was probably occasioned by the sauces and inferior cookery. Nomentanus declares its taste to be peculiar and delicate, while Fundanius ironically confesses he had never tasted anything like it before. 29. Ut vel continuo patuit-"as appeared even at once." Passeris marini-"of a flounder." The passer is the Pleuronectes Flesus of ichthyologists, the German flunder, the French flet or picaud. 30. Ingustata-"such as I had never before tasted," the liver and intestines of turbot being seldom eaten. For atque, Bentley, on the authority of a few MSS., reads assi et. 31. Melimela "honey- apples," which properly belonged to the second course, or dessert. Minorem ad lunam-" at the waning moon." 32. Quid hoc intersit "what difference this makes," i.e., whether they are gathered when the moon is waning or not. 34. Nos, &c-inulti-"if we do not drink to his cost, we shall die unrevenged," i.e., if we do not drink hard, and punish the foolish vanity, and sordid avarice of our host, we shall suffer for eating his tainted viands. Cp. Virgil, Æn. ii 670. 35. Calices-majores-Cp. Epode 9, 33. Vertere-Understand caepit. 36. Parochi-"of our purveyor." Notes, Sat. i. 5, 46. See 38. Subtile exsurdant-palatum-"blunt the nice perception of the palate." The true reason, the parsimony of Nasidienus, is ironically withheld. 39. Invertunt Allifanis vinaria tota"empty whole wine-jars into Allitanian cups," i.e., drain, by means of Allifanian cups, the contents of entire wine - jars. With vinaria understand vasa, and poculis with Allifanis, which is here in the dative. The Allifanian cups, made at Allifæ, a city of Samnium, were of a larger size than usual. 40. Imi convivae lecti-Nomentanus and Porcius, who, together with Nasidienus, Occupied the imus lectus, and being desirous, as parasites, of pleasing the avaricious entertainer, "did no harm to the flagons," i.e., drank sparingly of his wine. Cp. Epist. i. 18, 10. 41. Lagenis-The lagenae were large 42. Squillas-See Notes on Sat. ii. 4, 58. Muraena-"a lamprey," a fish held in high estimation by the Romans. The best were caught in the Sicilian straits. Natantes"that were swimming in the sauce." 43. Porrecta alludes to the length of the fish. Cp. Sat. ii., 2, 39. Sub hoc-"upon this," i e., upon the lamprey's being brought in. 44. Deterior post partum carne futuraThe ablative carne is here equivalent to quod attinet ad ejus carnem, and the passage may be rendered, "Since, after having spawned, it would have been less delicate in its flesh." 45. Prima-"the best." Notes, Sat. ii. 4, 69. Venafri-See 46. Garo de succis piscis Iberi-" with pickle from the juices of the mackerel." Garum was a species of pickle made originally from a fish of small size, called by the Greeks yágos, and afterwards from the mackerel. It resembled the modern anchovy-sauce in nature and use. The intestines of the mackerel were principally used. Piscis Iberi-The mackerel was so called because found in abundance on the coast of Spain. 47. Citra mare nato, i.e., Italian wine. Cp. Sat. i, 10, 31. uvam-"which by its sharpness has soured 50. Quod Methymnaeam vitio mutaverit the Mythymnæan grape." By the Methymnæan grape is meant Lesbian wine, of which the vinegar in question was made. Cp. Sat. ii. 2, 58. Methymna was a city in the island of Lesbos. 51. Erucas-"rockets." campane.' 52. Illutos Inulas-"eleSee Notes, Sat. ii. 2, 44. - having the pickle, in which they had been "unwashed," ie., without lying, washed off. Curtillus-An epicure of the day. better than the pickle which the sea shell53. Ut melius, &c.-remittit-"as being fish yield," i.e., the brine adhering to the illuti echini superseded the necessity of employing the pickle in question, and answered, in fact, a better purpose. Ut melius, s κρεῖττον ὄν· Cp. line 89. 54. Aulaea-See Notes, Ode iii. 29, 15. 55. Pulveris atri-Supply tantum. 57. Majus-something worse." Ruinam domus timentes-Comm. Cruq. 58. Erigimur -"resume courage," lit., "raise ourselves up." Rufus-The surname of Nasidienus. 59. Immaturus-"by an untimely death." Esset, for fuisset, as tolleret, a little after, is for sustulisset. 60. Sapiens is here ironical. 63. Mappa -"with his napkin." The earthenware vessels, employed chiefly for Mappa was usually supplied by the guest holding wine, and shaped as above. for wiping his hands and mouth at dinner, 7. Musco circumlita saxa-" the moss grown rocks." 8 Quid quaeris?"in a word," lit., "what would you have me say?" and nearly equivalent to "what can I say more?" Simul-simul ac. 9. Rumore secundo -"with favouring acclaim" 10. Utque, &c.-placentis-" and, like a priest's runaway slave, I reject the sweet wafers: I want plain bread, which is more agreeable to me now than honied cheesecakes." Liba refers to the consecrated cakes or wafers, made of flour, honey, and oil, which were offered to Bacchus (Ovid, Fast. ii. 735), Ceres, Pan, and other deities. They became the perquisite of the priests, and their number was so great that the latter gave them as an article of food to their slaves. The placenta were cheese cakes, composed of fine wheat flour, cheese, honey, &c. Cp. Cato, R. R. 76. As the priest's slave, who is tired of living on the delicacies offered to his master's god, runs away from his service that he may get a little common bread, so the poet would retreat from the false taste and the cloying pleasures of the city, to the simple and natural enjoyments of the country. 12. Vivere, &c. -primum-" if we ought to live agreeably to nature, and if a spot of ground is to be sought after, in the first place, for a dwelling to be erected upon it." The poet assigns, as the first reason for his preferring the country to the city, that we can live there more conformably to the laws of nature, and with greater ease provide whatever she demands, or disengage ourselves from the desire of what she does not really want. 13. Domo, the old form of the dative, for domui. 14. Potiorem rure beato-" preferable to the blissful country " 15. Est ubi plus tepeant hiemes?"is there a spot where the winters are milder?" Cp. Ode ii. 7, 17, &c. its varied hues, compare for a moment with the verdant turf, or the enamel of the fields? Does it send forth, like the wildflower, a sweet perfume on the air? OletMosaic pavements were, like the stage, perfumed with flowers and an infusion of saffron. Cp. Epist. ii. 1, 79. 20. In vicis, &c.—plumbum-" strive to burst the lead in the street," Le., the leaden pipes that convey it through the streets of the city. Water was brought to Rome in aqueducts, and distributed throughout the city by means of leaden pipes. 21. Quam, &c. — rivum — “than that which runs murmuring along its sloping channel." Trepidat-continenter et celeriter currit-Cp. Ode ii. 3, 11. 22. Nempe inter varias, &c.-They who dwell in cities endeavour to procure for themselves, by means of art, the beauty and enjoyment of rural scenes, "For example, a wood is reared amid columns of variegated marble, and that abode is praised which commands a view of distant fields, and though you may strive to expel Nature by violence, she will ever return, and insensibly triumph over all unreasonable disgusts." Inter varias nutritur silva columnas. See Notes, Ode iii. 10, 5. 24. Naturam expellas furca-Natura is here that relish for the pleasures of a rural life which has been implanted by nature in the breasts of all, though weakened in many by the force of habit or education. (Licet) expellas furca is a proverbial expression, to indicate a rough and ignomini ous ejection, derived from the use of a rustic pitch-fork. 25. Mala fastidia denote those pernicions prejudices which keep the luxurious from the simple enjoyments of a country life. 26. Non, &c.-falsum - The man who cannot distinguish truth from falsehood 16. Rabiem Canis-The Dog star rose will as surely injure himself, as the mer on the 20th July (xiii. Kal. Aug.), and the chant who knows not the difference be Sun entered Leo on the 23d (x. Kal. Aug.). tween genuine and spurious purple. Nos See Notes, Ode i. 17, 17. Momenta Leonis-See Notes, Sat. i. 6, 1. Sidonio-Sidoa -"the influence of the Lion." When the sun is in the sign of Leo, (part of July and August,) the heat is oppressive. 17. Solem-acutum "the piercing (or scorching) sun." 18. Divellat "interrupts." 19. Deterius, &c. - lapillis?"is the grass inferior in smell or beauty to the tesselated pavements of Numidian marble?" Libyci lapilli here mean small square pieces of Numidian marble forming tesselated or mosaic pavements. See Notes, Ode ii. 14, 22. Can the splendid pavement, with all 118 was a famous commercial city, the capital of Phoenicia, about 24 miles north of Tyre, which was one of its colonies. The ante penult is here short, as in Epode 16, 59; Virgil, En. iv. 75, 137, 545, 683; v. 571. It is long in Virgil, Æn. i. 446, 613: ix. 266; xi. 74. Contendere callidus (=callide)— "skilfully to compare' goods, lit., to stretch them out near each other, the better to di cern the difference. Cp. Sat. ii. 7, 10. Ostro is a dative. 27 Aquinatem, &c.-fucum-"the fleeers that drink the dye of Aquinum," Accord THE Epistles, as the name implies, are addressed to particular individuals, and on various subjects. They are probably all among the poet's later productions, and are generally regarded as the most perfect of his works. As in case of the Satires, Epodes, and Odes, the first is addressed to Mæcenas. EPISTLE L.-The poet's excuse for renouncing the composition of Lyrics, to prosecute the study of Moral Philosophy. Franke supposes it to have been written in 20; Weichert and Grotefend, in 17; Walckenaer, in 16; and Kirchner, in 15 B.C. 1. Prima, &c.-ludo-" Mæcenas, sung by my earliest, and having a right to be celebrated by my latest muse, you seek to shut me up once more in the old place of exercise, after having been tried sufficiently, and already gifted with the rod of freedom." Dicte-Cp. Ars Poet., 141. Summa ultima, as in Ode iii. 28, 13. 2. Spectatum satis-The poet compares himself to a gladiator who has been sufficiently tried in exhibitions of skill, and has at last received his discharge (exauctoratio, or missio) by favour of the people. Donatum rude- Gladiators, when discharged from fighting, received a rod, along with a ticket (tessera), inscribed with their name, the letters SP (spectatus), and the date, as a mark of their exemption. This was either obtained at the expiration of the years of service for which they had engaged, or was granted, at the desire of the people, by the person who exhibited them (editor), to an old gladiator, or even to a novice, for some uncommon act of courage. Those who received it (rude donati) sus pended their arms, as an offering, at the entrance of the temple of Hercules, and were called Rudiarii. They could not again be compelled to fight, but were sometimes induced to do so for hire. The following cut is supposed to represent a giadiator with a rudis in his hands. 3. Antiquo-ludo--"to my old school," ference, and full of mountains, and famed a man should not wish to spend his days in 3. Smyrna (Ismur) stood on the coast of Lydia, and was one of the old Ionian 17. Incolumi, &c.-auris-"Rhodes and colonies. It was much beautified by fair Mytilene are, to a man of sound mind, the Antigonus and Lysimachus, and the mosame as a great-coat at the summer solstice, dern town is the chief trading place of the or a pair of short drawers in the snowy sea Levant. Colophon-A city of Ionia, north-son" Incolumi-See Notes, Sat ii. 3, 132. west of Ephesus, famed for its excellent cavalry. (Utrum sunt) majora. Fama"than fame represents them to be." 4. Cunctane, &c.-sordent?-" are they all contemptible in comparison with the Campus Martius and the river Tiber?" Sordeo is here equivalent to contemnor, rilis aestimo, nihili pendor, &c. Cp. Virgil, Ecl. 2, 44. 5. An venit, &c. -una ?-" or does one of the cities of Attalus, (lit., enter into your wish,) become the object of your wish?" i.e., do you wish to dwell in one of the cities of Attalus. such as Pergamus, Myndus, Apollonia, Tralles, Thyatira, &c. 6. Lebedum-Lebedus was once a large and flourishing city, on the coast of Ionia, north-west of Colophon; but upon the removal of the greater part of its inhabitants to Ephesus by Lysimachus, it sank into insignificance, and, in the time of Horace, was deserted and in ruins. Horace may be supposed to have visited these towns himself, when he was in Asia with the army of Brutus. Odio miris atque viarum-Cp. Ode ii. 6, 7. 7. Gubiis There were two Gabii's in Italy, one among the Sabines and the other in Latium. The latter, the more celebrated of the two, was on the Via Prænestina, and about 100 stadia from Rome. 8. Fidenis-Fidenæ, a small town of the Sabines, well known as a brave though unsuccessful antagonist of Rome, from which it was about four or five miles distant. Regarding the quantity of the first syllable, see Notes, Ode iii. 4, 9, and compare Virgil, Æn. vi. 773. Vellem-"I could be content," if it were necessary. 10. Cp. Lucretius, ii. 1, Suave mari magno turbantibus aequora vertis E terra allerius magnum spectare laborem. 11. Sed neque, &c -vendas-A sensible man does not wish to live in a low tavern, though he may be glad of one when wet and bespattered with mud; heat may be agreeable to one who has caught cold, but Rhodos et Mytilene-See Notes Ode i 7, 1. The paenula was a kind of close great coat with a hood (cucullus), and a hole to admit the head, and a slit half way up in front, as in the following cut. Campestre, denotes short drawers worn by gladiators and soldiers for the sake of decency, as follows 19. Tiberis-The allusion is to bathing. EPIST. i. 1, 36-49. 18. Nunc, &c.-relabor -"now I glide breasts every avaricious and covetous feelback insensibly into the precepts of Aristip-ing, are here beautifully compared to the pus.' Aristippus, the founder of the Cy-incantations and charms by which, accordrenaic sect, made the summum bonum con- ing to the popular belief, diseases were sist in pleasure. See Notes, Sat. ii. 3, 100. thought to be expelled from the human 19. Mihi, &c.—subjungere (=vñolεvyvú frame. va)" to make circumstances subservient to me, and not me to circumstances," i.e., to pursue pleasure rather than duty, like the Cyrenaics. 21. Opus debentibus-"to those who owe the performance of a daily task," either for hire, or from situation and circumstances. Ut piger (videtur), &c.—matrum-" as the year seems slow to minors, whom the strict watchfulness of mothers restrains." Minors long for their majority, and all the more if unduly restrained by their mothers; while parents are bound to restrain, as far as they are able, their offspring from the paths of dissipation, and to teach them the lessons of frugality and virtue. 24. Id quod-The pursuit of virtue is here truly stated to be equally important to all, whether rich or poor, young or old. 27. Restat (mini), &c.—elementis-Since, then, I cannot reach that wisdom which I so earnestly desire, "it remains for me to govern and console myself by these first principles of philosophy," i.e., to do as much as I can. 28. (Quanquam) non possis. Oculo Some MSS. give oculos; others oculum, and one has oculis. Elementis-See Notes, Sat. i. 1, 26. Lynceus (a dissyllable). Though you are not so keen-sighted as Lynceus, who could see through the earth, you should not disdain to take care of your eyes. Cp. Sat. i. 2, 90. 29. Lippus-3ee Notes, Sat. i. 1, 120. Inungi-Cp. Sat. i. 5, 30, 49. 30. Glyconis-Glycon, of Pergamos, was a famous gladiator in the time of Horace. 31. Nodosa-cheragra-See Notes, Sat. ii. 7. 15. Prohibere-Cp. Epist. i. 8, 10. 32. Est, &c.-ultra-"it is in our power to advance to a certain point, if it is not permitted us to go farther." Est is here equivalent to licet, as, in Greek, or for TI. See Notes, Sat. ii. 5, 103. Quadam -tenus-A tmesis for quadamtenus. Cp. quatenus, aliquatenus, hactenus, eatenus, illatenus. 33. Fervet-Cp. Sat. ii 3, 79. Avarice is here regarded as a fever. Miseroque cupidine-"and with a wretched desire for more. Cp. Ode ii. 16, 10. Avarice and ambition are here contrasted, as in Sat. i. 4, 26; ii. 2, 187; and Epist. ii. 2, 205, &c. 34. Sunt verba et voces-"there are words and charms." Cp. Epist. i. 2, 23, and Ars Poet., 216. The precepts of philosophy, by which we are instructed to drive from our with the love of praise." Tumes=si tumes. 36. Laudis amore tumes-"you are swelling Tumeo is thus frequently applied to denote any strong affection or desire, under the swells forth. Cp. Sat. ii. 3, 213. Sunt, &c. influence of which the mind, as it were, libello-"there are sure and cleansing remedies, which will restore you to moral health, if some treatise of philosophy be thrice read over with purity of mind." Piacula-" Medicamenta purgantia, xabágσiss, i.e., praecepta philosophica." Comm. Cruq. 37. Ter-Three was one of the mystic numbers of antiquity, indicating perfection. Cp. Ode i. 28, 36. Pure-άyvãs xai xaθαρῶς. 38. Amator "the libidinous man," or "the libertine." Cp. Doering, "Culturae: praeceptis, qui- merely negative. It is something positive 43. Exiguum censum-"a small fortune. 44. Capitisque labore-" and risk of life." 45. Curris mercator ad Indos-The pastells us, that while Ælius Gallus governed sage to India was through Egypt. Strabo chantmen set sail from Myos Hormus, (i.e., Egypt, B. C. 27, a fleet of twenty-six merArabicus, for India. Mercator-Cp. Ode iii. Muscle Port, probably Kosseir,) on the Sinus 24, 26, and i. 1, 16. 46. Per mare-per saxa, per ignes-A proverbial form of expression, equivalent to per summa quaeque pericula. Cp. Ode iv. 14, 24; Sat. i. 1, 39; ii. 3, 56. willing to learn, and to hear, and to trust 47. Ne cures, &c.--vis?" are you unyourself to the guidance of some wiser friend, that you may no longer care for and wish for?" Miraris-Cp. Epist. i. 6, 1. those things which you foolishly admire tained by perusing the works of philoso 48. Discere applies to instruction obphers; audire to that which is received by listening to oral teaching. Cp. Epist. i. 8, 8. Meliori-sapientiori-Cp. Epist. i. 2, 68. 49. Quis, &c.-palmae?-The question is simply-"Who would prefer the ignoble and laborious life of an itinerant boxer to the honour of a crown at the Olympic |