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HORACE
interesting to hear that within the temple a prominent place was occupied by
a statue of Apollo the lyre-player, which is said to have borne the features of
Augustus himself.'
At the end of an amusing satire (1-9) Apollo intervenes to rescue Horace
from the clutches of a pest who has been trying to wangle an introduction to
Maecenas. In Odes 1.32 Horace addresses the lyre as the 'glory of Phoebus'
(o decus Phoebi) and asks it to inspire his alcaic verse. On the official side we
have the Carmen saeculare, which was written to be sung by a choir of boys and
girls at the celebrations of 17 B.C. The performance took place before the temple
of Apollo, and several stanzas are addressed to him. Augustus also figures in the
hymn as 'the illustrious descendant of Anchises and Venus'. Elsewhere public
and private coalesce. The occasion envisaged in Odes 1.31 is the vintage festival
of the Meditrinalia, which in 28 B.C. took place just after the dedication of
Apollo's temple. In the opening stanza the uates wonders what he should
pray for; the answer is given in the last stanza by Horace the private individual:
it is health of body and mind, and continued inspiration. Odes 4.6 is a hymn to
Apollo, prompted by the success of the Carmen saeculare. It recalls how the
god slew Achilles and preserved Aeneas to found Rome. Apollo the minstrel
is asked to protect' the glory of the Daunian Muse' — which could mean either
Italian or Horatian poetry. Then in the remaining stanzas Horace speaks of his
personal debt to the god:
spiritum Phoebus mihi, Phoebus artem
carminis nomenque dedit poetae. ( 2 9~3°)
Phoebus granted me inspiration, the art of song., and the name of poet.
Apollo's dual aspect was represented by the lyre and the bow (see Odes
1.21.11—12; 2.10.18—20). Another Apolline symbol which linked poet and
Emperor was the laurel. In Odes 3.4.19 the infant Horace is said to have been
covered with laurel leaves; later, at the end of his first collection of odes Horace
asks Melpomene to place a crown of Delphic laurel on his hair (3.30.15-16).
In other passages the laurel is that worn by a triumphant general — viz. Odes
2.1.15 and 4.3.6—7. As early as 36 B.C., following his victory over Sextus
Pompeius, Octavian was voted a laurel crown. Later, in 27 B.C., the doors of
his house were decorated with laurel, and the same symbol appeared on coins
and reliefs.
Last of all, we should bear in mind certain words which describe the processes
and powers of lyric composition. Orpheus 'led' forests and checked rivers
(ducere and morari in Odes 1.12.12 and 9, cf. 3.11.14); Cerberus 'surrendered'
to the lyre (cedere in 3.11.15); Amphion 'led' the stones of Thebes (ducere in
A.P. 396). The word for tune or rhythm is modus, and the verbs moderari and
1 Servius on Virgil, Eel. 4.10; ps.-Acro on Horace, Epist. 1.3.17.
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