Jam Dædaleo ocior Icaro Visam gementis littora Bosphori, Ales, Hyperboreosque campos. Me Colchus, et qui dissimulat metum Marsæ cohortis Dacus, et ultimi Noscent Geloni: me peritus Discet Iber, Rhodanusque potor. Absint inani funere næniæ, Luctusque turpes, et querimoniæ: Compesce clamorem, ac sepulchrî Mitte supervacuos honores. Now, more swiftly borne along Than Dædalean Icarus, I'll visit, as a bird of song, The shores of howling Bosphorus ; Me the Colchian soon shall know, Me shall the far Gelonians hear: My song shall he, who drinks the Rhone, And skill'd Iberia, make their own. Let no funereal dirge be heard R NOTES TO BOOK II. ODE I. Horace entreats Pollio, a soldier, advocate, tragic writer, and historian, to leave tragedy for the present, and complete his history of the Civil Wars. And afterwards, in the true lyrical spirit, Horace describes Pollio's power of composition as so great, that he seems to see all the events as if passing actually before his eyes. Line 12. "Cothurno." The buskin was a high boot worn by tragedians, as it raised them, and gave them an air of dignity. It was used first by the Athenians; and the allusion is to Cecrops, the founder of Athens. Line 13. "Reis." Cicero says "Reus" is not only defendant, but any person connected in a civil or criminal cause. Line 25. "Juno et deorum," &c. Juno, and the other tutelary deities of Africa, having, as was supposed, given up in despair the conflict with the Romans when they conquered Jugurtha, yet, in a later age, taking advantage of the civil dissensions of the victors themselves (the Romans), made the battle plains of Thrapsus, where Romans slew Romans in thousands, a sacrifice to the manes of Jugurtha. Line 38. "Ceœ Næniæ." So called from Simonides, the poet of Ceos, as a writer of mournful songs. ODE II. Stanza 1. "Lamnæ," for "laminæ : means, properly, the metal reduced from ore to bullion: here, the ore itself. Stanza 2. "Metuente solvi." Literally, "a wing that keeps pressing on, fearing, if it stopped, it would get relaxed and tired." ODE III. Stanza 6. "Prisco ab Inacho: Inachus being the most ancient king of Greece. Shakespeare paraphrases this passage: "Golden lads and lasses must, Like chimney-sweepers, come to dust.". Stanza 7. Cymb. "Versatur urna." Necessity was supposed to be always revolving an urn; and the person whose name fell out was hurried in (Charon's) boat across the Styx to the regions of Pluto. Stanza 4. "Penates iniquos." Alluding to her fall from high birth to slavery. Stanza 5. "Teretes suras. The "tapering " legs of the ladies at Rome were much exposed by the tunic (as we see in representations on the stage): and the tunics of slaves (of whom Phillis was one) were even shorter. "Lustrum' |