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

EXPLANATORY NOTES. BOOK I., ODE XXVIII. 301
10-14. 10. Opuntia. So called from Opus, the capital of the Opuntian
Locri in Greece, at the northern extremity of Boeotia.—13. Cessat
voluntas. " Does inclination hesitate t" i. e., dost thou hesitate so to do 1
—Non alia hibam mercede. "On no other condition will I drink."—14
Quce te mnque, &c. An encomium well calculated to remove the bashful
reserve of the youth. The whole sentenco may be paraphrased, as follows
: " Whoever the fair object may be that sways thy bosom, she causes
it to hum with a flame at which thou hast no occasion to blush, for thou
always indulgest in an honorable love." The allusion in ingenuo amore
is to a female of free birth, as opposed to a slave or freed-woman.
18-23. 18. Ah miser ! The exclamation of the poet when the secret
is divulged.—19. Quanta laboraias, &c. "In how fearful a Charybdis
wast thou straggling !" The passion of the youth is compared to the dangers
of the fabled Charybdis, and hence the expression Quanta lahorahas
Charybdi is equivalent in effect to Quam periculosam tibipudlam ama-
bas.—21. Thessalis vCTienis. Thessaly was remarkable for producing numerous
herbs that were used in the magical rites of antiquity.—23. Vix
illigatum, &c. " (Even) Pegasus will hardly extricate thee, entangled by
this three-shaped Chimajra." A new comparison is here made, by which
the female in question is made to resemble the fabled Chimasra. This
animal, according to the legend, was a lion in the fore part, a serpent in
the hinder part, and a goat in the middle ; and it also spouted forth lire.
It was destroyed, howe' jc, by Bellerophon mounted on the winged steed
Pegasus.
Ode XXVIII. The objoot of the present ode is to enforce the useful
lesson, that we are all subject to the power of death, whatever may be
our station in life, and whatever our talents and acquirements. The dialogue
form is adopted for this purpose, and the parties introduced are a
mariner and the shade of Archytas. The former, as he is travelling along
the shore of Southern Italy, discovers the dead body of the philosopher,
which had been thrown up by the waves near the town of Matinum, on
the Apnlian coast. He addresses the corpse, and expresses his surprise
that so illustrious an individual could not escape from the dommion of the
grave. At the seventh verse the shade replies, and continues on until the
end of the ode. "Be not surprised, O mariner, at beholding me in this
state," exclaims the fallen Pythagorean. " Death has selected far nobler
victims. Bestow the last sad offices on my remains, and so shall prosperous
fortune crown your every effort. If, on the contrary, you make light
of my request, expect not to escape a just retribution."
The ode would appear, from its general complexion, to have been imitated
from the Greek.
1. Te maris et terrce, &c. The order of construction is as follows : " Par
va muuera exigui pulveris {negata tibi) cohibent fe, &c. " The scanty
present of a little dust (denied to thy remains} confines thee," &c. Tht
ellipsis of negata tibi must be noted, though required more by the idiom
of our own than by that of the Latin tongue. According to the popular
belief, if a corpse were deprived of the rites of sepulture, the shade of the
deceased was compelled to wander for a hundred years either around the