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

EXPLANATORY NOTES. BOOK I., ODE XXVlU. 303
iter to test their divinity. Hol'ace follows the earlier fable, by whicli TantalQs
is represented as honored with a seat at the table of the gods, and
as having incurred their displeasure by imp aiting nectar and ambrosia to
mortals. {Pi7id,, Olym-p.^ i., 98, seqq^
8-14. 8. Titkonusque remotus in auras. "And TithonuSf though
translated to the skies." An allusion to the fable of Tithonus and Aurora.
—9. Arcanis. Understand ca»st7m. Minos. In order to gain more reverence
for the laws which he promulgated, Minos pretended to have had
secret conferences with Jove respecting them.—10. Panthoiden. " The
son of Panthous." Suphorbus is here meant in name, but Pythagoras in
reality. The philosopher taught the doctrine of the transmigration of souls,
and is said to have asserted that he himself had animated various bodies,
and had been at one time Euphorbus the Trojan. To prov6 his identity
with the son of Panthous, report made him to have gone into the Temple
of Juno at or near Mycenae, where the shield of Buphorbus had been pre
served among other offerings, and to have recognised and taken it down
—-Iterum Oreo demissum. Alluding to the doctrine of the transmigration
of souls.—11. Clypeo rejUco. *' By the shield loosened from the wall of the
temple."—13. Nervos atque cutem. " His sinews and skin/' i. e., his body.
—14. Judice te, Sec. "Even in thine own estimation, no mean expounder
of nature and truth." These words are addressed by the shade of Archy
tas to the mariner, not by the latter to Archytas, and they are meant to
indicate the widespread reputation of Pythagoras as a Natural and Moral
—
Philosopher, since his name had become so well known as to be even in
the mouths of the lower classes. In this explanation, Boring, Orelli, Braunhard,
Billenburger, and most other commentators agree. Some read me,
applying the remark to the speaker himself, but without any necessity.
15-22. 15. Una nOx. This expression, and also semel immediately
after, contain nothing inconsistent with the Pythagorean tenets, since
they merely regard the end or limit of each particular transformation.
18. Avidum mare. "The greedy ocean." Some editions read avidis
("greedy after gain") as agreeing with nautts. This, however, would
imply a censure on the very individual from whom the favor of a burial is
supposed to be asked.—19. Mixta senum, &c. "The intermingled funer-
als of the old and young are crowded together." Densentur is from den-
seOj -ere, an old verb, used by Lucretius, and after him by Virgil and Pliny.
The common test has densantur, from denso, -ai'e.—Nullum caput, &c.
"No head escapes the stern Proserpina." An hypallage for nullum
caput fugit stEvam Proserpinam. The ancients had a belief that no one
could die unless Proserpina, or Atropos her minister, cut a lock of hair
from the head. The idea was evidently bon-owed from the analogy of animal
sacrifices, in which the hair cut from the front, or from between the
horns of the victims, was regarded as the first offering. Compare Vi-*'gil,
^n,y iv., 698, seq.—21. Devexi Orionis. "Of the setting Orion." The
setting of this star was always accompanied by tempestuous weF.ther.
It took place on the fifth day before the Ides of November, or, acco>"ding
to our mode of expression, on the ninth of the month.—22. Ulyrids undis.
" Amid the lUyrian waters." The allusion is to the Adriatic Sea in general.
^The Ulyrians, besides their settlements on the northeastern shores
of the Adriatic, bad at one time extended themselves as far as Anrona,
on the coast of Italy.
—