Diva, producas subolem, Patrumque
Prosperes decreta super jugandis
Feminis, prolisque novæ feraci
Lege marita:

Certus undenos decies per annos
Orbis ut cantus referatque ludos,
Ter die claro, totiesque grata

Nocte frequentes.

Vosque veraces cecinisse, Parcæ,

Quod semel dictum est, stabilisque rerum
Terminus servat, bona jam peractis

Jungite fata.

Fertilis frugum pecorisque Tellus

Spicea donet Cererem corona:

30

Nutriant fetus et aquæ salubres,
Et Jovis auræ.

Condito mitis placidusque telo
Supplices audi pueros, Apollo:

17. producas. i. e. bring to manhood as (in the epigram quoted on ver. 13.) Þoîbos d' eis hbav apσενας ηγάγετο.

18. decreta, the Lex Julia, de Maritandis Ordinibus, a law for the regulation of marriages, and the promotion of them. Degrading marriages were made illegal, and the illegality was a bar to receiving legacies; penalties were imposed on celibacy. This law appears to have passed B. C. 18; in A. D. 9 it was amended and added to, in the consulship of M. Papius Mutilus and L. Poppæus Secundus, after which time the title of the law is given commonly as Lex Julia et Papia Poppaa. 22. orbis, cycle.'

23. ter die. i. e. For three days and nights celebrated by multitudes.'

I

25. veraces. An allusion to the oracles of the Sibylline books. 26. quod semel dictum est. The proper notion of fatum, i. e. a thing decreed. "Fata sunt quæ divi fantur:" Serv. on Æn. ii. 777. stabilisque terminus. i. e. ‘which the determinate issue of events keeps up' (i. e. carries out to completion). Cp.

Concordes stabili fatorum numine

Parcæ. Virg. Ecl. iv. 47. terminus, a bound or limitation;' hence, a final decision not to be overstepped.' So Tépua, Eur. Suppl. 617.:

ἁπάντων τέρμ' ἔχοντες αὐτοί (sc.
θεοί).

Cp. Lucret. i. 78.; Virg. Æn. iv.
614., terminus hæret.
31-33. Cp. Epist. u. i. 135-7.

Siderum regina bicornis, audi,
Luna puellas.

Roma si vestrum est opus, Iliæque
Litus Etruscum tenuere turmæ,
Jussa pars mutare Lares et urbem
Sospite cursu :

Cui per ardentem sine fraude Trojam
Castus Æneas patriæ superstes

Liberum munivit iter, daturus
Plura relictis:

Dî, probos mores docili juventæ,
Dî, senectuti placidæ quietem,

Romulæ genti date remque prolemque
Et decus omne.

Quæque vos bobus veneratur albis
Clarus Anchise Venerisque sanguis,
Impetret, bellante prior, jacentem
Lenis in hostem.

Jam mari terraque manus potentes
Medus, Albanasque timet secures :

37. vestrum opus. i. e. founded under your auspices and your direction. Cp. jussa, ver. 39.; and with that, Virg. Æn. iv. 345.

41. sine fraude. So Carm. 11. xix. 20.

46. senectuti placidæ. "Placida egregie dicitur senectus, quæ sibi placet, prorsus contenta est vitâ et ante actâ et ea quæ etiamnunc ipsi concessa est."-Orelli. I transcribe the note, partly as indicating the emphatic force of the epithets here used, partly as coinciding remarkably | with the well-known lines of "The Christian Year: "

"Such calm old age as conscience pure,

And self-commanding hearts, ensure."

49. quæque veneratur. veneror is here used with the sense and construction of precor, governing a double accusative. Cp. Sat. II. vi. 8.; and Cicer. ad Fam. vi. 7.: qui multa deos venerati sunt contra ejus salutem.

Cp. Virg. Æn. iii. 34-36. 51. bellante prior. Virg. Æn. vi. 854.

54. Albanas, Roman,' alluding to the colonisation from Alba.

Jam Scythæ responsa petunt, superbi
Nuper, et Indi.

Jam Fides, et Pax, et Honor, Pudorque

Priscus, et neglecta redire Virtus

Audet: apparetque beata pleno
Copia cornu.

Augur, et fulgente decorus arcu

Phœbus, acceptusque novem Camenis,
Qui salutari levat arte fessos

Corporis artus.

Si Palatinas videt æquus arces,

Remque Romanam Latiumque felix
Alterum in lustrum, meliusque semper
Proroget ævum.

Quæque Aventinum tenet Algidumque,
Quindecim Diana preces virorum

Curet, et votis puerorum amicas
Applicet aures.

55

60

65

70

Hæc Jovem sentire, deosque cunctos,

Spem bonam certamque domum reporto,
Doctus et Phoebi chorus et Dianæ

Dicere laudes.

75

secures. i. e. the fasces-The 63. Cp. Ov. Met. i. 521., opifer. R. power.' 67. lustrum may be an allusion 58. priscus. Virg. Æn. vi. 879. to the recent extension of Augustus's 60. copia cornu. Carm. I. xvii.pooraσía for another five years.

16.; Epist. i. xii. 29.

62. acceptus Camenis.

Φοῖβος ἁγήτωρ μελέων.

Eur. Med. 426.

69. Aventinum. Diana had a temple there.

Algidum. Cp. Carm. I. xxi. 6. 70. quindecim viri, the custodiers of the Sibylline books.

Q. HORATII FLACCI EPODON

LIBER.

CARMEN I.

AD MECENATE M.

IBIS Liburnis inter alta navium,

Amice, propugnacula,

Paratus omne Cæsaris periculum

Subire, Mæcenas, tuo.

Quid nos, quibus te vita si superstite
Jucunda, si contra, gravis?

Utrumne jussi persequemur otium,
Non dulce, ni tecum simul?

An hunc laborem mente laturi, decet
Qua ferre non molles viros?

Feremus; et te vel per Alpium juga,

Inhospitalem et Caucasum,

Vel occidentis usque ad ultimum sinum
Forti sequemur pectore.

EPODE I.

Written just before the battle of Actium (cp. Bentley's Chronology). Epode ix. appears to have been composed upon receiving the first news of it.

1. Liburnis. Carm. 1. xxxvii. 30. alta propugnacula. The ships in Antony's fleet were of unusual height and size, having as many as 10 banks of oars (deкnpeis, Plutarch's Life of Antony). Virg., Æn. viii. 692.,

5

10

Roges, tuum labore quid juvem meo
Imbellis ac firmus parum?
Comes minore sum futurus in metu,

Qui major absentes habet:

Ut assidens implumibus pullis avis
Serpentium allapsus timet

Magis relictis; non, ut adsit, auxilî
Latura plus præsentibus.
Libenter hoc et omne militabitur
Bellum in tuæ spem gratiæ;
Non ut juvencis illigata pluribus
Aratra nitantur mea:

Pecusve Calabris ante sidus fervidum
Lucana mutet pascuis:

Nec ut superni villa candens Tusculi

Circæa tangat mœnia.

Satis superque me benignitas tua

Ditavit: haud paravero,

Quod aut avarus ut Chremes terra premam,
Discinctus aut perdam nepos.

Esch. mutet, see Carm. I. xvii. 2.
"Calabris saltibus adjecti Lucani
(Ep. I. ii. 177.) were coveted by
cattle-owners as affording them alter-
nations of summer and winter pas-
turage; the woods and hills of Lu-
cania supplying the first, the mild,
soft climate of Calabria the second.
29. Tusculi Circæa monia. See
"Ele-Carm. III. xxix. 8.

21. non ut adsit. Hom. Il. A. 116.:

“Η δ' (sc. ἔλαφος) εἴπερ τε τύχῃσι μάλα σχεδὸν, οὐ δύναταί σφι χραισμεῖν.

28. militabitur bellum. ganter et nove dictum :" Schol. 25. i. e. not for the sake of gain or gifts.

28. Calabris Lucana mutet. i. e. go from Calabria into Lucania. On