The works of Horace : with English notes, critical and ... - Cristo Raul

EXPLANATORY NOTES. BOOK I., ODE XVII. 289
Anacreon was born at Teos, in Asia Minor. — 19. Laborantes hi, una.
" Striving for one and the same hero," i. e., Ulysses. Laborantes ia extremely
graphic here, and implies that anxious state of feeling which they
who love are wont to experience.—SO. Vitredmque Circen. " And glass-
lite Circe," i. e., as bright and dazzling, hut, at the same time, as frail
and as miworthy of reliaoce as glass. Compare Sat,, ii., 3, 222 : " Vitrea
fama."—21. Innocentis Lesbii. The Lesbian wine would seem to have
possessed a delicious flavor, for it is said to have deserved the name o^
ambrosia rather than of wine, and to have been like nectar when old.
Horace terms the Lesbian an innocent or unintoxicat-
{Athentsits, i., 92.)
ing wine ; hut it was the prevailing opinion among the ancients that all
sweet wines were less injurious to the head, and less apt to cause intoxication,
than the strong dry wines. Consult ExcursusYJI.
23-27. 22. Duces. "Thou shalt quaff."— 23. Semdeius Thyoneus,
"Bacchus, ofispring of Semele." This deity received the name of Thyoneus,
according to the common account, from Thyone, an appellation of
Semele. It is more probable, however, that the title in question was derived
from ijiju, " to rage," " to rush wildly."—24. Nee metues proiervnm,
-&C. " Nor shalt thou, an object of jealous suspicion, fear the rude Cyrus.'
—25. Male dispari. " HI fitted to contend with him."—26. Incontinentes
" Hash," " violent."—27. Coronatn. Previous to the introduction of the
second course, the guests were provided with chaplets of leaves or flow-
ers, which they placed on their foreheads or temples, and occasionally,
also, on their cups. Perfumes were at the same time offered to such as
chose to anoint their face and hands, or have their garlands sprinkled with
them. This mode of adorning their persons, which was borrowed from
the Asiatic nations, obtained so universally among the Greeks and Romans,
that, by almost every author after the time of Homer, it is spoken
of as the necessary accompaniment of the feast. It is said to have origi
nated from a belief that the leaves of certain plants, as the ivy, myrtle,
and laurel, or certain flowers, as the violet and rose, possessed the power
of dispersing the fames and counteracting the noxious effects of wine. On
this account the ivy has been always held sacred to Bacchus, and formed
the basis of the wreaths with which his images, and the heads dfliis worshippers,
were encircled ; but, being deficient in smell, it was seldom employed
for festal garlands,' and in general the preference was given to the
myrtle, which, in addition to its cooling or astringent qualities, was supposed
to have an exhilarating influence on the mind. On ordinary occa-
sions, the guests were contented with simple wreaths from the latter
but, at their gayer entertainments, its foliage was entwined with
shrub ;
roses and violets, or such other flowers as were in season, and recommended
themselves by the beauty of their colors or the fragrance of their
smell. Much taste was displayed in the arrangement of these garlands,
which was usually confided to female hands ; and, as the demand for them
was great, the manufacture and sale of them became a distinct branch of
trade. To appear in a disordered chaplet was reckoned a sign of inebriety
J and a custom prevailed of placing a garland, confusedly put together
{Xaialov artiiavov), on the heads of such as were guilty of excess in their
cups. {Henderson's History ofAncient and Modern Wines, p. 119, leqq.)
N