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

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EXPLANATORY NOTES. BOOK 1., ODE XXXIV. 307
17-20. n . Frui paratis, &c. "Soc of Latona, give me, I pray, to en-
joy my present possessions, being:, at the same time, both healthful in
frame and with a mind animpaired by disease." Or, more ireely, " Give
me a soand mind in a soand body, that I may enjdy, as they shoald be enjoyed,
the possessions which are mine." The expression do7ie8 miki val-
idot Scc^tfrui paratisi is a GrsBcism for dones ut ego validus, icc.ffruar
paratis. Compare, in relation to the idea here expressed,,-the Well-known
line ofJuvenal (x., 35S) : " Orandum est ut sit mens sana in corpora satio."
Compare also, in reference to the structure of the whole sentence, the explanation
of Dillenburger : " Dues voti Horatiani partes sunt : dones precor
et valido miki et integra cum mente paratis frai ; iuTn dones degere
senectam Tiec turpem nee dtkara earentem. Hunc ordi-ncm verborum ipse
Horaiius indica/oit artifidose positis parrticuliSy et . . . et, nee . . . nec."-^
19. Nee turpem seneetam degeret &c. "And to lead no deg^enerate old
age,, nor one devoid of the lyre," i. e., no old age unworthy of my present
contentment, nor devoid of the charms of poetry and music. (Osborne,
ad Joe.)
Ode XXXII. The bard addresses his lyre, and blends with the address
the praises of Alcseus. The invocation comes with a peculiar grace from
one who boasted, and with truth, of having been the first to adapt the
i£ollan strains to Italian measures. (Compare Ode iii., 30, 13.)
1-15. 1. Poscimur. "We are called upon for a strain," Compare
Ovid, Met., v., 333, " Poscimur, Aonides." The request probably came
from Augustus or Miscenas. Bentley reads Poscimus, which then becomes
a pajt of the apostrophe to the lyre. Si quid vactti lusimus tecum. " If
we have ever, iij an idlemoment, produced la unison with thee any sportive
effasion."^-3. Die iMtimim, carmen. "Be responsive to a Latin ode."
—5. Lesbio primum,Scc. "Attuned to harmony inost of all .by a Lesbian
citizen." Primum is here equivalent to maxime. Horsice assigns to
Alcseas the merit of having brought lyric poetry to its highest state of
perfection.—6. Ferox bello. Understand quamvls.— 7. Udo litore. " On
the wave-washed shore." Supply «». 9. Illi semper hterentem. "Ever
clinging to her side."—14. Laborum dulee lenimen. "Sweet solace of
toils."-^15. Mihi cunque. Sec. "Be propitious unto me whenever duly
invoking thee." Cunque for quandocunque.
Ode XXXIV. Horace, a professed Epicurean, having heard thunder m
a cloudless sky, abandons the tenets which he had hitherto adopted, and
declares his belief in the superintending providence of the gods. Such,
at least, appears to be the plain meaning of the ode. It is moi-e than
probable, however, that the poet merely wishes to express his dissent
fiom the Epicurean dogma which made the gods take no interest whatever
in the affairs of men. The argum^ent employed for this purpose is
trivial enough in reality, and yet to an Epiom-ean of the ancient school it
would carry no little weight along with it. Thus Lucretius positively
states that thunder in a serene and cloudless sky is a physical impossibility
: ,. -~
" Pulmina gigni de crassis, alteque, putandum est.