etc., 54 sqq., a favorable answer to the prayer is assumed. 53-56. Cf. 4. 14. 41–52. n.; 4. 15. 6-8, 20-24. The civil wars are ignored.

54. Albanas: i.e. Roman. Cf. Verg. Aen. 1. 7.

:

55. Scythae: cf. 2. 9. 23; 4. 14. 42; 3. 8. 23. responsa petunt as from a god, an oracle, or declarer of the law. Cf. Verg. Ecl. 1. 45; Aen. 7. 86, Hinc Italae gentes .. in dubiis responsa petunt.

57-60. The empire means peace, plenty, and the old Roman virtues. Cf. 4. 5. 17; 4. 15. 5, 10-13.

57. Fides, etc.: cf. 1. 24. 6–7. n.; 1. 35. 21. - Pax: Peace had an altar at Athens, and is called fairest of the gods by Euripides (Orest. 1682). - Honor: Marcellus dedicated a temple Honori et Virtuti (Livy, 27. 25).

58. priscus: Verg. Aen. 6. 879, heu prisca fides.

60. copia: cf. 1. 17. 14. n.; Epp. 1. 12. 28.

61-75. Concluding prayer to Apollo, prophet, musagetes, and healer, and to Diana.

61. augur: cf. 1. 2. 32. —fulgente: with silver (II. 1. 37) or gold (Pind. O. 14. 10).

62. Cf. Arnold, Empedocles, 'Tis Apollo comes leading | His choir the nine.'

63-64. Cf. 1. 21. 13-14.

65. si if, as he surely does. - aequus: cf. 1. 28. 28; 1. 2. 47. n. - arces: so most Mss. Others, aras of the special altars on which the sacrifices were offered before the temple.