Page images
PDF
EPUB

Stanza 3.

"Wolf of Mars." Wolves were sacred to Mars,

from their boldness.

Stanza 7. "Coronam." The ancients wore coronals or garlands at their feasts.

Stanza 7. 66

Immeritamque vestem." A dress, which, from

its modest and unoffending neatness, gave no inducement for, and therefore "did not merit," any rudeness.

ODE XVIII.

Line 9. "Sithoniis." See note, Ode xxvII. Stanza 1. “Thracum," hereafter.

Unwilling thee," &c.

Horace means to say,

Line 22. 06 "I will never (carried away by wine or enthusiasm) move the sacred vessels, &c. to and fro with unnecessary violence, so as to uncover the mysteries of Bacchus, concealed by leaves to protect them from the public gaze; " which would be "te invito," or, against his will; or in other words, "I will never let myself be so overcome with wine as to do the disgraceful things drunken men generally commit;"

closing secrets," &c.

as, "dis

ODE XIX.

Stanza 3.

"Animosum equis Parthum." The Parthians,

or Medes, or Persians (for Horace uses them indiscriminately), used to hurl their darts from horseback, in their retreat (or sham flight), with deadly aim.

Stanza 4. "Bimi meri." New wine was used at sacrifices.

Stanza 4. "Mactatâ hostiâ." Horace, by offering a sacrifice to Venus, hopes the Goddess will soften Glycera's heart.

Stanza 1.

ODE XX.

"Sabine," was a poor wine: the Falernian and Formian, strong wines.

Stanza 2. "Paternæ ripæ." The Tiber rises in Etruria, where Mæcenas's ancestors came from.

Stanza 3. 66

Temperant." The ancients diluted, or "tempered," their strong wines with water.

ODE XXI.

Stanza 1. "Unshorn Cynthius." Apollo was represented

[blocks in formation]

Stanza 4. "His brother's lyre."

Mercury is said to have presented his brother Apollo with the lyre, in return for the "caduceus," or divining rod.

ODE XXII.

Stanza 2. "Fabled," The river Hydaspes was said to have golden sands, horrid water monsters, &c.

Stanza 6. "Domibus negatâ." The ancients thought that the land immediately under the middle of the torrid zone was uninhabitable, from its being "nimium propinqui solis,"

too near the sun.

Line 22.

ODE XXV.

"Myrtle dark." The myrtle leaf, generally dark,

is more so when young.

ODE XXVII.

Stanza 1. 66 Thracum." The Thracians were of very intemperate habits. Horace also speaks of the " Sithonians," (meaning the Thracians generally), Ode xvII. line 9., as being severely treated by Bacchus for their dissipated man

ners.

Stanza 2.

"Bent elbow." The ancients used to recline at

their entertainments.

ODE XXVIII.

A

This ode seems to want some slight explanation. mariner walking on the sea-shore finds the shipwrecked corpse of Archytas, a Pythagorean philosopher and celebrated mathematician; and addressing the body, expresses his surprise, that one so illustrious could not escape death. At line 7., "Occidit et Pelopis," the Ghost answers, showing that death seizes all, however celebrated, and urges the mariner to bury him; it being esteemed a bounden duty for all who found a corpse to bury it, otherwise the shade was compelled to wander about for 100 years.

Line 9-13. 66 Habentque, &c." This refers to the Pythagorean doctrine of the transmigration of souls. Pythagoras asserted that his soul had formerly animated the body of Euphorbus, the son of Panthous, who fell in the Trojan war; and to prove this, the philosopher recognised, or pretended to recognise, the shield of Euphorbus, which had hung up many years in the temple of Juno at Mycenæ, and "reclaimed " it as his ow

Line the last. "Thrice sprinkle me with dust." The slightest ceremony of burial was deemed sufficient.

Line 14.

Socratic school.

ODE XXIX.

"Socraticum domum." The writings of the

ODE XXX.

Line the last. "And Mercury." The poet puts Mercury in last, very ingeniously suggesting, that Love, Grace, Modesty, and Youth, in order to be a complete company, still require to be attended and aided by learning and eloquence, over which Mercury, the Guardian of Poets, presided.

ODE XXXIII.

Stanza 2. "Tenui fronte."

A low forehead was considered

by the Romans, as well as the Greeks, a great beauty. And we see in their statues the ladies' foreheads are made to appear low, by bands put round them.

ODE XXXIV.

Stanza 2. "Per purum," &c. The ancients thought it could only thunder and lighten when the horizon was clouded; but Horace, hearing thunder in a cloudless sky, rebukes the Epicurean philosophy, which believed the Gods took no interest in the affairs of the world; and declares his belief in the Deities in the concluding stanza." Diespiter," or Diei pater, Jupiter.

Stanza 3. "Stridore acuto." With the sharp sound of wings rushing through the air.

ODE XXXV.

Stanza 4. A standing column was figuratively put for the city, as yet flourishing; as a broken pillar was (and is now) used to designate ruin and desolation.

Stanza 8. "Britannos," &c. The British Isles were the most remote northern parts of the world known to the Romans.

Stanza 1.

ODE XXXVI.

"Mutata toga." The young men after seventeen laid aside the toga prætexta, and put on the toga virilis, or gown of manhood.

Stanza 2. "Cressâ notâ." The Romans marked in the calendar the lucky days with white chalk, got from the island of Crete, as the unlucky days with charcoal.

Stanza 1.

ODE XXXVII.

"Saliaribus pulvinar, &c." The Romans after a victory used to give a banquet, as it were, to the Gods, by way of thanksgiving; when couches were spread, and the statues of the Gods taken from their pedestals and laid on The feasts of the Salii, priests of Mars, were of the

them.

« PreviousContinue »