NOTES TO BOOK I. Stanza 4. "Malâ." 66 Stanza 1. ODE III. Unhappy "in its results to mankind. ODE IV. "Land-dried.” The ancients drew their ships "high and dry" on the beach in winter by machines, and by the same means, on the approach of spring, conveyed them to the water again. 66 Stanza 5. Sovereignty of the bowl." It was customary with the ancients, at their entertainments, to choose a king or president for the evening by the casting of dice. ODE V. Stanza 4. Horace, in allusion to the custom of the ancients, who, having escaped from shipwreck, hung up their garments with some votive tablet or picture in the temple of Neptune, in token of gratitude, applies the metaphor to his own deliverance from the changeable temper of Lydia. Line 7. 66 ODE VII. Undique," &c. I have taken the common reading, which is sufficiently clear, and quite simple. Line 11. "Tam percussit." I have ventured on a very literal translation here, though it may be objected to, as too 66 English." Line 15. "Albus notus." The “ Λευκόνοτος ” of the Greeks. Line 29. "Salamina," &c. Teucer, having been banished from the original Salamis in Attica, retired to, and built another one in Cyprus; and therefore it would be doubtful, or "ambiguous," hereafter, when Salamis was mentioned, which city was meant. Stanza 4. "Dives." Priam went " rich with gifts," to redeem Hector's body from Achilles. ODE XII. Stanza 1. "Auritas." Originally I wrote, "The oaks with 'pricked up' ears were led by him along." But I thought this might be considered too daring a transla tion. Stanza 4. ODE XIII. "Quintâ parte." "A fifth," that is, a large por tion of her nectar. ODE XIV. Line 8. "Imperiosius." The comparative-"growing every moment more violent," or, increasing in fury. Stanza 9. ODE XV. "Iracunda classis. " " Anger'd fleet." Achilles, enraged on account of Briseïs, his captive, being taken from him, kept his own portion of the fleet back from assisting the Greeks, and thus protracted the war. ODE XVI. Stanzas 1. and 6. The "Iambic " measure was originally used for satire. Stanza 5. 66 Imprimeretque muris." It was a custom of the ancients to drive a plough over the ground where the walls of a captured city stood. ODE XVII. Stanza 2. "Olentis mariti. "Rank husband," that is, "he-goat." |