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

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300 EXPLANATORY NOTES. BOOK I., ODE XXVII.
ply a lyric efFasion. The muse is solicited to aid tlie bard in celebrating
the praises of his friend. Pimplel, The Muses were called Pimpleides
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from Pimplea, a town and fountain of Pieria, sacred to these goddesses.
Orpheus was said to have been bom here.—9- Nil sine te mei, &c.
"Without thy favoring aid, the honors which I have received can prove
of no avail in celebrating the praises of others." By the term honores
'the poet alludes to the reputation he has gained for his successful cul-
tivation of lyric verse.—10. JFidibus novi$. "In new strains,'^ i. e., in
lyric verse. Hence the bard speaks of himself as the first that had adapted
the ^olian strains to Italian measures [Ode iii., 30, 13).—11. Lesbio
plectra. " On the Lesbian lyre." The plectrum, or quill, is here taken
figuratively for the lyre itself. Compare Ode i., 1, 34. This verse is ob-
jectionable in point of rhythm, and is the only instance of the kind in
Horace. On all other occasions, if the fourth syllable of the minor alcaic
end in a word, that word is a monosyllable. Compare Lachmann, ap
Frank., p. 239. Sacrare. " To consecrate to immortal fame."
Ode XXVn. The poet is supposed to be present at a festal party,
where the guests, warming under the influence of wine, begin t9 break
forth into noisy wrangling. He reproves them in severe terms for conduct
so foreign to a meeting of friends, and, in order to draw off their attention
to other and more pleasing sabjecits, be proposes the challenge Id verse
lOfeh, on which the rest of the ode is.made to turn.
*l-6. 1. Naiis in usum, &c. " Over cups made for joyous purposes."
The $cypkus was a cup of rather large dimensions, used both on festal occasions,
and in the celebration of sacred rites. Like the cantharus, it was
sacred to Bacchus.—2. Tkracwm est. Compare note on Ode i., 18, 9.
3. Verecundum. " Foe to excess." Equivalent here to modicum.—^. Vino
et lucemis, &c. " It is wonderful how much the dagger of the Parthian
is at variance with nocturnal banquets," literally, " with wine and lights."
Jmmane quantum is analogous to the Greek ^avfiaarbv ,6(Jov. Vino and
lucemis are datives, put by a Grggcism for the ablative witjh the preposi-
tion a.—Medus. Compare Ode i., 1i,'5l.-^Acinac6s. The term is of Per-
sian origin. The acinaces was properly a small dagger in use among the
Persians, and borrowed from them by the soldiers of later ages. It was
worn at the side. Hesycbius, in esplaining the word, calls it 66fyv UepffiKdv,
^1^0?. Suidas remarks: &iuvdKrjS> f^CKpbv 66pv HepaiKdv, and
Pollux (1, 138), ILepaiKov ^i^ldiov rit r^ firjP^ irpogTiprijfiivQV^ This last
comes nearest the true explanation as given above. — 6. Impium clamorem.
The epithet im^ius has here a particular reference to the violation
of the ties and duties of friendship, as well as to the profanatioii of the
table, which was always regarded as sacred hy the ancients.
8-9. 8. Cubito remanete press o. " Remain with the elbow pressed on
the couoh," i. e., stir not from your places. Alluding to the ancient custom
of reclining at their meals.-r-9. Severi Falemu All writers agi'ee in
describing the Falemian wine as very strong and durable, and so rough
in its recent state that it could not be dnmk with pleasure, but required
to be kept a great number of years before it was sufficiently mellow
For farther remai'ks on this wine, consult JSxffursus VIII.
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