Stories of Paris and Helen, and of Jupiter and Alcmena. Peccare is here the proper Word. ACIER. 4 Primá nocte.] The Romans made use of the Words primus and poftremus, to fignify the Beginning and the End of one and the fame thing. Virgil has faid, in like manner, primus menfis, the Beginning of the Month; prima urbs, the Entry or Skirts of the City. Thus primâ nocte here fignifies, in the Beginning, or, at the Approach, of Night. DACIER. The SAME ODE Imitated. By another Hand. To Mrs. EEP not, O peerless Wife! in vain, WEE Your Dear, whom diftant Lands detain, Your kind, your conftant Spoufy; Bless'd with the forfeit Wealth of Spain, Still, though remote, his Love is true, The Toilet-Damfel, where he lives, Says, Says, ill-tim'd Virtue never thrives, She fets before his Eyes by rote, With Tales encouraging to Sin, He fighs for you, and hears 'em ; And Dangers, he ne'er fears 'em. You, in Return, his Wife fo fair, No foreign Vows fhould please her. His 'broider'd Coat, his clouded Cane, His most prodigious Breeding; Full many a Dame these Arts have ta❜en, For want of timely heeding. Shut Shut then the Door, at early Night, Nor give a Look, nor fhow a Light, Ev'n though he raves, and fwears downright ODE VIII. To MACENAS. By Mr. DUNCOMBE, fen. N' Greek and Roman Writings skill'd, IN You wonder what these 2 Vafes, fill'd With Incenfe, mean; and why my Head 3 Flowers on this 4 Festival adorn; And why on verdant Turf I burn These 5 Coals, a Stranger to the genial Bed! 6 To Bacchus' Guardian Power, the Blood Of a white Goat I grateful vow'd, When 7 juft efcap'd the falling Oak : And now, as Years renew the Feast, Of all my Casks will pierce the beft, Since Tullus rul'd, improv'd with mellowing A hundred Glaffes to a Friend Sav'd from fuch Peril, fhould commend Your 10 Your Love, Mecenas!-To our Joys, Prolong'd by watchful Lamps 1 till Light, Devote we this aufpicious Night Of focial Mirth, but " free from Jars andÑoife. Awhile forget 12 your Civil Cares ; To Rome, our 15 old Cantabrian Foes,” While we the present Moment fnatch, And, high in Spirits, bid our Cares farewell. NOTES. Sanadon fixes the Date of this Ode to the Year of Rome 735, after the fubduing of the Cantabrians, mentioned by Horace in the 22d Verfe, which happened in 734. 1 Docte fermones utriufque linguæ.] Dacier fuppofes thefe Words to mean the Greek and Roman Languages; and fays, that this was paying Mecenas a great Compliment; for, though Latin was the native Language of the Romans, they were very careful to ftudy it; and there were public Schools at Rome for That, as well as ⚫ for the Greek. What he adds concerning France, may be justly applied to England; viz. We fhould be glad if We had Schools for the fame Purpofe; for our native Language is not fo eafy to be understood as fome imagine: imagine: And on this Account it were to be wifhed, that a proper Ufe were made of fome excellent Obfervations on that Subject in Mr. Sheridan's Treatise on British Education. Dacier thinks his Conftruction of thefe Words so very clear, that he is surprised how any one can doubt the Truth of it. On the other hand, Bentley and Sanadon understand, by the Word fermones, the Learning and Philofophy of the Greeks and Romans, as Horace elsewhere ufes the Phrafe Socratici fermones to the fame Purpose: And this is the only Senfe, which has any Relation to the Subject. The Surprife of Mecenas arofe from his exact Knowledge of the Feftivals and Ceremonies of the Greeks and Romans. 2 Acerra thuris plena.] It has been doubted, whether acerra fignifies a little Altar, or a Vafe. But it appears by the ancient Marbles, that it was a Vafe, in which In cense used to be burned. It was alfo placed at the Feet of the Deceased, while they were laid out at the Gate; as the Holy-water Pot is now used. He fays, the Vafe was plena thuris, full of Frankincenfe, to intimate the Ardor of his Devotion. Thus Virgil, in the 5th Eneid: Et plena fupplex veneratur acerrâ. DACIER. 3 Quid velint flores.] Horace conforms himfelf to the Ceremonies of the Day; for the Women then offered Flowers to Juno, and wore also flowery Chaplets. Thus Ovid, in his 3d Book de Faftis ; Ferte Dea flores; gaudet florentibus herbis 4 Martiis Calendis.] The Calends of March, i. e. the first of March. The first Day of March was held as a Feftival by the Roman Ladies, because on that Day the Sabines, who had been ftolen by the Romans, made a Reconciliation between their Husbands and their Fathers, when the two Armies were just going to engage, and because on the fame Day they dedicated a Temple to Juno on Mount Efquiline. They therefore kept it with a great deal of Pomp. In the first place, they facrificed to Juno in that Temple, and offered Flowers to her. All the rest of the Day they stayed at home, richly adorned, and there expected the Prefents which their Friends and Hufbands fent them, as it were by way of Acknow |