Servit Hispanæ vetus hostis oræ Neglegens, ne qua populus laboret, Parce privatus nimium cavere : Dona præsentis cape lætus horæ, et Linque severa. ODE IX. THE RECONCILIATION. 'One of Buttmann's remarks with reference to this Ode is well worth quoting: "The ancients had the skill to construct such poems so that each speech tells us by whom it is spoken; but we let the editors treat us all our lives as schoolboys, and interline such dialogues after the fashion of our plays with the names. To their sedulity we are indebted HE. 'While I yet to thee was pleasing, While no dearer youth entwined lavish arms round thy white neck, Happy then, indeed, I flourished, Never Persian king' was blest with such riches as were mine.' 2 SHE. 'While no other more inflamed thee, And below no Chloë's rank Lydia in thy heart was placed, Glorious then did Lydia flourish, Roman Ilia's lofty name not so honoured as was mine.'2 HE. 'O'er me now reigns Thracian Chloë, Skilled in notes of dulcet song and the science of the lute; 1 'Persarum vigui rege beatior.' The opposition between the lover's comparison in this stanza and the girl's in the next ('Romana vigui debted for the alternation of the lyrical name Lydia with the name Horatius in this exquisite work of art; and yet even in an English poem we should be offended by seeing Collins at the side of Phyllis."'-MACLEANE. The poem itself is, perhaps, an imitation from the Greek. Macleane observes, It is just such a subject as one might expect to find among the erotic poetry of the Greeks.' CARM. IX. 'Donec gratus eram tibi, Nec quisquam potior brachia candida Cervici juvenis dabat, Persarum vigui rege beatior.'1 'Donec non alia magis Arsisti, neque erat Lydia post Chloën, Multi Lydia nominis Romana vigui clarior Ilia.' 2 'Me nunc Thressa Chloë regit, Dulces docta modos, et citharæ sciens; clarior Ilia') is this: The lover means that he was richer in her love than the wealthiest king; the girl that she (the humble freed-woman) was more honoured in his love than the most illustrious matron. 2 Ilia, as the mother of Romulus, queen and priestess, stands here as the noblest type of Roman matrons, 'Romanorum nobilissima.' If my death her life could lengthen, So that Fate my darling spared, I without a fear could. die.'1 SHE. 'From a mutual torchlight kindled Is my flame for Calaïs, son of Thurian Ornytus,2 If my death his life could lengthen, So that Fate would spare the boy, I a double death would die !' HE. 'What if Venus fled-returning, Forced us two, dissevered now, back into her brazen yoke ; If I shook off auburn Chloë, And to Lydia, now shut out, opened once again the door ?' SHE. 'Than a star though he be fairer, Lighter thou than drifted cork Hadrian wave,3 Yet how willingly I answer, rougher thou than 'Tis with thee that I would live-gladly I with thee would die.' 'Si parcent animæ fata superstiti.' 'Animæ meæ' denotes a familiar expression of endearment, as in Cicero, ad. Fam. xiv. 14; and as the Italians still call their mistress, 'Anima mia.' Thurini Calais-Thressa Chloë.' The alliteration between the names here selected seems studied. In making Chloë a Thracian and Calais the son of a Sybarite (Thurium, a town of Lucania, near the site of the ancient Sybaris), the poet perhaps insinuates that the lady who had replaced Lydia was somewhat too rude or masculine-the gentle Pro qua non metuam mori, Si parcent animæ fata superstiti.'1 'Quamquam sidere pulchrior Ille est, tu levior cortice et improbo Tecum vivere amem, tecum obeam libens.' man who had replaced the lover of the dialogue somewhat too soft and effeminate. 3 6 'Improbo-Hadria.' Orelli interprets 'improbo' by 'tobend,' 'raging.' The poets use the word 'improbus' to imply anything in violent excess. Ritter, with perhaps over-subtlety, considers that the comparison to a cork refers, not to levity of temperament, but to the insignificant stature of the poet in contrast to the beauty of Calais. S |